part II
., p. 40. Another as dull as if the grey mare was the better Horse; and deny’d him Enterance for keeping late Hours.
1705–1707. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. II., pt. iv., p. 5. There’s no resisting Female Force, Grey mare will prove the better Horse.
1717. Prior, Epilogue to Mrs. Manley’s Lucius. As long as we have eyes, or hands, or breath, We’ll look, or write, or talk you all to death. Yield, or she-Pegasus will gain her course, And the grey mare will prove the better horse.
1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., p. 240. For the grey mare has proved the better horse.
1738. Swift, Polite Convers., dial. 3. I wish she were married; but I doubt the gray mare would prove the better horse.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xix. By the hints they dropped, I learned the gray mare was the better horse—that she was a matron of a high spirit.
1819. Macaulay, Hist. England. The vulgar proverb, that the grey mare is the better horse, originated, I suspect, in the preference generally given to the grey mares of Flanders over the finest coach horses of England.
1883. G. A. S[ala], in Illustr. London News, 14 Apr., p. 359, c. 2. She [Mrs. Romford], did not over-accentuate either her strong-mindedness or her jealousy of her flighty husband; but she let him and the audience unmistakably know that she was in all respects the grey mare in the Romford stable.
Gray-parson (or Gray-coat parson), subs. (old).—A lay impropriator, or lessee of tithes.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, grey parson, s.v. A farmer who rents the tythes of the rector or vicar.
1830 in Cobbett’s Rural Rides, vol. I., p. 123 note (ed. 1886). The late editor says, that, having been a large holder of lay tithes, the author applied to Mr. Nicholls, the name of the grey-coated parson.
Grease, subs. (common).—1. A bribe; palm-oil (or -grease). (q.v. for synonyms). In America Boodle (q.v.). greasing = bribing.
1823. Bee, Dict. of Turf, s.v. A bonus given to promote the cause of anyone.
2. (printers’).—Well-paid work; fat (q.v.).
3. (common).—Fawning; flattery (a figurative use of sense 1).
Verb (old).—1. To bribe; to corrupt by presents; to tip (q.v.). Also more fully to grease in the fist, hand, or palm. Fr., coquer la boucanade. For synonyms, see Square.
1557. Tusser, Husbandrie, ch. 68, pt. 2, p. 159 (E.D.S.). How husbandrie easeth, to huswiferie pleaseth, And manie purse greaseth With silver and gold.
1578. Whetstone, Promoss and Cassandra, ii., 3. Grease them well in their hands.
1592. Greene, Quip, in wks., xi., 261. That did you not grease the sealers of Leaden Hall throughly in the fist, they should never be sealed, but turned away and made forfiet by the statute.
1619. Fletcher, Wild Goose Chase. Am I greased once again?
1649. F. Quarles, Virgin Widow, IV., i., p. 40. Greaze my fist with a Tester or two, and ye shall find it in your penny-worths.
1678. C. Cotton, Scarronides, Bk. IV., p. 70 (ed. 1725). Him she conjures, intreats, and prays, With all the Cunning that she has, greases his Fist; nay more, engages Thenceforth to mend his Quarters-wages.
1693. Dryden, Persius, iii., 139. And after, envy not the store Of the greas’d advocate, that grinds the poor.
1698–1700. Ward, London Spy, pt. xv., p. 364. But the Gay Curteyan who trades for gold, That can but grease a palm when she’s in hold, No Justice need she dread.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1878. Jas. Payn, By Proxy, ch. x. His Excellency, your master, has given orders, I presume, that after I have made my compliments—as delicate a phrase as he could think of for greasing the hands of justice—I shall be at liberty to visit my friend.
1879. Horsley, in Macmillan’s Magazine, Oct. When I went to the fence he bested (cheated) me because I was drunk, and only gave me £8 10s. for the lot. So the next day I went to him and asked him if he was not going to grease my duke (put money into my hand).
1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 2 Sept., p. 7, c. 2. Did other people having business with the printing bureau tell you that it would be necessary to grease Sénécal?
2. (common).—To fawn; to flatter. Formerly, to grease one’s boots.
1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Onger i stivali, to grease ones bootes, id est, to flatter or cog with, to faune vpon one.
3. (old).—To gull; to cheat; to do.
To grease a fat sow in the arse, verb. phr. (old).—To bribe a rich man.—Grose.
To grease one’s gills, verb. phr. (common).—To make a good or luxurious meal.
Greased Lightning, subs. phr. (American).—An express train.
1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 359. The usual Express Train is not half fast enough for the impatient traveller; he must have his Lightning Express Train, and in the Far West improves still farther by calling it greased lightning, after a favourite Yankee term.
Like Greased Lightning, adv. phr. (American).—Very quick. See Bed-post.
1848. Durivage, Stray Subjects, p. 72. Quicker than greased lightnin’, My covies, I was dead.
1890. Globe, 27 Aug., p. 2, c. 5. He is drawn along at a rapid rate, or, as the correspondent puts it, he is whisked all over town like greased lightning.
1891. J. Newman, Scamping Tricks, p. 98. He measured again, and then off went his coat like greased lightning, and we all followed suit.
Greaser, subs. (American).—1. A Mexican in general; also a Spanish American: see quots. 1848 and 1888. The term originated during the Mexican war.
1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 3. Note. The Mexicans are called Spaniards or greasers (from their greasy appearance) by the Western people.
1855. Marryat, Mountains and Mole Hills, p. 236. The Americans call the Mexicans greasers, which is scarcely a complimentary soubriquet; although the term greaser camp as applied to a Mexican encampment is truthfully suggestive of filth and squalor.
1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, Prologue i. Behind the leaders followed a little troop of three, consisting of one English servant and two greasers.
1883. Bret Harte, In the Carquinez Woods, footnote to ch. vii. Greasers, Californian slang for a mixed race of Mexicans and Indians.
1888. Century Mag., October. To avenge the murder of one of their number the cowboys gathered from the country round about, and fairly stormed the greaser—that is, Mexican—village where the murder had been committed, killing four of the inhabitants.
1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody, ch. 2. Don’t let the greaser git his fingers in your ha’r.
2. in. pl. (Royal Military Academy).—Fried potatoes, as distinguished from boilers = boiled potatoes.
To give one greaser, verb. phr. (Winchester College).—To rub the back of the hand hard with the knuckles.
Grease-spot, subs. (common).—The imaginary result of a passage at arms, physical or intellectual.
1844. Haliburton, The Attaché, ch. xvi. If he hadn’t a had the clear grit in him, and showed his teeth and claws, they’d a nullified him so you wouldn’t see a grease-spot of him no more.
Greasy-chin, subs. (old).—A dinner.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Lay of St. Gengulphus.’ And to every guest his card had express’d ‘Half past’ as the hour for a greasy chin.
Great Cry and Little Wool.—See Cry.
Great Go (or Greats), subs. (Cambridge University).—The final examination for the B.A. degree; cf., Little-go. At Oxford, greater.
1841. Prince of the New-made Baccalere, Oxford. Great-go is passed.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. x. Both small and great are sufficiently distant to be altogether ignored, if we are that way inclined.
1856–7. Thackeray, King of Brentford’s Test., st. 7. At college, though not fast, Yet his little-go and great-go, He creditably pass’d.
1871. Morning Advertiser, 28 Apr. Yes, Mr. Lowe has been plucked for his great go.
1883. Echo, 3 May, p. 2, c. 4. But few, indeed, are the men who have been in for greats during the last twenty years, and who have not blessed Mr. Kitchin for his edition of the Novum Organum.
Great Gun, subs. phr. (common).—1. A person of distinction; a thing of importance.
English Synonyms.—Big bug; big dog of the tanyard; big dog with the brass collar; big gun; big head; big one; big (or great) pot; big wig; biggest toad in the puddle; cock of the walk; don; large potato; nob; rumbusticator; stunner; swell; swell-head; topper; top-sawyer.
French Synonyms.—Un gros bonnet (familiar = big wig); un fiérot (a stuck-up); un herr (from the German); Monsieur Raidillon or Monsieur Pointu (= Mr. Stuck-up).
1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. ii. A Spanish Ecclesiastic, the Canon of ——. Plenty of great guns, at any rate—a regular park of artillery.
1843. Haliburton, Sam Slick in England, ch. xv. The great guns and big bugs have to take in each other’s ladies.
Ibid., p. 24. Pick out the big bugs and see what sort of stuff they’re made of.
1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. x. The great guns of the party, the rector of the parish, the member for the county.
2. (pedlers’).—A peculiar practice; a trick of particular usefulness and importance; a favourite wheeze (q.v.).
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 256. The street-seller’s great gun, as he called it, was to make up packets, as closely resembling as he could accomplish it those which were displayed in the windows of any of the shops.
To Blow Great Guns, verb. phr. (nautical).—To blow a gale; also to blow great guns and small arms.
1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], 23. ‘Curse me, if I don’t think all the world means to cross the Thames this fine night!’ observed Ben. ‘One’d think it rained fares as well as blowed great guns.’
1854. H. Miller, Sch. and Schm. (1858), 14. It soon began to blow great guns.
1865. H. Kingsley, Hillyars and Burton, ch. lxxvii. It was blowing pretty high guns, sou’ eastern by east, off shore and when we came to the harbour’s mouth there was Tom Wyatt with his pilot just aboard.
1869. Arthur Sketchley, Mrs. Brown on Things in General. I never did see such weather, a-blowin great guns as the sayin’ is.
1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 340. It blew great guns from the seaward.
Great-house. See Big-house.
Great-Joseph, subs. (old).—An overcoat.
Great Scott! intj. (American).—An exclamation of surprise; an apology for an oath. [Possibly a memory of the name of Gen. Winfield Scott, a presidential candidate whose dignity and style were such as to win him the nickname “Fuss-and-Feathers.”] Also Great Cæsar.
1888. New York Mercury. Great Scott! you don’t say so.
1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody of Nowhere, p. 98. Bob, what’s the matter with you? Great Scott! the mine hain’t give out.
1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 19 June, p. 396, c 2. Great Scotch!—no, we mean Scott—well, language worthy of the great Harry prevailed for awhile.
1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 305. ‘Great Scott! what the deuce is Wells up to?’ said the Squire.
1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 106. Great Cæsar!
1892. Tit Bits, 19 Mar., p. 416, c. 1. He. Great Cæsar! There you go again! She. James will you please remember that it is your wife to whom you are speaking, sir? He. No other woman could drive me raving, distracted, crazy, asking silly questions about—She. James!
Great Shakes. See Shakes.
Great Smoke, subs. (thieves’)—London.
Great Sun, intj. (common).—An exclamation.
1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly. Great Sun! I think I see it now.
Great-unwashed, subs. (colloquial).—The lower classes; the rabble. Also the unwashed. [First used by Burke; popularised by Scott.]
1892. Sydney Watson, Wops the Waif, ch. iii., p. 4. We begin to understand what is meant by the lowest classes, the great unwashed.
Great Whipper-in, subs. phr. (common).—Death; old floorer (q.v.).
Grecian, subs. (old).—1. A roysterer; a greek (q.v.).
2. (Christ’s Hospital).—A senior boy.
3. (popular).—An Irishman.
Grecian Accent, subs. (popular).—A brogue.
Grecian-bend, subs. (common).—A stoop in walking. [Affected by some women c. 1869–80.] Cf., Alexandra Limp, Roman Fall, Italian Wriggle, Kangaroo Droop.
1821. Etonian, ii., 57. In person he was of the common size, with something of the Grecian bend, contracted doubtless from sedentary habits.
1869. Daily Telegraph, 1 Sept. I do not, however, think the ‘stoop’ our girls now have arises from tight-lacing. Some affect what is called the Grecian bend.
1870. Orchestra, 25 Mar. ‘Grand Comic Concert.’ The ladies have their Grecian bend, our typical gentleman explains a correspondent masculine affectation which he dubs ‘The Roman Fall—The Roman Fall.’
1871. Morning Advertiser, 4 Dec. A lady of five feet becomes, say, five feet two inches per heels, five feet six inches per hair, five feet again, per Grecian bend.
1876. Chambers’ Journal, No. 629. Your own advocacy for the Grecian bend and the Alexandra limp—both positive and practical imitations of physical affliction.
1886. Cornhill Magazine, Dec., p. 618. You ain’t nearly fine enough for a waitress or for ’im, neether. He likes a smart young woman with a Grecian bend.
Greed, subs. (thieves).—Money. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.
1857. Ducange Anglicus, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.
Greedy-gut (or -guts), subs. (old).—A voracious eater; a glutton. [As in the old (schoolboys’) rhyme: ‘Guy-hi, Greedy-gut, Eat all the pudding up.’] For synonyms, see Stodger. Fr., un glafâtre.
1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, Edace, an eater, a devourer. a greedigut. Ibid. Putti occhi, greedie eies.
1772. Coles, Eng. Dict., s.v.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
Greek, subs. (old).—1. Slang, or flash (q.v.); usually St. Giles’ Greek (q.v.). Cf., Cant, Gibberish, etc.
2. (colloquial).—A card-sharper; a cheat.
1528. Roy and Barlow, Rede me and be not wrothe, p. 117 [ed. Arber, 1871]. In carde playinge he is a goode Greke And can skyll of post and glycke, Also a prayre of dyce to trolle.
1568. Satirical Poems, ‘Scottish Text Soc.’ [1889–91] i., 77. A cowle, a cowle, for such a greek were fitter far to wea’re.
1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Grecheggiare ... to play the Greek.
1602. Shakspeare, Troilus and Cressida, v. 6. Come, both you cogging Greeks; have at you both.
1819. Moore, Tom Crib, xxviii. Most of the cant phrases in Head’s English Rogue, which was published, I believe, in 1666, would be intelligible to a Greek of the present day.
1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, ii., 5. Come lads, bustle about; play will begin—some of the pigeons are here already, the Greeks will not be long following.
1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. IV., ch. i. Jerry was a Greek by nature, and could land a flat as well as the best of them.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xxxvi. He was an adventurer, a pauper, a blackleg, a regular Greek.
1861. Once a Week, 25 May, p. 97. As the Greek places the packet [of cards] on the top of the other, he allows it to project the least bit in the world.
1884. Saturday Review, 16 Feb., p. 202. Without a confederate the now fashionable game of baccarat does not seem to offer many chances for the Greek.
3. (old).—An Irishman.
1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf. Greek, s.v. Irishmen call themselves Greeks.
1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. i., p. 240. We had the Greeks (the lately arrived Irish) down upon us more than once.
1872. Standard, 3 Sept. ‘Melbourne Correspondence.’ The most noticeable point of comparison between the two Administrations is the presence or the absence of the Greek element from the Cabinet. Greek, as some of your readers are aware, is colonial slang for ‘Irish.’
4. (thieves’).—A gambler. Also a highwayman.
Merry Greek, subs. phr. (old).—A roysterer; a drunkard. Cotgrave. [In Latin, Graecare = to play the Greek—high-living and hard drinking.]
1602. Shakspeare, Troilus and Cressida, iv., 4. A woful Cressid ’mongst the merry Greeks.
Greek Fire, subs. phr. (thieves’).—Bad whiskey; Rotgut (q.v.).
1889. Clarkson and Richardson, Police, p. 321, s.v.
Greek Kalends, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Never. To defer anything to the Greek Kalends is to put it off sine die. (The Greeks used no kalends in their reckoning of time.)
c. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth. Consid. Parlt., wks. (1711) 185. That gold, plate, and all silver, given to the mint-house in these late troubles, shall be paid at the Greek Kalends.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, bk. I., ch. xx. The judgment or decree shall be given out and pronounced at the next Greek Calends, that is, never.
1823. Byron, Don Juan, c. xiii., st. 45. They and their bills, ‘Arcadians both,’ are left To the Greek Kalends of another session.
1825. Scott, Betrothed. Intro. Will you speak of your paltry prose doings in my presence, whose great historical poem, in twenty books, with notes in proportion, has been postponed ad Græcas Kalendas?
1872. O. W. Holmes, Poet Breakf. T. i., 18. His friends looked for it only on the Greek Calends, say on the 31st of April, when that should come round, if you would modernize the phrase.
1882. Macmillan’s Mag., 253. So we go on ... and the works are sent to the Greek Calends.
English Synonyms.—In the reign of Queen Dick; when the devil is blind; when two Sundays come in a week; at Doomsday; at Tib’s Eve; one of these odd-come-shortlys; when my goose pisses; when the ducks have eaten up the dirt; when pigs fly; in a month of Sundays; once in a blue moon.
French Synonyms.—Mardi s’il fait chaud (obsolete); Dimanche après la grande messe (popular); quand les poules pisseront; semaine des quatre jeudis (popular: when four Thursdays come in a week).
Green, subs. (common).—1. Rawness; simplicity. Generally, ‘Do you see any green in my eye’? = Do you take me for a fool? See adj. sense.
1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, ii., 247. I’m not a tailor, but I understands about clothes, and I believe that no person ever saw anything green in my eye.
1892. Ally Sloper, 19 Mar., p. 95, c. 2. Ally Sloper the ’cute, Ally Sloper the sly, Ally Sloper, the cove with no green in his eye.
1892. Illustrated Bits, 22 Oct., p. 14, c. 2. Sindin’ both shlips is it? How wud Oi have a check on ye? Do ye see inny green in me oi?
Adj. (colloquial).—Simple; inexperienced; gullible; unsalted (q.v.).
1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, Act i., Sc. 3. Pol. Affection! pooh! you speak like a green girl.
1605. Chapman, All Fools, Act iv., p. 67 (Plays, 1874). Shall I then say you want experience? Y’are green, y’are credulous; easy to be blinded.
1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Green (a) ... so likewise a young or unexperienced person in arts, sciences, etc., is sometimes said to be green, raw, etc.
1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry. Tom. No; you’re green! Jerry. Green! Log. Ah! not fly! Tom. Yes, not awake!
1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. viii. ‘My eyes, how green!’ exclaimed the young gentleman. ‘Why a beak’s a madgst’rate.’
1841. Punch, July 17, p. 6. What a green chap you are, after all. A public man’s consistency! It’s only a popular delusion.
1850. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, p. 19. Eh! why! what’s the matter with you? have I done anything particularly green, as you call it?
1856. T. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School Days, pt. I., ch. ii. You try to make us think ... that you are, even as we, of the working classes. But bless your hearts, we ain’t so green.
1869. Literary World, 31 Dec., p. 129, c. 2. His fellow-passengers laughed at him for being so green.
1879. Punch’s Almanack, p. 7. Seasonable Slang. For Spring.—You be blowed! For Summer.—I’ll warm yer! For Autumn.—Not so blooming green! For Winter.—An ice little game all round.
1887. Lippincott, July, p. 104. Within the last day or so a young fellow has arrived who is in danger of being eaten by the cows, so green is he.
1890. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 7 Nov. Being quite green at the time, I rather lost my head over my good fortune.
Verb (colloquial).—To hoax; to swindle. At Eton to green up. For synonyms, see Gammon.
1836–41. T. C. Buckland, Eton. I was again catechized on many points personal to myself, and some mild attempts were made to green me, as boys call it.
1889. Answers, 2 Mar., p. 218, c. 1. Whereupon the old humbug burst into a loud guffaw, as though he were rejoicing at having greened the toff.
1892. Anstey, Voces Populi (Second Series). ‘Bank Holiday,’ 147. The Damsel (giggling). You go on—you don’t green me that w’y.
Greens, subs. (old).—1. Chlorosis: i.e., the green sickness.
1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 313. The maiden takes five, too, that’s vexed with her greens.
2. in. pl. (printers’).—Bad or worn out rollers.
To have, get, or give one’s greens, verb. phr. (venery).—To enjoy, procure, or confer the sexual favour. Said indifferently of both sexes.
Hence, also, on for one’s greens = amorous and willing; after one’s greens = in quest of the favour; green-grove = the pubes; green-grocery = the female pudendum; the price of greens = the cost of an embrace; fresh greens = a new piece (q.v.). [Derived by some from the old Scots’ grene = to pine, to long for, to desire with insistence: whence greens = longings, desires; which words may in their turn be referred, perhaps, to Mid. Eng., zernen, A.S., gyrnan, Icelandic, girna = to desire, and Gothic, gairns = desirous. Mod. Ger., begehren = to desire. See Dalziel, Darker Superstitions of Scotland, 1835, p. 106:—‘He answered that he wald gif the sum Spanyie fleis callit cantarides, quhilk, gif thou suld move the said Elizabeth to drynk of, it wold mak hir out of all question to grene eftir the.’ Trial of Peter Hay, of Kirklands, and others, for Witchcraft, 25th May, 1601. But in truth, the expression is a late and vulgar coinage. It would seem, indeed, to be a reminiscence of garden (q.v.), and the set of metaphors—as kail, cauliflower, parsley bed, and so forth (all which see)—suggested thereby.]
English Synonyms.—To be all there but the most of you; in Abraham’s bosom; up one’s petticoats (or among one’s frills); there; on the spot; into; up; up to one’s balls; where uncle’s doodle goes; among the cabbages.
To dance the blanket hornpipe; the buttock jig; the cushion dance (see Monosyllable.); the goat’s jig; the mattress jig; the married man’s cotillion; the matrimonial polka; the reels o’ Bogie (Scots’); the reels of Stumpie (Scots’); to the tune of the shaking of the sheets; with your arse to the ceiling, or the kipples (Scots’).
To go ballocking; beard-splitting; bed-pressing (Marston); belly-bumping (Urquhart); bitching (Marston); bum-fighting; bum-working; bum-tickling; bum-faking; bush-ranging; buttock-stirring (Urquhart); bird’s-nesting; buttocking; cock-fighting; cunny-catching; doodling; drabbing; fleshing it; flesh-mongering; goosing; to Hairyfordshire; jock-hunting; jottling; jumming (Urquhart); leather-stretching; on the loose; motting; molrowing; pile-driving; prick-scouring; quim-sticking; rumping; rump-splitting; strumming; twatting; twat-faking; vaulting (Marston, etc.); wenching; womanizing; working the dumb (or double, or hairy) oracle; twat-raking; tummy-tickling; tromboning; quim-wedging; tail-twitching; button-hole working; under-petticoating.
To have, or do, a bit of beef (of women); business (Shakspeare); bum-dancing; cauliflower; cock; cock-fighting; cunt; curly greens; fish; on a fork; fun; off the chump end; flat; front-door work; giblet pie; the gut- (or cream- or sugar-) stick (of women); jam; ladies’ tailoring; meat; mutton; pork; quimsy; rough; sharp-and-blunt (rhyming slang); stuff; split-mutton; skirt; summer cabbage.
To have, or do, or perform, the act of androgynation (Urquhart); a ballocking; a bit; a lassie’s by-job (Burns); a bedward bit (Durfey); a beanfeast in bed; a belly-warmer; a blindfold bit; a bottom-wetter (of women); a bout; a brush with the cue; a dive in the dark; a drop-in; a double fight; an ejectment in Love-lane; a four-legged frolic; a fuck; a futter; a game in the cock-loft; a goose-and-duck (rhyming); the culbatizing exercise (Urquhart); a grind; a hoist-in; a jottle; a jumble-giblets; a jumble-up; an inside worry; a leap; a leap up the ladder; a little of one with t’other (Durfey); a mount; a mow (David Lyndsay, Burns, etc.); a nibble; a plaster of warm guts (Grose); a poke; a put; a put-in; a random push (Burns); a rasp; a ride; a roger; a rootle; a rush up the straight; a shot at the bull’s eye; a slide up the board; a squirt-and-a squeeze; a touch-off; a touch-up; a tumble-in; a wet-’un; a wipe at the place; a wollop-in.
Specific.—To have, or do, a back-scuttle, (q.v.); a buttered bun (q.v.); a dog’s marriage (q.v.); a knee-trembler, perpendicular, or upright (q.v.); a matrimonial (q.v.); spoon-fashion (q.v.); a st. george (q.v.).
To play at, All-fours; Adam-and-Eve; belly-to-belly (Urquhart); brangle-buttock (Urquhart); buttock-and-leave-her; cherry-pit (Herrick); couple-your-navels; cuddle-my-cuddie (Durfey); Hey Gammer Cook (C. Johnson); fathers-and-mothers; the first-game-ever-played; Handie-Dandie; Hooper’s Hide (q.v.); grapple-my-belly (Urquhart); horses-and-mares (schoolboys’); the close-buttock-game (Urquhart); cock-in-cover; houghmagandie (Burns); in-and-in; in-and-out; Irish-whist (where-the-jack (q.v.)-takes-the ace [see Monosyllable.]); the-loose-coat-game (Urquhart); Molly’s hole (schoolboys’); pickle-me-tickle-me (Urquhart); mumble-peg; prick-the-garter; pully-hauly (Grose); put-in-all; the-same-old-game; squeezem-close; stable-my-naggie; thread-the-needle; tops-and-bottoms; two-handed-put (Grose); up-tails-all.
General.—To Adam and Eve it; to blow the groundsels; to engage three to one; to chuck a tread; to do (Jonson); to do it; to do ‘the act of darkness’ (Shakspeare), the act of love, the deed of kind, the work of increase, ‘the divine work of fatherhood’ (Whitman); to feed the dumb-glutton; to get one’s hair cut; to slip in Daintie Davie (Scots’), or Willie Wallace (idem); to get Jack in the orchard; to get on top of; to give a lesson in simple arithmetic (i.e., addition, division, multiplication and subtraction); to give a green gown (q.v.); to go ‘groping for trout in a peculiar river’ (Shakspeare); to go face-making; to go to Durham (North Country); to go to see a sick friend; to have it; to join faces (Durfey); to join giblets; to make ends meet; to make the beast with two backs (Shakspeare and Urquhart); to make a settlement in tail; to play top-sawyer; to put it in and break it; to post a letter; to go on the stitch; to labor lea (Scots); to tether one’s nags on (idem); to nail twa wames thegither (idem); to lift a leg on (Burns); to ride a post (Cotton); to peel one’s end in; to put the devil into hell (Boccaccio); to rub bacons (Urquhart); to strop one’s beak; to strip one’s tarse in; to grind one’s tool; to grease the wheel; to take on a split-arsed mechanic; to take a turn in Bushey-park, Cock-alley, Cock-lane, Cupid’s-alley, Cupid’s-corner, Hair-court, ‘the lists of love’ (Shakspeare), Love-lane, on Mount Pleasant, among the parsley, on Shooter’s-hill, through the stubble; to whack it up; to wollop it in; to labour leather; to wind up the clock (Sterne).
Of women only.—To get an arselins coup (Burns); to catch an oyster; to do the naughty; to do a spread, a tumble, a back-fall, what mother did before me; a turn on one’s back, what Eve did with Adam; to hold, or turn up one’s tail (Burns and Durfey); to get one’s leg lifted, one’s kettle mended, one’s chimney swept out, one’s leather stretched; to lift one’s leg; to open up to; to get shot in the tail; to get a shove in one’s blind eye; to get a wet bottom; what Harry gave Doll (Durfey); to suck the sugar-stick; to take in beef; to take Nebuchadnezzar out to grass; to look at the ceiling over a man’s shoulder; to get outside it; to play one’s ace; to rub one’s arse on (Rochester); to spread to; to take in and do for; to give standing room for one; to get hulled between wind and water; to get a pair of balls against one’s butt; to take in cream; to show (or give) a bit; to skin the live rabbit; to feed (or trot out) one’s pussy (q.v.); to lose the match and pocket the stakes; to get a bellyful of marrow pudding; to supple both ends of it (Scots); to draw a cork; to get hilt and hair (Burns); to draw a man’s fireworks; to wag one’s tail (Pope); to take the starch out of; to go star-gazing (or studying astronomy) on one’s back; to get a green gown (Herrick and Durfey); to have a hot pudding (or live sausage) for supper; to grant the favour; to give mutton for beef, juice for jelly, soft for hard, a bit of snug for a bit of stiff, a hole to hide it in, a cure for the horn (q.v.), a hot poultice for the Irish toothache; to pull up one’s petticoats to; to get the best and plenty of it; to lie under; to stand the push; to get stabbed in the thigh; to take off one’s stays; to get touched up, a bit of the goose’s-neck, a go at the creamstick, a handle for the broom.
Conventionalisms.—To have connection; to have carnal, improper, or sexual intercourse; to know carnally; to have carnal knowledge of; to indulge in sexual commerce; to go to bed with; to lie with; to go in unto (Biblical); to be intimate, improperly intimate, familiar, on terms of familiarity with; to have one’s will of; to lavish one’s favours on; to enjoy the pleasures of love, or the conjugal embrace; to embrace; to have one’s way with; to perform connubial rites; to scale the heights of connubial bliss; to yield one’s favours (of women); to surrender, or give one the enjoyment of one’s person (of women); to use benevolence to; to possess. For other synonyms, see Ride.
To send to dr. green, verb. phr. (old).—To put out to grass.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. My horse is not well, I shall send him to Doctor Green.
S’elp me greens! (or taturs!) intj. (common).—A veiled oath of an obscene origin; see Greens. For synonyms, see Oaths.
1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. iii., p. 144. They’ll say, too, s’elp my greens! and ‘Upon my word and say so!’
1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 23 Jan. ‘Well, s’elp me greens,’ he cried, wiping his eyes and panting for breath, ‘if you arn’t the greatest treat I ever did meet; you’ll be the death o’ me, Juggins, you will. Why, you bloomin’ idiot, d’ye think if they had’nt been rogues we should have been able to bribe ’em?’
Just for greens, adv. phr. (American).—See quot.
1848. Jones, Sketches of Travel, p. 7. I’ve made up my mind to make a tower of travel to the big North this summer, jest for greens, as we say in Georgia, when we hain’t got no very pertickeler reason for anything, or hain’t got time to tell the real one.
Green-apron, subs. (old).—A lay preacher. Also adjectively. For synonyms, see Devil-Dodger and Sky-Pilot.
1654. Warren, Unbelievers, 145. It more befits a green-apron preacher, than such a Gamaliel.
1705. Hickeringill, Priestcraft, I. (1721) 21. Unbeneficed Noncons. (that live by Alms and no Paternoster, no Penny, say the green-aprons).
1765. Tucker, Lt. Nat., II., 451. The gifted priestess amongst the Quaker is known by her green apron.
Green-back, subs. (common).—1. A frog.
2. (University).—One of Todhunter’s series of mathematical text-books. (Because bound in green cloth. Cf., Blue-ruin.)
3. (American).—The paper issue of the Treasury of the United States; first sent out in 1862 during the civil war. [From the backs being printed in green.] Hence green-backer = an advocate for an unlimited issue or paper money.
1873. Echo, 8 May. This was accomplished by the issue of legal tender notes, popularly known as greenbacks.
1877. Clemens, Life on the Mississippi, ch. lvii., p. 499. Anything in the semblance of a town lot, no matter how situated, was saleable, and at a figure which would still have been high if the ground had been sodded with greenbacks.
1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody of Nowhere, p. 228. Gussie can hear the crinkle of the greenbacks as he folds them up.
Green Bag, subs. (old).—A lawyer. [From the green bag in which robes and briefs were carried. The colour is now blue, or, in cases of presentation from seniors to juniors, red.]
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
English Synonyms.—Black box; bramble (provincial); devil’s own; gentleman of the long robe; land-shark; limb of the law; mouth-piece; Philadelphia lawyer (q.v.); quitam; six-and-eightpence; snipe; sublime rascal.
French Synonyms. Un bavard (pop. = a talker or mouthpiece); un blanchisseur (= whitewasher); un brodancheur à la plaque, aux macarons, or à la cymbale (thieves’: a notary-public); un gerbier (thieves’); un grippemini (obsolete: grippeminaud = thief); un inutile (thieves’: a notary-public); une éponge d’or (= a sucker-up of gold: in allusion to the long bills); un macaron huissier (popular).
Italian Synonyms.—Dragon del gran soprano; dragonetto (= a dragon, or suck-all).
Spanish Synonyms.—Remedio (= a remedy); la letraderia (= a body or society of lawyers); cataribera (jocular).
Green-Bonnet, to have (or wear) a green bonnet, verb. phr. (common).—To fail in business; to go bankrupt. [From the green cloth cap once worn by bankrupts.]
Green Cheese. See Cream Cheese and Moon.
Green Cloth. See Board of Green Cloth.
Green Dragoons, subs. (military).—The fifth Dragoon Guards; also known as the Green Horse. [From their green facings.]
Greener, subs. (common).—A new, or raw hand; specifically employed of inexperienced workmen introduced to fill the place of strikers; Dung (q.v.). Cf., Flint. For synonyms, see Snooker.
1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 14 Oct., p. 6, c. 3. A howling mob of Hebrew men and women ... in their own Yiddish jargon criticised the new arrivals, or greeners, in language that was anything but complimentary.
Green-Goods, subs. (American).—1. Counterfeit greenbacks.
1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody of Nowhere, p. 223. In his opinion Stillman Myth, and Co., were in the green goods business.
2. (venery).—A prostitute new to the town; a fresh bit (q.v.).
Green-goods Man (or Operator), subs. (American).—1. A counterfeiter of spurious greenbacks; a Snide-pitcher (q.v.).
1888. Troy Daily Times, 3 Feb. Driscoll was hung, but the green goods-man escaped, for the only proof against him was that he sold a quantity of paper cut in the shape of bills, and done up in packages of that size.
2. (venery).—A Fresh Bit (q.v.) fancier. Also an amateur of defloration; a minotaur (q.v.).
Green-goose, subs. (old).—1. A cuckold.
2. (old).—A prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.
1594. Shakspeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost, iv., 3. This is the liver vein, which makes flesh a deity; A green goose, a goddess, pure, pure idolatry.
1607. Beaumont and Fletcher, Woman Hater, i., 2. His palace is full of green geese.
Green-gown. To give a green-gown, verb. phr. (old).—To tumble a woman on the grass; to copulate. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.
1647–8. Herrick, Hesperides. ‘To Corinna To go a Maying.’ Many a green gown has been given.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Green gown, s.v. A throwing of young lasses on the grass and kissing them.
1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 277. Kit gave a green gown to Betty, and lent her his hand to rise.
1719. Smith, Lives of Highwaymen, i., 214. Our gallant being disposed to give his lady a green gown.
1742. C. Johnson, Highwaymen and Pyrates. Passim.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Green-head, subs. (old).—A greenhorn. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Greenhead, s.v., A very raw novice or inexperienced fellow.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Greenhorn (or Green-Head, or Greenlander), subs. (common).—A simpleton; a fool; a gull (q.v.); also a new hand. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head. To come from Greenland = to be fresh to things; raw (q.v.). Greenlander sometimes = an Irishman.
1753. Adventurer, No. 100. A slouch in my gait, a long lank head of hair and an unfashionable suit of drab-coloured cloth, would have denominated me a greenhorn, or in other words, a country put very green.
1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xliv. ‘Why, wha but a crack-brained greenhorn wad hae let them keep up the siller that ye left at the Gordon-Arms?’
1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist. A new pall.... Where did he come from? Greenland.
1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. ix. All these he resigned to lock himself into a lone little country house, with a simple widow and a greenhorn of a son.
Greenhouse, subs. (London ’bus-drivers’).—An omnibus.
Green Howards, subs. phr. (military).—The Nineteenth Foot. [From its facings and its Colonel’s name (1738–48), and to distinguish it from the Third Foot, also commanded by a Col. Howard.] Also Howard’s Garbage.
Green Kingsman, subs. (pugilistic).—A silk pocket-handkerchief: any pattern on a green ground.
Green Linnets, subs. phr. (military).—The 39th Foot. [From the facings.]
Greenly, adv. (old).—Like a greenhorn; foolishly.
1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, Act iv., Sc. 5. King. ... We have done but greenly, In hugger-mugger to inter him.
Greenmans, subs. (old).—1. The fields; the country.
1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Rept.) 1874. Greenemans, the fields.
2. in sing. (builders’).—A contractor who speculates with other people’s money.
Green-meadow, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.
Greenness, subs. (colloquial).—Immaturity of judgment; inexperience; gullibility.
1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Greenness (s) ... also the rawness, unskilfulness, or imperfection of any person in a trade, art, science, etc.
1838. Jas. Grant, Sketches in London, ch. vi., p. 205. Instances of such perfect simplicity or greenness, as no one could have previously deemed of possible existence.
Green-rag.—See Greeny, sense 1.
Green-river. To send a man up green-river, verb. phr. (American).—To kill. [From a once famous factory on Green River, where a favourite hunting-knife was made.] For synonyms, see Cook One’s Goose.
1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 175. A thrust from the keen scalp-knife by the nervous arm of a mountaineer was no baby blow, and seldom failed to strike home up to the green river [i.e., the mark] on the blade.
Green-sickness, subs. (old).—Chlorosis.
Green-turtle. To live up to green-turtle, verb. phr. (American).—To do, and give, one’s best. [From the high esteem in which the green fat of turtle is held.]
1888. Paton, Down the Islands. People who, as hosts, live up to their green turtle.
Greenwich Barber, subs. (old).—A retailer of sand from the Greenwich pits. [A pun upon ‘shaving’ the banks.]
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Greenwich-Goose, subs. (old).—A pensioner of Greenwich Hospital.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Greeny, subs. (old theatrical).—1. The curtain. [From the colour.] Also Green-rag.
1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry, p. 110 [ed. 1890]. It is far more difficult to please the company behind Greeny; I beg pardon, sir, I should have said than the audience before the curtain.
2. (University).—A freshman. For synonyms, see Snooker.
1834. Southey, The Doctor, ch. i. He was entered among the greenies of this famous University.
3. (common).—A simpleton; a Greenhorn (q.v.). For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.
1852. Judson, Myst., etc., of New York,