Chapter XXIII: Part 23

Fiddle-head, subs. (nautical).—A plain prow as distinguished from a figure-head. Hence fiddle-headed = plain; ugly.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, III., i., 316 (ed. 1846). She has a
d——d pretty run; but I hope Captain O’Brien will take off her
fiddle-head and get one carved: I never knew a vessel do much with
a fiddle-head.

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. v. ‘Zounds! you’ve broke
it, you fiddle-headed brute!’ exclaimed a choleric voice ...,
startling the ladies most unceremoniously, and preparing them for
the spectacle of a sturdy black cob trotting rebelliously down the
farm-road.

Fiddler, subs. (old).—1. A trifler; a careless, negligent, or dilatory person. [From Fiddle, to trifle.]

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.) s.v.

2. (common).—A sharper; a cheat; also fiddle (q.v.).

3. (pugilistic).—A prize-fighter; one who depends more on activity than upon strength or ‘stay.’

4. (common).—A sixpence. [From the old custom of each couple at a dance paying the fiddler a sixpence. Cf., Fiddler’s money.]

1885. Household Words, 20 June, p. 155. Why a sixpence should be a
‘magpie’ it would be hard to say. A more easily explained name ...
is a fiddler. This probably from the old custom of each couple at a
dance paying the fiddler sixpence, and, moreover ‘fiddler’s money’
is generally small money.

5. (common).—A farthing. For synonyms, see Fadge.

1885. Household Words, 20 June, p. 155. fiddler. This same word
also does duty as an equivalent for a farthing.

Fiddlers’-Fare, subs. (old).—Meat, drink, and money—Grose, 1785.

Fiddlers’-Green, subs. (nautical).—A sailor’s elysium (situate on the hither and cooler side of hell) of wine, women, and song.

1837. Marryat, Snarley-Yow, ch. ix. At Fiddler’s Green, where
seamen true, When here they’ve done their duty, The bowl of grog
shall still renew, And pledge to love and beauty.

1842. Lover, Handy Andy, ch. xii. ‘He would as soon go into Squire
Egan’s house as go to Fiddler’s Green.’ ‘Faith, then, there’s worse
places than Fiddler’s Green,’ said Andy, ‘as some people may find
out one o’ these days.’

1884. Henley and Stevenson, Admiral Guinea, iv., 4. Jack Gaunt, ...
it’s thanks to you I’ve got my papers, and this time I’m shipped
for Fiddler’s Green.

Fiddlers’-Money, subs. (old).—Sixpences. [From the custom at country merry-makings of each couple paying the fiddler sixpence.] Also generically, small silver.

Fiddlestick! intj. (colloquial).—Nonsense; sometimes fiddle-stick’s end and fiddle-de-dee.

1600. Nashe, Summer’s Last Will, in wks. (Grosart) VI., 130. A
fiddle-sticke! ne’re tell me I am full of words.

1701. Farquhar, Sir Harry Wildair, Act IV., Sc. ii. Golden
pleasures! Golden fiddlesticks—What d’ye tell me of your canting
stuff?

1834. Southey, The Doctor, ch. clxxxix. At such an assertion he
would have exclaimed, a fiddlestick! Why and how that word has
become an interjection of contempt I must leave those to explain
who can.

Subs.—1. See quot.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 172. Fiddlestick, a spring
saw.

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

3. (old).—A sword.

1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, iii., 1. Here’s my fiddlestick:
here’s that shall make you dance.

Fiddling, subs. (streets’).—1. A livelihood got on the streets, holding horses, carrying parcels, etc.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 211. A
lad that had been lucky fiddling (holding horses, or picking up
money anyhow).

2. See quot. and cf., quot., subs., sense 1.

1850. Lloyd’s Weekly, 3 Feb. ‘Low Lodging Houses of London.’ I live
on 2s. a week from thieving, because I understand fiddling—that
means, buying a thing for a mere trifle, and selling it for double,
or for more, if you’re not taken in yourself.

3. (colloquial).—Idling; trifling.

4. (gamesters’).—Gambling.

Adj. (colloquial).—Trifling; trivial; fussing with nothing.

b. 1667, d. 1745. Swift [quoted in ‘Annandale’]. Good cooks cannot
abide what they call fiddling work.

1802. C. K. Sharpe, in Correspondence (1888), i., 152. He is a
mighty neat, pretty little, fiddling fellow, and exceedingly finely
bred.

1880. Hawley Smart, Social Sinners, ch. xiii. I will look in at
that time, and trust to find you have settled all these fiddling
preliminaries.

Fid-fad, subs. (old).—A contracted form of fiddle-faddle (q.v.); also applied to persons.

1754. The World, No. 95. The youngest, who thinks in her heart that
her sister is no better than a slattern, runs into the contrary
extreme, and is, in everything she does, an absolute fidfad.

1874. E. L. Linton, Patricia Kemball, ch. xvi. The fidfads, called
improvements, which were not wanted and seldom properly managed.

Fidlam-Bens or Coves, subs. (thieves’).—Thieves who steal anything they can lay hands on. Also St. Peter’s Sons.

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

Fie-for-shame, subs. phr. (schoolgirls’).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Field. To chop the field, verb. phr. (racing).—To win easily [Field = the horses taking part in a race.]

Fielder, subs. (betting).—A backer of the field [i.e., the ruck (q.v.). as against the favorite]. At cricket, a player in the field as against the team at the wickets.

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. vi. I accommodate a vociferous
fielder with 6 to 4 in hundreds as my concluding stake.

1883. Graphic, 11 August, p. 138, col. 2. As a batter, bowler, and
fielder combined ... he has yet no equal.

Field-lane Duck, subs. phr. (common).—A baked sheep’s head.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London, s.v.

Fient, intj. phr. (Scots colloquial).—An expression of negation: e.g., fient a hair care I = Devil a hair I care.

Fieri Facias. To have been served with a writ of fieri facias, verb. phr. (legal).—Said of a red-nosed man. [A play upon words.]

1594. Nashe, Unf. Traveller, in wks. v., 44. Should I tell you how
many pursenants with red noses, and sargeants with precious faces,
shrunke away in this sweat, you would not belieue me ... a
pursenant or a sargeant at this present, with the verie reflexe of
his firie facias, was able to spoile a man a farre of.

1608. Penniles Parl, in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park), I., 182. They that
drink too much Spanish sack, shall, about July, be served with a
fiery faces.

1663. Dryden, Wild Gallant, Act ii. Vour. You are very smart upon
one another, gentlemen. Fail. This is nothing between us; I was to
tell him of his title, fiery facias; and his setting dog, that runs
into ale-houses before him.

Fiery Lot, subs. phr. (common).—Fast (q.v.); rollicking; applied to a hot member (q.v.).

Fiery Snorter, subs. phr. (common).—A red nose.

Fifer, subs. (tailors’).—1. A waistcoat ‘hand.’

2. (Scots’ colloquial).—A native of the Kingdom (q.v.), i.e., the county of Fife.

Fi-fi or fie-fie, adj. (common).—Indecent; ‘blue’ or ‘smutty.’ [From Fie = an exclamation signifying contempt, impatience, or disapproval.] A Thackerayean term.

1861. A. Trollope, Framley Parsonage, ch. vi. And then Mrs. Proudie
began her story about Mr. Slope, or rather recommenced it. She was
very fond of talking about this gentleman who had once been her pet
chaplain, but was now her bitterest foe; and, in telling the story,
she had sometimes to whisper to Miss Dunstable, for there were one
or two fie-fie little anecdotes about a married lady, not
altogether fit for young Mr. Robart’s ears.

1874. M. Collins, Frances, ch. xviii. Flood was a gay bachelor,
with a few fie-fie stories floating through club atmosphere about
him.

Fifteener, subs. (bibliographical).—A book printed in the 15th century.

1890. ‘Grangerising’ in Cornhill Mag., Feb., p. 139. Some of them
torn from fifteeners, or ‘incurables,’ books of the fathers of
printing.

Fifth Rib. To hit, dig, or poke one under the fifth rib, verb. phr. (common).—To deliver a heavy blow; to dumbfound.

1890. Globe, 26 Feb., p. 1, col. 5. It strikes the man who has been
dallying with strange tailors ... under the fifth rib.

Fig, subs. (colloquial).—1. A gesture of contempt made by thrusting forth the thumb between the fore and middle fingers: whence the expression ‘I do not care, or would not give, a fig for you.’ Fr., je ne voudrais pas en donner un ferret d’aiguillette. Cf., Care, and for other similes of worthlessness, see Curse, Straw, Rush, Chip, Cent, Dam, etc. [Italian: When the Milanese revolted against the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, they set his Empress hind before upon a mule, and thus expelled her. Frederick afterwards besieged and took the city, and compelled all his prisoners, on pain of death, to extract with his (or her) teeth a fig from the fundament of a mule and, the thing being done, to say in announcement, ‘ecco la fica.’ Thus far la fica became an universal mode of derision. Fr., faire la figue; Ger., die Feigen weisen; It., far le fiche; Dutch, De vÿghe setten.

1599. Shakspeare, Henry V., iii., 6. Pistol. Die and be damned and
fico for thy friendship. Fluellen. It is well. Pistol. The fig of
Spain.

1610. Ben Jonson, The Alchemist, i. 1. Subtle. What to do? Lick
figs out of mine arse.

1821. Pierce Egan, Tom and Jerry [ed. 1890], p. 106. A fig for each
bum.

1861. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. vi. A fig for Poll Ady
and fat Sukey Wimble; I now could jump over the steeple so nimble;
With joy I be ready to cry.

1882. Punch, vol. LXXXII., p. 185, col. 2 (q.v.).

2. (common).—Dress. [From Fig, verb. sense = that which shows off a man or woman, as a fig of ginger shows off a horse. Cf., quot., 1819, in Fig up.] In full fig = in full dress.

1861. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. i. He waits on me in
hall, where we go in full fig of cap and gown at five, and get very
good dinners, and cheap enough.

1873. Cassell’s Magazine, Jan., p. 246, col. 2. ‘London Cured.’
They are rather prone to dress flashily, and wear when in full fig
no end of jewellery.

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

Verb (stable).—To ginger a horse. [For origin, see subs. sense.]

To fig out, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To show off; to dress; to don one’s war paint (q.v.). [From the verb.]

1825. The English Spy, vol. 1, p. 177. Eglantine (to the ostler).
Well, Dick, what sort of a stud, hey? Come, fig out two lively
ones.

1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, ch. vi. He began to inveigh
against the waiter’s costume, as he styled the dress I had figged
myself out in.

To fig up, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To restore; to reanimate (as a gingered horse).

1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 24. In vain did they try to
fig up the old lad, ’Twas like using persuaders upon a dead prad.

Figaro, subs. (common).—A barber. [From Le Nozze di Figaro.]

1886. Globe, 18 March, p. 3, col. 2. [Referring to recent order of
French War Minister permitting soldiers to wear their beards.]
There is wailing and weeping among a certain section of that army,
the figaros, which has been despoiled at one fell swoop.

Figdean, verb (old).—To kill. For synonyms, see Cook one’s goose.

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

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

Figged.—See Jigged.

Figger or Figure.—See Fagger.

Figging- or Fagging-lay, subs. phr. (old).—Pocket-picking: cf., Fagger.

Fight, subs. (common).—A party; e.g., Tea fight, Wedding-fight, etc. Cf., Scramble, and Worry: also Row (q.v.).

To fight or play cocum.—See Cocum.

To fight or buck the tiger.—See Buck and quots., infra.

1870. London Figaro, 20 July. The other day a gentleman of San
Francisco, hitherto only noted for deeds of daring in fighting the
tiger, was seated asleep in the smoking-car of the evening train
from Sacramento on the Vallejo route.

1886. Daily Telegraph, 18 Oct., p. 5, col. 3. If they subsequently
fight the tiger at the games of faro or roulette.

One that can fight his weight in wild cats, subs. phr. (American).—A brilliant desperado.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly. John Halkett, as I learned
afterwards, could fight his weight in wild cats.

Fighting-Cove, subs. phr. (tramps’).—A professional pugilist: specifically one who ‘boxes’ for a livelihood at fairs, race-meetings, etc.

1880. Greenwood, Odd People in Odd Places, p. 56. You see them two
there, sitting on t’other end of the table and eating fried fish
and bread. That’s their mittens they’ve got tied up in that
hankercher. They’re fighting coves.

Fighting Fifth, subs. phr. (military)—The Fifth Foot. [So distinguished in the Peninsular.] Other nicknames were the shiners (in 1764 from its clean and smart appearance); the old bold fifth (also Peninsular); and Lord Wellington’s body guard (it was at head-quarters in 1811). Cf., Fighting Ninth.

1871. Chambers’ Journal, 23 Dec., p. 802, col. 2. The Fighting
Fifth was distinguished by its men wearing a white plume in the
cap, when the similar ornament of the other regiments was a red and
white tuft.

1890. Standard, 25 April, p. 3, col. 4, ‘St. George’s Day.’ With
the exception of the annual observances by the Northumberland
Fusiliers, better known as the Fighting Fifth, and a concert at the
Crystal Palace, there does not seem to have been the smallest
notice taken of what was, not a hundred years ago, a recognised
popular festival throughout the length and breadth of once merrie
England.

Fighting Ninth, subs. phr. (military).—The Ninth Foot. [Also Holy Boys (Peninsular), from its selling its Bibles for drink.] Cf., Fighting Fifth.

Fighting Tight, adv. phr. (American).—Drunk and quarrelsome. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

Fig-leaf, subs. (common).—An apron. In fencing, the padded shield worn over the lower abdomen and right thigh. Fr., une petite bannette. Cf., Belly-cheat and Flag.

Figs (also Figgins), subs. (colloquial).—A grocer.

Figure, subs. (colloquial).—1. Appearance; conduct; e.g., to cut a good or bad figure, a mean figure, sorry figure, etc.

1712. Spectator, No. 479. Men cannot, indeed, make a sillier
figure, than in repeating such pleasures and pains to the rest of
the world.

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. xvii. Peradventure our
youth is fast, and aspires to be a man of figure.

2. (colloquial).—Price; value; amount.

d. 1863. Thackeray [quoted in Annandale]. Accommodating the
youngster, who had just entered the regiment, with a glandered
charger at an uncommonly stiff figure.

1864. London Society, Oct., p. 480. She had saved ... about four
hundred a year out of the wreck ... and so, on the whole, did not
do badly in life. Happiness has been found at even a lower
‘figure.’

1883. Sala, Living London, p. 184. The ‘figure’ to be paid to
Madame Adelina Patti for her forthcoming season.

1886. Cornhill Mag., March, p. 304. ‘About what is their figure?’
asked Mr. Corder. ‘Slim and graceful,’ answered the lady. ‘I don’t
mean that,’ said the ex-smoked-mother-of-pearl-button manufacturer;
‘I mean, what is each of them worth in money?’

3. (colloquial).—Paps and posteriors; said only of women. No figure = wanting in both particulars.

Verb (billiards’).—To single out; to spot (q.v.).

[Figure, like fetch, comes in for a good deal of hard work in
America. It is colloquially equivalent to ‘count upon’; as, ‘you
may figure on getting a reply by return mail’; also = to strive
for. To figure on [a thing] = to think it over; to figure out = to
estimate; to figure up = to add up; to cut a figure, see cut; to go
the whole figure = to be thorough; to go the big figure = to launch
out; to miss a figure = to make a mistake.]

Figure-dancer, subs. (thieves’).—A manipulator of the face value of banknotes, cheques, and paper security generally.—Grose [1785].

Figure-fancier, subs. (venery).—An amateur of large-made women.

Figure-head, subs. (nautical).—The face. For synonyms, see Dial.

Figure-maker, subs. (venery).—A wencher. [In allusion to the enlarged ‘figures’ of pregnant women.] For synonyms, see Molrower.

Figure (or Number) Six, subs. phr. (thieves’).—A lock of hair brought down from the forehead, greased, twisted spirally, and plastered on the face. For synonyms, see Aggerawator.

1851. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, v. I., p. 36. As for the
hair, they [coster-lads] say it ought to be long in front, and done
in figure-six curls or twisted back to the ear, ‘Newgate-knocker
style.’

Filbert. Cracked in the filbert, adv. phr. (common).—Crazy; a variant of wrong in the nut (q.v.) or upper storey. For synonyms, see Apartments to let and Tile loose.

Filch, verb (Old Cant: now recognised).—1. To steal: specifically to pilfer in small ways [Dekker: from the ‘filches’ or hooks used by thieves in stealing out of open windows; Skeat: for filk from O.E. fele, Icel. fela, to steal, like talk and tell, stalk (verb) and steal where k is a formative element.—See Phil. Soc. Trans., 1865, p. 188.] For synonyms, see Prig. Filch, properly filchman (q.v.), = a hooked staff; on the filch or filching = stealing.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 66. To fylche, to robbe.

1580. Tusser, Husbandrie, ch. 63, st. 13, p. 143 (E.D.S.). The
champion robbeth by night, And prowleth and filcheth by day.

1611. Middleton, Roaring Girl, Act iv., Sc. 1. What she leaves Thou
shalt come closely in and filch away.

1729. Swift, Intelligencer, No. 4, p. 35 (2nd ed.). The servants
having all that time to themselves to intrigue, to junket, to filch
and steal.

1830. Marryat, King’s Own, ch. x. I could filch a handkerchief as
soon as I was high enough to reach a pocket, and was declared to be
a most promising child.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 246. She were an
out-and-outer in going into shops on the filch.

2. (old).—To beat. For synonyms, see Baste and Tan.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874),
s.v.

Subs. (old).—A thief. [From the verb.] Also Filcher (q.v.). For synonyms, see Area-sneak.

1810. Poole, Hamlet Travestie, II., iii. A very filch, that more
deserves to hang, Than any one of the light-finger’d gang.

Filcher or Filch (q.v.). subs. (Old Cant: now recognised). A thief. [From filch (q.v.) = to steal + er.] For synonyms, see Area-sneak and Thieves.

1580. Tusser, Husbandrie, ch. 10, st. 54, p. 25 (E.D.S.).
Purloiners and filchers, that loveth to lurke.

1596. Jonson, Every man in his Humour, IV., ix. How now, Signior
Gull! are you turned filcher of late? Come, deliver my cloak.

1636. Davenant, The Wits, Act. V., The old blade Skulks there like
a tame filcher, as he had New stolen ’bove eggs from market-women,
Robb’d an orchard, or a cheese-loft.

1887. J. W. Ebsworth, Cavalier Lyrics (In Alsatia, etc.). Filchers,
who grabble at other folks’ chink.

Filchman or Filch, subs. (old).—A thief’s hooked staff used as described in quot., 1632.

1567. Frat. of Vacabondes, p. 3. The trunchion of a staffe, which
staffe they cal a filtchman.

1589. Nashe, Countercuffe to Martin Junior, in wks., vol. I., p.
80. Pasquill met him ... with a Hatte like a sawcer vppon hys
crowne, a Filch-man in his hande.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874),
s.v.

1632–48. Dekker, English Villanies. He carries a short staff in his
hand, which is called a filch, having in the nab or head of it a
ferme (that is to say a hole) into which, upon any piece of
service, when he goes a filching, he putteth a hooke of iron, with
which hooke he angles at a window in the dead of night for shirts,
smockes, or any other linen or woollen.

1665. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 49 (1874), s.v.;
1724. E. Coles, Eng. Dict., s.v.

File, subs. (old). 1. A pickpocket. Also file cloy or bung-nipper; cf., Buttock. Fr., une poisse à la détourne.

1754. Fielding, Jon. Wild, bk. IV., ch. xii. The greatest character
among them was that of a pickpocket, or, in truer language, a file.

1837. C. Dickens, Oliver Twist, p. 123. You’ll be a fine young
cracksman afore the old file now.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon. The file is one who
is generally accompanied by two others, one of whom is called the
‘Adam tyler,’ and the other the ‘bulker,’ or ‘staller.’ It is their
business to jostle or ‘ramp’ the victim, while the file picks his
pocket, and then hands the plunder to the ‘Adam tyler,’ who makes
off with it.

2. (common).—A man: i.e., a cove (q.v.). Thus silent file (Fr., un lime sourde) = a dumb man; close-file = a miser, or a person not given to blabbing; Hard-file = a grasper (q.v.); old file = an elder; and so forth.

1821. P. Egan, Tom and Jerry (ed. 1890), p. 54. He was one of the
deepest files in London; indeed, he was ‘awake’ on every suit.

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, p. 360 (ed. 1857). ‘Wot a
perverse old file it is!’ exclaimed Sam, ‘always agoin’ on about
werdicks and alleybis, and that. Who said anysthings about the
werdick?’

1837. C. Dickens, Oliver Twist, p. 233. The Dodger ... desired the
jailer to communicate the names of them two files as were on the
bench.

1849. Thackeray, Hoggarty Diamond, ch. xi. ‘You beat Brough; you
do, by Jove! for he looks like a rogue—anybody would swear to him:
but you! by Jove, you look the very picture of honesty!’ ‘A deep
file,’ said Aminadab, winking and pointing me out to his friend,
Mr. Jehoshaphat.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xiii. If you were not
such a steady old file I should think you were in love with her.

Verb (old).—To pick pockets.

Filing-lay, subs. (thieves’).—Pocket-picking. [From file = to steal from the person + lay = business, occupation.]

1754. Jon. Wild, bk. IV., ch. ii. I am committed for the
filing-lay, man, and we shall be both nubbed together.

Filling at the Price, adv. phr. (common).—Satisfying.

1870. London Figaro, 28 May. ‘Penny Pleasures.’ We believe that
baked taturs are accepted as Penny Pleasures, and as being filling
at the price.

Fill One’s Pipe, verb. phr. (obsolete).—To attain to easy circumstances.

1821. P. Egan, Tom and Jerry (ed. 1890), p. 32. It has often been
the subject of sincere regret that such persons, with very few
exceptions, have lived just long enough, according to a vulgar
phrase, to fill their pipe, and leave others to enjoy it.

Fill the Bill, verb. phr. (theatrical).—To excel in conspicuousness: as a star actor whose name is ‘billed’ to the exclusion of the rest of the company. Hence, by implication, out of the common run of things; e.g., That fills the bill = ‘that takes the cake,’ for a lie, an effect, an appearance—anything.

Fill the Bin, verb. phr. (American).—To be beyond question; to come up to the mark; e.g., ‘Is the news reliable?’ Yes, it fills the bin. Cf., To Fill the Bill.

1862. Speech of W. G. Brownlow of Tenn. in N. Y. Herald, 16 May.
‘Sir,’ said he,—and he [W. L. Yancey] is a beautiful speaker and
personally a very fine-looking man,—‘are you the celebrated Parson
Brownlow?’ ‘I’m the only man on earth,’ I replied, ‘that fills the
bin.’

Fillupey, adj. and adv. (obsolete).—Satisfying. [From fill + up + y.]

1853. Diogenes, II., 195. Champagne is fillupey, so is Auber’s
music.

Filly, subs. (common).—A girl; specifically a wanton. Among thieves, a daughter.

1668. Etherege, She Would if She Could, II., ii. (1704), p. 112. I
told you they were a couple of skittish fillies, but I never knew
’em boggle at a man before.

1846. Thackeray, V. Fair, ch. xi. Well, I heard him say, ‘By jove,
she’s a neat little filly!’ meaning your humble servant, and he did
me the honour to dance two country dances with me.

Filly-hunting, subs. (venery).—Questing adventures; grousing (q.v.).

Filth, subs. (old venery).—A prostitute.

1602. Shakspeare, Othello, v., 2. Iago, Filth, thou liest!

1609. Shakspeare, Timon of Athens, iv., 1. To general filths
Convert, o’ the instant, green virginity.

Fimble-Famble, subs. (common).—A lame excuse; a prevaricating answer.

Fin, subs. (common).—1. The arm; also the hand. [Fr., nageoire, but for synonyms, see Daddle. To tip the fin = to shake hands.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Fin, an arm.

1836. Michael Scott, Cruise of the Midge, p. 116. I wagged my head
at this one, and nodded to another, and salaam’d with my fins with
all the grace of a wounded turtle, to a third.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xxxvii., p. 323. ‘Smauker, my lad,
your fin,’ said the gentleman with the cocked hat. Mr. Smauker
dovetailed the top joint of his right hand little finger into that
of the gentleman with the cocked hat, and said he was charmed to
see him looking so well.

1844. Puck, p. 134. The sun shines fair in Carey Street, And eke in
Lincoln’s Inn, When Brown and Johnson gaily meet And shake the
friendly fin.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. lv. The young surgeon ... succeeded
in getting the General’s dirty old hand under what he called his
own fin.

1850. F. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, p. 152. I’ll drive you there
instead; it will be better for your scorched fin (pointing to my
injured arm), than jolting about outside a horse.

2. Also Finn or Finnie.—See Finnup.

Intj.—See Fain.

Find, subs. (Harrow).—A mess of three or four upper boys which teas and breakfasts in the rooms of one or other of the set. Find-fag = a fag who provides for or ‘finds’ upper boys.

Finder, subs. (thieves’).—1. A thief; specifically a meat-market thief.

2. (Oxford University).—A waiter; especially at Caius’.

Fine, subs. (thieves’).—Punishment; a term of imprisonment. For synonyms, see Dose. To fine = to sentence. [From the payment of money imposed as a punishment for an offence.]

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

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon. The cove had a fine
of two stretches and a half imposed upon him for relieving a joskin
of a load of cole.

To cut it fine.—See Cut fine.

To get one down fine and close, verb. phr. (American).—To find out all about a man; to deliver a stinging blow.

All very fine and large, adj. phr. (common).—An interjection of (1) approval; (2) derision; and (3) incredulity. [The refrain of a music-hall song excessively popular about 1886–88.]

Fine as fivepence.—See Fivepence.

Fine day for the young ducks, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A very wet day.

Fine words butter no parsnips, phr. (colloquial).—A sarcastic retort upon large promises.

Fine-drawing, subs. (tailors’).—Accomplishing an end without discovery.

Fineer, verb, Fineering, subs. (old).—See quot.

1765. Goldsmith, Essays, VIII. The second method of running into
debt is called fineering; which is getting goods made in such a
fashion as to be unfit for every other purchaser, and if the
tradesman refuses to give them on credit, then threatens to leave
them upon his hands.

Fine-Madam, subs. phr. (common).—An epithet of envy or derision for a person (feminine) above her station.

Finger, subs. (American).—A ‘nip’; usually applied to spirituous liquors. Thus, Three fingers of clear juice = Three ‘goes’ of whiskey.

1888. Newport Journal, 25 Feb. ‘Which is correct, spoonfuls or
spoons-ful, uncle?’ Denver uncle—‘Um—er—the fact is I don’t know,
my boy. In Denver, we don’t use either, we say fingers.’

Verb (venery).—To take liberties with a woman. For synonyms, see Firkytoodle.

To put the finger in the eye, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To weep. For synonyms, see Nap a bit.—[Grose, 1785.]

A bit for the finger, phr. (venery).—A lascivious endearment.

Finger and Thumb, subs. phr. (rhyming slang).—A road or highway, i.e., ‘drum.’ For synonyms, see Drum.

Finger-Better, subs. (American).—A man who bets on credit; also one who points out cards.

Finger-fucking, subs. phr. (venery).—Masturbation (said of women only). For synonyms, see Frig.

Finger-post, subs. (common).—A clergyman. For synonyms, see Devil-dodger.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. A parson: so called, because....
Like the finger-post he points out ... the way to heaven.

Finger-Smith, subs. (thieves’).—1. A pickpocket.

1883. Horsley, Jottings from Jail [in Echo], 25 Jan., p. 2, col. 4.
The delicate expression fingersmith, as descriptive of the trade
which a blunt world might call that of a pickpocket.

2. (common).—A midwife. Fr., Madame tire-monde or tire-pouce (Rabelaisian); Madame tire-mômes (môme = ‘kid’); une mômière (thieves’); Madame tâte-minette, Madame guichet or Madame portière du petit guichet (17th century phrases). Cf., Carver and Gilder.

Finish, verb (common).—To kill. For synonyms, see Cook one’s goose.

Finisher, subs. (colloquial).—Something that gives the last, the settling touch to anything. Cf., Corker, Clincher, etc.

1788–1841. Th. Hook [quoted in Annandale]. ‘This was a finisher,’
said Lackington.

Finjy! intj. (Winchester College).—An exclamation excusing one from participation in an unpleasant or unacceptable task, which he who says the word last has to undertake.

Finnuf.—See Finnup.

Finnup, (also finnip, finnuf, finnif, finnie, finn, or fin), subs. (thieves’).—A five-pound note or flimsy (q.v.). [A Yiddish pronunciation of German fünf = five.] Also finnup-ready (ready = money). In America finnup = a five dollar bill. Double finnup = a ten pound note.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 396.
The notes were all finnies (£5 notes), and a good imitation.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3rd ed., p. 444. Five-pound notes,
Finnips, ten-pound notes, Double finnips.

1883. Horsley, Jottings from Jail. When we got into the rattler
they showed me the pass. Yes, there it was, fifty quids in double
finns.

Fippenny, subs. (Australian thieves’).—A clasp knife. For synonyms, see Chive.

Fire, subs. (thieves’).—Danger.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon. This place is all on
fire; I must pad like a bull or the cops will nail me.

Like a house on fire, adv. phr. (common).—Easily and rapidly. Cf., house, winking, one o’clock, cake, brick, etc.

To fire a shot, verb. phr. (venery).—To emit. Fr., tirer un coup.

To fire a slug, verb. phr. (old).—To drink a dram. [Grose, 1785.]

To fire in the air, verb. phr. (venery).—To shoot in the bush (q.v.).

To fire a gun, verb. phr. (old).—To introduce a story by head and shoulders; to lead up to a subject.—[Grose, 1785.]

To pass through the fire, verb. phr. (venery).—To be clapped (q.v.), or poxed (q.v.).

To set the Thames on fire, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be clever, or the reverse; used in sarcasm.

Fire and Light, subs. phr. (nautical).—A master-at-arms.

Fired, adj. (American).—Arrested; turned out; and (among artists) rejected.

Fire-eater, subs. (common).—In Old Cant a quick-worker; and in modern English, a duellist or bully. Also Fire-eating.

1841. Savage, Dict. Art. of Printing, s.v. A quick compositor.

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. xii. Sir Ascot was none
of your sighing, despairing, fire-eating adorers.

1868. Ouida, Under Two Flags, ch. xv. A soldier, who ... was one of
the most brilliant fire-eaters of his regiment.

Fire-escape, subs. (common).—A clergyman. For synonyms, see Devil-dodger.

Fire-prigger, subs. (old).—A thief whose venue is a conflagration.—Grose [1785].

Fireship, subs. (old).—A tainted whore. For general synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

Fire-spaniel, subs. (military).—A soldier who ‘nurses’ the barrack-room fire. Some English synonyms are, fire-dog; fire-worshipper; chimney-ornament; fender-guard; and cuddle-chimney.

Firewater, subs. (American).—Ardent spirits.

1861. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xiv. Yes. And awful
firewater we used to get. The governor supplied me, like a wise
man.

Fireworks, subs. (common).—A state of disturbance; mental excitement: e.g., fireworks on the brain = to be in a fluster.

Firk, verb (old).—To beat.

1599. Shakspeare, Henry V., iv., 6. Pistol. I’ll fer him, and firk
him, and ferret him.

Firkytoodle, verb (common).—To indulge in sexual endearments. Also Firkytoodling = preliminary caresses.

English Synonyms.—To canoodle; to fiddle; to mess (or pull) about; to slewther (Irish); to spoon; to crooky; to fam; to dildo; to caterwaul; to feel; to finger; to fumble; to grope; to clitorize; to touch up; to tip the long (or middle) finger; to guddle (Scots.)

French Synonyms. Mignoter (popular); jouer de la harpe (familiar: Leroux, in Dict. Comique, says: ‘Jouer de la harpe signifie jouer des mains auprès d’une femme, la patiner, lui toucher la nature, la farfouiller, la clitoriser, la chatouiller avec les doigts’); la petite oie (= preliminary favours); faire des horreurs (popular: des horreurs = broad or ‘blue’ talk; dire des horreurs = to talk bawd); bécoter (popular: = to make hot love); chouchouter (familiar: chouchou = darling).

Spanish Synonyms. Garatusa (= an act of endearment); caroca (generally used in plural, carocas = endearments); amoricones (vulgar).

Firmed.—See Well-firmed.

First-chop, adj. (common).—First rate. [From Hind., chaap, a stamp, an official mark on weights and measures; hence used to signify quality.] Also second-chop (q.v.).

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. iv. ‘As for poetry, I hate poetry.’
‘Pen’s is not first-chop,’ says Warrington.

1880. A. Trollope, The Duke’s Children, ch. lxviii. Old Beeswax
thinks that if he can get me up to swear that he and his crew are
real first-chop hands, that will hit the governor hard.

First Flight. In the first flight, subs. phr. (sporting).—Those first in at the finish; in fox-hunting those in at the death.

1852. F. E. Smedley, Lewis Arundel, ch. xxxix. Then you promise you
will dine with me at Lovegrove’s, on Thursday, and I’ll pick up
half-a-dozen fellows that I know you’ll like to meet, regular
top-sawyers, that you’re safe to find in the first flight, be it
where it may.

First-nighter, subs. phr. (journalistic).—An habitué of first performances.

1886. G. Sutherland, Australia, p. 125. The first-nighter is almost
unknown in the colonies.

First-Night Wrecker.—See Wrecker.

Fish, subs. (common).—1. A man; generally in contempt or disparagement as odd fish, loose fish, queer fish, scaly fish, shy fish (all of which see). Cf., Cove.

2. (tailors’).—Pieces cut out of garments to make them fit close.

3. (venery).—Generic for the female pudendum: e.g., a bit of fish = a grind (q.v.); fish-market = a brothel; and to go fishing = to go grousing (q.v.).

Verb (colloquial).—To attempt to obtain by artifice; to seek indirectly; to curry favour.

Pretty kettle of fish, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A perplexing state of affairs; a quandary.

To have other fish to fry, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To have other business on hand.

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

1836. Michael Scott, Cruise of the Midge, p. 90. He shouted to us,
and pointed to his cargo; but we had other fish to fry, and
accordingly never relaxed in our pulling.

To be neither fish nor flesh, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be neither one thing nor another; said of waverers and nondescripts; sometimes extended to neither fish, flesh, fowl, nor good red herring.

1598. Shakspeare, II. Henry IV., iv., 3. Falstaff. Why, she’s
neither fish nor flesh; a man knows not where to have her.

1631–1700. Dryden [quoted in Annandale]. Damned neuters in their
middle way of steering, Are neither fish, nor flesh, nor good red
herring.

Fish-Broth, subs. (common).—Water. For synonyms, see Adam’s ale, to which may be added: Fr., le bouillon de canard (thieves’); l’agout (thieves’): Four. vetta.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe. The churlish frampold waves gave him
his belly-full of fish-broath.

Fisher, subs. (common).—A lickspittle; only used contemptuously.

Fishhooks, subs. (common).—The fingers. For synonyms, see Forks.

1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London, s.v.

Fishmarket, subs. (gaming).—The lowest hole at bagatelle; Simon (q.v.).—See also Fish, subs., sense 3.

Fishy, adj. (common).—Effete, dubious, or seedy (of persons); unsound, or equivocal (of things). Also Fishiness = unsoundness.

1858. Shirley Brooks, The Gordian Knot, p. 14. Highly fishy they
were. Something about breach of trust, and the embezzling his
brother’s money—a man in India.

1859. Punch, vol. XXXVI., p. 82. The affair is decidedly fishy.
However somebody must have the place, and so our friend Sam Warren
... takes the mastership, resigning his seat.

1868. Orchestra, 29 Feb., p. 365. When he commented on the words in
the libel of Greek derivation, he professed to have forgotten all
he ever learnt at school, said that ichthyophagous meant fishy, a
word that thoroughly described the plaintiffs case.

1870. London Figaro, 31 Oct. Captain Spratt is the right man in the
right place, though his appointment to such a post is certainly, on
the face of it, fishy.

1884. F. Anstey, Giant’s Robe, ch. xxii. There’s something fishy
about it all, and I mean to get at it.

1890. St. James’ Gazette, 9 April, p. 3, col. 1. Unfortunately the
Bill is fishy; and there are ‘very awkward and stiff considerations
about it.’

Fist, subs. (common).—1. Hand-writing. Fr., la cape.

1864. Derby Day, p. 8. Must say though that your friend writes a
tolerable fist.

2. (tailors’).—A workman. Good fist = a good workman.

3. (printers’).—An index hand.

Verb. 1.—To apprehend.

1598. Shakspeare, II. Henry IV., ii., 1. Fang. An I but Fist him
once! An a’ come but within my vice.

2. (colloquial).—To take hold, e.g., Just you fist that scrubbing-brush, and set to work.

3. (venery).—To fist it = to take a man by the penis, for intromission or masturbation.

To put up one’s fist, verb. phr. (tailors’).—To acknowledge a fact; cf., fill the bin and acknowledge the corn.

Fist-fucking, subs. phr. (venery).—Masturbation. For synonyms, see Frig.

Fit, adj. and adv. (colloquial).—Suitable; in good form.

1882. Punch, vol. LXXXII., p. 155, col. 1, (q.v.).

1884. A. Lang, in Longman’s Mag., IV., 140. The really best moment
in life is that which finds us young and fit, bowling on a lively
wicket, and conscious that we have considerable command of the
ball.

1889. Evening Standard, 25 June. ‘Sir C. Russell’s Speech in
Durham-Chetwynd Case.’ Now, Mr. Lowther, I am not suggesting—and I
wish to be perfectly understood—that to run a horse that is not
perfectly fit does not stand alone as an offence against the
honourable conduct of any man on the turf.

Fit as a fiddle, adj. phr. (colloquial).—Awfully fit, i.e., in perfect condition.

To fit like a ball of wax, verb. phr. (common).—To fit close to the skin.

To fit like a sentry box, verb. phr. (common).—To fit badly.

To fit like a glove, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To fit perfectly.

To fit to a T, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To fit to a nicety. [In reference to the T square used in drawing.]

1791. Boswell, Johnson. You see they’d have fitted him to a T.

To fit up a show, verb. phr. (artists’).—To arrange an exhibition.

To fit ends (or end to end), verb. phr. (venery).—To copulate. For synonyms, see Ride.

Fitch’s Grenadiers, subs. phr. (military).—The Eighty-Third Foot. [From the small stature of the men and the name of the first colonel.]

Fits. To beat into fits, verb. phr.—See Beat and Creation.

Fitter, subs. (thieves’).—A burglar’s locksmith.

Fit up, subs. phr. (theatrical).—A small company. Also used adjectively; see Conscience.

1889. Answers, p. 40. One young fellow, who had come down with me,
shook his head when he found that the company was one known as a
fit up, that is to say, one where the stage is really carried about
with the company.

Five-Fingers, subs. phr. (cards).—The five of trumps in the game of ‘Don’ or ‘Five Cards.’

1611. Chapman, May-Day, V., ii., in wks. (1873), ii., 401. For my
game stood, me thought, vpon my last two tricks, when I made sure
of the set, and yet lost it, hauing the varlet and the fiue finger
to make two tricks.

1674. Cotton, Compleat Gamester [at the game of five-cards]. The
five fingers (alias, five of trumps) is the best card in the pack
... the Ace of Hearts wins the Ace of Trumps, and the Five Fingers
not only wins the Ace of Trumps, but also all other cards whatever.

Fiver, subs. (colloquial).—Anything that counts as five; specifically a five-pound note. Cf., Finn.

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. i. Spooner ... loses a
five-pound note, or, as he calls it, a fiver, to my antagonist.

1864. E. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. xxv. Wouldn’t lend me a
fiver to save me from gaol.

1871. Daily News, 26 Dec. ‘Workhouse Xmas Depravity.’ Why, there’s
Jemima Ann ... has ... been bleeding me of a fiver to send to some
Christmas Dinner Fund for juvenile mudlarks.

1872. Fun, Sept. I lent a fiver unto a friend—He managed somehow
that to spend.

1890. Tit-Bits, 8 Feb., p. 273, col. 2. Lend me a fiver, will you,
Gus?

Five over Five, adv. phr. (common).—Said of people who turn in their toes.

Fivepence. As fine, (or as grand), as fivepence (or as fippence), phr. (colloquial).—As fine as possible. Cf., As neat as ninepence.

1672. Wycherly, Love in a Wood, V., wks. (1713), 421. Whilst his
mistress is as fine as fippence, in embroidered sattens.

1720. Gay, New Song of New Similes. As fine as five-pence is her
mien.

1738. Swift, Polite Convers., Dial. 3. Pray how was she drest? Lady
Sm. Why, as fine as fi’pence.

1857. A. Trollope, Barchester Towers, ch. xxxix. There’s ... the
lot of ’em all sitting as grand as fivepence in madam’s
drawing-room.

1866. G. A. Sala, Trip to Barbary, ch. xiii. They [the Jews]
continue to sit ‘all of a row’ with their daughters dressed ‘all in
green,’ or all in pink or salmon-colour, and as fine as fivepence
on their ceremonial days, waiting, waiting, always waiting, for the
restoration of the Temple and the end of the dolour.

Fives, subs. (common).—1. The fingers. Bunch of fives = the fist. Formerly also = the feet. For synonyms, see Forks.

c. 1629. Ballad in Arber’s English Garner, vol. VII., p. 13. Her
cheeks were like the cherry.... Her waist exceeding small. The
fives did fit her shoe.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ii., 7. Smart chap that cabman—handled his
fives well.

1887. Judy, 18 May, p. 236. Both the men of sin handled their fives
with almost professional dexterity.

2. (streets’).—A fight. [From sense 1.]

Fix, subs. (common).—A dilemma; frequently in conjunction with awful (q.v.) and regular (q.v.), e.g., an awful fix = a terrible position. Variants are cornered; up a tree; up a close; under a cloud; in a scrape. Fr., avoir des mots avec les sergots = to run amuck of the police.

1837. R. H. Barham, The Ingoldsby Legends, (ed. 1862), p. 405. But,
alas! and alack!—He had stuffed her sack So full that he found
himself quite in a fix.

1840. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, ch. lxi. It can’t be helped you
know. He ain’t the only one in the same fix.

1858. Shirley Brookes, The Gordian Knot, p. 88. John Claxton, what
a fix I am in. That Mrs. Spencer will never go out of town.

1864. Tangle Talk, p. 271. Just as you are in a capital fix,
exquisitely placed for being made a laughing stock, your friend
will turn round upon you.

1869. Mrs. H. Wood, Roland Yorke, ch. xxi. Oh, but I could tell you
of worse fixes than that.

Verb (old).—1. To arrest. For synonyms, see Nab and Cop.

1789. G. Parker, Variegated Characters. If any of us was to come in
by ourselves and should happen to take a snooze you’d snitch upon
us and soon have the traps fix us.

2. (American colloquial).—A general verb of action. Everything is fixed except the meaning of the word itself. The farmer fixes his fences, the mechanic his work-bench, the seamstress her sewing-machine, the fine lady her hair, and the schoolboy his books. The minister has to fix his sermon, the doctor to fix his medicines, the lawyer to fix his brief. Dickens was requested to ‘un-fix his straps’; eatables are fixed for a meal; a girl unfixes herself to go to bed, and fixes herself up to go for a walk. At public meetings it is fixed who are to be the candidates for office; rules are fixed to govern an institution, and when the arrangements are made the people contentedly say, ‘Now everything is fixed nicely.’ [This use is thought by Proctor to have arisen from some confusion between ‘fingency’ and ‘fixation’: as if the word had the meaning of the Latin fingo, fingere, instead of that of the Latin figo, figere. At least there is no use of fix in American which would not fairly represent the meaning of both.—See Philol. Soc. Trans. for 1865, p. 188.] The universality of the verb is only equalled by its antiquity, for, as J. R. Lowell points out, as early as 1675, the Commissioners of the United Colonies ordered ‘their arms well fixed and fit for service.’

To fix the ballot box = to tamper with returns.

1842. Dickens, American Notes, ch. x., p. 86. You call upon a
gentleman in a country town, and his help informs you that he is
fixing himself just now, but will be down directly: by which you
are to understand that he is dressing. You inquire, on board a
steamboat, of a fellow-passenger, whether breakfast will be ready
soon, and he tells you he should think so, for when he was last
below, they were fixing the tables; in other words, laying the
cloth. You beg a porter to collect your luggage, and he entreats
you not to be uneasy, for he’ll fix it presently, and if you
complain of indisposition, you are advised to have recourse to
Doctor so and so, who will fix you in no time.

1888. Scribner’s Mag. I do hope you’ll like everything; it’s the
first time we ever took boarders, but we try to fix things nice.

Anyhow, or nohow, you can or can’t fix it.—See Anyhow.

To fix one’s flint, verb. phr. (American).—‘To settle one’s hash.’ For synonyms, see Cook one’s goose.

1835–40. Haliburton, Clockmaker, S., ch. xii. Their manners are
rude, overbearin’, and tyrannical. They want their flints fixed for
’em as we did last war.

Fixings, subs. (American).—A noun of all work. Applied to any and everything.

1842. Dickens, American Notes, ch. x., p. 86. ‘Will you try,’ said
my opposite neighbour, handing me a dish of potatoes, broken up in
milk and butter, ‘will you try some of these fixings.’

1872. Daily Telegraph, 30 Sept. Still stoutly asserted by some
sceptical Down-Easter to have been an itinerant dealer in hardware
and kitchen fixings from Salem, Mass.

Fix up, verb. phr. (American).—To settle; to arrange. Cf., Fix.

Fiz, or Fizz, subs. (common).—Champagne; sometimes lemonade and ginger-beer. For synonyms, see Boy.

1864. Punch, vol. XLVII., p. 100. So away we went to supper For
hungry we had grown, And ordered some fizz, which the right thing
is, With a devilled turkey bone.

1869. St. James’ Mag., July. Her great object is to get one of
these fellows to order the champagne. On each bottle of this stuff
disposed of she has a percentage. She terms it fizz, and will
pretend to fall into ecstacies at the prospect of a glass of the
chemical essence of gooseberry sweetened up with tartaric acid and
sugar of lead.

1871. Morning Advertiser, 11 Sept. Shall the Admirals of England
now their former prowess drop, All courage ooze from tarry hands,
like fiz from uncorked ‘pop?’

1879. Justin McCarthy, Donna Quixote, ch. xvii. I can open a bottle
of soda or fizz ... and never as much as wink.

1883. Referee, 22 April, p. 3, col. 3. I have seen you wince when
it has come to your turn to stand treat, and you have been called
upon to pay twelve shillings for a bottle of fizz.

Fiz-Gig, subs. (schoolboys’).—A firework.

Fizzer, subs. (common).—Anything first-rate. Cf., fizzing.

1866. London Miscellany, 19 May, p. 235. If the mare was such a
fizzer why did you sell her?

Fizzing, adj. (common).—First-rate.

English Synonyms.—A1; cheery; clean wheat; clipping; crack; creamy; crushing; first chop; first class; first-rate, or (in America) first-rate and a half; hunky; jammy; jonnick; lummy; nap; out-and-out; pink; plummy; proper; real jam; right as ninepence; ripping; rooter; rum; screaming; scrumptious; ship-shape; slap-up; slick; splendacious; splendiferous; to rights; tip-top; true marmalade; tsing-tsing.

French Synonyms.—Aux oiseaux (pop.: very fine, very good); bath or bate (pop.: tip-top; for origin see under A1); c’est du flan (thieves’: it is excellent); c’est hurf (general: = true marmalade); c’est un peu ça (popular); c’est bath aux pommes (cf., bath ante); chenátre (thieves’); chic or chique (chique is literally a quid of tobacco); chicard, chicancardo or chicandard (superlatives of chic); chocnoso, chocnosof, chocnosogue or kosenoff (= crushing; nobby); chouette, chouettard, or chouettaud (chouette = literally a screech-owl); épatarouflant or êpatant (general = stunning); farineux (lit. farinaceous); flambant (lit. blazing, flaming); frais (used ironically); grand ’largue (largue = offing); mirobolant (fam. and pop. = slap-up); muche (= bully or ripping); numéro un (i.e., A1); obéliscal or obélisqual (common); ruisselant d’inouisme (familiar); rup (popular); schpile (popular); sgoff (popular); snoboye (fam. and pop.); superlificoquentieux (= splendiferous).

1885. Daily Telegraph, 1 August, p. 2, col. 2. ‘She’ll do fizzing,’
remarked Mr. Menders, regarding the transformed effigy admiringly,
‘to stick up at the head of the barrer.’

Fizzle, subs. (American).—A ridiculous failure; a flash in the pan. [The figure is adapted from wet powder which burns with a hiss, and then goes out.] In many of the United States colleges, the term = a blundering recitation. To hit just one third of the meaning constitutes ‘a perfect fizzle.’—Hall’s College Words. The ‘Brunonian,’ Feb. 24, 1877, defines the word to mean ‘where the student thinks he knows, but can’t quite express it,’ or ‘he tries to express it, and the professor thinks he doesn’t quite know.’

1849. Tomahawk, November. Here he could fizzles mark, without a
sigh, And see orations unregarded die.

1851. National Intelligencer, 8 Dec. The speech was as complete a
fizzle as has ever disgraced Congress, and we hope sincerely the
honourable member from Massachusetts will take the lesson to heart.

1865. Letter in the D. Telegraph, 30 March. The famous ‘Jack o’
Clubs,’ from which so much was expected, is a dead fizzle. The half
of the men had to leave the mines and go to the low country for
want of work; and wages, which always were $10 a-day, were reduced
to $80 per month, with board.

1883. Echo, 16 March, p. 4, col. 1. What promised at first to be a
magnificent Parliamentary ‘row’ ended in a mere unsensational
fizzle.

1890. St. James’ Gaz., 1 May, p. 4, col. 2. Altogether it begins to
look as though the terrible demonstrations of down-trodden labour
which were to shake society to its foundations would end in
something like fizzle.

Verb (American).—To fail in reciting; to recite badly. Also (said of an instructor) to cause one to fail at reciting. At some American colleges flunk (q.v.) is the common word for an utter failure. To fizzle = to stumble through at last. In the ‘Yale Literary Messenger,’ ‘Fizzle = To rise with modest reluctance, to hesitate often, to decline finally; generally, to misunderstand the question.’ Also to flat out (q.v.). Four. Far une yappa.

1847. The Yale Banger, 22 Oct. My dignity is outraged at beholding
those who fizzle and flunk in my presence tower above me.

1850. Yale Lit. Mag., p. 321. Fizzle him tenderly, Bore him with
care; Fitted so slenderly, Tutor, beware.

END OF VOL. II.

NOTES

[1] The Sunday men, as they are facetiously called in the fashionable world, are not now so numerous as formerly; the facility of a trip across the channel enables many a shy cock to evade the eye ... of the law.