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There yet remain several distinct divisions of Slang to be examined; – the Slang of the stable, or jockey Slang; the Slang of the prize ring; the Slang of servitude, or flunkeydom; vulgar, or street Slang; the Slang of softened oaths; and the Slang of intoxication. I shall only examine the last two. If society, as has been remarked, is a sham, from the vulgar foundation of commonalty to the crowning summit of royalty, especially do we perceive the justness of the remark in the Slang makeshifts for oaths, and sham exclamations for passion and temper. These apologies for feeling are a disgrace to our vernacular, although it is some satisfaction to know that they serve the purpose of reducing the stock of national profanity. “You BE BLOWED,” or “I’ll BE BLOWED IF,” &c., is an exclamation often heard in the streets. Blazes, or “like BLAZES,” came probably from the army. Blast, too, although in general vulgar use, may have had a like origin; so may the phrase, “I wish I may be SHOT, if,” &c. Blow me tight, is a very windy and common exclamation. The same may be said of STRIKE ME LUCKY, NEVER TRUST ME, and SO HELP ME DAVY; the latter derived from the truer old phrase, I’LL TAKE MY DAVY ON’T, i. e., my affidavit, DAVY being a corruption of that word. By golly, GOL DARN IT, and SO HELP ME BOB, are evident shams for profane oaths. Nation is but a softening of damnation; and OD, whether used in OD DRAT IT, or OD’S BLOOD, is but an apology for the name of the Deity. The Irish phrase, BAD SCRAN TO YER! is equivalent to wishing a person bad food. “I’m SNIGGERED if you will,” and “I’m JIGGERED,” are other stupid forms of mild swearing, – fearful of committing an open profanity, yet slyly nibbling at the sin. Both DEUCE and DICKENS are vulgar old synonymes for the devil; and ZOUNDS is an abbreviation of GOD’S WOUNDS, – a very ancient catholic oath.

In a casual survey of the territory of Slang, it is curious to observe how well represented are the familiar wants and failings of life. First, there’s money, with one hundred and twenty Slang terms and synonymes; then comes drink, from small beer to champagne; and next, as a very natural sequence, intoxication, and fuddlement generally, with some half a hundred vulgar terms, graduating the scale of drunkenness from a slight inebriation, to the soaky state of gutterdom and stretcherdom, – I pray the reader to forgive the expressions. The Slang synonymes for mild intoxication are certainly very choice, – they are BEERY, BEMUSED, BOOZY, BOSKY, BUFFY, CORNED, FOGGY, FOU, FRESH, HAZY, ELEVATED, KISKY, LUSHY, MOONY, MUGGY, MUZZY, ON, SCREWED, STEWED, TIGHT, and WINEY. A higher or more intense state of beastliness is represented by the expressions, PODGY, BEARGERED, BLUED, CUT, PRIMED, LUMPY, PLOUGHED, MUDDLED, OBFUSCATED, SWIPEY, THREE SHEETS IN THE WIND, and TOP-HEAVY. But the climax of fuddlement is only obtained when the DISGUISED individual CAN’T SEE A HOLE IN A LADDER, or when he is all MOPS AND BROOMS, or OFF HIS NUT, or with his MAIN-BRACE WELL SPLICED, or with the SUN IN HIS EYES, or when he has LAPPED THE GUTTER, and got the GRAVEL RASH, or on the RAN-TAN, or on the RE-RAW, or when he is SEWED UP, or regularly SCAMMERED, – then, and not till then, is he entitled in vulgar society to the title of LUSHINGTON, or recommended to PUT IN THE PIN.

A DICTIONARY OF MODERN SLANG, CANT, & VULGAR WORDS;
MANY WITH THEIR ETYMOLOGIES TRACED

A 1, first rate, the very best; “she’s a prime girl she is; she is A 1.“ —Sam Slick. The highest classification of ships at Lloyd’s; common term in the United States, also at Liverpool and other English seaports. Another, even more intensitive form, is “first-class, letter A, No. 1.”

ABOUT RIGHT, “to do the thing ABOUT RIGHT,” i. e., to do it properly, soundly, correctly; “he guv it ’im ABOUT RIGHT,” i. e., he beat him severely.

ABRAM-SHAM, or SHAM-ABRAHAM, to feign sickness or distress. From ABRAM MAN, the ancient cant term for a begging impostor, or one who pretended to have been mad. —Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy, part i., sec. 2, vol. i., p. 360. When Abraham Newland was Cashier of the Bank of England, and signed their notes, it was sung: —

 
“I have heard people say
That SHAM ABRAHAM you may,
But you mustn’t SHAM ABRAHAM Newland.”
 

ABSQUATULATE, to run away, or abscond; a hybrid American expression, from the Latin ab, and “squat,” to settle.

ADAM’S ALE, water. —English. The Scotch term is ADAM’S WINE.

AGGERAWATORS (corruption of Aggravators), the greasy locks of hair in vogue among costermongers and other street folk, worn twisted from the temple back towards the ear. They are also, from a supposed resemblance in form, termed NEWGATE KNOCKERS, which see. —Sala’s Gas-light, &c.

ALDERMAN, a half-crown – possibly from its rotundity.

ALDERMAN, a turkey.

ALDERMAN IN CHAINS, a turkey hung with sausages.

ALL OF A HUGH! all on one side, or with a thump; the word HUGH being pronounced with a grunt. —Suffolk.

ALL MY EYE, answer of astonishment to an improbable story; ALL MY EYE AND BETTY MARTIN, a vulgar phrase with similar meaning, said to be the commencement of a Popish prayer to St. Martin, “Oh mihi, beate Martine,” and fallen into discredit at the Reformation.

ALL-OVERISH, neither sick nor well, the premonitory symptoms of illness.

ALL-ROUNDERS, the fashionable shirt collars of the present time worn meeting in front.

ALL-SERENE, an ejaculation of acquiescence.

ALLS, tap-droppings, refuse spirits sold at a cheap rate in gin-palaces. —See LOVEAGE.

ALL-THERE, in strict fashion, first-rate, “up to the mark;” a vulgar person would speak of a spruce, showily-dressed female as being ALL-THERE. An artizan would use the same phrase to express the capabilities of a skilful fellow workman.

ALL TO PIECES, utterly, excessively; “he beat him ALL TO PIECES,” i. e., excelled or surpassed him exceedingly.

ALL TO SMASH, or GONE TO PIECES, bankrupt, or smashed to pieces. —Somersetshire.

ALMIGHTY DOLLAR, an American expression for the “power of money,” first introduced by Washington Irving in 1837.

AN’T, or AÏN’T, the vulgar abbreviation of “am not,” or “are not.”

ANOINTING, a good beating.

ANY HOW, in any way, or at any rate, bad; “he went on ANY HOW,” i. e., badly or indifferently.

APPLE CART, “down with his APPLE CART,” i. e., upset him. —North.

APPLE PIE ORDER, in exact or very nice order.

AREA-SNEAK, a boy thief who commits depredations upon kitchens and cellars. —See CROW.

ARGOT, a term used amongst London thieves for their secret or cant language. French term for slang.

ARTICLE, a man or boy, derisive term.

ARY, corruption of ever a, e’er a; ARY ONE, e’er a one.

ATTACK, to carve, or commence operations on; “ATTACK that beef, and oblige!”

ATTIC, the head; “queer in the ATTIC,” intoxicated. —Pugilistic.

AUNT-SALLY, a favourite game on race-courses and at fairs, consisting of a wooden head mounted on a stick, firmly fixed in the ground; in the nose of which, or rather in that part of the facial arrangement of AUNT SALLY which is generally considered incomplete without a nasal projection, a tobacco pipe is inserted. The fun consists in standing at a distance and demolishing AUNT SALLY’S pipe-clay projection with short bludgeons, very similar to the half of a broom-handle. The Duke of Beaufort is a “crack hand” at smashing pipe noses, and his performances two years ago on Brighton race-course are yet fresh in remembrance. The noble Duke, in the summer months, frequently drives the old London and Brighton four-horse mail coach, “Age” – a whim singular enough now, but common forty years ago.

AUTUMN, a slang term for an execution by hanging. When the drop was introduced instead of the old gallows, cart, and ladder, and a man was for the first time “turned-off” in the present fashion, the mob were so pleased with the invention that they spoke of the operation as at AUTUMN, or the FALL OF THE LEAF (sc. the drop), with the man about to be hung.

AVAST, a sailor’s phrase for stop, shut up, go away, – apparently connected with the old cant, BYNGE A WASTE.

AWAKE, or FLY, knowing, thoroughly understanding, not ignorant of. The phrase WIDE AWAKE carries the same meaning in ordinary conversation.

AWFUL (or, with the Cockneys, ORFUL), a senseless expletive, used to intensify a description of anything good or bad; “what an AWFUL fine woman!” i. e., how handsome, or showy!

AXE, to ask. —Saxon, ACSIAN.

BABES, the lowest order of KNOCK-OUTS (which see), who are prevailed upon not to give opposing biddings at auctions, in consideration of their receiving a small sum (from one shilling to half-a-crown), and a certain quantity of beer. Babes exist in Baltimore, U.S., where they are known as blackguards and “rowdies.”

BACK JUMP, a back window.

BACK SLANG IT, to go out the back way.

BACK OUT, to retreat from a difficulty; the reverse of GO AHEAD. Metaphor borrowed from the stables.

BACON, “to save one’s BACON,” to escape.

BAD, “to go to the BAD,” to deteriorate in character, be ruined. Virgil has an exactly similar phrase, in pejus ruere.

BAGMAN, a commercial traveller.

BAGS, trowsers. Trowsers of an extensive pattern, or exaggerated fashionable cut, have lately been termed HOWLING-BAGS, but only when the style has been very “loud.” The word is probably an abbreviation for b – mbags. “To have the BAGS off,” to be of age and one’s own master, to have plenty of money.

BAKE, “he’s only HALF BAKED,” i. e., soft, inexperienced.

BAKER’S DOZEN. This consists of thirteen or fourteen; the surplus number, called the inbread, being thrown in for fear of incurring the penalty for short weight. To “give a man a BAKER’S DOZEN,” in a slang sense, means to give him an extra good beating or pummelling.

BALAAM, printers’ slang for matter kept in type about monstrous productions of nature, &c., to fill up spaces in newspapers that would otherwise be vacant. The term BALAAM-BOX has long been used in Blackwood as the name of the depository for rejected articles.

BALL, prison allowance, viz., six ounces of meat.

BALLYRAG, to scold vehemently, to swindle one out of his money by intimidation and sheer abuse, as alleged in a late cab case (Evans v. Robinson).

BALMY, insane.

BAMBOOZLE, to deceive, make fun of, or cheat a person; abbreviated to BAM, which is used also as a substantive, a deception, a sham, a “sell.” Swift says BAMBOOZLE was invented by a nobleman in the reign of Charles II.; but this I conceive to be an error. The probability is that a nobleman first used it in polite society. The term is derived from the Gipseys.

BANDED, hungry.

BANDY, or CRIPPLE, a sixpence, so called from this coin being generally bent or crooked; old term for flimsy or bad cloth, temp. Q. Elizabeth.

BANG, to excel or surpass; BANGING, great or thumping.

BANG-UP, first-rate.

BANTLING, a child; stated in Bacchus and Venus, 1737, and by Grose, to be a cant term.

BANYAN-DAY, a day on which no meat is served out for rations; probably derived from the BANIANS, a Hindoo caste, who abstain from animal food. —Sea.

BAR, or BARRING, excepting; in common use in the betting-ring; “I bet against the field BAR two.” The Irish use of BARRIN’ is very similar.

BARKER, a man employed to cry at the doors of “gaffs,” shows, and puffing shops, to entice people inside.

BARKING IRONS, pistols.

BARNACLES, a pair of spectacles; corruption of BINOCULI?

BARNEY, a LARK, SPREE, rough enjoyment; “get up a BARNEY,” to have a “lark.”

BARNEY, a mob, a crowd.

BARN-STORMERS, theatrical performers who travel the country and act in barns, selecting short and frantic pieces to suit the rustic taste. —Theatrical.

BARRIKIN, jargon, speech, or discourse; “we can’t tumble to that BARRIKIN,” i. e., we don’t understand what he says. Miege calls it “a sort of stuff.”

BASH, to beat, thrash; “BASHING a donna,” beating a woman; originally a provincial word, and chiefly applied to the practice of beating walnut trees, when in bud, with long poles, to increase their productiveness. Hence the West country proverb —

“A woman, a whelp, and a walnut tree,

The more you BASH ’em, the better they be.”

BAT, “on his own BAT,” on his own account. —See HOOK.

BATS, a pair of bad boots.

BATTER, “on the BATTER,” literally “on the streets,” or given up to roistering and debauchery.

BATTLES, the students’ term at Oxford for rations. At Cambridge, COMMONS.

BAWDYKEN, a brothel. —See KEN.

BAZAAR, a shop or counter. Gipsey and Hindoo, a market.

BEAK, a magistrate, judge, or policeman; “baffling the BEAK,” to get remanded. Ancient cant, BECK. Saxon, BEAG, a necklace or gold collar – emblem of authority. Sir John Fielding was called the BLIND-BEAK in the last century Query, if connected with the Italian BECCO, which means a (bird’s) beak, and also a blockhead.

BEAKER-HUNTER, a stealer of poultry.

BEANS, money; “a haddock of BEANS,” a purse of money; formerly BEAN meant a guinea; French, BIENS, property; also used as a synonyme for BRICK, which see.

BEAR, one who contracts to deliver or sell a certain quantity of stock in the public funds on a forthcoming day at a stated place, but who does not possess it, trusting to a decline in public securities to enable him to fulfil the agreement and realise a profit. —See BULL. Both words are slang terms on the Stock Exchange, and are frequently used in the business columns of newspapers.

“He who sells that of which he is not possessed is proverbially said to sell the skin before he has caught the BEAR. It was the practice of stock-jobbers, in the year 1720, to enter into a contract for transferring South Sea Stock at a future time for a certain price; but he who contracted to sell had frequently no stock to transfer, nor did he who bought intend to receive any in consequence of his bargain; the seller was, therefore, called a BEAR, in allusion to the proverb, and the buyer a BULL, perhaps only as a similar distinction. The contract was merely a wager, to be determined by the rise or fall of stock; if it rose, the seller paid the difference to the buyer, proportioned to the sum determined by the same computation to the seller.” —Dr. Warton on Pope.

BEARGERED, to be drunk.

BEAT, or BEAT-HOLLOW, to surpass or excel.

BEAT, the allotted range traversed by a policeman on duty.

BEAT-OUT, DEAD-BEAT, tired or fagged.

BEATER-CASES, boots: Nearly obsolete.

BEAVER, old street term for a hat; GOSS is the modern word, BEAVER, except in the country, having fallen into disuse.

BE-BLOWED, a windy exclamation equivalent to an oath. —See BLOW-ME.

BED-POST, “in the twinkling of a BED-POST,” in a moment, or very quickly.

Originally BED-STAFF, a stick placed vertically in the frame of a bed to keep the bedding in its place. —Shadwell’s Virtuoso, 1676, act i., scene 1. This was used sometimes as a defensive weapon.

BEE, “to have a BEE in one’s bonnet,” i. e., to be not exactly sane.

BEERY, intoxicated, or fuddled with beer.

BEESWAX, poor soft cheese.

BEETLE-CRUSHERS, or SQUASHERS, large flat feet.

BELCHER, a kind of handkerchief. —See BILLY.

BELL, a song.

BELLOWS, the lungs.

BELLOWSED, or LAGGED, transported.

BELLOWS-TO-MEND, out of breath.

BELLY-TIMBER, food, or “grub.”

BELLY-VENGEANCE, small sour beer, apt to cause gastralgia.

BEMUSE, to fuddle one’s self with drink, “BEMUSING himself with beer,” &c. —Sala’s Gas-light and Day-light, p. 308.

BEN, a benefit. —Theatrical.

BEND, “that’s above my BEND,” i. e., beyond my power, too expensive, or too difficult for me to perform.

BENDER, a sixpence, – from its liability to bend.

BENDER, the arm; “over the BENDER,” synonymous with “over the left.” —See OVER. Also an ironical exclamation similar to WALKER.

BENE, good. —Ancient cant; BENAR was the comparative. —See BONE. Latin.

BENJAMIN, a coat. Formerly termed a JOSEPH, in allusion, perhaps, to Joseph’s coat of many colours. —See UPPER-BENJAMIN.

BENJY, a waistcoat.

BEONG, a shilling. —See SALTEE.

BESTER, a low betting cheat.

BESTING, excelling, cheating. Bested, taken in, or defrauded.

BETTER, more; “how far is it to town?” “oh, BETTER ’n a mile.” —Saxon and Old English, now a vulgarism.

BETTY, a skeleton key, or picklock. —Old cant.

B. FLATS, bugs.

BIBLE CARRIER, a person who sells songs without singing them.

BIG, “to look BIG,” to assume an inflated dress, or manner; “to talk BIG,” i. e., boastingly, or with an “extensive” air.

BIG-HOUSE, the work-house.

BILBO, a sword; abbrev. of BILBOA blade. Spanish swords were anciently very celebrated, especially those of Toledo, Bilboa, &c.

BILK, a cheat, or a swindler. Formerly in frequent use, now confined to the streets, where it is very general. Gothic, BILAICAN.

BILK, to defraud, or obtain goods, &c. without paying for them; “to BILK the schoolmaster,” to get information or experience without paying for it.

BILLINGSGATE (when applied to speech), foul and coarse language. Not many years since, one of the London notorieties was to hear the fishwomen at Billingsgate abuse each other. The anecdote of Dr. Johnson and the Billingsgate virago is well known.

BILLY, a silk pocket handkerchief. —Scotch.– See WIPE.

⁂ A list of the slang terms descriptive of the various patterns of handkerchiefs, pocket and neck, is here subjoined: —

Belcher, close striped pattern, yellow silk, and intermixed with white and a little black; named from the pugilist, Jim Belcher.

Bird’s eye wipe, diamond spots.

Blood-red fancy, red.

Blue billy, blue ground with white spots.

Cream fancy, any pattern on a white ground.

Green king’s man, any pattern on a green ground.

Randal’s man, green, with white spots; named after Jack Randal, pugilist.

Water’s man, sky coloured.

Yellow fancy, yellow, with white spots.

Yellow man, all yellow.

BILLY-BARLOW, a street clown; sometimes termed a JIM CROW, or SALTIMBANCO, – so called from the hero of a slang song. —Bulwer’s Paul Clifford.

BILLY-HUNTING, buying old metal.

BIRD-CAGE, a four-wheeled cab.

BIT, fourpence; in America 12½ cents is called a BIT, and a defaced 20 cent piece is termed a LONG BIT. A BIT is the smallest coin in Jamaica, equal to 6d.

BIT, a purse, or any sum of money.

BIT-FAKER, or TURNER OUT, a coiner of bad money.

BITCH, tea; “a BITCH party,” a tea-drinking. —University.

BITE, a cheat; “a Yorkshire BITE,” a cheating fellow from that county. —North; also old slang, used by Pope. Swift says it originated with a nobleman in his day.

BITE, to cheat; “to be BITTEN,” to be taken in or imposed upon. Originally a Gipsey term. —See Bacchus and Venus.

BIVVY, or GATTER, beer; “shant of BIVVY,” a pot, or quart of beer. In Suffolk, the afternoon refreshment of reapers is called BEVER. It is also an old English term.

“He is none of those same ordinary eaters, that will devour three breakfasts, and as many dinners, without any prejudice to their BEVERS, drinkings, or suppers.” —Beaumont and Fletcher’s Woman Hater 1–3.

Both words are probably from the Italian, bevere, bere. Latin, bibere. English, beverage.

BLACK AND WHITE, handwriting.

BLACKBERRY-SWAGGER, a person who hawks tapes, boot laces, &c.

BLACK-LEG, a rascal, swindler, or card cheat.

BLACK-SHEEP, a “bad lot,” “mauvais sujet;” also a workman who refuses to join in a strike.

BLACK-STRAP, port wine.

BLADE, a man – in ancient times the term for a soldier; “knowing BLADE,” a wide awake, sharp, or cunning man.

BLACKGUARD, a low, or dirty fellow.

“A cant word amongst the vulgar, by which is implied a dirty fellow of the meanest kind, Dr. Johnson says, and he cites only the modern authority of Swift. But the introduction of this word into our language belongs not to the vulgar, and is more than a century prior to the time of Swift. Mr. Malone agrees with me in exhibiting the two first of the following examples. The black-guard is evidently designed to imply a fit attendant on the devil. Mr. Gifford, however, in his late edition of Ben Jonson’s works, assigns an origin of the name different from what the old examples which I have cited seem to countenance. It has been formed, he says, from those ‘mean and dirty dependants, in great houses, who were selected to carry coals to the kitchen, halls, &c. To this smutty regiment, who attended the progresses, and rode in the carts with the pots and kettles, which, with every other article of furniture, were then moved from palace to palace, the people, in derision, gave the name of black guards; a term since become sufficiently familiar, and never properly explained.’ – Ben Jonson, ii. 169, vii. 250” —Todd’s Johnson’s Dictionary.

BLARNEY, flattery, exaggeration. —Hibernicism.

BLAST, to curse.

BLAZES, “like BLAZES,” furious or desperate, a low comparison.

BLEST, a vow; “BLEST if I’ll do it,” i. e., I am determined not to do it; euphemism for CURST.

BLEED, to victimise, or extract money from a person, to spunge on, to make suffer vindictively.

BLEW, or BLOW, to inform, or peach.

BLEWED, got rid of, disposed of, spent; “I BLEWED all my blunt last night,” I spent all my money.

BLIND, a pretence, or make believe.

BLIND-HOOKEY, a gambling game at cards.

BLINKER, a blackened eye. —Norwich slang.

BLINK FENCER, a person who sells spectacles.

BLOAK, or BLOKE, a man; “the BLOAK with a jasey,” the man with a wig, i. e., the Judge. Gipsey and Hindoo, LOKE. North, BLOACHER, any large animal.

BLOB (from BLAB), to talk. Beggars are of two kinds, – those who SCREEVE (introduce themselves with a FAKEMENT, or false document), and those who BLOB, or state their case in their own truly “unvarnished” language.

BLOCK, the head.

BLOCK ORNAMENTS, the small dark coloured pieces of meat exposed on the cheap butchers’ blocks or counters, – debateable points to all the sharp visaged argumentative old women in low neighbourhoods.

BLOOD, a fast or high-mettled man. Nearly obsolete in the sense in which it was used in George the Fourth’s time.

BLOOD-RED FANCY, a kind of handkerchief worn by pugilists and frequenters of prize fights. —See BILLY.

BLOODY-JEMMY, a sheep’s head. —See SANGUINARY JAMES.

BLOW, to expose, or inform; “BLOW the gaff,” to inform against a person. In America, to BLOW is slang for to taunt.

BLOW A CLOUD, to smoke a cigar or pipe – a phrase in use two centuries ago.

BLOW ME, or BLOW ME TIGHT, a vow, a ridiculous and unmeaning ejaculation, inferring an appeal to the ejaculator; “I’m BLOWED if you will” is a common expression among the lower orders; “BLOW ME UP” was the term a century ago. —See Parker’s Adventures, 1781.

BLOW OUT, or TUCK IN, a feast.

BLOW UP, to make a noise, or scold; formerly a cant expression used amongst thieves, now a recognised and respectable phrase. Blowing up, a jobation, a scolding.

BLOWEN, a showy or flaunting prostitute, a thief’s paramour. In Wilts, a BLOWEN is a blossom. Germ. BLUHEN, to bloom.

“O du blühende Mädchen viel schöne Willkomm!” —German Song.

Possibly, however, the street term BLOWEN may mean one whose reputation has been BLOWN UPON, or damaged.

BLOWER, a girl; a contemptuous name in opposition to JOMER.

BLUBBER, to cry in a childish manner. —Ancient.

BLUDGERS, low thieves, who use violence.

BLUE, a policeman; “disguised in BLUE and liquor.” —Boots at the Swan.

BLUE, or BLEW, to pawn or pledge.

BLUE, confounded or surprised; “to look BLUE,” to be astonished or disappointed.

BLUE BILLY, the handkerchief (blue ground with white spots) worn and used at prize fights. Before a SET TO, it is common to take it from the neck and tie it round the leg as a garter, or round the waist, to “keep in the wind.” Also, the refuse ammoniacal lime from gas factories.

BLUE BLANKET, a rough over coat made of coarse pilot cloth.

BLUE-BOTTLE, a policeman. It is singular that this well known slang term for a London constable should have been used by Shakespere. In part ii. of King Henry IV., act v., scene 4, Doll Tearsheet calls the beadle, who is dragging her in, a “thin man in a censer, a BLUE-BOTTLE rogue.”

BLUED, or BLEWED, tipsey or drunk.

BLUE DEVILS, the apparitions supposed to be seen by habitual drunkards.

BLUE MOON, an unlimited period.

BLUE MURDER, a desperate or alarming cry. French, MORT-BLEU.

BLUE RUIN, gin.

BLUE-PIGEON FLYERS, journeymen plumbers, glaziers, and others, who, under the plea of repairing houses, strip off the lead, and make way with it. Sometimes they get off with it by wrapping it round their bodies.

BLUES, a fit of despondency. —See BLUE DEVILS.

BLUEY, lead. German, BLEI.

BLUFF, an excuse.

BLUFF, to turn aside, stop, or excuse.

BLUNT, money. It has been said that this term is from the French BLOND, sandy or golden colour, and that a parallel may be found in BROWN or BROWNS, the slang for half-pence. The etymology seems far fetched, however.

BLURT OUT, to speak from impulse, and without reflection. —Shakespere.

BOB, a shilling. Formerly BOBSTICK, which may have been the original.

BOB, “s’help my BOB,” a street oath, equivalent to “so help me God.” Other words are used in street language for a similarly evasive purpose, i. e., CAT, GREENS, TATUR, &c., all equally profane and disgusting.

BOBBISH, very well, clever, spruce; “how are you doing?” “oh! pretty BOBBISH.” —Old.

BOBBY, a policeman. Both BOBBY and PEELER were nicknames given to the new police, in allusion to the christian and surnames of the late Sir Robert Peel, who was the prime mover in effecting their introduction and improvement. The term BOBBY is, however, older than the Saturday Reviewer, in his childish and petulant remarks, imagines. The official square-keeper, who is always armed with a cane to drive away idle and disorderly urchins, has, time out of mind, been called by the said urchins, BOBBY the Beadle. Bobby is also, I may remark, an old English word for striking or hitting, a quality not unknown to policemen. —See Halliwell’s Dictionary.

BODMINTON, blood. —Pugilistic.

BODY-SNATCHERS, bailiffs and runners: SNATCH, the trick by which the bailiff captures the delinquent.

BODY-SNATCHERS, cat stealers.

BOG or BOG-HOUSE, a water-closet. —School term. In the Inns of Court, I am informed, this term is very common.

BOG-TROTTER, satirical name for an Irishman. —Miege. Camden, however, speaking of the “debateable land” on the borders of England and Scotland, says “both these dales breed notable BOG-TROTTERS.”

BOILERS, the slang name given to the New Kensington Museum and School of Art, in allusion to the peculiar form of the buildings, and the fact of their being mainly composed of, and covered with, sheet iron. —See PEPPER-BOXES.

BOLT, to run away, decamp, or abscond.

BOLT, to swallow without chewing.

BONE, good, excellent. the vagabond’s hieroglyphic for BONE, or good, chalked by them on houses and street corners, as a hint to succeeding beggars. French, BON.

BONE, to steal or pilfer. Boned, seized, apprehended. —Old.

BONE-GRUBBERS, persons who hunt dust-holes, gutters, and all likely spots for refuse bones, which they sell at the rag-shops, or to the bone-grinders.

BONE-PICKER, a footman.

BONES, dice; also called ST. HUGH’S BONES.

BONES, “he made no BONES of it,” he did not hesitate, i. e., undertook and finished the work without difficulty, “found no BONES in the jelly.” —Ancient, vide Cotgrave.

BONNET, a gambling cheat. “A man who sits at a gaming-table, and appears to be playing against the table; when a stranger enters, the BONNET generally wins.” —Times, Nov. 17, 1856. Also, a pretence, or make-believe, a sham bidder at auctions.

BONNET, to strike a man’s cap or hat over his eyes and nose.

BONNETTER, one who induces another to gamble.

BOOK, an arrangement of bets for and against, chronicled in a pocket-book made for that purpose; “making a BOOK upon it,” common phrase to denote the general arrangement of a person’s bets on a race. “That does not suit my BOOK,” i. e., does not accord with my other arrangements. Shakespere uses BOOK in the sense of “a paper of conditions.”

BOOM, “to tip one’s BOOM off,” to be off, or start in a certain direction. —Sea.

BOOKED, caught, fixed, disposed of. – Term in Book-keeping.

BOOZE, drink. Ancient cant, BOWSE.

BOOZE, to drink, or more properly, to use another slang term, to “lush,” viz, to drink continually, until drunk, or nearly so. The term is an old one. Harman, in Queen Elizabeth’s days, speaks of “BOUSING (or boozing) and belly-cheere.” The term was good English in the fourteenth century, and comes from the Dutch, BUYZEN, to tipple.

BOOZE, or SUCK-CASA, a public-house.

BOOZING-KEN, a beer-shop, a low public house. —Ancient.

BOOZY, intoxicated or fuddled.

BORE, a troublesome friend or acquaintance, a nuisance, anything which wearies or annoys. The Gradus ad Cantabrigiam suggests the derivation of BORE from the Greek, Βαρος, a burden. Shakespere uses it, King Henry VIII., i., 1 —

 
“ – at this instant
He BORES me with some trick.”
 

Grose speaks of this word as being much in fashion about the year 1780–81, and states that it vanished of a sudden, without leaving a trace behind. Not so, burly Grose, the term is still in favour, and is as piquant and expressive as ever. Of the modern sense of the word BORE, the Prince Consort made an amusing and effective use in his masterly address to the British Association, at Aberdeen, September 14, 1859. He said (as reported by the Times): —

“I will not weary you by further examples, with which most of you are better acquainted than I am myself but merely express my satisfaction that there should exist bodies of men who will bring the well-considered and understood wants of science before the public and the Government, who will even hand round the begging-box, and expose themselves to refusals and rebuffs, to which all beggars all liable, with the certainty besides of being considered great BORES. Please to recollect that this species of “bore” is a most useful animal, well adapted for the ends for which nature intended him. He alone, by constantly returning to the charge, and repeating the same truths and the same requests, succeeds in awakening attention to the cause which he advocates, and obtains that hearing which is granted him at last for self-protection, as the minor evil compared to his importunity, but which is requisite to make his cause understood.”

BOSH, nonsense, stupidity. —Gipsey and Persian. Also pure Turkish, BOSH LAKERDI, empty talk. A person, in the Saturday Review, has stated that BOSH is coeval with Morier’s novel, Hadji Babi, which was published in 1828; but this is a blunder. The term was used in this country as early as 1760, and may be found in the Student, vol. ii., p. 217.