Chapter M: B. COAT, i.e., Mark of the Beast, a name given to the long (2)

ROOST, synonymous with PERCH, which see.

ROOTER, anything good or of a prime quality; “that is a ROOTER,” _i.e._, a first-rate one of the sort.

ROSE, an orange.

ROSE, “under the ROSE” (frequently used in its _Latin_ form, _Sub rosâ_), _i.e._, under the obligation of silence and secresy, of which the rose was anciently an emblem, perhaps, as Sir Thomas Browne remarks, from the closeness with which its petals are enfolded in the bud. The Rose of Venus was given, says the classic legend, to Harpocrates, the God of Silence, by Cupid, as a bribe not to “peach” about the Goddess’ amours. It was commonly sculptured on the ceilings of banquetting rooms, as a sign that what was said in free conversation there was not afterwards to be divulged and about 1526 was placed over the Roman confessionals as an emblem of secrecy. The White Rose was also an emblem of the Pretender, whose health, as king, his secret adherents used to drink “under the ROSE.”

ROT, nonsense, anything bad, disagreeable, or useless.

ROT GUT, bad small beer,—in _America_, cheap whisky.

ROUGH, bad; “ROUGH fish,” bad or stinking fish.

ROUGH IT, to put up with chance entertainment, to take pot luck, and what accommodation “turns up,” without sighing for better. “ROUGHING IT _in the Bush_” is the title of an interesting work on Backwoods life.

ROUGHS, coarse, or vulgar men.

ROULEAU, a packet of sovereigns.—_Gaming._

ROUND, to tell tales, to “SPLIT,” which see; “to ROUND on a man,” to swear to him as being the person, &c. Synonymous with “BUFF,” which see. _Shakespere_ has ROUNDING, whispering.

ROUND, “ROUND dealing,” honest trading; “ROUND sum,” a large sum. Synonymous also in a _slang_ sense with SQUARE, which see.

ROUNDS, shirt collars—apparently a mere shortening of “All Rounds,” or “All Rounders,” names of fashionable collars.

ROUNDS (in the language of the street), the BEATS or usual walks of the costermonger to sell his stock. A term used by street folk generally.

“Watchmen, sometimes they made their sallies,
And walk’d their ROUNDS through streets and allies.”

_Ned Ward’s Vulgus Britannicus_, 1710.

ROUND ROBIN, a petition, or paper of remonstrance, with the signatures written in a circle,—to prevent the first signer, or ringleader, from being discovered.

ROUNDABOUTS, large swings of four compartments, each the size, and very much the shape, of the body of a cart, capable of seating six or eight boys and girls, erected in a high frame, and turned round by men at a windlass. Fairs and merry-makings generally abound with them. The frames take to pieces, and are carried in vans by miserable horses, from fair to fair, &c.

ROW, a noisy disturbance, tumult, or trouble. Originally _Cambridge_, now universal. Seventy years ago it was written ROUE, which would indicate a _French_ origin from _roué_, a profligate, or disturber of the peace.—_Vide George Parker’s Life’s Painter_, 1789, p. 122.

ROWDY, money. In _America_, a ruffian, a brawler, “rough.”

ROWDY-DOW, low, vulgar; “not the CHEESE,” or thing.

RUB, a quarrel, or impediment: “there’s the RUB,” _i.e._, that is the difficulty.—_Shakespere and L’Estrange._

RUBBER, a term at whist, &c., two games out of three.—_Old_, 1677.

RUCK, the undistinguished crowd; “to come in with the RUCK,” to arrive at the winning post among the non-winning horses.—_Racing term._

RUGGY, fusty, frowsy.

RUM, like its opposite, QUEER, was formerly a much used prefix, signifying, fine, good, gallant, or valuable, perhaps in some way connected with ROME. Now-a-days it means indifferent, bad, or questionable, and we often hear even persons in polite society use such a phrase as “what a RUM fellow he is, to be sure,” in speaking of a man of singular habits or appearance. The term, from its frequent use, long since claimed a place in our dictionaries; but, with the exception of _Johnson_, who says RUM, a cant word for a clergyman (?), no lexicographer has deigned to notice it.

“Thus RUMLY floor’d, the kind Acestes ran,
And pitying, rais’d from earth the game old man.”

VIRGIL’S ÆNEID, book v., _Translation by Thomas Moore_.

RUMBUMPTIOUS, haughty, pugilistic.

RUMBUSTIOUS, or RUMBUSTICAL, pompous, haughty, boisterous, careless of the comfort of others.

RUMGUMPTION, or GUMPTION, knowledge, capacity, capability,—hence, RUMGUMPTIOUS, knowing, wide-awake, forward, positive, pert, blunt.

RUM MIZZLERS, persons who are clever at making their escape, or getting out of a difficulty.

RUMPUS, a noise, disturbance, a “row.”

RUMY, a good woman, or girl.—_Gipsey slang._ In the regular _Gipsey_ language, ROMI, a woman, a wife, is the feminine of RO, a man; and in the _Robber’s Language_ of Spain (partly _Gipsey_), RUMI signifies a harlot.

RUN (good or bad), the success of a performance—_Theatrical._

RUN, to comprehend, &c.; “I don’t RUN, to it,” _i.e._, I can’t do it, or I don’t understand, or I have not money enough.—_North._

RUN, “to get the RUN upon any person,” to have the upper hand, or be able to laugh at them. RUN DOWN, to abuse or backbite anyone.

RUNNING PATTERER, a street seller who runs or moves briskly along, calling aloud his wares.

RUNNING STATIONERS, hawkers of books, ballads, dying speeches, and newspapers. They formerly used to run with newspapers, blowing a horn, when they were also termed FLYING STATIONERS.

RUSH, “doing it on the RUSH,” running away, or making off.

RUST, “to nab the RUST,” to take offence. RUSTY, cross, ill-tempered, morose, one who cannot go through life like a person of easy and _polished_ manners.

RUSTY GUTS, a blunt, rough old fellow. Corruption of RUSTICUS.

SACK, “to get the SACK,” to be discharged by an employer.

SADDLE, an additional charge made by the manager to a performer upon his benefit night.—_Theatrical._

SAD DOG, a merry fellow, a joker, a gay or “fast” man.

SAINT MONDAY, a holiday most religiously observed by journeymen shoemakers, and other mechanics. An Irishman observed that this saint’s anniversary happened every week.—_North_, where it is termed COBBLERS’ MONDAY.

SAL, a salary.—_Theatrical._

SALAMANDERS, street acrobats, and jugglers who eat fire.

SALOOP, SALEP, or SALOP, a greasy looking beverage, formerly sold on stalls at early morning, prepared from a powder made of the root of the _Orchis mascula_, or Red-handed Orchis. Within a few years coffee stands have superseded SALOOP stalls, but Charles Lamb, in one of his papers, has left some account of this drinkable, which he says was of all preparations the most grateful to the stomachs of young chimney sweeps.

SALT, “its rather too SALT,” said of an extravagant hotel bill.

SALT BOX, the condemned cell in Newgate.

SALTEE, a penny. Pence, &c., are thus reckoned:—

ONEY SALTEE, a penny, from the _Ital._, UNO SOLDO.

DOOE SALTEE, twopence DUE SOLDI.

TRAY SALTEE, threepence TRE SOLDI.

QUARTERER SALTEE, fourpence QUATTRO SOLDI.

CHINKER SALTEE, fivepence CINQUE SOLDI.

SAY SALTEE, sixpence SEI SOLDI.

SAY ONEY SALTEE, or SETTER SALTEE, sevenpence SETTE SOLDI.

SAY DOOE SALTEE, or OTTER SALTEE, eightpence OTTO SOLDI.

SAY TRAY SALTEE, or NOBBA SALTEE, ninepence NOVE SOLDI.

SAY QUARTERER SALTEE, or DACHA SALTEE, tenpence DIECI SOLDI.

SAY CHINKER SALTEE, or DACHA ONE SALTEE, DIECI UNO SOLDI, &c.
elevenpence

ONEY BEONG, one shilling.

A BEONG SAY SALTEE, one shilling and sixpence.

DOOE BEONG SAY SALTEE, or MADZA CAROON, half-a-crown,
or two shillings and sixpence.

⁂ This curious list of numerals in use among the London street folk is, strange as it may seem, derived from the _Lingua Franca_, or bastard _Italian_, of the Mediterranean seaports, of which other examples may be found in the pages of this Dictionary. SALTEE, the cant term used by the costermongers and others for a penny, is no other than the _Italian_, SOLDO (plural, SOLDI), and the numerals—as may be seen by the _Italian_ equivalents—are a tolerably close imitation of the originals. After the number SIX, a curious variation occurs, which is peculiar to the London cant, seven being reckoned as SAY ONEY, _six-one_, SAY DOOE, _six-two_ = 8, and so on. DACHA, I may remark, is perhaps from the _Greek_, DEKA (δέκα), ten, which, in the Constantinopolitan _Lingua Franca_, is likely enough to have been substituted for the _Italian_. MADZA, is clearly the _Italian_ MEZZA. The origin of BEONG I have not been so fortunate as to discover, unless it be the _French_, BIEN, the application of which to a shilling is not so evident; but amongst costermongers and other street folk, it is quite immaterial what foreign tongue contributes to their secret language. Providing the terms are unknown to the police and the public generally, they care not a rushlight whether the polite French, the gay Spaniards, or the cloudy Germans helped to swell their vocabulary. The numbers of low foreigners, however, dragging out a miserable existence in our crowded neighbourhoods, organ grinders and image sellers, foreign seamen from the vessels in the river, and our own connection with Malta and the Ionian Isles, may explain, to a certain extent, the phenomenon of these Southern phrases in the mouths of costers and tramps.

SALT JUNK, navy salt beef.—_See_ OLD HORSE.

SALVE, praise, flattery, chaff.

SAM, to “stand SAM,” to pay for refreshment, or drink, to stand paymaster for anything. An _Americanism_, originating in the letters U.S. on the knapsacks of the United States soldiers, which letters were jocularly said to be the initials of _Uncle Sam_ (the Government), who pays for all. In use in this country as early as 1827.

SANGUINARY JAMES, a sheep’s head.—_See_ BLOODY JEMMY.

SANK WORK, making soldiers’ clothes. _Mayhew_ says from the _Norman_, SANC, blood,—in allusion either to the soldier’s calling, or the colour of his coat.

SAP, or SAPSCULL, a poor green simpleton, with no heart for work.

SAUCEBOX, a mouth, also a pert young person.

SAVELOY, a sausage of chopped beef smoked, a minor kind of POLONY.

SAVEY, to know; “do you SAVEY that?”—_French_, SAVEZ VOUS CELA? In the nigger and _Anglo Chinese patois_, this is SABBY, “me no SABBY.” The Whampoa slang of this description is very extraordinary; from it we have got our word CASH!

SAW YOUR TIMBER, “be off!” equivalent to _cut your stick_.—_See_ CUT.

SAWBONES, a surgeon.

SAWNEY, or SANDY, a Scotchman. Corruption of Alexander.

SAWNEY, a simpleton.

SAWNEY, bacon. SAWNEY HUNTER, one who steals bacon.

SCAB, a worthless person.—_Old._ _Shakespere_ uses SCALD in a similar sense.

SCALDRUM DODGE, burning the body with a mixture of acids and gunpowder, so as to suit the hues and complexions of the accident to be deplored.

SCALY, shabby, or mean. _Shakespere_ uses SCALD, an old word of reproach.

SCAMANDER, to wander about without a settled purpose;—possibly in allusion to the winding course of the Homeric river of that name.

SCAMMERED, drunk.

SCAMP, a graceless fellow, a rascal; formerly the cant term for plundering and thieving. A ROYAL-SCAMP was a highwayman, whilst a FOOT-SCAMP was an ordinary thief with nothing but his legs to trust to in case of an attempt at capture. Some have derived SCAMP from _qui ex campo exit_, viz., one who leaves the field, a deserter.

SCARPER, to run away.—_Spanish_, ESCAPAR, to escape, make off; _Italian_, SCAPPARE. “SCARPER with the feele of the donna of the cassey,” to run away with the daughter of the land-lady of the house; almost pure _Italian_, “_scappare colla figlia della donna della casa_.”

SCHISM-SHOP, a dissenters’ meeting-house.—_University._

SCHOFEL, bad money.—_See_ SHOW FULL.

SCHOOL, or MOB, two or more “patterers” working together in the streets.

SCHOOLING, a low gambling party.

SCHWASSLE BOX, the street performance of Punch and Judy.—_Household Words_, No. 183.

SCONCE, the head, judgment, sense.—_Dutch._

SCORE, “to run up a SCORE at a public house,” to obtain credit there until pay day, or a fixed time, when the debt must be WIPED OFF.

SCOT, a quantity of anything, a lot, a share.—_Anglo Saxon_, SCEAT, pronounced SHOT.

SCOT, temper, or passion,—from the irascible temperament of that nation; “oh! what a SCOT he was in,” _i.e._, what temper he showed,—especially if you allude to the following.

SCOTCH FIDDLE, the itch; “to play the SCOTCH FIDDLE,” to work the index finger of the right hand like a fiddlestick between the index and middle finger of the left. This provokes a Scotchmen in the highest degree, it implying that he is afflicted with the itch.

SCOTCH GRAYS, lice. Our northern neighbours are calumniously reported, from their living on oatmeal, to be peculiarly liable to cutaneous eruptions and parasites.

SCOTCHES, the legs; also synonymous with NOTCHES.

SCOUT, a college valet, or waiter.—_Oxford._—_See_ GYP.

SCRAG, the neck.—_Old cant._ _Scotch_, CRAIG. Still used by butchers. Hence, SCRAG, to hang by the neck, and SCRAGGING, an execution,—also _old cant_.

SCRAN, pieces of meat, broken victuals. Formerly the reckoning at a public-house. SCRANNING, begging for broken victuals. Also, an _Irish_ malediction of a mild sort, “Bad SCRAN to yer!”

SCRAPE, a difficulty; SCRAPE, low wit for a shave.

SCRAPE, cheap butter; “bread and SCRAPE,” the bread and butter issued to school-boys—so called from the butter being laid on, and then _scraped_ off again, for economy’s sake.

SCRAPING CASTLE, a water-closet.

SCRATCH, a fight, contest, point in dispute; “coming up to the SCRATCH,” going or preparing to fight—in reality, approaching the line usually chalked on the ground to divide the ring.—_Pugilistic._

SCRATCH, “no great SCRATCH,” of little worth.

SCRATCH, to strike a horse’s name out of the list of runners in a particular race. “Tomboy was SCRATCHED for the Derby, at 10, a.m., on Wednesday,” from which period all bets made in reference to him (with one exception) are void.—_See_ P.P.—_Turf._

SCRATCH-RACE (on the _Turf_), a race where any horse, aged, winner, or loser, can run with any weights; in fact, a race without restrictions. At _Cambridge_ a boat-race, where the crews are drawn by lot.

SCREAMING, first-rate, splendid. Believed to have been first used in the _Adelphi_ play-bills; “a SCREAMING farce,” one calculated to make the audience scream with laughter. Now a general expression.

SCREEVE, a letter, a begging petition.

SCREEVE, to write, or devise; “to SCREEVE a fakement,” to concoct, or write, a begging letter, or other impostor’s document. From the _Dutch_, SCHRYVEN; _German_, SCHREIBEN; _French_, ECRIVANT (old form), to write.

SCREEVER, a man who draws with coloured chalks on the pavement figures of our Saviour crowned with thorns, specimens of elaborate writing, thunderstorms, ships on fire, &c. The men who attend these pavement chalkings, and receive halfpence and sixpences from the admirers of street art, are not always the draughtsmen. The artist, or SCREEVER, drew, perhaps, in half-a-dozen places that very morning, and rented the spots out to as many cadaverous looking men.

SCREW, an unsound, or broken-down horse, that requires both whip and spur to get him along.

SCREW, a key,—skeleton, or otherwise.

SCREW, a turnkey.

SCREW, a mean or stingy person.

SCREW, salary or wages.

SCREW, “to put on the SCREW,” to limit one’s credit, to be more exact and precise.

SCREW LOOSE, when friends become cold and distant towards each other, it is said there is a SCREW LOOSE betwixt them; said also when anything goes wrong with a person’s credit or reputation.

SCREW, a small packet of tobacco.

SCREWED, intoxicated or drunk.

SCRIMMAGE, or SCRUMMAGE, a disturbance or row.—_Ancient._ Corruption of _skirmish_?

SCROBY, “to get SCROBY,” to be whipped in prison before the justices.

SCROUGE, to crowd or squeeze.—_Wiltshire._

SCRUFF, the back part of the neck seized by the adversary in an encounter.

SCRUMPTIOUS, nice, particular, beautiful.

SCUFTER, a policeman.—_North country._

SCULL, or SKULL, the head or master of a college.—_University_, but nearly _obsolete_; the gallery, however, in St. Mary’s (the University church), where the “Heads of Houses” sit in solemn state, is still nicknamed the GOLGOTHA by the undergraduates.

SCURF, a mean fellow.

SEALS, a religious slang term for converts.—_See_ OWNED.

SEEDY, worn out, poverty stricken, used up, shabby. Metaphorical expression from the appearance of flowers when off bloom and running to _seed_; hence said of one who wears clothes until they crack and become shabby; “how SEEDY he looks,” said of any man whose clothes are worn threadbare, with greasy facings, and hat brightened up by perspiration and continual polishing and wetting. When a man’s coat begins to look worn out and shabby he is said to look SEEDY and ready for _cutting_. This term has been “on the streets” for nearly two centuries, and latterly has found its way into most dictionaries. Formerly slang, it is now a recognised word, and one of the most expressive in the English language. The French are always amused with it, they having no similar term.

SELL, to deceive, swindle, or play a practical joke upon a person. A sham is a SELL in street parlance. “SOLD again, and got the money,” a costermonger cries after having successfully deceived somebody. _Shakespere_ uses SELLING in a similar sense, viz., blinding or deceiving.

SELL, a deception, disappointment; also a lying joke.

SENSATION, a quartern of gin.

SERENE, all right; “it’s all SERENE,” a street phrase of very modern adoption, the burden of a song.

SERVE OUT, to punish, or be revenged on any one.

SETTER, sevenpence. _Italian_, SETTE.—_See_ SALTEE.

SETTER, a person employed by the vendor at an auction to run the biddings up; to bid against _bonâ fide_ bidders.

SETTLE, to kill, ruin, or effectually quiet a person.

SETTLED, transported.

SET TO, a sparring match, a fight; “a dead set,” a determined stand, in argument or in movement.

SEVEN PENNORTH, transported for seven years.

SEWED-UP, done up, used up, intoxicated. _Dutch_, SEEUWT, sick.

SHACK, a “chevalier d’industrie.”

SHACKLY, loose, rickety.—_Devonshire._

SHAKE, a prostitute, a disreputable man or woman.—_North._

SHAKE, to take away, to steal, or run off with anything; “what SHAKES, Bill?” “None,” _i.e._, no chance of committing a robbery.—_See the following._

SHAKE, or SHAKES, a bad bargain is said to be “no great SHAKES;” “pretty fair SHAKES” is anything good or favourable.—_Byron._ In _America_, a fair SHAKE is a fair trade or a good bargain.

SHAKE LURK, a false paper carried by an impostor, giving an account of a “dreadful shipwreck.”

SHAKER, a shirt.

SHAKESTER, or SHICKSTER, a prostitute. Amongst costermongers this term is invariably applied to _ladies_, or the wives of tradesmen, and females generally of the classes immediately above them.

SHAKY, said of a person of questionable health, integrity, or solvency; at the _University_, of one not likely to pass his examination.

SHALER, a girl.

SHALLOW, a flat basket used by costers.

SHALLOWS, “to go on the SHALLOWS,” to go half naked.

SHALLOW-COVE, a begging rascal who goes about the country half naked,—with the most limited amount of rags upon his person, wearing neither shoes, stockings, nor hat.

SHALLOW-MOT, a ragged woman,—the frequent companion of the SHALLOW-COVE.

SHALLOW-SCREEVER, a man who sketches and draws on the pavement.—_See_ SCREEVER.

SHAM ABRAHAM, to feign sickness.—_See_ ABRAHAM.

SHANDY-GAFF, ale and ginger beer; perhaps SANG DE GOFF, the favourite mixture of one GOFF, a blacksmith.

SHANKS, legs.

SHANKS’ NAG, “to ride SHANKS’ NAG,” to go on foot.

SHANT, a pot or quart; “SHANT of bivvy,” a quart of beer.

SHAPES, “to cut up” or “show SHAPES,” to exhibit pranks, or flightiness.

SHARP, or SHARPER, a cunning cheat, a rogue,—the opposite of FLAT.

SHARP’S-ALLEY BLOOD WORMS, beef sausages and black puddings. Sharp’s-alley was very recently a noted slaughtering place near Smithfield.

SHARPING-OMEE, a policeman.

SHARK, a sharper, a swindler. _Bow-street_ term in 1785, now in most dictionaries.—_Friesic_ and _Danish_, SCHURK.—_See_ LAND-SHARK.

SHAVE, a false alarm, a hoax, a sell. This was much used in the Crimea during the Russian campaign.

SHAVE, a narrow escape. At Cambridge, “just SHAVING through,” or “making a SHAVE,” is just escaping a “pluck” by coming out at the bottom of the list.

“My terms are anything but dear,
Then read with me, and never fear;
The examiners we’re sure to queer,
And get through, if you make a SHAVE on’t.”

_The Private Tutor._

SHAVER, a sharp fellow; “a young” or “old SHAVER,” a boy or man.—_Sea._

SHEEN, bad money.—_Scotch._

SHEEP’S EYES, “to make SHEEP’S EYES at a person,” to cast amorous glances towards one on the sly:—

“But he, the beast, was casting SHEEP’S EYES at her,
Out of his bullock head.”

_Colman, Broad Grins_, p. 57.

SHEEP’S FOOT, an iron hammer used in a printing office, the end of the handle being made like a sheep’s foot.

SHELF, “on the SHELF,” not yet disposed of; young ladies are said to be so situated when they cannot meet with a husband; “on the SHELF,” pawned.

SHELL OUT, to pay or count out money.

SHICE, nothing; “to do anything for SHICE,” to get no payment. The term was first used by the Jews in the last century. _Grose_ gives the phrase CHICE-AM-A-TRICE, which has a synonymous meaning. _Spanish_, CHICO, little; _Anglo Saxon_, CHICHE, niggardly.

SHICER, a mean man, a humbug, a “duffer,”—a person who is either worthless or will not work.

SHICKERY, shabby, bad.

SHICKSTER; a prostitute, a lady.—_See_ SHAKESTER.

SHILLY SHALLY, to trifle or fritter away time; irresolute. Corruption of _Shall I, shall I?_

SHINDY, a row, or noise.

SHINE, a row, or disturbance.

SHINE, “to take the SHINE out of a person,” to surpass or excel him.

SHINER, a looking-glass.

SHINERS, sovereigns, or money.

SHINEY RAG, “to win the SHINEY RAG,” to be ruined,—said in gambling, when any one continues betting after “luck has set in against him.”

SHIP-SHAPE, proper, in good order; sometimes the phrase is varied to “SHIP-SHAPE and _Bristol_ fashion.”—_Sea._

SHIRTY, ill-tempered, or cross. When one person makes another in an ill humour he is said to have “got his SHIRT out.”

SHITTEN-SATURDAY (corruption of SHUT-IN-SATURDAY), the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, when our Lord’s body was enclosed in the tomb.

SHIVERING JEMMY, the name given by street folk to any cadger who exposes himself, half naked, on a cold day, to excite pity and procure alms. The “game” is unpleasant, but exceedingly lucrative.

SHODDY, old cloth worked up into new; also, a term of derision applied to workmen in woollen factories.—_Yorkshire._

SHOE, to free, or initiate a person,—a practice common in most trades to a new comer. The SHOEING consists in paying for beer, or other drink, which is drunk by the older hands. The cans emptied, and the bill paid, the stranger is considered properly SHOD.

SHOE LEATHER! a thief’s warning cry, when he hears footsteps. This exclamation is used in the same spirit as Bruce’s friend, who, when he suspected treachery towards him at King Edward’s court, in 1306, sent him a purse and a pair of spurs, as a sign that he should use them in making his escape.

SHOES, “to die in one’s SHOES,” to be hung.

SHOOL, to saunter idly, become a vagabond, beg rather than work.—_Smollett’s Roderick Random_, vol. i., p. 262.

SHOOT THE CAT, to vomit.

SHOOT THE MOON, to remove furniture from a house in the night, without paying the landlord.

SHOOT WITH THE LONG BOW, to tell lies, to exaggerate. Synonymous with THROWING THE HATCHET.

SHOP BOUNCER, or SHOP LIFTER, a person generally respectably attired, who, while being served with a small article at a shop, steals one of more value. _Shakespere_ has the word LIFTER, a thief.

SHOPPING, purchasing at shops. Termed by _Todd_ a slang word, but used by _Cowper_ and _Byron_.

SHORT, when spirit is drunk without any admixture of water, it is said to be taken “short;” “summat SHORT,” a dram. A similar phrase is used at the counters of banks; upon presenting a cheque, the clerk asks, “how will you take it?” _i.e._, in gold, or in notes? Should it be desired to receive it in as small a compass as possible, the answer is, “SHORT.”

SHORT COMMONS, short allowance of food.—_See_ COMMONS.

SHOT, from the modern sense of the word to SHOOT,—a guess, a random conjecture; “to make a bad SHOT,” to expose one’s ignorance by making a wrong guess, or random answer without knowing whether it is right or wrong.

SHOT, from the once _English_, but now provincial word, to SHOOT, to subscribe, contribute in fair proportion;—a share, the same as SCOT, both being from the _Anglo Saxon_ word, SCEAT; “to pay one’s SHOT,” _i.e._, share of the reckoning, &c.

SHOT, “I wish I may be SHOT, if,” &c., a common form of mild swearing.

SHOVE-HALFPENNY, a gambling street game.

SHOWFULL, or SCHOFELL, a Hansom cab,—said to have been from the name of the inventor.—_Led de hor qu._

SHOW-FULL, or SCHOFUL, bad money. _Mayhew_ thinks this word is from the _Danish_, SKUFFE, to shove, to deceive, cheat; _Saxon_, SCUFAN,—whence the _English_, SHOVE. The term, however, is possibly one of the many street words from the _Hebrew_ (through the low Jews); SHEPHEL, in that language, signifying a _low_ or debased estate. _Chaldee_, SHAPHAL.—_See_ Psalm cxxxvi. 23, “in our _low estate_.” A correspondent suggests another very probable derivation, from the _German_, SCHOFEL, trash, rubbish,—the _German_ adjective, SCHOFELIG, being the nearest possible translation of our _shabby_.

SHOWFULL-PITCHER, a passer of counterfeit money.

SHOWFULL PITCHING, passing bad money.

SHOWFULL PULLET, a “gay” woman.

SHRIMP, a diminutive person.—_Chaucer._

SHUNT, to throw or turn aside.—_Railway term._

SHUT OF, or SHOT OF, rid of.

SHUT UP! be quiet, don’t make a noise; to stop short, to make cease in a summary manner, to silence effectually. “Only the other day we heard of a preacher who, speaking of the scene with the doctors in the Temple, remarked that the Divine disputant completely SHUT THEM UP!”—_Athen._ 30th July, 1859. SHUT UP, utterly exhausted, done for.

SHY, a throw.

SHY, “to fight SHY of a person,” to avoid his society either from dislike, fear, or any other reason. SHY has also the sense of flighty, unsteady, untrustworthy.

SHY, to fling; COCK-SHY, a game at fairs, consisting of throwing short sticks at trinkets set upon other sticks,—both name and practice derived from the old game of throwing or SHYING at live cocks.

SICES, or SIZES, a throw of _sixes_ at dice.

SICK AS A HORSE, popular simile,—curious, because a horse never vomits.

SICKNER, or SICKENER, a dose too much of anything.

SIDE BOARDS, or STICK-UPS, shirt collars.

SIGHT, “to take a SIGHT at a person,” a vulgar action employed by street boys to denote incredulity, or contempt for authority, by placing the thumb against the nose and closing all the fingers except the little one, which is agitated in token of derision.—_See_ WALKER.

SIM, one of a Methodistical turn in religion; a low-church-man; originally a follower of the late Rev. Charles Simeon.—_Cambridge._

SIMON, a sixpenny piece.

SIMON PURE, “the real SIMON PURE,” the genuine article. Those who have witnessed Mr. C. Mathews’ performance in Mrs. Centlivre’s admirable comedy of _A Bold Stroke for a Wife_, and the laughable coolness with which he, the _false_ SIMON PURE, assuming the quaker dress and character of the REAL ONE, elbowed that worthy out of his expected entertainment, will at once perceive the origin of this phrase.—_See_ act v., scene 1.

SING OUT, to call aloud.—_Sea._

SING SMALL, to lessen one’s boasting, and turn arrogance into humility.

SINKERS, bad money.

SINKS, a throw of fives at dice. _French_, CINQS.

SIR HARRY, a close stool.

SISERARA, a hard blow.—_Suffolk._ Moor derives it from the story of Sisera in the Old Testament, but it is more probably a corruption of CERTIORARI, a Chancery writ reciting a complaint of hard usage.

SIT UNDER, a term employed in Dissenters’ meeting houses, to denote attendance on the ministry of any particular preacher.

SITTING PAD, sitting on the pavement in a begging position.

SIT-UPONS, trousers.—_See_ INEXPRESSIBLES.

SIVVY, “’pon my SIVVY,” _i.e._, upon my soul or honour. Corruption of _asseveration_, like DAVY, which is an abridgment of _affidavit_.

SIXES AND SEVENS, articles in confusion are said to be all SIXES and SEVENS. The Deity is mentioned in the Towneley Mysteries as He that “sett all on seven,” _i.e._, set or appointed everything in seven days. A similar phrase at this early date implied confusion and disorder, and from these, _Halliwell_ thinks, has been derived the phrase “to be at SIXES AND SEVENS.” A Scotch correspondent, however, states that the phrase probably came from the workshop, and that amongst needle makers when the points and eyes are “heads and tails” (“heeds and thraws”), or in confusion, they are said to be SIXES AND SEVENS, because those numbers are the sizes most generally used, and in the course of manufacture have frequently to be distinguished.

SIXTY, “to go along like SIXTY,” _i.e._, at a good rate, briskly.

SIZE, to order extras over and above the usual commons at the dinner in college halls. Soup, pastry, &c., are SIZINGS, and are paid for at a certain specified rate _per_ SIZE, or portion, to the college cook.—_Peculiar to Cambridge._ _Minsheu_ says, “SIZE, a farthing which schollers in Cambridge have at the buttery, noted with the letter _s_.”

SIZERS, or SIZARS, are certain poor scholars at Cambridge, annually elected, who get their dinners (including _sizings_) from what is left at the upper, or Fellows’ table, free, or nearly so. They pay rent of rooms, and some other fees, on a lower scale than the “Pensioners” or ordinary students, and answer to the “battlers” and “servitors” at Oxford.

SIZINGS, _see_ SIZE.

SKATES LURK, a begging impostor dressed as a sailor.

SKID, a sovereign. Fashionable slang.

SKIE, to throw upwards, to toss “coppers.”—_See_ ODD MAN.

SKILLY, broth served on board the hulks to convicts.—_Linc._

SKILLIGOLEE, prison gruel, also sailors’ soup of many ingredients.

SKIN, a purse.

SKIN, to abate, or lower the value of anything; “thin SKINNED,” sensitive, touchy.

SKIN-FLINT, an old popular simile for a “close-fisted,” stingy person.

SKIPPER, the master of a vessel. _Dutch_, SCHIFFER, from _schiff_ a ship; sometimes used synonymous with “Governor.”

SKIPPER, a barn.—_Ancient cant._

SKIPPER IT, to sleep in the open air, or in a rough way.

SKIPPER-BIRDS, or KEYHOLE WHISTLERS, persons who sleep in barns or outhouses in preference to lodging-houses.

SKIT, a joke, a squib.

SKITTLES, a game similar to Ten Pins, which, when interdicted by the Government was altered to Nine Pins, or SKITTLES. They are set up in an alley and are _thrown at_ (not bowled) with a round piece of hard wood, shaped like a small flat cheese. The costers consider themselves the best players in London.

SKROUGE, to push or squeeze.—_North._

SKULL-THATCHERS, straw bonnet makers,—sometimes called “bonnet-BUILDERS.”

SKY, a disagreeable person, an enemy.—_Westminster School._

SKY-BLUE, London milk much diluted with water, or from which the cream has been too closely skimmed.

“Hence, Suffolk dairy wives run mad for cream,
And leave their milk with nothing but the name;
Its name derision and reproach pursue,
And strangers tell of three times skimmed—SKY-BLUE.”

_Bloomfield’s Farmer’s Boy._

SKY-BLUE formerly meant gin.

SKY-LARK.—_See_ LARK.

SKY PARLOUR, the garret.

SKY SCRAPER, a tall man; “are you cold up there, old SKY SCRAPER?” Properly a sea term; the light sails which some adventurous skippers set above the royals in calm latitudes are termed SKY-SCRAPERS and MOON-RAKERS.

SKY WANNOCKING, unsteady, frolicking.—_Norfolk._

SLAMMOCK, a slattern or awkward person.—_West_; and _Norf._

SLANG, low, vulgar, unwritten, or unauthorised language. _Gipsey_, SLANG, the secret language of the Gipseys, synonymous with GIBBERISH, another Gipsey word. This word is only to be found in the Dictionaries of _Webster_ and _Ogilvie_. It was, perhaps, first recorded by _Grose_, in his _Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue_, 1785. SLANG, since it has been adopted as an English word, generally implies vulgar language not known or recognised as CANT; and latterly, when applied to speech, has superseded the word FLASH.

SLANG, counterfeit or short weights and measures. A SLANG quart is a pint and a half. SLANG measures are lent out at 2d. per day. The term is used principally by costermongers.

SLANG, to cheat, to abuse in foul language.

SLANG, a travelling show.

SLANG, a watch chain.

SLANGY, flashy, vulgar; loud in dress, manner, and conversation.

SLANTINGDICULAR, oblique, awry,—as opposed to PERPENDICULAR.

SLAP, paint for the face, rouge.

SLAP, exactly, precisely; “SLAP in the wind’s eye,” _i.e._, exactly to windward.

SLAP-UP, first-rate, excellent, very good.

SLAP-BANG, suddenly, violently.

SLAP-BANG SHOPS, low eating houses, where you have to pay down the ready money with a SLAP-BANG.—_Grose._

SLAP-DASH, immediately, or quickly.

SLASH, a pocket in an overcoat.

SLASHER, a powerful roisterer, a pugilist; “the TIPTON SLASHER.”

SLATE, to pelt with abuse, to beat, to “LICK;” or, in the language of the reviewers, to “cut up.”

SLATE, “he has a SLATE loose,” _i.e._, he is slightly crazy.

SLAVEY, a maid servant.

SLEWED, drunk, or intoxicated.—_Sea term._ When a vessel changes the tack she, as it were, staggers, the sails flap, she gradually heels over, and the wind catching the waiting canvas, she glides off at another angle. The course pursued by an intoxicated, or SLEWED man, is supposed to be analogous to that of the ship.

SLICK, an _Americanism_, very prevalent in England since the publication of Judge Haliburton’s facetious stories. As an _adjective_, SLICK means rapidly, effectually, utterly; as a _verb_, it has the force of “to despatch rapidly,” turn off, get done with a thing.

SLICK A DEE, a pocket book.

SLING, to pass from one person to another.

SLIP, “to give the SLIP,” to run away, or elude pursuit. _Shakespere_ has “you _gave me the counterfeit_,” in Romeo and Juliet. GIVING THE SLIP, however, is a _Sea phrase_, and refers to fastening an anchor and chain cable to a floating buoy, or water cask, until such a time arrives that is convenient to return and take them on board. In fastening the cable, the home end is _slipped_ through the hawse pipe. Weighing anchor is a noisy task, so that giving it the SLIP infers to leave it in quietness.

SLIP, or LET SLIP; “to SLIP into a man,” to give him a sound beating; “to LET SLIP at a cove,” to rush violently upon him, and assault with vigour.

SLOG, or SLOGGER (its original form), to beat, baste, or wallop. _German_, SCHLAGEN; or, perhaps a vulgar corruption of SLAUGHTER. The pretended _Greek_ derivation from σλογω, which _Punch_ puts in the mouth of the schoolboy, in his impression of 4th May, 1859, is of course only intended to mystify grandmamma, there being no such word in the language.

SLOGGERS, _i.e._, SLOW-GOERS, the second division of race-boats at _Cambridge_. At _Oxford_ they are called TORPIDS.—_Univ._

SLOGGING, a good beating.

SLOP, cheap, or ready made, as applied to clothing, is generally supposed to be a modern appropriation; but it was used in this sense in 1691, by _Maydman_, in his _Naval Speculations_; and by _Chaucer_ two centuries before that. Slops properly signify sailors’ working clothes.

SLOP, a policeman. Probably at first _back slang_, but now general.

SLOPE, to decamp, to run, or rather _slip_ away. Originally from LOPE, to make off; the _s_ probably became affixed as a portion of the preceding word, as in the case of “_let’s lope_,” let us run.—_Americanism._

SLOPS, chests or packages of tea; “he shook a slum of SLOPS,” _i.e._, stole a chest of tea.

SLOUR, to lock, or fasten.

SLOUR’D, buttoned up; SLOUR’D HOXTER, an inside pocket buttoned up.

SLOWED, to be locked up—in prison.

SLUICERY, a gin shop or public house.

SLUM, a letter.

SLUM, a chest, or package.—_See_ SLOPS.

SLUM, gammon; “up to SLUM,” wide awake, knowing,

“And this, without more SLUM, began,
Over a flowing Pot-house can,
To settle, without botheration,
The rigs of this here tip-top nation.”

_Jack Randall’s Diary_, 1820.

SLUM THE GORGER, to cheat on the sly, to be an eye servant. SLUM in this sense is _old cant_.

SLUMMING, passing bad money.

SLUMS, or BACK SLUMS, dark retreats, low neighbourhoods; “the Westminster SLUMS,” favourite haunts for thieves.

SLUSHY, a ship’s cook.

SMACK SMOOTH, even, level with the surface, quickly.

SMALL BEER, “he does’t think SMALL BEER of himself,” _i.e._, he has a great opinion of his own importance. SMALL COALS is also used in the same sense.

SMASH, to become bankrupt, or worthless; “to go all to SMASH;” to break, or “go to the dogs.”

SMASH, to pass counterfeit money.

SMASHER, one who passes bad coin.

SMASHFEEDER, a Britannia metal spoon,—the best imitation shillings are made from this metal.

SMELLER, a blow on the nose, or a NOSER.

SMIGGINS, soup served to convicts on board the hulks.

SMISH, a shirt, or chemise. Corruption of the _Span_.—See MISH.

SMITHERS, or SMITHEREENS, “all to SMITHEREENS,” all to smash. SMITHER, is a _Lincolnshire_ word for a fragment.

SMOKE, to detect, or penetrate an artifice.

SMUDGE, to smear, obliterate, daub. Corruption of SMUTCH.—_Times_, 10th August, 1859.

SMUG, extremely neat, after the fashion, in order.

SMUG, to snatch another’s property and run.

SMUGGINGS, snatchings, or purloinings,—shouted out by boys, when snatching the tops, or small play property, of other lads, and then running off at full speed.

“Tops are in; spin ’em agin.
Tops are out; SMUGGING about.”

SMUT, a copper boiler. Also, the “blacks” from a furnace.

SMUTTY, obscene,—vulgar as applied to conversation.

SNACK, booty, or share. Also, a light repast.—_Old cant and Gipsey term._

SNAFFLED, arrested, “pulled up,”—so termed from a kind of horse’s bit, called a SNAFFLE. In _East Anglia_, to SNAFFLE is to talk foolishly.

SNAGGLE TEETH, uneven, and unpleasant looking dental operators.—_West._ SNAGS (_Americanism_), ends of sunken drift-wood sticking out of the water, on which river steamers are often wrecked.

SNAGGLING, angling after geese with a hook and line, the bait being a worm or snail. The goose swallows the bait, and is quietly landed and bagged.

SNAGGY, cross, crotchetty, malicious.

SNAM, to snatch, or rob from the person.

SNAPPS, share, portion; any articles or circumstances out of which money may be made; “looking out for SNAPPS,” waiting for windfalls, or odd jobs.—_Old._ _Scotch_, CHITS,—term also used for “coppers,” or halfpence.

SNEAKSMAN, a shoplifter; a petty, cowardly thief.

SNEEZER, a snuff box; a pocket-handkerchief.

SNEEZE LURKER, a thief who throws snuff in a person’s face and then robs him.

SNID, a sixpence.—_Scotch._

SNIGGER, “I’m SNIGGERED if you will,” a mild form of swearing. Another form of this is JIGGERED.

SNIGGERING, laughing to oneself.—_East._

SNIP, a tailor.

SNIPE, a long bill; also a term for attorneys,—a race remarkable for their propensity to long bills.

SNIPES, “a pair of SNIPES,” a pair of scissors. They are occasionally made in the form of that bird.

SNITCHERS, persons who turn queen’s evidence, or who tell tales. In _Scotland_, SNITCHERS signify handcuffs.

SNOB, a low, vulgar, or affected person. Supposed to be from the nickname usually applied to a Crispin, or a maker of shoes; but believed by a writer in _Notes and Queries_ to be a contraction of the _Latin_, SINE OBOLO. A more probable derivation, however, has just been forwarded by an ingenious correspondent. He supposes that NOBS, _i.e._, _Nobiles_, was appended in lists to the names of persons of gentle birth, whilst those who had not that distinction were marked down as S. NOB., _i.e._, _sine nobilitate_, without marks of gentility,—thus reversing its meaning. Another “word-twister” remarks that, as at college sons of nobleman wrote after their names in the admission lists, _fil nob._, son of a lord, and hence all young noblemen were called NOBS, and what they did NOBBY, so those who imitated them would be called _quasi-nobs_, “like a nob,” which by a process of contraction would be shortened to _si-nob_, and then SNOB, one who pretends to be what he is not, and apes his betters. The short and expressive terms which many think fitly represent the three great estates of the realm, NOB, SNOB, and MOB, were all originally slang words. The last has safely passed through the vulgar ordeal of the streets, and found respectable quarters in the standard dictionaries.

SNOBBISH, stuck up, proud, make believe.

SNOB-STICK, a workman who refuses to join in strikes, or trade unions. Query, properly KNOB-STICK.

SNOOKS, an imaginary personage often brought forward as the answer to an idle question, or as the perpetrator of a senseless joke.

SNOOZE, or SNOODGE (vulgar pronunciation), to sleep or doze.

SNOT, a term of reproach applied to persons by the vulgar when vexed or annoyed. In a Westminster school vocabulary for boys, published in the last century, the term is curiously applied. Its proper meaning is the glandular mucus discharged through the nose.

SNOTTER, or WIPE-HAULER, a pickpocket who commits great depredations upon gentlemen’s pocket-handkerchiefs.—_North._

SNOTTINGER, a coarse word for a pocket-handkerchief. The German _schnupftuch_ is, however, nearly as plain. A handkerchief was also anciently called a MUCKINGER, or MUCKENDER.

SNOTS, small bream, a slimy kind of flat fish.—_Norwich._

SNOW, wet linen.

SNOW GATHERERS, or SNOW-DROPPERS, rogues who steal linen from hedges and drying grounds.

SNUFF, “up to SNUFF,” knowing and sharp; “to take SNUFF,” to be offended. _Shakespere_ uses SNUFF in the sense of anger, or passion. SNUFFY, tipsy.

SNYDER, a tailor. _German_, SCHNEIDER.

SOAP, flattery.—_See_ SOFT SOAP.

SOFT, foolish, inexperienced. An old term for bank notes.

SOFT-SOAP, or SOFT-SAWDER, flattery, ironical praise.

SOFT TACK, bread.—_Sea._

SOLD, “SOLD again! and the money taken,” gulled, deceived.—_Vide_ SELL.

SOLD UP, or OUT, broken down, bankrupt.

SOLDIER, a red herring.

SON OF A GUN, a contemptuous title for a man. In the army it is sometimes applied to an artilleryman.

SOOT BAG, a reticule.

SOP, a soft or foolish man. Abbreviation of MILKSOP.

SOPH (abbreviation of SOPHISTER), a title peculiar to the University of _Cambridge_. Undergraduates are _junior_ SOPHS before passing their “_Little Go_,” or first University examination,—_senior_ SOPHS after that.

SOUND, to pump, or draw information from a person in an artful manner.

SOW, the receptacle into which the liquid iron is poured in a gun-foundry. The melted metal poured from it is termed PIG.—_Workmen’s terms._

SOW’S BABY, a pig; sixpence.

SPANK, a smack, or hard slap.

SPANK, to move along quickly; hence a fast horse or vessel is said to be “a SPANKER to go.”

SPANKING, large, fine, or strong; _e.g._, a SPANKING pace, a SPANKING breeze, a SPANKING fellow.

SPECKS, damaged oranges.

SPEEL, to run away, make off; “SPEEL the drum,” to go off with stolen property.—_North._

SPELL, “to SPELL for a thing,” hanker after it, intimate a desire to possess it.

SPELLKEN, or SPEELKEN, a playhouse. _German_, SPIELEN.—_See_ KEN.—_Don Juan._

SPICK AND SPAN, applied to anything that is quite new and fresh.—_Hudibras._

SPIFFED, slightly intoxicated.—_Scotch slang._

SPIFFS, the percentage allowed by drapers to their young men when they effect a sale of old-fashioned or undesirable stock.

SPIFFY, spruce, well-dressed, _tout à la mode_.

SPIFLICATE, to confound, silence, or thrash.

SPILT, thrown from a horse or chaise.—_See_ PURL.

SPIN, to reject from an examination.—_Army._

SPIN-EM-ROUNDS, a street game consisting of a piece of brass, wood, or iron, balanced on a pin, and turned quickly around on a board, when the point, arrow shaped, stops at a number and decides the bet one way or the other. The contrivance very much resembles a sea compass, and was formerly the gambling accompaniment of London piemen. The apparatus then was erected on the tin lids of their pie cans, and the bets were ostensibly for pies, but more frequently for “coppers,” when no policeman frowned upon the scene, and when two or three apprentices or porters happened to meet.

SPINIKEN, a workhouse.

SPIRT, or SPURT, “to put on a SPIRT,” to make an increased exertion for a brief space, to attain one’s end; a nervous effort.

SPITFIRE, a passionate person.

SPLENDIFEROUS, sumptuous, first-rate.

SPLICE, to marry; “and the two shall become one flesh.”—_Sea._

SPLICE THE MAIN BRACE, to take a drink.—_Sea._

SPLIT, to inform against one’s companions, to tell tales. “To SPLIT with a person,” to cease acquaintanceship, to quarrel.

SPLODGER, a lout, an awkward countryman.

SPOFFY, a bustling busy-body is said to be SPOFFY.

SPONGE, “to throw up the SPONGE,” to submit, give over the struggle,—from the practice of throwing up the SPONGE used to cleanse the combatants’ faces, at a prize fight, as a signal that the “mill” is concluded.

SPOON, synonymous with SPOONEY. A SPOON has been defined to be “a thing that touches a lady’s lips without kissing them.”

SPOONEY, a weak-minded and foolish person, effeminate or fond; “to be SPOONEY on a girl,” to be foolishly attached to one.

SPOONS, “when I was SPOONS with you,” _i.e._, when young, and in our courting days before marriage.—_Charles Mathews_, in the farce of _Everybody’s Friend_.

SPORT, to exhibit, to wear, &c.,—a word which is made to do duty in a variety of senses, especially at the University. _See the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam._ “To SPORT a new tile;” “to SPORT an _Ægrotat_” (_i.e._, a permission from the “Dons” to abstain from lectures, &c., on account of illness); “to SPORT ONE’S OAK,” to shut the outer door and exclude the public,—especially _duns_, and boring acquaintances. Common also in the Inns of Court.—_See Notes and Queries_, 2nd series, vol. viii., p. 492, and _Gentleman’s Magazine_, December, 1794.

SPORTING DOOR, the outer door of chambers, also called the OAK.—_See_ under SPORT.—_University._

SPOTTED, to be known or marked by the police.

SPOUT, “up the SPOUT,” at the pawnbroker’s; SPOUTING, pawning.—_See_ POP for origin.

SPOUT, to preach, or make speeches; SPOUTER, a preacher or lecturer.

SPRAT, sixpence.

SPREAD, butter.

SPREAD, a lady’s shawl. SPREAD, at the _East_ end of London, a feast, or a TIGHTENER; at the _West_ end a fashionable reunion, an entertainment, display of good things.

SPREE, a boisterous piece of merriment; “going on the SPREE,” starting out with intent to have a frolic. _French_, ESPRIT. In the _Dutch_ language, SPREEUW is a jester.

SPRINGER-UP, a tailor who sells low-priced ready made clothing, and gives starvation wages to the poor men and women who “make up” for him. The clothes are said to be SPRUNG-UP, or “blown together.”

SPRY, active, strong, manly.—_Americanism._

SPUDDY, a seller of bad potatoes. In _Scotland_, a SPUD is a raw potato; and roasted SPUDS are those cooked in the cinders with their jackets on.

SPUNGING-HOUSE, the sheriff’s officer’s house, where prisoners, when arrested for debt, are sometimes taken. As extortionate charges are made there for accommodation, the name is far from inappropriate.

SPUNK, spirit, _fire_, courage, mettle.

“In that snug room, where any man of SPUNK
Would find it a hard matter to get drunk.”

_Peter Pindar_, i., 245.

Common in _America_. For derivation see the following.

SPUNKS, lucifer matches.—_Herefordshire; Scotland._ SPUNK, says Urry, in his MS. notes to Ray, “is the excrescency of some tree, of which they make a sort of tinder to light their pipes with.”

SPUNK-FENCER, a lucifer match seller.

SQUABBY, flat, short and thick.

SQUARE, honest; “on the SQUARE,” _i.e._, fair and strictly honest; “to turn SQUARE,” to reform, and get one’s living in an honest manner,—the opposite of CROSS.

SQUARE, “to be SQUARE with a man,” to be _even_ with him, or to be revenged; “to SQUARE up to a man,” to offer to fight him. _Shakespere_ uses SQUARE in the sense of to quarrel.

SQUARE COVE, an honest man.

SQUARE MOLL, an honest woman.

SQUARE RIGGED, well dressed.—_Sea._

SQUARING HIS NIBS, giving a policeman money.

SQUEEZE, silk.

SQUIB, a temporary _jeu d’esprit_, which, like the firework of that denomination, sparkles, bounces, stinks, and vanishes.—_Grose._

SQUINNY-EYED, squinting.—_Shakespere._

SQUIRT, a doctor, or chemist.

STAFF NAKED, gin.

STAG, a shilling.

STAG, a term applied during the railway mania to a speculator without capital, who took “scrip” in “_Diddlesex Junction_,” and other lines, _ejus et sui generis_, got the shares up to a premium, and then sold out. _Punch_ represented the house of Hudson, “the Railway King,” at Albert Gate, with a STAG on it, in allusion to this term.

STAG, to demand money, to “cadge.”

STAG, to see, discover, or watch,—like a STAG at gaze; “STAG the push,” look at the crowd. Also, to dun, or demand payment.

STAGGER, one who looks out, or watches.

STAGGERING BOB, an animal to whom the knife only just anticipates death from natural disease or accident,—said of meat on that account unfit for human food.

STALE, to evacuate urine.—_Stable term._

STALL, to lodge, or put up at a public house. Also, to act a part.—_Theatrical._

STALL, or STALL OFF, a dodge, a blind, or an excuse. STALL is _ancient cant_.

STALL OFF, to blind, excuse, hide, to screen a robbery during the perpetration of it by an accomplice.

STALL YOUR MUG, go away; spoken sharply by any one who wishes to get rid of a troublesome or inconvenient person.

STALLSMAN, an accomplice.

STAMPERS, shoes.—_Ancient cant._

STAND, “to STAND treat,” to pay for a friend’s entertainment; to bear expense; to put up with treatment, good or ill; “this house STOOD me in £1,000,” _i.e._, cost that sum; “to STAND PAD,” to beg on the curb with a small piece of paper pinned on the breast, inscribed “_I’m starving_.”

STANDING, the position at a street corner, or on the curb of a market street, regularly occupied by a costermonger, or street seller.

STANDING PATTERERS, men who take a stand on the curb of a public thoroughfare, and deliver prepared speeches to effect a sale of any articles they have to vend.—_See_ PATTERER.

STANGEY, a tailor; a person under petticoat government,—derived from the custom of “_riding the STANG_,” mentioned in Hudibras:—

“It is a custom used of course
Where the grey mare is the better horse.”

STARK-NAKED (originally STRIP-ME-NAKED, _vide Randall’s Diary_, 1820), raw gin.—_Bulwer’s Paul Clifford._

STARCHY, stuck-up, high-notioned, showily dressed, disdainful, cross.

STAR IT, to perform as the centre of attraction, with inferior subordinates to set off one’s abilities.—_Theatrical._

STAR THE GLAZE, to break the window or show glass of a jeweller or other tradesman, and take any valuable articles, and run away. Sometimes the glass is cut with a diamond, and a strip of leather fastened to the piece of glass cut out to keep it from falling in and making a noise. Another plan is to cut the sash.

START, “THE START,” London,—the great starting point for beggars and tramps.

START, a proceeding of any kind; “a rum START,” an odd circumstance; “to get the START of a person,” to anticipate him, overreach him.

STASH, to cease doing anything, to refrain, be quiet, leave off; “STASH IT, there, you sir!” _i.e._, be quiet, sir; to give over a lewd or intemperate course of life is termed STASHING IT.

STEEL, the house of correction in London, formerly named the _Bastile_, but since shortened to STEEL.

STEEL BAR DRIVERS, or FLINGERS, journeymen tailors.

STEMS, the legs.

STEP IT, to run away, or make off.

STICK, a derogatory expression for a person; “a rum” or “odd STICK,” a curious man. More generally a “poor STICK.”—_Provincial._

STICK, “cut your STICK,” be off, or go away; either simply equivalent to a recommendation to prepare a walking staff in readiness for a journey—in allusion to the Eastern custom of cutting a stick before setting out—or from the ancient mode of reckoning by notches or tallies on a stick. In Cornwall the peasantry tally sheaves of corn by cuts in a stick, reckoning by the score. CUT YOUR STICK in this sense may mean to make your mark and pass on—and so realise the meaning of the phrase “IN THE NICK (or notch) OF TIME.” Sir J. Emerson Tennent, in _Notes and Queries_ (December, 1859), considers the phrase equivalent to “cutting the connection,” and suggests a possible origin in the prophets breaking the staves of “Beauty” and “Bands,”—_vide_ Zech., xi., 10, 14.

STICK, to cheat; “he got STUCK,” he was taken in; STICK, to forget one’s part in a performance—_Theatrical_; STICK ON, to overcharge or defraud; STICK UP FOR, to defend a person, especially when slandered in his absence; STICK UP TO, to persevere in courting or attacking, whether in fisty-cuffs or argument; “to STICK in one’s gizzard,” to rankle in one’s heart; “to STICK TO a person,” to adhere to one, be his friend through adverse circumstances.

STICKS, furniture, or household chattels; “pick up your STICKS and cut!” summary advice to a person to take himself and furniture away.—_Cumberland._

STICKS, pistols.—_Nearly obsolete._

STICK-UPS, or GILLS, shirt collars.

STICKINGS, bruised or damaged meat sold to sausage makers and penny pie shops.—_North._

STICKY, wax.

STIFF, paper, a bill of acceptance, &c.; “how did you get it, STIFF or _hard_?” _i.e._, did he pay you cash or give a bill?

STIFF FENCER, a street seller of writing paper.

STIFF ’UN, a corpse.—_Term used by undertakers._

STILTON, “that’s the STILTON,” or “it is not the STILTON,” _i.e._, that is quite the thing, or that is not quite the thing;—polite rendering of “that is not the CHEESE,” which see.

STINGO, strong liquor.—_Yorkshire._

STINK, a disagreeable exposure.

STINKOMALEE, a name given to the then New London University by Theodore Hook. Some question about _Trincomalee_ was agitated at the same time. It is still applied by the students of the old Universities, who regard it with disfavour from its admitting all denominations.

STIPE, a stipendiary magistrate.—_Provincial._

STIR, a prison, a lock-up; “IN STIR,” in jail. _Anglo Saxon_, STYR, correction, punishment.

STIR UP SUNDAY, the Sunday next before Advent, the collect for that day commencing with the words “Stir up.” Schoolboys, growing excited at the prospect of the vacation, irreverently commemorate it by stirring up—pushing and poking each other. CRIB CRUST MONDAY and TUG BUTTON TUESDAY are distinguished by similar tricks; while on PAY-OFF WEDNESDAY they retaliate small grudges in a playful facetious way. Forby says, good housewives in Norfolk consider themselves reminded by the name to mix the ingredients for their Christmas mince pies.

STOCKDOLAGER, a heavy blow, a “finisher.” _Italian_, STOCCADO, a fencing term.

STODGE, to surfeit, gorge, or clog with food.

STONE JUG, a prison.

STOOK, a pocket-handkerchief.

STOOK HAULER, or BUZZER, a thief who takes pocket-handkerchiefs.

STOP, a detective policeman.

STORY, a falsehood,—the soft synonyme for a _lie_, allowed in family circles and boarding-schools. A Puritanism that came in fashion with the tirade against romances, all novels and stories being considered as dangerous and false.

STOTOR, a heavy blow, a SETTLER.—_Old cant._

STOW, to leave off, or have done; “STOW IT, the gorger’s leary,” leave off, the person is looking. _See_ STASH, with which it is synonymous.—_Ancient cant._

STOW FAKING! leave off there, be quiet! FAKING implying anything that may be going on.

STRAW. Married ladies are said to be “in THE STRAW” at their _accouchements_. The phrase is a coarse allusion to farm-yard animals in a similar condition.