Chapter X: Part 10

The broker here his spacious beaver wears,
Upon his brow sit jealousies and cares.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. ix. ‘Had you not better take off
your hat?’ asks the Duchess, pointing ... to ‘the foring cove’s’
beaver, which he had neglected to remove.

1857. O. W. Holmes, Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, ch. x. We know
this of our hats, and are always reminded of it when we happen to
put them on wrong side foremost. We soon find that the beaver is a
hollow cast of the skull, with all its irregular bumps and
depressions.

In beaver, phr. (University).—In a tall hat and non-academical garb, as distinguished from cap and gown.

1840. New Monthly Magazine, lix., 271. He ... went out of College
in what the members of the United Service called mufti, but members
of the University beaver, which means not in his academics—his cap
and gown. [M.]

See also Bever.

Beck, subs. (old cant).—1. A constable.—See Beak and Copper.

2. A parish beadle. Apparently the term was applied to all kinds of watchmen.—See Harman-beck.

Verb (thieves’).—To imprison. Amongst Dutch thieves bekaan has the same signification, imprisoned.

1861. Reade, Cloister and Hearth ch. lv. The circle with the two
dots was writ by another of our brotherhood, and it signifies as
how the writer ... was becked, was asking here, and lay two months
in Starabin.

Bed. To put to bed with a pickaxe and shovel (common).—To bury. For analogous expressions, see Ladder.

c. 1881. Broadside Ballad, ‘Hands off’—

Kitty Crea, some fine day, when I’m laid in the clay,
Put to bed with a spade in the usual way,
And yourself on the shelf a neglected old maid,
Troth, your conscience will sting you, I’m greatly afraid.

Bedder, subs. (Cambridge University).—A charwoman; one who makes the beds and performs other necessary domestic duties for residents in college.

Bed-Fagot, subs. (familiar).—1. Applied contemptuously to a woman; Cf., ‘hussy,’ ‘witch,’ etc.

2. Synonymous with prostitute. For full list of analogous terms, see Barrack-hack.

Bedfordshire, subs. (familiar).—A humorous term for bed. There are several other phrases of a kindred character; as, for example, Sheet Alley (q.v.); Blanket Fair (q.v.); The Land of Nod (q.v.), etc.

1665. Cotton, Poet. Wks. (1765), 76.

Each one departs to Bedfordshire.
And pillows all securely snort on. [M.]

1738. Swift, Polite Conversation (conv. iii.).

Lady Ans. I’m sure ’tis time for all honest folks to go to bed.

Miss. Indeed my eyes draw straws (she’s almost asleep)....

Col. I’m going to the Land of Nod.

Ner. Faith, I’m for Bedfordshire.

1845. Hood, Miss Kilmansegg.

The time for sleep had come at last,
And there was the bed, so soft, so vast,
Quite a field of Bedfordshire clover.

Bed-House, subs. (common).—A place of assignation where beds can be hired for a longer or shorter period as required—hence the name. For synonyms generally, see Nanny shop.

Bedoozle, verb (American).—To confuse; to bewilder. Probably a corrupt form of the old English verb ‘bedazzle,’ used by Shakspeare in Taming of the Shrew, iv., 5, 46. [1593.]

Bedpost. In the twinkling of a bedpost, phr. (familiar).—Instantaneously; with great rapidity. Originally in the twinkling of a bedstaff. This phrase has given rise to not a little speculation; first, as to what use the bedstaff was put; and, secondly, as to its possible connection with rapidity of motion. The generally received explanation is that the staff referred to was, as Johnson puts it, ‘a wooden pin stuck anciently on sides of the bedstead to hold the cloaths from slipping on either side.’ Dr. Murray, however, points out that the great lexicographer gave no authority, and also that ‘no corroborative evidence has been found.’ Still it seems certain that bedstaffs were used and kept near beds for some purpose by our ancestors. Bobadil, in Every Man in his Humour [1596], uses one to display his skill with the rapier, and the following explanation has been suggested by Mr. Thomas Boys [Notes and Queries, 2 S., vi., 437]. The bedstaff was an upright peg, fixed into the side of the bedstead after the manner of a pin, and projecting upwards to keep the bed clothes in their place. Consequently, as offering the means of exhibiting the use of the rapier, the wooden bedstaff may have afforded a very available as well as harmless implement. Suppose then the bedstaff to have been an upright peg or pin fitting into a hole or socket in the side of the bedstead, and, in length, about equal to the rapier. The socket is a few inches deep; and the bedstaff has (to steady it) a projecting rim which overlays the socket like a lid. The part of the bedstaff which enters the socket will then be the hilt of the rapier; the projecting rim will be the guard; and the rest of the staff will do duty as the blade. In the bedstaff we have then the form of a rapier; and, with this implement of wood, Captain Bobadil would have no difficulty in exhibiting his passado and stoccado. The rapier of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, moreover, was by no means the light and foil-like weapon now known as the small sword. It was of great length and heavy, and a bedstaff such as that suggested above, with a species of guard, and most likely about the weight of a heavy single-stick, would have been no bad instrument wherewith to indoctrinate a tyro in the noble art of self defence.

Hence, probably, if this be so, the derivation of the expression, in the twinkling of a bedstaff; more especially if, as would occasionally be the case, it were used as a weapon of defence against intruders, when possibly even life itself might hang upon a dexterous use of the implement.

1660. Charac. Italy, 78. In the twinkling of a Bedstaff he disrobed
himself ... and was just skipping into bed. [M.]

1676. T. Shadwell, Virtuoso, I., i. ’Gad, I’ll do it instantly, in
the twinkling of a bedstaff.

1698. Ward, London Spy, pt. XI., 259. Shake ’em off and leap into
bed, in the twinkling of a bedstaff.

1854. F. E. Smedley, Harry Coverdale, ch. i. ‘I’ll adown and be
with you in ... the twinkling of a bedpost.’

Among English Synonyms may be included:—In a jiffy; in two two’s; in a brace of shakes; before you can say Jack Robinson; in a crack; in the squeezing of a lemon.

Between you and me and the bedpost, phr. (familiar).—A humorous tag to an assertion; i.e., ‘between ourselves’;—‘I know what you say, but, between you and me, etc. ... the thing is absurd.’ Sometimes the last word is varied by ‘post,’ ‘door post,’ or ‘gate post’—any prop seems to serve.

1831. Bulwer Lytton, Eugene Aram, p. 234. Ah, sir, all very well to
say so; but, between you and me and the bedpost, young master’s
quarrelled with old master.

1838. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, p. 127. And between you and me
and the post, sir, it will be a very nice portrait too.

1879. Punch, March 8, p. 108. Discussing an absent friend. ‘Yes,
Robinson’s a clever feller, and he’s a modest feller, and he’s a
honest feller; but betwixt you and i and the post, Mr. Jones,’ said
Brown, confidentially, picking his wisdom tooth with his little
finger nail, ‘Robinson ain’t got neither the Looks, nor yet the
Language, nor yet the Manners of a Gentleman.’

‘Right you are, sir!’ said Jones, shovelling the melted remains of his Ice Pudding into his Mouth with a Steel Knife (which he afterwards wiped on the Table Cloth). ‘You’ve ’it ’im orf t’ a T!’

Bedrock. To get down to bedrock [in anything; whether in an enquiry, or in one’s circumstances, etc.].—To the bottom; to the lowest level. A miner’s term, alluding to the solid rock underlying superficial and other formations. Therefore, metaphorically, ‘to reach bedrock’ is to attain a solid basis or foundation; bedrock facts are the ‘chiels that winna ding’—the incontestible and uncontrovertible truth.

1870. Bret Harte, Poems and Prose, p. 113. ‘No! no!’ continued T.
hastily. ‘I play this yer hand alone. To come down to the bedrock
it’s just this,’ etc.

1875. Scribner’s Magazine, p. 277. Getting to the real character of
a man is coming to the bedrock.

1888. Louisiana Press, March 31. Thomas J. Whiteman, of Carrol
county, is a Republican candidate for Governor of Missouri. You can
bet your bedrock dollar that the next governor of Missouri will be
a white man, although his first name isn’t apt to be Thomas.

Bee. To have a bee in the head or bonnet, phr. (familiar).—To be possessed of queer ideas; ‘half-cracked’; flighty. This phrase is of considerable antiquity, being traced back to a Scotch writer, Gawin Douglas by name [1474–1521], Bishop of Dunkeld, who used it in a translation of Virgil’s Æneid.

1512–3 (translated: published in 1553). Gawin Douglas, Æneis,
VIII., Prol. 120. Quhat bern be thou in bed with heid full of beis.

1657. Samuel Colvil, Whigg’s Supplication, or Scotch Hudibras
[1710]. Which comes from brains which have a bee.

1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s, ch. xvii. ‘Maybe ye think the puir lassie
has a bee in her bonnet; but ye ken yoursell if naebody but wise
folk were to marry, the warld wad be ill peopled.’

1853. Bulwer Lytton, My Novel, III., 307. It is not an uncommon
crochet amongst benevolent men to maintain that wickedness in
necessarily a sort of insanity, and that nobody would make a
violent start out of a straight path unless stung to such disorder
by a bee in his bonnet.

For synonyms, see Apartments to let.

1868. Dr. Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, p. 77, col. 2.
You have a bee in your bonnet or your head is full of bees; [i.e.]
full of devices, crotchets, fancies, inventions, and dreamy
theories. The connection between bees and the soul was once
generally maintained ... the moon was called a bee by the
priestesses of Cerës, and the word lunatic or moon-struck still
means one with ‘bees in his head.’

Beef, subs. (common).—1. Human flesh (a transferred sense); i.e., obese; stolid; or fleshy like an ox.

1862. Cork Examiner, March 28. Chelmsford stood higher in the leg,
and showed less beef about him. [M.]

2. (nautical.)—By a further transition beef has also come to signify men; strength; or ‘hands’; ‘More beef!’ a bo’sun’s exhortation to extra exertion.

1863. Cornhill Magazine. Feb., ‘Life on Board a Man of War.’ Useful
at the heavy hauling of braces, etc., where plenty of beef is
required. [M.]

3. (common.)—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick.

To be in beef, phr. (old)—Said only of women. It means to have carnal knowledge.

To be in a man’s beef, phr. (old).—To wound with a sword.—Grose.

To cry or give beef, or hot beef, phr. (thieves’).—To give an alarm; to pursue; to set up a hue and cry. It has been suggested that beef in this case is a rhyming synonym to ‘thief.’ For synonyms, see To guy.

To be dressed like Christmas beef, phr. (common).—To be decked out in one’s best raiment; in allusion to the ‘dressing’ of Christmas beef by butchers.

To make beef, phr. (thieves’).—To run away; to decamp. For synonyms, see Amputate.

Beef! intj. (Australian).—‘Stop thief.’ Cf., To cry or give beef.

Beef up! phr. (common).—‘Put on your strength!’ ‘Give a long pull and a strong pull!’

Beef-Brained, adj. (common).—Doltish; obtuse; thickheaded; a reference to the heavy, dullness of appearance of oxen.

Beef-Head, subs. (common).—A dolt; a stupid, thickheaded person. Cf., Beef-brained.

Beef It, verb (common).—Considered originally a provincialism, but now common. The lower classes in the East End of London frequently speak of beefing it, either in reality or anticipation (mostly latter), when referring to a meat meal, more particularly when it happens to be beef.

Beefment. On the beefment, adv. phr. (thieves’).—On the alert; on the look out.

Beef-Stick, subs. (military).—The bone in a joint of beef. At mess it is ‘first come, best served’; and those who come last sometimes get little more than the beef-stick.

Beef Straight.—See Straight.

Beef to the Heels, like a Mullingar Heifer, phr. (Irish).—A stalwart man, or a fine woman; i.e., one whose superiority is manifest from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot; literally, all beef down to the heels.

c. 1880. Rhoda Broughton, Cometh up as a Flower, p. 193. Dolly was
not a fine woman as they say, at all; not beef to the heels, by any
means; in a grazier’s eye she would have had no charm whatsoever.

Beef-Witted, adj. (common).—See Beef-brained.

1594. Nashe, Terrors of the Night, in wks. (Grosart) III., 257.
Liues there anie such slowe yce-braind beefe-witted gull.

1863. Reader, 22 Aug. This British bull-neckedness, this British
beef-wittedness. [M.]

Beefy, adj. (common).—Fleshy; unduly thick, or obese. [From beef + y: a transferred sense.] Also beefiness, subs., fleshy development. The ankles of women are sometimes ungallantly spoken of as beefy, with which compare beef to the heels. A run of luck and good fortune, generally, is likewise referred to as beefy.

1859. Sala, Gaslight and Daylight, ch. xi. To see him in his huge
shirt-sleeves, with his awkward beefy hands hanging inanely by his
side, and his great foolish mouth open.

Bee-Line. To take or make a bee-line [for a place or object], phr. (originally American; now common).—To go direct; ‘as the crow flies’; without circumlocution. Bees, when fully laden with pollen, make for the hive in a straight, or bee-line. One of the American railways is called the Bee-Line Road from the direct route it takes between its termini. Cf., Straight shoot.

1848. J. R. Lowell, Biglow Papers.

The field of Lexin’ton where England tried
The fastest colors thet she ever dyed.
An’ Concord Bridge, thet Davis, when he came,
Found was the bee-line track to heaven an’ fame,
Ez all roads be by natur’, ef your soul
Don’t sneak thur shun-pikes so’s to save the toll.

1874. M. Collins, Frances, ch. v. How they could follow an enemy’s
trail, or strike a bee-line through unpathed woods to the point
they sought!

1875. Miss Bird, Six Mos. in Sandwich Islands, Lett. xxix., p. 275
(1886). Horses cross the sand and hummocks as nearly as possible on
a bee-line.

1884. Aldridge, Ranch Notes, p. 78. The cattle are in great dread
of this pest [the heel-fly], and the instant an animal feels one,
it hoists its tail in the air, and takes a bee-line for the nearest
water.

Beelzebub’s Paradise, subs. (popular).—Hell; the infernal regions. Beelzebub is a frequent mis-reading for Beelzebul, the name given by the Jews to the prince of demons. The usage occurs in the New Testament at Matthew x., 25, and xii., 24–27, where Beelzebub should read Beelzebul. The former is properly the god of the Philistines, worshipped as the destroyer of flies [from Hebrew baal, lord + zebub, a fly]; whilst the latter is an opprobrious change on the former [from Hebrew baal, lord + zebul, dung].

Been in the Sun, adv. phr. (common).—A synonym for ‘drunk,’ in connection with which see Screwed. An allusion to a flushed, heated appearance.

Been Measured for a New Umbrella, phr. (American).—Said sportively of anyone appearing in new, ill-fitting clothes, or who has struck out a new line of action, the wisdom of which is doubtful. The joke is an old one and refers to a man of whom it was said that nothing fitted him but his umbrella.

Been There. Oh, yes, I’ve been there, phr. (American), i.e., ‘I know what I am about.’ A popular exclamation. When it is said of a man that he has been there, shrewdness, pertinacity, and experience are implied. A variant may be found in the equally slang expression, ‘he got there all the same.’—See Got there.

1888. Atlanta Constitution, May 4. The Japanese say: ‘A man takes a
drink; then the drink takes a drink, and next the drink takes the
man.’ Evidently the Japanese ‘have been there.’

2. Another and more invidious meaning, however, is attached to the phrase. Women suspected of clandestine meetings with men are said to have been there.

Beer, subs. (familiar).—To do a beer, i.e., to take a drink of beer.

1880. Punch’s Almanac, p. 3.

Quarter-day, too, no more chance of tick,
Fancy I shall ’ave to cut my stick.
Got the doldrums dreadful, that is clear,
Two d. left!—must go and do a beer!

1889. Sporting Times, July 6. It was the old tale of stony,
pebble-beached, block granite Wednesday, and money on the staff
there was none. ‘Pitcher,’ said Shifter, brushing the dust off his
tongue, ‘got enough for a beer?’ ‘Enough for a beer?’ repeated
Pitcher. ‘Good heavens, I wish I had. If Bass’s ale was a ha’penny
a barrel I couldn’t buy enough to soak a fly-paper!’

Verb.—To drink beer; also, to get drunk.

1780–6. Wolcot (‘P. Pindar’) Odes R. Acad., wks., 1794, I., 105. He
surely had been brandying it or beering, that is, in plainer
English, he was drunk. [d.]

To think no small beer [of oneself], phr. (common).—Small beer is weak beer; hence, figuratively equivalent to a trifle. The expression, to think no small beer of oneself, indicates, therefore, a good measure of self-esteem.

1840. De Quincey, Style, wks. XI., 174. [I] should express her
self-esteem by the popular phrase, that she did not think small
beer of herself.

Beer and Bible, phr. (political).—An epithet applied sarcastically to a political party which first came into prominence during the last Beaconsfield Administration. It was called into being by a measure introduced by the moderate Liberals in 1873, with a view to placing certain restrictions upon the sale of intoxicating drinks. The Licensed Victuallers, an extremely powerful association, whose influence extended all over the kingdom, took alarm, and turned to the Conservatives for help in opposing the bill. In the ranks of the latter were numbered the chief brewers; the leaders of the association, moreover, had mostly strong high church tendencies, while one of them was president of the Exeter Hall organization. The Liberals, noting these facts, sarcastically nicknamed this alliance the Beer and Bible Association; the Morning Advertiser, the organ of the Licensed Victuallers, was dubbed the Beer and Bible Gazette; and lastly, electioneering tactics ascribed to them the war cry of beer and bible! This so-called beer and bible interest made rapid strides: in 1870 the Conservatives were at their low water mark among the London constituencies; but, in 1880, they had carried seats in the City, Westminster, Marylebone, Tower Hamlets, Greenwich, and Southwark. A notable exception to this strange fellowship was Mr. Bass [afterwards Lord Bass], of pale-ale fame, who held aloof from opposition to the measure in question. Anent the nickname Beer and Bible Gazette given to the Morning Advertiser, it may be mentioned that it had already earned for itself a somewhat similar sobriquet. For a long time this paper devoted one-half of its front page to notices of publicans and tavern-keepers; while the other half was filled up with announcements of religious books, and lists of preachers at the London churches and chapels. This gained for the paper the equally singular sobriquet of the ‘Gin and Gospel Gazette.’

Beer and Skittles. Generally, Not all beer and skittles, phr. (familiar), i.e., not altogether pleasant, or couleur de rose. A tap room simile, the allusion being to drinking beer and playing at skittles at one and the same time.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 138. But
football wasn’t all beer and skittles to the Fags. There was an
institution called ‘Kicking in,’ which, while it lasted, was much
worse than ‘watching out’ at cricket, although it had the very
great merit of not continuing so long; for, even on a whole
holiday, we seldom had more than two hours of it.

1889. Pall Mall Gaz., Aug. 13, p. 6. Prince George of Wales is
‘learning his profession,’ and finds it is not all beer and
skittles. That run across the Channel into Queenstown harbour
showed our young naval officer the difference between an ironclad
and a torpedo boat. The latter is an uncommonly lively craft, and
in a choppy sea under a fresh breeze was surprisingly nimble. The
commander of No. 79 arrived in the harbour, having shown that at
least in one respect he has already something in common with the
late admiral, Lord Nelson. The officers of the Revenge had the
honour to request the pleasure of the company of the Prince and his
brother officers to breakfast. The brother officers went, His Royal
Highness spent the day in his hammock, and towards evening wrote to
his Royal Father a description of the perils of the deep.

Beer-Barrel, subs. (common).—The human body. Cf., Bacon.

Beeriness, subs., Beery, adj. (common).—Pertaining to a state of, or approaching to drunkenness; intoxicated; fuddled with beer. For synonyms, see Screwed.

1857. Dickens, Dorrit, bk. I., ch. viii., p. 56. The stranger was
left to the ... beery atmosphere, sawdust, pipe-lights, spittoons,
and repose.

1877. D. C. Murray, in Belgravia, July, p. 73. There was a beery
and bloated captain, resident in the inn, who had left the army, as
the rumour ran, under disreputable auspices.

1889. Modern Society, July 13, p. 838. It is a fact that does not
seem to have struck anyone, that Shakspeare’s first appearance as a
sporting tipster was in the words, ‘Lay on Macduff.’ We believe,
however, that they could at that time have got five to one against
him. So sure was the bard of his tip, that he added, in his own
classical language, ‘Damn’d be he that first cries, Hold, enough,’
which is vulgarly translated by the beery oracle of the kerbstone,
‘Put yer shirt on ’im, cuffs an’ all.’

Beer-Jerker, subs. (American).—A tippler.—See Jerker and Slinger.

Beerocracy, subs. (common).—The brewing and beer-selling interest. [A humorous appellation in imitation of aristocracy. From beer + [o] cracy, from Greek κρατέω, to rule, to hold.]

1881. World, 19 Jan., p. 10, col. 2. The startling mixture of
peerage and beerocracy ... was absent this time. [M.]

Beer-Slinger.—See Slinger; also Jerker.

Beeswax, subs. (old).—1. Poor, soft cheese. Sometimes called sweaty-toe cheese (q.v.).

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 3. Bob: Now,
landlord, ’arter that ’ere drap of max, suppose we haves a drain o’
heavy wet, just by way of cooling our chaffers—mine’s as dry as a
chip—and, I say, do you hear, let’s have a twopenny burster, half a
quartern of beesvax, a ha’p’orth o’ ingens, and a dollop o’ salt
along vith it, vill you? Mace: Bellay! a burster and beesvax—ingens
and salt here. (Calling as he fetches the porter from the side
wing, l.). Now, then, here you are, Master Grimmuzzle.

1849. Bell’s Life. [From Baumann.] A burster with a slice of
beeswax.

2. A bore; one who ‘buttonholes’ another. Generally, Old beeswax.

Beeswaxers, subs. (Winchester College).—Thick boots used for football. Probably from being smeared with beeswax or other substitute for rendering footgear supple. Pronounced Bĕswaxers.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 137. Our
costume consisted of a jersey, flannel trousers, beeswaxers
(lace-up boots), or ‘High-lows’ (low shoes), with two or three
pairs of ‘Worsteders’ (thick worsted stockings), the feet of all
but one pair being cut off.

Beeswing, subs. (common).—A gauzy film or ‘crust,’ in port wines, the result of age. [From bees + wing; so called from its appearance when broken up in the process of decanting.] Hence also beeswinged.

1846. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, III., p. 26. Scott from under bushy
eyebrows winked at the apparition of a beeswing.

1850. D. Jerrold, The Catspaw, Act i. Whereupon, the animal spirits
are held in suspense, like—like the beeswing in port.

1873. Fitzedward Hall, Modern English, p. 32. This port is not
presentable unless beeswinged.

Old beeswing, subs. (common).—A nickname for anyone, but especially for one who ‘takes to his liquor kindly’ as the saying goes.

18(?). Mark Lemon, Golden Fetters, II., p. 74. Mr. Clendon did not
call Mr. Barnard ‘old cock,’ ‘old fellow,’ or old beeswing.

Beetle-Crusher or Beetle Squasher, subs. (popular).—1. A large foot. The term was popularised by Leech in the pages of Punch. For synonyms, see Hoof.

2. In a transferred and now more common sense to that originally obtaining, a large boot or shoe. Also Beetle-cases. For synonyms, see Trotter-cases.

1869. W. Bradwood, The O.V.H., ch. xxi. Writhing yet striving to
look pleasant on the infliction which the beetle-crusher of a
recent arrival had just inflicted on his pet corn.

c. 1880. Rhoda Broughton, Cometh up as a Flower, II., p. 200. Yes,
but what horrible boots! Whoever could have had the atwocity to
fwame such beetle-crushers.

3. (military.)—An infantry soldier; the term is applied to them by the cavalry. A variant is Mud-crusher, which see for synonyms.

Beetle-Crushing, adj. (popular).—With solid tread, such as comes from large heavy feet encased in boots or shoes to match; e.g., the marching of infantry. Cf., Beetle-crusher, sense 3.

1876. Anteros, I., p. 188. The possibility floated before him, now,
of sending all his live and dead stock into the market,—of exchange
into a sedate beetle-crushing corps.

Beetles, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Colorado mine shares.

1887. Atkins, House Scraps.

Oh supposing our creamjugs were broken,
Or beetles were sowing the babies.

Beetle-Sticker, subs. (common).—An entomologist.

Before the Wind, phr. (colloquial).—In prosperous circumstances; out of debt or difficulty. From the nautical expression.

Begad! intj. (common).—A corruption of ‘By God!’ and, as such a euphemistic oath.—See Oaths.

1742. Fielding, J. Andrews. Begad! madam ... ’tis the very same I
met.

1848. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, II., iv., 39. Only one, begad! in the
world.

Beggared. I’ll be beggared if, etc., phr. (common).—An emphatic form of asseveration; i.e., ‘I’ll give up everything, even to being reduced to beggary, if,’ etc.

Beggar-Maker, subs. (old).—A publican.

Beggars, subs. (cards’).—The small cards from the deuce to the ten are so called.

Beggar’s Bolts.—See Beggar’s bullets.

Beggar’s Bullets or Bolts (old).—Stones.

1584. Hudson, Judith, in Sylvester’s Du Bartas (1608), 698. A pack
of country clowns ... that them to battail bownes, with begger’s
bolts and levers. [M.]

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. ‘The beggar’s bullets
began to fly’; i.e., they began to throw stones.

Beggar’s Bush. To go home by beggar’s bush, phr. (old).—To go to ruin; otherwise explained as follows.

1686. Twelve Ingenious Characters. He throws away his wealth as
heartily as young heirs, or old philosophers, and is so eager of a
goal, or a mumper’s wallet, that he will not wait fortune’s leisure
to undo him, but rides post to beggar’s bush, and then takes more
pains to spend money than day-labourers to get it. [N.]

1868. Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, p. 78. Beggar’s Bush.
To go by beggar’s bush (or) go home by beggar’s bush, i.e., to go
to ruin. Beggar’s bush is the name of a tree which once stood on
the left hand of the London road from Huntingdon to Caxton, so
called because it was a noted rendezvous for beggars. These punning
phrases and proverbs are very common.

Russell Hill, near Croydon, where the Warehousemen’s and Clerks’ Schools are, is locally known as Beggar’s Bush.

Beggar’s Plush, subs. (old)?—Corduroy.—See quotation.

1688. London Gazette, No. 2379, page 4. A person ... in a dark grey
Cloth Coat.... Breeches of Beggar’s Plush. [M.]

Beggar’s Velvet, subs. (common).—Downy particles which accumulate under furniture from the negligence of housemaids. Otherwise called sluts’-wool (q.v.).

Beggar the Thing! intj. (common).—Equivalent to ‘confound’ or ‘hang the thing’—used to give additional emphasis to a word or action.

Begin Upon [a Person], verb (common).—To attack; to assault.

Begosh! B’gosh! intj. (American).—An expletive, probably of negro origin; a half veiled oath; a corruption of ‘By God!’—See Oaths.

1888. The Epoch, May 5. Art dealer (descanting on the virtues of
the picture). ‘You will observe, sir, that the drawing is free,
that—’ Agriculturist. ‘Well, if the drawin’s free an’ you don’t tax
me too much for the frame b’gosh I’ll take it.’

Behind, subs. (common).—1. The posterior; the rump.

c. 1830. George IV., in Saturday Review (1862), 8 Feb. Go and do my
bidding—tell him he lies, and kick his behind in my name. [M.]

2. (Eton and Winchester Colleges.)—A back at football. At Eton called short behind and long behind, usually abbreviated to ‘short’ and ‘long.’ At Winchester, second behind and last behind. These answer to the half-back and back of Association football. At Winchester, in the Fifteens, there is also a third behind.

Behind One’s Side, adv. phr. (Winchester College).—Said of a man when nearer the opponent’s goal than the player of his team who last touched the ball.

Beilby’s Ball, subs. (old).—An Old Bailey execution.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Beilby’s Ball,—‘he
will dance at Beilby’s Ball, where the sheriff pays [for] the
musick: he will be hanged. Who Mr. Beilby was, or why that ceremony
was so called remains with the quadrature of the circle, the
discovery of the philosopher’s stone, and diverse other desiderata
yet undiscovered.’

Bejan, Baijan, etc., subs. (Scotch University).—A freshman; a student of the first year at the Universities of St Andrew’s and Aberdeen: it is now obsolete at Edinburgh. [From the French bec jaune, yellow beak, in allusion to the color of the mandibles of young birds.] The term was adopted from the University of Paris; but, signifying ‘a novice’ it has been in more or less general use for nearly three hundred years. At Aberdeen, the second-class students are ‘semi-bejans’; in the third ‘tertians’; while those in the highest rank are ‘magistrands.’ In the University of Vienna the freshman is called beanus, and in France ‘footing money’ is bejaunia. For synonymous terms for freshmen and raw recruits, see Snooker.

1611. Cotgrave. Bejaune, a novice ... or young beginner, in a trade
or art.

1865. G. Macdonald, Alec Forbes, ch. xxxiv. The benches were
occupied by about two hundred students, most of the freshmen or
bejans in their red gowns.

1887. Standard, Feb. 10, p. 5, col. 2. The term baijan, used in one
of the Scottish universities to designate a freshman, is from the
French bec jaune, yellow beak—young birds having usually bills of
this hue.

Belch, subs. (common).—Beer, especially poor beer. So called because of its liability to cause eructation. The term is probably much older than indicated by quotations. One of Shakspeare’s characters in Twelfth Night is Sir Toby Belch, a reckless, roystering, jolly knight of the Elizabethan period. For synonyms, see Swipes.

1698. Ward, London Spy, pt. XV., p. 347. Those Poor Sots who are
gussling belch at his own Ale-house.

1705. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. I., pt. VII., p. 18.

I sneak’d into a little house,
Where porters do their belch carouse.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Belch (s.), common beer or ale
sold in publick houses is so called.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Belch, all sorts of
beer, that liquor being apt to cause eructation.

1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, bk. III., ch. iii., p. 265.
‘Let’s have a pot of that fourpenny English Burgundy of yours, and,
whilst my mates are drinking the belch, I want to talk business
with you.’

Belcher, subs. (pugilistic).—A neckerchief named after Jim Belcher, a noted pugilist. The ground is blue, with white spots. Also, attributatively, to any handkerchief of a similar pattern. For synonyms, see Fogle.

1812. Examiner, 21 Sept., 607, 1. The traverser ... tied a belcher
handkerchief round his neck.

18(?). Dickens, The Ghost of Art, in Reprinted Pieces, p. 215. I
saw that the lower part of his face was tied up, in what is
commonly called a belcher handkerchief.

1874. Macmillan’s Magazine, April, p. 506. The spotted blue and
white neckerchief, still called a belcher, bears the name of a
famous prize fighter.

2. (thieves’.)—A ring. Described in quotation.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 399. The best
sort of rings for fawney dropping is the belchers. They are a good
thick looking ring, and have the crown and V.R. stamped upon them.

3. (circus and showmen.)—A drinker of beer; generally a hard drinker. Cf., Belch.

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 99. Now it
is well known that travelling mummers are all rare belchers ... I
kept them in conversation ... until the drink took the desired
effect, and one by one the princes and kings dropped on the grass
floor, and were sound drunk and asleep.

Belial, subs. (Oxford University).—A nickname of Balliol College.

Believe. I believe you, phr. (common).—This phrase is frequently employed to signify general assent; ‘yes.’ Sometimes colloquially ‘I believe you my boy’; once a favourite catch-phrase of a well-known actor.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 286. ‘Now confess: were you not
a little surprised?’—‘I believe you,’ replied that illustrious
person.

1849–50. Thackeray, Pendennis, I., p. 140. ‘Miss Rouney, I gather,
was the confidante of the other.’ ‘Confidant? I believe you.’

1860. George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss, p. 199. ‘Is she a cross
woman?’—‘I believe you.’

1879. Dudley Costello, The Millionaire of Mincing Lane, p. 204.
‘And she hates that fellow?’—‘Hates him? I believe you.’

Bell, subs. (vagrants’).—A song. Tramps’ term. Simply diminutive of bellow.—Hotten.

Verb (schoolboy).—To bell a marble is to run away with it, but the action scarcely amounts to actual theft.

To ring one’s own bell, phr. (American).—A variation of ‘to blow one’s trumpet’; to sound one’s praises personally.

Bell-Bastard, subs. (provincial slang).—In the West of England the illegitimate child of a woman who is herself illegitimate; why and wherefore is obscure, though possibly a corruption of ‘double bastard.’

Bellmare, subs. (American).—A political leader, mostly used contemptuously. The term is a slang appropriation from the terminology of Western life, where it seems to be used in regard to mules much in the same way as bell-wether is employed in England in reference to sheep. Why the grey mare, says the author of A Ride with Kit Carson, should be the better horse in the estimation of mules I cannot say, but such is certainly the fact. Though very cautious animals when relying solely on their own judgment, they would appear to have a consciousness of their own inferiority, which induces them to entertain a great regard for the sagacity of the horse, and especially for that of a white mare. The wily Californians, taking advantage of this amiable weakness, employ a steady, old, white mare of known gentleness and good character, to act as a kind of mother and guide to each drove of unruly mules.

Bellows, subs. (popular).—The lungs. This, etymologically, is the same as ‘belly,’ both words having passed through a most complicated history. Properly speaking a bellows is an instrument constructed to produce a strong current of air, and the word itself can be traced back to about A.D. 800. Its figurative and slang signification is recorded as follows:—

1615. Latham, Falconry (1633), 115. The lungs doe draw a breath....
When these bellowes doe decay, then health from both doth fade
away, [M.]

1730. Jas. Miller, Humours of Oxford, Act v., Sc. 2., p. 75 (2
ed.). Heark you, madam, don’t abuse my wife—slut quotha! i’gad let
me tell you, she has done a cleaner thing than you’ll ever do while
your bellows blow, old lady.

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 3.

A plague on those malty cove fellows,
Who’d have us in spirits relax;
Drink, they say, and you’ll ne’er burn the bellows,
Half water instead of all max;
A glass of good max, had they twigg’d it,
Would have made them, like us, lads of wax;
For Sal swigg’d, and Dick swigg’d,
And Bob swigg’d, and Nick swigg’d,
And I’ve swigged, and we’ve all of us swigg’d it,
And, by Jingo, there’s nothing like max.
All Max!
By Jingo, there’s nothing like max!

1843. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), Sam Slick in England, ch. xxii. He
[the servant] is so fat and lazy ... walkin’ put him out o’
breath.... How I would like to lick him ... round the park ... to
improve his wind, and teach him how to mend his pace. I’d repair
his old bellowses for him, I know.

Though regarded as slang in England, the word is colloquially used in many parts of America, in the duplicated plural form—bellowses.

1848. J. R. Lowell, in Biglow Papers, I., p. 23. His bellowses is
sound enough.

Bellowsed, ppl. adj. (old).—Transported; lagged. Cf., Bellowser, sense 2.

Bellowser, subs. (pugilistic).—1. A blow in the pit of the stomach, or wind—one that takes the breath away.

2. (old.)—A sentence of transportation for life.

1856. Novels and Tales (from Household Words), Tauch. ed. vi., p.
187. A sigh of the kind which is called by the lower classes a
bellowser.

Bellows to Mend, phr. (common).—It is said of a broken-winded horse that it has bellows to mend; likewise of a man whose lungs are affected, or one who from any cause is ‘out of health.’

1856. Cuthbert Bede, Verdant Green, pt. II., ch. iv. To one
gentleman he would pleasantly observe, as he tapped him on the
chest, ‘Bellows to mend for you, my buck!’

Bell-Rope, subs. (common).—The same as aggerawators (q.v.).

1868. Brewer, Phrase and Fable, s.v., ‘Love lock.’ When men indulge
in a curl in front of their ears, the love-lock is called a
bell-rope—i.e., a rope to pull the belles after them.

Bells Down! intj. (Winchester College).—See quotation and Bells go single!

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 62. The
junior in chamber had a hard time of it; ... while endeavouring to
get through his multifarious duties, he had to keep a sharp ear on
the performance of the chapel bell, and to call out accordingly,
‘first peal!’ ‘second peal!’ and bells down!

Bells go Single! intj. (Winchester College).—A single bell is rung for five minutes before the hour at which chapel commences. For College evening chapel three three’s are rung, and then follows a ‘bell,’ one for every man in College—70.

1878. Adams, Wykehamica, p. 256. At a quarter to six the peal again
rang out, and the cry of bells go was sounded in shrill tones
through every chamber of College and Commoners.... After ten
minutes the peal changed, and only a single bell continued to ring.
This was notified by the cry bells go single, and five minutes
afterwards, by that of ‘bells down.’... Presently the head-master
... would descend from his library: or the second master ... would
appear at the archway near Sixth Chamber, and the warning voice
would be heard ‘Gabell’ or ‘Williams through,’ ‘Williams,’ or
‘Ridding in.’ Straightway there would be a general rush, the
college-boys darting across the quadrangle in the rear of the
Præfect of Chapel; while the Commoners hurried in, keeping up a
continuous stream from their more distant quarters.

Bellswagger.—See Belswagger.

Bell-Topped, Bell-Knobbed, ppl. adj. (harlotry).—Said of a man whose penis is considerably thicker at the top end than at the root or middle.

Bell-Topper, subs. (popular).—A silk hat. [From bell, alluding to the shape, + top, from its position when worn, in relation to the rest of the body + er.] For synonyms, see Golgotha.

1885. G. A. Sala, in Daily Telegraph, Aug. 5, p. 5, col. 4. His
very bell-topper hat had been garlanded with flowers.

Belly-Ache, subs. (vulgar).—A pain in the bowels; a colic.

1881. New York Times, Dec. 18, quoted in N. and Q., 6 S., v., 65.
Bellyache. To grumble without good cause. Employés bellyache at
being overworked, or when they fancy themselves underfed, etc.

Belly-Bender, subs. (American).—A boy’s term for weak and unsafe ice.

Belly-Bound, adj. (vulgar).—Constipated; costive.

Belly-Bumper or Belly-Buster. To take a belly-buster, phr. (American).—To ride down a hill in a sled lying on one’s stomach, an amusement confined, it hardly needs saying, to young America. The idea of toboganning was derived from this boyish pastime, and the oaken board has been succeeded by the fleet-winged toboggan, made of seasoned maple with handsomely upholstered seats. With the advent of improved ice vehicles the interest in these sports has increased, and instead of being confined to the vulgar boys who used to ride down hill belly-buster fashion, men and even the most fashionable women now partake of this pleasant and invigorating pastime. Also belly-bumbo, belly-guts, or gutter, belly-flounders, belly-flumps, and belly-plumper.

1888. Chicago Inter-Ocean. Barney has a sled, on which he hauls the
fish in snowy weather. Barney had his sled out yesterday,
belly-bumping on a little patch of ice and snow.

Belly-Button, subs. (American).—The navel.

Belly-Can (political).—Explained by quotation.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, Mar. 28. Whatever ultimately comes of the
Sunday Closing movement, it will at any rate leave behind it a
curious addition to the English language. This is the word
‘belly-can,’ which is (according to the opponents of Sunday
Closing) the plebeian counterpart of the more genteel ‘small
cask’—both things being, of course, contrivances for getting round
the legal prohibition of Sunday drinking. Lexicographers may
perhaps be glad to have the definitions of the two phrases as given
yesterday afternoon by Mr. Cavendish Bentinck:—The ‘belly-can’ was
a tin vessel not unlike a saddle in shape, which men and women,
generally the latter—let hon. members note that—got filled with
beer and secreted about their clothes, an averaged-sized can
holding about four quarts. A more aristocratic method of private
Sunday drinking was by means of the ‘small cask.’ The small cask
industry was said to be an exceedingly prosperous one in certain
districts. Grocers advertised for casks as a speciality, and one
grocer advertised on a Saturday fifty and sixty and sometimes even
100 empty casks.

Belly-Cheat or Belly-Chete, subs. (old).—An apron; also food. [From belly + slang cheat, a thing; from Anglo-Saxon ceat, a thing.]

1609. Dekker, Lanthorne and Candlelight, wks. (1885) III., 196. A
belly-chete, an apron.

1622. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, II., i. Each man shall eat his own
stol’n eggs and shall possess what he can purchase—back or
belly-cheats.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Belly-cheat, an apron.

Belly-Cheer or Belly-Chere, subs. (old).—Food. This term is of considerable antiquity, as also is belly-cheering for eating and drinking. For synonyms, see Grub.

1559. Eliotes Dictionarie. Abdomini indulgere, to geve hym selfe to
bealy-chere.

1612. Rowlands, Knaves of Spades, etc. Gluttonie mounted on a
greedie beare, To belly-cheere and banquets lends his care.

1699. Coles, English Dictionary. Belly-cheer, Cibaria.

Belly-chere.—See Belly-cheer.

Belly-Chete.—See Belly-cheat.

Belly-Full, subs. (old).—1. A sound drubbing; a thrashing.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, in wks. V., 265. The churlish frampild
waues gaue him his belly-full of fish broath.

1605. Chapman, All Fooles, Act ii., p. 58 (Plays, 1874). Walk not
too boldly; if the serjeants meet you, you may have swaggering work
your belly-full.

1666. Pepys, Diary, Oct. 28. He says that in the July fight, both
the Prince and Holmes had their belly-fulls, and were fain to go
aside.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xvi. Bunker’s Hill, where,
Mr. Slick observed, ‘the British first got a taste of what they
afterwards got, a belly-full.’

2. A woman with child was also formerly said to have her belly-full.—See Belly-up.

Belly-Furniture, subs. (old).—Food; something wherewith to furnish the belly. Cf., Belly-timber, Back-timber, etc.

1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, bk. I., ch. v. (Bohn’s), i., 110. Then
did they fall upon the victuals, and some belly-furniture to be
snatched at in the very same place.

Belly-go-Firster, subs. (pugilistic).—An initial blow, generally given, say some authorities, in the stomach—whence its classic name!

Belly-Gut, subs. (old).—A lazy, greedy fellow.

1540. Morysine, transl., Vives’ Introd. Wisd., viij. Such as be
skoffers, swell feastes ... bely guts. [M.]

1733. Bailey, Erasmus, p. 346. Since then thou would’st not have a
belly-gut for thy servant, but rather one brisk and agile, why then
dost thou provide for thyself a minister fat and unwieldy?

Belly-Guts, subs. (American schoolboys’).—1. In Pennsylvania, molasses candy.

2. (American.)—Equivalent to belly-bumper (q.v.).

Belly-Hedges, subs. (Shrewsbury School).—In school steeple-chases, obstructions of such a height that they can easily be cleared—i.e., about ‘belly-high.’

Belly-Piece, subs. (old).—1. An apron. Cf., Belly-cheat.

1689. Shadwell, Bury Fair. If thou shoulds cry, it would make
streaks down thy face; as the tears of the tankard do upon my fat
host’s belly-pieces.

2. A mistress; a concubine; a whore.

1630. Randolph, Jealous Lovers. Asot: Come, blush not, bashfull
belly-piece—I will meet thee: I ever keep my word with a fair lady.
I will requite that jewell with a richer.

Belly Plea, subs. (old).—A plea of pregnancy, generally adduced by female felons capitally convicted. This they took care to provide for, previous to trial; every gaol had, as the Beggars’ Opera informs us, one or more child-getters, who qualified the ladies for that expedient. The plea still holds good, execution of female convicts in ‘an interesting condition’ being deferred until after accouchement. In practice, it really means a commutation of the death penalty for life imprisonment. All chances, however, of becoming enceinte after arrest are sedulously guarded against by the rules of modern prison life.

Belly-Plumper, subs. (American).—See Belly-bumper.

Belly-Timber, subs. (old).—Food; provisions of all kinds. [From belly + timber.] This, like many other words of its class (e.g., back-timber, q.v.), was once in serious use, but for a long period it has been going down hill, and it is now a thorough-going vulgarism, only surviving dialectically, and as slang. Massinger and the older dramatists employed it seriously; toward the end of the seventeenth century it began to be used in a ludicrous and vulgar sense. Butler employs it thus, and in Charles Cotton’s Scarronides (1678), the hero we are told—

Lay thinking now his guts grew limber,
How they might get more belly-timber.

For synonyms generally, see Grub.

1614. Terence in English, Annona cara est. Corne is at a high
price; victuals are deare; belly-timber is hard to come by.

1637. Massinger, Guardian, III., iii.

Ador. Haste you unto my villa, and take all provisions along with
you....

Car. Trust me for belly-timber.

1663–78. S. Butler, Hudibras.

Through deserts vast,
And regions desolate they pass’d,
Where belly-timber, above ground
Or under, was not to be found.

1719. Poor Robin’s Almanack, Feb. On the 10th day of this month,
being Shrove-Tuesday, is like to be a great innundation of
belly-timber.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Belly-timber (s.), all sorts of
food.

1820. Scott, Monastery, ch. xv. ‘Yonder comes the monkish retinue
... I hope a’gad, they have not forgotten my trunk-mails of apparel
amid the ample provision they have made for their own
belly-timber.’

Belly-Up, adv. phr. (old).—Applied to women when enceinte. From the protrusion of the abdomen which takes place under such circumstances.—See Belly-full.

Belly-Vengeance, subs. (common).—Sour beer, apt to cause gastralgia. The French call this pissin de cheval, i.e., ‘horse urine.’ For synonyms, see Swipes.

Belongings, subs. (colloquial).—1. Qualities; endowments; faculties.

2. Relations; one’s kindred.

3. One’s effects; or possessions. In sense 1 belongings has long been an accepted word; senses 2 and 3 are given by Annandale as ‘colloquial and vulgar.’

1852. Dickens, Bleak House. I have been trouble enough to my
belongings in my day.

1866. Saturday Review, 24 Feb., p. 244, col. 2. The rich uncle
whose mission is to bring prosperity to his belongings. [M.]

4. (American.)—Used by the prudishly inclined for trousers.—See Bags.

Below the Belt, adv. phr. (popular).—To strike a man below the belt is to hit him unfairly, a term derived from the pugilistic arena. Hence, underhand dealing, and the taking of mean advantage generally. It is akin with ‘To stab a man in the back.’

Belswagger, subs. (old).—1. A lewd man; a whoremaster; a pimp. [Thought to be a contracted form of belly + swagger, i.e., a man given up to bodily pleasure. Ash has both forms.]

1775. Ash, Dictionary. Belswagger, a whoremaster.

2. A bully; a hectoring fellow. This is the older, but least important usage.

1592. Greene, Defence of Coney-Catching. ... the belswaggers of the
country.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bellswagger, a noisy,
bullying fellow.

Beltinker, subs. and verb (common).—A beating; a drubbing. To thrash; to beat soundly.—For synonyms, see Tan.

Bemused, ppl. adj. (common).—Fuddled; as in the stupid stage of drunkenness. [From be + muse + ed, originally to be sunk in reverie, or contemplation.] The expression as generally used now is bemused with beer. This phrase, originally used by Pope, was given a new impetus by G. A. Sala (in Gaslight and Daylight). In America, especially, it caught the popular fancy and ran a brief but riotous course throughout the Union to signify one who addicted himself to ‘soaking’ with beer. The transatlantic usage naturally reacted upon the Mother Country, and from being occasionally employed it became much more popular, and was heard on all sides—a striking instance of ‘fashion in words.’

1735. Pope, Prol. Sat., 15. A parson much be-mus’d in beer.

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. viii. A fat little man,
primed with port, but who, when not thus bemused, is an influential
member of his committee.

1883. R. L. Stevenson, The Treasure of Franchard, ch. iv., in
Longman’s Mag., April, p. 694. So while the Doctor made himself
drunk with words, the adopted stable-boy bemused himself with
silence.

For synonyms generally, see Screwed.

Ben, subs. (theatrical).—1. A benefit; a performance of which the receipts, after paying expenses, are devoted to one person’s special use or benefit.

1872. Miss Braddon, Dead Sea Fruit, I., 190. ‘I have played clown
for my ben,’ murmured the great Dr. Mortemas.

1880. G. R. Sims, Ballads of Babylon (Forgotten). You saw me as
Hamlet, Charley, the night that I had my ben.

2. (old cant.)—A fool.—Grose.—See Benish.

3. (common.)—A shortened form of Benjamin (q.v.), a coat; also of benjy (q.v.), a waistcoat.

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 252.
Being at Hailsham, a small market town in Sussex, about the year
1846, I attended the club feast, which was held on the common. At
that time we used to buy men’s waistcoats of Michael Riley, of
Manchester, at £5 per gross, and sell them at 1s. 6d., 1s. 3d., and
the lowest price at a shilling each. I had a bale containing twelve
dozen arrive that morning, they were red ones; and in offering
these bens, the plan was to put them on to show how well they
fitted.

To stand ben (popular).—To stand treat.

Benar.—See Bene.

Benbouse, subs. (old cant).—Good beer. [From the Latin bene = good + bouse or booze.]

1567. Harman, Caveat (1869), p. 85. The vpright cofe canteth to the
Roge: ‘I saye by the Salomon I will lage it of with a gage of
benebouse; then cut to my nose watch.’ [‘I sweare by the masse, I
wull washe it of with a quart of good drynke; then saye to me what
thou wylt.’]

1622. John Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush.

I crown thy nab with a gag of benbouse,
And stall thee by the salmon into clowes,
To maund on the pad and strike all the cheats,
To mill from the Ruffmans, and commission and slates.
Twang dell’s, i’ the stiromel, and let the quire cuffin
And Herman Beck strine and trine to the Ruffin!

i.e.,

I poure on thy pate a pot of good ale,
And by the Rogue’s oath, a Rogue the install,
To beg on the way and rob all thou meets,
To steal from the hedge both the shirt and the sheets,
And lie with thy wench in the straw till she twang,
Let the Constable, Justice, and Devil go hang!

Bencher, subs. (old).—A frequenter of taverns; one who hulks about public houses; perhaps with an allusion to the Benchers of the Inns of Court.

Ben Cull or Cove, subs. (thieves’).—A friend; a ‘pall’; a companion. [From old cant bene or ben, good + cull, a man.] For synonyms, see Cove.

Bend, verb (Scotch).—To tipple; to drink hard. Jamieson, the first lexicographer to draw attention to the word in its slang sense, illustrates his example by quotations from Alan Ramsay. Murray suggests that it is derived from that sense of to bend, signifying ‘to pull,’ ‘to strain,’ ‘to apply oneself.’

1758. A. Ramsay, Poems (1800), I., 215. Brawtippony ... which we
with greed bended, as fast as she could brew. Ibid, ii., 73. To
bend wi’ ye, and spend wi’ ye, an evening, and gaffaw. [1860.
Ramsay, Remin., Ser. 1 (ed. 7), 47. Bend weel to the Madeira at
dinner, for here ye’ll get little o’t after.]

Above one’s bend, phr. (common).—Above one’s ability, power or capacity; or out of one’s reach. Probably a corruption of ‘above one’s bent.’ Shakspeare puts the expression in the mouth of Hamlet, ‘to the top of my bent’ (iii., 2). In the Southern States [U.S.A.], its place is generally taken by above my huckleberry (q.v.). An English equivalent is ‘above one’s hook.’

1848. J. F. Cooper, The Oak Openings. It would be above my bend to
attempt telling you all we saw among the red skins.

Grecian bend (popular).—A craze amongst women which had a vogue from about 1872 to 1880. It consisted in walking with the body bent forward.

1876. Chambers’ Journal, No. 629. Your own advocacy for the Grecian
bend and the Alexandra limp—both positive and practical imitations
of physical affliction.

On the bend, phr. (common).—In an underhand, oblique, or crooked way—not ‘on the square.’

1863. J. C. Jeaffreson, Live It Down, II., 152. I never have paid
anything yet on the square, and I never will. When I die, I’ll
order my executor to buy my coffin off the square. He shall get it
on the bend somehow or other.

Bender, subs. (popular).—1. A sixpence. Thought to be an allusion to the ease with which these coins were liable to be bent in use. At one time the currency was not of such good quality as now.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 178. Sixpence. A bender.