Chapter M (2)

Ces patriarches, pères et fils de voleurs, ne restent pas
moins fidèles à leur abominable lignée. Ils n’instruisent
la préfecture que pour la mener en bateau.--_Mémoires de
Monsieur Claude._

Mener en bateau un pante pour le refaire, _to deceive a man in order to rob him_, “to bamboozle a jay and flap him.”

MENESSE, _f._ (thieves’ and cads’), _prostitute_, or “bunter,” see GADOUE; _mistress_, or “doxy.”

MENÊTRE, _f._ (thieves’), _soup_.

MENEUSE, _f._ (popular), _woman who entices a passer-by to some back alley, where he is robbed, and sometimes murdered, by accomplices_. Also _woman whose calling is to take charge of babies, and take them to some country place, where they are left to the care of a wet nurse_.

MENGIN, or MANGIN, _m._ (familiar), _political or literary charlatan_. From the name of a celebrated quack, a familiar figure of crossways and squares in Paris under the Third Empire. He was attired in showy costume of the Middle Ages, and sported a glistening helmet topped by enormous plumes. He sold pencils, drew people’s caricatures at a moment’s notice, and was attended by an assistant known under the name of Vert-de-gris.

MÉNILMONTE, or MÉNILMUCHE (popular), _Ménilmontant, formerly one of the suburbs of Paris_. According to Zola, the word is curiously used in connection with the so-called sign of the cross of drunkards:--

Coupeau se leva pour faire le signe de croix des pochards.
Sur la tête il prononça Montpernasse, à l’épaule droite
Ménilmonte, à l’épaule gauche la Courtille, au milieu du
ventre Bagnolet, et dans le creux de l’estomac trois fois
Lapin sauté.--_L’Assommoir._

MENOUILLE, _f._ (popular), _money, or change_.

MENTEUSE, _f._ (thieves’), _tongue_, or “prating cheat.” Termed also “le chiffon rouge, la battante, la diligence de Rome, rouscaillante.”

MENU. See CONNAÎTRE.

MENUISIER. See CÔTELETTE.

MENUISIÈRE, _f._ (popular), _long coat_.

MÉQUARD, or MÉGARD, _m._ (thieves’), _head of a gang_, or “dimber damber.” From mec, _master_, _chief_.

MÉQUER (thieves’), _to command_. From meq, meg, _chief_, _head of gang_, or “dimber damber.”

MERCADET, _m._ (familiar), _man who sets on foot bubble companies, swindling agencies, and other fishy concerns_. A character of Balzac.

MERCANDIER, _m._ (popular), _butcher who retails only meat of inferior quality_.

MERCANTI, _m._, _name given by the army in Africa to traders, generally thievish Jews_.

Cependant les mercantis, débitants d’absinthe empoisonnée
et de vins frelatés, escrocs, banqueroutiers, repris de
justice, marchands de tout acabit.--=HECTOR FRANCE=, _Sous
le Burnous_.

MERDAILLON, _m._ (popular), _contemptible man_, or “snot.”

MERDE, _f._ (thieves’), de pie, _fifty-centime piece_. (Popular) Faire sa ----, _to give oneself airs_, _to look_ “botty.” Des écrase ----, _fashionable boots, as now worn, with large low heels_. Termed also “bottines à la mouget.”

MERDEUX, _m._ (popular), _scavenger employed to empty cesspools_, “gold-finder;” _despicable mean fellow_, “snot.”

MÈRE, _f._ (popular), abbesse, _mistress of a brothel_; ---- de petite fille, _bottle of wine_; ---- d’occase, _procuress who plays the part of a young prostitute’s mother, or a beggar who goes about with hired children_; ---- aux anges, _woman who gives shelter to forsaken children, and hires them out to mendicants_; (thieves’) ---- au bleu, _guillotine_. See VOYANTE. (Corporations’) Mère, _innkeeper, where_ “compagnons,” _or skilled artisans of a corporation, hold their meetings_. The compagnons used to individually visit all the towns of France, working at each place, and the long journey was termed “tour de France.”

MÉRINOS, _m._ (popular), _man with an offensive breath_. Manger du ----, _to play billiards_, or “spoof.”

MERLANDER (popular), _to dress the hair_. From merlan, popular expression for _hairdresser_.

MERLIFICHE, _m._ (thieves’), _mountebank_, _showman_. Probably from “merlificque,” used by Villon with the signification of _marvellous_.

MERLIN, _m._ (popular), _leg_, “pin.” Un coup de passif dans le ----, _a kick on the shin_.

MERLOU. See MARLOU.

MERLOUSIER, MERLOUSIÈRE, _adj._ (thieves’), _cunning_. La dabuche est merlousière, _the lady is cunning_.

MERLUCHE, _f._ (popular), pousser des cris de ----, _to squall_; _to scold vehemently_.

MERRIFLAUTÉ, _adj._ (thieves’), _warmly clad_.

MÉRUCHÉ, _f._, MÉRUCHON, _m._ (thieves’), _stove_, _frying-pan_.

MÉRUCHÉE, _f._ (thieves’), _stoveful_.

MERVEILLEUX, _m._ (familiar), _dandy of 1833_. See GOMMEUX.

A l’avant-scène se prélassait un jeune merveilleux agitant
avec nonchalance un binocle d’or émaillé.--=TH. GAUTIER.=

The _Slang Dictionary_ includes the word “dandy” among slang expressions. It says: “Dandy, _a fop, or fashionable nondescript_. This word, in the sense of a fop, is of modern origin. Egan says it was first used in 1820, and Bee in 1816. Johnson does not mention it, although it is to be found in all late dictionaries. Dandies wore stays, studied a feminine style, and tried to undo their manhood by all manner of affectations which were not actually immoral. Lord Petersham headed them. At the present day dandies of this stamp have almost entirely disappeared, but the new school of muscular Christians is not altogether faultless. The feminine of dandy was dandizette, but the term only lived for a short season.”

MÉSIGO, MÉZIÈRE, MÉZIGUE, (thieves’), _I_, _me_, “dis child,” as the negroes say; ---- roulait le trimard, _I was tramping along the road_.

MESSE, _f._ (popular), être à la ----, _to be late_. Nous avons été à la ---- de cinq minutes, _we were five minutes late_. (Thieves’) La ---- du diable, _examination of a prisoner by a magistrate, or trial_, an ordeal the unpleasant nature of which is eloquently expressed by the words. Termed by English rogues “cross kidment.”

MESSIADIEN, _adj. and m._ (thieves’), _convicted_, _sentenced_, “booked.” The epithet is applied to one who has been compelled to attend “la messe du diable,” with unpleasant consequences to himself. Il est ---- à six bergarès plombes, _he is in for six years’ prison_, “put away” for “six stretches;” ---- pour pégrasse, _convicted for stealing_, “in for a vamp.” Il fagaut ta magnette blague de maniagnère que tu n’es paga les pindesse dans le dintesse pour pégrasse, autrement tu es messiadien et tu laveragas tes pieds d’agnet dans le grand pré, which signifies, in the thieves’ jargon of the day, _You must take an alias, so that you may escape the clutches of the police; if not, you will be convicted and transported_.

MESSIER, or MESSIÈRE, _m._ (thieves’), _man_; _inhabitant_. A form of mézière, _a fool_. Les messiers de cambrouse, _the country folk_, or “clods.”

MESSIÈRE, _m._ (thieves’), _man_; _victim_; ---- de la haute, _well-to-do man_, “nib cove, or gentry cove;” ---- franc, _citizen_; _individual_, or “cove.”

MESSIRE LUC, _m._ (familiar), _breech_, or “Nancy.” See VASISTAS.

MESURE, _f._ (popular), prendre la ---- des côtes, _to thrash_, “to wollop.”

MÉTHODE CHEVÉ, _f._ (familiar and popular), _playing billiards in an out-of-the-way fashion--with two cues, for instance, or by pushing the balls with the hand_.

MÉTIER, _m._ (artists’), _skill in execution_; _clever touch_. Avoir un ---- d’enfer, _to paint with great manual skill_.

MÈTRE, _m._ (familiar and popular), chevalier du ----, _shopman_, “counter-jumper, or knight of the yard.”

METTEUX, _m._ (printers’), _metteur en pages, or maker-up_.

METTRE (general), au clou, _to pawn_, “to put in lug,” or “to pop up the spout.” An allusion to the spout up which the brokers send the ticketed articles until such time as they shall be redeemed. The spout runs from the ground-floor to the wareroom at the top of the house. English thieves term pawning one’s clothes, “to sweat one’s duds.” Le ----, is explained by the following:--

Mot libre, pour chevaucher, faire le déduit, se divertir
avec une femme. Ce mot est équivoque et malicieux, car une
personne laisse-t-elle tomber son busque ou son gant? On
dit, Mademoiselle, voulez-vous que je vous le mette?
--=LE ROUX=, _Dict. Comique_.

Termed, in the language of the Paris roughs, “mettre en prison.” Mets ça dans ta poche et ton mouchoir par dessus, _said of a blow or repartee, and equivalent to, take that and think over it, or digest it, or let it be a warning to you_, “put that in your pipe and smoke it.” Mettre à l’ombre, or dedans, _to imprison_, “to give the clinch.” See PIPER. Mettre à l’ombre signifies also _to kill_, “to cook one’s goose;” ---- du pain dans le sac de quelqu’un, _to beat one, or to kill him_; ---- dans le mille, _to be successful_, _to have a piece of good luck_, or “regular crow;” _to hit the right nail on the head_.

D’abord en passant, faut y’ régler son affaire à mon
aminche eul’ zig Gramont d’ l’Intransigeant, qu’a mis
dans l’mille en disant qu’ eul’ Théâtre de Paris sera
naturaliste ou qu’i ne sera pas.--=TRUBLOT=, _Cri du
Peuple_.

Mettre quelqu’un dedans, _to deceive_, _to cheat one_, _to outwit_, “to take a rise out of a person.”

A metaphor from fly-fishing, the silly fish rising to be
caught by an artificial fly.--_Slang Dictionary._

Le ---- à quelqu’un, _to deceive one_, “to bamboozle” _one_.

Du reste, c’est un flanche, vous voulez me le mettre ... je
la connais.--=V. HUGO.=

(Popular) Mettre la tête à la fenêtre, _to be guillotined_. See FAUCHÉ. Mettre une pousse, _to strike_, _to thrash_, “to wallop;” ---- à pied, _to dismiss from one’s employment temporarily or permanently_; ---- quelqu’un dans la pommade, _to beat one at a game_; ---- en bringue, _to smash_; ---- des gants sur ses salsifis, _to put gloves on_; ---- la table pour les asticots, _to become food for the worms_. See PIPE. Mettre sous presse, _to pawn_, _to put_ “in lug.” Se ---- sur les fonts de baptême, _to get involved in some difficulty_, _to be in a fix_, _in a_ “hole.” (Theatrical) Se ---- en rang d’oignons _is said of actors who place themselves in a line in front of the foot-lights_. Formerly mettre en rang d’oignons meant _to admit one into a company on an equal standing with the others_. (Thieves’) Mettre en dedans, _to break open a door_, “to strike a jigger;” ---- la pogne dessus, _to steal_, “to nim.” From the old English nim, _to take_, says the _Slang Dictionary_. Motherwell, the Scotch poet, thought the old word nim (_to snatch or pick up_) was derived from nam, nam, the tiny words or cries of an infant when eating anything which pleases its little palate. A negro proverb has the word:--

Buckra man nam crab,
Crab nam buckra man.

Or, in the buckra man’s language,

White man eat (for steal) the crab,
And then crab eat the white man.

Shakespeare evidently had the word nim in his head when he portrayed Nym. Mettre une gamelle, _to escape from prison_. Se ---- à table, _to inform against one_, “to blow the gaff,” “to nick.” See GRINCHIR.

En v’là un malheur si la daronne et les frangines allaient
se mettre à table.--=VIDOCQ.= (_That’s a misfortune if the
mother and the sisters inform._)

(Popular and thieves’) Se ---- en bombe, _to escape from prison_.

Mon magistrat, ... nous nous sommes tirés pour faire la
noce. Nous sommes en bombe! Nous n’avons plus de braise et
nous venons nous rendre.--_Un Flâneur._

Mettre sur la planche au pain, _to put a prisoner on his trial_, “in for patter;” (military) ---- le chien au cran de repos, _to sleep_; ---- le moine, _to fasten a cord to a sleeping man’s big toe, and to teaze him by occasionally jerking it_; ---- les tripes au soleil, _to kill_.

A force d’entendre des phrases comme celles-ci: crever
la paillasse, mettre les tripes au soleil, taillader
les côtes, brûler les gueules, ouvrir la panse, je m’y
étais habitué et j’avais fini par les trouver toutes
naturelles.--=H. FRANCE=, _L’Homme qui Tue_.

(Bullies’) Mettre un chamègue à l’alignement, _to send a woman out to walk the streets as a prostitute_.

MEUBLE, _m._ (popular), _sorry-looking person_.

MEUBLER (familiar), _to pad_.

MEUDON, _m._ (thieves’), grand ----, _police_, _the_ “reelers.”

MEULAN. See ARTIE.

MEULARD, _m._ (thieves’), _calf_. In old English cant “lowing cheat.”

MEULES DE MOULIN, _f. pl._ (popular), _teeth_, or “grinders.”

MEUNIER, _m._ (thieves’), _receiver_, or “fence.” Porter au moulin _is to take stolen property to the receiver_, “to fence the swag.”

MEURT-DE-FAIM, _m._ (popular), _penny loaf_.

MÉZIÈRE, _adj., pron., and m._ (thieves’), _simple-minded_, _gullible_. Etre ----, _to be a_ “cull or flat.” The word, says Michel, derives its origin from the confidence-trick swindle, when one of the confederates who acts the part of a foreigner, and who pretends to speak bad French, addresses the pigeon as “mézière” instead of “monsieur.”

Moi vouloir te faire de la peine! plutôt être gerbé à
vioque (jugé à vie); faut être bien mézière (nigaud) pour
le supposer.--=VIDOCQ.=

Mézière, _I_, _me_, _myself_. Le havre protège ----, _God protect me_. Un ----, _a_ “flat,” _name given by thieves to their victims_.

Depuis que nous nous sommes remis à escarper les mézières,
il ne nous en est pas tombé sous la poigne un aussi
chouette que celui-ci.--=VIDOCQ.= (_Since we began again to
kill the flats, we haven’t had in our claws a single one as
rich as that one._)

MÉZIGUE, MÉZIGO (thieves’), _I_, _myself_.

Auquel cas, c’ serait pas long; mézigue sait c’ qu’y lui
rest’rait à faire.--=TRUBLOT=, _Le Cri du Peuple_.

MIB, or MIBRE, _m._ (street boys’), _thing in which one excels_; _triumph_. C’est mon ----, _that’s just what I am a dab at_. C’est ton ----, _you’ll never do that_; _that beat’s you hollow_.

MICHAUD, _m._ (thieves’), _head_, or “tibby, nob, or knowledge box.” Faire son ----, _to sleep_, “to doss.”

MICHE, _f._ (popular and thieves’), _lace_, or “driz.” An allusion to the holes in a loaf of white bread. Miche, or ---- de profonde, _money_. The term in this case exactly corresponds to the English “loaver.”

MICHÉ, _m._ (general), _client of a prostitute_. Literally _one who has_ “michon,” _or money_, _who_ “forks out.”

Les filles isolées, soit en carte, soit insoumises ...
ont, par contre, le désagrément d’éprouver souvent
certains déboires. Le client n’est pas toujours un “miché”
consciencieux.--=LÉO TAXIL.=

Faire un ----, _to find a client_, or “flat.” Un ---- de carton, _client who does not pay well, or who does not pay at all_. Un ---- sérieux, _one who pays_.

Les femmes appellent “michés sérieux” les clients qui
“montent” et “flanelles” ceux qui se contentent de
“peloter” et de payer un petit verre.--=LÉO TAXIL.=

Concerning the language of such women Léo Taxil says:--“On a prétendu que toutes les prostituées de Paris avaient un argot ou un jargon qui leur était particulier ... ceci n’est pas exact ... nous avons vu qu’elles désignent le client sous le nom de ‘miché,’ le visiteur qui ne monte pas sous celui de ‘flanelle.’ Pour elles, les inspecteurs des mœurs sont des ‘rails,’ un commissaire de police un ‘flique,’ une jolie fille une ‘gironde’ ou une ‘chouette,’ une fille laide un ‘roubiou,’ etc. Ce sont là des expressions qui font partie du langage des souteneurs qui, eux, possèdent un véritable argot; elles en retiennent quelques mots et les mêlent à leur conversation. Quant aux prostituées qui s’entendent avec les voleurs et qui n’ont recours au libertinage que pour cacher leur réelle industrie, il n’est pas étonnant qu’elles aient adopté le jargon de leurs suppôts; mais on ne peut pas dire que ce langage soit celui des prostituées.” (Popular) Miché, _fool_. From Michel. It is to be remarked, after Montaigne, that many names of men have been taken to signify the word fool; such are Grand Colas, Jean-Jean, and formerly Gautier, Blaise. (Photographers’) Miché, _client_. (Familiar and popular) Un vieux ----, _an old beau_.

Tel, au printemps, un vieux miché
Parade en galante toilette.

=GILL.=

MICHEL, _m._ (fishermen’s), cassant ses œufs, _thunder_. (Military) Ça fait la rue ----, _it’s the same for everybody_.

Eh bien, si j’y coups pas, v’là tout, j’coucherai à la
boîte comme les camarades, et ça fera la rue Michel.
--=G. COURTELINE.=

MICHELET, _m._ (popular), faire le ----, _to feel about in a crowd of women_, not exactly with righteous intentions.

MICHET, MICHÉ, or MICHETON, _m._ (popular), _client of a prostitute_.

Elles tournent la tête et jetant sur ce type,
Par dessus leur épaule, un regard curieux,
Songent: oh! si c’était un miché sérieux!

=GILL.=

MICHON, _m._ (thieves’), _money_ which procures a miche, or a _loaf_, “loaver.” See QUIBUS.

C’est ce qui me fait ambier hors de cette vergne; car si je
n’eusse eu du michon je fusse côni de faim.--_Le Jargon de
l’Argot._

Foncer du ----, _to give money_, “to grease the palm.”

MIDI! (popular), _too late!_ Il est ----, _a warning to one to be on his guard_; _I don’t take that in!_ “not for Joe!” Il est ---- sonné, _it’s not for you_; _it is impossible_.

Faut pas te figurer comme ça qu’ t’as l’droit de t’coller
un bouc ... quand tu seras de la classe, comme me v’là, ça
s’pourra; mais jusque-là c’est midi sonné.--=G. COURTELINE.=

MIE, _f._ (popular), de pain, _louse_, or “grey-backed ’un;” (printers’) _thing of little value_, or “not worth a curse.” Compositeur ---- de pain, _an unskilled compositor_, _or clumsy_ “donkey.”

MIEL! (popular), _euphemism for a coarser word_, “go to pot!” “you be hanged!” C’est un ----, _is expressive of satisfaction, or is used ironically_. Of a good thing they say: “C’est un miel!” On entering a close, stuffy place: “C’est un miel!” Of a desperate street fight: “C’est un miel!” “a rare spree!” “what a lark!” (=DELVAU=).

MIELLÉ! _adj._ (popular), du sort, _happy_; _fortunate in life_.

Il n’était pas plus miellé du sort, il n’avait pas la vie
plus en belle.--=RICHEPIN=, _La Glu_.

MIGNARD, _m._ (popular), _term of endearment_; _child_, or “kid.”

MIGNON, _m._ (thieves’), _mistress_, or “mollisher.”

J’avais bonheur, argent, amour tranquille, les jours se
suive mais ne se ressemble pas. Mon mignon connaissait
l’anglais, l’allemand, très bien le français, l’auvergna et
l’argot.--_From a thief’s letter, quoted by L. Larchey._

(Popular and thieves’) Mignon de port (obsolete), _porter_. Mignon had formerly the signification of _foolish_, _ignorant_.

MIGNOTER (popular), _to fondle_, “to forkytoodle.”

MIKEL, _m._ (mountebanks’), _dupe_, or “gulpin.”

MILIEU, _m._ (popular), _breech_, or “Nancy.”

MILLARDS, _m. pl._ (old cant), _in olden times a variety of the cadger tribe_.

Millards sont ceux qui trollent sur leur andosse de gros
gueulards; ils truchent plus aux champs qu’aux vergnes,
et sont haïs des autres argotiers, parce qu’ils morfient
ce qu’ils ont tout seuls.--_Le Jargon de l’Argot._ (_The
“millards” are those who carry a large bag on their back;
they beg in the country in preference to the towns, and are
hated by their brethren because they eat all alone what
they get._)

MILLE, _m. and f._ (familiar), mettre dans le ----, _to meet with a piece of good luck_, or “regular crow;” _to_ _be successful_. One often sees at fairs a kind of machine for testing physical strength. A pad is struck with the fist, and a needle marks the extent of the effort, “le mille” being the maximum. (Thieves’) Mille, _woman_, or “burrick” (obsolete).

MILLE-LANGUES, _m._ (popular), _talkative person_; _tatler_.

MILLE-PERTUIS, _m._ (thieves’), _watering pot_ (obsolete).

MILLERIE, _f._ (thieves’), _lottery_. Thus termed on account of the thousands which every holder of a ticket hopes will be his.

MILLET, MILLOT, _m._ (popular), _1,000 franc bank-note_. From mille.

MILLIARDAIRE, _m._ (familiar), _very rich man_, _one who rolls on gold_.

C’est de cette époque que date aujourd’hui sa fortune car
il est aujourd’hui milliardaire.--=A. SIRVEN.=

MILLOUR, _m._ (thieves’), _rich man_, “rag splawger” (obsolete). From the English _my lord_.

MILORD, _m._ (familiar and popular), _rich man_; ---- l’Arsouille, _nickname of Lord Seymour_. See ARSOUILLE.

Les Folies-Belleville ... où Milord l’Arsouille
engueulait les malins, cassait la vaisselle et boxait les
garçons.--=P. MAHALIN.=

MINCE, _m. and adv._ (thieves’), _note-paper_; _bank-note_, or “soft.” (Popular) The word has many significations: it means, _of course_; _certainly_; _much_.

Dois-tu comme Walder,
Et comme la muscade,
Te donner mince d’air
Après ton escapade?

=RAMINAGROBIS.=

Mince! _no_; _certainly not_. It is sometimes expressive of disappointment or contempt. Tu n’as plus d’argent? ah! ---- alors, _you have no money? hang it all then!_ Il a ---- la barbe, _he is completely drunk_. Pensez si je me marre, ah! ----! _don’t I get amused, just!_ Aux plus rupins il disait ----, _even to the strongest he said_, “you be hanged! “Mince de potin! _a fine row!_ ---- de crampon! _an awful bore!_ ---- que j’en ai de l’argent! _haven’t I money? of course I have!_ Ah! ---- alors! _to the deuce, then!_ Mince de chic, _glass of beer_. The ejaculation mince! in some cases may find an equivalent in the English word rather! an exclamation strongly affirmative. It is also used as an euphemism for an obscene word.

Et moi sauciss’, j’su quand j’turbine.
Mais, bon sang! la danse s’débine
Dans l’coulant d’air qui boit ma sueur.
Eux aut’s, c’est pompé par leur linge.
Minc’ qu’ils doiv’ emboucanner l’singe.
Vrai, c’est pas l’linge qui fait l’bonheur.

=RICHEPIN.=

MINE, _f._ (popular), à poivre, _low brandy shop_.

Lui était un bon, un chouette, un d’attaque. Ah! zut! le
singe pouvait se fouiller, il ne retournait pas à la boîte,
il avait la flemme. Et il proposait aux deux camarades
d’aller au _Petit bonhomme qui tousse_, une mine à poivre
de la barrière Saint-Denis, où l’on buvait du chien tout
pur.--=ZOLA=, _L’Assommoir_.

Une ---- à chier dessus, _ugly face_, “knocker face.”

Qu’est-ce qu’il vient nous em ... ieller, celui-là, avec sa
mine à chier dessus.--=RIGAUD.=

MINERVE, _f._ (printers’), _small printing machine worked with the foot_.

MINERVISTE, _m._ (printers’), _one who works the_ Minerve (which see).

MINEUR, _m._ (thieves’), _Manceau, or native of Le Mans_.

MINIK (Breton cant), _small_.

MINISTRE (military), _sumpter mule_; (peasants’) _ass_, “moke,” _or mule_.

MINOIS, _m._ (thieves’), _nose_, or “conk” (obsolete).

MINOTAURE, _m._ (familiar), _deceived husband_, “stag face.” The expression is Balzac’s.

Je serais le dernier de M. Paul de Kock; minotaure, comme
dit M. de Balzac.--=TH. GAUTIER.=

MINOTAURISER QUELQU’UN (familiar), _to seduce one’s wife_. An allusion to the horns of the Minotaur.

Quand une femme est inconséquente, le mari, serait, selon
moi, minotaurisé--=BALZAC.=

MINSON (Breton cant), _bad_; _badly_.

MINSONER (Breton cant), _mean_.

MINTZINGUE, _m._ (popular), _landlord of wine-shop_.

Mais sapristi, jugez d’mon embargo,
Depuis ce temps elle est toujours pompette,
Et chez l’mintzingue ell’ croque le magot.

_Almanach Chantant_, 1869.

MINUIT, _m._ (thieves’), _negro_. Termed also, in different kinds of slang, “Bamboula, boule de neige, boîte à cirage, bille de pot-au-feu, mal blanchi,” and in the English slang, “snowball, Sambo, bit o’ ebony, blacky.” Enfant de ---- meant formerly _thief_. Enfants de la messe de minuit, says Cotgrave, “_quiresters of midnights masse; night-walking rakehells, or such as haunt these nightly rites, not for any devotion, but only to rob, abuse, or play the knaves with others_.”

MINZINGUE, or MINZINGO, _m._ (popular), _landlord of tavern_. Termed also manzinguin, mindzingue.

La philosophie, vil mindzingue, quand ça ne servirait qu’à
trouver ton vin bon.--=GRÉVIN.=

MION, _m._ (thieves’), child, or “kid;” ---- de gonesse, _stripling_; ---- de boule, _thief_, “prig.” See GRINCHE.

MIPE, _m._ (thieves’), faire un ---- à quelqu’un, _to outdrink one_.

MIRADOU, _m._ (thieves’), _mirror_.

MIRANCU, _m._ (obsolete), _apothecary_.

Respect au capitaine Mirancu! Qu’il aille se coucher
ailleurs, car s’il s’avisoit de jouer de la seringue, nous
n’avons pas de canesons pour l’en empêcher.--_L’Apothicaire
empoisonné_, 1671.

Mirancu, a play on the words mire en cul, which may be better explained in Béralde’s words, in Molière’s _Le Malade Imaginaire_:--

Allez, monsieur; on voit bien que vous n’avez pas accoutumé
de parler à des visages.

MIRECOURT, _m._ (thieves’), _violin_. The town of Mirecourt is celebrated for its manufactures of stringed instruments. Rigaud says that it is thus termed from a play on the words mire court, _look on from a short distance_, the head of the performer being bent over the instrument, thus bringing his eyes close to it.

MIRE-LAID, _m._ (popular), _mirror_. An expression which cannot be gratifying to those too fond of admiring their own countenances in the glass.

MIRETTES, _f. pl._ (popular and thieves’), _eyes_, “peepers, ogles, top-lights, or day-lights.” Fielding uses the latter slang term:--

Good woman! I do not use to be so treated. If the lady
says such another word to me, damn me, I will darken her
day-lights.--=FIELDING=, _Amelia_.

In old cant eyes were termed “glaziers.”

Toure out with your glaziers, I swear by the ruffin,
That we are assaulted by a queer cuffin.

=BROOME=, _A Jovial Crew_.

Which means _look out with all your eyes, I swear by the devil a magistrate is coming_. Mirettes en caoutchouc, or en caouche, _telescope_; ---- glacées, or en glacis, _spectacles_, or “gig-lamps.” Sans ----, _blind_, or “hoodman.”

MIREUR, _m._ (popular), _one who looks on intently_; _spy_; _person employed in the immense underground store cellars of the Halles to inspect provisions by candle-light_.

Deux cents becs de gaz éclairent ces caves gigantesques,
où l’on rencontre diverses industries spéciales.... Les
“mireurs,” qui passent à la chandelle une délicate révision
des sujets. Les “préparateurs de fromages” qui font
“jaunir” le chester, “pleurer” le gruyère, “couler” le brie
ou “piquer” le roquefort.--=E. FRÉBAULT.=

MIRLIFLORE, _m._ (familiar), _a dandy of the beginning of the present century_. For synonyms see GOMMEUX. The term has now passed into the language with the signification of _silly conceited dandy or fop_.

Nos mirliflors
Vaudroient-ils cet homme à ressorts?

_Chansons de Collé._

Concerning the derivation of this word Littré makes the following remarks: “Il y avait dans l’ancien français _mirlifique_, altération de _mirifique_; on peut penser que mirliflore est une altération analogue où _flor_ ou _fleur_ remplace fique: qui est comme une fleur merveilleuse. Francisque Michel y voit une altération de _mille-fleurs_, dénomination prise des bouquets dont se paraient les élégants du temps passé.” It is more probable, however, that the term is connected with _eau de mille-fleurs_, an elixir of all flowers, a mixed perfume, and this origin seems to be borne out by the circumstance that after the Revolution of 1793 dandies received the name of “muscadins,” from _musc_, or musk, their favourite perfume. Workmen sometimes call a dandy “un puant.” See this word.

MIRLITON, _m._ (popular), _nose_, or “smeller.” For synonyms see MORVIAU. Also _voice_. Avoir le ---- bouché, _to have a bad cold in the head_. Jouer du ----, _to talk_, “to jaw;” _to blow one’s nose_. Mirliton properly signifies a kind of reed-pipe.

MIROBOLAMMENT (familiar and popular), _marvellously_, “stunningly.”

MIROBOLANT, _adj._ (familiar and popular), _excellent_, “slap-up, or scrumptious;” _marvellous_, “crushing.”

Eh! c’est la bande! c’est la fameuse, la superbe,
l’invincible, à jamais triomphante, séduisante et
mirobolante bande du Jura.--_Bande du Jura._ _Madame de
Gasparin._

“Mirobolant” is a corruption of admirable. Another instance of this kind of slang formation is “abalobé,” from abalourdi.

MIROIR, _m._ (card-sharpers’), _a rapid glance cast on the stock of a game of piquet, or on the first cards dealt at the game of baccarat_. A tricky “dodge” which enables the cheat to gain a knowledge of his opponent’s hand. (Popular) Un ---- à putains, synonymous of bellâtre, _a handsome but vulgar man_, one likely to find favour with the frail sisterhood. Rigaud says: “Miroir à putains, joli visage d’homme à la manière des têtes exposées à la vitrine des coiffeurs.” The phrase is old.

Dis-lui qu’un miroir à putain
Pour dompter le Pays Latin
Est un fort mauvais personnage.

=SCARRON.=

Fielding thus expatiates on the readiness of women to look with more favour on a handsome face than on an intellectual one:--

How we must lament that disposition in these lovely
creatures which leads them to prefer in their favour those
individuals of the other sex who do not seem intended by
nature as so great a masterpiece!... If this be true, how
melancholy must be the consideration that any single beau,
especially if he have but half a yard of ribbon in his hat,
shall weigh heavier in the scale of female affection than
twenty Sir Isaac Newtons!--_Mr. Jonathan Wild the Great._

MIRQUIN, _m._ (thieves’), _woman’s cap_.

MIRZALES, _f. pl._ (thieves’), _earrings_.

MISE, _f._ (prostitutes’), faire sa ----, _to pay a prostitute her fee_, or “present.” (Popular) Mise à pied, _temporary or permanent dismissal from one’s employment, the_ “sack.”

MISE-BAS, _f._ (popular) _strike of work_; (servants’) _cast-off clothes which servants consider as their perquisites_.

MISER (gamesters’), _to stake_.

Et si je gagne ce soir cinq à six mille francs au
lansquenet, qu’est-ce que soixante-dix mille francs de
perte pour avoir de quoi miser?--=BALZAC.=

MISÉRABLE, _m._ (popular), _one halfpenny glass of spirits_, “un monsieur” being one that will cost four sous, and “un poisson” five sous.

MISLOQUE, or MISLOCQ, _f._ (thieves’), _theatre_; _play_. Flancher, or jouer la ----, _to act_.

Ah! ce que je veux faire, je veux jouer la
mislocq.--=VIDOCQ.=

MISLOQUIER, _m._, MISLOQUIÈRE, _f._ (thieves’), _actor_, “cackling cove,” or “mug faker,” and _actress_.

MISSISSIPI, _m._ (popular), au ----, _very far away_.

MISTENFLÛTE, _f._ (popular), _thingumbob_.

MISTICHE (thieves’), un ----, _half a “setier,” or small measure of wine_. Une ----, _half an hour_.

MISTICK, _m._ (thieves’), _foreign thief_.

MISTIGRIS, or MISTI, _m._ (popular), _knave of clubs_; _apprentice to a house decorator_.

MISTON (thieves’). See ALLUMER. (Popular) Mon ----, _my boy_, “my bloater.”

MISTOUF, or MISTOUFFLE, _f._ (popular), _practical joke_; _scurvy trick_. Faire une ---- à quelqu’un, _to pain, to annoy one_.

Vous lui aurez fait quelque mistouf, vous l’aurez menacée
de quelque punition, et alors.--=A. CIM=, _Institution de
Demoiselles_.

Coup de ----, _scurvy trick brewing_. Faire des mistouffles, _to teaze_, “to spur,” _to annoy one_. (Thieves’) Mistouffle à la saignante, _trap laid for the purpose of murdering one_.

Voilà trop longtemps ... que le vieux me la fait au
porte-monnaie. Il me faut son sac. Mais ... pas de
mistouffle à la saignante, je n’aime pas ça. Du barbotage
tant qu’on voudra.--_Mémoires de Monsieur Claude._

MISTRON, _m._ (popular), _a game of cards called_ “trente et un.”

MISTRONNEUR, _m._ (popular), _amateur of_ “mistron” (which see).

MITAINE, _f._ (thieves’), grinchisseuse à la ----, _female thief who causes some property, lace generally, to fall from a shop counter, and by certain motions of her foot conveys it to her shoe, where it remains secreted_.

MITARD, _m._ (police), _unruly prisoner confined in a punishment cell_.

MITE-AU-LOGIS, _f._ (popular), _disease of the eyes_. A play on the words mite and mythologie.

MITEUX, _adj._ (familiar and popular), _is said of one poorly clad, of a wretched-looking person_.

Quand nous arrivâmes à la posada, on ne voulut pas nous
recevoir, l’aubergiste nous trouvant, comme disait La
Martinière mon compagnon de route, trop “miteux.”
--=HECTOR FRANCE=, _A travers l’Espagne_.

MITRAILLE, _f._ (general), _pence_, _coppers_. The expression is old. This term seems to be derived from the word “mite,” copper coin worth four “oboles,” used in Flanders.

MITRAILLEUSE, _f._ (popular), étouffer une ----, _to drink a glass of wine_. Synonymous of “boire un canon.”

MITRE, _f._ (thieves’), _prison_, or “stir. See MOTTE. Meant formerly _itch_, the word being derived from the name of a certain ointment termed “mithridate.”

MOBILIER, _m._ (thieves’), _teeth_, or “ivories.” Literally _furniture_.

MOBLOT, _m._ (familiar), _used for Mobile in 1870_. “La garde mobile” at the beginning of the war formed the reserve corps.

MOCASSIN, _m._ (popular), _shoe_. See RIPATON.

MOC-AUX-BEAUX (thieves’), _quarter of La Place Maubert_.

MOCHE, or MOUCHE, _adj._ (popular and thieves’), _bad_.

MODE, _f._ (swindlers’), concierge à la ----, _a doorkeeper who is an accomplice of a gang of swindlers termed_ BANDE NOIRE (which see).

La “bande noire” était--et est encore, car le dixième à
peine des membres sont arrêtés--une formidable association,
ayant pour spécialité d’exploiter le commerce des vins de
Paris, de la Bourgogne et du Bordelais.... Pour chaque
affaire, le courtier recevait dix francs. Le concierge,
désigné sous le nom bizarre de concierge à la mode,
n’était pas moins bien rétribué. Il touchait dix francs
également.--_Le Voltaire_, 6 Août, 1886.

MODÈLE, _m._ (familiar), _grandfather or grandmother_.

MODERNE, _m._ (familiar), _young man of the “period,”_ in opposition to antique, _old-fashioned_.

MODILLON, _f._ (modistes’), _a second year apprentice at a modiste’s_.

MODISTE, _m._ (literary), formerly _a journalist who sought more to pander to the tastes of the day than to acquire any literary reputation_.

MOELLEUX, _m._ (popular), _cotton_, which is soft.

MOELONNEUSE, _f._ (popular), _prostitute who frequents builders’ yards_. See GADOUE.

MOIGNONS, _m. pl._ (popular), _thick clumsy ankles_. The _Slang Dictionary_ says a girl with thick ankles is called a “Mullingar heifer” by the Irish. A story goes that a traveller passing through Mullingar was so struck with this local peculiarity in the women, that he determined to accost the next one he met. “May I ask,” said he, “if you wear hay in your shoes?” “Faith, an’ I do,” said the girl, “and what then?” “Because,” said the traveller, “that accounts for the calves of your legs coming down to feed on it.”

MOINE, _m._ (familiar), _earthen jar filled with hot water, which does duty for a warming pan_; (printers’) _spot on a forme which has not been touched by the roller, and which in consequence forms a blank on the printed leaf_. Termed “friar” by English printers. (Popular) Mettre le ----, _to fasten a string to a sleeping man’s big toe_. By jerking the string now and then the sleeper’s slumbers are disturbed and great amusement afforded to the authors of the contrivance. This sort of practical joking seems to be in favour in barrack-rooms. Donner, or bailler le ----, was synonymous of mettre le ----, and, used as a proverbial expression, meant _to bear ill luck_.

MOINE-LAI, _m._ (popular), _old military pensioner who has become an imbecile_.

MOINETTE, _f._ (thieves’), _nun_, moine being a _monk_.

MOÏSE, _m._ (familiar and popular), _man deceived by his wife_. The term is old, for, says Le Roux, “Moïse, mot satirique, qui signifie cocu, homme à qui on a planté des cornes.”

MOITIÉ, _f._ (popular), tu n’es pas la ---- d’une bête, _you are no fool_.

Oui, t’es pas la moitié d’une bête. Là-dessus aboule tes
quatre ronds.--=G. COURTELINE.=

MOLANCHE, _f._ (thieves’), _wool_. From mol, _soft_.

MOLARD, _m._ (familiar and popular), _expectoration_, or “gob.”

MOLARDER (familiar and popular), _to expectorate_.

MOLIÈRE, _m._ (theatrical), _scenery which may be used for the performance of any play of Molière_.

MOLLE, _adj._ (popular and thieves’), être ----, _to be penniless_, alluding to an empty pocket, which is flabby; “to be hard up.”

MOLLET, _m._ (popular). M. Charles Nisard, in his _Parisianismes Populaires_, says of the word, “Gras de la partie postérieure de la jambe” (the proper meaning), and he adds, “Partie molle de diverses autres choses.”

Vous ne cachez pas tous vos mollets dans vos bas: c’est
comme la barque d’Anières, ça n’sart plus qu’à passer
l’iau.--_Le Déjeuner de la Rapée._

Following the adage, “Le latin dans les mots brave l’honnêteté,” M. Nisard gives the following explanation of the above:--“Hæc sunt verba cujusdam petulantis mulierculæ ad quemdam jam senescentem virum, convalescentem e morbo, et carnale opus adhuc penes se esse male jactantem. In eo enim Thrasone mulieroso pars ista corporis quam proprie vocant ‘Mollet,’ non solum in tibialibus ejus inclusa erat, sed et in bracis, ubi, mutata ex toto forma, nil valebat nisi, scaphæ Asnieriæ instar, ‘à passer l’eau,’ id est, ad meiendum. Sed, animadvertas, oro, sensum locutionis ‘passer l’eau’ æquivocum; hic enim unda transitur, illic eadem transit.”

MOLLUSQUE, _m._ (familiar), _narrow-minded man_; _routine-loving man_; huître being a common term for a _fool_.

MOMAQUE, _m._ (thieves’), _child_, or “kid.”

MOMARD, or MOMIGNARD, _m._ (popular), _child_, or “kid.”

MÔME, _m. and f._ (popular and thieves’), _child_, or “kid.”

Ces mômes corrompus, ces avortons flétris,
Cette écume d’égoût c’est la levure immonde,
De ce grand pain vivant qui s’appelle Paris,
Et qui sert de brioche au monde.

=RICHEPIN.=

Môme noir, _student at a priest’s seminary_. Thus termed on account of their clerical attire. Called also by thieves, “Canneur du mec des mecs,” _afraid of God_. Une ----, _young woman_, “titter.”

Va, la môme, et n’fais pas four.

=RICHEPIN.=

Une ----, or mômeresse, _mistress_, “blowen.” C’est ma ----, elle est ronflante ce soir, _It is my girl, she has money to-night_. Un ---- d’altèque, _handsome young man_. Taper un ----, _to commit a theft_; _to commit infanticide_.

Car elle est en prison pour un môme qu’elle a tapé.--_From
a thief’s letter, quoted by L. Larchey._

Madame Tire-mômes, _midwife_. Termed in the seventeenth century, “madame du guichet, or portière du petit guichet.” (Convicts’) Môme bastaud, _convict who is a Sodomist, a kind of male prostitute_.

MÔMEUSE, _f._ See MÔMIÈRE.

MOMICHARDE, _f._ (popular), _little girl_.

Envoie les petites ... qu’elles aboulent, les
momichardes!--=LOUISE MICHEL.=

MÔMIÈRE, _f._ (thieves’), _midwife_. Termed also “Madame Tire-mômes, Madame Tire-monde, or tâte-minette.”

MOMIGNARD, _m._ (popular and thieves’), _child_, or “kid;” _baby_; ---- d’altèque, _a fine child_.

Frangine d’altèque, je mets l’arguemine à la barbue, pour
te bonnir que ma largue aboule de mômir un momignard
d’altèque.--=VIDOCQ.= (_My good sister, I take the pen to
say that my wife has just given birth to a fine child._)

MOMIGNARDAGE À L’ANGLAISE, _m._ (popular), _miscarriage_.

MOMIGNARDE, _f._ (popular and thieves’), _little girl_; _young girl_, “titter.”

Mes momignardes ... allons, c’est dit, on rebâtira le
sinve. Il faut espérer que la daronne du grand Aure nous
protégera.--=VIDOCQ.= (_My little girls ... come, it’s
settled, the fool shall be killed. Let us hope the Holy
Virgin will protect us._)

MÔMIR (popular and thieves’), _to be delivered of a child_, “to be in the straw.” The _Slang Dictionary_ says: “Married ladies are said to be in the straw at their accouchement.” The phrase is a coarse metaphor, and has reference to farmyard animals in a similar condition. It may have originally been suggested to the inquiring mind by the Nativity. Mômir pour l’aff, _to have a miscarriage_. Termed also “casser son œuf, décarrer de crac.”

MONACOS, _m. pl._ (familiar and popular), _money_. See QUIBUS.

Je vais te prouver à toi et à ta grue, ... que je suis
encore bonne pour gagner des monacos. Et allez-y!
--=HECTOR FRANCE=, _Marie Queue-de-Vache_.

Avoir des ----, _to be wealthy_. Termed also “être foncé, être sacquard, or douillard; avoir le sac, de l’os, des sous, du foin dans ses bottes, de quoi, des pépettes, or de la thune; être californien.” The English synonyms being “to be worth a plum, to be well ballasted, to be a rag-splawger, to have lots of tin, to have feathered one’s nest, to be warm, to be comfortable.” Abouler les ----, _to pay_, “to fork out, to shell out, to down with the dust, to post the pony, to stump the pewter, to tip the brads.”

MONANT, _m._, MONANTE, _f._ (thieves’), _friend_.

MONARQUE, _m._ (popular), _five-franc piece_. Termed also “roue de derrière,” the nearly corresponding coin, a crown piece, being called in English slang a “hind coach wheel.” (Prostitutes’) Monarque, _money_. Faire son ----, _to have found clients_.

MONDE, _m._ (popular), renversé, _guillotine_. See VOYANTE. Il y a du ---- au balcon _is said of a woman with large breasts_, _of one with opulent_ “Charlies.” (Familiar) Demi ----, _world of cocottes_, _kept women_.

Dans ce qu’on appelle le demi-monde il y a nombre de filles
en carte, véritables chevaliers d’industrie de la jeunesse
et de l’amour qui, bien en règle avec la préfecture, mènent
joyeuse vie pendant quinze ans et éludent constamment la
police correctionnelle.--=LÉO TAXIL.=

(Showmen’s) Du ----, _public who enter the show_. There may be a large concourse of people outside, but no “monde.”

MONFIER (thieves’), _to kiss_.

MON GNIASSE (popular and thieves’), _me_, “my nibs.”

MON LINGE EST LAVÉ (popular), _I give in_, “I throw up the sponge.”

MONNAIE, _f._ (popular), plus que ça de ----! _what luck!_

MON ŒIL! (popular), _expressive of refusal or disbelief_, “don’t you wish you may get it?” or “do you see any green in my eye?” See NÈFLES.

MONÔME, _m._ (students’), _yearly procession in single file through certain streets of Paris of candidates to the government schools_.

MONORGUE (thieves’), _I_, _myself_.

MONSEIGNEUR, _m._ (thieves’), or pince ----, _short crowbar with which housebreakers force open doors or safes_. Termed “Jemmy, James, or the stick.”

Ils font sauter gâches et serrures ... avec une espèce de
pied de biche en fer qu’ils appellent cadet, monseigneur,
ou plume.--=CANLER.=

MONSEIGNEURISER (thieves’), _to force open a door_, “to strike a jigger.”

MONSIEUR, _m._ (artists’), le ----, _the principal figure in a picture_. (Popular) Un ----, _a twopenny glass of brandy_; _a five-sous glass of wine from the bottle at a wine retailer’s_; ---- Vautour, or Père Vautour, _the landlord_; also _an usurer_.

Vous accorder un nouveau délai pour le capital? ... mais
depuis trois ans ... vous n’avez pas seulement pu rattraper
les intérêts.--Ah! père Vautour, ça court si vite vos
intérêts!--=GAVARNI.=

Monsieur à tubard, _a well-dressed man_, _one who sports a silk hat_; ---- bambou, _a stick_, a gentleman whose services are sometimes put in requisition by drunken workmen as an irresistible argument to meet the remonstrances of an unfortunate better half, as in the case of Martine and Sganarelle in Molière’s _Le Médecin malgré lui_; ---- Lebon, _a good sort of man, that is, one who readily treats others to drink_; ---- de Pètesec, _stuck-up man, with dry, sharp manner_; ---- hardi, _the wind_; ---- Raidillon, or Pointu, _proud, stuck-up man_; (thieves’) ---- de l’Affure, _one who wins money at a game honestly or not_; ---- de la Paume, _he who loses_; (theatrical) ---- Dufour est dans la salle, _expression used by an actor to warn another that he is not acting up to the mark and that he will get himself hissed_, or “get the big bird.” (Familiar and popular) Un ---- à rouflaquettes, _prostitutes bully_, or “pensioner.” For list of synonyms see POISSON. Monsieur de Paris, _the executioner_. Formerly each large town had its own executioner: Monsieur de Rouen, Monsieur de Lyon, &c. Concerning the office Balzac says:--

Les Sanson, bourreaux à Rouen pendant deux siècles,
avant d’être revêtus de la première charge du royaume,
exécutaient de père en fils les arrêts de la justice depuis
le treizième siècle. Il est peu de familles qui puissent
offrir l’exemple d’un office ou d’une noblesse conservée de
père en fils pendant six siècles.

Monsieur personne, _a nobody_. (Brothels’) Monsieur, _husband of the mistress of a brothel_.

Monsieur, avec son épaisse barbiche aux poils tors et
gris.--=E. DE GONCOURT=, _La Fille Elisa_.

(Cads’) Monsieur le carreau dans l’œil, _derisive epithet applied to a man with an eye-glass_; ---- bas-du-cul, _man with short legs_.

MONSTRE, _m._, _any words which a musician temporarily adapts to a musical production composed by him_.

MONSTRICO, _m._ (familiar), _ugly person_, _one with a_ “knocker face.”

MONTAGE DE COUP, _m._ (popular), _the act of seeking to deceive by misleading statements_.

Mon vieux, entre nous,
Te n’coup’ pas du tout
Dans c’montage de coup;
Faut pas m’monter l’coup.

=AUG. HARDY.=

MONTAGNARD, _m._ (popular), _additional horse put on to an omnibus going up hill_.

MONTAGNE DU GÉANT, _f._ (obsolete), _gallows_, “scrag, nobbing cheat, or government signpost.”

MONTANT, _m. and adj._ (thieves’), _breeches_, “trucks, hams, sit-upons, or kicks.” (Military) Grand ---- tropical, _riding breeches_; petit ----, _drawers_. (Familiar) Montant, _term which is used to denote anything which excites lust_.

MONTANTE, _f._ (thieves’), _ladder_. Literally _a thing to climb up_.

MONTE-À-REGRET (thieves’), abbaye de ----, _the guillotine_. Formerly _the gallows_. This name was given the scaffold because criminals were attended there by one or more priests, and on account of the natural repugnance of a man for this mode of being put out of his misery. Michel records the fact, that at Sens, one of the streets leading to the market-place, where executions took place, still bore, a few years ago, the name of Monte-à-regret. Chanoine de ----, _one sentenced to death_. Termed also “grognon,” or _grumbler_. Monter à l’abbaye de ----, _to be guillotined_, meant formerly _to be hanged_, to suffer the extreme penalty of the law on “wry-neck day,” when the criminal before being compelled to put on the “hempen cravat,” would perhaps utter for the edification of the crowd his “tops, or croaks,” that is, his last dying speech. It is curious to note how people of all nations have always striven to disguise the idea of death by the rope by means of some picturesque or grimly comical circumlocution. The popular language is rich in metaphors to describe the act. In the thirteenth century people would express hanging by the term “mettre à la bise;” in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries an executed criminal was spoken of as “vendangeant à l’eschelle, avoir collet rouge, croître d’un demi-pied, faire la longue lettre, tomber du haut mal,” and later on: “Servir de bouchon, faire le saut, faire un saut sur rien, donner un soufflet à une potence, donner le moine par le cou, approcher du ciel à reculons, danser un branle en l’air, avoir la chanterelle au cou, faire le guet à Montfaucon, faire le guet au clair de la lune à la cour des monnoyes.” Also, “monter à la jambe en l’air.” Then a hanged man was “un évêque des champs” (on account of executions taking place in the open country) “qui bénit des pieds,” and hanging itself, “une danse où il n’y a pas de plancher,” which corresponds to the expression, “to dance upon nothing.” The poor wretch was also said to be “branché,” a summary proceeding performed on the nearest tree, and he was made to “tirer la langue d’un demi-pied.” The poet François Villon being in the prison of the Châtelet in 1457, under sentence of death for a robbery supposed to have been committed at Rueil by himself and some companions, several of whom were hanged, but whose fate he luckily did not share, thus alludes with grim humour to his probable execution:--

Je suis François, dont ce me poise,
Né de Paris emprès Ponthoise,
Or, d’une corde d’une toise,
Saura mon col que mon cul poise.

When Jonathan Wild the Great is about to expiate his numerous crimes, and his career is soon to be terminated at Tyburn, Fielding makes him say: “D--n me, it is only a dance without music; ... a man can die but once.... Zounds! Who’s afraid?” Master Charley Bates, in common with his “pals,” called hanging “scragging”:--

“He’ll come to be scragged, won’t he?” “I don’t know what
that means,” replied Oliver. “Something in this way, old
feller,” said Charley. As he said it, Master Bates caught
up an end of his neckerchief, and holding it erect in the
air, dropped his head on his shoulder, and jerked a curious
sound through his teeth; thereby intimating, by a lively
pantomimic representation, that “scragging” and hanging
were one and the same thing.--=DICKENS=, _Oliver Twist_.

The expression is also to be met with in Lord Lytton’s _Paul Clifford_:--

“Blow me tight, but that cove is a queer one! and if he
does not come to be scragged,” says I, “it will only be
because he’ll turn a rusty, and scrag one of his pals!”

Again, the same author puts in the mouth of his hero, Paul Clifford, the accomplished robber, the “Captain Crank,” or chief of a gang of highwaymen, a poetical simile, “to leap from a leafless tree”:--

Oh! there never was life like the Robber’s--so
Jolly, and bold, and free;
And its end--why, a cheer from the crowd below
And a leap from a leafless tree!

Penny-a-liners nowadays describe the executed felon as “taking a leap into eternity;” facetious people say that he dies in a “horse’s nightcap,” _i.e._, a halter, and the vulgar simply declare that he is “stretched.” The dangerous classes, to express that one is being operated upon by Jack Ketch, use the term “to be scragged,” already mentioned, or “to be topped;” and “may I be topped!” is an ejaculation often heard from the mouths of London roughs. Formerly, when the place for execution was at Tyburn, near the N. E. corner of Hyde Park, at the angle formed by the Edgware Road and the top of Oxford Street, the criminal brought here was said to put on the “Tyburn tippet,” _i.e._, Jack Ketch’s rope. The Latins used to describe one hanged as making the letter I with his body, or the long letter. In Plautus old Staphyla says: “The best thing for me to do, is with the help of a halter, to make with my body the long letter.” Modern Italians say of a man about to be executed, that he is sent to Picardy, “mandato in Picardia.” They also use other circumlocutions, “andare a Longone,” “andare a Fuligno,” “dar de’ calci al vento,” “ballar in campo azurro.” Again, the Italian “truccante” (_thief_), in his “lingue furbesche” (_cant of thieves_), says of a criminal who ascends the scaffold, the “sperlunga, or faticosa” (_gallows_), with the “margherita, or signora” (_rope_) adjusted on his “guindo” (_neck_) by the “cataron” (_executioner_), that he may be considered as “aver la fune al guindo.” The Spanish “azor” (_thief_, in _Germania_, or Spanish cant), under sentence of a “tristeza” (_sentence of death_), when about to be executed left the “angustia” (_prison_) to go to the gallows, or “balanza,” which is now a thing of the past, having been superseded by the hideous “garote.” The German “broschem-blatter” (_thief_, in “rothwelsch,” or German cant), when sentenced to death was doomed to the “dolm,” or “nelle,” on which he was ushered out of this world by the “caffler” (_German Jack Ketch_).

MONTER (popular), d’un cran, _to obtain an appointment superior to that one possesses already_; _to be promoted_; ---- à l’arbre, or à l’échelle, _to be fooled_. Alluding to a bear at the Zoological Gardens being induced to climb the pole by the prospect of some dainty bit which is not thrown to him after all. Also _to get angry_, “to get one’s monkey up;” ---- en graine, _to grow old_. Literally _to run to seed_; ---- des couleurs, le Job, or un schtosse, _to deceive one by false representations_, “to bamboozle;” ---- une gamme, _to scold_, “to bully-rag;” ---- un coup, _to find a pretext_; _to lay a trap for one_.

C’est des daims huppés qui veulent monter un coup à un
ennemi.--=E. SUE.=

Monter le coup, or un battage, _to deceive one by misleading statements_. Ça ne prend pas, tu ne me monteras pas le coup, “No go,” _I am aware of your practices and_ “twig” _your manœuvre_, or “don’t come the old soldier over me.” Faire ---- à l’échelle, _to make one angry_, “to make one lose his shirt.” Se ---- le bourrichon, or le baluchon, _to fly into a passion about some alleged injustice_. Also _to be too sanguine, to form illusions about one’s abilities, or about the success of some project_.

Oh! je ne me monte pas le bourrichon, je sais que je ne
ferai pas de vieux os.--=ZOLA=, _L’Assommoir_.

Se ---- le coup, se ---- le verre en fleurs, _to form illusions_. Essayer de ---- un bateau à quelqu’un, _to seek to deceive one_, “to come the old soldier” _over one_. (Thieves’) Monter un arcat, _to swindle_, “to bite;” ---- un gandin, _to deceive_, “to stick, or to best;” ---- un chopin, _to make all necessary preparations for a robbery_, “to lay a plant;” ---- à la butte, _to be guillotined_.

Un jour, j’ai pris mon surin pour le refroidir. Après tout,
mon rêve c’est de monter à la butte.--_Mémoires de Monsieur
Claude._

Monter sur la table, _to make a clean breast of it_; _to inform against one_, “to blow the gaff.” It also means _to tell a secret_, “to split.”

While his man being caught in some fact
(The particular crime I’ve forgotten),
When he came to be hanged for the act,
Split, and told the whole story to Cotton.

_Ingoldsby Legends._

(Theatrical) Monter une partie, _to get together a small number of actors to give out of Paris one or two performances_; (military) ---- en ballon, _practical joke at the expense of a new-comer_. During the night, to both ends of the bed of the victim are fixed two running nooses, the ropes being attached high up on a partition by the side of the bed. At a given signal the ropes being pulled, the occupant of the bed finds himself lifted in the air, with his couch upside down occasionally.

MONTEUR, _m._ (theatrical), de partie, _an actor whose spécialité is to get together a few brother actors for the purpose of performing out of town_; (popular) ---- de coups, or de godans, _swindler_; _one who is fond of hoaxing people_; _one who imposes on others_, “humbug.” Concerning the latter term the _Slang Dictionary_ says: “A very expressive but slang word, synonymous at one time with hum and haw. Lexicographers for a long time objected to the adoption of this term. Richardson uses it frequently to express the meaning of other words, but, strange to say, omits it in the alphabetical arrangement as unworthy of recognition! In the first edition of this work, 1785 was given as the earliest date at which the word could be found in a printed book. Since then ‘humbug’ has been traced half a century further back, on the title-page of a singular old jest-book, ‘_The Universal Jester_, or a pocket companion for the Wits: being a choice collection of merry conceits, facetious drolleries, &c., clenchers, closers, closures, bon-mots, and humbugs, by Ferdinando Killigrew.’ London, about 1735-40. The notorious orator Henley was known to the mob as Orator Humbug. The fact may be learned from an illustration in that exceedingly curious little collection of caricatures published in 1757, many of which were sketched by Lord Bolingbroke, Horace Walpole filling in the names and explanations. Haliwell describes humbug as ‘a person who hums,’ and cites Dean Milles’s MS., which was written about 1760. In the last century the game now known as double-dummy was termed humbug. Lookup, a notorious gambler, was struck down by apoplexy when playing at this game. On the circumstance being reported to Foote, the wit said, ‘Ah, I always thought he would be humbugged out of the world at last!’ It has been stated that the word is a corruption of Hamburg, from which town so many false bulletins and reports came during the war in the last century. ‘Oh, that is Hamburg (or Humbug),’ was the answer to any fresh piece of news which smacked of improbability. Grose mentions it in his _Dictionary_, 1785; and in a little printed squib, published in 1808, entitled _Bath Characters_, by T. Goosequill, humbug is thus mentioned in a comical couplet on the title-page:--

Wee Thre Bath Deities bee
Humbug, Follie, and Varietee.