Chapter XIX: Part 19

1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. iii. The polite and accomplished
adventurer, who nicked you out of your money at White’s, or bowled
you out of it at Marybone.

1852. F. E. Smedley, Lewis Arundel, ch. xxiv. ‘He’s handsomer than
you are; if you don’t mind your play, he’ll bowl you out.’

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. ii., p. 121. Now and again a
warder does get bowled out, and comes to grief. At the very least
he loses his situation.

Bowl Over, verb (popular).—To defeat; to worst. Cf., Bowl out.

1862. Cornhill Mag., p. 729. You have bowled me over, and I know I
can’t get up again.

1878. Stanley, Through the Dark Continent, II., p. 291. I sent in a
zinc bullet close to the ear, which bowled it [the rhinoceros]
over, dead.

1880. A. Trollope, The Duke’s Children, ch. xlvii. He confessed to
himself that he was completely bowled over,—‘knocked off his pins!’

Bowl the Hoop, subs. (rhyming slang).—Soup.

Bowman, adv. (old).—See quotation.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 11. Help!
ejaculated Wood, renewing his cries. Arrest! Jigger closed! shouted
a hoarse voice in reply. All’s bowman, my covey. Fear nothing.
We’ll be upon the ban-dogs before they can shake their trotters!

Bowse.—See Booze.

Bowsing Ken.—See Bousing ken.

Bowsprit, subs. (popular).—The nose.—See Boltsprit.

To have one’s bowsprit in parenthesis is to have it pulled. ‘To have one’s head in Coventry’ will occur to mind as another English slang phrase very similar in character.

Bow-Window, subs. (common).—A stomach of large proportions. [A bay or bow-window is properly a curved window, hence the transference of the term to a big belly.] Also bow-windowed, i.e., big-bellied.

1840. Marryat, Poor Jack, ch. i. He was a very large man ... with
what is termed a considerable bow-window in front.

1849–50. Thackeray, Pendennis, xxxiv. (1884), 334. Look at that
very bow-windowed man. [M.]

1889. Daily Telegraph, May 6. She was what is vulgarly called
bow-windowed.

Bow-Wow, subs. (common).—1. A childish name for a dog.

1800. Cowper, Beau’s Reply.

Let my obedience then excuse
My disobedience now,
Nor some reproof yourself refuse
From your aggrieved bow-wow.

18(?82). Broadside Ballad, ‘I haven’t for a long time now.’

I used to have a sweetheart, once,
A precious little pearl!
Indeed she was—she really was,
A very charming girl.

I sang outside her door each night
Till her father bought a big bow-wow,
But I haven’t—haven’t—
I haven’t for a long time now!

2. (old.)—A Bostonian—a term of contempt.

3. (popular.)—A cavalier; lover; specially applied to a man who dangles after a woman. Also see Tame cat.

1877. Chamb. Journal, 12 March, p. 173. Mrs. Brittomart was one of
those who never tolerated a bow-wow—a species of animal well known
in India—and never went to the hills as a ‘grass-widow.’

Bow-Wow-Mutton, subs. (old).—Dog’s flesh. [From bow-wow, a humorous term for a dog, + mutton, here used generically for meat.]

Bow-Wow-Word, subs. (common).—A term applied sarcastically by Max Müller to words for which it is claimed that they are in imitation of natural sounds, i.e., onomatopoetic words, of which a full list will be found under Cachunk.

Bowyer, subs. (old).—One who draws a ‘long bow’; a dealer in the marvellous; a teller of improbable stories; a liar.—See Long bow.

Box, subs. (thieves’).—A prison cell.

1834. Harrison Ainsworth, Rookwood, p. 89.

In a box of the stone-jug I was born,
Of a hempen widow the kid forlorn
Fake away.

1878. Notes and Queries, 5 S., x., p. 214. The box in the stone-jug
is doubtless a cell.

Verb (Westminster School).—To take possession of; ‘to bag.’

To be in a box, phr. (common).—To be cornered; in a fix; ‘stuck’ or ‘hung up.’

To be in the wrong box, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To be out of one’s element; to be in a false position; mistaken. Brewer traces this to Lord Lyttelton, who, being of rather a melancholy disposition, used to tell his friends that when he went to Vauxhall he was always supposing pleasure to be in the next box to his, or at least that he himself was so unhappily situated as always to be in the wrong box for it. The only objection to be raised to this story is that the phrase is a very old one, of which the derivation is now lost.

1554. Ridley (‘Foxe,’ 1838), vi., 438. Sir, quoth I, if you will
hear how St. Augustine expoundeth that place, you shall perceive
that you are in a wrong box.

1588. J. Udall, Distrephes, p. 31. I perceive that you and I are in
a wrong box.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. xliii. ‘That, I grant you,
must be confessed: doctor, I’m afraid we have got into the wrong
box.’

1836. Marryat, Midshipman Easy, ch. x. ‘Take care your rights of
man don’t get you in the wrong box—there’s no arguing on board of a
man-of-war.’

On the box, phr. (workmen’s).—A man when on strike and in receipt of strike pay is said to be on the box.

1889. Daily News, 19 Nov., p. 6, col. 7. The ‘Blackleg’ Question
Arising. As these have to be allowed strike pay in order to keep
them out of temptation, the number of men on the box, as they say
in the North, may be taken to be a thousand.

Box Harry, verbal phr. (commercial travellers’).—Among bag-men to take dinner and tea together; ‘dining out,’ i.e., doing without a meal at all.

Box Hat, subs. (common).—A silk hat. For synonyms, see Cady.

Box-Irons, subs. (old).—Shoes. For synonyms, see Trotter-cases.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 173. Shoes. Hockey-dockies,
or Box-irons.

Box of Dominoes, subs. phr. (popular).—The mouth. [From box + dominoes (q.v.), a slang term for the teeth.] For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

Box the Compass, verbal phr. (nautical).—To repeat in succession, or irregularly, the thirty-two points of the compass; beginners on accomplishing this feat are said to be able to box the compass.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. vi. ‘A light, good-humoured,
sensible wench, who knows very well how to box her compass.’

1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp. Boxing, among sailors, is used to
denote the rehearsing the several points of the compass in their
proper order. [M.]

1836. Marryat, Midsh. Easy, xviii. I can raise a perpendicular ...
and box the compass.

1867. Smyth, Sailors’ Word Book. To box the compass. Not only to
repeat the names of the thirty-two points in order and backwards,
but also to be able to answer any and all questions respecting its
division.

Box the Jesuit, verbal phr. (old).—See Cockroaches.

Boy, subs. (popular).—1. Champagne. [A story, ben trovato, is told by the Sporting Times of June 30, 1882, as regards the origin of the phrase:—At a shooting party in Norfolk once, a youth was told off to supply the company with champagne. The day being hot and the sportsmen thirsty, cries of ‘Boy! Boy! Boy!’ were heard all day long. This tickling the fancy of the royal and noble party, the term ‘boy’ became applied to champagne.] Also called fiz and cham (q.v.). The latter form is nearly reproduced in the French slang, le champ; they also brutally speak of this wine as coco épileptique, another epithet being cidre élégant.

1882. Punch, vol. LXXXII., p. 69, col. 2. ‘The fine young London
Gentleman.’

He will say that port and sherry his nice palate always cloy;
He’ll nothing drink but ‘B. and S.’ and big magnums of the boy;
He’s the darling of the Barmaid, and the honest waiter’s joy,
As he quaffs his Pommery ‘Extra Sec,’ his ‘Giesler’ or ‘Ivroy,’
Like a fine young London Gentleman,
Quite of the present style.

1882. Punch, vol. LXXXII., p. 155, col. 1. Dined with Tom and Corky
at a new place they had discovered, and raved of. Of course,
beastly dinner, but very good boy. Had two magnums of it.

1883. Punch, August 18, p. 84, col. 1. Shall it be B.-and-S., or
bumpers of the boy?

2. (common.)—A hump on a man’s back. In low circles it is usual to speak of a humpbacked man as two persons—‘him and his boy,’ and from this much coarse fun and personality are at times evolved.

3. (Anglo-Indian and colonial.)—A servant of whatever age.

Old boy, subs. (popular).—1. A familiar term of address. The old boy is one’s father; the ‘guv’nor,’ or ‘boss.’ Sometimes my boy.

1602. Shaks., Twel. N., ii., 4, 122. But di’de thy sister of her
loue my boy? [M.]

1740. Richardson, Pamela, III., 380. Never fear, old boy, said Sir
Charles, we’ll bear our Parts in Conversation. [M.]

2. The devil. For synonyms, see Skipper.

1835–40. Haliburton, Clockmaker, (1862), 140. As we invigorate the
form of government (as we must do, or go to the old boy).

Yellow boy, subs. (common).—A guinea; also, one pound sterling. [From the colour.] As will be seen the term is an old one. For synonyms, see Canary.

1663. Dryden, Wild Gallant, Act i.

How now, yellow boys, by this good light!
Sirrah, varlet, how came I by this gold?

1712. Arbuthnot, History of John Bull, pt. I., ch. vi. There wanted
not yellow boys to fee counsel, hire witnesses, and bribe juries.

1840. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, ch. xlii. ‘The delight of
picking up the money—the bright, shining yellow boys—and sweeping
’em into one’s pocket!’

Boys, subs. (popular).—This word is very generally in use in the plural. Thus, bookmakers speak of their fellows, in the aggregate, as the boys; and it must be noted as a curious fact that on race-courses the whole army of the swindling and thieving fraternity are so designated.

Angry or roaring boys, subs. (old).—A set of young bucks, bloods or blades (q.v.), of noisy manners and ‘fire-eating’ tastes. Nares says ‘like the Mohawks’ (q.v.) described by the Spectator, they delighted to commit outrages and get into quarrels. Early mention is made of such characters. Wilson, in his Life of James I. [1653], gives an account of their origin:—The king minding his sports, many riotous demeanours crept into the kingdom; divers sects of vicious persons, going under the title of roaring boys, bravadoes, roysterers, etc., commit many insolencies; the streets swarm, night and day, with bloody quarrels, private duels fomented, etc.

1599. Greene, Tu Quoque, Old Plays, vii., 25.

This is no angry, nor no roaring boy, but a blustering boy.

1609. Ben Jonson, Epicœne, i., 4. The doubtfulness of your phrase,
believe it, sir, would breed you a quarrel once an hour with the
terrible boys, if you should but keep ’em fellowship a day.

1610. Ben Jonson, Alchemist, iii., 4.

Sir, not so young, but I have heard some speech
Of the angry boys, and seen ’em take tobacco.

1616. Beaumont and Fletcher, Scornful Lady, iv., 1.

Get thee another nose, that will be pull’d
Off, by the angry boys, for thy conversion.

Boys of the Holy Ground, subs. phr. (old).—Formerly [1800–25] bands of roughs infesting a well-known region in St. Giles.—See Holy Land.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 7.

For we are the boys of the holy ground,
And we’ll dance upon nothing and turn us round.

Brace, verb (American thieves’).—To get credit by swagger.

Brace it through, phr. (American).—To succeed by dint of sheer impudence. Cf., Brace up, ‘to gird oneself up,’ ‘to buckle to.’

Bracelets, subs. (familiar).—Handcuffs; fetters for the wrist. [Derivation obvious.] French thieves call them les alliances, properly ‘wedding rings’; also la tartouve and les lacets. For synonyms, see Darbies.

1661. Wit and Drollery, quoted in Disraeli Cur. of Wit. (Tom
O’Bedlams.) [Fetters are called bracelets in a song in this work.]

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. lv., p. 371 (1874).
Fetters confined my legs from stragling, and bracelets were clapt
upon my arms.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard (1889), p. 62. ‘Thank
you—thank you!’ faltered Jack, in a voice full of emotion. ‘I’ll
soon free you from these bracelets.’

1848. W. H. Ainsworth, James the Second, bk. I., ch. ii. ‘It may
be, young squire, you’ll have to go ... with a pair of bracelets on
your wrists, and pay your next reck’nin’ to the gov’nor of
Newgate.’

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. v., p. 359. He travels with
other people who are also bound to London, and who, seeing him
handcuffed, know very well his steel bracelets are not the insignia
of honour.

Brace of Shakes, phr. (popular).—In a moment; ‘jiffy’; ‘twinkling of an eye,’ etc.—See, however, Shakes. The expression is sometimes a couple, instead of a brace of shakes. A French equivalent is far-far.

1837. Barham, I. L. (Babes in the Wood). I’ll be back in a couple
of shakes.

1868. Ouida, Under Two Flags, ch. xii. ‘But I’ve a trick with a
’oss that’ll set that sort o’ thing—if it ain’t gone too far, that
is to say—right in a brace of shakes.’

1884. Cornhill Mag., Jan., p. 101. ‘If there were any boys at
Oppingbury now like those who were here when I was young, they’d
break the window in a couple of shakes.’

Brace Up, verb (thieves’).—1. To pawn stolen goods—generally to their utmost value.

2. (American.)—To take a drink. [A transferred sense; from brace-up = to string up; to give firmness to.]

1888. Puck’s Library, Ap., p. 20. Come old boy, let’s brace up; a
bumper will pull you together again.

Bracket-Faced, adj. (old).—Ugly; hard-featured.—Grose.

Bracket-Mug, subs. (common).—An ugly face. [From bracket (Cf., Bracket-faced) + mug, a slang term for the face.] For synonyms, see Hatchet-face.

Brads, subs. (common).—A generic term for money. De Vaux (see quot.), though somewhat limiting the meaning, uses the term elsewhere as equivalent to ‘pence’ or ‘coppers.’ It possibly originated among shoemakers, brads being small rivets or nails largely employed by them. Cf., Horse-nails, and for synonyms, Actual.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict. Brads, halfpence; also money in
general.

1855. Punch, XXIX., 10. [Cf., Punch’s suggestion for a ‘fast’
partner in banks who should enquire of customers] ‘Will you take it
in flimsies, or will you have it all in tin? Come, look sharp, my
downy one, and I’ll fork out the brads like bricksy wicksy.’

1868. Brewer, Phrase and Fable, s.v. ‘B Flats.’ Four B’s, essential
for social success.—Blood, brains, brass, brads [money].—American.

1888–9. Payne, Eavesdropper, pt. II., ch. ii. They used such funny
terms: ‘brads’ and ‘dibbs’ ... at last it was borne in upon me that
they were talking about money.

Tip the brads.—See quotation and Tip.

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act i., Sc. 4. [To] tip the
brads—and down with the dust, is to be at once good, great,
handsome, accomplished, and everything that’s desirable—money,
money, is your universal good,—only get into Tip Street, Jerry.

Brag, subs. (thieves’).—A usurer; a Jew. Cf., Sixty-per-cent.

Braggadocia, subs. (thieves’).—This is explained in Dickens’ Reprinted Pieces (in a footnote) to mean three months’ imprisonment as reputed thieves. It is difficult to trace the connection between this and the ordinary meaning of braggadocio.

1857. Dickens, Reprinted Pieces (Three ‘Detective’ Anecdotes, The
Artful Touch), p. 253. ‘We don’t take much by this move, anyway,
for nothing’s found upon ’em, and it’s only the braggadocia after
all.’

Brain Pan, subs. (sporting).—1. The skull, or skull-cap. Also called brain-canister. Hotten quotes the term as of pugilistic origin, but it ante-dates the palmy days of the ‘Fancy’ by many years. Brain pan in this sense can, perhaps, hardly be classed as slang; not so, however, sense 2. The Scotch equivalent is harn-pan.—See quotations under sense 2.

2. (common.)—The head itself. For general synonyms, see Chump.

b. 1529. Skelton, Elynoor Rommin, in Hart. Misc. (ed. Park), I.,
417.

Upon her brain pan
Like an Egyptian
Capped about.

1608. Dekker, Belman of London, in wks. (Grosart) III., 91. The
spirit of her owne malt walkt in her brayne pan.

1609. Dekker, Gul’s Hornbook, Prœmium. Tarleton, Kemp, nor Singer
... never played the clownes more naturally then the arrantest Sot
of you all shall if hee will but boyle my Instructions in his
braine-pan.

1622. Massinger, Virgin-Martyr, ii., 2.

Oh, sir, his brain-pan is a bed of snakes,
Whose sting shoots through his eye-balls.

1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. xxxiii. ‘Weize a brace of balls through
his harn-pan!’

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xi. ‘Were I your master,
sirrah, ... I would make your brain-pan, as you call it, boil over,
were you to speak a word in my presence before you were spoken to.’

Bramble, subs. (provincial slang).—In Kent a lawyer is so called; obviously a sarcastic allusion to the ‘tangles’ of the law.

Bramble-Gelder (provincial slang).—A derisive appellation for an agriculturist; a Suffolk term.

Bran, subs. (common).—A loaf. [In all likelihood this is a mere abbreviation of bran-loaf.] For synonyms, see Tommy.

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. viii. He purchased a sufficiency
of ready-dressed ham and a half-quartern loaf, or, as he himself
expressed it, ‘a fourpenny bran!’ Ibid, p. 306. Two half-quartern
brans, pound of best fresh.

Branded Ticket, subs. (nautical).—Admiral Smyth [1867] quotes this as ‘a discharge given to an infamous man, on which his character is given, and the reason he is turned out of the service.’

Brandy Face, subs. (old).—A tippler; a drunkard, especially one whose favourite drink is brandy.

a. 1687. Cotton, Æneid, II. Burl. (1692), 85. You goodman
brandy-face, unfist her. [M.]

Brandy-Faced, ppl. adj. (general).—Red-faced; bloated. [A reference to the effects upon the physiognomy of excessive indulgence in intoxicating drinks.] The expression is mentioned by Grose as early as 1785, but it is probably still older, for see quotation under brandy-face.

1859. G. A. Sala, Tw. Round Clock, 284. Hulking labourers and
brandy-faced viragos, squabbling at tavern doors.

Brandy is Latin for Goose or For Fish, phr. (popular).—This punning vulgarism appears first in Swift’s Polite Conversation, and Brewer thus states the philological equation.

What is the Latin for Goose? (Answer) Brandy. The pun is on the
word answer. Anser is the Latin for goose, which brandy follows as
surely and quickly as an answer follows a question.

1738. Swift, Polite Conversation (conv. ii.). Lord Sm. Well, but
after all, Tom, can you tell me what’s Latin for a goose? Nev. O my
lord, I know that; Why, brandy is Latin for a goose, and Tace is
Latin for a candle.

1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ch. xi. ‘Art thou forward in thy
learning? Canst thou tell me Latin for goose?’ ‘To be sure,’
replied Tom, ‘brandy.’

As regards the second form, namely, brandy is Latin for fish, the origin is more obscure, although it is to some extent explained in the following quotation.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., 125. We are told
that the thirst and uneasy feeling at the stomach, frequently
experienced after the use of the richer species of fish, have led
to the employment of spirit to this kind of food. Hence, says Dr.
Pereira, the vulgar proverb, brandy is Latin for fish.

Brandy Pawnee, subs. (Anglo-Indian).—Brandy and water. [From brandy + Hindustan pānī, water. Cf., Parney, also a slang term for water.]

1816. Quiz, Grand Master, pref. And died at last with brandy pauny.
[M.]

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. i. ‘I’m sorry to see you, gentlemen,
drinking brandy-pawnee,’ says he; ‘it plays the deuce with our
youngest men in India.’

1860. W. H. Russell, My Diary in India, I., p. 120. They had tiffin
at two; hot lunch and ale and brandy-pawnee.

Brandy Smash, subs. (popular).—An American drink concocted of brandy and crushed ice. Cf., Drinks.

1862. E. MacDermott, Popular Guide to International Exhibition,
1862, p. 185. In the vestibule of each refreshment room there is an
American bar, where visitors may indulge in ‘juleps,’ ‘cocktails,’
‘cobblers,’ ‘rattlesnakes,’ ‘gum-ticklers,’ ‘eye-openers,’
‘flashes-o’-lightning,’ brandy-smashes, ‘stone-fences,’ and a
variety of similar beverages.

1869. S. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Innocents Abroad. We procured the
services of a gentleman experienced in the nomenclature of the
American bar ... a bowing, aproned Frenchman stepped forward and
said Que veulent les messieurs? Our general said (after naming
several other drinks) give us a brandy smash; the Frenchman began
to back away suspicious of the ominous vigour of the last order.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 2 July, p. 5, col. 3. [Brandy-smash is
mentioned in a list of American drinks.]

1888. New York Evening Post, 24 Feb. Philological.—Gallic
Tourist—‘I do not see how any one ever learns the absurd English. I
read on the menu of drinks, ‘Sherree Cobblair,’ I find in the
dictionary—a mender of shoes of sherry wine; ‘Santa Cruz Sour,’ La
Sainte Croix acide; brandy smash, ‘Eau de vie écrasé.’ Bête de
langue!’

Bran-Mash, subs. (military).—Bread sopped in coffee or tea. Cf., Floating batteries.

Brass, subs. (popular).—1. Impudence; effrontery; brass being a type of unblushing hardness, shamelessness, etc. This colloquialism is by no means of yesterday, having been used by Shakspeare. Sometimes rendered bold as brass. Cf., Cheek, which also see for synonyms.

1594. Shakspeare, Love’s Labour Lost, v., 2, 395. Biron. Thus pour
the stars down plagues for perjury. Can any face of brass hold
longer out?

1701. Defoe, True Born Englishman, pt. II. By my Old Friend [The
Devil], who printed in my face A needful competence of English
brass.

1703. Farquhar, Inconstant, Act i., Sc. 2. Thou hast impudence to
set a good face upon anything; I would change half my gold for half
thy brass, with all my heart.

1740. North, Examen, p. 256. She in her defence made him appear
such a rogue upon record, that the Chief Justice wondered he had
the brass to appear in a court of justice.

1773. O. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, Act iii., Sc. 1. ‘To me
he appears the most impudent piece of brass that ever spoke with a
tongue.’

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 68. Oh, what a
face of brass was his, Who first at Congress show’d his phyz.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. lv., p. 462. ‘I haven’t brass
enough in my composition, to see him in this place and under this
charge.’

1876. C. H. Wall, trans. Molière, vol. I., p. 18. Gorgibus is a
simpleton, a boor, who will readily believe everything you say,
provided ... you have brass enough.

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 199. He
started with a lot of tin, but had not sufficient brass or physique
to stand the wear-and-tear of the life.

2. (common.)—A generic term for money. At one time money was made of brass, hence probably the slang usage. Cf., Tin.

1526. Tyndale, Matt. x., 9. Posses not golde, nor silver, nor
brasse yn youre gerdels.

1597. Hall, Satires, IV., v., 12.

Hirelings enow beside can be so base,
Tho’ we should scorn each bribing varlet’s brass.

1860. Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia’s Lovers, ch. xx. ‘There’ll be Fosters
i’ th’ background, as one may say, to take t’ biggest share on t’
profits,’ said Bell. ‘Ay, ay, that’s but as it should be, for I
reckon they’ll ha’ to find the brass the first.’

1864. M. E. Braddon, Aurora Floyd, ch. xii. ‘Steeve’s a little too
fond of the brass to murder any of you for nothing.’

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 129. ‘It’s noa use
they’re telling us afterwards they ain’t collared the brass.’

1889. Sporting Times, June 29. Billy Wells. What the dickens is all
this about the hats? We have seventy-two telegrams and letters on
the subject, and would prefer the brass.

Brass-Bound and Copper Fastened, adj. phr. (nautical).—Said of a lad dressed in a midshipman’s uniform.—W. Clark Russell.

Brass-Bounder, subs. (nautical).—A midshipman.

Brasser, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—A bully.

Brass Farthing or Farde.—The lowest limit of value.—See quots.

1642. Rogers, Naaman, 33. As bare and beggarly as if he had not one
brasse farthing. [M.]

1880. Punch’s Almanac, p. 5. Nobby button’-oler very well When one
wants to do the ’eavy swell; Otherwise don’t care not one brass
farden, For the best ever blowed in Covent Garden.

1880. Besant and Rice, Seamy Side, x., 78. I care not one brass
farthing.

Brass Knocker, subs. (vagrants’).—Broken victuals; the remains of a meal. Specially applied by beggars to the scraps often bestowed upon them in place of money.

Brass-Plate Merchant, subs. (common).—Explained by quotation.

1851. H. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II., p. 95. The
brass-plate merchant, as he is called in the trade, being a person
who merely procures orders for coal, gets some merchant who buys in
the coal-market to execute them in his name, and manages to make a
living by the profits of these transactions.

Brassy, adj. (common).—Impudent; impertinent; shameless. Cf., Brass, sense 1.

1570–76. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 156. To make them blush ...
were they never so brassie and impudent.

1661. T. Middleton, Mayor of Quinborough, iii., 1. There’s no
gallant so brassy impudent durst undertake the words that shall
belong to’t.

1738–1819. Wolcot, P. Pindar, p. 73, ed. 1830.

No. Mr. Gattle—Betty was too brassy,
We never keep a servant that is saucy.

1862. Mrs. H. Wood, Channings, ch. xxxii. ‘I asked him to leave his
name, sir, and he said Mr. Rowland Yorke knew his name quite well
enough without having it left for him.’ ‘As brassy as that was he!
I wish to goodness it was the fashion to have a cistern in your
house roofs’!

Brazen-Faced, ppl. adj. (common).—Shameless; impudent; unblushing. With a face as of brass, see Brass. Hotten remarks that such a person is sometimes said to have had his face rubbed with a brass candle-stick.

1571. Golding, Calvin on Ps., xii., 5. With such brazenfaste
baldnesse.

1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden, in wks. III., 84. Amidst his impudent
brazen-fac’d defamation of Doctor Ferne.

1693. Dryden, Juvenal, III., 133. Quick-witted, brazen-fac’d, with
fluent tongues.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4 ed.), p. 10. Thus with an
unparallell’d Impudence every brazen-fac’d Malefactor is harden’d
in his Sin.

1874. Mrs. H. Wood, Johnny Ludlow, 1 S., viii., p. 137. ‘Of all the
impudent brazen-faced rascals that are cheating the gallows, you
must be the worst.’

Bread, subs. (old).—Employment; a transferred sense, the idea being—no work; no food.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Out of bread, out of
employment.

Bread and Butter Fashion, phr. (harlotry).—An expression descriptive of the sexual embrace.

Bread and Butter Warehouse, phr. (old).—A nickname given to the old Ranelagh Gardens. An allusion to the scenes of infamy and debauchery which once characterized the place.—See Bread and butter fashion.

Bread and Meat, subs. phr. (military).—The commissariat.

Bread Bags, subs. (military).—A nickname given in the army and navy to any one connected with the victualling department, as a purser or purveyor in the commissariat. At one time called muckers, and amongst French soldiers riz-pain-sel.

Bread-Barge, subs. (nautical).—The distributing basket or tray containing the rations of biscuits.

Bread-Basket, subs. (popular).—The stomach. [An obvious allusion to that part of the body as a receptacle of food.]

English Synonyms. Bread-room; dumpling-depôt; victualling-office; porridge-bowl.

French Synonyms. La panetière (common: properly a bag or satchel wherein shepherds put their bread; a pouch. Akin to this is the slang term la pantière, the mouth); panier au pain (a literal translation of the English term); le jabot (popular: formerly heart or breast. Se remplir le jabot = to have a ‘blow out’); la halle aux croûtes (popular: this may be rendered literally as ‘Crust’ hall; also, a baker’s shop); la place d’armes (popular: the place of arms, stronghold or arsenal); la soute au pain (popular: soute = store-room, etc.; thus, the expression would correspond closely to victualling office or bread-basket. ‘Put that in your bread-basket’ is rendered by colle-toi ça dans le Fusil, i.e., ‘ram that in your gun’).

Italian Synonym. The Fourbesque has fagiana (properly a chest or store house for beans.)

1753. Foote, Englishman in Paris, Act 1. Another came up to second
time, but I let drive at the mark, made the soup-maigre rumble in
his bread-basket, and laid him sprawling.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 18. Neat milling
this Round—what with clouts on the nob, Home hits in the
bread-basket, clicks in the gob.

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act iii., Sc. 1. Jerry. Now,
doctor, take care of your bread-basket—eyes right, look to your
napper.

1856. Reade, Never too Late to Mend, ch. lxx. When you can’t fill
the bread-basket, shut it. Go to sleep till the Southern Cross
comes out again.

1876. C. H. Wall, trans. Molière, vol. I., p. 194. And get as a
reward an ugly piece of cold steel right through my bread-basket.

Bread-Picker, subs. (Winchester College).—The four senior præfects used to appoint ‘Juniors’ to this office which was nominal, but which carried with it exemption from fagging at meal times. No ‘notion’ book states in what the office consisted, but it is supposed that it relates to times when Juniors had to secure the bread, etc., served out for their masters.

Bread-Room, subs. (old).—The stomach. A variant of bread-basket, which see for synonyms.

1760–61. Smollett, Sir L. Greaves, vol. II., ch. v. He ordered the
waiter ... to ... bring along-side a short allowance of brandy or
grog, that he might cant a slug [dram] into his bread-room. Ibid,
ch. xvii. The waiter ... returned with a quartern of brandy, which
Crowe, snatching eagerly, started into his bread-room at one cant.

Bread-Room Jack, subs. (nautical).—A purser’s servant.

Break, subs. (thieves’).—A collection (of money) usually got up by a prisoner’s friends, either to defray the expenses of his defence, or as a ‘lift’ when leaving prison. Formerly and more generally applied to a pause in street performances to enable the hat to be passed round. Cf., Lead. French slang has une bouline with the same meaning; and, to make a collection is, among mountebanks, faire la manche.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL., 502. The mob got me up a
break (collection), and I got between five or six foont
(sovereigns).

Break Down, subs. (Australian).—1. A measure of liquor.—See quotation.

1759. Frank Fowler, Southern Lights and Shadows, p. 53. To pay for
liquor for another is to ‘stand,’ or to ‘shout,’ or to ‘sacrifice.’
The measure is called a ‘nobbler,’ or a break-down.

2. (common.)—A noisy dance; also, a convivial gathering. The term was, at first, specially applied to a negro dance, but is now in general use in England in a humorous sense. Also used as a verb, i.e., to break down, to dance riotously; to be boisterous and ‘spreeish.’ For synonyms, see Flare up.

1864. Yates, Broken to Harness, II., p. 54. And Mr. Pingle retired
into the next room, where he indulged in the steps of a comic dance
popular with burlesque actors, and known as a nigger break-down.

1873. Sat. Review, May, p. 676. We shall not be surprised to learn
that they have serious thoughts of engaging a few comic singers and
break-down dancers for their next campaign.

1883. Daily News, March 26, p. 2, col. 4. A patter song ... was
twice redemanded, chiefly, it appeared, for the sake of a comical
‘break-down’ danced by the demented king.

Break o’ Day Drum (American thieves’).—A drinking saloon which keeps its doors open all night.

Break One’s Back, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To become bankrupt; an extension of the figurative usage to overpower; render nugatory; crush.

1601. Shakspeare, Henry VIII., Act i., Sc. 1. Aber. I do know
Kinsmen of mine, three at the least, that have By this so sicken’d
their estates, that never They shall abound as formerly. Buck. O,
many Have broke their backs with laying manors on ’em For this
great journey.

1620. Middleton, Chaste Maid, iii., 2. [The word is here used in
the sense of bankruptcy and ruin.]

1887. Baring Gould, The Game-cocks, ch. xxviii. ‘They are very
poor, and have made a hard fight to get on. I fear this change
would break their backs.’

1888. Ashton, Mod. Street Ballads, p. 13. The cesses, rates, and
tithes nearly breaks their backs.

Break One’s Egg.—See Crack one’s egg.

Break Out All Over or In a Fresh Spot, etc., verbal phr. (American).—Expressions in common use—in the one case conveying an idea of completeness; and, in the other, of commencing some new undertaking, or assuming a different position whether in an argument or action. These usages may be traced to the phraseology of medicine.

Break Shins, verbal phr. (general).—To borrow money. Hotten thinks the term is a variant of ‘to kick,’ formerly in use with a similar meaning. This may be so, but it is worthy of note that ‘to shin’ is colloquial in America in the sense of ‘to walk quickly,’ ‘to gad about’; but having particular reference also, in mercantile phraseology, to the action of a man who, finding himself short of money to meet his engagements, goes round to his friends to borrow what he requires. To bite the ear (q.v.) has the same signification; but for synonyms, see Shins.

Break the Balls, verbal phr. (billiards).—To commence playing; a phrase very much akin to ‘breaking ground’; indeed few verbs enter more largely into figurative or colloquial combinations than break.

Break the Molasses Jug, verbal phr. (American).—To come to grief; to make a mistake.

Break the Neck or Back of Anything, verbal phr. (common).—To accomplish the major portion of a task; to be near the end of an undertaking; to be past the middle of same.

Breaky-Leg, subs. (common).—1. Intoxicating drink of any kind. [A humorous allusion to one of the possible effects of confirmed drunkenness, or the weakness produced in one’s legs by tippling.] For all synonyms, see Drinks.

2. (thieves’.)—A shilling.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 446. A shilling.
Breake-leg.

Breast Fleet, subs. (old).—Roman Catholics; so called from their practice of crossing themselves on the breast as an act of devotion.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. He (or she) belongs
to the breast fleet; i.e., is a Roman Catholic; an appellation
derived from their custom of beating their breasts in the
confession of their sins.

Breath. Change your breath, phr. (American).—An injunction to adopt a different manner or bearing. An offensive, slang expression which, originating in California, quickly ran its course through the Union.

Breech, verb (schoolboys’).—To flog or be flogged; especially on the posteriors. This verb was formerly in literary use, but has now fallen into disuetude.

1557. Tusser, Husbandrie, ch. lxxiv., st. 6, p. 166 (S.D.S.).

Maides, up I beseech yee
Least Mistres doe breech yee.

1637. Massinger, Guardian, i., 1. How he looks! like a school-boy
that had play’d the truant, And went to be breech’d.

1821. Scott, Kenilworth, ch. xxiv. ‘Go to,’ said Wayland, ‘thou art
a prating boy, and should be breeched for thine assurance.’

Breeched, ppl. adj. (popular).—1. To be well off; to have plenty of money; ‘to be well breeched,’ to be in good circumstances. Cf., Ballasted. The French have a similar idiom. If a man is bankrupt he is said to be déculotté—unbreeched. Given in this sense by Vaux in his Flash Dictionary [1812].

Breeches. To wear the breeches, phr. (common).—A phrase said only of women; and signifying to rule; to usurp a husband’s prerogative; to be ‘master.’ An analogous phrase is ‘the grey mare is the better horse of the two.’ [The derivation is obviously an allusion to breeches as the symbol of authority, i.e., of manhood.] Murray traces the expression back to 1553, but it is, in reality, much older. It is found in French as early as 1450.

1450. Les Quinze Joyes de Mariage: La Dixiesme Joye. Edition
Elzevirienne, Paris (1853), p. 113. Et sachez qu’il est avenu à
aucuns que l’en leur faisoit boire de mauvès brouez affin de porter
les braies ou pour autres choses pires.

The idea is met with in English at about the same date in a carol, the burden of which is founded on it:—

14(?). Songs and Carols of the Fifteenth Century, Percy Soc. Pub.,
vol. XXIII., p. 65.

Nova, nova, sawe you ever such,
The moste mayster of the hows weryth no brych.

Also a little later, from the same collection:—

The Boke of Maid Emlyn, vol. VI., p. 21.

All women be suche,
Thoughe the man wear the breche.

It is curious to note also that the expression has cropped up in most languages. The Dutch say, ‘De vrouw draagt ’er de broek’; the Germans, ‘Sie hat die Hosen.’ The Germans have also other ‘breeches’ sayings; as e.g., ‘Das Hertz ist ihm in die Hosen gefallen.’ Other illustrative quotations are:—

1557. Tusser, Husbandrie, ch. lxvii. st. 18, 156 (E.D.S.).

Least some should talke, as is the speech,
The good wiues’ husband weares no breech.

1591. Nashe, A Prognostication, in wks. II., 158. Diverse great
stormes are this yere to be feared, especially in houses where the
wives weare the breeches.

1663. T. Killigrew, Parson’s Wedding, ii., 3, in Dodsley’s O. P.
(1780), xi., 413. Anything that may get rule; I love to wear the
breeches.

1724. Swift, Misc. Poems, in wks. (1824) XIV., 199.

Those men, who wore the breeches least,
Call’d him a cuckold, fool, and beast.

1820. Coombe, Syntax, Consolation, ch. v.

When she doth wear the breeches;
And the poor fool dare not resist
The terrors of her threat’ning fist.

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 4. Mrs. T. No,
no—no mischief—harkye, you did me a service just now in the street.
Tom. I know I did, down by the pump. Mrs. T. Well, now, I’ll do you
one—my husband is asleep: I have the keys; and I wear the breeches.

Breeching, verbal subs. (schoolboys’).—A flogging. Like breech (q.v.), formerly in general use.

1520. Whittington, Vulg. (1527), 26. I studye to-day to-daye
bycause I fere a brechyng.

1594. Nashe, Unfortunate Traveller, in wks. V., 149. Heeres a
stirre thought I to my selfe after I was set at libertie, that is
worse than an vpbrayding lesson after a britching.

Breef.—See Brief.

Breeze, subs. (general).—A row; quarrel; disturbance; coolness. [From breeze, a cool wind.]

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. To kick up a breeze,
to breed a disturbance.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 5. But, though we
must hope for such good times as these, Yet, as something may
happen to kick up a breeze.

1865. Saturday Review, 28 Jan., p. 119. ‘Don’t be angry; we’ve had
our breeze. Shake hands!’ [M.]

Brekker, subs. (Oxford University).—Breakfast. [Formed by phonetically taking the first syllable of ‘breakfast’ + er, a species of slang formation, which originated at Harrow.]—See ‘Comparative and Historical Study of Slang’ at the end of this work.

Brevet Hell, subs. (American).—A nickname for a battle, which originated during the Civil War. The meaning is obvious enough. The carnage and bloodshed of a battle-field is only a degree short of the horrors of the theological ‘hell.’ Compare with brevet-wife, brevet-rank.

Brevet-Wife, subs. (general).—A woman who, without being married to a man, lives with him, takes his name, and enjoys all the privileges of a wife. A transferred figurative sense of the legitimate word.

Brew, verb (Marlborough School).—To make afternoon tea. Almost always carried on in couples, but sometimes three boys brew together.

Brewer’s Horse, subs. (old).—A drunkard. For synonyms, see Elbow crooker.

Brewing, verbal subs. (Marlborough College).—The making of afternoon tea.—See Brew.

Brian o’ Linn, subs. (rhyming slang).—Gin. For synonyms, see Drinks.

Briar, Brier, subs. (popular).—A colloquialism for ‘brier-wood pipe.’ The Erica arborea or White Heath, a native of the Mediterranean littoral is largely used in the manufacture of pipes. [Cf., Fr. bruyère = ‘heath.’]

1882. Graphic, Dec. 16, p. 683, col. 2. Nowadays, every third man
you meet has a cigarette or a briar in his mouth.

1886. Harper’s Mag., 27 Dec. There is the ever-ready brier-root
pipe loaded with Caporal.

Brick, subs. (popular).—A good fellow; one whose staunchness and loyalty commend him to his fellows—a highly eulogistic epithet for one man to apply to another. Said to be of University origin, the simile being drawn from the classics. A writer in Hallberger’s Illustrated Magazine [1878, p. 635], says the expression is logically deduced in the following amusing manner. A brick is ‘deep-red,’ so a ‘deep-read’ man is a brick. The punning syllogism is carried further. To read like a brick is to read till you are deep-‘read’; a deep-read man is in University-phrase a ‘good man’; a good man is a jolly fellow with non-reading men, ergo a jolly fellow is a brick.

It has, however, been pointed out that dedicatory columns of various forms have been found bearing Greek inscriptions, records of the great and virtuous. Some of these were circular and fluted pillars; but the Athenians are said to have dedicated square columns so inscribed, which gave rise to the style τετράγ = ωνος ἀνὴρ [see Aristotle, Eth., i., 10], one whose worth entitled him to honorary mention on some monumental stone of the form described. The anticipatory distinction might, therefore, be easily accorded to one worthy of such posthumous honours. From the meritorious notion of the rectangular stone or pillar we get the living type of genuine or supposititious worth—a regular brick. A further analogy may be drawn from the clayey basis of the brick, even in a state of combination with sand and ashes—those types of instability and decay—and we naturally acquire the notion of solidity, consistency, and strength. We are thus enabled to apply the above phrase to the child of clay, who may chance to resemble it in its constitution, whose moral materials and parts have been originally so carefully formed, so judiciously tempered and skilfully moulded, that, in spite of a frail and infirm nature, he has preserved his shape thus early given. The fiery test but determines his solidity; his sound, staunch, and unshrinking firmness, constitutes him a regular brick or hero, the attributes which especially qualify him for that metaphorical appellation. Cf., On the square; straight—true—clean as a die.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (Brothers of Birchington). In brief
I don’t stick to declare, Father Dick, So they called him for
short, was a regular brick; A metaphor taken, I have not the page
aright, Out of an ethical work by the Stagyrite.

1850. Smedley, Frank Fairlegh, p. 10. ‘Mr. Fairlegh, let me
introduce this gentleman, Mr. George Lawless; he is, if he will
allow me to say so, one of the most rising young men of his
generation, one of the firmest props of the glorious edifice of our
rights and privileges.’ ‘A regular brick,’ interposed Coleman.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. x. ‘But the others are capital.
There is that little chap who has just had the measles—he’s a dear
little brick.’

1856. T. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, p. 100. He voted E.’s new
crony a brick.

1876. George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, ch. xvi. Their brothers’
friend, declared by Hans to be the salvation of him, a fellow like
nobody else, and, in fine, a brick.

French Synonyms. Un bon gniasse (cads’ and thieves’); être d’un bon bouchon (to be a brick. Michel gives bouchon as ‘cadet’); un bon bougre (popular: Barrère says the word bougre is often used with a disparaging sense; bougre de cochon, ‘you dirty pig’; bougre de serin, ‘you ass.’ Littré derives bougre from Bulgarus, Bulgarian; the heretic Albigeois, who shared the religious ideas of some of the Bulgarians, received the name of bougres); un zig, zigue, zigorneau, zigard, or zingo (popular: Michel gives zig as camarade, ‘a comrade’; in Italian zigno or petit lézard which latter (lézard) signifies in French argot, a ‘bad lot’).

Verb (American).—To punish a man by bringing the knees close up to the chin, and lashing the arms tightly to the knees—a species of trussing.

Like a brick—like bricks—(and in an intensive form) like a thousand of bricks, adv. phr. (common).— With energy; alacrity; thoroughly; vehemently and with much display. [Derived partly attributively from brick (q.v.), and partly in allusion to the crash of failing bricks.] There are numerous similes of a kindred character; e.g., Like beans; Like one o’clock; Like blazes, all of which see.

1835. Dickens, Sketches, p. 139. Bump they [cab and horse] cums
agin the post, and out flies the fare like bricks.

1837. Barham, I. L. (Ingoldsby Penance).

For the Friar to his skirts closely sticks,
‘Running after him,’—so said the Abbot,—like bricks!

1860. New Orleans Picayune, April 27 (Police Report). ‘When it came
to the breakdown, Your Honor, he kicked up a row like a drove of
contrary mules, and when we wanted to turn him out, he fell upon us
like a thousand of bricks, and threatened to make minced meat of
the police and every one of us.’

1864. Western World, March 5. ‘When Mr. Nye had finished, Mr.
Stewart rose, and with his irresistible logic and impressive
language came down upon him like a thousand of bricks, till he was
utterly crushed and demolished.’

Brick in the hat, phr. (American).—A drunken man is said to have a brick in his hat, the allusion being to top-heaviness and inability to preserve a steady gait.

Brick-duster.—See Brickfielder.

Brickdusts, subs. (military).—The Fifty-third Regiment of Foot, so nicknamed from its facings, which are scarlet. Another slang appellation is ‘The Old Five-and-Threepennies,’ from its number and the daily pay of an ensign.

Brickfielder or Brickduster, subs. (Australian colloquial).—In Sydney the name given to a dust or sand-storm brought by southerly winds from sand hills locally known as the Brickfields—hence the name. Also called the buster or southerly burster.

18(?). Munday, Our Antipodes. In October, 1848, as I find by my
diary, I witnessed a fine instance of a nocturnal brickfielder.
Awakened by the roaring of the wind I arose and looked out. It was
bright moonlight, or it would have been bright but for the clouds
of dust, which, impelled by a perfect hurricane, curled up from the
earth, and absolutely muffled the fair face of the planet.
Pulverised specimens of every kind and colour of soil within two
miles of Sydney, flew past the house high over the chimney tops in
lurid whirl-winds, now white, now red. It had all the appearance of
an American prairie fire, barring the fire.

1853. Fraser’s Mag., XLVIII., 515. What the Sydney people call a
brickfielder.

1886. Cowan, Charcoal Sk. The buster and brickfielder: Austral
red-dust blizzard and red-hot simoon.

Bricklayer, subs. (clerical).—A clergyman. [It has been hazarded that the term is a familiar corruption of Rubricklayer, to denote general character for Rubrical exactness—said of men who not only lay down Liturgical law, but obey it. With more propriety, however, may it be held as referring to the important part taken by the mediæval clergy in ecclesiastical architecture. Mr. Thomas Boys, in the course of an interesting article on the subject [N. and Q., 2 S., vii., 115], traces its historical derivation somewhat as follows:—It is well known how in former days the building of cathedrals and other sacred edifices was patronised and promoted both by the dignitaries and by the clergy generally; but it is not, perhaps, matter of equal notoriety that many chapters and collegiate bodies had a functionary called a workman (operarius), on whom devolved the charge of repairing and maintaining the sacred fabric, and who was often one of their own number. In fact, he was of the dignitaries of the church. ‘Operarius, Dignitas, in Collegiis Canonicorum, et Monasteriis, cui operibus publicis vacare incumbit’ (Carpenter). The office of this operarius or workman was called ‘operaria.’ ‘Operaria. Dignitas Operarii in collegiis canonicorum et monasteriis’ (ib.). In Spain, the clerical operarius was called by the corresponding Spanish name, obrero (a workman). ‘Obrero. Se llama tambien el que cuida de las obras, en las Iglesias o Comunidades, que en algunas Cathedrales es dignidad’ (Dicc. de la Ac. Esp.); i.e., in some cathedrals the office made the holder of it a dignitary. Salazar de Mendoza, in his ‘Cronica del Cardenal Don R. G. de Mendoça,’ tells us that, the Cardinal having conceded to the Chapter of the cathedral at Toledo, the administration of the building-fund, the Chapter in 1485, nominated as workman (obrero) the Canon Juan de Contreras (Lib. II., cap. 62, par. 2). May we not conjecture, then, that, if clergymen are now provincially called bricklayers, it is because their mediæval predecessors were, with a special reference to building, called ‘workmen’? Possibly, from the appointment of certain ecclesiastics in former days under the name of operarii or workmen, for the repair and maintenance of public edifices in the University of Oxford, the title of bricklayers may have passed, in course of time, to the neighbouring clergy of Oxon and Berks. The use of bricks, which ceased in this country after the decline of the Roman power, is stated by Hallam to have been reintroduced, probably from Flanders, in the early part of the fourteenth century.

With perhaps equal propriety the term [bricklayer] is thought to refer to the οἰκοδομὴ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ (Eph. iv., 12), trusting that they, like St. Paul, are wise ‘master builders’; builders on the only true foundation, ‘which is Jesus Christ.’ Edify, edificare οἰκοδομεῖν have primary reference to houses built with hands, as well as to the spiritual one of building up the Church of Christ.]

Bricklayer’s Clerk, subs. (nautical).—One of the hundred names given to a lubberly sailor.—W. Clark Russell. For synonyms, see Strawyarder, and Cf., Bail.

Bricks, subs. (Wellington College).—A sort of pudding.

Bridge, subs. (cards’).—A cheating trick at cards, by which any particular card is cut by previously curving it by the pressure of the hand. Used in France as well as in England, and termed in the Parisian Argot faire le pont sec, also couper dans le pont. The modus operandi of avoiding, or rather of neutralizing the cut, which is the very backbone of the card-sharper’s art, is somewhat difficult, and is generally performed by one of two methods, termed respectively the ‘bridge’ and the ‘pass.’ In the former method the sharper, at the end of his shuffle—the cards being still held backs uppermost in the left hand—takes some twelve or fifteen of the underneath cards lengthwise between the thumb and first and second fingers of the right hand and throws them on the top of the pack, at the same time giving them a slight squeeze outwards which causes them to assume an imperceptible curve. When placed on the table to be cut, the pack will now, owing to this curve or ‘bridge,’ present in the middle a very slight gap almost invisible to the eye; and experience shows that the odds are twenty to one that the adversary will cut exactly at that very spot, thus taking off the twelve or fifteen cards thrown on the top and bringing the ‘readied’ portion of the pack back to its original position.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 266. I got my
living by card-playing in the low lodging-houses ... I worked the
oracle; they were not up to it. I put the first and seconds on, and
the bridge too.

1859. Lever, Davenport Dunn, I., p. 251. I’ve found out the way
that Yankee fellows does the king. It’s not the common bridge that
every body knows.

1866. Yates, Black Sheep, I., p. 70. The genius which had hitherto
been confined to bridging a pack of cards, or ‘securing’ a die,
talking over a flat, or winning money of a greenhorn, was to have
its vent in launching a great City Company.

Verb (old).—Explained by quotation.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict. To bridge a person, or to throw him
over the bridge, is ... to deceive him by betraying the confidence
he has reposed in you.

Bridle-Cull, subs. (old).—A highwayman. [From bridle + cull, a ‘man.’] A French equivalent is un garcon de campagne; also un grinche de cambrouse; aller au trimar or trimard, ‘to become a highwayman.’ Trimar = road or ‘toby.’

1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, bk. I., ch. v. A booty of £10 looks
as great in the eye of a bridle-cull, and gives as much real
happiness to his fancy, as that of as many thousands to the
statesman.

Bridport or Brydport Dagger, subs. (old).—The hangman’s rope. ‘To be stabbed with a Bridport Dagger’ signifies ‘to be hanged.’ For synonyms, see Horse’s nightcap, and Cf., Anodyne necklace.

1662. Fuller, Worthies, Dorset (I., 310). ‘Stab’d with a Brydport
dagger.’ That is, hang’d or executed at the Gallowes; the best, if
not the most, hemp (for the quantity of ground) growing about
Brydport.

1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary, etc. (1811), p. 67. Stabbed with a
Brydport dagger. That is hanged. Great quantity of hemp is grown
about this town; and, on account of its superior qualities, Fuller
says there was an ancient statute, now disused, that the cables for
the royal navy should be made thereabouts.

1807. Southey, Espriella’s Letters, i., 35 (3 ed.). The
neighbourhood is so proverbially productive of hemp, that when a
man is hanged, they have a vulgar saying, that he has been stabbed
with a Bridport dagger.

Brief, subs. (thieves’).—A ticket of any kind, whether railway pass, pawnbrokers’ duplicate, or ticket for a raffle; also a pocket book. Hence briefless (q.v.).

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL., 501. I took a brief
(ticket) to London Bridge.

1885. Daily Telegraph, Aug. 18, p. 3, col. 2. His usual line of
business was ‘brief-snatching,’ i.e., hovering about the crowd that
surrounds a small bookmaker, and snatching from the hands of the
unwary the credential they with rash eagerness exhibit, and which
they desire to exchange with the man they have bet with for their
winnings.

1889. Sporting Times, 6 July. They copped the briefs at the next
station, and he changed carriages.

Briefless, adj. (common).—Ticketless.—See Brief.

1889. Bird o’ Freedom, Aug. 7, p. 3. Following close at the heels
of Newman, I soon found myself within the Aquarium, all briefless
as I was, and without having been asked any questions.