Chapter XIII: Part 13

French Synonyms. Les trottins (popular: trottiner, to go a jog-trot; aller chercher les pardons de Saint-Trottin, to take a walk instead of going to church); les reposoirs (common: properly [in sing.] a resting place or pause; also an altar set up in the streets for a procession); les ripatons (popular); les palerons (thieves’: properly, in sing., a shoulder-blade); les paturons (thieves’: properly pasterns); les harpions (thieves’: also hands). Cotgrave has harpe d’un chien = a dog’s claw or paw; also, Il mania très bien ses harpes, He stirred his fingers very nimbly. [Cf., ‘pickers and stealers’ = fingers]; les mains courantes (popular: literally running hands).

German Synonyms. Tretter (Cf., English ‘trotter’); Trittling, or Trittchen (Hanoverian = shoe, boot, foot, or staircase); Trittlingspflanzer or Trittlingsmelochner (the shoemaker).

Italian Synonyms. Calcioso; pisante; bottiero; mazzo.

2. (general).—Lice. For synonyms, see Chates.

Creeps, subs. (common).—The peculiar thrill resulting from an undefinable sense of dread. [Literally a ‘crawling’ of the flesh as with fear.] Also known as goose-flesh, cold shivers, and cold water down the back.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick Papers. I wants to make yer flesh creep.

1864. E. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. xiii. [Late Autumn.] Dreary
down in the old country mansions ... where the servants, town-bred,
commence to be colded, sniffy, to have shivers and creeps.

1870. London Figaro, 27 June. ‘A River Romance.’ Talking about
bodies, I could give you the creeps with what I’ve seen.

1883. The Lute, 15 Jan., p. 18, col. 2. We see the great tragedian
holding on to a chair, and giving his audience creeps with the
‘Dream of Eugene Aram.’

1890. Globe, 22 May, p. 1, col. 4. Miss Gertrude is the sister of
Mrs. Chanler-Rives (better known as Amélie, or still better as the
writer of The Quick or the Dead, by which many ladylike persons
have been given ‘the creeps’).

Crevecœur.—See Heart-breaker.

Crevice, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Cri, subs. (popular).—The Criterion, theatre and restaurant, at Piccadilly Circus.

c. 1886. Broadside Ballad, ‘Another Fellah’s.’ Round into the cri
ev’ry evening I slip, And deep in the pale sparkling bitter I dip.

Crib, subs. (old).—1. The stomach. Cf., Cribbing, sense 1. [A transferred sense of crib = a manger, rack, or feeding place. Cf., Isaiah i., 3, ‘The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib.’] For synonyms, see Bread-basket and Victualling office.

1656. Brome, Jovial Crew, Act. ii. Here’s pannum and lap, and good
poplars of Yarrum, To fill up the crib, and to comfort the quarron.

2. (colloquial).—A house; place of abode; apartments; lodgings; shop; warehouse; ‘den,’ ‘diggings,’ or ‘snuggery.’ For synonyms, see Diggings. [From A.S., crib, or cribb a small habitation.]

1598. Shakspeare, King Henry IV. Why, rather, sleep, liest thou in
smoky cribs, Than in the perfumed chambers of the great?

1830. Bulwer Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 80 (ed. 1854). Now, now in
the crib, where a ruffler may lie, Without fear that the traps
should distress him.

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. xix. The crib’s barred up at night
like a jail.

1847. Illus. London News, 22 May. The burglar has his crib in
Clerkenwell.

1860. Chambers’ Journal, vol. XIII., p. 212. He said he was awful
flattered like by the honour of seeing two such gents at his crib.

1882. Daily News, 5 Oct., p. 5, col. 2. To manage escapes from
prison successfully is only an application of the principles which
enable the burglar to crack the rural crib and appropriate the swag
of her Majesty’s peaceful subjects.

3. (popular).—A situation, ‘place,’ or ‘berth.’ [The transition from subs., sense 2, is easy and natural.]

4. (school and University).—A literal translation surreptitiously used by students; also a theft of any kind; specifically, anything copied without acknowledgment.—[See verb., sense 2.] For synonyms, see Pony.

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 185. He has with a prudent forethought
stuffed his cribs inside his double-breasted waistcoat.

1853. C. Bede, Verdant Green, pt. I., p. 64.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xxii. I wish I had read Greek a
little more at school ... when we return I think I shall try and
read it with cribs.

1856. T. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, pt. II., ch. vi. Tom, I
want you to give up using vulgus books and cribs.

1889. Globe, 12 Oct., p. 1, col. 4. Always, it seems likely, there
will be men ‘going up’ for examinations; and every now and again,
no doubt, there will be among them a wily ‘Heathen Pass-ee’ like
him of whom Mr. Hilton speaks—who had cribs up his sleeve, and
notes on his cuff.

5. (thieves’).—A bed.—[See subs., senses 2 and 3.]

1827. Maginn, from Vidocq. Lend me a lift in the family way. You
may have a crib to stow in.

Verb (colloquial).—1. To steal or pilfer; used specifically of petty thefts. For synonyms, see Prig.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Crib (v.): to with-hold, keep
back, pinch, or thieve a part out of money given to lay out for
necessaries.

1772. Foote Nabob, Act i. There are a brace of birds and a hare,
that I cribbed this morning out of a basket of game.

1846. T. Hood, Ode to Rae Wilson, Esqr., wks., vol. IV., p. 224.
Yet sure of Heaven themselves, as if they’d cribb’d Th’ impression
of St. Peter’s keys in wax.

1855. Robert Browning, Men and Women. Fra Lippo Lippi, ed. 1863, p.
351. Black and white I drew From good old gossips waiting to
confess Their cribs of barrel-droppings, candle-ends.

1889. Answers, 27 July, page 141, col. 1. He knew that if the
manuscript got about the Yankees would think it a smart thing to
crib it.

2. (school and University).—To use a translation; to cheat at an examination; to plagiarise.

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 177. Cribbing his answers from a tiny
manual of knowledge, two inches by one-and-a-half in size, which he
hides under his blotting-paper.

1856. T. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, pt. II., ch. iii.
Finishing up with two highly moral lines extra, making ten in all,
which he cribbed entire from one of his books.

To crack a crib.—See under Crack.

Cribbage-Face and Cribbage-Faced, subs. and adj. phr. (common).—Pock-marked and like a cribbage-board. Otherwise colander-faced, crumpet-faced, pikelet-faced, and mockered (q.v.).

French Synonyms. Avoir un grenier à lentilles (popular: a cock-loft, granary, or garret, for the storage of lentils); ne pas s’être assuré contre la grêle (popular: grêle = hail); un morceau de gruyère (popular: that cheese being honeycombed with holes); avoir un moule à gaufres (popular: moule = mould; gaufre = a cake); une écumoire (familiar: properly a skimmer); poèle à châtaignes (poèle = frying pan and châtaignes = chestnuts; the colander-like shovel for roasting chestnuts).

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Cribbage-faced: marked with the
small-pox, the pits bearing a kind of resemblance to the holes in a
cribbage-board.

Cribber, subs. (military).—A grumbler. [A horse that gnaws his crib or manger.] Cf., Crib-biter, and for synonyms, see Rusty-guts.

Cribbeys or Cribby-Islands, subs. (old).—Blind alleys, courts, and bye-ways; Fr., culs-de-sac.

Cribbing, verbal subs. (old).—1. Food and Drink. Cf., Crib, sense 1.

1656. R. Brome, A Jovial Crew. For all this ben cribbing and Peck
let us then, Bowse a health to the gentry cofe of the ken.

2. (schools’ and University and general).—Stealing; purloining; using a translation. Cf., Crib, subs., sense 4.

1862. Farrar, St. Winifred’s, ch. xxxv. They would not call it
stealing but bagging a thing, or, at the worst, cribbing
it—concealing the villainy under a new name.

Crib-Biter, subs. (common).—An inveterate grumbler. [Properly a horse that worries his crib, rack, manger, or groom, and at the same time draws in his breath so as to make the peculiar noise called wind-sucking.] French equivalents are un gourgousseur; un rême; un renâcleur; and un renaudeur.—See Cribber.

Crib-Cracker, subs. (general).—A housebreaker.

1880. G. R. Sims, How the Poor Live, p. 11. The little boys look up
half with awe and half with admiration at the burly Sikes with his
flash style, and delight in gossip concerning his talents as a
crib-cracker, and his adventures as a pickpocket.

Crib-Cracking, verbal subs. (thieves’).—Housebreaking.

1852. Punch, vol. XXIII., p. 161. With higher ambition Bill Sykes
he burned, And becoming experter as he grew older, From cly-faking
to crib-cracking turned.

Cries.—See Street cries.

Crikey! Cracky! Cry! intj. (common).—Formerly, ‘a profane oath’; now a mere expression of astonishment. [A corruption of ‘Christ.’]

1837. R. H. Barham, The Ingoldsby Legends (ed. 1862), p. 276. It
would make you exclaim, ’twould so forcibly strike ye, If a
Frenchman Superbe!—if an Englishman crikey!

1841. Comic Almanack, p. 275. Oh! crikey, Bill; vot a conch that
lady’s got!

1853. Diogenes, II., 54. O, crikey! the switching I got, At the
hand of the cruel old miser.

1888. W. E. Henley. ‘Culture in the Slums.’ ‘O crikey, Bill!’ she
says to me, she ses. ‘Look sharp,’ ses she, ‘with them there
sossiges.’

Crimini, Criminey, or Crimes!—See Crikey. [Possibly the latter usage has been influenced by crimen meum, my fault.]

1700. Farquhar, Constant Couple, Act iv., Sc. 1. Murder’d my
brother! O crimini!

1816. Scott, Antiquary, ch. xvi. ‘A monument of a knight-templar on
each side of a Grecian porch, and a Madonna on the top of it!—O
crimini!’

1841. The Comic Almanack, p. 280. ‘A Lament for Bartlemy Fair.’ Oh!
lawk; oh! dear; oh! crimeny me; what a downright sin and a shame.

Crimson. To make things look crimson, verbal phr. (American).—To indulge in a drunken frolic; to paint the town red (q.v.)

Crimson Chitterling, subs. phr. (old).—The penis. Used by Urquhart. For synonyms, see Creamstick.

Crincle-Pouch, subs. (old).—A sixpence. For synonyms, see Bender.

1593. ‘Bacchus’ Bountie,’ Harl. Misc., II., p. 270 [ed. 1808–11].
See then the goodnes of this so gracious a god, al yee, which in
the driest drought of summer, had rather shroude your throates with
a handfull of hemp, than with the expence of an odde crinclepouch,
wash yourselues within and without, and make yourselues as mery as
dawes.

Crinkum-Crankum, subs. (old).—The female pudendum. [Properly a winding way.] For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Crinkums, subs. (old).—A venereal disease. Cf., Crinkum-crankum. For synonyms, see Ladies’ fever.

Crinoline, subs. (common).—A woman. For synonyms, see Petticoat.

Cripple, subs. (old).—1. A ‘snid’ (Scots) or sixpence.—[See quots., 1785 and 1885.] For synonyms, see Bender.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Cripple: six pence, that piece
being commonly much bent and distorted.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 178, s.v.

1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 25, n. A bandy or cripple,
a sixpence.

1885. Household Words, 20 June, p. 155. The sixpence is a coin more
liable to bend than most others, so it is not surprising to find
that several of its popular names have reference to this weakness.
It is called a bandy, a ‘bender,’ a cripple.

2. (common).—An awkward oaf; also a dullard. Fr., malapatte (popular: properly mal à la patte). [Figurative for one that creeps, limps, or halts—whether physically or mentally.] Cf., sense 3, and Go it, you cripples.

3. (Wellington College).—A dolt; literally one without a leg to stand on. Cf., sense 2, and Go it, you cripples.

Go it, you cripples! phr. (general).—A sarcastic comment on strenuous effort; frequently used without much sense of fitness; e.g., when the person addressed is a capable athlete. Wooden legs are cheap is sometimes added as an intensitive.

1840. Thackeray, Cox’s Diary. ‘Striking a balance,’ p. 229. ‘O!
come along,’ said Lord Lollypop, ‘come along this way, ma’am! Go
it, ye cripples.’

Crisp, subs. (popular).—A banknote. For synonyms, see Soft.

Crispin, subs. (common).—A shoemaker. [From Saints Crispin and Crispianus, the patrons of the ‘gentle craft,’ i.e., shoemaking.]

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

1861. Punch, vol. XLI., p. 246. Crispin, everybody knows to be a
name for a shoemaker.

St. Crispin’s Lance, subs. phr. (old).—An awl. [From Crispin (q.v.) + lance, a weapon.] Fr., une lance.

Crispin’s Holiday, subs. phr. (old).—Every Monday throughout the year, but most particularly the 25th of October, being the anniversary of Crispinus and Crispianus.

Croak, subs. (thieves’).—A dying speech, especially the confession of a murderer. Also the same as printed for sale in the streets by a ‘flying stationer.’ [From the verbal sense (q.v.).]

1887. A. Barrère, Argot and Slang, p. 272. The criminal ... would
perhaps utter for the edification of the crowd his ‘tops, or
croaks,’ that is, his last dying speech.

1887. W. E. Henley, Villon’s Straight Tip. Go crying croaks, or
flash the drag.

Verb.—To die. For synonyms, see Aloft.

Croaker, subs. (old).—1. A sixpence. For synonyms, see Bender.

2. (old).—A beggar.

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

3. (common).—A dying person.—See Croak, verbal sense.

4. (common).—A corpse. [From croak, verb. sense, through croaker, senses 2 and 3.] For synonyms, see Dead-meat.

5. (provincial).—See quot.

1886. Ulster Echo, 31 July, p. 4. The inspector of nuisances said
the meat was known as croaker, or the flesh of an animal which had
died a natural death.

6. (prison).—A doctor [connected with crocus, but influenced by croaker, subs., senses 2, 3, and 4.]

1889. Evening News [quoted in Slang, Jargon, and Cant]. One man who
had put his name for the ‘butcher’ or croaker, would suddenly find
that he had three ounces of bread less to receive, and then a scene
would ensue.

7. (common).—A person, male or female, who sees everything en noir, and whose conversation is likened to that of the raven, which is a bird of ill-omen.—See Goldsmith’s Good Natured Man. Fr., un glas = also a passing bell.

Croakumshire, subs. (old).—Northumberland. [Grose: ‘from the particular croaking in the pronunciation of the people of that county, especially about Newcastle and Morpeth, where they are said to be born with a burr in their throats, which prevents their pronouncing the letter “r”.’]

Crock, subs. (common).—A worthless animal; a fool; said of a horse it signifies a good-for-nothing brute; of a man or woman, a duffer, a ‘rotter.’ [Most likely from the Scots crock = an old sheep.]

1887. Sporting Times, 12 March, p. 2, col. 5. The wretched crocks
that now go to the post will be relegated to more appropriate work.

1889. Bird o’ Freedom, 7 Aug., p. 3. For five minutes that crock
went about twice as fast as it had ever done.

1889. Illustrated Bits, 13 July. ‘I say,’ said the Lumberer to the
Old Hermit, as they stood at the mouth of the Cave listening to the
song birds, ‘you are getting a bit of a crock—failing fast, I
should say.’

Crocketts, subs. (Winchester College).—A kind of bastard cricket, sometimes called ‘small crochetts.’ Five stumps are used and a fives ball, with a bat of plain deal about two inches broad, or a broomstick.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 122. The
more noisily disposed would indulge in ... playing Hicockolorum, or
Crocketts.

To get crocketts, verbal phr.—To fail to score at cricket; to make a duck’s egg.

Crocodile, subs. (University).—A girl’s school walking two and two.

Crocus, Crocus-Metallorum or Croakus, subs. (common).—A doctor; specifically, a quack. [Conjecturally, a derivative of croak = to die. Cf., quot. 1781, under Crocussing rig.]

English Synonyms. Pill; squirt; butcher; croaker; corpse-provider; bolus; clyster; gallipot. [Several of these terms also = an apothecary.]

French Synonyms. Un dragueur (popular: literally a dredging machine); un cliabeau (a doctor at St. Lazare); un bénévole (popular: a young doctor, especially one walking the hospitals); un marchand de morts subites (common: literally ‘a dealer in sudden death.’ Cf., Corpse provider).

German Synonym. Rofe or Raufe (from the Hebrew).

Italian Synonyms. Maggio (signifying God, king, lord, and pope); posteggiatore (literally ‘he that places’; used of any charlatan, but particularly of a quack doctor); dragon di farda.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Crocus or crocus metallorum: a
nickname for the surgeons of the army and navy.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 231
(quoted in list of patterer’s words).

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

Crocus-Chovey (vagrants’ and thieves’).—A doctor’s shop. From [crocus = doctor + chovey, a shop.]

Crocus-Pitcher, subs. (vagrants’ and thieves’).—A quack ambulant. [From crocus (q.v.), a doctor, + pitcher, one that stands in the street to hold forth concerning his business.]

Crocussing-Rig, subs. (old).—Travelling from place to place, as a quack doctor. [From crocus (q.v.), a doctor, + ing + rig, a performance or trick.]

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 171. Crocussing Rig is
performed by men and women, who travel as Doctors or Doctoresses.

Crone, subs. (showmen’s).—A clown or buffoon.

Crook, subs. (old).—1. A sixpence. [An abbreviation of crookback (q.v.).]

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 178. s.v.

2. (general).—A thief; swindler; one who gets things on the crook (q.v.).

1887. Orange Journal, 16 April. Strange as the statement may seem,
the public know nothing of the work of a really clever crook, and
the police themselves know very little more. The explanation of
this ignorance is a very simple one. A crook whose methods are
exposed is a second-rate crook.

On the crook, adv. phr. (thieves’).—The antithesis of on the straight (q.v.). Cf., On the cross.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL., 503. Which he had bought
on the crook (dishonestly).

To crook (or cock) the elbow, or the little finger, verbal phr. (popular).—To drink. [A French colloquialism, identical in meaning, is lever le coude; a hard drinker is un adroit du coude.] For synonyms, see Lush.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms. To crook the elbow, is one of the many
slang terms for drinking.

1877. Besant and Rice, With Harp and Crown, ch. xix. The secretary
... might have done great things in literature but for his
unfortunate crook of the elbow. As he only crooks it at night, it
does not matter to the hospital.

1888. Detroit Free Press, 3 May, p. 4, col. 1. I’ll ... ask him to
take a drink, chat with him while he crooks his elbow.

Crook-Back, subs. (old).—A sixpenny piece, many of the slang names of which suggest a bashed and battered appearance; e.g., ‘bender,’ ‘cripple,’ ‘crook,’ crookback, etc. Quoted by Grose [1785]. For synonyms, see Bender.

Crooked, ppl. adj. (colloquial).—Disappointing; the reverse of straight (q.v.); pertaining to the habits, ways, and customs of thieves.—See On the crook. So also, mutatis mutandis, crookedness = rascality of every kind.

1837. Comic Almanack, p. 94. Things have gone very crooked.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. ii., p. 126. The prisoner’s
friend was also a ‘fly’ man, and he immediately saw how he could
thoroughly pay off the crooked officer.

1884. Daily Telegraph, 22 Jan., p. 3, col. 1. My time was up the
same day as that of two lads of the crooked school; it was through
them that I took to thieving.

1884. Echo, 28 Jan., p. 4, col. 1. Last season will be long
remembered in the racing world for the crookedness of some owners.

1888. Detroit Free Press, 3 Nov. ‘What are you trying to get out of
me?’ ‘I am going to see that to-night you are better lodged to
begin with. I may decide to do more, but that will depend pretty
much on yourself.’ ‘Nothing crooked, is it?’ asked the other,
suspiciously!

Crooked as a Virginia (or snake) fence, phr. (American).—Uneven; zig-zag; said of matters or persons difficult to keep ‘straight.’ To make a Virginia fence is to walk unsteadily, as a drunkard. The Virginia fences zigzag with the soil.

Crooky, verb (common).—To hang on to; to lead; to walk arm-in-arm; to court or pay addresses to a girl. For synonyms, see Trot out.

Crop.—See Crap, sense 1.

Cropped, ppl. adj. (old).—Hanged. For synonyms, see Ladder and Topped.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 30. Sentencing some more to
be crapped (sic) [hanged].

Cropper, subs. (common).—A heavy fall or failure of any kind; generally ‘to come a cropper.’ [Originally hunting.] Analagous French phrases are avoir une discussion avec le pavé (literally ‘to argue with the pavement’); prendre un billet de parterre (a punning play upon words: the pit of a theatre is parterre; par terre = on the ground: hence to take a ticket for the pit); se lithographier (popular). For synonyms in a metaphorical sense, see Go to pot.

1868. Echoes from the Clubs, 23 Dec. ‘Pleasures of the Hunting
Field.’ In short, it is fox-hunting which ... induces the belief
that life is a mistake without occasional croppers.

1869. H. J. Byron, Not such a Fool as He Looks (French’s Acting
ed.), p. 8. Mr. Topham Sawyer missed his own tip as well as his
wictim’s, and came down a cropper on a convenient doorstep.

1880. A. Trollope, The Duke’s Children, ch. lxvii. Talking to his
father he could not quite venture to ask what might happen if he
were to come a cropper.

1883. Daily News, 24 Jan., p. 5, col. 3. Ouida treads ‘alone,
aloft, sublime’ where Astræa might fear to pass, and though she
comes what men call croppers over a thousand details, she is
sublimely unconscious of her blunders.

Croppie or Croppy, subs. (old).—Originally applied to criminals cropped as to their ears and their noses by the public executioner; subsequently, to convicts, in allusion to their close cropped hair; hence to any person whose hair was cut close to the head; e.g., the Puritans and the Irish Rebels of 1789.

1870. Sir G. C. Lewis, Letters, p. 410. Wearing the hair short and
without powder was, at this time, considered a mark of French
principles. Hair so worn was called a ‘crop.’ Hence Lord
Melbourne’s phrase, ‘crop-imitating wig’ [Poetry of Anti-Jacobin,
p. 41]. This is the origin of croppies, as applied to the Irish
rebels of 1789.

1877–79. Green, Short Hist. Eng. People, ch. x., The croppies, as
the Irish insurgents were called in derision from their short-cut
hair.

Croppled. To be croppled, verbal phr. (Winchester College).—To fail in an examination; to be sent down at a lesson.

Croppy.—See Croppie.

Crops, verbal phr.—To go and look at the crops = to leave the room for the purpose of consulting Mrs. Jones (q.v.).

Cross, subs. (thieves’).—1. A pre-arranged swindle. In its special sporting signification a cross is an arrangement to lose on the part of one of the principals in a fight, or any kind of match. When both principals conspire that one shall win, it is called a double cross (q.v.). [Obviously a shortened form of cross-bite (q.v., verbal sense).]

1834. W. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood. Two milling coves, each vide
avake, Vere backed to fight for heavy stake; But in the mean time,
so it vos, Both kids agreed to play a cross.

1864. Derby Day, p. 39. ‘As sure as the sun shines, Askpart ’ll
lick ’em; if so be,’ he added significantly, ‘as there ain’t no
cross.’

1867. A. Trollope, Claverings, ch. xxx. I always suppose every
horse will run to win; and though there may be a cross now and
again, that’s the surest line to go upon.

2. (thieves’).—A thief; also cross-man, cross-cove, cross-chap, squire, knight, or lad, of the cross, etc. [Literally a man on the cross (q.v.).] For synonyms, see Thieves.

1830. Bulwer Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 72, ed. 1854. There is an
excellent fellow near here, who keeps a public-house, and is a firm
ally and generous patron of the lads of the cross. Ibid, p. 140.
Gentlemen of the Road, the Street, the Theatre and the Shop! Prigs,
Toby-men, and squires of the cross!

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. IV., ch. ii. Never a cross cove
of us all can throw off so prime a chant as yourself.

1864. Cornhill Magazine, II., 336. In the following verse, taken
from a pet flash song, you have a comic specimen of this sort of
guilty chivalry:—‘A cross cove is in the street for me, And I a
poor girl of low degree; If I was as rich as I am poor, Ye never
should go on the cross no more.’

Verb.—1. To play false in a match of any kind.

1887. W. E. Henley and R. L. Stevenson, Deacon Brodie, Act iv., Sc.
3. What made you cross the fight and play booty with your own man?

2. (venery).—To possess or ‘cover’ a woman.

Cross in the air, subs. phr. (volunteers’).—A rifle carried butt-end upwards.

3. (colloquial).—To thwart; to baffle; to spoil.

1709. Matthew Prior, The Thief, etc. There the squires of the pad
and the knights of the post, Find their fears no more balked and
their hopes no more crossed.

To play a cross, verbal phr.—See Cross, subs., sense 1; and verb, sense 1.

1834. W. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, p. 257 (ed. 1864), Zoroaster was
just the man to lose a fight; or, in the language of the Fancy, to
play a cross.

To shake the cross, verbal phr. (American thieves’).—To quit the cross and go on the square (q.v.).

1877. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Life on the Mississippi, ch.
lii., p. 459. The day my time was up, you told me if i would shake
the cross and live on the square for three months, it would be the
best job i ever done in my life.

To be crossed, verbal phr. (University).—Thus explained in a University Guide:—For not paying term bills to the bursar (treasurer), or for cutting chapels, or lectures, or other offences, an undergrad can be crossed at the buttery, or kitchen, or both, i.e., a cross is put against his name by the Don, who wishes to see him, or to punish him.

1853. Rev. E. Bradley, (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Verdant Green, pt. II.,
ch. x. Sir!—You will translate all your lectures; have your name
crossed on the buttery and kitchen books; and be confined to
chapel, hall, and college.

See also Cross, verb, sense 1.

On the cross, phr.—The opposite of on the square (q.v.). Cf., On the Crook.

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. xxxv. [Chas. Ravenshoe to
Shoeblack] ‘Have you any brothers?’ ‘Five altogether. Jim was gone
for a sojer, it appeared; and Nipper was sent over the water, Harry
was gone on the cross.’ ‘On the cross?’ said Charles. ‘Ah,’ the boy
said, ‘he goes out cly-faking and such. He’s a prig, and a smart
one, too. He’s fly, is Harry.’

1868. Ouida, Under Two Flags, ch. v. Rake had seen a good deal of
men and manners, and, in his own opinion at least, was ‘up to every
dodge on the cross’ that this iniquitous world could unfold.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 244. We went down
to a bloke I knew up in one of the streets leading off the Euston
road who did a little on the cross now and again, to see what he’d
stand for the £300.

1884. Echo, 1 March, p. 3, col. 6. Prisoner knew they were stolen,
and said he could get rid of any quantity of similar articles that
were got on the cross, a slang expression for stolen goods.

1889. Answers, 8 June, p. 25. One of them then came a little
nearer, and produced a good gold scarf pin, worth, perhaps, £2 or
£3, and asked if I would buy it, adding it was on the cross
(stolen), and I could have it for 2s., as they wanted a shilling to
get a bed.

Cross-Belts, subs. (military).—The Eighth Hussars. [The regiment wears the sword belt over the right shoulder in memory of the Battle of Saragossa, where it took the belts of the Spanish cavalry. This privilege was confirmed by the King’s Regulations of 1768.]

Cross-Bite, subs. (old).—See Cross-biting.

Verb (old).—To cheat; to scold; to hoax. [Nares thinks it a compound of cross and bite. It has suffered a double abbreviation, both its components being used substantively and verbally in the same sense.] For synonyms, see Stiff.

1581. Riche, Farewell to Militarie Profession. She was such a
devill of her tongue, and would so crossebite hym with suche
tauntes and spightful quippes.

1593. G. Harvey, New Letter, in wks. I., 274 (Grosart). If he
playeth at fast and loose ... whom shall he conny catch, or
crosbite, but his cast-away selfe.

1717. Prior, Alma, canto iii. As Nature slily had thought fit For
some by ends to cross-bit wit.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxiii. I know—I know—ugh—but
I’ll cross-bite him.

Cross-Biter, subs. (old).—A cheat; swindler; or hoaxer. [From cross-bite, verb (q.v.), + er.] Fr., un goureur.

1592. Robert Greene, Blacke Bookes Messenger [part of title].
Laying open the Life and Death of Ned Browne, one of the most
notable Cutpurses, cros-biters, and Coneycatchers.

1669. Nicker Nicked, in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park), II., 108, s.v.

1681. A Dialogue, etc., in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park), II., 126. I
think nobody knows what he is; but I take him to be a cross-biter.

Cross-Biting, verbal subs. (old).—A deception; cheat; or hoax. Cf., Cross-bite, verb.

1576. Whetstone, Rocke of Regard, p. 50. Crosbiting, a kind of
cousoning, under the couler of friendship; and in his epistle to
the readers, The cheter will fume to see his crosbiting and cunning
shiftes decyphered.

1586. Marlowe, Jew of Malta, IV., v. Like one that is employed in
catzerie [knavery] and crossbiting.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 53 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). He
[Lawrence Crosbiter] first vsed that art which now is named
crosbiting, and from whose name this damned art (crosbiting) tooke
her first call, as if Laurence Crosbiter first inuented the same.

1839. W. H. Ainsworth, J. Sheppard, p. 126, ed. 1840. ‘The devil,’
ejaculated Jonathan. ‘Here’s a cross-bite.’

Cross-Buttock, subs. (athletics’).—A peculiar throw in wrestling. Also used as a verb and verbal subs.

1690. D’Urfey, Collin’s Walk, c. ii., p. 74. When th’ hardy Major,
skilled in Wars, To make quick end of fight prepares, By Strength
or’e buttock cross to hawl him, And with a trip i’ th’ Inturn maul
him.

1742. ‘Handbill,’ in P. Egan’s Boxiana, vol. I., p. 45. I doubt not
but I shall prove the truth of what I have asserted, by pegs,
darts, hard blows, falls, and cross-buttocks.

1760. Smollett, L. Greaves, vol. II., ch. viii. He was on his legs
again ... but, instead of accomplishing his purpose, he received a
cross-buttock.

1836. M. Scott, Cringle’s Log, ch. xii. While the old woman
keelhauled me with a poker on one side, he jerked at me on the
other, until at length he gave me a regular cross-buttock.

1860. Chambers’ Journal, vol. XIII., p. 347. He is initiated into
all the mysteries of ‘hitting’ and ‘counterhitting,’ ‘stopping’ and
‘infighting,’ ‘the suit in chancery, and the cross-buttock.’

Cross-Chap.—See Cross, subs., sense 2.

Cross-Cove.—See Cross, subs., sense 2.

Cross-Crib, subs. (thieves’ and vagrants’).—A thieves’ hotel. [From cross (q.v., subs., sense 2), a thief, + crib (q.v., subs., sense 2), a place of abode.]

Cross-Drum, subs. (thieves’).—A thieves’ tavern. [From cross (q.v., subs., sense 2), a thief, + drum, a house or lodging.]

Crosser, subs. (sporting).—One who arranges or takes part in a cross (q.v., subs., sense 1).

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood. The mill is o’er, the crosser crost, The
loser’s won, the vinner’s lost!

Cross-Fan or Cross-Fam, subs. (thieves’).—Robbery from the person done cross-fammed, that is, with one hand (fam) across, and dissembling the action of, the other.

c. 1869. Broadside Ballad, ‘The Chickaleary Cove.’ Off to Paris I
shall go, to show a thing or two, To the ‘dipping blokes’ what
hangs about the caffies, How to do a cross-fan for a ‘super’ or a
‘slang.’

Verb (thieves’).—To rob from the person.—See subs.

Cross-Kid or Cross-Quid, verb (thieves’).—To question; cross-examine. [Kid = to quiz; hoax, or jest.] Fr., faire la jactance; also faire saigner du nez.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macmillan’s Mag., XL., 502. A reeler
[policeman] came to the cell and cross-kidded (examined) me.

Cross-Man.—See Cross, subs., sense 2.

Cross-Patch, subs. (colloquial).—An ill-natured, ill-tempered person. As in the old nursery rhyme:

Cross-patch, Draw the latch, Sit by the fire and spin.—Lit.

Not mentioned in Ash.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Cross-patch: a peevish boy or
girl.

1841. Comic Almanack, p. 258. Miss Pigeon’s trying to look shy,
He’s calling her crosspatch!

Cross the Damp-Pot, verbal phr. (tailors’).—To cross the Atlantic.—Cf., Big drink, Damp-pot, puddle, and Herring-pond.

Crow, subs. (thieves’).—1. A confederate on watch whilst another steals. Generally a man, but occasionally a woman acts as a crow; the latter is also called a canary (q.v., subs., sense 4).

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, IV., 286. One keeps a
look-out to see there is no person near to detect them. This person
is termed a ‘crow.’ If anyone should be near, the ‘crow’ gives a
signal, and then decamps.

1862. Cornhill Mag., VI., 648. Occasionally they [women] assist at
a burglary ... remaining outside and keeping watch; they are then
called crows.

1889. Answers, 18 May, p. 390, col. 2. A crow (confederate) is next
planted outside, or in an upper window, if there be one, to give
notice, by means of signals or a cord reaching to the workers, of
the approach of a peeler or chance passer-by.

2. (common).—A piece of unexpected luck; a ‘fluke’; generally ‘a regular crow.’ [Originally billiards’ in which it = a hazard not played for, i.e., a ‘fluke’: no doubt a corruption of the Fr. raccroc.] A French equivalent is mettre dans le mille.

To eat crow.—See Broiled crow.

A crow to pluck, to pull, or to pick with one, phr. (colloquial). Something demanding explanation: a misunderstanding to clear; a disagreeable matter to settle. Sometimes, a bone to pick, etc.

1593. Shakspeare, Comedy of Errors, iii., 1. If a crow help us in,
sirrah, we’ll pluck a crow together.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, in wks. V., 302. So I coulde plucke a
crowe wyth Poet Martiall for calling it putre halec.

1659. Howell, Proverbs. I have a goose to pluck with you.

1664. Butler, Hudibras, pt. II., 2. If not, resolve before we go,
That you and i must pull a crow.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. To pluck a crow: To reprove anyone
for a fault committed; to settle a dispute.

1819. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor, ch. xv. If these Ravenswood cases
be called over the coals in the House of Peers, you will find that
the Marquis will have a crow to pluck with you.

Crowd, subs. (old).—A fiddle.

Crowder, subs. (theatrical).—1. A large audience.

1883. Referee, 18 March, p. 3, col. 2. If the proprietors want, in
the way of audiences, to be able to boast of crowders, they should
take care to avoid giving pain.

2. (old).—A fiddler.

Crow-Eater, subs. (colonial).—A lazybones who prefers subsisting upon what he can pick up, as the crows do, to putting himself to the trouble of working for it. For synonyms, see Loafer.

Crow-Fair, subs. (old).—A gathering of clergymen.

Crown, verb (thieves’).—To inspect a window with a view to operations.

Crown and Feathers, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Crowner, subs. (old colloquial).—A coroner. [A corruption of ‘coroner.’]

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, Act v., Sc. 1. Sec. Cl. The crowner hath
sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, in wks. V., 220. And if any drowne
themselues in them, their crowners sit vpon them.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. ii. You’ll be to
Connecticut afore they can wake up the crowner and summon a jury.

Crown-Office, subs. (old).—The head. For synonyms, see Crumpet. Quoted by Grose [1785].

Crow’s-Foot, subs. (thieves’).—The Government broad arrow; also (in pl.) wrinkles at the outside corners of the eyes.

Cruel or Cruelly, adj. and adv. (colloquial).—Extremely; very; great. A fashionable intensitive; an Americanism by survival. Cf., Awful and Beastly.

1662. Pepys, Diary, 31 July. Met Captain Brown, of the ‘Rosebush,’
at which he was cruel angry. Ibid, 1666–7, 21 Feb. W. Batten denies
all, but is cruel mad.

1848. Bartlett, Dict. of Americanisms, p. 170. Oh, doctor, I am
powerful weak, but cruel easy.

Cruelty-Van or Booby-Hutch, subs. (common).—A four-wheeled chaise.

Crug, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—1. At Hertford, a crust; in the London school, crust and crumb alike.

1820. Lamb, Elia (Christ’s Hospital), p. 322, wks. [ed. 1852]. He
had his tea and hot rolls in a morning, while we were battening
upon our quarter of a penny loaf—our crug.

2. (Christ’s Hospital).—A Blue; especially an ‘old boy.’

1877. Blanch, Blue Coat Boys, p. 80. All crugs will well remember,
etc.

Cruganaler, subs. (Christ’s Hospital). A biscuit given on St. Matthew’s Day. [Orthography dubious. Blanch inclines to the following derivation: ‘The biscuit had once something to do with those nights when bread and beer, with cheese, were substituted for bread-and-butter and milk. Thence the term “crug and aler.” The only argument against this is the fact that the liquid was never dignified with the name of ale, but was invariably called “the swipes.” By another derivation = “hard as nails.” It is then spelt cruggy-nailer.’]

Cruggy, adj. (Christ’s Hospital).—Hungry. [From crug (q.v.).]

Cruisers, subs. (old).—1. Beggars, or highway spies: ‘those who traversed the road,’ says Grose, ‘to give intelligence of a booty’; also, rogues ‘ready to snap up any booty that may offer.’

2. in sing. (common).—A street-walker.

Crumb, subs. (military).—A pretty woman. Cf., Crummy, adj., senses 1 and 2.

Crumb and Crust Man, subs. phr. (common).—A baker. Cf., Burn-crust and Master of the rolls. Fr., un marchand de larton.

Crumbs.—See Pick up one’s crumbs and chates.

Crummy, adj. (popular).—1. Fat; plump; well-developed. Especially said of high-bosomed and full-figured women: e.g., a crummy piece of goods. [From a provincialism, crum or crom = to stuff, whence crummy = fat or well stuffed.] Fr., fort en mie (an almost literal translation); elle a de ça; Sp., carrilludo = plump-faced.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Crummy (a.): ... also fat,
rich, plump, or fleshy.

1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress p. 14. For they
saw, notwithstanding Crib’s honest endeavour, To train down the
crummy, ’twas monstrous as ever!

1828. Jon. Bee, Pict. of London, p. 60. A nice, crummy, young
woman, who seemed surprised and interested at his situation.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xxix., p. 289. ‘There’s the
remains of a fine woman about Sairah. Poll, ... Too much crumb, you
know,’ said Mr. Bailey; ‘too fat, Poll.’

1865. Henry Kingsley, The Hillyars and the Burtons. You’re crummy
and I ain’t a going to deny it. But you ain’t what I’d call fat.

2. (American).—Comely. Cf., sense 1.

3. (thieves’ and soldiers’).—Lousy.

4. (thieves’).—Plump in the pockets. [Probably an extended use of sense 1.]

Crummy-Doss, subs. (thieves’).—A lousy bed. [From crummy (q.v., sense 3), lousy, + doss (q.v.), a bed.]

Crump, subs. (Winchester College).—A hard hit; a fall. Used also as a verb in very much the same sense as to cob (q.v.). Cf., Barter.

Crumpet, subs. (common).—The head.

English Synonyms. Brain-pan; nut; chump; jazey; steeple; tib or tibby; weather-cock; turnip; upper extremity; top end; twopenny; upper storey; canister; attic; garret; costard; sconce; bonce; nob; lolly; lobb; knowledge-box; block; cocoa-nut; Crown-Office; calabash; top-knot; crust; chimney-pot; onion; chevy; cockloft; top-flat; gable; pumpkin; hat-peg; billiard ball; upper-crust; mazzard; cabaza; dome.

French Synonyms. Le michaud (thieves’); un caillou (popular; properly a pebble or flint); une baigneuse (thieves’); un baptême (popular); une cafetière (thieves’ and vagrants’); une façade (popular); une armoire à glace (popular); une bille (popular: properly a billiard ball); un béguin (popular); une citrouille or un citrouillard (thieves’: literally a pumpkin or gourd); un citron (thieves’); une ardoise (popular); un coco (popular: literally a cocoa-nut); une calebasse (popular = a calabash); une cocarde (popular: properly a cocade); un caisson (common: literally a chest or locker); une coloquinte (thieves’); un chapiteau (popular: literally a capital); une balle (popular); un moule de bonnet (popular: literally a cap-mould); le grenier à sel (popular: properly the [Attic] salt-loft); le baldaquin (a canopy); la boule (popular: the bowl, ball, or sconce); une ciboule (popular: properly a scallion, green onion, or eschalot); la boussole (familiar: in nautical phraseology, the compass); la pomme (popular and thieves’); le tesson (roughs’); la bobine (popular: literally a bobbin or spool); la poire (popular); la boîte au sel (familiar: the [Attic] salt-box); la boîte à sardines (popular = sardine box); la boîte à surprises (general: box of surprises); la tirelire (popular: literally money-box); la hure (properly the head of a wild boar); la gouache (popular); la noisette (popular: literally nut); le char (popular); le réservoir (popular: reservoir or cistern); le bourrichon (popular); la goupine (thieves’); la tourte (popular: properly tart or fruit pie); la tronche (thieves’ = chunk (or ‘chump’ of wood); le trognon (popular); la guitare (common); la guimbarde (popular: properly a Jew’s harp); le soliveau (popular; properly a small joist); le bobéchon (popular); la bobinasse (popular); le kiosque (familiar); le vol-au-vent (general); l’omnibus (common); la sorbonne (see remarks under Balmy, sense 2); la caboche (possibly a language word); le soufflet (popular: literally bellows; also the head of a carriage); le jambonneau (popular: properly a small ham); le schako (popular).

German Synonym. Kiefel.

Italian Synonyms. Chiurla or ciurla (a popular term); elmo (literally a helmet); borella (properly a ball); grinta (in orthodox Italian, ringworm of the scalp).

Spanish Synonyms. Chimenea (fem.; literally a chimney. Se le subió el humo á la chimenea, = the smoke has got into his head; said of one who is affected with drink); cholla (fem.); cabezorro (mas.; a big head, an augmentative of cabeza); caletre (mas.; an abusive term, properly understanding, judgment, discernment); campanario (mas.; properly a belfry).

Balmy in one’s crumpet.—See Balmy, sense 2, and the foregoing.

Crumpet-face, subs. (common).—A pock-pitted face.—See Cribbage-face.

Crumpet-Scramble, subs. (popular).—A tea party; tea-fight, muffin-worry, muffin-fight, bitch-party or cooky-shine (q.v.).

1864. Derby Day, p. 16. There are men who do not disdain
muffin-worries and crumpet-scrambles.

Crumpler, subs. (common).—1. A cravat.

2. (acrobats’).—See quot.

1874. G. A. Lawrence, Hagarene, ch. xxxviii. Pete knew how to fall
as well as any acrobat, and thought no more of a common ‘crumpler,’
than ordinary hunting folks do of a ‘peck’ or stumble.

Crush, subs. (colloquial).—A fashionable name for any large social gathering.

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. xiii. We fear he had
rather go to a crush at Lady Dinadam’s than sup with Boz.

1872. Pall Mall Gaz., 23 June. It would possibly be found that one
week of political reunions, concerts, balls, and crushes would be
as disastrous in its effects as two months of absinthe drinking.

1890. H. D. Traill, Tea Without Toast. ‘Saturday Songs,’ p. 100. It
appeared to us a feast wouldn’t help the cause the least, And we
settled that to give a crush at nine Would be greatly more
effectual, and far more intellectual, Than at six o’clock to,
greatly daring, dine.

Verb (general).—To run away; to decamp. For synonyms, see Amputate and Skedaddle.

To crush down sides, verbal phr. (Northern).—To keep tryst; also to run to a place of safety.

To crush or burst a pot, cup, or bottle, phr. (old).—To drink (generally in company). See Crack a bottle. [From the Italian crosciare = to decant.] Shakspeare, in The Taming of the Shrew, induction, Sc. 1, uses burst in a similar sense to crack and crush.

1592. Defence of Conny-catching, in Greene’s wks., xi., 43. If euer
I brought my Conny but to crush a potte of ale with mee.

1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act I., Sc. 2. And if you be
not of the house of Montagues, I pray, come and crush a cup of
wine.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. vii. I crushed a quart with
that jolly boy Jenkin.

Crusher, subs. (popular).—1. A policeman. [Possibly from the slang verb to crush = to run. Crush! was once a favourite signal of the ‘pea and thimble’ and other race-course sharpers, the meaning being: ‘Run! the police!’ The word came into general use, and was ultimately converted into crusher = a policeman.] For synonyms, see Beak, sense 1, and Copper.

c. 1840. Thackeray, The Organ-Boy’s Appeal. Though you set in
Vestminster surrounded by your crushers, Harrogant and habsolute
like the Hortocrat of hall the Rushers.

1842. Punch, vol. II., p. 137. ‘Proverbial Philosophy.’ There is
not one crusher who is proof against the waistcoat pocket.

1853. Diogenes, II., 46. Here in came [to the Court] a crusher (Beg
pardon—mean usher), Dragging in a Pot-boy, With great show of joy.

1859. Sala, Tw. Round the Clock, 5 p.m., par. 19. A crusher, or
policeman, there is indeed.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 223. Oh, that’s one
of the cleverest gentlemen cracksmen out.... The blooming crushers
were precious glad when they ‘pinched’ ’im.

2. (popular).—Anything large, fine, or extraordinary. [From crush, to overwhelm or subdue.] Akin to whopper, stinger, corker, bouncer, etc. (q.v.).

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. iv. She is a crusher, ain’t she
now?

1870. New York Herald, Jan. The Fenians in England received rather
a crusher, if I may use so slang a word, two days ago.

Crushing, ppl. adj. (colloquial).—Excellent; first-rate. For synonyms, see a1 and Fizzing.

Crust or Upper Crust, subs. (common).—1. The head. For synonyms, see Crumpet.

Upper-crust (q.v.), also = Society with a capital S.

Crusty-Beau, subs. (old).—One that uses paint and cosmetics to obtain a fine complexion.—Grose.

Crutch, subs. (colloquial).—The ‘fork,’ or inner angle of the thigh.

Crutches are Cheap.—See Wooden-Legs.

Cry, subs. (common).—A large number; a quantity. [From cry, a pack of dogs.] As in Shakspeare’s Coriolanus, Act iii., Scene 3. ‘You common cry of curs.’

Great cry and little wool, phr. (general).—Much ado about nothing. The original text of the proverb was, ‘Great cry and little wool, as the devil said when he sheared the hogs.’ Hudibras alters it into ‘All cry and no wool.’

To cry carrots and turnips, verbal phr. (old).—See quot.

1747. Charles Johnson, Highwaymen and Pyrates, p. 254. He came oft
with crying carrots and turnips, a term which rogues use for
whipping at the cart’s arse.

To cry [or call] a go, verbal phr. (common).—To give in, as one unable to proceed. An expression borrowed from cribbage signifying that the player who makes use of it has nothing playable in his hand, and is compelled to ‘cry a go.’] Cf., Pass.

1880. Punch’s Almanack. Got three quid; have cried a go with Fan,
Game to spend my money like a man.

To cry cupboard, verbal phr. (common).—To be fasting, hungry, banded (q.v.). Fr., n’avoir rien dans le cornet; avoir le buffet vide; and danser devant le buffet.

1738. Swift, Polite Conversation (conv. iii.), Footman. Madam,
dinner’s upon the table. Col. Faith, I’m glad of it; my belly began
to cry cupboard.

Cry matches! intj. phr. (American).—An exclamation of surprise. [Variously derived: (1) a corruption of ‘Crime hatches’; (2) cry = XPI or Christ, no suggestion being offered to account for ‘matches’; and (3) a conversion of the Fr. cré matin, presumably Canadian. Cf., Crimini.] Quoted in N. and Q., 5 S., viii., 491, and ix., 55, 318.

Cry off, verb (general).—To retreat; to back out from an engagement.

1866. London Miscellany, 5 May, p. 201. ‘London Revelations.’ ‘Why
this gent told me to bid,’ said the dealer, patting his tingling
fingers sharply, ‘and now he wants to cry off.’

To cry stinking fish.—See Stinking fish.

C.T.A., phr. (circus and showmen’s)—The police.

Cub or Unlicked-Cub, subs. (colloquial).—An awkward, sulky girl; a mannerless, uncouth lout of a boy. [In allusion to the clumsiness of bear cubs till their dam has ‘licked them into shape.’] Cf., Bear-leader.

1602. Shakspeare, Twelfth Night, Act v., I., 167. Duke. O thou
dissembling cub! what wilt thou be When time hath sow’d a grizzle
on thy case?

1693. Congreve, Old Batchelor, Act iv., Sc. 8. A country squire,
with the equipage of a wife and two daughters, came to Mrs.
Snipwell’s shop while I was there—but, oh Gad! two such unlicked
cubs!

1762. Foote, Liar, II., ii. I don’t reckon much upon him: for you
know, my dear, what can I do with an awkward, raw, college cub?

1773. O. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, Act iv., Sc. 1. ‘A poor
contemptible booby that would but disgrace correction.’... ‘An
insensible cub.’

1880. A. Trollope, The Duke’s Children, ch. ix. And Tommy, you are
an uncivil young,—young,—young,—I should say cub if I dared, to
tell me that you don’t like dining with me any day of the week.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xxix. I don’t see why that infernal
young cub of a Clive is always meddling in our affairs.

Cubitopolis, subs. (obsolete).—The Warwick and Eccleston Square districts. [From the name of the builders, see quot., 1864.] Cf., Albertopolis, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, The New Jerusalem, Slopers’ Island, etc. (q.v.).

1864. The Press, 12 Nov. Cubitopolis received its felicitous
cognomen from Lady Morley.

1866. E. Yates, Land at Last, ch. iii. There are men yet living
among us whose mothers had been robbed on their way from Ranelagh
in crossing the spot, then a dreary swampy marsh, on which now
stands the city of palaces known as cubittopolis.

Cuckoo, subs. (popular).—1. A fool. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1598. Shakspeare, Henry IV., Part I, Act i, Scene 4. O’horseback,
ye cuckoo; but afoot he will not budge a foot.

2. (old).—A cuckold.

1594. Shakspeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act v, Scene 2. Cuckoo,
Cuckoo, O word of fear Unpleasing to a married ear.

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

Cuckoos, subs. (old).—Money. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1612. The Passenger of Benvenuto. These companions, who ... carry
the impression and marke of the pillerie galley, and of the halter,
they call the purse a leafe, and a fleece; money, cuckoes, and
aste, and crowns.

Cuckoo’s Nest, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Cucumber-Time, subs. (tailors’).—The dull season. [A correspondent of Notes and Queries (1 S., viii., 439) says it is of German origin, and remarks that many hundreds of London tailors are of German nationality. The German phrase is die saure Gurken Zeit (pickled gherkin-time). Hence, it is said, the expression ‘Tailors are vegetarians,’ because they live now on ‘cucumber’ and now on ‘cabbage.’ Quoted by Grose (1785).] Cf., quot., 1821.

1821. P. Egan, Tom and Jerry [ed. 1890], p. 60. The chap in the
corner ... has been chaffing Spendall ... about his being so
cucumberish as to be compelled to ‘gammon the draper’ [which means
when a man is without a shirt, and is buttoned up close to his
neck, with merely a handkerchief round it to make an appearance of
cleanliness, it is termed, ‘gammoning the draper’].

Cud, subs. (popular).—A chew of tobacco; a quid. [An allusion to ‘chewing the cud.’]

Adj. (Winchester College).—1. Pretty; handsome. [Thought to be derived from kudos.]

2. (Christ’s Hospital).—Severe.

Cuddie, subs. (Scots).—A donkey.

Cuddling, verbal subs. (athletic and pugilistic).—Wrestling.

Cuddy, adj. (Christ’s Hospital).—Hard; difficult; said of a lesson. Also Hertfordicé for passy (q.v.). [There is a common hard biscuit called a ‘cuddy-biscuit’ which doubtless has this derivation.]

Cue, verb (thieves’).—To swindle on credit.

Cuff, subs. (old).—1. A foolish old man. [Probably a contraction of cuffin (q.v.).]

1678. C. Cotton, Scarronides, bk. I., p. 3 (ed. 1725). The lustiest
Carles thereabouts. Rich cuffs and very sturdy Louts.

1708. Centlivre, Busie Body, Act i. A very extraordinary Bargain I
have made truly, if she should be really in Love with this old cuff
now.

1760. Colman, Polly Honeycombe, in wks. (1777) IV., 38. They are
just here! ten to one the old cuff may not stay with her: I’ll pop
into this closet.

2. (tailors’).—A religious man, either real or sham.

To cuff Anthony, phr.—See Anthony.

To beat or cuff Jonas, phr. = To beat the Booby or goose (q.v. under Beat).

Cuffen.—See Cuffin.

Cuffer, subs. (military).—1. A lie; an exaggerated and improbable story.—See quot., under to spin cuffers, and for synonyms, see Whopper.

2. (American thieves’).—A man; also cuffir. [Cf., Cofe, Cove, and Cuffin, from one of which the American form is doubtless derived.]

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

To spin cuffers, phr.—To tell extremely improbable stories; to yarn; to draw the long bow (q.v.).

1888. Colonies and India, 14 Nov. The Australian youth can develop
the art of spinning cuffers very successfully on his own account,
without any adventitious assistance from a passing Minister of
Public Instruction.

Cuffin, Cuffen, or Cuffing, subs. (Old Cant).—A man.

1567. Harman, Caveat, s.v.

1857. Punch, 31 Jan., p. 49. ‘Dear Bill, this Stone-jug.’ In the
day-rooms the cuffins [warders] we queer at our ease, And at
Darkmans we run the rig just as we please.

Queer-cuffin, subs. (old).—A magistrate. [From queer, an old canting term for bad, + cuffin, a man; literally a bad man—from a rogue’s point of view. Some of the old canting terms are curious enough: e.g., ‘quyer crampringes’ = bolts or fetters; ‘quyer kyn’ = a prison house.] For synonyms, see Beak, sense 2.

1609. Dekker, Lanthorne and Candle-light [ed. Gros., III., p. 203].
To the quier cuffing we bing.

1837. Disraeli, Venetia, p. 71. The gentry cove will be romboyld by
his dam said a third gypsy. ‘Queer cuffin’ [magistrate or queer
man] will be the word if we don’t tour.

Cuff-Shooter, subs. (theatrical).—A beginner; one who gives himself ‘airs’; literally one who shoots his cuffs: having a greater regard for the display of his linen than for his work as an actor.

Cule, Cull, Culing, Culling, verb and verbal subs. (thieves’).—To purloin from the seats of carriages; the act of snatching handbags and other impedimenta therefrom. [Either an abbreviation and corruption of reticule, or from cull, to gather.]

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 444. Snatching reticules
from a carriage—culing.