Part 4

Current amongst yeggs. Powder used to blow a safe; the explosion of “SOUP” in a safe. Example: “The dump was kipped, but we muffled the puff.”

PUNCHING GUN, Verb, Present Part.

General currency. The use of criminal slang; ostentatious display of sophistication. Example: “He can punch gun till the cows come home, but he can’t get a can of water out of a water tank.”

PUNK, Noun

General currency. Bread. As an adjective the term is synonymous with “CROW,” “LAMOS.” Example: “The whole layout is punk.” Also a sodomite youth--a yegg term.

PUSH, Noun

General currency. Crowd; gang; clique; mob.

PUSH and SLIDE, Noun

Current amongst short changers and confidence men who employ the ruse of substitution. A short changing operation whereby money, currency, counted in the hand of the crook is afterward held out by palming, and depends for immunity from detection by a forcible pushing of the residue of the sum counted into the hand of the victim, accompanied by a suggestion or urge to pocket the money without recounting.

PUSSY FOOT, Noun

General currency. A detective. See “RICHARD;” “DICK.”

PUT-EM-UP, Noun

Current amongst heavyweights mainly. A highway robber; a desperate criminal who is prepared to hold up any interloper to prevent interference.

RAG, Noun

General currency. A woman. See “SKIRT;” “JANE;” “MOLL.”

RAP, Noun and Verb

General usage. An identification; a charge of guilt.

RAT, Noun

General currency. Passenger train: street car. A contraction of “RATTLER.” Also an ignominious term, used in the sense of “CRAB.”

RAT CRUSHER, Noun

Current amongst heavyweights, yeggs and “dise” men. A box-car burglar. The terms “rattler” and “John O’Brien” are used interchangeably by some criminals, but their original significations are those given.

RATTLER, Noun

General currency. A passenger train; a passenger or street car. Example: “The two of us stalled the rattler can on one ducat.” Also a “RAT WORKER.”

READER, Noun

Current amongst “flat joint” men and peddlers. A formal license; a certificate; a written permit. Example: “You can’t open the ballyhoo in this burg without a reader.”

READERS, Noun

Current amongst crooked gamblers. A pack of marked cards, therefore readable from the obverse side. Example: “How are they working, with the mitt? No, with the readers.”

REDUCTION, Noun

Current amongst dope fiends. The reduction cure for a “HABIT.” Example: “The only sensible way of getting off is on the reduction.”

REEF, Verb

Current amongst pickpockets. To lift a pocket lining or an obstacle in the form of wearing apparel by methodical manner to expedite the operations of the “WIRE” or “TOOL” in a gun mob. Generally used in the imperative mood. Example: “Reef the right kick for a tweezer.” By this function a pocket may be slowly turned inside out without detection; it is done in cases where the pocket is too deep, too tight or where extraordinary caution is expedient in pocket picking.

RICHARD, Noun

General currency. A detective. Derived from the process of nicknaming, but in reverse of the usual custom. Thus from the term “DETECTIVE,” “DICK” was suggested and hence “RICHARD” was derived. Or, following the corruption of the English “Robert” to “Bob” and “Bobby,” the American parallel was suggested.

RIGHT, Adjective

General currency. Sympathetic in a criminal sense; fixed; squared; noncondemnatory. Also a synonym for “SQUARE-SHOOTER.” Example: “He’s as right as a golden guinea. Slip him a piece of soft.” Also used as a verb, to fix; to bribe.

RINGER, Noun

General currency. A similarity; a double; a disguise; a pair of spectacles. Used in the latter sense because of the wonderful change produced in one’s aspect by the addition of a pair of nose glasses or spectacles to the personal adornment. Used also as a verb. Example: “They’ll hardly make him because he’s rung up.”

RISER, Noun

General circulation. An “eye opener;” a scare; a fright; any mental or physical agent that moves to action. Example: “He got an awful riser with that dick at his pratt.”

ROAR, Noun

General currency. A protest. See “SQUAWK;” “BELCH.” Example: “If this gink blows the touch he’ll make an awful roar.”

ROCKS, Noun

General usage. Diamonds. In popular slang it means money.

ROD, Noun

General currency. A revolver. See “SMOKE WAGON;” “ROSCOE.” Also used as verb, to hold up at the point of a pistol. Example: “Rod this guy right off the jump.” (Here as verb.)

RODS, Noun

In general circulation amongst “hop scotchers.” The iron truck braces under a passenger coach, running at right angles to the length of the car. A “ROD DUCAT” is a small board used as a seat by truck riders.

ROLL, Verb

General usage. To search the pockets of a sleeping person or of an intoxicated one. Example: “He rolled a stiff for a bundle of scratch.” Used as a noun “ROLL” signifies a wad of money, as a “BANK ROLL.”

ROSCOE, Noun

Current amongst arms-carrying criminals. A revolver. See “CANNON;” “GAT.” Example: “Stash your roscoe before you come back to the kip.”

ROUND, Noun

General currency. A turning of the head to take a backward glance; surveying the rear trail to ascertain whether or not one is being followed, or to determine the identity of a person or object passed. Example: “Stall something to the ground and take a round at this coatmaker;” (trailer or tailer, corrupted to tailor and thence coatmaker).

ROUST, Verb

Current amongst pickpockets. To jam against a victim in a violent manner; to squeeze a victim between two pickpocket assistants in a way to distract his attention from the principal in the encounter who consectaneously[11] extracts the victim’s valuables from a given pocket. In the present tense the term is used in the imperative mood, being a command and an instruction of itself. Example: “Roust!!” “Jostle the victim rudely, but in a seemingly unconscious manner.”

[11] The author probably intended “simultaneously.”

ROUTE, Verb

Current amongst pickpockets principally. To look up and make memoranda of dates of large popular gatherings, such as conventions, etc. This is known as “Routing the grift.” To route is usually the function of the best mind in a “gun mob.”

RUM, Noun

General currency. An ignoramus; an inefficient. Derived from the experience that “booze” incapacitates the mind of a crook, who to be successful requires a quick wit and a vigilant grasp of situations. A synonym for “RUM DUM,” that is, dumb, of slow wit, from the use of rum.

RUMBLE, Noun

General currency. A botch that precipitates discovery; a faux pas; an awkward situation brought about by fumbling. See “BLOOMER;” “TUMBLE;” “FALL.” Example: “If you walk on the main stem with him you’ll get a rumble.” In this sense the term implies an identification. Also used as a verb, to arouse suspicion; to be discovered.

SANTA CLAUS, Noun

General currency. An ingenious mind; an original thinker.

SAPS, Noun

General currency. Crutches; clubs or sticks as weapons of offense. Derived from “sapling.” The latter meaning may also be employed in the form of the verb, to sap, to beat. Any bludgeon is a sap.

SCAT, Noun

General circulation. Whiskey. Derived by suggestion from “skey” (skee), the termination of “whiskey.”

SCOFF, Verb

General usage. To eat. Example: “When do we scoff in this dump?” Also used as a noun; a “scoff” is a meal, a feed.

SCORE, Verb

Current amongst pickpockets and criminals who are necessitated to make frequent repetitions of procedure to acquire means. To successfully negotiate; to “make a touch;” to “put one over.” Example: “We scored seven times in the same joint by ringing up,” i. e., disguising. Also used as a noun in the same sense.

SCRATCH, Noun

General currency amongst literate criminals. Paper currency; a letter; a signature; a writing. Examples: “He’s got a bundle of scratch,” (Bank roll); “The only way you can get a knock-down (introduction) is with a scratch.” “The difficult thing is to get his scratch.” See “JOHN HANCOCK;” “STIFF.”

SCREW, Noun

General currency amongst prison habitues and prowlers. A key; a turnkey or jailor; a prison guard. Example: “That bunch of screws you’re carrying is a knock.” “You can get a letter in through the screw; he’s a P. O.”

SCENERIES, Noun

General currency. A pair of spectacles or nose glasses. See “GLIMS;” “RINGER.” Example: “He’s peddling sceneries and hoops.”

SEND IN, Noun

General circulation. An indorsement; a recommendation. Example: “With the proper send in I can twist this boob. Rib it up.” Also used as a verb, to laud, to praise, with an ulterior motive.

SETTLED, Verb, Past Part.

General currency amongst outlaw criminals. Convicted of misdemeanor or statutory offense. Example: “He’s settled for a two spot.” See “LAGGED[12];” “LOSER.”

[12] There is no entry for “LAGGED” in the text.

SHAGGED, Verb, Past Part.

General currency. Identified; recognized; discovered; exposed. See “RAPPED.” Example: “He was shagged on the first go.”

SHAKE DOWN, Noun

General currency. A personal search; a deprivation of one’s personal belongings. Used also as a verb. Example: “If this dick nails you you’ll have to stand a shake down.”

SHILLIVER, SHILLIBER, Noun

Current amongst criminals who employ “Stalls,” “boosters,” or aides. A supernumerary; a secondary; an epithet applied to apprentice crooks. To “SHILL” is to act in the capacity of a hired criminal.

SHONIKER, Noun

Current amongst cosmopolitan thieves, especially Jews. A neophyte or inexperienced hand at the game. A synonym for “SHILLIBER.”

SHOOT, Verb

Current amongst hypodermic habitues. To inject morphine or other drug with a syringe. Example; “How many times do you shoot a day?”

SHOW, Verb.

General currency. To keep an appointment; to present oneself at a meeting place. Example: “This party can never be depended upon to show. He’ll stick you nine times in ten.”

SHORT, Noun

Current chiefly amongst pickpockets, though used by all polished criminals to some extent. A street car. Derived from the limited extent of a street car ride compared with the distances negotiable by railroad transportation. Example: “After catching the breaks we’ll make the shorts for a half hour.”

SKIRT, Noun

General currency. A woman. See “JANE;” “MUFF[13];” “MOLL.”

[13] There is no entry for “MUFF” in the text.

SKIN, Noun

General circulation. A shirt. Example: “Let’s go down to the jungles and boil our skins.”

SLAM, Noun

General currency. An insult; a rebuke; an insinuation. Also used in the same sense as a verb as well as with the meaning of violence, to deliver a vigorous blow.

SLANG, Noun

General currency. A watch chain. A watch fob, as well as an earring, is called a “DANGLER.”

SLOUGH, Verb

General currency. To dispose of; to abandon; to throw away; to eliminate; to conceal without delay or forethought. Example: “There isn’t a mark of identification on his clothes; he’s sloughed everything.” In this sense the term is pronounced “sluffed.” In the sense of hiding or getting rid of an object instantly the same word is pronounced “slou,” with the sound of “o” as in cow. To “SLOUGH” also means to close, to shut, as a door.

SLOUGHER, Noun

Current amongst plunderbunders. A fence; a pawnbroker; a middle man in the disposition of contraband.

SLUM, Noun

General currency. Jewelry of any description, but lately reduced in scope of meaning to include only the less valuable kinds of jewelry; a synonym for “CROW;” “PUNK.” Example: “He’s got a bale of slum for sloughings.”

SMOKE WAGON, Noun

General currency. A firearm; a revolver. See “ROD;” “CANNON.”

SNEEZE, Verb

General usage. To be apprehended; detained. See “GLOMMED;” “CRABBED.” Example: “He wouldn’t have been sneezed if he had kept away from that fluzie.”

SNOW, Noun

Current chiefly amongst cocaine fiends. Derived from the extremely flocculent nature of cocaine when pulverized, in which state cocaine is used as a snuff. A “SNOW BIRD” is the customary designation of the cocaine habitue.

SOFT, Noun

Current amongst currency thieves and grafters who handle considerable sums of money. Paper money. See “SCRATCH.” Example: “I fanned a gob of soft in the right jerve.” As an adjective “soft” means easy, facile, felicitous, comfortable.

SOUP, Noun

Current amongst yeggs. Nitroglycerine. Example: “If you drop that bottle of soup you’ll grease the scenery,” i. e., be blown up.

SOUTH, Adverb

General circulation. Stored away; concealed, as valuables. See “UNDER COVER.” As a verb the term is employed with the same meaning. Example: “Keep tabs and see that he don’t go south with the dough.”

SPLIT, Noun

General currency. A division, as of spoils. See “END;” “BIT.” Used as a verb it indicates to divide, as money; or to separate, as in the sense of “SPLIT OUT,” or “SPLIT AWAY.” Example: “The make was split three ways and then we split out.”

SPUD, Noun

Current amongst confidence men chiefly. The “green goods” bunco; a substitution ruse, devised originally on the basis of counterfeit currency, hence the name “SPUD,” derived by attribution, as in the case of “KALE.” Any confidence game in which currency plays a prominent part as a lure is aptly designated a variation of the “SPUD.” Also commonly used as a synonym for the Irish potato.

SQUAB, Noun

Current amongst libertines mainly. A young female; an unsophisticated girl.

SQUARE PLUG, Noun

General currency. A timorous person who is in moral sympathy with the criminal element, but lacking the courage or inclination to actually participate; a harmless individual in the view of crooks. Example: “Don’t be leery of him; he’s a square plug.”

SQUARE-SHOOTER, Noun

General currency. A dependable person; a reliable, compact-keeping person; though not necessarily a moral, virtuous, impeccable one; for it is politic for even a crook to be a “square-shooter” provided it be also expedient.

SQUAWK, Noun

General currency. A protest; a vociferous demonstration, as an indignant repudiation of an injustice. Also used as a verb in the same sense. Example: “If you don’t put up a squawk they’ll trim you.”

SQUEEZE, Noun

General circulation. The principal or manager of an institution, an establishment or of any undertaking. A contraction of the popular “MAIN SQUEEZE,” meaning the same as here given.

STAB, Noun

General currency. An essay to accomplish a project; an effort. See “PLUNGE.” Also used as a verb. Example: “I don’t know how it will come out, but I’m going to make a stab at it.” Also used by dope fiends for “JAB.”

STALL, Noun

General currency. A pretense; an equivocation; a confederate who distracts the attention of a victim or misleads him to regrettable action. See “BOOSTER.” Used as a verb in the same sense, to prevaricate, to misrepresent with sinister intent. The colloquial vernacular, “He’s got more stalls than a livery stable,” signifies that the person under discussion is a shifty agent, a colossal liar.

STASH, Verb

General currency. To hide; to conceal; to cease talking; to “plant.” Also used as a noun in the sense of something cached. Example: “Stash the gun crackin; there’s a knocker in the push.”

STIFF, Noun

Current amongst literate criminals chiefly. A piece of paper; a letter; a ticket; a license; a permit. See “READER.” Derived from the unpliable attribute of paper in general. Example: “I haven’t had a stiff from home for two months.” Also used to designate a mean, contemptible person; sometimes it is employed as a synonym for man. See “GUY;” “MARK.”

STIR, Noun

General currency amongst prison habitues. Penitentiary; a synonym for “BIG HOUSE,” the latter being employed in contradistinction to county jails, workhouses and police stations when prison is discussed. Example: “He’s back in stir again.”

STEM, Noun

Current amongst yeggs. A steel drill. Amongst opium smokers the term signifies an opium pipe. See “GONGER.” It also is a synonym for “DRAG.”

STRETCH, Noun

Current amongst prison habitues. A prison sentence. See “LAG;” “BIT.” In general circles the term signifies a look, a glance, used as a verb as well as a noun. See “GANDER;” “NECKING;” “ROUND.”

STIX, Noun

General currency. A pair of crutches. See “SAPS.”

STRIDES, Noun

General usage. A pair of trousers. Example: “This dump is an easy boost for the strides.”

STRING, Noun

Current amongst yeggs. A fuse. Example: “He’s got five yards of string around the midriff,” i. e., wrapped around the waist under the shirt.

SUEY POW, Noun

Current amongst opium smokers. A sponge or rag used to cool and cleanse the face of an opium bowl. Also used by the demi monde as an equivalent of the term “GRANNY.”

SURE THING, Noun

Current amongst confidence men and “flat joint” grafters principally. A something-for-nothing proposition. See “HUNDRED PER CENT.” Used as an adjective it specifies an unmitigated robbery.

SWEETEN, Verb

General currency. To augment; to “press” in the gambler’s sense, as a jackpot. Amongst the plunderbund the term signifies the procuring of an additional loan on collateral. Also used as a synonym for “BRIBE.”

SWINGING BALL, Noun

Current amongst “flat joint” grafters. A ball suspended from a gibbet by a chain or string and which is skillfully swung at a wooden cone posited in the center of the ball’s swinging area, the purpose being to avoid the cone on the forward movement, and to strike it upon the rebound. Incidentally the aim is to relieve the inexpert of ready cash.

SWITCH, Verb

General currency. To substitute; to exchange; to vary. Example: “The only way you can score with the weight in that joint is with the switch, as he has everything cased.” Used as a noun to signify a substitute.

TAIL, Verb

General circulation. To trail; to follow. Used as a noun in the same sense. Example: “Be careful not to bring anything home on your tail,” i. e., a shadower.

TENT, Noun

Current amongst prison habitues. A cell. Example: “He’s doing penance in a tent.”

THERE, Adverb

General currency. Informed; wise; trained; artful. Example: “He’s there forty ways from Revelation.”

THIMBLE, Noun

General currency. A watch. See “BLOCK;” “TURNIP.” Formerly the term in the plural had the signification of “NUTS;” “HICKS;” “SHELLS;” as these are in use today.

TIN EAR, Verb

General usage. To eavesdrop; to listen impertinently. Also used as a noun. Example: “Chop the wheeze, we’ve got a tin-ear on our hip.”

TIP, Noun

Pickpockets. A ticket office. The place where obligations are paid to a cashier.

TOG, Noun

Current amongst pickpockets. An overcoat used for a shield. From Latin “Toga,” a cloak.

TOMMY, Noun

General currency amongst the licentious. A prostitute. See “DONY.”

TOOL, Noun

Current amongst pickpockets. A pickpocket proper; the member of a “gun mob” who does the “dipping.” Also used as a verb in the same sense.

TOP, Verb

General currency. To execute by hanging. See “BUMP OFF.” Example: “Carrying a rod is an invitation to get topped.”

TOUCH, Noun

Current mainly amongst pickpockets, though used in a milder sense in general circles. See “SCORE.” Example: “Any fink that tears into that tip without making a touch ought to be canned.” “He tried to put the B. on me for the third touch this week.”

TRIBE, Noun

Used principally by yeggs and begging bums, though current, too, amongst grafters who operate in cliques. A gang; a class. Example: “You’ll find the tribe at the joint when you get there.”

TRIM, Verb

General currency. To fleece; to cheat; to rob in any manner. Example: “If you make a flash you’re due to get trimmed.”

TUMBLE, Noun

General currency. A discovery; an exposure. See “RUMBLE.” Example: “It’s a bad idea to work without fall dough, for it’s a ten-to-one jig on the first tumble.” Used as a verb in the same sense, as well as to signify acquiring understanding suddenly.

TURKEY, Noun

General usage. A suit case; a large traveling bag. Derived by suggestion from the popular custom of stuffing a trunk full of personal belongings into a suit case. In non-criminal circles, as well as in criminal, the term has a vague meaning of facileness, something easily or readily accomplished.

TURNIP, Noun

General currency. A pocket time piece; a watch. See “BLOCK.”

TWEEZER, Noun

Current amongst pickpockets. A small pocketbook with knob clasps.

TWISTED, Verb, Past Part.

Current amongst confidence men. To be buncoed; to be deluded by a confidential snare. Derived by suggestion from the confusion created in the understanding of a victim in the usual confidence game. See “TRIM.” Example: “Out of six plays we twisted five ripe ones.”

UNDER COVER, Adverb

General currency. Protected financially by a reserve held in secret; selfish; miserly; illiberal with wealth. See “SOUTH.” Example: “Anybody in this mob that’s under cover is running chances of being prowled.”

UNDERNEATH, Adverb

Current amongst shoplifters. A term used to describe the most common method employed by female shoplifters of concealing stolen goods; i. e., carried between the limbs. Example: “She can go underneath with a bigger bunch of junk than any other moll I know.”

UNLOADING, Verb, Present Part.

Current amongst pickpockets. Picking pockets in a crowd as passengers alight from street or railroad cars. Example: “We scored more pokes in unloading them than we did in the breaks.”

WEAVE, Verb

Current amongst pickpockets. To sway a victim rudely from right to left between two “stalls” so that the “claw” may operate without detection of finger contact. Example: “Weave! I’ve got a tight breech,” i. e., “jostle the victim, I have got my hand on a pocket book that is wedged too firmly in the pocket to be pulled out without the aid of distraction.”

WEIGHT, Noun

Used by store jewelry thieves. Pennyweighting; the “pwt.”

WELCH, Verb

Current in all circles. To betray a professional confidence; to peach; to protest. See “ROAR.” Example: “Unless you’re nailed bang to rights don’t welch, for the first principle of self-defense in law is to make the other fellow find out what he wants to know through someone else.”

WHITE, Noun

Current amongst morphine habitues. Morphine. Example: “How many times a day are you shooting the white?”

WEED, Verb

Current chiefly amongst pickpockets, though used to some extent by those who are familiar with currency. To extract any fraction from a roll of bills; to withdraw a partial sum from the principal; to take the essential and leave the nonessential, as the money from a pocketbook of miscellaneous valuables; to steal a sum which will hardly be missed because of its proportion to the whole amount involved. Examples: “Weed the poke and put it back.” “He weeded a sawbuck to me under the table.”

WHITE LINE, WHITE LIME, Noun

Current amongst yeggs and hoboes. Alcohol. Example: “You’ll have to go to the croker and get a stiff for the white line.”

WICKY, Noun

General circulation. Calaboose; place of detention in small towns and villages. Contraction from “WICKY UP,” an old term for a small tent, used by the Indians.

WIPE, Noun

General currency. A handkerchief.

WIRE, Noun

Current amongst pickpockets. The principal craftsman in a “gun mob.” See “CLAW;” “JERVE;” “TOOL.”

WOLF, Verb

General currency. To vehemently protest. See “SQUAWK.”

WOP, Noun

Used principally in the east. An ignorant person; a foreigner; an impossible character. See “BOOB.” Example: “You couldn’t find a jitney with a search warrant in this bunch of wops.”

WORM, Noun

Current amongst shoplifters. Silk; a bolt of silk. Example: “Can you swing under with a worm?”

YEGG, Noun

General currency. A desperate criminal of the least gregarious and social type; a thieving tramp.

YEN HOCK, Noun

Current amongst opium smokers and other dope fiends. The slender steel needle used for preparing opium pills over a lamp flame. Used also as a metaphorical adjective to describe any slender object, as a lean person. Example: “Ask the yen hock guinea to stake you to a glim.”

YEN SHE, Noun

Current amongst opium smokers. The residue of smoked opium, a black cindery substance which clings to the interior of an opium bowl after the opium has been melted by heat on the face of the bowl.

YEN YEN, Noun

Current amongst opium smokers. The recurrent relaxation from super exhilaration occasioned by habitual indulgence in any opiate; these three latter terms are pure Chinese, and were imported into criminal circles with the advent of addiction to the opium-smoking habit in the United States in the early seventies.

Suggestions for the Reduction of Preventable Crimes