Chapter XI: Part 11

French Synonyms. Avoir son affaire (familiar: this also means to have got ‘a settler,’ and ‘to be absolutely drunk’); buter (thieves’ = ‘to kill’ or ‘execute’); escarper (thieves’); envoyer essayer une chemise de sapin (military: literally ‘to send one to try on a deal shirt.’ Cf., ‘wooden surtout’ = coffin); faire suer un chêne (popular: suer = to sweat; chêne = cove); faire passer le goût du pain (familiar = ‘to give one his gruel’); coffier (thieves’: an abbreviation of escoffier, to kill); conir (thieves’); ébasir (thieves’: formerly esbasir; Fourbesque sbasire and Germania esbasir); mettre à l’ombre (general = to put in the shade); endormir (thieves’); entailler (thieves’); abasourdir (thieves’: properly ‘to astound’); chouriner or suriner (thieves’: ‘chourin’ or surin = a knife); estourbir (thieves’); scionner (thieves’: from scion = a knife); faire un machabée (thieves’: in cant machabée = a drowned corpse. Michel thinks the expression originated either in the reading of II. Macabees, ch. xii., which is still retained in the Mass for the Dead, or through la danse macabre, the Dance of Death shown in the engravings of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries); faire flotter un pante (popular = to cook one’s goose by drowning. Flotter = to float. i.e., like a corpse); crever la paillasse (popular: literally ‘to rip open the mattress’); laver le linge dans la saignante (thieves’: to wash linen in blood): dévisser le trognon à quelqu’un (popular); entonner (popular: see Michel); estrangouiller (popular = ‘to strangle’; from a veterinary term étranguillon = ‘the strangles’); tortiller la vis, or le gaviau (thieves’); terrer (thieves’: to ‘guillotine’); faire la grande soulasse (thieves’: soulas, Old French = ‘solace’ or ‘comfort’); rebâtir un pante (thieves’); sonner (popular); lingrer (popular); envoyer ad patres (popular = ‘to send to one’s fathers’); envoyer en paradis (general = ‘to send to kingdom-come’); envoyer en parade (thieves’ = ‘to send on parade’); capahuter (thieves’ = to get rid of an accomplice to secure his share of the booty; sometimes rendered by refroidir à la capahut); décrocher (military: literally ‘to unhook,’ ‘to take down’); descendre quelqu’un (popular = to bring down); couper le sifflet (popular = to cut one’s whistle); watriniser (popular: in reference to M. Watrin, who was murdered by the Decazeville miners in 1886. Cf., the English ‘to burke’); moucher le quinquet (popular: ‘to snuff the lamp’); faire saigner du nez (thieves’ = ‘to give a bloody nose’); sabler (thieves’); faire banque (common); suager (thieves’: from suer, ‘to sweat’).

German Synonyms. Abfetzen (to kill by cutting or stabbing); abmeken, abmacken (Hebrew mocho = to put aside, to destroy, or to give ‘tit for tat.’ North German afmurksen); bekern machen (from the Hebrew peger. Used of animals it is the equivalent of krepieren); hargenen or horeg sein (‘to kill’ or ‘murder.’ Horeg, the murderer; Horug, the murdered; nehrog, murdered; nehrog werden, to be murdered; Hereg or Harigo, the murder); heimthun, or heimerlich spielen (heim, a corruption of the Hebrew chajim = life); Kappore machen or fetzen (literally ‘to make purified.’ From the Hebrew kophar); memissen or memissren; die Neschome nehmen (Hebrew neschomo, the soul or life); pegern or peigern; rozechenen or rozchenen (Hebrew, rozach = to kill); schächten (Hebrew, schochat).

Italian Synonym. Sbasire (literally ‘to cause to faint’ or ‘swoon.’ Sbasire su le funi = to swoon on the rope, i.e., to be hanged).

Spanish Synonyms. Apretar á uno la nuez (properly to clutch the Adam’s apple, i.e., the throat); apiolar (properly ‘to gyve a hawk’ or ‘to tie game together by the legs’; and metaphorically, ‘to seize’ or apprehend); despabilar (literally ‘to snuff a candle.’ Cf., Fr. moucher le quinquet and the Eng. ‘to put on an extinguisher’); apercollar (also, ‘to seize one by the collar’).

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 360.
When the clarences, the cabs that carry four, came in, they cooked
the hackney-coachmen in no time.

1853. Rev. E. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Adventures of Verdant
Green, p. 270. Billy’s too big in the Westphalia’s gig-lamps,
you’re the boy to cook Fosbrooke’s goose.

1861. A. Trollope, Framley Parsonage, ch. xlii. Chaldicotes,
Gagebee, is a cooked goose, as far as Sowerby is concerned. And
what difference could it make to him whether the Duke is to own it
or Miss Dunstable.

1865. G. A. Sala, Trip to Barbary, ch. v. The first Napoleon ...
once nearly killed himself by his addictedness to Provençal
cookery. Yes; a mess of mutton and garlic—’tis said it was
poisoned—very nearly cooked the goose of Achilles.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. ii., p. 128. Seeing how the
fellow was acting he sent him two ‘shise’ notes, which gave him a
dose that cooked him. I saw the man myself, serving his time at
Dartmoor.

1888. Puck’s Library, May, p. 10. When the chromo first emerged
from chaos, the producers of that kind of picture insisted that the
goose of the artist was cooked.

Cookey or Cookie. To bet a cookie, verbal phr. (American).—The custom of preparing the cakes still known in Scotland as cookies was part and parcel of American life. [The cookey, like the English pancake on Shrove Tuesday, and the hot cross bun on Good Friday, forms a special old-fashioned dainty at Christmas-tide and New Year. From the Dutch koekje, dim. of koek, a cake.]

1870. Bret Harte, Luck of Roaring Camp, p. 227. Don’t know what he
is! He lost every hoof and hide, I’ll bet a cookey!

1872. Lloyd’s Weekly, 28 April. ‘Probate Court Report.’ Might have
said she would bet a cookey that the will was in America.
(Laughter.)

1888. Detroit Free Press, 31 March. A book has just been published
to instruct reporters in the use of proper phrases. We bet a cookey
no reporter will ever read it.

Cookeyshine, subs. (old Scots).—An afternoon meal at which cookies (q.v.) form a staple dish. Cf., Tea-fight, Muffin-worry, etc. (q.v.). [From cookey, a small cake, + shine (q.v.), an entertainment.]

1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, I., 103. Dr. Sampson, loq.: We shall see
whether we are on the right system: and if so, we’ll dose her with
useful society in a more irrashinal forrm; conversaziones,
cookeyshines, et cetera. And if we find ourselves on the wrong
tack, why then we’ll hark back.

Cook-Ruffian, subs. (old).—A bad or indifferent cook, ‘who would cook the devil in his feathers.’

Cool, adj. (colloquial).—1. Impertinent; audacious; calmly impudent.

1870. Figaro, 22 May. It is considered to be cool to take a man’s
hat with his name written in it, simply because you want to get his
autograph.

Cool as a Cucumber, phr. (common).—Without heat; also, metaphorically, calm and composed.

2. (In reference to money; e.g., a cool hundred, thousand, etc.) Commonly expletive; but sometimes used to cover a sum a little above the figure stated.

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. VIII., ch. xii. Mr. Watson, too,
after much variety of luck, rose from the table in some heat, and
declared he had lost a cool hundred, and would play no longer.

1771. Smollet, Humphry Clinker, l. 41. I’ll bet a cool hundred he
swings before Christmas.

1825. Miss Edgeworth, Love and Law, i., 2. Suppose you don’t get
sixpence costs, and lose your cool hundred by it, still it’s a
great advantage.

1841, Lytton, Night and Morning, bk. II., ch. x. Borrowed his money
under pretence of investing it in the New Grand Anti-Dry-Rot
Company; cool hundred—it’s only just gone, sir.

1890. Illustrated Bits, 29 March, p. 8, col. 2. I made three
thousand last year, but if I have good luck this year I shall make
a cool fifty thousand.

3. (Eton College).—See Cool kick and the following.

Verb (Eton College).—To kick hard.

Cool-Crape, subs. (old).—A shroud, or winding sheet.—Grose.

Cooler, subs. (old).—1. A woman.—Grose [1785]. For synonyms, see Petticoat.

1742. Charles Johnson, Highwaymen and Pyrates, p. 293. ‘Not I,’
replied Jones, very readily, ‘I neither know nor care who you are,
tho’ before you spoke I took you for a brewer because you travel
with your cooler by your side.’

2. (American thieves’).—A prison. For synonyms, see Cage.

3. (common).—Ale or stout after spirits and water. Sometimes called ‘putting the beggar on the gentleman’; also damper (q.v.).

1821. P. Egan, Tom and Jerry (ed. 1890), p. 76. Many persons ... in
order to allay the heat or thirst arising from the pernicious use
of such quantities of ardent spirits, frequently take a glass of
porter, which is termed a cooler, ‘a damper,’ etc.

Cool-Kick, subs. (Eton College).—When a behind (q.v.) or ‘back’ gets a kick with no one up to him.

Cool-Lady, subs. (old).—A female follower of the camp who sells brandy.—Grose [1785].

Cool-Nantz, subs. (old).—Brandy. For synonyms, see Drinks.

Cool one’s Coppers, verbal phr. (popular).—To allay the morning’s thirst after a night of drink. Cf., Hot-coppers and Dry as a lime basket.

1861. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. iii. We were playing Van
John in Blake’s rooms till three last night, and he gave us
devilled bones and mulled port. A fellow can’t enjoy his breakfast
after that without something to cool his coppers.

1870. Sportsman, 17 Dec. ‘A Chapel Meeting.’ Bring me a mouthful,
George, shouted a grasping Typo one day to his chum, who, at the
trough in the furthest corner of the room, was cooling his coppers
with cold water.

Coon, subs. (American).—1. A man. [Coon, a curtailment of ‘racoon’ (Procyon lotor), is thought to be of Indian origin (Algonquin, aroughcun, the scratcher), though some trace it to the French raton. The contraction dates from about 1840, when the racoon was used as a kind of political totem.]

1860. Punch, vol. XXXIX., p. 227. ‘The Baby in the House.’ I sign
him, said the Curate Howe, O’er Samuel Burbott George Bethune, Then
baby kicked up such a row As terrified that reverend coon.

2. (American).—A nigger, e.g., a coons’ bawdy house = a house where none are kept but girls of colour.

Gone coon, subs. phr. (American).—One in a serious or hopeless difficulty. A Scots equivalent is gone corbie, i.e., a dead crow. Cf., Gone goose. [The explanation generally given is that during the American War a spy dressed in racoon skins ensconced himself in a tree. An English rifleman (the nationalities are reversible) levelled his piece at him, whereupon the American exclaimed: ‘Don’t shoot, I’ll come down. I know I am a gone coon.’]

1845. Mr. Giddings, in Congress (quoted in De Vere). Besides the
acquisition of Canada, which is put down on all sides as a gone
coon.

1857. Dickens, Lying Awake, in Reprinted Pieces, p. 192. I must
think of something else as I lie awake; or, like that sagacious
animal in the United States who recognised the colonel who was such
a dead shot, I am a gone coon.

1864. Derby Day, p. 51. We shan’t get to your advice till the
crack’s hocussed and done for, and we’re all ruined as safe as
coons.

1867. London Herald, 23 March, p. 221, col. 3. ‘We’re safe to nab
him; safe as houses. He’s a gone coon, sir.’

1883. Calverley, Fly Leaves, p. 83. ‘On the Brink.’ She stood so
calm, so like a ghost, Betwixt me and that magic moon. That I
already was almost A finished coon.

To go the whole coon, verbal phr. (American). = ‘To go the whole hog.’

Coon’s Age, subs. phr. (American).—A long time; ‘a blue moon.’ The racoon is held to be a long-lived animal.

b. 1780, d. 1851. Audubon, Life, I., p. 178. ‘Wall, Pete, whar have
you been? I hav’n’t seen you this coon’s age.’

Coop, subs. (thieves’).—A prison. For synonyms, see Cage.

1866. London Miscellany, 3 Mar., p. 58, col. 3. I don’t think
that’s no little let-down for a cove as has been tip-topper in his
time, and smelt the insides of all the coops in the three kingdoms.

1877. J. Greenwood, Dick Temple. You say that you have been in the
coop as many times as I have.

Cooped-up, ppl., adj., phr. (old).—Imprisoned. [From coop (q.v.), a place of detention.] For synonyms, see Limbo.

Cooper or Cooper up, verb (thieves’ and vagrants’).—1. To destroy; spoil; settle; or finish.

2. (thieves’).—To forge.

3. (American).—To understand. For synonyms, see Twig.

Coopered, ppl. adj. (racing, thieves’, and vagrants’).—Hocussed; spoiled; ruined; e.g., a house is said to be coopered when the importunity of many tramps has caused its inmates to cold-shoulder the whole fraternity; a coopered horse is a horse that has been ‘got at’ with a view to prevent its running.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 232.
‘Cooper’d,’ spoiled by the imprudence of some other patterer.

Coored, adj. (old).—Whipped.—D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171 [1821].

Coot, subs. (American).—A stupid fellow; generally ‘a silly’ or ‘mad old coot.’ Stupid as a coot is a common English provincialism. [The fulica altra, the bald or common coot, like the ostrich, is said to bury its head when pursued, thinking none can see it, as it cannot see itself.] For synonyms, see Buffle-head and Cabbage-head.

Cooter.—See Couter.

Cop, subs. (common).—A policeman. [From cop, verb, sense 1.] For synonyms, see Beak, sense 1, and Copper.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, p. 124. Oh! where
will be the culls of the bing ... And all the cops and beaks so
knowin’, A hundred stretches hence?

1879. Punch, 3 May, p. 201, col. 1. I suppose if the Toffs took a
fancy for chewing a stror or a twig, Like a tout or a hostler, or
tumbled to carryin’ a bludgeon as big As a crib cracker’s nobby
persuader, Pall Mall would be jolly soon gay With blue-blooded
blokes a green cop might mistake for foot-pads on the lay.

Verb (common).—1. To seize; steal; catch; take an unfair advantage in a bet or bargain. [Cop has been associated with the root of the Latin cap-io, to seize, to snatch; also with the Gypsy kap or cop = to take; Scotch kep; and Gallic ceapan. Probably, however, its true radix is to be found in the Hebrew cop = a hand or palm. Low-class Jews employ the term, and understand it to refer to the act of snatching.]

[Cop like Chuck (q.v.), is a sort of general utility verb. Thus to
Cop the Needle = to get angry; to Cop the Bullet or the door = to
get the sack; to Cop it Hot = to be severely clapped; to Cop it
(said of women) = to be got with child; and to Cop the Brewer = to
be drunk.]

For synonyms in the sense of to steal, see Prig; and in the sense of to seize, see Nab.

1864. Manchester Courier, 13 June. ‘Copper’ ... a slang name for a
policeman derived from cop, which is a well known and generally
used vulgarism for ‘catch.’

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL., p. 500. I was taken by two
pals (companions) to an orchard to cop (steal) some fruit.

1883. Punch, Sept. 29, p. 146, col. 2. ‘Bill’s not such a fool as
you think; He’ll cop my truncheon, pat, Jam the whistle into my
mouth, And stretch the Peeler flat.’

1887. W. E. Henley, Villon’s Straight Tip to all Cross Coves. Booze
and the blowens cop the lot.

2. trs. and intrs. (thieves’).—To arrest; imprison; betray; ensnare.

English Synonyms. To give the clinch; to make one kiss the clink; to accommodate; to nobble; to bag; to box; to fist (old); to scoop; to take up; to victimize; to run in; to give or get one the boat; to buckle; to smug; to nab; to collar; to pinch; to nail; to rope in; to shake; to pull up.

French Synonyms. Empioler (thieves’); tomber au plan (thieves’ = to be apprehended); étre mis au plan (thieves’ = to be imprisoned); enfourailler (thieves’); bâcler or boucler (thieves’: literally to buckle, put a ring to); bloquer (military: properly to blockade); étre le bon (popular = to be arrested; also to be the right man); boulotter de or coucher à la boîte (military = to get frequently locked up. La grosse boîte = a prison; boîte aux refléxions = a prison cell); mettre quelqu’un dans la blouse (familiar = to ‘pocket,’ as at billiards); se faire cuire (popular = to be arrested); clouer (popular: clou = guard-room or cell); coller au bloc (popular: coller is properly to stick, as with glue, but in a slang sense it carries the meaning of to place or put; bloc = prison); piper (familiar); poisser (popular and thieves’); grimer (popular); coquer (thieves’: also, to peach or inform); enflacquer (thieves’); mettre or fourrer dedans (familiar: literally to put inside); mettre à l’ombre (common: literally to put in the shade); mettre au violon (popular: see violon under Cage); grappiner (popular); poser un gluau (thieves’ = to lime, as in snaring birds); empoigner (popular = to fist; possibly a dictionary word); piger (popular); emballer (popular and thieves’; properly to pack up); gripper (this has passed into the language); encoffrer (popular = to ‘box up’); encager (familiar = to cage); accrocher (properly to hook); ramasser de la boîte (military: also ramasser quelqu’un and se faire remasser); souffler (thieves’); faire tomber malade (popular = to make one ill); agrafer (literally to hook or clasp; avoir son linge lavé (thieves’ = to have one’s linen washed).

German Synonyms.—Bekaan scheften (from the Hebrew kaan); im Kühlen sitzen (literally to sit in the cold. Cf., Fr., mettre à l’ombre); krank werden (literally to fall ill; equivalent to the Fr. faire tomber malade); ins Leck baun (Viennese thieves’ M.H.G. luken = to lock up); millek sein (to be imprisoned); trefe fallen (to be apprehended under grave circumstances; e.g., with burglar’s instruments or stolen goods); versargen (to imprison for a long time); abfassen (students’ slang); ankappen (popular colloquialism); klemmen (M.H.G. klembern = to press heavily); taffen, tofes nehmen, tofes lokechnen, or tofes lekichnen (from the Hebrew tophas); vercheweln, vercheifeln or verheifeln (from the Hebrew chobal; also to bind or gag).

Copbusy, verb (thieves’).—See quot.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 445. To hand over the
booty to a confederate or girl—to copbusy.

Copper, subs. (popular).—A policeman. [From cop, verb, senses 1 and 2, (q.v.), to catch, + er; literally a catcher.] Equivalents are robin or robin-redbreast; m.p. (i.e., member of police); copperman (an Australian prison term); but for synonyms, see Beak, to which may be added the following.

French Synonyms. Un chasse-coquin (popular: also = a ‘beadle’ and ‘bad wine.’ Literally ‘a beggar-driver’: Cf., chasse-chien = a beadle employed to drive away dogs); un chasse-noble (thieves’); le cadratin (police; a term applied to the detective force; properly what printers call an ‘em quad’); l’enplaque (thieves’); une fauvette à tête noire (thieves’: literally ‘a black-cap’); un bricul or briculé (thieves’: an inspector of police); une casserole (thieves’ = a detective; also a prostitute. Properly ‘a saucepan’ or warming-pan); un emballeur (thieves’: properly ‘a packer’); un ficard (thieves’); un arnacq or arnache (thieves’); un vesto de la cuisine (thieves’ = a detective. Vesto = haricot bean; cuisine = detective force); rabatteur de pantes (thieves’ = a beater of game, man being the quarry); un bigorneau (properly a periwinkle); un cognac (thieves’); un quart (pop: faire son quart = to be on the watch); un radis noir (common: also = a priest or devil-dodger); un renifleur (thieves’: renifler = to sniff); mari Robin (thieves’); un marchand or solliceur de lacets (thieves’: lacets = hand-cuffs); lapin ferré (a mounted policeman); un liêge (thieves’).

German Synonyms. Blaukragen (Viennese thieves’: for an armed policeman; literally ‘a blue collar,’ in allusion to the uniform); Blitzableiter (literally ‘the lightning conductor’); Bosser-Isch (a play upon words is involved in this term. It is derived from the Hebrew bosar = meat. Bosser-Isch signifies literally ‘meat-man,’ i.e., a butcher, or translated into literary German, Fleischmann. In the first half of the last century a certain Lieutenant Fleischmann was especially zealous in ‘persecuting’ the robber gangs infesting the district between Frankfurt and Darmstadt. Every hunter of rogues and vagabonds has since then been called a Bosser-Isch or Fleischmann. Hence its application to the police); Greiferci (specially applied to the ‘criminal’ police); Hadatsch or Hatschier (Viennese thieves’); aie Herren (the police force generally; literally ‘the gentlemen’); Husche, Huscher, Husskiefel or Husskopf (a mounted policeman); Iltis or Iltisch (thieves’); Kapdon (from the Hebrew kophad: literally ‘to draw together,’ or intransitively ‘to cut off’; applied to a clever policeman); Karten (the police. Cf., Garden = guards); Koberer (the officer in charge of the regulations over registered prostitutes; Koberer = ‘fancy-man,’ or ‘protector’); Klisto (a mounted policeman; from the Hanoverian gypsy glisto); Kreuzritter (Viennese thieves’ = a policeman who is also a soldier; more correctly, a police-soldier); Laileschmir (a night policeman; from the Hebrew lailo, ‘the night’); Laterne (Viennese thieves’); Lederzeug (a mounted policeman); Mischpoche (a Hebrew word signifying ‘the family,’ ‘the relations’; gang of robbers; the inmates of a prison; the police force taken as a whole); Polenk or Polente (Hanoverian slang for the police; possibly from the Gypsy polontschero = ‘the night-watchman’ or ‘herdsman’); Poliquetsch (a term applied either to the force or to a single member); Quetsch (Cf., foregoing); Schin (an abbreviation, being the Hebrew letter ש, for the turnkey of a prison, a policeman, etc.; ein platter Schin, a policeman who makes common cause with a burglar; miser Schin, a policeman who is hated); Spinatwächter (soldiers’ for a police-soldier; in allusion to the green uniform); Spitz or Spitzl (a vigilant policeman, from Spitz = pointed, from which is derived Spitz-bube, a thief); Teckel (Hanoverian for foot-police); Zaddik (from the Hebrew signifying ‘the just’ or ‘pious one’; used sarcastically as a nickname for the guardians of the right); Zenserei (Viennese thieves’: Zenserer = a police superintendent. Apparently the modern form of the old Sens, Sins, Söns, Sims, or Simser, of which the derivation is clearly to be found in Zent or Cent, from the Centenæ of the Frankish kings, who divided the counties into Centenæ and Decaniæ for the purposes of administration).

Italian Synonyms. Falcon de draghetti (literally ‘a hawk preying on schoolboys’); sbirre.

Spanish Synonym. Abrazador (m; literally ‘one who embraces’; abrazar = to hug, or clasp).

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, p. 21. ‘The knuck was
copped to rights, a skin full of honey was found in his kick’s poke
by the copper when he frisked him’; [i.e.] the pickpocket was
arrested, and when searched by the officer a purse was found in his
pantaloons pocket full of money.

1864. Manchester Courier, 13 June. The professors of slang,
however, having coined the word, associate that with the metal, and
as they pass a policeman they will, to annoy him, exhibit a copper
coin, which is equivalent to calling the officer copper.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 237. I daresay the
coppers quite expected us the next night, and looked out for us....
Coppers, I may inform the reader, is slang for police.

1889. Punch, 3 Aug., p. 49, col. 2. Young ’Opkins took the reins,
but soon in slumber he was sunk—(Indignantly) When a interfering
copper ran us in for being drunk!

Copperheads, subs. (American).—A nickname applied to different sections of the American nation: first to the Indian; then to the Dutch colonist (see Irving, Knickerbocker); lastly, during the Civil War, to certain Northern Democrats who sympathised with the South. [Properly the Trigonocephalus contortrix.]

1864. Walt Whitman, Diary, 10 April [in Century Mag., Oct., 1888].
Exciting times in Congress. The copperheads are getting furious,
and want to recognise the Southern Confederacy.

1872. Daily Telegraph, 29 Aug. Should he [Mr. Greeley] be elected,
he will owe his victory to ... the copperhead ring of the
Democratic party.

1881. W. D. Howells, Dr. Breen’s Practice, ch. ix. He lived to cast
a dying vote for General Jackson, and his son, the first Dr.
Mulbridge, survived to illustrate the magnanimity of his
fellow-townsmen during the first year of the civil war, as a
tolerated copperhead.

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, 2 March. Gay was executed, I think, in
November, 1862, at Indianapolis. He was ... a virulent copperhead.

Copperman, subs. (Australian prison).—A policeman. Cf., Copper.

Copper-Nose, subs. (old).—The swollen, pimply nose of habitual drunkards. A ‘jolly’ or ‘bottle’ nose; in Fr., une bette-rave, i.e., a beetroot; also un piton passé à l’encaustique. Cf., Grog-blossom. For synonyms for the nose generally, see Conk.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. x. ‘The stoutest raven dared
not come within a yard of that copper nose.’

Copper’s Nark, subs. (thieves’).—A police spy; one in the pay of the police. [From copper (q.v.), a policeman, + nark, a spy; used as a nark signifies to watch or look after.]

1879. Thos. Satchell, in Notes and Queries, 5 S., xi., 406.
Copper’s Nark: A police spy.

1887. W. E. Henley, Villon’s Good Night. Likewise you coppers’
narks and dubs What pinched me when upon the snam.

1889. Answers, 20 July, p. 121, col. 1. He instructed me ... on no
account to appear to be anxious to pry into their secrets, lest I
should be mistaken for a copper’s nark, i.e., a person in the pay
of the police.

Copperstick, subs. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick.

Copus, subs. (Univ.).—A wine or beer cup, which was commonly imposed as a fine upon those who talked Latin in hall or committed other breaches of etiquette. Dr. Johnson derives it from episcopus, and if this be correct it is doubtless the same as bishop.

Copy of Countenance, subs. phr. (old).—A sham; humbug; pretence.

1579. Gosson, Apol. of the Schoole of Abuse, p. 64 (Arber). They
have eaten bulbief, and threatned highly, too put water in my
woortes, whensoeuer they catche me; I hope it is but a coppy of
their countenance.

1607. Dekker, Westward Ho, Act ii., Sc. 1. I shall love a puritan’s
face the worse, whilst I live, for that copy of thy countenance.

1637. Fletcher, Elder Brother, V., i. Nor can I change my copy, if
I purpose to be of your society.

1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, bk. III., ch. xiv. This, as he
afterwards confessed on his death-bed, i.e., in the court at
Tyburn, was only a copy of his countenance; for that he was at that
time as sincere and hearty in his opposition to Wild as any of his
companions.

1756. Foote, Englishman from Paris, Act i. And if the application
for my advice is not a copy of your countenance, a mask; if you are
obedient, I may set you right.

Coral Branch, subs. phr. (venery).—The penis.

Core, Coreing, verb and verbal subs. (old).—See quot.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171. Coreing: picking up small
articles in shops.

Corinth, subs. (old).—A brothel. For synonyms, see Nanny-shop. Cf., Corinthian and Corinthianism.

1609. Shakspeare, Timon of Athens, Act ii., Sc. 2. Would we could
see you at Corinth!

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.

Corinthian, subs. (old).—1. A rake; a loose liver; sometimes specifically, a fashionable whore. Shakspeare has it, ‘a lad of mettle,’ but in another place he uses corinth as above. In the slang sense an allusion to the notoriety of Corinth as a centre of prostitution, i.e., the temple-city of Aphrodite. Κορινθάεσθαι, = to Corinthianise was Greek slang. Hence the proverb—Οὺ παντὸς ἀνδρὸς εἰς Κόρινθον ισθ’ ὁ πλοῦς: and Horace, Epist. lib. 1, xvii., 36—

‘Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum.’

Also used as an adjective, a verbal form being to corinthianize. Cf., Shakspeare’s use of Ephesians in II. King Henry IV., ii. 2. For synonyms, see Molrower.

1598. Shakspeare, I Henry IV., Act ii., Sc. 4. And tell me flatly I
am no proud Jack, like Falstaff; but a Corinthian, a lad of mettle,
a good boy.

b. 1608. d. 1674. Milton, Apology for Smect. And raps up, without pity, the sage and rheumatic old prelatess, with all her young Corinthian laity.

1890. Daily Telegraph, 25 Feb., p. 4, col. 7. Is it not curious
that hotel proprietors [at Monte Carlo] should countenance, if not
encourage, a Tom and Jerry tone and a wild Corinthian element, even
in well-conducted restaurants?

1890. Henley and Stevenson, Beau Austin, iii., 1. I assure you,
Aunt Evelina, we are Corinthian to the last degree.

2. A dandy; specifically applied in the early part of the present century to a man of fashion; e.g., Corinthian Tom, in Pierce Egan’s Life in London. For synonyms, see Dandy.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 9. ’Twas diverting to see,
as one ogled around, How Corinthians and Commoners mixed on the
ground.

1832. Pierce Egan, Book of Sports, p. 210. ‘I would be a Corinthian
to the end of the chapter if I could—but the truth is, I was not
lucky enough to be born a swell.’

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. iv. Where the hospitable ‘Jem’
received his more aristocratic visitors, and to which, as
Corinthians, or ‘swells,’ we were immediately admitted.

1854. Thackeray, Leech’s Pictures in Quarterly Review, No. 191,
Dec. Corinthian, it appears, was the phrase applied to men of
fashion and ton ... they were the brilliant predecessors of the
‘swell’ of the present period.

Corinthianism, subs. (old and modern).—See Corinthian, in both senses of which, mutatis mutandis, corinthianism is employed.

Cork, subs. (common).—1. A bankrupt. For analogous terms, see Quizby.

2. (Scotch).—The general name in Glasgow and neighbourhood for the head of an establishment, e.g., of a factory, or the like.

To draw a cork, verbal phr. (pugilistic).—To draw blood. A variant is to tap one’s claret.

1818. P. Egan, Boxiana, vol. I., p. 136. Several blows exchanged,
but no corks were drawn.

1819. Thos. Moore, Tom Crib’s Mem. to Cong., p. 25. ... This being
the first Royal claret let flow, Since Tom took the Holy Alliance
in tow, The uncorking produced much sensation about, As bets had
been flush on the first painted snout.

1837. S. Warren, Diary of a Late Physician, ch. xii. Tap his claret
cask—draw his cork!

Cork-brained, adj. phr. (old).—Light headed; foolish.

Corker, subs. (common).—1. That which closes an argument, or puts an end to a course of action; a settler; a finisher (q.v.); specifically a lie. Cf., whopper.

2. Anything unusually large, or of first-rate quality; remarkable in some respect or another; e.g., a heavy blow; a monstrous lie.—See Whopper.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xix. ‘Then I lets him have
it, right, left, right, jist three corkers, beginning with the
right hand, shifting to the left, and then with the right hand
ag’in.’

To play the corker.—To indulge in the uncommon; to exhibit exaggerated peculiarities of demeanour; specifically in school and university slang to make oneself objectionable to one’s fellows.

1882. F. Anstey, Vice Versâ, ch. vii. ‘Why, you’re sticking up for
him now!’ said Tom ... astonished at this apparent change of front.
‘If you choose to come back and play the corker like this, it’s
your look-out.’

Corks, subs. (general).—1. A butler. [An allusion to one of the duties of the office.] Cf., Burn-crust, a baker; Master of the mint, a gardener; Cinder-Garbler, a maid-of-all-work, etc.

2. (nautical).—Money. [A facetious allusion to money as the means of ‘keeping afloat.’] For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

Corkscrewing, verbal subs. (common).—The straggling, spiral walk of tipsiness.

Corkscrews, subs. pl. (general).—Very stiff and formal curls, once called bottle-screws.

1890. Notes and Queries, 5 April. Bottle-screws—Dr. Murray has this
word in the N.E.D. as obsolete, meaning cork-screws, as we now call
them.

Corky, adj. (colloquial).—Sprightly; lively. [An allusion to the buoyancy of a cork.] Shakspeare uses it in King Lear, iii., 7. Com., ‘Bind fast his corky arms’; but with him (1605) it = ‘withered.’

Corn, subs. (American).—1. Food; sustenance; grub. [A figurative usage of the legitimate word.]

1870. Green Bay (Wis.) Gaz., Oct. I therefore take thus to forewarn
You not to trust her with a straw, For I will never pay her corn
Unless compelled to by the law.

2. (American).—An abbreviated form of corn-juice (q.v.), i.e., whiskey.

1843. John S. Robb. ‘The Standing Candidate.’ ‘Ef you war a babby,
just new born, ’Twould do you good this juicy corn!’

To acknowledge the corn, phr. (American).—See Acknowledge, and the following quote:

1846. New York Herald, 27 June. The Evening Mirror very naïvely
comes out and acknowledges the corn, admits that a demand was made,
etc.

Corned, ppl. adj. (common).—1. Drunk. [Hotten: ‘possibly from soaking or pickling oneself like salt-beef.’ Barrère: ‘almost beyond doubt ... an Americanism from corn, a very common name for whisky.’ Both are wrong; the verb ‘to corn’ is a common provincialism and Scotticism signifying ‘to be drunk.’] For synonyms, see Screwed.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1808. Jamieson, Etymolog. Dict. Scottish Lang. The lads are weel
corned.

1835. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, p. 257 (ed. 1862). ‘I was pretty
well corned thet arternoon, but still I knew what I was about.’

2. (sailors’).—Pleased.

Corner, subs. (colloquial).—1.—See verbal sense.

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 309. Mr. Bill Greyson
thought it much more likely that a syndicate of bookmakers had
plotted to make a good thing out of the horse by working him in the
betting-market like any other corner on the Stock Exchange.

2. (sporting).—Tattersall’s Subscription Rooms once situate at the top of Grosvenor Place, near Hyde Park Corner; now removed to Albert Gate, but still known by the old nickname.

1848. W. M. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, ch. x. He is a regular
attendant at the corner, where he compiles a limited but
comfortable libretto.

1874. G. A. Lawrence, Hagarene, ch. v. She heard how—without
anticipating the stable commission, or making any demonstration at
the corner—the cream of the long odds against the Pirate had been
skimmed.

3. (sporting).—Short for Tattenham Corner, a crucial point on the Derby course on Epsom Downs.

4. (thieves’).—A share; an opportunity of ‘standing in’ for the proceeds of a robbery.

Verb (colloquial).—To get control of a stock or commodity and so monopolize the market; applied to persons, to drive or force into a position of difficulty or surrender, e.g., in an argument. [Probably American, being a simple extension of the legitimate meaning of the word to drive or force into a corner or place from which there is no means of escape.] French equivalents are être en fine pégrène, and se mettre sur les fonts de baptême. Tailors speak of a man as cornered who has pawned work entrusted to him, and cannot redeem it. Also used as a ppl. adj.

1848. Lowell, Fable for Critics, p. 24. Such [books] as Crusoe
might dip in, altho’ there are few so Outrageously cornered by fate
as poor Crusoe.

1851. Hawthorne, House of Seven Gables, ch. v. A recluse, like
Hepzibah, usually displays remarkable frankness, and at least
temporary affability, on being absolutely cornered, and brought to
the point of personal intercourse.

1883. Graphic, April 21, p. 406, col. 2. Chief member of a ring
which has cornered colza oil this winter to such an extent that the
price has been very considerably enhanced during the last few
months.

To be round the corner, verbal phr. (common).—To get round or ahead of one’s fellows by dishonest cuts, doublings, twists, and turns. For synonyms, see Knowing.

To turn the corner, phr. (common).—To get over the worst; to begin to mend in health or fortune.

To be cornered, verbal phr. (common).—To be in a ‘fix.’ Fr., être dans le lac.

Corner-Man or Cove, subs. (common).—1. A loafer; literally a lounger at corners.

1851. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, IV., 445. I mean by
corner-coves them sort of men who is always a standing at the
corners of the streets and chaffing respectable folks a-passing by!

1885. Chamb. Journal, Feb. 28, p. 136. Curley Bond was well known
in the district as a loafer and corner-man.

2. (music hall).—The ‘Bones’ and ‘Tambourine’ in a band of negro minstrels.

Corn In Egypt, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Plenty of all kinds. [Biblical.]

Cornish Duck, subs. (trade).—A pilchard. Cf., Yarmouth capon.

Corn-Juice, subs. (American).—Whiskey. For synonyms, see Drinks.

1888. Detroit Free Press, May. ... Don’t be for ever loafing whar
the corn-juice flows.

Cornstalk, subs. (Australian).—Generic for persons of European descent, but especially applied to girls. The children of Anglo-Australians are generally taller and slighter in build than their parents. Originally a native of New South Wales; now general. Cf., Bananalander.

1885. Chambers’ Journal, March 21, p. 191. The stockman—a young
six-foot Cornstalk (or native of New South Wales).

1887. G. L. Apperson, in All the Year Round, 30 July, p. 67, col.
2. A native of New South Wales is known as a cornstalk.

1888. Colonies and India, 14 Nov. Auld Jamie Inglis has written
‘anither buik, ye ken’ ... for the delectation of the youthful
Cornstalk’s mind.

Cornstealers, subs. (American).—The hands. For synonyms, see Bunch of fives and Daddle.

1835. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker. ‘How is you been,
my old bullock?’ and he squeezed his cornstealers till the old
gineral began to dance like a bear on red-hot iron.

Corny-Faced, adj. (old).—Red and pimply with drink. [From corn, to render intoxicated, + faced.]

Coroner, subs. (common).—A severe fall. [Literally a fall likely to produce a coroner’s inquest.]

Corporal, To mount a corporal and four, verbal phr. (old).—To practice masturbation.—See Frig.

Corporation, subs. (colloquial).—A protuberant stomach. For synonyms, see Bread-basket and Victualling office.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue.

1849. C. Bronté, Shirley, ch. xvi. The former, looming large in
full canonicals, walking as became a beneficed priest, under the
canopy of a shovel hat, with the dignity of an ample corporation.

1887. W. P. Frith, Autobiog., i., 49. Very stout men ... each
possessing larger corporations than are commonly seen.

Corpse, subs. (sporting).—A horse in the betting for market purposes alone; otherwise a stiff’un.—See Cock, subs., sense 4.

Verb (theatrical).—1. To confuse; ‘to queer’; to blunder and so ‘put out’ one’s fellows: to spoil a scene.—See Regular corpser.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., s.v.

1886. Graphic, April 10, p. 399. An actor who forgets his words is
said to ‘stick,’ or be ‘corpsed.’

1886. Cornhill Mag., Oct., p. 436. He expressed a hope that Miss
Tudor ‘wouldn’t corpse his business’ over the forge-door again that
evening.

2. (common).—To kill (literally to make a corpse of one). A Fr. equivalent is parler sur quelqu’un. For synonyms, see Cook one’s goose.

1884. Editor of Notes and Queries [in ‘Answers to Correspondents’
(6 S., ix., 120), says that]. ‘To corpse ... is one of many
customary and coarse ways of menacing the infliction of death. It
is horribly familiar in London.’

1887. W. E. Henley and R. L. Stevenson, Deacon Brodie, Act 4.
Moore. And is he thundering well corpsed?... Then damme, I don’t
mind swinging.

Corpse-Provider, subs. (common).—A doctor or physician. For synonyms, see Crocus.

Corpse Reviver, subs. phr. (American).—A mixed drink.—See Drinks.

1871. Birmingham Daily Post, 22 Dec. And our American refreshment
bars, In drinks of all descriptions cut a dash, From corpse
revivers down to ‘brandy smash.’

1883. Daily Telegraph, March 8, p. 7, col. 1. In winter the dash
into the open air or the standing for a few minutes in a line of
comrades will certainly enhance the joys of the English equivalents
for the Yankee corpse reviver.

Correct or K’rect Card.—See Card.

Corroboree, subs. (Australian).—A disturbance. [Properly a tremendous native dance.]

Verb.—To boil.—See preceding.

Corsican, subs. (sporting).—Something out of the common; a ‘buster.’ [A ‘Burnandism.’]

1889. Polytechnic Mag., 18 April, p. 232, col. 2. This heat was a
Corsican.

Corybungus, subs. (pugilistic).—The posteriors.—See Blind cheeks, Bum, and Monocular eye glass.

Cosh, subs. (popular and thieves’).—A ‘neddy’; a life-preserver; a short, loaded bludgeon. Also a policeman’s truncheon.

Cosouse.—See Come Souse.

Cossack, subs. (common).—A policeman. For synonyms, see Beak and Copper.

1886. Graphic, Jan. 30, p. 130, col. 1. A policeman is also called
a ‘cossack,’ a ‘Philistine,’ and a ‘frog.’

Costard, subs. (old).—The head. [Properly an apple.] For synonyms, see Crumpet.

1534. N. Udall, Roister Doister, III., v., p. 58 (Arber). I knocke
youre costarde if ye offer to strike me.

1605. Shakspeare, King Lear, Act iv. Sc. 6. Edg. ... Nay, come not
near th’ old man; keep out, che vor ye, or ise try whether your
costard or my bat be the harder.

1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary, Costard, the head; a kind of
opprobrious word, used by way of contempt, probably alluding to a
costard apple.

1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. xii. ‘It’s hard I should get raps over
the costard.’

Cotch, verb (vulgar).—To catch. [A corruption.] Also ppl. adj., cotched.

1889. Pall Mall Gaz., Oct. 12, p. 5, col. 2. Taken before some
French beak whom he did not know, and an interpreter brought, the
cotched culprit was made to pay 20 f.

Cots, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—See quot. [A corruption of ‘cotton.’]

1810. Charles Lamb, Recollections of Christ’s Hospital [1835], p.
24. The Cots, or superior Shoe Strings of the Monitors.

Cotsold or Cotswold Lion, subs. phr. (old).—A sheep. Mentioned by Ray in his proverbs. For synonyms, see Wool-bird.

1615. Harington, Epigrams, bk. III., ep. 18. Lo then the mystery
from whence the name Of Cotsold lyons first to England came.

Cotton-Lord or King, subs. (common).—A wealthy cotton manufacturer.

1883. Hawley Smart, Hard Lines, ch. xix. ‘But, Mr. Fulsby [a
Manchester man], the country will never ... do away with the army
because you cotton lords consider it unnecessary.’

Cottonopolis, subs. (general).—Manchester. [In allusion to the staple.] Cf., Albertopolis, Cubitopolis, Hygeiapolis.

1884. Echo, May 12, p. 4, col. 2. For the big race [Manchester Cup]
at Cottonopolis a fine lot are let in.

Cottons, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Confederate Bonds. [From the staple of the Southern States.]

Cotton To, verb (common).—To take a fancy to; to unite with; to agree with. In the last sense it is found occasionally in the Elizabethan writers, and is American by survival. [As regards derivation, it comes from the Welsh cytuno, to agree, to consent.]

Some French analogues are:—Avoir un béguin pour quelqu’un and avoir un pépin pour une femme; one who cottons to another is by students called un colleur; while concubinage by sheer force of habit is damned as le collage.

1582. Stanyhurst, Virgil, p. 19 (Arber). If this geare cotten, what
wight wyl yeelde to myn aulters Bright honor and Sacrifice.

1605. Play of Stucley, I., 290. John a Nokes and John a Style and I
cannot cotton.

1837. Barham, I. L. (The Bagman’s Story). For when once Madam
Fortune deals out her hard raps, It’s amazing to think, How one
cottons to drink!

1846. Punch, vol. II., p. 12. I agree in the words of Mrs. Judy,
who says, ‘My dear, I hope one day to see Peel and Cobden cotton
together.’

1864. Derby Day, p. 152. ‘You stop here and cotton up to the
gipsies,’ exclaimed Charley Brickwood.

1880. Ouida, Moths, ch. vii. ‘Ride? Ah! That’s a thing I don’t
cotton to anyhow,’ said Miss Fuschia Leach, who had found that her
talent did not lie that way.

To die with cotton in one’s ears, phr. (obsolete).—See quots.

1821. P. Egan, Tom and Jerry (ed. 1890), p. 92. Many of the most
hardened and desperate offenders, from the kindness, attention, and
soothing conduct of the Rev. Mr. Cotton [the chaplain at Newgate,
1821], who is indefatigable in administering consolation to their
troubled minds, have become the most sincere penitents.

1864. Athenæum, 29 Oct., No. 1931. Rev. of Sl. Dict. When a late
chaplain of Newgate [Rev. Mr. Cotton] used to attend poor wretches
to the scaffold, standing by their side to the last moment, they
were said to ‘die with cotton in their ears!’ Let us add here, that
Rowe invented the phrase ‘launched into eternity,’ to signify the
simple but solemn matter of hanging.

This was by no means the only instance of a popular punning allusion to the name of Cotton. The Jesuit Father Coton, having obtained a great ascendency over Henri IV., it was remarked by that monarch’s subjects that, unfortunately, ‘his ears were stuffed with cotton.’

Cotton-Top, subs. (obsolete).—A woman loose in fact, but keeping up some sort of appearance. [In allusion to cotton stockings with silk feet.]

Couch a Hogshead, verbal phr. (old).—To lie down and sleep. [Couch, to lie down, was in common use in Shakspeare’s time (Merry Wives of Windsor, v., 2). Hogshead = the head.]—See, however, quot., 1610, and for synonyms, see Balmy.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 66. To couch a hogshead: to ly
downe and slepe. Ibid, I couched a hogshead in a skypper this
darkemans.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874).
Cowch a hogshead: to lie doune and sleepe; this phrase is like an
Alminacke that is out of date: now the duch word to slope is with
them vsed, to sleepe, and liggen, to lie downe.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. iv., p. 37 (1874). The
fumes of drink had now ascended into their brain, wherefore they
coucht a hogs-head, and went to sleep.

1706. E. Coles, Eng. Dict., s.v.

1818. Scott, Heart of Midlothian, ch. xxx. ‘We’ll couch a hogshead,
and so better had you.’ They retired to repose, accordingly.

Councillor of The Pipowder Court, subs. (old).—A pettifogging lawyer. [The Pipowder Court was one held at fairs, where justice was done to any injured person before the dust of the fair was off his feet; the name being derived from the French pié poudré. Some, however, think that it had its origin in pied-pouldreux, a pedlar, and signifies a pedlars’ court.

Council-of-Ten, subs. phr. (common).—The toes of a man who walks duck-footed (q.v.). Cf., Ten commandments. Fr., arpions.

Counsellor, subs. (Irish).—A barrister. Fr., un gerbier.

1889. Answers, 9 Feb. I referred him to my solicitors, who very
kindly lent their services for nothing, giving the £3 he had to the
counsellor (thieves always call barristers counsellors) employed.

Count, subs. (common).—A man of fashion; a swell.—See quot., 1883, and Dandy for synonyms.

1859. Sala, Twice Round the Clock, 6 p.m., par. 20. Tremendous
counts are the clerks in the secretary’s office, jaunty
bureaucrats, who ride upon park hacks, and are ‘come for’ by
ringlets in broughams at closing time.

1883. G. A. S[ala], in Ill. London News, April 21, p. 379, col. 2.
Fops flourished before my time, but I can remember the ‘dandy,’ who
was superseded by the count, the ‘toff,’ and other varieties of the
‘swell.’

Counter, verb (pugilistic).—To strike while parrying. Also used as a verbal subs., countering. Figuratively, to oppose; to circumvent.

1853. C. Bede, Verdant Green, pt. I., p. 106. His kissing traps
countered, his ribs roasted.

1857. O. W. Holmes, Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, ch. vii. He
will certainly knock the little man’s head off, if he strikes him.
Feinting, dodging, stopping, hitting, countering—little man’s head
not off yet.

1871. Daily News, 17 April, p. 2, col. 2. The Jockey Club met on
Wednesday last, when they countered the Hunt Committee ... by
refusing to father the said ‘wrangling stakes’ by a majority of
eleven to three.

1873. Conservative, 15 Feb. If ‘The Druid’ is the prettier sparrer,
‘The Ædile’ must be admitted to have shown unexpected powers of
countering, and has stood up gamely to his bigger opponent.

Another lie nailed to the counter.—See Another.

Counterfeit-Cranke, subs. (old).—Explained in quots.—See Cranke.

1567. Harman, Caveat. These that do counterfet the cranke be yong
knaves and yonge harlots, that deeply dissemble the falling
sickness.

1621. Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, p. 159. A lawyer of Bruges
hath some notable examples of such counterfeit cranks. Ibid. 436.
Thou art a counterfeit crank, a cheater.

1622. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii., 1. And these, what name or
title e’er they bear, Jarkman, or Patrico, Cranke, or
Clapper-dudgeon, Frater, or Abram-man, I speak to all That stand in
fair election for the title Of king of beggars.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 39 (1874), s.v.

Counter-Jumper (or Skipper), subs. (common).—A draper’s assistant; a shopman. Fr., chevalier du mètre. For synonyms, see Knight of the yard. Also counter-jump = to act as a shop-assistant, and counter-jumping, verbal subs.

1855. C. Kingsley, Westward Ho. ‘Why,’ said he, stifling his anger,
‘it seems free enough to every counter-jumper in the town.’

1860. Guide to Eton, p. 236. They are like the young
counter-jumper, mentioned by Dickens, on the outside of a coach,
who lighted a great many cigars, and threw them away when he
thought no one was looking.

1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, II., 189. Mamma, dear, you open that
gigantic wardrobe of yours, and I’ll oil my hair, whitewash my mug
(a little moan from Mrs. D.), and do the counter-jumping business
to the life.

1864. G. A. Sala, in Temple Bar, Dec., p. 40. He is as dextrous as
a Regent Street counter-jumper in the questionable art of ‘shaving
the ladies.’

1876. M. E. Braddon, Joshua Haggard, ch. viii. I don’t want my son
and heir to keep company with counter jumpers.

Count-Noses, verbal phr. (parliamentary).—To count the ‘Ayes’ and ‘Noes.’ [A punning allusion to the latter.] Generally, to take the sense of any assembly.

Country, subs. (cricket).—That part of the ground at a great distance from the wicket; thus, a fielder at ‘deep-long-off,’ or ‘long-on’ is said ‘to be in the Country,’ and a ball hit to the far boundary is ‘hit into the Country.’

Country-Put, subs. (old).—An ignorant, country fellow. For synonyms, see Joskin.

1717. Mrs. Centlivre, Bold Stroke for a Wife, Act iv., Sc. 2. Col.
F. Enough. Now for the country-put.

County-Crop, subs. (general).—The hair cut close to the skull; a mode once common to all prisoners, but now to convicts only. Also prison-crop. [An abbreviation of county-prison crop.] Used likewise adjectively.

1867. Jas. Greenwood, Unsent. Journeys, xxv., 199. A slangy,
low-browed, bull-necked, county-cropped ... crew.

Couple- (also Buckle-) Beggar, subs. (old).—A celebrant of irregular marriages—as the Chaplain of the Fleet; a hedge priest. A Spanish colloquialism for such a marriage is bodijo.

1737. Swift, Proposal for Badges to the Beggars. Nay, their
happiness is often deferred until they find credit to borrow, or
cunning to steal, a shilling to pay their popish priest, or
infamous couple-beggar.

1842. Lever, Handy Andy, ch. xxix. This was a degraded clergyman,
known in Ireland under the title of Couple-Beggar, who was ready to
perform irregular marriages on such urgent occasions as the
present.

Couple of Shakes.—See Brace of Shakes.

Coupling-House, subs. (old).—A brothel. [From coupling, the act of copulating, + house.] For synonyms, see Nanny-shop.

Couranne.—See Caroon.

Court-Card, subs. (old).—A beau, or ‘swell.’ For synonyms, see Dandy.

Court Holy Water or Court Promises, subs. phr. (old).—Fair speeches without performance.

Cousin Betty, subs. (colloquial).—A half-witted person. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1860. Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia’s Lovers, ch. xiv. I dunnot think
there’s a man living—or dead for that matter—as can say Foster’s
wrong him of a penny, or gave short measure to a child or a cousin
betty.

Cousin-Trumps, subs. (old).—One of a kind: brother smut; brother chip.

1825. English Spy, p. 255. Most noble cracks, and worthy
cousin-trumps, etc.

Couter or Cooter, subs. (common).—A sovereign. For synonyms, see Canary, sense 3. Half a couter = half-a-sovereign.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant (3 ed.), p. 444, s.v.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 243. ‘A foulcher,
with flimsies and couters for a score of quid in it.’

1880. James Payn, A Confidential Agent, I., 207. ‘Well, he gave us
half a couter at all events,’ pleaded John in mitigation.

Cove, Covey, Cofe, Cuffing, and, in the feminine, Covess, subs. (general).—1. A person; a companion. [Some derive cove from the Gypsy cova, covo = that man, covi = that woman; Cova, says Pott (quoted in Annandale), has a far wider application than the Latin res; there is no expression more frequent in a gypsy’s mouth. Others connect it with the north country coof; a lout or dolt.] Cove enters into many combinations: e.g.,

Cross-cove = a robber.
Flash-cove = a thief or swindler.
Kinchin-cove = a little man.
Flogging-cove = a beadle.
Smacking-cove = a coachman.
Narry-cove = a drunkard.
Topping-cove = a highwayman.
Abram-cove = a beggar.
Queer-cove = a rogue.
Nubbing-cove = the hangman.
Gentry-cove = a gentleman.
Downy-cove = a shrewd man.
Rum-cove = a doubtful character.
Nib-cove = a gentleman,

etc., etc., etc., all which see.

English Synonyms. Boy; chap; cull; cully; customer; kiddy; homo or omee; fish; put; bloke; gloak; party; cuss; codger; buffer; gaffer; damber; duck; chip.

French Synonyms. Bête à pain (popular: literally a bread-eater; also a man who ‘keeps’ a woman); un bonhomme (familiar); un type (prostitutes’ = a dupe); un gonce, gonse or gonze, and une gonzesse (thieves’); un goncier (thieves’); un gonsalé (thieves’); un gadouille; un nière or niert; un pante (thieves’: from pantin, a puppet); un mastic (thieves’: properly cement or putty); une mazette (military); une mecque (thieves’); un marquant (thieves’: especially applied to bullies or Sunday-men); un marpaut or marpeau (old cant); un lancier (thieves’); un lascar (thieves’); un messier or messière (thieves’: from mézière, a fool); un orgue (thieves’); un gas (thieves’); un gosselin (popular = Eng. covey; une fignolé gosseline = a ‘natty piece’); un gniasse (thieves’); un loncegue (thieves’).