Chapter XI: Part 11

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xlii., p. 367. ‘Will you take three
bob?’ ‘And a bender,’ suggested the clerical gentleman.... ‘What do
you say, now? We’ll pay you out for three-and-sixpence a week.
Come!’

1869. Whyte Melville, M. or N., p. 66. A ragged boy established, at
the crossing, who had indeed rendered himself conspicuous by his
endeavours to ferry Puckers over dry-shod, was accosted by a
shabby-genteel and remarkably good-looking man, in the following
vernacular—‘On this minnit, off at six, Buster; two bob an’ a
bender, and a three of eye-water, in?’ ‘Done for another joey,’
replied Buster, with the premature acuteness of youth foraging for
itself in the streets of London.

Among synonymous terms for this coin may be mentioned cripple; bandy; crookback; downer; fyebuck; lord of the manor; tanner; sprat; kick; half a borde; tizzy.

2. (Scotch.)—A hard and persistent drinker; a tippler. This should be compared with bend.

1728. Ramsay, Poems (1848), III., 162. Now lend your lugs, ye
benders fine, wha ken the benefit of wine.

1810. Tannahill, Poems (1846), 53. Or benders, blest your wizzens
weetin’.

3. (public schools’.)—In public school phraseology a bender is a stroke of the cane administered by the master while the culprit bends down his back.

4. (common.)—The arm. In connection with this see the following, and for synonyms, see Chalk Farm.

5. (American.)—A drinking bout or spree, in the course of which, to use another slang expression, ‘the town is painted red,’ and the participants decidedly unbent. This is possibly derived from any one of the three following sources:—(1) from the Scotch usage; (2) from the facetious name given to the arm, which becomes a bender from being so frequently bent or ‘crooked’ to lift the glass to the mouth; (3) from the Dutch bende, an assembly, party, or band.

1854. Putnam’s Monthly, Aug.

I met her at the Chinese room;
She wore a wreath of roses,
She walked in beauty like the night,
Her breath was like sweet posies.
I led her through the festal hall,
Her glance was soft and tender;
She whispered gently in my ear,
‘Say, Mose, ain’t this a bender?’

1864. Richmond Dispatch, 3 Jan. ‘Most of the owners of these names
had been tempted by the festivities of the day to go on a regular
bender, and had to pay the penalty for their New Year’s frolic by
appearing this morning in the police-court.’

1888. Detroit Free Press, 4 Aug. He was a character noted for going
on frequent benders until he came very near having the jimjams and
then sobering up.

6. (American.)—A euphemism employed by the squeamishly inclined for the leg. A similar piece of prudishness is displayed in an analogous use of ‘limb.’ With a notorious mock-modesty American women decline to call a leg a leg; they call it a limb instead. This tendency is the more remarkable when the great freedom extended to American girls and women is borne in mind; unless, indeed, it arises from guilty knowledge. White, who, perhaps, was rather given to excessive incisiveness of speech, remarked that perhaps such persons think that it is indelicate for women to have legs, and that therefore they are concealed by garments, and should be concealed in speech. Professor Geikie, during one of his Canadian tours, also found out that both sexes had limbs of some sort; the difficulty was to discover whether they were used to stand on or to hold by. Sensible people everywhere, however, have little part in such prudery.

1849. Longfellow, Kavanagh. Young ladies are not allowed to cross
their benders in school.

7. (schoolboys’.)—The bow-shaped segment of a paper kite.

1873. Dr. Blackley, Hay Fever, p. 145. The first kite was six feet
in length by three feet in width, and was made of the usual form,
namely, with a central shaft or ‘standard,’ and a semi-circular top
or bender.

Over the bender, phr. (common).—A variant of ‘over the left shoulder’; the connection between bender, a slang term for the arm, and the shoulder is sufficiently apparent. There are many analogous expressions, which see under Over the left.

Intj.—An exclamation of incredulity; also used as a kind of saving clause to a promise which the speaker does not intend to carry into effect. Probably an abbreviated form of over the bender.

Bendigo, subs. (common).—A rough fur cap named after a notorious pugilist.

Bend Over, intj. (Winchester College).—A direction to put oneself into position to receive a ‘spanking.’ This is done by bending over so that the tips of the fingers extend towards the toes, thus presenting a surface as tight as a drum on the part to be castigated.

Bene, Ben, adj. (old cant).—Good. This belongs to the most ancient English cant, and is probably a corruption from the Latin. Benar and benat appear to have been used as comparatives of bene.—(See quots.)

1567. Harman, Caveat (1869), p, 86. What, stowe your bene, cofe,
and sut benat whydds, and byng we to rome vyle to nyp a bong. [i.e.
What, hold your peace good fellow and speak better words, and let
us go to London to cut, or steal a purse.]

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874).
Ben, good.

1611. Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker, The Roaring Girl or Moll
Cut Purse.

A gage of ben Rom-bouse,
In a bousing ken of Rom-vile

Is benar than a Caster, Peck, pennam, lay
Or popler.

i.e.,

A quart pot of good wine
In a drinking house of London
Is better than a cloak, meat, bread, butter milk (?) or
porridge.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4 ed.), p. 11, list of cant words in.
Bien, good.

1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, bk. III., ch. iii., p. 265. ‘I’ve
brought a couple of bene coves, with lots of the Queen’s pictures
in their sacks’ [pockets].

Subs. (old cant).—‘Stowe your bene,’ i.e., ‘hold your tongue.’ See quotation above from Harman’s Caveat.

Bene-Bouze.—See Benbouse.

Bene-Cove.—See Ben-cull.

Bene Darkmans! intj. (old cant).—Good night! French thieves say sorgabon, an inversion of bonne sorgue.

Benedick, subs. (familiar).—1. A sportive name for a newly-married man; especially one who has long been a bachelor. Apparently, however, there is some confusion in the usage (see sense 2). The name was derived from Shakspeare’s character in Much Ado About Nothing.

1599. Shakspeare, Much Ado About Nothing, v., 4, 100. Don Pedro.
How dost thou, benedick, the married man?

1805. Rev. J. Marriott, in C. K. Sharpe’s Correspondence (1888),
I., 239. From what I have seen of his lordship, both as a bachelor
and as a benedick.

2. A bachelor. Cf., foregoing.

1843. Life in the West. He is no longer a benedic, but a quiet
married man.

1856. C. Bronté, Professor, ch. xxiv. ‘Are you married, Mr.
Hunsden?’ asked Frances, suddenly.

‘No. I should have thought you might have guessed I was a benedick
by my look.’

Bene Feakers, subs. (cant).—Counterfeiters of bills.—Grose.

Bene Feakers of Gybes, subs. phr. (cant).—Counterfeiters of passes.—Grose.

Bene or Bien Mort, subs. (old cant).—A fine woman; a pretty girl; a hostess. [From bene, old cant for ‘good,’ + mort, a canting term for a woman.]

1567. Harman, Caveat, p. 85 (ed. 1869). A bene mort hereby at the
sign of the prauncer. [i.e., The Horse.]

1671. Richard Head, The English Rogue.

Bing out, bien morts, and ture and ture,
Bing out, bien morts, and toure;
For all your duds are bing’d awast,
The bien cove hath the loure.

i.e.,

Go forth, brave girls: look out, look out,
Look out, I say, good maids,
For all your clothes are stole, I doubt,
And shar’d among the blades.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xvii. ‘Tour out,’ said the one
ruffian to the other; ‘tour the bien mort twiring at the gentry
cove.’

1823. Scott, Peveril of the Peak, ch. xxxvi. Why the bien morts
will think you a chimney-sweeper on May-day.

1881. New York Slang Dictionary. [See first stanza of canting song
on page 80 ante.]

Beneship.—See Benship.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1869), p. 86. The vpright man canteth to the
Roge. Man! ‘That is beneshyp to our watche.’ [That is very good for
vs.]

Beneshiply, adv. (old cant).—Worshipfully.—Grose.

Ben-Flake, subs. (thieves’).—A steak.

Bengal Tigers, subs. (military).—The Seventeenth Foot; so nicknamed from its badge of a royal tiger granted for services in India from 1804–1823. Also called ‘The Lily-Whites’ from its facings.

1874. Chambers’ Journal, p. 801. The 17th ... the Bengal Tigers,
from their badge—a tiger.

Bengi, subs. (military).—An onion.

Bengy.—See Benjy.

Benish, adj. (old cant.)—Foolish.—See Ben, sense 2.

Benjamin, subs. (Winchester College).—1. A small ruler.

2. (thieves’.)—A coat. It is said to have been derived from a well-known London advertising tailor of the same name. Formerly this garment was called a Joseph, but for synonyms, see Capella. An upper Benjamin = a great coat.

1815. T. Peacock, Nightmare Abbey, p. 159. His heart is seen to
beat through his upper Benjamin. [M.]

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. ii. Benjamins, and
great-coats, and cloaks of all sorts and sizes.

1851. G. Borrow, Lavengro, ch. lix., p. 181 (1888). The coachman
... with narrow-rimmed hat and fashionable Benjamin.

1865. Pall Mall Gazette, 7 March, p. 3, col. 2. [Quoting East-end
slang.]

Ben Joltram, subs. (provincial).—Brown bread and skimmed milk; a Norfolk term for a ploughboy’s breakfast.—Hotten.

Benjy, subs. (nautical).—1. A low crowned straw hat having a very broad brim.

1883. W. Clark Russell, Sailors’ Language, p. 14. Benjie, the name
of a straw hat worn by sailors.

2. (common.)—A waistcoat. Also ben (q.v.). For synonyms, see Fan.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171. Benjy, a vest.

Bens, subs. (American).—A workman’s slang term for his tools. In England called alls.

Benship or Beenship, subs. (old cant).—Worship; goodness. This word, evidently from beneship (q.v.), is given by Bailey in his Dictionary [1728], and by Coles in 1724.

Adv. (old cant).—Very good.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65. Benship, very good.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr.). Benship,
very good.

1665. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 47 (1874).
Benshiply, very well.

Beong, subs. (thieves’ and costermongers’).—A shilling. [From Italian bianco, white; also the name of a silver coin.] For full list of synonyms, see Deaner.

Beray, verb (old cant).—To defile; to befoul; to abuse.

Berkeleys, subs. (common).—A woman’s breasts. [It may be noted that in the gypsy, berk, or burk = breast; plural, berkia.] For synonyms, see Dairies.

Bermudas, subs. (old).—A district in London, similar to Alsatia in Whitefriars (q.v.), and the Mint in Southwark, privileged against arrests. The Bermudas are thought to have been certain narrow and obscure alleys and passages north of the Strand, near Covent Garden, and contiguous to Drury Lane; see, however, the second quotation where the Mint would seem to be indicated.

1616. Jonson, Devil’s an Ass, II., 1. Meercraft. Engine, when did
you see my cousin Everhill? keeps he still your quarter in the
Bermudas? Eng. Yes, sir, he was writing this morning very hard.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, p. 12. In short, every
contrivance that ingenuity could devise was resorted to by this
horde of reprobates to secure themselves from danger or
molestation. Whitefriars had lost its privileges; Salisbury Court
and the Savoy no longer offered places of refuge to the debtor; and
it was, therefore, doubly requisite that the Island of the Bermuda
(as the Mint was termed by its occupants) should uphold its rights,
as long as it was able to do so.

As regards the derivation of the name, Nares suggests it in the actual practice, which obtained of debtors fleeing to the Bermuda Islands, when first discovered, to elude their creditors. This fact is alluded to in the following. Cf., second quotation already given.

1616. Jonson, Devil’s an Ass, III., 3. There’s an old debt of
forty, I ga’ my word. For one is run away to the Bermudas.

Berthas, subs. (Stock Exchange).—The nickname in the ‘House’ and among brokers for the ordinary stock of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Company.

1889. The Rialto, Mar. 23. The week opened very badly on the Stock
Exchange, and two or three days of utter stagnation followed, but
yesterday afternoon a revival took place, which was quite dramatic
in its suddenness and vigour. Between two o’clock and the closing
of the doors at four o’clock, advances were made ranging from 2½ in
Berthas to an average of 1 in Americans. Tintos climbed to 12¼, and
even Kaffirs raised their sickly heads. All the little bulls went
home happier than they have been for three weeks.

Berwicks, subs. (Stock Exchange).—The ordinary stock of the North Eastern Railway.

Bespeak-Night, subs. (theatrical).—A benefit.—See Ben.

Bess.—See Betty.

Bess-o’-Bedlam, subs. (old).—A lunatic vagrant.

1821. Scott, Kenilworth, ch. xxvi. ‘Why, what Bess of Bedlam is
this, would ask to see my lord on such a day as the present?’

Best. To best one, verb (common).—1. To obtain an advantage; to secure a superior position in a contest or bargain. The meaning of to best, therefore, is really ‘to worst.’ In this sense, not necessarily to cheat.—See sense 2.

1863. Trafford, World in Ch., II., 77. As I am a staunch Churchman
I cannot stand quiet and see the Dissenters best the Establishment.
[M.]

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 69. Bob
was a good salesman, but of bad temper, who if he could not get rid
of any unruly fellow by his chaffing him, would invariably turn to
Perdue and say, ‘Look at this man; I shan’t bother with him, why
don’t you get him away? He’s interrupting me and the business. I
can’t jolly him down, so you must settle and do away with him, or I
must “dry up,” for the fellow’s bested me.’

c. 1879. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 92. His intimates
were wont to say there was no trusting Cuddie Elliston, while, as
for Sam Pearson, it was a current saying that ‘No one had ever
bested him.’ Still, Yorkshire has a certain respect for this
faculty; and though Pearson was regarded as a man who carried it
rather far, and would have skinned his own brother upon occasion,
yet public opinion did not get much further regarding him than that
‘Lawyer Pearson knew his away about; and you’d to get up main early
in the morning to get a point the best of him.’

1883. Graphic, Feb. 24, p. 191, col. 1. So there are people who
will not scruple to best a railway company, who would be loth to
wrong a private person.

2. Sometimes, however, passing the ill-defined border line between sharp practice and down-right roguery, to best is an equivalent of to cheat; to swindle.

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 234. His
game was besting everybody, whether it was for pounds, shillings,
or pence. At one time he cheated a poor farming man out of his
milch cow in exchange for another. The man was in liquor at the
time, and when he came to his senses he went right away to another
part of the country, and his poor wife took it so to heart that she
died shortly afterwards.

1879. Horsley, in Macmillan’s Magazine, Oct. When I went to the
fence he bested (cheated) me because I was drunk, and only gave me
£8 10s. for the lot. So the next day I went to him and asked him if
he was not going to grease my duke (put money into my hand). So he
said, ‘No.’ Then he said, ‘I will give you another half-a-quid’;
and said, ‘Do anybody, but mind they don’t do you.’ So I thought to
myself, ‘All right, my lad; you will find me as good as my master,’
and left him.

1885. May, in Fortnightly Review, Oct., p. 578. The quack broker
who piles up money by besting his clients. [M.]

To give one best (thieves’).—To leave one; to sever companionship.

1879. Horsley, in Macmillan’s Mag., Oct. While using one of those
places [concerts], I first met a sparring bloke (pugilist), who
taught me how to spar, and showed me the way to put my dukes up.
But after a time I gave him best (left him) because he used to want
to bite my ear (borrow) too often.

Bester, subs. (common).—A cheat; a swindler.—See Best, sense 2. Generally applied to a turf or gaming blackleg.

1851. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, IV., 24. Those who cheat
the Public ... ‘Bouncers and Besters’ defrauding, by laying wagers,
swaggering, or using threats.

1885. Evening News, 21 September, 4, 1. The complainant called her
father a liar, ‘a bester and a crawler.’

Besting the Pistol, phr. (pedestrian).—To get away before the signal for starting is actually given. [From besting, gaining an advantage, + pistol, the firing of which is the signal to ‘Go!’]

1889. Polytechnic Magazine, July 7, p. 330. The third man from
scratch was evidently in too great a hurry; twice he tried to best
the pistol, and as often the whole start had to be made afresh.

Bet. You bet! intj. (American).—You may depend on it; you may be sure; certainly! be assured! Originally a Californian phrase tacked on to an assertion to give it additional emphasis. So popular is the expression that it has been given as a name in the form of Ubet to a town in the Canadian Northwest. Oftentimes it is amplified into ‘you bet your boots,’ ‘life,’ ‘bottom dollar,’ and so on. The two former were used in New York and Boston as far back as 1840.

c. 1882. Stavely Hill, From Home to Home. We reached the settlement
of Ubet. The name had been selected from the slang phrase so
laconically expressive of ‘You may be sure I will’.... A night
marauder took advantage of a good moon to place a ladder against a
window, hoping to secure the property of a gentleman asleep within
the chamber. As he lifted the window, and put his head in, the
gentleman woke up, and with great promptness presented his
six-shooter, shouting out ‘You get!’ With equal promptness the
detected thief exclaimed you bet! and slid down the ladder,—et
procul in tenuem ex oculis evanuit auram.

1870. Bret Harte, Poems, etc., The Tale of a Pony: Ah, here comes
Rosey’s new turn-out! Smart! You bet your life ’twas that!

1872. S. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Roughing It, ch. ii. ‘The
mosquitoes are pretty bad about here, madam!’ ‘You bet!’ ‘What did
I understand you to say, madam?’ ‘You bet!’

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, Mar. 7. Congressional Report. Mr.
Boutelle—That is the bravery to which you refer? (Applause on the
Republican side.) Mr. O’Ferrall—Well, sir, it is the right kind of
bravery: you may bet your bottom dollar on that.

(American.)—To bet one’s eyes is a gambler’s term for an onlooker who neither takes part in, nor bets upon the game.

Bethel, verb.—See quotation.

1740. North, Examen, p. 93. In the year 1680 Bethel and Cornish
were chosen sheriffs. The former used to walk about more like a
corn-cutter than Sheriff of London. He kept no house, but lived
upon chops, whence it is proverbial for not feasting to bethel the
city.

Be There, verbal phr. (common).—To be there is to be on the qui vive; alive; knowing; in one’s element.

Better, adv. (vulgar).—More; without any idea of superiority. A depraved word; once in good usage, but now regarded as a vulgarism.

1587. Fleming, Cont. Holinshed, III., p. 1382, col. 2. Woorth one
hundred and twentie pounds and better. [M.]

1679. Plot, Staffordshire (1686), p. 239. The bodies ... being
better than an inch long. [M.]

1769. Gray, in N. Nichols’ Corr. (1843), p. 87. It is better than
three weeks since I wrote to you. [M.]

1851. G. Borrow, Lavengro, ch. lxx., p. 217 (1888). Following its
windings for somewhat better than a furlong.

1854. Ainsworth, Flitch of Bacon, pt. I., ch. v. ‘Pastor of Little
Dunmow Church for fifty years and better.’

1857. Dickens, Dorrit, bk. I., ch. x., 75. ‘Yes. Rather better than
twelve years ago.’

1860. Dickens, Xmas Stories (Mess. from Sea), p. 89 (H. ed.). ‘He
shipped for his last voyage better than three years ago.’

Better Half, subs. (colloquial).—humorous term for a wife. The history of the phrase is thus given by Murray, ‘originally my better half, i.e., the more than half of my being; said of a very close and intimate friend’; (Cf., ‘the better part of me’ Shaks.; ‘meæ partem animæ,’ ‘animæ dimidium meæ,’ Horace; ‘animæ partem ... nostra majorem’ Statius); especially (after Sidney) used for ‘my husband’ or ‘wife’; now, jocularly appropriated to the latter. Formerly also applied to the soul, as the better part of man.

1580. Sidney, Arcadia, III., 280. [Argalus to Parthenia, his wife.]
My deare, my better halfe (sayd hee), I find I must now leaue thee.
[M.]

Circa 1600. Shakspeare, Sonnets, xxxix., 2.

O how thy worth with manners may I sing,
When thou art all the better part of me?
What can mine own praise to mine own self bring?
And what is’t but mine own when I praise thee.

1720. Sheffield (Duke of Buckingham), wks. (1753) I., 274. My dear
and better half is out of danger. [M.]

1842. Theodore Martin, in Fraser’s Magazine, Dec., p. 241, col. 2.
I ... shall look out for a better half. [M.]

Betting Round, ppl. adj. (racing).—Laying fairly and equally against nearly all the horses in a race, so that no great risk can be run. Commonly called getting round.—Hotten.

Bettor Round, subs. (racing).—One who is addicted to betting round (q.v.).

1882. ‘Thormanby,’ Famous Racing Men, p. 75. He [John Gully] worked
on gradually as a layer of odds—a ‘bettor round,’ or ‘leg,’ as he
was called in those days. [c. 1820.]

Betty or Bess, subs. (old).—A small instrument used formerly by burglars to force open doors and pick locks. Now called a jenny; also jemmy; tivvil; twist; or screw. For synonyms, see Thieves, etc.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 47 (1874). Betty,
an instrument to break a door.

1705. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus. vol. II., pt. IX., p. 7.

So Ruffains, who, with Crows and Betties,
Break Houses, when it dark and late is.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bring bess and glym;
i.e., bring the instrument to force the door, and the dark
lanthorn.

1851. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, IV., 339. Expert burglars
are generally equipped with good tools. They have a jemmy, a
cutter, a dozen of betties, better known as picklocks.

Verb (colloquial).—To potter about; to fuss about. Usually said of a man assuming the domestic functions of a woman.

All betty! intj. (thieves’).—cry of warning; ‘it’s all up; the game is lost!’

Betty Martin.—See All my eye.

Betwattled, ppl. adj. (old).—Surprised; confounded; out of one’s senses; also bewrayed.—Grose.

Between You and Me and the Bedpost.—See Bedpost.

Bever, Bevir, Bœver, subs. (Eton, Winchester, and Westminster Colleges).—An afternoon meal served in hall. An old time term for a repast or snack between meals, especially in the afternoon; it is still dialectical in some parts of England. Murray gives examples of its use dating back to 1500.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 83. In
summer time we were let out of afternoon school for a short time
about four p.m., when there was a slight refection of bread and
cheese laid out in Hall. It was called beever-time, and the pieces
of bread beevers.

1884. M. Morris, in English Illustrated Magazine, Nov., p. 73. [At
Eton, we] came up from cricket in the summer afternoons for beaver.

Beverage or Bevy, subs. (old).—A tip; a vail; equivalent to the French pourboire; money for drink, demanded, says Grose [1785], of any one having a new suit of clothes. For synonyms, see Tip.

Beware, subs. (theatrical).—Explained by quotation.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, vol. III., p.
149. ‘We [strolling actors] call breakfast, dinner, tea, supper,
all of them “numyare”; and all beer, brandy, water, or soup, are
beware.’

B Flats, subs. (common).—Bugs. Cf., F sharps, and for synonyms, see Norfolk Howards.

1866. Dickens, Household Words, xx., 326. Mrs. B. beheld one night
a stout negro of the flat-back tribe—known among comic writers as b
flats—stealing up towards the head of the bed.

1868. Brewer, Phrase and Fable, s.v. B flats.—Bugs. The pun is ‘B’
(the initial letter), and ‘flat,’ from the flatness of the
obnoxious insect.

Bib. To nap a bib, or one’s bib, phr. (popular).—To weep; to ‘blubber’; to ‘snivel.’

French Synonyms. Lâcher les écluses (popular: ‘to let loose the floodgates’; the phrase also means ‘to void urine’); pisser des yeux (common: ‘to urinate with the eyes’); pleuvoir des châsses (thieves’: pleuvoir = ‘to rain’; in military slang to void urine; châsse = eye); verver (thieves’: a corrupted form of verser, ‘to pour out,’ to shed); viauper (popular: this argotic verb also means ‘to go molrowing’ or ‘to lead a dissolute life’); chasser des reluits (popular: chasser = ‘to expel,’ ‘to drive out’; reluits = ‘the eyes,’ or ‘ogles’); chier des châsses (popular: a coarse term); chigner (popular); baver des clignots (popular: literally ‘to drivel, slaver’ or ‘slobber the eyes’—cligner signifying ‘to wink’ or ‘blink’; hence clignots, ‘the blinkers’ or ‘winkers’); beugler (popular: properly ‘to bellow’ [like a bull]).

German Synonyms. Echen eichen (from the Hebrew echa, the first word in the Lamentations of Jeremiah); flonen, phlonen, flannen, flaussen, or flennen (to pull one’s mouth awry, either for laughing or crying, but among German thieves mainly in the former sense); jalen jaulen, or jolen machen (from the Hebrew jolal, whining; ‘to howl,’ to whine).

Italian Synonyms. Trignare (this also signifies to ‘rain’: Cf., the French, pleuvoir des châsses); slenzare or slenzire (also ‘to urinate’: Cf., French, lâcher les écluses); ventare (the primary slang sense of ventare is ‘to moisten,’ hence ‘to shed tears’: properly ‘to blow,’ ‘to be windy’); lenzare or lenzire (primarily, in a slang sense, ‘to soak,’ ‘to wet’; from this the meaning is transferred to signify ‘to make water,’ i.e., ‘to urinate,’ and also ‘to shed tears’: the word is properly written l’ance; the derivation will be found under the French synonyms for Adam’s ale, q.v.).

In Spanish there is one expression for ‘to cry’ which is full of poetry—fabricar las perlas, i.e., ‘to make pearls.’ Arabs likewise speak of tears as ‘pearls on the face.’

Bibables or Bibibles, subs. (American).—Drink, as distinguished from food. [A coinage on the model of ‘edibles,’ ‘eatables,’ ‘drinkables,’ etc.; from Latin bib-ĕre, to drink, + able, i.e., able to be drunk.]

1860. William Howard Russell (Special Correspondent of the Times),
My Diary in India in the years 1858–9, I., p. 8. Could all the
pale-ale, soda-water, sherry, porter, and vin ordinaire, and the
feebler bibables be turned into nectar, etc.

1860. Pittsburg Despatch, Aug. The table was loaded and spread with
edibles and bibibles of every possible kind. [de v.]

Bib-All-Night, subs. (old).—A toper; a confirmed drunkard. [From bib-ĕre, to drink, + all-night.]

1612. Sylvester, Lacrymæ Lacrymaram, p. 101. Bats, Harpies, Syrens,
Centaurs, Bib-all-nights.

Bible, subs. (nautical).—See quotations.

1867. Admiral Smyth, Sailors’ Word Book. Bible, a hand-axe; a small
holy-stone [a kind of sand-stone used in cleaning decks], so called
from seamen using them kneeling.

1883. W. Clark Russell, Sailors’ Language, p. 14. Bibles. Small
holy-stones, no doubt originally so called because they oblige
those who use them to kneel. They are also termed ‘prayer books’
for the same reason.

That’s bible, phr. (common).—That’s the truth; that’s A 1.

Bible-Carrier, subs. (vagrants’).—A person who sell songs without singing them. Often heard in the neighbourhood of Seven Dials.

Bible-Clerk, subs. (Winchester College).—A College prefect in full power, appointed for one week. He keeps order in school, reads the lessons in chapel, takes round rolls (q.v.), and assists at floggings. He is absolved from going up to books (q.v.) during his term of office. The prefect of Hall need not act as Bible-clerk unless he likes, and the prefect of School may choose any week he pleases; the rest take weeks in rotation, in the order of their Chambers in College.—See Bibler and Bibling.

1864. Blackwood’s Magazine, vol. XCV., p. 73. [At dinner] portions
of beef were served out to the boys ... the Bible-clerk meanwhile
reading a chapter from the Old Testament. Ibid, p. 87. An hour ...
is expected to be employed in working under the superintendence of
the Bible-Clerk, as the præfect in daily ‘course’ is termed, who is
responsible for a decent amount of order and silence at these
hours.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 103. Order
was kept during school hours by the Bible-clerk and Ostiarus, two
of the Præfects, who held these offices in rotation—the former
lasting for a week, the latter for one day only. They paraded
School armed with sticks, and brought up to the Head and Second
Masters (who alone had the power of flogging) the names of the
delinquents which had been ‘ordered’ for punishment; the names of
the more heinous offenders being confided to the Bible-clerk, the
others to the Ostiarus.

1878. Adams, Wykehamica, p. 59. There appears to have been no
regular Bible-clerk.... From this it has been inferred that the
institution of these offices must have been subsequent, and (some
think) long subsequent to the Founder’s time.

Bible-Pounder, subs. (common).—A clergyman. [From bible + pounder, from the practice indulged in by some excitable exponents, of pounding or beating their hands upon the book or desk while preaching.] For synonyms, see Devil-dodger.

Bibler, subs. (Winchester College).—Now called bibling (q.v.).

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 109. The
first time a boy’s name was ordered, the punishment was remitted on
his pleading ‘Primum tempus.’ For a more serious breach of duty, a
flogging of six cuts (a bibler) was administered, in which case the
culprit had to ‘order his name to the Bible-clerk,’ and that
individual, with the help of Ostiarius, performed the office of
Jack Ketch.

Bibler Under Nail, subs. phr. (Winchester College).—See Bibling under nail.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 109. If a
boy was detected in a lie, or any very disgraceful proceeding—a
rare occurrence, I am happy to say—he had to stand up in the centre
of Junior row during the whole of the School time, immediately
preceding the infliction of the flogging; this pillory process was
called a bibler under the nail.

Bibling, subs. (Winchester College).—Formerly called a bibler (q.v.). A flogging of six cuts on the small of the back, administered by the head or second master. So called because the person to be operated upon ordered (q.v.) his name to the Bible-clerk (q.v.).

1864. Blackwood’s Magazine, vol. XCV., p. 79. Underneath is the
place of execution, where delinquents are bibled. Ibid, p. 72. It
need hardly be said that it [the rod] is applied in the ordinary
fashion: six cuts forming what is technically called a bibling—on
which occasions the Bible-Clerk introduces the victim; four being
the sum of a less terrible operation called a ‘scrubbing.’

Bibling-Rod, subs. (Winchester College).—The instrument with which a bibling (q.v.) was administered. It consisted of a handle with four apple twigs in the end, twisted together. It is represented on ‘Aut Disce.’ It was invented and first used by Warden Baker in 1454. It is not used now.

Bibling Under Nail, subs. phr. (Winchester College).—A bibling (q.v.) administered for very heinous offences after an offender had stood under nail (q.v.).—See quot. in Bibler under nail.

Biddy, subs. (old).—1. A chicken; sometimes chick-a-biddy. Hence, figuratively.

2. (familiar.)—A young woman, not necessarily Irish. In both these senses the word appears in Grose [1785]. Since that time it would seem to have changed somewhat in meaning as follows.

3. (familiar.)—A woman, whether young or old.

1868. O. W. Holmes, Guardian Angel, ch. xxviii., p. 233 (Rose
Lib.). ‘Don’t trouble yourself about Kitty Fagan, for pity’s sake,
Mr. Bradshaw. The biddies are all alike, and they’re all as stupid
as owls, except when you tell ’em just what to do, and how to do
it. A pack of priest-ridden fools!’

1887. Cornhill Mag., May, p. 510. How he gave to one old biddy
‘five guineas to buy a jack,’ and to another substantial help
towards her boy’s schooling.

4. (Winchester College.)—See Bidet.

5. (American.)—A servant girl—generally Irish.

Bidet, or Biddy, subs. (Winchester College).—A bath. Juniors fill these for Præfect. The Winchester term is the French word bidet, the name given to the low narrow bedroom bathing stools, used principally by women, but more frequently on the Continent than in England. They are of such a shape that they can be bestridden. In this connection it may be mentioned, that in French bidet also signifies ‘a small horse’ or ‘pony.’

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bidet, commonly
pronounced biddy, a kind of tub, contrived for ladies to wash
themselves, for which purpose they bestride it like a little French
pony or post horse, called in France bidets.

Bien.—See Bene.

Biff, subs. (American).—A blow. ‘To give [one] a biff in the jaw’; Anglicé, ‘to wipe one in the chops.’ Cf., Bang, and for synonyms, see Dig.

Biffin, subs. (familiar).—‘My biffin!’ i.e., ‘my pal!’ A biffin is properly a dried apple: Norfolk biffins especially are considered great delicacies.

Big. To talk or look big, phr. (familiar).—To assume a pompous style or manner with a view to impressing others with a sense of one’s importance; to talk boastingly. A French equivalent is se hancher.

1579. Spenser, Shep. Cal., Sept., 50.

The shepheards swayne you cannot wel ken,
But it be by his pryde, from other men:
They looken bigge as Bulls.

1604. Shakspeare, Winter’s Tale, Act iv., Sc. 3. Not a more
cowardly rogue, in all Bohemia: if you had but looked big, and spit
at him, he’d have run.

1771. Smollett, Humphry Clinker, l. 26. The squire, in all
probability, cursed his punctuality in his heart, but he affected
to talk big.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xv. ‘You will gain nought by
speaking big with me.’

1838. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 2 S., ch. viii. ‘He looked big, and
talked big, and altogether was a considerable big man in his own
consait.’

1855. Anthony Trollope, The Warden, p. 207. The Archdeacon waxed
wrath, talked big, and looked bigger.

Big as All Outdoors, phr. (American).—An expression intended to convey an idea of indefinite size; hugeness; enormous capacity.

1838. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 2 S., ch. ii. The
infarnal villain! Tell me who he is, and if he was big as all
outdoors, I’d walk into him. Ibid, ch. iv. He is looking as big as
all outdoors gist now, and is waitin’ for us to come to him.

Big-Bellied, adj. (colloquial).—Advanced in pregnancy.

1711. Addison [Referred to by].

1848. John Forster, Life and Times of Oliver Goldsmith, bk. II.,
ch. iv. My desires are as capricious as the big-bellied woman’s.

Big Ben, subs. (popular).—A nickname for the clock in the tower of the Houses of Parliament at Westminster. Named after Sir Benjamin Hall, the Commissioner of Works, under whose supervision it was constructed. It was commenced in 1856, and finished in 1857.

1869. The Register or Mag. of Biography, p. 213. With Sir Charles
Barry’s sanction he designed the ornament cast on the Westminster
Bell, familiarly known as big Ben.

1880. Punch, No. 2039, p. 51. Big Ben struck two, and the house
adjourned.

Big Bird. To get or give the big bird, phr. (theatrical).—To be hissed on the stage; or, conversely, to hiss. When an actor or actress gets the big bird, it may be from two causes: either it is a compliment for successful pourtrayal of villainy, in which case the gods (q.v.) simply express their abhorence of the character and not of the actor; or, the hissing may be directed against the actor, personally, for some reason or other. The big bird is the goose. For synonyms, see Goosed.

1886. Graphic, 10 April, p. 399. To be goosed, or, as it is
sometimes phrased, to get the big bird, is occasionally a
compliment to the actor’s power of representing villainy, but more
often is disagreeably suggestive of a failure to please.

Big Bug, subs. (popular).—A person of standing or consequence, either self-estimated or in reality. A disrespectful but common mode of allusion to persons of wealth or with other claims to distinction. Variants are Big-dog, Big-toad, Big-wig, and Great gun (which see for general synonyms).

1854. Widow Bedott Papers, p. 301. Miss Samson Savage is one of the
big bugs,—that is, she’s got more money than a’most anybody else in
town.

1857. N. Y. Times, February. The free-and-easy manner in which the
hair-brained Sir Robert Peel described some of the big bugs at
Moscow has got him into difficulty.

1872. Schele de Vere, Americanisms, p. 392. Persons of great wealth
and distinction are irreverently called big bugs, and I-street, in
Washington, is thus said to be inhabited by the foreign ambassadors
and other big bugs. J. C. Neal makes a nice distinction when he
says of a rich man without social importance: ‘He is one of your
big bugs, with more money than sense.’

1888. Texas Siftings, Sep. 15. Don’t appear unduly surprised or
flustrated if, on answering the front door bell, you find Mr.
Gladstone wiping his feet on the door mat. Invite him to walk in in
a cool, collected tone of voice.... Show him you have entertained
big bugs before.

Big Country, subs. (hunting).—The open country.

Big Dog of the Tanyard, phr. (American).—A consequential, pompous individual; one who will neither allow others a voice in any matter, or permit dissent from his own views. The obvious derivation is from the customary guarding of tanyards by ferocious watch-dogs. For synonyms, see Great gun.

Big Dog with the Brass Collar, phr. (American).—The chief in any undertaking or enterprise; a leader. A simile evidently derived from the stable or kennel. The phrase is sometimes shortened to big dog. For synonyms, see Great gun.

1848. J. R. Bartlett, Americanisms, p. 42. In some parts of the
country, the principal man of a place or in an undertaking is
called the big dog with a brass collar, as opposed to the little
curs not thought worthy of a collar.

1882. Alan Pinkerton, The Molly Maguires, p. 24. ‘Yes,’ said
Dormer, ‘Lawler is the big dog in these parts now; besides he kapes
a good tavern, and will see no old-timer, or young one either, for
that matther, sufferin’ from want while he can relieve him!’

Big Drink, subs. (familiar).—1. The ocean; more particularly applied to the Atlantic. Also called the big pond, herring pond, the puddle (q.v.).

1882. Miss Braddon, Mount Royal, ch. xiii. ‘I was coming across the
big drink as fast as a Cunard could bring me.’

2. (Western American.)—When a Western plainsman talks of the big drink, he is always understood to mean the Mississippi river.

To take a big or long drink is to partake of liquor from a large glass. It is very customary when calling for refreshment to state whether a long or short drink is required.

Big Figure. To go the big figure, phr. (common).—A variant of ‘to go the whole hog,’ or ‘to go the whole animal.’ It signifies embarking upon an enterprise of magnitude. The phrase is mainly current in the Southern States, and is derived from a term used in poker.

1868. Pickings from the Picayune, p. 226. When I saw that, I
thought I might as well go the big figure, you see, and so I
grabbed the bag; but mischief would have it, that just then the
policeman grabbed me and took me to the caboose.

Biggest, adj. (American).—A superlative often used in the sense of ‘the best’ or ‘the finest.’

1848. Ruxton, Life in Far West, p. 129. The thermal springs are
regarded by the trappers as the breathing-places of his Satanic
majesty; and considered, moreover, to be the biggest kind of
medicine to be found in the mountains.

1888. Washington (Pa.) Review. The Pittsburg Times is as breezy a
journal as comes to this office. It is the biggest little paper we
are acquainted with.

Biggest Toad in the Puddle, phr. (American).—One of the many bold, if equivocal metaphors to which the West has given rise. The biggest toad in the puddle is the recognised leader or chief whether in politics, or in connection with the rougher avocations of pioneer life. Equivalent to the big dog with the brass collar (q.v.).—See also Big bug, and for synonyms generally, Great gun.

1848. J. R. Bartlett, Americanisms, p. 42. Biggest toad in the
puddle. A Western expression for a head-man; a leader of a
political party, or of a crowd. Not an elegant expression, though
sometimes well applied. Thus a Western newspaper, in speaking of
the most prominent man engaged in the political contest for one of
the Presidential candidates before Congress, says: ‘Mr. D. D. F.—is
the biggest toad in the puddle.’

Biggin, subs. (Winchester College).—A coffee machine in two parts—a strainer, and a coffee-pot for the infusion. It took its name from the inventor, a Mr. Biggin, who received letters patent ‘some years’ previous to 1803. (Gent. Mag., lxxiii., p. 1094.)

Biggity, adv. (American).—Consequential; giving oneself airs. A negro term.

c. 1884. S. L. Clemens, Life on the Mississippi, p. 511. These
railroads have made havoc with the steamboat commerce. The clerk of
our boat was a steamboat clerk before these roads were built. In
that day the influx of population was so great, and the freight
business so heavy, that the boats were not able to keep up with the
demands made upon their carrying capacity; consequently the Captain
was very independent and airy—pretty biggity as Uncle Remus would
say.

Big Gun, subs. (familiar).—A person of consequence. Possibly of sporting origin. For synonyms, see Great gun.

1888. Texas Siftings, Oct. 13. ‘Who’s a big gun? You don’t consider
that insignificant ink-slinger across the way a big gun, do you?’
‘My wife can hardly wait to get it out of the mail,’ shouted Jones,
desperately.

Big-Head. To have a big-head, phr. (American).—1. To be conceited; bumptious. Also applied to men or youths who are ‘cocksure’ of everything, or affected in manner.—See also Swell-head.

1848. J. R. Bartlett, Americanisms, p. 43. Boys who smoke cigars,
chew tobacco, drink strong liquors, gamble, and treat their parents
and superiors as their inferiors—of such a boy it is said, ‘He has
got the big-head.’

1888. Texas Siftings, Oct. 20. If we were to base our calculation
upon the corpulency of his iron hat and helmet, we should say it
was a case of big-head, while his legs were long as a pair of
duplex pinchers, his arms like the fans of a windmill, his feet
like the foot of Mont Blanc, while his digital annex is like an
inverted ham.

2. The phrase also signifies the after effect of a debauch.

To get the big-head. To get drunk. For synonyms, see Screwed.

Big House, subs. (common).—The workhouse,—a phrase used by the very poor; sometimes called the large house.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 52. ‘As
long as they kept out of the big house (the workhouse), she would
not complain.’ Ibid, II., p. 251. The men hate the thought of going
to the big house.

Big Mouth, subs. (American).—Excessive talkativeness; loquacity. Cf., All mouth. For synonyms, see Gas.

Big Nuts to Crack, subs. phr. (American).—An undertaking of magnitude; one not easy to perform. [From a presumed difficulty in cracking large nuts.]

Big One or Big ’Un, subs. (old).—A man of note or importance. The current colloquialism is big-wig, but at one time big-one was the more frequently-used expression. For synonyms, see Great gun.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 42. Then up rose
Ward, the veteran Joe, And, ’twixt his whiffs, suggested briefly
That but a few at first should go, And those, the light-weight
Gemmen chiefly; As if too many big ones went, They might alarm the
Continent!

Big People, subs. (familiar).—Persons of standing or consequence. Cf., Great gun.

1858. Anthony Trollope, Dr. Thorne, I., p. 43. He would in no way
assume a familiarity with bigger men than himself; allowing to the
bigger men the privilege of making the first advances. Ibid, p. 81.
When one is absolutely in the dirt at their feet, perhaps these big
people won’t wish one to stoop any further.

Big Pond, subs. (popular).—The Atlantic. Also called the big drink (q.v.).

1838. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xviii. He
[old Clay] is all sorts of a hoss, and the best live one that ever
cut dirt this side of the big pond, or t’other side either.

1883. Sala, Living London, p. 204. Next time Miss Ward crosses the
big pond, I earnestly hope that she will cross the ‘Rockies,’ and
triumphantly descend the Pacific slope.

Big Pot, subs. (familiar).—A person of consequence. For synonyms, see Great gun.

1880. Punch’s Almanac, The Cad’s Calendar. Lor! if I’d the ochre,
make no doubt, I could cut no end of big pots out. Call me cad?
When money’s in the game, Cad and swell are pooty much the same.

Big-Side, subs. (Rugby School).—The combination of all the bigger fellows in the school in one and the same game or run; also the ground specially used for the game so denominated. Used also at other public schools.

Big-Side Run, subs. (Rugby School).—A paper chase, in which picked representatives of all houses take part, as opposed to a house run.

Big Take, subs. (American).—That which takes the public fancy; a great success, etc.,—in short, anything that ‘catches on.’—See Take.

Big Talk, subs. (popular).—Pompous speech; a pedantic use of long words.

1874. Saturday Review, Feb., p. 280. [With regard to words like
‘psithurism,’ ‘cheirognomy,’ ‘scintillating eyes,’ ‘the
phaesimbrotous sun’] perhaps they have been grown so accustomed to
big talk that, etc.

Big-Wig, subs. (popular).—A person of consequence; one high in authority or rank. [From big + wig, an allusion to the large and ornate headgear of men of importance in former times.] The term is used both contemptuously and humorously. For synonyms, see Great gun.

1703. English Spy, p. 255. Most noble cracks, and worthy cousin
trumps,—permit me to introduce a brother of the togati, fresh as a
new-blown rose, and innocent as the lilies of St. Clements. Be unto
him ever ready to promote his wishes, whether for spree or sport,
in term and out of term,—against the Inquisition and their
bull-dogs—the town-raff and the bargees—well-blunted or
stiver-cramped—against dun or don—nob or big wig—so may you never
want a bumper of bishop.

1846. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ch. xx. We live among bankers and
city big-wigs, and be hanged to them, and every man, as he talks to
you, is jingling his guineas in his pocket.

1859. H. Kingsley, Geoffrey Hamlyn, ch. xlv. So you are going to
sit among the big-wigs in the House of Lords.

1876 circa. Broadside Ballad, ‘Justice and Law.’

The Penge Case you know took a curious twist,
But how it occurred, we can’t guess,
Unless, unexpected, some turn of the wrist,
Has got some ‘big-wig’ in a mess.
To some folks it seems rather queer, now, you see,
When ‘Sentence of Death’ had been passed,
That one of the four is allowed to go free,
And her prison doors wide open cast.
Chorus.

1880. A. Trollope, The Duke’s Children, ch. xxvi. ‘The Right
Honorable gentleman no doubt means,’ said Phineas, ‘that we must
carry ourselves with some increased external dignity. The world is
bigwigging itself, and we must buy a bigger wig than any we have
got, in order to confront the world with proper self-respect.’

Big-Wigged, ppl. adj. (popular).—Pompous; consequential. [From big-wig (q.v.) + [g] ed.]

1851. Carlyle, John Sterling, pt. I., ch. vii. And along with
obsolete spiritualisms, he sees all manner of obsolete thrones and
big-wigged temporalities.

Big-Wiggery, subs. (popular).—A display of consequence, or pomposity. [From big-wig (q.v.) + [g] ery, a condition.]

1848. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, ch. ii. Whilst Louis XIV., his old
squaretoes of a contemporary—the great worshipper of bigwiggery—has
always struck me as a most undoubted and Royal Snob.

1855. Household Words, xii., 250. All this solemn bigwiggery—these
triumphs, ovations, sacrifices, orations.

Big-Wiggism, subs. (popular).—Pomposity. [From big-wig (q.v.) + [g] ism, a state or condition.]

1871–72. G. Eliot, Middlemarch, ch. xvii. I determined not to try
anything in London for a good many years at least. I didn’t like
what I saw when I was studying there—so much empty big-wiggism and
obstructive trickery.

Big Words, subs. (familiar).—Pompous speech; ‘crack-jaw’ words. Cf., To talk big, and Big talk.

1879. Grenville Murray, Member for Paris, I., p. 103. ‘I don’t like
such cynicism!’ ‘Oh, cynicism is a big word.’

Bilbo or Bilboa, subs. (old).—A sword. Bilboa in Spain was once renowned for well-tempered blades. Grose [1785] quotes the term as slang; this, however, is somewhat doubtful.

1592. Greene, Disputation, etc., in wks. X., 236. Let them doe what
they dare with their bilbowe blades, I feare them not.

1693. Congreve, Old Batchelor, Act iii., Sc. 7. Tell them, I say,
he must refund—or bilbo’s the word, and slaughter will ensue.

1713. Guardian, No. 145. ‘He that shall rashly attempt to regulate
our hilts, or reduce our blades, had need to have a heart of oak
... Bilbo is the word, remember that and tremble.’

1816. Scott, Old Mortality, ch. iv. ‘It was all fair play; your
comrade sought a fall, and he has got it.’

‘That is true enough,’ said Bothwell, as he slowly rose; ‘put up
your bilbo, Tom.’

2. A kind of stock—a long iron bar with sliding shackles for the ankles of prisoners, and a lock by which to fasten the bar at one end to the ground. The derivation is very uncertain.

1557. Hakluyt, Voy., I., 295. I was also conveyed to their lodgings
... where I saw a pair of bilbowes.

1594. Nashe, Terrors of the Night, in wks. (Grosart) III., 255. He
that is spyced with the gowte or the dropsie, frequently dreameth
of fetters and manacles, and being put on the bilbowes.

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, Act v., Sc. 2. Ham. ... Methought I lay
worse than the mutines in the bilboes.

1695. Congreve, Love for Love, Act iii., Sc. 6. Now a Man that is
marry’d, has as it were, d’ye see, his Feet in the bilboes, and
may-hap mayn’t get ’em out again when he wou’d.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4 ed.), p. 19. And are those shear’d,
or put into bilboes, and handcufft.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Bilboes, the punishing a person
at sea, by laying or putting the offender in irons, or a sort of
stocks, but more severe than the common stocks.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxxiv. ‘And now let us talk about
our business.’ ‘Your business, if you please,’ said Hatterick;
‘bagel and donner!—mine was done when I got out of the bilboes.’

Bile, subs. (old).—1. The female pudenda. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

2. (common.)—A vulgarism for ‘boil.’

Bilgewater, subs. (common).—Bad beer. Properly the name given to the drainings to the lowest part of a ship; being difficult to get at, these become, at times, exceedingly foul and offensive. For synonyms, see Swipes.

Bilk, subs. (common).—A word, formerly in general use, to which a certain stigma of vulgarity is now attached. Uncertain in derivation—possibly a corrupted form of ‘balk’—it was first employed technically at cribbage to signify the spoiling of an adversary’s score in the crib. Among obsolete or depraved usages may be mentioned.

Subs. 1. (obsolete.)—A statement or string of words without sense, truth, or meaning, jointly or severally.

1663. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, I., i. Tub. He will have the last
word, though he talk bilk for’t. Hugh. Bilk! what’s that. Tub. Why
nothing; a word signifying Nothing. [Note refers to Cole’s English
Dict. (n.d. given) and to Halliwell, Arch. and Prov. Words, s.v.]

1740. North, Examen, p. 213. Bedloe was sworn, and being asked what
he knew against the prisoner, answered, Nothing.... Bedloe was
questioned over and over, who still swore the same bilk.

2. (common.)—A hoax; an imposition; a humbug. For synonyms, see Sell. Cf., Bite.

1664. Butler, Hudibras, II., iii., 376. Spells, Which over ev’ry
month’s blank-page In th’ Almanack strange bilk’s presage. [M.]

1694. Congreve, Double Deal, III., x. There he’s secure from danger
of a bilk. [M.]

1733 circa. North, Lives, i., 260. After this bilk of a discovery
was known. [M.]

3. (common.)—A swindler; a cheat. This is the most familiar current use of the word in its substantive form, and is applied mainly to persons who cheat cabmen of their fares, or to men who swindle prostitutes out of their wretched earnings. Also bilker. For synonyms, see Sell. Cf., Bite.

1790. Sheridan, in Sheridaniana, 109. Johnny W[i]lks, Johnny
W[i]lks, Thou greatest of bilks.

1836. Marryat, Japhet, ch. ix. After a little delay, the wagoner
drove off, cursing him for a bilk, and vowing that he’d never have
any more to do with a ‘larned man.’

4. (American.)—A strongly offensive term used in the West to signify a person who habitually sponges upon another, and who never by any chance makes a return or even offers to do so. In English slang it means a downright cheat or swindler (see sense 3). It will therefore be seen that the Western American usage has considerably softened its meaning.

1840. McClure, Rocky Mountain, p. 211. The term was entirely novel
to me, and I first asked its meaning of a landlord, who explained
to me by saying that a bilk is a man who never misses a meal and
never pays a cent.

Adj. (obsolete).—Fallacious; without truth or meaning.