COD'S HEAD. A stupid fellow.
COFFEE HOUSE. A necessary house. To make a coffee-house of a woman's ****; to go in and out and spend nothing.
COG. The money, or whatsoever the sweeteners drop to draw in a bubble.
COG. A tooth. A queer cog; a rotten tooth. How thecull flashes his queer cogs; how the fool shews his rottenteeth.
TO COG. To cheat with dice; also to coax or wheedle, Tocog a die; to conceal or secure a die. To cog a dinner;to wheedle one out of a dinner.
COGUE. A dram of any spirituous liquor.
COKER. A lie.
COKES. The fool in the play of Bartholomew Fair: perhapsa contraction of the word COXCOMB.
COLCANNON. Potatoes and cabbage pounded together in amortar, and then stewed with butter: an Irish dish.
COLD. You will catch cold at that; a vulgar threat or advice to desist from an attempt. He caught cold by lying in bed barefoot; a saying of any one extremely tender or careful of himself.
COLD BURNING. A punishment inflicted by private soldiers on their comrades for trifling offences, or breach of their mess laws; it is administered in the following manner: The prisoner is set against the wall, with the arm which is to be burned tied as high above his head as possible. The executioner then ascends a stool, and having a bottle of cold water, pours it slowly down the sleeve of the delinquent, patting him, and leading the water gently down his body, till it runs out at his breeches knees: this is repeated to the other arm, if he is sentenced to be burned in both.
COLD COOK. An undertaker of funerals, or carrion hunter.See CARRION HUNTER.
COLD IRON. A sword, or any other weapon for cutting orstabbing. I gave him two inches of cold iron into his beef.
COLD MEAT. A dead wife is the beat cold meat in a man'shouse.
COLD PIG. To give cold pig is a punishment inflicted on sluggards who lie too long in bed: it consists in pulling off all the bed clothes from them, and throwing cold water upon them.
COLD PUDDING. This is said to settle one's love.
COLE. Money. Post the cole: pay down the money.
COLIANDER, or CORIANDER SEEDS. Money.
COLLAR DAY. Execution day.
COLLEGE. Newgate or any other prison. New College: the Royal Exchange. King's College: the King's Bench prison. He has been educated at the steel, and took his last degree at college; he has received his education at the house of correction, and was hanged at Newgate.
COLLEGE COVE. The College cove has numbered him, and if he is knocked down he'll be twisted; the turnkey of Newgate has told the judge how many times the prisoner has been tried before and therefore if he is found guilty, he certainly will be hanged. It is said to be the custom of the Old Bailey for one of the turnkeys of Newgate to give information to the judge how many times an old offender has been tried, by holding up as many fingers as the number of times the prisoner has been before arraigned at that bar.
COLLEGIATES. Prisoners of the one, and shopkeepers of the other of those places.
COLLECTOR. A highwayman.
TO COLLOGUE. To wheedle or coax.
COOK RUFFIAN, who roasted the devil in his feathers. A bad cook.
COOL CRAPE. A shroud.
COOLER. A woman.
COOLER. The backside. Kiss my cooler. Kiss my a-se.It is principally used to signify a woman's posteriors.
COOL LADY. A female follower of the camp, who sellsbrandy.
COOL NANTS. Brandy.
COOL TANKARD. Wine and water, with lemon, sugar, andburrage.
COLQUARRON. A man's neck. His colquarron is just aboutto be twisted; he is just going to be hanged. CANT.
COLT. One who lets horses to highwaymen; also a boy newly initiated into roguery; a grand or petty juryman on his first assize. CANT.
COLTAGE. A fine or beverage paid by colts on their firstentering into their offices.
COLT BOWL. Laid short of the jack by a colt bowler, i.e.a person raw or unexperienced in the art of bowling.
COLT'S TOOTH. An old fellow who marries or keeps a younggirl, is said to have a colt's tooth in his head.
COLT VEAL. Coarse red veal, more like the flesh of a coltthan that of a calf.
COMB. To comb one's head; to clapperclaw, or scold anyone: a woman who lectures her husband, is said to combhis head. She combed his head with a joint stool; shethrew a stool at him.
COME. To come; to lend. Has he come it; has he lent it?To come over any one; to cheat or over reach him.Coming wench; a forward wench, also a breeding woman.
COMING! SO IS CHRISTMAS. Said of a person who has longbeen called, and at length answers, Coming!
COMFORTABLE IMPORTANCE. A wife.
COMMISSION. A shirt. CANT.
COMMODE. A woman's head dress.
COMMODITY. A woman's commodity; the private parts of a modest woman, and the public parts of a prostitute.
COMMONS. The house of commons; the necessary house.
COMPANY. To see company; to enter into a course of prostitution.
COMPLIMENT. See CHRISTMAS.
COMUS'S COURT. A social meeting formerly held at theHalf Moon tavern Cheapside.
CONFECT. Counterfeited.
CONGER. To conger; the agreement of a set or knot of booksellers of London, that whosoever of them shall buy a good copy, the rest shall take off such a particular number, in quires, at a stated price; also booksellers joining to buy either a considerable or dangerous copy.
CONGO. Will you lap your congo with me? will you drink tea with me?
CONNY WABBLE. Eggs and brandy beat up together. IRISH.
CONSCIENCE KEEPER. A superior, who by his influencemakes his dependants act as he pleases.
CONTENT. The cull's content; the man is past complaining:a saying of a person murdered for resisting the robbers. CANT.
CONTENT. A thick liquor, in imitation of chocolate, madeof milk and gingerbread.
CONTRA DANCE. A dance where the dancers of the different sexes stand opposite each other, instead of side by side, as in the minuet, rigadoon, louvre, &c. and now corruptly called a country dance.
CONUNDRUMS. Enigmatical conceits.
CONVENIENT. A mistress. CANT.
CONVENIENCY. A necessary. A leathern conveniency, a coach.
COOPED UP. Imprisoned, confined like a fowl in a coop.
COQUET. A jilt.
CORINTH. A bawdy-house. CANT.
CORINTHIANS: Frequenters of brothels. Also an impudent, brazen-faced fellow, perhaps from the Corinthian brass.
CORK-BRAINED. Light-headed, foolish.
CORNED. Drunk.
CORNISH HUG. A particular lock in wrestling, peculiar to the people of that county.
CORNY-FACED. A very red pimpled face.
CORPORAL. To mount a corporal and four; to be guilty of onanism: the thumb is the corporal, the four fingers the privates.
CORPORATION. A large belly. He has a glorious corporation; he has a very prominent belly.
CORPORATION. The magistrates, &c. of a corporate town. Corpus sine ratione. Freemen of a corporation's work; neither strong nor handsome.
COSSET. A foundling. Cosset colt or lamb; a colt orlamb brought up by hand.
COSTARD. The head. I'll smite your costard; I'll giveyou a knock on the head.
COSTARD MONGER. A dealer in fruit, particularly apples.
COT, or QUOT. A man who meddles with women's household business, particularly in the kitchen. The punishment commonly inflicted on a quot, is pinning a greasy dishclout to the skirts of his coat.
COVE. A man, a fellow, a rogue. The cove was bit; the rogue was outwitted. The cove has bit the cole; the rogue has got the money. CANT.
COVENT, or CONVENT GARDEN, vulgarly called COMMON GARDEN. Anciently, the garden belonging to a dissolved monastery; now famous for being the chief market in London for fruit, flowers, and herbs. The theatres are situated near it. In its environs are many brothels, and not long ago, the lodgings of the second order of ladies of easy virtue were either there, or in the purlieus of Drury Lane.
COVENT GARDEN ABBESS. A bawd.
COVENT GARDEN AGUE. The venereal disease. He broke his shins against Covent Garden rails; he caught the venereal disorder.
COVENT GARDEN NUN. A prostitute.
COVENTRY. To send one to Coventry; a punishment inflicted by officers of the army on such of their brethren as are testy, or have been guilty of improper behaviour, not worthy the cognizance of a court martial. The person sent to Coventry is considered as absent; no one must speak to or answer any question he asks, except relative to duty, under penalty of being also sent to the same place. On a proper submission, the penitent is recalled, and welcomed by the mess, as just returned from a journey to Coventry.
COVEY. A collection of whores. What a fine covey here is, if the Devil would but throw his net!
TO COUCH A HOGSHEAD. To lie down to sleep. CANT.
COUNTERFEIT CRANK. A general cheat, assuming all sorts of characters; one counterfeiting the falling sickness.
COUNTRY HARRY. A waggoner. CANT.
COUNTRY PUT. An ignorant country fellow.
COUNTY WORK. Said of any work that advances slowly.
COURT CARD. A gay fluttering coxcomb.
COURT HOLY WATER, COURT PROMISES. Fair speeches and promises,without performance.
COURT OF ASSISTANTS. A court often applied to by youngwomen who marry old men.
COW. To sleep like a cow, with a **** at one's a-se; saidof a married man; married men being supposed to sleepwith their backs towards their wives, according to thefollowing proclamation:
All you that in your beds do lie,Turn to your wives, and occupy:And when that you have done your best,Turn a-se to a-se, and take your rest.
COW JUICE. Milk.
COW'S BABY. A calf.
COW'S COURANT. Gallop and sh—-e.
COW-HANDED. Awkward.
COW-HEARTED. Fearful.
COW ITCH. The product of a sort of bean, which excites an insufferable itching, used chiefly for playing tricks.
COW'S SPOUSE. A bull.
COW'S THUMB. Done to a cow's thumb; done exactly.
COXCOMB. Anciently, a fool. Fools, in great families, wore a cap with bells, on the top of which was a piece of red cloth, in the shape of a cock's comb. At present, coxcomb signifies a fop, or vain self-conceited fellow.
CRAB. To catch a crab; to fall backwards by missing one's stroke in rowing.
CRAB LANTHORN. A peevish fellow.
CRAB LOUSE. A species of louse peculiar to the human body; the male is denominated a cock, the female a hen.
CRAB SHELLS. Shoes. IRISH.
CRABS. A losing throw to the main at hazard.
CRABBED. Sour, ill-tempered, difficult.
CRACK. A whore.
TO CRACK. To boast or brag; also to break. I cracked his napper; I broke his head.
THE CRACK, or ALL THE CRACK. The fashionable theme, the go. The Crack Lay, of late is used, in the cant language, to signify the art and mystery of house-breaking.
CRACKER. Crust, sea biscuit, or ammunition loaf; also the backside. Farting crackers; breeches.
CRACKISH. Whorish.
CRACKING TOOLS. Implements of house-breaking, such as a crow, a center bit, false keys, &c.
CRACKMANS. Hedges. The cull thought to have loped by breaking through the crackmans, but we fetched him back by a nope on the costard, which stopped his jaw; the man thought to have escaped by breaking through the hedge, but we brought him back by a great blow on the head, which laid him speechless.
CRACKSMAN. A house-breaker. The kiddy is a clever cracksman; the young fellow is a very expert house-breaker.
CRAG. The neck.
CRAMP RINGS. Bolts, shackles, or fetters. CANT.
CRAMP WORDS. Sentence of death passed on a criminal by a judge. He has just undergone the cramp word; sentence has just been passed on him. CANT.
CRANK. Gin and water; also, brisk, pert.
CRANK. The falling sickness. CANT.
TO CRASH. To kill. Crash that cull; kill that fellow. CANT.
CRASHING CHEATS. Teeth.
CRAW THUMPERS. Roman catholics, so called from their beating their breasts in the confession of their sins. See BRISKET BEATER, and BREAST FLEET.
CREAM-POT LOVE. Such as young fellows pretend todairymaids, to get cream and other good things from them.
TO CREEME. To slip or slide any thing into the hands ofanother. CANT.
CREEPERS. Gentlemen's companions, lice.
CREW. A knot or gang; also a boat or ship's company. The canting crew are thus divided into twenty-three orders, which see under the different words:
1 Rufflers 2 Upright Men 3 Hookers or Anglers 4 Rogues 5 Wild Rogues 6 Priggers of Prancers 7 Palliardes 8 Fraters 9 Jarkmen, or Patricoes 10 Fresh Water Mariners, or Whip Jackets 11 Drummerers 12 Drunken Tinkers 13 Swadders, or Pedlars 14 Abrams.
1 Demanders for Glimmer or Fire 2 Bawdy Baskets 3 Morts 4 Autem Morts 5 Walking Morts 6 Doxies 7 Delles 8 Kinching Morts 9 Kinching Coes
CRIB. A house. To crack a crib: to break open a house.
TO CRIB. To purloin, or appropriate to one's own use,part of any thing intrusted to one's care.
TO FIGHT A CRIB. To make a sham fight. BEAR GARDENTERM.
CRIBBAGE-FACED. Marked with the small pox, the pits bearing a kind of resemblance to the holes in a cribbage-board.
CRIBBEYS, or CRIBBY ISLANDS. Blind alleys, courts, or bye-ways; perhaps from the houses built there being cribbed out of the common way or passage; and islands, from the similarity of sound to the Caribbee Islands.
CRIM. CON. MONEY. Damages directed by a jury to be paid by a convicted adulterer to the injured husband, for criminal conversation with his wife.
CRIMP. A broker or factor, as a coal crimp, who disposes of the cargoes of the Newcastle coal ships; also persons employed to trapan or kidnap recruits for the East Indian and African companies. To crimp, or play crimp; to play foul or booty: also a cruel manner of cutting up fish alive, practised by the London fishmongers, in order to make it eat firm; cod, and other crimped fish, being a favourite dish among voluptuaries and epicures.
CRINKUM CRANKUM. A woman's commodity. See SPECTATOR.
CRINKUMS. The foul or venereal disease.
CRIPPLE. Sixpence; that piece being commonly much bent and distorted.
CRISPIN. A shoemaker: from a romance, wherein a prince of that name is said to have exercised the art and mystery of a shoemaker, thence called the gentle craft: or rather from the saints Crispinus and Crispianus, who according to the legend, were brethren born at Rome, from whence they travelled to Soissons in France, about the year 303, to propagate the Christian religion; but, because they would not be chargeable to others for their maintenance, they exercised the trade of shoemakers: the governor of the town discovering them to be Christians, ordered them to be beheaded, about the year 303; from which time they have been the tutelar saints of the shoemakers.
CRISPIN'S HOLIDAY. Every Monday throughout the year, but most particularly the 25th of October, being the anniversary of Crispinus and Crispianus.
CRISPIN'S LANCE. An awl.
CROAKER. One who is always foretelling some accident or misfortune: an allusion to the croaking of a raven, supposed ominous.
CROAKUMSHIRE. Northumberland, from the particular croaking the pronunciation of the people of that county, especially about Newcastle and Morpeth, where they are said to be born with a burr in their throats, which prevents their pronouncing the letter r.
CROAKERS. Forestallers, called also Kidders and Tranters.
CROCODILE'S TEARS. The tears of a hypocrite. Crocodiles are fabulously reported to shed tears over their prey before they devour it.
CROCUS, or CROCUS METALLORUM. A nick name for a surgeon of the army and navy.
CROKER. A groat, or four pence.
CRONE. An old ewe whose teeth are worn out; figuratively,a toothless old beldam.
CRONY. An intimate companion, a comrade; also a confederatein a robbery.
CROOK. Sixpence.
CROOK BACK. Sixpence; for the reason of this name, seeCRIPPLE.
CROOK YOUR ELBOW. To crook one's elbow, and wish it may never come straight, if the fact then affirmed is not true—according to the casuists of Bow-street and St. Giles's, adds great weight and efficacy to an oath.
CROOK SHANKS. A nickname for a man with bandy legs. He buys his boots in Crooked Lane, and his stockings in Bandy-legged Walk; his legs grew in the night, therefore could not see to grow straight; jeering sayings of men with crooked legs.
CROP. A nick name for a presbyterian: from their cropping their hair, which they trimmed close to a bowl-dish, placed as a guide on their heads; whence they were likewise called roundheads. See ROUNDHEADS.
CROP. To be knocked down for a crop; to be condemned to be hanged. Cropped, hanged.
CROPPING DRUMS. Drummers of the foot guards, or Chelsea hospital, who find out weddings, and beat a point of war to serenade the new married couple, and thereby obtain money.
CROPPEN. The tail. The croppen of the rotan; the tail of the cart. Croppen ken: the necessary-house. CANT.
CROPSICK. Sickness in the stomach, arising from drunkenness.
CROSS. To come home by weeping cross; to repent at theconclusion.
CROSS DISHONEST. A cross cove; any person who lives bystealing or in a dishonest manner.
CROSS BITE. One who combines with a sharper to draw in a friend; also, to counteract or disappoint. CANT.—This is peculiarly used to signify entrapping a man so as to obtain CRIM. COM. money, in which the wife, real or supposed, conspires with the husband.
CROSS BUTTOCK. A particular lock or fall in the Broughtonian art, which, as Mr. Fielding observes, conveyed more pleasant sensations to the spectators than the patient.
CROSS PATCH. A peevish boy or girl, or rather an unsocial ill-tempered man or woman.
TO CROW. To brag, boast, or triumph. To crow over any one; to keep him in subjection: an image drawn from a cock, who crows over a vanquished enemy. To pluck a crow; to reprove any one for a fault committed, to settle a dispute. To strut like a crow in a gutter; to walk proudly, or with an air of consequence.
CROWD. A fiddle: probably from CROOTH, the Welch name for that instrument.
CROWDERO. A fiddler.
CROWDY. Oatmeal and water, or milk; a mess much eatenin the north.
CROW FAIR. A visitation of the clergy. See REVIEW OFTHE BLACK CUIRASSIERS.
CROWN OFFICE. The head. I fired into her keel upwards;my eyes and limbs Jack, the crown office was full; I s—k-da woman with her a-e upwards, she was so drunk, that herhead lay on the ground.
CRUISERS. Beggars, or highway spies, who traverse theroad, to give intelligence of a booty; also rogues ready tosnap up any booty that may offer, like privateers or pirateson a cruise.
CRUMMY. Fat, fleshy. A fine crummy dame; a fat woman.He has picked up his crumbs finely of late; he hasgrown very fat, or rich, of late.
CRUMP. One who helps solicitors to affidavit men, or false witnesses.—'I wish you had, Mrs. Crump;' a Gloucestershire saying, in answer to a wish for any thing; implying, you must not expect any assistance from the speaker. It is said to have originated from the following incident: One Mrs. Crump, the wife of a substantial farmer, dining with the old Lady Coventry, who was extremely deaf, said to one of the footmen, waiting at table, 'I wish I had a draught of small beer,' her modesty not permitting her to desire so fine a gentleman to bring it: the fellow, conscious that his mistress could not hear either the request or answer, replied, without moving, 'I wish you had, Mrs. Crump.' These wishes being again repeated by both parties, Mrs. Crump got up from the table to fetch it herself; and being asked by my lady where she was going, related what had passed. The story being told abroad, the expression became proverbial.
CRUMP-BACKED. Hump-backed.
CRUSTY BEAU. One that uses paint and cosmetics, to obtain a fine complexion.
CRUSTY FELLOW. A surly fellow.
CUB. An unlicked cub; an unformed, ill-educated young man, a young nobleman or gentleman on his travels: an allusion to the story of the bear, said to bring its cub into form by licking. Also, a new gamester.
CUCKOLD. The husband of an incontinent wife: cuckolds, however, are Christians, as we learn by the following story: An old woman hearing a man call his dog Cuckold, reproved him sharply, saying, 'Sirrah, are not you ashamed to call a dog by a Christian's name?' To cuckold the parson; to bed with one's wife before she has been churched.
CUCUMBERS. Taylors, who are jocularly said to subsist, during the summer, chiefly on cucumbers.
CUFF. An old cuff; an old man. To cuff Jonas; said of one who is knock-kneed, or who beats his sides to keep himself warm in frosty weather; called also Beating the booby.
CUFFIN. A man.
CULL. A man, honest or otherwise. A bob cull; a good-natured,quiet fellow. CANT.
CULLABILITY. A disposition liable to be cheated, anunsuspecting nature, open to imposition.
CULLY. A fog or fool: also, a dupe to women: from theItalian word coglione, a blockhead.
CULP. A kick or blow: from the words mea culpa, being that part of the popish liturgy at which the people beat their breasts; or, as the vulgar term is, thump their craws.
CUNDUM. The dried gut of a sheep, worn by men in the act of coition, to prevent venereal infection; said to have been invented by one colonel Cundum. These machines were long prepared and sold by a matron of the name of Philips, at the Green Canister, in Half-moon-street, in the Strand. That good lady having acquired a fortune, retired from business; but learning that the town was not well served by her successors, she, out of a patriotic zeal for the public welfare, returned to her occupation; of which she gave notice by divers hand-bills, in circulation in the year 1776. Also a false scabbard over a sword, and the oil-skin case for holding the colours of a regiment.
CUNNINGHAM. A punning appellation for a simple fellow.
CUNNING MAN. A cheat, who pretends by his skill in astrology to assist persons in recovering stolen goods: and also to tell them their fortunes, and when, how often, and to whom they shall be married; likewise answers all lawful questions, both by sea and land. This profession is frequently occupied by ladies.
CUNNING SHAVER. A sharp fellow, one that trims close,i.e. cheats ingeniously.
CUNNY-THUMBED. To double one's fist with the thumb inwards,like a woman.
C**T. The chonnos of the Greek, and the cunnus of the Latindictionaries; a nasty name for a nasty thing: un con Miege.
CUP OF THE CREATURE. A cup of good liquor.
CUP-SHOT. Drunk.
CUPBOARD LOVE. Pretended love to the cook, or any otherperson, for the sake of a meal. My guts cry cupboard;i.e. I am hungry
CUPID, BLIND CUPID. A jeering name for an ugly blindman: Cupid, the god of love, being frequently paintedblind. See BLIND CUPID.
CUR. A cut or curtailed dog. According to the forest laws, a man who had no right to the privilege of the chase, was obliged to cut or law his dog: among other modes of disabling him from disturbing the game, one was by depriving him of his tail: a dog so cut was called a cut or curtailed dog, and by contraction a cur. A cur is figuratively used to signify a surly fellow.
CURBING LAW. The act of hooking goods out of windows:the curber is the thief, the curb the hook. CANT.
CURE A-SE. A dyachilon plaister, applied to the parts galledby riding.
CURLE. Clippings of money, which curls up in the operation. CANT.
CURMUDGEON. A covetous old fellow, derived, according to some, from the French term coeur mechant.
CURRY. To curry favour; to obtain the favour of a person be coaxing or servility. To curry any one's hide; to beat him.
CURSE OF SCOTLAND. The nine of diamonds; diamonds, it is said, imply royalty, being ornaments to the imperial crown; and every ninth king of Scotland has been observed for many ages, to be a tyrant and a curse to that country. Others say it is from its similarity to the arms of Argyle; the Duke of Argyle having been very instrumental in bringing about the union, which, by some Scotch patriots, has been considered as detrimental to their country.
CURSE OF GOD. A cockade.
CURSITORS. Broken petty-fogging attornies, or Newgate solicitors. CANT.
CURTAILS. Thieves who cut off pieces of stuff hanging out of shop windows, the tails of women's gowns, &c.; also, thieves wearing short jackets.
CURTAIN LECTURE. A woman who scolds her husband when in bed, is said to read him a curtain lecture.
CURTEZAN. A prostitute.
CUSHION. He has deserved the cushion; a saying of one whose wife is brought to bed of a boy: implying, that having done his business effectually, he may now indulge or repose himself.
CUSHION THUMPER, or DUSTER. A parson; many of whomin the fury of their eloquence, heartily belabour theircushions.
CUSTARD CAP. The cap worn by the sword-bearer of thecity of London, made hollow at the top like a custard.
CUSTOM-HOUSE GOODS. The stock in trade of a prostitute,because fairly entered.
CUT. Drunk. A little cut over the head; slightly intoxicated. To cut; to leave a person or company. To cut up well; to die rich.
TO CUT. (Cambridge.) To renounce acquaintance with any one is to CUT him. There are several species of the CUT. Such as the cut direct, the cut indirect, the cut sublime, the cut infernal, &c. The cut direct, is to start across the street, at the approach of the obnoxious person in order to avoid him. The cut indirect, is to look another way, and pass without appearing to observe him. The cut sublime, is to admire the top of King's College Chapel, or the beauty of the passing clouds, till he is out of sight. The cut infernal, is to analyze the arrangement of your shoe-strings, for the same purpose.
TO CUT BENE. To speak gently. To cut bene whiddes; to give good words. To cut queer whiddes; to give foul language. To cut a bosh, or a flash; to make a figure. CANT.
TO CUTTY-EYE. To look out of the corners of one's eyes,to leer, to look askance. The cull cutty-eyed at us; thefellow looked suspicious at us.
DAB. An adept; a dab at any feat or exercise. Dab,quoth Dawkins, when he hit his wife on the a-se with apound of butter.
DACE. Two pence. Tip me a dace; lend me two pence.CANT.
DADDLES. Hands. Tip us your daddle; give me your hand.CANT.
DADDY. Father. Old daddy; a familiar address to an old man. To beat daddy mammy; the first rudiments of drum beating, being the elements of the roll.
DAGGERS. They are at daggers drawing; i.e. at enmity,ready to fight.
DAIRY. A woman's breasts, particularly one that givessuck. She sported her dairy; she pulled out her breast.
DAISY CUTTER. A jockey term for a horse that does not lift up his legs sufficiently, or goes too near the ground, and is therefore apt to stumble.
DAISY KICKERS. Ostlers at great inns.
DAM. A small Indian coin, mentioned in the Gentoo code of laws: hence etymologists may, if they please, derive the common expression, I do not care a dam, i.e. I do not care half a farthing for it.
DAMBER. A rascal. See DIMBER.
DAMME BOY. A roaring, mad, blustering fellow, a scourer of the streets, or kicker up of a breeze.
DAMNED SOUL. A clerk in a counting house, whose sole business it is to clear or swear off merchandise at the custom-house; and who, it is said, guards against the crime of perjury, by taking a previous oath, never to swear truly on those occasions.
DAMPER. A luncheon, or snap before dinner: so called from its damping, or allaying, the appetite; eating and drinking, being, as the proverb wisely observes, apt to take away the appetite.
DANCE UPON NOTHING. To be hanged.
DANCERS. Stairs.
DANDY. That's the dandy; i.e. the ton, the clever thing; an expression of similar import to "That's the barber." See BARBER.
DANDY GREY RUSSET. A dirty brown. His coat's dandy grey russet, the colour of the Devil's nutting bag.
DANDY PRAT. An insignificant or trifling fellow.
To DANGLE. To follow a woman without asking the question. Also, to be hanged: I shall see you dangle in the sheriff's picture frame; I shall see you hanging on the gallows.
DANGLER. One who follows women in general, without any particular attachment
DAPPER FELLOW. A smart, well-made, little man.
DARBIES. Fetters. CANT.
DARBY. Ready money. CANT.
DARK CULLY. A married man that keeps a mistress, whom he visits only at night, for fear of discovery.
DARKEE. A dark lanthorn used by housebreakers. Stow the darkee, and bolt, the cove of the crib is fly; hide the dark lanthorn, and run away, the master of the house knows that we are here.
DARKMANS. The night. CANT.
DARKMAN'S BUDGE. One that slides into a house in the dark of the evening, and hides himself, in order to let some of the gang in at night to rob it.
DART. A straight-armed blow in boxing.
DASH. A tavern drawer. To cut a dash: to make a figure.
DAVID JONES. The devil, the spirit of the sea: called Necken in the north countries, such as Norway, Denmark, and Sweden.
DAVID JONES'S LOCKER. The sea.
DAVID'S SOW. As drunk as David's sow; a common saying, which took its rise from the following circumstance: One David Lloyd, a Welchman, who kept an alehouse at Hereford, had a living sow with six legs, which was greatly resorted to by the curious; he had also a wife much addicted to drunkenness, for which he used sometimes to give her due correction. One day David's wife having taken a cup too much, and being fearful of the consequences, turned out the sow, and lay down to sleep herself sober in the stye. A company coming in to see the sow, David ushered them into the stye, exclaiming, there is a sow for you! did any of you ever see such another? all the while supposing the sow had really been there; to which some of the company, seeing the state the woman was in, replied, it was the drunkenest sow they had ever beheld; whence the woman was ever after called David's sow.
DAVY. I'll take my davy of it; vulgar abbreviation of affidavit.
TO DAWB. To bribe. The cull was scragged because he could not dawb; the rogue was hanged because he could not bribe. All bedawbed with lace; all over lace.
DAY LIGHTS. Eyes. To darken his day lights, or sow uphis sees; to close up a man's eyes in boxing.
DEAD CARGO. A term used by thieves, when they aredisappointed in the value of their booty.
DEAD HORSE. To work for the dead horse; to work forwages already paid.
DEAD-LOUSE. Vulgar pronunciation of the Dedalus ship ofwar.
DEAD MEN. A cant word among journeymen bakers, forloaves falsely charged to their masters' customers; alsoempty bottles.
DEADLY NEVERGREEN, that bears fruit all the year round.The gallows, or three-legged mare. See THREE-LEGGEDMARE.
DEAR JOYS. Irishmen: from their frequently making useof that expression.
DEATH HUNTER. An undertaker, one who furnishes thenecessary articles for funerals. See CARRION HUNTER.
DEATH'S HEAD UPON A MOP-STICK. A poor miserable, emaciated fellow; one quite an otomy. See OTOMY.—He looked as pleasant as the pains of death.
DEEP-ONE. A thorough-paced rogue, a sly designing fellow: in opposition to a shallow or foolish one.
DEFT FELLOW. A neat little man.
DEGEN, or DAGEN. A sword. Nim the degen; steal the sword. Dagen is Dutch for a sword. CANT.
DELLS. Young buxom wenches, ripe and prone to venery, but who have not lost their virginity, which the UPRIGHT MAN claims by virtue of his prerogative; after which they become free for any of the fraternity. Also a common strumpet. CANT.
DEMURE. As demure as an old whore at a christening.
DEMY-REP. An abbreviation of demy-reputation; a woman of doubtful character.
DERBY. To come down with the derbies; to pay the money.
DERRICK. The name of the finisher of the law, or hangman about the year 1608.—'For he rides his circuit with the Devil, and Derrick must be his host, and Tiburne the inne at which he will lighte.' Vide Bellman of London, in art. PRIGGIN LAW.—'At the gallows, where I leave them, as to the haven at which they must all cast anchor, if Derrick's cables do but hold.' Ibid.
DEVIL. A printer's errand-boy. Also a small thread in the king's ropes and cables, whereby they may be distinguished from all others. The Devil himself; a small streak of blue thread in the king's sails. The Devil may dance in his pocket; i.e. he has no money: the cross on our ancient coins being jocularly supposed to prevent him from visiting that place, for fear, as it is said, of breaking his shins against it. To hold a candle to the Devil; to be civil to any one out of fear: in allusion to the story of the old woman, who set a wax taper before the image of St. Michael, and another before the Devil, whom that saint is commonly represented as trampling under his feet: being reproved for paying such honour to Satan, she answered, as it was uncertain which place she should go to, heaven or hell, she chose to secure a friend in both places. That will be when the Devil is blind, and he has not got sore eyes yet; said of any thing unlikely to happen. It rains whilst the sun shines, the Devil is beating his wife with a shoulder of mutton: this phenomenon is also said to denote that cuckolds are going to heaven; on being informed of this, a loving wife cried out with great vehemence, 'Run, husband, run!'
The Devil was sick, the Devil a monk would be;The Devil was well, the Devil a monk was he.
a proverb signifying that we are apt to forget promises made in time of distress. To pull the Devil by the tail, to be reduced to one's shifts. The Devil go with you and sixpence, and then you will have both money and company.
DEVIL. The gizzard of a turkey or fowl, scored, peppered, salted and broiled: it derives its appellation from being hot in the mouth.
DEVIL'S BOOKS. Cards.
DEVIL CATCHER, or DEVIL DRIVER. A parson. SeeSNUB DEVIL.
DEVIL'S DAUGHTER. It is said of one who has a termagant for his wife, that he has married the Devil's daughter, and lives with the old folks.
Deal, Dover, and Harwich,The Devil gave with his daughter in marriage;And, by a codicil to his will,He added Helvoet and the Brill;
a saying occasioned by the shameful impositions practised by the inhabitants of those places, on sailors and travellers.
DEVIL DRAWER. A miserable painter.
DEVIL'S DUNG. Assafoetida.
DEVIL'S GUTS. A surveyor's chain: so called by farmers, who do not like their land should be measured by their landlords.
DEVILISH. Very: an epithet which in the English vulgar language is made to agree with every quality or thing; as, devilish bad, devilish good; devilish sick, devilish well; devilish sweet, devilish sour; devilish hot, devilish cold, &c. &c.
DEUSEA VILLE. The country. Cant.
DEUSEA VILLE STAMPERS. Country carriers. Cant.
DEW BEATERS. Feet. Cant.
DEWS WINS, or DEUX WINS. Two-pence. Cant.
DEWITTED. Torn to pieces by a mob, as that great statesmanJohn de Wit was in Holland, anno 1672.
DIAL PLATE. The face. To alter his dial plate; todisfigure his face.
DICE. The names of false dice:A bale of bard cinque deucesA bale of flat cinque deucesA bale of flat sice acesA bale of bard cater traesA bale of flat cater traesA bale of fulhamsA bale of light graniersA bale of langrets contrary to the ventageA bale of gordes, with as many highmen as lowmen,for passageA bale of demiesA bale of long dice for even and oddA bale of bristlesA bale of direct contraries.
DICK. That happened in the reign of queen Dick, i. e. never: said of any absurd old story. I am as queer as Dick's hatband; that is, out of spirits, or don't know what ails me.
DICKY. A woman's under-petticoat. It's all Dicky with him; i.e. it's all over with him.
DICKED IN THE NOB. Silly. Crazed.
DICKEY. A sham shirt.
DICKEY. An ass. Roll your dickey; drive your ass. Alsoa seat for servants to sit behind a carriage, when theirmaster drives.
TO DIDDLE. To cheat. To defraud. The cull diddledme out of my dearee; the fellow robbed me of my sweetheart.See Jeremy Diddler In Raising The Wind.
DIDDEYS. A woman's breasts or bubbies.
DIDDLE. Gin.
DIGGERS. Spurs. Cant.
DILBERRIES. Small pieces of excrement adhering to the hairs near the fundament.
DILBERRY MAKER. The fundament.
DILDO. [From the Italian DILETTO, q. d. a woman's delight; or from our word DALLY, q. d. a thing to play withal.] Penis-succedaneus, called in Lombardy Passo Tempo. Bailey.
DILIGENT. Double diligent, like the Devil's apothecary; said of one affectedly diligent.
DILLY. (An abbreviation of the word DILIGENCE.) A public voiture or stage, commonly a post chaise, carrying three persons; the name is taken from the public stage vehicles in France and Flanders. The dillies first began to run in England about the year 1779.
DIMBER. Pretty. A dimber cove; a pretty fellow. Dimber mort; a pretty wench. CANT.
DIMBER DAMBER. A top man, or prince, among the canting crew: also the chief rogue of the gang, or the completest cheat. CANT.
DING. To knock down. To ding it in one's ears; to reproach or tell one something one is not desirous of hearing. Also to throw away or hide: thus a highwayman who throws away or hides any thing with which he robbed, to prevent being known or detected, is, in the canting lingo, styled a Dinger.
DING BOY. A rogue, a hector, a bully, or sharper. CANT.
DING DONG. Helter skelter, in a hasty disorderly manner.
DINGEY CHRISTIAN. A mulatto; or any one who has, as the West-Indian term is, a lick of the tar-brush, that is, some negro blood in him.
DINING ROOM POST. A mode of stealing in houses that let lodgings, by rogues pretending to be postmen, who send up sham letters to the lodgers, and, whilst waiting in the entry for the postage, go into the first room they see open, and rob it.
DIP. To dip for a wig. Formerly, in Middle Row, Holborn, wigs of different sorts were, it is said, put into a close-stool box, into which, for three-pence, any one might dip, or thrust in his hand, and take out the first wig he laid hold of; if he was dissatisfied with his prize, he might, on paying three halfpence, return it and dip again.
THE DIP. A cook's shop, under Furnival's Inn, where many attornies clerks, and other inferior limbs of the law, take out the wrinkles from their bellies. DIP is also a punning name for a tallow-chandler.
DIPPERS. Anabaptists.
DIPT. Pawned or mortgaged.
DIRTY PUZZLE. A nasty slut.
DISGUISED. Drunk.
DISGRUNTLED. Offended, disobliged.
DISHED UP. He is completely dished up; he is totally ruined. To throw a thing in one's dish; to reproach or twit one with any particular matter.
DISHCLOUT. A dirty, greasy woman. He has made a napkin of his dishclout; a saying of one who has married his cook maid. To pin a dishclout to a man's tail; a punishment often threatened by the female servants in a kitchen, to a man who pries too minutely into the secrets of that place.
DISMAL DITTY. The psalm sung by the felons at the gallows,just before they are turned off.
DISPATCHES. A mittimus, or justice of the peace's warrant,for the commitment of a rogue.
DITTO. A suit of ditto; coat, waistcoat, and breeches, allof one colour.
DISPATCHERS. Loaded or false dice.
DISTRACTED DIVISION. Husband and wife fighting.
DIVE. To dive; to pick a pocket. To dive for a dinner; to go down into a cellar to dinner. A dive, is a thief who stands ready to receive goods thrown out to him by a little boy put in at a window. Cant.
DIVER. A pickpocket; also one who lives in a cellar.
DIVIDE. To divide the house with one's wife; to give her the outside, and to keep all the inside to one's self, i.e. to turn her into the street.
DO. To do any one; to rob and cheat him. I have done him; I have robbed him. Also to overcome in a boxing match: witness those laconic lines written on the field of battle, by Humphreys to his patron.—'Sir, I have done the Jew.'
TO DO OVER. Carries the same meaning, but is not so briefly expressed: the former having received the polish of the present times.
DOASH. A cloak. Cant.
DOBIN RIG. Stealing ribbands from haberdashers early in the morning or late at night; generally practised by women in the disguise of maid servants.
TO DOCK. To lie with a woman. The cull docked the dell all the darkmans; the fellow laid with the wench all night. Docked smack smooth; one who has suffered an amputation of his penis from a venereal complaint. He must go into dock; a sea phrase, signifying that the person spoken of must undergo a salivation. Docking is also a punishment inflicted by sailors on the prostitutes who have infected them with the venereal disease; it consists in cutting off all their clothes, petticoats, shift and all, close to their stays, and then turning them into the street.
DOCTOR. Milk and water, with a little rum, and some nutmeg; also the name of a composition used by distillers, to make spirits appear stronger than they really are, or, in their phrase, better proof.
DOCTORS. Loaded dice, that will run but two or three chances. They put the doctors upon him; they cheated him with loaded dice.
DODSEY. A woman: perhaps a corruption of Doxey. CANT.
DOG BUFFERS. Dog stealers, who kill those dogs not advertised for, sell their skins, and feed the remaining dogs with their flesh.
DOG IN A DOUBLET. A daring, resolute fellow. InGermany and Flanders the boldest dogs used to hunt the boar,having a kind of buff doublet buttoned on their bodies,Rubens has represented several so equipped, so has Sneyders.
DOG. An old dog at it; expert or accustomed to any thing. Dog in a manger; one who would prevent another from enjoying what he himself does not want: an allusion to the well-known fable. The dogs have not dined; a common saying to any one whose shirt hangs out behind. To dog, or dodge; to follow at a distance. To blush like a blue dog, i.e. not at all. To walk the black dog on any one; a punishment inflicted in the night on a fresh prisoner, by his comrades, in case of his refusal to pay the usual footing or garnish.
DOG LATIN. Barbarous Latin, such as was formerly used by the lawyers in their pleadings.
DOG'S PORTION. A lick and a smell. He comes in for only a dog's portion; a saying of one who is a distant admirer or dangler after women. See DANGLER.
DOG'S RIG. To copulate till you are tired, and then turn tail to it.
DOG'S SOUP. Rain water.
DOG VANE. A cockade. SEA TERM.
DOGGED. Surly.
DOGGESS, DOG'S WIFE or LADY, PUPPY'S MAMMA.Jocular ways of calling a woman a bitch.
DOLL. Bartholomew doll; a tawdry, over-drest woman,like one of the children's dolls at Bartholomew fair. Tomill doll; to beat hemp at Bridewell, or any other houseof correction.
DOLLY. A Yorkshire dolly; a contrivance for washing, bymeans of a kind of wheel fixed in a tub, which being turnedabout, agitates and cleanses the linen put into it, withsoap and water.
DOMINE DO LITTLE. An impotent old fellow.
DOMINEER. To reprove or command in an insolent orhaughty manner. Don't think as how you shall domineerhere.
DOMMERER. A beggar pretending that his tongue has beencutout by the Algerines, or cruel and blood-thirsty Turks,or else that he yas born deaf and dumb. Cant.
DONE, or DONE OVER. Robbed: also, convicted or hanged.Cant.—See DO.
DONE UP. Ruined by gaming and extravagances. ModernTerm.
DONKEY, DONKEY DICK. A he, or jack ass: called donkey, perhaps, from the Spanish or don-like gravity of that animal, intitled also the king of Spain's trumpeter.
DOODLE. A silly fellow, or noodle: see NOODLE. Also a child's penis. Doodle doo, or Cock a doodle doo; a childish appellation for a cock, in imitation of its note when crowing.
DOODLE SACK. A bagpipe. Dutch.—Also the private parts of a woman.
DOPEY. A beggar's trull.
DOT AND GO ONE. To waddle: generally applied to persons who have one leg shorter than the other, and who, as the sea phrase is, go upon an uneven keel. Also a jeering appellation for an inferior writing-master, or teacher of arithmetic.
DOUBLE. To tip any one the double; to run away in his or her debt.
DOUBLE JUGG. A man's backside. Cotton's Virgil.
DOVE-TAIL. A species of regular answer, which fits into the subject, like the contrivance whence it takes its name: Ex. Who owns this? The dovetail is, Not you by your asking.
DOUGLAS. Roby Douglas, with one eye and a stinking breath; the breech. Sea wit.
DOWDY. A coarse, vulgar-looking woman.
DOWN HILLS. Dice that run low.
DOWN. Aware of a thing. Knowing it. There is NO DOWN. A cant phrase used by house-breakers to signify that the persons belonging to any house are not on their guard, or that they are fast asleep, and have not heard any noise to alarm them.
TO DOWSE. To take down: as, Dowse the pendant. Dowse your dog vane; take the cockade out of your hat. Dowse the glim; put out the candle.
DOWSE ON THE CHOPS. A blow in the face.
DOWSER. Vulgar pronunciation of DOUCEUR.
DOXIES. She beggars, wenches, whores.
DRAB. A nasty, sluttish whore.
DRAG. To go on the drag; to follow a cart or waggon, in order to rob it. CANT.
DRAG LAY. Waiting in the streets to rob carts or waggons.
DRAGGLETAIL or DAGGLETAIL. One whose garments are bespattered with dag or dew: generally applied to the female sex, to signify a slattern.
DRAGOONING IT. A man who occupies two branches of one profession, is said to dragoon it; because, like the soldier of that denomination, he serves in a double capacity. Such is a physician who furnishes the medicines, and compounds his own prescriptions.
DRAIN. Gin: so called from the diuretic qualities imputed to that liquor.
DRAM. A glass or small measure of any spirituous liquors, which, being originally sold by apothecaries, were estimated by drams, ounces, &c. Dog's dram; to spit in his mouth, and clap his back.
DRAM-A-TICK. A dram served upon credit.
DRAPER. An ale draper; an alehouse keeper.
DRAUGHT, or BILL, ON THE PUMP AT ALDGATE. A bador false bill of exchange. See ALDGATE.
DRAW LATCHES. Robbers of houses whose doors areonly fastened with latches. CANT.
TO DRAW. To take any thing from a pocket. To draw a swell of a clout. To pick a gentleman's pocket of a handkerchief. To draw the long bow; to tell lies.
DRAWERS. Stockings. CANT.
DRAWING THE KING'S PICTURE. Coining. CANT.
TO DRESS. To beat. I'll dress his hide neatly; I'll beat him soundly.
DRIBBLE. A method of pouring out, as it were, the dice from the box, gently, by which an old practitioner is enabled to cog one of them with his fore-finger.
DRIPPER. A gleet.
DROMEDARY. A heavy, bungling thief or rogue. A purple dromedary; a bungler in the art and mystery of thieving. CANT.
DROMMERARS. See DOMMERER.
DROP. The new drop; a contrivance for executing felons atNewgate, by means of a platform, which drops fromunder them: this is also called the last drop. See LEAF.See MORNING DROP.
DROP A COG. To let fall, with design, a piece of gold or silver, in order to draw in and cheat the person who sees it picked up; the piece so dropped is called a dropt cog.
DROP IN THE EYE. Almost drunk.
DROPPING MEMBER. A man's yard with a gonorrhoea.
DROP COVES. Persons who practice the fraud of dropping a ring or other article, and picking it up before the person intended to be defrauded, they pretend that the thing is very valuable to induce their gull to lend them money, or to purchase the article. See FAWNY RIG, and MONEY DROPPERS.
TO DROP DOWN. To be dispirited. This expression is used by thieves to signify that their companion did not die game, as the kiddy dropped down when he went to be twisted; the young fellow was very low spirited when he walked out to be hanged.
TO DRUB. To beat any one with a stick, or rope's end: perhaps a contraction of DRY RUB. It is also used to signify a good beating with any instrument.
DRUMMER. A jockey term for a horse that throws about his fore legs irregularly: the idea is taken from a kettle drummer, who in beating makes many flourishes with his drumsticks.
DRUNK. Drunk as a wheel-barrow. Drunk as David's sow. See DAVID'S SOW.
DRURY LANE AGUE. The venereal disorder.
DRURY LANE VESTAL. A woman of the town, or prostitute; Drury-lane and its environs were formerly the residence of many of those ladies.
DRY BOB. A smart repartee: also copulation without emission; in law Latin, siccus robertulus.
DRY BOOTS. A sly humorous fellow.
DUB. A picklock, or master-key. CANT.
DUB LAY. Robbing houses by picking the locks.
DUB THE JIGGER. Open the door. CANT.
DUB O' TH' HICK. A lick on the head.
DUBBER. A picker of locks. CANT.
DUCE. Two-pence.
DUCK. A lame duck; an Exchange-alley phrase for astock-jobber, who either cannot or will not pay his losses,or, differences, in which case he is said to WADDLE OUT OFTHE ALLEY, as he cannot appear there again till his debtsare settled and paid; should he attempt it, he would behustled out by the fraternity.
DUCKS AND DRAKES. To make ducks and drakes: aschool-boy's amusement, practised with pieces of tile,oyster-shells, or flattish stones, which being skimmedalong the surface of a pond, or still river, rebound manytimes. To make ducks and drakes of one's money; tothrow it idly away.
DUCK F-CK-R. The man who has the care of the poultryon board a ship of war.