book v
., _Translation by Thomas Moore_.
RUMBUMPTIOUS, haughty, pugilistic.
RUMBUSTIOUS, or RUMBUSTICAL, pompous, haughty, boisterous, careless of the comfort of others.
RUMGUMPTION, or GUMPTION, knowledge, capacity, capability,—hence, RUMGUMPTIOUS, knowing, wide-awake, forward, positive, pert, blunt.
RUM MIZZLERS, persons who are clever at making their escape, or getting out of a difficulty.
RUMPUS, a noise, disturbance, a “row.”
RUMY, a good woman, or girl.—_Gipsey slang._ In the regular _Gipsey_ language, ROMI, a woman, a wife, is the feminine of RO, a man; and in the _Robber’s Language_ of Spain (partly _Gipsey_), RUMI signifies a harlot.
RUN (good or bad), the success of a performance—_Theatrical._
RUN, to comprehend, &c.; “I don’t RUN, to it,” _i.e._, I can’t do it, or I don’t understand, or I have not money enough.—_North._
RUN, “to get the RUN upon any person,” to have the upper hand, or be able to laugh at them. RUN DOWN, to abuse or backbite anyone.
RUNNING PATTERER, a street seller who runs or moves briskly along, calling aloud his wares.
RUNNING STATIONERS, hawkers of books, ballads, dying speeches, and newspapers. They formerly used to run with newspapers, blowing a horn, when they were also termed FLYING STATIONERS.
RUSH, “doing it on the RUSH,” running away, or making off.
RUST, “to nab the RUST,” to take offence. RUSTY, cross, ill-tempered, morose, one who cannot go through life like a person of easy and _polished_ manners.
RUSTY GUTS, a blunt, rough old fellow. Corruption of RUSTICUS.
SACK, “to get the SACK,” to be discharged by an employer.
SADDLE, an additional charge made by the manager to a performer upon his benefit night.—_Theatrical._
SAD DOG, a merry fellow, a joker, a gay or “fast” man.
SAINT MONDAY, a holiday most religiously observed by journeymen shoemakers, and other mechanics. An Irishman observed that this saint’s anniversary happened every week.—_North_, where it is termed COBBLERS’ MONDAY.
SAL, a salary.—_Theatrical._
SALAMANDERS, street acrobats, and jugglers who eat fire.
SALOOP, SALEP, or SALOP, a greasy looking beverage, formerly sold on stalls at early morning, prepared from a powder made of the root of the _Orchis mascula_, or Red-handed Orchis. Within a few years coffee stands have superseded SALOOP stalls, but Charles Lamb, in one of his papers, has left some account of this drinkable, which he says was of all preparations the most grateful to the stomachs of young chimney sweeps.
SALT, “its rather too SALT,” said of an extravagant hotel bill.
SALT BOX, the condemned cell in Newgate.
SALTEE, a penny. Pence, &c., are thus reckoned:—
ONEY SALTEE, a penny, from the _Ital._, UNO SOLDO.
DOOE SALTEE, twopence DUE SOLDI.
TRAY SALTEE, threepence TRE SOLDI.
QUARTERER SALTEE, fourpence QUATTRO SOLDI.
CHINKER SALTEE, fivepence CINQUE SOLDI.
SAY SALTEE, sixpence SEI SOLDI.
SAY ONEY SALTEE, or SETTER SALTEE, sevenpence SETTE SOLDI.
SAY DOOE SALTEE, or OTTER SALTEE, eightpence OTTO SOLDI.
SAY TRAY SALTEE, or NOBBA SALTEE, ninepence NOVE SOLDI.
SAY QUARTERER SALTEE, or DACHA SALTEE, tenpence DIECI SOLDI.
SAY CHINKER SALTEE, or DACHA ONE SALTEE, DIECI UNO SOLDI, &c. elevenpence
ONEY BEONG, one shilling.
A BEONG SAY SALTEE, one shilling and sixpence.
DOOE BEONG SAY SALTEE, or MADZA CAROON, half-a-crown, or two shillings and sixpence.
⁂ This curious list of numerals in use among the London street folk is, strange as it may seem, derived from the _Lingua Franca_, or bastard _Italian_, of the Mediterranean seaports, of which other examples may be found in the pages of this Dictionary. SALTEE, the cant term used by the costermongers and others for a penny, is no other than the _Italian_, SOLDO (plural, SOLDI), and the numerals—as may be seen by the _Italian_ equivalents—are a tolerably close imitation of the originals. After the number SIX, a curious variation occurs, which is peculiar to the London cant, seven being reckoned as SAY ONEY, _six-one_, SAY DOOE, _six-two_ = 8, and so on. DACHA, I may remark, is perhaps from the _Greek_, DEKA (δέκα), ten, which, in the Constantinopolitan _Lingua Franca_, is likely enough to have been substituted for the _Italian_. MADZA, is clearly the _Italian_ MEZZA. The origin of BEONG I have not been so fortunate as to discover, unless it be the _French_, BIEN, the application of which to a shilling is not so evident; but amongst costermongers and other street folk, it is quite immaterial what foreign tongue contributes to their secret language. Providing the terms are unknown to the police and the public generally, they care not a rushlight whether the polite French, the gay Spaniards, or the cloudy Germans helped to swell their vocabulary. The numbers of low foreigners, however, dragging out a miserable existence in our crowded neighbourhoods, organ grinders and image sellers, foreign seamen from the vessels in the river, and our own connection with Malta and the Ionian Isles, may explain, to a certain extent, the phenomenon of these Southern phrases in the mouths of costers and tramps.
SALT JUNK, navy salt beef.—_See_ OLD HORSE.
SALVE, praise, flattery, chaff.
SAM, to “stand SAM,” to pay for refreshment, or drink, to stand paymaster for anything. An _Americanism_, originating in the letters U.S. on the knapsacks of the United States soldiers, which letters were jocularly said to be the initials of _Uncle Sam_ (the Government), who pays for all. In use in this country as early as 1827.
SANGUINARY JAMES, a sheep’s head.—_See_ BLOODY JEMMY.
SANK WORK, making soldiers’ clothes. _Mayhew_ says from the _Norman_, SANC, blood,—in allusion either to the soldier’s calling, or the colour of his coat.
SAP, or SAPSCULL, a poor green simpleton, with no heart for work.
SAUCEBOX, a mouth, also a pert young person.
SAVELOY, a sausage of chopped beef smoked, a minor kind of POLONY.
SAVEY, to know; “do you SAVEY that?”—_French_, SAVEZ VOUS CELA? In the nigger and _Anglo Chinese patois_, this is SABBY, “me no SABBY.” The Whampoa slang of this description is very extraordinary; from it we have got our word CASH!
SAW YOUR TIMBER, “be off!” equivalent to _cut your stick_.—_See_ CUT.
SAWBONES, a surgeon.
SAWNEY, or SANDY, a Scotchman. Corruption of Alexander.
SAWNEY, a simpleton.
SAWNEY, bacon. SAWNEY HUNTER, one who steals bacon.
SCAB, a worthless person.—_Old._ _Shakespere_ uses SCALD in a similar sense.
SCALDRUM DODGE, burning the body with a mixture of acids and gunpowder, so as to suit the hues and complexions of the accident to be deplored.
SCALY, shabby, or mean. _Shakespere_ uses SCALD, an old word of reproach.
SCAMANDER, to wander about without a settled purpose;—possibly in allusion to the winding course of the Homeric river of that name.
SCAMMERED, drunk.
SCAMP, a graceless fellow, a rascal; formerly the cant term for plundering and thieving. A ROYAL-SCAMP was a highwayman, whilst a FOOT-SCAMP was an ordinary thief with nothing but his legs to trust to in case of an attempt at capture. Some have derived SCAMP from _qui ex campo exit_, viz., one who leaves the field, a deserter.
SCARPER, to run away.—_Spanish_, ESCAPAR, to escape, make off; _Italian_, SCAPPARE. “SCARPER with the feele of the donna of the cassey,” to run away with the daughter of the land-lady of the house; almost pure _Italian_, “_scappare colla figlia della donna della casa_.”
SCHISM-SHOP, a dissenters’ meeting-house.—_University._
SCHOFEL, bad money.—_See_ SHOW FULL.
SCHOOL, or MOB, two or more “patterers” working together in the streets.
SCHOOLING, a low gambling party.
SCHWASSLE BOX, the street performance of Punch and Judy.—_Household Words_, No. 183.
SCONCE, the head, judgment, sense.—_Dutch._
SCORE, “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.
SCOT, a quantity of anything, a lot, a share.—_Anglo Saxon_, SCEAT, pronounced SHOT.
SCOT, temper, or passion,—from the irascible temperament of that nation; “oh! what a SCOT he was in,” _i.e._, what temper he showed,—especially if you allude to the following.
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 Scotchmen in the highest degree, it implying that he is afflicted with the itch.
SCOTCH GRAYS, lice. Our northern neighbours are calumniously reported, from their living on oatmeal, 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.
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, begging for broken victuals. Also, an _Irish_ malediction of a mild sort, “Bad SCRAN to yer!”
SCRAPE, a difficulty; SCRAPE, low wit for a shave.
SCRAPE, cheap butter; “bread and SCRAPE,” the bread and butter issued to school-boys—so called from the butter being laid on, and then _scraped_ off again, for economy’s sake.
SCRAPING CASTLE, a water-closet.
SCRATCH, a fight, contest, point in dispute; “coming up to the SCRATCH,” going or preparing to fight—in reality, approaching the line usually chalked on the ground to divide the ring.—_Pugilistic._
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 (with one exception) are void.—_See_ P.P.—_Turf._
SCRATCH-RACE (on the _Turf_), a race where any horse, aged, winner, or loser, can run with any weights; in fact, a race without restrictions. At _Cambridge_ a boat-race, where the crews are drawn by lot.
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.
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; _French_, ECRIVANT (old form), 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, drew, perhaps, in half-a-dozen places that very morning, and rented the spots out to as many cadaverous looking men.
SCREW, an unsound, or broken-down horse, that requires both whip and spur to get him along.
SCREW, a key,—skeleton, or otherwise.
SCREW, a turnkey.
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.
SCREW LOOSE, when friends become cold and distant towards each other, it is said there is a SCREW LOOSE betwixt them; said also when anything goes wrong with a person’s credit or reputation.
SCREW, a small packet of tobacco.
SCREWED, intoxicated or drunk.
SCRIMMAGE, or SCRUMMAGE, a disturbance or row.—_Ancient._ Corruption of _skirmish_?
SCROBY, “to get SCROBY,” to be whipped in prison before the justices.
SCROUGE, to crowd or squeeze.—_Wiltshire._
SCRUFF, the back part of the neck seized by the adversary in an encounter.
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 University church), where the “Heads of Houses” sit in solemn state, is still nicknamed the GOLGOTHA by the undergraduates.
SCURF, a mean fellow.
SEALS, a religious slang term for converts.—_See_ OWNED.
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 “on the streets” 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.
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 costermonger cries after having successfully deceived somebody. _Shakespere_ uses SELLING in a similar sense, viz., blinding or deceiving.
SELL, a deception, disappointment; also a lying joke.
SENSATION, a quartern of gin.
SERENE, all right; “it’s all SERENE,” a street phrase of very modern adoption, the burden of a song.
SERVE OUT, to punish, or be revenged on any one.
SETTER, sevenpence. _Italian_, SETTE.—_See_ SALTEE.
SETTER, a person employed by the vendor at an auction to run the biddings up; to bid against _bonâ fide_ bidders.
SETTLE, to kill, ruin, or effectually quiet a person.
SETTLED, transported.
SET TO, a sparring match, a fight; “a dead set,” a determined stand, in argument or in movement.
SEVEN PENNORTH, transported for seven years.
SEWED-UP, done up, used up, intoxicated. _Dutch_, SEEUWT, sick.
SHACK, a “chevalier d’industrie.”
SHACKLY, loose, rickety.—_Devonshire._
SHAKE, a prostitute, a disreputable man or woman.—_North._
SHAKE, to take away, to steal, or run off with anything; “what SHAKES, Bill?” “None,” _i.e._, no chance of committing a robbery.—_See the following._
SHAKE, or 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.
SHAKE LURK, a false paper carried by an impostor, giving an account of a “dreadful shipwreck.”
SHAKER, a shirt.
SHAKESTER, or SHICKSTER, a prostitute. Amongst costermongers this term is invariably applied to _ladies_, or the wives of tradesmen, and females generally of the classes immediately above them.
SHAKY, said of a person of questionable health, integrity, or solvency; at the _University_, of one not likely to pass his examination.
SHALER, a girl.
SHALLOW, a flat basket used by costers.
SHALLOWS, “to go on the SHALLOWS,” to go half naked.
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.
SHALLOW-SCREEVER, a man who sketches and draws on the pavement.—_See_ SCREEVER.
SHAM ABRAHAM, to feign sickness.—_See_ ABRAHAM.
SHANDY-GAFF, ale and ginger beer; perhaps SANG DE GOFF, the favourite mixture of one GOFF, a blacksmith.
SHANKS, legs.
SHANKS’ NAG, “to ride SHANKS’ NAG,” to go on foot.
SHANT, a pot or quart; “SHANT of bivvy,” a quart of beer.
SHAPES, “to cut up” or “show SHAPES,” to exhibit pranks, or flightiness.
SHARP, or SHARPER, a cunning cheat, a rogue,—the opposite of FLAT.
SHARP’S-ALLEY BLOOD WORMS, beef sausages and black puddings. Sharp’s-alley was very recently a noted slaughtering place near Smithfield.
SHARPING-OMEE, a policeman.
SHARK, a sharper, a swindler. _Bow-street_ term in 1785, now in most dictionaries.—_Friesic_ and _Danish_, SCHURK.—_See_ LAND-SHARK.
SHAVE, a false alarm, a hoax, a sell. This was much used in the Crimea during the Russian campaign.
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._
SHAVER, a sharp fellow; “a young” or “old SHAVER,” a boy or man.—_Sea._
SHEEN, bad money.—_Scotch._
SHEEP’S EYES, “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_, p. 57.
SHEEP’S FOOT, an iron hammer used in a printing office, the end of the handle being made like a sheep’s foot.
SHELF, “on the SHELF,” not yet disposed of; young ladies are said to be so situated when they cannot meet with a husband; “on the SHELF,” pawned.
SHELL OUT, to pay or count out money.
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.
SHICER, a mean man, a humbug, a “duffer,”—a person who is either worthless or will not work.
SHICKERY, shabby, bad.
SHICKSTER; a prostitute, a lady.—_See_ SHAKESTER.
SHILLY SHALLY, to trifle or fritter away time; irresolute. Corruption of _Shall I, shall I?_
SHINDY, a row, or noise.
SHINE, a row, or disturbance.
SHINE, “to take the SHINE out of a person,” to surpass or excel him.
SHINER, a looking-glass.
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.”
SHIP-SHAPE, proper, in good order; sometimes the phrase is varied to “SHIP-SHAPE and _Bristol_ fashion.”—_Sea._
SHIRTY, ill-tempered, or cross. When one person makes another in an ill humour he is said to have “got his SHIRT out.”
SHITTEN-SATURDAY (corruption of SHUT-IN-SATURDAY), the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, when our Lord’s body was enclosed in the tomb.
SHIVERING JEMMY, the name given by street folk to any cadger who exposes himself, half naked, on a cold day, to excite pity and procure alms. The “game” is unpleasant, but exceedingly lucrative.
SHODDY, old cloth worked up into new; also, a term of derision applied to workmen in woollen factories.—_Yorkshire._
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 drink, which is drunk by the older hands. The cans emptied, and the bill paid, the stranger is considered properly SHOD.
SHOE LEATHER! a thief’s warning cry, when he hears footsteps. This exclamation is used in the same spirit as Bruce’s friend, who, when he suspected treachery towards him 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 hung.
SHOOL, to saunter idly, become a vagabond, beg rather than work.—_Smollett’s Roderick Random_, vol. i., p. 262.
SHOOT THE CAT, to vomit.
SHOOT THE MOON, to remove furniture from a house in the night, without paying the landlord.
SHOOT WITH THE LONG BOW, to tell lies, to exaggerate. Synonymous with THROWING THE HATCHET.
SHOP BOUNCER, or SHOP LIFTER, a person generally respectably attired, who, while being served with a small article at a shop, steals one of more value. _Shakespere_ has the word LIFTER, a thief.
SHOPPING, purchasing at shops. Termed by _Todd_ a slang word, but used by _Cowper_ and _Byron_.
SHORT, when spirit is drunk without any admixture of water, it is said to be taken “short;” “summat SHORT,” a dram. A similar phrase is used at the counters of banks; upon presenting a cheque, the clerk asks, “how will you take it?” _i.e._, in gold, or in notes? Should it be desired to receive it in as small a compass as possible, the answer is, “SHORT.”
SHORT COMMONS, short allowance of food.—_See_ COMMONS.
SHOT, from the modern sense of the word to SHOOT,—a guess, a random conjecture; “to make a bad SHOT,” to expose one’s ignorance by making a wrong guess, or random answer without knowing whether it is right or wrong.
SHOT, from the once _English_, but now provincial word, to SHOOT, to subscribe, contribute in fair proportion;—a share, the same as SCOT, both being from the _Anglo Saxon_ word, SCEAT; “to pay one’s SHOT,” _i.e._, share of the reckoning, &c.
SHOT, “I wish I may be SHOT, if,” &c., a common form of mild swearing.
SHOVE-HALFPENNY, a gambling street game.
SHOWFULL, or SCHOFELL, a Hansom cab,—said to have been from the name of the inventor.—_Led de hor qu._
SHOW-FULL, or SCHOFUL, bad money. _Mayhew_ thinks this word is 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 another very probable derivation, from the _German_, SCHOFEL, trash, rubbish,—the _German_ adjective, SCHOFELIG, being the nearest possible translation of our _shabby_.
SHOWFULL-PITCHER, a passer of counterfeit money.
SHOWFULL PITCHING, passing bad money.
SHOWFULL PULLET, a “gay” woman.
SHRIMP, a diminutive person.—_Chaucer._
SHUNT, to throw or turn aside.—_Railway term._
SHUT OF, or SHOT OF, rid of.
SHUT UP! be quiet, don’t make a noise; to stop short, to make cease in a summary manner, to silence effectually. “Only the other day we heard of a preacher who, speaking of the scene with the doctors in the Temple, remarked that the Divine disputant completely SHUT THEM UP!”—_Athen._ 30th July, 1859. SHUT UP, utterly exhausted, done for.
SHY, a throw.
SHY, “to fight SHY of a person,” to avoid his society either from dislike, fear, or any other reason. SHY has also the sense of flighty, unsteady, untrustworthy.
SHY, to fling; COCK-SHY, a game at fairs, consisting of throwing short sticks at trinkets set upon other sticks,—both name and practice derived from the old game of throwing or SHYING at live cocks.
SICES, or SIZES, a throw of _sixes_ at dice.
SICK AS A HORSE, popular simile,—curious, because a horse never vomits.
SICKNER, or SICKENER, a dose too much of anything.
SIDE BOARDS, or STICK-UPS, shirt collars.
SIGHT, “to take a SIGHT at a person,” a vulgar action employed by street boys to denote incredulity, or contempt for authority, by placing the thumb against the nose and closing all the fingers except the little one, which is agitated in token of derision.—_See_ WALKER.
SIM, one of a Methodistical turn in religion; a low-church-man; originally a follower of the late Rev. Charles Simeon.—_Cambridge._
SIMON, a sixpenny piece.
SIMON PURE, “the real SIMON PURE,” the genuine article. Those who have witnessed Mr. C. Mathews’ performance in Mrs. Centlivre’s admirable comedy of _A Bold Stroke for a Wife_, and the laughable coolness with which he, the _false_ SIMON PURE, assuming the quaker dress and character of the REAL ONE, elbowed that worthy out of his expected entertainment, will at once perceive the origin of this phrase.—_See_
## act v., scene 1.
SING OUT, to call aloud.—_Sea._
SING SMALL, to lessen one’s boasting, and turn arrogance into humility.
SINKERS, bad money.
SINKS, a throw of fives at dice. _French_, CINQS.
SIR HARRY, a close stool.
SISERARA, a hard blow.—_Suffolk._ Moor derives it from the story of Sisera in the Old Testament, but it is more probably a corruption of CERTIORARI, a Chancery writ reciting a complaint of hard usage.
SIT UNDER, a term employed in Dissenters’ meeting houses, to denote attendance on the ministry of any particular preacher.
SITTING PAD, sitting on the pavement in a begging position.
SIT-UPONS, trousers.—_See_ INEXPRESSIBLES.
SIVVY, “’pon my SIVVY,” _i.e._, upon my soul or honour. Corruption of _asseveration_, like DAVY, which is an abridgment of _affidavit_.
SIXES AND SEVENS, articles in confusion are said to be all SIXES and SEVENS. The Deity is mentioned in the Towneley Mysteries as He that “sett all on seven,” _i.e._, set or appointed everything in seven days. A similar phrase at this early date implied confusion and disorder, and from these, _Halliwell_ thinks, has been derived the phrase “to be at SIXES AND SEVENS.” A Scotch correspondent, however, states that the phrase probably came from the workshop, and that amongst needle makers when the points and eyes are “heads and tails” (“heeds and thraws”), or in confusion, they are said to be SIXES AND SEVENS, because those numbers are the sizes most generally used, and in the course of manufacture have frequently to be distinguished.
SIXTY, “to go along like SIXTY,” _i.e._, at a good rate, briskly.
SIZE, to order extras over and above the usual commons at the dinner in college halls. Soup, pastry, &c., are SIZINGS, and are paid for at a certain specified rate _per_ SIZE, or portion, to the college cook.—_Peculiar to Cambridge._ _Minsheu_ says, “SIZE, a farthing which schollers in Cambridge have at the buttery, noted with the letter _s_.”
SIZERS, or SIZARS, are certain poor scholars at Cambridge, annually elected, who get their dinners (including _sizings_) from what is left at the upper, or Fellows’ table, free, or nearly so. They pay rent of rooms, and some other fees, on a lower scale than the “Pensioners” or ordinary students, and answer to the “battlers” and “servitors” at Oxford.
SIZINGS, _see_ SIZE.
SKATES LURK, a begging impostor dressed as a sailor.
SKID, a sovereign. Fashionable slang.
SKIE, to throw upwards, to toss “coppers.”—_See_ ODD MAN.
SKILLY, broth served on board the hulks to convicts.—_Linc._
SKILLIGOLEE, prison gruel, also sailors’ soup of many ingredients.
SKIN, a purse.
SKIN, to abate, or lower the value of anything; “thin SKINNED,” sensitive, touchy.
SKIN-FLINT, an old popular simile for a “close-fisted,” stingy person.
SKIPPER, the master of a vessel. _Dutch_, SCHIFFER, from _schiff_ a ship; sometimes used synonymous with “Governor.”
SKIPPER, a barn.—_Ancient cant._
SKIPPER IT, to sleep in the open air, or in a rough way.
SKIPPER-BIRDS, or KEYHOLE WHISTLERS, persons who sleep in barns or outhouses in preference to lodging-houses.
SKIT, a joke, a squib.
SKITTLES, a game similar to Ten Pins, which, when interdicted by the Government was altered to Nine Pins, or SKITTLES. They are set up in an alley and are _thrown at_ (not bowled) with a round piece of hard wood, shaped like a small flat cheese. The costers consider themselves the best players in London.
SKROUGE, to push or squeeze.—_North._
SKULL-THATCHERS, straw bonnet makers,—sometimes called “bonnet-BUILDERS.”
SKY, a disagreeable person, an enemy.—_Westminster School._
SKY-BLUE, London milk much diluted with water, or from which the cream has been too closely skimmed.
“Hence, Suffolk dairy wives run mad for cream, And leave their milk with nothing but the name; Its name derision and reproach pursue, And strangers tell of three times skimmed—SKY-BLUE.”
_Bloomfield’s Farmer’s Boy._
SKY-BLUE formerly meant gin.
SKY-LARK.—_See_ LARK.
SKY PARLOUR, the garret.
SKY SCRAPER, a tall man; “are you cold up there, old SKY SCRAPER?” Properly a sea term; the light sails which some adventurous skippers set above the royals in calm latitudes are termed SKY-SCRAPERS and MOON-RAKERS.
SKY WANNOCKING, unsteady, frolicking.—_Norfolk._
SLAMMOCK, a slattern or awkward person.—_West_; and _Norf._
SLANG, low, vulgar, unwritten, or unauthorised language. _Gipsey_, SLANG, the secret language of the Gipseys, synonymous with GIBBERISH, another Gipsey word. This word is only to be found in the Dictionaries of _Webster_ and _Ogilvie_. It was, perhaps, first recorded by _Grose_, in his _Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue_, 1785. SLANG, since it has been adopted as an English word, generally implies vulgar language not known or recognised as CANT; and latterly, when applied to speech, has superseded the word FLASH.
SLANG, counterfeit or short weights and measures. A SLANG quart is a pint and a half. SLANG measures are lent out at 2d. per day. The term is used principally by costermongers.
SLANG, to cheat, to abuse in foul language.
SLANG, a travelling show.
SLANG, a watch chain.
SLANGY, flashy, vulgar; loud in dress, manner, and conversation.
SLANTINGDICULAR, oblique, awry,—as opposed to PERPENDICULAR.
SLAP, paint for the face, rouge.
SLAP, exactly, precisely; “SLAP in the wind’s eye,” _i.e._, exactly to windward.
SLAP-UP, first-rate, excellent, very good.
SLAP-BANG, suddenly, violently.
SLAP-BANG SHOPS, low eating houses, where you have to pay down the ready money with a SLAP-BANG.—_Grose._
SLAP-DASH, immediately, or quickly.
SLASH, a pocket in an overcoat.
SLASHER, a powerful roisterer, a pugilist; “the TIPTON SLASHER.”
SLATE, to pelt with abuse, to beat, to “LICK;” or, in the language of the reviewers, to “cut up.”
SLATE, “he has a SLATE loose,” _i.e._, he is slightly crazy.
SLAVEY, a maid servant.
SLEWED, drunk, or intoxicated.—_Sea term._ When a vessel changes the tack she, as it were, staggers, the sails flap, she gradually heels over, and the wind catching the waiting canvas, she glides off at another angle. The course pursued by an intoxicated, or SLEWED man, is supposed to be analogous to that of the ship.
SLICK, an _Americanism_, very prevalent in England since the publication of Judge Haliburton’s facetious stories. As an _adjective_, SLICK means rapidly, effectually, utterly; as a _verb_, it has the force of “to despatch rapidly,” turn off, get done with a thing.
SLICK A DEE, a pocket book.
SLING, to pass from one person to another.
SLIP, “to give the SLIP,” to run away, or elude pursuit. _Shakespere_ has “you _gave me the counterfeit_,” in Romeo and Juliet. GIVING THE SLIP, however, is a _Sea phrase_, and refers to fastening an anchor and chain cable to a floating buoy, or water cask, until such a time arrives that is convenient to return and take them on board. In fastening the cable, the home end is _slipped_ through the hawse pipe. Weighing anchor is a noisy task, so that giving it the SLIP infers to leave it in quietness.
SLIP, or LET SLIP; “to SLIP into a man,” to give him a sound beating; “to LET SLIP at a cove,” to rush violently upon him, and assault with vigour.
SLOG, or SLOGGER (its original form), to beat, baste, or wallop. _German_, SCHLAGEN; or, perhaps a vulgar corruption of SLAUGHTER. The pretended _Greek_ derivation from σλογω, which _Punch_ puts in the mouth of the schoolboy, in his impression of 4th May, 1859, is of course only intended to mystify grandmamma, there being no such word in the language.
SLOGGERS, _i.e._, SLOW-GOERS, the second division of race-boats at _Cambridge_. At _Oxford_ they are called TORPIDS.—_Univ._
SLOGGING, a good beating.
SLOP, cheap, or ready made, as applied to clothing, is generally supposed to be a modern appropriation; but it was used in this sense in 1691, by _Maydman_, in his _Naval Speculations_; and by _Chaucer_ two centuries before that. Slops properly signify sailors’ working clothes.
SLOP, a policeman. Probably at first _back slang_, but now general.
SLOPE, to decamp, to run, or rather _slip_ away. Originally from LOPE, to make off; the _s_ probably became affixed as a portion of the preceding word, as in the case of “_let’s lope_,” let us run.—_Americanism._
SLOPS, chests or packages of tea; “he shook a slum of SLOPS,” _i.e._, stole a chest of tea.
SLOUR, to lock, or fasten.
SLOUR’D, buttoned up; SLOUR’D HOXTER, an inside pocket buttoned up.
SLOWED, to be locked up—in prison.
SLUICERY, a gin shop or public house.
SLUM, a letter.
SLUM, a chest, or package.—_See_ SLOPS.
SLUM, gammon; “up to SLUM,” wide awake, knowing,
“And this, without more SLUM, began, Over a flowing Pot-house can, To settle, without botheration, The rigs of this here tip-top nation.”
_Jack Randall’s Diary_, 1820.
SLUM THE GORGER, to cheat on the sly, to be an eye servant. SLUM in this sense is _old cant_.
SLUMMING, passing bad money.
SLUMS, or BACK SLUMS, dark retreats, low neighbourhoods; “the Westminster SLUMS,” favourite haunts for thieves.
SLUSHY, a ship’s cook.
SMACK SMOOTH, even, level with the surface, quickly.
SMALL BEER, “he does’t think SMALL BEER of himself,” _i.e._, he has a great opinion of his own importance. SMALL COALS is also used in the same sense.
SMASH, to become bankrupt, or worthless; “to go all to SMASH;” to break, or “go to the dogs.”
SMASH, to pass counterfeit money.
SMASHER, one who passes bad coin.
SMASHFEEDER, a Britannia metal spoon,—the best imitation shillings are made from this metal.
SMELLER, a blow on the nose, or a NOSER.
SMIGGINS, soup served to convicts on board the hulks.
SMISH, a shirt, or chemise. Corruption of the _Span_.—See MISH.
SMITHERS, or SMITHEREENS, “all to SMITHEREENS,” all to smash. SMITHER, is a _Lincolnshire_ word for a fragment.
SMOKE, to detect, or penetrate an artifice.
SMUDGE, to smear, obliterate, daub. Corruption of SMUTCH.—_Times_, 10th August, 1859.
SMUG, extremely neat, after the fashion, in order.
SMUG, to snatch another’s property and run.
SMUGGINGS, snatchings, or purloinings,—shouted out by boys, when snatching the tops, or small play property, of other lads, and then running off at full speed.
“Tops are in; spin ’em agin. Tops are out; SMUGGING about.”
SMUT, a copper boiler. Also, the “blacks” from a furnace.
SMUTTY, obscene,—vulgar as applied to conversation.
SNACK, booty, or share. Also, a light repast.—_Old cant and Gipsey term._
SNAFFLED, arrested, “pulled up,”—so termed from a kind of horse’s bit, called a SNAFFLE. In _East Anglia_, to SNAFFLE is to talk foolishly.
SNAGGLE TEETH, uneven, and unpleasant looking dental operators.—_West._ SNAGS (_Americanism_), ends of sunken drift-wood sticking out of the water, on which river steamers are often wrecked.
SNAGGLING, angling after geese with a hook and line, the bait being a worm or snail. The goose swallows the bait, and is quietly landed and bagged.
SNAGGY, cross, crotchetty, malicious.
SNAM, to snatch, or rob from the person.
SNAPPS, share, portion; any articles or circumstances out of which money may be made; “looking out for SNAPPS,” waiting for windfalls, or odd jobs.—_Old._ _Scotch_, CHITS,—term also used for “coppers,” or halfpence.
SNEAKSMAN, a shoplifter; a petty, cowardly thief.
SNEEZER, a snuff box; a pocket-handkerchief.
SNEEZE LURKER, a thief who throws snuff in a person’s face and then robs him.
SNID, a sixpence.—_Scotch._
SNIGGER, “I’m SNIGGERED if you will,” a mild form of swearing. Another form of this is JIGGERED.
SNIGGERING, laughing to oneself.—_East._
SNIP, a tailor.
SNIPE, a long bill; also a term for attorneys,—a race remarkable for their propensity to long bills.
SNIPES, “a pair of SNIPES,” a pair of scissors. They are occasionally made in the form of that bird.
SNITCHERS, persons who turn queen’s evidence, or who tell tales. In _Scotland_, SNITCHERS signify handcuffs.
SNOB, a low, vulgar, or affected person. Supposed to be from the nickname usually applied to a Crispin, or a maker of shoes; but believed by a writer in _Notes and Queries_ to be a contraction of the _Latin_, SINE OBOLO. A more probable derivation, however, has just been forwarded by an ingenious correspondent. He supposes that NOBS, _i.e._, _Nobiles_, was appended in lists to the names of persons of gentle birth, whilst those who had not that distinction were marked down as S. NOB., _i.e._, _sine nobilitate_, without marks of gentility,—thus reversing its meaning. Another “word-twister” remarks that, as at college sons of nobleman wrote after their names in the admission lists, _fil nob._, son of a lord, and hence all young noblemen were called NOBS, and what they did NOBBY, so those who imitated them would be called _quasi-nobs_, “like a nob,” which by a process of contraction would be shortened to _si-nob_, and then SNOB, one who pretends to be what he is not, and apes his betters. The short and expressive terms which many think fitly represent the three great estates of the realm, NOB, SNOB, and MOB, were all originally slang words. The last has safely passed through the vulgar ordeal of the streets, and found respectable quarters in the standard dictionaries.
SNOBBISH, stuck up, proud, make believe.
SNOB-STICK, a workman who refuses to join in strikes, or trade unions. Query, properly KNOB-STICK.
SNOOKS, an imaginary personage often brought forward as the answer to an idle question, or as the perpetrator of a senseless joke.
SNOOZE, or SNOODGE (vulgar pronunciation), to sleep or doze.
SNOT, a term of reproach applied to persons by the vulgar when vexed or annoyed. In a Westminster school vocabulary for boys, published in the last century, the term is curiously applied. Its proper meaning is the glandular mucus discharged through the nose.
SNOTTER, or WIPE-HAULER, a pickpocket who commits great depredations upon gentlemen’s pocket-handkerchiefs.—_North._
SNOTTINGER, a coarse word for a pocket-handkerchief. The German _schnupftuch_ is, however, nearly as plain. A handkerchief was also anciently called a MUCKINGER, or MUCKENDER.
SNOTS, small bream, a slimy kind of flat fish.—_Norwich._
SNOW, wet linen.
SNOW GATHERERS, or SNOW-DROPPERS, rogues who steal linen from hedges and drying grounds.
SNUFF, “up to SNUFF,” knowing and sharp; “to take SNUFF,” to be offended. _Shakespere_ uses SNUFF in the sense of anger, or passion. SNUFFY, tipsy.
SNYDER, a tailor. _German_, SCHNEIDER.
SOAP, flattery.—_See_ SOFT SOAP.
SOFT, foolish, inexperienced. An old term for bank notes.
SOFT-SOAP, or SOFT-SAWDER, flattery, ironical praise.
SOFT TACK, bread.—_Sea._
SOLD, “SOLD again! and the money taken,” gulled, deceived.—_Vide_ SELL.
SOLD UP, or OUT, broken down, bankrupt.
SOLDIER, a red herring.
SON OF A GUN, a contemptuous title for a man. In the army it is sometimes applied to an artilleryman.
SOOT BAG, a reticule.
SOP, a soft or foolish man. Abbreviation of MILKSOP.
SOPH (abbreviation of SOPHISTER), a title peculiar to the University of _Cambridge_. Undergraduates are _junior_ SOPHS before passing their “_Little Go_,” or first University examination,—_senior_ SOPHS after that.
SOUND, to pump, or draw information from a person in an artful manner.
SOW, the receptacle into which the liquid iron is poured in a gun-foundry. The melted metal poured from it is termed PIG.—_Workmen’s terms._
SOW’S BABY, a pig; sixpence.
SPANK, a smack, or hard slap.
SPANK, to move along quickly; hence a fast horse or vessel is said to be “a SPANKER to go.”
SPANKING, large, fine, or strong; _e.g._, a SPANKING pace, a SPANKING breeze, a SPANKING fellow.
SPECKS, damaged oranges.
SPEEL, to run away, make off; “SPEEL the drum,” to go off with stolen property.—_North._
SPELL, “to SPELL for a thing,” hanker after it, intimate a desire to possess it.
SPELLKEN, or SPEELKEN, a playhouse. _German_, SPIELEN.—_See_ KEN.—_Don Juan._
SPICK AND SPAN, applied to anything that is quite new and fresh.—_Hudibras._
SPIFFED, slightly intoxicated.—_Scotch slang._
SPIFFS, the percentage allowed by drapers to their young men when they effect a sale of old-fashioned or undesirable stock.
SPIFFY, spruce, well-dressed, _tout à la mode_.
SPIFLICATE, to confound, silence, or thrash.
SPILT, thrown from a horse or chaise.—_See_ PURL.
SPIN, to reject from an examination.—_Army._
SPIN-EM-ROUNDS, a street game consisting of a piece of brass, wood, or iron, balanced on a pin, and turned quickly around on a board, when the point, arrow shaped, stops at a number and decides the bet one way or the other. The contrivance very much resembles a sea compass, and was formerly the gambling accompaniment of London piemen. The apparatus then was erected on the tin lids of their pie cans, and the bets were ostensibly for pies, but more frequently for “coppers,” when no policeman frowned upon the scene, and when two or three apprentices or porters happened to meet.
SPINIKEN, a workhouse.
SPIRT, or SPURT, “to put on a SPIRT,” to make an increased exertion for a brief space, to attain one’s end; a nervous effort.
SPITFIRE, a passionate person.
SPLENDIFEROUS, sumptuous, first-rate.
SPLICE, to marry; “and the two shall become one flesh.”—_Sea._
SPLICE THE MAIN BRACE, to take a drink.—_Sea._
SPLIT, to inform against one’s companions, to tell tales. “To SPLIT with a person,” to cease acquaintanceship, to quarrel.
SPLODGER, a lout, an awkward countryman.
SPOFFY, a bustling busy-body is said to be SPOFFY.
SPONGE, “to throw up the SPONGE,” to submit, give over the struggle,—from the practice of throwing up the SPONGE used to cleanse the combatants’ faces, at a prize fight, as a signal that the “mill” is concluded.
SPOON, synonymous with SPOONEY. A SPOON has been defined to be “a thing that touches a lady’s lips without kissing them.”
SPOONEY, a weak-minded and foolish person, effeminate or fond; “to be SPOONEY on a girl,” to be foolishly attached to one.
SPOONS, “when I was SPOONS with you,” _i.e._, when young, and in our courting days before marriage.—_Charles Mathews_, in the farce of _Everybody’s Friend_.
SPORT, to exhibit, to wear, &c.,—a word which is made to do duty in a variety of senses, especially at the University. _See the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam._ “To SPORT a new tile;” “to SPORT an _Ægrotat_” (_i.e._, a permission from the “Dons” to abstain from lectures, &c., on account of illness); “to SPORT ONE’S OAK,” to shut the outer door and exclude the public,—especially _duns_, and boring acquaintances. Common also in the Inns of Court.—_See Notes and Queries_, 2nd series, vol. viii., p. 492, and _Gentleman’s Magazine_, December, 1794.
SPORTING DOOR, the outer door of chambers, also called the OAK.—_See_ under SPORT.—_University._
SPOTTED, to be known or marked by the police.
SPOUT, “up the SPOUT,” at the pawnbroker’s; SPOUTING, pawning.—_See_ POP for origin.
SPOUT, to preach, or make speeches; SPOUTER, a preacher or lecturer.
SPRAT, sixpence.
SPREAD, butter.
SPREAD, a lady’s shawl. SPREAD, at the _East_ end of London, a feast, or a TIGHTENER; at the _West_ end a fashionable reunion, an entertainment, display of good things.
SPREE, a boisterous piece of merriment; “going on the SPREE,” starting out with intent to have a frolic. _French_, ESPRIT. In the _Dutch_ language, SPREEUW is a jester.
SPRINGER-UP, a tailor who sells low-priced ready made clothing, and gives starvation wages to the poor men and women who “make up” for him. The clothes are said to be SPRUNG-UP, or “blown together.”
SPRY, active, strong, manly.—_Americanism._
SPUDDY, a seller of bad potatoes. In _Scotland_, a SPUD is a raw potato; and roasted SPUDS are those cooked in the cinders with their jackets on.
SPUNGING-HOUSE, the sheriff’s officer’s house, where prisoners, when arrested for debt, are sometimes taken. As extortionate charges are made there for accommodation, the name is far from inappropriate.
SPUNK, spirit, _fire_, courage, mettle.
“In that snug room, where any man of SPUNK Would find it a hard matter to get drunk.”
_Peter Pindar_, i., 245.
Common in _America_. For derivation see the following.
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 their pipes with.”
SPUNK-FENCER, a lucifer match seller.
SQUABBY, flat, short and thick.
SQUARE, honest; “on the SQUARE,” _i.e._, fair and strictly honest; “to turn SQUARE,” to reform, and get one’s living in an honest manner,—the opposite of CROSS.
SQUARE, “to be SQUARE with a man,” to be _even_ with him, or to be revenged; “to SQUARE up to a man,” to offer to fight him. _Shakespere_ uses SQUARE in the sense of to quarrel.
SQUARE COVE, an honest man.
SQUARE MOLL, an honest woman.
SQUARE RIGGED, well dressed.—_Sea._
SQUARING HIS NIBS, giving a policeman money.
SQUEEZE, silk.
SQUIB, a temporary _jeu d’esprit_, which, like the firework of that denomination, sparkles, bounces, stinks, and vanishes.—_Grose._
SQUINNY-EYED, squinting.—_Shakespere._
SQUIRT, a doctor, or chemist.
STAFF NAKED, gin.
STAG, a shilling.
STAG, a term applied during the railway mania to a speculator without capital, who took “scrip” in “_Diddlesex Junction_,” and other lines, _ejus et sui generis_, got the shares up to a premium, and then sold out. _Punch_ represented the house of Hudson, “the Railway King,” at Albert Gate, with a STAG on it, in allusion to this term.
STAG, to demand money, to “cadge.”
STAG, to see, discover, or watch,—like a STAG at gaze; “STAG the push,” look at the crowd. Also, to dun, or demand payment.
STAGGER, one who looks out, or watches.
STAGGERING BOB, an animal to whom the knife only just anticipates death from natural disease or accident,—said of meat on that account unfit for human food.
STALE, to evacuate urine.—_Stable term._
STALL, to lodge, or put up at a public house. Also, to act a part.—_Theatrical._
STALL, or STALL OFF, a dodge, a blind, or an excuse. STALL is _ancient cant_.
STALL OFF, to blind, excuse, hide, to screen a robbery during the perpetration of it by an accomplice.
STALL YOUR MUG, go away; spoken sharply by any one who wishes to get rid of a troublesome or inconvenient person.
STALLSMAN, an accomplice.
STAMPERS, shoes.—_Ancient cant._
STAND, “to STAND treat,” to pay for a friend’s entertainment; to bear expense; to put up with treatment, good or ill; “this house STOOD me in £1,000,” _i.e._, cost that sum; “to STAND PAD,” to beg on the curb with a small piece of paper pinned on the breast, inscribed “_I’m starving_.”
STANDING, the position at a street corner, or on the curb of a market street, regularly occupied by a costermonger, or street seller.
STANDING PATTERERS, men who take a stand on the curb of a public thoroughfare, and deliver prepared speeches to effect a sale of any articles they have to vend.—_See_ PATTERER.
STANGEY, a tailor; a person under petticoat government,—derived from the custom of “_riding the STANG_,” mentioned in Hudibras:—
“It is a custom used of course Where the grey mare is the better horse.”
STARK-NAKED (originally STRIP-ME-NAKED, _vide Randall’s Diary_, 1820), raw gin.—_Bulwer’s Paul Clifford._
STARCHY, stuck-up, high-notioned, showily dressed, disdainful, cross.
STAR IT, to perform as the centre of attraction, with inferior subordinates to set off one’s abilities.—_Theatrical._
STAR THE GLAZE, to break the window or show glass of a jeweller or other tradesman, and take any valuable articles, and run away. Sometimes the glass is cut with a diamond, and a strip of leather fastened to the piece of glass cut out to keep it from falling in and making a noise. Another plan is to cut the sash.
START, “THE START,” London,—the great starting point for beggars and tramps.
START, a proceeding of any kind; “a rum START,” an odd circumstance; “to get the START of a person,” to anticipate him, overreach him.
STASH, to cease doing anything, to refrain, be quiet, leave off; “STASH IT, there, you sir!” _i.e._, be quiet, sir; to give over a lewd or intemperate course of life is termed STASHING IT.
STEEL, the house of correction in London, formerly named the _Bastile_, but since shortened to STEEL.
STEEL BAR DRIVERS, or FLINGERS, journeymen tailors.
STEMS, the legs.
STEP IT, to run away, or make off.
STICK, a derogatory expression for a person; “a rum” or “odd STICK,” a curious man. More generally a “poor STICK.”—_Provincial._
STICK, “cut your STICK,” be off, or go away; either simply equivalent to a recommendation to prepare a walking staff in readiness for a journey—in allusion to the Eastern custom of cutting a stick before setting out—or from the ancient mode of reckoning by notches or tallies on a stick. In Cornwall the peasantry tally sheaves of corn by cuts in a stick, reckoning by the score. CUT YOUR STICK in this sense may mean to make your mark and pass on—and so realise the meaning of the phrase “IN THE NICK (or notch) OF TIME.” Sir J. Emerson Tennent, in _Notes and Queries_ (December, 1859), considers the phrase equivalent to “cutting the connection,” and suggests a possible origin in the prophets breaking the staves of “Beauty” and “Bands,”—_vide_ Zech., xi., 10, 14.
STICK, to cheat; “he got STUCK,” he was taken in; STICK, to forget one’s part in a performance—_Theatrical_; STICK ON, to overcharge or defraud; STICK UP FOR, to defend a person, especially when slandered in his absence; STICK UP TO, to persevere in courting or attacking, whether in fisty-cuffs or argument; “to STICK in one’s gizzard,” to rankle in one’s heart; “to STICK TO a person,” to adhere to one, be his friend through adverse circumstances.
STICKS, furniture, or household chattels; “pick up your STICKS and cut!” summary advice to a person to take himself and furniture away.—_Cumberland._
STICKS, pistols.—_Nearly obsolete._
STICK-UPS, or GILLS, shirt collars.
STICKINGS, bruised or damaged meat sold to sausage makers and penny pie shops.—_North._
STICKY, wax.
STIFF, paper, a bill of acceptance, &c.; “how did you get it, STIFF or _hard_?” _i.e._, did he pay you cash or give a bill?
STIFF FENCER, a street seller of writing paper.
STIFF ’UN, a corpse.—_Term used by undertakers._
STILTON, “that’s the STILTON,” or “it is not the STILTON,” _i.e._, that is quite the thing, or that is not quite the thing;—polite rendering of “that is not the CHEESE,” which see.
STINGO, strong liquor.—_Yorkshire._
STINK, a disagreeable exposure.
STINKOMALEE, a name given to the then New London University by Theodore Hook. Some question about _Trincomalee_ was agitated at the same time. It is still applied by the students of the old Universities, who regard it with disfavour from its admitting all denominations.
STIPE, a stipendiary magistrate.—_Provincial._
STIR, a prison, a lock-up; “IN STIR,” in jail. _Anglo Saxon_, STYR, correction, punishment.
STIR UP SUNDAY, the Sunday next before Advent, the collect for that day commencing with the words “Stir up.” Schoolboys, growing excited at the prospect of the vacation, irreverently commemorate it by stirring up—pushing and poking each other. CRIB CRUST MONDAY and TUG BUTTON TUESDAY are distinguished by similar tricks; while on PAY-OFF WEDNESDAY they retaliate small grudges in a playful facetious way. Forby says, good housewives in Norfolk consider themselves reminded by the name to mix the ingredients for their Christmas mince pies.
STOCKDOLAGER, a heavy blow, a “finisher.” _Italian_, STOCCADO, a fencing term.
STODGE, to surfeit, gorge, or clog with food.
STONE JUG, a prison.
STOOK, a pocket-handkerchief.
STOOK HAULER, or BUZZER, a thief who takes pocket-handkerchiefs.
STOP, a detective policeman.
STORY, a falsehood,—the soft synonyme for a _lie_, allowed in family circles and boarding-schools. A Puritanism that came in fashion with the tirade against romances, all novels and stories being considered as dangerous and false.
STOTOR, a heavy blow, a SETTLER.—_Old cant._
STOW, to leave off, or have done; “STOW IT, the gorger’s leary,” leave off, the person is looking. _See_ STASH, with which it is synonymous.—_Ancient cant._
STOW FAKING! leave off there, be quiet! FAKING implying anything that may be going on.
STRAW. Married ladies are said to be “in THE STRAW” at their _accouchements_. The phrase is a coarse allusion to farm-yard animals in a similar condition.
STRAWING, _selling_ straws in the streets (generally for a penny) and _giving_ the purchaser a paper (indecent or political), or a gold (!) ring,—neither of which the patterer states he is allowed to sell.
STREAK, to decamp, run away.—_Saxon._ In _America_ the phrase is “to make STREAKS,” or “make TRACKS.”
STREAKY, irritated, ill-tempered.
STREET PITCHERS, negro minstrels, ballad singers, long song men, men “working a board” on which have been painted various exciting scenes in some terrible drama, the details of which the STREET PITCHER is bawling out, and selling in a little book or broadsheet (price one penny); or any persons who make a stand in the streets, and sell articles for their living.
STRETCH, abbreviation of “STRETCH one’s neck,” to hang, be executed as a malefactor.—_Bulwer’s Paul Clifford._
STRETCH, twelve months,—generally used to intimate the time any one has been sentenced by the judge or magistrate. ONE STRETCH is to be imprisoned twelve months, TWO STRETCH is two years, THREE STRETCH is three years, and so on.
STRETCHER, a falsehood.
STRETCHER, a contrivance with handles, used by the police to carry off persons who are violent or drunk.
STRETCHER FENCER, one who sells braces.
STRETCHING MATCH, an execution.—_See_ STRETCH.
STRIKE ME LUCKY! an expression used by the lower orders when making a bargain, derived from the old custom of striking hands together, leaving in that of the seller a LUCK PENNY as an earnest that the bargain is concluded. In Ireland, at cattle markets, &c., a penny, or other small coin, is always given by the buyer to the seller to ratify the bargain.—_Hudibras._ Anciently this was called a GOD’S PENNY.
“With that he cast him a God’s peny.”—_Heir of Linne._
The origin of the phrase being lost sight of, like that of many others, it is often corrupted now-a-days into STRIKE ME SILLY.
STRIKE THE JIGGER, to pick the lock, or break open the door.
STROMMEL, straw.—_Ancient cant._ Halliwell says that in Norfolk STRUMMEL is a name for hair.
STRONG, “to come it STRONG.”—_See_ COME.
STUCK-UP, “purse-proud”—a form of snobbishness very common in those who have risen in the world. Mr. Albert Smith has written some amusing papers on the _Natural History of_ STUCK-UP _People_.
STUFF, money.
STUFF, to make false but plausible statements, to praise ironically, to make game of a person,—literally, to STUFF or CRAM him with gammon or falsehood.
STUMP, to go on foot.
STUMPED, bowled out, done for, bankrupt, poverty stricken.—_Cricketing term._
STUMPS, legs, or feet.
STUMPY, money.
STUMP UP, to pay one’s share, to pay the reckoning, to bring forth the money reluctantly.
STUN, to astonish.
STUNNER, a first-rate person or article.
STUNNERS, feelings of great astonishment; “it put the STUNNERS on me,” it confounded me.
STUNNING, first-rate, very good. “STUNNING pears,” shouts the coster, “only eight a penny.”—_Vide Athenæum_, 26th March, 1859. Sometimes amplified to STUNNING JOE BANKS! when the expression is supposed to be in its most intense form. JOE BANKS was a noted character in the last generation. He was the proprietor of a public-house in Dyott-street, Seven Dials, and afterwards, on the demolition of the Rookery, of another in Cranbourne-alley. His houses became well-known from their being the resort of the worst characters, at the same time that the strictest decorum was always maintained in them. JOE BANKS also acquired a remarkable notoriety by acting as a medium betwixt thieves and their victims. Upon the proper payment to Joe, a watch or a snuff box would at any time be restored to its lawful owner—“no questions in any case being asked.” The most daring depredators in London placed the fullest confidence in Joe, and it is believed (although the _Biographie Universelle_ is quiet upon this point) that he never, in any instance, “sold” them. He was of the middle height, stout, and strongly made, and was always noted for a showy pin, and a remarkably STUNNING _neck-tie_. It was this peculiarity in the costume of Mr. Banks, coupled with those true and tried qualities as a friend, for which, as I have just remarked, he was famous, that led his customers to proclaim him as STUNNING JOE BANKS! The Marquis of Douro, Colonel Chatterley, and men of their stamp, were accustomed to resort to a private room at his house, when too late or too early to gain admittance to the clubs or more aristocratic establishments.
STUNNED ON SKILLY, to be sent to prison and compelled to eat SKILLY, or SKILLIGOLEE.
STURABAN, a prison. _Gipsey_, DISTARABIN.
SUCK, a parasite, flatterer of the “nobs.”—_University._
SUCK, to pump, or draw information from a person.
SUCK-CASSA, a public-house.
SUCK THE MONKEY, to rob a cask of liquor by inserting a straw through a gimlet hole, and sucking a portion of the contents.
SUCK UP, “to SUCK UP to a person,” to insinuate oneself into his good graces.
SUFFERER, a tailor.
SUIT, a watch and seals.
SULKY, a one-horse chaise, having only room for one person.
SUN IN THE EYES, to have too much drink.—_Dickens._
SUP, abbreviation of _supernumerary_.—_Theatrical._
SUPER, a watch; SUPER-SCREWING, stealing watches.
SURF, an actor who frequently pursues another calling.—_Theat._
SWADDLER, a Wesleyan Methodist; a name originally given to members of that body by the Irish mob; said to have originated with an ignorant Romanist, to whom the words of the English Bible were a novelty, and who, hearing one of John Wesley’s preachers mention the _swaddling clothes_ of the Holy Infant, in a sermon on Christmas-day at Dublin, shouted out in derision, “_A swaddler! a swaddler!_” as if the whole story were the preacher’s invention.—_Southey’s Life of Wesley_, vol. ii., p. 109.
SWADDY, or COOLIE, a soldier. The former was originally applied to a discharged soldier, and perhaps came from shoddy, of which soldiers’ coats are made.
SWAG, a lot or plenty of anything, a portion or division of property. In Australia the term is used for the luggage carried by diggers: in India the word LOOT is used. _Scotch_, SWEG, or SWACK; _German_, SWEIG, a flock. _Old cant_ for a shop.
SWAG, booty, or plundered property; “collar the SWAG,” seize the booty.
SWAG-SHOP, a warehouse where “Brummagem” and general wares are sold,—fancy trinkets, plated goods, &c. Jews are the general proprietors, and the goods are excessively low priced, trashy, and showy. SWAG-SHOPS were formerly plunder depôts.—_Old cant._
SWAGSMAN, one who carries the booty after a burglary.
SWANKEY, cheap beer.—_West._
SWAP, to exchange. _Grose_ says it is _Irish_ cant, but the term is now included in most dictionaries as an allowed vulgarism.
SWEAT, to extract money from a person, to “bleed,” to squander riches.—_Bulwer._
SWEATER, common term for a “cutting” or “grinding” employer.
SWEEP, a low or shabby man.
SWEET, loving or fond; “how SWEET he was upon the moll,” _i.e._, what marked attention he paid the girl.
SWELL, a man of importance; a person with a showy, jaunty exterior; “a rank SWELL,” a very “flashly” dressed person, a man who by excessive dress apes a higher position than he actually occupies. Anything is said to be SWELL or SWELLISH that looks showy, or is many coloured, or is of a desirable quality. Dickens and Thackeray are termed great SWELLS in literature; so indeed are the first persons in the learned professions.
SWELL FENCER, a street salesman of needles.
SWELL HUNG IN CHAINS, said of a showy man in the habit of wearing much jewellery.
SWIG, to drink. _Saxon_, SWIGAN.
SWIG, a hearty drink.
SWIM, “a good SWIM,” a good run of luck, a long time out of the policeman’s clutches.—_Thieves’ term._
SWINDLER, although a recognised word in respectable dictionaries, commenced service as a slang term. It was used as such by the poor Londoners against the German Jews who set up in London about the year 1762, also by our soldiers in the German War about that time. SCHWINDEL, in _German_, signifies to cheat.
SWING, to be hanged.
SWINGING, large, huge.
SWIPES, sour or small beer. SWIPE, to drink.—_Sea._
SWIPEY (from SWIPES), intoxicated.
SWISHED, married.
SWIZZLE, small beer, drink.
SWOT, mathematics; also a mathematician; as a verb, to work hard for an examination, to be diligent in one’s studies.—_Army._
This word originated at the great slang manufactory for the army, the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in the broad Scotch pronunciation of Dr. Wallace, one of the Professors, of the word _sweat_.—_See Notes and Queries_, vol. i., p. 369.
T, “to suit to a T,” to fit to a nicety.—_Old._ Perhaps from the T-square of carpenters, by which the accuracy of work is tested.
TACKLE, clothes.—_Sea._
TAFFY (corruption of _David_), a Welshman. Compare SAWNEY (from _Alexander_), a Scotchman.
TAG-RAG-AND-BOBTAIL, a mixed crowd of low people, mobility.
TAIL BUZZER, a thief who picks coat pockets.
TAKE, to succeed, or be patronised; “do you think the new opera will TAKE?” “No, because the same company TOOK so badly under the old management;” “to TAKE ON,” to grieve; _Shakespere_ uses the word TAKING in this sense. To “TAKE UP for any one,” to protect or defend a person; “to TAKE OFF,” to mimic; “to TAKE heart,” to have courage; “to TAKE down a peg or two,” to humiliate, or tame; “to TAKE UP,” to reprove; “to TAKE AFTER,” to resemble; “to TAKE IN,” to cheat or defraud, from the lodging-house keepers’ advertisements, “single men TAKEN IN AND DONE FOR,”—an engagement which is as frequently performed in a bad as a good sense; “to TAKE THE FIELD,” when said of a _General_, to commence operations against the enemy; when a _racing man_ TAKES THE FIELD he stakes his money against the favourite.
TAKE BEEF, to run away.
TAKE IN, a cheating or swindling transaction,—sometimes termed “a DEAD TAKE IN.” _Shakespere_ has TAKE IN in the sense of conquering. TO BE HAD, or TO BE SPOKE TO, were formerly synonymous phrases with TO BE TAKEN IN.
TALLY, five dozen bunches of turnips.
TAN, to beat or thrash; I’ll TAN your hide, _i.e._, give you a good beating.
TANNER, a sixpence. _Gipsey_, TAWNO, little, or _Latin_, TENER, slender?
TANNY, or TEENY, little. _Gipsey_, TAWNO, little.
TANTREMS, pranks, capers, or frolicking; from the _Tarantula_ dance? See account of the involuntary phrensy and motions caused by the bite of the tarantula in Italy.—_Penny Cyclopædia._
TAPE, gin,—term with female servants.
TAPER, to gradually give over, to run short.
TAP TUB, the _Morning Advertiser_.
TAT BOX, a dice box.
TATER, “s’elp my TATER,” another street evasion of a profane oath, sometimes varied by “s’elp my GREENS.”
TATLER, a watch; “nimming a TATLER,” stealing a watch.
TATS, dice.
TATS, old rags; MILKY TATS, white rags.
TATTING, gathering old rags.
TAW, a large or principal marble; “I’ll be one on your TAW,” I will pay you out, or be even with you,—a simile taken from boys aiming always at winning the TAW when playing at marbles.
TEAGUELAND, Ireland.
TEETH, “he has cut his _eye_ TEETH,” _i.e._, is old and cute enough.
TEETH-DRAWING, wrenching off knockers.
TEETOTALLER, a total abstainer from alcoholic drinks.
TEETOTALLY, amplification of TOTALLY.
TELL-ON, to tell about.
TENPENCE TO THE SHILLING, a vulgar phrase denoting a deficiency in intellect.
TESTER, sixpence. From TESTONE, a shilling in the reign of Henry VIII., but a sixpence in the time of Q. Elizabeth.—_Shakespere._ _French_, TESTE, or TETE, the head of the monarch on the coin.
TEVISS, a shilling.
THEATRE, a police court.
THICK, intimate, familiar. _Scotch_, CHIEF; “the two are very CHIEF now,” _i.e._, friendly.
THICK-UN, a sovereign; a crown piece, or five shillings.
THIMBLE, or YACK, a watch.
THIMBLE-RIG, a noted cheating game played at fairs and places of great public thronging, consisting of two or three thimbles rapidly and dexterously placed over a pea, when the THIMBLE-RIGGER, suddenly ceasing, asks you under which thimble the pea is to be found. If you are not a practised hand you will lose nine times out of ten any bet you may happen to make with him. The pea is sometimes concealed under his nail.
THIMBLE TWISTERS, thieves who rob persons of their watches.
THINSKINNED, over nice, petulant, apt to get a “raw.”
THREE SHEETS IN THE WIND, unsteady from drink.—_Sea._
THREE-UP, a gambling game played by costers. Three halfpennies are thrown up, and when they fall all “heads,” or all “tails,” it is a mark; and the man who gets the greatest number of marks out of a given amount—three, five, or more—wins. The costers are very quick and skilful at this game, and play fairly at it amongst themselves; but should a stranger join in they invariably unite to cheat him.
THRUMS, threepence.
THRUMMER, a threepenny bit.
THRUPS, threepence.
THUMPING, large, fine, or strong.
THUNDERER, the _Times_ newspaper.
THUNDERING, large, extra-sized.
TIBBING OUT, going out of bounds.—_Charterhouse._
TICK, credit, trust. _Johnson_ says it is a corruption of _ticket_,—tradesmen’s bills being formerly written on tickets or cards. ON TICK, therefore, is equivalent to _on ticket_, or on trust. In use 1668. Cuthbert Bede, in _Notes and Queries_, supplies me with an earlier date, from the _Gradus ad Cantabrigiam_.
“No matter upon landing whether you have money or no—you may swim in twentie of their boats over the river UPON TICKET.”—_Decker’s Gul’s Hornbook_, 1609.
TICKER, a watch.
TICKET, “that’s the TICKET,” _i.e._, what was wanted, or what is best. Corruption of “that is not _etiquette_,” by adding, in vulgar pronunciation, _th_ to the first _e_ of etiquette; or, perhaps, from TICKET, a bill or invoice. This phrase is sometimes extended into “that’s the TICKET FOR SOUP,” in allusion to the card given to beggars for immediate relief at soup kitchens.—_See_ TICK.
TIDY, tolerably, or pretty well; “how did you get on to-day”—“Oh, TIDY.”—_Saxon._
TIED UP, given over, finished; also married, in allusion to the Hymenial knot, unless a jocose allusion be intended to the _halter_ (altar).
TIFFIN, a breakfast, _dejeuner a la fourchette_.—_Anglo Indian slang._
TIGER, a boy employed to wait on _gentlemen_; one who waits on ladies is a page.
TIGHT, close, stingy; hard up, short of cash; TIGHT, spruce, strong,
## active; “a TIGHT lad,” a smart, active young fellow; TIGHT, drunk, or
nearly so; “TIGHT laced,” puritanical, over-precise. Money is said to be TIGHT, when the public, from want of confidence in the aspect of affairs, are not inclined to speculate.
TIGHTNER, a dinner, or hearty meal.
TIKE, or BUFFER LURKING, dog stealing.
TILE, a hat; a covering for the head.
“I’m a gent, I’m a gent, In the Regent-street style,— Examine my vest, And look at my TILE.”—_Popular Song._
Sometimes used in another sense, “having a TILE loose,” _i.e._, being slightly crazy.—_See_ PANTILE.
TIMBER MERCHANT, or SPUNK FENCER, a lucifer match seller.
TIME O’ DAY, a dodge, the latest aspect of affairs; “that’s your TIME O’ DAY,” _i.e._, _Euge_, well done; to PUT A PERSON UP TO THE TIME O’ DAY, let him know what is o’clock,—to instruct him in the knowledge needful for him.
TIN, money,—generally applied to silver.
TINGE, the percentage allowed by drapers and clothiers to their assistants, upon the sale of old-fashioned articles.—_See_ SPIFFS.
TIN-POT, “he plays a TIN-POT game,” _i.e._, a low or shabby one.—_Billiards._
TIP, a douceur; also to give, lend, or hand over anything to another person; “come, TIP up the tin,” _i.e._, hand up the money; “TIP the wink,” to inform by winking; “TIP us your fin,” _i.e._, give me your hand; “TIP one’s boom off,” to make off, depart.—_Sea._ “To miss one’s TIP,” to fail in a scheme.—_Old cant._
TIP THE DOUBLE, to “bolt,” or run away from a creditor or officer. Sometimes TIP THE DOUBLE TO SHERRY, _i.e._, to the sheriff.
TIP-TOP, first-rate, of the best kind.
TIPTOPPER, a “swell,” or dressy man, a “_Gorger_.”
TIT, favourite name for a horse.
TIT FOR TAT, an equivalent.
TITIVATE, to put in order, or dress up.
TITLEY, drink.
TITTER, a girl.
’TIZER, the _Morning Advertiser_.
TIZZY, a sixpence. Corruption of TESTER.
TOASTING FORK, derisive term for a sword.
TOBY CONSARN, a highway expedition.
TOBY, a road; “high TOBY,” the turnpike road. “High TOBY spice,” robbery on horse-back.—_Don Juan_, canto xi., 19.
TODDLE, to walk as a child.
TO-DO (pronounced quickly, and as one word), a disturbance, trouble; “here’s a pretty TO-DO,” here is an unpleasant difficulty. This exactly tallies with the _French_ word AFFAIRE (_a faire_).—_See Forby’s Vocabulary of East Anglia._
TOFFER, a well dressed, “gay” woman.
TOFFICKY, dressy, showy.
TOFT, a showy individual, a SWELL, a person who, according to a Yorkshireman’s vocabulary, is UP-ISH.
TOG, a coat. _Latin_, TOGA.—_Ancient cant._
TOG, to dress, or equip with an outfit; “TOGGED out to the nines,” dressed in the first style.
TOGS, clothes; “Sunday TOGS,” best clothes. One of the oldest cant words, in use in the time of Henry VIII.
TOGERY, clothes, harness, domestic paraphernalia of any kind.
TOKE, dry bread.
TOL-LOL, or TOL-LOLISH, tolerable, or tolerably.
TOMMY.—_See_ DICKEY.
TOMMY, bread,—generally a penny roll.
TOMMY, a truck, barter, the exchange of labour for goods, not money. Both term and practice general among English operatives for half-a century.
TOMMY-MASTER, one who pays his workmen in goods, or gives them tickets upon tradesmen, with whom he shares the profit.
TOMMY SHOP, where wages are generally paid to mechanics or others, who are expected to “take out” a portion of the money in goods.
TOM-TOM, a street instrument, a small kind of drum beaten with the fingers, somewhat like the ancient tabor; a performer on this instrument. It was imported, doubtless, with the _Nigger_ melodies,—TOM-TOMS being a favourite instrument with the darkies.
TONGUED, talkative; “to TONGUE a person,” _i.e._, talk him down.
TOOL, “a poor TOOL,” a bad hand at anything.
TOOL, to drive a mail coach.
TOOL, to pick pockets.
TOOLER, a pickpocket. MOLL-TOOLER, a female pickpocket.
TOOTH, “he has cut his eye TOOTH,” _i.e._, he is sharp enough, or old enough, to be so; “up in the TOOTH,” far advanced in age,—said often of old maids. _Stable term_ for aged horses which have lost the distinguishing mark in their teeth.
TOPHEAVY, drunk.
TOPPED, hung or executed.
TOP-SAWYER, the principal of a party, or profession. “A TOP-SAWYER, signifies a man that is a master genius in any profession. It is a piece of _Norfolk_ slang, and took its rise from Norfolk being a great timber county, where the _top_ sawyers get double the wages of those beneath them.”—_Randall’s Diary_, 1820.
TOPS, dying speeches and gallows broadsides.
TOPSY-TURVY, the bottom upwards. _Grose_ gives an ingenious etymology of this once cant term, viz., “_top-side turf-ways_,”—turf being always laid the wrong side upwards.
TO-RIGHTS, excellent, very well, or good.
TORPIDS, the second-class race-boats at Oxford, answering to the Cambridge SLOGGERS.
TOSHERS, men who steal copper from ships’ bottoms in the Thames.
TOSS, a measure of sprats.
TOUCHED, slightly intoxicated.
TOUCHER, “as near as a TOUCHER,” as near as possible without actually touching.—_Coaching term._ The old jarveys, to show their skill, used to drive against things so close as absolutely to _touch_, yet without injury. This they called a TOUCHER, or, TOUCH AND GO, which was hence applied to anything which was within an ace of ruin.
TOUCHY, peevish, irritable. _Johnson_ terms it a low word.
TOUT, to look out, or watch.—_Old cant._
TOUTER, a looker out, one who watches for customers, a hotel runner.
TOWEL, to beat or whip. In _Warwickshire_ an oaken stick is termed a TOWEL—whence, perhaps, the vulgar verb.
TOWELLING, a rubbing down with an _oaken_ TOWEL, a beating.
TRACKS, “to make TRACKS,” to run away.—_See_ STREAK.
TRANSLATOR, a man who deals in old shoes or clothes, and refits them for cheap wear.
TRANSLATORS, second-hand boots mended and polished, and sold at a low price. Monmouth-street, Seven Dials, is a great market for TRANSLATORS.
TRANSMOGRIPHY, to alter or change.
TRAP, a “fast” term for a carriage of any kind. TRAPS, goods and chattels of any kind, but especially luggage and personal effects; in Australia, SWAG.
TRAP, “up to TRAP,” knowing, wide awake,—synonymous with “up to SNUFF.”
TRAP, a sheriff’s officer.
TRAPESING, gadding or gossiping about in a slatternly way.—_North._
TRAVELLER, name given by one tramp to another. “A TRAVELLER at her Majesty’s expense,” _i.e._, a transported felon, a convict.
TREE, “up a TREE,” in temporary difficulties,—out of the way. _American expression_, derived from RACCOON or BEAR-HUNTING. When Bruin is TREED, or is forced UP A TREE by the dogs, it means that then the tug of war begins.—_See_ ’COON. Hence when an opponent is fairly run to bay, and can by no evasion get off, he is said to be TREED. These expressions originated with Colonel Crockett. In _Scotland_ the phrase is “up a CLOSE,” _i.e._, a passage, out of the usual track, or removed from observation.
TRINE, to hang.—_Ancient cant._
TROLLING, sauntering or idling.
TROLLY, or TROLLY-CARTS, term given by costermongers to a species of narrow cart, which can either be drawn by a donkey, or driven by hand.
TROTTER, a tailor’s man who goes round for orders.—_University._
TROTTER CASES, shoes.
TROTTERS, feet. Sheep’s TROTTERS, boiled sheep’s feet, a favourite street delicacy.
TRUCK, to exchange or barter.
TRUCK-GUTTED, pot-bellied, corpulent.—_Sea._
TRUCKS, trowsers.
TRUMP, a good fellow; “a regular TRUMP,” a jolly or good natured person,—in allusion to a TRUMP card; “TRUMPS may turn up,” _i.e._, fortune may yet favour me.
TUB THUMPING, preaching or speech making.
TUCK, a schoolboy’s term for fruit, pastry, &c. TUCK IN, or TUCK OUT, a good meal.
TUFTS, fellow commoners, _i.e._, wealthy students at the University, who pay higher fees, dine with the Dons, and are distinguished by golden TUFTS, or tassels, in their caps.
TUFT-HUNTER, a hanger on to persons of quality or wealth. Originally _University slang_, but now general.
TUMBLE, to comprehend or understand. A coster was asked what he thought of _Macbeth_,—“the witches and the fighting was all very well, but the other moves I couldn’t TUMBLE to exactly; few on us can TUMBLE to the jaw-breakers; they licks us, they do.”
TURF, horse racing, and betting thereon; “on the TURF,” one who occupies himself with race course business; said also of a street-walker, nymph of the pavé.
TURKEY-MERCHANTS, dealers in plundered or contraband silk. Poulterers are sometimes termed TURKEY MERCHANTS, in remembrance of Horne Tooke’s answer to the boys at Eton, who wished in an aristocratic way to know who _his_ father was,—a TURKEY MERCHANT, replied Tooke;—his father was a poulterer. TURKEY MERCHANT, also, was formerly slang for a driver of turkeys or geese to market.
TURNED OVER, to be stopped and searched by the police.
TURNED UP, acquitted by the magistrate or judge for want of evidence.
TURNER OUT, a coiner of bad money.
TURN OUT, personal show or appearance; a man with a showy carriage and horses is said to have a good TURN OUT.
TURNOVER, an apprentice who finishes with a second master the indentures he commenced with the first.
TURNPIKE-SAILORS, beggars who go about dressed as sailors.
TURN UP, a street fight; a sudden leaving, or making off.
TURN UP, to quit, change, abscond, or abandon; “Ned has TURNED UP,” _i.e._ run away; “I intend TURNING IT UP,” _i.e._ leaving my present abode or altering my course of life. Also to happen; let’s wait, and see what will TURN UP.
TUSHEROON, a crown piece, five shillings.
TUSSLE, a pull, struggle, fight, or argument. _Johnson_ and _Webster_ call it a vulgar word.
TUSSLE, to struggle, or argue.
TWELVER, a shilling.
TWIG, style, _à-la-mode_; “get your strummel faked in TWIG,” _i.e._, have your hair dressed in style; PRIME TWIG, in good order, and high spirits.—_Pugilistic._
TWIG, “to hop the TWIG,” to decamp, “cut one’s stick,” to die.
TWIG, to understand, detect, or observe.
TWIST, brandy and gin mixed.
TWIST, appetite; “Will’s got a capital TWIST.”
TWITCHETTY, nervous, fidgetty.
TWITTER, “all in a TWITTER,” in a fright, or fidgetty state.
TWO-HANDED, awkward.
TWOPENNY, the head; “tuck in your TWOPENNY,” bend down your head.
TWOPENNY-HOPS, low dancing rooms, the price of admission to which was formerly—and not infrequently now—two pence. The clog hornpipe, the pipe dance, flash jigs, and hornpipes in fetters, _à la_ Jack Sheppard, are the favourite movements, all entered into with great spirit and “joyous, laborious capering.”—_Mayhew._
TYBURN COLLAR, the fringe of beard worn under the chin.—_See_ NEWGATE COLLAR.
TYE, or TIE, a neckerchief. Proper hosier’s term now, but slang thirty years ago, and as early as 1718. Called also, SQUEEZE.
UNBETTY, to unlock.—_See_ BETTY.
UNCLE, the pawnbroker.—_See_ MY UNCLE.
UNDER THE ROSE.—_See_ ROSE.
UNICORN, a style of driving with two wheelers abreast, and one leader,—termed in the _United States_, a SPIKE TEAM. TANDEM is one wheeler and one leader. RANDOM, three horses in line.
UNUTTERABLES, trousers—_See_ INEXPRESSIBLES.
UNWHISPERABLES, trousers.
UP, “to be UP to a thing or two,” to be knowing, or understanding; “to put a man UP to a move,” to teach him a trick; “it’s all UP with him,” _i.e._, it is all over with him, often pronounced U.P., naming the two letters separately; “UP a tree,” see TREE; “UP to TRAP,” “UP to SNUFF,” wide awake, acquainted with the last new move; “UP to one’s GOSSIP,” to be a match for one who is trying to take you in;—“UP to SLUM,” proficient in roguery, capable of committing a theft successfully.
UPPER BENJAMIN, a great coat.
UPPER STOREY, or UPPER LOFT, a person’s head; “his UPPER STOREY is unfurnished,” _i.e._, he does not know very much.
UPPISH, proud, arrogant.
USED UP, broken-hearted, bankrupt, fatigued.
VAMOS, or VAMOUS, to go, or be off. _Spanish_, VAMOS, “let us go!” Probably NAMUS or NAMOUS the costermonger’s word, was from this, although it is generally considered back slang.
VAMPS, old stockings. From VAMP, to piece.
VARDO, to look; “VARDO the cassey,” look at the house. VARDO formerly was _old cant_ for a wagon.
VARMENT, “you young VARMENT, you!” you bad, or naughty boy. Corruption of _vermin_.
VELVET, the tongue.
VERTICAL-CARE-GRINDER, the treadmill.
VIC., the Victoria Theatre, London,—patronised principally by costermongers and low people; also the street abbreviation of the Christian name of her Majesty the Queen.
VILLAGE, or THE VILLAGE, _i.e._, London.—_Sporting._
VILLE, or VILE, a town or village.—pronounced _phial_, or _vial_.—_French._
VINNIED, mildewed, or sour.—_Devonshire._
VOKER, to talk; “can you VOKER Romany?” can you speak the canting language.—_Latin_, VOCARE; _Spanish_, VOCEAR.
WABBLE, to move from side to side, to roll about. _Johnson_ terms it a “low, barbarous word.”
WALKER! or HOOKEY WALKER! an ejaculation of incredulity, said when a person is telling a story which you know to be all gammon, or false. The _Saturday Reviewer’s_ explanation of the phrase is this:—“Years ago, there was a person named _Walker_, an aquiline-nosed Jew, who exhibited an orrery, which he called by the erudite name of _Eidouranion_. He was also a popular lecturer on astronomy, and often invited his pupils, telescope in hand, to _take a sight_ at the moon and stars. The lecturer’s phrase struck his school-boy auditory, who frequently “took a sight” with that gesture of outstretched arm, and adjustment to nose and eye, which was the first garnish of the popular saying. The next step was to assume phrase and gesture as the outward and visible mode of knowingness in general.” A correspondent, however, denies this, and states that HOOKEY WALKER was a magistrate of dreaded acuteness and incredulity, whose hooked nose gave the title of BEAK to all his successors; and, moreover, that the gesture of applying the thumb to the nose and agitating the little finger, as an expression of “Don’t you wish you may get it?” is considerably older than the story in the _Saturday Review_ would seem to indicate. There is a third explanation of HOOKEY WALKER in _Notes and Queries_, iv., 425.
WALK INTO, to overcome, to demolish; “I’ll WALK INTO his affections” _i.e._, I will scold or thrash him. The word DRIVE (which see) is used in an equally curious sense in slang speech.
WALK OVER, a re-election without opposition.—_Parliamentary_, but derived from the _Turf_, where a horse—which has no rivals entered—WALKS OVER the course, and wins without exertion.
WALK-THE-BARBER, to lead a girl astray.
WALK YOUR CHALKS, be off, or run away,—spoken sharply by any one who wishes to get rid of you.—_See_ CHALKS.
WALL-FLOWER, a person who goes to a ball, and looks on without dancing, either from choice or not being able to obtain a partner.
WALL-FLOWERS, left-off and “regenerated” clothes, exposed for sale in Monmouth-street.
WALLOP, to beat, or thrash. Mr. John Gough Nichols derives this word from an ancestor of the Earl of Portsmouth, one Sir John Wallop, Knight of the Garter, who, in King Henry VIII.’s time, distinguished himself by WALLOPING the French; but it is more probably connected with WEAL, a livid swelling in the skin, after a blow.—_See_ POT WALLOPER.
WALLOPING, a beating or thrashing; sometimes in an adjective sense, as big, or very large.
WAPPING, or WHOPPING, of a large size, great.
WARM, rich, or well off.
WARM, to thrash, or beat; “I’ll WARM your jacket.”
WASH, “it won’t WASH,” _i.e._, will not stand investigation, is not genuine, can’t be believed.
WATCHMAKER, a pickpocket, or stealer of watches.
WATCH AND SEALS, a sheep’s head and pluck.
WATER-BEWITCHED, very weak tea, the third brew (or the first at some houses), grog much diluted.
WATER OF LIFE, gin.
WATERMAN, a light blue silk handkerchief. The Oxford and Cambridge boats’ crews always wear these—light blue for Cambridge, and a darker shade for Oxford.
WATTLES, ears.
WAXY, cross, ill-tempered.
WEDGE, silver.—_Old cant._
WEDGE-FEEDER, silver spoon.
WEED, a cigar; _the_ WEED, tobacco generally.
WELL, to pocket, or place as in a well.
WENCH, provincial and old-fashioned term for a girl, derived from WINK. In _America_, negro girls only are termed WENCHES.
WEST CENTRAL, a water-closet, the initials being the same as those of the London Postal District. It is said that for this reason very delicate people refuse to obey Rowland Hill’s instructions in this
## particular.
WET, a drink, a “drain.”
WET, to drink. Low people generally ask an acquaintance to WET any recently purchased article, _i.e._, to stand treat on the occasion; “WET your whistle,” _i.e._, take a drink; “WET the other eye,” _i.e._, take another glass.
WET QUAKER, a drunkard of that sect; a man who pretends to be religious, and is a dram drinker on the sly.
WHACK, a share or lot; “give me my WHACK,” give me my share. _Scotch_, SWEG, or SWACK.
WHACK, to beat; WHACK, or WHACKING, a blow or thrashing.
WHACKING, large, fine, or strong.
WHALE, “very like a WHALE in a teacup,” said of anything that is very improbable; taken from a speech of Polonius in _Hamlet_.
WHEEDLE, to entice by soft words. “This word cannot be found to derive itself from any other, and therefore is looked upon as wholly invented by the CANTERS.”—_Triumph of Wit_, 1705.
WHERRET, or WORRIT, to scold, trouble, or annoy.—_Old English._
WHIDDLE, to enter into a parley, or hesitate with many words, &c.; to inform, or discover.
WHIDS, words.—_Old Gipsey cant._
WHIM-WAM, an alliterative term, synonymous with _fiddle-faddle_, _riff-raff_, &c., denoting nonsense, rubbish, &c.
WHIP, to “WHIP anything _up_,” to take it up quickly; from the method of hoisting heavy goods or horses on board ship by a WHIP, or running tackle, from the yard-arm. Generally used to express anything dishonestly taken.—_L’Estrange_ and _Johnson_.
WHIP JACK, a sham shipwrecked sailor, called also a TURNPIKE sailor.
WHIPPER-SNAPPER, a waspish, diminutive person.
WHIPPING THE CAT, when an operative works at a private house by the day. Term used amongst tailors and carpenters.
WHISKER. There is a curious slang phrase connected with this word. When an improbable story is told, the remark is, “the mother of that was a WHISKER,” meaning it is a lie.
WHISTLE, “as clean as a WHISTLE,” neatly, or “SLICKLY done,” as an American would say; “to WET ONE’S WHISTLE,” to take a drink. This is a very old term. _Chaucer_ says of the Miller of Trumpington’s wife (_Canterbury Tales_, 4153)—
“So was hir joly WHISTAL well Y-WET;”
“to WHISTLE FOR ANYTHING,” to stand small chance of getting it, from the nautical custom of _whistling_ for a wind in a calm, which of course comes none the sooner for it.
WHITE FEATHER, “to show the WHITE FEATHER,” to evince cowardice. In the times when great attention was paid to the breeding of game-cocks, a white feather in the tail was considered a proof of cross-breeding.
WHITE LIE, a harmless lie, one told to reconcile people at variance; “mistress is not at home, sir,” is a WHITE LIE often told by servants.
WHITE LIVER’D, or LIVER FACED, cowardly, much afraid, very mean.
WHITE PROP, a diamond pin.
WHITE SATIN, gin,—term amongst women.
WHITE TAPE, gin,—term used principally by female servants.
WHITE WINE, the fashionable term for gin.
“Jack Randall then impatient rose, And said, ‘Tom’s speech were just as fine If he would call that first of GO’S By that genteeler name—WHITE WINE.’”
_Randall’s Diary_, 1820.
WHITECHAPEL, or WESTMINSTER BROUGHAM, a costermonger’s donkey-barrow.
WHITECHAPEL, the “upper-cut,” or strike.—_Pugilistic._
WHITEWASH, when a person has taken the benefit of the Insolvent Act he is said to have been WHITEWASHED.
WHOP, to beat, or hide. Corruption of WHIP sometimes spelled WAP.
WHOP-STRAW, cant name for a countryman; _Johnny_ WHOP-STRAW, in allusion to threshing.
WHOPPER, a big one, a lie.
WIDDLE, to shine.—_See_ OLIVER.
WIDE-AWAKE, a broad-brimmed felt, or stuff hat,—so called because it never had a _nap_, and never wants one.
WIDO, wide awake, no fool.
WIFE, a fetter fixed to one leg.—_Prison._
WIFFLE-WOFFLES, in the dumps, sorrow, stomach ache.
WIGGING, a rebuke _before comrades_. If the head of a firm calls a clerk into the parlour, and rebukes him, it is an _earwigging_; if done before the other clerks, it is a WIGGING.
WILD, a village.—_Tramps’ term._—_See_ VILE.
WILD, vexed, cross, passionate. In the United States the word _mad_ is supplemented with a vulgar meaning similar to our Cockneyism, WILD; and to make a man MAD on the other side of the Atlantic is to vex him, or “rile” his temper—not to render him a raving maniac, or a fit subject for Bedlam.
WILD OATS, youthful pranks.
WIND, “to raise the WIND,” to procure money; “to slip one’s WIND,” coarse expression meaning to die.
WIND, “I’ll WIND your cotton,” _i.e._, I will give you some trouble. The Byzantine General, Narses, used the same kind of threat to the Greek Empress,—“I will spin such a thread that they shall not be able to unravel.”
WINDED-SETTLED, transported for life.
WINDOWS, the eyes, or “peepers.”
WINEY, intoxicated.
WINKIN, “he went off like WINKIN,” _i.e._, very quickly.
WINKS, periwinkles.
WINN, a penny.—_Ancient cant._
WIPE, a pocket handkerchief.—_Old cant._
WIPE, a blow.
WIPE, to strike; “he fetcht me a WIPE over the knuckles,” he struck me on the knuckles; “to WIPE a person down,” to flatter or pacify a person; to WIPE off a score, to pay one’s debts, in allusion to the slate or chalk methods of account keeping; “to WIPE a person’s eye,” to shoot game which he has missed—_Sporting term_; hence to obtain an advantage by superior activity.
WIRE, a thief with long fingers, expert at picking ladies’ pockets.
WOBBLESHOP, where beer is sold without a license.
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._
WOODEN WEDGE, the last name in the classical honours list at Cambridge. The last in mathematical honours had long been known as the WOODEN SPOON; but when the classical Tripos was instituted, in 1824, it was debated among the undergraduates what _sobriquet_ should be given to the last on the examination list. Curiously enough, the name that year which happened to be last was WEDGEWOOD (a distinguished Wrangler). Hence the title.
WOOL, courage, pluck; “you are not half-WOOLLED,” term of reproach from one thief to another.
WOOLBIRD, a lamb; “wing of a WOOLBIRD,” a shoulder of lamb.
WOOL-GATHERING, said of any person’s wits when they are wandering, or in a reverie.—_Florio._
WOOL-HOLE, the workhouse.
WORK, to plan, or lay down and execute any course of action, to perform anything; “to WORK the BULLS,” _i.e._, to get rid of false crown pieces; “to WORK the ORACLE,” to succeed by manœuvring, to concert a wily plan, to victimise,—a possible reference to the stratagems and bribes used to corrupt the _Delphic oracle_, and cause it to deliver a favourable response. “To WORK a street or neighbourhood,” trying at each house to sell all one can, or so bawling that every housewife may know what you have to sell. The general plan is to drive a donkey barrow a short distance, and then stop and cry. The term implies thoroughness; to “WORK a street well” is a common saying with a coster.
WORM, _see_ PUMP.
WORMING, removing the beard of an oyster or muscle.
W.P., or WARMING PAN. A clergyman who holds a living _pro tempore_, under a bond of resignation, is styled a W.P., or WARMING PAN rector, because he keeps the place warm for his successor.—_Clerical slang._
WRINKLE, an idea, or fancy; an additional piece of knowledge which is supposed to be made by a WRINKLE _à posteriori_.
WRITE, “to WRITE ONE’S NAME on a joint,” to have the first cut at anything,—leaving sensible traces of one’s presence on it.
YACK, a watch; to “_church_ a YACK,” to take it out of its case to avoid detection.
YARD OF CLAY, a long, old-fashioned tobacco pipe, also called a _churchwarden_.
YARMOUTH CAPON, a bloater, or red herring.—_Old_—_Ray’s Proverbs._
YARN, a long story, or tale; “a tough YARN,” a tale hard to be believed; “spin a YARN,” tell a tale.—_Sea._
YAY-NAY, “a poor YAY-NAY” fellow, one who has no conversational power, and can only answer _yea_ or _nay_ to a question.
YELLOW BELLY, a native of the Fens of Lincolnshire, or the Isle of Ely,—in allusion to the frogs and a yellow-bellied eel caught there; they are also said to be _web-footed_.
YELLOW-BOY, a sovereign, or any gold coin.
YELLOW-GLOAK, a jealous man.
YELLOW-JACK, the yellow fever prevalent in the West Indies.
YELLOW-MAN, a yellow silk handkerchief.
YOKEL, a countryman.—_West._
YOKUFF, a chest, or large box.
YORKSHIRE, “to YORKSHIRE,” or “come YORKSHIRE over any person,” is to cheat or BITE them.—_North._
YORKSHIRE ESTATES, “I will do it when I come into my YORKSHIRE ESTATES,”—meaning if I ever have the money or the means. The phrase is said to have originated with _Dr. Johnson_.
YOUNKER, in street language, a lad or a boy. Term in general use amongst costermongers, cabmen, and old-fashioned people. _Barnefield’s Affectionate Shepherd_, 1594, has the phrase, “a seemelie YOUNKER.” _Danish_ and _Friesic_, JONKER. In the _Navy_, a naval cadet is usually termed a YOUNKER.
YOUR-NIBS, yourself.
ZIPH, LANGUAGE OF, a way of disguising English in use among the students at _Winchester College_. Compare MEDICAL GREEK.
ZOUNDS, a sudden exclamation,—abbreviation of _God’s wounds_.
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE BACK SLANG,
THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF COSTERMONGERS.
The costermongers of London number between thirty and forty thousand. Like other low tribes, they boast a language, or secret tongue, in which they hide their earnings, movements, and other private affairs. This costers’ speech, as Mayhew remarks, offers no new fact, or approach to a fact, for philologists; it is not very remarkable for originality of construction; neither is it spiced with low humour, as other cant. But the costermongers boast that it is known only to themselves; that it is far beyond the Irish, and puzzles the Jews.
_The main principle of this language is spelling the words backwards,—or rather, pronouncing them rudely backwards._ Sometimes, for the sake of harmony, an extra syllable is prefixed, or annexed; and, occasionally, the word is given quite a different turn in rendering it backwards, from what an uninitiated person would have expected. One coster told Mayhew that he often gave the end of a word “a new turn, just as if he chorussed it with a tol-de-rol.” Besides, the coster has his own idea of the _proper_ way of spelling words, and is not to be convinced but by an overwhelming show of learning,—and frequently not then, for he is a very headstrong fellow. By the time a coster has spelt an ordinary word of two or three syllables in the proper way, and then spelt it backwards, it has become a tangled knot that no etymologist could unravel. The word GENERALISE, for instance, is considered to be “shilling” spelt backwards. Sometimes Slang and Cant words are introduced, and even these, when imagined to be tolerably well known, are pronounced backwards. Other terms, such as GEN, a shilling, and FLATCH, a halfpenny, help to confuse the outsider.
After a time, this back language, on BACK-SLANG, as it is called by the costermongers themselves, comes to be regarded by the rising generation of street sellers as a distinct and regular mode of speech. They never refer words, by inverting them, to their originals; and the YENEPS and ESCLOPS, and NAMOWS, are looked upon as proper, but secret terms. “But it is a curious fact, that lads who become costermongers’ boys, without previous association with the class, acquire a very ready command of the language, and this though they are not only unable to spell, but ‘don’t know a letter in a book.[56]’” They soon obtain a considerable stock vocabulary, so that they converse rather from the memory than the understanding. Amongst the senior costermongers, and those who pride themselves on their proficiency in BACK-SLANG, a conversation is often sustained for a whole evening, especially if any “flatties” are present whom they wish to astonish or confuse. The women use it sparingly, but the girls are generally well acquainted with it.
The addition of an _s_, I should state, always forms the plural, so that this is another source of complication. For instance, _woman_ in the BACK-SLANG, is NAMOW, and NAMUS, or NAMOWS, is _women_, not NEMOW. The explorer, then, in undoing the BACK-SLANG, and turning the word NAMUS once more into English, would have _suman_,—a novel and very extraordinary rendering of _women_. Where a word is refractory in submitting to a back rendering, as in the case of _pound_, letters are made to change positions for the sake of harmony; thus, we have DUNOP, a pound, instead of _dnuop_ which nobody could pleasantly pronounce. This will remind the reader of the Jews’ “_old clo! old clo!_” instead of _old clothes, old clothes_, which would tire even the patience of a Jew to repeat all day.
This singular BACK tongue has been in vogue about twenty-five years. It is, as before stated, soon acquired, and is principally used by the costermongers (as the specimen Glossary will show), for communicating the secrets of their street tradings, the cost and profit of the goods, and for keeping their natural enemies, the police, in the dark. COOL THE ESCLOP (look at the police) is often said amongst them, when one of the constabulary makes his appearance.
Perhaps on no subject is the costermonger so particular as on money matters. All costs and profits he thinks should be kept profoundly secret. The Back Slang, therefore, gives the various small amounts very minutely.
FLATCH, halfpenny.
YENEP, penny.
OWT-YENEPS, twopence.
ERTH-YENEPS, threepence.
ROUF-YENEPS, fourpence.
EVIF, or EWIF-YENEPS, fivepence.
EXIS-YENEPS, sixpence.
NEVIS-YENEPS, sevenpence.
TEAICH, or THEG-YENEPS, eightpence.
ENIN-YENEPS, ninepence.
NET-YENEPS, tenpence.
NEVELÉ-YENEPS, elevenpence.
EVLÉNET-YENNEPS, twelvepence.
GEN, or GENERALIZE, one shilling, or twelvepence.
YENEP-FLATCH, three halfpence.
OWT-YENEP-FLATCH, twopence halfpenny. &c. &c. &c.
GEN, or ENO-GEN, one shilling.
OWT-GENS, two shillings.
ERTH-GENS, three shillings.
The GENS continue in the same sequence as the YENEPS above, excepting THEG-GENS, 8s., which is usually rendered THEG-GUY,—a deviation with ample precedents in all civilised tongues.
YENORK, a crown piece, or five shillings.
FLATCH-YENORK, half-a-crown.
Beyond this amount the costermonger reckons after an intricate and complicated mode. Fifteen shillings would be ERTH-EVIF-GENS, or, literally, three times 5s.; seventeen shillings would be ERTH-YENORK-FLATCH, or three crowns and a half; or, by another mode of reckoning, ERTH-EVIF-GENS FLATCH-YENORK, _i.e._, three times 5s., and half-a-crown.
DUNOP, a pound.
Further than which the costermonger seldom goes in money reckoning.
In the following Glossary only those words are given which costermongers principally use,—the terms connected with street traffic, the names of the different coins, vegetables, fruit and fish, technicalities of police courts, &c.
The reader might naturally think that a system of speech so simple as the BACK-SLANG would require no Glossary; but he will quickly perceive, from the specimens given, that a great many words in frequent use in a BACK sense, have become so twisted as to require a little glossarial explanation.
GLOSSARY OF THE BACK SLANG.
BIRK, a “crib,”—house.
COOL, to look.
COOL HIM, look at him. A phrase frequently used when one costermonger warns another of the approach of a policeman.
DAB, bad.
DABHENO, one bad, or a bad market.—_See_ DOOGHENO.
DAB TROS, a bad sort.
DA-ERB, bread.
DEB, or DAB, a bed; “I’m on to the DEB,” I’m going to bed.
DILLO-NAMO, an old woman.
DLOG, gold.
DOOG, good.
DOOGHENO, literally “one-good,” or “good-one,” but implying generally a good market.
DOOGHENO HIT, one good hit. A coster remarks to a “mate,” “_Jack made a_ DOOGHENO HIT _this morning_,” implying that he did well at market, or sold out with good profit.
DUNOP, a pound.
ERTH, three.
EARTH[57] GENS, three shillings.
EARTH SITH-NOMS, three months.
EARTH YANNOPS, or YENEPS, threepence.
EDGABAC, cabbage.
EDGENARO, an orange.
E-FINK, knife.
EKAME, a “make,” or swindle.
EKOM, a “moke,” or donkey.
ELRIG, a girl.
ENIF, fine.
ENIN GENS, nine shillings.
ENIN YENEP, ninepence.
ENIN YANNOPS, or YENEPS, ninepence.
ENO, one.
ERIF, fire.
ERTH GENS, three shillings.
ERTH-PU, three-up, a street game.
ERTH SITH-NOMS, three months,—a term of imprisonment unfortunately very familiar to the lower orders.
ERTH-YENEPS, threepence.
ESCLOP, the police.
ES-ROPH, or ES-ROCH, a horse.
EVIF-YENEPS, five pence.
EVLENET-GENS, twelve shillings.
EVLENET SITH-NOMS, twelve months.
EWIF-GENS, a crown, or five shillings.
EWIF-YENEPS, fivepence.
EXIS GENS, six shillings.
EXIS-EWIF-GENS, six times five shillings, _i.e._, 30s. All moneys may be reckoned in this manner, either with YENEPS or GENS.
EXIS-EVIF YENEPS, elevenpence,—literally, “sixpence and fivepence = elevenpence.” This mode of reckoning, distinct from the preceding, is also common amongst those who use the back slang.
EXIS SITH-NOMS, six months.
EXIS-YENEPS, sixpence.
FI-HEATH, a thief.
FLATCH, a half, or halfpenny.
FLATCH KEN-NURD, half drunk.
FLATCH YENEP, a halfpenny.
FLATCH-YENORK, half-a-crown.
GEN, twelvepence, or one shilling. Possibly an abbreviation of ARGENT, cant term for silver.—See following.
GENERALIZE, a shilling, generally shortened to GEN.
GEN-NET, or NET GENS, ten shillings.
HEL-BAT, a table.
HELPA, an apple.
KENNETSEENO, stinking.
KENNURD, drunk.
KEW, a week.
KEWS, or SKEW, weeks.
KIRB, a brick.
KOOL, to look.
LAWT, tall.
LEVEN, in back slang, is sometimes allowed to stand for _eleven_, for the reason that it is a number which seldom occurs. An article is either 10d. or 1s.
LUR-AC-HAM, mackarel.
MOTTAB, bottom.
MUR, rum.
NALE, or NAEL, lean.
NAM, a man.
NAMESCLOP, a policeman.
NAMOW, a woman; DILLO NAMOW, an old woman.
NEERGS, greens.
NETENIN GENS, nineteen shillings.
NEETEWIF GENS, fifteen shillings.
NEETEXIS, or NETEXIS GENS, sixteen shillings.
NETNEVIS GENS, seventeen shillings.
NET-THEG GENS, eighteen shillings.
NEETRITH GENS, thirteen shillings.
NEETROUF GENS, fourteen shillings.
NET-GEN, ten shillings, or half a sovereign.
NET-YENEPS, tenpence.
NEVELE GENS, eleven shillings.
NEVELE YENEPS, elevenpence,—generally LEVEN YENEPS.
NEVIS GENS, seven shillings.
NEVIS STRETCH, seven years’ transportation, or imprisonment.—_See_ STRETCH, in the _Slang Dictionary_.
NEVIS YENEPS, sevenpence.
NIRE, rain.
NIG, gin.
NI-OG OT TAKRAM, going to market.
NITRAPH, a farthing.
NOL, long.
NOOM, the moon.
NOS-RAP, a parson.
OCCABOT, tobacco; “tib of OCCABOT,” bit of tobacco.
ON, no.
ON DOOG, no good.
OWT GENS, two shillings.
OWT YENEPS, twopence.
PAC, a cap.
PINURT POTS, turnip tops.
POT, top.
RAPE, a pear.
REEB, beer.
REV-LIS, silver.
ROUF-EFIL, for life,—sentence of punishment.
ROUF-GENS, four shillings.
ROUF-YENEPS, fourpence.
RUTAT, or RATTAT, a “tatur,” or potato.
SAY, yes.
SEE-O, shoes.
SELOPAS, apples.
SHIF, fish.
SIR-ETCH, cherries.
SITH-NOM, a month.
SLAOC, coals.
SLOP, a policeman.—_See Dictionary of Slang and Cant Words._
SNEERG, greens.
SOUSH, a house.
SPINSRAP, parsnips.
SRES WORT, trowsers.
STARPS, sprats.
STOOB, boots.
STORRAC, carrots.
STUN, nuts.
STUNLAWS, walnuts.
SWRET-SIO, oysters.
TACH, a hat.
TAF, or TAFFY, fat.
THEG, or TEAICH GENS, eight shillings.
TEAICH-GUY, eight shillings,—a slight deviation from the numerical arrangement of GENS.
TENIP, a pint.
THEG YENEPS, eightpence.
TIB, a bit, or piece.
TOAC, or TOG, a coat. TOG is the _old cant_ term.—_See Dictionary of Slang, &c._
TOAC-TISAW, a waistcoat.
TOL, lot, stock, or share.
TOP O’ REEB, a pot of beer.
TOP-YOB, a pot boy.
TORRAC, a carrot.
TRACK (or TRAG), a quart.
TROSSENO, literally, “one-sort,” but the costermongers use it to imply anything that is bad.
WAR-RAB, a barrow.
WEDGE, a Jew.
YAD, a day; YADS, days.
YADNAB, brandy.
YENEP, a penny.
YENEP-A-TIME, penny each time,—term in betting.
YENEP-FLATCH, three halfpence,—all the halfpence and pennies continue in the same sequence.
YAP-POO, pay up.
YEKNOD, or JERK-NOD, a donkey.
YENORK, a crown.
YOB, a boy.
ZEB, best.
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE RHYMING SLANG,
THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF CHAUNTERS AND PATTERERS.
There exists in London a singular tribe of men, known amongst the “fraternity of vagabonds” as Chaunters and Patterers. Both classes are great talkers. The first sing or chaunt through the public thoroughfares ballads—political and humorous—carols, dying speeches, and the various other kinds of gallows and street literature. The second deliver street orations on grease-removing compounds, plating powders, high polishing blacking, and the thousand and one wonderful pennyworths that are retailed to gaping mobs from a London kerb stone.
They are quite a distinct tribe from the costermongers; indeed, amongst tramps, they term themselves the “harristocrats of the streets,” and boast that they live by their intellects. Like the costermongers, however, they have a secret tongue or Cant speech, known only to each other. This Cant, which has nothing to do with that spoken by the costermongers, is known in Seven Dials and elsewhere as the RHYMING SLANG, _or the substitution of words and sentences which rhyme with other words intended to be kept secret_. The chaunter’s Cant, therefore, partakes of his calling, and he transforms and uses up into a rough speech the various odds and ends of old songs, ballads, and street nick-names, which are found suitable to his purpose. Unlike nearly all other systems of Cant, the rhyming Slang is not founded upon allegory; unless we except a few rude similes, thus—I’M AFLOAT is the rhyming Cant for _boat_, SORROWFUL TALE is equivalent to _three months in jail_, ARTFUL DODGER signifies a _lodger_, and a SNAKE IN THE GRASS stands for a _looking-glass_—a meaning that would delight a fat Chinaman, or a Collector of Oriental proverbs. But, as in the case of the costers’ speech and the old gipsey-vagabond Cant, the chaunters and patterers so interlard this rhyming Slang with their general remarks, while their ordinary language is so smothered and subdued, that, unless when they are professionally engaged and talking of their wares, they might almost pass for foreigners.
From the inquiries I have made of various patterers and “paper workers,” I learn that the rhyming Slang was introduced about twelve or fifteen years ago. Numbering this class of oratorical and bawling wanderers at twenty thousand, scattered over Great Britain, including London and the large provincial towns, we thus see the number of English vagabonds who converse in rhyme and talk poetry, although their habitations and mode of life constitute a very unpleasant Arcadia. These nomadic poets, like the other talkers of Cant or secret languages, are stamped with the vagabond’s mark, and are continually on the move. The married men mostly have lodgings in London, and come and go as occasion may require. A few never quit London streets, but the greater number tramp to all the large provincial fairs, and prefer the MONKERY (country) to town life. Some transact their business in a systematic way, sending a post-office order to the Seven Dials printer, for a fresh supply of ballads or penny books, or to the SWAG SHOP, as the case may be, for trinkets and gewgaws, to be sent on by rail to a given town by the time they shall arrive there.
When any dreadful murder, colliery explosion, or frightful railway accident has happened in a country district, three or four chaunters are generally on the spot in a day or two after the occurrence, vending and bawling “_A True and Faithful Account_,” &c., which “true and faithful account” was concocted purely in the imaginations of the successors of Catnach and Tommy Pitts,[58] behind the counters of their printing shops in Seven Dials. And but few fairs are held in any part of England without the patterer being punctually at his post, with his nostrums, or real gold rings (with the story of the wager laid by the gentleman—see FAWNEY BOUNCING, in the Dictionary), or save-alls for candlesticks, or paste which, when applied to the strop, makes the dullest razor keen enough to hack broom handles and sticks, and after that to have quite enough sharpness left for splitting hairs, or shaving them off the back of one of the clodhoppers’ hands, looking on in amazement. And CHEAP JOHN, too, with his coarse jokes, and no end of six-bladed knives, and pocket-books, containing information for everybody, with pockets to hold money, and a pencil to write with in the bargain, and a van stuffed with the cheap productions of Sheffield and “Brummagem,”—he, too, is a patterer of the highest order, and visits fairs, and can hold a conversation in the rhyming Slang.
Such is a rough description of the men who speak this jargon; and simple and ridiculous as the vulgar scheme of a rhyming Slang may appear, it must always be regarded as a curious fact in linguistic history. In order that the reader’s patience may not be too much taxed, only a selection of rhyming words has been given in the Glossary,—and these for the most part, as in the case of the back Slang, are the terms of everyday life, as used by this order of tramps and hucksters.
It must not be supposed, however, that the chaunter or patterer confines himself entirely to this Slang when conveying secret intelligence. On the contrary, although he speaks not a “leash of languages,” yet is he master of the beggars’ Cant, and is thoroughly “up” in street Slang. The following letter, written by a chaunter to a gentleman who took an interest in his welfare, will show his capabilities in this line.
Dear Friend,[59]
Excuse the liberty, since i saw you last i have not earned a thickun, we have had such a Dowry of Parny that it completely stumped or Coopered Drory the Bossmans Patter therefore i am broke up and not having another friend but you i wish to know if you would lend me the price of 2 Gross of Tops, Dies, or Croaks, which is 7 shillings, of the above mentioned worthy and Sarah Chesham the Essex Burick for the Poisoning job, they are both to be topped at Springfield Sturaban on Tuesday next. i hope you will oblige me if you can for it will be the means of putting a Quid or a James in my Clye. i will call at your Carser on Sunday Evening next for an answer, for i want to Speel on the Drum as soon as possible. hoping you and the family are All Square,
I remain Your obedient Servant, ————
GLOSSARY OF THE RHYMING SLANG.
ABRAHAM’S WILLING, a shilling.
ALACOMPAIN, rain.
ALL AFLOAT, a coat.
ANY RACKET, a penny faggot.
APPLES AND PEARS, stairs.
ARTFUL DODGER, a lodger.
ARTICHOKE RIPE, smoke a pipe.
BABY PAPS, caps.
BARNET FAIR, hair.
BATTLE OF THE NILE, a tile—vulgar term for a hat.
BEN FLAKE, a steak.
BILLY BUTTON, mutton.
BIRCH BROOM, a room.
BIRD LIME, time.
BOB, MY PAL, a gal,—vulgar pronunciation of _girl_.
BONNETS SO BLUE, Irish stew.
BOTTLE OF SPRUCE, a deuce,—slang for twopence.
BOWL THE HOOP, soup.
BRIAN O’LINN, gin.
BROWN BESS, yes—the affirmative.
BROWN JOE, no—the negative.
BULL AND COW, a row.
BUSHY PARK, a lark.
BUTTER FLAP, a cap.
CAIN AND ABEL, a table.
CAMDEN TOWN, a brown,—vulgar term for a halfpenny.
CASTLE RAG, a flag,—slang term for fourpence.
CAT AND MOUSE, a house.
CHALK FARM, the arm.
CHARING CROSS, a horse.
CHARLEY LANCASTER, a handkercher,—vulgar pronunciation of handkerchief.
CHARLEY PRESCOTT, waistcoat.
CHERRY RIPE, a pipe.
CHEVY CHASE, the face.
CHUMP (OR CHUNK) OF WOOD, no good.
COW AND CALF, to laugh.
COVENT GARDEN, a farden,—Cockney pronunciation of farthing.
COWS AND KISSES, mistress or missus—referring to the ladies.
CURRANTS AND PLUMS, thrums,—slang for threepence.
DAISY RECROOTS (so spelt by my informant of Seven Dials; he means, doubtless, _recruits_), a pair of boots.
DAN TUCKER, butter.
DING DONG, a song.
DRY LAND, you understand.
DUKE OF YORK, take a walk.
EAST AND SOUTH, a mouth.
EAT A FIG, to “crack a crib,” to break into a house, or commit a burglary.
EGYPTIAN HALL, a ball.
ELEPHANT’S TRUNK, drunk.
EPSOM RACES, a pair of braces.
EVERTON TOFFEE, coffee.
FANNY BLAIR, the hair.
FILLET OF VEAL, the treadwheel, house of correction.
FINGER AND THUMB, rum.
FLAG UNFURLED, a man of the world.
FLEA AND LOUSE, a bad house.
FLOUNDER AND DAB (two kinds of flat fish), a cab.
FLY MY KITE, a light.
FROG AND TOAD, the main road.
GARDEN GATE, a magistrate.
GERMAN FLUTES, a pair of boots.
GIRL AND BOY, a saveloy,—a penny sausage.
GLORIOUS SINNER, a dinner.
GODDESS DIANA (pronounced DIANER), a tanner,—sixpence.
GOOSEBERRY PUDDING (_vulgo_ PUDDEN), a woman.
HANG BLUFF, snuff.
HOD OF MORTAR, a pot of porter.
HOUNSLOW HEATH, teeth.
I DESIRE, a fire.
I’M AFLOAT, a boat.
ISLE OF FRANCE, a dance.
ISABELLA (vulgar pronunciation, ISABELLER), an umbrella.
I SUPPOSE, the nose.
JACK DANDY, brandy.
JACK RANDALL (a noted pugilist), a candle.
JENNY LINDER, a winder,—vulgar pronunciation of window.
JOE SAVAGE, a cabbage.
LATH AND PLASTER, a master.
LEAN AND LURCH, a church.
LEAN AND FAT, a hat.
LINENDRAPER, paper.
LIVE EELS, fields.
LOAD OF HAY, a day.
LONG ACRE, a baker.
LONG ACRE, a newspaper. See the preceding.
LORD JOHN RUSSELL, a bustle.
LORD LOVEL, a shovel.
LUMP OF COKE, a bloak,—slang term for a man.
LUMP OF LEAD, the head.
MACARONI, a pony.
MAIDS A DAWNING (I suppose my informant means _maids adorning_), the morning.
MAIDSTONE JAILOR, a tailor.
MINCE PIES, the eyes.
MOTHER AND DAUGHTER, water.
MUFFIN BAKER, a Quaker.
NAVIGATORS, taturs,—vulgar pronunciation of potatoes.
NAVIGATOR SCOT, baked potatoes all hot.
NEEDLE AND THREAD, bread.
NEVER FEAR, a pint of beer.
NIGHT AND DAY, go to the play.
NOSE AND CHIN, a winn,—_ancient cant_ for a penny.
NOSE-MY, backy,—vulgar pronunciation of tobacco.
OATS AND BARLEY, Charley.
OATS AND CHAFF, a footpath.
ORINOKO (pronounced ORINOKER), a poker.
OVER THE STILE, sent for trial.
PADDY QUICK, thick; or, a stick.
PEN AND INK, a stink.
PITCH AND FILL, Bill,—vulgar shortening for William.
PLATE OF MEAT, a street.
PLOUGH THE DEEP, to go to sleep.
PUDDINGS AND PIES, the eyes.
READ OF TRIPE (?), transported for life.
READ AND WRITE, to fight.
READ AND WRITE, flight.—See preceding.
RIVER LEA, tea.
ROGUE AND VILLAIN, a shillin,—common pronunciation of shilling.
RORY O’MORE, the floor.
ROUND THE HOUSES, trouses,—vulgar pronunciation of trousers.
SALMON TROUT, the mouth.
SCOTCH PEG, a leg.
SHIP IN FULL SAIL, a pot of ale.
SIR WALTER SCOTT, a pot,—of beer.
SLOOP OF WAR, a whore.
SNAKE IN THE GRASS, a looking glass.
SORROWFUL TALE, three months in jail.
SPLIT ASUNDER, a costermonger.
SPLIT PEA, tea.
SPORT AND WIN, Jim.
STEAM PACKET, a jacket.
ST. MARTINS-LE-GRAND, the hand.
STOP THIEF, beef.
SUGAR AND HONEY, money.
SUGAR CANDY, brandy.
TAKE A FRIGHT, night.
THREE QUARTERS OF A PECK, the neck,—in writing, expressed by the simple “¾.”
THROW ME IN THE DIRT, a shirt.
TOMMY O’RANN, scran,—vulgar term for food.
TOM TRIPE, a pipe.
TOM RIGHT, night.
TOP JINT (vulgar pronunciation of joint), a pint,—of beer.
TOP OF ROME, home.
TURTLE DOVES, a pair of gloves.
TWO FOOT RULE, a fool.
WIND DO TWIRL, a fine girl.
THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR LANGUAGE;
OR A LIST OF THE BOOKS WHICH HAVE BEEN CONSULTED IN COMPILING THIS WORK, COMPRISING NEARLY EVERY KNOWN TREATISE UPON THE SUBJECT.
Slang has a literary history, the same as authorised language. More than one hundred works have treated upon the subject in one form or another,—a few devoting but a chapter, whilst many have given up their entire pages to expounding its history and use. Old Harman, a worthy man, who interested himself in suppressing and exposing vagabondism in the days of good Queen Bess, was the first to write upon the subject. Decker followed fifty years afterwards, but helped himself, evidently, to his predecessor’s labours. Shakespere, Beaumont and Fletcher, Ben Jonson, and Brome, each employed beggars’ Cant as part of the machinery of their plays. Then came Head (who wrote “The English Rogue,” in 1680) with a glossary of Cant words “used by the Gipseys.” But it was only a reprint of what Decker had given sixty years before. About this time authorised dictionaries began to insert vulgar words, labelling them “Cant.” The Jack Sheppards and Dick Turpins of the early and middle part of the last century made Cant popular, and many small works were published upon the subject. But it was Grose, burly, facetious Grose, who, in the year 1785, collected the scattered glossaries of Cant and secret words, and formed one large work, adding to it all the vulgar words and Slang terms used in his own day. I am aware that the indelicacy and extreme vulgarity of the work renders it a disgrace to its compiler, still we must admit that it is by far the most important work which has ever appeared on street or popular language; indeed, from its pages every succeeding work has, up to the present time, drawn its contents. The great fault of Grose’s book consists in the author not contenting himself with Slang and Cant terms, but the inserting of every “smutty” and offensive word that could be raked out of the gutters of the streets. However, Harman and Grose are, after all, the only authors who have as yet treated the subject in an original manner, or have written on it from personal inquiry.
AINSWORTH’S (William Harrison) Novels and Ballads. _London_, V.D.
Some of this author’s novels, such as Rookwood and Jack Sheppard, abound in cant words, placed in the mouths of the highwaymen. The author’s ballads (especially “Nix my dolly pals fake away,”) have long been popular favourites.
ANDREWS’ (George) Dictionary of the Slang and Cant Languages, Ancient and Modern, 12mo. _London_, 1809
A sixpenny pamphlet, with a coloured frontispiece representing a beggar’s carnival.
A NEW DICTIONARY OF THE JAUNTING CREW, 12mo. N.D.
Mentioned by John Bee in the Introduction to his Sportsman’s Slang Dictionary.
ASH’S (John, LL.D.) New and Complete Dictionary of the English Language, 2 vols. 8vo. 1775
Contains a great number of cant words and phrases.
BACCHUS AND VENUS; or, a Select Collection of near 200 of the most Witty and Diverting Songs and Catches in Love and Gallantry, with Songs in the Canting Dialect, with a DICTIONARY, _ explaining all Burlesque and Canting Terms_, 12mo. 1738
Prefixed is a curious woodcut frontispiece of a _Boozing Ken_. This work is scarce, and much prized by collectors. The Canting Dictionary appeared before, about 1710, with the initials B. E. on the title. It also came out afterwards, in the year 1751, under the title of the _Scoundrel’s Dictionary_,—a mere reprint of the two former impressions.
BAILEY’S (Nath.) Etymological English Dictionary, 2 vols, 8vo. 1737
Contains a great many cant and vulgar words;—indeed, Bailey does not appear to have been very particular what words he inserted, so long as they were actually in use. A _Collection of Ancient and Modern Cant Words_ appears as an appendix to vol. ii. of this edition (3rd).
BANG-UP DICTIONARY, or the Lounger and Sportsman’s Vade Mecum, containing a copious and correct Glossary of the Language of the Whips, illustrated by a great variety of original and curious Anecdotes, 8vo. 1812
A vulgar performance, consisting of pilferings from Grose, and made-up words with meanings of a degraded character.
BARTLETT’S Dictionary of Americanisms; a Glossary of Words and Phrases colloquially used in the United States, 8vo. _New York_, 1859
It is a curious fact connected with slang that a great number of vulgar words common in England are equally common in the United States; and when we remember that America began to people two centuries ago, and that these colloquialisms must have crossed the sea with the first emigrants, we can form some idea of the antiquity of popular or street language. Many words, owing to the caprices of fashion or society, have wholly disappeared in the parent country, whilst in the colonies they are yet heard. The words SKINK, to serve drink in company, and the old term MICHING or MEECHING, skulking or playing truant, for instance, are still in use in the United States, although nearly, if not quite, obsolete here.
BEAUMONT and FLETCHER’S Comedy of _The Beggar’s Bush_, 4to, 1661, or any edition.
Contains numerous cant words.
BEE’S (Jon.) Dictionary of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, the Pit, the Bon Ton, and the Varieties of Life, forming the completest and most authentic Lexicon Balatronicum hitherto offered to the notice of the Sporting World, by Jon. Bee [_i.e._ John Badcock], Esq., Editor of the Fancy, Fancy Gazette, Living Picture of London, and the like of that, 12mo. 1823
This author published books on Stable Economy under the name of Hinds. He was the sporting rival of Pierce Egan. Professor Wilson, in an amusing article in _Blackwood’s Magazine_, reviewed this work.
BEE’S (Jon.) Living Picture of London for 1828, and Stranger’s Guide through the Streets of the Metropolis; shewing the Frauds, the Arts, Snares, and Wiles of all descriptions of Rogues that everywhere abound, 12mo. 1828
Professes to be a guide to society, high and low, in London, and to give an insight into the language of the streets.
BEE’S (Jon.) Sportsman’s Slang, a New Dictionary of Terms used in the affairs of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, and the Cockpit; with those of Bon Ton and the Varieties of Life, forming a _Lexicon Balatronicum et Macaronicum, &c._, 12mo, _plate_. _For the Author_, 1825
The same as the preceding, only with an altered title. Both wretched performances, filled with forced and low wit.
BLACKGUARDIANA; or, Dictionary of Rogues, Bawds, &c., 8vo, WITH PORTRAITS [by _James Caulfield_]. 1795
This work, with a long and very vulgar title, is nothing but a reprint of _Grose_, with a few anecdotes of pirates, odd persons, &c., and some curious portraits inserted. It was concocted by Caulfield as a speculation, and published at _one guinea_ per copy; and, owing to the remarkable title, and the notification at the bottom, that “only a few copies were printed,” soon became scarce. For philological purposes it is not worth so much as any edition of Grose.
BOXIANA, or Sketches of Modern Pugilism, by Pierce Egan (an account of the prize ring), 3 vols, 8vo. 1820
Gives more particularly the cant terms of pugilism, but contains numerous (what were then styled) “flash” words.
BRANDON. Poverty, Mendicity, and Crime; or, the Facts, Examinations, &c., upon which the Report was founded, presented to the House of Lords by W. A. Miles, Esq., to which is added a _Dictionary of the Flash or Cant Language, known to every Thief and Beggar_, edited by H. Brandon, Esq., 8vo. 1839
A very wretched performance.
BROME’S (Rich.) Joviall Crew; or the Merry Beggars. Presented in a Comedie at the Cockpit, in Drury Lane, in the Year (4to.) 1652
Contains many cant words similar to those given by Decker,—from whose works they were doubtless obtained.
BROWN’S (Rev. Hugh Stowell) Lecture on Manliness, 12mo. 1857
Contains a few modern slang words.
BRYDGES’ (Sir Egerton) British Bibliographer, 4 vols, 8vo. 1810–14
Vol ii., page 521, gives a list of cant words.
BULWER’S (Sir Edward Lytton) Paul Clifford. V.D.
Contains numerous cant words.
BULWER’S (Sir Edward Lytton) Pelham. V.D.
Contains a few cant terms.
BUTLER’S Hudibras, with Dr. Grey’s Annotations, 3 vols, 8vo. 1819
Abounding in colloquial terms and phrases.
CAMBRIDGE. Gradus ad Cantabrigiam; or a Dictionary of Terms, Academical and Colloquial, or Cant, which are used at the University, _with Illustrations_, 12mo. _Camb._, 1803
CANTING ACADEMY; or Villanies Discovered, wherein are shewn the Mysterious and Villanous Practices of that Wicked Crew—Hectors, Trapanners, Gilts, &c., with several new Catches and Songs; also Compleat Canting Dictionary, 12mo., _frontispiece_. 1674
Compiled by Richard Head.
CANTING; a Poem, interspersed with Tales and additional Scraps, post 8vo. 1814
A few words may be gleaned from this rather dull poem.
CANTING DICTIONARY; comprehending all the Terms, Antient and Modern, used in the several Tribes of Gypsies, Beggars, Shoplifters, Highwaymen, Foot Pads, and all other Clans of Cheats and Villains, with Proverbs, Phrases, Figurative Speeches, &c., to which is added a complete Collection of Songs in the Canting Dialect, 12mo. 1725
The title is by far the most interesting part of the work. A mere make-up of earlier attempts.
CAREW. Life and Adventures of Bamfylde Moore Carew, the King of the Beggars, _with Canting Dictionary, portrait_, 8vo. 1791
There are numerous editions of this singular biography. The Canting Dictionary is nothing more than a filch from earlier books.
CHARACTERISMS, or the Modern Age Displayed; being an attempt to expose the Pretended Virtues of Both Sexes, 12mo ( part i ., Ladies;