Victorian Slang, part 1
This dictionary, cribbed from Victorian London, gave me fun and frolics for .
Flash Dictionary [–pub. J. Duncombe–] 1848
A.
ABBESS, a bawd, the mistress of a bawdyken.
Abbott’s Priory, the King’s Bench Prison
Abram Cove, a naked or poor man, a sturdy beggar in rags
Above par, having the needful, possession of the poney, plenty of money, ‘ best bliss of earth’
Abram men, fellows dressing themselves in various rags, old ribbon, fox tails beg-[-96-]ging in the streets, pretending to be mad, fellows who steal pocket books only
Abram, to sham, to slum, to pretend sickness
Academy, a brothel, bagnio
Academican, a scholar at an academy, a whore at a brothel
Academy, a floating, a hulk at Woolwich for convicts
Ack ruffians, rogues who in conjunction with watermen sometimes rob and murder on the water
Ack pirates, fresh water thieves who steal on navigable rivers
Acting the deceitful, performing, mumming, acting
Adam, a henchman, an accomplice
Adam’s ale, our first father’s drink, water, ‘best with brandy’
Adam tiler, a receiver of stolen goods, a pickpocket, a fence
Affair of honour, killing an innocent man in a duel
All set, desperate fellows, ready for any kind of mischief
Alderman in chains, turkey and sausages
Alive, awake, fly, up, leary, acquainted with
All out, the reckoning drank out, ‘How stands the account ‘twixt me and vengeance?’
Ambidexter, one who snacks in gaming with both parties
Amen curler, a parish clerk
Anglers or starrers, an order of thieves who break show glasses in jeweller’s windows to steal the goods
Angling cove, a receiver of stolen goods
Angelics, young unmarried ladies
Anointed, knowing, ripe for mischief
Arm props, crutches
Arch rogue, the chief of a gang of thieves, or gypsies
Arch doxey, the same among female canters or gypsies
Astronomer, a star gazer, a horse that carries his head high
As right as a trevit, the tippy all right
A pig’s whisper, a grunt, ‘a word twixt you and me’
Aunt, a bawd, sometimes called mother
Autem, a church, meeting- house
Autem cacklers, dissenters of all sects
Autem bawler, a preacher, a parson
Autem dippers, anabaptists
Autem cackel tub, a meeting-[-97-]house for dissenters, a pulpit
Autem divers, pickpockets who practise in churches ; also churchwardens and overseers of the poor, who defraud, deceive, and impose on the parish
Autemn gogglers, conjurors, fortune tellers
Autem mort, or mot, a woman of the same sect, a beggar, a prostitute
Autem quaver’s tub, a quaker’s meeting house
B.
BABES in the wool, rogues in the stocks or pillory
Bacon-faced, full faced
Back slums, low unfrequented parts in the metropolis
Badge coves, parish pensioners
Badge, one burnt in the hand
Badger, to confound, perplex, or tease
Badgers, forestallers and murderers
Bag the swag, pocket your portion, hide your whack
Baggage, a slut, a common prostitute
Ball o’wax, a snob or shoemaker
Ballumn ranorum, a hop or a dance, where the women are all prostitutes
Balsam, rag, rhino, money
Balm, a lie
Bindog, a bum-bailiff
Bank, a depository for cash at a gaming-table
Bandy, a tanner, a sixpence
Banyan day, Saturday, when there’s nothing left to eat
Bantling, a young child
Bar that, cheese it, stow it, don’t mention it
Barber’s clerks, conceited ignorant shop-boys
Bark, an Irishman
Barker, a salesman’s servant, a prowler to pick up country- men in the streets
Barking irons, pistols
Barnacles, spectacles
Battered bully, an old gloak, well milled huffing fellow
Bawd, a procuress, a woman that keeps a brothel
Batter, on ox
Beak, a justice of the peace, a magistrate
Beak, rum, a justice who will do any thing for money
Beak queer, a magistrate that is particurlaly [-sic, ed.-] strict to his duty
Beaks out on the nose, magistrates out on a search night
Beaksrnan, traps
Bear leader, a travelling tutor
Beat, a watchman’s walk
Beaver or tile, a hat
Beck or harman, a beadle
[-98-] Beeswax, cheese
Belch, malt liquor
Ben, or Sam, a raw, a novice
Bean traps, genteel dressed sharpers, fortune hunters
Beef, to alarm, to discover, to pursue
Belly cheat, an apron, a pad
Belly timber, food of all sorts
Belly-go-fister, a hard blow on the belly
Bene, prime, good
Bene cove, hearty fellow, a tramp
Bene bowse, good beer
Bene of gibes, counterfeiters of passes
Bene darmans, good night
Bene fakers, counterfeiters
Bender, a shilling
Benjamin, a top coat, a great coat
Betty, a small picklock
Bever, an afternoon’s luncneon [-sic, ed.-]
Better half, an ironical name for a wife
Biddy, a fowl, a capon, or chicken; a young chicken
Bilboa, a sword, or any pointed instrument
Billing and cooing, the sexes humbugging one another; courting
Bilk, to swindle, cheat
Bing, to cut, go away
Bingo, spirituous liquors
Bingo boy, a male dram drinker
Bingo rnot, a female dram drinker
Bit, money
Big’uns, men of consequence
Bit, taken in, duped
Bit, queer, counterfeit money
Bit cull, a coiner
Bit smasher, an utterer of base coin
Bit of cavalry, a knacker, a saddle horse
Bit of muslin, a flame, a sweetheart
Bitch, to, to yield, to give up an attempt thro’ fear
Bitch, to, a character, or to perform any thing badly
Biting your name in, taking a large draught, drinking greedily
Blab, a prating stupid fellow, a fool
Blab, to, to nose, to chatter, to tell secrets
Black beetles, the lower order of people
Black diamonds, coals, or coal heavers
Black boy, a clergyman
Black Indies, Newcastle
Black strap, port wine
Black box or knob, a lawyer
Black spy, an informer
Black act, act of picking locks
Black cove dubber, a gaoler or turnkey
Black-legs, sharpers, fellows who lay wagers, and after [-99-] losing cannot pay them ; a professed gambler
Black houses, prisons
Blank, frustrated, baffled
Blarney, a wonderful story flattery. See Gammon
Bleaters, lambs, sheep
Bleats, a sheep stealer
Bleak mot, a fair girl
Bleeder, a crammer, a lie
Blind, to, to cheat under a pretence
Blind harpers, itinerant vagabonds with harps
Blinker, a one-eyed horse
Block,, jemmy, pipkin head
Block houses, prisons
Blow out, a belly full, an extraordinary meal
Blow a cloud, smoking a pipe
Blow the gab, to split, to expose, inform
Blow, to split, tell, expose
Blow me tight, a sort of burlesque oath ; as, If I don’t I’m jigger’d, &c.
Blowings, prostitutes
Blue ruin, gin
Blue devils, blues, low spirits, horror struck
Blue pigeon filers, or flyers, thieves who steal lead from the tops of houses and churches
Blubber, to whine, to cry
Bluff, to bustle, look big
Bluffer, an impudent imposing fellow of an inn-keeper
Blunderbuss, a stupid ignorant fellow
Blunt, tip, rag, money
Boarding school, a house of correction, or prison
Bob, a shilling
Bob, a shoplifter’s assistant
Bob-stick, a hog, a shilling
Bobtail, a lewd woman, or prostitute
Bobbery, a disturbance, a row
Bobbish, tol lol, pretty well in health
Body bag, a shirt
Body snatchers, bailiffs, police officers
Buggy, kiddy, covey
Bog trotters, lower orders of Irishmen
Bogey, old Nick, the devil
Bolt the moon, to cheat the landlord by taking the goods away in the night, without paying the rent
Bolt, cut, go, make yourself scarce
Bolted, hopped the twig, shuffled, gone
Bone, to steal
Bone box, the mouth
Bonesetter, a hackney coach
Bonnnetter, a thump on the hat
Bon vivant, a choice spirit, a jolly dog
Booth,, a place for harbouring thieves
Booked, in for it, dished
[-100-] Booze, drink
Boozy, drunk
Boozing ken, a lush crib, a sluicery, ale-house
Bore, a tedious story, or a vexatious circumstance
Bordell, a bawdyken, house of ill fame
Bottle-head stupid, void of sense
Bought, anything that’s dearly’ paid for
Bounce, to lie, to swagger
Bounceable, proud, saucy
Bower, the, Newgate
Bowsprit, cork snorter, the nose
Bow wow mutton, cag mag, dog’s flesh, bad ill-looking meat
Bow wow broth, broth made of stinking meat
Bow mam, a thief
Box o’dominos, mouth and teeth
Box of ivory, the teeth
Box Harry, to go without victuals
Boxed, locked up
Boxing a Charley, upsetting a watchman in his box
Brads, money
Brass, impudence
Bracket face, devilish ugly
Bravoes, bullies
Bread basket, the stomach
Breaking shins, borrowing money
Breeze, kicking up a, exciting a disturbance
Brisket beater, a Roman Catholic
Brick, a loaf
Broads, cards
Brogue, Irish accent
Broom, go, cut, be gone
Browns, copper coin
Brown Bess, a soldier’s fire-lock
Brown suit, no go
Brown gater droppings, heavy wet, heavy brown, beer
Brush, or buy a brush, be off, make yourself scarce
Brusher, a full glass
Brushed off, run away
Bub, guzzle, drink
Bubble, to cheat, defraud
Bub, rum, good liquor
Bin, queer, bad liquor
Buff, to to swear falsely, to perjure
Buffer, a perjurer
Buffer napper, dog stealer
Bug, to damage
Buggaboes, sheriff’s officers
Buggy, a one-horse chaise
Bugging, money taken by bailiffs not to arrest a person
Bull, a blunder
Bull, crown piece
Bull, half a crown piece
Bull dogs, pistols
Bulk, a fellow that attends a pickpocket, to receive stolen goods
[-101-] Bully, a cowardly blustering fellow, pretended husband to a bawd or prostitute
Bully rocks, impudent villians kept to preserve order in houses of ill fame
Bully traps, pretended constables called to frighten the unwary and extort money
Bum, a bailiff
Bum’d, arrested
Bunce of dog’s meat, a squalling child in arms
Bunce of fives, the closed hand, the fist
Bunch of onions, chain and seals
Bunter, a low-life woman
Buntlings, petticoats-
Bung-eyed, drunk, tipsy
Burning the ken, vagabonds residing in an alehouse and leaving it without paying the reckoning
Buss, a kiss
Bustle, ready money
Buster or burster, a loaf of bread
Button, a bad shilling
Buttering up, praising, flittering
Buttock and file, pickpocket
Buzman, a pickpocket
Buz, a pickpocket
Bye-blow, a bastard
C.
CABBAGE, tailors’ perquisites
Cadger, a beggar, a scranning cove, a mean sort of a thief
Cag mag, stinking or bad meat
Cake, an easy stupid fellow
Camesa, a shirt or shift
Canary bird, the inmate of a prison
Cank, dumb, silent
Cannister, see Block
Cant, mock religion, language of methodists
Canter gloak, a parson, a liar
Canting, language of thieves, gypsies, beggars, &c
Canting crew, impostors who go about preaching, methodists, &c.
Canticle, a parish clerk
Cap, to, to out do, to beat –
Caper merchant, a dancing master
Captain tober, first-rate highwayman
Captain, head of a gang, a bully
Captain Flashman, a blustering fellow, a coward
Captain queer Nabs, a dirty fellow without shoes
Captain Sharp, a cheat, a bully
Caravan, great quantity of money
Carrion case, shirt and shift
Carrion hunters, undertakers
Castor, a tile, a hat
Cass, cheese
Cast your skin, strip naked
[-102-] Cat, a drunken, fighting prostitute
Cat’s meat, the constitution, the body
Cat’s meat shop, an eating house
Catastrophe, behind, seat of honour
Catchpole, bailiff
Catgut scraper, a violin player
Cavil, to jaw, quarrel
Cavon, an old wig, or jasey
Chimmy, a shift
Chaff, irritating, or ironical language, to banter
Chaffer, the mouth
Chaffing crib, a drinking room where bantering is carried on
Chalk, advantage
Chalks, the legs
Chant, a flash song
Chancery, head in, said in fighting, of him whose head is held fast under the arm of his antagonist, and gets punished with little chance of extricating himself, unless he floors his man
Charley, a watchman
Charm, picklock
Chats, lice
Chates, the gallows
Chaw-bacons, countrymen, bumpkins
Cheeks, an imaginary person nobody ; as, who does that belong to? Cheeks.
Cheese it, stow it, give over, drop it
Cheese cutters, bandy legs
Chere amie, a bed fellow a sweetheart
Chickster, a flame, a prostitute
Chink, rhino, rag, money
Chiv, a bleeder, a knife
Chizzle, to gammon, cheat
Chuff, jolly, merry
Chum, a bedfellow, a companion, fellow prisoner
Chummy, or clergyman, a sweep
Civil rig, a trick of the beggars to obtain by over civility
Clean shirt day, Sunday
Clankers, silver tankards
Clapper dudgeon, a beggar born
Claret, blood
Cleaned, out mucked, having lost all your money
Clench it, complete the thing finish the business
Clerked, cheated, imposed upon
Clicks in the gob, thumps in the mouth
Click, a knock down blow
Clinkers, fetters
Clickman toad, a watch * (It was originally called so from time following circumstance. A gentleman passing through some part of the West of England, by accident lost his watch, and a greenhorn hearing it tick imagined it to be some live creature; so with the greatest astonishment carried it to his neighbours, who, equally amazed as himself, (for noise of them had ever heard of such a thing as a watch) thought it was some reptile, and so christened it a Clickman toad ; and with a view to get a breed of young. clickman toads, put it with a real toad ; but after making many fruitless trials, they all assembled togeher and dashed its brains out for madness.)
[-103-] Clink, to nab, to snatch
Clockey, a watchman
Cloy, to steal
Cly or clie, a pocket
Coach wheel, a crown piece
Cock chafer, a lady bird, a prostitute
Cloaker, drop at Newgate
Coffee-mill, watchman’s rattle.
Cock, a trump, good fellow
Cob, a dollar
Cobble colter, a turkey
Cog, to cheat with dice
Cogue, a glass of gin
Colt, one who lets horses to highwaymen
Coal-scuttle, a large bonnet
Cole, or coal, blunt, money
Collector, a highway robber
Colguarian, the neck
College, the King’s Bench or Fleet Prison
Commission, a shirt
Commission, to shake your, to shake your whole frame
Conk, the sneezer, the nose
Convenient, a mistress
Cooler, a glass of porter
Coal-box, chorus of a song
Cod, haughty meddling fool
Come down, to give, stand, treat
Come out, worse than very bad, execrable
Communicator, bell
Conk, the nose
Collar, to grab, snatch,
Cooped in durance vile, to lock up in a goal
Corinth, a brothel
Coriander seed, money
Corinthians, men of rank
Corpus, the body
Core, the heart –
Coppers, halfpence
Conveyancers, thieves
Costermongers, jackass boys, venders of greens &c.
Cove, or covey, a fellow
Cove, a receiver of stolen goods
Covess of a ken, a female keeper of a brothel
Cove, lumber, a person that keeps a place for thieves
Cover me decent, a top tog, a great coat
Cover me properly, fashionable toggery
Cover me queerly, ragged rainment
Court-card, a trump
Counting-house, Mrs. Jones’s, the privy
[-104-] Coxy fuss, billing and cooing
Crabb shells, shoes
Crack, to break open
Cracksman, a housebreaker
Crack’d canister, a broken head
Cramp-rings, fetters
Crammer, a lie
Cramp words, sentence of death passed on a criminal
Crap, money
Crapp’d, hanged
Craping curl, an executioner
Creeme, to put money in the hands of another
Crank, gin and water
Crib, to thieve
Crib, a ken, a mean looking room
Crikey, a word of wonderment
Crimp, a decoyer, kidnapper
Crony, a companion
Cropping, the tail
Cross, on the, getting a living by dishonest beans
Cross fight, a sold battle
Cross bite, to cheat a friend
Cross the herring pond, transported to Botany-bay
Crowdsman, a fiddler
Crummy, fat
Crusty, vexed, chagrined
Cub, a young child
Cucumbers, tailors
Cuffin queer, a magistrate
Culch, cag mag meat, or the refuse of anything
Culp, a kick
Cup-hot, very drunk
Cur, a sneak, a coward
Curbing law, to take goods out of a window
Curl, clippings of money
Curlers, Jews who sweat gold coin by rubbing them together, for the dust
Cursi[-c?-]on , broken down lawyers, Newgate attorneys
Cussin, a man
Cut, sheer off, go, avoid, or shun a companion
Cut bene, to speak gently
D.
DAB, a bed
Dab, one who is clever
Dad, a father
Daffy, max, gin
Dagen, a sword
Daddle, the hand
Damn, to crush, to do away with a drama
Damp your mugs, wet your mouth, drink
Dandy, a swell, an exquisite
Dancers, stairs
Darby, ready money
Darbies, sausages, fetters
Darby’s fair, the day when felons are removed to Newgate for trial
Darkey, night
Darkmans, the night
Darken the daylights, to close up the eyes
Dash, a waiter
Dash, a portion
[-105-] Daylights, the eyes
Dealers in queer, passers of bad money
Dead beat, done over
Derrick to, to set out on an enterprise
Deuce, twopence
Deux wins, two pence
Dews, a crown piece
Dew-beaters, the feet
Diamond squad, folks of quality big’uns
Diamond a horn, to, to put a stone under the shoe, to sham walking lame
Diddle, spirituous liquors
Diddle cove, landlord of a gin shop, &c.
Diddle, to cheat
Die proud, or game, to die with courage, on hardened
Dimmock, money
Dumber, handsome pretty
Dimber damber, the king of the canting crew
Dimber cove, a pretty cove, or fellow
Dumber mot, an enchanting girl
Ding, to throwaway
Ding boy, a rogue, knave, or sly fellow
Dinger, a pickpocket, or thief
Dipper, anabaptists
Dock yarder, a skulk in any sly place
Doctors, false dice
Doff, to uncover take your hat off
Dollop, a handful
Dominic, a parson
Done brown, done over, queered, floored
Donovans, potatoes
Donkey’s ears, a false collar
Don’t name em’s, inexpressibles, breeches
Dorse, a place of rest
Douse the glimm, blow out the light
Doughey, a baker
Down, fly, awake, knowing
Down in the mouth, having nothing to say, low spirited
Doxy, girl of the town
Dozing crib, a sleeping room
Drag, a cart or waggon
Drap, a drop
Draw it mild, gently
Draw latches, robbers of houses
Drawers, stockings
Drawing a cork, giving a bloody nose
Drawing a thimble, picking a pocket of a watch
Drawing a wiper, picking a pocket of a handkerchief
Drawing a long bow, telling a lying story for truth
Dromedary, a clumsy thief a young beginner
Drop, the squeezer at Newgate
Drops, who go about to public [-106-] houses to cheat unwary countrymen at cards
Droppings, heavy wet, beer
Dub, a key
Dub the jigger, fasten the door
Dubber, a picker of locks
Duds, togs, clothes
Duds cheer, ragged, poor
Duffers, swindlers, who go about with articles pretending they are smuggled and to sell them at an apparently cheap rate
Dummy, a stupid fellow, one who has nothing to say for himself
Duke of limbs, a deformed person
Dunnaken, if it be necessary to explain the word, a privy
Dupe, a victim to artifice and misrepresentation
Durance vile, prison
Dutch reckoning, bad reckoning
Dust, money
Dustman, sleep, or drowsiness
E.
EARWIG, a crony, a close friend
Earth stoppers, horses feet
Elbow shaker, a dice rattler, a gambler
English Burgundy, strong beer
Eriffs, young thieves in training
Eve droppers, vagabonds who rob hen roosts
F.
FACER, a blow on the face, a bumper
Fadge, a farthing
Fag, to ill use, to work hard
Fakements, scraps, morsels
Fast trotters, good horses, rum prads
Fam, a ring
Fams, or fambles, hands
Fancy, the ton of low life
Farmer, an alderman
Fastener, a warrant
Faulkner, a juggler, a tumbler
Fawney, a ring
Feck, to, to discover which is the safest way of obtaining stolen goods
Feeder, a spoon
Feint, pawnbroker
Felt, a hat
Fem, a hole
Fence, a receiver of stolen goods
Fencing ken, a house where stolen goods are deposited
Feret, a pawnbroker
Fib, to fight, to box
Fibbing, pummelling a head while in chancery
Flich me some panea and causau, cut me some bread and cheese
Fiddler, a sixpence
Fiddle, a watchman’s rattle
Fiery snorter, a red nose
Field lane duck, a baked sheep’s head
[-107-] Fig out, to dress
Figure, a little boy put in at a window to hand goods to his accomplice
Filcher, a thief
File, a rum, an odd fellow
Filch, to steal
Fin, arm
Fishfag, a woman that sells fish
Fishooks, the fingers
Fives,the fingers
Fives, a bunch of, the fist, the hand closed
Flag, groat, fourpence
Flame, a bit of muslin, a sweetheart
Flankey, the behind, the part you sit on
Flash of lightning, a glass of gin
Flash, language used by thieves, gypsies; to sport
Flashman, a prostitute’s bully
Flash cove, the keeper of a place for the reception of stolen goods
Flashing his gab, showing off his talk
Flash his ivory, showing off his teeth
Flat, a raw, an inexperienced fellow, a fool
Flat-catcher, an article to dupe the public
Fleec’d, clean’d out, stript
Flick, to cut
Flicker, a drinking glass
Flimsies, Bank of England notes
Flipper, the hand
Floating academy, the hulks at Woolwich for convicts
Flogger, a whip
Floored, knocked down
Floorers, fellows who throw people down in the street, &c. when their companions under the pretence of assisting, rob them
Flowers of society, the ornaments of high life, big’uns
Fly, up, acquainted with
Flyers, shoes
Flying colours, to come off with, to come off with luck, to do anything with advantage to yourself
Flue faker, a chummy, a sweep
Fogle, pocket handkerchief
Fogo, stink
Fog, smoke
Fogus, tobacco
Fogay, a stupid fellow
Footing, money paid by a prostitute when going among her companions, also money paid on entering into any trade or calling amongst mechanics
Fork, a pocket
Forh [-sic, ed-] it out, to produce anything by the hand
Forks, fore and middle fingers
Fresh water bay, Fleet-market
Frisk, mischief
[-108-] Frontispiece, the face
Frow, a prostitute
Frummag’d, choked, or hang’d
Frumper, sturdy blade
Fudge, gammon
Fuller’s earth, gin
Fumbles, gloves
Funk, stew, to fret
Funk, to cheat, alarm, to smoke, stink
Funkers, the very lowest order of thieves
G.
GAS, the mouth
Gaff, a fair
Gaffing, tossing with the pie man
Gag high, on the whisper, nosing, telling secrets
Gag low, the last degree of beggary; to ask alms in the streets with a pretended broken limb
Gage, a quart pot
Gaggler’s coach, a hurdel
Gaiters, blacklegs, gamblers
Galligaskins, breeches
Gams, the legs
Game, courageous, sturdy, hearty, hardened
Gammon, falsehood or bombast
Gammoners, cheats, swindlers
Gan, the month
Gape seed, anything that attracts the sight
Garnish, money demanded of people entering into prison
Gay tyke boys, dog fanciers
Gee, suitable; that won’t gee, wont do
Gelter, money
Gentry cove, a gentleman
Gentry ken, a gentleman’ s house
George, yellow, a guinea
George, a half crown piece
Gig, fun, nonsense, ready, on the alert
Gill, a cove, fellow
Gills, cheeks
Gin spinner, proprietor of a gin shop
Ginny, an instrument to lift up a crate, in order to steal what articles are in the window
Giving turnips, to cut acquaintance, to shun any body
Glazier, one that breaks windows and show glasses in order to steal goods exposed for sale
Glibe, a writing
Glim, the candle, or light
Glims, peepers, eyes
Glims flashy, a person in a passion
Glim Jack, a link
Glimstick, a candlestick
Glim fenders, hand irons
Gloak, a man
Glue, the lady’s fever, venereal disease
[-109-] Gnostics, knowing ones
Go it, keep on
Go slow, draw it mild, easy
Go by, to rise by superior force turn the tables, against you
Gob stick, a silver table spoon
God permit, a stage coach
Goggles, the eyes
Goldfinch, yellow boy, gold coin
Gone to pot, become poor in circumstances, gone to the dogs
Goose, to, to hiss like a goose
Goth, A, a fool an idiot
Grabb, snatch
Grab the bit, to seize the money
Grabbed, taken, or apprehended
Grand strut, Rotten Row, Bond Street
Grand twig, in prime style
Grannurn gold, old hoarded coin
Gravel digger, a sharp toed dancer
Gravel tax, money robbed from people on the highway
Grease, money
Greek, St. Giles’s, slang language
Greeks, gamblers, blacklegs
Green bag, lawyer
Green, raw, unlearned
Greenhorn, a sponge, a raw, countryman
Grig, merry fellow, merry companion
Grinders, the teeth
Groaners, a sort of wretches who attend meetings, sighing and looking demure; in the meantime their pals pick the pockets of those persons who may be in the same pew with them. They also rub the congregation of their watches, as they are coining out of church exchange their hats for good ones jocosely called hat making steal prayer-books, &c. ; also fellows who go around with street preachers, who, while the mock parson is preaching, they pick the pockets of the listeners
Groat, a flag, four-pence
Gingham, a horse
Gropers, blind men
Gropusses, the pockets
Ground sweat, to be buried
Grub, provender, victuals
Grub and bub, victuals and drink
Grunter, a pig
Grunter, a bob, shilling
Guinea pig, a fellow who receives a guinea for puffing off an unsound horse
Gull, to cheat, circumvent
Gulpin, a raw, a yokel unlearned
Gum, abusive language
[-110-] Gun-powder, an old woman
Gutter lane, the throat
Gutting a quart pot, drinking a pot of beer
H.
Hack, a hackney coach
Half and half, half seas over, tipsy
Half a bull, half a crown
Half a hog, half a shilling
Half a grunter, sixpence
Half nap, venture, hesitation
Hams, breeches
Hammering, excessive heavy thumps with the fists
Hamlet, high constable
Hand over, to bribe evidence not to appear against a culprit, to drop an argument, an action
Handle the ribbing, to knock the ribs about
Hang it up, to leave a reckoning unpaid at a public house
Handle, a tool, a silly fellow
Hard up, in a queer way, money all gone
Harman, a constable
Harmans, the stocks
Havannah, under a canopy of, sitting where there are many persons smoking tobacco
Hawks, swindlers, sharpers
Hawks, an advantage
Hear anything knock, do you take the hint
Hearing cheats, ears
Heave, to rob
Heavy brown, beer
Heavy plodders, stock brokers
Hedge taverns, public houses on the road side, little frequented by travellers
Heavers, breasts
Hedge creeper, the meanest order of thieves
Hedge bird, mean scoundrel
Hedge, to secure a bet by betting on the contrary side
Hedge off, slink off to avoid serious consequences
Hell, a gambling house
Hell cat, a lewd abandoned woman
Hell hound, profligate impudent fellow
Hempen casement, a halter
Hempen furniture, money rewards for convicting felons by thief takers and others; commonly called blood money
Hempen widow, a woman husband has been hang’d
Hen, woman
Hick Jop, a bumpkin, a fool
Hick Sam, a country fellow, a fool
High pads, thieves, or footpads who rob on the highway, on foot, of the same class as scamps and spicers
High flyer, an audacious impudent woman
High tide, having plenty of money
High tobers, the highest order of thieves, who rob on the highway, well dressed and mounted on fine horses
High gloak, well dressed highway man
High jinks, gamblers, a set of fellows who keep little goes, take in insurances ; also attendants at the E.O. tables and at the races; fellows always on the look out to rob unwary countrymen at cards
Hob, a bumpkin, a clodhopper
Hobbled on the leg, a transported felon ironed on the leg. and sent on board the hulks
Hog, a shilling
Hog grabber, a sneaking mean fellow, a cadger
Hog grunter, a close fisted, narrow-souled, mean fellow
Hoisters, shop-lifters, fellows who go into shops, and under the pretence of buying goods, generally conceal some article under the sleeves of the coat, mostly frequenting jeweller’s shops
Hoister mots, women who go into shops and steal some small article
Holy land, St. Giles’s, from St Giles’s being the pat-ron Saint of beggars
Hoofs, the feet
Hoof it, to walk
Hooked, overreached
Hookers, thieves
Hop, a sixpenny, a dancing-room, where sixpenc is the price of admission
Hop merchant, a dancing-master
Hop the twig, run away
Harness, watchmen, constables police officers
Hot flannel, liquor made of beer and gin, with eggs, sugar, and nutmeg
Hue, to whip, lash
Huff, a bullying, cowardly, fellow
Huggar, drunk
Hum box, pulpit
Hum, a liar, a canting deceitful Wesleyan methodist
Hum, to humbug, deceive
Hums, people at church
Humpty dumpty, boiled ale and brandy
Hunting, drawing unwary people to play
Hush, still, quiet
Hush money, money given to compound felony
Huskey lour, a guinea, gold coin
I.
INDEX, the face
[-112-] Ignoramus, a stupid ,fellow a novice
Inexpressibles, breeches
Ingle boxes, jacks tipped with silver and hung with bells
Ingler, horse dealer of bad-character
Interlopers, lazy fellows who are dependent on the generosity of their friends for support
Irish apricots, potatoes
Irish evidence, false witness
Irish legs, thick legs
Iron doublet, a parson
Iron, money
Itch land, Scotland
Ivories, the teeth
J.
JACK, a farthing
Jack Adams, a muff, stupid fellow
Jack at a pinch, a hackney parson
Jack in the box, a sharper, a cheat
Jack cove, a sloven, dirty fellow
Jack-a-dandy, a little impertinent fellow
Jack pudding, merry Andrew, a clown
Jacken closer, a seal
Jacob, a ladder
Jacobites, sham or collar shirts
Jackrum, a license for marri3ge
Jam, gold ring
Jarvey, hackney coachman
Jasey, a wig
Jaw, abusive language
Jehu, a coachman
Jemmy, twopenny, head
Jenny, a pick-lock
Jet, a lawyer
Jet Autem, a parson
Jew, an over-reaching fellow
Jig, a trick
Jigger, a door, bolt, or private-still
Job, guinea
Jobber knot, a tall stupid fellow
Jock gagger, fellows who live on the prostitution of their wives, &c.
Joe, an imaginary person, – nobody; as, Who do those things belong to ? Joe
Jolter head, a heavy dull blustering landlord
Jones’s, Mrs., the coffee house, privy
K.
KATE, a picklock
Keep up the ball, to live and be jolly
Keep the line, to, to behave with decorum
Ken, a cribb, room
Ken-cracker, house breaker
Ken Bowman, a well furnished house
Ken, flash, a house where thieves and vagrants resort
[-113-] Ken miller, house breaker
Kick, sixpence
Kick, to borrow money, to ask a favour
Kick the bucket, to expire
Kicksies, breeches
Kid, a fellow thief
Kiddies, flash fellows
Kid lays, villians who defraud boys of their parcels and goods
Kiddiess, a slap up well-dressed girl
Kid with, pregnant
Kid-nappers, fellows who steal children, and decoy countrymen and strangers in the street, to rob them ; also recruiting crimps
Kidwy, a thief’s child
Kill devil, new rum, from its pernicious quality
Kinchin, a young child
Kimbau, to defraud, cheat
King’s mots, female children carried on the backs of strollers and beggars to excite the pity of the public
King’s picture, king’s head on gold coin
Kinchin coves, fellows who steal children for gypsies
Knacker, an old good for nothing horse
Knife it, stow it, be quiet
Knight, a poor silly fellow
Knight of the awl, a snob, cobbler
Knight of the hod, a bricklayer’s labourer
Knight of the road, a highwayman
Knight of the brush and moon, a drunken fellow
Knight of the post, a perjurer, false swearers, fellows employed to give false evidence
Knight of the blade, a bullying sham captain, a braggadocia
Knights of the rainbow, waiters, footmen, lacqueys
Knowledge box, the jemmy, head
Knuckles, pickpockets
Knuckle dabs, ruffles
Ky-bosh on, to put the, to turn the tables on any person, to put out of countenance
L.
LADY-BIRD, a sweetheart, bed-fellow
Laced woman, a virtuous female
Lady’s man, an obsequious fellow to females
Lady in mourning, hottentot girl
Lag, to transport
Lagged, transported
Lagger, a person working on the water
[-114-] Lame ducks, defaulters at the Stock Exchange
Lambskin men, the judges
Lantern, dark, a servant or agent that receives a bribe to conceal a robbery
Lap, butter-milk, whey
Lap, rum, good liquor
Lap feeder, a spoon
Lapping your congou, drinking your tea
Lark, a bit of mischief, fun
Leading strings, the control of friends
Leery, fly, up, acquainted
Leerers, the eyes
Left, over the, no go, it won’t do
Leg bail, running away
Leg o’mutton sleeves, large sleeves worn by the ladies
Levanters, persons who run away from their debts of honour
Lib, to live together
Lib ken, lodging house
Libbege, a bed
Lifter, a robber of shops
Lighting a candle, sneaking out of a public house without paying the reckoning
Light blue, gin
Lightning, gin
Lightning, a noggen of, a quartern of gin
Lightments, the day
Lil, a pocket book
Lily white, a snowball, a black, a chimney sweep
Limbo, prison
Line, getting into a, confusing a person, imposing on anybody’s belief by joking
Lingo, slang, language
Link it, turn it out
Lipish, saucy
List, or Loist, shop-lifting, robbing a shop
Little Barbary, Wapping
Little shillings, love money
Lively kid, a funny fellow, a brave man
Loap’d, run away
Lob, money till
Lob, an easy foolish fellow
Lob lolly, a queer cooked mess
Lobs pound, a prison
Lobsters, soldiers
Lock, a warehouse f or the reception of stolen goods
Lock, rum, being in good health; rich, clever, expert
Locksmith’s daughter, key
Loge, a watch
Loose house, round house or cage
Lord, a deformed hump-backed person
Lour, money
Low-water mark, having little money
Logs, or listeners, the ears
Lully, wet linen
Lullaby cheat, an infant
[-115-] Lully priggers, the lowest order of thieves, who decoy children to some bye place and rob them of their clothes
Lully snow prigging, stealing wet linen from hedges
Lumber ken, a pawnbroker’s shop
Lumber the ticker, to pawn a watch
Lurch, in the, to be left behind, to sneak, to hang on
Lush cribs, sluicery’s, gin shops
Lush, drink
Lush ken, an alehouse
Lushingtons, drunkards
M.
MACE, to rob, steal
Mackry, the country
Mad Toms of Bedlam, fellows who counterfeit madness in the streets, and after beating themselves about, spit out some blood, in order to convince the too feeling multitude that they have injured themselves by violent struggles, and so obtain relief they have a small bladder of sheep’s blood in their mouth and when they choose can discharge it.
Made, stolen
Mag, halfpenny
Make, to, steal
Malty coves, beer drinkers
Mary-le-bone kick, a kick in the belly
Marrowbones, the knees
Mat macers, fellows and old women who go round in a morning when the servants are cleaning the doorways and steal the mats, &c.
Maunder, beggar
Maundering, begging
Mauns, tip us your, give me your hand
Mawley, the fist
Mawmouth, one that splutters in his talk
Max, gin
Mazzard, the head
Mest, to spend
Middle-piece, the stomach
Mill, thump, fight
Mill the glaze, breaking windows or lamps
Mill the ken, break open the house
Mill his nob, break his head
Mill clapper, a woman’s tongue
Mill doll, to beat hemp in Bridewell
Miller, a boxer
Missing, courting, to be gone or away
Misstopper, a coat and petticoat
Mizzle, go, begone
Moabites, bailiffs and their crew
Mog, a lie
[-116-] Moisten your chaffer, drink
Monish, tip us the, give me the money
Monkey up, being in a violent passion
Mopus, a halfpenny
Moon cursers, link boys
Moonshine, nonsense flummery
Morriss off, to run away
Mother, a name for the keeper of a brothel
Mother’s milk, rum, boose, good liquor
Mots, cyprians, whores
Mount, to give false evidence
Mounter, a common perjurer, villians who give false evidence and become bail for fellows of their own stamp
Mouth, a stupid fellow, a novice
Move, an incident, an action in life
Mower, a cow
Muck, money
Muck, to, to clean out, to win all a person’s money
Muck’d, lost all at play, no money left
Mud pipes, thick boots
Muff, a raw, a silly fellow
Mufflers, sparring gloves
Mug, the face
Mugs, cutting of, making faces
Mullygrubs, the belly ache
Mummer, the mouth
Mummers, strolling players, mounteback speakers, gypsies, and beggars who tell pitiful stories to excite compassion
Muns, mouth
Mumbling cove, a sturdy ill-natured landlord, shabby fellow
Murphies, potatoes
Muzzle, the mouth
N.
NAB, to steal
Nabb’d, taken
Nail, to lay hold
Natty lads, young thieves
Nash, to bolt, to run away
Needful, money
Never wag, man of war, the Fleet Prison
Neat thing, good liquor
Nab, a hat
Nabs, a person to either sex; a familiar way of talking; as, How are you my Nabs
Nob the bib, to cry and wipe the eyes
Nab the rust, to receive the money
Nab the noge, to receive a guinea
Nab the clout, steal a handkerchief
Nab the cramp, having sentence of death passed
Nab the hung, to receive a purse
Nask, a prison
[-117-] Napper, or Nads, a sheepstealer
Napper, the head
Ne’er a face but his own, not a farthing in his pocket
Newlicks, or Noolucks, a person not known, an imaginary being, said to be a kin to Joe, Cheeks, &c
Nibble, thieve, steal
Nicks, nothing
Nim, to steal
Nimmer, a thief of the lowest order
Niggers, fellows who clip and file gold coin
Nig, clipping of money
Nick it, to win a wager
Nip, a cheat
Nipperkin, half pint measure
Nix, or nix my doll, nothing
No go, it won’t do, a bad experiment
Nob, the head
Nob, the head ; a fellow carrying a high head, a man of money, of respectability
Nob thatcher, a hat maker
Nob, old, a favourite game used by sharpers, called pricking in the hat
Nobblers, blows, thumps
Noddle, empty headed, shallow pated, stupid
Noll, a wig
Noodle, a sawney
Norway neckcloth, the pillory
Norfolk capon, a soldier, a red herring
Nose, a, one who splits or tells
Nose, to, to expose, tell
Nozzle, the nose
Nob, the neck
Nubbing, hanging
Nubbing cove, the hangman
Nubbing ken, the sessions house
Nubbing cheat, the gallows
Nail gropers, people who sweep the streets in search of old iron, nails, &c.
Nunnery, a brothel
Nurse, to cheat
Nutty, fond
Nut crackers, the pillory
Nutmeg grater, the beard
0.
OAK, a rich man of credit, substance
Office, warning, notice
Ogles, the eyes
Ogles in mourning, black eyes
Ogles, rum, fine piercing eyes
Oil of palm, money
Old One, or Old Harry, names for the devil
Old Tom, good gin
Old toast, a brisk lively old man
Oliver, the moon
Oliver widdles, the moon shines
Oliver sneaks, the moon hid under a cloud, has got his upper Ben on
[-118-] Oli compoli, a rogue of the canting crow
On the pot, being in trouble, vexd
On the mallet, having goods on trust
One two, two blows succeding each other
One in ten, a parson
Optics, the eyes
Operators, pickpockets
Os chives, bone handle knives
Out and outer, a rum’ un, a good fellow at any thing, a trump
Ousted, turned out, thrown
Over the left, it won’t do, no go
Over the bender, over the bridge
Overseer, a fellow in the pillory
Owlers, runners and smugglers of wool
P.
PAD, a highwayman who robs on foot
Pad it, to walk
Palm, to fee, to hand over
Pallaird, beggars who borrow children, the better to obtain charity
Panum, victuals
Panum struck, very hungry, wanting something to eat
Pantler, a butler
Param, bread
Parings, clippings of money
Panter, heat
Pat, an accomplice or companion
Patter, slang
Patter slang, to talk flash
Pattered, tried in a court of justice for felony
Pave, the pathway
Pavier’s worshop, the street
Peck and boose, victuals and drink
Peel, to strip
Peeper, looking glass
Peepers, eyes
Peel your skin, strip, pull off your clothes
Peery, suspicious
Peg a hack, to drive a hackney coach
Peg, or peg stick, a bender, shilling
Peg tantrums, dead
Penance board, pillory
Persuaders, cudgels or spurs
Peter, a trunk
Peteresses, persons who make it their business to steal boxes from the backs of coaches, chaises, and other carriages
Pewter, money
Pewter, to unload, to drink porter out of a quart pot
Philistines, bailiffs and their crew
Phizog. the face
[-119-] Pickling tubs, Wellington or top boots
Picture frame, the gallows, or pillory
Pig, a sixpence
Pigman, a trap, or bailiff
Pigeon, a meek stupid easy fellow
Pike off, run away
Pinch, to steal money under pretence of getting change, see Ringing the changes
Pimple, the head
Pinks of fashion, dashing fellows
Pins, the gams, legs
Pippin, funny fellow, friendly way of expressing one’s self as How are you, my Pippin?
Planket, concealed
Pockets, to let, empty pockets, no money
Point non plus, neither money nor credit
Poke fun, to chaff, joke
Poke, a bag, or sack
Poker, a sword
Poney, money, £50
Pop, to pledge or pawn
Poplers, mess of pottage
Poppers, pistols
Potato, drop it like a, to drop any thing suddenly
Potato trap, the mouth
Potato, red hot, take a, a word by way of silencing a person, a word of contempt
Pot scum, bad or stinking dripping
Pothooks and hangers, short hand characters
P’s & Q’s mind your, mind what you’re at
Poundage Cove, a fellow who receives poundage for procuring customers for damaged goods
Prad, a horse
Prancers, horses
Prate, roast, a loquacious fellow
Pratt, buttocks
Pricking in the wicker for a dolphin, stealing bread from a baker’s basket
Prigs, thieves, pickpockets
Prime twig, high condition
Prog, victuals
Prog, rum, good victuals
Prog, queer, bad victuals
Property, an easy fellow, a tool made use of to serve any purpose, a cat’s paw
Provender, a person from whom any money is taken on the high road
Pudding house, the workhouse
Pull, having the advantage over an adversary
Pull out, come it strong
Punch, a blow
Punish, to beat in fighting
Punisher, one who beats soundly
Pupil’s straits, school tuition
[-120-] Purgatory, trouble, perplexity
Purl, royal, ale and gin made warm
Purse, a sack
Put, a country fellow, silly, foolish
Putty and soap, bread & cheese _
Q.
QUARROMS, a body
Queer, base, doubtful, good for nothing, bad
Queer bit makers, coiners
Queer buffer, sharp inn keeper
Queer street, to be in, in a quandary
Queer cove, a rogue, villain
Queer ogles, squinting eyes
Queer patter, foreign talk
Queer rotar, a bad ill looking coach
Queer rag, ill-looking money, base coin
Queer blowing, ugly wench
Queer gill, suspicious fellow
Queer plungers, fellows who pretended to be drowned
Queer cole makers, coiners of bad money
Queer lap, bad liquor
Queer beak, strict justice, upright judge
Queer rag, bad farthing
Queer bit, counterfeit money
Queer lully, deformed child
Queer tats, false dice
Queer vinegar, worn out woman’s cloak
Queer belch, sour beer
Queer cove, a turnkey
Queer bid, insolvent sharpers who make a practice of billing persons arrested
Queer cat lap,bad tea
Queer chum, a suspicious companion
Queer pops, bad pistols
Queer put, an ill-looking foolish fellow
Queer thimble, good for nothing watch
Queer hen, a bad woman
Quota, whack, share
Quod cull, a goal keeper
Quail pipe, woman’s tongue
Queer prad, broken-knee’d horse
Queer lambs, bad dice
Queer Nantz, bad brandy
Queer nicks, breeches worn out
Queer dogen, rusty sword
Queer buffer, a cur
Queer harmen beak, a strict beadle
Queer gum, outlandish talk
Queer glim, a bad light
Queer ken, a gentleman’s house without the furniture
Queer doxy, a clumsy woman
Queer booze, bad beer
Queer amen curler, a drunken parish clerk
Qui tam, a shark, lawyer
Qui vive, on the alert, in expectation
Quid, a goldfinch, sovereign
[-121-] Quiz, a queer one, a gig, an aboriginal
Quod, prison
R.
RADICAL, Hunts breakfast powder, roasted corn
Rag, money; I’ve no rag, meaning I’ve no notes
Rag, blow up, rap out, scold
Rainbow, a tailor’s pattern book
Rainbows, gay young bucks
Rain napper, an umbrella
Rap, I’m nut worth a rap, I’ve got no money
Rap, give evidence, take false oath
Rap out, to swear, blow up, be in a passion
Rat, drunken man or woman taken in custody for breaking the lamps
Rattling cove, a hackney coach man
Rattling gloak, a simple easy fellow
Rattling mumpers, beggars who ply coaches
Ready, money
Reader, a pocket-book
Red rag, the tongue
Red rag, give your, a holiday, hold your tongue
Red tape, Cogniac, brandy
Regular, in proper course
Regulars, persons thus called from their leaving parties of pleasure at eleven or twelve o’clock at night, to the no small discomforture of many an out-and-outer
Regent, half a sovereign
Resurrection men, fellows who steal dead bodies from the church yard for the surgeons
Rhino, grease, money
Ribbon, money
Ridge, gold outside of a watch or other article
Ridge cove, a wealthy goldsmith
Riff raff, black beetles, the lower order of people
Rig, fun, game, diversion
Rig out, a suit of clothes
Rig conoblin, cutting the string of large coals hanging at the door of coal sheds
Rigging, clothing
Right and fly, complete
Ring, to exchange one article for another
Rise, a, a disturbance
Rivertick, tradesmans books
Rivits, money
Roger, a portmanteau
Rooled up, put in a spunging house
Romoners, fellows pretending to be acquainted with the occult sciences, fortune tellers
Rome ville, London
Rookery, an ill furnished house
Roses, nobility
Rotau, a coach
[-122-] Rum glimmer, head of the link boy
Rum bodick, dirty shabby fellow
Rum beak, sensible justice
Rum doxy, fine made wench
Rum drawers, silk stockings
Rum gloak, well dressed man –
Rum Nantz, good brandy
Rum ghelt, or rum cole, new money
Rum squeeze, wine or other liquor given to fiddlers
Rum prancer, fine horse
Rum rufe peck, Westphalia ham
Rum prad, a highwayman’s horse
Rum duke, queer old fellow, rich man
Rum gill, a man who appears to have plenty of money
Rum rush, a number of villians rushing into a house in order to rob it
Rum gutters, cape wine
Rum quid, good guinea
Rum chaunt, good song
Rum booze, good wine, or any liquor
Rum buffer, valuable dog
Rum cly, a full pocket
Rum feeder, large silver table spoon
Rum gaggers, cheats who tell wonderful stories of their sufferings at sea, in order to obtain money
Rot gut, swankey, small beer
Row, disturbance, and in the ken to breed a row,
Roysters, noisy, turbulent fellows, rude vile singers
Roundyken, the watchhouse
Rumpus, a scuffle
Rub, an obstacle in the way, to run away, to make off
Rub out, when its dry, all right when its forgotten
Ruffman, any person who handles a thief roughly; the wood, hedges
Rugg, all right and safe
Rug carrier, an ensign
Rum blowing, a handsome girl
Rum hopper, a waiter at a tavern
Rum mot, a woman of the town
Rum bob, a shop till
Rum peepers, fine looking glasses, or bright eyes
Rum speaker, good booty
Rum job or rum dagen, a handsome sword
Rum quids, guineas
Rum, pad, the high road
Rum maundy, fellows who counterfeit the fool, going about the streets in order to obtain charity
Rum kicks, breeches
Rum file, or rum diver, a female pickpocket
[-123-] Rum dropper, a vintner
Rum cove, good natured landlord
Rum fun, sharp trick
Rum bung, full purse
Rum bow, rope stolen from any of the king’s dock-yards
Rum clout, handkerchief
Rum bluffer, a jolly host
Rum bleating cheat, a fat sheep
Rum back, good natured Irishman
Rum barking irons, prime pistols
Rum dumber, good natured prince of the canting crew
Rum quod cull, a goaler
Rum, or monogin, good, the most valuable of any thing jewels, diamonds
Rum’un, a trump, a good fellow
Rum ti tum with the chill off, good, slab up, the tippy, excellent
Ryder, a cloak
S.
SACK, a pocket
Sack, to, to take up
Sam, a foolish fellow, an idiot
Sam, to stand, to pay for all
Sangaree, rack punch
Sans prisado, a person who comes into company without any money
Saving one’s bacon, to escape with a whole skin, to evade any accident
Seedy, poor, miserable looking without money
Scamp, a thief
Setter, persons using the haunts of thieves in order to give information for the reward
Seven-pence, to stand, to suffer seven years transportation
Sew up the sees, to give a person two black eyes
Scandal broth, tea
Scamp foot, a street robber
Scent box, the nose
School butter, whipping
Scot, a savage person
Scotch fiddle, itch
Scottish, savage, wild, chagrined
Score, a debt, fine
Scout, a watchman or beadle
Screwbado, a dirty fellow, insignificant
Scroof, to go about living with friends at their expense
Scran, victuals
Scrap, a villainous scheme
Screw, a miser
Screw loose, a quarrel between two individuals, something wrong in a man’s affairs
Screen, a pound note
Sharps, persons ready to take you in on all occasions
Shake a toe, to dance
[-124-] Shark, a lawyer
Shade, nice to a, very particular
She lion, a shilling
Shell, to contribute, club
Sherry, run away, be gone
Sheriff’s ball, an execution
Shindy, a regular row, a general quarrel
Shiners, guineas
Shirk, to cut, to skulk
Shop, a goal
Shop lobber, a dressed up silly coxcomb of a shopman, a powdered fop
Shopped, imprisoned
Shoot, to go skulking about
Shooting the cat, vomiting
Shove, crowd, push
Shove the tumbler, whipped at the cart’s tail
Shove in the mouth, a glass of gin
Shoving the moon, moving goods by moonlight
Shoulder knot, a bailiff
Shuffle, go, morriss, begone
Slum, gammon, sham
Shy cock, a person afraid of a bailiff
Sigster, a nap, after dinner, a short sleep
Sidle, come close to
Sighers, See Groaners
Sight, take a, a manner of expressing contempt or ridicule by putting the thumb to the nose, with the fingers straight up in the air
Sight, a lot, a great many, a great deal
Sinkers, old stockings that have sunk the small parts into the heel
Sipper, a tea spoon
Six and eight pence, a lawyer
Sink hole, the throat
Skewer, a sword
Skin, a purse
Skinners, villians who steal children ; kidnappers who entrap unwary men to enlist for soldiers
Sky parlour, a garret, or first floor next the sky
Slang, flash language, patter
Slanged, ironed on one leg
Slap bang, victuals sold at a cook shop
Slate, a sheet
Sling tale and galena, fowl and pickled pork
Slipped cove, got away
Slogg, to thump hard
Slogger, a miller, a boxer
Sluicery, a gin shop
Sluiced their gobs, drank heartily
Sluice, wet, moisten
Slubber, a heavy stupid fellow
Sly, contraband
Smack the bit, share the booty
Smart blunt, forfeit money
Smart, regular, up, awake
Smashing cove, housebreaker
[-125-] Smash, to break, strike, also bid coin
Smash, a thigh of mutton and, leg of mutton, turnips, and capers
Smasher, passer of bad money
Smell, half a guinea
Smell a rat, to surmise something
Smeller, the nose
Smiter, the arm
Smicket, a shift
Smog, steal, nibble
Shaffle, highwayman
Sneak, on the morning, sneaking down in the kitchen, &c., just as the servants are up, and purloining any small articles, commonly practised by cadgers
Sneezer, the nose
Snitch, to turn, to nose, to tell tales, to turn sneak
Snorter, the nose
Snooze, to sleep, doze
Snoozing ken, a sleeping room
Snow ball, a black man
Snuffle, the nose
Snuge, thief under a bed
Solomon, the mass
Some tune, a large amount
Something short, a glass of liquor
Soul driver, methodist parson.
South sea mountain, gin
Speck, a bad, a bad undertaking
Specks, barnacles, spectacles
Spicer, footpad, robber
Spicer, high, highwayman
Spike hotel, the Fleet, or King’s Bench
Spilt, overturned in a carriage
Spittleonian, yellow handkerchief
Spoke with, to rob
Spoke to, he’s taken by the officers, cast for death
Spooney, a foolish fellow
Spoil, to bruise, injure
Spree, a lark, fun
Spurs, diggers
Spunge to, eat and drink at another’s expense
Squail, a dram
Squeaker, a cross child, also a pot boy
Squeezer, a drop at Newgate
Stach, to conceal a robbery
Stool, help, assistance
Staller, an accomplice in picking of pockets by holding up the arms of persons
Stam fish, to cant
Stand the racket, treat, pay for all
Stand the nonsense, pay the money, stand treat
Stand still, a table
Stale whimper, a bastard
Stall, to make a stand, to crowd
Stag, an accomplice who has turned king’s evidence
Stagged, discovered
Staller, an accomplice
[-126-] Stalling ken, broker’s shop, or that of a person receiving stolen goods
Stampers, feet, shoes, stairs
Stark naked, gin
Star gazers, prostitutes who frequent hedge rows
Stephen, money
Stern, the, the goat, behind, what we sit on
Stifle a squeaker, to murder a child
Sticks, goods, chattels
Stiffner, a letter
Stick fans, gloves
Sticks, pistols
Stone pitcher, Newgate
Stoop, the pillory
Stow it, drop it be quiet
Stow your whid, be silent
Stranger, a guinea
Strap, mallet, trust
Strammel, straw
Stretching, hanging
Straw chipper, a straw bonnet maker
Strike, a guinea
Strings of onions, the lower orders of society
String, to, to impose on a person’s belief by some joke or lie
Strike me dead, small beer
Strummer faker, hair dresser
Stumps, the feet or legs
Sucked, devilish drunk
Suit of cover me properly, suit of fashionable clothes
Sugar, cock your leg and cry, a way of expressing triumph or joy, by standing on one leg, and shaking the other up hooting ‘sugar’ loudly
Sufferer, a sovereign, also a tailor
Swaddy, a lobster, soldier
Swaddler, a pitiful fellow, a methodist preacher who preaches on the high road, when a number of people are assembled, his accomplices pick their pockets
Swag, a lot, much
Swallow, the throat
Swankey swipes, table beer
Sweeteners, guinea droppers
Swell out of luck, a decayed fop or dandy
Swinger, one leg and a, a sound leg and a lame one
Swig, liquor of any kind
Swigs men, thieves who travel the country under colour of buying old clothes
Swindling gloak, a cheat
T.
TACKLE, good clothes, also a mistress
Tag rag and bobtail, extremes of low life
Tail, a sword
Tallymen, persons who let out clothes to saloon cyprians
Tamarhoo, a hackney coachman, so called from the [-127-] song of ‘Tamarhoo ; or The Devil and the Hackney Coachman’
Tanner, sixpence
Tape, gin
Tat, rum, good dice
Tatt, queer, bad dice
Tatt men, fellows who get their living by attending the gaming tables and playing at dice
Tater trap, the mummer, mouth
Tatty tog, a gaming cloth
Tattler, watch or clock
Tea-pot, a negro
Teaser, sixpence
Teazer of catgut, a fiddler
Tears of the tankard, drops of liquor
Teaze, to whip at the cart’s tail
That’s the ticket, just the thing as it ought to be
That dab’s in quod, the rogue’s in prison
Thimble, a watch
Three sheets in the wind, three parts drunk
Throw the hatchet, to, to tell a marvellus story, or a lie, and swear its true
Thums, three pence
Tie, equal
Tib of the buttery, goose
Tibby, one on your, I owe you one
Ticker, a watch
Tidy, pretty good
Timber, matches
Timber merchant, a match dealer
Time o’ day, quite right, the thing
Tinker, sixpence
Tip, money
Tip, to give
Tip your rags a gallop, to bolt run away
Tip street, to be in, to have plenty of money
Tippy, the, just the thing, as it ought to be
Tip top, the highest, best
Tits, horses
Title-page, the face
Tizzy, sixpence
To nab a kid, to steal a child
To sing small, to draw the horns in, to be humbled
To mill a cheating bleat, to kill a sheep
To diamond a horse, to put a stone under the shoe to make it appear lame
Toddle, to walk
Toddlers, legs
Tog and kicks, breeches and coat
Tugged, dressed
Togman, a cloak
Togs, clothes
Tol lol, pretty well in health
Tolo bun rig, persons who go about the country telling [-128-] fortunes by signs, pretending to be deaf and dumb
Tolobon, the tongue
Tombstones, teeth
Tonic, a halfpenny
Tooth pickers, Irish watchmen’s shillalies
Topper, a hat
Topping, hanging
Topping cove, hangman
Touted, to be followed, or pursued
Touch, to arrest
Tout, to look out sharp, to guard
Tow street, in, said of person, who is being misled or decoyed
Towe, clipt money
Town toddlers, silly fellows taken in by sharpers at play
Town tabby, a dowager of quality
Track, to go
Traps, constables or thief takers
Transporter, the mouth
Tramp, to wander as a beggar
Translators, sellers of old boots and shoes
Trib, a prison
Trine, to hang
Trine, the new drop
Trotters, the legs
Trooper, a blowing, prostitute
Trooper, half a crown
Trump, a good one, a jolly fellow
Trolls, the lowest order of prostitutes, followers of soldiers
Truck, stealing money under pretence of changing
Tuck, victuals
Tuck out, a good meal, a belly full
Tuck up fair, Newgate at a hanging time
Tucked up, hanged ; married
Tumbler, a cart
Turn-up, a casual set-to, a fight
Tulips of the goes, the highest order of fashionables
Tarter, a queer customer, a powerful enemy
Turnip, a watch
Turkey merchant, driver of turkeys
Twelver, a hilling
Twaddlers, pease
Twig, to see, observe
Twinklers, the eyes
Twirlers, hawkers of men s and women’s clothes
Twittoe, two
Tykes, dogs
Tyke boys, dog owners
Tyro, a yokel a noviciate
U.
UNDER the screw, in prison
Under the rose, on the sly, concealed enjoyment
Unload pewter, drinking beer from pewter pots
[-129-] Unrigged, stripped of money and clothes
Up, acquainted with the conversation of the company, apprised of any transaction
Up to slum, humbug or gammon
Up the spout, articles at the pawnbrokers
Up the flue, being in trouble, on the pot
Upper Benjamin, an upper coat
Upright, ale-house pots
V.
Vamp, to pledge any article
Vampers, stockings
Vhite, gin
Velvet, the tongue
Velvet, to tip the, to talk to a woman, to impose by flowery language
Victualling office, the stomach or paunch
Voil, town
W.
WAPSTRAW, Johnny Raw, a yokel, a countryman
Wall flowers, old clothes exposed for sale
Wall it, chalking a reckoning up at a public house
Wall fruit, kissing against a wall
Warm, rich
Wattles, the ears
Water pads, fellows who rob ships
Water-heaped, a snivelling fellow
Wearing the breeches, the wife ruling the husband
Wedge, silver plate
Wet the other eye, take another glass
Wetting the neck, drinking
Whacks, shares of booty
Wheadle, a sharper
White wood, silver
White port, gin
Whither, silver bowl
Whimpshire, Yorkshire
Whiddler, a talkative fellow, an informer
Whirligig, the pillory
Whistling shop, a public house in a prison
Whisker, a bouncing lie
White buzmen, pickpockets
White toppers, white hats
White tape, gin
Whites, counterfeit silver
Wiggen, the neck
Win, a penny
Wipe, fogle, handkerchief
Wing, fly, up, acquainted with
Wobble, to reel, drunk
Wo ball, a milk woman
Wood pecker, a punster, joker, player on words
Wooden ruff, the pillory, as he wore the wooden ruff, he stood in the pillory
W’s, between the two, hitting [-130-] in the belly between wind and water
Won’t suit, no go, it won’t do
Y.
YACE and onions, watch and seal
Yam, to eat hearty
Yankee, a tawney man
Yard of tape, a glass of gin
Yarmouth capon, a red herring
Yaruin, food made of milk
Yellow boys, goldfinches, sovereigns
Yellowman, a yellow handkerchief
Yelper, a fellow who makes pitiful lamentations of trifles
Yokels, green horns, country men