livre d

’Antoine Oudin, ‘Loger au large, d’une femme qui a grand ... or, large se prononçait largue à l’italienne et à l’espagnole dès le xivᵉ siècle.’”

Deux mots avaient suffi. Ces deux mots étaient: vos largues et votre aubert, vos femmes et votre argent, le résumé de toutes les affections vraies de l’homme.--=BALZAC.=

Largue, _mistress_, or “poll;” ---- d’altèque, _handsome woman_, or “dimbermort;” ---- en panne, _forsaken woman_, or a “moll that has been buried;” ---- en vidange, _female in childbed_, or “in the straw.” Balancer une ----, _to forsake a mistress_, “to bury a moll.” (Sailors’) Grand’ ----, _excellent_, “out and out.” C’est grand’ ---- et vrai marin, _it is_ “out and out,” _and quite sailor-like_.

LARGUEPÉ, _f._ (thieves’), _prostitute, or thief’s wife_, “mollisher.” See GADOUE. According to Michel this word is formed of largue, _woman_, and putain, _whore_.

LARME DU COMPOSITEUR, _f._ (printers’), _comma_.

LARNAC, ARNAC, or ARNACHE, _m._ (thieves’), _police officer_, “copper,” or “reeler.” Rousse à l’----, _detective_. For synonymous expressions see VACHE.

LARQUE, _f._ (roughs’), _woman_, or “cooler;” _registered prostitute_. A corruption of largue. See GADOUE.

LARRONS, _m. pl._ (printers’), _odd pieces of paper which adhere to sheets in the press, producing_ “moines” _or blanks_.

LARTIF, LARTIE, LARTON, _m._ (thieves’), _bread_, “pannum.” Termed also “briffe, broute, pierre dure, artie, arton, brignolet, bringue, boule de son, bricheton.”

LARTILLE À PLAFOND, _f._ (thieves’), PASTRY.

LARTIN, _m._ (old cant), _beggar_, “maunderer.”

LARTON, _m._ (thieves’), _bread_, “pannum;” ---- brutal, _black bread_; ---- savonné, _white bread_.

LARTONNIER, _m._ (thieves’), _baker_. From larton, _bread_. In the English popular lingo a “dough-puncher.”

LASCAILLER (thieves’), _to void urine_, “to pump ship.” For synonyms see LÂCHER.

LASCAR, _m._ (military), _bold, devil-may-care fellow_. Allons, mes lascars! _now, boys!_

Alors il se frottait les mains, faisait des blagues, ricanait: Eh! eh! mes lascars, il y a du bon pour le “chose,” ce soir!--=G. COURTELINE.=

The term is also used disparagingly with the signification of _bad soldiers_.

Là-dessus, en arrière, à droite, et à gauche ... marche! A vos écuries, tas de lascars.--=G. COURTELINE.=

(Thieves’) Lascar, _fellow_.

Tous les lascars à l’atelier pouvaient turbiner à leur gré. Moi, je n’avais pas plus tôt le dos tourné à mon ouvrage pour grignoter mon lartif (pain) ou pour chiquer mon Saint-père (tabac), que le louchon était sur mon dos pour m’écoper.--_Mémoires de Monsieur Claude._

LAS DE CHIER, _m._ (popular), grand ----, _big skulking fellow without any energy_.

LATEN (Breton slang), _tongue_.

LATENNI (Breton slang), _to chatter_.

LATIF, _m._ (thieves’), _white linen_, “lully,” or “snowy.”

LATIN, _m._ (thieves’), _lingo_, _cant_, “flash, thieves’ Latin.” The word meant formerly _language_.

LATINE, _f._ (students’), _student’s mistress_. From “Quartier Latin,” a part of Paris where students mostly dwell.

LATTE, _f._ (military), _cavalry sword_. Se ficher un coup de ----, _to fight a duel_.

LAUMIR (old cant), _to lose_, “to blew.”

LAUNE, _m._ (thieves’), _police officer_, or “copper.” For synonymous expressions see POT-À-TABAC.

LAURE, _f._ (thieves’), _brothel_, “nanny-shop, or academy.” Concerning the inmates of a clandestine establishment of that description in London, Mr. James Greenwood says:--

They belong utterly and entirely to the devil in human shape who owns the den that the wretched harlot learns to call her “home.” You would never dream of the deplorable depth of her destitution if you met her in her gay attire ... she is absolutely poorer than the meanest beggar that ever whined for a crust. These women are known as “dress lodgers.”--_The Seven Curses of London_.

LAVABE, _m._ (popular), _note of hand_; _theatre ticket at reduced price given to people who in return agree to applaud at a given signal_.

LAVAGE, _m._, or LESSIVE, _f._ (general), _sale of one’s property_; also _sale of property at considerable loss_.

Barbet n’avait pas prévu ce lavage; il croyait au talent de Lucien.--=BALZAC.=

LAVARÈS (thieves’), for laver, _to sell stolen property_. Nous irons à lavarès la camelote chez le fourgueur, _we will go and sell the property at the receiver’s_.

LAVASSE, _f._ (popular), _soup_; ---- sénatoriale, _rich soup_; ---- présidentielle, _very rich soup_.

LAVEMENT, _m._ (popular), au verre pilé, _glass of rank brandy_; (familiar and popular), _troublesome man or bore_; (military) _adjutant_.

LAVER (general), _to spend_; _to sell_.

Vous avez pour quarante francs de loges et de billets à vendre, et pour soixante francs de livres à laver au journal.--=BALZAC.=

(Thieves’) Laver la camelote, or les fourgueroles, _to sell stolen property_, “to do the swag;” ---- son linge, _to give oneself up after sentence has been passed in contumaciam_; ---- le linge dans la saignante, _to kill_.

Voici le pante que j’ai allumé devant le ferlampier (bandit) mis au poteau,--il faut laver son linge dans la saignante. Vite; à vos surins, les autres! Une fuis qu’il sera refroidi, qu’on le porte à la cave.--_Mémoires de Monsieur Claude_.

Se ---- les pieds, se ---- les pieds au dur, or au grand pré, _to be transported_, “to be lagged,” or “to light the lumper.” (Popular) Se ---- les yeux, _to drink a glass of white wine in the morning_. Se ---- le tuyau, _to drink_, “to wet one’s whistle.” Va te ----! _go to the deuce_, _go to_ “pot!” Mon linge est lavé! _I am beaten_, _I own I have the worst of it_. (General) Laver, _to sell_.

LAVETTE, _f._ (popular), _tongue_, or “red rag.”

LAVOIR, _m._ (cads’), _confessional_. A place where one’s conscience is made snow-white. (Familiar) Lavoir public, _newspaper_.

L’AVOIR ENCORE (popular). Elle l’a encore, _she has yet her maidenhead_, _her rose has not yet been plucked_.

LAZAGNE, or LAZAGEN, _f._ (thieves’), _letter_, “screeve, or stiff.”

On appelle lasagna, en Italien, une espèce de mets de pâte, et l’on dit proverbialement “come le lasagne,” comme les lasagnes, ni endroit ni envers, pour dire, on ne sait ce que c’est. On comprend que, ignorants comme ils le sont pour la plupart, les gueux aient appliqué cette expression aux lettres, qui, d’ailleurs, sont loin d’être toujours lisibles. Il y a aussi des livres appelés “di lasagne.”--=MICHEL.=

Balancer une ----, _to write a letter_.

LAZARO, _m._ (military), _prison_, “shop.”

Il lui avait ouvert la porte du cachot ... au fond il se moquait pas mal d’être flanqué au lazaro.--=G. COURTELINE.=

LAZO-LIGOT, _m._ (police), _strap with a noose_.

Et Col-de-zinc, à l’aspect si raide, avait l’agilité du Mexicain pour jeter le lazo-ligot, pour entourer d’un seul coup le corps et le poignet de son sujet de façon à ce que la main restât attachée à sa hanche.--_Mémoires de Monsieur Claude._

LAZZI-LOF, _m._ (thieves’), _venereal malady._ Termed “French gout,” or “ladies’ fever,” in the English slang.

LÈCHE-CURÉ, _m._ (popular), _bigot_, “prayer-monger.”

LÉCHÉE, _f._ (artists’), _picture minutely painted_.

LÉGITIME, _m. and f._ (familiar), _husband_, or “oboleklo;” _wife_, or “tart.” Manger sa ----, _to squander one’s fortune_.

LÉGUME, _m._ (military), gros ----, _field officer_, or “bloke.” An allusion to his epaulets, termed “graine d’épinards.”

LÉGUMISTE, _m._ (familiar), _vegetarian_.

LEM, parler en ----, _mode of disguising words_ by prefixing the letter “l,” and adding the syllabic “em” preceded by the first letter of the word; thus “boucher” becomes “loucherbem.” This mode was first used by butchers, and is now obsolete. See LAMPAGNE.

LENQUETRÉ, _m._ (thieves’), _thirty sous_. The word “trente” disguised.

LENTILLE, _f._ (thieves’), grosse ----, _moon_, “parish lantern.”

LÉON, _m._ (thieves’), _the president of the assize court_.

LERMON, _m._ (thieves’), _tin_.

LERMONNER (thieves’), _to tin_.

LESBIEN, _m._ (literary), formerly termed lesbin, explained by quotation:--

Lesbin, pour dire un jeune homme ou garçon qui sert de sucube à un autre et qui souffre qu’on commette la sodomie sur lui.--=LE ROUX=, _Dict. Comique_.

LESBIENNE, _f._ (common). Rigaud says: “Femme qui suit les errements de Sapho; celle qui cultive le genre de dépravation attribué à Sapho la Lesbienne.”

LESCAILLER. See LASCAILLER.

LÉSÉBOMBE, or LÉSÉE, _f._ (popular), _prostitute_, or “mot.” For synonymous expressions see GADOUE.

LESSIVAGE, _m._ (popular), _selling of property_; (thieves’) _pleading_.

LESSIVANT, _m._ (thieves’), _counsel_, or “mouthpiece.”

LESSIVE, _f._ (popular), de gascon, _doubtful cleanliness_. Faire la ----, _to turn one’s dirty shirt-collar or cuffs on the clean side_. (Literary) Faire sa ----, _to sell books sent to one by authors_. (Thieves’) Lessive, _speech for the defence_. The prisoner compares himself to dirty linen, to be washed snow-white by the counsel.

LESSIVER (thieves’), _is said of a barrister who pleads in behalf of a prisoner_. Se faire ----, _to be cleaned out at some game_, “to have blewed one’s tin,” or “to be a muck-snipe,” or in sporting slang a “muggins.”

LESSIVEUR, _m._ (thieves’), _counsel_, or “mouthpiece.” Literally _one who washes_.

LETERN (Breton cant), _eye_.

LETEZ (Breton cant), _countryman_.

LETEZEN (Breton cant), _pancake_.

LETTRE, _f._ (thieves’), de Jérusalem, _letter written by a prisoner to someone outside the prison, to request that some money may be sent him_; ---- de couronne (obsolete), _cup_.

LEVAGE, _m._ (popular), _swindle_; _successful gallantry_.

LEVÉ, _adj._ (general), had formerly the signification of _to be tracked by a bailiff who has found one’s whereabouts_.

LEVÉE, _f._ (popular), _wholesale arrest of prostitutes_.

LÈVE-PIEDS, _m._ (thieves’), _ladder_; _steps_, or “dancers.” Embarder sur le ----, _to go down the steps_, “to lop down the dancers.”

LEVER (printers’), la lettre, or les petits clous, _to compose_; (popular) ---- boutique, _to set up as a tradesman_.

Un Toulousain ... jeune perruquier dévoré d’ambition, vint à Paris, et y leva boutique (je me sers de votre argot).--=BALZAC.=

Lever des chopins, _to find some profitable stroke of business_; ---- la jambe, _to dance the cancan_; ---- le bras, _to be dissatisfied_; ---- le pied, _to abscond_; (familiar and popular) ---- une femme, _to find a woman willing to accord her favours_; ---- quelquechose, _to steal something_, “to wolf;” (military) ---- les baluchons, _to go away_; (prostitutes’) ---- un miché, _to find a client_, “to pick up a flat.”

LEVEUR, _m._ (popular), _pickpocket_, “buzcove.” See GRINCHE. Leveur de femmes, _a Don Giovanni in a small way_, or a “molrower.” (Printers’) Bon ----, _skilled typographer_.

Un bon leveur est un ouvrier qui compose bien et vite.--=BOUTMY.=

LEVEUSE, _f._ (familiar and popular), _a flash girl_.

LEVURE, _f._ (popular), _flight_. Faire la ----, _to run away_; “to skedaddle,” “to mizzle.”

LÉZARD, _m._ (popular), _an untrustworthy friend_; _dog stealer_.

Le lézard vole des chiens courants, des épagneuls et surtout des levrettes. Il ne livre jamais sa proie sans recevoir la somme déclarée.--_Almanach du Débiteur._

Faire son ----, _to doze in the daytime like a lizard basking in the sun_. (Thieves’) Faire le ----, to take to flight, “to make beef.” See PATATROT. Un ----, _a traitor_, a “snitcher.”

LÉZARDES, _f. pl._ (printers’), _white spaces_.

Raies blanches produites dans la composition par la rencontre fortuite d’espaces placées les unes au-dessous des autres.--=BOUTMY.=

LÉZINE, _f._ (thieves’), _cheating at a game_.

LÉZINER (thieves’), _to cheat_, “to bite;” _to hesitate_, “to funk.”

LIBRETAILLEUR, _m._ (familiar), _a libretto writer of poor ability_.

LICE, _f._ (popular), _lecherous girl_. Literally _bitch_.

LICHADE, _f._ (popular), _embrace_.

LICHANCE, _f._ (popular), _hearty meal_, “tightener.” From licher, equivalent to lécher, _to lick_.

LICHE, _f._ (popular), _excessive eating or drinking_. Etre en ----, _to be_ “on the booze.”

LICHER (familiar and popular), _to drink_, “to lush.” See RINCER.

Il a liché tout’ la bouteille, Rien n’est sacré pour un sapeur.

_Parisian Song._

LICHEUR, _m._ (familiar and popular), _gormandizer_. The term is very old.

LICHOTER UN RIGOLBOCHE (popular), _to make a hearty meal_, or “tightener.”

LIE DE FROMENT, _f._ (popular), _excrement_, or “quaker.”

LIÈGE, _m._ (thieves’), _gendarme_.

LIERCHEM (cads’), _to ease oneself_. An obscene word disguised. See LEM.

LIGNANTE, _f._ (thieves’), _life_.

Ce mot ... vient de la ligne, dite de vie, que les bohémiens consultaient sur la main de ceux auxquels ils disaient la bonne aventure.--=MICHEL.=

LIGNARD, _m._ (familiar and popular), _foot-soldier of the line_; _journalist_; (printers’) _compositor who has to deal only with the body part of a composition_; (artists’) _artist who devotes his attention more to the perfection of the outline than to that of colour_; (popular) _rodfisher_.

LIGNE, _f._ (artists’), avoir la ----, _to have a fine profile_. (Literary) Pêcher à la ----, or tirer à la ----, _is said of a journalist who seeks to make an article as lengthy as possible_. (Popular) Pêcher à la ---- d’argent _is said of an angler who catches fish by means of a money bait, at the fishmonger’s_. (Printers’) Ligne à voleur, _line containing only a syllable, or a very short word, which might have been composed into the preceding line_.

Les lignes à voleur sont faciles à reconnaître, et elles n’échappent guère à l’œil d’un correcteur exercé, qui les casse d’ordinaire impitoyablement.--=BOUTMY.=

LIGORE, _f._ (thieves’), _assize court_.

LIGORNIAU, _m._ (popular), _hodman_.

LIGOT. See LIGOTANTE.

LIGOTAGE, _m._ (police), _binding a prisoner’s hands by means of a rope or strap_.

LIGOTANTE, or LIGOTTE, _f._ (thieves’), _rope, or strap_; _bonds_; ---- de rifle, or riflarde, _strait waistcoat_.

LIGOTER (police and thieves’), _to bind a prisoner’s hands by means of ropes or straps_.

Nul mieux que lui ne savait prendre un malfaiteur sans l’abîmer, ni lui mettre les poucettes sans douleur ou le ligoter sans effort.--_Mémoires de Monsieur Claude._

LIGOTTE, _f._ (thieves’), _rope_; _string_; _strap_.

LILLANGE (thieves’), _town of Lille_.

LILLOIS, _m._ (thieves’), _thread_.

LIMACE, _f._ (popular), _low prostitute_, or “draggle-tail;” _soldier’s wench_, or “barrack-hack,” see GADOUE; (thieves’) _shirt_, “flesh-bag, or commission.” From the Romany “lima,” according to Michel.

LIMACIER, _m._, LIMACIÈRE, _f._, (thieves’), _shirt-maker_. From limace, _a shirt_.

LIMANDE, _f._ (popular), _man made of poor stuff_; _one who fawns_. From limande, _a kind of sole_ (fish).

LIME, _f._ (thieves’), for limace, _shirt_, or “commission” in old English cant; ---- sourde, _sly, underhand man_. The expression is old, and is used by Rabelais:--

Mais, qui pis est, les oultragearent grandement, les appellants trop-diteux, breschedents, plaidants rousseaulx, galliers, chie-en-licts, averlans, limes sourdes.--_Gargantua._

LIMER (familiar and popular), _to talk with difficulty_; _to do a thing slowly_. Literally _to file_.

LIMOGÈRE, _f._ (thieves’), _chambermaid_.

LIMONADE, _f._ (popular), _water_, or “Adam’s ale;” _the trade of a_ “limonadier,” _or proprietor of a small café_. Tomber, or se plaquer dans la ----, _to fall into the water_; _to be ruined_, or “gone a mucker.” (Thieves’) Limonade, _flannel vest_; ---- de linspré, _champagne_. “Linspré” is the word “prince” disguised.

LIMONADIER DE POSTÉRIEURS, _m._ (popular), _apothecary_. Formerly apothecaries performed the “clysterium donare” of Molière’s _Malade Imaginaire_.

LIMOUSIN, or LIMOUSINANT, _m._ (popular), _mason_. It must be mentioned that most of the Paris masons hail from Limousin.

LIMOUSINE, _f._ (thieves’), _sheet lead on roofs_, or “flap.” Termed also “saucisson, gras-double.”

LIMOUSINEUR, _m._ (thieves’), _thief who steals sheet-lead roofing_. Called also “voleur au gras-double,” a “bluey faker,” or one who “flies the blue pigeon.” See GRINCHE.

LINGE, _m._ (familiar and popular), faire des effets de ----, _to display one’s body linen with affectation_. Un bock sans ----, or sans faux-col, _a glass of beer without any head_. A request for such a thing is often made in the Paris cafés, where the microscopic “bocks” or “choppes” are topped by gigantic heads. Se payer un ---- convenable, _to have a stylish mistress_, an “out-and-out tart.” (Popular) Un ---- à règles, _a dirty, slatternly woman_. Resserrer son ----, _to die_. (Thieves’) Avoir son ---- lavé, _to be caught_, _apprehended_, or “smugged.”

LINGÉ, _adj._ (popular), être ----, _to have plenty of fine linen_.

LINGRE, or LINGUE, _m._ (thieves’), _knife_, or “chive.” From Langres, a manufacturing town. The synonyms are “linve, trente-deux, vingt-deux, chourin or surin, scion, coupe-sifflet, pliant.” Jouer du ----, _to stab_, “to stick, or to chive.”

LINGRER, or LINGUER (thieves’), _to stab_, “to stick, or to chive.”

LINGRIOT, _m._ (thieves’), _penknife_.

LINGUARDE, _f._ (popular), _woman with a soft tongue_.

LINGUE, _m._ (thieves’), _knife_, or “chive.”

LINSPRÉ, _m._ (thieves’), _prince_. See LIMONADE.

LINVÉ, _m._ (popular), loussem, _twenty sous_. The words “vingt sous” distorted. Un ----, _a franc_: “un lenquetré” _being one franc and fifty centimes, or thirty sous_, and “un larantqué,” _two francs, or forty sous_. These expressions are respectively the words un, trente, quarante, disguised.

LION, _m._ (familiar), _dandy of 1840_. Fosse aux lions, _box at the opera occupied by men of fashion_. For synonymous terms see GOMMEUX.

LIONNERIE, _f._ (familiar), _fashionable world_.

LIPÈTE, _f._ (popular), _prostitute_, “mot,” or “common Jack.” See GADOUE.

LIPETTE, _f._ (popular), _mason_. Termed also ligorgniot.

LIPPER (popular), _to visit several wine-shops in succession_.

LIQUETTE, or LIMACE, _f._ (thieves’), _shirt_, in old English cant “commission.” Décarrer le centre d’une ----, _to obliterate the marking of a shirt_.

LIQUEUR, _f._ (popular), cache-bonbon à ----, _dandy’s stick-up collar_. A malevolent allusion to scrofula abcesses on the neck.

LIRE (familiar), aux astres, _to muse_, “to go wool-gathering;” (familiar and popular) ---- le journal, _to go without a dinner_; ---- le Moniteur, _to wait patiently_. (Printers’) Lire, _to note proposed alterations in a proof_; ---- en première, _to correct the first proof_; ---- en seconde, or en bon, _to correct a second proof on which the author has written “for press.”_ (Thieves’) Savoir ----, _to have one’s wits about one_, “to know what’s o’clock.”

LISETTE, _f._ (thieves’), _long waistcoat_; _sword_, or “poker.”

LISSERPEM (roughs’), _to void urine_. The word “pisser” disguised by prefixing the letter “l,” and adding the syllable “em” preceded by the first letter of the word.

LISTARD, _m._ (journalists’), _one in favour of “scrutin de liste,” or mode of voting for the election wholesale of all the representatives in parliament of a “département.”_ For instance, the Paris electors have to vote for a list of over thirty members.

LIT, _m._ (popular), être sous le ----, _to be mistaken_.

LITHOGRAPHIER (popular), se ----, _to fall_, “to come a cropper.”

LITRER, or ITRER (thieves’), _to have_.

LITRONNER (popular), _to drink wine_. From litron, _a wine measure_.

LITRONNEUR, _m._ (popular), _one who is too fond of the bottle_.

LITTÉRATURE JAUNE (familiar), _the so-called Naturalist literature_.

LITTÉRATURIER, _m._ (familiar), _a literary man after a fashion_.

LIVRAISON, _f._ (popular), avoir une ---- de bois devant sa porte, _to have well-developed breasts_, _to be possessed of fine_ “Charlies.”

LIVRE, _m._ (popular), des quatre rois, _pack of cards_, “book of briefs,” or “Devil’s books;” ---- rouge, _police registration book in which the names of authorized prostitutes are inscribed_. Etre inscrite dans le ---- rouge, _to be a registered prostitute_. (Freemasons’)