Slang and its analogues past and present, volume 2 [of 7] (part 1 of 3)

Slang and its analogues past and present, volume 2 [of 7]

SLANG AND ITS ANALOGUES PAST AND PRESENT.

A Dictionary, Historical and Comparative, of the Heterodox Speech of all Classes of Society for more than Three Hundred Years.

WITH SYNONYMS IN ENGLISH, FRENCH, GERMAN, ITALIAN, ETC.

COMPILED AND EDITED BY JOHN S. FARMER and W. E. HENLEY.

VOL. II.—C. to Fizzle.

PRINTED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.

MDCCCXCI.

VOL. II.

A DICTIONARY OF SLANG AND ITS ANALOGUES.

Cab, subs. 1. (University and school boys’).—An adventitious aid to study; a ‘crib’; a pony (q.v. for synonyms). [From cabbage (q.v.) = pilferings.]

1853. Rev. E. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’). Adventures of Verdant Green. Those who can’t afford a coach get a cab, alias a crib, alias a translation.

1876. Academy, 4 Nov., p. 448, col. 2. The use or translations, ‘cribs,’ or ‘cabs’ as boys call them, must at some time or other engage the serious attention of schoolmasters. [m.]

2. (old).—A brothel: in use during the early part of the present century; now obsolete. [Probably a contracted form of ‘cabin,’ some of the older senses of which (e.g., a small room, bedroom, or boudoir) are in correspondence. Parallels exist in other languages, and comparison may be made with the Fr. cabane, and Sp. cabaña; also with the Latin taberna = cabin, hut, and brothel. The It. bordello (Eng. bordel) was originally precisely equivalent to taberna and cabaña, being a diminutive of borda = cottage, cabin, shed, house of boards. All these words, and many similar (e.g., Latin cella, cellula, the petite maison of the French) came to be applied in the specifically esoteric sense under discussion, by an obvious euphuism or familiarism, which left the nature of the hut, booth, cell, or cabin to be supplied by those who understood. Further, ‘cabin’ = an Eng. rendering of the Latin cella, cellula = brothel. Also Cab-Moll (q.v.), a prostitute, originally the moll or molly of a cabin, cabane, or brothel, the present meaning being a popular misuse founded on a mistaken analysis.] For all synonyms, see Nanny-shop.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Mother, hew many tails have you in your cab? i.e., how many girls have you in your bawdy house?

Verb (colloquial).—1. To proceed from one place to another by means of a cab; Cf., ‘to foot or hoof it,’ ‘to tram it,’ ‘to train it,’ or ‘to ’bus it.’

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers. He’s a cabbing it, I suppose.

1882. Blackwood’s Magazine, Feb., p. 238, col. 1. He ... cabs off to take advice.

2. (schoolboys’).—To pilfer; to use a crib. Cf., Cabbage, verb, of which it is an abbreviation.

Cabbage, subs. (old).—1. Generally applied to pieces purloined by tailors; attributively to any small profits in the shape of material. Quoted by Johnson as ‘a canting term,’ but now recognised. There is little chance of cabbage nowadays, save amongst those who ‘make up gentlemen’s own material’; but the expression is well understood by low-class dressmakers. In America a corresponding term is ‘cold-slaw’ (q.v.) which consists of finely-cut cabbage, and represents the small remnants known in other quarters as ‘carpet-rags’ or cabbage. Cf., Pigeon skewings. The derivation is obscure. Murray traces it back to 1663 (Hudibras [spurious]), but points out that Herrick [1648] apparently uses garbage and carbage for ‘shreds and patches used as padding.’ He then goes on to say that ‘if this was a genuine use at the time, carbage may easily have been corrupted to cabbage.’ This difficulty can, I think, be removed. In the seventeenth century, a style of feminine headdress, then in vogue, very similar to the modern chignon, was called a cabbage. Thus in Mundus Muliebris [1690]:

Behind the noddle every baggage, Wears bundle ‘choux,’ in English cabbage.

Now, if this usage (omitted from the N.E.D.) be compared with the three quotations first following, it would appear (1) that the word cabbage was in use prior to carbage or garbage for ‘shreds and patches’; (2) that carbage and garbage contain a sarcastic reference to the materials with which a woman’s cabbage, or chignon, was stuffed; and (3) that in every quotation the play upon words appears to confirm these contentions. Hence, if cabbage as a mode of dressing the hair was current during the seventeenth century (I have come across no earlier instance), it is possible that the stages of transition were as follows:—

1. Cabbage = a well-known vegetable.

2. = A mode of dressing the hair, in such a form as to resemble a cabbage.

3. = The materials with which such a tire was stuffed.

4. = The shreds and pieces appropriated by tailors and others as perquisites.

There is no evidence in support of such guesses as those in, for example, the quotations dated 1853 and 1886.

1638. Randolph, Hey for Honestey (Old Play). Tailor. Nay, he has made me sharper than my needle; makes me eat my own cabbage.

1648. Herrick, Hesperides (Hazl.), I., 79. Upon some women, Pieces, patches, ropes of haire, In-laid garbage ev’rywhere.

1648. Herrick, Hesperides (Hazl.). II., 325. Eupez for the outside of his suite has paide; But for his heart, he cannot have it made; The reason is, his credit cannot get The inward carbage for his cloathes as yet.

1663. Hudibras, II., 56. For as tailors preserve their cabbage, So squires take care of bag and baggage.

1742. Charles Johnson, Highwaymen and Pyrates, p. 343. She takes him into Pissing Alley, in Hollywell Street, otherwise called the backside of St. Clement’s in the Strand, so eminently noted for Taylors selling there their cabbage.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Cabbage (s.) ... also a cant word to express anything that is pilfered privately, as pieces of cloth or silk retained by taylors, mantua-makers, or others.

1821. Cobbett, Weekly Register 28 April, col. 219. Taylor, of Charing Cross, will allow of no thumb-piece and of no cabbage.

1853. Notes and Queries, 1 S., viii., 315, col. 2. The term cabbage, by which tailors designate the cribbed pieces of cloth, is said to be derived from an old word ‘cablesh,’ i.e., wind-fallen wood. And their ‘hell’ where they store the cabbage, from helan, to hide.

1886. G. A. Sala, in Ill. Lon. News, 16 Oct., 394, 1. My correspondent’s derivation of cabbage from caboged [caboged = ‘cabossed’ or ‘caboched’ in heraldry, in Fr. cabochée. See Littré] is good; but there is another one, namely, cabas, a basket in which the pickings and stealings of cloth might be hoarded.

The place where cabbage is stored is termed hell (q.v.) or one’s eye (q.v.); these terms, as also goose (q.v.), a smoothing iron, are responsible for much cheap wit. Cf., Makings and Pickings. The Spanish has sisa = ‘a petty theft.’

2. (old).—A tailor; sometimes cabbager, and formerly cabbage-contractor (q.v.). For synonyms, see Button-catcher and Snip.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Cabbage: a Taylor, and what they pinch from the Cloaths they make up.

1725. New Cant. Dict. Cabbage: Taylors are so called, because of their ... Love of that Vegetable. The cloth they steal and purloin ... is also called cabbage.

3. (old).—A style of dressing the hair similar to the modern chignon. [For suggested derivation, see sense 1.] Fr. un kilo.

1690. Mundus Muliebris. Behind the noddle every baggage, Wears bundle ‘choux,’ in English cabbage.

4. (schoolboys’).—A translation or ‘crib’; sometimes shortened to cab (q.v., sense 2).

1868. Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, p. 129. Cabbage is also a common schoolboy term for a literary crib, or other petty theft.

5. (common).—A cigar. The French have une feuille de platane = a plane-tree leaf; also un crapulos or crapulados, a Hispanization of crapule = filth. For synonyms, see Weed.

1843. Punch’s Almanack, August 12. The cigar dealers, objecting to their lands being cribbed, have made us pay for the cabbage ever since.

1848. Punch, vol. XIV., p. 298. q. Are cigars an English invention? a. No! the cigar is a Spanish article, that has been merely cabbaged by the British manufacturer.

1853. C. S. Calverley, Verses and Translations, p. 141 [ed. 1881], Carmen Sæcularæ. O fumose puer nimuim ne crede Baconi Manillas vocat, hoc prætexit nomine caules.

1889. Ally Sloper’s Half-Holiday, July 6. Last week he offered me a weed—A worse one no man’s lips e’er soiled. ‘No, thanks,’ said, ‘I, know the breed; I much prefer my cabbage boiled.’

6. (venery).—The female pudendum. Cf., Greens. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Verb (old).—1. To purloin or pilfer pieces.

1712. Arbuthnot, History of John Bull, pt. I., ch. x. Your tailor, instead of shreds, cabbages whole yards of cloth.

1870. New York Evening Sun, May 24. Report of Speech of Mr Chandler. Let us knock the British crown to flinders; let us arrange for some one or two hundred thousand British graves forthwith, and cabbage the whole boundless continent without any further procrastination.

1882. Notes and Queries, 6 S., vi., 210. But he said, If I cabbage that ring to-night, I shall be all the richer to-morrow.

2. (schoolboys’).—To use a translation or other adventitious aid in preparing exercises; to ‘crib.’

1837. Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), IV., 234. A speech, which ... had been what schoolboys call cabbaged, from some of the forms of oration ... published by way of caricature [m.]

1862. H. Marryat, Year in Sweden, II., 387. Steelyards ... sent by Gustaf Wasa as checks upon country dealers, who cabbaged, giving short weight. [m.]

So also cabbaged, ppl. adj., pilfered, or stolen; and cabbaging, verbal subs., pilfering, purloining.

Cabbage-Contractor, subs. (old).—A tailor. [From cabbage (q.v., subs., sense 1) = contractor, a trader.] For synonyms, see Button-catcher and Snip.

Cabbage-Gelder, subs. (old).—A greengrocer or market gardener.—A.B.C. of a New Dictionary of Flash, Cant, and Slang [1866].

Cabbage-Head, subs. (popular).—A fool; a soft-head; a ‘go-along.’ For synonyms generally, see Buffle, and more particularly infra.

English Synonyms. Blockhead; chuckle-head; chowder-head; cod’s-head; chump or chump of wood; dunderhead; flat; go-along; goosecap; green-lander; gulpin; juggins; thick-head; lights; loony; looby; lubber; mooney; mug; muggins; muff; ninny-hammer; nincompoop; nizzie; pigeon; sawney; Simon, or Simple Simon; slow-coach; soft-horn; sop; Tom Tug. To which may be added ‘cupboard-headed,’ ‘half-boiled,’ ‘not all there,’ and ‘off one’s chump,’ used also of one not compos mentis; a thick (Winchester College).

French Synonyms. Une tête de pioche (popular: pioche = pickaxe or mattock); un poulet d’Inde (popular: poule d’Inde = turkey-hen); un couillé (popular); un paroissien de Saint Pierre aux bœufs (popular); un noc (popular = a ‘juggins’); un loffiat (popular: this is formed from a species of French back slang, lof = fol reversed. On the same lines we get la loffitude = ‘stupidity’ or ‘nonsense’; bonisseur de loffitudes = ‘a nonsense monger’; also solliceur de loffitudes = ‘a journalist’); un Jean-bête (common: Cf., English ‘Johnnie’ and ‘Jack’); barré (= cabbage-headed); une vieille bouillote (popular); une bourriche (popular: ‘a hamper’); une badouille (popular: also = ‘a hen-pecked husband’); être déboulonné (popular: literally = ‘unpinned’ or ‘unbolted’); un fifilolo (popular); un daim (popular); être de la tribu des Bênicoco (military); être du 14 bénédictins (popular); une bestiasse (this term has passed into the language); bête comme chou (= ‘extremely stupid’); bête comme un pôt (= a perfect ass); bête comme ses pieds (= an arrant fool); un abruti or ahuri de Chaillot (popular: Chaillot, in the suburbs of Paris, is a common butt, much as are Hanwell, Colney Hatch, etc.; abrutir = ‘to stupify, to besot, to imbrute’); une tête de boche (common: = a wooden head; also a German); un bidon de zinc (military = ‘a can’ or ‘flask’); un cul or cul d’âne (popular: cul d’âne = ‘the rump of an ass’; Cf., English ‘ass’); un cantaloup (popular: literally a melon); un cube (a ‘regular idiot’); un canarie; être un c (a euphemistic phrase); un busard or buson or une buse (an allusion to the stupidity of the buzzard); une couenne (popular: = ‘pig-skin.’ ‘Est-il couenne!’ ‘What an ass!’); un coquardeau; un couillon (popular: a cullion, used in friendly jocularity = abashed, crestfallen, and above all idiotic); un espèce de cafouilleux (popular = ‘a bally bounder’); un arguche (thieves’); battre comtois (thieves’ = to play the fool); un baveux (a driveller: one who does not know what he is talking about); un boniface (popular); n’avoir pas cassé la patte à coco (thieves’ = ‘as big a bloody mug as they make ’em’).

Spanish Synonyms. Asnazo (m; properly ‘a big jackass’); asno (m); bambarria (m; also = an accidental but successful stroke at billiards, ‘a fluke’); bobalias (m; a colloquialism for ‘a very stupid fellow’); borro (m; properly a wether not two years old); echacantos (m); gentil hombre de placer (= ‘a buffoon’ or ‘clown’); guillote (m; literally a husbandman, one who enjoys the produce of a farm. Cf., ‘joskin’); Juan lanas (vulgar); mamacallos or mamaluco (m); naranjo (m; properly the citrus aurantium); pandero (m; also ‘a timbrel’); pinchauvas (m = a despicable person); porra (f); es un solemne bobo (‘he is a downright booby’); zamacuco.

Portuguese Synonyms.—Bamburrio; macacada; tauso; pãosinho.

1682. Mrs. Behn, False Count (1724), III., 146. Thou foul, filthy cabbage-head. [m.]

1862. Lowell, Biglow Papers, II., 228. For take my word for ’t, when all’s come and past, The Cabbage-heads ’ll cair the day at last.

c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, ‘Right before the missis too.’ I’ve had a dreadful row All through a chum named Tommy Sheen, I ought to call him cabbage-head, He is so very green.

Cabbage-Leaf, subs. (common).—A bad cigar; usually contracted into cabbage (q.v., subs., sense 5). [From a popular theory of material.] In French un infectados by a play upon words in two languages, infect, Fr. = more than common, vile, and infectar, Sp. = ‘to infect’ or ‘be infected’. For synonyms, see Weed.

Cabbage Plant, subs. (old).—An umbrella; gamp (q.v.); or brolly.

Cabbager, subs. (common).—A tailor. [From cabbage (q.v., subs., sense 1) + er.] For synonyms, see Button-catcher and Snip.

Cabbage-Stumps, subs. (common).—The legs. For synonyms, see Drumsticks.

Cabbage-Tree Mob, subs. (Australian). Old for what are now called Larrikins (q.v.). [Derived from the low-crowned cabbage-palm hat affected by this section of Australian society.] Cabbagites was an alternative.

18(?). Lieut.-Col. Munday, Our Antipodes. Loafers known as the cabbage-tree mob, a class whom, in the spirit of the ancient tyrant, one might excusably wish had but one nose in order to make it a bloody one. Ibid. Unaware of the propensities of the cabbagites, he was by them furiously assailed.

Cabby, subs. (colloquial).—A cabman. [From cab + y.] Amongst French equivalents are une hirondelle (properly = ‘a swallow’); un maraudeur (i.e., ‘a marauder,’ one who plies without a license; Cf., Pirate (q.v.), as applied to omnibuses.)

1852. F. E. Smedley, Lewis Arundel, ch. xxxiii. I was forced to offer him a seat in the cab, but he coolly replied, ‘No, thank ye ... I’ll sit beside cabby.’

1864–5. Yates, Broken to Harness, II., p. 41. Easy, cabby; we don’t want to be thrown into the very midst of the aristocracy.

1890. Standard, Feb. 11, p. 3, col. 1. There was a Vienna cabby with his jolly red face and his professional impudence.

Cable, verb (popular).—To send a telegram by ocean (submarine) wire.

To slip or cut one’s cable, subs. phr. (nautical).—To die. For exhaustive lists of synonymous terms, see Aloft and Hop the twig.

Cable-Hanger, subs. (nautical).—Explained by quotations.

1724–7. Defoe, Tour thro’ G. Britain (ed. 1748), I., 150. Persons who dredge or fish for oysters, not being free of the fishery, are called cable-hangers, and are prosecuted and punished by the Court.

1867. Smyth, Sailors’ Word Book. Cable-hanger, a person catching oysters, in the River Medway, not free of the fishery.

Cab-Moll, subs. (old).—A prostitute addicted professionally to cabs and trains. [From cab (q.v., sense 2) + moll (q.v.), a strumpet.] For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

Cabobbled, ppl. adj. (nautical).—Confused; puzzled; perplexed.

Caboodle, subs. (American).—A crowd; generally ‘the whole caboodle.’ [Thought to be an enlarged form of boodle which is frequently used in the same sense, and which is supposed by some to be derived from the old English bottel, a bundle (Fr. botel, boteau. Ger. beutel.). See, however, Boodle, subs., sense 1. Another derivation is from the Spanish cabildo, a provincialism for the corporation of a town.] Caboodle is general throughout the States, and has now almost completely supplanted boodle (q.v.), which is usually applied in a different sense. Sometimes caboose (q.v.)

1858. New Orleans Picayune, 23 Feb. The whole caboodle came out and fell upon me, till I was as soft as a squash, and then they took me up for fighting.

1887. Scribner’s Magazine. Ye’ve got ter have faith in Goddie-mighty then, sure, a-swingin’ up an’ down them mount’n-sides, dark nights or bright, when a rock on the track f’om a landslide ’ud fling the whole caboodle down the mount’n an inter kingdom come afo’ you’d know it.

Caboose, subs. (American).—Generally applied to convivial quarters; also to a bachelor’s snuggery—a den (q.v.) or diggings (q.v.). [Properly a ship’s cook-house or galley; and in the United States, a car on a freight train for workmen, or for a special purpose.]

The whole caboose, phr. (nonce expression).—Obviously a variation of caboodle (q.v.).

1870. London Figaro, 19 Oct. ‘After the Fire.’ In this room, sir, said my gallant conductor, lived a bricklayer with his wife and two kids. He made that hole in the wall, and got ’em safe through—the whole caboose on ’em; and a jolly good job he did.

Cacafuego, subs. (old).—A spitfire; braggart; bully. [From the Latin cacare through the Spanish cagar, ‘to void excrement,’ + Spanish fuego, fire.] This word, once literary, has long fallen into desuetude. It was regarded as vulgar after the middle of the last century, and thereafter was only included in slang dictionaries.

1625. Fletcher, Fair Maid, III., i. She will be ravisht before our faces, by rascalls and cacafugos, wife, cacafugoes. [m.]

1696. Phillips. Cacafuego, a Spanish word signifying Shitéfire; and it is used for a bragging, vapouring fellow. [m.]

1725. New Cant. Dict. [s.v.]

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Cacafeugo. A sh-te-fire, a furious braggadocio or bully huff.

Cachunk! intj. (American).—Onomatopœic—the ‘bow-wow’ word of Max Müller—belonging to a class of exclamations intended to convey an imitation of the sound of a falling body. Uncertain as regards orthography they are largely affected in the Southern and Western States. Mainly of recent origin, though two, keswollop and kewhollux rare in the States, are not unfamiliar to English ears. Examples are:—Caswash; Cawhalux; Chewallop; Casouse; Cathump; Kerplunk; Katouse; Katoose; Kelumpus; Kerchunk; Kerplunk; Kerswosh; Kerslosh; Kerswollop; Kerblinkityblunk; and Kerblam.

Cackle, subs. (theatrical).—1. The dialogue of a play; especially used at first, of the patter of clowns, etc., in a circus. [From the figurative usage of cackle, to make a noise as a hen after laying an egg, a usage traceable as far back as 1225.]

1887. Referee, 21 August, p. 2, col. 3. Those [playgoers] who do not insist upon a very high order of literary quality in the cackle.

2. (colloquial).—Idle, inconsequent, noisy chatter.

1676. A. Rivetus, Jun. Mr. Smirke, 18. Bedawb’d with Addle Eggs of the Animadverters own Cackle.

1887. Punch, 10 Sept., p. 111. If a feller would tackle a feminine fair up to Dick, he ’as got to be dabs at the cackle.

Verb (old).—To talk idly, especially in the sense of telling secrets. For synonyms, see Peach.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. The cull is leaky and cackles; the rogue tells all.

1882. Punch, LXXXII., 177, 2. The old jokers in scarlet and erming who lounge in their red bedroom-chairs, And the cinder-wig’d toffs in alpaca who cackle and give themselves airs.

Cackle-Chucker, subs. (theatrical).—A prompter. [From cackle, the dialogue of a play, + chucker, one who throws out (from the mouth).]

Cackle-Merchant, subs. (theatrical).—A dramatic author. [From cackle, the dialogue of a play, + merchant. Cf., Caper-merchant, a dancing-master.]

Cackler, subs. (old).—1. A fowl. [From cackle (q.v.) + er.]—See also Cackling cheat.

1673. R. Head, Canting Acad., 192. A Prigger of the Cacklers.

1730–6. Bailey. Cackler ... a humorous word for capons or fowl.

1749. Life of Bamphylde-Moore Carew. Oath of the ‘Canting Crew.’ No dimber damber, angler, dancer, Prig of cackler, prig of prancer.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Cackler: a hen.

2. (colloquial).—A noisy talker; a ‘blab.’—See Cackle, verb.

1400. Cov. Myst., 131. Kytt Cakelere and Colett Crane. [m.]

1598. Florio, Gracchione ... a chatter, a cackler. [m.]

1730–6. Bailey, Cackler: a Prater, a Tell-tale, a noisy Person.

1878. Browning, Poets of Croisic, 92. If they dared Count you a cackler.

3. (circus and showmen’s).—An actor or showman who has a speaking part.

1854. Dickens, Hard Times, bk. I., ch. vi., p. 14 (H. ed.). ‘He has his points as a Cackler still ... a speaker, if the gentleman likes it better.’

Cackler’s-Ken, subs. (old).—A hen-roost; a fowl-house. [From cackler (q.v., subs., sense 1), a fowl, + ken (q.v.), a place or house.] A French thieves’ equivalent is une ornière (from ornie, a hen).

Cackle-Tub, subs. (old).—A pulpit. [From cackle (q.v.) + tub, in allusion to the shape of old-fashioned pulpits.] For synonyms, see Hum-box.

1888. Musgrave, Savage London. I sorter think if yer’ll borrow Lucy’s chair to wheel me, I’ll go and sit under the cackle-tub in Little Bethel next Sunday.

Cackling-Cheat or Chete, subs. (old).—A fowl. [From cackling, that cackles, + cheat, From A.S. ceat, a thing.]—See Cheat.

English Synonyms. Beaker; cackler; margery prater; galeny; partlet; chickabiddy; rooster; chuck-chuck; chuckie.

French Synonyms. Un becquant (a thieves’ term); un ornichon (also a thieves’ term for a chicken); un pique-en-terre (literally ‘a peck-the-ground’); une estable or une estaphle (thieves’); bruantez (Breton slang).

German Synonyms. Kachni (from the Gypsy); mistkratzer.

Italian Synonyms. Ruspante or raspante (properly ‘scratching’ or ‘scraping’).

Spanish Synonyms. Capiscol (this, and indeed all the terms here given from the Germania, refer to the cock-bird. Capiscol = Fr. caporal); obispo (properly a bishop); rey (literally king).

1567. Harman, Caveat, p. 86. She has a cackling-chete, a grunting-chete, ruff pecke, cassan, and poplarr of yarum.

1622. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, v. 1. Or surprising a boor’s ken for grunting-cheats? Or cackling-cheats?

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Cackling-cheats (cant): fowls.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Cackling cheats: Fowls (cant).

Cackling-Cove, subs. (theatrical and common).—An actor. [From cackling (see Cackle, subs., sense 1) + cove, an old canting term for a man.]

English Synonyms. Mummery-cove; mug-faker; mummer; mugger (properly an actor who makes free play with his face); tragedy or comedy merchant; pro; stroller; cackle-faker; barn-stormer; surf.

French Synonyms. Un prètre (thieves’: literally ‘a priest’: a curious sidelight on the views concerning religious orders of the criminal classes); un raze or razi pour l’af (thieves’: raze or razi = priest; and affe in old French cant signified ‘life’ or ‘the soul,’ but latterly eau d’affe = ‘brandy.’ There seems, however, little connection between either of these readings and the example under consideration); un Egyptien (theatrical: a term applied to a bad or inferior actor); un acteur-guitare (a term specially applied to one who elicits applause in lacrymose scenes only—an actor with only one string to his bow); un enleveur (theatrical: one who plays in such a way as to enlever la salle, i.e., ‘to bring down the house’); une doublure (an understudy); un cab, cabot, or cabotin, (used mainly in contempt, much in the same way as ‘mummer.’ Cabotinage is the life of hardship led by strolling players, and thence, by derivation, the life of the ‘profession’ generally); un brûleur de planches (theatrical: a spirited or restless actor); un acteur brûlé (popular: one that has had his day); un bouch trou (theatrical: an understudy or stop-gap); un bouleur or une bouleuse (a substitute, or understudy); un misloquier or une misloquière (thieves’); un nom (theatrical: ‘a star’).

Cackling-Fart, subs. (old).—An egg. [From cackling (see Cackle) + fart (q.v.) a discharge of wind through the anus.] A variant in English is hen-fruit; Fr. un avergot (thieves’); the Breton cant has bruant, whilst in the German Gaunersprache is found Dickmann (also = the penis and testes); the Fourbesque has arbifi and alberto (the latter from the Italian albo, white).

Cad, subs. (popular).—A term of contempt now generally applied to an offensively ill-bred person, irrespective of social position. Formerly used of underlings and others performing menial offices. [Murray favours its origin in cadet and the popular forms cadee and caddie. See, however, Cadator, the quotations under which appear to suggest a collateral, if an independent origin. Some regard the word as a contraction of ‘cadger’; whilst others trace it to the Scotch ‘cadie’ or ‘caddie,’ an errand boy—now an attendant at golf; or to the slang University sense of the word, a non-member]. The vocable has passed through a variety of meanings.

1. Passengers taken up by coach drivers for their own profit. [m.]

2. (obsolete).—A chum or companion.

3. (old).—An assistant.

4. (old).—An omnibus conductor.

1833. Hood, Sk. fr. Road. Though I am a cad now, I was once a coachman. [m.]

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xxxiii., p. 279. He paused, and contemplated, with a face of great calmness and philosophy, the numerous cads and drivers of short stages who assemble near that famous place of resort [the Mansion-House].

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 355. The conductor, who is vulgarly known as the cad, stands on a small projection at the end of the omnibus.

5. A messenger or errand boy.

1835. T. Hook, Gilbert Gurney, ch. vii. I will appear to know more of you than one of the cads of the thimble-rig knows of the pea-holder.

1839. T. Hood, Miss Kilmansegg, p. 230. Not to forget that saucy lad (Ostentation’s favourite cad), The page, who looked so splendidly clad.

1843. J. Hewlett, College Life, I., p. 115. Webb’s boy, who went as cad with the dog.

6. (University and public schools’).—A contemptuous term applied to non-school or non-University men. At Cambridge snob, the word Thackeray used, has long been a common term for a townsman; now the undergrad says Townee or Towner (q.v.). The German analogue is Philister. Dr. Günther (Jena and its Environs) tells that of the old towers and gates which formed the entrance to Jena, the square one to the west alone remains; and is remarkable not only for its prison, called ‘The Cheese-Basket,’ but for four images of monkeys’ heads carved at the several corners of the gate itself. In a quarrel between students and townsfolk in the vicinity of the Johannis-Thor, the former dubbed the watchmen there ‘the monkey watchmen.’ The guard vowed vengeance, and one evening killed a student who had taken no part in the disturbance. The ecclesiastical superintendent, Götz, preached a sermon at the boy’s funeral from Judges xvi. 20, ‘The Philistines be upon thee, Samson!’ and that night his text was heard in the street, Philister über dir Samson! ‘Henceforward the citizens were called ‘Philister’ by the students; and, the name being exported to the other Universities, it came at length to be applied to burgher folk throughout Germany.’ According to some this fight occurred in 1693. For synonyms, see Rank outsider.

1831. Hone, Year Book, 670. Preceded by one or two bands of music in two boats, rowed by cads.

1856. Rev. E. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Adventures of Verdant Green, I., p. 117. And I can chaff a cad.

1860. Macmillan’s Mag., March p. 327. You don’t think a gentleman can lick a cad, unless he is the biggest and strongest of the two.

1873. Saturday Review, September, p. 305. At Oxford the population of the University and city is divided into ‘Dons, men and cads.’

7. (general).—A vulgar, ill-mannered person; a blackguard, i.e., a person incapable of moral decency. For synonyms, see Snide.

1849. Charles Kingsley, Alton Locke. ‘The cads,’ ‘the snobs,’ ‘the blackguards,’ looked on with a dislike, contempt, and fear which they were not backward to return.

1860. Thackeray, Lovell the Widower, p. 245. There’s a set of cads in that club that will say anything.

1880. Punch’s Almanack, 12. Lor’ if I’d the ochre, make no doubt I could cut no end of big-pots out. Call me a cad? When moneys in the game, cad and swell are pooty much the same.

1882. F. Anstey, Vice Versâ, ch. vii. Perhaps your old governor has been making a cad of himself then, and you’re out of sorts with him.

1889. Answers, Feb. 23, p. 205, col. 3. You wouldn’t care to know Goodfellow, Miss Smart; he’s awfully bad form—a regular cad, you know.

Cadator, subs. (old).—A beggar in the character of a decayed gentleman.

1703. Ward, London Spy, pt. I., p. 7. He is one of those gentile [? genteel] Mumpers, we call Cadators; he goes a Circuit round England once a year, and under Pretence of a decay’d gentleman, gets both Money and Entertainment at every good House he comes at.

ed. 1760. T. Brown, Works, II., 179. You ... sot away your time in Mongo’s fumitory, among a parcel of old smoak-dry cadators.

Caddie, subs. (Scots).—An attendant at golf.

1889. Scots Observer, Feb. Oh, my Caddie, my Caddie ye’re a vera intelligent laddie. But I dinna like yer grinnin When I’m no exactly winnin’.

Caddish, adj. (popular).—Vulgar; offensively ill-bred. [From Cad (q.v., sense 7) + ish.]

1869. Shirley Brooks, Sooner or Later, II., p. 31. ‘Well I don’t care about walking on Sundays. Religious scruples, perhaps.’ ‘I should think not. But it seems so caddish—like snobs who can go out on no other day.’

1872. Civilian, Aug. 10. There are many sorts of Ministerial insolence at present ‘on view’ in the House of Commons. Mr. Ayrton’s is coarse and caddish, the Attorney-General’s contemptuously courteous, and Mr. Lowe’s cynically and facetiously insulting.

1874. E. L. Linton, Patricia Kemball, ch. xx. ‘However, I have brought you here to reason, not to wrangle,’ he continued more quietly; ‘and wrangling is caddish.’

Cade, subs. (society).—The Burlington Arcade. [An abbreviated form of ‘Arcade.’] Cf., The Zoo for ‘the Zoological gardens,’ The Proms. for ‘the Promenade Concerts,’ The Pops. for ‘the Monday Popular Concerts,’ and The Cri. for the ‘Criterion Bar.’ Somewhat older examples are The Lane (q.v.) and The House (q.v.).

Cadge, subs. (vulgar).—The profession of cadging or begging.—See verbal sense.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dictionary. The cadge is the game or profession of begging.

1832–53. Whistle-Binkie (Sc. Songs), Ser. II., 68. He could ‘lay on the cadge’ better than ony walleteer that e’er cost a pock o’er his shouther.

Verb tr. and intr.—To obtain by begging; to beg. Now applied to vagrants and others who solicit in an artful wheedling manner. [A comparatively modern derivative. Cadger (Scots) a pedlar or carrier, i.e., one who strolls the country with his stock-in-trade in a cadge, i.e., a panier or basket for the carriage of small wares. Cf., ‘to beg,’ from ‘bag.’] Hence said of anyone who lives by sponging on another, or who gets a livelihood without giving a proper quid pro quo. For example, a waiter when hanging about for ‘a tip’ is said to be cadging or ‘on the cadge.’ Among intimates To Cadge a dinner or supper is now often used without implied reproach.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Cadge the swells, beg of the gentlemen.

1846. Lytton, Lucretia, II., xii. ‘I be’s good for nothin’ now, but to cadge about the streets and steal and filch. [m.]

1848. E. Farmer, Scrap Book (ed. 6), 115. Let each cadge a trifle.

1866. G. A. Sala, Trip to Barbary. ch. xiv. Thumping the tom-tom, and cadging for coppers.

1833. Daily Telegraph, Feb. 8, p. 3, col. 1. ‘It’s as bad a’ most as drawing peoples’ teeth to cadge a trifle off them in such winter months as we’ve had since the Autumn broke.’

English Synonyms. To mump; to pike; to mouch; to stand the pad; to maund; to tramp; to mike.

French Synonyms. Bettander (thieves’); aller à la chasse avec un fusil de toile (popular: literally ‘to go hunting with a canvas gun,’ an allusion to the necessary wallet or bag); bellander (tramps’; Cf., bettander; possibly some confusion has arisen between these two terms); balauder (tramps’); truquer de la pogne (tramps’); trucher (Old Cant, from truc, any kind of open air small trade or artifice. The word appears in various French, Italian and Spanish dialects, whilst Méril in his Dictionnaire du pâtois Normand allies it with the English ‘trick’); tendre la demi-aune (popular: demi-aune = the arm); cameloter (popular: meaning also to sell, cheapen, or tramp); faire le coup de manche, or faire la manche (to call at people’s houses); mendigoter (popular).

German Synonyms. Abgeilen (to get by begging. From the O.H.G. gil); abschnurren (to beg through a lane, town, or province; also = to take to one’s heels; M.H.G. snurren, schnurren (q.v., infra) and Schnurrant, a beggar musician); bimmeln (Bimmler, Bummler, a beggar or vagrant); benschen (a corruption of the Latin benedicere = to say grace after meat; from praying to begging is but a step); paternellen (perhaps, like the foregoing, a formation, from the Latin pater noster, signifying to say much pater); noppeln (vagrants’); Schnurren, schnorren, snurren, (from the O.H.G. snurren, to grind, to grind out music on a hurdy-gurdy [q.v.], or to grind out prayers. A beggar or vagrant is termed Schnurrer, Schnorrer, or Snurrer = a grinder. Auf die Pille schnurren = to beg by feigning epileptic fits; auf Serffleppe schnurren = to beg on the pretence of having been ‘burnt out’; Schnurrpilsel, Schnurrscheye, Scenurrschicksel, Schurrkeibelche, and Schnurrmädchen, are epithets for very young girls who are beggars or strumpets as occasion fits; the dual occupation being known as Kommistarchenen and Hemdenschnurren); tarchenen, targenen, dörgen, dorchen (‘to beg’ or ‘to hawk.’ The derivation is obscure, but it is possibly to be found in the Hebrew tirgel, ‘to teach to walk’ or ‘to guide the foot.’ Others trace it to the O.H.G. Turg, ‘uncertain’ or to storgen from Störger, ‘a wandering quack.’ The Fiesellange, or Viennese thieves’ lingo, has Tarchener as equivalent to Kegler, a kitchen thief); linkstappeln (to beg or collect money under false pretences; see Linkstappler under cadger); prachern (probably from the Hebrew berocha, a blessing: wandering beggars generally introducing themselves with some sort of a benediction); Schnallendrücken gehen, or auf Schnallen, drücken gehen (these terms also signify to walk the streets as a prostitute. Schnalle = untruth, cheating, deception, and the female pudendum); stabeln, stappeln, and stapeln (the first of these forms is peculiar to Vienna, and all are traceable to Stiban or Stap, the Anglo-Saxon staff. The meaning is to go with a begging staff, generally with a pretence of having seen better days); dalfen and dalfern (the corresponding noun Dalfon = a poor fellow, is supposed to be derived from Dalfon, the only one of the ten sons of Haman, whose name had not the letter aleph either at the beginning or end of it [Esther ix. 7–9]. The story goes that because of this he was not only hanged, but mocked into the bargain: the feast in commemoration of Haman’s fall being essentially a merrymaking. Thenceforth, a poor man became a Dalfon); deufen gehen = to go begging with the intention of committing a robbery. Cf., O.H.G. Diufa, Deube = theft; fechten, Viennese thieves’ lingo).

Italian Synonyms. Truccare (identical with the French truquer q.v.); Santocchiare (also = ‘to say one’s prayers’); calcheggiare (also = to steal).

Cadge-Cloak or Gloak, subs. (old).—A beggar. For synonyms, see Cadger.

1791. Carew, Life and Adventures of Bamphylde-Moore Carew. Cadge-cloak, curtal, or curmudgeon; no Whip-Jack, palliard, patrico ... nor any other will I suffer.

Cadger, subs. (common).—Primarily a carrier, pedlar, or itinerant dealer; now mainly applied to a whining beggar; also, occasionally, a ‘sponger,’ snide (q.v.), or ‘mean man’ (see quots.). [From cadge (q.v.) + er.]

English Synonyms. Abram man; croaker, Abraham cove; Tom of Bedlam; Bedlam beggar; maunderer, moucher; pikey; traveller; turnpike, or dry land sailor; scoldrum; shyster; Shivering James; silver beggar; skipper-bird; mumper; paper-worker; goose-shearer; master of the black art; durrynacker.

French Synonyms. Un trucheur, or un trucheux (Old Cant, from truc, which see under Cadge); un marcandier or une marcandière (thieves’; a variety of the mendicant tribe which is described in le Jargon de l’Argot as ‘those who journey with a great purse by their side, with a pretty good coat, and a cloak on their shoulders, pretending they have met with robbers who have stolen all their money’); les millards. (Old Cant); un bêcheur; une comète (popular: ‘a comet’—one here and there); les callots; un enfant de la loupe (thieves’); un loupiat (popular); un mendigot (thieves’); un lartin (Old Cant).

German Synonyms. Dalfon (see Cadge); Techtbrud (Viennese thieves’); Gomol (from the Hebrew, and used only as a nickname); Hochstappler (a beggar cheat who has seen better days. Cf., Stappler and Linkstappler); Linkstappler (a beggar by means of false papers; a dealer in sham lottery tickets; or a ‘snide’ collector for purposes of charity); Pracher (possibly from the Hebrew berocha, ‘a blessing,’ in allusion to the mumper’s benediction); Schnallendrücker (from Schnalle = ‘an untruth,’ ‘cheating,’ or ‘deception,’ + Trecker, one who pulls); Schnurrer (see under Cadge); Stabeler (see under Cadge); Standjunge (a beggar frequenting markets, fairs, and public processions).

Italian Synonyms. Campagno di calca (campagno = companion or comrade, calca = ‘crowd’); calco (see preceding); corteggiano or cortigiano (literally ‘a courtier’); cavorante di scarpe (literally ‘working shoes’; specially applied to a beggar who is also a pickpocket); granchetto (especially one who patters in flash (q.v.); truccante (also = a thief); guido or guidone (literally ‘a guide’; also = a ‘dog’ or a ‘companion’); incatenato an old and decrepit beggar’s boy-leader. Literally one put up or hung up in chains).

Spanish Synonym. Chita (a nickname for a deformed vagrant or beggar).

1821.—W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 6. Cadgers make holiday, Hey, for the maunder’s joys, Let pious ones fast and pray, They save us the trouble, my boys.

1851.—Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, I., 339. A street seller nowadays is looked upon as a ‘cadger,’ and treated as one.

1882.—Daily Telegraph, 5 Oct., p. 3. col. 1. See on a Saturday night, in Whitechapel, the rank hypocritical cadger, whose coarse disguise of cleanness and respectability would scarcely deceive the most foolish persons at the West-end.

1884.—Jas. Greenwood, The Little Ragamuffins. I may here remark that amongst people of my born grade no one is so contemptuously regarded as he who is known as a cadger. The meaning they set on the word is not the dictionary meaning. The cadger with them is the whining beggar, the cowardly impostor, who being driven or finding it convenient to subsist on charity, goes about his business with an affectation of profoundest humility, and a consciousness of his own unworthiness; a sneaking, abject wretch, aiming to crop a meal out of the despising and disgust he excites in his fellow-creatures.

Cadging, verbal subs. (common).—Begging, frequently eked out by petty pilfering. [From cadge (q.v.) + ing.]

1859. H. Kingsley, Geoffrey Hamlyn, ch. xv. I’ve got my living by casting fortins, and begging, and cadging, and such like.

1873. Jas. Greenwood, In Strange Company. But what one in vain looked for was the ‘jolly beggar,’ the oft-quoted and steadfastly believed in personage who scorns work because he can ‘make’ in a day three times the wages of an honest mechanic by the simple process of cadging.

Cady, subs. (common).—A hat. [Derivation unknown.] Sometimes written cadey and caddy. For synonyms, see Golgotha.

1886. The A.B.C. of New Dictionary of Flash, Cant, Slang, etc., p. 85. Caddy: a man’s hat.

1887. Walford’s Antiquarian, April, p. 251. Sixpence I gave for my cadey A penny I gave for my stick.

Caffan.—See Cassan.

Caffre’s Lightener, subs. (South African).—A full meal. Fr. une lichance (from licher = lécher, ‘to lick’).

1864. Lady Duff Gordon. Letters from the Cape. I asked him [a young black shepherd at the Cape] to sing; and he flung himself at my feet, in an attitude that would make Watts crazy with delight, and crooned queer little mournful ditties. I gave him sixpence and told him not to get drunk. He said, ‘Oh, no! I will buy bread enough to make my belly stiff; I almost never had my belly stiff.’ He likewise informed me that he had just been in the tronk [Cape Dutch slang for a prison, answering to the English stone jug], and, on my asking why, replied, ‘Oh, for fighting and telling lies.’

Cage, subs. (old).—1. A minor kind of prison for petty malefactors; a country ‘lock-up.’ [From cage, a place of confinement for birds, beasts, and, formerly, human beings.] Once in literary use; now thieves’ slang.

1500. Lancelot, 2767. As cowart thut schamfully to ly Excludit in to cage from chewalry. [m.]

1593. Shakspeare, II. Henry VI., iv., 2. Dick. Ay, by my faith, the field is honorable, and there he was born, under a hedge; for his father had never a house but the cage.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed). Cage (s): a place of confinement for thieves or vagrants that are taken up by the watch in the night-time, to secure them till the proper officer can carry them before a magistrate.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. liii. I was doomed—still I kept my purpose in the cage and in the stocks.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1882], p. 78. The cage at Willesden was, and is—for it is still standing—a small round building about eight feet high, with a pointed tiled roof, to which a number of boards inscribed with the names of the parish officers, and charged with a multitude of admonitory notices to vagrants and other disorderly persons, are attached.

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 3. ‘A synopsis of voting.’ He who is incited into an assault, that he may be put into the cage.

English Synonyms. For a prison generally, academy; boat; boarding-house; bower; block-house; bastille; bladhunk; stone-jug; jug; calaboose; cooler; coop; downs; clink; jigger; Irish theatre; quod; shop; stir; clinch; steel; sturrabin; mill; toll shop; floating hell; floating academy; dry room; House that Jack Built; choakee.

Among special names for particular prisons may be mentioned Bates’s Farm or Garden (Cold Bath Fields); Akerman’s Hotel (Newgate); Castieu’s Hotel (Melbourne Gaol); Burdon’s Hotel (White Cross Street Prison); Ellenborough Lodge, Spike or Park (the King’s Bench Prison, to which, as a matter of fact, every Chief Justice stood god-father); Campbell’s Academy (the Hulks); City College and Whittington’s College (Newgate); Tench; Pen; and Smith’s Hotel (Edinburgh).

French Synonyms. Le castue (thieves’); la caruche (thieves’); la boîte aux cailloux (thieves’); cailloux = stones; Cf., ‘stone jug’; le collège (thieves’: Newgate at one time was called the City College); la cage (popular); le château (thieves’: literally a castle, château de l’ombre = a convict settlement); la chambre de sûreté (the parish prison of the Conciergerie); le chetard (thieves’); le canton (thieves’: according to Ménage in his Dictionnaire Etymologique, the original sense of this word is the same as coin. From canton has been derived the verb, cantonner, a military term signifying the billetting of troops in one or more villages); en ballon (popular: in prison); la grosse boîte (thieves’: literally the big box); la bonde (thieves’: a central prison); la Biscaye (thieves’); l’abbaye de sots bougres (thieves’: obsolete = The Silly Bugger’s Arms); le bloc (a military prison or cell, Cf., block-house); la dure (thieves’: a central prison, dur is properly hard, merciless, obdurate); la femme de l’adjudant (a military lock-up, jigger, or Irish theatre; literally the adjutant’s wife); la bagnole (popular: a diminutive of bagne, of the same meaning); la motte (thieves’: a central prison or house of correction); l’hôpital (thieves’: a man in durance is un malade = a patient); la mitre (thieves’: a corruption of mithridate, the name of a certain ointment; mitre formerly meant ‘itch’); le jetar (military; the same as chetar); l’ours (common: a term given to a prison, guard-room, or cell); la boîte à violon (a lock-up at a police-station; violon itself signifies a prison, the barred windows being compared to the strings of that instrument. Argot and Slang says:—The lingo terms jouer de la harpe, to be in prison, and jouer du violon, to file through the window bars of a cell, seem to bear out this explanation. Some philologists, however, think that the stocks being termed psaltérion, mettre an psaltérion, to put in the stocks, became synonymous with ‘to imprison,’ the expression being superseded in time by mettre au violon when that instrument itself superseded the psaltérion); la tuneçon (Old Cant); l’austo (a military prison); le lycée (thieves’: = ‘academy’); l’école préparatoire (pop.: a preparatory school for young thieves); le lazaro (military: = lazar-house, or ‘spike’); le mazaro (military: = cells); la matatane (military: ‘a guard room’ or the cells); le loustaud (thieves’); la lorcefé (thieves’: the old prison of La Force); le loir (thieves’ = ‘dormouse’); l’hosto (soldiers’ and thieves’: also popularly, ‘a house or crib’); la grotte (thieves’: the hulks. Properly a grotto or crypt); l’hôtel des haricots (familiar: from the staple of diet, Cf., Ger. Erbsien and Graupenpalais); la morte paye sur mer (obsolete: the hulks); l’ombre (popular: = ‘shade,’ Cf., Ger. Kühle); la maze (abbreviation of Mazas, a central prison in Paris); là-bas (prostitutes: St. Lazare; thieves’: the convict settlement at New Caledonia, or in Cayenne); la malle (military: Cf., English ‘box’).

German Synonyms. Antoniklosterl (Viennese thieves’ = a prison in Vienna); Drillbajis or Drillhaus (a house of drill or correction); Echetel (Viennese thieves’); Erbsien (Viennese thieves’: from the staple of diet—Erbsen = peas. Cf., Graupenpalais); Graupenpalais (a prison in Berlin, from the staple of diet—barley); Grannigebais (Granigire Marochum = a fortress); Gymnasium (Cf., college, academy, lycée); Kaan or Kân (from the Hebrew; im Kaan scheften, to be in prison); Kue or Kuh (in die Kue sperren; to imprison); Kitt or Kittchen (from the Hebrew Kisse = a chair, throne, roof, common lodging-house, brothel, workhouse, and prison); Kille (literally an assembly); Kühle (im Kühlen sitzen, literally to sit in the ‘cooler’ or in the shade; Cf., être à l’ombre, and ‘to be under a cloud’); Leck (Viennese thieves’ M.H.G., luken, to lock up); Mifzer (Hebrew pozar, a fortress or prison); Schofelbajis (from the Hebrew schophal, bad, common, low, or unfortunate. Also a brothel); Stube (this, according to Zimmermann, signifies a prison); Tallesmasky (Hanoverian: from tallo, gallows, + masky from Maskopei, society, i.e., gallows-birds); T’fise (from the Hebrew tophas).

Italian Synonyms. Basta; casa (a house. The forms casaccia and cazanza are also used); cavagna; travagliosa (literally laborious); sentina (properly a sink of vice); viscola or visco losa.

Spanish Synonyms. Madrastra; angustias or ansias (literally grief or anguish); banasto (literally a large round basket); banco (properly a bench); temor (i.e., fear); trena (f).

Portuguese Synonyms. Estarim or xelro; limoeiro (a cant name for a prison in Lisbon).

2. (common).—An ‘improver,’ or bustle. See Bird-cage.

3. (venery).—A bed; also Breeding-cage.

1875. W. E. Henley, Unpublished Ballad. ‘In the breeding cage I cops her, With her stays off, all a’blowin’!—Three parts sprung.’—

4. (parliamentary).—The Ladies’ Gallery in the House of Commons; sometimes called the chamber of horrors, which appertains more properly to the Peeresses’ Gallery in the Upper House.

1870. London Figaro, 10 June. ‘The Angels in the House.’ Mr. Crauford’s Motion for the expulsion of strangers (during the debate on The Contagious (Women’s) Diseases Act) had reference to the cage and not to the Reporters’ Gallery.

Cagg, verb (old military).—Grose says ‘a military term used by the private soldiers, signifying a solemn vow or resolution not to get drunk for a certain time; or, as the term is, till their cagg is out, which vow is commonly observed with the strictest exactness: e.g., “I have cagg’d myself for six months. Excuse me this time, and I will cagg myself for a year.” Common in Scotland, where the vow is performed with divers ceremonies.’

Cag-Mag, subs. (vulgar).—Primarily a provincialism for a tough old goose; now a vulgarism for refuse, or rubbish, or scraps and ends. The transferred sense is older than given in the N.E.D. Cf., Keg-meg. [Brewer derives it, ‘from the Gaelic and Welsh,’ cag magu, whilst others consider it as originally a University slang term for a bad cook, κακὸς μάγειρος. The Latin magma (Pliny), = dregs or dross.] Also a plain or dirty woman.

1769. Pennant, Tour in Scotland, 1774, p. 10. Vast numbers [of geese] are driven annually to London; among them, all the superannuated geese and ganders (called here [Lincoln] cag-mags).

1839.—Comic Almanack, Sept., p. 188, But here’s the greatest grief, and sure it makes one choke to put on A libel to one’s neck, just like cheap cag-mag-scrag of mutton.

1851–61.—H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 133. ‘Do I ever eat my own game if it’s high? No, sir, never, I couldn’t stand such cag-mag.’

1864.—Temple Bar, vol. X., p. 185. No kag-mag wares are sold, no cheap articles are retailed.

Cain. To raise cain, phr. (American).—To proceed to extreme measures; to be quarrelsome; to make a disturbance. Of Western origin; primarily applied to men who would have shown no hesitation in shooting or stabbing; generally = merely disputatious or quarrelsome. Variants are to raise hate, hell, or hell and tommy, and to raise ned (q.v.). [An allusion to the anger of the first fratricide.]

1849.—Ruxton, Scenes in the Far West, p. 117. He had been knocking around all day in every grog-shop and bar-room in town, and when evening came he was seen swaggering down Main Street, his head bare, his eyes bloodshot, and his revolver in hand, shouting: ‘Who’ll hinder this child? I am going to raise Cain! Who’s got anything to say agin it?’

1869.—Mrs. Beecher Stowe, Old Town Folks, p. 116. ‘I’ll tell you what, Solomon Peters,’ said Miss Asphyxia, ‘I’d jest as soon have the red dragon in the Revelation a comin’ down on my house as a boy! If I don’t work hard enough now, I’d like to know, without having a boy around raisin’ gineral Cain.’

Cain and Abel, subs. phr. (rhyming slang).—A table.

Cainsham-Smoke, subs. phr. (old).—The tears of a wife-beaten husband.—Dunton. Ladies’ Dictionary [1694].

Cake or Cakey, subs. (popular).—1. A fool or dullard. Quoted by Grose in his Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue [1785], in various provincial glossaries, and generally colloquial in the lower strata of society. [In punning allusion, some have thought, to the doughy softness of a cake, a name given at first to any ‘flat’ kind of sweetened breadstuff. Hence variants, such, for example, as ‘flat,’ ‘soft,’ and ‘muff.’ Others, however, trace it to the Greek κακὸς, bad, and point out that in University slang a clever man is called a good man and the opposite a bad one, or a cake.] For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1841. Comic Almanack, ‘Twelfth Night,’ p. 256. And ever since, on fair Twelfth Night, A wand’ring form is seen: A female form, and this its cry:—‘Vy vot a cake I’ve been!’

1842. J. R. Planché, The White Cat, II., iv. Your resignation proves that you must be The greatest cake he in his land could see!

1862. Mrs. H. Wood, Channings, ch. xxix. If Pye does not get called to order now, he may lapse into the habit of passing over hardworking fellows with brains to exalt some good-for-nothing cake with none, because he happens to have a Dutchman for his mother.

2. (American thieves’).—A stupid policeman.

3. subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—A stroke with a cane.

Verb (Christ’s Hospital).—To cane.

To take the cake, phr. (common).—To rank the highest; to carry off the honours; to be the best of a kind; ‘to fill the bill’ (theatrical). [Cake has long been employed symbolically in this connection; in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, ‘to get one’s share of the cake’ was a common colloquialism. The special application has been popularised in the U.S.A. In certain sections of the country ‘cake walks’ are in vogue among the coloured people. The young bucks get themselves up most elaborately, and walk from one end of the hall to the other, under the gaze of beauty and the critical glance of the judges. The marking is done on a scale of numbers, and the ties are walked off with the utmost finish and a rare attention to style. The prize is a cake and the winner takes it.] Whimsical variations are to take or yank the bun; to slide away with the banbury; to annex the whole confectioner’s shop. Cf., to take the kettle = to take the prize for lying.

1885. San Francisco News Letter, Between you ’n me, red stockings ain’t becomin’ to all—ahem—limbs, ’n for cool cheek ’n dash. I back some o’em against any saleslady ’t makes a livin’ by it, the way ’t some o’ those girls ’d pin on a boutonnière took the cake.

Hurry up the cakes! phr. (American) = Look sharp! Buckwheat and other hot cakes form a staple dish at many American tables, but the phrase has now become pure slang.

Like hot cakes, phr. (American).—Quickly; with energy; a variant of like winking, or like one o’clock (q.v.).

1888. Punch’s Library, p. 15. ‘Will go like hot cakes.’ Book Seller (to Clerk). ‘Haven’t we an overstock of “Jack, the Giant Killer,” on hand, James?’ Clerk. ‘Yes, sir.’ Book Seller. ‘Well, take ’m up to the Polo Grounds this afternoon; they’ll sell fast enough there.’

Cakey-Pannum Fencer.—See Pannum fencer.

Calaboose, subs. (American and nautical).—The common gaol. [This word comes into popular use from the Spanish calabozo through the French calabouse.] So also to calaboose = to imprison.

1840. R. H. Dana, Two Years before the Mast, ch. xxi. A few weeks afterwards I saw the poor wretch sitting on the bare ground, in front of the calabozo, with his feet chained to a stake, and handcuffs about his wrists.

1888. Santa Ana Blade. Charley Read struck an old tramp in the calaboose the other day, who looked disgusted at his headquarters and remarked ‘Well I’ve been in every jail from Portland to Santa Ana, but this is the d—nest snide of a calaboose I ever struck yet.’

Calculate, verb (U.S. colloquial).—To think; expect; believe; intend; indeed, almost any sense save the legitimate, which is ‘to estimate by calculation.’ It belongs to the same class of colloquialisms as guess and reckon. Calculate is sometimes, especially in New England, corrupted into cal’late.

1830.—Galt, Lawrie, T., II., v. (1849), 56. I calculate, that ain’t no thing to make nobody afeard.

1848.—J. R. Lowell, Biglow Papers. The Sarjunt he thout Hosea hedn’t gut his i teeth cos he looked a kindo’s though he’d jest come down, so he cal’lated to hook him in, but Hosy woodn’t take none of his sarse.

1851.—Miss Wetherell, Queechy, ch. xix. ‘Your aunt sets two tables, I calculate, don’t she?’

Caleys, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Caledonian Railway Ordinary Stock.

1881.—Atkin, House Scraps. ‘If anything tickles our fancy We buy them, Brums, Caleys or Apes.’

Calf, subs. (colloquial).—An ignoramus; a dolt; a weakling. Cf., Calf lolly. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1553.—Udall, Royster D., II., iv., in Hazl. Dodsley, III., 94. You great calf, ye should have more wit, so ye should.

1627.—Drayton, Nymphid (1631), 171. Some silly doting brainless calfe.

1872. Hamilton Aïdé, Morals and Mysteries, p. 60. She had a girlish fancy for the good-looking young calf who had so signally disgraced himself.

To eat the calf in the cow’s belly, phr. (common).—A variant of ‘to count one’s chickens before they are hatched.’

1748. Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe [ed. 1811], III., 135. I ever made shift to avoid anticipations: I never would eat the calf in the cow’s belly, as Lord M’s phrase is.

Calf-Clingers, subs. (common).—Pantaloons; i.e., close-fitting trousers. [Derivation obvious.] For synonyms, see Bags and Kicks.

1884.—J. Greenwood, Little Ragamuffins. Knee-breeches were just going out of fashion when I was a little boy, and calf-clingers (that is, trousers made to fit the leg as tight as a worsted stocking) were ‘coming in.’

Calf, Cow, and Bull Week, subs. phr. (operatives’).—Before the passing of the Factory Acts it was customary in manufacturing districts, especially for men, women, and children, to indulge in the practice of working very long hours for a period of three weeks before the Christmas holidays. In the first, which was called ‘calf week,’ the ordinary hours of work were but slightly exceeded; in the second, or ‘cow week,’ they were considerably augmented; and in the third, or ‘bull week,’ it was common for operatives to spend the greater portion of the twenty-four of each day in their workshops. The practice resulted in extreme exhaustion and—naturally—indulgence to excess in stimulants.

1871.—Echo, 4 Dec. Calf, cow, and bull week. We find a good illustration of the beneficial influence of the Factory Acts in the reports of the Government Inspectors just issued. The district inspector expresses the hope that the measures which he took against some offenders in bull week last year will extinguish for good and all this absurd and illogical custom.

Calf’s Head, subs. (common).—A stupid, witless individual. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1600.—Shakspeare, Much Ado about Nothing, V., i., Claudio: ‘I’ faith, I thank him; he hath bid me to a calf’s head and a capon; the which if I do not carve most curiously, say my knife’s naught.’

Calf-Lick.—See Cow-lick.

Calf-Lolly, subs. (old).—An idle simpleton; a general term of reproach.

1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, bk. I., ch. xxv. Jobbinol goosecaps, foolish loggerheads, flutch calf-lollies.

1708. Motteux, Rabelais, iv., xvii. I was a Calf-lolly, a doddipole.

Calf-Love, subs. (common).—A youthful, romantic fancy. [A sarcastic allusion to the blind unreasoning character of boy and girl attachments.]

1823. Galt, Entail, I., xxxii., 284. I made a calf-love marriage. [m.]

1863. Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia’s Lovers, II., 104. It’s a girl’s fancy—just a kind o’ calf-love—let it go by.

1884. Longman’s Mag., IV., 50. I was still at the early and agonising stage of the passion which is popularly known as calf-love.

Calfskin-Fiddle, subs. (old).—A drum.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

Calf-Sticking, subs. (thieves’).—Explained by quotation. [Cf., Calf and Stick].

1883. Daily Telegraph, 25 July, p. 2, col. 1. The venerable oarsman grinned, and set me right by explaining that what was called calf-sticking by those who practised it was the putting off of worthless rubbish, on the pretence that it was smuggled goods, on any foolish or unscrupulous person who could be inveigled into treating for the same.

Calibogus, subs. (American).—A very old name for a mixture of rum and spruce beer, being quoted by Grose in 1785 as ‘an American beverage.’ The last two syllables of the word are thought to be derived from the French bagasse, the refuse of the sugar cane. This view would seem to be supported by the fact that rum is itself a product of the sugar cane.

1861. L. de Boileau, Recoll. Labrador Life, p. 162. Callibogus, a mixture of Rum and Spruce-beer, more of the former and less of the latter.

Calico, adj. (old).—Thin; wasted; attenuated. [Calicut is the name of the Indian city whence the material of the comparison was brought. The earliest reference for original signification given by Murray is 1505; but he omits the cant meaning.]

1733. Nathaniel Bailey, Colloquies of Erasmus (translated), p. 37. In such a place as that your callico body (tenui corpusculo) had need have a good fire to keep it warm.

1861. Sala, Seven Sons of Mammon. A shrewd, down-east Yankee once questioned a simple Dutchman out of his well-fed steed, and left him instead a vile calico mare in exchange.

Calico-Bally, adj. (common).—Somewhat ‘fast’; applied to one always on the look out for amusement. [Primarily used of frequenters of calico-balls.]

18(?). Broadside Ballad, ‘The Flipperty-Flop Young Man.’ I once was a cabby and hack young man, And a little bit calico-bally; A picture card out of the pack young man, And frequently music hally.

California.—See Californian, sense 2.

Californian, subs. (common).—1. A red or hard-dried herring. Further explained by quotations. Also Soldier, Atlantic ranger and Glasgow Magistrate.

1873.—Cassell’s Mag., Jan., p. 245, Very large quantities of cured herrings came from North Britain at that time, and, excepting those from the Firth of Forth, they were more cured, dryer and salter than those from Norfolk. Some were sent very dry indeed, as hard as a stick, and of a very deep red colour; such were used, as similar fish now are, for exportation. About the time of the gold discoveries, some one applied the term Californian to these. The word was appropriate, and Californians such highly-coloured herrings are called to this day.

2. [Generally used in the plural—Californians.] Generic for gold pieces.

California Widow, subs. phr. (American).—A married woman whose husband is away from her for any extended period; a grass widow (q.v.) in the least offensive sense. The expression dates from the period of the Californian gold fever, when so many men went West, leaving their wives and families behind them.

Calk, verb (Eton College).—To throw.

Call, subs. (Eton College).—The time when the masters do not call absence (q.v.).

To have or get a call upon, phr. (American).—To have a preference, or the first chance.

1888.—Puck’s Library, May, p. 23, Picture Dealer (to Professional’s Husband): ‘No, sir; I can’t sell no more of your wife’s pictures unless she gets down some of that flesh, and looks kinder æstheticker. The ethereal and intellectual has got the call on the old style of beauty now-a-days.’

To call a go, verbal phr. (vagrants’ and street patterers’).—To change one’s stand; to alter one’s tactics; to give in at any game or business. [From the go ‘call’ in cribbage.]

1851–61.—H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 252. To call a go, signifies to remove to another spot, or adopt some other patter, or, in short, to resort to some change or other in consequence of a failure.

To call a spade a spade.—See Spade.

To call over the coals.—See Wigging.

Put and call.—See Put.

Calle, subs. (old and American thieves’).—A cloak or gown. Quoted by Grose [1785], and still in use in the U.S.A. amongst the criminal classes. For synonyms, see Caster.

Calp or Kelp, subs. (old).—A hat. [Origin unknown.] For synonyms, see Golgotha.

Calvert’s Entire.—The Fourteenth Foot. [Called Calvert from their colonel, Sir Harry Calvert (1806–1826), and entire, because three entire battalions were kept up for the good of Sir Harry, when adjutant-general. A play upon words in reference to Calvert’s malt liquors.] This regiment was also called the Old and Bold.

1780. R. Tomlinson, Slang Pastoral, canto viii. Gin! What is become of thy heart-chearing fire, And where is the beauty of Calvert’s Intire?

1871. Chambers’ Journal, 23 Dec., p. 803, col. 1. The 14th Foot, Calvert’s Entire.

1886. Tinsley’s Magazine, April, p. 322. A very curious name, Calvert’s Entire, used to be attached to the 14th, but this as well as the circumstances which gave rise to it are forgotten.

Calves. Calves gone to grass, subs. phr. (old).—Said of spindle shanks; i.e., slender, undeveloped legs, with lack of calves.

There are many ways of dressing calves’ heads, phr. (old).—Many ways of saying or doing a foolish thing; a simpleton has many ways of showing his folly; or, generally, if one way won’t do, we must try another.

Calves’ heads are best hot, phr. (common).—A sarcastic apology for one sitting down to eat with his hat on.—See Stand-up.

Calx, subs. (Eton College).—The goal line at football. [From a Latin sense of calx = a goal, anciently marked with lime or chalk.] At Eton calx is a space so marked off at each end of wall; good calx is the end at which there is a door for a goal; bad calx the end where part of an elm tree serves the purpose.

1864. Daily Telegraph, Dec. 1. The Collegers were over-weighted ... and the Oppidans managed to get the ball down into their calx several times. [m.]

Cambridge Oak, subs. (old).—A willow. [An allusion to the abundance of this tree in the county in question, which is situate in the Fen District.] Formerly many analogous sayings were in vogue; e.g., ‘A Cotswold lion’ for ‘a sheep,’ etc.—See also Cambridgeshire nightingale.

Cambridgeshire or Fen Nightingale, subs. phr. (common).—A frog. [The county is scored with canals and dykes; the allusion is to the natural preponderance of the croaking of frogs over the singing of nightingales.] Cf. Cambridge oak and Cape nightingale.

1875. Chambers’ Journal, No. 581, p. 107, col. 2. The male of the eatable frog is distinguished ... by ... a pouch.... These pouches increase the volume of the croak, and render it so powerful that the possessors have, from the county in which they are particularly plentiful, received the nickname of Cambridgeshire nightingales.

Camden-Town, subs. (rhyming slang).—A halfpenny, or ‘brown.’ For synonyms, see Mag.

Camel’s Complaint, subs. phr. (common).—Low spirits; the hump (q.v.).

Camesa, subs. (thieves’).—A shirt chemise, or ‘shimmy.’ [From the Spanish camisa, or Italian camicia.] The word appears in various forms from the beginning of the seventeenth century, e.g., ‘camisa,’ ‘camiscia,’ ‘kemesa,’ ‘camise,’ and in a more genuinely English dress as ‘commission’ (q.v.), which in turn is shortened into mish (q.v.). For synonyms, see Flesh-bag.

1690.—B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Camesa: a shirt or shift.

1785.—Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Camesa (cant, Spanish): a shirt or shift.

1812.—Byron, Childe Harold II., Tambourgi ii. Oh! who is more brave than a dark Suliote, In his snowy camese and his shaggy capote?

1834.—H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. With my fawnied famms, and my onions gay, my thimble of ridge, and my driz (laced) kemesa.

Camister, subs. (thieves’).—A preacher or clergyman. From the white gown or surplice. [From Latin camisia, a linen tunic, alb, or shirt, + (probably) a termination suggested by ‘minister.’] For synonyms, see Devil-dodger.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 231. [List of patterer’s words.] Camister = Minister.

Camp. To go to camp, phr. (Australian).—To go to bed; to take rest. [From the practice in the early settlers’ days of forming a camp whenever a halt for the night was called.]

1887. All the Year Round, 30 July, p. 66, col. 2. To go to camp, by a transference of its original meaning, now signifies, in the mouth of a dweller in houses, simply ‘to lie down,’ ‘to go to bed.’

To take into camp, phr. (Common).—To kill.

1878. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’) Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion, p. 66. Sure enough one night the trap took Mrs. Jones’s principal tomcat into camp, and finished him up.

To camp, phr. (Australian).—To surpass; to ‘floor.’

18(?) H. Kendall, Billy Vickers. At punching oxen you may guess There’s nothing out can camp him; He has, in fact, the slouch and dress Which bullock-driver stamp him.

Campbell’s Academy, subs. phr. (old).—The hulks, or lighters, on board of which felons were condemned to hard labour. Mr. Campbell was the first director.—Grose.—See Academy and Floating academy. For synonyms, see Cage.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 11. He was tried at Guildhall, Westminster, and sentenced to improve as a pupil in Mr. Duncan Campbell’s Floating Academy for five years.

Camp-Candlestick, subs. (military)—An empty bottle, or a bayonet. Quoted in the Lexicon Balatronicum [1811]. For synonyms in the sense of ‘an empty bottle,’ see Dead-man.

Camp-Stool Brigade, subs. phr. (common).—Said in the first place of people who wait outside a place of entertainment to secure the best seats, and bring camp-stools with them to rest themselves.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 23 Sept., p. 5, col. 2. The first night of the Gaiety Wanderers will not be forgotten in a hurry. Seats for the occasion were booked a year ago last April! Can you wonder that the camp-stool brigade besieged the pit door as early as 10 a.m.?

Can, subs. (American).—1. A dollar piece.

2. (Scots).—A ‘slavey.’

Canack, Canuck, Kanuck, K’nuck, subs. (American).—A Canadian, usually a K’nuck. [Obscure, and limited in its application within the Canadian frontier. There, a Canuck is understood to be a French Canadian, just as within the limits of the Union only New Englanders are termed Yankees; whereas elsewhere that appellation is given indiscriminately to natives of all the States. It is by some supposed that Canuck is a corruption of Connaught, the name applied by French-Canadians to the Irish, from which it would follow that, by a process of inversion, a nickname given by one section of a nation to another has, in course of time, been applied to the whole. Others, however, think the first syllable of ‘Canada’ has been joined to the Algonkin Indian substantive termination uc or uq.]

Canary or Canary-Bird, subs. (thieves’).—1. A prisoner; a very old cant term for habitual offenders; or, as Grose says [1785], ‘a person used to be kept in a cage’ (q.v.). The same idea occurs in some foreign equivalents, e.g., the French, oiseau de cage, and the German, Kastener, from Kasten, a chest or case. For synonyms, see Wrong ’un.

1673.—Head, Canting Academy, p. 157. Newgate is a cage of canary-birds.

1725.—New Canting Dictionary. Canary-bird, a little, arch, or knavish boy; a rogue or whore taken and clapped into the cage or roundhouse.

1839.—Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 55. Now for the cage, my pretty canary-bird. Before we start I’ll accommodate you with a pair of ruffles.

2. (general).—A mistress. [See preceding quot. (1725): the term is still in use.] For synonyms, see Tart.

3. (common).—Formerly a guinea, but now applied to a sovereign [From similarity of colour.]

English Synonyms. Yellow boy; goldfinch; yellow hammer; shiner; gingleboy; monarch; couter; bean foont; James (from Jacobus); poona; portrait; quid; thick ’un; skin; skiv; dragon; goblin. A guinea was also called a ‘ned.’

French Synonyms for the equivalent twenty franc piece are, un jaunet (popular: literally ‘butter-cup’ or ‘yellow-boy’); une sigue, sigle, sigolle or cig (thieves’); un bonnet jaune (popular: literally ‘yellow-cap’ or ‘bonnet’); un bouton (i.e., ‘a master-key’); une maltaise (old cant; according to Victor Hugo this gold coin was used on board the convict galleys at Malta); un moule à boutons (popular); une médaille d’or (popular: = a gold medal).

German Synonyms. Gelbling (gelb = yellow); Fuchs (a gold piece; literally ‘a fox’).

For synonyms of money generally, see Actual and Gilt.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Canary-Birds in a canting sense, guineas.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xvi. Fifty as fair yellow canary-birds as e’er chirped in the bottom of a green silk purse.

1842. Punch, p. 168. ‘Prolusiones etymologicæ,’ 13. Goldfinches—Canaries.—Singing birds; the which whose possesseth needeth never to pine for lack of notes.

4. (thieves’).—A female watcher or stall; a mollisher (q.v.). Cf. Crow = a male watcher. Fr. une marque franche.

1862. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lond. Poor, IV., 337. Sometimes a woman, called a ‘canary,’ carries the tools [of burglars], and watches outside.

5. (Salvation Army).—A written promise of a donation or subscription. At some of the meetings of the ‘Army’ instead of sending round the plate, the ‘officers’ distribute slips of paper on which those present are invited to record their benevolent intentions. The original colour of the slips was yellow—hence the nickname.

Cancer. To catch or capture a cancer, phr. (common).—See Crab.

1857. Hood, Pen and Pencil Pictures p. 141. He had another way of capturing cancers, namely, by never putting his oar into the water at all.

Candle-Keepers, subs. (Winchester College).—The eight seniors in college by election who are not præfects. They enjoy most of the privileges of præfects without their powers.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 30. The Seven Candle-keepers (why so-called, I have no idea, nor have I ever heard any interpretation of the appellation). These were the seven inferiors who had been longest in the school, quite independently of their position in it; they were generally old and tough. Of these, the senior had almost as much power as a præfect; he had a ‘valet’ in chambers, one or two ‘breakfast fags,’ and the power of fagging the twenty juniors when in school, or in meads. The junior candle keeper was called ‘the Deputy,’ and had also some slight privileges besides that of having a valet and breakfast fag, which was common to all of them.

1878. Adams, Wykehamica, p. 278. Presided over by a candle-keeper.

Candlestick, subs. 1. (Winchester College).—A humorous corruption of the word ‘candidate.’

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 175. Each of these [the Electors] had in turn the privilege of nominating a boy for admission into Winchester till all vacancies were filled, of which there were generally about twelve, but always many more ‘Candidates’ (or Candlesticks, as they were often called).

1878. H. C. Adams, Wykehamica, p. 418. Candlestick, merely a facetious version of ‘candidate.’

2 pl. (London).—The fountains in Trafalgar Square.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and Lon. Poor, I., p. 529. There was his (Nelson’s) pillar at Charing Cross, just by the candlesticks (fountains).

Candy, adj. (old).—Given by Grose in 1785, and by the Lexicon Balatronicum, in 1811, as ‘drunk—an Irish term.’

Candyman, subs. (northern).—A bailiff or process server. Originally a seller of candy. [In October, 1863, there was a great strike of miners at the collieries of Messrs. Strakers and Love, in the county of Durham. As no adjustment of the difference was possible, the owners determined to eject the miners from their cottages. For this purpose, an army of rascals were engaged, including at least one whose ordinary occupation was that of hawking candy and sweetmeats. The man was recognised and was chaffed; and candyman, which rapidly became a term of reproach, was soon applied to the whole class; and since that time is come into general use over the two northern counties whenever ejectments take place.]

1863. Newcastle Chronicle, Oct. 31. The colliery carts and waggons stood at the doors, and the furniture was handed out, and piled quickly but carefully upon them. It was evident that the candymen had warmed to their work. The name of candyman has been given to the loaders because of their avocations of ‘candy’ hawking, from which they are supposed to have been taken to be put to this work.

1876. Notes and Queries, 5 S., v., 405. A term in the North for men employed to carry out evictions against cottage occupiers.

1886. Notes and Queries, 7 S., i., p. 445.

Canister, subs. (general).—1. The head. [A transference of the original meaning, ‘a box or case for holding things.’] For synonyms, see Crumpet.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. To mill his cannister; to break his head.

1821. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 4. Tom. I’ve nobb’d him on the canister.

1885. Bell’s Life, Jan. 3, p. 8, col. 4. Once more did the star of Australia rise, but to set from additional raps on the canister. He fell on his knees, and his head droped on his breast.

2. (common).—A hat. [Formerly canister-cap (see sense 1); subsequently shortened to canister.] For synonyms, see Golgotha.

1887. Atkin, House Scraps. Turning round, I saw my unfortunate beaver, or canister, as it was called by the gentry who had it in their keeping, bounding backwards and forwards.

Cank, adj. (old).—Dumb; silent. [Curiously enough, cank also signifies ‘to chatter,’ or ‘cackle as a goose’; it only survives in this latter sense.]

1673. R. Head, Canting Acad., 36. Cank: dumb.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Cank: dumb.

Cannibal, subs. (Cambridge University).—In the bumping races at Cambridge, a college may be represented by more than one boat. The best talent is put into the first, but it has sometimes happened that the crew of the second have got so well together that it has disappointed the prophets and bumped the first of its own college. In this case it is termed a cannibal, it having eaten up its own kind, and a fine is enacted from it by the University Boat Club.

Cannikin or Canniken, subs. (old).—The plague. [Grose includes it in his dictionary under the sense of ‘a small can,’ but this was not a slang usage.]

1688. R. Holme, Armoury. III., iii., § 68. Cannikin, the Plague. [m.]

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. s.v.

Cannis-Cove, subs. (American).—A dog-fancier. [Either from Latin canis, a dog, or the Fr. caniche, poodle + cove, a man.]

Cannon.—See Canon.

Cannon-Balls, subs. (political).—1. A nickname, now obsolete, given to the irreconcileable opponents of free trade in England.

1858. Saturday Review, 30 Oct., p. 413, col. 2. The amendment ... which sealed for ever the fate of Protection, was carried [in 1852] with only fifty dissentient voices—the celebrated cannon-balls. [m.]

2. (venery).—The testicles. For synonyms see Cods.

Canoe. To paddle one’s own canoe, phr. (American).—To make one’s own way in life; to exhibit skill and energy; to succeed unaided; a slang phrase of Western American origin, but now universal. [Extremely careful and clever manipulation is required in the management of canoes, especially in shooting rapids; otherwise the surging body of water might swamp the boat, or sunken rocks strike and seriously damage it. Hence the adoption of such an expression to signify skill, close attention, and energy.] A variant is to bail one’s own boat; and the French have a proverbial saying, il conduit or il mène bien sa barque.

1845. Harper’s Magazine, May. Voyager upon life’s sea, to yourself be true; And, where’er your lot may be, Paddle your own canoe.

1868. Broadside Ballad, sung by Harry Clifton. My wants are small, I care not at all, If my debts are paid when due. And to drive away strife on the ocean of life, I paddle my own canoe.

1870. C. H. Spurgeon. At Metropolitan Tabernacle [speaking of Mr. John Magregor said]—He puts his trust in God and paddles his own canoe.

1871. De Vere, English of the New World, p. 343. The familiarity with boating, which the unsurpassed number of watercourses all over the country naturally produces everywhere, has led to the use, not only of paddling one’s own canoe, ... but also of ‘bailing one’s own boat,’ in the sense of ‘minding one’s own business,’ independently and without waiting for help from others.

Canon or Cannon, adj. (thieves’).—Drunk. [The origin of this term is very obscure, although many guesses have been hazarded. Amongst these may be mentioned (1) From the ‘can’ having been used freely. Rather less absurd is (2) its derivation from the French slang expressions un canon, a glass drunk at the bar of a wine-shop; canonner, to drink wine at a wine-shop, or to be a habitual tippler; se canonner, to get drunk; and un canonneur, a tippler, wine-bibber, or drunkard. Yet another suggested origin is (3) from the German cannon, a drinking cup, from which is obtained canonised, = ‘shot’ or ‘drunk.’ A German proverb runs er ist geschossen, and Barrère points out that canon becomes naturally confused with can, German Kaune, a tankard, and Canonenstiefel, or ‘canon’ (i.e., long boots), a common pattern of tankard.] For synonyms, see Screwed.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL., 502. One night I was with the mob, I got canon (drunk), this being the first time.

Canoodle, verb (American).—1. To fondle; bill and coo; indulge in endearments.—See Canoodling. [There are two suggested derivations—(1) from cannie in the sense of gentle, and (2) that the primary signification may have been ‘to act as a noodle,’ i.e., to play the fool.] For synonyms, see Firkytoodle.

1864. G. A. Sala, Temple Bar, Dec., p. 40. He is an adept in that branch of persuasive dialectics known as conoodling. He will conoodle the ladies (bless their dear hearts! and how sharp they think themselves at making a bargain!) into the acquisition of whole packages of gimcrack merchandise.

1879. Punch, March 15, p. 117, col. 2. ‘Our Representative Man.’ Then he and the matchless one struggle, snuggle, and generally conoodle together rapturously. Then the matchless Ecstacy being the wife, not of the Chevalier, but of Charles VI., King of France, she, this impulsive, loving, beautiful, hugging, conoodling young Ecstacy, has the cool impudence to declare that theirs is a ‘guiltless love.’

2. (Oxford University).—To paddle or propel a canoe.

1879. E. H. Marshall, in Notes and Queries, 5 S., xi., 375. When I was an undergraduate at Oxford, to canoodle was the slang expression for paddling one’s own canoe on the bosom of the Cherwell or the Isis.

3. (American theatrical).—To share profits.

18(?). Green Room Jokes. ‘Pray, good sir, what is a canoodler?’ ‘Tell you, mum, queer business, mum, but prosperous, money—heaps of it, mum, for you and me’—and he winked significantly, jerked up a chair, and squatted in it, all in a breath.... Undeterred, he rattled on: ‘I’m an original thinker, mum. Invent business opportunities. Share ’m with actors, and then we canoodle—divvy the profits. Me and Sheridan made a big thing on the Japanese advertising screen in “School for Scandal!” Big thing.’

4. (common).—To coax.

Canoodler.—See Canoodle.

Canoodling, verbal subs. (American).—Endearments.

1859. Sala, Twice Round the Clock, 11 a.m., par. 8. A sly kiss, and a squeeze, and a pressure of the foot or so, and a variety of harmless endearing blandishments, known to our American cousins (who are great adepts at sweet-hearting) under the generic name of conoodling.

1864 and 1879. [See quots. under Canoodle, sense 1.]

Cant, subs. and verb.—[As regards derivation (whether noun or verb), to signify the speech, phraseology, or whine peculiar to thieves, beggars, and vagrants, authorities differ among and with themselves: the word occurs as early as 1540, and has long since achieved respectability. Grose was probably wrong in thinking it a corruption of chaunting, and it was certainly in use long prior to the two Scotch clergymen, Oliver and Andrew Cant, who are said to have preached with such a voice and such a manner as to give their name to all speaking of the same kind. A correspondent of Notes and Queries (2 S., vii., 158) suggests as a possible source the ordinary word mendicant (fr. Lat. mendico), but this is historically improbable, and the weight of evidence is in favour of the Latin cantus, singing or song, though it must be observed that neither the ancient nor the modern usage implies a mere sing-song, but rather the whine of one bent on deceit. There is a consciousness of hypocrisy by the canting in connection with religion, politics, begging, or anything else; and this principle is recognized in the attempt on the part of The Scots Observer to substitute Bleat (subs. and verb) for the cant of æstheticism, the cant which deals with art in the language of sentiment and emotion. It has been further suggested that if the word meant singing, the A.S. cantere is a much more probable source of origin than the Latin canto or cantus; but there is an argument which seems to lend additional weight to the claim of the latter language: the French chanter, to sing, is sometimes used in the sense of cant. In answer to a whining, lying tale (in reply indeed to anything incredible whether whining or brazen), a Frenchman would say, ‘Qu’est-ce que vous chantez là.’ Whatever the derivation, however, there is little doubt that Andrew Cant has little to do with it; indeed, Pennant in his Tour in Scotland, vol. I., p. 122, says that ‘Andrew canted no more than the rest of his brethren, for he lived in a whining age.’]

Subs.—1. The secret speech or jargon of the vagrant classes—gipsies, thieves, beggars, etc.; hence, contemptuously, the peculiar phraseology of a particular class or subject. Identical with Thieves’ Latin, St. Giles’ Greek, Peddlar’s French, etc. (q.v.); but for synonyms, see Flash.

1706. In Phillips. [m.]

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.) Cant (s.): a barbarous broken sort of speech made use of by gypsies.

1856. C. Reade, Never too Late, ch. xlv. All this not in English, but in thieves’ cant.

Here follow specimens of ancient and modern jargon. Further illustrations will be found in the canting songs in the Appendix.

[ancient cant.]

1567. Harman, Caveat (E.E.T. Soc., extra series, IX., 1869), p. 84–86. The vpright Cofe canteth to the Roge. Vpright-man.—Bene Lightmans to thy quarromes, in what lipken hast thou lypped in this darkemans, whether in a lybbege, or in the strummell? Roge.—I couched a hogshead in a Skypper this darkemans. Vpright-man.—I towre the strummel trine vpon thy nabchet and Togman. Roge.—I saye by the Salomon I will lage it of with a gage of benebouse; then cut to my nose watch. Man.—Why, hast thou any lowre in thy bonge to bouse? Roge.—But a flagge, a wyn, and a make, etc., etc., etc.

[modern thieves’ lingo.]

1881. New York Slang Dictionary. ‘Oh! I’m fly. You mean jumping Jack, who was done last week for heaving a peter from a drag. But you talked of padding the hoof. Why, sure, Jack had a rattler and a prad?’ ‘Yes, but they were spotted by the harmans, and so we walked Spanish.’ ‘Was he nabbed on the scent?’ ‘No; his pal grew leaky and cackled.’ ‘Well, Bell, here’s the bingo—sluice your gob! But who was the cull that peached?’ ‘A slubber de gullion named Harry Long, who wanted to pass for an out-and-out cracksman, though he was merely a diver.’ ‘Whew! I know the kiddy like a copper, and saved him once from lumping the lighter by putting in buck. Why, he scarcely knows a jimmy from a round robin, and Jack deserved the tippet for making a law with him, as all coves of his kidney blow the gab. But how did you hare it to Romeville, Bell for I suppose the jets cleaned you out?’ ‘I kidded a swell in a snoozing-ken, and shook him of his dummy and thimble.’ ‘Ah! Bell! you were always the blowen for a rum bing.’

2. (pugilistic)—a blow or toss. [In Mem. Capt. P. Drake, II., xiv., 244 (1755), occurs this passage, ‘To give me such a cant as I never had before or since, which was the whole length of the coffee-room; he pitched me on my head and shoulders under a large table at the further end.’ Transition from the nautical sense of heeling over to that embodied in ‘cant on the chops,’ is easy.] For synonyms, see Bang, Dig, and Wipe.

3. (tramps’).—Food. Also Kant, but Cf., sense 4.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, vol. III., p. 415. The house was good for a cant—that’s some food—bread or meat.

1877. Besant and Rice, Son of Vulcan, pt. I., ch. ix. The slavey’s been always good for a kant, and the cove for a bob.

4. (tramps’).—A gift. [Possibly connected with cant, sense 3, a share or portion.]

1857. Snowden. Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 444. Gift of Clothes—Cant of Togs.

Verb.—1. To speak with the beggar’s whine.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1869), 34. ‘It shall be lawefull for the to Cant’—that is, to aske or begge—‘for thy living in al places.’

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 17 (B. Club’s Repr., 1874). According to the saying that you [thieves and cadgers] haue among your selues (If you can Cant, you will neuer worke) shewing that if they haue beene rogues so long, that they can Cant, they will neuer settle themselues to labour againe.

2. To speak the jargon of gipsies, beggars, and other vagrants.—See Canting.

1592. Defence of Conny-catching, in Greene’s Works, XI., 45. At these wordes Conny-catcher and Setter, I was driven into as great a maze, as if one had dropt out of the clowds, to heare a peasant cant the wordes of art belonging to our trade.

1609. Dekker, English Villainies (1638), And as these people are strange, both in names and in their conditions, so do they speake a language (proper only to themselves) called Canting, which is more strange. This word canting, seemes to be derived from the Latine Verbe (Canto) which signifies in English to sing, or to make a sounde with words, that is to say, to speake. And very aptly may Canting take its derivation, à cantando, from singing, because amongst these beggerly consorts that can play on no better instruments, the language of canting is a kinde of Musicke, and he that in such assemblies can cant best, is counted the best musician.

1639. Ford, Lady’s Trial, V., 1. One can man a gulan, and cant, and pick a pocket.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.) Cant (v.): to talk gibberish like gypsies.

3. To speak; to talk.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 66. To Cante, to speake.

1881. New York Slang Dictionary. ‘On the trail.’ ‘But cant us the cues. What was the job?’ ‘A pinch for an emperor’s slang. We touched his leather too, but it was very lathy.’

Cantab, subs. (colloquial).—A student at Cambridge. [An abbreviation of ‘Cantabrigian.’]

1750. Coventry, Pompey Litt. II., x. (1785), p. 18, col. 1. The young cantab ... had come up to London. [m.]

1821. Byron, Don Juan, c. iii., st. 126. And I grown out of many ‘wooden spoons’ Of verse (the name with which we cantabs please To dub the last of honours in degrees).

Cantabank, subs. (old).—A common ballad singer. [From Latin cantare, to sing, + banco, bench; i.e., a singer on a stage or platform.]

1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie (Arb.), 96. Small and popular Musickes song by these Cantabanqui vpon benches and barrels heads. [m.]

1834. Taylor, Ph. van Art, pt. I., iii., 2. He was no tavern cantabank that made it, But a Squire minstrel of your Highness’ court.

Cantankerous, adj. (colloquial).—Cross-grained; ill-humoured; self-willed; productive of strife. See also quot. 1773. [Thought to be derived from the M. E. contak, conteke, contention or quarrelling.] So also cantankerously and cantankerousness. For synonyms, see Crusty.

1773. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, II. There’s not a more bitter cantankerous road in all Christendom.

1775. Sheridan, Rivals, Act v., Sc. 3. But I hope Mr. Faulkland, as there are three of us come on purpose for the game, you wont be so cantankerous as to spoil the party by sitting out.

1876. M. E. Braddon, Joshua Haggard, ch. xvi. And who was to nurse this peevish, cantankerous old man.

Hence the American verb, to cantankerate, and adjective, cantankersome.

1835. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xxiv. You may [by contentious writing] happify your inimies [and] cantankerate your opponents. Ibid. 3 S., ch. xii. Plato Frisk, a jumpin’ Quaker, a terrible cross-grained cantankersome critter.

Cante.—See Canter.

Canteen Medal, subs. phr. (military).—A good conduct stripe for the consumption of liquor.

Canter, subs. (old).—A vagrant or beggar; one who cants (q.v.) or uses the secret language otherwise called Peddlars’ French, St. Giles’ Greek, etc. The form has varied, Greene using cante, whilst many writers speak of the fraternity as the canting crew.—See Appendix. [From cant, verb, sense 1, + er.]

1592. Greene, Quip for Upst. Courtiers, Harl. Misc. V., 396. I fell into a great laughter, to see certain Italianate cantes, humourous cavaliers, youthful gentlemen, etc.

1625. Ben Jonson, Staple of News, Act ii. A rogue, a very canter I, sir, one that maunds upon the pad.

1630. Taylor, (‘Water Poet’), wks. II., 239, i. Two leash of oyster-wives hyred a coach on a Thursday after Whitsontide ... they were so be-madam’d, be-mistrist, and ladified by the beggars, that the foolish women began to swell with a proud supposition or imaginary greatness, and gave all their mony to the mendicanting canters.

1878. Charles Hindley, Life and Times of James Catnach. ‘Song of the Young Prig.’ My mother she dwelt in Dyot’s Isle, One of the canting crew, sirs.

Canticle, subs. (old).—A parish clerk. [From canticle, a song or psalm; one of the duties of a parish clerk being to lead the congregational singing.] So given in Grose [1785], and in the Lexicon Balatronicum [1811]. Also called an amen curler (q.v.).

Canting, verbal subs. (old).—The jargon used by beggars, thieves, gipsies, and vagrants. The same as Cant, subs., sense 1, which seems to be an abbreviated and later form of canting; Cf. ‘cab’ from ‘cabriolet’ and ‘bus’ from ‘omnibus.’

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 6, Their language which they terms peddelers Frenche or canting.

1610. Jonson, Alchemist, II. Supr. What a brave language here is! next to canting.

1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia. I., in wks. (1720) IV., 27. A particular language which such rogues have made to themselves, called canting, as beggars, gipsies, thieves, and jail-birds do.

1742. Johnson, Highwayman and Pyrates, p. 57. All the canting language (which comprehends a parcel of invented words, such as thieves very well know, and by which they can distinguish one another from the other classes of mankind.)

Ppl. adj.—Belonging to the jargon of thieves and beggars.

1592. Groundwork of Conny-Catching, 99. The manner of their canting speech [m.]

1871. London Figaro, 13 May, p. 3, col. 2. ‘Bill’s dead on for a lark with the canting bloke,’ whispered a lean and hungry-looking ‘casual’ to a no less half-starved neighbour.

Canting Crew.—See Canter.

Can’t Say National Intelligencer, phr. (American).—A euphemistic expression equivalent to ‘drunk.’ [The National Intelligencer is an old Washington newspaper.] For synonyms, see Screwed.

Can’t see a Hole in a Ladder, phr. (American).—Referring to a superlative form of intoxication. For synonyms, see Screwed.

Canuck.—See Canack.

Canvass. To receive the canvass, phr. (old).—A seventeenth century colloquialism for ‘to be dismissed’; in modern slang ‘to get the sack.’—See Bag, sense 2, and Sack.

1652. Shirley, The Brothers, Act. ii. As much as marriage comes to, and I lose My honor, if the Don receives the canvas.

Canvasseens, subs. (nautical).—Sailors’ canvas trousers. For synonyms, see Bags and Kicks.

Canvass-Town, subs. (general).—The Volunteer Encampment at Wimbledon or Bisley when the National Rifle Association meets; also any camp or ‘baby’-city. Cf., Bull’s-eye Villas.

Cap, subs. (thieves’).—1. A false cover to a tossing coin, called a cover-down. The cap showed either head or tail as it was left on or taken off. Obsolete.

2. (old).—The proceeds of an improvised collection. [Cf., ‘to send round the cap or hat.’]

1851. Eureka; Sequel Ld. Russell’s Post Bag, 21. What amount of cap is realised out of an average field? [m.]

3. (Westminster School).—The amount of the collection at Play and Election dinners. [From the College cap being passed round on the last night of Play for contributions. Cf., ‘to send round the cap.’]

Verb (thieves’).—1. To stand by a friend; to take part in any undertaking; to lend a hand. Grose has ‘to take one’s oath.’

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. I will cap downright; I will swear home.

2. (public schools’ and University).—To take off or touch one’s hat in salutation; also to cap to and to cap it.

1593. H. Smith, Serm. (1871) I., 203. How would they cap me were I in velvets. [m.]

1803. Gradus ad Cantabrigiam p. 23. s.v. bore. Other bores are to attend a sermon at St. Mary’s on Sunday ... to cap a fellow.

Cap one’s lucky, verbal phr. (American thieves’).—To run away. For synonyms, see Amputate.

Cap or cast one’s skin, verbal phr. (thieves’).—To strip naked. For synonyms, see Peel.

To set one’s cap at, phr. (colloquial).—To set oneself to gain the affections. Said only of women.

1773. Graves, Spiritual Quixote, bk. III., ch. xi. I know several young ladies who would be very happy in such an opportunity of setting their caps at him.

1773. O. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, Act i., Sc. 1. ‘Well, if he refuses ... I’ll only break my glass for its flattery, set my cap to some newer fashion, and look out for some less difficult admirer.’

1846. Thackeray, V. Fair, ch. iii. The wily old fellow said to his son, ‘Have a care, Joe; that girl is setting her cap at you.’

To cap a quotation, anecdote, proverb, &c., phr. (colloquial).—To fit with a second from the same, or another, author; to ‘go one better’ in the way of anecdote or legend.

1584. Peele, Arraignm. Paris, iv., ii. (1829) 48. Sh’ath capt his answer in the cue. [m.]

1856. Vaughan, Mystics (1860) I., i. v. Now you come to Shakspeare, I must cap your quotation with another. [m.]

To pull caps, phr. (colloquial).—To wrangle in an unseemly way.—Said only of women.

1763. Colman, Deuce is in Him, I., in wks. (1777) IV., 120. A man that half the women in town would pull caps for.

1771. Smollet, Humphry Clinker, line 19. At length, they fairly proceeded to pulling caps, and everything seemed to presage a general battle.

17(?). Wolcot, P. Pindar, p. 140. Behold our lofty duchesses pull caps, And give each other’s reputation raps, As freely as the drabs of Drury’s school.

1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, ch. vii. Well, dearest Rachel, we will not pull caps about this man.

Cape Cod Turkey, subs. phr. (American).—A salted cod fish, another name for which is marble-head turkey. Cf., Billingsgate pheasant, Yarmouth capon, and Albany beef.

1865. C. Nordhoff, 1 May (in letter). A salted cod fish is known in American ships as a cape cod turkey.

1890. New York Herald, 3 June. ‘Newfoundland Fishery Dispute.’ Factories have been established for the production of cape cod turkeys; i.e., salted cod fish.

Capella, subs. (theatrical).—A coat. [From the Italian.]

English Synonyms. Benjamin; cover-me-decently; upper benjamin (a great coat); joseph; wrap-rascal; bum-cooler or arse-hole-perisher, or shaver (a short jacket); claw-hammer, swallow-tail, steel-pen (all three = a dress coat); M.B. coat; panupetaston; rock-a-low; reliever; pygostole; ulster; monkey-jacket. See also Caster, many synonyms of which = a coat.

French Synonyms. Un cache-misère (familiar: specially applied to a coat buttoned close to the throat to conceal the absence of a shirt or the soiled state of one’s linen); un alpague (also alpaga and alpag); un elbeuf; un Berry (a fatigue jacket); une menuisière (pop.: a long coat); un ne-te-gêne-pas-dans-le-parc (a short jacket; also termed un saute-en-barque, un pet-en-l’air, and un montretout).

German Synonyms. Oberhänger (an overcoat; also a cloak). Wallnusch (Hanoverian: corruption from the Hebrew malbusch = clothes); Schwalbenschweif (a dress-coat, a ‘swallow-tail’).

Italian Synonym. Tappe (clothing in general; it also signifies ‘feathers’).

Cape-Nightingale, subs. (colonial).—A frog. Cf., Cambridgeshire nightingale.

1889. H. A. Bryden, Kloof and Karroo: or Sport, Legend, and Natural History in Cape Colony. The very smell of the water and the din of the huge frogs, cape nightingales as we call them, revived them.

Capeovi, adj. (costers’).—Sick; seedy (q.v. for synonyms). Cf., Capivi.

Caper, subs. (vagrants’).—A device, idea, performance, or occupation. Americans use it in the same sense as racket (q.v.), e.g., the ‘real estate racket’ or ‘caper.’ [From the figurative sense of caper, signifying a fantastic proceeding, freak, or prank.] Also used in the sense of ‘the go,’ ‘the fad,’ i.e., the latest fashionable fancy.

1867. London Herald, 23 March, p. 221. ‘He’ll get five years penal for this little caper,’ said the policeman.

1870. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 220. Charley would reply ... ‘I have just done such and such an amount to-day with these people,’ at the same time showing the invoice of the goods he had just purchased at the house where he got change for his fifty sovereigns. The conversation, as a rule, ended in Charley’s giving them an order too. Of course, this little caper would only ‘wash’ once.

1884. J. Greenwood, The Little Ragamuffins. ‘Are you goin’ a ‘tottin’?’ ‘No,’... ‘Then what caper are you up to?’

To cut a caper upon nothing, or to cut caper sauce, phr. (old).—To be hanged. For synonyms, see Ladder.

1708. Motteux, Rabelais. IV. xvi. Two of the honestest Gentlemen in Catchpole-land had been made to cut a caper on nothing.

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. And my father, as I’ve heard say, Was a merchant of capers gay, Who cut his last fling with great applause.

Caper-Juice, subs. (American).—Whiskey. [From caper, a freak or antic + juice.] For synonyms, see Drinks.

1888. Portland Transcript, 29 Feb. Say, fellers, let’s take a leetle mo’ uv the caper juice. [They drink again. Sam and the girl exchange affectionate glances.]

Caper-Merchant, subs. (old).—A dancing master. [From caper, a frolicsome leap or step, + merchant.] Also called a hop-merchant (q.v. for synonyms).

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. [Quoted as above.]

Capital, To work capital, verbal phr. (old).—To commit an offence punishable with death.

1878. Charles Hindley, Life and Times of James Catnach. And though I don’t work capital, And do not weigh my weight, sirs, Who knows but that in time I shall.

Capivi or Capivvy (vulgar).—Balsam copaiba, a popular remedy for clap.

To cry capivvy (sporting).—To be persecuted to the death, or very near it. In Handley Cross [1843] Mr. Jorrocks promises to make the foxes cry capivvy.

Capon, subs. (popular).—Primarily, a red herring; but applied to other kinds of fish, herrings now receiving the distinctive cognomen of Yarmouth capons. The usage is a very old one, and it is notable that Glasgow Magistrate, another name for a red herring, was formerly Glasgow capon.

c. 1640. J. Smyth, Hundred of Berkeley (1885), 319. The Sole wee call our Seuverne Capon. [m.]

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Yarmouth capon: a Red Herring.

1719. Ramsey, Hamilton, II., iii. A Glasgow capon and a fadge ye thought a feast. [m.]

1812. W. Tennant, Anster F., iv. Each to his jaws A good Crail’s capon holds [note ‘a dried haddock’]. [m.]

Cappadochio, Caperdochy, or Caperdewsie, subs. (old).—Nares says ‘a cant term for a prison.’ [The same authority suggests that it is a corruption of Cappadocia: ‘The king of Cappadocia, says Horace, was rich in slaves, but had little money.’] For synonyms, see Cage.

1600. Heywood, I. Edw. IV. My son’s in Dybell here, in Caperdochy, i’ the gaol.

1607. w. s., Puritan, in Supp. Shaks., II., 510 (n.). How captain Idle? my old aunt’s son, my dear kinsman, in Cappadochio?

1663. Butler, Hudibras, I., ii., 832. I here engage myself to loose ye, and free your heels from caperdewsie.

Capper, subs. (American thieves’).—1. A confederate; at cards one who makes false bids in order to encourage a genuine player. [See Cap, verb, sense 1.]

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 319. In the West a striker is not only a shoulder-hitter, as might be suspected, but a runner for gambling establishments, who must be as ready to strike down a complaining victim as to ensnare an unsuspecting stranger.... Cappers they are called, when the game is the famous Three-Card Monte.

1881. New York Slang Dictionary. Gamblers are called knights of the green cloth, and their lieutenants, who are sent out after greenhorns, are called decoys, cappers, and steerers.

2. (auctioneers’).—A dummy bidder whose function is either to start the bidding or to run up the price of articles for sale.

Capper-Clawing.—See Clapper-clawing.

Captain, subs. (general).—1. A familiar and jesting form of address. An equivalent of ‘governor,’ ‘boss,’ etc. Very common in U.S.A., where also it signifies the conductor or guard of a train—an analogy being drawn between the phraseology of rail and water traffic. (see quot. 1862).

1598. Shakspeare, King Henry IV., pt. 2, Act ii., Sc. 4. Doll Tearsheet. A captain! God’s light, these villains will make the word as odious as the word ‘occupy.’

1862. Russell, Diary, North and S., I., xiii., 139. All the people who addressed me by name prefixed ‘Major’ or ‘Colonel.’ ‘Captain’ is very low.... The conductor who took our tickets was called ‘Captain.’ [m.]

2. (old).—A gaming or bawdy house bully. Cf., Fielding’s Captain Bilkum in Covent Garden Tragedy. Fr. un major de table d’hôte.

1731. Daily Journal, Jan. 9. ‘List of the officers established in the most notorious gaming-houses.’ 12th. A Captain, who is to fight any gentleman who is peevish for losing his money.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Captain (s.) ... and in the Cant Phrase, a captain is a bully, who is to quarrel or fight with peevish gamesters, who are testy or quarrelsome at the loss of their money; and sometimes it signifies money itself, as, ‘the captain is not at home,’ that is, there is no money in my pocket.

[Captain is also a fancy title for a highwayman in a good way of business; Fletcher uses the term copper-captain, as also does Washington Irving, for one who has no right to the title, and, in modern athletics, we have the captain of a club or crew, with the corresponding verb to captain.]

3. (old).—Money.—See preceding quot. [1748].

4. (knackers’).—A glandered (horse).

Captain Armstrong. To come Captain Armstrong, phr. (turf)—To ‘pull’ a horse and thus prevent him from winning. Captain Armstrong is often used for a dishonest jockey. [A play upon words, i.e., ‘to pull with a strong arm.’]

1864. Sporting Life, 5 Nov. (Leader). Captain Armstrong is again abroad, muscular and powerful, riding his favourite hobby in the steeple-chase field, preparing thus early in the season for pulling, stopping, and putting the strings on.

Captain Copperthorn’s Crew. subs. phr. (old).—All officers Said of a company where everyone wants to be first.

Captain Cork, subs. phr. (military).—A nickname for a man who is slow in passing the bottle.

Captain Crank, subs. phr. (old).—The chief of a gang of highwaymen.

Captain Grand, subs. phr. (old).—A haughty, blustering fellow. For synonyms, see Furioso.

Captain Hackum, subs. phr. (old).—A hectoring bully.—Grose.

Captain Lieutenant, subs. phr. (old).—Meat neither young enough for veal, nor old enough for beef. [The simile is drawn from the brevet officer who, while ranking as captain, receives lieutenant’s pay.]—Grose.

Captain Queernabs, subs. phr. (old).—A shabby or ill-dressed man. For synonyms, see Guy.

Captain Quiz, subs. phr. (old).—A mocker.

Captain Sharp, subs. phr. (old).—A cheating bully, or one in a set of gamblers, whose office it is to bully the ‘pigeon,’ who refuses to pay.—Grose. Cf., Captain, sense 2.

Captain Tom, subs. phr. (old).—The head or leader of a mob; also the mob itself.—Grose.

Caravan, subs. (old).—1. A dupe; gull; a subject of plunder.—See Bubble.

1676. Etherege, Man of Mode, III., iii., in wks. (1704), 233. What spruce prig is that? A caravan, lately come from Paris.

1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia. [In list of cant words prefixed to.] Caravan: a bubble, the cheated.

1889. G. L. Apperson, in Gentleman’s Magazine (‘Seventeenth Century Colloquialisms’), p. 598. Towards the end of the century 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.

2. (old).—A large sum of money.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Caravan: a good round sum of money about a man, and him that is cheated of it.

3. (pugilistic).—A railway train, especially a train expressly chartered to convey people to a prize fight. [Early in the present century caravan, now shortened to ‘van,’ was applied to a third class covered railway carriage; now a pleasure party is so described; also a gypsy’s cart; also the wheeled cages of a travelling menagerie.]

Caravansera, subs. (pugilistic).—A railway station. As thus: ‘The scratch must be toed at sharp five, so the caravan will start at four from the caravansera.’—Hotten. See Caravan, sense 3.

Card, subs. (common).—1. A device; expedient; or undertaking; that which is likely to attain its object, or through which success is sure. Thus we have such expressions as a ‘good card,’ a ‘strong card,’ a ‘safe card,’ a ‘likely, or a doubtful card.’ [Figurative; from card playing.] That’s a sure card sounds modern, but as Lowell has pointed out it is to be found in the old interlude of ‘Thursytes’ (1537).

1690. b. e., Dic. Cant. Crew. A sure card, a trusty Tool, or Confiding Man.

1763. Fr. Brooke, Lady J. Mandeville, in Barbauld Brit. Novelists (1820) xxvii., 23. Poor fellow! I pity him; but marriage is his only card. [m.]

1826. Scott, Woodstock, III., xiv., 358. No card seemed to turn up favourable to the royal cause.

2. A character; an odd fish; an eccentric; generally coupled with such adjectives as ‘knowing,’ ‘old,’ ‘queer,’ ‘downy,’ ‘rum,’ etc. [Apparently derived from the card-table, such expressions as a ‘sure card,’ a ‘sound card,’ being of very ancient use. Osric tells Hamlet that Laertes is the card and calendar of gentry.—(Hamlet, v., 2.)]

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, 264. Mr. Thomas Potter, whose great aim it was to be considered as a knowing card.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xx., p. 173. ‘Such an old card as this; so deep, so sly, and secret.’

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. ii. Frank Hardingstone was, to use their favourite word, ‘a great card’ amongst all the associates of his age and standing.

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. xii. A quaint boy at Eton, cool hand at Oxford, a deep card in the regiment, man or woman never yet had the best of ‘Uppy.’

1864. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, bk. III., ch. i. ‘You’re one of the Patriarchs; you’re a shaky old card; and you can’t be in love with this Lizzie.’

3. (common).—The ‘ticket’; the ‘figure’; the correct thing. [Possibly from the k’rect card (q.v.) of racing.]

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II., p. 47. I’ve got 10s. often for a great coat, and higher and lower, oftener lower in course; but 10s. is about the card for a good thing.

Verb.—Also carding, subs. (Irish Nationalist). A peculiar form of torture, which consists in the application of the card, a spiked or toothed implement used in the preparation of flax and wool, to the naked shoulders, &c., and is commonly reserved for ‘unpatriotic’ girls and women.

1889. The Scots Observer. ‘They never told the ramping crowd to card a woman’s hide.’

To give one cards, phr. (American).—To give one an advantage. The English equivalent, ‘to give points,’ is derived from the billiard saloon. An analogous French phrase is faire un bœuf.

1888. Grip (Toronto), May. You know that Artie found a Chinaman out in ’Frisco who could give him cards and spades and beat him out.

On the cards, phr. (common).—Within the range of probability. [Dickens popularised the expression, which appears to mean ‘possible to turn up,’ as anything in the game when the cards are turned up. Still, it is not unlikely that the phrase originated with cartomancy, at a time when cards were frequently consulted as to the issue of enterprises.] See N. and Q., 7 s. iv., 507; v. 14, 77, 495.

1740. Smollett, Translation of Gil Blas. I showed them tricks which they did not know to be on the cards, and yet acknowledged to be better than their own.

1813. Sir R. Wilson, Diary, II., 40. It is not out of the cards that we might do more. [m.]

1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, I., p. 219. By way of going in for anything that might be on the cards, petition to the House of Commons, etc.

1868. W. Collins, Moonstone, I., p. 149. It’s quite on the cards, sir, that you have put the clue into our hands.

1874. Saturday Review, April, p. 488. When they discovered that a Restoration was not at present on the cards, they became Conservatives.

1890. H. D. Traill, A Bulgarian Appeal. ‘Saturday Songs,’ p. 43. I’ll be shot if I do, though it’s equally true That it’s quite on the cards I’ll be shot if I don’t.

To pack, stock, or put up, the cards, phr. (Western American).—To prepare cards for cheating purposes.—See Concaves, Pack, and Stock broads.

To speak by the card, phr. (general).—To speak with precision; or with the utmost accuracy. [An allusion to the card of the mariner’s compass.]

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, v., 1, 149. We must speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us.

1867. Yates, Forlorn Hope, i., p. 23. ‘Are you speaking by the card?’ said Count Bulow, with the slightest foreign accent.

1879. Trollope, Thackeray [in ‘English men of Letters’ series], p. 186. Henry Esmond ... however, is not made to speak altogether by the card, or he would be unnatural.

Cardinal, subs. (old).—1. A red cloak worn by ladies circa 1740 and later. [From the colour and shape which suggested a cardinal’s vestment.]

1755. Connoisseur, No. 62. That fashionable cloak ... which indeed is with great propriety styled the cardinal.

1755. The World, No. 127. I have made no objection to their (the ladies) wearing the cardinal, though it be a habit of popish etymology, and was, I am afraid, first invented to hide the sluttishness of French dishabille.

1881. Besant and Rice, Chap. of the Fleet, pt. 1, ch. iv. In the windows of which were hoods, cardinals, sashes, pinners, and shawls.

2. (general).—Mulled red wine.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xv. He goes up, and finds the remains of the supper, Tankards full of egg-flip and cardinal, and a party playing at vingt-un.

3. in plural (street).—Shoeblacks. [In allusion to the red tunics of some London brigades. That stationed in the City is now better known as the City Reds.]

1889. T. Mackay [on ‘Shoeblacks’], in Time, Aug., p. 132. From that hour the Shoeblack Brigade has been firmly established in London ... costermongers called them cardinals.

4. (American).—A lobster; from its colour when cooked. Jules Janin once made a curious blunder and called the lobster le cardinal de la mer. Cardinal hash = a lobster salad.

5. (common).—A new [1890] variety of red.

Care. Not to care or be worth a [fig, pin, rap, button, cent, straw, rush, or hang, etc.], phr. (colloquial).—Similes of indifference; to care about a matter not even so much as to the value of a fig, a pin, or a straw. Fr. s’en battre l’œil.—See Not worth a Fig.

1590. Spenser, Fairie Queene, I., ii., 12. He ... cared not for God or man a point. [m.]

1633. Marmyon, Fine Compan., II., i., 68. I do not care a pin for her. [m.]

1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 50. I do not care a farthing for you. [m.]

1760. Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, xlvi. Not that I care three damns what figure I may cut.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, ed. 1846, vol. I., ch. iii., p. 13. You told him you did not care a fig for him.

1848–62. J. R. Lowell, Biglow Papers. ‘Don’t fire,’ sez Joe, ‘it ain’t no use, Thet Deacon Peleg’s tame wil-’goose’; Seys Isrel, ‘I don’t care a cent, I’ve sighted an’ I’ll let her went.’

1871. London Figaro, May 13, p. 4, col. 2. Coster Ballads, ‘Found Drowned.’ ‘Well, sir, to cut it short, she ’ad the chap—’Twos cruel ’ard on me—I don’t believe he cared for ’er a rap, But so it wos, yer see.’

1889. Answers, June 22, p. 49, col. 1. ‘Is it for sale?’ demanded the visitor, excitedly. ‘If it is I want it. I don’t care a snap what it costs.’

I don’t care if I do, phr. (American).—A street phrase, meaning nothing in particular. Also a form of accepting an invitation to drink: ‘Will you peg?’ ‘I don’t care if I do.’

1888. New York Tribune. Volapuk will never be popular in Kentucky. It contains no sentence to take the place of that classic phrase, I don’t care if I do.

Care-Grinder, subs. (thieves’).—More usually the vertical care-grinder.—See quot. For synonyms, see Wheel of life.

1883. Echo, Jan. 25, p. 2, col 4. The treadmill again, is more politely called ... the wheel of life, or the vertical care-grinder.

Cargo, subs. (Winchester College).—A hamper from home. The word is still in use.

1870. Mansfield, School Life at Winchester College, p. 77. The boys, eager for breakfast, tumultuously rushed out from school-court ... to see if Poole, the porter, had letters, or, what was even more delightful, a cargo (a hamper of game or eatables from home).

1883. Every-day Life in our Public Schools. Scholars may supplement their fare with jam, potted meats ... or, better still, from the contents of cargoes, i.e., hampers from home.

Carler, subs. (New York thieves’).—A clerk. For synonyms, see Quill-driver.

Carlicues.—See Curlycues.

Carney or Carny, subs. (colloquial).—Soothing and seductive flattery; language covering a design. [The origin is unknown, though some have conjectured the word to be of Irish derivation. As a verb it first appears as a dialecticism, and is now mostly in use as a ppl. adj.—carneying (q.v.). The word, however, seems to be fast making its way into respectable usage, and is even now largely in literary use.]

Verb, tr. and intrans.—To wheedle; coax or insinuate oneself; to act in a cajoling manner.—See Carneying.

Carneying, ppl. adj. (common).—In a wheedling, coaxing, or insinuating manner. Cf., Carney.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. II., p. 566. When I tried to turn ’em off they’d say, in a carnying way, ‘Oh, let us stay on,’ so I never took no heed of ’em.

1869. H. J. Byron, Not such a Fool as He Looks [French’s Acting ed.], p. 12. Sharp old skinflint, downy old robber as he is, he’s under Jane Mould’s thumb, and well he knows it. (In carnying voice) With many thanks, sir, for your kind attention to my case.

1871. Daily Telegraph, 15 May, ‘Critique on Mr. H. J. Byron’s Play of An English Gentleman.’ Rachel does not like Brandon’s carnying ways.

1884. R. L. Stevenson in Eng. Illustr. Mag., Feb., p. 305. The female dog, that mass of carnying affectations.

1885. Clement Scott, in Ill. Lon. News, 3 Oct., p. 339, 2. The change from the carnying, wheedling sneak to the cowardly bully, is extremely clever.

Carnish, subs. (thieves’).—Meat. [From the Italian carne, flesh, through the Lingua Franca. Carne, in French argot, signifies tough meat.]

French Synonyms. La crie, crigne, or crignolle (thieves’: Old Cant; Greek, κρίας; Fourbesque, crea, creata, creatura, criulfa; Germania, crioja); la criolle (thieves’); la niorte (thieves’); la barbaque or bidoche (popular); le choléra (popular = bad meat); le mastic (= bread or meat).

German Synonyms. Kärner (this is the same as carnish and comes from the Italian carne; Kärnerfetzer = a butcher).

Italian Synonyms. Bronco (specially applied to beef); slavigna; crea (see remarks under crie in French synonyms).

Carnish-Ken, subs. (thieves’).—A thieves’ eating house, or prog-shop. [From carnish, meat, through the Italian carne, + ken, a house or dwelling.] A French equivalent for the proprietor of such a place is un fripier, a term which also means a cook, a ‘dripping’ or old clothes’ man.

Carny.—See Carney.

Caroon, subs. (costermongers’).—A five shilling piece. [Hotten and Barrère trace it to the French couronne, Spanish and Italian corona; it is in all probability a mispronunciation of the English word ‘crown.’]

English Synonyms. Bull, or bull’s-eye; cartwheel, coach-wheel, or simply wheel; tusheroon; dollar; thick ’un (obsolete, the term being now applied to a sovereign); case; caser; decus.

The nearest French equivalent, a five franc piece, is called un roue de derrière (literally ‘a hind wheel,’ and corresponding pretty closely to the English wheel, cartwheel, and coachwheel); un bouton de guêtre; un blafard de cinq balles; une drille or dringue; une croix (the old six franc piece, in allusion to the cross inscribed on it); une chatte (a piece of six francs: very old; and formerly prostitutes’); une médaille or médaille de St. Hubert (popular); un monarque (popular); un œil de bœuf (= an ox’s eye); un noble étrangère (literary: = a distinguished stranger).

1859. G. W. Matsell, Vocabulum, or the Rogue’s Lexicon. Kersey-mere kicksies, any colour, built very slap with the artful dodge, from three caroon.

Carpet, verb (colloquial).—To reprimand. Equivalents are to ‘call over the coals,’ to ‘give a wigging’ or ‘earwigging,’ etc. The phrase sometimes runs ‘to walk the carpet.’ so also carpeting; for synonyms, see Wig.

1823. Galt, Entail, III., xxix., 278. Making ... her servants walk the carpet. [m.]

1840. H. Cockton, Valentine Vox, xli. They had done nothing! Why were they carpeted?

1871. Chester Chronicle, 11 Feb. ‘Report of Affiliation Case at Hawarden Petty Sessions.’ [The plaintiff, Louisa Jackson, said] neither did Lunt, the page, say that night if her master knew of her coming home in that state she would be carpeted for it.

1877. Hawley Smart, Bound to Win, ch. xxx. There is no hurry; but, before the race, I think Mr. Luxmoore will have to carpet Sam.

To bring on the carpet. To bring up or forward. A slang rendering of mettre sur le tapis.

Carpet-Bag, subs. used attributively as adj. (American).—See Carpet-bagger for explanation of such phrases as carpet-bag rule, carpet-bag adventurers, carpet-bag government, etc.

1872. New York Herald, 22 Aug. Hundreds of millions have been taken from the pockets of the people since the beginning of the war by dishonest contractors, unjust claimants, county robbers, and city plunderers, and Carpet-bag State Governments. Ibid. The Tammany robberies, although trifling in comparison with the old revenue robberies, and the present wholesale plunder of the Carpet-bag Governments in the South, etc.

1888. Chicago Record. The head of the ticket is one of the most vulnerable men who figured in Southern politics in the carpet-bag era. No man of that period left a blacker record.

Carpet-Bagger, subs. (American political).—A political adventurer. [After the Civil War, numbers of Northerners went South. Honest or not, they were looked upon with suspicion by the Southerners, and, as they were generally Republican in politics and joined with the freedmen at the polls, the nickname carpet-bagger came to have, and still retains, a political significance. It was unjustly applied to many well-meaning men, but at the same time it fitted the horde of corrupt adventurers who infested the South, and whose only ‘property qualification’ was contained in the carpet bag with which they had arrived from the North. Originally, however, a carpet-bagger was a ‘wild-cat banker’ out West: a banker, that is, who had no local abiding place, his worldly possessions being contained in a carpet bag.] Applied to politics the term has become of general application.—Cf., Scalawag.

1868. Daily News, Sept. 18. All carpet-baggers and ‘scalawags’ are whites. The carpet-baggers are immigrants from the North who have thrown themselves into local politics, and through their influence with the negroes obtained office.

1871. New York Post, April. ‘The general drift of public sentiment is, that the carpet-baggers, scalawags, ex-slaves, ex-slaveholders, rebels reconstructed, rebels unreconstructed, and Southern loyalists should be left, for a brief period at least, to fight out their own battles, in their own way; and that if the nation is ever again to become a party to their quarrels, it shall be on no slight pretext and for no trivial purpose.’

1877. Temple Bar, May, p. 107. At the same moment a swarm of adventurers settled in the conquered states, and became governors, judges, tax-collectors, and so on. These are the carpet-baggers of history. They came with two shirts, got salaries of (on an average) four thousand dollars per annum, and made fortunes of a million in four years!

Carpet-Bag Recruit, subs. phr. (military).—A recruit of better than the ordinary standing; one with more than he stands upright in.

Carpet-Swab, subs. (common).—A carpet-bag.

1837. Barham, I.L. (Misadv. at Margate). A little gallows-looking chap—dear me! what could he mean? With a carpet-swab and mucking togs, and a hat turned up with green.

Carrier, subs. (old).—See quot., and Cf., Carrier-pigeon.

1725. New Cant. Dict. Carriers: a sett of Rogues ... employ’d to look out, and watch upon the Roads, at Inns, etc., in order to carry Information to their respective Gangs, of a booty in Prospect.

Carrier-Pigeon, subs. (old).—1. A cheat—especially one who victimised lottery office keepers. Cf., Carrier.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 64 [named and described in].

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Carrier Pigeons; sharpers who attend the drawing of the lottery in Guildhall, and as soon as a number or two are drawn, write them on a card, and run with them to a confederate, who is waiting near at hand, ready mounted; with these numbers he rides full speed to some distant insurance office before fixed on, where there is another of the gang, commonly a decent-looking woman, who takes care to be at the office before the hour of drawing; to her he secretly gives the number, which she insures for a considerable sum, thus biting the biter.

2. (racing).—One that runs from place to place with ‘commissions’; a kind of tout.

Carrion, subs. (venery).—1. A prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and tart.

2. (common).—The human body; formerly a corpse.

Carrion Case, subs. (common).—A shirt or chemise. [From carrion, the human body, + case, a covering.] For synonyms, see Flesh bag.

Carrion Hunter, subs. (old).—An undertaker. [Carrion was formerly general to signify a corpse]. For synonyms, see Cold cook.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Carrion Hunter: an undertaker, etc.

Carrots, subs. (popular).—Red hair. Used attributively, and also as a proper name. The adjectival form is carrotty. An analogous colloquialism is Ginger-hackled, which see for synonyms.

1685. S. Wesley, Maggots, 57. The Ancients ... Pure carrots call’d pure threads of beaten gold. [m.]

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Carrots: Red hair’d People.

1703. T. Baker, Tunbridge Walks, quoted in Ashton’s Social Life in Reign of Q. Anne, I., 129. Jenny Trapes! What that Carrot-pated Jade.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xiv. Not to appear before Mr. Cringer till I had parted with my carroty locks.

1848. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, ch. vii. ‘Blanche, with her radish of a nose, and her carrots of ringlets.’

1855. Newcomes, ch. xxii. ‘Tom is here with a fine carroty beard.’

1864. Mark Lemon, Jest Book, p. 205. Carrots Classically Considered. Why scorn red hair? The Greeks, we know (I note it here in charity) Had taste in beauty, and with them The graces were all Χαριται.

1882. Daily Telegraph, Oct. 6, p. 2, col. 1. The two elder of the party were a boy and a girl of unmistakably Irish parentage, and with unkempt and carrotty heads of hair.

Take a carrot! (common).—A vulgar insult; equivalent to calling one a fool, or telling one to ‘go to hell.’ The phrase was originally obscene [Cf., Et ta sœur! aime-t-elle les radis?] and applied to women only.

Carry Boodle, verbal phr. (American).—See Boodle.

Carry Coals, verbal phr. (obsolete).—To put up with insults; to endure an affront or injury.

1593. G. Harvey, Pierces Supererog., in wks. II., 32. Because Silence may seeme suspicious to many: Patience contemptible to some ... a knowne forbearer of Libellers, a continuall bearer of coales.

1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, i., 1. Gregory o’ my word, we’ll not carry coals.

1638. H. Shirley, Martyr’d Souldier, Act ii., Sc. 1. Hub. I can carry anything but Blowes, Coles, my Drink, and—the tongue of a Scould.

Carry Corn, verbal phr. (common).—To bear success well and equably. It is said of a man who breaks down under a sudden access of wealth—as successful racing men and unexpected legatees often do—or who becomes affected and intolerant, that ‘he doesn’t carry corn well.’

Carryings On, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Frolicsome or questionable proceedings; a course of conduct that attracts attention.—See Carry on.

1663. Butler, Hudibras, I., ii., 556. Is this the end to which these carryings on did tend?

1859. Sala, Gaslight and Daylight, ch. xxi. Many have heard her stern demands for rent, and her shrill denunciation of the carryings on of her tenants.

1876. M. S. Braddon, Joshua Haggard, ch., iv. ‘And what about the rest of the time when he wasn’t with you? Fine carryings on indeed for a grocer’s daughter!’

Carry-Knave, subs. (old).—A common prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

1630. Taylor’s Workes. And I doe wish with all my heart that the superflous number of all our hyreling hackney carry-knaves, and hurry-whores, with their makers and maintainers were there.

Carry Me Out and Bury Me Decently, phr. (general).—An exclamation or objurgation generally called forth by an incredible story, or by something displeasing to the auditor; varied by ‘let me die!’ ‘good night!’ etc., as also by ‘carry me home!’ ‘carry me upstairs!’ ‘carry me out and leave me in the gutter!’ A writer in Notes and Queries [2 S., iii., 387] states it to have been in use circa 1780. [The origin is obscure, but some derive it from the Nunc dimittis (Luke ii. 29).]

1857. Notes and Queries, 16 May, p. 387, col. 2. Carry me out and bury me decently. Do any of your correspondents recollect to have heard this phrase?

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xlv. And so the president comes out to see the St. Ambrose boat row? Seldom misses two nights running. Then ‘carry me out, and bury me decently’ ... Don’t be afraid. I am ready for anything you like to tell me.

1864. The Reader, Nov. 12. Mr. Hotten has carry me out. Well the equivalent ‘Federal’ is ‘D’you tell?’

Carry On, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To make oneself conspicuous by a certain line of behaviour; to conduct oneself wildly or recklessly; to joke or frolic; also in a special sense applied to open flirtation on the part of both sexes.

French equivalents are canarder (based on canard = a ‘take in,’ an extravagant or absurd story); faire du jardin (popular).

1856. Whyte Melville, Kate Coventry, ch. iii. With lynx-eyes she notes how Lady Carmine’s eldest girl is carrying on with young Thriftless.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xxxv. ‘She and I carried on for a whole season. People talked.’

1884. M. Twain, Huckleberry Finn, ch. xxii., 222. And all the time that clown carried on so it most killed the people.

Carry one’s real estate about one, verbal phr. (American).—To neglect the finger nails till they show a black rim; to go so unwashed as to display a considerable amount of what Palmerston called ‘matter in the wrong place.’

1877. Joseph Hatton, in Belgravia, April, p. 221. We looked at the hands of several of the gamblers, and found that they carried their real estate with them.

Carry Out One’s Bat.—See Bat.

Carry the Stick, verbal phr. (Scotch thieves’).—To rob in the manner described in quotation.—See also Tripping up.

1870. Times. 21 Sept [Marlborough Street Police Court Report.] Police Sergeant Cole said the prisoner’s plan was for the woman to go up to well-dressed elderly or drunken men, to get them into conversation, and rob them. The male prisoner would then come up, and, pretending to be a detective, make a disturbance, so as to enable the woman to escape. The practice was called in London ‘tripping up,’ and in Scotland, where it is also practised, carrying the stick.

Carsey, subs. (thieves’).—A house, den, or crib. [From the Lingua Franca casa = a house.] For synonyms, see Ken.

Cart, verb (University).—To defeat: in a match, a fight, an examination, a race, &c. We carted them home = we gave them an awful licking.

In the cart, or carted, phr. (racing).—1. An employee is said to put an owner in the cart when, by some trick or fraud, his horse is prevented from winning. Also in the box.

1889. Evening Standard, 25 June. [Sir Chas. Russell’s speech in Durham-Chetwynd case.] It was alleged that in two races run by Fullerton in 1887, Sir George Chetwynd—to use a vulgarism—had been put in the cart by his Jockey.

2. (common).—‘In the know’; ‘in the hunt.’

1883. Referee, 1 April, p. 1, col. 1. No one, not even the previously most authoritative—and most in the cart—seems at all astonished at the success of Knight of Burghley.

3. (gaming).—The lowest scorer at any point is said to be in the cart; sometimes on the tailboard.

To walk the cart, phr. (racing).—To walk over the course.

To cart off or out, or away, phr. (colloquial).—To remove.

Cart-Grease, subs. (common).—Butter; in the first instance bad butter.

English Synonyms. Cow-grease; Thames mud; cow-oil; spread; scrape; smear; ointment; sluter.

French Synonym. Le fondant.

German Synonyms. Schmierling (Schmier is properly ‘grease,’ especially ‘wheel-grease,’ also ‘ointment.’ The term is, therefore, practically identical with cart-grease); Schmunk (used by knackers. Schmünkig signifies ‘fat’ of any kind, but especially that of horses).

Carts, subs. (common).—A pair of shoes. For synonyms, see Trotter-cases.

Cart-Wheel, subs. (popular)—1. A five-shilling piece. A variant is coach-wheel, and both forms are often contracted into wheel. For synonyms, see Caroon.

1871. London Figaro, 15 Feb. ‘Mornings at Mutton’s.’ The coin of the realm in question was the largest that we have known in the present century—so large, that, in the slang language of thieves and costermongers, it is called a cart-wheel, ‘coach-wheel’ and ‘thick-’un.’ It was, in fact, a crown-piece.

2. (popular).—A broad hint.

3. (popular).—A continuous series of somersaults in which the hands and feet alternately touch the ground, the appearance produced being similar to the spokes of a cart wheel in motion. Otherwise called a Catharine wheel.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II., p. 562. We either do the cat’unwheel (Sic) or else we keep before the gentleman and lady, turning head-over-heels. Ib., p. 564: at night I go along with the others tumbling. I does the cat’enwheel. (Sic.)

1864. Sala, in Daily Telegraph, Dec. 23. I saw a little ... blackguard boy turning cartwheels in front of the Clifton House.

Carver and Gilder, subs. phr. (common).—A match maker. Cf., Fingersmith, a midwife.

Casa.—See Case.

Cascade, subs. (Australian).—1. In Tasmania beer is called cascade because manufactured from ‘cascade’ water. Cf., Artesian. For synonyms, see Swipes and Drinks.

2. (theatrical).—Explained by quotation. Another name for the same effect is hang out.

1851. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, III., p. 156. The principal distinction between pantomimes and ballets is that there are more cascades, and trips, and valleys in pantomimes, and none in ballets. A trip is a dance between Harlequin and the Columbine, and cascades and valleys are trundling and gymnastic performances, such as tumbling across the stage on wheels, and catching hold of hands and twirling round.

Verb (old).—To vomit. For synonyms, see Accounts.

1771. Smollet, Humphry Clinker, III., Oct. 4, iii. She cascaded in his urn.

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. ii. I daresay five hundred rank and file, at the fewest, were all cascading at one and the same moment.

Case, subs. (colloquial).—1. A certainty in fact, an accentuated or abnormal instance in character. When two persons fall in love, or are engaged to marry, it is said to be a case with them. An eccentric person is likewise a case. [As a designation for persons, case probably had its origin in Journalese and Police-court English; e.g., a case of larceny.]

1848. Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms. Case: a character, a queer one; as ‘That Sol Haddock is a case.’ ‘What a hard case he is,’ meaning a reckless scapegrace, mauvais sujet.

1859. H. Kingsley, Geoffrey Hamlyn, ch. xlii. Tossed from workhouse to prison, from prison to hulk—every man’s hand against him—an Arab of society. As hopeless a case, my lord judge, as you ever had to deal with.

1868. O. W. Holmes, Guardian Angel, ch. iv., p. 35 (Rose Lib.). ‘It was a devilish hard case,’ he said, ‘that old Malachi had left his money as he did.’

1872. Miss Braddon, To the Bitter End, ch. xlviii. They have only been engaged three weeks; but from the day we first met Lord Stanmore at a hunting breakfast at Stoneleigh, the business was settled. It was a case, as you fast young men say.

1880. Hawley Smart, Social Sinners, ch. xxiv. He saw people began to make way for him when she was concerned; in short, that they looked upon it as a case.

1887. Cassell’s Mag., Dec, p. 26. It isn’t Mr. and Mrs. Cardewe he comes to see! It’s Miss Amy.... They have met before; and in my opinion it’s a case!

2. (thieves’)—A bad five-shilling piece; half a case, a bad half-crown. Cf., caser. In America a dollar, good or bad. [There are two sources, either of which may have contributed this slang term. (1.) Caser, the Hebrew word for a crown; (2.) silver coin is frequently counterfeited by coating or casing pewter or iron imitations with silver.—Hotten.]

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 444. Bad five shillings—case.

3. (old).—A house, respectable or otherwise. Subsequently restricted to a brothel, and, by derivation, a ‘water-closet.’ [Presumably from the Italian casa, a house, through the Lingua Franca. It is found in various forms, casa, case, caser, carser, carsey, the last a phonetic rendering of the usual pronunciation of casa.] For synonyms, see Ken.

1678. Marvell, wks. (1875) III., 497. A net ... That Charles himself might chase To Caresbrook’s narrow case. [m.]

1690. b. e., Dict. Cant. Crew. Case: a House, Shop, or Ware-house.

1785. Grose, Dict. of Vul. Tongue. Case: a house, perhaps from the Italian casa. In the canting lingo it meant store or warehouse, as well as dwelling house. Tout that case: mark or observe that house. It is all bob, now let’s dub the gigg of the case: now the coast is clear, let us break open the door of the house.

1883. Echo, Jan. 25, p. 2, col. 3. From the Italian we get the thieves’ slang term casa for house.

4. (Westminster School).—The discussion by Seniors and Upper Election preceding a tanning (q.v.), and the tanning itself.

A case of Crabs, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A failure.

A case of Pickles, subs. phr. (colloquial).—An incident; a bad break-down; a break up.

A case of Stump, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Said of one absolutely guiltless of the possession of coin.

Caseine, subs. (rare).—The correct thing. A variant of the cheese (q.v.) Cf., Cassan.

1856. C. Kingsley, Letter, May. Horn minnow looks like a gudgeon, which is the pure caseine.

Caser, subs. (thieves’).—Five shillings.—See Case and Caroon.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL., 501. One morning I found I did not have more than a caser (5s.).

Case-Vrow, subs. (old).—A prostitute in residence in a particular brothel; now called a dress-lodger (q.v.). [From case (q.v.), a house, + Dutch vrouw, a woman.]

Casey, subs. (thieves’).—Cheese.—See Cassan.

Cash.—See Cassan.

Equal to cash.—Of unquestionable merit. In allusion to the fact that paper currency is largely a medium of exchange.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., chap. xvi. Though I say it, that shouldn’t say it, they [the U.S. Americans] fairly take the shine off creation—they are actilly equal to cash.

To cash a Prescription, subs. phr. (colloquial).—To get a prescription made up.

1890. The Scots Observer, p. 399, col. 2. The Socialist, with an ear for Ibsen, and an eye for Wagner, and a prescription in his pocket that only needs to be cashed for the world to forget its past, and belie its present, and bedevil its future.

Cashels, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Great Southern and Western of Ireland Railway Stock. [Said to be derived from the fact that the line originally had no station at Cashel.]

Cash or Pass in One’s Checks. verbal phr. (American). To die. Derived from the game of poker, where counters or checks, purchased at certain fixed rates, are equivalent to coin. The euphemism is drawn from the analogy between settling one’s earthly accounts, and paying in dues at the end of the game.

18(?). John Hay, Jim Bludsoe of the Prairie Belle. ‘How Jimmy Bludsoe pass’d in his checks The night of the Prairie Belle.’

1870. Bret Harte, Outcasts Poker Flat. Beneath this tree lies the body of J. O. who ... handed in his checks on the 7th December, 1850.

1872. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Roughing It, p. 332. ‘You see,’ said the miner, ‘one of the boys has passed in his checks, and we want to give him a good send off.’

1882. Dodge, Plains of the Great West. As close a shave as I ever made to passing in my checks was from a buffalo stampede.

1888. New York Sun. Well, I owned the mule for several years after that, and when he finally passed in his checks I gave him as decent a burial as any pioneer ever got.

Cash-Up, verb (colloquial).—To liquidate a debt by the transfer of money, i.e., cash, or its equivalent. For synonyms, see Shell out.

1837. Barham, I. L. (M. of Venice). And Antonio grew In a deuce of a stew, For he could not cash up, spite of all he could do.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, I., p. 213. ‘When my father’s executors cash up’ he used strange expressions now and then, but that was his way.—‘Cash up’s a very good expression’ observed Martin, ‘when other people don’t apply it to you.’

1861. Sala, Seven Sons of Mammon, II., p. 197. ‘But they may cash up.’ ‘Cash up! They’ll never cash up a farthing piece.’

Cask, subs. (popular).—A brougham; otherwise a pill-box (q.v.). A French equivalent is une bagniole.

Cass.—See Cassan.

Cassan, subs. (thieves’).—Old Cant for cheese. Also cass, casson, cassam, cassom, and casey. The oldest form is cassan, which is found in Harman’s Caveat or Warening for Common Cursetors, the first known dictionary of English cant [1567]. Cass, chiefly American thieves, is a latter corruption probably influenced by the Dutch kaas, or the M. Dutch kâse, Lat. caseus. [For suggested derivation, which corresponds to that given in the N.E.D., see second quot.]

English Synonyms. Caz; sweaty-toe; choke-dog.

French Synonyms. Le renâché (thieves’ term); une côtelette de menuisier, de perruquier, or de vâche (popular terms for a portion of Brie; literally a cabinet-maker’s, hair-dresser’s, or cow-cutlet); le dûreme (thieves’); une boussole de réfroidi or de singe (popular = a Dutch Cheese.)

German Synonyms. Fendrich (Old Cant appearing in the Liber Vagatorum [1529] as Wenderich or Wendrich; subsequently modified into Fähndrich. The derivation is referable, perhaps, to an old practice, prevalent in North Germany, of using as a board sign [Fahne, a flag, standard, banner] with three cheeses pictured); Gewine (from the Hebrew gewino); Karnet or Kornet; Kawine (a variant of Gewine); Stinkefix (from the O.H.G. Stinchan, to smell, to stink; this is especially applied to old cheese).

Italian Synonyms. Tenerosa (cream cheese); mascherpo; stifello (literally a kind of flute, in allusion to the holes in some kinds of cheese, notably Gruyère).

Spanish Synonym. Formage (evidently a corruption of the French fromage).

1567. Harman, Caveat (1869), p. 86. She hath a Cacking chete, a grunting chete, ruff Pecke, cassan, and popplarr of yarum.

1609. Dekker, Lanthorne and Candlelight, in wks. (Grosart) III., 195. Cassan is cheese, and is a worde barbarously coynd out of the substantive caseus, which also signifies a cheese.

1656. Broome, Jovial Crew, Act ii. Here’s ruffpeck and cassan, and all of the best, And scraps of the dainties of gentry cofe’s feast.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4 ed.), p. 11. Casum: cheese.

1881. New York Slang Dictionary. Cass: cheese.

Castell, verb (old).—To see or look. [It is uncertain as to whether this word is slang or not. It is not included in the N.E.D.] For synonyms, see Pipe.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). To Castell: to see or looke.

Caster, subs. (old).—1. A cloak. [Cf., Castor, a hat; there seems to be no historical improbability for a similar derivation].

Another Old Cant term for a cloak was calle (q.v.), and the French have un bleu, whilst the Italian Fourbesque has toppo and manto, the latter probably meaning ‘a long black veil’; Calaõ. tralha. The Germania renders cloak by noche (literally ‘night,’ and signifying also in a canting sense ‘sadness’ and ‘sentence of death’); nube (literally a ‘cloud’); pelosa (specially applied to a cloak worn in the morning; literally ‘shaggy’ or ‘hairy’); bellosa or vellosa (a sailor’s cloak).

1567. Harman, Caveat [E. E. Text Soc., 1869], p. 77. He walketh in softly a nights, when they be at their rest, and plucketh of as many garmentes as be ought worth that he may come by, ... and maketh porte sale at some conuenient place of theirs, that some be soone ready in the morning, for want of their Casters and Togemans.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). Caster: a Clocke.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue [s.v.].

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum [s.v.].

2. (colloquial).—A cast-off or rejected person or thing. [From cast, thrown, + er.]

1859. Lang, Wand. India, p. 144. The horse which drew the buggy had been a caster ... a horse considered no longer fit for the cavalry or horse artillery, and sold by public auction, after being branded with the letter R on the near shoulder. [m.]

Castieu’s Hotel, subs. phr. (Australian thieves’).—The Melbourne gaol, so called from Mr. J. B. Castieu. For list of nicknames of this description, see Cage.

18(?). Australian Printers Keepsake. He caught a month, and had to white it out at diamond-cracking in Castieu’s Hotel.

Castle-Rag, subs. (rhyming slang).—A flag or fourpenny piece. For synonyms, see Joey.

Cast-Offs, subs. (nautical).—1. Landsmen’s clothes. For synonyms, see Togs.

2. In singular (general).—A discarded mistress.

Castor, subs. (old).—A hat. [From Latin castor, a beaver, hats having formerly been made of beaver’s fur.] For synonyms, see Golgotha.

1640. Entick, London, II., 175. Beaver hats, Demi-casters. [m.]

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict., 2 ed. Castor: lat., 1, a beaver, a beast like an otter. 2, a fine hat made of its fur.

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 5. Jerry. (Walks about, and, by mistake, takes Logic’s hat, which he puts on.) Damn the cards! Log. (Following Jerry, and rescuing castor.) Don’t nibble the felt, Jerry!

1857. O. W. Holmes, Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, ch. viii. The last effort of decayed fortune is expended in smoothing its dilapidated castor. The hat is the ultimum morieus of ‘respectability.’

1860. Morning Post, Jan. 30. Such as tin for money, castor for hat, brick for good fellow, gemman for gentleman.

Cast Sheep’s Eyes, verbal phr. (common).—To ogle; to leer or ‘make eyes’ at; formerly to look modestly and with diffidence, but always with longing or affection. [Probably in allusion to the quiet, gentle gaze of sheep.] The phrase has been varied by to cast lamb’s eyes. Fr. ginginer; lancer son prospectus, and un oeil en tirelire = an eye full of amorous expression.

1590. Greene, Francesco’s Fortunes, in wks. VIII., 191. That casting a sheepe’s eye at hir, away he goes; and euer since he lies by himselfe and pines away.

1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, V., iii. Who chances to come by but fair Nero in a sculler; And seeing Leander’s naked leg and goodly calf, Cast at him from the boat a sheep’s eye an’ a half.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xvi. There was a young lady in the room, and she threw ... many sheep’s eyes at a certain person whom I shall not name.

1864. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ch. vii. He would stand for some time casting lamb’s-eyes at the object of his affections—to the amorous audacity of the full-grown sheep he never soared.

1881. Hawley Smart, Gt. Tontine, ch. xi. It isn’t to be expected a well-bred lass like this is going to knock under the minute a young fellow makes sheep’s-eyes at her.

Cast Up Accounts.—See Accounts, to which may be added the following.

French Synonyms. Jeter du cœur—or son lest—sur carreau (general: literally to ‘throw hearts or diamonds’ or ‘throw one’s heart,’ here meaning the stomach, ‘on the floor’); compter ses chemises (popular); débecqueter (popular); deborder (popular); lâcher son goujon (general); lâcher une fusée (popular).

1607. Dekker, Westward Ho, Act v., Sc. 1. Mist. Wafer. I would not have ’em cast up their accounts here, for more than they mean to be drunk this twelve-month.

1808. R. Anderson, Cumbrld. Ball, 26. The breyde she kest up her accounts in Rachel’s lap. [m.]

Cat, subs. (old).—1. A prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack.

[1401. Pol. Poems, II., 113. Be ware of Cristis curse, and of cattis tailis.] [m.]

1535. Lyndesay, Satyre, 468. Wantonnes. Hay! as one brydlit cat, I brank. [m.]

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Cat: a common Whore.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Cat (s.) ... also a cant word for a lewd, whorish woman, or street-walker.

2. (popular).—A shortened form of cat-o’-nine-tails (q.v.).

1788. Falconbridge, Afr. Slave Tr., 40. A cat (an instrument of correction, which consists of a handle or stem, made of a rope three inches and a half in circumference, and about eighteen inches in length, at one end of which are fastened nine branches, or tails, composed of log line, with three or more knots upon each branch). [m.]

1870. London Figaro, 23 Dec. We are delighted to learn that Mr. Baron Bramwell, at the Warwick Assizes, on Saturday, sentenced a batch of street thieves to hard labour for eighteen months, and twenty lashes each, with an instrument called the cat.

1889. Globe, 26 Oct., p. 7, col. 3. The ‘Cat.’ A companion of the prisoner was convicted last session of being concerned in the assault and robbery, and was sentenced to eighteen months’ hard labour and to receive twenty-five lashes.

3. (thieves’).—A lady’s muff. [Muff = female pudendum. See sense 4.]

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 444. To steal a muff—To free a cat.

4. (popular).—The female pudendum; otherwise a pussy; French, le chat.

5. (thieves’).—A quart pot. Pint pots are called kittens. Stealing these pots is termed cat and kitten sneaking.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II., p. 118. The mistress of a lodging-house, who had conveniences for the melting of pewter-pots (called cats and kittens by the young thieves according to the size of the vessels). Ibid. I., p. 460. At this lodging-house cats and kittens are melted down.... A quart pot is a cat, and pints and half-pints are kittens.

6. (popular).—See Tame cat.

7. (common).—A monster infesting lodging houses, and assimilating, with equal readiness, cold meat and coals, spirits and paraffin, etc., etc.

1827. R. B. Peake, Comfortable Lodgings, Act I., Sc. iii. I wonder whether the cat ever comes in here, and knocks anything over? Sir Hippington Miff, here’s your health!—Ladies, yours! (Drinks.) Bless my soul! the cup’s empty! I’ll turn it over, and lay the fault at pussy’s door.

1871. Figaro, 2 July. ‘My Landlady.’ Who on my viands waxes fat?—Who keeps a most voracious cat!—Who often listens on my mat? My Landlady.

Flying cat, subs. (old).—An owl.

1690. B. E., Dictionary Canting Crew, s.v. Flutter. An owl is a Flying-Cat.

To jerk, shoot, or whip the cat; or simply, to cat. To vomit; generally from over indulgence in drink.—See Accounts and Cast up Accounts.

1609. Armin, Maids of More-cl. (1880), 70. Ile baste their bellies and their lippes till we haue ierk’t the cat with our three whippes. [m.]

1630. J. Taylor (‘Water P.’), Brood Cormor, wks. III., p. 5, col. 1. You may not say hee’s drunke.... For though he be as drunke as any rat He hath but catcht a fox, or whipt the cat.

1830. Marryat, Kings Own, ch. xxxii. I’m cursedly inclined to shoot the cat.

To whip the cat, otherwise to draw through the water with a cat, phr. (old).—1. To indulge in practical jokes. [For suggested origin, see quotation 1785.]

1614. B. Jonson, Barthol. Fair, I., iv. [n.]. I’ll be drawn with a good gib cat through the great pond at home. [m.]

1690. B. E., Dictionary Canting Crew. Catting: drawing a Fellow through a Pond with a cat.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Cat-whipping or whipping the cat: a trick often practised on ignorant country fellows, vain of their strength; by laying a wager with them, that they may be pulled through a pond by a cat; the bet being made, a rope is fixed round the waist of the party to be catted, and the end thrown across the pond, to which the cat is also fastened by a pack-thread, and three or four sturdy fellows are appointed to lead and whip the cat; these, on a signal given, seize the end of the cord, and pretending to whip the cat, haul the astonished booby through the water.

2. (tailors’, etc.).—To work at private houses. In America the term is also used by carpenters and other itinerants, especially schoolmasters who ‘board round.’ At one time it was more convenient to pay in kind than in currency; and, in rural New England, a school-teacher would be ‘boarded round’ amongst his pupils’ parents as a part of his remuneration. (See Washington Irving’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow.) This was called whipping the cat.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, 648. Whipping the cat: an old English phrase, used only by tailors and carpenters, has maintained its existence in New England, Pennsylvania, and a few other States, where it denotes the annual visit of a tailor to repair the clothes of a household. It is said to have originated in a very rough practical joke, which bears the same name in Hampshire, England, and of which, it is surmised, the tailor may have been the victim (J. R. Lowell). The simple tailors of former days liked thus to go from house to house in the rural districts, providing the families with clothing. The chief romance for the happy ‘Schneider’ was in the abundant and wholesome cheer of the farmer who employed him, and as his annual visits fell in the pudding and sausage season, he was usually crammed with that kind of ‘vegetables,’ as he facetiously called them, to his heart’s content. The only objection made to catwhipping, was that it afforded no opportunity to ‘cabbage,’ and in former days this was a serious grievance. The introduction of large manufacturing establishments, low-priced ready-made clothing, and the advent of the sewing-machine, have now nearly made an end to this itinerant occupation. The terms catwhipper and catwhipping were often facetiously, and sometimes very irreverently, applied to other itinerant professions: even ‘schoolmasters’—there were no ‘teachers,’ much less ‘educators,’ in those benighted days—were called catwhippers, when they boarded, as was quite usual, in turns with the parents of their scholars. Itinerating preachers also were, by the initiated, included in this category.

To see how the cat will jump, phr. (common).—To watch the course of events. An American equivalent is to sit on the fence.—See Fence and Jumping Cat.

1827. Scott, in Croker Pap. (1884), I., xi., 319. Had I time, I believe I would come to London merely to see how the cat jumped. [m.]

1853. Bulwer Lytton, My Novel, IV., p. 228. ‘But I rely equally on your friendly promise.’ ‘Promise! No—I don’t promise. I must first see how the cat jumps.’

1859. Lever, Davenport Dunn, III., 229. You’ll see with half an eye how the cat jumps.

1874. Sat. Rev., p. 139. This dismays the humble Liberal of the faint Southern type, who thinks that there are subjects as to which the heads of his party need not wait to see how the cat jumps.

1887. ‘Pol. Slang,’ in Cornhill Mag., June, p. 626. Those who sit on the fence—men with impartial minds, who wait to see, as another pretty phrase has it, how the cat will jump.

You kill my cat and I’ll kill your dog, phr. (common). ‘Ca’ me, ‘ca’ thee; an exchange in the matter of ‘scratching backs’—in Fr. passez moi la casse, et je t’enverrai la senne.

To let the cat out of the bag, phr. (common).—To reveal a secret; a variant with a slightly modified sense is to put one’s foot in it. [This and the kindred phrase ‘to buy a pig in a poke,’ are said to have had their origin in the bumpkin’s trick of substituting a cat for a young pig and bringing it to market in a bag. If the customer were wary the cat was let out of the bag, and there was no deal.]

1760. Lond. Mag., XXIX., p.224. We could have wished that the author ... had not let the cat out of the bag. [m.]

1782. Wolcot (‘P. Pindar’), Pair of Lyric Epistles To the Reader. But, to use a sublime phrase, as it would be letting the cat out of the bag, I have fortune.

1811. C. K. Sharpe, in Correspondence (1888), I., 475. She has let a wicked cat out of the bag to G. M. respecting his mother.

1855. Mrs. Gaskell, North and South, ch. xliv. You needn’t look so frightened because you have let the cat out of the bag to a faithful old hermit like me. I shall never name his having been in England.

1888. Macdermott [on the case of Crawford v. Dilke]. This noble representative of everything good in Chelsea, He let the cat, the naughty cat, right out of the Gladstone bag.

Who ate or stole the cat? phr. (common).—A gentleman whose larder was frequently broken by bargees, had a cat cooked and placed as a decoy. It was taken and eaten, and became a standing jest against the pilferers.

To lead a cat and dog life phr. (popular).—To quarrel night and day. Said of married (or unmarried) couples.

To turn cat in the pan, phr. (old).—To ‘rat’; to reverse one’s position through self-interest; to play the turncoat. [The derivation is absolutely unknown. The one generally received—that ‘cat’ is a corruption of ‘cate’ or ‘cake’—is historically untenable.]

c. 1559. Old Play, ‘Marriage of Witt and Wisdome.’ Sc. 3. Now am I true araid like a phesitien; I am as very a turncote as the wethercoke of Poles; For now I will calle my name Due Disporte. So, so, finely I can turne the catt in the pane.

1593. 4 Lett. Conf., in wks. (Grosart) II., 286. If it bee a home booke at his first conception, let it be a home booke still, and turne not cat in the panne.

1625. Bacon, Essays (of Cunning), p. 441 (Arber). There is a Cunning, which we in England call, The Turning of the Cat in the Pan, which is, when that which a Man says to another, he laies it, as if Another had said it to him.

c. 1720. Song, ‘The Vicar of Bray.’ ‘When George in pudding time came in, And moderate men looked big, sir, He turned a cat-in-pan once more, And so became a Whig, sir.’

1816. Scott, Old Mortality, ch. xxxv. ‘O, this precious Basil will turn cat in pan with any man!’ replied Claverhouse.

To feel as though a cat had kittened in one’s mouth, phr. (popular).—To ‘have a mouth’ after drunkenness.

Many other phrases and proverbial sayings might, more or less justifiably, be classed as slang in this connection; e.g., to fight like Kilkenny cats; to grin like a Cheshire cat; not room enough to swing a cat; able to make a cat speak, and a man dumb; who shot the cat (the last a reproach addressed to volunteers), etc.

Catamaran, subs. (colloquial).—A vixenish old woman; also a cross-grained person of either sex. [Cf., Catamount. Probably associated with the colloquial use of cat, a quarrelsome, vicious woman]. For synonyms, see Geezer.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, ch. vi. The cursed drunken old catamaran, cried he, I’ll go and cut her down by the head.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. lxxv. ‘What a woman that Mrs. Mackenzie is!’ cries F. B. ‘What an infernal tartar and catamaran!’

1861. Macmillan’s Magazine, June, p. 113. She was such an obstinate old catamaran.

Catamount, Catamountain, or Cat O’Mountain, subs. (American).—A shrew. [Cf., Catamaran and Beaumont and Fletcher’s use of the word for a wild man from the mountains, itself a transferred sense of catamount = a leopard or panther.]

1616. Fletcher, Cust. of Country, I., i. The rude claws of such a cat o’ mountain!

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., ch., xii. She was a dreadful cross-grained woman, a real catamount, as savage as a she-bear that has cubs.

Cat and Mouse, subs., phr. (rhyming slang).—A house.

Catastrophe, subs. (old).—The tail or latter end. Cf., the Falstaffism ‘I’ll tickle your catastrophe.’

Catawampous, Catawamptiously, adj. and adv. (popular).—With avidity; fiercely; eagerly; or violently destructive. See Catawampus.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch., xxi., 216. There air some catawampous chawers in the small way too, as graze upon a human pretty strong.

1853. Lytton, My Novel, bk. X., ch. xx. If a man like me ... is to be catawampously champed up by a mercenary selfish cormorant of a capitalist.

18(?). F. Burnand, The White Cat. Don’t hurt me; spare a poor unhappy pup, Or I’ll be catawampously chawed up.

Catawampus, subs.—Vermin, especially those that sting and bite. [Apparently formed from Catawampous (q.v.).]

1880. Mortimer Collins, Thoughts in My Garden, vol. I., p. 244. Look at their [spiders’] value in destroying wasps and blue-bottles, gnats, midges, and all manner of catawampuses, as the ladies call them.

Catch, subs. (colloquial).—A man or woman matrimonially desirable; formerly in a canting sense, a prize or booty [see quot. 1877]. A woman who is ‘no great catch’ is in French argot termed une grognotte.

1593. Shakspeare, Taming of the Shrew, Act ii., Sc. 1, 333. Bap. The gain I seek is—quiet in the match. Gre. No doubt but he hath got a quiet catch.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.) Catch (s.) ... also a cant word for a prize, booty, etc.

1842. Comic Almanack, p. 333. Angelina Ampletin was one of the prettiest girls in Pimlico, and if there was any truth in rumour, very far from one of the worst catches.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 244. Well, as it was her catch, I thought as I’d consult along of her whether we should take the £200.

Catch or Cut a Crab, verbal phr. (common).—There are various ways of catching a crab, as for example, (1) to turn the blade of the oar or ‘feather’ under water at the end of the stroke, and thus be unable to recover; (2) to lose control of the oar at the middle of the stroke by ‘digging’ too deeply; or (3) to miss the water altogether. An English variant is to ‘capture a cancer,’ an American form being ‘to catch a lobster.’—See Lobster.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple [ed. 1846], ch viii., p. 206, s.v.

1844. Puck, p. 134. Now, Johnson, thou wilt surely rue! Didst ever pull before? (Brown had been up to fish at Kew. And caught—of crabs—a store.)

1849. John Smith (J. D. Lewis) Hark, the gun has gone thrice, and now off in a trice, With the Johnians we’re soon on a level. When Hicks, who’s no dab, with his oar cuts a crab, And our coxswain he swears like the Devil.

1857. Hood, Pen and Pencil Pictures, p. 144. Awful muff! Can’t pull two strokes without catching as many crabs; he’d upset the veriest tub on the river.

1872. Daily News, 10 Sept. ‘London Rowing Club Regatta.’ The excitement and fun engendered by the numerous scrimmages resulted in ‘fouls’ and crabs of most portentous magnitude.

Catch a Tartar, verbal phr. (popular).—To unexpectedly meet with one’s superior; to fall into one’s own trap; having a design upon another, to be caught oneself. [Explanation may be found, perhaps, in the horror born of the atrocities of the Tartar hordes who devastated Eastern Europe in the reign of St. Louis of France. Cf., Tartar, a person of irritable temper.] An American variant is to catch on a snag (q.v.).

1682. Dryden, Prol. to King and Queen, in wks., p. 456 (Globe). When men will needlessly their freedom barter for lawless power, sometimes they catch a tarter.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xxx. Who, looking at me with a contemptuous sneer, exclaimed, Ah, ah! have you caught a tarter?

1778. Fanny Burney, Diary, 23 Aug. ‘Ah,’ he (Johnson) added, ‘they will little think what a tarter you carry to them.’

1857. O. W. Holmes, Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, ch. v. When the Danish pirates made descents upon the English coast, they caught a few tartars occasionally, in the shape of Saxons.

c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, ‘Unhappy Because it Can’t Last.’ They say two heads are better than one, so I took a wife and caught a tartar, and found two of a trade could never agree, and proved the proverb that marry in haste repent at leisure.

Catch-’em-Alive, or Alivo, subs. phr. (common).—1. A fly-paper. [In allusion to the sticky substance smeared over the paper which, attracting the flies, literally ‘catches them alive.’]

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 38. They used to ... call ’em Egyptian flypapers, but now they use merely the word ‘flypapers,’ or ‘fly-destroyers,’ or ‘fly-catchers,’ or ‘catch ’em alive, oh’s.’

1857. Dickens, Dorrit, wks. I., ch. xvi., 122. And such coats of varnish that every holy personage served for a fly trap, and became what is now called in the vulgar tongue a catch-em-alive, O.

1890. Globe, 16 April, p. 1, col. 3. Typhoid microbes take as kindly to sluggish waters as flies do to catch-em-alive-oh’s.

2. (common).—A tooth-comb; a ‘louse-trap.’

3. (general).—The female pudendum.

Catch-Fart, subs. (old).—A footman, or page boy. [A combination of catch, in its ordinary sense, + fart (q.v.). Fourbesque, bolognino and falcone (‘a falcon’).]

Catch it, verb (colloquial).—To get a scolding or castigation; to get into trouble; to ‘come in for it.’ For synonyms, see Tan and Wig.

1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ch. xxxviii. We all thought Tom was about to catch it.

1848. Mrs. Gaskell, M. Barton, xxxi. I shall catch it down stairs, I know.

1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, xvi., 218. He catches it if he does not bring home a fair proportion to his wife.

Catch me! or Catch me at it! phr. (colloquial).—An intimation that the person speaking will not do such and such a thing. An analogous phrase is don’t you wish you may get it!

1780. Mrs. Cowley, The Belle’s Stratagem, Act iii., Sc. 2. First Gent. May I be a bottle, and an empty bottle, if you catch me at that! Why, I am going to the masquerade.

1830. Galt, Lawrie, T., V., iv. (1849), 207. Catch me again at such costly daffin.

1841. R. B. Peake, Court and City, I., i. Satisfaction! Catch me at that!

1846. Dickens, Dombey and Son, I., p. 112, col. 3. ‘You have a committee to-day at three, you know.’ ‘And one at three, three-quarters,’ added Mr. Dombey, ‘Catch you at forgetting anything!’ exclaimed Carker.

Catch on, verb (colloquial).—To understand; to grasp in meaning; to apprehend; to attach or fix oneself to; to quickly seize an opportunity and turn it to advantage. [A literal translation, in fact, into the language of slang of the Latin apprehendere.] A French equivalent is piger, but for synonyms, see Twig.

1884. Lisbon (Dakota) Star, 27 June. Now is the time to catch on in order to keep up with the procession. [m.]

1889. The Nation, 19 Dec., p. 499, col. 1.... The farmer knows only the traffic of his market town and his county, and he is slow to catch on to the new and progressive.

1890. Globe, Feb. 13, p. 1. col. 5. Well, assuming that the notion were to catch on, and the example of this enterprising mother to be generally imitated in the upper orbits of the social system, would there be a balance of advantage to the nation?

Catch on a Snag, verbal phr. (American).—to catch a Tartar (q.v.); to meet with one’s superior.

1887. Stuart Cumberland, The Queen’s Highway. In rough Western parlance a man who falls in with such a player (a man, who, bearing a high reputation for all-round godliness, is a crack ‘poker’ player) catches on a snag, and it is said that everyone who visits the North-West comes across, sooner or later, the snag on which he is to catch.

Catch on the Hop, verbal phr. (popular).—Properly to catch or have on the hip, as Gratiano catches Shylock.—See Hop.

c. 1869. The Chickaleary Bloke, sung by Vance. For to get me on the hop, or on my ‘tibby’ drop, You must wake up very early in the morning.

Catch-Pole, subs. (old).—A warrant-officer; a bum-bailiff. A very old term formerly in respectable use, but employed contemptuously from the sixteenth century. [From catch, to arrest, or stop, + pole or poll, the head.] Fourbesque, foco or fuoco = fire. Cf., Bum-bailiff.

1377. Langl., P. Pl., bk. XVIII., 46. Crucifige, quod a cacchepolle I warante hym a wicche. [m.]

c. 1510. Barclay, Mrr. Good Mann. (1570), G., iv. Be no towler, catchpoll, nor customer.

1601. B. Johnson, Poetaster, III. Catchpole, loose the gentlemen, or by my velvet arms, etc.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. xcvii. The catchpole, after a diligent search, had an opportunity of executing the writ upon the defendant.

1859. Sala, Gaslight and Daylight, ch. xiii. You are brought there by a catchpole, and kept there under lock and key until your creditors are paid.

Catch the Wind of the Word, verbal phr. (Irish).—To quickly understand the meaning of what is said. For synonyms, see Twig.

Catchy, adj. (colloquial).—Vulgarly or cheaply attractive; of a quality to take the eye or ear; easily caught and remembered (as a tune). Wrongly used in quot. 1885.

1831. Fraser’s Mag., III., 679. A catchy, stage-like effect. [m.]

1885. S. O. Addy, in N. and Q., 6 S., xii., 143. This seemed to be like one of those catchy questions which examiners in law and history are said to ‘stump’ the candidates.

Caterpillar, subs. (old).—A soldier. For synonyms, see Mudcrusher.

Caterwaul, verb (colloquial).—Properly to make a noise like cats at rutting time; to woo, to ‘make love.’ The quotations show the process of transition from the old figurative usage of the word, to be ‘in heat,’ ‘to be lecherous,’ to the current sense. For synonyms, see Firkytoodle.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, in wks. V., 284. The friars and monks caterwawld from the abbots and priors to the novices.

1700. Congreve, Way of the World, Act i., Sc. 9. An old aunt, who loves catterwauling better than a conventicle.

1771. Smollet, Humphry Clinker, l. 64. I hope you have worked a reformation among them [servant-maids], as I exhorted you in my last, and set their hearts upon better things than they can find in junketting and caterwauling with the fellows of the country.

1884. Hawley Smart, Post to Finish, ch. xvii. From what I hear, you came to Riddleton fooling after my daughter. Now, I’ll have no caterwauling of that sort.

Catever, subs. (common).—A queer, or singular affair; anything poor or bad. [From the Lingua Franca, and Italian cattivo, bad.] Variously spelled by the lower orders.—Hotten.

Catfish Death, subs. (American).—Suicide by drowning.

c. 1889. Chicago Press [quoted by Barrère].... driving his sweetheart to lunacy and a catfish death, by his dime-museum freaks.

Catgut-Scraper, subs. (common).—A fiddler. [From catgut, the material of which fiddle strings are made, + scraper, one that rubs or scrapes.] Sometimes simply scraper or catgut; the latter of which is also used to signify the music produced. Also Rosin-the-bow and Teaser of the Catgut.

1633. Massinger, Guardian, IV., ii. Wire-string and catgut, men and strong-breathed heautbois. [m.]

1785. Burns, Jolly Beggars. Her charms had struck a sturdy caird, As weel’s a poor gut-scraper.

1796. Wolcot (‘P. Pindar’), Tristia, wks. (1812) V., 267. Behold! the Catgut-scraper with his croud Commands at will the house of hospitality.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 21. Or they will call to the orchestra, saying, ‘Now then you catgut-scraper! Let’s have a ha’purth of liveliness.’

Cat Harping Fashion, adv. phr. (nautical).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Drinking cross ways, and not as usual over the left thumb.

Cat Heads, subs. (old).—The paps. For synonyms, see Dairy.

Cathedral, subs. (Winchester College).—A high hat. [So called because only worn when going to the Cathedral.] For synonyms, see Golgotha.

Adj. (old)—Old-fashioned; antique.

1690. B. E., Dictionary Canting Crew. Cathedral: old-fashioned, out of Date, Ancient.

1755. Johnson. Cathedral: in low phrase, antique, venerable, old.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Cathedral: old-fashioned, an old cathedral bedstead, chair, etc.

Catharine Puritans, subs. phr. (University).—Members of St. Catharine’s Hall, at Cambridge. [Puritan from the pun on the words Catharine and Καθαίρειν = to purify.] They were also called Doves (q.v.).

Catherine Hayes, subs. (Australian).—See quot. [The derivation may presumedly be traced to the immense popularity of the Irish singer at the antipodes.]

1859. Frank Fowler, Southern Light and Shadows, p. 53. [A liquor consisting of] claret, sugar, and nutmeg.

Cat’s, subs. (University).—A short name for St. Catharine’s Hall.

Cat’s Men, subs. (University).—Members of St. Catharine’s Hall.

Catherine Wheel.—See Cartwheel.

Cat-Lap, subs. (common).—Thin potations of any sort, especially tea. Such a beverage being so feeble as to be only fit for women. For synonyms, see Scandal broth.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Cat-lap: tea, called also scandal broth.

1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, ch. xiii. We have tea and coffee aboard ... You are at the age to like such catlap.

1864. M. E. Braddon, Aurora Floyd, ch. xvii. ‘I’ve mashed the tea for ’ee,’ said the ‘softy’; ‘I thought you’d like a coop.’ The trainer shrugged his shoulders. ‘I can’t say I’m particular attached to the cat-lap,’ he said, laughing.

Cat-Market, subs. (common).—A number of people all talking at once. ‘You make a row like a cat-market’—a general ‘caterwauling.’

Cat-Match, subs. (old).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Cat Match: when a rook or cully is engaged amongst bad bowlers.

Catoller or Catolla, subs. (old).—A noisy, prating fellow.—See quot.

1832. Pierce Egan, Book of Sports, p. 70. [Catolla is given as a foolish, betting man.]

Cat-o’-Nine-Tails or Cat, subs. (common).—A nine-lashed scourge now used for the punishment of criminals, but until 1881 the authorised means of punishment in the British army and navy. [From cat, a beast with claws, + o’ + nine tails, the nine knotted lashes.] History is against the view of some military authorities that the cat-o’-nine-tails was a Batavian importation of William III., and that the word ‘cat’ is derived from the Sclavonic kat, an executioner, or from katowae, to lash or torture. Another theory is that it was introduced at the time of the Armada (1588), when vast numbers of these ‘straunge whips’ were found in the captured ships of the Spaniards. A ballad of the period declares of the Spaniards that—

They made such whippes wherewith no man Would seeme to strike a dogge; So strengthened eke with brasen tagges And filde so roughe and thinne, That they would force at every lash The bloud abroad to spinne.

This view is not inconsistent with the quotations, the first of which antedates the earliest given in the N.E.D. by thirty years.] In prison parlance the cat-o’-nine-tails is known as number one or the nine-tailed bruiser (q.v.), the birch as number two (q.v.).

1665. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. iii., p. 28 (1874). A Cat of Nine-tails (as he called it) being so many small cords.

1702. Vanbrugh, False Friend, prologue. You dread reformers of an impious age, You awful cat-a-nine-tails to the stage.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. v. ‘I’ll bring him to the gangway, and anoint him with a cat-a-nine-tails.’

1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., pt. III., bk. VII., ch. iii. Rash coalised kings, such a fire have ye kindled; yourselves fireless, your fighters animated only by drill-sergeants, mess-room moralities, and the drummer’s cat.

Cat-Party; also Bitch-Party, subs. (common).—A party consisting entirely of women. [From cat, a woman, + party.] Cf., Stag-party, and see Hen-Party for synonyms.

Cats, subs. (commercial).—Atlantic Seconds were formerly so-called for telegraphic purposes.

Cats and Dogs. To rain cats and dogs, sometimes extended to and pitchforks and shovels, phr. (popular).—To rain heavily. [The French catadoupe, a waterfall, has been suggested as the origin. Another etymon has been found in the Greek κατὰ δόξαν in reference to the downpour being out of the common. Possibly Swift, who seems to have been the first to have used the expression, may have evolved it out of his own description of a city shower (1710).]

Now from all parts the swelling kennels flow, And bear their trophies with them as they go.... Drown’d puppies, stinking sprats, all drench’d in mud, Dead cats, and turnip-tops, come tumbling down the flood.]

1738. Swift, Pol. Convers., dial. 2. I know Sir John will go, though he was sure it would rain cats and dogs.

1819 (Feb. 25). Shelley to Peacock, in Letters, etc. (Camelot), p. 264. After two months of cloudless serenity, it began raining cats and dogs.

1837. Barham, I. L. (Blasphemer’s Warning). But it rains cats and dogs and you’re fairly wet through Ere you know where to turn, what to say, or to do.

Cat’s Foot. To live under the cat’s foot, phr. (old).—To be under petticoat government; hen-pecked. Cf., Apron-string.—See Cat’s-paw.

Cat’s Head, subs. (Winchester College).—The end of a shoulder of mutton; further explained by quotation.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 84. His meal [dinner] took place at six o’clock p.m. in College (in Commoners’ it was at one); it was ample in quantity, and excellent in quality. That of the Præfects was nicely served in joints, that of the Inferiors was divided into portions, (Dispars; there were, if I remember rightly, six of these to a shoulder, and eight to a leg of mutton, the other joints being divided in like proportion. All these ‘Dispars’ had different names; the thick slice out of the centre was called ‘a Middle Cut,’ that out of the shoulder a ‘Fleshy,’ the ribs ‘Racks,’ the loin ‘Long Dispars’; these were the best, the more indifferent were the end of the shoulder, or Cat’s head, the breast, or ‘Fat Flab,’ etc., etc.)

Catskin-Earls, subs. (parliamentary).—The three senior earls in the House of Lords, viz., the Earls of Shrewsbury, Derby, and Huntingdon, the only three earldoms before the seventeenth century now existing, save those that (like Arundel, Rutland, etc.), are merged in higher titles, and the anomalous earldom of Devon (1553), resuscitated in 1831. [A correspondent of Notes and Queries (7 S. ix., p. 314) suggests that the reason of the application may be that in the seventeenth or late in the sixteenth century an order was issued for the use of ermine instead of the skin of cats—(but were such skins then used?)—for the robes of a peer. If so, however, it is curious that there are not ‘catskin dukes’ and ‘catskin barons’ as well. There is yet another theory: an earl’s robes consist (now) of but three rows of ermine; but in some early representations they are shown with four, the same as (now) a duke; and it has been suggested that these four rows (quatre-skins) may have given the name of catskin.]

1861–75. Dean Hook, Life of Cardinal Pole, vide note, p. 264. The Earl of Huntingdon is one of the three Catskin Earls of the present day.

Cat’s-Meat, subs. (common).—The lungs. [The ‘lights’ or lungs of animals are usually sold to feed cats.]

Catso, subs. and intj. (old).—The penis. Murray says: ‘Also catzo.’ [a. It. cazzo = membrum virile. Also an exclamation, Cf., the English ejaculation, Balls! Florio says: ‘also as cazzica, interjection, “What! God’s me! God forbid! tush!”’] Frequent in seventeenth century in the Italian senses; also = rogue, scamp, cullion. Cf., Fr. cul, couillé and couillon as terms of contempt; also see the later Gadso.

Cat’s-Paw or Cat’s-Foot, subs. (common).—A dupe or tool. [A reference to the fable (Bertrand et Raton) of a monkey using the paw of a cat, dog, or fox, to pull roasted chestnuts off the fire, current in the sixteenth century, but varying considerably in details. The earliest printed version occurs in John Sambucus’ Emblemata (Plantin, Antwerp, 1564), where the sufferer is a dog, and not a cat. There is, however, a story of the same kind told (Maiol. Coll. vii., scil Simon Maiolus, Astensis, Episcopus Vulturariensis, Dies Caniculares, h.e. Colloquia XXIII., Physica, Collog. vii., p. 249, Ursellis, 1600) of Pope Julius II., 1503–13 [see N. and Q., 6 S., viii., 35.]]

[1657. M. Hawke. Killing is murder. These he useth as the Monkey did the cat’s paw to scrape the nuts out of the fire.]

1782. Geo. Parker, Humorous Sketches, p. 140. They lug in Spain, to their assistance, a cat’s-paw made.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. lvi. Sir Robert, who had rather begun to suspect that his plebeian neighbour had made a cat’s-paw of him, inclined his head stiffly.

1878. M. E. Braddon, Cloven Foot, ch. xli. He felt angry with himself for having been in some wise a cat’s-paw to serve the young man’s malice.

Cat-Sticks, subs. (old).—Thin legs. [In comparison to the stick used by boys in the game of tip-cat.] For synonyms see Drumsticks.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

Cat’s-Water, subs. (common).—Gin. [From cat, a woman + water, a white liquid.] Cf., Bitches’ wine = champagne. For synonyms, see Drinks.

Cattie, adj. and adv. (printers’).—An imperfect or ‘smutty’ look on a printed sheet, caused by an oily or unclean roller.

Catting, verbal subs. (common).—1. Vomiting.—See Cat, verb.

2. (venery).—Running after loose women; molrowing (q.v.) for synonyms.

1725. New Canting Dictionary. Catting: whoring.

Cattle, subs. (common).—A term of contempt applied to human beings. Cf., Queer cattle, Kittle cattle. The generic names of the lower creation are pretty generally used in such transferred senses; e.g., Queer fish, Downy bird, Pigeon, Rook, Sad dog, etc. In England mostly employed disparagingly, but in the U.S.A. bug—here the name of one of the most offensive of vermin, but there the common term for all varieties of beetles—is used in a good sense; e.g., Big bug.

1579. Gosson, School of Abuse, p. 27 (Arber’s ed.). We have infinite Poets, and Pipers, and suche peeuishe cattel among vs in Englande.

1600. Shakspeare, As You Like It, Act iii., Sc. 2, 435. Boyes and women are ... cattle of this colour.

188(?) G. R. Sims, Dagonet Ballads (‘Moll Jarvis’). Queer cattle is women to deal with? Lord bless ye, yer honour, they are!

[Cattle is often used of horses. See Harrison Ainsworth’s Rookwood: Have you any horses? Our Cattle are all blown. Also Goldsmith’s ‘She Stoops to Conquer.’]

Cattle-Bug, subs. (American).—See Bug, subs., sense 4.

Caudge-Pawed, adj. (old).—Left-handed.—Grose.

Caught on the Fly, phr. (American).—‘Caught in the act.’ An equivalent of ‘caught on the hop’ or ‘hip.’—See Hop.

Cauliflower, subs. (old).—1. A clerical wig supposed to resemble a cauliflower; modish in the time of Queen Anne.

2. (old).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

3. (popular).—The foaming head of a tankard of beer. In France, a glass of beer without any head is termed un bock sans linge or sans faux-col.

1882. Daily Telegraph, Oct. 10, p. 5, col. 4. This gave the porter a fine frothy or cauliflower head. [m.]

4. (military).—In plural.—The Forty-seventh Regiment of Foot, so called from its white facings. It is also known as The Lancashire Lads from its county title.

Caulk, subs. and verb (nautical).—1. Sleep; to sleep. In substantive form it sometimes appears as caulking. To caulk formerly meant ‘to pick out a soft plank,’ i.e., to lie down on deck; to sleep with one’s clothes on. [Cf., Bundling.]

1836. Marryat, Midshipman Easy, ch. xix. But it’s no go with old Smallsole, if I want a bit of caulk.

1851. Chambers’ Papers, No. 52, p. 30. Sleeping upon deck is called, I know not why, calking.

2. Verb.—To cease; to shut up; i.e., to stop one’s talk or leave off talking. [This usage is obviously derived from the legitimate meaning of the word, to stop up crevices and seams.] For synonyms, see Stow it.

3. (common).—To copulate; to do the ‘act of kind.’ For synonyms, see Ride.

Caulker, subs. (common).—1. A dram; a stiff glass of grog—generally applied to a finishing bumper. When this happens to be sherry and follows the drinking of red wines it is called a whitewash (q.v.). [There are three suggested derivations: (1) that it is a punning reference to caulking, that which serves to keep out the wet; (2) because such a draught takes a deal of swallowing; and (3) that it is a corruption of corker (q.v.), a regular stopper.] For synonyms, see Go.

1808. J. Mayne, Siller Gun, 89 (Jam.). The magistrates wi’ loyal din, Tak off their cau’kers. [m.]

1836. M. Scott, Cruise of the Midge, ch. vi. We ... finished off with a caulker of good cognac.

1849. C. Kingsley, Alton Locke, ch. xxi. ‘Take a caulker? Summat heavy, then?’

1871. A. Forbes, My Experiences of the War between France and Germany, II., p. 201. The Mobile officer joins us heartily in a caulker, and does not need to be pressed to take a little supper.

1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, ch. viii. The caulker of rum served out under the break of the poop by the light of a bull’s-eye lamp.

2. (popular).—A lie; anything surprising or incredible. For synonyms, see Whopper.

1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, ch. xxxi. I also took care that she should never afterwards be able to charge me with having told her a real caulker.

Caution, subs. (popular).—A colloquialism used both of men and things. Anything out of the common, or that conveys a warning; something wonderful or staggering; something to be avoided. Anything that causes surprise, wonder, fear, or indeed any uncommon emotion, is a caution to this, that, or the other. At Oxford in 1865 it was employed to designate a ‘guy’ or ‘cure.’

1835. C. F. Hoffman, Winter in the West, p. 234. The way the icy blast would come down the bleak shore was a caution.

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. ii. ‘The way he cleaned out a southerner, a fine young Carolinian, who made a series of matches with him, was, as the Squire himself would have said, a caution.’

1861. Whyte Melville, Good for Nothing, ch. i. Such a clench of the slender hand and stamp of the slender foot as constitute what our American friends term a caution.

Cautionary, adj. (American).—Pertaining to that which is a caution (q.v.).

1843–4. Haliburton, Sam Slick in England. Well, the way the cow cut dirt was cautionary; she cleared stumps, ditches, windfalls, and everything.

Cavaulting or Cavolting, verbal subs. (old).—Sexual intercourse. [From the Lingua Franca cavolta, the equivalent of horsing or riding, both of which are frequently used in the same sense. Italian cavaliero = a rake or debauchee.] Cf., Cavort. For synonyms, see Greens.

Cavaulting School, subs. (old).—A house of ill-fame.—See Cavaulting, and for synonyms, see Nanny-shop.

Cave or Cave in, verb (American).—To give way when opposition can no longer be maintained; to break down; to ‘turn up.’ [Derived from the practice of navvies in digging earthworks, when the lower part is undermined until it can no longer sustain the overhanging mass. Murray says all the earliest instances of cave in, in print, are from America, and its literary use appears to have arisen there; but, as the word is given as East Anglian by Forby [1830], and is widely used in Eng. dialects, it is generally conjectured to have reached the U.S. from East Anglia.] The French has barrer; the Spanish acomodarse; and the Fourbesque battere.

English Synonyms. To knuckle under; knock under; give in; sing small; turn it up; chuck it up; jack up; climb down (q.v.); throw up the sponge; chuck it; go down; go out; cut it; cut the rope (pugilistic), etc.

1837–40. Haliburton, Sam Slick, Hum. Nat., 55 (Bardett). He was a plucky fellow, and warn’t a goin’ to cave in that way.

1862. Brown (‘Artemus Ward’), His Book. I kin cave in enny man’s head that, etc.

1869. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Innocents at Home. In the meantime the tropical sun was beating down and threatening to cave the top of my head in.

1883. Hawley Smart, Hard Lines, ch. xxii. ‘The Russians will cave when they find we are in earnest.’

Cave! intj. (Eton College).—‘Beware!’ A byword among boys out of bounds when a master is in sight. [From the Latin. The modern, ‘beware of the dog’ was rendered cave canem by the Romans.]

Caviare, subs. (literary).—The obnoxious matter ‘blacked out’ by the Russian Press Censor. Every foreign periodical entering Russia is examined for objectionable references or ‘irreligious’ matter, the removal whereof is accomplished in two ways. If the articles or items are bulky, they are torn or cut out bodily. If they are brief, they are ‘blacked out’ by means of a rectangular stamp about as wide as an ordinary newspaper column, and ‘cross-hatched’ in such a way that, when inked and dabbed upon the paper, it makes a close network of white lines and black diamonds. The peculiar mottled or grained look of a page thus treated has suggested the attributive caviare: a memory of the look of the black salted caviare spread upon a slice of bread and butter. A verb has been formed from the noun, and every Russian now understands that ‘to caviare’ = to ‘black out.’ Of course as long as the Russian Government permits the entry of letters without censorial examination, any citizen of St. Petersburg or Moscow can write to Berlin, Paris, or London, and ask to have cut out and forwarded in a sealed envelope either a particular article that has been caviared, or all articles relating to Russia that may appear in any specified newspaper or magazine.

1890. St. James’s Gaz., 25 April, p. 7, col. 1. Every one of Mr. Kennan’s articles in the Century has been caviared.

Cavort, verb (American).—To prance; to frisk; to run or ride in a heedless or purposeless manner. [From the Lingua Franca cavolta = prancing on horseback. Some, however, derive it from ‘curvetting’ = capering for show; there are also, as possible sources, the Spanish cavar, the pawing of a spirited horse; and the French courbetter.]—See Cavaulting.

1848. Major Jones’s Courtship, 41 (Bartlett). A whole gang ... came ridin’ up, and reinin’ in, and prancin’, and cavortin’.

1883. Bret Harte, In the Carquinez Woods, ch. i. ‘If we had’nt been cavorting round this yer spot for the last half-hour I’d swear there was a shanty not a hundred yards away,’ said the sheriff.

1889. Puck’s Library, April, p. 12. Being an educated man, I feel ten thousand woes Cavorting for the populace In illustrated clothes.

Cawbawn.—See Cobbon.

Caw Handed, or Caw Pawed.—Awkward; not dexterous, ready or nimble.—Grose [1785].

Caxton, subs. (theatrical).—A wig. [A corruption of caxon, a kind of wig.] In Grose’s time a caxon signified an old weather-beaten wig. Cf., Cauliflower.

Cayuse, subs. (American).—A nickname given by Mormon girls to young ‘Latter Day Saints’: the ‘Yahoos’ of the Gentiles. [The cayuse is properly the common Indian pony. In explanation, it must be noted that there exists among Americans a passionate love of horses. A near and dear friend, an old companion, or men and women whose traits of character command respect and homage, are familiarly ‘horses.’ A distinguished Kentuckian carried away by enthusiasm for Miss Kemble’s acting, started to his feet, and with tremendous energy roared out, ‘By heaven she’s a “horse.”’] See Old Hog.

Caz, subs. (thieves’).—Cheese.—[See Cassan.]

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dictionary. Caz: cheese; ‘As good as caz,’ is a phrase signifying that any projected fraud or robbery may be easily and certainly accomplished.

Caze, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum.

Cedar, subs. (Eton College).—1. A pair-oared boat inrigged, without canvas, and very ‘crank.’ [From the material.]

2. (prison).—A pencil. [This, like the foregoing, is derived from the wood of which both are made.]

Celestial Poultry, subs. (popular).—Angels. [An allusion to the mythological wings of ‘men out of the body.’]

Celestials, subs. (military).—The Ninety-seventh Regiment of Foot. [So nicknamed from its facings of sky blue.]

1856. Notes and Queries, 2 S., ii., p. 215. The 97th too is not mentioned by your correspondents as far as I have seen, the celestials.

1871. Chambers’ Journal, Dec. 23, p. 801. ‘Celestials’—the facings of the ... corps being sky blue.

2. sing. (common).—A ‘turn-up’ or ‘pug’ nose. For synonyms, see Conk.

3. (colloquial).—The Chinese. The Chinese Empire is spoken of as the Celestial Empire.

Cellier, subs. (old).—An out-and-out, unmitigated lie. [A word of great interest, illustrating the temporary use for certain purposes of the name of a certain person, as in the cases of Burke, Boycott, Bishop, and Salisbury (q.v.). The Meal-tub Plot in 1680 was the concoction of Thomas Dangerfield and Elizabeth Cellier, a Roman Catholic midwife. Forged documents which Dangerfield hid in Colonel Mansel’s lodgings were upon his deposition found there by Government officers; but the fraud was soon discovered, and Dangerfield was committed to Newgate. On his trial he endeavoured to throw the entire blame on Mrs. Cellier, and asserted that the original papers were all to be found in her house hidden in a meal tub. This turned out to be true, and Mrs. Cellier was committed to prison. On her trial she managed to prove that Dangerfield was wholly unworthy of credit, and her marvellous impudence and vigorous mendacity led to her own acquittal, and made her name for the time the equivalent of ‘an out-and-out lie.’ After her trial she thanked the jurors for giving her a good deliverance, and offered to ‘serve their ladies with the same fidelity in their deliveries.’] For synonyms, see Whopper.

1682. Popes Harbinger, p. 79. That’s a Celier, Sir, a modern and most proper phrase to signifie any Egregious Lye.

Cellar-Flap, subs. (common).—A step or dance performed within the compass of (say) a Cellar-Flap. The object of the Whitechapel artist in the dance is to achieve as many changes of step as possible without shifting his ground: his action being restricted to the feet and legs. An old equivalent is To Cut Capers on a Trencher; also Double-Shuffle (q.v.).

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 219. Others again would indulge in a break-down, or cellar-flap dance, dreadfully to the discomfort of the men in the cells below.

Cent. Not worth a cent, phr.—See Care and Fig.

Cent Per Cent, subs. (common).—A usurer. [Literally one who charges an exorbitant rate of interest, here symbolized as a hundred for every hundred. Quoted by Grose (1785).] For synonyms, see Sixty per Cent.

Centre-of-Bliss, subs. (common).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Centurion, subs. (cricket).—A batsman who scores a hundred runs. [From centurion, the commander of a ‘century,’ in the Roman Army.]

1886. Graphic, 31 July, p. 107, col. 2. Some other centurions have been Chatterton (108) for M.C.C., Shuter (103, not out) for Trent.

Century, subs. (turf).—A hundred pounds; or at cricket, etc., a score of a hundred. Originally a division of the Roman Army numbering 100 men. In English it was and is in common use to signify a group of a hundred. Shakspeare, in Cymbeline, iv., 2, 391 [1611], writes a ‘century’ of prayers. See also A. C. Swinburne, A Century of Rondels and W. E. Henley, A Century of Artists (1889). Cf., Monkey, Pony, etc.

1864. Derby Day, p. 131. ‘I’m open to a bet. I’ll lay you an even century about Nimrod.’

1869. Daily News, July 29. ‘Police Court Report.’ After this he said he searched the breeches pockets that were lying by the side of the bed, and took half a century worth of property from them.

1883. Echo, Nov. 1, p. 4, col. 2. Golding ... purchased Passaic from F. Archer for a century.

1883. Graphic, August 11, p. 138, col. 2. His batting this year has been of the highest order, as witnesses among his many good performances that against the Players, when he marked his century.

Cert, subs. (sporting).—A certainty, of which it is an abbreviation. With special reference in racing circles to events looked upon as absolutely sure. Variants are a dead, or moral, certainty; A dead ’un; and a moral.

1859. Letter from Edward S. Taylor to John Camden Hotten, 22 Dec. This edition will sell to a dead certainty.

1889. Man of the World, June 29. ‘Love-in-Idleness is bound to take the Rous Memorial, and I hear Pioneer is a cert. for the St. James’s.’

Certainties, subs. (printers’).—Infants of the male sex.—See Uncertainties.

Chafe, verb (old).—To thrash soundly. [Chafe = ‘to warm,’ ‘to rub with the hand.’ Cf., Anoint.] For synonyms, see Tan.

1673. R. Head, Canting Acad., p. 36. 1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Chafed: well beaten.

Chafer, verb (common).—To copulate. [Probably a corruption of chauver.] For synonyms, see Ride.

Chaff, subs. (colloquial).—1. Ironical or sarcastic banter; fooling; humbug; ridicule. [A word of uncertain derivation, which, except in two instances, both doubtful, does not appear in English literature, in either its substantive or its verbal form, before the beginning of the present century. Of the two the substantive seems to be the earlier. If this be correct, Murray thinks it may have arisen from a figurative employment of the orthodox word, in the sense of ‘refuse,’ ‘worthless matter,’ etc., connected with which is the proverb ‘an old bird is not caught with chaff.’ On the other hand there is an Arabic word Jaf or chaf, ‘dry, withered’ (like the Greek καρφος), used metaphorically and vulgarly in a sense similar to ‘humbug.’ To chaff a man is vulgo, to humbug him; for humbug, like chaff, is what may be scattered before the wind—what is light, trivial, or unfounded—an act of folly or knavery.—See, however, verb, sense 1.]

[Murray in dealing with this word leads off his illustrative quotations with one (see quot. 1648) which he thinks may be uncertainly placed, as it may mean ‘scolding.’ There is, however, another instance, which, though also uncertain, may be a link in the chain of evidence. In this case chaffing may bear its modern slang signification, though as has been said, it is open to another reading.]

For synonyms, see Gammon, sense 1.

164(?). The Downfall of Charing-Cross. Percy Ballads, II., p. 327 [ed. 1765]. Undone, undone, the Lawyers are, They wander about the towne, Nor find the way to Westminster, Now Charing-Cross is downe: At the end of the Strand they make a stand, Swearing they are at a loss, And chaffing say that’s not the way, They must go by Charing-Cross.

1648. Jenkyn, Blind Guide, iv., 76. You pretend to nothing but chaffe and scoffes. [m.]

1821. The Fancy, vol. I., 250. He could not of course put up with chaff in the streets.

1853. Diogenes, II., 79. ‘Maxims for Cabmen.’ If you want oats for your horses you must cease giving chaff to your passengers.

1864. Athenæum, 29 Oct., No. 1931, P. 557, col. 3. Julius Cæsar passed his boyhood in a vicious locality, where cant phrases abounded, but the latter are not recorded. We have heard of the Famæ non nimium bonæ puellæ, Quales in mediâ sedent Suburrâ—but we hear only faint echoes of the chaff that was scattered thereupon by the passers-by.

1890. Globe, Feb. 13, p. 5, col. 2. The extract you send to me from some letter from Lord Rosebery about the House of Lords looks to me very like chaff, and was probably intended as such.

2. (Christ’s Hospital).—A small article or plaything, e.g., ‘a pocket chaff.’ Connected with ‘chattel,’ ‘chapman,’ etc.—Blanch. Cf., verbal (sense 2), adjectival, and interjectional senses.

Verb.—1. To banter; to jest; to ‘gammon’ or ‘quiz.’ An analogous term formerly in use was queer (q.v.). So also chaffing and chaffingly. For synonyms, see Gammon, sense 1.

1851. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, I., p. 35. Though he’s only twelve years old he’ll chaff down a peeler so uncommon severe that the only way to stop him is to take him in charge.

1864. H. Aïdé, Mr. and Mrs. Faulconbridge, I., 279. ‘Pshaw!’ said Sir Richard, with a lofty good humour, ‘Don’t chaff your uncle, sir.’

1889. T. Mackay, on ‘Shoeblacks,’ in Times, Aug., p. 135. I have known courageous men who would rather try to chaff a bus driver than a shoeblack.

2. (Christ’s Hospital).—To exchange small articles. Cf., subs. sense.

1877. W. H. Blanch, Blue-coat Boys, p. 96. Chaff me your knife.

Adj. (Christ’s Hospital).—Pleasant; glad. Sometimes chaffy. Cf., subs., sense 2.

Intj. (Christ’s Hospital).—An exclamation signifying joy or pleasure.

Chaff-Cutter, subs. (old).—A back-biter or slanderer.

Chaffer, subs. (colloquial).—1. One given to chaffing. [From chaff (q.v.) + er.]

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, vol. I., p. 357. She was considered to be the best chaffer on the road; not one of them could stand against her tongue.

1877. Temple Bar, p. 536. An actor of very moderate abilities, and so remarkably ill-favoured in person as to be the constant butt of the chaffers in the pit.

2. (popular).—The mouth, [i.e., the organ of chaff, or ‘ropery.’] For synonyms, see Potato-trap. Also, the tongue.

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 3. Bob. Suppose we haves a drain o’ heavy wet, just by way of cooling our chaffers—mine’s as dry as a chip.

1822. David Carey, Life in Paris, p. 194. For there you may damp your chaffer In fifty different ways.

To moisten one’s chaffer, phr. (common).—To drink. [See Chaffer, sense 2.] For synonyms, see Lush.

Chaffing-Crib, subs. (old).—The place where a man receives his intimates; his ‘den,’ ‘snuggery,’ or ‘diggings.’ [Cf., Chaff. From chaffing, light talk, + crib, a place of sojourning.] For synonyms, see Diggings.

1821. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry. Jerry. Chaffing crib! I’m at fault, coz, can’t follow. Tom. My prattling parlour—my head quarters, coz, where I unbend with my pals.

Chaffy, adj. (colloquial).—Full of banter. [From chaff, subs., + y.]

1889. Bird o’ Freedom, Aug. 7, p. 3. chaffy answers were all he got at first.

Chained or Chain Lightning, subs.—(American).—Whiskey of the vilest description—a spirit ‘warranted to kill at forty rods.’ Hence forty rod lightning, stone-fence, railroad, rotgut, and kill-the-carter (Scots). For synonyms, see Drinks. In the Western States of America, what is known as forked lightning in England, is called chain-lightning, from its forming a sequence of zig-zags.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms p. 215. The worst of lickers, as the signboards often have it in unconscious irony, is called chain-lightning, from its terrible strength and stunning effect.

Chain-Gang, subs. (thieves’).—Jewellers; watch-chain makers. The French argot has un boguiste (thieves’) and un chaîniste.

Chair. To put in the chair, phr. (cab-drivers’).—See quot.

1864. Social Science Review, I., 408. A Justice’s order is sufficient for the committal to prison of a cab hirer (driver) who will not or cannot pay.... Some hirers who become inured to prison discipline and prison fare get altogether hardened, and boast of the number of owners whom they have put in the chair or in polite English neglected to pay.

Chairmarking, verbal subs. (cab-owners’).—Inserting the date in a cab-driver’s licence in words instead of figures: or, endorsing it in an unusually bold, heavy hand: a hint to possible employers that the holder is undesirable. In other trades it is understood that an unexceptionable character, with the adjectives carefully underlined, is to be read as implying just the opposite of what it appears to say.

1890. Pall Mall Gazette, Sept. 15. A correspondent writes to protest against the heading ‘A Cabman’s Odd Complaint,’ which was given in these columns on Saturday to a paragraph concerning the chair-marking of a licence.

Chaldese, verb (old).—To trick, cheat, or ‘take in.’ [Thought to be from ‘Chaldee,’ in allusion to astrology. Cf., to Jew.] For synonyms, see Stick.

1664. Butler, Hudibras, II., iii., 1010. He stole your cloak and pick’d your pocket, Chows’d and Caldes’d you like a blockhead.

1680. Rem. (1759), I., 24. Asham’d, that Men so grave and wise, Should be chaldes’d by Gnats and Flies. [m.]

1697. Dennis, Plot and No Plot, I. I chaldes’d a Judge while he was taking my Depositions. [m.]

Chalk, subs. (colloquial).—1. A score, reckoning; and (in a more decidedly slang sense) by Chalks, many chalks, long chalks, etc., i.e., ‘degrees’ or ‘marks’; also ‘credit,’ or ‘tick.’ Cf., Clock stopped.

1529. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 613. We’re fayne with a chalke To score on the balke. [m.]

1592. Nashe, P. Penilesse, B j b. Hee that hath no money must goe and dine with Sir John best betrust, at the signe of the chalke and the Post.

1634. S. R., Noble Soldier, v., 3, in Bullen’s O. Pl., I., 333. There’s lesse chalke upon you[r] score of sinnes. [m.]

1704. T. Brown, Lat. on Fr. King, wks. (1730) I., 60. I trespassed most enormously in chalk. [m.]

1719. D’Urfey, Pills (1872), I., 270. This wheedling talk you fancy will rub out my chalk.

1838–40. Haliburton, The Clockmaker (ed. 1862), p. 102. They reckon themselves here a chalk above us Yankees...

1864–5. Edmund Yates, Broken to Harness, I., p. 174. ‘Can you say that I have deceived or thrown you over in any way? Never!’ ‘Thank God for that!’ says the girl, with some bitterness; ‘for that’s a chalk in my favor, at least.’

2. (nautical).—A scratch or scar. Cf., verb, sense 2, and Chalkers, sense 1.

1840. Marryat, Poor Jack, vi. I got this chalk.

Adj. (turf).—Unknown or incompetent. [From the practice at race-meetings of keeping blank slides at the telegraph board on which the names of new jockeys can be inscribed in chalk, while the names of well-known men are usually painted or printed in permanent characters. The former were called chalk-jockeys, and the general public argued that they were incompetent, being unknown.]

Verb (old).—1. To score up, or tick off, in chalk, a material at one time handier than pen-and-ink. Subsequently in pugilistic circles merit marks, etc., were made with the same.

2. (nautical).—To make one ‘stand treat’ or ‘pay his footing.’ If an old hand succeeds in chalking the shoes of a green hand, the latter has to ‘stand drinks all round.’

3. (thieves’).—To strike, Cf., Chalkers, sense 1.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xvii. (II., p. 84). Chalk him across the peepers with your cheery [which, translated, means slash him over the eyes with your dagger].

To chalk up, or to chalk it up, phr. (common).—To credit, or take credit; to put to one’s account.

1597. 1st Pt. Return Parnass., I., i., 451. All my debts stande chaukt upon the poste for liquor. [m.]

1611. Chapman, May-Day, Act I., p. 278 (Plays, 1874). Faith, sir, she [hostess] has chalked up twenty shillings already, and swears she will chalk no more.

1843. Punch’s Almanack, Jan.... ‘When you wish for beer resort freely to the chalk, and go on, getting as much as you can upon this principle, until it becomes unproductive, when you may try it in another quarter.’

To beat by long or many chalks, phr. (common).—To beat thoroughly; to show appreciable superiority.

1837. R. H. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (ed. 1862), p. 447. Still Sir Alured’s steed was by long chalks the best of the party, and very soon distanced the rest.

1838–40. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, p. 26 (ed. 1826). ‘Yes,’ says he, ‘your factories down East beat all natur; they go ahead on the English a long chalk.’

1856. C. Bronté, Professor, ch. iii. ‘You are not as fine a fellow as your plebeian brother by a long chalk.’

1883. Grenville Murray, People I Have Met, p. 133. The finest thing in the world; or, as he himself would have expressed it, ‘the best thing out by many chalks.’

To walk or stump one’s chalks, phr. (popular).—To move or run away; to be off. [Said to be a corruption of ‘walk! you’re chalked,’ the origin of which is found in the ancient practice of lodgings for the royal retinue being taken arbitrarily by the marshal and sergeant-chamberlain, when the inmates were sent to the right about, and their houses designated by a chalk mark. When Mary de Médicis came to England in 1638, Sieur de Labat was employed to mark ‘all sorts of houses commodious for her retinue in Colchester.’ The same custom is referred to in the Life and Acts of Sir William Wallace, To stump (q.v.) = to go on foot.] For synonyms, see Amputate.

1840. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xi. ‘The way she walks her chalks ain’t no matter. She is a regular fore-and-after.’

1843. Comic Almanack, p. 366. And since my future walk’s chalk’d out—at once I’ll walk my chalks.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 318. The President, in whom he is disappointed for one reason or another, does not come up to chalk; when he dismisses an official, he is made to walk the chalk.

To be able to walk a chalk, phr. (popular).—To be sober. [The ordeal on board ship of trying men suspected of drunkenness is to make them walk along a line chalked on the deck, without deviating to right or left. Cf., Making chalks and Toe the line (q.v.).]

Making chalks, phr. (nautical cadets’).—A term connected with the punishment of boys on board ship, and in the Royal Naval School. Two chalk lines are drawn wide apart on the deck or floor, and the boy to be punished places a foot on each of these lines, and stoops, thereby presenting a convenient section of his person to the boatswain or master.

To chalk the lamp-post, phr. (American).—To bribe. For synonyms, see Grease the palm.

1857. Boston Post, March 5. Chalking the lamp post. ‘The term for bribery in Philadelphia.’

There are other expressions connected with chalk, such as ‘to know chalk from cheese,’ ‘to chalk out,’ etc., but these hardly find a place here.

Chalkers, subs. (old).—1. Men of wit in Ireland, who in the night amuse themselves with cutting inoffensive passengers across the face with a knife. They are somewhat like those facetious gentlemen, some time ago known in England by the title of sweaters and mohocks.—Grose. See Ireland Sixty Years Since (p. 15).

2. sing. (common).—A London milkman.—See quot. [One who mixes with chalk—an obvious innuendo.] Cf., Cow with the iron tail and Simpson’s cow.

1865. Daily Telegraph, Sept. 7 (?). It is an ominous fact that London milkmen are known in the vocabulary of slang as chalkers.

Chalk-Farm, subs. (rhyming-slang).—The arm.

English Synonyms. Bender; hoop-stick; fin; daddle.

French Synonyms. L’anse (popular: in old French cant anse signified the ‘ear’); les allumettes (popular: ‘the arms’); l[a]’aile or l[e]’aileron (popular: in the Fourbesque ala); les nageoires (plural).

Italian Synonyms. Ala (‘a wing’); barbacana (literally a kind of advanced fortification); tarentule (the Italian has tarantello, ‘a spider’).

Spanish Synonyms. Bracio; remo (properly ‘an oar’).

Chalk-Head, subs. (old).—A nickname for a person with a ‘good head for figures.’ Waiters in London are very commonly so called.—See quot. 1861. [From the ‘chalks’ or score formerly marked up behind a tavern bar, the ‘tally’ being ‘kept in the head’ instead of being ‘chalked up’ on a board or slate.]

1856. Punch, vol. XXXI., p. 134. Billy. You see, Billy, my heddication war summat neglected, and I haven’t got the nateral adwantage of a good chalk-head.

1861. Punch, vol. XLI., p. 129. Among tavern waiters a ready reckoner is called a good chalk-head.

Cham or Chammy, subs. (popular).—An abbreviation of ‘champagne.’ For synonyms, see Drinks. Cf., Boy.

1871. All the Year Round, Feb. 18, p. 285. ‘Let’s have glasses round. Come and have a bottle of cham.’

Chamber of Horrors, subs. phr.—1. (parliamentary).—The Peeresses’ Gallery in the House of Lords. Cf., Cage, sense 4.

1876. Daily News. There could be no doubt as to the inconvenience, the gallery being generally known as the Chamber of Horrors.

2. In plural (common).—Sausages. [From the possibility of adulteration in this species of food. Also bags of mystery, and Sharp’s Alley bloodworms.] In Fourbesque, carbonata.

Chamming, verbal subs. (common).—Indulgence in champagne. [From cham, verb (on the model of ‘to wine,’ ‘to beer,’ etc.), to drink champagne, + ing.]

Chance. To have an eye to the main chance, phr. (colloquial). To keep in view that which will result in advantage, interest or gain. [Thought to have originated in the phraseology of the game of hazard.] Murray, quoting from the Dict. Cant. Crew, says that ‘to have an eye to the main chance’ was a cant phrase in 1699, and that the expression still partakes of the character. All the quotations given in the N.E.D. prior to 1699, illustrate a simpler form of the colloquialism, such as to ‘stand to the main chance,’ but it will be seen that to have an eye to the main chance is more than a hundred years older.

1609. Jonson, Case is Altered, IV., 4. Juniper, to the door; an eye to the main chance. [Removes the dung, and shews him the gold.]

1693. Dryden, Persius, VI., 158. Be careful still of the main chance, my son; Put out the principal in trusty hands.

1711. Spectator, No. 196. I am very young, and yet no one in the world, dear sir, has the main chance more in her head than myself.

1844. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xviii., p. 190. ‘Was it politics? Or was it the price of stock?’ ‘The main chance, Mr. Jonas, the main chance, I suspect.’

Chancer, subs. (tailors’).—A liar. Also an incompetent workman: i.e., one who ‘chances’ what he cannot do.

Chancery. In Chancery, adv. phr. (common).—‘To have or get your man in chancery’ is to get his head under your left arm so that you can Fib (q.v.) him with your right until he gets it out, or you go to grass (q.v.) together. Primarily pugilistic. Figuratively the expression = in a parlous case; in an awkward fix. The French have adopted the phrases mettre en chancellerie and coup de chancellerie which are almost literal translations.

1819. Thomas Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 77. Lord St-w-rt’s a hero (as many suppose) and the Lady he woos is a rich and a rare one; his heart is in chancery, every one knows, and so would his head be, if thou wert his fair one.

1845. Punch, vol. IX., p. 9. ‘Lord Brougham’s Handbook for Political Boxing.’ Getting the nob into Chancery is a fine achievement, I once got several nobs into Chancery: and I certainly gave several of them severe punishment. This Chancery manœuvre has been a capital thing for me.

1860. Chambers’ Journal, vol. XIII., p. 15. Marsden suffered him to approach within distance, dashed his outstretched arms away, and received his transatlantic head into chancery.

1883. Daily News, 9 Mar., p. 3, col. 7. Thinking the man was a burglar he rode up to assist, and saw the constable holding Burtenshaw, and striking him. The constable had the prisoner in chancery.

Chance the Ducks, phr. (common).—An expression signifying ‘come what may.’ [From the colloquial use of chance, to risk, or take one’s chance of + ducks (q.v.), probably a pleonasm. Cf., please the pigs.

1886. T. Ratcliffe, in N. and Q., 7 S., i., 108. An’ chance the ducks—this when a man makes up his mind to a risky venture. He will say, ‘I’ll do it, an’ chance th’ ducks.’

Chance your Arm, phr. (tailors’).—‘Chance it!’ ‘Try it on!’ etc.—[See Chance the ducks,—of which it seems a variant.]

Chaney-Eyed, adj. (common).—One-eyed. [From Chaney, a corruption of ‘China’ or ‘Chinese’; hence, eyes as small as those of the Celestials.] Cf., Squinny-eyed.

Change.—This word, in the sense of coins of one denomination given in exchange for those of another is responsible for several expressive colloquialisms.

To give change, phr. (common).—To ‘pay out’; to give one his deserts. Cf., To take one’s change out of.

To have all one’s change about one, phr. (common).—To be clever; quick-witted; quite ‘compos mentis’; with ‘twelve pence to the shilling about one.’

To put the change on, phr. (old).—To deceive, or mislead. Apparently for a long time a contemporary variant of to ring the changes.

1667. Dryden, Sir Martin Marr-all, Act ii. Warn.... By this light, she has put the change upon him! O, sweet womankind! how I love thee for that heavenly gift of lying!

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. xvi., p. 168 (1874). The box-keeper shall walk off, pretending some speedy dispatch of a business concerning the House of Office, etc., whilst your antagonist shall put the change upon you.

1694. Congreve, Double Dealer, v., 17. I have so contriv’d that Mellefont will presently, in the chaplain’s habit, wait for Cynthia in your dressing-room; but I have put the change upon her, that she may be otherwise employed.

1821. Scott, Kenilwortht, ch. iii. You cannot put the change on me so easy as you think, for I have lived among the quick-stirring spirits of the age too long to swallow chaff for grain.

To ring the changes, phr. (common).—To change a better article for a worse. [An allusion to bell-ringing where it signifies to exhaust the combinations of a peal of bells.] In its slang sense to ring the changes chiefly refers to the passing of counterfeit money. As thus:—‘About five weeks ago, the prisoner went into a tobacconist’s shop in Cheapside, and purchased a cheroot, tendering a sovereign in payment. The prosecutor, Mr. Elkin, gave him the change, half-a-sovereign and 9s. 6d. silver. The prisoner said he did not want to distress him by taking away all his silver, and asked for another half sovereign. The prosecutor put down half-a-sovereign, which the prisoner took up, and the latter then said that if he returned the sovereign, he would give him back the change, and the prosecutor, taken off his guard, did so, and received the first half sovereign and the 9s. 6d. in silver, the prisoner walking out of the shop with the second half sovereign.’

1661. Hist. of Eng. Rebellion in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park), II., 528. Five months ago, our mighty States Were pleas’d to vote No King; But two months since, to act new cheats, Their votes the changes ring.

1760. Smollett, Sir L. Graves, vol. I., ch. x. Hugging in and ringing out the changes on the balance of power, the Protestant religion, and your allies on the Continent.

1828. Jon. Bee, Picture of London, p. 232. He found one piece [of muslin] that was indeed real India, bargained for and bought it, amidst continued attempts to shuffle it between others, for the purpose of ringing the changes, as they term the nefarious act.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 234. Nothing easier than for some man to have slipped out of bed, night or day, and rung the changes of the bottles.

1880. Hawley Smart, Social Sinners. ch. xli. The culprit had been guilty of ringing the changes or other petty larceny.

To take the change out of [a person or thing], phr. (common).—To be revenged upon; to take an equivalent, or quid pro quo. Frequently used interjectionally—Take your change out of that! with a blow or other rejoinder. An analogous expression is Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

1829. John Wilson, Noctes Amb., wks. II., 174. Shepherd (flinging a purse of gold on the table). It’ll require a gey strang thaw to melt that, chiels; sae. tak your change out o’ that, as Joseph [Hume] says, either in champagne, or jile ... just whatsumever you like to devour best.

1838. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 2 S., ch. viii. ‘Thinks I to myself, take your change out o’ that, young man, will you?’

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. xi. If his ammunition be exhausted he betakes himself to the bayonet, and swears ‘the beggars may take your change out o’ that.’

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. xlvi. Turn Lady Ascot once fairly to bay, you would (if you can forgive slang) get very little change out of her.

1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliott, I., 185. Cabman, log: ‘I never said nothink to you, but without provocation you tell me to go to Putney. Now, I tell you what it is, I’m blessed if I don’t go, and you may take your change out of that!’ And go he did. [Cf., ‘Go to Putney’ (q.v.).]

Quick change artiste, subs. (music hall).—A performer, male or female, who sings one song in one costume, retires for a few seconds and returns to sing another in another guise, and so on.

Change-Bags, subs. (Eton).—Grey flannel trousers for cricket, and knickerbockers for football.

Change One’s Note or Tune, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To pass from laughter to tears, or from arrogance to humility; to alter one’s mode of speech, behaviour, etc. Cf., Change your breath (q.v. under Breath).

1578. Scot. Poems, 16th c. (1808), II. 185. Priestes change your tune. [m.]

1708. Motteux, Rabelais, V., ix. I’ll make him change his note presently.

Change Your Breath.—See Breath.

Chant or Chaunt, subs. (old).—1. See quots.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dictionary. Chaunt: a song ... To throw off a rum chaunt is to sing a good song.

1882. Daily Telegraph, 19 Oct., p. 5, col. 2. To troll his jovial chaunts ... in a tavern-parlour. [m.]

2. (old).—See quots.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict. Chaunt: (a person’s) name, address, or designation; ... a cipher, initials, or mark of any kind, on a piece of plate, linen, or other article; anything so marked is said to be chanted ... an advertisement in a newspaper or handbill, etc.

1824. Compl. Hist. Murder Mr. Weare. 258. ‘We may as well look and see if there is any chaunt about the money’—and they examined the four notes, but there were no marks upon them. [m.]

Verb (old).—1. To talk; sing; relate the praises of; to ‘cry’ or ‘crack up.’ Street patterers and vendors chant their songs and wares, oftentimes to an extent not warranted by their quality: hence sense 2. An equivalent amongst French thieves is pousser la goualante.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 240. A running patterer ... who also occasionally chaunts.

2. (common).—To sell a horse by fraudulent representations. [Apparently an extended usage of sense 1—‘to cry’ or ‘crack up.’] Fr., enrosser = to dissemble a horse’s faults.

1816. Sporting Magazine, vol. XLIX., p. 305. A number of frauds have been practised lately in the disposal of horses ... by a gang of ... swindlers, who technically call it chaunting horses.

1825. English Spy, vol. I., pp. 199, 200. Here a church militant is seen Who’d rather fight than preach, I ween, Once major now a parson; With one leg in the grave he’ll laugh, Chant up a prad, or quaintly chaff To keep life’s pleasant farce on.

1860. Thackeray, Philip, ch. xx. You may as well say that horses are sold in heaven, which, as you know, are groomed, are doctored, are chanted on to the market, and warranted by dexterous horse-vendors as possessing every quality of blood, pace, temper, age.

Chanter (generally Horse-Chanter), subs. (common).—1. A horse-dealer who disposes of horses by means of fraudulent representations.

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act. i., Sc. 6. Grooms, Jockies, and Chaunters, to Tattersall’s bring.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, xlii., 365. ‘He was a horse-chaunter: he’s a leg now.’

1845. W. M. Thackeray, Miscellanies, II. (‘Leg. of the Rhine’), p. 88. He is a cogger of dice, a chanter of horse-flesh.

1857. Dickens, Dorrit, bk. I., ch. xii., 88. The Plaintiff was a Chaunter—meaning, not a singer of anthems, but a seller of horses.

1884. Daily News, August 23, p. 5, col. 1. It is for the chanter and his attendant bonnet, who officiates as groom, to place the stock.

1890. W. E. Henley, Views and Reviews, p. 137. An apple woman to mystify, a horse-chanter to swindle, a pugilist to study, etc., etc.

2. (vagrants’).—A street patterer. More commonly spelt chaunter (q.v.).

3. (Scots).—The penis.

Chantey or Shanty, subs. (nautical).—A song sung by sailors at their work.—See Chantey-man. [Obviously a diminutive of chant, a song.]

1869. Chambers’ Journal, 11 Dec., pp. 794–6. [Article on ‘Sailors’ Shanties and Sea-Songs.’]

1883. W. Clark Russell, Sailors’ Language, preface, xi. But the lack of variety is no obstruction to the sailor’s poetical inspiration when he wants the ‘old man’ to know his private opinions without expressing them to his face, and so the same chantey, as the windlass or halliard chorus is called, furnishes the music to as many various indignant remonstrances as Jack can find injuries to sing about.

1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, ch. iii. ‘Then give us one of the old chanteys,’ exclaimed my uncle. ‘Haul the Bowline,’ or ‘Whiskey, Johnny.’

Chantey-Man, subs. (nautical).—A singer of Chanteys (q.v.).

1887. Saturday Review, 27 August. A shanty, or, as pedants call it, ‘chanty,’ is a song sung by sailors at their work. The music is ‘to a certain extent traditional,’ the words—which are commonly unfit for ears polite—are traditional likewise. The words and music are divided into two parts—the ‘shanty’ proper, which is delivered by a single voice, with or without a fiddle obligato, and the refrain and chorus, which are sung with much straining and tugging, and with peculiar breaks and strange and melancholy stresses, by a number of men engaged in the actual performance of some piece of bodily labour. The manner is this. We will suppose for instance, that what is wanted is an anchor song. The fugleman takes his stand, fiddle in hand, and strikes up the melody of ‘Away Down Rio.’ Then, everything being ready, he pipes out a single line of the song, and the working party, with a strong pull at the capstan-bars, answers with a long-drawn Away Down Rio. He sings a second verse, and this is followed by the full strength of the chorus.... And so on, through stave after stave, till the anchor’s weighed, and, the work being done, the need for song is gone by.

1890. W. E. Henley, Views and Reviews, p. 153. He goes down to the docks and loiters among the galiots and brigantines; he hears the melancholy song of the chantey-man.

Chantie, subs. (Scots).—A chamber-pot. For synonyms, see It.

Chanting (more commonly Horse-Chanting), verbal subs. (common).—1. Tricking into the purchase of unsound or vicious horses.

1825. English Spy, vol. I., pp. 199, 200. The servant was a confederate, and the whole affair nothing more than a true orthodox farce of horse-chaunting got up for the express purpose of raising a temporary supply.

1870–2. Gallery of Comicalities. If I have got an ’orse to sell, You’ll never find that Dick is wanting; There’s few that try it on so well, Or beat me at a bit of chaunting.

2. (vagrants’).—Street ballad-singing.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 297. There is a class of ballads, which may with perfect propriety be called street ballads, as they are written by street authors for street singing (or chaunting) and street sale.

1883. Daily Telegraph, Feb. 8, p. 3, col. 1. ‘The bitterest sort of weather is their [cadgers’] weather, and it doesn’t matter if it’s house-to-house work or chanting, or mud-plunging, it’s cold work.’

Chapel or Chapel of Ease, subs. (common).—A water-closet. For synonyms, see Bury a Quaker and Mrs. Jones.

Chapel of Little Ease, subs. phr. (thieves’)—The police station or cells.

1871. Daily Telegraph, 27 Jan. [See short leader; also 25 Jan.]

1889. Answers, 9 Feb. A fourth kind of torture was a cell called little ease. It was of so small dimensions, and so constructed, that the prisoner could neither stand, walk, sit, nor lie in it at full length. He was compelled to draw himself up in a squatting posture, and so remain during several days.

Chapped or Chapt, ppl. adj. (old).—Parched; ‘dry’; thirsty. [From chap, to crack (as the lips) from want of moisture, + ed.]

1673. R. Head, Canting Acad., 37. Chap’d, Dry, or Thirsty.

1725. New Canting Dictionary, s.v.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Chapt: dry or thirsty.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Chappie or Chappy, subs. (familiar).—The latest (1890) variety of man about town; a term of intimacy. [From chap, a chum, + ie, a diminutive.] For synonyms, see Dandy.

1882. Punch, vol. LXXXII., p. 69, col. 1. I’ll sing you a fine new song, all about a fine young spark, Who’s a fine young London gentleman, quite up to any lark, Who takes supper very early, and breakfasts in the dark; Who’s a real ‘dear old chappie,’ as I needn’t perhaps remark.

1883. G. A. S[ala], in Illustr. London News, March 24, p. 290, col. 1. Lord Boodle, a rapid Chappie always ready to bet on everything with anybody.

Character, subs. (colloquial).—A man or woman exhibiting some prominent (and usually contemptible) trait; an eccentric; a case (q.v.). Generally used with such adjectives as ‘low,’ ‘queer,’ ‘comic,’ etc.—[From character = a personage in history or fiction: one who has distinguished him- or herself.] For synonyms, see Odd Fish.

1773. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, II., 1. A very impudent fellow this! but he’s a character, and I’ll humour him.

1820–33. C. Lamb, Essays of Elia, p. 163. You are fond of having a character at your table, and truly he is one.

Charactered, ppl. adj. (old).—Burnt on the hand; otherwise lettered (q.v.). [From the legitimate meaning of the word, = ‘marked or inscribed with characters.’]

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. T., s.v.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. They have palmed the character upon him.

Charing-Cross, subs. (rhyming slang).—A horse. For synonyms, see Prad.

Chariot, subs. (thieves’).—An omnibus. In the sixteenth century chariot = a vehicle of any kind, and in the eighteenth a light four-wheeled carriage. French thieves call an omnibus une omnicroche, or un four banal, which last = also a pocket or ‘cly.’

Chariot-Buzzing, subs. (thieves’).—Picking pockets in an omnibus. [From chariot (q.v.), an omnibus, + buz, verb 2 (q.v.), to pick pockets, + ing.] French thieves’ faire l’omnicroche.

Charles, His Friend, subs. (theatrical).—See Friend.

Charley or Charlie, subs. (old).—1. A night watchman. A popular name, prior to the introduction by Sir R. Peel, in 1829, of the present police force; since when it has fallen into desuetude. The Charlies were generally old men whose chief duty was crying the hour on their rounds. Boxing a Charley was a favourite amusement with young bucks and bloods, who, when they found a night-watchman asleep in his box, would overturn it, leaving the occupant to escape as best he might. [The origin of the term is uncertain. Some trace it to Charles I., who re-organised the watch system of the metropolis in 1640. If this be tenable it is curious that so long a period elapsed between the event and its recognition in slang. The earliest appears to be that given infra. For synonyms, see Beak and Copper.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dictionary. Charley: a watchman.

1823. Charles Westmacott, Points of Misery, p. 28. A regular chase between me and the Charleys all the way to Lad Lane.

1845. Hood, Tale of a Trumpet, st. 55. That other old woman, the parish Charley!

1852. Bentley’s Miscellany, 1 June, p. 620. Oh, those dear old Charlies of the Dogberry school! How their husky cries of the passing hour mingled with our dreams, letting us know that they were at least wide awake to the thievings of time!

1865. G. F. Berkeley, My Life, etc., I., 106. The night’s entertainment ending in the morning before a magistrate, when the roughly used Charleys, as the night-policemen were called, preferred charges of assault supported by black eyes and a few loose teeth carefully preserved for the purpose, and the offenders thought themselves lucky if they got off with only a moderate fine. [Temp. George IV.]

1889. Daily News, Sep. 28, p. 2, col. 5. The Last of the Charleys. In the person of Mr. William Mason, who died on Wednesday at the age of 89, we lose the last survivor of the Charleys who used to patrol the streets prior to the establishment in 1849 of the City Police Force.

2. (common).—A small, pointed beard, fashionable in the time of Charles I.; an ‘imperial’; in America a goatee (q.v. for synonyms).

1824. Gentleman’s Magazine, March 1, p. 295, col. 2. With white pantaloons, watch chains, and Wellingtons, and a Charley at their under lip.

1841. Hook, Widow, x., 145. He ... wore ... a Charley on his under lip.

1861. Taylor, Antiq. Falkland, 43. That square, short man ... wearing a moustache and Charlie is William Laud.

18(?). R. M. Jephson, Girl He Left Behind Him, ch. i. Dolly himself was occupied in nursing a tuft of hair on his chin termed, grandiloquently, an imperial, familiarly, a Charley.

3. (hunting).—A fox. Fourbesque, graniera.

1857. Hughes, Tom Brown’s Schooldays, ch. i., p. 8. A nice little gorse or spinney where abideth poor Charley, having no other cover to which to betake himself for miles and miles, when pushed out some fine November morning by the old Berkshire.

1859. H. Kingsley, Geoffrey Hamlyn, ch. xxviii. ‘And all after a poor little fox!’ ‘You don’t know Charley, I can see,’ said Halbert; ‘poor little fox indeed.’

4. (American thieves’).—A watch. [Possibly a pun upon Charley, sense 1, a watch or watchman.] For synonyms, see Ticker.

5. (tailors’).—The nap on faced on glossy-surfaced cloth.

6. (tailors’).—A round-shouldered figure.

Charley Bates’ Farm, or Garden.—See Bates’ farm.

Charley-Lancaster, subs. (rhyming slang).—A ‘handkercher.’

Charley-Pitcher, subs. (thieves’).—A prowling sharper who entices greenhorns to take a hand in thimble-rigging, the three-card trick, prick the garter, etc.

1859. G. A. Sala, Twice Round the Clock (2 p.m., par. 10), p. 160. Even at remote country race-courses, you may find remnants of the whilom swarming tribe of Charley-pitchers, the knavish gentry who pursue the games of ‘under seven or over seven,’ ... or inveigle the unwary with ‘three little thimbles and one small pea.’

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, IV., 32, note. A Charley-pitcher seems to be one who pitches to the Ceorla or countryman, and hence is equivalent to the term Yokel-hunter.

1877. Besant and Rice, Son of Vulcan, pt. I., ch. ix. With them marched the Charley-pitchers, who gained an honourable livelihood with the thimble and the pea.

Charley-Prescot, subs. (rhyming slang).—A waistcoat. For synonyms, see Fan.

Charley-Wag. To play the charley-wag (school-slang).—1. To absent oneself from school without leave; to play truant. Variants are To mouch; To wag; Fr., tailler or caler l’école; Spanish, hacer novillos, and andar á la tuna.

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 57. Nothing could be done with him at school ... Joe being, in spite of all entreaties, the greatest rapscallion and ringleader of all mischief, and at all times readier to play the charley Wag than to be the first in any prominent position in his class or form.

2. (common).—To disappear [figurative].

1887. W. E. Henley, Villon’s Straight Tip to all Cross Coves. It’s up the spout and Charley-wag With wipes and tickers and what not. Until the squeezer nips your scrag, Booze and the blowens cop the lot.

Charlie.—See Charley.

Charlies, subs. (popular).—1. The paps. For synonyms, see Dairy.

2. (Winchester College).—Thick gloves made of twine. [Introduced by a Mr. Charles Griffith; hence the name.] Obsolete.

Charm, subs. (old).—1. A picklock.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1881. New York Slang Dict., s.v.

Charms, subs. (old).—The paps. Fr., les appas. Once in literary use, but now impossible except as slang. Flashing her Charms = showing her paps.

2. (American).—A generic term for money. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1875. American English, in Cham. Journal, 25 Sept., p. 610. Money has forty or fifty different names; such singular terms as ... shadscales, and charms figuring in the list.

Charter the Bar or Grocery, verbal phr. (American).—To buy up the whole of the liquor at a bar and stand drinks all round as long as it lasts. This freak is not infrequent in the West. In Australia a similar expression is shouting oneself hoarse. (q.v.).

18(?). J. G. Baldwin, David Bolus, Esq. Bolus was no niggard. He would as soon treat a regiment, or charter the grocery for the day, as any other way.

Chasing, verbal subs. (workmens’). See quot.

1884. Rae, Cont. Socialism, 361. This is shown ... in their prohibition of chasing ... i.e., of a workman exceeding a given average standard of production. [m.]

Chasse, verb (society).—To dismiss. [From the French chasser.]

1847. Thackeray, Lords and Liv., III. He was chassÉd on the spot. [m.]

1868. Yates, Rock Ahead, I., p. 185. If Lord Ticehurst married, more than half Gilbert Lloyd’s influence would be gone, if indeed the turf were not abandoned, and the confederate chassÉd.

Chat, subs. (thieves’).—1. A house. For synonyms, see Diggings.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL., 501. I piped a slavey (servant) come out of a chat (house).

2. (common).—The female pudendum. [From French chat, a cat, and by implication the ‘pussy.’]

3. (common).—The truth; the real state of a case; the proper words to use; the ‘correct card.’

1819. Thomas Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 6. And, setting in case there should come such a rumpus, As some mode of settling the chat we must compass, With which the tag-rag will have nothing to do, What think you, great swells, of a royal set-to?

1862. Trollope, Orley Farm, ch. vi. Has the gentleman any right to be in this room at all, or has he not? Is he commercial, or is he—miscellaneous? That’s the chat as I take it.

4. (low).—Gabble; chatter; impudence; e.g., None of your chat, or I’ll give you a shove in the eye.

Verb.—To hang.—See Chates, sense 1. [This reading, however, is problematical.]

1513. G. Douglas, Æneis, viii., Prol. 126. Quod. I, churle, ga chat the, and chide with ane vthir.

Chates, subs. (old).—1. The gallows, (Also Chattes and Chats.) [Doubtful as to derivation, see quot. 1610.] For synonyms, see Nubbing-cheat.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 66. Chattes: the gallowes.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37, (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). Chates, the Gallowes: here he [Harman, author of a Caveat for Cursitors-date, c. 1570, reprinted as The Belman of London, containing list of cant words] mistakes both the simple word, because he so found it printed, not knowing the true originall thereof, and also in the compound; as for Chates it should be Cheates, which word is vsed generally for things, as Tip me that Cheate, Give me that thing: so that if you will make a word for the Gallous, you must put thereto this word, Treyning, which signifies hanging; and so Treyning Cheate is as much to say, hanging things, or the Gallous, and not Chates.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 48 (1874). Chats: the gallows.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

1706. E. Coles, Eng. Dict., s.v.

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1881. New York Slang Dict., s.v.

2. (old).—Lice. (Also chats and chatts.) [Grose suggests that chatts is an abbreviation of chattels in the sense of cattle—lice being the chief live-stock of beggars, gipsies, and the rest of the canting crew; the history of the word ‘chattel’ appears to bear out his contention. The Norman catel passed later into cattell, and these forms were in the sixteenth century restricted to live-stock, chattell passing from legal French into general use for the wider sense—article of property.]

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., s.v.

English Synonyms. Active citizens; crabs; crumbs; friends in need; back friends; grey backs; black cattle; Scots Greys; gentleman’s companions; creepers; gold-backed ’uns; German ducks; dicky-birds; familiars; saddle-backs; Yorkshire Greys.

French Synonyms. Les espagnols (popular: formerly lice were called ‘Spanish bugs,’ poux espagnols, to distinguish them from the cimex lectuarius, or common bed bug); un coquillon (popular: also ‘a pilgrim’); les goux (thieves’); le garnison (pop. = garrison); un loupate (= poux, disguised); un habitant (= a householder or ‘citizen’); un grenadier (popular); un got (thieves’); un mousquetaire gris (pop. = a grey musketeer).

German Synonyms. Huttererg’ sell’n (perhaps the nearest German equivalent to the English ‘gentleman’s companion,’ the German word signifying ‘skin-society’); Jokel, or Jokelche, Jokelcher, Juckel, Juckeler (sing.: also = a postillion, ‘one who rides,’ the latter, however, being more commonly rendered Post-Juckel. Ave-Lallement derives it from Jäckel or Jockel, diminutives of Jacob, but there are the German words, Jucken, ‘to itch,’ and Juckler, ‘one who itches.’ It is quite possible that the two last are later, historically. In connection, see next example); Hans Walter (in Luther’s Liber Vagatorum [1529]. Hanz literally means Jack, or John [Cf., preceding Jokel], the old word Hansa refers to a multitude; old German Hanse, a society; Hans, a companion); Kinne, pl. Kinnim (of purely Hebrew origin; Kinnimachler = a ‘dirty, filthy fellow,’ or ‘an avaricious man,’ literally ‘a lice-eater’; Kinnimer, a man full of lice. The Fieselsprache has Kineh and Kinehbruder to signify ‘an intimate companion,’ or ‘chum’; Marschirer or die stillen Marschirer (Viennese thieves’ for lice; literally ‘the silent walkers’); Sand (used for vermin in general and lice in particular; sandig sein, to be lousy).

Italian Synonyms. Grisaldi; grisanti; guallino.

Spanish Synonym. Cancano, (m; a low term).

Chat-Hole, subs. (prison).—A hole made by convicts in a wall, to carry on a conversation. [From chat, an abbreviation of chatter, + hole.]

Chats, subs. (old).—1. See Chates.

2. (thieves’).—See quot.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171. Chats, seals.

3. (Stock Exchange).—London, Chatham and Dover Railway Stock.

Chatter-Basket, subs. (common).—A prattling child. Originally dialectical, chatter-basket being the Lancashire form; while in West Somerset they say chatter-bag. Cf., Chatterbox.

Chatter-bones, Chatter-cart, and Chatter-bladder, subs. (common).—Variants of chatterbox (q.v.). For synonyms, see Clack-box.

1842. Dickens, American Notes, ch. xi., p. 94. That little girl of fifteen with the loquacious chin: who, to do her justice, acts up to it ... for of all the small chatterbones that ever invaded the repose of drowsy ladies’ cabin, she is the first and foremost.

Chatterbox, subs. (colloquial).—An incessant talker; used contemptuously of adults and playfully of children. [From chatter, gabble + box, a receptacle; metaphorically, a box full of chatter. Cf., Bag of bones.] A variant is chatterbones (q.v.). For synonyms, see Clack-box.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Chatter Box, one whose tongue runs twelve score to the dozen; a chattering man or woman.

1840. C. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop [C. D. ed.], p. 93. A set of idle chatterboxes.

1878. E. Jenkins, Haverholme, p. 52. A mere political chatterbox.

Chatter-Broth, subs. (old).—Tea; the beverage and the party. A Yorkshire equivalent is chatter-water. Quoted by Grose [1785]. Variants are cat-lap and scandal-broth (q.v.).

Chatterer, subs. (pugilistic).—A heavy blow upon the mouth; or, says Peter Corcoran, ‘a blow that tells.’ For synonyms see Dig.

1827. Reynolds (‘Peter Corcoran’), Sonnet on The Fancy. I’ve left the Fives-Court rush,—the flash—the rally. The noise of ‘Go it, Jack’—the stop—the blow—The shout—the chattering hit—the check—the sally.

Chatterers, subs. (common).—The teeth. For synonyms, see Grinders.

Chattery, subs. (thieves’).—See quot.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171. Chattery, cotton, or linen goods.

Chatty, subs. (old).—A filthy man. [From chat (q.v.), a louse, + y.] English variants are chatty-dosser, crummy-dosser. Amongst French equivalents may be mentioned un bifteck à maquart (Maquart is the name of a well-known knacker); un sale pâtissier (literally a dirty pastry-cook); un kroumir; un gorgniat; un pégocier.

Adj. (common).—Filthy; lousy. [For derivation, see subs.] A French equivalent is graphiqué—itself a very ‘telling,’ ‘speaking,’ or ‘chatty’ expression; also malastiqué.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dictionary. Chatty: lousy.

Chatty-Feeder, subs. (old).—A spoon. [A vague reference to the mouth as the place of ‘chat’ or ‘chatter.’] For synonyms see Wedge-feeder.

1881. New York Slang Dictionary. ‘And where the swag so bleakly pinched, A hundred stretches hence?... The chips, the fawneys, chatty-feeders.’

Chaunt, subs. (old).—A song.—See Chant, subs., sense 1.

Verb (vagrants’).—To sing ballads, etc., in the streets.—See Chant, verb, sense 1.

To Chaunt the play, verbal phr. (thieves’).—To explain the tricks and manœuvres of thieves.

Chaunted, ppl. adj. (streets’).—Sung of, and celebrated, in street ballads. [From chaunt, to sing street ballads, + ed.]—See Chanting, subs., sense 2.

1827. Reynolds (‘Peter Corcoran’). Lines to Philip Samson in The Fancy. ‘Be content that you’ve beat Dolly Smith, and been chaunted, And trained—stripped—and petted, and hit off your legs!’

Chaunter, subs. (vagrants’).—1. A street singer of ballads, dying speeches, etc. Rarely heard now except in the poorest neighbourhoods. His practice is peculiar. One man gets as far as he can, and when his voice cracks his companion takes things up. For this reason the business is conducted by a brace of men, by a man and woman, or by a woman and child.—See quot. 1851. [From chaunt, to sing, + er.] Also called a paper-worker (q.v.); and Death-hunter (q.v.). French Synonyms are un chanteur à la balade or au baladage; un goualeur or une goualeuse (see Eugene Sue Mystères de Paris); une cigale (popular: a female street-singer); and un braillard. Fourbesque, granchetto (a term also applied to one who speaks gibberish or thieves’ lingo).

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 229. The chaunters, or those who do not cry, but (if one may so far stretch the English language) sing the contents of the ‘papers’ they vend. Ibid, p. 240. The running patterer ... is accompanied generally by a chaunter.... The chaunter not only sings, but fiddles.

2. (common).—See Chanter, sense 1.

Chaunter-Cove, subs. (thieves’).—A reporter. [From chaunt, to ‘crack’ or ‘cry up,’ + er + cove, a man.]

Chaunter-Cull, subs. (old).—A writer of ballads and street literature for the use of chaunters or ‘street patterers.’ They haunted certain well-known public-houses in London and Birmingham, and were open to write ballads ‘to order’ on any subject, the rate of remuneration varying from half-a-crown to seven-and-sixpence. The chaunter having practically disappeared, his poet has gone with him.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 58. [Named and described in.]

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Chaunter-culls: Grub Street writers, who compose songs, carrols, etc., for ballad singers.

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. IV., ch. vi. I trust, whenever the chanter-culls and last-speech scribblers get hold of me, they’ll at least put no cursed nonsense into my mouth.

Chaunter upon the Leer, phr. (old).—An advertiser.

Chaunting.—See Chanting.

Chauvering Donna or Moll, subs. (old).—A prostitute. [From chauvering, sexual intercourse. + donna (q.v.), a woman, or moll (q.v.), a loose female.] For synonyms, see Barrack-hack.

Chaw, subs. (common).—1. A countryman; a yokel; a bumpkin. [A contraction of chaw-bacon (q.v.). In common use at Harrow School.]

1856. T. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, pt. I., ch. i. There’s nothing like the old country-side for me, and no music like the twang of the real old Saxon tongue, as one gets it fresh from the veritable chaw in the White Horse Vale.

2. (vulgar).—A mouthful; a ‘gobbet’; in the mouth at once; e.g., a quid of tobacco; a dram of spirits, etc. [From chaw, verb, q.v.]

1749. ‘Humours of the Fleet,’ quoted in Ashton’s The Fleet, p. 286. And in his nether jaw Was stuff’d an elemosynary chaw.

1772. Gentleman’s Magazine, XLII., 191. The tars ... Took their chaws, hitched their trousers, and grinn’d in our faces. [m.]

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, xiv. The boy was made to open his mouth, while the chaw of tobacco was extracted.

1838. Glascock, Land Sharks and Sea Gulls, II., 123. ‘I’m blest if I’m fit for work, ’thout a raw chaw.’

1864. Daily Telegraph, 26 July. The gentleman have often ‘that within that passeth show,’ to wit, a chaw of tobacco: this is not very conducive to volubility in conversation.

3. (University).—A trick; device; or ‘sell.’

Verb (vulgar).—1. To eat or chew noisily and roughly. To bite (see quot., 1890). Once literary; now degenerate, and vulgarly applied; specifically ‘to chew tobacco.’

1890. The Oont, Rudyard Kipling in Scots Observer, ... We socks him with a stretcher-pole, and ’eads him off in front, And when we saves his bloomin’ life, he chaws our bloomin’ arm.

2. (University).—To deceive, trick, ‘sell,’ or impose upon one.

To chaw over, verbal phr. (common).—To create ridicule by repeating one’s words.

To chaw up, phr. (American).—To get the better of; to demolish; ‘do for’; smash or finish. Chawed up: utterly done for.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xvi., p. 162, ‘Here’s full particulars of the patriotic loco-foco movement yesterday, in which the Whigs was so chawed up.’

1862. C. F. Browne, Artemus Ward: His Book, p. 66. We chawed ’em up, that’s what we did.

To chaw up one’s words, phr. (American).—To retract an assertion; ‘to eat one’s words.’

Chaw-Bacon, subs. (colloquial).—A country bumpkin. [From chaw, a vulgar form of chew, to masticate or chew, + bacon, the staple food of agricultural labourers.] Other nicknames for a countryman are bacon-slicer; clod-hopper; barn-door savage; clod-pole; cart-horse; Johnny; cabbage-gelder; turnip-sucker; joskin; jolterhead; yokel; clod-crusher, etc.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Chaw Bacon. A countryman. A stupid fellow.

1822. Blackwood’s Magazine, XII., 379. You live cheap with chaw-bacons and see a fine, flat country. [m.]

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. v. ‘Give me the pail, you lop-eared buffoon—do you call that the way to feed a pig?’ and the General, seizing the bucket from an astonished chaw-bacon, who stood aghast, as if he thought his master was mad, managed to spill the greater part of the contents over his own person and gaiters.

Chaws, subs. (venery).—Copulation. For synonyms, see Greens.

Cheap. On the cheap, adv. phr. (colloquial).—At a low rate [of money]; economically; keeping up a showy appearance on small means.

1884. Cornhill Mag., June, p. 614. His being’s end and aim, both by day and night, is to obtain as much drink as possible on the cheap.

Cheap and nasty, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Said of articles which, though pleasing to the eye, are ‘shoddy’ in fact. For special application, see quot.

1864. Athenæum, Oct. 29. Cheap and nasty, or, in a local form, ‘cheap and nasty, like Short’s in the Strand,’ a proverb applied to the deceased founder of cheap dinners.

To feel cheap, verb. phr. (common).—To ‘have a mouth on;’ to be suffering from a night’s debauch.

Dirt cheap or dog cheap, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Inexpensive; as cheap as may be. Dog cheap is the earliest form in which this colloquialism appears in English literature, dirt cheap not being found earlier than 1837.

1577. Holinshed, Chron. Descr. Irel., iii. They afourded their wares so dogge cheape, that etc. [m.]

1837. C. Dickens, Oliver Twist, xxxvii. ‘I sold myself,’ said Mr. Bumble ... ‘I went very reasonable. Cheap, dirt cheap!’

Cheapside. He came home by way of cheapside, phr. (old).—That is ‘he gave little or nothing for it’; ‘he got it cheap.’

Cheat, subs. (old).—A general name for any object. [From Anglo-Saxon ceat, a thing. Cf., quot., 1608.] A term which, with a descriptive adjective, appears in a variety of forms in Old Cant. The cheat par excellence was the gallows, also known as the nubbing, topping, or treyning-cheat. The word is variously spelt—chet, chete, cheate, cheit, chate, cheat. The following combinations will serve to illustrate its use.

Belly-chete = An Apron. Bleting-chete = A sheep or calf. Cackling-chete = A fowl. Crashing-cheats = The teeth. Grunting-chete = A pig. Hearing-chetes = The ears. Low’ing-chete = A cow. Lullaby-chete = An infant. Mofling-chete = A napkin. Nubbing-cheat = The gallows. Prattling-chete = The tongue. Quacking-chete = A duck. Smelling-chete = The nose. Topping-cheat = The gallows. Treyning-cheat = The gallows. Trundling-cheat = A cart or coach.

All of which see.

1567. Harman, Caveat [ed. 1869], p. 86. Now we have well bous’d, let vs strike some chete [that is], now we have well dronke, let us steale some thinge.

1608. Dekker, Belman of London, in wks. (Grosart) III., 117. The Cheating Law or the Art of winning money by false dyce. Those that practise this studie call themselues Cheators, the dyce Cheaters, and the money which they purchase Cheates: borrowing the tearme from our common Lawyers, with whome all casuals as fall to the Lord at the holding of his Leetes, as Waifes, Strayes, and such like, are said to be Escheated to the Lord’s use, and are called Cheates.

1611. Shakspeare, Winter’s Tale, iv., 2, 28. With dye and drab, I purchas’d this Caparison, and my Reuennew is the silly Cheate. Gallowes, and Knocke, are too powerfull on the Highway.

1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, bk. IV., ch. ii. See what your laziness is come to; to the cheat, for thither will you go now, that’s infallible.

Cheats, subs. (old).—Sham cuffs or wristbands. Cf., Dicky and Shams.—See also quot., 1688.

1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III., p. 96, col. 1. A ... kind of Waistcoats are called Chates, because they are to be seen rich and gaudy before, when all the back part is no such thing. Ibid, III., p. 258, col. 1. Such Gallants weare not Cheats or half Sleeves, but ... their Waistcoats are the same clear throughout. [m.]

1690. B. E., Dictionary Canting Crew. Cheats ... also Wristbands or sham Sleeves worn for true, or whole ones.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. } Sham sleeves to put over a dirty } shift or shirt. 1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. }

Checks, subs. (American).—Money in general; cash. [A term derived from poker, in which game counters or checks, bought at certain fixed rates, are equivalent to current coin.] For synonyms, see Actual and Cf., Chips.

To pass or hand in one’s checks, phr. (American).—See ante, To cash (or pass in) one’s checks. To die. For synonyms, see Aloft and Cf., Chips.

Cheek, subs. (colloquial).—1. Insolence; jaw; e.g., ‘none of your cheek’ or ‘chat’ and ‘none of your jaw.’ Equivalents are lip, chat, imperance, mouth, chin, chirrup, and nine shillings; the last a corruption of ‘nonchalance!’ Among foreign equivalents may be mentioned the French avoir un toupet de bœuf; and the Spanish adjectives cariraido (‘impudent’) and desollado (from desollar, ‘to skin, flay’); desuellacaras (m.; an impudent, shameless person); paparrucha (f. impertinence).

1840. Marryat, Poor Jack, xxii. The man, who was a sulky, saucy sort of chap ... gives cheek.

1848. J. Mitchell, Jail Jrnl., July 20. I once asked ... what fault a man had committed who was flogged.... ‘For giving cheek, sir.’ [m.]

1884. G. Moore, Mummer’s Wife (1887), p. 133. If he gives me any of his cheek I’ll knock him down.

2. Audacity; confidence; impudence; ‘brass’; ‘face.’ Formerly ‘brow’ was used in the same sense.—(See quot., 1642.)

1642. Fuller, Holy State, bk. IV., ch. xi. They were men of more brow than brain, being so ambitious to be known, that they had rather be hissed down than not come upon the stage.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 471. They [the Crocusses] ’d actually have the cheek to put a blister on a cork leg. Ibid, p. 404 (provided with) a noggin o’ rum to ‘give him cheek,’ and make him speak up to his victims.

1882. Daily News, Oct. 10, p. 5, col. 6. Of this fact, I know no more signal instance than the seizing of the Citadel of Cairo. As I stood on the spot the other day I realised for the first time the—if you will pardon me the use of a vulgar but expressive colloquialism—astounding cheek of the feat.

1889. Answers, p. 59, col. 2. The whole suggestion savoured so much of what our Transatlantic brothers call monumental cheek, that the Duke hardly knew what to say, or what emotions to express.

1890. Athenæum, Feb. 22, p. 253, col. 2. In various disguises Miss Palmer sings, dances, and exhibits her powers of coquetry and cheek.

Verb.—To address a person saucily.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 452. (They) persuaded me to go and beg with them, but I couldn’t cheek it.

1857. Dickens, Our Vestry, in Reprinted Pieces, p. 292. Dogginson ... informed another gentleman ... that if he cheek’d him he would resort to the extreme measure of knocking his blessed head off.

1890. Saturday Review, Feb. 1, p. 151, col. 1. Not only was Dick always ready to cheek his employer, and by his own account usually capable of getting the better of him, but he was on the same sort of terms with his pupils.

To one’s own cheek, phr. (colloquial).—To one’s own share; all to oneself. Sometimes used in the sense of allowance, i.e., ‘Where’s my cheek?’

1841. Lever, Charles O’Malley, ch. lxxxviii. And though he consumed something like a prize on to his own cheek, he at length had to call for cheese.

1855. Punch, vol. XXVIII., p. 10. [From day to day, for near a week,] ‘I had a boiled salt round of beef On Monday all to my own cheek Whereon my hunger sought relief.’

To cheek up, verbal phr. (colloquial).— = cheek, to answer saucily.—See Cheek verb.

1867. North Briton, June 5. ‘Royal Dramatic College.’ We shall not soon forget seeing, during our visit to the Fair last July, a number of ladies dressed up as jockeys, confined, like so many chattering monkeys, in a cage, cheeking up to gentlemen, selling them ‘k’rect cards,’ etc.

Cheek-Ache. To have the cheek-ache, phr. (common).—To be made to blush; to be abashed. [From cheek, the face, + ache, a metaphorical exaggeration of the pain of blushing.]

Cheekiness, subs. (colloquial).—Impudence; effrontery; cool audacity.

1847. Illustrated London News, 28 Aug. p. 142, col. 1. They were beat ... by their slow, loggy stroke, and by their cheekiness. [m.]

1854. Martin and Aytoun, Bon Gualtier Ballads, ‘Francesca da Rimini.’ There’s wont to be at conscious times like these. An affectation of a bright-eyed ease,—A crispy-cheekiness, if so I dare, Describe the swaling of a jaunty air.

1857. A. Trollope, Three Clerks, ch. xliv. He lived but on the cheekiness of his gait and habits; he had become member of Parliament, Government official, railway director, and club aristocrat, merely by dint of cheek.

Cheekish, adj. (colloquial).—Audacious; impudent; saucy. [From cheek + ish.]

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 248. Being cheekish (saucy) to the beadle.

Cheeks, subs. (old).—1. The posteriors. For synonyms, see Blind-cheeks: to which may be added toby; stern; catastrophe; latter-end; jacksy-pardo; and juff.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulgar Tongue.

2. (old).—An accomplice.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 448. I have seen cheeks (a flash name for an accomplice).

Cheeks and Ears.—A fantastic name for a kind of head-dress, of temporary fashion.

(?) Lond. Prod., iv., 3, Suppl. to Sh., II., 511. Fr. O then thou canst tell how to help me to cheeks and ears. L. Yes, mistress, very well. Fl. S. Cheeks and ears! why, mistress Frances, want you cheeks and ears? methinks you have very fair ones. Fr. Thou art a fool indeed, Tom, thou knowest what I mean. Civ. Ay, ay, Kester; ’tis such as they wear a’ their heads.

Cheeks the Marine, subs. phr. (nautical).—Mr. Nobody. An imaginary personage on board ship created and popularised by Captain Marryat. The epithet has, likewise, passed into a byword as a sarcastic rejoinder to a foolish or incredible story—‘tell that to Cheeks the marine.’

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple (ed. 1846), vol. I., ch. vii., p. 36. I enquired who, and he said Cheeks the marine.

1878–80. Justin McCarthy, History of Our Own Times, II., ch. xiii., p. 15 (1848). Cheeks the Marine was a personage very familiar at that time to the readers of Captain Marryat’s sea stories, and the name of that mythical hero appeared with bewildering iteration in the petition.

1883. Clark Russell, Sailors’ Language. Cheeks the marine: an imaginary being in a man-of-war.

Cheeky, adj. (colloquial).—Coolly presumptuous; impudent or saucy. Fr., insolpé.

1859. H. Kingsley, Geoffrey Hamlyn, ch. xxvi. ‘You will find, Sir,’ said Lee, ‘that these men in this here hut are a rougher lot than you think for; very like they’ll be cheeky.’

1860. Punch, vol. XXXIX., p. 30. ‘The Volunteer on July fourteenth.’ But that Ass Snivens—a coming it as cheeky as could be.

1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 8 Nov., p. 2, col. 3. The cheeky boy, with the natural ingratitude of youth, often makes a long nose at his master, even when showing off all that the master has taught him.

Cheese. The cheese, phr. (common).—1. Anything first-rate or highly becoming; the expression runs up and down the whole gamut of ‘cheese nomenclature’ from the Stilton, Double Gloster, to the pure Limburger. [It has been variously traced to the Anglo-Saxon ceosan, to choose; German, kiesen; French, chose; Persian, chiz; Hindu, cheez, thing. Summing up the evidence, the expression—(barring a solitary reference in the London Guide of 1818, where it is referred to a bald translation of c’est une autre chose, i.e., that is another cheese, subsequently coming to signify that is the real thing)—appears to have come into general vogue about 1840. This contention is borne out in some measure by a correspondent to Notes and Queries (1853, 1 S., viii., p. 89), who speaks of it as about ‘ten or twelve years old,’ a calculation which carries it back to the date when it appears to have started in literature. Yule, writing much later, says the expression was common among young Anglo-Indians, e.g., ‘my new Arab is the real chiz,’ i.e., ‘the real thing,’ a fact which points to a Persian origin.] For synonyms, see a1.

1835. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xiv. Whatever is the go in Europe will soon be the cheese here.

1837. R. H. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, p. 418. Cries Rigmaree, rubbing her hands, ‘that will please—My “Conjuring cap”—it’s the thing;—it’s the cheese.’

1842. Punch, vol. III., p. 33. ‘I hopes my love will excuse me if I’m not quite—quite—’ ‘Comme il faut, George.’ ‘I don’t mean that, love—not quite the cheese.’

1860. Punch, vol. XXXIX., p. 97. Were the custom [of putting mottoes on garments, temp. Rich. II.] now revived we can conceive what stupid mottoes would be sported by the Œntish who always mock and maul the fashion of their betters:—‘I wish my gal to please: O, aint I just the cheese’ would doubtless be a popular device for a new shirt front.

1863. Chas. Reade, Hard Cash, II., 186. ‘Who ever heard [said Mrs. Dodd] of a young lady being married without something to be married in?’ ‘Well [said Edward], I’ve heard Nudity is not the cheese on public occasions.’

2. subs. (schools and University).—An adept; one who ‘takes the shine out of another’ at anything; at Cambridge an overdressed dandy is called a howling cheese. [An extended usage based on sense 1.]

1864. Eton School-days. ‘Do you know Homer, Purefoy?’ asked Chudleigh. ‘No, I have not looked at the lesson yet.’ ‘I am sure I don’t know why you ever do; you are such a cheese. I want you to give me a construe.’

Hard cheese, phr. (common).—What is barely endurable; hard lines; bad luck.

Tip-cheese.—Probably the same as Tip-cat (q.v.).

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, p. 282 (ed. 1857). All is gloom and silence in the house; even the voice of the child is hushed; his infant sports are disregarded when his mother weeps; his ‘alley tors’ and his ‘commoneys’ are alike neglected; he forgets the long familiar cry of ‘knuckle down,’ and at tip-cheese, or odd and even, his hand is out.

Cheese it! phr. (thieves’).—Leave off! Have done! Be off! [Thought to be a corruption of ‘cease it!’]. For synonyms, see Stow it!

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, Cheese it, the coves are fly; be silent, the people understand our discourse.

1859. Sala, Gaslight and Daylight, ch. xxviii. Two or three ‘hallos!’ and ‘now thens!’ accompanied by a strong recommendation to cheese it (i.e., act of cessation), causes these trifling annoyances to cease.

1864. Times, 7 December. He shouted ‘Murder!’ as well as he could, and the cries he made bringing assistance, he heard one of the men just before they let go of him call out ‘Cheese it, cheese it,’ which a policeman said meant make off.

1871. London Figaro, May 13, p. 3, col. 3. ‘Cheese that,’ cried Bill. ‘The genelman’s agoin’ to read, and I am agoin’ to listen.’

Cheese-Boxes, subs. (American).—A Confederate nickname for vessels of the ‘Monitor’ type; first applied during the Civil War [1860–65]. Cf., tinclads (q.v.).

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 335. The great inventor has not made it known what induced him to choose the name [‘Monitor’]: hence etymologists have evolved it out of their inner consciousness that he must have borrowed it from Gray’s Monitor Dracæna, a large lizard covered with impenetrable armour. Irreverent Confederates called the hideous-looking vessels cheese-boxes, and apparently one designation is, etymologically, though not æsthetically, as good as the other.

Cheesecutter, subs. (common).—1. A prominent, aquiline nose. For synonyms, see Conk.

2. (common).—A large, square peak to a cap; the abat-jour of the Zouaves.

3. (in plural).—Bandy-legs. For synonyms, see Drumsticks.

Cheese-Knife, subs. (military).—A sword. For synonyms, see Cheese-toaster.

Cheesemongers.—A popular name for the First Lifeguards until the Peninsular War. The term then fell into desuetude; but at Waterloo the commanding officer of the regiment had not forgotten it, and when leading to the charge, he called out, ‘Come on, you damned Cheesemongers!’ an invitation accepted so heartily that the title was restored, with the difference that it was no longer a word of reproach. [Some say that the nickname came from their exclusive home service until the time of the Peninsular War; others that it was bestowed on account of the old gentlemen in the corps declining to serve when it was remodelled in 1788, on the ground that the ranks were no longer composed of gentlemen, but of cheesemongers.] Also called The cheeses.

Cheeser, subs. (old).—An eructation. The Spanish has una pluma (f.; literally ‘a feather’); zullenco (a common colloquialism); soltar el preso (soltar = ‘to unloose,’ or ‘to untie’; preso = ‘a prisoner’).

Cheeses.—See Cheesemongers.

Cheese-Toaster, subs. (military).—A sword.

English Synonyms. Toasting-fork; toasting iron; sharp; knitting-needle; iron; cheese-knife; toll; poker.

French Synonyms. Un astic (thieves’: from the German Stich); l’aiguille à tricoter les côtes (military: l’aiguille à tricoter = knitting-needle, côtes = ribs); l’entrecôte (popular); un charlemagne (military; a bayonet-sabre); un Bon-Dieu (military); une curette (military: a cavalry sword, as also is un bancal); une côte de bœuf (thieves’); un grand couteau (military: a cavalry sword. Literally ‘a large knife’); un fauchon (popular); un fauchon de satou (a wooden sword); une gaudille or gandille; Joyeuse (the name of the sword of Charlemagne); une flambe or flamberge (the sword of Roland); une paille de fer (= cold steel); une latte (a cavalry sword); une lardoire (popular).

German Synonym. Michel (from the Hebrew michael, an executioner’s sword; also Langmichel).

Italian Synonym. Martina.

Spanish Synonyms. Fisberta; centella (literally ‘spark,’ ‘thunder,’ ‘lightning’); respeto (properly ‘respect’); garrancha; durindana.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Cheese-toaster: a sword.

1857–59. Thackeray, Virginians, x. I’ll drive my cheese-toaster through his body.

Cheesy, adj. (common).—Fine or showy. The opposite of ‘dusty.’ [From cheese (q.v.) + y.] For synonyms, see Up to Dick.

1858. R. S. Surtees, Ask Mamma, xlviii., 211. To see him at Tattersall’s sucking his cane, his cheesey hat well down on his nose. [m.]

Chemiloon, subs.—Chemise and drawers in one; a combination (q.v.).

Chepemens, subs. (old).—See quot.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). Chepemans: Cheape-side Market.

Cheque. To have seen the cheque, phr. (common).—To know positively; to be possessed of exact knowledge concerning a matter. For synonyms, see Knowing.

Cherrilets, subs. (old).—The nipples.

1599. Sylvester, Miracle of the Peace. Then those twins, thy strawberry teates, Curled, purled cherrilets?

1654. Witt’s Recreations. Then nature for a sweet allurement sets Two smelling, swelling, bashful cherrylets.

Cherry, subs. (thieves’).—A young girl. Cf., Cherry-ripe and Rosebud.

Cherry-Breeches.—See Cherubims.

Cherry-Coloured, adj. (common).—Either red or black; a term used in a cheating trick at cards. When the cards are being dealt, a ‘knowing’ one offers to bet that he will tell the colour of the turn-up card. ‘Done,’ says Mr. Green. The sum being named, Mr. Sharp affirms that it will be cherry-colour; and as cherries are either black or red, he wins. Grose [1785] has cherry-coloured cat for one either black or white in colour.

1834. Harrison Ainsworth, Rookwood. And forth to the heath is the scamps-man gone, His matchless cherry black prancer riding.

1886. Ill. London News, Jan. 23, p. 78, col. 2. A favourite hoax is the great exhibition, wherein a cherry-coloured cat and a rose-coloured pigeon (the meeting between Wellington and Blucher), etc., are to be shown. The former consists of a black cat and a white pigeon.

Cherry-Merry, adj. (old).—1. Convivial; slightly inebriated.

1602. Middleton, Blurt, I., i. [Tricks, tricks, kerry merry buff!]

1775. Cont. Sterne’s Sent. Jour., 219. That every convivial assistant should go home cherry merry.

2. subs. (Anglo-Indian).—A present of money. Cherry-merry-bamboo, a beating.

Cherry-Pickers, subs. (military).—See Cherubims.

Cherry-Pie, subs. (common).—A girl. [Possibly only an amplification of cherry (q.v.).] For synonyms, see Titter.

Cherry-Pipe, subs. (rhyming slang).—A woman, the ‘rhyme’ being with ‘ripe,’ from cherry-ripe (q.v.). For synonyms, see Petticoat.

Cherry-Ripe, subs. (thieves’).—1. A woman. Cf., Cherry = a young girl. For synonyms, see Petticoat.

2. (old).—A ‘redbreast’ or Bow Street Runner. [So called from the scarlet waistcoat which formed part of the uniform.]

3. (common).—A footman in red plush.

4. (rhyming slang).—A pipe.

Cherubims, vulgo, Cherry-bums, subs. (military).—1. The Eleventh Hussars. [From their crimson overalls.] Also cherry-breeches and cherry-pickers.

1865. Notes and Queries, 3 S., vii., p. 49. 11th Hussars—Cherubims and Cherry Pickers, having had some men taken while on out-post duty in a fruit garden in Spain.

1871. Forbes, Exper. War between France and Germany, II., 149. When [Lord Cardigan] commanded the Cherry-breeches there were generally more sore backs among them than in any other regiment in the service.

1871. Chambers’ Journal, Dec. 23, p. 802. The 11th Hussars, the ‘Cherubims and Cherry Pickers.’

2. (common).—Peevish children. [A facetious allusion to a passage in the Te Deum—‘To Thee cherubin and seraphin continually do cry.’] Quoted by Grose [1785].

3. (common).—Chorister boys. [Either founded on the allusion quoted in sense 2, or in reference to the fact that little more than the heads of choristers is visible to the general congregation.]

To be in the cherubims, phr. (old).—To be in good humour; in the clouds; unsubstantial; fanciful.

1542. Udal, Erasmus’s Apophth., p. 139. Diogenes mocking such quidificall trifles, that were al in the cherubins, said, Sir Plato, your table and your cuppe I see very well, but as for your tabletee and your cupitee I see none soche.

Cheshire Cat. To grin like a Cheshire cat [chewing gravel, eating cheese, or evacuating bones, is sometimes added], phr. (common).—To laugh broadly—to ‘laugh all over one’s face.’ Used disparagingly. [Origin unknown.]

1782. Wolcot (‘P. Pindar’), Pair of Lyric Epistles, in wks. (Dublin, 1795), vol. II., p. 424. Lo, like a Cheshire cat our Court will grin!

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xxiv. In fact, Mr. Newcome says to Mr. Pendennis, in his droll, humourous way, ‘that woman grins like a Cheshire cat!’ Who was the naturalist who first discovered that peculiarity of the cats in Cheshire?

1859. Letter from Edward S. Taylor to John Camden Hotten, 22 Dec. Cheshire cat eating cheese—I have always heard ‘evacuating bones,’ which if less decent is more expressive.

1866. Dodgson (‘Lewis Carroll’), Alice in Wonderland, ch. viii.

Chest. To chuck out one’s chest, phr. (common).—To pull oneself together; stand firm; ‘keep a stiff upper lip.’

Chestnut, subs. (American).—A stale joke or story; an old ‘Joe’; something frequently said or done before. As to the variants of this phrase—their name is legion. The old songs are chestnut songs; he who would foist a stale jest is implored to spare the chestnut tree, not to rustle the chestnut leaves, not to set the chestnut bell a-ringing. [The Philadelphia Press (1888) attributes the introduction of the phrase to Mr. William Warren, a veteran Boston comedian. In a forgotten melodrama, by William Dillon, called The Broken Sword, there were two characters, one a Capt. Xavier, and the other the comedy part of Pablo. Says the captain, a sort of Munchausen, ‘I entered the woods of Colloway, and suddenly from the thick boughs of a cork tree’—when Pablo interrupts him with the words: ‘A chestnut, captain, a chestnut.’ ‘Bah!’ replies the captain. ‘Booby, I say a cork tree.’ ‘A chestnut,’ reiterates Pablo, ‘I should know as well as you, having heard you tell the tale these twenty-seven times.’ Warren, who had often played Pablo, was at a stage-dinner, where one of the men told a story of doubtful age and originality. ‘A chestnut,’ quoth Warren, ‘I have heard you tell the tale these twenty-seven times.’ The application pleased, and when the party broke up each member helped to spread the story and the commentary. This is the most plausible of many explanations.]

1882. Halkett Lord, in N. and Q., 7 S., vii., 53. I first heard the word [chestnut] in 1882, in a theatrical chop-house (Brown’s) in New York. The explanation given to me by Mr. Brown—once a well-known member of Wallack’s company—was ‘Chestnut, because it is old enough to have grown a beard,’ alluding to the prickly bristly husk of the nuts.

1886. Dram. Rev., March 27, p. 86 col. 2. Minnie Palmer will give £1000 to any one who will submit to her an idea for legitimate advertising.... Chestnut ideas not wanted. [m.]

1888. New York Sun, Jan. 24. ‘May I venture to tell the old, old story, Miss Maud,’ he said, tremulously; ‘the old, old, yet ever new, story of—’ ‘Pardon me, Mr. Sampson, if I cause you pain,’ interrupted the girl, gently, ‘but to me the story you wish to tell is a chestnut.’ ‘A chestnut?’ ‘Yes, Mr. Sampson, I’m already engaged; but I will be a sister—’ ‘It isn’t as wormy as that one,’ murmured Mr. Sampson, feeling for his hat.

Chete.—See Cheat.

Chew, subs. (common).—A small portion of tobacco; a quid. Cf., Chew the cud.

1880. Jas. Greenwood, Gaol Birds at Large. A piece as large as a horse-bean, called a chew, is regarded as an equivalent for a twelve-ounce loaf and a meat ration.

To chew oneself, verbal phr. (American).—To get angry. For synonyms, see Nab the rust.

To chew the cud, verbal phr. (common).—To chew tobacco.

To chew the rag or fat, verbal phr. (military).—To grumble.

c. 1887. Brunlees Patterson, Life in the Ranks. Some of the ‘knowing blokes,’ prominent among whom will be the ‘grousers,’ will, in all probability, be chewing the rag or fat.

Chewallop! intj. (American).—An onomatopœia, representing, it is thought, the sound of an object falling heavily to the ground or into water—See Cachunk.

1835. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. ii. I felt ... only one stop more [and I] was over head and ears chewallop in the water.

1888. Hoppe, Englisch-Deutsches Supplement-Lexikon, p. 215. It means ‘flat down,’ and is a strong expression. If a woman, for ex., falls head over heels and flat to the ground, they say, ‘she fell chewallop.’

Chewre, verb (Old Cant).—To steal.

Chic, subs. (popular).—Finish; elegance; spirit; dash; style—any quality which marks a person or thing as superior. [Originally a French slang term of uncertain origin, Littré being inclined to trace it to chicane, tact or skill. The French chic originally signified subtlety, cunning, skill; and, among English painters, to chic up a picture, or to do a thing from chic = to work without models and out of one’s own head.]

1856. Lever, Martins of Cro’ M., 321. The French have invented a slang word ... and by the expression chic have designated a certain property, by which objects assert their undoubted superiority over all their counterfeits.

1866. Yates, Land at Last, I., p. 110. A certain piquancy and chic in her appearance.

1871. London Figaro, 28 Feb. Those rollicking break-downs, those screeching girls who are so much admired for their chic, invariably give me a headache.

Adj. (common).—Stylish; elegant; ‘up to Dick.’ So also chicdom. [From chic + dom.]

1873. Daily News, 9 June. She must be ready to stick on a bow here and there, to give herself an air of chicdom. The youthful student, however, must not go too far in the direction of chic, ... the chief thing which distinguishes the dress of a lady is the absence of those prominent and inharmonious decorations, etc.

Chickabiddy, subs. (costers’).—A young girl.—See Biddy. [A nursery name for a chicken, commonly used as an endearment.] For synonyms, see Titter.

Chick-woman.—See ‘Much Ado about Nothing.’ Act 1, Sc. iii.

Chickaleary Cove or Bloke, subs. phr. (costers’).—An ‘artful member,’ otherwise a downy cove (q.v., for synonyms).

c. 1869. Vance, Broadside Ballad. I’m a chickaleary cove, with my one, two, three; Whitechapel was the village I was born in.

Chicken, subs. (thieves’).—A pint pot. Cf., Hens and Chickens and Cat and kittens.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 276. The hens and chickens, of the low lodging-houses are the publican’s pewter measures; the bigger vessels are hens, the smaller chickens.

No chicken, adv. phr. (common).—Elderly. [The term chicken is often applied to children.]

1720. Swift, Stella’s Birthday. Pursue your trade of scandel-picking, Your hints that Stella is no chicken.

1738. Swift, Polite Conversation (conv. i). I swear she’s no chicken; she’s on the wrong side of thirty if she be a day.

1742. Fielding, Joseph Andrews, bk. II., ch. ix. Adams, who was no chicken, and could bear a drubbing as well as any boxing champion in the universe.

1771. Smollet, Humphry Clinker, l., 68. The knight swore he was no such chicken, but a tough old rogue, that would live long enough to plague all his neighbours.

1717–1797. Horace Walpole, Letters, III., 308. I made a visit yesterday to the Abbess of Panthemont, General Oglethorpe’s niece, and no chicken.

1859. Sala, Gaslight and Daylight, ch. v. I am no chicken (though not the gray-headed old fogy that insulting Squirrel presumes to call me).

To count one’s chickens before they are hatched, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To reckon beforehand upon a successful issue. The Latins said, ‘Don’t sing your song of triumph before you have won the victory’ (ante victoriam canere triumphum). ‘Don’t hallo till you are out of the wood’ has a similar meaning, and in French, to lose a game as good as won = la perdre belle. The expression was doubtless popularised by Butler in his Hudibras [see quot., 1664], but it was known long prior.

1579. Gosson, Ephem., 19a. I woulde not have him to counte his chickens so soone before they be hatcht. [m.]

1664. Butler, Hudibras, II., iii., 923. To swallow gudgeons ere they’re catch’d. And count their chickens ere they’re hatched.

Chicken-Butcher, subs. (old).—A poulterer; also a sportsman’s term for anyone shooting immature game.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Chicken-Fixings, subs. (American).—Properly a hash, stew, or fricassee of chicken, but the term is now applied to any fare out of the common, and also to show of any kind. French, la gueulardise. Cf., Common doings.

1864. A Trip to the South. An extraordinary sight were the countless waiters, held up to the car-windows at Gordonsville by turbaned negro-women, filled with coffee-cups, eggs, and the inevitable chicken-fixings, which it was henceforth our fate to meet at every railway depot, till we reached New Orleans.

18(?). Carlton, New Purchase, vol. II., p. 240. These preachers dress like big bugs, and go ridin’ about on hundred-dollar horses, a-spungin’ poor priest-ridden folks, and a-eaten chicken-fixins so powerful fast that chickens has got scarce in these diggins.

Chi-ike or Chy-ack, subs. (costers’).—A street salute; a word of praise.—See Coo-ey.

c. 1869. Vance, The Chick-a-leary Cove. Now my pals I’m going to slope, see you soon again, I hope, My young woman is avaiting, so be quick, Now join in a chyike, the ‘jolly’ we all like.

1885. Daily Telegraph, April 6, p. 6, col. 1. A prosperous butcher ... gives him what Mr. Poleaxer calls a chi-hike at his gate as he passes that way in his cart, between five and six a.m.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dictionary, s.v.

Verb.—1. To salute or hail.

1886. Sporting Times, 17 July, 7, 2. There was no charge for admission. Enough. They came, they saw, and they chi-iked.

2. (tailors’).—To chaff unmercifully. For synonyms, see Gammon, sense 1.

To give chi-ike with the chill off, phr.—To scold; abuse. For synonyms, see Wig.

Child.—See This child.

Children’s Shoes.—See Make children’s shoes.

Chill or Take the Chill Off [of liquids], verb (popular).—To warm. Chill is a contraction of the fuller phrase.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 264. A pint pot, the contents of which were chilling on the hob.

With the Chill Off, phr. (popular).—An expression of (1) dissent, (2) depreciation, or (3) disbelief. A variant of over the left (q.v.).

Chime, verb (thieves’).—To praise; extol; puff; canoodle: especially with a view to personal advantage.

Chimney, subs. (common).—A great smoker; Fr., un locomotive.

Chimney Chops, subs. (old).—A negro. [An allusion to colour.] For synonyms, see Snowball.

Chimney-Pot, subs. (common).—The silk hat worn by men, as also by women on horseback. Also called a stove-pipe, beaver, bell-topper etc., but for synonyms, see Golgotha. [An allusion to shape and colour.] The French has une cheminée.

1861. Punch, vol. XLI., p. 258. ‘The Riding-Hat Question.’ Lucy. ‘Now tell me, Mary, which is the best?’ Mary (who is rather horsey). ‘Well, dear, for tea in the arbour and that sort of thing, perhaps the little round one; but if you want to look like going across country, the Chimney-pot all to nothing.’

1864. Spectator, p. 356. The chimney-pot hat, for the power of its transcendant ugliness beat all the artists, penmen, and men of taste in England, ten years ago.

1871. Echo, 2 March. ‘London Trades—Hatters.’ The shape of the chimney-pot is constantly changing, as we all know.

1880. Punch’s Almanack, p. 10. Now, why should not gentlemen content themselves with mere underclothing, and discard the hideous chimney-pot, Frock Coat, and Trousers of the Period, so fatal to Pictorial Design?

1890. Daily Graphic, Jan. 7, p. 9, col. 4. Then the crowd go mad. Up fly head-gear, chimney-pot, and wide-a-wake alike, their owners careless of their fate.

Chimney-Sweep, subs. (common).—1. A black draught. Cf., Custom-house officer.

2. A clergyman. [In allusion to the black wear of ‘the cloth.’] For synonyms, see Devil-dodger. Sweeps are nicknamed clergymen.

Chin, subs. (American thieves’).—A child. [? A corruption of kinchin.]

Verb (American).—1. To talk; to chatter.

1883. Bread-winners (1884), 161. You haven’t done a thing but ... eat pea nuts and hear Bott chin. [m.]

1887. New York World. They chin about the best methods of relieving poverty. [m.]

18(?). Francis, Saddle and Moccasin. He was a worker, and liked nothing better than to get into a circle of young cow-punchers, and chin and josh with them.

2. To talk or act with brazen effrontery.

Chinas, subs. (Stock Exchange). Eastern Extension Australasian and China Telegraph Shares.

Chin-Chopper, subs. (pugilists’).—A drive under the chin. For synonyms, see Dig.

Chink, subs. (old).—1. Money; ready cash; also chinkers, or jink. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1557. Tusser, Husbandrie, ch. lvii., st. 43, p. 134 (E.D.S.). To buie it the cheaper, haue chinkes in thy purse.

1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act i., Sc. 5. I nursed her daughter, that you talk’d withal; I tell you he that can lay hold of her Shall have the chinks.

1603. John Day, Law Trickes, Act i. They know me rich, Horatio,—chinke, chinke! Whilst this holds out, my cause shall never sincke.

1630. Jonson, New Inn, I. Where every jovial tinker, for his chink, May cry, Mine host, to crambe! ‘Give us drink.’

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict., 2 ed., s.v.

18(?). Miss Wetherell, Glenham-Family, ch. xxviii. ‘I guess it’s something else,—she had chink enough to buy shoes with, I know.’

2. (general).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Chinkers, subs. (old).—1. Money.—See Chink.

1834. Taylor, Ph. van Artevelde, pt. II., iii., 1. We’re vile crossbow-men, and a knight are you, But steel is steel, and flesh is still but flesh, So let us see your chinkers.

1887. Baumann, A Slang Ditty. Rum coves that relieve us of chinkers and pieces, Is gin’rally lagged, Or, wuss luck, they gits scragged.

2. (thieves’).—Handcuffs united by a chain. [Derivation obvious.] For synonyms, see Darbies.

Chin-Music, subs. (American).—Talk; chatter; oratory. Cf., Chin-wag. The French say casser un mot.

1872. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Roughing It, p. 332. The thing I’m now on is to roust out somebody to jerk a little chin-music for us.

1874. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Gilded Age. Whereupon a young sprig ... began to sass [sauce] the conductor with his chin-music.

1876, Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xxvi. ‘I am not,’ said he, ‘going to orate. You did not come here, I guess, to hear me pay out chin-music.’

1883. Bread-Winners, 77. If we have joined this order to listen to chin-music the rest of our lives.

Chinning, verbal subs. (American).—Chatting; talking.

Chinny, adj. (American).—Talkative. [From chin, verb, sense 1, + ny.]

Chinqua Soldi, subs. phr. (theatrical).—Fivepence. [From the Italian.]

Chinse, subs. (Winchester College).—A chance. [Apparently a corrupted form of the word.]

Chin-Wag, subs. (common).—Talk; chatter; officious impertinence.

1879. Punch, No. 2061, p. 4. I’d just like to have a bit of chin-wag with you on the quiet.

Chip, subs. (American).—1. [In plural.] Items of news, more especially locals (q.v.).

2. A reporter who collects chips, sense 1.

3. (common).—A sovereign.—See Chips, sense 5.

1883. Miss Braddon, Phantom Fortune, ch. xli. Where sheafs of bank notes were being exchanged for those various coloured counters which represented divers values, from the respectable ‘pony’ to the modest chip

4. (gaming).—See Chips, subs. sense 2.

Verb (American).—To understand. For synonyms, see Twig.

18(?). Francis, Saddle and Moccasin. I knew at once that they had got scared, and had trenched up like a bevy of quails; so I said to Jim, ‘Now you let me do the talking, when they begin to sing “Indians”—don’t you chip?’

To chip in, verb (common).—To contribute one’s share in money or kind; to join in an undertaking; to interpose smartly.

1884. Bret Harte, In the Tunnel. When you’ll hear the next fool Asking of Flynn—Just you chip in, Say you knew Flynn.

1869. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Innocents at Home, p. 22. Pard, he was a great loss to this town. It would please the boys if you could chip in something like that, and do him justice.

1888. American Magazine, Sept. A man who won’t chip in to charity is always an object of suspicion.

1888. Star, 12 Dec., p. 3, col. 3. Justice Smith here chipped in with the remark that counsel ... had not curtailed their cross-examination.

Not to care a chip.—See Care and Fig.

Brother chip, subs. phr. (common).—‘Brother smut’; one of the same trade or profession. Cf., Chip of the old block.

1862. Penny Newsman. ‘Mr. Bernal Osborne on Pigs and Politics.’ I must say I never saw a set of gentlemen, who were in such excellent condition without verging upon obesity (considerable laughter). I could have wished, gentlemen, that there had been a larger show to-day. At the same time as a brother chip (a laugh)—Oh, gentlemen, I am a farmer (hear). I am one of those farmers that don’t understand my business as well as I ought.

Chip of the same, or the same old, block, sometimes abbreviated to chip, phr. (common). A person reproducing certain familiar or striking characteristics. Chip = also a man or thing, and in this sense is equivalent to Bloke, Cove, Cheat, etc., all of which see.

c. 1626. Dick of Devonshire, in Bullen’s Old Plays, ii., 60. Your father used to come home to my mother, and why may not I be a chipp of the same blocke, out of which you two were cutt?

1762. Colman, Musical Lady, II., iii. You’ll find him his father’s own son, I believe; a chip of the old block, I promise you!

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xviii., p. 189. ‘Yes, yes, Chuffey, Jonas is a chip of the old block. It’s a very old block now, Chuffey,’ said the old man.

1860. Funny Fellow, May 7, p. 1. Hollo, my kiddy, stir your stumps, And chuck yourself about; Make haste, young chip, my boots to shine, Or your shine I’ll quick take out.

1865. M. E. Braddon, Henry Dunbar, ch. xxxviii. I was in love myself once, though I do seem such a dry old chip.

Chip in porridge, broth, etc., phr. (common).—An old phrase signifying a thing of no moment; a nonentity.

1686. Goad, Celest. Bodies, I., xvii., 108. The Sextile is no chip in broth ... but a very considerable Engine. [m.]

1688. Vox Cleri Pro Rege, 56. A sort of chip in pottage, which (he hopes) will not do Popery much good, nor the Church of England much harm. [m.]

1849. Sir Chas. Napier, as quoted in N. and Q., 1 S., i., p. 383. ‘The reviews which the Commander-in-Chief makes of the troops are not to be taken as so many chips in porridge.’

1880. Church Times, 25 June. The Burials Bill ... is thought ... to resemble the proverbial chip in porridge, which does neither good nor harm. [m.]

Chipper, adj. (American).—‘Fit’; active; ready to ‘chip in.’

Chippy, adj. (common).—Unwell; seedy. Generally used to describe the results of over-indulgence in eating, drinking, etc. Cf., Cheap.

1877. Belgravia, April, p. 235. After two copious libations of the above [B. and S.], a man is apt to feel chippy next morning.

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish [Ry. ed.], p. 157. A dozen cigars a day make one feel dreadfully chippy in the morning.

Chips, subs. (old).—1. A carpenter. Fourbesque equivalents are gangherino and zangarino, whilst the Gaunersprache has Mepaie.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. A nick-name for a carpenter.

1851. Chambers’ Paper, No. 52, p. 20. The carpenter, a rough hardy Swede, rejoicing in the name of Burstrome, was not offended in the slightest degree at being called chips even by the black cuddy servant.

1883. Clark Russell, Sailors’ Language, pref., xii. The carpenter is more politely termed chips.

2. (gaming).—Counters used in games of chance. Cf., Checks.

1869. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Innocents at Home, ch. ii. Don’t put up another chip till I look at my hand.

3. (American).—Cards. [Mr. C. Nordhoff writing to Mr. John Camden Hotten, on 1 May, 1865, states that ‘chips = slang for cards.’]

4. (common).—Money. [This usage is derived through sense 2, and passes naturally to sense 5 (q.v.).]

1877. W. Black, Green Past. and Picc., ch. xlix. You kent fool away your hand and keep the chips.

1885. Sporting Times, 23 May. ‘The Chorister’s Promise.’ The landlady came and knocked at the door—(Sing Fulham Road), Saying she’d have to clear out, and swore She’d distrain on her wardrobe what was more (Because of the chips she owed).

5. (general).—A sovereign. Used both in sing. and pl.—See quot. under Chip, sense 3, and Cf., preceding sense.

6. (Wellington College).—A kind of grill, so called from its hardness.

To hand in one’s chips, phr. (gamblers’).—To die. [For probable derivation, see Checks.]

Chirp, verb (thieves’).—1. To talk. For synonyms, see Patter. Grose has chirping merry = exhilarated with liquor.

1884. J. Greenwood, The Little Ragamuffins. I firmly resolved to chirp, when I was taken before the magistrate to give evidence, as little as possible.

2. To inform. For synonyms, see Peach.

Chirper, subs. (common).—1. A singer.

2. (common).—A glass or tankard.

1862. George Meredith, Juggling Jerry Poems. Hand up the chirper! ripe ale winks in it; Let’s have comfort and be at peace. Once a stout draught made me light as a linnet. Cheer up! the Lord must have his lease.

3. (common).—The mouth. For synonyms, see Potato trap.

4. (music-hall).—One of a gang frequenting the stage doors of music-halls to blackmail the singers. If money be refused them, they go into the auditorium and hoot, hiss, and groan at the performer. [Cf., Chirrup, quot., 1888.]

1889. Daily News, 2 July, p. 2. Singularly enough the Canterbury Music-hall ... was mentioned in one of the night-charges, two men known as chirpers or chirripers being brought before Mr. Biron.

Chirpy, adj. (colloquial).—Cheerful; lively. [From chirp = babble of birds, + y.]

1837. J. Bates, in Ht. Martineau, Soc. Amer., III., 332. It makes me chirpy to think of Roseland.

1879. Justin McCarthy, Donna Quixote, ch. xxxv. To Charlton this appeared gravely ominous ... Paulina, on the other hand, was what she would herself have called chirpy.

1882. Besant, All Sorts and Conditions of Men, ch. xx., p. 146. Her ladyship put quite a chirpy face upon it.

Chirrup, verb (music-hall).—To cheer or applaud under a system of blackmail. [The term appears to have come into vogue in the early part of 1888.—See quots, under Chirruper; also Cf., Chirper, sense 4, and Chirruping.]

Chirruper.—See Chirper, senses 1 and 4, Fr., un intime.

1888. Pall Mall Gazette, 6 Mar., p. 4, col. 2. A chirruper ... excused himself at the Lambeth Police Court yesterday by alleging that ‘he thought there was no harm in it.’

1888. J. Payn, in Illustrated London News, 17 Mar., p. 268. The ... singers in music-halls cannot ... do without him (the chirruper). [m.]

Chirruping, verbal subs. (music-hall).—Hanging about stage doors to intercept the ‘artistes,’ and extort money with a statement that the performer who ‘parts’ will be applauded. [For suggested, but very dubious, derivation, see quot., and Cf., Chirper, sense 4.]

1888. Pall Mall Gazette, 9 March, p. 14. Chirruping. Mr. Rintoul Mitchell writing from the Savage Club [asks] to add a hint as to the etymology of the word. It is not remote. The French argot for blackmail is chantage. Such paltry operations as those reported from the Lambeth music-hall do not merit the description of singing—they are simply twittering or chirruping.

Chisel, Chizzle, or Chuzzle, verb (common).—To cheat. [Possibly an extension of the orthodox meaning of the verb in the sense of ‘to cut, shave, or pare with a chisel to an excessive degree.’ Jamieson (1808) gives chisel as to cheat, or act deceitfully. Current during the first half of the present century, it seems first to have appeared in literature about 1840. Cf., Gouge, Shave, Skin, and other words of a kindred type.] For synonyms, see Stick.

1844. Illustrated London News, 25 May. ‘The Derby.’ They have chiseled the peaman and no mistake about that.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 78. When we got home at night we shared 2s. a piece. There was five of us altogether; but I think they chisselled me.

1858. Savannah Republican, 17 May. When the books were overhauled by the Committee, it was found that ... the stockholders would be chiselled out of a pretty considerable sum.

1865. Saturday Review, April. Mr. Hotten has given the supposed classical originals of ‘Dickey’ and of ‘Skedaddle.’ He might have traced the slang verb to chisel to the Latin deascio and deruncino.

1865. G. A. Sala, Trip to Barbary, ch. xx. To ‘carrotter’ any one, say an uncle or a creditor, is to chizzle or ‘chouse’ or ‘do’ him out of his property amidst assurances of high-flown benevolence and exalted integrity.

To go full chisel, phr. (American).—To go at full speed or ‘full drive’; to show intense earnestness; to use great force; to go off brilliantly.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker (1862), 95. The long shanks of a bittern ... a drivin’ away like mad, full chisel arter a frog.

1878. Mrs. Stowe, Poganuc P., ix., 76. Then he’d turn and run up the narrow way, full chisel. [m.]

Chiselling, verbal subs. Cheating. [Cf. Chisel, verb.] Variants are bamming; biting; besting; gouging, etc.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 298. Other efforts at cheating are designated as chisselling—not as some have believed from the practice of chiselling, that is, opening by means of cold chisels the safes of banks and merchants, since the term is much older than the introduction of safes.

Chit, subs. (Anglo-Indian).—1. A letter; corruption of a Hindoo word.

1785. In Seton-Karr, I., 114. [They] may know his terms by sending a chit. [m.]

1887. Chamb. Jour., 25 June, p. 411. He had brought a note or chitti, as they call it in those parts [Bengal].

2. (society).—An order for drinks in clubs, etc. [Obviously an extended use of sense 1. In India the practice of writing chits or notes on the smallest provocation has always been carried to excess.]

3. (common).—A girl, under age and undersized. For general synonyms, see Titter.

4. subs. (Scots). Food eaten in the hand: as a thumber (q.v.), a workman’s lunch, and a child’s piece (q.v.).

Chitterlings, subs. (old).—The shirt frills once fashionable. [Properly the entrails of a pig, to which they are supposed to bear some resemblance.]

Chitty, subs. (tailors’).—An assistant cutter or trimmer.

Chitty-Faced, adj. (old).—Thin; weazened; baby-faced. Cf., Chit, sense 3.

1601. Munday, Downf. R. Earl of Huntingdon, I., iii. You halfe-fac’t groat, you thick [? thin] cheekt chitti-face. [m.]

1621. Burton, Anat. of Melan., [2nd ed.], p. 519. A thin, lean, chitty-face.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew.

1725. New Cant. Dict.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum.

1859. Hotten, Slang Dict.

Chiv.—See Chive.

Chivalry, subs. (old).—Coition. [From the Lingua Franca or O. F. chevaulcher.] For synonyms, see Greens and Cf., Ride.

Chive or Chiv, subs. (thieves’).—1. A knife. [The Gypsy has chive, to stab.]

English Synonyms. Arkansas toothpick (a bowie knife); cabbage-bleeder; whittle; gully; jocteleg (a clasp knife: a corruption of Jacques de Liége); snickersnee (nautical); cuttle; cuttle-bung; pig-sticker.

French Synonyms. Un bince (thieves’); un coupe-lard (popular: literary ‘a bacon slicer,’ lard being used as the English ‘bacon’ for the human body); un coupe-sifflet (thieves’: couper le sifflet à quelqu’un = ‘to cut any one’s throat’); un lingre or lingue (thieves’: from Langres, a manufacturing town); un trente-deux or un vingt-deux (thieves’: originally terms used by Dutch and Flemish thieves’); un chourin or surin (thieves’: possibly from the Gypsy churi, ‘a knife’); un pliant (thieves’); une petite flambe (thieves’: also a sword, said by Michel to be derived from Flamberge, the name of the sword of Renaud de Montauban. Mettre flamberge au vent = ‘to draw’).

German Synonyms. Hechtling; Kaut (possibly connected with the English ‘cut’); Mandel or Mandle: (Viennese thieves’: in the Gaunersprache = ‘a man,’ especially a little one); Sackin, Sackem, Sackum, Zackin, Zacken (from the Hebrew sochan); Schorin or Schorie (from the Gypsy churi, which in Hanover appears as Czuri).

Italian Synonym. Bacchetto.

Portuguese Synonym. Sarda.

1674. R. Head, Canting Academy, 12. He takes his chive and cuts us down.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4 ed.), p. 11. Chieve, knife.

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1828. Jon. Bee, Picture of London, p. 26. Some of these accomplices also carry a chiv, or knife.

1837. Disraeli, Venetia, ch. xiv. ‘Berwnu,’ he shouted, ‘gibela chiv for the gentry cove.’

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL., 503. So we had a fight, and he put the chive (knife) into me.

2. See Chivey.

Verb.—To stab; to ‘knife.’

1725. New Cant. Dict. To Chive his Darbies: to saw asunder his Irons.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v. To chiv a person is to stab or cut him with a knife.

1868. Cassell’s Magazine, May, p. 80. He [a bushranger] was as good a man as Jacky at any weapon that could be named, and if Jacky were game for a chiving (stabbing) match, he (Kavanagh) was ready for him.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL., 503. After the place got well where I was chived.

Chive-Fencer, subs. (costers’).—A street hawker of cutlery. [From chive, a knife, + fence or fencer, a receiver of stolen property.]

Chivey or Chivvy, subs. (common).—A shout; greeting or cheer. Cf., Chi-ike.

Verb (common).—To ‘guy’; to chase round or hunt about; to throw or pitch about. Also chevy. [Mr. C. G. Leland says in Annandale (vol. I., 460) chivvy is a common English word, meaning to goad, drive, vex, hunt, or throw as it were here and there. It is purely Gypsy. Chiv in Rommany means anything sharp-pointed, as a dagger, goad, or knife. The old Gypsy word Chiv among its numerous meanings has exactly that of casting, throwing, pitching, and driving. Murray, however, inclines to derive it from Chevy Chase, the scene of a famous Border skirmish; in any case the usage is modern, but see quot., 1821.] So also chivied, chiveying, etc.

1821. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, I., vii. Log. Come along, then. Now, Jerry, chivey! Jerry. Chivey? Log. Mizzle! Jerry. Mizzle? Log. Tip your rags a gallop! Jerry. Tip my rags a gallop?... Log. Bolt! Jerry. Bolt? Oh, aye! I’m fly now. You mean go.

1840. Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), V. 50. The other side are to blame, if they do not, as we should say in the dragoons ‘chevy’ them back again.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 44. I never had patience enough to try and kill fleas by my process; it would be too much of a chivey to please me.

1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliot, ch. xxxix. The dog ... used to chivy the cats into the window among the bon bons, and play the deuce and all.

1864. Eton School-days, ch. xiv., p. 168. Burke, however, ran the faster of the two, and after a short chivey, succeeded in capturing him.

1868. Miss Braddon, Trail of the Serpent, bk. VI., ch. iv. The Board of Health came a-chivying of us to take up our floorings, and limewash ourselves inside.

1871. Daily News Report, ‘A Republican Demonstration in Hyde Park, on Sunday, April 17.’ A comparatively decent man selling ‘A History of Ireland’ was mobbed and chivied from side to side.

Chiving Lay, subs. phr. (old).—Cutting the braces of coaches behind, whereupon, the coachman quitting the box, an accomplice broke and robbed the boot. Also cutting through the back of the coach to snatch the large and costly wigs then fashionable.—Grose. [From Chive, a knife.]

Chivy or Chevy, subs. (thieves’).—The face. For synonyms, see Dial.

c. 1886. Music Hall Song. ‘’Aint he got an artful chevy.’

Verb.—To scold; to bullyrag. For synonyms, see Wig.

Choakee.—See Chokey.

Chock, verb (streets’).—To strike a person under the chin. [Probably a corruption of to chuck, i.e., ‘chuck under the chin.’]—See Chocker.

Chocker, subs. (streets’).—A man. Generally Old Chocker, and thus comparable with Old Codger (q.v.). The term is not however, used in contempt; presumably, therefore, it signifies a manly man, i.e., one who is capable of ‘chocking.’—See Chock.

Chocolate. To give chocolate without sugar, phr. (old).—To reprove.—Grose [1785], and Lexicon Balatronicum [1811].

Choke-Dog, subs. (common).—Cheese; especially that made in Devonshire.

1870. Good Words, March. As I have said before, the Dorsetshire hind is undoubtedly under-fed. Bread and choke-dog, as he calls his county’s cheese, etc.—these, as I have said before, are the chief items in his bill of fare.

Choke Off, verb (common).—To get rid of; to put a stop to; and in a milder sense, ‘to run contrary to.’ [In the first instance the idea was associated with the throttling of bull-dogs to make them loose their hold; but the editor of a recent edition of the Slang Dictionary (Mr. Henry M. Sampson of The Referee) adds en parenthèse, ‘Of course by those who don’t know the scientific way used in canine exhibitions and dog-fights—of biting their tails till they round to bite the biter.’]

English Synonyms. To shut off; to shunt; to fub off; to rump; to cold shoulder. For synonyms in a more emphatic sense, see Floor.

French Synonyms. Envoyer quelqu’un s’asseoir (popular: Cf., ‘to set one down’); arrêter les frais (‘to put a stop to proceedings.’)

1818. Cobbett, Pol. Reg., XXXIII., 72. The Duke’s seven mouths ... made the Whig party choak off Sheridan. [m.]

1848. New York Exp., 21 Feb. (Bartlett). In the House ... of ... Representatives. The operation of choking off a speaker was very funny, and reminded me of the lawless conduct of fighting school-boys.

1864. Derby Day, p. 155. ‘That will do, mother,’ he said; ‘I think I have had my five shillings’ worth’; but the gipsy would not be choked off until she had finished the patter she had learnt by heart.

1870. London Figaro, 26 November. The hair-oil vendor was proceeding in this strain of eulogium on the virtues of his particular invigorating application when he was gently but firmly choked off.

1883. Graphic, July 7, p. 11, col. 2. English dealers attend these fairs with the object of purchasing these noble-looking animals, but prices have now risen to £20 per head, and the English demand is being choked off.

Choker, subs. (common).—1. A cravat; primarily the large neckerchief once worn high round the neck. Sometimes white choker (q.v.), the white neckerchief peculiar to evening dress.

English Synonyms. Neckinger; tie (this is now technical, but was formerly a slang term); crumpler.

French Synonyms. Un collier or coulant; un blave or blavin; un épiploon (students’).

1848. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, ch. i., p. 146. The usual attire of a gentleman, viz., pumps, a gold waistcoat, a crush hat, a sham frill, and a white choker.

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. xix. Cram on a wrap-rascal and a shawl choaker. Never mind the gold-laced overalls and spurs.

1853. Rev. E. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Verdant Green, pt. I., p. 72. I’ll take off his choker and make him easy about the neck, and then we’ll shut him up and leave him. Why, the beggar’s asleep already.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. vii. There’s Mr. Brown, who oils his hair, and wears rings, and white chokers—my eyes! such white chokers!—and yet we call him the handsome snob!

1869. Orchestra, 20 August. I found myself elbowing a fellow-countryman in a button-up waistcoat, and white choker!

1871. London Figaro, 13 May, p. 3, col. 3. ‘Bill ain’t hungry this morning,’ she repeated; ‘or the cove with the white choker ’ud be safe to collar. But look!’

2. (popular).—An all-round collar. Cf., All-rounder.

1869. New York Herald, 6 Sept. ‘Prince Arthur in Canada.’ A neat and elegant black dress coat, closely buttoned, pants of a light drab hue, a choker collar of enormous size, and a black silk tie, were the garments most conspicuous.

3. (common).—A garotter.—See Wind-stopper.

4. (thieves’).—A cell; prison; lock up.—See Chokey.

1884. St. James’s Gazette, Jan. 4, p. 12, col. He preferred to go to choker.

5. (thieves’).—The hangman’s rope or ‘squeezer’; a halter. For synonyms, see Horse’s nightcap.

White-choker, subs. (common).—A clergyman. [In allusion to the white ties worn by ‘the cloth.’] For synonyms, see Devil-dodger.

1849. Punch’s Almanack. The Swell Mobsman’s Almanack. Plant about Exeter ’All, in May take old ladies on way to ’All, as they generally hempties into the plate. The vite chokers may be fingured on their way ’ome as they mostly brings hoff a pocketful.

1852. Comic Almanack. ‘Modes of addressing persons of various ranks.’ The Clergy as a body, you will speak of as the white-chokers, The lay aristocracy are simply styled The Nobs.

Chokered, ppl. adj. (common).—Wearing a choker (q.v.).

1866. London Review, 7 April, p. 388, col. 1. A whitebait waiter is admirably chokered.

Chokey, Choky, Chokee or Choker, subs. (common).—1. A prison. [Indian: from Hindī chaukī, a shed, station, or lock-up. In use from 1698 onwards and transferred to English slang early in the present century.] The Queen’s Bench prison has been called the Queen’s chokey. For synonyms, see Cage.

1836. Michael Scott, Cruise of the Midge (ed. 18), p. 107. Lord, but it’s chokey!

1866. London Miscellany, March 3, p. 58, col. 1. I’ve jist crept out o’ chokey. This is the twenty-ninth time I’ve been took that way, and I’m jist gone twenty.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. ii., p. 131. Both were marched off to chokee, and I have no doubt got punished.

1877. Besant and Rice, This Son of Vulcan, II., ch. vi., p. 223. Find out this stranger, and, by God, I’m a justice of the peace, and I’ll cool his heels in chokee for a month.

1884. Daily News, Sept. 24, p. 3, col. 1. Wright ... would get two or three days’ choky (i.e., bread and water).

2. (prison).—A cell, specially a punishment cell. For synonyms, see Clinch.

1889. Answers, 30 March, p. 280, col. 2. But I am reminded that I have not yet described that horrible institution known as the dark cell—chokey, we convicts called it.

Chonkeys, subs. (common).—See quot.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 208. Chonkeys, or a kind of mincemeat baked in crust.

Chop, subs. (old).—1. A blow. Once (in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) literary; and still respectable in a ‘chopping’—i.e., a beating ‘sea.’

2. An exchange; a barter. Cf., Chop and change.

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 140. I purchased, or more properly speaking, had a chop with a wooden bowl maker from Chesham.

Verb (colloquial).—1. To exchange; to barter: as, to chop logic = to give argument for argument; and to chop stories = to ‘cap’ one anecdote with another. Also to change quarters: as ‘the wind chopped round to the north.’ Cf., Swap.

1554. Latimer, wks. (1845), II., 433. Shall we go about to chop away this good occasion, which God offereth us. [m.]

1693. Shadwell, Volunteers, IV. (1720), iv., 467. Horses that are jades ... may be chopt away or sold in Smithfield. [m.]

1871. City Press, Jan. 21. ‘Curiosities of Street Literature.’ He hangs out in Monmouth-court, And wears a pair of blue-black breeches, Where all the ‘Polly Cox’s crew’ do resort, To chop their swag for badly-printed dying speeches.

2. To eat a chop.

1841. Mrs. Gore, Cecil, xx. I would rather have chopped at the ‘Blue Posts’ as I once did, fifteen years before. [m.]

1887. Sala, Illustrated London News, Feb. 5, 144. I went one day ... to chop at the ‘Cock.’ [m.]

3. (colonial).—See quot.

1871. Sheffield Telegraph, April. West African (New Calabar) slang for cannibalistic practice. He’s chopped, i.e., he is eaten.

Chop and change, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Ups and downs; vicissitudes; changes of fortune.

1759–67. Sterne, Tristam Shandy [ed. 1772], I., ch. xi. [Surnames] which, in a course of years, have generally undergone as many chops and changes as their owners.

1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, xvi. At last we were all arranged ... although there were several chops and changes about until the order of precedence could be correctly observed.

1845. Hood, To Kitchener, iii. Like Fortune, full of chops and changes.

1849–50. Thackeray, Pendennis, III., p. 423. I have heard of all that has happened, and all the chops and changes that have taken place during my absence.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II., 238. The accounts of such transactions for a series of years, with all their chops and changes.

Verbal phr., trs. and intrs.—To barter; buy and sell; exchange; change tactics; veer frequently from one side to the other; vacillate, etc.

1485. Digby Myst. (1882), v., 641. I ... choppe and chaunge with Symonye, and take large yiftes. [m.]

1593. G. Harvey, Pierces Super., in wks. II., 115. To mangle my sentences, hack my arguments, chopp and change my phrases.

1672. Wycherley, Love in a Wood, wks. V. (1713), 431. We have chop’d and chang’d, and hid our Christina’s so long, and often, that at last, we have drawn each of us our own?

1706. E. Coles, Eng. Dict. Chop Church, changing of one Church for another.

1883. Principal Shairp, in Good Words, Jan., p. 27. The politicians seemed bent on making the Church a tool which they might chop and change as the political wind blew.

First chop, second chop, etc. (q.v.).

Chop-Chop, adv. (pidgin).—Immediately; quickly.

1878. Jas. Payn, By Proxy, ch. ii. ‘Chow-chow is not fish, but food,’ explained Conway, laughing, ‘and chop-chop only means directly.’

Chopper or Chopping Blow, subs. (pugilistic).—1. See quotation. For synonyms, see Dig, Bang, and Wipe.

1819. Thos. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, pref., p. 30. A chopper is a blow, struck on the face with the back of the hand. Mendoza claims the honour of its invention, but unjustly; he certainly revived, and considerably improved it. It was practised long before our time—Broughton occasionally used it; and Slack, it also appears, struck the chopper in giving the return in many of his battles.

2. (trade).—A sausage maker.

1865. Pall Mall Gazette, 4 Sept., p. 9, col. 2. I was glad to get it off to a chopper at last.... Dr. Letheby explained that a chopper is the trade term for a sausage maker.

To have a chopper, or Button, on, phr. (printers’).—To be miserable; ‘down in the dumps’ or in a fit of the ‘blues.’

Chopping, adj. (old).—Sexually forward; said of girls unduly ‘vain and amatorious.’ [An extension in sense of chopping = strapping, thumping, bouncing, etc.] The French express it by avoir la cuisse gaie.

Chopping-Block, subs. (pugilistic).—A man like a butcher’s block, i.e., who takes an immense amount of ‘punishment’ in a fight without the science or the strength to return it.

Chops. To lick the chops, phr. (common).—See quots. [Chops = the mouth, lips, jaws.] Fr., les jaffes.

1655. Fellowes, tr., Milton’s 2nd Defence, 227. The sight of this egg ... caused our monarchy-men ... to lick their chops. [m.]

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 6, Manager. Of course then the Tories will take office? Punch. I rayther suspect they will. Have they not been licking their chops for ten years outside the Treasury door while the sneaking Whigs were helping themselves to all the fat tit-bits within?

Down in the Chops or mouth, phr. (colloquial).—Sad, melancholy. Cf., To have a chopper on.

1830. Sir E. B. Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 28, ed. 1854. ‘Vy, Paul, my kid, you looks down in the chops; cheer up, care killed a cat.’

1868. Brewer, Phrase and Fable. Down in the chops—i.e., down in the mouth; in a melancholy state; with the mouth drawn down. Chop or chap is Saxon for mouth; we still say a pig’s chap.

Chop the Whiners, verbal phr. (thieves’).—To say prayers. [From an extended use of chop in the sense of to bandy words—hence to speak + whiners (q.v.), prayers.] Fr., manger sa paillasse.

1830. Bulwer Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 2, ed. 1854. I tells you, I vent first to Mother Bussblour’s, who, I knows, chops the whiners morning and evening to the young ladies, and I axes there for a Bible, and she says, says she, ‘I ’as only a Companion to the Halter! but you’ll get a Bible, I think at Master Talkins the cobbler as preaches.’

1857. Punch, 31 Jan. For them coves in Guildhall and that blessed Lord Mayor, Prigs on their four bones should chop whiners I swear.

Chortle, verb (popular).—To chuckle; to laugh in one’s sleeve; to ‘snort.’ [Introduced by Lewis Carrol in Through the Looking Glass.—See quot.]

1872. Lewis Carrol, Through the Looking Glass, i. ‘O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’ He chortled in his joy.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, xxxii., 242. It makes the cynic and the worldly-minded man to chuckle and chortle with an open joy.

1887. Athenæum, 3 Dec., p. 751, col. 1. A means of exciting cynical chortling.

1888. Daily News, 10 Jan., p. 5, col. 2. So may chortle the Anthropophagi. [m.]

Chosen Twelve.—See Apostles.

Chouse, subs. (colloquial).—1. A trick; swindle; sham; or ‘sell’ (q.v.). [From chouse, a cheat, trickster, or swindler, through the verb. The derivation is thus discussed and weighed by Dr. Murray: ‘As to the origin of the Eng. use, Gifford (1814), in a note on the quot. from Ben Jonson, says, ‘In 1609, Sir Robt. Shirley sent a messenger or chiaus to this country, as his agent from the Grand Signior and the Sophy to transact some preparatory business.’ The latter ‘chiaused the Turkish and Persian merchants of £4,000,’ and decamped. But no trace of this incident has yet been found outside of Gifford’s note; it was unknown to Peter Whalley, a previous editor of Ben Jonson, 1756; also to Skinner, Henshaw, Dr. Johnson, Todd, and others who discussed the history of the word. Yet most of these recognised the likeness of chouse to the Turkish word, which Henshaw even proposed as the etymon on the ground that the Turkish chiaus ‘is little better than a fool.’ Gifford’s note must therefore be taken with reserve.’] The word is also used at Eton in this sense, but see sense 2, which is the commoner. Variously spelt chiaus, chews, showse, ghowse, and chouse.

1610. Ben Jonson, Alchymist, I., ii., 25. ‘D. What do you think of me? That I am a chiause? Face. What’s that? D. The Turk [who] was here. As one would say, doe you think I am a Turke?’

1639. Ford, Lady’s Trial, II., i. Gulls, or Moguls, Tag, rag, or other, hogen-mogen, vanden, Skip-jacks, or chouses.

1672. Wycherley, Love in a Wood, I., i., wks. (1713), 343. You are no better than a chouse, a cheat.

1673. Wycherley, Gent. Danc. Master, III., in wks. (1713), 295. He a dancing-master, he’s a chouse, a cheat, a meer cheat.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. (2 ed.).

2. (Eton College).—A shame; an imposition.

1864. Athenæum. When an Eton boy says that anything is ‘a beastly chouse,’ he means that it is a great shame; and when an Eton peripatetic tradesman is playful enough to call his customer ‘a little chouser,’ he means that a leaf has been taken out of his own book by one on whom he has practised.

1883. Brinsley Richards, Seven Years at Eton. The boy ... was told that what he had done was an awful chouse.

Verb (colloquial).—To cheat. [For suggested derivation, see subs., sense 1.] Synonyms will be found under Stick.

1659. Shirley, Honoria and Mam., II., iii. We are in a fair way to be ridiculous.... Chiaus’d by a scholar! [m.]

1663. Pepys, Diary, May 15. The Portugalls have choused us, it seems, in the Island of Bombay, in the East Indys.

1708. Centlivre, Busie Body, Act iii. You and my most conscionable Guardian here ... plotted and agreed, to chouse a very civil, honest, honourable gentleman, out of a Hundred Pound.

1742–4. Roger North, Lives of the Norths, I., 90. The judge held them to it, and they were choused of the treble value.

1823. Hints for Oxford, p. 26. Everything in common use at Oxford, with the exception, perhaps, of books, is charged at an exorbitant rate; and, what is worse ... you are often having yourself choused with abominable trash.

1890. Academy, Feb. 22, p. 125, col. 1. Susan Burnay’s letters, with charming naïveté, confess that, in the expectation of an early visit from the delightful mimic, she for four mornings was up at seven o’clock, only to find herself, borrowing the slang phrases of the day, ‘choused, for he nick’d us entirely, and never came at all.’

So also choused, ppl. adj., chousing, verbal subs., and chouser, subs.

Chout, subs. (East London).—An entertainment.—Hotten.

Chovey, subs. (costermongers’).—A shop. A shopman is known amongst the fraternity as a man-chovey, and a shop-woman as ann-chovey.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant (2 ed.), 444. A shop—Chovey.

French Synonyms. Une boutogue (thieves’); une boutanche (thieves’); un boucard (thieves’); un rade or radeau (thieves’); also primarily, a till.

German Synonym. Chenwene (a market stall, the stock itself, or a box full of goods; Chenwener, the owner of such a place—a merchant or shop-keeper).

Chow, subs. (theatrical).—Talk; ‘lip’; jaw; e.g., to have ‘plenty of chow’ = to have a good deal to say.

Verb (theatrical).—To talk incessantly; to grumble. A variant is to chip. [Chow is apparently a form of ‘chew,’ now fallen into desuetude.]

Chowder-Headed, adj. (American).—Stupid. [The term though only dialectical in England is pretty general in U.S.A. It is given by Murray as a variant of cholter-headed, which in turn is another form for jolt or jolter-headed. Chowder is properly a kind of hotch-potch, and applied to the intellectuals would imply ‘confusedness,’ and hence idiocy.]

1819. Scott, Lett., 15 April, in Lockhart. I hesitate a little about Raeburn ... [he] has twice already made a very chowder-headed person of me.

1851. H. Melville, Whale, xv., 73. What’s that stultifying saying about chowder-headed people? [m.]

18(?). S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Launch of the Steamer ‘Capital.’ The Showman ... grabbed the orchestra and shook him up, and says, ‘That lets you out, you chowder-headed old clam.’

Christen, verb (thieves’)—1. To erase the markings from a watch, and substitute a fictitious inscription, with a view to preventing identification. An Old Cant variant was to church (q.v.), the derivation being analogous. French thieves, in speaking of a Christened watch or other ‘faked’ silver, use couvert.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 74. This alteration is called christening, and the watch thus transformed faces the world without fear of detection.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 444. To alter the maker’s name in a watch—to christen a yack.

1868. Doran, Saint and Sinn., II., 290. The pietist thieves ... christen daily as soon as they have stolen a watch. This thieves’ christening consists in erasing the maker’s name and supplying another. [m.]

1872. Standard, ‘Middlesex Sessions Report.’ William Miller, the detective officer in the case, being called upon by the judge to state what he knew of the prisoner, said he knew him by his trade as a baker, but he mixed up with watch thieves and housebreakers, and the tools found in his possession he used for christening stolen watches and putting new bows to them.

2. (colloquial).—To mix water with wine; to mix liquors generally. Fr., Maquiller le vitriol = to adulterate brandy; monter sur le tonneau (vinters’ = to add water to a cask of wine). A Spanish equivalent is exactly translated bautizar el vino. To drown the miller (q.v.), = to add too much water.

1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, let. xiii. We’ll christen him with the brewer (here he added a little small beer to his beverage).

3. (low).—To souse from a chamber utensil.

4. (common).—To take a dram; or ‘do a drain,’ in celebration of something, as the purchase of a new pair of boots, a removal, etc.

Christian, subs. (common).—A good fellow; a decent or presentable person. [A human being as distinguished from the brute creation, in which sense it is used by Shakspeare; the modern slang usage was apparently introduced by Dickens.]—See quots. in various senses.

1595. Shakspeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act iii., Sc. 1, 272. Thee hath more qualities than a Water-Spaniell, which is much in a bare Christian.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, Christian: a tradesman who has faith, i.e., will give credit.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, xxxiv. You must take your passage like a Christian; at least, as like a Christian as a fore-cabin passenger can.

1859. Times, 20 April. Grey parrot for sale, the property of a lady. She talks like a Christian, and is in first-rate condition. Price, including cage. £15. Apply, etc., etc.

Adj. (common).—Decent; respectable, etc.—[See subs.]

Christian Pony, subs. phr. (old Irish slang).—The chairman or president of a meeting.

Christians, subs. pl. (Cambridge Univ.).—Members of Christ’s College.—[Of obvious derivation.]

Christmas, Christmassing, subs. and verbal subs. (colloquial).—Holly and mistletoe.

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, p. 228 (ed. 1857). The fat boy pointed to the destination of the pies. ‘Wery good,’ said Sam, ‘stick a bit o’ Christmas in ’em.’

1851. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 141. In London a large trade is carried on in Christmasing, or in the sale of holly and mistletoe for Christmas sports and decorations.... ‘Look,’ said a gardener to me, ‘what’s spent on a Christmasing the churches!’

Chuck, subs. (prison).—1. Bread; meat; in fact, refreshment of any kind.

1850. Lloyd’s Newspaper, Oct. 6. ‘Inquest on murder of Rev. Mr. Hollest, Frimley Grove, Surrey.’ Macey, the village constable, stated that the prisoner, upon coming to his cottage door had tried hard to get some chuck out of him, but had failed.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. i., p. 4. Two large slices of bread, ... the allowance given out to some prisoner who ... had forgotten to eat what in prison slang is called his ‘toke’ or chuck.

1877. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Life on the Mississippi, ch. lii., p. 463. i wish i was nere you so i could send you chuck (refreshments) on holidays.

2. (common).—Scraps of meat; block ornaments (q.v.). For synonyms, see Duck.

1871. Echo, 11 Dec. ‘Sunday amongst the Silk Weavers.’ Few regular butchers ply their trade on Sunday morning—money is only to be made by the vendors of nauseous substitutes for wholesome meat—the refuse portion of beef and mutton, tough, coarse, and meagre pork, flaccid tripe, lean little sheeps’ chuks, as the natives call them, the savourless saveloy of Old England.

1887. Standard, 20 Jan. ‘The Poor at Market.’ From a sort of ludicrous spirit of snobbery a labourer will term a fellow he dislikes a ‘beggar who eats chuck,’ chuck being a low-priced part of the carcase.

3. (Billingsgate).—See quot.

1851–61. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 73. Sprats ... are sold at Billingsgate by the ‘toss,’ or chuck, which is about half a bushel, and weighs about 40 lbs. to 50 lbs.

4. (colloquial).—A toss or throw.

1883. Punch, June 2, p. 264, col. 1. The average number of chucks at cocoa-nuts before achieving success is six.

5. (nautical).—Sea biscuit. Cf., senses 1 and 6. A sailor’s variant is ‘chow-dow.’

1864. Standard, 13 Dec. Of naval slang Mr. Hotten has missed the words chuck, used by sailors for biscuit, and barge, the box or cask in which the chuck is kept by the messes on the lower deck.

6. (military).—Mealy bread. Cf., nautical usage, sense 5.

7. (Westminster School).—A schoolboy’s treat.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., p. 101, s.v.

Verb (colloquial).—1. To throw; especially to throw away; to pitch.

1593. Prodigal Son, iv., 112. Yes, this old one will I give you (chucks him old hose and doublet). [m.]

1627. Drayton, Agincourt, 63. In the Tauerne, in his cups doth rore, chocking his crownes. [m.]

1753. Adventurer, No. 43. I ... was kicked about, hustled, tossed up, and chucked into holes.

1771. Smollet, Humphry Clinker, l. 36. Dirt and trash chucked into it by roguish boys for the joke’s sake.

1820. Coombe, Dr. Syntax, tour II., ch. i. Yes, faith, as I’ve a soul to save, I will for nothing dig her grave; Yes, I would do it too as willing As if her hand had chuck’d a shilling.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xxxix., p. 342. I’m not only ready but villin’ to do anythin’ as’ll make matters agreeable; and if chuckin’ either o’ them sawbonesses out of winder u’ll do it, I’m the man.

1851. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 150. Many a time I walked through the streets and picked a piece of bread that the servants chucked out of the door.

1864. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, bk. IV., ch. i. ‘When you’re ready for your snooze,’ said the honest creature, ‘chuck yourself on my bed in the corner.’

2. (vagrants’).—To eat.—See subs., sense 1. For synonyms, see Grub.

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 192. Mo and his man were having a great breakfast one morning ... Mo exclaimed to his man, ‘Chuck rumbo (eat plenty), my lad.’

3. (pigeon fanciers’).—To despatch a pigeon. Cf., sense 1, and To chuck it; also Hard chuck.

4. (general).—To spend extravagantly. For synonyms, see Ducks and Drakes.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xviii. Next to unlimited chucking of his own money, the youthful Englishman would like—what he never gets—the unlimited chucking of other people’s.

5. (old).—To desire (sexually); to be ‘warm,’ or a hot member (q.v.).

To chuck, chuck it, or chuck up, verbal phr. To abandon; ‘turn up’; dismiss; turn out of doors; to give up. Also chuck it up = ‘drop it.’ [From the custom of throwing up the sponge at a prize fight in sign of defeat. Often corrupted into jack up.—See Sponge. A French equivalent is laisser tout en plan.

1869. Daily Telegraph, 6 Sept. ‘Season at Baden.’ Why is it that Englishwomen can never combine their colours, or put on their clothes? Are their maids used to haymaking when at home, and do they ‘pitch’ on the petticoats, and give three cheers and have beer when they finish the work by chucking up the dress?

1883. Hawley Smart, Hard Lines, ch. xxvi. ‘But here, Cis, if you mean business, take my advice and chuck that corps.’

1883. Miss Braddon, Phantom Fortune, ch. xxv. She knows on which side her bread is buttered. Look how easily she chucked you up because she did not think you good enough.

To get or give the chuck, phr.—To dismiss, or be dismissed, Cf., bag and sack.

1889. Sporting Times [quoted in Slang, Jargon, and Cant]. And I shall get the blooming chuck as well as fourteen days.

Chuck up the sponge.—See Sponge.

To chuck [oneself] about or into, phr.—To move expeditiously. For synonyms, see Amputate and Skedaddle. Also, to fall into.

1860. Funny Fellow, 7 May, p. 1. Hollo, my kiddy, stir your stumps, And chuck yourself about.

Chuck her up, phr. (cricket).—An expression of delight. [From the practice of throwing the ball into the air after a successful catch.]

[The verb, to chuck, is attached in an active sense to any number of objectives, and may be taken as equivalent to ‘to perform’ or ‘do.’ Thus ‘to chuck a fag’ = to ‘give a beating’; to ‘chuck a turd’ = to ‘rear,’ to evacuate; to ‘chuck a tread’ = to have intercourse; to ‘chuck a jolly’ = to undertake a bout of chaff; to ‘chuck a fit’ = to have an epileptic, or apoplectic, seizure; to ‘chuck a cram’ or ‘a kid’ = to lie, etc.]

Hard-chuck (pigeon fanciers’).—A long distance; also a trying flight. From Gravesend to London is considered a hard-chuck, as the low, flat country is bare of landmarks.

Chuck a Curly, verbal phr. (military).—To feign sickness; to malinger. [For possible derivation, see general remarks on Chuck, in a preceding paragraph, + curly, ‘doubling up,’ or writhing, as in pain.]

Chuck a Jolly, verbal phr. (costermongers’).—To bear up or ‘bonnet’: as when a costermonger praises the inferior article his mate or partner is trying to sell. This process is usually commenced with a chi-ike (q.v.). Also to undertake a bout of chaff.

Chuck a Stall, verb phr. (thieves’).—To attract a person’s attention while a confederate picks his pockets, or otherwise robs him. [Stall = an accomplice; and as a verb, to keep watch or spy upon.]

1884. Greenwood, Seven Years’ Penal Servitude. I said to my pal ‘chuck me a stall and I’ll have that.’ What did I mean? Why, keep close to me, and cover what I’m doing.

Chucked. To be chucked or chucked up, verbal phr. (thieves’).—1. To escape committal; to be acquitted or released.

1887. Horsley, Jottings from Jail, Rit from 7 dials; remanded innocent on two charges of pokes, only out 2 weeks for a drag, expects to be fullied or else chucked.

1889. Evening News [quoted in Slang, Jargon, and Cant, p. 251, col. 1]. When I was chucked up they took me to an old Jew’s in Dudley Street for my clothes.

1889. Answers, 9 Feb. He was fortunate enough to get chucked, to escape, that is to say, as the evidence against him was not strong enough.

2. (common).—[Generally chucked out.] To be forcibly ejected. [From chuck, verb, sense 1, + ed + out.] Cf., Chucker-out.

3. (common).—Slightly intoxicated. For synonyms see Screwed.

1889. Ally Sloper’s Half-Holiday, Aug. 17, p. 258, col. 2. His back being nearly broken from your constantly falling over him when you’ve been chucked.

4. (prostitutes’).—Amorous; and hence ‘fast.’ French, galoper une femme = to make hot love to a woman. Cf., Molrower.

French Synonyms. S’allumer or allumer son pétrole or son gaz (the first of these terms is in general use, the others being employed chiefly by prostitutes); battre du beurre (popular: used more in the sense of ‘to be fast,’ but also = to speculate on ‘Change’ and to dissemble).

German Synonym. Spannen (to ogle prostitutes; to waylay women in order to make overtures; generally to lear with concupiscence).

Spanish Synonyms. Apacentar (properly to tend cattle); desbeber (also = to make water); despepitarse (literally to give a loose to one’s tongue or to act imprudently); rabanillo (m = an ardent longing).

5. (common).—To be disappointed; put out in one’s calculations; put to shame; ‘sold.’

c. 1879. Broadside Ballad. ‘Chucked again.’ Chucked again, chucked again! Whatever may happen I get all the blame, Wherever I go, it is always the same—Jolly well chucked again!

Chucked-In, adv. phr. (popular).—Into the bargain. Cf., Lagniappe. [From chuck, sense 1, + ed + in.]

1880. Punch, No. 2055, p. 245. Happy thought! chucked in an extra chapter on Literature.

1884. Punch, Oct. 11. ‘’Arry at a Political Picnic.’ Went to one on ’em yesterday, Charlie; a regular old up and down lark. The Pallis free gratis, mixed up with a old country fair in a park, And Rosherville Gardens chucked in.

Chucker, subs. (cricketers’).—1. A volunteer who does not keep a promise to play.

2. A bowler who throws the ball.

Chucker-Out, subs. (colloquial).—A man retained to eject or ‘chuck out’ from public meetings, taverns, brothels, and hells.—See quot., 1880.

1880. Punch, No. 2040, p. 63. Lord Grey was about to resume his rôle of chucker-out to the proposed measures of his own party.

1883. Saturday Review, March 31, p. 398, col. 1. We hired a smiling but stalwart assistant to act in the capacity of chucker-out.

1884. Good Words, June, p. 400, col. 1. He had done twelve months [in prison] for crippling for life the chucker-out of one of these pubs. [m.]

1885. All the Year Round, Nov., 2226. Dens to which Brickey is attached in the capacity of chucker-out. [m.]

1887. Guardian, 2 March, p. 343, col. 1. Bogus meetings, where the chairman, committee, reporters, audience, and chuckers-out were all subsidised. [m.]

1890. The Scots Observer, p. 394, col. 2. The result of which was the resolution to appoint a body of Chuckers-out to keep delegates in order, and to show the Commons what to do with its Healys and its Tanners.

Chuck-Farthing, Chuck, Chuck-and-Toss, or Pitch-and-Toss, subs. phr. (common).—Games played with money, which is pitched at a line, gathered, shaken in the hands, and tossed up into the air so as to fall ‘heads and tails’ until the stakes are guessed away. A parish clerk was formerly nicknamed a chuck-farthing.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Chuck Farthing: a Parish Clerk (in the Satyr against Hypocrites) also a Play among Boies.

1703. Ward, London Spy, pt. XIII., p. 317. Where Mumpers, Soldiers and Ballad-Singers, were as busie at chuck-farthing and Hussle-Cap, as so many Rooks at a gaming Ordinary.

1712. Spectator, No. 509. The unlucky boys with toys and balls were whipped away by a beadle, I have seen this done indeed of late, but then it has been only to chase the lads from chuck, that the beadle might seize their copper.

1759. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, vol. I., ch. x. The spinning-wheel forgot its round,—even chuck-farthing and shuffle-cap themselves stood gaping till he had got out of sight.

1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., I., 174. With chuck and marbles wearing Sunday through.

1851. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, II., p. 398. They frequently had halfpence given to them. They played also at chuck and toss with the journeymen, and of course were stripped of every farthing.

c. 1868. Brough, Field of the Cloth of Gold. From pitch-and-toss to manslaughter’s my game.

1878. M. E. Braddon, Cloven Foot, ch. xlii. ‘I remember when I was a little chap, at Dr. Prossford’s grammar school, playing chuck-farthing.’

1888. Illus. London News, Summer Number, p. 26, col. 1. Having replaced the musty documents upon the shelf, that ingenious youth adjourned to indulge in the passionately exhilarating game of chuck-farthing.

Chuck In, verb (pugilistic).—To challenge.—[From the custom of throwing a hat into the ring; a modern version of throwing down the gauntlet. Also, ‘to compete’; e.g., I shall have a chuck in = ‘I shall try my luck’—with a woman, a raffle, a personal encounter, and so on.

Chucking-Out, subs. (popular).—Ejection. [From chuck, verb, sense 1, through chuck up (q.v.), + ing + out.] Also as an adj.

1881. Sportsman, Jan. 31, p. 3, col. 5. We were the first to take the part of the pit against a chucking-out policy. [m.]

1887. Pall Mall Gaz., Feb. 23, p. 11, col. 1. Evictions in Glenbeigh ... and chuckings-out in London. [m.]

1887. G. R. Sims, How the Poor Live, p. 83. It is fair to say that the youths seemed quite ready for the emergency, and took their chucking-out most skilfully.

Chucks! intj. (school).—A boy’s signal on a master’s approach. A French schoolboy’s equivalent is Vesse!

Chuck the Dummy, verbal phr. (thieves’).—To feign sickness, especially epilepsy; a common dodge in prisons to get an order for the infirmary.

Chuff It! intj. (common).—Be off! Take it away! For synonyms, see Hookey Walker!

Chul or Chull, verb (Anglo-Indian).—See quot.

1886. G. A. Sala, in Ill. L. News, June 19, p. 644. In Calcutta chul is a word that you hear fifty times a day. A lady tells you that her new Ayah will not chul at all; the proprietor of that popular weekly journal, the Hooghly Dacoit ... tells you that he is going home for six months; but that he has an able editor, and that the paper will chul very well during his absence. The chul, I apprehend, means to go on, to proceed, to do.

Chum, subs. (colloquial).—A close companion; a bosom friend; an intimate. Formerly a chamber-fellow or mate. [Johnson calls it a term used in the Universities, and the earliest quot. seems to bear him out. The derivation is uncertain, and Dr. Murray says ‘no historical proof connecting it with “chamber-fellow” or “chamber-mate” has been found.’]

1684. Creech, Theocritus, Idyll XII. Ded. to my chum, Mr. Hody of Wadham College. [m.]

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Chum: a Chamber-fellow, or constant Companion.

1714. Spectator, No. 617. Letter written by University man to a friend begins ‘Dear Chum.’

c. 1750. Humours of the Fleet, quot. in Ashton’s Eighteenth Century Waifs, p. 249. When you have a chum, you pay but fifteen pence per week each.

1828–45. T. Hood, Poems, vol. II., p. 201 (ed. 1846). The very chum that shared my cake Holds out so cold a hand to shake It makes me shrink and sigh.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. v. The Colonel, as has been stated, had an Indian chum or companion, with whom he shared his lodgings.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, Nov. 21, p. 6, col. 2. His [Allingham’s] own chosen friend was Dante Gabriel Rossetti, his chums the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood.

English Synonyms. Gossip; pal; pard (American); marrow (north-country); cully (theatrical); cummer; ben cull; butty; bo’ (nautical); mate or matey; ribstone; bloater.

French Synonyms. Une branche (literally a branch or bough); un amar or amarre (thieves’, Cf., amarre, a cable, rope, hawser); un aminche, aminchemar, or aminchemince (thieves’: aminche d’af = an accomplice or stallsman); amis comme cochons (popular, m. pl.: literally ‘as thick as pigs.’ Cf., as thick as thieves); un matelot; une coterie (popular); un bon attelage (cavalry = a couple of good friends; literally ‘a good team’); un artiste (popular); un camerluche or camarluche (popular); vieux frère la côte (sailors’); un camaro; une faridole (prostitutes’ = a female pal); un fanande, or fanandel (thieves’).

German Synonyms. Gleicher (also ‘a brother’); Kineh or Kinehbruder (Viennese thieves’: German thieves use Kinne; from the Hebrew Kinnim, ‘a louse’; Kinnemachler, literally ‘lice eater’ = a dirty, filthy fellow; also = a miser. Kinimer = a man full of lice).

Italian Synonyms. Furbo = ‘an imposter, rogue, or sharper’; foneo; calcagno; guido, or guidone (literally a ‘guide.’ Also a ‘dog’ or ‘beggar’).

Spanish Synonyms. Cirinco (m); compinche (m).

Portuguese Synonym. Filhos do Golpe (literally ‘children of the crowd’).

2. (military).—A brother-in-arms.

1890. Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales (3rd ed.), p. 264. Oh! where would I be when my froat was dry? Oh! where would I be when the bullets fly? Oh! where would I be when I came to die? Why, Somewheres anigh my chum.

Verb, trs. and intrs. (colloquial).—To occupy a joint lodging, or share expenses; to be on the closest terms of intimacy with another; to be ‘thick as thieves’; or ‘thick as hops.’ French slang has être dans la chemise de quelqu’un; also être du dernier bien avec quelqu’un.

1730. Wesley, wks. (1872) XII., 20. There are ... some honest fellows in College, who would be willing to chum in one of them. [m.]

1762. Churchill, The Ghost, bk. II. Old Maids and Rakes are join’d together. Coquettes and Prudes, like April weather, Wits forc’d to chum with Common Sense.

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, p. 339 (ed. 1857). ‘Why I don’t rightly know about to night,’ replied the stout turnkey. ‘You’ll be chummed on somebody to-morrow, and then you’ll be all snug and comfortable.’

1864. Temple Bar, Nov., p. 587. We choose our own carriages, and either leave our fellow trippers altogether, or, making a selection, chum in parties of three or four.

1871. Mortimer Collins, Mrq. and Merch., II., v., 143. She ... found herself chummed upon a young person who turned out to be ... a ... slattern. [m.]

1877. Besant and Rice, With Harp and Crown, ch. xii. Here are City clerks, who, by chumming together, are able to afford one festive evening in the week at the Oxford.

New Chum, subs. (Australian).—A new arrival in the colony; a ‘greenhorn’; or ‘tenderfoot.’ For general synonyms, see Snooker.

1861. Earles, Ups and Downs of Australian Life, p. 199. ‘I suppose you’re a stranger, or as we calls ’em, a new chum, ain’t you?’

1886. E. Wakefield, Nineteenth Century, Aug., p. 173. In these colonies [Australia], where pretty nearly every one has made several sea voyages, that subject is strictly tabooed in all rational society. To dilate upon it is to betray a new chum.

1889. Town and Country, 16 Feb. ‘Answers to Correspondents.’ New Chum (Forbes):—The first instalment will be due, etc.

Chummage, subs. (old).—Money procured by the practice of chumming together; but various extensions of meaning appear to have been in vogue at different periods.—See quots. [The practice alluded to in quot. 1777, was the rough music made with pokers, tongs, sticks, and saucepans, for which ovation the initiated prisoner had to pay or ‘fork out’ a certain sum of money, or submit to being deprived of its equivalent from among his personal effects; otherwise called chumming up.]

1777. Howard, State of Prisons in England and Wales, quoted in J. Ashton’s The Fleet, p. 295. A cruel custom obtains in most of our Gaols, which is that of the prisoners demanding of a new comer Garnish, Footing, or (as it is called in some London Gaols) chummage.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Chummage: money paid by the richer sort of prisoners in the Fleet and King’s Bench to the poorer for their share of a room.... A prisoner who can pay for being alone, chooses two poor chums, who for a stipulated price, called chummage, give up their share of the room.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, xlii. The regular chummage is two-and-sixpence.

1859. G. A. Sala, Twice Round the Clock (1861), 103. The time-honoured system of chummage, or quartering two or more collegians in one room, and allowing the richest to pay his companions a stipulated sum to go out and find quarters elsewhere.

Also used as an adjective.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xlii., p. 364. You’ll have a chummage ticket upon twenty-seven in the third, and them as is in the room will be your chums.

Chummery, subs. (common).—Chumhood; also the quarters occupied by ‘chums.’ [From Chum + ery; cf., Rookery, snuggery, &c.].

1877. Besant and Rice, Son of Vulcan, p. 196. Jack and her father lived in bachelor Chummery.

Chummy, subs. (colloquial).—1. A chimney-sweep’s climbing boy. [A corruption of ‘chimney’ through ‘chumley.’]

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 169. Vereas he ’ad been a chummy—he begged the cheerman’s parding for using such a vulgar hexpression, etc.

1844. Thackeray, Greenwich, wks. (1886) XXIII., 380. The hall ... was decorated with banners and escutcheons of deceased chummies. [m.]

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. II., p. 417. A chummy (once a common name for the climbing-boy, being a corruption of chimney).

1859. W. Gregory, Egypt, I.; 154. His shrill voice, high up aloft, like a chummy’s on a London summer morn. [m.]

2. A diminutive form of chum (q.v.).

1864. Gilbert, Bab Ballads, Etiquette. Old chummies at the Charterhouse were Robinson and he. [m.]

3. (common).—A low-crowned felt hat; For synonyms, see Golgotha.

Adj. (colloquial).—Very intimate; friendly; sociable. The analogous French terms are chouette; chouettard; chouettaud.

1884. Harper’s Magazine, Sept., p. 536 col. 2. I ... saw them form into small chummy groups. [m.]

1888. W. Besant, Herr Paulus, bk. III, ch. xi., vol. III., p. 204. I liked the fellow, I confess, and we got chummy in the evenings.

1889. Answers, May 11, p. 380. When I was at Pentonville, a man in the same ward, who had got rather chummy with his warder, asked him to post a letter to his friends in Manchester.

Chump, subs. (common).—1. A blockhead.

1883. Hawley Smart, At Fault, II., i., 29. Such a long-winded old chump at telling a story one don’t often see, thank goodness.

1887. Pall Mall Gazette, 2 Feb., p. 10. col. 1. Frank audibly remarked: ‘This man is a chump. I could go ... this minute and do better than that.’ [m.]

2. (popular).—A variant of chum, subs. (q.v.). French ma vieille branche = my old chump.

1884. Punch, 11 Oct. ‘’Arry at a Political Picnic.’ All my Saturday arfs are devoted to Politics. Fancy, old chump, Me doing the sawdusty reglar, and follering swells on the stump.

3. (popular).—The head; especially in the phrase off one’s chump (q.v.). For synonyms, see Crumpet.

Chump-of-Wood, subs. phr. (rhyming slang).—No good. Also a blockhead.

Off one’s chump, phr. (vulgar).—Insane. Cf., Off one’s Head, nut, etc. For synonyms, see Apartments.

c. 1860. Broadside Ballad, ‘We are a merry family.’ The fire is out, the fender’s broke, And father’s out on strike, Sister Ann’s gone off her chump, In fact, we’re all alike.

1866. Broadside Ballad, ‘Oh, She Was Such a Beautiful Girl.’ She diddled me, she fiddled me, She sent me off my chump.

1877. Besant and Rice, Son of Vulcan, II., xxiv., p. 377. ‘Master.’ he said, ‘have gone off his chump—that’s all.’

1883. Besant, Captain’s Room, ch. vii., p. 85 (1885). He ... was engaged to be married to the king’s sister ... unfortunately, only the week before I arrived, he was killed and devoured by a lion, and the princess was gone off her royal chump.

To get one’s own chump, phr. (thieves’).—See quot.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 242. ‘Cut her own grass! Good gracious, what is that?’ I asked. ‘Why, purvide her own chump—earn her own living,’ the old man replied.

Chumpy, adj. (common).—The same as off one’s chump.

Chunk, subs. (colloquial).—1. A thick piece or lump of wood, bread, coal, etc.

1691. Ray, S. and E. Country Wds. (E.D.S.) Chuck, a great chip.... In other countries [= districts] they call it a chunk. [m.]

1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary, ‘Chuck.’ Chuck, a great chip, Suss. In other counties called a chunk or junk.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xxix. Why not keep a clerk to read for you, and pay out the information in small chunks? I should like to tackle Mr. Carlyle that way.

c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, ‘The Hungry Man from Clapham.’ He’d eat everything there was in the place, He bit a chunk from his mother-in-law’s face.

2. (streets’).—A school-board officer.

18(?). Thor Fredur, Sketches from Shady Places. Here they gambol about like rabbits, until somebody raises the cry, ‘Nix! the chunk’ (the slang term for School Board officer).

Church, verb (thieves’).—To take out the works of a watch and substitute another set, so that identification is impossible.—See Christen, verb, sense 1.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 445. To have the works of a watch put into another case—To church a yack.

1868. Doran, Saints and Sinn., II., 290. The (thieves’) church their yacks when they transpose the works of stolen watches to prevent identification. [m.]

To talk church, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To talk ‘shop’ (q.v.).

1851. Newland, Erne, 217. Looking at those wretched people and talking church. [m.]

Churchwarden, subs. (general).—A clay pipe with a long stem.—See quot., 1864, under Clay. The following are general variants.

English Synonyms. Alderman; steamer; yard of clay; clay.

French Synonyms. Une bouffarde; une Belge; une chiffarde (thieves’); une marseillaise; une gambier (pop. from a manufacturer’s name).

German Synonyms. Lülke (M.H.G. lullen or löllen = to suck; lülken, to smoke); Massel (Swabian: also = a street-walker; masseln = to smoke); Nagel; Pilmerstab (only in Zimmermann); Sarcherstock (from the Hebrew sorach, through särchen, to stink or to smoke. Sarcher, tobacco; Sarcherkippe or Sarchertiefe, tobacco-box; Sarcherhanjo, tobacco-pouch); Selcher (Viennese thieves’: from selchen, to smoke); Schmalfink.

1857. Hood, Pen and Pencil Pictures, p. 269. Give me my willow-tube for a lance, the lid of a cigar-box for a shield. Thrust me a pair of cutties into my girdle for pistols; hang a churchwarden by my side for a sabre.

1863. Alex. Smith, Dreamthorpe, p. 262. He ... lifted a pipe of the kind called churchwarden from the box on the ground, filled and lighted it.

1864. Dr. Richardson, on ‘Tobacco,’ before Brit. Assoc. Meeting at Bath. Cigars are more injurious than any form of pipe; and the best pipe is unquestionably what is commonly called a churchwarden or long clay.

Churl. To put a churl upon a gentleman.—See Gentleman.

Cider. All talk and no cider, phr. (American).—Purposeless loquacity; ‘Much cry and little wool.’ Literally, much ado about nothing. [For suggested derivation, see quot., 1871.]

1835–40. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xxi. It is an expensive kind of honour that, bein’ Governor.... Great cry and little wool! all talk and no cider.

1858. Notes and Queries, 2 S., v., 233. All talk and no cider. This expression is applied to persons whose performances fall far short of their promises.

1862. C. F. Browne, Artemus Ward: His Book, p. 135. What we want is more cider and less talk.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 591. This phrase originated at a party in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, which had assembled to drink a barrel of superior cider; but politics being introduced, speeches were made, and discussion ensued, till some malcontents withdrew on the plea that it was a trap into which they had been lured, politics and not pleasure being the purpose of the meeting, or, as they called it, all talk and no cider.

Cider And, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Cider mixed with some other ingredient. Cf., Cold without, Hot with, etc.

1742. Fielding, Joseph Andrews, bk. I., ch. xvi. She then asked the doctor and Mr. Barnabas what morning’s draught they chose, who answered, they had a pot of cider-and at the fire.

Cig, subs. (common).—A cigar. [An abbreviation of the legitimate word.] For synonyms, see Weed.

Cinch, verb (American).—To get a grip on; to ‘corner’; to put the screw on; also, in the passive sense, to come out on the wrong side in speculations. [From the Spanish cincha, a belt or girdle; cinchar, to girdle. Properly used of the saddling of horses with the huge Mexican saddle. To cinch a horse, however, is by no means the same as girthing him. The two ends of the tough cordage which constitute the cinch terminate in long narrow strips of leather called latigos—thongs—which connect the cinches with the saddle, and are run through an iron ring and then tied by a series of complicated turns and knots known only to the craft.]

1875. Scribner’s Mag., July, p. 277. A man is cinched = he is hurt in a mining transaction (San Francisco localism).

1881. New York Times, Dec. 18, quoted in Notes and Queries, 6 S., v. 65. Cinch. To subdue, to forcibly bind down and overcome. Thus it is unfairly said that the Northern Pacific Company intends to cinch the settlers by exacting large prices for its lands. Query, from Latin cingere.

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, 2 Feb. Black and Blue thinks the Dwyers have a cinch on both the great events.

1888. New York World, 22 July. The bettor, of whom the pool-room bookmaker stands in dread, however, is the racehorse owner, who has a cinch bottled up for a particular race, and drops into the room an hour or two before the races begin.

Cincinnati Olive, subs. (American).—A pig. [A spurious ‘olive oil’ is manufactured from lard, and Cincinnati is one of the largest centres of the ‘pork packing industry’ in America.] Cf., Cincinnati Oysters.

Cincinnati Oysters, subs. (American).—Pigs’ trotters. A curious interchange of names occurs between fish, flesh, and fowl. In Cincinnati Oysters we have flesh presented in the guise of fish; and the reverse is the case when the sturgeon is spoken of as Albany beef. Amongst other examples may be quoted marble-head turkey, for a codfish; also, in Nova Scotia a digby chicken = a herring smoked and dried in a peculiar fashion. In England a Billingsgate pheasant is a fresh herring; whilst a Yarmouth bloater is sometimes a two-eyed steak.

Cinder, subs. (common).—1. Any strong liquor as brandy, whiskey, sherry, etc., mixed with a weaker, as soda-water, lemonade, water, etc., to fortify it.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dictionary, s.v.

1883. Referee, March 18, p. 2, col. 4. Having rushed out to get a glass of cold water with a cinder in it to take the chill off.

2. (sporting).—A running path or track; merely an abbreviation of ‘cinder-path,’ it being laid with ‘cinders.’

Cinder-Garbler, subs. (old).—A female servant. Grose [1785] says the term was ‘Custom House wit,’ but gives no particulars.

English Synonyms. Marchioness; slavey; cinder-grabber; cinderella; can (Scots); piss-kitchen; Julia.

French Synonyms. Un extrait de garni (popular); un chambrillon; une bobonne (for bonne); une larbine; une cambrouse; une jeanneton; une groule or groulasse.

German Synonyms. Schifche or Schifches; Schammesch or Schammes (from the Hebrew).

Spanish Synonym. Famula (f).

Circling-Boy, subs. (old).—A ‘rook’; swindler. Nares says a species of roarer; one who in some way drew a man into a snare, to cheat or rob him. See Gifford.—Ben Jonson, Barth. Fair, iv., 3, p. 481.

Circs, subs. (common).—Circumstances.

Circumbendibus, subs. (old).—A roundabout; a long-winded story. [From Lat. circum, around, + Eng. bend, with a Latin termination.]

1681. Dryden, Sp. Friar, V., ii. I shall fetch him back with a circumbendibus, I warrant him. [m.]

1768. Lord Carlisle, in Jesse’s Selwyn, II., 317 (1882). I can assure you it grieved me that anything of yours should make such a circumbendibus before it came to my hands.

1773. O. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, Act v., Sc. 2. ‘And from that, with a circumbendibus, I fairly lodged them in the horse-pond at the bottom of the garden.’

1849. Lytton, Caxtons, pt. VIII., ch. i. The cabman, to swell his fare, had thought proper to take a circumbendibus.

1890. Notes and Queries, 7 S., ix., 29 March.... No choice but to deliver himself of a malediction with a circumbendibus.

Circumlocution Office, subs. (common).—A centre of red-tape; a roundabout way. [A term invented by Charles Dickens (see quot., 1857), and applied at first in ridicule to public offices, where everybody tries to shuffle off his responsibilities upon some one else.]

1857. C. Dickens, Little Dorrit, I., x. The Circumlocution Office was the most important Department under Government. Ibid. Whatever was required to be done, the Circumlocution Office was beforehand with all the public departments in the art of perceiving—How not to do it.

1870. Graphic, Feb. 19, in ‘By the Bye.’ To complete the contretemps a portion of the telegraphs struck work on the very first day of the Government taking them in hand. Of course the great tribe of evil-wishers ran about chuckling, and rubbing their hands gleefully. ‘I told you so,’ cried Rubasore. Circumlocution Office again, sneered Crossgrain.

Circumslogdologize.—See Stockdollagize.

Circumstance. Not a circumstance, etc., phr. (American).—Not to be compared with; a trifle; of no account—unfavourable comparison.

18(?). J. H. Beadle, Western Wilds, p. 28. I took a broadhorn to Noo Orleens, and when I was paid off on the levee, I was the worst lost man you ever did see. In the middle of the thickest woods in the world wasn’t a circumstance to it.

1848. J. R. Lowell, Biglow Papers. For Jacob warn’t a suckemstance to Jeff at financierin’; He never’d thought of borryin’ from Esau like all nater An’ then cornfiscatin’ all debts to sech a small pertater.

To whip [something] into a circumstance = to surpass. Thus a newspaper correspondent writes that ‘the streets of Georgetown, Demerara, are broad, smooth, and well laid out. Georgetown could give points to New York in its roads, and whip it into a circumstance.’

Circus-Cuss, subs. (thieves’).—A circus-rider.

Citizen, subs. (thieves’).—A wedge for ‘prizing open’ safes, before the alderman (q.v.), and jemmy (q.v.).—See also Citizens’ friend.

Citizens’ Friend, subs. (thieves’).—A smaller wedge than the citizen (q.v.), for ‘prizing open’ safes. The order in which the tools are used is (1) Citizens’ Friend; (2) Citizen; (3) the Alderman (i.e., a Jemmy); and sometimes (4) a Lord Mayor. For synonyms, see Jemmy and Betty.

City College, subs. (thieves’).—Newgate. In New York = ‘The Tombs.’ For synonyms, see Cage.

City Stage, subs. (old).—The gallows, formerly in front of Newgate. For synonyms, see Nubbing Cheat.

Civet, subs. (general).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Civil Reception.—See House of Civil Reception.

Civil-Rig, subs. (vagrants’).—A trick to obtain alms by a profuse show of civility and obsequiousness.

Civvies, subs. (military).—Civilians’ clothes, as opposed to regimentals. [A corruption of the legitimate word.]

Clack, subs. (colloquial).—1. Idle, loquacious talk; gossip; prattle—an exceedingly old usage. For synonyms, see Patter.

c. 1440. York, Myst. XXXIV., 211. Ther quenes vs comeres with her clakke. [m.]

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, in wks. V. 251. Their clacke or gabbling to this purport.

1678. Butler, Hudibras, pt. III., ch. ii. And, with his everlasting clack, Set all men’s ears upon the rack.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. liv. I dreaded her unruly tongue, and felt by anticipation the horrors of an eternal clack!

1812. H. and J. Smith, Rejected Addresses (‘Punch’s Apotheosis’). See she twists her mutton fists like Molyneux or Beelzebub, And t’other’s clack, who pats her back, is louder far than Bell’s hubbub.

1888. J. Payn, Myst Mirbridge (Tauchn.) II., xviii., 197. The old fellow would have had a clack with her. [m.]

2. (common).—The tongue [i.e., that which clacks (q.v.), verb.] A more ancient form was clap dating back to 1225.

English Synonyms. Glib; red-rag; clapper; dubber; velvet; jibb; quail-pipe.

French Synonyms. La diligence de Rome (popular); un battant (thieves’: also ‘heart,’ ‘stomach,’ and ‘throat’); un bon battant (‘a nimble tongue.’ Cf., ‘clapper’); une chiffe or un chiffon rouge (popular); une gaffe; le grelot.

German Synonym. Lecker (literally ‘the licker’).

Italian Synonyms. Serpentina; dannoso (literally ‘damagable’); zavarina (properly ‘a trifling old woman’).

Spanish Synonym. La desosada (i.e., Old Boneless).

1598. Greene, Jas. IV., wks. (Gros.) XIII., 210. Haud your clacks, lads. [m.]

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Clack (s.) ... also a nickname for a woman’s tongue; a prattler or busybody.

1828. D’Israeli, Chas. I., II., i., 23. Who, as washerwomen ... at their work, could not hold their clack. [m.]

1864. E. Sargent, Peculiar, III., 76. To hermetically seal up this Mrs. Gentry’s clack. [m.]

Verb.—To gabble. For synonyms, see Patter.

Clack-Box, subs. (common).—1. The mouth. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

2. (common).—A chatterbox.

English Synonyms. A mouth almighty; poll parrot; babble-merchant; slammer.

French Synonyms. Un parlotteur (familiar); un dévideur or une dévideuse (popular: literally ‘a winder’); un bagoulard (popular: c’est un fameux bagoulard = he is the bloke to slam); un chambert: abuser du crachoir (said of a chatterbox who does too much with the ‘spitter’).

Spanish Synonyms. Hablatista (m; jocular); hablantin or hablanchin (m; colloquial); ladrador (m; properly ‘a barker’); prosador (m; properly ‘a sarcastic and malicious babbler’); gazetilla (f; ‘a farthing newspaper’); garlador; fuelle (m; properly ‘a pair of bellows’); ya escampa (it is importunate babbling; escampar signifies literally ‘to clean or clear out a place’); cotorrera (= a gossip; cotorreria = loquacity; a term specially applied to women); comadre (f; juéves de comadres = Cummers’ Thursday, the last before Shrove Tuesday); una chicharra (a prattler; chicharra = ‘a froth worm’ or ‘harvest fly’); charlantin.

Clack-Loft, subs. (popular).—A pulpit. [From clack, verb, + loft, an elevated room or place.] For synonyms, see Hum-box.

Claim, verb (thieves’).—To steal. (A locution similar in character to ‘annex,’ ‘convey,’ etc., and derived from a sense of the legitimate word signifying ‘to demand on the ground of right.’) For synonyms, see Prig.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macmillan’s Mag., XL., 501. So I claimed (stole) them.

To jump a claim, phr. (American and colonial).—To take forcible possession; to defraud; specifically to seize land which has been taken up and occupied by another settler, or squatter. The first occupant is, by squatter law and custom, entitled to the first claim on the land.—See Jump.

1846. E. H. Smith, Hist. of Black Hawk. When I hunted claims, I went far and near, Resolved from all others to keep myself clear; And if, through mistake, I jumped a man’s claim, As soon as I knew it I jumped off again.

18(?). F. Marryat, Mountains and Molehills, p. 217. If a man jumped my claim, and encroached on my boundaries, and I didn’t knock him on the head with a pickaxe, I appealed to the crowd, and, my claim being carefully measured and found correct, the jumper would be ordered to confine himself to his own territory.

1883. R. L. Stevenson, The Silverado Squatters, p. 221. The claim was jumped; a track of mountain-side, fifteen hundred feet long by six hundred wide ... had passed from Ronalds to Hanson, and in the passage changed its name from the ‘Mammoth’ to the ‘Calistoga.’

Clam, subs. (American).—1. A blockhead. Anglicé, ‘as stupid as an oyster.’ Shakspeare (Much Ado About Nothing, ii. 3) has ‘Love may transform me to an oyster; but I’ll take my oath on it, till he hath made an oyster of me, he shall never make me such a fool.’—See Chowder-headed; chowder is a favourite form of serving clams.

1871. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Sketches, I., 46. A fine stroke of sarcasm, that, but it will be lost on such an intellectual clam as you.

2. The mouth or lips. Also clam-shell. ‘Shut your clam-shell’ = ‘Shut your mouth.’ The padlock now used on the United States mail-bags is called the ‘Clam-shell padlock.’ For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, I., 143. Shet your clam, our David.

1848. J. R. Lowell, Biglow Papers, II., p. 19. You don’t feel much like speakin’, When if you let your clam-shells gape, a quart of tar will leak in.

1848. Bartlett, Dict. Americanisms. Shut up your clam-shells. Close your lips together; be silent. Common along the shores of Connecticut and Rhode Island, where clams abound. Same as ‘shut your head.’

Clam-Butcher, subs. (American).—A man who opens clams; the attendant at an oyster bar is an ‘oyster-butcher.’

Clank, subs. (thieves’).—A pewter tankard; formerly a silver one.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue Clank: a silver tankard.

1837. Disraeli, Venetia, ch. xiv. Tip me the clank like a dimber mort as you are.

Clanker, subs. (old).—1. A great lie.—Grose. Cf., Clinker. For synonyms, see Whopper.

2. (old).—Silver plate. Cf., Clank.

Clank Napper, subs. (old).—A thief whose speciality is silver-plate. [From clank, subs. + napper (q.v.), a thief.] For synonyms, see Thieves.

Clap (or Clapper), subs. (common).—1. The tongue. [From clap = chatter; a babbler’s tongue is said to be hung in the middle, and to sound with both ends.] For synonyms, see Clack.

a. 1225. Ancr. R., 72. Þeone kuðen heo neuere astunten hore cleppe.

1609. Dekker, Guls’ Horne-Booke, ch. vi. And to let that clapper (your tongue) be tost so high, that all the house may ring of it.

1633. Massinger, New Way to Pay Old Debts, III., 2. Greedy. Sir Giles, Sir Giles! Over. The great fiend, stop that clapper!

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. VII., ch. xv. My landlady was in such high mirth with her company that no clapper could be heard there but her own.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xix. I thought I should have snorted right out two or three times ... to hear the critter let her clapper run that fashion.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. vi. But old Murdoch was too pleased at hearing his own clapper going, and too full of whiskey, to find him out.

1878. John Payne, tr. Poems of Villon, p. 139. Enough was left me (as warrant I will) To keep me from holding my clapper still, When jargon that meant ‘You shall be hung’ They read to me from the notary’s bill: Was it a time to hold my tongue?

2. (vulgar).—Gonorrhœa; once in polite use. [Origin uncertain; cf., Old Fr. clapoir, bosse, bubo, panus inguinis; clapoire, clapier, ‘lieu de débauche,’ ‘maladie q’on y attrape’]. For synonyms, see Ladies’ Fever.

1587. Myrr. Mag., Malin iii. Before they get the clap.

1706. Farquhar, The Recruiting Officer. Five hundred a year besides guineas for claps.

1709. Swift, Adv. Relig. Works [1755] II., i. 99, s.v.

1738. Johnson, London, 114. They sing, they dance, clean shoes, or cure a clap.

1881. In Syd. Soc. Lex.

Verb (vulgar).—To infect with clap; see subs. Also figuratively.

1658. Osborn, Jas. I. [1673], 514. Atropos clapt him, a Pox on the Drab!

1680. Butler, Rem. [1759], I. 249. [They] had ne’er been clap’d with a poetic itch.

1738. Laws of Chance. Pref. 9. It is hardly 1 to 10 ... that a Town-Spark of that Age has not been clap’d.

Clapper-Dudgeon, subs. (old).—A whining beggar.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 26. These Palliards be called also Clapper dogens, these go with patched clokes, and haue their morts with them which they cal wiues.

1625. Jonson, Staple of News, II. Here he is, and with him—what? a clapper-dudgeon! That’s a good sign, to have the beggar follow him so near.

1705–7. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. I., pt. V., p. 10. Says he, there is an old curmudgeon, A hum-drum, preaching, clapperdudgeon.

1863. Sala, Capt. Dang., II., vii., 225. Rogues, Thieves ... and Clapper-dudgeons ... infested the outskirts of the Old Palace. [m.]

Clap of Thunder, subs. phr. (old).—A glass of gin: a variant of Flash of Lightning (q.v.).

1821. P. Egan, Tom and Jerry [Ed. 1890], p. 79. I have not exactly recovered from the severe effects of the repeated ‘flashes of lightning’ and strong claps of thunder, with which I had to encounter last night.

Clap-Shoulder, subs. (old).—A term applied to the officers of justice who laid their hands upon people’s shoulders when they arrested them. Cf., Catch-pole.

1630. Taylor, Workes. Clap-shoulder serjeants get the devill and all, By begging and by bringing men in thrall.

Clapster, subs. (vulgar).—An habitual sufferer from gonorrhœa; by implication, one much and often in the way of getting clapped.

Claras, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Caledonian Railway Deferred and Ordinary Stock.

1887. Atkin, House Scraps. For we have our Sarahs and Claras. Our Noras and Doras for fays.

Claret, subs. (pugilistic).—Blood, Variants are Badminton, Bordeaux, and Cochineal-dye. French le vermeil or le vermois.

1604. Dekker, Honest Whore, II., 45, wks. [1873]. This should be a Coronation day: for my head runs claret lustily.

1819. Thomas Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 25.... This being the first Royal Claret let flow, Since Tom took the Holy Alliance in Tow, The uncorking produced much sensation about, As bets had been flush on the first painted snout.

1878. Besant and Rice, By Celia’s Arbour, ch. xxxix. The lieutenant picked him up, and placed him—because he declined to stand; and, indeed, the claret was flowing freely—in the President’s arm chair.

To tap one’s Claret, phr.—To draw blood.

Claret Jug, subs. (pugilistic).—The nose. [From claret, blood, + jug, a receptacle.] For synonyms, see Conk.

1859. Punch, vol. XXXVII., p. 22. ‘A Chapter on Slang.’ A man’s broken nose, is his claret-jug smashed.

Clarian, subs. (Cambridge University).—A member of Clare Hall, Cambridge; also a Greyhound (q.v.).

1889. C. Whibley, Cap and Gown. E’en stuke-struck Clarians strove to stoop.

Class, subs. (athletic).—The highest quality or combination of highest qualities among athletes. He’s not class enough, i.e., not good enough. There’s a deal of class about him, i.e., a deal of quality. The term obtains to a certain extent among turfites.

1884. Referee, March 23, p. 1, col. 3. The elasticity necessary for anything like class at sprinting departs comparatively early.

Claw, subs. (prison).—A lash of the cat-o’-nine-tails. Cf., Clawed-off, sense 1.

1876. Greenwood, A Night in a Work-house. Oh! cuss that old Kerr, who condemned me to twenty-five claws with the cat.

Claws for Breakfast, subs. phr. (prison).—See quot.

1873. Greenwood, In Strange Company. A ruffian being uncertain as to the morning when he is to have, as he himself would say, claws for breakfast, is in the habit of lying night after night in a sweat of terror.

Clawed-off, adv. phr. (old).—1. Severely beaten or whipped. Cf., Claw.

2. (old).—Venereally infected.

Claw-Hammer, subs. (Irish).—A dress coat. [From a supposed similarity in the cut of the tails to a claw hammer, one end of which is divided into two claws, for extracting nails from wood.] Also called steel-pen coat and swallow-tail. For synonyms of evening dress generally, see War-paint.

1863. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Passages from English Note-books, I., 538. Sea-captains call a dress-coat a claw-hammer.

1883. Punch, July 21, p. 29, col. 2. An ‘Impressionist’ is not impressive In a claw-hammer on a public platform.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, Nov. 11, p. 7, col. 1. After the claw-hammer crowd had been exhausted, he sent up an invitation to the great army of unvarnished.

Clay, subs. (colloquial).—A clay pipe. Cf., Yard of clay, but for synonyms, see Churchwarden.

1859. Fairholt, Tobacco (1876), 173. Such long pipes were reverently termed aldermen in the last age, and irreverently yards of clay in the present one.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xxi., p. 223. ‘He is churchwarden at home, and can’t smoke anything but a long clay.’

1866. London Miscellany, 19 May, p. 235, col. 2. Surely these men, who win and lose fortunes with the stolidity of a mynheer smoking his clay yard, must be of entirely different stuff from the rest of us.

1871. Calverley, Verses and Tr. Ode Tobacco. Jones ... daily absorbs a clay after his labours.

To moisten, soak, or wet one’s clay, verbal phr.—To drink. [Clay = the human body.]

1708. Brit Apollo, No. 80, 3, 1. We were moistening our clay.

1711. Addison, Spectator, No. 72, par. 9. To moisten their clay, and grow immortal by drinking.

1731. Fielding, Letter Writers, Act ii., Sc. 2. A soph, he is immortal, And never can decay; For how should he return to dust Who daily wets his clay?

1790. Rhodes, Bombastes Furioso. Moistening our clay and puffing off our cares.

1800. Morning Chronicle (in Whibley, p. 92). Cram not your attics With dry mathematics, But moisten your clay with a bumper of wine.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xxxix., p. 345. Ever and anon moistening his clay and his labours with a glass of claret.

1837. Barham, I. L. (The Monstre Baloon). And they’re feasting the party, and soaking their clay, With Johannisberg, Rudesheimer, Moselle, and Tokay.

1864. Lowell, Fireside Trav., 119. When his poor old clay was wet with gin. [m.]

Clean, adj. and adv. (colloquial and expletive).—1. Entirely; altogether; e.g., clean gone, clean broke, etc. Employed by the best writers until a recent date, and scarce colloquial even now.

1888. W. E. Henley, A Book of Verses, ‘Ballade of a Toyokuni Colour Print.’ Child, although I have forgotten clean, I know That in the shade of Fuji-san, What time the cherry orchards blow, I loved you, once, in old Japan.

1890. Mark Rutherford (‘Reuben Shapcott’), Miriam’s Schooling, p. 11. The memory of the battle by the hill Moreh is clean forgotten.

2. Expert; smart.

1878. Charles Hindley, Life and Times of James Catnach. The cleanest angler on the pad, In daylight or the darky.

Clean-Out, verbal phr. (colloquial)—To exhaust; strip; ‘rack’; or ruin. Fr., se faire lessiver.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict. Cleaned out: said of a gambler who has lost his last stake at play; also, of a flat who has been stript of all his money.

1819. Thos. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 38. All Lombard-street to ninepence on it, Bobby’s the boy would clean them out!

1840. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, ch. xxix., p. 184. He never took a dice-box in his hand, or held a card, but he was plucked, pigeoned, and cleaned out completely.

c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, ‘When I was Prince of Paradise.’ I introduced ‘loo’—in an hour or two, I’d cleaned all their pockets right out.

Clean Potato, phr. (general).—The right thing. Of an action indiscreet or dishonest, it is said that ‘It’s not the clean potato.’

Clean Straw, subs. (Winchester College).—Clean sheets. [Before 1540 the beds were bundles of straw on a stone floor. At that date Dean Fleshmonger put in oaken floors, and provided proper beds, such as existed in 1871 in Third, and later in the case of the Præfect of Hall’s unused beds in Sixth. The term has never been used, as stated by Barrère, in reference to mattresses of any kind, straw or other.]

Clean Wheat. It’s the clean wheat, phr. (general). The best of its kind. For synonyms, see a1 and Fizzing.

Clear, adj. and adv. (old).—Thick with liquor. [Apparently on the principle lucus a non lucendo.]

1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia, I., iv. Yes, really I was clear; for I do not remember what I did.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Clear: very Drunk.

1699. Vanbrugh, Relapse, IV., iii. I suppose you are clear—you’d never play such a trick as this else.

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. The cull is clear let’s bite him.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Verb.—See Clear Out.

Clear as Mud, adv. phr. (common) = Not particularly lucid.

Clear Crystal, subs. (popular).—White spirits, as gin and whisky, but extended to brandy and rum.

Clear Grit, subs.—1. (Canadian).—A member of the colonial Liberal party.

1884. Fortnightly Review, May, 592. There arose up [in Canada] a political party of a Radical persuasion, who were called Clear Grits, and the Clear Grits declared for the secularisation of the Clergy Reserves.

2. (American).—The right sort; having no lack of spirit; unalloyed; decided.

1835–40. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xxxii. I used to think champagne no better nor mean cider ... but if you get the clear grit there is no mistaking it.

1861. New York Tribune, 10 Oct. Nor do we think the matter much mended by a clear grit Republican convention, putting one or two Democrats at the foot of their tickets.

Clear out (or Clear off), verbal phr. (colloquial).—1. To depart.

1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, II., 151. Like many a hero before him, he cleared out.

1861. Harper’s Monthly, August. You’ll have to clear out, and that pretty quick or I’ll be after you with a sharp stick.

1885. Truth, 28 May, 1847. I would have the Canal under the control of an International Commission ... and then I would clear out of the country.

1888. J. Rickaby, Moral Philos., 205. To warn the visitor to clear off.

2. (popular).—To rid of cash; to ruin; to ‘clean out.’

1849–50. Thackeray, Pendennis. The luck turned from that minute ... came away cleared out, leaving that infernal check behind me.

1884. Illustrated London News, Christmas Number, p. 6, col. 2. He cleared you out that night, old man.

Cleave, verb (old).—To be wanton; used of women. [Quoted by Grose, 1785.]

Cleft, subs. (common).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Clegg, subs. (Scots).—A horse-fly.

Clencher.—See Clincher.

Clergyman, subs. (common).—A chimney-sweep. [In allusion to the colour of ‘the cloth.’] Clergymen in their turn = ‘chimney sweeps.’

English Synonyms. Black draught; knuller; flue-faker; querier; chummy.

French Synonyms. Un artiste; Jean de la suie.

St. Nicholas’ clerk or clergyman (old).—A highwayman.

1589. R. Harvey, Pl. Perc., I. A quarrel, by the highway side, between a brace of Saint Nicholas Clargie men. [m.]

1597. Shakspeare, King Henry IV., i. 1. Sirrah, if they meet not with St. Nicholas’ clerks, I’ll give thee this neck.

Clerked, ppl. adj. (old). Imposed upon; ‘sold’ (q.v.).

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. The cull will not be clerked.

Clerks.—See St. Nicholas’ Clerk.

Clerk’s Blood, subs. (old).—Red ink. A common expression of Charles Lamb’s.

Clever Shins, phr. (school).—Sly to no purpose.

Cleymes, subs. (old).—Artificial sores, made by beggars to excite charity.

Click, subs. (pugilistic).—A blow. For synonyms, see Dig, bang and wipe. Also a hold in wrestling.

1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 18. Home-hits in the bread-basket clicks in the gob. Ibid, p. 30.

1871. Daily Telegraph, 8 April. C. and W. Wrestling Society. The various competitors struggled hard and put on all they knew in ‘hipes,’ ‘hanks,’ ‘clicks,’ ‘strokes,’ and ‘buttockings.’

Verb (old).—See quots., and Cf., Clicker.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Click (v.) ... or to stand at a shop-door and invite customers in, as salesmen and shoemakers do.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. To click a nab; to snatch a hat.

Clicker, or Klicker, subs. (old).—1. A shop-keeper’s tout. [Formerly a shoemaker’s doorsman or barker (q.v.), but in this particular trade the term is nowadays appropriated to a foreman who cuts out leather and dispenses materials to workpeople; a sense not altogether wanting from the very first.]

c. 1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Clicker: the shoemaker’s journeyman or servant, that cutts out all the work, and stands at or walks before the door, and saies, ‘What d’ye lack, sir? what d’ye buy, madam?’

1698. Ward, London Spy, pt. V., p. 117. Women were here almost as Troublesome as the Long-Lane Clickers.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Clicker (s.): the person that stands at a shoe-maker’s door to invite customers to buy the wares sold there.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dictionary. Clicker: a female touter at the bonnet shops in Cranbourne Alley. In Northamptonshire, the cutter out in a shoemaking establishment.

2. (popular).—A knockdown blow.—See Click, subs. sense.

3. (thieves’).—One who apportions the booty or ‘regulars.’

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Clift, verb (thieves’).—To steal. For synonyms, see Prig.

Climb Down, subs. and verb (colloquial).—The abandonment of a position; downward or retrograde motion; the act of surrender. At first American.

1871. Rev. H. W. Beecher, Star Papers, p. 41, quoted in De Vere’s Americanisms. To climb down the wall was easy enough, too easy for a man who did not love wetting. Ibid. I partly climbed down, and wholly clambered back again, satisfied that it was easier to get myself in than to get the flowers out.

1889 St. James’s Gazette, 22 Nov., p. 12, col. 2. I am particularly pleased (adds our correspondent) with the noble conduct of the Bread Union, the first to climb down, and the promptest to send in its little bill.

1890. Globe, 7 April, p. 2, col. 2. It is satisfactory to learn on no less an authority than that of the New York Herald that the general election may at the moment be regarded remote. This is indeed a climb down on the part of the chief disseminator of the Dissolution rumour.

1890. Globe, 19 Feb., p. 2, col. 2. Mr. MacNeill’s ‘personal statement’ in the House yesterday was distinctly in the nature of a climb down.

Clinch, subs. (thieves’).—A prison cell. [? From clinch, to clutch, grip, and hold fast. Cf., Clink.] Variants in English are box, cob, salt-box, chokey and shoe. Fr., une cachemitte, une cachemar or cachemince (all thieves’, from cachot, ‘a black hole’); also un clou (military); maison de campagne (military); un mazaro, or lazaro; une matatane (military); un ours (popular); un abattoir (thieves’; properly ‘a slaughter house.’ This last, the name of the condemned cell in the prison of La Roquette, corresponds to the Newgate Salt Box). In German: Näck (only in Zimmermann; single cell in a prison; probably from the U.G. Noche and the M.H.G. Nacke = boat, from its shape; derivation from the Hebrew Nekef = hole, is also possible).

To get or kiss the Clinch or Clink, verbal phr. (thieves’).—To be imprisoned. For synonyms, see Cop.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., p. 102. s.v.

Clincher or Clencher, subs. (colloquial).—1. That which decides a matter, especially a retort which closes an argument; a ‘finisher,’ ‘settler,’ ‘corker.’ [From clinch, ‘to secure or make fast,’ through its obsolete meaning of ‘to pun or quibble,’ + er.]

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. Clincher ... an unanswerable reason or argument.

1839. Pierce Egan, Finish to Life in London, p. 13. Death comes but once, the Philosophers say And ’tis true my brave boys, but that once is a clencher It takes us from drinking and loving away And spoils at a blow the best tippler and wencher.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xvi., p. 136. ‘Why cannot I communicate with the young lady’s friends?’ ‘Because they live one hundred miles from here, sir,’ responded Job Trotter. ‘That’s a clincher,’ said Mr. Weller, aside.

2. (common).—An unsurpassed lie; a ‘stopper-up,’ [This sense flows naturally from sense 1 and the accepted usages of clinch, verb and noun. Cf., Clinker, Whopper, Thumper, Whacker, etc.] For synonyms, see Whopper.

Cling-Rig.—See Clink-rig.

Clink, subs. (old).—1. A prison or lock-up; specifically applied, it is thought, to a noted gaol in the borough of Southwark; subsequently to places—like Alsatia, the Mint, etc.—privileged from arrests; and latterly, to a small dismal prison or a military guard room. For synonyms, see Cage.

1515. Barclay, Egloges, I. (1570) A. 5, 4. Then art thou clapped in the Flete or Clinke. [m.]

1642. Milton, Apol. for Smect, § ii., in wks. (1806) I., 237. And the divine right of episcopacy was then valiantly asserted, when he who would have been respondent, must have bethought himself withal how he could refute the Clink or the Gatehouse.

1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ch. xix. Come along with me; we’ve a nice clink at Wandsworth to lock you up in.

1839. H. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, ep. I., ch. vi. The old and ruinous prison belonging to the liberty of the Bishop of Winchester (whose palace formerly adjoined the river); called the Clink.

2. (thieves’).—Silver plate; also clinch.—See Clank.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II. He wouldn’t have been hobbled but the melting-pot receiver proved his selling the clink to him.

3. (Scotch colloquial).—Money. Cf., Chink.

1724–40. Ramsay, Tea-t. Misc., 14. The Warld is rul’d by Asses, And the Wise are sway’d by clink.

1789. Burns, Let. J. Tennant, May ye get ... Monie a laugh, and monie a drink, An’ aye enough o’ needfu’ clink.

1817. Hogg, Tales and Sk., II., 2, 3. Such young ladies as were particularly beautiful ... and had the clink. [m.]

4. (colloquial). Also bum-clink.—A very indifferent beer made from the gyle of malt and the sweepings of hop bins, and brewed especially for the benefit of agricultural labourers in harvest time.

1863. Sala, Capt. Dang., I., ix., 266. A miserable hovel of an inn ... where they ate their rye-bread and drank their sour clink. [m.]

To kiss the clink, verbal phr. (old).—To be imprisoned. [From Clink, subs., sense 1.] For synonyms, see Cop.

1588. John Udall, State of the Ch. of England, etc., p. 22 (Arber’s ed.) Diotr. Awaye, thou rayling hypocrite, I will talke with thee no longer, if I catche thee in London, I will make thee kiss the clinke for this geare. Paul. In deede the Clynke, Gate-house, White-lyon, and the Fleet, haue bin your onely argumentes whereby you haue proued your cause these many yeeres.

1889. Gentleman’s Magazine, p. 598. s.v.

Clinker, subs.—1. (in plural, old).—Fetters. For synonyms, see Darbies.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Clinkers: the Irons Felons wear in Gaols.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Clinkers: irons worn by prisoners.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

2. (old).—A crafty, designing man.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Clinker: a crafty fellow.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

3. (thieves’).—A chain of any kind, whether fetter or watch chain. Cf., sense 1.

4. (pugilistic).—A well-delivered blow; a ‘hot-’un.’

c. 1863. Thackeray, Men’s Wives, Frank Berry, ch. i. Berry goes gallantly in, and delivers a clinker on the gown-boy’s jaw.

5. (colloquial, chiefly sporting).—Any thing or person of first-rate and triumphant quality; also a clincher (q.v.); a ‘settler.’ Cf., sense 4.

1733. Swift, Life and Character Dean S——t. A protestant’s a special clinker. It serves for sceptic and free-thinker. [m.]

1869. Daily Telegraph, 5 April. Despite the indifferent manner in which Vagabond cut up at the finish of the Metropolitan, quite sufficient was seen of him to prove that at a mile and a half he is a clinker.

1871. Daily News, 17 April, p. 2., col. 1. Ripponden and Cheesewring performed so indifferently as to strengthen the doubts whether they are really clinkers.

6. (common).—Deposits of fæcal or seminal matter in the hair about the anus or the female pudendum.

7. (common).—A lie. For synonyms, see Whopper.

To have clinkers in one’s bum, phr. (vulgar).—To be uneasy; unable to sit still.

Clinkerum. The same as clink, sense 1.

Clinking, ppl. adj. (common).—First-rate; extra good; about the best possible. Cf., Clipping, Thumping, Whopping, Battling, etc.

1868. Daily Telegraph, 6 June. Vermouth was a clinking good horse.

1887. Sporting Times, 12 March, p. 2, col. 2. Prince Henry must be a clinking good horse when in the humour to go.

1889. Polytechnic Mag., 24 Oct., p. 263. Soon afterwards the Poly. obtained a free kick, and Young notched a point for them. Heard again steered the ball to the Clapham goal, and Toghill put in a clinking shot which just shaved the upright.

Clink-Rig or Cling-Rig, subs. (old).—Stealing silver tankards from public-houses, etc. [From clink, plate, + rig, a theft, or dodge.]

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 174, s.v.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., s.v.

Clip, subs. (colloquial).—A smart blow, e.g., a clip in the eye. For synonyms, see Dig, bang, and wipe.

1830. Marryat, King’s Own, xxvi. The master fires and hits the cat a clip on the neck.

1835. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker (1862), 89. He made a pull at the old-fashioned sword ... and drawing it out he made a clip at him.

1860. Police Gazette, 17 November. He ran up to him, hit him a severe clip, and dashed through the window.

Verb (colloquial).—To move quickly. For analogous terms, see Amputate. [Probably originally a falconry term = to fly swiftly.]

1833. M. Scott, Tom Cringle, xii. (1859), 281. He clipped into the water with the speed of light.

1835–40. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker (1862), 46. He sees a steam-boat a clippin it by him like mad.

1843–4. Sam Slick in England, viii. (Bartlett). I ran all the way, right down as hard as I could clip.

Clipe, verb (school).—To tell tales; to ‘split’; to Peach; q.v. (for synonyms).

Clipper, subs. (colloquial).—A triumph in horses, men, or women; a splendid man; a brilliant or very stylish woman; an admirable horse. [From Clipper, = a vessel built with a view to fast sailing; previous to which the term was applied to a hack for the road.]

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xv. A perfect pictur’ of a horse, and a genuine clipper; could gallop like the wind.

1846. Thackeray, V. Fair, ch. xvi. You have head enough for both of us, Beck, said he. You’re sure to get us out of the scrape. I never saw your equal, and I’ve met with some clippers in my time, too.

1851. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, I., p. 133. They [wild ducks] come over here when the weather’s a clipper; for you see cold weather suits some birds and kills others.

Clipping or Clippingly, ppl. adj. and adv. (common).—Excellent; very showy; first-rate. [From that sense of clipping = that flies or moves fast.—See quot., 1643.] For synonyms, see A1 and Fizzing.

1643. P. Quarles, Emblemes, B. IV., ii., p. 194 (ed. 1648). O that the pinions of a clipping Dove Would cut my passage through the Empty Air, Mine eyes being sealed, how would I mount above The reach of danger and forgotten care!

1860. Thackeray, Philip, ch. i., p. 46. What clipping girls there were in that barouche.

1864. E. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. xxiii. [Mr. Commissioner Beresford loq.:] Clipping riders, those girls! good as Kate Mellon anyday!

Cloak, subs. (thieves’).—A watch case. [From cloak, an outer garment.]

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 70. Near to these hopeful youths sat a fence, or receiver, bargaining with a clouter, or pickpocket, for a ‘suit,’ or, to speak in more intelligible language, a watch and seals, two ‘cloaks,’ commonly called watch-cases and a ‘wedge-lobb,’ otherwise known as a silver snuff-box.

Cloak-Twitchers, subs. (old).—Thieves who made a special business of robbing the lieges of their cloaks. [From cloak + twitch, to snatch, + er.] In the old French cant these rogues were termed tirelaines, i.e., wool-pullers (tirer = pull). For synonyms, see Thieves.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Clobber, subs. (common).—Primarily old, but now also applied to new clothes. For synonyms, see Togs.

1879. J. W. Horsley, Macm. Mag., XL., 502. Having a new suit of clobber on me.

1889. Answers, 11 May, p. 374, col. 3. The clobber (old clothes) which have been presented by charitable persons are exchanged and sold.

1889. Sporting Times, quoted in Slang, Jargon, and Cant, p. 255. If you are hard up always tell the dear things that you are a gentleman’s valet. This will account for your good clobber.

Verb.—Also clobber up. 1. To patch; revive; or ‘translate’ clothes. [Properly applied to cobbling of the lowest class. Cf., Clobberer.]

1865. Cassell’s Paper, Article, ‘Old Clo’.’ They are now past ‘clobbering,’ ‘reviving,’ or ‘translating,’ they are, in fact, at the lowest point of Fortune’s wheel: but the next turn puts them in its highest point again.

2. To dress smartly; to rig oneself out presentably. For synonyms, see Rig out.

1879. J. W. Horsley, Macm. Mag., XL., 501. I used to get a good many pieces about this time, so I used to clobber myself up and go to the concert-rooms.

1886. W. E. Henley, Villon’s Good-Night. You judes that clobber for the stramm.

1889. Fun [quoted in S., J., and C. p. 256]. ‘D’you know, if you were clobbered up I shouldn’t mind taking you out?’ She promised to be presentable. In her own words she said, ‘I’ll come clobbered up like a dukess.’

To do clobber at a fence, phr. (thieves’).—To sell stolen clothes. Fr., laver les harnais.

Clobberer, subs. (common).—See quot. and Cf., Clobber, subs. and verb.

1864. The Times, Nov. 2. Old clothes that are intended to remain in this country have to be tutored and transformed. The clobberer, the ‘reviver,’ and the ‘translator’ lay hands upon them. The duty of the clobberer is to patch, to sew up, and to restore as far as possible the garments to their pristine appearance.

Clock, subs. (thieves’).—A watch. A red clock = a gold watch; a white clock = a silver watch. Generally modified into ‘red’un’ and ‘white’un,’ but for synonyms, see Ticker.

1886. Tit-Bits, 5 June, p. 121. Thus Fillied for a Clock and Slang, reveals the fact that the writer stole a watch and chain, was apprehended, and has been fully committed for trial.

To know what’s o’clock, phr. (common).—To be on the alert; in full possession of one’s senses; a downey cove: generally knowing (q.v. for synonyms). A variant is to know the time o’day.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 451. Our governor’s wide awake, he is, I’ll never say nothin’ agin him, nor no man; but he knows what’s o’clock, he does, uncommon.

1849–50. Thackeray, Pendennis, I., p. 138. I’m not clever, p’raps, but I am rather downy, and partial friends say that I know what’s o’clock tolerably well.

Clock Stopped.—See Tick.

Clod-Crushers, subs. (popular).—1. Clumsy boots. [In agriculture an implement for pulverising clods. Cf., Beetle-crushers, and for synonyms, see Trotter-cases.]

2. (common).—Large feet. [A transferred usage.—See sense 1.]

Clods and Stickings, subs. phr. (paupers’).—See quot.

1871. Daily Telegraph, 24 Oct., Henry Melville’s (the pauper) passionate, ‘beutiful,’ for Stepney Workhouse is a grotesque reflex of Marie Stuart’s pathetic farewell to France. Is the skilly we wonder most ‘beutiful’ at Stepney, or are the clods and stickings unusually free from bone.

Cloister-Roush, subs. (Winchester College: obsolete).—See quot.

1870. Mansfield, School Life at Winchester College, p. 117. We had some singular customs at the commencement of Cloister time. Senior part and Cloisters, just before the entrance of the Masters into School, used to engage in a kind of general tournament; this was called Cloister Roush.

Clootie (Scots).—The Devil.—See Cloots.

1786. Burns, Address to the Deil. Auld Hornie, Satan, Nick, or clootie.

Cloots (Scots), subs.—Hooves.

1786. Burns, The Death and Dying Words of Puir Mailie. An’ no to rin and wear his cloots, Are ither menseless, graceless brutes.

Close as Wax, adv. phr. (general).—Miserly; niggardly; secretive. [A simile derived mainly from close, adj. = hidden or reticent.]

1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, I., 231. Then commenced a long and steady struggle, conducted with a Spartan dignity and self command, and a countenance as close as wax.

Close-File, subs. (old).—A person secretive or ‘close’; not ‘open’ or communicative. [From close, adj. = secretive + file = a man.]

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 8. Tom Sheppard was always a close file, and would never tell whom he married.

Cloth. [Generally the cloth], subs. (colloquial).—Primarily clergymen; the members of a particular profession. For synonyms, see Devil-dodger.

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers (about 1827), p. 363 (ed. 1857). ‘I maintain that that ’ere song’s personal to the cloth,’ said the mottle-faced gentleman.

1864. Daily Review, Nov. 3. It might have seemed more decorous to draw our illustration of the Doctor’s [Revd.] ingenuity from an incident related of two persons who have some right to be considered as in a sense belonging to the cloth—The Abbess and Novice of Andouillets.

Clothes-Line. Able to sleep upon a clothes-line, phr. (common).—Capable of sleeping anywhere or in any position; said of those able and willing to rest as well upon the roughest ‘shakedown’ as upon the most comfortable bed. [Cf., Two-penny rope and plank-bed.] Also applied in a transferred sense—a synonym for general capacity and ability.

Clothes-Pin. That’s the sort of clothes-pin I am, phr. (popular).—That’s the sort of man I am. In the case of women That’s the sort of hair-pin (q.v.).

Cloth-Market, subs. (old).—A bed. [Of obvious derivation. Cf., Fr., la halle aux draps.] For synonyms, see Bug-walk and Kip.

1738. Swift, Pol. Convers., dial i. I hope your early rising will do you no harm. I find you are but just come out of the cloth market.

1824. T. Fielding, Proverbs, etc. (Familiar Phrases), p. 148. He’s in the cloth market. In bed.

Cloud.—See Blow a cloud. Cloud originally signified tobacco smoke.—[Grose, 1785.] Fr., en griller une = to smoke a pipe or cigarette; also en griller une sèche and en griller une bouffarde.

Cloud-Cleaner, subs. (nautical).—See quot. Angel’s footstool, and Cf.

1883. W. Clark Russell, Sailors’ Word Book, p. 31. Cloud-cleaner, an imaginary sail jokingly assumed to be carried by Yankee ships.

Clout, subs. (vulgar).—1. A blow; a kick. For synonyms, see Bang, Dig, and Wipe.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Clout: a blow (cant), I’ll give you a clout on your jolly nob; I’ll give you a blow on the head.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1864. M. E. Braddon, Aurora Floyd, ch. xx. ‘If you had a father that’d fetch you a clout of the head as soon as look at you, you’d run away perhaps.’

2. (thieves’).—A pocket-handkerchief. [A.S. clút, a clout or patch; Dan. klud, Swed. klut, or perhaps from the Keltic; hence, any worthless piece of cloth.] For synonyms, see Wipe, sense 2.

1574–1637. Ben Jonson, Metam. Gipsies. And Tidslefoot has lost his clout, he says, with a three-pence and four tokens in’t.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall, 4 ed., p. 11. [List of Cant Words in.] Clout: a handkerchief.

1754. Fielding, Jon. Wild, bk. I., ch. ix. A neat double clout, which seemed to have been worn a few weeks only, was pinned under her chin.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. A handkerchief.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. A handkerchief (cant). Any pocket handkerchief except a silk one.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict. Clout, or Rag, a cotton pocket handkerchief (old cant).

3. plural (low).—A woman’s under-clothes, from the waist downwards. Also her complete wardrobe, on or off the person.

4. (common).—A woman’s ‘bandage’; ‘diaper’; or ‘sanitary.’

Verb (low).—1. To strike. Fr., jeter une mandole. For synonyms, see Tan.

1576–1625. Beaumont and Fletcher [quoted in Annandale’s ed. of Ogilvie’s Imperial Dict.]. Pay him over the pate, clout him for all his courtesies.

2. (old).—To patch; to tinker.

17(?). Scots Ballad. I’ll clout my Johnnie’s grey breeks For a’ the ill he’s done me yet.

1785. Burns, The Jolly Beggars. In vain they searched when off I marched To go and clout the caudron.

Clouter, subs. (old).—A pickpocket—especially one who steals handkerchiefs. [From clout, sense 2 (q.v.), a pocket-handkerchief, + er.] Cf., Clouting, sense 2. For synonyms, see Stook-hauler.

1839. W. H. Ainsworth, J. Sheppard, p. 158, ed. 1840. Near to these hopeful youths sat a fence, or receiver, bargaining with a clouter, or pickpocket.

Clouting, verbal subs. (common). 1. A beating, basting, or tanning (q.v. for synonyms).—See also Baste.

2. (thieves’).—Stealing handkerchiefs. Cf., Clouter.

Cloven, Cleaved, Cleft, adj. (old).—Terms applied to a sham virgin. (Cleft, subs. = the female pudendum.)

In Clover, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Well-off; comfortable; e.g., like a horse at grass in a clover field.

Clow, subs. (Winchester College). Pronounced clō.—A box on the ear. [Possibly from clout (q.v.) on the model of ‘bow’ from ‘bout,’ and ‘low’ from ‘lout.’ Halliwell gives ‘clow’ as a Cumberland word, meaning ‘to scratch.’] Cf., Baste, and for general synonyms, see Bang, Dig, and Wipe.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 140. The juniors did not get much fun out of the regular games, as their part consisted solely in kicking in the ball, and receiving divers kicks and clows in return for their vigilance. Ibid, p. 39. Nor, when ordered to ‘hold down,’ (i.e., put your head in a convenient position) for a clow, would the victim dare to ward off the blow.

Verb.—To box one on the ear. It was customary to preface the action by an injunction to ‘hold down.’—See quot., 1870, under subs., sense.

Clowes, subs. (old).—Rogues.—Grose [1785].

Cloy, Cligh, or Cly, verb (old).—To steal. For synonyms, see Prig. An old Gloucestershire vulgarism for the hands is clees.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 8 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). They are sure to be clyd in the night by the angler, or hooker, or such like pilferers that liue upon the spoyle of other poore people.

1622. Head and Kirkman, Canting Song, in English Rogue. I met a Dell, I viewed her well, She was benship to my watch; So she and I did stall and cloy, Whatever we could catch.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 48 (1874). Cloy: to steal.

1706. E. Coles, Eng. Dict. Cloy: to steal.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v. To cloy the clout, to steal the handkerchief. To cloy the lour, to steal money.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Cloyer, subs. (old).—A thief who intruded on the profits of young sharpers, by claiming a share.

1611. Middleton, Roaring Girl, O. Pl., vi., 113. Then there’s a cloyer, or snap, that dogs any new brother in that trade, and snaps,—will have half in any booty.

1659. The Catterpillars of this Nation Anatomised. [Cloyer = a pickpocket.]

Cloyes, subs. (old).—Thieves; robbers, etc. [In Grose, 1785, and Lexicon Balatronicum, 1811.]—See Cloy and Cloyer.

Cloying, verbal subs. (old) Stealing.

1739. Poor Robin. Money is now a hard commodity to get, insomuch that some will venture their necks for it, by padding, cloying, milling, filching, nabbing, etc., all of which in plain English is only stealing.

Club, verb (military).—In manœuvring troops, so to blunder the word of command that the soldiers get into a position from which they cannot extricate themselves by ordinary tactics.

18(?). Thackeray, Novels by Eminent Hands. ‘Phil Fogarty.’ ‘Clubbed, be jabers!’ roared Lanty Clancy. ‘I wish we could show ’em the Fighting Onety-Oneth, Captain, darlin’!’

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. xi. If you’re in difficulties, ask Sergeant File what is best to be done, only don’t club ’em, my boy, as you did at Limerick.

Subs. (venery).—The penis.

Clump, subs. (common).—A blow, generally a heavy one, with the hand.—See quots. under verbal sense. For synonyms, see Bang, Dig, and Wipe.

Verb (common).—To strike; to give a heavy blow. Fr., faire du bifteck. For synonyms, see Tan.

1864. Derby Day, p. 52. ‘We can’t give ’em in charge now.’... ‘Because why? I’ll tell you ... we shouldn’t know when to spot ’em. No. I want to clump them. It will spoil sport to call in the bobbies.’

1874. W. E. Henley, MS. Ballad. Which they calls me the Professor, But I’m only Hogan’s Novice, Bloody artful with the mufflers, And a mark on fancy clumping.

1888. Daily News, 2 Jan., p. 7, col. 1. The prisoner clumped (struck) both of them, and then ran away.

Clumper, subs. (common).—1. A thick, heavy boot for walking. [Clumps in shoemakers’ technology = extra fore or half soles.] Cf., quot. under Clumping. For synonyms, see Trotter-cases.

2. (common).—One that clumps; a ‘basher.’

Clumperton, subs. (old).—A countryman. For synonyms, see Joskin.

1870. All the Year Round, Mar. 5. ‘Byegone Cant (Geo. II.).’ Clumpertons agape at the giant proportions of the still somewhat new St. Paul’s would turn from their wondering walks to shudder and shrink at the ghastly gallows exhibition at Newgate.

Clumping, verbal subs. (common).—Walking heavily and noisily: as in hobnails or in clogs.

1864. [From Hotten’s MS. Collection, n.d.] ‘Why, woman! dost ’oo think I’se had naught better to do than go clumping up and down the sky a-searching for thy Tummas?’

Cly, subs. (thieves’).—1. A pocket; purse; sack; or basket. For synonyms, see Brigh and Sky-rocket.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4 ed.). p. 12. Cly: a pocket.

1742. Charles Johnson, Highwaymen and Pirates, p. 252. Filing a cly which is picking pockets of watches, money, books or handkerchiefs.

1748. T. Dyche, Dict. (5 ed.). Cly (s.): the cant term for ... purse or pocket.

1818. Maginn, from Vidocq. The Pickpocket’s Chaunt. A regular swell cove lushy lay. To his clies my hooks I throw in, Tol, lol, etc.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood. No knuckler so deftly could fake a cly.

1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, bk. II., ch. i., p. 69. They’re just made for hooking a fogle [handkerchief] out of a clye.

1878. Charles Hindley, Life and Times of James Catnach. Frisk the cly and fork the rag, Draw the fogles plummy.

2. (thieves’).—Money.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.), Cly (s.): the cant name for money, a purse, or a pocket.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Cly: money.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Verb (old).—1. To take; have; receive; pocket: in fact, ‘to cop.’

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 66. The ruffian cly thee, the deuil take thee.

1609. Dekker, a Gypsy song, in Lanthorne and Candlelight, etc. The Ruffin cly the nab of the Harman beck. If we mawnd Pannam, lap or Ruff-peck.

Cly-Faker, subs. (thieves’).—A pickpocket. [From cly, a pocket, + fake, to steal. + er.] For synonyms, see Stookhauler.

1827. Lytton, Pelham, ch. lxxxii. They were gentlemen-sharpers, and not vulgar cracksmen and clyfakers.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 14. ‘Oh, I see!’ replied Blueskin, winking significantly.... ‘Now! slip the purse into my hand. Bravo! the best cly-faker of ’em all; couldn’t have done it better.’

1852. Punch, vol. XXIII., p. 161.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., p. 103. Cly-faker: a pickpocket.

Cly-faking, subs. (thieves’).—Pocket-picking. For synonyms, see Push.

1851. Borrow, Lavengro, ch. xxxi., p. 112 (1888). ‘What do you mean by cly-faking?’ ‘Lor, dear! no harm; only taking a handkerchief now and then.’

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. lx. Well, sir, I won’t deny that the young woman is Bess, and perhaps she may be on the cross, and I don’t go to say that what with flimping, and with cly-faking, and such-like, she mayn’t be wanted.

Cly-Off, verb (old).—To carry off. Cf., Cly, verb, sense 1.

1656. Brome, Jovial Crew. Act ii. Here safe in our skipper Let’s cly off our peck, And bowse in defiance O’ th’ Harman-beck.

Clyster-pipe, subs. (old).—An apothecary. [From clyster = an injection for costiveness.] Fr., un flûtencul, a play upon words. For synonyms, see Gallipot.

1785. Grose, Dic. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Cly the Gerke or Jerk, verbal phr. (old).—See quots.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 66. To cly the gerke, to get a whipping. Cf., to cop a hiding.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874), s.v.

1706. E. Coles, Eng. Dic., s.v.

1827. Lytton, Pelham, ch. lxxxii. You deserve to cly the jerk for your patter.

Coach, subs. (formerly University and public schools’; now common).—A private tutor; and in a transferred sense one who trains another in mental or physical acquirements, e.g., in Sanskrit, Shakspeare, cricket, or rowing. Analogous terms are crammer, feeder, and grinder.

1850. F. E. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, ch. xxix., p. 240. Besides the regular college tutor, I secured the assistance of what, in the slang of the day, we irreverently termed a coach.

1853. C. Bede, Verdant Green, pt. I., pp. 63–4. ‘That man is Cram, the patent safety. He’s the first coach in Oxford.’ ‘A coach,’ said our freshman in some wonder. ‘Oh, I forgot you didn’t know college slang. I suppose a royal mail is the only gentleman coach you know of. Why, in Oxford a coach means a private tutor you must know; and those who can’t afford a coach, get a cab alias a crib alias translation.’

1864. Eton School-days, ch. ix., p. 103. Lord Fitzwinton, one of the smallest and best coaches—in aquatics—in the school.

1871. Times. ‘Report of the Debate in House of Lords on University Test Bill.’ The test proposed would be wholly ineffective ... while it would apply to the college tutors, who had little influence over the young men, it would not affect the coaches, who had the chief direction of their studies.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 29 Nov., p. 1, col. 3. The schoolmaster is concerned with the education of boys up to eighteen; all beyond that falls either to the coach or the professor.

Verb (common).—To prepare for an examination by private instruction; to train: in general use both by coacher and coachee.

1846. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ch. v. The superb Cuff himself ... helped him on with his Latin verses, coached him in play-hours.

1870. London Figaro, June 10. ‘Quadrille Conversation.’ It is, we fear, Quixotic to hope that ladies and gentlemen invited to the same ball would coach with the same master.

Coachee, subs. (colloquial).—A coachman. Cf., Cabby.

1819. Thos. Moore, Tom Crib’s Mem. Cong., p. 79. This song ... in which the language and sentiments of Coachee are transferred so ingeniously.

1825. English Spy, I., pp. 134–5.

Coaching, verbal subs. (common).—1. Instruction; training, etc.—See Coach, subs. French students call it la barbe.

1836. Pluck Examination Papers for Candidates at Oxford and Cambridge, by Scriblerus Redivivus [Oxford]. The system of coaching pupils considerably improved by the examiners becoming pupils.

2. (Rugby School).—A flogging. Now obsolete.

Coachman, subs. (anglers’).—A fly-fisher’s rod. [In allusion to whipping the stream.]

Coach-Wheel, subs. (popular).—A crown-piece, or five shillings. For synonyms, see Cart-wheel.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Coach wheel: a half crown piece is a fore coach wheel, and a crown piece a hind coach wheel, the fore wheels of a coach being less than the hind ones.

Coal.—See Cole.

To take in one’s coals, or winter coals, phr. (nautical).—To contract a venereal disease. For synonyms, see Ladies’ fever.

Coal-Box, subs. (musical).—A chorus. [Obviously ‘music-hally’ or ‘circussy’ in derivation: a cross between rhyming slang and a clown’s wheeze (q.v.).]

1809–70. Mark Lemon, Up and Down London Streets. The slang word for chorus, coal box, if we might mention anything so ungenteel.

Coaley, subs. (common).—A coal-heaver, or porter.

1880. Jas. Greenwood, ‘Diddler Domesticus,’ in Odd People in Odd Places, p. 93. With such arguments the bargain is driven to a conclusion, and the grateful coaley takes his departure.

1889. Star, 3 Dec., p. 3, col. 4. The coalies demonstrated last night in right novel fashion at St. Pancras Arches.

Coaling or Coally, adj. (theatrical).—Among ‘pros’ a coally or coaling part is one that is grateful to the player. [Hotten says it means ‘profitable,’ and derives it from cole = money, but this is doubtful.—See quot.]

1872. M. E. Braddon, Dead Sea Fruit, ch. xiv. The gorger’s awful coally on his own slumming, eh?... I mean to say that our friend the manager is rather sweet upon his own acting.

Coal-Scuttle, subs. (common).—A poke bonnet; modish once, but now reserved for old-fashioned Quakeresses and ‘Hallelujah Lasses.’ [From the shape.]

1838. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby. There was Miss Snevellici ... glancing from the depths of her coal-scuttle bonnet at Nicholas.

Coat. To get the sun into a horse’s coat, phr. (racing).—Explained by quot.

1889. Standard. ‘Sir Chas. Russell’s Speech in Durham-Chetwynd Case,’ June 25. An owner says to his trainer, ‘I suppose, Mr. Jones, we’ll have very good luck to-morrow?’ (laughter). ‘Well no, sir,’ says the trainer; ‘I don’t think the horse has any chance to-morrow. The fact is, he isn’t fit.’ A fortnight elapses, and on comes another meeting at Newmarket, and the owner goes down again, and he sees the horse. To his uninitiated eye the horse seems as well as when he saw it on the previous occasion. In the interval the trainer had ‘slipped in a lot of work into him,’ I think that is the term, and the owner, who thinks he knows something about horses (laughter) says to his trainer ‘You’re going to run this horse to-morrow?’ ‘Oh, I think so, sir,’ says the trainer. ‘But look here,’ says the owner, ‘This is a much better class. He is meeting this horse upon no better terms than before.’ ‘But, sir,’ says the trainer, ‘he has greatly improved. The sun has got into his coat.’

Coax, verb (old).—To dissemble in the shoes the soiled or ragged parts of a pair of stockings.—[Grose, 1785.]

Cob, subs. (prison).—1. A punishment cell. For synonyms, see Clinch.

2. (nautical).—Money. Especially given to a Spanish coin formerly current in Ireland, worth about 4s. 8d. Also the name still given at Gibraltar to a Spanish dollar.

1805. Plymouth Newspaper of Feb. 24, quoted in ‘Autobiography of a Seaman,’ by Earl of Dundonald, vol. I., ch. x., p. 174. His Lordship sent word to Plymouth that, if ever it was in his power he would fulfil his public advertisement (stuck up here) for entering seamen, of filling their pockets with Spanish ‘pewter’ and ‘cobs,’ nicknames given by seamen to ingots and dollars.

3. (Winchester College).—A hard hit at cricket. Of modern introduction. Cf., Barter.

Verb (schoolboys’).—1. To detect, catch, etc.

2. (popular).—To humbug; deceive; to gammon (q.v.).

3. To hit hard.—See subs., sense 3.

Cobb, verb (general).—To spank; to smack the posteriors with (say) a tailor’s sleeve-board.

1830. Marryat, King’s Own. Gentlemen, gentlemen, if you must cobb Mrs. Skrimmage, for God’s sake let it be over all.

Cobber, subs. (common).—A prodigious falsehood; i.e., ‘a thumper’; whopper (q.v.).

Cobble-Colter, subs. (old).—A turkey. Fr., une ornie de balle and un Jésuite. Cf., Alderman in chains.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1837. Disraeli, Venetia, p. 69. ‘Come, old mort,’ said the leader, in a very different tone to the one in which he addressed his young guest, ‘tout the cobble-colter; are we to have darkmans upon us?’

Cobbled, ppl. adj. (schoolboys’).—Caught; detected; spotted. [From cob, verb, sense 1.]

Cobblers’ Knock. To give the cobbler’s knock or to knock at the cobbler’s door, verbal phr. (provincial).—A sort of fancy sliding in which the artist raps the ice in triplets with one foot while progressing swiftly on the other.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, vol. ii., ch. 2. Sam Weller, in particular was displaying that beautiful feat of fancy sliding which is currently called knocking at the cobbler’s door, and which is achieved by skimming over the ice on one foot and occasionally giving a postman’s knock upon it with the other.

Cobblers’ Marbles, subs. phr. (vulgar).—A corrupt pronunciation of cholera morbus, once a name for Asiatic cholera.

Cobbler’s Thumb, subs. (Irish localism).—A small fish; the bull-head, called in English the miller’s thumb.

1839. Lever, Harry Lorrequer, ch. xxvii. His hands and feet, forming some compensation by their ample proportions, give to his entire air and appearance somewhat the look of a small fish, with short, thick fins, vulgarly called a cobbler’s thumb.

Cochineal Dye, subs. (pugilistic).—Blood. [From the colour.] For synonyms, see Claret.

1853. Rev. E. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Verdant Green, pt. 11., p. 31. He would kindly inquire of one gentleman, ‘What d’ye ask for a pint of your cochineal dye?’

1883. Referee. It certainly seemed that their stock-in-trade was largely composed of cochineal dye; there was in truth no lack of the gory accessory of the fight.

Cock, subs. (common).—1. The penis, Cf., Ger., Hahn, Hänchen. [Possibly related to ‘cock’ = turn-valve.] For synonyms, see cream-stick.

1600. Shakspeare, King Henry V., ii. i.—Cf.

1647. Beaumont and Fletcher. The Custom of the County, v., 4. The mainspring’s weakened that holds up his cock.

1730. Bailey, Dict., s.v.

1737. Rabelais. Trans. I., 185., s.v.

1807. Rabelais. Trans. [Longman’s ed.]. s.v., I., 169.

1849. Rabelais. Trans. [Bohn’s ed.], s.v., I., 135.

2. (colloquial).—A chief or leader; particularly in such phrases as cock of the walk, school, etc. [A simile drawn from the barndoor.] Cf., sense 3, and adj.

1711. Spectator, No. 131. Service to the knight. Sir Andrew is grown the cock of the club since he left us, and if he does not return quickly will make every mother’s son of us commonwealth’s men.

1729. Swift, Grand Question Debated. But at cuffs I was always the cock of the school.

1764. O’Hara, Midas, I., 1. Cock of the school. He bears despotic rule.

1811–63. W. M. Thackeray, Miscellanies, II., 275. There is no more dangerous or stupifying position for a man in life than to be a cock of small society.

1862. Mrs. H. Wood, Channings, ch. xxix. ‘Were I going in for the seniorship, and one below me were suddenly hoisted above my head, and made a cock of the walk, I’d know the reason why.’

3. (common).—A familiar address; e.g., old cock, or jolly old cock. [Probably derived from sense 1.] Amongst similar expressions may be mentioned old man, my pippin, and in French, mon vieux zig, or lapin.

1639. Massinger, Unnatural Combat, II., i. He has drawn blood of him yet: well done, old cock.

1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. XVIII., ch. x. Then give me thy fist, a’t as hearty an honest cock as any in the kingdom.

1825. The English Spy, vol. I., p. 215. The low-bred, vulgar, Sunday throng, Who dine at two, are ranged along On both sides of the way; With various views these honest folk Descant on fashions, quiz and joke, Or mark the shy cock down. [1]

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers (about 1827), p. 367 (ed. 1857). ‘Do you always smoke arter you goes to bed, old cock?’ inquired Mr. Weller of his landlord, when they had both retired for the night. ‘Yes, I does, young Bantam,’ replied the cobbler.

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 278. The people down here are a queer lot, but I have hunted up two or three jolly cocks, and we contrive to keep the place alive between us.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xvi. Shrewd old cock, Mr. Binnie. Has brought home a good bit of money from India.

1870. London Figaro, 19 Oct. What on earth is the meaning of Mr. Santley’s voice being over-crowed by a mammoth orchestra? I never heard before that fiddles crowed, or that Mr. Santley was a cock. He is what is known as a jolly cock, but there his similarity to the noisy fowl ends.

4. (racing).—A horse not intended to win the race for which it is put down, but kept in the lists to deceive the public.

1887. Field, May 29. In the phraseology of slangy turfites, the horse was a cock; i.e., it had been liberally backed, but was never intended to run.

5. (common).—Primarily the fictitious narratives in verse or prose of murders, fires, etc. (see quot., 1851), produced for sale in the streets. Famous manufactories of cocks were kept by ‘Jemmy’ Catnach and Johnny Pitts, called the Colburn and Bentley of the ‘paper’ trade. They fought bitterly, and Catnach informed the world that Pitts had once been a ‘bumboat woman,’ while Pitts declared—

That all the boys and girls around, Who go out prigging rags and phials, Know Jemmy Catnach!!! well, Who lives in a back slum in the Dials.

Catnach got at last to be ‘Cock of the Walk,’ and remained so till his retirement in 1839. [Hotten thought the word might be a corruption of cook, a ‘cooked’ or garbled statement, or a coinage from ‘cock and bull story.’] Fr., une goualante.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 228. What are technically termed cocks, which, in polite language, means accounts of fabulous duels between ladies of fashion, of apocryphal elopements ... or awful tragedies, etc.

Hence applied to any incredible story.

1870. London Figaro, 1 Feb. We are disposed to think that cocks must have penetrated to Eastern Missouri.

6. (thieves’).—An abbreviation of ‘cockney.’

7. (printers’).—In gambling or playing with ‘quads,’ a cock is when one (or more) of the nine pieces does not fall flat but lodges crosswise on another. The player is then given another chance.

8. (tailors’).—Good cock—poor cock. A good and bad workman respectively.

Adj. (colloquial).—Chief; first and foremost. Cf., Cock, subs., sense 2.

1676. Etherege, Man of Mode, II., ii., in wks. (1704), 211. Why the very cock-fool of all those fools, Sir Fopling Flutter.

1856. T. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, pt. II., ch. vi. They’ll make the old Madman cock medicine-man and tattoo him all over.

Verb (venery).—1. To copulate. Usually employed by women and in the passive sense: e.g., ‘to want cocking,’ or ‘to get cocked.’ For synonyms, see Ride.

2. (common).—To smoke.

Cock the eye, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To shut or wink one eye; to leer; to look incredulous. Fr., cligner des œillets. Cf., Cock-eyed. [In venery a woman with a cock in her eye = a woman in a condition of sexual excitement, a woman that ‘means business.’ Cf., Pintle-keek (q.v.) and Look Pricks.] Of the kindred phrase, to cock the chin, an illustration appears in Elegant Extracts.

As Dick and Tom in fierce dispute engage, And face to face the noisy contest wage; ‘Don’t cock your chin at me,’ Dick smartly cries. ‘Fear not, his head’s not charg’d,’ a friend replies.

The French equivalent is s’aborgner (literally ‘to make oneself blind of one eye by closing it’).

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. ii. He ... made wry faces, and, to use the vulgar phrase, cocked his eye at him, to the no small entertainment of the spectators.

1836. Marryat, Japhet, ch. iv. Timothy put on his hat, cocked his eye at me, and left us alone.

1859. J. Eastwood, in Notes and Queries, 2 S., viii., 461. The phrase cock your eye is not at all an uncommon one in Yorkshire—meaning ‘direct your eye, give a glance.’

To Cock Snooks, verbal phr. (common).—See Coffee-milling and Snooks.

That cock won’t fight. phr. (common).—Originally cock-pit slang. Said of things problematical or doubtful.

1844. Puck, p. 124. ‘Song of the First Tragedian ... having pawned his properties.’ Suppose I told my uncle what I fear he’d not believe, That I’ll certainly repay him the money ere I leave; That my benefit when it comes off is sure to prove a hit, I don’t think, with a screw like him, that cock would fight a bit.

By cock or by cock and pye. phr. (old).—‘Cock’ is here a corruption, or disguise of ‘God.’ We find also ‘cocks-passion,’ ‘cocks-body,’ and other allusions to the Saviour, or His body, as supposed to exist in the Host: the expression surviving the belief. In by cock and pye, the pie, or Sacred Book of Offices is added. By cock and pie and mousefoot, is quoted from the old play of Soliman and Perseda, Orig. of Drama, ii., p. 211.

1571. Edwards, Damon and Pythias, Old Pl., i., 216. W. By the masse I will boxe you. J. By cocke I will foxe you.

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, iv., 5. By cocke they are to blame.

1598. Shakspeare, Henry IV., pt. II., Act v., Sc. 1. By cock and pie, sir, you shall not away to-night.

1606. Wily, Beguilede. Now by cock and pie, you never spoke a truer word in your life.

Knocked a-cock, adv. phr. (pugilistic).—Knocked ‘all of a heap,’ or ‘out of time.’ Obviously adapted from the lingo of the cock-pit, and suggested by the sight of the beaten bird laid on his back.

Cock-a-Doodle Broth, subs. phr. (? nonce phrase).—See quot.

1856. Reade, Never Too Late to Mend, ch. lxxxv. He complains that ‘he can’t peck,’ yet continues the cause of his infirmity, living almost entirely upon cock-a-doodle broth,—eggs beat up in brandy and a little water.

Cock-a-Hoop or Cock-on (or in-a)-Hoop, adj. (colloquial).—Strutting; triumphant; high-spirited; ‘uppish.’ [Ray suggested that it refers to the practice of taking out the spigot (an old synonym for the penis, by the way) and laying it on the top of a barrel with a view to drinking the latter dry; a proceeding that would naturally induce a certain swagger in the actors. There seems, however, no doubt that the true derivative is the French coq à houppé. Houppé, in French, is a tuft, touffe (and toupet, is kindred). Littré says, terme de blason, tuft of silk or tassel hanging from a hat: ‘Elle sert de timbre au chapeau des cardinaux,’ etc. Houppée is the foam on the top of a wave. Houppe is the tuft on a trencher cap: ‘Qui distingue,’ says Tarver, ‘le bonnet des nobles de celui des autres’ at the universities—hence tuft-hunter, coureur de houppes. Also, ‘Il trouve à se fourrer parmi les plus huppés’ = he contrives to vie with those at the very top of fashion. The Hoopoe, (Lat. Upupa), is a crested bird. Hence coq à houppé is a crested cock, and by analogy one swaggering, triumphant, exulting; so ‘cock-a-hoop’ is ‘cock-a-top,’ ‘cock-a-crest,’ elated beyond reason—‘cocky,’ as schoolboys say—‘cock of the walk,’ ‘cock at the top.’ In cock-fighting, the ‘cock-a-top’ is he that gets the vantage stroke. ‘Abattre l’orgueil des plus huppés’; to bring down the crest of the highest. Cock-a-hoop is plainly the original expression, and cock-on-the-hoop a later form adopted when the original meaning had vanished.] English equivalents are ‘in full feather,’ and ‘a-cock-horse’ (q.v.), while colloquial French has s’en pourlécher la face and s’émérillonner (to become cheerful through repeated potations).

1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act i., Sc. 5. Am I the master here or you? Go to.... You will set cock-a-hoop! you’ll be the man.

1633. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, V., ii. John Clay agen! nay then—set cock-a-hoop: I have lost no daughter, nor no money, justice.

1707. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. II., pt. XII., p. 20. Those cruel, sanctify’d Pretenders, Now rais’d by Fortune, cock-a-hoop.

1853. Diogenes, II., 195. ‘Our Foreign News Summary.’ All the cock-a-hoop Beys in the Sultan’s dominions Have taken to expressing their individual opinions.

1885. D. C. Murray, Rainbow Gold, bk. IV., ch. vi. He’s a fine lad, a fine lad, but cock-a-whoop, and over certain for his years.

Cock-Ale, subs. (old).—A homely aphrodisiac.—[Grose, 1785.] [An allusion to the penis and the stirring tendency of strong beer.] Nares says it was ‘a sort of ale which was very celebrated in the seventeenth century for its superior quality.’

1675. Woman Turn’d Bully [quoted in Nares]. Spr. How, Mr. Trupenny, not a drop worth drinking? Did you ever taste our cock-ale?

1698. Ward, London Spy. My friend by this time (knowing the entertainment of the house) had called for a bottle of cock-ale, of which I tasted a glass, but could not conceive it to be anything but a mixture of small beer and treacle. If this be cock-ale, said I, e’en let cockscombs drink it. [n.]

1738. Poor Robin. Notwithstanding the large commendations you give the juice of barley, yet if compar’d with canary, it’s no more than a mole-hill to a mountain; whether it be cock-ale, China ale, etc. [n.]

Also cock-broth, etc.

Cock Alley, subs. (old).—The female pudendum. Other derivations of the same make are Cock-chafer, Cock Hall, Cock Inn, Cock Lane, Cock-Loft, Cock-Pit, Cockshire, and Cock-shy. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Cockalorum or Cockylorum, subs. (common).—1. A half contemptuous address.—See quot.

1815–23. T. C. Carter, in Daily News, 7 Dec., 1889, p. 3, col. 5. In 1823 was displayed in a shop window in Pilgrim Street, Ludgate Hill, a picture entitled ‘Seizure for Rent.’ It represented the interior of a room; the only article of furniture a bottomless chair, on the edge of which was seated a half-clad man smoking a pipe. The doorway was filled up by a very fat beadle in full uniform; behind him in the shade could be seen two men, each with a porter’s knot. To the beadle the tenant was saying: ‘Now then, old cockalorum jig, seize away.’ In my school days, from 1815 to 1820, we often heard in the playground: ‘Now little cockalorum, out of that.’

2. (schoolboys’).—A rough and tumble game described as follows by a correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette (1890, Jan. 4, p. 2, col. 1):—

When I went to Harrow, thirty years ago, I found a winter evening game in force there, called ‘high cockalorum,’ of which I send you a sketch. The players used to divide into two opposing bands of from twelve to fourteen each—in fact, the more the merrier. One side ‘went down,’ so as to constitute a long ‘hogsback’—the last boy having a couple of pillows between himself and the wall, and each boy clasping his front rank man, and carefully tucking his own ‘cocoa-nut’ under his right arm, so as to prevent fracture of the vertebræ. When the hogsback was thus formed, the other side came on, leap-frogging on to the backs of those who were down, the best and steadiest jumpers being sent first. Sometimes the passive line was broken quite easily by the ruse of a short high jump, coming with irresistible impulse on a back which was not expecting weight just yet. Sometimes a too ambitious leap-frogger ruined his party by overbalancing and falling off. It was, however, as the last two or three leap-froggers came on that the real excitement more generally began. There was absolutely no back-space belonging to the other party left to them; and they were obliged to pile themselves one upon another—‘Pelion on Ossa’ as it was called. When the last man was up it was his duty to say, ‘High cockalorum jig jig jig—high cockalorum jig jig jig—high cockalorum jig jig jig—off, off, off,’ and then alone was it permissible for tortured and perspiring human nature to fall in one indistinguishable heap to the ground. The repeater of the shibboleth often fell off himself as he was uttering the above incantation—thus losing the victory for his side. It was a splendid game. I understood from family inquiries that it was played at Harrow in my great grandfather’s time.

Cock-and-Breeches, subs. (common).—A sturdy, little man, or boy.

Cock-and-Bull-Story, subs. (colloquial).—An idle or silly story. [Presumably from some old legend of a cock and a bull, apropos to which it should be noted that the French equivalent is coq-à-l’âne, a ‘cock-and-ass.’]

1603. John Day, Law Trickes, Act iv., p. 66. Didst marke what a tale of a Cock and a Bull he tolde my father whilst I made thee and the rest away.

1759. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, vol. IX., ch. xxxiii. L—d! said my mother, what is all this about? A Cock and a Bull, said Yorick—and one of the best of its kind I ever heard.

1857. O. W. Holmes, Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, ch. v. That sounds like a cock-and-bull story, said the young fellow whom they call John. I abstained from making Hamlet’s remarks to Horatio and continued.

1874. Mrs. H. Wood, Johnny Ludlow, 1 S., xxiv., p. 432. ‘Giving ear to a cock-and-bull story that can’t be true!’

Cock-and-Hen-Club, subs. (common).—1. A free and easy gathering, or ‘sing-song,’ where females are admitted as well as males. [From cock-and-hen, the male and female bird, and used figuratively for men and women, + club.]

1819. Thos. Moore, Tom Crib’s Mem. to Congr., p. 78. A Masquerade, or Fancy Ball, given lately at one of the most fashionable Cock-and-Hen Clubs in St. Giles’s.

1828. G. Smeeton, Days in London, p. 40. Introduced him to one of the cock-and-hen houses near Drury Lane Theatre well primed with wine.

2. A club for both sexes; e.g., The Lyric.

Cock-and-Pinch, subs. (old).—The old-fashioned beaver of forty years since. [From its being cocked back and front, and pinched at the sides.] For synonyms, see Golgotha.

Cockatoo-Farmer, subs. (Australian).—In Victoria and New South Wales a small farmer or selector. A term of contempt used by large holders in describing agricultural squatters with small capital. [Probably an allusion to their numbers: a comparing to the rush for land, the swooping of cockatoos in myriads in new sown corn.]

1865. H. Kingsley, Hillyars and Burtons, ch. lx. The small farmers [in Australian wool districts] contemptuously called cockatoos are the fathers of fire, the inventors of scab, the seducers of bush-hands for haymaking and harvesting [and many other heinous crimes].

1886. G. Sutherland, Australia, p. 64. The shepherd king tries to steal a march upon the poor cockatoo, as he contemptuously calls the small farmer.

1887. G. A. Sala, in Ill. L. News, 12 March, 282, col. 2. I venture to differ from my correspondent when, in telling me that ‘cocky’ is Australian argot for a small farmer, adds, ‘by-the-by, you never hear the word “farmer” over there ... many scores of times at the Antipodes I have heard agriculturists, whose holdings were small, spoken of, not as “cockies” but as “cockatoo farmers.”’

Cockatrice, subs. (old).—1. A common prostitute; also a mistress or ‘keep.’ [Nares says ‘probably from the fascination of the eye,’ alluding to the fabulous monster hatched from a cock’s egg by a serpent. Shakspeare speaks of ‘the death-dealing’ eye of a cockatrice.] For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

1600. Ben Jonson, Cynth Rev., IV., 4. And withall, calls me at his pleasure I know not how many cockatrices and things.

1604. Marston and Webster, Malcontent, O. P., iv., 93. No courtier but has his mistress, no captain but has his cockatrice.

1630. Taylor, Workes [quoted by Nares]. And amongst souldiers this sweet piece of vice Is counted for a captaines cockatrice.

1664. Killegrew, Pandora. Some wine there, That I may court my cockatrice. Care. Good Captaine, Bid our noble friend welcome.

1740. Poor Robin. Some gallants will this month be so penurious that they will not part with a crack’d groat to a poor body, but on their cockatrice or punquetto will bestow half a dozen taffety gowns, who in requital bestows on him the French pox.

2. (common).—A baby.

Cock-a-Wax, subs. (common).—1. A cobbler. [From cock a man (q.v.), + a + wax, an adjunct of the cobbler’s trade.] For synonyms, see Snob.

2. A familiar address.

Cock-Bawd, subs. (old).—A male brothel keeper. [Quoted in Grose (1785).]

Cockchafer, subs. (thieves’).—1. The treadmill. For synonyms, see Wheel of life.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. II., p. 59. ‘He enpiated,’ as it is called, this offence by three months’ exercise on the cockchafer (treadmill).

1864. Glasgow Citizen, Nov. 19. The Jeremy Diddler who forges his honest name to a fakement, incurring thereby a drag at the cockchafer.

2. (venery).—The female pudendum.

3. (venery).—See Cock-teaser.

Cocked-Hat. To be knocked into a cocked hat, verbal phr. (common).—To be limp enough to be doubled up and carried flat under the arm [like the cocked hat of an officer.]

English Synonyms. To be doubled up; knocked into the middle of next week; spifflicated; beaten to a jelly; knocked a-cock; wiped out; sent all of a heap; bottled up; settled; to get beans, or snuff; sent, done, or smashed to smithereens, etc.—See also Tan, Tanning, and Wipe.

French Synonyms. Effondrer quelqu’un (popular: literally ‘to dig into one’; effondrer une volaille = to draw a fowl); tatouiller quelqu’un (popular: tatouiller is a slang term for a thrashing); soigner quelqu’un (popular: properly ‘to take care of,’ or ‘to attend,’ ‘to nurse’); se faire écharpiller (popular); déboulonner la colonne à quelqu’un (popular); décarcasser quelqu’un (popular); manger le nez à quelqu’un (popular: literally ‘to eat one’s nose’).

1870. Daily Telegraph, 20 Aug., ‘Speech of Mr. Ralph Harrison at the Crystal Palace.’ The publication of the Morning Star on March 17, 1856, it was prophesied, would knock the Daily Telegraph into a cocked hat.

1877. C. Reade, The Jilt, I., in Belgravia, March, p. 59. I never knew a Welsh girl yet who couldn’t dance an Englishman into a cocked hat.

1881. Hawley Smart, Gt. Tontine, ch. xxx. I think now we may consider Bob Pegram’s marriage as knocked pretty well into a cocked hat.

1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 18 Sept. p. 2, col. 3. You give in the Pall Mall of to-night three translations of Plato’s well-known epigram. Permit me to give you another which in my opinion knocks all the rest into a cocked hat.

Also in the moral sense to be amazed to stupefaction and speechlessness.

Cocker, According to Cocker, adv. phr. (colloquial).—According to rule; properly, arithmetically, or correctly done. [From old Cocker, a famous writing master in Charles II. time, author of a treatise on arithmetic. Professor de Morgan notes ‘that it became a proverbial representative of arithmetic from Murphy’s farce of The Apprentice (1756), in which the strong point of the old merchant Wingate is his extreme reverence for Cocker and his arithmetic.’] In America a similar locution is according to Gunter (q.v.). Gunter was a famous arithmetician a century before Cocker, and the American is no doubt the older phrase. The old laws of Rhode Island say, ‘All casks shall be gauged by the rule commonly known as “gauging by Gunter.”’ Among sailors, the standard of appeal is according to John Norie—the compiler of a popular Navigator’s Manual.

1851. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor. ‘Answers to Correspondents.’ Surely, to increase the quantity of labour, while the amount expended in the direct purchase of that labour remains the same, is according to Cocker—to decrease the wages in precisely the same proportion.

1861. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xxxii., p. 337. Well, so you ought to be, according to Cocker, spending all your time in sick rooms.

1883. G. A. S[ala], in Ill. L. News, Nov. 24, p. 499, col. 2. The average American may not know what we mean by according to Cocker; while the average Englishman may be unaware of the meaning of ‘according to Gunter.’ They both mean the same thing; implying irreproachable accuracy in computation.

1888. Grant Allen, This Mortal Coil, ch. ii. According to Cocker nought and nought make nothing.

Cock-Eyed, adj. (common).—Squinting. [Cf., Cock the eye.] For synonyms, see Squinny-eye.

1884. Daily News, Nov. 27, p. 2, col. 2. I am told the proper description of him would be a little man with a cock-eye.

Cock-Fighting. That beats cock fighting, phr. (common).—A general expression of approval—up to the mark; A 1. [From the esteem in which the sport was held.]

1659. Gauden, Tears of the Church, p. 228. Ministers’ scufflings and contests with one another is beyond any cock fighting or Bear-baiting to the vulgar envy, malice, profaneness, and petulancy.

1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, ch. vi. ‘Well, roast me!’ cried he, viewing me with a kind of admiration; ‘if this don’t beat cock fighting.’

Cock-Horse, adv. phr. (old).—Triumphant; in full swing; cock-a-hoop. Halliwell says, ‘a somewhat slang expression not quite obsolete.’

Cocking.—See Cock, verb, sense 1.

Cockish, adj. (old).—Wanton; ‘on heat.’ [From cock, the penis, + ish.] Latham quotes cockish in the sense of ‘pert,’ from the strutting of the barn-door cock.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. A cockish wench: a forward, coming girl.

Cock it, verb (tailors’).—To examine; see; or speak of (a thing).

Cockles, subs. (venery).—The labia minora.

Cockles of the Heart, subs. phr. (common).—A jocose vulgarism encountered in a variety of combinations; e.g., ‘that will rejoice’ or ‘tickle’ or ‘warm the cockles of your heart,’ etc. [It is suggested (N. and Q., 7 S., iv., 26) that a hint as to its origin may be found in Lower, an eminent anatomist of the seventeenth century, who thus speaks in his Tractatus de Corde (1669), p. 25, of the muscular fibres of the ventricles.

‘Fibræ quidem rectis hisce exteri oribus in dextro ventriculo proximè subjectæ obliquè dextrorsum ascendentes in basin cordis terminantur, et spirali suo ambitu helicem sive cochleam satis aptè referunt.’

The ventricles of the heart might, therefore, be called cochlea cordis, and this would easily be turned into cockles of the heart.] The French say, Tu t’en pourlécheras la face (that’ll rejoice the cockles of your heart).

1671. Eachard, Observations [Wright]. This contrivance of his did inwardly rejoice the cockles of his heart.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxvi. Which would have cheered the cockles of the reigning monarch.

1834. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ch. xii. ‘There now, master, there’s a glass of grog for you that would float a marling-spike. See if that don’t warm the cockles of your old heart.’

1839. W. H. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, p. 49 (ed. 1840). ‘There, Mr. Wood,’ cried David, pouring out a glass of the spirit, and offering it to the carpenter, ‘that’ll warm the cockles of your heart.’

To cry cockles, verbal phr. (common).—To be hanged. [From the gurgling noise made in strangulation.] For synonyms, see Ladder.

Cock-Loft, subs. (old).—The head. [A cock-loft is properly a small loft, garret, or apartment at the top of a house. Cf., Garret, Upper Storey, etc.] An old proverb runs, ‘All his gear is in his cock-loft’; i.e., ‘all his wealth, work, or worth is in his head.’ For synonyms, see Crumpet.

1642. Thomas Fuller, Holy and Profane State, And. Ad. fen. 1. Often the cockloft is empty, in those whom nature hath built many stories high.

Cockney, subs. (colloquial).—One born within the sound of bow-bells. [The origin of cockney has been much debated; but, says Dr. Murray, in the course of an exhaustive statement (Academy, May 10, 1890, p. 320), the history of the word, so far as it means a person, is very clear and simple. We have the senses (1) ‘cockered or pet child,’ ‘nestle-cock,’ ‘mother’s darling,’ ‘milksop,’ the name being applicable primarily to the child, but continued to the squeamish and effeminate man into which he grows up. (2) A nickname applied by country people to the inhabitants of great towns, whom they considered ‘milksops,’ from their daintier habits and incapacity for rough work. York, London, Perugia, were, according to Harman, all nests of cockneys. (3) By about 1600 the name began to be attached especially to Londoners, as the representatives par excellence of the city milksop. One understands the disgust with which a cavalier in 1641 wrote that he was ‘obliged to quit Oxford at the approach of Essex and Waller, with their prodigious number of cockneys.’]

1607. Dekker, Westward Ho, Act ii., Sc. 2. As Frenchmen love to be bold ... and Irishmen to be costermongers, so cockneys, especially she-cockneys, love not aqua-vitæ when ’tis good for them.

1760. Foote, Minor, Act i. But you cockneys now beat us suburbians at our own weapons.

1840. Thackeray, Paris Sketch Book, p. 28. ‘You ’ad such an ’eadach’, sir,’ said British, sternly, who piques himself on his grammar and pronunciation, and scorns a cockney.

1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 6 Nov., p. 3, col. 2. London mist, when turned into London black fog by the poisonous carbonic anhydride and sulphurous anhydride with which it is loaded, encompasses all cockneys, good or bad with a real danger to health and life.

Cockney-Shire, subs. (common).—London. [From cockney, a native of London, + shire.]

Cock Pimp, subs. (old).—The husband, real or supposed, of a bawd or procuress. [From cock, male, + pimp, a procurer.]—Grose [1785].

Cockquean, subs. (obsolete).—A man who interests himself in women’s affairs. The common form is ‘cotquean.’ Cf., Molly.

Cockroaches. To get or eat cockroaches, verbal phr. (old).—To practise masturbation. For synonyms, see Frig.

Cock-Robin, subs. (old).—A soft, easy fellow.—Grose [1785].

Cock-Robin Shop, subs. phr. (printers’).—A small printing office, for cheap work done at vile wages. In other trades a slop shop.

1888. R. R., in Notes and Queries, 7 S., v., 333. Let me advise collectors of such things [cheap books] to avoid the regular booksellers, and try the cock-robin shops, and the general dealers in small wares, down back streets.

Cocks, subs. (popular).—1. See Cock, subs., sense 2.

2. (trade).—Explained by quotation. The word appears to be slang for anything fictitious. Cf., Cocks, subs., sense 2.

1880. Daily News, Nov. 4. [Quoted in N. and Q., 6 S., ii., p. 387.]

3. (Charterhouse).—A lavatory where changing for games, washing before meals, etc., goes on. [From the taps over the basins.] It is equivalent to the Winchester Moab (q.v.).

Cock’s Egg. To give one a cock’s egg, phr. (common).—To send one on a fool’s errand; to gammon (q.v. for synonyms). The expression is of the same type as ‘to send one to buy pigeon’s milk,’ ‘oil of strappum,’ ‘strap oil,’ etc.

Cock-Shy, subs. (popular).—A mark, butt, or target; any person or thing that is the centre of jaculation.

c. 1834. Marryat, Rattlin the Reefer, p. 92. What a fine cockshy he would make, said Master Blubberlips.

18(?). Lord Strangford, Letters and Papers, p. 215. This was as if the great geologists ... had invited two rival theorists to settle the question of a geological formation by picking up the stones and appealing to the test of a cockshy.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. iii. He had seen Tom Ricketts, of the fourth form, who used to wear a jacket and trousers so ludicrously tight, that the elder boys could not forbear using him in the quality of a butt or cockshy.

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 262. A desperate fight ensued, the ‘nobblers’ arming themselves with cock-shy sticks.

Cock-Stand, subs. (venery).—An erection of the penis. For synonyms, see Horn and Cf., Stand.

Cock-Sucker, subs. (venery).—A fellatrix.

Cocksure, adj. (colloquial).—Confidently certain; pertly sure. [Probably a corruption of ‘cocky sure.’ We call a self-confident, overbearing prig a cocky fellow, from the barnyard despot. Shakspeare (I Henry IV., ii., 1) employs the phrase in the sense of ‘sure as the cock of a firelock.’

We steal as in a castle, cocksure:

and still earlier usages imply its derivation from the fact that the cock was much surer than the older fashioned match.]

1549. Latimer, Sermon on the Ploughers, p. 32 (Arber’s ed.) For the Deuyll was dysapoynted of his purpose for he thoughte all to be hys owne. And when he had once broughte Christe to the crosse, he thought all cock-sure.

1603. John Day, Law Trickes, Act iii., p. 30. Then did I learn to ... Make false conueyances, yet with a trick, Close and cock-sure, I cony-catch’d the world.

1667. Dryden, Sir Martin Marr-all, Act. iv. Nothing vexes me, but that I had made my game cock-sure, and then to be backgammoned.

b. 1738, d. 1819. Wolcot (‘Paul Pindar’), Odes to the Pope, II., in wks. (Dublin, 1795) V. ii., p. 492. Yet deem themselves, poor dupes, cocksure of Heav’n.

1837. R. H. Barham, The Ingoldsby Legends (ed. 1862), 320. Last of all, gentle Reader, don’t be too secure!—Let seeming success never make you cock-sure.

1849. T. Carlyle, IV., 108. [Yes, Manning was shot there; he had told us Hyde was cocksure.]

1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, ch. iii. ‘Hawke will not get his daughter to have him, he may be cocksure of that.’

1889. The Star, Aug. 24, p. 3, col. 4. In his most insolent and cocksure manner he declared, etc.

Cocktail, subs. (common).—1. A prostitute; a wanton.

2. (common).—A coward.

3. (American).—A drink composed of spirits (gin, brandy, whisky, etc.), bitters, crushed ice, sugar, etc., the whole whisked briskly until foaming, and then drunk ‘hot.’

Cocktail or Cocktailed, adj. (military).—Unsoldierlike; uneven; showing bad form; and in its specifically military sense, anything unworthy of the regular army. For example, at one time the Volunteer auxiliaries were described as ‘such a cocktailed crew.’

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. ii., p. 67. He confessed he not only urged his brother into it, but compelled him to be as bad as himself, and had thrashed him many times for turning cocktail.

Cock-Teaser, or Cockchafer, subs. (venery).—A girl in the habit of permitting all familiarities but the last.

Cock-up, subs. (printers’).—What is technically known as a ‘superior’; e.g., the smaller letters in the following examples:

Ye Limtd Compy; Jno. Smith, Senr.; No.; London1

Cocked-up, adj.—See Cocky.

Cock Up One’s Toes, verbal phr. (thieves’).—To die. For synonyms, see Aloft and Hop the twig.

1820. Reynolds, (‘Peter Corcoran’), The Fancy. ‘King Tims the First.’ Now I see a neighbour cock his toe—Walk by his side in black—in well paid woe.

1864. E. D. Forgues, in Revue des deux Mondes, Sep. 15, p. 472, note. Cock one’s toes. Cette ... locution, si bizarre au premier coup d’œil, doit s’expliquer par un des phénomènes de la retraction cadavérique; les pieds du mort, ramenés en arrière, ont pu rappeler la position que prend le chien de la batterie quand le fusil est armé.

Cocky or Cocking, adj. (popular).—1. Pert or saucy; forward; coolly audacious; over confident, ‘botty.’ [Formerly cocking. An allusion to the strut of the barn-door bird.] Fr., se gourer, to be cocky; also se gonfler, faire sa merde, and faire son matador.

1711. Spectator, No. 153. But the cocking young fellow who treads upon the toes of his elders, and the old fool who envies the saucy pride he sees in him, are the objects of our present contempt and derision.

1820. Clare, Poems of Rural Life, Familiar Epistle, st. 5. I’ve long been aggravated shocking, To see our gentry folks go cocking.

1856. T. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, pt. II., ch. vi. ‘It seems so cocky in me to be advising you.’

1864. Glasgow Citizen, Nov. 19. Cotgrave (1672) gives us ‘Herr, master or sir; a rogue.’ Aleman [‘The Spanish Rogue’] Vous faite du Herr. ‘You are very cockit, or lusty; you take too much upon you.’ Is it not gratifying to know that cockiness is older than this century, in which it has been developed to so alarming an extent?

1872. The Scotsman, 29 Oct. ‘Sir J. Pakington at Stourbridge.’ He should be inclined to offer him a little homely advice, and to tell him in somewhat plain language ‘Not to be too cocky.’

1884. Cornhill Mag., April, p. 442. ‘Davis,’ said Toddy, ‘you haven’t had a banging this term, and you’re getting cocky.’

2. (Stock Exchange).—Brisk; active—applied to the money market.

1871. Figaro, 3 June. ‘Notes on Change.’ Everything again brisk, and the market, what is expressly termed cocky.

Cocoa-Nut, subs. (general).—The head. Fr. le coco. For synonyms, see Crumpet.

1834. W. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, p. 176 (ed. 1864). ‘A thousand pities that so fine a fellow should have a sconce like a cocoa-nut!’

1840. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. iii. ‘The Major a-pokin’ along with his cocoa-nut down, a-studyin’ over somethin’ or another quite deep.’

c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, ‘Waltzing Round the Water-butt.’ Gaily the troubadour will waltz round the water-butt, Blissful the happy thoughts that float round my cocoa-nut, Moonlight and spooning ’neath the old hazel tree!

That accounts for the milk in the cocoa-nut, phr. (common).—A rejoinder upon having a thing explained for the first time.

To have no milk in the cocoa-nut, phr.—To be insane; silly; ‘cracked.’—See Apartments.

Cocum, Kocum, subs. (common).—1. Shrewdness; ability; luck; cleverness. [From the Hebrew chochum, chochem, or cochem, crafty; learned, wise, or a wise man. The term is found passim in early Hebrew literature, especially in the Book of Proverbs: ‘A cochem will hear and increase learning’ (Prov. i. 5). The slang sense has been introduced by the Whitechapel Jews. In Yiddish cochemer or cochem, the pronunciation of which is not dissimilar to cocum, means wisdom; cochumwirth = a thieves’ landlord. (Cf., paragraph on German analogues.) Cocma is another Hebraism used by London Jews in a similar sense, but it has not made its way into slang.

English Analogues. Real jam (this in the sense of anything exceptionally good or lucky); all beer and skittles (extremely pleasant); rattling (extremely jolly, pleasant, or well appointed); to be in clover (happiness and luck); to stand on velvet (a variant of the last mentioned); to be cracking a tidy crust (to be doing very well); to be having a good swim (thieves’ for a good run of luck, i.e., being a long time out of the policeman’s clutches); well ballasted; on the spot; up to Dick; on it; right; and so forth.

French Analogues. Etre de la bonne (popular: to be lucky); décrocher la timballe (popular); être de la fête (popular and thieves’); avoir des as dans son jeu (popular: to have an advantage, ‘to be in luck’s way’); avoir l’assiette au beurre (popular: to be fortunate in life); bidard (m. lucky); être de la bate (popular).

German Analogues. Chochom, Chochem, Chochemer (which Hebraism is the root of the English cocum. Among German thieves who more frequently spell the word Kochem, Kochemer, the meaning is almost identical with that given it by their English brethren, except that the wisdom, profit, or luck, applies almost solely to the results of crooked ways and dealings. Chochom and its variants signify, therefore, the cunning, prudent, and successful vagabond; Chochem lehorre = a dangerous vagabond, one who is prepared for the worst; Chochem mechutten = a bad patron, a dangerous companion, a rogue of the worst type; Chochme = wisdom, cunning, circumspection, or the practice of swindling).

Italian Analogues. Cavazzonare (literally ‘to place well or be well placed’); aver primavera (this applies to cocum as represented by pleasure; literally ‘to have spring’).

Spanish Analogues. Cucarachera (f; a vulgarism for luck or good fortune); harlarse buena cucarachera (to be lucky or fortunate); potroso (a colloquialism signifying lucky; literally ‘afflicted with a rupture’); charanguero (m; a lucky fellow, one with cocum); hijo de la gallina blanca (a lucky bird).

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 279. ‘It’s decent and comfortable too, and it’s about 6d. a night to me for singing and patter in the tap-room. That’s my cokum (advantage).’

1861. Earl, Ups and Downs of Australian Life, p. 224. ‘No one was to get drunk, the governor said as how it wasn’t cokum, and he wouldn’t have it,—and so we were all fit for work the next day.’

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., s.v. ‘Jack’s got cocum, he’s safe to get on, he is,’ viz., he starts under favourable circumstances.

c. 1886. Broadside Ballad, ‘The Flippity Flop Young Man.’ I once was a Member-for-Slocum young man, And for Parliament had a strong fancy, A know-pretty-well-what-is-kocum young man When addressing a constituency.

2. (publishers’).—A sliding scale of profit. [Publishers sometimes issue books without fixing the published price. These they sell to the retail trade at a fixed sum, leaving the bookseller to make what he can.

To fight or play cocum, verbal phr. (common). To play double; to be wary, cunning, or ‘artful.’

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant (3 ed.), p. 445, s.v. To be cunning, wary, or sly.

1885. Referee, April 26, p. 1, col. 2. The best show in the Crawfurd Plate—that is, unless a lot of the pulling-up division were playing cokum—was that of Ptolemy.

Cod, subs. (common).—1. A fool. [Cf., Cod’s head, of which it is possibly an abbreviation.] For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

2. (tailors’).—A drunkard.—[See verb, sense 2.]

3. (thieves’).—A purse; a cod of money = a large sum of money. [A.S. cod or codd, a small bag.] For synonyms, see Poge.

4. (street).—A ‘pal’ or friend; generally prefixed to a surname. [Here cod is the diminutive of ‘codlin,’ an old endearment.] Cf., Codd.

Verb (common).—1. To play the fool; to monkey (q.v.).

2. (tailors’).—To go on the drink; generally, to act loosely.

3. (common).—To chaff; hoax; ‘take a rise out of.’

1865. Evening Citizen, 28 Nov. Codding a Town Council.—The Fife Circular, Kirkcaldy, says:—According to usual practice, several members of the new Town Council attended divine service at the Parish Church on Sunday forenoon last. The Rev. M. J. Bryden officiated, and preached an eloquent and appropriate sermon to the Council from these words in the 10th chapter of St. Matthew:—‘Ye are of more value than many sparrows.’

1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, ch. xxxi. ‘What do you think of that, cook?’ ‘Think?’ answered the cook, who had a rather sour eye; ‘why, that that rough sailor man was a-coddin’ of you, sir.’

Codd or Cod, subs. (Charterhouse).—A pensioner of the Charterhouse.—See quot., and Cf., Cod, sense 4.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, II., p. 333. Yonder sit some three score of gentlemen, pensioners of the hospital, listening to the prayers and psalms. You hear them coughing feebly in the twilight—the old reverend blackgowns. Is Codd Ajax alive, you wonder?—the Cistercian lads called these old gentlemen Codds, I know not wherefore—I know not wherefore—but is old Codd Ajax alive, I wonder? or Codd Soldier? or kind old Codd Gentleman? or has the grave closed over them?

Coddam or Coddom, subs. (common).—A public-house game played three, four, or more a side. The only ‘property’ required is a coin, a button, or anything which can be hidden in the clenched hand. The principle of the game, which is simplicity itself, is that of ‘Guess whose hand it’s in.’ If the guesser ‘brings it home,’ his side takes the ‘piece,’ and the centre man ‘works’ it. If the guess be wrong, a chalk is taken to the holders, who go on again.

1884. J. Greenwood, Seven Years’ Penal Servitude. The convicts take advantage of that to the extent sometimes of playing a gambling game called coddom.

1885. Good Words, August, p. 530. Some prefer coddam, and risk their pint of beer on the discovery of the coin.

1890. Pall Mall Gaz., March 1, p. 5, col. 2. The boys were playing a game called coddom, a guessing game.

Codding, verbal subs. (common).—Nonsense; humbug; chaff. [From cod (q.v., verb, sense 3).]

Codger, subs. (common).—A familiar term of address, especially in old codger; a curious old fellow; an odd fish; a ‘rum’ character; a precise, and sometimes a mean or miserly man.

English Synonyms. Most of the general slang terms for a man or fellow correspond in usage to ‘old codger,’ e.g., old chap; ben cull; old man; my pippin; old cock, etc.

French Synonyms. Un béquillard (popular: French thieves give the same name to the executioner); vieux canasson (popular: ‘old man,’ ‘old cock’); un birbe; ma vieille branche.

Italian Synonym. Fuino (literally a pole-cat).

1760. Colman, Polly Honeycombe, in wks. (1777) IV., 39. A clear coast, I find. The old codger’s gone, and has locked me up with his daughter.

1760. Smollett, Sir L. Greaves, vol. I., ch. iii. She twisted her hand in Grove’s neckcloth without ceremony, crying—‘Sha’t then, I tell thee, old coger.’

1796. Mad. D’Arblay, Camilla, bk. IX., ch. iv. He gave himself the airs of an old justice of the peace, and said if he did not find the affair given up, nothing should induce him ever to help me again. What a mere codger that lad has turned out!

1837. Barham, I. L. (Lay of St. Nicholas). How a thirsty old codger, the neighbours call’d Roger, With them drank cold water in lieu of old wine.

1859. Dickens, Tale of Two Cities, bk. II., ch. xxiv. Why, I am a boy, sir, to half-a-dozen old codgers here.

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 61. His father, a rum old codger, had been a captain in the army.

1883. F. R. Stockton, Rudder Grange, ch. xi. I knew that any sensible man would rather have me in charge of his tent than a young codger like that.

1887. Baumann, Londinismen, Slang u. Cant. pref., vi. So from hartful young dodgers, From vaxy old codger, From the blowens we got Soon to know vot is vot.

Codicils, subs. (American journalists’).—A kind of literary sparring match; also called accumulatives (q.v.). Some editor will make a remark or a joke—with a capital J; another will cite it with comments; and, in his turn, he will be handled by a third. There are cases in which the original paragraph has gone the round of twenty or thirty prints. [A codicil is properly a writing by way of supplement to a will.]

1889. Polytechnic Mag., 24 Oct., p. 253. ‘How many apples did Adam and Eve eat?’ Some say Eve 8 and Adam 2—a total of 10. Now, we figure the thing out far different. Eve 8, and Adam 8 also—total 16.—Boston Journal. We think the above figures are entirely wrong. If Eve 8, and Adam 8–2, certainly the total will be 90. Scientific men, however, on the strength of the theory that the antidiluvians were a race of giants, and consequently great eaters, reason something like this:—Eve, 8–1st, and Adam 8–2—total, 163.—Gloucester Advertiser. Wrong again; what could be clearer than if Eve 8–1–1st, and Adam 8–1–2, would not the whole be 1,623?—Boston Journal. Now we think these figures are not according to Cocker. The following is probably the true solution:—Eve 8–1–4 Adam, Adam 8–1–2–4 Eve—total, 8,698.—Veritas. Stop friend; still another calculation is as follows:—If Eve 8–1–4 Adam, Adam 8–1–2–4–2 oblige Eve—total, 82,056. We think, however, this is not a sufficient quantity; for, if we admit that Eve 8–1–4 Adam, Adam, if he 8–0-8–1–2–4–2 keep Eve company—total, 1,082,056.—New York Mail. You do the fair thing by Adam, brother, but you slight Eve. This poor smit 10–1–8–1–4–2 please the serpent, and Adam, of course, if he as good husbands do of-10–8–0–8–1–2–4–2 keep Eve company—total, 109,099,384.—Syracuse Journal. The American newspaper calculators, with the savagery of all other historians, meanly stigmatise the woman. Adam, a mere dupe, lacked the nobility to try a dangerous experiment first. Eve eat an apple for dinner: Adam, forgetting the injuries to many an unborn 1,000,000–8–1–4 millions more—the coward! True total, 1,000,000,814,000,000. Whoopee! Now is the time to subscribe.—Polytechnic Magazine.

Codland, subs. (American).—Newfoundland. Cf., Cod-preserves.

Codlings.—See Cods.

Cod-Preserves, subs. (nautical).—The Atlantic Ocean. [An obvious allusion. Cf., Codland = Newfoundland; also Briney.]

Cods, subs. (venery).—1. The testicles. [From A.S. cod or codd = a small bag.] Also codlings.

English Synonyms. Bawbels, baubels, or bobbles; bollocks; balls; beef (the penis and testes); bird’s-eggs; bobbies; bullets; bum-balls; cannon-balls; clock-weights; culls (old); dowsetts (old); gingambobs; jelly-bags (more properly in sing = the scrotum); knackers; love-apples; marbles; nick-nacks; pebbles; seals (Cf., watch-and-seals = the male pudenda); spunk-holders; stones; thingambobs.

French Synonyms. Les antilles (thieves’: f. pl.); les virolets (obsolete: in allusion to a man’s virility); les sonnettes (common: literally bells); les frères siamois (popular: an allusion to the Siamese twins); les prunes (common); les grains (leger de deux grains = an eunuch).

German Synonym. Dickmann (also ‘an egg,’ and ‘the penis.’ Dick = enciente; dick machen, to deflower and quicken. Dick means literally ‘thick’).

Spanish Synonym. Cojones.

2. (old).—See quot.

1871. Bookseller, 4 Nov. The Cods and Hooks were the Whigs and Tories of Dutch William’s land.

Cod’s-Head, subs. (old).—A stupid fellow; a fool.—See Buffle and Cabbage-Head.

1675. The Woman turn’d Bully. Dash. Sweet sir, I think it is neer octa hora. Your servant, gentlemen. Good. Farewell, cods-head.

1694. Dunton, Ladies’ Dictionary. You confounded toad, you, where were your eyes, in your heels? that you should be such a bungling cods-head to see no better.

Cofe.—See Cove.

Coffee, subs. (American thieves’).—Beans.

1859. G. W. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, p. 19, s.v.

Greased coffee, subs. phr. (American).—Pork and beans.

Coffee-House or Coffee-Shop, subs. (common).—1. A water-closet. For synonyms, see Mrs. Jones, and Cf., Bury a Quaker.

2. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Coffee-Housing, subs.—See quot.

1877 Hawley Smart, Play or Pay, ch. iv. ‘Not going to hunt? Why Miss Bazing told me you had a regular string of horses coming down!’ ‘Ah, Bessie’s wrong. I always was a changeable beggar, you know. The string consists of a hack, just good enough to do a little bit of coffee-housing occasionally.’

Coffee-Mill, subs. (old).—The mouth: a ‘grinder’ itself, and furnished with ‘grinders’—American ‘cogs,’—as well. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 2. Gas. Come, come, silence your coffee-mill.

Coffee-Milling, subs. phr. (common).—1. Grinding; working hard. Cf., To cock snooks (see Snooks) or ‘take a sight’ by putting the thumb of one hand to the nose and grinding the little finger with the other, as if you worked an imaginary coffee mill.

1837. Dickens, Pickwick, p. 249.

1854. Aytoun and Martin, The Bon Gaultier Ballads. ‘The Lay of the Lovelorn.’ When I went the pace so wildly, caring little what might come, Coffee-milling care and sorrow, with a nose-adapted thumb.

Coffins, subs. (Stock Exchange).—The Funeral Furnishing Company’s Shares.

Another nail in one’s coffin.—See Nail.

Cog, subs. (American thieves’).—A tooth.—Matsell [1859]. Cf., Coffee-mill.

Coke. Go and Eat Coke, verb. phr. (vulgar).—A phrase indicative of contempt. A corollary is ‘and evacuate, or s—t cinders.’

Coker, subs. (old).—A lie.—Grose [1785]. For synonyms, see Whopper.

Colchester Clocks, subs. (streets’).—A breed of large oysters.

1865. Daily Telegraph, 13 Sep. For the big, uncompromising Colchester clock, which we see on stalls and shudder at, with unlimited vinegar and pepper, the East-ender willingly gives his penny.

Cold. To have a bad cold, verbal phr. (common).—Said of one who keeps his door closed against all comers for fear of duns; also of one who has ‘shot the moon.’ Also of one that has taken clap.

1863. Chambers’ Journal, vol. XX., p. 5. ‘It’s no good your ringing,’ remarked the book-boy, when I had discovered that fact for myself; ‘Mr. Cranium ain’t at home, he ain’t. He’s got a werry bad cold.’ After a few minutes, however, and many genial impertinences, I discovered that having a bad cold means, in Camden Town, being in debt, while a very bad cold implies that the sufferer has taken clandestine departure from his lodgings.

To leave out in the cold, verbal phr.—To neglect; shut out, or abandon.

1861. New York Tribune, July, The ‘Assents’ continue to come in freely at the Erie Railroad office; and the appearances are that at the closing of the books ... there will be few shares or bonds left out in the cold.

Cold Blood, subs. (licensed victuallers’).—A house licensed for the sale of beer ‘not to be drunk on the premises.’

Cold Coffee, subs. phr. (Oxford University).—1. A sell; a hoax; a trumpery affair.

2. (common).—Misfortune; ill-luck. A variant is cold gruel; also to have one’s comb cut; in French, to experience a run of ill-luck is expressed by être abonné au guignon; literally ‘to become a subscriber to ill-luck’; in Spanish, dar al traste con los negocios, signifies, colloquially, ‘to fail’ or ‘to be unfortunate in business.’

3. (familiar).—An unpleasant return or snub for a proffered kindness.

Cold Comfort, subs. phr. (trade).—An expression used of articles sent out on approval and returned. [Merely an extension of the literal meaning i.e., what is barren of consolation: a usage dating from the sixteenth century.

Cold Cook, subs. (popular).—An undertaker. [Literally one who has to deal with cold meat, i.e., the lifeless human body.] Cf., Cold meat and its derivatives.

English Synonyms. Carrion hunter; body snatcher; death hunter; black worker (see Black work).

French Synonyms. Un emballeur de refroidis (thieves’: an undertaker’s man; literally ‘a packer of cold meat’).

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., s.v.

Cold Cookshop, subs. phr. (popular).—An undertaker’s premises.—See Cold cook.

Cold Cream.—See Cream of the valley.

Cold Deck, subs. (American thieves’).—A prepared pack of cards. Cf., Concaves and convexes and Stock broads. More politely a good hand obtained on first dealing and without drawing fresh cards.

1880. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Screamers. I never have gambled from that day to this—never once—without a cold deck in my pocket. I cannot even tell who is going to lose in games that are being played unless I deal myself.

Cold Gruel.—See Cold coffee, sense 2.

Cold Meat, subs. (common).—A corpse. [The human carcass is compared to butchers’ wares.] For synonyms, see Dead Meat. Among medical students the term cold meat or pickles (q.v.) = specimens direct from the subject.

1819. Thos. Moore, Tom Crib’s Mem. to Con., p. 25. In the Twelfth and Last Round Sandy fetched him a downer, That left him all’s one as cold meat for the Crowner.

To make cold meat of one, verbal phr. (common).—To kill. For synonyms, see Cook one’s goose.

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, p. 148 (ed. 1857). ‘You mustn’t handle your piece in that ’ere way, when you come to have the charge in it, sir,’ said the tall gamekeeper, gruffly, ‘or I’m damned if you won’t make cold meat of some of us!’

Cold-Meat Box, subs. phr. (common).—A coffin. [From cold-meat, a corpse, + box, a receptacle.] For synonyms, see Eternity box.

1889. Sporting Times, 3 Aug., p. 1, col. 3. ‘Well, s’pose I perched first?’ ‘Well,’ replied Pitcher, ‘I should just come in where you were lying in the cold-meat box, and I should whisper in your ear,’ etc.

Cold-Meat Cart, subs. phr. (common).—A hearse. [From cold-meat, a corpse, + cart.] Fr., mannequin à refroidis. Cf., Cold-meat train.

1820. Reynolds (‘Peter Corcoran’), The Fancy, p. 46. He’s gone—how very muddy some folks die!—He’s for the cold-meat cart, and so am I.

Cold-Meat Train, subs. phr. (popular).—Generally, the funeral trains to Brookwood, Kensal Green, and other cemeteries. Specifically, the last train at night per S.W.R., by which officers can reach Aldershot in time for their morning duties. It starts about 2 a.m. from Nine Elms, and is properly a goods train, but a carriage is attached which is known as the ‘Larky Subaltern.’ [It is an error to suppose that this particular train received its nickname for taking corpses to Woking Cemetery. It carries nothing more dreadful than a portion of the beef and mutton for the morning ration to the troops in camp; and, as before stated, a few belated officers.]

1876. R. M. Jephson, Girl He Left Behind Him, ch. xi. The train by which Dorrien journeyed to Aldershot was that one known as the cold-meat.

Cold Pig. To give cold pig, verbal phr. (common).—To waken a sleeper either by sluicing him with cold water, or by suddenly stripping him of his bed-clothes.

1818. J. R. Planché, Amoroso, King of Little Britain. For if the Queen should come this way, As sure as fate and quarter day, cold pig will be your fare.

1837. Comic Almanack, June. I’ve given him strap,—a thick rope’s end,—cold pig! In vain!—There lies the stupid clown, As if the Night Mare held him down.

1846. Thackeray, Jeames’s Diary (in Punch, vol. II., p. 72). ‘What was it I red there? What was it that made me spring outabed as if sumbady had given me cold pig?—I red Rewin in that share list—the Pannick was in full hoporation.’

1869. W. Bradwood, The O. V. H., ch. xxxv. Then he came back rosy and hungry, and revenged himself by an administration of cold pig to the still slumbering Ralph.

Subs. (thieves’).—1. A person robbed of his clothing. Cf., sense 2.

2. (thieves’).—A corpse. For synonyms, see Dead meat.

3. (commercial travellers’).—The ‘empty returns’ sent back by rail to wholesale houses.

Cold Shivers, subs. phr. (common).—A figure of speech describing the effect of illness, intense fear or any violent emotion. An American equivalent is a ‘cold shake,’ which may refer alike to a period of cold weather, and an attack of fever and ague.

1864. Derby Day, p. 50. ‘There’s our friend the Littl’un,’ he resumed; ‘he’s all shivery shakey as if he got the staggers or the cold shivers, and was going wurra, wurra, wurra, between his teeth, as if he couldn’t help himself.’

Cold Shoulder. To give, show, or turn the cold shoulder, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To treat a person with studied coldness, neglect, or contempt; to ‘cut,’ in a modified form. The phrase appears to have been first used by Scott in the Antiquary, in the glossary to which it is explained as ‘to appear cold and reserved.’ Jamieson localizes it in the South of Scotland.

1816. Scott, Antiquary, ch. xxxiii. The countess’s dislike didna gang farther at first than just showing o’ the cauld shouther.

1840. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, ch. lxvi. He gives me the cold shoulder on this very matter, as if he had had nothing to do with it, instead of being the first to propose it.

1880. G. R. Sims, Three Brass Balls, pledge iii. They were not received everywhere with open arms. He was, of course, but the wife was occasionally cold shouldered.

c. 1882. Broadside Ballad, ‘Where’s the Cat?’ She gave him the cold shoulder, and quickly told him to depart.

Cold Slaw.—See Cabbage, sense 1.

Cold Tea, subs. (common).—Brandy—a seventeenth and eighteenth century colloquialism. For synonyms, see Drinks.

1690. Dict. Cant. Crew. Cold tea: brandy.

1693. Remonstrance of the Batchelors, in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park), IV., 505. Since their sex has been so familiar with brandy (blasphemed by the name of cold tea).

1857. Notes and Queries, 2 S., iii., p. 59, s.v.

1888. C. J. Dunphie, The Chameleon, p. 235. It is worthy of remark that cold tea was a slang name for Brandy in the 18th century.

Cold Water Army, subs. phr. (colloquial).—The general body of total abstainers.

Cold Without, subs. phr. (common).—Spirits and cold water without sugar. Cf., Cider and; also Hot with.

1837. R. H. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, p. 156 (ed. 1862). On the fire, too, she pops some nice mutton-chops, And she mixes a stiff glass of cold without.

1853. Bulwer Lytton, My Novel. I laugh at fame. Fame, sir! not worth a glass of cold without.

Cole or Coal, subs. (popular).—Money. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 52 (1874). Tip the cole to Adam Tyler, give what money you pocket-pickt to the next party, presently.

1676. A Warning for Housekeepers (canting song). But when that we come not agen, As we walk along the street, We bite the Culley of his cole.

1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia, I., in wks. (1720) IV., 16. Cheat. My lusty rustick, learn, and be instructed. Cole is, in the language of the witty, money; the ready, the rhino.

16(?). Song of Seventeenth Century, (quoted in Halliwell and Wright’s ed. of Nares’ Glossary). The twelfth a trapan, if a cull he doth meet, He naps all his cole, and turns him i’ th’ street.

1741. Walpole, ballad in Letters to Mann, i., 22. This our captain no sooner had finger’d the cole, But he hies him aboard with his good Madam Vole.

1837. R. H. Barham, The Ingoldsby Legends (ed. 1862), p. 398. Moreover—the whole Of the said cash or cole; Shall be spent for the good of the said Old Woman’s soul!

1844. Puck, p. 146. Thank you for the offer of your bill; but I can wait until you can finger the cole, when I shan’t stand on ceremony about taking a cool hundred or two....

To post or tip the cole, phr. (common).—To hand over money; to ‘shell’ or ‘fork out.’—See 1671 quot., subs. sense.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 13. ‘Will he post the cole? Will he come down with the dues? Ask him that,’ cried Blueskin. Ibid. If he don’t tip the cole without more ado, give him a taste of the pump, that’s all.

1883. G. A. S[ala], in Ill. L. News, Nov. 10, p. 451, col. 3. The lamented J. B. Buckstone, at a Theatrical Fund Dinner, once entreated the guests present to post the cole, i.e., to be prompt with their subscriptions and donations.

Colfabias or Colfabis.—See quot.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict. Colfabias, a Latinized Irish phrase signifying the closet of decency, applied as a slang term to a place of resort in Trinity College, Dublin.

Coliander or Coliander-Seeds, subs. (old).—Money.—Grose [1785]. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

Collar, verb (common).—To seize: appropriate; steal; e.g., ‘collar his dragons,’ i.e., steal his sovereigns. [Properly ‘to seize by the collar’; hence, by transition, ‘to lay hold of anything forcibly.’] For synonyms, see Nab and Prig.

1841. Leman Rede, Song, ‘Kit Clayton,’ in Sixteen-String Jack, Act i., Sc. 3. Ve collar’d the blunt, started off for town, With the dashy, splashy, leary, little stringer, Horses knock’d up, men knocked down—Phililoo!

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. lvii., p. 476. Look well after your own money, for they are dead certain to collar it, if they can.

1866. London Miscellany, March 3, p. 58. I slept in Holborn Workhouse. While I was asleep the other coves tore every rag up and collar’d my toke.

1866. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 242. Old Sir John Collywobbles had six black horses, six white horses, and six pied horses. So I recommended my father-which-is-in-law to collar the lot.

1884. W. Besant, Julia, ch. iv. Your grandmother tells me you’ve plucked up spirit at last and won’t let her collar more than half the wages.

To Collar the Bun, Cake, Banbury, or Confectioner’s Shop, verb. phr. (common).—To be easily first; to surpass.—See Cake.

Out of Collar, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Out of work; out of cash; not in training. Conversely, in collar = in work; in comfortable circumstances; and, as regards training, ‘fit’ or ‘in form.’ [Simile taken from the stable, in allusion to a horse, i.e., with his collar on or off.]

French Synonyms. Balloter (tailors’ = ‘to be out of work’); caler (popular and nautical = ‘to sink’); envoyer à la comédie (popular: to dismiss a workman for want of work to give him. Cf., remporter une veste); être à la comédie (‘to be out of work’); un panas (popular: ‘one out of work’); un inspecteur des pavés (literally ‘an inspector of the pavement’); avoir de la laine (to be in work).

1857. Ducange Anglicus, The Vulgar Tongue. A decent allowance made to seedy swells, head robbers, and flunkeys out of collar.

1867. Scottish Journal, p. 39, col. 1. There is nothing that so materially and frequently effects the well-being and social position of a working man as the circumstances arising from being, in his own phrase, ‘out of collar’—that is, his being unable to obtain work when he is able to do it and anxious to get it to do. Ibid. A workman on tramp will, if he is tolerably well known in the trade, and if he have, when in collar, shown a disposition to assist those who were out, often be kept among his former shopmates.

1880. Millikin, Punch’s Almanack. Now October! Back again to collar, Funds run low, reduced to last ’alf dollar.

c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, ‘Why Did She Leave her Jeremiah?’ When I was in collar I loved a fair maid, With eyes of a sweet dark blue.

Against collar, adv. phr. (common).—Uphill; working against difficulties, or against the grain.

To be put to the pin of the collar, verbal phr. (common).—To be driven to extremities; to come to the end of one’s resources.

To wear the collar, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To be subject to control not altogether to one’s liking. The antithesis of ‘to have the whip hand’ and ‘to wear the breeches’; etc.

Collar and Elbow, subs. phr. (wrestling).—A term for a peculiar style of wrestling—the Cornwall and Devon style.

Collar-Day, subs. (old).—Hanging day. [In allusion to the hangman’s noose.] Also Wry-neck-day (q.v.); Fr., jour de la St. Jean Baptiste.

Collared. To be collared, verbal phr. (gaming).—To be unable to play one’s usual game owing to temper, ‘funk,’ or other causes.

Collared Up, ppl. adj. (colloquial).—Kept close to business. Cf., Out of collar.

Collar or Get the Big Bird.—See Big Bird, and for synonyms, Goosed.

Collar Work, subs. phr. (colloquial). Laborious work.—See Against Collar.

1883. Daily Telegraph, July 3, p. 2, col. 1. The bald patches on their shoulders testified to their intimate acquaintance with collar work and tugging on stoney roads with heavy loads behind them.

1888. Ant. Trollope, What I Remember. And when Lucca was reached there were still fourteen miles, nearly all collar work, between that and the baths.

Collector, subs. (old).—A highwayman or footpad.

College, subs. (thieves’).—A prison; the inmates are called collegians or collegiates (q.v.); Newgate was formerly called ‘the City College.’ The Spanish Germania has colegio and collège is found in the argot of French thieves.

1703. Title, ‘The History of Whittington’s Colledge otherwise (vulgarly) called Newgate. London, Printed in the Year 1703.’

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. College, Newgate, or any other prison.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick Papers (about 1827), p. 370 (ed. 1857). ‘Mornin’, gen’l’mem’, said Sam, entering at the moment with the shoes and gaiters; ‘avay vith melancholly, as the little boy said ven his schoolmissus died. Velcome to the college, gen’l’mem.’

1859. Matsell, Vacabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, p. 20. College: a State prison.

1889. Answers, 8 June, p. 25. I have since met several men whom I knew in prison at one time or other, and most of them have recognised me; but only one other has stopped me to remind me that we were at ‘college’ together.

College Chum.—See Collegiate.

Colleger, subs. (University and public schools’).—A square cap, otherwise known as a mortar-board. For general synonyms, see Golgotha.

Collegian.—See Collegiate.

Collegiate, Collegian or College Chum, subs. (thieves’).—The inmate of a prison.—[See College.]

1743. North, Life of Lord Guildford, I., 123. His beginnings were debauched, and his study and first practice in the gaol. For having been one of the fiercest town-rakes and spent more than he had of his own, his case forced him upon that expedient for a lodging, and there he ... busied himself with the cases of his fellow-collegiates.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick Papers (about 1827), p. 369 (ed. 1857). ‘I say—do you expect anybody this morning? Three men—devilish gentlemanly fellows—have been asking after you downstairs, and knocking at every door on the hall flight: for which they’ve been most infernally blown up by the collegians that had the trouble of opening ’em.’

1859. G. W. Matsell, Vocabulum, or the Rogues Lexicon, College Chum: a fellow-prisoner.

1884. Dickens. [Quoted in Supplement to Annandale’s ed. of Ogilvie’s Imperial Dict.] It became a not unusual circumstance for letters to be put under his door at night enclosing half-a-crown ... for the father of the Marshalsea, ‘with the compliments of a collegian taking leave.’

Ladies’ College, subs. (general).—A brothel. For synonyms, see Nanny-shop.

Collogue, verb (colloquial).—To confer confidentially and secretly; to conspire; to wheedle; or flatter. The term is also used in a humorous sense. [From Lat. col, together + Lat. loquor, to speak, influenced probably by ‘colleague’ and ‘colloquy.’]

1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden, in wks. III., 136. For once before I had bin so cousend by his colloging, though personally we neuer met face to face.

1676. Earl of Rochester, Hist. of Insipids, st. 9. When to give Money he can’t cologue ’um, He doth with Scorn prorogue, prorogue ’um.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). collogue (v.): to treat with a person underhandedly, to cheat, flatter, coax, or sooth a person in order to get a secret out of him.

1818. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. xxxvii. It was hardly possible two such d—d rascals should collogue together without mischief to honest people.

1857. Barham, I. L. (House-warming). Miss Alice, in short, was supposed to collogue—I Don’t much like the word—with the subtle old rogue, I’ve heard call’d by so many names,—one of them’s Bogy.

1858. G. Eliot, Mr. Gilfil’s Love-Story, ch. iv. ‘We shall be poisoned wi’ lime an’ plaster, and hev the house full o’ workmen collogeing wi’ the maids, an’ makin’ no end o’ mischief.’

1861. G. Eliot, Silas Marner, ch. ix. ‘And how long have you been so thick with Dunsey that you must collogue with him to embezzle my money?’

Colly-Molly, adj. and adv. (old).—Melancholy. [A jocular corruption of the word. Cf., Solemoncholy and (in Dr. Marigold’s Prescriptions) lemon-jolly.]

17(?). Decl. of Pop. Imp. sign. Q. 3. (quoted in Nares). The devil was a little colli-mollie and would not come off.

Colly Wobbles, subs. (common).—The stomach-ache; also the rumblings of flatulency; figuratively, the stomach.

English Synonyms. Wiffle-waffles; gripes; mulligrubs.

French Synonyms. Mal au bréchet; also gargouillade.

1853. Cuthbert Bede, Verdant Green, pt. I., ch. viii. ‘Peakyish you feel, don’t you, now, with a touch of the mulligrubs in your collywobbles?’

c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, ‘Complaints’ or ‘The Ills of Life.’ Then I’ve had the colic, spasms, dizziness, and swimmings, Mullygrubs and collywobbles, with delicious trimmings.

Colour, subs. (sporting).—1. The handkerchief worn as a badge by prize-fighters and other professional athletes. Each man chooses his own, and it was once a practice to sell them to backers to be worn at the ring-side. The present rules of the Ring provide as follows:—‘That every man shall be provided with a handkerchief of a colour suitable to his own fancy, and that the seconds proceed to entwine these handkerchiefs at the upper end of one of the centre stakes of the ring; that these handkerchiefs shall be called the colours, and that the winner of the battle at its conclusion shall be entitled to their possession as the trophy of victory.’ For a description of various ‘fancies,’ see Billy. In racing circles the colours are the owner’s and are shown in the jockeys’ caps and jackets.

1818. P. Egan, Boxiana, vol. I., p. 170. The Chicken now sported the blue-spotted silk handkerchief, as the champion’s colour.

1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, bk. II., ch. xii., p. 189. Each of the men had, previous to the fight, done a little profitable business by selling pocket-handkerchiefs, which they called their colours.

2. (popular).—Used of money; e.g., ‘I have not seen the colour of his money’ = I have not received payment.—See quots.

1736. Fielding, Don Quixote, I., iii. If I have seen the colour of gold this fortnight, may I never see Teresa Pancha again.

1836. Marryat, Midshipman Easy, ch. xix. The padrone informed them that he should like to see the colour of their money before they went on board.

Coloured on the card, phr. (racing).—Having the colours in which a jockey is to ride inserted on the card of the race.

Off colour, adv. phr. (common).—Exhausted; run down; ‘seedy.’

c. 1876. Broadside Ballad, ‘That’s Where The Money Goes.’ London’s Police will be made up of men, Cold Rabbit Pie will be off colour then.

Colour One’s Meerschaum, verbal phr. (common).—To get brandy-faced; to drink one’s nose into a state of pimples and scarlet.

Colquarron, subs. (old)—The neck. For synonyms, see Scrag.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. colquarron: a man’s neck (cant), his colquarron is just about to be twisted, he is just going to be hanged.

1830. Sir E. B. Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 5 (ed. 1854). ‘’Tis a rum business, and puzzles I! but mum’s the word, for my own little colquarren.’

Colt, subs. (popular).—1. A person new to office, or, to the exercise of any art; e.g., a professional cricketer during his first season; a first-time juryman; a thief in his novitiate. [Properly a colt is a young male horse.]

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1885. Daily News, 28 August, p. 3, col. 7. A match arranged for the benefit of the young players of the county was commenced yesterday at Manchester, when the Lancashire Eleven were opposed to Twenty-six colts.

2. (nautical).—See quots.

1830. Marryat, King’s Own, ch. viii. He always carried in his pocket a colt (i.e., a foot and a half of rope, knotted at one end, and whipped at the other), for the benefit of the youngsters, to whom he was a most inordinate tyrant.

1836. Marryat, Midshipman Easy, ch. xii. ‘He knocked me down—and when I got up again he told me that I could stand a little more—and then he took out his colt, and said he was determined to ride the high horse.’

3. (thieves’).—A thief’s weapon; otherwise known as a billy (q.v.). For synonyms, see Neddy.

4. (thieves’).—A man who hires horses to burglars. In America he is called a colt-man. [Quoted by Grose, 1785.]

5. (legal).—See quot.

1887. Sir F. Pollock, Pers. Remembr., vol. I., p. 212. In April I accompanied the newly-made Chief Baron [of Exchequer] as his colt (the so-called attendant on a serjeant at his making) to the Lord Chancellor’s private room at Westminster.

Verb (nautical).—1. To thrash; [From colt, sense 2.] Cf., Baste, and for synonyms, see Tan.

1836. Marryat, Midshipman Easy, ch. xii. ‘Then he colted me for half-an-hour, and that’s all.’

2. (common).—To cause a person to stand treat by way of being ‘made free’ of a new place; to make one ‘pay one’s footing.’ Cf., subs., sense 1.

Coltage, subs. (old).—The footing paid by colts (q.v., subs., sense 1) on their first appearance.

Colting, verbal subs. (common).—A thrashing. For general synonyms, see Tanning and Baste.

Colt-Man.—See Colt, subs., sense 4.

Colt’s Tooth. To have a colt or colt’s tooth, verbal phr. (old).—To be fond of youthful pleasures; in the case of elderly persons, to have juvenile tastes; to be of wanton disposition and capacity. [In allusion to a supposed desire to shed the teeth and see life over again.]

1500. Marlowe, 2 Tamburlaine, iv., 4. Nay, we will break the hedges of their mouths, And pull their kicking colts out of their pastures.

1606. Sir Gyles Goosecappe, v., 2, in Bullen’s Old Plays, iii., 87. I shood doe my country, and Court-ship good service to beate thy coalts teeth out of thy head, for suffering such a reverend word to passe their guarde.

1637. Fletcher, Elder Brother, II., iii. He should love her now, As he hath a colt’s tooth yet.

1753. Walpole, Lett. to Mann, 27 April (1833), vol. III., p. 89. I hear that my Lord Granville has cut another colt’s tooth—in short, they say he is going to be married again ... there are not above two or three-and-forty years difference in their ages.

1770. Colman, The Portrait, in wks. (1777) IV., 215. Tho’ not in the bloom of my youth, Yet still I have left a colt’s tooth.

1812. C. K. Sharpe, in Correspondence (1888), II., 5. Tyndall and I always fought about noblemen, tho’ I suspected his colt’s tooth with regard to Lord Apsley, who is a mighty good sort of man, but only captivating.

Columbine, subs. (theatrical).—A prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

Columbus, subs. (theatrical).—Failure. A regular Columbus = an utter failure; ‘dead frost.’ Fr., Il pleut! = the play is a failure.

Comb-Brush, subs. (old).—A lady’s maid. [A word compounded from the names of two familiar toilet requisites. Cf., whip = a coachman.]—See Abigail.

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones. The maid who at present attended on Sophia was recommended by Lady Bellaston, with whom she had lived for some time in the capacity of a comb-brush.

Comb Cut. To have one’s comb cut, verbal phr. (popular).—To be mortified; disgraced; down on one’s luck. [A simile drawn from cock-fighting.]

Comb Down.—See Comb one’s hair.

Combie, subs. (university).—A familiar abbreviation for ‘Combination room,’ the parlour in which college dons drink wine after Hall. Also a garment; see Combination.

Combination, subs. (general).—A woman’s undergarment, shift and drawers in one. Also combie, and (American) chemiloon (q.v.), itself a combination of ‘chemise’ and ‘pantaloon.’

Comb One’s Hair, verbal phr., trs. and intr. (common).—To take to task; to scold; to keep in order. Sometimes to thrash, and generally ill-treat. Variants are to comb down; to comb one’s noddle with a three-legged or joint stool. [A.S. cemban; O.E. kemben; German, kämmen = to comb. Halliwell gives kemb (a Border form) = to comb; also comb = to cut a person’s comb, to disable him. The word seems to have always involved the idea of personal castigation, either physical or figurative. In this connection, cf., quot., 1593.] Fr., donner une peignée and laver la tête; but for synonyms in the sense of ‘to scold,’ see Wig; and in the sense of ‘to thrash,’ see Tan.

1593. Shakspeare, Taming of the Shrew, i., 1. Kath ... doubt not her cares should be to comb your noddle with a three-legg’d stool, And paint your face, and use you like a fool.

1769. John Wallis, Antiquities of Northumberland. [Speaking of Wark Castle.] On the west side are the outworks, now called the Kemb, i.e., the camp of the militia designed to kemb or fight an enemy; kemb being a word often used by the borderers when they threaten in a passionate tone to beat an assailant,—they will kemb him, i.e., drub him heartily.

1836. W. Kidd, London and all its Dangers. ‘Magistrates,’ p. 12. The Magistrate of Hatton Garden has lately had his ‘hair combed’ by the Home Secretary for his brutal conduct.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xxvii., p. 236. ‘If you had only settled down, and married Joe Pouch’s widow when he died in North America, she’d have combed your hair for you.’

1866. G. Eliot, Felix Holt, ch. xliii. ‘But you see, these riots—it’s been a nasty business. I shall have my hair combed at the sessions for a year to come.’

1869. ... Ino (played at Strand Theatre). ‘Since Ino’s combed my wool it’s ceased to grow.’

Comb the Cat, verbal phr. (nautical).—See quot.

1867. Smyth, Sailors’ Word Book. Combing the Cat: the boatswain, or other operator, running his fingers through the cat-o’-nine tails to separate them.

Come, verb (venery).—1. To experience the sexual spasm; to achieve emission; to Spend (q.v.). The expression (which applies to the agents only: never to the proof, or effect, of their activity) is common to both the sexes. Cf., Cream (q.v.); Spendings; q.v.; and Letch-water (q.v.).

2. (general).—To practice; to understand; to act the part of. Cf., Come over and Come tricks.

1883. Greenwood, Tag, Rag, and Co. We ain’t two by ourselves as comes that dodge.

3. (old).—To lend.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Has he come it? i.e., has he lent it?

To make drunk come, phr. (American).—To become intoxicated. For synonyms, see Screwed.

Come about [One], verbal phr. (old).—1. To circumvent. Cf., Come over and Come round.

1755. Johnson, Dict. Eng. Lang. (11 ed., 1816), s.v. ‘About’ in common language they say to come about a man, ‘to circumvent him.’

2. (venery).—To copulate. (Said only of men by women).

Come a Buster.—See Buster (subs., sense 3).

Come a Cropper.—See Cropper.

Come and See your Pa, phr. (common).—An invitation to drink. For synonyms, see Drinks.

Come Captain Armstrong.—See Captain Armstrong.

Come-Down, subs. (popular).—A fall, whether of pride or worldly prospects; an abandonment of something for something else of less value or moment.

Verb.—[Used either independently or in combination: e.g., To come down; to come down handsome, or to come down with the dust, dues, dibs, ready, oof, shiners, blunt, needful, etc.] (common).—1. To pay, i.e., to ‘part’; or to lay down (as in payment); to ‘fork out.’ For synonyms, see Shell out.

1701. Steele, The Funeral, Act ii., Sc. 1. I must do according to my orders ... except you’d come down a little deeper than you talk of:—You don’t consider the charges I’ve been at already.

1727. Gay, Beggar’s Opera, Act iii., Sc. 1. Did he tip handsomely?—How much did he come down with?

1842. Punch, vol. III., p. 136. ‘Bolt!’ she falter’d, ‘from the gov’nor? Oh, my Colin, that won’t pay; He will ne’er come down, my love, nor Help us, if we run away.’

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. lxix. My uncle augurs everything from the Begum’s generosity, and says that she will come down very handsomely.

1889. Barrère, Sl., Jar., and Cant, (quoted in). Do you keep the gentleman in discourse while I speak to the prisoner, and see how he can come down.

2. (trade).—To abate prices.

Come down from the Walls, verbal phr. (American).—To abandon a position. Cf., Back seat.

Comedy-Merchant, subs. (common).—An actor. For synonyms, see Cackling-cove.

Come it, verb (colloquial).—1. To proceed at a great rate; to make a splash and dash (in extravagance); to ‘cut a figure.’ Cf., Come it strong and Go it.

1840. Thackeray, Paris Sketch Book, p. 22. ‘I think the chaps down the road will stare,’ said Sam, ‘when they hear how I’ve been coming it.’

2. (thieves’).—To inform. For synonyms, see Peach.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 444. To inform = to come it.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., p. 126. The expression come it (to inform, tell, or disclose) is best known to the lower and most dangerous classes.

1889. Daily Telegraph. He heard one of the others say in reply, ‘come it,’ meaning to tell—to be quiet.

3. (pugilistic).—To show fear.

4. (American).—To succeed. Especially in you can’t come it, i.e., you cannot succeed: an expression of disbelief in the ability of another. Probably a survival of old English usage. Cf., Come over.

Come it Strong, verbal phr. (popular).—To exaggerate; to ‘lay it on thick’; to carry to extremes. For synonyms, see Longbow. Cf., Come it.

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, p. 356 (ed. 1857). ‘Vell, sir,’ rejoined Sam, after a short pause, ‘I think I see your drift; and if I do see your drift, it’s my ’pinion that you’re a comin’ it a great deal too strong, as the mail-coachman said to the snow-storm, ven it overtook him.’

1837. Barham, I. L. (Lay of St. Gengulphus), ed. 1862, p. 157. He here shook his head,—Right little he said, But he thought she was coming it rather too strong.

1846. W. M. Thackeray, Yellowplush. ‘Mr. Deuceace at Paris.’ Now, though master was a scoundrill and no mistake, he was a gentleman and a man of good breeding; and miss came a little too strong (pardon the vulgarity of the expression), with her hardor and attachmint for one of his taste.

1869. Bret Harte, The Heathen Chinee. In his sleeves, which were long, He had twenty-four packs. Which was coming it strong.

Come John, or Lord, Audley.—See John Audley.

Come off, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To happen; to occur; to result from.—See also Come, sense 1.

1609. Jonson, Case is Altered, IV., iii. His muse sometimes cannot curvet, nor prognosticate, and come off as it should; no matter, I’ll hammer out a paraphrase for thee myself.

1857. Dickens, The Detective Police, in Reprinted Pieces, p. 239. In consequence of which appointment the party came off, which we are about to describe.

1870. Wilkie Collins, Man and Wife, in Cassell’s Mag., p. 292, col. 1. ‘The betting’s at five to four, my dear. And the race comes off in a month from this.’

1872. Civilian, 10 Aug. Unfortunately, the event, to use the language of the turf, did not come off, and considerable disappointment was manifested.

1883. Graphic, August 11, p. 138, col. 2. Batting is his forte, though he does not always come off.

Come off the Grass, or the Tall Grass! phr. (American).—‘None of your airs!’ ‘Don’t put it on so!’ ‘Don’t tell any more lies!’ The French say, As-tu fini tes manières or magnes? ne fais donc pas ta Sophie; and ne fais donc pas ton fendart.

Come out, verbal phr. (common).—1. To make an appearance; to display oneself; to express oneself vigorously; to make an impression (especially in sense 2). Sometimes in an intensified form to come out strong. cf., Come it strong.

[The first quot. is doubtful, but it looks like an anticipation.]

1637. Sl. Rutherford, Letters, No. 167, vol. I., p. 390 (ed. 1862, 2 vols.). Christ ... who hath given you eyes to discern the devil coming out in his whites.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, II., 14. The more he [Clive] worked, the more he was discontented with his performance, somehow; but J. J. was coming out very strong; J. J. was going to be a stunner.

1865. G. F. Berkeley, Life, etc. II., 135. Our inclination to quiz him [Lord Wm. Lennox] on the subject increased when in later years he came out strong in magazines and reviews, as a sporting writer.

1865. Cornhill Magazine, IV., 218. ‘A county ball.’ The native comes out strong in waistcoats—his array in that respect being gorgeous.

1870. Good Words, April. ‘The Hand Nailer.’ In the nailing communities, as elsewhere, woman manages somehow to come out extensively on Sundays.

18(?). Aytoun, The Dreepdaily Burghs, p. 2. Let me confess it. I had of late come out rather too strong. When a man has made money easily, he is somewhat prone to launch into expense.

2. (common).—To turn out; to result; e.g., How did it come out? Cf., Come off.

3. (colloquial).—To make a first appearance in society.

To come out of the little end of the horn, phr. (American).—To fare badly; in allusion to the thin end of the Cornucopia.

Come Over, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To influence; to overreach; to cheat. (If the quots. are compared chronologically it will be seen that there has been a gradual deterioration in the meaning of this colloquialism.) Cf., come round; get over.

1609. Dekker, Gul’s Horne-Booke, ch. ii. Care not for those coorse painted cloath rimes, made by ye University of Salerne, that come ouer you, with ... sweete candied councell.

1667. Shirley, Love Tricks, Act ii., Sc. 1. I do not see what fault she can find with me; and if I had some good word to come over her—but I must help it out, an need be, with swearing.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. To come over any one: to cheat or overreach him.

1794. Gent. Mag., p. 1085. I lately came over him for a good round sum.

c. 1860. Broadside Ballad, I’m a young man from the country, But you don’t get over me.

c. 1879. Music Hall Song (sung by Jenny Hill, the ‘Vital Spark’). You may get over water-butts, You may get over fountains, But I’ll take particular notice that you don’t get over Sal.

1884. Daily Telegraph, March 11, p. 2, col. 1. ‘But don’t you try and come it over me, or you’ll find yourself in the wrong box.’

Come [the old Soldier, or any person or thing] Over One, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To imitate; to overbear; to wheedle; to rule by an assumption of authority. Fr., essayer de monter un bateau à quelqu’un; or monter le coup or un battage.

1713. C. Shadwell, Humours of the Army, Act iii. The Devil a Farthing he owes me—but however, I’ll put the old soldier upon him.

1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, ch. xviii. Were it not that I think he has scarce the impudence to propose such a thing to succeed, curse me but I should think he was coming the old soldier over me, and keeping up his game.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick Papers (about 1827), p. 369 (ed. 1857). ‘Ah, by jove, he has!’ replied Smangle. ‘Hear him come the four cats in the wheelbarrow—four distinct cats, sir, I pledge you my honour. Now you know that’s infirnal clever!’

1839. The Druid. ‘Post and Paddock.’ The only way his crime to cover, To hide his shame from children’s eye, Is not to try and come the lover, But stable-wards at once to fly.

1855. W. M. Thackeray, The Newcomes, II., 253. ‘I had a letter this morning from my liberal and punctual employer, Thomas Potts, Esquire, of the Newcome Independent, who states, in language scarcely respectful, that Sir Barnes Newcome Newcome is trying to come the religious dodge, as Mr. Potts calls it.’

1877. W. Black, Green Past. and Picc., ch. i. ‘She’s rather serious, you know, and would like to come the maternal over you.’

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 167. To hear him speak, one might imagine him as innocent as a lamb, and as green as a schoolboy, but just try to come the hanky-panky and play the old soldier with him.

1877. J. Greenwood, Dick Temple. Permit me, if you and your two friends think of coming what is vulgarly called the old soldier over me, to make you understand that you had better abandon the intention.

Come Round, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To influence; to circumvent; to persuade. Cf., Come over, and come about, sense 1.

1846. Thackeray, V. Fair, ch. xi. Finally, the reports were that the governess had come round everybody, wrote Sir Pitt’s letters, did his business, managed his accounts—had the upper hand of the whole house.

Come Souse, verbal phr. (pugilistic).—To fall heavily. Also Cosouse.

1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib’s Mem. to Cong. As it was, Master Georgy came souse with the whack, And there sprawled, like a turtle turned queer on its back.

Come the Gum Game, verbal phr. (Western American).—To overreach by concealment. [From the preference shown by hunted opossums and racoons for gum trees as places of refuge.]

1869. Kansas City Advertiser, 7 May. You can’t come that gum game over me any more; I’ve been to the land-office and know all about the place.

Come Through a Side Door, verbal phr. (common).—To be born illegitimately.

c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, ‘The Blessed Orphan.’ I don’t think I was born at all, No parents own I came here; I was left at a house of call, Close by a Pickford’s van here, Some wicked wretches say, but I My indignation smother, That I came through a side door In this world from the other.

Come to Stay, verbal phr. (American).—To be endowed with permanent qualities. Thus the New York Morning Journal announces that earth fuel, a new material for cooking and firing purposes, has come to stay, i.e., its commercial success is assured.

1888. Pittsburg Bulletin. In the realm of advertising, the illustration has evidently come to stay. It attracts and retains the eye, and so serves a double purpose.

Come To, or Up To, Time, verbal phr. (pugilistic).—To answer the call of ‘Time!’ after the thirty seconds’ rest between round and round; hence, by analogy, to be on the alert; to be ready.

1869. Whyte Melville, M. or N., p. 11. The surprise staggered him like a blow. From such blows, however, we soon come to time, willing to take any amount of similar punishment.

Come Tricks.—See Come, sense 2.

Come up Smiling, verbal phr. (pugilistic).—To laugh (or grin) at ‘punishment’; hence (generally) to be superior to rebuff or disaster; to face defeat without flinching.

1887. John Strange Winter, That Imp, p. 67. And yet come up smiling at the end of it.

Come up to the Chalk.—See Scratch.

[Some other slang uses of the verb To Come are To Come the Artful = to essay to deceive; To Come the Heavy = to affect a vastly superior position; To Come the ugly = to threaten; To Come the Nob, or The Don = to put on airs; To Come the Lardy-Dardy = to dress for the public and ‘look up to your clobber’; To Come the Serjeant = to issue peremptory orders; To Come the Spoon = to make love; To Come the Gypsy = to try to defraud; To Come the Rothschild = to pretend to be rich; and To Come the Traviata (prostitutes’, now obsolete) = to feign consumption, to put on ‘the Traviata cough’ (q.v.) with a view to beguiling charitable males.]

Comflogisticate, verb (American).—To embarrass; put out of countenance; confuse; or hoax.—See Bamblustercate.

Comfoozled, adj. (rare).—Overcome; exhausted.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xxxix., p. 340. ‘Well,’ said Sam, ‘he’s in a horrid state o’ love; reg’larly comfoozled, and done over with it.’

Comfortable Importance or Comfortable Impudence, subs. (old).—A wife; also a mistress in a wife’s position. Fr., Mon gouvernement. For synonyms, see Dutch.

Comical, subs. (common).—A napkin.

To be Struck Comical, verb. phr. (popular).—To be astonished.

Coming, ppl. adj. (old).—1. Wanton; forward; sexual.—See Come, sense 1.

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, ch. xii. I dares to swear the wench was as willing as he, for she was always a forward kind of body. And when wenches are so coming, young men are not so much to be blamed neither, for to be sure they do no more than what is natural.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

2. (old).—Sexually capable.—See Come, sense 1.

Commercial, subs. (thieves’)—See quot.

1886. Tit-Bits, 31 July, p. 252. He is one of the cleverest commercials (this is the polite name for rogues and vagabonds generally) on the road.

2. (common).—An abbreviation of ‘commercial traveller.’

Commission or Mish, subs. (old).—A shirt. [From the Italian.—See Camesa.] For synonyms, see Flesh bag.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65, s.v.

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

1622. John Fletcher, The Beggar’s Bush. I crown thy nab with a gag of benbouse, And stall thee by the salmon into clowes To maund on the pad and strike all the Cheats To mill from the Ruffmans, and commission, and slates.

1630. Taylor (‘The Water Poet’), wks. quoted in Nares. As from our beds we doe oft cast our eyes, Cleane linnen yeelds a shirt before we rise, Which is a garment shifting in condition, And in the canting tongue is a commission; In weale or woe, in joy or dangerous drifts, A shirt will put a man unto his shifts.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 48 (1874), s.v.

Commister, subs. (old).—A clergyman. The same as camister (q.v.). For synonyms, see Devil-dodger.

Commodity, subs. (old).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

1596. Shakspeare, King John, ii., 2. Tickling commodity; commodity—the bias of the world.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Common-Bounce, subs. (low).—One using a lad as a decoy to prefer a charge of unnatural intercourse.

1886. M. Davitt, Leaves from a Prison Diary, p. 109. The common bounce Of all the scoundrels that stalk abroad in the world unhung for undetected enormities, this is the most infamous.

Common-Doings, subs. (American).—Every-day fare. [A phrase of Western origin, at first restricted in its meaning, but now including ordinary transactions as compared to those either large or peculiarly profitable; applied to men, actions, and things. ‘What shall we do?’ says a poor frontiersman’s wife, when she hears of a Federal Officer who is to take up his quarters at her cabin for a day; ‘I can’t give him common-doings.’]

1835. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 3 S. I guess I’ll order supper. What shall it be? Cornbread and common doins, or wheatbread and chicken fixins?

Commoner-Grub, subs. (Winchester College).—A dinner formerly given by Commoners to College after cricket matches. [Commoners are boys not on the foundation.]

Commoney, subs. (schoolboys’).—A clay marble. Cf., Alley.

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers (about 1827), p. 28 (ed. 1857). On one occasion he patted the boy on the head, and after inquiring whether he had won any alley tors or commoneys lately (both of which I understand to be a particular species of marbles much prized by the youth of this town), made use of this remarkable expression—‘How should you like to have another father?’

Common-Jack, subs. (military).—A prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

Common-Plugs, subs. (American).—Ordinary members of society.

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