Chapter VIII: Part 8

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. To click a nab; to snatch a hat.

Clicker, or Klicker, subs. (old).—1. A shop-keeper’s tout. [Formerly a shoemaker’s doorsman or barker (q.v.), but in this particular trade the term is nowadays appropriated to a foreman who cuts out leather and dispenses materials to workpeople; a sense not altogether wanting from the very first.]

c. 1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Clicker: the shoemaker’s
journeyman or servant, that cutts out all the work, and stands at
or walks before the door, and saies, ‘What d’ye lack, sir? what
d’ye buy, madam?’

1698. Ward, London Spy, pt. V., p. 117. Women were here almost as
Troublesome as the Long-Lane Clickers.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Clicker (s.): the person that
stands at a shoe-maker’s door to invite customers to buy the wares
sold there.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dictionary. Clicker: a female touter at the
bonnet shops in Cranbourne Alley. In Northamptonshire, the cutter
out in a shoemaking establishment.

2. (popular).—A knockdown blow.—See Click, subs. sense.

3. (thieves’).—One who apportions the booty or ‘regulars.’

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

Clift, verb (thieves’).—To steal. For synonyms, see Prig.

Climb Down, subs. and verb (colloquial).—The abandonment of a position; downward or retrograde motion; the act of surrender. At first American.

1871. Rev. H. W. Beecher, Star Papers, p. 41, quoted in De Vere’s
Americanisms. To climb down the wall was easy enough, too easy for
a man who did not love wetting. Ibid. I partly climbed down, and
wholly clambered back again, satisfied that it was easier to get
myself in than to get the flowers out.

1889 St. James’s Gazette, 22 Nov., p. 12, col. 2. I am particularly
pleased (adds our correspondent) with the noble conduct of the
Bread Union, the first to climb down, and the promptest to send in
its little bill.

1890. Globe, 7 April, p. 2, col. 2. It is satisfactory to learn on
no less an authority than that of the New York Herald that the
general election may at the moment be regarded remote. This is
indeed a climb down on the part of the chief disseminator of the
Dissolution rumour.

1890. Globe, 19 Feb., p. 2, col. 2. Mr. MacNeill’s ‘personal
statement’ in the House yesterday was distinctly in the nature of a
climb down.

Clinch, subs. (thieves’).—A prison cell. [? From clinch, to clutch, grip, and hold fast. Cf., Clink.] Variants in English are box, cob, salt-box, chokey and shoe. Fr., une cachemitte, une cachemar or cachemince (all thieves’, from cachot, ‘a black hole’); also un clou (military); maison de campagne (military); un mazaro, or lazaro; une matatane (military); un ours (popular); un abattoir (thieves’; properly ‘a slaughter house.’ This last, the name of the condemned cell in the prison of La Roquette, corresponds to the Newgate Salt Box). In German: Näck (only in Zimmermann; single cell in a prison; probably from the U.G. Noche and the M.H.G. Nacke = boat, from its shape; derivation from the Hebrew Nekef = hole, is also possible).

To get or kiss the Clinch or Clink, verbal phr. (thieves’).—To be imprisoned. For synonyms, see Cop.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., p. 102. s.v.

Clincher or Clencher, subs. (colloquial).—1. That which decides a matter, especially a retort which closes an argument; a ‘finisher,’ ‘settler,’ ‘corker.’ [From clinch, ‘to secure or make fast,’ through its obsolete meaning of ‘to pun or quibble,’ + er.]

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. Clincher ... an unanswerable reason or
argument.

1839. Pierce Egan, Finish to Life in London, p. 13. Death comes but
once, the Philosophers say And ’tis true my brave boys, but that
once is a clencher It takes us from drinking and loving away And
spoils at a blow the best tippler and wencher.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xvi., p. 136. ‘Why cannot I
communicate with the young lady’s friends?’ ‘Because they live one
hundred miles from here, sir,’ responded Job Trotter. ‘That’s a
clincher,’ said Mr. Weller, aside.

2. (common).—An unsurpassed lie; a ‘stopper-up,’ [This sense flows naturally from sense 1 and the accepted usages of clinch, verb and noun. Cf., Clinker, Whopper, Thumper, Whacker, etc.] For synonyms, see Whopper.

Cling-Rig.—See Clink-rig.

Clink, subs. (old).—1. A prison or lock-up; specifically applied, it is thought, to a noted gaol in the borough of Southwark; subsequently to places—like Alsatia, the Mint, etc.—privileged from arrests; and latterly, to a small dismal prison or a military guard room. For synonyms, see Cage.

1515. Barclay, Egloges, I. (1570) A. 5, 4. Then art thou clapped in
the Flete or Clinke. [m.]

1642. Milton, Apol. for Smect, § ii., in wks. (1806) I., 237. And
the divine right of episcopacy was then valiantly asserted, when he
who would have been respondent, must have bethought himself withal
how he could refute the Clink or the Gatehouse.

1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ch. xix. Come along with me; we’ve a
nice clink at Wandsworth to lock you up in.

1839. H. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, ep. I., ch. vi. The old and
ruinous prison belonging to the liberty of the Bishop of Winchester
(whose palace formerly adjoined the river); called the Clink.

2. (thieves’).—Silver plate; also clinch.—See Clank.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II. He wouldn’t have been hobbled
but the melting-pot receiver proved his selling the clink to him.

3. (Scotch colloquial).—Money. Cf., Chink.

1724–40. Ramsay, Tea-t. Misc., 14. The Warld is rul’d by Asses, And
the Wise are sway’d by clink.

1789. Burns, Let. J. Tennant, May ye get ... Monie a laugh, and
monie a drink, An’ aye enough o’ needfu’ clink.

1817. Hogg, Tales and Sk., II., 2, 3. Such young ladies as were
particularly beautiful ... and had the clink. [m.]

4. (colloquial). Also bum-clink.—A very indifferent beer made from the gyle of malt and the sweepings of hop bins, and brewed especially for the benefit of agricultural labourers in harvest time.

1863. Sala, Capt. Dang., I., ix., 266. A miserable hovel of an inn
... where they ate their rye-bread and drank their sour clink. [m.]

To kiss the clink, verbal phr. (old).—To be imprisoned. [From Clink, subs., sense 1.] For synonyms, see Cop.

1588. John Udall, State of the Ch. of England, etc., p. 22 (Arber’s
ed.) Diotr. Awaye, thou rayling hypocrite, I will talke with thee
no longer, if I catche thee in London, I will make thee kiss the
clinke for this geare. Paul. In deede the Clynke, Gate-house,
White-lyon, and the Fleet, haue bin your onely argumentes whereby
you haue proued your cause these many yeeres.

1889. Gentleman’s Magazine, p. 598. s.v.

Clinker, subs.—1. (in plural, old).—Fetters. For synonyms, see Darbies.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Clinkers: the Irons Felons wear in
Gaols.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Clinkers: irons worn by prisoners.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

2. (old).—A crafty, designing man.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Clinker: a crafty fellow.

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

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

3. (thieves’).—A chain of any kind, whether fetter or watch chain. Cf., sense 1.

4. (pugilistic).—A well-delivered blow; a ‘hot-’un.’

c. 1863. Thackeray, Men’s Wives, Frank Berry, ch. i. Berry goes
gallantly in, and delivers a clinker on the gown-boy’s jaw.

5. (colloquial, chiefly sporting).—Any thing or person of first-rate and triumphant quality; also a clincher (q.v.); a ‘settler.’ Cf., sense 4.

1733. Swift, Life and Character Dean S——t. A protestant’s a special
clinker. It serves for sceptic and free-thinker. [m.]

1869. Daily Telegraph, 5 April. Despite the indifferent manner in
which Vagabond cut up at the finish of the Metropolitan, quite
sufficient was seen of him to prove that at a mile and a half he is
a clinker.

1871. Daily News, 17 April, p. 2., col. 1. Ripponden and
Cheesewring performed so indifferently as to strengthen the doubts
whether they are really clinkers.

6. (common).—Deposits of fæcal or seminal matter in the hair about the anus or the female pudendum.

7. (common).—A lie. For synonyms, see Whopper.

To have clinkers in one’s bum, phr. (vulgar).—To be uneasy; unable to sit still.

Clinkerum. The same as clink, sense 1.

Clinking, ppl. adj. (common).—First-rate; extra good; about the best possible. Cf., Clipping, Thumping, Whopping, Battling, etc.

1868. Daily Telegraph, 6 June. Vermouth was a clinking good horse.

1887. Sporting Times, 12 March, p. 2, col. 2. Prince Henry must be
a clinking good horse when in the humour to go.

1889. Polytechnic Mag., 24 Oct., p. 263. Soon afterwards the Poly.
obtained a free kick, and Young notched a point for them. Heard
again steered the ball to the Clapham goal, and Toghill put in a
clinking shot which just shaved the upright.

Clink-Rig or Cling-Rig, subs. (old).—Stealing silver tankards from public-houses, etc. [From clink, plate, + rig, a theft, or dodge.]

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 174, s.v.

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

Clip, subs. (colloquial).—A smart blow, e.g., a clip in the eye. For synonyms, see Dig, bang, and wipe.

1830. Marryat, King’s Own, xxvi. The master fires and hits the cat
a clip on the neck.

1835. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker (1862), 89. He made
a pull at the old-fashioned sword ... and drawing it out he made a
clip at him.

1860. Police Gazette, 17 November. He ran up to him, hit him a
severe clip, and dashed through the window.

Verb (colloquial).—To move quickly. For analogous terms, see Amputate. [Probably originally a falconry term = to fly swiftly.]

1833. M. Scott, Tom Cringle, xii. (1859), 281. He clipped into the
water with the speed of light.

1835–40. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker (1862), 46. He
sees a steam-boat a clippin it by him like mad.

1843–4. Sam Slick in England, viii. (Bartlett). I ran all the way,
right down as hard as I could clip.

Clipe, verb (school).—To tell tales; to ‘split’; to Peach; q.v. (for synonyms).

Clipper, subs. (colloquial).—A triumph in horses, men, or women; a splendid man; a brilliant or very stylish woman; an admirable horse. [From Clipper, = a vessel built with a view to fast sailing; previous to which the term was applied to a hack for the road.]

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xv. A perfect pictur’ of a
horse, and a genuine clipper; could gallop like the wind.

1846. Thackeray, V. Fair, ch. xvi. You have head enough for both of
us, Beck, said he. You’re sure to get us out of the scrape. I never
saw your equal, and I’ve met with some clippers in my time, too.

1851. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, I., p. 133. They [wild
ducks] come over here when the weather’s a clipper; for you see
cold weather suits some birds and kills others.

Clipping or Clippingly, ppl. adj. and adv. (common).—Excellent; very showy; first-rate. [From that sense of clipping = that flies or moves fast.—See quot., 1643.] For synonyms, see A1 and Fizzing.

1643. P. Quarles, Emblemes, B. IV., ii., p. 194 (ed. 1648). O that
the pinions of a clipping Dove Would cut my passage through the
Empty Air, Mine eyes being sealed, how would I mount above The
reach of danger and forgotten care!

1860. Thackeray, Philip, ch. i., p. 46. What clipping girls there
were in that barouche.

1864. E. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. xxiii. [Mr. Commissioner
Beresford loq.:] Clipping riders, those girls! good as Kate Mellon
anyday!

Cloak, subs. (thieves’).—A watch case. [From cloak, an outer garment.]

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 70. Near to
these hopeful youths sat a fence, or receiver, bargaining with a
clouter, or pickpocket, for a ‘suit,’ or, to speak in more
intelligible language, a watch and seals, two ‘cloaks,’ commonly
called watch-cases and a ‘wedge-lobb,’ otherwise known as a silver
snuff-box.

Cloak-Twitchers, subs. (old).—Thieves who made a special business of robbing the lieges of their cloaks. [From cloak + twitch, to snatch, + er.] In the old French cant these rogues were termed tirelaines, i.e., wool-pullers (tirer = pull). For synonyms, see Thieves.

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

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Clobber, subs. (common).—Primarily old, but now also applied to new clothes. For synonyms, see Togs.

1879. J. W. Horsley, Macm. Mag., XL., 502. Having a new suit of
clobber on me.

1889. Answers, 11 May, p. 374, col. 3. The clobber (old clothes)
which have been presented by charitable persons are exchanged and
sold.

1889. Sporting Times, quoted in Slang, Jargon, and Cant, p. 255. If
you are hard up always tell the dear things that you are a
gentleman’s valet. This will account for your good clobber.

Verb.—Also clobber up. 1. To patch; revive; or ‘translate’ clothes. [Properly applied to cobbling of the lowest class. Cf., Clobberer.]

1865. Cassell’s Paper, Article, ‘Old Clo’.’ They are now past
‘clobbering,’ ‘reviving,’ or ‘translating,’ they are, in fact, at
the lowest point of Fortune’s wheel: but the next turn puts them in
its highest point again.

2. To dress smartly; to rig oneself out presentably. For synonyms, see Rig out.

1879. J. W. Horsley, Macm. Mag., XL., 501. I used to get a good
many pieces about this time, so I used to clobber myself up and go
to the concert-rooms.

1886. W. E. Henley, Villon’s Good-Night. You judes that clobber for
the stramm.

1889. Fun [quoted in S., J., and C. p. 256]. ‘D’you know, if you
were clobbered up I shouldn’t mind taking you out?’ She promised to
be presentable. In her own words she said, ‘I’ll come clobbered up
like a dukess.’

To do clobber at a fence, phr. (thieves’).—To sell stolen clothes. Fr., laver les harnais.

Clobberer, subs. (common).—See quot. and Cf., Clobber, subs. and verb.

1864. The Times, Nov. 2. Old clothes that are intended to remain in
this country have to be tutored and transformed. The clobberer, the
‘reviver,’ and the ‘translator’ lay hands upon them. The duty of
the clobberer is to patch, to sew up, and to restore as far as
possible the garments to their pristine appearance.

Clock, subs. (thieves’).—A watch. A red clock = a gold watch; a white clock = a silver watch. Generally modified into ‘red’un’ and ‘white’un,’ but for synonyms, see Ticker.

1886. Tit-Bits, 5 June, p. 121. Thus Fillied for a Clock and Slang,
reveals the fact that the writer stole a watch and chain, was
apprehended, and has been fully committed for trial.

To know what’s o’clock, phr. (common).—To be on the alert; in full possession of one’s senses; a downey cove: generally knowing (q.v. for synonyms). A variant is to know the time o’day.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 451. Our governor’s wide awake,
he is, I’ll never say nothin’ agin him, nor no man; but he knows
what’s o’clock, he does, uncommon.

1849–50. Thackeray, Pendennis, I., p. 138. I’m not clever, p’raps,
but I am rather downy, and partial friends say that I know what’s
o’clock tolerably well.

Clock Stopped.—See Tick.

Clod-Crushers, subs. (popular).—1. Clumsy boots. [In agriculture an implement for pulverising clods. Cf., Beetle-crushers, and for synonyms, see Trotter-cases.]

2. (common).—Large feet. [A transferred usage.—See sense 1.]

Clods and Stickings, subs. phr. (paupers’).—See quot.

1871. Daily Telegraph, 24 Oct., Henry Melville’s (the pauper)
passionate, ‘beutiful,’ for Stepney Workhouse is a grotesque reflex
of Marie Stuart’s pathetic farewell to France. Is the skilly we
wonder most ‘beutiful’ at Stepney, or are the clods and stickings
unusually free from bone.

Cloister-Roush, subs. (Winchester College: obsolete).—See quot.

1870. Mansfield, School Life at Winchester College, p. 117. We had
some singular customs at the commencement of Cloister time. Senior
part and Cloisters, just before the entrance of the Masters into
School, used to engage in a kind of general tournament; this was
called Cloister Roush.

Clootie (Scots).—The Devil.—See Cloots.

1786. Burns, Address to the Deil. Auld Hornie, Satan, Nick, or
clootie.

Cloots (Scots), subs.—Hooves.

1786. Burns, The Death and Dying Words of Puir Mailie. An’ no to
rin and wear his cloots, Are ither menseless, graceless brutes.

Close as Wax, adv. phr. (general).—Miserly; niggardly; secretive. [A simile derived mainly from close, adj. = hidden or reticent.]

1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, I., 231. Then commenced a long and
steady struggle, conducted with a Spartan dignity and self command,
and a countenance as close as wax.

Close-File, subs. (old).—A person secretive or ‘close’; not ‘open’ or communicative. [From close, adj. = secretive + file = a man.]

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 8. Tom Sheppard
was always a close file, and would never tell whom he married.

Cloth. [Generally the cloth], subs. (colloquial).—Primarily clergymen; the members of a particular profession. For synonyms, see Devil-dodger.

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers (about 1827), p. 363 (ed. 1857).
‘I maintain that that ’ere song’s personal to the cloth,’ said the
mottle-faced gentleman.

1864. Daily Review, Nov. 3. It might have seemed more decorous to
draw our illustration of the Doctor’s [Revd.] ingenuity from an
incident related of two persons who have some right to be
considered as in a sense belonging to the cloth—The Abbess and
Novice of Andouillets.

Clothes-Line. Able to sleep upon a clothes-line, phr. (common).—Capable of sleeping anywhere or in any position; said of those able and willing to rest as well upon the roughest ‘shakedown’ as upon the most comfortable bed. [Cf., Two-penny rope and plank-bed.] Also applied in a transferred sense—a synonym for general capacity and ability.

Clothes-Pin. That’s the sort of clothes-pin I am, phr. (popular).—That’s the sort of man I am. In the case of women That’s the sort of hair-pin (q.v.).

Cloth-Market, subs. (old).—A bed. [Of obvious derivation. Cf., Fr., la halle aux draps.] For synonyms, see Bug-walk and Kip.

1738. Swift, Pol. Convers., dial i. I hope your early rising will
do you no harm. I find you are but just come out of the cloth
market.

1824. T. Fielding, Proverbs, etc. (Familiar Phrases), p. 148. He’s
in the cloth market. In bed.

Cloud.—See Blow a cloud. Cloud originally signified tobacco smoke.—[Grose, 1785.] Fr., en griller une = to smoke a pipe or cigarette; also en griller une sèche and en griller une bouffarde.

Cloud-Cleaner, subs. (nautical).—See quot. Angel’s footstool, and Cf.

1883. W. Clark Russell, Sailors’ Word Book, p. 31. Cloud-cleaner,
an imaginary sail jokingly assumed to be carried by Yankee ships.

Clout, subs. (vulgar).—1. A blow; a kick. For synonyms, see Bang, Dig, and Wipe.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Clout: a blow (cant), I’ll give
you a clout on your jolly nob; I’ll give you a blow on the head.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1864. M. E. Braddon, Aurora Floyd, ch. xx. ‘If you had a father
that’d fetch you a clout of the head as soon as look at you, you’d
run away perhaps.’

2. (thieves’).—A pocket-handkerchief. [A.S. clút, a clout or patch; Dan. klud, Swed. klut, or perhaps from the Keltic; hence, any worthless piece of cloth.] For synonyms, see Wipe, sense 2.

1574–1637. Ben Jonson, Metam. Gipsies. And Tidslefoot has lost his
clout, he says, with a three-pence and four tokens in’t.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall, 4 ed., p. 11. [List of Cant Words in.]
Clout: a handkerchief.

1754. Fielding, Jon. Wild, bk. I., ch. ix. A neat double clout,
which seemed to have been worn a few weeks only, was pinned under
her chin.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. A handkerchief.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. A handkerchief (cant). Any pocket
handkerchief except a silk one.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict. Clout, or Rag, a cotton pocket
handkerchief (old cant).

3. plural (low).—A woman’s under-clothes, from the waist downwards. Also her complete wardrobe, on or off the person.

4. (common).—A woman’s ‘bandage’; ‘diaper’; or ‘sanitary.’

Verb (low).—1. To strike. Fr., jeter une mandole. For synonyms, see Tan.

1576–1625. Beaumont and Fletcher [quoted in Annandale’s ed. of
Ogilvie’s Imperial Dict.]. Pay him over the pate, clout him for all
his courtesies.

2. (old).—To patch; to tinker.

17(?). Scots Ballad. I’ll clout my Johnnie’s grey breeks For a’ the
ill he’s done me yet.

1785. Burns, The Jolly Beggars. In vain they searched when off I
marched To go and clout the caudron.

Clouter, subs. (old).—A pickpocket—especially one who steals handkerchiefs. [From clout, sense 2 (q.v.), a pocket-handkerchief, + er.] Cf., Clouting, sense 2. For synonyms, see Stook-hauler.

1839. W. H. Ainsworth, J. Sheppard, p. 158, ed. 1840. Near to these
hopeful youths sat a fence, or receiver, bargaining with a clouter,
or pickpocket.

Clouting, verbal subs. (common). 1. A beating, basting, or tanning (q.v. for synonyms).—See also Baste.

2. (thieves’).—Stealing handkerchiefs. Cf., Clouter.

Cloven, Cleaved, Cleft, adj. (old).—Terms applied to a sham virgin. (Cleft, subs. = the female pudendum.)

In Clover, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Well-off; comfortable; e.g., like a horse at grass in a clover field.

Clow, subs. (Winchester College). Pronounced clō.—A box on the ear. [Possibly from clout (q.v.) on the model of ‘bow’ from ‘bout,’ and ‘low’ from ‘lout.’ Halliwell gives ‘clow’ as a Cumberland word, meaning ‘to scratch.’] Cf., Baste, and for general synonyms, see Bang, Dig, and Wipe.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 140. The
juniors did not get much fun out of the regular games, as their
part consisted solely in kicking in the ball, and receiving divers
kicks and clows in return for their vigilance. Ibid, p. 39. Nor,
when ordered to ‘hold down,’ (i.e., put your head in a convenient
position) for a clow, would the victim dare to ward off the blow.

Verb.—To box one on the ear. It was customary to preface the action by an injunction to ‘hold down.’—See quot., 1870, under subs., sense.

Clowes, subs. (old).—Rogues.—Grose [1785].

Cloy, Cligh, or Cly, verb (old).—To steal. For synonyms, see Prig. An old Gloucestershire vulgarism for the hands is clees.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 8 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). They
are sure to be clyd in the night by the angler, or hooker, or such
like pilferers that liue upon the spoyle of other poore people.

1622. Head and Kirkman, Canting Song, in English Rogue. I met a
Dell, I viewed her well, She was benship to my watch; So she and I
did stall and cloy, Whatever we could catch.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 48 (1874). Cloy:
to steal.

1706. E. Coles, Eng. Dict. Cloy: to steal.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v. To cloy the clout, to steal
the handkerchief. To cloy the lour, to steal money.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Cloyer, subs. (old).—A thief who intruded on the profits of young sharpers, by claiming a share.

1611. Middleton, Roaring Girl, O. Pl., vi., 113. Then there’s a
cloyer, or snap, that dogs any new brother in that trade, and
snaps,—will have half in any booty.

1659. The Catterpillars of this Nation Anatomised. [Cloyer = a
pickpocket.]

Cloyes, subs. (old).—Thieves; robbers, etc. [In Grose, 1785, and Lexicon Balatronicum, 1811.]—See Cloy and Cloyer.

Cloying, verbal subs. (old) Stealing.

1739. Poor Robin. Money is now a hard commodity to get, insomuch
that some will venture their necks for it, by padding, cloying,
milling, filching, nabbing, etc., all of which in plain English is
only stealing.

Club, verb (military).—In manœuvring troops, so to blunder the word of command that the soldiers get into a position from which they cannot extricate themselves by ordinary tactics.

18(?). Thackeray, Novels by Eminent Hands. ‘Phil Fogarty.’
‘Clubbed, be jabers!’ roared Lanty Clancy. ‘I wish we could show
’em the Fighting Onety-Oneth, Captain, darlin’!’

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. xi. If you’re in
difficulties, ask Sergeant File what is best to be done, only don’t
club ’em, my boy, as you did at Limerick.

Subs. (venery).—The penis.

Clump, subs. (common).—A blow, generally a heavy one, with the hand.—See quots. under verbal sense. For synonyms, see Bang, Dig, and Wipe.

Verb (common).—To strike; to give a heavy blow. Fr., faire du bifteck. For synonyms, see Tan.

1864. Derby Day, p. 52. ‘We can’t give ’em in charge now.’...
‘Because why? I’ll tell you ... we shouldn’t know when to spot ’em.
No. I want to clump them. It will spoil sport to call in the
bobbies.’

1874. W. E. Henley, MS. Ballad. Which they calls me the Professor,
But I’m only Hogan’s Novice, Bloody artful with the mufflers, And a
mark on fancy clumping.

1888. Daily News, 2 Jan., p. 7, col. 1. The prisoner clumped
(struck) both of them, and then ran away.

Clumper, subs. (common).—1. A thick, heavy boot for walking. [Clumps in shoemakers’ technology = extra fore or half soles.] Cf., quot. under Clumping. For synonyms, see Trotter-cases.

2. (common).—One that clumps; a ‘basher.’

Clumperton, subs. (old).—A countryman. For synonyms, see Joskin.

1870. All the Year Round, Mar. 5. ‘Byegone Cant (Geo. II.).’
Clumpertons agape at the giant proportions of the still somewhat
new St. Paul’s would turn from their wondering walks to shudder and
shrink at the ghastly gallows exhibition at Newgate.

Clumping, verbal subs. (common).—Walking heavily and noisily: as in hobnails or in clogs.

1864. [From Hotten’s MS. Collection, n.d.] ‘Why, woman! dost ’oo
think I’se had naught better to do than go clumping up and down the
sky a-searching for thy Tummas?’

Cly, subs. (thieves’).—1. A pocket; purse; sack; or basket. For synonyms, see Brigh and Sky-rocket.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4 ed.). p. 12. Cly: a pocket.

1742. Charles Johnson, Highwaymen and Pirates, p. 252. Filing a cly
which is picking pockets of watches, money, books or handkerchiefs.

1748. T. Dyche, Dict. (5 ed.). Cly (s.): the cant term for ...
purse or pocket.

1818. Maginn, from Vidocq. The Pickpocket’s Chaunt. A regular swell
cove lushy lay. To his clies my hooks I throw in, Tol, lol, etc.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood. No knuckler so deftly could fake a cly.

1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, bk. II., ch. i., p. 69. They’re
just made for hooking a fogle [handkerchief] out of a clye.

1878. Charles Hindley, Life and Times of James Catnach. Frisk the
cly and fork the rag, Draw the fogles plummy.

2. (thieves’).—Money.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.), Cly (s.): the cant name for
money, a purse, or a pocket.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Cly: money.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Verb (old).—1. To take; have; receive; pocket: in fact, ‘to cop.’

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 66. The ruffian cly thee, the deuil
take thee.

1609. Dekker, a Gypsy song, in Lanthorne and Candlelight, etc. The
Ruffin cly the nab of the Harman beck. If we mawnd Pannam, lap or
Ruff-peck.

Cly-Faker, subs. (thieves’).—A pickpocket. [From cly, a pocket, + fake, to steal. + er.] For synonyms, see Stookhauler.

1827. Lytton, Pelham, ch. lxxxii. They were gentlemen-sharpers, and
not vulgar cracksmen and clyfakers.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 14. ‘Oh, I see!’
replied Blueskin, winking significantly.... ‘Now! slip the purse
into my hand. Bravo! the best cly-faker of ’em all; couldn’t have
done it better.’

1852. Punch, vol. XXIII., p. 161.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., p. 103. Cly-faker: a pickpocket.

Cly-faking, subs. (thieves’).—Pocket-picking. For synonyms, see Push.

1851. Borrow, Lavengro, ch. xxxi., p. 112 (1888). ‘What do you mean
by cly-faking?’ ‘Lor, dear! no harm; only taking a handkerchief now
and then.’

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. lx. Well, sir, I won’t deny that
the young woman is Bess, and perhaps she may be on the cross, and I
don’t go to say that what with flimping, and with cly-faking, and
such-like, she mayn’t be wanted.

Cly-Off, verb (old).—To carry off. Cf., Cly, verb, sense 1.

1656. Brome, Jovial Crew. Act ii. Here safe in our skipper Let’s
cly off our peck, And bowse in defiance O’ th’ Harman-beck.

Clyster-pipe, subs. (old).—An apothecary. [From clyster = an injection for costiveness.] Fr., un flûtencul, a play upon words. For synonyms, see Gallipot.

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

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Cly the Gerke or Jerk, verbal phr. (old).—See quots.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 66. To cly the gerke, to get a
whipping. Cf., to cop a hiding.

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

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

1827. Lytton, Pelham, ch. lxxxii. You deserve to cly the jerk for
your patter.

Coach, subs. (formerly University and public schools’; now common).—A private tutor; and in a transferred sense one who trains another in mental or physical acquirements, e.g., in Sanskrit, Shakspeare, cricket, or rowing. Analogous terms are crammer, feeder, and grinder.

1850. F. E. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, ch. xxix., p. 240. Besides
the regular college tutor, I secured the assistance of what, in the
slang of the day, we irreverently termed a coach.

1853. C. Bede, Verdant Green, pt. I., pp. 63–4. ‘That man is Cram,
the patent safety. He’s the first coach in Oxford.’ ‘A coach,’ said
our freshman in some wonder. ‘Oh, I forgot you didn’t know college
slang. I suppose a royal mail is the only gentleman coach you know
of. Why, in Oxford a coach means a private tutor you must know; and
those who can’t afford a coach, get a cab alias a crib alias
translation.’

1864. Eton School-days, ch. ix., p. 103. Lord Fitzwinton, one of
the smallest and best coaches—in aquatics—in the school.

1871. Times. ‘Report of the Debate in House of Lords on University
Test Bill.’ The test proposed would be wholly ineffective ... while
it would apply to the college tutors, who had little influence over
the young men, it would not affect the coaches, who had the chief
direction of their studies.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 29 Nov., p. 1, col. 3. The schoolmaster is
concerned with the education of boys up to eighteen; all beyond
that falls either to the coach or the professor.

Verb (common).—To prepare for an examination by private instruction; to train: in general use both by coacher and coachee.

1846. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ch. v. The superb Cuff himself ...
helped him on with his Latin verses, coached him in play-hours.

1870. London Figaro, June 10. ‘Quadrille Conversation.’ It is, we
fear, Quixotic to hope that ladies and gentlemen invited to the
same ball would coach with the same master.

Coachee, subs. (colloquial).—A coachman. Cf., Cabby.

1819. Thos. Moore, Tom Crib’s Mem. Cong., p. 79. This song ... in
which the language and sentiments of Coachee are transferred so
ingeniously.

1825. English Spy, I., pp. 134–5.

Coaching, verbal subs. (common).—1. Instruction; training, etc.—See Coach, subs. French students call it la barbe.

1836. Pluck Examination Papers for Candidates at Oxford and
Cambridge, by Scriblerus Redivivus [Oxford]. The system of coaching
pupils considerably improved by the examiners becoming pupils.

2. (Rugby School).—A flogging. Now obsolete.

Coachman, subs. (anglers’).—A fly-fisher’s rod. [In allusion to whipping the stream.]

Coach-Wheel, subs. (popular).—A crown-piece, or five shillings. For synonyms, see Cart-wheel.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Coach wheel: a half crown piece is
a fore coach wheel, and a crown piece a hind coach wheel, the fore
wheels of a coach being less than the hind ones.

Coal.—See Cole.

To take in one’s coals, or winter coals, phr. (nautical).—To contract a venereal disease. For synonyms, see Ladies’ fever.

Coal-Box, subs. (musical).—A chorus. [Obviously ‘music-hally’ or ‘circussy’ in derivation: a cross between rhyming slang and a clown’s wheeze (q.v.).]

1809–70. Mark Lemon, Up and Down London Streets. The slang word for
chorus, coal box, if we might mention anything so ungenteel.

Coaley, subs. (common).—A coal-heaver, or porter.

1880. Jas. Greenwood, ‘Diddler Domesticus,’ in Odd People in Odd
Places, p. 93. With such arguments the bargain is driven to a
conclusion, and the grateful coaley takes his departure.

1889. Star, 3 Dec., p. 3, col. 4. The coalies demonstrated last
night in right novel fashion at St. Pancras Arches.

Coaling or Coally, adj. (theatrical).—Among ‘pros’ a coally or coaling part is one that is grateful to the player. [Hotten says it means ‘profitable,’ and derives it from cole = money, but this is doubtful.—See quot.]

1872. M. E. Braddon, Dead Sea Fruit, ch. xiv. The gorger’s awful
coally on his own slumming, eh?... I mean to say that our friend
the manager is rather sweet upon his own acting.

Coal-Scuttle, subs. (common).—A poke bonnet; modish once, but now reserved for old-fashioned Quakeresses and ‘Hallelujah Lasses.’ [From the shape.]

1838. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby. There was Miss Snevellici ...
glancing from the depths of her coal-scuttle bonnet at Nicholas.

Coat. To get the sun into a horse’s coat, phr. (racing).—Explained by quot.

1889. Standard. ‘Sir Chas. Russell’s Speech in Durham-Chetwynd
Case,’ June 25. An owner says to his trainer, ‘I suppose, Mr.
Jones, we’ll have very good luck to-morrow?’ (laughter). ‘Well no,
sir,’ says the trainer; ‘I don’t think the horse has any chance
to-morrow. The fact is, he isn’t fit.’ A fortnight elapses, and on
comes another meeting at Newmarket, and the owner goes down again,
and he sees the horse. To his uninitiated eye the horse seems as
well as when he saw it on the previous occasion. In the interval
the trainer had ‘slipped in a lot of work into him,’ I think that
is the term, and the owner, who thinks he knows something about
horses (laughter) says to his trainer ‘You’re going to run this
horse to-morrow?’ ‘Oh, I think so, sir,’ says the trainer. ‘But
look here,’ says the owner, ‘This is a much better class. He is
meeting this horse upon no better terms than before.’ ‘But, sir,’
says the trainer, ‘he has greatly improved. The sun has got into
his coat.’

Coax, verb (old).—To dissemble in the shoes the soiled or ragged parts of a pair of stockings.—[Grose, 1785.]

Cob, subs. (prison).—1. A punishment cell. For synonyms, see Clinch.

2. (nautical).—Money. Especially given to a Spanish coin formerly current in Ireland, worth about 4s. 8d. Also the name still given at Gibraltar to a Spanish dollar.

1805. Plymouth Newspaper of Feb. 24, quoted in ‘Autobiography of a
Seaman,’ by Earl of Dundonald, vol. I., ch. x., p. 174. His
Lordship sent word to Plymouth that, if ever it was in his power he
would fulfil his public advertisement (stuck up here) for entering
seamen, of filling their pockets with Spanish ‘pewter’ and ‘cobs,’
nicknames given by seamen to ingots and dollars.

3. (Winchester College).—A hard hit at cricket. Of modern introduction. Cf., Barter.

Verb (schoolboys’).—1. To detect, catch, etc.

2. (popular).—To humbug; deceive; to gammon (q.v.).

3. To hit hard.—See subs., sense 3.

Cobb, verb (general).—To spank; to smack the posteriors with (say) a tailor’s sleeve-board.

1830. Marryat, King’s Own. Gentlemen, gentlemen, if you must cobb
Mrs. Skrimmage, for God’s sake let it be over all.

Cobber, subs. (common).—A prodigious falsehood; i.e., ‘a thumper’; whopper (q.v.).

Cobble-Colter, subs. (old).—A turkey. Fr., une ornie de balle and un Jésuite. Cf., Alderman in chains.

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

1837. Disraeli, Venetia, p. 69. ‘Come, old mort,’ said the leader,
in a very different tone to the one in which he addressed his young
guest, ‘tout the cobble-colter; are we to have darkmans upon us?’

Cobbled, ppl. adj. (schoolboys’).—Caught; detected; spotted. [From cob, verb, sense 1.]

Cobblers’ Knock. To give the cobbler’s knock or to knock at the cobbler’s door, verbal phr. (provincial).—A sort of fancy sliding in which the artist raps the ice in triplets with one foot while progressing swiftly on the other.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, vol. ii., ch. 2. Sam Weller, in particular
was displaying that beautiful feat of fancy sliding which is
currently called knocking at the cobbler’s door, and which is
achieved by skimming over the ice on one foot and occasionally
giving a postman’s knock upon it with the other.

Cobblers’ Marbles, subs. phr. (vulgar).—A corrupt pronunciation of cholera morbus, once a name for Asiatic cholera.

Cobbler’s Thumb, subs. (Irish localism).—A small fish; the bull-head, called in English the miller’s thumb.

1839. Lever, Harry Lorrequer, ch. xxvii. His hands and feet,
forming some compensation by their ample proportions, give to his
entire air and appearance somewhat the look of a small fish, with
short, thick fins, vulgarly called a cobbler’s thumb.

Cochineal Dye, subs. (pugilistic).—Blood. [From the colour.] For synonyms, see Claret.

1853. Rev. E. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Verdant Green, pt. 11., p.
31. He would kindly inquire of one gentleman, ‘What d’ye ask for a
pint of your cochineal dye?’

1883. Referee. It certainly seemed that their stock-in-trade was
largely composed of cochineal dye; there was in truth no lack of
the gory accessory of the fight.

Cock, subs. (common).—1. The penis, Cf., Ger., Hahn, Hänchen. [Possibly related to ‘cock’ = turn-valve.] For synonyms, see cream-stick.

1600. Shakspeare, King Henry V., ii. i.—Cf.

1647. Beaumont and Fletcher. The Custom of the County, v., 4. The
mainspring’s weakened that holds up his cock.

1730. Bailey, Dict., s.v.

1737. Rabelais. Trans. I., 185., s.v.

1807. Rabelais. Trans. [Longman’s ed.]. s.v., I., 169.

1849. Rabelais. Trans. [Bohn’s ed.], s.v., I., 135.

2. (colloquial).—A chief or leader; particularly in such phrases as cock of the walk, school, etc. [A simile drawn from the barndoor.] Cf., sense 3, and adj.

1711. Spectator, No. 131. Service to the knight. Sir Andrew is
grown the cock of the club since he left us, and if he does not
return quickly will make every mother’s son of us commonwealth’s
men.

1729. Swift, Grand Question Debated. But at cuffs I was always the
cock of the school.

1764. O’Hara, Midas, I., 1. Cock of the school. He bears despotic
rule.

1811–63. W. M. Thackeray, Miscellanies, II., 275. There is no more
dangerous or stupifying position for a man in life than to be a
cock of small society.

1862. Mrs. H. Wood, Channings, ch. xxix. ‘Were I going in for the
seniorship, and one below me were suddenly hoisted above my head,
and made a cock of the walk, I’d know the reason why.’

3. (common).—A familiar address; e.g., old cock, or jolly old cock. [Probably derived from sense 1.] Amongst similar expressions may be mentioned old man, my pippin, and in French, mon vieux zig, or lapin.

1639. Massinger, Unnatural Combat, II., i. He has drawn blood of
him yet: well done, old cock.

1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. XVIII., ch. x. Then give me thy
fist, a’t as hearty an honest cock as any in the kingdom.

1825. The English Spy, vol. I., p. 215. The low-bred, vulgar,
Sunday throng, Who dine at two, are ranged along On both sides of
the way; With various views these honest folk Descant on fashions,
quiz and joke, Or mark the shy cock down. [1]

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers (about 1827), p. 367 (ed. 1857).
‘Do you always smoke arter you goes to bed, old cock?’ inquired Mr.
Weller of his landlord, when they had both retired for the night.
‘Yes, I does, young Bantam,’ replied the cobbler.

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 278. The people down here are a queer lot,
but I have hunted up two or three jolly cocks, and we contrive to
keep the place alive between us.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xvi. Shrewd old cock, Mr. Binnie.
Has brought home a good bit of money from India.

1870. London Figaro, 19 Oct. What on earth is the meaning of Mr.
Santley’s voice being over-crowed by a mammoth orchestra? I never
heard before that fiddles crowed, or that Mr. Santley was a cock.
He is what is known as a jolly cock, but there his similarity to
the noisy fowl ends.

4. (racing).—A horse not intended to win the race for which it is put down, but kept in the lists to deceive the public.

1887. Field, May 29. In the phraseology of slangy turfites, the
horse was a cock; i.e., it had been liberally backed, but was never
intended to run.

5. (common).—Primarily the fictitious narratives in verse or prose of murders, fires, etc. (see quot., 1851), produced for sale in the streets. Famous manufactories of cocks were kept by ‘Jemmy’ Catnach and Johnny Pitts, called the Colburn and Bentley of the ‘paper’ trade. They fought bitterly, and Catnach informed the world that Pitts had once been a ‘bumboat woman,’ while Pitts declared—

That all the boys and girls around, Who go out prigging rags and
phials, Know Jemmy Catnach!!! well, Who lives in a back slum in the
Dials.

Catnach got at last to be ‘Cock of the Walk,’ and remained so till his retirement in 1839. [Hotten thought the word might be a corruption of cook, a ‘cooked’ or garbled statement, or a coinage from ‘cock and bull story.’] Fr., une goualante.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 228. What
are technically termed cocks, which, in polite language, means
accounts of fabulous duels between ladies of fashion, of apocryphal
elopements ... or awful tragedies, etc.

Hence applied to any incredible story.

1870. London Figaro, 1 Feb. We are disposed to think that cocks
must have penetrated to Eastern Missouri.

6. (thieves’).—An abbreviation of ‘cockney.’

7. (printers’).—In gambling or playing with ‘quads,’ a cock is when one (or more) of the nine pieces does not fall flat but lodges crosswise on another. The player is then given another chance.

8. (tailors’).—Good cock—poor cock. A good and bad workman respectively.

Adj. (colloquial).—Chief; first and foremost. Cf., Cock, subs., sense 2.

1676. Etherege, Man of Mode, II., ii., in wks. (1704), 211. Why the
very cock-fool of all those fools, Sir Fopling Flutter.

1856. T. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, pt. II., ch. vi. They’ll
make the old Madman cock medicine-man and tattoo him all over.

Verb (venery).—1. To copulate. Usually employed by women and in the passive sense: e.g., ‘to want cocking,’ or ‘to get cocked.’ For synonyms, see Ride.

2. (common).—To smoke.

Cock the eye, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To shut or wink one eye; to leer; to look incredulous. Fr., cligner des œillets. Cf., Cock-eyed. [In venery a woman with a cock in her eye = a woman in a condition of sexual excitement, a woman that ‘means business.’ Cf., Pintle-keek (q.v.) and Look Pricks.] Of the kindred phrase, to cock the chin, an illustration appears in Elegant Extracts.

As Dick and Tom in fierce dispute engage, And face to face the
noisy contest wage; ‘Don’t cock your chin at me,’ Dick smartly
cries. ‘Fear not, his head’s not charg’d,’ a friend replies.

The French equivalent is s’aborgner (literally ‘to make oneself blind of one eye by closing it’).

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. ii. He ... made wry faces,
and, to use the vulgar phrase, cocked his eye at him, to the no
small entertainment of the spectators.

1836. Marryat, Japhet, ch. iv. Timothy put on his hat, cocked his
eye at me, and left us alone.

1859. J. Eastwood, in Notes and Queries, 2 S., viii., 461. The
phrase cock your eye is not at all an uncommon one in
Yorkshire—meaning ‘direct your eye, give a glance.’

To Cock Snooks, verbal phr. (common).—See Coffee-milling and Snooks.

That cock won’t fight. phr. (common).—Originally cock-pit slang. Said of things problematical or doubtful.

1844. Puck, p. 124. ‘Song of the First Tragedian ... having pawned
his properties.’ Suppose I told my uncle what I fear he’d not
believe, That I’ll certainly repay him the money ere I leave; That
my benefit when it comes off is sure to prove a hit, I don’t think,
with a screw like him, that cock would fight a bit.

By cock or by cock and pye. phr. (old).—‘Cock’ is here a corruption, or disguise of ‘God.’ We find also ‘cocks-passion,’ ‘cocks-body,’ and other allusions to the Saviour, or His body, as supposed to exist in the Host: the expression surviving the belief. In by cock and pye, the pie, or Sacred Book of Offices is added. By cock and pie and mousefoot, is quoted from the old play of Soliman and Perseda, Orig. of Drama, ii., p. 211.

1571. Edwards, Damon and Pythias, Old Pl., i., 216. W. By the masse
I will boxe you. J. By cocke I will foxe you.

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, iv., 5. By cocke they are to blame.

1598. Shakspeare, Henry IV., pt. II., Act v., Sc. 1. By cock and
pie, sir, you shall not away to-night.

1606. Wily, Beguilede. Now by cock and pie, you never spoke a truer
word in your life.

Knocked a-cock, adv. phr. (pugilistic).—Knocked ‘all of a heap,’ or ‘out of time.’ Obviously adapted from the lingo of the cock-pit, and suggested by the sight of the beaten bird laid on his back.

Cock-a-Doodle Broth, subs. phr. (? nonce phrase).—See quot.

1856. Reade, Never Too Late to Mend, ch. lxxxv. He complains that
‘he can’t peck,’ yet continues the cause of his infirmity, living
almost entirely upon cock-a-doodle broth,—eggs beat up in brandy
and a little water.

Cock-a-Hoop or Cock-on (or in-a)-Hoop, adj. (colloquial).—Strutting; triumphant; high-spirited; ‘uppish.’ [Ray suggested that it refers to the practice of taking out the spigot (an old synonym for the penis, by the way) and laying it on the top of a barrel with a view to drinking the latter dry; a proceeding that would naturally induce a certain swagger in the actors. There seems, however, no doubt that the true derivative is the French coq à houppé. Houppé, in French, is a tuft, touffe (and toupet, is kindred). Littré says, terme de blason, tuft of silk or tassel hanging from a hat: ‘Elle sert de timbre au chapeau des cardinaux,’ etc. Houppée is the foam on the top of a wave. Houppe is the tuft on a trencher cap: ‘Qui distingue,’ says Tarver, ‘le bonnet des nobles de celui des autres’ at the universities—hence tuft-hunter, coureur de houppes. Also, ‘Il trouve à se fourrer parmi les plus huppés’ = he contrives to vie with those at the very top of fashion. The Hoopoe, (Lat. Upupa), is a crested bird. Hence coq à houppé is a crested cock, and by analogy one swaggering, triumphant, exulting; so ‘cock-a-hoop’ is ‘cock-a-top,’ ‘cock-a-crest,’ elated beyond reason—‘cocky,’ as schoolboys say—‘cock of the walk,’ ‘cock at the top.’ In cock-fighting, the ‘cock-a-top’ is he that gets the vantage stroke. ‘Abattre l’orgueil des plus huppés’; to bring down the crest of the highest. Cock-a-hoop is plainly the original expression, and cock-on-the-hoop a later form adopted when the original meaning had vanished.] English equivalents are ‘in full feather,’ and ‘a-cock-horse’ (q.v.), while colloquial French has s’en pourlécher la face and s’émérillonner (to become cheerful through repeated potations).

1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act i., Sc. 5. Am I the master
here or you? Go to.... You will set cock-a-hoop! you’ll be the man.

1633. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, V., ii. John Clay agen! nay then—set
cock-a-hoop: I have lost no daughter, nor no money, justice.

1707. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. II., pt. XII., p. 20. Those
cruel, sanctify’d Pretenders, Now rais’d by Fortune, cock-a-hoop.

1853. Diogenes, II., 195. ‘Our Foreign News Summary.’ All the
cock-a-hoop Beys in the Sultan’s dominions Have taken to expressing
their individual opinions.

1885. D. C. Murray, Rainbow Gold, bk. IV., ch. vi. He’s a fine lad,
a fine lad, but cock-a-whoop, and over certain for his years.

Cock-Ale, subs. (old).—A homely aphrodisiac.—[Grose, 1785.] [An allusion to the penis and the stirring tendency of strong beer.] Nares says it was ‘a sort of ale which was very celebrated in the seventeenth century for its superior quality.’

1675. Woman Turn’d Bully [quoted in Nares]. Spr. How, Mr. Trupenny,
not a drop worth drinking? Did you ever taste our cock-ale?

1698. Ward, London Spy. My friend by this time (knowing the
entertainment of the house) had called for a bottle of cock-ale, of
which I tasted a glass, but could not conceive it to be anything
but a mixture of small beer and treacle. If this be cock-ale, said
I, e’en let cockscombs drink it. [n.]

1738. Poor Robin. Notwithstanding the large commendations you give
the juice of barley, yet if compar’d with canary, it’s no more than
a mole-hill to a mountain; whether it be cock-ale, China ale, etc.
[n.]

Also cock-broth, etc.

Cock Alley, subs. (old).—The female pudendum. Other derivations of the same make are Cock-chafer, Cock Hall, Cock Inn, Cock Lane, Cock-Loft, Cock-Pit, Cockshire, and Cock-shy. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Cockalorum or Cockylorum, subs. (common).—1. A half contemptuous address.—See quot.

1815–23. T. C. Carter, in Daily News, 7 Dec., 1889, p. 3, col. 5.
In 1823 was displayed in a shop window in Pilgrim Street, Ludgate
Hill, a picture entitled ‘Seizure for Rent.’ It represented the
interior of a room; the only article of furniture a bottomless
chair, on the edge of which was seated a half-clad man smoking a
pipe. The doorway was filled up by a very fat beadle in full
uniform; behind him in the shade could be seen two men, each with a
porter’s knot. To the beadle the tenant was saying: ‘Now then, old
cockalorum jig, seize away.’ In my school days, from 1815 to 1820,
we often heard in the playground: ‘Now little cockalorum, out of
that.’

2. (schoolboys’).—A rough and tumble game described as follows by a correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette (1890, Jan. 4, p. 2, col. 1):—

When I went to Harrow, thirty years ago, I found a winter evening
game in force there, called ‘high cockalorum,’ of which I send you
a sketch. The players used to divide into two opposing bands of
from twelve to fourteen each—in fact, the more the merrier. One
side ‘went down,’ so as to constitute a long ‘hogsback’—the last
boy having a couple of pillows between himself and the wall, and
each boy clasping his front rank man, and carefully tucking his own
‘cocoa-nut’ under his right arm, so as to prevent fracture of the
vertebræ. When the hogsback was thus formed, the other side came
on, leap-frogging on to the backs of those who were down, the best
and steadiest jumpers being sent first. Sometimes the passive line
was broken quite easily by the ruse of a short high jump, coming
with irresistible impulse on a back which was not expecting weight
just yet. Sometimes a too ambitious leap-frogger ruined his party
by overbalancing and falling off. It was, however, as the last two
or three leap-froggers came on that the real excitement more
generally began. There was absolutely no back-space belonging to
the other party left to them; and they were obliged to pile
themselves one upon another—‘Pelion on Ossa’ as it was called. When
the last man was up it was his duty to say, ‘High cockalorum jig
jig jig—high cockalorum jig jig jig—high cockalorum jig jig
jig—off, off, off,’ and then alone was it permissible for tortured
and perspiring human nature to fall in one indistinguishable heap
to the ground. The repeater of the shibboleth often fell off
himself as he was uttering the above incantation—thus losing the
victory for his side. It was a splendid game. I understood from
family inquiries that it was played at Harrow in my great
grandfather’s time.

Cock-and-Breeches, subs. (common).—A sturdy, little man, or boy.

Cock-and-Bull-Story, subs. (colloquial).—An idle or silly story. [Presumably from some old legend of a cock and a bull, apropos to which it should be noted that the French equivalent is coq-à-l’âne, a ‘cock-and-ass.’]

1603. John Day, Law Trickes, Act iv., p. 66. Didst marke what a
tale of a Cock and a Bull he tolde my father whilst I made thee and
the rest away.

1759. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, vol. IX., ch. xxxiii. L—d! said my
mother, what is all this about? A Cock and a Bull, said Yorick—and
one of the best of its kind I ever heard.

1857. O. W. Holmes, Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, ch. v. That
sounds like a cock-and-bull story, said the young fellow whom they
call John. I abstained from making Hamlet’s remarks to Horatio and
continued.

1874. Mrs. H. Wood, Johnny Ludlow, 1 S., xxiv., p. 432. ‘Giving ear
to a cock-and-bull story that can’t be true!’

Cock-and-Hen-Club, subs. (common).—1. A free and easy gathering, or ‘sing-song,’ where females are admitted as well as males. [From cock-and-hen, the male and female bird, and used figuratively for men and women, + club.]

1819. Thos. Moore, Tom Crib’s Mem. to Congr., p. 78. A Masquerade,
or Fancy Ball, given lately at one of the most fashionable
Cock-and-Hen Clubs in St. Giles’s.

1828. G. Smeeton, Days in London, p. 40. Introduced him to one of
the cock-and-hen houses near Drury Lane Theatre well primed with
wine.

2. A club for both sexes; e.g., The Lyric.

Cock-and-Pinch, subs. (old).—The old-fashioned beaver of forty years since. [From its being cocked back and front, and pinched at the sides.] For synonyms, see Golgotha.

Cockatoo-Farmer, subs. (Australian).—In Victoria and New South Wales a small farmer or selector. A term of contempt used by large holders in describing agricultural squatters with small capital. [Probably an allusion to their numbers: a comparing to the rush for land, the swooping of cockatoos in myriads in new sown corn.]

1865. H. Kingsley, Hillyars and Burtons, ch. lx. The small farmers
[in Australian wool districts] contemptuously called cockatoos are
the fathers of fire, the inventors of scab, the seducers of
bush-hands for haymaking and harvesting [and many other heinous
crimes].

1886. G. Sutherland, Australia, p. 64. The shepherd king tries to
steal a march upon the poor cockatoo, as he contemptuously calls
the small farmer.

1887. G. A. Sala, in Ill. L. News, 12 March, 282, col. 2. I venture
to differ from my correspondent when, in telling me that ‘cocky’ is
Australian argot for a small farmer, adds, ‘by-the-by, you never
hear the word “farmer” over there ... many scores of times at the
Antipodes I have heard agriculturists, whose holdings were small,
spoken of, not as “cockies” but as “cockatoo farmers.”’