1704.King,Orpheus and Eurydice(Chalmers,English Poets), vol. ix., p. 284. A lady of prodigious fame, Whose hollow eyes andhopper breechMade common people call her witch.1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., vi., 351. And there’ll behopper-arsedNancy.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hopper-docker,subs.(old).—A shoe. For synonyms,seeTrotter-cases.Hop-picker,subs.(common).—1. A prostitute; alsoHopping-wife. For synonyms,seeBarrack-hackandTart.1888.Indoor Paupers, p. 55. Numbers of them go regularly to the hop-gardens; and each man must have a female companion—ahopping wifeas she is termed.2.in. pl.(gaming).—The queens of all the four suits.Hopping-Giles,subs.(common).—A cripple. For synonyms,seeDot-and-go-one.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.1885.Household Words, 27 June, p. 180. St. Giles is the patron saint of cripples; hence a lame person is mockingly calledhopping giles.Hopping-jesus,subs.(colloquial).—A lameter. For synonyms,seeDot-and-go-one.Hopping-mad,adj.(American).—Very angry.Hop-pole,subs.(common).—A tall, slight person, male or female. For synonyms,seeLamp-post.1850.Smedley,Frank Farleigh, p. 5. I was tall for my age, but slightly built, and so thin, as often to provoke the application of such epithets ashop-pole, ‘thread-paper,’ etc.Horizontal-refreshment,subs.(venery).—1. Carnal intercourse;cf.,Upright. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide. [Fr.,une horizontale= a prostitute.] Also,To Horizontalise.[351]2. (common).—Food taken standing; generally applied to a mid-day snack at a bar.Horn,subs.(common).—1. The nose. Also,Horney. For synonyms,seeConk.1823.Bee,Dict. of the Turf, s.v.Horney—a nose; one that resounds in expectoration.2. (common).—A drink; a dram of spirits. For synonyms,seeGo.1847.Porter,Quarter Race, p. 193. Go on, Venus. Take anotherhornfirst.1848.Ruxton,Life in the Far West. p. 126. They called the Scotchman to take ahorn.3. (venery).—An erection of thepenis. [Properly of men only; but said of both sexes. In the feminine equivalents areCunt-itchandCunt-stand].HenceTo get(orhave)the horn,verb.phr.= to achieve erection;to cure the horn= to copulate;horningandhorny, in course of, or disposed to erection;hornification,subs.= the state, or process, of erection;hornify(seeverb), = to get (or give) thehorn;Miss Horner,subs.= thepudendum muliebre;old horney(orhornington) = thepenis.English Synonyms.—Cock- (or prick-) stand; Irish toothache; in one’s Sunday (or best) clothes; the jack; hard-on (American); horn-colic; horn-mad (said also of an angry cuckold); fixed bayonets; lance in rest; the old Adam; standing; on the stand; stiffened up; the spike.4. (old).—Thepenis. For synonyms,seeCreamstickandPrick.5. (colloquial).—Also inpl.,seeverb.Horn,verb(colloquial).—To cuckold. [Becco(= a he-goat) andcornuto(= a horned thing) are good Italian for a cuckold; in Florio (Worlde of Wordes, 1598)andar in cornouaglia senza barca(i.e., to go to Cornwall without a ship) = to win the horn; and the expression, as the example from Lydgate appears to show, may very well have been imported into English from the Italian. Also, it seems to have begun to be literary about the middle of the sixteenth century, when the Italian influence was at its height. For the rest it passed in triumph into written English, was used in every possible combination, had a run at least two centuries long, and is still intelligible, though not in common service.]SeeActæon,antlers,bull’s feather,freeman of bucks, etc.Hence,to hornify(seesubs., sense 3), andto graft(orgive)horns; towear horns= to live a cuckold;horner,subs.= a cuckold maker;horn-mad,adj. phr.(q.v.);horned,adj.= cuckolded;horn-grower(ormerchant)subs.= a married man;horn-fever,subs.= cuckoldry;to exalt one’s horn,verb. phr.= (1) to cuckold, and (2) to rejoice in, or profit by, the condition;to wind the horn= to publish the fact of cuckoldom;horns-to-sell,subs. phr.= (1) a lewd wife, and (2) a wittol;to point the horn= to fork the fingers in derision (as in Hogarth’s ‘Industrious and Idle Apprentice,’ 1790, plate v.);horn-works= the process of cuckolding;at the sign of the horn= in cuckoldom;horn-pipe= (seequot. 1602);horned herd,subs. phr.= husbands in general (specifically, the city men, the Citizens of London,the cuckolding of whom by West-end gallants is a constant theme of seventeenth century jokes);gilt-horn,subs.= a contented Cuckold;spirit of hartshorn= the suspicion or the certainty of cuckoldom;long horns,subs.= a notorious cuckold;knight of Hornsey, alsomember for Horncastle,subs. phr.= a cuckold, etc.d.1440.Lydgate,Falle of Prynces, ii., leaf 56 (ed. Wayland, 1557, quoted in[352]Dyce’sSkelton, 1843, ii., 132). To speke plaine Englishe made him cokolde. Alas I was not auised wel before Vnkonnyngly to speake such language: I should haue sayde how that he had anhorne.… And in some landCornodomen do them call, And some affirme that such folk have no gall.c.152(?).Hick Scorner(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i., 180). My mother was a lady of the stews, blood born, And (Knight of the Halter) my father wore anhorne.c.1537.Thersites(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i., 412). Why wilt thou not thyhornesinhold? Thinkest thou that I am a cuckold.c.1550.The Pride and Abuse of Women(176 inEarly Pop. Poetry, ed. Hazlitt, iv., 237). And loke well, ye men to your wives.… Or some wyll not styche.… Tohorneyou on everye side.1568.Bannatyne MSS.‘The use of Court,’ p. 765 (Hunterian Club, 1886). Vp gettis hir wame, Scho thinkis no schame For to bring hame The laird anehorne.1574.Appius and Virginia(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iv., 118). A hairbrain, a hangman, or a grafter ofhornes.1575.Laneham’s Letter(ed. 1871). p. 40. With yoor paciens, Gentlmen, … be it said: wear it not in deede thathornzbee so plentie,hornwareI beleeue woold bee more set by than it iz, and yet thear in our parts, that wyll not stick too auoow that many an honest man both in citee and cuntree hath his hoous bvhorningwell vphollden, and a daily freend allso at need.c.1580.Collier of Croydon(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, viii., 436). My head groweth hard, myhornswill shortly spring.1586.Lupton, 1,000Not. Things, ed. 1675, p. 261. Take heed thou art nothorn’d, and then fetcht home.1597.Hall,Satires, i., 8. Fond wittol that would’st load thy witless head, With timelyhornsbefore thy bridal bed.Idem, ii., 7. If chance it come to wanton Capricorne, And so into the Ram’s disgracefulhorne.1598.Shakspeare, 2Henry IV., Act i., sc. 2. Well, he hath thehorn of abundanceand the lightness of his wife shines through it.1598.Jonson,Every Man in his Humour, v., 1. See, what a drove ofhornsfly in the air, Winged with my cleansèd and my credulous breath.1598.Sylvester,Du Bartas, ed. 1641, v., 41. The adulterous Sargus.… Courting the Shee Goates on the grassie shore Wouldhorntheir husbands that had horns before.1599.Jonson,Every Man Out of his Humour, iv., 4. Nowhorn upon hornpursue thee, thou blind, egregious, dotard.1600.Look About You, Sc. 10 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, v., 415). By addinghornsunto our falcon’s head.1600.Shakspeare,As You Like it, iv., 2. Take thou no scorn to wear thehorn, It was a crest ere thou wast born.1600.Shakspeare,Much Ado about Nothing, i. Then up comes the devil with hishornsupon his head, looking like an old cuckold.Ibid.v. 1. But when shall weseethe savage bull’shornson the sensible Benedict’s head.1601.Jonson,Poetaster, iv., 3. And there is never a star in thy forehead but shall be ahornif thou dost persist to abuse me.1602.Campion,English Poesy(Bullen,Works, 1889, p. 248). Mock him not withhorns, the case is altered.1603.Philotus(Pinkerton,Scottish Poems, 1792, iii., 17). Sen thair may be na uther buit? Plat on his heid anehorne.1604.Marston,Malcontent,i., I. Mendoza is the man makes thee ahorned beast: ’tis Mendoza cornutes thee.1605.Jonson,Volpone, ii., 4.Volp.: Nay, then, I not repent me of my late disguise.Mos.: If you canhornehim, Sir, you need not.1605.Chapman,All Fools, v., 1 (Plays, 1874, p. 75). And will youblow the hornyourself where you may keep it to yourself? Go to, you are a fool.Ibid.(p. 76.) It may very well be that the devil broughthornsinto the world, but the women brought them to the men.1607.How a Man May Choose a Good Wife From a Bad, ii., I. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 28).Quando venis aput, I shall have twohornson mycaput.[353]1607.Dekker,Northward Hoe, Act i., p. 8. If a man be deuorst, whether may he haue an action or no, gainst those thatmake horns at him.Ibid.iv., p. 54. This curse is on all letchers throwne, They givehornsand, at last,hornesare their owne.1608.Rowlands,Humor’s Looking Glass, p. 22. Besides, shee is as perfect chast as faire. But being married to a jealous asse, He vowes sheehornshim.1609.Jonson,Epicœne, iii., 1. By that light you deserve to be grafted, and yourhornsreach from one side of the island to the other.1616.Jonson,Devil’s an Ass, v., 5. And a cuckold is, Wherever he puts his head, with a wannion, hishornsbe forth, the devil’s companion.1618.Samuel Rowlands,The Night Raven, p. 25. ’Tis this bad liver doth thehorne-plaguebreed, Which day and night my jealous thoughts doth feed.1623.Cockeran,Eng. Dict.s.v.Sargus, an adulterous fish which goes on the grassie shore, andhornesthe hee Goates that had horns before.1627.Drayton,Agincourt and Other Poems, p. 174. Some made mouthes at him, others as in scorne With their forkt fingerspoyntedhimthe horn.1629.Davenant,Albovine, ed. 1673, p. 436. ’Twas a subtle reach to tell him that the King hadhorn’dhis brow.1633.Rowley,Match at Midnight(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiii., 40).horningthe headman of his parish and taking money for his pains.1633.Ford,Love’s Sacrifice, iii., 3. Fernando is your rival, has stolen your duchess’s heart, murther’d friendship;hornsyour head, and laughs at your horns.1637.BeaumontandFletcher,Elder Brother, iv., 4. I shall have some music yet At my making free o’ th’ company ofhorners.1640.Rawlins,The Rebellion, i., I. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 15). Fresh as a city bridegroom that has signed his wife a grant for thegrafting of horns.1643.Brome,A New Diurnal. (Chalmers,Eng. Poets, 1810, vi., 667). Prince Rupert, for fear that his name be confounded, Will saw off hishorns, and make him a Roundhead.1647.BeaumontandFletcher,Women Pleased, v. 3. I shall then be full of scorn, Wanton, proud (beware thehorn).1653.MiddletonandRowley,The Spanish Gypsy, iii., I. Beggars would on cock-horse ride. And boobies fall a-roaring, And cuckolds though nohornsbe spied, Be one another goring.1653.Davenant,The Siege of Rhodes, p. 34. It stuffs up the marriage bed with thorns, It gores itself, it gores itself with imaginedhorns.1657.Middleton,Women, Beware of Woman(1657), iii., 2. Cuckolds dance thehornpipe, and farmers dance the hay.Idem., iv., 2. Go, lie down, master; but take care yourhornsdo not make holes in the pillow-beers.1659.Lady Alimony, i., 2 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 280). My scene, Trillo, ishorn alley.Ibid., iii., 6 (p. 340). Doubt nothing, my fellow Knights ofhornsey.1661.Webster,Cure for a Cuckold(1661), v., 2. He that hathhornsthus let him learn to shed.1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, iv., 1 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 473). I hope toexalt theParson’shornhere.Ibid., (p. 477). Only to fright the poor cuckholds and make the fools visit theirhorns.Ibid., v., 4 (p. 519). Methinks myhornsache more than my corns.Ibid. ib.(p. 520). I have seen a cuckold of your complexion: if he had lent as much hoof ashorn, you might have hunted the beast by the slot.1664.Butler,Hudibras, II., ii. For when men by their wives are cowed, Theirhornsof course are understood.1668.L’Estrange,Visions of Quevedo, p. 251 (ed. 1708). He that marries, ventures fair for thehorn, either before or after.1672.Ray,Proverbs(inBohn, 1889), s.v. He had betterput his horns in his pocketthan wind them.Idem.(p. 184).Hornsand gray hairs do not come with years.Idem. id., Who hathhornsin his pocket let him not put them on his head.1675.Wycherley,Country Wife, v., 4. Epilogue: Encouraged by our woman’s man to-day,a horner’spart may vainly think to play.Ibid., i., 1. I make no more cuckolds, sir. [Makes horns.]Ibid., iv., 3. If ever you suffer your wife to trouble me again here, she shall carry you home a pair ofhorns.1677.Wycherley,Plain Dealer, iv., 1. First, the clandestine obscenity in the very name ofhorner.[354]d.1680.Butler,Remains(1757), ii., 372. His own branches, hishorns, are as mystical as the Whore of Babylon’s Palfreys, not to be seen but in a vision.1693.Congreve,Old Bachelor, iv., 15. Pox choke him. Would hishornswere in his throat.1695.Congreve,Love for Love, iv., 15. The clocks will strike twelve at noon, and thehorned herdbuzz in the Exchange at two.1698.Farquhar,Love and a Bottle, iv., 3. Should I ever be tried before this judge, how I should laugh toseehow gravely his goose cap sits upon a pair ofhorns!1700.Congreve,Way of the World, iii., 7. Man should have his head andhorns, and woman the rest of him.1702.Steele,The Funeral or Grief à la Mode, Act. i., p. 22. This wench I know has played me false, andhornedme in my gallants. [Note.—That the speaker is a female shows the word to have been transferable to the other sex.]1708.W. King,Art of Love, pt. x. (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, ix., 274). Sometimes his dirty paws she scorns, While her fair fingers show hishorns.1708.Prior,Poems. ‘The Turtle and Sparrow,’ line 302–9. ‘Two staringHorns,’ I often said, ‘but ill became a sparrow’s head’ … ‘Whilst at the root yourhornsare sore, The more you scratch, they ache the more.’1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., i., 174. Who’s the Cuckoo, Who’s the Cuckold, who’s thehorner?1728.Patrick Walker,Alexander Peden, ‘Postscript’ (ed. 1827, i.). A profane, obscene meeting called thehorn-order.1737.Fielding,Tumble-Down Dick,Works(1718) iii., 408. Think it enough your betters do the deed, And that byhorningyou I mend the breed.d.1742.Somerville,Occasional Poems(Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 238). If I but catch her in a corner, Humph! ’tis your servant, ColonelHorner.1759–67.Sterne,TristramShandy, ch. xxxvii. Nor have the horn-works he speaks of anything to do with thehorn-worksof Cuckoldom.1765.C. Smart,Fables, xi., line 66. And though your spouse my lecture scorns. Beware his fate, beware hisHorns.d.1770.Chatterton,The Revenge, i., I. Let her do what she will, The husband is still, And but for hishornsyou would think him an ass.Idem., ii., 4.Have you comehorning.1785.Grose,Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1786.Captain Morris(Collection of Songs),The Great Plenipotentiary, (9th ed. 1788, stanza ix., p. 43). She hadhornedthe dull brows of her worshipful spouse Till they sprouted like Venus’s myrtle.d.1796.Burns,Merry Muses, ‘Cuddy the Cooper,’ p. 84. On ilka brow she’splanted a horn, An’ swears that there they shall stan’, O.1813.Moore,Poems, ‘Re-inforcements for the Duke,’ iii., 209. Old H——df——t athorn-worksagain might be tried.1816.Quiz,Grand Master, canto vii., p. 199, line 10.(She) smil’d, declaring that she scorn’d him, (She might have added that she’dhorn’dhim).1822.Scott,Fortunes of Nigel, c. xxxvi. O what a generous creature is your true London husband!Hornshath he, but, tame as a fatted ox, he goreth not.1825.Scott,The Betrothed, ch. xvii. I ever tell thee, husband, thehornswould be worth the hide in a fair market.To draw in one’s horns,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To withdraw or to retract; to cool down.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Horns.To horn off,verb. phr.(American). = To put on one side; to shunt. [As a bull or stag with his horns.]1851.Hooper,Widow Rugby’s Husband, etc., p. 69. Youhornedme off to get a chance to get gaming witnesses out of the way.In a horn,adv. phr.(American).—A general qualification, implying refusal or disbelief;over the left(q.v.).1858.Washington Evening Star, 26 Aug. I have mentioned before the innumerable comforts—in a horn—of the old White Sulphur Springs.To wind(orblow)the horn,verb. phr.(old).—To break wind;to fart(q.v.).[355]1620.Percy,Folio, MSS., ‘Fryar and Boye.’ Her tayle shall wind thehorne.To cure the horn,verb. phr.(venery).—To copulate.SeeHorn,subs., sense 3. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.To have the horn,verb. phr.(venery).SeeHorn,subs., sense 3.To come out of the little end of the horn,verb. phr.(common).—To get the worst of a bargain; to be reduced in circumstances. Also, to make much ado about nothing. Said generally of vast endeavour ending in failure. [Through some unexpectedSqueeze(q.v.)].1605.Jonson,Chapman, andMarston,Eastward Hoe, i., 1. I had the horne of suretiship ever before my eyes. You all know the devise of thehorne, where the young fellow slippes in at the butte-end, and comes squesd out at the buckall.1624.Fletcher,Wife for a Month, iii., 3. Thou wilt look to-morrow else Worse than the prodigal fool the ballad speaks of, That was squeezedthrough a horn.1847.Porter,Big Ben, etc., p. 37. How did you make it? You didn’tcome out at the little end of the horn, did you?1847.Porter,Quarter Race, etc., p. 24. You never saw such a run of luck; everywhere I touched waspizen, and Icame out of the leetle end of the horn.1891.Pall Mall Gaz., 3 July, i., 2. The ‘great Trek,’ in that expressive transatlantic phrase, has toddledout of the little end of the horn.Horn-colic,subs.(venery).—SeeHorn,subs., sense 3.1785.Grose,Vulg.Tongue, s.v.Hornet,subs.(common).—A disagreeable, cantankerous person.Hornie(orHorness),subs.(old).—1. A constable or watchman; a sheriff.1819.Vaux,Life, s.v.Horney, a Constable.1821.Haggart,Life, 51. The woman missing it immediately, she sent for thehornies.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Horness.2. (Scots’).—The devil; generallyAuld Hornie(q.v.).1785.Burns,Address to the Deil. O thou! whatever title suits thee,Auld Hornie, Satan, Nick, or Clootie.Hornify,verb.(colloquial).—SeeHorn,subs., sense 3 andverb.2. (venery).—SeeHorn,subs., sense 3.Horn-mad,adj.(old).—1.Seequot. 1690.1593.Shakespeare,Comedy of Errors, ii., 1. Why, mistress, sure my master ishorn-mad.1599.Henry Porter,The Two Angry Women of Abingdon(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii.). And then I wound my horn, and he’shorn-mad.1604.Marston,Malcontent, i., 7. I amhorn mad.1605.Jonson,The Fox, iii., 6. Yet I’m not mad, Nothorn-mad, see you.1639–61.Rump Songs, [1662], 293. The Country has grown sad, The City ishorn-mad.1647.BeaumontandFletcher,The Woman’s Prize, ii., 6. After my twelve strong labours to reclaim her, Which would have made Don Herculeshorn-mad.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Horn-mad, stark staring Mad, because Cuckolded.1693.Congreve,Old Bachelor, iv., 22. Ay, I feel it here; I sprout; I bud; I blossom; I am ripehorn-mad.1694.Congreve,Double Dealer, iv., 20. She forks out cuckoldom with her fingers, and you are runninghorn-madafter your fortune.1695.Congreve,Love for Love, v., 8. She’s mad for a husband, and he’shorn-mad.[356]1698.Farquhar,Love and a Bottle, iv., 3. Thou’rthorn-mad. Prithee, leave impertinence.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1822.Scott,Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxvi. Ye might as well expect brandy from beanstalks, or milk from a crag of blue whunstane. The man is mad,horn-mad, to boot.1825.Harriette Wilson,Memoirs, ii. 228. The little he did say was chiefly on the subject of cuckolds and cuckolding. His lordship washorn-mad.2. (venery).—Sexually excited; lecherous;musty(q.v.). Also,Horny.Hornswoggle,subs.(American).—Nonsense;humbug(q.v.). For synonyms,seeGammon.Verb(American).—To humbug; to delude; to seduce.—Slang, Jargon, and Cant.Cf.,In a horn.Horn-thumb,subs.(old).—A pickpocket. [From the practice of wearing a sheath of horn to protect the thumb in cutting out.]SeeThieves.1569.Preston,Cambises(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1874, iv., 235). But cousin, because to that office ye are not like come, Frequent your exercises, ahorne on your thumbe, A quick eye, a sharp knife.1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, ii. I mean a child of thehorn-thumb, a babe of booty, boy, a cut-purse.1614.Greene,Looking-Glass[Dyce], p. 138. I cut this from a new-married wife by means of ahorn-thumband a knife.—Six shillings, four pence.Horrors,subs.(common).—The first stage ofdelirium tremens. For synonyms,seeGallon-distemper. Also low spirits, orthe blues(q.v.).1848.Ruxton,Life in the Far West, p. 50. Paying the penalty in a fit ofhorrors.1857.Philadelphia Evening Bulletin(quoted by Bartlett). This poison (fusil oil),which acts with terrible results on the nerves; seeming like a diabolical inspiration, stirring up mania, convulsions, and thehorrorsin an incredibly short space of time.1864.Dickens,Our Mutual Friend, bk. iv., ch. viii. What are popularly called ‘the trembles’ being in full force upon him that evening, and likewise what are popularly calledthe horrors, he had a very bad time of it; which was not made better by his being so remorseful as frequently to moan ‘Sixty threepennorths.’1864.F. W. Robinson,Mr. Stewart’s Intentions, ch. i. ‘Well, sermons always gave methe horrors, and engendered a hate of the sermonizer.’1883.Stevenson,Treasure Islandch. iii., p. 20 (1886). If I don’t have adramo’ rum, Jim, I’ll havethe horrors.1889.C. Haddon Chambers,In Australian Wilds. He’s sober now, yousee; but he managed to get blind drunk before eleven o’clock this morning, and last week he narrowly escaped an attack ofthe horrors.1892.HenleyandStevenson,Three Rags, ‘Admiral Guinea,’ iv., 3. It’sthe horrorscome alive.2. (common).—Sausages.SeeChamber of HorrorsandDog’s-paste.3. (thieves’).—Handcuffs. For synonyms,seeDarbies.Horse,subs.(common).—1. A five-pound note.SeeFinnup.2. (thieves’).—Horsemonger Lane Gaol. Alsothe Old Horse. Now obsolete.1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, 1, p. 457. The only thing that frightens me when I’m in prison is sleeping in a cell by myself—you do inthe Old Horseand the Steel.3. (American).—A man: generally in affection. AlsoOld Hoss, orHoss-fly.1838.Haliburton(‘Sam Slick’),The Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xviii. He is all sorts of ahoss, and the best live one that ever cut dirt this side of the big pond, or t’other side either.[357]1847.Robb,Squatter Life, p. 74. What in the yearth did you do with old Hoss on the road?—He ain’tgin out, has he?Ibid., p. 70. None of your stuck-up imported chaps from the dandy states, but a real genuine westerner—in short, ahoss!1848.Ruxton,Life in the Far West, p. 5. Hyar’s ahossas’ll make fire come.1857.Gladstone,Englishman in Kansas, p. 43. Here, boys, drink. Liquors, captain, for the crowd. Step up this way,old hoss, and liquor.Verb(venery).—1. To possess a woman. For synonyms,seeRide.1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, iv., 3. Say’st thou so, filly? Thou shalthavea leap presently, I’llhorsethee myself, else.2. (workmen’s).—Seequots.Cf.,Flog the dead horse.1857.Notes and Queries, 2 S., iv., p. 192. A workmanhorsesit when he charges for more in his week’s work than he has really done. Of course he has so much unprofitable work to get through in the ensuing week, which is called dead horse.1867.All the Year Round, 13 July, p. 59.To horsea man, is for one of two men who are engaged on precisely similar pieces of work to make extraordinary exertions in order to work down the other man. This is sometimes done simply toseewhat kind of a workman a new man may be, but often with the much less creditable motive of injuring a fellow workman in the estimation of an employer.The gray mare is the better horse.SeeGray-mare.Horse foaled of an acorn,subs. phr.(old).—1. The gallows. For synonyms,seeTriple-tree.1760–61.Smollett,Sir L. Greaves, ch. viii. I believe as how ’tis no horse, but a devil incarnate; and yet I’ve been worse mounted, that I have—I’d like to have rida horse that was foaled of an acorn(i.e., he had nearly met with the fate of Absalom).1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1827.Lytton,Pelham, ch. lxxxii. The cove … is as pretty a Tyburn blossom as ever was brought up to ridea horse foaled by an acorn.1839.Ainsworth,Jack Sheppard[1889], p. 8. … As to this little fellow … he shall never mounta horse foaled by an acorn, if I can help it.2. (military).—The triangles or crossed halberds under which soldiers were flogged.Old-(orSalt-)Horse,subs.(nautical). Salt beef. AlsoJunkandSalt-junk.1889.Chambers’s Journal, 3 Aug., 495. Mr. Clark Russell declares thatsalt-horseworks out of the pores, and contributes to that mahogany complexion common to sailors, which is often mistakenly attributed to rum and weather.One-horse,adj.(American). Comparatively small, insignificant, or unimportant.1858.Washington Evening Star.On Friday last, the engineer of a fast train was arrested by the authorities of aone-horsetown in Dauphin County, Pa., for running through the borough at a greater rate of speed than is allowed by their ordinances.1871.De Vere,Americanisms, p. 221. The indignant settler who has been ill-treated, as he fancies, in court, denounces his attorney as a ‘miserable,one-horselawyer;’ and the Yankee newly arrived in England does not hesitate to declare that ‘Liverpool is a poorone-horsekind of a place,’ a term applied by Mark Twain to no less a city than Rome itself; and a witty clergyman of Boston inveighed once bitterly against ‘timid, sneaking,one-horseoaths, as infinitely worse than a good, round, thundering outburst.’1891.National Review, Sep., p. 127. Mr. Marion Crawford’sWitch of Prague(Macmillan & Co.) is, as his compatriots would say, rather aone-horsewitch.To be horsed,verb. phr.(old).—To be flogged [from the wooden-horse used as a flogging-stool]; to take on one’s back as for a flogging.[358]1678.Butler,Hudibras, pt. III., c. 1. The spirithors’dhim like a sack Upon the vehicle his back.1751.Smollett,Peregrine Pickle, ch. xvii. Our unfortunate hero was publiclyhorsed,in terroremof all whom it might concern.1857.Thackeray,Virginians, ch. v. Serjeants, school-masters, slave-overseers, used the cane freely. Our little boys had beenhorsedmany a day by Mr. Dempster.1881.Notes and Queries, 1 Jan., p. 18. I got wellhorsedfor such a breach of discipline.To fall away from a horseload to a cartload,verb. phr.(old).—Seequot.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Horseplay.Fallen away from a horseload to a cartload, spoken ironically of one considerably improved in flesh on a sudden.To flog the dead horse.—SeeDead-horseandHorse,verb.sense 2.To put the cart before the horse,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To begin at the wrong end; to set things hind-side before.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Horse.To put the saddle on the right horse,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To apportion accurately.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Horse.Set the saddle on the right horse, lay the Blame where the Fault is.To ride on a horse with(orbayard of)ten toes,verb. phr.(common).—To walk; to use theMarrowbone-stage.Cf.,Shanks’s Mare.1606.Breton,Good and Badde, p. 14. His trauell is the walke of the woful, and hishorse Bayard of ten toes.1662.Fuller,Worthies, Somerset, ii., 291. At last he [Coryat] undertook to travail into the East Indies by land, mounted onan horse with ten toes.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Bayard.As good as a shoulder of mutton to a sick horse,phr.(old).—Utterly worthless.1596.Ben Jonson,Every Man in his Humour, ii., 1. Counsel to him isas good as a shoulder of mutton to a sick horse.As strong as a horse,adv. phr.(colloquial).—Very strong: a general intensitive.Horse and horse,adv. phr.(American).—Neck and neck; even.Horsebreaker(orPretty Horsebreaker),subs.(colloquial).—A woman (c.1860), hired to ride in the park; hence, a riding courtesan.Seealso quot. 1864. For synonyms,seeBarrack-hackandTart.1864.E. Yates,Broken to Harness, ch. iv., p. 33 (1873). Kate Mellor was ahorsebreaker, abonâ fidehorsebreaker; one who curbed colts, and ‘took it out of’ kickers and rearers.1865.Public Opinion, 30 Sep. Thesedemi-mondepeople, anonymas,horsebreakers, hetairæ … are by degrees pushing their way into society.Horse-buss,subs.(old).—A loud-sounding kiss; a bite.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Horse-capper(-coper,-coser,-courser, or-chaunter),subs.(common).—A dealer in worthless or ‘faked’ horses. [Originally good English.To cope= to barter.]SeeChanter. HenceHorse-copingandHorse-duffing.1616.Overbury,Characters(Rimbault, 9th ed., 1856, p. 120). An arranthorse-courserhath the trick to blow up horseflesh as the butcher does veal.[359]d.1680.Butler,Remains(1759), ii., 458. Ahorse-courseris one that hath read horses, and understands all the virtues and vices of the whole species by being conversant with them, and how to take the best advantage of both.1742–4.North,Life of the Lord Keeper,i., 271. There werehorse-copersamong them.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Horse-coser, vulgarly and corruptly pronounced horse-coser, a dealer in horses. The verb to cose, was used by the Scots, in the sense of bartering or exchanging.1863.Sporting Life, 29 Apr., p. 4, col. 3.Copersand Chaunters are now in full feather.1864.London Review, 18 June, p. 643. Amongst the mysteries of horse-flesh is the noble science of coping, and its practitioners thehorse-copers.1874.G. A. Lawrence,Hagarene, ch. ii. He had lived somewhat precariously by his wits; eking out the scanty allowance wrung from his miserly old sire, by betting andhorse-copingon a small scale.1884.Daily News, 23 Aug., p. 4, c. 7. The most accomplished gipsycopers, if they are not belied, are not satisfied with merely doing up an unsound horse and selling him as a sound one, but frequently steal outright the subject of their scientific and often lucrative experiments.1888.Rolf Boldrewood,Robbery Under Arms, ch. i. Poaching must be something like cattle andhorse-duffing.1889.Answers, 27 July, p. 141, c. 1. Allow me to expose some more tricks ofhorse copers.1893.National Observer, 5 Aug., p. 291, col. 1. A veracioushorse-coperis a monster which the world ne’er saw.Horse-collar,subs.(venery).—1. The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.2. (tailors’).—An extremely long and wide collar.3. (old).—A halter.To die in a horse’s nightcap= to be hanged.SeeLadder.English Synonyms.—Anodyne necklace; Bridport dagger; choker; hempen cravat; hempen elixir; horse’s neckcloth; horse’s necklace; neck-squeezer; neckweed; squeezer; St. Andrew’s lace; Sir Tristram’s knot; tight cravat; Tyburn tiffany; Tyburn tippet; widow.French Synonym.—La cravate de chanvre.1593.Bacchus’ BountieinHarl. Misc.(ed. Park), ii., 304. Yea, his very head so heavie as if it had beene harnessed in anhorse-nightcap.1608.Penniles ParliamentinHarl. Misc.(ed. Park), I., 181. And those that clip that they should not, shall have ahorse night-capfor their labour.1681.Dialogue on Oxford Parliament(Harl. Misc., ii., 125.). He better deserves to go up Holbourn in a wooden chariot, and have ahorse night-capput on at the farther end.1883.Echo, 25 Jan., p. 2, c. 4. Even an attempt is made to lighten the horror of the climax of a criminal career, by speaking of dying in ahorse’s night-cap,i.e., a halter.Horse-editor,subs.(American journalists’).—A sporting editor.Horse-copy= sporting news.Horseflesh,SeeDead HorseandHorse,verb.sense 2.Horse-godmother,subs.(old).—A strapping masculine woman; a virago. Fr.,une femme hommasse.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.d.1819.Wolcot,Wks.In woman angel sweetness let me see No gallopinghorse-godmotherfor me.1838.Selby,Jacques Strop, iii., 1.What a couple ofhorse-godmothers.1846–8.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, ii., ch. 4. How do, my dear? Come to see the old man, hay? Gad—you’ve a pretty face, too. You ain’t like that oldhorse-godmother, your mother.Horse-latitudes,subs.(nautical).—A space in the Atlantic, north of the trade-winds, where the winds are baffling.[360]1891.W. C.Russell,Ocean Tragedy, p. 137. The winds even north of the rains andhorse-latitudeswere in a sense to be reckoned on.Horse-laugh,subs.(colloquial).—A loud, noisy laugh; a guffaw.1738.Pope,Ep. to Satires, i., 38. Ahorselaugh, if you please, at honesty.Horse-leech,subs.(colloquial).—1. An extortioner; a miser.2. (venery).—Anything insatiable. Also a whore.1597.Hall,Satires, iv., 5. Anhorse-leech, barren wench, or gaping grave.1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, ii., 1. You are one of thosehorse-leechesthat gave out I was dead in Turnbull Street.3. (old).—A horse-doctor; also a quack.1594.Nashe,Terrors of the Night(Grosart, iii., 250). Whereas hishorse-leech… will give a man twenty guineas in one.1597.Hall,Satires, ii., 4.Nohorse-leechbut will look for larger fee.Horse-marines,subs.(common).—A mythical corps, very commonly cited in jokes and quizzies on the innocent. [The Jollies(q.v.) or Royal Marines, being ignorant of seamanship, have always been the butt of blue-jackets.]Tell that to the marines(orhorse-marines)the sailors won’t believe it= a rejoinder to an attempt at imposition or credulity. Often amplified withwhen they’re riding at anchor.SeealsoBingham’s Dandies.1825.Scott,St. Ronan’s Well, ch. xxi. ‘Come, none of your quizzing, my old buck,’ said Sir Bingo—‘what the devil has a ship to do with horse’s furniture?—Do you think we belong to thehorse-marines?’c.1870.Broadside Ballad, ‘Captain Jinks.’ I’m Captain Jinks of theHorse-Marines.1886.StephensandYardley,Little Jack Sheppard, p. 3. They may tell that yarn to thehorse marines, For we bean’t such fools as we looks.1886.Tinsley’s Mag., Apr., 321. Owing to a singular deviation from the ordinary functions of cavalry, the 17th Lancers were once christened thehorse marines.1892.Wops the Waif[Horner’s Penny Stories], ch. i., p. 1. Oh, nothink, eh! You’d better tell that to thehoss marines; I’ve lived a sight too long in Shoreditch to take that in.Horse-milliner,subs.(common).—1. A dandy trooper.1778.Chatterton,Ballads of Charity, ii., 113. The trammels of his palfrey pleased his sight, For thehorse-millinerhis head with roses dight.1813.Scott,Bridal of Triermain, ii., 3. One comes in foreign trashery Of tinkling chain and spur, A walking haberdashery Of feathers, lace and fur; In Rowley’s antiquated phrase,Horse-millinerof modern days.2. (old).—A saddler and harness-maker.1818.Scott,Heart of Midlothian, xi. In my wretched occupation of a saddler,horse-milliner, and harness maker, we are out unconscionable sums just for barkened hides and leather.Horse-nails,subs.(common).—1. Money. For synonyms,seeActualandGilt.To feed on horse-nails,verb. phr.(cribbage).—So to play as not so much to advance your own score as to keep down your opponent’s.To knock into horse-nails,verb. phr.(common).—To knock to pieces; to be absolutely victorious.[361]Horse-nightcap,subs.(old).—SeeHorse’s-Collar.Horse-pox,subs.(old).—A superlative ofPox(q.v.). Used in adjuration.E.g., Ahorse-poxon you! Ay, with ahorse-pox, etc.Horse-Protestant,subs.(tailors’).—A churchman.Horse-sense,subs.(American).—Sound and practical judgment.1893.Lippincott, Mar., p. 260. A round bullet head, not very full of brains, perhaps, yet reputed to be fairly stocked with what is termedhorsesense.Horses-and-Mares.To play at horses-and-mares,verb. phr.(schoolboys’).—To copulate. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.Horse’s-head,subs.(cobblers’).—The boot-sole, heel, and what is left of the front after the back and part of the front have been usedto fox(q.v.) other boots withal.Horse-shoe,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum. [In German,Sie hat ein Hufeisen verloren(of women) = she has been seduced,i.e., she has lost a horse-shoe.]Horse’s-meal,subs.(old).—Meat without drink.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Horse-sovereign,subs.(common).—A twenty-shilling piece with Pistrucci’s effigies of St. George and the Dragon.1871.London Figaro, 26 Jan. A number of those coins, sometimes known ashorse sovereigns, are to be issued.Hortus,subs.(venery).—Seequot. [Cf.,Garden.] For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.1728.Bailey,Eng. Dict., s.v.Hortus[by some writers] the privy parts of a woman.Hose.In my other hose,subs. phr.(old). A qualification of refusal or disbelief;in a horn(q.v.);over the left(q.v.).1598.Florio.A Worlde of Wordes, s.v.Zoccoli Zoccoli, tushtush, awaie, in faith sir no, yeain my other hose.Hoss.SeeHorse.Hoss-fly(orOld Hoss-fly),subs.(American).—A familiar address;cf.,Horse,subs.sense 3.Host.To reckon without one’s host,verb. phr.(old: now recognised).—To blunder.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Host.To reckon without one’s host, or count your Chickens before they are Hatched.Mine Host,subs. phr.(colloquial).—A taverner.Hosteler,subs.(old).—Seequot.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hosteler,i.e., oat stealer.Hot,subs.(Winchester College).—1. A mellay at football.2. (Ibid).—A crowd.1878.Adams,Wykehamica, p. 367. It would be replaced and a freshhotformed.Adj.(colloquial).—1. Of persons: sexually excitable; lecherous;on heat(q.v.);randy(q.v.). Of things (as books): obscene;blue(q.v.);high-kilted(q.v.);Hot member(q.v.) = a male or female debauchee; or (as in sense 2), a man or woman contemptuous of decorum.[362]Hot as they make them= exceedingly amorous or reckless.Hot-blooded= lecherous: as (inMerry Wives, v., 5) ‘thehot-bloodedgods assist me.’Hot-house(q.v.) = a brothel.1383.Chaucer,Canterbury Tales. Prologue toCanterbury Tales, lines 97 and 98. So hote he lovede, that by nightertale, He sleep no more than doth a nightyngale.1596.Ben Jonson,Every Man in his Humour, iv., 8. Dost thou not shame, When all thy powers in chastity are spent, To have a mind sohot.1598.Shakspeare, 1Henry IV., i., 2. A fairhotwench in flame-coloured taffeta.1599.H. Porter,Two Angry Women of Abingdon(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii., 354). Are ye sohot, with a pox? Would ye kiss my mistress?1605.Jonson,Volpone, iii., 6. I am now as fresh, Ashot, as high, and in as jovial plight As when in that so celebrated scene At recitation of our comedy For entertainment of the great Valois, I acted young Antinous.1608.Shakspeare,Antony and Cleopatra, iii., 11. Besides whathotterhours, Unregistered in vulgar fame you have Luxuriously picked out.1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, ii., 1. The whelp washotand eager.1693.Congreve,Old Bachelor, v., 8. If either you esteem my friendship or your own safety, come not near that house—that corner house—thathotbrothel.1697.Vanbrugh,Relapse, iii., 5. Young men arehot, I know, but they don’t boil over at that rate.1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., iv., 123. He laughs to see the girls sohot.1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 37. As most of our plays are now cribbed from the French, wy they’re all pootyhot.2. (colloquial).—Careless of decorum; boisterous; utterly reckless and abandoned.1888.J. Runciman,The Chequers, p. 187. You’re ared-hot member!3. (thieves’).—Well known to the police; dangerous; uncomfortable;e.g.,To make it hot for one.1830.Buckstone,Wreck Ashore, i., 4.Mil.This place is now toohotfor me, captain. Bills overdue, and bailiffs in full chase, have driven me to a hasty leave of my home.1841.Tait’s Edinburgh Mag., viii.,217. Finding all toohotto hold him.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Hot. The cove had better move his beaters into Dewsville, it is toohotfor him here.1882.Evening Standard, 3 Oct., p. 5, c. 4. The Constable added that at the station the Prisoner told him that if he did not make it toohothe would give him £5.1888.Tit Bits, 24 Mar., 373. Thehottestsuburb of London during Jubilee year was supposed to be Ealing.1890.Marriott-Watson,Broken Billy(inUnder the Gum-tree, p. 31). With a few pals, almost as brutal as himself, he made the place prettyhotfrom time to time.1891.Morning Advertiser, 26 Mar., p. 2, col. 4. When Baker was arrested he asked Detective-sergeant Gold not to make it toohotfor them, and tried to induce the officer to receive a sovereign.1891.J. Newman,Scamping Tricks, p. 36. You’ll find they will make ithotfor you.4. (colloquial).—Seequot. 1690. Also violent; sharp; severe.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.hot, exceeding Passionate.1886.R. L. Stevenson,Kidnapped, p. 167. ‘Well,’ said he, ‘yon was ahotburst, David.’1893.Emerson,Signor Lippo, ch. xvi. I started life in a training stable, and ahotlife it was for a boy.5. (venery).—Infected; venereally diseased.6. (colloquial).—Alive; vehement; instant.1864.Browning,Dramatic Romances(ed. 1879, iv., 180),‘The Italian in England.’ Breathedhotand instant on my train.Verb(Winchester College).—To crowd; to mob.[363]To give(get, orcatch)it hot,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To thrash or reprove soundly; to be severely beaten or taken to task.
1704.King,Orpheus and Eurydice(Chalmers,English Poets), vol. ix., p. 284. A lady of prodigious fame, Whose hollow eyes andhopper breechMade common people call her witch.1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., vi., 351. And there’ll behopper-arsedNancy.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hopper-docker,subs.(old).—A shoe. For synonyms,seeTrotter-cases.Hop-picker,subs.(common).—1. A prostitute; alsoHopping-wife. For synonyms,seeBarrack-hackandTart.1888.Indoor Paupers, p. 55. Numbers of them go regularly to the hop-gardens; and each man must have a female companion—ahopping wifeas she is termed.2.in. pl.(gaming).—The queens of all the four suits.Hopping-Giles,subs.(common).—A cripple. For synonyms,seeDot-and-go-one.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.1885.Household Words, 27 June, p. 180. St. Giles is the patron saint of cripples; hence a lame person is mockingly calledhopping giles.Hopping-jesus,subs.(colloquial).—A lameter. For synonyms,seeDot-and-go-one.Hopping-mad,adj.(American).—Very angry.Hop-pole,subs.(common).—A tall, slight person, male or female. For synonyms,seeLamp-post.1850.Smedley,Frank Farleigh, p. 5. I was tall for my age, but slightly built, and so thin, as often to provoke the application of such epithets ashop-pole, ‘thread-paper,’ etc.Horizontal-refreshment,subs.(venery).—1. Carnal intercourse;cf.,Upright. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide. [Fr.,une horizontale= a prostitute.] Also,To Horizontalise.[351]2. (common).—Food taken standing; generally applied to a mid-day snack at a bar.Horn,subs.(common).—1. The nose. Also,Horney. For synonyms,seeConk.1823.Bee,Dict. of the Turf, s.v.Horney—a nose; one that resounds in expectoration.2. (common).—A drink; a dram of spirits. For synonyms,seeGo.1847.Porter,Quarter Race, p. 193. Go on, Venus. Take anotherhornfirst.1848.Ruxton,Life in the Far West. p. 126. They called the Scotchman to take ahorn.3. (venery).—An erection of thepenis. [Properly of men only; but said of both sexes. In the feminine equivalents areCunt-itchandCunt-stand].HenceTo get(orhave)the horn,verb.phr.= to achieve erection;to cure the horn= to copulate;horningandhorny, in course of, or disposed to erection;hornification,subs.= the state, or process, of erection;hornify(seeverb), = to get (or give) thehorn;Miss Horner,subs.= thepudendum muliebre;old horney(orhornington) = thepenis.English Synonyms.—Cock- (or prick-) stand; Irish toothache; in one’s Sunday (or best) clothes; the jack; hard-on (American); horn-colic; horn-mad (said also of an angry cuckold); fixed bayonets; lance in rest; the old Adam; standing; on the stand; stiffened up; the spike.4. (old).—Thepenis. For synonyms,seeCreamstickandPrick.5. (colloquial).—Also inpl.,seeverb.Horn,verb(colloquial).—To cuckold. [Becco(= a he-goat) andcornuto(= a horned thing) are good Italian for a cuckold; in Florio (Worlde of Wordes, 1598)andar in cornouaglia senza barca(i.e., to go to Cornwall without a ship) = to win the horn; and the expression, as the example from Lydgate appears to show, may very well have been imported into English from the Italian. Also, it seems to have begun to be literary about the middle of the sixteenth century, when the Italian influence was at its height. For the rest it passed in triumph into written English, was used in every possible combination, had a run at least two centuries long, and is still intelligible, though not in common service.]SeeActæon,antlers,bull’s feather,freeman of bucks, etc.Hence,to hornify(seesubs., sense 3), andto graft(orgive)horns; towear horns= to live a cuckold;horner,subs.= a cuckold maker;horn-mad,adj. phr.(q.v.);horned,adj.= cuckolded;horn-grower(ormerchant)subs.= a married man;horn-fever,subs.= cuckoldry;to exalt one’s horn,verb. phr.= (1) to cuckold, and (2) to rejoice in, or profit by, the condition;to wind the horn= to publish the fact of cuckoldom;horns-to-sell,subs. phr.= (1) a lewd wife, and (2) a wittol;to point the horn= to fork the fingers in derision (as in Hogarth’s ‘Industrious and Idle Apprentice,’ 1790, plate v.);horn-works= the process of cuckolding;at the sign of the horn= in cuckoldom;horn-pipe= (seequot. 1602);horned herd,subs. phr.= husbands in general (specifically, the city men, the Citizens of London,the cuckolding of whom by West-end gallants is a constant theme of seventeenth century jokes);gilt-horn,subs.= a contented Cuckold;spirit of hartshorn= the suspicion or the certainty of cuckoldom;long horns,subs.= a notorious cuckold;knight of Hornsey, alsomember for Horncastle,subs. phr.= a cuckold, etc.d.1440.Lydgate,Falle of Prynces, ii., leaf 56 (ed. Wayland, 1557, quoted in[352]Dyce’sSkelton, 1843, ii., 132). To speke plaine Englishe made him cokolde. Alas I was not auised wel before Vnkonnyngly to speake such language: I should haue sayde how that he had anhorne.… And in some landCornodomen do them call, And some affirme that such folk have no gall.c.152(?).Hick Scorner(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i., 180). My mother was a lady of the stews, blood born, And (Knight of the Halter) my father wore anhorne.c.1537.Thersites(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i., 412). Why wilt thou not thyhornesinhold? Thinkest thou that I am a cuckold.c.1550.The Pride and Abuse of Women(176 inEarly Pop. Poetry, ed. Hazlitt, iv., 237). And loke well, ye men to your wives.… Or some wyll not styche.… Tohorneyou on everye side.1568.Bannatyne MSS.‘The use of Court,’ p. 765 (Hunterian Club, 1886). Vp gettis hir wame, Scho thinkis no schame For to bring hame The laird anehorne.1574.Appius and Virginia(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iv., 118). A hairbrain, a hangman, or a grafter ofhornes.1575.Laneham’s Letter(ed. 1871). p. 40. With yoor paciens, Gentlmen, … be it said: wear it not in deede thathornzbee so plentie,hornwareI beleeue woold bee more set by than it iz, and yet thear in our parts, that wyll not stick too auoow that many an honest man both in citee and cuntree hath his hoous bvhorningwell vphollden, and a daily freend allso at need.c.1580.Collier of Croydon(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, viii., 436). My head groweth hard, myhornswill shortly spring.1586.Lupton, 1,000Not. Things, ed. 1675, p. 261. Take heed thou art nothorn’d, and then fetcht home.1597.Hall,Satires, i., 8. Fond wittol that would’st load thy witless head, With timelyhornsbefore thy bridal bed.Idem, ii., 7. If chance it come to wanton Capricorne, And so into the Ram’s disgracefulhorne.1598.Shakspeare, 2Henry IV., Act i., sc. 2. Well, he hath thehorn of abundanceand the lightness of his wife shines through it.1598.Jonson,Every Man in his Humour, v., 1. See, what a drove ofhornsfly in the air, Winged with my cleansèd and my credulous breath.1598.Sylvester,Du Bartas, ed. 1641, v., 41. The adulterous Sargus.… Courting the Shee Goates on the grassie shore Wouldhorntheir husbands that had horns before.1599.Jonson,Every Man Out of his Humour, iv., 4. Nowhorn upon hornpursue thee, thou blind, egregious, dotard.1600.Look About You, Sc. 10 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, v., 415). By addinghornsunto our falcon’s head.1600.Shakspeare,As You Like it, iv., 2. Take thou no scorn to wear thehorn, It was a crest ere thou wast born.1600.Shakspeare,Much Ado about Nothing, i. Then up comes the devil with hishornsupon his head, looking like an old cuckold.Ibid.v. 1. But when shall weseethe savage bull’shornson the sensible Benedict’s head.1601.Jonson,Poetaster, iv., 3. And there is never a star in thy forehead but shall be ahornif thou dost persist to abuse me.1602.Campion,English Poesy(Bullen,Works, 1889, p. 248). Mock him not withhorns, the case is altered.1603.Philotus(Pinkerton,Scottish Poems, 1792, iii., 17). Sen thair may be na uther buit? Plat on his heid anehorne.1604.Marston,Malcontent,i., I. Mendoza is the man makes thee ahorned beast: ’tis Mendoza cornutes thee.1605.Jonson,Volpone, ii., 4.Volp.: Nay, then, I not repent me of my late disguise.Mos.: If you canhornehim, Sir, you need not.1605.Chapman,All Fools, v., 1 (Plays, 1874, p. 75). And will youblow the hornyourself where you may keep it to yourself? Go to, you are a fool.Ibid.(p. 76.) It may very well be that the devil broughthornsinto the world, but the women brought them to the men.1607.How a Man May Choose a Good Wife From a Bad, ii., I. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 28).Quando venis aput, I shall have twohornson mycaput.[353]1607.Dekker,Northward Hoe, Act i., p. 8. If a man be deuorst, whether may he haue an action or no, gainst those thatmake horns at him.Ibid.iv., p. 54. This curse is on all letchers throwne, They givehornsand, at last,hornesare their owne.1608.Rowlands,Humor’s Looking Glass, p. 22. Besides, shee is as perfect chast as faire. But being married to a jealous asse, He vowes sheehornshim.1609.Jonson,Epicœne, iii., 1. By that light you deserve to be grafted, and yourhornsreach from one side of the island to the other.1616.Jonson,Devil’s an Ass, v., 5. And a cuckold is, Wherever he puts his head, with a wannion, hishornsbe forth, the devil’s companion.1618.Samuel Rowlands,The Night Raven, p. 25. ’Tis this bad liver doth thehorne-plaguebreed, Which day and night my jealous thoughts doth feed.1623.Cockeran,Eng. Dict.s.v.Sargus, an adulterous fish which goes on the grassie shore, andhornesthe hee Goates that had horns before.1627.Drayton,Agincourt and Other Poems, p. 174. Some made mouthes at him, others as in scorne With their forkt fingerspoyntedhimthe horn.1629.Davenant,Albovine, ed. 1673, p. 436. ’Twas a subtle reach to tell him that the King hadhorn’dhis brow.1633.Rowley,Match at Midnight(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiii., 40).horningthe headman of his parish and taking money for his pains.1633.Ford,Love’s Sacrifice, iii., 3. Fernando is your rival, has stolen your duchess’s heart, murther’d friendship;hornsyour head, and laughs at your horns.1637.BeaumontandFletcher,Elder Brother, iv., 4. I shall have some music yet At my making free o’ th’ company ofhorners.1640.Rawlins,The Rebellion, i., I. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 15). Fresh as a city bridegroom that has signed his wife a grant for thegrafting of horns.1643.Brome,A New Diurnal. (Chalmers,Eng. Poets, 1810, vi., 667). Prince Rupert, for fear that his name be confounded, Will saw off hishorns, and make him a Roundhead.1647.BeaumontandFletcher,Women Pleased, v. 3. I shall then be full of scorn, Wanton, proud (beware thehorn).1653.MiddletonandRowley,The Spanish Gypsy, iii., I. Beggars would on cock-horse ride. And boobies fall a-roaring, And cuckolds though nohornsbe spied, Be one another goring.1653.Davenant,The Siege of Rhodes, p. 34. It stuffs up the marriage bed with thorns, It gores itself, it gores itself with imaginedhorns.1657.Middleton,Women, Beware of Woman(1657), iii., 2. Cuckolds dance thehornpipe, and farmers dance the hay.Idem., iv., 2. Go, lie down, master; but take care yourhornsdo not make holes in the pillow-beers.1659.Lady Alimony, i., 2 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 280). My scene, Trillo, ishorn alley.Ibid., iii., 6 (p. 340). Doubt nothing, my fellow Knights ofhornsey.1661.Webster,Cure for a Cuckold(1661), v., 2. He that hathhornsthus let him learn to shed.1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, iv., 1 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 473). I hope toexalt theParson’shornhere.Ibid., (p. 477). Only to fright the poor cuckholds and make the fools visit theirhorns.Ibid., v., 4 (p. 519). Methinks myhornsache more than my corns.Ibid. ib.(p. 520). I have seen a cuckold of your complexion: if he had lent as much hoof ashorn, you might have hunted the beast by the slot.1664.Butler,Hudibras, II., ii. For when men by their wives are cowed, Theirhornsof course are understood.1668.L’Estrange,Visions of Quevedo, p. 251 (ed. 1708). He that marries, ventures fair for thehorn, either before or after.1672.Ray,Proverbs(inBohn, 1889), s.v. He had betterput his horns in his pocketthan wind them.Idem.(p. 184).Hornsand gray hairs do not come with years.Idem. id., Who hathhornsin his pocket let him not put them on his head.1675.Wycherley,Country Wife, v., 4. Epilogue: Encouraged by our woman’s man to-day,a horner’spart may vainly think to play.Ibid., i., 1. I make no more cuckolds, sir. [Makes horns.]Ibid., iv., 3. If ever you suffer your wife to trouble me again here, she shall carry you home a pair ofhorns.1677.Wycherley,Plain Dealer, iv., 1. First, the clandestine obscenity in the very name ofhorner.[354]d.1680.Butler,Remains(1757), ii., 372. His own branches, hishorns, are as mystical as the Whore of Babylon’s Palfreys, not to be seen but in a vision.1693.Congreve,Old Bachelor, iv., 15. Pox choke him. Would hishornswere in his throat.1695.Congreve,Love for Love, iv., 15. The clocks will strike twelve at noon, and thehorned herdbuzz in the Exchange at two.1698.Farquhar,Love and a Bottle, iv., 3. Should I ever be tried before this judge, how I should laugh toseehow gravely his goose cap sits upon a pair ofhorns!1700.Congreve,Way of the World, iii., 7. Man should have his head andhorns, and woman the rest of him.1702.Steele,The Funeral or Grief à la Mode, Act. i., p. 22. This wench I know has played me false, andhornedme in my gallants. [Note.—That the speaker is a female shows the word to have been transferable to the other sex.]1708.W. King,Art of Love, pt. x. (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, ix., 274). Sometimes his dirty paws she scorns, While her fair fingers show hishorns.1708.Prior,Poems. ‘The Turtle and Sparrow,’ line 302–9. ‘Two staringHorns,’ I often said, ‘but ill became a sparrow’s head’ … ‘Whilst at the root yourhornsare sore, The more you scratch, they ache the more.’1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., i., 174. Who’s the Cuckoo, Who’s the Cuckold, who’s thehorner?1728.Patrick Walker,Alexander Peden, ‘Postscript’ (ed. 1827, i.). A profane, obscene meeting called thehorn-order.1737.Fielding,Tumble-Down Dick,Works(1718) iii., 408. Think it enough your betters do the deed, And that byhorningyou I mend the breed.d.1742.Somerville,Occasional Poems(Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 238). If I but catch her in a corner, Humph! ’tis your servant, ColonelHorner.1759–67.Sterne,TristramShandy, ch. xxxvii. Nor have the horn-works he speaks of anything to do with thehorn-worksof Cuckoldom.1765.C. Smart,Fables, xi., line 66. And though your spouse my lecture scorns. Beware his fate, beware hisHorns.d.1770.Chatterton,The Revenge, i., I. Let her do what she will, The husband is still, And but for hishornsyou would think him an ass.Idem., ii., 4.Have you comehorning.1785.Grose,Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1786.Captain Morris(Collection of Songs),The Great Plenipotentiary, (9th ed. 1788, stanza ix., p. 43). She hadhornedthe dull brows of her worshipful spouse Till they sprouted like Venus’s myrtle.d.1796.Burns,Merry Muses, ‘Cuddy the Cooper,’ p. 84. On ilka brow she’splanted a horn, An’ swears that there they shall stan’, O.1813.Moore,Poems, ‘Re-inforcements for the Duke,’ iii., 209. Old H——df——t athorn-worksagain might be tried.1816.Quiz,Grand Master, canto vii., p. 199, line 10.(She) smil’d, declaring that she scorn’d him, (She might have added that she’dhorn’dhim).1822.Scott,Fortunes of Nigel, c. xxxvi. O what a generous creature is your true London husband!Hornshath he, but, tame as a fatted ox, he goreth not.1825.Scott,The Betrothed, ch. xvii. I ever tell thee, husband, thehornswould be worth the hide in a fair market.To draw in one’s horns,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To withdraw or to retract; to cool down.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Horns.To horn off,verb. phr.(American). = To put on one side; to shunt. [As a bull or stag with his horns.]1851.Hooper,Widow Rugby’s Husband, etc., p. 69. Youhornedme off to get a chance to get gaming witnesses out of the way.In a horn,adv. phr.(American).—A general qualification, implying refusal or disbelief;over the left(q.v.).1858.Washington Evening Star, 26 Aug. I have mentioned before the innumerable comforts—in a horn—of the old White Sulphur Springs.To wind(orblow)the horn,verb. phr.(old).—To break wind;to fart(q.v.).[355]1620.Percy,Folio, MSS., ‘Fryar and Boye.’ Her tayle shall wind thehorne.To cure the horn,verb. phr.(venery).—To copulate.SeeHorn,subs., sense 3. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.To have the horn,verb. phr.(venery).SeeHorn,subs., sense 3.To come out of the little end of the horn,verb. phr.(common).—To get the worst of a bargain; to be reduced in circumstances. Also, to make much ado about nothing. Said generally of vast endeavour ending in failure. [Through some unexpectedSqueeze(q.v.)].1605.Jonson,Chapman, andMarston,Eastward Hoe, i., 1. I had the horne of suretiship ever before my eyes. You all know the devise of thehorne, where the young fellow slippes in at the butte-end, and comes squesd out at the buckall.1624.Fletcher,Wife for a Month, iii., 3. Thou wilt look to-morrow else Worse than the prodigal fool the ballad speaks of, That was squeezedthrough a horn.1847.Porter,Big Ben, etc., p. 37. How did you make it? You didn’tcome out at the little end of the horn, did you?1847.Porter,Quarter Race, etc., p. 24. You never saw such a run of luck; everywhere I touched waspizen, and Icame out of the leetle end of the horn.1891.Pall Mall Gaz., 3 July, i., 2. The ‘great Trek,’ in that expressive transatlantic phrase, has toddledout of the little end of the horn.Horn-colic,subs.(venery).—SeeHorn,subs., sense 3.1785.Grose,Vulg.Tongue, s.v.Hornet,subs.(common).—A disagreeable, cantankerous person.Hornie(orHorness),subs.(old).—1. A constable or watchman; a sheriff.1819.Vaux,Life, s.v.Horney, a Constable.1821.Haggart,Life, 51. The woman missing it immediately, she sent for thehornies.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Horness.2. (Scots’).—The devil; generallyAuld Hornie(q.v.).1785.Burns,Address to the Deil. O thou! whatever title suits thee,Auld Hornie, Satan, Nick, or Clootie.Hornify,verb.(colloquial).—SeeHorn,subs., sense 3 andverb.2. (venery).—SeeHorn,subs., sense 3.Horn-mad,adj.(old).—1.Seequot. 1690.1593.Shakespeare,Comedy of Errors, ii., 1. Why, mistress, sure my master ishorn-mad.1599.Henry Porter,The Two Angry Women of Abingdon(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii.). And then I wound my horn, and he’shorn-mad.1604.Marston,Malcontent, i., 7. I amhorn mad.1605.Jonson,The Fox, iii., 6. Yet I’m not mad, Nothorn-mad, see you.1639–61.Rump Songs, [1662], 293. The Country has grown sad, The City ishorn-mad.1647.BeaumontandFletcher,The Woman’s Prize, ii., 6. After my twelve strong labours to reclaim her, Which would have made Don Herculeshorn-mad.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Horn-mad, stark staring Mad, because Cuckolded.1693.Congreve,Old Bachelor, iv., 22. Ay, I feel it here; I sprout; I bud; I blossom; I am ripehorn-mad.1694.Congreve,Double Dealer, iv., 20. She forks out cuckoldom with her fingers, and you are runninghorn-madafter your fortune.1695.Congreve,Love for Love, v., 8. She’s mad for a husband, and he’shorn-mad.[356]1698.Farquhar,Love and a Bottle, iv., 3. Thou’rthorn-mad. Prithee, leave impertinence.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1822.Scott,Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxvi. Ye might as well expect brandy from beanstalks, or milk from a crag of blue whunstane. The man is mad,horn-mad, to boot.1825.Harriette Wilson,Memoirs, ii. 228. The little he did say was chiefly on the subject of cuckolds and cuckolding. His lordship washorn-mad.2. (venery).—Sexually excited; lecherous;musty(q.v.). Also,Horny.Hornswoggle,subs.(American).—Nonsense;humbug(q.v.). For synonyms,seeGammon.Verb(American).—To humbug; to delude; to seduce.—Slang, Jargon, and Cant.Cf.,In a horn.Horn-thumb,subs.(old).—A pickpocket. [From the practice of wearing a sheath of horn to protect the thumb in cutting out.]SeeThieves.1569.Preston,Cambises(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1874, iv., 235). But cousin, because to that office ye are not like come, Frequent your exercises, ahorne on your thumbe, A quick eye, a sharp knife.1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, ii. I mean a child of thehorn-thumb, a babe of booty, boy, a cut-purse.1614.Greene,Looking-Glass[Dyce], p. 138. I cut this from a new-married wife by means of ahorn-thumband a knife.—Six shillings, four pence.Horrors,subs.(common).—The first stage ofdelirium tremens. For synonyms,seeGallon-distemper. Also low spirits, orthe blues(q.v.).1848.Ruxton,Life in the Far West, p. 50. Paying the penalty in a fit ofhorrors.1857.Philadelphia Evening Bulletin(quoted by Bartlett). This poison (fusil oil),which acts with terrible results on the nerves; seeming like a diabolical inspiration, stirring up mania, convulsions, and thehorrorsin an incredibly short space of time.1864.Dickens,Our Mutual Friend, bk. iv., ch. viii. What are popularly called ‘the trembles’ being in full force upon him that evening, and likewise what are popularly calledthe horrors, he had a very bad time of it; which was not made better by his being so remorseful as frequently to moan ‘Sixty threepennorths.’1864.F. W. Robinson,Mr. Stewart’s Intentions, ch. i. ‘Well, sermons always gave methe horrors, and engendered a hate of the sermonizer.’1883.Stevenson,Treasure Islandch. iii., p. 20 (1886). If I don’t have adramo’ rum, Jim, I’ll havethe horrors.1889.C. Haddon Chambers,In Australian Wilds. He’s sober now, yousee; but he managed to get blind drunk before eleven o’clock this morning, and last week he narrowly escaped an attack ofthe horrors.1892.HenleyandStevenson,Three Rags, ‘Admiral Guinea,’ iv., 3. It’sthe horrorscome alive.2. (common).—Sausages.SeeChamber of HorrorsandDog’s-paste.3. (thieves’).—Handcuffs. For synonyms,seeDarbies.Horse,subs.(common).—1. A five-pound note.SeeFinnup.2. (thieves’).—Horsemonger Lane Gaol. Alsothe Old Horse. Now obsolete.1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, 1, p. 457. The only thing that frightens me when I’m in prison is sleeping in a cell by myself—you do inthe Old Horseand the Steel.3. (American).—A man: generally in affection. AlsoOld Hoss, orHoss-fly.1838.Haliburton(‘Sam Slick’),The Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xviii. He is all sorts of ahoss, and the best live one that ever cut dirt this side of the big pond, or t’other side either.[357]1847.Robb,Squatter Life, p. 74. What in the yearth did you do with old Hoss on the road?—He ain’tgin out, has he?Ibid., p. 70. None of your stuck-up imported chaps from the dandy states, but a real genuine westerner—in short, ahoss!1848.Ruxton,Life in the Far West, p. 5. Hyar’s ahossas’ll make fire come.1857.Gladstone,Englishman in Kansas, p. 43. Here, boys, drink. Liquors, captain, for the crowd. Step up this way,old hoss, and liquor.Verb(venery).—1. To possess a woman. For synonyms,seeRide.1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, iv., 3. Say’st thou so, filly? Thou shalthavea leap presently, I’llhorsethee myself, else.2. (workmen’s).—Seequots.Cf.,Flog the dead horse.1857.Notes and Queries, 2 S., iv., p. 192. A workmanhorsesit when he charges for more in his week’s work than he has really done. Of course he has so much unprofitable work to get through in the ensuing week, which is called dead horse.1867.All the Year Round, 13 July, p. 59.To horsea man, is for one of two men who are engaged on precisely similar pieces of work to make extraordinary exertions in order to work down the other man. This is sometimes done simply toseewhat kind of a workman a new man may be, but often with the much less creditable motive of injuring a fellow workman in the estimation of an employer.The gray mare is the better horse.SeeGray-mare.Horse foaled of an acorn,subs. phr.(old).—1. The gallows. For synonyms,seeTriple-tree.1760–61.Smollett,Sir L. Greaves, ch. viii. I believe as how ’tis no horse, but a devil incarnate; and yet I’ve been worse mounted, that I have—I’d like to have rida horse that was foaled of an acorn(i.e., he had nearly met with the fate of Absalom).1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1827.Lytton,Pelham, ch. lxxxii. The cove … is as pretty a Tyburn blossom as ever was brought up to ridea horse foaled by an acorn.1839.Ainsworth,Jack Sheppard[1889], p. 8. … As to this little fellow … he shall never mounta horse foaled by an acorn, if I can help it.2. (military).—The triangles or crossed halberds under which soldiers were flogged.Old-(orSalt-)Horse,subs.(nautical). Salt beef. AlsoJunkandSalt-junk.1889.Chambers’s Journal, 3 Aug., 495. Mr. Clark Russell declares thatsalt-horseworks out of the pores, and contributes to that mahogany complexion common to sailors, which is often mistakenly attributed to rum and weather.One-horse,adj.(American). Comparatively small, insignificant, or unimportant.1858.Washington Evening Star.On Friday last, the engineer of a fast train was arrested by the authorities of aone-horsetown in Dauphin County, Pa., for running through the borough at a greater rate of speed than is allowed by their ordinances.1871.De Vere,Americanisms, p. 221. The indignant settler who has been ill-treated, as he fancies, in court, denounces his attorney as a ‘miserable,one-horselawyer;’ and the Yankee newly arrived in England does not hesitate to declare that ‘Liverpool is a poorone-horsekind of a place,’ a term applied by Mark Twain to no less a city than Rome itself; and a witty clergyman of Boston inveighed once bitterly against ‘timid, sneaking,one-horseoaths, as infinitely worse than a good, round, thundering outburst.’1891.National Review, Sep., p. 127. Mr. Marion Crawford’sWitch of Prague(Macmillan & Co.) is, as his compatriots would say, rather aone-horsewitch.To be horsed,verb. phr.(old).—To be flogged [from the wooden-horse used as a flogging-stool]; to take on one’s back as for a flogging.[358]1678.Butler,Hudibras, pt. III., c. 1. The spirithors’dhim like a sack Upon the vehicle his back.1751.Smollett,Peregrine Pickle, ch. xvii. Our unfortunate hero was publiclyhorsed,in terroremof all whom it might concern.1857.Thackeray,Virginians, ch. v. Serjeants, school-masters, slave-overseers, used the cane freely. Our little boys had beenhorsedmany a day by Mr. Dempster.1881.Notes and Queries, 1 Jan., p. 18. I got wellhorsedfor such a breach of discipline.To fall away from a horseload to a cartload,verb. phr.(old).—Seequot.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Horseplay.Fallen away from a horseload to a cartload, spoken ironically of one considerably improved in flesh on a sudden.To flog the dead horse.—SeeDead-horseandHorse,verb.sense 2.To put the cart before the horse,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To begin at the wrong end; to set things hind-side before.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Horse.To put the saddle on the right horse,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To apportion accurately.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Horse.Set the saddle on the right horse, lay the Blame where the Fault is.To ride on a horse with(orbayard of)ten toes,verb. phr.(common).—To walk; to use theMarrowbone-stage.Cf.,Shanks’s Mare.1606.Breton,Good and Badde, p. 14. His trauell is the walke of the woful, and hishorse Bayard of ten toes.1662.Fuller,Worthies, Somerset, ii., 291. At last he [Coryat] undertook to travail into the East Indies by land, mounted onan horse with ten toes.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Bayard.As good as a shoulder of mutton to a sick horse,phr.(old).—Utterly worthless.1596.Ben Jonson,Every Man in his Humour, ii., 1. Counsel to him isas good as a shoulder of mutton to a sick horse.As strong as a horse,adv. phr.(colloquial).—Very strong: a general intensitive.Horse and horse,adv. phr.(American).—Neck and neck; even.Horsebreaker(orPretty Horsebreaker),subs.(colloquial).—A woman (c.1860), hired to ride in the park; hence, a riding courtesan.Seealso quot. 1864. For synonyms,seeBarrack-hackandTart.1864.E. Yates,Broken to Harness, ch. iv., p. 33 (1873). Kate Mellor was ahorsebreaker, abonâ fidehorsebreaker; one who curbed colts, and ‘took it out of’ kickers and rearers.1865.Public Opinion, 30 Sep. Thesedemi-mondepeople, anonymas,horsebreakers, hetairæ … are by degrees pushing their way into society.Horse-buss,subs.(old).—A loud-sounding kiss; a bite.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Horse-capper(-coper,-coser,-courser, or-chaunter),subs.(common).—A dealer in worthless or ‘faked’ horses. [Originally good English.To cope= to barter.]SeeChanter. HenceHorse-copingandHorse-duffing.1616.Overbury,Characters(Rimbault, 9th ed., 1856, p. 120). An arranthorse-courserhath the trick to blow up horseflesh as the butcher does veal.[359]d.1680.Butler,Remains(1759), ii., 458. Ahorse-courseris one that hath read horses, and understands all the virtues and vices of the whole species by being conversant with them, and how to take the best advantage of both.1742–4.North,Life of the Lord Keeper,i., 271. There werehorse-copersamong them.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Horse-coser, vulgarly and corruptly pronounced horse-coser, a dealer in horses. The verb to cose, was used by the Scots, in the sense of bartering or exchanging.1863.Sporting Life, 29 Apr., p. 4, col. 3.Copersand Chaunters are now in full feather.1864.London Review, 18 June, p. 643. Amongst the mysteries of horse-flesh is the noble science of coping, and its practitioners thehorse-copers.1874.G. A. Lawrence,Hagarene, ch. ii. He had lived somewhat precariously by his wits; eking out the scanty allowance wrung from his miserly old sire, by betting andhorse-copingon a small scale.1884.Daily News, 23 Aug., p. 4, c. 7. The most accomplished gipsycopers, if they are not belied, are not satisfied with merely doing up an unsound horse and selling him as a sound one, but frequently steal outright the subject of their scientific and often lucrative experiments.1888.Rolf Boldrewood,Robbery Under Arms, ch. i. Poaching must be something like cattle andhorse-duffing.1889.Answers, 27 July, p. 141, c. 1. Allow me to expose some more tricks ofhorse copers.1893.National Observer, 5 Aug., p. 291, col. 1. A veracioushorse-coperis a monster which the world ne’er saw.Horse-collar,subs.(venery).—1. The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.2. (tailors’).—An extremely long and wide collar.3. (old).—A halter.To die in a horse’s nightcap= to be hanged.SeeLadder.English Synonyms.—Anodyne necklace; Bridport dagger; choker; hempen cravat; hempen elixir; horse’s neckcloth; horse’s necklace; neck-squeezer; neckweed; squeezer; St. Andrew’s lace; Sir Tristram’s knot; tight cravat; Tyburn tiffany; Tyburn tippet; widow.French Synonym.—La cravate de chanvre.1593.Bacchus’ BountieinHarl. Misc.(ed. Park), ii., 304. Yea, his very head so heavie as if it had beene harnessed in anhorse-nightcap.1608.Penniles ParliamentinHarl. Misc.(ed. Park), I., 181. And those that clip that they should not, shall have ahorse night-capfor their labour.1681.Dialogue on Oxford Parliament(Harl. Misc., ii., 125.). He better deserves to go up Holbourn in a wooden chariot, and have ahorse night-capput on at the farther end.1883.Echo, 25 Jan., p. 2, c. 4. Even an attempt is made to lighten the horror of the climax of a criminal career, by speaking of dying in ahorse’s night-cap,i.e., a halter.Horse-editor,subs.(American journalists’).—A sporting editor.Horse-copy= sporting news.Horseflesh,SeeDead HorseandHorse,verb.sense 2.Horse-godmother,subs.(old).—A strapping masculine woman; a virago. Fr.,une femme hommasse.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.d.1819.Wolcot,Wks.In woman angel sweetness let me see No gallopinghorse-godmotherfor me.1838.Selby,Jacques Strop, iii., 1.What a couple ofhorse-godmothers.1846–8.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, ii., ch. 4. How do, my dear? Come to see the old man, hay? Gad—you’ve a pretty face, too. You ain’t like that oldhorse-godmother, your mother.Horse-latitudes,subs.(nautical).—A space in the Atlantic, north of the trade-winds, where the winds are baffling.[360]1891.W. C.Russell,Ocean Tragedy, p. 137. The winds even north of the rains andhorse-latitudeswere in a sense to be reckoned on.Horse-laugh,subs.(colloquial).—A loud, noisy laugh; a guffaw.1738.Pope,Ep. to Satires, i., 38. Ahorselaugh, if you please, at honesty.Horse-leech,subs.(colloquial).—1. An extortioner; a miser.2. (venery).—Anything insatiable. Also a whore.1597.Hall,Satires, iv., 5. Anhorse-leech, barren wench, or gaping grave.1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, ii., 1. You are one of thosehorse-leechesthat gave out I was dead in Turnbull Street.3. (old).—A horse-doctor; also a quack.1594.Nashe,Terrors of the Night(Grosart, iii., 250). Whereas hishorse-leech… will give a man twenty guineas in one.1597.Hall,Satires, ii., 4.Nohorse-leechbut will look for larger fee.Horse-marines,subs.(common).—A mythical corps, very commonly cited in jokes and quizzies on the innocent. [The Jollies(q.v.) or Royal Marines, being ignorant of seamanship, have always been the butt of blue-jackets.]Tell that to the marines(orhorse-marines)the sailors won’t believe it= a rejoinder to an attempt at imposition or credulity. Often amplified withwhen they’re riding at anchor.SeealsoBingham’s Dandies.1825.Scott,St. Ronan’s Well, ch. xxi. ‘Come, none of your quizzing, my old buck,’ said Sir Bingo—‘what the devil has a ship to do with horse’s furniture?—Do you think we belong to thehorse-marines?’c.1870.Broadside Ballad, ‘Captain Jinks.’ I’m Captain Jinks of theHorse-Marines.1886.StephensandYardley,Little Jack Sheppard, p. 3. They may tell that yarn to thehorse marines, For we bean’t such fools as we looks.1886.Tinsley’s Mag., Apr., 321. Owing to a singular deviation from the ordinary functions of cavalry, the 17th Lancers were once christened thehorse marines.1892.Wops the Waif[Horner’s Penny Stories], ch. i., p. 1. Oh, nothink, eh! You’d better tell that to thehoss marines; I’ve lived a sight too long in Shoreditch to take that in.Horse-milliner,subs.(common).—1. A dandy trooper.1778.Chatterton,Ballads of Charity, ii., 113. The trammels of his palfrey pleased his sight, For thehorse-millinerhis head with roses dight.1813.Scott,Bridal of Triermain, ii., 3. One comes in foreign trashery Of tinkling chain and spur, A walking haberdashery Of feathers, lace and fur; In Rowley’s antiquated phrase,Horse-millinerof modern days.2. (old).—A saddler and harness-maker.1818.Scott,Heart of Midlothian, xi. In my wretched occupation of a saddler,horse-milliner, and harness maker, we are out unconscionable sums just for barkened hides and leather.Horse-nails,subs.(common).—1. Money. For synonyms,seeActualandGilt.To feed on horse-nails,verb. phr.(cribbage).—So to play as not so much to advance your own score as to keep down your opponent’s.To knock into horse-nails,verb. phr.(common).—To knock to pieces; to be absolutely victorious.[361]Horse-nightcap,subs.(old).—SeeHorse’s-Collar.Horse-pox,subs.(old).—A superlative ofPox(q.v.). Used in adjuration.E.g., Ahorse-poxon you! Ay, with ahorse-pox, etc.Horse-Protestant,subs.(tailors’).—A churchman.Horse-sense,subs.(American).—Sound and practical judgment.1893.Lippincott, Mar., p. 260. A round bullet head, not very full of brains, perhaps, yet reputed to be fairly stocked with what is termedhorsesense.Horses-and-Mares.To play at horses-and-mares,verb. phr.(schoolboys’).—To copulate. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.Horse’s-head,subs.(cobblers’).—The boot-sole, heel, and what is left of the front after the back and part of the front have been usedto fox(q.v.) other boots withal.Horse-shoe,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum. [In German,Sie hat ein Hufeisen verloren(of women) = she has been seduced,i.e., she has lost a horse-shoe.]Horse’s-meal,subs.(old).—Meat without drink.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Horse-sovereign,subs.(common).—A twenty-shilling piece with Pistrucci’s effigies of St. George and the Dragon.1871.London Figaro, 26 Jan. A number of those coins, sometimes known ashorse sovereigns, are to be issued.Hortus,subs.(venery).—Seequot. [Cf.,Garden.] For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.1728.Bailey,Eng. Dict., s.v.Hortus[by some writers] the privy parts of a woman.Hose.In my other hose,subs. phr.(old). A qualification of refusal or disbelief;in a horn(q.v.);over the left(q.v.).1598.Florio.A Worlde of Wordes, s.v.Zoccoli Zoccoli, tushtush, awaie, in faith sir no, yeain my other hose.Hoss.SeeHorse.Hoss-fly(orOld Hoss-fly),subs.(American).—A familiar address;cf.,Horse,subs.sense 3.Host.To reckon without one’s host,verb. phr.(old: now recognised).—To blunder.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Host.To reckon without one’s host, or count your Chickens before they are Hatched.Mine Host,subs. phr.(colloquial).—A taverner.Hosteler,subs.(old).—Seequot.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hosteler,i.e., oat stealer.Hot,subs.(Winchester College).—1. A mellay at football.2. (Ibid).—A crowd.1878.Adams,Wykehamica, p. 367. It would be replaced and a freshhotformed.Adj.(colloquial).—1. Of persons: sexually excitable; lecherous;on heat(q.v.);randy(q.v.). Of things (as books): obscene;blue(q.v.);high-kilted(q.v.);Hot member(q.v.) = a male or female debauchee; or (as in sense 2), a man or woman contemptuous of decorum.[362]Hot as they make them= exceedingly amorous or reckless.Hot-blooded= lecherous: as (inMerry Wives, v., 5) ‘thehot-bloodedgods assist me.’Hot-house(q.v.) = a brothel.1383.Chaucer,Canterbury Tales. Prologue toCanterbury Tales, lines 97 and 98. So hote he lovede, that by nightertale, He sleep no more than doth a nightyngale.1596.Ben Jonson,Every Man in his Humour, iv., 8. Dost thou not shame, When all thy powers in chastity are spent, To have a mind sohot.1598.Shakspeare, 1Henry IV., i., 2. A fairhotwench in flame-coloured taffeta.1599.H. Porter,Two Angry Women of Abingdon(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii., 354). Are ye sohot, with a pox? Would ye kiss my mistress?1605.Jonson,Volpone, iii., 6. I am now as fresh, Ashot, as high, and in as jovial plight As when in that so celebrated scene At recitation of our comedy For entertainment of the great Valois, I acted young Antinous.1608.Shakspeare,Antony and Cleopatra, iii., 11. Besides whathotterhours, Unregistered in vulgar fame you have Luxuriously picked out.1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, ii., 1. The whelp washotand eager.1693.Congreve,Old Bachelor, v., 8. If either you esteem my friendship or your own safety, come not near that house—that corner house—thathotbrothel.1697.Vanbrugh,Relapse, iii., 5. Young men arehot, I know, but they don’t boil over at that rate.1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., iv., 123. He laughs to see the girls sohot.1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 37. As most of our plays are now cribbed from the French, wy they’re all pootyhot.2. (colloquial).—Careless of decorum; boisterous; utterly reckless and abandoned.1888.J. Runciman,The Chequers, p. 187. You’re ared-hot member!3. (thieves’).—Well known to the police; dangerous; uncomfortable;e.g.,To make it hot for one.1830.Buckstone,Wreck Ashore, i., 4.Mil.This place is now toohotfor me, captain. Bills overdue, and bailiffs in full chase, have driven me to a hasty leave of my home.1841.Tait’s Edinburgh Mag., viii.,217. Finding all toohotto hold him.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Hot. The cove had better move his beaters into Dewsville, it is toohotfor him here.1882.Evening Standard, 3 Oct., p. 5, c. 4. The Constable added that at the station the Prisoner told him that if he did not make it toohothe would give him £5.1888.Tit Bits, 24 Mar., 373. Thehottestsuburb of London during Jubilee year was supposed to be Ealing.1890.Marriott-Watson,Broken Billy(inUnder the Gum-tree, p. 31). With a few pals, almost as brutal as himself, he made the place prettyhotfrom time to time.1891.Morning Advertiser, 26 Mar., p. 2, col. 4. When Baker was arrested he asked Detective-sergeant Gold not to make it toohotfor them, and tried to induce the officer to receive a sovereign.1891.J. Newman,Scamping Tricks, p. 36. You’ll find they will make ithotfor you.4. (colloquial).—Seequot. 1690. Also violent; sharp; severe.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.hot, exceeding Passionate.1886.R. L. Stevenson,Kidnapped, p. 167. ‘Well,’ said he, ‘yon was ahotburst, David.’1893.Emerson,Signor Lippo, ch. xvi. I started life in a training stable, and ahotlife it was for a boy.5. (venery).—Infected; venereally diseased.6. (colloquial).—Alive; vehement; instant.1864.Browning,Dramatic Romances(ed. 1879, iv., 180),‘The Italian in England.’ Breathedhotand instant on my train.Verb(Winchester College).—To crowd; to mob.[363]To give(get, orcatch)it hot,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To thrash or reprove soundly; to be severely beaten or taken to task.
1704.King,Orpheus and Eurydice(Chalmers,English Poets), vol. ix., p. 284. A lady of prodigious fame, Whose hollow eyes andhopper breechMade common people call her witch.1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., vi., 351. And there’ll behopper-arsedNancy.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hopper-docker,subs.(old).—A shoe. For synonyms,seeTrotter-cases.Hop-picker,subs.(common).—1. A prostitute; alsoHopping-wife. For synonyms,seeBarrack-hackandTart.1888.Indoor Paupers, p. 55. Numbers of them go regularly to the hop-gardens; and each man must have a female companion—ahopping wifeas she is termed.2.in. pl.(gaming).—The queens of all the four suits.Hopping-Giles,subs.(common).—A cripple. For synonyms,seeDot-and-go-one.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.1885.Household Words, 27 June, p. 180. St. Giles is the patron saint of cripples; hence a lame person is mockingly calledhopping giles.Hopping-jesus,subs.(colloquial).—A lameter. For synonyms,seeDot-and-go-one.Hopping-mad,adj.(American).—Very angry.Hop-pole,subs.(common).—A tall, slight person, male or female. For synonyms,seeLamp-post.1850.Smedley,Frank Farleigh, p. 5. I was tall for my age, but slightly built, and so thin, as often to provoke the application of such epithets ashop-pole, ‘thread-paper,’ etc.Horizontal-refreshment,subs.(venery).—1. Carnal intercourse;cf.,Upright. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide. [Fr.,une horizontale= a prostitute.] Also,To Horizontalise.[351]2. (common).—Food taken standing; generally applied to a mid-day snack at a bar.Horn,subs.(common).—1. The nose. Also,Horney. For synonyms,seeConk.1823.Bee,Dict. of the Turf, s.v.Horney—a nose; one that resounds in expectoration.2. (common).—A drink; a dram of spirits. For synonyms,seeGo.1847.Porter,Quarter Race, p. 193. Go on, Venus. Take anotherhornfirst.1848.Ruxton,Life in the Far West. p. 126. They called the Scotchman to take ahorn.3. (venery).—An erection of thepenis. [Properly of men only; but said of both sexes. In the feminine equivalents areCunt-itchandCunt-stand].HenceTo get(orhave)the horn,verb.phr.= to achieve erection;to cure the horn= to copulate;horningandhorny, in course of, or disposed to erection;hornification,subs.= the state, or process, of erection;hornify(seeverb), = to get (or give) thehorn;Miss Horner,subs.= thepudendum muliebre;old horney(orhornington) = thepenis.English Synonyms.—Cock- (or prick-) stand; Irish toothache; in one’s Sunday (or best) clothes; the jack; hard-on (American); horn-colic; horn-mad (said also of an angry cuckold); fixed bayonets; lance in rest; the old Adam; standing; on the stand; stiffened up; the spike.4. (old).—Thepenis. For synonyms,seeCreamstickandPrick.5. (colloquial).—Also inpl.,seeverb.Horn,verb(colloquial).—To cuckold. [Becco(= a he-goat) andcornuto(= a horned thing) are good Italian for a cuckold; in Florio (Worlde of Wordes, 1598)andar in cornouaglia senza barca(i.e., to go to Cornwall without a ship) = to win the horn; and the expression, as the example from Lydgate appears to show, may very well have been imported into English from the Italian. Also, it seems to have begun to be literary about the middle of the sixteenth century, when the Italian influence was at its height. For the rest it passed in triumph into written English, was used in every possible combination, had a run at least two centuries long, and is still intelligible, though not in common service.]SeeActæon,antlers,bull’s feather,freeman of bucks, etc.Hence,to hornify(seesubs., sense 3), andto graft(orgive)horns; towear horns= to live a cuckold;horner,subs.= a cuckold maker;horn-mad,adj. phr.(q.v.);horned,adj.= cuckolded;horn-grower(ormerchant)subs.= a married man;horn-fever,subs.= cuckoldry;to exalt one’s horn,verb. phr.= (1) to cuckold, and (2) to rejoice in, or profit by, the condition;to wind the horn= to publish the fact of cuckoldom;horns-to-sell,subs. phr.= (1) a lewd wife, and (2) a wittol;to point the horn= to fork the fingers in derision (as in Hogarth’s ‘Industrious and Idle Apprentice,’ 1790, plate v.);horn-works= the process of cuckolding;at the sign of the horn= in cuckoldom;horn-pipe= (seequot. 1602);horned herd,subs. phr.= husbands in general (specifically, the city men, the Citizens of London,the cuckolding of whom by West-end gallants is a constant theme of seventeenth century jokes);gilt-horn,subs.= a contented Cuckold;spirit of hartshorn= the suspicion or the certainty of cuckoldom;long horns,subs.= a notorious cuckold;knight of Hornsey, alsomember for Horncastle,subs. phr.= a cuckold, etc.d.1440.Lydgate,Falle of Prynces, ii., leaf 56 (ed. Wayland, 1557, quoted in[352]Dyce’sSkelton, 1843, ii., 132). To speke plaine Englishe made him cokolde. Alas I was not auised wel before Vnkonnyngly to speake such language: I should haue sayde how that he had anhorne.… And in some landCornodomen do them call, And some affirme that such folk have no gall.c.152(?).Hick Scorner(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i., 180). My mother was a lady of the stews, blood born, And (Knight of the Halter) my father wore anhorne.c.1537.Thersites(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i., 412). Why wilt thou not thyhornesinhold? Thinkest thou that I am a cuckold.c.1550.The Pride and Abuse of Women(176 inEarly Pop. Poetry, ed. Hazlitt, iv., 237). And loke well, ye men to your wives.… Or some wyll not styche.… Tohorneyou on everye side.1568.Bannatyne MSS.‘The use of Court,’ p. 765 (Hunterian Club, 1886). Vp gettis hir wame, Scho thinkis no schame For to bring hame The laird anehorne.1574.Appius and Virginia(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iv., 118). A hairbrain, a hangman, or a grafter ofhornes.1575.Laneham’s Letter(ed. 1871). p. 40. With yoor paciens, Gentlmen, … be it said: wear it not in deede thathornzbee so plentie,hornwareI beleeue woold bee more set by than it iz, and yet thear in our parts, that wyll not stick too auoow that many an honest man both in citee and cuntree hath his hoous bvhorningwell vphollden, and a daily freend allso at need.c.1580.Collier of Croydon(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, viii., 436). My head groweth hard, myhornswill shortly spring.1586.Lupton, 1,000Not. Things, ed. 1675, p. 261. Take heed thou art nothorn’d, and then fetcht home.1597.Hall,Satires, i., 8. Fond wittol that would’st load thy witless head, With timelyhornsbefore thy bridal bed.Idem, ii., 7. If chance it come to wanton Capricorne, And so into the Ram’s disgracefulhorne.1598.Shakspeare, 2Henry IV., Act i., sc. 2. Well, he hath thehorn of abundanceand the lightness of his wife shines through it.1598.Jonson,Every Man in his Humour, v., 1. See, what a drove ofhornsfly in the air, Winged with my cleansèd and my credulous breath.1598.Sylvester,Du Bartas, ed. 1641, v., 41. The adulterous Sargus.… Courting the Shee Goates on the grassie shore Wouldhorntheir husbands that had horns before.1599.Jonson,Every Man Out of his Humour, iv., 4. Nowhorn upon hornpursue thee, thou blind, egregious, dotard.1600.Look About You, Sc. 10 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, v., 415). By addinghornsunto our falcon’s head.1600.Shakspeare,As You Like it, iv., 2. Take thou no scorn to wear thehorn, It was a crest ere thou wast born.1600.Shakspeare,Much Ado about Nothing, i. Then up comes the devil with hishornsupon his head, looking like an old cuckold.Ibid.v. 1. But when shall weseethe savage bull’shornson the sensible Benedict’s head.1601.Jonson,Poetaster, iv., 3. And there is never a star in thy forehead but shall be ahornif thou dost persist to abuse me.1602.Campion,English Poesy(Bullen,Works, 1889, p. 248). Mock him not withhorns, the case is altered.1603.Philotus(Pinkerton,Scottish Poems, 1792, iii., 17). Sen thair may be na uther buit? Plat on his heid anehorne.1604.Marston,Malcontent,i., I. Mendoza is the man makes thee ahorned beast: ’tis Mendoza cornutes thee.1605.Jonson,Volpone, ii., 4.Volp.: Nay, then, I not repent me of my late disguise.Mos.: If you canhornehim, Sir, you need not.1605.Chapman,All Fools, v., 1 (Plays, 1874, p. 75). And will youblow the hornyourself where you may keep it to yourself? Go to, you are a fool.Ibid.(p. 76.) It may very well be that the devil broughthornsinto the world, but the women brought them to the men.1607.How a Man May Choose a Good Wife From a Bad, ii., I. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 28).Quando venis aput, I shall have twohornson mycaput.[353]1607.Dekker,Northward Hoe, Act i., p. 8. If a man be deuorst, whether may he haue an action or no, gainst those thatmake horns at him.Ibid.iv., p. 54. This curse is on all letchers throwne, They givehornsand, at last,hornesare their owne.1608.Rowlands,Humor’s Looking Glass, p. 22. Besides, shee is as perfect chast as faire. But being married to a jealous asse, He vowes sheehornshim.1609.Jonson,Epicœne, iii., 1. By that light you deserve to be grafted, and yourhornsreach from one side of the island to the other.1616.Jonson,Devil’s an Ass, v., 5. And a cuckold is, Wherever he puts his head, with a wannion, hishornsbe forth, the devil’s companion.1618.Samuel Rowlands,The Night Raven, p. 25. ’Tis this bad liver doth thehorne-plaguebreed, Which day and night my jealous thoughts doth feed.1623.Cockeran,Eng. Dict.s.v.Sargus, an adulterous fish which goes on the grassie shore, andhornesthe hee Goates that had horns before.1627.Drayton,Agincourt and Other Poems, p. 174. Some made mouthes at him, others as in scorne With their forkt fingerspoyntedhimthe horn.1629.Davenant,Albovine, ed. 1673, p. 436. ’Twas a subtle reach to tell him that the King hadhorn’dhis brow.1633.Rowley,Match at Midnight(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiii., 40).horningthe headman of his parish and taking money for his pains.1633.Ford,Love’s Sacrifice, iii., 3. Fernando is your rival, has stolen your duchess’s heart, murther’d friendship;hornsyour head, and laughs at your horns.1637.BeaumontandFletcher,Elder Brother, iv., 4. I shall have some music yet At my making free o’ th’ company ofhorners.1640.Rawlins,The Rebellion, i., I. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 15). Fresh as a city bridegroom that has signed his wife a grant for thegrafting of horns.1643.Brome,A New Diurnal. (Chalmers,Eng. Poets, 1810, vi., 667). Prince Rupert, for fear that his name be confounded, Will saw off hishorns, and make him a Roundhead.1647.BeaumontandFletcher,Women Pleased, v. 3. I shall then be full of scorn, Wanton, proud (beware thehorn).1653.MiddletonandRowley,The Spanish Gypsy, iii., I. Beggars would on cock-horse ride. And boobies fall a-roaring, And cuckolds though nohornsbe spied, Be one another goring.1653.Davenant,The Siege of Rhodes, p. 34. It stuffs up the marriage bed with thorns, It gores itself, it gores itself with imaginedhorns.1657.Middleton,Women, Beware of Woman(1657), iii., 2. Cuckolds dance thehornpipe, and farmers dance the hay.Idem., iv., 2. Go, lie down, master; but take care yourhornsdo not make holes in the pillow-beers.1659.Lady Alimony, i., 2 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 280). My scene, Trillo, ishorn alley.Ibid., iii., 6 (p. 340). Doubt nothing, my fellow Knights ofhornsey.1661.Webster,Cure for a Cuckold(1661), v., 2. He that hathhornsthus let him learn to shed.1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, iv., 1 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 473). I hope toexalt theParson’shornhere.Ibid., (p. 477). Only to fright the poor cuckholds and make the fools visit theirhorns.Ibid., v., 4 (p. 519). Methinks myhornsache more than my corns.Ibid. ib.(p. 520). I have seen a cuckold of your complexion: if he had lent as much hoof ashorn, you might have hunted the beast by the slot.1664.Butler,Hudibras, II., ii. For when men by their wives are cowed, Theirhornsof course are understood.1668.L’Estrange,Visions of Quevedo, p. 251 (ed. 1708). He that marries, ventures fair for thehorn, either before or after.1672.Ray,Proverbs(inBohn, 1889), s.v. He had betterput his horns in his pocketthan wind them.Idem.(p. 184).Hornsand gray hairs do not come with years.Idem. id., Who hathhornsin his pocket let him not put them on his head.1675.Wycherley,Country Wife, v., 4. Epilogue: Encouraged by our woman’s man to-day,a horner’spart may vainly think to play.Ibid., i., 1. I make no more cuckolds, sir. [Makes horns.]Ibid., iv., 3. If ever you suffer your wife to trouble me again here, she shall carry you home a pair ofhorns.1677.Wycherley,Plain Dealer, iv., 1. First, the clandestine obscenity in the very name ofhorner.[354]d.1680.Butler,Remains(1757), ii., 372. His own branches, hishorns, are as mystical as the Whore of Babylon’s Palfreys, not to be seen but in a vision.1693.Congreve,Old Bachelor, iv., 15. Pox choke him. Would hishornswere in his throat.1695.Congreve,Love for Love, iv., 15. The clocks will strike twelve at noon, and thehorned herdbuzz in the Exchange at two.1698.Farquhar,Love and a Bottle, iv., 3. Should I ever be tried before this judge, how I should laugh toseehow gravely his goose cap sits upon a pair ofhorns!1700.Congreve,Way of the World, iii., 7. Man should have his head andhorns, and woman the rest of him.1702.Steele,The Funeral or Grief à la Mode, Act. i., p. 22. This wench I know has played me false, andhornedme in my gallants. [Note.—That the speaker is a female shows the word to have been transferable to the other sex.]1708.W. King,Art of Love, pt. x. (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, ix., 274). Sometimes his dirty paws she scorns, While her fair fingers show hishorns.1708.Prior,Poems. ‘The Turtle and Sparrow,’ line 302–9. ‘Two staringHorns,’ I often said, ‘but ill became a sparrow’s head’ … ‘Whilst at the root yourhornsare sore, The more you scratch, they ache the more.’1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., i., 174. Who’s the Cuckoo, Who’s the Cuckold, who’s thehorner?1728.Patrick Walker,Alexander Peden, ‘Postscript’ (ed. 1827, i.). A profane, obscene meeting called thehorn-order.1737.Fielding,Tumble-Down Dick,Works(1718) iii., 408. Think it enough your betters do the deed, And that byhorningyou I mend the breed.d.1742.Somerville,Occasional Poems(Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 238). If I but catch her in a corner, Humph! ’tis your servant, ColonelHorner.1759–67.Sterne,TristramShandy, ch. xxxvii. Nor have the horn-works he speaks of anything to do with thehorn-worksof Cuckoldom.1765.C. Smart,Fables, xi., line 66. And though your spouse my lecture scorns. Beware his fate, beware hisHorns.d.1770.Chatterton,The Revenge, i., I. Let her do what she will, The husband is still, And but for hishornsyou would think him an ass.Idem., ii., 4.Have you comehorning.1785.Grose,Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1786.Captain Morris(Collection of Songs),The Great Plenipotentiary, (9th ed. 1788, stanza ix., p. 43). She hadhornedthe dull brows of her worshipful spouse Till they sprouted like Venus’s myrtle.d.1796.Burns,Merry Muses, ‘Cuddy the Cooper,’ p. 84. On ilka brow she’splanted a horn, An’ swears that there they shall stan’, O.1813.Moore,Poems, ‘Re-inforcements for the Duke,’ iii., 209. Old H——df——t athorn-worksagain might be tried.1816.Quiz,Grand Master, canto vii., p. 199, line 10.(She) smil’d, declaring that she scorn’d him, (She might have added that she’dhorn’dhim).1822.Scott,Fortunes of Nigel, c. xxxvi. O what a generous creature is your true London husband!Hornshath he, but, tame as a fatted ox, he goreth not.1825.Scott,The Betrothed, ch. xvii. I ever tell thee, husband, thehornswould be worth the hide in a fair market.To draw in one’s horns,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To withdraw or to retract; to cool down.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Horns.To horn off,verb. phr.(American). = To put on one side; to shunt. [As a bull or stag with his horns.]1851.Hooper,Widow Rugby’s Husband, etc., p. 69. Youhornedme off to get a chance to get gaming witnesses out of the way.In a horn,adv. phr.(American).—A general qualification, implying refusal or disbelief;over the left(q.v.).1858.Washington Evening Star, 26 Aug. I have mentioned before the innumerable comforts—in a horn—of the old White Sulphur Springs.To wind(orblow)the horn,verb. phr.(old).—To break wind;to fart(q.v.).[355]1620.Percy,Folio, MSS., ‘Fryar and Boye.’ Her tayle shall wind thehorne.To cure the horn,verb. phr.(venery).—To copulate.SeeHorn,subs., sense 3. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.To have the horn,verb. phr.(venery).SeeHorn,subs., sense 3.To come out of the little end of the horn,verb. phr.(common).—To get the worst of a bargain; to be reduced in circumstances. Also, to make much ado about nothing. Said generally of vast endeavour ending in failure. [Through some unexpectedSqueeze(q.v.)].1605.Jonson,Chapman, andMarston,Eastward Hoe, i., 1. I had the horne of suretiship ever before my eyes. You all know the devise of thehorne, where the young fellow slippes in at the butte-end, and comes squesd out at the buckall.1624.Fletcher,Wife for a Month, iii., 3. Thou wilt look to-morrow else Worse than the prodigal fool the ballad speaks of, That was squeezedthrough a horn.1847.Porter,Big Ben, etc., p. 37. How did you make it? You didn’tcome out at the little end of the horn, did you?1847.Porter,Quarter Race, etc., p. 24. You never saw such a run of luck; everywhere I touched waspizen, and Icame out of the leetle end of the horn.1891.Pall Mall Gaz., 3 July, i., 2. The ‘great Trek,’ in that expressive transatlantic phrase, has toddledout of the little end of the horn.Horn-colic,subs.(venery).—SeeHorn,subs., sense 3.1785.Grose,Vulg.Tongue, s.v.Hornet,subs.(common).—A disagreeable, cantankerous person.Hornie(orHorness),subs.(old).—1. A constable or watchman; a sheriff.1819.Vaux,Life, s.v.Horney, a Constable.1821.Haggart,Life, 51. The woman missing it immediately, she sent for thehornies.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Horness.2. (Scots’).—The devil; generallyAuld Hornie(q.v.).1785.Burns,Address to the Deil. O thou! whatever title suits thee,Auld Hornie, Satan, Nick, or Clootie.Hornify,verb.(colloquial).—SeeHorn,subs., sense 3 andverb.2. (venery).—SeeHorn,subs., sense 3.Horn-mad,adj.(old).—1.Seequot. 1690.1593.Shakespeare,Comedy of Errors, ii., 1. Why, mistress, sure my master ishorn-mad.1599.Henry Porter,The Two Angry Women of Abingdon(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii.). And then I wound my horn, and he’shorn-mad.1604.Marston,Malcontent, i., 7. I amhorn mad.1605.Jonson,The Fox, iii., 6. Yet I’m not mad, Nothorn-mad, see you.1639–61.Rump Songs, [1662], 293. The Country has grown sad, The City ishorn-mad.1647.BeaumontandFletcher,The Woman’s Prize, ii., 6. After my twelve strong labours to reclaim her, Which would have made Don Herculeshorn-mad.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Horn-mad, stark staring Mad, because Cuckolded.1693.Congreve,Old Bachelor, iv., 22. Ay, I feel it here; I sprout; I bud; I blossom; I am ripehorn-mad.1694.Congreve,Double Dealer, iv., 20. She forks out cuckoldom with her fingers, and you are runninghorn-madafter your fortune.1695.Congreve,Love for Love, v., 8. She’s mad for a husband, and he’shorn-mad.[356]1698.Farquhar,Love and a Bottle, iv., 3. Thou’rthorn-mad. Prithee, leave impertinence.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1822.Scott,Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxvi. Ye might as well expect brandy from beanstalks, or milk from a crag of blue whunstane. The man is mad,horn-mad, to boot.1825.Harriette Wilson,Memoirs, ii. 228. The little he did say was chiefly on the subject of cuckolds and cuckolding. His lordship washorn-mad.2. (venery).—Sexually excited; lecherous;musty(q.v.). Also,Horny.Hornswoggle,subs.(American).—Nonsense;humbug(q.v.). For synonyms,seeGammon.Verb(American).—To humbug; to delude; to seduce.—Slang, Jargon, and Cant.Cf.,In a horn.Horn-thumb,subs.(old).—A pickpocket. [From the practice of wearing a sheath of horn to protect the thumb in cutting out.]SeeThieves.1569.Preston,Cambises(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1874, iv., 235). But cousin, because to that office ye are not like come, Frequent your exercises, ahorne on your thumbe, A quick eye, a sharp knife.1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, ii. I mean a child of thehorn-thumb, a babe of booty, boy, a cut-purse.1614.Greene,Looking-Glass[Dyce], p. 138. I cut this from a new-married wife by means of ahorn-thumband a knife.—Six shillings, four pence.Horrors,subs.(common).—The first stage ofdelirium tremens. For synonyms,seeGallon-distemper. Also low spirits, orthe blues(q.v.).1848.Ruxton,Life in the Far West, p. 50. Paying the penalty in a fit ofhorrors.1857.Philadelphia Evening Bulletin(quoted by Bartlett). This poison (fusil oil),which acts with terrible results on the nerves; seeming like a diabolical inspiration, stirring up mania, convulsions, and thehorrorsin an incredibly short space of time.1864.Dickens,Our Mutual Friend, bk. iv., ch. viii. What are popularly called ‘the trembles’ being in full force upon him that evening, and likewise what are popularly calledthe horrors, he had a very bad time of it; which was not made better by his being so remorseful as frequently to moan ‘Sixty threepennorths.’1864.F. W. Robinson,Mr. Stewart’s Intentions, ch. i. ‘Well, sermons always gave methe horrors, and engendered a hate of the sermonizer.’1883.Stevenson,Treasure Islandch. iii., p. 20 (1886). If I don’t have adramo’ rum, Jim, I’ll havethe horrors.1889.C. Haddon Chambers,In Australian Wilds. He’s sober now, yousee; but he managed to get blind drunk before eleven o’clock this morning, and last week he narrowly escaped an attack ofthe horrors.1892.HenleyandStevenson,Three Rags, ‘Admiral Guinea,’ iv., 3. It’sthe horrorscome alive.2. (common).—Sausages.SeeChamber of HorrorsandDog’s-paste.3. (thieves’).—Handcuffs. For synonyms,seeDarbies.Horse,subs.(common).—1. A five-pound note.SeeFinnup.2. (thieves’).—Horsemonger Lane Gaol. Alsothe Old Horse. Now obsolete.1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, 1, p. 457. The only thing that frightens me when I’m in prison is sleeping in a cell by myself—you do inthe Old Horseand the Steel.3. (American).—A man: generally in affection. AlsoOld Hoss, orHoss-fly.1838.Haliburton(‘Sam Slick’),The Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xviii. He is all sorts of ahoss, and the best live one that ever cut dirt this side of the big pond, or t’other side either.[357]1847.Robb,Squatter Life, p. 74. What in the yearth did you do with old Hoss on the road?—He ain’tgin out, has he?Ibid., p. 70. None of your stuck-up imported chaps from the dandy states, but a real genuine westerner—in short, ahoss!1848.Ruxton,Life in the Far West, p. 5. Hyar’s ahossas’ll make fire come.1857.Gladstone,Englishman in Kansas, p. 43. Here, boys, drink. Liquors, captain, for the crowd. Step up this way,old hoss, and liquor.Verb(venery).—1. To possess a woman. For synonyms,seeRide.1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, iv., 3. Say’st thou so, filly? Thou shalthavea leap presently, I’llhorsethee myself, else.2. (workmen’s).—Seequots.Cf.,Flog the dead horse.1857.Notes and Queries, 2 S., iv., p. 192. A workmanhorsesit when he charges for more in his week’s work than he has really done. Of course he has so much unprofitable work to get through in the ensuing week, which is called dead horse.1867.All the Year Round, 13 July, p. 59.To horsea man, is for one of two men who are engaged on precisely similar pieces of work to make extraordinary exertions in order to work down the other man. This is sometimes done simply toseewhat kind of a workman a new man may be, but often with the much less creditable motive of injuring a fellow workman in the estimation of an employer.The gray mare is the better horse.SeeGray-mare.Horse foaled of an acorn,subs. phr.(old).—1. The gallows. For synonyms,seeTriple-tree.1760–61.Smollett,Sir L. Greaves, ch. viii. I believe as how ’tis no horse, but a devil incarnate; and yet I’ve been worse mounted, that I have—I’d like to have rida horse that was foaled of an acorn(i.e., he had nearly met with the fate of Absalom).1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1827.Lytton,Pelham, ch. lxxxii. The cove … is as pretty a Tyburn blossom as ever was brought up to ridea horse foaled by an acorn.1839.Ainsworth,Jack Sheppard[1889], p. 8. … As to this little fellow … he shall never mounta horse foaled by an acorn, if I can help it.2. (military).—The triangles or crossed halberds under which soldiers were flogged.Old-(orSalt-)Horse,subs.(nautical). Salt beef. AlsoJunkandSalt-junk.1889.Chambers’s Journal, 3 Aug., 495. Mr. Clark Russell declares thatsalt-horseworks out of the pores, and contributes to that mahogany complexion common to sailors, which is often mistakenly attributed to rum and weather.One-horse,adj.(American). Comparatively small, insignificant, or unimportant.1858.Washington Evening Star.On Friday last, the engineer of a fast train was arrested by the authorities of aone-horsetown in Dauphin County, Pa., for running through the borough at a greater rate of speed than is allowed by their ordinances.1871.De Vere,Americanisms, p. 221. The indignant settler who has been ill-treated, as he fancies, in court, denounces his attorney as a ‘miserable,one-horselawyer;’ and the Yankee newly arrived in England does not hesitate to declare that ‘Liverpool is a poorone-horsekind of a place,’ a term applied by Mark Twain to no less a city than Rome itself; and a witty clergyman of Boston inveighed once bitterly against ‘timid, sneaking,one-horseoaths, as infinitely worse than a good, round, thundering outburst.’1891.National Review, Sep., p. 127. Mr. Marion Crawford’sWitch of Prague(Macmillan & Co.) is, as his compatriots would say, rather aone-horsewitch.To be horsed,verb. phr.(old).—To be flogged [from the wooden-horse used as a flogging-stool]; to take on one’s back as for a flogging.[358]1678.Butler,Hudibras, pt. III., c. 1. The spirithors’dhim like a sack Upon the vehicle his back.1751.Smollett,Peregrine Pickle, ch. xvii. Our unfortunate hero was publiclyhorsed,in terroremof all whom it might concern.1857.Thackeray,Virginians, ch. v. Serjeants, school-masters, slave-overseers, used the cane freely. Our little boys had beenhorsedmany a day by Mr. Dempster.1881.Notes and Queries, 1 Jan., p. 18. I got wellhorsedfor such a breach of discipline.To fall away from a horseload to a cartload,verb. phr.(old).—Seequot.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Horseplay.Fallen away from a horseload to a cartload, spoken ironically of one considerably improved in flesh on a sudden.To flog the dead horse.—SeeDead-horseandHorse,verb.sense 2.To put the cart before the horse,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To begin at the wrong end; to set things hind-side before.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Horse.To put the saddle on the right horse,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To apportion accurately.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Horse.Set the saddle on the right horse, lay the Blame where the Fault is.To ride on a horse with(orbayard of)ten toes,verb. phr.(common).—To walk; to use theMarrowbone-stage.Cf.,Shanks’s Mare.1606.Breton,Good and Badde, p. 14. His trauell is the walke of the woful, and hishorse Bayard of ten toes.1662.Fuller,Worthies, Somerset, ii., 291. At last he [Coryat] undertook to travail into the East Indies by land, mounted onan horse with ten toes.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Bayard.As good as a shoulder of mutton to a sick horse,phr.(old).—Utterly worthless.1596.Ben Jonson,Every Man in his Humour, ii., 1. Counsel to him isas good as a shoulder of mutton to a sick horse.As strong as a horse,adv. phr.(colloquial).—Very strong: a general intensitive.Horse and horse,adv. phr.(American).—Neck and neck; even.Horsebreaker(orPretty Horsebreaker),subs.(colloquial).—A woman (c.1860), hired to ride in the park; hence, a riding courtesan.Seealso quot. 1864. For synonyms,seeBarrack-hackandTart.1864.E. Yates,Broken to Harness, ch. iv., p. 33 (1873). Kate Mellor was ahorsebreaker, abonâ fidehorsebreaker; one who curbed colts, and ‘took it out of’ kickers and rearers.1865.Public Opinion, 30 Sep. Thesedemi-mondepeople, anonymas,horsebreakers, hetairæ … are by degrees pushing their way into society.Horse-buss,subs.(old).—A loud-sounding kiss; a bite.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Horse-capper(-coper,-coser,-courser, or-chaunter),subs.(common).—A dealer in worthless or ‘faked’ horses. [Originally good English.To cope= to barter.]SeeChanter. HenceHorse-copingandHorse-duffing.1616.Overbury,Characters(Rimbault, 9th ed., 1856, p. 120). An arranthorse-courserhath the trick to blow up horseflesh as the butcher does veal.[359]d.1680.Butler,Remains(1759), ii., 458. Ahorse-courseris one that hath read horses, and understands all the virtues and vices of the whole species by being conversant with them, and how to take the best advantage of both.1742–4.North,Life of the Lord Keeper,i., 271. There werehorse-copersamong them.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Horse-coser, vulgarly and corruptly pronounced horse-coser, a dealer in horses. The verb to cose, was used by the Scots, in the sense of bartering or exchanging.1863.Sporting Life, 29 Apr., p. 4, col. 3.Copersand Chaunters are now in full feather.1864.London Review, 18 June, p. 643. Amongst the mysteries of horse-flesh is the noble science of coping, and its practitioners thehorse-copers.1874.G. A. Lawrence,Hagarene, ch. ii. He had lived somewhat precariously by his wits; eking out the scanty allowance wrung from his miserly old sire, by betting andhorse-copingon a small scale.1884.Daily News, 23 Aug., p. 4, c. 7. The most accomplished gipsycopers, if they are not belied, are not satisfied with merely doing up an unsound horse and selling him as a sound one, but frequently steal outright the subject of their scientific and often lucrative experiments.1888.Rolf Boldrewood,Robbery Under Arms, ch. i. Poaching must be something like cattle andhorse-duffing.1889.Answers, 27 July, p. 141, c. 1. Allow me to expose some more tricks ofhorse copers.1893.National Observer, 5 Aug., p. 291, col. 1. A veracioushorse-coperis a monster which the world ne’er saw.Horse-collar,subs.(venery).—1. The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.2. (tailors’).—An extremely long and wide collar.3. (old).—A halter.To die in a horse’s nightcap= to be hanged.SeeLadder.English Synonyms.—Anodyne necklace; Bridport dagger; choker; hempen cravat; hempen elixir; horse’s neckcloth; horse’s necklace; neck-squeezer; neckweed; squeezer; St. Andrew’s lace; Sir Tristram’s knot; tight cravat; Tyburn tiffany; Tyburn tippet; widow.French Synonym.—La cravate de chanvre.1593.Bacchus’ BountieinHarl. Misc.(ed. Park), ii., 304. Yea, his very head so heavie as if it had beene harnessed in anhorse-nightcap.1608.Penniles ParliamentinHarl. Misc.(ed. Park), I., 181. And those that clip that they should not, shall have ahorse night-capfor their labour.1681.Dialogue on Oxford Parliament(Harl. Misc., ii., 125.). He better deserves to go up Holbourn in a wooden chariot, and have ahorse night-capput on at the farther end.1883.Echo, 25 Jan., p. 2, c. 4. Even an attempt is made to lighten the horror of the climax of a criminal career, by speaking of dying in ahorse’s night-cap,i.e., a halter.Horse-editor,subs.(American journalists’).—A sporting editor.Horse-copy= sporting news.Horseflesh,SeeDead HorseandHorse,verb.sense 2.Horse-godmother,subs.(old).—A strapping masculine woman; a virago. Fr.,une femme hommasse.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.d.1819.Wolcot,Wks.In woman angel sweetness let me see No gallopinghorse-godmotherfor me.1838.Selby,Jacques Strop, iii., 1.What a couple ofhorse-godmothers.1846–8.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, ii., ch. 4. How do, my dear? Come to see the old man, hay? Gad—you’ve a pretty face, too. You ain’t like that oldhorse-godmother, your mother.Horse-latitudes,subs.(nautical).—A space in the Atlantic, north of the trade-winds, where the winds are baffling.[360]1891.W. C.Russell,Ocean Tragedy, p. 137. The winds even north of the rains andhorse-latitudeswere in a sense to be reckoned on.Horse-laugh,subs.(colloquial).—A loud, noisy laugh; a guffaw.1738.Pope,Ep. to Satires, i., 38. Ahorselaugh, if you please, at honesty.Horse-leech,subs.(colloquial).—1. An extortioner; a miser.2. (venery).—Anything insatiable. Also a whore.1597.Hall,Satires, iv., 5. Anhorse-leech, barren wench, or gaping grave.1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, ii., 1. You are one of thosehorse-leechesthat gave out I was dead in Turnbull Street.3. (old).—A horse-doctor; also a quack.1594.Nashe,Terrors of the Night(Grosart, iii., 250). Whereas hishorse-leech… will give a man twenty guineas in one.1597.Hall,Satires, ii., 4.Nohorse-leechbut will look for larger fee.Horse-marines,subs.(common).—A mythical corps, very commonly cited in jokes and quizzies on the innocent. [The Jollies(q.v.) or Royal Marines, being ignorant of seamanship, have always been the butt of blue-jackets.]Tell that to the marines(orhorse-marines)the sailors won’t believe it= a rejoinder to an attempt at imposition or credulity. Often amplified withwhen they’re riding at anchor.SeealsoBingham’s Dandies.1825.Scott,St. Ronan’s Well, ch. xxi. ‘Come, none of your quizzing, my old buck,’ said Sir Bingo—‘what the devil has a ship to do with horse’s furniture?—Do you think we belong to thehorse-marines?’c.1870.Broadside Ballad, ‘Captain Jinks.’ I’m Captain Jinks of theHorse-Marines.1886.StephensandYardley,Little Jack Sheppard, p. 3. They may tell that yarn to thehorse marines, For we bean’t such fools as we looks.1886.Tinsley’s Mag., Apr., 321. Owing to a singular deviation from the ordinary functions of cavalry, the 17th Lancers were once christened thehorse marines.1892.Wops the Waif[Horner’s Penny Stories], ch. i., p. 1. Oh, nothink, eh! You’d better tell that to thehoss marines; I’ve lived a sight too long in Shoreditch to take that in.Horse-milliner,subs.(common).—1. A dandy trooper.1778.Chatterton,Ballads of Charity, ii., 113. The trammels of his palfrey pleased his sight, For thehorse-millinerhis head with roses dight.1813.Scott,Bridal of Triermain, ii., 3. One comes in foreign trashery Of tinkling chain and spur, A walking haberdashery Of feathers, lace and fur; In Rowley’s antiquated phrase,Horse-millinerof modern days.2. (old).—A saddler and harness-maker.1818.Scott,Heart of Midlothian, xi. In my wretched occupation of a saddler,horse-milliner, and harness maker, we are out unconscionable sums just for barkened hides and leather.Horse-nails,subs.(common).—1. Money. For synonyms,seeActualandGilt.To feed on horse-nails,verb. phr.(cribbage).—So to play as not so much to advance your own score as to keep down your opponent’s.To knock into horse-nails,verb. phr.(common).—To knock to pieces; to be absolutely victorious.[361]Horse-nightcap,subs.(old).—SeeHorse’s-Collar.Horse-pox,subs.(old).—A superlative ofPox(q.v.). Used in adjuration.E.g., Ahorse-poxon you! Ay, with ahorse-pox, etc.Horse-Protestant,subs.(tailors’).—A churchman.Horse-sense,subs.(American).—Sound and practical judgment.1893.Lippincott, Mar., p. 260. A round bullet head, not very full of brains, perhaps, yet reputed to be fairly stocked with what is termedhorsesense.Horses-and-Mares.To play at horses-and-mares,verb. phr.(schoolboys’).—To copulate. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.Horse’s-head,subs.(cobblers’).—The boot-sole, heel, and what is left of the front after the back and part of the front have been usedto fox(q.v.) other boots withal.Horse-shoe,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum. [In German,Sie hat ein Hufeisen verloren(of women) = she has been seduced,i.e., she has lost a horse-shoe.]Horse’s-meal,subs.(old).—Meat without drink.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Horse-sovereign,subs.(common).—A twenty-shilling piece with Pistrucci’s effigies of St. George and the Dragon.1871.London Figaro, 26 Jan. A number of those coins, sometimes known ashorse sovereigns, are to be issued.Hortus,subs.(venery).—Seequot. [Cf.,Garden.] For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.1728.Bailey,Eng. Dict., s.v.Hortus[by some writers] the privy parts of a woman.Hose.In my other hose,subs. phr.(old). A qualification of refusal or disbelief;in a horn(q.v.);over the left(q.v.).1598.Florio.A Worlde of Wordes, s.v.Zoccoli Zoccoli, tushtush, awaie, in faith sir no, yeain my other hose.Hoss.SeeHorse.Hoss-fly(orOld Hoss-fly),subs.(American).—A familiar address;cf.,Horse,subs.sense 3.Host.To reckon without one’s host,verb. phr.(old: now recognised).—To blunder.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Host.To reckon without one’s host, or count your Chickens before they are Hatched.Mine Host,subs. phr.(colloquial).—A taverner.Hosteler,subs.(old).—Seequot.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hosteler,i.e., oat stealer.Hot,subs.(Winchester College).—1. A mellay at football.2. (Ibid).—A crowd.1878.Adams,Wykehamica, p. 367. It would be replaced and a freshhotformed.Adj.(colloquial).—1. Of persons: sexually excitable; lecherous;on heat(q.v.);randy(q.v.). Of things (as books): obscene;blue(q.v.);high-kilted(q.v.);Hot member(q.v.) = a male or female debauchee; or (as in sense 2), a man or woman contemptuous of decorum.[362]Hot as they make them= exceedingly amorous or reckless.Hot-blooded= lecherous: as (inMerry Wives, v., 5) ‘thehot-bloodedgods assist me.’Hot-house(q.v.) = a brothel.1383.Chaucer,Canterbury Tales. Prologue toCanterbury Tales, lines 97 and 98. So hote he lovede, that by nightertale, He sleep no more than doth a nightyngale.1596.Ben Jonson,Every Man in his Humour, iv., 8. Dost thou not shame, When all thy powers in chastity are spent, To have a mind sohot.1598.Shakspeare, 1Henry IV., i., 2. A fairhotwench in flame-coloured taffeta.1599.H. Porter,Two Angry Women of Abingdon(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii., 354). Are ye sohot, with a pox? Would ye kiss my mistress?1605.Jonson,Volpone, iii., 6. I am now as fresh, Ashot, as high, and in as jovial plight As when in that so celebrated scene At recitation of our comedy For entertainment of the great Valois, I acted young Antinous.1608.Shakspeare,Antony and Cleopatra, iii., 11. Besides whathotterhours, Unregistered in vulgar fame you have Luxuriously picked out.1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, ii., 1. The whelp washotand eager.1693.Congreve,Old Bachelor, v., 8. If either you esteem my friendship or your own safety, come not near that house—that corner house—thathotbrothel.1697.Vanbrugh,Relapse, iii., 5. Young men arehot, I know, but they don’t boil over at that rate.1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., iv., 123. He laughs to see the girls sohot.1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 37. As most of our plays are now cribbed from the French, wy they’re all pootyhot.2. (colloquial).—Careless of decorum; boisterous; utterly reckless and abandoned.1888.J. Runciman,The Chequers, p. 187. You’re ared-hot member!3. (thieves’).—Well known to the police; dangerous; uncomfortable;e.g.,To make it hot for one.1830.Buckstone,Wreck Ashore, i., 4.Mil.This place is now toohotfor me, captain. Bills overdue, and bailiffs in full chase, have driven me to a hasty leave of my home.1841.Tait’s Edinburgh Mag., viii.,217. Finding all toohotto hold him.1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Hot. The cove had better move his beaters into Dewsville, it is toohotfor him here.1882.Evening Standard, 3 Oct., p. 5, c. 4. The Constable added that at the station the Prisoner told him that if he did not make it toohothe would give him £5.1888.Tit Bits, 24 Mar., 373. Thehottestsuburb of London during Jubilee year was supposed to be Ealing.1890.Marriott-Watson,Broken Billy(inUnder the Gum-tree, p. 31). With a few pals, almost as brutal as himself, he made the place prettyhotfrom time to time.1891.Morning Advertiser, 26 Mar., p. 2, col. 4. When Baker was arrested he asked Detective-sergeant Gold not to make it toohotfor them, and tried to induce the officer to receive a sovereign.1891.J. Newman,Scamping Tricks, p. 36. You’ll find they will make ithotfor you.4. (colloquial).—Seequot. 1690. Also violent; sharp; severe.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.hot, exceeding Passionate.1886.R. L. Stevenson,Kidnapped, p. 167. ‘Well,’ said he, ‘yon was ahotburst, David.’1893.Emerson,Signor Lippo, ch. xvi. I started life in a training stable, and ahotlife it was for a boy.5. (venery).—Infected; venereally diseased.6. (colloquial).—Alive; vehement; instant.1864.Browning,Dramatic Romances(ed. 1879, iv., 180),‘The Italian in England.’ Breathedhotand instant on my train.Verb(Winchester College).—To crowd; to mob.[363]To give(get, orcatch)it hot,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To thrash or reprove soundly; to be severely beaten or taken to task.
1704.King,Orpheus and Eurydice(Chalmers,English Poets), vol. ix., p. 284. A lady of prodigious fame, Whose hollow eyes andhopper breechMade common people call her witch.
1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., vi., 351. And there’ll behopper-arsedNancy.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Hopper-docker,subs.(old).—A shoe. For synonyms,seeTrotter-cases.
Hop-picker,subs.(common).—1. A prostitute; alsoHopping-wife. For synonyms,seeBarrack-hackandTart.
1888.Indoor Paupers, p. 55. Numbers of them go regularly to the hop-gardens; and each man must have a female companion—ahopping wifeas she is termed.
2.in. pl.(gaming).—The queens of all the four suits.
Hopping-Giles,subs.(common).—A cripple. For synonyms,seeDot-and-go-one.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
1885.Household Words, 27 June, p. 180. St. Giles is the patron saint of cripples; hence a lame person is mockingly calledhopping giles.
Hopping-jesus,subs.(colloquial).—A lameter. For synonyms,seeDot-and-go-one.
Hopping-mad,adj.(American).—Very angry.
Hop-pole,subs.(common).—A tall, slight person, male or female. For synonyms,seeLamp-post.
1850.Smedley,Frank Farleigh, p. 5. I was tall for my age, but slightly built, and so thin, as often to provoke the application of such epithets ashop-pole, ‘thread-paper,’ etc.
Horizontal-refreshment,subs.(venery).—1. Carnal intercourse;cf.,Upright. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide. [Fr.,une horizontale= a prostitute.] Also,To Horizontalise.[351]
2. (common).—Food taken standing; generally applied to a mid-day snack at a bar.
Horn,subs.(common).—1. The nose. Also,Horney. For synonyms,seeConk.
1823.Bee,Dict. of the Turf, s.v.Horney—a nose; one that resounds in expectoration.
2. (common).—A drink; a dram of spirits. For synonyms,seeGo.
1847.Porter,Quarter Race, p. 193. Go on, Venus. Take anotherhornfirst.
1848.Ruxton,Life in the Far West. p. 126. They called the Scotchman to take ahorn.
3. (venery).—An erection of thepenis. [Properly of men only; but said of both sexes. In the feminine equivalents areCunt-itchandCunt-stand].
HenceTo get(orhave)the horn,verb.phr.= to achieve erection;to cure the horn= to copulate;horningandhorny, in course of, or disposed to erection;hornification,subs.= the state, or process, of erection;hornify(seeverb), = to get (or give) thehorn;Miss Horner,subs.= thepudendum muliebre;old horney(orhornington) = thepenis.
English Synonyms.—Cock- (or prick-) stand; Irish toothache; in one’s Sunday (or best) clothes; the jack; hard-on (American); horn-colic; horn-mad (said also of an angry cuckold); fixed bayonets; lance in rest; the old Adam; standing; on the stand; stiffened up; the spike.
4. (old).—Thepenis. For synonyms,seeCreamstickandPrick.
5. (colloquial).—Also inpl.,seeverb.
Horn,verb(colloquial).—To cuckold. [Becco(= a he-goat) andcornuto(= a horned thing) are good Italian for a cuckold; in Florio (Worlde of Wordes, 1598)andar in cornouaglia senza barca(i.e., to go to Cornwall without a ship) = to win the horn; and the expression, as the example from Lydgate appears to show, may very well have been imported into English from the Italian. Also, it seems to have begun to be literary about the middle of the sixteenth century, when the Italian influence was at its height. For the rest it passed in triumph into written English, was used in every possible combination, had a run at least two centuries long, and is still intelligible, though not in common service.]SeeActæon,antlers,bull’s feather,freeman of bucks, etc.
Hence,to hornify(seesubs., sense 3), andto graft(orgive)horns; towear horns= to live a cuckold;horner,subs.= a cuckold maker;horn-mad,adj. phr.(q.v.);horned,adj.= cuckolded;horn-grower(ormerchant)subs.= a married man;horn-fever,subs.= cuckoldry;to exalt one’s horn,verb. phr.= (1) to cuckold, and (2) to rejoice in, or profit by, the condition;to wind the horn= to publish the fact of cuckoldom;horns-to-sell,subs. phr.= (1) a lewd wife, and (2) a wittol;to point the horn= to fork the fingers in derision (as in Hogarth’s ‘Industrious and Idle Apprentice,’ 1790, plate v.);horn-works= the process of cuckolding;at the sign of the horn= in cuckoldom;horn-pipe= (seequot. 1602);horned herd,subs. phr.= husbands in general (specifically, the city men, the Citizens of London,the cuckolding of whom by West-end gallants is a constant theme of seventeenth century jokes);gilt-horn,subs.= a contented Cuckold;spirit of hartshorn= the suspicion or the certainty of cuckoldom;long horns,subs.= a notorious cuckold;knight of Hornsey, alsomember for Horncastle,subs. phr.= a cuckold, etc.
d.1440.Lydgate,Falle of Prynces, ii., leaf 56 (ed. Wayland, 1557, quoted in[352]Dyce’sSkelton, 1843, ii., 132). To speke plaine Englishe made him cokolde. Alas I was not auised wel before Vnkonnyngly to speake such language: I should haue sayde how that he had anhorne.… And in some landCornodomen do them call, And some affirme that such folk have no gall.
c.152(?).Hick Scorner(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i., 180). My mother was a lady of the stews, blood born, And (Knight of the Halter) my father wore anhorne.
c.1537.Thersites(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i., 412). Why wilt thou not thyhornesinhold? Thinkest thou that I am a cuckold.
c.1550.The Pride and Abuse of Women(176 inEarly Pop. Poetry, ed. Hazlitt, iv., 237). And loke well, ye men to your wives.… Or some wyll not styche.… Tohorneyou on everye side.
1568.Bannatyne MSS.‘The use of Court,’ p. 765 (Hunterian Club, 1886). Vp gettis hir wame, Scho thinkis no schame For to bring hame The laird anehorne.
1574.Appius and Virginia(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iv., 118). A hairbrain, a hangman, or a grafter ofhornes.
1575.Laneham’s Letter(ed. 1871). p. 40. With yoor paciens, Gentlmen, … be it said: wear it not in deede thathornzbee so plentie,hornwareI beleeue woold bee more set by than it iz, and yet thear in our parts, that wyll not stick too auoow that many an honest man both in citee and cuntree hath his hoous bvhorningwell vphollden, and a daily freend allso at need.
c.1580.Collier of Croydon(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, viii., 436). My head groweth hard, myhornswill shortly spring.
1586.Lupton, 1,000Not. Things, ed. 1675, p. 261. Take heed thou art nothorn’d, and then fetcht home.
1597.Hall,Satires, i., 8. Fond wittol that would’st load thy witless head, With timelyhornsbefore thy bridal bed.Idem, ii., 7. If chance it come to wanton Capricorne, And so into the Ram’s disgracefulhorne.
1598.Shakspeare, 2Henry IV., Act i., sc. 2. Well, he hath thehorn of abundanceand the lightness of his wife shines through it.
1598.Jonson,Every Man in his Humour, v., 1. See, what a drove ofhornsfly in the air, Winged with my cleansèd and my credulous breath.
1598.Sylvester,Du Bartas, ed. 1641, v., 41. The adulterous Sargus.… Courting the Shee Goates on the grassie shore Wouldhorntheir husbands that had horns before.
1599.Jonson,Every Man Out of his Humour, iv., 4. Nowhorn upon hornpursue thee, thou blind, egregious, dotard.
1600.Look About You, Sc. 10 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, v., 415). By addinghornsunto our falcon’s head.
1600.Shakspeare,As You Like it, iv., 2. Take thou no scorn to wear thehorn, It was a crest ere thou wast born.
1600.Shakspeare,Much Ado about Nothing, i. Then up comes the devil with hishornsupon his head, looking like an old cuckold.Ibid.v. 1. But when shall weseethe savage bull’shornson the sensible Benedict’s head.
1601.Jonson,Poetaster, iv., 3. And there is never a star in thy forehead but shall be ahornif thou dost persist to abuse me.
1602.Campion,English Poesy(Bullen,Works, 1889, p. 248). Mock him not withhorns, the case is altered.
1603.Philotus(Pinkerton,Scottish Poems, 1792, iii., 17). Sen thair may be na uther buit? Plat on his heid anehorne.
1604.Marston,Malcontent,i., I. Mendoza is the man makes thee ahorned beast: ’tis Mendoza cornutes thee.
1605.Jonson,Volpone, ii., 4.Volp.: Nay, then, I not repent me of my late disguise.Mos.: If you canhornehim, Sir, you need not.
1605.Chapman,All Fools, v., 1 (Plays, 1874, p. 75). And will youblow the hornyourself where you may keep it to yourself? Go to, you are a fool.Ibid.(p. 76.) It may very well be that the devil broughthornsinto the world, but the women brought them to the men.
1607.How a Man May Choose a Good Wife From a Bad, ii., I. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 28).Quando venis aput, I shall have twohornson mycaput.[353]
1607.Dekker,Northward Hoe, Act i., p. 8. If a man be deuorst, whether may he haue an action or no, gainst those thatmake horns at him.Ibid.iv., p. 54. This curse is on all letchers throwne, They givehornsand, at last,hornesare their owne.
1608.Rowlands,Humor’s Looking Glass, p. 22. Besides, shee is as perfect chast as faire. But being married to a jealous asse, He vowes sheehornshim.
1609.Jonson,Epicœne, iii., 1. By that light you deserve to be grafted, and yourhornsreach from one side of the island to the other.
1616.Jonson,Devil’s an Ass, v., 5. And a cuckold is, Wherever he puts his head, with a wannion, hishornsbe forth, the devil’s companion.
1618.Samuel Rowlands,The Night Raven, p. 25. ’Tis this bad liver doth thehorne-plaguebreed, Which day and night my jealous thoughts doth feed.
1623.Cockeran,Eng. Dict.s.v.Sargus, an adulterous fish which goes on the grassie shore, andhornesthe hee Goates that had horns before.
1627.Drayton,Agincourt and Other Poems, p. 174. Some made mouthes at him, others as in scorne With their forkt fingerspoyntedhimthe horn.
1629.Davenant,Albovine, ed. 1673, p. 436. ’Twas a subtle reach to tell him that the King hadhorn’dhis brow.
1633.Rowley,Match at Midnight(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiii., 40).horningthe headman of his parish and taking money for his pains.
1633.Ford,Love’s Sacrifice, iii., 3. Fernando is your rival, has stolen your duchess’s heart, murther’d friendship;hornsyour head, and laughs at your horns.
1637.BeaumontandFletcher,Elder Brother, iv., 4. I shall have some music yet At my making free o’ th’ company ofhorners.
1640.Rawlins,The Rebellion, i., I. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 15). Fresh as a city bridegroom that has signed his wife a grant for thegrafting of horns.
1643.Brome,A New Diurnal. (Chalmers,Eng. Poets, 1810, vi., 667). Prince Rupert, for fear that his name be confounded, Will saw off hishorns, and make him a Roundhead.
1647.BeaumontandFletcher,Women Pleased, v. 3. I shall then be full of scorn, Wanton, proud (beware thehorn).
1653.MiddletonandRowley,The Spanish Gypsy, iii., I. Beggars would on cock-horse ride. And boobies fall a-roaring, And cuckolds though nohornsbe spied, Be one another goring.
1653.Davenant,The Siege of Rhodes, p. 34. It stuffs up the marriage bed with thorns, It gores itself, it gores itself with imaginedhorns.
1657.Middleton,Women, Beware of Woman(1657), iii., 2. Cuckolds dance thehornpipe, and farmers dance the hay.Idem., iv., 2. Go, lie down, master; but take care yourhornsdo not make holes in the pillow-beers.
1659.Lady Alimony, i., 2 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 280). My scene, Trillo, ishorn alley.Ibid., iii., 6 (p. 340). Doubt nothing, my fellow Knights ofhornsey.
1661.Webster,Cure for a Cuckold(1661), v., 2. He that hathhornsthus let him learn to shed.
1663.Killigrew,The Parson’s Wedding, iv., 1 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 473). I hope toexalt theParson’shornhere.Ibid., (p. 477). Only to fright the poor cuckholds and make the fools visit theirhorns.Ibid., v., 4 (p. 519). Methinks myhornsache more than my corns.Ibid. ib.(p. 520). I have seen a cuckold of your complexion: if he had lent as much hoof ashorn, you might have hunted the beast by the slot.
1664.Butler,Hudibras, II., ii. For when men by their wives are cowed, Theirhornsof course are understood.
1668.L’Estrange,Visions of Quevedo, p. 251 (ed. 1708). He that marries, ventures fair for thehorn, either before or after.
1672.Ray,Proverbs(inBohn, 1889), s.v. He had betterput his horns in his pocketthan wind them.Idem.(p. 184).Hornsand gray hairs do not come with years.Idem. id., Who hathhornsin his pocket let him not put them on his head.
1675.Wycherley,Country Wife, v., 4. Epilogue: Encouraged by our woman’s man to-day,a horner’spart may vainly think to play.Ibid., i., 1. I make no more cuckolds, sir. [Makes horns.]Ibid., iv., 3. If ever you suffer your wife to trouble me again here, she shall carry you home a pair ofhorns.
1677.Wycherley,Plain Dealer, iv., 1. First, the clandestine obscenity in the very name ofhorner.[354]
d.1680.Butler,Remains(1757), ii., 372. His own branches, hishorns, are as mystical as the Whore of Babylon’s Palfreys, not to be seen but in a vision.
1693.Congreve,Old Bachelor, iv., 15. Pox choke him. Would hishornswere in his throat.
1695.Congreve,Love for Love, iv., 15. The clocks will strike twelve at noon, and thehorned herdbuzz in the Exchange at two.
1698.Farquhar,Love and a Bottle, iv., 3. Should I ever be tried before this judge, how I should laugh toseehow gravely his goose cap sits upon a pair ofhorns!
1700.Congreve,Way of the World, iii., 7. Man should have his head andhorns, and woman the rest of him.
1702.Steele,The Funeral or Grief à la Mode, Act. i., p. 22. This wench I know has played me false, andhornedme in my gallants. [Note.—That the speaker is a female shows the word to have been transferable to the other sex.]
1708.W. King,Art of Love, pt. x. (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, ix., 274). Sometimes his dirty paws she scorns, While her fair fingers show hishorns.
1708.Prior,Poems. ‘The Turtle and Sparrow,’ line 302–9. ‘Two staringHorns,’ I often said, ‘but ill became a sparrow’s head’ … ‘Whilst at the root yourhornsare sore, The more you scratch, they ache the more.’
1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., i., 174. Who’s the Cuckoo, Who’s the Cuckold, who’s thehorner?
1728.Patrick Walker,Alexander Peden, ‘Postscript’ (ed. 1827, i.). A profane, obscene meeting called thehorn-order.
1737.Fielding,Tumble-Down Dick,Works(1718) iii., 408. Think it enough your betters do the deed, And that byhorningyou I mend the breed.
d.1742.Somerville,Occasional Poems(Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 238). If I but catch her in a corner, Humph! ’tis your servant, ColonelHorner.
1759–67.Sterne,TristramShandy, ch. xxxvii. Nor have the horn-works he speaks of anything to do with thehorn-worksof Cuckoldom.
1765.C. Smart,Fables, xi., line 66. And though your spouse my lecture scorns. Beware his fate, beware hisHorns.
d.1770.Chatterton,The Revenge, i., I. Let her do what she will, The husband is still, And but for hishornsyou would think him an ass.Idem., ii., 4.Have you comehorning.
1785.Grose,Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1786.Captain Morris(Collection of Songs),The Great Plenipotentiary, (9th ed. 1788, stanza ix., p. 43). She hadhornedthe dull brows of her worshipful spouse Till they sprouted like Venus’s myrtle.
d.1796.Burns,Merry Muses, ‘Cuddy the Cooper,’ p. 84. On ilka brow she’splanted a horn, An’ swears that there they shall stan’, O.
1813.Moore,Poems, ‘Re-inforcements for the Duke,’ iii., 209. Old H——df——t athorn-worksagain might be tried.
1816.Quiz,Grand Master, canto vii., p. 199, line 10.(She) smil’d, declaring that she scorn’d him, (She might have added that she’dhorn’dhim).
1822.Scott,Fortunes of Nigel, c. xxxvi. O what a generous creature is your true London husband!Hornshath he, but, tame as a fatted ox, he goreth not.
1825.Scott,The Betrothed, ch. xvii. I ever tell thee, husband, thehornswould be worth the hide in a fair market.
To draw in one’s horns,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To withdraw or to retract; to cool down.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Horns.
To horn off,verb. phr.(American). = To put on one side; to shunt. [As a bull or stag with his horns.]
1851.Hooper,Widow Rugby’s Husband, etc., p. 69. Youhornedme off to get a chance to get gaming witnesses out of the way.
In a horn,adv. phr.(American).—A general qualification, implying refusal or disbelief;over the left(q.v.).
1858.Washington Evening Star, 26 Aug. I have mentioned before the innumerable comforts—in a horn—of the old White Sulphur Springs.
To wind(orblow)the horn,verb. phr.(old).—To break wind;to fart(q.v.).[355]
1620.Percy,Folio, MSS., ‘Fryar and Boye.’ Her tayle shall wind thehorne.
To cure the horn,verb. phr.(venery).—To copulate.SeeHorn,subs., sense 3. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.
To have the horn,verb. phr.(venery).SeeHorn,subs., sense 3.
To come out of the little end of the horn,verb. phr.(common).—To get the worst of a bargain; to be reduced in circumstances. Also, to make much ado about nothing. Said generally of vast endeavour ending in failure. [Through some unexpectedSqueeze(q.v.)].
1605.Jonson,Chapman, andMarston,Eastward Hoe, i., 1. I had the horne of suretiship ever before my eyes. You all know the devise of thehorne, where the young fellow slippes in at the butte-end, and comes squesd out at the buckall.
1624.Fletcher,Wife for a Month, iii., 3. Thou wilt look to-morrow else Worse than the prodigal fool the ballad speaks of, That was squeezedthrough a horn.
1847.Porter,Big Ben, etc., p. 37. How did you make it? You didn’tcome out at the little end of the horn, did you?
1847.Porter,Quarter Race, etc., p. 24. You never saw such a run of luck; everywhere I touched waspizen, and Icame out of the leetle end of the horn.
1891.Pall Mall Gaz., 3 July, i., 2. The ‘great Trek,’ in that expressive transatlantic phrase, has toddledout of the little end of the horn.
Horn-colic,subs.(venery).—SeeHorn,subs., sense 3.
1785.Grose,Vulg.Tongue, s.v.
Hornet,subs.(common).—A disagreeable, cantankerous person.
Hornie(orHorness),subs.(old).—1. A constable or watchman; a sheriff.
1819.Vaux,Life, s.v.Horney, a Constable.
1821.Haggart,Life, 51. The woman missing it immediately, she sent for thehornies.
1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Horness.
2. (Scots’).—The devil; generallyAuld Hornie(q.v.).
1785.Burns,Address to the Deil. O thou! whatever title suits thee,Auld Hornie, Satan, Nick, or Clootie.
Hornify,verb.(colloquial).—SeeHorn,subs., sense 3 andverb.
2. (venery).—SeeHorn,subs., sense 3.
Horn-mad,adj.(old).—1.Seequot. 1690.
1593.Shakespeare,Comedy of Errors, ii., 1. Why, mistress, sure my master ishorn-mad.
1599.Henry Porter,The Two Angry Women of Abingdon(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii.). And then I wound my horn, and he’shorn-mad.
1604.Marston,Malcontent, i., 7. I amhorn mad.
1605.Jonson,The Fox, iii., 6. Yet I’m not mad, Nothorn-mad, see you.
1639–61.Rump Songs, [1662], 293. The Country has grown sad, The City ishorn-mad.
1647.BeaumontandFletcher,The Woman’s Prize, ii., 6. After my twelve strong labours to reclaim her, Which would have made Don Herculeshorn-mad.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Horn-mad, stark staring Mad, because Cuckolded.
1693.Congreve,Old Bachelor, iv., 22. Ay, I feel it here; I sprout; I bud; I blossom; I am ripehorn-mad.
1694.Congreve,Double Dealer, iv., 20. She forks out cuckoldom with her fingers, and you are runninghorn-madafter your fortune.
1695.Congreve,Love for Love, v., 8. She’s mad for a husband, and he’shorn-mad.[356]
1698.Farquhar,Love and a Bottle, iv., 3. Thou’rthorn-mad. Prithee, leave impertinence.
1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1822.Scott,Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxvi. Ye might as well expect brandy from beanstalks, or milk from a crag of blue whunstane. The man is mad,horn-mad, to boot.
1825.Harriette Wilson,Memoirs, ii. 228. The little he did say was chiefly on the subject of cuckolds and cuckolding. His lordship washorn-mad.
2. (venery).—Sexually excited; lecherous;musty(q.v.). Also,Horny.
Hornswoggle,subs.(American).—Nonsense;humbug(q.v.). For synonyms,seeGammon.
Verb(American).—To humbug; to delude; to seduce.—Slang, Jargon, and Cant.Cf.,In a horn.
Horn-thumb,subs.(old).—A pickpocket. [From the practice of wearing a sheath of horn to protect the thumb in cutting out.]SeeThieves.
1569.Preston,Cambises(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1874, iv., 235). But cousin, because to that office ye are not like come, Frequent your exercises, ahorne on your thumbe, A quick eye, a sharp knife.
1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, ii. I mean a child of thehorn-thumb, a babe of booty, boy, a cut-purse.
1614.Greene,Looking-Glass[Dyce], p. 138. I cut this from a new-married wife by means of ahorn-thumband a knife.—Six shillings, four pence.
Horrors,subs.(common).—The first stage ofdelirium tremens. For synonyms,seeGallon-distemper. Also low spirits, orthe blues(q.v.).
1848.Ruxton,Life in the Far West, p. 50. Paying the penalty in a fit ofhorrors.
1857.Philadelphia Evening Bulletin(quoted by Bartlett). This poison (fusil oil),which acts with terrible results on the nerves; seeming like a diabolical inspiration, stirring up mania, convulsions, and thehorrorsin an incredibly short space of time.
1864.Dickens,Our Mutual Friend, bk. iv., ch. viii. What are popularly called ‘the trembles’ being in full force upon him that evening, and likewise what are popularly calledthe horrors, he had a very bad time of it; which was not made better by his being so remorseful as frequently to moan ‘Sixty threepennorths.’
1864.F. W. Robinson,Mr. Stewart’s Intentions, ch. i. ‘Well, sermons always gave methe horrors, and engendered a hate of the sermonizer.’
1883.Stevenson,Treasure Islandch. iii., p. 20 (1886). If I don’t have adramo’ rum, Jim, I’ll havethe horrors.
1889.C. Haddon Chambers,In Australian Wilds. He’s sober now, yousee; but he managed to get blind drunk before eleven o’clock this morning, and last week he narrowly escaped an attack ofthe horrors.
1892.HenleyandStevenson,Three Rags, ‘Admiral Guinea,’ iv., 3. It’sthe horrorscome alive.
2. (common).—Sausages.SeeChamber of HorrorsandDog’s-paste.
3. (thieves’).—Handcuffs. For synonyms,seeDarbies.
Horse,subs.(common).—1. A five-pound note.SeeFinnup.
2. (thieves’).—Horsemonger Lane Gaol. Alsothe Old Horse. Now obsolete.
1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, 1, p. 457. The only thing that frightens me when I’m in prison is sleeping in a cell by myself—you do inthe Old Horseand the Steel.
3. (American).—A man: generally in affection. AlsoOld Hoss, orHoss-fly.
1838.Haliburton(‘Sam Slick’),The Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xviii. He is all sorts of ahoss, and the best live one that ever cut dirt this side of the big pond, or t’other side either.[357]
1847.Robb,Squatter Life, p. 74. What in the yearth did you do with old Hoss on the road?—He ain’tgin out, has he?Ibid., p. 70. None of your stuck-up imported chaps from the dandy states, but a real genuine westerner—in short, ahoss!
1848.Ruxton,Life in the Far West, p. 5. Hyar’s ahossas’ll make fire come.
1857.Gladstone,Englishman in Kansas, p. 43. Here, boys, drink. Liquors, captain, for the crowd. Step up this way,old hoss, and liquor.
Verb(venery).—1. To possess a woman. For synonyms,seeRide.
1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, iv., 3. Say’st thou so, filly? Thou shalthavea leap presently, I’llhorsethee myself, else.
2. (workmen’s).—Seequots.Cf.,Flog the dead horse.
1857.Notes and Queries, 2 S., iv., p. 192. A workmanhorsesit when he charges for more in his week’s work than he has really done. Of course he has so much unprofitable work to get through in the ensuing week, which is called dead horse.
1867.All the Year Round, 13 July, p. 59.To horsea man, is for one of two men who are engaged on precisely similar pieces of work to make extraordinary exertions in order to work down the other man. This is sometimes done simply toseewhat kind of a workman a new man may be, but often with the much less creditable motive of injuring a fellow workman in the estimation of an employer.
The gray mare is the better horse.SeeGray-mare.
Horse foaled of an acorn,subs. phr.(old).—1. The gallows. For synonyms,seeTriple-tree.
1760–61.Smollett,Sir L. Greaves, ch. viii. I believe as how ’tis no horse, but a devil incarnate; and yet I’ve been worse mounted, that I have—I’d like to have rida horse that was foaled of an acorn(i.e., he had nearly met with the fate of Absalom).
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1827.Lytton,Pelham, ch. lxxxii. The cove … is as pretty a Tyburn blossom as ever was brought up to ridea horse foaled by an acorn.
1839.Ainsworth,Jack Sheppard[1889], p. 8. … As to this little fellow … he shall never mounta horse foaled by an acorn, if I can help it.
2. (military).—The triangles or crossed halberds under which soldiers were flogged.
Old-(orSalt-)Horse,subs.(nautical). Salt beef. AlsoJunkandSalt-junk.
1889.Chambers’s Journal, 3 Aug., 495. Mr. Clark Russell declares thatsalt-horseworks out of the pores, and contributes to that mahogany complexion common to sailors, which is often mistakenly attributed to rum and weather.
One-horse,adj.(American). Comparatively small, insignificant, or unimportant.
1858.Washington Evening Star.On Friday last, the engineer of a fast train was arrested by the authorities of aone-horsetown in Dauphin County, Pa., for running through the borough at a greater rate of speed than is allowed by their ordinances.
1871.De Vere,Americanisms, p. 221. The indignant settler who has been ill-treated, as he fancies, in court, denounces his attorney as a ‘miserable,one-horselawyer;’ and the Yankee newly arrived in England does not hesitate to declare that ‘Liverpool is a poorone-horsekind of a place,’ a term applied by Mark Twain to no less a city than Rome itself; and a witty clergyman of Boston inveighed once bitterly against ‘timid, sneaking,one-horseoaths, as infinitely worse than a good, round, thundering outburst.’
1891.National Review, Sep., p. 127. Mr. Marion Crawford’sWitch of Prague(Macmillan & Co.) is, as his compatriots would say, rather aone-horsewitch.
To be horsed,verb. phr.(old).—To be flogged [from the wooden-horse used as a flogging-stool]; to take on one’s back as for a flogging.[358]
1678.Butler,Hudibras, pt. III., c. 1. The spirithors’dhim like a sack Upon the vehicle his back.
1751.Smollett,Peregrine Pickle, ch. xvii. Our unfortunate hero was publiclyhorsed,in terroremof all whom it might concern.
1857.Thackeray,Virginians, ch. v. Serjeants, school-masters, slave-overseers, used the cane freely. Our little boys had beenhorsedmany a day by Mr. Dempster.
1881.Notes and Queries, 1 Jan., p. 18. I got wellhorsedfor such a breach of discipline.
To fall away from a horseload to a cartload,verb. phr.(old).—Seequot.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Horseplay.Fallen away from a horseload to a cartload, spoken ironically of one considerably improved in flesh on a sudden.
To flog the dead horse.—SeeDead-horseandHorse,verb.sense 2.
To put the cart before the horse,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To begin at the wrong end; to set things hind-side before.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Horse.
To put the saddle on the right horse,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To apportion accurately.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Horse.Set the saddle on the right horse, lay the Blame where the Fault is.
To ride on a horse with(orbayard of)ten toes,verb. phr.(common).—To walk; to use theMarrowbone-stage.Cf.,Shanks’s Mare.
1606.Breton,Good and Badde, p. 14. His trauell is the walke of the woful, and hishorse Bayard of ten toes.
1662.Fuller,Worthies, Somerset, ii., 291. At last he [Coryat] undertook to travail into the East Indies by land, mounted onan horse with ten toes.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Bayard.
As good as a shoulder of mutton to a sick horse,phr.(old).—Utterly worthless.
1596.Ben Jonson,Every Man in his Humour, ii., 1. Counsel to him isas good as a shoulder of mutton to a sick horse.
As strong as a horse,adv. phr.(colloquial).—Very strong: a general intensitive.
Horse and horse,adv. phr.(American).—Neck and neck; even.
Horsebreaker(orPretty Horsebreaker),subs.(colloquial).—A woman (c.1860), hired to ride in the park; hence, a riding courtesan.Seealso quot. 1864. For synonyms,seeBarrack-hackandTart.
1864.E. Yates,Broken to Harness, ch. iv., p. 33 (1873). Kate Mellor was ahorsebreaker, abonâ fidehorsebreaker; one who curbed colts, and ‘took it out of’ kickers and rearers.
1865.Public Opinion, 30 Sep. Thesedemi-mondepeople, anonymas,horsebreakers, hetairæ … are by degrees pushing their way into society.
Horse-buss,subs.(old).—A loud-sounding kiss; a bite.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Horse-capper(-coper,-coser,-courser, or-chaunter),subs.(common).—A dealer in worthless or ‘faked’ horses. [Originally good English.To cope= to barter.]SeeChanter. HenceHorse-copingandHorse-duffing.
1616.Overbury,Characters(Rimbault, 9th ed., 1856, p. 120). An arranthorse-courserhath the trick to blow up horseflesh as the butcher does veal.[359]
d.1680.Butler,Remains(1759), ii., 458. Ahorse-courseris one that hath read horses, and understands all the virtues and vices of the whole species by being conversant with them, and how to take the best advantage of both.
1742–4.North,Life of the Lord Keeper,i., 271. There werehorse-copersamong them.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Horse-coser, vulgarly and corruptly pronounced horse-coser, a dealer in horses. The verb to cose, was used by the Scots, in the sense of bartering or exchanging.
1863.Sporting Life, 29 Apr., p. 4, col. 3.Copersand Chaunters are now in full feather.
1864.London Review, 18 June, p. 643. Amongst the mysteries of horse-flesh is the noble science of coping, and its practitioners thehorse-copers.
1874.G. A. Lawrence,Hagarene, ch. ii. He had lived somewhat precariously by his wits; eking out the scanty allowance wrung from his miserly old sire, by betting andhorse-copingon a small scale.
1884.Daily News, 23 Aug., p. 4, c. 7. The most accomplished gipsycopers, if they are not belied, are not satisfied with merely doing up an unsound horse and selling him as a sound one, but frequently steal outright the subject of their scientific and often lucrative experiments.
1888.Rolf Boldrewood,Robbery Under Arms, ch. i. Poaching must be something like cattle andhorse-duffing.
1889.Answers, 27 July, p. 141, c. 1. Allow me to expose some more tricks ofhorse copers.
1893.National Observer, 5 Aug., p. 291, col. 1. A veracioushorse-coperis a monster which the world ne’er saw.
Horse-collar,subs.(venery).—1. The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.
2. (tailors’).—An extremely long and wide collar.
3. (old).—A halter.To die in a horse’s nightcap= to be hanged.SeeLadder.
English Synonyms.—Anodyne necklace; Bridport dagger; choker; hempen cravat; hempen elixir; horse’s neckcloth; horse’s necklace; neck-squeezer; neckweed; squeezer; St. Andrew’s lace; Sir Tristram’s knot; tight cravat; Tyburn tiffany; Tyburn tippet; widow.
French Synonym.—La cravate de chanvre.
1593.Bacchus’ BountieinHarl. Misc.(ed. Park), ii., 304. Yea, his very head so heavie as if it had beene harnessed in anhorse-nightcap.
1608.Penniles ParliamentinHarl. Misc.(ed. Park), I., 181. And those that clip that they should not, shall have ahorse night-capfor their labour.
1681.Dialogue on Oxford Parliament(Harl. Misc., ii., 125.). He better deserves to go up Holbourn in a wooden chariot, and have ahorse night-capput on at the farther end.
1883.Echo, 25 Jan., p. 2, c. 4. Even an attempt is made to lighten the horror of the climax of a criminal career, by speaking of dying in ahorse’s night-cap,i.e., a halter.
Horse-editor,subs.(American journalists’).—A sporting editor.Horse-copy= sporting news.
Horseflesh,SeeDead HorseandHorse,verb.sense 2.
Horse-godmother,subs.(old).—A strapping masculine woman; a virago. Fr.,une femme hommasse.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
d.1819.Wolcot,Wks.In woman angel sweetness let me see No gallopinghorse-godmotherfor me.
1838.Selby,Jacques Strop, iii., 1.What a couple ofhorse-godmothers.
1846–8.Thackeray,Vanity Fair, ii., ch. 4. How do, my dear? Come to see the old man, hay? Gad—you’ve a pretty face, too. You ain’t like that oldhorse-godmother, your mother.
Horse-latitudes,subs.(nautical).—A space in the Atlantic, north of the trade-winds, where the winds are baffling.[360]
1891.W. C.Russell,Ocean Tragedy, p. 137. The winds even north of the rains andhorse-latitudeswere in a sense to be reckoned on.
Horse-laugh,subs.(colloquial).—A loud, noisy laugh; a guffaw.
1738.Pope,Ep. to Satires, i., 38. Ahorselaugh, if you please, at honesty.
Horse-leech,subs.(colloquial).—1. An extortioner; a miser.
2. (venery).—Anything insatiable. Also a whore.
1597.Hall,Satires, iv., 5. Anhorse-leech, barren wench, or gaping grave.
1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, ii., 1. You are one of thosehorse-leechesthat gave out I was dead in Turnbull Street.
3. (old).—A horse-doctor; also a quack.
1594.Nashe,Terrors of the Night(Grosart, iii., 250). Whereas hishorse-leech… will give a man twenty guineas in one.
1597.Hall,Satires, ii., 4.Nohorse-leechbut will look for larger fee.
Horse-marines,subs.(common).—A mythical corps, very commonly cited in jokes and quizzies on the innocent. [The Jollies(q.v.) or Royal Marines, being ignorant of seamanship, have always been the butt of blue-jackets.]Tell that to the marines(orhorse-marines)the sailors won’t believe it= a rejoinder to an attempt at imposition or credulity. Often amplified withwhen they’re riding at anchor.SeealsoBingham’s Dandies.
1825.Scott,St. Ronan’s Well, ch. xxi. ‘Come, none of your quizzing, my old buck,’ said Sir Bingo—‘what the devil has a ship to do with horse’s furniture?—Do you think we belong to thehorse-marines?’
c.1870.Broadside Ballad, ‘Captain Jinks.’ I’m Captain Jinks of theHorse-Marines.
1886.StephensandYardley,Little Jack Sheppard, p. 3. They may tell that yarn to thehorse marines, For we bean’t such fools as we looks.
1886.Tinsley’s Mag., Apr., 321. Owing to a singular deviation from the ordinary functions of cavalry, the 17th Lancers were once christened thehorse marines.
1892.Wops the Waif[Horner’s Penny Stories], ch. i., p. 1. Oh, nothink, eh! You’d better tell that to thehoss marines; I’ve lived a sight too long in Shoreditch to take that in.
Horse-milliner,subs.(common).—1. A dandy trooper.
1778.Chatterton,Ballads of Charity, ii., 113. The trammels of his palfrey pleased his sight, For thehorse-millinerhis head with roses dight.
1813.Scott,Bridal of Triermain, ii., 3. One comes in foreign trashery Of tinkling chain and spur, A walking haberdashery Of feathers, lace and fur; In Rowley’s antiquated phrase,Horse-millinerof modern days.
2. (old).—A saddler and harness-maker.
1818.Scott,Heart of Midlothian, xi. In my wretched occupation of a saddler,horse-milliner, and harness maker, we are out unconscionable sums just for barkened hides and leather.
Horse-nails,subs.(common).—1. Money. For synonyms,seeActualandGilt.
To feed on horse-nails,verb. phr.(cribbage).—So to play as not so much to advance your own score as to keep down your opponent’s.
To knock into horse-nails,verb. phr.(common).—To knock to pieces; to be absolutely victorious.[361]
Horse-nightcap,subs.(old).—SeeHorse’s-Collar.
Horse-pox,subs.(old).—A superlative ofPox(q.v.). Used in adjuration.E.g., Ahorse-poxon you! Ay, with ahorse-pox, etc.
Horse-Protestant,subs.(tailors’).—A churchman.
Horse-sense,subs.(American).—Sound and practical judgment.
1893.Lippincott, Mar., p. 260. A round bullet head, not very full of brains, perhaps, yet reputed to be fairly stocked with what is termedhorsesense.
Horses-and-Mares.To play at horses-and-mares,verb. phr.(schoolboys’).—To copulate. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.
Horse’s-head,subs.(cobblers’).—The boot-sole, heel, and what is left of the front after the back and part of the front have been usedto fox(q.v.) other boots withal.
Horse-shoe,subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum. [In German,Sie hat ein Hufeisen verloren(of women) = she has been seduced,i.e., she has lost a horse-shoe.]
Horse’s-meal,subs.(old).—Meat without drink.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Horse-sovereign,subs.(common).—A twenty-shilling piece with Pistrucci’s effigies of St. George and the Dragon.
1871.London Figaro, 26 Jan. A number of those coins, sometimes known ashorse sovereigns, are to be issued.
Hortus,subs.(venery).—Seequot. [Cf.,Garden.] For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.
1728.Bailey,Eng. Dict., s.v.Hortus[by some writers] the privy parts of a woman.
Hose.In my other hose,subs. phr.(old). A qualification of refusal or disbelief;in a horn(q.v.);over the left(q.v.).
1598.Florio.A Worlde of Wordes, s.v.Zoccoli Zoccoli, tushtush, awaie, in faith sir no, yeain my other hose.
Hoss.SeeHorse.
Hoss-fly(orOld Hoss-fly),subs.(American).—A familiar address;cf.,Horse,subs.sense 3.
Host.To reckon without one’s host,verb. phr.(old: now recognised).—To blunder.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Host.To reckon without one’s host, or count your Chickens before they are Hatched.
Mine Host,subs. phr.(colloquial).—A taverner.
Hosteler,subs.(old).—Seequot.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hosteler,i.e., oat stealer.
Hot,subs.(Winchester College).—1. A mellay at football.
2. (Ibid).—A crowd.
1878.Adams,Wykehamica, p. 367. It would be replaced and a freshhotformed.
Adj.(colloquial).—1. Of persons: sexually excitable; lecherous;on heat(q.v.);randy(q.v.). Of things (as books): obscene;blue(q.v.);high-kilted(q.v.);Hot member(q.v.) = a male or female debauchee; or (as in sense 2), a man or woman contemptuous of decorum.[362]Hot as they make them= exceedingly amorous or reckless.Hot-blooded= lecherous: as (inMerry Wives, v., 5) ‘thehot-bloodedgods assist me.’Hot-house(q.v.) = a brothel.
1383.Chaucer,Canterbury Tales. Prologue toCanterbury Tales, lines 97 and 98. So hote he lovede, that by nightertale, He sleep no more than doth a nightyngale.
1596.Ben Jonson,Every Man in his Humour, iv., 8. Dost thou not shame, When all thy powers in chastity are spent, To have a mind sohot.
1598.Shakspeare, 1Henry IV., i., 2. A fairhotwench in flame-coloured taffeta.
1599.H. Porter,Two Angry Women of Abingdon(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii., 354). Are ye sohot, with a pox? Would ye kiss my mistress?
1605.Jonson,Volpone, iii., 6. I am now as fresh, Ashot, as high, and in as jovial plight As when in that so celebrated scene At recitation of our comedy For entertainment of the great Valois, I acted young Antinous.
1608.Shakspeare,Antony and Cleopatra, iii., 11. Besides whathotterhours, Unregistered in vulgar fame you have Luxuriously picked out.
1614.Jonson,Bartholomew Fair, ii., 1. The whelp washotand eager.
1693.Congreve,Old Bachelor, v., 8. If either you esteem my friendship or your own safety, come not near that house—that corner house—thathotbrothel.
1697.Vanbrugh,Relapse, iii., 5. Young men arehot, I know, but they don’t boil over at that rate.
1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., iv., 123. He laughs to see the girls sohot.
1892.Milliken,’Arry Ballads, p. 37. As most of our plays are now cribbed from the French, wy they’re all pootyhot.
2. (colloquial).—Careless of decorum; boisterous; utterly reckless and abandoned.
1888.J. Runciman,The Chequers, p. 187. You’re ared-hot member!
3. (thieves’).—Well known to the police; dangerous; uncomfortable;e.g.,To make it hot for one.
1830.Buckstone,Wreck Ashore, i., 4.Mil.This place is now toohotfor me, captain. Bills overdue, and bailiffs in full chase, have driven me to a hasty leave of my home.
1841.Tait’s Edinburgh Mag., viii.,217. Finding all toohotto hold him.
1859.Matsell,Vocabulum, s.v.Hot. The cove had better move his beaters into Dewsville, it is toohotfor him here.
1882.Evening Standard, 3 Oct., p. 5, c. 4. The Constable added that at the station the Prisoner told him that if he did not make it toohothe would give him £5.
1888.Tit Bits, 24 Mar., 373. Thehottestsuburb of London during Jubilee year was supposed to be Ealing.
1890.Marriott-Watson,Broken Billy(inUnder the Gum-tree, p. 31). With a few pals, almost as brutal as himself, he made the place prettyhotfrom time to time.
1891.Morning Advertiser, 26 Mar., p. 2, col. 4. When Baker was arrested he asked Detective-sergeant Gold not to make it toohotfor them, and tried to induce the officer to receive a sovereign.
1891.J. Newman,Scamping Tricks, p. 36. You’ll find they will make ithotfor you.
4. (colloquial).—Seequot. 1690. Also violent; sharp; severe.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.hot, exceeding Passionate.
1886.R. L. Stevenson,Kidnapped, p. 167. ‘Well,’ said he, ‘yon was ahotburst, David.’
1893.Emerson,Signor Lippo, ch. xvi. I started life in a training stable, and ahotlife it was for a boy.
5. (venery).—Infected; venereally diseased.
6. (colloquial).—Alive; vehement; instant.
1864.Browning,Dramatic Romances(ed. 1879, iv., 180),‘The Italian in England.’ Breathedhotand instant on my train.
Verb(Winchester College).—To crowd; to mob.[363]
To give(get, orcatch)it hot,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To thrash or reprove soundly; to be severely beaten or taken to task.