1859.Fast Life, p. 54. The craters, of course,caught it hot, and many had the sack.1872.Figaro, 22 June. The German Emperor, Bismarck, and Earl Granville alsogot it, but not quite sohotly.1877.Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iv., p. 887. A young man who … had been guilty of bigamy, and to such a degree that hegot it hotfor such a crime—five years.1892.Anstey,Model Music-Hall, 32. She spotted me in ’alf a jiff, and chaffed me precioushot.Like a cat on hot bricks,phr.(colloquial).—Uncomfortable; restive.1886.J. S. Winter,Army Society, ch. xvi. Lady Mainwaring looked like an eel in a frying-pan, or, most of anything perhaps,like a cat on hot bricks.Hot with,phr.(common).—Spirits with hot water and sugar.SeeCider and, andCold without.Hot-arsed,adj. phr.(venery).—Excessively lewd. [Of women only.]Cf.,Biter.Hot-beef.To give hot-beef,verb. phr.(thieves’ rhyming).—To cry ‘Stop thief.’ AlsoBeef(q.v.).1879.J. W. Horsley, inMacm. Mag., xl., 506. He followed, giving mehot beef(calling ‘Stop thief’).Hot-cakes.To go off like hot cakes,verb. phr.(common).—To sell readily; to be in good demand.1889.Pall Mall Gaz., 11 Oct., p. 6, c. 1. Sold at one penny retail they oftengo off like hot cakes.1893.Emerson,Signor Lippo, ch. xii. It went offlike hot cakes.Hot-foot,adv.(colloquial).—Instant in pursuit.Hotch-potch,subs.(old: now recognised).—A medley; ahodge-podge(q.v.).1597.Hall,Satires, i., 3. A goodlyhotch-potchwhen vile russettings are matched with monarchs and mighty kings.1606.Return from Parnassus, iv., 2. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 183). This word,hotch-potchin English is a pudding; for in such a pudding is commonly not one thing only, but one thing with another.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hotch-potch, an Oglio, or Medly of several Meats in one Dish.c.1709.W. King,Art of Cookery, ix. (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, ix., 259). The first delighting inhodge-podge, gallimaufry, forced meats … and salmagundy.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1728.Patrick Walker,Alexander Peden, ‘Postscript’ (ed. 1827, i., 128). Ahotch-potchor bagful of Arian, Arminian, Socinian, Pelagian, etc.1892.Pall Mall Gaz., 17 Oct., p. 2, c. 1. Both are a sort ofhotchpotchof songs, dances, and extravaganzas.Hot-coppers,subs.(common).—The fever and parched throat, ormouth(q.v.), attending a debauch.SeeCool one’s Copper.1830.Egan,Finish to Life in London, 156. The ‘uncommonly big gentleman’ in spite of swallowing oceans of soda-water, declared hiscopperto be sohotthat he thought all the water in the sea could not reduce his thirst!1841.Punch, vol. I., p. 244. ‘Oh blow your physiology!’ says Rapp. ‘You mean to say you’ve got ahot copper—so have I. Send for the precious balm and then fire away.’1849.Thackeray,Pendennis, ch. xliii. ‘Nothing like that beer,’ he remarked,‘when thecoppersarehot.’1864.Comic Almanack, p. 63. ‘Cold Cream Internally.’ Cold cream is an excellent remedy forhot coppers.[364]1892.Hume Nisbet,Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 134. He came … as happy-looking, and lively as if no suchthingashot coppersexisted.Hotel(alsoCupid’s HotelandCupid’s Arms).—subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum.Cf.,Cock Inn. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.Hotel Barbering,subs.(common).—Bilking.1892.Daily Chronicle, 28 Mar., p. 5, c. 7. The inference is now fairly admissable that he may possibly have divided his time between polygamous pursuits andhotel barberingexploits.Hotel Warming-pan,subs. phr.(common).—A chambermaid. Alsowarming-pan(q.v.). Fr.,une limogère.Hot-flannel(orFlannel),subs.(old).—Gin and beer, with nutmeg, sugar, etc., made hot.1789.Geo. Parker,Life’s Painter, p. 144. A mixed kind of liquor … when drank in a morning it is calledflannel.1858.A. Mayhew,Paved with Gold, bk. III., ch. iii., p. 269. A jug of what he termedhot flannelfor three—a mixture of gin, beer, and eggs.Hot-house,subs.(old).—A brothel. Also (seequot. 1616), a public bath. For synonyms,seeNanny-shop.1596.Nashe,Have with You to Saffron Walden(Grosart, iii., 106). Anyhot-houseor bawdy-house of them all.1599.Jonson,Every Man out of His Humour, iv., 4. Let a man sweat once a week in ahot-house, and be well rubbed and froted with a plump juicy wench and clean linen.1603.Shakspeare,Measure for Measure, ii., 1. Now she professes ahot-house, which is a very ill house too.1606.The Return from Parnassus, i., 2 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 115). He cannot swagger it well in a tavern, nor domineer in ahot-house.1616.Jonson,Epigrams, ‘On the NewHot-house.’ Where lately harboured many a famous whore, A purging bill now fixed upon the door Tells you it is ahot-house: So it may, And still be a whore-house. They’re synonyma.1699.Garth,The Dispensary, ii., line 157. Ahot-househe prefers to Julia’s arms.Hot Meat(orBeeforMutton),subs. phr.(venery).—SeeBit.Hot-member(orHot ’un).—SeeWarm Member.Hot-Milk,subs.(venery).—The semen. For synonyms,seeCream.Hot-place,subs.(colloquial).—Hell. For synonyms,seeTropical Climate.1891.F. H. Groome,Blackwood, Mar., p. 320. A letter from her son in Hull, told the curate that ‘that did give me a tarn at fust, for I thought that come from thehot place.’Hot-pot,subs.(old).—Ale and brandy made hot.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1788.G. C. Stevens,Adv. of a Speculist, ii., 56. A watchman and an old Blind Woman, troubled with the palsy, drinkinghot-pottogether.Hot-potato.To drop like a hot potato,verb. phr.(common).—To abandon (a pursuit, a person, a thing) with alacrity.Hot-pudding.To have a hot-pudding for supper,verb. phr.(venery).—To copulate. Of women only. [Pudding(Durfey) = thepenis]. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.[365]Hot-stomach.So hot a stomach as to burn the clothes off his back,phr.(old).—Said of one who pawns his clothes for drink.—Lex. Bal.Hottentot,subs.(East-end).Seequot.1880.G. R. Sims,How the Poor Live, ch. x. The cry ofHottentotswent round. ‘Hottentots’ is the playful way in this district of designating a stranger, that is to say, a stranger come from the West.2. (common).—A fool. For synonyms,seeBuffleandCabbage-head.Hot-tiger,subs.(Oxford Univ.).—Hot-spiced ale and sherry.—Hotten.Hot-water.To be in hot-water,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To be in trouble, in difficulties, or worried.1846.Punch’s Almanack, 29 Nov. TheTimesfirst printed by steam, 1814, and has kept the country inhot waterever since.1864.Mark Lemon,Jest book, p. 238. Lord Allen, in conversation with Rogers, the poet, observed: ‘I never put my razor into hot water, as I find it injures the temper of the blade.’ ‘No doubt of it,’ replied Rogers; ‘show me the blade that isnot out of temperwhen plunged intohot water.’Hound,subs.(Cambridge Univ.).—1.Seequot.1879.E. Walford, inN. and Q., 5 S., xii., 88. In theAnecdotes of Bowyer… we are told that ahoundof King’s College, Cambridge, is an undergraduate not on the foundation, nearly the same as a ‘sizar.’2. (colloquial). A mean, contemptible fellow; a scoundrel; a filthy sneak.Hounslow-heath,subs.(rhyming).—The teeth. For synonyms,seeGrinders. AlsoHampstead-heath.1887.DagonetinReferee, 7 Nov., p. 7, c. 3. She’d a Grecian ‘I suppose,’ And ofHampstead Heathtwo rows.Houri of Fleet-street,subs. phr.(common).—A prostitute. For synonyms,seeBarrack-hackandTart.House,subs.(theatrical).—1. An audience.To bring down the house= to elicit a general burst of applause. Fr.,avoir sa côtelette; boire du lait.1823.Bee,Dict. of the Turf, s.v.House. With them (the players) it means Covent-garden or Drury-lane, or indeed any other theatre. ‘A full-house’ and ‘half-a-house’ indicate the state of the receipts or number of the audience.1870.Athenæum, 13 Aug., p. 120. ‘Letter of J. O. Halliwell.’ It is now certain that Shakespeare was never proprietor of either (the Globe or Blackfriars) theatre. His sole interest in them consisted in a participation,as an actorin the receipts of what is called thehouse.1873.Home News, 24 Jan. I exerted myself, not for praise of that well-dressed mob they calledthe house, but for very love of the congenial sport.1892.Sydney Watson,Wops the Waif, ch. iii., p. 4. There was tremendous enthusiasm this evening. Every scene was uproariously applauded, and at the climax the wholehouserose and cheered and encored with tumultuous feeling.The House(colloquial).—(1) The Stock Exchange; (2) The House of Commons; (3) Christ Church, Oxford.House under the hill,subs. phr.(venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.House(orapartments)to let,subs. phr.(common).—A widow.—Lex. Bal.AlsoBill-of-SaleandMan-trap.[366]Father of the House,subs. phr.(Parliamentary).—The oldest elected member.SeeBabe.House that Jack built,subs. phr.(common).—A prison. For synonyms,seeCage.Like a house on fire,adv. phr.(common).—Quickly; with energy.SeeLike.1851–61.Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, ii., 85. I’m getting onlike areglerhouse on fire.Safe as houses,adv. phr.(common).—Perfectly safe.1864.E. Yates,Broken to Harness, ch. xxxii., p. 361 (1873). I have the means of doing that, assafe as houses.1874.T. Hardy,Far from the Madding Crowd, ch. lvii. ‘The clothes will floor us assafe as houses,’ said Coggan.1886.Grant Allen,In All Shades, ch. i. Why, of course, then, that’s the explanation of it—assafe as houses, you may depend upon it.1890.Grant Allen,Tents of Shem, ch. xxviii. You may make your forgery itself assafe as houses.House-bit(or-keeper, or-piece),subs.(colloquial).—A servant-mistress.House-dove,subs.(old).—A stay-at-home.Household-brigade.To join the Household Brigade,verb. phr.(common).—To marry. For synonyms,seeSplice.1881.Home Tidings, April, p. 42, c. 1. Jem Ryan joined thehousehold brigadeon Easter Monday, E. New acting as best man.House of Civil Reception,subs. phr.(old).—A brothel. For synonyms,seeNanny-shop.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.House of Commons(orHouse of Office),subs. phr.(old).—A W.C. For synonyms,seeMrs. Jones.1611.Chapman,May-Day, iv., 2. No room save you turn out my wife’s coal-house, and her otherhouse of officeattached to it, reserved for her and me sometimes, and will you use it being a stranger?1748.Smollett,Roderick Random, c. xiii. Taking the candle in his hand, which he had left burning for the purpose, he went down to thehouse of office.d.1780.Robertsonof Struan,Poems, 83. So to aHouse of Officestraight a school-boy does repair, To ease his postern of its weight.House-tailor,subs.(old).—An upholsterer.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.House-tailers, Upholsterers.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.Housewife(orHuswife, orHussy),subs.(colloquial).—1. Primarily, a house-keeper. Hence (a) a domestic servant; (b) a wanton or a gad-about wench; and (c) a comic endearment. Hence, too,housewifery,subs., andhousewife’s tricks= the habit of wantonness, the practice of men.1508.Gawain and Gologras, ‘Ballade,’ (Pinkerton,Scottish Poems, 1792, iii.). A gudehusy-wifeay rinning in the toun.1589.Puttenham,English Poesie, 1589, ii., 16 (ed.Arber, p. 148). Half lost for lack of a goodhuswife’slooking to.1600.Look about You, sc. 28 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii., 476).Huswife, I’ll have you whipped for slandering me.1602.Shakspeare,Twelfth Night, i., 2. I hope to see somehousewifetake thee between her legs and spin it off.1659.Lady Alimony, iii., 3 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 331). And if thehussychallenge more, Charm the maundering gossip with your roar.Idem.iii., 6. (p. 340). If I make not these haxters as hateful to ourhussiesas ever they were to us, their husbands, set me up for a Jack-a-Lent.1672.Ray,Proverbs, s.v.,Cat. Cats eat whathussiesspare.[367]1673.Wycherly,Gentleman Dancing Master, iv., 1. What,hussy, would you not do as he’d have you?1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.1694.Congreve,Double Dealer, iv., 3. When I was of your age,hussy, I would have held fifty to one I could have drawn my own picture.1697.Vanbrugh,Æsop, i., 1. Hark youhussy. You can give yourself airs sometimes, you know you can.1708.Mrs. Centlivre,The Busy-Body, iv., 2. I’ll charm you,housewife. Here lies the charm that conjured this fellow in.1708.Prior,Poems(Aldine ed. ii., 270), ‘The Insatiable Priest.’ To suppress all his carnal desires in their birth At all hours a lusty younghussyis near.1720.Swift,Poems, ‘A Portrait’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 448). Ahousewifein bed, at table a slattern.1728.Swift,Poems, ‘My Lady’s Lamentations’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 460). Consider before You come to threescore, How thehussieswill fleer Whene’er you appear.1731.C. Coffey,The Devil to Pay, i. Don’t you know,hussy, that I am king in my own house.1732.Henry Fielding,The Mock Doctor, i. Ay,hussy, a regular education; first at the charity-school where I learned to read.1751.Smollett,Peregrine Pickle, c. xviii. He supposed the object of his love was some paltryhussy, whom he had picked up when he was a boy at school.d.1764.Lloyd,Poems(1774), ‘Chit-Chat.’ Lud! I could beat thehusseydown, She’s poured it all upon my gown.1768.Goldsmith,Good Natured Man, ii. And you have but too well succeeded, you littlehussy, you.1771.Smollett,Humphrey Clinker(ed. 1800, p. 43). And I have been twice in the bath with mistress and na’r a smock upon our backs,hussy.1782.Cowley,Bold Stroke for a Husband, i., 2.Don C.Now,hussy, what do you expect?1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1786.Burns,The Inventory. Frae this time forth I do declare, I’se ne’er ride horse norhizziemair.1822.Scott,Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxii. Say nothing of that,housewife, … or I will beat thee—beat thee with my staff.1829.C. A. Somerset,The Day After the Fair, i. Oh, youhussy! so you were Madame Maypole!1893.R. le Gallienne, Intro.Liber Amoris, p. xliv. To think of poor Hazlitt gravely lavishing his choice Elizabethan quotations on thehussey.2. (venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.Housey,adj.(Christ’s Hospital).—Belonging to the Hospital.Housle,verb.(Winchester College).—To hustle.Hoveller,subs.(nautical).—A beach-thief.How.How came you so?phr.(old).—Drunk. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.1824.T. Hook,Sayings and Doings, 1st S.Merton, ch. xiii. Ould Mrs. Etherington was a right bad one; she used to beLord, how come you so!every night, as regular as she went to bed.How much?phr.(common).—‘What do you say?’ ‘What do you mean?’ What price?—a general request for explanations.1852.F. E. Smedley,Lewis Arundel, ch. xxxiv. ‘Then my answer must mainly depend on the exact height of the principles.’ ‘On thehow much?’inquired Frere, considerably mystified.How are you off for soap,phr.(old).—A street catch.1833.Marryat,Peter Simple, ch. iv. Well, Reefer,how are you off for soap?1842.Punch, ii., 94, c. 2. Walker!how are you off for soap?How the blazes.SeeBlazes.How is that for high.SeeHigh.How’s your poor feet,phr.(streets’).—A street catch, of no particular meaning.SeeStreet Cries.[368]1863.All the Year Round, x., 180.How’s your poor feet?a year ago cheated half the natives of Cockaigne into the belief that they were gifted with a special genius for repartee.1863.G. A. Sala,Breakfast in Bed, p. 163 (1864). But how would you like a screeching multitude, fifty thousand strong, and with not one of whom, to the best of your knowledge, you had even a bowing acquaintance, to vociferate in your track—in the public street, mind—‘Ya-a-a-h!how are your poor feet?’1890.Town and Country(Sydney), 11 Jan., p. 19, c. 4. Henry Irving’s revival of ‘The Dead Heart’ has revived a bit of slang.… When the play was brought out originally, where one of the characters says, ‘My heart is dead, dead, dead!’ a voice from the gallery nearly broke up the drama withHow are your poor feet?The phrase lived.How’ll you have it,phr.(common).—An invitation to drink. For synonyms,seeDrinks.How we apples swim(sometimes amplified byQuoth the horse-turd)!verb. phr.(old).—Said in derision of a parvenu; of a person in better company than he (or she) has any right to keep; or of a pretender to honour or credit he (or she) does not deserve.1670.Ray,Proverbs, s.v.1697–1764.Hogarth(Works by J. Ireland and J. Nichols, London, 1873) III., p. 29. And even this, little as it is, gives him so much importance in his own eyes, that he assumes a consequential air, sets his arms akimbo, and strutting among the historical artists cries,how we apples swim.1860.Cornhill Mag.(D. Mallett,Tyburn), Dec., p.737. While tumbling down the turbid stream, Lord, love us,how we apples swim.Howard’s Garbage,subs. phr.(military).—The Nineteenth Foot. AlsoGreen Howards.Howard’s Greens,subs. phr.(military).—The Twenty-fourth Foot. [From its facings and its Colonel’s name, 1717–37.]How-do-you-do,subs.(colloquial).—A ‘to do’; a ‘kettle of fish’; a ‘pass.’1835.Haliburton,Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xxvi. Thinks I, here’s a prettyhow do you do; I’m in foritnow, that’s a fact.Howler,subs.(common).—An unblushing falsehood; an enormous blunder; a serious accident; and so forth.To come(orgo)a howler= to come to grief; to run amuck.1885.Daily News, 16 May, p. 4, c. 8. Now, to speak respectfully of old scholars that were before us, the translators of the Bible constantly made what undergraduates callhowlers, or grievously impossible blunders.1886.StephensandYardley,Little Jack Sheppard, p. 34.Jack.My dears, you’re late.Bess.Our hansom came ahowler.1888.Indoor Paupers, p. 24. As to how we are to spend the eight hours, or thereabouts, that remain after meals, church, andhowlersare disposed of, nobody, except ourselves and a few private friends outside, cares in the least.1891.Moonshine, 14 Mar. Oh,Isaw some piece in which a Johnnie smoked some cigarettes, and at lastcame a howler, and wanted to commit suicide.1891.Pall Mall Gaz., 12 Sep., p. 2, c. 3. We wondered yesterday how many of our classical readers wouldseethehowler—or the joke.Howling,adj.(common).—A general intensitive.E.g.,Howling-swell= a man in the extreme of fashion;howling-lie= a gross falsehood;howling-bags= trousers extravagant in cut or pattern;howling-cad, etc.[369]1865.G. A. Sala,Trip to Barbary, ch. vii. The hotel at Marseilles was full of our countrymen of the order known at Lane’s and Limmer’s ashowling swells.1887.Household Words, 11 June, 116. Let’s hook it; that Jenny Morris is such anhowling swellthat she won’t wait for any one.1889.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 8 Feb. The Hon. Juggins was what is popularly known as ahowling swell.1892.Anstey,Model Music-Hall, 146. And all the while your heart was given to ahowling cad.Hoxter,subs.(old).—1. An inside pocket.1834.H. Ainsworth,Rookwoodbk. III., ch. v. No slour’dhoxtermy snipes could stay.2. (Royal Military Academy).—Extra drill. [Corruption of extra.] Fr.,le bal.1887.Barrère,Argot and Slang. Thehoxterconsists in the painful ordeal of being compelled to turn out of bed at an early hour, and march up and down under the watchful eye of a corporal.Hoys.SeeHoist.Hoyt.SeeHoit.Hub,subs.(American).—1. Boston. Also,Hub of the Universe. [The description is Oliver Wendell Holmes’s.] Since extended to other centres or chief cities (seequot. 1876).1869.Boston Herald, Dec. He is to have a quintette club of amateurs with him, fromthe Hub.1872.Daily Telegraph, 4 July. Boston claims to be theHubof the universe; but New York grandiloquently asserts itself to be the universal wheel itself.1872.Daily Telegraph, Dec. The wealth of theHub of the Universe, as Bostonians delight to call their city, is very great.1876.Daily News, 18 Jan. Calcutta … swaggers as if it were thehub of the Universe.1888.Boston Daily Globe.The typical girl ofthe Hubhas been much written about in the novels of the period, and without doubt she is worth all the attention bestowed upon her.2. (colloquial).—A husband.SeeHubby.Hubble-bubble,subs.(colloquial).—1.Seequots.1748.T.Dyche,Dictionary(5th Ed.).Hubble-Bubble(s.) a confused noise made by a talkative person, who speaks so quick, that it is difficult to understand what he says or means.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Hubble-bubble. Confusion. Ahubble bubblefellow, a man of confused ideas, or one thick of speech, whose words sound like water bubbling out of a bottle.2. (common).—A hookah; a pipe by which the smoke is passed through water.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Hubble-bubble.… Also an instrument used for smoaking through water in the East Indies, called likewise a caloon and hooker.1868.Ouida,Under Two Flags, ch. xxii. The Moor, warmly grateful, was ever ready to give him a cup of coffee and ahubble-bubblein the stillness of his dwelling.1887.Field, 15 Oct. Off I went down the ravine, and half a mile below came to Besan quietly smoking hishubble-bubble.1891.W. C. Russell,Ocean Tragedy, p. 130. A burning atmosphere sickly with the smell of the incense of thehubble-bubble, with a flavour of hot curry about.Hubble-de-shuff,adv.(old).—Confusedly.—Lex. Bal.Hubbub,subs.(old: now recognised).—Seequots.d.1639.Robert Carey(Earl of Monmouth),Memoirs, 1759, p. 155. This made a greathub-bubin our Court.1667.Milton,Paradise Lost, ii., 951. A universalhubbubwild, Of stunning sounds.[370]1682.Bunyan,Holy War(1893 ed. M. Peacock, p. 58). The conscience and understanding begin to receive conviction, and they set the soul in ahubbub.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hubbub, a Noise in the Streets made by the Rabble.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hubbub, a noise, riot, or disturbance.1893.Westminster Gaz., 8 Aug., p. 2, col. 1. An indescribablehubbubof showmen’s, hawkers’, and children’s voices from near and far.Hubby(orHub),subs.(colloquial).—A husband.1798.Morton,Secrets Worth Knowing. Epilogue. The wife poor thing, at first so blithe and chubby, Scarce knows again her lover in herhubby.1807.Stevens,Wks., p. 175. What couldhubbydo then, what couldhubbydo? But sympathy-struck, as she cry’d, he cry’d too.1811.Poole,Hamlet Travestied, ii., 3. Now, madam, this once was yourhubby.1883.Referee, 17 Apr., p. 3, c. 2. I did hear it whispered that her parents and guardians, or her horrifiedhubby, had turned the key on her.Huck,verb.(old).—To chaffer; to bargain.1577.Holinshead,Description of England, ed. 1807, i., 315. It was his custome likewise to saie, if anie manhuckedhard with him about the price of a gelding: ‘So God helpe me … either he did cost me so much,’ or else, ‘By Jesus I stole him.’Huckleberry.Above one’s huckleberry(bend, orhook),adv. phr.(American).—Beyond one’s ability; out of one’s reach.SeeBend.1848.J. F. Cooper,The Oak Openings. It would beabove my bendto attempt telling you all we saw among the red skins.1852. ‘L’Allegro,’As Good as a Comedy, p. 61. Well, Squire Barry, you’re ahuckleberry above my persimmon, but I reckon something can be done.Huckle-my-butt,subs.(old).—Beer, egg, and brandy made hot.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1834.Ainsworth,Rookwood, iii., 5. ‘If that’s a bowl ofhuckle-my-buttyou are brewing, Sir William,’ added he, addressing the knight of Malta, ‘you may send me a jorum at your convenience.’Huckster,subs.(old: now recognised).—1. A retailer of small goods; a pedlar.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Huckster, the Retailers of the Market, who Sell in the Market at second Hand.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hucksters, itinerant retailers of provisions.2. (old).—A mean trickster.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.In huckster’s hands,adv. phr.(old).—Seequot.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hucksters.…In huckster’s hands, at a desperate Pass, or Condition, or in a fair way to be Lost.Hucksum(alsoHuckle, orHuckle-bone, orHuck-bone).—The hip.c.1508.Dunbar,Flyting(Poems, ed. 1834, ii., 72). Withhuck-bonesharth and haw.d.1529.Skelton,Elynor Rummyn(Poems, 1843, i.). The bones of herhuckelsLyke as they were buckels.1575.Still,Gammer Gurton’s Needle, i., 3 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iii., 180). For bursting of herhuckle-bone, or breaking of her shin.Huddle,verb.(venery).—To copulate. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.Hue,verb.(old).—Seequot.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. The Cove wasHuedin the Naskin, the Rogue was severely Lasht inBridewell.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.[371]Huey,subs.(Old Cant).—A town or village.1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 231. ‘Where do you stall to in thehuey?’ which, fairly translated, means, ‘Where do you lodge in the town?’Huff,subs.(colloquial).—1. An outburst of temper; peevishness; offence at some real or imaginary wrong or slight. Hence,to get(ortake)the huff= to fly into a passion.1599.H. Porter,Two Angry Women of Abingdon(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii., 311). And as thou say’st to me, to him I said, But in a greaterhuffand hotter blood.1676.Etherege,Man of Mode,Wks.(1704), i., 190. Tax her with the next fop that comes Into my head, and ina huffmarch away.1688.Shadwell,Sq. of Alsatia,Wks.(1720), iv., 63. If you were not the brother to my dearest friend, I know what my honour would prompt me to [walks in ahuff].1700.Farquhar,Constant Couple, ii., 2. I offer’d her fifty guineas, and she was in her airs presently, and flew away ina huff.1705–7.Ward,Hudibras Redivivus, vol. II., pt. iv., p. 26. I pay’d three Shillings, ina Huff, For my half Pint of liquid Stuff.1759–67.Sterne,Tristram Shandy, ch. xxix. He left off the study of projectiles in a kind ofhuff, and betook himself to the practical part of fortification only.Idem.ch. c. Can I? cried Susannah, shutting the door in ahuff.1769.Chatterton,Poems, ‘Journal’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xv., 495). ‘Sir,’ quoth the Rector in ahuff.1777.Sheridan,Trip to Scarborough, i., 1. The lady not condescending to give me any serious reasons for having fooled me for a month, I left herin a huff.1825.Neal,Bro. Jonathan, bk. II., ch. 16. What ahuffyou’re at! I only axed a question.1855.Thackeray,Newcomes, ch. xx. He is as proud as Lucifer, he is always takinghuffabout one thing or the other.1855.Browning,Men and Women, ‘Fra Lippo Lippi’ (Ed. 1864, p. 357). You’ll not mistake an idle word Spoke in ahuffby a poor monk?1885.T. E. Brown,The Doctor, p. 30. Already my goodness! he’staking the huff.1892.Anstey,Model Music-Hall, 37. Some partiesin a huffrage At the plea for Female Suffrage.2. (old).—A bully; aHector(q.v.); a sharper. AlsoCaptain Huff.1569.Preston,Cambises(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iv., 177). [Enter three ruffians,huff, Ruff, and Snuff.]1680.Cotton,Complete Gamester, p. 333.Huffs, hectors, setters, gilts,pads, biters, etc.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant.Crew, s.v.1693.Congreve,Old Bachelor, iv., 9. Good, slovenlyCaptain Huff, Bluffe (what is your hideous name?).1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.3. (common).—A dodge; a trick.4. (draughts’).—A term in the game of draughts; the penalty for not taking a piece.5. (Winchester College).—SeeHuff-cap.Verb.(colloquial).—1. To bluster; to bounce; to swagger.1607.How a Man May Choose a Good Wife, etc., iv., 3 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 78). Ahuffingwench i’ faith.1630.Taylor,Workes. The smell is the senting bawd, thathuffsand snuffs up and downe, and hath the game alwayes in the winde.Ibid.One asked ahuffinggallant why hee had not a looking-glasse in his chamber; he answered, he durst not, because hee was often angry, and then he look’d so terribly that he was fearefull to looke upon himselfe.d.1631.Donne,Satires, iv. (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, v., 158). To th’huffing, braggart, puffed nobility.[372]1643.Randolph,Muses Looking-Glasse, i., 1.Flowrd.Iniquity aboundeth, though pure zeal Teach, preach,huffe, puffe, and snuffe at it, yet still, Still it aboundeth.1673.Wycherley,Gentleman Dancing Master, v., 1. How! my surly,huffing, jealous, senseless, saucy master.1675.Wycherley,Country Wife. ‘Prologue.’ Well, let the vain rash fop, byhuffingso, Think to obtain the better terms of you.1680.Dryden,Prol. to Lee’s Cæsar Borgia, p. 29. So big you look, though claret you retrench, That, armed with bottled ale, youhuffthe French.d.1680.Rochester,Poems, ‘Woman’s Honour’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, viii., 239). Thishuffinghonour domineers In breasts when he alone has place.1682.Bunyan,Holy War(ed. M. Peacock, 1893, p. 72). He refused andhuffedas well as he could, but in heart he was afraid.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Huff.To huff and ding, to bounce and swagger.1690.The Pagan Prince.And the same threats and menaces of the palatine being carry’d to the marshal de Tonneure, notwithstanding all his former encomiums, Oh! quo he, the palatine’s a young prince; give him leave tohuff and dingfor his living; words break no bones: when all’s done, ’tis the coach wheel, not the fly that raises the dust.1699.Robert Franck,Northern Memoirs(quoted inNew Review, Aug., 1893, p. 145). Sohuffedaway.1700.Mrs. Centlivre,Perjured Husband. ‘Epilogue.’ Let cowards cease tohuff.1705.Ward,Hudibras Redivivus, vol. I., pt. iii., p. 14. And in their frenzy,huffand threaten With what sad stripes we shall be beaten.1708.Prior,Poems, ‘The Mice.’ (Aldine ed. ii., 244, 50). One went to Holland where theyhufffolk, T’other to vend his wares in Suffolk.1714.Newest Academy of Compliments.Pray neighbour, why d’ye look awry? You’re grown a wondrous stranger; Youhuff, you pout, you walk about As tho’ you’d burst with anger.1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., i., 283. Thus, thus I strut andhuff.Idem., i., 154. But when the new ones did stoop, The t’other ashuffingwould be.Idem., v., 99. When Bullies leavehuffingand Cowards their Trembling.1725.Swift,Poems, ‘A New Song’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 446). If he goes to the baker’s the baker willhuff, And twenty pence ask for a twopenny loaf.d.1742.Somerville,Occasional Poems, ‘The Officious Messenger’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 206). Her ladyship beganto huff.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.2. To anger;to cheek(q.v.); to get angered.1708.Mrs. Centlivre,The Busy-Body, iii., 4. Impossible, without hehuffsthe lady, and makes love to Sir Francis.1835.Marryat,Jacob Faithful, ch.xliii. Upon this shehuffsoutright, and tells Tom he may go about his business, for she didn’t care if she never sees him no more.1839.W. H. Ainsworth,Jack Sheppard, p. 133 (Ed. 1840). If theydo, now and then, run away with a knocker, paint a sign, beat the watch, orhuffa magistrate.Intj.(obsolete).—Seequots. AlsoHuffaandHuffa-gallant. [Probably the oldest form of the word.]c.1510.Rastell,Four Elements(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i., 20). Withhuffa gallant, tirl on the berry, And let the wide world wind.c.152(?).Hick Scorner(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i., 188).Huff! huff! huff!who sent after me.d.1529.Skelton,Poems, ‘Against Garnesche’ (Dyce, i., 118, and note ii., 181–2).Huf a galante, Garneysche, loke on your comely ars.To stand the huff,verb. phr.(old).—To stand the reckoning.—Lex. Bal.AlsoHuffy= easily offended;Huffed= annoyed;Huffily= testily; in a tantrum.[373]1825.Neal,Bro. Jonathan, bk. II., ch. 15. A leetle on thehuffyorder, I guess! Aint you?1852.H. B. Stowe,Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ch. xvi. I … actually was so cruel as to restrict him to one dozen of my cambric handkerchiefs. Dolph was particularlyhuffyabout it, and I had to talk to him like a father to bring him round.1853.Lytton,My Novel, bk. I., ch. ix. Though the Squire was inclined to be very friendly to all his neighbours, he was, like most country gentlemen, rather easilyhuffed.1873.Miss Broughton,Nancy, ch. xxxvi. ‘I have no doubt you would!’ say I, turning sharply andhuffilyaway.1875.Ouida,Signa, vol. II., ch. xx., p. 324. ‘She is a stupid little mule,’ thought the old woman, angrily. ‘She feels nothing, she sees no greatness in it all—she is only good to grub amongst her cabbages.’ And she went awayhuffed.1885.T. E. Brown,The Doctor, p. 31.huffedis he, eh? And who regards him?Huff-cap(orHuff),subs.(Old Cant: still in use at Winchester College).—1. Strong ale. [‘From inducing people to set their caps in a bold andhuffingstyle.’—Nares.]1579.Fulwell,Art of Flattery. Commonly calledHufcap, it will make a man look as though he had seene the devil.1586.Holinshed,Description of England. These men hale atHuff-captill they be red as cockes and little wiser than their combes.1602.Campion,English Poesy(Bullen,Works, 1889, p. 247). Hunks detests whenhuffcapale he tipples.1614.Greene,Looking-Glass[Dyce], p. 127. The ale is strong ale, ’tishufcap; I warrant you, ’twill make a man well.1630.Taylor,Wks.And this is it, of ale-houses and innes, Wine-marchants vintners, brewers, who much wins By others losing, I say more or lesse, Who sale ofhufcapliquor doe professe.1870.Mansfield,School Life, p. 180. Washed down by libations ofHuff.1878.Adams,Wykehamica, s.v.Huff, the strong ale brewed by the College.2. (old).—A swaggering bully; aHector(q.v.).1596.Nashe,Lenten Stuffe(Grosart,Works, v., 306). Thehuff-cappesto drink in that house, thou shalt be sure of always.1630.Taylor,Wks.But ’tis a maxime mortals cannot hinder, The doughty deeds of Wakefield’shuffe-capPinder Are not so pleasant as the faire Aurora, When Nimrod rudely plaid on his bandora.1687.Clifford,Notes upon Dryden, letter 2. Prethee tell me true, was not thishuff-caponce the Indian emperour, and at another time did not he call himself Maximine?1706.Farquhar,Recruiting Officer, v., 6. You have made a fine speech good CaptainHuff-cap.Adj.(old).—Swaggering; blustering; rousing.1597.Hall,Satires, i., 3. Graced withhuff-capterms and thundering threats.Huffer,subs.(old).—A swaggerer.1682.Banks,Vertue Betrayed, Prol. lines 23–4. Welcome mask-teazer, peevish gamster,huffer: All fools, but politicians, we can suffer.1770.Lord Hailes,Ancient Scottish Poetry, note on ‘Seven Deadly Sins,’ line 34.Huffers(or threateners), boasters, and they who pick quarrels.Huffle,verb.(venery).—1.To bag-pipe(q.v.).2. (colloquial).—To shift; to hesitate; to waver.Huff-snuff,subs.(old).—A person apt to take offence.1592.Nashe,Strange News, etc. (Grosart,Works,ii., 184). GabrielHuffe-SnuffeKnowne to the world for a foole, and clapt in the Fleete for a poet.1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes, s.v.Risentito.… Also ahuffe snuffe, one that will soone take pepper in the nose, that will revenge euerie small matter.[374]1750.Ozell,Rabelais, iv., pref. xxiii. Freebooters, desperadoes, and bullyinghuff-snuffs.Huftie-tuftie,adj.(old).—Swaggering; gallant.1596.Nashe,Saffron Walden(Grosart,Works, iii., 106). Came a ruffling it out,huftie-tuftie, in his velvet suit.1599.Nashe,Lenten Stuffe, (Grosart,Works, v., 250).Huftie-tuftieyouthful ruffling comrades, wearing every one three yards of feathers in his cap for his mistres’ favour.Hug,subs.(thieves’).—Garrotting(q.v.). Alsoverbally, andto put on the hug.1864.Home Magazine, 16 Mar. Hoax upon hoax about the putting onthe hugwas played off upon a credulous and bugbear-loving community.2. (old).—The sexual embrace. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide. Alsothe close hug.1659.Lady Alimony, ii., ‘Prologue’ (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 288). Apt for a spousalhug.1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., iv., 163. They’ve a new drug Which is calledthe close hug.Verb.(colloquial).—Properly to grapple with and hold the body, as a bear with his fore-paws. Hence (1) to cuddle; and (2) to perform the sexual embrace (seesubs., sense 2). Hence, also,to hug brown bess(q.v.);to hug the gunner’s daughter= to cuddle a gun for punishment;to hug the ground= to fall, or be hit off one’s legs;to give the hug(pugilists) = to close with and grapple the body;to hug the shore(orbank, orwall) to keep close to;cornish hug= a hold in wrestling;to hug a belief(ordelusion, orthought) = to cherish;to hug one’s chains= to delight in captivity.1696.Landsdowne,Poems, ‘Prologue toThe She-Gallants’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., p. 36). Then, like some pensive statesman, treads demure, And smiles andhugsto make distinction sure.1602.Campion,English Poesy(Buller,Works, 1889, p. 249). Changed is Helen. Helenhugsthe stranger.1631.Drayton,The Mooncalf(Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, iv., 133).Hughim, and swear he was her only joy.1637.BeaumontandFletcher,Elder Brother, iv., 1. This night I’llhugmy Lilly in my arms.d.1649.Drummond,Posthumous Poems, ‘Of a Kiss.’ Nor her who had the fate Ravis’d to be andhuggedon Ganges’ shore.1659.Lady Alimony, iv. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 288a). Shall wehugnone of our own, But such as drop from the frigid zone.c.1708.W. King,The Art of Love, Pt. iv. (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, ix., 266). Thenhuggingher in brawny arm.d.1710.R. Duke,Poems, ‘A Song’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, ix., 224). Closehugsthe charmer, and ashamed to yield, Though he has lost the day yet keeps the field.Idem.Shehugsthe dart that wounded her, and dies.d.1742.Somerville,Occasional Poems, etc., ‘The Fortune-Hunter,’ canto iii. (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 221). Drinks double bub with all his might Andhugshis doxy every night.1746.Smollett,Advice, line 4. We’llhugthe curse that not one joy can boast.d.1764.Lloyd,Poems(1774), ‘The Cit’s County Box.’Huggingthemselves in ease and clover.d.1773.G. Cunningham,Poems, ‘Holiday-Gown’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xiv., 441). Hehugsme so close, and he kisses so sweet.1791.Antient and Modern Scottish Songs, ‘My Jockey is a Bonnie Lad,’ ii., 325. And then he fa’s a kissing, clasping,hugging, squeezing, tousling, pressing, winna let me be.d.1796.Burns,The Jolly Beggars. And at night in barn or stable,hugsour doxies on the hay.[375]Hugger-mugger,subs.(colloquial).—Muddle; confusion.1868.C. Reade,Foul Play, ch. vii. Why didn’t you tell me, and I’d have tidied the room: it is allhugger-mugger, with miss a leaving.1885.T. E. Brown,The Doctor, p. 36. And every place as neat as a pin, And couldn’t stand nohugger-mugger.1892.Pall Mall Gaz., 28 Oct., p. 2, c. 2. He wrote some lampoons in the papers at the time, in which he ridiculed thehugger-muggerof the prosecution.Adv.(old).—Seequots.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hugger-Mugger, Closely or by Stealth, Underboard:To eat so, that is, to Eat by one’s self.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hugger-Mugger, by stealth, privately, without making an appearance; they spent their money in ahugger-muggerway.Adj.(common).—Confused; disorderly; hap-hazard;hand-to-mouth(q.v.).1882.Daily Telegraph, 5 Oct., p. 2, c. 2. Nor, can they be very severely blamed for thishugger-mugger, slipshod way of life.Verb.(common).—To meet by stealth; to lay heads together.1879.Justin McCarthy,Donna Quixote, ch. xxxii. I can see already that she won’t stand much more of you and mehugger-muggeringtogether.In hugger-mugger,adv. phr.(old).—1. In secret.1565.Stapleton,Fort. of the Faith, fol. 88. They should not have lurked all this whilein hucker-mucker.1588.J. Udall,Demonstration of Discipline, p. 30. (ed. Arber). The Byshop without any lawfull election, is chosenin huggermugerof the canons, or prebendaries onely, without the knowledge of the people.1594.Nashe,Unfortunate Traveller(Grosart,Works, v., 19). Myself that am but a poore childish wel-willer of yours, with the vain thought that a man of your desert and state by a number of pesants and varlets should be so incuriously abused inhugger-muggerhaue wept al my vrine upward.1596.Nashe,Saffron Walden(Grosart,Works, iii., 181). Hee sent her 18 pencein hugger-mugger, to pay the fiddlers.1596.Shakspeare,Hamlet, iv., 5.King.… We have done but greenly,In hugger-muggerto inter him.1602.Dekker,Satiromastix, iii., 133 (Dodsley,Old Plays, viii., 48). One word, sir Quintilian, inhugger-mugger.1607.Tourneur,Revenger’s Trag.(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875), v., i. And how quaintly he died, like a politician, inhugger-mugger.1611.Coryat,Crud., ii., p. 251, repr. So these perhaps might sometimes have some furtive conversationin hugger mugger.
1859.Fast Life, p. 54. The craters, of course,caught it hot, and many had the sack.1872.Figaro, 22 June. The German Emperor, Bismarck, and Earl Granville alsogot it, but not quite sohotly.1877.Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iv., p. 887. A young man who … had been guilty of bigamy, and to such a degree that hegot it hotfor such a crime—five years.1892.Anstey,Model Music-Hall, 32. She spotted me in ’alf a jiff, and chaffed me precioushot.Like a cat on hot bricks,phr.(colloquial).—Uncomfortable; restive.1886.J. S. Winter,Army Society, ch. xvi. Lady Mainwaring looked like an eel in a frying-pan, or, most of anything perhaps,like a cat on hot bricks.Hot with,phr.(common).—Spirits with hot water and sugar.SeeCider and, andCold without.Hot-arsed,adj. phr.(venery).—Excessively lewd. [Of women only.]Cf.,Biter.Hot-beef.To give hot-beef,verb. phr.(thieves’ rhyming).—To cry ‘Stop thief.’ AlsoBeef(q.v.).1879.J. W. Horsley, inMacm. Mag., xl., 506. He followed, giving mehot beef(calling ‘Stop thief’).Hot-cakes.To go off like hot cakes,verb. phr.(common).—To sell readily; to be in good demand.1889.Pall Mall Gaz., 11 Oct., p. 6, c. 1. Sold at one penny retail they oftengo off like hot cakes.1893.Emerson,Signor Lippo, ch. xii. It went offlike hot cakes.Hot-foot,adv.(colloquial).—Instant in pursuit.Hotch-potch,subs.(old: now recognised).—A medley; ahodge-podge(q.v.).1597.Hall,Satires, i., 3. A goodlyhotch-potchwhen vile russettings are matched with monarchs and mighty kings.1606.Return from Parnassus, iv., 2. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 183). This word,hotch-potchin English is a pudding; for in such a pudding is commonly not one thing only, but one thing with another.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hotch-potch, an Oglio, or Medly of several Meats in one Dish.c.1709.W. King,Art of Cookery, ix. (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, ix., 259). The first delighting inhodge-podge, gallimaufry, forced meats … and salmagundy.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1728.Patrick Walker,Alexander Peden, ‘Postscript’ (ed. 1827, i., 128). Ahotch-potchor bagful of Arian, Arminian, Socinian, Pelagian, etc.1892.Pall Mall Gaz., 17 Oct., p. 2, c. 1. Both are a sort ofhotchpotchof songs, dances, and extravaganzas.Hot-coppers,subs.(common).—The fever and parched throat, ormouth(q.v.), attending a debauch.SeeCool one’s Copper.1830.Egan,Finish to Life in London, 156. The ‘uncommonly big gentleman’ in spite of swallowing oceans of soda-water, declared hiscopperto be sohotthat he thought all the water in the sea could not reduce his thirst!1841.Punch, vol. I., p. 244. ‘Oh blow your physiology!’ says Rapp. ‘You mean to say you’ve got ahot copper—so have I. Send for the precious balm and then fire away.’1849.Thackeray,Pendennis, ch. xliii. ‘Nothing like that beer,’ he remarked,‘when thecoppersarehot.’1864.Comic Almanack, p. 63. ‘Cold Cream Internally.’ Cold cream is an excellent remedy forhot coppers.[364]1892.Hume Nisbet,Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 134. He came … as happy-looking, and lively as if no suchthingashot coppersexisted.Hotel(alsoCupid’s HotelandCupid’s Arms).—subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum.Cf.,Cock Inn. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.Hotel Barbering,subs.(common).—Bilking.1892.Daily Chronicle, 28 Mar., p. 5, c. 7. The inference is now fairly admissable that he may possibly have divided his time between polygamous pursuits andhotel barberingexploits.Hotel Warming-pan,subs. phr.(common).—A chambermaid. Alsowarming-pan(q.v.). Fr.,une limogère.Hot-flannel(orFlannel),subs.(old).—Gin and beer, with nutmeg, sugar, etc., made hot.1789.Geo. Parker,Life’s Painter, p. 144. A mixed kind of liquor … when drank in a morning it is calledflannel.1858.A. Mayhew,Paved with Gold, bk. III., ch. iii., p. 269. A jug of what he termedhot flannelfor three—a mixture of gin, beer, and eggs.Hot-house,subs.(old).—A brothel. Also (seequot. 1616), a public bath. For synonyms,seeNanny-shop.1596.Nashe,Have with You to Saffron Walden(Grosart, iii., 106). Anyhot-houseor bawdy-house of them all.1599.Jonson,Every Man out of His Humour, iv., 4. Let a man sweat once a week in ahot-house, and be well rubbed and froted with a plump juicy wench and clean linen.1603.Shakspeare,Measure for Measure, ii., 1. Now she professes ahot-house, which is a very ill house too.1606.The Return from Parnassus, i., 2 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 115). He cannot swagger it well in a tavern, nor domineer in ahot-house.1616.Jonson,Epigrams, ‘On the NewHot-house.’ Where lately harboured many a famous whore, A purging bill now fixed upon the door Tells you it is ahot-house: So it may, And still be a whore-house. They’re synonyma.1699.Garth,The Dispensary, ii., line 157. Ahot-househe prefers to Julia’s arms.Hot Meat(orBeeforMutton),subs. phr.(venery).—SeeBit.Hot-member(orHot ’un).—SeeWarm Member.Hot-Milk,subs.(venery).—The semen. For synonyms,seeCream.Hot-place,subs.(colloquial).—Hell. For synonyms,seeTropical Climate.1891.F. H. Groome,Blackwood, Mar., p. 320. A letter from her son in Hull, told the curate that ‘that did give me a tarn at fust, for I thought that come from thehot place.’Hot-pot,subs.(old).—Ale and brandy made hot.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1788.G. C. Stevens,Adv. of a Speculist, ii., 56. A watchman and an old Blind Woman, troubled with the palsy, drinkinghot-pottogether.Hot-potato.To drop like a hot potato,verb. phr.(common).—To abandon (a pursuit, a person, a thing) with alacrity.Hot-pudding.To have a hot-pudding for supper,verb. phr.(venery).—To copulate. Of women only. [Pudding(Durfey) = thepenis]. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.[365]Hot-stomach.So hot a stomach as to burn the clothes off his back,phr.(old).—Said of one who pawns his clothes for drink.—Lex. Bal.Hottentot,subs.(East-end).Seequot.1880.G. R. Sims,How the Poor Live, ch. x. The cry ofHottentotswent round. ‘Hottentots’ is the playful way in this district of designating a stranger, that is to say, a stranger come from the West.2. (common).—A fool. For synonyms,seeBuffleandCabbage-head.Hot-tiger,subs.(Oxford Univ.).—Hot-spiced ale and sherry.—Hotten.Hot-water.To be in hot-water,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To be in trouble, in difficulties, or worried.1846.Punch’s Almanack, 29 Nov. TheTimesfirst printed by steam, 1814, and has kept the country inhot waterever since.1864.Mark Lemon,Jest book, p. 238. Lord Allen, in conversation with Rogers, the poet, observed: ‘I never put my razor into hot water, as I find it injures the temper of the blade.’ ‘No doubt of it,’ replied Rogers; ‘show me the blade that isnot out of temperwhen plunged intohot water.’Hound,subs.(Cambridge Univ.).—1.Seequot.1879.E. Walford, inN. and Q., 5 S., xii., 88. In theAnecdotes of Bowyer… we are told that ahoundof King’s College, Cambridge, is an undergraduate not on the foundation, nearly the same as a ‘sizar.’2. (colloquial). A mean, contemptible fellow; a scoundrel; a filthy sneak.Hounslow-heath,subs.(rhyming).—The teeth. For synonyms,seeGrinders. AlsoHampstead-heath.1887.DagonetinReferee, 7 Nov., p. 7, c. 3. She’d a Grecian ‘I suppose,’ And ofHampstead Heathtwo rows.Houri of Fleet-street,subs. phr.(common).—A prostitute. For synonyms,seeBarrack-hackandTart.House,subs.(theatrical).—1. An audience.To bring down the house= to elicit a general burst of applause. Fr.,avoir sa côtelette; boire du lait.1823.Bee,Dict. of the Turf, s.v.House. With them (the players) it means Covent-garden or Drury-lane, or indeed any other theatre. ‘A full-house’ and ‘half-a-house’ indicate the state of the receipts or number of the audience.1870.Athenæum, 13 Aug., p. 120. ‘Letter of J. O. Halliwell.’ It is now certain that Shakespeare was never proprietor of either (the Globe or Blackfriars) theatre. His sole interest in them consisted in a participation,as an actorin the receipts of what is called thehouse.1873.Home News, 24 Jan. I exerted myself, not for praise of that well-dressed mob they calledthe house, but for very love of the congenial sport.1892.Sydney Watson,Wops the Waif, ch. iii., p. 4. There was tremendous enthusiasm this evening. Every scene was uproariously applauded, and at the climax the wholehouserose and cheered and encored with tumultuous feeling.The House(colloquial).—(1) The Stock Exchange; (2) The House of Commons; (3) Christ Church, Oxford.House under the hill,subs. phr.(venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.House(orapartments)to let,subs. phr.(common).—A widow.—Lex. Bal.AlsoBill-of-SaleandMan-trap.[366]Father of the House,subs. phr.(Parliamentary).—The oldest elected member.SeeBabe.House that Jack built,subs. phr.(common).—A prison. For synonyms,seeCage.Like a house on fire,adv. phr.(common).—Quickly; with energy.SeeLike.1851–61.Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, ii., 85. I’m getting onlike areglerhouse on fire.Safe as houses,adv. phr.(common).—Perfectly safe.1864.E. Yates,Broken to Harness, ch. xxxii., p. 361 (1873). I have the means of doing that, assafe as houses.1874.T. Hardy,Far from the Madding Crowd, ch. lvii. ‘The clothes will floor us assafe as houses,’ said Coggan.1886.Grant Allen,In All Shades, ch. i. Why, of course, then, that’s the explanation of it—assafe as houses, you may depend upon it.1890.Grant Allen,Tents of Shem, ch. xxviii. You may make your forgery itself assafe as houses.House-bit(or-keeper, or-piece),subs.(colloquial).—A servant-mistress.House-dove,subs.(old).—A stay-at-home.Household-brigade.To join the Household Brigade,verb. phr.(common).—To marry. For synonyms,seeSplice.1881.Home Tidings, April, p. 42, c. 1. Jem Ryan joined thehousehold brigadeon Easter Monday, E. New acting as best man.House of Civil Reception,subs. phr.(old).—A brothel. For synonyms,seeNanny-shop.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.House of Commons(orHouse of Office),subs. phr.(old).—A W.C. For synonyms,seeMrs. Jones.1611.Chapman,May-Day, iv., 2. No room save you turn out my wife’s coal-house, and her otherhouse of officeattached to it, reserved for her and me sometimes, and will you use it being a stranger?1748.Smollett,Roderick Random, c. xiii. Taking the candle in his hand, which he had left burning for the purpose, he went down to thehouse of office.d.1780.Robertsonof Struan,Poems, 83. So to aHouse of Officestraight a school-boy does repair, To ease his postern of its weight.House-tailor,subs.(old).—An upholsterer.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.House-tailers, Upholsterers.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.Housewife(orHuswife, orHussy),subs.(colloquial).—1. Primarily, a house-keeper. Hence (a) a domestic servant; (b) a wanton or a gad-about wench; and (c) a comic endearment. Hence, too,housewifery,subs., andhousewife’s tricks= the habit of wantonness, the practice of men.1508.Gawain and Gologras, ‘Ballade,’ (Pinkerton,Scottish Poems, 1792, iii.). A gudehusy-wifeay rinning in the toun.1589.Puttenham,English Poesie, 1589, ii., 16 (ed.Arber, p. 148). Half lost for lack of a goodhuswife’slooking to.1600.Look about You, sc. 28 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii., 476).Huswife, I’ll have you whipped for slandering me.1602.Shakspeare,Twelfth Night, i., 2. I hope to see somehousewifetake thee between her legs and spin it off.1659.Lady Alimony, iii., 3 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 331). And if thehussychallenge more, Charm the maundering gossip with your roar.Idem.iii., 6. (p. 340). If I make not these haxters as hateful to ourhussiesas ever they were to us, their husbands, set me up for a Jack-a-Lent.1672.Ray,Proverbs, s.v.,Cat. Cats eat whathussiesspare.[367]1673.Wycherly,Gentleman Dancing Master, iv., 1. What,hussy, would you not do as he’d have you?1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.1694.Congreve,Double Dealer, iv., 3. When I was of your age,hussy, I would have held fifty to one I could have drawn my own picture.1697.Vanbrugh,Æsop, i., 1. Hark youhussy. You can give yourself airs sometimes, you know you can.1708.Mrs. Centlivre,The Busy-Body, iv., 2. I’ll charm you,housewife. Here lies the charm that conjured this fellow in.1708.Prior,Poems(Aldine ed. ii., 270), ‘The Insatiable Priest.’ To suppress all his carnal desires in their birth At all hours a lusty younghussyis near.1720.Swift,Poems, ‘A Portrait’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 448). Ahousewifein bed, at table a slattern.1728.Swift,Poems, ‘My Lady’s Lamentations’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 460). Consider before You come to threescore, How thehussieswill fleer Whene’er you appear.1731.C. Coffey,The Devil to Pay, i. Don’t you know,hussy, that I am king in my own house.1732.Henry Fielding,The Mock Doctor, i. Ay,hussy, a regular education; first at the charity-school where I learned to read.1751.Smollett,Peregrine Pickle, c. xviii. He supposed the object of his love was some paltryhussy, whom he had picked up when he was a boy at school.d.1764.Lloyd,Poems(1774), ‘Chit-Chat.’ Lud! I could beat thehusseydown, She’s poured it all upon my gown.1768.Goldsmith,Good Natured Man, ii. And you have but too well succeeded, you littlehussy, you.1771.Smollett,Humphrey Clinker(ed. 1800, p. 43). And I have been twice in the bath with mistress and na’r a smock upon our backs,hussy.1782.Cowley,Bold Stroke for a Husband, i., 2.Don C.Now,hussy, what do you expect?1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1786.Burns,The Inventory. Frae this time forth I do declare, I’se ne’er ride horse norhizziemair.1822.Scott,Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxii. Say nothing of that,housewife, … or I will beat thee—beat thee with my staff.1829.C. A. Somerset,The Day After the Fair, i. Oh, youhussy! so you were Madame Maypole!1893.R. le Gallienne, Intro.Liber Amoris, p. xliv. To think of poor Hazlitt gravely lavishing his choice Elizabethan quotations on thehussey.2. (venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.Housey,adj.(Christ’s Hospital).—Belonging to the Hospital.Housle,verb.(Winchester College).—To hustle.Hoveller,subs.(nautical).—A beach-thief.How.How came you so?phr.(old).—Drunk. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.1824.T. Hook,Sayings and Doings, 1st S.Merton, ch. xiii. Ould Mrs. Etherington was a right bad one; she used to beLord, how come you so!every night, as regular as she went to bed.How much?phr.(common).—‘What do you say?’ ‘What do you mean?’ What price?—a general request for explanations.1852.F. E. Smedley,Lewis Arundel, ch. xxxiv. ‘Then my answer must mainly depend on the exact height of the principles.’ ‘On thehow much?’inquired Frere, considerably mystified.How are you off for soap,phr.(old).—A street catch.1833.Marryat,Peter Simple, ch. iv. Well, Reefer,how are you off for soap?1842.Punch, ii., 94, c. 2. Walker!how are you off for soap?How the blazes.SeeBlazes.How is that for high.SeeHigh.How’s your poor feet,phr.(streets’).—A street catch, of no particular meaning.SeeStreet Cries.[368]1863.All the Year Round, x., 180.How’s your poor feet?a year ago cheated half the natives of Cockaigne into the belief that they were gifted with a special genius for repartee.1863.G. A. Sala,Breakfast in Bed, p. 163 (1864). But how would you like a screeching multitude, fifty thousand strong, and with not one of whom, to the best of your knowledge, you had even a bowing acquaintance, to vociferate in your track—in the public street, mind—‘Ya-a-a-h!how are your poor feet?’1890.Town and Country(Sydney), 11 Jan., p. 19, c. 4. Henry Irving’s revival of ‘The Dead Heart’ has revived a bit of slang.… When the play was brought out originally, where one of the characters says, ‘My heart is dead, dead, dead!’ a voice from the gallery nearly broke up the drama withHow are your poor feet?The phrase lived.How’ll you have it,phr.(common).—An invitation to drink. For synonyms,seeDrinks.How we apples swim(sometimes amplified byQuoth the horse-turd)!verb. phr.(old).—Said in derision of a parvenu; of a person in better company than he (or she) has any right to keep; or of a pretender to honour or credit he (or she) does not deserve.1670.Ray,Proverbs, s.v.1697–1764.Hogarth(Works by J. Ireland and J. Nichols, London, 1873) III., p. 29. And even this, little as it is, gives him so much importance in his own eyes, that he assumes a consequential air, sets his arms akimbo, and strutting among the historical artists cries,how we apples swim.1860.Cornhill Mag.(D. Mallett,Tyburn), Dec., p.737. While tumbling down the turbid stream, Lord, love us,how we apples swim.Howard’s Garbage,subs. phr.(military).—The Nineteenth Foot. AlsoGreen Howards.Howard’s Greens,subs. phr.(military).—The Twenty-fourth Foot. [From its facings and its Colonel’s name, 1717–37.]How-do-you-do,subs.(colloquial).—A ‘to do’; a ‘kettle of fish’; a ‘pass.’1835.Haliburton,Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xxvi. Thinks I, here’s a prettyhow do you do; I’m in foritnow, that’s a fact.Howler,subs.(common).—An unblushing falsehood; an enormous blunder; a serious accident; and so forth.To come(orgo)a howler= to come to grief; to run amuck.1885.Daily News, 16 May, p. 4, c. 8. Now, to speak respectfully of old scholars that were before us, the translators of the Bible constantly made what undergraduates callhowlers, or grievously impossible blunders.1886.StephensandYardley,Little Jack Sheppard, p. 34.Jack.My dears, you’re late.Bess.Our hansom came ahowler.1888.Indoor Paupers, p. 24. As to how we are to spend the eight hours, or thereabouts, that remain after meals, church, andhowlersare disposed of, nobody, except ourselves and a few private friends outside, cares in the least.1891.Moonshine, 14 Mar. Oh,Isaw some piece in which a Johnnie smoked some cigarettes, and at lastcame a howler, and wanted to commit suicide.1891.Pall Mall Gaz., 12 Sep., p. 2, c. 3. We wondered yesterday how many of our classical readers wouldseethehowler—or the joke.Howling,adj.(common).—A general intensitive.E.g.,Howling-swell= a man in the extreme of fashion;howling-lie= a gross falsehood;howling-bags= trousers extravagant in cut or pattern;howling-cad, etc.[369]1865.G. A. Sala,Trip to Barbary, ch. vii. The hotel at Marseilles was full of our countrymen of the order known at Lane’s and Limmer’s ashowling swells.1887.Household Words, 11 June, 116. Let’s hook it; that Jenny Morris is such anhowling swellthat she won’t wait for any one.1889.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 8 Feb. The Hon. Juggins was what is popularly known as ahowling swell.1892.Anstey,Model Music-Hall, 146. And all the while your heart was given to ahowling cad.Hoxter,subs.(old).—1. An inside pocket.1834.H. Ainsworth,Rookwoodbk. III., ch. v. No slour’dhoxtermy snipes could stay.2. (Royal Military Academy).—Extra drill. [Corruption of extra.] Fr.,le bal.1887.Barrère,Argot and Slang. Thehoxterconsists in the painful ordeal of being compelled to turn out of bed at an early hour, and march up and down under the watchful eye of a corporal.Hoys.SeeHoist.Hoyt.SeeHoit.Hub,subs.(American).—1. Boston. Also,Hub of the Universe. [The description is Oliver Wendell Holmes’s.] Since extended to other centres or chief cities (seequot. 1876).1869.Boston Herald, Dec. He is to have a quintette club of amateurs with him, fromthe Hub.1872.Daily Telegraph, 4 July. Boston claims to be theHubof the universe; but New York grandiloquently asserts itself to be the universal wheel itself.1872.Daily Telegraph, Dec. The wealth of theHub of the Universe, as Bostonians delight to call their city, is very great.1876.Daily News, 18 Jan. Calcutta … swaggers as if it were thehub of the Universe.1888.Boston Daily Globe.The typical girl ofthe Hubhas been much written about in the novels of the period, and without doubt she is worth all the attention bestowed upon her.2. (colloquial).—A husband.SeeHubby.Hubble-bubble,subs.(colloquial).—1.Seequots.1748.T.Dyche,Dictionary(5th Ed.).Hubble-Bubble(s.) a confused noise made by a talkative person, who speaks so quick, that it is difficult to understand what he says or means.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Hubble-bubble. Confusion. Ahubble bubblefellow, a man of confused ideas, or one thick of speech, whose words sound like water bubbling out of a bottle.2. (common).—A hookah; a pipe by which the smoke is passed through water.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Hubble-bubble.… Also an instrument used for smoaking through water in the East Indies, called likewise a caloon and hooker.1868.Ouida,Under Two Flags, ch. xxii. The Moor, warmly grateful, was ever ready to give him a cup of coffee and ahubble-bubblein the stillness of his dwelling.1887.Field, 15 Oct. Off I went down the ravine, and half a mile below came to Besan quietly smoking hishubble-bubble.1891.W. C. Russell,Ocean Tragedy, p. 130. A burning atmosphere sickly with the smell of the incense of thehubble-bubble, with a flavour of hot curry about.Hubble-de-shuff,adv.(old).—Confusedly.—Lex. Bal.Hubbub,subs.(old: now recognised).—Seequots.d.1639.Robert Carey(Earl of Monmouth),Memoirs, 1759, p. 155. This made a greathub-bubin our Court.1667.Milton,Paradise Lost, ii., 951. A universalhubbubwild, Of stunning sounds.[370]1682.Bunyan,Holy War(1893 ed. M. Peacock, p. 58). The conscience and understanding begin to receive conviction, and they set the soul in ahubbub.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hubbub, a Noise in the Streets made by the Rabble.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hubbub, a noise, riot, or disturbance.1893.Westminster Gaz., 8 Aug., p. 2, col. 1. An indescribablehubbubof showmen’s, hawkers’, and children’s voices from near and far.Hubby(orHub),subs.(colloquial).—A husband.1798.Morton,Secrets Worth Knowing. Epilogue. The wife poor thing, at first so blithe and chubby, Scarce knows again her lover in herhubby.1807.Stevens,Wks., p. 175. What couldhubbydo then, what couldhubbydo? But sympathy-struck, as she cry’d, he cry’d too.1811.Poole,Hamlet Travestied, ii., 3. Now, madam, this once was yourhubby.1883.Referee, 17 Apr., p. 3, c. 2. I did hear it whispered that her parents and guardians, or her horrifiedhubby, had turned the key on her.Huck,verb.(old).—To chaffer; to bargain.1577.Holinshead,Description of England, ed. 1807, i., 315. It was his custome likewise to saie, if anie manhuckedhard with him about the price of a gelding: ‘So God helpe me … either he did cost me so much,’ or else, ‘By Jesus I stole him.’Huckleberry.Above one’s huckleberry(bend, orhook),adv. phr.(American).—Beyond one’s ability; out of one’s reach.SeeBend.1848.J. F. Cooper,The Oak Openings. It would beabove my bendto attempt telling you all we saw among the red skins.1852. ‘L’Allegro,’As Good as a Comedy, p. 61. Well, Squire Barry, you’re ahuckleberry above my persimmon, but I reckon something can be done.Huckle-my-butt,subs.(old).—Beer, egg, and brandy made hot.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1834.Ainsworth,Rookwood, iii., 5. ‘If that’s a bowl ofhuckle-my-buttyou are brewing, Sir William,’ added he, addressing the knight of Malta, ‘you may send me a jorum at your convenience.’Huckster,subs.(old: now recognised).—1. A retailer of small goods; a pedlar.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Huckster, the Retailers of the Market, who Sell in the Market at second Hand.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hucksters, itinerant retailers of provisions.2. (old).—A mean trickster.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.In huckster’s hands,adv. phr.(old).—Seequot.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hucksters.…In huckster’s hands, at a desperate Pass, or Condition, or in a fair way to be Lost.Hucksum(alsoHuckle, orHuckle-bone, orHuck-bone).—The hip.c.1508.Dunbar,Flyting(Poems, ed. 1834, ii., 72). Withhuck-bonesharth and haw.d.1529.Skelton,Elynor Rummyn(Poems, 1843, i.). The bones of herhuckelsLyke as they were buckels.1575.Still,Gammer Gurton’s Needle, i., 3 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iii., 180). For bursting of herhuckle-bone, or breaking of her shin.Huddle,verb.(venery).—To copulate. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.Hue,verb.(old).—Seequot.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. The Cove wasHuedin the Naskin, the Rogue was severely Lasht inBridewell.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.[371]Huey,subs.(Old Cant).—A town or village.1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 231. ‘Where do you stall to in thehuey?’ which, fairly translated, means, ‘Where do you lodge in the town?’Huff,subs.(colloquial).—1. An outburst of temper; peevishness; offence at some real or imaginary wrong or slight. Hence,to get(ortake)the huff= to fly into a passion.1599.H. Porter,Two Angry Women of Abingdon(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii., 311). And as thou say’st to me, to him I said, But in a greaterhuffand hotter blood.1676.Etherege,Man of Mode,Wks.(1704), i., 190. Tax her with the next fop that comes Into my head, and ina huffmarch away.1688.Shadwell,Sq. of Alsatia,Wks.(1720), iv., 63. If you were not the brother to my dearest friend, I know what my honour would prompt me to [walks in ahuff].1700.Farquhar,Constant Couple, ii., 2. I offer’d her fifty guineas, and she was in her airs presently, and flew away ina huff.1705–7.Ward,Hudibras Redivivus, vol. II., pt. iv., p. 26. I pay’d three Shillings, ina Huff, For my half Pint of liquid Stuff.1759–67.Sterne,Tristram Shandy, ch. xxix. He left off the study of projectiles in a kind ofhuff, and betook himself to the practical part of fortification only.Idem.ch. c. Can I? cried Susannah, shutting the door in ahuff.1769.Chatterton,Poems, ‘Journal’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xv., 495). ‘Sir,’ quoth the Rector in ahuff.1777.Sheridan,Trip to Scarborough, i., 1. The lady not condescending to give me any serious reasons for having fooled me for a month, I left herin a huff.1825.Neal,Bro. Jonathan, bk. II., ch. 16. What ahuffyou’re at! I only axed a question.1855.Thackeray,Newcomes, ch. xx. He is as proud as Lucifer, he is always takinghuffabout one thing or the other.1855.Browning,Men and Women, ‘Fra Lippo Lippi’ (Ed. 1864, p. 357). You’ll not mistake an idle word Spoke in ahuffby a poor monk?1885.T. E. Brown,The Doctor, p. 30. Already my goodness! he’staking the huff.1892.Anstey,Model Music-Hall, 37. Some partiesin a huffrage At the plea for Female Suffrage.2. (old).—A bully; aHector(q.v.); a sharper. AlsoCaptain Huff.1569.Preston,Cambises(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iv., 177). [Enter three ruffians,huff, Ruff, and Snuff.]1680.Cotton,Complete Gamester, p. 333.Huffs, hectors, setters, gilts,pads, biters, etc.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant.Crew, s.v.1693.Congreve,Old Bachelor, iv., 9. Good, slovenlyCaptain Huff, Bluffe (what is your hideous name?).1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.3. (common).—A dodge; a trick.4. (draughts’).—A term in the game of draughts; the penalty for not taking a piece.5. (Winchester College).—SeeHuff-cap.Verb.(colloquial).—1. To bluster; to bounce; to swagger.1607.How a Man May Choose a Good Wife, etc., iv., 3 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 78). Ahuffingwench i’ faith.1630.Taylor,Workes. The smell is the senting bawd, thathuffsand snuffs up and downe, and hath the game alwayes in the winde.Ibid.One asked ahuffinggallant why hee had not a looking-glasse in his chamber; he answered, he durst not, because hee was often angry, and then he look’d so terribly that he was fearefull to looke upon himselfe.d.1631.Donne,Satires, iv. (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, v., 158). To th’huffing, braggart, puffed nobility.[372]1643.Randolph,Muses Looking-Glasse, i., 1.Flowrd.Iniquity aboundeth, though pure zeal Teach, preach,huffe, puffe, and snuffe at it, yet still, Still it aboundeth.1673.Wycherley,Gentleman Dancing Master, v., 1. How! my surly,huffing, jealous, senseless, saucy master.1675.Wycherley,Country Wife. ‘Prologue.’ Well, let the vain rash fop, byhuffingso, Think to obtain the better terms of you.1680.Dryden,Prol. to Lee’s Cæsar Borgia, p. 29. So big you look, though claret you retrench, That, armed with bottled ale, youhuffthe French.d.1680.Rochester,Poems, ‘Woman’s Honour’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, viii., 239). Thishuffinghonour domineers In breasts when he alone has place.1682.Bunyan,Holy War(ed. M. Peacock, 1893, p. 72). He refused andhuffedas well as he could, but in heart he was afraid.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Huff.To huff and ding, to bounce and swagger.1690.The Pagan Prince.And the same threats and menaces of the palatine being carry’d to the marshal de Tonneure, notwithstanding all his former encomiums, Oh! quo he, the palatine’s a young prince; give him leave tohuff and dingfor his living; words break no bones: when all’s done, ’tis the coach wheel, not the fly that raises the dust.1699.Robert Franck,Northern Memoirs(quoted inNew Review, Aug., 1893, p. 145). Sohuffedaway.1700.Mrs. Centlivre,Perjured Husband. ‘Epilogue.’ Let cowards cease tohuff.1705.Ward,Hudibras Redivivus, vol. I., pt. iii., p. 14. And in their frenzy,huffand threaten With what sad stripes we shall be beaten.1708.Prior,Poems, ‘The Mice.’ (Aldine ed. ii., 244, 50). One went to Holland where theyhufffolk, T’other to vend his wares in Suffolk.1714.Newest Academy of Compliments.Pray neighbour, why d’ye look awry? You’re grown a wondrous stranger; Youhuff, you pout, you walk about As tho’ you’d burst with anger.1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., i., 283. Thus, thus I strut andhuff.Idem., i., 154. But when the new ones did stoop, The t’other ashuffingwould be.Idem., v., 99. When Bullies leavehuffingand Cowards their Trembling.1725.Swift,Poems, ‘A New Song’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 446). If he goes to the baker’s the baker willhuff, And twenty pence ask for a twopenny loaf.d.1742.Somerville,Occasional Poems, ‘The Officious Messenger’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 206). Her ladyship beganto huff.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.2. To anger;to cheek(q.v.); to get angered.1708.Mrs. Centlivre,The Busy-Body, iii., 4. Impossible, without hehuffsthe lady, and makes love to Sir Francis.1835.Marryat,Jacob Faithful, ch.xliii. Upon this shehuffsoutright, and tells Tom he may go about his business, for she didn’t care if she never sees him no more.1839.W. H. Ainsworth,Jack Sheppard, p. 133 (Ed. 1840). If theydo, now and then, run away with a knocker, paint a sign, beat the watch, orhuffa magistrate.Intj.(obsolete).—Seequots. AlsoHuffaandHuffa-gallant. [Probably the oldest form of the word.]c.1510.Rastell,Four Elements(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i., 20). Withhuffa gallant, tirl on the berry, And let the wide world wind.c.152(?).Hick Scorner(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i., 188).Huff! huff! huff!who sent after me.d.1529.Skelton,Poems, ‘Against Garnesche’ (Dyce, i., 118, and note ii., 181–2).Huf a galante, Garneysche, loke on your comely ars.To stand the huff,verb. phr.(old).—To stand the reckoning.—Lex. Bal.AlsoHuffy= easily offended;Huffed= annoyed;Huffily= testily; in a tantrum.[373]1825.Neal,Bro. Jonathan, bk. II., ch. 15. A leetle on thehuffyorder, I guess! Aint you?1852.H. B. Stowe,Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ch. xvi. I … actually was so cruel as to restrict him to one dozen of my cambric handkerchiefs. Dolph was particularlyhuffyabout it, and I had to talk to him like a father to bring him round.1853.Lytton,My Novel, bk. I., ch. ix. Though the Squire was inclined to be very friendly to all his neighbours, he was, like most country gentlemen, rather easilyhuffed.1873.Miss Broughton,Nancy, ch. xxxvi. ‘I have no doubt you would!’ say I, turning sharply andhuffilyaway.1875.Ouida,Signa, vol. II., ch. xx., p. 324. ‘She is a stupid little mule,’ thought the old woman, angrily. ‘She feels nothing, she sees no greatness in it all—she is only good to grub amongst her cabbages.’ And she went awayhuffed.1885.T. E. Brown,The Doctor, p. 31.huffedis he, eh? And who regards him?Huff-cap(orHuff),subs.(Old Cant: still in use at Winchester College).—1. Strong ale. [‘From inducing people to set their caps in a bold andhuffingstyle.’—Nares.]1579.Fulwell,Art of Flattery. Commonly calledHufcap, it will make a man look as though he had seene the devil.1586.Holinshed,Description of England. These men hale atHuff-captill they be red as cockes and little wiser than their combes.1602.Campion,English Poesy(Bullen,Works, 1889, p. 247). Hunks detests whenhuffcapale he tipples.1614.Greene,Looking-Glass[Dyce], p. 127. The ale is strong ale, ’tishufcap; I warrant you, ’twill make a man well.1630.Taylor,Wks.And this is it, of ale-houses and innes, Wine-marchants vintners, brewers, who much wins By others losing, I say more or lesse, Who sale ofhufcapliquor doe professe.1870.Mansfield,School Life, p. 180. Washed down by libations ofHuff.1878.Adams,Wykehamica, s.v.Huff, the strong ale brewed by the College.2. (old).—A swaggering bully; aHector(q.v.).1596.Nashe,Lenten Stuffe(Grosart,Works, v., 306). Thehuff-cappesto drink in that house, thou shalt be sure of always.1630.Taylor,Wks.But ’tis a maxime mortals cannot hinder, The doughty deeds of Wakefield’shuffe-capPinder Are not so pleasant as the faire Aurora, When Nimrod rudely plaid on his bandora.1687.Clifford,Notes upon Dryden, letter 2. Prethee tell me true, was not thishuff-caponce the Indian emperour, and at another time did not he call himself Maximine?1706.Farquhar,Recruiting Officer, v., 6. You have made a fine speech good CaptainHuff-cap.Adj.(old).—Swaggering; blustering; rousing.1597.Hall,Satires, i., 3. Graced withhuff-capterms and thundering threats.Huffer,subs.(old).—A swaggerer.1682.Banks,Vertue Betrayed, Prol. lines 23–4. Welcome mask-teazer, peevish gamster,huffer: All fools, but politicians, we can suffer.1770.Lord Hailes,Ancient Scottish Poetry, note on ‘Seven Deadly Sins,’ line 34.Huffers(or threateners), boasters, and they who pick quarrels.Huffle,verb.(venery).—1.To bag-pipe(q.v.).2. (colloquial).—To shift; to hesitate; to waver.Huff-snuff,subs.(old).—A person apt to take offence.1592.Nashe,Strange News, etc. (Grosart,Works,ii., 184). GabrielHuffe-SnuffeKnowne to the world for a foole, and clapt in the Fleete for a poet.1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes, s.v.Risentito.… Also ahuffe snuffe, one that will soone take pepper in the nose, that will revenge euerie small matter.[374]1750.Ozell,Rabelais, iv., pref. xxiii. Freebooters, desperadoes, and bullyinghuff-snuffs.Huftie-tuftie,adj.(old).—Swaggering; gallant.1596.Nashe,Saffron Walden(Grosart,Works, iii., 106). Came a ruffling it out,huftie-tuftie, in his velvet suit.1599.Nashe,Lenten Stuffe, (Grosart,Works, v., 250).Huftie-tuftieyouthful ruffling comrades, wearing every one three yards of feathers in his cap for his mistres’ favour.Hug,subs.(thieves’).—Garrotting(q.v.). Alsoverbally, andto put on the hug.1864.Home Magazine, 16 Mar. Hoax upon hoax about the putting onthe hugwas played off upon a credulous and bugbear-loving community.2. (old).—The sexual embrace. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide. Alsothe close hug.1659.Lady Alimony, ii., ‘Prologue’ (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 288). Apt for a spousalhug.1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., iv., 163. They’ve a new drug Which is calledthe close hug.Verb.(colloquial).—Properly to grapple with and hold the body, as a bear with his fore-paws. Hence (1) to cuddle; and (2) to perform the sexual embrace (seesubs., sense 2). Hence, also,to hug brown bess(q.v.);to hug the gunner’s daughter= to cuddle a gun for punishment;to hug the ground= to fall, or be hit off one’s legs;to give the hug(pugilists) = to close with and grapple the body;to hug the shore(orbank, orwall) to keep close to;cornish hug= a hold in wrestling;to hug a belief(ordelusion, orthought) = to cherish;to hug one’s chains= to delight in captivity.1696.Landsdowne,Poems, ‘Prologue toThe She-Gallants’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., p. 36). Then, like some pensive statesman, treads demure, And smiles andhugsto make distinction sure.1602.Campion,English Poesy(Buller,Works, 1889, p. 249). Changed is Helen. Helenhugsthe stranger.1631.Drayton,The Mooncalf(Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, iv., 133).Hughim, and swear he was her only joy.1637.BeaumontandFletcher,Elder Brother, iv., 1. This night I’llhugmy Lilly in my arms.d.1649.Drummond,Posthumous Poems, ‘Of a Kiss.’ Nor her who had the fate Ravis’d to be andhuggedon Ganges’ shore.1659.Lady Alimony, iv. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 288a). Shall wehugnone of our own, But such as drop from the frigid zone.c.1708.W. King,The Art of Love, Pt. iv. (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, ix., 266). Thenhuggingher in brawny arm.d.1710.R. Duke,Poems, ‘A Song’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, ix., 224). Closehugsthe charmer, and ashamed to yield, Though he has lost the day yet keeps the field.Idem.Shehugsthe dart that wounded her, and dies.d.1742.Somerville,Occasional Poems, etc., ‘The Fortune-Hunter,’ canto iii. (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 221). Drinks double bub with all his might Andhugshis doxy every night.1746.Smollett,Advice, line 4. We’llhugthe curse that not one joy can boast.d.1764.Lloyd,Poems(1774), ‘The Cit’s County Box.’Huggingthemselves in ease and clover.d.1773.G. Cunningham,Poems, ‘Holiday-Gown’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xiv., 441). Hehugsme so close, and he kisses so sweet.1791.Antient and Modern Scottish Songs, ‘My Jockey is a Bonnie Lad,’ ii., 325. And then he fa’s a kissing, clasping,hugging, squeezing, tousling, pressing, winna let me be.d.1796.Burns,The Jolly Beggars. And at night in barn or stable,hugsour doxies on the hay.[375]Hugger-mugger,subs.(colloquial).—Muddle; confusion.1868.C. Reade,Foul Play, ch. vii. Why didn’t you tell me, and I’d have tidied the room: it is allhugger-mugger, with miss a leaving.1885.T. E. Brown,The Doctor, p. 36. And every place as neat as a pin, And couldn’t stand nohugger-mugger.1892.Pall Mall Gaz., 28 Oct., p. 2, c. 2. He wrote some lampoons in the papers at the time, in which he ridiculed thehugger-muggerof the prosecution.Adv.(old).—Seequots.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hugger-Mugger, Closely or by Stealth, Underboard:To eat so, that is, to Eat by one’s self.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hugger-Mugger, by stealth, privately, without making an appearance; they spent their money in ahugger-muggerway.Adj.(common).—Confused; disorderly; hap-hazard;hand-to-mouth(q.v.).1882.Daily Telegraph, 5 Oct., p. 2, c. 2. Nor, can they be very severely blamed for thishugger-mugger, slipshod way of life.Verb.(common).—To meet by stealth; to lay heads together.1879.Justin McCarthy,Donna Quixote, ch. xxxii. I can see already that she won’t stand much more of you and mehugger-muggeringtogether.In hugger-mugger,adv. phr.(old).—1. In secret.1565.Stapleton,Fort. of the Faith, fol. 88. They should not have lurked all this whilein hucker-mucker.1588.J. Udall,Demonstration of Discipline, p. 30. (ed. Arber). The Byshop without any lawfull election, is chosenin huggermugerof the canons, or prebendaries onely, without the knowledge of the people.1594.Nashe,Unfortunate Traveller(Grosart,Works, v., 19). Myself that am but a poore childish wel-willer of yours, with the vain thought that a man of your desert and state by a number of pesants and varlets should be so incuriously abused inhugger-muggerhaue wept al my vrine upward.1596.Nashe,Saffron Walden(Grosart,Works, iii., 181). Hee sent her 18 pencein hugger-mugger, to pay the fiddlers.1596.Shakspeare,Hamlet, iv., 5.King.… We have done but greenly,In hugger-muggerto inter him.1602.Dekker,Satiromastix, iii., 133 (Dodsley,Old Plays, viii., 48). One word, sir Quintilian, inhugger-mugger.1607.Tourneur,Revenger’s Trag.(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875), v., i. And how quaintly he died, like a politician, inhugger-mugger.1611.Coryat,Crud., ii., p. 251, repr. So these perhaps might sometimes have some furtive conversationin hugger mugger.
1859.Fast Life, p. 54. The craters, of course,caught it hot, and many had the sack.1872.Figaro, 22 June. The German Emperor, Bismarck, and Earl Granville alsogot it, but not quite sohotly.1877.Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iv., p. 887. A young man who … had been guilty of bigamy, and to such a degree that hegot it hotfor such a crime—five years.1892.Anstey,Model Music-Hall, 32. She spotted me in ’alf a jiff, and chaffed me precioushot.Like a cat on hot bricks,phr.(colloquial).—Uncomfortable; restive.1886.J. S. Winter,Army Society, ch. xvi. Lady Mainwaring looked like an eel in a frying-pan, or, most of anything perhaps,like a cat on hot bricks.Hot with,phr.(common).—Spirits with hot water and sugar.SeeCider and, andCold without.Hot-arsed,adj. phr.(venery).—Excessively lewd. [Of women only.]Cf.,Biter.Hot-beef.To give hot-beef,verb. phr.(thieves’ rhyming).—To cry ‘Stop thief.’ AlsoBeef(q.v.).1879.J. W. Horsley, inMacm. Mag., xl., 506. He followed, giving mehot beef(calling ‘Stop thief’).Hot-cakes.To go off like hot cakes,verb. phr.(common).—To sell readily; to be in good demand.1889.Pall Mall Gaz., 11 Oct., p. 6, c. 1. Sold at one penny retail they oftengo off like hot cakes.1893.Emerson,Signor Lippo, ch. xii. It went offlike hot cakes.Hot-foot,adv.(colloquial).—Instant in pursuit.Hotch-potch,subs.(old: now recognised).—A medley; ahodge-podge(q.v.).1597.Hall,Satires, i., 3. A goodlyhotch-potchwhen vile russettings are matched with monarchs and mighty kings.1606.Return from Parnassus, iv., 2. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 183). This word,hotch-potchin English is a pudding; for in such a pudding is commonly not one thing only, but one thing with another.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hotch-potch, an Oglio, or Medly of several Meats in one Dish.c.1709.W. King,Art of Cookery, ix. (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, ix., 259). The first delighting inhodge-podge, gallimaufry, forced meats … and salmagundy.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.1728.Patrick Walker,Alexander Peden, ‘Postscript’ (ed. 1827, i., 128). Ahotch-potchor bagful of Arian, Arminian, Socinian, Pelagian, etc.1892.Pall Mall Gaz., 17 Oct., p. 2, c. 1. Both are a sort ofhotchpotchof songs, dances, and extravaganzas.Hot-coppers,subs.(common).—The fever and parched throat, ormouth(q.v.), attending a debauch.SeeCool one’s Copper.1830.Egan,Finish to Life in London, 156. The ‘uncommonly big gentleman’ in spite of swallowing oceans of soda-water, declared hiscopperto be sohotthat he thought all the water in the sea could not reduce his thirst!1841.Punch, vol. I., p. 244. ‘Oh blow your physiology!’ says Rapp. ‘You mean to say you’ve got ahot copper—so have I. Send for the precious balm and then fire away.’1849.Thackeray,Pendennis, ch. xliii. ‘Nothing like that beer,’ he remarked,‘when thecoppersarehot.’1864.Comic Almanack, p. 63. ‘Cold Cream Internally.’ Cold cream is an excellent remedy forhot coppers.[364]1892.Hume Nisbet,Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 134. He came … as happy-looking, and lively as if no suchthingashot coppersexisted.Hotel(alsoCupid’s HotelandCupid’s Arms).—subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum.Cf.,Cock Inn. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.Hotel Barbering,subs.(common).—Bilking.1892.Daily Chronicle, 28 Mar., p. 5, c. 7. The inference is now fairly admissable that he may possibly have divided his time between polygamous pursuits andhotel barberingexploits.Hotel Warming-pan,subs. phr.(common).—A chambermaid. Alsowarming-pan(q.v.). Fr.,une limogère.Hot-flannel(orFlannel),subs.(old).—Gin and beer, with nutmeg, sugar, etc., made hot.1789.Geo. Parker,Life’s Painter, p. 144. A mixed kind of liquor … when drank in a morning it is calledflannel.1858.A. Mayhew,Paved with Gold, bk. III., ch. iii., p. 269. A jug of what he termedhot flannelfor three—a mixture of gin, beer, and eggs.Hot-house,subs.(old).—A brothel. Also (seequot. 1616), a public bath. For synonyms,seeNanny-shop.1596.Nashe,Have with You to Saffron Walden(Grosart, iii., 106). Anyhot-houseor bawdy-house of them all.1599.Jonson,Every Man out of His Humour, iv., 4. Let a man sweat once a week in ahot-house, and be well rubbed and froted with a plump juicy wench and clean linen.1603.Shakspeare,Measure for Measure, ii., 1. Now she professes ahot-house, which is a very ill house too.1606.The Return from Parnassus, i., 2 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 115). He cannot swagger it well in a tavern, nor domineer in ahot-house.1616.Jonson,Epigrams, ‘On the NewHot-house.’ Where lately harboured many a famous whore, A purging bill now fixed upon the door Tells you it is ahot-house: So it may, And still be a whore-house. They’re synonyma.1699.Garth,The Dispensary, ii., line 157. Ahot-househe prefers to Julia’s arms.Hot Meat(orBeeforMutton),subs. phr.(venery).—SeeBit.Hot-member(orHot ’un).—SeeWarm Member.Hot-Milk,subs.(venery).—The semen. For synonyms,seeCream.Hot-place,subs.(colloquial).—Hell. For synonyms,seeTropical Climate.1891.F. H. Groome,Blackwood, Mar., p. 320. A letter from her son in Hull, told the curate that ‘that did give me a tarn at fust, for I thought that come from thehot place.’Hot-pot,subs.(old).—Ale and brandy made hot.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1788.G. C. Stevens,Adv. of a Speculist, ii., 56. A watchman and an old Blind Woman, troubled with the palsy, drinkinghot-pottogether.Hot-potato.To drop like a hot potato,verb. phr.(common).—To abandon (a pursuit, a person, a thing) with alacrity.Hot-pudding.To have a hot-pudding for supper,verb. phr.(venery).—To copulate. Of women only. [Pudding(Durfey) = thepenis]. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.[365]Hot-stomach.So hot a stomach as to burn the clothes off his back,phr.(old).—Said of one who pawns his clothes for drink.—Lex. Bal.Hottentot,subs.(East-end).Seequot.1880.G. R. Sims,How the Poor Live, ch. x. The cry ofHottentotswent round. ‘Hottentots’ is the playful way in this district of designating a stranger, that is to say, a stranger come from the West.2. (common).—A fool. For synonyms,seeBuffleandCabbage-head.Hot-tiger,subs.(Oxford Univ.).—Hot-spiced ale and sherry.—Hotten.Hot-water.To be in hot-water,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To be in trouble, in difficulties, or worried.1846.Punch’s Almanack, 29 Nov. TheTimesfirst printed by steam, 1814, and has kept the country inhot waterever since.1864.Mark Lemon,Jest book, p. 238. Lord Allen, in conversation with Rogers, the poet, observed: ‘I never put my razor into hot water, as I find it injures the temper of the blade.’ ‘No doubt of it,’ replied Rogers; ‘show me the blade that isnot out of temperwhen plunged intohot water.’Hound,subs.(Cambridge Univ.).—1.Seequot.1879.E. Walford, inN. and Q., 5 S., xii., 88. In theAnecdotes of Bowyer… we are told that ahoundof King’s College, Cambridge, is an undergraduate not on the foundation, nearly the same as a ‘sizar.’2. (colloquial). A mean, contemptible fellow; a scoundrel; a filthy sneak.Hounslow-heath,subs.(rhyming).—The teeth. For synonyms,seeGrinders. AlsoHampstead-heath.1887.DagonetinReferee, 7 Nov., p. 7, c. 3. She’d a Grecian ‘I suppose,’ And ofHampstead Heathtwo rows.Houri of Fleet-street,subs. phr.(common).—A prostitute. For synonyms,seeBarrack-hackandTart.House,subs.(theatrical).—1. An audience.To bring down the house= to elicit a general burst of applause. Fr.,avoir sa côtelette; boire du lait.1823.Bee,Dict. of the Turf, s.v.House. With them (the players) it means Covent-garden or Drury-lane, or indeed any other theatre. ‘A full-house’ and ‘half-a-house’ indicate the state of the receipts or number of the audience.1870.Athenæum, 13 Aug., p. 120. ‘Letter of J. O. Halliwell.’ It is now certain that Shakespeare was never proprietor of either (the Globe or Blackfriars) theatre. His sole interest in them consisted in a participation,as an actorin the receipts of what is called thehouse.1873.Home News, 24 Jan. I exerted myself, not for praise of that well-dressed mob they calledthe house, but for very love of the congenial sport.1892.Sydney Watson,Wops the Waif, ch. iii., p. 4. There was tremendous enthusiasm this evening. Every scene was uproariously applauded, and at the climax the wholehouserose and cheered and encored with tumultuous feeling.The House(colloquial).—(1) The Stock Exchange; (2) The House of Commons; (3) Christ Church, Oxford.House under the hill,subs. phr.(venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.House(orapartments)to let,subs. phr.(common).—A widow.—Lex. Bal.AlsoBill-of-SaleandMan-trap.[366]Father of the House,subs. phr.(Parliamentary).—The oldest elected member.SeeBabe.House that Jack built,subs. phr.(common).—A prison. For synonyms,seeCage.Like a house on fire,adv. phr.(common).—Quickly; with energy.SeeLike.1851–61.Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, ii., 85. I’m getting onlike areglerhouse on fire.Safe as houses,adv. phr.(common).—Perfectly safe.1864.E. Yates,Broken to Harness, ch. xxxii., p. 361 (1873). I have the means of doing that, assafe as houses.1874.T. Hardy,Far from the Madding Crowd, ch. lvii. ‘The clothes will floor us assafe as houses,’ said Coggan.1886.Grant Allen,In All Shades, ch. i. Why, of course, then, that’s the explanation of it—assafe as houses, you may depend upon it.1890.Grant Allen,Tents of Shem, ch. xxviii. You may make your forgery itself assafe as houses.House-bit(or-keeper, or-piece),subs.(colloquial).—A servant-mistress.House-dove,subs.(old).—A stay-at-home.Household-brigade.To join the Household Brigade,verb. phr.(common).—To marry. For synonyms,seeSplice.1881.Home Tidings, April, p. 42, c. 1. Jem Ryan joined thehousehold brigadeon Easter Monday, E. New acting as best man.House of Civil Reception,subs. phr.(old).—A brothel. For synonyms,seeNanny-shop.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.House of Commons(orHouse of Office),subs. phr.(old).—A W.C. For synonyms,seeMrs. Jones.1611.Chapman,May-Day, iv., 2. No room save you turn out my wife’s coal-house, and her otherhouse of officeattached to it, reserved for her and me sometimes, and will you use it being a stranger?1748.Smollett,Roderick Random, c. xiii. Taking the candle in his hand, which he had left burning for the purpose, he went down to thehouse of office.d.1780.Robertsonof Struan,Poems, 83. So to aHouse of Officestraight a school-boy does repair, To ease his postern of its weight.House-tailor,subs.(old).—An upholsterer.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.House-tailers, Upholsterers.1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.Housewife(orHuswife, orHussy),subs.(colloquial).—1. Primarily, a house-keeper. Hence (a) a domestic servant; (b) a wanton or a gad-about wench; and (c) a comic endearment. Hence, too,housewifery,subs., andhousewife’s tricks= the habit of wantonness, the practice of men.1508.Gawain and Gologras, ‘Ballade,’ (Pinkerton,Scottish Poems, 1792, iii.). A gudehusy-wifeay rinning in the toun.1589.Puttenham,English Poesie, 1589, ii., 16 (ed.Arber, p. 148). Half lost for lack of a goodhuswife’slooking to.1600.Look about You, sc. 28 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii., 476).Huswife, I’ll have you whipped for slandering me.1602.Shakspeare,Twelfth Night, i., 2. I hope to see somehousewifetake thee between her legs and spin it off.1659.Lady Alimony, iii., 3 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 331). And if thehussychallenge more, Charm the maundering gossip with your roar.Idem.iii., 6. (p. 340). If I make not these haxters as hateful to ourhussiesas ever they were to us, their husbands, set me up for a Jack-a-Lent.1672.Ray,Proverbs, s.v.,Cat. Cats eat whathussiesspare.[367]1673.Wycherly,Gentleman Dancing Master, iv., 1. What,hussy, would you not do as he’d have you?1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.1694.Congreve,Double Dealer, iv., 3. When I was of your age,hussy, I would have held fifty to one I could have drawn my own picture.1697.Vanbrugh,Æsop, i., 1. Hark youhussy. You can give yourself airs sometimes, you know you can.1708.Mrs. Centlivre,The Busy-Body, iv., 2. I’ll charm you,housewife. Here lies the charm that conjured this fellow in.1708.Prior,Poems(Aldine ed. ii., 270), ‘The Insatiable Priest.’ To suppress all his carnal desires in their birth At all hours a lusty younghussyis near.1720.Swift,Poems, ‘A Portrait’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 448). Ahousewifein bed, at table a slattern.1728.Swift,Poems, ‘My Lady’s Lamentations’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 460). Consider before You come to threescore, How thehussieswill fleer Whene’er you appear.1731.C. Coffey,The Devil to Pay, i. Don’t you know,hussy, that I am king in my own house.1732.Henry Fielding,The Mock Doctor, i. Ay,hussy, a regular education; first at the charity-school where I learned to read.1751.Smollett,Peregrine Pickle, c. xviii. He supposed the object of his love was some paltryhussy, whom he had picked up when he was a boy at school.d.1764.Lloyd,Poems(1774), ‘Chit-Chat.’ Lud! I could beat thehusseydown, She’s poured it all upon my gown.1768.Goldsmith,Good Natured Man, ii. And you have but too well succeeded, you littlehussy, you.1771.Smollett,Humphrey Clinker(ed. 1800, p. 43). And I have been twice in the bath with mistress and na’r a smock upon our backs,hussy.1782.Cowley,Bold Stroke for a Husband, i., 2.Don C.Now,hussy, what do you expect?1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1786.Burns,The Inventory. Frae this time forth I do declare, I’se ne’er ride horse norhizziemair.1822.Scott,Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxii. Say nothing of that,housewife, … or I will beat thee—beat thee with my staff.1829.C. A. Somerset,The Day After the Fair, i. Oh, youhussy! so you were Madame Maypole!1893.R. le Gallienne, Intro.Liber Amoris, p. xliv. To think of poor Hazlitt gravely lavishing his choice Elizabethan quotations on thehussey.2. (venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.Housey,adj.(Christ’s Hospital).—Belonging to the Hospital.Housle,verb.(Winchester College).—To hustle.Hoveller,subs.(nautical).—A beach-thief.How.How came you so?phr.(old).—Drunk. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.1824.T. Hook,Sayings and Doings, 1st S.Merton, ch. xiii. Ould Mrs. Etherington was a right bad one; she used to beLord, how come you so!every night, as regular as she went to bed.How much?phr.(common).—‘What do you say?’ ‘What do you mean?’ What price?—a general request for explanations.1852.F. E. Smedley,Lewis Arundel, ch. xxxiv. ‘Then my answer must mainly depend on the exact height of the principles.’ ‘On thehow much?’inquired Frere, considerably mystified.How are you off for soap,phr.(old).—A street catch.1833.Marryat,Peter Simple, ch. iv. Well, Reefer,how are you off for soap?1842.Punch, ii., 94, c. 2. Walker!how are you off for soap?How the blazes.SeeBlazes.How is that for high.SeeHigh.How’s your poor feet,phr.(streets’).—A street catch, of no particular meaning.SeeStreet Cries.[368]1863.All the Year Round, x., 180.How’s your poor feet?a year ago cheated half the natives of Cockaigne into the belief that they were gifted with a special genius for repartee.1863.G. A. Sala,Breakfast in Bed, p. 163 (1864). But how would you like a screeching multitude, fifty thousand strong, and with not one of whom, to the best of your knowledge, you had even a bowing acquaintance, to vociferate in your track—in the public street, mind—‘Ya-a-a-h!how are your poor feet?’1890.Town and Country(Sydney), 11 Jan., p. 19, c. 4. Henry Irving’s revival of ‘The Dead Heart’ has revived a bit of slang.… When the play was brought out originally, where one of the characters says, ‘My heart is dead, dead, dead!’ a voice from the gallery nearly broke up the drama withHow are your poor feet?The phrase lived.How’ll you have it,phr.(common).—An invitation to drink. For synonyms,seeDrinks.How we apples swim(sometimes amplified byQuoth the horse-turd)!verb. phr.(old).—Said in derision of a parvenu; of a person in better company than he (or she) has any right to keep; or of a pretender to honour or credit he (or she) does not deserve.1670.Ray,Proverbs, s.v.1697–1764.Hogarth(Works by J. Ireland and J. Nichols, London, 1873) III., p. 29. And even this, little as it is, gives him so much importance in his own eyes, that he assumes a consequential air, sets his arms akimbo, and strutting among the historical artists cries,how we apples swim.1860.Cornhill Mag.(D. Mallett,Tyburn), Dec., p.737. While tumbling down the turbid stream, Lord, love us,how we apples swim.Howard’s Garbage,subs. phr.(military).—The Nineteenth Foot. AlsoGreen Howards.Howard’s Greens,subs. phr.(military).—The Twenty-fourth Foot. [From its facings and its Colonel’s name, 1717–37.]How-do-you-do,subs.(colloquial).—A ‘to do’; a ‘kettle of fish’; a ‘pass.’1835.Haliburton,Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xxvi. Thinks I, here’s a prettyhow do you do; I’m in foritnow, that’s a fact.Howler,subs.(common).—An unblushing falsehood; an enormous blunder; a serious accident; and so forth.To come(orgo)a howler= to come to grief; to run amuck.1885.Daily News, 16 May, p. 4, c. 8. Now, to speak respectfully of old scholars that were before us, the translators of the Bible constantly made what undergraduates callhowlers, or grievously impossible blunders.1886.StephensandYardley,Little Jack Sheppard, p. 34.Jack.My dears, you’re late.Bess.Our hansom came ahowler.1888.Indoor Paupers, p. 24. As to how we are to spend the eight hours, or thereabouts, that remain after meals, church, andhowlersare disposed of, nobody, except ourselves and a few private friends outside, cares in the least.1891.Moonshine, 14 Mar. Oh,Isaw some piece in which a Johnnie smoked some cigarettes, and at lastcame a howler, and wanted to commit suicide.1891.Pall Mall Gaz., 12 Sep., p. 2, c. 3. We wondered yesterday how many of our classical readers wouldseethehowler—or the joke.Howling,adj.(common).—A general intensitive.E.g.,Howling-swell= a man in the extreme of fashion;howling-lie= a gross falsehood;howling-bags= trousers extravagant in cut or pattern;howling-cad, etc.[369]1865.G. A. Sala,Trip to Barbary, ch. vii. The hotel at Marseilles was full of our countrymen of the order known at Lane’s and Limmer’s ashowling swells.1887.Household Words, 11 June, 116. Let’s hook it; that Jenny Morris is such anhowling swellthat she won’t wait for any one.1889.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 8 Feb. The Hon. Juggins was what is popularly known as ahowling swell.1892.Anstey,Model Music-Hall, 146. And all the while your heart was given to ahowling cad.Hoxter,subs.(old).—1. An inside pocket.1834.H. Ainsworth,Rookwoodbk. III., ch. v. No slour’dhoxtermy snipes could stay.2. (Royal Military Academy).—Extra drill. [Corruption of extra.] Fr.,le bal.1887.Barrère,Argot and Slang. Thehoxterconsists in the painful ordeal of being compelled to turn out of bed at an early hour, and march up and down under the watchful eye of a corporal.Hoys.SeeHoist.Hoyt.SeeHoit.Hub,subs.(American).—1. Boston. Also,Hub of the Universe. [The description is Oliver Wendell Holmes’s.] Since extended to other centres or chief cities (seequot. 1876).1869.Boston Herald, Dec. He is to have a quintette club of amateurs with him, fromthe Hub.1872.Daily Telegraph, 4 July. Boston claims to be theHubof the universe; but New York grandiloquently asserts itself to be the universal wheel itself.1872.Daily Telegraph, Dec. The wealth of theHub of the Universe, as Bostonians delight to call their city, is very great.1876.Daily News, 18 Jan. Calcutta … swaggers as if it were thehub of the Universe.1888.Boston Daily Globe.The typical girl ofthe Hubhas been much written about in the novels of the period, and without doubt she is worth all the attention bestowed upon her.2. (colloquial).—A husband.SeeHubby.Hubble-bubble,subs.(colloquial).—1.Seequots.1748.T.Dyche,Dictionary(5th Ed.).Hubble-Bubble(s.) a confused noise made by a talkative person, who speaks so quick, that it is difficult to understand what he says or means.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Hubble-bubble. Confusion. Ahubble bubblefellow, a man of confused ideas, or one thick of speech, whose words sound like water bubbling out of a bottle.2. (common).—A hookah; a pipe by which the smoke is passed through water.1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Hubble-bubble.… Also an instrument used for smoaking through water in the East Indies, called likewise a caloon and hooker.1868.Ouida,Under Two Flags, ch. xxii. The Moor, warmly grateful, was ever ready to give him a cup of coffee and ahubble-bubblein the stillness of his dwelling.1887.Field, 15 Oct. Off I went down the ravine, and half a mile below came to Besan quietly smoking hishubble-bubble.1891.W. C. Russell,Ocean Tragedy, p. 130. A burning atmosphere sickly with the smell of the incense of thehubble-bubble, with a flavour of hot curry about.Hubble-de-shuff,adv.(old).—Confusedly.—Lex. Bal.Hubbub,subs.(old: now recognised).—Seequots.d.1639.Robert Carey(Earl of Monmouth),Memoirs, 1759, p. 155. This made a greathub-bubin our Court.1667.Milton,Paradise Lost, ii., 951. A universalhubbubwild, Of stunning sounds.[370]1682.Bunyan,Holy War(1893 ed. M. Peacock, p. 58). The conscience and understanding begin to receive conviction, and they set the soul in ahubbub.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hubbub, a Noise in the Streets made by the Rabble.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hubbub, a noise, riot, or disturbance.1893.Westminster Gaz., 8 Aug., p. 2, col. 1. An indescribablehubbubof showmen’s, hawkers’, and children’s voices from near and far.Hubby(orHub),subs.(colloquial).—A husband.1798.Morton,Secrets Worth Knowing. Epilogue. The wife poor thing, at first so blithe and chubby, Scarce knows again her lover in herhubby.1807.Stevens,Wks., p. 175. What couldhubbydo then, what couldhubbydo? But sympathy-struck, as she cry’d, he cry’d too.1811.Poole,Hamlet Travestied, ii., 3. Now, madam, this once was yourhubby.1883.Referee, 17 Apr., p. 3, c. 2. I did hear it whispered that her parents and guardians, or her horrifiedhubby, had turned the key on her.Huck,verb.(old).—To chaffer; to bargain.1577.Holinshead,Description of England, ed. 1807, i., 315. It was his custome likewise to saie, if anie manhuckedhard with him about the price of a gelding: ‘So God helpe me … either he did cost me so much,’ or else, ‘By Jesus I stole him.’Huckleberry.Above one’s huckleberry(bend, orhook),adv. phr.(American).—Beyond one’s ability; out of one’s reach.SeeBend.1848.J. F. Cooper,The Oak Openings. It would beabove my bendto attempt telling you all we saw among the red skins.1852. ‘L’Allegro,’As Good as a Comedy, p. 61. Well, Squire Barry, you’re ahuckleberry above my persimmon, but I reckon something can be done.Huckle-my-butt,subs.(old).—Beer, egg, and brandy made hot.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.1834.Ainsworth,Rookwood, iii., 5. ‘If that’s a bowl ofhuckle-my-buttyou are brewing, Sir William,’ added he, addressing the knight of Malta, ‘you may send me a jorum at your convenience.’Huckster,subs.(old: now recognised).—1. A retailer of small goods; a pedlar.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Huckster, the Retailers of the Market, who Sell in the Market at second Hand.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hucksters, itinerant retailers of provisions.2. (old).—A mean trickster.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.In huckster’s hands,adv. phr.(old).—Seequot.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hucksters.…In huckster’s hands, at a desperate Pass, or Condition, or in a fair way to be Lost.Hucksum(alsoHuckle, orHuckle-bone, orHuck-bone).—The hip.c.1508.Dunbar,Flyting(Poems, ed. 1834, ii., 72). Withhuck-bonesharth and haw.d.1529.Skelton,Elynor Rummyn(Poems, 1843, i.). The bones of herhuckelsLyke as they were buckels.1575.Still,Gammer Gurton’s Needle, i., 3 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iii., 180). For bursting of herhuckle-bone, or breaking of her shin.Huddle,verb.(venery).—To copulate. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.Hue,verb.(old).—Seequot.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. The Cove wasHuedin the Naskin, the Rogue was severely Lasht inBridewell.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.[371]Huey,subs.(Old Cant).—A town or village.1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 231. ‘Where do you stall to in thehuey?’ which, fairly translated, means, ‘Where do you lodge in the town?’Huff,subs.(colloquial).—1. An outburst of temper; peevishness; offence at some real or imaginary wrong or slight. Hence,to get(ortake)the huff= to fly into a passion.1599.H. Porter,Two Angry Women of Abingdon(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii., 311). And as thou say’st to me, to him I said, But in a greaterhuffand hotter blood.1676.Etherege,Man of Mode,Wks.(1704), i., 190. Tax her with the next fop that comes Into my head, and ina huffmarch away.1688.Shadwell,Sq. of Alsatia,Wks.(1720), iv., 63. If you were not the brother to my dearest friend, I know what my honour would prompt me to [walks in ahuff].1700.Farquhar,Constant Couple, ii., 2. I offer’d her fifty guineas, and she was in her airs presently, and flew away ina huff.1705–7.Ward,Hudibras Redivivus, vol. II., pt. iv., p. 26. I pay’d three Shillings, ina Huff, For my half Pint of liquid Stuff.1759–67.Sterne,Tristram Shandy, ch. xxix. He left off the study of projectiles in a kind ofhuff, and betook himself to the practical part of fortification only.Idem.ch. c. Can I? cried Susannah, shutting the door in ahuff.1769.Chatterton,Poems, ‘Journal’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xv., 495). ‘Sir,’ quoth the Rector in ahuff.1777.Sheridan,Trip to Scarborough, i., 1. The lady not condescending to give me any serious reasons for having fooled me for a month, I left herin a huff.1825.Neal,Bro. Jonathan, bk. II., ch. 16. What ahuffyou’re at! I only axed a question.1855.Thackeray,Newcomes, ch. xx. He is as proud as Lucifer, he is always takinghuffabout one thing or the other.1855.Browning,Men and Women, ‘Fra Lippo Lippi’ (Ed. 1864, p. 357). You’ll not mistake an idle word Spoke in ahuffby a poor monk?1885.T. E. Brown,The Doctor, p. 30. Already my goodness! he’staking the huff.1892.Anstey,Model Music-Hall, 37. Some partiesin a huffrage At the plea for Female Suffrage.2. (old).—A bully; aHector(q.v.); a sharper. AlsoCaptain Huff.1569.Preston,Cambises(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iv., 177). [Enter three ruffians,huff, Ruff, and Snuff.]1680.Cotton,Complete Gamester, p. 333.Huffs, hectors, setters, gilts,pads, biters, etc.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant.Crew, s.v.1693.Congreve,Old Bachelor, iv., 9. Good, slovenlyCaptain Huff, Bluffe (what is your hideous name?).1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.3. (common).—A dodge; a trick.4. (draughts’).—A term in the game of draughts; the penalty for not taking a piece.5. (Winchester College).—SeeHuff-cap.Verb.(colloquial).—1. To bluster; to bounce; to swagger.1607.How a Man May Choose a Good Wife, etc., iv., 3 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 78). Ahuffingwench i’ faith.1630.Taylor,Workes. The smell is the senting bawd, thathuffsand snuffs up and downe, and hath the game alwayes in the winde.Ibid.One asked ahuffinggallant why hee had not a looking-glasse in his chamber; he answered, he durst not, because hee was often angry, and then he look’d so terribly that he was fearefull to looke upon himselfe.d.1631.Donne,Satires, iv. (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, v., 158). To th’huffing, braggart, puffed nobility.[372]1643.Randolph,Muses Looking-Glasse, i., 1.Flowrd.Iniquity aboundeth, though pure zeal Teach, preach,huffe, puffe, and snuffe at it, yet still, Still it aboundeth.1673.Wycherley,Gentleman Dancing Master, v., 1. How! my surly,huffing, jealous, senseless, saucy master.1675.Wycherley,Country Wife. ‘Prologue.’ Well, let the vain rash fop, byhuffingso, Think to obtain the better terms of you.1680.Dryden,Prol. to Lee’s Cæsar Borgia, p. 29. So big you look, though claret you retrench, That, armed with bottled ale, youhuffthe French.d.1680.Rochester,Poems, ‘Woman’s Honour’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, viii., 239). Thishuffinghonour domineers In breasts when he alone has place.1682.Bunyan,Holy War(ed. M. Peacock, 1893, p. 72). He refused andhuffedas well as he could, but in heart he was afraid.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Huff.To huff and ding, to bounce and swagger.1690.The Pagan Prince.And the same threats and menaces of the palatine being carry’d to the marshal de Tonneure, notwithstanding all his former encomiums, Oh! quo he, the palatine’s a young prince; give him leave tohuff and dingfor his living; words break no bones: when all’s done, ’tis the coach wheel, not the fly that raises the dust.1699.Robert Franck,Northern Memoirs(quoted inNew Review, Aug., 1893, p. 145). Sohuffedaway.1700.Mrs. Centlivre,Perjured Husband. ‘Epilogue.’ Let cowards cease tohuff.1705.Ward,Hudibras Redivivus, vol. I., pt. iii., p. 14. And in their frenzy,huffand threaten With what sad stripes we shall be beaten.1708.Prior,Poems, ‘The Mice.’ (Aldine ed. ii., 244, 50). One went to Holland where theyhufffolk, T’other to vend his wares in Suffolk.1714.Newest Academy of Compliments.Pray neighbour, why d’ye look awry? You’re grown a wondrous stranger; Youhuff, you pout, you walk about As tho’ you’d burst with anger.1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., i., 283. Thus, thus I strut andhuff.Idem., i., 154. But when the new ones did stoop, The t’other ashuffingwould be.Idem., v., 99. When Bullies leavehuffingand Cowards their Trembling.1725.Swift,Poems, ‘A New Song’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 446). If he goes to the baker’s the baker willhuff, And twenty pence ask for a twopenny loaf.d.1742.Somerville,Occasional Poems, ‘The Officious Messenger’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 206). Her ladyship beganto huff.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.2. To anger;to cheek(q.v.); to get angered.1708.Mrs. Centlivre,The Busy-Body, iii., 4. Impossible, without hehuffsthe lady, and makes love to Sir Francis.1835.Marryat,Jacob Faithful, ch.xliii. Upon this shehuffsoutright, and tells Tom he may go about his business, for she didn’t care if she never sees him no more.1839.W. H. Ainsworth,Jack Sheppard, p. 133 (Ed. 1840). If theydo, now and then, run away with a knocker, paint a sign, beat the watch, orhuffa magistrate.Intj.(obsolete).—Seequots. AlsoHuffaandHuffa-gallant. [Probably the oldest form of the word.]c.1510.Rastell,Four Elements(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i., 20). Withhuffa gallant, tirl on the berry, And let the wide world wind.c.152(?).Hick Scorner(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i., 188).Huff! huff! huff!who sent after me.d.1529.Skelton,Poems, ‘Against Garnesche’ (Dyce, i., 118, and note ii., 181–2).Huf a galante, Garneysche, loke on your comely ars.To stand the huff,verb. phr.(old).—To stand the reckoning.—Lex. Bal.AlsoHuffy= easily offended;Huffed= annoyed;Huffily= testily; in a tantrum.[373]1825.Neal,Bro. Jonathan, bk. II., ch. 15. A leetle on thehuffyorder, I guess! Aint you?1852.H. B. Stowe,Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ch. xvi. I … actually was so cruel as to restrict him to one dozen of my cambric handkerchiefs. Dolph was particularlyhuffyabout it, and I had to talk to him like a father to bring him round.1853.Lytton,My Novel, bk. I., ch. ix. Though the Squire was inclined to be very friendly to all his neighbours, he was, like most country gentlemen, rather easilyhuffed.1873.Miss Broughton,Nancy, ch. xxxvi. ‘I have no doubt you would!’ say I, turning sharply andhuffilyaway.1875.Ouida,Signa, vol. II., ch. xx., p. 324. ‘She is a stupid little mule,’ thought the old woman, angrily. ‘She feels nothing, she sees no greatness in it all—she is only good to grub amongst her cabbages.’ And she went awayhuffed.1885.T. E. Brown,The Doctor, p. 31.huffedis he, eh? And who regards him?Huff-cap(orHuff),subs.(Old Cant: still in use at Winchester College).—1. Strong ale. [‘From inducing people to set their caps in a bold andhuffingstyle.’—Nares.]1579.Fulwell,Art of Flattery. Commonly calledHufcap, it will make a man look as though he had seene the devil.1586.Holinshed,Description of England. These men hale atHuff-captill they be red as cockes and little wiser than their combes.1602.Campion,English Poesy(Bullen,Works, 1889, p. 247). Hunks detests whenhuffcapale he tipples.1614.Greene,Looking-Glass[Dyce], p. 127. The ale is strong ale, ’tishufcap; I warrant you, ’twill make a man well.1630.Taylor,Wks.And this is it, of ale-houses and innes, Wine-marchants vintners, brewers, who much wins By others losing, I say more or lesse, Who sale ofhufcapliquor doe professe.1870.Mansfield,School Life, p. 180. Washed down by libations ofHuff.1878.Adams,Wykehamica, s.v.Huff, the strong ale brewed by the College.2. (old).—A swaggering bully; aHector(q.v.).1596.Nashe,Lenten Stuffe(Grosart,Works, v., 306). Thehuff-cappesto drink in that house, thou shalt be sure of always.1630.Taylor,Wks.But ’tis a maxime mortals cannot hinder, The doughty deeds of Wakefield’shuffe-capPinder Are not so pleasant as the faire Aurora, When Nimrod rudely plaid on his bandora.1687.Clifford,Notes upon Dryden, letter 2. Prethee tell me true, was not thishuff-caponce the Indian emperour, and at another time did not he call himself Maximine?1706.Farquhar,Recruiting Officer, v., 6. You have made a fine speech good CaptainHuff-cap.Adj.(old).—Swaggering; blustering; rousing.1597.Hall,Satires, i., 3. Graced withhuff-capterms and thundering threats.Huffer,subs.(old).—A swaggerer.1682.Banks,Vertue Betrayed, Prol. lines 23–4. Welcome mask-teazer, peevish gamster,huffer: All fools, but politicians, we can suffer.1770.Lord Hailes,Ancient Scottish Poetry, note on ‘Seven Deadly Sins,’ line 34.Huffers(or threateners), boasters, and they who pick quarrels.Huffle,verb.(venery).—1.To bag-pipe(q.v.).2. (colloquial).—To shift; to hesitate; to waver.Huff-snuff,subs.(old).—A person apt to take offence.1592.Nashe,Strange News, etc. (Grosart,Works,ii., 184). GabrielHuffe-SnuffeKnowne to the world for a foole, and clapt in the Fleete for a poet.1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes, s.v.Risentito.… Also ahuffe snuffe, one that will soone take pepper in the nose, that will revenge euerie small matter.[374]1750.Ozell,Rabelais, iv., pref. xxiii. Freebooters, desperadoes, and bullyinghuff-snuffs.Huftie-tuftie,adj.(old).—Swaggering; gallant.1596.Nashe,Saffron Walden(Grosart,Works, iii., 106). Came a ruffling it out,huftie-tuftie, in his velvet suit.1599.Nashe,Lenten Stuffe, (Grosart,Works, v., 250).Huftie-tuftieyouthful ruffling comrades, wearing every one three yards of feathers in his cap for his mistres’ favour.Hug,subs.(thieves’).—Garrotting(q.v.). Alsoverbally, andto put on the hug.1864.Home Magazine, 16 Mar. Hoax upon hoax about the putting onthe hugwas played off upon a credulous and bugbear-loving community.2. (old).—The sexual embrace. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide. Alsothe close hug.1659.Lady Alimony, ii., ‘Prologue’ (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 288). Apt for a spousalhug.1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., iv., 163. They’ve a new drug Which is calledthe close hug.Verb.(colloquial).—Properly to grapple with and hold the body, as a bear with his fore-paws. Hence (1) to cuddle; and (2) to perform the sexual embrace (seesubs., sense 2). Hence, also,to hug brown bess(q.v.);to hug the gunner’s daughter= to cuddle a gun for punishment;to hug the ground= to fall, or be hit off one’s legs;to give the hug(pugilists) = to close with and grapple the body;to hug the shore(orbank, orwall) to keep close to;cornish hug= a hold in wrestling;to hug a belief(ordelusion, orthought) = to cherish;to hug one’s chains= to delight in captivity.1696.Landsdowne,Poems, ‘Prologue toThe She-Gallants’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., p. 36). Then, like some pensive statesman, treads demure, And smiles andhugsto make distinction sure.1602.Campion,English Poesy(Buller,Works, 1889, p. 249). Changed is Helen. Helenhugsthe stranger.1631.Drayton,The Mooncalf(Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, iv., 133).Hughim, and swear he was her only joy.1637.BeaumontandFletcher,Elder Brother, iv., 1. This night I’llhugmy Lilly in my arms.d.1649.Drummond,Posthumous Poems, ‘Of a Kiss.’ Nor her who had the fate Ravis’d to be andhuggedon Ganges’ shore.1659.Lady Alimony, iv. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 288a). Shall wehugnone of our own, But such as drop from the frigid zone.c.1708.W. King,The Art of Love, Pt. iv. (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, ix., 266). Thenhuggingher in brawny arm.d.1710.R. Duke,Poems, ‘A Song’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, ix., 224). Closehugsthe charmer, and ashamed to yield, Though he has lost the day yet keeps the field.Idem.Shehugsthe dart that wounded her, and dies.d.1742.Somerville,Occasional Poems, etc., ‘The Fortune-Hunter,’ canto iii. (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 221). Drinks double bub with all his might Andhugshis doxy every night.1746.Smollett,Advice, line 4. We’llhugthe curse that not one joy can boast.d.1764.Lloyd,Poems(1774), ‘The Cit’s County Box.’Huggingthemselves in ease and clover.d.1773.G. Cunningham,Poems, ‘Holiday-Gown’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xiv., 441). Hehugsme so close, and he kisses so sweet.1791.Antient and Modern Scottish Songs, ‘My Jockey is a Bonnie Lad,’ ii., 325. And then he fa’s a kissing, clasping,hugging, squeezing, tousling, pressing, winna let me be.d.1796.Burns,The Jolly Beggars. And at night in barn or stable,hugsour doxies on the hay.[375]Hugger-mugger,subs.(colloquial).—Muddle; confusion.1868.C. Reade,Foul Play, ch. vii. Why didn’t you tell me, and I’d have tidied the room: it is allhugger-mugger, with miss a leaving.1885.T. E. Brown,The Doctor, p. 36. And every place as neat as a pin, And couldn’t stand nohugger-mugger.1892.Pall Mall Gaz., 28 Oct., p. 2, c. 2. He wrote some lampoons in the papers at the time, in which he ridiculed thehugger-muggerof the prosecution.Adv.(old).—Seequots.1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hugger-Mugger, Closely or by Stealth, Underboard:To eat so, that is, to Eat by one’s self.1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hugger-Mugger, by stealth, privately, without making an appearance; they spent their money in ahugger-muggerway.Adj.(common).—Confused; disorderly; hap-hazard;hand-to-mouth(q.v.).1882.Daily Telegraph, 5 Oct., p. 2, c. 2. Nor, can they be very severely blamed for thishugger-mugger, slipshod way of life.Verb.(common).—To meet by stealth; to lay heads together.1879.Justin McCarthy,Donna Quixote, ch. xxxii. I can see already that she won’t stand much more of you and mehugger-muggeringtogether.In hugger-mugger,adv. phr.(old).—1. In secret.1565.Stapleton,Fort. of the Faith, fol. 88. They should not have lurked all this whilein hucker-mucker.1588.J. Udall,Demonstration of Discipline, p. 30. (ed. Arber). The Byshop without any lawfull election, is chosenin huggermugerof the canons, or prebendaries onely, without the knowledge of the people.1594.Nashe,Unfortunate Traveller(Grosart,Works, v., 19). Myself that am but a poore childish wel-willer of yours, with the vain thought that a man of your desert and state by a number of pesants and varlets should be so incuriously abused inhugger-muggerhaue wept al my vrine upward.1596.Nashe,Saffron Walden(Grosart,Works, iii., 181). Hee sent her 18 pencein hugger-mugger, to pay the fiddlers.1596.Shakspeare,Hamlet, iv., 5.King.… We have done but greenly,In hugger-muggerto inter him.1602.Dekker,Satiromastix, iii., 133 (Dodsley,Old Plays, viii., 48). One word, sir Quintilian, inhugger-mugger.1607.Tourneur,Revenger’s Trag.(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875), v., i. And how quaintly he died, like a politician, inhugger-mugger.1611.Coryat,Crud., ii., p. 251, repr. So these perhaps might sometimes have some furtive conversationin hugger mugger.
1859.Fast Life, p. 54. The craters, of course,caught it hot, and many had the sack.
1872.Figaro, 22 June. The German Emperor, Bismarck, and Earl Granville alsogot it, but not quite sohotly.
1877.Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iv., p. 887. A young man who … had been guilty of bigamy, and to such a degree that hegot it hotfor such a crime—five years.
1892.Anstey,Model Music-Hall, 32. She spotted me in ’alf a jiff, and chaffed me precioushot.
Like a cat on hot bricks,phr.(colloquial).—Uncomfortable; restive.
1886.J. S. Winter,Army Society, ch. xvi. Lady Mainwaring looked like an eel in a frying-pan, or, most of anything perhaps,like a cat on hot bricks.
Hot with,phr.(common).—Spirits with hot water and sugar.SeeCider and, andCold without.
Hot-arsed,adj. phr.(venery).—Excessively lewd. [Of women only.]Cf.,Biter.
Hot-beef.To give hot-beef,verb. phr.(thieves’ rhyming).—To cry ‘Stop thief.’ AlsoBeef(q.v.).
1879.J. W. Horsley, inMacm. Mag., xl., 506. He followed, giving mehot beef(calling ‘Stop thief’).
Hot-cakes.To go off like hot cakes,verb. phr.(common).—To sell readily; to be in good demand.
1889.Pall Mall Gaz., 11 Oct., p. 6, c. 1. Sold at one penny retail they oftengo off like hot cakes.
1893.Emerson,Signor Lippo, ch. xii. It went offlike hot cakes.
Hot-foot,adv.(colloquial).—Instant in pursuit.
Hotch-potch,subs.(old: now recognised).—A medley; ahodge-podge(q.v.).
1597.Hall,Satires, i., 3. A goodlyhotch-potchwhen vile russettings are matched with monarchs and mighty kings.
1606.Return from Parnassus, iv., 2. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 183). This word,hotch-potchin English is a pudding; for in such a pudding is commonly not one thing only, but one thing with another.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hotch-potch, an Oglio, or Medly of several Meats in one Dish.
c.1709.W. King,Art of Cookery, ix. (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, ix., 259). The first delighting inhodge-podge, gallimaufry, forced meats … and salmagundy.
1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1728.Patrick Walker,Alexander Peden, ‘Postscript’ (ed. 1827, i., 128). Ahotch-potchor bagful of Arian, Arminian, Socinian, Pelagian, etc.
1892.Pall Mall Gaz., 17 Oct., p. 2, c. 1. Both are a sort ofhotchpotchof songs, dances, and extravaganzas.
Hot-coppers,subs.(common).—The fever and parched throat, ormouth(q.v.), attending a debauch.SeeCool one’s Copper.
1830.Egan,Finish to Life in London, 156. The ‘uncommonly big gentleman’ in spite of swallowing oceans of soda-water, declared hiscopperto be sohotthat he thought all the water in the sea could not reduce his thirst!
1841.Punch, vol. I., p. 244. ‘Oh blow your physiology!’ says Rapp. ‘You mean to say you’ve got ahot copper—so have I. Send for the precious balm and then fire away.’
1849.Thackeray,Pendennis, ch. xliii. ‘Nothing like that beer,’ he remarked,‘when thecoppersarehot.’
1864.Comic Almanack, p. 63. ‘Cold Cream Internally.’ Cold cream is an excellent remedy forhot coppers.[364]
1892.Hume Nisbet,Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 134. He came … as happy-looking, and lively as if no suchthingashot coppersexisted.
Hotel(alsoCupid’s HotelandCupid’s Arms).—subs.(venery).—The femalepudendum.Cf.,Cock Inn. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.
Hotel Barbering,subs.(common).—Bilking.
1892.Daily Chronicle, 28 Mar., p. 5, c. 7. The inference is now fairly admissable that he may possibly have divided his time between polygamous pursuits andhotel barberingexploits.
Hotel Warming-pan,subs. phr.(common).—A chambermaid. Alsowarming-pan(q.v.). Fr.,une limogère.
Hot-flannel(orFlannel),subs.(old).—Gin and beer, with nutmeg, sugar, etc., made hot.
1789.Geo. Parker,Life’s Painter, p. 144. A mixed kind of liquor … when drank in a morning it is calledflannel.
1858.A. Mayhew,Paved with Gold, bk. III., ch. iii., p. 269. A jug of what he termedhot flannelfor three—a mixture of gin, beer, and eggs.
Hot-house,subs.(old).—A brothel. Also (seequot. 1616), a public bath. For synonyms,seeNanny-shop.
1596.Nashe,Have with You to Saffron Walden(Grosart, iii., 106). Anyhot-houseor bawdy-house of them all.
1599.Jonson,Every Man out of His Humour, iv., 4. Let a man sweat once a week in ahot-house, and be well rubbed and froted with a plump juicy wench and clean linen.
1603.Shakspeare,Measure for Measure, ii., 1. Now she professes ahot-house, which is a very ill house too.
1606.The Return from Parnassus, i., 2 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 115). He cannot swagger it well in a tavern, nor domineer in ahot-house.
1616.Jonson,Epigrams, ‘On the NewHot-house.’ Where lately harboured many a famous whore, A purging bill now fixed upon the door Tells you it is ahot-house: So it may, And still be a whore-house. They’re synonyma.
1699.Garth,The Dispensary, ii., line 157. Ahot-househe prefers to Julia’s arms.
Hot Meat(orBeeforMutton),subs. phr.(venery).—SeeBit.
Hot-member(orHot ’un).—SeeWarm Member.
Hot-Milk,subs.(venery).—The semen. For synonyms,seeCream.
Hot-place,subs.(colloquial).—Hell. For synonyms,seeTropical Climate.
1891.F. H. Groome,Blackwood, Mar., p. 320. A letter from her son in Hull, told the curate that ‘that did give me a tarn at fust, for I thought that come from thehot place.’
Hot-pot,subs.(old).—Ale and brandy made hot.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1788.G. C. Stevens,Adv. of a Speculist, ii., 56. A watchman and an old Blind Woman, troubled with the palsy, drinkinghot-pottogether.
Hot-potato.To drop like a hot potato,verb. phr.(common).—To abandon (a pursuit, a person, a thing) with alacrity.
Hot-pudding.To have a hot-pudding for supper,verb. phr.(venery).—To copulate. Of women only. [Pudding(Durfey) = thepenis]. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.[365]
Hot-stomach.So hot a stomach as to burn the clothes off his back,phr.(old).—Said of one who pawns his clothes for drink.—Lex. Bal.
Hottentot,subs.(East-end).Seequot.
1880.G. R. Sims,How the Poor Live, ch. x. The cry ofHottentotswent round. ‘Hottentots’ is the playful way in this district of designating a stranger, that is to say, a stranger come from the West.
2. (common).—A fool. For synonyms,seeBuffleandCabbage-head.
Hot-tiger,subs.(Oxford Univ.).—Hot-spiced ale and sherry.—Hotten.
Hot-water.To be in hot-water,verb. phr.(colloquial).—To be in trouble, in difficulties, or worried.
1846.Punch’s Almanack, 29 Nov. TheTimesfirst printed by steam, 1814, and has kept the country inhot waterever since.
1864.Mark Lemon,Jest book, p. 238. Lord Allen, in conversation with Rogers, the poet, observed: ‘I never put my razor into hot water, as I find it injures the temper of the blade.’ ‘No doubt of it,’ replied Rogers; ‘show me the blade that isnot out of temperwhen plunged intohot water.’
Hound,subs.(Cambridge Univ.).—1.Seequot.
1879.E. Walford, inN. and Q., 5 S., xii., 88. In theAnecdotes of Bowyer… we are told that ahoundof King’s College, Cambridge, is an undergraduate not on the foundation, nearly the same as a ‘sizar.’
2. (colloquial). A mean, contemptible fellow; a scoundrel; a filthy sneak.
Hounslow-heath,subs.(rhyming).—The teeth. For synonyms,seeGrinders. AlsoHampstead-heath.
1887.DagonetinReferee, 7 Nov., p. 7, c. 3. She’d a Grecian ‘I suppose,’ And ofHampstead Heathtwo rows.
Houri of Fleet-street,subs. phr.(common).—A prostitute. For synonyms,seeBarrack-hackandTart.
House,subs.(theatrical).—1. An audience.To bring down the house= to elicit a general burst of applause. Fr.,avoir sa côtelette; boire du lait.
1823.Bee,Dict. of the Turf, s.v.House. With them (the players) it means Covent-garden or Drury-lane, or indeed any other theatre. ‘A full-house’ and ‘half-a-house’ indicate the state of the receipts or number of the audience.
1870.Athenæum, 13 Aug., p. 120. ‘Letter of J. O. Halliwell.’ It is now certain that Shakespeare was never proprietor of either (the Globe or Blackfriars) theatre. His sole interest in them consisted in a participation,as an actorin the receipts of what is called thehouse.
1873.Home News, 24 Jan. I exerted myself, not for praise of that well-dressed mob they calledthe house, but for very love of the congenial sport.
1892.Sydney Watson,Wops the Waif, ch. iii., p. 4. There was tremendous enthusiasm this evening. Every scene was uproariously applauded, and at the climax the wholehouserose and cheered and encored with tumultuous feeling.
The House(colloquial).—(1) The Stock Exchange; (2) The House of Commons; (3) Christ Church, Oxford.
House under the hill,subs. phr.(venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.
House(orapartments)to let,subs. phr.(common).—A widow.—Lex. Bal.AlsoBill-of-SaleandMan-trap.[366]
Father of the House,subs. phr.(Parliamentary).—The oldest elected member.SeeBabe.
House that Jack built,subs. phr.(common).—A prison. For synonyms,seeCage.
Like a house on fire,adv. phr.(common).—Quickly; with energy.SeeLike.
1851–61.Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, ii., 85. I’m getting onlike areglerhouse on fire.
Safe as houses,adv. phr.(common).—Perfectly safe.
1864.E. Yates,Broken to Harness, ch. xxxii., p. 361 (1873). I have the means of doing that, assafe as houses.
1874.T. Hardy,Far from the Madding Crowd, ch. lvii. ‘The clothes will floor us assafe as houses,’ said Coggan.
1886.Grant Allen,In All Shades, ch. i. Why, of course, then, that’s the explanation of it—assafe as houses, you may depend upon it.
1890.Grant Allen,Tents of Shem, ch. xxviii. You may make your forgery itself assafe as houses.
House-bit(or-keeper, or-piece),subs.(colloquial).—A servant-mistress.
House-dove,subs.(old).—A stay-at-home.
Household-brigade.To join the Household Brigade,verb. phr.(common).—To marry. For synonyms,seeSplice.
1881.Home Tidings, April, p. 42, c. 1. Jem Ryan joined thehousehold brigadeon Easter Monday, E. New acting as best man.
House of Civil Reception,subs. phr.(old).—A brothel. For synonyms,seeNanny-shop.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
House of Commons(orHouse of Office),subs. phr.(old).—A W.C. For synonyms,seeMrs. Jones.
1611.Chapman,May-Day, iv., 2. No room save you turn out my wife’s coal-house, and her otherhouse of officeattached to it, reserved for her and me sometimes, and will you use it being a stranger?
1748.Smollett,Roderick Random, c. xiii. Taking the candle in his hand, which he had left burning for the purpose, he went down to thehouse of office.
d.1780.Robertsonof Struan,Poems, 83. So to aHouse of Officestraight a school-boy does repair, To ease his postern of its weight.
House-tailor,subs.(old).—An upholsterer.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.House-tailers, Upholsterers.
1725.New Cant. Dict., s.v.
Housewife(orHuswife, orHussy),subs.(colloquial).—1. Primarily, a house-keeper. Hence (a) a domestic servant; (b) a wanton or a gad-about wench; and (c) a comic endearment. Hence, too,housewifery,subs., andhousewife’s tricks= the habit of wantonness, the practice of men.
1508.Gawain and Gologras, ‘Ballade,’ (Pinkerton,Scottish Poems, 1792, iii.). A gudehusy-wifeay rinning in the toun.
1589.Puttenham,English Poesie, 1589, ii., 16 (ed.Arber, p. 148). Half lost for lack of a goodhuswife’slooking to.
1600.Look about You, sc. 28 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii., 476).Huswife, I’ll have you whipped for slandering me.
1602.Shakspeare,Twelfth Night, i., 2. I hope to see somehousewifetake thee between her legs and spin it off.
1659.Lady Alimony, iii., 3 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 331). And if thehussychallenge more, Charm the maundering gossip with your roar.Idem.iii., 6. (p. 340). If I make not these haxters as hateful to ourhussiesas ever they were to us, their husbands, set me up for a Jack-a-Lent.
1672.Ray,Proverbs, s.v.,Cat. Cats eat whathussiesspare.[367]
1673.Wycherly,Gentleman Dancing Master, iv., 1. What,hussy, would you not do as he’d have you?
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.
1694.Congreve,Double Dealer, iv., 3. When I was of your age,hussy, I would have held fifty to one I could have drawn my own picture.
1697.Vanbrugh,Æsop, i., 1. Hark youhussy. You can give yourself airs sometimes, you know you can.
1708.Mrs. Centlivre,The Busy-Body, iv., 2. I’ll charm you,housewife. Here lies the charm that conjured this fellow in.
1708.Prior,Poems(Aldine ed. ii., 270), ‘The Insatiable Priest.’ To suppress all his carnal desires in their birth At all hours a lusty younghussyis near.
1720.Swift,Poems, ‘A Portrait’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 448). Ahousewifein bed, at table a slattern.
1728.Swift,Poems, ‘My Lady’s Lamentations’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 460). Consider before You come to threescore, How thehussieswill fleer Whene’er you appear.
1731.C. Coffey,The Devil to Pay, i. Don’t you know,hussy, that I am king in my own house.
1732.Henry Fielding,The Mock Doctor, i. Ay,hussy, a regular education; first at the charity-school where I learned to read.
1751.Smollett,Peregrine Pickle, c. xviii. He supposed the object of his love was some paltryhussy, whom he had picked up when he was a boy at school.
d.1764.Lloyd,Poems(1774), ‘Chit-Chat.’ Lud! I could beat thehusseydown, She’s poured it all upon my gown.
1768.Goldsmith,Good Natured Man, ii. And you have but too well succeeded, you littlehussy, you.
1771.Smollett,Humphrey Clinker(ed. 1800, p. 43). And I have been twice in the bath with mistress and na’r a smock upon our backs,hussy.
1782.Cowley,Bold Stroke for a Husband, i., 2.Don C.Now,hussy, what do you expect?
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1786.Burns,The Inventory. Frae this time forth I do declare, I’se ne’er ride horse norhizziemair.
1822.Scott,Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxii. Say nothing of that,housewife, … or I will beat thee—beat thee with my staff.
1829.C. A. Somerset,The Day After the Fair, i. Oh, youhussy! so you were Madame Maypole!
1893.R. le Gallienne, Intro.Liber Amoris, p. xliv. To think of poor Hazlitt gravely lavishing his choice Elizabethan quotations on thehussey.
2. (venery).—The femalepudendum. For synonyms,seeMonosyllable.
Housey,adj.(Christ’s Hospital).—Belonging to the Hospital.
Housle,verb.(Winchester College).—To hustle.
Hoveller,subs.(nautical).—A beach-thief.
How.How came you so?phr.(old).—Drunk. For synonyms,seeDrinksandScrewed.
1824.T. Hook,Sayings and Doings, 1st S.Merton, ch. xiii. Ould Mrs. Etherington was a right bad one; she used to beLord, how come you so!every night, as regular as she went to bed.
How much?phr.(common).—‘What do you say?’ ‘What do you mean?’ What price?—a general request for explanations.
1852.F. E. Smedley,Lewis Arundel, ch. xxxiv. ‘Then my answer must mainly depend on the exact height of the principles.’ ‘On thehow much?’inquired Frere, considerably mystified.
How are you off for soap,phr.(old).—A street catch.
1833.Marryat,Peter Simple, ch. iv. Well, Reefer,how are you off for soap?
1842.Punch, ii., 94, c. 2. Walker!how are you off for soap?
How the blazes.SeeBlazes.
How is that for high.SeeHigh.
How’s your poor feet,phr.(streets’).—A street catch, of no particular meaning.SeeStreet Cries.[368]
1863.All the Year Round, x., 180.How’s your poor feet?a year ago cheated half the natives of Cockaigne into the belief that they were gifted with a special genius for repartee.
1863.G. A. Sala,Breakfast in Bed, p. 163 (1864). But how would you like a screeching multitude, fifty thousand strong, and with not one of whom, to the best of your knowledge, you had even a bowing acquaintance, to vociferate in your track—in the public street, mind—‘Ya-a-a-h!how are your poor feet?’
1890.Town and Country(Sydney), 11 Jan., p. 19, c. 4. Henry Irving’s revival of ‘The Dead Heart’ has revived a bit of slang.… When the play was brought out originally, where one of the characters says, ‘My heart is dead, dead, dead!’ a voice from the gallery nearly broke up the drama withHow are your poor feet?The phrase lived.
How’ll you have it,phr.(common).—An invitation to drink. For synonyms,seeDrinks.
How we apples swim(sometimes amplified byQuoth the horse-turd)!verb. phr.(old).—Said in derision of a parvenu; of a person in better company than he (or she) has any right to keep; or of a pretender to honour or credit he (or she) does not deserve.
1670.Ray,Proverbs, s.v.
1697–1764.Hogarth(Works by J. Ireland and J. Nichols, London, 1873) III., p. 29. And even this, little as it is, gives him so much importance in his own eyes, that he assumes a consequential air, sets his arms akimbo, and strutting among the historical artists cries,how we apples swim.
1860.Cornhill Mag.(D. Mallett,Tyburn), Dec., p.737. While tumbling down the turbid stream, Lord, love us,how we apples swim.
Howard’s Garbage,subs. phr.(military).—The Nineteenth Foot. AlsoGreen Howards.
Howard’s Greens,subs. phr.(military).—The Twenty-fourth Foot. [From its facings and its Colonel’s name, 1717–37.]
How-do-you-do,subs.(colloquial).—A ‘to do’; a ‘kettle of fish’; a ‘pass.’
1835.Haliburton,Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xxvi. Thinks I, here’s a prettyhow do you do; I’m in foritnow, that’s a fact.
Howler,subs.(common).—An unblushing falsehood; an enormous blunder; a serious accident; and so forth.To come(orgo)a howler= to come to grief; to run amuck.
1885.Daily News, 16 May, p. 4, c. 8. Now, to speak respectfully of old scholars that were before us, the translators of the Bible constantly made what undergraduates callhowlers, or grievously impossible blunders.
1886.StephensandYardley,Little Jack Sheppard, p. 34.Jack.My dears, you’re late.Bess.Our hansom came ahowler.
1888.Indoor Paupers, p. 24. As to how we are to spend the eight hours, or thereabouts, that remain after meals, church, andhowlersare disposed of, nobody, except ourselves and a few private friends outside, cares in the least.
1891.Moonshine, 14 Mar. Oh,Isaw some piece in which a Johnnie smoked some cigarettes, and at lastcame a howler, and wanted to commit suicide.
1891.Pall Mall Gaz., 12 Sep., p. 2, c. 3. We wondered yesterday how many of our classical readers wouldseethehowler—or the joke.
Howling,adj.(common).—A general intensitive.E.g.,Howling-swell= a man in the extreme of fashion;howling-lie= a gross falsehood;howling-bags= trousers extravagant in cut or pattern;howling-cad, etc.[369]
1865.G. A. Sala,Trip to Barbary, ch. vii. The hotel at Marseilles was full of our countrymen of the order known at Lane’s and Limmer’s ashowling swells.
1887.Household Words, 11 June, 116. Let’s hook it; that Jenny Morris is such anhowling swellthat she won’t wait for any one.
1889.Licensed Vict. Gaz., 8 Feb. The Hon. Juggins was what is popularly known as ahowling swell.
1892.Anstey,Model Music-Hall, 146. And all the while your heart was given to ahowling cad.
Hoxter,subs.(old).—1. An inside pocket.
1834.H. Ainsworth,Rookwoodbk. III., ch. v. No slour’dhoxtermy snipes could stay.
2. (Royal Military Academy).—Extra drill. [Corruption of extra.] Fr.,le bal.
1887.Barrère,Argot and Slang. Thehoxterconsists in the painful ordeal of being compelled to turn out of bed at an early hour, and march up and down under the watchful eye of a corporal.
Hoys.SeeHoist.
Hoyt.SeeHoit.
Hub,subs.(American).—1. Boston. Also,Hub of the Universe. [The description is Oliver Wendell Holmes’s.] Since extended to other centres or chief cities (seequot. 1876).
1869.Boston Herald, Dec. He is to have a quintette club of amateurs with him, fromthe Hub.
1872.Daily Telegraph, 4 July. Boston claims to be theHubof the universe; but New York grandiloquently asserts itself to be the universal wheel itself.
1872.Daily Telegraph, Dec. The wealth of theHub of the Universe, as Bostonians delight to call their city, is very great.
1876.Daily News, 18 Jan. Calcutta … swaggers as if it were thehub of the Universe.
1888.Boston Daily Globe.The typical girl ofthe Hubhas been much written about in the novels of the period, and without doubt she is worth all the attention bestowed upon her.
2. (colloquial).—A husband.SeeHubby.
Hubble-bubble,subs.(colloquial).—1.Seequots.
1748.T.Dyche,Dictionary(5th Ed.).Hubble-Bubble(s.) a confused noise made by a talkative person, who speaks so quick, that it is difficult to understand what he says or means.
1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Hubble-bubble. Confusion. Ahubble bubblefellow, a man of confused ideas, or one thick of speech, whose words sound like water bubbling out of a bottle.
2. (common).—A hookah; a pipe by which the smoke is passed through water.
1811.Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.Hubble-bubble.… Also an instrument used for smoaking through water in the East Indies, called likewise a caloon and hooker.
1868.Ouida,Under Two Flags, ch. xxii. The Moor, warmly grateful, was ever ready to give him a cup of coffee and ahubble-bubblein the stillness of his dwelling.
1887.Field, 15 Oct. Off I went down the ravine, and half a mile below came to Besan quietly smoking hishubble-bubble.
1891.W. C. Russell,Ocean Tragedy, p. 130. A burning atmosphere sickly with the smell of the incense of thehubble-bubble, with a flavour of hot curry about.
Hubble-de-shuff,adv.(old).—Confusedly.—Lex. Bal.
Hubbub,subs.(old: now recognised).—Seequots.
d.1639.Robert Carey(Earl of Monmouth),Memoirs, 1759, p. 155. This made a greathub-bubin our Court.
1667.Milton,Paradise Lost, ii., 951. A universalhubbubwild, Of stunning sounds.[370]
1682.Bunyan,Holy War(1893 ed. M. Peacock, p. 58). The conscience and understanding begin to receive conviction, and they set the soul in ahubbub.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hubbub, a Noise in the Streets made by the Rabble.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hubbub, a noise, riot, or disturbance.
1893.Westminster Gaz., 8 Aug., p. 2, col. 1. An indescribablehubbubof showmen’s, hawkers’, and children’s voices from near and far.
Hubby(orHub),subs.(colloquial).—A husband.
1798.Morton,Secrets Worth Knowing. Epilogue. The wife poor thing, at first so blithe and chubby, Scarce knows again her lover in herhubby.
1807.Stevens,Wks., p. 175. What couldhubbydo then, what couldhubbydo? But sympathy-struck, as she cry’d, he cry’d too.
1811.Poole,Hamlet Travestied, ii., 3. Now, madam, this once was yourhubby.
1883.Referee, 17 Apr., p. 3, c. 2. I did hear it whispered that her parents and guardians, or her horrifiedhubby, had turned the key on her.
Huck,verb.(old).—To chaffer; to bargain.
1577.Holinshead,Description of England, ed. 1807, i., 315. It was his custome likewise to saie, if anie manhuckedhard with him about the price of a gelding: ‘So God helpe me … either he did cost me so much,’ or else, ‘By Jesus I stole him.’
Huckleberry.Above one’s huckleberry(bend, orhook),adv. phr.(American).—Beyond one’s ability; out of one’s reach.SeeBend.
1848.J. F. Cooper,The Oak Openings. It would beabove my bendto attempt telling you all we saw among the red skins.
1852. ‘L’Allegro,’As Good as a Comedy, p. 61. Well, Squire Barry, you’re ahuckleberry above my persimmon, but I reckon something can be done.
Huckle-my-butt,subs.(old).—Beer, egg, and brandy made hot.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1834.Ainsworth,Rookwood, iii., 5. ‘If that’s a bowl ofhuckle-my-buttyou are brewing, Sir William,’ added he, addressing the knight of Malta, ‘you may send me a jorum at your convenience.’
Huckster,subs.(old: now recognised).—1. A retailer of small goods; a pedlar.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Huckster, the Retailers of the Market, who Sell in the Market at second Hand.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hucksters, itinerant retailers of provisions.
2. (old).—A mean trickster.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.
In huckster’s hands,adv. phr.(old).—Seequot.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hucksters.…In huckster’s hands, at a desperate Pass, or Condition, or in a fair way to be Lost.
Hucksum(alsoHuckle, orHuckle-bone, orHuck-bone).—The hip.
c.1508.Dunbar,Flyting(Poems, ed. 1834, ii., 72). Withhuck-bonesharth and haw.
d.1529.Skelton,Elynor Rummyn(Poems, 1843, i.). The bones of herhuckelsLyke as they were buckels.
1575.Still,Gammer Gurton’s Needle, i., 3 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iii., 180). For bursting of herhuckle-bone, or breaking of her shin.
Huddle,verb.(venery).—To copulate. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide.
Hue,verb.(old).—Seequot.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. The Cove wasHuedin the Naskin, the Rogue was severely Lasht inBridewell.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.[371]
Huey,subs.(Old Cant).—A town or village.
1851–61.H. Mayhew,Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 231. ‘Where do you stall to in thehuey?’ which, fairly translated, means, ‘Where do you lodge in the town?’
Huff,subs.(colloquial).—1. An outburst of temper; peevishness; offence at some real or imaginary wrong or slight. Hence,to get(ortake)the huff= to fly into a passion.
1599.H. Porter,Two Angry Women of Abingdon(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii., 311). And as thou say’st to me, to him I said, But in a greaterhuffand hotter blood.
1676.Etherege,Man of Mode,Wks.(1704), i., 190. Tax her with the next fop that comes Into my head, and ina huffmarch away.
1688.Shadwell,Sq. of Alsatia,Wks.(1720), iv., 63. If you were not the brother to my dearest friend, I know what my honour would prompt me to [walks in ahuff].
1700.Farquhar,Constant Couple, ii., 2. I offer’d her fifty guineas, and she was in her airs presently, and flew away ina huff.
1705–7.Ward,Hudibras Redivivus, vol. II., pt. iv., p. 26. I pay’d three Shillings, ina Huff, For my half Pint of liquid Stuff.
1759–67.Sterne,Tristram Shandy, ch. xxix. He left off the study of projectiles in a kind ofhuff, and betook himself to the practical part of fortification only.Idem.ch. c. Can I? cried Susannah, shutting the door in ahuff.
1769.Chatterton,Poems, ‘Journal’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xv., 495). ‘Sir,’ quoth the Rector in ahuff.
1777.Sheridan,Trip to Scarborough, i., 1. The lady not condescending to give me any serious reasons for having fooled me for a month, I left herin a huff.
1825.Neal,Bro. Jonathan, bk. II., ch. 16. What ahuffyou’re at! I only axed a question.
1855.Thackeray,Newcomes, ch. xx. He is as proud as Lucifer, he is always takinghuffabout one thing or the other.
1855.Browning,Men and Women, ‘Fra Lippo Lippi’ (Ed. 1864, p. 357). You’ll not mistake an idle word Spoke in ahuffby a poor monk?
1885.T. E. Brown,The Doctor, p. 30. Already my goodness! he’staking the huff.
1892.Anstey,Model Music-Hall, 37. Some partiesin a huffrage At the plea for Female Suffrage.
2. (old).—A bully; aHector(q.v.); a sharper. AlsoCaptain Huff.
1569.Preston,Cambises(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iv., 177). [Enter three ruffians,huff, Ruff, and Snuff.]
1680.Cotton,Complete Gamester, p. 333.Huffs, hectors, setters, gilts,pads, biters, etc.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant.Crew, s.v.
1693.Congreve,Old Bachelor, iv., 9. Good, slovenlyCaptain Huff, Bluffe (what is your hideous name?).
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
3. (common).—A dodge; a trick.
4. (draughts’).—A term in the game of draughts; the penalty for not taking a piece.
5. (Winchester College).—SeeHuff-cap.
Verb.(colloquial).—1. To bluster; to bounce; to swagger.
1607.How a Man May Choose a Good Wife, etc., iv., 3 (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 78). Ahuffingwench i’ faith.
1630.Taylor,Workes. The smell is the senting bawd, thathuffsand snuffs up and downe, and hath the game alwayes in the winde.Ibid.One asked ahuffinggallant why hee had not a looking-glasse in his chamber; he answered, he durst not, because hee was often angry, and then he look’d so terribly that he was fearefull to looke upon himselfe.
d.1631.Donne,Satires, iv. (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, v., 158). To th’huffing, braggart, puffed nobility.[372]
1643.Randolph,Muses Looking-Glasse, i., 1.Flowrd.Iniquity aboundeth, though pure zeal Teach, preach,huffe, puffe, and snuffe at it, yet still, Still it aboundeth.
1673.Wycherley,Gentleman Dancing Master, v., 1. How! my surly,huffing, jealous, senseless, saucy master.
1675.Wycherley,Country Wife. ‘Prologue.’ Well, let the vain rash fop, byhuffingso, Think to obtain the better terms of you.
1680.Dryden,Prol. to Lee’s Cæsar Borgia, p. 29. So big you look, though claret you retrench, That, armed with bottled ale, youhuffthe French.
d.1680.Rochester,Poems, ‘Woman’s Honour’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, viii., 239). Thishuffinghonour domineers In breasts when he alone has place.
1682.Bunyan,Holy War(ed. M. Peacock, 1893, p. 72). He refused andhuffedas well as he could, but in heart he was afraid.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Huff.To huff and ding, to bounce and swagger.
1690.The Pagan Prince.And the same threats and menaces of the palatine being carry’d to the marshal de Tonneure, notwithstanding all his former encomiums, Oh! quo he, the palatine’s a young prince; give him leave tohuff and dingfor his living; words break no bones: when all’s done, ’tis the coach wheel, not the fly that raises the dust.
1699.Robert Franck,Northern Memoirs(quoted inNew Review, Aug., 1893, p. 145). Sohuffedaway.
1700.Mrs. Centlivre,Perjured Husband. ‘Epilogue.’ Let cowards cease tohuff.
1705.Ward,Hudibras Redivivus, vol. I., pt. iii., p. 14. And in their frenzy,huffand threaten With what sad stripes we shall be beaten.
1708.Prior,Poems, ‘The Mice.’ (Aldine ed. ii., 244, 50). One went to Holland where theyhufffolk, T’other to vend his wares in Suffolk.
1714.Newest Academy of Compliments.Pray neighbour, why d’ye look awry? You’re grown a wondrous stranger; Youhuff, you pout, you walk about As tho’ you’d burst with anger.
1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., i., 283. Thus, thus I strut andhuff.Idem., i., 154. But when the new ones did stoop, The t’other ashuffingwould be.Idem., v., 99. When Bullies leavehuffingand Cowards their Trembling.
1725.Swift,Poems, ‘A New Song’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 446). If he goes to the baker’s the baker willhuff, And twenty pence ask for a twopenny loaf.
d.1742.Somerville,Occasional Poems, ‘The Officious Messenger’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 206). Her ladyship beganto huff.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
2. To anger;to cheek(q.v.); to get angered.
1708.Mrs. Centlivre,The Busy-Body, iii., 4. Impossible, without hehuffsthe lady, and makes love to Sir Francis.
1835.Marryat,Jacob Faithful, ch.xliii. Upon this shehuffsoutright, and tells Tom he may go about his business, for she didn’t care if she never sees him no more.
1839.W. H. Ainsworth,Jack Sheppard, p. 133 (Ed. 1840). If theydo, now and then, run away with a knocker, paint a sign, beat the watch, orhuffa magistrate.
Intj.(obsolete).—Seequots. AlsoHuffaandHuffa-gallant. [Probably the oldest form of the word.]
c.1510.Rastell,Four Elements(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i., 20). Withhuffa gallant, tirl on the berry, And let the wide world wind.
c.152(?).Hick Scorner(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i., 188).Huff! huff! huff!who sent after me.
d.1529.Skelton,Poems, ‘Against Garnesche’ (Dyce, i., 118, and note ii., 181–2).Huf a galante, Garneysche, loke on your comely ars.
To stand the huff,verb. phr.(old).—To stand the reckoning.—Lex. Bal.
AlsoHuffy= easily offended;Huffed= annoyed;Huffily= testily; in a tantrum.[373]
1825.Neal,Bro. Jonathan, bk. II., ch. 15. A leetle on thehuffyorder, I guess! Aint you?
1852.H. B. Stowe,Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ch. xvi. I … actually was so cruel as to restrict him to one dozen of my cambric handkerchiefs. Dolph was particularlyhuffyabout it, and I had to talk to him like a father to bring him round.
1853.Lytton,My Novel, bk. I., ch. ix. Though the Squire was inclined to be very friendly to all his neighbours, he was, like most country gentlemen, rather easilyhuffed.
1873.Miss Broughton,Nancy, ch. xxxvi. ‘I have no doubt you would!’ say I, turning sharply andhuffilyaway.
1875.Ouida,Signa, vol. II., ch. xx., p. 324. ‘She is a stupid little mule,’ thought the old woman, angrily. ‘She feels nothing, she sees no greatness in it all—she is only good to grub amongst her cabbages.’ And she went awayhuffed.
1885.T. E. Brown,The Doctor, p. 31.huffedis he, eh? And who regards him?
Huff-cap(orHuff),subs.(Old Cant: still in use at Winchester College).—1. Strong ale. [‘From inducing people to set their caps in a bold andhuffingstyle.’—Nares.]
1579.Fulwell,Art of Flattery. Commonly calledHufcap, it will make a man look as though he had seene the devil.
1586.Holinshed,Description of England. These men hale atHuff-captill they be red as cockes and little wiser than their combes.
1602.Campion,English Poesy(Bullen,Works, 1889, p. 247). Hunks detests whenhuffcapale he tipples.
1614.Greene,Looking-Glass[Dyce], p. 127. The ale is strong ale, ’tishufcap; I warrant you, ’twill make a man well.
1630.Taylor,Wks.And this is it, of ale-houses and innes, Wine-marchants vintners, brewers, who much wins By others losing, I say more or lesse, Who sale ofhufcapliquor doe professe.
1870.Mansfield,School Life, p. 180. Washed down by libations ofHuff.
1878.Adams,Wykehamica, s.v.Huff, the strong ale brewed by the College.
2. (old).—A swaggering bully; aHector(q.v.).
1596.Nashe,Lenten Stuffe(Grosart,Works, v., 306). Thehuff-cappesto drink in that house, thou shalt be sure of always.
1630.Taylor,Wks.But ’tis a maxime mortals cannot hinder, The doughty deeds of Wakefield’shuffe-capPinder Are not so pleasant as the faire Aurora, When Nimrod rudely plaid on his bandora.
1687.Clifford,Notes upon Dryden, letter 2. Prethee tell me true, was not thishuff-caponce the Indian emperour, and at another time did not he call himself Maximine?
1706.Farquhar,Recruiting Officer, v., 6. You have made a fine speech good CaptainHuff-cap.
Adj.(old).—Swaggering; blustering; rousing.
1597.Hall,Satires, i., 3. Graced withhuff-capterms and thundering threats.
Huffer,subs.(old).—A swaggerer.
1682.Banks,Vertue Betrayed, Prol. lines 23–4. Welcome mask-teazer, peevish gamster,huffer: All fools, but politicians, we can suffer.
1770.Lord Hailes,Ancient Scottish Poetry, note on ‘Seven Deadly Sins,’ line 34.Huffers(or threateners), boasters, and they who pick quarrels.
Huffle,verb.(venery).—1.To bag-pipe(q.v.).
2. (colloquial).—To shift; to hesitate; to waver.
Huff-snuff,subs.(old).—A person apt to take offence.
1592.Nashe,Strange News, etc. (Grosart,Works,ii., 184). GabrielHuffe-SnuffeKnowne to the world for a foole, and clapt in the Fleete for a poet.
1598.Florio,A Worlde of Wordes, s.v.Risentito.… Also ahuffe snuffe, one that will soone take pepper in the nose, that will revenge euerie small matter.[374]
1750.Ozell,Rabelais, iv., pref. xxiii. Freebooters, desperadoes, and bullyinghuff-snuffs.
Huftie-tuftie,adj.(old).—Swaggering; gallant.
1596.Nashe,Saffron Walden(Grosart,Works, iii., 106). Came a ruffling it out,huftie-tuftie, in his velvet suit.
1599.Nashe,Lenten Stuffe, (Grosart,Works, v., 250).Huftie-tuftieyouthful ruffling comrades, wearing every one three yards of feathers in his cap for his mistres’ favour.
Hug,subs.(thieves’).—Garrotting(q.v.). Alsoverbally, andto put on the hug.
1864.Home Magazine, 16 Mar. Hoax upon hoax about the putting onthe hugwas played off upon a credulous and bugbear-loving community.
2. (old).—The sexual embrace. For synonyms,seeGreensandRide. Alsothe close hug.
1659.Lady Alimony, ii., ‘Prologue’ (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 288). Apt for a spousalhug.
1719.Durfey,Pills, etc., iv., 163. They’ve a new drug Which is calledthe close hug.
Verb.(colloquial).—Properly to grapple with and hold the body, as a bear with his fore-paws. Hence (1) to cuddle; and (2) to perform the sexual embrace (seesubs., sense 2). Hence, also,to hug brown bess(q.v.);to hug the gunner’s daughter= to cuddle a gun for punishment;to hug the ground= to fall, or be hit off one’s legs;to give the hug(pugilists) = to close with and grapple the body;to hug the shore(orbank, orwall) to keep close to;cornish hug= a hold in wrestling;to hug a belief(ordelusion, orthought) = to cherish;to hug one’s chains= to delight in captivity.
1696.Landsdowne,Poems, ‘Prologue toThe She-Gallants’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., p. 36). Then, like some pensive statesman, treads demure, And smiles andhugsto make distinction sure.
1602.Campion,English Poesy(Buller,Works, 1889, p. 249). Changed is Helen. Helenhugsthe stranger.
1631.Drayton,The Mooncalf(Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, iv., 133).Hughim, and swear he was her only joy.
1637.BeaumontandFletcher,Elder Brother, iv., 1. This night I’llhugmy Lilly in my arms.
d.1649.Drummond,Posthumous Poems, ‘Of a Kiss.’ Nor her who had the fate Ravis’d to be andhuggedon Ganges’ shore.
1659.Lady Alimony, iv. (Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 288a). Shall wehugnone of our own, But such as drop from the frigid zone.
c.1708.W. King,The Art of Love, Pt. iv. (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, ix., 266). Thenhuggingher in brawny arm.
d.1710.R. Duke,Poems, ‘A Song’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, ix., 224). Closehugsthe charmer, and ashamed to yield, Though he has lost the day yet keeps the field.Idem.Shehugsthe dart that wounded her, and dies.
d.1742.Somerville,Occasional Poems, etc., ‘The Fortune-Hunter,’ canto iii. (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xi., 221). Drinks double bub with all his might Andhugshis doxy every night.
1746.Smollett,Advice, line 4. We’llhugthe curse that not one joy can boast.
d.1764.Lloyd,Poems(1774), ‘The Cit’s County Box.’Huggingthemselves in ease and clover.
d.1773.G. Cunningham,Poems, ‘Holiday-Gown’ (Chalmers,English Poets, 1810, xiv., 441). Hehugsme so close, and he kisses so sweet.
1791.Antient and Modern Scottish Songs, ‘My Jockey is a Bonnie Lad,’ ii., 325. And then he fa’s a kissing, clasping,hugging, squeezing, tousling, pressing, winna let me be.
d.1796.Burns,The Jolly Beggars. And at night in barn or stable,hugsour doxies on the hay.[375]
Hugger-mugger,subs.(colloquial).—Muddle; confusion.
1868.C. Reade,Foul Play, ch. vii. Why didn’t you tell me, and I’d have tidied the room: it is allhugger-mugger, with miss a leaving.
1885.T. E. Brown,The Doctor, p. 36. And every place as neat as a pin, And couldn’t stand nohugger-mugger.
1892.Pall Mall Gaz., 28 Oct., p. 2, c. 2. He wrote some lampoons in the papers at the time, in which he ridiculed thehugger-muggerof the prosecution.
Adv.(old).—Seequots.
1690. B. E.,Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.Hugger-Mugger, Closely or by Stealth, Underboard:To eat so, that is, to Eat by one’s self.
1785.Grose,Vulg. Tongue, s.v.Hugger-Mugger, by stealth, privately, without making an appearance; they spent their money in ahugger-muggerway.
Adj.(common).—Confused; disorderly; hap-hazard;hand-to-mouth(q.v.).
1882.Daily Telegraph, 5 Oct., p. 2, c. 2. Nor, can they be very severely blamed for thishugger-mugger, slipshod way of life.
Verb.(common).—To meet by stealth; to lay heads together.
1879.Justin McCarthy,Donna Quixote, ch. xxxii. I can see already that she won’t stand much more of you and mehugger-muggeringtogether.
In hugger-mugger,adv. phr.(old).—1. In secret.
1565.Stapleton,Fort. of the Faith, fol. 88. They should not have lurked all this whilein hucker-mucker.
1588.J. Udall,Demonstration of Discipline, p. 30. (ed. Arber). The Byshop without any lawfull election, is chosenin huggermugerof the canons, or prebendaries onely, without the knowledge of the people.
1594.Nashe,Unfortunate Traveller(Grosart,Works, v., 19). Myself that am but a poore childish wel-willer of yours, with the vain thought that a man of your desert and state by a number of pesants and varlets should be so incuriously abused inhugger-muggerhaue wept al my vrine upward.
1596.Nashe,Saffron Walden(Grosart,Works, iii., 181). Hee sent her 18 pencein hugger-mugger, to pay the fiddlers.
1596.Shakspeare,Hamlet, iv., 5.King.… We have done but greenly,In hugger-muggerto inter him.
1602.Dekker,Satiromastix, iii., 133 (Dodsley,Old Plays, viii., 48). One word, sir Quintilian, inhugger-mugger.
1607.Tourneur,Revenger’s Trag.(Dodsley,Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875), v., i. And how quaintly he died, like a politician, inhugger-mugger.
1611.Coryat,Crud., ii., p. 251, repr. So these perhaps might sometimes have some furtive conversationin hugger mugger.