Chapter 15

1871.Morning Advertiser, 2 Feb., ‘A curtain lecture.’ On … arrival home the derelict husband is to begone forin the most approved style of the late lamented Mrs. Caudle.1883.James Payn,Thicker than Water, ch. xxxvii. There were occasions … when Charley could hardly helpgoing forthe legs of that lofty philosopher, for higher he could not hit him.1889.Polytechnic Magazine, 24 Oct., p. 261. Hewent forthe jam tarts unmercifully.1889.Star, 24 Aug., p. 4, c. 2. As the enlightened tailor still declined to pay the blackmail one of the anti-machinistswent forhim with a chopper.1892.Tit Bits, 19 Mar., p. 424, c. 1. So it comes to much the same thing, with the exception that you cannot indulge in the sad delight ofgoing forMaster Bertie sometimes as you might do were he a member of your own household.1892.Hume Nisbet,Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 123. “Well mate,go for him, and we’ll keep the cops off till you settle his hash.”3. (colloquial).—To support; to favour; to vote for.4. (theatrical).—To criticise; specifically, to run down. [An extension of sense 2.] For synonyms,seeRun down.To go in for(orat),verb. phr.(colloquial).—To enter for; to apply oneself to (e.g.,to go in forhonours). Also to devote oneself to (e.g., to pay court); to take up (as a pastime, pursuit, hobby, or principle). Closely allied togo for.1836.C. Dickens,Pickwick Papers, p. 18 (ed. 1857). This advice was very like that which bystanders invariably give to the smallest boy in a street fight; namely, ‘Go in, and win’: an admirable thing to recommend, if you only know how to do it.1849.Dickens,David Copperfield, ch. xviii., p. 162. Sometimes Igo in atthe butcher madly, and cut my knuckles open against his face.1864.Dickens,Our Mutual Friend, iii., 3.Go in formoney——Money’s the article.1869.Whyte Melville,M. or N., p. 31. Long before he had reached his uncle’s house, he had made up his mind togo in, as he called it,forMiss Bruce, morally confident of winning, yet troubled with certain chilling misgivings, as fearing thatthistime he had really fallen in love.1870.Agricultural Jour., Feb. Men whogo in forbathing, running, etc.1872.Besant and Rice,My Little Girl(inOnce a Week, 14 Dec., p. 508). He had, after a laborious and meritorious career at Aberdeen,gone in forScotch mission work in Constantinople.1873.Miss Broughton,Nancy, ch. xlv. His cheeks are flushed; he is laughing loudly, andgoing inheavilyforthe champagne.[163]1883.James Payn,Thicker than Water, ch. xx. This is very nice, but I do wonder, Mrs. Tidman, that you nevergo in forcurries.1890.H. D. Traill, ‘A Noble Watchword,’Sat. Songs, p. 58. To go in solid for the cause how noble! (though, ’tis true, We must hope at next election that you’llgo inliquid, too).To go in unto,verb. phr.(Biblical).—To have sexual intercourse with. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.1892.Bible, Gen. xxx. 3. Behold my maid Bilhah,go in unto her.To go it,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To act with vigour and daring; to advocate or speak strongly; to live freely. Also togo it blind,fast,bald-headed,strong, etc.Cf.,Dash.1689 (inArber,Eng. Garner, vol. VII., p. 365). When these had shared her cargo, they parted company: the French with their shareswent itfor Petty Guavas in the Grand Gustaphus.1821.Egan,Tom and Jerry[people’s ed.], p. 67. Logic, under the domino, had beengoing iton a few of his friends with much humour.Ibid., p. 22.To go it, where’s a place like London?1837.R. H. Barham,The Ingoldsby Legends(Ed. 1862), p. 375. For of this be assured, if yougo it too fast, you’ll be ‘dished’ like Sir Guy.1846–48.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, vol. I., ch. 26. ‘He’sgoing it pretty fast,’ said the clerk.1849.Dickens,David Copperfield, ch. 6. I say young Copperfield, you’regoing it.1841.Dow,Sermons, vol. I., p. 176. I would have you understand, my dear hearers, that I have no objection to some of the sons and daughters of the earthgoing it, while they are young, provided they don’tgo it too strong.1864.Fraser’s Mag., Aug., p. 54. But what if that O, brave heart? Art thou a labourer? Labour on, Art thou a poet?Go it strong.1880.Milliken, inPunch’s AlmanackApr. Nobby togs, high jinks, and lots o’ lotion, That’s the style togo it, I’ve a notion.Intj.(common).—Keep at it! Keep it up!—a general (sometimes ironical) expression of encouragement. Alsogo it ye gripples, crutches are cheap!(ornewgate’s on fire);go it, my tulip;go it my gay and festive cuss!(Artemus Ward); or (American)go it boots!go it rags!i’ll hold your bonnet!g’lang! (usually to a man making the pace on foot or horseback.) For similar expressionsseeMother. Fr.,hardi!1840.Thackeray,Cox’s Diary. Come along this way, ma’am!Go it, ye cripples!1854.Thackeray,The Rose and the Ring, p. 92. ‘Go it, old boy!’ cried the impetuous Smith.1868.Miss Braddon,Trail of the Serpent, bk. I., ch. iii. Three cheers for red!Go it—go it, red!1890.Tit Bits, 1 Mar., p. 325. ‘Not for Joe’ … came from a once popular song. So didgo it, you cripples.To go out,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To fall into disuse.1841.Punch, vol. I., p. 113. Pockets, … to use the flippant idiom of the day, aregoing out.To go over,verb. phr.(colloquial).—1. To desert from one side to another; specifically (clerical) to join the Church of Rome; tovert(q.v.).1861.Thackeray,Lovel the Widwer, ch. ii. I remember Pye, of Maudlin, just before hewent over, was perpetually in Miss Prior’s back parlour with little books, pictures, medals, etc.1878.Miss Braddon,Open Verdict, ch. vi. Mr. Dulcimer is a horrid person to tell you such stories; and after this, I shouldn’t be at all surprised at hisgoing overto Rome.2. (colloquial).—To die;i.e., togo over tojoin the majority. Also togo off.To go off[164]the hooks,to go under,to go aloft, andto go up.1848.Ruxton,Life in the Far West, p. 4. ‘A sight, marm, this coon’sgone over.’Ibid., p. 3. Them three’s allgone under.3. (thieves’).—To attack, rifle, and rob.1889.Referee, 2 June. A few who had …gone overthe landlord, left him skinned.To go off,verb. phr.(colloquial).—1. To take place; to occur.1866.Mrs. Gaskell,Wives and Daughters, ch. xiv. The weddingwent offmuch as such affairs do.2. (colloquial).—To be disposed of (as goods on sale, or a woman in marriage).1835.Dickens,Sketches by Boz, p. 208. Miss Malderton was as well known as the lion on the top of Northumberland House, and had an equal chance ofgoing off.3. (colloquial).—To deteriorate (as fish by keeping, or a woman with years).1883.Pall Mall Gazette, 16 Apr., p. 3, c. 2.Shotover ratherwent offin the Autumn, and her Leger preparation was not altogether satisfactory.1892.Tit-Bits, 17 Sept., p. 422, c. 3. To those … who are apt togo off colour, so to speak, through injudicious indulgence at table.4. (colloquial).—To die. For synonyms,seeAloft.1606.Shakspeare,Macbeth, v., 7. I would the friends we miss were safe arrived: Some mustgo off.1836.C. Dickens,Pickwick Papers(about 1827), p. 368 (Ed. 1857). She’s dead, God bless her, and thank him for it!—was seized with a fit andwent off.Go as you please,adj. phr.(athletics’).—Applied to races where the competitors can run, walk, or rest at will:e.g., in time and distance races. Hence, general freedom of action.1884.Punch, 11 Oct. ‘’Arry at a Political Picnic’ ’Twas regulargo as you please.To go to Bath, Putney, etc.—SeeBath,Blazes,Hell,Halifax, etc.To go through,verb. phr.(American).—1. To rob:i.e., to turn inside out. Hence, to master violently and completely; to make an end of.1872.Evening Standard, 21 June. The roughs would work their will, and, in their own phrase,go throughNew York pretty effectually.1888.Baltimore Sun.He was garrotted, and the two robberswent throughhim before he could reach the spot.Ibid.It was a grand sight to see Farnsworthgo throughhim; he did not leave him a single leg to stand upon.2. (venery).—To possess a woman. For synonyms,seeRide.To go up(orunder),verb. phr.(colloquial).—1. To go to wreck and ruin; to become bankrupt; to disappear from society. Also, to die. For synonyms,seeDeadbroke.1864.The Index, June. Soon after the blockade, many thought we shouldgo upon the salt question.1879.Jas. Payn,High Spirits (Finding His Level). Poor John Weybridge, Esq., became as friendless as penniless, and eventuallywent under, and was heard of no more.1890.Pall Mall Gaz., 29 May, p. 5, c. 1. He asks us further to state that the strike is completely at an end, the society havinggone under.2. (colloquial).—To die:Cf.Ger.:untergehen. For synonyms,seeAloft.18(?).Hawkeye, The Iowa Chief, p. 210. Poor Hawkeye felt, says one of his biographers, that his time had come, and[165]knowing that he mustgo undersooner or later, he determined to sell his life dearly.1849.Ruxton,Life in the far West, p. 2. Themthree’sallgone under.1888.Daily Inter. Ocean, Mar. All solemnly vowed to see that the mine should be worked solely for the benefit of the girl whether Jim lived or hadgone under.To go up,verb. phr.(American).—To die; specifically to die by the rope.1867.Hepworth Dixon,New America, i., 11. Unruly citizens are summarily hung on a cotton tree, and when any question is asked about them, the answer is briefly given,gone up—i.e., gone up the cotton tree, or suspended from one of its branches.To go up for,verb. phr.(common).—To enter for (as an examination).1889.Globe, 12 Oct., p. 1, c. 4.Always, it seems likely, there will be mengoing up forexaminations; and every now and again, no doubt, there will be among them a wily ‘Heathen Pass-ee’ like him of whom Mr. Hilton speaks—who had cribs up his sleeve, and notes on his cuff.To go with,verb. phr.(colloquial).—1. To agree or harmonise with.SeeGee.2. (colloquial).—To share the sexual embrace. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.On the go,adv. phr.(colloquial).—On the move; restlessly active.No go,adv. phr.(colloquial).—Of no use; not to be done; a complete failure. Frequently contracted toN.G.1835.Dickens,Sketches by Boz, p. 18. I know something about this here family, and my opinion is, it’sno go.1853.Diogenes, vol. II., p. 271. Dear master, don’t think of me ill; If I say—as the lists areno go—You’ve in future no fear for the till!1884.Notes and Queries, 6 S., x., p. 125. There were on the occasion so many rounds and so manyno goes.1888.Puck’s Library, May, p. 12. He thought a moment, and shook his head. It’sno gowas the dictum.1890.Punch, 22 Feb., p. 85. He’s a long-winded lot, is Buchanan, slops over tremenjous, he do;… But cackle and splutter ain’t swimming; so Robert, my nabs, it’sno go.1892.J. McCarthyandMrs. Campbell-Praed,Ladies’ Gallery, p. 84. She sees it isno gowith the baronet.A little bit on the go,adv. phr.(old).—Slightly inebriated; elevated. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.1821.Egan,Tom and Jerry[peoples’ ed.], p. 58. The Corinthian had made hima little bit on the go.Goad,subs.(old).—1. A decoy at auctions; a horse-chaunter; apeter funk(q.v.). [One who goads (i.e., sends up) the prices.]1609.Dekker, Lanthorne and Candle light, ch. x. They that stand by and conycatche the chapman either with out-bidding, false praises, etc., are calledgoades.1690. B. E.,Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.Goads, those that wheedle in Chapmen for Horse-coursers,1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.2.in. pl.(old).—False dice.—Chapman.For synonyms,seeIvories.Goal,subs.(Winchester College).—1. At football the boy who stands at the centre of each end, acting as umpire; and (2) the score of three points made when the ball is kicked between his legs, or over his head without his touching it.1870.Mansfield,School-Life at Winchester College, p. 138. Midway between each of the two ends of the line was stationed another boy, as umpire (Goal, he was called) who stood with his legs wide apart, and a gown rolled up at each foot: if the ball was kicked directly over his head, or between his legs, without his touching it, it was agoal, and scored three for the party that kicked it.Goaler’s Coach.SeeGaoler’s Coach.[166]Go-along,subs.(thieves’).—A fool; aflat(q.v.). For synonyms,seeBuffleandCabbage Head.1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 460. In four days my adviser left me; he had no more use for me. I was a flat. He had me for ago-along, to cry his things for him.1853.Household Words, No. 183. s.v. ‘Slang.’Goat,subs.(old).—A lecher; amolrower(q.v.).1599.Shakspeare,Henry V., iv., 4. Thou damn’d and luxurious mountaingoat.1690. B. E.,Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.Goat, a Lecher, a very lascivious person.1717.Cibber,Nonjuror, i., 1. At the tea-table I have seen the impudentgoatmost lusciously sip off her leavings.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Verb(common).—1. To thrash. For synonyms,seeTan.1864.Derby Day, p. 70. You won’tgoatme? Not this journey.To play the goat.verb. phr.(common).—1. To play the fool; tomonkey(q.v.). Fr.,faire l’oiseau.2. (venery).—To lead a fast life; to be given tomolrowing(q.v.).To ride the goat,verb. phr.(common).—To be initiated into a secret society. [From the vulgar error that a live goat, for candidates to ride, is one of the standing properties of a Masonic lodge.]Goatee,subs.(colloquial).—A tufted beard on the point of a shaven chin. [In imitation of the tuft of hair on a goat’s chin.]English Synonyms(for a beard generally).—Charley; imperial; Newgate (or sweep’s) frill, or fringe.French Synonyms.—Une marmouse(thieves’);un impériale(colloquial: formerlyune royale);un boucorune bouquine(= a goatee);bacchantes(thieves’: the beard, but more especially the whiskers, frombâche= awning).German Synonym.—Soken(from the Hebrew; also = old man).Italian Synonyms.—Bosco di berlo(the forest on the face);settosa(= full of hair);spinola(= thorny).Spanish Synonym.—Bosque(= wood).1869.Orchestra, 18 June. Working carpenters with a stragglinggoateeon the chin, and a mass of unkempt hair on the head.Goater,subs.(American thieves’).—Dress. For synonyms,seeTogs.Goat-house,subs.(old).—A brothel. [FromGoat,subs., sense 1.] For synonyms,seeNanny-shop.Goatish,adj.(old, now recognised).—Lecherous. [As vieing with a goat in lust.] HenceGoatishly,adv., andGoatishness,subs.1622.Massinger and Dekker,Virgin Martyr, iii., 1. Give your chaste body up to the embraces ofgoatishlust.1605.Shakspeare,King Lear, i. 2. An admirable evasion of whoremaster-man, to lay hisgoatishdisposition to the charge of a star.[167]Goat-Milker,subs.(venery).—1. A prostitute. For synonyms,seeBarrack-hackandTart.2. (venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.Goat’s Jig(orGigg),subs.(old).—Copulation. For synonyms,seeGreens.—Grose.Go-away,subs.(American thieves’).—A railway-train.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v. The knuck was working thegoawaysat Jersey City.Gob(orGobbett),subs.(old: now vulgar). 1. A portion; a mouthful; a morsel. Also a gulp; abolt(q.v.). [Latin,gob= mouth: Old Fr.,gob= a gulp.] Skeat says the shorter formgobis rare.1380.Wycliffe,Trans. of Bible. Thei token the relifis of brokengobetistwelve cofres full.1542.Apop. of Erasmus[1878], p. 14. A bodie thinketh hymself well emende in his substaunce and riches, to whom hath happened some goodgubbeof money, and maketh a great whinyng if he haue had any losse of the same.1599.Nashe,Lenten Stuffe, in wks., v., 261. And thrust him downe his pudding house at agobbe.1605.Chapman,All Fools, Act iii., p. 62 (Plays, 1874).Ri.And do you think He’ll swallow down the gudgeon?Go.O my life, It were a grossgobwould not down with him.1611.L. Barry,Ram. Alley, I., i. That little land he gave, Throate the lawyer swallowed at onegobFor less than half the worth.1689.Selden,Table-Talk, p. 50 (Arber’s ed.). The meaning of the Law was, that so much should be taken from a man, such agobbetsliced off, that yet notwithstanding he might live in the same Rank and Condition he lived in before; but now they Fine men ten times more than they are worth.1690. B. E.,Dict. Canting Crew, s.v.Gob(c) … also a Bit or Morsel; hencegobbets, now more in use for little Bits.1748.T. Dyche,Dictionary(5th ed.).Goborgobbet(s.) a piece just big enough, or fit to be put into the mouth at once.1774.Foote,Cozeners, ii., 2. The venison was over-roasted, and stunk—but Doctor Dewlap twisted down suchgobsof fat.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1816.Johnson,Eng. Dict.(12th ed.).Gob, a small quantity, a low word.1869.S. L. Clemens(M. Twain),Innocents Abroad, ch. vii. It is pushed out into the sea on the end of a flat, narrow strip of land, and is suggestive of agobof mud on the end of a shingle.2. (common).—The mouth.Shut your gob= an injunction to silence.SeeGab.A spank on the gob= a blow on the mouth.Gob-full of claret= a bleeding at the mouth.Gift of the gaborgob,seeGab. For synonymsseePotato-trap.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Gob, the Mouth.1819.T. Moore,Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 18.Home-hitsin thebread-basket, clicks in thegob.Ibid., p. 30.1836.M. Scott,Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. 1. ‘All right—all right,’ I then exclaimed, as I thrust half a doubled-up muffin into mygob.1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 469. I managed somehow to turn mygob(mouth) round and gnawed it away.3. (common).—A mouthful of spittle. Fr.,un copeau; It.,smalzo di cavio(= gutter-butter). For synonyms,seeSixpences.Verb.(common).—1. To swallow in mouthfuls; to gulp down. Alsogobble(q.v.).[168]1692.L’Estrange,Fables. Down comes a kite powdering upon them, andgobbetsup both together.2. (common).—To expectorate. Fr.,glavioter(popular);molarder.Gobbie,subs.(nautical).—A coastguardsman; whencegobbie-ship, a man of war engaged in the preventive service.1890.Scotsman, 4 Aug. When a meeting takes place the men indulge in a protracted yarn and a draw of the pipe. The session involves a considerable amount of expectoration all round, whereby our friends come to be known asgobbies, and in process of time the term came to be applied to the ships engaged in the service.Ibid.There are no fewer than three othergobbie shipsin the channel fleet, each of which carries a considerable number of coastguardsmen putting in their annual period of drill.Gobble(orGobble up),verb.(vulgar).—To swallow hastily or greedily; hence (American) to seize, capture, or appropriate. Alsogob:e.g.,gobthat!1602.Dekker,Satiro-mastix, in wks. (1873) i. 233. They will come togobbledowne Plummes.1728.Swift,Misc. Poems, in wks. (1824) xiv. 232. The time too precious now to waste, The suppergobbledup in haste.1751.Smollett,Peregrine Pickle, ch. cvi. Summoned in such a plaguy hurry from his dinner, which he had been fain togobbleup like a cannibal.1846–48.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, vol. 1, ch. v. Mr. Jos. … helped Rebecca to everything on the table, and himselfgobbledand drank a great deal.1860.Thackeray,Philip, ch. xiii. There was a wily old monkey who thrust the cat’s paw out, and proposed togobbleup the smoking prize.Gobble-prick,subs.(old).—A lecherous woman.—Grose.Gobbler,subs.(old).—1. A duck.—Harman.2. (colloquial).—A turkey cock; abubbly-jock(q.v.). AlsoGobble-cock.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1851.Hooper,Widow Rugby’s Husband, etc., p. 94. Her face was as red as agobbler’ssnout.3. (vulgar).—The mouth. For synonyms,seePotato-trap.4. (colloquial).—A greedy eater. For synonyms,seeStodger.Gobbling,subs.(vulgar).—Gorging.1846–48.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, ch. iii., vol. 1. His mouth was full of it, his face quite red with the delightful exercise ofgobbling‘Mother, it’s as good as my own curries in India.’Go-between,subs.(old).—A pimp or bawd. Now an intermediary of any kind.1596.Shakspeare,Merry Wives of Windsor, Act ii., sc. 2. Even as you came into me, her assistant, orgo-between, parted from me.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Goblin,subs.(old).—A sovereign. For synonyms,seeCanary.1887.W. E. Henley,Villon’s Straight Tip. Your merrygoblinssoon stravag: Boose and the blowens cop the lot.Gob-box,subs.(common).—The mouth. [Fromgob,subs.] For synonyms,seePotato-trap.1773.Forster,Goldsmith, Bk. IV., ch. xiv., p. 414 (5th ed.). Shuter protesting in his vehement odd way that ‘the boy could patter,’ and ‘use thegob-boxas quick and smart as any of them.’1819.Scott,Bride of Lammermoor, ch. i. Your characters … made too much use of thegob-box; theypattertoo much.[169]Gob-stick,subs.(old).—A silver table-spoon. (In use in America = either spoon or fork); (nautical), a horn or wooden spoon.1789.Parker,Life’s Painter, s.v.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Gob-string(orGab-string),subs.(old).—A bridle.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Go-by,subs.(colloquial).—The act of passing; an evasion; a deception.To give one the go-by= to cut; to leave in the lurch.Cf.,Cut(subs.sense 2,verb.sense 2).1876.Hindley,Cheap Jack, p. 214. When we came in contact with a travelling bookseller we couldgive him the go-bywith our library.1892.R. L. Stevenson,Kidnapped, ch. ix. Shegave us the go-byin the fog—as I wish from the heart that ye had done yoursel’!1892.Sala’s Journal, 25 June, p. 194. Now can you understand how it is possible, and, I think, expedient,to givepoliticsthe go-by, so far as one conveniently can?Go-by-the-Ground,subs.(old).—A dumpy man or woman.—Grose.God,subs.(common).—1.in. pl., the occupants of the gallery at a theatre. [Said to have been first used by Garrick because they were seated on high, and close to the sky-painted ceiling.] Fr.,paradis= gallery; alsopoulailler. In feminine,Goddess.1772.Cumberland,Fashionable Lover[probably spoken by printer’s devil]. ’Tis odds For one poor devil to face so manygods.1812. J. andH. Smith,Rejected Addresses, p. 128 [ed. 1869]. Each one shillinggodwithin reach of a nod is, And plain are the charms of each gallerygoddess.1843.Thackeray,Irish Sketch Book, ch. xxvii. The gallery was quite full … one younggod, between the acts, favoured the public with a song.1872.M. E. Braddon,Dead Sea Fruit, ch. xiv. There come occasionally actors and actresses of higher repute, eager to gather new laurels in these untrodden regions, and not ill pleased to find themselves received with noisy rapture and outspoken admiration by the rudergodsand homeliergoddessesof a threepenny gallery.1890.Globe, 7 Apr., p. 2, c. 2. Thegods, or a portion of them, hooted and hissed while the National Anthem was being performed.1892.Sydney Watson,Wops the Waif, iii., iv. It is only when we have paid our ‘tuppence’ and ascended to the gallery just under the roof, known as ‘among thegods,’ that we begin to understand what is meant by the lowest classes, the ‘great unwashed.’1892.Pall Mall Gaz., 20 Apr., p. 2, c. 3. If theatre managers would only give the public the chance of as good a seat as can be got at the Trocadero or the Pavilion, at the same price, and manage the ventilation of their houses so as not to bake thegodsand freeze the ‘pitites,’ I venture to think that fewer people would go to the music halls.2.in. pl.(printers’).—The quadrats used injeffing(q.v.).3. (tailors’).—A block pattern.Gods of cloth= ‘classical tailors.’—Grose.SeeSnip.4. (Eton).—A boy in the sixth form.1881.Pascoe,Life in our Public Schools. Agodat Eton is probably in a more exalted position, and receives more reverence than will ever afterwards fall to his lot.A sight for the gods, phr. (common).—A matter of wonderment.1892.Hume Nisbet,Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 31. Stringy Bark prepared to greet his native land, wasa sight for the godsto behold with satisfaction, and men to view from afar with awed respect.[170]God Pays!phr.(old).—An expression at one time much in the mouth of disbanded soldiers and sailors (who assumed a right to live on the public charity). The modern form is, ‘If I don’t pay you, God Almighty will.’1605.LondonProdigal, ii., 3. But there be some that bear a soldier’s form, That swear by him they never think upon; Go swaggering up and down, from house to house, Crying,God pays.1630.Taylor, in wks. These feather’d fidlers sing, and leape, and play, The begger takes delight, andGod doth pay.1640.Ben Jonson,Epigr. XII.To every cause he meets, this voice he brays, His only answer is to all,God pays.God(orBramah)Knows:I don’t,phr.(common).—An emphatic rejoinder.1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes.Come Iddio vel dica., a phrase, as wee would say:God himselfe tell you, I cannot.Goddess Diana,subs. phr.(rhyming). A sixpence. For synonyms,seeTanner.1864.The Press, 12 Nov.Goddess dianais the rhyming equivalent for a tanner which signifies sixpence.God-dot!intj.(old).—An oath. By God! [A contraction of ‘God wot!’] For synonyms,seeOaths.Godfather,subs.(old).—A juryman.1598.Shakspeare,Merchant of Venice, iv. 1. In christ’ning thou shalt have twogodfathers, Had I been judge, thou should’st have had ten more, To bring thee to the gallows, not the font.1616.Ben Jonson,Devil’s An Ass, v., 5. Not I, If you be such a one, sir, I will leave you To yourgod-fathers in law. Let twelve men work.1638.Randolph,Muses’ Looking Glass, ix. 251. I had rather zee him remitted to the jail, and have his twelvegodvathers, good men and true, condemn him to the gallows.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.To stand Godfather,verb. phr.(common).—To pay the reckoning. [Godfathers being the objects of much solicitude and expectation.]1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Will you standgodfather, and we will take care of the brat? = repay you another time.Go-down,subs.(old).—1. A draught of liquor; ago(q.v.).2. (American).—Seequot.1881.New York Times, 18 Dec., quoted in ‘N and Q’ 6, S. v. 65.Go Down.—A cutting in the bank of a stream for enabling animals to cross or to get to water.God-permit,subs.(old).—A stage coach. [Which was advertised to startDeo volente.]1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.God-permit, a stage coach, from that affectation of piety, frequently to be met with in advertisements of stage coaches or waggons, where most of their undertakings are promised with ifGod permit, orGod willing.1825.Modern Flash Dict., s.v.God’s-mercy,subs.(old).—Ham (or bacon) and eggs. [‘There’s nothing in the house but God’s mercy’: at one time a common answer in country inns to travellers in quest of provant.]God’s-penny,subs.(old).—An earnest penny.1690. B. E.,Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.God’s Penny, Earnest Money, to Bind a Bargain.1765.Percy,Reliques, ‘The heir of Linne.’ Then John he did him to record draw, And John he cast him aGod’s pennie.Go-easter,subs.(American cowboys’).—A portmanteau; apeter(q.v.). [Because seldom used except in going city- or east-wards.][171]Goer,subs.(old).—1. The foot. For synonyms,seeCreepers.1557–1634.Chapman, inEncyclop. Dict.A double mantle, cast Athwart his shoulders, his fairegoersgrac’t With fitted shoes.2. (colloquial).—An expert or adept; as in drawing, talking, riding; one well up to his (or her) work: generally with an adjective, ase.g.,a fast(orhell of a)goer= a good goer.1857.G. A. Lawrence,Guy Livingstone, ch. xx. Nevertheless, she was always deeply engaged, and generally to the bestgoersin the room.Goff.SeeMrs. Goff.Goggles,subs.(common).—1. A goggle-eyed person. AlsoGoggler.1647.Beaumont and Fletcher,Knight of Malta, v., 2. Do you stare,goggles?1891.Clark Russell,Ocean Tragedy, p. 51. No use sending blind man aloft,gogglerslike myself, worse luck.2.in. pl.(common).—The eyes: specifically those with a constrained or rolling stare; alsoGoggle-eyes.Goggle-eyed= squint-eyed.1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes,Strabo, he that looketh a squint or isgoggle-eide.c.1746.Robertson of Struan,Poems, 69. An eagle of a dwarfish size, With crooked Beak, andgogle eyes.1691–1763.Byrom,Dissection of a Beau’s Head. Those muscles, in English, wherewith a man ogles, When on a fair lady he fixes hisgoggles.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1821.Pierce Egan,Life in London, p. 241. Rolling yourgogglesabout after all manner of people.3.in. pl.(common).—Spectacles. For synonyms,seeBarnacles.Verb(colloquial).—Goggle= to roll the eyes; to stare.1577–87.Holinshed,Description of Ireland, ch. i. Theygogglewith their eyes hither and thither.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Goggle, to stare.1820–37.Walpole,Letters, iii., 174. Hegoggledhis eyes.1880.Millikin,Punch’s Almanack, April. Scissors! don’t theygoggleand look blue.Gogmagog,subs.(colloquial).—A goblin; a monster; a frightful apparition.—Hood.Going,subs.(colloquial).—The condition of a road, a piece of ground, a cinder-path:i.e., the accommodation for travelling.E.g.,the goingis bad.1872.Morning Post, 19 Aug. The Lamb’s starting in the Frankfort steeple-chase will depend upon the state of the ground, and, avoiding Wiesbaden, where thegoingis indifferent.1883.Daily Telegraph, 23 Nov. Thegoingwas wonderfully clean for the time of year.Goings-on,subs.(colloquial).—Behaviour; proceedings; conduct.Cf.,Carryings on.1845.Douglas Jerrold,Mrs. Caudle, Lecture viii. Pretty place it must be where they don’t admit women. Nicegoings-on, I daresay, Mr. Caudle.1870.Lloyd’s Newspaper, 11 Sept. ‘Review.’ Elsie is beloved by Gawthwaite, the village schoolmaster, and he takes her to task for hergoings-on.Goldarned(orGoldurned,Goldasted, etc.),adj.(common).—A mild form of oath: =Blamed(q.v.);Bloody(q.v.).SeeOaths. Asintj.,Goldarn it!etc.1888.American Humorist.‘Bill, are you hurt?’ ‘Yes, by gum; I’ve broke mygoldarnedneck.’[172]1888.Cincinnati Enquirer.Finally, Deacon Spalding broke out with: ‘ThatgoldastedSt. Louis mugwump has made suckers of us again with his cracks about coming into the league. I move we adjourn.’Gold-backed ’Un,subs.(common).—A louse. AlsoGrey-backed ’un. For synonyms,seeChates.Gold Bug,subs. phr.(American).—A man of wealth and (inferentially) distinction; a millionaire.SeeBug.1888.St. Louis Globe Democrat, Mar. 5. I do not think the feeling against silver is anything like as strong as it was. Of course, a fewgold bugsmight fight him.Gold-dropper,subs.(old).—A sharper. An old-time worker of the confidence trick.Seequots. AlsoGold-finder.1690. B. E.,Cant. Crew, s.v.Gold-droppers, Sweetners, Cheats, Sharpers.1748.T. Dyche,Dictionary(5th ed.).Gold-finder(s.) … also a cant name for a cheat, who under the pretence of finding a piece of money, and inviting a by-stander to partake of a treat, etc., out of it, endeavours to get him to play at cards, dice, etc., in order to win or cheat him of his money; they are sometimes also calledguinea-droppers.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Sharpers who drop a piece of gold, which they pick up in the presence of some unexperienced person, for whom the trap is laid, this they pretend to have found, and, as he saw them pick it up, they invite him to a public house to partake of it: when there, two or three of their comrades drop in, as if by accident, and propose cards, or some other game, when they seldom fail of stripping their prey.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Golden-cream,subs.(thieves’).—Rum.1889.ClarksonandRichardson,Police, p. 321, s.v.Gold-end Man,subs. phr.(old).—An itinerant jeweller; a buyer of old gold and silver. [Gold-end= a broken piece of jewellery.] AlsoGoldsmith’s Apprentice.SeeEastward Hoe.1610.Jonson,Alchemist, ii., 1. I know him not, he looks like agold-end man.1622.Fletcher,Beggar’s Bush, iii., 1.Hig.Have ye anyends of goldor silver?Golden Grease,subs. phr.(old).—A fee; also a bribe. For synonyms,seePalm Oil.Goldfinch,subs.(old).—1. A well-to-do man; awarm ’un(q.v.).1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Goldfinch,c.He that has alwaies a Purse or Cod of Gold in his Fob.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1852.Judson,Mysteries, etc., of New York, ch. iv. ‘Was the swell agoldfinch?’ ‘He wasn’t nothin’ else. Got a clean ten times ten out of him.’Ibid.‘It’ll be a great lay, if the game’s fat. Is it agoldfinch?’ ‘Fifty thousand, hard dust.’2. (common).—A guinea; a sovereign. For synonyms,seeCanary.1700.Farquhar,Constant Couple, ii., 2.Sir H.Don’t you love singing-birds, madam?Angel(aside). That’s an odd question for a lover; (aloud) Yes, sir.Sir H.Why, then, madam, here is a nest of the prettiestgoldfinchesthat ever chirped in a cage.1822.Scott,The Fortunes of Nigel, ch. iv. Put your monies aside, my lord; it is not well to be seen with suchgoldfincheschirping about one in the lodgings of London.1826.Buckstone,Luke the Labourer, iii., 4. Good-night, noble captain. Pipe all hands at five o’clock, for I’ve a day’s work to do. We’ll jig it to-morrow, to the piping ofgold-finches.1834.W. H. Ainsworth,Rookwood, p. 101 (ed. 1864). Here’s a handful ofgoldfinchesready to fly.Goldfinch’s Nest,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.1827.The Merry Muses, p. 70. And soon laid his hand on thegoldfinch’s nest.[173]Gold-finder,subs.(old).—1. An emptier of privies. AlsoTom-turd-man;Gong-man; andNight-man. Fr.,un fouille-merde;un fifi. Alsopasser la jambe à Jules= to upsetMrs. Jones,i.e., to empty the privy tub.1611.Cotgrave,Dictionarie,Gadouard, agould-finder, Jakes-farmer.1635.Feltham,Resolves. As ourgoldfinders… in the night and darkness thrive on stench and excrements.1653.Middleton,Sp. Gipsy, ii., 2, p. 398 (Mermaid series). And if his acres, being sold for a maravedii a turf for larks in cages, cannot fill this pocket, give ’em togoldfinders.1659.Torriano,Vocabolario, s.v.1704.Gentleman Instructed, p. 445 (1732). We will commit the further discussion of the poet to a committee ofgoldfinders, or a club of rake-kennels.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v2. (old).—A thief; agold-dropper(q.v.).Gold Hat-band,subs.(old University).—A nobleman undergraduate; atuft(q.v.).1628.Earle,Microcosmography. His companion is ordinarily some stale fellow that has been notorious for an ingle togold hatbands, whom hee admires at first, afterwards scornes.1889.Gentleman’s Mag., June, p. 598. Noblemen at the universities, since known as ‘tufts,’ because of the gold tuft or tassle to their cap, were then known asgold hatbands.Goldie-locks,subs.(old).—A flaxen-haired woman.Goldy-locked= golden haired.1598.Florio,Worlde of Wordes.Biondella… a golden-lockt wench, as we say agoldilocks.1605.Ben Jonson,The Fox, i., 1. Thence it fled forth, and made quick transmigration togoldy-lockedEuphorbus.Gold Mine,subs. phr.(common).—A profitable investment; a store of wealth, material or intellectual.1664.H. Peacham,Worth of a Penny, in Arber’sGarner, vol. VI., p. 249. Some men … when they have met with agold mine, so brood over and watch it, day and night, that it is impossible for Charity to be regarded, Virtue rewarded, or Necessity relieved.1830Tennyson,Dream of Fair Women, p. 274.Gold-minesof thought—to lift the hidden ore.1882.Thormanby,Famous Racing Men, p. 81. Mendicant … ran nowhere in the Cup … in reality she was destined to prove agold mine, for ten years afterwards she brought her owner £80,000 through her famous son, Beadsman.1883.Sat. Review, 28 Apr. 533/2. His victory proved agold mineto the professional bookmakers.1887.Froude,Eng. in West Indies, ch. v. Every one was at law with his neighbour, and the island was agold mineto the Attorney-General.Golgotha,subs.(old).—1. The Dons’ gallery at Cambridge; also applied to a certain part of the theatre at Oxford. [That is, ‘the place of skulls’:Cf., Luke xxiii. 33, and Matthew xxvii. 33, whence the pun: Dons being the heads of houses.]1730.Jas. Miller,Humours of Oxford, Act ii., p. 23 (2nd ed.). Sirrah, I’ll have you put in the black-book, rusticated,—expelled—I’ll have youcoram nobisatGolgotha, where you’ll be bedevilled, Muck-worm, you will.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1791.G. Huddesford,Salmagundi, (Note on, p. 150).Golgotha, ‘The place of a Scull,’ a name ludicrously affixed to the Place in which the Heads of Colleges assemble.1808.J. T. Conybearein C. K. Sharpe’sCorrespondence(1888), i., 324. The subject then, of the ensuing section isOxford News… we will begin bygolgotha… Cole has already obtained the Headship of Exeter, and Mr. Griffiths … is to have that of University.[174]2. (common).—Hence, a hat.English Synonyms.—Battle of the Nile (rhyming,i.e., atile[q.v.]); bell-topper; billy-cock; beaver; box-hat; cady; canister cap; castor; chummy; cathedral; chimney; chimney-pot; cock; colleger; cock-and-pinch; cowshooter; David; deerstalker; digger’s delight; fantail; felt; Gibus; gomer (Winchester); goss; moab; molocher; mortar-board; muffin-cap; mushroom; nab; nap; napper; pantile; pimple-cover; pill-box; plug-hat; pot; shako; shovel; sleepless hat; sou’wester; stove-pipe; strawer; thatch; tile; topper; truck; upper-crust; wash-pot; wee-jee; wide-awake.French Synonyms.—Un accordéon(popular: an opera hat);une ardoise(= a tile);une bâche(thieves’: also an awning);une biscopeorviscope(vulgar);un blockaus(vulgar: a shako);un bloumardorune bloume(popular);une boîte à cornes(a horn case;i.e., a cover for a cuckold);un Bolivar(from the hero of 1820);un boisseau(also = a bushel);un bosselard(schoolboys’: frombosselé= bruised or dented);un cabas(popular: = old hat; also basket or bag);un cadratin(printers’ = a stove-pipe);un caloquet(thieves’);cambriau,cambrieux, orcambriot(popular);un capet(from old French,capel);une capsule(popular = a percussion cap);un carbeluche galicé(a silk hat);une casque(= helmet);un chapska(= a shako);une cheminée(popular: = chimney-pot);une corniche(popular: = a cornice);un couvercle(popular: = pot-lid);une couvrante;un couvre-amour(military);un cylindre(= a stove-pipe);un Desfoux(from the maker’s name);un epicéphale(students’: from the Greek);un gadin(an old hat);un galureorgalurin(popular);un Garibaldi;un Gibus(from the inventor’s name);un lampion(thieves’: = grease-pot);un loubion(thieves’);un marquin(thieves’);un monument(popular);un nid d’hirondelle;un niolle(thieves’: an old hat);un tromblon(obsolete = blunderbuss);un tubard,tube, ortube à haute pression(= a cylinder);une tuile(= a tile);une tuyau de poêle(= a stove-pipe).German Synonyms.—Bre(Viennese);Kowe(from the Hebrew,kowa).Italian Synonyms.—Bufala,bacchaorbiffacha;crestaorcristiana(= a cruet);fungo(= mushroom).Spanish Synonyms.—Tejadoortecho(= tiled roof).Goliath,subs.(colloquial).—1. A big man.2. A man of mark among thePhilistines(q.v.). [Mr. Swinburne described the late Matthew Arnold as ‘David, the son ofGoliath.’]Goll,subs.(old).—The hand; usuallyin. pl.SeeBunch of FivesandDaddle.1601.B. Jonson,Poetaster, v., Bring the whoreson detracting slaves to the bar, do; make them hold vp their spreadgolls.1602.Dekker,Satiro-Mastrix, in wks. (1873), i., 203. Holde up thy hand: I ha seene the day thou didst not scorne to holde vp thygolles.1611.Middleton,Roaring Girl, Act i. This is thegollshall do’t.[175]1620.Middleton,Chaste Maid, ii., 2. What theirgollscan clutch.1634.S. Rowley,Noble Souldier, Act ii., Sc. 2.Bal.Saist thou me so? give me thygoll, thou art a noble girle.1659.Massinger,City Madam, iv., i. All the gamesters are ambitious to shake the goldengollsof worshipful master Luke.1661.T. Middleton,Mayor of Quinborough, v., i. Down with hisgolls, I charge you.1672.Dryden,The Assignation, Act iii., Sc. 1. A simperer at lower end of a table, With mightygolls, rough-grained, and red with starching.1787.Grose,Prov. Glossary.Goll, a hand or fist; give me thygoll.1803.C. K. SharpeinCorrespondence(1888), i., 179. Miss Reid with her silk coat and greasiegolls.Gollop,verb.(common).—To swallow greedily; to gulp. For synonyms,seeWolf.Gollumpus,subs.(old).—A clumsy lout.—Grose.Golly!—A contraction ofBy Golly!(q.v.).1890.R. L. Stevenson,The Wrong Box, p. 275.Golly!what a paper!Goloptious(orGolopshus),adj.(common).—Splendid; fine; delicious; luscious.1888.Sporting Life, 7 Dec. It would better scoop the situation if it were described asgoloptious.Goloshes,subs.(colloquial).—India rubber overshoes. ButseeGrose.1796.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Goloshes,i.e.Goliah’s shoes. Large leathern clogs, worn by invalids over their ordinary shoes.Gombeen-man,subs.(Irish).—A usurer; a money-lender; a sharking middleman. For synonyms,seeSixty-per-cent.Gomer,subs.(Winchester College).—1. A large pewter dish used in college.2. (Winchester College).—A new hat.SeeGolgotha.Gommy,subs.(old).—1. A dandy. Fr.,gommeux. [Anglo-Saxon,guma= a man; a person:gomme=gommer=gammer.Cf.,Gomus. Beaumont hasgom= a man.]2. (colloquial).—Seequot.1883.Weekly Dispatch, 11 Mar., p. 7, c. 4. There has recently been considerable debate as to the meaning of the termgommie. It is very simple. A gommie is one who calls Mr. Gladstone a G.O.M. [Grand Old Man], and thinks he has made a good joke.3. (colloquial).—A fool. For synonyms,seeBuffleandCabbage-head.Gomus,subs.(Irish).—A fool. For synonyms,seeBuffleandCabbage-head.Gondola,subs.(American).—1. A railway platform car, sideless or low-sided. Also a flat-bottomed boat.Gondola of London,subs. phr.(common).—A hansom cab; ashoful(q.v.). [The description is Lord Beaconsfield’s.]

1871.Morning Advertiser, 2 Feb., ‘A curtain lecture.’ On … arrival home the derelict husband is to begone forin the most approved style of the late lamented Mrs. Caudle.1883.James Payn,Thicker than Water, ch. xxxvii. There were occasions … when Charley could hardly helpgoing forthe legs of that lofty philosopher, for higher he could not hit him.1889.Polytechnic Magazine, 24 Oct., p. 261. Hewent forthe jam tarts unmercifully.1889.Star, 24 Aug., p. 4, c. 2. As the enlightened tailor still declined to pay the blackmail one of the anti-machinistswent forhim with a chopper.1892.Tit Bits, 19 Mar., p. 424, c. 1. So it comes to much the same thing, with the exception that you cannot indulge in the sad delight ofgoing forMaster Bertie sometimes as you might do were he a member of your own household.1892.Hume Nisbet,Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 123. “Well mate,go for him, and we’ll keep the cops off till you settle his hash.”3. (colloquial).—To support; to favour; to vote for.4. (theatrical).—To criticise; specifically, to run down. [An extension of sense 2.] For synonyms,seeRun down.To go in for(orat),verb. phr.(colloquial).—To enter for; to apply oneself to (e.g.,to go in forhonours). Also to devote oneself to (e.g., to pay court); to take up (as a pastime, pursuit, hobby, or principle). Closely allied togo for.1836.C. Dickens,Pickwick Papers, p. 18 (ed. 1857). This advice was very like that which bystanders invariably give to the smallest boy in a street fight; namely, ‘Go in, and win’: an admirable thing to recommend, if you only know how to do it.1849.Dickens,David Copperfield, ch. xviii., p. 162. Sometimes Igo in atthe butcher madly, and cut my knuckles open against his face.1864.Dickens,Our Mutual Friend, iii., 3.Go in formoney——Money’s the article.1869.Whyte Melville,M. or N., p. 31. Long before he had reached his uncle’s house, he had made up his mind togo in, as he called it,forMiss Bruce, morally confident of winning, yet troubled with certain chilling misgivings, as fearing thatthistime he had really fallen in love.1870.Agricultural Jour., Feb. Men whogo in forbathing, running, etc.1872.Besant and Rice,My Little Girl(inOnce a Week, 14 Dec., p. 508). He had, after a laborious and meritorious career at Aberdeen,gone in forScotch mission work in Constantinople.1873.Miss Broughton,Nancy, ch. xlv. His cheeks are flushed; he is laughing loudly, andgoing inheavilyforthe champagne.[163]1883.James Payn,Thicker than Water, ch. xx. This is very nice, but I do wonder, Mrs. Tidman, that you nevergo in forcurries.1890.H. D. Traill, ‘A Noble Watchword,’Sat. Songs, p. 58. To go in solid for the cause how noble! (though, ’tis true, We must hope at next election that you’llgo inliquid, too).To go in unto,verb. phr.(Biblical).—To have sexual intercourse with. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.1892.Bible, Gen. xxx. 3. Behold my maid Bilhah,go in unto her.To go it,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To act with vigour and daring; to advocate or speak strongly; to live freely. Also togo it blind,fast,bald-headed,strong, etc.Cf.,Dash.1689 (inArber,Eng. Garner, vol. VII., p. 365). When these had shared her cargo, they parted company: the French with their shareswent itfor Petty Guavas in the Grand Gustaphus.1821.Egan,Tom and Jerry[people’s ed.], p. 67. Logic, under the domino, had beengoing iton a few of his friends with much humour.Ibid., p. 22.To go it, where’s a place like London?1837.R. H. Barham,The Ingoldsby Legends(Ed. 1862), p. 375. For of this be assured, if yougo it too fast, you’ll be ‘dished’ like Sir Guy.1846–48.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, vol. I., ch. 26. ‘He’sgoing it pretty fast,’ said the clerk.1849.Dickens,David Copperfield, ch. 6. I say young Copperfield, you’regoing it.1841.Dow,Sermons, vol. I., p. 176. I would have you understand, my dear hearers, that I have no objection to some of the sons and daughters of the earthgoing it, while they are young, provided they don’tgo it too strong.1864.Fraser’s Mag., Aug., p. 54. But what if that O, brave heart? Art thou a labourer? Labour on, Art thou a poet?Go it strong.1880.Milliken, inPunch’s AlmanackApr. Nobby togs, high jinks, and lots o’ lotion, That’s the style togo it, I’ve a notion.Intj.(common).—Keep at it! Keep it up!—a general (sometimes ironical) expression of encouragement. Alsogo it ye gripples, crutches are cheap!(ornewgate’s on fire);go it, my tulip;go it my gay and festive cuss!(Artemus Ward); or (American)go it boots!go it rags!i’ll hold your bonnet!g’lang! (usually to a man making the pace on foot or horseback.) For similar expressionsseeMother. Fr.,hardi!1840.Thackeray,Cox’s Diary. Come along this way, ma’am!Go it, ye cripples!1854.Thackeray,The Rose and the Ring, p. 92. ‘Go it, old boy!’ cried the impetuous Smith.1868.Miss Braddon,Trail of the Serpent, bk. I., ch. iii. Three cheers for red!Go it—go it, red!1890.Tit Bits, 1 Mar., p. 325. ‘Not for Joe’ … came from a once popular song. So didgo it, you cripples.To go out,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To fall into disuse.1841.Punch, vol. I., p. 113. Pockets, … to use the flippant idiom of the day, aregoing out.To go over,verb. phr.(colloquial).—1. To desert from one side to another; specifically (clerical) to join the Church of Rome; tovert(q.v.).1861.Thackeray,Lovel the Widwer, ch. ii. I remember Pye, of Maudlin, just before hewent over, was perpetually in Miss Prior’s back parlour with little books, pictures, medals, etc.1878.Miss Braddon,Open Verdict, ch. vi. Mr. Dulcimer is a horrid person to tell you such stories; and after this, I shouldn’t be at all surprised at hisgoing overto Rome.2. (colloquial).—To die;i.e., togo over tojoin the majority. Also togo off.To go off[164]the hooks,to go under,to go aloft, andto go up.1848.Ruxton,Life in the Far West, p. 4. ‘A sight, marm, this coon’sgone over.’Ibid., p. 3. Them three’s allgone under.3. (thieves’).—To attack, rifle, and rob.1889.Referee, 2 June. A few who had …gone overthe landlord, left him skinned.To go off,verb. phr.(colloquial).—1. To take place; to occur.1866.Mrs. Gaskell,Wives and Daughters, ch. xiv. The weddingwent offmuch as such affairs do.2. (colloquial).—To be disposed of (as goods on sale, or a woman in marriage).1835.Dickens,Sketches by Boz, p. 208. Miss Malderton was as well known as the lion on the top of Northumberland House, and had an equal chance ofgoing off.3. (colloquial).—To deteriorate (as fish by keeping, or a woman with years).1883.Pall Mall Gazette, 16 Apr., p. 3, c. 2.Shotover ratherwent offin the Autumn, and her Leger preparation was not altogether satisfactory.1892.Tit-Bits, 17 Sept., p. 422, c. 3. To those … who are apt togo off colour, so to speak, through injudicious indulgence at table.4. (colloquial).—To die. For synonyms,seeAloft.1606.Shakspeare,Macbeth, v., 7. I would the friends we miss were safe arrived: Some mustgo off.1836.C. Dickens,Pickwick Papers(about 1827), p. 368 (Ed. 1857). She’s dead, God bless her, and thank him for it!—was seized with a fit andwent off.Go as you please,adj. phr.(athletics’).—Applied to races where the competitors can run, walk, or rest at will:e.g., in time and distance races. Hence, general freedom of action.1884.Punch, 11 Oct. ‘’Arry at a Political Picnic’ ’Twas regulargo as you please.To go to Bath, Putney, etc.—SeeBath,Blazes,Hell,Halifax, etc.To go through,verb. phr.(American).—1. To rob:i.e., to turn inside out. Hence, to master violently and completely; to make an end of.1872.Evening Standard, 21 June. The roughs would work their will, and, in their own phrase,go throughNew York pretty effectually.1888.Baltimore Sun.He was garrotted, and the two robberswent throughhim before he could reach the spot.Ibid.It was a grand sight to see Farnsworthgo throughhim; he did not leave him a single leg to stand upon.2. (venery).—To possess a woman. For synonyms,seeRide.To go up(orunder),verb. phr.(colloquial).—1. To go to wreck and ruin; to become bankrupt; to disappear from society. Also, to die. For synonyms,seeDeadbroke.1864.The Index, June. Soon after the blockade, many thought we shouldgo upon the salt question.1879.Jas. Payn,High Spirits (Finding His Level). Poor John Weybridge, Esq., became as friendless as penniless, and eventuallywent under, and was heard of no more.1890.Pall Mall Gaz., 29 May, p. 5, c. 1. He asks us further to state that the strike is completely at an end, the society havinggone under.2. (colloquial).—To die:Cf.Ger.:untergehen. For synonyms,seeAloft.18(?).Hawkeye, The Iowa Chief, p. 210. Poor Hawkeye felt, says one of his biographers, that his time had come, and[165]knowing that he mustgo undersooner or later, he determined to sell his life dearly.1849.Ruxton,Life in the far West, p. 2. Themthree’sallgone under.1888.Daily Inter. Ocean, Mar. All solemnly vowed to see that the mine should be worked solely for the benefit of the girl whether Jim lived or hadgone under.To go up,verb. phr.(American).—To die; specifically to die by the rope.1867.Hepworth Dixon,New America, i., 11. Unruly citizens are summarily hung on a cotton tree, and when any question is asked about them, the answer is briefly given,gone up—i.e., gone up the cotton tree, or suspended from one of its branches.To go up for,verb. phr.(common).—To enter for (as an examination).1889.Globe, 12 Oct., p. 1, c. 4.Always, it seems likely, there will be mengoing up forexaminations; and every now and again, no doubt, there will be among them a wily ‘Heathen Pass-ee’ like him of whom Mr. Hilton speaks—who had cribs up his sleeve, and notes on his cuff.To go with,verb. phr.(colloquial).—1. To agree or harmonise with.SeeGee.2. (colloquial).—To share the sexual embrace. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.On the go,adv. phr.(colloquial).—On the move; restlessly active.No go,adv. phr.(colloquial).—Of no use; not to be done; a complete failure. Frequently contracted toN.G.1835.Dickens,Sketches by Boz, p. 18. I know something about this here family, and my opinion is, it’sno go.1853.Diogenes, vol. II., p. 271. Dear master, don’t think of me ill; If I say—as the lists areno go—You’ve in future no fear for the till!1884.Notes and Queries, 6 S., x., p. 125. There were on the occasion so many rounds and so manyno goes.1888.Puck’s Library, May, p. 12. He thought a moment, and shook his head. It’sno gowas the dictum.1890.Punch, 22 Feb., p. 85. He’s a long-winded lot, is Buchanan, slops over tremenjous, he do;… But cackle and splutter ain’t swimming; so Robert, my nabs, it’sno go.1892.J. McCarthyandMrs. Campbell-Praed,Ladies’ Gallery, p. 84. She sees it isno gowith the baronet.A little bit on the go,adv. phr.(old).—Slightly inebriated; elevated. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.1821.Egan,Tom and Jerry[peoples’ ed.], p. 58. The Corinthian had made hima little bit on the go.Goad,subs.(old).—1. A decoy at auctions; a horse-chaunter; apeter funk(q.v.). [One who goads (i.e., sends up) the prices.]1609.Dekker, Lanthorne and Candle light, ch. x. They that stand by and conycatche the chapman either with out-bidding, false praises, etc., are calledgoades.1690. B. E.,Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.Goads, those that wheedle in Chapmen for Horse-coursers,1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.2.in. pl.(old).—False dice.—Chapman.For synonyms,seeIvories.Goal,subs.(Winchester College).—1. At football the boy who stands at the centre of each end, acting as umpire; and (2) the score of three points made when the ball is kicked between his legs, or over his head without his touching it.1870.Mansfield,School-Life at Winchester College, p. 138. Midway between each of the two ends of the line was stationed another boy, as umpire (Goal, he was called) who stood with his legs wide apart, and a gown rolled up at each foot: if the ball was kicked directly over his head, or between his legs, without his touching it, it was agoal, and scored three for the party that kicked it.Goaler’s Coach.SeeGaoler’s Coach.[166]Go-along,subs.(thieves’).—A fool; aflat(q.v.). For synonyms,seeBuffleandCabbage Head.1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 460. In four days my adviser left me; he had no more use for me. I was a flat. He had me for ago-along, to cry his things for him.1853.Household Words, No. 183. s.v. ‘Slang.’Goat,subs.(old).—A lecher; amolrower(q.v.).1599.Shakspeare,Henry V., iv., 4. Thou damn’d and luxurious mountaingoat.1690. B. E.,Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.Goat, a Lecher, a very lascivious person.1717.Cibber,Nonjuror, i., 1. At the tea-table I have seen the impudentgoatmost lusciously sip off her leavings.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Verb(common).—1. To thrash. For synonyms,seeTan.1864.Derby Day, p. 70. You won’tgoatme? Not this journey.To play the goat.verb. phr.(common).—1. To play the fool; tomonkey(q.v.). Fr.,faire l’oiseau.2. (venery).—To lead a fast life; to be given tomolrowing(q.v.).To ride the goat,verb. phr.(common).—To be initiated into a secret society. [From the vulgar error that a live goat, for candidates to ride, is one of the standing properties of a Masonic lodge.]Goatee,subs.(colloquial).—A tufted beard on the point of a shaven chin. [In imitation of the tuft of hair on a goat’s chin.]English Synonyms(for a beard generally).—Charley; imperial; Newgate (or sweep’s) frill, or fringe.French Synonyms.—Une marmouse(thieves’);un impériale(colloquial: formerlyune royale);un boucorune bouquine(= a goatee);bacchantes(thieves’: the beard, but more especially the whiskers, frombâche= awning).German Synonym.—Soken(from the Hebrew; also = old man).Italian Synonyms.—Bosco di berlo(the forest on the face);settosa(= full of hair);spinola(= thorny).Spanish Synonym.—Bosque(= wood).1869.Orchestra, 18 June. Working carpenters with a stragglinggoateeon the chin, and a mass of unkempt hair on the head.Goater,subs.(American thieves’).—Dress. For synonyms,seeTogs.Goat-house,subs.(old).—A brothel. [FromGoat,subs., sense 1.] For synonyms,seeNanny-shop.Goatish,adj.(old, now recognised).—Lecherous. [As vieing with a goat in lust.] HenceGoatishly,adv., andGoatishness,subs.1622.Massinger and Dekker,Virgin Martyr, iii., 1. Give your chaste body up to the embraces ofgoatishlust.1605.Shakspeare,King Lear, i. 2. An admirable evasion of whoremaster-man, to lay hisgoatishdisposition to the charge of a star.[167]Goat-Milker,subs.(venery).—1. A prostitute. For synonyms,seeBarrack-hackandTart.2. (venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.Goat’s Jig(orGigg),subs.(old).—Copulation. For synonyms,seeGreens.—Grose.Go-away,subs.(American thieves’).—A railway-train.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v. The knuck was working thegoawaysat Jersey City.Gob(orGobbett),subs.(old: now vulgar). 1. A portion; a mouthful; a morsel. Also a gulp; abolt(q.v.). [Latin,gob= mouth: Old Fr.,gob= a gulp.] Skeat says the shorter formgobis rare.1380.Wycliffe,Trans. of Bible. Thei token the relifis of brokengobetistwelve cofres full.1542.Apop. of Erasmus[1878], p. 14. A bodie thinketh hymself well emende in his substaunce and riches, to whom hath happened some goodgubbeof money, and maketh a great whinyng if he haue had any losse of the same.1599.Nashe,Lenten Stuffe, in wks., v., 261. And thrust him downe his pudding house at agobbe.1605.Chapman,All Fools, Act iii., p. 62 (Plays, 1874).Ri.And do you think He’ll swallow down the gudgeon?Go.O my life, It were a grossgobwould not down with him.1611.L. Barry,Ram. Alley, I., i. That little land he gave, Throate the lawyer swallowed at onegobFor less than half the worth.1689.Selden,Table-Talk, p. 50 (Arber’s ed.). The meaning of the Law was, that so much should be taken from a man, such agobbetsliced off, that yet notwithstanding he might live in the same Rank and Condition he lived in before; but now they Fine men ten times more than they are worth.1690. B. E.,Dict. Canting Crew, s.v.Gob(c) … also a Bit or Morsel; hencegobbets, now more in use for little Bits.1748.T. Dyche,Dictionary(5th ed.).Goborgobbet(s.) a piece just big enough, or fit to be put into the mouth at once.1774.Foote,Cozeners, ii., 2. The venison was over-roasted, and stunk—but Doctor Dewlap twisted down suchgobsof fat.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1816.Johnson,Eng. Dict.(12th ed.).Gob, a small quantity, a low word.1869.S. L. Clemens(M. Twain),Innocents Abroad, ch. vii. It is pushed out into the sea on the end of a flat, narrow strip of land, and is suggestive of agobof mud on the end of a shingle.2. (common).—The mouth.Shut your gob= an injunction to silence.SeeGab.A spank on the gob= a blow on the mouth.Gob-full of claret= a bleeding at the mouth.Gift of the gaborgob,seeGab. For synonymsseePotato-trap.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Gob, the Mouth.1819.T. Moore,Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 18.Home-hitsin thebread-basket, clicks in thegob.Ibid., p. 30.1836.M. Scott,Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. 1. ‘All right—all right,’ I then exclaimed, as I thrust half a doubled-up muffin into mygob.1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 469. I managed somehow to turn mygob(mouth) round and gnawed it away.3. (common).—A mouthful of spittle. Fr.,un copeau; It.,smalzo di cavio(= gutter-butter). For synonyms,seeSixpences.Verb.(common).—1. To swallow in mouthfuls; to gulp down. Alsogobble(q.v.).[168]1692.L’Estrange,Fables. Down comes a kite powdering upon them, andgobbetsup both together.2. (common).—To expectorate. Fr.,glavioter(popular);molarder.Gobbie,subs.(nautical).—A coastguardsman; whencegobbie-ship, a man of war engaged in the preventive service.1890.Scotsman, 4 Aug. When a meeting takes place the men indulge in a protracted yarn and a draw of the pipe. The session involves a considerable amount of expectoration all round, whereby our friends come to be known asgobbies, and in process of time the term came to be applied to the ships engaged in the service.Ibid.There are no fewer than three othergobbie shipsin the channel fleet, each of which carries a considerable number of coastguardsmen putting in their annual period of drill.Gobble(orGobble up),verb.(vulgar).—To swallow hastily or greedily; hence (American) to seize, capture, or appropriate. Alsogob:e.g.,gobthat!1602.Dekker,Satiro-mastix, in wks. (1873) i. 233. They will come togobbledowne Plummes.1728.Swift,Misc. Poems, in wks. (1824) xiv. 232. The time too precious now to waste, The suppergobbledup in haste.1751.Smollett,Peregrine Pickle, ch. cvi. Summoned in such a plaguy hurry from his dinner, which he had been fain togobbleup like a cannibal.1846–48.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, vol. 1, ch. v. Mr. Jos. … helped Rebecca to everything on the table, and himselfgobbledand drank a great deal.1860.Thackeray,Philip, ch. xiii. There was a wily old monkey who thrust the cat’s paw out, and proposed togobbleup the smoking prize.Gobble-prick,subs.(old).—A lecherous woman.—Grose.Gobbler,subs.(old).—1. A duck.—Harman.2. (colloquial).—A turkey cock; abubbly-jock(q.v.). AlsoGobble-cock.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1851.Hooper,Widow Rugby’s Husband, etc., p. 94. Her face was as red as agobbler’ssnout.3. (vulgar).—The mouth. For synonyms,seePotato-trap.4. (colloquial).—A greedy eater. For synonyms,seeStodger.Gobbling,subs.(vulgar).—Gorging.1846–48.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, ch. iii., vol. 1. His mouth was full of it, his face quite red with the delightful exercise ofgobbling‘Mother, it’s as good as my own curries in India.’Go-between,subs.(old).—A pimp or bawd. Now an intermediary of any kind.1596.Shakspeare,Merry Wives of Windsor, Act ii., sc. 2. Even as you came into me, her assistant, orgo-between, parted from me.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Goblin,subs.(old).—A sovereign. For synonyms,seeCanary.1887.W. E. Henley,Villon’s Straight Tip. Your merrygoblinssoon stravag: Boose and the blowens cop the lot.Gob-box,subs.(common).—The mouth. [Fromgob,subs.] For synonyms,seePotato-trap.1773.Forster,Goldsmith, Bk. IV., ch. xiv., p. 414 (5th ed.). Shuter protesting in his vehement odd way that ‘the boy could patter,’ and ‘use thegob-boxas quick and smart as any of them.’1819.Scott,Bride of Lammermoor, ch. i. Your characters … made too much use of thegob-box; theypattertoo much.[169]Gob-stick,subs.(old).—A silver table-spoon. (In use in America = either spoon or fork); (nautical), a horn or wooden spoon.1789.Parker,Life’s Painter, s.v.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Gob-string(orGab-string),subs.(old).—A bridle.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Go-by,subs.(colloquial).—The act of passing; an evasion; a deception.To give one the go-by= to cut; to leave in the lurch.Cf.,Cut(subs.sense 2,verb.sense 2).1876.Hindley,Cheap Jack, p. 214. When we came in contact with a travelling bookseller we couldgive him the go-bywith our library.1892.R. L. Stevenson,Kidnapped, ch. ix. Shegave us the go-byin the fog—as I wish from the heart that ye had done yoursel’!1892.Sala’s Journal, 25 June, p. 194. Now can you understand how it is possible, and, I think, expedient,to givepoliticsthe go-by, so far as one conveniently can?Go-by-the-Ground,subs.(old).—A dumpy man or woman.—Grose.God,subs.(common).—1.in. pl., the occupants of the gallery at a theatre. [Said to have been first used by Garrick because they were seated on high, and close to the sky-painted ceiling.] Fr.,paradis= gallery; alsopoulailler. In feminine,Goddess.1772.Cumberland,Fashionable Lover[probably spoken by printer’s devil]. ’Tis odds For one poor devil to face so manygods.1812. J. andH. Smith,Rejected Addresses, p. 128 [ed. 1869]. Each one shillinggodwithin reach of a nod is, And plain are the charms of each gallerygoddess.1843.Thackeray,Irish Sketch Book, ch. xxvii. The gallery was quite full … one younggod, between the acts, favoured the public with a song.1872.M. E. Braddon,Dead Sea Fruit, ch. xiv. There come occasionally actors and actresses of higher repute, eager to gather new laurels in these untrodden regions, and not ill pleased to find themselves received with noisy rapture and outspoken admiration by the rudergodsand homeliergoddessesof a threepenny gallery.1890.Globe, 7 Apr., p. 2, c. 2. Thegods, or a portion of them, hooted and hissed while the National Anthem was being performed.1892.Sydney Watson,Wops the Waif, iii., iv. It is only when we have paid our ‘tuppence’ and ascended to the gallery just under the roof, known as ‘among thegods,’ that we begin to understand what is meant by the lowest classes, the ‘great unwashed.’1892.Pall Mall Gaz., 20 Apr., p. 2, c. 3. If theatre managers would only give the public the chance of as good a seat as can be got at the Trocadero or the Pavilion, at the same price, and manage the ventilation of their houses so as not to bake thegodsand freeze the ‘pitites,’ I venture to think that fewer people would go to the music halls.2.in. pl.(printers’).—The quadrats used injeffing(q.v.).3. (tailors’).—A block pattern.Gods of cloth= ‘classical tailors.’—Grose.SeeSnip.4. (Eton).—A boy in the sixth form.1881.Pascoe,Life in our Public Schools. Agodat Eton is probably in a more exalted position, and receives more reverence than will ever afterwards fall to his lot.A sight for the gods, phr. (common).—A matter of wonderment.1892.Hume Nisbet,Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 31. Stringy Bark prepared to greet his native land, wasa sight for the godsto behold with satisfaction, and men to view from afar with awed respect.[170]God Pays!phr.(old).—An expression at one time much in the mouth of disbanded soldiers and sailors (who assumed a right to live on the public charity). The modern form is, ‘If I don’t pay you, God Almighty will.’1605.LondonProdigal, ii., 3. But there be some that bear a soldier’s form, That swear by him they never think upon; Go swaggering up and down, from house to house, Crying,God pays.1630.Taylor, in wks. These feather’d fidlers sing, and leape, and play, The begger takes delight, andGod doth pay.1640.Ben Jonson,Epigr. XII.To every cause he meets, this voice he brays, His only answer is to all,God pays.God(orBramah)Knows:I don’t,phr.(common).—An emphatic rejoinder.1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes.Come Iddio vel dica., a phrase, as wee would say:God himselfe tell you, I cannot.Goddess Diana,subs. phr.(rhyming). A sixpence. For synonyms,seeTanner.1864.The Press, 12 Nov.Goddess dianais the rhyming equivalent for a tanner which signifies sixpence.God-dot!intj.(old).—An oath. By God! [A contraction of ‘God wot!’] For synonyms,seeOaths.Godfather,subs.(old).—A juryman.1598.Shakspeare,Merchant of Venice, iv. 1. In christ’ning thou shalt have twogodfathers, Had I been judge, thou should’st have had ten more, To bring thee to the gallows, not the font.1616.Ben Jonson,Devil’s An Ass, v., 5. Not I, If you be such a one, sir, I will leave you To yourgod-fathers in law. Let twelve men work.1638.Randolph,Muses’ Looking Glass, ix. 251. I had rather zee him remitted to the jail, and have his twelvegodvathers, good men and true, condemn him to the gallows.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.To stand Godfather,verb. phr.(common).—To pay the reckoning. [Godfathers being the objects of much solicitude and expectation.]1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Will you standgodfather, and we will take care of the brat? = repay you another time.Go-down,subs.(old).—1. A draught of liquor; ago(q.v.).2. (American).—Seequot.1881.New York Times, 18 Dec., quoted in ‘N and Q’ 6, S. v. 65.Go Down.—A cutting in the bank of a stream for enabling animals to cross or to get to water.God-permit,subs.(old).—A stage coach. [Which was advertised to startDeo volente.]1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.God-permit, a stage coach, from that affectation of piety, frequently to be met with in advertisements of stage coaches or waggons, where most of their undertakings are promised with ifGod permit, orGod willing.1825.Modern Flash Dict., s.v.God’s-mercy,subs.(old).—Ham (or bacon) and eggs. [‘There’s nothing in the house but God’s mercy’: at one time a common answer in country inns to travellers in quest of provant.]God’s-penny,subs.(old).—An earnest penny.1690. B. E.,Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.God’s Penny, Earnest Money, to Bind a Bargain.1765.Percy,Reliques, ‘The heir of Linne.’ Then John he did him to record draw, And John he cast him aGod’s pennie.Go-easter,subs.(American cowboys’).—A portmanteau; apeter(q.v.). [Because seldom used except in going city- or east-wards.][171]Goer,subs.(old).—1. The foot. For synonyms,seeCreepers.1557–1634.Chapman, inEncyclop. Dict.A double mantle, cast Athwart his shoulders, his fairegoersgrac’t With fitted shoes.2. (colloquial).—An expert or adept; as in drawing, talking, riding; one well up to his (or her) work: generally with an adjective, ase.g.,a fast(orhell of a)goer= a good goer.1857.G. A. Lawrence,Guy Livingstone, ch. xx. Nevertheless, she was always deeply engaged, and generally to the bestgoersin the room.Goff.SeeMrs. Goff.Goggles,subs.(common).—1. A goggle-eyed person. AlsoGoggler.1647.Beaumont and Fletcher,Knight of Malta, v., 2. Do you stare,goggles?1891.Clark Russell,Ocean Tragedy, p. 51. No use sending blind man aloft,gogglerslike myself, worse luck.2.in. pl.(common).—The eyes: specifically those with a constrained or rolling stare; alsoGoggle-eyes.Goggle-eyed= squint-eyed.1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes,Strabo, he that looketh a squint or isgoggle-eide.c.1746.Robertson of Struan,Poems, 69. An eagle of a dwarfish size, With crooked Beak, andgogle eyes.1691–1763.Byrom,Dissection of a Beau’s Head. Those muscles, in English, wherewith a man ogles, When on a fair lady he fixes hisgoggles.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1821.Pierce Egan,Life in London, p. 241. Rolling yourgogglesabout after all manner of people.3.in. pl.(common).—Spectacles. For synonyms,seeBarnacles.Verb(colloquial).—Goggle= to roll the eyes; to stare.1577–87.Holinshed,Description of Ireland, ch. i. Theygogglewith their eyes hither and thither.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Goggle, to stare.1820–37.Walpole,Letters, iii., 174. Hegoggledhis eyes.1880.Millikin,Punch’s Almanack, April. Scissors! don’t theygoggleand look blue.Gogmagog,subs.(colloquial).—A goblin; a monster; a frightful apparition.—Hood.Going,subs.(colloquial).—The condition of a road, a piece of ground, a cinder-path:i.e., the accommodation for travelling.E.g.,the goingis bad.1872.Morning Post, 19 Aug. The Lamb’s starting in the Frankfort steeple-chase will depend upon the state of the ground, and, avoiding Wiesbaden, where thegoingis indifferent.1883.Daily Telegraph, 23 Nov. Thegoingwas wonderfully clean for the time of year.Goings-on,subs.(colloquial).—Behaviour; proceedings; conduct.Cf.,Carryings on.1845.Douglas Jerrold,Mrs. Caudle, Lecture viii. Pretty place it must be where they don’t admit women. Nicegoings-on, I daresay, Mr. Caudle.1870.Lloyd’s Newspaper, 11 Sept. ‘Review.’ Elsie is beloved by Gawthwaite, the village schoolmaster, and he takes her to task for hergoings-on.Goldarned(orGoldurned,Goldasted, etc.),adj.(common).—A mild form of oath: =Blamed(q.v.);Bloody(q.v.).SeeOaths. Asintj.,Goldarn it!etc.1888.American Humorist.‘Bill, are you hurt?’ ‘Yes, by gum; I’ve broke mygoldarnedneck.’[172]1888.Cincinnati Enquirer.Finally, Deacon Spalding broke out with: ‘ThatgoldastedSt. Louis mugwump has made suckers of us again with his cracks about coming into the league. I move we adjourn.’Gold-backed ’Un,subs.(common).—A louse. AlsoGrey-backed ’un. For synonyms,seeChates.Gold Bug,subs. phr.(American).—A man of wealth and (inferentially) distinction; a millionaire.SeeBug.1888.St. Louis Globe Democrat, Mar. 5. I do not think the feeling against silver is anything like as strong as it was. Of course, a fewgold bugsmight fight him.Gold-dropper,subs.(old).—A sharper. An old-time worker of the confidence trick.Seequots. AlsoGold-finder.1690. B. E.,Cant. Crew, s.v.Gold-droppers, Sweetners, Cheats, Sharpers.1748.T. Dyche,Dictionary(5th ed.).Gold-finder(s.) … also a cant name for a cheat, who under the pretence of finding a piece of money, and inviting a by-stander to partake of a treat, etc., out of it, endeavours to get him to play at cards, dice, etc., in order to win or cheat him of his money; they are sometimes also calledguinea-droppers.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Sharpers who drop a piece of gold, which they pick up in the presence of some unexperienced person, for whom the trap is laid, this they pretend to have found, and, as he saw them pick it up, they invite him to a public house to partake of it: when there, two or three of their comrades drop in, as if by accident, and propose cards, or some other game, when they seldom fail of stripping their prey.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Golden-cream,subs.(thieves’).—Rum.1889.ClarksonandRichardson,Police, p. 321, s.v.Gold-end Man,subs. phr.(old).—An itinerant jeweller; a buyer of old gold and silver. [Gold-end= a broken piece of jewellery.] AlsoGoldsmith’s Apprentice.SeeEastward Hoe.1610.Jonson,Alchemist, ii., 1. I know him not, he looks like agold-end man.1622.Fletcher,Beggar’s Bush, iii., 1.Hig.Have ye anyends of goldor silver?Golden Grease,subs. phr.(old).—A fee; also a bribe. For synonyms,seePalm Oil.Goldfinch,subs.(old).—1. A well-to-do man; awarm ’un(q.v.).1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Goldfinch,c.He that has alwaies a Purse or Cod of Gold in his Fob.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1852.Judson,Mysteries, etc., of New York, ch. iv. ‘Was the swell agoldfinch?’ ‘He wasn’t nothin’ else. Got a clean ten times ten out of him.’Ibid.‘It’ll be a great lay, if the game’s fat. Is it agoldfinch?’ ‘Fifty thousand, hard dust.’2. (common).—A guinea; a sovereign. For synonyms,seeCanary.1700.Farquhar,Constant Couple, ii., 2.Sir H.Don’t you love singing-birds, madam?Angel(aside). That’s an odd question for a lover; (aloud) Yes, sir.Sir H.Why, then, madam, here is a nest of the prettiestgoldfinchesthat ever chirped in a cage.1822.Scott,The Fortunes of Nigel, ch. iv. Put your monies aside, my lord; it is not well to be seen with suchgoldfincheschirping about one in the lodgings of London.1826.Buckstone,Luke the Labourer, iii., 4. Good-night, noble captain. Pipe all hands at five o’clock, for I’ve a day’s work to do. We’ll jig it to-morrow, to the piping ofgold-finches.1834.W. H. Ainsworth,Rookwood, p. 101 (ed. 1864). Here’s a handful ofgoldfinchesready to fly.Goldfinch’s Nest,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.1827.The Merry Muses, p. 70. And soon laid his hand on thegoldfinch’s nest.[173]Gold-finder,subs.(old).—1. An emptier of privies. AlsoTom-turd-man;Gong-man; andNight-man. Fr.,un fouille-merde;un fifi. Alsopasser la jambe à Jules= to upsetMrs. Jones,i.e., to empty the privy tub.1611.Cotgrave,Dictionarie,Gadouard, agould-finder, Jakes-farmer.1635.Feltham,Resolves. As ourgoldfinders… in the night and darkness thrive on stench and excrements.1653.Middleton,Sp. Gipsy, ii., 2, p. 398 (Mermaid series). And if his acres, being sold for a maravedii a turf for larks in cages, cannot fill this pocket, give ’em togoldfinders.1659.Torriano,Vocabolario, s.v.1704.Gentleman Instructed, p. 445 (1732). We will commit the further discussion of the poet to a committee ofgoldfinders, or a club of rake-kennels.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v2. (old).—A thief; agold-dropper(q.v.).Gold Hat-band,subs.(old University).—A nobleman undergraduate; atuft(q.v.).1628.Earle,Microcosmography. His companion is ordinarily some stale fellow that has been notorious for an ingle togold hatbands, whom hee admires at first, afterwards scornes.1889.Gentleman’s Mag., June, p. 598. Noblemen at the universities, since known as ‘tufts,’ because of the gold tuft or tassle to their cap, were then known asgold hatbands.Goldie-locks,subs.(old).—A flaxen-haired woman.Goldy-locked= golden haired.1598.Florio,Worlde of Wordes.Biondella… a golden-lockt wench, as we say agoldilocks.1605.Ben Jonson,The Fox, i., 1. Thence it fled forth, and made quick transmigration togoldy-lockedEuphorbus.Gold Mine,subs. phr.(common).—A profitable investment; a store of wealth, material or intellectual.1664.H. Peacham,Worth of a Penny, in Arber’sGarner, vol. VI., p. 249. Some men … when they have met with agold mine, so brood over and watch it, day and night, that it is impossible for Charity to be regarded, Virtue rewarded, or Necessity relieved.1830Tennyson,Dream of Fair Women, p. 274.Gold-minesof thought—to lift the hidden ore.1882.Thormanby,Famous Racing Men, p. 81. Mendicant … ran nowhere in the Cup … in reality she was destined to prove agold mine, for ten years afterwards she brought her owner £80,000 through her famous son, Beadsman.1883.Sat. Review, 28 Apr. 533/2. His victory proved agold mineto the professional bookmakers.1887.Froude,Eng. in West Indies, ch. v. Every one was at law with his neighbour, and the island was agold mineto the Attorney-General.Golgotha,subs.(old).—1. The Dons’ gallery at Cambridge; also applied to a certain part of the theatre at Oxford. [That is, ‘the place of skulls’:Cf., Luke xxiii. 33, and Matthew xxvii. 33, whence the pun: Dons being the heads of houses.]1730.Jas. Miller,Humours of Oxford, Act ii., p. 23 (2nd ed.). Sirrah, I’ll have you put in the black-book, rusticated,—expelled—I’ll have youcoram nobisatGolgotha, where you’ll be bedevilled, Muck-worm, you will.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1791.G. Huddesford,Salmagundi, (Note on, p. 150).Golgotha, ‘The place of a Scull,’ a name ludicrously affixed to the Place in which the Heads of Colleges assemble.1808.J. T. Conybearein C. K. Sharpe’sCorrespondence(1888), i., 324. The subject then, of the ensuing section isOxford News… we will begin bygolgotha… Cole has already obtained the Headship of Exeter, and Mr. Griffiths … is to have that of University.[174]2. (common).—Hence, a hat.English Synonyms.—Battle of the Nile (rhyming,i.e., atile[q.v.]); bell-topper; billy-cock; beaver; box-hat; cady; canister cap; castor; chummy; cathedral; chimney; chimney-pot; cock; colleger; cock-and-pinch; cowshooter; David; deerstalker; digger’s delight; fantail; felt; Gibus; gomer (Winchester); goss; moab; molocher; mortar-board; muffin-cap; mushroom; nab; nap; napper; pantile; pimple-cover; pill-box; plug-hat; pot; shako; shovel; sleepless hat; sou’wester; stove-pipe; strawer; thatch; tile; topper; truck; upper-crust; wash-pot; wee-jee; wide-awake.French Synonyms.—Un accordéon(popular: an opera hat);une ardoise(= a tile);une bâche(thieves’: also an awning);une biscopeorviscope(vulgar);un blockaus(vulgar: a shako);un bloumardorune bloume(popular);une boîte à cornes(a horn case;i.e., a cover for a cuckold);un Bolivar(from the hero of 1820);un boisseau(also = a bushel);un bosselard(schoolboys’: frombosselé= bruised or dented);un cabas(popular: = old hat; also basket or bag);un cadratin(printers’ = a stove-pipe);un caloquet(thieves’);cambriau,cambrieux, orcambriot(popular);un capet(from old French,capel);une capsule(popular = a percussion cap);un carbeluche galicé(a silk hat);une casque(= helmet);un chapska(= a shako);une cheminée(popular: = chimney-pot);une corniche(popular: = a cornice);un couvercle(popular: = pot-lid);une couvrante;un couvre-amour(military);un cylindre(= a stove-pipe);un Desfoux(from the maker’s name);un epicéphale(students’: from the Greek);un gadin(an old hat);un galureorgalurin(popular);un Garibaldi;un Gibus(from the inventor’s name);un lampion(thieves’: = grease-pot);un loubion(thieves’);un marquin(thieves’);un monument(popular);un nid d’hirondelle;un niolle(thieves’: an old hat);un tromblon(obsolete = blunderbuss);un tubard,tube, ortube à haute pression(= a cylinder);une tuile(= a tile);une tuyau de poêle(= a stove-pipe).German Synonyms.—Bre(Viennese);Kowe(from the Hebrew,kowa).Italian Synonyms.—Bufala,bacchaorbiffacha;crestaorcristiana(= a cruet);fungo(= mushroom).Spanish Synonyms.—Tejadoortecho(= tiled roof).Goliath,subs.(colloquial).—1. A big man.2. A man of mark among thePhilistines(q.v.). [Mr. Swinburne described the late Matthew Arnold as ‘David, the son ofGoliath.’]Goll,subs.(old).—The hand; usuallyin. pl.SeeBunch of FivesandDaddle.1601.B. Jonson,Poetaster, v., Bring the whoreson detracting slaves to the bar, do; make them hold vp their spreadgolls.1602.Dekker,Satiro-Mastrix, in wks. (1873), i., 203. Holde up thy hand: I ha seene the day thou didst not scorne to holde vp thygolles.1611.Middleton,Roaring Girl, Act i. This is thegollshall do’t.[175]1620.Middleton,Chaste Maid, ii., 2. What theirgollscan clutch.1634.S. Rowley,Noble Souldier, Act ii., Sc. 2.Bal.Saist thou me so? give me thygoll, thou art a noble girle.1659.Massinger,City Madam, iv., i. All the gamesters are ambitious to shake the goldengollsof worshipful master Luke.1661.T. Middleton,Mayor of Quinborough, v., i. Down with hisgolls, I charge you.1672.Dryden,The Assignation, Act iii., Sc. 1. A simperer at lower end of a table, With mightygolls, rough-grained, and red with starching.1787.Grose,Prov. Glossary.Goll, a hand or fist; give me thygoll.1803.C. K. SharpeinCorrespondence(1888), i., 179. Miss Reid with her silk coat and greasiegolls.Gollop,verb.(common).—To swallow greedily; to gulp. For synonyms,seeWolf.Gollumpus,subs.(old).—A clumsy lout.—Grose.Golly!—A contraction ofBy Golly!(q.v.).1890.R. L. Stevenson,The Wrong Box, p. 275.Golly!what a paper!Goloptious(orGolopshus),adj.(common).—Splendid; fine; delicious; luscious.1888.Sporting Life, 7 Dec. It would better scoop the situation if it were described asgoloptious.Goloshes,subs.(colloquial).—India rubber overshoes. ButseeGrose.1796.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Goloshes,i.e.Goliah’s shoes. Large leathern clogs, worn by invalids over their ordinary shoes.Gombeen-man,subs.(Irish).—A usurer; a money-lender; a sharking middleman. For synonyms,seeSixty-per-cent.Gomer,subs.(Winchester College).—1. A large pewter dish used in college.2. (Winchester College).—A new hat.SeeGolgotha.Gommy,subs.(old).—1. A dandy. Fr.,gommeux. [Anglo-Saxon,guma= a man; a person:gomme=gommer=gammer.Cf.,Gomus. Beaumont hasgom= a man.]2. (colloquial).—Seequot.1883.Weekly Dispatch, 11 Mar., p. 7, c. 4. There has recently been considerable debate as to the meaning of the termgommie. It is very simple. A gommie is one who calls Mr. Gladstone a G.O.M. [Grand Old Man], and thinks he has made a good joke.3. (colloquial).—A fool. For synonyms,seeBuffleandCabbage-head.Gomus,subs.(Irish).—A fool. For synonyms,seeBuffleandCabbage-head.Gondola,subs.(American).—1. A railway platform car, sideless or low-sided. Also a flat-bottomed boat.Gondola of London,subs. phr.(common).—A hansom cab; ashoful(q.v.). [The description is Lord Beaconsfield’s.]

1871.Morning Advertiser, 2 Feb., ‘A curtain lecture.’ On … arrival home the derelict husband is to begone forin the most approved style of the late lamented Mrs. Caudle.1883.James Payn,Thicker than Water, ch. xxxvii. There were occasions … when Charley could hardly helpgoing forthe legs of that lofty philosopher, for higher he could not hit him.1889.Polytechnic Magazine, 24 Oct., p. 261. Hewent forthe jam tarts unmercifully.1889.Star, 24 Aug., p. 4, c. 2. As the enlightened tailor still declined to pay the blackmail one of the anti-machinistswent forhim with a chopper.1892.Tit Bits, 19 Mar., p. 424, c. 1. So it comes to much the same thing, with the exception that you cannot indulge in the sad delight ofgoing forMaster Bertie sometimes as you might do were he a member of your own household.1892.Hume Nisbet,Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 123. “Well mate,go for him, and we’ll keep the cops off till you settle his hash.”3. (colloquial).—To support; to favour; to vote for.4. (theatrical).—To criticise; specifically, to run down. [An extension of sense 2.] For synonyms,seeRun down.To go in for(orat),verb. phr.(colloquial).—To enter for; to apply oneself to (e.g.,to go in forhonours). Also to devote oneself to (e.g., to pay court); to take up (as a pastime, pursuit, hobby, or principle). Closely allied togo for.1836.C. Dickens,Pickwick Papers, p. 18 (ed. 1857). This advice was very like that which bystanders invariably give to the smallest boy in a street fight; namely, ‘Go in, and win’: an admirable thing to recommend, if you only know how to do it.1849.Dickens,David Copperfield, ch. xviii., p. 162. Sometimes Igo in atthe butcher madly, and cut my knuckles open against his face.1864.Dickens,Our Mutual Friend, iii., 3.Go in formoney——Money’s the article.1869.Whyte Melville,M. or N., p. 31. Long before he had reached his uncle’s house, he had made up his mind togo in, as he called it,forMiss Bruce, morally confident of winning, yet troubled with certain chilling misgivings, as fearing thatthistime he had really fallen in love.1870.Agricultural Jour., Feb. Men whogo in forbathing, running, etc.1872.Besant and Rice,My Little Girl(inOnce a Week, 14 Dec., p. 508). He had, after a laborious and meritorious career at Aberdeen,gone in forScotch mission work in Constantinople.1873.Miss Broughton,Nancy, ch. xlv. His cheeks are flushed; he is laughing loudly, andgoing inheavilyforthe champagne.[163]1883.James Payn,Thicker than Water, ch. xx. This is very nice, but I do wonder, Mrs. Tidman, that you nevergo in forcurries.1890.H. D. Traill, ‘A Noble Watchword,’Sat. Songs, p. 58. To go in solid for the cause how noble! (though, ’tis true, We must hope at next election that you’llgo inliquid, too).To go in unto,verb. phr.(Biblical).—To have sexual intercourse with. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.1892.Bible, Gen. xxx. 3. Behold my maid Bilhah,go in unto her.To go it,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To act with vigour and daring; to advocate or speak strongly; to live freely. Also togo it blind,fast,bald-headed,strong, etc.Cf.,Dash.1689 (inArber,Eng. Garner, vol. VII., p. 365). When these had shared her cargo, they parted company: the French with their shareswent itfor Petty Guavas in the Grand Gustaphus.1821.Egan,Tom and Jerry[people’s ed.], p. 67. Logic, under the domino, had beengoing iton a few of his friends with much humour.Ibid., p. 22.To go it, where’s a place like London?1837.R. H. Barham,The Ingoldsby Legends(Ed. 1862), p. 375. For of this be assured, if yougo it too fast, you’ll be ‘dished’ like Sir Guy.1846–48.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, vol. I., ch. 26. ‘He’sgoing it pretty fast,’ said the clerk.1849.Dickens,David Copperfield, ch. 6. I say young Copperfield, you’regoing it.1841.Dow,Sermons, vol. I., p. 176. I would have you understand, my dear hearers, that I have no objection to some of the sons and daughters of the earthgoing it, while they are young, provided they don’tgo it too strong.1864.Fraser’s Mag., Aug., p. 54. But what if that O, brave heart? Art thou a labourer? Labour on, Art thou a poet?Go it strong.1880.Milliken, inPunch’s AlmanackApr. Nobby togs, high jinks, and lots o’ lotion, That’s the style togo it, I’ve a notion.Intj.(common).—Keep at it! Keep it up!—a general (sometimes ironical) expression of encouragement. Alsogo it ye gripples, crutches are cheap!(ornewgate’s on fire);go it, my tulip;go it my gay and festive cuss!(Artemus Ward); or (American)go it boots!go it rags!i’ll hold your bonnet!g’lang! (usually to a man making the pace on foot or horseback.) For similar expressionsseeMother. Fr.,hardi!1840.Thackeray,Cox’s Diary. Come along this way, ma’am!Go it, ye cripples!1854.Thackeray,The Rose and the Ring, p. 92. ‘Go it, old boy!’ cried the impetuous Smith.1868.Miss Braddon,Trail of the Serpent, bk. I., ch. iii. Three cheers for red!Go it—go it, red!1890.Tit Bits, 1 Mar., p. 325. ‘Not for Joe’ … came from a once popular song. So didgo it, you cripples.To go out,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To fall into disuse.1841.Punch, vol. I., p. 113. Pockets, … to use the flippant idiom of the day, aregoing out.To go over,verb. phr.(colloquial).—1. To desert from one side to another; specifically (clerical) to join the Church of Rome; tovert(q.v.).1861.Thackeray,Lovel the Widwer, ch. ii. I remember Pye, of Maudlin, just before hewent over, was perpetually in Miss Prior’s back parlour with little books, pictures, medals, etc.1878.Miss Braddon,Open Verdict, ch. vi. Mr. Dulcimer is a horrid person to tell you such stories; and after this, I shouldn’t be at all surprised at hisgoing overto Rome.2. (colloquial).—To die;i.e., togo over tojoin the majority. Also togo off.To go off[164]the hooks,to go under,to go aloft, andto go up.1848.Ruxton,Life in the Far West, p. 4. ‘A sight, marm, this coon’sgone over.’Ibid., p. 3. Them three’s allgone under.3. (thieves’).—To attack, rifle, and rob.1889.Referee, 2 June. A few who had …gone overthe landlord, left him skinned.To go off,verb. phr.(colloquial).—1. To take place; to occur.1866.Mrs. Gaskell,Wives and Daughters, ch. xiv. The weddingwent offmuch as such affairs do.2. (colloquial).—To be disposed of (as goods on sale, or a woman in marriage).1835.Dickens,Sketches by Boz, p. 208. Miss Malderton was as well known as the lion on the top of Northumberland House, and had an equal chance ofgoing off.3. (colloquial).—To deteriorate (as fish by keeping, or a woman with years).1883.Pall Mall Gazette, 16 Apr., p. 3, c. 2.Shotover ratherwent offin the Autumn, and her Leger preparation was not altogether satisfactory.1892.Tit-Bits, 17 Sept., p. 422, c. 3. To those … who are apt togo off colour, so to speak, through injudicious indulgence at table.4. (colloquial).—To die. For synonyms,seeAloft.1606.Shakspeare,Macbeth, v., 7. I would the friends we miss were safe arrived: Some mustgo off.1836.C. Dickens,Pickwick Papers(about 1827), p. 368 (Ed. 1857). She’s dead, God bless her, and thank him for it!—was seized with a fit andwent off.Go as you please,adj. phr.(athletics’).—Applied to races where the competitors can run, walk, or rest at will:e.g., in time and distance races. Hence, general freedom of action.1884.Punch, 11 Oct. ‘’Arry at a Political Picnic’ ’Twas regulargo as you please.To go to Bath, Putney, etc.—SeeBath,Blazes,Hell,Halifax, etc.To go through,verb. phr.(American).—1. To rob:i.e., to turn inside out. Hence, to master violently and completely; to make an end of.1872.Evening Standard, 21 June. The roughs would work their will, and, in their own phrase,go throughNew York pretty effectually.1888.Baltimore Sun.He was garrotted, and the two robberswent throughhim before he could reach the spot.Ibid.It was a grand sight to see Farnsworthgo throughhim; he did not leave him a single leg to stand upon.2. (venery).—To possess a woman. For synonyms,seeRide.To go up(orunder),verb. phr.(colloquial).—1. To go to wreck and ruin; to become bankrupt; to disappear from society. Also, to die. For synonyms,seeDeadbroke.1864.The Index, June. Soon after the blockade, many thought we shouldgo upon the salt question.1879.Jas. Payn,High Spirits (Finding His Level). Poor John Weybridge, Esq., became as friendless as penniless, and eventuallywent under, and was heard of no more.1890.Pall Mall Gaz., 29 May, p. 5, c. 1. He asks us further to state that the strike is completely at an end, the society havinggone under.2. (colloquial).—To die:Cf.Ger.:untergehen. For synonyms,seeAloft.18(?).Hawkeye, The Iowa Chief, p. 210. Poor Hawkeye felt, says one of his biographers, that his time had come, and[165]knowing that he mustgo undersooner or later, he determined to sell his life dearly.1849.Ruxton,Life in the far West, p. 2. Themthree’sallgone under.1888.Daily Inter. Ocean, Mar. All solemnly vowed to see that the mine should be worked solely for the benefit of the girl whether Jim lived or hadgone under.To go up,verb. phr.(American).—To die; specifically to die by the rope.1867.Hepworth Dixon,New America, i., 11. Unruly citizens are summarily hung on a cotton tree, and when any question is asked about them, the answer is briefly given,gone up—i.e., gone up the cotton tree, or suspended from one of its branches.To go up for,verb. phr.(common).—To enter for (as an examination).1889.Globe, 12 Oct., p. 1, c. 4.Always, it seems likely, there will be mengoing up forexaminations; and every now and again, no doubt, there will be among them a wily ‘Heathen Pass-ee’ like him of whom Mr. Hilton speaks—who had cribs up his sleeve, and notes on his cuff.To go with,verb. phr.(colloquial).—1. To agree or harmonise with.SeeGee.2. (colloquial).—To share the sexual embrace. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.On the go,adv. phr.(colloquial).—On the move; restlessly active.No go,adv. phr.(colloquial).—Of no use; not to be done; a complete failure. Frequently contracted toN.G.1835.Dickens,Sketches by Boz, p. 18. I know something about this here family, and my opinion is, it’sno go.1853.Diogenes, vol. II., p. 271. Dear master, don’t think of me ill; If I say—as the lists areno go—You’ve in future no fear for the till!1884.Notes and Queries, 6 S., x., p. 125. There were on the occasion so many rounds and so manyno goes.1888.Puck’s Library, May, p. 12. He thought a moment, and shook his head. It’sno gowas the dictum.1890.Punch, 22 Feb., p. 85. He’s a long-winded lot, is Buchanan, slops over tremenjous, he do;… But cackle and splutter ain’t swimming; so Robert, my nabs, it’sno go.1892.J. McCarthyandMrs. Campbell-Praed,Ladies’ Gallery, p. 84. She sees it isno gowith the baronet.A little bit on the go,adv. phr.(old).—Slightly inebriated; elevated. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.1821.Egan,Tom and Jerry[peoples’ ed.], p. 58. The Corinthian had made hima little bit on the go.Goad,subs.(old).—1. A decoy at auctions; a horse-chaunter; apeter funk(q.v.). [One who goads (i.e., sends up) the prices.]1609.Dekker, Lanthorne and Candle light, ch. x. They that stand by and conycatche the chapman either with out-bidding, false praises, etc., are calledgoades.1690. B. E.,Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.Goads, those that wheedle in Chapmen for Horse-coursers,1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.2.in. pl.(old).—False dice.—Chapman.For synonyms,seeIvories.Goal,subs.(Winchester College).—1. At football the boy who stands at the centre of each end, acting as umpire; and (2) the score of three points made when the ball is kicked between his legs, or over his head without his touching it.1870.Mansfield,School-Life at Winchester College, p. 138. Midway between each of the two ends of the line was stationed another boy, as umpire (Goal, he was called) who stood with his legs wide apart, and a gown rolled up at each foot: if the ball was kicked directly over his head, or between his legs, without his touching it, it was agoal, and scored three for the party that kicked it.Goaler’s Coach.SeeGaoler’s Coach.[166]Go-along,subs.(thieves’).—A fool; aflat(q.v.). For synonyms,seeBuffleandCabbage Head.1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 460. In four days my adviser left me; he had no more use for me. I was a flat. He had me for ago-along, to cry his things for him.1853.Household Words, No. 183. s.v. ‘Slang.’Goat,subs.(old).—A lecher; amolrower(q.v.).1599.Shakspeare,Henry V., iv., 4. Thou damn’d and luxurious mountaingoat.1690. B. E.,Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.Goat, a Lecher, a very lascivious person.1717.Cibber,Nonjuror, i., 1. At the tea-table I have seen the impudentgoatmost lusciously sip off her leavings.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Verb(common).—1. To thrash. For synonyms,seeTan.1864.Derby Day, p. 70. You won’tgoatme? Not this journey.To play the goat.verb. phr.(common).—1. To play the fool; tomonkey(q.v.). Fr.,faire l’oiseau.2. (venery).—To lead a fast life; to be given tomolrowing(q.v.).To ride the goat,verb. phr.(common).—To be initiated into a secret society. [From the vulgar error that a live goat, for candidates to ride, is one of the standing properties of a Masonic lodge.]Goatee,subs.(colloquial).—A tufted beard on the point of a shaven chin. [In imitation of the tuft of hair on a goat’s chin.]English Synonyms(for a beard generally).—Charley; imperial; Newgate (or sweep’s) frill, or fringe.French Synonyms.—Une marmouse(thieves’);un impériale(colloquial: formerlyune royale);un boucorune bouquine(= a goatee);bacchantes(thieves’: the beard, but more especially the whiskers, frombâche= awning).German Synonym.—Soken(from the Hebrew; also = old man).Italian Synonyms.—Bosco di berlo(the forest on the face);settosa(= full of hair);spinola(= thorny).Spanish Synonym.—Bosque(= wood).1869.Orchestra, 18 June. Working carpenters with a stragglinggoateeon the chin, and a mass of unkempt hair on the head.Goater,subs.(American thieves’).—Dress. For synonyms,seeTogs.Goat-house,subs.(old).—A brothel. [FromGoat,subs., sense 1.] For synonyms,seeNanny-shop.Goatish,adj.(old, now recognised).—Lecherous. [As vieing with a goat in lust.] HenceGoatishly,adv., andGoatishness,subs.1622.Massinger and Dekker,Virgin Martyr, iii., 1. Give your chaste body up to the embraces ofgoatishlust.1605.Shakspeare,King Lear, i. 2. An admirable evasion of whoremaster-man, to lay hisgoatishdisposition to the charge of a star.[167]Goat-Milker,subs.(venery).—1. A prostitute. For synonyms,seeBarrack-hackandTart.2. (venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.Goat’s Jig(orGigg),subs.(old).—Copulation. For synonyms,seeGreens.—Grose.Go-away,subs.(American thieves’).—A railway-train.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v. The knuck was working thegoawaysat Jersey City.Gob(orGobbett),subs.(old: now vulgar). 1. A portion; a mouthful; a morsel. Also a gulp; abolt(q.v.). [Latin,gob= mouth: Old Fr.,gob= a gulp.] Skeat says the shorter formgobis rare.1380.Wycliffe,Trans. of Bible. Thei token the relifis of brokengobetistwelve cofres full.1542.Apop. of Erasmus[1878], p. 14. A bodie thinketh hymself well emende in his substaunce and riches, to whom hath happened some goodgubbeof money, and maketh a great whinyng if he haue had any losse of the same.1599.Nashe,Lenten Stuffe, in wks., v., 261. And thrust him downe his pudding house at agobbe.1605.Chapman,All Fools, Act iii., p. 62 (Plays, 1874).Ri.And do you think He’ll swallow down the gudgeon?Go.O my life, It were a grossgobwould not down with him.1611.L. Barry,Ram. Alley, I., i. That little land he gave, Throate the lawyer swallowed at onegobFor less than half the worth.1689.Selden,Table-Talk, p. 50 (Arber’s ed.). The meaning of the Law was, that so much should be taken from a man, such agobbetsliced off, that yet notwithstanding he might live in the same Rank and Condition he lived in before; but now they Fine men ten times more than they are worth.1690. B. E.,Dict. Canting Crew, s.v.Gob(c) … also a Bit or Morsel; hencegobbets, now more in use for little Bits.1748.T. Dyche,Dictionary(5th ed.).Goborgobbet(s.) a piece just big enough, or fit to be put into the mouth at once.1774.Foote,Cozeners, ii., 2. The venison was over-roasted, and stunk—but Doctor Dewlap twisted down suchgobsof fat.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1816.Johnson,Eng. Dict.(12th ed.).Gob, a small quantity, a low word.1869.S. L. Clemens(M. Twain),Innocents Abroad, ch. vii. It is pushed out into the sea on the end of a flat, narrow strip of land, and is suggestive of agobof mud on the end of a shingle.2. (common).—The mouth.Shut your gob= an injunction to silence.SeeGab.A spank on the gob= a blow on the mouth.Gob-full of claret= a bleeding at the mouth.Gift of the gaborgob,seeGab. For synonymsseePotato-trap.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Gob, the Mouth.1819.T. Moore,Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 18.Home-hitsin thebread-basket, clicks in thegob.Ibid., p. 30.1836.M. Scott,Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. 1. ‘All right—all right,’ I then exclaimed, as I thrust half a doubled-up muffin into mygob.1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 469. I managed somehow to turn mygob(mouth) round and gnawed it away.3. (common).—A mouthful of spittle. Fr.,un copeau; It.,smalzo di cavio(= gutter-butter). For synonyms,seeSixpences.Verb.(common).—1. To swallow in mouthfuls; to gulp down. Alsogobble(q.v.).[168]1692.L’Estrange,Fables. Down comes a kite powdering upon them, andgobbetsup both together.2. (common).—To expectorate. Fr.,glavioter(popular);molarder.Gobbie,subs.(nautical).—A coastguardsman; whencegobbie-ship, a man of war engaged in the preventive service.1890.Scotsman, 4 Aug. When a meeting takes place the men indulge in a protracted yarn and a draw of the pipe. The session involves a considerable amount of expectoration all round, whereby our friends come to be known asgobbies, and in process of time the term came to be applied to the ships engaged in the service.Ibid.There are no fewer than three othergobbie shipsin the channel fleet, each of which carries a considerable number of coastguardsmen putting in their annual period of drill.Gobble(orGobble up),verb.(vulgar).—To swallow hastily or greedily; hence (American) to seize, capture, or appropriate. Alsogob:e.g.,gobthat!1602.Dekker,Satiro-mastix, in wks. (1873) i. 233. They will come togobbledowne Plummes.1728.Swift,Misc. Poems, in wks. (1824) xiv. 232. The time too precious now to waste, The suppergobbledup in haste.1751.Smollett,Peregrine Pickle, ch. cvi. Summoned in such a plaguy hurry from his dinner, which he had been fain togobbleup like a cannibal.1846–48.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, vol. 1, ch. v. Mr. Jos. … helped Rebecca to everything on the table, and himselfgobbledand drank a great deal.1860.Thackeray,Philip, ch. xiii. There was a wily old monkey who thrust the cat’s paw out, and proposed togobbleup the smoking prize.Gobble-prick,subs.(old).—A lecherous woman.—Grose.Gobbler,subs.(old).—1. A duck.—Harman.2. (colloquial).—A turkey cock; abubbly-jock(q.v.). AlsoGobble-cock.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1851.Hooper,Widow Rugby’s Husband, etc., p. 94. Her face was as red as agobbler’ssnout.3. (vulgar).—The mouth. For synonyms,seePotato-trap.4. (colloquial).—A greedy eater. For synonyms,seeStodger.Gobbling,subs.(vulgar).—Gorging.1846–48.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, ch. iii., vol. 1. His mouth was full of it, his face quite red with the delightful exercise ofgobbling‘Mother, it’s as good as my own curries in India.’Go-between,subs.(old).—A pimp or bawd. Now an intermediary of any kind.1596.Shakspeare,Merry Wives of Windsor, Act ii., sc. 2. Even as you came into me, her assistant, orgo-between, parted from me.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Goblin,subs.(old).—A sovereign. For synonyms,seeCanary.1887.W. E. Henley,Villon’s Straight Tip. Your merrygoblinssoon stravag: Boose and the blowens cop the lot.Gob-box,subs.(common).—The mouth. [Fromgob,subs.] For synonyms,seePotato-trap.1773.Forster,Goldsmith, Bk. IV., ch. xiv., p. 414 (5th ed.). Shuter protesting in his vehement odd way that ‘the boy could patter,’ and ‘use thegob-boxas quick and smart as any of them.’1819.Scott,Bride of Lammermoor, ch. i. Your characters … made too much use of thegob-box; theypattertoo much.[169]Gob-stick,subs.(old).—A silver table-spoon. (In use in America = either spoon or fork); (nautical), a horn or wooden spoon.1789.Parker,Life’s Painter, s.v.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Gob-string(orGab-string),subs.(old).—A bridle.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Go-by,subs.(colloquial).—The act of passing; an evasion; a deception.To give one the go-by= to cut; to leave in the lurch.Cf.,Cut(subs.sense 2,verb.sense 2).1876.Hindley,Cheap Jack, p. 214. When we came in contact with a travelling bookseller we couldgive him the go-bywith our library.1892.R. L. Stevenson,Kidnapped, ch. ix. Shegave us the go-byin the fog—as I wish from the heart that ye had done yoursel’!1892.Sala’s Journal, 25 June, p. 194. Now can you understand how it is possible, and, I think, expedient,to givepoliticsthe go-by, so far as one conveniently can?Go-by-the-Ground,subs.(old).—A dumpy man or woman.—Grose.God,subs.(common).—1.in. pl., the occupants of the gallery at a theatre. [Said to have been first used by Garrick because they were seated on high, and close to the sky-painted ceiling.] Fr.,paradis= gallery; alsopoulailler. In feminine,Goddess.1772.Cumberland,Fashionable Lover[probably spoken by printer’s devil]. ’Tis odds For one poor devil to face so manygods.1812. J. andH. Smith,Rejected Addresses, p. 128 [ed. 1869]. Each one shillinggodwithin reach of a nod is, And plain are the charms of each gallerygoddess.1843.Thackeray,Irish Sketch Book, ch. xxvii. The gallery was quite full … one younggod, between the acts, favoured the public with a song.1872.M. E. Braddon,Dead Sea Fruit, ch. xiv. There come occasionally actors and actresses of higher repute, eager to gather new laurels in these untrodden regions, and not ill pleased to find themselves received with noisy rapture and outspoken admiration by the rudergodsand homeliergoddessesof a threepenny gallery.1890.Globe, 7 Apr., p. 2, c. 2. Thegods, or a portion of them, hooted and hissed while the National Anthem was being performed.1892.Sydney Watson,Wops the Waif, iii., iv. It is only when we have paid our ‘tuppence’ and ascended to the gallery just under the roof, known as ‘among thegods,’ that we begin to understand what is meant by the lowest classes, the ‘great unwashed.’1892.Pall Mall Gaz., 20 Apr., p. 2, c. 3. If theatre managers would only give the public the chance of as good a seat as can be got at the Trocadero or the Pavilion, at the same price, and manage the ventilation of their houses so as not to bake thegodsand freeze the ‘pitites,’ I venture to think that fewer people would go to the music halls.2.in. pl.(printers’).—The quadrats used injeffing(q.v.).3. (tailors’).—A block pattern.Gods of cloth= ‘classical tailors.’—Grose.SeeSnip.4. (Eton).—A boy in the sixth form.1881.Pascoe,Life in our Public Schools. Agodat Eton is probably in a more exalted position, and receives more reverence than will ever afterwards fall to his lot.A sight for the gods, phr. (common).—A matter of wonderment.1892.Hume Nisbet,Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 31. Stringy Bark prepared to greet his native land, wasa sight for the godsto behold with satisfaction, and men to view from afar with awed respect.[170]God Pays!phr.(old).—An expression at one time much in the mouth of disbanded soldiers and sailors (who assumed a right to live on the public charity). The modern form is, ‘If I don’t pay you, God Almighty will.’1605.LondonProdigal, ii., 3. But there be some that bear a soldier’s form, That swear by him they never think upon; Go swaggering up and down, from house to house, Crying,God pays.1630.Taylor, in wks. These feather’d fidlers sing, and leape, and play, The begger takes delight, andGod doth pay.1640.Ben Jonson,Epigr. XII.To every cause he meets, this voice he brays, His only answer is to all,God pays.God(orBramah)Knows:I don’t,phr.(common).—An emphatic rejoinder.1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes.Come Iddio vel dica., a phrase, as wee would say:God himselfe tell you, I cannot.Goddess Diana,subs. phr.(rhyming). A sixpence. For synonyms,seeTanner.1864.The Press, 12 Nov.Goddess dianais the rhyming equivalent for a tanner which signifies sixpence.God-dot!intj.(old).—An oath. By God! [A contraction of ‘God wot!’] For synonyms,seeOaths.Godfather,subs.(old).—A juryman.1598.Shakspeare,Merchant of Venice, iv. 1. In christ’ning thou shalt have twogodfathers, Had I been judge, thou should’st have had ten more, To bring thee to the gallows, not the font.1616.Ben Jonson,Devil’s An Ass, v., 5. Not I, If you be such a one, sir, I will leave you To yourgod-fathers in law. Let twelve men work.1638.Randolph,Muses’ Looking Glass, ix. 251. I had rather zee him remitted to the jail, and have his twelvegodvathers, good men and true, condemn him to the gallows.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.To stand Godfather,verb. phr.(common).—To pay the reckoning. [Godfathers being the objects of much solicitude and expectation.]1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Will you standgodfather, and we will take care of the brat? = repay you another time.Go-down,subs.(old).—1. A draught of liquor; ago(q.v.).2. (American).—Seequot.1881.New York Times, 18 Dec., quoted in ‘N and Q’ 6, S. v. 65.Go Down.—A cutting in the bank of a stream for enabling animals to cross or to get to water.God-permit,subs.(old).—A stage coach. [Which was advertised to startDeo volente.]1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.God-permit, a stage coach, from that affectation of piety, frequently to be met with in advertisements of stage coaches or waggons, where most of their undertakings are promised with ifGod permit, orGod willing.1825.Modern Flash Dict., s.v.God’s-mercy,subs.(old).—Ham (or bacon) and eggs. [‘There’s nothing in the house but God’s mercy’: at one time a common answer in country inns to travellers in quest of provant.]God’s-penny,subs.(old).—An earnest penny.1690. B. E.,Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.God’s Penny, Earnest Money, to Bind a Bargain.1765.Percy,Reliques, ‘The heir of Linne.’ Then John he did him to record draw, And John he cast him aGod’s pennie.Go-easter,subs.(American cowboys’).—A portmanteau; apeter(q.v.). [Because seldom used except in going city- or east-wards.][171]Goer,subs.(old).—1. The foot. For synonyms,seeCreepers.1557–1634.Chapman, inEncyclop. Dict.A double mantle, cast Athwart his shoulders, his fairegoersgrac’t With fitted shoes.2. (colloquial).—An expert or adept; as in drawing, talking, riding; one well up to his (or her) work: generally with an adjective, ase.g.,a fast(orhell of a)goer= a good goer.1857.G. A. Lawrence,Guy Livingstone, ch. xx. Nevertheless, she was always deeply engaged, and generally to the bestgoersin the room.Goff.SeeMrs. Goff.Goggles,subs.(common).—1. A goggle-eyed person. AlsoGoggler.1647.Beaumont and Fletcher,Knight of Malta, v., 2. Do you stare,goggles?1891.Clark Russell,Ocean Tragedy, p. 51. No use sending blind man aloft,gogglerslike myself, worse luck.2.in. pl.(common).—The eyes: specifically those with a constrained or rolling stare; alsoGoggle-eyes.Goggle-eyed= squint-eyed.1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes,Strabo, he that looketh a squint or isgoggle-eide.c.1746.Robertson of Struan,Poems, 69. An eagle of a dwarfish size, With crooked Beak, andgogle eyes.1691–1763.Byrom,Dissection of a Beau’s Head. Those muscles, in English, wherewith a man ogles, When on a fair lady he fixes hisgoggles.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1821.Pierce Egan,Life in London, p. 241. Rolling yourgogglesabout after all manner of people.3.in. pl.(common).—Spectacles. For synonyms,seeBarnacles.Verb(colloquial).—Goggle= to roll the eyes; to stare.1577–87.Holinshed,Description of Ireland, ch. i. Theygogglewith their eyes hither and thither.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Goggle, to stare.1820–37.Walpole,Letters, iii., 174. Hegoggledhis eyes.1880.Millikin,Punch’s Almanack, April. Scissors! don’t theygoggleand look blue.Gogmagog,subs.(colloquial).—A goblin; a monster; a frightful apparition.—Hood.Going,subs.(colloquial).—The condition of a road, a piece of ground, a cinder-path:i.e., the accommodation for travelling.E.g.,the goingis bad.1872.Morning Post, 19 Aug. The Lamb’s starting in the Frankfort steeple-chase will depend upon the state of the ground, and, avoiding Wiesbaden, where thegoingis indifferent.1883.Daily Telegraph, 23 Nov. Thegoingwas wonderfully clean for the time of year.Goings-on,subs.(colloquial).—Behaviour; proceedings; conduct.Cf.,Carryings on.1845.Douglas Jerrold,Mrs. Caudle, Lecture viii. Pretty place it must be where they don’t admit women. Nicegoings-on, I daresay, Mr. Caudle.1870.Lloyd’s Newspaper, 11 Sept. ‘Review.’ Elsie is beloved by Gawthwaite, the village schoolmaster, and he takes her to task for hergoings-on.Goldarned(orGoldurned,Goldasted, etc.),adj.(common).—A mild form of oath: =Blamed(q.v.);Bloody(q.v.).SeeOaths. Asintj.,Goldarn it!etc.1888.American Humorist.‘Bill, are you hurt?’ ‘Yes, by gum; I’ve broke mygoldarnedneck.’[172]1888.Cincinnati Enquirer.Finally, Deacon Spalding broke out with: ‘ThatgoldastedSt. Louis mugwump has made suckers of us again with his cracks about coming into the league. I move we adjourn.’Gold-backed ’Un,subs.(common).—A louse. AlsoGrey-backed ’un. For synonyms,seeChates.Gold Bug,subs. phr.(American).—A man of wealth and (inferentially) distinction; a millionaire.SeeBug.1888.St. Louis Globe Democrat, Mar. 5. I do not think the feeling against silver is anything like as strong as it was. Of course, a fewgold bugsmight fight him.Gold-dropper,subs.(old).—A sharper. An old-time worker of the confidence trick.Seequots. AlsoGold-finder.1690. B. E.,Cant. Crew, s.v.Gold-droppers, Sweetners, Cheats, Sharpers.1748.T. Dyche,Dictionary(5th ed.).Gold-finder(s.) … also a cant name for a cheat, who under the pretence of finding a piece of money, and inviting a by-stander to partake of a treat, etc., out of it, endeavours to get him to play at cards, dice, etc., in order to win or cheat him of his money; they are sometimes also calledguinea-droppers.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Sharpers who drop a piece of gold, which they pick up in the presence of some unexperienced person, for whom the trap is laid, this they pretend to have found, and, as he saw them pick it up, they invite him to a public house to partake of it: when there, two or three of their comrades drop in, as if by accident, and propose cards, or some other game, when they seldom fail of stripping their prey.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Golden-cream,subs.(thieves’).—Rum.1889.ClarksonandRichardson,Police, p. 321, s.v.Gold-end Man,subs. phr.(old).—An itinerant jeweller; a buyer of old gold and silver. [Gold-end= a broken piece of jewellery.] AlsoGoldsmith’s Apprentice.SeeEastward Hoe.1610.Jonson,Alchemist, ii., 1. I know him not, he looks like agold-end man.1622.Fletcher,Beggar’s Bush, iii., 1.Hig.Have ye anyends of goldor silver?Golden Grease,subs. phr.(old).—A fee; also a bribe. For synonyms,seePalm Oil.Goldfinch,subs.(old).—1. A well-to-do man; awarm ’un(q.v.).1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Goldfinch,c.He that has alwaies a Purse or Cod of Gold in his Fob.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1852.Judson,Mysteries, etc., of New York, ch. iv. ‘Was the swell agoldfinch?’ ‘He wasn’t nothin’ else. Got a clean ten times ten out of him.’Ibid.‘It’ll be a great lay, if the game’s fat. Is it agoldfinch?’ ‘Fifty thousand, hard dust.’2. (common).—A guinea; a sovereign. For synonyms,seeCanary.1700.Farquhar,Constant Couple, ii., 2.Sir H.Don’t you love singing-birds, madam?Angel(aside). That’s an odd question for a lover; (aloud) Yes, sir.Sir H.Why, then, madam, here is a nest of the prettiestgoldfinchesthat ever chirped in a cage.1822.Scott,The Fortunes of Nigel, ch. iv. Put your monies aside, my lord; it is not well to be seen with suchgoldfincheschirping about one in the lodgings of London.1826.Buckstone,Luke the Labourer, iii., 4. Good-night, noble captain. Pipe all hands at five o’clock, for I’ve a day’s work to do. We’ll jig it to-morrow, to the piping ofgold-finches.1834.W. H. Ainsworth,Rookwood, p. 101 (ed. 1864). Here’s a handful ofgoldfinchesready to fly.Goldfinch’s Nest,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.1827.The Merry Muses, p. 70. And soon laid his hand on thegoldfinch’s nest.[173]Gold-finder,subs.(old).—1. An emptier of privies. AlsoTom-turd-man;Gong-man; andNight-man. Fr.,un fouille-merde;un fifi. Alsopasser la jambe à Jules= to upsetMrs. Jones,i.e., to empty the privy tub.1611.Cotgrave,Dictionarie,Gadouard, agould-finder, Jakes-farmer.1635.Feltham,Resolves. As ourgoldfinders… in the night and darkness thrive on stench and excrements.1653.Middleton,Sp. Gipsy, ii., 2, p. 398 (Mermaid series). And if his acres, being sold for a maravedii a turf for larks in cages, cannot fill this pocket, give ’em togoldfinders.1659.Torriano,Vocabolario, s.v.1704.Gentleman Instructed, p. 445 (1732). We will commit the further discussion of the poet to a committee ofgoldfinders, or a club of rake-kennels.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v2. (old).—A thief; agold-dropper(q.v.).Gold Hat-band,subs.(old University).—A nobleman undergraduate; atuft(q.v.).1628.Earle,Microcosmography. His companion is ordinarily some stale fellow that has been notorious for an ingle togold hatbands, whom hee admires at first, afterwards scornes.1889.Gentleman’s Mag., June, p. 598. Noblemen at the universities, since known as ‘tufts,’ because of the gold tuft or tassle to their cap, were then known asgold hatbands.Goldie-locks,subs.(old).—A flaxen-haired woman.Goldy-locked= golden haired.1598.Florio,Worlde of Wordes.Biondella… a golden-lockt wench, as we say agoldilocks.1605.Ben Jonson,The Fox, i., 1. Thence it fled forth, and made quick transmigration togoldy-lockedEuphorbus.Gold Mine,subs. phr.(common).—A profitable investment; a store of wealth, material or intellectual.1664.H. Peacham,Worth of a Penny, in Arber’sGarner, vol. VI., p. 249. Some men … when they have met with agold mine, so brood over and watch it, day and night, that it is impossible for Charity to be regarded, Virtue rewarded, or Necessity relieved.1830Tennyson,Dream of Fair Women, p. 274.Gold-minesof thought—to lift the hidden ore.1882.Thormanby,Famous Racing Men, p. 81. Mendicant … ran nowhere in the Cup … in reality she was destined to prove agold mine, for ten years afterwards she brought her owner £80,000 through her famous son, Beadsman.1883.Sat. Review, 28 Apr. 533/2. His victory proved agold mineto the professional bookmakers.1887.Froude,Eng. in West Indies, ch. v. Every one was at law with his neighbour, and the island was agold mineto the Attorney-General.Golgotha,subs.(old).—1. The Dons’ gallery at Cambridge; also applied to a certain part of the theatre at Oxford. [That is, ‘the place of skulls’:Cf., Luke xxiii. 33, and Matthew xxvii. 33, whence the pun: Dons being the heads of houses.]1730.Jas. Miller,Humours of Oxford, Act ii., p. 23 (2nd ed.). Sirrah, I’ll have you put in the black-book, rusticated,—expelled—I’ll have youcoram nobisatGolgotha, where you’ll be bedevilled, Muck-worm, you will.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1791.G. Huddesford,Salmagundi, (Note on, p. 150).Golgotha, ‘The place of a Scull,’ a name ludicrously affixed to the Place in which the Heads of Colleges assemble.1808.J. T. Conybearein C. K. Sharpe’sCorrespondence(1888), i., 324. The subject then, of the ensuing section isOxford News… we will begin bygolgotha… Cole has already obtained the Headship of Exeter, and Mr. Griffiths … is to have that of University.[174]2. (common).—Hence, a hat.English Synonyms.—Battle of the Nile (rhyming,i.e., atile[q.v.]); bell-topper; billy-cock; beaver; box-hat; cady; canister cap; castor; chummy; cathedral; chimney; chimney-pot; cock; colleger; cock-and-pinch; cowshooter; David; deerstalker; digger’s delight; fantail; felt; Gibus; gomer (Winchester); goss; moab; molocher; mortar-board; muffin-cap; mushroom; nab; nap; napper; pantile; pimple-cover; pill-box; plug-hat; pot; shako; shovel; sleepless hat; sou’wester; stove-pipe; strawer; thatch; tile; topper; truck; upper-crust; wash-pot; wee-jee; wide-awake.French Synonyms.—Un accordéon(popular: an opera hat);une ardoise(= a tile);une bâche(thieves’: also an awning);une biscopeorviscope(vulgar);un blockaus(vulgar: a shako);un bloumardorune bloume(popular);une boîte à cornes(a horn case;i.e., a cover for a cuckold);un Bolivar(from the hero of 1820);un boisseau(also = a bushel);un bosselard(schoolboys’: frombosselé= bruised or dented);un cabas(popular: = old hat; also basket or bag);un cadratin(printers’ = a stove-pipe);un caloquet(thieves’);cambriau,cambrieux, orcambriot(popular);un capet(from old French,capel);une capsule(popular = a percussion cap);un carbeluche galicé(a silk hat);une casque(= helmet);un chapska(= a shako);une cheminée(popular: = chimney-pot);une corniche(popular: = a cornice);un couvercle(popular: = pot-lid);une couvrante;un couvre-amour(military);un cylindre(= a stove-pipe);un Desfoux(from the maker’s name);un epicéphale(students’: from the Greek);un gadin(an old hat);un galureorgalurin(popular);un Garibaldi;un Gibus(from the inventor’s name);un lampion(thieves’: = grease-pot);un loubion(thieves’);un marquin(thieves’);un monument(popular);un nid d’hirondelle;un niolle(thieves’: an old hat);un tromblon(obsolete = blunderbuss);un tubard,tube, ortube à haute pression(= a cylinder);une tuile(= a tile);une tuyau de poêle(= a stove-pipe).German Synonyms.—Bre(Viennese);Kowe(from the Hebrew,kowa).Italian Synonyms.—Bufala,bacchaorbiffacha;crestaorcristiana(= a cruet);fungo(= mushroom).Spanish Synonyms.—Tejadoortecho(= tiled roof).Goliath,subs.(colloquial).—1. A big man.2. A man of mark among thePhilistines(q.v.). [Mr. Swinburne described the late Matthew Arnold as ‘David, the son ofGoliath.’]Goll,subs.(old).—The hand; usuallyin. pl.SeeBunch of FivesandDaddle.1601.B. Jonson,Poetaster, v., Bring the whoreson detracting slaves to the bar, do; make them hold vp their spreadgolls.1602.Dekker,Satiro-Mastrix, in wks. (1873), i., 203. Holde up thy hand: I ha seene the day thou didst not scorne to holde vp thygolles.1611.Middleton,Roaring Girl, Act i. This is thegollshall do’t.[175]1620.Middleton,Chaste Maid, ii., 2. What theirgollscan clutch.1634.S. Rowley,Noble Souldier, Act ii., Sc. 2.Bal.Saist thou me so? give me thygoll, thou art a noble girle.1659.Massinger,City Madam, iv., i. All the gamesters are ambitious to shake the goldengollsof worshipful master Luke.1661.T. Middleton,Mayor of Quinborough, v., i. Down with hisgolls, I charge you.1672.Dryden,The Assignation, Act iii., Sc. 1. A simperer at lower end of a table, With mightygolls, rough-grained, and red with starching.1787.Grose,Prov. Glossary.Goll, a hand or fist; give me thygoll.1803.C. K. SharpeinCorrespondence(1888), i., 179. Miss Reid with her silk coat and greasiegolls.Gollop,verb.(common).—To swallow greedily; to gulp. For synonyms,seeWolf.Gollumpus,subs.(old).—A clumsy lout.—Grose.Golly!—A contraction ofBy Golly!(q.v.).1890.R. L. Stevenson,The Wrong Box, p. 275.Golly!what a paper!Goloptious(orGolopshus),adj.(common).—Splendid; fine; delicious; luscious.1888.Sporting Life, 7 Dec. It would better scoop the situation if it were described asgoloptious.Goloshes,subs.(colloquial).—India rubber overshoes. ButseeGrose.1796.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Goloshes,i.e.Goliah’s shoes. Large leathern clogs, worn by invalids over their ordinary shoes.Gombeen-man,subs.(Irish).—A usurer; a money-lender; a sharking middleman. For synonyms,seeSixty-per-cent.Gomer,subs.(Winchester College).—1. A large pewter dish used in college.2. (Winchester College).—A new hat.SeeGolgotha.Gommy,subs.(old).—1. A dandy. Fr.,gommeux. [Anglo-Saxon,guma= a man; a person:gomme=gommer=gammer.Cf.,Gomus. Beaumont hasgom= a man.]2. (colloquial).—Seequot.1883.Weekly Dispatch, 11 Mar., p. 7, c. 4. There has recently been considerable debate as to the meaning of the termgommie. It is very simple. A gommie is one who calls Mr. Gladstone a G.O.M. [Grand Old Man], and thinks he has made a good joke.3. (colloquial).—A fool. For synonyms,seeBuffleandCabbage-head.Gomus,subs.(Irish).—A fool. For synonyms,seeBuffleandCabbage-head.Gondola,subs.(American).—1. A railway platform car, sideless or low-sided. Also a flat-bottomed boat.Gondola of London,subs. phr.(common).—A hansom cab; ashoful(q.v.). [The description is Lord Beaconsfield’s.]

1871.Morning Advertiser, 2 Feb., ‘A curtain lecture.’ On … arrival home the derelict husband is to begone forin the most approved style of the late lamented Mrs. Caudle.

1883.James Payn,Thicker than Water, ch. xxxvii. There were occasions … when Charley could hardly helpgoing forthe legs of that lofty philosopher, for higher he could not hit him.

1889.Polytechnic Magazine, 24 Oct., p. 261. Hewent forthe jam tarts unmercifully.

1889.Star, 24 Aug., p. 4, c. 2. As the enlightened tailor still declined to pay the blackmail one of the anti-machinistswent forhim with a chopper.

1892.Tit Bits, 19 Mar., p. 424, c. 1. So it comes to much the same thing, with the exception that you cannot indulge in the sad delight ofgoing forMaster Bertie sometimes as you might do were he a member of your own household.

1892.Hume Nisbet,Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 123. “Well mate,go for him, and we’ll keep the cops off till you settle his hash.”

3. (colloquial).—To support; to favour; to vote for.

4. (theatrical).—To criticise; specifically, to run down. [An extension of sense 2.] For synonyms,seeRun down.

To go in for(orat),verb. phr.(colloquial).—To enter for; to apply oneself to (e.g.,to go in forhonours). Also to devote oneself to (e.g., to pay court); to take up (as a pastime, pursuit, hobby, or principle). Closely allied togo for.

1836.C. Dickens,Pickwick Papers, p. 18 (ed. 1857). This advice was very like that which bystanders invariably give to the smallest boy in a street fight; namely, ‘Go in, and win’: an admirable thing to recommend, if you only know how to do it.

1849.Dickens,David Copperfield, ch. xviii., p. 162. Sometimes Igo in atthe butcher madly, and cut my knuckles open against his face.

1864.Dickens,Our Mutual Friend, iii., 3.Go in formoney——Money’s the article.

1869.Whyte Melville,M. or N., p. 31. Long before he had reached his uncle’s house, he had made up his mind togo in, as he called it,forMiss Bruce, morally confident of winning, yet troubled with certain chilling misgivings, as fearing thatthistime he had really fallen in love.

1870.Agricultural Jour., Feb. Men whogo in forbathing, running, etc.

1872.Besant and Rice,My Little Girl(inOnce a Week, 14 Dec., p. 508). He had, after a laborious and meritorious career at Aberdeen,gone in forScotch mission work in Constantinople.

1873.Miss Broughton,Nancy, ch. xlv. His cheeks are flushed; he is laughing loudly, andgoing inheavilyforthe champagne.[163]

1883.James Payn,Thicker than Water, ch. xx. This is very nice, but I do wonder, Mrs. Tidman, that you nevergo in forcurries.

1890.H. D. Traill, ‘A Noble Watchword,’Sat. Songs, p. 58. To go in solid for the cause how noble! (though, ’tis true, We must hope at next election that you’llgo inliquid, too).

To go in unto,verb. phr.(Biblical).—To have sexual intercourse with. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.

1892.Bible, Gen. xxx. 3. Behold my maid Bilhah,go in unto her.

To go it,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To act with vigour and daring; to advocate or speak strongly; to live freely. Also togo it blind,fast,bald-headed,strong, etc.Cf.,Dash.

1689 (inArber,Eng. Garner, vol. VII., p. 365). When these had shared her cargo, they parted company: the French with their shareswent itfor Petty Guavas in the Grand Gustaphus.

1821.Egan,Tom and Jerry[people’s ed.], p. 67. Logic, under the domino, had beengoing iton a few of his friends with much humour.

Ibid., p. 22.To go it, where’s a place like London?

1837.R. H. Barham,The Ingoldsby Legends(Ed. 1862), p. 375. For of this be assured, if yougo it too fast, you’ll be ‘dished’ like Sir Guy.

1846–48.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, vol. I., ch. 26. ‘He’sgoing it pretty fast,’ said the clerk.

1849.Dickens,David Copperfield, ch. 6. I say young Copperfield, you’regoing it.

1841.Dow,Sermons, vol. I., p. 176. I would have you understand, my dear hearers, that I have no objection to some of the sons and daughters of the earthgoing it, while they are young, provided they don’tgo it too strong.

1864.Fraser’s Mag., Aug., p. 54. But what if that O, brave heart? Art thou a labourer? Labour on, Art thou a poet?Go it strong.

1880.Milliken, inPunch’s AlmanackApr. Nobby togs, high jinks, and lots o’ lotion, That’s the style togo it, I’ve a notion.

Intj.(common).—Keep at it! Keep it up!—a general (sometimes ironical) expression of encouragement. Alsogo it ye gripples, crutches are cheap!(ornewgate’s on fire);go it, my tulip;go it my gay and festive cuss!(Artemus Ward); or (American)go it boots!go it rags!i’ll hold your bonnet!g’lang! (usually to a man making the pace on foot or horseback.) For similar expressionsseeMother. Fr.,hardi!

1840.Thackeray,Cox’s Diary. Come along this way, ma’am!Go it, ye cripples!

1854.Thackeray,The Rose and the Ring, p. 92. ‘Go it, old boy!’ cried the impetuous Smith.

1868.Miss Braddon,Trail of the Serpent, bk. I., ch. iii. Three cheers for red!Go it—go it, red!

1890.Tit Bits, 1 Mar., p. 325. ‘Not for Joe’ … came from a once popular song. So didgo it, you cripples.

To go out,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To fall into disuse.

1841.Punch, vol. I., p. 113. Pockets, … to use the flippant idiom of the day, aregoing out.

To go over,verb. phr.(colloquial).—1. To desert from one side to another; specifically (clerical) to join the Church of Rome; tovert(q.v.).

1861.Thackeray,Lovel the Widwer, ch. ii. I remember Pye, of Maudlin, just before hewent over, was perpetually in Miss Prior’s back parlour with little books, pictures, medals, etc.

1878.Miss Braddon,Open Verdict, ch. vi. Mr. Dulcimer is a horrid person to tell you such stories; and after this, I shouldn’t be at all surprised at hisgoing overto Rome.

2. (colloquial).—To die;i.e., togo over tojoin the majority. Also togo off.To go off[164]the hooks,to go under,to go aloft, andto go up.

1848.Ruxton,Life in the Far West, p. 4. ‘A sight, marm, this coon’sgone over.’Ibid., p. 3. Them three’s allgone under.

3. (thieves’).—To attack, rifle, and rob.

1889.Referee, 2 June. A few who had …gone overthe landlord, left him skinned.

To go off,verb. phr.(colloquial).—1. To take place; to occur.

1866.Mrs. Gaskell,Wives and Daughters, ch. xiv. The weddingwent offmuch as such affairs do.

2. (colloquial).—To be disposed of (as goods on sale, or a woman in marriage).

1835.Dickens,Sketches by Boz, p. 208. Miss Malderton was as well known as the lion on the top of Northumberland House, and had an equal chance ofgoing off.

3. (colloquial).—To deteriorate (as fish by keeping, or a woman with years).

1883.Pall Mall Gazette, 16 Apr., p. 3, c. 2.Shotover ratherwent offin the Autumn, and her Leger preparation was not altogether satisfactory.

1892.Tit-Bits, 17 Sept., p. 422, c. 3. To those … who are apt togo off colour, so to speak, through injudicious indulgence at table.

4. (colloquial).—To die. For synonyms,seeAloft.

1606.Shakspeare,Macbeth, v., 7. I would the friends we miss were safe arrived: Some mustgo off.

1836.C. Dickens,Pickwick Papers(about 1827), p. 368 (Ed. 1857). She’s dead, God bless her, and thank him for it!—was seized with a fit andwent off.

Go as you please,adj. phr.(athletics’).—Applied to races where the competitors can run, walk, or rest at will:e.g., in time and distance races. Hence, general freedom of action.

1884.Punch, 11 Oct. ‘’Arry at a Political Picnic’ ’Twas regulargo as you please.

To go to Bath, Putney, etc.—SeeBath,Blazes,Hell,Halifax, etc.

To go through,verb. phr.(American).—1. To rob:i.e., to turn inside out. Hence, to master violently and completely; to make an end of.

1872.Evening Standard, 21 June. The roughs would work their will, and, in their own phrase,go throughNew York pretty effectually.

1888.Baltimore Sun.He was garrotted, and the two robberswent throughhim before he could reach the spot.

Ibid.It was a grand sight to see Farnsworthgo throughhim; he did not leave him a single leg to stand upon.

2. (venery).—To possess a woman. For synonyms,seeRide.

To go up(orunder),verb. phr.(colloquial).—1. To go to wreck and ruin; to become bankrupt; to disappear from society. Also, to die. For synonyms,seeDeadbroke.

1864.The Index, June. Soon after the blockade, many thought we shouldgo upon the salt question.

1879.Jas. Payn,High Spirits (Finding His Level). Poor John Weybridge, Esq., became as friendless as penniless, and eventuallywent under, and was heard of no more.

1890.Pall Mall Gaz., 29 May, p. 5, c. 1. He asks us further to state that the strike is completely at an end, the society havinggone under.

2. (colloquial).—To die:Cf.Ger.:untergehen. For synonyms,seeAloft.

18(?).Hawkeye, The Iowa Chief, p. 210. Poor Hawkeye felt, says one of his biographers, that his time had come, and[165]knowing that he mustgo undersooner or later, he determined to sell his life dearly.

1849.Ruxton,Life in the far West, p. 2. Themthree’sallgone under.

1888.Daily Inter. Ocean, Mar. All solemnly vowed to see that the mine should be worked solely for the benefit of the girl whether Jim lived or hadgone under.

To go up,verb. phr.(American).—To die; specifically to die by the rope.

1867.Hepworth Dixon,New America, i., 11. Unruly citizens are summarily hung on a cotton tree, and when any question is asked about them, the answer is briefly given,gone up—i.e., gone up the cotton tree, or suspended from one of its branches.

To go up for,verb. phr.(common).—To enter for (as an examination).

1889.Globe, 12 Oct., p. 1, c. 4.Always, it seems likely, there will be mengoing up forexaminations; and every now and again, no doubt, there will be among them a wily ‘Heathen Pass-ee’ like him of whom Mr. Hilton speaks—who had cribs up his sleeve, and notes on his cuff.

To go with,verb. phr.(colloquial).—1. To agree or harmonise with.SeeGee.

2. (colloquial).—To share the sexual embrace. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.

On the go,adv. phr.(colloquial).—On the move; restlessly active.

No go,adv. phr.(colloquial).—Of no use; not to be done; a complete failure. Frequently contracted toN.G.

1835.Dickens,Sketches by Boz, p. 18. I know something about this here family, and my opinion is, it’sno go.

1853.Diogenes, vol. II., p. 271. Dear master, don’t think of me ill; If I say—as the lists areno go—You’ve in future no fear for the till!

1884.Notes and Queries, 6 S., x., p. 125. There were on the occasion so many rounds and so manyno goes.

1888.Puck’s Library, May, p. 12. He thought a moment, and shook his head. It’sno gowas the dictum.

1890.Punch, 22 Feb., p. 85. He’s a long-winded lot, is Buchanan, slops over tremenjous, he do;… But cackle and splutter ain’t swimming; so Robert, my nabs, it’sno go.

1892.J. McCarthyandMrs. Campbell-Praed,Ladies’ Gallery, p. 84. She sees it isno gowith the baronet.

A little bit on the go,adv. phr.(old).—Slightly inebriated; elevated. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.

1821.Egan,Tom and Jerry[peoples’ ed.], p. 58. The Corinthian had made hima little bit on the go.

Goad,subs.(old).—1. A decoy at auctions; a horse-chaunter; apeter funk(q.v.). [One who goads (i.e., sends up) the prices.]

1609.Dekker, Lanthorne and Candle light, ch. x. They that stand by and conycatche the chapman either with out-bidding, false praises, etc., are calledgoades.

1690. B. E.,Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.Goads, those that wheedle in Chapmen for Horse-coursers,

1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

2.in. pl.(old).—False dice.—Chapman.For synonyms,seeIvories.

Goal,subs.(Winchester College).—1. At football the boy who stands at the centre of each end, acting as umpire; and (2) the score of three points made when the ball is kicked between his legs, or over his head without his touching it.

1870.Mansfield,School-Life at Winchester College, p. 138. Midway between each of the two ends of the line was stationed another boy, as umpire (Goal, he was called) who stood with his legs wide apart, and a gown rolled up at each foot: if the ball was kicked directly over his head, or between his legs, without his touching it, it was agoal, and scored three for the party that kicked it.

Goaler’s Coach.SeeGaoler’s Coach.[166]

Go-along,subs.(thieves’).—A fool; aflat(q.v.). For synonyms,seeBuffleandCabbage Head.

1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 460. In four days my adviser left me; he had no more use for me. I was a flat. He had me for ago-along, to cry his things for him.

1853.Household Words, No. 183. s.v. ‘Slang.’

Goat,subs.(old).—A lecher; amolrower(q.v.).

1599.Shakspeare,Henry V., iv., 4. Thou damn’d and luxurious mountaingoat.

1690. B. E.,Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.Goat, a Lecher, a very lascivious person.

1717.Cibber,Nonjuror, i., 1. At the tea-table I have seen the impudentgoatmost lusciously sip off her leavings.

1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Verb(common).—1. To thrash. For synonyms,seeTan.

1864.Derby Day, p. 70. You won’tgoatme? Not this journey.

To play the goat.verb. phr.(common).—1. To play the fool; tomonkey(q.v.). Fr.,faire l’oiseau.

2. (venery).—To lead a fast life; to be given tomolrowing(q.v.).

To ride the goat,verb. phr.(common).—To be initiated into a secret society. [From the vulgar error that a live goat, for candidates to ride, is one of the standing properties of a Masonic lodge.]

Goatee,subs.(colloquial).—A tufted beard on the point of a shaven chin. [In imitation of the tuft of hair on a goat’s chin.]

English Synonyms(for a beard generally).—Charley; imperial; Newgate (or sweep’s) frill, or fringe.

French Synonyms.—Une marmouse(thieves’);un impériale(colloquial: formerlyune royale);un boucorune bouquine(= a goatee);bacchantes(thieves’: the beard, but more especially the whiskers, frombâche= awning).

German Synonym.—Soken(from the Hebrew; also = old man).

Italian Synonyms.—Bosco di berlo(the forest on the face);settosa(= full of hair);spinola(= thorny).

Spanish Synonym.—Bosque(= wood).

1869.Orchestra, 18 June. Working carpenters with a stragglinggoateeon the chin, and a mass of unkempt hair on the head.

Goater,subs.(American thieves’).—Dress. For synonyms,seeTogs.

Goat-house,subs.(old).—A brothel. [FromGoat,subs., sense 1.] For synonyms,seeNanny-shop.

Goatish,adj.(old, now recognised).—Lecherous. [As vieing with a goat in lust.] HenceGoatishly,adv., andGoatishness,subs.

1622.Massinger and Dekker,Virgin Martyr, iii., 1. Give your chaste body up to the embraces ofgoatishlust.

1605.Shakspeare,King Lear, i. 2. An admirable evasion of whoremaster-man, to lay hisgoatishdisposition to the charge of a star.[167]

Goat-Milker,subs.(venery).—1. A prostitute. For synonyms,seeBarrack-hackandTart.

2. (venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.

Goat’s Jig(orGigg),subs.(old).—Copulation. For synonyms,seeGreens.—Grose.

Go-away,subs.(American thieves’).—A railway-train.

1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v. The knuck was working thegoawaysat Jersey City.

Gob(orGobbett),subs.(old: now vulgar). 1. A portion; a mouthful; a morsel. Also a gulp; abolt(q.v.). [Latin,gob= mouth: Old Fr.,gob= a gulp.] Skeat says the shorter formgobis rare.

1380.Wycliffe,Trans. of Bible. Thei token the relifis of brokengobetistwelve cofres full.

1542.Apop. of Erasmus[1878], p. 14. A bodie thinketh hymself well emende in his substaunce and riches, to whom hath happened some goodgubbeof money, and maketh a great whinyng if he haue had any losse of the same.

1599.Nashe,Lenten Stuffe, in wks., v., 261. And thrust him downe his pudding house at agobbe.

1605.Chapman,All Fools, Act iii., p. 62 (Plays, 1874).Ri.And do you think He’ll swallow down the gudgeon?Go.O my life, It were a grossgobwould not down with him.

1611.L. Barry,Ram. Alley, I., i. That little land he gave, Throate the lawyer swallowed at onegobFor less than half the worth.

1689.Selden,Table-Talk, p. 50 (Arber’s ed.). The meaning of the Law was, that so much should be taken from a man, such agobbetsliced off, that yet notwithstanding he might live in the same Rank and Condition he lived in before; but now they Fine men ten times more than they are worth.

1690. B. E.,Dict. Canting Crew, s.v.Gob(c) … also a Bit or Morsel; hencegobbets, now more in use for little Bits.

1748.T. Dyche,Dictionary(5th ed.).Goborgobbet(s.) a piece just big enough, or fit to be put into the mouth at once.

1774.Foote,Cozeners, ii., 2. The venison was over-roasted, and stunk—but Doctor Dewlap twisted down suchgobsof fat.

1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1816.Johnson,Eng. Dict.(12th ed.).Gob, a small quantity, a low word.

1869.S. L. Clemens(M. Twain),Innocents Abroad, ch. vii. It is pushed out into the sea on the end of a flat, narrow strip of land, and is suggestive of agobof mud on the end of a shingle.

2. (common).—The mouth.Shut your gob= an injunction to silence.SeeGab.A spank on the gob= a blow on the mouth.Gob-full of claret= a bleeding at the mouth.Gift of the gaborgob,seeGab. For synonymsseePotato-trap.

1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Gob, the Mouth.

1819.T. Moore,Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 18.Home-hitsin thebread-basket, clicks in thegob.Ibid., p. 30.

1836.M. Scott,Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. 1. ‘All right—all right,’ I then exclaimed, as I thrust half a doubled-up muffin into mygob.

1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 469. I managed somehow to turn mygob(mouth) round and gnawed it away.

3. (common).—A mouthful of spittle. Fr.,un copeau; It.,smalzo di cavio(= gutter-butter). For synonyms,seeSixpences.

Verb.(common).—1. To swallow in mouthfuls; to gulp down. Alsogobble(q.v.).[168]

1692.L’Estrange,Fables. Down comes a kite powdering upon them, andgobbetsup both together.

2. (common).—To expectorate. Fr.,glavioter(popular);molarder.

Gobbie,subs.(nautical).—A coastguardsman; whencegobbie-ship, a man of war engaged in the preventive service.

1890.Scotsman, 4 Aug. When a meeting takes place the men indulge in a protracted yarn and a draw of the pipe. The session involves a considerable amount of expectoration all round, whereby our friends come to be known asgobbies, and in process of time the term came to be applied to the ships engaged in the service.Ibid.There are no fewer than three othergobbie shipsin the channel fleet, each of which carries a considerable number of coastguardsmen putting in their annual period of drill.

Gobble(orGobble up),verb.(vulgar).—To swallow hastily or greedily; hence (American) to seize, capture, or appropriate. Alsogob:e.g.,gobthat!

1602.Dekker,Satiro-mastix, in wks. (1873) i. 233. They will come togobbledowne Plummes.

1728.Swift,Misc. Poems, in wks. (1824) xiv. 232. The time too precious now to waste, The suppergobbledup in haste.

1751.Smollett,Peregrine Pickle, ch. cvi. Summoned in such a plaguy hurry from his dinner, which he had been fain togobbleup like a cannibal.

1846–48.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, vol. 1, ch. v. Mr. Jos. … helped Rebecca to everything on the table, and himselfgobbledand drank a great deal.

1860.Thackeray,Philip, ch. xiii. There was a wily old monkey who thrust the cat’s paw out, and proposed togobbleup the smoking prize.

Gobble-prick,subs.(old).—A lecherous woman.—Grose.

Gobbler,subs.(old).—1. A duck.—Harman.

2. (colloquial).—A turkey cock; abubbly-jock(q.v.). AlsoGobble-cock.

1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1851.Hooper,Widow Rugby’s Husband, etc., p. 94. Her face was as red as agobbler’ssnout.

3. (vulgar).—The mouth. For synonyms,seePotato-trap.

4. (colloquial).—A greedy eater. For synonyms,seeStodger.

Gobbling,subs.(vulgar).—Gorging.

1846–48.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, ch. iii., vol. 1. His mouth was full of it, his face quite red with the delightful exercise ofgobbling‘Mother, it’s as good as my own curries in India.’

Go-between,subs.(old).—A pimp or bawd. Now an intermediary of any kind.

1596.Shakspeare,Merry Wives of Windsor, Act ii., sc. 2. Even as you came into me, her assistant, orgo-between, parted from me.

1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Goblin,subs.(old).—A sovereign. For synonyms,seeCanary.

1887.W. E. Henley,Villon’s Straight Tip. Your merrygoblinssoon stravag: Boose and the blowens cop the lot.

Gob-box,subs.(common).—The mouth. [Fromgob,subs.] For synonyms,seePotato-trap.

1773.Forster,Goldsmith, Bk. IV., ch. xiv., p. 414 (5th ed.). Shuter protesting in his vehement odd way that ‘the boy could patter,’ and ‘use thegob-boxas quick and smart as any of them.’

1819.Scott,Bride of Lammermoor, ch. i. Your characters … made too much use of thegob-box; theypattertoo much.[169]

Gob-stick,subs.(old).—A silver table-spoon. (In use in America = either spoon or fork); (nautical), a horn or wooden spoon.

1789.Parker,Life’s Painter, s.v.

1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.

Gob-string(orGab-string),subs.(old).—A bridle.

1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Go-by,subs.(colloquial).—The act of passing; an evasion; a deception.To give one the go-by= to cut; to leave in the lurch.Cf.,Cut(subs.sense 2,verb.sense 2).

1876.Hindley,Cheap Jack, p. 214. When we came in contact with a travelling bookseller we couldgive him the go-bywith our library.

1892.R. L. Stevenson,Kidnapped, ch. ix. Shegave us the go-byin the fog—as I wish from the heart that ye had done yoursel’!

1892.Sala’s Journal, 25 June, p. 194. Now can you understand how it is possible, and, I think, expedient,to givepoliticsthe go-by, so far as one conveniently can?

Go-by-the-Ground,subs.(old).—A dumpy man or woman.—Grose.

God,subs.(common).—1.in. pl., the occupants of the gallery at a theatre. [Said to have been first used by Garrick because they were seated on high, and close to the sky-painted ceiling.] Fr.,paradis= gallery; alsopoulailler. In feminine,Goddess.

1772.Cumberland,Fashionable Lover[probably spoken by printer’s devil]. ’Tis odds For one poor devil to face so manygods.

1812. J. andH. Smith,Rejected Addresses, p. 128 [ed. 1869]. Each one shillinggodwithin reach of a nod is, And plain are the charms of each gallerygoddess.

1843.Thackeray,Irish Sketch Book, ch. xxvii. The gallery was quite full … one younggod, between the acts, favoured the public with a song.

1872.M. E. Braddon,Dead Sea Fruit, ch. xiv. There come occasionally actors and actresses of higher repute, eager to gather new laurels in these untrodden regions, and not ill pleased to find themselves received with noisy rapture and outspoken admiration by the rudergodsand homeliergoddessesof a threepenny gallery.

1890.Globe, 7 Apr., p. 2, c. 2. Thegods, or a portion of them, hooted and hissed while the National Anthem was being performed.

1892.Sydney Watson,Wops the Waif, iii., iv. It is only when we have paid our ‘tuppence’ and ascended to the gallery just under the roof, known as ‘among thegods,’ that we begin to understand what is meant by the lowest classes, the ‘great unwashed.’

1892.Pall Mall Gaz., 20 Apr., p. 2, c. 3. If theatre managers would only give the public the chance of as good a seat as can be got at the Trocadero or the Pavilion, at the same price, and manage the ventilation of their houses so as not to bake thegodsand freeze the ‘pitites,’ I venture to think that fewer people would go to the music halls.

2.in. pl.(printers’).—The quadrats used injeffing(q.v.).

3. (tailors’).—A block pattern.Gods of cloth= ‘classical tailors.’—Grose.SeeSnip.

4. (Eton).—A boy in the sixth form.

1881.Pascoe,Life in our Public Schools. Agodat Eton is probably in a more exalted position, and receives more reverence than will ever afterwards fall to his lot.

A sight for the gods, phr. (common).—A matter of wonderment.

1892.Hume Nisbet,Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 31. Stringy Bark prepared to greet his native land, wasa sight for the godsto behold with satisfaction, and men to view from afar with awed respect.[170]

God Pays!phr.(old).—An expression at one time much in the mouth of disbanded soldiers and sailors (who assumed a right to live on the public charity). The modern form is, ‘If I don’t pay you, God Almighty will.’

1605.LondonProdigal, ii., 3. But there be some that bear a soldier’s form, That swear by him they never think upon; Go swaggering up and down, from house to house, Crying,God pays.

1630.Taylor, in wks. These feather’d fidlers sing, and leape, and play, The begger takes delight, andGod doth pay.

1640.Ben Jonson,Epigr. XII.To every cause he meets, this voice he brays, His only answer is to all,God pays.

God(orBramah)Knows:I don’t,phr.(common).—An emphatic rejoinder.

1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes.Come Iddio vel dica., a phrase, as wee would say:God himselfe tell you, I cannot.

Goddess Diana,subs. phr.(rhyming). A sixpence. For synonyms,seeTanner.

1864.The Press, 12 Nov.Goddess dianais the rhyming equivalent for a tanner which signifies sixpence.

God-dot!intj.(old).—An oath. By God! [A contraction of ‘God wot!’] For synonyms,seeOaths.

Godfather,subs.(old).—A juryman.

1598.Shakspeare,Merchant of Venice, iv. 1. In christ’ning thou shalt have twogodfathers, Had I been judge, thou should’st have had ten more, To bring thee to the gallows, not the font.

1616.Ben Jonson,Devil’s An Ass, v., 5. Not I, If you be such a one, sir, I will leave you To yourgod-fathers in law. Let twelve men work.

1638.Randolph,Muses’ Looking Glass, ix. 251. I had rather zee him remitted to the jail, and have his twelvegodvathers, good men and true, condemn him to the gallows.

1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

To stand Godfather,verb. phr.(common).—To pay the reckoning. [Godfathers being the objects of much solicitude and expectation.]

1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Will you standgodfather, and we will take care of the brat? = repay you another time.

Go-down,subs.(old).—1. A draught of liquor; ago(q.v.).

2. (American).—Seequot.

1881.New York Times, 18 Dec., quoted in ‘N and Q’ 6, S. v. 65.Go Down.—A cutting in the bank of a stream for enabling animals to cross or to get to water.

God-permit,subs.(old).—A stage coach. [Which was advertised to startDeo volente.]

1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.God-permit, a stage coach, from that affectation of piety, frequently to be met with in advertisements of stage coaches or waggons, where most of their undertakings are promised with ifGod permit, orGod willing.

1825.Modern Flash Dict., s.v.

God’s-mercy,subs.(old).—Ham (or bacon) and eggs. [‘There’s nothing in the house but God’s mercy’: at one time a common answer in country inns to travellers in quest of provant.]

God’s-penny,subs.(old).—An earnest penny.

1690. B. E.,Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.God’s Penny, Earnest Money, to Bind a Bargain.

1765.Percy,Reliques, ‘The heir of Linne.’ Then John he did him to record draw, And John he cast him aGod’s pennie.

Go-easter,subs.(American cowboys’).—A portmanteau; apeter(q.v.). [Because seldom used except in going city- or east-wards.][171]

Goer,subs.(old).—1. The foot. For synonyms,seeCreepers.

1557–1634.Chapman, inEncyclop. Dict.A double mantle, cast Athwart his shoulders, his fairegoersgrac’t With fitted shoes.

2. (colloquial).—An expert or adept; as in drawing, talking, riding; one well up to his (or her) work: generally with an adjective, ase.g.,a fast(orhell of a)goer= a good goer.

1857.G. A. Lawrence,Guy Livingstone, ch. xx. Nevertheless, she was always deeply engaged, and generally to the bestgoersin the room.

Goff.SeeMrs. Goff.

Goggles,subs.(common).—1. A goggle-eyed person. AlsoGoggler.

1647.Beaumont and Fletcher,Knight of Malta, v., 2. Do you stare,goggles?

1891.Clark Russell,Ocean Tragedy, p. 51. No use sending blind man aloft,gogglerslike myself, worse luck.

2.in. pl.(common).—The eyes: specifically those with a constrained or rolling stare; alsoGoggle-eyes.Goggle-eyed= squint-eyed.

1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes,Strabo, he that looketh a squint or isgoggle-eide.

c.1746.Robertson of Struan,Poems, 69. An eagle of a dwarfish size, With crooked Beak, andgogle eyes.

1691–1763.Byrom,Dissection of a Beau’s Head. Those muscles, in English, wherewith a man ogles, When on a fair lady he fixes hisgoggles.

1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1821.Pierce Egan,Life in London, p. 241. Rolling yourgogglesabout after all manner of people.

3.in. pl.(common).—Spectacles. For synonyms,seeBarnacles.

Verb(colloquial).—Goggle= to roll the eyes; to stare.

1577–87.Holinshed,Description of Ireland, ch. i. Theygogglewith their eyes hither and thither.

1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Goggle, to stare.

1820–37.Walpole,Letters, iii., 174. Hegoggledhis eyes.

1880.Millikin,Punch’s Almanack, April. Scissors! don’t theygoggleand look blue.

Gogmagog,subs.(colloquial).—A goblin; a monster; a frightful apparition.—Hood.

Going,subs.(colloquial).—The condition of a road, a piece of ground, a cinder-path:i.e., the accommodation for travelling.E.g.,the goingis bad.

1872.Morning Post, 19 Aug. The Lamb’s starting in the Frankfort steeple-chase will depend upon the state of the ground, and, avoiding Wiesbaden, where thegoingis indifferent.

1883.Daily Telegraph, 23 Nov. Thegoingwas wonderfully clean for the time of year.

Goings-on,subs.(colloquial).—Behaviour; proceedings; conduct.Cf.,Carryings on.

1845.Douglas Jerrold,Mrs. Caudle, Lecture viii. Pretty place it must be where they don’t admit women. Nicegoings-on, I daresay, Mr. Caudle.

1870.Lloyd’s Newspaper, 11 Sept. ‘Review.’ Elsie is beloved by Gawthwaite, the village schoolmaster, and he takes her to task for hergoings-on.

Goldarned(orGoldurned,Goldasted, etc.),adj.(common).—A mild form of oath: =Blamed(q.v.);Bloody(q.v.).SeeOaths. Asintj.,Goldarn it!etc.

1888.American Humorist.‘Bill, are you hurt?’ ‘Yes, by gum; I’ve broke mygoldarnedneck.’[172]

1888.Cincinnati Enquirer.Finally, Deacon Spalding broke out with: ‘ThatgoldastedSt. Louis mugwump has made suckers of us again with his cracks about coming into the league. I move we adjourn.’

Gold-backed ’Un,subs.(common).—A louse. AlsoGrey-backed ’un. For synonyms,seeChates.

Gold Bug,subs. phr.(American).—A man of wealth and (inferentially) distinction; a millionaire.SeeBug.

1888.St. Louis Globe Democrat, Mar. 5. I do not think the feeling against silver is anything like as strong as it was. Of course, a fewgold bugsmight fight him.

Gold-dropper,subs.(old).—A sharper. An old-time worker of the confidence trick.Seequots. AlsoGold-finder.

1690. B. E.,Cant. Crew, s.v.Gold-droppers, Sweetners, Cheats, Sharpers.

1748.T. Dyche,Dictionary(5th ed.).Gold-finder(s.) … also a cant name for a cheat, who under the pretence of finding a piece of money, and inviting a by-stander to partake of a treat, etc., out of it, endeavours to get him to play at cards, dice, etc., in order to win or cheat him of his money; they are sometimes also calledguinea-droppers.

1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Sharpers who drop a piece of gold, which they pick up in the presence of some unexperienced person, for whom the trap is laid, this they pretend to have found, and, as he saw them pick it up, they invite him to a public house to partake of it: when there, two or three of their comrades drop in, as if by accident, and propose cards, or some other game, when they seldom fail of stripping their prey.

1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Golden-cream,subs.(thieves’).—Rum.

1889.ClarksonandRichardson,Police, p. 321, s.v.

Gold-end Man,subs. phr.(old).—An itinerant jeweller; a buyer of old gold and silver. [Gold-end= a broken piece of jewellery.] AlsoGoldsmith’s Apprentice.SeeEastward Hoe.

1610.Jonson,Alchemist, ii., 1. I know him not, he looks like agold-end man.

1622.Fletcher,Beggar’s Bush, iii., 1.Hig.Have ye anyends of goldor silver?

Golden Grease,subs. phr.(old).—A fee; also a bribe. For synonyms,seePalm Oil.

Goldfinch,subs.(old).—1. A well-to-do man; awarm ’un(q.v.).

1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Goldfinch,c.He that has alwaies a Purse or Cod of Gold in his Fob.

1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1852.Judson,Mysteries, etc., of New York, ch. iv. ‘Was the swell agoldfinch?’ ‘He wasn’t nothin’ else. Got a clean ten times ten out of him.’

Ibid.‘It’ll be a great lay, if the game’s fat. Is it agoldfinch?’ ‘Fifty thousand, hard dust.’

2. (common).—A guinea; a sovereign. For synonyms,seeCanary.

1700.Farquhar,Constant Couple, ii., 2.Sir H.Don’t you love singing-birds, madam?Angel(aside). That’s an odd question for a lover; (aloud) Yes, sir.Sir H.Why, then, madam, here is a nest of the prettiestgoldfinchesthat ever chirped in a cage.

1822.Scott,The Fortunes of Nigel, ch. iv. Put your monies aside, my lord; it is not well to be seen with suchgoldfincheschirping about one in the lodgings of London.

1826.Buckstone,Luke the Labourer, iii., 4. Good-night, noble captain. Pipe all hands at five o’clock, for I’ve a day’s work to do. We’ll jig it to-morrow, to the piping ofgold-finches.

1834.W. H. Ainsworth,Rookwood, p. 101 (ed. 1864). Here’s a handful ofgoldfinchesready to fly.

Goldfinch’s Nest,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.

1827.The Merry Muses, p. 70. And soon laid his hand on thegoldfinch’s nest.[173]

Gold-finder,subs.(old).—1. An emptier of privies. AlsoTom-turd-man;Gong-man; andNight-man. Fr.,un fouille-merde;un fifi. Alsopasser la jambe à Jules= to upsetMrs. Jones,i.e., to empty the privy tub.

1611.Cotgrave,Dictionarie,Gadouard, agould-finder, Jakes-farmer.

1635.Feltham,Resolves. As ourgoldfinders… in the night and darkness thrive on stench and excrements.

1653.Middleton,Sp. Gipsy, ii., 2, p. 398 (Mermaid series). And if his acres, being sold for a maravedii a turf for larks in cages, cannot fill this pocket, give ’em togoldfinders.

1659.Torriano,Vocabolario, s.v.

1704.Gentleman Instructed, p. 445 (1732). We will commit the further discussion of the poet to a committee ofgoldfinders, or a club of rake-kennels.

1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v

2. (old).—A thief; agold-dropper(q.v.).

Gold Hat-band,subs.(old University).—A nobleman undergraduate; atuft(q.v.).

1628.Earle,Microcosmography. His companion is ordinarily some stale fellow that has been notorious for an ingle togold hatbands, whom hee admires at first, afterwards scornes.

1889.Gentleman’s Mag., June, p. 598. Noblemen at the universities, since known as ‘tufts,’ because of the gold tuft or tassle to their cap, were then known asgold hatbands.

Goldie-locks,subs.(old).—A flaxen-haired woman.Goldy-locked= golden haired.

1598.Florio,Worlde of Wordes.Biondella… a golden-lockt wench, as we say agoldilocks.

1605.Ben Jonson,The Fox, i., 1. Thence it fled forth, and made quick transmigration togoldy-lockedEuphorbus.

Gold Mine,subs. phr.(common).—A profitable investment; a store of wealth, material or intellectual.

1664.H. Peacham,Worth of a Penny, in Arber’sGarner, vol. VI., p. 249. Some men … when they have met with agold mine, so brood over and watch it, day and night, that it is impossible for Charity to be regarded, Virtue rewarded, or Necessity relieved.

1830Tennyson,Dream of Fair Women, p. 274.Gold-minesof thought—to lift the hidden ore.

1882.Thormanby,Famous Racing Men, p. 81. Mendicant … ran nowhere in the Cup … in reality she was destined to prove agold mine, for ten years afterwards she brought her owner £80,000 through her famous son, Beadsman.

1883.Sat. Review, 28 Apr. 533/2. His victory proved agold mineto the professional bookmakers.

1887.Froude,Eng. in West Indies, ch. v. Every one was at law with his neighbour, and the island was agold mineto the Attorney-General.

Golgotha,subs.(old).—1. The Dons’ gallery at Cambridge; also applied to a certain part of the theatre at Oxford. [That is, ‘the place of skulls’:Cf., Luke xxiii. 33, and Matthew xxvii. 33, whence the pun: Dons being the heads of houses.]

1730.Jas. Miller,Humours of Oxford, Act ii., p. 23 (2nd ed.). Sirrah, I’ll have you put in the black-book, rusticated,—expelled—I’ll have youcoram nobisatGolgotha, where you’ll be bedevilled, Muck-worm, you will.

1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1791.G. Huddesford,Salmagundi, (Note on, p. 150).Golgotha, ‘The place of a Scull,’ a name ludicrously affixed to the Place in which the Heads of Colleges assemble.

1808.J. T. Conybearein C. K. Sharpe’sCorrespondence(1888), i., 324. The subject then, of the ensuing section isOxford News… we will begin bygolgotha… Cole has already obtained the Headship of Exeter, and Mr. Griffiths … is to have that of University.[174]

2. (common).—Hence, a hat.

English Synonyms.—Battle of the Nile (rhyming,i.e., atile[q.v.]); bell-topper; billy-cock; beaver; box-hat; cady; canister cap; castor; chummy; cathedral; chimney; chimney-pot; cock; colleger; cock-and-pinch; cowshooter; David; deerstalker; digger’s delight; fantail; felt; Gibus; gomer (Winchester); goss; moab; molocher; mortar-board; muffin-cap; mushroom; nab; nap; napper; pantile; pimple-cover; pill-box; plug-hat; pot; shako; shovel; sleepless hat; sou’wester; stove-pipe; strawer; thatch; tile; topper; truck; upper-crust; wash-pot; wee-jee; wide-awake.

French Synonyms.—Un accordéon(popular: an opera hat);une ardoise(= a tile);une bâche(thieves’: also an awning);une biscopeorviscope(vulgar);un blockaus(vulgar: a shako);un bloumardorune bloume(popular);une boîte à cornes(a horn case;i.e., a cover for a cuckold);un Bolivar(from the hero of 1820);un boisseau(also = a bushel);un bosselard(schoolboys’: frombosselé= bruised or dented);un cabas(popular: = old hat; also basket or bag);un cadratin(printers’ = a stove-pipe);un caloquet(thieves’);cambriau,cambrieux, orcambriot(popular);un capet(from old French,capel);une capsule(popular = a percussion cap);un carbeluche galicé(a silk hat);une casque(= helmet);un chapska(= a shako);une cheminée(popular: = chimney-pot);une corniche(popular: = a cornice);un couvercle(popular: = pot-lid);une couvrante;un couvre-amour(military);un cylindre(= a stove-pipe);un Desfoux(from the maker’s name);un epicéphale(students’: from the Greek);un gadin(an old hat);un galureorgalurin(popular);un Garibaldi;un Gibus(from the inventor’s name);un lampion(thieves’: = grease-pot);un loubion(thieves’);un marquin(thieves’);un monument(popular);un nid d’hirondelle;un niolle(thieves’: an old hat);un tromblon(obsolete = blunderbuss);un tubard,tube, ortube à haute pression(= a cylinder);une tuile(= a tile);une tuyau de poêle(= a stove-pipe).

German Synonyms.—Bre(Viennese);Kowe(from the Hebrew,kowa).

Italian Synonyms.—Bufala,bacchaorbiffacha;crestaorcristiana(= a cruet);fungo(= mushroom).

Spanish Synonyms.—Tejadoortecho(= tiled roof).

Goliath,subs.(colloquial).—1. A big man.

2. A man of mark among thePhilistines(q.v.). [Mr. Swinburne described the late Matthew Arnold as ‘David, the son ofGoliath.’]

Goll,subs.(old).—The hand; usuallyin. pl.SeeBunch of FivesandDaddle.

1601.B. Jonson,Poetaster, v., Bring the whoreson detracting slaves to the bar, do; make them hold vp their spreadgolls.

1602.Dekker,Satiro-Mastrix, in wks. (1873), i., 203. Holde up thy hand: I ha seene the day thou didst not scorne to holde vp thygolles.

1611.Middleton,Roaring Girl, Act i. This is thegollshall do’t.[175]

1620.Middleton,Chaste Maid, ii., 2. What theirgollscan clutch.

1634.S. Rowley,Noble Souldier, Act ii., Sc. 2.Bal.Saist thou me so? give me thygoll, thou art a noble girle.

1659.Massinger,City Madam, iv., i. All the gamesters are ambitious to shake the goldengollsof worshipful master Luke.

1661.T. Middleton,Mayor of Quinborough, v., i. Down with hisgolls, I charge you.

1672.Dryden,The Assignation, Act iii., Sc. 1. A simperer at lower end of a table, With mightygolls, rough-grained, and red with starching.

1787.Grose,Prov. Glossary.Goll, a hand or fist; give me thygoll.

1803.C. K. SharpeinCorrespondence(1888), i., 179. Miss Reid with her silk coat and greasiegolls.

Gollop,verb.(common).—To swallow greedily; to gulp. For synonyms,seeWolf.

Gollumpus,subs.(old).—A clumsy lout.—Grose.

Golly!—A contraction ofBy Golly!(q.v.).

1890.R. L. Stevenson,The Wrong Box, p. 275.Golly!what a paper!

Goloptious(orGolopshus),adj.(common).—Splendid; fine; delicious; luscious.

1888.Sporting Life, 7 Dec. It would better scoop the situation if it were described asgoloptious.

Goloshes,subs.(colloquial).—India rubber overshoes. ButseeGrose.

1796.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Goloshes,i.e.Goliah’s shoes. Large leathern clogs, worn by invalids over their ordinary shoes.

Gombeen-man,subs.(Irish).—A usurer; a money-lender; a sharking middleman. For synonyms,seeSixty-per-cent.

Gomer,subs.(Winchester College).—1. A large pewter dish used in college.

2. (Winchester College).—A new hat.SeeGolgotha.

Gommy,subs.(old).—1. A dandy. Fr.,gommeux. [Anglo-Saxon,guma= a man; a person:gomme=gommer=gammer.Cf.,Gomus. Beaumont hasgom= a man.]

2. (colloquial).—Seequot.

1883.Weekly Dispatch, 11 Mar., p. 7, c. 4. There has recently been considerable debate as to the meaning of the termgommie. It is very simple. A gommie is one who calls Mr. Gladstone a G.O.M. [Grand Old Man], and thinks he has made a good joke.

3. (colloquial).—A fool. For synonyms,seeBuffleandCabbage-head.

Gomus,subs.(Irish).—A fool. For synonyms,seeBuffleandCabbage-head.

Gondola,subs.(American).—1. A railway platform car, sideless or low-sided. Also a flat-bottomed boat.

Gondola of London,subs. phr.(common).—A hansom cab; ashoful(q.v.). [The description is Lord Beaconsfield’s.]

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