QUEER BLUFFER. The master of a public-house the resort of rogues and sharpers, a cut-throat inn or alehouse keeper.
QUEER BUNG. An empty purse.
QUEER CHECKERS. Among strolling players, door-keepers who defraud the company, by falsely checking the number of people in the house.
QUEER COLE FENCER. A putter off, or utterer, of bad money.
QUEER COLE MAKER. A maker of bad money.
QUEER COVE. A rogue. CANT.
QUEER CUFFIN. A justice of the peace; also a churl.
QUEER DEGEN. An ordinary sword, brass or iron hilted.
QUEER KEN. A prison. CANT.
QUEER KICKS. A bad pair of breeches.
QUEER MORT. A diseased strumpet. CANT.
QUEER NAB. A felt hat, or other bad hat.
QUEER PLUNGERS. Cheats who throw themselves into the water, in order that they may be taken up by their accomplices, who carry them to one of the houses appointed by the Humane Society for the recovery of drowned persons, where they are rewarded by the society with a guinea each; and the supposed drowned persons, pretending he was driven to that extremity by great necessity, also frequently sent away with a contribution in his pocket.
QUEER PRANCER. A bad, worn-out, foundered horse; also a cowardly or faint-hearted horse-stealer.
QUEER ROOSTER. An informer that pretends to be sleeping,and thereby overhears the conversation of thieves innight cellars.
QUEER STREET. Wrong. Improper. Contrary to one'swish. It is queer street, a cant phrase, to signifythat it is wrong or different to our wish.
QUITAM. A quitam horse; one that will both carry anddraw. LAW WIT.
TO QUIBBLE. To make subtle distinctions; also to playupon words.
QUICK AND NIMBLE. More like a bear than a squirrel.Jeeringly said to any one moving sluggishly on a businessor errand that requires dispatch.
QUID. The quantity of tobacco put into the mouth at one time. To quid tobacco; to chew tobacco. Quid est hoc? hoc est quid; a guinea. Half a quid; half a guinea. The swell tipped me fifty quid for the prad; the gentleman gave fifty pounds for the horse.
QUIDS. Cash, money. Can you tip me any quids? can you lend me some money?
QUIFFING. Rogering. See TO ROGER.
QUIDNUNC. A politician: from a character of that name in the farce of the Upholsterer.
QUILL DRIVER. A clerk, scribe, or hackney writer.
QUIM. The private parts of a woman: perhaps from theSpanish quemar, to burn. (CAMBRIDGE) A piece's furbelow.
QUINSEY. Choked by a hempen quinsey; hanged.
QUIPPS. Girds, taunts, jests.
QUIRE, or CHOIR BIRD. A complete rogue, one that hassung in different choirs or cages, i.e. gaols. CANT.
QUIRKS AND QUILLETS. Tricks and devices. Quirks inlaw; subtle distinctions and evasions.
QUIZ. A strange-looking fellow, an odd dog. OXFORD.
QUOD. Newgate, or any other prison. The dab's in quod; the poor rogue is in prison.
QUOTA. Snack, share, part, proportion, or dividend. Tipme my quota; give me part of the winnings, booty, orplunder. CANT.
RABBIT. A Welch rabbit; bread and cheese toasted, i.e.a Welch rare bit. Rabbits were also a sort of woodencanns to drink out of, now out of use.
RABBIT CATCHER. A midwife.
RABBIT SUCKERS. Young spendthrifts taking up goods ontrust at great prices.
RACK RENT. Rent strained to the utmost value. Tolie at rack and manger; to be in great disorder.
RACKABACK. A gormagon. See GORMAGON.
RAFFS. An appellation given by the gownsmen of the universityof Oxford to the inhabitants of that place.
RAG. Bank notes. Money in general. The cove has norag; the fellow has no money.
RAG. A farthing.
TO RAG. To abuse, and tear to rags the characters of the persons abused. She gave him a good ragging, or ragged him off heartily.
RAG CARRIER. An ensign.
RAG FAIR. An inspection of the linen and necessaries of acompany of soldiers, commonly made by their officers onMondays or Saturdays.
RAG WATER. Gin, or any other common dram: theseliquors seldom failing to reduce those that drink them torags.
RAGAMUFFIN. A ragged fellow, one all in tatters, a tatterdemallion.
RAILS. See HEAD RAILS. A dish of rails; a lecture, jobation,or scolding from a married woman to her husband.
RAINBOW. Knight of the rainbow; a footman: from being commonly clothed in garments of different colours. A meeting of gentlemen, styled of the most ancient order of the rainbow, was advertised to be held at the Foppington's Head, Moorfields.
RAINY DAY. To lay up something for a rainy day; toprovide against a time of necessity or distress.
RAKE, RAKEHELL, or RAKESHAME. A lewd, debauchedfellow.
RALPH SPOONER. A fool.
RAM CAT. A he cat.
RAMMISH. Rank. Rammish woman; a sturdy virago.
RAMMER. The arm. The busnapper's kenchin seized myrammer; i.e. the watchman laid hold of my arm. CANT.
TO RAMP. To snatch, or tear any thing forcibly from theperson.
RAMSHACKLED. Out of repair. A ramshackled house;perhaps a corruption of RANSACKED, i.e. plundered.
RANDLE. A set of nonsensical verses, repeated in Ireland by schoolboys, and young people, who have been guilty of breaking wind backwards before any of their companions; if they neglect this apology, they are liable to certain kicks, pinches, and fillips, which are accompanied with divers admonitory couplets.
RANDY. Obstreperous, unruly, rampant.
RANGLING. Intriguing with a variety of women.
RANK. Stinking, rammish, ill-flavoured; also strong, great. A rank knave; a rank coward: perhaps the latter may allude to an ill savour caused by fear.
RANK RIDER. A highwayman.
RANTALLION. One whose scrotum is so relaxed as to belonger than his penis, i.e. whose shot pouch is longerthat the barrel of his piece.
RANTIPOLE. A rude romping boy or girl; also a gadaboutdissipated woman. To ride rantipole; the same as ridingSt. George. See ST. GEORGE.
RANTUM SCANTUM. Playing at rantum scantum; makingthe beast with two backs.
To RAP To take a false oath; also to curse. He rapped out a volley; i.e. he swore a whole volley of oaths. To rap, means also to exchange or barter: a rap is likewise an Irish halfpenny. Rap on the knuckles; a reprimand.
RAPPAREES. Irish robbers, or outlaws, who in the time of Oliver Cromwell were armed with short weapons, called in Irish RAPIERS, used for ripping persons up.
RAPPER. A swinging great lie.
RAREE SHEW MEN. Poor Savoyards, who subsist by shewing the magic lantern and marmots about London.
RASCAL. A rogue or villain: a term borrowed from the chase; a rascal originally meaning a lean shabby deer, at the time of changing his horns, penis, &c. whence, in the vulgar acceptation, rascal is conceived to signify a man without genitals: the regular vulgar answer to this reproach, if uttered by a woman, is the offer of an ocular demonstration of the virility of the party so defamed. Some derive it from RASCAGLIONE, an Italian word signifying a man. without testicles, or an eunuch.
RAT. A drunken man or woman taken up by the watch, and confined in the watch-house. CANT. To smell a rat; to suspect some intended trick, or unfair design.
RATS. Of these there are the following kinds: a black rat and a grey rat, a py-rat and a cu-rat.
RATTLE. A dice-box. To rattle; to talk without consideration, also to move off or go away. To rattle one off; to rate or scold him.
RATTLE-PATE. A volatile, unsteady, or whimsical man orwoman.
RATTLE-TRAPS. A contemptuous name for any curiousportable piece of machinery, or philosophical apparatus.
RATTLER. A coach. Rattle and prad; a coach and horses.
RATTLING COVE. A coachman. CANT.
RATTLING MUMPERS. Beggars who ply coaches. CANT.
RAWHEAD AND BLOODY BONES. A bull beggar, or scarechild, with which foolish nurses terrify crying brats.
READER. A pocket-book. CANT.
READER MERCHANTS. Pickpockets, chiefly young Jews, who ply about the Bank to steal the pocket-books of persons who have just received their dividends there.
READY. The ready rhino; money. CANT.
REBUS. A riddle or pun on a man's name, expressed in sculpture or painting, thus: a bolt or arrow, and a tun, for Bolton; death's head, and a ton, for Morton.
RECEIVER GENERAL. A prostitute.
RECKON. To reckon with one's host; to make an erroneous judgment in one's own favour. To cast-up one's reckoning or accounts; to vomit.
TO RECRUIT. To get a fresh supply of money.
RECRUITING SERVICE. Robbing on the highway.
RED FUSTIAN. Port wine.
RED LANE. The throat. Gone down the red lane; swallowed.
RED RIBBIN. Brandy.
RED LATTICE. A public house.
RED LETTER DAY. A saint's day or holiday, marked inthe calendars with red letters. Red letter men; RomanCatholics: from their observation of the saint daysmarked in red letters.
RED RAG. The tongue. Shut your potatoe trap, andgive your red rag a holiday; i.e. shut your mouth, andlet your tongue rest. Too much of the red rag (too muchtongue).
RED SAIL-YARD DOCKERS. Buyers of stores stolen out ofthe royal yards and docks.
RED SHANK. A Scotch Highlander.
REGULARS. Share of the booty. The coves cracked the swell's crib, fenced the swag, and each cracksman napped his regular; some fellows broke open a gentleman's house, and after selling the property which they had stolen, they divided the money between them.
RELIGIOUS HORSE. One much given to prayer, or apt to be down upon his knees.
RELIGIOUS PAINTER. One who does not break the commandment which prohibits the making of the likeness of any thing in heaven or earth, or in the waters under the earth.
THE RELISH. The sign of the Cheshire cheese.
RELISH. Carnal connection with a woman.
REMEDY CRITCH. A chamber pot, or member mug.
REMEMBER PARSON MELHAM. Drink about: a Norfolk phrase.
RENDEZVOUS. A place of meeting. The rendezvous of the beggars were, about the year 1638, according to the Bellman, St. Quinton's, the Three Crowns in the Vintry, St. Tybs, and at Knapsbury: there were four barns within a mile of London. In Middlesex were four other harbours, called Draw the Pudding out of the Fire, the Cross Keys in Craneford parish, St. Julian's in Isleworth parish, and the house of Pettie in Northall parish. In Kent, the King's Barn near Dartford, and Ketbrooke near Blackheath.
REP. A woman of reputation.
REPOSITORY. A lock-up or spunging-house, a gaol. Also livery stables where horses and carriages are sold by auction.
RESCOUNTERS. The time of settlement between the bulls and bears of Exchange-alley, when the losers must pay their differences, or become lame ducks, and waddle out of the Alley.
RESURRECTION MEN. Persons employed by the students in anatomy to steal dead bodies out of church-yards.
REVERENCE. An ancient custom, which obliges any person easing himself near the highway or foot-path, on the word REVERENCE being given him by a passenger, to take off his hat with his teeth, and without moving from his station to throw it over his head, by which it frequently falls into the excrement; this was considered as a punishment for the breach of delicacy, A person refusing to obey this law, might be pushed backwards. Hence, perhaps, the term, SIR-REVERENCE.
REVERSED. A man set by bullies on his head, that his money may fall out of his breeches, which they afterwards by accident pick up. See HOISTING.
REVIEW OF THE BLACK CUIRASSIERS. A visitation of the clergy. See CROW FAIR.
RHINO. Money. CANT.
RIB. A wife: an allusion to our common mother Eve, made out of Adam's rib. A crooked rib: a cross-grained wife.
RIBALDRY. Vulgar abusive language, such as was spokenby ribalds. Ribalds were originally mercenary soldierswho travelled about, serving any master far pay, butafterwards degenerated into a mere banditti.
RIBBIN. Money. The ribbin runs thick; i.e. there isplenty of money. CANT. Blue ribbin. Gin. The culllushes the blue ribbin; the silly fellow drinks commongin.
To RIBROAST. To beat: I'll ribroast him to his heart'scontent.
RICH FACE, or NOSE. A red pimpled, face.
RICHAUD SNARY. A dictionary. A country lad, having been reproved for calling persons by their christian names, being sent by his master to borrow a dictionary, thought to shew his breeding by asking for a Richard Snary.
RIDER. A person who receives part of the salary of a place or appointment from the ostensible occupier, by virtue of an agreement with the donor, or great man appointing. The rider is said to be quartered upon the possessor, who often has one or more persons thus riding behind him. See QUARTERED.
RIDGE. A guinea. Ridge cully; a goldsmith. CANT.
RIDING ST. GEORGE. The woman uppermost in the amorous congress, that is, the dragon upon St. George. This is said to be the way to get a bishop.
RIDING SKIMMINGTON. A ludicrous cavalcade, in ridicule of a man beaten by his wife. It consists of a man riding behind a woman, with his face to the horse's tail, holding a distaff in his hand, at which he seems to work, the woman all the while beating him with a ladle; a smock displayed on a staff is carried before them as an emblematical standard, denoting female superiority: they are accompanied by what is called the ROUGH MUSIC, that is, frying-pans, bulls horns, marrow-bones and cleavers, &c. A procession of this kind is admirably described by Butler in his Hudibras. He rode private, i.e. was a private trooper.
RIFF RAFF. Low vulgar persons, mob, tag-rag and bob-tail.
RIG. Fun, game, diversion, or trick. To run one's rig upon any particular person; to make him a butt. I am up to your rig; I am a match for your tricks.
RIGGING. Clothing. I'll unrig the bloss; I'll strip the wench. Rum Rigging; fine clothes. The cull has rum rigging, let's ding him and mill him, and pike; the fellow has good clothes, let's knock him down, rob him, and scour off, i.e. run away.
RIGHT. All right! A favourite expression among thieves, to signify that all is as they wish, or proper for their purpose. All right, hand down the jemmy; every thing is in proper order, give me the crow.
RIGMAROLE. Roundabout, nonsensical. He told a long rigmarole story.
RING. Money procured by begging: beggars so called it from its ringing when thrown to them. Also a circle formed for boxers, wrestlers, and cudgel-players, by a man styled Vinegar; who, with his hat before his eyes, goes round the circle, striking at random with his whip to prevent the populace from crowding in.
TO RING A PEAL. To scold; chiefly applied to women.His wife rung him a fine peal!
RING THE CHANGES. When a person receives silver in change to shift some good shillings and put bad ones in their place. The person who gave the change is then requested to give good shillings for these bad ones.
RIP. A miserable rip; a poor, lean, worn-out horse. Ashabby mean fellow.
RIPPONS. Spurs: Rippon is famous for a manufactory ofspurs both for men and fighting cocks.
ROARATORIOS AND UPROARS. Oratorios and operas.
ROARING BOY. A noisy, riotous fellow.
ROARER. A broken-winded horse.
ROARING TRADE. A quick trade.
TO ROAST. To arrest. I'll roast the dab; I'll arrest the rascal.—Also to jeer, ridicule, or banter. He stood the roast; he was the butt.—Roast meat clothes; Sunday or holiday-clothes. To cry roast meat; to boast of one's situation. To rule the roast; to be master or paramount.
ROAST AND BOILED. A nick name for the Life Guards, who are mostly substantial house-keepers; and eat daily of roast and boiled.
ROBERT'S MEN. The third old rank of the canting crew,mighty thieves, like Robin Hood.
ROBY DOUGLASS, with one eye and a stinking breath. Thebreech.
ROCHESTER PORTION. Two torn smocks, and what nature gave.
ROCKED. He was rocked in a stone kitchen; a saying meant to convey the idea that the person spoken of is a fool, his brains having been disordered by the jumbling of his cradle.
ROGER. A portmanteau; also a man's yard. Cant.
ROGER, or TIB OF THE BUTTERY. A goose. Cant. JollyRoger; a flag hoisted by pirates.
TO ROGER. To bull, or lie with a woman; from the nameof Roger being frequently given to a bull.
ROGUES. The fourth order of canters. A rogue in grain;a great rogue, also a corn chandler. A rogue in spirit; adistiller or brandy merchant.
ROGUM POGUM, or DRAGRUM POGRAM. Goat's beard,eaten for asparagus; so called by the ladies who gathercresses, &c. who also deal in this plant.
ROMBOYLES. Watch and ward. Romboyled; sought afterwith a warrant.
ROME MORT. A queen.
ROMEVILLE. London. Cant.
ROMP. A forward wanton girl, a tomrig. Grey, in his notes to Shakespeare, derives it from arompo, an animal found in South Guinea, that is a man eater. See HOYDEN.
ROOK. A cheat: probably from the thievish disposition of the birds of that name. Also the cant name for a crow used in house-breaking. To rook; to cheat, particularly at play.
ROOM. She lets out her fore room and lies backwards: saying of a woman suspected of prostitution.
ROOST LAY. Stealing poultry.
ROPES. Upon the high ropes; elated, in high spirits, cock-a-hoop.
ROSE. Under the rose: privately or secretly. The rose was, it is said, sacred to Harpocrates, the God of silence, and therefore frequently placed in the ceilings of rooms destined for the receiving of guests; implying, that whatever was transacted there, should not be made public.
ROSY GILLS. One with a sanguine or fresh-coloured countenance.
ROTAN. A coach, cart, or other wheeled carriage.
ROT GUT. Small beer; called beer-a-bumble—will burst one's guts before it will make one tumble.
ROVERS. Pirates, vagabonds.
ROUGH. To lie rough; to lie all night in one's clothes: called also roughing it. Likewise to sleep on the bare deck of a ship, when the person is commonly advised to chuse the softest plank.
ROUGH MUSIC. Saucepans, frying-paps, poker and tongs, marrow-bones and cleavers, bulls horns, &c. beaten upon and sounded in ludicrous processions.
ROULEAU. A number of guineas, from twenty to fifty or more, wrapped up in paper, for the more ready circulation at gaming-tables: sometimes they are inclosed in ivory boxes, made to hold exactly 20, 50, or 100 guineas.
ROUND DEALING. Plain, honest dealing.
ROUNDHEADS. A term of reproach to the puritans and partizans of Oliver Cromwell, and the Rump Parliament, who it is said made use of a bowl as a guide to trim their hair.
ROUND ROBIN. A mode of signing remonstrances practised by sailors on board the king's ships, wherein their names are written in a circle, so that it cannot be discovered who first signed it, or was, in other words, the ringleader.
ROUND SUM. A considerable sum.
ROUND ABOUT. An instrument used in housebreaking. This instrument has not been long in use. It will cut a round piece about five inches in diameter out of a shutter or door.
ROUND MOUTH. The fundament. Brother round mouth, speaks; he has let a fart.
ROUT. A modern card meeting at a private house; also an order from the Secretary at War, directing the march and quartering of soldiers.
ROW. A disturbance; a term used by the students atCambridge.
ROW. To row in the same boat; to be embarked in thesame scheme.
ROWLAND. To give a Rowland for an Oliver; to give an equivalent. Rowland and Oliver were two knights famous in romance: the wonderful achievements of the one could only be equalled by those of the other.
ROYAL SCAMPS. Highwaymen who never rob any butrich persons, and that without ill treating them. SeeSCAMP.
ROYAL STAG SOCIETY. Was held every Monday evening,at seven o'clock, at the Three tuns, near the HospitalGate, Newgate-street.
ROYSTER. A rude boisterous fellow; also a hound thatopens on a false scent.
TO RUB. To run away. Don't rub us to the whit; don't send us to Newgate. CANT.—To rub up; to refresh: to rub up one's memory. A rub: an impediment. A rubber; the best two out of three. To win a rubber: to win two games out of three.
RUBY FACED. Red-faced.
RUFF. An ornament formerly worn by men and women round their necks. Wooden ruff; the pillory.
RUFFIAN. The devil. CANT.—May the ruffian nab the cuffin queer, and let the harmanbeck trine with his kinchins about his colquarren; may the Devil take the justice, and let the constable be hanged with his children about his neck. The ruffian cly thee; the Devil take thee. Ruffian cook ruffian, who scalded the Devil in his feathers; a saying of a bad cook. Ruffian sometimes also means, a justice.
RUFFLES. Handcuffs. CANT.
RUFFLERS. The first rank of canters; also notorious rogues pretending to be maimed soldiers or sailors.
RUFFMANS. The woods, hedges, or bushes. CANT.
RUG. It is all rug; it is all right and safe, the game issecure. CANT.
RUG. Asleep. The whole gill is safe at rug; the peopleof the house are fast asleep.
RUM. Fine, good, valuable.
RUM BECK. A justice of the peace. CANT.
RUM BITE. A clever cheat, a clean trick.
RUM BLEATING CHEAT. A fat wether sheep. CANT.
RUM BLOWEN. A handsome wench. CANT.
RUM BLUFFER. A jolly host. CANT.
RUM BOB. A young apprentice; also a sharp trick.
RUM BOOZE. Wine, or any other good liquor. Rum boozingwelts; bunches of grapes. CANT.
RUM BUBBER. A dexterous fellow at stealing silver tankardsfrom inns and taverns.
RUM BUGHER. A valuable dog. CANT.
RUM BUNG. A full purse. CANT.
RUM CHUB. Among butchers, a customer easily imposed on, as to the quality and price of meat. CANT.
RUM CHANT. A song.
RUM CLOUT. A fine silk, cambric, or holland handkerchief.CANT.
RUM COD. A good purse of gold. CANT.
RUM COLE. New money, or medals.
RUM COVE. A dexterous or clever rogue.
RUM CULL. A rich fool, easily cheated, particularly by his mistress.
RUM DEGEN. A handsome sword. CANT.
RUM DELL. See RUM DOXY.
RUM DIVER. A dextrous pickpocket. CANT.
RUM DOXY. A fine wench. CANT.
RUM DRAWERS. Silk, or other fine stockings. CANT.
RUM DROPPER. A vintner. CANT.
RUM DUBBER. An expert picklock.
RUM DUKE. A jolly handsome fellow; also an odd eccentric fellow; likewise the boldest and stoutest fellows lately among the Alsatians, Minters, Savoyards, and other inhabitants of privileged districts, sent to remove and guard the goods of such bankrupts as intended to take sanctuary in those places. CANT.
RUM FILE. See RUM DIVER.
RUM FUN. A sharp trick. CANT.
RUM GAGGERS. Cheats who tell wonderful stories of their sufferings at sea, or when taken by the Algerines, CANT.
RUM GHELT. See RUM COLE. CANT.
RUM GLYMMER. King or chief of the link-boys. CANT.
RUM KICKS. Breeches of gold or silver brocade, or richly laced with gold or silver. CANT.
RUM MAWND. One that counterfeits a fool. CANT
RUM MORT. A queen, or great lady. CANT.
RUM NAB. A good hat.
RUM NANTZ. Good French brandy. CANT.
RUM NED. A very rich silly fellow. CANT.
RUM PAD. The highway. CANT.
RUM PADDERS. Highwaymen well mounted and armed.CANT.
RUM PEEPERS. Fine looking-glasses. CANT.
RUM PRANCER. A fine horse. CANT.
RUM QUIDS. A great booty. CANT.
RUM RUFF PECK. Westphalia ham. CANT.
RUM SNITCH. A smart fillip on the nose.
RUM SQUEEZE. Much wine, or good liquor, given among fiddlers. CANT.
RUM TILTER. See RUM DEGEN.
RUM TOL. See RUM DEGEN.
RUM TOPPING. A rich commode, or woman's head-dress.
RUM VILLE. See ROMEVILLE.
RUM WIPER. See RUM CLOUT.
RUMBO. Rum, water, and sugar; also a prison.
RUMBOYLE. A ward or watch.
RUMBUMTIOUS. Obstreperous.
RUMFORD. To ride to Rumford to have one's backside new bottomed: i.e. to have a pair of new leather breeches. Rumford was formerly a famous place for leather breeches. A like saying is current in Norfolk and Suffolk, of Bungay, and for the same reason.—Rumford lion; a calf. See ESSEX LION.
RUMP. To rump any one; to turn the back to him: an evolution sometimes used at court. Rump and a dozen; a rump of beef and a dozen of claret; an Irish wager, called also buttock and trimmings. Rump and kidney men; fiddlers that play at feasts, fairs, weddings, &c. and live chiefly on the remnants.
RUMPUS. A riot, quarrel, or confusion.
RUN GOODS. A maidenhead, being a commodity never entered.
RUNNING HORSE, or NAG. A clap, or gleet.
RUNNING SMOBBLE. Snatching goods off a counter, and throwing them to an accomplice, who brushes off with them.
RUNNING STATIONERS. Hawker of newspapers, trials, anddying speeches.
RUNT. A short squat man or woman: from the small cattlecalled Welsh runts.
RUSHERS. Thieves who knock at the doors of great houses in London, in summer time, when the families are gone out of town, and on the door being opened by a woman, rush in and rob the house; also housebreakers who enter lone houses by force.
RUSSIAN COFFEE-HOUSE. The Brown Bear in Bow-street, Covent Garden, a house of call for thief-takers and runners of the Bow street justices.
RUSTY. Out of use, To nab the rust; to be refractory; properly applied to a restive horse, and figuratively to the human species. To ride rusty; to be sullen; called also to ride grub.
RUSTY GUTS. A blunt surly fellow: a jocular misnomer ofRESTICUS.
RUTTING. Copulating. Rutting time; the season, whendeer go to rut.
SACHEVEREL. The iron door, or blower, to the mouthof a stove: from a divine of that name, who made himselffamous for blowing the coals of dissension in the latterend of the reign of queen Ann.
SACK. A pocket. To buy the sack: to get drunk. Todive into the sack; to pick a pocket. To break a bottlein an empty sack; a bubble bet, a sack with a bottle init not being an empty sack.
SAD DOG. A wicked debauched fellow; one of the ancient family of the sad dogs. Swift translates it into Latin by the words TRISTIS CANIS.
SADDLE. To saddle the spit; to give a dinner or supper. To saddle one's nose; to wear spectacles. To saddle a place or pension; to oblige the holder to pay a certain portion of his income to some one nominated by the donor. Saddle sick: galled with riding, having lost leather.
SAINT. A piece of spoilt timber in a coach-maker's shop, like a saint, devoted to the flames.
SAINT GEOFFREY'S DAY. Never, there being no saint of that name: tomorrow-come-never, when two Sundays come together.
SAINT LUKE'S BIRD. An ox; that Evangelist being always represented with an ox.
SAINT MONDAY. A holiday most religiously observed by journeymen shoemakers, and other inferior mechanics. A profanation of that day, by working, is punishable by a fine, particularly among the gentle craft. An Irishman observed, that this saint's anniversary happened every week.
SAL. An abbreviation of SALIVATION. In a high sal; in the pickling tub, or under a salivation.
SALESMAN'S DOG. A barker. Vide BARKER.
SALMON-GUNDY. Apples, onions, veal or chicken, and pickled herrings, minced fine, and eaten with oil and vinegar; some derive the name of this mess from the French words SELON MON GOUST, because the proportions of the different ingredients are regulated by the palate of the maker; others say it bears the name of the inventor, who was a rich Dutch merchant; but the general and most probable opinion is, that it was invented by the countess of Salmagondi, one of the ladies of Mary de Medicis, wife of King Henry IV. of France, and by her brought into France.
SALMON or SALAMON. The beggars'sacrament or oath.
SALT. Lecherous. A salt bitch: a bitch at heat, or proud bitch. Salt eel; a rope's end, used to correct boys, &c. at sea: you shall have a salt eel for supper.
SAMMY. Foolish. Silly.
SANDWICH. Ham, dried tongue, or some other salted meat, cut thin and put between two slices of bread and butter: said to be a favourite morsel with the Earl of Sandwich.
SANDY PATE. A red haired man or woman.
SANGAREE. Rack punch was formerly so called in bagnios.
SANK, SANKY, or CENTIPEE'S. A taylor employed by clothiers in making soldier's clothing.
SAPSCULL. A simple fellow. Sappy; foolish.
SATYR. A libidinous fellow: those imaginary things areby poets reported to be extremely salacious.
SAUCE BOX. A term of familiar raillery, signifying a boldor forward person.
SAVE-ALL. A kind of candlestick used by our frugal forefathers,to burn snuffs and ends of candles. Figuratively,boys running about gentlemen's houses in Ireland, whoare fed on broken meats that would otherwise be wasted,also a miser.
SAUNTERER. An idle, lounging fellow; by some derivedfrom SANS TERRE; applied to persons, who, having no landsor home, lingered and loitered about. Some derive itfrom persons devoted to the Holy Land, SAINT TERRE, wholoitered about, as waiting for company.
SAW. An old saw; an ancient proverbial saying.
SAWNY or SANDY. A general nick-name for a Scotchman, as Paddy is for an Irishman, or Taffy for a Welchman; Sawny or Sandy being the familiar abbreviation or diminution of Alexander, a very favourite name among the Scottish nation.
SCAB. A worthless man or woman.
SCALD MISERABLES. A set of mock masons, who, A.D. 1744, made a ludicrous procession in ridicule of the Free Masons.
SCALDER. A clap. The cull has napped a scalder; thefellow has got a clap.
SCALY. Mean. Sordid. How scaly the cove is; howmean the fellow is.
SCALY FISH. An honest, rough, blunt sailor.
SCAMP. A highwayman. Royal scamp: a highwayman who robs civilly. Royal foot scamp; a footpad who behaves in like manner.
TO SCAMPER. To run away hastily.
SCANDAL BROTH. Tea.
SCANDAL PROOF. One who has eaten shame and drank after it, or would blush at being ashamed.
SCAPEGALLOWS. One who deserves and has narrowly escaped the gallows, a slip-gibbet, one for whom the gallows is said to groan.
SCAPEGRACE. A wild dissolute fellow.
SCARCE. To make one's self scarce; to steal away.
SCARLET HORSE. A high red, hired or hack horse: a pun on the word HIRED.
SCAVEY. Sense, knowledge. "Massa, me no scavey;" master, I don't know (NEGRO LANGUAGE) perhaps from the French SCAVOIR.
SCHEME. A party of pleasure.
SCHISM MONGER. A dissenting teacher.
SCHISM SHOP. A dissenting meeting house.
A SCOLD'S CURE. A coffin. The blowen has napped the scold's cure; the bitch is in her coffin.
SCHOOL OF VENUS. A bawdy-house.
SCHOOL BUTTER. Cobbing, whipping.
SCONCE. The head, probably as being the fort and citadel of a man: from SCONCE, an old name for a fort, derived from a Dutch word of the same signification; To build a sconce: a military term for bilking one's quarters. To sconce or skonce; to impose a fine. ACADEMICAL PHRASE.
SCOT. A young bull.
SCOTCH GREYS. Lice. The headquarters of the Scotch greys: the head of a man full of large lice.
SCOTCH PINT. A bottle containing two quarts.
SCOTCH BAIT. A halt and a resting on a stick, as practised by pedlars.
SCOTCH CHOCOLATE. Brimstone and milk.
SCOTCH FIDDLE. The itch.
SCOTCH MIST. A sober soaking rain; a Scotch mist will wet an Englishman to the skin.
SCOTCH WARMING PAN. A wench; also a fart.
SCOUNDREL. A man void of every principle of honour.
SCOUR. To scour or score off; to run away: perhaps from SCORE; i.e. full speed, or as fast as legs would carry one. Also to wear: chiefly applied to irons, fetters, or handcuffs, because wearing scours them. He will scour the darbies; he will be in fetters. To scour the cramp ring; to wear bolts or fetters, from which, as well as from coffin hinges, rings supposed to prevent the cramp are made.
SCOURERS. Riotous bucks, who amuse themselves with breaking windows, beating the watch, and assaulting every person they meet: called scouring the streets.
SCOUT. A college errand-boy at Oxford, called a gyp atCambridge. Also a watchman or a watch. CANT.
SCRAGGED. Hanged.
SCRAGGY. Lean, bony.
SCRAGG'EM FAIR. A public execution.
SCRAP. A villainous scheme or plan. He whiddles thewhole scrap; he discovers the whole plan or scheme.
SCRAPE. To get into a scrape; to be involved in adisagreeable business.
SCRAPER. A fiddler; also one who scrapes plates formezzotinto prints.
SCRAPING. A mode of expressing dislike to a person, or sermon, practised at Oxford by the students, in scraping their feet against the ground during the preachment; frequently done to testify their disapprobation of a proctor who has been, as they think, too rigorous.
SCRATCH. Old Scratch; the Devil: probably from the long and sharp claws with which he is frequently delineated.
SCRATCH LAND. Scotland.
SCRATCH PLATTER, or TAYLOR'S RAGOUT. Bread sopt in the oil and vinegar in which cucumbers have been sliced.
SCREEN. A bank note. Queer screens; forged bank notes.The cove was twisted for smashing queer screens; thefellow was hanged for uttering forged bank notes.
SCREW. A skeleton key used by housebreakers to open alock. To stand on the screw signifies that a door is notbolted, but merely locked.
TO SCREW. To copulate. A female screw; a commonprostitute. To screw one up; to exact upon one in abargain or reckoning.
SCREW JAWS. A wry-mouthed man or woman.
SCRIP. A scrap or slip of paper. The cully freely blotted the scrip, and tipt me forty hogs; the man freely signed the bond, and gave me forty shillings.—Scrip is also a Change Alley phrase for the last loan or subscription. What does scrip go at for the next rescounters? what does scrip sell for delivered at the next day of settling?
SCROBY. To be tipt the scroby; to be whipt before the justices.
SCROPE. A farthing. CANT.
SCRUB. A low mean fellow, employed in all sorts of dirty work.
SCRUBBADO. The itch.
SCULL. A head of a house, or master of a college, at the universities.
SCULL, or SCULLER. A boat rowed by one man with a light kind of oar, called a scull; also a one-horse chaise or buggy.
SCULL THATCHER. A peruke-maker.
SCUM. The riff-raff, tag-rag, and bob-tail, or lowest order of people.
SCUT. The tail of a hare or rabbit; also that of a woman.
SCUTTLE. To scuttle off; to run away. To scuttle a ship; to make a hole in her bottom in order to sink her.
SEA CRAB. A sailor.
SEA LAWYER. A shark.
SEALER, or SQUEEZE WAX. One ready to give bond and judgment for goods or money.
SECRET. He has been let into the secret: he has been cheated at gaming or horse-racing. He or she is in the grand secret, i.e. dead.
SEEDY. Poor, pennyless, stiver-cramped, exhausted.
SEES. The eyes. See DAYLIGHTS.
SERVED. Found guilty. Convicted. Ordered to be punished or transported. To serve a cull out; to beat a man soundly.
SERAGLIO. A bawdy-house; the name of that part of theGreat Turk's palace where the women are kept.
SEND. To drive or break in. Hand down the Jemmy andsend it in; apply the crow to the door, and drive it in.
SET. A dead set: a concerted scheme to defraud a personby gaming.
SETTER. A bailiff's follower, who, like a setting dogfollows and points the game for his master. Alsosometimes an exciseman.
TO SETTLE. To knock down or stun any one. We settledthe cull by a stroke on his nob; we stunned the fellowby a blow on the head.
SEVEN-SIDED ANIMAL. A one-eyed man or woman, eachhaving a right side and a left side, a fore side and a backside, an outside, an inside, and a blind side.
SHABBAROON. An ill-dressed shabby fellow; also a mean-spirited person.
SHAFTSBURY. A gallon pot full of wine, with a cock.
To SHAG. To copulate. He is but bad shag; he is no ablewoman's man.
SHAG-BAG, or SHAKE-BAG. A poor sneaking fellow; a manof no spirit: a term borrowed from the cock-pit.
SHAKE. To shake one's elbow; to game with dice. Toshake a cloth in the wind; to be hanged in chains.
SHAKE. To draw any thing from the pocket. He shook the swell of his fogle; he robbed the gentleman of his silk handkerchief.
SHALLOW PATE. A simple fellow.
SHALLOW. A WHIP hat, so called from the want of depthin the crown. LILLY SHALLOW, a WHITE Whip hat.
SHAM. A cheat, or trick. To cut a sham; to cheat or deceive.Shams; false sleeves to put on over a dirty shirt, orfalse sleeves with ruffles to put over a plain one. To shamAbram; to counterfeit sickness.
TO SHAMBLE. To walk awkwardly. Shamble-legged:one that walks wide, and shuffles about his feet.
SHANKER. A venereal wart.
SHANKS. Legs, or gams.
SHANKS NAGGY. To ride shanks naggy: to travel on foot.SCOTCH.
SHANNON. A river in Ireland: persons dipped in that riverare perfectly and for ever cured of bashfulness.
SHAPES. To shew one's shapes; to be stript, or made peel,at the whipping-post.
SHAPPO, or SHAP. A hat: corruption of CHAPEAU. CANT.
SHARK. A sharper: perhaps from his preying upon any one he can lay hold of. Also a custom-house officer, or tide-waiter. Sharks; the first order of pickpockets. BOW-STREET TERM, A.D. 1785.
SHARP. Subtle, acute, quick-witted; also a sharper or cheat, in opposition to a flat, dupe, or gull. Sharp's the word and quick's the motion with him; said of any one very attentive to his own interest, and apt to take all advantages. Sharp set; hungry.
SHARPER. A cheat, one that lives by his wits. Sharpers tools; a fool and false dice.
SHAVER. A cunning shaver; a subtle fellow, one who trims close, an acute cheat. A young shaver; a boy. SEA TERM.
SHAVINGS. The clippings of money.
SHE HOUSE. A house where the wife rules, or, as the term is, wears the breeches.
SHE LION. A shilling.
SHE NAPPER. A woman thief-catcher; also a bawd or pimp.
SHEEP'S HEAD. Like a sheep's head, all jaw; saying of a talkative man or woman.
SHEEPISH. Bashful. A sheepish fellow; a bashful or shamefaced fellow. To cast a sheep's eye at any thing; to look wishfully at it.
SHEEPSKIN FIDDLER. A drummer.
SHELF. On the shelf, i.e. pawned.
SHERIFF'S JOURNEYMAN. The hangman.
SHERIFF'S BALL. An execution. To dance at the sheriff's ball, and loll out one's tongue at the company; to be hanged, or go to rest in a horse's night-cap, i.e. a halter.
SHERIFF'S BRACELETS. Handcuffs.
SHERIFF'S HOTEL. A prison.
SHERIFF'S PICTURE FRAME. The gallows.
TO SHERK. To evade or disappoint: to sherk one's duty.
TO SHERRY. To run away: sherry off.
SHIFTING. Shuffling. Tricking. Shifting cove; i.e. aperson who lives by tricking.
SHIFTING BALLAST. A term used by sailors, to signifysoldiers, passengers, or any landsmen on board.
SHILLALEY. An oaken sapling, or cudgel: from a woodof that name famous for its oaks. IRISH.
SHILLY-SHALLY. Irresolute. To stand shilly-shally; tohesitate, or stand in doubt.
SHINDY. A dance. SEA PHRASE.
SHINE. It shines like a shitten barn door.
SHIP SHAPE. Proper, as it ought to be. SEA PHRASE,
SH-T SACK. A dastardly fellow: also a non-conformist. This appellation is said to have originated from the following story:—After the restoration, the laws against the non-conformists were extremely severe. They sometimes met in very obscure places: and there is a tradition that one of their congregations were assembled in a barn, the rendezvous of beggars and other vagrants, where the preacher, for want of a ladder or tub, was suspended in a sack fixed to the beam. His discourse that day being on the last judgment, he particularly attempted to describe the terrors of the wicked at the sounding of the trumpet, on which a trumpeter to a puppet-show, who had taken refuge in that barn, and lay hid under the straw, sounded a charge. The congregation, struck with the utmost consternation, fled in an instant from the place, leaving their affrighted teacher to shift for himself. The effects of his terror are said to have appeared at the bottom of the sack, and to have occasioned that opprobrious appellation by which the non-conformists were vulgarly distinguished.
SH-T-NG THROUGH THE TEETH. Vomiting. Hark ye,friend, have you got a padlock on your a-se, that you sh-tethrough your teeth? Vulgar address to one vomiting.
SHOD ALL ROUND. A parson who attends a funeral is saidto be shod all round, when he receives a hat-band, gloves,and scarf: many shoeings being only partial.
SHOEMAKER'S STOCKS. New, or strait shoes. I was inthe shoemaker's stocks; i.e. had on a new pair of shoesthat were too small for me.
TO SHOOLE. To go skulking about.
TO SHOOT THE CAT. To vomit from excess of liquor; called also catting.
SHOP. A prison. Shopped; confined, imprisoned.
SHOPLIFTER. One that steals whilst pretending to purchase goods in a shop.
SHORT-HEELED WENCH. A girl apt to fall on her back.
SHOT. To pay one's shot; to pay one's share of a reckoning.Shot betwixt wind and water; poxed or clapped.
SHOTTEN HERRING. A thin meagre fellow.
To SHOVE THE TUMBLER. To be whipped at the cart's tail.
SHOVE IN THE MOUTH. A dram.
SHOVEL. To be put to bed with a shovel; to be buried. He or she was fed with a fire-shovel; a saying of a person with a large mouth.
SHOULDER FEAST. A dinner given after a funeral, tothose who have carried the corpse.
SHOULDER CLAPPER. A bailiff, or member of the catchclub. Shoulder-clapped; arrested.
SHOULDER SHAM. A partner to a file. See FILE.
SHRED. A taylor.
SHRIMP. A little diminutive person.
TO SHUFFLE. To make use of false pretences, or unfair shifts. A shuffling fellow; a slippery shifting fellow.
SHY COCK. One who keeps within doors for fear of bailiffs.
SICE. Sixpence.
SICK AS A HORSE. Horses are said to be extremely sick at their stomachs, from being unable to relieve themselves by vomiting. Bracken, indeed, in his Farriery, gives an instance of that evacuation being procured, but by a means which he says would make the Devil vomit. Such as may have occasion to administer an emetic either to the animal or the fiend, may consult his book for the recipe.
SIDE POCKET. He has as much need of a wife as a dog of a side pocket; said of a weak old debilitated man. He wants it as much as a dog does a side pocket; a simile used for one who desires any thing by no means necessary.
SIDLEDYWRY. Crooked.
SIGN OF A HOUSE TO LET. A widow's weeds.
SIGN OF THE: FIVE SHILLINGS. The crown.TEN SHILLINGS. The two crowns.FIFTEEN SHILLINGS. The three crowns.
SILENCE. To silence a man; to knock him down, or stunhim. Silence in the court, the cat is pissing; a gird uponany one requiring silence unnecessarily.
SILENT FLUTE. See PEGO, SUGAR STICK, &c.
SILK SNATCHERS. Thieves who snatch hoods or bonnets from persons walking in the streets.
SILVER LACED. Replete with lice. The cove's kickseys are silver laced: the fellow's breeches are covered with lice.
SIMEONITES, (at Cambridge,) the followers of the Rev.Charles Simeon, fellow of King's College, author ofSkeletons of Sermons, and preacher at Trinity church; theyare in fact rank methodists.
SIMKIN. A foolish fellow.
SIMON. Sixpence. Simple Simon: a natural, a silly fellow;Simon Suck-egg, sold his wife for an addle duck-egg.
TO SIMPER. To smile: to simper like a firmity kettle.
SIMPLETON. Abbreviation of simple Tony or Anthony, a foolish fellow.
SIMPLES. Physical herbs; also follies. He must go to Battersea, to be cut for the simples—Battersea is a place famous for its garden grounds, some of which were formerly appropriated to the growing of simples for apothecaries, who at a certain season used to go down to select their stock for the ensuing year, at which time the gardeners were said to cut their simples; whence it became a popular joke to advise young people to go to Battersea, at that time, to have their simples cut, or to be cut for the simples.
TO SING. To call out; the coves sing out beef; they callout stop thief.
TO SING SMALL. To be humbled, confounded, or abashed,to have little or nothing to say for one's-self.
SINGLE PEEPER. A person having but one eye.
SINGLETON. A very foolish fellow; also a particular kind of nails.
SINGLETON. A corkscrew, made by a famous cutler of that name, who lived in a place called Hell, in Dublin; his screws are remarkable for their excellent temper.
SIR JOHN. The old title for a country parson: as Sir John of Wrotham, mentioned by Shakespeare.
SIR JOHN BARLEYCORN. Strong beer.
SIR LOIN. The sur, or upper loin.
SIR REVERENCE. Human excrement, a t—d.
SIR TIMOTHY. One who, from a desire of being the headof the company, pays the reckoning, or, as the term is,stands squire. See SQUIRE.
SITTING BREECHES. One who stays late in company, issaid to have his sitting breeches on, or that he will sitlonger than a hen.
SIX AND EIGHT-PENCE. An attorney, whose fee on severaloccasions is fixed at that sum.
SIX AND TIPS. Whisky and small beer. IRISH.
SIXES AND SEVENS. Left at sixes and sevens: i.e. inconfusion; commonly said of a room where the furniture,&c. is scattered about; or of a business left unsettled.
SIZE OF ALE. Half a pint. Size of bread and cheese; acertain quantity. Sizings: Cambridge term for the collegeallowance from the buttery, called at Oxford battles.
To SIZE. (CAMBRIDGE) To sup at one's own expence. If a MAN asks you to SUP, he treats you; if to SIZE, you pay for what you eat—liquors ONLY being provided by the inviter.
SIZAR (Cambridge). Formerly students who came to the University for purposes of study and emolument. But at present they are just as gay and dissipated as their fellow collegians. About fifty years ago they were on a footing with the servitors at Oxford, but by the exertions of the present Bishop of Llandaff, who was himself a sizar, they were absolved from all marks of inferiority or of degradation. The chief difference at present between them and the pensioners, consists in the less amount of their college fees. The saving thus made induces many extravagant fellows to become sizars, that they may have more money to lavish on their dogs, pieces, &c.
SKEW. A cup, or beggar's wooden dish.
SKEWVOW, or ALL ASKEW. Crooked, inclining to one side.
SKIN. In a bad skin; out of temper, in an ill humour.Thin-skinned: touchy, peevish.
SKIN. A purse. Frisk the skin of the stephen; empty the money out of the purse. Queer skin; an empty purse.
SKIN FLINT. An avaricious man or woman,
SKINK. To skink, is to wait on the company, ring the bell, stir the fire, and snuff the candles; the duty of the youngest officer in the military mess. See BOOTS.
SKINS. A tanner.
SKIP JACKS. Youngsters that ride horses on sale, horse-dealers boys. Also a plaything made for children with the breast bone of a goose.
SKIP KENNEL. A footman.
SKIPPER. A barn. CANT.—Also the captain of a Dutch vessel.
TO SKIT. To wheedle. CANT.
SKIT. A joke. A satirical hint.
SKRIP. See SCRIP.
SKULKER. A soldier who by feigned sickness, or other pretences, evades his duty; a sailor who keeps below in time of danger; in the civil line, one who keeps out of the way, when any work is to be done. To skulk; to hide one's self, to avoid labour or duty.
SKY BLUE. Gin.
SKY FARMERS. Cheats who pretend they were farmers in the isle of Sky, or some other remote place, and were ruined by a flood, hurricane, or some such public calamity: or else called sky farmers from their farms being IN NUBIBUS, 'in the clouds.'
SKY PARLOUR. The garret, or upper story.
SLABBERING BIB. A parson or lawyer's band.