Slang and its analogues past and present, volume 1 [of 7] (part 3 of 3)

Slang and its analogues past and present, volume 1 [of 7] (part 3 of 3)

3. (old.)—A coarse brown loaf; or hard biscuit.

1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, bk. IV. Author’s Prologue. The devil of one musty crust of a brown George the poor boys had to scour their grinders with.

1693. Dryden, Persius, V., 215.

Cubb’d in a cabin, on a mattrass laid, On a brown George, with lousy swabbers fed.

Brownie, subs. (nautical).—The polar bear.

Brown Janet, subs. (nautical).—A knapsack.

Brown Joe, intj. (rhyming slang).—No. Cf., Brown Bess for ‘yes.’

Brown-Papermen, subs. (thieves’).—Low gamblers.—See quot.

1851. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 502. ‘But the Little Nick is what we call only ‘brown papermen,’ low gamblers—playing for pence, and 1s. being a great go.’

Brown Stone, subs. (American thieves’).—Beer. For synonyms, see Swipes.

Brown Talk, subs. (common).—Conversation of an exceedingly ‘proper’ character, Quakerish. Compare blue.

Browse, verb (Marlborough and Royal Military Academy).—To idle; loll; take things easy. [A transferred sense of the legitimate word—to eat lazily.]

Adj.—See foregoing. ‘A browse morning,’ i.e., one in which there is little work.

Bruise, verb (prize-fighters’).—1. To fight; box—generally with the idea of mauling.

Bruise along, verbal phr. (hunting).—To pound along.

1865. Dublin University Magazine, II., 19. A majority of those who follow them have ... no notion of hunting, but go bruising along.

1872. Anteros, xii., p. 110. The baron hunted his five days ... bruising along determinedly.

Bruiser, subs. (pugilistic).—1. A prize-fighter; a boxer. [From bruise, to maul, + er.]

1744. Nov. 26, Walpole, Lett. to Mann (1833), II., 57. He let into the pit great numbers of bear-garden bruisers (that is the term), to knock down everybody that hissed.

1753. Foote, Englishman in Paris, Act i. Dick Daylight and Bob Bread-basket the bruisers.

1830. S. Warren, Diary of a Late Physician, ch. xii. The man last named was short in stature, but of a square iron build; and it needed only a glance at his posture to see he was a scientific, perhaps a thorough-bred bruiser.

1846–48. Thackeray, V. Fair, ch. xi. At college he pulled stroke-oar in the Christchurch boat, and had thrashed all the best bruisers of the ‘town.’

1860. Thackeray, Philip, ch. xlii. A jolly wag, a fellow of indifferent character, a frequenter of all the ale-houses in the neighbourhood, and rather celebrated for his skill as a bruiser.

1880. Jas. Greenwood, Flyfaker’s Hotel, in Odd People in Odd Places, p. 58. Nearly every one seemed to have some little job or other that was necessary to be done at this almost last moment for the business of to-morrow; even one of the two villanous-looking bruisers had. They were of the very lowest of the ‘rough’ type—broken-nosed, besotted, pimple-visaged, and unwholesome-looking fellows, whose foul and blasphemous language seemed to pollute the pestilent air of the place more than anything else that contributed thereto.

2. (thieves’.)—A prostitute’s bully or fancy man. For synonyms, see Bully.

3. (common.)—One fond of fighting. Cf., Chucker-out, and next sense.

4. (American.)—A generic name in large cities for a rowdy or bully. Sometimes, however, the term has been limited in its application to a particular band of ruffians. This was the case once in Baltimore.

Bruising, verbal subs. (prize-fighters’).—Fighting with the fists; boxing.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. c. The combatants were, in point of strength and agility, pretty equally matched; but the jailer had been regularly trained to the art of bruising.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. x. At that time the Sunday newspapers contained many and many exciting reports of boxing matches. Bruising was considered a fine manly old English custom.

1860. Thackeray, Philip, ch. xxxv. Mugford always persisted that he could have got the better of his great hulking sub-editor, who did not know the use of his fists. In Mugford’s youthful time, bruising was a fashionable art.

Ppl. adj. (hunting).—That pounds along.

1872. Anteros, by the author of Guy Livingstone, I., p. 207. He was a good second-rate shot, and a fair, though by no means bruising rider to hounds. Ibid., p. 234. There were not a few admirers of his bruising style, etc.

Brum, subs. (old).—1. A counterfeit coin. [Contracted form of Brummagem (q.v.).] The term appears to have been given specially to some counterfeit groats [about 1691].

2. (common).—Something counterfeit; not genuine. [A contraction of Brummagem (q.v.).]

1883. Daily Telegraph, July 9, p. 3, col. 2. One [earring] might be gold, and the other a Brum, though exactly alike.

3. (common).—Copper money struck by Boulton and Watt at their works at Soho, Birmingham.

1787. J. West, Trip to Richmond, in Ashton’s Eighteenth Century Waifs, p. 133. My silver I chang’d for a handful of Brums.

4. (common).—An inhabitant of Birmingham.

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 321. For Nottingham is a rare place for good eating; here you may buy anything to eat of the commonest person, or in the commonest place with confidence that it is good, clean, and wholesome, very different to dirty Birmingham and the Brums.

Adj. (Winchester College).—Mean; poor; stingy. A superlative form is dead brum. [There are two derivations suggested; viz. (1) from bruma = winter; and (2) traditional in ‘College’ that it is an abbreviated form of brevissimum.] A popular French equivalent, used both as a substantive and adjective, is rapiat.

Brumby, subs. (Australian).—A wild horse. An Antipodean counterpart of the American ‘broncho.’

Brummagem, subs. (popular).—1. A nickname for Birmingham.

1862. Cornhill, Nov., p. 648. We have just touched for a rattling stake of sugar (i.e., a large stake of money) at Brum.

2. (old).—Base money of various denominations has been so called—especially groats in 17th century—hence its application to anything spurious or unreal—as in adjectival sense.—See also Brummagem buttons and Brums.

1691. G. Miege, New State Eng., 235. Bromicham, particularly noted a few years ago for the counterfeit groats made here, and from hence dispersed all over the kingdom. [M.]

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict., 2 ed. Bromidgham, money of base metal.

1834. Southey, The Doctor, ch. cxl. He picked it up, and it proved to be a Brummejam of the coarsest and clumsiest kind, with a head on each side.

Adj.—Counterfeit; unreal; sham; showy; pretentious.—See substantive, senses 1 and 2.

1637. Calendar Dom. St. Papers, 105. Those swords which he ... pretends to be blades of his owne makeing are all Bromedgham blades and forraine blades.

1686. D’Urfey, Commonwealth of Women, I., i. A Brummingham, son of a wh—, affront the Noble Admiral!

1866. G. Eliot, Felix Holt, ch. v. ‘The most of the middle class are as ignorant as the working people about everything that doesn’t belong to their own Brummagem life.’

1883. Echo, March 28, p. 1, col. 5. There is little of a Brummagem character about the municipal, parochial, and philanthropic work of Birmingham, whatever we may think of some of her industrial productions.

Brummagem Buttons, subs. (common).—Counterfeit coin.

1836. Dickens, Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, I., p. 11. Bad silver, Brummagem buttons, etc.

1873. Saturday Review, Nov., p. 661. They [Brummagem buttons] were marvellously inexpensive, and being such ingenious imitations of the spade guineas and half-guineas then current that many Englishmen might have failed to detect the difference; they must have been of very great ‘use to the Indians’ indeed.

Brummish, adj. (common).—Doubtful; counterfeit. [From Brum (q.v.) + ish.]

1805. G. Colman, John Bull Brit. Theat., 55. Two guineas ... one seems light and t’other looks a little brummish. [M.]

Brums, subs. (Stock Exchange).—London and North Western Stock. (Formerly London and Birmingham Ry.).

1887. Atkin, House Scraps.

We kneel at the feet of our ‘Nancys,’ We load them with ‘cottons’ and ‘tapes.’ If anything tickles our fancy, We buy them Brums, ‘Caleys’ or ‘Apes.’

Brush.—1. See Brother of the brush.

2. subs. (old).—A hasty departure. For analogous terms, see Amputate.

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. VIII., ch. xii. ‘I reminded him, not without blushing, of my having no money. He answered, “That signifies nothing, score it behind the door, or make a bold brush, and take no notice.”’

3. (old.)—A person who decamps hastily, or who evades his creditors.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Brush (v.) ... also a canting term for one who goes off privately, or runs away from his creditors, or with stolen goods.

Verb (Christ’s Hospital).—1. To flog.

2. (old.)—To have sexual intercourse. For synonyms, see Ride.

3. (old.)—To run away; to decamp. Also to brush off. For synonyms, see Amputate.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Brush, to Fly or Run away. [M.]

1706. E. Coles, Eng. Dict. Brush, c., run away.

1764. A. Murphy, No One’s Enemy but his Own, Act ii. Rascal, says my Master, do as I bid you, and so off he brushed to the tune of an old song.

1776. Foote, Bankrupt, I. But I must brush off, for here comes my lady.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (1877), 204. And one Sergeant Matcham had brush’d with the dibs.

1837. Barham, I. L. (Dead Drummer). One of their drummers, and one Sergeant Matcham, Had brush’d with the dibs, and they never could catch’em.

Brusher, subs. (old).—A full glass.

2. (old.)—See quotation.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Brusher (s.) ... also one that gets or steals away privately.

3. (common and schools’.)—A schoolmaster.

4. (American.)—To humbug by flattery.

Brushing up a flat, phr. (general).—Using mealy-mouthed words, or, to employ other slang equivalents, ‘laying it on thick,’ ‘soft soaping one.’

Brute, subs. (University).—See quot.

1868. Brewer, Phrase and Fable, s.v. Brute, in Cambridge University slang, is a man who has not yet matriculated. The play is evident. A ‘man,’ in college phrase, is a collegian; and as matriculation is the sign and seal of acceptance, a scholar before that ceremony is not a ‘man,’ and therefore only a ‘biped brute.’

Brydport Dagger.—See Bridport dagger.

B. T. I., phr. (American).—An abbreviation of a big thing on ice. These curtailments of slang phrases are not infrequent in America, and among others may be mentioned p.d.q.; o.k.; n.g. and q.k., etc. (q.v.).

Bub, subs. (old).—1. Strong drink of any kind, but usually applied to malt liquor. [It is suggested that this term is onomatopoetic, an imitation of the sound of drinking; others, however, incline to regard the word as a derivative of the Latin bib-ĕre, to drink. Sometimes spelt bubb.] A common expression for eating and drinking is ‘to take bub and grub,’ a French equivalent for which is se caresser l’Angoulême.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. iv., p. 36 (1874). In a short time these four return’d laden with bub and food.

1748. Dodsley, Collection of Poems, III., 262.

Tho’ beef twice boil’d his meal, with P—n’s bub, And sixpence chang’d defrays the frugal club.

1839. H. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, ep. II., ch. xi. ‘Och! many a mug o’ bubb have I drained wi’ the landlord.’

2. (common.)—A woman’s breast; generally used in the plural—bubbies (q.v.).

3. (old.)—A brother.

4. (American.)—Also bubby. A term of affection applied to a little boy. [Said to have originated in Pennsylvania from the German Bube.] Likewise used figuratively as a familiar mode of address.

1872. S. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Roughing It. The cayote turns smiles blandly upon him once more, and with a something about it which seems to say: ‘Well, I shall have to tear myself away from you, bub—business is business, and it will not do for me to be fooling along this way all day.’

1888. San Francisco Weekly Examiner. When she was ready to go home, she did so without carriage or baby. Shortly after bubby kicked up high jinks, and the joker clerk was sent for to take him away.

5. (old.)—An abbreviated form of bubble, subs.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Bub or bubble, one that is cheated. [M.]

Verb (old).—1. To drink.—See substantive.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. vi., p. 54 (1874). We straight betook ourselves to the Boozing Ken; and having bubb’d rumly, we concluded an everlasting friendship.

2. (old.)—To bribe; to cheat. Cf., Bubble.

1719. D’Urfey, Pills, II., 54. Another makes Racing a Trade.... And many a Crimp Match has made, By bubbing another Man’s Groom.

Bubber, subs. (old).—1. A hard drinker; a confirmed tippler. [From bub (q.v.) = drink + er.] A synonymous French term is un bibassier, but for analogous terms generally, see Elbow crooker.

1653. Middleton, Sp. Gipsy, ii., 1. Though I am no mark in respect of a huge butt, yet I can tell you great bubbers have shot at me. [There is a play in the word ‘butt.’]

1674. R. Head, Canting Acad., 191. A bubber ... goes to the Alehouse, and steals there the Plate.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bubber, ... a great drinker. A thief that steals plate from publick houses.

2. (old.)—A drinking bowl. Cf., derivation of previous sense.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Bubber, a drinking Bowl; also a great Drinker, and he that used to steal Plate from Publick-houses.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bubber, a drinking bowl, etc.

3. (old.)—A public house thief.—See quotation 1690, sense 2; also mentioned by Grose [1785].

4. (American.)—A nickname for an old woman with large pendulous breasts. Rarely heard.

1848. Bartlett, Americanisms. Bubber. A stout or stoutly mammalated old woman. Used in Salem, Mass., in 1820, and since. ‘Bubber Jones.’ (Fr. poitron, old woman; Old Fr. pect. poitron; Lat. pectus, the breast.)

Bubbies, subs. (common).—A woman’s breasts. An old term of which the derivation is somewhat doubtful, though it may be noted that the ancient cant has bub in the sense of ‘to drink,’ and also as an abbreviated form of bubby. Arber says that ‘bu bu’ is the cry of a child needing its mother’s milk.—For synonyms, see Dairies.

1686. D’Urfey, New Poems (1690), 206.

The Ladies here may without Scandal shew, Face or white bubbies, to each ogling Beau.

1693. Congreve, Old Batchelor, Act v., Sc. 7. Did not her eyes twinkle, and her mouth water? Did not she pull up her little bubbies?

1712. Arbuthnot, Hist. of John Bull, pt. III., ch. viii. ‘To see a handsome, brisk, genteel, young fellow so much governed by a doating old woman! Why don’t you go and suck the bubby?’

1715. Vanbrugh, Country House, II., v. He talked to me of you, and said you had the charmingest bubbies.

1748. Dodsley, Collection of Poems, III., 191. And snowy bubbies pull’d above the stays.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict., 2 ed. Bubbys, a woman’s breasts.

Bubbing, subs. (old).—Drinking; tippling.

1678. Poor Robin’s Char. of Scold, 6. She clamours at him so long ... which makes him seek Bubbing-schools to hide himself in from her fury. [M.]

Bubble, subs. (old).—A dupe; gull; also caravan (q.v.); and rook (q.v.). Grose thinks from the party cheated being like an air-bubble filled with words which are only wind instead of real property. Also apparently used of anything not genuine. Applied to persons, it is older than appears from Murray.

1598. Shakspeare, All’s Well, iii., vi., 5. Sec. Lord. On my life, my lord, a bubble. Ber. Do you think I am so far deceived in him?

1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia, III., in wks. (1720) IV., 62. This kinsman a most silly bubble first, and afterwards a betrayer of young heirs.

1697. Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, V., iii. If her conduct has put a trick upon her virtue, her virtue’s the bubble, but her husband’s the loser.

1711. Swift, Conduct of the Allies. We are thus become the dupes and bubbles of Europe.

1712. Arbuthnot, History of John Bull, pt. II., ch. iii. He has been my bubble [tool] these twenty years; and to my certain knowledge, understands no more of his own affairs than a child in swaddling clothes.

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. I., ch. vii. ‘This would be to own herself the meer tool and bubble of the man.’

1788. G. A. Stevens, Adv. of a Speculist, I., 69. He persuades his bubble, that he will insure him a certain safe way of getting a sum of money.

1795. R. Cumberland, The Jew, Act iii., Sc. 2. If he attempts to raise money upon expectancies, be at their peril who are fools enough to trust him: No prudent man will be his bubble.

1805. G. Barrington, New London Spy (4 ed.), p. 24. The shame of being thought a bubble, and exposed to the town, frequently prevents gentlemen from making use of the statute provided in such cases.

Verb (old).—To cheat; humbug; delude as with bubbles; to overreach. Cf., substantive sense.

1664. Etheridge, Comical Revenge, II., iii., in wks. (1704), 24. I believe he’s gone down to Receive money; ’twere an excellent design to bubble him.

1685. Dryden, Prol. to Albion and Albanius, 23.

Freedom and zeal have choused you o’er and o’er; Pray give us leave to bubble you once more.

1711. Spectator, No 89. That she has bubbled him out of his youth ... and that he verily believes she will drop him in his old age, if she can find her account in another.

1752. Fielding, Amelia, bk. XI., ch. iv. He ... actually bubbled several of their money by undertaking to do them services, which, in reality, were not within his power.

1777. Sheridan, Trip to Scarborough, Act ii. Help the gentleman with a chair, and carry him to my house presently—that’s the properest place—[aside]—to bubble him out of his money.

1788. G. A. Stevens, Adv. of a Speculist, I., 75. And this was the language which the pretenders to the Philosopher’s Stone used to bubble their pigeons with.

1880. McCarthy, Own Times, III., xli., 235. Some critics declared ... that the French Emperor had bubbled him [Mr. Cobden].

Bubbleable, adj. (old).—That can be duped; gullible. [A very rare form from bubble, to cheat, + able.]

1669. Nicker Nicked, in Hart. Misc. (ed. Park), II., 109. If the winner be bubbleable, they will insinuate themselves into his acquaintance, and civilly invite him to drink a glass of wine; wheedle him into play, and win all his money.

Bubble and Squeak, subs. phr. (common).—A compound of cold meat fried up with potatoes and greens. [From the hissing sound produced by the frying; originally nautical.]

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bubble and squeak, beef and cabbage fried together; it is so called from its bubbling up and squeaking whilst over the fire.

1786–89. Wolcot (‘P. Pindar’), Lousiad, ch. i., line 366.

Such is the sound (the simile’s not weak) Form’d by what mortals bubble call, and squeak, When ’midst the frying-pan, in accents savage, The beef so sorely quarrels with the cabbage.

1853. Lytton, My Novel, bk. VIII., ch. viii. ‘Rank and title! bubble and squeak! No, not half so good as bubble and squeak. English beef and good cabbage.’

Bubble Buff, subs. (old).—A bailiff.

Bubble Company, subs. (common).—A swindling association, enterprise or project. [From bubble, to cheat, + company.] The South Sea Bubble will occur to mind in this connection.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. (2 ed.). Bubble ... 5 (in Commerce), a cant name given to certain projects for raising money on imaginary grounds.

1880. Hawley Smart, Social Sinners, ch. xix. ‘My inheritance disappears as if it had been invested in a bubble company.’

Bubbled, ppl. adj. (old).—Gulled; deceived; befooled. [From bubble, to cheat, + ed.]

a. 1683. Oldham, Wks. and Rem. (1686), 66. Bubled Monarchs are at first beguil’d ... at last depos’d, and kill’d. [M.]

1701. Defoe, True Born Englishman, Introd.

Who shall this bubbled nation disabuse, While they, their own felicities refuse?

1889. Gentleman’s Mag., June, p. 598. Towards the end of the century [xvii] a person easily gulled, or bubbled was known as a ‘caravan,’ but earlier the term ‘rook,’ which is now restricted to a cheat or sharper, appears to have been applied to the person cheated.

Bubbling Squeak, subs. (army).—Hot soup.

Bubbly Jock, subs. (old Scotch).—1. A turkey-cock; a ‘gobbler.’ [Probably in allusion to the cry of the bird.]

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bubbly jock, a turkey-cock.

1843. Thackeray, Irish Sketch Book, ch. xv. He took but one glass of water to that intolerable deal of bubbly jock.... Three turkey-wings and a glass of water.

1877. Besant and Rice, Son of Vulcan, pt. II., ch. xviii. Puffing his cheeks like some infuriated bubbly jock in a stable-yard.

2. (common.)—A stupid boaster.

3. (popular.)—A pert, conceited, pragmatical fellow; a prig; a cad.

1883. G. A. Sala, Living London, p. 113. Mr. Benjamin Bunny (Mr. J. L. Toole) is the good-natured husband of a pretty young wife (Miss Winifred Emery). Mr. Bunny is, to use a Scotticism, ‘sair owerhanded,’ not by a ‘bubbly jock,’ but by his wife’s aunt.

Bubby.—See Bub and Bubbies.

Bucco, subs. (American thieves’).—A dandy. [A corruption of buck (q.v.).]

Buck, subs. (common).—1. In the first instance a man of spirit or gaiety of conduct; later a fop, a dandy. [A transferred sense of buck, the male of the fallow deer.] In the form ‘old buck’ it is merely a familiar mode of address. The epithet, as applied to a man about town, is somewhat obsolete; masher, dude, and swell having taken its place. Cf., Blood.

1725. New Cant. Dict. Buck, as a bold buck, is sometimes used to signify a forward daring Person of either Sex.

1752. Fielding, Amelia, bk. X., ch. ii. A large assembly of young fellows, whom they call bucks.

1846–48. Thackeray, V. Fair, ch. vi. She had sate by him on the box of his open carriage (a most tremendous buck he was, as he sat there, serene, in state, driving his greys).

1889. Answers, Feb. 9. The ancient buck was last seen (at the age of eighty-four) wearing a wig, a pair of stays, ‘plumpers,’ rouge, and padding, and he daily anointed his face with a compound called ‘skin-tightener.’ ‘Skin-tightener’ removes wrinkles, and after the face has been washed with ‘bloom of roses,’ the wearer can strut forth with the consciousness that all the world takes him for a quarter of a century younger than he is.

2. (common.)—An unlicensed cabdriver. Apparently also applied to a sham fare.—See last quotation.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 362. The long-day men are the parties who mostly employ the bucks ... they are glad to avail themselves of the services of a buck for some hours at the end of the day. Ibid. The bucks are unlicensed cabdrivers, who are employed by those who have a license to take charge of the cab while the regular drivers are at their meals or enjoying themselves.

1865. Morning Star, 14 Sept. What is the prisoner? Constable: He is a buck, who hangs about an omnibus stand. [M.]

1887. Daily News, 5 October, 5, 4. At Bow Street something was further heard of the buck. This person ... is the sham fare whom a cabby drives past the police in order to get up to the theatre doors out of his proper turn, and so increase his chance of securing a legitimate fare.

3. (old.)—A sixpence. [Thought to be a corruption of fyebuck (q.v.).] The word is rarely used by itself, but generally denotes the sixpence attached to shillings in reference to cost, as, ‘three and a buck,’ three shillings and sixpence. For synonyms, see Bender.

1885. Household Words, June 20, p. 155. ‘Buck’ is most likely a corruption of ‘fyebuck,’ a slang name for sixpence, which is now almost, if not altogether, obsolete.

4. (schoolboys’.)—A large marble. Cf., Alley, Bonce, Mivey.

1885. Household Words, June 20, p. 155. Readers whose school-days are still green in their memories will also recognise in buck the name for the large marble once dear to their boyish hearts.

5. (American.)—A term used in poker (q.v.). Cf., Tiger.

Adj. (American University).—At Princeton College anything which is of an intensive degree, good, excellent, pleasant or agreeable, is called buck.

Verb (American).—1. To oppose; to run counter to. [Possibly a corruption of butt, or from buck as applied to a horse.—See sense 2.]

2. (Western American.)—As applied to horses this term is used to describe the action of plunging forward and throwing the head to the ground in an effort to unseat the rider—a motion of which probably no domesticated beast is capable, aside from the Texan miserable and treacherous species of horse. A raw hand thus relates his experience:—‘When I was told how hard he could buck, I only laughed, my impression being that no pony standing on four legs could throw me off. I mounted my new horse, and waving my bran new hat about my head, galloped away in a dignified style. Suddenly the horse stopped. His ears went back, and his hind legs went between his front. The motion was a curious one. But I did not fall. Realizing that the man on his back could ride a little bit, the pony got right down to business. My stomach seemed to fly up into my mouth, and millions of stars floated about my head. I am not prepared to state what kind of hold the pony got on me, but I went sprawling on the ground, my nose making an irrigating ditch. It was all done not more than one hundred yards from where my girl was standing. I stuck on well, however, as the saddle, blanket, gun and bridle came off with me. The wild yell that greeted my exploit nearly drove me mad. While I spit the dirt and curses out of my mouth, I thought that if I had that pony back I’d break him in or break my head. It ran out on the prairie and joined the Government herd. When an old-timer tried to fix things for me in front of my girl by saying, “It’s no disgrace, pardnr, that horse can buck off a porus plaster,” I thanked him from the bottom of my heart.’

3. (commercial.)—A variant of to cook (q.v.), as applied to accounts.

4. (Western American.)—To play against the bank, usually ‘to buck the tiger.’—See following.

1879. Bret Harte, Gabriel Conroy, p. 375. I don’t like your looks at all. I’d buck against any bank you ran, all night.

1880. Bret Harte, Brown of Calaveras. (Tales of the Arg., p. 81). Why don’t you say you want to buck agin’ faro?

1888. Hotel Mail.

A man may hunt the wildest game Along the Nile or the Niger, In woods or ranch; But he will find the sport most tame Compared with bucking the tiger At dear Long Branch.

5. (Western American.)—To put forth one’s whole energy. [An extension of meaning from sense 4.]

1870. San Antonio Paper. ‘You’ll have to buck at it like a whole team, gentlemen, or you won’t hear the whistle near your diggings for many a year.’

To run a buck, verbal phr. (old Irish).—To poll a bad vote at an election.—Grose.

Buck or fight the tiger, verbal phr. (American).—To gamble. [There are two derivations suggested:—(1) that the phrase is derived from the parti-coloured division or stripes on a gambling table; (2) that it is of Chinese origin. A favourite figure of one of the Chinese gods of gambling is a tiger standing on his hind-feet, and grasping a large cash in his mouth or his paws. Sometimes the image is made of wood or clay, or drawn on a piece of paper or board. The title of the beast, His Excellency the Grasping Cash Tiger, is frequently written on a piece of paper, and placed in the gambling rooms between two bunches of mock-money suspended under the table or on the wall behind it. This figure is the sign for a gambling house: ‘The Fighting Tiger.’]

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, Feb. 14. Last night and to-day they have succeeded in placing under arrest six of the gaming-house keepers of the city and subpœnaed thirty citizens as witnesses, among whom are said to be prominent city officials and business men. The affair has caused a good deal of talk already, and if reports are anywhere near true, it will create a great sensation when the cases are called, and more than one unsuspecting wife will have her eyes opened to the fact that the wicked tiger, and not legitimate business has been detaining her husband out so late at night.

Buck Bait, subs. (thieves’).—Bail given by a confederate. Cf., Bait.

Buck Down, verbal phr. (Winchester College).—To be sorry; unhappy. Cf., Buck up and Bucksome.

Bucked. To be bucked, verb (Uppingham).—To be tired. Cf., Buck up.

Buckeen, subs. (Irish).—A bully.—Grose. Properly a young man of the poorer aristocracy.

Bucket, subs. (American).—An anonymous letter.

Verb (general).—1. To ride hard; not to spare one’s beast.

1856. Whyte Melville, Kate Coventry, ch. xi. ‘I had rather give Brilliant a good bucketing’ [Aunt Horsingham shuddered—I knew she would, and used the word on purpose] ‘over an even heath or a line of grass, than go bodkin in a chariot.’

1864. Yates, Broken to Harness, II., p. 218. There’s room in the Row to give him [the horse] a very good bucketing.

1868. Tottenham, C. Villars, I., 243. Bucketing his wretched horse home to Cambridge. [M.]

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 342. ‘Ten thousand pardons, Dollie, dearest; but I only got your message an hour or so ago, and am so busy I couldn’t get here before. As it is I have had to bucket my hack unmercifully.’

2. (old.)—To cheat; ruin; deceive.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v. To bucket a person is synonymous with putting him in the well.

1828. Scott, Diary, in Lockhart (1839), ix., 253. Thurtell ... must in slang phrase have bucketed his palls.

3. (rowing.)—To take the water unfairly—with a scoop at the beginning of the stroke instead of a steady even pull throughout.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xv., p. 130. He was not so straight in the back as an Oxford stroke; and he bucketed about a good deal, but he got along.

To give the bucket, phr. (old).—To dismiss from one’s employment; to ‘send a person about his business.’—Cf., Bag and Sack.

1860. Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia’s Lovers, ch. xxi. He were sore put about because Hester had gi’en him the bucket.

To kick the bucket, phr. (general).—To die. [The bucket here is thought to refer to a Norfolk term for a pulley.] When pigs are killed they are hung by their hind legs on a bucket.—For synonyms, see Aloft.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bucket; to kick the bucket; to die.

1796. Wolcot (‘P. Pindar’), Tristia, wks. (1812) V., 242. Pitt has kicked the bucket.

1840. Marryat, Poor Jack, xxx. He drained it dry ... and kicked the bucket.

1849. Kingsley, Alton Locke, ch. ii. ‘Fine him a pot’ roared one, ‘for talking about kicking the bucket. He’s a nice young man to keep a cove’s spirits up, and talk about a short life and a merry one.’

1876(?). Broadside Ballad, ‘Ten Little Niggers.’

Eight little niggers never heard of heav’n, One kicked the bucket, and then there were seven.

1889. Answers, July 27, p. 141, col. 3. The high-school girl explained to her particular friend yesterday that He kicked the bucket was slang, and that the polite expression was, ‘He propelled his pedal extremities with violence against a familiar utensil used for the transportation of water and other fluids.’

Bucket Afloat, subs. (rhyming slang).—A coat.

Bucket Shop, subs. (American).—1. Primarily a petty stock gambling den carried on in opposition to regular exchange business, and usually of a very doubtful character. The New York World recently investigated the whole question, and gave some very interesting details as to the many tortuous ways of these crooked corners of the money world. The conclusion arrived at was that Wall Street and its vicinity did not contain a single ‘square and honest’ bucket-shop; all their dealings were nothing but ‘a brace gambling game.’ By their schemes the customer had ‘not the ghost of a chance to win.’ Their quotations were obtained surreptitiously, and, in handling them, the bucket-shop keepers in several ways take unfair advantage of their clients. The term bucket shop has become common in England, but, fortunately for the community at large, no comparison can be drawn between the establishments known by that name in England, and those which flourish in America under the same title, though in very truth the proceedings of some of the former are scandalous enough. [Possibly from bucket (q.v.), to cheat, + shop. As an alternative derivation, the ‘bucket’ into which the tape falls may be suggested.]

1887. Daily News, 14 April, 7, 1. Mr. Charles Fisher said that he carried on business as an agent.... He did Stock Exchange business, for clients. Mr. Besley: Commonly called a bucket shop, I think.

1888. Missouri Republican, Feb. 12. New York, Feb. 11.—(Special).—Inspector Brynes was seized with another spasm of indignation against the bucket-shops this morning, and, accompanied by detectives and a squad of officers, he swooped down upon the lairs of these enemies of the Stock Exchange that abound on Lower Broadway and New Street.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 12 Nov., p. 3, col. 1. ‘The tape is credited with fostering gambling.’ ‘Well, we know that there are bucket-shops, but we have for some time refused to entertain any proposal for a machine if there is the least prospect of its being used for bucket-shop purposes. There is gambling, of course, but it is unfair to say that the tape is responsible for it. The tape was not originated for that purpose, but in order to inform the public, through the newspapers or otherwise, how securities were going, and it does that. In practice it serves as a check between client and broker, and broker and jobber.’

2. Also applied generally to low groggeries; lottery offices; gambling dens, etc.

Buck Face, subs. (old).—A cuckold; one who in French slang is said to be un loger rue du Croissant.

Buck Fitch, subs. (old).—An old roué; a lecherous old man.

Buckhara, subs. (American).—A name given in California to a cattle-driver or cowboy.

Buckhorse, subs. (pugilistic).—A smart blow or box on the ear. [Derived from the name of a celebrated ‘bruiser’ of that name. Buckhorse was a man who either possessed or professed insensibility to pain, and who would for a small sum allow anyone to strike him with the utmost force on the side of the face. His real name was John Smith, and he fought in public 1732–46.]

French Synonyms. (For the blow itself.) Une boffete (from the old word buffet); une bouffe; une châtaigne; une accolade; une pamure. To receive a buckhorse, encaisser un soufflet; to give a buckhorse; donner la savate.

1864. Blackwood’s Mag., II., p. 463 (the Public Schools’ Report, 1864—Westminster School). One of the Seniors informs us that the common punishment was buckhorsing. ‘That was boxing the ears, was it?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Buckhorsing was rather severe, was it not?’ etc. ‘I got buckhorsed pretty often.’

1876. Lord Albemarle, Fifty Years of my Life, quoted in Temple Bar, August, 1884, p. 517. He then felled me to the ground by a swinging buckhorse on my right cheek.

Buckish, adj. (old).—Foppish; dandyish. [From buck (q.v.) + ish.] Now colloquial.

1782. D’Arblay, Diary, etc. (1876), i., 463. A buckish kind of young man of fashion.

1785. Wolcot (‘P. Pindar’), Apolog. Postscript to Ode upon Ode, in wks. (Dublin, 1795), vol. I., p. 365. Did not good Nathan tell that buckish youth, David the King, that he stole sheep?

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 57. Having beat the rounds (as buckish spirits phrase it) of that bustling microcoser, the British metropolis, for eighteen months.

1812. Coombe, Dr. Syntax, Picturesque, ch. xvii.

A buckish blade, who kept a horse, To try his fortune on the course.

1858. G. Eliot, Janet’s Repentance, ch. v. ‘I’ve made him as neat as a new pin this morning, and he says the Bishop will think him too buckish by half.’

1873. W. D. Howells, A Chance Acquaintance, ch. xiii. A very buckish young fellow, with a heavy black moustache and black eyes, who wore a jaunty round hat, blue checked trousers, a white vest, and a morning-coat of blue diagonals.

Buck-Jump, subs. (stable).—A jump made in buck (q.v., verb, sense 2) fashion.

1864. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ch. ix. The instant the chestnut was mounted he reared, and indulged in two or three ‘buck-jumps’ that would have made a weaker man tremble for his backbone.

Buckle, verb, trans. and intrans. (colloquial).—1. To unite or be united in wedlock—a humorous term. For synonyms, see Splice. French thieves call such a union l’amadouage.

1693. Dryden, Juvenal, vi., 37. Is this an age to buckle with a bride?

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. lxvii. Who ... declared himself well satisfied with the young man’s addresses, and desired that they might be buckled with all expedition.

1822. Scott, The Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxxii.

‘Buckle them, my Lord Bishop, as fast as you can....

‘The Bishop accordingly opened his book and commenced the marriage ceremony.’

1857. A. Trollope, Three Clerks, ch. xlvi. ‘We could have half a dozen married couples all separating, getting rid of their ribs and buckling again, helter-skelter, every man to somebody else’s wife.’

Buckle-Beggar, subs. (old).—A Fleet prison ‘clergyman’; one who celebrated marriage ceremonies therein; thence, one who celebrated irregular marriages; a hedge priest; one who undertook similar offices for gypsies and tramps—a buckle the beggars.—See Couple-beggar. [Of Scotch derivation, but Cf., Buckle, verb, sense 1.]

c. 1700. Ld. Fountainhill, Diary, in Larwood, Bk. Cleric. Anecd., 294. He after turn’d a buckle-beggar, i.e., one who married without license. [M.]

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xvii. (II., p. 86). A hedge parson, or buckle-beggar, as that order of priesthood has been irreverently termed. Ibid, ch. xxvii. (III., p. 22). Dr. R., who buckles beggars for a tester [sixpence] and a dram of Geneva.

Buckled, ppl. adj. (thieves’).—Arrested; taken into custody; ‘scragged.’

Buckle Down, verb (common).—To ‘settle down’; to become reconciled to; a variant of to ‘knuckle down’ (q.v.).

1874. Jos. Hatton, Clytie, bk. III., ch. iv. ‘But you do not buckle down to your position,’ said Cuffing ... ‘you wrangle, you higgle.’

Buckler, subs. (American thieves’).—A collar. Cf., All-rounder.

Buckles, subs. (old).—Fetters of any kind. For synonyms, see Darbies.

Buckle To, verb (familiar).—To undertake; grapple with; ‘slip in’; work vigorously.

1557. Tusser, Husbandrie, ch. xcvi., st. 84, p. 187 (E.D.S.).

Then purchase some pelfe, by fiftie and three: or buckle thy selfe, a drudge for to bee.

1663. Butler, Hudibras, pt. I., ch. ii., l. 926.

And fitting it for sudden fight, Straight drew it up, t’attack the Knight, For getting up on stump and huckle, He with the foe began to buckle.

1712. Arbuthnot, Hist. of John Bull, pt. IV., ch. viii. At last Esquire South buckled to, to assist his friend Nic.

1883. James Payn, Thicket than Water, ch. xxvii. ‘Of course it could never have been taken up as a serious occupation; the way you buckled to at it, as I told Mr. Payton, was something amazing.’

1889. Modern Society, 19 Oct., p. 1302. (‘How the Nobility live in Germany.’) Though, as a rule, courteous to ladies at dinner, when a course is served all buckle to, and conversation is at an end. Each gentleman forgets his fair neighbour, and minds only number one. Between the courses, when nothing better is on, they converse, and always everything is served à la Russe.

Bucksome, adj. (Winchester College).—Happy; in a state of ‘buck-uppishness.’—See Buck-up.

Buck Up, verbal phr. (Winchester College).—To be glad; pleased. Cf., Buck down. The usual expression is ‘Oh buck up,’ a phrase which at Westminster School would have a very different meaning, namely, ‘exert yourself.’ At Uppingham to be bucked (q.v.) is to be tired.

Budge, subs. (old).—1. A pickpocket; a general thief.—See quots., and for synonyms, Area-sneak and Thieves.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 48 (1874). Budge, one that steals cloaks.

1674. R. Head, Canting Acad., 95. The Budge ... his employment is in the dark of the Evening, to go into any door that he seeth open, and ... take whatever next cometh to hand.

2. (thieves’.)—Also called sneaking budge (q.v.). In more modern times an accomplice who gains access to a building during the day for the purpose of being locked in. When night comes he is thus easily able to admit his fellow thieves. For synonyms, see Area-sneak, and Cf., Standing bridge.

1752. Fielding, Amelia, bk. I., ch. iii. ‘I find you are some sneaking budge rascal’ [cant term for pilfering].

3. (old.)—Drink; liquor.—See Drinks. [Thought to be a corruption of booze.] There are several derivatives—Budgy, ‘drunk’; Budging-ken, ‘a public house’; Cove of the budging-ken, ‘a publican’; Budger, ‘a drunkard’—all of which see.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171. Budge, drink.

Verb (old slang, but now colloquial).—To move; ‘to make tracks.’ For modern synonyms, see Amputate, and Cf., Budge-a-beake.

Budge-a-Beake, verbal phr. (old).—To run away (presumably from justice). There seems some connection in meaning between this expression and a modern phrase—‘to bilk the blues’ (q.v.). [From budge (q.v.), ‘to move away,’ ‘to decamp,’ + a + beak (q.v.), a policeman.] For synonyms, see Amputate.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). Budge-a-beake, runne away.

Budger, subs. (old).—A drunkard. [From budge, subs., sense 3, ‘drink’ (q.v.) + er.] For synonyms, see Elbow crooker.

Budging-Ken, subs. (old).—A public house.—See Budge. [From budge, drink, + ken (q.v.), a place or house.] For synonyms, see Lush crib.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171. Budge kain, a public-house.

Budgy, adj. (old).—Drunk; intoxicated. [From budge (q.v.), sense 3, drink.] For synonyms, see Screwed.

Bud of Promise, subs. phr. (American).—A facetious term for a young, unmarried woman.—See Rosebud.

1889. Charlestown Enterprise.

The young, unmarried girl, in sport, Is called a bud of promise; She blooms each year at some resort, The weather when it warm is. And in the Fall a score of men, Whose hearts till now have harm missed, Compare sad notes, and find out then To each the bud is promised.

Bud Sallogh (Old Irish).—A term applied to one who practises unmentionable vices.—See Jesuit.

Buenos Ayres (provincial).—The Royal Crescent at Margate at the extreme end of the town used to be so called. The houses remained unfinished for a very considerable time.—H. J. Byron.

Bufe, subs. (old cant).—A dog. [Murray says, from the sound of its bark.]—See Buffer, and Tike for synonyms.

1567. Harman, Caveat, 84. Bufe, a dogge.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bufe, a dog; Bufe’s nob, a dog’s head.

Bufe-Nabber or Napper, subs. (old).—A dog thief. [From bufe, old cant for a ‘dog,’ + nabber, one who steals or ‘nabs.’] For synonyms, see Area-sneak.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bufe-nabber, a dog-stealer.

Buff, subs. (common).—1. The bare skin. [An allusion to the colour.]

1654. Chapman, Revenge for Honour, I., i.

Then for accoutrements you wear the buff, As you believed it heresy to change For linen: surely most of yours is spent In lint.

1749. H. Fitzcotton, Homer, I., 38. If you perplex me with your stuff—All that are here shan’t save your buff. [M.]

1760. Johnston, Chrysal, II., 235. ‘I have got as many clothes and things of all kinds as would serve to set up a Monmouth-street merchant: if the place had held out but a few days longer, the poor devils must have done duty in their buff; ha! ha! ha!’ ‘And the properest dress for them,’ returned the admiral; ‘who wants any clothes in such a climate as this?’

1824. Hughes, Magic Lay of the One-horse Chay (Blackwood). When our pair were soused enough, and returned in their buff.

1856. H. Mayhew, Gt. World of London, p. 223. ‘There’s a fine young chap there, stript to the buff, and working away hard!’

1872. C. King, Sierra Nev., viii., 176. Stripping ourselves to the buff, we hung up our steaming clothes. [M.]

2. (old.)—A man; a fellow; also buffer (q.v.).

1708–15. Kersey, Buff ... a dull Sot, or dronish Fellow. [M.]

1709. Brit. Apollo, II, No. 8, p. 3, col. 2. Tell me Grave Buffs, Partly Gods, partly men. [M.]

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v. Buff, a Newgate Cant Word used in familiar Salutation as, How dost do, my Buff?

1748. Smollett, Roderick Random, ch. iv., p. 15. Mayhaps old buff has left my kinsman here his heir.

1764. Brydges, Homer Travest. (1797), II., 420. You seem afraid these buffs will flinch.

Buff it, verb (common).—1. To swear to; to adhere to a statement hard and fast; to stand firm. [Query from ‘to bluff.’] To buff it is sometimes enlarged—to buff it home.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v. Buff, To buff to a person or thing, is to swear to the identity of them.

1881. New York Slang Dictionary. Buffing it home is swearing point-blank to anything, about the same as bluffing it, making a bold stand on no backing.

2. (common.)—To strip; to bare oneself to the ‘buff’ or skin.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II., p. 416. ‘You had better buff it, Jim,’ says I; but Jim wouldn’t do it, and kept his trowsers on. Ibid, p. 417. So I locks the door, and buffs it, and forces myself up, etc.

In buff, phr. (common).—Naked; in a state of nudity. Among English equivalents are Abram (q.v.) and birthday suit (q.v.), but for all synonyms, see Nature’s garb.

1602. Dekker, Satiro-Mastix. I go in stag, in buff.

1855. Notes and Queries, 1 S., xi., p. 467. We say of one in a state of nudity, ‘he is in buff.’

To stand buff, verbal phr. (old).—To stand the brunt; to pay the piper; to endure without flinching. [From buff, an old pugilistic term for a blow.]

a. 1680. Butler, Hudibras’s Epitaph. And for the good old cause stood buff ’Gainst many a bitter kick and cuff.

1697. Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, I., i. Would my courage come up to a fourth part of my ill-nature, I’d stand buff to her relations, and thrust her out of doors.

1737. Fielding, The Miser, Act ii., Sc. 2. Love. How! rascal, is it you that abandon yourself to those intolerable extravagancies? Fred. I must even stand buff, and outface him.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). To stand Buff (v.), to stand stoutly to a thing, to be resolute and unmoved, though the danger be great.

1761. Colman, Jealous Wife, V., i., 139. Stick close to my advice and you may stand buff to a tigress.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xii. ‘Stand buff against the reproach of thine over-tender conscience.’

Buff-Ball, subs. (vagrants’).—A dancing party in which both sexes dance together naked. [From buff (q.v.), naked, + ball.] Cf., Ballum rancum.

1880. Greenwood, In Strange Company. The most favourite entertainment at this place is known as buff-ball, in which both sexes—innocent of clothing—madly join, stimulated with raw whiskey, and the music of a fiddle and a tin whistle.

Buffer, subs. (old).—1. A dog. [Considerable obscurity surrounds the origin of this term. It occurs in varying forms from 1567 down to the present time. Harman gives it as bufe (1567) and bufa (1573); Rowlands as buffa (1610); Head as bugher (1673); whilst in The Memorials of John Hall it first appears as buffer.] Synonymous terms will be found under Tike.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65. Bufa, a dogge.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). Buffa, a Dogge.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4 ed.), p. 11. Buffer, a Dog.

1842. Lover, Handy Andy, ch. iv. ‘It is not every day we get a badger, you know.... Reilly the butcher has two or three capital dogs, and there’s a wicked mastiff below stairs, and I’ll send for my ‘buffer’ and we’d have some spanking sport.’

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 162. They had a dog belonging to them that would be sure to begin a quarrel with another buffer, whenever his master or mistress found a match.

2. (common.)—A man; a fellow—sometimes used with a slightly contemptuous meaning; generally speaking a familiar mode of address, as in Old Buffer, although even this form may be used disparagingly.

1749. H. Fitzcotton, Homer, I. (1748), 23. You’re a buffer always rear’d in The brutal pleasures of Bear-garden, [M.]

1837. Barham, I. L. (The Bagman’s Dog).

So I’ll merely observe, as the water grew rougher, The more my poor hero continued to suffer, Till the Sailors themselves cried, in pity, ‘Poor buffer!’

1882. F. Anstey, Vice Versâ, ch. xiv. ‘I made a first-rate booby-trap, though, one day for an old yellow buffer who came in to see you.’

3. (pugilistic.)—A boxer; one of ‘the fancy.’ [Hotten gives this as of Irish origin, but it would rather seem to come from O.E. buff, a blow.]

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 7.

Last Tuesday, at Moulsey, the Balance of Power Was settled by twelve Tightish Rounds in an hour, The Buffers, both ‘Boys of the Holy Ground.’—Ibid, p. 51:— Yet, sprightly to the Scratch both Buffers came, While ribbers rung from each resounding frame, And divers digs, and many a ponderous pelt, Were on their broad bread-baskets heard and felt. With roving aim, but aim that rarely miss’d, Round lugs and ogles flew the frequent fist; While showers of facers told so deadly well, That the crush’d jaw-bones crackled as they fell!

4. (old.)—See quots.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Buffer, a Rogue that kills good sound Horses only for their Skins.

1737. Bacchus and Venus. Buffer, a rogue that killed good sound horses for the sake of their skins, by running a long wire into them.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Buffer, one that steals and kills horses and dogs for their skins.

5. (old.)—One who took a false oath for a ‘consideration.’ Cf., Bail.

6. (old.)—A pistol. Cf., Barker.

1824. Sir W. Scott, Red Gauntlet. ch. iii. Here be a pair of buffers will bite as well as bark.

7. (old.)—A smuggler; rogue; or cheat.

8. (nautical.)—A navy term for a boatswain’s mate, one of whose duties it is—or was—to administer the ‘cat.’ Cf., O.E. Buff, a blow.

Buff Howards, subs. (military).—The Third Regiment of Foot; now contracted into Buffs. It was nicknamed the Buff Howards, from its facings and Colonel from 1737 to 1749; also the Nut-crackers (q.v.); and the Resurrectionists (q.v.), from its re-appearing at the Battle of Albuera after being dispersed by the Polish Lancers; also the ‘Old Buffs,’ from its facings, and to distinguish it from the 31st, the ‘Young Buffs’; but the most ancient ‘Old Buffs’ were the ‘Duke of York and Albany’s Maritime Regiments,’ raised in 1664, and incorporated into the 2nd or Coldstream Guards in 1689.

1886. Tinsley’s Mag., ‘Our Regimental Mottoes and Nicknames,’ April, p. 319. The Buffs—a corps which enjoys the almost unique privilege of marching through the city of London with bayonets fixed. The 3rd Foot owes its immortal cognomen to the fact of its having originally been clad in scarlet, lined and faced with buff; its members also had buff waistcoats, buff breeches, and buff stockings. Being the senior regiment thus clothed, they were occasionally styled the ‘Old Buffs’; and the 31st, raised in 1702, and dressed in a precisely similar fashion, were known as the Young Buffs. The following tradition, however, offers a more circumstantial account of the latter appellation. Having earned in some hotly-contested action, the good opinion of a general under whom they were serving, and who expressed his approbation by calling out to the 31st, ‘Well done, Old Buffs!’ A few of the men, somewhat excited by close combat, replied, ‘We are not the Old Buffs, Sir.’ Whereupon the general cried, ‘Then well done, Young Buffs!’ And so the ‘Young Buffs’ they became, and have since remained, although the days of buff waistcoats and stockings have long passed away.

Buffle, subs. (old).—A fool; a stupid person. Cf., Buffle-head and Buff, sense 2. Murray quotes it as occurring in 1655, but the term is, as will be seen, nearly a century older. [After French buffle.] For synonymous terms, see following:—

English Synonyms. Buffle-head; Sammy-soft, often contracted into Sammy; sheep’s head; crock (the original meaning is rather concerned with a slow worthless horse, but in sporting phraseology it has also come to mean a foolish, good-for-nothing person); duffer; dotty (also used by prostitutes of a low class to designate their protector or fancy man); cuckoo; calf; cabbage-head; cake; block; greenhorn; old curmudgeon; doddering old sheep’s head.

French Synonyms. Un échappé de Charenton (échapper = to escape; Charenton is the name of a lunatic asylum in Paris; hence one escaped from Charenton. Cf., English colloquial use of the names of Hanwell, Colney Hatch, and Bedlam in describing idiotic or foolish conversation or behaviour); échappé d’Herode (Cf., foregoing); un vieil embaumé (this term is applied to a foolish person well advanced in years; an old curmudgeon); un actionnaire (literary: properly a shareholder).

German Synonyms. Amhorez (literally a countryman; from Hebrew om, the people, + erez, country); Blechseppel (a soldier’s term); Chammer (a butcher’s or knacker’s word; it also signifies a donkey, and is derived from the Hebrew chamor); Dilmisch, Dilledapp, Dilldapp, Dilledali, Dellemelle, Dirledapp, Didel, Tatidel, Dudeldop, Dilldan (all these are popular expressions for a stupid fellow. Cf., dildalfen = to exhaust); Ewil (from the Hebrew owal; the term also stands for a sinner); Godeschaute (a great fool, a perfect fool; from the Hebrew godol, great, strong, celebrated, + schoto, a fool); Gomol (used only as a nickname; from the Hebrew gamal, a camel); Hanne or Hannes (a shortened form of Johannes, the German for the English John; it is curious that in both languages the nicknames Hanne and Jack should, as applied to men, always be used depreciatingly, see Jack); Harbogen, Hornickel, Hornigel (besides signifying a fool or weak-headed one, these words are used to designate an ox; they are employed indiscriminately); Heckel, Häckel, Hegel (also a fop; heckeln = to fool anyone, probably from hacken or hecheln, to hew, to hackle); Koppel (a diminutive of Jacob; sometimes written Jockel); Ksil (from the Hebrew kossal; variations in spelling are Kessil, Kessel, and in students’ slang Theekessel); Nebbich or Newich (among thieves employed to designate the clumsy, stupid fellow who is only entrusted with unimportant tasks connected with a robbery, such for instance as holding the sacks in which the stolen property is placed, or in carrying off the plunder); Nille or Knolle or Nolle (these terms are used to signify a fool, jester, or the male penis); Nowel or Newil or Nebel (also a cunning fellow, a rogue or ‘sly blade’; das ist ein Newele, the equivalent of the Low German dat is een Aas vun Kêrl might be rendered by the English ‘he is a devil of a fellow’); Oochbram or Ogbrôm (a fool or rather one whose craziness resembles in extent the traditional stature of Og, King of Bashan—at least authorities agree in thinking this the most likely derivation of the word. Among the Jews Og is taken as an image of gigantic size. When the Israelites advanced on Edrëi, Og sat on the wall of the town, and his feet reached to the ground, so that Moses at first thought he was part of the wall, but when he discovered that it was a man he was seized with terror. Rum = on high, therefore Og b’rum = the [great] Og on high. Er hat die Grösse von Og Melech haboschon, he has the size of Og, King of Bashan. A corresponding expression is found in the Low German, de lange Rick, i.e., a tall, slenderly built fellow); Schote or Schaute or Schotte (from the Hebrew schoto; used especially of one who can be cheated or robbed with his eyes open; a tradesman or money changer who can be robbed while transacting business at the counter or while exchanging money); Sonof (a Hebrew word signifying properly a tail, and mostly used proverbially of things low and contemptible. It is also employed to designate the male penis; the German Gaunerspräche offers frequent examples in which contemptible names are also used synonymously for the male and female organs of generation).

Italian Synonyms. Fiadetto (besides its meaning of a dolt or duffer, this term is also applied to a thief, rogue, or indeed a villain of any description); ribeba or ribecca (a goose or simpleton; properly a violin or Jewish harp); cordovano (this also means in the Fourbesque, a big man; properly it is the name of Morocco or Spanish leather); furlana; marietta or marietto (a dolt or dunce).

Spanish Synonym. Dupa (Cf., English dupe).

1580. Beehive of the Romish Churche, fo. 66 b. An unlearned buffle did babble.

1655. Comic Hist. Francion, iv., 22. He said to the three buffles who stood with their hats in their hands. Tell me you Waggs, etc. [M.].

1710. Pol. Ballads (1860), II., 90. To see the chief attorney such a buffle.

Buffle-Head, subs. (old).—An ignoramus; a stupid obtuse fellow. Cf., Buffle, and which see for synonyms.

1659. Lady Alimony, I., ii., in Hazl. Dodsley, xiv., 278. What a drolling buffle-head is this!

1663. Pepys, Diary, March 17. But my Lord Mayor a talking, bragging, buffle-headed fellow.

1668. Pepys, Diary, Jan. 29. He tells me that Townsend, of the Wardrobe, is the veriest knave and buffle-head that ever he saw.

1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, Act ii. Oliv. You know nothing, you buffle-headed stupid creature you.

1686. D’Urfey, Commonwealth of Women, I., i. A damn’d huffing fellow yonder, a Rebel, Whiggy buffle-head.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict., 2 ed. Buffle-head, an ignoramus, or dull sot.

1887. Dead Man’s Rock, bk. I., ch. v. ‘Jonathan’s a buffle-head ... a daft fule like Jonathan.’

Buffleheaded, adj. (old).—Stupid; idiotic; foolish. [From bufflehead, a foolish fellow (q.v.), + ed.]

1883. Baring Gould, John Herring, vol. II., ch. xxv., p. 275. (Tauchnitz ed.) ‘A buffleheaded sort of a chap,’ said Joyce.

Buffs, subs. (military).—The Third Regiment of Foot in the British army. From their facings.—See Buff Howards.

1849. Macaulay, Hist. England, I., 295. The third regiment, distinguished by flesh-coloured facings, from which it derived the well-known name of the Buffs.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 232. His father was a captain in the Buffs, and himself a commissioned officer at seventeen.

1874. Saturday Review, p. 95. This regiment [the First or Grenadier Guards] has almost the longest record of any in the service, only yielding, we believe, to the 1st Royals, and to the 3rd Buffs, which were originally raised for the service of the States-General of Holland.

Buffy, adj. (common).—Intoxicated. For synonyms, see Screwed.

1866. Yates, Land at Last, I., p. 85. Flexor was fine and buffy when he came home last night, after you was gone, sir.

1872. Besant and Rice, R. M. Mortiboy, ch. xlii. ‘My ideas take me first of all unawares. They generally begin, like a toothache, when I least expect them. Perhaps when I feel a little buffy, in the morning; mayhap, after an extra go of grog the night before. Then one comes all of a sudden.’

Bug, subs. (thieves’).—1. A breast pin.

2. (Old Irish.)—A jeering name for an Englishman—Grose says ‘because bugs were introduced into Ireland by Englishmen!!’

3. (American.)—The term bug is, in the United States, not confined merely, as in England, to the domestic pest, but is applied to all insects of the Coleoptera order, which includes what in this country are generally called beetles. The English bug (Cimex lectularius) is, in the Southern States, known as the chinch. It may be mentioned, however, that at Winchester College a usage akin to that prevailing in America exists. There a bug merely means an insect, whether belonging to the Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, or any other order. Synonyms for the English domestic pest will be found under Norfolk Howards.

1642. Rogers, Naaman the Syrian, 74. Do not all as much and more wonder at God’s rare workmanship in the Ant, the poorest bugge that creeps.

1888. Grass Valley (Cal.) Tidings. Entomology, or bugology, is now taught to some extent in our public schools. This is well, and is of use. The children ought to learn about the bugs that are destructive to useful vegetation. It is better to learn much about bugs than so much about how to solve those arithmetical problems that will never face anybody in the practical affairs of life.

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, March. The Insane Asylum Board some time ago discontinued a bug-killer’s employment, and the doctor avers that the old hospital building is swarming with cockroaches, and that these bugs will soon be large and fat enough to carry out the inmates and take their food and clothes.

4. (American.)—Bug is also used idiomatically in various combinations, as big bugs (q.v.), a jocose and vulgar name for persons of wealth or distinction. Thence, similarly, cattle-bugs, that is, wealthy stock-raisers; gold-bugs, or monied men, etc.

1843. Haliburton, Sam Slick in England, ch. xv. The great guns and big bugs have to take in each other’s ladies. Ibid, p. 24. Pick out the big bugs and see what sort of stuff they’re made of.

1888. St. Louis Globe Democrat, March 5. ‘Would Senator Allison’s well-known views on silver coinage operate materially against him in New York.’ ‘I think not; I do not think the feeling against silver is anything like as strong as it was. Of course, a few gold-bugs might fight him, but any of the men I have mentioned are reasonably certain to carry New York.’

That beats the bugs, phr. (American).—A phrase conveying a high mead of praise; ‘that beats cock-fighting.’

Verb (old).—1. A cant word among journeymen hatters, signifying the exchanging some of the dearest materials of which a hat is made for others of less value. Hats are composed of the furs and wools of diverse animals, among which is a small portion of bever’s fur. Bugging is stealing the bever, and substituting in lieu thereof an equal weight of some cheaper ingredient. Bailiffs who take money to postpone or refrain the serving of a writ, are said to bug the writ.—Grose.

2. (thieves’.)—To bribe. In old slang, bailiffs accepting money to delay service were said to bug the writ.

3. (thieves’.)—To give; hand over; to deliver. Cf., sense 2.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict. ‘He bug’d me a quid.’ ‘Bug over the rag.’

Bugaroch, adj. (Old Irish).—Pretty; comely; handsome.—Grose.

Bug-Blinding, subs. (military).—Whitewashing operations.

Bugger, subs. (old).—1. A thief whose speciality is stealing breast-pins from drunken men. [From bug, a cant term for a breast pin, + (g) ger.] Also called a bug hunter. For synonymous terms, see Area-sneak and Bug-hunter.

2. (low.)—A man; a fellow. A coarse term of abuse without, however, any reference to the legal meaning—a sodomite. The French has an exact equivalent in Bougre, which Littré says is une terme de mépris et d’injure, usité dans le langage populaire le plus trivial et le plus grossier. The term, as applied to a man, is equivalent to bitch (q.v.), as applied to women. Hence also buggery (q.v.).

1719. D’Urfey, Pills, I., 59. From every trench the bougers fly. [M.]

1854. M. Holmes, Tempest and Sun, 203. ‘If I’d known all you city buggers was comin’, I’d a kivered my bar feet.’ [M.]

Buggery, adj. (low).—An indefinite expression signifying disgust; or disapprobation. Of the same type as bloody, blamed, blasted, etc. (q.v.), but conveying a somewhat intenser meaning.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 23. A buggery fool, why don’t he let people go to hell their own way? Ibid, p. 180. Here mother, give us one of your buggery trotters.

Buggy, subs. (old).—A leather bottle.

Bugher.—See Buffer.

Bug-Hunter, subs. (thieves’).—A thief who plunders drunken men. The same as bugger, sense 1.

French Synonyms. Un poivrier (popular and thieves’); un allumeur (this term is also applied to an auction room ‘button’ or confederate, and to a card-sharper’s decoy); faire un louave, or faire les gavés (to go bug-hunting. Louave and gavé = drunkard, the latter from gaver, to glut).

1856. H. Mayhew, Gt. World of London, p. 46. Those who hocus or plunder persons by stupefying; as ‘drummers,’ who drug liquor, and ‘bug-hunters,’ who plunder drunken men.

2. subs. (old).—An upholsterer.—Lexicon Balatronicum.

Bug-Juice, subs. (common).—1. Ginger ale.

2. (American.)—The Schlechter whiskey of the Pennsylvania Dutch—a very inferior spirit. Also called bug-poison. These terms are now applied to bad whiskey of all kinds. For synonyms, see Drinks.

1888. Texas Siftings, 7 July. It is a singular fact, that nearly every character introduced by Charles Dickens into his numerous novels, was addicted to drinking ... each and every individual took his bug-poison with surprising regularity and eminent satisfaction.

Bugle It, verb (American cadets’).—To abstain from going into class until the last moment—i.e., until the bugle sounds.

Bug Walk, subs. (common).—A bed. [Derivation obvious.]

English Synonyms. Bedfordshire; Sheet Alley; Blanket Fair; Land of Nod; doss; rip; Cloth Market.

French Synonyms. Un portfeuille (familiar: properly ‘a portfolio’); la boîte à puces (popular: this almost exactly corresponds to the English ‘bug walk,’ the French phrase signifying ‘the flea box’); le pucier (popular: from puce = flea); le tremblant (popular); le plumard (popular); le fournil (popular and thieves’); la halle aux draps (popular: literally, Sheet Market or Fair. Cf., English ‘Blanket Fair’); le pagne; le panier aux ordures.

Build, subs. and verb (popular).—Properly ‘to build is to construct,’ says Murray, ‘for a dwelling and by extension of meaning ... to construct by fitting together of separate parts; chiefly with reference to structures of considerable size ... (not, e.g., a watch or a piano).’ Difficult as it may be at times to draw a dividing line between a literary, or even a colloquial usage and a slang signification, there can be little doubt that when build is applied to the make or style of dress, that it is the purest slang—‘It’s a tidy build, who made it?’ A tailor, it may be noted, is sometimes called a ‘trousers’ builder.’ In the United States, this verb is used with much more latitude than in England. There, as Fennimore Cooper puts it, everything is built. The priest builds up a flock; the speculator a fortune; the lawyer a reputation; the landlord a town; and the tailor, as in England, builds up a suit of clothes. A fire is built instead of made, and the expression is even extended to individuals, to be built being used with the meaning of formed. ‘I was not built that way’; and hence in a still more idiomatic sense to express unwillingness to adopt a specified course or carry out any inconvenient plan.—See Not built that way.

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. xx. That creator of manly beauty, who builds your coat on the model of an Apollo.

1853. Rev. E. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Verdant Green, pt. I., ch. x. If he forswore the primitive garments that his country-tailor had condemned him to wear, and adapted the build of his dress to the peculiar requirements of university fashion.

1871. A. Forbes, My Experience of the War, etc., II., p. 19. I met a gentleman who had got a dress coat built in the place [Versailles].

1880. Punch, Jan. 10, p. 6. The spread of education and liberal ideas.—His Grace the Duke of Poplar and Bermondsey. ‘Just look at these bags you last built me, Snippe! J’ever see such beastly bags in your life? I shall always be glad to come and dine with you, old man; but I’ll be hanged if you shall ever measure me for another pair of bags!’ Mr. Snippe (of Snippe and Son, St. James’s Street). ‘You’ve always grumbled about your bags, as you call ’em, ever since you were my fag at Eton; and at Christchurch you were just as bad, even though my poor dear old governor used to come all the way down and measure you himself. It ain’t the fault of the bags, my dear Popsy—it’s the fault of the legs inside ’em! So, shut up, old Stick-in-the-mud, and let’s join the ladies—the duchess has promised to give us “Little Billee.”’

Build a chapel, verbal phr. (nautical).—To steer badly, and so cause a ship to veer round.

Not built that way, phr. (general).—Not to one’s taste, in one’s line—a general expression of disapproval or dissent, whether said of persons or things.

1881. American Humorist, May 12. We cannot shut our eyes to the fact that mankind is passing through a great era of change; even womankind is not built as she was a few brief years ago.

1888. Missouri Republican, Jan. 25.

‘Why didn’t you roll down?’ ‘I wasn’t built that way.’

Bulgarian Atrocities, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Varna and Rutschuk Ry. 3 per cent. obligations.

1887. Atkin, House Scraps.

And we’ve really quite a crew Of fancy names to represent a share.... But fancy, by the way, Now, in the present day, A Varna’s a Bulgarian atrocity.

Bulge, verb (American).—The legitimate meaning is extended in many odd ways. ‘Bags’ bulge, but do not get baggy; and in a similar fashion when a man is ‘all attention,’ his eyes are said to bulge.

1888. Puck’s Library, May, p. 31. A Phenomenal Fee. ‘Yes,’ said a pompous young lawyer, on a street-car, to a friend: ‘I hadn’t been downtown half an hour this morning, before I got a fee of ten dollars!’ Then the eyes of a man who was hanging on to a strap began TO bulge. ‘I say, young feller,’ he whispered earnestly: ‘what saloon d’ye work at? I’m a waiter, myself!’

To go or be on a bulge, verbal phr. (American).—To drink to excess.

To get the bulge on one, verbal phr. (American mining slang).—To obtain an advantage over; an equivalent is to get the drop on one.

1869. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Innocents at Home, p. 18. Well, you’ve rather got the bulge on me. Or maybe we’ve both got the bulge, somehow.

1885. Household Words, Oct. 10, p. 466. ‘Smart chap, that Jacob, for a nig!’ remarked he, as we told him the outlines of our story. ‘I guess now he’s had the bulge on you pretty considerable this trip.’

1888. American Humorist, May 12. ‘Pop! are you up there?’ ‘Yes, my son.’ ‘I saw he had the bulge on you and I got the gun and dropped him!’ ‘Right, my boy. That’s what I was praying for.’

Bulger, adj. (common).—Large; synonymous with buster (q.v.).

Bulk, subs. (old).—See quots.—See also File and Bulker, sense 2.

1674. R. Head, Canting Acad., 35. Bulk and File. The one jostles you, whilst the other picks your pocket.

1725. New Cant. Dict. Bulk, an assistant to a File or Pickpocket, who jostles a Person up against the Wall, while the other picks his Pocket.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bulk and file, two pickpockets; the bulk jostles the party to be robbed, and the file does the business.

Bulker, subs. (old).—1. A prostitute of a low type—generally one who had no settled home; one who slept on a ‘bulk,’ a kind of sill projecting from a window. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack.

1691. Shadwell, Scowerers, Act i., Sc. 1. ‘Every one in a petticoat is thy mistress, from humble bulker to haughty countess.’

1728. Baily, Bulker, a Common Jilt; a Whore.—Canting term. [In a later edition (1790) he adds ‘one who would lay down on a bulk to anyone.’]

2. (old.)—A thief. Cf., Bulk.

1669. Nicker Nicked, in Hart. Misc. (ed. Park), II., 108. Bulker occurs in a list of names of thieves.

1678. Four for a Penny, in Hart. Misc. (ed. Park), IV., 147. He is the treasurer of the thieves’ exchequer, the common fender of all bulkers and shop-lifts in the town.

Bulky, subs. (provincial).—A police constable. Said to be a northern term. For synonyms, see Beak.

1821. Edinburgh Mag., August, p. 156. This enterprising ruffian boasts of his success in deceiving the bulkies on a search, by concealing his stolen notes in the cape of his coat.

1841. Lytton, Night and Morning, bk. V., ch. ii. ‘Inquiries about your respectability would soon bring the bulkies about me.’

Adj. (Winchester College).—Rich or generous, or both. The opposite of brum (q.v.).

Bull, subs. (colloquial.)—1. Formerly a blunder or mistake; now generally understood as an inconsistent statement; a ludicrous contradiction, often partaking largely of the nature of a pun. [Bull in M.E. = to befool; to mock.] The term was current long before the form Irish bull is met with.

1642. Milton, Apol. for Smect., § 6. But that such a poem should be toothless, I still affirm it to be a bull, taking away the essence of that which it calls itself. For if it bite neither the persons nor the vices, how is it a satire? And if it bite either, how is it toothless?

1673. Dryden, The Assignation, Act iii., Sc. 1. Ben. Faith, lady, I could not sleep one wink, for dreaming of you. Lan. Not sleep for dreaming? When the place falls, you shall be bull master general at court.

1689. Selden, Table Talk, p. 96 (Arber’s ed.). We can make no notion of it, ’tis so full of intricacy, so full of contradiction: ’tis in good earnest, as we state it, half-a-dozen bulls one upon another.

1705. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. II., pt. I., p. 6. With Stale Quibbles, Puns, and Bulls.

1841. Lever, Charles O’Malley, ch. i. ‘I have got into such an infernal habit of making bulls, that I can’t write sense when I want it.’

1859. H. Kingsley, Geoffrey Hamlyn, ch. xxxix. He was telling the most outrageous of Irish stories, and making, on purpose, the most outrageous of Irish bulls.

In this connection it may be noted that in French cavalry regiments portez! and remettez! are mock commands given upon the perpetration of a bull. La calinotade signifies in the popular speech a ludicrous or foolish saying, whilst one given to uttering them is termed un calino.

2. (thieves’.)—A crown or five shilling piece. Formerly bull’s eye (q.v.). [The origin is doubtful. It may be a mere allusion to the circular shape, or it may be of classical derivation, and be a reference to the herds and flocks which at one time constituted a man’s wealth. Cf., Latin pecunia, from pecus, cattle or oxen.]

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dictionary. Bull, a crown, or five shillings.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 232. List of patterers’ words. Bull, a crown.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xlvi. Four half-bulls, wot you may call half-crowns.

1857. Notes and Queries, 2 S., 4 July. And therefore much as a bull (or a hog) stand arbitrarily for a five-shilling-piece, half-a-bull for half a-crown, a bob for a shilling, a tanner for sixpence, etc., with equal propriety might a plum stand for £100,000.

1889. Answers, July 27, p. 136, col. 2. Once found, the ‘lurker’ is pretty sure to draw a bull (five shillings), or even a ‘counter’ (pound).

3. (Stock Exchange.)—Originally a speculative purchase for a rise; i.e., a man would agree to buy stock at a future day at a stated price with no intention of taking it up, but trusting to the market advancing in value to make the transaction profitable. Bull is the reverse of bear (q.v.). The term is now more frequently applied to the person engaged in the above-mentioned tactics, i.e., to one who tries to enhance the value of stocks by speculative purchases or otherwise. Also used as a verb and adjective.

b. 1671, d. 1757. Cibber, The Refusal, or The Ladies’ Philosophy. Granger (to Witling, who has been boasting of his gain): And all this out of ‘Change Alley’? Witling: Every shilling, Sir, all out of stocks, Pulls, Bulls, Rams, Bears, and Bubbles.

1768. Foote, Devil upon Two Sticks, Act i. A mere bull and bear booby; the patron of lame ducks, brokers, and fraudulent foot bankrupts.

1774. Coleman, Man of Business, IV., i., in wks. (1777) II., 179. My young master is the bull, and Sir Charles is the bear. He agreed for stock, expecting it to be up at three hundred by this time; but, lack-a-day, sir, it has been falling ever since.

1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. iv. The hum and bustle which his approach was wont to produce among the bulls, bears, and brokers of Stock Alley.

1860. Peacock, Gryll Grange, ch. xviii. In Stock Exchange slang, Bulls are speculators for a rise, Bears for a fall.

1881. Mark Lane Express, Aug. 8, p. 1085. The speculative movement which has, so far, exerted a bull influence on the maize market.

On the French Bourse a bull is called un haussier; in Berlin he is known as liebhaler; and in Vienna the term used is contremine.

4. (nautical.)—See Bull the cask or barrel.

5. (common.)—Explained by quotation.

1887. G. R. Sims, How the Poor Live, p. 148. In these places, too, the lodgers divide their food frequently, and a man, seeing a neighbour without anything, will hand him his teapot, and say, ‘Here you are, mate; here’s a bull for you.’ A ‘bull’ is a teapot with the leaves left in for a second brew.

6. (thieves’.)—Prison rations of meat, an allusion to its toughness; also generally used for meat without any reference to its being either tough or tender. A French equivalent is la bidoche. [Its derivation is suggested in the following quot.]

1883. Echo, Jan. 25, p. 2, col. 3. Thus from the French ‘bouilli’ we probably get the prison slang term bull for a ration of meat.

7. (American.)—A locomotive; the word is sometimes lengthened into bullgine.

8. (Winchester College.)—Cold beef, introduced at breakfast about 1873.

Verb (American University).—At Dartmouth College to recite badly; to make a poor recitation. [From the substantive bull, a blunder or contradiction, or from the use of the word as a prefix, signifying large, lubberly, blundering.]

Stale bull, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Stock held over for a long period with profit.

Bull and Cow, subs. (rhyming slang).—A row.

Bull-Bait, verb (? nonce word).—To bully; hector; badger. [Clearly a figurative usage of the legitimate word.]

1860. Dickens, Great Expectations, ch. xviii., p. 82. ‘Which I meantersay,’ cried Joe, ‘that if you come into my place bull-baiting and badgering me, come out!’

Bull-Beef, subs. (old).—A frequently recurring term of contempt. Prisoners apply it to the hard, stringy meat supplied to them, and formerly the expression was in general use. ‘As ugly as bull-beef’; ‘as big as bull-beef’; ‘go and sell yourself for bull-beef’; were common colloquialisms at the end of the last and the beginning of the present century. Sometimes contracted into bull. Cf., Bully beef.

1579. Gosson, Apol. of the Schoole of Abuse, p. 64 (Arber). I vnderstand they are all in a fustian fume.... They haue eaten bul-bief, and threatned highly too put water in my woortes whensoeuer they catche me.

1607. Rowlands, Diogines Lanthorne, p. 8 (H. Cl. Repr., 1873). How lookes yonder fellow? what’s the matter with him trow? has a eaten bul-beefe? there’s a lofty slaue indeede, hee’s in the altitudes.

1738–1819. Wolcot (‘P. Pindar’), Rights of Kings, Ode I., in wks. (Dublin, 1795), vol. II., p. 219. The Cooks, Bluff on th’ occasion, put on bull’s-beef looks.

1782. Wolcot, Lyric Odes, No. 3, in wks. (1809) I., 62.

Yet thou may’st bluster like bull-beef so big.

1860. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Season Ticket, x. Which look as cheap as bull-beef at one cent a pound.

1868. Brewer, Phrase and Fable, p. 524. To look as big as bull-beef. To look stout and hearty, as if fed on bull-beef. Bull-beef was formerly recommended for making men strong and muscular.

1888. Ashton, Mod. Street Ballads, p. 61.

For soon he will his trial take, And hard bull-beef be munching.

Bull Calf, subs. (old).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bull calf, a great hulkey or clumsy fellow.

Bull Chin, subs. (old).—Explained by quotation.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bull chin, a fat, chubby child.

Bull-Dance, subs. (nautical).—A dance in which only men take part. Cf., Stag-dance, Gander-party, Hen-party, etc.

1867. Smyth, Sailors’ Word Book. Bull-dance. At sea it is performed by men only when without women. It is sometimes called a stag-dance.

1887. Graphic, March 26, p. 315, col. 3. It is obliged to be a bull-dance. Gentlemen dance with gentlemen, and the pianist is, of course, a gentleman also.

Bull-Dog, subs. (old).—1. A sheriff’s officer; a bailiff.

1698. Farquhar, Love and a Bottle, iii., 2. Mock. But pray what’s the matter, Mrs. Lyric?

Lyric. Nothing, sir, but a shirking bookseller that owed me about forty guineas for a few lines. He would have put me off, so I sent for a couple of bull-dogs, and arrested him.

2. (old.)—A pistol; in the naval service a main-deck gun. Cf., Barker and Bull-dog blazer.

1700. Farquhar, Constant Couple, iii., 2. He whips out his stiletto, and I whips out my bull-dog.

1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, ii., 191. ‘I have always a brace of bull-dogs about me.’... So saying, he exhibited a very handsome, highly-finished, and richly-mounted pair of pistols.

1867. Smyth, Sailors’ Word Book. Bull-dog or muzzled bull-dog, the great gun which stands housed in the officer’s ward-room cabin. General term for main-deck guns.

1881. Daily News, Oct. 27, p. 6, col. 2. Revolver cartridges of the ordinary ‘bull-dog’ pattern.

3. (old.)—See quot.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict. Bull-dog, a sugar-loaf.

4. (University.)—A proctor’s assistant or marshall. Cf., quot. from Brewer’s Reader’s Handbook.

1823. Lockhart, Reg. Dalton, I., x. (1842), 59. Long forgotten stories about proctor’s bit and bull-dogs baffled. [M.]

1841. Lytton, Night and Morning, bk. III., ch. iii. ‘The proctor and his bull-dogs came up ... and gave chase to the delinquents ... the night was dark, and they reached the College in safety.’

1847. Tennyson, Princess, Prologue.

We unworthier told Of college: he had climb’d across the spikes, And he had squeezed himself betwixt the bars, And he had breath’d the Proctor’s dogs.

1880. Brewer, Reader’s Handbook. Bull-dogs, the two servants of a university proctor, who follow him in his rounds, to assist him in apprehending students who are violating the university statues, such as appearing in the streets after dinner without cap and gown, etc.

5. (University: obsolete.)—A name for a member of Trinity College, Cambridge.

Bull-Dog Blazer, subs. (American).—A revolver. [Probably a mere amplification of the kindred English canting term; bull-dog, a pistol, + blazer, an allusion to the flash attendant upon firing.] For synonyms, see Meat in the pot.

Bull-Dose, subs. (American).—A severe castigation or flogging. Verb.—To thrash; to intimidate; to bully. A term of Southern political origin, originally referring to an association of negroes formed to insure, by violent and unlawful means, the success of an election. The phrase has now passed into general use, political and otherwise, to signify the adoption and use of coercive measures. [The derivation is almost literal—a bull-dose, a flogging with a strip of hide; the action itself being represented by the verb to bulldose. Though indifferently spelt both with single and double ‘l’ and with ‘s’ and ‘z,’ the correct version is bulldose.] Also derivatives bulldoser (q.v.), and bull-dosing, mutatis mutandis, of a kindred meaning.

1876. New York Tribune, Dec. There was a bad case of ‘bulldozing’ in Cincinnati on Monday night. A handful of bold Democrats had gathered to let out their pent-up desire for Tilden or blood.... Mr. C—— was in the chair, and was warming up the faithful with an address, when the Republicans crowded around him in so threatening a manner that he mounted the table, shook his address in their faces, and declared, like a true hero, that he was not to be ‘intimidated.’

1880. Illust. London News, vol. LXXVII., p. 587, col. 1. The Americans have lately been using a strange word, ‘bull-dosing,’ which signifies, I believe, political intimidation, but not personal molestation.

1881. Sat. Review, July 9, p. 40, col. 2. To ‘bull-dose’ a negro in the Southern States means to flog him to death or nearly to death.

1881. Sat. Review, July 9, p. 40, col. 2. A ‘bull-dose’ means a large efficient dose of any sort of medicine or punishment.

1887. Cassell’s Mag. (Art. on ‘Americanisms’), June, p. 412. To ‘bulldoze’ is to intimidate, and the word was originally used respecting the alleged interference with negro voters in Louisiana.

1888. Detroit Evening Journal, 20 Feb. The Democrats complain of the amounts of money they had to face, but that was not such a source of trouble as the bulldozing of voters by the mining bosses. They were driven to the polls, and compelled to vote for Seymour.

A French equivalent is faire son fendart (fendart signifies ‘braggart’ or ‘swaggerer’; fendant in literary French means a hector or bully).

Bull-Doser, subs. (American).—1. A bully; braggart; swaggerer. Cf., Bull-dose. French printers call a bully un mata, an abbreviation of matador. It is curious that this term in the original Spanish not only signifies a killer of bulls (as in a bull-fight), but also a murderer.

1878. N. American Review, vol. CXXVII., p. 426. The great ‘bulldozer’ of Europe.

1882. New York Tribune, 3 May. The hotel where he was staying was visited ... by a mob of bull-dozers. [M.]

2. A pistol.

1881. Sat. Review, July 9, p. 40, col. 2. A Californian bull-doser is a pistol which carries a bullet heavy enough to destroy human life with certainty.

Bullet. To give the bullet, verbal phr. (common).—To discharge an employé. Cf., To give the bag, sense 2, under Bag, and Sack. [Possibly a punning allusion to the word ‘discharge.’] The term is variously used. To shake the bullet at anyone, is to threaten with ‘the sack,’ but not to give actual notice to leave. To get the bullet is to get notice, while to get the instant bullet is to be discharged upon the spot.

1841. Savage, Dict. of Art of Printing. A workman was said to have got the bullet when he was discharged instanter—without the customary notice on either side.

1872. Chamb. Jour., March 9, p. 147. When a fellow gets the bullet from his work, he mostly has a spell at cab-driving.

1887. Punch, Sept. 17, p. 126. I have just got the ‘bullet,’ Mate—sacked without notice.

Bullfinch, subs. (old).—1. A stupid fellow.

2. (hunting.)—A high thick hedge; one difficult to jump or rush through. [Most authorities agree in suggesting the origin of this term in a corruption of ‘bull-fence,’ i.e., a fence capable of preventing cattle from straying.]

1832. Quart. Rev., Mar., 226. The bull-finch fence ... is a quickset hedge of perhaps fifty years’ growth, with a ditch on one side or the other, and so high and strong that [one] cannot clear it. [M.]

1864. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ch. ix. The third is a teaser—an ugly black bull-finch with a ditch on the landing side, and a drop into a ploughed field.

1880. The Times, Nov. 2, p. 4, col. 5. They are almost invariably attired in double-stitched shooting coats, that will stand the ordeal of ‘bull-finches’ and brambles.

1889. Man of the World, June 29. See Harrington, the belted earl, bear down an opponent in the jousts, charging with lance or sword as if he were riding at a South Notts bull-finch.

Bull-Jine, subs. (nautical).—A sailor’s term for a locomotive. [Thought to be of American origin, New York thieves using the same term, as also an abbreviated form—bull.]

Bull Money, subs. (harlotry).—Money extorted from or given by those who in places of public resort have been detected in flagrante delicto with a woman, as a bribe to silence.

Bull-Nurse, subs. (nautical).—See quot.

1885. Graphic, April 4, p. 326, col. 3. ‘Bull-nurses.’ Perhaps we ought to apologise for using this word; but years ago (it may be so still) it was the sailors’ phrase to indicate a male-attendant on the sick.

Bullock, subs. (schoolboys’).—1. See quot.

1855. J. K., in Notes and Queries, 1 S., v., 12, 3 Nov., p. 344. Bullock, a cheat; but as I think, only when cheating at marbles.

2. (Australian.)—A countryman or bushman. Cf., Bullock-puncher.

Verb.—To bully; to bounce over; to intimidate. [Query from bully.]

1716. M. Davies, Ath. Brit., I., 272. Upon the evidence of that bullocking Fryer Campanella. [M.]

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. II., ch. vi. ‘And then you have charged me with bullocking you into owning the truth.’

1763. Foote, Mayor of Garratt, Act ii., Sc. 2. She shan’t think to bullock and domineer over me.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bullock, to hector, bounce, or bully.

Bullock’s Heart.—See Token.

Bullock’s Horn, verb (rhyming slang).—To pawn. For synonyms, see Pop.

Bull Party, subs. (old).—A party of men only. Cf., Bull-dance, Stag-party, Hen-tea, etc.

Bull-Puncher.—A variant of cow-puncher (q.v.).

Bull’s Eye, subs. (schoolboys’).—1. A sweetmeat of which peppermint is an important ingredient. [It received its name in allusion to its globular shape.]

1825. Hone, Every-day Bk., I., 51. Hardbake, brandy-balls, and bull’s-eyes. [M.]

1882. Punch, vol. LXXXII., p. 83. Dr. Switcher (who had discovered bull’s eyes about, and traced them to the original donor). ‘Don’t you know, Muggins, there’s an old proverb that “Fools give feasts and Wise men eat them”’? Muggins. ‘Yes, Sir, and there’s another one, sir.’ The Doctor. ‘What’s that, sir? Now, Sir?’—(noticing a reticence)—‘What is it, Sir?’—(sternly)—‘or else—!’ Muggins (seeing no escape). ‘Please, Sir, “W—— wise men make proverbs and F—— Fools repea——.”’ [Catches it!]

2. (old.)—A five-shilling piece, otherwise known as a bull (q.v.).

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. [Mentioned as a cant term for a crown.]

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4 ed.), p. 11. Bull’s-eye, a Crown.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bull’s-eye, a crown piece.

Bull’s-eye Villas, subs. (military).—A nickname given to the small open tents used by the Volunteers at their annual gathering. [An allusion to bull’s-eye in its meaning of the centre of a target.]

Bull’s Feather. To give [or get] the bull’s feather, verbal phr. (old).—To be made, or be a cuckold. Cf., Acteon. The French say also planter des plumes de bœuf.

16(?). Song of the 17th Century, quoted by Nares—‘The Bull’s Feather.’

It chanced not long ago as I was walking, An echo did bring me where two were a talking, ’Twas a man said to his wife, dye had I rather, Than to be cornuted and wear a bull’s feather. Then presently she reply’d sweet, art thou jealous? Thou canst not play Vulcan before I play Venus; Thy fancies are foolish, such follies to gather, There’s many an honest man hath worn the bull’s feather— Though it be invisible, let no man it scorn, Though it be a new feather made of an old horn, He that disdains it in heart or mind either, May he be the more subject to wear the bull’s feather.

1748. Richardson, Cl. Harlowe, v., 295. A good whimsical instrument, take it altogether! But what, thinkest thou, are the arms to this matrimonial harbinger?... Three crooked horns, smartley top-knotted with ribands; which being the ladies’ wear, seem to intimate that they may very probably adorn, as well as bestow, the bull’s-feather.

Bull the Cask or Barrel, verbal phr. (nautical).—To pour water into a rum cask when empty, with a view to keeping the wood moist and preventing leakage. The water, receiving after some time a strong impregnation, is very intoxicating. The authorities, not looking with much favour upon a wholesale brewing of grog in this way, sometimes use salt water as a deterrent, though even this ‘salt water bull’ as it is called, when again poured out, has often proved too attractive for seamen to resist. Again it is common to talk in the same way of ‘bulling a teapot,’ ‘coffee-pot,’ etc.; that is; after the first ‘brew’ has been exhausted, by adding fresh water, and boiling over again, to make a second brew from the old materials. This probably was derived from bulling the cask, but whether the bulling originally applied to the preserving the water-tight qualities of the cask, or to the making of the second brew is not quite certain. Taking, however, the present acceptation of the term, together with its probable derivation (see below), the latter would appear to be the case. [Thought to have its origin in French boullir, whence bouilloire, a tea-kettle; bouillon, a decoction of meat to which vegetables, salt and pepper have been added.]

1824. Cochrane, Narrative of a Pedestrian Journey through Russia and Siberian Tartary, p. 225. My liquor was at end from the effects of a very common sort of leak—it had been tapped too often. I could do nothing but bull the barrel, that is, put a little water into it, and so preserve at least the appearance of vookey.

1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ch. xx. ‘Why, Jacob, a bull means putting a quart or two of water into a cask which has had spirits in it.’

1887. G. R. Sims, How the Poor Live, p. 148. In these places, too, the lodgers divide their food frequently, and a man, seeing a neighbour without anything, will hand him his teapot, and say, ‘Here you are, mate; here’s a bull for you.’ A ‘bull’ is a teapot with the leaves left in for a second brew.

Bull-Trap, subs. (American thieves’).—A personator of a police constable.

Bully, subs. (old).—1. A ‘protector’ of a prostitute; a ‘fancy man.’ The name is often well applied, inasmuch as violence and swagger form the main staple of the stock-in-trade of such men in levying blackmail upon the victims enticed by their women companions.

1706. Defoe, Jure Divino, i., 8. Mars the celestial bully they adore, And Venus for an everlasting whore.

French Synonyms. Poisson (familiar and popular: one who subsists on the gains of a prostitute, the latter being known as his marmite, i.e., ‘flesh-pot’; poisson signifies literally ‘a fish,’ and Michel says such a one was formerly known as poisson d’avril, a punning variation of maquereau [which see], mackerel being fit for food about that month. Poisson d’avril properly means a trick or fool’s errand; recevoir un poisson d’avril is to be made an April-fool); Alphonse (a French form of Alphonso, a ‘fancy name’ for a ‘fancy man.’ Cf., Adonis for a dandy. Alphonsisme is the calling of an Alphonse); baigne-dans-le-beurre (popular: another allusion to mackerel which is generally served with butter); barbise (popular); barbe (popular: lit. ‘beard’); barbille or barbillon (a young hand at the business); barbeau (popular: properly barbel, from L. L. barbellus, dim. from barbus, a barbel, i.e., the fish, from barba, a beard); marlou or marlousier (general: the second term is the oldest, and Michel derives it from marlier, formerly used in the sense of marguillier, signifying properly ‘churchwarden.’ Cf., Sacristain); benoît (popular); brochet (popular: properly this is ‘pike’ or ‘jack’); dos, dos vert, and dos d’azur (general: dos = back); casquette à trois ponts (popular: so called from a cap often worn by such persons); chevalier du bidet (bidet = pony; Cf., Omnibus); chevalier de la guiche (familiar); chiqueur de blanc (chiqueur = glutton, and blanc, a street-walker. Cf., mangeuse de viande crue); bouffeur de blanc (popular); costel (popular); cravate verte (popular); guiche (popular); dessous (thieves’: a man for whom ‘love’ is cherished by a prostitute); écaillé (literally ‘one with scales,’ like those of a fish—allusive of maquereau; fish, another reference to maquereau); foulard rouge (popular: lit. ‘red silk handkerchief’); gentilhomme sous marin (popular); ambassadeur (popular); gonce à écailles (gonce = man; à écailles = with scales, an allusion to maquereau); goujon (general: ? does this come from the Gascon gouie, whence comes gouge, a prostitute); lacromuche (popular); retrousseur (popular: retrousser properly means ‘to turn up,’ ‘to cock’); dauphin (popular: lit. dolphin); macchoux (popular); machabée (popular: lit. a corpse); mac or macque (popular; abbreviations of maquereau); macrottin (familiar); poisson frayeur (frayer [of fishes] signifies ‘to milt’); releveur de fumeuse (popular: Cf., relever le chandelier, i.e., to lift up the candlestick; from a practice of placing the fees of a prostitute under a candlestick); maquignon à bidoche (popular: maquignon is properly a ‘horsedealer,’ and bidoche = meat); mangeur de blanc (general: a devourer of prostitutes. Cf., chiqueur de blanc); tête de patère (popular); marloupatte, marloupin (see marlou); marquant (thieves’); mec (popular and thieves’); mec de la guiche (so called from his kiss-curls—des guiches = kiss-curls); monsieur à nageoires (lit. gentleman with fins); monsieur à rouflaquettes (popular: rouflaquettes = aggerawators, q.v.); neg en viande chaude (popular: neg is an abbreviation of négociant, i.e., merchant, dealer; viande chaude = hot meat); patenté (popular: patente is the name of a cap worn by the fraternity); porte-nageoires (see monsieur à nageoires); roi de la mer (popular: lit. king of the sea. Cf., maquereau, poisson, etc.); rouflaquette (Cf., monsieur à rouflaquettes); roule-en-cul, soixante-six (popular: insulting terms which might be translated by ‘pensioner,’ with an obscene prefix); un qui va aux épinards (popular: one who receives money from a prostitute, épinards = spinach. Cf., ‘to take one’s greens’); valet de cœur (popular: the lover of a prostitute); visqueux (properly this signifies ‘viscous,’ ‘slimy,’ ‘clammy’; the term is applied to the lowest type of bullies); bibi (popular); bras de fer (lit. ‘arm of iron’).

1729. Gay, Polly, Act ii., Sc. 7. Jimmy: Sure never was such insolence! how could you leave me with this bawdy-house bully?

1753. Adventurer, No. 100. I learned to pack cards and to cog a die; became a bully to whores.

1766. Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield, ch. xx. The lady was only a woman of the town, and the fellow her bully and a sharper.

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act. ii., Sc. 4. M’L. Plaise your honour, I have brought before your worship a most notorious prostitute and common street walker, who, for her foul doings, has been cooped up in the Poultry Comptor, as often as there are years in a week.—I caught her charging these honest gentlemen (pointing to Tom and Jerry) in a most impositious manner, and when I civilly axed her, how she could think of getting drunk, and acting so, she called her bullies here. (Pointing to Kate and Sue.)

1883. A. Dobson, Fielding, p. 129. Probably a professed sabreur, if not a salaried bully like Captain Stab in the Rake’s Progress.

1887. Daily News, 15 July, 6, 5. It was not an uncommon thing for a prostitute to solicit a man, and if he refused her importunities, to call upon a ‘bully,’ and complain that she had been assaulted.

2. (Eton College.)—A melée at football; the equivalent of the Rugby ‘scrimmage’ and the Winchester ‘hot.’ It is where the majority of players play.

3. (nautical.)—A term of endearment in use amongst sailors. Equivalent to ‘pal,’ ‘mate,’ and similar terms. In this sense it has long been in use, Shakspeare often employing it. Probably hence arose the American and colonial adjectival use of the word in the sense of fine, ‘crack.’

4. (American thieves’.)—A weapon formed by tying a stone or a piece of lead in a handkerchief. This is used knuckleduster fashion.

Adj. (American).—Fine; capital; crack; ‘spiff.’ Applied to persons only, this adjective is traceable as far back as 1681; it seems, however, to have fallen into disuetude and to have been subsequently revived in a much more extended sense in the U.S.A., whence it has made the circuit of the English speaking world. Now applied to anything deserving of commendation, and used very much in the same way and with the same shades of meaning as ‘crack.’

English Synonyms. See A1.

French Synonyms. In addition to those given under A1 may be mentioned the following:—muche; pas piqué des hannetons (popular: literally not bitten or stung by May-bugs or cockchafers).

1681. Chetham, Anglers’ Vade Mecum (1689), pref. From such bully fishers this book expects no other reception.

1855. Cairo City Times. The bully steamboat ‘Crystal Palace’ passed up to St. Louis on Monday. We have no doubt she left papers.

1870. Meade, New Zealand, p. 331. The roof fell in, there was a ‘bully’ blaze.

1875. N. Amer. Review, vol. CXX., p. 128. ‘That,’ replied Earney, ‘is Mercury, the god of merchants and thieves.’ ‘Good! that’s bully!’ exclaimed Tweed.

1880. Bret Harte, A Lonely Ride. ‘I thought you changed horses on the road?’ ‘So we did. Two hours ago.’ ‘That’s odd. I didn’t notice it.’ ‘Must have been asleep sir. Hope you had a pleasant nap. Bully place for a nice quiet snooze,—empty stage, sir!’

That’s bully for you, phr. (American).—Grand or fine; this phrase, during the Civil War, had a remarkably popular run.

1873. Justin McCarthy, Fair Saxon, ch. xix. ‘Darling boy! I had thought of this already.’ ‘Bully for you, mamma! Of course you did.’

Bully boy or bully boy with the glass eye, phr. (American).—A good fellow.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxxiv. ‘Well said, my hearty captain!’ cried Glossin, endeavouring to catch the tone of revelry.... ‘That’s it, my bully boy! Why, you’re alive again now!—’

1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. viii. ‘And you, Mr. Frank Osbaldistone, are not the first bully-boy that has said stand to a true man.’

1869. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Innocents at Home, p. 20. You ought to seen him get started once. He was a bully boy with a glass eye.

Bully-Back or Bully-Buck, subs. (old).—Thus described by Grose: A bully to a bawdy house, one who is kept in pay, to oblige the frequenters of the house to submit to the impositions of the mother abbess or bawd, and who also sometimes pretends to be the husband of one of the ladies, and under that pretence extorts money from greenhorns, or ignorant young men, whom he finds with her. Cf., Bully-boss.

1626. Amherst, Terræ Fil., xxxiii., 179. They have spirtual bravves on their side, and old lecherous bully-backs to revenge their cause. [M.]

Bully Beef, subs. (military).—Tinned meat. Also called iron ration (q.v.). In the navy by bully-beef is meant boiled salt beef. [This may either be a corruption of bull beef or from the French bouilli, boiled meat.]

1883. Clark Russell, Sailors’ Language, pref., xii. Soup-and-bouilli is another standing sea dish, and, taking it all round, is the most disgusting of the provisions served out to the merchant sailor. I have known many a strong stomach, made food-proof by years of pork eaten with molasses, and biscuit alive with worms, to be utterly capsized by the mere smell of soup-and-bouilli. Jack calls it ‘soap and bullion, one onion to a gallon of water,’ and thus fairly expresses the character of the nauseous compound.

1887. Daily News, July 9, p. 6, col. 4. The rations will be of the kind known to Tommy Atkins as ‘bully beef.’ There may be in it a considerable proportion of mutton, but that makes no difference to him.

Bully-Boss, subs. (American).—The landlord of a brothel or thieves’ den. [From bully, sense 1 (q.v.), + boss, a master.]

Bully-Buck.—See Bully-back.

Bully Cock, subs. (old).—1. See quot.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bully-cock, one who foments quarrels in order to rob the persons quarrelling.

2. subs. (old).—A low round hat with broad brim.—See Billy-cock.

3. (old.)—A man who sets other people by the ears, so that, while they quarrel, he may rob them with impunity.

Bullyrag or Ballyrag, verb (colloquial).—To revile; abuse; scold vehemently—usually in vulgar or obscene language; also to swindle by means of intimidation. [The etymology is unknown.]

French Synonyms. Arranger aux petits oignons; monter une gamme (popular: gamme = thrashing or ‘walloping’); habiller quelqu’un de taffetas (popular: i.e., to clothe anyone with fear; Cf., ‘clothed with shame’); agonir (popular: ‘to haul over the coals’; properly ‘to pull to pieces’); secouer les puces à quel-qu’un (popular: secouer = to shake; puces = fleas. Cf., ‘to send one away with a flea in the ear’).

1760. T. Warton, Oxford Newsman’s Verses.

On Minden’s plains, ye meek Mounseers! Remember Kingsley’s grenadiers. You vainly thought to ballarag us, Like your fine squadron off Cape Lagos.

1861. Charles Lever, One of Them, p. 36. He bullyragged me.

1876. S. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Tom Sawyer, p. 118. I don’t want nothing better ’n this; I don’t git enough to eat gin’ally,—and here they can’t come and pick a feller and bullyrag him so.

1880. Jas. Greenwood, Maids in Waiting, in Odd People in Odd Places, p. 143. You should have heard the bullyragging I got, ma’am, from the mistress and the master as well, and I was turned out in the shameful way I’ve already explained to you, for doing what was no wrong at all, but only what me good-nature tempted me to.

1884. Jas. Payn, Talk of the Town, ch. v. He had never been ‘bally-ragged’ in his own house for ‘nothing’—except by his wife—before.

Bullyragging, verb, subs. (colloquial).—Scolding; abuse; and sometimes swindling. [From bullyrag (q.v.) + ing.] For synonyms, see Wigging.

1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliot, ch. xviii. ‘It would be a good thing for she ... if she could bully Miss Eleanor into marrying Captain Hertford, and then that the pair on ’em should have the bullying and bally-ragging of nine thousand a year.’

1880. Mrs. Parr, Adam and Eve, xxi., 292. There’ll be more set to the score o’ my coaxin’ than ever ‘all be to Adam’s bully-ragging.’ [M.]

1882. Daily Telegraph, Oct. 19, p. 3, col. 1. ‘And you should have heard the bully-ragging I got, ma’am, from the mistress and the master as well.’

Bully-Rook or Bully-Rock, subs. (old).—Originally this term seems to have been applied to a pleasant or boon-companion; later, however, to a swaggerer, a bully, a bravo. [Thought by most etymologists to be a combination of bully (q.v.) + rook (q.v.), a sharper.]

1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, Act i., Sc. 3. Why says my bully-rook?

1633. Shirley, Wittie Faire One, Act iii., Sc. 4. Such in the spirit of sack, till we be delphic, and prophesy, my bully-rook.

1697. Praise of Yorkshire Ale. My bully-rocks, I’ve been experienced long In most of Liquors. [M.]

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. (2 ed.). Bully, or bully-rock, 1. a boisterous, hectoring fellow.

Bully Ruffian, subs. (old).—A footpad or highwayman, who, to the injury of robbery, added the insult of coarse invective. Cf., Bridle-cull.

Bully Trap, subs. (old).—A man who, though of mild outside demeanour, is a match for any ruffian who may attack him. Quoted by Grose [1785].

Bully Up (Uppingham School), verb.—To hurry up. Mostly used in the imperative.

Bum, subs. (vulgar).—1. The posteriors; or, as Jamieson puts it, ‘the part on which we sit.’ [Considerable doubt exists as to the origin of this familiar term. Murray thinks the guess that bum is an abbreviation of ‘bottom’ is at variance with the historical fact that the latter, in this sense, is found only from the eighteenth century; besides which there are phonetic difficulties. The origin is probably onomatopoetic.] Besides the synonyms mentioned under Blind cheeks, the following may be cited:

English Synonyms. Bum-fiddle; bumpkin.

French Synonyms. Le foiron (popular: from foire = diarrhœa); le tal (popular); le garde-manger (popular: Michel says this expression is an old one and is to be found in ‘Curiositez françoises’ in the sense of ‘a necessary house’); le naze (equivalent to ‘smeller,’ or ‘smelling cheat’); le soufflet (popular: literally ‘a pair of bellows’); le prouas (the same as le prose, of nautical origin); la contre-basse (popular: the ‘double bass.’ Cf., Ars musica); le schaffouse (popular: a play of words, the town of that name being situated on the Lower Rhine—chute du Rhein, and chute du rein, the lower part of the back); le gingin (popular); la tabatière (popular: literally ‘the snuff-box’); la tire-lire (popular: Rigaud says this term is in allusion to the means of subsistence [daily bread] of prostitutes); la giberne (literally ‘cartridge-box’); le proye (an old canting term); le cadet (popular); la figure (i.e., ‘the face.’ Cf., ‘cheeks’); la canonnière (literally ‘a drain pipe’ or ‘pop-gun’); l’oignon (literally ‘the onion’); la machine à moulures; le département du bas Rhin (‘the department of the Lower Rhine’; rein = back—a play upon words); le démoc; le schelingophone; le Prussien (from the Gypsy prusiatin̆i, translated by Borrow as ‘pistol’); le panier aux crottes (panier = basket; crottes = dung); le visage de campagne; le fignard (i.e., ‘a one-eyed cheek’); le visage sans nez (i.e., ‘the face without a nose’); le pétrouskin; le face du grand Turc; le tortillon; le fleurant (popular: also ‘a nose-gay’); le pedzouille (familiar: ‘a peasant’ or ‘clod’); le cadran or le cadran lunaise (cadran = dial); le piffe (thieves’); le médaillon (popular: literally ‘a medallion’ or ‘locket’); l’arrière-train (familiar: lit. ‘after-carriage’); le trèfle (popular: this also signifies ‘tobacco’); messire Luc (familiar: ‘Mr. Luke,’ sometimes also ‘Nancy.’ Cf., Mrs. Jones); le moulin à vent (lit. the ‘windmill’); le ponant (popular); la lune (popular: lune in slang means a large full face); le bienséant (popular); le pétard (popular and thieves’: it also stands for sou; in the Normandy patois pétra is used interchangeably with pétard); le ballon (popular: ballon = balloon; the analogy is obvious); le moutardier (i.e., the mustard-pot); le baril de moutarde (cads’: the mustard barrel); l’obusier (lit. the howitzer).

German Synonyms. Tochas; Toges; Doges.

Italian Synonym. Rioppo.

1387. Trevisa, Higden Rolls, 6 S., 357. It semeth that his bom is oute that hath that euel [ficus, i.e., piles]. [M.]

1592. Shakspeare, Mids. Night’s Dream, ii., 1, l. 51.

The wisest aunt telling the saddest tale, Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me; Then slip I from her bum, down topples she, And tailor cries, and falls into a couch; And then the whole quire hold their hips, and loffe.

1600. Dekker, Shoemaker’s Holiday, in wks. (1873) I., 39. Art thou acquainted with neuer a fardingale-maker, nor a French-hood maker, I must enlarge my bumme.

1609. Shakspeare, Timon of Athens, Act i., Sc. 2.

What a coil’s here! Serving of becks, and jutting out of bums!

1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, iv., 4. Your breeches sit close enough to your bum.

1729. Swift, Intelligencer, No. 8, p. 83 (2 ed.).

And first his bum you see him clap Upon the Queen of Sheba’s lap.

1742. Shenstone, Schoolmistress, st. 18.

All, but the wight of bum y-galled, he Abhors both bench, and stool, and fourm, and chair.

1782. Wolcot, Lyric Odes, No. i., in wks. (1809) I., 12. That lazy bum-delighting thing, Ridly the Chancellor.

2. (old.)—An abbreviated form Of bum bailiff (q.v.).

1663. Butler, Hudibras, I., i., 393.

It had appeared with courage bolder, Then Sergeant Bum, invading shoulder.

1698–1700. Ward, London Spy, pt. VII., p. 153.

The Vermin of the Law, the Bum, Who gladly kept his distance, Does safely now in Triumph come.

1845. Disraeli, Sybil, bk. III., ch. i. ‘Juggings has got his rent to pay, and is afeard of the bums.’

3. (public schools’.)—A birching; ‘hiding’ or ‘tanning.’ For synonyms, see Tanning. Cf., also Bash and Baste.

Verb (old).—To arrest. [An obvious allusion to the duty of a bum or bum-bailiff (q.v.).]

Cherry Bums, subs. (military).—The 11th Hussars. Cherry-bum is a corruption of Cherubim; but the obvious reference is to the scarlet trowsers worn by this branch of the service. A similar nickname is given to the French Chasseurs—Culs rouges.—See Cherubim.

To toe one’s bum, phr. (low).—An implied threat of physical castigation, rarely, however, carried out literally; to put or ‘chuck’ out; to show the door to—either will explain the meaning. Sometimes the phrase occurs as ‘to hoof one’s bum.’

French Synonyms. Sauter sur la contrebasse (popular); filer un coup de trottinet dans l’oignon (thieves’); boucher la lumière (popular: properly ‘to stuff up the touch-hole’); enlever le ballon à quelqu’un (popular: the allusion is to raising an air balloon with the foot); donner un coup de pied juste au bon endroit (popular: ‘to give a kick just in the right part’); botter (popular: literally ‘to make’ or ‘supply anyone with boots’); détacher un coup de pinceau dans la giberne (popular: coup de pinceau = ‘a kick,’ or ‘a blow with the foot’; giberne = cartridge-box or, in slang, the breech); crever un œil à quelqu’un (popular: ‘to stave in one’s eye.’ Cf., Cyclops); graisser le train derrière (i.e., ‘to grease the hinder carriage.’ Cf., Eng. Basting); détruire le faubourg à quelqu’un (popular: properly faubourg = suburb or outskirt); enlever le schelingophone à quelqu’un (popular).

Bum Bags, subs. (popular).—Trowsers. [From bum, the posteriors, + bags (q.v.).]

Bum Bailiff, also Bum Baily, subs. (old).—An opprobrious name for a bailiff or sheriff’s officer. Frequently contracted into bum or bummy. [Thought to be derived from bum (q.v.), an allusion to the proximity of such gentry to debtors’ backs, + bailiff; there is no reason to suppose, as suggested, that the term is a corruption of bound-bailiff. The French have pousse cul, and it is curious that this term is also, in common use, abbreviated to cul, answering to the English contraction, bum.]

1602. Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act iii., Sc. 4. Sir Jo. Go, Sir Andrew; scout me for him at the corner of the orchard like a bum-baily.

1628. H. Shirley, Martyr’d Souldier, Act v. I was first a Varlet, then a Bum-baily, now an under Jailor.

1761. Dr. Hawkesworth, Edgar and Emmeline, ii., 1. By the heavens! she has the gripe of a bum-bailiff.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xvii. ‘We are in right opposition to sign and seal, writ and warrant, serjeant and tipstaff, catch-poll and bum-bailey.’

1869. Mrs. H. Wood, Roland Yorke, ch. xxxii. ‘You know the state we were in all the summer: Gerald next to penniless, and going about in fear of the bum-bailies.’

Bum Bass, subs. (old).—Explained by quot.

1809. S. Pegge, Anonymiana, p. 415 (ed. 1809). The humble-bee ought rather, perhaps, to be called the bumble-bee as it is in some parts, from the deepness of the note, just as the violoncello is called by the vulgar a bum-bass.

Bumble, subs. (common).—A beadle. [This term originated in the name of the beadle in Dickens’ Oliver Twist, although it may be noted that in the seventeenth century bumble signified a confusion, a jumble. Hence bumbler, an idle fellow, or blunderer. A French equivalent is chasse-coquin (literally a beggar driver). Cf., Bumble-crew and Bumbledom.]

1883. Punch, August 4, p. 51, col. 1.

A helpless ‘nuisance’ shunned by the Inspector, Ignored by bumbles and by Boards of Works.

Bumble-Crew, subs. (popular).—A collective name for corporations, vestries, and other official bodies. [From bumble (q.v.) + crew.]—See Bumbledom.

Bumbledom, subs. (popular).—A term applied to the spirit of collective petty officialism; red tape fussiness and pomposity. [From bumble (q.v.) + dom.]

1856. Saturday Review, II., p. 12, col. 1. The collective Bumbledom of Westminster. [M.]

1884. Daily News, Dec. 27, p. 6, col. 1. Our scheme is unfolded to the chief officer—not the slightest trace of bumbledom about him—a kind-hearted, genial, happy-faced individual.

Bumble Puppy, subs. (popular).—Family whist, i.e., ‘unscientific’ whist. Also applied, says Hotten, to a game played in public houses on a large stone, placed in a slanting direction, on the lower end of which holes are made, and numbered like the holes in a bagatelle-table. The player rolls a stone ball, or marble, from the higher end, and according to the number of the hole it falls into the game is counted. It is undoubtedly the very ancient game of Troule-in-madame.

1886. Daily News, Dec. 25, p. 5, col. 2. Christmas cards, and mince-pies, and another helping of turkey, and family whist, or bumble puppy.

Bumbles, subs. (general).—Coverings for the eyes of horses that shy in harness. Cf., Blinkers.

Bumbo, subs. (West Indian.)—1. The female pudenda; a term applied by negroes. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

2. (old.)—Smollett, in a note to the first quotation as follows, says bumbo was a liquor composed of ‘rum, sugar, water, and nutmeg.’ Grose gives it as ‘brandy, water, and sugar’—the component parts seem to vary according to taste.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xxxiv. Who were making merry in the ward-room, round a table well stored with bumbo and wine.

1756. Diary of a Sussex Tradesman, in Sussex Arch. Coll., IX., 188, quoted in N. and Q., 7 S., i., 194. 1756, April 28. I went down to Jones’, where we drank one bowl of punch and two muggs of bumboo, and I came home again in liquor.

1882. Northumbrian Minstrelsy, etc., p. 113, quoted in N. and Q., 7 S., i., 195.

The pitmen and the keelmen trim, They drink bumbo made of gin.

Bum-Brusher, subs. (schoolboys’).—A schoolmaster; also applied to an usher. [From bum, the posteriors, + brusher, in allusion to the office a schoolmaster is sometimes called upon to perform by way of punishment.]

English Synonyms. Flaybottom; haberdasher of pronouns.

French Synonyms. Un marchand de soupe (marchand = merchant; soupe = soup); un chien de cour (i.e., ‘a watch-dog’); un fouette-cul (a literal translation of bum-brusher).

1704. T. Brown, wks. (1760) II., 86. [Dionysius] was forced to turn bum-brusher.

1788. New London Magazine, p. 137. A successor was immediately called from that great nursery of bum-brushers, Appleby School.

1832. Blackwood’s Mag., Oct., p. 426. To protract existence ... in the shape of bum-brushers, and so forth, after the fashion of the exalted emigrés of 1792?

1838. Comic Almanac, Dec. [School-master’s Letter signed] Barnabas Bom-brush.

Bum Charter, subs. (thieves’).—Explained by quot.

1819. J. H. Vaux, Memoirs. Bum-charter is the name given to bread steeped in hot water by the first unfortunate inhabitants of the English Bastile, where this miserable fare was their daily breakfast, each man receiving with his scanty portion of bread a quart of boiled water from the Cook’s Coppers.

Bumclink, subs. (provincial).—In the Midland counties the inferior beer brewed for hay-makers and harvest labourers. [Derivation obvious.] For synonyms, see Swipes.

Bum Curtain, subs. (Cambridge Univ.).—1. An academical gown when worn scant and short; especially applied to the short black gown worn till 1835 by members of Caius College. Cf., Bum-perisher.

1835. (Quoted in Whibley’s Three Centuries of Cambridge Wit [1889].)

’Tis the College of Caius—’tis the land where the ‘Bum Curtain’ lately was sported by each jolly chum, But now black and blue are the gowns that they wear Like the eye of a drunkard returned from a fair.

Bumf, subs. (schooboys’).—Paper. [An abbreviation of bum-fodder (q.v.), an obvious allusion to toilet paper.]

Bumfhunt, subs. (Wellington College).—A paper-chase. [Derived from the popular schoolboy name for paper, i.e., bumf (q.v.).]

Bum Fiddle, subs. (old).—The posteriors. For synonyms, see Blind cheeks and Bum.

Bum Fidget, subs. (old).—A restless individual. [Obviously from bum, the posterior, + fidget, i.e., one who cannot sit still.]

Bum Fodder, subs. (old).—1. Low class worthless literature; a term once in literary use.—See sense 2.

1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, I., xiii. Torche-culs, arsewisps, bum fodders.

1753. Scots’ Magazine, April, p. 208, col. 1 (title). Bum fodder for the ladies. [M.]

2. (low.)—Toilet paper, otherwise known as curl paper (q.v.). Cf. Bumf.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bum fodder, soft paper for the necessary house, or torche-cul.

Bummaree, subs. (common).—A Billingsgate middle-man. These men, who are not recognised as regular salesmen by the trade, are speculative buyers of large quantities of fish, which they re-sell in smaller lots. [The origin of the name is unknown, though some have speculated that it may be from the French bon marée; others, however, think that it is akin to bomerie, a French word for what in England is known as ‘bottomry,’ i.e., the act of borrowing money and pledging the bottom of the ship, i.e., the ship itself, for the re-payment of the money. It is argued that the leading idea in thus borrowing money on a ship’s keel is the hazarding all on a single venture: hence possibly its application to other transactions, especially those connected with the sea; such as wholesale purchases of fish, in which a large risk is run with an uncertain prospect of return—which is, it must be confessed, a somewhat far-fetched derivation.] This wholesale retailing of fish is also called bummareeing it.

1786. Report of Committee of City of London on Price of Provisions, 31. The bomarees will buy up half the fish the Salesmen have, and sell to the Fishmongers. [M.]

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., 71. In Billingsgate the ‘forestallers’ or middle men are known as bummarees.... The bummaree is the jobber or speculator on the fish exchange.

1859. Sala, Twice Round the Clock, 4 a.m., p. 17. Any one can be a bumbaree.... The process of bumbareeing is very simple. It consists in buying as largely as your means will afford of an auctioneer, hiring a stall for sixpence, and retailing the fish at a swingeing profit.

Bummed, ppl. adj. (old).—Arrested. Cf. verb, Bum and Bum-bailiff.

Bummer, subs. (old.)—1. A bum-bailiff (q.v.).

2. (turf.)—A heavy loss; a severe pecuniary reverse.

3. (American.)—An idler; loafer; sponger; looter (see quots.). [From the German bummler, with a somewhat similar meaning, save that the term is used good naturedly, and has not altogether the offensive meaning of the American equivalent.] The term came into general use at the time of the Civil War, when it was specially applied to a straggler, hanger-on, or free-lance, particularly in connection with General Sherman’s famous march from Atlanta to the sea. Besides its political signification, bummer is used as a general term of reproach in the same way as rascal, blackleg, etc., are used in England. Other equivalents are heeler, striker, stuffer, and practical politician.

a. 1865. Major Nichols, Sherman’s Great March. Look hyar, Captain, we bummers ain’t so bad after all. We keep ahead of the skirmish line allers; we let’s ’em know when an enemy’s a comin’, and then we ain’t allus away from the regiment. We turns over all we don’t want ourselves, and we can lick five times as many Rebs as we are any day.

1872. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Roughing It, ch. xxiv. The auctioneer stormed up and down the streets on him for four days, dispersing the populace, interrupting business, and destroying children, and never got a bid—at least never any but the eighteen-dollar one he hired, a notoriously substanceless bummer, to make. The people only smiled pleasantly, and restrained their desire to buy, if they had any.

1872. Sacramento Weekly Union, Feb. 24, p. 2. All the boys to be trained as scriveners, tape-measurers, counter-hoppers, clerks, pettifoggers, polite loafers, street-hounds, hoodlums, and bummers.

1875. Scribner’s Magazine, p. 274. San Francisco is the Elysium of bummers. Nowhere can a worthless fellow, too lazy to work, too cowardly to steal, get on so well. The climate befriends him, for he can sleep out of doors four-fifths of the year. He can gorge himself daily for a nominal sum, and get a dinner that a king might envy for fifty cents.

1877. W. Black, Green Past. and Picc., ch. xiii. Then the great crowd of bummers and loafers, not finding the soil teeming with nuggets, stampeded off like a herd of buffalo.

1888. Philadelphia Press, Jan. 29. Coy is the chairman of the Democratic Central Committee in Marion County, and has wielded great power in politics as the boss of the bummers.

1888. Detroit Free Press, May 16. He finds that ten per cent. of the men who patronise these places have a collegiate education; forty per cent. are self-supporting, but prefer this precarious mode of living to anything more respectable; ten per cent. earn excellent wages, and twenty per cent. are chronic bums, who beg or steal the price of their lodgings.

Hence bummerism, to express habits of loafing and petty stealing, and bummerish (adj.).

Bumming, verb, subs. (Wellington College).—A thrashing, or licking. Cf., Bum, sense 1.

Bump, subs. (University).—When one boat touches another in a race it is said to ‘make a bump,’ and technically beats its opponent. Cf., verbal sense, and Bumping race.

Verb.—To overtake and touch an opposing boat, thus winning the heat or race.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. iii. He listened, and with respect too, to Mr. Foker’s accounts of what the men did at the University of which Mr. F. was an ornament, and encountered a long series of stories about boat-racing, bumping, College grass-plats, and milk-punch.

1860. Macmillan’s Magazine, March, p. 331. The chances of St. Ambrose’s making a bump the first night were weighed.

1865. Sketches from Cambridge, p. 7. I can still condescend to give our boat a stout when it makes a bump.

1886–7. Dickens, Dictionary of Cambridge, p. 11. Any boat which overtakes and bumps another ... before the winning post is reached, changes place with it for the next race.

Bumper, subs. (common).—1. Anything of superlative size, whether a ‘big lie,’ horse, house, or woman. Cf., Corker, Whopper, and Thumper.

2. (theatrical).—A full or crowded house.

1838. Dickens, Nich. Nickleby, ch. xxiv., p. 192. ‘In the confidence that our fellow-towsmen have not lost that high appreciation of public utility and private worth, for which they have long been so pre-eminently distinguished, we predict that this charming actress will be greeted with a bumper.’

3. (cards’.)—When, in long whist, one side has scored eight before the other has scored a point, a bumper is the result.

Bum-Perisher, Bum-Shaver, subs. (common).—A short-tailed coat; a jacket. [From bum, the posteriors, + perisher, a slang variant of that which ‘perishes,’ or fails to protect (from cold, etc.).] Cf., Bum curtain.

Bumping Race, subs. (University).—Eight-oared inter-Collegiate races, rowed in two divisions of fifteen and sixteen boats respectively, including a sandwich boat (q.v.), i.e., the top boat of the second division, which rows bottom of the first. The boats in each division start at a distance apart of 175 feet from stern to stern in the order at which they left off at the last preceding race, and any boat which overtakes, and bumps another (i.e., touches it in any part) before the winning post is reached, changes place with it for the next race.

Bumpkin, subs. (old).—A humorous term for the posteriors.

1658. [In Nares] Wit Restored.

And so I take my leave; prithee, sweet Thumkin, Hold up thy coats, that I may kisse thy bumkin.

Bump-Supper, subs. (University).—A supper to commemorate the fact of the boat of the college having, in the annual races, ‘bumped’ or touched the boat of another college immediately in front. Cf., Bumping race.

Bumptious, adj. (colloquial).—Arrogant; self-sufficient; on good terms with oneself. [Murray puts this down as a formation from bump on the model of ‘fractious.’ It is of recent introduction.]

1803. Mad. D’Arblay, Diary and Letters, vi., 324. No, my dearest Padre, bumptious! no, I deny the charge in toto. [M.]

1849. Dickens, D. Copperfield, ch. vi., p. 53 (C.D.). I heard that Mr. Sharp’s wig didn’t fit him, and that he needn’t be so ‘bounceable’—somebody else said ‘bumptious’—about it, because his own red hair was very plainly to be seen behind.

1883. Hawley Smart, Hard Lines, ch. xiii. It was all very well while he was fresh, and having things pretty much as he liked. So long he was bumptious enough.

Bumptiousness, subs. (colloquial).—Self-assertiveness; arrogance; self-conceit. [From bumptious (q.v.) + ness.]

1865. Sala, Trip to Barbary, p. 150. Poor Albert Smith, than whom, with all his occasional bumptiousness, an honester and more clear-sighted hater of snobbery and shams never lived.

Bum Roll, subs. (old).—A pad or cushion worn by women to extend the dress at the back—an equivalent of the modern bustle or dress-improver. [From bum, the posteriors, + roll, in the sense of pad or cushion.] At one time these were called cork rumps, but for synonyms, see Bird-cage.

1601. Ben Jonson, The Poetaster, II., i. Nor you nor your house was so much as spoken of, before I disbased myself from my hood and my farthingal, to these bum-rowls, and your whale-bone bodice.

1663. Killigrew, Parson’s Wedding, Old Plays, XI., 460. Those worthies [of a bawd] rais’d her from the flat petticoat and kercher, to the gorget and bum-roll.

Bumsquabbled, ppl. adj. (American).—Discomfitted; defeated; stupified. Cf., Bum-fiddled, in first quot.

1620. Fletcher, The Chances, I., v. And am I now bum-fiddled with a bastard?

1835–40. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, p. 251 (ed. 1862). No sooner said than done, Mount Sheer Bullfrog gave the case in our favour in two twos, said Eyetaliano had got too much already, cut him off the other two-thirds, and made him pay all costs. If he didn’t look bumsquabbled it’s a pity.

Bum Sucker, subs. (general).—A sponger; toady; lick-spittle; hanger-on. [From bum + sucker, allusion obvious.] Cf., Bum. A French equivalent is une lèche-cul.

Bum Trap, subs. (old).—A bailiff. Cf., Bum-bailiff.

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. VII., ch. iii. The noble bum-trap, blind and deaf to every circumstance of distress, greatly rises above all the motives to humanity, and into the hands of the jailor resolves to deliver his miserable prey.

Bun, subs. (American).—1. A sponger; one who cannot be shaken off.

2. (common).—The female pudenda. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

To take or yank the bun, verbal phr. (general).—To take first place; to obtain first honours. A variant of take the cake.—See Cake. The French say décrocher la timballe.

Bunce, Bunse or Bunt, subs. (old).—Originally money, a signification which it still retains; more generally, however, profit, gain, anything to the good. [Thought to be a corruption of bonus.]—See quot., 1851. For synonyms in the sense of money, see Actual.

1719. D’Urfey, Pills, 278. If cards come no better. Oh! oh! I shall lose all my buns. [M.]

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 37. There are still other ‘agents’ among the costermongers, and these are the ‘boys’ deputed to sell a man’s goods for a certain sum, all over that amount being the boys’ profit or bunts. Ibid., p. 526. There are a great number of boys ... engaged by costermongers or small tradesmen, to sell upon commission, or, as it is termed, for bunse (probably a corruption of bonus, bone being the slang for good).... The mode is this: a certain quantity of saleable commodities is given to a boy whom a costermonger knows and perhaps employs, and it is arranged that the young commission-agent is to get a particular sum for them, which must be paid to the costermonger; I will say 3s. For these articles the lad may ask and obtain any price he can, and whatever he obtains beyond the stipulated 3s., is his own profit or bunse. Ib., p. 36. But you see the boys will try it on for their bunts.

1881. A Chequered Career, p. 270. In the stable, and particularly in livery-stables, there is a box into which all tips are placed. This is called bunt.

Buncer, subs. (common).—One who sells on commission, as described under bunce (q.v.).

Bunch of Fives, subs. (common).—The hand or fist. [An obvious allusion to the five fingers gathered or bunched together on the hand.]

1847. Lytton, Lucretia, pt. II., ch. vii. ‘Is this a h-arm, and this a bunch of fives?’

1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, ch. xxxiv. ‘Now look at that bunch of fives,’ continued the master; and laid a hand, white and soft as a duchess’s, on the table.

1882. Punch, vol. LXXXII., p. 133, col. 1. He smote crashingly down ... with a lead-weighted truncheon he held in his dexter bunch of fives.

1888. Daily Telegraph, April 30, p. 3, col. 2. The fingers are bent into such an ungraceful bunch of fives, as to be suggestive both of chalkstones and of sausages.

English Synonyms. Mauley; cornstealer; fam or fem (this is said to be of Gypsy origin, and to mean five, i.e., five fingers, but see Fehm in German synonyms); famble (see preceding); picker; goll (a seventeenth century term—‘make them hold up their spread golls,’ says Ben Jonson, in the Poetaster); fin; daddle; flipper.

German Synonyms. Fehm or Vehm, or Vehn (more correctly Fem. This appears to be the same word as the English seventeenth century colloquialism for the hand [see preceding], and is most likely derived from the Swedish and Danish fem = five, than from the Gypsy which indeed contains no such word); Griffling or Greifling (from greifen, to seize); Jad (Hebrew jad, the hand); Kaf (from the Hebrew kaph; the [hollow] hand).

Italian Synonyms. Tarantola (an allusion to the many tentacles and close grip of the tarantula spider); cerra; calchi dell’ ala (literally the foot of the arm. Cf., French doigts du pied); grettina (properly a small sandbank).

Spanish Synonyms. Labradora (this, it is curious to note, is an obsolete Spanish term signifying literally a laborious or hard-working woman, and the inference from this fact is obvious); anclas (literally anchors).

Bunco or Bunco Game, subs. (American).—A swindling game played either with cards or dice, not unlike three card monté. [From the Italian banco, a bench or bank].

1883. Philadelphia Times, No. 289, 2. 2. Tom’s method of bunco was the well-known lottery game. [M.]

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, Feb. 2. Robert B. Barnet, a plumber doing business in Grant Street, this city, was arrested in Allegheny to-night, on the charge of being implicated in the recent bunco game in which William Murdoch, an old and prominent citizen, was robbed of 10,000 dols.

Verb.—1. To rob, cheat, or swindle by means of the bunco game; or by what in England is known as the confidence trick, etc.

1887. Cincinnati Enquirer. Detectives Kirby and Funk last night spotted J. P. Ramby, the person accused of having bunkoed Ex-County Commissioner Stephens, of Greene County, out of 2,300 dols. in Xenia recently.

1888. Chicago Daily Inter-Ocean, April 14. John Brothers, a farmer living near Canton, Ohio, was bunkoed out of 2,000 dols. to-day by two sharpers who escaped.

2. From the primary meaning, the verb to bunco has come to be synonymous with any attempt at swindling.

So also with various derivatives, bunco-case, bunco-man, bunco-steerer (q.v.).

Bunco-Steerer, Bunko-Steerer, subs. (American).—A swindler; confidence-trick man. The means these men adopt to win confidence are always varied and sometimes unique. They are extremely wary, and it is oftentimes with considerable difficulty that the arm of the law, long as it is assumed to be, can lay hold of them. A bunco-steerer may be well known to the police as a professional swindler, and he may be seen talking to his intended victim, but, unless caught in an overt act, he cannot be interfered with. People whom bunco-steerers lay their snares for, are generally men who stand high in their communities; consequently it is almost impossible to get victims to become complainants, as they do not care to figure in the police courts, and the thieves get practically a free field for their operations.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, p. 235. The bunco-steerer ... will find you out the morning after you land in Chicago or St. Louis. He will accost you—very friendly, wonderful friendly—when you come out of your hotel, by your name, and he will remind you—which is most surprising, considerin’ you never set eyes on his face before—how you have dined together in Cincinnati, or it may be Orleans, or perhaps Francisco, because he finds out where you came from last; and he will shake hands with you; and he will propose a drink; and he will pay for that drink; and presently he will take you somewhere else, among his pals, and he will strip you so clean, that there won’t be left the price of a four-cent paper to throw around your face and hide your blushes. In London ... they do the confidence trick.

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, Feb. 14. Andrew Carnegie fell into the hands of a bunco-steerer in Pittsburg, Saturday night, but was rescued by a detective before he lost anything.

Bundle, verb (old).—To practise bundling (q.v.).

1781. S. Peters, Gen. Hist. Connecticut. It is thought but a piece of civility to ask [a lady] to bundle.

1797. Sewell. Queeston is an odd way of wooing usual in some sea towns or Isles of Holland, after this manner. When the wench is gone to bed, the fellow enters the room and lays himself down in his clothes upon the blankets, next unto her, with one window of the room open, and thus he talks with her, very innocently—as it is reported.

1809. W. Irving, Knickerbocker History of New York. Van Corlear stopped occasionally in the villages to ... dance at country frolics, and bundle with the Yankee lasses.

1871. Schele De Vere, Americanisms, p. 448. To bundle, a custom still prevalent in Wales, and not unfrequently practised in the West, of men and women sleeping with all their clothes on, when there is not house-room to provide better accommodation.

Bundling or Bundling Up, subs. (old).—A custom now obsolete, but formerly in vogue where bed accommodation was scarce, of men and women sleeping on the same bed together without having removed their clothes. The practice is mentioned by Wright as having been customary in Wales, and it will be remembered that Washington Irving alludes to it in his Knickerbocker History of New York. Whatever may have been the case in former times, it does not appear to be a habit either in the Mother Country or the New World at the present day, even in the districts most remote from civilization. No question of immodesty seems to have attached to the custom; indeed, attempts were made to prove that bundling was very right and proper. On this point, however, opinions will vary considerably. Also used in verbal form to bundle. Cf., Caulk.

1809. W. Irving, Knickerbocker History of New York. Among other hideous customs they [the Yankees] attempted to introduce that of bundling, which the Dutch lasses of the Nederlandts, with their eager passion for novelty and for the fashions, natural to their sex, seemed very well inclined to follow, but that their mothers, being more experienced in the world and better acquainted with men and things, discountenanced all such outlandish innovations.

1814. Quarterly Review, X., 517. [The custom spoken of in.]

1842. C. Masson, Journal Balochistan, etc., III., 287. Many of the Afghan tribes have a custom in wooing, similar to what in Wales is known as bundling-up.

1868. W. H. Dixon, Spiritual Wives, vol. II., p. 31. An old custom, which exists (I believe) in Wales as well as in parts of Pennsylvania and New England, permits under the name of ‘bundling,’ certain free, but still innocent endearments to pass between lovers who are engaged.

1871. H. R. Styles, Bundling; its Origin, Progress, and Decline in America, title. [Contains also its history in England, Wales, Holland, curious songs, etc.]

1878. C. Wake, Evol. Moral., I., 401. The custom of bundling ... among Celtic peoples. [M.]

Bung, Bong, Boung, subs. (old cant.)—1. A purse. [One of the oldest cant terms in the language, the origin of which is entirely unknown, though, says Murray, ‘its resemblance to the O.E. pung, “a purse,” is worth notice.’] Also called skin or poge (q.v.). A French thieves’ term is la plotte.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65. Boung, a purse. Ibid., p. 86.

1591. Greene, Second Part Conny-catching, in wks., vol. X., p. 96. The Nip vseth his knife, and if he see a Boung lie faire, strikes the stroke.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). Bung is now vsed for a pocket, heretofore for a purse.

c. 1658. Cleveland, Cleivelandi Vindiciæ, p. 99 (ed. 1677). He is in the Inquisition of the Purse an Authentick Gypsie, that nips your Bung with a canting Ordinance.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 47. Boung, a Purse.

1706. E. Coles, Eng. Dict. Bung, a purse.

2. (old.)—A pickpocket. Cf., Bung, sense 1. Bung-nipper (q.v.) was in general usage later.

1598. Shakspeare, King Henry IV., ii., 4. Doll. Away, you cut-purse rascal! you filthy bung, away! By this wine, I’ll thrust my knife in your mouldy chaps, an’ you play the saucy cuttle with me.

1658. An Age for Apes, p. 232. My bung observing this, takes hold of time, Just as this lord was drawing for a prime, And smoothly rims his purse that lay beside him.

3. (common.)—A brewer; landlord of a public house, etc. [An allusion to the bungs, or large corks used in the ‘mouths’ of beer barrels.]

1863. Cornhill Magazine (The Inner Life of a Man-of-War), Feb. From time immemorial these gentlemen [master’s assistants] have had to stand at the grog-butt and see the grog served out—an important duty, the discharge of which has invested them, such is the playfulness of naval humour, with the title of bungs.

1884. Graphic, Feb. 23, p. 170, col. 1. That Sir Wilfrid Lawson had turned bung, and applied for a spirit licence.

Verb (pugilistic).—1. Generally bung up, i.e., to close or shut up the eyes by means of a blow that causes a swelling. Formerly used of the mouth, ears, etc., and in literary use, but now regarded as a vulgarism. Cf. verb, sense 2.

1593. G. Harvey, Pierces Super., in wks. (Grosart) II., 128. That will bung-up their mouthes with a Collyrium of all the stale iestes in a country.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, in wks. V., 247. The waies beyond sea were so bungd vp with your dayly oratours or Beadsmen and your crutchet or crout-chant friers ... that a snaile coulde not wriggle in her homes betwixt them.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xix. ‘I bunged up both eyes for him.’

2. (old.)—To give; pass; hand over; drink; or to perform almost any action. ‘Bung over the rag,’ hand over the money. Used by Beaumont and Fletcher, and Shakspeare. Also, to deceive one by a lie, to Cram, which see.

Bungay. Go to Bungay! phr. (general).—A euphemistic objurgation equivalent to consignment to a region the climate of which is tropical in character. For analogous phrases, see Go to hell.

Bung-Eyed, comp. ppl. adj. (common).—1. Drunk; fuddled; Screwed, which see for synonyms. [Derivation uncertain: possibly from the Scotch ‘bung,’ a low word quoted by Jamieson as meaning tipsy or fuddled, with perhaps an indirect allusion to the bunged or crooked distorted eye, the result of a fight or squabble.—See sense 2.]

1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, bk. III., ch. iii., p. 268. One coarse-featured fellow, who was nearly bung-eyed over his beer (as they call being drunk).

2. Cross-eyed; unable to see straight; ‘boss-eyed’ or ‘squinny-eyed’ (q.v.).

Bungfunger, verb (American).—To startle; to confuse. Compare with bumbsquabbled. Also used as an adjective for ‘confounded.’

1835–40. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, p. 91 (ed. 1862). ‘Well, father, I thought he’d a fainted too, he was so struck up all of a heap; he was completely bung-fungered.’

Bung-Juice, subs. (thieves’).—Porter, or beer. [From bung, a stopper for casks in which beer is kept, + juice. Cf., Cow-juice for milk, etc.] For synonyms, see Drinks and Swipes.

Bung Knife or Boung Knife, subs. (old).—Considerable uncertainty exists as to the nature or use of this implement. It has however been conjectured that as boung was an old cant word for a purse, that boung knife may therefore have been a knife kept in the purse or girdle, but concerning this nothing definite can be stated.

1592. Greene, Quip for Upstart Courtier (Hart. Misc., V., 407). One of them had on ... a skeine like a bruer’s boung-knife.

Bung Nipper or Boung Nipper, subs. (old).—A cut-purse; a sharper. [From bung (q.v.), an old canting term for a purse, + nipper, a thief, i.e., one who nips or steals.] In French, to nip a bung is couper une queue de rat, i.e., literally to cut off a rat’s tail; but for synonyms, see Area-sneak and Thieves.

Bung Upwards, adv. phr. (old).—Said of a person lying on his face.

Bunk, subs. (common).—Hasty departure. Cf., Bunk, verb. [Of unknown derivation.]

c. 1870. Broadside Ballad, ‘Peck’s Bad Boy.’

Of course you’re heard of Peck’s bad boy, that dreadful Yankee lad, Who’s bothered his poor parents so they’ve both gone raving mad,

He put a pound of old Scotch snuff into poor Buddha’s trunk, The keeper tried to catch him, but the bad boy did a bunk.

Verb (common).—1. To be off; to decamp. For synonyms, see Amputate.

c. 1872. Broadside Ballad, ‘Oh, we are a getting on.’

A stocking used a ‘bank’ to be, In the good old days of old, They didn’t run such risks as we Do now of getting sold. No sooner does a bank go queer, You hear the same old strain, There’s another bald-headed Manageer, Has bunked across to Spain.

1885. Referee, Feb. 16, p. 7, col. 3.

It was just such a parcel, bless him! he’d clasped to his noble breast, And bunked with out o’ the building.

1887. Fun, 9 Nov., p. 201. ‘What is a vanishing point?’ said the schoolmaster to little Billy. ‘The corner you bunks round when the “slops” after yer,’ warbled the golden-haired child.

2. (Wellington College.)—To expel [from the school].

Bunker, subs. (common).—Beer. For synonyms, see Drinks and Swipes.

Bunkum, Buncombe, Buncome, subs. (American).—Talking merely for talking’s sake; claptrap of all kinds; gas; tall talk. The employment of the word in its original sense of insincere political speaking or claptrap is ascribed to a member of Congress, Felix Walker, from Buncombe County, North Carolina, who explained that he was merely talking for buncombe, when his fellow members could not understand why he was making a speech. Judge Haliburton (Sam Slick) in explaining this word says that ‘all over America, every place likes to hear of its member of Congress, and see their speeches; and, if they don’t, they send a piece to the paper, inquirin’ if their members died a natural death, or was skivered with a bowie-knife, for they hante seen his speeches lately, and his friends are anxious to know his fate. Our free and enlightened citizens don’t approbate silent members; it don’t seem to them as if Squashville, or Punkinsville, or Lumbertown was right represented, unless Squashville, or Punkinsville, or Lumbertown makes itself heard and known, ay, and feared too. So every feller, in bounden duty, talks, and talks big too, and the smaller the State, the louder, bigger, and fiercer its members talk. Well, when a critter talks for talk’s sake, jist to have a speech in the paper to send to home, and not for any other airthly puppus but electioneering, our folks call it bunkum.’

The term is now universal on both sides of the water, and, indeed, wherever English is spoken. So much is this the case that the expression may now fairly claim a permanent place in the language. The primary meaning has been somewhat enlarged. ‘That’s all buncombe’ is equivalent to ‘That’s all nonsense’ or ‘an absurdity.’

Also used attributively; for example, a bunkum proclamation, bunkum logic, bunkum politicians, etc.

1841. Richmond Compiler, Aug. 17. He was not speaking to the House but to bunkum.

1859. Sala, Tw. Round the Clock, 2 a.m., par. 9. These tales, full of sound and fury, told by honourable idiots full of unutterable ‘bunkum’ (an Americanism I feel constrained to use, as signifying nothingness, ineftably inept and irremediably fire-perforated windbaggery, and sublimated cucumber sunbeams hopelessly eclipsed into Dis)—

1861. Blackwood’s Mag., April. ‘This parable, explaining the origin of buncombe, would form a very useful text to set up, handsomely illustrated, over the Speaker’s chair in Parliament.’

1862. New York Tribune, Feb. 11. Despatch from Kansas. General Sibley was within thirty miles of Fort Craig, with twenty-five hundred Texans, with artillery, and had issued a bunkum proclamation.

1884. Echo, May 12, p. 4, col. 2. It will be seen that the wonderful tales about the favourites were like the reports about Richmond’s lameness, all bunkum.

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, March 3. This thing of trying to rule a husband is all buncombe; it can’t be done. You can coax most men, bribe some, and govern a very few, but that vulgar rubbing of the fur the right way wins every time.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 18 Oct., p. 6, col. 2. His explanation was contained in the three words, ‘Bosh, rubbish, and bunkum.’ Was it not time, asked the speaker, that the ‘great unwashed’ should declare that the ‘great unpaid’ were no longer at liberty to oppress them?

Bunky, adj. (Christ’s Hospital).—Awkward; ill-finished.

Bunnick, verb (common).—To settle; to dispose of.

1886. Punch, 17 July, p. 25. ’Owsom-ever we’ve bunnicked up Gladsting, a barney all patriots enjoy.

Bunny Grub, subs. (Cheltenham College).—Green vegetables, such as cabbage, lettuce, and the like. [Obviously from bunny, a pet name for a rabbit, + grub, a slang term for provender, i.e., food akin to that upon which rabbits are fed.] At the Royal Military Academy and other schools an equivalent is grass (q.v.).

Bunse.—See Bunce.

Bun-Struggle or Bun-Worry, subs. (military).—A tea meeting given to soldiers. For synonymous terms, see Tea fight.

Bunt.—See Bunce.

Bunter, subs. (harlotry).—1. A prostitute; one who adds theft to her other vocation; also a term of contempt for any low woman. See, however, quot. from Dyche, 1748, and Mayhew, 1851. For analogous terms, see Barrack-hack.

1705–7. E. Ward, Hudibras Rediv., II., ii. (1715), 25. Punks, Strolers, Market Dames, and Bunters. [M.]

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xlvii. And asked with some heat, if he thought I had spent the evening in a cellar with chairmen and bunters.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Bunter (s.), one who goes about the streets to gather rags, bones, etc.

1759. Walpole, Parish Register.

Here Fielding met his bunter Muse, And, as they quaff’d the fiery juice, Droll Nature stamp’d each lucky hit, With unimaginable wit.

1763. British Magazine, vol. IV., p. 542. I heard a bunter at the Horse-Guards ... swear she would not venture into the Park.

1765. Goldsmith, Essays, x. The bunters who swagger in the streets of London.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. II., p. 158. They were known by the name of bunters, which signifies properly gatherers of rags.

2. Explained by quotation. [Bunter here may be a confused variant of bunker, one who runs away or ‘slopes.’]

1851. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, IV., 223. There is a class of women technically known as bunters, who take lodgings, and after staying some time run away without paying their rent.

Burdon’s Hotel, subs. (thieves’).—Whitecross Street Prison, of which the Governor was a Mr. Burdon. Almost every prison has a nickname of this kind, either from the name of the Governor, or from some local circumstance. The Queen’s Bench has an immense number of names—spike, park, etc.; and every Chief-Justice stands godfather to it. For full list of such names, see Cage.

1861. Dutton Cook, Paul Foster’s Daughter, ch. ii. ‘David, be respectable, whatever you are, be respectable, and Burdon’s hotel is not for you to sojourn at.’

Burick or Burerk, subs. (old).—Latterly applied to any woman or ‘lady,’ especially one showily dressed, but formerly a thief’s term for a prostitute.

1819. J. H. Vaux, Memoirs. Burick is a prostitute, or common woman.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 262. If they can meet with the burerk (mistress) or the young ladies, etc.

1889. Answers, July 20, p. 121, col. 2. Let him ask the loafer what his ‘Monekear’ (name) is; whether he can drink a ‘shant of patter’ (pint of beer); whether he finds the ‘bone’ or ‘gammy’—that is good or bad as regards begging; and which sex gives him most—the ‘burerks’ (ladies), or the ‘Toffs’ (gentlemen).

Amongst French equivalents for a well-dressed woman may be mentioned une panuche (this name is also applied to a prostitute living in a brothel); une dubuge; une faraude (the masculine form, un faraud, signifies a vulgar fellow proud of smart clothes—a snob, a swell).

Burke, verb (military).—To dye the moustache and whiskers. [Burke properly is to smother or hush up, and the allusion in the military term is to the practice which once prevailed in smart regiments of dyeing or smothering the natural colour of the hair for the sake of uniformity. The regulations at one time as regards the style of wearing the hair were very stringent and precise.]

Burn, verb (thieves).—To cheat; to swindle.

Burnanded, verb (? nonce word).—To pilfer plots (of plays, novels, etc.). [Probably only a nonce word; a formation on the same lines as ‘Burke,’ ‘Boycott,’ etc., from the name of Mr. F. Burnand, the editor of Punch.]

1882. Echo, Feb. 11, p. 3. The American papers continue to attack the play [The Colonel] vigorously. One of the journals there has invented a new verb to signify the pilfering of plots. ‘Burnanded’ is the term.

Burn Crust, subs. (old).—A jocular name for a baker. Cf., Master of the mint for a gardener; Bung for a brewer; Ball of wax for a shoemaker; Quill-driver for a clerk; Snip for a tailor, etc.

Burned. To be burned, verb (old).—To be infected with a venereal disease.—See Burning.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. He was sent out a sacrifice, and came home a burnt offering; saying of seamen who have caught the venereal disease abroad.

Burner, subs. (old).—1. A card-sharper.

2. (old.)—The same as burning (q.v.).

Burning, verb, subs. (old).—A venereal disease. Shakspeare alludes to it in King Lear, ‘No heretics burn’d, but wenches’ suitors.’

Burning Shame.—An obscene practice.—See Grose.

Burning the Parade, phr. (old).—Thus explained by Grose: ‘Warning more men for a guard than were necessary, and excusing the supernumeraries for money. This was a practice formerly winked at in most garrisons, and was a very considerable perquisite to the adjutants and sergeant majors; the pretence for it was to purchase coal and candle for the guard, whence it was called burning the parade.’

Burn My Breeches! phr. (old).—A mild kind of oath. A few latter day ‘fancies’ of the same kind will be found under Oaths.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 46.

... (Bill Gibbons ne’er In all his days was known to swear, Except light oaths, to grace his speeches, Like ‘dash my wig,’ or ‘burn my breeches.’)

Burn the Ken, verbal phr. (old).—To live at an inn or tavern without paying for one’s quarters. [From burn (q.v.), to cheat, + ken, an inn, tavern, or place.]

Burr, subs. (old).—A hanger on; a dependent; one who sponges. [An allusion to field burrs or prickly seed pods, which when once attached to the clothing are difficult to remove.]

Verb (Marlborough College).—To fight; scrimmage or ‘rag.’

Burst, subs. (general).—1. A spree; drunken frolic; big feed; blow out (q.v.). Usually on the burst, an extension of the figurative usage of the word signifying a violent outburst.—See Bust.

1880. Blackwood’s Mag., June, p. 775. He became a madman when drunk. Once ‘on the burst,’ as he phrased it, money, horses, cows, furniture, even his wife’s wearing apparel, went to feed the insatiable and cruel demon who possessed him.

1881. Praed, Policy and Passion, vol. I., p. 228. When his men go on the burst, what can he do but make his daughters help?

2. (sporting.)—A sudden and vigorous access or display of energy; a lively pace or spurt.

Bursted, ppl. adj. (general).—Hard up. [From burst, failure or collapse, + ed.]

1873. Chicago Daily Tribune, June 30. At the far end [of the room] four lank and bursted frontiersmen sang with a doleful want of melody or attention the celebrated ballad by John Hay on the fate of Little Breeches.

Burster, subs. (racing).—1. A heavy fall; a ‘cropper.’

1863. Evening Standard, 24 April. Benedict came down a burster, and was out of the race.

2. See also Buster, sense 1.

Bury. Go bury yourself! phr. (American).—A Californianism which has more of the fortiter than the suaviter in its composition. Equivalent to ‘Go! hide your diminished head.’ Cf., Carry me out and bury me decently.

To bury or dig up the hatchet, verbal phr. (American).—Amongst Indian tribes certain symbolic ceremonies are connected with the war-hatchet or tomahawk, which are equivalent to a declaration of war, or a compact of peace.—To bury the hatchet is the emblem of the putting away of strife and enmity; on the other hand, the red skin, before he commences hostilities, digs up afresh the fateful symbol. This picturesque imagery has passed into the colloquial inheritance of the American people, and the expressions of burying or digging up the hatchet are frequently applied to the affairs of everyday life. This symbolism though new in form is old in idea. Shakspeare in The Tempest, v., 1, 55, says, ‘I’le breake my staffe, bury it certaine fadomes in the earth.’

1855–59. Washington Irving, Life of Washington, I., p. 361. ‘They smoked the pipe of peace together, and the colonel claimed the credit of having, by his diplomacy, persuaded the sachem to bury the hatchet.’

1855. Longfellow, Hiawatha, 13.

Buried was the bloody hatchet; Buried was the dreadful war-club; Buried were all warlike weapons, And the war-cry was forgotten; Then was peace among the nations.

1873. Carleton Ballads.

I don’t know what you’ll think, sir—I didn’t come to inquire— But I picked up that agreement and stuffed it in the fire; And I told her we’d bury the hatchet alongside of the cow; And we struck an agreement never to have another row.

To bury a moll, phr. (general).—To desert or forsake a wife or mistress. [Moll = woman, wife, or prostitute.]

French Synonyms. Envoyer une ouistiti (ouistiti signifies properly a striated monkey); lâcher une femme (literally to cast off a woman); balancer une largue.

To bury a Quaker, phr. (Irish slang).—To evacuate; to ease oneself.

English Synonyms. To go to the crapping castle, casa, or ken (castle, casa, and ken are old canting terms for a place or house); to the West Central (a punning allusion to the initials W.C. for water closet); to Mrs. Jones; to the chapel-of-ease; to Sir Harry; to the bog-house, rear, dunnock, coffee-shop; to see one’s aunt; to crap; to go and sing ‘sweet violets’; to go where the queen always goes on foot.

French Synonyms. Mousser (popular: literally to foam or effervesce); enterrer son colonel (Cf., to bury a Quaker); aller faire une ballade à la lune (i.e., ‘to go and sing to the moon’; also ballade = stroll, walk, or lounge; likewise in French slang lune = posteriors); mouler un sénateur (popular); mouler une Venus (artists’); gazonner (literally to ‘cover with turf’); aller au numero cent (a play upon the word sent); déponer (Michel thinks that though at first sight this word would seem to be directly derived from the Latin deponere, yet it really either comes from the old French ponant, signifying posteriors, or from the verb poner, used in the thirteenth century in the sense of pondre, i.e., to lay eggs); débourrer sa pipe (popular); défalquer (popular); tarter or tartir (popular and thieves’: in Latin alvum deponere. Cf., Italian Fourbesque tartire); faire une moulure (moulure in architecture = moulding); aller quelque part (lit. to go somewhere); aller à ses affaires (lit. ‘to go to one’s business’); aller où le roi va à pied (i.e., to go where the king goes on foot. Cf., to go where the queen always goes on foot); filer (properly to spin); aller chez Jules (to go to Julius. Cf., to go and see one’s aunt); ierchem (low: chier, a disguised obscenity, + em); flasquer (thieves’); touser (this word comes from tourtouse and signifies properly faire de la corde); faire corps neuf (properly to take a new lease of one’s life); déposer une médaille de papier volant, or des Pays-Bas (obsolete); faire des cordes (des cordes = strings); mettre une lettre à la poste (lit. to go and post a letter); faire le grand (grand = an opprobrious epithet); faire une commission (to run an errand); fogner (popular); flaquer (popular: literally ‘to dash’ [water or any other liquid]); écrire à un Juif (literally to write to a Jew); déposer une pêche (popular); poser une pépin (popular: poser = to place or cast down; pépin, in botany a kernel or pip); poser un factionnaire (popular: factionnaire is properly a sentinel or sentry); poser une sentinelle (popular: with same meaning as foregoing); envoyer une depèche à Bismarck (popular: this may be a contemptuous usage of the German Chancellor’s name, although in French slang couleur Bismarck = brown colour); aller où le roi n’envoie personne (lit. to go where the king sends no one); flaquader (flaque = excrement); fuser (properly to dissolve); gâcher du gros (popular); galipoter (another slang meaning of this word is ‘to smear’); pousser son rond (popular); faire ronfler la chaire percée—Thomas—le bourrelet—la chaise percée (faire ronfler = to cause to or make snore, chaire = Bishop’s throne, chaire percée = close-stool, and bourrelet = padded cushion with hole in centre, Thomas = bedroom chamber); aller voir Bernard (Cf., aller chez Jules); aller au buen-retiro (buen retiro properly = a private place of retirement, but in this sense is an ironical allusion to a W.C.); faire un pruneau or poser un pruneau (Michel thinks this expression is derived from clos Bruneau, a facetious name given to the posteriors about the sixteenth century); filer le cable de proue (Michel gives this as of nautical origin—seamen’s latrines being situated in the fo’cas’le).

Italian Fourbesque. Tartire (properly to lighten or ease one’s conscience by confessing to a Priest).

To bury a wife, verbal phr. (old).—To feast and make merry, an expression used in connection with the jollifications frequently indulged in by apprentices on the completion of their term of indenture, when they became ‘full blown’ craftsmen.

Bus or Buss, subs. (theatrical).—1. A variant of business (q.v.), of which it is an abbreviation. Pronounced biz.

2. (common.)—A contraction of ‘omnibus.’

1832. Ht. Martineau, Weal and Woe, i., 14. If the station offers me a place in a buss. [M.]

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, p. 93. He proposed that they should go, per buss, a little way into the country.

1861. Thackeray, Adventures of Philip, II., p. 316. We were mortified to see that of the five persons conveyed by the ’bus, one was a tradesman, etc.

1869. Black, In Silk Attire, II., p. 205. Annie Brunel got out of the Hampstead ’bus, and found herself in the muddy highway.

Verb (American).—To punch [one’s head].

Bush or Be Bushed, verb (Australian).—Primarily to camp out in the bush; or to get lost in the bush. Hence a slang usage in which the expression is applied to a person in any mental or physical difficulty or muddle.

1887. All the Year Round, July 30, p. 68. An Australian says that he is bushed just as an Englishman, equally characteristically, declares that he is fogged.

1889. B. L. Farjeon, In Australian Wilds. ‘We shall have to bush it, mate,’ I said. ‘That’s so,’ said Lilly Trot, unconcernedly; but looking about him sharply, despite his apparent carelessness, for a suitable spot to camp on. Ibid. We were on horseback, with blankets before us on our saddles, to provide for our getting bushed. We were prepared for rough times. I carried my revolver, and Lilly Trot had a villainous-looking black life-preserver up his sleeve, ready at a moment’s notice for any emergency.

Bushed, ppl. adj. (old).—Hard up; without money; destitute.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dictionary. Bush’d, poor; without money.

Bushed On, verbal phr. (common).—Pleased; delighted.

Bushel Bubby, subs. (old).—A full and large breasted woman. [From bushel, a (large) measure, + bubby (q.v.), a breast.] Cf., Bubber.

Bushwhacker, subs. (American political).—In politics, as in war, simply a ‘free-lance.’ During the Rebellion deserters from the ranks of both armies infested the country, bands of these marauders making raids upon defenceless houses and even going the length of sacking whole towns. Originally the term was harmless enough in meaning. At a time when water-communication was the chief means of locomotion, and the rivers, streams, and creeks of densely wooded regions were alive with the advance guards of civilization, bushwhacking was the name given to the means by which lumbermen propelled their craft up and down stream. This was accomplished by pulling the bushes growing by the water side; or, on land, by the cutting away of a thicket in order to obtain a passage. The man who did this, and the instrument—a kind of scythe or cutlass with which, in the latter case, he thus forced his way—were alike called bushwhackers. The word has gone through yet another transition. Since the war it has also come to mean a ‘country bumpkin,’ a ‘clod-pole,’ or any other person of a ‘verdant’ character.

Bushy Park, subs. (rhyming slang).—A lark.

To be in Bushy Park, phr. (old).—To be poor.

Business, subs. (old).—1. Sexual intercourse. For synonyms, see Greens.

1630. Taylor, Workes. And Lais of Corinth, ask’d Demosthenes One hundred crownes for one night’s businesse.

1654. Wits Recreations.

What Crispulus is that in a new gown, All trim’d with loops and buttons up and down, That learns there on his arm in private chat With thy young wife, what Crispulus is that? He’s proctor of a court, thou say’st and does Some business of my wives: thou brainless goose, He does no business of thy wives, not he, He does thy business (Coracine) for thee.

2. (theatrical.)—Dramatic action; bye-play.

1753. The World, No. 26. We are too much enamoured with what is called intrigue, business, and bustle, in our plays.

1820. Scott, The Abbot, ch. xxvii. (III., p. 6). The ... went, came, and returned, mingling in every scene of the piece, and interrupting the business.

1860. Cornhill Magazine, Dec., p. 749. So well do performers understand this principle, that they give the literary composition the utmost contemptuous title of ‘words,’ while they dignify the movements of the characters with the name of business.

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 282. Tom observed, I never saw such business before; how do you do it with that board thing, for I can’t manage it? I have knocked and bruised some of my people about so that they swear they would sooner leave than have such another day.

1880. Punch, Sept. 18, 130. ‘Quite in his Line.’ Stout Major (to Professional Actor, who has been asked down to coach the Garrison Amateurs): ‘Aw—we played The Bells at our last Theatricals, of which I’ve the Management. I—aw—played Irving’s part myself. Aw—immense Success!’ Professional (drily): ‘Of course you’ve seen him in it?’ Major: ‘Ya-as—but—aw—I didn’t copy him in the least—aw—my own ‘Business.’ Aw—Entirely different reading. In fact, every one said it wasn’t a bit like him!’

1883. H. Irving, in Good Words, Jan., p. 34. Then consider what scope the ‘business’ of the scene gives to the actor’s purpose.

To do one’s business for one, phr. (common).—To kill; to cause one’s death.

1880. Jas. Greenwood, Grandmother Cooper, in Odd People in Odd Places, p. 4. ‘They said it was his hurts as killed him,’ said the old lady, ‘but it was no use ’em telling me that. It was the bricks and mortar that did his business, poor chap.’

Business End [of a thing], subs. (American).—The practical part.

Busk It, verb (vagrants’).—To sell obscene songs and books at the bars and in the tap-rooms of public houses. Sometimes it implies selling other articles. Also to ‘work’ public houses and certain spots as an itinerant musician or vocalist. So also busking, verb subs. and ppl. adj. and busker, a man who thus sings and performs in public houses: an itinerant.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, III., p. 234. From a furniture-carter of this description I received some most shocking details of having to busk it, as this taking about goods for sale is called by those in the trade. Ibid, I., p. 229. They obtained a livelihood by busking, as it is termed, or in other words, by offering their goods for sale only at the bars or in the tap-rooms and parlours of taverns. Ibid, III., p. 216. Busking is going into public houses and playing and singing and dancing. Ibid, p. 222. I now thought I’d try what is termed busking, that is going into public houses and cutting likenesses of the company.

1883. Advt. in Echo, May 10, p. 4, col. 6. Busking.—A player on the harp and violin wants a mate.

1887. Referee, August 21, p. 3, col. 2. Mac himself ... will appear in the Racecourse scene as a busker.

Busker.—See under Busk.

Busking.—See under Busk.

Busnapper.—See Buz-napper.

Busnapper’s Kinchin.—See Buz-napper’s Kinchin.

Buss.—See Bus.

Buss Beggar, subs. (old).—An old prostitute of the lowest type; a beggar’s trull.

Bust, subs. (vulgar).—A corrupted form of burst. So also busting (adj.); busted (ppl. adj.), etc., etc.

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, p. 219. A kind of busting noise.

2. (thieves’.)—A burglary.

18(?79). Horsley, Jottings from Jail. ‘Fatty Bill, from City Road, rem. for a bust ex. two years,’ means that William ... has been compelled to leave his congenial haunts in the City Road, as he is remanded for a burglary, and anticipates two years’ hard labour.

3. (general.)—A frolic; a spree; a drunken debauch. Cf., To go on the bust.

1860. Bartlett (quoted in), A Californian Song.

And when we get our pockets full Of this bright, shinin’ dust, We’ll travel straight for home again, And spend it on a bust.

4. (American.)—A failure; a fizzle.

Verb (vulgar).—1. To burst; explode.

1838. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, II., p. 366. His genius would have busted.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, I., p. 286. Keep cool, Jefferson ... don’t bust! Ibid, II., p. 124. If the biler of this vessel was Toe bust, Sir, ... and Toe bust now, it would be a festival day in the calendar of despotism.

2. (thieves’.)—To commit a burglary.

3. (thieves’.)—To inform against an accomplice. A slang variant of ‘split’ (turn king’s evidence, impeach). The person who does this splits or bursts the whole concern.

4. (American.)—To fail in business or transactions of any kind.

5. (general.)—To put out of breath; to ‘wind.’

c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, ‘Taking out the Baby.’ Spoken—And they had all been taking out the baby, and all had had such a doing—that boy o’ mine nearly busted me—and of course they all think they deserve a glass of beer.

6. (American.)—To indulge in a drunken frolic; to go on the spree. Cf., To go on the bust.

1869. New Orleans Picayune, Feb. 14. ‘Because I was a good-natured fellow, I had to go with them, rollicking, teaparting, excursioning, and busting generally.’

7. (American.)—To destroy; to commit suicide; to ‘set aside’; to expose.

1880. Bret Harte, Chiquita, p. 22. Did you know Briggs of Tuolumne? Busted hisself in White Pine, and blew out is brains.

1883. North of England Advertiser, Sept. 1. Then he got the Moabite pottery which Mr. Clement Ganneau busted.

Bust me! phr. (common).—A mild oath—blow me! jigger me! (q.v.)—See also Oaths.

1859. Dickens, Tale of Two Cities, bk. I., ch. iii. ‘Bust me if I don’t think he’d been a drinking!’

To go on the bust, phr. (common).—To go on a frolic or spree. For synonyms, see Paint the town red.

Buster, subs. (common).—1. A small new loaf; also a coarse cake or bun of large size that fills or blows out the stomach of the eater. [From bust, a vulgar form of ‘burst,’ + er.] Cf., Starver.

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 3. Bob: Now, landlord, ‘arter that ere drap of max, suppose we haves a drain o’ heavy wet, just by way of cooling our chaffers—mine’s as dry as a chip—and, I say, do you hear, let’s have a twopenny burster, half a quartern of beesvax, a ha’p’orth o’ ingens, and a dollop o’ salt along vith it, vill you? Mace: Bellay! a burster and beesvax—and salt here. (Calling as he fetches the porter from the side wing, l.) Now, then, here you are, Master Grimmuzzle.

1841. Comic Almanacks, 1835–43 (Hotten), p. 295.

‘Cut us a slap-up slice of Cheshire cheese, And tip’s a twopenny burster if you please.’

1849. Bell’s Life. [From Baumann.] A burster with a slice of beeswax.

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 192. Mo and his man were having a great breakfast one morning at Newcastle, off a twopenny buster and a small bit of butter, with some wishy-washy coffee....

c. 1882. Broadside Ballad, ‘I can’t get at it.’

I can’t get at it, I can’t get at it, I like the faggots tho’ they smell, But now the penny’s down the well, I can’t get at it, I can’t get at it, I thought I’d have a ‘buster’ but it’s all no go!

2. (thieves’.)—A burglar. For synonyms, see Area-sneak. Cf., Bust, subs., sense 2, and verb, sense 2.

1879. J. W. Horsley, ‘Autobiography of a Thief,’ in Macm. Mag., XL., 582. Busters and screwsmen (burglars).

3. (common.)—Anything of superior size; that has unusual capacity; that causes admiration; a spurt. Hence to ‘come an awful buster,’ ‘to fall heavily,’ ‘to come a cropper’; ‘in for a buster,’ prepared, ready or determined for a spree.

1852. H. B. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ch. x. ‘Lor, Pete,’ said Mose, triumphantly, ‘han’t we got a buster of a breakfast!’ at the same time catching at a fragment of the chicken.

1860. Dickens, Great Expectations, ch. vii., p. 28. ‘At such time as when your sister is on the Ram-page, Pip,’ Joe sank his voice to a whisper, and glanced at the door, ‘candour compels fur to admit that she is a Buster.’

1870. Popular Song on Franco-German War.

... Thank God, my dear Augusta, We’ve had another awful buster, Ten thousand Frenchmen sent below, Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, ‘I’ll never go courting again.’

A lawyer’s niece, next, I admired, But brief he made my wooing spec; To a banker’s ward then, I aspired, But got from the banker a check (cheque). A publican said, other measures For his girl he’d to carry out, And a baker he gave me a ‘buster,’ With a ‘brick,’ sent me rolling about.

4. (Australian.)—A heavy storm from the south. Otherwise called in Sydney a brick fielder (q.v.).

1885. Household Words, 10 Oct., p. 463. In anxious expectation we now awaited the result of this curious phenomenon of darkest night in day, which, accustomed to the portents that sometimes herald in the terrific busters of these southern seas, as most of us were, all declared they had never seen it equalled.

Busting, verb, subs. (thieves’.)—Informing against accomplices; turning Queen’s evidence. Cf., Bust, verb, sense 3. For synonyms, see Peaching.

Bustle, subs. (common).—1. A pad, roll, or wire contrivance worn by women at the back in order to extend the dress, and also with a view to setting off the smallness of the waist. [Origin uncertain.] For synonyms, see Birdcage.

1788. T. Monro, in Olla Podrida, No. 40. Such locks the nymphs now wear (in silks who rustle), In rich luxuriance reaching to the bustle. [M.]

1835. Sketches by Boz, p. 323. Whether she was pretty, whether she wore much bustle, etc. Ibid, p. 488. ‘Did you ever,’ said a little coquette with a large bustle.

1857. Trollope, Barchester Towers, ch. xlv., p. 384. Bertie finished off the countess’s bustle.

2. (old.)—Money. A full list of synonyms will be found under Actual.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dictionary. Bustle, a cant term for money. Ibid. Any object effected very suddenly, or in a hurry, is said to be done on the bustle.

Verb (general).—To confuse; confound; perplex.—See previous quot.

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 237. ‘Now bustle him,’ said Tom Maley; ‘you have got him to-rights now. Let go your left straight.’

Bust-Maker, subs. (common).—A molrower; a ‘loose fish’; a seducer. For synonyms, see Molrower. [From bust, a protuberance, + maker.]

Busy-Sack, subs. (common).—A carpet bag. Called in America a grip-sack.

Butcher, subs. (cards’).—1. The king in playing-cards. When card-playing in public houses was common, the kings were called butchers, the queens bitches, and the knaves jacks. The latter term is now in general use. In French slang the king is un bœuf.

2. (American.)—A peripatetic ‘small-boy’ vendor of ‘varieties’ and ‘notions’ on railway cars—at once a convenience and a ‘terror.’

3. (thieves’.)—The prison doctor. For synonyms, see Crocus.

Butcher About, verb (Wellington College).—To make a great noise; to humbug about.

Butcher’s Mourning, subs. (common).—A white hat with a black mourning hat-band.

Butteker, subs. (old).—A shop.

Butter, subs. (popular).—Fulsome flattery; unctuous praise; ‘soft soap.’ A French equivalent is le cirage. Cf., verb, sense 1. Also buttering-up.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 40.

For, knowing how, on Moulsey’s plain, The champion fibb’d the Poet’s nob, This buttering-up against the grain, We thought was curs’d genteel in Bob.

1823. Blackwood’s Magazine, XIV., p. 309. You have been daubed over by the dirty butter of his applause.

1857. A. Trollope, Three Clerks, ch. i. The quantity of butter which he poured over Mr. Hardline’s head and shoulders with the view of alleviating the misery which such a communication would be sure to inflict, was very great.

1880. World, 13 Oct. A lavish interchange of compliments, the butter being laid on pretty thick.

Verb (common).—1. To flatter fulsomely; to indulge in rhodomantic praise. French cirer.

1700. Congreve, Way of World, prol. (1866), 259. The squire that’s buttered still is sure to be undone. [M.]

1725. New Canting Dictionary. To butter signifies also to cheat or defraud in a smooth and plausible manner.

1816. Scott, Antiquary, ch. xxxviii. ‘Keep him employed, man, for half-an-hour or so—butter him with some warlike terms—praise his dress and address.’

1839. Lever, Harry Lorrequer, ch. xii. ‘He first butthers them up and then slithers them down!’

1857. C. Kingsley, Two Years Ago. I’ll butter him, trust me. Nothing comforts a poor beggar like a bit of praise when he is down.

1884. Saturday Review, 5 July, p. 27, col. 1. The Lord Chief Justice of England made a tour through America, and generously buttered the natives.

2. (old.)—Jamieson says, ‘to increase the stakes every throw or every game.’

1690. B. E., Dictionary of Canting Crew. Butter, to double or treble the bet or wager to recover all losses.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Butter a bet, to double or triple it.

To look as if butter would not melt in one’s mouth, phr. (old).—A contemptuous saying of a person of somewhat simple demeanour. Murray traces back this familiar phrase to 1530, but a reference to it appears in French literature at a much earlier date.

1475. Les Evangiles des Quenouilles—Vme Journée. Edition Elzevirienne. Paris (1855), p. 72. A cette parolle mist dame Mehault ses mains à ses costez et en grant couroux luy respondy que, etc., et que, Dieu merci, aincoires fondoit le burre en sa bouche, combien qu’elle ne peust croquier noisettes, car elle n’avoit que un seul dent.

1530. Palgrave, 620, 1. He maketh as thoughe butter wolde not melte in his mouth. [M.]

1562. Latimer, Serm. Lord’s Prayer, V., ii., 79. These fellows ... can speak so finely, that a man would think butter should scant melt in their mouths.

1687. Sedley, Bellamira. Sil. He look’d so demurely, I thought butter wou’d not have melted in his mouth, I hope you will make sure work with him before you send him again.

1738. Swift, Polite Conversation, i. She looks as if butter would not melt in her mouth, but I warrant cheese won’t choak her.

1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, ch. xxviii. (III., p. 26). I am beginning to think ye are but a queer ane, ye look as if butter wadna melt in your mouth, but I sall warrant cheese no choak ye.

1850. Thackeray, Pendennis, I., p. 149. Telling her landlady how ... the Mayor was ... a nice, soft-spoken old gentleman; that butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, etc.

Will cut butter when it’s hot, phr. (common).—Said of a knife when blunt. An obvious allusion.

Butter and eggs, subs. (common).—Explained by quotations.

1862. Macmillan’s Mag., Jan., p. 238. And I can do butter-and-eggs all down the slide.... The feat of butter-and-eggs consists in going down the slide on one foot and beating with the heel and toe of the other at short intervals.

Compare the foregoing with the following.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, II., p. 9. Sam Weller, in particular, was displaying that beautiful feat of fancy sliding which is currently denominated ‘knocking at the cobblers’ door,’ and which is achieved by skimming over the ice on one foot, and occasionally giving a two-penny postman’s knock upon it, with the other.

Butter-Bag or Butter-Box, subs. (old).—Opprobrious epithets for a Dutchman. [? In allusion to Holland producing large quantities of butter. Cf., quot., 1811.]

1600. Dekker, Gentle Craft, wks. (1873) I., 21. We have not men enow, but wee must entertaine every butter-box. [M.]

1650. Howell, Familiar Letters. And for the latter strength we may thank our countryman Ward, and Dansker the butterbag Hollander, which may be said to have bin two of the fatallest and most infamoust men that ever Christendom bred.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Butter-box. A Dutchman, from the great quantity of butter eaten by the people of that country.

Butter-Boat. To empty the butter-boat, phr. (common).—To lavish praise; to battle. [From butter-boat, a table utensil employed for serving melted butter.]

1865. Sat. Review, 7 Jan., p. 16, col. 2. That kind of praise which feels like the butter-boat down one’s back. [M.]

1866. J. H. Skinner, After Storm, I., 181. He praised some things and gave advice about others, using the butter-boat less freely than is customary at volunteer inspections. [M.]

Butter-Box.—See Butter-bag.

Buttercups, subs. (common).—A graceful pet name for children.

1877. E. L. Linton, World Well Lost, ch. vii. Hilda was still in the schoolroom, and seldom appeared even at afternoon tea; which in general is licensed to include ‘buttercups.’

Buttered, ppl. adj. (old).—1. Whipped. Cf., Dusted, Tanned, etc. (q.v.).

2. (common.)—Flattered.—See Butter, sense 1.

Buttered Bun, subs. (old).—A mistress; also a prostitute, especially one who submits to the sexual embrace in quick succession with different men. [In this latter sense, if not in former, from buttered = greased + bun (q.v.), the female pudenda.] For synonyms, see Barrack-hack.

1679. Cullen, W., Flock of Court Misses, in Roxburgh Ballads (1884), V., 126. This is the day ... that sets our Monarch free From Buttered Buns [i.e., Louise de Quérouaille] and Slavery.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. One lying with a woman that has just lain with another man, is said to have a buttered bun.

Butter-Fingered, comp. ppl. adj. (common).—Apt to let things fall; greasy or slippery-fingered. The nickname of butter-fingers is hence given to those who let things slip easily from their grasp.

1615. Markham, English Housewife, II., ii. (1668), 51. She must not be butter-fingered, sweet-toothed, nor faint-hearted; for the first will let everything fall, etc.

1857. Hood, Pen and Pencil Pictures, p. 141. He was a slovenly player, and went among the cricket lovers by the sobriquet of butter-fingers.

1861. G. Meredith, Evan Harrington. The long-hit-off, he who never was known to miss a catch—butter-fingered beast!—he has let the ball slip through his fingers.

1883. Miss Braddon, Golden Calf, ch. xiv. ‘I never allow no butter-fingered girls in this room, except to sweep or scrub, under my own eye. There’s not many ornaments, but what there is is precious, and the apple of master’s eye.’

Butter-Flap, subs. (rhyming slang).—A trap—i.e., a light cart.

Butterfly, subs. (nautical).—1. A river barge.

2. (cabmen’s.)—The guard for the reins affixed to the top of a hansom cab.

1883. Standard, March 6, p. 6, col. 3. The box covered the whole roof of the cab, preventing him [the cabman] from seeing the butterfly. [M.]

Butternuts, subs. (American.)—The sympathisers with the South in the North and the Middle States during the American Civil War; the term was derived from the colour of the uniforms worn in the early part of the war by Confederate soldiers in the West, which, being homespun, were dyed brown with the juice of the butternut (Juglans cinerea).

Butter-Print, subs. (old).—A child; usually one that is illegitimate. Cf., Buttercup.

1620. Fletcher, Chances, I., v. You will be wiser one day, when you have purchased A bevy of these butter-prints. [M.]

1639. Beaumont and Fletcher, Wit Without Money, V., iv. I hope she has brought me no butter-print along with her to lay to my charge. [M.]

1709. Brit. Apollo, II., No. 46, p. 3, col. 2. Her Girl and her Boy, For Patterns employ, To make little Butter-Prints by. [M.]

Buttock, subs. (old).—A common prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack, and Cf., File.

1674. R. Head, Canting Academy, 105. The Bawds and the Buttocks that lived there round.

1688. Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, I., wks. (1720) IV., 17. What ogling there will be between thee and the Blowings!... Every buttock shall fall down before thee.

1690. B. E., Dictionary of the Canting Crew. Buttock and file, both whore and pickpocket.

Buttock and File, subs. phr. (old).—A prostitute and her companion; sometimes bulk and file. Occasionally, too, buttock and file is used of a single individual—one who unites the roles of a thief and prostitute. [From buttock (q.v.), a whore, + file (q.v.), a pickpocket.]

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 48 (1874). Bulk and File the Pickpocket and his mate.

1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, bk. I., ch. v. The same capacity which qualifies a mill-ben, a bridle-cull, or a buttock and file to arrive at any degree of eminence in his profession would likewise raise a man in what the world esteem a more honourable calling.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Buttock and file, a common whore and a pickpocket.

Buttock and Tongue, subs. (old).—A scolding woman; a shrew.

Buttock and Twang, subs. (old).—A common prostitute, but who refrains from theft. Cf., Buttock and file.

Buttock Ball, subs. (old).—1. A dance attended by prostitutes. Cf., Ballum rancum and Buff ball.

1687. T. Brown, Lib., Consc., in Dk. Buckingham’s Wks. (1705), II., 131. Why not into a Bibbing-house, as well as a Dancing School, a buttoc-ball, or the like.

2. (old.)—The sexual embrace; cohabitation. Cf., Bawdy banquet and Buttock banquetting.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Buttock-ball, the amorous congress.

Buttock Banquetting, subs. (old).—Harlotry.

1555. Fardle Facions, II., viii., 167. Whiche [wiues] maie neuerthelesse vse buttocke banquetyng abrode.

Buttock-Broker, subs. (old).—A procuress; a bawd; an abbess (q.v.).

Buttocking Shop, subs. (old).—A brothel; a house of ill fame used by the lowest class of public women.

Button, subs. (old).—1. A shilling. Formerly this applied to good currency; it now only signifies counterfeit coin. For synonyms, see Below.

2. A decoy of any kind, whether the confederate of confidence trick men, or a sham buyer at an auction. Frequently called a buttoner (q.v.). Cf., Bunco-steerer. Fr. un allumé.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 358. They [cheap Jacks] have a man, or more generally a boy ... at a fair, to hank, or act as a button (a decoy), to purchase the first lot of goods put up. Ibid, III., p. 121. Then he (the thimble-rigger) turns round to the crowd, and pretends to be pushing them back, and whilst he is saying, ‘Come gentlemen, stand more backwarder,’ one of the confederates, who is called a ‘button,’ lifts up one of the thimbles with a pea under it, and laughs to those around, as much as to say, ‘We’ve found it out.’

1877. Besant and Rice, Son of Vulcan, ix. The button, that is the confederate who egged on the flats.

Verb.—To decoy; to act as confederate in swindles. Fr. aguicher.

Not to care a button—brass button, etc., phr. (common).—A very old colloquialism indicative of small value. It has been in continuous use from the beginning of the fourteenth century down to the present time. Americans say ‘not worth a cent or a red cent,’ while among variants in common use in England may be mentioned ‘not to care a fig—a pin—or a sou.’

Button Burster or Button Buster, subs. (theatrical).—A low comedian. [The derivation is sufficiently obvious, that is, one who causes his auditors to laugh so that by a figure of speech their buttons are regarded as bursting off their clothes.]

Button-Catcher, subs. (general).—A tailor. There may be mentioned among

English Synonyms, snip; cabbage contractor; steel-bar driver; goose persuader; sufferer; ninth part of a man, etc.

French Synonyms. Un gobeprune (thieves’); un emmailloteur (popular); un mangeur de prunes (general); un pique-poux; un pique-prunes; un pique-puces; un croque-prunes; un frus-quineur. (Most of these are offensive terms, as will be seen when it is stated that puces = fleas; poux = lice, and so on.)

Buttoner, subs. (thieves’).—A card-sharper’s decoy, an equivalent of button, subs., sense 2. For synonyms, see Decoy-duck.

1841. Blackwood’s Mag., L., 202. Buttoners are those accomplices of thimble-riggers ... whose duty it is to act as flat-catchers or decoys, by personating flats. [M.]

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant (3 ed.), p. 446. To entice another to play—buttoner.

1860. Cornhill Mag., II., 334. Enticer of another to play—buttoner. [M.]

Button-On. To have a button on, phr. (printers’).—To have a fit of the blues; to be despondent.—See Chopper on.

Button Pound, subs. (provincial).—Money. For synonyms generally, see Actual.

Buttons, subs. (common).—A page; sometimes rendered by boy in buttons. [In allusion to the numerous buttons which usually adorn the front of a page’s jacket.]

1860. Thackeray, Lovel the Widower, p. 289. [Herein quoted as the name of a page.]

1873. Chambers’ Jour., p. 605. Even the smallest boy in buttons would have been a retainer too costly for us.

1874. H. Mayhew, London Characters, p. 311. Others limit their views to a page, or ‘buttons.’

1885. Ill. Lon. News, April 11, p. 376, col. 1. Such a man is only fit to be dressed like a buttons, and set to open the door to visitors who come to call on his family.

Dash or damn my buttons—wig, etc., phr. (general).—A mild oath, the word ‘damn’ often being represented by a dash. Ordinarily employed to express vexation or surprise.—See Oaths.

1860. Wm. Howard Russell, My Diary in India, I., p. 26. Darn my buttons if I haven’t jest a mind to....

Not to have all one’s buttons, phr. (common).—To be deficient in intellect; slightly cracky; to have a bee in one’s bonnet.—See Apartments to let.

To have a soul above buttons, phr. (common).—To be above one’s work or duty; to think one’s ability superior to one’s position. [The quotation for 1795 to which Murray calls special attention would seem to indicate the possible origin of the phrase.]

1795. G. Colman, Sylv. Daggerwood, I. (1808), 10. My father was an eminent Button-Maker ... but I had a soul above buttons ... I panted for a liberal profession. [m.].

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, ch. i. But my father, who was a clergyman of the Church of England, and the youngest brother of a noble family, had a lucrative living and a soul above buttons, if his son had not.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, III., p. 93. If I were to say to Captain Crackthorpe, ‘What pretty buttons!’ he would be delighted. But you—you have a soul above buttons, I suppose.

To make buttons, phr. (old).—To look sorry; sad; to be in great fear.

1593. G. Harvey, Pierces Supererog., in wks. II., 238. Thy witt already maketh buttons.

1653. Middleton, Sp. Gipsy, IV., iii. Sam. O Soto, I make buttons!

Button Up, verb (American stockbrokers’).—When a broker has bought stock on speculation and it falls suddenly on his hands, whereby he is a loser, he keeps the matter to himself, and is reluctant to confess the ownership of a share. This is called buttoning up.

Butty, subs. (common).—A comrade or partner. Properly and specifically a miner who raises coal or ore by contract at a special price per ton, employing others to do the actual work. Perhaps more provincial than slang, although a writer in Notes and Queries, July 30, 1870, suggests its origin in the Romany: he says in the gipsy dialect booty is the term for work. Booty-pal is a fellow-workman (literally work-brother). As usual when a polysyllable is imported into ordinary use, it loses its tail; so booty-pal, in the mouths of navvies ignorant of its origin, would soon be cut down to booty or butty.

1845. Disraeli, Sybil, wks. III., ch. i. Suppose we were to make a shift for a month or six weeks, ... and have no tommy out of the shop, what would the butty say to me? [A note to foregoing explains that a butty in the mining districts is a middleman: a Doggy is his manager. The butty generally keeps a Tommy or Truck shop and pays the wages of the labourers in goods.] Ibid, p. 385. The butty has given notice to quit in Parker’s field this se’nnight. Ibid, p. 389. The enemies of the people: all butties, doggies, dealers in truck and tommy.

1859. H. Kingsley, Geoffrey Hamlyn, ch. xxxi. ‘He and I cottoned together, and found out that we had been prisoners together five-and-twenty years agone. And so I shouted [stood drinks] for him, and he for me, and at last I says, “Butty,” says I, “who are those chaps round here on the lay?”’

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 101. William Carrol was his partner, or butty, in the ‘lollipop’ business—a dismal looking man, who had always a burnt short clay pipe in his mouth.

Buvare, subs. (strolling players’).—Explained by quotation. Cf., also Beware.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 201. [Ethiopian serenader loq.] ‘We could then, after our “nunyare” and “buvare” (that’s what we call eat and drink, and I think it’s broken Italian), carry home our 5/– or 6/– each, easy.’

Buy a Prop, phr. (Stock Exchange).—A term used to signify that the market has gone flat, and that there is no one to support it.

Buz or Buzz, subs. (common).—A parlour game which is thus described by Hotten, who, however, erroneously limited it to public-houses:—The leader commences saying ‘one,’ the next on the left hand ‘two,’ the next ‘three,’ and so on to seven, when ‘buz’ must be said. Every seven and multiple of 7, as 14, 17, 21, 27, 28, etc., must not be mentioned, but ‘buz’ instead. Whoever breaks the rule pays a fine.

1868. Miss Alcott, Little Women, ch. iii. They ... were in the midst of a quiet game of ‘buzz’ with two or three other young people who had strayed in, when Hannah appeared.

Verb (general).—1. Some uncertainty exists as to whether to buz signifies to drain a bottle or decanter to the last drop, or whether it means to share equally the last of a bottle of wine, when there is not enough for a full glass to each of the party. [See, however, quot. 1795.] Annandale and Hotten incline to the latter; Grose and Murray to the former view, and the following quotations appear to favour the explanation of the word first noticed as buzza by the burly lexicographer of the ‘Vulgar Tongue.’ [? A corruption of booze or bouze, i.e., to drink a bumper or to excess.] The Scotch say bouse a’, drink all.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. To buzza one, is to challenge him to pour out all the wine in the bottle into his glass, undertaking to drink it, should it prove more than the glass would hold; it is commonly said to one who hesitates to empty a bottle that is nearly out.

1795. Gent. Mag., p. 118. Briskly pushed towards me the decanter containing a tolerable bumper, and exclaimed, ‘Sir, I’ll buzz you: come, no heel taps!’

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 1. Cribb. ... I’ll give you, ‘May the best man win.’ (All drink.) May the best man win. Green. May the best man vin. Log. With all my heart; but, zounds! we’ve almost buzz’d the bowl. Let’s have another, and d’ye hear, Tom, serve it up in your prize cup; Jerry hasn’t seen it, and we mustn’t omit that.

1846–48. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, II., 138. ‘Get some more port, Bowls, old boy, whilst I buzz this bottle here—what was I saying?’ ‘I think you were speaking of dogs killing rats,’ Pitt remarked mildly, handing his cousin the decanter to buzz.

1871. Archibald Forbes, My Experiences of the War between France and Germany, I., p. 234. The Hotel which I had seen a few days before, where Von Tümpling’s staff were buzzing the bottles.

2. To pick pockets. [Probably an allusion to buzz in the sense of to talk busily. The victim in buzzing or buz-faking (q.v.) is generally engaged in conversation with a confederate, while the buzzer (q.v.) is committing the robbery.] For synonyms, see Prig.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 158. In order to give them an opportunity of working upon the prig and buz, that is, picking of pockets.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 445. To pick pockets—to buzz.

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 261. In my young days there used to travel about in gangs, like men of business, a lot of people called ‘Nobblers,’ who used to work the ‘thimble and pea rig’ and go buzzing, that is, picking pockets, assisted by some small boys.

3. (American thieves’.)—To search for; to look about one.

Buz-Bloke.—See Buz-napper.

Buz-Cove.—See Buz-napper.

Buz-Gloak.—See Buz-napper.

Buz-Man, subs. (thieves’).—1. A pickpocket. Cf., Buz-napper.

1856. H. Mayhew, Gt. World of London, p. 111. The London buzman (swell mobsman) can keep his pony by abstracting ‘skins’ (purses) from gentlemen’s pockets.

2. (thieves’.)—An informer. [From buzz, to talk or whisper, + man.] For synonyms, see Nark.

1877. W. Black, Green Past. and Picc., ch. xi. What was all this about ‘Billy Rowland,’ ‘Scotland Yard,’ ‘Spy,’ ‘Buzman,’ and the rest?

Buz-Napper, subs. (old).—1. A pickpocket. [From buz, to pick pockets, + napper or nabber, one who seizes or snatches. ‘Buz-bloke,’ ‘buz-cove,’ ‘buz-gloak,’ ‘buz-man,’ and ‘buzzer,’ are all variants of buz-napper; ‘bloke,’ ‘cove,’ and ‘gloak,’ are old canting terms for a man.] For synonyms, see Area-sneak.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 174. A young fry of boys ... follow the profession of a buz-napper.

1819. J. H. Vaux, Memoirs of Convict Life in Australia. Buz-cove or buz-gloak, a pickpocket; a person who is clever at this practice is said to be a ‘good buz.’

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v.

Until at last there was none so knowing, No such sneaksman or buz-gloak going.

1856. H. Mayhew, Gt. World of London, p. 46. Those who plunder by stealth, as ... ‘buzzers,’ who pick gentlemen’s pockets.

1859. Sala, Twice Round the Clock, 3 p.m., par. 10. Where these ruffiani, these copper captains and cozening buz-gloaks, are to be found during the day, or even up to midnight ... must remain a secret.

1862. Mayhew, Crim. Prisons, 46. Buzzers who pick gentlemen’s pockets, and ‘wires’ who pick ladies’ pockets.

1867. Galaxy, p. 634. While the [New York] police had no right to arrest pickpockets unless they caught them committing a theft, yet as they had the power to do so, they exercised it, and many were the car-buzzers they led captives to police headquarters.

Buz-Napper’s Academy, subs. (old).—A school in which young thieves were trained. Figures were dressed up, and experienced tutors stood in various difficult attitudes for the boys to practise upon. When clever enough they were sent on the streets. Dickens gives full particulars of this old style of ‘business’ in Oliver Twist.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 173. [A Buz-napper’s Academy is named and described in this work.]

Buz-Napper’s Kinchin, subs. (old).—A watchman. Synonymous terms in the sense of police will be found under beak (q.v.).

Buzzer.—See Buz-napper.

Buzzing or Buz-Faking, subs. (thieves’).—Pocket-picking. Cf., Buz, verb, sense 2.

By-Blow, subs. (old).—An illegitimate child. [An allusion to the unacknowledged status of the mother, and the ‘accident’ of the birth of such children.] Also called by-chop and by-slip.

1594. Barnfield, Affectionate Shepherd. In such a ladies lappe, at such a slipperie by-blow, That in a world so wide could not be found such a wilie Lad; in an age so old, could not be found such an old lad.

1625. Massinger, Parl. of Love, II., i. Give to each by-blow, I know mine, a farm.

1678. C. Cotton, Scarronides, bk. I., p. 21 (ed. 1725).

Now Venus was Æneas Mother, In the behalf then of her by-blow, Which had endured many a dry-Blow, She weeping came, sighing and throbbing.

1705–7. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. II., pt. II., p. 19.

The poor Man’s House abound with Brats, As country Barn with Mice and Rats; And Parishes be fill’d with by-blows As thick as Butchers’ Stalls with Fly-blows.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). By-blow (s.), a bastard or illegitimate child.

1868. Browning, Ring and Bk., iv., 612. A drab’s brat, A beggar’s bye-blow.

1875. Ouida, Signa, vol. I., ch. iii., p. 34. The one who held the child turned his light on the little wet face;... ‘And whose by-blow is this?’ said he. ‘The devil knows,’ said he who knelt by the mother. ‘But it is Pippa.’

By-Chop.—See By-blow.

1632. Jonson, Magnetic Lady, iv., 2.

First I have sent By-chop away; the cause gone, the fame ceaseth.

By Cracky! intj.—A meaningless ejaculation conveying no idea beyond that of general surprise.—See Oaths.

1888. Superior Inter-Ocean. Say, haint Tubbs a Methodist? By cracky! here’s where it is, and in we walked.

Bye-Drink, subs. (common).—Liquid refreshment taken at other than meal-times. [From bye = not in regular course + drink.]

1766. Kenrick, Falstaff’s Wedding, i., 1. I could wish, nevertheless, old white wine stood higher in his lordship’s favour; that I may not be stinted at table, or in my by-drinkings.

1883. Daily Telegraph, Jan. 10, p. 5, col. 3. Our business men—and many others who are not men of business—take, as it is, a great many more ‘bye-drinks’ in the way of ‘sherry’ and ‘whiskey cold’ than is good for them.

By George! intj. phr. (popular).—An ejaculation signifying either surprise, or anger, or used without any special meaning. Phrases of the kind are very numerous, and are mainly employed by those whose poverty of language is otherwise very marked. [By George! may either be a reference to St. George, the patron saint of England, or to the predominant Christian name of the early sovereigns of the Brunswick dynasty.]

1731. Fielding, Grub Street Opera, Act iii., Sc. 7. By George, I’ll make an example of him.

1737. Bacchus and Venus, p. 117. ’Fore George, I’d knock him down.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xxxviii. ‘I—er—a little subject to this sort of thing—er—By George!’

By Goldam! intj. phr. (American).—A semi-veiled oath. The Yankee is peculiarly fertile in variations on the name of God, and gives a striking proof of his ingenuity in inventing new forms for the forbidden I swear. He has his by Gorram! by Goldam! and by Goshdang! by the side of the English oath by Golly! which occurs as early as 1743.—See Oaths.

By Golly! intj. phr. (popular).—A euphemistic phrase for by God!—See Oaths.

1743. W. Warren, Five Arguments against Tythes. ‘The first person consulted a gentleman-farmer, and declared that he never read anything so good in his life. “By golly,” says he, “he ’as mauled the parsons.”’

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 204. Then I turn round to him and say, ‘By golly, if you don’t leave off, I’ll broke you over de jaw.’

By Gorram!—See By Goldam!

By Gosh! intj. phr. (popular).—A compromise for By God!

1804. C. K. Sharpe, in Correspondence (1888), I., 210. I promise, by Gosh (which is the most elegant and classical oath imaginable).

1877. W. Black, Green Past. and Picc., ch. xxxv. ‘If this goes on,’ said he suddenly, ‘by Gosh, I’ll heave!’

By Gum! By Gummy! intj. phr. (American).—Both these expletives are extracts from the great American Dictionary of Oaths and Cuss Words, compiled by descendants of the Puritan Fathers.—See Oaths.

1860. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Season Ticket, No. ix. ‘By gum, Squire Shegog, we have had the greatest bobbery of a shindy in our carriage you ever knowed in all our born days.’

By Hook or By Crook.—See Hook.

By Hooky, intj. phr. (popular).—A mild form of swearing.—See Oaths.

1882. Jas. Payn, For Cash Only, ch. xxii. ‘Pay me what you owe me,’ says I, ‘or, by hooky, I’ll tell your father.’

Byng, Bing, verb (old).—To go. Bynge-awaste, to go away.

1567. Harman, Caveat, or Warening for Commen Cursetors, p. 86. Man. What, stowe your bene, cofe, and cut benat whydds, and byng we to rome vyle, to nyp a bong; so shall we haue lowre for the bousing ken and when we byng back to the deuseauyel, we wyll fylche some duddes of the Ruffemans, or myll the ken for a lagge of dudes. [i.e.] What, holde your peace, good fellowe, and speake better wordes, and go we to London, to cut a purse; then shall we haue money for the ale house, and when wee come backe agayne into the country, we wyll steale some lynnen clothes of one hedges, or robbe some house for a bucke of clothes.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). Bing a wast, get you hence.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Binged avast in a darkmans, stole away in the night. Bing we to Rumeville, shall we go to London?

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxviii. ‘Bing out and tour [go out and watch] ye auld devil, and see that nobody has scented.’

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xvii. ‘I smell a spy,’ replied the other, looking at Nigel.... ‘Bing avast, bing avast!’ replied his companion.

By-Scape, subs. (old).—A bastard. Cf., By-blow.

1646. Earl Monm., Biondi’s List., VI., ix., 197. For his being God-son to her Brother, and ... for that (being very fair) she thought him a by-scape of his. [M.]

By-Slip, subs. (old).—A bastard. See By-blow.

1692. Hacket, Life of Williams, ii., 37. As Pope Paul the Third carried himself to his ungracious by-slips (an Incubus could not have begot worse), who made no further inquisition after their horrid facts but to say, They learnt it not of him.

Byte.—See Bit.

By the Ever-Living Jumping Moses! intj. phr.—An effective ejaculation and moral waste-pipe for interior passion or wrath is seen in the exclamation, by the ever-living jumping Moses!—a harmless phrase, that for its length expends a considerable quantity of fiery anger.—Hotten.

By the Living Jingo! or By Jingo!—See Jingo.

By the Wind, phr. (nautical).—Hard up; in difficulties. [In reference to the wind being formerly the most important element of success in a sailor’s calling.]

END OF VOL. I.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, SIGNS, ETC.

Adj. = Adjective. Adj. phr. = Adjectival phrase. Adv. = Adverb. Adv. phr. = Adverbial phrase. C. c. = Circa, about. Cf. cf. = Confer, compare. f. = feminine. F. or Fr. = French. Heb. = Hebrew. imp. = imperative. int. = interjection. intr. = intransitive. It. = Italian. lit. = literally. [M.] = Murray (quoted from New English Dictionary). m. = masculine. M.E. = Middle English. M.H.G. = Middle High German. [N.] = Nares (quoted from). O.E. = Old English. O.H.G. = Old High German. ppl. = participial or participle. phr. = phrase. pl. = plural. pop. = popular. ppl. adj. = participial adjective. (q.v.) = quod vide, which see. subs. = substantive. trans. = transitive. U.S. or U.S.A. = United States of America.

When a word is printed in small capitals it should be referred to for further information.

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