Chapter XIV: Part 14

1889. Chambers’ Journal, 3 Aug., p. 495. To suck the monkey is a
phrase explained in Peter Simple as having originally been used
among sailors for drinking rum out of cocoa-nuts, the milk having
been poured out and the liquor substituted. It is now applied to
the act of drinking on the sly from a cask by inserting a straw
through a gimlet hole, and to drinking generally. Barham, in the
legend of the Black Mousquetaire says:

What the vulgar call sucking the monkey,
Has much less effect on a man when he’s funky.

Blenker, verb (American).—To plunder. A cant phrase much used during the Civil War. Possibly allied to the northern provincialism ‘blenk,’ a trick or stratagem. ‘Blenk’ was also used in Morte d’Arthur in the sense of ‘to bilk,’ or ‘cheat.’

Bless, verb (popular).—To curse; to damn.—See Blessed.

To bless oneself, verbal phr. (common).—To be surprised; to be vexed; to be mortified. Generally, ‘God bless me!’ or ‘Bless my eyes!’ ‘Bless my soul!’ ‘Lor’ bless me!’

1592. Shakspeare, Midsummer Night’s Dream, iv., 2, 11. Quin: Yea,
and the best person too: and he is a very paramour, for a sweet
voice. Flu: You must say, paragon: a paramour is, God bless us, a
thing of nought.

1615. T. Adams, Black Dev., 71. He ... would blesse himselfe to
think that so little a thing could extend itself to such a
capacity. [M.]

1665. Pepys, Diary, 1 Apr. How my Lord Treasurer did bless himself,
crying he could do no more, etc.

1759. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, ch. xl. Rub your hands thrice across
your foreheads—blow your nose—cleanse your emunctories—sneeze, my
good people!—God bless you.

1814. Miss Austen, Mansfield Park, ch. xviii. Could Sir Thomas look
in upon us just now, he would bless himself, for we are rehearsing
all over the house.

1843. Dickens, Christmas Carol, p. 77. ‘Why, bless my soul,’ cried
Fred, ‘who’s that?’

1853. Bulwer Lytton, My Novel, I., p. 307. After they had lain
apart for a little while, very silent and sullen, John sneezed.
‘God bless you!’ says Joan, over the bolster.

Not a [penny] to bless oneself with, phr. (popular).—Utterly impecunious; ‘without a sou.’

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, I., p. 237. He landed there
without a penny to bless himself with.

1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, I., p. 113. I heard that Mr. Mell
was not a bad sort of fellow, but hadn’t a sixpence to bless
himself with.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, III., p. 55. The most
of ’em ain’t got a farthing to bless themselves with.

1861. George Eliot, Silas Marner, p. 38. I have not a shilling to
bless myself with.

To bless one’s stars, verbal phr. (common).—To thank oneself; to attribute one’s good fortune to luck, generally in a ludicrous sense.

1845. Hood, Pauper’s Christmas Carol, iii. Ought not I to bless my
stars?

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 230. Forty-eight
marks! a week’s remission. The very thought made me savage, but I
blessed my stars I had not lost my class, or my good berth.

Blessed, Blest, ppl. adj. (popular).—An ironical euphemism; often used like blazing for ‘cursed,’ ‘damned,’ etc., or as a vow.—See quot. from Hindley and Oaths.

1806. Windham, Let. in Speeches (1812), I., 77. As one of the happy
consequences of our blessed system of printing debates, I am
described to-day ... as having talked a language directly the
reverse of that which I did talk. [M.]

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 139. One
Maidstone Fair time, I saw one of the gipsy Lees called ‘Jemmy,’
fighting with a man much bigger than himself. Tom Rosseter, the
mumper, was seconding his brother-in-law, Jemmy Lee, when, as Jemmy
kept throwing his man very heavily, he said, ‘My dear blessed
brother, don’t throw the blessed man like that or you will be sure
to kill him.’ ‘Well,’ said Jemmy, ‘but my dear blessed brother, if
I don’t kill the dear blessed man, why the big blessed —— will be
sure to kill me, and so I must keep on throwing the dear blessed
man, for you see what a blessed big dear fellow he is to me.’

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 245. ‘They called
in the coppers, and some feller in the shop twigged my old girl as
one he’d a-seen before, and blessed if they didn’t identify her as
having lifted some things out of the shop, and she was pinched for
seven “stretch.”’

1882. Punch, Aug. 5, p. 49. Sir Pompey Bedell: ‘Oh!—er—Mr. Grigsby,
I think! How d’ye do?’ [extending two fingers]. Grigsby: ‘I hope I
see you well, Sir Pompey. And next time you give me two fingers,
I’m blest if I don’t pull ’em off.’

1889. Sporting Times, July 6. St. Mannock.—Did you ever hear a
still, small voice whispering over its morning shrimps, ‘What a
pair of blessed fools you are!’

Blether, Blather, subs. (Scotch and U.S.A.).—Nonsense; vapid talk; voluble chatter.

b. 1759, d. 1796. Burns, Tam Samson’s Elegy, st. 12.

Yon auld gray stane, amang the heather,
Marks out his head,
Whare Burns has wrote in rhyming blether,
Tam Samson’s dead!

1886. Pall Mall Gazette, 3 May, 6, 2. Havelock’s florid adjurations
to his men, the grim veterans of the 78th, bluntly characterized as
blether.

Hence blethering (verb, subs.) used in the same sense as blether, and as an adjective for ‘volubly’ or ‘foolishly talkative.’ Cf., Bletherskate.

b. 1759, d. 1796. Burns, Holy Fair, st. 8.

And some are busy blethrin’
Right loud that day.

1816. Scott, Old Mortality, ch. xiv. ‘I hae been clean spoilt, just
wi’ listening to twa blethering auld wives.’

1883. Hawley Smart, Hard Lines, ch. vi. He had brought this
blethering Irishman down here, and deluged him with punch for the
express purpose of turning him inside out.

Bletherskate, Blatherskite, subs. (provincial and American).—1. Boastful swagger, whether in talk or action.

2. A boaster; noisy talker of blatant nonsense. [From blether, to talk nonsensically, + skate, allied to Scotch skyte, a contemptible fellow.] It occurs in Maggie Lauder, a well-known Scotch song, a fact which Murray says led to its popularisation in the United States. In Ireland it seems to have taken the forms of bladder-skate and bladderum-skate.

Circa 1650. F. Sempill, Maggie Lauder, i. Jog on your gait, ye
blether-skate. [M.]

1825. C. Croker, Tradit. S. Ireland, p. 170. He was, as usual,
getting on with his bletherumskite about the fairies. [M.]

1870. J. R. O’Flanagan, Lives of the Lord Chancellors of Ireland.
‘Lord Redesdale was speaking of people who learnt to skate with
bladders under their arms, to buoy them up if they should fall into
a hole and risk being drowned.’ ‘Ah, my Lord,’ said Toler, ‘that is
what we call bladderumskate in Ireland.’

Blew, verb (common).—1. To inform; to ‘peach’; to expose; to betray.—See Blow upon, of which it is a variant.

2. (popular.)—To spend; to waste; generally in connection with money. When a man has spent or lost all his money, he is said to have blewed it. [The derivation is uncertain, that most likely being its reference to a corrupt grammatical use of blew, the past tense of ‘to blow.’ Money spent recklessly and wasted vanishes as if blown away by the wind.]

1884. Daily Telegraph, May 28, p. 5, col. 1. ‘Which paid him £1,700
compensation, when he took to horses, and blewed the blooming lot
in eighteen months.’

1889. Sporting Times, June 29.

Isabel and Maudie knew the Turf and all its arts—
They had often blewed a dollar on a wrong ’un—
And Isabel one evening met a mug from rural parts,
An attenuated Juggins, and a long ’un.

French Synonyms. Se faire rincer (popular: ‘to be cleared out’ [at a game]. Rincer, properly ‘to drench,’ ‘to serve out,’ also has the slang signification of ‘to thrash’); paumer (thieves’ and vagrants’: this verb is very old, and is derived from palma = empoigner. It also signifies to arrest, lose, etc.); laumir (an old cant term); se faire ratisser (familiar: literally ‘to scrape oneself’); faire rasoir (gaming: ‘to be penniless’); se faire enturer (popular: ‘to cut into oneself’; enture = incision or cut); panner quelqu’un (popular); mettre dans le sac (gamesters’: Cf., ‘be in a hole’); décavage (familiar: a term employed to signify the circumstances of a gamester who has ‘blewed it’; one who is in ‘Queer Street’—from décavé, a ruined gamester); se faire lessiver: ‘to wash oneself.’ Michel gives lessive = defence, and lessiveur = barrister, and remarks that better terms could hardly be given to advocate and speech by those charged with offence, and who wish to return from the same ‘white as snow,’ or, as police phraseology hath it, without a stain upon one’s character. For other synonyms, see Shave.

Blimey, intj. (low).—A corruption of ‘Blind me!’; an expression little enough understood by those who constantly have it in their mouths.

Blind, subs. (common).—1. The night time—an allusion to the absence of light.—See Darkmans.

2. (familiar.)—A pretence; a shift; an action through which one’s real purpose is concealed; that which obstructs; a ‘make-believe.’

1663. Dryden, Wild Gallant, Act iii. He ... took your court to her,
only as a blind to your affection for me.

1694. Congreve, Double Dealer, Act ii., Sc. 5. I know you don’t
love Cynthia, only as a blind for your passion to me.

1703. Mrs. Centlivre, Beau’s Dual, I., i. (1872), i., 70. Am I
publish’d to the world as a blind for his designs?

1877. E. L. Linton, World Well Lost, ch. xxviii. The excuse was too
palpably a blind to be accepted as a reason.

1889. Answers, July 13, p. 104, col. 3. The Major and the Captain
he referred to in his letters were mere ‘blinds.’ The Captain
relied upon the fact that not one person in a dozen took the
trouble to apply to these gentlemen.

3. (printers’.)—A paragraph [¶] mark is so called; from the eye of the reversed ‘P’ being filled up.

Adj. (old).—Tipsy; in liquor. Nares says this cant term was used with others in the works of Taylor, the water-poet [1630]. For synonyms, see Screwed.

Blind as a brickbat, adv. phr. (colloquial).—A facetious simile for very blind—mentally or physically.

1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, III., p. 97. The old scholar ...
is as blind as a brickbat.

When the devil is blind, adv. phr. (common).—Never. The French have three very graphic—though in one case very vulgar—analogues for this expression—quand les poules pisseront, which need not be translated; le trente six du mois, i.e., ‘on the thirty-sixth day of the month,’ and quand les poules auront des dents, i.e., when cocks and hens have teeth.

To go it blind.—A luminous figure of speech to convey the idea of entering upon an undertaking without thought as to the result, or inquiry beforehand. This is one of the many slang expressions which owe their origin to the American game of poker, the special form of which known as blind poker, where the cards are betted upon before being looked at, being responsible for the phrase now in question. Cf., also Blind (subs.).

1848. J. Russell Lowell, Biglow Papers, II., p. 118—

‘to impress on the popular mind
The comfort and wisdom of goin’ it blind.’

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 328. Blind Poker has given rise to
the very common phrase, to go it blind, used whenever an enterprise
is undertaken without previous inquiry.

1882. General Sherman, Memoirs, vol. I., p. 342. I know that in
Washington I am incomprehensible, because at the outset of the war
I would not go it blind, and rush headlong into a war unprepared
and with an utter ignorance of its extent and purpose.

1888. Chicago Ledger, May 12. ‘And so you’ve married a jewel, have
you, Tom?’ ‘I have, for a fact, Dick.’ ‘Lucky dog! You’re a man in
a million. Mighty few go it blind and fare as well as you’ve done.’
‘I didn’t go it blind. I employed a detective, and he managed to
get board in the family.’

Blind Cheeks, subs. (common).—The posteriors. [The derivation is from an obvious simile.]

Among English Synonyms are—Two fat cheeks and ne’er a nose; blind Cupid; ampersand; cheeks; arse; corybungo; dopey; droddum; dummock; feak; bum; nock (i.e., ‘a notch’); round mouth; windmill; blind-eye; monocular eye-glass.

French Synonyms. Un borgne (low: ‘a one-eyed person’); un cyclope (the allusion is mythological—from Cyclops, the one-eyed giant, whose optic was placed in the middle of the forehead); la rose des vents; un piffe; un pignard; boite aux ordures. German Synonym. Acherponim (from Hebrew achar ponim; literally ‘the face at the back’). For other synonyms, see Bum.

Blind Drunk, adj. phr. (common).—Very intoxicated; so drunk as to be unable to see better than a blind man. Americans say, ‘So drunk as not to be able to see through a ladder.’ For synonyms, see Screwed.

1845. Disraeli, Sybil or the Two Nations, p. 350. Hang me if I
wasn’t blind drunk at the end of it.

Blinder. To take a blinder, phr. (thieves’).—To die. For synonyms, see Aloft.

Blind Eye, subs. (common).—The podex.—See Blind cheeks.

Blind Half Hundred, subs. (military).—The Fiftieth Regiment of Foot; from so many men suffering from ophthalmia during the Egyptian campaign [1801]; also the Dirty Half Hundred from the men in action wiping their faces with their black facings during the Peninsula War. Half Hundred is an adaptation of the number of the regiment—the Fiftieth. The corps is also called the ‘Gallant Fiftieth,’ from its gallantry at the battle of Vimiera, 1808.

1871. Chambers’ Journal, No. 417, p. 803. The Dirty Half Hundred
was the curious nickname given to the 50th Foot. Two accounts are
given of the origin of this. One asserts that it was from their red
uniforms being faced with black and silver lace, and thus giving
the regiment a dull and sombre appearance; whilst the other tells
us that it was from the men wiping their perspiring faces with the
black cuffs of their coats, and thus giving their countenances a
somewhat swarthy tint. Whatever may be the origin of this
sobriquet, they bear a second about which there can be no doubt.
From the glorious charge, led by Colonel Walker, at Vimiera, this
regiment is known as the ‘Gallant Fiftieth.’

1886. Tinsley’s Magazine, April, p. 322. Most people have heard of
the ‘Fighting Fiftieth.’ But the 50th are rich in nicknames. They
are, or at least they were, the Blind Half-Hundredth, having been
but too literally blinded by the ravages of ophthalmia when in
Egypt with Sir Ralph Abercromby. And when on one occasion the men
dried the perspiration from their faces with their cuffs, they for
a while became the Dirty Half-Hundredth.

Blind Harpers, subs. (old).—Beggars counterfeiting blindness, playing on fiddles, etc.—Grose.

Blind-Man’s Holiday, subs. (familiar).—Formerly this common colloquialism signified the night or darkness; it is now, however, usually applied to the time ‘between lights’ when it is too dark to see, but often not dark enough to light up, and a holiday or rest from work is taken. The blind from their infirmity are in general exempted from labour, and in this view keep holiday; when the twilight hour comes, when those that can work, or read, etc., can no longer see to do so, it is blind-man’s holiday to them, and they of necessity rest accordingly. This derivation, one would think, is sufficiently obvious; but, on the other hand, there are those who think the expression a corruption of ‘blind-man’s all-day.’ The meaning then would be that the gradual departure of light brings one to the state which the blind man endures all day, or which is all the day the blind man has. Whichever derivation be true, it is, however, interesting to note that this ‘household word’ of to-day has been in the mouths of the English people for more than three hundred years. It is the English equivalent of the Scotch in the gloaming, of an equally venerable lineage.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, in wks. V., 263. And what will not
blinde Cupid doe in the night which is his blindman’s holiday?

1738. Swift, Polite Conversation (conv. iii.). Indeed, madam, it is
blindman’s holiday; we shall soon be all of a colour.

1824. T. Fielding, Proverbs, etc. (Familiar Phrases), p. 147.
Blindman’s holiday.

1866. Aunt Judy’s Mag., Oct., 358. At meal times, or in blindman’s
holiday, when no work was to be done. [M.]

Blind Monkeys, subs. (common).—Hotten thus explains this expression:—An imaginary collection at the Zoological Gardens, which are supposed to receive care and attention from persons fitted by nature for such office and for little else. An idle and useless person is often told that he is only fit to lead the blind monkeys to evacuate. Another form this elegant conversation takes, is for one man to tell another that he knows of a suitable situation for him. ‘How much a week? and what to do?’ are natural questions, and then comes the scathing and sarcastic reply, ‘Five bob a week at the doctor’s—you’re to stand behind the door and make the patients sick. They won’t want no physic when they sees your mug.’

Blindo, verb (military).—To die. For synonyms, see Aloft.

Blind One’s Trail, verbal phr. (American).—Figuratively, to remove the traces of one’s actions; to conceal one’s intentions. This expression is obviously traceable to the days of Indian warfare, when even the lives of those engaged often depended upon the success with which the trail could be ‘blinded,’ or obliterated. Also to trash one’s trail (q.v.).

Blind Side, subs. (familiar).—The blind side of a person or thing is that which is weakest; the most assailable side. The expression is much older than the example quoted by Murray [1655].

1606. Chapman, Gentleman Usher, Act i., p. 79 (Plays, 1874).

For that, we’ll follow the blind side of him,
And make it sometimes subject of our mirth.

1663. Dryden, Wild Gallant, Act iii. Con. My father’s credulous,
and this rogue has found the blind side of him.

1742. Fielding, Joseph Andrews, bk. III., ch. v. Indeed, if this
good man had an enthusiasm, or what the vulgar call a blind side,
it was this,—he thought a schoolmaster the greatest character in
the world, and himself the greatest of all schoolmasters.

1820. Lamb, Elia (Mrs. Battle). All people have their blind
side—their superstitions.

Blink, verb (American).—To drink. [Probably of humorous origin, similar to smile (q.v.).—and alluding to a wink or blink exchanged between friends and comrades before drinking. A frequent toast is ‘I look towards you,’ and the transference of sense in such a phrase as ‘I wink’ or ‘blink to you,’ and then the use of to blink for ‘to drink’ is easy enough. Cf., also To go out and see a man.]

Blinker, subs. (popular).—1. The eye. [From blink, to move the eyelids, to wink; Cf., Winkers; Peepers; Optics, etc.] For synonyms, see Glims.

1816. Quiz, Grand Master, I., ii. A patent pair of goggle winkers,
Conceal’d from public view his blinkers. [M.]

1888. American Humorist. ‘Blank your blinkers,’ angrily retorted
Brudee, ‘your business was not to fight, but show us the enemy.’

2. (common.)—pl. Spectacles. For synonyms, see Barnacles.

1732. M. Green, Grotto, 10. Bigots who but one way see through
blinkers of authority. [M.]

1803. Bristed, Pedest. Tour, I., 38. A little fellow, with blinkers
over his eyes. [M.]

1851. Thackeray, Eng. Hum., IV. (1858), 205. Who only dare to look
up at life through blinkers. [M.]

3. (provincial.)—In Norfolk, a black eye.

4. (pugilistic.)—A hard blow in the eye.

Blank your blinkers.—A euphemistic oath, equivalent to the more common ‘D——n your eyes.’—See Oaths.

Blink-Fencer, subs. (thieves’).—A person who sells spectacles. [From blink, a contracted form of ‘blinkers,’ spectacles + fence, primarily a receiver of stolen goods, but also applied to a tradesman of any kind, + er.]

Blinko, subs. (thieves’ and vagrants’).—An amateur entertainment held, generally, at a public house; a free and easy (q.v.); a sing song (q.v.).

1877. J. Greenwood, Dick Temple. ‘What is a blinko for instance?’
‘Well, it’s a kind of entertainment, singing, and that,’ replied
the old fellow, ‘to which strangers are not invited—least of all
the police.’

1883. Daily Telegraph, August 4, p. 2, col. 1. ‘An Harmonic blinko,
the proceeds of which will be given towards buying a barrow for
Young Duckling, who has got married with no visible means of
support.’

Blister, verb (common).—Employed euphemistically for ‘to damn.’ Cf., Blamed.

1840. H. Cockton, Valentine Vox, ch. xxvi. ‘Where can they be hid?’
he exclaimed, with great emphasis. ‘Blister ’em! Where can the
scoundrels be got to?’

Blizzard, subs. (popular).—A poser; a stunning blow; an unanswerable argument, etc., etc. This word, recently brought into prominent notice as the name by which sudden and exceptionally severe snowstorms are known in the Western States of America, is one the etymology of which is dubious. Some authorities derive it from the German blitz—lightning, but a correspondent of N. and Q. claims it as of English nationality, asserting that the word has been known in the Midland Counties in its present form, or nearly so, for over thirty years; further stating that ‘may I be blizzered’ is a common oath there. Assuming that the expression is a variation of the more generally familiar ‘May God strike me blind’ (that is, presumably by lightning), there is nothing antagonistic between the two theories of its genesis, and a further light is perhaps thrown upon the subject, tending to support its German origin, by the fact that, in Pennsylvania, it has been familiar, according to a correspondent of the New York Sun, for more than half-a-century, its use and meaning being akin to the instances above mentioned. It appears that in the central counties of the State in question, the word was always used to include the idea of the ‘poser,’ and even of force, violence, spitefulness, or vindictiveness. If one dealt another a hostile blow he ‘gave him a blizzard on the nose,’ ‘on the jaw,’ ‘between the eyes,’ etc. If a magistrate lectured a litigant severely he ‘gave him a blizzard.’ If in debate one dealt mercilessly in ridicule he ‘gave his opponent a blizzard.’ If one man swore at or cursed another he ‘gave him a blizzard.’ If a man’s wife scolded him she ‘gave him a blizzard.’ When it is remembered that Pennsylvania is the State in which the Dutch or German element most largely predominates, it does not seem far fetched to attribute its origin to a Teutonic source, more especially as there is nothing in the English usage to preclude such a derivation. However this may be, the word invariably seems to imply suddenness combined with violence; and, at any rate, it apparently disposes of the supposition that the word is of Western origin, or a coinage of so recent a date as is frequently supposed. Like most words of its class, which have largely struck the popular taste, it has been generally adopted in an idiomatic sense to signify a stunning blow; an overwhelming argument, or a cool reception.

1834. Crockett, Tour Down East, 16. A gentleman at dinner asked me
for a toast; and supposing he meant to have some fun at my expense,
I concluded to go ahead, and give him and his likes a blizzard.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 443. Blizzard, a term referred back
to the German Blitz, means in the West a stunning blow or an
overwhelming argument.

1884. G. A. S[ala], in Ill. L. News, Feb. 23, p. 171, col. 2.
Blizzard. The philologers in American Slang refer back to the
German blitz; and its original meaning in the Western States seems
to have been a stunning blow or an overwhelming argument. In the
Eastern States a sudden set-in of severe frost is called a ‘cold
snap.’ Query, how many ‘cold snaps’ does it take to make a
‘blizzard’?

1888. San Francisco News Letter. I should like to have seen the
Colonel’s face when he got that very cold, blizzardy letter. I bet
that if Minnie had been near him he would have slapped her real
hard.

Bloak.—See Bloke.

Bloat, subs. (American thieves’).—1. A drowned body.

2. A drunkard. The simile which groups the two is, perhaps, not far wrong. [Probably from bloat, an adjective signifying puffed, swollen, inflated. Bloat was also formerly in use in England as a contemptuous name for a human being.]

Bloated Aristocrat, subs. (familiar).—An opprobrious epithet for a man swollen with the pride of rank or wealth; also a general sobriquet applied by ‘the masses’ to ‘the classes.’ ‘Bloated’ has long been employed in a similar sense. Swift spoke of a certain statesman as ‘a bloated minister’ [1731].

1861. Thackeray, Adventures of Philip, I., p. 101. What a bloated
aristocrat Thingamy has become since he got his place!

1863. G. A. Sala, Breakfast in Bed, essay I., p. 17 (1864). Of the
two most salient English gentlemen represented, one is a bloated
aristocrat of a Baronet hopelessly in debt, the other a rapid
brainless nobleman.

1869. M. Twain, Innocents Abroad, ch. x. We sat down finally, at a
late hour, in the great Casino, and called for unstinted champagne.
It is so easy to be bloated aristocrats where it costs nothing of
consequence!

Bloater.—See My Bloater; also Mild Bloater.

Blob, verb (vagrants’).—To talk; to ‘patter.’ [Probably a corrupted form of blab.] Beggars are of two kinds—those who screeve (introducing themselves with a fakement, or false document) and those who blob, or state their case in their own truly ‘unvarnished’ language. [See, however, second quot.]

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 339. ‘Of
professional beggars there are two kinds—those who “do it on the
blob” (by word of mouth), and those who do it by “screeving,” that
is, by petitions and letters.’

1861. Whyte Melville, Good for Nothing, ch. xxvi. ‘Five minutes
more and we shall run into him,’ he shouts, sitting well back on
his horse, and urging him to his extreme pace, ‘when he blobs like
that he’s getting beat. See how Canvas sticks to him, and the
yellow dog hangs back waiting for the turn.’

Block, subs. (old).—A stupid person; a hard unsympathetic individual; one of mean, unattractive appearance. [A figurative sense of block, as of wood or stone.]

a. 1534. N. Udall, Roister Doister, III., iii., p. 44 (Arber). Ye
are such a calfe, such an asse, such a blocke.

1595. Shakspeare, Two Gentlemen, Act ii., Sc. 5. Speed. What an ass
art thou! I understand thee not. Launce. What a block art thou,
that thou canst not!

1599. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour. Induct. Cor. Hang him,
dull block!

1624. Massinger, Bondman, II., ii. This will bring him on, Or he’s
a block.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Block (s) ... sometimes an
ignorant, stupid fellow.

1881. Besant and Rice, Chaplain of the Fleet, pt. II., ch. iv. She
said that her partner was delightful to dance with, partly because
he was a lord—and a title, she said, gives an air of grace to any
block—partly because he danced well and talked amiably.

2. The head. Possibly an abbreviated form of barber’s block (q.v.). For synonyms, see Crumpet.

1637. Shirley, Lady of Pleas, II., i. Buy a beaver For thy own
block.

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. xxxv. ‘I cleaned a groom’s boots
on Toosday, and he punched my block because I blacked the tops.’

Barber’s Block, subs. (common).—1. A transferred sense [from a wooden head for showing off a wig] applied to a showy, over-dressed man; a fop.

1876. E. Lynn Linton, Hallberger’s Illus. Mag., p. 72. No, not to
men worthy of the name of men—men, not barber’s blocks.

2. The head.—See Block, sense 2.

1823. Scott, Peveril of the Peak, ch. v. (I., p. 67). Were I not to
take better care of the wood than you, brother, there would soon be
no more wood about the town than the barber’s block that’s on your
own shoulders.

A chip of the same old block, phr. (common).—A man or thing exhibiting the same qualities as he or that with which a comparison is made.

1627. Sanderson, Serm., I., 283. Am not I a child of the same Adam,
a vessel of the same clay, a chip of the same block, with him. [M.]

1655. L’Estrange, Charles I., 126. Episcopacy, which they thought
but a great chip of the old block Popery. [M.]

To cut a block with a razor, phr. (old).—Inconsequent argument; futile endeavour; incongruous application of means or ability to the end in view.

1774. Goldsmith, Retaliation, 42. ’Twas his fate unemployed or in
place, sir, to eat mutton cold and cut blocks with a razor.

To block a hat, phr. (popular).—To crush a man’s hat over the eyes by a blow; to bonnet (q.v.).

Blockers.—See Block Ornaments.

Block House, subs. (old).—A prison; the house of detention. For synonyms, see Cage.

1624. Capt. Smith, Virginia, III., xi., 85. To stop the disorders
of our disorderly Theeues ... built a Block-house. [M.]

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Block-houses,
Prisons, houses of correction, etc.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. [Same definition given as in Grose.]

1889. Murray, New English Dictionary. [Common since c. 1500: of
uncertain history. The Ger. equivalent blockhaus (‘einen steinen
Blockhaus’) is quoted by Grimm, 1557 and 1602; the Du. blokhuis is
in Kilian, 1599; Fr. blocus, generally considered to be the same
word, and orig. in same sense, is quoted by Littré in the 16th c.
(Cf., Bloccuz). So far as evidence goes, the Eng. is thus the
earliest; but we should expect it to be of Du. or Ger. origin. In
any case the sense was not originally (as in modern notion) a house
composed of blocks of wood, but one which blocks or obstructs a
passage. The history and age of the Ger. blockhaus and Fr. blocus
require more investigation.]

Block Island Turkey, subs. (American).—Salted cod-fish. Connecticut and Rhode Island. Slang delights in naming fish as flesh. For some curious examples, see Two-eyed steak.

Block Ornaments, or Blockers, subs. (common).—1. Small pieces of meat of indifferent quality, trimmings from the joints, etc. Exposed for sale on the blocks or counters of butcher’s shops in cheap neighbourhoods.

1848. Fraser’s Mag., XXXVII., 396. Forced to substitute a blocker
of meat, with its cheap accompaniment of bread and vegetables ...
for poultry and rump steaks. [M.]

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 54. For
dinner ... they buy block ornaments, as they call the small,
dark-coloured pieces of meat exposed on the cheap butchers’ blocks
or counters. Ibid, p. 516. What they consider a good living is a
dinner daily off good block ornaments (small pieces of meat,
discoloured and dirty, but not tainted, usually set for sale on the
butcher’s block).

1884. Punch, No. 2063, p. 29. And eager-faced women must bargain
for tainted block ornaments still.

1887. Standard, Jan. 20, The Poor at Market. Watching a man who
stands with his wife and little girl before a butcher’s shop, let
us see what they have to choose from in buying for the next day’s
dinner. On the shelves set out in front of the shop meat scraps are
offered at 3½d. the lb.; better scraps (or block ornaments, as they
are termed) at 4d.; somewhat shapeless small joints of beef from
inferior parts at 5d., one coarse shoulder of mutton at the same;
tolerably good-looking meat at 6d.; mutton chops at 7d. and 8d.;
and rump steak at 10d.

2. Applied to individuals, a block ornament signifies a queer looking man or woman—one odd in appearance.

Bloke or Bloak, subs. (common).—A man; a fellow. In saying ‘not strictly “a man” as Hotten defines it, but a man in a contemptuous sense,’ Barrère is himself wide of the mark. The word may sometimes be used contemptuously; but, generally speaking, any idea of reproach or praise is absent, and a bloke means a man pure and simple. In witness whereof are the following examples of its use.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, III., p. 397. If we
met an old bloke (man) we propped him.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 446. A gentleman.—A bloak.

1860. Sala, The Baddington Peerage, II., p. 49. My old bloke!

1862. Kingsley, in Macmillan’s Mag., Dec, 96. Little better than
blokes and boodles after all. [M.]

1863. Ouida, Held in Bondage, bk. I., p. 245. The girl is stunning,
the blokes say, so we must forgive you.

1865. Miss Braddon, in Temple Bar, XIII., 483. The society of the
aged bloke is apt to pull upon the youthful intellect.

1869. J. Greenwood, Seven Curses of London. It came out in the
course of the evidence that the meaning of the word bloke was ‘a
man whom a woman might pick up in the street.’

1873. Robinson, Little Kate Kirby, I., p. 136. ‘Give us a horder
then, old bloke,’ shrieked another gamin.

c. 1875. Broadside Ballad, ‘Keep it Dark.’

I have heard though may be it isn’t a fact,
Keep it dark!
That the present Lord Chancellor’s going to be sacked,
Keep it dark!
And Dr. Kenealy, that popular bloke,
That extremely warm member, the member for Stoke,
Is about to succeed him, the lawyers to choke—
But, keep it dark!

c. 1869. Broadside Ballad, ‘Shooting the Moon.’ Spoken—Yes, and I
used to do very well, until some ragged young urchin said to his
pal, don’t you varder, don’t you know that ere bloke, that’s the
bloke we saw the other day with a barrow.

1883. Daily News, May 15, p. 7, col. 2. ‘When you are coming out
into the yard ask the next bloke to change numbers with you.’

In each case the ‘face value’ of the word appears to be simply ‘a man,’ and in spite of Barrère’s assertion that ‘in the police newspapers twenty-five years ago a bloke was a victim of sharps, a stupid person, a greenhorn,’ the evidence is all the other way; in one instance, indeed, the individual in question is reported to be ‘a gentleman.’ As regards derivation, its origin is uncertain. Hotten and Ogilvie compare it with the Hindustanee loke, a man; while Leland traces it to ‘the Dutch blok, a log, a fool.’ For synonyms, see Cove.

Blood, subs. (old).—1. A fop; dandy; buck; or ‘fast’ man. Originally in common use, but now obsolete. [From that legitimate sense of the word which attributes the seat of the passions and emotions to the blood. Hence, a man of spirit; one who is worth mention, and, in an inferior sense, he who makes himself notorious, whether by dress or rowdyism.] In the last century, especially during the regency of George IV., the term was largely in vogue to denote a young man of good birth or social standing about town; subsequently, it came to mean a riotous, disorderly fellow.

1562. Bulleyn, Sicke Men, etc., 73a. A lustie blood, or a
pleasaunte brave young roister. [M.]

1606. John Day, Ile of Gulls, Act i., p. 9. Basil. Welcome
gallants, welcome honord bloods. Ibid. To which effect we have sent
a generall challenge to all the youthfull bloods of Africa.

1752. Adventurer, No. 15. Our heroes of liberty, whether Bucks or
Bloods, or of whatever other denomination, when by some creditor of
slavish principles they have been locked up in a prison, never yet
petitioned to be hanged.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 21. ‘Trenchard!’
he muttered—‘Aliva Trenchard. They were right, then, as to the
name. Well, if she survives the accident—as the blood who styles
himself Sir Cecil fancies she may do—this ring will make my fortune
by leading to the discovery of the chief parties concerned in this
strange affair.’

1846. Thackeray, V. Fair, ch. x. A perfect and celebrated blood, or
dandy about town, was this young officer.

1853. Thackeray, Barry Lyndon, ch. ii., p. 36. The modern bloods
have given up the respectful ceremonies which distinguished a
gentleman in my time.

2. (old.)—Money. [A comparison of blood, as the vital principle, to money, as that upon which the sustenance of life depends—the ‘sinews of war,’ the ‘needful,’ etc.] For all synonyms, see Actual.

1748. Dodsley, Collection of Poems, III., 199.

He sticks to gaming, as the surer trade;
Turns downright sharper, lives by sucking blood.

1872. M. E. Braddon, Dead Sea Fruit, ch. iv. ‘A man who ought to
consider himself uncommonly fortunate never to have known what it
was to be hard up, or to have a pack of extravagant sons sucking
his blood, like so many modern vampires.’

Verb (familiar).—To deplete of money; to victimise; a figurative usage of ‘to bleed’; i.e., surgically, to let or draw blood by opening a vein. Cf., subs., sense 2, and Bleed.

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 187. ‘He is very likely
to want a thousand pounds at any moment. There’s a leaven of the
old squire in his composition, and I recollect hearing that he was
blooded over the Phaeton Leger.’ ‘You surely can’t mean that he has
taken to racing? Why, you must be aware that he has no money for
anything of that sort.’

Blood and Entrails, subs. (American).—The British ensign is so nicknamed by Yankee sailors; English salts return the compliment by jokingly speaking of the American flag as the gridiron and doughboys (q.v.).

Blood and Thunder, subs. (common).—A beverage of port wine and brandy mixed. Port is the blood, from its colour; brandy the thunder—the combined effects being, it is held, provocative of ‘thundering’ head-aches.

Blood and Thunder Tales, subs. phr. (originally American, now common).—Low class fiction, the term being generally applied to works dealing with the exploits of desperadoes, cut-throats, and other criminals. Also called Awfuls, Penny dreadfuls, Gutter literature, Shilling shockers, etc., all of which see for further illustrations.

1876. Portland Transcript, May. Here let me say one word to the
Transcript mothers. Look carefully to your child’s reading matter.
Beware of the cheap, trashy romances, the blood and thunder tales
by Tom, Dick and Harry, which fill the counters of so many of our
bookstores.

1883. Daily News, March 26, p. 2, col. 3. The blood and thunder
tragedies generally associated with the transpontine drama.

Blood-an’-’Ouns, phr. (old).—An abbreviated form of an old and blasphemous oath—‘God’s blood and wounds!’

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 58. ‘Och! if
he’s a friend o’ yours, my dear joy, there’s no more to be said;
and right sorry am I I struck him. But, blood-an’-’ouns! man, if
ould Nick himself were to hit me a blow, I’d be afther givin’ him
another.’

Blood-Curdler or Blood-Freezer, subs. (common).—A narration or incident which ‘makes the flesh creep’; that which stirs one’s feelings strongly, and generally repulsively. Said of a sensational murder, a thrilling ghost-story, etc. Cf., Blood and thunder tales.

Blood for Blood, phr. (trade).—When tradesmen exchange wares, setting the cost of one kind off against another instead of making payment in currency, they are said to give blood for blood. Cf., Blood. (1) the vital fluid; (2) money—hence applied to that upon the sale of which a man is dependent for a livelihood.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. A hatter furnishing a hosier with a
hat, and taking payment in stockings, is said to deal blood for
blood.

Blood-Freezer.—See Blood-curdler.

Blood-Red Fancy, subs. (pugilistic).—A particular kind of handkerchief sometimes worn by pugilists and frequenters of prize fights.—See Billy.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 446. Red silk
handkerchief. Blood-red fancy.

Blood Suckers, subs. (military).—The Sixty-third Regiment of Foot.

Blood-Tub, subs. (American).—A rowdy; a blustering bully; a rough. This nickname was peculiar to Baltimore, which city, perhaps of all cities in the Union, enjoyed, for a time, an unenviable reputation on account of the rowdyism of a section of its inhabitants. More or less, however, these turbulent gangs infest all the more important centres of population, and answer in many respects to the English ‘roughs.’ They are recruited largely from the labouring and commercial population; they drink, and swear, but commit no crime, save an occasional deed of violence in times when excitement runs unusually high, and are for the most part affiliated with one or other of the two political parties, the Republicans or Democrats. They are known as Dead Rabbits in New York, Moyamensing Hounds in Philadelphia, Blood-tubs in Baltimore, where at other times they have also been designated Babes, Plug-uglies, and Ashlanders. The Blood-tubs are reported to have been mostly butchers, and to have got their epithet from having, on an election day, dipped an obnoxious German’s head in a tub of warm blood, and then driven him running through the town.

18(?). Song of the Irish Legion.

Blood-tubs and plug-uglies, and others galore,
Are sick for a thrashing in sweet Baltimore;
Be jabers! that same I’d be proud to inform
Of the terrible force of an Irishman’s arm.

Bloody, adj. (low).—An epithet difficult to define, and used in a multitude of vague and varying senses. Most frequently, however, as it falls with wearisome reiteration every two or three seconds from the mouths of London roughs of the lowest type, no special meaning, much less a sanguinary one, can be attached to its use. In such a case it forms a convenient intensitive, sufficiently important as regards sound to satisfy those whose lack of language causes them to fall back upon a frequent use of words of this type. Bloody occasionally carries with it a suspicion of anger, resentment, or detestation. [For suggested derivations, and some incidental illustrative examples, see adverbial usage, which follows.]

1840. R. Dana, Bef. Mast, ii., 2. You’ll find me a bloody rascal.
Ibid, xx., 61. They’ve got a man for a mate of that ship, and not a
bloody sheep about decks. [M.]

1880. Ruskin, Fiction, Fair and F., § 29. The use of the word
bloody in modern low English is a deeper corruption, not altering
the form of the word, but defiling the thought in it. [M.]

Adv. (low).—Among the vulgar at the present day bloody, used adverbially, says G. A. Sala [Notes and Queries, 4 S., i., Feb. 8, 1868], simply qualifies the superlative and excessive. Admiral Gambier, who is said to have introduced ‘tea and piety’ into the navy, very properly discountenanced the practice so long common to naval officers of d——g the sailors’ eyes while they were reefing topsails. His tars, scarcely grateful, nicknamed the admiral ‘Old Bloody Politeful.’ The lower classes use bloody indifferently as a term of depreciation or appreciation. Thus, it’s a bloody shame; and per contra in a flash song, the poet (supposed to be languishing in prison) recounts that the chaplain discoursed to the inmates—

‘How Jonah lived inside of a whale,
’Twas a bloody sight better than county gaol.’

As regards derivation, dual causes seem to have operated in the evolution of bloody in its depraved sense. The various stages are summarised by Murray, in so far as evidence will permit, as follows. The origin is not quite certain; but there is good reason to think that it was at first a reference to the habits of the ‘bloods’ or aristocratic rowdies of the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th c. The phrase ‘bloody drunk’ was apparently = ‘as drunk as a blood’ (Cf., ‘as drunk as a lord’); thence it was extended to kindred expressions, and at length to others; probably in later times, its associations with bloodshed and murder (Cf., a bloody battle, a bloody butcher) have recommended it to the rough classes as a word that appeals to their imagination. We may compare the prevalent craving for impressive or graphic intensives, seen in the use of jolly, awfully, terribly, devilish, deuced, damned, ripping, rattling, thumping, stunning, thundering, etc. There is no ground for the notion that bloody, offensive as from association it now is to ears polite, contains any profane allusion, or has connection with the oath ‘’sblood!’ In this particular it may be noted that Mr. C. G. Leland is in error when he says ‘Mr. Hotten thinks this is an expletive without reference to any [italics not in original] meaning.’ Mr. Hotten neither said nor implied anything of the kind, but just the reverse; and Mr. Leland has hung his remarks upon a misquotation. Hotten’s exact words are ‘bloody, an expletive used, without reference to meaning, as an adjective and an adverb, simply for intensification’—a very different thing; ergo as far as Hotten goes he is absolutely correct.

There seems little doubt, however, that the association of bloody with bloodshed and murder has had a very large influence in determining its present bad signification in the mouth of a cockney of the lower classes. It is noteworthy, too, that the German blutig is sometimes used, says H. Tiedeman [N. and Q., 4 S., i., Feb. 8, 1868], in the same manner as the London bloody:—While living in Dresden, I heard many times uttered such phrases as—

‘Ich habe keinen blutigen Heller mehr,’
[I have no bloody penny or ‘red cent’ more],

for ‘I have not a single penny left,’ etc. Was, then, the Dresden blutig introduced to the London mob in the shape of bloody? The Dutch bloedig may be used figuratively, just as the French sanglant. Une injure sanglante might be translated by ‘een bloedige beleediging.’ It might, and it is in fact, sometimes used to qualify an adjective. To say ‘bloedig schoon’ (literally, ‘bloody beautiful’), would be perfectly correct, but then it has not the sense of exceedingly; it keeps its original meaning. ‘Bloedig schoon’ could not be rendered otherwise than by sanguinary and beautiful.

1676. Sir G. Etheredge, Man of Mode (Act i., Sc. 1), p. 186, ed.
1723.

Dor. Give him half-a-crown.

Med. Not without he will promise to be bloody drunk.

1684. Dryden, Prol. Southerne’s Disappointment, line 59. The
doughty bullies enter bloody drunk. [M.]

1706. Farquhar, Recruiting Officer, Act iv., Sc. 1. Plume. Thou art
a bloody impudent fellow. [There is no question of fighting in the
context.]

1711. Swift, Journal to Stella, 8 May, letter 22. It was bloody hot
walking to-day.

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. ii. ‘I’ve a bloody great
mind to go down with him,’ stuttered another.

From the foregoing examples the word would appear to have been once in literary use; it is not now customary to print it in full, but thus, b——y. In passing it may be mentioned that there is no ground for attributing its derivation to ‘By’r Our Lady.’

Bloody Back, subs. (old).—A soldier; a nickname alluding to the colour of his coat. [From bloody = of the colour of blood, i.e., scarlet or blood-red + back.]

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Bloody back. A jeering appellation for
a soldier.

Bloody Chasm. To bridge the bloody chasm, phr. (American).—A favourite expression with orators who, during the years immediately succeeding the Civil War, sought to obliterate the memory of the struggle. The antithetical phrase is to wave the bloody shirt (q.v.).

Bloody Eleventh, subs. (military). The Eleventh Regiment of Foot. At the battle of Salamanca, fought with the French, the corps was nearly cut to pieces, whence its sanguinary sobriquet. At Fontenoy and Ostend also, it was hard-pressed and nearly annihilated.

Bloody Jemmy, subs. (common).—An uncooked sheep’s head.—See Sanguinary James for synonyms.

Bloody Shirt. To wave the bloody shirt.—A phrase which is only one of many of a similar character, variants such as ‘to wave the crimson banner,’ ‘the ensanguined under garment,’ etc., being quite frequently met with in American journalism. Its origin and history is thus explained in Americanisms, Old and New:—It is a political phrase used in the States to signify the opening anew or keeping alive of factious strife on party questions. Primarily it was the symbol of those who, during the Reconstruction period at the close of the rebellion of the Southern or Confederate States, would not suffer the Civil War to sink into oblivion out of consideration for the feelings of the vanquished. Perhaps a more odious term never crept into politics than the bloody shirt; it is alike distasteful to the sense, brutal and vulgar, and capable of misuse. There are still those who, in American politics, in the thousand and one points of difference which continually and inevitably must arise between institutions so diverse in origin, tradition, and practice as those of the North and South, seek for party purposes to estrange the one from the other by keeping alive the exciting memories of the old bitter struggle. When a man is said to have waved the bloody shirt it is known that he has gone back in spirit and intent to the sorrowful days of the Republic, when the blue and the grey, each confident of battling for the right, were slaying each other in the valleys of the South. He ignores the peace which has settled over the old fields of war, and does not assent to the hand clasp of Federal with Confederate. He tries to open the strife anew, mocks the spirit of forgiveness, and rakes the old ashes over in the hunt for a burning coal. He scoffs at those who fought against the Union, and, because they have come back to it, calls them insincere. He rebukes the veteran who forgave them when together they laid down their arms. This is called waving the bloody shirt, and to-day, when many of those now in active life cannot remember the time when the Rebellion had closed, and the boys were marching home, there are legislators and journalists who devote their efforts to stirring up a sectional hatred which without these efforts would be but a tradition. Many Southerners keenly resent the spirit which thus traduces the now loyal South, and declares it hypocritical. The bloody shirters, as they are called, rail at the decency which forgives and forgets, and with venomous tongues revile alike those who fell in the lost cause, those who lived to repent, and those who would grant pardon. So long as men lost to honour will do this the action must have a name—it will be called waving the bloody shirt. From this special meaning it is now passing into general use to indicate similar tactics in regard to any cause. It has recently been introduced into English journalism in connection with the Irish struggle, and the ‘Unionist Party’ has been accused of waving the bloody shirt—with how much truth or the reverse there is here no concern. The origin of the expression is to be sought in a Corsican custom now nearly, if not quite, obsolete. In the days of the fierce vendette—the feuds which divided the Corsicans, family from family, bloodshed was a common occurrence. Before the burial of a murdered man, the gridata was celebrated. This word, which literally means a crying aloud, may be translated ‘a wake.’ The body of the victim was laid upon a plank; his useless firearms were placed near his hand, and his blood-stained shirt was hung above his head. Around the rude bier sat a circle of women, wrapped in their black mantles, who rocked themselves to and fro with strange wailings. The men, relatives and friends of the murdered man, fully armed stood around the room, mad with thirst for revenge. Then one of the women—the wife or mother or sister of the dead man—with a sharp scream would snatch the bloody shirt, and waving it aloft begin the vocero—the lamentation. This rhythmic discourse was made up of alternate expressions of love for the dead, and hatred of his enemies; and its startling images and tremendous curses were echoed in the faces and amidst the mutterings of the armed mourners. Its application to American politics is credited to Mr. Oliver P. Morton, who, elected United States senator in 1867, and again in 1873, took a prominent part as a leader of the more radical Republicans, favouring a stern policy of coercion in the reconstruction of the Southern States. He was one of the Presidential Candidates at the Cincinnati Convention of 1876, his name standing second on the first ballot. Happily, however, his opinions were too pronounced to unite the factions of his party, and the ultimate choice fell upon Mr. Hayes.

1888. Coldwater (Mich.) Sun, Jan. The bloody shirt is gradually
fading away. The white-winged dove of peace spreads her wings here
and there, patriotism forgets and forgives old differences,
sectionalism is gradually giving way to love of country—the whole
country. In fact the ill-feeling between the North and South would
have died out years ago among the veterans of both sections, had
they been left to themselves, and the politicians been as patriotic
as they.

1888. New York Weekly Times, Mar. 21. It is reprehensible to the
last degree for the Bourbons of the South to continue to play on
the colour line—the Southern bloody shirt—and then denounce
Republican extremists for doing the same thing at the North.

Bloomer, subs. (Australian prison slang).—A mistake. Said to be an abbreviated form of ‘blooming error.’—See Blooming.