Chapter VII: Part 7

PETER GUNNER, will kill all the birds that died last summer.
A piece of wit commonly thrown out at a person
walking through a street or village near London, with a
gun in his hand.

PETER LAY. The department of stealing portmanteaus,
trunks, &c.

PETER LUG. Who is Peter Lug? who lets the glass stand
at his door, or before him.

PETTICOAT HOLD. One who has an estate during his wife's
life, called the apron-string hold.

PETTICOAT PENSIONER. One kept by a woman for secret
services.

PETTISH. Passionate.

PETTY FOGGER. A little dirty attorney, ready to undertake
any litigious or bad cause: it is derived from the French
words petit vogue, of small credit, or little reputation.

PHARAOH. Strong malt liquor.

PHILISTINES. Bailiffs, or officers of justice; also drunkards.

PHOENIX-MEN. Firemen belonging to an insurance office,
which gave a badge charged with a phoenix: these men
were called likewise firedrakes.

PHOS BOTTLE. A. bottle of phosphorus: used by housebreakers
to light their lanthorns. Ding the phos; throw
away the bottle of phosphorus.

PHRASE OF PAPER. Half a quarter of a sheet. See VESSEL, PHYSOG.

PHYSOG. The face. A vulgar abbreviation of physiognomy.

PHYZ. The face. Rum phyz; an odd face or countenance.

PICAROON. A pirate; also a sharper.

PICKANINY. A young child, an infant. NEGRO TERM.

PICKING. Pilfering, petty larceny.

PICKLE. An arch waggish fellow. In pickle, or in the
pickling tub; in a salivation. There are rods in brine, or
pickle, for him; a punishment awaits him, or is prepared
for him. Pickle herring; the zany or merry andrew
of a mountebank. See JACK PUDDING.

PICKT HATCH. To go to the manor of pickt hatch, a
cant name for some part of the town noted for bawdy
houses in Shakespeare's time, and used by him in that
sense.

PICKTHANK. A tale-bearer or mischief maker.

PICTURE FRAME. The sheriff's picture frame; the gallows
or pillory.

To PIDDLE. To make water: a childish expression; as,
Mammy, I want to piddle. Piddling also means trifling,
or doing any thing in a small degree: perhaps from peddling.

PIECE. A wench. A damned good or bad piece; a girl
who is more or less active and skilful in the amorous congress.
Hence the (CAMBRIDGE) toast, May we never have
a PIECE (peace) that will injure the constitution. Piece
likewise means at Cambridge a close or spot of ground
adjacent to any of the colleges, as Clare-hall Piece, &c.
The spot of ground before King's College formerly belonged
to Clare-hall. While Clare Piece belonged to King's,
the master of Clare-hall proposed a swop, which being
refused by the provost of King's, he erected before their
gates a temple of CLOACINA. It will be unnecessary to say
that his arguments were soon acceded to.

PIG. A police officer. A China street pig; a Bow-street
officer. Floor the pig and bolt; knock down the officer
and run away.

PIG. Sixpence, a sow's baby. Pig-widgeon; a simpleton.
To pig together; to lie or sleep together, two or more in
a bed. Cold pig; a jocular punishment inflicted by the
maid seryants, or other females of the house, on persons
lying over long in bed: it consists in pulling off all the
bed clothes, and leaving them to pig or lie in the cold. To
buy a pig in a poke; to purchase any thing without seeing.
Pig's eyes; small eyes. Pigsnyes; the same: a vulgar
term of endearment to a woman. He can have boiled
pig at home; a mark of being master of his own house:
an allusion to a well known poem and story. Brandy is
Latin for pig and goose; an apology for drinking a dram
after either.

PIG-HEADED. Obstinate.

PIG RUNNING. A piece of game frequently practised at
fairs, wakes, &c. A large pig, whose tail is cut short, and
both soaped and greased, being turned out, is hunted by
the young men and boys, and becomes the property of him
who can catch and hold him by the tail, above the height
of his head.

PIGEON. A weak silly fellow easily imposed on. To pigeon;
to cheat. To milk the pigeon; to attempt impossibilities,
to be put to shifts for want of money. To
fly a blue pigeon; to steal lead off a church.

PIGEONS. Sharpers, who, during the drawing of the lottery,
wait ready mounted near Guildhall, and, as soon as
the first two or three numbers are drawn, which they receive
from a confederate on a card, ride with them full
speed to some distant insurance office, before fixed on,
where there is another of the gang, commonly a decent
looking woman, who takes care to be at the office before
the hour of drawing: to her he secretly gives the number,
which she insures for a considerable sum: thus biting
the biter.

PIGEON'S MILK. Boys and novices are frequently sent on
the first of April to buy pigeons milk.

To PIKE. To run away. Pike off; run away.

PILGRIM'S SALVE. A sirreverence, human excrement.

PILL, or PEELE GARLICK. Said originally to mean one
whose skin or hair had fallen off from some disease, chiefly
the venereal one; but now commonly used by persons
speaking of themselves: as, there stood poor pill garlick:
i.e. there stood I.

PILLALOO. The Irish cry or howl at funerals.

PIMP. A male procurer, or cock bawd; also a small faggot
used about London for lighting fires, named from introducing
the fire to the coals.

PIMP WHISKIN. A top trader in pimping.

PIMPLE. The head.

PIN. In or to a merry pin; almost drunk: an allusion to
a sort of tankard, formerly used in the north, having silver
pegs or pins set at equal distances from the top to the
bottom: by the rules of good fellowship, every person
drinking out of one of these tankards, was to swallow
the quantity contained between two pins; if he drank
more or less, he was to continue drinking till he ended at
a pin: by this means persons unaccustomed to measure
their draughts were obliged to drink the whole tankard.
Hence when a person was a little elevated with liquor,
he was said to have drunk to a merry pin.

PIN BASKET. The youngest child.

PIN MONEY. An allowance settled on a married woman
for her pocket expences.

PINCH. At a pinch; on an exigency.

PINCH. To go into a tradesman's shop under the pretence
of purchasing rings or other light articles, and while
examining them to shift some up the sleeve of the coat.
Also to ask for change for a guinea, and when the silver
is received, to change some of the good shillings for bad
ones; then suddenly pretending to recollect that you had
sufficient silver to pay the bill, ask for the guinea again,
and return the change, by which means several bad shillings
are passed.

To PINCH ON THE PARSON'S SIDE. To defraud the parson
of his tithe.

PINCHERS. Rogues who, in changing money, by dexterity
of hand frequently secrete two or three shillings out of
the change of a guinea. This species of roguery is called
the pinch, or pinching lay.

To PINK. To stab or wound with a small sword: probably
derived from the holes formerly cut in both men and women's
clothes, called pinking. Pink of the fashion; the
top of the mode. To pink and wink; frequently winking
the eyes through a weakness in them.

PINKING-DINDEE. A sweater or mohawk. IRISH.

PINS. Legs. Queer pins; ill shapen legs.

PIPER. A broken winded horse.

PISCINARIANS. A club or brotherhood, A.D. 1743.

PISS. He will piss when he can't whistle; he will be hanged.
He shall not piss my money against the wall; he shall not
have my money to spend in liquor.

He who once a good name gets,
May piss a bed, and say he sweats.

PISS-BURNED. Discoloured: commonly applied to a discoloured
grey wig.

PISS MAKER. A great drinker, one much given to liquor.

PISS POT HALL. A house at Clapton, near Hackney, built
by a potter chiefly out of the profits of chamber pots, in the
bottom of which the portrait of Dr. Sacheverel was depicted.

PISS PROPHET. A physician who judges of the diseases of
his patients solely by the inspection of their urine.

PISS-PROUD. Having a false erection. That old fellow
thought he had an erection, but his--was only piss-proud;
said of any old fellow who marries a young wife.

PISSING DOWN ANY ONE'S BACK. Flattering him.

PISSING PINS AND NEEDLES. To have a gonorrhea.

PIT. A watch fob. He drew a rare thimble from the swell's
pit. He took a handsome watch from the gentleman's
fob.

PIT. To lay pit and boxes into one; an operation in midwifery
or copulation, whereby the division between the
anus and vagina is cut through, broken, and demolished:
a simile borrowed from the playhouse, when, for the benefit
of some favourite player, the pit and boxes are laid together.
The pit is also the hole under the gallows, where
poor rogues unable to pay the fees are buried.

PITT'S PICTURE. A window stopt up on the inside, to save
the tax imposed in that gentleman's administration. PARTY WIT

PIT-A-PAT. The palpitation of the heart: as, my heart
went pit-a-pat. Pintledy-pantledy; the same.

PITCH-KETTLED. Stuck fast, confounded.

PITCHER. The miraculous pitcher, that holds water with
the mouth downwards: a woman's commodity. She has
crack'd her pitcher or pipkin; she has lost her maidenhead.

PIZZY CLUB. A society held, A. D, 1744, at the sign of
the Tower, on Tower Hill: president, Don Pizzaro.

PLAISTER OF WARM GUTS. One warm belly'dapped to another;
a receipt frequently prescribed for different disorders.

PLANT. The place in the house of the fence where stolen
goods are secreted. Any place where stolen goods are concealed.

To PLANT. To lay, place, or hide. Plant your wids and
stow them; be careful what you say, or let slip. Also to
bury, as, he was planted by the parson.

PLATE. Money, silver, prize. He is in for the plate; he
has won the KEAT, i.e. is infected with the venereal disorder:
a simile drawn from horse-racing. When the plate
fleet comes in; when money comes to hand.

PLATTER-FACED. Broad-faced.

PLAY. To play booty; to play with an intention to lose. To
play the whole game; to cheat. To play least in sight;
to hide, or keep out of the way. To play the devil; to be
guilty of some great irregularity or mismanagement.

PLUCK. Courage. He wants pluck: he is a coward.
Against the pluck; against the inclination. Pluck the
Ribbon; ring the bell. To pluck a crow with one; to
settle a dispute, to reprove one for some past transgression.
To pluck a rose; an expression said to be used by women
for going to the necessary house, which in the country usually
stands in the garden. To pluck also signifies to deny a
degree to a candidate at one of the universities, on account
of insufficiency. The three first books of Euclid, and as
far as Quadratic Equations in Algebra, will save a man
from being plucked. These unfortunate fellows are designated by
many opprobrious appellations, such as the twelve
apostles, the legion of honor, wise men of the East, &c.

PLUG TAIL. A man's penis.

PLUMB. An hundred thousand pounds.

PLUMMY. It is all plummy; i.e. all is right, or as it ought
to be.

PLUMP. Fat, full, fleshy. Plump in the pocket; full in
the pocket. To plump; to strike, or shoot. I'll give
you a plump in the bread basket, or the victualling office:
I'll give you a blow in the stomach. Plump his peepers,
or day-lights; give him a blow in the eyes. He pulled out
his pops and plumped him; he drew out his pistols and
shot him. A plumper; a single vote at an election. Plump
also means directly, or exactly; as, it fell plump upon
him: it fell directly upon him.

PLUMP CURRANT. I am not plump currant; I am out of
sorts.

PLUMPERS. Contrivances said to be formerly worn by old
maids, for filling out a pair of shrivelled cheeks.

PLYER. A crutch; also a trader.

POGY. Drunk.

POINT. To stretch a point; to exceed some usual limit, to
take a great stride. Breeches were usually tied up with
points, a kind of short laces, formerly given away by the
churchwardens at Whitsuntide, under the denomination
of tags: by taking a great stride these were stretched.

POISONED. Big with child: that wench is poisoned, see
how her belly is swelled. Poison-pated: red-haired.

POKE. A blow with the fist: I'll lend you a poke. A poke
likewise means a sack: whence, to buy a pig in a poke,
i.e. to buy any thing without seeing or properly examining it.

POKER. A sword. Fore pokers; aces and kings at cards.
To burn your poker; to catch the venereal disease.

POLE. He is like a rope-dancer's polo, lead at both ends;
a saying of a stupid sluggish fellow.

POLISH. To polish the king's iron with one's eyebrows; to be
in gaol, and look through the iron grated windows. To
polish a bone; to eat a meal. Come and polish a bone
with me; come and eat a dinner or supper with me.

POLL. The head, jolly nob, napper, or knowledge box;
also a wig.

POLT. A blow. Lend him a polt in the muns; give him a
knock in the face.

TO POMMEL. To beat: originally confined to beating with
the hilt of a sword, the knob being, from its similarity to
a small apple, called pomelle; in Spanish it is still called
the apple of the sword. As the clenched fist likewise
somewhat resembles an apple, perhaps that might occasion the
term pommelling to be applied to fisty-cuffs.

POMP. To save one's pomp at whist, is to score five before
the adversaries are up, or win the game: originally derived
from pimp, which is Welsh for five; and should be, I
have saved my pimp.

POMPAGINIS. Aqua pompaginis; pump water. See
AQUA.

POMPKIN. A man or woman of Boston in America: from,
the number of pompkins raised and eaten by the people
of that country. Pompkinshire; Boston and its dependencies.

PONEY. Money. Post the poney; lay down the money.

PONTIUS PILATE. A pawnbroker. Pontius Pilate's guards,
the first regiment of foot, or Royal Scots: so intitled from
their supposed great antiquity. Pontius Pilate's counsellor;
one who like him can say, Non invenio causam, I can find
no cause. Also (Cambridge) a Mr. Shepherd of Trinity
College; who disputing with a brother parson on the comparative
rapidity with which they read the liturgy, offered
to give him as far as Pontius Pilate in the Belief.

POPE. A figure burned annually every fifth of November,
in memory of the gunpowder plot, which is said to have
been carried on by the papists.

POPE'S NOSE. The rump of a turkey.

POPS. Pistols. Popshop: a pawnbroker's shop. To pop;
to pawn: also to shoot. I popped my tatler; I pawned my
watch. I popt the cull; I shot the man. His means are
two pops and a galloper; that is, he is a highwayman.

POPLERS. Pottage. CANT.

PORK. To cry pork; to give intelligence to the undertaker
of a funeral; metaphor borrowed from the raven, whose
note sounds like the word pork. Ravens are said to smell
carrion at a distance.

PORKER. A hog: also a Jew.

PORRIDGE. Keep your breath to cool your porridge; i. e.
held your tongue.

PORRIDGE ISLAND. An alley leading from St. Martin's
church-yard to Round-court, chiefly inhabited by cooks,
who cut off ready-dressed meat of all sorts, and also sell
soup.

POSEY, or POESY. A nosegay. I shall see you ride backwards
up Holborn-hill, with a book in one hand, and a
posey in t'other; i.e. I shall see you go to be hanged.
Malefactors who piqued themselves on being properly
equipped for that occasion, had always a nosegay to smell
to, and a prayer book, although they could not read.

POSSE MOBILITATIS. The mob.

POST MASTER GENERAL. The prime minister, who has
the patronage of all posts and places.

POST NOINTER. A house painter, who occasionally paints
or anoints posts. Knight of the post; a false evidence,
one ready to swear any thing for hire. From post to
pillar; backwards and forwards.

POSTILION OF THE GOSPEL. A parson who hurries over the
service.

POT. The pot calls the kettle black a-se; one rogue
exclaims against another.

POT. On the pot; i.e. at stool.

POT CONVERTS. Proselytes to the Romish church, made
by the distribution of victuals and money.

POT HUNTER. One who hunts more tor the sake of the
prey than the sport. Pot valiant; courageous from drink.
Potwallopers: persons entitled to vote in certain
boroughs by having boiled a pot there.

POTATOE TRAP. The mouth. Shut your potatoe trap and
give your tongue a holiday; i.e. be silent. IRISH WIT.

POTHOOKS AND HANGEKS. A scrawl, bad writing.

POT-WABBLERS. Persons entitled to vote for members of
parliament in certain boroughs, from having boiled their
pots therein. These boroughs are called pot-wabbling
boroughs.

POULAIN. A bubo. FRENCH.

POULTERER. A person that guts letters; i.e. opens them
and secretes the money. The kiddey was topped for the
poultry rig; the young fellow was hanged for secreting
a letter and taking out the contents.

POUND. To beat. How the milling cove pounded the cull
for being nuts on his blowen; how the boxer beat the fellow
for taking liberties with his mistress.

POUND. A prison. See LOB'S POUND. Pounded; imprisoned.
Shut up in the parson's pound; married. POWDER

POWDER MONKEY. A boy on board a ship of war, whose
business is to fetch powder from the magazine.

POWDERING TUB. The same as pickling tub. See
PICKLING TUB.

PRAD LAY. Cutting bags from behind horses. CANT.

PRAD. A horse. The swell flashes a rum prad: the
e gentleman sports a fine horse.

PRANCER. A horse. Prancer's nab.; a horse's head, used
as a seal to a counterfeit pass. At the sign of the prancer's
poll, i.e. the nag's head.

PRATE ROAST. A talkative boy.

PRATING CHEAT. The tongue.

PRATTS. Buttocks; also a tinder box. CANT.

PRATTLE BROTH. Tea. See CHATTER BROTH, SCANDAL BROTH, &c.

PRATTLING BOX. The pulpit.

PRAY. She prays with her knees upwards; said of a woman
much given to gallantry and intrigue. At her last prayers;
saying of an old maid.

PREADAMITE QUACABITES. This great and laudable society
(as they termed themselves) held their grand chapter
at the Coal-hole.

P---K. The virile member.

PRICK-EARED. A prick-eared fellow; one whose ears are
longer than his hair: an appellation frequently given to
puritans, who considered long hair as the mark of the
whore of Babylon.

PRICKLOUSE. A taylor.

PRIEST-CRAFT. The art of awing the laity, managing their
consciences, and diving into their pockets.

PRIEST-LINKED. Married.

PRIEST-RIDDEN. Governed by a priest, or priests.

PRIG. A thief, a cheat: also a conceited coxcomical
fellow.

PRIG NAPPER. A thief taker.

PRIGGERS. Thieves in general. Priggers of prancers;
horse stealers. Priggers of cacklers: robbers of hen-roosts.

PRIGGING. Riding; also lying with a woman.

PRIGSTAR. A rival in love.

PRIME. Bang up. Quite the thing. Excellent. Well
done. She's a prime piece; she is very skilful in the
venereal act. Prime post. She's a prime article.

PRIMINAKY. I had like to be brought into a priminary;
i.e. into trouble; from PREMUNIRE.

PRINCE PRIG. A king of the gypsies; also the head thief
or receiver general.

PRINCES. When the majesty of the people was a favourite
terra in the House of Commons, a celebrated wit, seeing
chimney sweepers dancing on a May-day, styled them the
young princes.

PRINCOD. A pincushion. SCOTCH--Also a round plump
man or woman.

PRINCOX. A pert, lively, forward fellow.

PRINCUM PRANCUM. Mrs. Princum Prancum; a nice,
precise, formal madam.

PRINKING. Dressing over nicely: prinked up as if he
came out of a bandbox, or fit to sit upon a cupboard's
head.

PRINT. All in print, quite neat or exact, set, screwed up.
Quite in print; set in a formal manner.

PRISCIAN. To break Priscian's head; to write or speak
false grammar. Priscian was a famous grammarian, who
flourished at Constantinople in the year 525; and who
was so devoted to his favourite study, that to speak false
Latin in his company, was as disagreeable to him as to
break his head.

PRITTLE PRATTLE. Insignificant talk: generally applied
to women and children.

PROG. Provision. Rum prog; choice provision. To prog;
to be on the hunt for provision: called in the military
term to forage.

PROPS. Crutches.

PROPERTY. To make a property of any one; to make
him a conveniency, tool, or cat's paw; to use him as one's
own.

PROUD. Desirous of copulation. A proud bitch; a bitch
at heat, or desirous of a dog.

PROVENDER. He from whom any money is taken on the
highway: perhaps provider, or provider. CANT.

PROPHET. The prophet; the Cock at Temple Bar: so
called, in 1788, by the bucks of the town of the inferior
order.

PRUNELLA. Mr. Prunella; a parson: parson's gowns being
frequently made of prunella.

To PRY. To examine minutely into a matter or business.
A prying fellow; a man of impertinent curiosity, apt to
peep and inquire into other men's secrets.

PUBLIC MAN. A bankrupt.

PUBLIC LEDGER. A prostitute: because, like that paper,
she is open to all parties.

PUCKER. All in a pucker; in a dishabille. Also in a
fright; as, she was in a terrible pucker.

PUCKER WATER. Water impregnated with alum, or other
astringents, used by old experienced traders to
counterfeit virginity.

PUDDINGS. The guts: I'll let out your puddings.

PUDDING-HEADED FELLOW. A stupid fellow, one whose
brains are all in confusion.

PUDDING SLEEVES. A parson.

PUDDING TIME. In good time, or at the beginning of a
meal: pudding formerly making the first dish. To give
the crows a pudding; to die. You must eat some cold
pudding, to settle your love.

PUFF, or PUFFER. One who bids at auctions, not with an
intent to buy, but only to raise the price of the lot; for
which purpose many are hired by the proprietor of the
goods on sale.

PUFF GUTS. A fat man.

PUFFING. Bidding at an auction, as above; also praising
any thing above its merits, from interested motives. The
art of puffing is at present greatly practised, and essentially
necessary in all trades, professions, and callings.
To puff and blow; to be out of breath.

PUG. A Dutch pug; a kind of lap-dog, formerly much in
vogue; also a general name for a monkey.

PUG CARPENTETER. An inferior carpenter, one employed
only in small jobs.

PUG DRINK. Watered cyder.

PUGNOSED, or PUGIFIED. A person with a snub or turned
up nose.

PULLY HAWLY. To have a game at pully hawly; to romp with women.

PULL. To be pulled; to be arrested by a police officer.
To have a pull is to have an advantage; generally where
a person has some superiority at a game of chance or
skill.

PUMP. A thin shoe. To pump; to endeavour to draw a
secret from any one without his perceiving it. Your
pump is good, but your sucker is dry; said by one to a
person who is attempting to pump him. Pumping was
also a punishment for bailiffs who attempted to act in
privileged places, such as the Mint, Temple, &c. It is also
a piece of discipline administered to a pickpocket caught
in the fact, when there is no pond at hand. To pump
ship; to make water, and sometimes to vomit. SEA PHRASE.

PUMP WATER. He was christened in pump water; commonly
said of a person that has a red face.

PUNCH. A liquor called by foreigners Contradiction, from
its being composed of spirits to make it strong, water to
make it weak, lemon juice to make it sour, and sugar to
make it sweet. Punch is also the name of the prince of
puppets, the chief wit and support of a puppet-show.
To punch it, is a cant term for running away. Punchable;
old passable money, anno 1695. A girl that is ripe for
man is called a punchable wench. Cobler's Punch.
Urine with a cinder in it.

PUNK. A whore; also a soldier's trull. See TRULL.

PUNY. Weak. A puny child; a weak little child. A
puny stomach; a weak stomach. Puny, or puisne judge;
the last made judge.

PUPIL MONGERS. Persons at the universities who make it
their business to instruct and superintend a number of
pupils.

PUPPY. An affected or conceited coxcomb.

PURBLIND. Dim-sighted.

PURL. Ale in which wormwood has been infused, or ale
and bitters drunk warm.

PURL ROYAL. Canary wine; with a dash of tincture of
wormwood.

PURSE PROUD. One that is vain of his riches.

PURSENETS. Goods taken up at thrice their value, by young
spendthrifts, upon trust.

PURSER'S PUMP. A bassoon: from its likeness to a syphon,
called a purser's pump.

PURSY, or PURSIVE. Short-breathed, or foggy, from being
over fat.

PUSHING SCHOOL. A fencing school; also a brothel.

PUT. A country put; an ignorant awkward clown. To
put upon any one; to attempt to impose on him, or to
make him the but of the company.

PUZZLE-CAUSE. A lawyer who has a confused understanding.

PUZZLE-TEXT. An ignorant blundering parson.

QUACK. An ungraduated ignorant pretender to skill in
physic, a vender of nostrums.

QUACK-SALVER. A mountebank: a seller of salves.

QUACKING CHEAT. A duck.

QUAG. Abbreviation of quagmire; marshy moorish around.

QUAIL-PIPE. A woman's tongue; also a device to take
birds of that name by imitating their call. Quail pipe
boots; boots resembling a quail pipe, from the number of
plaits; they were much worn in the reign of Charles II.

QUAKERS. A religious sect so called from their agitations
in preaching.

QUAKING CHEAT. A calf or sheep.

QUANDARY. To be in a quandary: to be puzzled. Also
one so over-gorged, as to be doubtful which he should do
first, sh--e or spew. Some derive the term quandary from
the French phrase qu'en dirai je? what shall I say of it?
others from an Italian word signifying a conjuror's circle.

QUARREL-PICKER. A glazier: from the small squares in
casements, called CARREUX, vulgarly quarrels.

QUARROMES, or QUARRON. A body. CANT.

QUARTERED. Divided into four parts; to be hanged, drawn,
and quartered, is the sentence on traitors and rebels.
Persons receiving part of the salary of an office from the
holder of it, by virtue of an agreement with the donor, are
said to be quartered on him. Soldiers billetted on a publican
are likewise said to be quartered on him.

TO QUASH. To suppress, annul or overthrow; vulgarly pronounced
squash: they squashed the indictment.

QUEAN. A slut, or worthless woman, a strumpet.

QUEEN DICK. To the tune of the life and death of Queen
Dick. That happened in the reign of Queen Dick; i.e.,
never.

QUEEN STREET. A mart governed by his wife, is said to
live in Queen street, or at the sign of the Queen's Head.

QUEER, or QUIRE. Base, roguish, bad, naught or worthless. How queerly the cull touts; how roguishly the fellow looks. It also means odd, uncommon. CANT.

QUEER AS DICK'S HATBAND. Out of order, without knowing
one's disease.

TO QUEER. To puzzle or confound. I have queered the
old full bottom; i.e. I have puzzled the judge. To queer
one's ogles among bruisers; to darken one's day lights.

QUEER WEDGES. Large buckles.

QUEER BAIL. Insolvent sharpers, who make a profession of
bailing persons arrested: they are generally styled Jew bail,
from that branch of business being chiefly carried on by
the sons of Judah. The lowest sort of these, who borrow
or hire clothes to appear in, are called Mounters, from
their mounting particular dresses suitable to the occasion.
CANT.

QUEER BIRDS. Rogues relieved from prison, and returned
to their old trade.

QUEER BIT-MAKERS. Coiners. CANT.

QUEER BITCH. An odd, out-of-the-way fellow.

QUEER BLUFFER. The master of a public-house the resort
of rogues and sharpers, a cut-throat inn or alehouse
keeper.

QUEER BUNG. An empty purse.

QUEER CHECKERS. Among strolling players, door-keepers
who defraud the company, by falsely checking the number
of people in the house.

QUEER COLE FENCER. A putter off, or utterer, of bad
money.

QUEER COLE MAKER. A maker of bad money.

QUEER COVE. A rogue. CANT.

QUEER CUFFIN. A justice of the peace; also a churl.

QUEER DEGEN. An ordinary sword, brass or iron hilted.

QUEER KEN. A prison. CANT.

QUEER KICKS. A bad pair of breeches.

QUEER MORT. A diseased strumpet. CANT.

QUEER NAB. A felt hat, or other bad hat.

QUEER PLUNGERS. Cheats who throw themselves into the
water, in order that they may be taken up by their accomplices,
who carry them to one of the houses appointed
by the Humane Society for the recovery of drowned
persons, where they are rewarded by the society with a
guinea each; and the supposed drowned persons, pretending
he was driven to that extremity by great necessity,
also frequently sent away with a contribution in his
pocket.

QUEER PRANCER. A bad, worn-out, foundered horse; also
a cowardly or faint-hearted horse-stealer.

QUEER ROOSTER. An informer that pretends to be sleeping,
and thereby overhears the conversation of thieves in
night cellars.

QUEER STREET. Wrong. Improper. Contrary to one's
wish. It is queer street, a cant phrase, to signify
that it is wrong or different to our wish.

QUITAM. A quitam horse; one that will both carry and
draw. LAW WIT.

TO QUIBBLE. To make subtle distinctions; also to play
upon words.

QUICK AND NIMBLE. More like a bear than a squirrel.
Jeeringly said to any one moving sluggishly on a business
or errand that requires dispatch.

QUID. The quantity of tobacco put into the mouth at one
time. To quid tobacco; to chew tobacco. Quid est
hoc? hoc est quid; a guinea. Half a quid; half a guinea.
The swell tipped me fifty quid for the prad; the gentleman
gave fifty pounds for the horse.

QUIDS. Cash, money. Can you tip me any quids? can
you lend me some money?

QUIFFING. Rogering. See TO ROGER.

QUIDNUNC. A politician: from a character of that name
in the farce of the Upholsterer.

QUILL DRIVER. A clerk, scribe, or hackney writer.

QUIM. The private parts of a woman: perhaps from the
Spanish quemar, to burn. (CAMBRIDGE) A piece's furbelow.

QUINSEY. Choked by a hempen quinsey; hanged.

QUIPPS. Girds, taunts, jests.

QUIRE, or CHOIR BIRD. A complete rogue, one that has
sung in different choirs or cages, i.e. gaols. CANT.

QUIRKS AND QUILLETS. Tricks and devices. Quirks in
law; subtle distinctions and evasions.

QUIZ. A strange-looking fellow, an odd dog. OXFORD.

QUOD. Newgate, or any other prison. The dab's in quod;
the poor rogue is in prison.

QUOTA. Snack, share, part, proportion, or dividend. Tip
me my quota; give me part of the winnings, booty, or
plunder. CANT.

RABBIT. A Welch rabbit; bread and cheese toasted, i.e.
a Welch rare bit. Rabbits were also a sort of wooden
canns to drink out of, now out of use.

RABBIT CATCHER. A midwife.

RABBIT SUCKERS. Young spendthrifts taking up goods on
trust at great prices.

RACK RENT. Rent strained to the utmost value. To
lie at rack and manger; to be in great disorder.

RACKABACK. A gormagon. See GORMAGON.

RAFFS. An appellation given by the gownsmen of the university
of Oxford to the inhabitants of that place.

RAG. Bank notes. Money in general. The cove has no
rag; the fellow has no money.

RAG. A farthing.

TO RAG. To abuse, and tear to rags the characters of the
persons abused. She gave him a good ragging, or ragged
him off heartily.

RAG CARRIER. An ensign.

RAG FAIR. An inspection of the linen and necessaries of a
company of soldiers, commonly made by their officers on
Mondays or Saturdays.

RAG WATER. Gin, or any other common dram: these
liquors seldom failing to reduce those that drink them to
rags.

RAGAMUFFIN. A ragged fellow, one all in tatters, a tatterdemallion.

RAILS. See HEAD RAILS. A dish of rails; a lecture, jobation,
or scolding from a married woman to her husband.

RAINBOW. Knight of the rainbow; a footman: from being
commonly clothed in garments of different colours. A
meeting of gentlemen, styled of the most ancient order of
the rainbow, was advertised to be held at the Foppington's
Head, Moorfields.

RAINY DAY. To lay up something for a rainy day; to
provide against a time of necessity or distress.

RAKE, RAKEHELL, or RAKESHAME. A lewd, debauched
fellow.

RALPH SPOONER. A fool.

RAM CAT. A he cat.

RAMMISH. Rank. Rammish woman; a sturdy virago.

RAMMER. The arm. The busnapper's kenchin seized my
rammer; i.e. the watchman laid hold of my arm. CANT.

TO RAMP. To snatch, or tear any thing forcibly from the
person.

RAMSHACKLED. Out of repair. A ramshackled house;
perhaps a corruption of RANSACKED, i.e. plundered.

RANDLE. A set of nonsensical verses, repeated in Ireland
by schoolboys, and young people, who have been guilty
of breaking wind backwards before any of their companions;
if they neglect this apology, they are liable to certain
kicks, pinches, and fillips, which are accompanied with
divers admonitory couplets.

RANDY. Obstreperous, unruly, rampant.

RANGLING. Intriguing with a variety of women.

RANK. Stinking, rammish, ill-flavoured; also strong, great.
A rank knave; a rank coward: perhaps the latter may
allude to an ill savour caused by fear.

RANK RIDER. A highwayman.

RANTALLION. One whose scrotum is so relaxed as to be
longer than his penis, i.e. whose shot pouch is longer
that the barrel of his piece.

RANTIPOLE. A rude romping boy or girl; also a gadabout
dissipated woman. To ride rantipole; the same as riding
St. George. See ST. GEORGE.

RANTUM SCANTUM. Playing at rantum scantum; making
the beast with two backs.

To RAP To take a false oath; also to curse. He rapped
out a volley; i.e. he swore a whole volley of oaths. To
rap, means also to exchange or barter: a rap is likewise an
Irish halfpenny. Rap on the knuckles; a reprimand.

RAPPAREES. Irish robbers, or outlaws, who in the time of
Oliver Cromwell were armed with short weapons, called
in Irish RAPIERS, used for ripping persons up.

RAPPER. A swinging great lie.

RAREE SHEW MEN. Poor Savoyards, who subsist by shewing
the magic lantern and marmots about London.

RASCAL. A rogue or villain: a term borrowed from the
chase; a rascal originally meaning a lean shabby deer, at
the time of changing his horns, penis, &c. whence, in the
vulgar acceptation, rascal is conceived to signify a man
without genitals: the regular vulgar answer to this reproach,
if uttered by a woman, is the offer of an ocular demonstration
of the virility of the party so defamed. Some derive
it from RASCAGLIONE, an Italian word signifying a man.
without testicles, or an eunuch.

RAT. A drunken man or woman taken up by the watch,
and confined in the watch-house. CANT. To smell a rat;
to suspect some intended trick, or unfair design.

RATS. Of these there are the following kinds: a black rat
and a grey rat, a py-rat and a cu-rat.

RATTLE. A dice-box. To rattle; to talk without consideration,
also to move off or go away. To rattle one off;
to rate or scold him.

RATTLE-PATE. A volatile, unsteady, or whimsical man or
woman.

RATTLE-TRAPS. A contemptuous name for any curious
portable piece of machinery, or philosophical apparatus.

RATTLER. A coach. Rattle and prad; a coach and horses.

RATTLING COVE. A coachman. CANT.

RATTLING MUMPERS. Beggars who ply coaches. CANT.

RAWHEAD AND BLOODY BONES. A bull beggar, or scarechild,
with which foolish nurses terrify crying brats.

READER. A pocket-book. CANT.

READER MERCHANTS. Pickpockets, chiefly young Jews,
who ply about the Bank to steal the pocket-books of
persons who have just received their dividends there.

READY. The ready rhino; money. CANT.

REBUS. A riddle or pun on a man's name, expressed in
sculpture or painting, thus: a bolt or arrow, and a tun,
for Bolton; death's head, and a ton, for Morton.

RECEIVER GENERAL. A prostitute.

RECKON. To reckon with one's host; to make an erroneous
judgment in one's own favour. To cast-up one's reckoning
or accounts; to vomit.

TO RECRUIT. To get a fresh supply of money.

RECRUITING SERVICE. Robbing on the highway.

RED FUSTIAN. Port wine.

RED LANE. The throat. Gone down the red lane; swallowed.

RED RIBBIN. Brandy.

RED LATTICE. A public house.

RED LETTER DAY. A saint's day or holiday, marked in
the calendars with red letters. Red letter men; Roman
Catholics: from their observation of the saint days
marked in red letters.

RED RAG. The tongue. Shut your potatoe trap, and
give your red rag a holiday; i.e. shut your mouth, and
let your tongue rest. Too much of the red rag (too much
tongue).

RED SAIL-YARD DOCKERS. Buyers of stores stolen out of
the royal yards and docks.

RED SHANK. A Scotch Highlander.

REGULARS. Share of the booty. The coves cracked the
swell's crib, fenced the swag, and each cracksman napped
his regular; some fellows broke open a gentleman's house,
and after selling the property which they had stolen,
they divided the money between them.

RELIGIOUS HORSE. One much given to prayer, or apt to
be down upon his knees.

RELIGIOUS PAINTER. One who does not break the commandment
which prohibits the making of the likeness of
any thing in heaven or earth, or in the waters under the
earth.

THE RELISH. The sign of the Cheshire cheese.

RELISH. Carnal connection with a woman.

REMEDY CRITCH. A chamber pot, or member mug.

REMEMBER PARSON MELHAM. Drink about: a Norfolk
phrase.

RENDEZVOUS. A place of meeting. The rendezvous of
the beggars were, about the year 1638, according to the
Bellman, St. Quinton's, the Three Crowns in the Vintry,
St. Tybs, and at Knapsbury: there were four barns within
a mile of London. In Middlesex were four other harbours,
called Draw the Pudding out of the Fire, the Cross
Keys in Craneford parish, St. Julian's in Isleworth parish,
and the house of Pettie in Northall parish. In Kent, the
King's Barn near Dartford, and Ketbrooke near Blackheath.

REP. A woman of reputation.

REPOSITORY. A lock-up or spunging-house, a gaol. Also
livery stables where horses and carriages are sold by
auction.

RESCOUNTERS. The time of settlement between the bulls
and bears of Exchange-alley, when the losers must pay
their differences, or become lame ducks, and waddle out
of the Alley.

RESURRECTION MEN. Persons employed by the students
in anatomy to steal dead bodies out of church-yards.

REVERENCE. An ancient custom, which obliges any person
easing himself near the highway or foot-path, on the
word REVERENCE being given him by a passenger, to take off
his hat with his teeth, and without moving from his station
to throw it over his head, by which it frequently falls
into the excrement; this was considered as a punishment
for the breach of delicacy, A person refusing to obey this
law, might be pushed backwards. Hence, perhaps, the
term, SIR-REVERENCE.

REVERSED. A man set by bullies on his head, that his
money may fall out of his breeches, which they afterwards
by accident pick up. See HOISTING.

REVIEW OF THE BLACK CUIRASSIERS. A visitation of the
clergy. See CROW FAIR.

RHINO. Money. CANT.

RIB. A wife: an allusion to our common mother Eve,
made out of Adam's rib. A crooked rib: a cross-grained
wife.

RIBALDRY. Vulgar abusive language, such as was spoken
by ribalds. Ribalds were originally mercenary soldiers
who travelled about, serving any master far pay, but
afterwards degenerated into a mere banditti.

RIBBIN. Money. The ribbin runs thick; i.e. there is
plenty of money. CANT. Blue ribbin. Gin. The cull
lushes the blue ribbin; the silly fellow drinks common
gin.

To RIBROAST. To beat: I'll ribroast him to his heart's
content.

RICH FACE, or NOSE. A red pimpled, face.

RICHAUD SNARY. A dictionary. A country lad, having
been reproved for calling persons by their christian names,
being sent by his master to borrow a dictionary, thought
to shew his breeding by asking for a Richard Snary.

RIDER. A person who receives part of the salary of a place
or appointment from the ostensible occupier, by virtue
of an agreement with the donor, or great man appointing.
The rider is said to be quartered upon the possessor, who
often has one or more persons thus riding behind him. See
QUARTERED.

RIDGE. A guinea. Ridge cully; a goldsmith. CANT.

RIDING ST. GEORGE. The woman uppermost in the amorous
congress, that is, the dragon upon St. George. This
is said to be the way to get a bishop.

RIDING SKIMMINGTON. A ludicrous cavalcade, in ridicule
of a man beaten by his wife. It consists of a man riding
behind a woman, with his face to the horse's tail, holding
a distaff in his hand, at which he seems to work, the woman
all the while beating him with a ladle; a smock displayed
on a staff is carried before them as an emblematical standard,
denoting female superiority: they are accompanied
by what is called the ROUGH MUSIC, that is, frying-pans, bulls
horns, marrow-bones and cleavers, &c. A procession of
this kind is admirably described by Butler in his Hudibras.
He rode private, i.e. was a private trooper.

RIFF RAFF. Low vulgar persons, mob, tag-rag and bob-tail.

RIG. Fun, game, diversion, or trick. To run one's rig
upon any particular person; to make him a butt. I am
up to your rig; I am a match for your tricks.

RIGGING. Clothing. I'll unrig the bloss; I'll strip the
wench. Rum Rigging; fine clothes. The cull has rum
rigging, let's ding him and mill him, and pike; the
fellow has good clothes, let's knock him down, rob him,
and scour off, i.e. run away.

RIGHT. All right! A favourite expression among thieves,
to signify that all is as they wish, or proper for their
purpose. All right, hand down the jemmy; every thing is
in proper order, give me the crow.

RIGMAROLE. Roundabout, nonsensical. He told a long
rigmarole story.

RING. Money procured by begging: beggars so called it
from its ringing when thrown to them. Also a circle formed
for boxers, wrestlers, and cudgel-players, by a man
styled Vinegar; who, with his hat before his eyes, goes
round the circle, striking at random with his whip to
prevent the populace from crowding in.

TO RING A PEAL. To scold; chiefly applied to women.
His wife rung him a fine peal!

RING THE CHANGES. When a person receives silver in
change to shift some good shillings and put bad ones in
their place. The person who gave the change is then
requested to give good shillings for these bad ones.

RIP. A miserable rip; a poor, lean, worn-out horse. A
shabby mean fellow.

RIPPONS. Spurs: Rippon is famous for a manufactory of
spurs both for men and fighting cocks.

ROARATORIOS AND UPROARS. Oratorios and operas.

ROARING BOY. A noisy, riotous fellow.

ROARER. A broken-winded horse.

ROARING TRADE. A quick trade.

TO ROAST. To arrest. I'll roast the dab; I'll arrest the
rascal.--Also to jeer, ridicule, or banter. He stood the
roast; he was the butt.--Roast meat clothes; Sunday or
holiday-clothes. To cry roast meat; to boast of one's
situation. To rule the roast; to be master or paramount.

ROAST AND BOILED. A nick name for the Life Guards,
who are mostly substantial house-keepers; and eat daily
of roast and boiled.

ROBERT'S MEN. The third old rank of the canting crew,
mighty thieves, like Robin Hood.

ROBY DOUGLASS, with one eye and a stinking breath. The
breech.

ROCHESTER PORTION. Two torn smocks, and what nature gave.

ROCKED. He was rocked in a stone kitchen; a saying
meant to convey the idea that the person spoken of is a
fool, his brains having been disordered by the jumbling of
his cradle.

ROGER. A portmanteau; also a man's yard. Cant.

ROGER, or TIB OF THE BUTTERY. A goose. Cant. Jolly
Roger; a flag hoisted by pirates.

TO ROGER. To bull, or lie with a woman; from the name
of Roger being frequently given to a bull.

ROGUES. The fourth order of canters. A rogue in grain;
a great rogue, also a corn chandler. A rogue in spirit; a
distiller or brandy merchant.

ROGUM POGUM, or DRAGRUM POGRAM. Goat's beard,
eaten for asparagus; so called by the ladies who gather
cresses, &c. who also deal in this plant.

ROMBOYLES. Watch and ward. Romboyled; sought after
with a warrant.

ROME MORT. A queen.

ROMEVILLE. London. Cant.

ROMP. A forward wanton girl, a tomrig. Grey, in his
notes to Shakespeare, derives it from arompo, an animal
found in South Guinea, that is a man eater. See HOYDEN.

ROOK. A cheat: probably from the thievish disposition of
the birds of that name. Also the cant name for a crow
used in house-breaking. To rook; to cheat, particularly
at play.

ROOM. She lets out her fore room and lies backwards:
saying of a woman suspected of prostitution.

ROOST LAY. Stealing poultry.

ROPES. Upon the high ropes; elated, in high spirits,
cock-a-hoop.

ROSE. Under the rose: privately or secretly. The rose
was, it is said, sacred to Harpocrates, the God of silence,
and therefore frequently placed in the ceilings of rooms
destined for the receiving of guests; implying, that
whatever was transacted there, should not be made public.

ROSY GILLS. One with a sanguine or fresh-coloured countenance.

ROTAN. A coach, cart, or other wheeled carriage.

ROT GUT. Small beer; called beer-a-bumble--will burst
one's guts before it will make one tumble.

ROVERS. Pirates, vagabonds.

ROUGH. To lie rough; to lie all night in one's clothes:
called also roughing it. Likewise to sleep on the bare
deck of a ship, when the person is commonly advised to
chuse the softest plank.

ROUGH MUSIC. Saucepans, frying-paps, poker and tongs,
marrow-bones and cleavers, bulls horns, &c. beaten upon
and sounded in ludicrous processions.

ROULEAU. A number of guineas, from twenty to fifty or
more, wrapped up in paper, for the more ready circulation
at gaming-tables: sometimes they are inclosed in ivory boxes,
made to hold exactly 20, 50, or 100 guineas.

ROUND DEALING. Plain, honest dealing.

ROUNDHEADS. A term of reproach to the puritans and
partizans of Oliver Cromwell, and the Rump Parliament,
who it is said made use of a bowl as a guide to trim their
hair.

ROUND ROBIN. A mode of signing remonstrances practised
by sailors on board the king's ships, wherein their
names are written in a circle, so that it cannot be
discovered who first signed it, or was, in other words, the
ringleader.

ROUND SUM. A considerable sum.

ROUND ABOUT. An instrument used in housebreaking.
This instrument has not been long in use. It will cut a
round piece about five inches in diameter out of a shutter
or door.

ROUND MOUTH. The fundament. Brother round mouth,
speaks; he has let a fart.

ROUT. A modern card meeting at a private house; also an
order from the Secretary at War, directing the march
and quartering of soldiers.

ROW. A disturbance; a term used by the students at
Cambridge.

ROW. To row in the same boat; to be embarked in the
same scheme.

ROWLAND. To give a Rowland for an Oliver; to give an
equivalent. Rowland and Oliver were two knights famous
in romance: the wonderful achievements of the
one could only be equalled by those of the other.

ROYAL SCAMPS. Highwaymen who never rob any but
rich persons, and that without ill treating them. See
SCAMP.

ROYAL STAG SOCIETY. Was held every Monday evening,
at seven o'clock, at the Three tuns, near the Hospital
Gate, Newgate-street.

ROYSTER. A rude boisterous fellow; also a hound that
opens on a false scent.

TO RUB. To run away. Don't rub us to the whit; don't
send us to Newgate. CANT.--To rub up; to refresh: to
rub up one's memory. A rub: an impediment. A rubber;
the best two out of three. To win a rubber: to
win two games out of three.

RUBY FACED. Red-faced.

RUFF. An ornament formerly worn by men and women
round their necks. Wooden ruff; the pillory.

RUFFIAN. The devil. CANT.--May the ruffian nab the
cuffin queer, and let the harmanbeck trine with his kinchins
about his colquarren; may the Devil take the justice,
and let the constable be hanged with his children about
his neck. The ruffian cly thee; the Devil take thee.
Ruffian cook ruffian, who scalded the Devil in his feathers;
a saying of a bad cook. Ruffian sometimes also means,
a justice.

RUFFLES. Handcuffs. CANT.

RUFFLERS. The first rank of canters; also notorious rogues
pretending to be maimed soldiers or sailors.

RUFFMANS. The woods, hedges, or bushes. CANT.

RUG. It is all rug; it is all right and safe, the game is
secure. CANT.

RUG. Asleep. The whole gill is safe at rug; the people
of the house are fast asleep.

RUM. Fine, good, valuable.

RUM BECK. A justice of the peace. CANT.

RUM BITE. A clever cheat, a clean trick.

RUM BLEATING CHEAT. A fat wether sheep. CANT.

RUM BLOWEN. A handsome wench. CANT.

RUM BLUFFER. A jolly host. CANT.

RUM BOB. A young apprentice; also a sharp trick.

RUM BOOZE. Wine, or any other good liquor. Rum boozing
welts; bunches of grapes. CANT.

RUM BUBBER. A dexterous fellow at stealing silver tankards
from inns and taverns.

RUM BUGHER. A valuable dog. CANT.

RUM BUNG. A full purse. CANT.

RUM CHUB. Among butchers, a customer easily imposed
on, as to the quality and price of meat. CANT.

RUM CHANT. A song.

RUM CLOUT. A fine silk, cambric, or holland handkerchief.
CANT.

RUM COD. A good purse of gold. CANT.

RUM COLE. New money, or medals.

RUM COVE. A dexterous or clever rogue.

RUM CULL. A rich fool, easily cheated, particularly by
his mistress.

RUM DEGEN. A handsome sword. CANT.

RUM DELL. See RUM DOXY.

RUM DIVER. A dextrous pickpocket. CANT.

RUM DOXY. A fine wench. CANT.

RUM DRAWERS. Silk, or other fine stockings. CANT.

RUM DROPPER. A vintner. CANT.

RUM DUBBER. An expert picklock.

RUM DUKE. A jolly handsome fellow; also an odd eccentric
fellow; likewise the boldest and stoutest fellows lately
among the Alsatians, Minters, Savoyards, and other
inhabitants of privileged districts, sent to remove and guard
the goods of such bankrupts as intended to take sanctuary
in those places. CANT.

RUM FILE. See RUM DIVER.

RUM FUN. A sharp trick. CANT.

RUM GAGGERS. Cheats who tell wonderful stories of
their sufferings at sea, or when taken by the Algerines,
CANT.

RUM GHELT. See RUM COLE. CANT.

RUM GLYMMER. King or chief of the link-boys. CANT.

RUM KICKS. Breeches of gold or silver brocade, or richly
laced with gold or silver. CANT.

RUM MAWND. One that counterfeits a fool. CANT

RUM MORT. A queen, or great lady. CANT.

RUM NAB. A good hat.

RUM NANTZ. Good French brandy. CANT.

RUM NED. A very rich silly fellow. CANT.

RUM PAD. The highway. CANT.

RUM PADDERS. Highwaymen well mounted and armed.
CANT.

RUM PEEPERS. Fine looking-glasses. CANT.

RUM PRANCER. A fine horse. CANT.

RUM QUIDS. A great booty. CANT.

RUM RUFF PECK. Westphalia ham. CANT.

RUM SNITCH. A smart fillip on the nose.

RUM SQUEEZE. Much wine, or good liquor, given among
fiddlers. CANT.

RUM TILTER. See RUM DEGEN.

RUM TOL. See RUM DEGEN.

RUM TOPPING. A rich commode, or woman's head-dress.

RUM VILLE. See ROMEVILLE.

RUM WIPER. See RUM CLOUT.

RUMBO. Rum, water, and sugar; also a prison.

RUMBOYLE. A ward or watch.

RUMBUMTIOUS. Obstreperous.

RUMFORD. To ride to Rumford to have one's backside new
bottomed: i.e. to have a pair of new leather breeches.
Rumford was formerly a famous place for leather breeches.
A like saying is current in Norfolk and Suffolk, of Bungay,
and for the same reason.--Rumford lion; a calf.
See ESSEX LION.

RUMP. To rump any one; to turn the back to him: an
evolution sometimes used at court. Rump and a dozen;
a rump of beef and a dozen of claret; an Irish wager,
called also buttock and trimmings. Rump and kidney
men; fiddlers that play at feasts, fairs, weddings, &c.
and live chiefly on the remnants.

RUMPUS. A riot, quarrel, or confusion.

RUN GOODS. A maidenhead, being a commodity never entered.

RUNNING HORSE, or NAG. A clap, or gleet.

RUNNING SMOBBLE. Snatching goods off a counter, and
throwing them to an accomplice, who brushes off with
them.

RUNNING STATIONERS. Hawker of newspapers, trials, and
dying speeches.

RUNT. A short squat man or woman: from the small cattle
called Welsh runts.

RUSHERS. Thieves who knock at the doors of great houses
in London, in summer time, when the families are gone
out of town, and on the door being opened by a woman,
rush in and rob the house; also housebreakers who enter
lone houses by force.

RUSSIAN COFFEE-HOUSE. The Brown Bear in Bow-street,
Covent Garden, a house of call for thief-takers and runners
of the Bow street justices.

RUSTY. Out of use, To nab the rust; to be refractory;
properly applied to a restive horse, and figuratively
to the human species. To ride rusty; to be sullen; called
also to ride grub.

RUSTY GUTS. A blunt surly fellow: a jocular misnomer of
RESTICUS.

RUTTING. Copulating. Rutting time; the season, when
deer go to rut.

SACHEVEREL. The iron door, or blower, to the mouth
of a stove: from a divine of that name, who made himself
famous for blowing the coals of dissension in the latter
end of the reign of queen Ann.

SACK. A pocket. To buy the sack: to get drunk. To
dive into the sack; to pick a pocket. To break a bottle
in an empty sack; a bubble bet, a sack with a bottle in
it not being an empty sack.

SAD DOG. A wicked debauched fellow; one of the ancient
family of the sad dogs. Swift translates it into Latin by
the words TRISTIS CANIS.