part I

., ch. v., p. 47 (1874). Abram, naked. 3. Abram or Abram coloured (old).—Derivation uncertain, but supposed to be a corruption of ‘auburn.’ In this connection it may be remarked that it is to be found in Coriolanus, Act II., scene 3; but where the original reads Abram the folio has ‘auburn.’ To sham Abram, verb (old).—Also see Abraham sham.—The original signification of this word, to feign sickness, led to its use to describe pretence of any kind; this is specially the case amongst sailors, workmen, etc., who describe malingering as doing Abram, the defaulter also being called by the same name. Abregoyns, Abergoins, Abrogans, subs. (American).—Vulgarisms for ‘aborigines.’ Abridgments, subs. (nonce word).—Knee breeches. This term for small clothes appears in Bulwer Lytton’s comedy, Money. 1840. Bulwer Lytton, Money, iv. 4. Frantz (producing a pair of small clothes, which Toke examines). Your master is von beggar, etc. Toke. I accept the abridgements, but you’ve forgotten to line the pockets. Abroad, adv. (old).—1. Confused; staggered; perplexed. More generally retained in this sense in America than in England. 2. (popular).—Generally all abroad; i.e., wide of the mark; wrong; uncertain in one’s estimate; or, ‘all at sea.’ In this figurative sense the expression is much older than is popularly supposed.—See Bedoozled. 1821. The Fancy, vol. I., p. 255. In the fourth round he came in all abroad, and got a doubler in the bread-basket, which spoiled him for the remainder of the fight. 1840. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, ch. lxi. ‘My friend!’ repeated Kit, ‘You’re all abroad, seemingly,’ returned the other man. ‘There’s his letter, take hold.’ 1846. Thackeray, V. Fair, ch. v. At the twelfth round the latter champion was all abroad, as the saying is, and had lost all presence of mind, and power of attack or defence. 3. To be transported. The French have a similar circumlution, aller en traverse, and the Italian Fourbesque has andar a traverso. 4. (Win. Coll.)—A boy returning to school work after being ill is said to come abroad. When on the sick list he is continent (q.v.) i.e., continens cameram, vel lectum, keeping his room or bed. When recovered he is allowed to go foris, out of doors, or more colloquially, abroad. Adams, in Wykehamica, remarks that the use of this term shows the antiquity of the school, dating as it does from the times of the ‘patrium sermonem fugito, Latinum exerceto, of the Tabula legum.’ To be furked abroad is a less complimentary term implying that a ‘man’ has been ‘shuffling’; it is specially applied to those who having ‘gone continent’ in the morning are sent back to school by the doctor at 9 a.m. Abroaded (society).—See quotation, and compare with abroad. 1876. H. O. Manton, Slangiana, p. 11 (See Bibliography). Fashionable slang for a noble defaulter on the Continent (sic) to avoid creditors. It is the police official slang for convicts sent to a colonial or penal settlement, but it is applied by thieves to transportation either at home or in the Colonies. Abs (Win. Coll.)—1. An abbreviation of ‘absent’ placed against the name of a boy when absent from the school. 2. v. tr., to take away. Formerly, circa, 1840, to abs a tolly (candle), meant to put it out; now it would mean to take it away whether lighted or unlighted, the modern ‘notion’ for putting it out being to ‘dump’ it. 3. v. n. To get away; generally used in the imperative, as, ‘abs!’ ‘Oh! do abs!’ Sometimes, however, a fellow is said to abs quickly, and mess things (q.v.) are absed (trans.), or put away. 4. To have one’s wind absed is to have it taken away by a violent blow in the stomach. Abscotchalater, subs. (thieves’).—Quoted by H. O. Manton in Slangiana as ‘one who is hiding away from the police.’ Cf., Absquatulate. Absence, subs. (Eton).—Names-calling, which takes place at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. on half-holidays; and at 11.30 a.m., 3 p.m., and 6 p.m. on whole holidays; at 6 p.m. only in summer half. Absent Without Leave, adv. phr. (thieves’).—Said of one who has broken prison; or (popular) absconded. Absit, subs. (Cambridge).—See quotation. 1886. Dickens’s Dictionary of the University of Cambridge, p. 3. Every undergraduate wishing to leave Cambridge for a whole day, not including a night, must obtain an ‘absit’ from his tutor. Permission to go away for a longer period, either at the end of the term or in the middle, is called an ‘exeat,’ and no undergraduate should go down without obtaining his ‘exeat.’ Abskize, Abschize, v. (American).—To depart; go away. Said to be of Western origin, and to have been in use about 1883. Of rare and probably local usage. It has been derived from the Dutch afscheyden; Ger. abscheiden of similar meaning; a not unlikely origin, bearing in mind the large Dutch and German element in the U.S.A. Absquatulate, also Absquotilate, v. (American).—To run away; to decamp; with the more or less forcible idea of absconding in disgrace. A factitious word, of American origin and jocular use, simulating a Latin form, perhaps from Latin ab and squat, i.e., to settle on land, especially public or new lands, without any title or right whether of purchase or permission, though in Australia the term is employed in a more restricted sense for a sub-lessee of the government at a nominal rent. It was first used by Mr. Hackett, as Nimrod Wildfire, a Kentucky character, in a play called ‘The Kentuckian,’ by Bernard, produced in 1833. It is now less often heard than formerly, having been replaced in some degree by the word skedaddle (q.v.). For synonyms, see Amputate one’s mahogany. 1835–1840. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xiv. ‘What’s the use of legs but to absquotilate with ... when traps are sot for you.’ 1879. Punch, Jan. 18, p. 23, col. 1. The Reward of Merit. Mrs. Lyon Hunter, ‘How do you do, Mr. Brown? Let me present you to the Duchess of Stilton! Your Grace, permit me to present to you Mr. Brown, the distinguished scholar!’ Her Grace (affably). ‘Charmed to make your acquaintance—er—Mr. Brown!’ Mr. Brown (with effusion). ‘Your Grace is really too kind. This is the ninth time I’ve enjoyed the distinction of being presented to your Grace within the last twelve months; but it’s a distinction I value so highly, that without trespassing too much on your Grace’s indulgence, I hope I may be occasionally permitted to enjoy it again.’ [Bows, and absquatulates.] 1884. Daily Telegraph, August 20, p. 6, col. 1. Yet who knows but that some day an accident may happen to the Aberdeenshire works of art ... the sense of the cartoons be totally subverted—in Rabelaisian phrase, ‘absquashed and absquatulated.’ Academician, subs. (old).—The inmate of a brothel. Academy, subs. (old).—1. A disorderly house; a brothel; a bagnio. Grose remarks that these establishments were also called pushing schools. The old brothels have of late years rapidly disappeared, their places being taken by what are known as bed houses (q.v.). These vary in character as regards style, equipment, and cost, but of whatever grade, rooms may be had for longer or shorter periods as required. The French call them maisons de societé; maisons de passe; foutoirs, and gros numéros, the last from the fact, that these semi-private brothels bear a number of large dimensions over the entrance. The French have also a somewhat analogous term for the mistress of an académie in l’institutrice, the teacher. In the finishing academy (q.v.) the inmates are young prostitutes, the next stage in whose downward career is taken on the streets. 2. According to the N.Y. Slang Dictionary, a penitentiary or prison for minor offences. 3. A thieves’ school; also a band of thieves. There are establishments of similar character bearing more distinctive names, e.g.: 4. Buzzing Academy (thieves’).—A school for thieves, chiefly boys. Fagan, the old Jew in Oliver Twist, will occur to mind, as also the devices by which he taught his gang to pick pockets and pilfer adroitly. 5. Canting Academy (vagrants’).—A house of call or common lodging house, frequented by the fraternity; a cadger’s dossing ken. The term is also applied to any house where application for food or money is likely to be successful. At the regular ‘beggar’s house’—establishments which abound more or less in every town—information can be obtained so that the district can be thoroughly and systematically ‘worked.’ 6. Character Academy.—At these places false characters are drawn up, to say nothing of the concoction of schemes of robbery. 7. Floating Academy (thieves’).—The hulks or prison ships were formerly so-called. When the regulations as regards transportation were relaxed, convicts condemned to hard labour were sent on board these vessels. 8. Gammoning Academy.—A reformatory. Acause, conj. (vulgar).—A corruption of ‘because.’ Accommodation House, subs. (popular).—A brothel. Also frequently applied to what in police court phraseology are known as disorderly houses, i.e., houses where rooms can be hired for shorter or longer periods as desired.—See Bed house. According to Cocker.—See Cocker. According to the Revised Statutes.—See Revised statutes. Account. To go on the account, verb. phr. (old nautical).—To join in a fillibustering or buccaneering expedition; to turn pirate. Ogilvie says, probably from the parties sharing, as in a commercial venture. 1812. Scott, Letter to a Friend. I hope it is no new thing for gentlemen of fortune who are going on the account to change a captain now and then. To account for (sporting).—To kill; literally to be answerable for bringing down one’s share of the shooting; to make away with. 1846–48. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ch. xx. The persecuted animals [rats] bolted above ground: the terrier accounted for one, the keeper for another. 1858. Letter from Lahore, 28 September, in Times, 19 November. In the course of one week they were hunted up and accounted for; and you know that in Punjab phraseology accounting for means the extreme fate due to mutineers. [M.] Accounts. To cast up one’s accounts, verb. phr. (old cant).—To vomit. Still common; quoted by Grose [1785]. The expression sometimes runs, amongst seafaring men, to audit one’s accounts at the Court of Neptune. Eng. Synonyms. To shoot the cat; to cat. French Synonyms. Semer des miettes (lit. to sow or scatter crumbs); piquer le renard (lit. to goad the fox). Cf. ‘to shoot the cat.’ The old French phrase was chasser or escorcher le renard, either because, says Cotgrave, ‘in spueing one makes a noise like a fox that barks, or because the flaying of so unsavory an animal will make any man spue’; renverser (lit. to overturn, to upset); faire restitution (lit. to make amends; to restore); revoir la carte (lit. to look at the bill of fare again). (Thieves’).—To turn Queen’s evidence. Accumulatives, subs. (American).—These journalistic sparring matches are essentially a ‘Yankee notion.’ In England they are called codicils (q.v.), under which see an amusing example which will illustrate their character, as also the length to which American editors sometimes go in heaping Ossa upon Pelion. Accumulator, subs. (racing).—A bettor, who when successful with one horse, carries forward the stakes to another event. Ace of Spades, subs. phr. (old).—A widow. Though obsolete in England, it is quoted by the New York Slang Dictionary (1881) as still current in America. Ack, intj. (Christ’s Hospital).—No! refusal of a request, e.g., ‘Lend me your book.’ ‘Ack!’ Ackman, Ackpirate (old), Or Ackruff (American), subs.—A freshwater thief; a ruffian who in conjunction with watermen robs and sometimes murders on the water. [Ack (unknown derivation, unless a corrupted form of ark, a boat; or wherry) + man, etc.] Quoted by Grose [1785], and also by Clark Russell, in Sailor’s Language [1883]. Acknowledge the Corn, verb. phr. (American).—To make an admission of failure; to admit being outwitted. The various stories professing to account for derivation are discussed in detail in Americanisms, Old and New: the most circumstantial and certainly the best authenticated, runs as follows:—In 1828, the Hon. Andrew Stewart was in Congress discussing the principle of ‘Protection,’ and said in the course of his remarks, that Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky sent their haystacks, cornfields, and fodder to New York and Philadelphia for sale. The Hon. Charles A. Wickliffe, from Kentucky, jumped up and said, ‘Why that is absurd; Mr. Speaker, I call the gentleman to order. He is stating an absurdity. We never send haystacks or cornfields to New York or Philadelphia.’ ‘Well, what do you send?’ ‘Why, horses, mules, cattle, hogs.’ ‘Well, what makes your horses, mules, cattle, hogs? You feed a hundred dollars’ worth of hay to a horse, you just animate and get upon the top of your haystack and ride off to market. How is it with your cattle? You make one of them carry fifty dollars’ worth of hay and grass to the Eastern market. Mr. Wickliffe, you send a hog worth ten dollars to an Eastern market; how much corn does it take at thirty-three cents per bushel to fatten it?’ ‘Why, thirty bushels!’ ‘Then you put that thirty bushels of corn into the shape of a hog, and make it walk off to the Eastern market.’ Mr. Wickliffe jumped up and said: ‘Mr. Speaker, I acknowledge the corn.’ [De Vere’s Americanisms [1872] p. 47.] Latterly the expression has been used in England in the sense of simply to make an admission. 1860. Haliburton (Sam Slick), The Season Ticket, No. 9. ‘He had a beard that wouldn’t acknowledge the corn to no man’s.’ 1865. Bacon, Handbook of America, p. 361. Acknowledge the corn, to confess a charge or imputation. 1883. G. A. Sala, Living London, p. 97. Mr. Porter acknowledges the corn as regards his fourteen days’ imprisonment, and is forgiven by his loving consort. Acorn. A horse foaled of an acorn, subs. phr. (old).—The gallows. Euphemisms for hanging, the ‘tree’ itself, and the victim of the law’s majesty were, at the time when the death penalty was a common punishment, both many and curious. A horse foaled of an acorn, is obviously an allusion to the timber of which the triple tree (q.v.) was constructed. The widows of those who had suffered the extreme penalty of the law were termed hempen widows (q.v.); the children of such, or those likely to meet with death by hanging, hempseed (q.v.); and hempen fever (q.v.) represented the dread malady itself. 1760–61. Smollett, Sir L. Greaves, ch. viii. I believe as how ’tis no horse, but a devil incarnate; and yet I’ve been worse mounted, that I have—I’d like to have rid a horse that was foaled of an acorn (i.e., he had nearly met with the fate of Absalom). 1827. Lytton, Pelham, ch. lxxxii. ‘The cove ... is as pretty a Tyburn blossom as ever was brought up to ride a horse foaled by an acorn.’ 1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 8. Tom Sheppard was always a close file, and would never tell whom he married. Of this I’m certain, however, she was much too good for him.... As to this little fellow ... he shall never mount a horse foaled by an acorn, if I can help it. Acquaintance. To scrape acquaintance, verb. phr. (common).—To make acquaintance. Probably from ‘bowing and scraping’ to a person, in order to curry favor. 1698. Farquhar, Love and a Bottle [ed. 1711], p. 5, Lucinda. Pray good Cæsar, keep off your paws; no scraping acquaintance for Heaven’s sake. This phrase has a classical origin, an account of which from the pen of Dr. Doran, F.S.A., appears in the Gentleman’s Magazine [N.S. xxxix. 230] in an article on ‘The Masters of the Roman World during the Happiest Years of the Human Race.’ There is an anecdote connected with Hadrian and the custom of bathing, from which is derived the proverbial saying of scraping an acquaintance. The Emperor, entering a bath, saw an old soldier scraping himself with a tile. He recognised the man as a former comrade—his memory on such points never failed him—and, pitying his condition that he had nothing better than a tile for a flesh-brush, he ordered the veteran to be presented with a considerable sum of money, and a costly set of bathing garments. Thereupon all the old soldiers of the Imperial Army became as anxious to claim fellowship with the Emperor as the Kirkpatricks of Great Britain and Ireland are proudly eager to establish kinship with the Empress of the French. As Hadrian entered the bath the day after that on which he had rewarded his former comrade, he observed dozens of old soldiers scraping themselves with tiles. He understood the intent, but wittily evaded it. ‘Scrape one another, gentlemen,’ said he, ‘you will not scrape acquaintance with me!’ Acquisitive, subs. (American).—Plunder; booty; pickings. A noun formed from the adjective. Acreocracy, subs. (common).—The landed interest. Possibly of American coinage [of simulated Greek formation, from English acre + Greek κρατέω, to hold sway or to govern]. Compare with democracy, mobocracy, aristocracy, etc. 1878. Hallberger’s Illustrated Magazine, p. 622. The introduction of a plutocracy among the aristocracy and the acreocracy though it has tended somewhat to vulgarize our social institutions, etc. Acres, subs. (theatrical).—A coward. From Bob Acres, in Sheridan’s Rivals [1775]; here the character part is of a blusterer, one who talks big, but when put to the push, to use his own words, ‘his courage always oozed out of his finger ends.’ Cf., Abigail for a waiting maid; Samson for a strong man; Job for a monument of patience, and others. Across Lots. To go across lots, verb. phr.—To proceed by the shortest route; similarly to do anything in the most expeditious manner. The phrase had its rise in the natural tendency of settlers, in thinly-populated districts, to shorten the distance from point to point by leaving the road and striking across vacant lots. Brigham Young familiarized its idiomatic use in the now notoriously historic saying attributed to that ‘Saint,’—‘We’ll send them (the Gentiles) to hell across lots.’ 1848. Lowell, Biglow Papers. Past noontime they went trampin’ round An’ nary thing to pop at found, Till, fairly tired o’ their spree, They leaned their guns agin a tree, An’ jest ez they wuz settin’ down To take their noonin’, Joe looked roun’ And see (acrost lots in a pond That warn’t mor’n twenty rod beyond), A goose that on the water sot Ez ef awaitin’ to be shot. 1854. J. C. Neal, Charcoal Sketches, i., p. 35 [to a grumbler]:—‘You would cut across the lot, like a streak of lightning, if you had a chance.’ 1887. Scribner’s Magazine. ‘I didn’t see Crossby go by, did you?’ ‘He’d have had to foot it by the path cross-lots, replied Ezra, gravely, from the doorstep.’ Acteon, subs. (old).—A cuckold; from the horns planted on the head of Acteon by Diana. Acting the Deceitful, verb. phr. (old theatrical).—Performing; mumming; acting.—Duncombe. Active Citizen, subs. (popular).—A louse. For synonyms, see Chates. Act of Parliament, subs. (old).—A military term for small beer, five pints of which, by an Act of Parliament, a landlord was formerly obliged to give gratis to each soldier billetted upon him. For synonyms, see Cold blood. Actual. The actual, subs. (popular).—Money, when spoken of collectively. The fact of the existence of innumerable synonyms for the ‘modern staff of life’ goes far to bear out the latter-day contention that it is not the ‘evil’ itself [‘money is the root of all evil’—Old Saw] but the lack of it that is to be deplored. The central idea enshrined in many of these terms will well repay comparative study, a vein of subtle, and sometimes grim humor and pathos running through not a few of them. This applies equally to English slang, and to the French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese argots. Compare for example the English ‘feathers’ with the Spanish amigos (friends), the Italian agresto (sour grapes), and the French du foin (hay), or de l’os (bone), and obviously many a new side-light upon national habits and modes of thought may be obtained therefrom. The English and French, the two nations whose slang vocabularies are by far the most copious extant, have respectively upwards of 130 and 50 synonymous terms for money. The generic names are as follows:— Eng. Synonyms. Ballast; beans; blunt (i.e., specie,—not soft, or rags, i.e., bank-notes); brads; brass; bustle; coal; coppers (copper money, or mixed pence); chink; chinkers; chips; corks; dibs; dimmock; dinarly; dirt; dooteroomus (or doot); dumps; dust; dye stuffs; feathers; family plate (silver); dollars; gent (silver,—from argent); gilt; haddock (a purse of money); hard stuff (or hard); horse nails; huckster; John; John Davis; loaver; lour (the oldest cant term for money); mopusses; muck; needful; nothings (money collected in a hat by street-performers); ochre (gold); oof; ooftish; pewter; palm oil; pieces; posh; queen’s pictures; quids; rags (bank-notes); ready; ready gilt; ready John; redge (gold); rhino; rowdy; shadscales (or scales); shot; shekels; sinews of war; shiners (sovereigns); shin plasters (or plasters); skin (a purse of money); Spanish; spondulics; stamps; stiff (cheques, or bills of acceptance); stuff; stumpy; tin (silver); tow; wad; wedge (silver); wherewith; and yellow-boys (sovereigns). In the 17th century money was often called ‘shells’—is this the origin of ‘to shell out’?—and ‘Oil of Angels’ (q.v.). French Argot. De l’artiche (thieves’: retirer de l’artiche, is to pick the pockets of a drunkard); du morningue; du foin (lit. hay); du plâtre (thieves’: lit. plaster); du poussier (thieves’: lit. coal-dust; Cf., English ‘coal’ and ‘dust’); des soldats (thieves’: Falstaff, in Merry Wives of Windsor, ii., 2, says ‘money is a good soldier’); de la mornifle (this thieves’ term for money, whether good or counterfeit, originally signified false money only; there is a grim suggestiveness between the orthodox meaning of the word, ‘a slap on the face,’ and its slang signification); de la sauvette (also a basket used by rag-pickers and collectors of street refuse); de l’huile (lit. oil); du beurre (pop.: lit. butter); de la braise (pop.: ma braise is a term of endearment among the Lyonnais, and is equivalent to mon trésor, my treasure); du bath (thieves’: the tip-top; the excellent. From a superior kind of Bath note paper, which, in 1848, was hawked about the streets of Paris, and sold at a low price. Thus papier bath became synonymous with excellent paper. In a short time the qualifying term alone remained, and received a general application.—Argot and Slang); du graissage (pop.: lit. grease, Cf., ‘palm oil,’ and ‘greasing the palm’ in English slang); de la thune (thieves’: in old French cant the Roi de la Thune was the king of the beggars, and the old prison of Bicêtre, where free board and lodging was provided for many of the fraternity, was called La Thune. It is easy to see why the name of a place, where beggars congregated in considerable numbers and received relief, should pass into use to signify pecuniary alms); de la miche de profonde (pop. and thieves’: this exactly corresponds to the English ‘loaver’); de l’oignon pèse (pop.: lit. heavy onion. Cf., Fourbesque argume); du sable (pop.: lit. sand); des pimpions (thieves’: Qy., from pimpant, fine, spruce, smart); de l’os (familiar: lit. bone); du nerf (lit. sinew. Cf., English ‘sinews of war’); des pepettes (pop.: pepette, a coin of the value of fifty centimes); des achetoires (pop.: from acheter, to buy); de la galette (pop.: lit. sea biscuit); des picaillons (pop.: probably a corruption of picaron, a Spanish coin); de ce qui se pousse (pop.: that which pushes itself forward. Cf., English proverb, ‘It’s money makes the mare to go’); de quoi (pop.: the wherewithal. Cf., English ‘the needful,’ the ‘ready’), de l’oignon (pop.: lit. onion. Fourbesque has also argume, lit. in Italian, an onion); de l’oseille (pop.: lit. sorrel); de la douille (thieves’ and pop.: from a kind of large fig much esteemed in Paris); des jaunets (lit. buttercups. Cf., English ‘yellow-boys’); des sous (lit. pence); de la graisse (pop. and thieves’: lit. ‘grease.’ Cf., palm oil); de l’affare (a thieves’ term, probably from the argotic verb affurer, to cheat, steal, or deceive); du metal (lit. metal); du zinc (lit. zinc); du pèze (from the Italian pezzo, a piece; Spanish peso, a silver coin, weighing an ounce); du pedzale; des noyaux (popular); des sonnettes plombes (plomb = lead); des sonnettes (lit. bells. Cf., English ‘chinkers’); du quantum (from the Latin); du gras (lit. fat); de l’atout (lit. trumps in cards); de l’huile de main (lit. hand oil, the English ‘palm grease’); des patards (obsolete copper coins, value ¼d.; now applied particularly to a two-sous piece, and to money generally); de la vaisselle de poche (lit. pocket plate: vaisselle = gold and silver plate); du carme (from the game of Trictrac); de la pécune (lit. cash); des ronds (lit. circles; from the shape of coins); de la bille (from billon); du “sine quâ non” (from the Latin; meaning obvious); du sit nomen (from the Latin); quibus (an abbreviation of quibus fiunt omnia). Italian Fourbesque. Agresto (lit. sour grapes); albume (lit. white of egg), argume (lit. onions); asta, asti (from Ital. asta, a staff); contramaglia (silver money); brunotti (lit. brownish); penne (lit. feathers); smilzi (from Ital. smilzi = menu); squame (lit. chips or scales). Spanish Germania. Amigos (lit. friends); florin (here can be traced the Spanish connection with the Netherlands); sangre (lit. blood). Portuguese Calão.—Parne. German Synonyms (Gaunersprache).—See Gilt. Ad., Adver. subs. (printers’).—An abbreviated form of ‘advertisement.’ 1854. Dickens, Household Words, xiii., 9. The really interesting ads are in the body of the paper. 1888. New York Times, Ap. 6. [The country editor’s wife—] ... reads the ads with the editor, Just to find what each has paid. ‘But the column ad of the jeweller, there,’ So he says, ‘and the harness, and human hair, Must be taken out in trade!’ She wears the corsets he gets for ads, And rattles his sewing machine; She uses the butter, and cups, and things, The country subscriber so faithfully brings, With a cheerfulness seldom seen. Adam, subs. (old).—A sergeant or bailiff; a master man or foreman. Now used by thieves in the sense of an accomplice. Explained by commentators as a reference to the fact that the buff worn by a bailiff resembled the native buff worn by our first parent, or from his keeping the garden. 1598. Shakspeare, Comedy of Errors, iv., 3. Ant. S.... What Adam dost thou mean? Dro. S. Not that Adam that kept the Paradise, but that Adam that keeps the prison: he that goes into the calf-skin that was killed for the prodigal. 1848. Sinks of London Laid Open, p. 96. Adam, a henchman, an accomplice. Adam’s Ale, or sometimes simply Adam, and in Scotland Adam’s Wine.—A colloquialism of long standing for water, humorously suggesting that anything stronger was unknown to our first parents. Duncombe wittily adds a comment that our first father’s drink is best with brandy. This also would appear to be the view taken in most of the French and German equivalents. Eng. Synonyms. Fish broth; aqua pompaginis. French. Anisette de barbillon (a popular term); essence de parapluie (popular: lit. essence of umbrella); l’Adam’s ale (a literal translation of the English term); limonade (popular: a caustic comment surely upon the virtues of lemonade); lance (popular and thieves’: this term also does duty for ‘rain’; properly written l’ance, derived from the Spanish Germania ansia, itself an abbreviation of angustia, an allusion to the employment of water as a means of torture); sirop or ratafia de grenouilles (popular: lit. syrup of frogs); sirop de l’aiguière (popular: lit. pitcher syrup); sirop de baromètre (popular, barometer syrup). German Gaunersprache. Gänsewein (lit. goose-wine). Italian Fourbesque. Lenza (the remarks on French lance quoted above, apply equally here). 1643. Prynne, Sov. Power of Parl., II., 32. They have been shut up in prisons and dungeons ... allowed onely a poore pittance of Adam’s ale, and scarce a penny bread a day to support their lives. [M.] 1786–9. Wolcot [P. Pindar], Lousiad, c. ii., line 453. Old Adam’s beverage flows with pride, From wide-mouth’d pitchers, in a plenteous tide. 1884. Daily Telegraph, April 1, p. 5, col. 2. The spectral banquet graced now only by Adam’s ale, or the sick-room toast and water. 1886. John Coleman, Elfie, pt. I., ch. ii. For my part, I stuck to Adam’s ale, which Elfie brought from the spring. Adam Tiler, subs. (old slang).—A pickpocket’s associate; one who receives stolen goods, and then runs off with them. [From Adam, an accomplice + tiler, a watchman. Cf., Masonic term.] For synonyms, see Fence. Added to the List (racing).—An abbreviation of ‘added to the list of geldings in training.’ Among French thieves, désatiller is the term employed to signify castration; or, where the operation is performed upon a man, abélardiser, i.e., to mutilate a man, as Chanoine Fulbert mutilated Abélard, the lover of his daughter or niece, Héloise. Addition, subs. (old).—A term for various toilet requisites, used by women; such as paint, rouge, powder, etc. 1704. Centlivre, Platonick Love, Act iii., Scene 1. Milliner. Be pleased to put on the addition madam. Mrs. Dowdy. What does she mean now? to pull my skin off, mehap, next. Ha, Peeper, are these your London fashions? Peeper. No, no, addition is only paint, madam. Addition, Division, and Silence! phr. (American).—A Philadelphia expression, which, for a time, had a vogue as a catch phrase. It is properly rendered multiplication, division, and silence! William M. Tweed, or as he is more familiarly known ‘Boss’ Tweed, is generally credited with this expression. Being asked what in his view was the proper qualification for a member of a ring or trust, in which all play into each other’s hands for mutual advantages, he replied multiplication, division, and silence! Addle Cove, subs. (common).—A foolish man; an easy dupe; literally, a rank sucker (q.v.), and equivalent to addle-head, addle-pate, addle-plot, all of which are common dictionary words. Why Barrère and Hotten have followed the lead of Grose in classing these words as slang is hardly clear. Dialectical they may have been, but all English was similarly placed prior to the 15th century, and the first reference given by Murray, bears the date of A.D. 1250. Adept, subs. (thieves’).—An expert amongst the light-fingered gentry. It is quite an open question whether adept, even in a thief’s sense, can fairly be classed as slang, the meaning being obviously identical with that commonly attached to the word. Adjective Jerker, subs. phr. (literary).—A term of derision applied, like ink-slinger (q.v.), to those who write for the press. The special allusion in the present case is doubtless to the want of discrimination which young writers, and reporters on low-class papers, often exhibit in the use of a plethora of adjectives to qualify a simple statement of fact. 1888. St. Louis Globe Democrat, April 29. Genevieve spent four hours last night in constructing a three-line letter, which she sent to an adjective jerker on a society weekly, and in which she said she would spend the summer months in the Rocky Mountains. Adjutant’s Gig, subs. phr. (military).—The barrack roller. Men under punishment are generally put to the task of drawing this machine. Admiral. To tap the Admiral, verb phr. (nautical).—A practice otherwise known as ‘sucking the monkey.’ Explained in Peter Simple as having originally been used amongst sailors for drinking rum out of cocoa nuts from which the milk had been extracted and replaced by spirits, an evasion of the regulation prohibiting the purchase of ardent liquors when on shore in the tropics. The Germans have an analogous expression Den affen saugen, to ‘suck the monkey,’ with the same signification. Nowadays it is applied to drinking on the sly from a cask by inserting a straw through a gimlet hole, and to drinking generally. 1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (the Black Mousquetaire). What the vulgar call sucking the monkey, Has much less effect on a man when he’s funky. Admiral of the Blue, subs. phr. (old).—A publican or tapster; from the colour of his apron; now obsolete. Cf., Admiral of the red. 1731. Poor Robin [Pseudonym of Robert Herrick] Almanac. As soon as customers begin to stir, The admiral of the blue, cries, ‘Coming, sir!’ Or if grown fat, the mate his place supplies; And says, ’tis not my master’s time to rise. Of all our trades, the tapster is the best, He has more men at work than all the rest. Admiral of the Narrow Seas, subs. phr. (nautical).—A man who, under drink, vomits into the lap of his neighbour or vis-à-vis. Admiral of the Red, subs. phr. (popular).—A wine-bibber; one whose face by its redness bears evidence of a fondness for the bottle. Formerly the highest rank of naval officers was divided into three grades or classes denominated from the colours hoisted by them, Admirals of the Red, White, or Blue squadron. Now there are four grades; Admiral of the Fleet, Admiral, Vice-admiral, and Rear-admiral. The French call the bottle or copper-nose possessed by admirals of the red betterave (lit. a beetroot); also un piton passé à l’encaustique; and un piffard. Cf., Admiral of the blue. Admiral of the White, subs. phr. (familiar).—Quoted as ‘a white-faced person; a coward; a woman in a faint.’ Rarely heard, and at best but an extremely weak imitation of kindred phrases, to wit, admiral of the blue, and admiral of the red. Admirals of the Red, White, and Blue, subs. phr. (familiar).—Beadles; hall-porters; and such-like functionaries when sporting their gorgeous liveries of office. Adonize, verb. (rare). [French adoniser; from adonis + ize].—To make beautiful or attractive; to adorn oneself with a view of attracting admiration; said only of men. 1818. S. E. Ferrier, Marriage, ch. ix. ‘Venus and the Graces, by Jove!’ exclaimed Sir Sampson, bowing with an air of gallantry; ‘and now I must go and adonize a little myself.’ The company then separated to perform the important offices of the toilette. 1850. F. E. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, ch. xl. ‘He positively refused to face the ladies till he had changed his shooting costume, so I left him up at the hall to adonize.’ Adsum, verb. (Charterhouse).—The response made in answering to names-calling. 1855. Thackeray, The Newcomes, p. 774. ‘At the usual evening hour the chapel bell began to toll, and Thomas Newcome’s hands outside the bed feebly beat time. And just as the last bell struck, a peculiar sweet smile shone over his face and he lifted up his head a little, and quickly said, ‘adsum,’ and fell back. It was the word we used at school when names were called; and lo, he whose heart was as that of a little child had answered to his name, and stood in the presence of the Master.’ Adullamites, subs. (parliamentary).—A nickname, in the first instance, for a party of seceding Liberals, namely, Messrs. Horsman, Lowe, Earl Grosvenor, Lord Elcho, etc., who in 1866 voted with the Tories, when Earl Russell and Mr. Gladstone introduced a measure for the extension of the Franchise. In the debate on the 30th March John Bright said they had agreed to draw back into a political cave of adullam. The reference is to those who, with King David, took refuge in the cave of adullam (1 Sam. xxii., 1). The political party in question were also known collectively as ‘The Cave.’ 1878–80. Justin McCarthy, History of Our Own Times, p. 142. The little third party were at once christened the adullamites, and the name still survives and is likely long to survive its old political history. Ibid., p. 143. The wild cheers of the Conservatives and the adullamites showed on which ‘sword sat laurel victory.’ Ibid., p. 152. [Lord Derby] had at once invited the leading members of the adullamite party to accept places in his Administration. The primary usage has been extended as explained in the following quotations. 1870. Notes and Queries, March 5, p. 241. The Scriptural ‘cave of adullam’ has become an adopted byword for a small clique who unite to obstruct the party with which they usually associate. 1884. New York Times, July 19. The Conservative party then presented a tolerably solid front against the extension of the franchise, and received besides a large reinforcement of adullamites from the Liberal side. Advance Backward, verb. (American).—A rather odd way of expressing retrogression. 1888. Chicago Inter-Ocean, Jan. 23. The advice given to his company by a raw Yankee captain to advance backward, seems paralleled in the Chicago Tribune of the 18th inst. Advantage (Californian).—See Pocket advantage. Æger, subs. (Univ.). Lat. sick.—Same as Ægrotat (q.v.). 1870. Chambers’ Journal, June 18, p. 395. Dick laughed. ‘I’ll get the receipt from him. I often want a good thing for an Æger.’ 1888. H. Smart, in Temple Bar, February, p. 213. ‘Instead of applying for leave to my tutor, I had resorted to the old device of pricking Æger.’ Ægrotat, subs. (Univ.).—[L. he is sick, 3rd pers. sing. pres. ind. of ægrotare, to be sick from ægrotus, sick, from æger, sick]. In English universities a medical certificate given to a student, showing that he has been prevented by sickness from attending to his duties, or his examination; also used for the degree taken by those so excused. Also called Æger (q.v.). 1794. Gent. Mag., p. 1085. They [at Cambridge] sported an Ægrotat, and they sported a new coat! 1864. Babbage, Passages from the Life of a Philosopher, 37. I sent my servant to the apothecary for a thing called an Ægrotat, which I understood ... meant a certificate that I was indisposed. Reading ægrotat.—In some universities leave taken, commonly in December, in order to get time to read for one’s degree. Affair of Honour, subs. (old).—Killing an innocent man in a duel. This euphemism was largely in vogue during the Regency days. Affidavit Men, sub. phr. (old slang), or, as they also used to be called, Knights of the Post.—False witnesses who attended Westminster Hall and other Courts of Justice, ready to swear anything for hire; they were distinguished by having straws stuck in the heels of their shoes.—See Straw bail under Bail. Affinity, subs. (American).—A cant term in frequent use amongst so-called free-lovers. One’s affinity is supposed to be a person of the opposite sex, for whom an attachment so strong is felt that even if already married, as more often than not is the case, the husband will abandon his legitimate wife, and vice versâ, in favour of the new attraction, or affinity as he or she is called. The argument is generally only an excuse for unbridled sexual license; indeed, it is inconceivable that it could be otherwise, except in a society of seraphs and archangels. Afflicke, subs. (old).—See quotation. 1610. Rowland’s Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Chub’s Repr., 1874). Afflicke, a theefe. Afflictions, subs. (drapers’).—Mourning goods, half-mourning being designated mitigated afflictions (q.v.). Affygraphy, subs. (common).—‘It fits to an affygraphy,’ i.e., to a nicety—to a T; also of time—‘in an affygraphy.’ Afloat, adv. (common).—On the move; en évidence. This term is of nautical origin. To have one’s back-teeth well afloat, is to be well-primed with liquor; in short, to be in one of the many degrees of intoxication. 1888. Missouri Republican, Jan. 25. When sober on the bench Judge Noonan is a model of all the virtues. On Friday night, however, in company with Dr. Munford, of Kansas City, ex-Speaker Wood, Mr. Charles Mead, and several other gentlemen, his honor once more drank until, as an onlooker put it, his back teeth were well afloat. A-Fly, adv. (vulgar).—See Fly. Afterclap, subs. (American).—An attempt to unjustly extort more in a bargain or agreement than at first settled upon. [Derived from after + clap, a blow or shock.] Current in England since the beginning of the fifteenth century, signifying an unexpected subsequent event; something happening after an affair is supposed to be at an end. After-Dinner Man; Afternoon’s Man.—Generally read to mean a tippler; one given to long potations after the mid-day meal, formerly the most substantial taken during the twenty-four hours. Smythe Palmer, however, appears to throw a different gloss upon the term, for he says [N. and Q., 5 S., viii., 112], Afternoones men—equivalent to after-dinner men. It was the custom, formerly, to dine in the halls of our Inns of Court about noon, and those who returned after dinner to work must have been much devoted to business, or obliged to work at unusual hours by an excess of it.—See quot. from Earle. 1614. Overbury, A wife, etc. (1638), 196. Make him an afternoones man. 1621. Burton, Anat. Mel. Democr. to Reader (1657), 44. Bervaldus will have drunkards, afternoon men, and such as more than ordinarily delight in drink, to be mad. 1628. Earle, Microcosmography (A Player). Your Innes of Court men were undone but for him, hee is their chiefe guest and employment, and the sole businesse that makes them afternoones men. 1830. Dublin Sketch Book. The good Baronet (Sir Francis Burdett) was not only a foxhunter, but a celebrated after-dinner man. It must have been a good bout indeed in which he was worsted. After Four, subs. phr. (Eton).—From 3 to 6 p.m. on half-holidays; 4 to 5 on whole schoolday. Afternoon Farmer, subs. phr. (popular).—This expression for one who procrastinates, or who misses an opportunity is, in reality, a provincialism. It is quoted in more than one of the English Dialect Society’s Glossaries as a very common phrase for one who is always behind, i.e., late in preparing his land, in sowing or harvesting his crops. It is only slang when used figuratively apart from agricultural pursuits. After Twelve, subs. phr. (Eton).—From noon till 2 p.m. 1861. Whyte Melville, Good for Nothing, p. 39. I used to visit him regularly in the dear old college from the after twelve. Against Collar. To work against collar, verb. phr. (popular).—To battle or cope with difficulties; ‘to kick against the pricks’; ‘to pull against the tide.’ 1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 114. ‘It is always thought to be a bad plan to let journeymen Cheap Johns get into debt with their employers. It is bad in two ways, for if they owe their governors a few pounds, they are working an uphill game, or against collar, and that don’t suit their book, and it destroys the independence which is, and always should be, between the master and the man.’ Against the Grain, adv. phr. (popular).—Against the fibres of the wood; hence, in opposition to the wish; unwillingly; unpleasantly; reluctantly. ‘It went against the grain to do it, but I knew I must,’ is a common expression. 1673. Dryden, Amboyna, Act i. Seizing their factories I like well enough, it has some savour in’t; but for this whoresome cutting of throats, it goes a little against the grain. 1693. Dryden, Juvenal, i., 202. Though much against the grain forc’d to retire. 1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 2. Nothing in nature is so ungrateful as story-telling against the grain, therefore take it as the author has given it you. 1868. Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone, 1st Period., ch. xi. As I had promised for them, the other servants followed my lead, sorely against the grain, of course, but all taking the view that I took. 1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, ch. xxiii. It went against my grain to leave the poor chap alone. Agaze, adv. (American thieves’).—Astonished; open-eyed. Aggerawator, subs. (common); also Haggerawator, both forms being corruptions of ‘aggravator.’—A lock of hair brought down from the forehead, well greased, and then twisted in spiral form upon the temple, either toward the ear, or conversely toward the outer corner of the eye. This style of dressing the hair was formerly much affected by costermongers, male and female, and other street folk, but the ‘ornament’ is now rarely seen. It appears to be known among certain classes in France, especially prostitutes’ bullies. Eng. Synonyms. Kiss-curls; cobbler’s knots; cow-licks; Newgate knockers (from a supposed resemblance to the knocker on the prisoner’s door at Newgate); number sixes; bellropes (being wherewith to draw the belles); bow-catchers; spit-curls; lovelocks, etc. French Argot. Des guiches; des rouflaquettes (from being sported by prostitutes’ bullies), des accroche-cœeurs (lit. heart-hooks). 1836. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 132. His hair carefully twisted into the outer corner of each eye, till it formed a variety of that description of semi-curls, usually known as ‘aggerawators.’ From the following they would appear at one time to have formed part of the personal adornment of women in Australia. 1859. Frank Fowler, Southern Lights and Shadows, p. 38. The ladies are addicted to ... straw-coloured gloves, and strained hair, embellished with two or three c’s—aggravators they call them—running over the temple. Agility, subs. (low).—A woman who, in mounting a stile, or, when being swung, exposes more of her person than is usually counted decent, is said to show her agility. The story told is an absurdly vulgar play upon words. Agitate the Communicator! verb. phr. (common).—Ring the bell! Agitator, subs. (common).—A bell-rope, or knocker. Agogare, intj. (American thieves’).—Be quick! a warning signal [from agog].—New York Slang Dictionary. Agony. To pile up the agony. verbal phr. (popular).—To intensify a statement or relation by exaggerated or blood-curdling details. Newspapers pile on the agony when ‘writing up’ murder, divorce, and other sensations. 1857. C. Bronté, in Mrs. Gaskell’s Life, ch. xxv. What climax there is does not come on till near the conclusion; and even then, I doubt whether the regular novel-reader will consider the ‘agony piled sufficiently high’ (as the Americans say), or the colours dashed on to the canvas with the proper amount of daring. 1881. W. Black, Beautiful Wretch, ch. vi. ‘Sooner or later that organ will shake the Cathedral to bits; the vibrations were fearful. I thought there was a great deal too much noise. You lose effect when you pile up the agony like that.’ Agony column, subs. phr. (popular).—The second column of the Times; originally so-called from the fact of its being devoted to advertisements for missing friends, and private communications, many of which are of a harrowing character. Most London newspapers, for the phrase is chiefly local, have now a similar column. Subjoined are a few examples of these advertisements:— I am not sure of identity. Are you Juan of 1873? Longing to see you.—B. My darling, how often do I say from my heart come and let us reason together that we may be happy here and live and love for ever. God bless and spare us to meet again. Satisfied.—Meet Friday outside Farringdon Street Station, Three p.m. Have slip paper in coat button-hole.—J. T. HERBERT WILLIAM BONNETT, who left Bristol on Thursday, Sept. 5, is REQUESTED to COMMUNICATE at once with his uncle at Keynsham. If any shipping agent is aware of his taking passage in any boat leaving England, either London, Liverpool, or elsewhere, please write at once to Mr. J. D. Coates, Keynsham, near Bristol. All expenses will be paid. The earliest mention in Murray’s Dictionary is dated 1880, but from the following quotation it will be seen that the term has been in use for at least twenty years. 1870. L. Oliphant, Piccadilly,