Chapter 17

Gouging,subs.(American).—Cheating.Goujeers.SeeGoodyear.Gourd,subs.(old).—False dice with a cavity within, which inFullams(q.v.) was filled with lead to give a bias.SeealsoHigh-menandLow-men.1544.Ascham,Toxophylus. What false dyse use they? as dyse stopped with quicksilver and heares, dyse of vauntage, flattes,gourds, to chop and chaunge when they liste.1596.Shakspeare,Merry Wives of Windsor, i., 3. Let vultures gripe thy guts! forgourdand fullam holds, And high and low beguiles the rich and poor.1616.BeaumontandFletcher,Scornful Lady, iv. And thy dry bones can reach at nothing now Butgourdsor nine-pins; pray go fetch a trencher, go.Gourock Ham,subs.(common).—A salt herring (Gourock was formerly a great fishing village). For synonyms,seeGlasgow Magistrate.Government-man,subs.(old Australian).—A convict.1864.Smythe,Ten Months in Fiji Islands, q.v.1883.Graphic, 17 Mar., p. 262, c. 3. They never settle down as thousands of ourGovernment mencheerfully did in Australia after they had their freedom.Government-securities,subs.(common).—Handcuffs; fetters generally. For synonyms,seeDarbies.Government-signpost,subs.(old).—The gallows. For synonyms,seeNubbing-cheat.1887.A. Barrère,Argot and Slang, p. 272.Montagne du géant.Fr. (obsolete),gallows, scrag, nobbing cheat, orgovernment signpost.Governor(orGuv),subs.(common).—1. A father. Alsorelieving officer;old ’un;pater;nibso; andhis nibs. Applied to elderly people in general. Fr.,le géniteurandl’ancien(= the old ’un).1836.Dickens,Pickwick, ch. xx. p. 169. ‘You’re quite certain it was them,governor?’ inquired Mr. Weller, junior. ‘Quite, Sammy, quite,’ replied his father.[190]1841.Punch, vol. I., p. 28. But—mind! don’t tell thegovernor!1852.Comic Almanack, p. 19. Your father: Speaking to him, say ‘Guvnor,’ or ‘Old Strike-a-light;’ofhim, ‘The old un.’1859.Witty Political Portraits, p. 111. Unconscious of the constitutional delusions on which hisgovernorhas thrived.1889.Answers, 20 Apr., p. 323. To call your father ‘TheGovernor’ is, of course, slang, and is as bad as referring to him as ‘The Boss,’ ‘The Old Man,’ or ‘The Relieving Officer.’1891.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 9 Jan. Itwasmortifying to be done in that manner by a low fellow like Muggins, that I had always looked upon as a fool, and had made a butt of when theguv. was out of the way.1892.Hume Nisbet,Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 118. TheGovernoris in an awful funk about him.2. (common).—A mode of address to strangers. Fr.,bourgeois.1892.Anstey,Voces Populi(Second Series). ‘At the Guelph Exhibition.’ Right,guvnor; we’ll come.3. (colloquial).—A master or superior; an employer.English Synonyms.—Boss; captain of the waiters; captain; chief; colonel; commander; chief bottle-washer; ganger; head-butler; head-cook and bottle-washer; gorger; omee; rum-cull.French Synonyms.—Le pantriot(popular and thieves’: also = a young nincompoop);le, orla,pâte(popular: properly paste or dough);le naïf(printers’: obsolete);le herzorhers(thieves’: obviously from the German);le loncegué(thieves’: Fr., back-slang; =gonce, itself a slang term for a man);le galeux(popular:= one with the itch);le grêle(popular: specifically a master-tailor);le singe(= monkey);le troploc;le nourisseur(= the grubber);l’ogre(specifically afence);le notaire(= publican);le patron(colloquial: = governor).Italian Synonyms.—Chielmiero(vulgar).Governor’s-stiff,subs.(American).—A pardon.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Gower-street Dialect.SeeMedical Greek.Gowk,subs.(prison).—A simpleton. (Scots’gowk= a cuckoo). For synonyms,seeBuffleandCabbage-head. Also a countryman. For synonyms,seeJoskin.1816.Scott,Antiquary, ch. x. ‘Hout awa’, ye auldgowk,’ said Jenny Rintherout.Tohunt the gowk,verb. phr.(common).—To go on a fool’s errand.Gowler,subs.(old).—A dog; specifically a howler.Gown,subs.(Winchester College)—1. Coarse brown paper. (obsolete).2. (University).—The schools as distinguished from thetown(q.v.).,e.g.,TownandGown.1847.Thackeray,Punch’s Prize Novelists, ‘Codlingsby,’ p. 232. From the Addenbrooke’s hospital to the Blenheim turnpike, all Cambridge was in an uproar—the College gates closed—the shops barricaded—the shop-boys away in support of their brother townsmen—the battle raged, and theGownhad the worst of the fight.1853.Bradley,Verdant Green, II., ch. iii. WhenGownwas absent, Town was miserable.1891.Pall Mall Gaz., 30 May, p. 4, c. 3.TownandGownjoined in harmony.[191]Gownsman(alsoGown),subs.(university).—A student.1800.C. K. Sharpe, inCorrespondence(1888), i., 96. A battle between thegownsmenand townspeople … in spite of the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors.1850.F. E. Smedley,Frank Fairleigh, ch. xxv. The ancient town of Cambridge, no longer animated by the countless throngs ofgownsmen, frowned in its unaccustomed solitude.1861.Hughes,Tom Brown at Oxford. The townsmen … were met by thegownsmenwith settled steady pluck.Grab,subs.(vulgar).—1. A sudden clutch.1835.Haliburton,Clockmaker, 1st S., ch. viii. He makes agrabat me, and I shuts the door right to on his wrist.2. (American).—A robbery; asteal(q.v.).Cf.,Grab-gains.3. (old).—A body-stealer; a resurrectionist.1830.S. Warren,Diary of a Late Physician, ch. xvi. Sir ——’s dressers and myself, with an experiencedgrab—that is to say, aprofessionalresurrectionist—were to set off from the Borough.4. (gamesters’).—A boisterous game at cards.Verb(vulgar).—1.To Pinch(q.v.); to seize; to apprehend; to snatch or steal.Grabbed= arrested.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum. The pigsgrabbedthe kiddy for a crack.1818.Maginn,Vidocq’s Song. Tramp it, tramp it, my jolly blowen, Or begrabbedby the beaks we may.1837.Lytton,Ernest Maltravers, Wk. I., ch. x. There, man,grabthe money, it’s on the table.1837.Dickens,Oliver Twist, ch. xiii. Do you want to begrabbed, stupid?1839.Ainsworth,Jack Sheppard[1889], p. 39. Don’t muddle your brains with any more of that Pharaoh. You’ll need all your strength tograbhim.1851–61.Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., 396. I wasgrabbedfor an attempt on a gentleman’s pocket.1877.Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 236. I watched a movement, till one of the servant girls had brought another load of grub out, and as she turned her back and went into the house Igrabbedthe key, and so they couldn’t lock it nohow.1886.Baring Gould,Golden Feather, p. 23 (S.P.C.K.). There are some folks … so grasping that if they touch a farthing willgraba pound.2. (thieves’).—To hold on; to get along; to live.1851–61.Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., 149. I do manage tograbon somehow.Grab-all,subs.(colloquial).—1. An avaricious person; agreedy-guts(q.v.).1872.Sunday Times, 18 Aug. This gentleman, it is well known, has worked with indomitable energy on behalf of the millions, and has succeeded in wresting from the mean and contemptiblegrab-allsof that government which professes to study the people’s interest those portions of the Embankment which the public money has paid for.2. (colloquial).—A bag to carry odds and ends, parcels, books, and so forth.Grabber,subs.(common).—In. pl., the hands. For synonyms,seeDaddleandMauley.Grabble,verb.(old).—1. To seize: a frequent form ofgrab(q.v.).1811.Lexicon Balatronicum. Tograbblethe bit; to seize any one’s money.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum. Yougrabblethe goose-cap and I’ll frisk his pokes.2. (venery).—To grope; to fumble;to fam(q.v.).1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., 193. When Nelly, though he teized her, Andgrabbledher and squeezed her.[192]Grabby,subs.(military).—An infantry-man. [Used in contempt by the mounted arm.] Fr.,marionnette.1868.Whyte Melville,White Rose, ch. x.‘Is it a good regiment? How jolly to dine at mess every day!’ ‘I shouldn’t like to be agrabbythough’ (this from the Dandy); ‘and after all, I’d rather be a private in the cavalry than an officer in the regiment offeet!’Grab-gains,subs.(thieves’).—The trick of snatching a purse, etc., and making off.Grab-game(or-coup, or-racket),subs.(old).—A mode of swindling: the sharpers start by betting among themselves; then the by-standers are induced to join; then stakes are deposited; lastly, there is a row, when one of the ganggrabsthe stakes, and decamps. Butseequot., 1823.1823.Bee,Dict. of the Turf, s.v.Grab-coup, modern practice of gambling, adopted by the losers, thus the person cheated, or done, takes his opportunity, makes a dash at the depository of money, or such as may be down for the play, andgrabsas much as possible, pockets the proceeds, and fights his way out of the house.18(?).Scenes in the Rocky Mountains, p. 282. ‘I’ll bear you company. What d’ye say to that?’ ‘Just as you like,’ responded his two companions, ‘that is provided you won’t attempt thegrab gameon us.’1892.R. L. StevensonandL. Osbourne,The Wrecker, p. 219. ‘Now, boss!’ he cried, not unkindly, ‘is this to be run shipshape; or is it a Dutchgrab-racket?’Grace-card,subs.(Irish).—The Six of Hearts. [For originseeN. and Q., 5th Series, iv., 137].Gracemans,subs.(old).—Grace-church Street Market.1610.Rowlands,Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (W. Club’s Rept., 1874).Gracemans, Gratious Streete market.Graduate,subs.(turf).—1. A horse that has been run.2. (colloquial).—An adept; anartful member(q.v.).3. (venery).—An unmarried woman who has taken her degree in carnal lore.Verb.(colloquial).—To seek and acquire experience: in life, love, society, or trade; and so on.Gradus,subs.(gamesters’).—A mode of cheating: a particular card is so placed by the shuffler that when he hands the pack to be cut, it projects a little beyond the rest; the chance being that it is the turn-up. Alsothe step(q.v.). [From the Latin.]Gradus-ad-parnassum,subs.(old literary).—The treadmill. For synonyms,seeWheel-of-life.Graft,subs.(common).—Work; employment;lay(q.v.).:e.g.Whatgraftare you on now?Great-graft= profitable labour;good biz(q.v.). AlsoGraftingandElbow-grease.French Synonyms.—Le bastimage(thieves’);le goupinage(thieves’);la laine(tailors’);le maquillage(thieves’);le massage(popular);la masse;le mèche(printers’).1878.Graphic, 6 July, p. 2. According to the well-known maxim in the building trade, ‘Scotch masons, Welsh blacksmiths, English bricklayers, Irish labourers’.… Perhaps in a generation or two Paddy will fail us. He will have become too refined for hardgrafting.1887.Henley,Villon’s Straight Tip. The merry little dibbs you bag At mygraft, no matter what.[193]1892.Tit Bits, 19 Mar., p. 417, c. 1. Millbank for thick shins andgraftat the pump.Verb(common).—1. To work. Fr.,bausser;membrer.2. (American).—To steal.3. (old).—To cuckold; to plant horns.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.4. (American).—To sole old boots.Cf.,GooseandTranslate.Grampus,subs.(colloquial).—A fat man. For synonyms,seeForty-guts.To blow the Grampus.(nautical).—To drench; and (common), to sport in the water.Grand,subs.(colloquial).—Short for ‘grand piano.’1891.Morning Advertiser, 28 Mar. A precocious young relative is now about to take the daïs. There she stands, violin in hand, and there begins the preliminary scramble on the hiredgrand.Adj.(colloquial).—A general superlative.1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 19. Wot we want in a picter is flavour and ‘fetch,’ and yours give it megrand.To do the Grand,verb. phr.(common).—To put on airs. For synonyms,seeLardy-dah.Grand Bounce.SeeBounce.Grandmother.To see one’s grandmother,verb. phr.(common).—To have a nightmare.To see(orhave)one’s grandmother(orlittle friend, orauntie)with one.verb. phr.(common).—To have the menstrual discharge.SeeFlag.To shoot one’s grandmother,verb. phr.(common).—To be mistaken; to have found a mare’s nest; to be disappointed. Commonly ‘You’ve shot your grannie.’To teach one’s grandmother(orgrannie)how to suck eggs,verb. phr.(common).—To instruct an expert in his own particular line of business; to talk old to one’s seniors.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.1892.Globe, 27 Jan., p. 1, c. 5. Evidently he did not consider, as Englishmen seem to do, thatgrandmotherspossess no more knowledge than is required to efficientlysuck eggs.1892.Hume Nisbet,Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 210. ‘Confound you stupid, what do you take me for, that you tryto teach your grandmother to suck eggs.’1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 77. She’s ateaching ’er grandmother, she is, although she’s a littery swell.My grandmother’s review.subs. phr.(obsolete).—TheBritish Review. [The nickname was Lord Byron’s.]Grand-strut,subs.(old).—The Broad Walk in Hyde Park.1823.Moncrieff,Tom and Jerry, i., 4. We’ll start first to the show shop of the metropolis, Hyde Park! promenade it down thegrand strut.Granger,subs.(American political).—1. A member of the Farmers’ Alliance; a secret society, nominally non-political, but really taking a hand in politics when occasion offered to favour agricultural interests. [During the decade of years ending 1870, it attained to great numerical strength, and extended throughout the United States.]SeeAgricultural Wheel.[194]2. (American).—Hence, a farmer; a countryman; anyone from the rural districts. For synonyms,seeJoskin.Grangerise,verb. (literary).—To fill out a book with portraits, landscapes, title-pages, and illustrations generallynot done for it.1883.Sala,Living Wonders, p. 497. Mr. Ashton’sSocial Life in the Reign of Queen Anne… would be a capital book tograngerize.Grangerism,subs.(literary).—The practice of illustrating a book with engravings, etc., from other sources. [From the practice of illustratingGranger’sBibliographical History of England.]1883.Saturday Review, Jan. 27, p. 123, c. 2.Grangerism, as the innocent may need to be told, is the pernicious vice of cutting plates and title-pages out of many books to illustrate one book.Grangerite,subs.(literary).—A practitioner ingrangerism(q.v.).1890. ‘Grangerising,’ inCornhill Mag., Feb., p. 139. Another favourite subject, and suitable also for theGrangerite, is ‘Boswell’s Johnson.’ It must be admitted that this delightful book may gain a fresh chance by being thus treated, but ‘within the limits of becoming grangerism.’Grannam,subs.(old). Corn. [From the Latin.]—Fr.,le grenu, orgrelu. It.,re di granata;staffile;corniole.Sp.,grito.1567.Harman,Caveat(1814), p. 65.Grannam, corne.1610.Rowlands,Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Rept., 1874).Granmer, corne.1671.R. Head,English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 49 (1874).Grannam, corn.1706.E. Coles,Eng. Dict.,Grannam,c.corn.1737.Bacchus and Venus.‘The Strowling Mort.’Grannamever filled my sack.Grannam’s-gold.subs.(old).—Wealth inherited. [Grannam = grandmother:cf.,BeaumontandFletcher,Lover’s Progress, iv., 1. ‘Ghosts never walk till after midnight, if I may believe my grannam.’]Granny,subs.(nautical).—1. A bad knot with the second tie across; as opposed to a reef knot in which the end and outer part are in line. AlsoGranny’s KnotorGranny’s Bend.2. (common).—Conceit of superior knowledge.1851–61.Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 404. To take thegrannyoff them as has white hands.Verb(thieves’).—To know; to recognise. Also to swindle.1851–61.Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 461. The shallow got sogranniedin London.Ibid., p. 340. If theygrannythe manley (perceive the signature) of a brother officer or friend.Grant.To grant the favour,verb. phr.(venery).—To confer the sexual embrace;to spread(q.v.).1720.Durfey,Pills, etc., vi.58. If at last shegrants the favour, And consents to be undone.1754.Fielding,Jonathan Wild, iv. 7. I … never wouldgrant the favourto any man till I had drunk a heavy glass with him.Grape-shot,adj.(common).—Drunk. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.Grape-vine,subs.(American).—A hold in wrestling.Grape-vine Telegraph,subs. phr.(American).—News mysteriously conveyed. [During the Civil War bogus reports from the front were said to beby the Grape-vine Telegraph.] AlsoClothes-line Telegraph.[195]Grapple,subs.(common).—The hand. Alsograppler. For synonyms,seeDaddleandMauley.1852.Hazel,Yankee Jack, p. 9. Give us yourgrappleron that, old fellow.1877.Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 246. Anything she once put hergrappleson she slipped inside.Grapple-the-rails,subs.(Irish).—Whiskey. For synonyms,seeDrinksandOld Man’s Milk.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue.Grapple-the-rails, a cant name used in Ireland for whiskey.Grappling-irons(or-hooks),subs.(old).—1. Handcuffs. For synonyms,seeDarbies.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.1830.Buckstone,Wreck Ashore, i.,4. I hope the bailiffs have not laid theirgrappling ironson young Miles.2. (nautical).—The fingers. For synonyms,seeFork. AlsoGrapplersandGrappling-Hooks.Grass,subs.(Royal Military Academy).—1. Vegetables.Cf.,bunny-grub. Fr.,gargousses de la canonnière.2. (American).—Fresh mint.3. (common).—Short forsparrow-grass(q.v.) = asparagus.1851–61.Mayhew,Lond. Lab and Lond. Poor, I., 539. He soldgrass, and such things as cost money.4. (Australian printers’).—A temporary hand on a newspaper; hence the proverb, ‘agrasson news waits dead men’s shoes.’Cf.,Grass-hand= a raw worker, or green hand.a.1889.Fitzgerald,Printers’ Proverbs, quoted inSlang, Jargon, and Cant. Why are thegrass, or casual news hands not put on a more comfortable footing?Verb(pugilistic).—To throw (or be thrown); to bring (or be brought) to ground. Hence, to knock down; to defeat; to kill.1818.Egan,Boxiana, ii., 375. He had much the worst of it, and was ultimatelygrassed.1819.Moore,Tom Crib, p. 57. The shame that aught but death should see himgrassed.1846.Dickens,Dombey, xliv., 385. The Chicken himself attributed this punishment to his having had the misfortune to get into Chancery early in the proceedings, when he was severely fibbed by the Larkey One, and heavilygrassed.1881.Daily Telegraph, 26 Nov. The Doctor had killed twenty out of twenty-five, while his opponent hadgrassedseventeen out of the same number.1883.W. Besant,All in a Garden Fair. Intro. It was a sad example of pride before a fall; his foot caught in a tuft of grass, and he wasgrassed.1888.Sporting Life, 11 Dec. Just on the completion of the minutegrassedhis man with a swinging right-hander.1891.J. Newman,Scamping Tricks, p. 119. I saw I wasgrassed, so I took his measurement.1892.F. Anstey,Voces Populi. ‘The Riding-Class,’ p. 108. Didn’t getgrassed, did you?Togive grass,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To yield.Togo to grass,verb. phr.(colloquial).—1. To abscond; to disappear. Also tohunt grass.2. (common).—To fall sprawling; to be ruined; to die.1876.Hindley,Cheap Jack, p.237. Elias wassent to grassto rise no more off it.3. (common).—To waste away (as of limbs).To hunt grass,verb. phr.(common).—1. To decamp.2. (cricket).—To field; tohunt leather(q.v.).[196]3. (American). To fall; to go to ground; hence, to be puzzled or bewildered.1869.S. L. Clemens,Innocents at Home, p. 21. You’re most too many for me, you know. When you get in with your left Ihunt grassevery time.To cut one’s own grass.verb. phr.(thieves’).—To earn one’s own living.1877.Five Years’ Penal Servitude,ch.iii., p. 242. ‘Cut her own grass!Good gracious! what is that!’ I asked. ‘Why, purvide her own chump—earn her own living,’ the old man replied.To be sent to grass.verb. phr.(University).—To be rusticated; toreceive a travelling scholarship(q.v.).1794.Gent. Mag., p. 1085. And was very nearrustication[at Cambridge] merely forkicking up a rowafter abeakering party. ‘Soho, Jack!’ briskly rejoined another, ‘almost presented with atravelling fellowship? very nigh beingsent to grass, hey?’Go to grass!phr.(common).—Be off! You be hanged! Go to hell!1848.Durivage,Stray Subjects, p. 95. A gentleman who was swimming about, upon being refused, declared that he mightgo to grasswith his old canoe, for he didn’t think it would be much of a shower, anyhow.1865.Bacon,Handbook of America, p. 363.Go to grass!be off! get out!To let the grass grow under one’s feet,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To proceed or work leisurely. Fr.,limer.To take Nebuchadnezzar out to grass,subs. phr.(venery).—To take a man. [Nebuchadnezzar=penis.] For synonyms,seeGreens.Grass-comber,subs.(nautical).—A countryman shipped as a sailor.1886.W. Besant,World Went Very Well Then, ch. xxix. Formerly, Jack would have replied to this sally that, d’ye see, Luke was agrass comberand a land swab, but that for himself, there was no tea aboard ship, and a glass of punch or a bowl of flip was worth all the tea ever brought from China.Grasser,subs.(sporting).—A fall.Grasshopper,subs.(common).—1. A waiter at a tea-garden.2. (rhyming).—A policeman, orcopper(q.v.).3. (thieves’).—A thief.SeeGunner.1893.Pall Mall Gaz., 2 Jan., p. 4., c. 3. Quite a ‘school’ of youthfulgrasshoppersare in possession of one corner of the ice, but on the Westminster side of the park ’pon bridge there is a good sprinkling of old hands.Grassing,subs.(printers’).—Casual work away from the office.SeeSmouting.Grassville,subs.(old).—The country;cf.,Daisyville.Grass-widow,subs.(old).—1. An unmarried mother; a deserted mistress.SeeBarrack-hackandTart.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Widow’s weeds, agrass-widow, one that pretends to have been married, but never was, yet has children.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Widow’s weeds; agrass-widow; a discarded mistress.2. (colloquial).—A married woman temporarily separated from her husband.[The usually accepted derivation that grass = Fr.,grâceis doubtful. Hall (says J. C. Atkinson, inGlossary of Cleveland Words) gives as the definition of this word ‘an unmarried woman who has had a child’; in Moor’sSuffolk Words and Phrases,grace-widow, ‘a woman who has had a child for her cradle ere she has had a husband for her bed’; and corresponding with this is the N. S. or Low Ger.,gras-wedewe. Again, Sw. D.,gras-anka, or-enka=grass-widow, occurs in the same sense as with us: ‘a low, dissolute, unmarried woman living by herself.’ The original meaning of the word seems to[197]have been ‘a woman whose husband is away,’ either travelling or living apart. The people of Belgium call a woman of this descriptionhaeck-wedewe, fromhaecken, to feel strong desire.… It seems probable, therefore, from the etymology, taken in connection with the Clevel. signification, that our word may rather be from the Scand. source than from the German; only with a translation of the wordenkainto its English equivalent. Dan. D.,graesenka, is a female whose betrothed lover (fastman) is dead; nearly equivalent to which is German,strohwittwe, literally straw-widow.SeeN. and Q. 6 S.viii., 268, 414; x. 333, 436, 526; xi. 78, 178.]English Synonyms.—Californian widow; widow-bewitched; wife in water colours.1700.Congreve,Way of the World, Act iii. If the worst come to the worst,—I’llturn my wife to grass—I have already a deed of settlement of the best part of her estate, which I wheedl’d out of her.1877.Chamb. Journal, 12 Mar., p. 173. Mrs. Brittomart was one of those who never tolerated a bow-wow—a species of animal well known in India—and never went to the hills as agrass-widow.1878.London,a grass-widow. And so, you see, it comes to pass That she’s awidow out at grassAnd happy in her freedom.1882.Saturday Review, 11 Feb. She is agrass-widow, her husband is something in some Indian service.1885.W. Black,White Heather, ch. xli. Mrs. Lalor, agrass-widowwho was kind enough to play chaperon to the young people, but whose effective black eyes had a little trick of roving on their own account.1889.Daily Telegraph, 12 Feb. She had taken up her residence at a house in Sinclair-road, Kensington, where she passed as agrass-widow. She represented that her husband was engaged in mercantile pursuits.Grass-widower,subs.(common).—A man away from his wife.1886.New York Evening Post, 22 May. All thegrass-widowersand unmarried men.Gravel,verb. (old).—1. To confound; to puzzle; tofloor(q.v.).1593.G. Harvey,Pierus Supererog, in wks. II., 296. The finest intelligencer, or sagest Politician in a state, would undoubtedly have beengravelledin the execution of that rash attempt.1597.Hall,Satires, III., vi., 14. So long he drinks, till the black caravell Stands still fastgravelledon the mud of hell.1600.Shakspeare,As You Like It. When you weregravelledfor lack of matter.1604.Marlowe,Faustus, Act i., Sc. 1. And I, that have with concise syllogismsgravell’dthe pastors of the German church.1659.Torriano,Vocabulario, s.v.1667.Dryden,Sir Martin Marr-all, Act iii.Warn.He’sgravelled, and I must help him out.1663.Dryden,An Evening’s Love, Act ii. A difficult question in that art, which almostgravelsme.1857.A. Trollope,Three Clerks, ch. xxxiv. He was somewhatgravelledfor an answer to Alaric’s earnest supplication, and therefore made none till the request was repeated.1886.R. L. Stevenson,Kidnapped, p. 206. I thought Alan would begravelledat that, for we lacked the means of writing in that desert.1893.National Observer, 11 Feb., p. 321. In truth to talk of Burns as the apotheosis of Knox is really tograveland confound your readers; and but for the context one might be suspected that the innuendo hid a touch of sarcasm.2. (American).—To go against the grain.1887.Clemens,Life on the Mississippi, ch. xiv., p. 138. By long habit, pilots came to put all their wishes in the form of commands. Itgravelsme to this day, to put my will in the weak shape of a request, instead of launching it in the crisp language of an order.Gravel-crusher,subs.(military).—A soldier doing defaulter’s drill.Gravel-grinder,subs.(popular).—A drunkard. For synonyms,seeLushington.[198]Gravel-rash,subs.(colloquial).—The lacerations caused by a fall.To have the gravel rash,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To be reeling drunk. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.Gravesend-bus,subs.(common).—A hearse.Gravesend-sweetmeats,subs.(popular).—Shrimps.Gravesend-twins,subs.(common).—Solid particles of sewage.Grave-yard,subs.(common).—1. The mouth. For synonyms,seePotato-trap.To keep a private grave-yard,verb. phr.(American).—To affect ferocity; to bluster.Gravy,subs.(venery).—The sexual discharge; thespendings(q.v.) both male and female. [Hencegravy-giver= thepenisand the femalepudendum; andgravy-maker= the femalepudendum. Hence, too,to give one’s gravy= tospend(q.v.).Cf.,BeefandMutton.]d.1796.Burns, ‘Dainty Davie,’ inMerry Muses. I wot he cam atween my thie, An’ creeshed it weel wi’gravy.Gravy-eye,subs.(common).—A derisive epithet:e.g., Well Oldgravy-eye.Grawler,subs.(old).—A beggar. For synonyms,seeCadger.1821.D. Haggart,Life, Glossary p. 62. Not so much as would sweeten agrawlerin the whole of them.Gray,subs.(thieves’).—1. A coin showing either two heads or two tails; apony(q.v.).1828.G. Smeeton,Doings in London, p. 40. Breslaw could never have done more upon cards than he could do with a pair ofgrays(gaffing-coins).1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. II., p. 154. Some, if theycan, will cheat, by means of a half-penny with a head or a tail on both sides, called agray.1868.Temple Bar, Vol. XXIV., p. 539. They have a penny with two heads or two tails on it, which they call agrey, and of course they can easily dupe flats from the country. How do they call it agrey, I wonder? I suppose they have named it after Sir George Grey because he was a two-faced bloke.2. (common).—SeeGrayback, sense 1.3.in. pl.(colloquial).—Yawning; listlessness.Cf.,Blues.Grayback,subs.(common).—1. A louse. AlsoScots Greys. Fr.,un grenadier. For synonyms,seeChates.2. (American).—A Confederate soldier. [Partly from the colour of his uniform, and partly because of its inhabitants.Cf., sense 1.]SeeBlue-bellies.1883.Daily Telegraph, 9 Feb., p. 5, c. 4. The Confederate armies, during the great Civil War in America … were known … asGreybacks, whereas their Federal opponents, from the light-azure gaberdines which they wore, were dubbed ‘blue-bellies.’1890.Scribner’s Mag.Mar., p. 283. Mrs. Rutherford stood in such abject fear of thegraybacksthat she regarded the possession of so large a sum as simply inviting destruction.Gray-beard,subs.(colloquial).—1. An old man. Mostly in contempt.1593.Shakspeare,Taming of the Shrew, Act ii., Sc. 1.Grey-beard, thy love doth freeze.a.1845. Longfellow,Luck of Eden Hall. Thegray-beard, with trembling hand obeys.2. (old).—Originally a stoneware drinking jug; now a large earthenware jar for holding wine or spirits. [From the bearded face in relief with which they were ornamented.][199]1811.Lexicon Balatronicum,Grey-beard, s.v. Dutch earthen jugs, used for smuggling gin on the coasts of Essex and Suffolk, are at this time calledgrey-beards.1814.Scott,Waverley, ch. lxiv. There’s plenty of brandy in thegrey-beard.1886.The State, 20 May, p. 217. A whisky or brandy which is held in merited respect for very superior potency is entitled [in America] ‘reverent,’ from the same kind of fancy which led the Scotch to call a whisky jar agrey-beard.Gray-cloak,subs.(common).—An alderman above the chair. [Because his proper robe is a cloak furred with grey amis.]Gray-goose,subs.(Scots’).—A big field stone on the surface of the ground.1816.Scott,Black Dwarf, ch. iv. Biggin a dry-stane dyke, I think, wi’ thegrey-geeseas they ca’ thae great loose stones.Grayhound,subs.(general).—1. A fast Atlantic liner; one especially built for speed. Alsoocean grayhound.1887.Scientific American, vol. LVI., 2. They [ships] are built in the strongest possible manner, and are so swift of foot, as to have already become formidable rivals to the Englishgrey hound.2. (Cambridge University).—An obsolete name for a member of Clare College; aclarian.1889.Whibley,Cap and Gown, xxviii. The members of Clare … were calledgrayhounds.Gray-mare,subs.(common).—A wife; specifically one whowears the breeches(q.v.). [From the proverb, ‘The gray mare is the better horse’ = the wife is master: a tradition, perhaps, from the time when priests were forbidden to carry arms or ride on a male horse:Non enimlicueratpontificem sacrorum vel arma ferre, vel praeter quam inequâequitare.—Beda,Hist. Eccl.ii., 13. Fr.,mariage d’epervier= a hawk’s marriage: the female hawk being the larger and stronger bird. Lord Macaulay’s explanation (quot. 1849) is the merest guess-work.]1546.John Haywood,Proverbs[Sharman’s reprint, 1874]. She is (quoth he) bent to force you perforce, To know that thegrey mareis the better horse.1550.A Treatyse, Shewing and Declaring the Pryde and Abuse of Women Now a Dayes(in Hazlitt’sEarly Popular Poetry, iv., 237). What! shall thegraye mayrebe the better horse, And be wanton styll at home?1605.Camden,Remains Concerning Britain[ed. 1870, p. 332]. In list of proverbs. (Is said to be the earliest in English.)1670.Ray,Proverbs, s.v.1698–1750.Ward,London Spy, part II., p. 40. Another as dull as if thegrey marewas the better Horse; and deny’d him Enterance for keeping late Hours.1705–1707.Ward,Hudibras Redivivus, vol. II., pt. iv., p. 5. There’s no resisting Female Force,Grey marewill prove the better Horse.1717.Prior,Epilogue to Mrs. Manley’s Lucius. As long as we have eyes, or hands, or breath, We’ll look, or write, or talk you all to death. Yield, or she-Pegasus will gain her course, And thegrey marewill prove the better horse.1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., p. 240. For thegrey marehas proved the better horse.1738.Swift,Polite Convers., dial. 3. I wish she were married; but I doubt thegray marewould prove the better horse.1748.Smollett,Rod. Random, ch. xix. By the hints they dropped, I learned thegray marewas the better horse—that she was a matron of a high spirit.[200]1819.Macaulay,Hist. England. The vulgar proverb, that thegrey mareis the better horse, originated, I suspect, in the preference generally given to thegrey maresof Flanders over the finest coach horses of England.1883.G. A. S[ala], inIllustr. London News, 14 Apr., p. 359, c. 2. She [Mrs. Romford], did not over-accentuate either her strong-mindedness or her jealousy of her flighty husband; but she let him and the audience unmistakably know that she was in all respects thegrey marein the Romford stable.Gray-parson(orGray-coat parson),subs.(old).—A lay impropriator, or lessee of tithes.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue,grey parson, s.v. A farmer who rents the tythes of the rector or vicar.1830 inCobbett’sRural Rides, vol. I., p. 123note(ed. 1886). The late editor says, that, having been a large holder of lay tithes, the author applied to Mr. Nicholls, the name of thegrey-coated parson.Grease,subs.(common).—1. A bribe;palm-oil(or-grease). (q.v.for synonyms). In AmericaBoodle(q.v.).greasing= bribing.1823.Bee,Dict. of Turf, s.v. A bonus given to promote the cause of anyone.2. (printers’).—Well-paid work;fat(q.v.).3. (common).—Fawning; flattery (a figurative use of sense 1).Verb(old).—1. To bribe; to corrupt by presents; totip(q.v.). Also more fullyto grease in the fist,hand, orpalm. Fr.,coquer la boucanade. For synonyms,seeSquare.1557.Tusser,Husbandrie, ch. 68, pt. 2, p. 159 (E.D.S.). How husbandrie easeth, to huswiferie pleaseth, And manie pursegreasethWith silver and gold.1578.Whetstone,Promoss and Cassandra, ii., 3.Greasethem well in their hands.1592.Greene,Quip,in wks., xi., 261.That did you notgrease the sealersof Leaden Hall throughly in the fist, they should never be sealed, but turned away and made forfiet by the statute.1619.Fletcher,Wild Goose Chase. Am Igreasedonce again?1649.F. Quarles,Virgin Widow, IV., i., p. 40.Greaze my fistwith a Tester or two, and ye shall find it in your penny-worths.1678.C. Cotton,Scarronides, Bk. IV., p. 70 (ed. 1725). Him she conjures, intreats, and prays, With all the Cunning that she has,greases his Fist; nay more, engages Thenceforth to mend his Quarters-wages.1693.Dryden,Persius, iii., 139. And after, envy not the store Of thegreas’dadvocate, that grinds the poor.1698–1700.Ward,London Spy, pt. xv., p. 364. But the Gay Curteyan who trades for gold, That can butgrease a palmwhen she’s in hold, No Justice need she dread.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1878.Jas. Payn,By Proxy, ch. x. His Excellency, your master, has given orders, I presume, that after I have made my compliments—as delicate a phrase as he could think of forgreasing the handsof justice—I shall be at liberty to visit my friend.1879.Horsley, inMacmillan’s Magazine, Oct. When I went to the fence he bested (cheated) me because I was drunk, and only gave me £8 10s. for the lot. So the next day I went to him and asked him if he was not going togrease my duke(put money into my hand).1891.Pall Mall Gaz., 2 Sept., p. 7, c. 2. Did other people having business with the printing bureau tell you that it would be necessary togreaseSénécal?2. (common).—To fawn; to flatter. Formerly,to grease one’s boots.1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes.Onger i stivali,to grease ones bootes,id est, to flatter or cog with, to faune vpon one.3. (old).—To gull; to cheat; todo.[201]To grease a fat sow in the arse,verb. phr.(old).—To bribe a rich man.—Grose.To grease one’s gills,verb. phr.(common).—To make a good or luxurious meal.Greased Lightning,subs. phr.(American).—An express train.1871.De Vere,Americanisms, p. 359. The usual Express Train is not half fast enough for the impatient traveller; he must have hisLightningExpress Train, and in the Far West improves still farther by calling itgreased lightning, after a favourite Yankee term.Like Greased Lightning,adv. phr.(American).—Very quick.SeeBed-post.1848.Durivage,Stray Subjects, p. 72. Quicker thangreased lightnin’, My covies, I was dead.1890.Globe, 27 Aug., p. 2, c. 5. He is drawn along at a rapid rate, or, as the correspondent puts it, he is whisked all over town likegreased lightning.1891.J. Newman,Scamping Tricks, p. 98. He measured again, and then off went his coatlike greased lightning, and we all followed suit.Greaser,subs.(American).—1. A Mexican in general; also a Spanish American:seequots. 1848 and 1888. The term originated during the Mexican war.1848.Ruxton,Life in the Far West, p. 3.Note.The Mexicans are called Spaniards orgreasers(from their greasy appearance) by the Western people.1855.Marryat,Mountains and Mole Hills, p. 236. The Americans call the Mexicansgreasers, which is scarcely a complimentary soubriquet; although the termgreaser campas applied to a Mexican encampment is truthfully suggestive of filth and squalor.1876.BesantandRice,Golden Butterfly, Prologue i. Behind the leaders followed a little troop of three, consisting of one English servant and twogreasers.1883.Bret Harte,In the Carquinez Woods, footnote to ch. vii.Greasers, Californian slang for a mixed race of Mexicans and Indians.1888.Century Mag., October. To avenge the murder of one of their number the cowboys gathered from the country round about, and fairly stormed thegreaser—that is, Mexican—village where the murder had been committed, killing four of the inhabitants.1891.Gunter,Miss Nobody, ch. 2. Don’t let thegreasergit his fingers in your ha’r.2.in. pl.(Royal Military Academy).—Fried potatoes, as distinguished fromboilers= boiled potatoes.To give one greaser,verb. phr.(Winchester College).—To rub the back of the hand hard with the knuckles.Grease-spot,subs.(common).—The imaginary result of a passage at arms, physical or intellectual.1844.Haliburton,The Attaché, ch. xvi. If he hadn’t a had the clear grit in him, and showed his teeth and claws, they’d a nullified him so you wouldn’t see agrease-spotof him no more.Greasy-chin,subs.(old).—A dinner.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1837.Barham,Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Lay of St. Gengulphus.’ And to every guest his card had express’d ‘Half past’ as the hour for agreasy chin.Great Cry and Little Wool.—SeeCry.Great Go(orGreats),subs.(Cambridge University).—The final examination for the B.A. degree;cf.,Little-go. At Oxford,greater.1841.Prince of the New-made Baccalere, Oxford.Great-gois passed.1861.Hughes,Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. x. Both small andgreatare sufficiently distant to be altogether ignored, if we are that way inclined.[202]1856–7.Thackeray,King of Brentford’s Test., st. 7. At college, though not fast, Yet his little-go andgreat-go, He creditably pass’d.1871.Morning Advertiser, 28 Apr. Yes, Mr. Lowe has been plucked for hisgreat go.1883.Echo, 3 May, p. 2, c. 4. But few, indeed, are the men who have been in forgreatsduring the last twenty years, and who have not blessed Mr. Kitchin for his edition of theNovum Organum.Great Gun,subs. phr.(common).—1. A person of distinction; a thing of importance.English Synonyms.—Big bug; big dog of the tanyard; big dog with the brass collar; big gun; big head; big one; big (or great) pot; big wig; biggest toad in the puddle; cock of the walk; don; large potato; nob; rumbusticator; stunner; swell; swell-head; topper; top-sawyer.French Synonyms.—Un gros bonnet(familiar = big wig);un fiérot(a stuck-up);un herr(from the German);Monsieur RaidillonorMonsieur Pointu(= Mr.Stuck-up).1836.M. Scott,Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. ii. A Spanish Ecclesiastic, the Canon of ——. Plenty ofgreat guns, at any rate—a regular park of artillery.1843.Haliburton,Sam Slick in England, ch. xv. Thegreat gunsand big bugs have to take in each other’s ladies.Ibid., p. 24. Pick out thebig bugsandseewhat sort of stuff they’re made of.1853.Wh. Melville,Digby Grand, ch. x. Thegreat gunsof the party, the rector of the parish, the member for the county.2. (pedlers’).—A peculiar practice; a trick of particular usefulness and importance; a favouritewheeze(q.v.).1851.Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 256. The street-seller’sgreat gun, as he called it, was to make up packets, as closely resembling as he could accomplish it those which were displayed in the windows of any of the shops.To Blow Great Guns,verb. phr.(nautical).—To blow a gale; alsoto blow great guns and small arms.1839.Harrison Ainsworth,Jack Sheppard[1889], 23. ‘Curse me, if I don’t think all the world means to cross the Thames this fine night!’ observed Ben. ‘One’d think it rained fares as well asblowed great guns.’1854.H. Miller,Sch. and Schm.(1858), 14. It soon began toblow great guns.1865.H. Kingsley,Hillyars and Burton, ch. lxxvii. It wasblowing pretty high guns, sou’ eastern by east, off shore and when we came to the harbour’s mouth there was Tom Wyatt with his pilot just aboard.1869.Arthur Sketchley,Mrs. Brown on Things in General. I never did see such weather,a-blowin great gunsas the sayin’ is.1892.R. L. StevensonandL. Osbourne,The Wrecker, p. 340. Itblew great gunsfrom the seaward.Great-house.SeeBig-house.Great-Joseph,subs.(old).—An overcoat.Great Scott!intj.(American).—An exclamation of surprise; an apology for an oath. [Possibly a memory of the name of Gen. Winfield Scott, a presidential candidate whose dignity and style were such as to win him the nickname “Fuss-and-Feathers.”] AlsoGreat Cæsar.1888.New York Mercury.Great Scott!you don’t say so.1891.Gunter,Miss Nobody of Nowhere, p. 98. Bob, what’s the matter with you?Great Scott!the mine hain’t give out.[203]1891.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 19 June, p. 396, c 2.Great Scotch!—no, we mean Scott—well, language worthy of the great Harry prevailed for awhile.1891.N. Gould,Double Event, p. 305. ‘Great Scott!what the deuce is Wells up to?’ said the Squire.1892.R. L. StevensonandL. Osbourne,The Wrecker, p. 106.Great Cæsar!

Gouging,subs.(American).—Cheating.

Goujeers.SeeGoodyear.

Gourd,subs.(old).—False dice with a cavity within, which inFullams(q.v.) was filled with lead to give a bias.SeealsoHigh-menandLow-men.

1544.Ascham,Toxophylus. What false dyse use they? as dyse stopped with quicksilver and heares, dyse of vauntage, flattes,gourds, to chop and chaunge when they liste.

1596.Shakspeare,Merry Wives of Windsor, i., 3. Let vultures gripe thy guts! forgourdand fullam holds, And high and low beguiles the rich and poor.

1616.BeaumontandFletcher,Scornful Lady, iv. And thy dry bones can reach at nothing now Butgourdsor nine-pins; pray go fetch a trencher, go.

Gourock Ham,subs.(common).—A salt herring (Gourock was formerly a great fishing village). For synonyms,seeGlasgow Magistrate.

Government-man,subs.(old Australian).—A convict.

1864.Smythe,Ten Months in Fiji Islands, q.v.

1883.Graphic, 17 Mar., p. 262, c. 3. They never settle down as thousands of ourGovernment mencheerfully did in Australia after they had their freedom.

Government-securities,subs.(common).—Handcuffs; fetters generally. For synonyms,seeDarbies.

Government-signpost,subs.(old).—The gallows. For synonyms,seeNubbing-cheat.

1887.A. Barrère,Argot and Slang, p. 272.Montagne du géant.Fr. (obsolete),gallows, scrag, nobbing cheat, orgovernment signpost.

Governor(orGuv),subs.(common).—1. A father. Alsorelieving officer;old ’un;pater;nibso; andhis nibs. Applied to elderly people in general. Fr.,le géniteurandl’ancien(= the old ’un).

1836.Dickens,Pickwick, ch. xx. p. 169. ‘You’re quite certain it was them,governor?’ inquired Mr. Weller, junior. ‘Quite, Sammy, quite,’ replied his father.[190]

1841.Punch, vol. I., p. 28. But—mind! don’t tell thegovernor!

1852.Comic Almanack, p. 19. Your father: Speaking to him, say ‘Guvnor,’ or ‘Old Strike-a-light;’ofhim, ‘The old un.’

1859.Witty Political Portraits, p. 111. Unconscious of the constitutional delusions on which hisgovernorhas thrived.

1889.Answers, 20 Apr., p. 323. To call your father ‘TheGovernor’ is, of course, slang, and is as bad as referring to him as ‘The Boss,’ ‘The Old Man,’ or ‘The Relieving Officer.’

1891.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 9 Jan. Itwasmortifying to be done in that manner by a low fellow like Muggins, that I had always looked upon as a fool, and had made a butt of when theguv. was out of the way.

1892.Hume Nisbet,Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 118. TheGovernoris in an awful funk about him.

2. (common).—A mode of address to strangers. Fr.,bourgeois.

1892.Anstey,Voces Populi(Second Series). ‘At the Guelph Exhibition.’ Right,guvnor; we’ll come.

3. (colloquial).—A master or superior; an employer.

English Synonyms.—Boss; captain of the waiters; captain; chief; colonel; commander; chief bottle-washer; ganger; head-butler; head-cook and bottle-washer; gorger; omee; rum-cull.

French Synonyms.—Le pantriot(popular and thieves’: also = a young nincompoop);le, orla,pâte(popular: properly paste or dough);le naïf(printers’: obsolete);le herzorhers(thieves’: obviously from the German);le loncegué(thieves’: Fr., back-slang; =gonce, itself a slang term for a man);le galeux(popular:= one with the itch);le grêle(popular: specifically a master-tailor);le singe(= monkey);le troploc;le nourisseur(= the grubber);l’ogre(specifically afence);le notaire(= publican);le patron(colloquial: = governor).

Italian Synonyms.—Chielmiero(vulgar).

Governor’s-stiff,subs.(American).—A pardon.

1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.

Gower-street Dialect.SeeMedical Greek.

Gowk,subs.(prison).—A simpleton. (Scots’gowk= a cuckoo). For synonyms,seeBuffleandCabbage-head. Also a countryman. For synonyms,seeJoskin.

1816.Scott,Antiquary, ch. x. ‘Hout awa’, ye auldgowk,’ said Jenny Rintherout.

Tohunt the gowk,verb. phr.(common).—To go on a fool’s errand.

Gowler,subs.(old).—A dog; specifically a howler.

Gown,subs.(Winchester College)—1. Coarse brown paper. (obsolete).

2. (University).—The schools as distinguished from thetown(q.v.).,e.g.,TownandGown.

1847.Thackeray,Punch’s Prize Novelists, ‘Codlingsby,’ p. 232. From the Addenbrooke’s hospital to the Blenheim turnpike, all Cambridge was in an uproar—the College gates closed—the shops barricaded—the shop-boys away in support of their brother townsmen—the battle raged, and theGownhad the worst of the fight.

1853.Bradley,Verdant Green, II., ch. iii. WhenGownwas absent, Town was miserable.

1891.Pall Mall Gaz., 30 May, p. 4, c. 3.TownandGownjoined in harmony.[191]

Gownsman(alsoGown),subs.(university).—A student.

1800.C. K. Sharpe, inCorrespondence(1888), i., 96. A battle between thegownsmenand townspeople … in spite of the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors.

1850.F. E. Smedley,Frank Fairleigh, ch. xxv. The ancient town of Cambridge, no longer animated by the countless throngs ofgownsmen, frowned in its unaccustomed solitude.

1861.Hughes,Tom Brown at Oxford. The townsmen … were met by thegownsmenwith settled steady pluck.

Grab,subs.(vulgar).—1. A sudden clutch.

1835.Haliburton,Clockmaker, 1st S., ch. viii. He makes agrabat me, and I shuts the door right to on his wrist.

2. (American).—A robbery; asteal(q.v.).Cf.,Grab-gains.

3. (old).—A body-stealer; a resurrectionist.

1830.S. Warren,Diary of a Late Physician, ch. xvi. Sir ——’s dressers and myself, with an experiencedgrab—that is to say, aprofessionalresurrectionist—were to set off from the Borough.

4. (gamesters’).—A boisterous game at cards.

Verb(vulgar).—1.To Pinch(q.v.); to seize; to apprehend; to snatch or steal.Grabbed= arrested.

1811.Lexicon Balatronicum. The pigsgrabbedthe kiddy for a crack.

1818.Maginn,Vidocq’s Song. Tramp it, tramp it, my jolly blowen, Or begrabbedby the beaks we may.

1837.Lytton,Ernest Maltravers, Wk. I., ch. x. There, man,grabthe money, it’s on the table.

1837.Dickens,Oliver Twist, ch. xiii. Do you want to begrabbed, stupid?

1839.Ainsworth,Jack Sheppard[1889], p. 39. Don’t muddle your brains with any more of that Pharaoh. You’ll need all your strength tograbhim.

1851–61.Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., 396. I wasgrabbedfor an attempt on a gentleman’s pocket.

1877.Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 236. I watched a movement, till one of the servant girls had brought another load of grub out, and as she turned her back and went into the house Igrabbedthe key, and so they couldn’t lock it nohow.

1886.Baring Gould,Golden Feather, p. 23 (S.P.C.K.). There are some folks … so grasping that if they touch a farthing willgraba pound.

2. (thieves’).—To hold on; to get along; to live.

1851–61.Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., 149. I do manage tograbon somehow.

Grab-all,subs.(colloquial).—1. An avaricious person; agreedy-guts(q.v.).

1872.Sunday Times, 18 Aug. This gentleman, it is well known, has worked with indomitable energy on behalf of the millions, and has succeeded in wresting from the mean and contemptiblegrab-allsof that government which professes to study the people’s interest those portions of the Embankment which the public money has paid for.

2. (colloquial).—A bag to carry odds and ends, parcels, books, and so forth.

Grabber,subs.(common).—In. pl., the hands. For synonyms,seeDaddleandMauley.

Grabble,verb.(old).—1. To seize: a frequent form ofgrab(q.v.).

1811.Lexicon Balatronicum. Tograbblethe bit; to seize any one’s money.

1859.Matsell,Vocabulum. Yougrabblethe goose-cap and I’ll frisk his pokes.

2. (venery).—To grope; to fumble;to fam(q.v.).

1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., 193. When Nelly, though he teized her, Andgrabbledher and squeezed her.[192]

Grabby,subs.(military).—An infantry-man. [Used in contempt by the mounted arm.] Fr.,marionnette.

1868.Whyte Melville,White Rose, ch. x.‘Is it a good regiment? How jolly to dine at mess every day!’ ‘I shouldn’t like to be agrabbythough’ (this from the Dandy); ‘and after all, I’d rather be a private in the cavalry than an officer in the regiment offeet!’

Grab-gains,subs.(thieves’).—The trick of snatching a purse, etc., and making off.

Grab-game(or-coup, or-racket),subs.(old).—A mode of swindling: the sharpers start by betting among themselves; then the by-standers are induced to join; then stakes are deposited; lastly, there is a row, when one of the ganggrabsthe stakes, and decamps. Butseequot., 1823.

1823.Bee,Dict. of the Turf, s.v.Grab-coup, modern practice of gambling, adopted by the losers, thus the person cheated, or done, takes his opportunity, makes a dash at the depository of money, or such as may be down for the play, andgrabsas much as possible, pockets the proceeds, and fights his way out of the house.

18(?).Scenes in the Rocky Mountains, p. 282. ‘I’ll bear you company. What d’ye say to that?’ ‘Just as you like,’ responded his two companions, ‘that is provided you won’t attempt thegrab gameon us.’

1892.R. L. StevensonandL. Osbourne,The Wrecker, p. 219. ‘Now, boss!’ he cried, not unkindly, ‘is this to be run shipshape; or is it a Dutchgrab-racket?’

Grace-card,subs.(Irish).—The Six of Hearts. [For originseeN. and Q., 5th Series, iv., 137].

Gracemans,subs.(old).—Grace-church Street Market.

1610.Rowlands,Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (W. Club’s Rept., 1874).Gracemans, Gratious Streete market.

Graduate,subs.(turf).—1. A horse that has been run.

2. (colloquial).—An adept; anartful member(q.v.).

3. (venery).—An unmarried woman who has taken her degree in carnal lore.

Verb.(colloquial).—To seek and acquire experience: in life, love, society, or trade; and so on.

Gradus,subs.(gamesters’).—A mode of cheating: a particular card is so placed by the shuffler that when he hands the pack to be cut, it projects a little beyond the rest; the chance being that it is the turn-up. Alsothe step(q.v.). [From the Latin.]

Gradus-ad-parnassum,subs.(old literary).—The treadmill. For synonyms,seeWheel-of-life.

Graft,subs.(common).—Work; employment;lay(q.v.).:e.g.Whatgraftare you on now?Great-graft= profitable labour;good biz(q.v.). AlsoGraftingandElbow-grease.

French Synonyms.—Le bastimage(thieves’);le goupinage(thieves’);la laine(tailors’);le maquillage(thieves’);le massage(popular);la masse;le mèche(printers’).

1878.Graphic, 6 July, p. 2. According to the well-known maxim in the building trade, ‘Scotch masons, Welsh blacksmiths, English bricklayers, Irish labourers’.… Perhaps in a generation or two Paddy will fail us. He will have become too refined for hardgrafting.

1887.Henley,Villon’s Straight Tip. The merry little dibbs you bag At mygraft, no matter what.[193]

1892.Tit Bits, 19 Mar., p. 417, c. 1. Millbank for thick shins andgraftat the pump.

Verb(common).—1. To work. Fr.,bausser;membrer.

2. (American).—To steal.

3. (old).—To cuckold; to plant horns.

1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

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

4. (American).—To sole old boots.Cf.,GooseandTranslate.

Grampus,subs.(colloquial).—A fat man. For synonyms,seeForty-guts.

To blow the Grampus.(nautical).—To drench; and (common), to sport in the water.

Grand,subs.(colloquial).—Short for ‘grand piano.’

1891.Morning Advertiser, 28 Mar. A precocious young relative is now about to take the daïs. There she stands, violin in hand, and there begins the preliminary scramble on the hiredgrand.

Adj.(colloquial).—A general superlative.

1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 19. Wot we want in a picter is flavour and ‘fetch,’ and yours give it megrand.

To do the Grand,verb. phr.(common).—To put on airs. For synonyms,seeLardy-dah.

Grand Bounce.SeeBounce.

Grandmother.To see one’s grandmother,verb. phr.(common).—To have a nightmare.

To see(orhave)one’s grandmother(orlittle friend, orauntie)with one.verb. phr.(common).—To have the menstrual discharge.SeeFlag.

To shoot one’s grandmother,verb. phr.(common).—To be mistaken; to have found a mare’s nest; to be disappointed. Commonly ‘You’ve shot your grannie.’

To teach one’s grandmother(orgrannie)how to suck eggs,verb. phr.(common).—To instruct an expert in his own particular line of business; to talk old to one’s seniors.

1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1892.Globe, 27 Jan., p. 1, c. 5. Evidently he did not consider, as Englishmen seem to do, thatgrandmotherspossess no more knowledge than is required to efficientlysuck eggs.

1892.Hume Nisbet,Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 210. ‘Confound you stupid, what do you take me for, that you tryto teach your grandmother to suck eggs.’

1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 77. She’s ateaching ’er grandmother, she is, although she’s a littery swell.

My grandmother’s review.subs. phr.(obsolete).—TheBritish Review. [The nickname was Lord Byron’s.]

Grand-strut,subs.(old).—The Broad Walk in Hyde Park.

1823.Moncrieff,Tom and Jerry, i., 4. We’ll start first to the show shop of the metropolis, Hyde Park! promenade it down thegrand strut.

Granger,subs.(American political).—1. A member of the Farmers’ Alliance; a secret society, nominally non-political, but really taking a hand in politics when occasion offered to favour agricultural interests. [During the decade of years ending 1870, it attained to great numerical strength, and extended throughout the United States.]SeeAgricultural Wheel.[194]

2. (American).—Hence, a farmer; a countryman; anyone from the rural districts. For synonyms,seeJoskin.

Grangerise,verb. (literary).—To fill out a book with portraits, landscapes, title-pages, and illustrations generallynot done for it.

1883.Sala,Living Wonders, p. 497. Mr. Ashton’sSocial Life in the Reign of Queen Anne… would be a capital book tograngerize.

Grangerism,subs.(literary).—The practice of illustrating a book with engravings, etc., from other sources. [From the practice of illustratingGranger’sBibliographical History of England.]

1883.Saturday Review, Jan. 27, p. 123, c. 2.Grangerism, as the innocent may need to be told, is the pernicious vice of cutting plates and title-pages out of many books to illustrate one book.

Grangerite,subs.(literary).—A practitioner ingrangerism(q.v.).

1890. ‘Grangerising,’ inCornhill Mag., Feb., p. 139. Another favourite subject, and suitable also for theGrangerite, is ‘Boswell’s Johnson.’ It must be admitted that this delightful book may gain a fresh chance by being thus treated, but ‘within the limits of becoming grangerism.’

Grannam,subs.(old). Corn. [From the Latin.]—Fr.,le grenu, orgrelu. It.,re di granata;staffile;corniole.Sp.,grito.

1567.Harman,Caveat(1814), p. 65.Grannam, corne.

1610.Rowlands,Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Rept., 1874).Granmer, corne.

1671.R. Head,English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 49 (1874).Grannam, corn.

1706.E. Coles,Eng. Dict.,Grannam,c.corn.

1737.Bacchus and Venus.‘The Strowling Mort.’Grannamever filled my sack.

Grannam’s-gold.subs.(old).—Wealth inherited. [Grannam = grandmother:cf.,BeaumontandFletcher,Lover’s Progress, iv., 1. ‘Ghosts never walk till after midnight, if I may believe my grannam.’]

Granny,subs.(nautical).—1. A bad knot with the second tie across; as opposed to a reef knot in which the end and outer part are in line. AlsoGranny’s KnotorGranny’s Bend.

2. (common).—Conceit of superior knowledge.

1851–61.Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 404. To take thegrannyoff them as has white hands.

Verb(thieves’).—To know; to recognise. Also to swindle.

1851–61.Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 461. The shallow got sogranniedin London.

Ibid., p. 340. If theygrannythe manley (perceive the signature) of a brother officer or friend.

Grant.To grant the favour,verb. phr.(venery).—To confer the sexual embrace;to spread(q.v.).

1720.Durfey,Pills, etc., vi.58. If at last shegrants the favour, And consents to be undone.

1754.Fielding,Jonathan Wild, iv. 7. I … never wouldgrant the favourto any man till I had drunk a heavy glass with him.

Grape-shot,adj.(common).—Drunk. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.

Grape-vine,subs.(American).—A hold in wrestling.

Grape-vine Telegraph,subs. phr.(American).—News mysteriously conveyed. [During the Civil War bogus reports from the front were said to beby the Grape-vine Telegraph.] AlsoClothes-line Telegraph.[195]

Grapple,subs.(common).—The hand. Alsograppler. For synonyms,seeDaddleandMauley.

1852.Hazel,Yankee Jack, p. 9. Give us yourgrappleron that, old fellow.

1877.Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 246. Anything she once put hergrappleson she slipped inside.

Grapple-the-rails,subs.(Irish).—Whiskey. For synonyms,seeDrinksandOld Man’s Milk.

1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue.Grapple-the-rails, a cant name used in Ireland for whiskey.

Grappling-irons(or-hooks),subs.(old).—1. Handcuffs. For synonyms,seeDarbies.

1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1830.Buckstone,Wreck Ashore, i.,4. I hope the bailiffs have not laid theirgrappling ironson young Miles.

2. (nautical).—The fingers. For synonyms,seeFork. AlsoGrapplersandGrappling-Hooks.

Grass,subs.(Royal Military Academy).—1. Vegetables.Cf.,bunny-grub. Fr.,gargousses de la canonnière.

2. (American).—Fresh mint.

3. (common).—Short forsparrow-grass(q.v.) = asparagus.

1851–61.Mayhew,Lond. Lab and Lond. Poor, I., 539. He soldgrass, and such things as cost money.

4. (Australian printers’).—A temporary hand on a newspaper; hence the proverb, ‘agrasson news waits dead men’s shoes.’Cf.,Grass-hand= a raw worker, or green hand.

a.1889.Fitzgerald,Printers’ Proverbs, quoted inSlang, Jargon, and Cant. Why are thegrass, or casual news hands not put on a more comfortable footing?

Verb(pugilistic).—To throw (or be thrown); to bring (or be brought) to ground. Hence, to knock down; to defeat; to kill.

1818.Egan,Boxiana, ii., 375. He had much the worst of it, and was ultimatelygrassed.

1819.Moore,Tom Crib, p. 57. The shame that aught but death should see himgrassed.

1846.Dickens,Dombey, xliv., 385. The Chicken himself attributed this punishment to his having had the misfortune to get into Chancery early in the proceedings, when he was severely fibbed by the Larkey One, and heavilygrassed.

1881.Daily Telegraph, 26 Nov. The Doctor had killed twenty out of twenty-five, while his opponent hadgrassedseventeen out of the same number.

1883.W. Besant,All in a Garden Fair. Intro. It was a sad example of pride before a fall; his foot caught in a tuft of grass, and he wasgrassed.

1888.Sporting Life, 11 Dec. Just on the completion of the minutegrassedhis man with a swinging right-hander.

1891.J. Newman,Scamping Tricks, p. 119. I saw I wasgrassed, so I took his measurement.

1892.F. Anstey,Voces Populi. ‘The Riding-Class,’ p. 108. Didn’t getgrassed, did you?

Togive grass,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To yield.

Togo to grass,verb. phr.(colloquial).—1. To abscond; to disappear. Also tohunt grass.

2. (common).—To fall sprawling; to be ruined; to die.

1876.Hindley,Cheap Jack, p.237. Elias wassent to grassto rise no more off it.

3. (common).—To waste away (as of limbs).

To hunt grass,verb. phr.(common).—1. To decamp.

2. (cricket).—To field; tohunt leather(q.v.).[196]

3. (American). To fall; to go to ground; hence, to be puzzled or bewildered.

1869.S. L. Clemens,Innocents at Home, p. 21. You’re most too many for me, you know. When you get in with your left Ihunt grassevery time.

To cut one’s own grass.verb. phr.(thieves’).—To earn one’s own living.

1877.Five Years’ Penal Servitude,ch.iii., p. 242. ‘Cut her own grass!Good gracious! what is that!’ I asked. ‘Why, purvide her own chump—earn her own living,’ the old man replied.

To be sent to grass.verb. phr.(University).—To be rusticated; toreceive a travelling scholarship(q.v.).

1794.Gent. Mag., p. 1085. And was very nearrustication[at Cambridge] merely forkicking up a rowafter abeakering party. ‘Soho, Jack!’ briskly rejoined another, ‘almost presented with atravelling fellowship? very nigh beingsent to grass, hey?’

Go to grass!phr.(common).—Be off! You be hanged! Go to hell!

1848.Durivage,Stray Subjects, p. 95. A gentleman who was swimming about, upon being refused, declared that he mightgo to grasswith his old canoe, for he didn’t think it would be much of a shower, anyhow.

1865.Bacon,Handbook of America, p. 363.Go to grass!be off! get out!

To let the grass grow under one’s feet,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To proceed or work leisurely. Fr.,limer.

To take Nebuchadnezzar out to grass,subs. phr.(venery).—To take a man. [Nebuchadnezzar=penis.] For synonyms,seeGreens.

Grass-comber,subs.(nautical).—A countryman shipped as a sailor.

1886.W. Besant,World Went Very Well Then, ch. xxix. Formerly, Jack would have replied to this sally that, d’ye see, Luke was agrass comberand a land swab, but that for himself, there was no tea aboard ship, and a glass of punch or a bowl of flip was worth all the tea ever brought from China.

Grasser,subs.(sporting).—A fall.

Grasshopper,subs.(common).—1. A waiter at a tea-garden.

2. (rhyming).—A policeman, orcopper(q.v.).

3. (thieves’).—A thief.SeeGunner.

1893.Pall Mall Gaz., 2 Jan., p. 4., c. 3. Quite a ‘school’ of youthfulgrasshoppersare in possession of one corner of the ice, but on the Westminster side of the park ’pon bridge there is a good sprinkling of old hands.

Grassing,subs.(printers’).—Casual work away from the office.SeeSmouting.

Grassville,subs.(old).—The country;cf.,Daisyville.

Grass-widow,subs.(old).—1. An unmarried mother; a deserted mistress.SeeBarrack-hackandTart.

1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Widow’s weeds, agrass-widow, one that pretends to have been married, but never was, yet has children.

1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Widow’s weeds; agrass-widow; a discarded mistress.

2. (colloquial).—A married woman temporarily separated from her husband.

[The usually accepted derivation that grass = Fr.,grâceis doubtful. Hall (says J. C. Atkinson, inGlossary of Cleveland Words) gives as the definition of this word ‘an unmarried woman who has had a child’; in Moor’sSuffolk Words and Phrases,grace-widow, ‘a woman who has had a child for her cradle ere she has had a husband for her bed’; and corresponding with this is the N. S. or Low Ger.,gras-wedewe. Again, Sw. D.,gras-anka, or-enka=grass-widow, occurs in the same sense as with us: ‘a low, dissolute, unmarried woman living by herself.’ The original meaning of the word seems to[197]have been ‘a woman whose husband is away,’ either travelling or living apart. The people of Belgium call a woman of this descriptionhaeck-wedewe, fromhaecken, to feel strong desire.… It seems probable, therefore, from the etymology, taken in connection with the Clevel. signification, that our word may rather be from the Scand. source than from the German; only with a translation of the wordenkainto its English equivalent. Dan. D.,graesenka, is a female whose betrothed lover (fastman) is dead; nearly equivalent to which is German,strohwittwe, literally straw-widow.SeeN. and Q. 6 S.viii., 268, 414; x. 333, 436, 526; xi. 78, 178.]

English Synonyms.—Californian widow; widow-bewitched; wife in water colours.

1700.Congreve,Way of the World, Act iii. If the worst come to the worst,—I’llturn my wife to grass—I have already a deed of settlement of the best part of her estate, which I wheedl’d out of her.

1877.Chamb. Journal, 12 Mar., p. 173. Mrs. Brittomart was one of those who never tolerated a bow-wow—a species of animal well known in India—and never went to the hills as agrass-widow.

1878.London,a grass-widow. And so, you see, it comes to pass That she’s awidow out at grassAnd happy in her freedom.

1882.Saturday Review, 11 Feb. She is agrass-widow, her husband is something in some Indian service.

1885.W. Black,White Heather, ch. xli. Mrs. Lalor, agrass-widowwho was kind enough to play chaperon to the young people, but whose effective black eyes had a little trick of roving on their own account.

1889.Daily Telegraph, 12 Feb. She had taken up her residence at a house in Sinclair-road, Kensington, where she passed as agrass-widow. She represented that her husband was engaged in mercantile pursuits.

Grass-widower,subs.(common).—A man away from his wife.

1886.New York Evening Post, 22 May. All thegrass-widowersand unmarried men.

Gravel,verb. (old).—1. To confound; to puzzle; tofloor(q.v.).

1593.G. Harvey,Pierus Supererog, in wks. II., 296. The finest intelligencer, or sagest Politician in a state, would undoubtedly have beengravelledin the execution of that rash attempt.

1597.Hall,Satires, III., vi., 14. So long he drinks, till the black caravell Stands still fastgravelledon the mud of hell.

1600.Shakspeare,As You Like It. When you weregravelledfor lack of matter.

1604.Marlowe,Faustus, Act i., Sc. 1. And I, that have with concise syllogismsgravell’dthe pastors of the German church.

1659.Torriano,Vocabulario, s.v.

1667.Dryden,Sir Martin Marr-all, Act iii.Warn.He’sgravelled, and I must help him out.

1663.Dryden,An Evening’s Love, Act ii. A difficult question in that art, which almostgravelsme.

1857.A. Trollope,Three Clerks, ch. xxxiv. He was somewhatgravelledfor an answer to Alaric’s earnest supplication, and therefore made none till the request was repeated.

1886.R. L. Stevenson,Kidnapped, p. 206. I thought Alan would begravelledat that, for we lacked the means of writing in that desert.

1893.National Observer, 11 Feb., p. 321. In truth to talk of Burns as the apotheosis of Knox is really tograveland confound your readers; and but for the context one might be suspected that the innuendo hid a touch of sarcasm.

2. (American).—To go against the grain.

1887.Clemens,Life on the Mississippi, ch. xiv., p. 138. By long habit, pilots came to put all their wishes in the form of commands. Itgravelsme to this day, to put my will in the weak shape of a request, instead of launching it in the crisp language of an order.

Gravel-crusher,subs.(military).—A soldier doing defaulter’s drill.

Gravel-grinder,subs.(popular).—A drunkard. For synonyms,seeLushington.[198]

Gravel-rash,subs.(colloquial).—The lacerations caused by a fall.

To have the gravel rash,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To be reeling drunk. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.

Gravesend-bus,subs.(common).—A hearse.

Gravesend-sweetmeats,subs.(popular).—Shrimps.

Gravesend-twins,subs.(common).—Solid particles of sewage.

Grave-yard,subs.(common).—1. The mouth. For synonyms,seePotato-trap.

To keep a private grave-yard,verb. phr.(American).—To affect ferocity; to bluster.

Gravy,subs.(venery).—The sexual discharge; thespendings(q.v.) both male and female. [Hencegravy-giver= thepenisand the femalepudendum; andgravy-maker= the femalepudendum. Hence, too,to give one’s gravy= tospend(q.v.).Cf.,BeefandMutton.]

d.1796.Burns, ‘Dainty Davie,’ inMerry Muses. I wot he cam atween my thie, An’ creeshed it weel wi’gravy.

Gravy-eye,subs.(common).—A derisive epithet:e.g., Well Oldgravy-eye.

Grawler,subs.(old).—A beggar. For synonyms,seeCadger.

1821.D. Haggart,Life, Glossary p. 62. Not so much as would sweeten agrawlerin the whole of them.

Gray,subs.(thieves’).—1. A coin showing either two heads or two tails; apony(q.v.).

1828.G. Smeeton,Doings in London, p. 40. Breslaw could never have done more upon cards than he could do with a pair ofgrays(gaffing-coins).

1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. II., p. 154. Some, if theycan, will cheat, by means of a half-penny with a head or a tail on both sides, called agray.

1868.Temple Bar, Vol. XXIV., p. 539. They have a penny with two heads or two tails on it, which they call agrey, and of course they can easily dupe flats from the country. How do they call it agrey, I wonder? I suppose they have named it after Sir George Grey because he was a two-faced bloke.

2. (common).—SeeGrayback, sense 1.

3.in. pl.(colloquial).—Yawning; listlessness.Cf.,Blues.

Grayback,subs.(common).—1. A louse. AlsoScots Greys. Fr.,un grenadier. For synonyms,seeChates.

2. (American).—A Confederate soldier. [Partly from the colour of his uniform, and partly because of its inhabitants.Cf., sense 1.]SeeBlue-bellies.

1883.Daily Telegraph, 9 Feb., p. 5, c. 4. The Confederate armies, during the great Civil War in America … were known … asGreybacks, whereas their Federal opponents, from the light-azure gaberdines which they wore, were dubbed ‘blue-bellies.’

1890.Scribner’s Mag.Mar., p. 283. Mrs. Rutherford stood in such abject fear of thegraybacksthat she regarded the possession of so large a sum as simply inviting destruction.

Gray-beard,subs.(colloquial).—1. An old man. Mostly in contempt.

1593.Shakspeare,Taming of the Shrew, Act ii., Sc. 1.Grey-beard, thy love doth freeze.

a.1845. Longfellow,Luck of Eden Hall. Thegray-beard, with trembling hand obeys.

2. (old).—Originally a stoneware drinking jug; now a large earthenware jar for holding wine or spirits. [From the bearded face in relief with which they were ornamented.][199]

1811.Lexicon Balatronicum,Grey-beard, s.v. Dutch earthen jugs, used for smuggling gin on the coasts of Essex and Suffolk, are at this time calledgrey-beards.

1814.Scott,Waverley, ch. lxiv. There’s plenty of brandy in thegrey-beard.

1886.The State, 20 May, p. 217. A whisky or brandy which is held in merited respect for very superior potency is entitled [in America] ‘reverent,’ from the same kind of fancy which led the Scotch to call a whisky jar agrey-beard.

Gray-cloak,subs.(common).—An alderman above the chair. [Because his proper robe is a cloak furred with grey amis.]

Gray-goose,subs.(Scots’).—A big field stone on the surface of the ground.

1816.Scott,Black Dwarf, ch. iv. Biggin a dry-stane dyke, I think, wi’ thegrey-geeseas they ca’ thae great loose stones.

Grayhound,subs.(general).—1. A fast Atlantic liner; one especially built for speed. Alsoocean grayhound.

1887.Scientific American, vol. LVI., 2. They [ships] are built in the strongest possible manner, and are so swift of foot, as to have already become formidable rivals to the Englishgrey hound.

2. (Cambridge University).—An obsolete name for a member of Clare College; aclarian.

1889.Whibley,Cap and Gown, xxviii. The members of Clare … were calledgrayhounds.

Gray-mare,subs.(common).—A wife; specifically one whowears the breeches(q.v.). [From the proverb, ‘The gray mare is the better horse’ = the wife is master: a tradition, perhaps, from the time when priests were forbidden to carry arms or ride on a male horse:Non enimlicueratpontificem sacrorum vel arma ferre, vel praeter quam inequâequitare.—Beda,Hist. Eccl.ii., 13. Fr.,mariage d’epervier= a hawk’s marriage: the female hawk being the larger and stronger bird. Lord Macaulay’s explanation (quot. 1849) is the merest guess-work.]

1546.John Haywood,Proverbs[Sharman’s reprint, 1874]. She is (quoth he) bent to force you perforce, To know that thegrey mareis the better horse.

1550.A Treatyse, Shewing and Declaring the Pryde and Abuse of Women Now a Dayes(in Hazlitt’sEarly Popular Poetry, iv., 237). What! shall thegraye mayrebe the better horse, And be wanton styll at home?

1605.Camden,Remains Concerning Britain[ed. 1870, p. 332]. In list of proverbs. (Is said to be the earliest in English.)

1670.Ray,Proverbs, s.v.

1698–1750.Ward,London Spy, part II., p. 40. Another as dull as if thegrey marewas the better Horse; and deny’d him Enterance for keeping late Hours.

1705–1707.Ward,Hudibras Redivivus, vol. II., pt. iv., p. 5. There’s no resisting Female Force,Grey marewill prove the better Horse.

1717.Prior,Epilogue to Mrs. Manley’s Lucius. As long as we have eyes, or hands, or breath, We’ll look, or write, or talk you all to death. Yield, or she-Pegasus will gain her course, And thegrey marewill prove the better horse.

1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., p. 240. For thegrey marehas proved the better horse.

1738.Swift,Polite Convers., dial. 3. I wish she were married; but I doubt thegray marewould prove the better horse.

1748.Smollett,Rod. Random, ch. xix. By the hints they dropped, I learned thegray marewas the better horse—that she was a matron of a high spirit.[200]

1819.Macaulay,Hist. England. The vulgar proverb, that thegrey mareis the better horse, originated, I suspect, in the preference generally given to thegrey maresof Flanders over the finest coach horses of England.

1883.G. A. S[ala], inIllustr. London News, 14 Apr., p. 359, c. 2. She [Mrs. Romford], did not over-accentuate either her strong-mindedness or her jealousy of her flighty husband; but she let him and the audience unmistakably know that she was in all respects thegrey marein the Romford stable.

Gray-parson(orGray-coat parson),subs.(old).—A lay impropriator, or lessee of tithes.

1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue,grey parson, s.v. A farmer who rents the tythes of the rector or vicar.

1830 inCobbett’sRural Rides, vol. I., p. 123note(ed. 1886). The late editor says, that, having been a large holder of lay tithes, the author applied to Mr. Nicholls, the name of thegrey-coated parson.

Grease,subs.(common).—1. A bribe;palm-oil(or-grease). (q.v.for synonyms). In AmericaBoodle(q.v.).greasing= bribing.

1823.Bee,Dict. of Turf, s.v. A bonus given to promote the cause of anyone.

2. (printers’).—Well-paid work;fat(q.v.).

3. (common).—Fawning; flattery (a figurative use of sense 1).

Verb(old).—1. To bribe; to corrupt by presents; totip(q.v.). Also more fullyto grease in the fist,hand, orpalm. Fr.,coquer la boucanade. For synonyms,seeSquare.

1557.Tusser,Husbandrie, ch. 68, pt. 2, p. 159 (E.D.S.). How husbandrie easeth, to huswiferie pleaseth, And manie pursegreasethWith silver and gold.

1578.Whetstone,Promoss and Cassandra, ii., 3.Greasethem well in their hands.

1592.Greene,Quip,in wks., xi., 261.That did you notgrease the sealersof Leaden Hall throughly in the fist, they should never be sealed, but turned away and made forfiet by the statute.

1619.Fletcher,Wild Goose Chase. Am Igreasedonce again?

1649.F. Quarles,Virgin Widow, IV., i., p. 40.Greaze my fistwith a Tester or two, and ye shall find it in your penny-worths.

1678.C. Cotton,Scarronides, Bk. IV., p. 70 (ed. 1725). Him she conjures, intreats, and prays, With all the Cunning that she has,greases his Fist; nay more, engages Thenceforth to mend his Quarters-wages.

1693.Dryden,Persius, iii., 139. And after, envy not the store Of thegreas’dadvocate, that grinds the poor.

1698–1700.Ward,London Spy, pt. xv., p. 364. But the Gay Curteyan who trades for gold, That can butgrease a palmwhen she’s in hold, No Justice need she dread.

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

1878.Jas. Payn,By Proxy, ch. x. His Excellency, your master, has given orders, I presume, that after I have made my compliments—as delicate a phrase as he could think of forgreasing the handsof justice—I shall be at liberty to visit my friend.

1879.Horsley, inMacmillan’s Magazine, Oct. When I went to the fence he bested (cheated) me because I was drunk, and only gave me £8 10s. for the lot. So the next day I went to him and asked him if he was not going togrease my duke(put money into my hand).

1891.Pall Mall Gaz., 2 Sept., p. 7, c. 2. Did other people having business with the printing bureau tell you that it would be necessary togreaseSénécal?

2. (common).—To fawn; to flatter. Formerly,to grease one’s boots.

1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes.Onger i stivali,to grease ones bootes,id est, to flatter or cog with, to faune vpon one.

3. (old).—To gull; to cheat; todo.[201]

To grease a fat sow in the arse,verb. phr.(old).—To bribe a rich man.—Grose.

To grease one’s gills,verb. phr.(common).—To make a good or luxurious meal.

Greased Lightning,subs. phr.(American).—An express train.

1871.De Vere,Americanisms, p. 359. The usual Express Train is not half fast enough for the impatient traveller; he must have hisLightningExpress Train, and in the Far West improves still farther by calling itgreased lightning, after a favourite Yankee term.

Like Greased Lightning,adv. phr.(American).—Very quick.SeeBed-post.

1848.Durivage,Stray Subjects, p. 72. Quicker thangreased lightnin’, My covies, I was dead.

1890.Globe, 27 Aug., p. 2, c. 5. He is drawn along at a rapid rate, or, as the correspondent puts it, he is whisked all over town likegreased lightning.

1891.J. Newman,Scamping Tricks, p. 98. He measured again, and then off went his coatlike greased lightning, and we all followed suit.

Greaser,subs.(American).—1. A Mexican in general; also a Spanish American:seequots. 1848 and 1888. The term originated during the Mexican war.

1848.Ruxton,Life in the Far West, p. 3.Note.The Mexicans are called Spaniards orgreasers(from their greasy appearance) by the Western people.

1855.Marryat,Mountains and Mole Hills, p. 236. The Americans call the Mexicansgreasers, which is scarcely a complimentary soubriquet; although the termgreaser campas applied to a Mexican encampment is truthfully suggestive of filth and squalor.

1876.BesantandRice,Golden Butterfly, Prologue i. Behind the leaders followed a little troop of three, consisting of one English servant and twogreasers.

1883.Bret Harte,In the Carquinez Woods, footnote to ch. vii.Greasers, Californian slang for a mixed race of Mexicans and Indians.

1888.Century Mag., October. To avenge the murder of one of their number the cowboys gathered from the country round about, and fairly stormed thegreaser—that is, Mexican—village where the murder had been committed, killing four of the inhabitants.

1891.Gunter,Miss Nobody, ch. 2. Don’t let thegreasergit his fingers in your ha’r.

2.in. pl.(Royal Military Academy).—Fried potatoes, as distinguished fromboilers= boiled potatoes.

To give one greaser,verb. phr.(Winchester College).—To rub the back of the hand hard with the knuckles.

Grease-spot,subs.(common).—The imaginary result of a passage at arms, physical or intellectual.

1844.Haliburton,The Attaché, ch. xvi. If he hadn’t a had the clear grit in him, and showed his teeth and claws, they’d a nullified him so you wouldn’t see agrease-spotof him no more.

Greasy-chin,subs.(old).—A dinner.

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

1837.Barham,Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Lay of St. Gengulphus.’ And to every guest his card had express’d ‘Half past’ as the hour for agreasy chin.

Great Cry and Little Wool.—SeeCry.

Great Go(orGreats),subs.(Cambridge University).—The final examination for the B.A. degree;cf.,Little-go. At Oxford,greater.

1841.Prince of the New-made Baccalere, Oxford.Great-gois passed.

1861.Hughes,Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. x. Both small andgreatare sufficiently distant to be altogether ignored, if we are that way inclined.[202]

1856–7.Thackeray,King of Brentford’s Test., st. 7. At college, though not fast, Yet his little-go andgreat-go, He creditably pass’d.

1871.Morning Advertiser, 28 Apr. Yes, Mr. Lowe has been plucked for hisgreat go.

1883.Echo, 3 May, p. 2, c. 4. But few, indeed, are the men who have been in forgreatsduring the last twenty years, and who have not blessed Mr. Kitchin for his edition of theNovum Organum.

Great Gun,subs. phr.(common).—1. A person of distinction; a thing of importance.

English Synonyms.—Big bug; big dog of the tanyard; big dog with the brass collar; big gun; big head; big one; big (or great) pot; big wig; biggest toad in the puddle; cock of the walk; don; large potato; nob; rumbusticator; stunner; swell; swell-head; topper; top-sawyer.

French Synonyms.—Un gros bonnet(familiar = big wig);un fiérot(a stuck-up);un herr(from the German);Monsieur RaidillonorMonsieur Pointu(= Mr.Stuck-up).

1836.M. Scott,Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. ii. A Spanish Ecclesiastic, the Canon of ——. Plenty ofgreat guns, at any rate—a regular park of artillery.

1843.Haliburton,Sam Slick in England, ch. xv. Thegreat gunsand big bugs have to take in each other’s ladies.

Ibid., p. 24. Pick out thebig bugsandseewhat sort of stuff they’re made of.

1853.Wh. Melville,Digby Grand, ch. x. Thegreat gunsof the party, the rector of the parish, the member for the county.

2. (pedlers’).—A peculiar practice; a trick of particular usefulness and importance; a favouritewheeze(q.v.).

1851.Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 256. The street-seller’sgreat gun, as he called it, was to make up packets, as closely resembling as he could accomplish it those which were displayed in the windows of any of the shops.

To Blow Great Guns,verb. phr.(nautical).—To blow a gale; alsoto blow great guns and small arms.

1839.Harrison Ainsworth,Jack Sheppard[1889], 23. ‘Curse me, if I don’t think all the world means to cross the Thames this fine night!’ observed Ben. ‘One’d think it rained fares as well asblowed great guns.’

1854.H. Miller,Sch. and Schm.(1858), 14. It soon began toblow great guns.

1865.H. Kingsley,Hillyars and Burton, ch. lxxvii. It wasblowing pretty high guns, sou’ eastern by east, off shore and when we came to the harbour’s mouth there was Tom Wyatt with his pilot just aboard.

1869.Arthur Sketchley,Mrs. Brown on Things in General. I never did see such weather,a-blowin great gunsas the sayin’ is.

1892.R. L. StevensonandL. Osbourne,The Wrecker, p. 340. Itblew great gunsfrom the seaward.

Great-house.SeeBig-house.

Great-Joseph,subs.(old).—An overcoat.

Great Scott!intj.(American).—An exclamation of surprise; an apology for an oath. [Possibly a memory of the name of Gen. Winfield Scott, a presidential candidate whose dignity and style were such as to win him the nickname “Fuss-and-Feathers.”] AlsoGreat Cæsar.

1888.New York Mercury.Great Scott!you don’t say so.

1891.Gunter,Miss Nobody of Nowhere, p. 98. Bob, what’s the matter with you?Great Scott!the mine hain’t give out.[203]

1891.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 19 June, p. 396, c 2.Great Scotch!—no, we mean Scott—well, language worthy of the great Harry prevailed for awhile.

1891.N. Gould,Double Event, p. 305. ‘Great Scott!what the deuce is Wells up to?’ said the Squire.

1892.R. L. StevensonandL. Osbourne,The Wrecker, p. 106.Great Cæsar!

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