In hock,adv. phr.(general).—Laid by the heels; fleeced;bested(q.v.).; and (thieves’), in prison.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum. ‘If the cove should be caughtin the hockhe won’t snickle,’ if the fellow should be caught in the act, he would not tell.Hock-dockies,subs.(old).—Shoes. For synonyms,seeTrotter-cases.1789.Geo. Parker,Life’s Painter, p. 173. Shoes.Hockey-dockeys.[324]Hockey,adj.(old).—Drunk, especially on stale beer. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.1796.Grose,Vulg. Tongue(3rd Ed.), s.v.Hocus,subs.(old: now recognised).—1. A cheat; an imposter. [An abbreviation ofhocus-pocus(q.v.).]1654.Witts Recreations.HereHocaslyes with his tricks and his knocks, Whom death hath made sure as a juglers box; Who many hath cozen’d by his leiger-demain, Is presto convey’d and here underlain. ThusHocashe’s here, and here he is not, While death plaid theHocas, and brought him to th’ pot.2. (old: now recognised).—Drugged liquor.1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.HocusorHocus Pocus.… A deleterious drug mixed with wine, etc., which enfeebles the person acted upon.Adj.(old).—Seequots. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.1725.New. Cant. Dict., s.v.Hocus, disguised in Liquor; drunk.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hocus Pocus, he is quitehocus, he is quite drunk.Verb(old: now recognised).—1. To cheat; to impose upon.2. (old: now recognised).—To drug;to snuff(q.v.).1836.Dickens,Pickwick, ch. xiii., p. 104. ‘What do you mean byhocussingbrandy and water?’ inquired Mr. Pickwick. ‘Puttin’ laund’num in it,’ replied Sam.1836.Comic Almanack, p. 1. For that wehocuss’dfirst his drink.1848.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, II., ch. xxix. Mr. Frederick Pigeon avers that it was at her house at Lausanne that he washocussedat supper and lost eight hundred pounds to Major Loder and the Honourable Mr. Deucease.1854.De Quincey,Murder as one of the Fine Arts,Wks., xiii., 119. Him they intended to disable by a trick then newly introduced amongst robbers, and termedhocussing,i.e., clandestinely drugging the liquor of the victim with laudanum.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Hocus… ‘Hocusthe bloke’s lush, and then frisk his sacks,’ put something into the fellow’s drink that will stupify him, and then search his pockets.1859.The Bulletin, 21 May. An offence which goes by the name ofhocussing, and which consists of an evil doer furtively introducing laudanum or some other narcotic into beer or spirits, which the victim drinks and, becoming stupified thereby, is then easily robbed.1864.Dickens,Our Mutual Friend, bk. II., ch. xii. I will not say ahocussedwine, but fur from a wine as was ’elthy for the mind.Hocus-pocus,subs.(old: now recognised).—1. A juggler’s phrase. Hence a juggler’s (or impostor’s) stock in trade. AlsoHocus-trade.1639–61.Rump Songs.‘Vanity of Vanities.’ Ahocus-pocus, juggling Knight.1639–61.Rump Songs, ii., 156. ‘The Rump Ululant.’ Religion we made free ofhocus trade.1646.Randolph,Jealous Lovers, If I do not think women were got with riddling, whip me!Hocas Pocas, here you shall have me, and there you shall have me.1654.Gayton,Test. Notes Don. Quix., 46. This old fellow had not theHocas Pocasof Astrology.1675.Wycherley,Country Wife, iii., 2. That burlesque is ahocus-pocustrick they have got.d.1680.Butler,Remains(1759), ii., 122. With a little heaving and straining, would turn it into Latin, as Millehoco-pokiana, and a thousand such.1689.Marvell,Historical Poem, line 90. Withhocus-pocus.… They gain on tender consciences at night.c.1755.Adey,Candle in the Dark, p. 29. At the playing of every trick he used to say,hocus-pocus, tontus, talontus, vade celeriter jubeo.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.[325]1824–28.Landor,Imaginary Conversations[2nd Ed., ii., 275].Torke.What think you, for instance, ofHocus! Pocus!Johnson.Sir, those are exclamations of conjurors, as they call themselves.1883.Daily Telegraph, 26 Mar., p. 5, c. 3. The lock of hair, the dragon’s blood, and the stolen flour were only thehocus-pocusof her sham witchcraft like the transfixed waxen puppets of the sorcerers of the past.2. (old).—A trickster; a juggler; an impostor.1625.Jonson,Staple of News, ii. That was the old way, gossip, when Iniquity came in [on the stage] likeHokos Pokos, in a juggler’s jerkin, with false skirts, like the knave of clubs.1634.Hocus Pocus Junior,The Anatomie of Leger de main. [Title].1656.Blount,Glossographia, s.v.Hocus Pocus, a juggler, one that shows tricks by sleight of hand.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hocus-pocus, a Juggler that shews Tricks by Slight of Hand.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.3. (old).—A cheat; an imposition; a juggler’s trick.1713.Bentley,Free Thinking, 12. Our author is playinghocus-pocusin the very similitude he takes from that juggler.4. (old).—SeeHocus, sense 2.Adj.(old).—Cheating; fraudulent.1715.Addison,The Drummer. If thou hast anyhocus-pocustricks to play, why can’st not do them here?1725–29.Mason,Horace, iv., 8. Suchhocus-pocustricks, I own, Belong to Gallic bards alone.1759.Macklin,Love à la Mode, ii., 1. The law is a sort ofhocus-pocusscience that smiles in yer face while it picks your pocket.Verb(old).—To cheat; to trick.Hod(orBrother Hod),subs.(common).—A bricklayer’s labourer.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Hod of Mortar,subs. phr.(rhyming).—A pot of porter.Hoddy-Doddy(orHoddie-doddie),subs.(old).—A short thick-set man or woman. The full expression is ‘Hoddy Doddy, all arse and no body.’—Grose.For synonyms,seeForty-guts. Also a fool.c.1534.Udall,Roister Doister, i., I. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iii., 58). Sometimes I hang on Hankynhoddy-doddy’ssleeve.1596.Ben Jonson,Every Man in his Humour, iv., 8. Well, good wife bawd, Cob’s wife, and you, That make your husband such ahoddy-doddy.1639–61.Rump Songs, ii. [1662], 55. Every noddy … will … cryhoddy-doddyHere’s a Parliament all arse and no body.1723.Swift,Mary the Cookmaid’s Letter(Chalmers,Eng. Poets, 1810, xi., 433). My master is a personable man, and not a spindle-shankedHoddy-doddy.Hoddy-peak(or-Peke),subs.(old).—A fool; a cuckold.d.1529.Skelton,Poems, ‘Duke of Albany.’ Gyue it up, And cry creke Lyke anhuddy peke.1551.W. Still,Gammer Gurton, O. P., ii., 45. Art here again, thouhoddypeke?1554.Christopherson,Exh. ag. Rebel. They counte peace to be cause of ydelnes, and that it maketh menhodi-pekesand cowardes.d.1555.Latimer,Sermons, fol. 44, b. What, ye brainsicke fooles, yehoddy-peakes, ye doddy poules.1560.Nice Wanton(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ii., 164). Yea, marry, I warrant you, masterhoddy-peak.1589.Nashe,Anatomie of Absurdities, b. Who, under her husband’s thathoddy-peke’snose, Must have all the destilling dew of his delicate rose.[326]1594.Nashe,Unf. Trav., 106 [Chiswick Press, 1891.] No other apte meanes had this poore shee captived Cicely to worke herhoddy peakehusband a proportionable plague to hisjealousy.Hodge,subs.(colloquial).—A farm labourer; a rustic.1589.Greene,Menaphon, p. 58 [ed. Arber, 1880]. These Arcadians are giuen to take the benefit of euerieHodge.1675.A. Marvel,Satire.Hodge’sVision from the Monument.[Title.]1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hodge, a Country Clown, also Roger.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1791.Smart,Fables, xiii., 27. Is that the care (quothHodge)? O rare!1880.Richard Jefferies,Hodgeand his Masters.[Title.]1884.Mrs. Craik, inEng. Ill. Mag., Mar., p. 356. Quite different from the bovine, agriculturalHodgeof the midland counties.1893.National Observer, 25 Feb., ix., 358. ‘Pay me an infinitesimal sum,’ Lord Winchilsea says (in effect) toHodge, ‘and you shall have a weekly newspaper for nothing.’Hodge-podge(orHotch-potch),subs.(old: now recognised).—A mixture; a medley. Sp.,commistrajo.SeeHotch-potch.1553–99.Spenser,State of Ireland. They have made our English tongue a galimaufrey, orhodgepodgeof all otherspeeches.1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., i., 199. SomeCollier-likeSaint, … Had rak’d ahodg podgfor the Devil.1726.Vanbrugh,Journey to London. They were all got into a sort ofhodge-podgeargument for the good of the nation which I did not well understand.d.1764.Lloyd,Poems(774), ‘A Tale.’ Was ever such anhodge-podgeseen.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hodman, (Oxford Univ.).—A scholar from Westminster School admitted to Christ Church College, Oxford.1728.Bailey,Eng. Dict., s.v.Hodman.Hodmandod,subs.(old).—1. A snail in his shell—Bacon.SeeDoddy.1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, v., 4 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 525). Painted snails with houses on their backs, and horns as big as Dutch cows.… Can any woman be honest that lets suchhodmandodscrawl o’er her virgin breast and belly?1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1728.Bailey,Eng. Dict., s.v.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.2. (old).—A Hottentot.1686.Captain Cowleyin HarrisVoyages, i., 82. We walked, moreover, without the town to the villages inhabited by thehodmandods, to view their nasty bodies.Hoe.To hoe in(American Univ.).—To work with vigour;to swot(q.v.).To hoe one’s own row,verb. phr.(American).—To do one’s own work.Hard row to hoe.SeeHard Row.Hoe-down,subs.(American).—A negro dance; abreakdown(q.v.).Hog,subs.(old).—1. A shilling: also a sixpence: and (in America) a ten-cent piece. For synonyms,seeBlow.Half-a-hog= sixpence, or five-cent piece.1688.Shadwell,Squire of Alsatia, s.v.Hog, a shilling.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hog, You Darkman Budge, will you Fence yourhogat the next Boozing ken?[327]1714.Memoirs of John Hall(4th Ed.), p. 12, s.v.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v. Half aHog, Six-Pence.1809–12.Miss Edgeworth,Ennui, ch. vi. ‘It’s only a tester or ahogthey want your honour to give ’em, to drink your honour’s health,’ said Paddy. ‘Ahogto drink my health?’ ‘Ay, that is a thirteen, plase your honour; all as one as an English shilling.’1825.Egan,Life of an Actor, ch. iv. You shall have … eighteenhoga week, and a benefit which never fails.1842.Thackeray,Cox’s DiaryinComic Almanack, p. 237. Do you think I’m a-going to kill my horses, and break my precious back, and bust my carriage, and carry you, and your kids, and your traps, for sixhog?1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. i., p. 529. The slang phrases are constantly used by the street lads; thus a sixpence is a ‘tanner’; a shilling a ‘bob,’ or ahog.… The collections of coin dealers amply show, that the figure of a hog was anciently placed on a small silver coin.1857.Mrs. Mathews,Tea Table Talk, p. 207. The shopwoman satisfied Suett after her fashion, that his little lump of Suett had absorbed flour and lard (pastry) to the amount of what her queer customer would have termed ahog.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Hog, a ten-cent piece.2. (colloquial).—A foul-mouthed blackguard; a dirty feeder. Also, a common glutton.1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes, s.v.Ciro, ahogge, a swine, a filthie fellowe.1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 69. ’Arry’s ahogwhen he feeds.3. (Cambridge Univ.: obsolete).—A student of St. John’s. Also,Johnian Hog.SeeCrackle,Bridge of Grunts, andIsthmus of Suez.1690.Diary of Abraham de la Pryme(Surtees Society, No. 54), quoted inNotes and Queries, 6, S. xi., 328. For us Jonians are called abusivelyhoggs.1795.Gent. Mag., lxv., 22. TheJohnian hogswere originally remarkable on account of the squalid figures and low habits of thestudents, and especially of thesizarsof SaintJohn’sCollege. [Another story of how name originated is given in detail inGent. Mag.(1795), lxv., 107.]1889.Whibley,In Cap and Gown, p. 28. An obsolete name for members of St. John’s College, Cambridge.4. (old Scots’).—A yearling sheep.1796.Burns,Poems. What will I do gin myhoggiedie, my joy, my friend, myhoggie.5. (American).—An inhabitant of Chicago. [That city being a notable pig-breeding and pork-packing centre.]6. (old).—A Hampshireman.1770.Lord Hailes,Ancient Scottish Poems, ‘Dance of the Seven Deadly Sins.’ Note on line 115. And thus his ill-bred raillery will be like that of Essex calves,Hampshirehogs, Middlesex mongrels, Norfolk dumplings, Welsh goats, etc.Verb(American).—1. To cheat; to humbug;to gammon(q.v.).1867.Browne(Artemus Ward). ‘Among the Mormons’, ii., 10. Go my son, andHogthe public.2. (venery).—To copulate. For synonymsseeGreensandRide.3. (stables).—To cut short;e.g., tohoga horse’s mane.Ahog in armour,subs. phr.(old).—A lout in fine clothes. Also aJack-in-office;Hog-in-togs= (in America) a well-dressed loafer. [Hog=Hodge(q.v.), a rustic.]1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hog… an awkward, or mean looking man or woman, finely dressed, is said to look like ahog in armour.[328]Hog and hominy,subs. phr.(American).—Plain fare;Common doings(q.v.). [Pork and maize are the two cheapest food stuffs in the U.S.A.]To go the whole hog.SeeWhole Animal.To bring one’s hogs(orpigs)to a fine market,verb. phr.(old).—To do well; to make a gooddeal(q.v.). Also, in sarcasm, the opposite.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew., s.v.He has brought his hoggs to a fair market, or he has Spun a fair Thread.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hog.…He has brought his hogs to a fine market, a saying of one who has been remarkably successful in his affairs, and is spoken ironically to signify the contrary.To drive one’s hogs(orpigs) tomarket,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To snore.1738.Swift,Polite Conversations, ii., 455. I’gad he fell asleep, and snored so loud that we thought he wasdriving his hogs to market.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hog.… todrive one’s hogs, to snore, the noise made by some persons in snoring being not much unlike the notes of that animal.Hog-age,subs.(American).—The period between boyhood and manhood.Cf.,Hobbledehoy.Hogan-mogan,subs.(old).—Seequot.1892.Aitken,Satires of Andrew Marvell, p. 128. The States General of the United provinces were officially addressed as High and Mighty Lords, or in Dutch, Hoogmogenden; hence English satirists called themhogans-mogans, and applied the phrase to Dutchmen in general.Cf.,Hoganmoganides, or the Dutch Hudibras(1694), and ‘A New Song on thehogan-mogans’ in ‘A Collection of the Newest Poems … against Popery, etc.’ (1689).Hog-grubber,subs.(old).—A miser; a niggard; amean cuss(q.v.).1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Ahog-grubber, … a narrow-soul’d sneaking Fellow.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hog Grubber, a mean stingy fellow.Hogmagundy(orHoughmagandie),subs.(Scots).—Copulation. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.1786.Burns,The Holy Fair[last stanza]. There’s some are fou o’ love divine, There’s some are fou o’ brandy; An’ mony jobs that day begin, May end inhougmagandieSome ither day.Hogmenay,subs.(old Scots’).—1. New Year’s Eve, which is a national festival. [The origin has been the subject of much discussion.]1776.Brand,Popular Antiquities, p. 102. Sirs, do you whatHagmanesignifies? It is the devil be in the house.1793.The Bee, 10 July, p. 17. The night preceding that festivalHoggmonay.1879.James Napier,Folk Lore, p. 154. After the Reformation, the Scotch transferredHagmanay[from Xmas Eve] to the last day of December, as a preparation day for the New Year.2. Hence a wanton. [The feast is celebrated with much drink and not a little license.]Hogo,subs.(old).—A flavour; an aroma; a relish. Hence, in irony, and by corruption, a stink.Cf.,Fogo. [From Fr.,haut goût.]SeeHigh, sense 2.1569.Erasmus, Trans.Praise of Folly, p. 13 [1709]. Pleasure thathaut-goustof Folly.1639–61.Rump Songs.‘A Vindication of the Rump.’ Oh! what aHogowas there.[329]1645.Howell,Letters, V., xxxviii., p. 42. He can marinat fish, make gellies, and is excellent for apickantsawce, and thehaugou.1653.Walton,Compleat Angler, I., ch. vii. To give the sawce ahogoelet the dish (into which you let the Pike fall) be rubed with it [garlick].1656.Choyce Drollery, p. 34. And why not say a word or two Of she that’s just? witnesse all who Have ever been at thyho-go.1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, iii., 2 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 451). We’ll work ourselves into such a sauce as you can never surfeit on, and yet nohogough.1667.Cowley,Government of Oliver Cromwell, Prose Works (Pickering, 1826), 94. Cromwell … found out the truehogoof this pleasure, and rejoiced in the extravagance of his ways.1672.Wycherley,Love in a Wood, ii., 1. She has … no more teeth left than such as give ahaut goutto her breath.1686.Twelve Ingenious Characters.A bad husband is an inconsiderate piece of sottish extravagance; for though he consist of several ill ingredients, yet still good fellowship is thecausa sine qua non, and gives him theho-go.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hogo.1705–7.Ward,Hudibras Redivivus, Vol. I., Pt. vi., p. 4. Most stinking meat, Toss’d up with leeks intoRaggoo, To overcome the unsav’ryhogo.1718.Durfey,Pills, iii., 177. ‘Let’s drink and be merry.’ Your most Beautiful Bit, that hath all Eyes upon her, That her Honesty sells for ahogoof Honour.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hogo… it has a confoundedhogo, it stinks confoundedly.Hogshead.To couch a hogshead,verb. phr.(Old Cant).—Seequot. For synonyms,seeBalmy.1567.Harman,Caveat(1814), p. 66.To couch a hogshead: to ly downe and slepe.Ibid., Icouched a hogsheadin a skypper this darkemans.Hog-shearing,subs.(old).—Much ado about nothing; great cry and little wool.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hog.Labour in vain, which the Latines express by Goats-wooll, as the English by theshearing of Hoggs.Hogs-norton.To have been born at Hogs-Norton,verb. phr.(old).—To be ill-mannered.d.1666.Howell,Eng. Proverbs, p. 16. I think thou wastborn at Hoggs-Norton, where piggs play upon the organs.1676.Marvel,Mr. Smirke[Grosart], iv., p. 89. A pair of organs of cats which he had done well to have made the pigs atHogs-Nortonplay on.Hogstye of Venus,subs. phr.(venery).—Seequot. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.1598.Florio,Worlde of Wordes, s.v.Porcile di venere, thehog-stye of Venus, a womans privities or geare.Hog-wash,subs.(common).—1. Bad liquor; specifically,rot-gut(q.v.).2. (journalists’).—Worthless newspaper matter;slush,swash, andflub-dub(q.v.).Hoi polloi,subs. phr.(university).—The candidates for ordinary degrees. [From the Greek.]Cf.,Gulf.Hoist,subs.(old).—A shop-lifter; also a confederate hoisting or helping a thief to reach an open window.The Hoist= shop-lifting.To go upon the hoist= to enter a house by an open window.1796.Grose,Vulg. Tongue(3rd Ed.), s.v.Hoist.This is done by the assistance of a confederate calledthe hoist, who leans his head against the wall, making his back a kind of step or ascent.—Grose.1819.Vaux,Cant. Dict.Hoist, thegameof shop-lifting is calledthe hoist; a person expert at this practice is said to bea good hoist.[330]1821.Haggart,Life, p. 38. We were principally engagedupon the hoysand coreing.Verb(thieves’).—1. To practise shop-lifting; to rob by means ofthe hoist(q.v.).2. (American).—To run away; to decamp. For synonyms,seeAmputateandSkedaddle.1847.Porter,Quarter Race, etc., p. 174. Jisthist, and take yourself off.3. (common).—To drink.E.g., Will youhoist? = will you have a liquor?;Hoisting= drinking;On the hoist= on the drunk. Also ahoist in.To give a hoist,verb. phr.(tailors’).—To do a bad turn.To have(ordo)a hoist in,verb. phr.(venery).—To copulate. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.Hoister,subs.(old).—1. A shop-lifter; ahoist(q.v., sense 1). Also a pickpocket.1847–50.J. H. Jesse,London, i., 30. He that could take out a counter without any noise was allowed to be a publichoyster. N.B.—That a hoyster is a pickpocket.2. (common).—A sot. For synonyms,seeLushington.Hoisting(orHoist-lay),subs.(thieves’).—1. Shop-lifting.The hoist(q.v.). Also shaking a man head downwards, so that his money rolls out of his pockets.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.1821.D. Haggart,Life, glossary, p. 172.Hoys, shop-lifting.1868.Temple Bar, xxiv., 534. She can secrete articles about her dress when in a shop looking at things, and that’s one way ofhoisting.2. (old).—Seequot.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hoisting, a ludicrous ceremony, formerly performed on every soldier, the first time he appeared in the field, after being married: as soon as the regiment, or company, had grounded their arms, to rest awhile; three or four men of the same company, to which the bridegroom belonged, seized upon him, and putting a couple of bayonets out of the two corners of his hat, to represent horns, it was placed on his head, the back part foremost, he was then hoisted on the shoulders of two strong fellows, and carried round the arms, a drum and fife beating and playing, the pioneers call, namedRound-heads and Cuckolds, but on this occasion stiled theCuckold’s March; in passing the colours, he was to take off his hat.… This in some regiments was practised by the officers on their brethren.Hoit(orHoyt),verb.(old).—To be noisily or riotously inclined.1611.BeaumontandFletcher,Knight of the Burning Pestle, iv., 1. He sings, andhoyts, and revels among his drunken companions.Hoity-toity.SeeHighty-tighty.Hokey-pokey,subs.(common).—1. A cheat; a swindle; nonsense. [FromHocus Pocus.]2. (common).—A cheap ice-cream sold in the streets.Holborn Hill.To ride backwards up Holborn Hill,verb. phr.(old colloquial).—To go to the gallows. [The way was thence to Tyburn, criminals riding backwards.—Grose.]1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, ii., 1.Urs.Up the heavyhill—Knock. OfHolbourn, Ursula, mean’st thou so? for what, for what, pretty Urse?Urs.For cutting halfpenny purses, or stealing little penny dogs out o’ the Fair.1659.Harry White’s Humour(Nares). Item, he loves to ride when he is weary, yet at certaine times he holds it ominous to ride upHolborne.1695.Congreve,Love for Love, ii., 7. Sirrah, you’ll be hanged; I shall live to see yougo up Holborn hill.[331]Hold,verb.(old).—1. To bet; to wager.SeeDo you hold?1534.Udall,Roister Doister, i., 2 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iii., 7). Iholda groat ye will drink anon of this gear.1551.W. Still,Gammer Gurton’s Needle, iii., 3 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iii., 216, andpassim). Iholdthee a groat I shall patch thy coat.1697.Vanbrugh,Provoked Wife, ii., 1. I’llholdyou a guinea you don’t make her tell it you.1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., ii., 54. I’llholdye five Guineas to four.2. (venery) (orHold it).—To be impregnated; to be got with child. [In certain parts of Scotland, it is said, a farm servant stating that she “disnahaud” commands double wages.]To hold on to,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To apply oneself; to be persistent: generally,to hold on like grim death.1848.Ruxton,Life in the Far West, p. 71. He recovered, and wiselyheld on tofor the future.Hold up,verb. phr.(American and Australian).—1. To rob on the highway;to bail or stick up(q.v.). Also assubs.= a highwayman orroad-agent(q.v.).1888.Detroit Free Press, 8 Dec. One manheld upsix stage passengers in Arizona the other day and robbed them of $2,000. Each was armed, but it is customary to submit out there, and so up went their hands.1888.Detroit Free Press, 13 Oct. Mounted on a white horse, he started on a land-prospecting tour and ran against a party ofhold-ups.1892.Lippincott, Oct., p. 495. Wouldholdthe trainupuntil I had finished.2. (thieves’).—To arrest. For synonyms,seeNab.To hold the stage,verb. phr.(theatrical).—To have the chief place on the boards and the eye of an audience. Fr.,avoir les planches.To hold a candle to(the devil, etc.),verb. phr.(colloquial).—SeeDevil, and add the following quot.1868.ReadeandBoucicault,Foul Play, p. 65. But you see, sir, he has got the ear of the merchant ashore; and so I am obliged tohold a candle to the devil.To hold a candle to,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To vie with; to be comparable to; also to assist in or condone.1886.R. L. Stevenson,Kidnapped, p. 79. They had killed poor Ransome; and was I tohold the candle toanother murder?To hold(orhang)on by the eyelids,eyelashesoreyebrows,verb. phr.(common).—To pursue an object desperately; to insist upon a point; to carry on a forlorn hope.Seealso quot. andSplash Board.1883.Clark Russell,Sailor’s Language, p. 69.Holding on with his eyelids.Said of a man aloft with nothing much to lay hold of.To hold in hand,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To amuse; to possess the attention or the mind; to have in one’s pocket.To hold the market,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To buy stock and hold it to so large an extent that the price cannot decline.Do you hold?phr.(streets).—Have you money to lend? Can you stand treat?Cf.verb., sense 1.[332]Hold your horses,phr.(American).—Go easy; don’t get excited: a general injunction to calm in act and speech.Hold your jaw,phr.(colloquial).—Hold your tongue;stow your gab(q.v.).Hold hard!(oron)!intj.(colloquial).—Wait a moment! don’t be in a hurry!1761.Colman,Jealous Wife, V., inWks.(1777), i., 130.Hold hard! hold hard!you are all on a wrong scent.1835.Dickens,Sketches by Boz, p. 280. ‘Hold hard!’ said the conductor; ‘I’m blowed if we ha’n’t forgot the gen’lm’n as vas to be set down at Doory-lane.’1864.E. Yates,Broken to Harness, ch. iv., p. 38 (1873). I told Meaburn tohold on, and we’d get a rise out of Punch.Hold-stitch.—SeeStitch.Hold-water.—SeeWater.Hold-out,subs.(gambling).—An old-fashioned apparatus, in poker, for ‘holding out’ desirable cards.Hole(venery).—1. The femalepudendum. Also,Hole of Content, andHole(orQueen)of Holes. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.To give a hole to hide it in=to grant the favour(q.v.). [Hence, by a play upon words,Holy of Holies.]1595.Shakspeare,Romeo and Juliet, ii., 4. This drivelling love is like a great natural, that runs lolling up and down to hide hisbauble(q.v.) in ahole.1598.Florio,Worlde of Wordes, s.v.Carnafau, the brat-getting place, orhole of content.1620.Percy,Folio MS., p. 197. … He light in aholeere he was aware!1647–80.Rochester,Poems. Thou mighty princess, lovelyqueen of holes.d.1649.Drummond,Posthumous Poems, ‘The Statue of Alcides.’ Fair nymph, in ancient days, yourholes, by far, Were not so hugely vast as now they are.1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., iv., 72. It has a head much like a Mole’s, And yet it loves to creep inholes: The fairest She that e’er took Life, For love of this became a Wife.2. (old).—A cell;cf.,Hell, sense 1.1540.Lindsay,Thrie Estaits, line 1016. Wee have gart bind him with ane poill, And send him to the theifishoill.1607.Miseries of Enforced Marriage, iii., I. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875. ix., 514). If you shall think … it shall accord with the state of gentry to submit myself from the feather-bed in the master’s side, or the flock-bed in the knight’s ward, to the straw-bed in thehole.1607.Wentworth Smith,The Puritan, iii. But if e’er we clutch him again the Counter shall charm him.Rav.Theholeshall rot him.1657.Walks of Hogsdon.Next from the stocks, thehole, and little-ease.1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, iv., 2 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 482). Make his mittymus to theholeat Newgate.3. (old).—A private printing office where unlicensed books were made; acock-robin shop(q.v.).—Moxon, 1683.4. (colloquial).—A difficulty; a fix; on the turf,to be in a hole= to lose (a bet) or be defeated (of horses).1760–61.Smollett,Sir L. Greaves, ch. xvi. I should be in a deadlyholemyself if all my customers should take it into their heads to drink nothing but water-gruel.1868.Ouida,Under Two Flags, ch. i. ‘I am in a hole—no end of ahole.’5. (common).—A place of abode; specifically, a mean habitation; a dirty lodging. For synonyms,seeDiggings.6. (common).—Therectum: short forarse-hole.E.g.,suck his hole= a derisive retort upon an affirmative answer to the[333]question, ‘Do you know So-and-So?’ For synonyms,seeMonocular Eyeglass.1383.Chaucer,Canterbury Tales, ‘The Miller’s Tale.’ And at the window she put out hirhole.1540.Lindsay,Thrie Estaits, line 2174. Lift vp hir clais: Kis hirhoillwith your hart.1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, v., 3. A pox o’ your manners, kiss myholehere, and smell.1649.Drummond,Madrigals and Epigrams, ‘A Jest’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, x., 667). She turned, and turning up herholebeneath, Said, ‘Sir, kiss here.’d.1732.Gay,Tales‘In Imitation of Chaucer’s Style’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, x., 504). Thou didst forget to guard thy postern, There is anholewhich hath not crossed been.Verb(venery).—To effect intromission; toput in(q.v.). Hence,Holed,adj.=in(q.v.).A hole in one’s coat,subs. phr.(colloquial).—A flaw in one’s fame; a weak spot in one’s character.To pick a hole in one’s coat= to find a cause for censure.1789.Burns,Verses on Capt. Grose. If there’s ahole in a’ your coats, I rede you tent it.To make(orburn)a hole in one’s pocket,verb. phr.(colloquial).—Said of money recklessly spent.To make a hole in anything,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To use up largely.1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, iii., 5 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 456). Do it then, and make aholein this angel.To make a hole in the water,verb. phr.(common).—To commit suicide by drowning.1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 76. I should justmake a hole in the water, if ’tworn’t for the wife and the kids.To make a hole,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To break; to spoil; to upset; to interrupt. Thus tomake a hole in one’s manners= to be rude; tomake a hole in one’s reputation= to betray, to seduce; tomake a hole in the silence= to make a noise, toraise cain(q.v.).Too drunk to see a hole in a ladder,phr.(common).—Excessively intoxicated. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.Hole-and-corner,adj.(colloquial).—Secret; underhand; out of the way:e.g.,hole-and-corner work= shady business. Also (venery) = copulation. [Cf.,Hole,subs.sense 1.]Holer(alsoHolemonger),subs.(colloquial).—A whoremaster (cf.,Hole,subs., sense 1). Also (old), a harlot; a light woman (cf.,Hole,verb.). Hence,Holing= whoring.Holiday,adj.(old).—Unskilled; indifferent; careless.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Holiday,a holiday bowler, a bad bowler.Blind Man’s Holiday.See ante.To have a holiday at Peckham,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To go dinnerless.All holiday at Peckham= no work and nothing to eat. [A play upon words.]SeePeckish.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum.All holiday at Peckham… a saying signifying that it is all over with the business or person spoken of or alluded to.[334]1848.Forster,Oliver Goldsmith, bk. I., ch. vi., p. 55 (5th Ed.). ‘Oh, that isall a holiday at Peckham,’ said an old friend very innocently one day.To take a holiday,verb. phr.(common).—To be dismissed; to get thebag(q.v.) orsack(q.v.)Gone for a holiday,adv. phr.(colloquial).—Said of a flaw, lapse, or imperfection of any kind (as dropped stitches, lost buttons, slurred painting, and so forth).Seealso quots.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Holiday… a holiday is any part of a ship’s bottom, left uncovered in painting it.1883.Clark Russell,Sailors’ Language, p. 69, s.v.Holidays.Places left untarred on shrouds, backstays, etc., during the operation of tarring them.Holler,verb.(American).—To cry enough; to give in; tocave in(q.v.).1847.Porter,Quarter Race, etc., p. 89. The truth must come, he warped me nice, So jist to save his time Ihollered.Hollis,subs.(Winchester College).—A small pebble. [Said to be derived from a boy.—Notions.]Hollow,adj.(colloquial).—Complete; certain; decided. Asadv.completely; utterly.E.g., to beat or lickhollow.SeeBeatandCreation.1759.Townley,High Life Below Stairs, i., 2. Crab was beathollow.1761.Colman,Jealous Wife, V., inWks.(1777), i., 134. So, my lord, you and I are both distanced: ahollowthing, damme.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Hollow.It was quite ahollowthing,i.e., a certainty, or decided business.1814.Edgworth,Patronage, ch. iii. Squire Burton won the matchhollow.1837.Barham,Ingoldsby Legends. ‘Bloudie Jack.’ His lines to Apollo Beat all the resthollowAnd gained him the Newdegate Prize.1852.Dickens,Bleak House, ch. lxiv., p. 529. I have therefore taken a ’ouse in that locality, which, in the opinion of my friends, is ahollowbargain (taxes ridiculous, and use of fixtures included in the rent).1871.Durham County Advertiser, 10 Nov. ‘It licks mehollow, sir, as I may say,’ put in the silent member.1892.Punch, 9 July, p. 3. Booby-traps were beatenhollow.Holloway,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.Holloway,Middlesex(common).—The lower bowel; thearse-gut(q.v.).Holt,verb.(American).—To take; to take hold of.Holus-bolus,subs.(nautical).—The head. Also the neck.Adv.(colloquial).—Helter skelter; altogether; first come, first served.1868.Wilkie Collins,The Moonstone, 1st Period, ch. xv. And, making a sudden snatch at the heap of silver, put it back,holus-bolus, in her pocket.Holy.More holy than righteous,adv. phr.(common).—Said of a person in rags, or of a tattered garment.Holy-boys,subs.(military).—TheNinth Foot. [From a trick of selling bibles for drink in the Peninsula.] Also,Fighting Ninth.1886.Tinsley’s Magazine, Apr., 322. The 9th having bartered their Bibles in Spain for wine, and having there gained a reputation for sacking monasteries, were long known as theHoly Boys.[335]Holy-father,subs.(Irish).—Seequot.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Holy Father, A butcher’s boy of St. Patrick’s Market, Dublin, or other Irish blackguard; among whom the exclamation, or oath, by the Holy Father (meaning the Pope), is common.Holy Iron.SeeHoly Poker.Holy Joe,subs. phr.(colloquial).—A pious person, whether hypocritical or sincere. Also (nautical), a parson.Holy Jumping Mother of Moses.SeeMoses.Holy-lamb,subs.(old).—A thorough-paced villain.—Grose.Holy-land(orground),subs.(old).—1. St. Giles’s;Palestine(q.v.).1819.Moore,Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 7. For we are the boys of theholy ground, And we’ll dance upon nothing and turn us round.1821.The Fancy, i., p. 250. TheHoly-land, as St. Giles’s has been termed, in compliment to the superior purity of its Irish population.1821.Egan,Tom and Jerry, ch. ii. At Mammy O’Shaughnessy’s in the back Settlements of theHoly Land.1823.W. T. Moncrieff,Tom and Jerry, ii., 5. Let’s have a dive among the cadgers in the back slums, in theHoly Land.1843.Punch’s Almanack, 1 Sept. St. Giles. The Marquis of Waterford makes a pilgrimage to his shrine in theHoly Land.1859.Sala,Twice Round the Clock, one a.m., par. 28. Unfaithful topographers may have told you that theHoly Landbeing swept away and Buckeridge Street being pulled down, St. Giles’s exists no more.1891.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 3 Apr. p. 215, col. 1. It would be hard to say whether the Irishmen of theHoly Landor the Hebrew scum of Petticoat Lane showed the finest specimens of ‘looped and windowed raggedness.’2. (common).—Generic for any neighbourhood affected by Jews; specifically, Bayswater, and Brighton.Cf.,New Jerusalem, andHoly of Holies.Holy Moses.SeeMoses.Holy of Holies,subs. phr.(common).—1. The Grand Hotel at Brighton. [Which is largely tenanted by Jews:cf.,Holy Land(sense 2), andNew Jerusalem.]2. (colloquial).—A private room; asanctum(q.v.).1891.N. Gould,Double Event, p. 215. Fletcher did not venture into thatholy of holies.1893.WestminsterGaz., 31 Jan., p. 3, c. 2. The Cabinet Council is theholy of holiesof the British Constitution, and as Mr. Bagehot long ago regretted, no description of it at once graphic and authentic has ever been given.3. (venery).—SeeHole, sense 1, and for synonyms,Monosyllable.Holy Poker(orIron),subs. phr.(university).—The mace carried by an esquire bedel (of Law, Physic, or Divinity) as a badge of authority. [The term, which is applied to the bedels themselves, is very often used as an oath.]1840.Comic Almanack, ‘Tom the Devil,’ p, 214. A hotel’s the place for me! I’ve thried em all, from the Club-house at Kilkinny, to the Clarendon, and, by theholy poker, never wish mysilf worse luck than such cantonments!1870.London Figaro, 8 Oct., p. 2, col. 2. The bedels of a University are very important persons, although derisive undergraduates familiarly term themholy pokers.1886.R. L. Stevenson,Kidnapped, p. 169. I swear upon theholy ironI had neither art nor part.2. (venery).—Thepenis(by a play upon words).Cf.,Hole, sense 1,Holy of Holies, sense[336]3, andPoke. For synonyms,seeCreamstickandPrick.Holy-water Sprinkler,subs. phr.(old).—A mediæval weapon of offence; amorning star(q.v.).Home,subs.(colonial).—England.1893.Gentlemen’s Mag., Jan., p. 74. And then I learnt that byhomehe meant England, which, moreover, is referred to as ‘home’ by dusky myriads, who have never seen her cliffs rise above the waves.To get home,verb. phr.(colloquial).—1. To achieve an object; to succeed perfectly; and (athletic) to reach the winning post.1891.Sportsman, 26 Mar. A close struggle for the Palace Selling Plate ended in favour of Rosefield, who justgot homea head in front of Mordure.1892.Pall Mall Gaz., 23 Jan., 3, 2. It is delightful to watch Mr. Charles Hawtrey telling lie after lie to his unbelieving wife, and joyfully, in misplaced confidence, saying to himself, ‘I’vegot home.’2. (pugilists’).—To get in (a blow) with precision and effect;to land(q.v.). Also (old) to give a mortal wound.1559.Elyot,Dictionarium, 3rd. ed.Aere meo me lacessis, thou gevest me scoffe for scoffe, or as we saie, thoupaiest me home.1631.Chettle,Hoffman.Sax.Not any, Austria; neither toucht I thee.Aust.Somebodytoucht me home; vaine world farewell, Dying I fall on my dead Lucibell.1698.Farquhar,Love and a Bottle, iv., 3. But hark ye, George; don’t push toohome; have a care of whipping through the guts.1706.Farquhar,Recruiting Officer, ii., 1. That’shome.1888.Sporting Life, 10 Dec. In the next roundgot homeseveral times without a return.1891.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 19 June, p. 395, c. 3. Macgot homea terrific cross-counter with the left on Bob’s left eye, which seemed to split the flesh open both above and below.3. (turf).—To recover a loss; neither to win nor lose; to come out quits. Also,to bring oneself home.4. (venery).—To get with child. Also, to compel the sexual spasm.To make oneself at home,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To take one’s ease; to be familiar to the point of ill-breeding.1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 10. Asat homeas a cat in a cream-shop.To come home to,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To reach the conscience; to touch deeply.To go(send, orcarry)home(orto one’s last home),verb. phr.(colloquial).—To die; to kill; to bury. [The Chinese say ‘to go home horizontally.’]SeeAloft.1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes.Mandar ’al palegro, tosend to ones last home.1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.Home.Gone home, dead.Home-bird,subs.(colloquial).—A henpecked husband. Also, a milksop. Fr.,chauffe-la-couche(= warming-pan).Home for lost dogs,subs. phr.(medical).—A large and well known medical school in London. [From the fact that the majority of its inmates have strayed there from the various hospital schools, as a last resource toward taking a degree.][337]Home-rule,subs.(common).—Irish whiskey. For synonyms,seeDrinksandOld Man’s Milk.Home-sweet-home,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.Homo,subs.(old).—A man: generallyomee(q.v.). [From the Latin.] For synonyms,seeCove.Homoney,subs.(old).—A woman. For synonyms,seePetticoat. Also, a wife. For synonyms,seeDutchandCf.Homo.1754.Discoveries of John Poulter, p. 43. Myhomoneyis in quod, my wife is in gaol.Homo-opathise,verb.(American).—To get bills (i.e., petitions) through Legislature, Congress, or City Council, by means of bills (i.e., bank-bills).Hone,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum. Forsynonyms,seeMonosyllable.
In hock,adv. phr.(general).—Laid by the heels; fleeced;bested(q.v.).; and (thieves’), in prison.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum. ‘If the cove should be caughtin the hockhe won’t snickle,’ if the fellow should be caught in the act, he would not tell.Hock-dockies,subs.(old).—Shoes. For synonyms,seeTrotter-cases.1789.Geo. Parker,Life’s Painter, p. 173. Shoes.Hockey-dockeys.[324]Hockey,adj.(old).—Drunk, especially on stale beer. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.1796.Grose,Vulg. Tongue(3rd Ed.), s.v.Hocus,subs.(old: now recognised).—1. A cheat; an imposter. [An abbreviation ofhocus-pocus(q.v.).]1654.Witts Recreations.HereHocaslyes with his tricks and his knocks, Whom death hath made sure as a juglers box; Who many hath cozen’d by his leiger-demain, Is presto convey’d and here underlain. ThusHocashe’s here, and here he is not, While death plaid theHocas, and brought him to th’ pot.2. (old: now recognised).—Drugged liquor.1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.HocusorHocus Pocus.… A deleterious drug mixed with wine, etc., which enfeebles the person acted upon.Adj.(old).—Seequots. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.1725.New. Cant. Dict., s.v.Hocus, disguised in Liquor; drunk.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hocus Pocus, he is quitehocus, he is quite drunk.Verb(old: now recognised).—1. To cheat; to impose upon.2. (old: now recognised).—To drug;to snuff(q.v.).1836.Dickens,Pickwick, ch. xiii., p. 104. ‘What do you mean byhocussingbrandy and water?’ inquired Mr. Pickwick. ‘Puttin’ laund’num in it,’ replied Sam.1836.Comic Almanack, p. 1. For that wehocuss’dfirst his drink.1848.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, II., ch. xxix. Mr. Frederick Pigeon avers that it was at her house at Lausanne that he washocussedat supper and lost eight hundred pounds to Major Loder and the Honourable Mr. Deucease.1854.De Quincey,Murder as one of the Fine Arts,Wks., xiii., 119. Him they intended to disable by a trick then newly introduced amongst robbers, and termedhocussing,i.e., clandestinely drugging the liquor of the victim with laudanum.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Hocus… ‘Hocusthe bloke’s lush, and then frisk his sacks,’ put something into the fellow’s drink that will stupify him, and then search his pockets.1859.The Bulletin, 21 May. An offence which goes by the name ofhocussing, and which consists of an evil doer furtively introducing laudanum or some other narcotic into beer or spirits, which the victim drinks and, becoming stupified thereby, is then easily robbed.1864.Dickens,Our Mutual Friend, bk. II., ch. xii. I will not say ahocussedwine, but fur from a wine as was ’elthy for the mind.Hocus-pocus,subs.(old: now recognised).—1. A juggler’s phrase. Hence a juggler’s (or impostor’s) stock in trade. AlsoHocus-trade.1639–61.Rump Songs.‘Vanity of Vanities.’ Ahocus-pocus, juggling Knight.1639–61.Rump Songs, ii., 156. ‘The Rump Ululant.’ Religion we made free ofhocus trade.1646.Randolph,Jealous Lovers, If I do not think women were got with riddling, whip me!Hocas Pocas, here you shall have me, and there you shall have me.1654.Gayton,Test. Notes Don. Quix., 46. This old fellow had not theHocas Pocasof Astrology.1675.Wycherley,Country Wife, iii., 2. That burlesque is ahocus-pocustrick they have got.d.1680.Butler,Remains(1759), ii., 122. With a little heaving and straining, would turn it into Latin, as Millehoco-pokiana, and a thousand such.1689.Marvell,Historical Poem, line 90. Withhocus-pocus.… They gain on tender consciences at night.c.1755.Adey,Candle in the Dark, p. 29. At the playing of every trick he used to say,hocus-pocus, tontus, talontus, vade celeriter jubeo.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.[325]1824–28.Landor,Imaginary Conversations[2nd Ed., ii., 275].Torke.What think you, for instance, ofHocus! Pocus!Johnson.Sir, those are exclamations of conjurors, as they call themselves.1883.Daily Telegraph, 26 Mar., p. 5, c. 3. The lock of hair, the dragon’s blood, and the stolen flour were only thehocus-pocusof her sham witchcraft like the transfixed waxen puppets of the sorcerers of the past.2. (old).—A trickster; a juggler; an impostor.1625.Jonson,Staple of News, ii. That was the old way, gossip, when Iniquity came in [on the stage] likeHokos Pokos, in a juggler’s jerkin, with false skirts, like the knave of clubs.1634.Hocus Pocus Junior,The Anatomie of Leger de main. [Title].1656.Blount,Glossographia, s.v.Hocus Pocus, a juggler, one that shows tricks by sleight of hand.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hocus-pocus, a Juggler that shews Tricks by Slight of Hand.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.3. (old).—A cheat; an imposition; a juggler’s trick.1713.Bentley,Free Thinking, 12. Our author is playinghocus-pocusin the very similitude he takes from that juggler.4. (old).—SeeHocus, sense 2.Adj.(old).—Cheating; fraudulent.1715.Addison,The Drummer. If thou hast anyhocus-pocustricks to play, why can’st not do them here?1725–29.Mason,Horace, iv., 8. Suchhocus-pocustricks, I own, Belong to Gallic bards alone.1759.Macklin,Love à la Mode, ii., 1. The law is a sort ofhocus-pocusscience that smiles in yer face while it picks your pocket.Verb(old).—To cheat; to trick.Hod(orBrother Hod),subs.(common).—A bricklayer’s labourer.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Hod of Mortar,subs. phr.(rhyming).—A pot of porter.Hoddy-Doddy(orHoddie-doddie),subs.(old).—A short thick-set man or woman. The full expression is ‘Hoddy Doddy, all arse and no body.’—Grose.For synonyms,seeForty-guts. Also a fool.c.1534.Udall,Roister Doister, i., I. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iii., 58). Sometimes I hang on Hankynhoddy-doddy’ssleeve.1596.Ben Jonson,Every Man in his Humour, iv., 8. Well, good wife bawd, Cob’s wife, and you, That make your husband such ahoddy-doddy.1639–61.Rump Songs, ii. [1662], 55. Every noddy … will … cryhoddy-doddyHere’s a Parliament all arse and no body.1723.Swift,Mary the Cookmaid’s Letter(Chalmers,Eng. Poets, 1810, xi., 433). My master is a personable man, and not a spindle-shankedHoddy-doddy.Hoddy-peak(or-Peke),subs.(old).—A fool; a cuckold.d.1529.Skelton,Poems, ‘Duke of Albany.’ Gyue it up, And cry creke Lyke anhuddy peke.1551.W. Still,Gammer Gurton, O. P., ii., 45. Art here again, thouhoddypeke?1554.Christopherson,Exh. ag. Rebel. They counte peace to be cause of ydelnes, and that it maketh menhodi-pekesand cowardes.d.1555.Latimer,Sermons, fol. 44, b. What, ye brainsicke fooles, yehoddy-peakes, ye doddy poules.1560.Nice Wanton(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ii., 164). Yea, marry, I warrant you, masterhoddy-peak.1589.Nashe,Anatomie of Absurdities, b. Who, under her husband’s thathoddy-peke’snose, Must have all the destilling dew of his delicate rose.[326]1594.Nashe,Unf. Trav., 106 [Chiswick Press, 1891.] No other apte meanes had this poore shee captived Cicely to worke herhoddy peakehusband a proportionable plague to hisjealousy.Hodge,subs.(colloquial).—A farm labourer; a rustic.1589.Greene,Menaphon, p. 58 [ed. Arber, 1880]. These Arcadians are giuen to take the benefit of euerieHodge.1675.A. Marvel,Satire.Hodge’sVision from the Monument.[Title.]1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hodge, a Country Clown, also Roger.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1791.Smart,Fables, xiii., 27. Is that the care (quothHodge)? O rare!1880.Richard Jefferies,Hodgeand his Masters.[Title.]1884.Mrs. Craik, inEng. Ill. Mag., Mar., p. 356. Quite different from the bovine, agriculturalHodgeof the midland counties.1893.National Observer, 25 Feb., ix., 358. ‘Pay me an infinitesimal sum,’ Lord Winchilsea says (in effect) toHodge, ‘and you shall have a weekly newspaper for nothing.’Hodge-podge(orHotch-potch),subs.(old: now recognised).—A mixture; a medley. Sp.,commistrajo.SeeHotch-potch.1553–99.Spenser,State of Ireland. They have made our English tongue a galimaufrey, orhodgepodgeof all otherspeeches.1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., i., 199. SomeCollier-likeSaint, … Had rak’d ahodg podgfor the Devil.1726.Vanbrugh,Journey to London. They were all got into a sort ofhodge-podgeargument for the good of the nation which I did not well understand.d.1764.Lloyd,Poems(774), ‘A Tale.’ Was ever such anhodge-podgeseen.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hodman, (Oxford Univ.).—A scholar from Westminster School admitted to Christ Church College, Oxford.1728.Bailey,Eng. Dict., s.v.Hodman.Hodmandod,subs.(old).—1. A snail in his shell—Bacon.SeeDoddy.1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, v., 4 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 525). Painted snails with houses on their backs, and horns as big as Dutch cows.… Can any woman be honest that lets suchhodmandodscrawl o’er her virgin breast and belly?1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1728.Bailey,Eng. Dict., s.v.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.2. (old).—A Hottentot.1686.Captain Cowleyin HarrisVoyages, i., 82. We walked, moreover, without the town to the villages inhabited by thehodmandods, to view their nasty bodies.Hoe.To hoe in(American Univ.).—To work with vigour;to swot(q.v.).To hoe one’s own row,verb. phr.(American).—To do one’s own work.Hard row to hoe.SeeHard Row.Hoe-down,subs.(American).—A negro dance; abreakdown(q.v.).Hog,subs.(old).—1. A shilling: also a sixpence: and (in America) a ten-cent piece. For synonyms,seeBlow.Half-a-hog= sixpence, or five-cent piece.1688.Shadwell,Squire of Alsatia, s.v.Hog, a shilling.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hog, You Darkman Budge, will you Fence yourhogat the next Boozing ken?[327]1714.Memoirs of John Hall(4th Ed.), p. 12, s.v.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v. Half aHog, Six-Pence.1809–12.Miss Edgeworth,Ennui, ch. vi. ‘It’s only a tester or ahogthey want your honour to give ’em, to drink your honour’s health,’ said Paddy. ‘Ahogto drink my health?’ ‘Ay, that is a thirteen, plase your honour; all as one as an English shilling.’1825.Egan,Life of an Actor, ch. iv. You shall have … eighteenhoga week, and a benefit which never fails.1842.Thackeray,Cox’s DiaryinComic Almanack, p. 237. Do you think I’m a-going to kill my horses, and break my precious back, and bust my carriage, and carry you, and your kids, and your traps, for sixhog?1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. i., p. 529. The slang phrases are constantly used by the street lads; thus a sixpence is a ‘tanner’; a shilling a ‘bob,’ or ahog.… The collections of coin dealers amply show, that the figure of a hog was anciently placed on a small silver coin.1857.Mrs. Mathews,Tea Table Talk, p. 207. The shopwoman satisfied Suett after her fashion, that his little lump of Suett had absorbed flour and lard (pastry) to the amount of what her queer customer would have termed ahog.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Hog, a ten-cent piece.2. (colloquial).—A foul-mouthed blackguard; a dirty feeder. Also, a common glutton.1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes, s.v.Ciro, ahogge, a swine, a filthie fellowe.1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 69. ’Arry’s ahogwhen he feeds.3. (Cambridge Univ.: obsolete).—A student of St. John’s. Also,Johnian Hog.SeeCrackle,Bridge of Grunts, andIsthmus of Suez.1690.Diary of Abraham de la Pryme(Surtees Society, No. 54), quoted inNotes and Queries, 6, S. xi., 328. For us Jonians are called abusivelyhoggs.1795.Gent. Mag., lxv., 22. TheJohnian hogswere originally remarkable on account of the squalid figures and low habits of thestudents, and especially of thesizarsof SaintJohn’sCollege. [Another story of how name originated is given in detail inGent. Mag.(1795), lxv., 107.]1889.Whibley,In Cap and Gown, p. 28. An obsolete name for members of St. John’s College, Cambridge.4. (old Scots’).—A yearling sheep.1796.Burns,Poems. What will I do gin myhoggiedie, my joy, my friend, myhoggie.5. (American).—An inhabitant of Chicago. [That city being a notable pig-breeding and pork-packing centre.]6. (old).—A Hampshireman.1770.Lord Hailes,Ancient Scottish Poems, ‘Dance of the Seven Deadly Sins.’ Note on line 115. And thus his ill-bred raillery will be like that of Essex calves,Hampshirehogs, Middlesex mongrels, Norfolk dumplings, Welsh goats, etc.Verb(American).—1. To cheat; to humbug;to gammon(q.v.).1867.Browne(Artemus Ward). ‘Among the Mormons’, ii., 10. Go my son, andHogthe public.2. (venery).—To copulate. For synonymsseeGreensandRide.3. (stables).—To cut short;e.g., tohoga horse’s mane.Ahog in armour,subs. phr.(old).—A lout in fine clothes. Also aJack-in-office;Hog-in-togs= (in America) a well-dressed loafer. [Hog=Hodge(q.v.), a rustic.]1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hog… an awkward, or mean looking man or woman, finely dressed, is said to look like ahog in armour.[328]Hog and hominy,subs. phr.(American).—Plain fare;Common doings(q.v.). [Pork and maize are the two cheapest food stuffs in the U.S.A.]To go the whole hog.SeeWhole Animal.To bring one’s hogs(orpigs)to a fine market,verb. phr.(old).—To do well; to make a gooddeal(q.v.). Also, in sarcasm, the opposite.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew., s.v.He has brought his hoggs to a fair market, or he has Spun a fair Thread.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hog.…He has brought his hogs to a fine market, a saying of one who has been remarkably successful in his affairs, and is spoken ironically to signify the contrary.To drive one’s hogs(orpigs) tomarket,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To snore.1738.Swift,Polite Conversations, ii., 455. I’gad he fell asleep, and snored so loud that we thought he wasdriving his hogs to market.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hog.… todrive one’s hogs, to snore, the noise made by some persons in snoring being not much unlike the notes of that animal.Hog-age,subs.(American).—The period between boyhood and manhood.Cf.,Hobbledehoy.Hogan-mogan,subs.(old).—Seequot.1892.Aitken,Satires of Andrew Marvell, p. 128. The States General of the United provinces were officially addressed as High and Mighty Lords, or in Dutch, Hoogmogenden; hence English satirists called themhogans-mogans, and applied the phrase to Dutchmen in general.Cf.,Hoganmoganides, or the Dutch Hudibras(1694), and ‘A New Song on thehogan-mogans’ in ‘A Collection of the Newest Poems … against Popery, etc.’ (1689).Hog-grubber,subs.(old).—A miser; a niggard; amean cuss(q.v.).1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Ahog-grubber, … a narrow-soul’d sneaking Fellow.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hog Grubber, a mean stingy fellow.Hogmagundy(orHoughmagandie),subs.(Scots).—Copulation. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.1786.Burns,The Holy Fair[last stanza]. There’s some are fou o’ love divine, There’s some are fou o’ brandy; An’ mony jobs that day begin, May end inhougmagandieSome ither day.Hogmenay,subs.(old Scots’).—1. New Year’s Eve, which is a national festival. [The origin has been the subject of much discussion.]1776.Brand,Popular Antiquities, p. 102. Sirs, do you whatHagmanesignifies? It is the devil be in the house.1793.The Bee, 10 July, p. 17. The night preceding that festivalHoggmonay.1879.James Napier,Folk Lore, p. 154. After the Reformation, the Scotch transferredHagmanay[from Xmas Eve] to the last day of December, as a preparation day for the New Year.2. Hence a wanton. [The feast is celebrated with much drink and not a little license.]Hogo,subs.(old).—A flavour; an aroma; a relish. Hence, in irony, and by corruption, a stink.Cf.,Fogo. [From Fr.,haut goût.]SeeHigh, sense 2.1569.Erasmus, Trans.Praise of Folly, p. 13 [1709]. Pleasure thathaut-goustof Folly.1639–61.Rump Songs.‘A Vindication of the Rump.’ Oh! what aHogowas there.[329]1645.Howell,Letters, V., xxxviii., p. 42. He can marinat fish, make gellies, and is excellent for apickantsawce, and thehaugou.1653.Walton,Compleat Angler, I., ch. vii. To give the sawce ahogoelet the dish (into which you let the Pike fall) be rubed with it [garlick].1656.Choyce Drollery, p. 34. And why not say a word or two Of she that’s just? witnesse all who Have ever been at thyho-go.1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, iii., 2 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 451). We’ll work ourselves into such a sauce as you can never surfeit on, and yet nohogough.1667.Cowley,Government of Oliver Cromwell, Prose Works (Pickering, 1826), 94. Cromwell … found out the truehogoof this pleasure, and rejoiced in the extravagance of his ways.1672.Wycherley,Love in a Wood, ii., 1. She has … no more teeth left than such as give ahaut goutto her breath.1686.Twelve Ingenious Characters.A bad husband is an inconsiderate piece of sottish extravagance; for though he consist of several ill ingredients, yet still good fellowship is thecausa sine qua non, and gives him theho-go.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hogo.1705–7.Ward,Hudibras Redivivus, Vol. I., Pt. vi., p. 4. Most stinking meat, Toss’d up with leeks intoRaggoo, To overcome the unsav’ryhogo.1718.Durfey,Pills, iii., 177. ‘Let’s drink and be merry.’ Your most Beautiful Bit, that hath all Eyes upon her, That her Honesty sells for ahogoof Honour.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hogo… it has a confoundedhogo, it stinks confoundedly.Hogshead.To couch a hogshead,verb. phr.(Old Cant).—Seequot. For synonyms,seeBalmy.1567.Harman,Caveat(1814), p. 66.To couch a hogshead: to ly downe and slepe.Ibid., Icouched a hogsheadin a skypper this darkemans.Hog-shearing,subs.(old).—Much ado about nothing; great cry and little wool.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hog.Labour in vain, which the Latines express by Goats-wooll, as the English by theshearing of Hoggs.Hogs-norton.To have been born at Hogs-Norton,verb. phr.(old).—To be ill-mannered.d.1666.Howell,Eng. Proverbs, p. 16. I think thou wastborn at Hoggs-Norton, where piggs play upon the organs.1676.Marvel,Mr. Smirke[Grosart], iv., p. 89. A pair of organs of cats which he had done well to have made the pigs atHogs-Nortonplay on.Hogstye of Venus,subs. phr.(venery).—Seequot. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.1598.Florio,Worlde of Wordes, s.v.Porcile di venere, thehog-stye of Venus, a womans privities or geare.Hog-wash,subs.(common).—1. Bad liquor; specifically,rot-gut(q.v.).2. (journalists’).—Worthless newspaper matter;slush,swash, andflub-dub(q.v.).Hoi polloi,subs. phr.(university).—The candidates for ordinary degrees. [From the Greek.]Cf.,Gulf.Hoist,subs.(old).—A shop-lifter; also a confederate hoisting or helping a thief to reach an open window.The Hoist= shop-lifting.To go upon the hoist= to enter a house by an open window.1796.Grose,Vulg. Tongue(3rd Ed.), s.v.Hoist.This is done by the assistance of a confederate calledthe hoist, who leans his head against the wall, making his back a kind of step or ascent.—Grose.1819.Vaux,Cant. Dict.Hoist, thegameof shop-lifting is calledthe hoist; a person expert at this practice is said to bea good hoist.[330]1821.Haggart,Life, p. 38. We were principally engagedupon the hoysand coreing.Verb(thieves’).—1. To practise shop-lifting; to rob by means ofthe hoist(q.v.).2. (American).—To run away; to decamp. For synonyms,seeAmputateandSkedaddle.1847.Porter,Quarter Race, etc., p. 174. Jisthist, and take yourself off.3. (common).—To drink.E.g., Will youhoist? = will you have a liquor?;Hoisting= drinking;On the hoist= on the drunk. Also ahoist in.To give a hoist,verb. phr.(tailors’).—To do a bad turn.To have(ordo)a hoist in,verb. phr.(venery).—To copulate. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.Hoister,subs.(old).—1. A shop-lifter; ahoist(q.v., sense 1). Also a pickpocket.1847–50.J. H. Jesse,London, i., 30. He that could take out a counter without any noise was allowed to be a publichoyster. N.B.—That a hoyster is a pickpocket.2. (common).—A sot. For synonyms,seeLushington.Hoisting(orHoist-lay),subs.(thieves’).—1. Shop-lifting.The hoist(q.v.). Also shaking a man head downwards, so that his money rolls out of his pockets.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.1821.D. Haggart,Life, glossary, p. 172.Hoys, shop-lifting.1868.Temple Bar, xxiv., 534. She can secrete articles about her dress when in a shop looking at things, and that’s one way ofhoisting.2. (old).—Seequot.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hoisting, a ludicrous ceremony, formerly performed on every soldier, the first time he appeared in the field, after being married: as soon as the regiment, or company, had grounded their arms, to rest awhile; three or four men of the same company, to which the bridegroom belonged, seized upon him, and putting a couple of bayonets out of the two corners of his hat, to represent horns, it was placed on his head, the back part foremost, he was then hoisted on the shoulders of two strong fellows, and carried round the arms, a drum and fife beating and playing, the pioneers call, namedRound-heads and Cuckolds, but on this occasion stiled theCuckold’s March; in passing the colours, he was to take off his hat.… This in some regiments was practised by the officers on their brethren.Hoit(orHoyt),verb.(old).—To be noisily or riotously inclined.1611.BeaumontandFletcher,Knight of the Burning Pestle, iv., 1. He sings, andhoyts, and revels among his drunken companions.Hoity-toity.SeeHighty-tighty.Hokey-pokey,subs.(common).—1. A cheat; a swindle; nonsense. [FromHocus Pocus.]2. (common).—A cheap ice-cream sold in the streets.Holborn Hill.To ride backwards up Holborn Hill,verb. phr.(old colloquial).—To go to the gallows. [The way was thence to Tyburn, criminals riding backwards.—Grose.]1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, ii., 1.Urs.Up the heavyhill—Knock. OfHolbourn, Ursula, mean’st thou so? for what, for what, pretty Urse?Urs.For cutting halfpenny purses, or stealing little penny dogs out o’ the Fair.1659.Harry White’s Humour(Nares). Item, he loves to ride when he is weary, yet at certaine times he holds it ominous to ride upHolborne.1695.Congreve,Love for Love, ii., 7. Sirrah, you’ll be hanged; I shall live to see yougo up Holborn hill.[331]Hold,verb.(old).—1. To bet; to wager.SeeDo you hold?1534.Udall,Roister Doister, i., 2 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iii., 7). Iholda groat ye will drink anon of this gear.1551.W. Still,Gammer Gurton’s Needle, iii., 3 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iii., 216, andpassim). Iholdthee a groat I shall patch thy coat.1697.Vanbrugh,Provoked Wife, ii., 1. I’llholdyou a guinea you don’t make her tell it you.1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., ii., 54. I’llholdye five Guineas to four.2. (venery) (orHold it).—To be impregnated; to be got with child. [In certain parts of Scotland, it is said, a farm servant stating that she “disnahaud” commands double wages.]To hold on to,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To apply oneself; to be persistent: generally,to hold on like grim death.1848.Ruxton,Life in the Far West, p. 71. He recovered, and wiselyheld on tofor the future.Hold up,verb. phr.(American and Australian).—1. To rob on the highway;to bail or stick up(q.v.). Also assubs.= a highwayman orroad-agent(q.v.).1888.Detroit Free Press, 8 Dec. One manheld upsix stage passengers in Arizona the other day and robbed them of $2,000. Each was armed, but it is customary to submit out there, and so up went their hands.1888.Detroit Free Press, 13 Oct. Mounted on a white horse, he started on a land-prospecting tour and ran against a party ofhold-ups.1892.Lippincott, Oct., p. 495. Wouldholdthe trainupuntil I had finished.2. (thieves’).—To arrest. For synonyms,seeNab.To hold the stage,verb. phr.(theatrical).—To have the chief place on the boards and the eye of an audience. Fr.,avoir les planches.To hold a candle to(the devil, etc.),verb. phr.(colloquial).—SeeDevil, and add the following quot.1868.ReadeandBoucicault,Foul Play, p. 65. But you see, sir, he has got the ear of the merchant ashore; and so I am obliged tohold a candle to the devil.To hold a candle to,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To vie with; to be comparable to; also to assist in or condone.1886.R. L. Stevenson,Kidnapped, p. 79. They had killed poor Ransome; and was I tohold the candle toanother murder?To hold(orhang)on by the eyelids,eyelashesoreyebrows,verb. phr.(common).—To pursue an object desperately; to insist upon a point; to carry on a forlorn hope.Seealso quot. andSplash Board.1883.Clark Russell,Sailor’s Language, p. 69.Holding on with his eyelids.Said of a man aloft with nothing much to lay hold of.To hold in hand,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To amuse; to possess the attention or the mind; to have in one’s pocket.To hold the market,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To buy stock and hold it to so large an extent that the price cannot decline.Do you hold?phr.(streets).—Have you money to lend? Can you stand treat?Cf.verb., sense 1.[332]Hold your horses,phr.(American).—Go easy; don’t get excited: a general injunction to calm in act and speech.Hold your jaw,phr.(colloquial).—Hold your tongue;stow your gab(q.v.).Hold hard!(oron)!intj.(colloquial).—Wait a moment! don’t be in a hurry!1761.Colman,Jealous Wife, V., inWks.(1777), i., 130.Hold hard! hold hard!you are all on a wrong scent.1835.Dickens,Sketches by Boz, p. 280. ‘Hold hard!’ said the conductor; ‘I’m blowed if we ha’n’t forgot the gen’lm’n as vas to be set down at Doory-lane.’1864.E. Yates,Broken to Harness, ch. iv., p. 38 (1873). I told Meaburn tohold on, and we’d get a rise out of Punch.Hold-stitch.—SeeStitch.Hold-water.—SeeWater.Hold-out,subs.(gambling).—An old-fashioned apparatus, in poker, for ‘holding out’ desirable cards.Hole(venery).—1. The femalepudendum. Also,Hole of Content, andHole(orQueen)of Holes. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.To give a hole to hide it in=to grant the favour(q.v.). [Hence, by a play upon words,Holy of Holies.]1595.Shakspeare,Romeo and Juliet, ii., 4. This drivelling love is like a great natural, that runs lolling up and down to hide hisbauble(q.v.) in ahole.1598.Florio,Worlde of Wordes, s.v.Carnafau, the brat-getting place, orhole of content.1620.Percy,Folio MS., p. 197. … He light in aholeere he was aware!1647–80.Rochester,Poems. Thou mighty princess, lovelyqueen of holes.d.1649.Drummond,Posthumous Poems, ‘The Statue of Alcides.’ Fair nymph, in ancient days, yourholes, by far, Were not so hugely vast as now they are.1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., iv., 72. It has a head much like a Mole’s, And yet it loves to creep inholes: The fairest She that e’er took Life, For love of this became a Wife.2. (old).—A cell;cf.,Hell, sense 1.1540.Lindsay,Thrie Estaits, line 1016. Wee have gart bind him with ane poill, And send him to the theifishoill.1607.Miseries of Enforced Marriage, iii., I. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875. ix., 514). If you shall think … it shall accord with the state of gentry to submit myself from the feather-bed in the master’s side, or the flock-bed in the knight’s ward, to the straw-bed in thehole.1607.Wentworth Smith,The Puritan, iii. But if e’er we clutch him again the Counter shall charm him.Rav.Theholeshall rot him.1657.Walks of Hogsdon.Next from the stocks, thehole, and little-ease.1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, iv., 2 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 482). Make his mittymus to theholeat Newgate.3. (old).—A private printing office where unlicensed books were made; acock-robin shop(q.v.).—Moxon, 1683.4. (colloquial).—A difficulty; a fix; on the turf,to be in a hole= to lose (a bet) or be defeated (of horses).1760–61.Smollett,Sir L. Greaves, ch. xvi. I should be in a deadlyholemyself if all my customers should take it into their heads to drink nothing but water-gruel.1868.Ouida,Under Two Flags, ch. i. ‘I am in a hole—no end of ahole.’5. (common).—A place of abode; specifically, a mean habitation; a dirty lodging. For synonyms,seeDiggings.6. (common).—Therectum: short forarse-hole.E.g.,suck his hole= a derisive retort upon an affirmative answer to the[333]question, ‘Do you know So-and-So?’ For synonyms,seeMonocular Eyeglass.1383.Chaucer,Canterbury Tales, ‘The Miller’s Tale.’ And at the window she put out hirhole.1540.Lindsay,Thrie Estaits, line 2174. Lift vp hir clais: Kis hirhoillwith your hart.1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, v., 3. A pox o’ your manners, kiss myholehere, and smell.1649.Drummond,Madrigals and Epigrams, ‘A Jest’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, x., 667). She turned, and turning up herholebeneath, Said, ‘Sir, kiss here.’d.1732.Gay,Tales‘In Imitation of Chaucer’s Style’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, x., 504). Thou didst forget to guard thy postern, There is anholewhich hath not crossed been.Verb(venery).—To effect intromission; toput in(q.v.). Hence,Holed,adj.=in(q.v.).A hole in one’s coat,subs. phr.(colloquial).—A flaw in one’s fame; a weak spot in one’s character.To pick a hole in one’s coat= to find a cause for censure.1789.Burns,Verses on Capt. Grose. If there’s ahole in a’ your coats, I rede you tent it.To make(orburn)a hole in one’s pocket,verb. phr.(colloquial).—Said of money recklessly spent.To make a hole in anything,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To use up largely.1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, iii., 5 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 456). Do it then, and make aholein this angel.To make a hole in the water,verb. phr.(common).—To commit suicide by drowning.1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 76. I should justmake a hole in the water, if ’tworn’t for the wife and the kids.To make a hole,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To break; to spoil; to upset; to interrupt. Thus tomake a hole in one’s manners= to be rude; tomake a hole in one’s reputation= to betray, to seduce; tomake a hole in the silence= to make a noise, toraise cain(q.v.).Too drunk to see a hole in a ladder,phr.(common).—Excessively intoxicated. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.Hole-and-corner,adj.(colloquial).—Secret; underhand; out of the way:e.g.,hole-and-corner work= shady business. Also (venery) = copulation. [Cf.,Hole,subs.sense 1.]Holer(alsoHolemonger),subs.(colloquial).—A whoremaster (cf.,Hole,subs., sense 1). Also (old), a harlot; a light woman (cf.,Hole,verb.). Hence,Holing= whoring.Holiday,adj.(old).—Unskilled; indifferent; careless.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Holiday,a holiday bowler, a bad bowler.Blind Man’s Holiday.See ante.To have a holiday at Peckham,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To go dinnerless.All holiday at Peckham= no work and nothing to eat. [A play upon words.]SeePeckish.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum.All holiday at Peckham… a saying signifying that it is all over with the business or person spoken of or alluded to.[334]1848.Forster,Oliver Goldsmith, bk. I., ch. vi., p. 55 (5th Ed.). ‘Oh, that isall a holiday at Peckham,’ said an old friend very innocently one day.To take a holiday,verb. phr.(common).—To be dismissed; to get thebag(q.v.) orsack(q.v.)Gone for a holiday,adv. phr.(colloquial).—Said of a flaw, lapse, or imperfection of any kind (as dropped stitches, lost buttons, slurred painting, and so forth).Seealso quots.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Holiday… a holiday is any part of a ship’s bottom, left uncovered in painting it.1883.Clark Russell,Sailors’ Language, p. 69, s.v.Holidays.Places left untarred on shrouds, backstays, etc., during the operation of tarring them.Holler,verb.(American).—To cry enough; to give in; tocave in(q.v.).1847.Porter,Quarter Race, etc., p. 89. The truth must come, he warped me nice, So jist to save his time Ihollered.Hollis,subs.(Winchester College).—A small pebble. [Said to be derived from a boy.—Notions.]Hollow,adj.(colloquial).—Complete; certain; decided. Asadv.completely; utterly.E.g., to beat or lickhollow.SeeBeatandCreation.1759.Townley,High Life Below Stairs, i., 2. Crab was beathollow.1761.Colman,Jealous Wife, V., inWks.(1777), i., 134. So, my lord, you and I are both distanced: ahollowthing, damme.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Hollow.It was quite ahollowthing,i.e., a certainty, or decided business.1814.Edgworth,Patronage, ch. iii. Squire Burton won the matchhollow.1837.Barham,Ingoldsby Legends. ‘Bloudie Jack.’ His lines to Apollo Beat all the resthollowAnd gained him the Newdegate Prize.1852.Dickens,Bleak House, ch. lxiv., p. 529. I have therefore taken a ’ouse in that locality, which, in the opinion of my friends, is ahollowbargain (taxes ridiculous, and use of fixtures included in the rent).1871.Durham County Advertiser, 10 Nov. ‘It licks mehollow, sir, as I may say,’ put in the silent member.1892.Punch, 9 July, p. 3. Booby-traps were beatenhollow.Holloway,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.Holloway,Middlesex(common).—The lower bowel; thearse-gut(q.v.).Holt,verb.(American).—To take; to take hold of.Holus-bolus,subs.(nautical).—The head. Also the neck.Adv.(colloquial).—Helter skelter; altogether; first come, first served.1868.Wilkie Collins,The Moonstone, 1st Period, ch. xv. And, making a sudden snatch at the heap of silver, put it back,holus-bolus, in her pocket.Holy.More holy than righteous,adv. phr.(common).—Said of a person in rags, or of a tattered garment.Holy-boys,subs.(military).—TheNinth Foot. [From a trick of selling bibles for drink in the Peninsula.] Also,Fighting Ninth.1886.Tinsley’s Magazine, Apr., 322. The 9th having bartered their Bibles in Spain for wine, and having there gained a reputation for sacking monasteries, were long known as theHoly Boys.[335]Holy-father,subs.(Irish).—Seequot.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Holy Father, A butcher’s boy of St. Patrick’s Market, Dublin, or other Irish blackguard; among whom the exclamation, or oath, by the Holy Father (meaning the Pope), is common.Holy Iron.SeeHoly Poker.Holy Joe,subs. phr.(colloquial).—A pious person, whether hypocritical or sincere. Also (nautical), a parson.Holy Jumping Mother of Moses.SeeMoses.Holy-lamb,subs.(old).—A thorough-paced villain.—Grose.Holy-land(orground),subs.(old).—1. St. Giles’s;Palestine(q.v.).1819.Moore,Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 7. For we are the boys of theholy ground, And we’ll dance upon nothing and turn us round.1821.The Fancy, i., p. 250. TheHoly-land, as St. Giles’s has been termed, in compliment to the superior purity of its Irish population.1821.Egan,Tom and Jerry, ch. ii. At Mammy O’Shaughnessy’s in the back Settlements of theHoly Land.1823.W. T. Moncrieff,Tom and Jerry, ii., 5. Let’s have a dive among the cadgers in the back slums, in theHoly Land.1843.Punch’s Almanack, 1 Sept. St. Giles. The Marquis of Waterford makes a pilgrimage to his shrine in theHoly Land.1859.Sala,Twice Round the Clock, one a.m., par. 28. Unfaithful topographers may have told you that theHoly Landbeing swept away and Buckeridge Street being pulled down, St. Giles’s exists no more.1891.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 3 Apr. p. 215, col. 1. It would be hard to say whether the Irishmen of theHoly Landor the Hebrew scum of Petticoat Lane showed the finest specimens of ‘looped and windowed raggedness.’2. (common).—Generic for any neighbourhood affected by Jews; specifically, Bayswater, and Brighton.Cf.,New Jerusalem, andHoly of Holies.Holy Moses.SeeMoses.Holy of Holies,subs. phr.(common).—1. The Grand Hotel at Brighton. [Which is largely tenanted by Jews:cf.,Holy Land(sense 2), andNew Jerusalem.]2. (colloquial).—A private room; asanctum(q.v.).1891.N. Gould,Double Event, p. 215. Fletcher did not venture into thatholy of holies.1893.WestminsterGaz., 31 Jan., p. 3, c. 2. The Cabinet Council is theholy of holiesof the British Constitution, and as Mr. Bagehot long ago regretted, no description of it at once graphic and authentic has ever been given.3. (venery).—SeeHole, sense 1, and for synonyms,Monosyllable.Holy Poker(orIron),subs. phr.(university).—The mace carried by an esquire bedel (of Law, Physic, or Divinity) as a badge of authority. [The term, which is applied to the bedels themselves, is very often used as an oath.]1840.Comic Almanack, ‘Tom the Devil,’ p, 214. A hotel’s the place for me! I’ve thried em all, from the Club-house at Kilkinny, to the Clarendon, and, by theholy poker, never wish mysilf worse luck than such cantonments!1870.London Figaro, 8 Oct., p. 2, col. 2. The bedels of a University are very important persons, although derisive undergraduates familiarly term themholy pokers.1886.R. L. Stevenson,Kidnapped, p. 169. I swear upon theholy ironI had neither art nor part.2. (venery).—Thepenis(by a play upon words).Cf.,Hole, sense 1,Holy of Holies, sense[336]3, andPoke. For synonyms,seeCreamstickandPrick.Holy-water Sprinkler,subs. phr.(old).—A mediæval weapon of offence; amorning star(q.v.).Home,subs.(colonial).—England.1893.Gentlemen’s Mag., Jan., p. 74. And then I learnt that byhomehe meant England, which, moreover, is referred to as ‘home’ by dusky myriads, who have never seen her cliffs rise above the waves.To get home,verb. phr.(colloquial).—1. To achieve an object; to succeed perfectly; and (athletic) to reach the winning post.1891.Sportsman, 26 Mar. A close struggle for the Palace Selling Plate ended in favour of Rosefield, who justgot homea head in front of Mordure.1892.Pall Mall Gaz., 23 Jan., 3, 2. It is delightful to watch Mr. Charles Hawtrey telling lie after lie to his unbelieving wife, and joyfully, in misplaced confidence, saying to himself, ‘I’vegot home.’2. (pugilists’).—To get in (a blow) with precision and effect;to land(q.v.). Also (old) to give a mortal wound.1559.Elyot,Dictionarium, 3rd. ed.Aere meo me lacessis, thou gevest me scoffe for scoffe, or as we saie, thoupaiest me home.1631.Chettle,Hoffman.Sax.Not any, Austria; neither toucht I thee.Aust.Somebodytoucht me home; vaine world farewell, Dying I fall on my dead Lucibell.1698.Farquhar,Love and a Bottle, iv., 3. But hark ye, George; don’t push toohome; have a care of whipping through the guts.1706.Farquhar,Recruiting Officer, ii., 1. That’shome.1888.Sporting Life, 10 Dec. In the next roundgot homeseveral times without a return.1891.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 19 June, p. 395, c. 3. Macgot homea terrific cross-counter with the left on Bob’s left eye, which seemed to split the flesh open both above and below.3. (turf).—To recover a loss; neither to win nor lose; to come out quits. Also,to bring oneself home.4. (venery).—To get with child. Also, to compel the sexual spasm.To make oneself at home,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To take one’s ease; to be familiar to the point of ill-breeding.1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 10. Asat homeas a cat in a cream-shop.To come home to,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To reach the conscience; to touch deeply.To go(send, orcarry)home(orto one’s last home),verb. phr.(colloquial).—To die; to kill; to bury. [The Chinese say ‘to go home horizontally.’]SeeAloft.1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes.Mandar ’al palegro, tosend to ones last home.1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.Home.Gone home, dead.Home-bird,subs.(colloquial).—A henpecked husband. Also, a milksop. Fr.,chauffe-la-couche(= warming-pan).Home for lost dogs,subs. phr.(medical).—A large and well known medical school in London. [From the fact that the majority of its inmates have strayed there from the various hospital schools, as a last resource toward taking a degree.][337]Home-rule,subs.(common).—Irish whiskey. For synonyms,seeDrinksandOld Man’s Milk.Home-sweet-home,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.Homo,subs.(old).—A man: generallyomee(q.v.). [From the Latin.] For synonyms,seeCove.Homoney,subs.(old).—A woman. For synonyms,seePetticoat. Also, a wife. For synonyms,seeDutchandCf.Homo.1754.Discoveries of John Poulter, p. 43. Myhomoneyis in quod, my wife is in gaol.Homo-opathise,verb.(American).—To get bills (i.e., petitions) through Legislature, Congress, or City Council, by means of bills (i.e., bank-bills).Hone,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum. Forsynonyms,seeMonosyllable.
In hock,adv. phr.(general).—Laid by the heels; fleeced;bested(q.v.).; and (thieves’), in prison.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum. ‘If the cove should be caughtin the hockhe won’t snickle,’ if the fellow should be caught in the act, he would not tell.Hock-dockies,subs.(old).—Shoes. For synonyms,seeTrotter-cases.1789.Geo. Parker,Life’s Painter, p. 173. Shoes.Hockey-dockeys.[324]Hockey,adj.(old).—Drunk, especially on stale beer. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.1796.Grose,Vulg. Tongue(3rd Ed.), s.v.Hocus,subs.(old: now recognised).—1. A cheat; an imposter. [An abbreviation ofhocus-pocus(q.v.).]1654.Witts Recreations.HereHocaslyes with his tricks and his knocks, Whom death hath made sure as a juglers box; Who many hath cozen’d by his leiger-demain, Is presto convey’d and here underlain. ThusHocashe’s here, and here he is not, While death plaid theHocas, and brought him to th’ pot.2. (old: now recognised).—Drugged liquor.1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.HocusorHocus Pocus.… A deleterious drug mixed with wine, etc., which enfeebles the person acted upon.Adj.(old).—Seequots. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.1725.New. Cant. Dict., s.v.Hocus, disguised in Liquor; drunk.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hocus Pocus, he is quitehocus, he is quite drunk.Verb(old: now recognised).—1. To cheat; to impose upon.2. (old: now recognised).—To drug;to snuff(q.v.).1836.Dickens,Pickwick, ch. xiii., p. 104. ‘What do you mean byhocussingbrandy and water?’ inquired Mr. Pickwick. ‘Puttin’ laund’num in it,’ replied Sam.1836.Comic Almanack, p. 1. For that wehocuss’dfirst his drink.1848.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, II., ch. xxix. Mr. Frederick Pigeon avers that it was at her house at Lausanne that he washocussedat supper and lost eight hundred pounds to Major Loder and the Honourable Mr. Deucease.1854.De Quincey,Murder as one of the Fine Arts,Wks., xiii., 119. Him they intended to disable by a trick then newly introduced amongst robbers, and termedhocussing,i.e., clandestinely drugging the liquor of the victim with laudanum.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Hocus… ‘Hocusthe bloke’s lush, and then frisk his sacks,’ put something into the fellow’s drink that will stupify him, and then search his pockets.1859.The Bulletin, 21 May. An offence which goes by the name ofhocussing, and which consists of an evil doer furtively introducing laudanum or some other narcotic into beer or spirits, which the victim drinks and, becoming stupified thereby, is then easily robbed.1864.Dickens,Our Mutual Friend, bk. II., ch. xii. I will not say ahocussedwine, but fur from a wine as was ’elthy for the mind.Hocus-pocus,subs.(old: now recognised).—1. A juggler’s phrase. Hence a juggler’s (or impostor’s) stock in trade. AlsoHocus-trade.1639–61.Rump Songs.‘Vanity of Vanities.’ Ahocus-pocus, juggling Knight.1639–61.Rump Songs, ii., 156. ‘The Rump Ululant.’ Religion we made free ofhocus trade.1646.Randolph,Jealous Lovers, If I do not think women were got with riddling, whip me!Hocas Pocas, here you shall have me, and there you shall have me.1654.Gayton,Test. Notes Don. Quix., 46. This old fellow had not theHocas Pocasof Astrology.1675.Wycherley,Country Wife, iii., 2. That burlesque is ahocus-pocustrick they have got.d.1680.Butler,Remains(1759), ii., 122. With a little heaving and straining, would turn it into Latin, as Millehoco-pokiana, and a thousand such.1689.Marvell,Historical Poem, line 90. Withhocus-pocus.… They gain on tender consciences at night.c.1755.Adey,Candle in the Dark, p. 29. At the playing of every trick he used to say,hocus-pocus, tontus, talontus, vade celeriter jubeo.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.[325]1824–28.Landor,Imaginary Conversations[2nd Ed., ii., 275].Torke.What think you, for instance, ofHocus! Pocus!Johnson.Sir, those are exclamations of conjurors, as they call themselves.1883.Daily Telegraph, 26 Mar., p. 5, c. 3. The lock of hair, the dragon’s blood, and the stolen flour were only thehocus-pocusof her sham witchcraft like the transfixed waxen puppets of the sorcerers of the past.2. (old).—A trickster; a juggler; an impostor.1625.Jonson,Staple of News, ii. That was the old way, gossip, when Iniquity came in [on the stage] likeHokos Pokos, in a juggler’s jerkin, with false skirts, like the knave of clubs.1634.Hocus Pocus Junior,The Anatomie of Leger de main. [Title].1656.Blount,Glossographia, s.v.Hocus Pocus, a juggler, one that shows tricks by sleight of hand.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hocus-pocus, a Juggler that shews Tricks by Slight of Hand.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.3. (old).—A cheat; an imposition; a juggler’s trick.1713.Bentley,Free Thinking, 12. Our author is playinghocus-pocusin the very similitude he takes from that juggler.4. (old).—SeeHocus, sense 2.Adj.(old).—Cheating; fraudulent.1715.Addison,The Drummer. If thou hast anyhocus-pocustricks to play, why can’st not do them here?1725–29.Mason,Horace, iv., 8. Suchhocus-pocustricks, I own, Belong to Gallic bards alone.1759.Macklin,Love à la Mode, ii., 1. The law is a sort ofhocus-pocusscience that smiles in yer face while it picks your pocket.Verb(old).—To cheat; to trick.Hod(orBrother Hod),subs.(common).—A bricklayer’s labourer.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Hod of Mortar,subs. phr.(rhyming).—A pot of porter.Hoddy-Doddy(orHoddie-doddie),subs.(old).—A short thick-set man or woman. The full expression is ‘Hoddy Doddy, all arse and no body.’—Grose.For synonyms,seeForty-guts. Also a fool.c.1534.Udall,Roister Doister, i., I. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iii., 58). Sometimes I hang on Hankynhoddy-doddy’ssleeve.1596.Ben Jonson,Every Man in his Humour, iv., 8. Well, good wife bawd, Cob’s wife, and you, That make your husband such ahoddy-doddy.1639–61.Rump Songs, ii. [1662], 55. Every noddy … will … cryhoddy-doddyHere’s a Parliament all arse and no body.1723.Swift,Mary the Cookmaid’s Letter(Chalmers,Eng. Poets, 1810, xi., 433). My master is a personable man, and not a spindle-shankedHoddy-doddy.Hoddy-peak(or-Peke),subs.(old).—A fool; a cuckold.d.1529.Skelton,Poems, ‘Duke of Albany.’ Gyue it up, And cry creke Lyke anhuddy peke.1551.W. Still,Gammer Gurton, O. P., ii., 45. Art here again, thouhoddypeke?1554.Christopherson,Exh. ag. Rebel. They counte peace to be cause of ydelnes, and that it maketh menhodi-pekesand cowardes.d.1555.Latimer,Sermons, fol. 44, b. What, ye brainsicke fooles, yehoddy-peakes, ye doddy poules.1560.Nice Wanton(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ii., 164). Yea, marry, I warrant you, masterhoddy-peak.1589.Nashe,Anatomie of Absurdities, b. Who, under her husband’s thathoddy-peke’snose, Must have all the destilling dew of his delicate rose.[326]1594.Nashe,Unf. Trav., 106 [Chiswick Press, 1891.] No other apte meanes had this poore shee captived Cicely to worke herhoddy peakehusband a proportionable plague to hisjealousy.Hodge,subs.(colloquial).—A farm labourer; a rustic.1589.Greene,Menaphon, p. 58 [ed. Arber, 1880]. These Arcadians are giuen to take the benefit of euerieHodge.1675.A. Marvel,Satire.Hodge’sVision from the Monument.[Title.]1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hodge, a Country Clown, also Roger.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1791.Smart,Fables, xiii., 27. Is that the care (quothHodge)? O rare!1880.Richard Jefferies,Hodgeand his Masters.[Title.]1884.Mrs. Craik, inEng. Ill. Mag., Mar., p. 356. Quite different from the bovine, agriculturalHodgeof the midland counties.1893.National Observer, 25 Feb., ix., 358. ‘Pay me an infinitesimal sum,’ Lord Winchilsea says (in effect) toHodge, ‘and you shall have a weekly newspaper for nothing.’Hodge-podge(orHotch-potch),subs.(old: now recognised).—A mixture; a medley. Sp.,commistrajo.SeeHotch-potch.1553–99.Spenser,State of Ireland. They have made our English tongue a galimaufrey, orhodgepodgeof all otherspeeches.1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., i., 199. SomeCollier-likeSaint, … Had rak’d ahodg podgfor the Devil.1726.Vanbrugh,Journey to London. They were all got into a sort ofhodge-podgeargument for the good of the nation which I did not well understand.d.1764.Lloyd,Poems(774), ‘A Tale.’ Was ever such anhodge-podgeseen.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hodman, (Oxford Univ.).—A scholar from Westminster School admitted to Christ Church College, Oxford.1728.Bailey,Eng. Dict., s.v.Hodman.Hodmandod,subs.(old).—1. A snail in his shell—Bacon.SeeDoddy.1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, v., 4 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 525). Painted snails with houses on their backs, and horns as big as Dutch cows.… Can any woman be honest that lets suchhodmandodscrawl o’er her virgin breast and belly?1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1728.Bailey,Eng. Dict., s.v.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.2. (old).—A Hottentot.1686.Captain Cowleyin HarrisVoyages, i., 82. We walked, moreover, without the town to the villages inhabited by thehodmandods, to view their nasty bodies.Hoe.To hoe in(American Univ.).—To work with vigour;to swot(q.v.).To hoe one’s own row,verb. phr.(American).—To do one’s own work.Hard row to hoe.SeeHard Row.Hoe-down,subs.(American).—A negro dance; abreakdown(q.v.).Hog,subs.(old).—1. A shilling: also a sixpence: and (in America) a ten-cent piece. For synonyms,seeBlow.Half-a-hog= sixpence, or five-cent piece.1688.Shadwell,Squire of Alsatia, s.v.Hog, a shilling.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hog, You Darkman Budge, will you Fence yourhogat the next Boozing ken?[327]1714.Memoirs of John Hall(4th Ed.), p. 12, s.v.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v. Half aHog, Six-Pence.1809–12.Miss Edgeworth,Ennui, ch. vi. ‘It’s only a tester or ahogthey want your honour to give ’em, to drink your honour’s health,’ said Paddy. ‘Ahogto drink my health?’ ‘Ay, that is a thirteen, plase your honour; all as one as an English shilling.’1825.Egan,Life of an Actor, ch. iv. You shall have … eighteenhoga week, and a benefit which never fails.1842.Thackeray,Cox’s DiaryinComic Almanack, p. 237. Do you think I’m a-going to kill my horses, and break my precious back, and bust my carriage, and carry you, and your kids, and your traps, for sixhog?1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. i., p. 529. The slang phrases are constantly used by the street lads; thus a sixpence is a ‘tanner’; a shilling a ‘bob,’ or ahog.… The collections of coin dealers amply show, that the figure of a hog was anciently placed on a small silver coin.1857.Mrs. Mathews,Tea Table Talk, p. 207. The shopwoman satisfied Suett after her fashion, that his little lump of Suett had absorbed flour and lard (pastry) to the amount of what her queer customer would have termed ahog.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Hog, a ten-cent piece.2. (colloquial).—A foul-mouthed blackguard; a dirty feeder. Also, a common glutton.1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes, s.v.Ciro, ahogge, a swine, a filthie fellowe.1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 69. ’Arry’s ahogwhen he feeds.3. (Cambridge Univ.: obsolete).—A student of St. John’s. Also,Johnian Hog.SeeCrackle,Bridge of Grunts, andIsthmus of Suez.1690.Diary of Abraham de la Pryme(Surtees Society, No. 54), quoted inNotes and Queries, 6, S. xi., 328. For us Jonians are called abusivelyhoggs.1795.Gent. Mag., lxv., 22. TheJohnian hogswere originally remarkable on account of the squalid figures and low habits of thestudents, and especially of thesizarsof SaintJohn’sCollege. [Another story of how name originated is given in detail inGent. Mag.(1795), lxv., 107.]1889.Whibley,In Cap and Gown, p. 28. An obsolete name for members of St. John’s College, Cambridge.4. (old Scots’).—A yearling sheep.1796.Burns,Poems. What will I do gin myhoggiedie, my joy, my friend, myhoggie.5. (American).—An inhabitant of Chicago. [That city being a notable pig-breeding and pork-packing centre.]6. (old).—A Hampshireman.1770.Lord Hailes,Ancient Scottish Poems, ‘Dance of the Seven Deadly Sins.’ Note on line 115. And thus his ill-bred raillery will be like that of Essex calves,Hampshirehogs, Middlesex mongrels, Norfolk dumplings, Welsh goats, etc.Verb(American).—1. To cheat; to humbug;to gammon(q.v.).1867.Browne(Artemus Ward). ‘Among the Mormons’, ii., 10. Go my son, andHogthe public.2. (venery).—To copulate. For synonymsseeGreensandRide.3. (stables).—To cut short;e.g., tohoga horse’s mane.Ahog in armour,subs. phr.(old).—A lout in fine clothes. Also aJack-in-office;Hog-in-togs= (in America) a well-dressed loafer. [Hog=Hodge(q.v.), a rustic.]1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hog… an awkward, or mean looking man or woman, finely dressed, is said to look like ahog in armour.[328]Hog and hominy,subs. phr.(American).—Plain fare;Common doings(q.v.). [Pork and maize are the two cheapest food stuffs in the U.S.A.]To go the whole hog.SeeWhole Animal.To bring one’s hogs(orpigs)to a fine market,verb. phr.(old).—To do well; to make a gooddeal(q.v.). Also, in sarcasm, the opposite.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew., s.v.He has brought his hoggs to a fair market, or he has Spun a fair Thread.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hog.…He has brought his hogs to a fine market, a saying of one who has been remarkably successful in his affairs, and is spoken ironically to signify the contrary.To drive one’s hogs(orpigs) tomarket,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To snore.1738.Swift,Polite Conversations, ii., 455. I’gad he fell asleep, and snored so loud that we thought he wasdriving his hogs to market.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hog.… todrive one’s hogs, to snore, the noise made by some persons in snoring being not much unlike the notes of that animal.Hog-age,subs.(American).—The period between boyhood and manhood.Cf.,Hobbledehoy.Hogan-mogan,subs.(old).—Seequot.1892.Aitken,Satires of Andrew Marvell, p. 128. The States General of the United provinces were officially addressed as High and Mighty Lords, or in Dutch, Hoogmogenden; hence English satirists called themhogans-mogans, and applied the phrase to Dutchmen in general.Cf.,Hoganmoganides, or the Dutch Hudibras(1694), and ‘A New Song on thehogan-mogans’ in ‘A Collection of the Newest Poems … against Popery, etc.’ (1689).Hog-grubber,subs.(old).—A miser; a niggard; amean cuss(q.v.).1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Ahog-grubber, … a narrow-soul’d sneaking Fellow.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hog Grubber, a mean stingy fellow.Hogmagundy(orHoughmagandie),subs.(Scots).—Copulation. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.1786.Burns,The Holy Fair[last stanza]. There’s some are fou o’ love divine, There’s some are fou o’ brandy; An’ mony jobs that day begin, May end inhougmagandieSome ither day.Hogmenay,subs.(old Scots’).—1. New Year’s Eve, which is a national festival. [The origin has been the subject of much discussion.]1776.Brand,Popular Antiquities, p. 102. Sirs, do you whatHagmanesignifies? It is the devil be in the house.1793.The Bee, 10 July, p. 17. The night preceding that festivalHoggmonay.1879.James Napier,Folk Lore, p. 154. After the Reformation, the Scotch transferredHagmanay[from Xmas Eve] to the last day of December, as a preparation day for the New Year.2. Hence a wanton. [The feast is celebrated with much drink and not a little license.]Hogo,subs.(old).—A flavour; an aroma; a relish. Hence, in irony, and by corruption, a stink.Cf.,Fogo. [From Fr.,haut goût.]SeeHigh, sense 2.1569.Erasmus, Trans.Praise of Folly, p. 13 [1709]. Pleasure thathaut-goustof Folly.1639–61.Rump Songs.‘A Vindication of the Rump.’ Oh! what aHogowas there.[329]1645.Howell,Letters, V., xxxviii., p. 42. He can marinat fish, make gellies, and is excellent for apickantsawce, and thehaugou.1653.Walton,Compleat Angler, I., ch. vii. To give the sawce ahogoelet the dish (into which you let the Pike fall) be rubed with it [garlick].1656.Choyce Drollery, p. 34. And why not say a word or two Of she that’s just? witnesse all who Have ever been at thyho-go.1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, iii., 2 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 451). We’ll work ourselves into such a sauce as you can never surfeit on, and yet nohogough.1667.Cowley,Government of Oliver Cromwell, Prose Works (Pickering, 1826), 94. Cromwell … found out the truehogoof this pleasure, and rejoiced in the extravagance of his ways.1672.Wycherley,Love in a Wood, ii., 1. She has … no more teeth left than such as give ahaut goutto her breath.1686.Twelve Ingenious Characters.A bad husband is an inconsiderate piece of sottish extravagance; for though he consist of several ill ingredients, yet still good fellowship is thecausa sine qua non, and gives him theho-go.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hogo.1705–7.Ward,Hudibras Redivivus, Vol. I., Pt. vi., p. 4. Most stinking meat, Toss’d up with leeks intoRaggoo, To overcome the unsav’ryhogo.1718.Durfey,Pills, iii., 177. ‘Let’s drink and be merry.’ Your most Beautiful Bit, that hath all Eyes upon her, That her Honesty sells for ahogoof Honour.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hogo… it has a confoundedhogo, it stinks confoundedly.Hogshead.To couch a hogshead,verb. phr.(Old Cant).—Seequot. For synonyms,seeBalmy.1567.Harman,Caveat(1814), p. 66.To couch a hogshead: to ly downe and slepe.Ibid., Icouched a hogsheadin a skypper this darkemans.Hog-shearing,subs.(old).—Much ado about nothing; great cry and little wool.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hog.Labour in vain, which the Latines express by Goats-wooll, as the English by theshearing of Hoggs.Hogs-norton.To have been born at Hogs-Norton,verb. phr.(old).—To be ill-mannered.d.1666.Howell,Eng. Proverbs, p. 16. I think thou wastborn at Hoggs-Norton, where piggs play upon the organs.1676.Marvel,Mr. Smirke[Grosart], iv., p. 89. A pair of organs of cats which he had done well to have made the pigs atHogs-Nortonplay on.Hogstye of Venus,subs. phr.(venery).—Seequot. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.1598.Florio,Worlde of Wordes, s.v.Porcile di venere, thehog-stye of Venus, a womans privities or geare.Hog-wash,subs.(common).—1. Bad liquor; specifically,rot-gut(q.v.).2. (journalists’).—Worthless newspaper matter;slush,swash, andflub-dub(q.v.).Hoi polloi,subs. phr.(university).—The candidates for ordinary degrees. [From the Greek.]Cf.,Gulf.Hoist,subs.(old).—A shop-lifter; also a confederate hoisting or helping a thief to reach an open window.The Hoist= shop-lifting.To go upon the hoist= to enter a house by an open window.1796.Grose,Vulg. Tongue(3rd Ed.), s.v.Hoist.This is done by the assistance of a confederate calledthe hoist, who leans his head against the wall, making his back a kind of step or ascent.—Grose.1819.Vaux,Cant. Dict.Hoist, thegameof shop-lifting is calledthe hoist; a person expert at this practice is said to bea good hoist.[330]1821.Haggart,Life, p. 38. We were principally engagedupon the hoysand coreing.Verb(thieves’).—1. To practise shop-lifting; to rob by means ofthe hoist(q.v.).2. (American).—To run away; to decamp. For synonyms,seeAmputateandSkedaddle.1847.Porter,Quarter Race, etc., p. 174. Jisthist, and take yourself off.3. (common).—To drink.E.g., Will youhoist? = will you have a liquor?;Hoisting= drinking;On the hoist= on the drunk. Also ahoist in.To give a hoist,verb. phr.(tailors’).—To do a bad turn.To have(ordo)a hoist in,verb. phr.(venery).—To copulate. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.Hoister,subs.(old).—1. A shop-lifter; ahoist(q.v., sense 1). Also a pickpocket.1847–50.J. H. Jesse,London, i., 30. He that could take out a counter without any noise was allowed to be a publichoyster. N.B.—That a hoyster is a pickpocket.2. (common).—A sot. For synonyms,seeLushington.Hoisting(orHoist-lay),subs.(thieves’).—1. Shop-lifting.The hoist(q.v.). Also shaking a man head downwards, so that his money rolls out of his pockets.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.1821.D. Haggart,Life, glossary, p. 172.Hoys, shop-lifting.1868.Temple Bar, xxiv., 534. She can secrete articles about her dress when in a shop looking at things, and that’s one way ofhoisting.2. (old).—Seequot.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hoisting, a ludicrous ceremony, formerly performed on every soldier, the first time he appeared in the field, after being married: as soon as the regiment, or company, had grounded their arms, to rest awhile; three or four men of the same company, to which the bridegroom belonged, seized upon him, and putting a couple of bayonets out of the two corners of his hat, to represent horns, it was placed on his head, the back part foremost, he was then hoisted on the shoulders of two strong fellows, and carried round the arms, a drum and fife beating and playing, the pioneers call, namedRound-heads and Cuckolds, but on this occasion stiled theCuckold’s March; in passing the colours, he was to take off his hat.… This in some regiments was practised by the officers on their brethren.Hoit(orHoyt),verb.(old).—To be noisily or riotously inclined.1611.BeaumontandFletcher,Knight of the Burning Pestle, iv., 1. He sings, andhoyts, and revels among his drunken companions.Hoity-toity.SeeHighty-tighty.Hokey-pokey,subs.(common).—1. A cheat; a swindle; nonsense. [FromHocus Pocus.]2. (common).—A cheap ice-cream sold in the streets.Holborn Hill.To ride backwards up Holborn Hill,verb. phr.(old colloquial).—To go to the gallows. [The way was thence to Tyburn, criminals riding backwards.—Grose.]1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, ii., 1.Urs.Up the heavyhill—Knock. OfHolbourn, Ursula, mean’st thou so? for what, for what, pretty Urse?Urs.For cutting halfpenny purses, or stealing little penny dogs out o’ the Fair.1659.Harry White’s Humour(Nares). Item, he loves to ride when he is weary, yet at certaine times he holds it ominous to ride upHolborne.1695.Congreve,Love for Love, ii., 7. Sirrah, you’ll be hanged; I shall live to see yougo up Holborn hill.[331]Hold,verb.(old).—1. To bet; to wager.SeeDo you hold?1534.Udall,Roister Doister, i., 2 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iii., 7). Iholda groat ye will drink anon of this gear.1551.W. Still,Gammer Gurton’s Needle, iii., 3 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iii., 216, andpassim). Iholdthee a groat I shall patch thy coat.1697.Vanbrugh,Provoked Wife, ii., 1. I’llholdyou a guinea you don’t make her tell it you.1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., ii., 54. I’llholdye five Guineas to four.2. (venery) (orHold it).—To be impregnated; to be got with child. [In certain parts of Scotland, it is said, a farm servant stating that she “disnahaud” commands double wages.]To hold on to,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To apply oneself; to be persistent: generally,to hold on like grim death.1848.Ruxton,Life in the Far West, p. 71. He recovered, and wiselyheld on tofor the future.Hold up,verb. phr.(American and Australian).—1. To rob on the highway;to bail or stick up(q.v.). Also assubs.= a highwayman orroad-agent(q.v.).1888.Detroit Free Press, 8 Dec. One manheld upsix stage passengers in Arizona the other day and robbed them of $2,000. Each was armed, but it is customary to submit out there, and so up went their hands.1888.Detroit Free Press, 13 Oct. Mounted on a white horse, he started on a land-prospecting tour and ran against a party ofhold-ups.1892.Lippincott, Oct., p. 495. Wouldholdthe trainupuntil I had finished.2. (thieves’).—To arrest. For synonyms,seeNab.To hold the stage,verb. phr.(theatrical).—To have the chief place on the boards and the eye of an audience. Fr.,avoir les planches.To hold a candle to(the devil, etc.),verb. phr.(colloquial).—SeeDevil, and add the following quot.1868.ReadeandBoucicault,Foul Play, p. 65. But you see, sir, he has got the ear of the merchant ashore; and so I am obliged tohold a candle to the devil.To hold a candle to,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To vie with; to be comparable to; also to assist in or condone.1886.R. L. Stevenson,Kidnapped, p. 79. They had killed poor Ransome; and was I tohold the candle toanother murder?To hold(orhang)on by the eyelids,eyelashesoreyebrows,verb. phr.(common).—To pursue an object desperately; to insist upon a point; to carry on a forlorn hope.Seealso quot. andSplash Board.1883.Clark Russell,Sailor’s Language, p. 69.Holding on with his eyelids.Said of a man aloft with nothing much to lay hold of.To hold in hand,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To amuse; to possess the attention or the mind; to have in one’s pocket.To hold the market,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To buy stock and hold it to so large an extent that the price cannot decline.Do you hold?phr.(streets).—Have you money to lend? Can you stand treat?Cf.verb., sense 1.[332]Hold your horses,phr.(American).—Go easy; don’t get excited: a general injunction to calm in act and speech.Hold your jaw,phr.(colloquial).—Hold your tongue;stow your gab(q.v.).Hold hard!(oron)!intj.(colloquial).—Wait a moment! don’t be in a hurry!1761.Colman,Jealous Wife, V., inWks.(1777), i., 130.Hold hard! hold hard!you are all on a wrong scent.1835.Dickens,Sketches by Boz, p. 280. ‘Hold hard!’ said the conductor; ‘I’m blowed if we ha’n’t forgot the gen’lm’n as vas to be set down at Doory-lane.’1864.E. Yates,Broken to Harness, ch. iv., p. 38 (1873). I told Meaburn tohold on, and we’d get a rise out of Punch.Hold-stitch.—SeeStitch.Hold-water.—SeeWater.Hold-out,subs.(gambling).—An old-fashioned apparatus, in poker, for ‘holding out’ desirable cards.Hole(venery).—1. The femalepudendum. Also,Hole of Content, andHole(orQueen)of Holes. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.To give a hole to hide it in=to grant the favour(q.v.). [Hence, by a play upon words,Holy of Holies.]1595.Shakspeare,Romeo and Juliet, ii., 4. This drivelling love is like a great natural, that runs lolling up and down to hide hisbauble(q.v.) in ahole.1598.Florio,Worlde of Wordes, s.v.Carnafau, the brat-getting place, orhole of content.1620.Percy,Folio MS., p. 197. … He light in aholeere he was aware!1647–80.Rochester,Poems. Thou mighty princess, lovelyqueen of holes.d.1649.Drummond,Posthumous Poems, ‘The Statue of Alcides.’ Fair nymph, in ancient days, yourholes, by far, Were not so hugely vast as now they are.1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., iv., 72. It has a head much like a Mole’s, And yet it loves to creep inholes: The fairest She that e’er took Life, For love of this became a Wife.2. (old).—A cell;cf.,Hell, sense 1.1540.Lindsay,Thrie Estaits, line 1016. Wee have gart bind him with ane poill, And send him to the theifishoill.1607.Miseries of Enforced Marriage, iii., I. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875. ix., 514). If you shall think … it shall accord with the state of gentry to submit myself from the feather-bed in the master’s side, or the flock-bed in the knight’s ward, to the straw-bed in thehole.1607.Wentworth Smith,The Puritan, iii. But if e’er we clutch him again the Counter shall charm him.Rav.Theholeshall rot him.1657.Walks of Hogsdon.Next from the stocks, thehole, and little-ease.1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, iv., 2 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 482). Make his mittymus to theholeat Newgate.3. (old).—A private printing office where unlicensed books were made; acock-robin shop(q.v.).—Moxon, 1683.4. (colloquial).—A difficulty; a fix; on the turf,to be in a hole= to lose (a bet) or be defeated (of horses).1760–61.Smollett,Sir L. Greaves, ch. xvi. I should be in a deadlyholemyself if all my customers should take it into their heads to drink nothing but water-gruel.1868.Ouida,Under Two Flags, ch. i. ‘I am in a hole—no end of ahole.’5. (common).—A place of abode; specifically, a mean habitation; a dirty lodging. For synonyms,seeDiggings.6. (common).—Therectum: short forarse-hole.E.g.,suck his hole= a derisive retort upon an affirmative answer to the[333]question, ‘Do you know So-and-So?’ For synonyms,seeMonocular Eyeglass.1383.Chaucer,Canterbury Tales, ‘The Miller’s Tale.’ And at the window she put out hirhole.1540.Lindsay,Thrie Estaits, line 2174. Lift vp hir clais: Kis hirhoillwith your hart.1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, v., 3. A pox o’ your manners, kiss myholehere, and smell.1649.Drummond,Madrigals and Epigrams, ‘A Jest’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, x., 667). She turned, and turning up herholebeneath, Said, ‘Sir, kiss here.’d.1732.Gay,Tales‘In Imitation of Chaucer’s Style’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, x., 504). Thou didst forget to guard thy postern, There is anholewhich hath not crossed been.Verb(venery).—To effect intromission; toput in(q.v.). Hence,Holed,adj.=in(q.v.).A hole in one’s coat,subs. phr.(colloquial).—A flaw in one’s fame; a weak spot in one’s character.To pick a hole in one’s coat= to find a cause for censure.1789.Burns,Verses on Capt. Grose. If there’s ahole in a’ your coats, I rede you tent it.To make(orburn)a hole in one’s pocket,verb. phr.(colloquial).—Said of money recklessly spent.To make a hole in anything,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To use up largely.1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, iii., 5 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 456). Do it then, and make aholein this angel.To make a hole in the water,verb. phr.(common).—To commit suicide by drowning.1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 76. I should justmake a hole in the water, if ’tworn’t for the wife and the kids.To make a hole,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To break; to spoil; to upset; to interrupt. Thus tomake a hole in one’s manners= to be rude; tomake a hole in one’s reputation= to betray, to seduce; tomake a hole in the silence= to make a noise, toraise cain(q.v.).Too drunk to see a hole in a ladder,phr.(common).—Excessively intoxicated. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.Hole-and-corner,adj.(colloquial).—Secret; underhand; out of the way:e.g.,hole-and-corner work= shady business. Also (venery) = copulation. [Cf.,Hole,subs.sense 1.]Holer(alsoHolemonger),subs.(colloquial).—A whoremaster (cf.,Hole,subs., sense 1). Also (old), a harlot; a light woman (cf.,Hole,verb.). Hence,Holing= whoring.Holiday,adj.(old).—Unskilled; indifferent; careless.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Holiday,a holiday bowler, a bad bowler.Blind Man’s Holiday.See ante.To have a holiday at Peckham,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To go dinnerless.All holiday at Peckham= no work and nothing to eat. [A play upon words.]SeePeckish.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum.All holiday at Peckham… a saying signifying that it is all over with the business or person spoken of or alluded to.[334]1848.Forster,Oliver Goldsmith, bk. I., ch. vi., p. 55 (5th Ed.). ‘Oh, that isall a holiday at Peckham,’ said an old friend very innocently one day.To take a holiday,verb. phr.(common).—To be dismissed; to get thebag(q.v.) orsack(q.v.)Gone for a holiday,adv. phr.(colloquial).—Said of a flaw, lapse, or imperfection of any kind (as dropped stitches, lost buttons, slurred painting, and so forth).Seealso quots.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Holiday… a holiday is any part of a ship’s bottom, left uncovered in painting it.1883.Clark Russell,Sailors’ Language, p. 69, s.v.Holidays.Places left untarred on shrouds, backstays, etc., during the operation of tarring them.Holler,verb.(American).—To cry enough; to give in; tocave in(q.v.).1847.Porter,Quarter Race, etc., p. 89. The truth must come, he warped me nice, So jist to save his time Ihollered.Hollis,subs.(Winchester College).—A small pebble. [Said to be derived from a boy.—Notions.]Hollow,adj.(colloquial).—Complete; certain; decided. Asadv.completely; utterly.E.g., to beat or lickhollow.SeeBeatandCreation.1759.Townley,High Life Below Stairs, i., 2. Crab was beathollow.1761.Colman,Jealous Wife, V., inWks.(1777), i., 134. So, my lord, you and I are both distanced: ahollowthing, damme.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Hollow.It was quite ahollowthing,i.e., a certainty, or decided business.1814.Edgworth,Patronage, ch. iii. Squire Burton won the matchhollow.1837.Barham,Ingoldsby Legends. ‘Bloudie Jack.’ His lines to Apollo Beat all the resthollowAnd gained him the Newdegate Prize.1852.Dickens,Bleak House, ch. lxiv., p. 529. I have therefore taken a ’ouse in that locality, which, in the opinion of my friends, is ahollowbargain (taxes ridiculous, and use of fixtures included in the rent).1871.Durham County Advertiser, 10 Nov. ‘It licks mehollow, sir, as I may say,’ put in the silent member.1892.Punch, 9 July, p. 3. Booby-traps were beatenhollow.Holloway,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.Holloway,Middlesex(common).—The lower bowel; thearse-gut(q.v.).Holt,verb.(American).—To take; to take hold of.Holus-bolus,subs.(nautical).—The head. Also the neck.Adv.(colloquial).—Helter skelter; altogether; first come, first served.1868.Wilkie Collins,The Moonstone, 1st Period, ch. xv. And, making a sudden snatch at the heap of silver, put it back,holus-bolus, in her pocket.Holy.More holy than righteous,adv. phr.(common).—Said of a person in rags, or of a tattered garment.Holy-boys,subs.(military).—TheNinth Foot. [From a trick of selling bibles for drink in the Peninsula.] Also,Fighting Ninth.1886.Tinsley’s Magazine, Apr., 322. The 9th having bartered their Bibles in Spain for wine, and having there gained a reputation for sacking monasteries, were long known as theHoly Boys.[335]Holy-father,subs.(Irish).—Seequot.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Holy Father, A butcher’s boy of St. Patrick’s Market, Dublin, or other Irish blackguard; among whom the exclamation, or oath, by the Holy Father (meaning the Pope), is common.Holy Iron.SeeHoly Poker.Holy Joe,subs. phr.(colloquial).—A pious person, whether hypocritical or sincere. Also (nautical), a parson.Holy Jumping Mother of Moses.SeeMoses.Holy-lamb,subs.(old).—A thorough-paced villain.—Grose.Holy-land(orground),subs.(old).—1. St. Giles’s;Palestine(q.v.).1819.Moore,Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 7. For we are the boys of theholy ground, And we’ll dance upon nothing and turn us round.1821.The Fancy, i., p. 250. TheHoly-land, as St. Giles’s has been termed, in compliment to the superior purity of its Irish population.1821.Egan,Tom and Jerry, ch. ii. At Mammy O’Shaughnessy’s in the back Settlements of theHoly Land.1823.W. T. Moncrieff,Tom and Jerry, ii., 5. Let’s have a dive among the cadgers in the back slums, in theHoly Land.1843.Punch’s Almanack, 1 Sept. St. Giles. The Marquis of Waterford makes a pilgrimage to his shrine in theHoly Land.1859.Sala,Twice Round the Clock, one a.m., par. 28. Unfaithful topographers may have told you that theHoly Landbeing swept away and Buckeridge Street being pulled down, St. Giles’s exists no more.1891.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 3 Apr. p. 215, col. 1. It would be hard to say whether the Irishmen of theHoly Landor the Hebrew scum of Petticoat Lane showed the finest specimens of ‘looped and windowed raggedness.’2. (common).—Generic for any neighbourhood affected by Jews; specifically, Bayswater, and Brighton.Cf.,New Jerusalem, andHoly of Holies.Holy Moses.SeeMoses.Holy of Holies,subs. phr.(common).—1. The Grand Hotel at Brighton. [Which is largely tenanted by Jews:cf.,Holy Land(sense 2), andNew Jerusalem.]2. (colloquial).—A private room; asanctum(q.v.).1891.N. Gould,Double Event, p. 215. Fletcher did not venture into thatholy of holies.1893.WestminsterGaz., 31 Jan., p. 3, c. 2. The Cabinet Council is theholy of holiesof the British Constitution, and as Mr. Bagehot long ago regretted, no description of it at once graphic and authentic has ever been given.3. (venery).—SeeHole, sense 1, and for synonyms,Monosyllable.Holy Poker(orIron),subs. phr.(university).—The mace carried by an esquire bedel (of Law, Physic, or Divinity) as a badge of authority. [The term, which is applied to the bedels themselves, is very often used as an oath.]1840.Comic Almanack, ‘Tom the Devil,’ p, 214. A hotel’s the place for me! I’ve thried em all, from the Club-house at Kilkinny, to the Clarendon, and, by theholy poker, never wish mysilf worse luck than such cantonments!1870.London Figaro, 8 Oct., p. 2, col. 2. The bedels of a University are very important persons, although derisive undergraduates familiarly term themholy pokers.1886.R. L. Stevenson,Kidnapped, p. 169. I swear upon theholy ironI had neither art nor part.2. (venery).—Thepenis(by a play upon words).Cf.,Hole, sense 1,Holy of Holies, sense[336]3, andPoke. For synonyms,seeCreamstickandPrick.Holy-water Sprinkler,subs. phr.(old).—A mediæval weapon of offence; amorning star(q.v.).Home,subs.(colonial).—England.1893.Gentlemen’s Mag., Jan., p. 74. And then I learnt that byhomehe meant England, which, moreover, is referred to as ‘home’ by dusky myriads, who have never seen her cliffs rise above the waves.To get home,verb. phr.(colloquial).—1. To achieve an object; to succeed perfectly; and (athletic) to reach the winning post.1891.Sportsman, 26 Mar. A close struggle for the Palace Selling Plate ended in favour of Rosefield, who justgot homea head in front of Mordure.1892.Pall Mall Gaz., 23 Jan., 3, 2. It is delightful to watch Mr. Charles Hawtrey telling lie after lie to his unbelieving wife, and joyfully, in misplaced confidence, saying to himself, ‘I’vegot home.’2. (pugilists’).—To get in (a blow) with precision and effect;to land(q.v.). Also (old) to give a mortal wound.1559.Elyot,Dictionarium, 3rd. ed.Aere meo me lacessis, thou gevest me scoffe for scoffe, or as we saie, thoupaiest me home.1631.Chettle,Hoffman.Sax.Not any, Austria; neither toucht I thee.Aust.Somebodytoucht me home; vaine world farewell, Dying I fall on my dead Lucibell.1698.Farquhar,Love and a Bottle, iv., 3. But hark ye, George; don’t push toohome; have a care of whipping through the guts.1706.Farquhar,Recruiting Officer, ii., 1. That’shome.1888.Sporting Life, 10 Dec. In the next roundgot homeseveral times without a return.1891.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 19 June, p. 395, c. 3. Macgot homea terrific cross-counter with the left on Bob’s left eye, which seemed to split the flesh open both above and below.3. (turf).—To recover a loss; neither to win nor lose; to come out quits. Also,to bring oneself home.4. (venery).—To get with child. Also, to compel the sexual spasm.To make oneself at home,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To take one’s ease; to be familiar to the point of ill-breeding.1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 10. Asat homeas a cat in a cream-shop.To come home to,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To reach the conscience; to touch deeply.To go(send, orcarry)home(orto one’s last home),verb. phr.(colloquial).—To die; to kill; to bury. [The Chinese say ‘to go home horizontally.’]SeeAloft.1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes.Mandar ’al palegro, tosend to ones last home.1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.Home.Gone home, dead.Home-bird,subs.(colloquial).—A henpecked husband. Also, a milksop. Fr.,chauffe-la-couche(= warming-pan).Home for lost dogs,subs. phr.(medical).—A large and well known medical school in London. [From the fact that the majority of its inmates have strayed there from the various hospital schools, as a last resource toward taking a degree.][337]Home-rule,subs.(common).—Irish whiskey. For synonyms,seeDrinksandOld Man’s Milk.Home-sweet-home,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.Homo,subs.(old).—A man: generallyomee(q.v.). [From the Latin.] For synonyms,seeCove.Homoney,subs.(old).—A woman. For synonyms,seePetticoat. Also, a wife. For synonyms,seeDutchandCf.Homo.1754.Discoveries of John Poulter, p. 43. Myhomoneyis in quod, my wife is in gaol.Homo-opathise,verb.(American).—To get bills (i.e., petitions) through Legislature, Congress, or City Council, by means of bills (i.e., bank-bills).Hone,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum. Forsynonyms,seeMonosyllable.
In hock,adv. phr.(general).—Laid by the heels; fleeced;bested(q.v.).; and (thieves’), in prison.
1859.Matsell,Vocabulum. ‘If the cove should be caughtin the hockhe won’t snickle,’ if the fellow should be caught in the act, he would not tell.
Hock-dockies,subs.(old).—Shoes. For synonyms,seeTrotter-cases.
1789.Geo. Parker,Life’s Painter, p. 173. Shoes.Hockey-dockeys.[324]
Hockey,adj.(old).—Drunk, especially on stale beer. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.
1796.Grose,Vulg. Tongue(3rd Ed.), s.v.
Hocus,subs.(old: now recognised).—1. A cheat; an imposter. [An abbreviation ofhocus-pocus(q.v.).]
1654.Witts Recreations.HereHocaslyes with his tricks and his knocks, Whom death hath made sure as a juglers box; Who many hath cozen’d by his leiger-demain, Is presto convey’d and here underlain. ThusHocashe’s here, and here he is not, While death plaid theHocas, and brought him to th’ pot.
2. (old: now recognised).—Drugged liquor.
1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.HocusorHocus Pocus.… A deleterious drug mixed with wine, etc., which enfeebles the person acted upon.
Adj.(old).—Seequots. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.
1725.New. Cant. Dict., s.v.Hocus, disguised in Liquor; drunk.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hocus Pocus, he is quitehocus, he is quite drunk.
Verb(old: now recognised).—1. To cheat; to impose upon.
2. (old: now recognised).—To drug;to snuff(q.v.).
1836.Dickens,Pickwick, ch. xiii., p. 104. ‘What do you mean byhocussingbrandy and water?’ inquired Mr. Pickwick. ‘Puttin’ laund’num in it,’ replied Sam.
1836.Comic Almanack, p. 1. For that wehocuss’dfirst his drink.
1848.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, II., ch. xxix. Mr. Frederick Pigeon avers that it was at her house at Lausanne that he washocussedat supper and lost eight hundred pounds to Major Loder and the Honourable Mr. Deucease.
1854.De Quincey,Murder as one of the Fine Arts,Wks., xiii., 119. Him they intended to disable by a trick then newly introduced amongst robbers, and termedhocussing,i.e., clandestinely drugging the liquor of the victim with laudanum.
1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Hocus… ‘Hocusthe bloke’s lush, and then frisk his sacks,’ put something into the fellow’s drink that will stupify him, and then search his pockets.
1859.The Bulletin, 21 May. An offence which goes by the name ofhocussing, and which consists of an evil doer furtively introducing laudanum or some other narcotic into beer or spirits, which the victim drinks and, becoming stupified thereby, is then easily robbed.
1864.Dickens,Our Mutual Friend, bk. II., ch. xii. I will not say ahocussedwine, but fur from a wine as was ’elthy for the mind.
Hocus-pocus,subs.(old: now recognised).—1. A juggler’s phrase. Hence a juggler’s (or impostor’s) stock in trade. AlsoHocus-trade.
1639–61.Rump Songs.‘Vanity of Vanities.’ Ahocus-pocus, juggling Knight.
1639–61.Rump Songs, ii., 156. ‘The Rump Ululant.’ Religion we made free ofhocus trade.
1646.Randolph,Jealous Lovers, If I do not think women were got with riddling, whip me!Hocas Pocas, here you shall have me, and there you shall have me.
1654.Gayton,Test. Notes Don. Quix., 46. This old fellow had not theHocas Pocasof Astrology.
1675.Wycherley,Country Wife, iii., 2. That burlesque is ahocus-pocustrick they have got.
d.1680.Butler,Remains(1759), ii., 122. With a little heaving and straining, would turn it into Latin, as Millehoco-pokiana, and a thousand such.
1689.Marvell,Historical Poem, line 90. Withhocus-pocus.… They gain on tender consciences at night.
c.1755.Adey,Candle in the Dark, p. 29. At the playing of every trick he used to say,hocus-pocus, tontus, talontus, vade celeriter jubeo.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.[325]
1824–28.Landor,Imaginary Conversations[2nd Ed., ii., 275].Torke.What think you, for instance, ofHocus! Pocus!Johnson.Sir, those are exclamations of conjurors, as they call themselves.
1883.Daily Telegraph, 26 Mar., p. 5, c. 3. The lock of hair, the dragon’s blood, and the stolen flour were only thehocus-pocusof her sham witchcraft like the transfixed waxen puppets of the sorcerers of the past.
2. (old).—A trickster; a juggler; an impostor.
1625.Jonson,Staple of News, ii. That was the old way, gossip, when Iniquity came in [on the stage] likeHokos Pokos, in a juggler’s jerkin, with false skirts, like the knave of clubs.
1634.Hocus Pocus Junior,The Anatomie of Leger de main. [Title].
1656.Blount,Glossographia, s.v.Hocus Pocus, a juggler, one that shows tricks by sleight of hand.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hocus-pocus, a Juggler that shews Tricks by Slight of Hand.
1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.
3. (old).—A cheat; an imposition; a juggler’s trick.
1713.Bentley,Free Thinking, 12. Our author is playinghocus-pocusin the very similitude he takes from that juggler.
4. (old).—SeeHocus, sense 2.
Adj.(old).—Cheating; fraudulent.
1715.Addison,The Drummer. If thou hast anyhocus-pocustricks to play, why can’st not do them here?
1725–29.Mason,Horace, iv., 8. Suchhocus-pocustricks, I own, Belong to Gallic bards alone.
1759.Macklin,Love à la Mode, ii., 1. The law is a sort ofhocus-pocusscience that smiles in yer face while it picks your pocket.
Verb(old).—To cheat; to trick.
Hod(orBrother Hod),subs.(common).—A bricklayer’s labourer.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.
Hod of Mortar,subs. phr.(rhyming).—A pot of porter.
Hoddy-Doddy(orHoddie-doddie),subs.(old).—A short thick-set man or woman. The full expression is ‘Hoddy Doddy, all arse and no body.’—Grose.For synonyms,seeForty-guts. Also a fool.
c.1534.Udall,Roister Doister, i., I. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iii., 58). Sometimes I hang on Hankynhoddy-doddy’ssleeve.
1596.Ben Jonson,Every Man in his Humour, iv., 8. Well, good wife bawd, Cob’s wife, and you, That make your husband such ahoddy-doddy.
1639–61.Rump Songs, ii. [1662], 55. Every noddy … will … cryhoddy-doddyHere’s a Parliament all arse and no body.
1723.Swift,Mary the Cookmaid’s Letter(Chalmers,Eng. Poets, 1810, xi., 433). My master is a personable man, and not a spindle-shankedHoddy-doddy.
Hoddy-peak(or-Peke),subs.(old).—A fool; a cuckold.
d.1529.Skelton,Poems, ‘Duke of Albany.’ Gyue it up, And cry creke Lyke anhuddy peke.
1551.W. Still,Gammer Gurton, O. P., ii., 45. Art here again, thouhoddypeke?
1554.Christopherson,Exh. ag. Rebel. They counte peace to be cause of ydelnes, and that it maketh menhodi-pekesand cowardes.
d.1555.Latimer,Sermons, fol. 44, b. What, ye brainsicke fooles, yehoddy-peakes, ye doddy poules.
1560.Nice Wanton(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ii., 164). Yea, marry, I warrant you, masterhoddy-peak.
1589.Nashe,Anatomie of Absurdities, b. Who, under her husband’s thathoddy-peke’snose, Must have all the destilling dew of his delicate rose.[326]
1594.Nashe,Unf. Trav., 106 [Chiswick Press, 1891.] No other apte meanes had this poore shee captived Cicely to worke herhoddy peakehusband a proportionable plague to hisjealousy.
Hodge,subs.(colloquial).—A farm labourer; a rustic.
1589.Greene,Menaphon, p. 58 [ed. Arber, 1880]. These Arcadians are giuen to take the benefit of euerieHodge.
1675.A. Marvel,Satire.Hodge’sVision from the Monument.[Title.]
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hodge, a Country Clown, also Roger.
1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1791.Smart,Fables, xiii., 27. Is that the care (quothHodge)? O rare!
1880.Richard Jefferies,Hodgeand his Masters.[Title.]
1884.Mrs. Craik, inEng. Ill. Mag., Mar., p. 356. Quite different from the bovine, agriculturalHodgeof the midland counties.
1893.National Observer, 25 Feb., ix., 358. ‘Pay me an infinitesimal sum,’ Lord Winchilsea says (in effect) toHodge, ‘and you shall have a weekly newspaper for nothing.’
Hodge-podge(orHotch-potch),subs.(old: now recognised).—A mixture; a medley. Sp.,commistrajo.SeeHotch-potch.
1553–99.Spenser,State of Ireland. They have made our English tongue a galimaufrey, orhodgepodgeof all otherspeeches.
1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., i., 199. SomeCollier-likeSaint, … Had rak’d ahodg podgfor the Devil.
1726.Vanbrugh,Journey to London. They were all got into a sort ofhodge-podgeargument for the good of the nation which I did not well understand.
d.1764.Lloyd,Poems(774), ‘A Tale.’ Was ever such anhodge-podgeseen.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Hodman, (Oxford Univ.).—A scholar from Westminster School admitted to Christ Church College, Oxford.
1728.Bailey,Eng. Dict., s.v.Hodman.
Hodmandod,subs.(old).—1. A snail in his shell—Bacon.SeeDoddy.
1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, v., 4 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 525). Painted snails with houses on their backs, and horns as big as Dutch cows.… Can any woman be honest that lets suchhodmandodscrawl o’er her virgin breast and belly?
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.
1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1728.Bailey,Eng. Dict., s.v.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
2. (old).—A Hottentot.
1686.Captain Cowleyin HarrisVoyages, i., 82. We walked, moreover, without the town to the villages inhabited by thehodmandods, to view their nasty bodies.
Hoe.To hoe in(American Univ.).—To work with vigour;to swot(q.v.).
To hoe one’s own row,verb. phr.(American).—To do one’s own work.
Hard row to hoe.SeeHard Row.
Hoe-down,subs.(American).—A negro dance; abreakdown(q.v.).
Hog,subs.(old).—1. A shilling: also a sixpence: and (in America) a ten-cent piece. For synonyms,seeBlow.Half-a-hog= sixpence, or five-cent piece.
1688.Shadwell,Squire of Alsatia, s.v.Hog, a shilling.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hog, You Darkman Budge, will you Fence yourhogat the next Boozing ken?[327]
1714.Memoirs of John Hall(4th Ed.), p. 12, s.v.
1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v. Half aHog, Six-Pence.
1809–12.Miss Edgeworth,Ennui, ch. vi. ‘It’s only a tester or ahogthey want your honour to give ’em, to drink your honour’s health,’ said Paddy. ‘Ahogto drink my health?’ ‘Ay, that is a thirteen, plase your honour; all as one as an English shilling.’
1825.Egan,Life of an Actor, ch. iv. You shall have … eighteenhoga week, and a benefit which never fails.
1842.Thackeray,Cox’s DiaryinComic Almanack, p. 237. Do you think I’m a-going to kill my horses, and break my precious back, and bust my carriage, and carry you, and your kids, and your traps, for sixhog?
1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. i., p. 529. The slang phrases are constantly used by the street lads; thus a sixpence is a ‘tanner’; a shilling a ‘bob,’ or ahog.… The collections of coin dealers amply show, that the figure of a hog was anciently placed on a small silver coin.
1857.Mrs. Mathews,Tea Table Talk, p. 207. The shopwoman satisfied Suett after her fashion, that his little lump of Suett had absorbed flour and lard (pastry) to the amount of what her queer customer would have termed ahog.
1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Hog, a ten-cent piece.
2. (colloquial).—A foul-mouthed blackguard; a dirty feeder. Also, a common glutton.
1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes, s.v.Ciro, ahogge, a swine, a filthie fellowe.
1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 69. ’Arry’s ahogwhen he feeds.
3. (Cambridge Univ.: obsolete).—A student of St. John’s. Also,Johnian Hog.SeeCrackle,Bridge of Grunts, andIsthmus of Suez.
1690.Diary of Abraham de la Pryme(Surtees Society, No. 54), quoted inNotes and Queries, 6, S. xi., 328. For us Jonians are called abusivelyhoggs.
1795.Gent. Mag., lxv., 22. TheJohnian hogswere originally remarkable on account of the squalid figures and low habits of thestudents, and especially of thesizarsof SaintJohn’sCollege. [Another story of how name originated is given in detail inGent. Mag.(1795), lxv., 107.]
1889.Whibley,In Cap and Gown, p. 28. An obsolete name for members of St. John’s College, Cambridge.
4. (old Scots’).—A yearling sheep.
1796.Burns,Poems. What will I do gin myhoggiedie, my joy, my friend, myhoggie.
5. (American).—An inhabitant of Chicago. [That city being a notable pig-breeding and pork-packing centre.]
6. (old).—A Hampshireman.
1770.Lord Hailes,Ancient Scottish Poems, ‘Dance of the Seven Deadly Sins.’ Note on line 115. And thus his ill-bred raillery will be like that of Essex calves,Hampshirehogs, Middlesex mongrels, Norfolk dumplings, Welsh goats, etc.
Verb(American).—1. To cheat; to humbug;to gammon(q.v.).
1867.Browne(Artemus Ward). ‘Among the Mormons’, ii., 10. Go my son, andHogthe public.
2. (venery).—To copulate. For synonymsseeGreensandRide.
3. (stables).—To cut short;e.g., tohoga horse’s mane.
Ahog in armour,subs. phr.(old).—A lout in fine clothes. Also aJack-in-office;Hog-in-togs= (in America) a well-dressed loafer. [Hog=Hodge(q.v.), a rustic.]
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hog… an awkward, or mean looking man or woman, finely dressed, is said to look like ahog in armour.[328]
Hog and hominy,subs. phr.(American).—Plain fare;Common doings(q.v.). [Pork and maize are the two cheapest food stuffs in the U.S.A.]
To go the whole hog.SeeWhole Animal.
To bring one’s hogs(orpigs)to a fine market,verb. phr.(old).—To do well; to make a gooddeal(q.v.). Also, in sarcasm, the opposite.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew., s.v.He has brought his hoggs to a fair market, or he has Spun a fair Thread.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hog.…He has brought his hogs to a fine market, a saying of one who has been remarkably successful in his affairs, and is spoken ironically to signify the contrary.
To drive one’s hogs(orpigs) tomarket,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To snore.
1738.Swift,Polite Conversations, ii., 455. I’gad he fell asleep, and snored so loud that we thought he wasdriving his hogs to market.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hog.… todrive one’s hogs, to snore, the noise made by some persons in snoring being not much unlike the notes of that animal.
Hog-age,subs.(American).—The period between boyhood and manhood.Cf.,Hobbledehoy.
Hogan-mogan,subs.(old).—Seequot.
1892.Aitken,Satires of Andrew Marvell, p. 128. The States General of the United provinces were officially addressed as High and Mighty Lords, or in Dutch, Hoogmogenden; hence English satirists called themhogans-mogans, and applied the phrase to Dutchmen in general.Cf.,Hoganmoganides, or the Dutch Hudibras(1694), and ‘A New Song on thehogan-mogans’ in ‘A Collection of the Newest Poems … against Popery, etc.’ (1689).
Hog-grubber,subs.(old).—A miser; a niggard; amean cuss(q.v.).
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Ahog-grubber, … a narrow-soul’d sneaking Fellow.
1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hog Grubber, a mean stingy fellow.
Hogmagundy(orHoughmagandie),subs.(Scots).—Copulation. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.
1786.Burns,The Holy Fair[last stanza]. There’s some are fou o’ love divine, There’s some are fou o’ brandy; An’ mony jobs that day begin, May end inhougmagandieSome ither day.
Hogmenay,subs.(old Scots’).—1. New Year’s Eve, which is a national festival. [The origin has been the subject of much discussion.]
1776.Brand,Popular Antiquities, p. 102. Sirs, do you whatHagmanesignifies? It is the devil be in the house.
1793.The Bee, 10 July, p. 17. The night preceding that festivalHoggmonay.
1879.James Napier,Folk Lore, p. 154. After the Reformation, the Scotch transferredHagmanay[from Xmas Eve] to the last day of December, as a preparation day for the New Year.
2. Hence a wanton. [The feast is celebrated with much drink and not a little license.]
Hogo,subs.(old).—A flavour; an aroma; a relish. Hence, in irony, and by corruption, a stink.Cf.,Fogo. [From Fr.,haut goût.]SeeHigh, sense 2.
1569.Erasmus, Trans.Praise of Folly, p. 13 [1709]. Pleasure thathaut-goustof Folly.
1639–61.Rump Songs.‘A Vindication of the Rump.’ Oh! what aHogowas there.[329]
1645.Howell,Letters, V., xxxviii., p. 42. He can marinat fish, make gellies, and is excellent for apickantsawce, and thehaugou.
1653.Walton,Compleat Angler, I., ch. vii. To give the sawce ahogoelet the dish (into which you let the Pike fall) be rubed with it [garlick].
1656.Choyce Drollery, p. 34. And why not say a word or two Of she that’s just? witnesse all who Have ever been at thyho-go.
1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, iii., 2 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 451). We’ll work ourselves into such a sauce as you can never surfeit on, and yet nohogough.
1667.Cowley,Government of Oliver Cromwell, Prose Works (Pickering, 1826), 94. Cromwell … found out the truehogoof this pleasure, and rejoiced in the extravagance of his ways.
1672.Wycherley,Love in a Wood, ii., 1. She has … no more teeth left than such as give ahaut goutto her breath.
1686.Twelve Ingenious Characters.A bad husband is an inconsiderate piece of sottish extravagance; for though he consist of several ill ingredients, yet still good fellowship is thecausa sine qua non, and gives him theho-go.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hogo.
1705–7.Ward,Hudibras Redivivus, Vol. I., Pt. vi., p. 4. Most stinking meat, Toss’d up with leeks intoRaggoo, To overcome the unsav’ryhogo.
1718.Durfey,Pills, iii., 177. ‘Let’s drink and be merry.’ Your most Beautiful Bit, that hath all Eyes upon her, That her Honesty sells for ahogoof Honour.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hogo… it has a confoundedhogo, it stinks confoundedly.
Hogshead.To couch a hogshead,verb. phr.(Old Cant).—Seequot. For synonyms,seeBalmy.
1567.Harman,Caveat(1814), p. 66.To couch a hogshead: to ly downe and slepe.Ibid., Icouched a hogsheadin a skypper this darkemans.
Hog-shearing,subs.(old).—Much ado about nothing; great cry and little wool.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hog.Labour in vain, which the Latines express by Goats-wooll, as the English by theshearing of Hoggs.
Hogs-norton.To have been born at Hogs-Norton,verb. phr.(old).—To be ill-mannered.
d.1666.Howell,Eng. Proverbs, p. 16. I think thou wastborn at Hoggs-Norton, where piggs play upon the organs.
1676.Marvel,Mr. Smirke[Grosart], iv., p. 89. A pair of organs of cats which he had done well to have made the pigs atHogs-Nortonplay on.
Hogstye of Venus,subs. phr.(venery).—Seequot. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.
1598.Florio,Worlde of Wordes, s.v.Porcile di venere, thehog-stye of Venus, a womans privities or geare.
Hog-wash,subs.(common).—1. Bad liquor; specifically,rot-gut(q.v.).
2. (journalists’).—Worthless newspaper matter;slush,swash, andflub-dub(q.v.).
Hoi polloi,subs. phr.(university).—The candidates for ordinary degrees. [From the Greek.]Cf.,Gulf.
Hoist,subs.(old).—A shop-lifter; also a confederate hoisting or helping a thief to reach an open window.The Hoist= shop-lifting.To go upon the hoist= to enter a house by an open window.
1796.Grose,Vulg. Tongue(3rd Ed.), s.v.Hoist.This is done by the assistance of a confederate calledthe hoist, who leans his head against the wall, making his back a kind of step or ascent.—Grose.
1819.Vaux,Cant. Dict.Hoist, thegameof shop-lifting is calledthe hoist; a person expert at this practice is said to bea good hoist.[330]
1821.Haggart,Life, p. 38. We were principally engagedupon the hoysand coreing.
Verb(thieves’).—1. To practise shop-lifting; to rob by means ofthe hoist(q.v.).
2. (American).—To run away; to decamp. For synonyms,seeAmputateandSkedaddle.
1847.Porter,Quarter Race, etc., p. 174. Jisthist, and take yourself off.
3. (common).—To drink.E.g., Will youhoist? = will you have a liquor?;Hoisting= drinking;On the hoist= on the drunk. Also ahoist in.
To give a hoist,verb. phr.(tailors’).—To do a bad turn.
To have(ordo)a hoist in,verb. phr.(venery).—To copulate. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.
Hoister,subs.(old).—1. A shop-lifter; ahoist(q.v., sense 1). Also a pickpocket.
1847–50.J. H. Jesse,London, i., 30. He that could take out a counter without any noise was allowed to be a publichoyster. N.B.—That a hoyster is a pickpocket.
2. (common).—A sot. For synonyms,seeLushington.
Hoisting(orHoist-lay),subs.(thieves’).—1. Shop-lifting.The hoist(q.v.). Also shaking a man head downwards, so that his money rolls out of his pockets.
1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
1821.D. Haggart,Life, glossary, p. 172.Hoys, shop-lifting.
1868.Temple Bar, xxiv., 534. She can secrete articles about her dress when in a shop looking at things, and that’s one way ofhoisting.
2. (old).—Seequot.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hoisting, a ludicrous ceremony, formerly performed on every soldier, the first time he appeared in the field, after being married: as soon as the regiment, or company, had grounded their arms, to rest awhile; three or four men of the same company, to which the bridegroom belonged, seized upon him, and putting a couple of bayonets out of the two corners of his hat, to represent horns, it was placed on his head, the back part foremost, he was then hoisted on the shoulders of two strong fellows, and carried round the arms, a drum and fife beating and playing, the pioneers call, namedRound-heads and Cuckolds, but on this occasion stiled theCuckold’s March; in passing the colours, he was to take off his hat.… This in some regiments was practised by the officers on their brethren.
Hoit(orHoyt),verb.(old).—To be noisily or riotously inclined.
1611.BeaumontandFletcher,Knight of the Burning Pestle, iv., 1. He sings, andhoyts, and revels among his drunken companions.
Hoity-toity.SeeHighty-tighty.
Hokey-pokey,subs.(common).—1. A cheat; a swindle; nonsense. [FromHocus Pocus.]
2. (common).—A cheap ice-cream sold in the streets.
Holborn Hill.To ride backwards up Holborn Hill,verb. phr.(old colloquial).—To go to the gallows. [The way was thence to Tyburn, criminals riding backwards.—Grose.]
1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, ii., 1.Urs.Up the heavyhill—Knock. OfHolbourn, Ursula, mean’st thou so? for what, for what, pretty Urse?Urs.For cutting halfpenny purses, or stealing little penny dogs out o’ the Fair.
1659.Harry White’s Humour(Nares). Item, he loves to ride when he is weary, yet at certaine times he holds it ominous to ride upHolborne.
1695.Congreve,Love for Love, ii., 7. Sirrah, you’ll be hanged; I shall live to see yougo up Holborn hill.[331]
Hold,verb.(old).—1. To bet; to wager.SeeDo you hold?
1534.Udall,Roister Doister, i., 2 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iii., 7). Iholda groat ye will drink anon of this gear.
1551.W. Still,Gammer Gurton’s Needle, iii., 3 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iii., 216, andpassim). Iholdthee a groat I shall patch thy coat.
1697.Vanbrugh,Provoked Wife, ii., 1. I’llholdyou a guinea you don’t make her tell it you.
1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., ii., 54. I’llholdye five Guineas to four.
2. (venery) (orHold it).—To be impregnated; to be got with child. [In certain parts of Scotland, it is said, a farm servant stating that she “disnahaud” commands double wages.]
To hold on to,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To apply oneself; to be persistent: generally,to hold on like grim death.
1848.Ruxton,Life in the Far West, p. 71. He recovered, and wiselyheld on tofor the future.
Hold up,verb. phr.(American and Australian).—1. To rob on the highway;to bail or stick up(q.v.). Also assubs.= a highwayman orroad-agent(q.v.).
1888.Detroit Free Press, 8 Dec. One manheld upsix stage passengers in Arizona the other day and robbed them of $2,000. Each was armed, but it is customary to submit out there, and so up went their hands.
1888.Detroit Free Press, 13 Oct. Mounted on a white horse, he started on a land-prospecting tour and ran against a party ofhold-ups.
1892.Lippincott, Oct., p. 495. Wouldholdthe trainupuntil I had finished.
2. (thieves’).—To arrest. For synonyms,seeNab.
To hold the stage,verb. phr.(theatrical).—To have the chief place on the boards and the eye of an audience. Fr.,avoir les planches.
To hold a candle to(the devil, etc.),verb. phr.(colloquial).—SeeDevil, and add the following quot.
1868.ReadeandBoucicault,Foul Play, p. 65. But you see, sir, he has got the ear of the merchant ashore; and so I am obliged tohold a candle to the devil.
To hold a candle to,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To vie with; to be comparable to; also to assist in or condone.
1886.R. L. Stevenson,Kidnapped, p. 79. They had killed poor Ransome; and was I tohold the candle toanother murder?
To hold(orhang)on by the eyelids,eyelashesoreyebrows,verb. phr.(common).—To pursue an object desperately; to insist upon a point; to carry on a forlorn hope.Seealso quot. andSplash Board.
1883.Clark Russell,Sailor’s Language, p. 69.Holding on with his eyelids.Said of a man aloft with nothing much to lay hold of.
To hold in hand,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To amuse; to possess the attention or the mind; to have in one’s pocket.
To hold the market,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To buy stock and hold it to so large an extent that the price cannot decline.
Do you hold?phr.(streets).—Have you money to lend? Can you stand treat?Cf.verb., sense 1.[332]
Hold your horses,phr.(American).—Go easy; don’t get excited: a general injunction to calm in act and speech.
Hold your jaw,phr.(colloquial).—Hold your tongue;stow your gab(q.v.).
Hold hard!(oron)!intj.(colloquial).—Wait a moment! don’t be in a hurry!
1761.Colman,Jealous Wife, V., inWks.(1777), i., 130.Hold hard! hold hard!you are all on a wrong scent.
1835.Dickens,Sketches by Boz, p. 280. ‘Hold hard!’ said the conductor; ‘I’m blowed if we ha’n’t forgot the gen’lm’n as vas to be set down at Doory-lane.’
1864.E. Yates,Broken to Harness, ch. iv., p. 38 (1873). I told Meaburn tohold on, and we’d get a rise out of Punch.
Hold-stitch.—SeeStitch.
Hold-water.—SeeWater.
Hold-out,subs.(gambling).—An old-fashioned apparatus, in poker, for ‘holding out’ desirable cards.
Hole(venery).—1. The femalepudendum. Also,Hole of Content, andHole(orQueen)of Holes. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.To give a hole to hide it in=to grant the favour(q.v.). [Hence, by a play upon words,Holy of Holies.]
1595.Shakspeare,Romeo and Juliet, ii., 4. This drivelling love is like a great natural, that runs lolling up and down to hide hisbauble(q.v.) in ahole.
1598.Florio,Worlde of Wordes, s.v.Carnafau, the brat-getting place, orhole of content.
1620.Percy,Folio MS., p. 197. … He light in aholeere he was aware!
1647–80.Rochester,Poems. Thou mighty princess, lovelyqueen of holes.
d.1649.Drummond,Posthumous Poems, ‘The Statue of Alcides.’ Fair nymph, in ancient days, yourholes, by far, Were not so hugely vast as now they are.
1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., iv., 72. It has a head much like a Mole’s, And yet it loves to creep inholes: The fairest She that e’er took Life, For love of this became a Wife.
2. (old).—A cell;cf.,Hell, sense 1.
1540.Lindsay,Thrie Estaits, line 1016. Wee have gart bind him with ane poill, And send him to the theifishoill.
1607.Miseries of Enforced Marriage, iii., I. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875. ix., 514). If you shall think … it shall accord with the state of gentry to submit myself from the feather-bed in the master’s side, or the flock-bed in the knight’s ward, to the straw-bed in thehole.
1607.Wentworth Smith,The Puritan, iii. But if e’er we clutch him again the Counter shall charm him.Rav.Theholeshall rot him.
1657.Walks of Hogsdon.Next from the stocks, thehole, and little-ease.
1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, iv., 2 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 482). Make his mittymus to theholeat Newgate.
3. (old).—A private printing office where unlicensed books were made; acock-robin shop(q.v.).—Moxon, 1683.
4. (colloquial).—A difficulty; a fix; on the turf,to be in a hole= to lose (a bet) or be defeated (of horses).
1760–61.Smollett,Sir L. Greaves, ch. xvi. I should be in a deadlyholemyself if all my customers should take it into their heads to drink nothing but water-gruel.
1868.Ouida,Under Two Flags, ch. i. ‘I am in a hole—no end of ahole.’
5. (common).—A place of abode; specifically, a mean habitation; a dirty lodging. For synonyms,seeDiggings.
6. (common).—Therectum: short forarse-hole.E.g.,suck his hole= a derisive retort upon an affirmative answer to the[333]question, ‘Do you know So-and-So?’ For synonyms,seeMonocular Eyeglass.
1383.Chaucer,Canterbury Tales, ‘The Miller’s Tale.’ And at the window she put out hirhole.
1540.Lindsay,Thrie Estaits, line 2174. Lift vp hir clais: Kis hirhoillwith your hart.
1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, v., 3. A pox o’ your manners, kiss myholehere, and smell.
1649.Drummond,Madrigals and Epigrams, ‘A Jest’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, x., 667). She turned, and turning up herholebeneath, Said, ‘Sir, kiss here.’
d.1732.Gay,Tales‘In Imitation of Chaucer’s Style’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, x., 504). Thou didst forget to guard thy postern, There is anholewhich hath not crossed been.
Verb(venery).—To effect intromission; toput in(q.v.). Hence,Holed,adj.=in(q.v.).
A hole in one’s coat,subs. phr.(colloquial).—A flaw in one’s fame; a weak spot in one’s character.To pick a hole in one’s coat= to find a cause for censure.
1789.Burns,Verses on Capt. Grose. If there’s ahole in a’ your coats, I rede you tent it.
To make(orburn)a hole in one’s pocket,verb. phr.(colloquial).—Said of money recklessly spent.
To make a hole in anything,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To use up largely.
1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, iii., 5 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 456). Do it then, and make aholein this angel.
To make a hole in the water,verb. phr.(common).—To commit suicide by drowning.
1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 76. I should justmake a hole in the water, if ’tworn’t for the wife and the kids.
To make a hole,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To break; to spoil; to upset; to interrupt. Thus tomake a hole in one’s manners= to be rude; tomake a hole in one’s reputation= to betray, to seduce; tomake a hole in the silence= to make a noise, toraise cain(q.v.).
Too drunk to see a hole in a ladder,phr.(common).—Excessively intoxicated. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.
Hole-and-corner,adj.(colloquial).—Secret; underhand; out of the way:e.g.,hole-and-corner work= shady business. Also (venery) = copulation. [Cf.,Hole,subs.sense 1.]
Holer(alsoHolemonger),subs.(colloquial).—A whoremaster (cf.,Hole,subs., sense 1). Also (old), a harlot; a light woman (cf.,Hole,verb.). Hence,Holing= whoring.
Holiday,adj.(old).—Unskilled; indifferent; careless.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Holiday,a holiday bowler, a bad bowler.
Blind Man’s Holiday.See ante.
To have a holiday at Peckham,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To go dinnerless.All holiday at Peckham= no work and nothing to eat. [A play upon words.]SeePeckish.
1811.Lexicon Balatronicum.All holiday at Peckham… a saying signifying that it is all over with the business or person spoken of or alluded to.[334]
1848.Forster,Oliver Goldsmith, bk. I., ch. vi., p. 55 (5th Ed.). ‘Oh, that isall a holiday at Peckham,’ said an old friend very innocently one day.
To take a holiday,verb. phr.(common).—To be dismissed; to get thebag(q.v.) orsack(q.v.)
Gone for a holiday,adv. phr.(colloquial).—Said of a flaw, lapse, or imperfection of any kind (as dropped stitches, lost buttons, slurred painting, and so forth).Seealso quots.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Holiday… a holiday is any part of a ship’s bottom, left uncovered in painting it.
1883.Clark Russell,Sailors’ Language, p. 69, s.v.Holidays.Places left untarred on shrouds, backstays, etc., during the operation of tarring them.
Holler,verb.(American).—To cry enough; to give in; tocave in(q.v.).
1847.Porter,Quarter Race, etc., p. 89. The truth must come, he warped me nice, So jist to save his time Ihollered.
Hollis,subs.(Winchester College).—A small pebble. [Said to be derived from a boy.—Notions.]
Hollow,adj.(colloquial).—Complete; certain; decided. Asadv.completely; utterly.E.g., to beat or lickhollow.SeeBeatandCreation.
1759.Townley,High Life Below Stairs, i., 2. Crab was beathollow.
1761.Colman,Jealous Wife, V., inWks.(1777), i., 134. So, my lord, you and I are both distanced: ahollowthing, damme.
1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Hollow.It was quite ahollowthing,i.e., a certainty, or decided business.
1814.Edgworth,Patronage, ch. iii. Squire Burton won the matchhollow.
1837.Barham,Ingoldsby Legends. ‘Bloudie Jack.’ His lines to Apollo Beat all the resthollowAnd gained him the Newdegate Prize.
1852.Dickens,Bleak House, ch. lxiv., p. 529. I have therefore taken a ’ouse in that locality, which, in the opinion of my friends, is ahollowbargain (taxes ridiculous, and use of fixtures included in the rent).
1871.Durham County Advertiser, 10 Nov. ‘It licks mehollow, sir, as I may say,’ put in the silent member.
1892.Punch, 9 July, p. 3. Booby-traps were beatenhollow.
Holloway,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.
Holloway,Middlesex(common).—The lower bowel; thearse-gut(q.v.).
Holt,verb.(American).—To take; to take hold of.
Holus-bolus,subs.(nautical).—The head. Also the neck.
Adv.(colloquial).—Helter skelter; altogether; first come, first served.
1868.Wilkie Collins,The Moonstone, 1st Period, ch. xv. And, making a sudden snatch at the heap of silver, put it back,holus-bolus, in her pocket.
Holy.More holy than righteous,adv. phr.(common).—Said of a person in rags, or of a tattered garment.
Holy-boys,subs.(military).—TheNinth Foot. [From a trick of selling bibles for drink in the Peninsula.] Also,Fighting Ninth.
1886.Tinsley’s Magazine, Apr., 322. The 9th having bartered their Bibles in Spain for wine, and having there gained a reputation for sacking monasteries, were long known as theHoly Boys.[335]
Holy-father,subs.(Irish).—Seequot.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Holy Father, A butcher’s boy of St. Patrick’s Market, Dublin, or other Irish blackguard; among whom the exclamation, or oath, by the Holy Father (meaning the Pope), is common.
Holy Iron.SeeHoly Poker.
Holy Joe,subs. phr.(colloquial).—A pious person, whether hypocritical or sincere. Also (nautical), a parson.
Holy Jumping Mother of Moses.SeeMoses.
Holy-lamb,subs.(old).—A thorough-paced villain.—Grose.
Holy-land(orground),subs.(old).—1. St. Giles’s;Palestine(q.v.).
1819.Moore,Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 7. For we are the boys of theholy ground, And we’ll dance upon nothing and turn us round.
1821.The Fancy, i., p. 250. TheHoly-land, as St. Giles’s has been termed, in compliment to the superior purity of its Irish population.
1821.Egan,Tom and Jerry, ch. ii. At Mammy O’Shaughnessy’s in the back Settlements of theHoly Land.
1823.W. T. Moncrieff,Tom and Jerry, ii., 5. Let’s have a dive among the cadgers in the back slums, in theHoly Land.
1843.Punch’s Almanack, 1 Sept. St. Giles. The Marquis of Waterford makes a pilgrimage to his shrine in theHoly Land.
1859.Sala,Twice Round the Clock, one a.m., par. 28. Unfaithful topographers may have told you that theHoly Landbeing swept away and Buckeridge Street being pulled down, St. Giles’s exists no more.
1891.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 3 Apr. p. 215, col. 1. It would be hard to say whether the Irishmen of theHoly Landor the Hebrew scum of Petticoat Lane showed the finest specimens of ‘looped and windowed raggedness.’
2. (common).—Generic for any neighbourhood affected by Jews; specifically, Bayswater, and Brighton.Cf.,New Jerusalem, andHoly of Holies.
Holy Moses.SeeMoses.
Holy of Holies,subs. phr.(common).—1. The Grand Hotel at Brighton. [Which is largely tenanted by Jews:cf.,Holy Land(sense 2), andNew Jerusalem.]
2. (colloquial).—A private room; asanctum(q.v.).
1891.N. Gould,Double Event, p. 215. Fletcher did not venture into thatholy of holies.
1893.WestminsterGaz., 31 Jan., p. 3, c. 2. The Cabinet Council is theholy of holiesof the British Constitution, and as Mr. Bagehot long ago regretted, no description of it at once graphic and authentic has ever been given.
3. (venery).—SeeHole, sense 1, and for synonyms,Monosyllable.
Holy Poker(orIron),subs. phr.(university).—The mace carried by an esquire bedel (of Law, Physic, or Divinity) as a badge of authority. [The term, which is applied to the bedels themselves, is very often used as an oath.]
1840.Comic Almanack, ‘Tom the Devil,’ p, 214. A hotel’s the place for me! I’ve thried em all, from the Club-house at Kilkinny, to the Clarendon, and, by theholy poker, never wish mysilf worse luck than such cantonments!
1870.London Figaro, 8 Oct., p. 2, col. 2. The bedels of a University are very important persons, although derisive undergraduates familiarly term themholy pokers.
1886.R. L. Stevenson,Kidnapped, p. 169. I swear upon theholy ironI had neither art nor part.
2. (venery).—Thepenis(by a play upon words).Cf.,Hole, sense 1,Holy of Holies, sense[336]3, andPoke. For synonyms,seeCreamstickandPrick.
Holy-water Sprinkler,subs. phr.(old).—A mediæval weapon of offence; amorning star(q.v.).
Home,subs.(colonial).—England.
1893.Gentlemen’s Mag., Jan., p. 74. And then I learnt that byhomehe meant England, which, moreover, is referred to as ‘home’ by dusky myriads, who have never seen her cliffs rise above the waves.
To get home,verb. phr.(colloquial).—1. To achieve an object; to succeed perfectly; and (athletic) to reach the winning post.
1891.Sportsman, 26 Mar. A close struggle for the Palace Selling Plate ended in favour of Rosefield, who justgot homea head in front of Mordure.
1892.Pall Mall Gaz., 23 Jan., 3, 2. It is delightful to watch Mr. Charles Hawtrey telling lie after lie to his unbelieving wife, and joyfully, in misplaced confidence, saying to himself, ‘I’vegot home.’
2. (pugilists’).—To get in (a blow) with precision and effect;to land(q.v.). Also (old) to give a mortal wound.
1559.Elyot,Dictionarium, 3rd. ed.Aere meo me lacessis, thou gevest me scoffe for scoffe, or as we saie, thoupaiest me home.
1631.Chettle,Hoffman.Sax.Not any, Austria; neither toucht I thee.Aust.Somebodytoucht me home; vaine world farewell, Dying I fall on my dead Lucibell.
1698.Farquhar,Love and a Bottle, iv., 3. But hark ye, George; don’t push toohome; have a care of whipping through the guts.
1706.Farquhar,Recruiting Officer, ii., 1. That’shome.
1888.Sporting Life, 10 Dec. In the next roundgot homeseveral times without a return.
1891.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 19 June, p. 395, c. 3. Macgot homea terrific cross-counter with the left on Bob’s left eye, which seemed to split the flesh open both above and below.
3. (turf).—To recover a loss; neither to win nor lose; to come out quits. Also,to bring oneself home.
4. (venery).—To get with child. Also, to compel the sexual spasm.
To make oneself at home,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To take one’s ease; to be familiar to the point of ill-breeding.
1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 10. Asat homeas a cat in a cream-shop.
To come home to,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To reach the conscience; to touch deeply.
To go(send, orcarry)home(orto one’s last home),verb. phr.(colloquial).—To die; to kill; to bury. [The Chinese say ‘to go home horizontally.’]SeeAloft.
1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes.Mandar ’al palegro, tosend to ones last home.
1823.Bee,Dict. Turf, s.v.Home.Gone home, dead.
Home-bird,subs.(colloquial).—A henpecked husband. Also, a milksop. Fr.,chauffe-la-couche(= warming-pan).
Home for lost dogs,subs. phr.(medical).—A large and well known medical school in London. [From the fact that the majority of its inmates have strayed there from the various hospital schools, as a last resource toward taking a degree.][337]
Home-rule,subs.(common).—Irish whiskey. For synonyms,seeDrinksandOld Man’s Milk.
Home-sweet-home,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.
Homo,subs.(old).—A man: generallyomee(q.v.). [From the Latin.] For synonyms,seeCove.
Homoney,subs.(old).—A woman. For synonyms,seePetticoat. Also, a wife. For synonyms,seeDutchandCf.Homo.
1754.Discoveries of John Poulter, p. 43. Myhomoneyis in quod, my wife is in gaol.
Homo-opathise,verb.(American).—To get bills (i.e., petitions) through Legislature, Congress, or City Council, by means of bills (i.e., bank-bills).
Hone,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum. Forsynonyms,seeMonosyllable.