Categories in this column are:
Emotional Terms/Expressions continued
Food
Fighting Terms
Furniture/Household Goods
Gambling Terms
Games
Money
Terms for People
Places
Racing
Sexual Terms
Vehicles
Weapons
Emotional Terms/Expression continued
plummy – (all plummy) everything is all right
porridge – (keep your breath to cool your porridge – hold your tongue)
prime – excellent
prittle prattle – insignificant talk
purblind – dim-sighted
queer as Dick’s hatband – out of order without knowing why
rap – to curse
rig – fun, game, diversion or trick
ring a peal – to scold
ropes (on his high) – in high spirits
rum – fine, good
St. Geoffrey’s Day – in other words, never, there being no such saint
sammy – foolish or silly
shilly-shally – irresolute
smoke (to) – to observe or suspect
smoky – curious, suspicious
spanish coin – fair words and compliments
spanking – large
sparkish – fine, gay
stiff-rumped – proud, stately
stubble it – hold your tongue
tittle-tattle – gossip, idle talk
totty-headed – hairbrained
trig it (to) – to play truant
twig -- to figure out
whisker -- a great lie
white feather – coward; an allusion to a game cock where, having a white feather proves he’s not a true gamebird
willow (to wear the) -- to be abandoned by a lover or mistress
windmills in the head -- foolish notions
Food
bachelor’s fare -- bread, cheese and kisses
grub – food (to grub – to dine)
gruts – peas
gutfoundered – hungry
kickshaws – French dishes( corruption of quelque chose)
negro heads – brown bread sent to ships in drydock
Old Pegg – Yorkshire cheese made of skimmed milk
pap – bread sauce fed to infants
papler – milk pottage
scandal broth – tea
slipslops – tea, water-gruel or any other such food taken medicinally
slop – tea
spread – butter
stomach worm -- hungry
Fighting terms
basted -- to beat (He basted me regular, like.)
battle royal -- gang fight
bruiser -- skilled boxer
brush -- run away
to stand buff -- not run away
click -- a blow (a click on the muns - knock to the face)
clout -- administer a blow
cunny-thumbed -- double one’s fist with thumb grasped inside, like a woman
daggers drawn -- ready to fight
dart -- straight arm blow in boxing
do -- to overcome one’s opponent (I’ve done him - I’ve beat him)
dowse on the chops -- blow to the face
drub -- to beat with a stick or rope’s end
facer – violent blow to the face
fag – to beat, to tire
Ferrara , Andrea – famous sword cutler
flea bite – trifling wound or injury
floor – to knock down
flying horse – wrestling term in which man throws his opponent over his own head
Irish beauty – woman with two black eyes
milling cove – fighter
muzzler – violent blow to the mouth
Furniture/Household Goods
glim – candle or lanterns; light
glimstick – candlestick
jordan – chamber pot
pot – chamber pot
sticks – furniture
voilder -- chamber pot
Cant
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
Racing
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 gallopturf (on the) -- person who keeps race horses, or attends races and bets on them, is said to be “on the turf
For those unfamiliar with the expression, "cant" is a British term referring to the slang spoken by criminals, waterfront rogues, gypsies, and other members of low society in England during the late 18th and early to mid 19th Century. The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was just one in a series of many versions written by the antiquarian, Captain Frances Grose. The first edition of the Dictionary was published in 1785. I have gone through the 1811 version and picked out the terms I feel are most pertinent to writers, and readers, of Georgian and Regency fiction.
Body Parts/Functions
ballocks -- testicles
baubles -- trinkets, testicles
beetle-browed -- thick projecting eyebrows
bellows -- lungs
birthday suit -- naked
bite -- woman’s genitals (the cull wapt the mort’s bite -- the fellow had sex with her)
blab -- tattle, tell secrets
blabber -- mouth (stop the cull’s blabber - fellow gagged or murdered into silence)
bone box – mouth
brat -- child
buff -- naked
bum -- butt
bum fodder -- toilet paper
bumfiddle -- butt
carrotty-pated -- red-headed
cat heads -- woman’s breaats
caudge-pawed -- left-handed
chops -- mouth Half Moon Street in the Strand. 1776
day lights – eyes
dugs - women’s breasts
fam/fambles – hands
fart catcher – footman or footboy
fat cull – rich fellow
feak – ass
fin – an arm
foxy – rank, stinking
fubsy – plump
gab or gob – mouth
gam(b)s – corruption of the French word jambes, meaning legs.
gigg – nose
gills – cheeks
gimlet-eyed -- person who squints
ginger-pated – red haired
glass-eyed – wears spectacles
glim(m)s – eyes
gooseberry-eyed – dull grey eyes
grinders – teeth
guts -- stomach
hams – thighs
head rails – teeth (sea slang)
hearing cheats – ears
hocks – feet
hoof – foot
hopper arsed – large projecting buttocks
ivories – teeth
jowl -- cheek
jury leg – wooden leg
knob or nob – head
lamp – eye
leak – (to leak) make water
lobcock – flaccid penis
lugs – ears
madge – woman’s sexual organs
man trap -- vagina
marrow bones – knees
mawley – hand
money – woman’s privates
muff -- woman’s privates
mummer – mouth
muns – face
mutton -- woman’s privates
muzzle – beard
nab/nib – face and mouth of a woman
notch – woman’s privates
nozzle – nose
nub – neck
nutmegs – testicles
ogles – eyes (rum ogles – fine eyes)
oven – large mouth
panter – heart
pate – head
paunch – belly
paw – hand
physog – face
phyz – face
piddle – to make water
pimple – head
pins – legs
puddings – guts
quim -- woman’s privates
rammer – arm
scut – (the tail of a rabbit) a woman’s privates
sconce – the head
shank – leg
smiter – arm
snags – large teeth
spider shanked – thin-legged
spindle shanks – thin legs
spoony – thin and haggard
spoon hand – the right hand
stumps – legs
sugar stick – penis
tallywags -- testicles
Thomas -- penis
throttle – throat
tools -- man’s privates
tripe -- belly or guts
trotters -- feet
trunk -- nose
upper story --head
wattles -- ears
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
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 rascalwag -- an arch, frolicsome fellow
Categories in this column are:
Alcohol
Body Parts/Functions/References
Clothing
Criminal Terms
Death/Disease
Emotional Terms/Expressions
Alcohol:
barley broth – strong beer
barrel fever -- drunkard
batch -- we had a batch of it last night (we drank a lot)
blue ruin -- gin
booze -- liquor
calibogus -- rum and spruce beer (American drink)
chapt (chapped?) -- dry, thirsty
clear -- drunk
cloud -- to blow a cloud (smoke a pipe or cigar)
commoner – empty bottle
cup-shot -- drunk
cut -- drunk
drunk as David’s sow
dead men -- empty bottles
diddle -- gin
disguised - drunk
drain - gin
dram -- small glass of spirits
dram-a-tick -- dram served on credit
draper -- an alehouse keeper
drop in the eye -- almost drunk
drunk as a wheelbarrow
drunk as an emperor -- ten times drunker than drunk as a lord
flip – small beer, brandy and sugar. When lemon is added, called a Sir Cloudsly
flustered – drunk
foxed – drunk
freeze – a thin, small hard cider used by vintners to water their wine.
French cream – brandy, so-called because dowagers add it to their tea
frog’s wine – gin
fuddle – drunk or drink (rum fuddle – excellent drink)
grog – rum and water
gun – he is in the gun (he is drunk) reference to vessels called “guns” used for ale at universities
guzzle – drink greedily
half seas over – almost drunk
hans in kelder (jack in the cellar) toast often drunk to breeding women or their husbands
hard – stale, nearly sour, beer
heart’s ease – gin
heel tap – peg in the heel of a boot, taken out when boot is done. Drinker is admonished to “take off your heel tape” by toastmaster. To drain your glass.
hick(e)y – tipsy
hob or nob – will you have a warm or cold beer? hob meaning warmed over a fire, or nob meaning left on the table.
hockey – drunk on strong beer
horse meal – meal without drinking
hot pot – hot ale and brandy
huckle my buff – hot beer, egg and brandy
hum cap – very old, strong beer; also called stingo
humming liquor – double ale, stout pharaoh
humpty dumpty – ale boiled with brandy
hunted – man is said to be hunted when it comes his turn to drink and he hasn’t yet emptied his former glass.
jack(e)y – gin
island – (as in, he drank out of the bottle until he saw the island) bottom of the bottle which appears as a rising island as the fluid is drunk
kill devil – new, still-burnt rum
kill priest – port wine
knock me down – strong ale or beer; stingo
Lady Dacre’s wine – gin
lamb’s wool – roasted apples put in strong ale
lightning – gin
lush – strong drink; (to lush – to drink) (lushey – to be drunk)
magnum bonum – bottle containing two quarts of wine
marine officer – empty bottle
master of the wardrobe – man who pawns his clothes to buy liquor
maudlin drunk – crying drunk
mauled – completely drunk
max – gin
mellow – almost drunk
suck a monkey – to suck or draw liquor out of a cask by means of a straw or tube
moonshine – white brandy smuggled on the coasts of Kent and Sussex; gin of north Yorkshire
mop up – to drink up; to empty a glass or pot
nappy ale – strong ale
nazy – drunken
neck stamper – potboy sent out to collect alehouse pots that have been sent out to private establishments
nip/nyp – half pint of ale (nipperkin- small vessel)
old harry – a composition vintners use to adulterate wine
parell – egg whites, bay salt, milk and water beat together and poured into a vessel of wine to prevent its fretting
pogy – drunk
pug drink – watered cider
purl – ale in which wormwood has been infused; ale and bitter drunk warm
purl royal – Canary wine with a dash of tincture of wormwood
rag water – gin or other spirits
red fustian – red wine
rot gut – small beer
rumbo – rum, water and sugar
scotch pint – bottle containing two quarts
Sir John Barleycorn – strong beer
six and tips – whiskey and small beer
size of ale – half a pint
sky blue – gin
snout – a hogshead
soak (to) – to drink (he’s a old soaker)
sponge – heavy drinker
stirrup cup – parting drink taken on horseback
stitchback – strong ale
strip-me-naked – gin
tallboy -- a bottle, or two quart pot
red tape – brandy
blue or white tape – gin
taplash – thick, bad beer
tipple – liquor
tipplers -- sots
toddy -- water, rum, sugar and nutmeg
tosspot -- drunkard
whet -- a morning draught, commonly white wine, supposed to sharpen the appetite.
Clothing
articles -- breeches, coats, waistcoat
diggers -- spurs
ditto - a suit of clothing all one color
doash -- cloak
drawers – stockings
goloshes – large leather clogs worn by invalids over their ordinary shoes
ham cases -- breeches
well equipped -- well dressed
inexpressibles – breeches
kicks – breeches (high kick – top of fasnion)
lullies – wet diaper or linens
nab cheat – hat
pike (to pike off – run away) run
rigging – clothing
rippons – spurs
shappo (chappo) -- hat
small clothes – breeches
smicket – a smock or woman’s shift
thimble -- a watch
tick – a watch
tiring – dressing
toge -- coat
togeman – coat
togs -- clothes
trim – state of dress; to be well-trimmed (well-dressed)a
wiper -- handkerchief
Criminal Terms
to amuse -- fling something into victims eyes, someone else comes along and robs them; to delude a shopkeeper; to invent a plausible tale.
amusers -- fellow that flings the dirt etc... in victims eyes
angler -- fellow who uses a stick with a hook to life goods from shop windows
Arch Rogue/Dember Damleer/Upright Man -- leader of a gang of thieves
ark ruffians -- thieves, in conjunction with watermen, who rob and sometimes murder their victims, then throw them overboard.
Mine Aunt -- procuress
autem divers -- pick pockets in churches. Term is also applied to church wardens & overseers of the poor.
barrow man -- man under sentence of transportation
bawd -- procuress
beak -- judge, justice, magistrate (I clapped my peepers full of tears and so the beak set me free)
to cry beef -- to sound the alarm
beggar’s bullets -- stones
benefeakers -- someone who passes counterfeit bills
bess/betty -- small instrument used by housebreakers to force open doors (bring bess & glym -- bring instrument & lantern)
bilk -- cheat
to bite -- steal (bite the roger -- steal the portmanteau) (to bite the wiper -- steal the handkerchief)
black art -- picking locks
black legs -- gambler or sharper on the turf or in the cockpit
blind -- feint
blind harper -- beggars feigning blindness
blockhouse -- jail/prison
blood money -- reward
blow -- he has bit the blow (he has stolen the goods)
to blow the gab -- confess
blue pigeons -- thieves who steal lead off houses and churches
bob -- person who receives or carries stolen goods (all is bob - all is safe its all bob - coast is clear)
boned -- seized by constable
bo-peeper -- look out
boung nipper -- cut purse
to raise the breeze -- make a disturbance
buckles -- fetters
budge -- housebreaker who steals clothing
bugging -- to replace something valuable with a facsimile
bulk and file -- 2 pickpockets; one jostles the mark, the other lifts the item off him
bully back -- man who works in a prostitute house as a kind of body guard for the women, but also lifts money etc. off patrons
bully cock -- instigate a quarrel to rob victim
bully ruffian -- highwayman
to bum -- to arrest a debtor
bum trap/bum bailiff -- officer who arrests debtors
bummed -- arrested
buzman --pickpocket
cadge -- beg
carriers -- lookouts at inns and roadhouses who report back to their gangs
charm -- a pick lock
chates -- gallows
chive/chiff -- knife, file or saw
chiving lay -- to cut coach braces, the account the coachman and rob
clanker -- great lie
clap on the shoulder -- arrested
to click -- to snatch (to click a nab - snatch a hat)
clink -- jail
cloak twitchers -- thieves who hang around entrances to alleys and by-lanes to snatch cloaks from pedestrians
cracksman -- housebreaker
crim con -- criminal conspiracy
crimp -- fence
cross bite -- one who combines with a sharper to entrap someone
cruisers -- highway spies, usually beggars
cunning man -- cheat who uses astrology to supposedly help people recover stolen goods, fortune teller, usually woman
cunning shaver -- sharp fellow
curbing -- the act of hooking goods out of a window
dawb -- bribe
dimber damber -- top man of a gang, completest cheat, prince
dip -- for a wig
dipt -- pawned or mortgaged
dive --to pick a pocket, a thief who stands ready to receive goods out the window from a little boy put inside a window.
diver -- pickpocket who lives in a cellar
do -- to rob (I have done him -- I’ve robbed him)
dobin rig -- to steal ribbons from haberdashers early in the AM or late at night.
drag lay -- to wait in the street to rob carts and wagons
to draw -- pick pockets
drop cove -- to drop something in front of a mark and pretend it’s valuable in order to borrow money from the mark.
dub -- master key, picklock
dubber -- picker of locks
duffers -- cheats who pretend to deal in smuggled goods
fagger – little boy put through a window to rob a house
fakement – forgery
fam lay – going into a goldsmith’s shop pretending to want to buy and palming rings, etc…(using wax or something sticky on palm to do so)
fawney rig – common fraud where one person drops brass piece on the ground and another comes along. Declares it’s gilt and sells it to the pigeon for less than it supposedly is worth. See money dropper.
figger – boy out thru a window to hand out the goods to a diver. See also, fagger.
filch – thief who uses a hook to snag clothing off a hedge or out of a casement. Fire priggers – looters who show up at fires under pretense of helping remove goods.
footpad – thief on foot
fork – a pickpocket who uses his fingers like hooks
gag – to prop open a victim’s mouth so he can’t call for assistance
gagger – cheats who sham and make up stories of suffering to gull well-meaning people
gallows bird – thief or pickpocket
game – robbing
gang – a group of criminals
garnish – entrance fee demanded by older prisoners to newcomers
gigger – a latch or door
ginny – instrument to lift up a grate in order to steal what’s in a window.
grappling irons – handcuffs
grease – to bribe
rum dubber – lock picker
horn mad – jealous husband or lover
heels – (to be laid by) put in prison
high pad – highwayman
hush – murder
jumpers – people who rob houses by getting in by the window
money droppers – cheats who drop money, which they pretend to find in from of some gullible fellow who then accompanies them to an ale house where their confederates cheat or rob him.
morning drop – the gallows
natty lads – young thieves or pickpockets
nip – a cheat
nose – a person who gives King’s evidence (to nose – to give evidence or inform)
nubbing – hanging (nubbing cheat – gallows)
office – (to give the office) to inform or identify criminal for police
owlers – smugglers of wool to France
Paddington Fair Day – an execution day at Tyburn in the parish of Paddington
pig – police officer
pigeon – weak silly fellow, easily imposed upon
rook - a cheat
ruffles – handcuffs
rum bite —a clever cheat
scragged – hanged
sharper -- one who lives by his wits; a cheat
snaffle -- steal
to top -- to cheat or trick, also to insultwiper drawer -- handkerchief thief
Death/Disease
put to bed with a mattock and tucked up with a spade (killed & buried)
to kick the bucket - to die
cast up accounts -- vomit
chatts – lice
creepers -- lice
churchyard cough -- one likely to end in death
claret -- I stopped his claret (killed him)
cropped – hanged
cundum -- condom invented by Colonel Cundum sold by a woman named Philips
gentleman’s companion – a louse
grunter – invalid who complains
hash – (to flash the hash) vomit
frenchified -- infected with venereal disease
frisk – (to frisk) to be hanged
hum durgeon – imaginary illness
kick the bucket – die
light troops – lice
livestock – lice or fleas
lock hospital – hospital for venereal patients
machines --condoms
ningimmer – physician or surgeon who treats venereal disease
nostrum – quack medicine
ottomised – dissected
oyster – spital or phlegm of a consumptive
props – crutches
pucker water -- water with alum or another astringent (used to counterfeit virginity)
scotch greys – lice
scotch fiddle – the itch
shanker -- venereal wart
spanish gout – the pox
stewed quaker – burnt rum with butter; an American remedy for a cold
token -- the plague, also venereal disease
Venus’ curse -- venereal disease
windward passage (one who navigates)-- sodomite
Emotional Terms/Expressions
all-a-gog -- impatient
all-a-mort -- struck dumb
beat all hollow -- conquered
alititude -- drunk
arsey varsey -- head over heels
save my bacon -- rescue
bam -- humbug
bamming -- making fun
bamboozle -- make a fool of
banbury tale -- nonsensical story
cock & bull story -- nonsensical story
bang up -- well done
bewattled -- surprised, confounded
bing -- bing avast (get you gone) (bing we London? shall we go to London?)
bird-witted -- inconsiderate, thoughtless (I ain’t so bird-witted)
buss blind cheeks -- kiss my ass
blue-devil -- depressed
bluff -- fierce, surly (he looked as bluff as blue beef)
bobbed -- cheated
bobbish -- clever, smart
bottle-headed -- without brains
bottom -- strength & spirit
he’s up in the boughs - in a passion
bracket-faced -- ugly
bran-faced -- freckled
brazen-faced -- bold, shameless
bread and butter fashion -- done according to the rules, in order, fashion
brown study -- lost in thought
bubble -- to cheat
buffle-headed -- confused, stupid
to bullock -- to bully
cackle -- blab (the cull is leaky & cackles - the fellow tells all)
cating -- preach with a whining tone
cheek by jowl -- living hand to mouth, hand to fist
cheese it -- be quiet
chuckle-headed -- cowardly
to clip & cling -- to hug and embrace
crook your elbow -- crook my elbow and wish it never comes straight (oath of truthfulness)
come home by weeping cross - to repent in the end
curtain lecture -- woman berating her husband
cut - to leave a person of company
cut direct - cross the street to avoid a person
cut indirect -- to look another way and appear not to observe
cut sublime -- to admire the clouds until person is gone
cut infernal -- admire your shoes until the person is gone
devilish -- very
queer as Dick’s hatband -- out of sorts
dicked in the nob -- crazy
dished up -- totally ruined
fat headed – stupid
feague – encourage or spirit up
fine as five pence – very nice, good
flim flam – lies, idle stories
flash – knowing
fly – knowing, (the rattling cove is fly – the coachman knows what we’re about)
fobbed off – deceived
foolish – opposite of flash (Is he foolish or flash? – i.e. stupid or knowing?)
friday faced – dismal, down in the dumps, depressed
frosty faced – pox marked
fustian – bombast language
gamon – to deceive or tell lies. Humbug.
gift of gab – glib
go – as in all the go. Someone bang up to the mark.
green, greenhead, greenhorn – inexperienced person
hang gallows look – villainous appearance
hanker – long for
havy cavy – suspicious, doubtful
high ropes – to be in a passion
hoaxing – ridicule, banter, joke (university slang)
hobby horse – favorite amusement or study
honey moon – first month after marriage
hoop – to beat
hum, humbug – deceive
hipped or hypped – to be in low spirits, blue-deviled
jaw – to talk (a real jaw-me-dead – tallkative)
odd kick in his gallop – strange whim or peculiarity
kidney (of strange) – odd fellow
least in sight – hide or keep out of the way
leg – (to make a) to bow
lick – beat
maggoty – whimsical, capricious
nacky – ingenious
nation – short for damnation; means very good (a nation long way)
nickin/nikey/nizey – soft, simple fellow
noddy – to be simple or foolish
nug – an endearment (my dear nug – my dear love)
oar (to put in one’s oar) to give one’s opinion
old hand – expert
palaver – African word for treaty, talk or conference
patter – to talk
pickle – (in a pickle)
(continued in next column)