Chapter VII: Preface: To the First Edition (6)

KINGSMAN, the favourite coloured neckerchief of the costermongers. The women wear them thrown over their shoulders. With both sexes they are more valued than any other article of clothing. A coster’s _caste_, or position, is at stake, he imagines, if his KINGSMAN is not of the most approved pattern. When he fights, his KINGSMAN is tied either around his waist as a belt, or as a garter around his leg. This very singular partiality for a peculiar coloured neckcloth was doubtless derived from the Gipseys, and probably refers to an Oriental taste or custom long forgotten by these vagabonds. A singular similarity of taste for certain colours exists amongst the Hindoos, Gipseys, and London costermongers. Red and yellow (or orange) are the great favourites, and in these hues the Hindoo selects his turban and his robe; the Gipsey his breeches, and his wife her shawl or gown; and the costermonger his plush waistcoat and favourite KINGSMAN. Amongst either class, when a fight takes place, the greatest regard is paid to the favourite coloured article of dress. The Hindoo lays aside his turban, the Gipsey folds up his scarlet breeches or coat, whilst the pugilistic costermonger of Covent Garden or Billingsgate, as we have just seen, removes his favourite neckerchief to a part of his body, by the rules of the “ring,” comparatively out of danger. Amongst the various patterns of kerchiefs worn by the wandering tribes of London, red and yellow are the oldest and most in fashion. Blue, intermixed with spots, is a late importation, probably from the Navy, through sporting characters.

KING’S PICTURES (now, of course, QUEEN’S PICTURES), money.

KISKY, drunk, fuddled.

KISS CURL, a small curl twisted on the temple.—_See_ BOW-CATCHER.

KISS-ME-QUICK, the name given to the very small bonnets worn by females since 1850.

KITE, _see_ FLY THE KITE.

KNACKER, an old horse; a horse slaughterer.—_Gloucestershire._

KNAP, to receive, to take, to steal.

KNAPPING-JIGGER, a turnpike-gate; “to dub at the KNAPPING-JIGGER,” to pay money at the turnpike.

KNARK, a hard-hearted or savage person.

KNIFE, “to KNIFE a person,” to stab, an un-English but now-a-days a very common expression.

KNIFE IT, “cut it,” cease, stop, don’t proceed.

KNIFE-BOARD, the seat running along the roof of an omnibus.

KNIGHT, a common and ironical prefix to a man’s calling,—thus, “KNIGHT of the whip,” a coachman; “KNIGHT of the thimble,” a tailor.

KNOCK ABOUT THE BUB, to hand or pass about the drink.

KNOCK DOWN, or KNOCK ME DOWN, strong ale.

KNOCK OFF, to give over, or abandon. A saying used by workmen about dinner, or other meal times, for upwards of two centuries.

KNOCKED UP, tired, jaded, used up, done for. In the United States, amongst females, the phrase is equivalent to being _enceinte_, so that Englishmen often unconsciously commit themselves when amongst our Yankee cousins.

KNOCK-IN, the game of _loo_.

KNOCK-OUTS, or KNOCK-INS, disreputable persons who visit auction rooms and unite to buy the articles at their own prices. One of their number is instructed to buy for the rest, and after a few small bids as blinds to the auctioneer and bystanders, the lot is knocked down to the KNOCK-OUT bidders, at a nominal price—the competition to result from an auction being thus frustrated and set aside. At the conclusion of the sale the goods are paid for, and carried to some neighbouring public house, where they are re-sold or KNOCKED-OUT, and the difference between the first purchase and the second—or tap-room KNOCK-OUT—is divided amongst the gang. As generally happens with ill-gotten gains, the money soon finds its way to the landlord’s pocket, and the KNOCK-OUT is rewarded with a red nose or a bloated face. Cunning tradesmen join the KNOCK-OUTS when an opportunity for money making presents itself. The lowest description of KNOCK-OUTS, fellows with more tongue than capital, are termed BABES,—which see.

KNOCKING-SHOP, a brothel, or disreputable house frequented by prostitutes.

KNOWING, a slang term for sharpness; “KNOWING codger,” or “a KNOWING blade,” one who can take you in, or cheat you, in any transaction you may have with him. It implies also deep cunning and foresight, and generally signifies dishonesty.

“Who, on a spree with black eyed Sal, his blowen,
So swell, so prime, so nutty and so KNOWING.”

_Don Juan._

KNOWLEDGE-BOX, the head.—_Pugilistic._

KNUCKLE, to pick pockets after the most approved method.

KNUCKLE TO, or KNUCKLE UNDER, to yield or submit.

KNUCKLER, a pickpocket.

KNULLER, old term for a chimney-sweep, who solicited jobs by ringing a bell. From the _Saxon_, CNYLLAN, to knell, or sound a bell.—_See_ QUERIER.

KOTOOING, misapplied flattery.—_Illustrated London News_, 7th January, 1860.

KYPSEY, a basket.

LA! a euphuistic rendering of LORD, common amongst females and very precise persons; imagined by many to be a corruption of LOOK! but this is a mistake. Sometimes pronounced LAW, or LAWKS.

LACING, a beating. From the phrase “I’ll LACE your jacket.”—_L’Estrange._ Perhaps to give a beating with a _lace_ or _lash_.

LADDER, “can’t see a hole in a LADDER,” said of any one who is intoxicated.

LADDLE, a lady. Term with chimney-sweeps on the 1st of May. A correspondent suggests that the term may come from the brass _ladles_ for collecting money, always carried by the sweeps’ ladies.

LAG, a returned transport, or ticket-of-leave convict.

LAG, to void urine.—_Ancient cant._

LAGGED, transported for a crime.

LAGGER, a sailor.

LAME DUCK, a stock jobber who speculates beyond his capital and cannot pay his losses. Upon retiring from the Exchange he is said to “waddle out of the Alley.”

LAMMING, a beating.—_Old English_, LAM; used by _Beaumont and Fletcher_.

LAND LUBBER, sea term for a “landsman.”—_See_ LOAFER.

LAND-SHARK, a sailor’s definition of a lawyer.

LAP THE GUTTER, to get drunk.

LARK, fun, a joke; “let’s have a jolly good LARK,” let us have a piece of fun. _Mayhew_ calls it “a convenient word covering much mischief.”—_Anglo Saxon_, LAC, sport; but more probably from the nautical term SKYLARKING, _i.e._, mounting to the highest yards and sliding down the ropes for amusement, which is allowed on certain occasions.

LARRUP, to beat, or thrash.

LARRUPING, a good beating or “hiding.”—_Irish._

LATCHPAN, the lower lip—properly a dripping pan; “to hang one’s LATCHPAN,” to pout, be sulky.—_Norfolk._

LAVENDER, “to be laid up in LAVENDER,” in pawn; or, when a person is out of the way for an especial purpose.—_Old._

LAY, to watch; “on the LAY,” on the look out—_Shakespere._

LED CAPTAIN, a fashionable spunger, a swell who, by artifice ingratiates himself into the good graces of the master of the house, and lives at his table.

LEARY, to look, or be watchful; shy.—_Old cant._

LEARY, flash, or knowing.

LEARY BLOAK, a person who dresses showily.

LEATHER, to beat or thrash. From the leather belt worn by soldiers and policemen, often used as a weapon in street rows.

LEAVING SHOP, an unlicensed house where goods are taken in to pawn at exorbitant rates of interest.—_Daily Telegraph_, 1st August, 1859.

LEEF, “I’d as LEEF do it as not,” _i.e._, I have no objection to do it.—_Corruption_ of LIEF, or LEAVE. _Old English_, LIEF, inclined to.

LEG IT, to run; LEG BAIL, to run off; “to give a LEG,” to assist, as when one mounts a horse; “making a LEG,” a countryman’s bow,—projecting the leg from behind as a balance to the head bent forward.—_Shakespere._

LEGGED, in irons.

LEGS, or BLACKLEGS, disreputable sporting characters, and race-course _habitués_.

LEGS OF MUTTON, inflated street term for sheeps’ trotters, or feet.

LENGTH, forty-two lines of a dramatic composition.—_Theat._

LENGTH, six months’ imprisonment.—_See_ STRETCH.

LET DRIVE, to strike, or attack with vigour.

LET IN, to cheat or victimise.

LET ON, to give an intimation of having some knowledge of a subject. _Ramsay_ employs the phrase in the _Gentle Shepherd_. Common in Scotland.

LETTY, a bed. _Italian_, LETTO.

LEVANTER, a card sharper, or defaulting gambler. A correspondent states that it was formerly the custom to give out to the creditors, when a person was in pecuniary difficulties, and it was convenient for him to keep away, that he was gone to the _East_, or the LEVANT; hence, when one loses a bet, and decamps without settling, he is said to LEVANT.

LICK, a blow; LICKING, a beating; “to put in big LICKS,” a curious and common phrase meaning that great exertions are being made.—_Dryden; North._

LICK, to excel, or overcome; “if you aint sharp he’ll LICK you,” _i.e._, be finished first. Signifies, also, to whip, chastise, or conquer. _Ancient cant_, LYCKE.

LIFER, a convict who is sentenced to transportation _for life_.

LIFT, to steal, pick pockets; “there’s a clock been LIFTED,” said when a watch has been stolen. The word is as old as the Border forays, and is used by _Shakespere_. SHOPLIFTER is a recognised term.

LIGHT, “to be able to get a LIGHT at a house” is to get credit.

LIGHT-FEEDERS, silver spoons.

LIGHTS, a “cake,” a fool, a soft or “doughy” person.

LIGHTS, the eyes.

LIGHTNING, gin; “FLASH O’ LIGHTNING,” a glass of gin.

LIMB OF THE LAW, a lawyer, or clerk articled to that profession.

LINE, calling, trade, profession; “what LINE are you in?” “the building LINE.”

LINGO, talk, or language. Slang is termed LINGO amongst the lower orders. _Italian_, LINGUA.

LIP, bounce, impudence; “come, none o’ yer LIP!”

LIQUOR, or LIQUOR UP, to drink drams.—_Americanism._ IN LIQUOR, tipsy, or drunk.

LITTLE GO, the “Previous Examination,” at Cambridge the first University examination for undergraduates in their second year of matriculation. At Oxford, the corresponding term is THE SMALLS.

LITTLE SNAKES-MAN, a little thief, who is generally passed through a small aperture to open any door to let in the rest of the gang.

LIVE-STOCK, vermin of the _insect_ kind.

LOAFER, a lazy vagabond. Generally considered an _Americanism_. LOPER, or LOAFER, however, was in general use as a cant term in the early part of the last century. LAND-LOPER, was a vagabond who begged in the attire of a sailor; and the sea phrase, LAND-LUBBER, was doubtless synonymous.—_See the Times_, 3rd November, 1859, for a reference to LOAFER.

LOAVER, money.—_See_ LOUR.

LOB, a till, or money drawer.

LOBB, the head.—_Pugilistic._

LOBLOLLY, gruel.—_Old_: used by _Markham_ as a sea term for grit gruel, or hasty pudding.

LOBLOLLY BOY, a derisive term for a surgeon’s mate in the navy.

LOBS, words.—_Gipsey._

LOBSTER, a soldier. A _policeman_ from the colour of his coat is styled an _unboiled_, or _raw_ LOBSTER.

LOBSTER-BOX, a barrack, or military station.

LOLLY, the head.—_See_ LOBB.—_Pugilistic._

LONG-BOW, “to draw,” or “shoot with the LONG BOW,” to exaggerate.

LONG-TAILED-ONES, bank notes, or FLIMSIES, for a large amount.

LOOF FAKER, a chimney-sweep.—_See_ FLUE FAKER.

LOOSE.—_See_ ON THE LOOSE.

LOOT, swag, or plunder.—_Hindoo._

LOP-SIDED, uneven, one side larger than the other.—_Old._

LOPE, this old form of _leap_ is often heard in the streets.

LORD, “drunk as a LORD,” a common saying, probably referring to the facilities a man of fortune has for such a gratification; perhaps a sly sarcasm at the supposed habits of the “haristocracy.”

LORD, a hump-backed man.—_See_ MY LORD.

LORD OF THE MANOR, a sixpence.

LOUD, flashy, showy, as applied to dress or manner.—_See_ BAGS.

LOUR, or LOWR, money; “gammy LOWR,” bad money.—_Ancient cant_, and _Gipsey_.

LOUSE-TRAP, a small tooth comb.—_Old cant._—_See_ CATCH ’EM ALIVE.

LOVE, at billiards “five to none” would be “five LOVE,”—a LOVE being the same as when one player does not score at all.

LOVEAGE, tap droppings, a mixture of spirits, sweetened and sold to habitual dram-drinkers, principally females. Called also ALLS.

LUBBER, a clown, or fool.—_Ancient cant_, LUBBARE.

LUBBER’S HOLE, an aperture in the maintop of a ship, by which a timid climber may avoid the difficulties of the “futtock shrouds”—hence, a sea term for any cowardly way of evading duty.

LUCK, “down on one’s LUCK,” wanting money, or in difficulty.

LUCKY, “to cut one’s LUCKY,” to go away quickly.—_See_ STRIKE.

LUG, “my togs are in LUG,” _i.e._, in pawn.

LUG, the ear.—_Scotch._

LUG, to pull, or slake thirst.—_Old._

LUG CHOVEY, a pawnbroker’s shop.

LULLY PRIGGERS, rogues who steal wet clothes hung on lines to dry.

LUMBER, to pawn or pledge.—_Household Words_, No. 183.

LUMMY, jolly, first-rate.

LUMPER, a contractor. On the river, more especially a person who contracts to deliver a ship laden with timber.

LUMP THE LIGHTER, to be transported.

LUMP WORK, work contracted for, or taken by the _lump_.

LUMPERS, low thieves who haunt wharves and docks, and rob vessels; persons who sell old goods for new.

LUMPY, intoxicated.

LUNAN, a girl.—_Gipsey._

LURK, a sham, swindle, or representation of feigned distress.

LURKER, an impostor who travels the country with false certificates of fires, shipwrecks, &c.

LUSH, intoxicating drinks of all kinds, but generally used for beer. The _Globe_, 8th September, 1859, says “LUSH and its derivatives claim _Lushington_, the brewer, as sponsor.”

LUSH, to drink, or get drunk.

LUSH-CRIB, a public house.

LUSHINGTON, a drunkard, or one who continually soaks himself with drams, and pints of beer. Some years since there was a “Lushington Club” in Bow-street, Covent Garden.

LUSHY, intoxicated. Johnson says “opposite to pale,” so red with drink.

MAB, a cab, or hackney coach.

MACE, a dressy swindler who victimizes tradesmen.

MACE, to spunge, swindle, or beg, in a polite way; “give it him (a shopkeeper) on the MACE,” _i.e._, obtain goods on credit and never pay for them; also termed “striking the MACE.”

MADZA, half. _Italian_, MEZZA. This word enters into combination with various cant phrases, mainly taken from the _Lingua Franca_, as MADZA CAROON, half-a-crown, two-and-sixpence; MADZA SALTEE, a halfpenny [_see_ SALTEE]; MADZA POONA, half-a-sovereign; MADZA ROUND THE BULL, half-a-pound of steak, &c.

MAG, a halfpenny.—_Ancient cant_, MAKE. MEGGS were formerly guineas.—_B. M. Carew._

MAG, to talk. A corruption of NAG.—_Old_; hence MAGPIE.

MAGGOTTY, fanciful, fidgetty. Whims and fancies were formerly termed MAGGOTS, from the popular belief that a maggot in the brain was the cause of any odd notion or caprice a person might exhibit.

MAGSMAN, a street swindler, who watches for countrymen and “gullable” persons.

MAHOGANY, “to have one’s feet under another man’s MAHOGANY,” to sit at his table, be supported on other than one’s own resources; “amputate your MAHOGANY,” _i.e._, go away, or “cut your stick.”

MAIN-TOBY, the highway, or the main road.

MAKE, a successful theft, or swindle.

MAKE, to steal.

MAKE UP, personal appearance.—_Theatrical._

MANG, to talk.—_Scotch._

MARE’S NEST, a Cockney discovery of marvels, which turn out no marvels at all. An old preacher in Cornwall, up to very lately employed a different version, viz.: “a cow calving up in a tree.”

MARINATED, transported;—from the salt-pickling fish undergo in Cornwall.—_Old cant._

MARINE, or MARINE RECRUIT, an empty bottle. This expression having once been used in the presence of an officer of marines, he was at first inclined to take it as an insult, until some one adroitly appeased his wrath by remarking that no offence could be meant, as all that it could possibly imply was, “one who had done his duty, and was ready to do it again.”—_See_ HORSE MARINE.—_Naval._

MARRIAGE LINES, a marriage certificate.—_Provincial._

MARROWSKYING.—_See_ MEDICAL GREEK.

MARYGOLD, one million sterling.—_See_ PLUM.

MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS, when the leader of the House of Commons goes through the doleful operation of devoting to extinction a number of useful measures at the end of the session, for want of time to pass them.—_Vide Times_, 20th July, 1859: Mr. C. Foster, on altering the time of the legislative sessions.—_Parliamentary slang._

MATE, the term a coster or low person applies to a friend, partner, or companion; “me and my MATE did so and so,” is a common phrase with a low Londoner.—Originally a _Sea term_.

MAULEY, a signature, from MAULEY, a fist; “put your FIST to it,” is sometimes said by a low tradesman when desiring a fellow trader to put his signature to a bill or note.

MAULEY, a fist, that with which one strikes as with a MALL.—_Pugilistic._

MAUND, to beg; “MAUNDERING on the fly,” begging of people in the streets.—_Old cant._ MAUNG, to beg, is a term in use amongst the _Gipseys_, and may also be found in the _Hindoo_ Vocabulary. MAUND, however, is pure _Anglo Saxon_, from MAND, a basket. Compare “beg,” which is derived from BAG, a curious parallel.

MAW, the mouth; “hold your MAW,” cease talking.

MAX, gin; MAX-UPON TICK, gin obtained upon credit.