Le grand-père est un rat de quai,Le petit-fils mousse embarqué.La grand’ mère, aux jours les meilleurs,Porte la hotte aux mareyeurs.Richepin,La Mer.Etre ——,to be stingy, “close-fisted.”Ce jeune rat—moins “rat” que son adversaire.—Gil Blas.Rata,m.(general),kind of stew.Le rata diminutif de ratatouille ... se compose de pommes de terre ... avec assaisonnement d’un morceau de lard ... en société d’une botte d’oignons.—Dubois de Gennes.La mère Nassau lui vociféra une longue kyrielle d’injures dont une partie sans doute lui avait été adressée à elle-même le jour où elle fut surprise crachant dans le rata.—H.France,La Pucelle de Tebessa.Rata, used in a figurative sense, signifiesa coarse, unmeaning article, or literary production.Vous avez lu la lettre si digne de ——? Xau, poli, comme un marbre, a dû faire un signe d’assentiment, mais il est trop occupé pour absorber ce rata soi-disant naturaliste.—Gil Blas, 1887.Rataconniculer(obsolete),to cobble. Referred also to the carnal act.Ratafia de grenouille,m.(popular),water. Called, in the English slang, “Adam’s ale,” and the old term “fish broth,” as appears from the following:—The churlish frampold waves gave him his belly-full of fish-broath.—Nashe,Lenten Stuff.Ratapiaule,f.(popular),thrashing, “walloping.”Ratapoil,m.(familiar),epithet applied to old soldiers of the First Empire, and generallytoBonapartists. Literallyrat à poil.Ratatouille,f.(familiar and popular),flanquer une ——,to thrash. SeeVoie.Rateau,m.(popular),police officer. (Military)Faire son ——,to remain some time with the corps, as a punishment, at the expiration of the twenty-eight days’ yearly service as aréserviste.Ratiboisé,adj.(general),done for;ruined, “gone to smash.”J’ai fait faillite comme un vrai commerçant; ratiboisé ma chère.—Huysmans.Ratiboiser(general),to take;to steal, “to prig.” SeeGrinchir. Termed in South Africa, “to jump.” An officer to whom a settler had lent a candlestick was recommended not to allow it to be “jumped,” mysterious words which at first were to him quite unintelligible. In the English jargon, “to jump” a man is to rob him with violence.Ratiche,f.(popular and thieves’),church.Blaireau de ——,holy water brush or sprinkler.Ratichon,m.(popular and thieves’),priest. Literallyratissé,rasé, alluding to his shaven face and crown. In old English cant, “rat, patrico.” Concerningthe latter word seeSanglier.Serpillière de ——,priest’s cassock.J’avais de plus beaux sentiments sous mes guenilles qu’il n’y en a sous une serpillière de ratichon.—V.Hugo.Un —— de cambrouse,a village priest.J’ai moi-même une affaire avec deux amis de collège (prison) chez un particulier qui va tous les dimanches passer la journée chez un ratichon de cambrouse (curé de campagne).—Canler.Un ——,a comb.Ratichonner(popular),to comb one’s hair.Ratichonnière,f.(popular and thieves’),cloister, or any religious community.Ratier,m.(tailors’),journeyman tailor who does night-work at home.Ration de la ramée,f.(thieves’),prison food.Ratisse,f.(thieves’ and roughs’),refiler une ——,to thrash. SeeVoiefor synonyms.Ratissé,adj.(popular),exhausted, “gruelled.”R’tourner à pied, fallait pas y penser, j’étais ratissé et courbaturé d’m’être balladé dans la foire.—G.Frison,Les Aventures du Colonel Ronchonot.Ratisser(popular),en —— à quelqu’un,to mock,to laugh at one. Je t’en ratisse!a fig for you!Se faire —— la couenne,to get thrashed;to get oneself shaved. (Familiar)Se faire ——,to lose all one’s money at a game,to have“blewed it.”Vous lui avez même emprunté cinq louis ... quand vous avez été ratissé au baccarat.—J’ai été ratissé?—Raiguisé si vous voulez.—P.Mahalin.Ratisseuse de colabres,f.(thieves’),guillotine.Colabreis the cant forneck.Raton,m.(thieves’),very young thief, “little snakesman,” seeRat; (Breton cant)priest.Rattrapage,m.(printers’),piece of composition which forms the complement of another.Ravage,m.(popular),sundry pieces of metal found in the gutters or on the banks of the river.Ravager(thieves’),to steal linen from alavoir public,or washerwoman’s punt.Ravageur,m.(thieves’),thief who exercises his industry on washerwomen’s punts established on the banks of theSeine; (popular)man who drags the banks of the river, or the gutters, in the hope of finding lumps of metal or other articles,a kind of“mudlark.” Concerning the latter term, theSlang Dictionarysays a mudlark is a man or woman who, with clothes tucked above the knee, grovels through the mud on the banks of the Thames, when the tide is low, for silver or pewter spoons, old bottles, pieces of iron, coal, or any article of the least value, deposited by the retiring tide, either from passing ships or the sewers.Ravaudage,m.(popular),faire du ——,to make love to several girls at a time, so as not to remain“in the cold.”Raverta,m.(Jewish tradesmen’s),servant.Ravescot,m.(obsolete),venereal act.Ravignolé,m.(thieves’),new offence.Ravine,f.(popular),wound;scar.Raviné,adj.(familiar),the worse for wear.Des dents ravinées,bad teeth.Rayon,m.(popular),sur l’œil,black eye, “mouse.” (Thieves’)Rayon de miel,lace, or “driz.”Raze, orrazi,m.(thieves’),priest,parson, “devil-dodger;”—— pour l’af,actor, “cackling cove, or faker.”Réac,m.(familiar and popular),Conservative.C’était à la Salamandre ou au Sacré Bock que se tenaient les inspecteurs masqués de la Commune ... Vermorel y était traité de bourgeois, Rochefort, de réac.—Mémoires de Monsieur Claude.Réaffurer(thieves’),to win back.Rebâtir(thieves’),un pante,to kill a man, “to give one his gruel, to quash.” Also “to hush.” You know, if I wished to nose (to peach), I could have you twisted (hanged); not to mention anything about the cull (man) that was hushed for his reader (pocket-book).Rébecca,f.(popular),impudent girl with a saucy tongue, a “sauce-box, or imperence.”Rebecquat,m.(thieves’ and roughs’),insolence;resistance.Pas de —— ou bien je t’encaisse,don’t show your teeth, else I’ll give you a thrashing.Rebectage,m.(thieves’),medicine;Cour de cassation.Se cavaler au ——,to appeal for the quashing of a judgment.Rebecter(popular),se ——,to get reconciled.Rebecteur,m.(popular),doctor, “pill-box;”surgeon, “sawbones.”Rebéqueter(popular),to repeat;to ruminate.Rebiffe,f.(thieves’),revolt;revenge;—— au truc,repeating an offence.Faire de la ——,to oppose resistance.Rebiffer(popular and thieves’),to begin again;—— au truc,to return to one’s old ways,to be at the“old game”again;to do anything again.“Tiens, mon petit, rebiffe au truc; c’est moi qui verse.” Elle rapporte un nouveau rafraîchissement d’absinthe au chanteur.—Louise Michel.Rebomber(familiar),se —— le torse,to recover one’s spent energy by taking refreshment.Rebondir(popular),to turn out of doors,to expel.Envoyer ——,to turn out,to send to the deuce.Rebonnetage,m.(popular),reconciliation; (thieves’)flattery, “soft sawder.”Rebonneter(popular and thieves’),to flatter. The wordbonneterwas formerly used with nearly the same signification, and the English had a similar expression, “to bonnet,” used by Shakespeare:—He hath deserved worthily of his country; and his ascent is not by such easy degrees as those who having been supple and courteous to the people, bonneted, without any further deed to heave them at all into their estimation and report.—Coriolanus.Rebonneter pour l’af,to give ironical praise.Se ——,to console oneself. Alsoto be of better behaviour,to turn over a new leaf.Rebonneteur,m.(thieves’),confessor.Si ce que dit le rebonneteur (confesseur) n’est pas de la blague, un jour nous nous retrouverons là-bas.—Vidocq.Rebonnir(thieves’),to say again.Reboucler(thieves’),to re-imprison.Rebouis,adj.andm.(thieves’),dead, said of one who has been “put to bed with a shovel;”corpse, “cold meat, or pig;”shoe, “trotter-case.” English thieves call cleaning their boots “japanning their trotter-cases.”Rebouiser(thieves’),to kill, “to give one his gruel,” seeRefroidir;to patch up a shoe.Rabelaistermed this “rataconniculer,” and also uses the word with another signification, as appears from the following:—Et si personne les blasme de soi faire rataconniculer ainsi sus leur grosse, vu que les bestes sus leurs ventrées n’endurent jamais le masle masculant, elles respondront que ce sont bestes, mais elles sont femmes.—Gargantua.Alsoto notice,to gaze on.Faut pas blaguer, le treppe est batte;Dans c’taudion i’s’trouve des rupins.Si queuq’s gonziers traînent la savate,J’en ai r’bouisé qu’on d’s escarpins.Chanson de l’Assommoir.Rebouiseur,m.(popular),cobbler, in old French “taconneur;”old clothes man who repairs second-hand clothes before selling them.Rebours,m.(roughs’),moving of one’s furniture on the sly, “shooting the moon.”Recaler(artists’),to correct. (Popular)Se ——,to recover one’s strength, and generallyto improve one’s outward appearance.Dédèle s’r’cale les joues et Trutru r’prend des forces pour masser d’plus belle.—Le Cri du Peuple.Alsoto better one’s position.Recarrelure,f.(popular),meal.Recarrer(popular),se ——,to strut.Récent,adj.(popular),avoir l’air ——,to walk steadily though drunk.Recevoir(popular),la pelle au cul,to be dismissed from one’s employment, “to get the sack;” (military)—— son décompte,to die, “to lose the number of one’s mess.”Rechâsser(popular),to survey attentively, “to stag;”to see. Fromchâsse,eye.Réchauffante,f.(thieves’),wig, “periwinkle;” (military)great coat.Réchauffer(popular),to annoy,to bore.Rèche,m.(popular),a sou.Récidiviste,m.(familiar),old offender. According to a new law, repeating a certain specified offence makes one liable to be transported for life.Reçoit-tout,m.(popular),chamber-pot, or “jerry.”Recollardé,adj.(thieves’),caught again.Recoller(popular),to be convalescent.Se ——,to have a reconciliation with a woman, and cohabit with her again.Reconduire(theatrical),to hiss, “to goose, or to give the big bird;” (popular)—— quelqu’un, orfaire la conduite à quelqu’un,to thrash one, “to wollop.” (Military)Se faire ——,to be compelled to retreat in hot haste.Reconnaissance,f.(printers’),thin flat ruler of metal or wood used by printers.Reconnebler(thieves’),to recognize.C’est bon, je vois bien que je suis reconneblé (reconnu) et qu’il n’y a pas moyen d’aller à Niort (de nier).—Canler.Reconobrer(thieves’),to recognize.Me reconobres-tu pas?Don’t you know me again?Il faut d’abord défrimousser ces gaillards-là de manière à ce qu’ils ne soient pas reconobrés.—Vidocq. (We must at first disfigure these here fellows, so that they may not be known.)Recoquer(popular),se ——,to recover one’s strength;to dress oneself in new attire. Fromcoque,hull.Recordé,adj.(thieves’),killed, “hushed.”Recorder(thieves’),to warn one of some impending danger;to kill one, “to quash,to hush.” Se ——,to plot,to concert together.Recourir à l’émétique(thieves’),to get forged bills discounted.Recuit,adj.(popular),ruined again.Récurer(popular),la casserole, orse ——,to take a purgative.Se faire ——,to be under treatment for syphilis.Redam,m.(thieves’),pardon. Fromrédemption.Redin,m.(thieves’),purse, “skin.” The word has the same signification in the Italian jargon, and comes fromretino,small net. Hence reticule, alady’s bag, corrupted into ridicule.Redoublement,m.(thieves’),de fièvre,fresh charge brought against a prisoner who is being tried for an offence;—— de fièvre cérébrale,fresh charge against a prisoner who is being tried for murder.Pour peu que des parrains ne viennent pas leur coquer un redoublement de fièvre cérébrale, ma largue et mes gosselines se tireront de ce mauvais pas.—Vidocq.Redouiller(popular),to push back;to repel;to ill-treat, “to manhandle.”Redresse,f.(thieves’),être à la ——,to be cunning,knowing, “downy.”I am ... we all are, down to the dog. And he’s the downiest one of the lot—Ch.Dickens.Mec à la ——.SeeMec.Chevalier de la ——,professional parasite,spunger, “quiller.”Redresseur,m.(obsolete),thief,pickpocket, “fogle-hunter.” In old English cant, “foyster.”Redresseuse,f.(obsolete),prostitute and thief, “mollisher.”Réduit,m.(thieves’),purse, “skin.”Réemballer(popular),to imprison afresh.Refaire(familiar and popular),to dupe, “to do.”Z... un autre journaliste, après avoir longtemps bohémisé, carotté, refait tous ses camarades.—A.Sirven.Refaire au même,to pay back in the same coin,to give a Roland for an Oliver.Se ——,to recoup one’s losses at a game. (Popular)Refaire dans le dur,to dupe, “to bilk.”Se —— le torse,to have refreshment. (Thieves’)Se —— de sorgue,to have supper.Refait,adj.(general),être ——,to be duped, or “done.”La voiture remonte péniblement la chaussée. Le cocher, qu’on a pris le matin et qui a peur d’être refait, juronne entre ses dents.—P.Mahalin.(Thieves’)Etre —— sans donjon,to be apprehended again as a rogue and vagabond.Refaite,f.(thieves’),meal;—— du matois,breakfast;—— de jorne,dinner;—— de côni,last sacraments of the church;—— du séchoir,meal after a funeral;—— de sorgue,supper.Je vous dis que lorsque j’ai quitté le tapis, il allait achever sa refaite de sorgue et qu’il venait de donner l’ordre de seller son gaye.—Vidocq.Refaiter(thieves’),to partake of a meal.Refaitier,m.(thieves’),master of a victualling house, “boss of a grubbing ken.”Reffoler(thieves’),to steal by surprise.Refilé,m.(popular),aller au ——,to confess.Ne pas aller au ——,to deny.Refiler(thieves’),to restore;to give, “donnez.”Au clair de la luisante,Mon ami Pierrot,Refile-moi ta griffonnante,Pour broder un mot.Ma camouche est chtourbe,Je n’ai plus de rif;Déboucle-moi ta lourdePour l’amour du Mec.Au Clair de la Lune en Argot.Refiler,to pass from one person to another, “to sling;”to pass on to a confederate by throwing, “to ding;”—— un pante,to dog a man, “to pipe;” (popular)—— des beignes,to strike one on the face, “to fetch one a wipe in the mug;”—— une ratisse,to thrash, “to wallop;”—— une poussée,to hustle, “to shove;”—— la pâtée,to feed.S’en —— sous le tube,to take a pinch of snuff.Refondante,f.(thieves’),lucifer match, “spunk.”Refouler(popular),to refuse;to hesitate;—— au travail,to leave off working;—— à Bondy,to rudely send one about his business. It is toBondythat the contents of cesspools are conveyed.Réfractaire,m.(familiar),more or less talented man who will not bend to the fashion or ideas of the day.Refroidi,m.andadj.(thieves’),corpse, “cold meat;”dead, “easy.”Refroidir(thieves’),to kill.Les chiens bourrés de boulettes, étaient morts. J’ai refroidi les deux femmes.—Balzac.Refroidir à la capahut,to kill an accomplice for the purpose of robbing him of his share of booty. From the name of a celebrated bandit, the head of a large gang of murderers named “chauffeurs,” who spread terror towards the yearIII.of the Republic, in the vicinity of Paris. The different modes of taking life are expressed thus: “chouriner, orsuriner,estourbir,scionner,buter,basourdir,faire un machabée,faire flotter,crever la paillasse,laver son linge dans la saignante,dévisser le trognon,faire suer un chêne, orfaire suer le chêne coupé,capahuter,décrocher,descendre,ébasir,endormir,couper le sifflet,watriniser,entailler,entonner,estrangouiller,tortiller la vis,tourlourer,terrer,cônir,expédier,faire,faire la grande soulasse,rebâtir,sauter à la capahut,sonner,lingrer,envoyer ad patres,démolir,moucher le quinquet,saigner,sabler,tortiller le gaviot,faire banque,érailler,escarper,suager,faire le pante au machabée;” in the English slang, “to settle his hash, to cook his goose, to give one his gruel, to quash, to hush.”Régaler(popular),ses amis,to take a purgative;—— son cochon,to treat oneself to a good dinner,to have a“tightener;”—— son suisseis said of two playing for drink, who win an equal number of games; (thieves’)—— la veuve,to set up the guillotine.Regargarde!(thieves’),look!“nark!”Régatte,f.(rag-pickers’),meat.Regatter(rag-pickers’),to eat, “to grub.”Régiment,m.(popular),des boules de Siam,Sodomites.S’engager dans le —— des cocus,to marry, “to get spliced.” (Military)Le chien du ——,the adjutant.Reginglard,m.(popular),thin, sour wine.Registre,m.(printers’),faire le ——,to pour out the contents of a bottle so that each has an equal share.Réglette,f.(printers’),arroser la ——,to pay for one’s footing.Réglisse.SeeJus.Regon,m.(thieves’),debt.Regonser(thieves’),to dog, “to pipe.”Regoût,m.(thieves’),unpleasantness.Il faut espérer que l’ouvrage de la chique aura été maquillé sans regoût.—Vidocq.Du ——,uneasiness;remorse;fear.Faire du ——,to make revelations.Reguicher(thieves’),to attack.V’là qu’on me tire par la jambe; j’me cavale, mais y zétaient du monde, on me reguiche, je m’ai défendu et me v’là.—Louise Michel.Réguisé, orraiguisé,adj.(popular),être ——,to be thrashed;swindled;ruined, or “smashed;”to be deceived, or “done;”to be sentenced to death.Réguiser, orraiguiser(popular),to thrash;to ruin.Rejacter(thieves’),to say again.Réjouissance,f.(familiar),bones placed into the scale by butchers with the meat and charged as meat.Une femme qui a plus de —— que de viande,a bony, skinny woman.Relanceur de pleins,m.(thieves’),variety of card-sharpers.Relevante,f.(thieves’),mustard.Relève,f.(popular),être à la ——,to be in better circumstances.Relever(popular),la ——, orrelever le chandelier,to live on a prostitute’s earnings. From the practice of placing the fees of such women under a candlestick.Releveur,m.(popular),de fumeuse,blackguard who lives on a prostitute’s earnings, “pensioner.” SeePoisson. (Thieves’)Releveur de pésoche,money collector.Relicher(popular),to toss down a glass of wine or liquor;to kiss.Se ——, orse —— le morviau,to kiss one another.Relié,adj.(popular),dressed.Etre élégamment ——,to sport fine clothes.Relingue,m.(thieves’),old offender.Il y avait là des relingues (récidivistes), allant voir ce qui leur arriverait un jour ou l’autre.—Louise Michel.Relinguer(thieves’),to stab repeatedly.Reliquer(thieves’),to say.Qu’as-tu reliqué?—Qu’il était venu seul.—Louise Michel.Reluire dans le ventre(popular),to make one’s mouth water.Reluit,m.(thieves’),day, or “lightmans;”eye, or “ogle.” SeeChasser.Reluquer(popular and thieves’),to gaze, “to stag;”to look attentively, “to dick.”Le sergo nous reluque,the policeman has his eye on us, “the bulky is dicking.”Reluquer une affaire,to contemplate a theft.Il y a deux ou trois affaires que je reluque, nous les ferons ensemble.—Vidocq.Les jours où il lansquine, il y a un tas de pantes à reluquer les flûtes des gonzesses qui carguent leurs ballons.When it is raining, there are a lot of fellows who look at the legs of the girls who tuck up their clothes.The old French hadrelouquerandreluquerwith the same signification. The Norman patois has “louquer,” which reminds one of the English to look.Reluqueur,m.(popular),one who plays the spy, a “nose.”Reluqueuse,f.(popular),opera glass.Remaquiller(popular and thieves’),to do again.Remballé,retoqué, orrequillé(students’),être ——,to be disqualified at an examination, “to be spun, or ploughed.”Rembarbe, orranquessé,m.(thieves’),rentier, that is, man of independent means.Rembourrer(familiar),se —— le ventre,to make a good meal, “to have a tightener.”Rembrocable,adj.(thieves’),perceptible,visible.Rembrocage de parrain,m.(thieves’),act of bringing one into the presence of a witness.Rembrocant,m.(thieves’),looking-glass.Rembroquer(thieves’),to recognize.Rême,m.(thieves’),one who scolds, who growls, a “crib-biter.”Remède d’amour,m.(popular),ugly face, or “knocker-face.”Remercier son boulanger(familiar and popular),to die, “to kick the bucket.” For synonyms seePipe.Beauvallet, d’une voix tonnante.—Le pauvre homme! comment, il a “claqué?”Arsène Houssaye.—Mon Dieu, oui, il a “dévissé son billard,” comme on dit à la cour.Mademoiselle Augustine Brohan.—Vous vous trompez, mon cher directeur.... A la cour de NapoléonIII., on dit maintenant: il a “remercié son boulanger.”—P.Audebrand.The above conversation, according to the author ofPetits Mémoires d’une Stalle d’Orchestre, took place at theThéâtre Français, of whichM.Arsène Houssayewas then the manager. To explain this invasion of the Parisian jargon in the house ofMolière, it must be said, that it coincided with the publication of a decree byM.Achille Fould, then Secretary of State. Being aware that the idiom of the hulks and gutter was used to an alarming extent on the Parisian stage, his Excellency had declared that the Government, declining to be an accomplice of these literary misdemeanours, had prohibited the use of the degrading lexicology, and had ordered a “commission de censure” (whose functions are somewhat similar, in theatrical matters, to those of the Lord Chamberlain in England) to taboo any play offering such enormities. The injunction had been specially enforced with respect to theThéâtre Françaisas being the official guardian of the purity of the French language and the leading playhouse. But the offended comedians, in retaliation, began to affect making use of the “langue verte.”Remettez donc le couvercle(roughs’),a polite invitation to one who has an offensive breath to cease talking.Remisage,m.(thieves’),place kept by a receiver of stolen property, chiefly vehicles of every description.Dans les remisages ... vont s’engouffrer tous les camions, voitures, carrioles volés, pendant que les chevaux s’en vont au marché, et que les victimes sont déjà au fond de l’eau!—Mémoires de Monsieur Claude.Remiser(popular),le fiacre à quelqu’un,to shut one up.Comme il a voulu faire du pétard, j’y ai salement remisé son fiacre.—G.Courteline.Remiser son fiacre,to hold one’s tongue;to die.Se faire ——,to get sat upon.Remiseur,m.(thieves’),a receiver of stolen property, or “fence.”Remisier,m.(familiar),tout at the Stock Exchange.Rémone,f.(popular),faire de la ——,to bluster.Rémonencq,m.(literary),old clothes man;marine store dealer. A character ofBalzac’sLa Comédie Humaine.Remontée,f.(popular),afternoon.Remonter(popular),sa pendule,to occasionally chastise one’s better half;—— le tournebroche,to remind one of the non-observation of some rule.Remorque,f.(boulevardiers’),se laisser aller à la ——,is said of a man who allows himself to be enticed into inviting a girl to dinner.Remouchage,m.(thieves’),revenge.Remoucher(thieves’),to revenge oneself;to kill, “to hush;” (popular and thieves’)to look, “to ogle.”
Le grand-père est un rat de quai,Le petit-fils mousse embarqué.La grand’ mère, aux jours les meilleurs,Porte la hotte aux mareyeurs.Richepin,La Mer.
Le grand-père est un rat de quai,Le petit-fils mousse embarqué.La grand’ mère, aux jours les meilleurs,Porte la hotte aux mareyeurs.Richepin,La Mer.
Le grand-père est un rat de quai,Le petit-fils mousse embarqué.La grand’ mère, aux jours les meilleurs,Porte la hotte aux mareyeurs.Richepin,La Mer.
Le grand-père est un rat de quai,
Le petit-fils mousse embarqué.
La grand’ mère, aux jours les meilleurs,
Porte la hotte aux mareyeurs.
Richepin,La Mer.
Etre ——,to be stingy, “close-fisted.”
Ce jeune rat—moins “rat” que son adversaire.—Gil Blas.
Rata,m.(general),kind of stew.
Le rata diminutif de ratatouille ... se compose de pommes de terre ... avec assaisonnement d’un morceau de lard ... en société d’une botte d’oignons.—Dubois de Gennes.
La mère Nassau lui vociféra une longue kyrielle d’injures dont une partie sans doute lui avait été adressée à elle-même le jour où elle fut surprise crachant dans le rata.—H.France,La Pucelle de Tebessa.
Rata, used in a figurative sense, signifiesa coarse, unmeaning article, or literary production.
Vous avez lu la lettre si digne de ——? Xau, poli, comme un marbre, a dû faire un signe d’assentiment, mais il est trop occupé pour absorber ce rata soi-disant naturaliste.—Gil Blas, 1887.
Rataconniculer(obsolete),to cobble. Referred also to the carnal act.
Ratafia de grenouille,m.(popular),water. Called, in the English slang, “Adam’s ale,” and the old term “fish broth,” as appears from the following:—
The churlish frampold waves gave him his belly-full of fish-broath.—Nashe,Lenten Stuff.
Ratapiaule,f.(popular),thrashing, “walloping.”
Ratapoil,m.(familiar),epithet applied to old soldiers of the First Empire, and generallytoBonapartists. Literallyrat à poil.
Ratatouille,f.(familiar and popular),flanquer une ——,to thrash. SeeVoie.
Rateau,m.(popular),police officer. (Military)Faire son ——,to remain some time with the corps, as a punishment, at the expiration of the twenty-eight days’ yearly service as aréserviste.
Ratiboisé,adj.(general),done for;ruined, “gone to smash.”
J’ai fait faillite comme un vrai commerçant; ratiboisé ma chère.—Huysmans.
Ratiboiser(general),to take;to steal, “to prig.” SeeGrinchir. Termed in South Africa, “to jump.” An officer to whom a settler had lent a candlestick was recommended not to allow it to be “jumped,” mysterious words which at first were to him quite unintelligible. In the English jargon, “to jump” a man is to rob him with violence.
Ratiche,f.(popular and thieves’),church.Blaireau de ——,holy water brush or sprinkler.
Ratichon,m.(popular and thieves’),priest. Literallyratissé,rasé, alluding to his shaven face and crown. In old English cant, “rat, patrico.” Concerningthe latter word seeSanglier.Serpillière de ——,priest’s cassock.
J’avais de plus beaux sentiments sous mes guenilles qu’il n’y en a sous une serpillière de ratichon.—V.Hugo.
Un —— de cambrouse,a village priest.
J’ai moi-même une affaire avec deux amis de collège (prison) chez un particulier qui va tous les dimanches passer la journée chez un ratichon de cambrouse (curé de campagne).—Canler.
Un ——,a comb.
Ratichonner(popular),to comb one’s hair.
Ratichonnière,f.(popular and thieves’),cloister, or any religious community.
Ratier,m.(tailors’),journeyman tailor who does night-work at home.
Ration de la ramée,f.(thieves’),prison food.
Ratisse,f.(thieves’ and roughs’),refiler une ——,to thrash. SeeVoiefor synonyms.
Ratissé,adj.(popular),exhausted, “gruelled.”
R’tourner à pied, fallait pas y penser, j’étais ratissé et courbaturé d’m’être balladé dans la foire.—G.Frison,Les Aventures du Colonel Ronchonot.
Ratisser(popular),en —— à quelqu’un,to mock,to laugh at one. Je t’en ratisse!a fig for you!Se faire —— la couenne,to get thrashed;to get oneself shaved. (Familiar)Se faire ——,to lose all one’s money at a game,to have“blewed it.”
Vous lui avez même emprunté cinq louis ... quand vous avez été ratissé au baccarat.—J’ai été ratissé?—Raiguisé si vous voulez.—P.Mahalin.
Ratisseuse de colabres,f.(thieves’),guillotine.Colabreis the cant forneck.
Raton,m.(thieves’),very young thief, “little snakesman,” seeRat; (Breton cant)priest.
Rattrapage,m.(printers’),piece of composition which forms the complement of another.
Ravage,m.(popular),sundry pieces of metal found in the gutters or on the banks of the river.
Ravager(thieves’),to steal linen from alavoir public,or washerwoman’s punt.
Ravageur,m.(thieves’),thief who exercises his industry on washerwomen’s punts established on the banks of theSeine; (popular)man who drags the banks of the river, or the gutters, in the hope of finding lumps of metal or other articles,a kind of“mudlark.” Concerning the latter term, theSlang Dictionarysays a mudlark is a man or woman who, with clothes tucked above the knee, grovels through the mud on the banks of the Thames, when the tide is low, for silver or pewter spoons, old bottles, pieces of iron, coal, or any article of the least value, deposited by the retiring tide, either from passing ships or the sewers.
Ravaudage,m.(popular),faire du ——,to make love to several girls at a time, so as not to remain“in the cold.”
Raverta,m.(Jewish tradesmen’s),servant.
Ravescot,m.(obsolete),venereal act.
Ravignolé,m.(thieves’),new offence.
Ravine,f.(popular),wound;scar.
Raviné,adj.(familiar),the worse for wear.Des dents ravinées,bad teeth.
Rayon,m.(popular),sur l’œil,black eye, “mouse.” (Thieves’)Rayon de miel,lace, or “driz.”
Raze, orrazi,m.(thieves’),priest,parson, “devil-dodger;”—— pour l’af,actor, “cackling cove, or faker.”
Réac,m.(familiar and popular),Conservative.
C’était à la Salamandre ou au Sacré Bock que se tenaient les inspecteurs masqués de la Commune ... Vermorel y était traité de bourgeois, Rochefort, de réac.—Mémoires de Monsieur Claude.
Réaffurer(thieves’),to win back.
Rebâtir(thieves’),un pante,to kill a man, “to give one his gruel, to quash.” Also “to hush.” You know, if I wished to nose (to peach), I could have you twisted (hanged); not to mention anything about the cull (man) that was hushed for his reader (pocket-book).
Rébecca,f.(popular),impudent girl with a saucy tongue, a “sauce-box, or imperence.”
Rebecquat,m.(thieves’ and roughs’),insolence;resistance.Pas de —— ou bien je t’encaisse,don’t show your teeth, else I’ll give you a thrashing.
Rebectage,m.(thieves’),medicine;Cour de cassation.Se cavaler au ——,to appeal for the quashing of a judgment.
Rebecter(popular),se ——,to get reconciled.
Rebecteur,m.(popular),doctor, “pill-box;”surgeon, “sawbones.”
Rebéqueter(popular),to repeat;to ruminate.
Rebiffe,f.(thieves’),revolt;revenge;—— au truc,repeating an offence.Faire de la ——,to oppose resistance.
Rebiffer(popular and thieves’),to begin again;—— au truc,to return to one’s old ways,to be at the“old game”again;to do anything again.
“Tiens, mon petit, rebiffe au truc; c’est moi qui verse.” Elle rapporte un nouveau rafraîchissement d’absinthe au chanteur.—Louise Michel.
Rebomber(familiar),se —— le torse,to recover one’s spent energy by taking refreshment.
Rebondir(popular),to turn out of doors,to expel.Envoyer ——,to turn out,to send to the deuce.
Rebonnetage,m.(popular),reconciliation; (thieves’)flattery, “soft sawder.”
Rebonneter(popular and thieves’),to flatter. The wordbonneterwas formerly used with nearly the same signification, and the English had a similar expression, “to bonnet,” used by Shakespeare:—
He hath deserved worthily of his country; and his ascent is not by such easy degrees as those who having been supple and courteous to the people, bonneted, without any further deed to heave them at all into their estimation and report.—Coriolanus.
Rebonneter pour l’af,to give ironical praise.Se ——,to console oneself. Alsoto be of better behaviour,to turn over a new leaf.
Rebonneteur,m.(thieves’),confessor.
Si ce que dit le rebonneteur (confesseur) n’est pas de la blague, un jour nous nous retrouverons là-bas.—Vidocq.
Rebonnir(thieves’),to say again.
Reboucler(thieves’),to re-imprison.
Rebouis,adj.andm.(thieves’),dead, said of one who has been “put to bed with a shovel;”corpse, “cold meat, or pig;”shoe, “trotter-case.” English thieves call cleaning their boots “japanning their trotter-cases.”
Rebouiser(thieves’),to kill, “to give one his gruel,” seeRefroidir;to patch up a shoe.Rabelaistermed this “rataconniculer,” and also uses the word with another signification, as appears from the following:—
Et si personne les blasme de soi faire rataconniculer ainsi sus leur grosse, vu que les bestes sus leurs ventrées n’endurent jamais le masle masculant, elles respondront que ce sont bestes, mais elles sont femmes.—Gargantua.
Alsoto notice,to gaze on.
Faut pas blaguer, le treppe est batte;Dans c’taudion i’s’trouve des rupins.Si queuq’s gonziers traînent la savate,J’en ai r’bouisé qu’on d’s escarpins.Chanson de l’Assommoir.
Faut pas blaguer, le treppe est batte;Dans c’taudion i’s’trouve des rupins.Si queuq’s gonziers traînent la savate,J’en ai r’bouisé qu’on d’s escarpins.Chanson de l’Assommoir.
Faut pas blaguer, le treppe est batte;Dans c’taudion i’s’trouve des rupins.Si queuq’s gonziers traînent la savate,J’en ai r’bouisé qu’on d’s escarpins.Chanson de l’Assommoir.
Faut pas blaguer, le treppe est batte;
Dans c’taudion i’s’trouve des rupins.
Si queuq’s gonziers traînent la savate,
J’en ai r’bouisé qu’on d’s escarpins.
Chanson de l’Assommoir.
Rebouiseur,m.(popular),cobbler, in old French “taconneur;”old clothes man who repairs second-hand clothes before selling them.
Rebours,m.(roughs’),moving of one’s furniture on the sly, “shooting the moon.”
Recaler(artists’),to correct. (Popular)Se ——,to recover one’s strength, and generallyto improve one’s outward appearance.
Dédèle s’r’cale les joues et Trutru r’prend des forces pour masser d’plus belle.—Le Cri du Peuple.
Alsoto better one’s position.
Recarrelure,f.(popular),meal.
Recarrer(popular),se ——,to strut.
Récent,adj.(popular),avoir l’air ——,to walk steadily though drunk.
Recevoir(popular),la pelle au cul,to be dismissed from one’s employment, “to get the sack;” (military)—— son décompte,to die, “to lose the number of one’s mess.”
Rechâsser(popular),to survey attentively, “to stag;”to see. Fromchâsse,eye.
Réchauffante,f.(thieves’),wig, “periwinkle;” (military)great coat.
Réchauffer(popular),to annoy,to bore.
Rèche,m.(popular),a sou.
Récidiviste,m.(familiar),old offender. According to a new law, repeating a certain specified offence makes one liable to be transported for life.
Reçoit-tout,m.(popular),chamber-pot, or “jerry.”
Recollardé,adj.(thieves’),caught again.
Recoller(popular),to be convalescent.Se ——,to have a reconciliation with a woman, and cohabit with her again.
Reconduire(theatrical),to hiss, “to goose, or to give the big bird;” (popular)—— quelqu’un, orfaire la conduite à quelqu’un,to thrash one, “to wollop.” (Military)Se faire ——,to be compelled to retreat in hot haste.
Reconnaissance,f.(printers’),thin flat ruler of metal or wood used by printers.
Reconnebler(thieves’),to recognize.
C’est bon, je vois bien que je suis reconneblé (reconnu) et qu’il n’y a pas moyen d’aller à Niort (de nier).—Canler.
Reconobrer(thieves’),to recognize.Me reconobres-tu pas?Don’t you know me again?
Il faut d’abord défrimousser ces gaillards-là de manière à ce qu’ils ne soient pas reconobrés.—Vidocq. (We must at first disfigure these here fellows, so that they may not be known.)
Recoquer(popular),se ——,to recover one’s strength;to dress oneself in new attire. Fromcoque,hull.
Recordé,adj.(thieves’),killed, “hushed.”
Recorder(thieves’),to warn one of some impending danger;to kill one, “to quash,to hush.” Se ——,to plot,to concert together.
Recourir à l’émétique(thieves’),to get forged bills discounted.
Recuit,adj.(popular),ruined again.
Récurer(popular),la casserole, orse ——,to take a purgative.Se faire ——,to be under treatment for syphilis.
Redam,m.(thieves’),pardon. Fromrédemption.
Redin,m.(thieves’),purse, “skin.” The word has the same signification in the Italian jargon, and comes fromretino,small net. Hence reticule, alady’s bag, corrupted into ridicule.
Redoublement,m.(thieves’),de fièvre,fresh charge brought against a prisoner who is being tried for an offence;—— de fièvre cérébrale,fresh charge against a prisoner who is being tried for murder.
Pour peu que des parrains ne viennent pas leur coquer un redoublement de fièvre cérébrale, ma largue et mes gosselines se tireront de ce mauvais pas.—Vidocq.
Redouiller(popular),to push back;to repel;to ill-treat, “to manhandle.”
Redresse,f.(thieves’),être à la ——,to be cunning,knowing, “downy.”
I am ... we all are, down to the dog. And he’s the downiest one of the lot—Ch.Dickens.
Mec à la ——.SeeMec.Chevalier de la ——,professional parasite,spunger, “quiller.”
Redresseur,m.(obsolete),thief,pickpocket, “fogle-hunter.” In old English cant, “foyster.”
Redresseuse,f.(obsolete),prostitute and thief, “mollisher.”
Réduit,m.(thieves’),purse, “skin.”
Réemballer(popular),to imprison afresh.
Refaire(familiar and popular),to dupe, “to do.”
Z... un autre journaliste, après avoir longtemps bohémisé, carotté, refait tous ses camarades.—A.Sirven.
Refaire au même,to pay back in the same coin,to give a Roland for an Oliver.Se ——,to recoup one’s losses at a game. (Popular)Refaire dans le dur,to dupe, “to bilk.”Se —— le torse,to have refreshment. (Thieves’)Se —— de sorgue,to have supper.
Refait,adj.(general),être ——,to be duped, or “done.”
La voiture remonte péniblement la chaussée. Le cocher, qu’on a pris le matin et qui a peur d’être refait, juronne entre ses dents.—P.Mahalin.
(Thieves’)Etre —— sans donjon,to be apprehended again as a rogue and vagabond.
Refaite,f.(thieves’),meal;—— du matois,breakfast;—— de jorne,dinner;—— de côni,last sacraments of the church;—— du séchoir,meal after a funeral;—— de sorgue,supper.
Je vous dis que lorsque j’ai quitté le tapis, il allait achever sa refaite de sorgue et qu’il venait de donner l’ordre de seller son gaye.—Vidocq.
Refaiter(thieves’),to partake of a meal.
Refaitier,m.(thieves’),master of a victualling house, “boss of a grubbing ken.”
Reffoler(thieves’),to steal by surprise.
Refilé,m.(popular),aller au ——,to confess.Ne pas aller au ——,to deny.
Refiler(thieves’),to restore;to give, “donnez.”
Au clair de la luisante,Mon ami Pierrot,Refile-moi ta griffonnante,Pour broder un mot.Ma camouche est chtourbe,Je n’ai plus de rif;Déboucle-moi ta lourdePour l’amour du Mec.Au Clair de la Lune en Argot.
Au clair de la luisante,Mon ami Pierrot,Refile-moi ta griffonnante,Pour broder un mot.Ma camouche est chtourbe,Je n’ai plus de rif;Déboucle-moi ta lourdePour l’amour du Mec.Au Clair de la Lune en Argot.
Au clair de la luisante,Mon ami Pierrot,Refile-moi ta griffonnante,Pour broder un mot.Ma camouche est chtourbe,Je n’ai plus de rif;Déboucle-moi ta lourdePour l’amour du Mec.Au Clair de la Lune en Argot.
Au clair de la luisante,
Mon ami Pierrot,
Refile-moi ta griffonnante,
Pour broder un mot.
Ma camouche est chtourbe,
Je n’ai plus de rif;
Déboucle-moi ta lourde
Pour l’amour du Mec.
Au Clair de la Lune en Argot.
Refiler,to pass from one person to another, “to sling;”to pass on to a confederate by throwing, “to ding;”—— un pante,to dog a man, “to pipe;” (popular)—— des beignes,to strike one on the face, “to fetch one a wipe in the mug;”—— une ratisse,to thrash, “to wallop;”—— une poussée,to hustle, “to shove;”—— la pâtée,to feed.S’en —— sous le tube,to take a pinch of snuff.
Refondante,f.(thieves’),lucifer match, “spunk.”
Refouler(popular),to refuse;to hesitate;—— au travail,to leave off working;—— à Bondy,to rudely send one about his business. It is toBondythat the contents of cesspools are conveyed.
Réfractaire,m.(familiar),more or less talented man who will not bend to the fashion or ideas of the day.
Refroidi,m.andadj.(thieves’),corpse, “cold meat;”dead, “easy.”
Refroidir(thieves’),to kill.
Les chiens bourrés de boulettes, étaient morts. J’ai refroidi les deux femmes.—Balzac.
Refroidir à la capahut,to kill an accomplice for the purpose of robbing him of his share of booty. From the name of a celebrated bandit, the head of a large gang of murderers named “chauffeurs,” who spread terror towards the yearIII.of the Republic, in the vicinity of Paris. The different modes of taking life are expressed thus: “chouriner, orsuriner,estourbir,scionner,buter,basourdir,faire un machabée,faire flotter,crever la paillasse,laver son linge dans la saignante,dévisser le trognon,faire suer un chêne, orfaire suer le chêne coupé,capahuter,décrocher,descendre,ébasir,endormir,couper le sifflet,watriniser,entailler,entonner,estrangouiller,tortiller la vis,tourlourer,terrer,cônir,expédier,faire,faire la grande soulasse,rebâtir,sauter à la capahut,sonner,lingrer,envoyer ad patres,démolir,moucher le quinquet,saigner,sabler,tortiller le gaviot,faire banque,érailler,escarper,suager,faire le pante au machabée;” in the English slang, “to settle his hash, to cook his goose, to give one his gruel, to quash, to hush.”
Régaler(popular),ses amis,to take a purgative;—— son cochon,to treat oneself to a good dinner,to have a“tightener;”—— son suisseis said of two playing for drink, who win an equal number of games; (thieves’)—— la veuve,to set up the guillotine.
Regargarde!(thieves’),look!“nark!”
Régatte,f.(rag-pickers’),meat.
Regatter(rag-pickers’),to eat, “to grub.”
Régiment,m.(popular),des boules de Siam,Sodomites.S’engager dans le —— des cocus,to marry, “to get spliced.” (Military)Le chien du ——,the adjutant.
Reginglard,m.(popular),thin, sour wine.
Registre,m.(printers’),faire le ——,to pour out the contents of a bottle so that each has an equal share.
Réglette,f.(printers’),arroser la ——,to pay for one’s footing.
Réglisse.SeeJus.
Regon,m.(thieves’),debt.
Regonser(thieves’),to dog, “to pipe.”
Regoût,m.(thieves’),unpleasantness.
Il faut espérer que l’ouvrage de la chique aura été maquillé sans regoût.—Vidocq.
Du ——,uneasiness;remorse;fear.Faire du ——,to make revelations.
Reguicher(thieves’),to attack.
V’là qu’on me tire par la jambe; j’me cavale, mais y zétaient du monde, on me reguiche, je m’ai défendu et me v’là.—Louise Michel.
Réguisé, orraiguisé,adj.(popular),être ——,to be thrashed;swindled;ruined, or “smashed;”to be deceived, or “done;”to be sentenced to death.
Réguiser, orraiguiser(popular),to thrash;to ruin.
Rejacter(thieves’),to say again.
Réjouissance,f.(familiar),bones placed into the scale by butchers with the meat and charged as meat.Une femme qui a plus de —— que de viande,a bony, skinny woman.
Relanceur de pleins,m.(thieves’),variety of card-sharpers.
Relevante,f.(thieves’),mustard.
Relève,f.(popular),être à la ——,to be in better circumstances.
Relever(popular),la ——, orrelever le chandelier,to live on a prostitute’s earnings. From the practice of placing the fees of such women under a candlestick.
Releveur,m.(popular),de fumeuse,blackguard who lives on a prostitute’s earnings, “pensioner.” SeePoisson. (Thieves’)Releveur de pésoche,money collector.
Relicher(popular),to toss down a glass of wine or liquor;to kiss.Se ——, orse —— le morviau,to kiss one another.
Relié,adj.(popular),dressed.Etre élégamment ——,to sport fine clothes.
Relingue,m.(thieves’),old offender.
Il y avait là des relingues (récidivistes), allant voir ce qui leur arriverait un jour ou l’autre.—Louise Michel.
Relinguer(thieves’),to stab repeatedly.
Reliquer(thieves’),to say.
Qu’as-tu reliqué?—Qu’il était venu seul.—Louise Michel.
Reluire dans le ventre(popular),to make one’s mouth water.
Reluit,m.(thieves’),day, or “lightmans;”eye, or “ogle.” SeeChasser.
Reluquer(popular and thieves’),to gaze, “to stag;”to look attentively, “to dick.”Le sergo nous reluque,the policeman has his eye on us, “the bulky is dicking.”Reluquer une affaire,to contemplate a theft.
Il y a deux ou trois affaires que je reluque, nous les ferons ensemble.—Vidocq.
Les jours où il lansquine, il y a un tas de pantes à reluquer les flûtes des gonzesses qui carguent leurs ballons.When it is raining, there are a lot of fellows who look at the legs of the girls who tuck up their clothes.The old French hadrelouquerandreluquerwith the same signification. The Norman patois has “louquer,” which reminds one of the English to look.
Reluqueur,m.(popular),one who plays the spy, a “nose.”
Reluqueuse,f.(popular),opera glass.
Remaquiller(popular and thieves’),to do again.
Remballé,retoqué, orrequillé(students’),être ——,to be disqualified at an examination, “to be spun, or ploughed.”
Rembarbe, orranquessé,m.(thieves’),rentier, that is, man of independent means.
Rembourrer(familiar),se —— le ventre,to make a good meal, “to have a tightener.”
Rembrocable,adj.(thieves’),perceptible,visible.
Rembrocage de parrain,m.(thieves’),act of bringing one into the presence of a witness.
Rembrocant,m.(thieves’),looking-glass.
Rembroquer(thieves’),to recognize.
Rême,m.(thieves’),one who scolds, who growls, a “crib-biter.”
Remède d’amour,m.(popular),ugly face, or “knocker-face.”
Remercier son boulanger(familiar and popular),to die, “to kick the bucket.” For synonyms seePipe.
Beauvallet, d’une voix tonnante.—Le pauvre homme! comment, il a “claqué?”
Arsène Houssaye.—Mon Dieu, oui, il a “dévissé son billard,” comme on dit à la cour.
Mademoiselle Augustine Brohan.—Vous vous trompez, mon cher directeur.... A la cour de NapoléonIII., on dit maintenant: il a “remercié son boulanger.”—P.Audebrand.
The above conversation, according to the author ofPetits Mémoires d’une Stalle d’Orchestre, took place at theThéâtre Français, of whichM.Arsène Houssayewas then the manager. To explain this invasion of the Parisian jargon in the house ofMolière, it must be said, that it coincided with the publication of a decree byM.Achille Fould, then Secretary of State. Being aware that the idiom of the hulks and gutter was used to an alarming extent on the Parisian stage, his Excellency had declared that the Government, declining to be an accomplice of these literary misdemeanours, had prohibited the use of the degrading lexicology, and had ordered a “commission de censure” (whose functions are somewhat similar, in theatrical matters, to those of the Lord Chamberlain in England) to taboo any play offering such enormities. The injunction had been specially enforced with respect to theThéâtre Françaisas being the official guardian of the purity of the French language and the leading playhouse. But the offended comedians, in retaliation, began to affect making use of the “langue verte.”
Remettez donc le couvercle(roughs’),a polite invitation to one who has an offensive breath to cease talking.
Remisage,m.(thieves’),place kept by a receiver of stolen property, chiefly vehicles of every description.
Dans les remisages ... vont s’engouffrer tous les camions, voitures, carrioles volés, pendant que les chevaux s’en vont au marché, et que les victimes sont déjà au fond de l’eau!—Mémoires de Monsieur Claude.
Remiser(popular),le fiacre à quelqu’un,to shut one up.
Comme il a voulu faire du pétard, j’y ai salement remisé son fiacre.—G.Courteline.
Remiser son fiacre,to hold one’s tongue;to die.Se faire ——,to get sat upon.
Remiseur,m.(thieves’),a receiver of stolen property, or “fence.”
Remisier,m.(familiar),tout at the Stock Exchange.
Rémone,f.(popular),faire de la ——,to bluster.
Rémonencq,m.(literary),old clothes man;marine store dealer. A character ofBalzac’sLa Comédie Humaine.
Remontée,f.(popular),afternoon.
Remonter(popular),sa pendule,to occasionally chastise one’s better half;—— le tournebroche,to remind one of the non-observation of some rule.
Remorque,f.(boulevardiers’),se laisser aller à la ——,is said of a man who allows himself to be enticed into inviting a girl to dinner.
Remouchage,m.(thieves’),revenge.
Remoucher(thieves’),to revenge oneself;to kill, “to hush;” (popular and thieves’)to look, “to ogle.”