Part 13
=John Carpenter Street.= After the founder of the City of London School, which occupies one side of this modern thoroughfare, having been removed hither from Bow Lane in 1882. John Carpenter was town clerk of the city of London in the reigns of Henry V. and VI.
=John Chinaman.= Ever since the outbreak of the gold fever in California a Chinaman in that part of the United States has been addressed as “John,” the Transatlantic generic name for a man-servant, corresponding to the old English Jack.
=John Doe and Richard Roe.= Fictitious names, which prior to 1852, when they were abolished, appeared in every legal process of ejectment in place of the names of the real parties.
=John Dory.= The name of this fish is a corruption of the French _Jaune-dorée_, yellow, golden, relative to the colour.
=Johnnies.= Overdressed, empty-pated scions of good families who spent their surplus cash upon burlesque actresses, and hung about for them at the stage door when the “sacred lamp of burlesque” burned brightly at the Gaiety Theatre. Since “Jack” was the generic name for a man or servant, so one distinguished for the possession of more money than brains was, and is still, dubbed a “Johnnie.”
=John of Gaunt.= Properly of Ghent, his birthplace, in Flanders.
=John o’ Groat’s House.= Formerly the most northern habitation on the mainland of Scotland, said to have been that of Johnny Groat, for the accommodation of travellers who wished to cross the ferry to the Orkney Isles. Its site may now be recognised by a green knoll.
=Johnson’s Court.= Although the great lexocographer, Dr Johnson, spent ten years of his life in this Fleet Street court, it was not named after him, but after another Johnson, whose property it was, and who also resided in it.
=John Street.= In the Adelphi, after the Christian name of one of the brothers Adam. In Piccadilly, after one of the family names of the Berkeleys, the ground landlords.
=Joiner.= The provincial term for one who in London is called a “Carpenter.” Literally a joiner of wooden building materials.
=Joint Ring.= Another name for a “Gimnal Ring.”
=Joint-Stock Company.= So called because the stock is vested jointly in many persons.
=Jonathan’s.= The original name of the Stock Exchange, after a coffee-house keeper whose house was the rendezvous of the earliest dealers in stock.
=Jollies.= The sailors’ nickname for the Marines, because they are about as useful to a ship as the “Jolly Boat” which floats behind it.
=Jolly Boat.= A corruption of “Jawl boat,” from the Danish _jolle_, a small boat.
=Jordan.= Expresses the Hebrew for “the flowing.”
=Journeyman.= An artisan who hires himself out to labour, conformly to the French _jour_, day, a day labourer.
=Juan Fernandez.= After the navigator, who discovered it in 1567. On this isle Alexander Selkirk was the sole inhabitant from September 1704 until February 1707. Daniel Defoe made this adventurer the hero of his celebrated story “Robinson Crusoe.”
=Jubilee Plunger.= The sobriquet of Ernest Benzon, who lost £250,000 on the turf in two years after embarking upon his betting career in 1887, the Jubilee year of Queen Victoria’s reign.
=Judd Street.= The property of Sir Andrew Judd, Lord Mayor of London in 1551. By his will he bequeathed it to the endowment of a school at Tonbridge, his native place.
=Judges’ Walk.= So called because a number of judges and barristers of the King’s Bench made themselves temporary habitations in tents on this breezy height of Hampstead during the Great Plague.
=Jug.= Thieves’ slang for prison. See “In the Jug.”
=Juggins.= A fool, a reckless fellow, so called after a noted character of this name, who about twenty years ago squandered his whole fortune by reckless betting on the turf.
=Juggler.= From the French _jougleur_, a jester or miscellaneous entertainer who was the invariable companion of a troubadour during the Middle Ages.
=Julep.= An American spirituous beverage, also a preparation to make medicines less nauseous. The word is derived from the Arabic _julab_, rose-water.
=July.= In honour of Julius Cæsar, who was born in this month.
=Jump a Claim.= A Far West expression meaning to deprive another of his lawful claim; literally to jump into his diggings and take possession.
=Jump on it with both Feet.= The Transatlantic mode of saying “I’ll denounce it to the utmost of my power.”
=Jump the Game.= An Americanism for running away from one’s creditors.
=June.= The sixth month of the year; that of growth, agreeably to the Latin _juvenis_, young. The Romans dedicated it to the “Juniores,” or young soldiers of the State.
=Jungfrau.= Two reasons are assigned for the name (German, “The Maiden”) given to this, one of the highest peaks of the Bernese Alps. Firstly, because of the unsullied purity and dazzling whiteness of the snow with which it is eternally clad; secondly, owing to the fact that, its summit being inaccessible, no man has ever conquered or ravished this mountain maiden.
=Junk.= A seaman’s term for rope ends and also the salt beef served out on board ship. The word is derived from the Latin _Juncus_, a bulrush, out of which ropes were anciently made. In the second sense of the term the toughness of the meat is sarcastically implied.
=Jury.= From the Latin _jurare_, to swear.
=Jury Mast.= Properly “Joury Mast,” from the French _jour_, day, because it is only a temporary mast put up to replace one carried away by stress of weather.
=Justice is Blind.= An expression derived from the allegorical representation of Justice, who, holding the scales, is blindfolded. See “Scales of Justice.” This really had its origin in the custom of the ancient Egyptians, who conducted their trials in a darkened chamber, in order that the prisoner, the pleader, and the witnesses being alike unseen, the judges could not be moved to undue sympathy, and their judgment might be the more impartial.
=Justice Walk.= In this portion of Chelsea resided a London magistrate whose name has not been handed down to posterity.
=Juteopolis.= The name given to Dundee on account of its staple industry.
=Jutland.= The land of the Jutes.
=Juveniles.= In theatrical parlance the lovers’ parts. The principal stage lover’s part, such as _Romeo_, is called the “juvenile lead.” Other young men’s parts, that do not call for love making on the stage, are styled “walking gentlemen.”
K
=Kaaba.= The stone building inside the great Mosque at Mecca; said to have been erected over the spot where Adam first worshipped after his expulsion from the Garden of Eden. The name is Arabic for “square house.”
=Kaffraria.= The country of the Kaffirs or “unbelievers,” from the Mohammedan standpoint. This term was applied not only to the natives south of Abyssinia and the desert regions of Africa, but also to the people of a country in Central Asia east of the Hindu Cush known accordingly as Kafiristan. _Kaifer_ is Arabic for “infidel,” and the suffix _stan_ expresses the Persian for “country.”
=Kailyard.= Scottish for cabbage garden.
=Kaisar.= The German form of the title of the Roman Emperors, “Cæsar.”
=Kalmucks.= A Western corruption of the native _Khalmick_, or “Apostates,” the name given to this large family of the Mongolian race because they rejected the doctrines of Buddha. It was these Kalmucks who, under the name of “Huns,” descended upon Europe in the fourth century.
=Kamptulicon.= From the Greek _Kampto_, to bend.
=Kansas.= The Indian name for the river, signifying “smoky water”; afterwards applied also to the state.
=Keble College.= A memorial college at Oxford of the Rev. John Keble, author of “The Christian Year,” whose death took place in 1866.
=Keelhaul.= To haul under the keel of a vessel from stem to stern by means of ropes on either side. This was the most dreaded, because the most dangerous, punishment meted out to seamen or apprentices by tyrannical captains in former times. Readers of Captain Marryat’s “Snarleyyow, or the Dog Fiend” will recollect what that meant to the hapless victim.
=Keeping Crispin.= An old phrase for the shoemakers’ annual holiday on the Feast of St Crispin, their patron saint, 25th October. In some parts of the country we hear of it in connection with what passes elsewhere under the name of “Cobblers’ Monday.”
=Keep it Dark.= The reference was originally to treasure kept in a place of concealment.
=Keep on Pegging at it.= See “Peg Away.”
=Keep the Ball Rolling.= An expression derived from the game of Bandy, in which the two sets of players, armed with hooked sticks, continually sent the ball rolling to opposite goals.
=Keep the Pot Boiling.= The antithesis of a hand-to-mouth existence; meaning the command not only of something for the stock pot but also needful fuel.
=Keep the Wolf from the Door.= By paying one’s way others will prosper likewise, and ravenous creditors clamouring at the door for their just demands will be non-existent. The wolf is represented by a greedy landlord hungering for his rent, or, failing that, the household goods.
=Keep your Nose to the Grindstone.= To continue hard at work without cessation. If a tool is not held close to the grindstone the stone will go round all the same, but the tool does not get sharpened. So a man may loiter over his work, but the actual accomplishment is nil.
=Keep your Pecker up.= Have courage, and hold your head erect. _Pecker_ is slang for the mouth, in allusion to fowls which peck their food--in other words, they strike at it with the _beak_.
=Keep your Weather Eye open.= Be on a sharp look-out in the right direction. A sailor looks towards the wind in order to forecast the weather.
=Kendal.= Expresses the dale of the River Ken.
=Kendal Green.= Green cloth made at Kendal in Westmoreland, for which this town was long famous. The cloths produced here still bear the name of “Kendals.”
=Kennington.= The town which grew up in the king’s meadow. Henry VIII. had a rural retreat erected here.
=Kensington.= Described in Anglo-Saxon records as _Kynsington_, or king’s meadow town.
=Kensington Gore.= After Gore House, the residence of the Countess of Blessington, that occupied part of the site of the Royal Albert Hall.
=Kent.= Called by the Romans Cæsar Cantium after the _Cantii_, who peopled this _Kenn_, headland or corner, of Albion’s Isle.
=Kentish Fire.= The name given to rapturous volleys of cheers, such as that which distinguished the Kentish men when they applauded the “No Popery” orators in 1828-9.
=Kentish Man.= A native of the county of Kent, west of the Medway.
=Kentish Town.= A corruption of “Kantelowes Town,” built upon the manor of the same name. The modern spelling of this family name is “Cantlowes,” which is that given to a street on the south side of Camden Road.
=Kent Street.= Leads out of London to the great Kentish highway to Dover. At one time the landlords in this street took away the front doors of tenants who were more than a fortnight in arrears of paying their rent. This, styled a “Kent Street Ejectment,” was found effectual in getting rid of unprofitable tenants.
=Kentucky.= Indian for “long river.”
=Keppel Street.= From the “Admiral Keppel” at the corner of this street and Fulham Road.
=Kerchief.= See “Handkerchief.”
=Kersey.= From Kersey, in Suffolk, once famed for its woollen manufacture.
=Kettledrum.= A rounded drum, so called from its shape; also the name given to a tea party, both on account of the noise made by the guests, and because the hostess metaphorically beats them up at the time of sending out her invitations. See “Drum.”
=Kettle of Fish.= See “Pretty Kettle of Fish.”
=Kew.= Styled in ancient documents Kay-hoo, meaning a quay on a _hoo_ or _oe_, which expressed the Danish for an island; also a spit of land at the mouth of a river or creek.
=Keystone State.= Pennsylvania, geographically considered as seventh among the thirteen original states of the Union.
=Khaki.= Expresses the Hindoo for “colour of cow dung.” This term came into prominence during the South African War, when all British uniforms were made of materials of this hue, so as to make our troops less conspicuous to the enemy.
=Khan.= Expresses the Persian, from a Tartar word, for a lord or prince.
=Khedive.= From the Persian _khidiw_, a king. In the Turkish _khadiv_ the title expresses a ruler one grade removed from a Sultan.
=Kicker.= An Americanism for one who at a public meeting objects to a proposal.
=Kick the Bucket.= An expression derived from the primitive mode of a man hanging himself by standing on a bucket, and then kicking it aside. The “drop” in this case could not have been a long one.
=Kidnap.= Not only is this word accepted English in the absence of a more refined equivalent, but it is also made to do service in the case of an adult taken away against his will. Kid, of course, expresses a young goat, and is slang for a child. The second portion of the term is likewise slang, from _nab_, to steal.
=Kidney Bean.= The coarse bean shaped like a kidney.
=Kiel.= From the Danish _keol_, a ship.
=Kilbride.= The church of St Bride or Bridget.
=Kilburn.= Expresses the _kil_, or cell, of “one Godwynne, a holy hermit,” beside the _bourn_, or brook.
=Kildare.= From the Celtic _kildara_, the cell or hermitage among the oaks. A monastery was founded here by St Bridget towards the close of the fifth century.
=Kilkenny.= The _kil_, or church, of St Kenny or Canice in connection with the ancient abbey dedicated to St John.
=Killarney.= A corruption of “Killeaney,” from the church of the Dominican monastery on the banks of the River Leane.
=Kindergarten.= Expresses the German for a children’s garden or playground. The system of juvenile education so called aims at self-tuition by means of toys and games.
=Kinetoscope.= The name originally given to our modern “living pictures,” from the Greek _kinetikos_, “putting in motion.” See “Mutoscope.”
=King Charles Spaniel.= The small species of “Spaniel” which was such a favourite with Charles I.
=King Edward’s Grammar School.= A superior academical institution founded and endowed for the tuition of Latin and Greek grammar by Edward VI.
=King Edward Street.= After Edward VI., the “Boy King,” founder of Christ’s Hospital, or Blue Coat Grammar School, hard by.
=Kingfisher.= The king of fisher birds that dive into water for their prey, so called on account of its gay plumage.
=King James’s Bible.= The Authorised Version ordered to be prepared and given to the people by James I.
=King-maker.= Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, so called because he was instrumental in placing both Edward IV. on the Yorkist and Henry VI. on the Lancastrian side on the throne after espousing their individual cause.
=King of Bath.= The sobriquet of Richard Nash, also known as Beau Nash, who for more than half-a-century was Master of Ceremonies at the fashionable Assembly Rooms of Bath.
=King’s Arms.= An inn sign, originally representing the counterfeit presentment or royal arms of an individual sovereign, but now a mere name, which must have done duty alike in honouring a long line of monarchs.
=King’s Bench.= Anciently the superior Court of Law presided over by the King in person, when he sat on an oaken bench. Wherever he went in state this Court followed him. Judges and magistrates are still said to occupy the Bench.
=King’s College.= At Cambridge, founded in 1441 by Henry VI. In London, the foundation by a royal charter of George IV. in 1828.
=King’s County.= In honour of Philip of Spain, the husband of Queen Mary. The original name was Ossaly.
=King’s Cross.= So called from a statue of George IV. set up here at the accession of that monarch, and taken down in 1842 to make way for the Great Northern Railway terminus. It is highly probable that an ancient cross stood on the same spot, since, quite apart from the fact that Queen Boadicea was defeated by the Romans at Battle Bridge hereabouts, it was in this neighbourhood too that King Alfred waged a sanguinary conflict with the Danes.
=King’s Evil.= The name given to scrofula, from the old superstitious idea that it could be cured by the touch of a king or queen.
=Kingsgate Street.= So called from the gate through which James I. passed across the meadows to Theobalds in Hertfordshire, his favourite hunting seat.
=King’s Head.= See “King’s Arms.”
=Kingsland.= This district marked the southern limits of the ancient royal domain of Enfield Chase.
=King’s Lynn.= Anciently called “Lynn Episcopi,” being the property of the Bishop of Norwich. At the dissolution of the monasteries Henry VIII. sequestered this estate, and gave the town the name of Lynn Regis, or King’s Lynn. The word _Lynn_ is Celtic for “pool.”
=King’s Own Men.= The 78th Foot, so called from their Gaelic motto: “Cuidichr Rhi” (Help the King).
=King’s Road.= In compliment to Charles II., who caused this highway between Chelsea and Fulham Palace to be made passable.
=Kingston.= The capital of Jamaica, after William III., in whose reign (1693) it was founded.
=Kingston-on-Thames.= From the ancient stone on which seven of the Anglo-Saxon kings were crowned. This interesting relic is now enclosed with iron railings near the Town Hall.
=Kingstown.= Originally “Dunleary,” the name was changed in honour of the visit of George IV. in September 1821.
=King Street.= That in Covent Garden, after Charles I., in whose reign it was laid out. In St James’s, after James I. In Cheapside, in honour of Henry IV., who passed down it to open the new Guildhall. At Westminster, because this was the direct road between the Court and the Abbey.
=Kingsway.= The name given by the London County Council to the new thoroughfare from Holborn to the Strand opened by King Edward VII. in 1905.
=King William Street.= In the city, after William IV., who performed the inaugural ceremony of declaring the London Bridge open for traffic, 1st August 1831. The street of the same name west of the Strand was newly laid out in his reign as a direct thoroughfare to Leicester Square.
=Kirkcudbright.= Expresses the Celtic for “the Church of St Cuthbert.”
=Kirkdale.= The church in the dale or vale of Pickering.
=Kirke’s Lambs.= The nickname bestowed upon the 2nd Foot, under the command of Captain Kirke, during the “Bloody Assizes,” and having for their badge the Paschal Lamb.
=Kirschwasser.= German for “Cherry Water,” this beverage being distilled from the juice of the black cherry.
=Kiss-me-Quick.= The name of a small bonnet popular in England midway during the last century. Though of the “coal scuttle” pattern it did not extend beyond the face, and was chiefly worn by ladies going to
## parties or the play.
=Kiss the Place and make it better.= The expression, commonly employed by mothers and nurses to pacify children when they have hurt themselves, is a survival of the days of the sorcerers, who pretended to cure a disease by sucking the affected part.
=Kiss the Scavenger’s Daughter.= See “Scavenger’s Daughter.”
=Kit.= A soldier’s outfit, which he carries on his person when on the march. The name is derived from the Dutch _kitte_, a wooden beer-can strapped on the soldier’s belt.
=Kit-Cat.= The name given by artists to a three-quarter length portrait, and also to a canvas measuring 28 by 36 inches, in allusion to the portraits of uniform size, and all painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller, to suit the dimensions of the apartments occupied by the famous Kit-Cat Club. This club was long held at the house of a pastrycook called Christopher Cat in Shire Lane, Fleet Street (now Serle’s Place), after whom, familiarly styled “Kit-Cat,” it took its name. His own mutton pies were the staple refreshment, from which circumstance such pies were until quite modern times also called “Kit-Cats.”
=Kleptomania.= The name given to an impulsive desire to steal or appropriate that which is ready to hand; so called from the Greek _kleptes_, thief, and _mania_, madness.
=Knacker.= From the Icelandic _knakkr_, a saddle; hence a dealer in and slaughterer of old horses.
=Knapsack.= From the Dutch and German _knappen_, to bite or chew, and _zak_, a sack. Like the original German and Dutch forms of this receptacle for a soldier’s necessaries on the march, the Swiss still carry a bag made of goatskin.
=Knave.= From the German _knabe_, a boy. The tricks peculiar to a boy no doubt caused this term to be applied to a deceitful or otherwise reprehensible fellow. The knave in a pack of cards represents, of course, the knight or servant to the king and queen.
=Knife-board.= The advertisement-board on either side of an omnibus roof, so called on account of its fancied resemblance to the domestic knife-sharpener. On the old-fashioned omnibuses the roof passengers sat back to back, with their feet touching the “knife-board,” and it was facetiously said they thereon sharpened their wits.
=Knife and Fork Tea.= See “High Tea.”
=Knight.= From the Saxon _knicht_, a servant, which is the origin also of the modern German _knecht_, a man-servant.
=Knight Bachelor.= One who in the days of chivalry forswore marriage until he had performed some feat of valour, and so merited renown.
=Knight Banneret.= A knight hastily created on the field of battle in recognition of signal bravery. This was done by tearing off a streamer from a banner and handing it to him as a token of investiture.
=Knight Errant.= One who went forth in quest of adventures, more
## particularly to win the admiration of fair ladies, by rescuing them,
in common with the weak and oppressed, from the feudal lords whose rapacity in those barbarous ages knew no bounds. The word _errant_, like its modern equivalent _errand_, was derived from the Latin _errare_, to wander. It was in ridicule of this system of knight-errantry that Cervantes wrote his immortal romance “Don Quixote.”
=Knight of the Yard Stick.= An Americanism for a draper’s assistant or a retail dry-goods salesman; what in England people often style a “Counter Jumper.”
=Knightrider Street.= The place of assembling of the knights of old on their way in procession to the Smithfield tournaments.
=Knightsbridge.= Tradition has it that two knights who went to receive a blessing from the Bishop of London at Fulham Palace suddenly quarrelled, and fought a deadly combat on the bridge which anciently spanned the Westbourne where now stands Albert Gate. A public-house close by, demolished within the last three years, bore the sign of “The Fulham Bridge.”
=Knights Hospitallers.= The Second Order of Knights of the Crusades, who founded and protected the hospital at Jerusalem for the accommodation of pilgrims to the Holy Places. When at a later period they erected a larger hospital in connection with the church dedicated to St John the Baptist, they assumed the title of “Knights of St John of Jerusalem.”
=Knights of Malta.= The Knights Hospitallers who, having taken Rhode Island, were at length expelled therefrom by the Turks, and took up their establishment permanently at Malta.
=Knights of St John of Jerusalem.= See “Knights Hospitallers.”
=Knights of the Road.= Highwaymen, who were always good horsemen.
=Knights Templars.= The military Order of Knights of the Crusades, styled “Soldiers of the Temple.” Their aim was to wrest the Holy Sepulchre from the hands of the Saracens, and maintain it through futurity.
=Knights Teutonic.= An independent Order of Knights of the Crusades composed of nobles from the cities of Bremen and Lubeck for the protection of German pilgrims to the Holy Land.
=Knickerbockers.= The people of the city of New York. When Washington Irving wrote his “History of New York” he assumed the name of Diedrich Knickerbocker, in allusion to the wide breeches worn by the early settlers of the colony, then called by them New Amsterdam; hence the application of the term “Knickerbockers” to knee-breeches generally. New York is known as “The Knickerbocker City.”