1857.Snowden,Mag. Assistant, (3rd ed.), p. 445. Begging letters—the highfly.Highflyer,subs.(old).—1. Anything or anybody out of the common, in opinion, pretension, attire, and so forth: as a prostitute (high-priced and well-dressed); an adventurer (superb in impudence and luck). 2. A dandy, male or female, of the first water.3. A fast coach.1690.Dryden.Prol. toMistakesinWks., p. 473 (Globe). He’s nohigh-flyer—he makes no sky-rockets, His squibs are only levelled at your pockets.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.High-flyers, Impudent, Forward, Loose, Light Women. Also, bold adventurers.1693.Congreve,Old Bachelor, i., 1. Well, ashighaflyeras you are, I have a lure may make you stoop.1706.R. Estcourt,Fair Example, Act i., p. 10. You may keep company with thehighest flyerof ’em all.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1818.Scott,Heart of Midlothian, i. Mail-coach races against mail-coach, andhigh-flyeragainsthigh-flyer, through the most remote districts of Britain.1821.Egan,Tom and Jerry, v. As you have yourhigh-fliersat Almack’s, at the West End, we have also some ‘choicecreatures’at our All Max in the East.1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.High-flyers—women of the town, in keeping, who job a coach, or keep a couple of saddle-horses at least.1830.Lytton,Paul Clifford, (Ed. 1854) p. 75. Howsomever, thehigh-flyersdoesn’t like him; and when he takes people’s money, he need not be quite so cross about it!1860.Dickens,Uncommercial Traveller, xxii., p. 131. The old room on the ground floor where the passengers of theHigh-flyersused to dine.1864.Dickens,Our Mutual Friend, i., 5. Mrs. Boffin, Wegg … is a’ighflyerat fashion.1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 40. Foller yer leader, … all who can carry sufficient skyscrapers to keep in the ’unt, with that’ighflyer’Arry.4. (thieves’).—A beggar with a certain style; a begging-letter writer; a broken swell.1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 268. While pursuing the course of ahigh-flyer(genteel beggar).1858.A. Mayhew,Paved with Gold, bk. III., ch. iii., p. 268. He was ahigh-flier, a genteel beggar.1887.Standard, 20 June, p. 5, c. 2. The pretended noblemen and knights who ‘say they have suffered by war, fire, or captivity, or have been driven away, and lost all they had,’ are still represented by thehigh-flyersor broken-down gentlemen.5. (circus).—A swing fixed in rows in a frame much in vogue at fairs.High-flying,subs.(old).—1. Extravagance in opinion,pretension or conduct.1689.Dryden,Epil. to Lee’s Princess of Cleves, 6. I railed at wild young sparks; but without lying Never was man worse thought on forhigh-flying.2. (thieves’).—Begging;the high-fly(q.v.);stilling(q.v.).High-gag,subs.(American).—A whisperer.—Matsell.The high-gag,subs. phr.(American).—Telling secrets.—Matsell.High-game,subs.(thieves’).—Seequot.1889.C. T. ClarksonandJ. Hall Richardson,Police, p. 321. A mansion … ahigh game.High-gig.In High-gig,adv. phr.(old).—In good fettle; lively.Cf.,Gig.[311]1819.Moore,Tom Crib, p. 15. Rather sprightly—the Bearin high-gig.High-go,subs.(common).—A drinking bout; a frolic.High-heeled Shoes.To have high-heeled shoes on,verb. phr.(American).—To set up as a person of consequence; todo the grand(q.v.).High Horse.To be(orget)on(orride)the high horse,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To give oneself airs; to stand on one’s dignity; to take offence. [Fr.monter sur ses grands chevaux. The simile is common to most languages.]1716.Addison,Freeholder, 5 Mar. He told me, he did not know what travelling was good for, but to teach a man toride the great horse, to jabber French, and to talk against passive obedience.1836.Marryat,Midshipman Easy, ch. xii. He was determined toride the high horse—and that there should be no Equality Jack in future.1842.Comic Almanack, p. 327. Yet Dublin deems the foul extortion fair, And swears that, as he’sridden the high horse, So long and well, she now will make him mayor.1864.Times, 5 July. Mr. Gladstone in the Dano-German Debate. The right hon. gentleman thengot onwhat I may callhis high horse, and he would not give us the slightest opinion upon any matter of substantive policy, because that, he said, would be accepting office upon conditions.1868.Wilkie Collins,The Moonstone, 2nd Period, 3rd Narr., ch. ii. Miss Rachael has her faults—‘I’ve never denied it,’ he began. ‘Andriding the high horsenow and then is one of them.’High-jinks,subs.(old).—1. An old game variously played. [Most frequently dice were thrown by the company, and those upon whom the lot fell were obliged to assume and maintain for a time a certain fictitious character, or to repeat a certain number of fescennine verses in a particular order. If they departed from the characters assigned … they incurred forfeits, which were compounded for by swallowing an additional bumper.—Guy Mannering, 1836. Note to ch. xxxii.]1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Highjinks, a Play at Dice who Drinks.1780.Ramsay,Maggy Johnston, i., 25. The queff or cup is filled to the brim, then one of the company takes a pair of dice, and after cryingHy-jinks, he throws them out; the number he casts out points out the person that must drink; he who threw beginning at himself number one, and so round till the number of the person agree with that of the dice (which may fall upon himself if the number be within twelve); then he sets the dice to him, or bids him take them; he on whom they fall is obliged to drink, or pay a small forfeiture in money, then throws, and so on. But if he forgets to cry ‘Hy-jinks’ he pays a forfeiture into the bank. Now, he on whom it falls to drink (if there be anything in the bank worth drawing) gets it all if he drinks; then with a great deal of caution he empties his cup, sweeps up the money, and orders the cup to be filled again, and then throws; for if he errs in the articles he loses the privilege of drawing the money. The articles are—(1) Drink, (2) Draw, (3) Fill, (4) Cry ‘Hy-jinks,’ (5) Count just, (6) Chuse your doublet, man—viz., when two equal numbers of the dice is thrown, the person whom you chuse must pay a double of the common forfeiture, and so must you when the dice is in his hand (sic).1815.Scott,Guy Mannering, ch. xxxvi. The frolicsome company had begun to practise the ancient and now forgotten pastime ofhigh jinks.1861.H. Kingsley,Ravenshoe, lv. He had made an engagement to drive Lord Saltire, the next morning, up to Wargrave in a pony-chaise, to look at Barrymore House, and the place where the theatre stood, and where the game ofhigh jinkshad been played so bravely fifty years before.2.Seequot., andcf.sense 1.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue. A gambler at dice, who, having a strong head, drinks to intoxicate his adversary, or pigeon. Under this head are also classed[312]those fellows who keep little goes, take in insurances; also, attendants at the races, and at the E O tables; chaps always on the look out to rob unwary countrymen at cards, etc.3. (common).—A frolic; a row. [From sense 1.]1861.Hughes,Tom Brown at Oxford, i. All sorts ofhigh jinksgo on on the grass plot.1872.Daily Telegraph, 13 Sept. ‘Filey the Retired.’ Frisky Filey cannot assuredly be called. There are nohigh jinkson her jetty; and, besides, she hasn’t got a jetty, only a ‘Brigg.’1890.Pall Mall Gaz., 24 July, 4, 2. Yesterday and to-day there have beenhigh jinksin Petworth Park, rich and poor for miles round being invited, and right royally feasted on the coming of age of Lord and Lady Leconfield’s eldest son.1891.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 3 Apr. While Bank Holiday was being celebrated with suchéclatat Kempton, they were carrying onhigh jinksover hurdles and fences at Manchester.1892.Sala’s Journal, 2 July, p. 223.High jinkswith the telephone have been the order of the day at Warwick Castle; taps and wires have been turned on and off, and floods of melody of various kinds have delighted listening ears.1893.National Observer, 25 Feb., ix., 357. Time was when there werehigh jinksin that vast quadrangle.To be at his high jinks,phr.(common).—To be stilted and arrogant in manner; toride the high horse(q.v.). Fr.,faire sa merdeorsa poire.High-kicker,subs.(colloquial).—Specifically, a dancer whose speciality is the high kick or theporte d’armes; whence, by metaphor, any desperatespreester(q.v.), male or female.High-kilted,adj.(Scots’).—Obscene or thereabouts;full flavoured(q.v.).Highland-bail,subs.(Scots’).—The right of the strongest;force majeure.1816.Scott,Antiquary, ch. xxix. The mute eloquence of the miller and smith, which was vested in their clenched fists, was prepared to giveHighland bailfor their arbiter.High-lawyer,subs.(old).—A highwayman. For synonyms,seeRoad Agent.1592.John Day,Blind Beggar, p. 21 (Ed. Bullen). He wo’d be your prigger, your prancer, yourhigh-lawyer.1610.Rowlands,Martin Mark-all, p. 50 (H. Club’s Rept., 1874). He first gaue termes to robbers by the high-way, that such as robbe on horse-backe were calledhigh lawyers, and those who robbed on foote, he called Padders.High-liver,subs.(old).—A garretteer; a thief housed in an attic. Hence,High-living= lodging in a garret.—Lex. Bal.High-men,subs.(old).—Dice loaded to showhighnumbers. Also,High-runners.SeeFulhamsandLow-men.1594.Nashe,Unf. TravellerinWks.[Grosart], v., 27. The dice of late are growen as melancholy as a dog,high menand low men both prosper alike.1596.Shakspeare,Merry Wives, i., 3. Let vultures gripe thy guts! for gourd and fullam holds, Andhighand low beguiles the rich and poor.1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes.Pise, false dice,high menor low men.1605.London Prodigal, i., 1. I bequeath two bale of false dice, videlicet,high menand low men, fullams, stop-catertraies, and other bones of function.1615.Harington,Epigrams, i., 79. YourhighAnd lowmenare but trifles.1657–1733.John Dennis,Letters, ii., 407. Shadwell is of opinion, that your bully, with his box and his false dice, is an honester fellow than the rhetorical author, who makes use of his tropes and figures, which are hishighand his lowrunners, to cheat us at once of our money and of our intellectuals.[313]1822.Scott,Fort. of Nigel, ch. xxiii. Men talk ofhighand lowdice.High-nosed,adj. phr.(colloquial).—Very proud in look and in fact; supercilious in bearing and speech;superior(q.v.).High-[orgay-]old(time,game,liar, etc.),adj. phr.(common).—A general intensitive:e.g.,high old time= a very merry time indeed;high old liar= a liar of might;high old drunk= an uncommonbooze(q.v.).1883.Referee, 11 Mar., p. 3, c. 2. All the children who have been engaged in the Drury Lane pantomime took tea on the stage, and had ahigh old time(while it lasted).1888.J. McCarthyandMrs. Campbell-Praed,Ladies’ Gallery, ch. xxxv. I went down to Melbourne, intending to have ahigh old time.1891.Murray’s Mag., Aug., p. 202. There will be a Want of Confidence Motion, and ahigh olddebate.1891.J. Newman,Scamping Tricks, p. 7. You are a big fraud and ahigh oldliar.1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 35. We’d thehighest oldgame.1892.F. Anstey,Voces Populi, ‘The Riding Class,’ p. 108. We’ve bin having agay oldtime in ’ere.High-pad(orToby, orHigh-toby-splice),subs.(old).—1. The highway. Also,high-splice toby. For synonyms,seeDrum.1567.Harman,Caveat, p, 86.Roge,Nowe bynge we a waste to thehygh pad, the ruffmanes is by.c.1819.Slang Song(quoted in notes toDon Juan, x., 19). On thehigh-toby-spliceflash the muzzle In spite of each gallows old scout.1836.H. M. Milner,Turpin’s Ride to York, i., sc. 2. Come, lads a stirrup-cup at parting, and then hurrah for the game ofhigh-toby.1876.Hindley,Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 4. Halting for a few hours at mid-day during the heat in thehigh spice-toby, as we used to call the main road.2. (old).—A highwayman. Also,high-tobyman(or-gloak). For synonyms,seeRoad Agent.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.High Pad, a Highwayman, Highway Robber well Mounted and Armed.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.High toby-gloak, a highway robber well mounted.1834.Ainsworth,Rookwood, bk. IV., ch i. Tom King, a notedhigh-toby gloakof his time.1857.Punch, 31 Jan. (from slang song). That long over Newgit their Worships may rule, As theHigh-toby, mob, crack, and screeve model school.3. (old).—Highway robbery.1819,Vaux,Cant. Dict.High-toby, the game of highway robbery, that is exclusively on horseback.High-pooped,adj.(colloquial).—Heavily buttocked.High-rented,adj.(popular).—1. Hot.2. (thieves’).—Very well known to the police;hot(q.v.).High-roller,subs.(American).—Agoer(q.v.); a fast liver; a heavy gambler; ahighflyer(q.v.).1887.Francis,Saddle and Moccasin, He’s ahigh-roller, by gum!High-ropes.To be on the high ropes,verb. phr.(common).—To be angry or excited. Also to put on airs; to stand on one’s dignity; to ride thehigh-horse(q.v.).1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.To be on the high ropes, to be in a passion.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.[314]1866.Yates,Land at Last, ii. He’son the high ropes, is Master Charley! Some of you fellows have been lending him half a-crown, or that fool Caniche has bought one of his pictures for seven-and-six!High-seasoned(orHighly-spiced),adj.(colloquial).—Obscene. For synonyms,seeSpicy.High-(orclouted-)shoon,subs.(old).—A countryman. For synonyms,seeJoskin.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew,s.v.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.High-sniffing,adj. phr.(colloquial).—Pretentious; supercilious; very obviously better than one’s company;high-nosed(q.v.).High-stepper,subs.(common).—An exemplar, male or female, of what is fashionable in conversation, conduct, or attire; aswell(q.v.). Also, a person of spirit. Whence,adj.,high-stepping(orhigh-pacing) = conspicuously elegant or gallant in dress, speech, manner, conduct, anything.1891.Gunter,Miss Nobody of Nowhere, ch. ix. From her actions and style I’m pretty certain she’s English and ahigh-stepper.High-stomached,adj.(colloquial).—Proud; disdainful; very valiant.High-strikes,subs.(common).—A corruption of ‘hysterics.’1838.Selby,Jacques Strop, ii., 4. Capital! … didn’t I do thehigh-strikesfamously.1860.Miss Wetherell,Say and Seal, ch. vii. She wants you to come. I’m free to confess she’s got thehigh-strikeswonderful.High-tea,subs.(colloquial).—A tea with meat, etc. In LancashireBagging(q.v.).1888.Sporting Life, 15 Dec. Following run there will behigh teaand a grand smoking concert, to which visitors are cordially invited.High-ti,subs.(American: Williams Coll.).—A showy recitation; at Harvard = asquirt(q.v.).High-tide(orwater)subs.(colloquial).—Rich for the moment; The state of beingflush(q.v.). For synonyms,seeWell Ballasted.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.high tidewhen the Pocket is full of Money.1725.New Cant. Dict.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.High-tide—plenty of the possibles; whilst ‘low-water’ implies empty clies.Up to high-water mark,adv. phr.(colloquial).—In good condition; a general expression of approval.High-toby.SeeHigh Pad.1834.Ainsworth,Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. Oh! the game ofHigh-Tobyfor ever.High-toned,adj.(American).—Aristocratic; also, morally and intellectually endowed; spiritually beyond the common.High-souled= cultured; fashionable.High-toned nigger= a negro who has raised himself in social position. [Once literary; now utterly discredited and never used, save in ignorance or derision.] Stokes, the maniac who shot Garfield, described himself as a ‘High-Toned Lawyer.’1884.Phillips Woolley,Trottings of a Tender Foot. I never saw any so-calledhigh-toned niggers.[315]1893.Cassell’s Sat. Jour., 1 Feb., p. 389, 1. One day a fashionably-dressed young man, giving an address in ahigh-tonedsuburb, called upon Messrs. Glitter.Highty-tighty(orHoity-toity),subs.(old).—A wanton.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hightetity, a Ramp, or Rude Girl.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.Adj.(colloquial).—Peremptory; waspish; quarrelsome.1848.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, ch. xviii. La, William, don’t be sohighty-tightywithus. We’re not men.High Wood.To live in high wood,verb. phr.(common).—To hide; to dissemble of purpose; to lie low and keep quiet.Higulcion-flips,subs.(Texas).—An imaginary ailment.Hike,verb.(old).—To move about. Also to carry off; to arrest.1811.LexiconBalatronicum, s.v.Hike.To hike off; to run away.1884.Daily Telegraph, 2 Feb., p. 3, c. 1. We three, not having any regler homes nor a steady job of work to stick to,hike aboutfor a living, and we live in the cellar of a empty house.Hilding,subs.(old).—A jade; a wanton; a disreputable slut.1593.Shakspeare,Taming of the Shrew, ii., 1. For shame thouhildingof a devilish spirit.1595.Shakspeare,Romeo and Juliet, ii., 4.Hildingsand harlots.Hill.Not worth a hill of beans,phr.(American).—Absolutely worthless.Hills,subs.(Winchester Coll.).—1. St. Catharine’s Hill.1870.Mansfield,School Life, p. 28. Some of his principal duties were to take the boys ‘on tohills,’ call names there, etc.2. (Cambridge Univ.).—The Gogmagog Hills; a common morning’s ride.Gradus ad Cantab.Hilly,adj.(colloquial).—Difficult:e.g.,hilly reading= hard to read;hilly going= not easy to do; etc.Hilt.Loose in the hilt,adv. phr.(old).—Unsteady;rocky(q.v.); lax in the bowels.1639–61.Rump Songs.‘Bum-fodder,’ ii., 56. If they stay longer, they will us beguilt With a Government that isloose in the hilt.Hind-boot,subs.(common).—The breech. For synonyms,seeMonocular Eyeglass.Hind-coachwheel,subs.(common).—A five shilling piece. Fr.,roue de derrière,thune, orpalet, = a five-franc piece. For synonyms,seeCaroon.Hinder-blast,subs.(old).—Crepitation.1540.Lindsay,Thrie Estaitis[inBannatyne MSS., Hunterian Club, ed.,(1879–88), p. 511] line 1429–30. Scho hes sic rumling in her wame, That all the nycht my hairt ouercastis With bokking and withhinder blastis.Hinder-end,subs. phr.(common).—The breech. Also,hinder-partsandhinder-world.Hinder-entrance,subs. phr.(common).—The fundament.Hind-leg.To kick out a hind leg,verb. phr.(old).—To lout; to make a rustic bow.[316]To talk the hind leg off a horse(ordog).SeeTalk.To sit upon one’s hind legs and howl,verb. phr.(American).—To bemoan one’s fate; to make a hullabaloo.Hindoo,subs.(American).—SeeKnow Nothing.Hindoo Punishment,subs. phr.(circus).—Seequot.1875.Frost,Circus Life, ch. xviii. TheHindoo Punishmentis what is more often called the muscle grind, a rather painful exercise upon the bar, in which the arms are turned backward to embrace the bar, and then brought forward upon the chest, in which position the performer revolves.Hind-shifters,subs.(old).—The feet. For synonyms,seeCreepers.1823.Lamb,Elia,Wks., (Ed. 1852), p. 311. They would show as fair a pair ofhind-shiftersas the expertestloco-motorin the colony.Hinges.Off the hinges,adv. phr.(common)—In confusion; out of sorts; ‘not quite the thing.’Hinterland,subs.(old).—The breech.Hip, (in. pl.),subs.(colloquial).—Conventional—as in the proverb, ‘Free of her lips; free of her hips’—for the buttocks. Hence, towalk with the hips= to make play with the posteriors in walking;long in the hips; andhips to sell= broad in the beam;nimble-hipped= active in copulation.c.1508.Dunbar.Poems, ‘Of a Dance in the Quenis Chalmer’ (1836), i., 119. Hishippisgaff mony a hiddouss cry.Ibid.i., 124. ‘Of Ane Blak-moir.’… Sall cum behind and kiss hirhippis.1540.Lindsay,Thrie Estaits, line 3227. My craig will wit quhat weyis myhippis.Ibid., line 4424. Ye wald not stick to preise my graith With hobbling of yourhippis.c.1580.Collier of Croydon, iv., I. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, 459). I keep her lips and herhipsfor my own use.d.1607.Montgomerie,Poems, ‘Polwart and Montgomerie’s Flyting,’ p. 85, line 779 (Scottish Text Soc., 1885–6). Kailly lippes, kiss myhips.To have(get, orcatch)on the hip,verb. phr.(old).—To have (or get) an advantage. [From wrestling.]1591.Harington,Orlando Furioso, bk. xlvi., st. 117. In fine he doth apply one speciall drift, Which was togetthe paganon the hip, And having caught him right, he doth him lift By nimble sleight, and in such wise doth trip That down he threw him.1598.Shakspeare,Merchant of Venice, i. 3. If I cancatchhim onceupon the hip. I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.1605.Marston,Dutch Courtezan. iii., 1. He said he had youa the hyp.1617.Andrewes,Sermons(‘Library of Ang.-Cath. Theology’), Vol. IV., p. 365. If hehaveus at the advantage,on the hipas we say, it is no great matter then to get service at our hands.1635.D. Dike,Michael and the Dragon, inWks., p. 328. The Divellhaththemon the hip, he may easily bring them to anything.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Upon the Hip… at an Advantage in Wrestling, or Business.1697.Vanbrugh,Relapse, iv., 1. My lord, she has had himupon the hipthese seven years.1812.Johnson,Eng. Dict.Hip, s.v., A low phrase.1836.Michael Scott,Cruise of the Midge, p. 226. ‘Ha! ha! Ihaveyouon the hipnow, my master,’ shouted Peter.Hipe,subs.(wrestling).—A throw over the hip. HenceHipe,verb= to get across the hip before the throw.[317]Hip-hop,verb(old).—To skip or move on one leg; to hop. ‘A cant word framed by the reduplication of hop.’—Johnson, 1812.1670–1729.Congreve[Quoted inJohnson’sEng. Dict.]. Like Volsciuship-hopin a single boot.Hip-inside,subs.(thieves’).—An inner pocket.Hip-outside= an outer ditto.1857.Snowden,Mag. Assistant(3rd Ed.), p. 445, s.v.Hipped(orHippish),adj.(common).—Bored; melancholical; out of sorts. [Fromhypochondria.]1710.Gay,WineinWks.(1811) p. 348. By cares depress’d, in pensivehippishmood.1712.Spectator, No. 284. I cannot forbear writing to you, to tell you I have been to the last degreehippedsince I saw you.1837.Barham,Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Babes in the Wood.’ The wicked old Uncle, they say, In spite of his riot and revel, Washippishand qualmish all day, And dreamt all night long of the devil.1864.Dickens,Our Mutual Friend, bk. III., ch. x. ‘You are a littlehipped, dear fellow,’ said Eugene;‘you have been too sedentary. Come and enjoy the pleasures of the chase.’Hippen,subs.(Scots’: colloquial).—A baby’s napkin (i.e.,hippingcloth). Also (theatrical), the green curtain.Hiren,subs.(old).—1. A prostitute. [A corruption of ‘Irene,’ the heroine in Poole’s play:seequot. 1584.] For synonyms,seeBarrack-hackandTart.1584.Poole,The Turkish Mahomet and Hyren the Fair Greek. Note. In Italian called acourtezan; in Spaine amargarite; in English … a punk.1598.Shakspeare,2 Henry IV., ii., 4. Have we notHirenhere?1615.Adams,Spiritual Navigator. There be sirens in the sea of the world. Syrens?Hirens, as they are now called. What a number of these sirens [Hirens], cockatrices, courteghians, in plain English, harlots, swimme amongst us!d.1618.Sylvester,Trans. Du Bartas’ Week of Creation, ii., 2, pt. 3. Of charming sin the deep-inchaunting syrens, The snares of virtue, valour-softeninghyrens.2. (old).—A sword. Also a roaring bully; a fighting hector. [From Irene = the Goddess of Peace,a lucus a non lucendo.]Hishee-hashee.SeeSoap-and-bullion.His Nibs(orNabs).SeeNibs.Hiss.The hiss,subs. phr.(Winchester College).—The signal of a master’s approach.Historical-(Wrought, orIllustrated-)Shirt,subs.(old).—A shirt or shift worked or woven with pictures or texts.1596.Ben Jonson,Every Man out of his Humour; iv., 6. I wonder he speaks not of hiswrought-shirt.1639.Mayne,City Match, ii., 2. Mysmocksleeves have such holy imbroideries, And are so learned that I fear in time, All my apparel will be quoted by Some pure instructor.1647.BeaumontandFletcher,Custom of the County, ii., 1. Having a mistress, sure you should not be Without a neathistorical-shirt.1848.Punch, XIV., 226. He never broke a bank, He shuns cross-barred trousers, His linen is notillustrated, but beautifully clean.1851.Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, I., 51. Colored, orillustrated shirts, as they are called, are especially objected to by the men.[318]1889.Puck’s Library, Apr., p. 12. Being an educated man, I feel ten thousand woes, Cavorting for the populace Inillustrated clothes.History of the Four Kings.SeeFour Kings.Hit,subs.(common).—A success;e.g.,To make a hit= to score; to profit; to excel.1602.Marston,Antonio and Mellida. Induction. When use hath taught me action tohitthe right point of a ladie’s part.1700.Congreve,Way of the World, ii., 5. Ahit, ahit! a palpable hit! I confess it.1821.Egan,Tom and Jerry, bk. I., ch. i. Teach me to make ahitof soKeana quality that it may not only ‘tell,’ but be long remembered in the metropolis.1822–36.Jno. Wilson,Noctes Amb.,Wks.II., 210. Mr. Peel seems to havemade a hitin the chief character of Shiel’s play,The Apostate.1828–45.T. Hood,Poems, v., p. 197, (Ed. 1846). Nor yet did the heiress herself omit The arts that helpto make a hit.1870.Figaro, 10 June.To make a great hitis, after all, more a matter of chance than merit.1889.Pall Mall Gaz., 3 July. Madam Melbamakes an especial hitin the valse fromRoméo et Juliette.1889.Referee, 6 Jan. Quitea hit has been madeby the clever juvenile, La Petite Bertoto.Adj.(Old Bailey).—Convicted.Hard-hit,adj. phr.(colloquial).—Sore beset;hard-up(q.v.). Also deep in love (or grief, or anger).1890.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 7 Nov. It was pretty generally known that he had beenhard hitduring the season.Verb(American).—To arrive at; to light upon.1888.Detroit Free Press, Oct. Professor Rose, whohitthis town last spring, is around calling us a fugitive from justice.To hit it,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To attain an object; to light on a device; to guess a secret.1594.Shakspeare,Love’sLabour’sLost, iv., 1. Thou cans’t nothit it,hit it,hit it, Thou can’st nothit it, my good man.1596.Shakspeare,Merry Wives, iii., 2. I can neverhitone’s name.1773.O. Goldsmith,She Stoops to Conquer. Ecod, I havehit it. It’s here. Your hands. Yours and yours, my poor sulky! My boots there, ho! Meet me two hours hence at the bottom of the garden.1880.A. Trollope,The Duke’s Children, ch. lii. He dressed himself in ten minutes, and joined the party as they had finished their fish. ‘I am awfully sorry,’ he said, rushing up to his father, ‘but I thought that I should justhit it.’To hit off,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To agree together; to fit; to describe with accuracy and precision.1857.A. Trollope,Barchester Towers, ch. xxxiv. It is not always the case that the master, or warden, or provost, or principal canhit it offexactlywithhis tutor. A tutor is by no means indisposed to have a will of his own.1880.A. Trollope,The Duke’s Children, ch. xxxvi. ‘One gentleman with another, you mean?’ ‘Put it so. It don’t quitehit it off, but put it so.’1886.J. S. Winter,Army Society. ‘Sidelight,’ ch. xiv. ‘Hey!’ said Orford. ‘Didn’t you and hehit it off?’1889.Daily News, 22 Oct., p. 5. The nations that quarrel are the nations that do nothit it offon some point of feeling or taste.To hit the flat,verb. phr.(American cowboy).—To go out on the prairie.[319]To hit the pipe,verb. phr.(American).—To smoke opium.To hit one where he lives,verb. phr.(American).—To touch in a tender part; to hurt the feelings;to touch on the raw(q.v.).Hit(orstruck)with,adv. phr.(colloquial).—Taken; enamoured; prepossessed. Also,hit up with.1891.Tales from Town Topics. ‘Count Candawles,’ p. 28. She is very amusing, but the Count cannot be reallyhit withsuch a little mountebank.Hit on the tail,verb. phr.(old venery).—To copulate. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.d.1529.Skelton,Bowge of Courte. How oft hehitJoneton the tayle.Hit in the teeth,verb. phr.(old).—To reproach; to taunt; to fling in one’s face.1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, ii., 6 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 431). They are alwayshitting me in the teethwith a man of my coat.Hitch,verb(American).—1. To marry.Hitched= married.1867.Browne,Artemus Ward’s Courtship, People’s ed., p. 23. If you mean gettinghitched, I’m in.1883.L. Oliphant,Altiora Peto, II., xxix., 156. ‘How long is it since we parted, Ned?’ ‘A matter of five years; and it wasn’t my fault if we didn’t stayhitchedtill now.’1892.Tit-Bits, 17 Sept., p. 419, c. 1. ‘We’ve come to gethitched,’ said the man, bashfully.2. (American).—To agree. Alsoto hitch horses.To hitch one’s team to the fence,verb. phr.(American).—To settle down.Hittite,subs.(pugilists’).—A prize fighter.English synonyms.—Basher; bruiser; dukester; fistite; knight of the fist; gemman of the fancy; milling-cove; pug; puncher; scrapper; slasher; slogger; slugger; sparring-bloke.1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.Hittites—boxers and ring-goers assembled.1860.The Druid,Post and Paddock. ‘The Fight for the Belt.’ And the Sherwood Ranger, bold Bendigo, Is on training no more intent; But the trout full well that ex-Hittiteknow On a Summer’s eve in the Trent.Hive,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum.Cf.Honey. Hence, verbally,to hive it= to effect intromission.Verb(American cadet).—To steal. For synonyms,seePrig.To get hived,verb. phr.(American Cadets’ and popular).—1. To be caught out in a scrape. Also, to be hidden.To be hived perfectly frigid= to be caughtin flagrante delicto.Hiver,subs.(Western American).—A travelling bawd.Hivite,subs.(school).—A student of St. Bees’ (Cumberland).1865.John Bull, 11 Nov. To be aHivitehas long been considered a little worse than a ‘literate’.… Of the value of some St. Bees testimonials we may form an estimate, etc., etc.Hoaky.By the hoaky,intj.(nautical).—A popular form of adjuration.[320]Hoax,subs.(old: now recognised).—A jest; a practical joke; aTake-in. Originally (Grose) University cant. [Probably fromHocus(q.v.).]1796.Grose,Vulg. Tongue(3rd Ed.), s.v.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Hoaxing.Bantering, ridiculing.Hoaxinga quiz; joking an odd fellow.—University wit.1815.Scott,Guy Mannering, ch. iii. Whose humble efforts at jocularity were chiefly confined to what were then called bites and bams, since denominatedhoaxesand quizzes.1835–7.Richardson,Dict. Eng. Lang., s.v.Hoax.Malone considers the modern slanghoaxas derived fromhocus, and Archdeacon Nares agrees with him.Verb.To play a practical joke; to ‘take-in’; tobite(q.v.).Seesubs.sense. For synonyms,seeGammon.1812.Combe,Syntax, Picturesque, xix. An arch young sprig, a banker’s clerk, Resolv’d tohoaxthe rev’rend spark.1854.F. E. Smedley,Harry Coverdale, ch. viii. I thought you werehoaxingus, and I sat down to play the duet for the amiable purpose of exposing your ignorance.Hob(orHobbinol),subs.(old).—A clown.—Grose.Hob and Nob(orHob Nob),verb.(old).—1. To invite to drink; to clink glasses.1756.Foote,Englishman from Paris, i. With, perhaps, an occasional interruption of ‘Here’s to you, friends,’ ‘Hob or nob,’ ‘Your love and mine.’1759.Townley,High Life Below Stairs, ii.Duke.Lady Charlotte,hob or nob.Lady Char.Done, my lord; in Burgundy, if you please.1772.Graves,Spiritual Quixote, bk. VIII., ch. xxi. (new Ed., 1808). Having drunkhob or nobwith a young lady in whose eyes he wished to appear a man of consequence, he hurried out into the summer-house.1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.Hob nob—two persons pledging each other in a glass.1836.Horace Smith,Tin Trumpet, ‘Address to a Mummy.’ Perchance that very hand now pinioned flat, Hashob-and-nobbedwith Pharoah glass for glass.1849.Thackeray,Pendennis, ch. xxx. He would have liked tohob and nobwith celebrated pick-pockets, or drink a pot of ale with a company of burglars and cracksmen.1886.R. L. Stevenson,Kidnapped, p. 68. So the pair sat down andhob-a-nobbed.2. (old).—To give or take; to hit or miss at random. [Saxon,habban, to have;nabban, not to have.]1577–87.Holinshed,Chroncles of Englande, Scotlande, and Irelande(1807) p. 317. The citizens in their rage shothabbe or nabbe(hit or miss) at random.1602.Shakspeare,Twelfth Night, iii., 4.Hob-nobis his word, give ’t or take ’t.1615.Harington,Epigrams, iv. Not of Jack Straw, with his rebellious crew, That set king, realm, and laws, athab or nab.1673.Quack Astrologer.He writes of the weatherhab nab, and as the toy takes him, chequers the year with foul and fair.3. (colloquial).—To be on terms of close intimacy; to consort familiarly together.1870.Mark Twain,Innocents Abroad, ch. i. They were tohob-nobwith nobility and hold friendly converse with kings and princes.[321]1892.Hume Nisbet,Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 109. I hadhob-nobbedfor the last two hours with the most notorious bushranger in the colony.1892.A. K. Green,Cynthia Wakeham’s Money, p. 5. Each tree looks like a spectrehob-nobbingwith its neighbour.Hobbes’s-voyage,subs.(old).—A leap in the dark.1697.Vanbrugh,Provoked Wife, v., 6. So, now, I am in forHobbes’s voyage; a great leap in the dark.Hobbinol,subs.(old).—A countryman. For synonyms,seeJoskin.1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, ii., 3 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 396). Who, Master Jeffrey?Hobbinolthe second! By this life, ’tis a very veal, and licks his nose like one.Hobble.In a hobble(orHobbled),adv. phr.(colloquial).—In trouble; hampered; puzzled. Also (thieves), committed for trial. Fr.,tomber dans la mélasse(= to come a cropper), andfaitré(=booked(q.v.)).Hobbled upon the legs= transported, or on the hulks.1777.Foote,Trip to Calais(1795), ii., p. 39. But take care what you say! you see what ahobblewe had like to have got into.1789.Geo. Parker,Life’s Painter, p. 163. A term when any of the gang is taken up and committed for trial, to say, such a one ishobbled.1811.Poole,Hamlet Travestie, iii., 5. Horatio, I am sorry for this squabble; I fear ’twill get me in a precioushobble.1819.Vaux,Cant. Dict., s.v.Hobbled, taken up, or in custody; tohobblea plant, is to spring it.1838.Haliburton,Clockmaker, 2nd S., ch. xvii. A body has to be cautious if he don’t want to get into the centre of ahobble.1849.Punch,Fortune-Tellers’ Almanack. To dream that you are lame is a token that you will get into ahobble.1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 44. I got into a’obble.Verb(venery).—Seequot.1688.Sempill, ‘Crissell Sandilands’ inBannatyne MSS.(HunterianClub, 1879–88), p. 354, lines 21–2. Had scho bene undir, and hehoblandabove, That were a perellous play for to suspect them.Hobbledehoy,subs.(old, now colloquial).—A growing gawk: as in the folk-rhyme, ‘Hobbledehoy, neither man nor boy.’ [For derivation,seeNotes and Queries, 1 S., v., 468, vii., 572; 4 S., ii., 297, viii., 451, ix., 147; 7 S., iv., 523, and v., 58.]1557.Tusser,Husbandrie, ch. 60, st 3, p. 138 (E. D. S.). The first seuen yeers bring vp as a childe, The next to learning, for waxing too wilde. The next keepe vnder sirhobbard de hoy, The next a man no longer a boy.1738.Swift,Polite Convers., Dial 1. Why, he is a merehobbledehoy, neither a man nor a boy.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1837.Barham,Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Aunt Fanny.’ At the epoch I speak about, I was between a man and a boy, Ahobble-de-hoy, A fat, little, punchy concern of sixteen.1848.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, ch. iv. He remembered perfectly well being thrashed by Joseph Sedley, when the latter was a big, swaggering,hobbadyhoy, and George an impudent urchin of ten years old.HenceHobbledehoyishandHobbledehoyhood.[322]1812.Colman,Poetical Vagaries, p. 12 (2nd Ed.). When Master Daw full fourteen years had told, He grew, as it is term’d,hobbedyhoyish; For Cupidons and Fairies much too old, For Calibans and Devils much too boyish.1839.Thackeray,Fatal Boots, Apr. From boyhood untilhobbadyhoyhood(which I take to be about the sixteenth year of the life of a young man).1848.Thackeray,Book of Snobs, ch. xlii. A half-grown, orhobbadehoyishfootman, so to speak, walked after them.Hobbledejee,subs.(old).—A pace between a walk and a run; a jog-trot.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Hobbler,subs.(nautical).—A coast-man, half smuggler, half handyman; an unlicensed pilot. Also a landsman acting as tow-Jack.—Smyth.Also (Isle of Man), a boatman.1887.T. E. Brown,The Doctor, p. 226. An’ thehobblersthere was terr’ble divarted.Hobby,subs.(old).—A hackney; a horse in common use.1606.Return from Parnassus, ii., 6 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 151). An’t please you, yourhobbywill meet you at the lane’s end.Idem(p. 154). Is not my master an absolute villain that loves his hawk, hishobby, and his greyhound more than any mortal creature?Idem(p. 145). Sirrah, boy, hath the groom saddled my huntinghobby?2. (university).—A translation.To ride hobbies= to useCribs(q.v.).Sir Posthumous Hobby,subs. phr.(old).—One nice or whimsical in his clothes.Hobby-horse,subs.(old: now recognised).—1. A whim; a fancy; a favourite pursuit. HenceHobbyhorsical= strongly attached to a particular fad.1759.Sterne,TristramShandy(1793), ch. vii., p. 18. Have they not had theirhobby-horses?d.1768.Sterne,Letters(1793), letter 19, p. 65. ’Tis in fact myhobby-horse.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hobby Horse, a man’s favourite amusement, or study, is called hishobby horse.1893.Westminster Gaz., 15 Mar., p. 9, c. 1. We quarrel a bit—he is sohobby-horsical, you can’t avoid it—and then we make friends again.2. (colloquial).—A rantipole girl; a wench; a wanton.1594.Shakspeare,Love’sLabour’sLost, iii., 1. Call’st thou my lovehobby-horse?Moth.No, master; thehobby-horseis but a colt, and your love, perhaps a hackney.1604.Shakspeare,Winter’s Tale, 1., 2. They say my wife’s ahobby-horse.3. (old).—A witless and unmannerly lout.1609.Jonson,Epicœne, iv., 2.Daw.Here be in presence have tasted of her favors.Cler.What a neighinghobby-horseis this!Verb(old).—To romp.Hob-collingwood,subs. phr.(North Country).—The four of hearts, considered an unlucky card.Hob-jobber,subs.(streets).—A man or boy on the look out for small jobs—holding horses, carrying parcels, and the like.Hob-nail,subs.(old).—A countryman. For synonyms,seeJoskin.[323]1647.BeaumontandFletcher,Women Pleased, ii., 6. Thehob-nailthy husband’s as fitly out o’ th’ way now.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hobnail, a country clodhopper, from the shoes of country farmers and ploughmen being commonly stuck full ofhobnails, and even often clouted, or tipped with iron.Hobnailed,adj.(colloquial).—Boorish; clumsy; coarse; ill-done.1599.Jonson,Every Man out of his Humour.Sog.A wretchedhobnailedchuff.Hobson’s-choice,subs.(common).—That or none:i.e., there is no alternative. [Popularly derived from the name of a Cambridge livery stable keeper, whose rule was that each customer must take the horse next the door, or have no horse at all. That old Hobson existed is clear from Milton’s epitaph, but Bellenden Ker (Archæology of Popular Phrases) affirms the story to be a Cambridge hoax, and maintains the proverb to be identical in sound and sense as the Low Saxon,Op soens schie ho eysche= when he had a kiss he wanted something else.]1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hobson’s Choice, that or None.1710.Ward,England’s Reformation, ch. iv. ’TisHobson’s Choice, take that or none.1712.Steele,Spectator, No. 509, p. 191. I shall conclude this discourse with an explanation of a proverb [Hobson’s choice], which by vulgar error is taken and used when a man is reduced to an extremity, whereas the propriety of the maxim is to use it when you would say there is plenty, but you must make such a choice as not to hurt another who is to come after you.Ibid.He [Hobson] kept a stable of forty good cattle, always ready and fit for travelling; but when a man came for a horse he was led into the stable, where there was great choice, but was obliged to take the horse which stood nearest to the stable-door; so that every customer was alike well served, according to his chance, and every horse ridden with the same justice.1717.Cibber,Non-Juror, i. Can any woman think herself happy that’s obliged to marry only with aHobson’s choice?1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1820.Reynolds[Peter Corcoran],The Fancy. Black men now areHobson’s choice.1851.F. E. Smedley,Lewis Arundel, ch. liii. ‘When shall we go?’ inquired Laura. ‘Why, it’s a case ofHobson’s choice,’ returned Leicester.1854.Notes and Queries, 21 Jan., p. 51. It was clear a choice had been given to him, but it was aHobson’s choice.Hock,subs.(American).—1. The last card in the dealer’s box at faro. [Fromsoda(q.v.)to hock= from beginning to end.]2.In. pl.(common).—The feet.Curby hocks= clumsy feet. For synonyms,seeCreepers. [From the stable.]1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hocks… you have left the marks of your dirtyhockson my clean stairs.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Old hock,subs. phr.(common).—Stale beer;swipes(q.v.).SeeHockey.
1857.Snowden,Mag. Assistant, (3rd ed.), p. 445. Begging letters—the highfly.Highflyer,subs.(old).—1. Anything or anybody out of the common, in opinion, pretension, attire, and so forth: as a prostitute (high-priced and well-dressed); an adventurer (superb in impudence and luck). 2. A dandy, male or female, of the first water.3. A fast coach.1690.Dryden.Prol. toMistakesinWks., p. 473 (Globe). He’s nohigh-flyer—he makes no sky-rockets, His squibs are only levelled at your pockets.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.High-flyers, Impudent, Forward, Loose, Light Women. Also, bold adventurers.1693.Congreve,Old Bachelor, i., 1. Well, ashighaflyeras you are, I have a lure may make you stoop.1706.R. Estcourt,Fair Example, Act i., p. 10. You may keep company with thehighest flyerof ’em all.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1818.Scott,Heart of Midlothian, i. Mail-coach races against mail-coach, andhigh-flyeragainsthigh-flyer, through the most remote districts of Britain.1821.Egan,Tom and Jerry, v. As you have yourhigh-fliersat Almack’s, at the West End, we have also some ‘choicecreatures’at our All Max in the East.1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.High-flyers—women of the town, in keeping, who job a coach, or keep a couple of saddle-horses at least.1830.Lytton,Paul Clifford, (Ed. 1854) p. 75. Howsomever, thehigh-flyersdoesn’t like him; and when he takes people’s money, he need not be quite so cross about it!1860.Dickens,Uncommercial Traveller, xxii., p. 131. The old room on the ground floor where the passengers of theHigh-flyersused to dine.1864.Dickens,Our Mutual Friend, i., 5. Mrs. Boffin, Wegg … is a’ighflyerat fashion.1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 40. Foller yer leader, … all who can carry sufficient skyscrapers to keep in the ’unt, with that’ighflyer’Arry.4. (thieves’).—A beggar with a certain style; a begging-letter writer; a broken swell.1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 268. While pursuing the course of ahigh-flyer(genteel beggar).1858.A. Mayhew,Paved with Gold, bk. III., ch. iii., p. 268. He was ahigh-flier, a genteel beggar.1887.Standard, 20 June, p. 5, c. 2. The pretended noblemen and knights who ‘say they have suffered by war, fire, or captivity, or have been driven away, and lost all they had,’ are still represented by thehigh-flyersor broken-down gentlemen.5. (circus).—A swing fixed in rows in a frame much in vogue at fairs.High-flying,subs.(old).—1. Extravagance in opinion,pretension or conduct.1689.Dryden,Epil. to Lee’s Princess of Cleves, 6. I railed at wild young sparks; but without lying Never was man worse thought on forhigh-flying.2. (thieves’).—Begging;the high-fly(q.v.);stilling(q.v.).High-gag,subs.(American).—A whisperer.—Matsell.The high-gag,subs. phr.(American).—Telling secrets.—Matsell.High-game,subs.(thieves’).—Seequot.1889.C. T. ClarksonandJ. Hall Richardson,Police, p. 321. A mansion … ahigh game.High-gig.In High-gig,adv. phr.(old).—In good fettle; lively.Cf.,Gig.[311]1819.Moore,Tom Crib, p. 15. Rather sprightly—the Bearin high-gig.High-go,subs.(common).—A drinking bout; a frolic.High-heeled Shoes.To have high-heeled shoes on,verb. phr.(American).—To set up as a person of consequence; todo the grand(q.v.).High Horse.To be(orget)on(orride)the high horse,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To give oneself airs; to stand on one’s dignity; to take offence. [Fr.monter sur ses grands chevaux. The simile is common to most languages.]1716.Addison,Freeholder, 5 Mar. He told me, he did not know what travelling was good for, but to teach a man toride the great horse, to jabber French, and to talk against passive obedience.1836.Marryat,Midshipman Easy, ch. xii. He was determined toride the high horse—and that there should be no Equality Jack in future.1842.Comic Almanack, p. 327. Yet Dublin deems the foul extortion fair, And swears that, as he’sridden the high horse, So long and well, she now will make him mayor.1864.Times, 5 July. Mr. Gladstone in the Dano-German Debate. The right hon. gentleman thengot onwhat I may callhis high horse, and he would not give us the slightest opinion upon any matter of substantive policy, because that, he said, would be accepting office upon conditions.1868.Wilkie Collins,The Moonstone, 2nd Period, 3rd Narr., ch. ii. Miss Rachael has her faults—‘I’ve never denied it,’ he began. ‘Andriding the high horsenow and then is one of them.’High-jinks,subs.(old).—1. An old game variously played. [Most frequently dice were thrown by the company, and those upon whom the lot fell were obliged to assume and maintain for a time a certain fictitious character, or to repeat a certain number of fescennine verses in a particular order. If they departed from the characters assigned … they incurred forfeits, which were compounded for by swallowing an additional bumper.—Guy Mannering, 1836. Note to ch. xxxii.]1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Highjinks, a Play at Dice who Drinks.1780.Ramsay,Maggy Johnston, i., 25. The queff or cup is filled to the brim, then one of the company takes a pair of dice, and after cryingHy-jinks, he throws them out; the number he casts out points out the person that must drink; he who threw beginning at himself number one, and so round till the number of the person agree with that of the dice (which may fall upon himself if the number be within twelve); then he sets the dice to him, or bids him take them; he on whom they fall is obliged to drink, or pay a small forfeiture in money, then throws, and so on. But if he forgets to cry ‘Hy-jinks’ he pays a forfeiture into the bank. Now, he on whom it falls to drink (if there be anything in the bank worth drawing) gets it all if he drinks; then with a great deal of caution he empties his cup, sweeps up the money, and orders the cup to be filled again, and then throws; for if he errs in the articles he loses the privilege of drawing the money. The articles are—(1) Drink, (2) Draw, (3) Fill, (4) Cry ‘Hy-jinks,’ (5) Count just, (6) Chuse your doublet, man—viz., when two equal numbers of the dice is thrown, the person whom you chuse must pay a double of the common forfeiture, and so must you when the dice is in his hand (sic).1815.Scott,Guy Mannering, ch. xxxvi. The frolicsome company had begun to practise the ancient and now forgotten pastime ofhigh jinks.1861.H. Kingsley,Ravenshoe, lv. He had made an engagement to drive Lord Saltire, the next morning, up to Wargrave in a pony-chaise, to look at Barrymore House, and the place where the theatre stood, and where the game ofhigh jinkshad been played so bravely fifty years before.2.Seequot., andcf.sense 1.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue. A gambler at dice, who, having a strong head, drinks to intoxicate his adversary, or pigeon. Under this head are also classed[312]those fellows who keep little goes, take in insurances; also, attendants at the races, and at the E O tables; chaps always on the look out to rob unwary countrymen at cards, etc.3. (common).—A frolic; a row. [From sense 1.]1861.Hughes,Tom Brown at Oxford, i. All sorts ofhigh jinksgo on on the grass plot.1872.Daily Telegraph, 13 Sept. ‘Filey the Retired.’ Frisky Filey cannot assuredly be called. There are nohigh jinkson her jetty; and, besides, she hasn’t got a jetty, only a ‘Brigg.’1890.Pall Mall Gaz., 24 July, 4, 2. Yesterday and to-day there have beenhigh jinksin Petworth Park, rich and poor for miles round being invited, and right royally feasted on the coming of age of Lord and Lady Leconfield’s eldest son.1891.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 3 Apr. While Bank Holiday was being celebrated with suchéclatat Kempton, they were carrying onhigh jinksover hurdles and fences at Manchester.1892.Sala’s Journal, 2 July, p. 223.High jinkswith the telephone have been the order of the day at Warwick Castle; taps and wires have been turned on and off, and floods of melody of various kinds have delighted listening ears.1893.National Observer, 25 Feb., ix., 357. Time was when there werehigh jinksin that vast quadrangle.To be at his high jinks,phr.(common).—To be stilted and arrogant in manner; toride the high horse(q.v.). Fr.,faire sa merdeorsa poire.High-kicker,subs.(colloquial).—Specifically, a dancer whose speciality is the high kick or theporte d’armes; whence, by metaphor, any desperatespreester(q.v.), male or female.High-kilted,adj.(Scots’).—Obscene or thereabouts;full flavoured(q.v.).Highland-bail,subs.(Scots’).—The right of the strongest;force majeure.1816.Scott,Antiquary, ch. xxix. The mute eloquence of the miller and smith, which was vested in their clenched fists, was prepared to giveHighland bailfor their arbiter.High-lawyer,subs.(old).—A highwayman. For synonyms,seeRoad Agent.1592.John Day,Blind Beggar, p. 21 (Ed. Bullen). He wo’d be your prigger, your prancer, yourhigh-lawyer.1610.Rowlands,Martin Mark-all, p. 50 (H. Club’s Rept., 1874). He first gaue termes to robbers by the high-way, that such as robbe on horse-backe were calledhigh lawyers, and those who robbed on foote, he called Padders.High-liver,subs.(old).—A garretteer; a thief housed in an attic. Hence,High-living= lodging in a garret.—Lex. Bal.High-men,subs.(old).—Dice loaded to showhighnumbers. Also,High-runners.SeeFulhamsandLow-men.1594.Nashe,Unf. TravellerinWks.[Grosart], v., 27. The dice of late are growen as melancholy as a dog,high menand low men both prosper alike.1596.Shakspeare,Merry Wives, i., 3. Let vultures gripe thy guts! for gourd and fullam holds, Andhighand low beguiles the rich and poor.1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes.Pise, false dice,high menor low men.1605.London Prodigal, i., 1. I bequeath two bale of false dice, videlicet,high menand low men, fullams, stop-catertraies, and other bones of function.1615.Harington,Epigrams, i., 79. YourhighAnd lowmenare but trifles.1657–1733.John Dennis,Letters, ii., 407. Shadwell is of opinion, that your bully, with his box and his false dice, is an honester fellow than the rhetorical author, who makes use of his tropes and figures, which are hishighand his lowrunners, to cheat us at once of our money and of our intellectuals.[313]1822.Scott,Fort. of Nigel, ch. xxiii. Men talk ofhighand lowdice.High-nosed,adj. phr.(colloquial).—Very proud in look and in fact; supercilious in bearing and speech;superior(q.v.).High-[orgay-]old(time,game,liar, etc.),adj. phr.(common).—A general intensitive:e.g.,high old time= a very merry time indeed;high old liar= a liar of might;high old drunk= an uncommonbooze(q.v.).1883.Referee, 11 Mar., p. 3, c. 2. All the children who have been engaged in the Drury Lane pantomime took tea on the stage, and had ahigh old time(while it lasted).1888.J. McCarthyandMrs. Campbell-Praed,Ladies’ Gallery, ch. xxxv. I went down to Melbourne, intending to have ahigh old time.1891.Murray’s Mag., Aug., p. 202. There will be a Want of Confidence Motion, and ahigh olddebate.1891.J. Newman,Scamping Tricks, p. 7. You are a big fraud and ahigh oldliar.1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 35. We’d thehighest oldgame.1892.F. Anstey,Voces Populi, ‘The Riding Class,’ p. 108. We’ve bin having agay oldtime in ’ere.High-pad(orToby, orHigh-toby-splice),subs.(old).—1. The highway. Also,high-splice toby. For synonyms,seeDrum.1567.Harman,Caveat, p, 86.Roge,Nowe bynge we a waste to thehygh pad, the ruffmanes is by.c.1819.Slang Song(quoted in notes toDon Juan, x., 19). On thehigh-toby-spliceflash the muzzle In spite of each gallows old scout.1836.H. M. Milner,Turpin’s Ride to York, i., sc. 2. Come, lads a stirrup-cup at parting, and then hurrah for the game ofhigh-toby.1876.Hindley,Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 4. Halting for a few hours at mid-day during the heat in thehigh spice-toby, as we used to call the main road.2. (old).—A highwayman. Also,high-tobyman(or-gloak). For synonyms,seeRoad Agent.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.High Pad, a Highwayman, Highway Robber well Mounted and Armed.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.High toby-gloak, a highway robber well mounted.1834.Ainsworth,Rookwood, bk. IV., ch i. Tom King, a notedhigh-toby gloakof his time.1857.Punch, 31 Jan. (from slang song). That long over Newgit their Worships may rule, As theHigh-toby, mob, crack, and screeve model school.3. (old).—Highway robbery.1819,Vaux,Cant. Dict.High-toby, the game of highway robbery, that is exclusively on horseback.High-pooped,adj.(colloquial).—Heavily buttocked.High-rented,adj.(popular).—1. Hot.2. (thieves’).—Very well known to the police;hot(q.v.).High-roller,subs.(American).—Agoer(q.v.); a fast liver; a heavy gambler; ahighflyer(q.v.).1887.Francis,Saddle and Moccasin, He’s ahigh-roller, by gum!High-ropes.To be on the high ropes,verb. phr.(common).—To be angry or excited. Also to put on airs; to stand on one’s dignity; to ride thehigh-horse(q.v.).1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.To be on the high ropes, to be in a passion.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.[314]1866.Yates,Land at Last, ii. He’son the high ropes, is Master Charley! Some of you fellows have been lending him half a-crown, or that fool Caniche has bought one of his pictures for seven-and-six!High-seasoned(orHighly-spiced),adj.(colloquial).—Obscene. For synonyms,seeSpicy.High-(orclouted-)shoon,subs.(old).—A countryman. For synonyms,seeJoskin.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew,s.v.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.High-sniffing,adj. phr.(colloquial).—Pretentious; supercilious; very obviously better than one’s company;high-nosed(q.v.).High-stepper,subs.(common).—An exemplar, male or female, of what is fashionable in conversation, conduct, or attire; aswell(q.v.). Also, a person of spirit. Whence,adj.,high-stepping(orhigh-pacing) = conspicuously elegant or gallant in dress, speech, manner, conduct, anything.1891.Gunter,Miss Nobody of Nowhere, ch. ix. From her actions and style I’m pretty certain she’s English and ahigh-stepper.High-stomached,adj.(colloquial).—Proud; disdainful; very valiant.High-strikes,subs.(common).—A corruption of ‘hysterics.’1838.Selby,Jacques Strop, ii., 4. Capital! … didn’t I do thehigh-strikesfamously.1860.Miss Wetherell,Say and Seal, ch. vii. She wants you to come. I’m free to confess she’s got thehigh-strikeswonderful.High-tea,subs.(colloquial).—A tea with meat, etc. In LancashireBagging(q.v.).1888.Sporting Life, 15 Dec. Following run there will behigh teaand a grand smoking concert, to which visitors are cordially invited.High-ti,subs.(American: Williams Coll.).—A showy recitation; at Harvard = asquirt(q.v.).High-tide(orwater)subs.(colloquial).—Rich for the moment; The state of beingflush(q.v.). For synonyms,seeWell Ballasted.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.high tidewhen the Pocket is full of Money.1725.New Cant. Dict.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.High-tide—plenty of the possibles; whilst ‘low-water’ implies empty clies.Up to high-water mark,adv. phr.(colloquial).—In good condition; a general expression of approval.High-toby.SeeHigh Pad.1834.Ainsworth,Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. Oh! the game ofHigh-Tobyfor ever.High-toned,adj.(American).—Aristocratic; also, morally and intellectually endowed; spiritually beyond the common.High-souled= cultured; fashionable.High-toned nigger= a negro who has raised himself in social position. [Once literary; now utterly discredited and never used, save in ignorance or derision.] Stokes, the maniac who shot Garfield, described himself as a ‘High-Toned Lawyer.’1884.Phillips Woolley,Trottings of a Tender Foot. I never saw any so-calledhigh-toned niggers.[315]1893.Cassell’s Sat. Jour., 1 Feb., p. 389, 1. One day a fashionably-dressed young man, giving an address in ahigh-tonedsuburb, called upon Messrs. Glitter.Highty-tighty(orHoity-toity),subs.(old).—A wanton.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hightetity, a Ramp, or Rude Girl.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.Adj.(colloquial).—Peremptory; waspish; quarrelsome.1848.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, ch. xviii. La, William, don’t be sohighty-tightywithus. We’re not men.High Wood.To live in high wood,verb. phr.(common).—To hide; to dissemble of purpose; to lie low and keep quiet.Higulcion-flips,subs.(Texas).—An imaginary ailment.Hike,verb.(old).—To move about. Also to carry off; to arrest.1811.LexiconBalatronicum, s.v.Hike.To hike off; to run away.1884.Daily Telegraph, 2 Feb., p. 3, c. 1. We three, not having any regler homes nor a steady job of work to stick to,hike aboutfor a living, and we live in the cellar of a empty house.Hilding,subs.(old).—A jade; a wanton; a disreputable slut.1593.Shakspeare,Taming of the Shrew, ii., 1. For shame thouhildingof a devilish spirit.1595.Shakspeare,Romeo and Juliet, ii., 4.Hildingsand harlots.Hill.Not worth a hill of beans,phr.(American).—Absolutely worthless.Hills,subs.(Winchester Coll.).—1. St. Catharine’s Hill.1870.Mansfield,School Life, p. 28. Some of his principal duties were to take the boys ‘on tohills,’ call names there, etc.2. (Cambridge Univ.).—The Gogmagog Hills; a common morning’s ride.Gradus ad Cantab.Hilly,adj.(colloquial).—Difficult:e.g.,hilly reading= hard to read;hilly going= not easy to do; etc.Hilt.Loose in the hilt,adv. phr.(old).—Unsteady;rocky(q.v.); lax in the bowels.1639–61.Rump Songs.‘Bum-fodder,’ ii., 56. If they stay longer, they will us beguilt With a Government that isloose in the hilt.Hind-boot,subs.(common).—The breech. For synonyms,seeMonocular Eyeglass.Hind-coachwheel,subs.(common).—A five shilling piece. Fr.,roue de derrière,thune, orpalet, = a five-franc piece. For synonyms,seeCaroon.Hinder-blast,subs.(old).—Crepitation.1540.Lindsay,Thrie Estaitis[inBannatyne MSS., Hunterian Club, ed.,(1879–88), p. 511] line 1429–30. Scho hes sic rumling in her wame, That all the nycht my hairt ouercastis With bokking and withhinder blastis.Hinder-end,subs. phr.(common).—The breech. Also,hinder-partsandhinder-world.Hinder-entrance,subs. phr.(common).—The fundament.Hind-leg.To kick out a hind leg,verb. phr.(old).—To lout; to make a rustic bow.[316]To talk the hind leg off a horse(ordog).SeeTalk.To sit upon one’s hind legs and howl,verb. phr.(American).—To bemoan one’s fate; to make a hullabaloo.Hindoo,subs.(American).—SeeKnow Nothing.Hindoo Punishment,subs. phr.(circus).—Seequot.1875.Frost,Circus Life, ch. xviii. TheHindoo Punishmentis what is more often called the muscle grind, a rather painful exercise upon the bar, in which the arms are turned backward to embrace the bar, and then brought forward upon the chest, in which position the performer revolves.Hind-shifters,subs.(old).—The feet. For synonyms,seeCreepers.1823.Lamb,Elia,Wks., (Ed. 1852), p. 311. They would show as fair a pair ofhind-shiftersas the expertestloco-motorin the colony.Hinges.Off the hinges,adv. phr.(common)—In confusion; out of sorts; ‘not quite the thing.’Hinterland,subs.(old).—The breech.Hip, (in. pl.),subs.(colloquial).—Conventional—as in the proverb, ‘Free of her lips; free of her hips’—for the buttocks. Hence, towalk with the hips= to make play with the posteriors in walking;long in the hips; andhips to sell= broad in the beam;nimble-hipped= active in copulation.c.1508.Dunbar.Poems, ‘Of a Dance in the Quenis Chalmer’ (1836), i., 119. Hishippisgaff mony a hiddouss cry.Ibid.i., 124. ‘Of Ane Blak-moir.’… Sall cum behind and kiss hirhippis.1540.Lindsay,Thrie Estaits, line 3227. My craig will wit quhat weyis myhippis.Ibid., line 4424. Ye wald not stick to preise my graith With hobbling of yourhippis.c.1580.Collier of Croydon, iv., I. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, 459). I keep her lips and herhipsfor my own use.d.1607.Montgomerie,Poems, ‘Polwart and Montgomerie’s Flyting,’ p. 85, line 779 (Scottish Text Soc., 1885–6). Kailly lippes, kiss myhips.To have(get, orcatch)on the hip,verb. phr.(old).—To have (or get) an advantage. [From wrestling.]1591.Harington,Orlando Furioso, bk. xlvi., st. 117. In fine he doth apply one speciall drift, Which was togetthe paganon the hip, And having caught him right, he doth him lift By nimble sleight, and in such wise doth trip That down he threw him.1598.Shakspeare,Merchant of Venice, i. 3. If I cancatchhim onceupon the hip. I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.1605.Marston,Dutch Courtezan. iii., 1. He said he had youa the hyp.1617.Andrewes,Sermons(‘Library of Ang.-Cath. Theology’), Vol. IV., p. 365. If hehaveus at the advantage,on the hipas we say, it is no great matter then to get service at our hands.1635.D. Dike,Michael and the Dragon, inWks., p. 328. The Divellhaththemon the hip, he may easily bring them to anything.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Upon the Hip… at an Advantage in Wrestling, or Business.1697.Vanbrugh,Relapse, iv., 1. My lord, she has had himupon the hipthese seven years.1812.Johnson,Eng. Dict.Hip, s.v., A low phrase.1836.Michael Scott,Cruise of the Midge, p. 226. ‘Ha! ha! Ihaveyouon the hipnow, my master,’ shouted Peter.Hipe,subs.(wrestling).—A throw over the hip. HenceHipe,verb= to get across the hip before the throw.[317]Hip-hop,verb(old).—To skip or move on one leg; to hop. ‘A cant word framed by the reduplication of hop.’—Johnson, 1812.1670–1729.Congreve[Quoted inJohnson’sEng. Dict.]. Like Volsciuship-hopin a single boot.Hip-inside,subs.(thieves’).—An inner pocket.Hip-outside= an outer ditto.1857.Snowden,Mag. Assistant(3rd Ed.), p. 445, s.v.Hipped(orHippish),adj.(common).—Bored; melancholical; out of sorts. [Fromhypochondria.]1710.Gay,WineinWks.(1811) p. 348. By cares depress’d, in pensivehippishmood.1712.Spectator, No. 284. I cannot forbear writing to you, to tell you I have been to the last degreehippedsince I saw you.1837.Barham,Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Babes in the Wood.’ The wicked old Uncle, they say, In spite of his riot and revel, Washippishand qualmish all day, And dreamt all night long of the devil.1864.Dickens,Our Mutual Friend, bk. III., ch. x. ‘You are a littlehipped, dear fellow,’ said Eugene;‘you have been too sedentary. Come and enjoy the pleasures of the chase.’Hippen,subs.(Scots’: colloquial).—A baby’s napkin (i.e.,hippingcloth). Also (theatrical), the green curtain.Hiren,subs.(old).—1. A prostitute. [A corruption of ‘Irene,’ the heroine in Poole’s play:seequot. 1584.] For synonyms,seeBarrack-hackandTart.1584.Poole,The Turkish Mahomet and Hyren the Fair Greek. Note. In Italian called acourtezan; in Spaine amargarite; in English … a punk.1598.Shakspeare,2 Henry IV., ii., 4. Have we notHirenhere?1615.Adams,Spiritual Navigator. There be sirens in the sea of the world. Syrens?Hirens, as they are now called. What a number of these sirens [Hirens], cockatrices, courteghians, in plain English, harlots, swimme amongst us!d.1618.Sylvester,Trans. Du Bartas’ Week of Creation, ii., 2, pt. 3. Of charming sin the deep-inchaunting syrens, The snares of virtue, valour-softeninghyrens.2. (old).—A sword. Also a roaring bully; a fighting hector. [From Irene = the Goddess of Peace,a lucus a non lucendo.]Hishee-hashee.SeeSoap-and-bullion.His Nibs(orNabs).SeeNibs.Hiss.The hiss,subs. phr.(Winchester College).—The signal of a master’s approach.Historical-(Wrought, orIllustrated-)Shirt,subs.(old).—A shirt or shift worked or woven with pictures or texts.1596.Ben Jonson,Every Man out of his Humour; iv., 6. I wonder he speaks not of hiswrought-shirt.1639.Mayne,City Match, ii., 2. Mysmocksleeves have such holy imbroideries, And are so learned that I fear in time, All my apparel will be quoted by Some pure instructor.1647.BeaumontandFletcher,Custom of the County, ii., 1. Having a mistress, sure you should not be Without a neathistorical-shirt.1848.Punch, XIV., 226. He never broke a bank, He shuns cross-barred trousers, His linen is notillustrated, but beautifully clean.1851.Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, I., 51. Colored, orillustrated shirts, as they are called, are especially objected to by the men.[318]1889.Puck’s Library, Apr., p. 12. Being an educated man, I feel ten thousand woes, Cavorting for the populace Inillustrated clothes.History of the Four Kings.SeeFour Kings.Hit,subs.(common).—A success;e.g.,To make a hit= to score; to profit; to excel.1602.Marston,Antonio and Mellida. Induction. When use hath taught me action tohitthe right point of a ladie’s part.1700.Congreve,Way of the World, ii., 5. Ahit, ahit! a palpable hit! I confess it.1821.Egan,Tom and Jerry, bk. I., ch. i. Teach me to make ahitof soKeana quality that it may not only ‘tell,’ but be long remembered in the metropolis.1822–36.Jno. Wilson,Noctes Amb.,Wks.II., 210. Mr. Peel seems to havemade a hitin the chief character of Shiel’s play,The Apostate.1828–45.T. Hood,Poems, v., p. 197, (Ed. 1846). Nor yet did the heiress herself omit The arts that helpto make a hit.1870.Figaro, 10 June.To make a great hitis, after all, more a matter of chance than merit.1889.Pall Mall Gaz., 3 July. Madam Melbamakes an especial hitin the valse fromRoméo et Juliette.1889.Referee, 6 Jan. Quitea hit has been madeby the clever juvenile, La Petite Bertoto.Adj.(Old Bailey).—Convicted.Hard-hit,adj. phr.(colloquial).—Sore beset;hard-up(q.v.). Also deep in love (or grief, or anger).1890.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 7 Nov. It was pretty generally known that he had beenhard hitduring the season.Verb(American).—To arrive at; to light upon.1888.Detroit Free Press, Oct. Professor Rose, whohitthis town last spring, is around calling us a fugitive from justice.To hit it,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To attain an object; to light on a device; to guess a secret.1594.Shakspeare,Love’sLabour’sLost, iv., 1. Thou cans’t nothit it,hit it,hit it, Thou can’st nothit it, my good man.1596.Shakspeare,Merry Wives, iii., 2. I can neverhitone’s name.1773.O. Goldsmith,She Stoops to Conquer. Ecod, I havehit it. It’s here. Your hands. Yours and yours, my poor sulky! My boots there, ho! Meet me two hours hence at the bottom of the garden.1880.A. Trollope,The Duke’s Children, ch. lii. He dressed himself in ten minutes, and joined the party as they had finished their fish. ‘I am awfully sorry,’ he said, rushing up to his father, ‘but I thought that I should justhit it.’To hit off,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To agree together; to fit; to describe with accuracy and precision.1857.A. Trollope,Barchester Towers, ch. xxxiv. It is not always the case that the master, or warden, or provost, or principal canhit it offexactlywithhis tutor. A tutor is by no means indisposed to have a will of his own.1880.A. Trollope,The Duke’s Children, ch. xxxvi. ‘One gentleman with another, you mean?’ ‘Put it so. It don’t quitehit it off, but put it so.’1886.J. S. Winter,Army Society. ‘Sidelight,’ ch. xiv. ‘Hey!’ said Orford. ‘Didn’t you and hehit it off?’1889.Daily News, 22 Oct., p. 5. The nations that quarrel are the nations that do nothit it offon some point of feeling or taste.To hit the flat,verb. phr.(American cowboy).—To go out on the prairie.[319]To hit the pipe,verb. phr.(American).—To smoke opium.To hit one where he lives,verb. phr.(American).—To touch in a tender part; to hurt the feelings;to touch on the raw(q.v.).Hit(orstruck)with,adv. phr.(colloquial).—Taken; enamoured; prepossessed. Also,hit up with.1891.Tales from Town Topics. ‘Count Candawles,’ p. 28. She is very amusing, but the Count cannot be reallyhit withsuch a little mountebank.Hit on the tail,verb. phr.(old venery).—To copulate. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.d.1529.Skelton,Bowge of Courte. How oft hehitJoneton the tayle.Hit in the teeth,verb. phr.(old).—To reproach; to taunt; to fling in one’s face.1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, ii., 6 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 431). They are alwayshitting me in the teethwith a man of my coat.Hitch,verb(American).—1. To marry.Hitched= married.1867.Browne,Artemus Ward’s Courtship, People’s ed., p. 23. If you mean gettinghitched, I’m in.1883.L. Oliphant,Altiora Peto, II., xxix., 156. ‘How long is it since we parted, Ned?’ ‘A matter of five years; and it wasn’t my fault if we didn’t stayhitchedtill now.’1892.Tit-Bits, 17 Sept., p. 419, c. 1. ‘We’ve come to gethitched,’ said the man, bashfully.2. (American).—To agree. Alsoto hitch horses.To hitch one’s team to the fence,verb. phr.(American).—To settle down.Hittite,subs.(pugilists’).—A prize fighter.English synonyms.—Basher; bruiser; dukester; fistite; knight of the fist; gemman of the fancy; milling-cove; pug; puncher; scrapper; slasher; slogger; slugger; sparring-bloke.1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.Hittites—boxers and ring-goers assembled.1860.The Druid,Post and Paddock. ‘The Fight for the Belt.’ And the Sherwood Ranger, bold Bendigo, Is on training no more intent; But the trout full well that ex-Hittiteknow On a Summer’s eve in the Trent.Hive,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum.Cf.Honey. Hence, verbally,to hive it= to effect intromission.Verb(American cadet).—To steal. For synonyms,seePrig.To get hived,verb. phr.(American Cadets’ and popular).—1. To be caught out in a scrape. Also, to be hidden.To be hived perfectly frigid= to be caughtin flagrante delicto.Hiver,subs.(Western American).—A travelling bawd.Hivite,subs.(school).—A student of St. Bees’ (Cumberland).1865.John Bull, 11 Nov. To be aHivitehas long been considered a little worse than a ‘literate’.… Of the value of some St. Bees testimonials we may form an estimate, etc., etc.Hoaky.By the hoaky,intj.(nautical).—A popular form of adjuration.[320]Hoax,subs.(old: now recognised).—A jest; a practical joke; aTake-in. Originally (Grose) University cant. [Probably fromHocus(q.v.).]1796.Grose,Vulg. Tongue(3rd Ed.), s.v.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Hoaxing.Bantering, ridiculing.Hoaxinga quiz; joking an odd fellow.—University wit.1815.Scott,Guy Mannering, ch. iii. Whose humble efforts at jocularity were chiefly confined to what were then called bites and bams, since denominatedhoaxesand quizzes.1835–7.Richardson,Dict. Eng. Lang., s.v.Hoax.Malone considers the modern slanghoaxas derived fromhocus, and Archdeacon Nares agrees with him.Verb.To play a practical joke; to ‘take-in’; tobite(q.v.).Seesubs.sense. For synonyms,seeGammon.1812.Combe,Syntax, Picturesque, xix. An arch young sprig, a banker’s clerk, Resolv’d tohoaxthe rev’rend spark.1854.F. E. Smedley,Harry Coverdale, ch. viii. I thought you werehoaxingus, and I sat down to play the duet for the amiable purpose of exposing your ignorance.Hob(orHobbinol),subs.(old).—A clown.—Grose.Hob and Nob(orHob Nob),verb.(old).—1. To invite to drink; to clink glasses.1756.Foote,Englishman from Paris, i. With, perhaps, an occasional interruption of ‘Here’s to you, friends,’ ‘Hob or nob,’ ‘Your love and mine.’1759.Townley,High Life Below Stairs, ii.Duke.Lady Charlotte,hob or nob.Lady Char.Done, my lord; in Burgundy, if you please.1772.Graves,Spiritual Quixote, bk. VIII., ch. xxi. (new Ed., 1808). Having drunkhob or nobwith a young lady in whose eyes he wished to appear a man of consequence, he hurried out into the summer-house.1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.Hob nob—two persons pledging each other in a glass.1836.Horace Smith,Tin Trumpet, ‘Address to a Mummy.’ Perchance that very hand now pinioned flat, Hashob-and-nobbedwith Pharoah glass for glass.1849.Thackeray,Pendennis, ch. xxx. He would have liked tohob and nobwith celebrated pick-pockets, or drink a pot of ale with a company of burglars and cracksmen.1886.R. L. Stevenson,Kidnapped, p. 68. So the pair sat down andhob-a-nobbed.2. (old).—To give or take; to hit or miss at random. [Saxon,habban, to have;nabban, not to have.]1577–87.Holinshed,Chroncles of Englande, Scotlande, and Irelande(1807) p. 317. The citizens in their rage shothabbe or nabbe(hit or miss) at random.1602.Shakspeare,Twelfth Night, iii., 4.Hob-nobis his word, give ’t or take ’t.1615.Harington,Epigrams, iv. Not of Jack Straw, with his rebellious crew, That set king, realm, and laws, athab or nab.1673.Quack Astrologer.He writes of the weatherhab nab, and as the toy takes him, chequers the year with foul and fair.3. (colloquial).—To be on terms of close intimacy; to consort familiarly together.1870.Mark Twain,Innocents Abroad, ch. i. They were tohob-nobwith nobility and hold friendly converse with kings and princes.[321]1892.Hume Nisbet,Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 109. I hadhob-nobbedfor the last two hours with the most notorious bushranger in the colony.1892.A. K. Green,Cynthia Wakeham’s Money, p. 5. Each tree looks like a spectrehob-nobbingwith its neighbour.Hobbes’s-voyage,subs.(old).—A leap in the dark.1697.Vanbrugh,Provoked Wife, v., 6. So, now, I am in forHobbes’s voyage; a great leap in the dark.Hobbinol,subs.(old).—A countryman. For synonyms,seeJoskin.1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, ii., 3 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 396). Who, Master Jeffrey?Hobbinolthe second! By this life, ’tis a very veal, and licks his nose like one.Hobble.In a hobble(orHobbled),adv. phr.(colloquial).—In trouble; hampered; puzzled. Also (thieves), committed for trial. Fr.,tomber dans la mélasse(= to come a cropper), andfaitré(=booked(q.v.)).Hobbled upon the legs= transported, or on the hulks.1777.Foote,Trip to Calais(1795), ii., p. 39. But take care what you say! you see what ahobblewe had like to have got into.1789.Geo. Parker,Life’s Painter, p. 163. A term when any of the gang is taken up and committed for trial, to say, such a one ishobbled.1811.Poole,Hamlet Travestie, iii., 5. Horatio, I am sorry for this squabble; I fear ’twill get me in a precioushobble.1819.Vaux,Cant. Dict., s.v.Hobbled, taken up, or in custody; tohobblea plant, is to spring it.1838.Haliburton,Clockmaker, 2nd S., ch. xvii. A body has to be cautious if he don’t want to get into the centre of ahobble.1849.Punch,Fortune-Tellers’ Almanack. To dream that you are lame is a token that you will get into ahobble.1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 44. I got into a’obble.Verb(venery).—Seequot.1688.Sempill, ‘Crissell Sandilands’ inBannatyne MSS.(HunterianClub, 1879–88), p. 354, lines 21–2. Had scho bene undir, and hehoblandabove, That were a perellous play for to suspect them.Hobbledehoy,subs.(old, now colloquial).—A growing gawk: as in the folk-rhyme, ‘Hobbledehoy, neither man nor boy.’ [For derivation,seeNotes and Queries, 1 S., v., 468, vii., 572; 4 S., ii., 297, viii., 451, ix., 147; 7 S., iv., 523, and v., 58.]1557.Tusser,Husbandrie, ch. 60, st 3, p. 138 (E. D. S.). The first seuen yeers bring vp as a childe, The next to learning, for waxing too wilde. The next keepe vnder sirhobbard de hoy, The next a man no longer a boy.1738.Swift,Polite Convers., Dial 1. Why, he is a merehobbledehoy, neither a man nor a boy.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1837.Barham,Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Aunt Fanny.’ At the epoch I speak about, I was between a man and a boy, Ahobble-de-hoy, A fat, little, punchy concern of sixteen.1848.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, ch. iv. He remembered perfectly well being thrashed by Joseph Sedley, when the latter was a big, swaggering,hobbadyhoy, and George an impudent urchin of ten years old.HenceHobbledehoyishandHobbledehoyhood.[322]1812.Colman,Poetical Vagaries, p. 12 (2nd Ed.). When Master Daw full fourteen years had told, He grew, as it is term’d,hobbedyhoyish; For Cupidons and Fairies much too old, For Calibans and Devils much too boyish.1839.Thackeray,Fatal Boots, Apr. From boyhood untilhobbadyhoyhood(which I take to be about the sixteenth year of the life of a young man).1848.Thackeray,Book of Snobs, ch. xlii. A half-grown, orhobbadehoyishfootman, so to speak, walked after them.Hobbledejee,subs.(old).—A pace between a walk and a run; a jog-trot.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Hobbler,subs.(nautical).—A coast-man, half smuggler, half handyman; an unlicensed pilot. Also a landsman acting as tow-Jack.—Smyth.Also (Isle of Man), a boatman.1887.T. E. Brown,The Doctor, p. 226. An’ thehobblersthere was terr’ble divarted.Hobby,subs.(old).—A hackney; a horse in common use.1606.Return from Parnassus, ii., 6 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 151). An’t please you, yourhobbywill meet you at the lane’s end.Idem(p. 154). Is not my master an absolute villain that loves his hawk, hishobby, and his greyhound more than any mortal creature?Idem(p. 145). Sirrah, boy, hath the groom saddled my huntinghobby?2. (university).—A translation.To ride hobbies= to useCribs(q.v.).Sir Posthumous Hobby,subs. phr.(old).—One nice or whimsical in his clothes.Hobby-horse,subs.(old: now recognised).—1. A whim; a fancy; a favourite pursuit. HenceHobbyhorsical= strongly attached to a particular fad.1759.Sterne,TristramShandy(1793), ch. vii., p. 18. Have they not had theirhobby-horses?d.1768.Sterne,Letters(1793), letter 19, p. 65. ’Tis in fact myhobby-horse.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hobby Horse, a man’s favourite amusement, or study, is called hishobby horse.1893.Westminster Gaz., 15 Mar., p. 9, c. 1. We quarrel a bit—he is sohobby-horsical, you can’t avoid it—and then we make friends again.2. (colloquial).—A rantipole girl; a wench; a wanton.1594.Shakspeare,Love’sLabour’sLost, iii., 1. Call’st thou my lovehobby-horse?Moth.No, master; thehobby-horseis but a colt, and your love, perhaps a hackney.1604.Shakspeare,Winter’s Tale, 1., 2. They say my wife’s ahobby-horse.3. (old).—A witless and unmannerly lout.1609.Jonson,Epicœne, iv., 2.Daw.Here be in presence have tasted of her favors.Cler.What a neighinghobby-horseis this!Verb(old).—To romp.Hob-collingwood,subs. phr.(North Country).—The four of hearts, considered an unlucky card.Hob-jobber,subs.(streets).—A man or boy on the look out for small jobs—holding horses, carrying parcels, and the like.Hob-nail,subs.(old).—A countryman. For synonyms,seeJoskin.[323]1647.BeaumontandFletcher,Women Pleased, ii., 6. Thehob-nailthy husband’s as fitly out o’ th’ way now.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hobnail, a country clodhopper, from the shoes of country farmers and ploughmen being commonly stuck full ofhobnails, and even often clouted, or tipped with iron.Hobnailed,adj.(colloquial).—Boorish; clumsy; coarse; ill-done.1599.Jonson,Every Man out of his Humour.Sog.A wretchedhobnailedchuff.Hobson’s-choice,subs.(common).—That or none:i.e., there is no alternative. [Popularly derived from the name of a Cambridge livery stable keeper, whose rule was that each customer must take the horse next the door, or have no horse at all. That old Hobson existed is clear from Milton’s epitaph, but Bellenden Ker (Archæology of Popular Phrases) affirms the story to be a Cambridge hoax, and maintains the proverb to be identical in sound and sense as the Low Saxon,Op soens schie ho eysche= when he had a kiss he wanted something else.]1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hobson’s Choice, that or None.1710.Ward,England’s Reformation, ch. iv. ’TisHobson’s Choice, take that or none.1712.Steele,Spectator, No. 509, p. 191. I shall conclude this discourse with an explanation of a proverb [Hobson’s choice], which by vulgar error is taken and used when a man is reduced to an extremity, whereas the propriety of the maxim is to use it when you would say there is plenty, but you must make such a choice as not to hurt another who is to come after you.Ibid.He [Hobson] kept a stable of forty good cattle, always ready and fit for travelling; but when a man came for a horse he was led into the stable, where there was great choice, but was obliged to take the horse which stood nearest to the stable-door; so that every customer was alike well served, according to his chance, and every horse ridden with the same justice.1717.Cibber,Non-Juror, i. Can any woman think herself happy that’s obliged to marry only with aHobson’s choice?1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1820.Reynolds[Peter Corcoran],The Fancy. Black men now areHobson’s choice.1851.F. E. Smedley,Lewis Arundel, ch. liii. ‘When shall we go?’ inquired Laura. ‘Why, it’s a case ofHobson’s choice,’ returned Leicester.1854.Notes and Queries, 21 Jan., p. 51. It was clear a choice had been given to him, but it was aHobson’s choice.Hock,subs.(American).—1. The last card in the dealer’s box at faro. [Fromsoda(q.v.)to hock= from beginning to end.]2.In. pl.(common).—The feet.Curby hocks= clumsy feet. For synonyms,seeCreepers. [From the stable.]1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hocks… you have left the marks of your dirtyhockson my clean stairs.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Old hock,subs. phr.(common).—Stale beer;swipes(q.v.).SeeHockey.
1857.Snowden,Mag. Assistant, (3rd ed.), p. 445. Begging letters—the highfly.Highflyer,subs.(old).—1. Anything or anybody out of the common, in opinion, pretension, attire, and so forth: as a prostitute (high-priced and well-dressed); an adventurer (superb in impudence and luck). 2. A dandy, male or female, of the first water.3. A fast coach.1690.Dryden.Prol. toMistakesinWks., p. 473 (Globe). He’s nohigh-flyer—he makes no sky-rockets, His squibs are only levelled at your pockets.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.High-flyers, Impudent, Forward, Loose, Light Women. Also, bold adventurers.1693.Congreve,Old Bachelor, i., 1. Well, ashighaflyeras you are, I have a lure may make you stoop.1706.R. Estcourt,Fair Example, Act i., p. 10. You may keep company with thehighest flyerof ’em all.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1818.Scott,Heart of Midlothian, i. Mail-coach races against mail-coach, andhigh-flyeragainsthigh-flyer, through the most remote districts of Britain.1821.Egan,Tom and Jerry, v. As you have yourhigh-fliersat Almack’s, at the West End, we have also some ‘choicecreatures’at our All Max in the East.1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.High-flyers—women of the town, in keeping, who job a coach, or keep a couple of saddle-horses at least.1830.Lytton,Paul Clifford, (Ed. 1854) p. 75. Howsomever, thehigh-flyersdoesn’t like him; and when he takes people’s money, he need not be quite so cross about it!1860.Dickens,Uncommercial Traveller, xxii., p. 131. The old room on the ground floor where the passengers of theHigh-flyersused to dine.1864.Dickens,Our Mutual Friend, i., 5. Mrs. Boffin, Wegg … is a’ighflyerat fashion.1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 40. Foller yer leader, … all who can carry sufficient skyscrapers to keep in the ’unt, with that’ighflyer’Arry.4. (thieves’).—A beggar with a certain style; a begging-letter writer; a broken swell.1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 268. While pursuing the course of ahigh-flyer(genteel beggar).1858.A. Mayhew,Paved with Gold, bk. III., ch. iii., p. 268. He was ahigh-flier, a genteel beggar.1887.Standard, 20 June, p. 5, c. 2. The pretended noblemen and knights who ‘say they have suffered by war, fire, or captivity, or have been driven away, and lost all they had,’ are still represented by thehigh-flyersor broken-down gentlemen.5. (circus).—A swing fixed in rows in a frame much in vogue at fairs.High-flying,subs.(old).—1. Extravagance in opinion,pretension or conduct.1689.Dryden,Epil. to Lee’s Princess of Cleves, 6. I railed at wild young sparks; but without lying Never was man worse thought on forhigh-flying.2. (thieves’).—Begging;the high-fly(q.v.);stilling(q.v.).High-gag,subs.(American).—A whisperer.—Matsell.The high-gag,subs. phr.(American).—Telling secrets.—Matsell.High-game,subs.(thieves’).—Seequot.1889.C. T. ClarksonandJ. Hall Richardson,Police, p. 321. A mansion … ahigh game.High-gig.In High-gig,adv. phr.(old).—In good fettle; lively.Cf.,Gig.[311]1819.Moore,Tom Crib, p. 15. Rather sprightly—the Bearin high-gig.High-go,subs.(common).—A drinking bout; a frolic.High-heeled Shoes.To have high-heeled shoes on,verb. phr.(American).—To set up as a person of consequence; todo the grand(q.v.).High Horse.To be(orget)on(orride)the high horse,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To give oneself airs; to stand on one’s dignity; to take offence. [Fr.monter sur ses grands chevaux. The simile is common to most languages.]1716.Addison,Freeholder, 5 Mar. He told me, he did not know what travelling was good for, but to teach a man toride the great horse, to jabber French, and to talk against passive obedience.1836.Marryat,Midshipman Easy, ch. xii. He was determined toride the high horse—and that there should be no Equality Jack in future.1842.Comic Almanack, p. 327. Yet Dublin deems the foul extortion fair, And swears that, as he’sridden the high horse, So long and well, she now will make him mayor.1864.Times, 5 July. Mr. Gladstone in the Dano-German Debate. The right hon. gentleman thengot onwhat I may callhis high horse, and he would not give us the slightest opinion upon any matter of substantive policy, because that, he said, would be accepting office upon conditions.1868.Wilkie Collins,The Moonstone, 2nd Period, 3rd Narr., ch. ii. Miss Rachael has her faults—‘I’ve never denied it,’ he began. ‘Andriding the high horsenow and then is one of them.’High-jinks,subs.(old).—1. An old game variously played. [Most frequently dice were thrown by the company, and those upon whom the lot fell were obliged to assume and maintain for a time a certain fictitious character, or to repeat a certain number of fescennine verses in a particular order. If they departed from the characters assigned … they incurred forfeits, which were compounded for by swallowing an additional bumper.—Guy Mannering, 1836. Note to ch. xxxii.]1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Highjinks, a Play at Dice who Drinks.1780.Ramsay,Maggy Johnston, i., 25. The queff or cup is filled to the brim, then one of the company takes a pair of dice, and after cryingHy-jinks, he throws them out; the number he casts out points out the person that must drink; he who threw beginning at himself number one, and so round till the number of the person agree with that of the dice (which may fall upon himself if the number be within twelve); then he sets the dice to him, or bids him take them; he on whom they fall is obliged to drink, or pay a small forfeiture in money, then throws, and so on. But if he forgets to cry ‘Hy-jinks’ he pays a forfeiture into the bank. Now, he on whom it falls to drink (if there be anything in the bank worth drawing) gets it all if he drinks; then with a great deal of caution he empties his cup, sweeps up the money, and orders the cup to be filled again, and then throws; for if he errs in the articles he loses the privilege of drawing the money. The articles are—(1) Drink, (2) Draw, (3) Fill, (4) Cry ‘Hy-jinks,’ (5) Count just, (6) Chuse your doublet, man—viz., when two equal numbers of the dice is thrown, the person whom you chuse must pay a double of the common forfeiture, and so must you when the dice is in his hand (sic).1815.Scott,Guy Mannering, ch. xxxvi. The frolicsome company had begun to practise the ancient and now forgotten pastime ofhigh jinks.1861.H. Kingsley,Ravenshoe, lv. He had made an engagement to drive Lord Saltire, the next morning, up to Wargrave in a pony-chaise, to look at Barrymore House, and the place where the theatre stood, and where the game ofhigh jinkshad been played so bravely fifty years before.2.Seequot., andcf.sense 1.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue. A gambler at dice, who, having a strong head, drinks to intoxicate his adversary, or pigeon. Under this head are also classed[312]those fellows who keep little goes, take in insurances; also, attendants at the races, and at the E O tables; chaps always on the look out to rob unwary countrymen at cards, etc.3. (common).—A frolic; a row. [From sense 1.]1861.Hughes,Tom Brown at Oxford, i. All sorts ofhigh jinksgo on on the grass plot.1872.Daily Telegraph, 13 Sept. ‘Filey the Retired.’ Frisky Filey cannot assuredly be called. There are nohigh jinkson her jetty; and, besides, she hasn’t got a jetty, only a ‘Brigg.’1890.Pall Mall Gaz., 24 July, 4, 2. Yesterday and to-day there have beenhigh jinksin Petworth Park, rich and poor for miles round being invited, and right royally feasted on the coming of age of Lord and Lady Leconfield’s eldest son.1891.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 3 Apr. While Bank Holiday was being celebrated with suchéclatat Kempton, they were carrying onhigh jinksover hurdles and fences at Manchester.1892.Sala’s Journal, 2 July, p. 223.High jinkswith the telephone have been the order of the day at Warwick Castle; taps and wires have been turned on and off, and floods of melody of various kinds have delighted listening ears.1893.National Observer, 25 Feb., ix., 357. Time was when there werehigh jinksin that vast quadrangle.To be at his high jinks,phr.(common).—To be stilted and arrogant in manner; toride the high horse(q.v.). Fr.,faire sa merdeorsa poire.High-kicker,subs.(colloquial).—Specifically, a dancer whose speciality is the high kick or theporte d’armes; whence, by metaphor, any desperatespreester(q.v.), male or female.High-kilted,adj.(Scots’).—Obscene or thereabouts;full flavoured(q.v.).Highland-bail,subs.(Scots’).—The right of the strongest;force majeure.1816.Scott,Antiquary, ch. xxix. The mute eloquence of the miller and smith, which was vested in their clenched fists, was prepared to giveHighland bailfor their arbiter.High-lawyer,subs.(old).—A highwayman. For synonyms,seeRoad Agent.1592.John Day,Blind Beggar, p. 21 (Ed. Bullen). He wo’d be your prigger, your prancer, yourhigh-lawyer.1610.Rowlands,Martin Mark-all, p. 50 (H. Club’s Rept., 1874). He first gaue termes to robbers by the high-way, that such as robbe on horse-backe were calledhigh lawyers, and those who robbed on foote, he called Padders.High-liver,subs.(old).—A garretteer; a thief housed in an attic. Hence,High-living= lodging in a garret.—Lex. Bal.High-men,subs.(old).—Dice loaded to showhighnumbers. Also,High-runners.SeeFulhamsandLow-men.1594.Nashe,Unf. TravellerinWks.[Grosart], v., 27. The dice of late are growen as melancholy as a dog,high menand low men both prosper alike.1596.Shakspeare,Merry Wives, i., 3. Let vultures gripe thy guts! for gourd and fullam holds, Andhighand low beguiles the rich and poor.1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes.Pise, false dice,high menor low men.1605.London Prodigal, i., 1. I bequeath two bale of false dice, videlicet,high menand low men, fullams, stop-catertraies, and other bones of function.1615.Harington,Epigrams, i., 79. YourhighAnd lowmenare but trifles.1657–1733.John Dennis,Letters, ii., 407. Shadwell is of opinion, that your bully, with his box and his false dice, is an honester fellow than the rhetorical author, who makes use of his tropes and figures, which are hishighand his lowrunners, to cheat us at once of our money and of our intellectuals.[313]1822.Scott,Fort. of Nigel, ch. xxiii. Men talk ofhighand lowdice.High-nosed,adj. phr.(colloquial).—Very proud in look and in fact; supercilious in bearing and speech;superior(q.v.).High-[orgay-]old(time,game,liar, etc.),adj. phr.(common).—A general intensitive:e.g.,high old time= a very merry time indeed;high old liar= a liar of might;high old drunk= an uncommonbooze(q.v.).1883.Referee, 11 Mar., p. 3, c. 2. All the children who have been engaged in the Drury Lane pantomime took tea on the stage, and had ahigh old time(while it lasted).1888.J. McCarthyandMrs. Campbell-Praed,Ladies’ Gallery, ch. xxxv. I went down to Melbourne, intending to have ahigh old time.1891.Murray’s Mag., Aug., p. 202. There will be a Want of Confidence Motion, and ahigh olddebate.1891.J. Newman,Scamping Tricks, p. 7. You are a big fraud and ahigh oldliar.1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 35. We’d thehighest oldgame.1892.F. Anstey,Voces Populi, ‘The Riding Class,’ p. 108. We’ve bin having agay oldtime in ’ere.High-pad(orToby, orHigh-toby-splice),subs.(old).—1. The highway. Also,high-splice toby. For synonyms,seeDrum.1567.Harman,Caveat, p, 86.Roge,Nowe bynge we a waste to thehygh pad, the ruffmanes is by.c.1819.Slang Song(quoted in notes toDon Juan, x., 19). On thehigh-toby-spliceflash the muzzle In spite of each gallows old scout.1836.H. M. Milner,Turpin’s Ride to York, i., sc. 2. Come, lads a stirrup-cup at parting, and then hurrah for the game ofhigh-toby.1876.Hindley,Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 4. Halting for a few hours at mid-day during the heat in thehigh spice-toby, as we used to call the main road.2. (old).—A highwayman. Also,high-tobyman(or-gloak). For synonyms,seeRoad Agent.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.High Pad, a Highwayman, Highway Robber well Mounted and Armed.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.High toby-gloak, a highway robber well mounted.1834.Ainsworth,Rookwood, bk. IV., ch i. Tom King, a notedhigh-toby gloakof his time.1857.Punch, 31 Jan. (from slang song). That long over Newgit their Worships may rule, As theHigh-toby, mob, crack, and screeve model school.3. (old).—Highway robbery.1819,Vaux,Cant. Dict.High-toby, the game of highway robbery, that is exclusively on horseback.High-pooped,adj.(colloquial).—Heavily buttocked.High-rented,adj.(popular).—1. Hot.2. (thieves’).—Very well known to the police;hot(q.v.).High-roller,subs.(American).—Agoer(q.v.); a fast liver; a heavy gambler; ahighflyer(q.v.).1887.Francis,Saddle and Moccasin, He’s ahigh-roller, by gum!High-ropes.To be on the high ropes,verb. phr.(common).—To be angry or excited. Also to put on airs; to stand on one’s dignity; to ride thehigh-horse(q.v.).1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.To be on the high ropes, to be in a passion.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.[314]1866.Yates,Land at Last, ii. He’son the high ropes, is Master Charley! Some of you fellows have been lending him half a-crown, or that fool Caniche has bought one of his pictures for seven-and-six!High-seasoned(orHighly-spiced),adj.(colloquial).—Obscene. For synonyms,seeSpicy.High-(orclouted-)shoon,subs.(old).—A countryman. For synonyms,seeJoskin.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew,s.v.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.High-sniffing,adj. phr.(colloquial).—Pretentious; supercilious; very obviously better than one’s company;high-nosed(q.v.).High-stepper,subs.(common).—An exemplar, male or female, of what is fashionable in conversation, conduct, or attire; aswell(q.v.). Also, a person of spirit. Whence,adj.,high-stepping(orhigh-pacing) = conspicuously elegant or gallant in dress, speech, manner, conduct, anything.1891.Gunter,Miss Nobody of Nowhere, ch. ix. From her actions and style I’m pretty certain she’s English and ahigh-stepper.High-stomached,adj.(colloquial).—Proud; disdainful; very valiant.High-strikes,subs.(common).—A corruption of ‘hysterics.’1838.Selby,Jacques Strop, ii., 4. Capital! … didn’t I do thehigh-strikesfamously.1860.Miss Wetherell,Say and Seal, ch. vii. She wants you to come. I’m free to confess she’s got thehigh-strikeswonderful.High-tea,subs.(colloquial).—A tea with meat, etc. In LancashireBagging(q.v.).1888.Sporting Life, 15 Dec. Following run there will behigh teaand a grand smoking concert, to which visitors are cordially invited.High-ti,subs.(American: Williams Coll.).—A showy recitation; at Harvard = asquirt(q.v.).High-tide(orwater)subs.(colloquial).—Rich for the moment; The state of beingflush(q.v.). For synonyms,seeWell Ballasted.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.high tidewhen the Pocket is full of Money.1725.New Cant. Dict.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.High-tide—plenty of the possibles; whilst ‘low-water’ implies empty clies.Up to high-water mark,adv. phr.(colloquial).—In good condition; a general expression of approval.High-toby.SeeHigh Pad.1834.Ainsworth,Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. Oh! the game ofHigh-Tobyfor ever.High-toned,adj.(American).—Aristocratic; also, morally and intellectually endowed; spiritually beyond the common.High-souled= cultured; fashionable.High-toned nigger= a negro who has raised himself in social position. [Once literary; now utterly discredited and never used, save in ignorance or derision.] Stokes, the maniac who shot Garfield, described himself as a ‘High-Toned Lawyer.’1884.Phillips Woolley,Trottings of a Tender Foot. I never saw any so-calledhigh-toned niggers.[315]1893.Cassell’s Sat. Jour., 1 Feb., p. 389, 1. One day a fashionably-dressed young man, giving an address in ahigh-tonedsuburb, called upon Messrs. Glitter.Highty-tighty(orHoity-toity),subs.(old).—A wanton.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hightetity, a Ramp, or Rude Girl.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.Adj.(colloquial).—Peremptory; waspish; quarrelsome.1848.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, ch. xviii. La, William, don’t be sohighty-tightywithus. We’re not men.High Wood.To live in high wood,verb. phr.(common).—To hide; to dissemble of purpose; to lie low and keep quiet.Higulcion-flips,subs.(Texas).—An imaginary ailment.Hike,verb.(old).—To move about. Also to carry off; to arrest.1811.LexiconBalatronicum, s.v.Hike.To hike off; to run away.1884.Daily Telegraph, 2 Feb., p. 3, c. 1. We three, not having any regler homes nor a steady job of work to stick to,hike aboutfor a living, and we live in the cellar of a empty house.Hilding,subs.(old).—A jade; a wanton; a disreputable slut.1593.Shakspeare,Taming of the Shrew, ii., 1. For shame thouhildingof a devilish spirit.1595.Shakspeare,Romeo and Juliet, ii., 4.Hildingsand harlots.Hill.Not worth a hill of beans,phr.(American).—Absolutely worthless.Hills,subs.(Winchester Coll.).—1. St. Catharine’s Hill.1870.Mansfield,School Life, p. 28. Some of his principal duties were to take the boys ‘on tohills,’ call names there, etc.2. (Cambridge Univ.).—The Gogmagog Hills; a common morning’s ride.Gradus ad Cantab.Hilly,adj.(colloquial).—Difficult:e.g.,hilly reading= hard to read;hilly going= not easy to do; etc.Hilt.Loose in the hilt,adv. phr.(old).—Unsteady;rocky(q.v.); lax in the bowels.1639–61.Rump Songs.‘Bum-fodder,’ ii., 56. If they stay longer, they will us beguilt With a Government that isloose in the hilt.Hind-boot,subs.(common).—The breech. For synonyms,seeMonocular Eyeglass.Hind-coachwheel,subs.(common).—A five shilling piece. Fr.,roue de derrière,thune, orpalet, = a five-franc piece. For synonyms,seeCaroon.Hinder-blast,subs.(old).—Crepitation.1540.Lindsay,Thrie Estaitis[inBannatyne MSS., Hunterian Club, ed.,(1879–88), p. 511] line 1429–30. Scho hes sic rumling in her wame, That all the nycht my hairt ouercastis With bokking and withhinder blastis.Hinder-end,subs. phr.(common).—The breech. Also,hinder-partsandhinder-world.Hinder-entrance,subs. phr.(common).—The fundament.Hind-leg.To kick out a hind leg,verb. phr.(old).—To lout; to make a rustic bow.[316]To talk the hind leg off a horse(ordog).SeeTalk.To sit upon one’s hind legs and howl,verb. phr.(American).—To bemoan one’s fate; to make a hullabaloo.Hindoo,subs.(American).—SeeKnow Nothing.Hindoo Punishment,subs. phr.(circus).—Seequot.1875.Frost,Circus Life, ch. xviii. TheHindoo Punishmentis what is more often called the muscle grind, a rather painful exercise upon the bar, in which the arms are turned backward to embrace the bar, and then brought forward upon the chest, in which position the performer revolves.Hind-shifters,subs.(old).—The feet. For synonyms,seeCreepers.1823.Lamb,Elia,Wks., (Ed. 1852), p. 311. They would show as fair a pair ofhind-shiftersas the expertestloco-motorin the colony.Hinges.Off the hinges,adv. phr.(common)—In confusion; out of sorts; ‘not quite the thing.’Hinterland,subs.(old).—The breech.Hip, (in. pl.),subs.(colloquial).—Conventional—as in the proverb, ‘Free of her lips; free of her hips’—for the buttocks. Hence, towalk with the hips= to make play with the posteriors in walking;long in the hips; andhips to sell= broad in the beam;nimble-hipped= active in copulation.c.1508.Dunbar.Poems, ‘Of a Dance in the Quenis Chalmer’ (1836), i., 119. Hishippisgaff mony a hiddouss cry.Ibid.i., 124. ‘Of Ane Blak-moir.’… Sall cum behind and kiss hirhippis.1540.Lindsay,Thrie Estaits, line 3227. My craig will wit quhat weyis myhippis.Ibid., line 4424. Ye wald not stick to preise my graith With hobbling of yourhippis.c.1580.Collier of Croydon, iv., I. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, 459). I keep her lips and herhipsfor my own use.d.1607.Montgomerie,Poems, ‘Polwart and Montgomerie’s Flyting,’ p. 85, line 779 (Scottish Text Soc., 1885–6). Kailly lippes, kiss myhips.To have(get, orcatch)on the hip,verb. phr.(old).—To have (or get) an advantage. [From wrestling.]1591.Harington,Orlando Furioso, bk. xlvi., st. 117. In fine he doth apply one speciall drift, Which was togetthe paganon the hip, And having caught him right, he doth him lift By nimble sleight, and in such wise doth trip That down he threw him.1598.Shakspeare,Merchant of Venice, i. 3. If I cancatchhim onceupon the hip. I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.1605.Marston,Dutch Courtezan. iii., 1. He said he had youa the hyp.1617.Andrewes,Sermons(‘Library of Ang.-Cath. Theology’), Vol. IV., p. 365. If hehaveus at the advantage,on the hipas we say, it is no great matter then to get service at our hands.1635.D. Dike,Michael and the Dragon, inWks., p. 328. The Divellhaththemon the hip, he may easily bring them to anything.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Upon the Hip… at an Advantage in Wrestling, or Business.1697.Vanbrugh,Relapse, iv., 1. My lord, she has had himupon the hipthese seven years.1812.Johnson,Eng. Dict.Hip, s.v., A low phrase.1836.Michael Scott,Cruise of the Midge, p. 226. ‘Ha! ha! Ihaveyouon the hipnow, my master,’ shouted Peter.Hipe,subs.(wrestling).—A throw over the hip. HenceHipe,verb= to get across the hip before the throw.[317]Hip-hop,verb(old).—To skip or move on one leg; to hop. ‘A cant word framed by the reduplication of hop.’—Johnson, 1812.1670–1729.Congreve[Quoted inJohnson’sEng. Dict.]. Like Volsciuship-hopin a single boot.Hip-inside,subs.(thieves’).—An inner pocket.Hip-outside= an outer ditto.1857.Snowden,Mag. Assistant(3rd Ed.), p. 445, s.v.Hipped(orHippish),adj.(common).—Bored; melancholical; out of sorts. [Fromhypochondria.]1710.Gay,WineinWks.(1811) p. 348. By cares depress’d, in pensivehippishmood.1712.Spectator, No. 284. I cannot forbear writing to you, to tell you I have been to the last degreehippedsince I saw you.1837.Barham,Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Babes in the Wood.’ The wicked old Uncle, they say, In spite of his riot and revel, Washippishand qualmish all day, And dreamt all night long of the devil.1864.Dickens,Our Mutual Friend, bk. III., ch. x. ‘You are a littlehipped, dear fellow,’ said Eugene;‘you have been too sedentary. Come and enjoy the pleasures of the chase.’Hippen,subs.(Scots’: colloquial).—A baby’s napkin (i.e.,hippingcloth). Also (theatrical), the green curtain.Hiren,subs.(old).—1. A prostitute. [A corruption of ‘Irene,’ the heroine in Poole’s play:seequot. 1584.] For synonyms,seeBarrack-hackandTart.1584.Poole,The Turkish Mahomet and Hyren the Fair Greek. Note. In Italian called acourtezan; in Spaine amargarite; in English … a punk.1598.Shakspeare,2 Henry IV., ii., 4. Have we notHirenhere?1615.Adams,Spiritual Navigator. There be sirens in the sea of the world. Syrens?Hirens, as they are now called. What a number of these sirens [Hirens], cockatrices, courteghians, in plain English, harlots, swimme amongst us!d.1618.Sylvester,Trans. Du Bartas’ Week of Creation, ii., 2, pt. 3. Of charming sin the deep-inchaunting syrens, The snares of virtue, valour-softeninghyrens.2. (old).—A sword. Also a roaring bully; a fighting hector. [From Irene = the Goddess of Peace,a lucus a non lucendo.]Hishee-hashee.SeeSoap-and-bullion.His Nibs(orNabs).SeeNibs.Hiss.The hiss,subs. phr.(Winchester College).—The signal of a master’s approach.Historical-(Wrought, orIllustrated-)Shirt,subs.(old).—A shirt or shift worked or woven with pictures or texts.1596.Ben Jonson,Every Man out of his Humour; iv., 6. I wonder he speaks not of hiswrought-shirt.1639.Mayne,City Match, ii., 2. Mysmocksleeves have such holy imbroideries, And are so learned that I fear in time, All my apparel will be quoted by Some pure instructor.1647.BeaumontandFletcher,Custom of the County, ii., 1. Having a mistress, sure you should not be Without a neathistorical-shirt.1848.Punch, XIV., 226. He never broke a bank, He shuns cross-barred trousers, His linen is notillustrated, but beautifully clean.1851.Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, I., 51. Colored, orillustrated shirts, as they are called, are especially objected to by the men.[318]1889.Puck’s Library, Apr., p. 12. Being an educated man, I feel ten thousand woes, Cavorting for the populace Inillustrated clothes.History of the Four Kings.SeeFour Kings.Hit,subs.(common).—A success;e.g.,To make a hit= to score; to profit; to excel.1602.Marston,Antonio and Mellida. Induction. When use hath taught me action tohitthe right point of a ladie’s part.1700.Congreve,Way of the World, ii., 5. Ahit, ahit! a palpable hit! I confess it.1821.Egan,Tom and Jerry, bk. I., ch. i. Teach me to make ahitof soKeana quality that it may not only ‘tell,’ but be long remembered in the metropolis.1822–36.Jno. Wilson,Noctes Amb.,Wks.II., 210. Mr. Peel seems to havemade a hitin the chief character of Shiel’s play,The Apostate.1828–45.T. Hood,Poems, v., p. 197, (Ed. 1846). Nor yet did the heiress herself omit The arts that helpto make a hit.1870.Figaro, 10 June.To make a great hitis, after all, more a matter of chance than merit.1889.Pall Mall Gaz., 3 July. Madam Melbamakes an especial hitin the valse fromRoméo et Juliette.1889.Referee, 6 Jan. Quitea hit has been madeby the clever juvenile, La Petite Bertoto.Adj.(Old Bailey).—Convicted.Hard-hit,adj. phr.(colloquial).—Sore beset;hard-up(q.v.). Also deep in love (or grief, or anger).1890.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 7 Nov. It was pretty generally known that he had beenhard hitduring the season.Verb(American).—To arrive at; to light upon.1888.Detroit Free Press, Oct. Professor Rose, whohitthis town last spring, is around calling us a fugitive from justice.To hit it,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To attain an object; to light on a device; to guess a secret.1594.Shakspeare,Love’sLabour’sLost, iv., 1. Thou cans’t nothit it,hit it,hit it, Thou can’st nothit it, my good man.1596.Shakspeare,Merry Wives, iii., 2. I can neverhitone’s name.1773.O. Goldsmith,She Stoops to Conquer. Ecod, I havehit it. It’s here. Your hands. Yours and yours, my poor sulky! My boots there, ho! Meet me two hours hence at the bottom of the garden.1880.A. Trollope,The Duke’s Children, ch. lii. He dressed himself in ten minutes, and joined the party as they had finished their fish. ‘I am awfully sorry,’ he said, rushing up to his father, ‘but I thought that I should justhit it.’To hit off,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To agree together; to fit; to describe with accuracy and precision.1857.A. Trollope,Barchester Towers, ch. xxxiv. It is not always the case that the master, or warden, or provost, or principal canhit it offexactlywithhis tutor. A tutor is by no means indisposed to have a will of his own.1880.A. Trollope,The Duke’s Children, ch. xxxvi. ‘One gentleman with another, you mean?’ ‘Put it so. It don’t quitehit it off, but put it so.’1886.J. S. Winter,Army Society. ‘Sidelight,’ ch. xiv. ‘Hey!’ said Orford. ‘Didn’t you and hehit it off?’1889.Daily News, 22 Oct., p. 5. The nations that quarrel are the nations that do nothit it offon some point of feeling or taste.To hit the flat,verb. phr.(American cowboy).—To go out on the prairie.[319]To hit the pipe,verb. phr.(American).—To smoke opium.To hit one where he lives,verb. phr.(American).—To touch in a tender part; to hurt the feelings;to touch on the raw(q.v.).Hit(orstruck)with,adv. phr.(colloquial).—Taken; enamoured; prepossessed. Also,hit up with.1891.Tales from Town Topics. ‘Count Candawles,’ p. 28. She is very amusing, but the Count cannot be reallyhit withsuch a little mountebank.Hit on the tail,verb. phr.(old venery).—To copulate. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.d.1529.Skelton,Bowge of Courte. How oft hehitJoneton the tayle.Hit in the teeth,verb. phr.(old).—To reproach; to taunt; to fling in one’s face.1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, ii., 6 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 431). They are alwayshitting me in the teethwith a man of my coat.Hitch,verb(American).—1. To marry.Hitched= married.1867.Browne,Artemus Ward’s Courtship, People’s ed., p. 23. If you mean gettinghitched, I’m in.1883.L. Oliphant,Altiora Peto, II., xxix., 156. ‘How long is it since we parted, Ned?’ ‘A matter of five years; and it wasn’t my fault if we didn’t stayhitchedtill now.’1892.Tit-Bits, 17 Sept., p. 419, c. 1. ‘We’ve come to gethitched,’ said the man, bashfully.2. (American).—To agree. Alsoto hitch horses.To hitch one’s team to the fence,verb. phr.(American).—To settle down.Hittite,subs.(pugilists’).—A prize fighter.English synonyms.—Basher; bruiser; dukester; fistite; knight of the fist; gemman of the fancy; milling-cove; pug; puncher; scrapper; slasher; slogger; slugger; sparring-bloke.1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.Hittites—boxers and ring-goers assembled.1860.The Druid,Post and Paddock. ‘The Fight for the Belt.’ And the Sherwood Ranger, bold Bendigo, Is on training no more intent; But the trout full well that ex-Hittiteknow On a Summer’s eve in the Trent.Hive,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum.Cf.Honey. Hence, verbally,to hive it= to effect intromission.Verb(American cadet).—To steal. For synonyms,seePrig.To get hived,verb. phr.(American Cadets’ and popular).—1. To be caught out in a scrape. Also, to be hidden.To be hived perfectly frigid= to be caughtin flagrante delicto.Hiver,subs.(Western American).—A travelling bawd.Hivite,subs.(school).—A student of St. Bees’ (Cumberland).1865.John Bull, 11 Nov. To be aHivitehas long been considered a little worse than a ‘literate’.… Of the value of some St. Bees testimonials we may form an estimate, etc., etc.Hoaky.By the hoaky,intj.(nautical).—A popular form of adjuration.[320]Hoax,subs.(old: now recognised).—A jest; a practical joke; aTake-in. Originally (Grose) University cant. [Probably fromHocus(q.v.).]1796.Grose,Vulg. Tongue(3rd Ed.), s.v.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Hoaxing.Bantering, ridiculing.Hoaxinga quiz; joking an odd fellow.—University wit.1815.Scott,Guy Mannering, ch. iii. Whose humble efforts at jocularity were chiefly confined to what were then called bites and bams, since denominatedhoaxesand quizzes.1835–7.Richardson,Dict. Eng. Lang., s.v.Hoax.Malone considers the modern slanghoaxas derived fromhocus, and Archdeacon Nares agrees with him.Verb.To play a practical joke; to ‘take-in’; tobite(q.v.).Seesubs.sense. For synonyms,seeGammon.1812.Combe,Syntax, Picturesque, xix. An arch young sprig, a banker’s clerk, Resolv’d tohoaxthe rev’rend spark.1854.F. E. Smedley,Harry Coverdale, ch. viii. I thought you werehoaxingus, and I sat down to play the duet for the amiable purpose of exposing your ignorance.Hob(orHobbinol),subs.(old).—A clown.—Grose.Hob and Nob(orHob Nob),verb.(old).—1. To invite to drink; to clink glasses.1756.Foote,Englishman from Paris, i. With, perhaps, an occasional interruption of ‘Here’s to you, friends,’ ‘Hob or nob,’ ‘Your love and mine.’1759.Townley,High Life Below Stairs, ii.Duke.Lady Charlotte,hob or nob.Lady Char.Done, my lord; in Burgundy, if you please.1772.Graves,Spiritual Quixote, bk. VIII., ch. xxi. (new Ed., 1808). Having drunkhob or nobwith a young lady in whose eyes he wished to appear a man of consequence, he hurried out into the summer-house.1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.Hob nob—two persons pledging each other in a glass.1836.Horace Smith,Tin Trumpet, ‘Address to a Mummy.’ Perchance that very hand now pinioned flat, Hashob-and-nobbedwith Pharoah glass for glass.1849.Thackeray,Pendennis, ch. xxx. He would have liked tohob and nobwith celebrated pick-pockets, or drink a pot of ale with a company of burglars and cracksmen.1886.R. L. Stevenson,Kidnapped, p. 68. So the pair sat down andhob-a-nobbed.2. (old).—To give or take; to hit or miss at random. [Saxon,habban, to have;nabban, not to have.]1577–87.Holinshed,Chroncles of Englande, Scotlande, and Irelande(1807) p. 317. The citizens in their rage shothabbe or nabbe(hit or miss) at random.1602.Shakspeare,Twelfth Night, iii., 4.Hob-nobis his word, give ’t or take ’t.1615.Harington,Epigrams, iv. Not of Jack Straw, with his rebellious crew, That set king, realm, and laws, athab or nab.1673.Quack Astrologer.He writes of the weatherhab nab, and as the toy takes him, chequers the year with foul and fair.3. (colloquial).—To be on terms of close intimacy; to consort familiarly together.1870.Mark Twain,Innocents Abroad, ch. i. They were tohob-nobwith nobility and hold friendly converse with kings and princes.[321]1892.Hume Nisbet,Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 109. I hadhob-nobbedfor the last two hours with the most notorious bushranger in the colony.1892.A. K. Green,Cynthia Wakeham’s Money, p. 5. Each tree looks like a spectrehob-nobbingwith its neighbour.Hobbes’s-voyage,subs.(old).—A leap in the dark.1697.Vanbrugh,Provoked Wife, v., 6. So, now, I am in forHobbes’s voyage; a great leap in the dark.Hobbinol,subs.(old).—A countryman. For synonyms,seeJoskin.1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, ii., 3 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 396). Who, Master Jeffrey?Hobbinolthe second! By this life, ’tis a very veal, and licks his nose like one.Hobble.In a hobble(orHobbled),adv. phr.(colloquial).—In trouble; hampered; puzzled. Also (thieves), committed for trial. Fr.,tomber dans la mélasse(= to come a cropper), andfaitré(=booked(q.v.)).Hobbled upon the legs= transported, or on the hulks.1777.Foote,Trip to Calais(1795), ii., p. 39. But take care what you say! you see what ahobblewe had like to have got into.1789.Geo. Parker,Life’s Painter, p. 163. A term when any of the gang is taken up and committed for trial, to say, such a one ishobbled.1811.Poole,Hamlet Travestie, iii., 5. Horatio, I am sorry for this squabble; I fear ’twill get me in a precioushobble.1819.Vaux,Cant. Dict., s.v.Hobbled, taken up, or in custody; tohobblea plant, is to spring it.1838.Haliburton,Clockmaker, 2nd S., ch. xvii. A body has to be cautious if he don’t want to get into the centre of ahobble.1849.Punch,Fortune-Tellers’ Almanack. To dream that you are lame is a token that you will get into ahobble.1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 44. I got into a’obble.Verb(venery).—Seequot.1688.Sempill, ‘Crissell Sandilands’ inBannatyne MSS.(HunterianClub, 1879–88), p. 354, lines 21–2. Had scho bene undir, and hehoblandabove, That were a perellous play for to suspect them.Hobbledehoy,subs.(old, now colloquial).—A growing gawk: as in the folk-rhyme, ‘Hobbledehoy, neither man nor boy.’ [For derivation,seeNotes and Queries, 1 S., v., 468, vii., 572; 4 S., ii., 297, viii., 451, ix., 147; 7 S., iv., 523, and v., 58.]1557.Tusser,Husbandrie, ch. 60, st 3, p. 138 (E. D. S.). The first seuen yeers bring vp as a childe, The next to learning, for waxing too wilde. The next keepe vnder sirhobbard de hoy, The next a man no longer a boy.1738.Swift,Polite Convers., Dial 1. Why, he is a merehobbledehoy, neither a man nor a boy.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1837.Barham,Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Aunt Fanny.’ At the epoch I speak about, I was between a man and a boy, Ahobble-de-hoy, A fat, little, punchy concern of sixteen.1848.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, ch. iv. He remembered perfectly well being thrashed by Joseph Sedley, when the latter was a big, swaggering,hobbadyhoy, and George an impudent urchin of ten years old.HenceHobbledehoyishandHobbledehoyhood.[322]1812.Colman,Poetical Vagaries, p. 12 (2nd Ed.). When Master Daw full fourteen years had told, He grew, as it is term’d,hobbedyhoyish; For Cupidons and Fairies much too old, For Calibans and Devils much too boyish.1839.Thackeray,Fatal Boots, Apr. From boyhood untilhobbadyhoyhood(which I take to be about the sixteenth year of the life of a young man).1848.Thackeray,Book of Snobs, ch. xlii. A half-grown, orhobbadehoyishfootman, so to speak, walked after them.Hobbledejee,subs.(old).—A pace between a walk and a run; a jog-trot.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Hobbler,subs.(nautical).—A coast-man, half smuggler, half handyman; an unlicensed pilot. Also a landsman acting as tow-Jack.—Smyth.Also (Isle of Man), a boatman.1887.T. E. Brown,The Doctor, p. 226. An’ thehobblersthere was terr’ble divarted.Hobby,subs.(old).—A hackney; a horse in common use.1606.Return from Parnassus, ii., 6 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 151). An’t please you, yourhobbywill meet you at the lane’s end.Idem(p. 154). Is not my master an absolute villain that loves his hawk, hishobby, and his greyhound more than any mortal creature?Idem(p. 145). Sirrah, boy, hath the groom saddled my huntinghobby?2. (university).—A translation.To ride hobbies= to useCribs(q.v.).Sir Posthumous Hobby,subs. phr.(old).—One nice or whimsical in his clothes.Hobby-horse,subs.(old: now recognised).—1. A whim; a fancy; a favourite pursuit. HenceHobbyhorsical= strongly attached to a particular fad.1759.Sterne,TristramShandy(1793), ch. vii., p. 18. Have they not had theirhobby-horses?d.1768.Sterne,Letters(1793), letter 19, p. 65. ’Tis in fact myhobby-horse.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hobby Horse, a man’s favourite amusement, or study, is called hishobby horse.1893.Westminster Gaz., 15 Mar., p. 9, c. 1. We quarrel a bit—he is sohobby-horsical, you can’t avoid it—and then we make friends again.2. (colloquial).—A rantipole girl; a wench; a wanton.1594.Shakspeare,Love’sLabour’sLost, iii., 1. Call’st thou my lovehobby-horse?Moth.No, master; thehobby-horseis but a colt, and your love, perhaps a hackney.1604.Shakspeare,Winter’s Tale, 1., 2. They say my wife’s ahobby-horse.3. (old).—A witless and unmannerly lout.1609.Jonson,Epicœne, iv., 2.Daw.Here be in presence have tasted of her favors.Cler.What a neighinghobby-horseis this!Verb(old).—To romp.Hob-collingwood,subs. phr.(North Country).—The four of hearts, considered an unlucky card.Hob-jobber,subs.(streets).—A man or boy on the look out for small jobs—holding horses, carrying parcels, and the like.Hob-nail,subs.(old).—A countryman. For synonyms,seeJoskin.[323]1647.BeaumontandFletcher,Women Pleased, ii., 6. Thehob-nailthy husband’s as fitly out o’ th’ way now.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hobnail, a country clodhopper, from the shoes of country farmers and ploughmen being commonly stuck full ofhobnails, and even often clouted, or tipped with iron.Hobnailed,adj.(colloquial).—Boorish; clumsy; coarse; ill-done.1599.Jonson,Every Man out of his Humour.Sog.A wretchedhobnailedchuff.Hobson’s-choice,subs.(common).—That or none:i.e., there is no alternative. [Popularly derived from the name of a Cambridge livery stable keeper, whose rule was that each customer must take the horse next the door, or have no horse at all. That old Hobson existed is clear from Milton’s epitaph, but Bellenden Ker (Archæology of Popular Phrases) affirms the story to be a Cambridge hoax, and maintains the proverb to be identical in sound and sense as the Low Saxon,Op soens schie ho eysche= when he had a kiss he wanted something else.]1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hobson’s Choice, that or None.1710.Ward,England’s Reformation, ch. iv. ’TisHobson’s Choice, take that or none.1712.Steele,Spectator, No. 509, p. 191. I shall conclude this discourse with an explanation of a proverb [Hobson’s choice], which by vulgar error is taken and used when a man is reduced to an extremity, whereas the propriety of the maxim is to use it when you would say there is plenty, but you must make such a choice as not to hurt another who is to come after you.Ibid.He [Hobson] kept a stable of forty good cattle, always ready and fit for travelling; but when a man came for a horse he was led into the stable, where there was great choice, but was obliged to take the horse which stood nearest to the stable-door; so that every customer was alike well served, according to his chance, and every horse ridden with the same justice.1717.Cibber,Non-Juror, i. Can any woman think herself happy that’s obliged to marry only with aHobson’s choice?1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1820.Reynolds[Peter Corcoran],The Fancy. Black men now areHobson’s choice.1851.F. E. Smedley,Lewis Arundel, ch. liii. ‘When shall we go?’ inquired Laura. ‘Why, it’s a case ofHobson’s choice,’ returned Leicester.1854.Notes and Queries, 21 Jan., p. 51. It was clear a choice had been given to him, but it was aHobson’s choice.Hock,subs.(American).—1. The last card in the dealer’s box at faro. [Fromsoda(q.v.)to hock= from beginning to end.]2.In. pl.(common).—The feet.Curby hocks= clumsy feet. For synonyms,seeCreepers. [From the stable.]1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hocks… you have left the marks of your dirtyhockson my clean stairs.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Old hock,subs. phr.(common).—Stale beer;swipes(q.v.).SeeHockey.
1857.Snowden,Mag. Assistant, (3rd ed.), p. 445. Begging letters—the highfly.
Highflyer,subs.(old).—1. Anything or anybody out of the common, in opinion, pretension, attire, and so forth: as a prostitute (high-priced and well-dressed); an adventurer (superb in impudence and luck). 2. A dandy, male or female, of the first water.3. A fast coach.
1690.Dryden.Prol. toMistakesinWks., p. 473 (Globe). He’s nohigh-flyer—he makes no sky-rockets, His squibs are only levelled at your pockets.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.High-flyers, Impudent, Forward, Loose, Light Women. Also, bold adventurers.
1693.Congreve,Old Bachelor, i., 1. Well, ashighaflyeras you are, I have a lure may make you stoop.
1706.R. Estcourt,Fair Example, Act i., p. 10. You may keep company with thehighest flyerof ’em all.
1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1818.Scott,Heart of Midlothian, i. Mail-coach races against mail-coach, andhigh-flyeragainsthigh-flyer, through the most remote districts of Britain.
1821.Egan,Tom and Jerry, v. As you have yourhigh-fliersat Almack’s, at the West End, we have also some ‘choicecreatures’at our All Max in the East.
1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.High-flyers—women of the town, in keeping, who job a coach, or keep a couple of saddle-horses at least.
1830.Lytton,Paul Clifford, (Ed. 1854) p. 75. Howsomever, thehigh-flyersdoesn’t like him; and when he takes people’s money, he need not be quite so cross about it!
1860.Dickens,Uncommercial Traveller, xxii., p. 131. The old room on the ground floor where the passengers of theHigh-flyersused to dine.
1864.Dickens,Our Mutual Friend, i., 5. Mrs. Boffin, Wegg … is a’ighflyerat fashion.
1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 40. Foller yer leader, … all who can carry sufficient skyscrapers to keep in the ’unt, with that’ighflyer’Arry.
4. (thieves’).—A beggar with a certain style; a begging-letter writer; a broken swell.
1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 268. While pursuing the course of ahigh-flyer(genteel beggar).
1858.A. Mayhew,Paved with Gold, bk. III., ch. iii., p. 268. He was ahigh-flier, a genteel beggar.
1887.Standard, 20 June, p. 5, c. 2. The pretended noblemen and knights who ‘say they have suffered by war, fire, or captivity, or have been driven away, and lost all they had,’ are still represented by thehigh-flyersor broken-down gentlemen.
5. (circus).—A swing fixed in rows in a frame much in vogue at fairs.
High-flying,subs.(old).—1. Extravagance in opinion,pretension or conduct.
1689.Dryden,Epil. to Lee’s Princess of Cleves, 6. I railed at wild young sparks; but without lying Never was man worse thought on forhigh-flying.
2. (thieves’).—Begging;the high-fly(q.v.);stilling(q.v.).
High-gag,subs.(American).—A whisperer.—Matsell.
The high-gag,subs. phr.(American).—Telling secrets.—Matsell.
High-game,subs.(thieves’).—Seequot.
1889.C. T. ClarksonandJ. Hall Richardson,Police, p. 321. A mansion … ahigh game.
High-gig.In High-gig,adv. phr.(old).—In good fettle; lively.Cf.,Gig.[311]
1819.Moore,Tom Crib, p. 15. Rather sprightly—the Bearin high-gig.
High-go,subs.(common).—A drinking bout; a frolic.
High-heeled Shoes.To have high-heeled shoes on,verb. phr.(American).—To set up as a person of consequence; todo the grand(q.v.).
High Horse.To be(orget)on(orride)the high horse,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To give oneself airs; to stand on one’s dignity; to take offence. [Fr.monter sur ses grands chevaux. The simile is common to most languages.]
1716.Addison,Freeholder, 5 Mar. He told me, he did not know what travelling was good for, but to teach a man toride the great horse, to jabber French, and to talk against passive obedience.
1836.Marryat,Midshipman Easy, ch. xii. He was determined toride the high horse—and that there should be no Equality Jack in future.
1842.Comic Almanack, p. 327. Yet Dublin deems the foul extortion fair, And swears that, as he’sridden the high horse, So long and well, she now will make him mayor.
1864.Times, 5 July. Mr. Gladstone in the Dano-German Debate. The right hon. gentleman thengot onwhat I may callhis high horse, and he would not give us the slightest opinion upon any matter of substantive policy, because that, he said, would be accepting office upon conditions.
1868.Wilkie Collins,The Moonstone, 2nd Period, 3rd Narr., ch. ii. Miss Rachael has her faults—‘I’ve never denied it,’ he began. ‘Andriding the high horsenow and then is one of them.’
High-jinks,subs.(old).—1. An old game variously played. [Most frequently dice were thrown by the company, and those upon whom the lot fell were obliged to assume and maintain for a time a certain fictitious character, or to repeat a certain number of fescennine verses in a particular order. If they departed from the characters assigned … they incurred forfeits, which were compounded for by swallowing an additional bumper.—Guy Mannering, 1836. Note to ch. xxxii.]
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Highjinks, a Play at Dice who Drinks.
1780.Ramsay,Maggy Johnston, i., 25. The queff or cup is filled to the brim, then one of the company takes a pair of dice, and after cryingHy-jinks, he throws them out; the number he casts out points out the person that must drink; he who threw beginning at himself number one, and so round till the number of the person agree with that of the dice (which may fall upon himself if the number be within twelve); then he sets the dice to him, or bids him take them; he on whom they fall is obliged to drink, or pay a small forfeiture in money, then throws, and so on. But if he forgets to cry ‘Hy-jinks’ he pays a forfeiture into the bank. Now, he on whom it falls to drink (if there be anything in the bank worth drawing) gets it all if he drinks; then with a great deal of caution he empties his cup, sweeps up the money, and orders the cup to be filled again, and then throws; for if he errs in the articles he loses the privilege of drawing the money. The articles are—(1) Drink, (2) Draw, (3) Fill, (4) Cry ‘Hy-jinks,’ (5) Count just, (6) Chuse your doublet, man—viz., when two equal numbers of the dice is thrown, the person whom you chuse must pay a double of the common forfeiture, and so must you when the dice is in his hand (sic).
1815.Scott,Guy Mannering, ch. xxxvi. The frolicsome company had begun to practise the ancient and now forgotten pastime ofhigh jinks.
1861.H. Kingsley,Ravenshoe, lv. He had made an engagement to drive Lord Saltire, the next morning, up to Wargrave in a pony-chaise, to look at Barrymore House, and the place where the theatre stood, and where the game ofhigh jinkshad been played so bravely fifty years before.
2.Seequot., andcf.sense 1.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue. A gambler at dice, who, having a strong head, drinks to intoxicate his adversary, or pigeon. Under this head are also classed[312]those fellows who keep little goes, take in insurances; also, attendants at the races, and at the E O tables; chaps always on the look out to rob unwary countrymen at cards, etc.
3. (common).—A frolic; a row. [From sense 1.]
1861.Hughes,Tom Brown at Oxford, i. All sorts ofhigh jinksgo on on the grass plot.
1872.Daily Telegraph, 13 Sept. ‘Filey the Retired.’ Frisky Filey cannot assuredly be called. There are nohigh jinkson her jetty; and, besides, she hasn’t got a jetty, only a ‘Brigg.’
1890.Pall Mall Gaz., 24 July, 4, 2. Yesterday and to-day there have beenhigh jinksin Petworth Park, rich and poor for miles round being invited, and right royally feasted on the coming of age of Lord and Lady Leconfield’s eldest son.
1891.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 3 Apr. While Bank Holiday was being celebrated with suchéclatat Kempton, they were carrying onhigh jinksover hurdles and fences at Manchester.
1892.Sala’s Journal, 2 July, p. 223.High jinkswith the telephone have been the order of the day at Warwick Castle; taps and wires have been turned on and off, and floods of melody of various kinds have delighted listening ears.
1893.National Observer, 25 Feb., ix., 357. Time was when there werehigh jinksin that vast quadrangle.
To be at his high jinks,phr.(common).—To be stilted and arrogant in manner; toride the high horse(q.v.). Fr.,faire sa merdeorsa poire.
High-kicker,subs.(colloquial).—Specifically, a dancer whose speciality is the high kick or theporte d’armes; whence, by metaphor, any desperatespreester(q.v.), male or female.
High-kilted,adj.(Scots’).—Obscene or thereabouts;full flavoured(q.v.).
Highland-bail,subs.(Scots’).—The right of the strongest;force majeure.
1816.Scott,Antiquary, ch. xxix. The mute eloquence of the miller and smith, which was vested in their clenched fists, was prepared to giveHighland bailfor their arbiter.
High-lawyer,subs.(old).—A highwayman. For synonyms,seeRoad Agent.
1592.John Day,Blind Beggar, p. 21 (Ed. Bullen). He wo’d be your prigger, your prancer, yourhigh-lawyer.
1610.Rowlands,Martin Mark-all, p. 50 (H. Club’s Rept., 1874). He first gaue termes to robbers by the high-way, that such as robbe on horse-backe were calledhigh lawyers, and those who robbed on foote, he called Padders.
High-liver,subs.(old).—A garretteer; a thief housed in an attic. Hence,High-living= lodging in a garret.—Lex. Bal.
High-men,subs.(old).—Dice loaded to showhighnumbers. Also,High-runners.SeeFulhamsandLow-men.
1594.Nashe,Unf. TravellerinWks.[Grosart], v., 27. The dice of late are growen as melancholy as a dog,high menand low men both prosper alike.
1596.Shakspeare,Merry Wives, i., 3. Let vultures gripe thy guts! for gourd and fullam holds, Andhighand low beguiles the rich and poor.
1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes.Pise, false dice,high menor low men.
1605.London Prodigal, i., 1. I bequeath two bale of false dice, videlicet,high menand low men, fullams, stop-catertraies, and other bones of function.
1615.Harington,Epigrams, i., 79. YourhighAnd lowmenare but trifles.
1657–1733.John Dennis,Letters, ii., 407. Shadwell is of opinion, that your bully, with his box and his false dice, is an honester fellow than the rhetorical author, who makes use of his tropes and figures, which are hishighand his lowrunners, to cheat us at once of our money and of our intellectuals.[313]
1822.Scott,Fort. of Nigel, ch. xxiii. Men talk ofhighand lowdice.
High-nosed,adj. phr.(colloquial).—Very proud in look and in fact; supercilious in bearing and speech;superior(q.v.).
High-[orgay-]old(time,game,liar, etc.),adj. phr.(common).—A general intensitive:e.g.,high old time= a very merry time indeed;high old liar= a liar of might;high old drunk= an uncommonbooze(q.v.).
1883.Referee, 11 Mar., p. 3, c. 2. All the children who have been engaged in the Drury Lane pantomime took tea on the stage, and had ahigh old time(while it lasted).
1888.J. McCarthyandMrs. Campbell-Praed,Ladies’ Gallery, ch. xxxv. I went down to Melbourne, intending to have ahigh old time.
1891.Murray’s Mag., Aug., p. 202. There will be a Want of Confidence Motion, and ahigh olddebate.
1891.J. Newman,Scamping Tricks, p. 7. You are a big fraud and ahigh oldliar.
1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 35. We’d thehighest oldgame.
1892.F. Anstey,Voces Populi, ‘The Riding Class,’ p. 108. We’ve bin having agay oldtime in ’ere.
High-pad(orToby, orHigh-toby-splice),subs.(old).—1. The highway. Also,high-splice toby. For synonyms,seeDrum.
1567.Harman,Caveat, p, 86.Roge,Nowe bynge we a waste to thehygh pad, the ruffmanes is by.
c.1819.Slang Song(quoted in notes toDon Juan, x., 19). On thehigh-toby-spliceflash the muzzle In spite of each gallows old scout.
1836.H. M. Milner,Turpin’s Ride to York, i., sc. 2. Come, lads a stirrup-cup at parting, and then hurrah for the game ofhigh-toby.
1876.Hindley,Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 4. Halting for a few hours at mid-day during the heat in thehigh spice-toby, as we used to call the main road.
2. (old).—A highwayman. Also,high-tobyman(or-gloak). For synonyms,seeRoad Agent.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.High Pad, a Highwayman, Highway Robber well Mounted and Armed.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.High toby-gloak, a highway robber well mounted.
1834.Ainsworth,Rookwood, bk. IV., ch i. Tom King, a notedhigh-toby gloakof his time.
1857.Punch, 31 Jan. (from slang song). That long over Newgit their Worships may rule, As theHigh-toby, mob, crack, and screeve model school.
3. (old).—Highway robbery.
1819,Vaux,Cant. Dict.High-toby, the game of highway robbery, that is exclusively on horseback.
High-pooped,adj.(colloquial).—Heavily buttocked.
High-rented,adj.(popular).—1. Hot.
2. (thieves’).—Very well known to the police;hot(q.v.).
High-roller,subs.(American).—Agoer(q.v.); a fast liver; a heavy gambler; ahighflyer(q.v.).
1887.Francis,Saddle and Moccasin, He’s ahigh-roller, by gum!
High-ropes.To be on the high ropes,verb. phr.(common).—To be angry or excited. Also to put on airs; to stand on one’s dignity; to ride thehigh-horse(q.v.).
1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.To be on the high ropes, to be in a passion.
1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.[314]
1866.Yates,Land at Last, ii. He’son the high ropes, is Master Charley! Some of you fellows have been lending him half a-crown, or that fool Caniche has bought one of his pictures for seven-and-six!
High-seasoned(orHighly-spiced),adj.(colloquial).—Obscene. For synonyms,seeSpicy.
High-(orclouted-)shoon,subs.(old).—A countryman. For synonyms,seeJoskin.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew,s.v.
1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
High-sniffing,adj. phr.(colloquial).—Pretentious; supercilious; very obviously better than one’s company;high-nosed(q.v.).
High-stepper,subs.(common).—An exemplar, male or female, of what is fashionable in conversation, conduct, or attire; aswell(q.v.). Also, a person of spirit. Whence,adj.,high-stepping(orhigh-pacing) = conspicuously elegant or gallant in dress, speech, manner, conduct, anything.
1891.Gunter,Miss Nobody of Nowhere, ch. ix. From her actions and style I’m pretty certain she’s English and ahigh-stepper.
High-stomached,adj.(colloquial).—Proud; disdainful; very valiant.
High-strikes,subs.(common).—A corruption of ‘hysterics.’
1838.Selby,Jacques Strop, ii., 4. Capital! … didn’t I do thehigh-strikesfamously.
1860.Miss Wetherell,Say and Seal, ch. vii. She wants you to come. I’m free to confess she’s got thehigh-strikeswonderful.
High-tea,subs.(colloquial).—A tea with meat, etc. In LancashireBagging(q.v.).
1888.Sporting Life, 15 Dec. Following run there will behigh teaand a grand smoking concert, to which visitors are cordially invited.
High-ti,subs.(American: Williams Coll.).—A showy recitation; at Harvard = asquirt(q.v.).
High-tide(orwater)subs.(colloquial).—Rich for the moment; The state of beingflush(q.v.). For synonyms,seeWell Ballasted.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.high tidewhen the Pocket is full of Money.
1725.New Cant. Dict.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.High-tide—plenty of the possibles; whilst ‘low-water’ implies empty clies.
Up to high-water mark,adv. phr.(colloquial).—In good condition; a general expression of approval.
High-toby.SeeHigh Pad.
1834.Ainsworth,Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. Oh! the game ofHigh-Tobyfor ever.
High-toned,adj.(American).—Aristocratic; also, morally and intellectually endowed; spiritually beyond the common.High-souled= cultured; fashionable.High-toned nigger= a negro who has raised himself in social position. [Once literary; now utterly discredited and never used, save in ignorance or derision.] Stokes, the maniac who shot Garfield, described himself as a ‘High-Toned Lawyer.’
1884.Phillips Woolley,Trottings of a Tender Foot. I never saw any so-calledhigh-toned niggers.[315]
1893.Cassell’s Sat. Jour., 1 Feb., p. 389, 1. One day a fashionably-dressed young man, giving an address in ahigh-tonedsuburb, called upon Messrs. Glitter.
Highty-tighty(orHoity-toity),subs.(old).—A wanton.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hightetity, a Ramp, or Rude Girl.
1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.
Adj.(colloquial).—Peremptory; waspish; quarrelsome.
1848.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, ch. xviii. La, William, don’t be sohighty-tightywithus. We’re not men.
High Wood.To live in high wood,verb. phr.(common).—To hide; to dissemble of purpose; to lie low and keep quiet.
Higulcion-flips,subs.(Texas).—An imaginary ailment.
Hike,verb.(old).—To move about. Also to carry off; to arrest.
1811.LexiconBalatronicum, s.v.Hike.To hike off; to run away.
1884.Daily Telegraph, 2 Feb., p. 3, c. 1. We three, not having any regler homes nor a steady job of work to stick to,hike aboutfor a living, and we live in the cellar of a empty house.
Hilding,subs.(old).—A jade; a wanton; a disreputable slut.
1593.Shakspeare,Taming of the Shrew, ii., 1. For shame thouhildingof a devilish spirit.
1595.Shakspeare,Romeo and Juliet, ii., 4.Hildingsand harlots.
Hill.Not worth a hill of beans,phr.(American).—Absolutely worthless.
Hills,subs.(Winchester Coll.).—1. St. Catharine’s Hill.
1870.Mansfield,School Life, p. 28. Some of his principal duties were to take the boys ‘on tohills,’ call names there, etc.
2. (Cambridge Univ.).—The Gogmagog Hills; a common morning’s ride.Gradus ad Cantab.
Hilly,adj.(colloquial).—Difficult:e.g.,hilly reading= hard to read;hilly going= not easy to do; etc.
Hilt.Loose in the hilt,adv. phr.(old).—Unsteady;rocky(q.v.); lax in the bowels.
1639–61.Rump Songs.‘Bum-fodder,’ ii., 56. If they stay longer, they will us beguilt With a Government that isloose in the hilt.
Hind-boot,subs.(common).—The breech. For synonyms,seeMonocular Eyeglass.
Hind-coachwheel,subs.(common).—A five shilling piece. Fr.,roue de derrière,thune, orpalet, = a five-franc piece. For synonyms,seeCaroon.
Hinder-blast,subs.(old).—Crepitation.
1540.Lindsay,Thrie Estaitis[inBannatyne MSS., Hunterian Club, ed.,(1879–88), p. 511] line 1429–30. Scho hes sic rumling in her wame, That all the nycht my hairt ouercastis With bokking and withhinder blastis.
Hinder-end,subs. phr.(common).—The breech. Also,hinder-partsandhinder-world.
Hinder-entrance,subs. phr.(common).—The fundament.
Hind-leg.To kick out a hind leg,verb. phr.(old).—To lout; to make a rustic bow.[316]
To talk the hind leg off a horse(ordog).SeeTalk.
To sit upon one’s hind legs and howl,verb. phr.(American).—To bemoan one’s fate; to make a hullabaloo.
Hindoo,subs.(American).—SeeKnow Nothing.
Hindoo Punishment,subs. phr.(circus).—Seequot.
1875.Frost,Circus Life, ch. xviii. TheHindoo Punishmentis what is more often called the muscle grind, a rather painful exercise upon the bar, in which the arms are turned backward to embrace the bar, and then brought forward upon the chest, in which position the performer revolves.
Hind-shifters,subs.(old).—The feet. For synonyms,seeCreepers.
1823.Lamb,Elia,Wks., (Ed. 1852), p. 311. They would show as fair a pair ofhind-shiftersas the expertestloco-motorin the colony.
Hinges.Off the hinges,adv. phr.(common)—In confusion; out of sorts; ‘not quite the thing.’
Hinterland,subs.(old).—The breech.
Hip, (in. pl.),subs.(colloquial).—Conventional—as in the proverb, ‘Free of her lips; free of her hips’—for the buttocks. Hence, towalk with the hips= to make play with the posteriors in walking;long in the hips; andhips to sell= broad in the beam;nimble-hipped= active in copulation.
c.1508.Dunbar.Poems, ‘Of a Dance in the Quenis Chalmer’ (1836), i., 119. Hishippisgaff mony a hiddouss cry.Ibid.i., 124. ‘Of Ane Blak-moir.’… Sall cum behind and kiss hirhippis.
1540.Lindsay,Thrie Estaits, line 3227. My craig will wit quhat weyis myhippis.Ibid., line 4424. Ye wald not stick to preise my graith With hobbling of yourhippis.
c.1580.Collier of Croydon, iv., I. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, 459). I keep her lips and herhipsfor my own use.
d.1607.Montgomerie,Poems, ‘Polwart and Montgomerie’s Flyting,’ p. 85, line 779 (Scottish Text Soc., 1885–6). Kailly lippes, kiss myhips.
To have(get, orcatch)on the hip,verb. phr.(old).—To have (or get) an advantage. [From wrestling.]
1591.Harington,Orlando Furioso, bk. xlvi., st. 117. In fine he doth apply one speciall drift, Which was togetthe paganon the hip, And having caught him right, he doth him lift By nimble sleight, and in such wise doth trip That down he threw him.
1598.Shakspeare,Merchant of Venice, i. 3. If I cancatchhim onceupon the hip. I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.
1605.Marston,Dutch Courtezan. iii., 1. He said he had youa the hyp.
1617.Andrewes,Sermons(‘Library of Ang.-Cath. Theology’), Vol. IV., p. 365. If hehaveus at the advantage,on the hipas we say, it is no great matter then to get service at our hands.
1635.D. Dike,Michael and the Dragon, inWks., p. 328. The Divellhaththemon the hip, he may easily bring them to anything.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Upon the Hip… at an Advantage in Wrestling, or Business.
1697.Vanbrugh,Relapse, iv., 1. My lord, she has had himupon the hipthese seven years.
1812.Johnson,Eng. Dict.Hip, s.v., A low phrase.
1836.Michael Scott,Cruise of the Midge, p. 226. ‘Ha! ha! Ihaveyouon the hipnow, my master,’ shouted Peter.
Hipe,subs.(wrestling).—A throw over the hip. HenceHipe,verb= to get across the hip before the throw.[317]
Hip-hop,verb(old).—To skip or move on one leg; to hop. ‘A cant word framed by the reduplication of hop.’—Johnson, 1812.
1670–1729.Congreve[Quoted inJohnson’sEng. Dict.]. Like Volsciuship-hopin a single boot.
Hip-inside,subs.(thieves’).—An inner pocket.Hip-outside= an outer ditto.
1857.Snowden,Mag. Assistant(3rd Ed.), p. 445, s.v.
Hipped(orHippish),adj.(common).—Bored; melancholical; out of sorts. [Fromhypochondria.]
1710.Gay,WineinWks.(1811) p. 348. By cares depress’d, in pensivehippishmood.
1712.Spectator, No. 284. I cannot forbear writing to you, to tell you I have been to the last degreehippedsince I saw you.
1837.Barham,Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Babes in the Wood.’ The wicked old Uncle, they say, In spite of his riot and revel, Washippishand qualmish all day, And dreamt all night long of the devil.
1864.Dickens,Our Mutual Friend, bk. III., ch. x. ‘You are a littlehipped, dear fellow,’ said Eugene;‘you have been too sedentary. Come and enjoy the pleasures of the chase.’
Hippen,subs.(Scots’: colloquial).—A baby’s napkin (i.e.,hippingcloth). Also (theatrical), the green curtain.
Hiren,subs.(old).—1. A prostitute. [A corruption of ‘Irene,’ the heroine in Poole’s play:seequot. 1584.] For synonyms,seeBarrack-hackandTart.
1584.Poole,The Turkish Mahomet and Hyren the Fair Greek. Note. In Italian called acourtezan; in Spaine amargarite; in English … a punk.
1598.Shakspeare,2 Henry IV., ii., 4. Have we notHirenhere?
1615.Adams,Spiritual Navigator. There be sirens in the sea of the world. Syrens?Hirens, as they are now called. What a number of these sirens [Hirens], cockatrices, courteghians, in plain English, harlots, swimme amongst us!
d.1618.Sylvester,Trans. Du Bartas’ Week of Creation, ii., 2, pt. 3. Of charming sin the deep-inchaunting syrens, The snares of virtue, valour-softeninghyrens.
2. (old).—A sword. Also a roaring bully; a fighting hector. [From Irene = the Goddess of Peace,a lucus a non lucendo.]
Hishee-hashee.SeeSoap-and-bullion.
His Nibs(orNabs).SeeNibs.
Hiss.The hiss,subs. phr.(Winchester College).—The signal of a master’s approach.
Historical-(Wrought, orIllustrated-)Shirt,subs.(old).—A shirt or shift worked or woven with pictures or texts.
1596.Ben Jonson,Every Man out of his Humour; iv., 6. I wonder he speaks not of hiswrought-shirt.
1639.Mayne,City Match, ii., 2. Mysmocksleeves have such holy imbroideries, And are so learned that I fear in time, All my apparel will be quoted by Some pure instructor.
1647.BeaumontandFletcher,Custom of the County, ii., 1. Having a mistress, sure you should not be Without a neathistorical-shirt.
1848.Punch, XIV., 226. He never broke a bank, He shuns cross-barred trousers, His linen is notillustrated, but beautifully clean.
1851.Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, I., 51. Colored, orillustrated shirts, as they are called, are especially objected to by the men.[318]
1889.Puck’s Library, Apr., p. 12. Being an educated man, I feel ten thousand woes, Cavorting for the populace Inillustrated clothes.
History of the Four Kings.SeeFour Kings.
Hit,subs.(common).—A success;e.g.,To make a hit= to score; to profit; to excel.
1602.Marston,Antonio and Mellida. Induction. When use hath taught me action tohitthe right point of a ladie’s part.
1700.Congreve,Way of the World, ii., 5. Ahit, ahit! a palpable hit! I confess it.
1821.Egan,Tom and Jerry, bk. I., ch. i. Teach me to make ahitof soKeana quality that it may not only ‘tell,’ but be long remembered in the metropolis.
1822–36.Jno. Wilson,Noctes Amb.,Wks.II., 210. Mr. Peel seems to havemade a hitin the chief character of Shiel’s play,The Apostate.
1828–45.T. Hood,Poems, v., p. 197, (Ed. 1846). Nor yet did the heiress herself omit The arts that helpto make a hit.
1870.Figaro, 10 June.To make a great hitis, after all, more a matter of chance than merit.
1889.Pall Mall Gaz., 3 July. Madam Melbamakes an especial hitin the valse fromRoméo et Juliette.
1889.Referee, 6 Jan. Quitea hit has been madeby the clever juvenile, La Petite Bertoto.
Adj.(Old Bailey).—Convicted.
Hard-hit,adj. phr.(colloquial).—Sore beset;hard-up(q.v.). Also deep in love (or grief, or anger).
1890.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 7 Nov. It was pretty generally known that he had beenhard hitduring the season.
Verb(American).—To arrive at; to light upon.
1888.Detroit Free Press, Oct. Professor Rose, whohitthis town last spring, is around calling us a fugitive from justice.
To hit it,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To attain an object; to light on a device; to guess a secret.
1594.Shakspeare,Love’sLabour’sLost, iv., 1. Thou cans’t nothit it,hit it,hit it, Thou can’st nothit it, my good man.
1596.Shakspeare,Merry Wives, iii., 2. I can neverhitone’s name.
1773.O. Goldsmith,She Stoops to Conquer. Ecod, I havehit it. It’s here. Your hands. Yours and yours, my poor sulky! My boots there, ho! Meet me two hours hence at the bottom of the garden.
1880.A. Trollope,The Duke’s Children, ch. lii. He dressed himself in ten minutes, and joined the party as they had finished their fish. ‘I am awfully sorry,’ he said, rushing up to his father, ‘but I thought that I should justhit it.’
To hit off,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To agree together; to fit; to describe with accuracy and precision.
1857.A. Trollope,Barchester Towers, ch. xxxiv. It is not always the case that the master, or warden, or provost, or principal canhit it offexactlywithhis tutor. A tutor is by no means indisposed to have a will of his own.
1880.A. Trollope,The Duke’s Children, ch. xxxvi. ‘One gentleman with another, you mean?’ ‘Put it so. It don’t quitehit it off, but put it so.’
1886.J. S. Winter,Army Society. ‘Sidelight,’ ch. xiv. ‘Hey!’ said Orford. ‘Didn’t you and hehit it off?’
1889.Daily News, 22 Oct., p. 5. The nations that quarrel are the nations that do nothit it offon some point of feeling or taste.
To hit the flat,verb. phr.(American cowboy).—To go out on the prairie.[319]
To hit the pipe,verb. phr.(American).—To smoke opium.
To hit one where he lives,verb. phr.(American).—To touch in a tender part; to hurt the feelings;to touch on the raw(q.v.).
Hit(orstruck)with,adv. phr.(colloquial).—Taken; enamoured; prepossessed. Also,hit up with.
1891.Tales from Town Topics. ‘Count Candawles,’ p. 28. She is very amusing, but the Count cannot be reallyhit withsuch a little mountebank.
Hit on the tail,verb. phr.(old venery).—To copulate. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.
d.1529.Skelton,Bowge of Courte. How oft hehitJoneton the tayle.
Hit in the teeth,verb. phr.(old).—To reproach; to taunt; to fling in one’s face.
1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, ii., 6 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 431). They are alwayshitting me in the teethwith a man of my coat.
Hitch,verb(American).—1. To marry.Hitched= married.
1867.Browne,Artemus Ward’s Courtship, People’s ed., p. 23. If you mean gettinghitched, I’m in.
1883.L. Oliphant,Altiora Peto, II., xxix., 156. ‘How long is it since we parted, Ned?’ ‘A matter of five years; and it wasn’t my fault if we didn’t stayhitchedtill now.’
1892.Tit-Bits, 17 Sept., p. 419, c. 1. ‘We’ve come to gethitched,’ said the man, bashfully.
2. (American).—To agree. Alsoto hitch horses.
To hitch one’s team to the fence,verb. phr.(American).—To settle down.
Hittite,subs.(pugilists’).—A prize fighter.
English synonyms.—Basher; bruiser; dukester; fistite; knight of the fist; gemman of the fancy; milling-cove; pug; puncher; scrapper; slasher; slogger; slugger; sparring-bloke.
1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.Hittites—boxers and ring-goers assembled.
1860.The Druid,Post and Paddock. ‘The Fight for the Belt.’ And the Sherwood Ranger, bold Bendigo, Is on training no more intent; But the trout full well that ex-Hittiteknow On a Summer’s eve in the Trent.
Hive,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum.Cf.Honey. Hence, verbally,to hive it= to effect intromission.
Verb(American cadet).—To steal. For synonyms,seePrig.
To get hived,verb. phr.(American Cadets’ and popular).—1. To be caught out in a scrape. Also, to be hidden.To be hived perfectly frigid= to be caughtin flagrante delicto.
Hiver,subs.(Western American).—A travelling bawd.
Hivite,subs.(school).—A student of St. Bees’ (Cumberland).
1865.John Bull, 11 Nov. To be aHivitehas long been considered a little worse than a ‘literate’.… Of the value of some St. Bees testimonials we may form an estimate, etc., etc.
Hoaky.By the hoaky,intj.(nautical).—A popular form of adjuration.[320]
Hoax,subs.(old: now recognised).—A jest; a practical joke; aTake-in. Originally (Grose) University cant. [Probably fromHocus(q.v.).]
1796.Grose,Vulg. Tongue(3rd Ed.), s.v.
1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Hoaxing.Bantering, ridiculing.Hoaxinga quiz; joking an odd fellow.—University wit.
1815.Scott,Guy Mannering, ch. iii. Whose humble efforts at jocularity were chiefly confined to what were then called bites and bams, since denominatedhoaxesand quizzes.
1835–7.Richardson,Dict. Eng. Lang., s.v.Hoax.Malone considers the modern slanghoaxas derived fromhocus, and Archdeacon Nares agrees with him.
Verb.To play a practical joke; to ‘take-in’; tobite(q.v.).Seesubs.sense. For synonyms,seeGammon.
1812.Combe,Syntax, Picturesque, xix. An arch young sprig, a banker’s clerk, Resolv’d tohoaxthe rev’rend spark.
1854.F. E. Smedley,Harry Coverdale, ch. viii. I thought you werehoaxingus, and I sat down to play the duet for the amiable purpose of exposing your ignorance.
Hob(orHobbinol),subs.(old).—A clown.—Grose.
Hob and Nob(orHob Nob),verb.(old).—1. To invite to drink; to clink glasses.
1756.Foote,Englishman from Paris, i. With, perhaps, an occasional interruption of ‘Here’s to you, friends,’ ‘Hob or nob,’ ‘Your love and mine.’
1759.Townley,High Life Below Stairs, ii.Duke.Lady Charlotte,hob or nob.Lady Char.Done, my lord; in Burgundy, if you please.
1772.Graves,Spiritual Quixote, bk. VIII., ch. xxi. (new Ed., 1808). Having drunkhob or nobwith a young lady in whose eyes he wished to appear a man of consequence, he hurried out into the summer-house.
1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.Hob nob—two persons pledging each other in a glass.
1836.Horace Smith,Tin Trumpet, ‘Address to a Mummy.’ Perchance that very hand now pinioned flat, Hashob-and-nobbedwith Pharoah glass for glass.
1849.Thackeray,Pendennis, ch. xxx. He would have liked tohob and nobwith celebrated pick-pockets, or drink a pot of ale with a company of burglars and cracksmen.
1886.R. L. Stevenson,Kidnapped, p. 68. So the pair sat down andhob-a-nobbed.
2. (old).—To give or take; to hit or miss at random. [Saxon,habban, to have;nabban, not to have.]
1577–87.Holinshed,Chroncles of Englande, Scotlande, and Irelande(1807) p. 317. The citizens in their rage shothabbe or nabbe(hit or miss) at random.
1602.Shakspeare,Twelfth Night, iii., 4.Hob-nobis his word, give ’t or take ’t.
1615.Harington,Epigrams, iv. Not of Jack Straw, with his rebellious crew, That set king, realm, and laws, athab or nab.
1673.Quack Astrologer.He writes of the weatherhab nab, and as the toy takes him, chequers the year with foul and fair.
3. (colloquial).—To be on terms of close intimacy; to consort familiarly together.
1870.Mark Twain,Innocents Abroad, ch. i. They were tohob-nobwith nobility and hold friendly converse with kings and princes.[321]
1892.Hume Nisbet,Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 109. I hadhob-nobbedfor the last two hours with the most notorious bushranger in the colony.
1892.A. K. Green,Cynthia Wakeham’s Money, p. 5. Each tree looks like a spectrehob-nobbingwith its neighbour.
Hobbes’s-voyage,subs.(old).—A leap in the dark.
1697.Vanbrugh,Provoked Wife, v., 6. So, now, I am in forHobbes’s voyage; a great leap in the dark.
Hobbinol,subs.(old).—A countryman. For synonyms,seeJoskin.
1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, ii., 3 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 396). Who, Master Jeffrey?Hobbinolthe second! By this life, ’tis a very veal, and licks his nose like one.
Hobble.In a hobble(orHobbled),adv. phr.(colloquial).—In trouble; hampered; puzzled. Also (thieves), committed for trial. Fr.,tomber dans la mélasse(= to come a cropper), andfaitré(=booked(q.v.)).Hobbled upon the legs= transported, or on the hulks.
1777.Foote,Trip to Calais(1795), ii., p. 39. But take care what you say! you see what ahobblewe had like to have got into.
1789.Geo. Parker,Life’s Painter, p. 163. A term when any of the gang is taken up and committed for trial, to say, such a one ishobbled.
1811.Poole,Hamlet Travestie, iii., 5. Horatio, I am sorry for this squabble; I fear ’twill get me in a precioushobble.
1819.Vaux,Cant. Dict., s.v.Hobbled, taken up, or in custody; tohobblea plant, is to spring it.
1838.Haliburton,Clockmaker, 2nd S., ch. xvii. A body has to be cautious if he don’t want to get into the centre of ahobble.
1849.Punch,Fortune-Tellers’ Almanack. To dream that you are lame is a token that you will get into ahobble.
1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 44. I got into a’obble.
Verb(venery).—Seequot.
1688.Sempill, ‘Crissell Sandilands’ inBannatyne MSS.(HunterianClub, 1879–88), p. 354, lines 21–2. Had scho bene undir, and hehoblandabove, That were a perellous play for to suspect them.
Hobbledehoy,subs.(old, now colloquial).—A growing gawk: as in the folk-rhyme, ‘Hobbledehoy, neither man nor boy.’ [For derivation,seeNotes and Queries, 1 S., v., 468, vii., 572; 4 S., ii., 297, viii., 451, ix., 147; 7 S., iv., 523, and v., 58.]
1557.Tusser,Husbandrie, ch. 60, st 3, p. 138 (E. D. S.). The first seuen yeers bring vp as a childe, The next to learning, for waxing too wilde. The next keepe vnder sirhobbard de hoy, The next a man no longer a boy.
1738.Swift,Polite Convers., Dial 1. Why, he is a merehobbledehoy, neither a man nor a boy.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1837.Barham,Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Aunt Fanny.’ At the epoch I speak about, I was between a man and a boy, Ahobble-de-hoy, A fat, little, punchy concern of sixteen.
1848.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, ch. iv. He remembered perfectly well being thrashed by Joseph Sedley, when the latter was a big, swaggering,hobbadyhoy, and George an impudent urchin of ten years old.
HenceHobbledehoyishandHobbledehoyhood.[322]
1812.Colman,Poetical Vagaries, p. 12 (2nd Ed.). When Master Daw full fourteen years had told, He grew, as it is term’d,hobbedyhoyish; For Cupidons and Fairies much too old, For Calibans and Devils much too boyish.
1839.Thackeray,Fatal Boots, Apr. From boyhood untilhobbadyhoyhood(which I take to be about the sixteenth year of the life of a young man).
1848.Thackeray,Book of Snobs, ch. xlii. A half-grown, orhobbadehoyishfootman, so to speak, walked after them.
Hobbledejee,subs.(old).—A pace between a walk and a run; a jog-trot.
1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
Hobbler,subs.(nautical).—A coast-man, half smuggler, half handyman; an unlicensed pilot. Also a landsman acting as tow-Jack.—Smyth.Also (Isle of Man), a boatman.
1887.T. E. Brown,The Doctor, p. 226. An’ thehobblersthere was terr’ble divarted.
Hobby,subs.(old).—A hackney; a horse in common use.
1606.Return from Parnassus, ii., 6 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 151). An’t please you, yourhobbywill meet you at the lane’s end.Idem(p. 154). Is not my master an absolute villain that loves his hawk, hishobby, and his greyhound more than any mortal creature?Idem(p. 145). Sirrah, boy, hath the groom saddled my huntinghobby?
2. (university).—A translation.To ride hobbies= to useCribs(q.v.).
Sir Posthumous Hobby,subs. phr.(old).—One nice or whimsical in his clothes.
Hobby-horse,subs.(old: now recognised).—1. A whim; a fancy; a favourite pursuit. HenceHobbyhorsical= strongly attached to a particular fad.
1759.Sterne,TristramShandy(1793), ch. vii., p. 18. Have they not had theirhobby-horses?
d.1768.Sterne,Letters(1793), letter 19, p. 65. ’Tis in fact myhobby-horse.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hobby Horse, a man’s favourite amusement, or study, is called hishobby horse.
1893.Westminster Gaz., 15 Mar., p. 9, c. 1. We quarrel a bit—he is sohobby-horsical, you can’t avoid it—and then we make friends again.
2. (colloquial).—A rantipole girl; a wench; a wanton.
1594.Shakspeare,Love’sLabour’sLost, iii., 1. Call’st thou my lovehobby-horse?Moth.No, master; thehobby-horseis but a colt, and your love, perhaps a hackney.
1604.Shakspeare,Winter’s Tale, 1., 2. They say my wife’s ahobby-horse.
3. (old).—A witless and unmannerly lout.
1609.Jonson,Epicœne, iv., 2.Daw.Here be in presence have tasted of her favors.Cler.What a neighinghobby-horseis this!
Verb(old).—To romp.
Hob-collingwood,subs. phr.(North Country).—The four of hearts, considered an unlucky card.
Hob-jobber,subs.(streets).—A man or boy on the look out for small jobs—holding horses, carrying parcels, and the like.
Hob-nail,subs.(old).—A countryman. For synonyms,seeJoskin.[323]
1647.BeaumontandFletcher,Women Pleased, ii., 6. Thehob-nailthy husband’s as fitly out o’ th’ way now.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hobnail, a country clodhopper, from the shoes of country farmers and ploughmen being commonly stuck full ofhobnails, and even often clouted, or tipped with iron.
Hobnailed,adj.(colloquial).—Boorish; clumsy; coarse; ill-done.
1599.Jonson,Every Man out of his Humour.Sog.A wretchedhobnailedchuff.
Hobson’s-choice,subs.(common).—That or none:i.e., there is no alternative. [Popularly derived from the name of a Cambridge livery stable keeper, whose rule was that each customer must take the horse next the door, or have no horse at all. That old Hobson existed is clear from Milton’s epitaph, but Bellenden Ker (Archæology of Popular Phrases) affirms the story to be a Cambridge hoax, and maintains the proverb to be identical in sound and sense as the Low Saxon,Op soens schie ho eysche= when he had a kiss he wanted something else.]
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hobson’s Choice, that or None.
1710.Ward,England’s Reformation, ch. iv. ’TisHobson’s Choice, take that or none.
1712.Steele,Spectator, No. 509, p. 191. I shall conclude this discourse with an explanation of a proverb [Hobson’s choice], which by vulgar error is taken and used when a man is reduced to an extremity, whereas the propriety of the maxim is to use it when you would say there is plenty, but you must make such a choice as not to hurt another who is to come after you.Ibid.He [Hobson] kept a stable of forty good cattle, always ready and fit for travelling; but when a man came for a horse he was led into the stable, where there was great choice, but was obliged to take the horse which stood nearest to the stable-door; so that every customer was alike well served, according to his chance, and every horse ridden with the same justice.
1717.Cibber,Non-Juror, i. Can any woman think herself happy that’s obliged to marry only with aHobson’s choice?
1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1820.Reynolds[Peter Corcoran],The Fancy. Black men now areHobson’s choice.
1851.F. E. Smedley,Lewis Arundel, ch. liii. ‘When shall we go?’ inquired Laura. ‘Why, it’s a case ofHobson’s choice,’ returned Leicester.
1854.Notes and Queries, 21 Jan., p. 51. It was clear a choice had been given to him, but it was aHobson’s choice.
Hock,subs.(American).—1. The last card in the dealer’s box at faro. [Fromsoda(q.v.)to hock= from beginning to end.]
2.In. pl.(common).—The feet.Curby hocks= clumsy feet. For synonyms,seeCreepers. [From the stable.]
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hocks… you have left the marks of your dirtyhockson my clean stairs.
1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.
Old hock,subs. phr.(common).—Stale beer;swipes(q.v.).SeeHockey.