In this section, you will find the following:

Gambling Terms
Games
Money
Terms for People
Places
Race Terms
Sexual Terms
Vehicles
Weapons

Gambling Terms:

bones -- dice

books -- cards (to plant the books - stack the cards)

Child’s Best Guide to the Gallows – deck of cards

bubble -- to cheat

devil’s books – cards

to diddle -- cheat

dispatchers -- loaded dice

doctors -- loaded dice

Down Hills -- dice that run low

elbow shaker – dicer

fan – to beat

forlorn hope – gambler’s last stake

Fulhams – loaded dice (high or lowmen) made in Fulham which was known for its sharpers

fun – cheat or trick

fuzz – to change a pack of cards

gullgropers – those who lend money to gamesters

hedge a bet – lay a bet on one side, taking the odds on the other

high jinks – gambler at dice who has a strong head and drinks his pigeon under the table.

History of the Four Kings – deck of cards

hunting – drawing unwary persons into a game

laid on the shelf – pawned

lurched – those who lose a game of whist without scoring five are said to be lurched

nick – (to nick) to win at dice; to hit the mark just in the nick of time or at a critical moment

nurse – to cheat (an estate in the hands of trustees for the settlement of debt is said to be nurse)

pam – knave of clubs

passage – camp game with three dice; doublets, making up ten or more. to pass or win; any other chances lose

rattle – dice box

rout – card party in a private residence

shake – to game with dice

tats -- false dice

vowels -- IOU’s

uphills -- false dice that run high

 

Games:

Ducks and Drakes -- skimming flat stones over water with many rebounds

gaff – tossing up halfpence

gallery – ( building a) trick played on land lubbers at sea.  One sailor impersonates the builder, another the contractor.  Game begins with a number of men lying on their backs, head to foot (laying the keel of a ship).  Next, men sit on each side of the keel (putting in the ribs or knees of a ship).  The mark for this game is placed at the head and represents the figurehead of the ship.  The builder then delivers over the gallery as complete to the contractor.  Contractor starts objecting to the quality and observes that the figurehead is not painted in gilt.  Builder then directs one of his assistants to paint the figurehead, which he does with a mop of excrement.

goose riding – in Derbyshire.  Goose with a greased neck is suspended by its legs from a cord tied to two trees or posts.  Men on horseback ride toward it and try to pull off the head.  Bird is the prize.

horse ladder – to send a simpleton to a neighbor farm to borrow a “horse ladder” in order to get up on a horse.

hunting the squirrel – amusement of postboys and stage coachmen.  They follow a one-horse chaise, a pass close enough to brush a wheel or do other things to frighten anyone in the chaise.

owl (to catch the) – ignorant country boobie is lured to a barn under pretense of catching an owl.  Joke ends by him having a pail of water dumped on his head

pig running – practiced at fairs.  Greased and soaped pig is let loose and chased.  Anyone who can hold him by the tail becomes owner

taw -- marbles

trig -- the point at which a boy stands to shoot his marble; point at which bowlers deliver the bowl

 

Money:

bean -- a guinea

blunt -- money

bob -- a shilling

breaking shins -- borrow money

bread -- employment (out of bread - unemployed) (in bad bread - disagreeable scrape)

breeched -- money in the pocket (well-breeched - rich)

budget -- wallet

bull -- half a crown

bull’s eye -- crown piece

cents per cent -- usurer

chink -- money

close-fisted –stingy

cripple -- sixpence

croker -- a groat, four pence

crook -- sixpence

dace -- two pence

done up -- ruined by gaming and extravagances

tip the double -- to run away from a debt

draught -- false bill of exchange

dust -- money

well equipped -- full of money

flimsy – bank note

flush in the pockets – well off, full of money

gelt – money (German) also, castrated.

goldfinch – guinea

goldfinch – person with a lot of money

goree -- gold dust

grig -- farthing

groats – money.  Nine groats are deposited with an academic officer when a gentleman enters university.  Upon standing for his degree, the groats are returned to him.

half a hog – sixpence

hand basket portion – man who regularly receives money from wife’s father or family

hangman’s wages – thirteen pence, halfpenny

hatches (under the) – in trouble or debt

hidebound – stingy

hog – a shilling

hog grubber – stingy fellow

huskylour – a guinea

jack – a farthing

inlaid – rich or well off

job – guinea

iron – money in general

king’s pictures – coin, money

loonslate – thirteen pence, halfpenny (see also hangman’s wages)

low tide/low water – short on money

lumping – great (lumping pennyworth – a great quantity for the money; bargain)

magg – halfpenny

make – a halfpenny

mint – gold (a mint of money – a large amount)

monkey – 500 pounds

moveables – rings, watches or anything of value

pony – 25 pounds

two and a kick – half crown

nig – clippings of money

nip cheese – term for purser on ship; to be stingy

old Mr. Gory – a piece of gold

out at the heels/out at the elbows – in declining circumstances

parings – chippings of money

pig – sixpence

plumb – 100,000 pounds

public man – a bankrupt

purse proud – vain of one’s riches

quid – a guinea

quids – money

rag – a farthing; money in general

reader – pocket book

ready – money

to recruit – get a fresh supply of money

rhino – money

ridge – a guinea

rouleau – 20,  50 and 200 guineas wrapped in paper.  Used at the gaming tables

rum bung – full purse

screen – bank note

scrope – a farthing

shavings – money clippings

she lion – shilling

shot (to pay one’s) – reckoning

sice – sixpence

simon – sixpence

slat – half a crown

to smash – to pass counterfeit money

smelt – half-guinea

spangle – a seven shilling piece

spanish – ready money

spank or spankers – money

stiver-cramped – in want of money (stiver is a Dutch coin worth approx. a penny)

strangler – a guinea

strike – twenty shillings

sweating – using aqua regia to diminish a gold coin

swimmer – a counterfeit old coin

syebuck – sixpence

tanner – sixpence

ten in the hundred – a usurer

tester -- sixpence

threps – threepence

thrums – threepence

tizzy -- sixpence

touch (to) – get money from

treswins -- threepence

twelver -- a shilling

wind (raise the) -- procure money

 

Terms for people:

addle pate -- foolish fellow

back door usher -- sodomite

prime article -- good looking girl

autem divers -- pick pockets in churches.  Term is also applied to church wardens & overseers of the poor.

baggage -- women & children

bantling -- child

beau nasty -- slovenly fop

beast with two backs -- two people copulating

beetle-headed -- stupid

bene cove -- good fellow

ben -- fool

birds of afeather -- same gang members

bitch -- worse thing you can call a woman, worse than prostitute

bleached mort -- fair-skinned woman

bleating cheat -- a sheep

blouse -- slovenly woman

bone picker -- footman

booby -- lout,  country fellow

born under a halfpenny planet -- ill-fated, luckless

buck -- debauchee, cuckold

buck fitch -- lecherous man

bugger -- rascal

bull calf --  a clumsy, hulking fellow

bumpkin -- country fellow

bum brusher -- schoolmaster

by-blow -- bastard

cake -- foolish person

caper merchant – dance master

captain sharp -- cheating bully who refuses to pay when he’s lost

catch fart -- footboy

cater cousins -- good friends

chawbacon -- country felllow

chit -- infant or baby

chub -- person easily fooled, a fish easily caught

chuckle-headed -- stupid

cit -- citizen of London

cold hopper -- country fellow

clod pole -- booby

croaker -- fortune teller

cull -- a man

cully -- fool

daisy kickers -- ostlers at great inns

darby -- ready money

demi-rep -- woman of doubtful reputation

Derrick -- hangman

devil -- printer’s errand boy

dimber mort -- pretty wench

dry boots -- sly, humorous fellow

duddering rake - buck of the first head, one extremely lewd

dustman -- dead man

fancy man – man kept by a woman

fish – sailor

flash man – bully at a bawdy house

flat – gullible, silly fellow

fussock -- fat, lazy, frowsy old woman

gabey – foolish fellow

fox – sharp, cunning fellow

gawk(e)y – thin, awkward young man or woman

gentry cove – a gentleman

gentry mort – gentlewoman

get – offspring

gill – for Gillian; a girl.  Every Jack has his gill.

gilly gaupus – Scotch term for tall awkward fellow

gimcrack (jimcrack) – person who has a penchant for mechanical devices

gip (gyp) – errand boy or servant at college.  Also, an Oxford scout.

goat – lascivious person

goose – bashful or sheepish fellow.

goosecap – a silly man or woman

groper -- midwife

gull – person easily swindled or fooled

guts and garbage – people with more stomach than brains

hans in the kelder (jack in the cellar) – child in the womb

harridan – old hag or worn out bawd

harry – country fellow

hatchet faced – thin faced

hawkers – peddlers

hell cat – termagant or vixen; a furious, scolding woman

hell hound – a wicked, abandoned man

hemp – (a young hemp) graceless boy

hempen widow – woman whose husband has been hanged

hen – a woman

here and thereian – person with no settled place of residence

hick – ignorant clown from the country

henpecked – browbeaten husband

highflyers – Tories or Jacobites

hobberdehoy – halfway between boy and man

hobnail – country clodhopper

hod – bricklayer laborer

hop-o-my-thumb – small person

hopping Giles – lame person.  Reference to St. Giles, patron saint of cripples and lepers

impure – prostitute

indorser – sodomite (the notion of beating a boy’s backside with a cane)

jack sprat – small person

jack tar – sailor

jackanapes – an ape; ugly fellow

jade – term of reproach for a woman

jarvis – hackney coachman

jolly dog – a merry, facetious fellow’ bon vivant

kid – child

knights of the road – highwaymen

laced mutton – prostitute

lady of easy virtue – prostitute

ladybird – light of lewd woman

lag – a transported man

land pirate – highwayman

lick spittle – talebearer or parasite

light bob – soldier in the light infantry

lobcock – large, flaccid penis; a dull inanimate fellow

lobster – soldier

long meg – tall woman

long shanks – long-legged

looby – ignorant fellow

loon/lout – country bumpkin or clown

macaroni – foppish fellow

mackerel – a bawd

madam – a mistress

madge cull -- sodomite

man of the town – a rake

mawkes – a slovenly slut

miller – murderer

miss – harlot, mistress

Miss Molly/molly – effeminate fellow

mob/mab —harlot

moll -- prostitute

mort – a woman or wench; a yeoman’s daughter

mother – mother abbess, mother midnight, midwife – a bawd

mushroom – a person or family suddenly raised to riches

mutton-monger -- man addicted to wenching

napper – head of a gang

new light – Methodist

nightman – man who empties necessaries at night.  The operation of doing so is called a wedding

nob – man of rank

nick ninny – simpleton

nincompoop – foolish fellow

ninnyhammer – simpleton

none such – a person unequaled

numbskull – stupid fellow

Old Harry – the devil

Old Nick – the devil

paddy – an Irishman

piece – prostitute

puff guts – a fat man

puppy – an affected and conceited coxcomb

quiz – an odd, strange looking fellow

rattle pate – volatile, unsteady, whimsical man or woman

receiver general -- prostitute

rib – one’s wife

rip – shabby fellow

royster – rude, boisterous fellow

rusty guts – surly fellow

satyr – a lewd, lustful fellow

sauce box – bold, forward person

sawny or sandy – Scotsman

scab – a worthless man or woman

scapegrace – wild, dissolute fellow

simkin – foolish fellow

squab -- fat man or woman

swell – a well-dressed gentleman

syntax -- schoolmaster

tabby -- old maid

tag-rag and bobtail – a assemblage of low people

tail – prostitute

tit -- a female

toad-eater -- poor relation who must kowtow

topping fellow -- at the head of his profession

topping man -- rich man

trencher man – man fond of food; good appetite

turk -- a cruel, hard man

varlet -- rogue or rascal

wag -- an arch, frolicsome fellow

 

Places :

bog house - privy

crib - house

dunegan – privy

the finish – Carpenter’s coffee house opposite Russell Street in Covent Garden Market where debauchers go in the early AM when all other places have thrown them out.

flash ken, flash house   – place that harbors thieves and prostitutes

Go shop – The Queen’s Head in Duke’s Court, Bow Street, Covent Garden.  Place where gin and water were sold in 3 halfpenny bowls called “goes.”  Gin was called Arrack.

hell – a small, dark passage or place

hummums – a bagnio or bathing house

jakes – out house

ken – house

King’s Head Inn or Chequer Inn – Newgate prison
Laystall – a dunghill near London where soil from necessary houses is brought for disposal

Navy office – Fleet prison (Commander of the Fleet – warden)

Newman’s Tea Garden – Newgate

Newman’s Hotel -- Newgate

Old Doss -- Bridewell 

 

Race terms:

drummer -- jockey term for a horse that throws his forelegs about irregularly.

feague – to stuff ginger or an eel up a horse’s ass to make him more lively and carry his tail well.

feuterer – dog-keeper, man who leads a lime hound for the chase.

grogged horse – one that founders

grogham – a horse

gummy – clumsy

hands at his arse – close behind

hobbled – lame

hobbledygee – a dog trot, halfway between a walk and a run

horse coser – horse dealer (Scottish verb, to cose – barter or exchange)

jacked – spavined

knowing one – sportsman of the turf who has the inside dope on horses and jockeys

law – to give law to a hare means to give the animal a head start before setting loose the dogs; giving someone a chance

leather – (to lose leather) the be galled from riding on horseback; to leather means to beat

light heeled – fast runner

man of the turf – horse racer or jockey

nob/nab girder – to bridle

piper – a broken, winded horse

prad – horse

prancer – horse

queer prancer – worn-out, foundered horse

qui tam horse – a horse that will both carry and draw

rip – a poor, lean worn-out horse

roarer – a broken-winded horse

tittup – gentle canter or gallop

turf (on the) -- person who keeps race horses, or attends races and bets on them, is said to be “on the turf”

 

Sexual terms:

box the Jesuit – masturbate

dock - sexual intercourse

dry bob -- copulation without emission

flyer – to enjoy a flyer is to take a woman with her clothes still on or without lying in bed

grind -- sexual intercourse

horn work – the process of cuckolding

hornified – cuckolded

hump -- sexual intercourse

jock -- sexual intercourse

knock -- sexual intercourse

mow -- copulate

nanny house – brothel

nugging house – brothel

nunnery – brothel

occupy (to occupy a woman) -- sexual intercourse

prigging -- sexual intercourse

pully-hawly -- to engage in sexual intercourse

quiffing -- copulating

rantum scantum -- sexual intercourse

riding St. George -- sexual intercourse with the woman on top

roger (to roger) -- to copulate

seraglio – a whore house

shag -- copulate

socket money – prostitute’s fee

strum --to engage in sexual intercourse

swive -- to copulate

tup (to) – sexual intercourse

 

Vehicles:

dilly -- for diligence, 3 seater post-chaise, public stage

Weapons:

barkers -- pistols

bull dogs – pistols

pops – pistols

snappers – pistols

spado – sword (Spanish)

spit -- sword

sticks – pistols