Chapter IX: Part 9

Cockatrice, subs. (old).—1. A common prostitute; also a mistress or ‘keep.’ [Nares says ‘probably from the fascination of the eye,’ alluding to the fabulous monster hatched from a cock’s egg by a serpent. Shakspeare speaks of ‘the death-dealing’ eye of a cockatrice.] For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

1600. Ben Jonson, Cynth Rev., IV., 4. And withall, calls me at his
pleasure I know not how many cockatrices and things.

1604. Marston and Webster, Malcontent, O. P., iv., 93. No courtier
but has his mistress, no captain but has his cockatrice.

1630. Taylor, Workes [quoted by Nares]. And amongst souldiers this
sweet piece of vice Is counted for a captaines cockatrice.

1664. Killegrew, Pandora. Some wine there, That I may court my
cockatrice. Care. Good Captaine, Bid our noble friend welcome.

1740. Poor Robin. Some gallants will this month be so penurious
that they will not part with a crack’d groat to a poor body, but on
their cockatrice or punquetto will bestow half a dozen taffety
gowns, who in requital bestows on him the French pox.

2. (common).—A baby.

Cock-a-Wax, subs. (common).—1. A cobbler. [From cock a man (q.v.), + a + wax, an adjunct of the cobbler’s trade.] For synonyms, see Snob.

2. A familiar address.

Cock-Bawd, subs. (old).—A male brothel keeper. [Quoted in Grose (1785).]

Cockchafer, subs. (thieves’).—1. The treadmill. For synonyms, see Wheel of life.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. II., p. 59. ‘He
enpiated,’ as it is called, this offence by three months’ exercise
on the cockchafer (treadmill).

1864. Glasgow Citizen, Nov. 19. The Jeremy Diddler who forges his
honest name to a fakement, incurring thereby a drag at the
cockchafer.

2. (venery).—The female pudendum.

3. (venery).—See Cock-teaser.

Cocked-Hat. To be knocked into a cocked hat, verbal phr. (common).—To be limp enough to be doubled up and carried flat under the arm [like the cocked hat of an officer.]

English Synonyms. To be doubled up; knocked into the middle of next week; spifflicated; beaten to a jelly; knocked a-cock; wiped out; sent all of a heap; bottled up; settled; to get beans, or snuff; sent, done, or smashed to smithereens, etc.—See also Tan, Tanning, and Wipe.

French Synonyms. Effondrer quelqu’un (popular: literally ‘to dig into one’; effondrer une volaille = to draw a fowl); tatouiller quelqu’un (popular: tatouiller is a slang term for a thrashing); soigner quelqu’un (popular: properly ‘to take care of,’ or ‘to attend,’ ‘to nurse’); se faire écharpiller (popular); déboulonner la colonne à quelqu’un (popular); décarcasser quelqu’un (popular); manger le nez à quelqu’un (popular: literally ‘to eat one’s nose’).

1870. Daily Telegraph, 20 Aug., ‘Speech of Mr. Ralph Harrison at
the Crystal Palace.’ The publication of the Morning Star on March
17, 1856, it was prophesied, would knock the Daily Telegraph into a
cocked hat.

1877. C. Reade, The Jilt, I., in Belgravia, March, p. 59. I never
knew a Welsh girl yet who couldn’t dance an Englishman into a
cocked hat.

1881. Hawley Smart, Gt. Tontine, ch. xxx. I think now we may
consider Bob Pegram’s marriage as knocked pretty well into a cocked
hat.

1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 18 Sept. p. 2, col. 3. You give in the Pall
Mall of to-night three translations of Plato’s well-known epigram.
Permit me to give you another which in my opinion knocks all the
rest into a cocked hat.

Also in the moral sense to be amazed to stupefaction and speechlessness.

Cocker, According to Cocker, adv. phr. (colloquial).—According to rule; properly, arithmetically, or correctly done. [From old Cocker, a famous writing master in Charles II. time, author of a treatise on arithmetic. Professor de Morgan notes ‘that it became a proverbial representative of arithmetic from Murphy’s farce of The Apprentice (1756), in which the strong point of the old merchant Wingate is his extreme reverence for Cocker and his arithmetic.’] In America a similar locution is according to Gunter (q.v.). Gunter was a famous arithmetician a century before Cocker, and the American is no doubt the older phrase. The old laws of Rhode Island say, ‘All casks shall be gauged by the rule commonly known as “gauging by Gunter.”’ Among sailors, the standard of appeal is according to John Norie—the compiler of a popular Navigator’s Manual.

1851. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor. ‘Answers to Correspondents.’
Surely, to increase the quantity of labour, while the amount
expended in the direct purchase of that labour remains the same, is
according to Cocker—to decrease the wages in precisely the same
proportion.

1861. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xxxii., p. 337. Well, so
you ought to be, according to Cocker, spending all your time in
sick rooms.

1883. G. A. S[ala], in Ill. L. News, Nov. 24, p. 499, col. 2. The
average American may not know what we mean by according to Cocker;
while the average Englishman may be unaware of the meaning of
‘according to Gunter.’ They both mean the same thing; implying
irreproachable accuracy in computation.

1888. Grant Allen, This Mortal Coil, ch. ii. According to Cocker
nought and nought make nothing.

Cock-Eyed, adj. (common).—Squinting. [Cf., Cock the eye.] For synonyms, see Squinny-eye.

1884. Daily News, Nov. 27, p. 2, col. 2. I am told the proper
description of him would be a little man with a cock-eye.

Cock-Fighting. That beats cock fighting, phr. (common).—A general expression of approval—up to the mark; A 1. [From the esteem in which the sport was held.]

1659. Gauden, Tears of the Church, p. 228. Ministers’ scufflings
and contests with one another is beyond any cock fighting or
Bear-baiting to the vulgar envy, malice, profaneness, and
petulancy.

1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, ch. vi. ‘Well, roast me!’
cried he, viewing me with a kind of admiration; ‘if this don’t beat
cock fighting.’

Cock-Horse, adv. phr. (old).—Triumphant; in full swing; cock-a-hoop. Halliwell says, ‘a somewhat slang expression not quite obsolete.’

Cocking.—See Cock, verb, sense 1.

Cockish, adj. (old).—Wanton; ‘on heat.’ [From cock, the penis, + ish.] Latham quotes cockish in the sense of ‘pert,’ from the strutting of the barn-door cock.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. A cockish wench: a forward, coming
girl.

Cock it, verb (tailors’).—To examine; see; or speak of (a thing).

Cockles, subs. (venery).—The labia minora.

Cockles of the Heart, subs. phr. (common).—A jocose vulgarism encountered in a variety of combinations; e.g., ‘that will rejoice’ or ‘tickle’ or ‘warm the cockles of your heart,’ etc. [It is suggested (N. and Q., 7 S., iv., 26) that a hint as to its origin may be found in Lower, an eminent anatomist of the seventeenth century, who thus speaks in his Tractatus de Corde (1669), p. 25, of the muscular fibres of the ventricles.

‘Fibræ quidem rectis hisce exteri oribus in dextro ventriculo proximè subjectæ obliquè dextrorsum ascendentes in basin cordis terminantur, et spirali suo ambitu helicem sive cochleam satis aptè referunt.’

The ventricles of the heart might, therefore, be called cochlea cordis, and this would easily be turned into cockles of the heart.] The French say, Tu t’en pourlécheras la face (that’ll rejoice the cockles of your heart).

1671. Eachard, Observations [Wright]. This contrivance of his did
inwardly rejoice the cockles of his heart.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxvi. Which would have cheered
the cockles of the reigning monarch.

1834. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ch. xii. ‘There now, master, there’s
a glass of grog for you that would float a marling-spike. See if
that don’t warm the cockles of your old heart.’

1839. W. H. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, p. 49 (ed. 1840). ‘There, Mr.
Wood,’ cried David, pouring out a glass of the spirit, and offering
it to the carpenter, ‘that’ll warm the cockles of your heart.’

To cry cockles, verbal phr. (common).—To be hanged. [From the gurgling noise made in strangulation.] For synonyms, see Ladder.

Cock-Loft, subs. (old).—The head. [A cock-loft is properly a small loft, garret, or apartment at the top of a house. Cf., Garret, Upper Storey, etc.] An old proverb runs, ‘All his gear is in his cock-loft’; i.e., ‘all his wealth, work, or worth is in his head.’ For synonyms, see Crumpet.

1642. Thomas Fuller, Holy and Profane State, And. Ad. fen. 1. Often
the cockloft is empty, in those whom nature hath built many stories
high.

Cockney, subs. (colloquial).—One born within the sound of bow-bells. [The origin of cockney has been much debated; but, says Dr. Murray, in the course of an exhaustive statement (Academy, May 10, 1890, p. 320), the history of the word, so far as it means a person, is very clear and simple. We have the senses (1) ‘cockered or pet child,’ ‘nestle-cock,’ ‘mother’s darling,’ ‘milksop,’ the name being applicable primarily to the child, but continued to the squeamish and effeminate man into which he grows up. (2) A nickname applied by country people to the inhabitants of great towns, whom they considered ‘milksops,’ from their daintier habits and incapacity for rough work. York, London, Perugia, were, according to Harman, all nests of cockneys. (3) By about 1600 the name began to be attached especially to Londoners, as the representatives par excellence of the city milksop. One understands the disgust with which a cavalier in 1641 wrote that he was ‘obliged to quit Oxford at the approach of Essex and Waller, with their prodigious number of cockneys.’]

1607. Dekker, Westward Ho, Act ii., Sc. 2. As Frenchmen love to be
bold ... and Irishmen to be costermongers, so cockneys, especially
she-cockneys, love not aqua-vitæ when ’tis good for them.

1760. Foote, Minor, Act i. But you cockneys now beat us suburbians
at our own weapons.

1840. Thackeray, Paris Sketch Book, p. 28. ‘You ’ad such an
’eadach’, sir,’ said British, sternly, who piques himself on his
grammar and pronunciation, and scorns a cockney.

1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 6 Nov., p. 3, col. 2. London mist, when
turned into London black fog by the poisonous carbonic anhydride
and sulphurous anhydride with which it is loaded, encompasses all
cockneys, good or bad with a real danger to health and life.

Cockney-Shire, subs. (common).—London. [From cockney, a native of London, + shire.]

Cock Pimp, subs. (old).—The husband, real or supposed, of a bawd or procuress. [From cock, male, + pimp, a procurer.]—Grose [1785].

Cockquean, subs. (obsolete).—A man who interests himself in women’s affairs. The common form is ‘cotquean.’ Cf., Molly.

Cockroaches. To get or eat cockroaches, verbal phr. (old).—To practise masturbation. For synonyms, see Frig.

Cock-Robin, subs. (old).—A soft, easy fellow.—Grose [1785].

Cock-Robin Shop, subs. phr. (printers’).—A small printing office, for cheap work done at vile wages. In other trades a slop shop.

1888. R. R., in Notes and Queries, 7 S., v., 333. Let me advise
collectors of such things [cheap books] to avoid the regular
booksellers, and try the cock-robin shops, and the general dealers
in small wares, down back streets.

Cocks, subs. (popular).—1. See Cock, subs., sense 2.

2. (trade).—Explained by quotation. The word appears to be slang for anything fictitious. Cf., Cocks, subs., sense 2.

1880. Daily News, Nov. 4. [Quoted in N. and Q., 6 S., ii., p. 387.]

3. (Charterhouse).—A lavatory where changing for games, washing before meals, etc., goes on. [From the taps over the basins.] It is equivalent to the Winchester Moab (q.v.).

Cock’s Egg. To give one a cock’s egg, phr. (common).—To send one on a fool’s errand; to gammon (q.v. for synonyms). The expression is of the same type as ‘to send one to buy pigeon’s milk,’ ‘oil of strappum,’ ‘strap oil,’ etc.

Cock-Shy, subs. (popular).—A mark, butt, or target; any person or thing that is the centre of jaculation.

c. 1834. Marryat, Rattlin the Reefer, p. 92. What a fine cockshy he
would make, said Master Blubberlips.

18(?). Lord Strangford, Letters and Papers, p. 215. This was as if the great geologists ... had invited two rival theorists to settle the question of a geological formation by picking up the stones and appealing to the test of a cockshy.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. iii. He had seen Tom Ricketts, of
the fourth form, who used to wear a jacket and trousers so
ludicrously tight, that the elder boys could not forbear using him
in the quality of a butt or cockshy.

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 262. A
desperate fight ensued, the ‘nobblers’ arming themselves with
cock-shy sticks.

Cock-Stand, subs. (venery).—An erection of the penis. For synonyms, see Horn and Cf., Stand.

Cock-Sucker, subs. (venery).—A fellatrix.

Cocksure, adj. (colloquial).—Confidently certain; pertly sure. [Probably a corruption of ‘cocky sure.’ We call a self-confident, overbearing prig a cocky fellow, from the barnyard despot. Shakspeare (I Henry IV., ii., 1) employs the phrase in the sense of ‘sure as the cock of a firelock.’

We steal as in a castle, cocksure:

and still earlier usages imply its derivation from the fact that the cock was much surer than the older fashioned match.]

1549. Latimer, Sermon on the Ploughers, p. 32 (Arber’s ed.) For the
Deuyll was dysapoynted of his purpose for he thoughte all to be hys
owne. And when he had once broughte Christe to the crosse, he
thought all cock-sure.

1603. John Day, Law Trickes, Act iii., p. 30. Then did I learn to
... Make false conueyances, yet with a trick, Close and cock-sure,
I cony-catch’d the world.

1667. Dryden, Sir Martin Marr-all, Act. iv. Nothing vexes me, but
that I had made my game cock-sure, and then to be backgammoned.

b. 1738, d. 1819. Wolcot (‘Paul Pindar’), Odes to the Pope, II., in wks. (Dublin, 1795) V. ii., p. 492. Yet deem themselves, poor dupes, cocksure of Heav’n.

1837. R. H. Barham, The Ingoldsby Legends (ed. 1862), 320. Last of
all, gentle Reader, don’t be too secure!—Let seeming success never
make you cock-sure.

1849. T. Carlyle, IV., 108. [Yes, Manning was shot there; he had
told us Hyde was cocksure.]

1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, ch. iii. ‘Hawke will not get
his daughter to have him, he may be cocksure of that.’

1889. The Star, Aug. 24, p. 3, col. 4. In his most insolent and
cocksure manner he declared, etc.

Cocktail, subs. (common).—1. A prostitute; a wanton.

2. (common).—A coward.

3. (American).—A drink composed of spirits (gin, brandy, whisky, etc.), bitters, crushed ice, sugar, etc., the whole whisked briskly until foaming, and then drunk ‘hot.’

Cocktail or Cocktailed, adj. (military).—Unsoldierlike; uneven; showing bad form; and in its specifically military sense, anything unworthy of the regular army. For example, at one time the Volunteer auxiliaries were described as ‘such a cocktailed crew.’

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. ii., p. 67. He confessed he
not only urged his brother into it, but compelled him to be as bad
as himself, and had thrashed him many times for turning cocktail.

Cock-Teaser, or Cockchafer, subs. (venery).—A girl in the habit of permitting all familiarities but the last.

Cock-up, subs. (printers’).—What is technically known as a ‘superior’; e.g., the smaller letters in the following examples:

Ye Limtd Compy; Jno. Smith, Senr.; No.; London1

Cocked-up, adj.—See Cocky.

Cock Up One’s Toes, verbal phr. (thieves’).—To die. For synonyms, see Aloft and Hop the twig.

1820. Reynolds, (‘Peter Corcoran’), The Fancy. ‘King Tims the
First.’ Now I see a neighbour cock his toe—Walk by his side in
black—in well paid woe.

1864. E. D. Forgues, in Revue des deux Mondes, Sep. 15, p. 472,
note. Cock one’s toes. Cette ... locution, si bizarre au premier
coup d’œil, doit s’expliquer par un des phénomènes de la retraction
cadavérique; les pieds du mort, ramenés en arrière, ont pu rappeler
la position que prend le chien de la batterie quand le fusil est
armé.

Cocky or Cocking, adj. (popular).—1. Pert or saucy; forward; coolly audacious; over confident, ‘botty.’ [Formerly cocking. An allusion to the strut of the barn-door bird.] Fr., se gourer, to be cocky; also se gonfler, faire sa merde, and faire son matador.

1711. Spectator, No. 153. But the cocking young fellow who treads
upon the toes of his elders, and the old fool who envies the saucy
pride he sees in him, are the objects of our present contempt and
derision.

1820. Clare, Poems of Rural Life, Familiar Epistle, st. 5. I’ve
long been aggravated shocking, To see our gentry folks go cocking.

1856. T. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, pt. II., ch. vi. ‘It
seems so cocky in me to be advising you.’

1864. Glasgow Citizen, Nov. 19. Cotgrave (1672) gives us ‘Herr,
master or sir; a rogue.’ Aleman [‘The Spanish Rogue’] Vous faite du
Herr. ‘You are very cockit, or lusty; you take too much upon you.’
Is it not gratifying to know that cockiness is older than this
century, in which it has been developed to so alarming an extent?

1872. The Scotsman, 29 Oct. ‘Sir J. Pakington at Stourbridge.’ He
should be inclined to offer him a little homely advice, and to tell
him in somewhat plain language ‘Not to be too cocky.’

1884. Cornhill Mag., April, p. 442. ‘Davis,’ said Toddy, ‘you
haven’t had a banging this term, and you’re getting cocky.’

2. (Stock Exchange).—Brisk; active—applied to the money market.

1871. Figaro, 3 June. ‘Notes on Change.’ Everything again brisk,
and the market, what is expressly termed cocky.

Cocoa-Nut, subs. (general).—The head. Fr. le coco. For synonyms, see Crumpet.

1834. W. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, p. 176 (ed. 1864). ‘A thousand
pities that so fine a fellow should have a sconce like a
cocoa-nut!’

1840. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. iii. ‘The Major a-pokin’
along with his cocoa-nut down, a-studyin’ over somethin’ or another
quite deep.’

c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, ‘Waltzing Round the Water-butt.’ Gaily
the troubadour will waltz round the water-butt, Blissful the happy
thoughts that float round my cocoa-nut, Moonlight and spooning
’neath the old hazel tree!

That accounts for the milk in the cocoa-nut, phr. (common).—A rejoinder upon having a thing explained for the first time.

To have no milk in the cocoa-nut, phr.—To be insane; silly; ‘cracked.’—See Apartments.

Cocum, Kocum, subs. (common).—1. Shrewdness; ability; luck; cleverness. [From the Hebrew chochum, chochem, or cochem, crafty; learned, wise, or a wise man. The term is found passim in early Hebrew literature, especially in the Book of Proverbs: ‘A cochem will hear and increase learning’ (Prov. i. 5). The slang sense has been introduced by the Whitechapel Jews. In Yiddish cochemer or cochem, the pronunciation of which is not dissimilar to cocum, means wisdom; cochumwirth = a thieves’ landlord. (Cf., paragraph on German analogues.) Cocma is another Hebraism used by London Jews in a similar sense, but it has not made its way into slang.

English Analogues. Real jam (this in the sense of anything exceptionally good or lucky); all beer and skittles (extremely pleasant); rattling (extremely jolly, pleasant, or well appointed); to be in clover (happiness and luck); to stand on velvet (a variant of the last mentioned); to be cracking a tidy crust (to be doing very well); to be having a good swim (thieves’ for a good run of luck, i.e., being a long time out of the policeman’s clutches); well ballasted; on the spot; up to Dick; on it; right; and so forth.

French Analogues. Etre de la bonne (popular: to be lucky); décrocher la timballe (popular); être de la fête (popular and thieves’); avoir des as dans son jeu (popular: to have an advantage, ‘to be in luck’s way’); avoir l’assiette au beurre (popular: to be fortunate in life); bidard (m. lucky); être de la bate (popular).

German Analogues. Chochom, Chochem, Chochemer (which Hebraism is the root of the English cocum. Among German thieves who more frequently spell the word Kochem, Kochemer, the meaning is almost identical with that given it by their English brethren, except that the wisdom, profit, or luck, applies almost solely to the results of crooked ways and dealings. Chochom and its variants signify, therefore, the cunning, prudent, and successful vagabond; Chochem lehorre = a dangerous vagabond, one who is prepared for the worst; Chochem mechutten = a bad patron, a dangerous companion, a rogue of the worst type; Chochme = wisdom, cunning, circumspection, or the practice of swindling).

Italian Analogues. Cavazzonare (literally ‘to place well or be well placed’); aver primavera (this applies to cocum as represented by pleasure; literally ‘to have spring’).

Spanish Analogues. Cucarachera (f; a vulgarism for luck or good fortune); harlarse buena cucarachera (to be lucky or fortunate); potroso (a colloquialism signifying lucky; literally ‘afflicted with a rupture’); charanguero (m; a lucky fellow, one with cocum); hijo de la gallina blanca (a lucky bird).

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 279.
‘It’s decent and comfortable too, and it’s about 6d. a night to me
for singing and patter in the tap-room. That’s my cokum
(advantage).’

1861. Earl, Ups and Downs of Australian Life, p. 224. ‘No one was
to get drunk, the governor said as how it wasn’t cokum, and he
wouldn’t have it,—and so we were all fit for work the next day.’

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., s.v. ‘Jack’s got cocum, he’s safe to get
on, he is,’ viz., he starts under favourable circumstances.

c. 1886. Broadside Ballad, ‘The Flippity Flop Young Man.’ I once
was a Member-for-Slocum young man, And for Parliament had a strong
fancy, A know-pretty-well-what-is-kocum young man When addressing a
constituency.

2. (publishers’).—A sliding scale of profit. [Publishers sometimes issue books without fixing the published price. These they sell to the retail trade at a fixed sum, leaving the bookseller to make what he can.

To fight or play cocum, verbal phr. (common). To play double; to be wary, cunning, or ‘artful.’

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant (3 ed.), p. 445, s.v. To be cunning,
wary, or sly.

1885. Referee, April 26, p. 1, col. 2. The best show in the
Crawfurd Plate—that is, unless a lot of the pulling-up division
were playing cokum—was that of Ptolemy.

Cod, subs. (common).—1. A fool. [Cf., Cod’s head, of which it is possibly an abbreviation.] For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

2. (tailors’).—A drunkard.—[See verb, sense 2.]

3. (thieves’).—A purse; a cod of money = a large sum of money. [A.S. cod or codd, a small bag.] For synonyms, see Poge.

4. (street).—A ‘pal’ or friend; generally prefixed to a surname. [Here cod is the diminutive of ‘codlin,’ an old endearment.] Cf., Codd.

Verb (common).—1. To play the fool; to monkey (q.v.).

2. (tailors’).—To go on the drink; generally, to act loosely.

3. (common).—To chaff; hoax; ‘take a rise out of.’

1865. Evening Citizen, 28 Nov. Codding a Town Council.—The Fife
Circular, Kirkcaldy, says:—According to usual practice, several
members of the new Town Council attended divine service at the
Parish Church on Sunday forenoon last. The Rev. M. J. Bryden
officiated, and preached an eloquent and appropriate sermon to the
Council from these words in the 10th chapter of St. Matthew:—‘Ye
are of more value than many sparrows.’

1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, ch. xxxi. ‘What do you think
of that, cook?’ ‘Think?’ answered the cook, who had a rather sour
eye; ‘why, that that rough sailor man was a-coddin’ of you, sir.’

Codd or Cod, subs. (Charterhouse).—A pensioner of the Charterhouse.—See quot., and Cf., Cod, sense 4.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, II., p. 333. Yonder sit some three score
of gentlemen, pensioners of the hospital, listening to the prayers
and psalms. You hear them coughing feebly in the twilight—the old
reverend blackgowns. Is Codd Ajax alive, you wonder?—the Cistercian
lads called these old gentlemen Codds, I know not wherefore—I know
not wherefore—but is old Codd Ajax alive, I wonder? or Codd
Soldier? or kind old Codd Gentleman? or has the grave closed over
them?

Coddam or Coddom, subs. (common).—A public-house game played three, four, or more a side. The only ‘property’ required is a coin, a button, or anything which can be hidden in the clenched hand. The principle of the game, which is simplicity itself, is that of ‘Guess whose hand it’s in.’ If the guesser ‘brings it home,’ his side takes the ‘piece,’ and the centre man ‘works’ it. If the guess be wrong, a chalk is taken to the holders, who go on again.

1884. J. Greenwood, Seven Years’ Penal Servitude. The convicts take
advantage of that to the extent sometimes of playing a gambling
game called coddom.

1885. Good Words, August, p. 530. Some prefer coddam, and risk
their pint of beer on the discovery of the coin.

1890. Pall Mall Gaz., March 1, p. 5, col. 2. The boys were playing
a game called coddom, a guessing game.

Codding, verbal subs. (common).—Nonsense; humbug; chaff. [From cod (q.v., verb, sense 3).]

Codger, subs. (common).—A familiar term of address, especially in old codger; a curious old fellow; an odd fish; a ‘rum’ character; a precise, and sometimes a mean or miserly man.

English Synonyms. Most of the general slang terms for a man or fellow correspond in usage to ‘old codger,’ e.g., old chap; ben cull; old man; my pippin; old cock, etc.

French Synonyms. Un béquillard (popular: French thieves give the same name to the executioner); vieux canasson (popular: ‘old man,’ ‘old cock’); un birbe; ma vieille branche.

Italian Synonym. Fuino (literally a pole-cat).

1760. Colman, Polly Honeycombe, in wks. (1777) IV., 39. A clear
coast, I find. The old codger’s gone, and has locked me up with his
daughter.

1760. Smollett, Sir L. Greaves, vol. I., ch. iii. She twisted her
hand in Grove’s neckcloth without ceremony, crying—‘Sha’t then, I
tell thee, old coger.’

1796. Mad. D’Arblay, Camilla, bk. IX., ch. iv. He gave himself the
airs of an old justice of the peace, and said if he did not find
the affair given up, nothing should induce him ever to help me
again. What a mere codger that lad has turned out!

1837. Barham, I. L. (Lay of St. Nicholas). How a thirsty old
codger, the neighbours call’d Roger, With them drank cold water in
lieu of old wine.

1859. Dickens, Tale of Two Cities, bk. II., ch. xxiv. Why, I am a
boy, sir, to half-a-dozen old codgers here.

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 61. His
father, a rum old codger, had been a captain in the army.

1883. F. R. Stockton, Rudder Grange, ch. xi. I knew that any
sensible man would rather have me in charge of his tent than a
young codger like that.

1887. Baumann, Londinismen, Slang u. Cant. pref., vi. So from
hartful young dodgers, From vaxy old codger, From the blowens we
got Soon to know vot is vot.

Codicils, subs. (American journalists’).—A kind of literary sparring match; also called accumulatives (q.v.). Some editor will make a remark or a joke—with a capital J; another will cite it with comments; and, in his turn, he will be handled by a third. There are cases in which the original paragraph has gone the round of twenty or thirty prints. [A codicil is properly a writing by way of supplement to a will.]

1889. Polytechnic Mag., 24 Oct., p. 253. ‘How many apples did Adam
and Eve eat?’ Some say Eve 8 and Adam 2—a total of 10. Now, we
figure the thing out far different. Eve 8, and Adam 8 also—total
16.—Boston Journal. We think the above figures are entirely wrong.
If Eve 8, and Adam 8–2, certainly the total will be 90. Scientific
men, however, on the strength of the theory that the antidiluvians
were a race of giants, and consequently great eaters, reason
something like this:—Eve, 8–1st, and Adam 8–2—total,
163.—Gloucester Advertiser. Wrong again; what could be clearer than
if Eve 8–1–1st, and Adam 8–1–2, would not the whole be
1,623?—Boston Journal. Now we think these figures are not according
to Cocker. The following is probably the true solution:—Eve 8–1–4
Adam, Adam 8–1–2–4 Eve—total, 8,698.—Veritas. Stop friend; still
another calculation is as follows:—If Eve 8–1–4 Adam, Adam
8–1–2–4–2 oblige Eve—total, 82,056. We think, however, this is not
a sufficient quantity; for, if we admit that Eve 8–1–4 Adam, Adam,
if he 8–0-8–1–2–4–2 keep Eve company—total, 1,082,056.—New York
Mail. You do the fair thing by Adam, brother, but you slight Eve.
This poor smit 10–1–8–1–4–2 please the serpent, and Adam, of
course, if he as good husbands do of-10–8–0–8–1–2–4–2 keep Eve
company—total, 109,099,384.—Syracuse Journal. The American
newspaper calculators, with the savagery of all other historians,
meanly stigmatise the woman. Adam, a mere dupe, lacked the nobility
to try a dangerous experiment first. Eve eat an apple for dinner:
Adam, forgetting the injuries to many an unborn 1,000,000–8–1–4
millions more—the coward! True total, 1,000,000,814,000,000.
Whoopee! Now is the time to subscribe.—Polytechnic Magazine.

Codland, subs. (American).—Newfoundland. Cf., Cod-preserves.

Codlings.—See Cods.

Cod-Preserves, subs. (nautical).—The Atlantic Ocean. [An obvious allusion. Cf., Codland = Newfoundland; also Briney.]

Cods, subs. (venery).—1. The testicles. [From A.S. cod or codd = a small bag.] Also codlings.

English Synonyms. Bawbels, baubels, or bobbles; bollocks; balls; beef (the penis and testes); bird’s-eggs; bobbies; bullets; bum-balls; cannon-balls; clock-weights; culls (old); dowsetts (old); gingambobs; jelly-bags (more properly in sing = the scrotum); knackers; love-apples; marbles; nick-nacks; pebbles; seals (Cf., watch-and-seals = the male pudenda); spunk-holders; stones; thingambobs.

French Synonyms. Les antilles (thieves’: f. pl.); les virolets (obsolete: in allusion to a man’s virility); les sonnettes (common: literally bells); les frères siamois (popular: an allusion to the Siamese twins); les prunes (common); les grains (leger de deux grains = an eunuch).

German Synonym. Dickmann (also ‘an egg,’ and ‘the penis.’ Dick = enciente; dick machen, to deflower and quicken. Dick means literally ‘thick’).

Spanish Synonym. Cojones.

2. (old).—See quot.

1871. Bookseller, 4 Nov. The Cods and Hooks were the Whigs and
Tories of Dutch William’s land.

Cod’s-Head, subs. (old).—A stupid fellow; a fool.—See Buffle and Cabbage-Head.

1675. The Woman turn’d Bully. Dash. Sweet sir, I think it is neer
octa hora. Your servant, gentlemen. Good. Farewell, cods-head.

1694. Dunton, Ladies’ Dictionary. You confounded toad, you, where
were your eyes, in your heels? that you should be such a bungling
cods-head to see no better.

Cofe.—See Cove.

Coffee, subs. (American thieves’).—Beans.

1859. G. W. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, p. 19, s.v.

Greased coffee, subs. phr. (American).—Pork and beans.

Coffee-House or Coffee-Shop, subs. (common).—1. A water-closet. For synonyms, see Mrs. Jones, and Cf., Bury a Quaker.

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

Coffee-Housing, subs.—See quot.

1877 Hawley Smart, Play or Pay, ch. iv. ‘Not going to hunt? Why
Miss Bazing told me you had a regular string of horses coming
down!’ ‘Ah, Bessie’s wrong. I always was a changeable beggar, you
know. The string consists of a hack, just good enough to do a
little bit of coffee-housing occasionally.’

Coffee-Mill, subs. (old).—The mouth: a ‘grinder’ itself, and furnished with ‘grinders’—American ‘cogs,’—as well. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 2. Gas. Come,
come, silence your coffee-mill.

Coffee-Milling, subs. phr. (common).—1. Grinding; working hard. Cf., To cock snooks (see Snooks) or ‘take a sight’ by putting the thumb of one hand to the nose and grinding the little finger with the other, as if you worked an imaginary coffee mill.

1837. Dickens, Pickwick, p. 249.

1854. Aytoun and Martin, The Bon Gaultier Ballads. ‘The Lay of the
Lovelorn.’ When I went the pace so wildly, caring little what might
come, Coffee-milling care and sorrow, with a nose-adapted thumb.

Coffins, subs. (Stock Exchange).—The Funeral Furnishing Company’s Shares.

Another nail in one’s coffin.—See Nail.

Cog, subs. (American thieves’).—A tooth.—Matsell [1859]. Cf., Coffee-mill.

Coke. Go and Eat Coke, verb. phr. (vulgar).—A phrase indicative of contempt. A corollary is ‘and evacuate, or s—t cinders.’

Coker, subs. (old).—A lie.—Grose [1785]. For synonyms, see Whopper.

Colchester Clocks, subs. (streets’).—A breed of large oysters.

1865. Daily Telegraph, 13 Sep. For the big, uncompromising
Colchester clock, which we see on stalls and shudder at, with
unlimited vinegar and pepper, the East-ender willingly gives his
penny.

Cold. To have a bad cold, verbal phr. (common).—Said of one who keeps his door closed against all comers for fear of duns; also of one who has ‘shot the moon.’ Also of one that has taken clap.

1863. Chambers’ Journal, vol. XX., p. 5. ‘It’s no good your
ringing,’ remarked the book-boy, when I had discovered that fact
for myself; ‘Mr. Cranium ain’t at home, he ain’t. He’s got a werry
bad cold.’ After a few minutes, however, and many genial
impertinences, I discovered that having a bad cold means, in Camden
Town, being in debt, while a very bad cold implies that the
sufferer has taken clandestine departure from his lodgings.

To leave out in the cold, verbal phr.—To neglect; shut out, or abandon.

1861. New York Tribune, July, The ‘Assents’ continue to come in
freely at the Erie Railroad office; and the appearances are that at
the closing of the books ... there will be few shares or bonds left
out in the cold.

Cold Blood, subs. (licensed victuallers’).—A house licensed for the sale of beer ‘not to be drunk on the premises.’

Cold Coffee, subs. phr. (Oxford University).—1. A sell; a hoax; a trumpery affair.

2. (common).—Misfortune; ill-luck. A variant is cold gruel; also to have one’s comb cut; in French, to experience a run of ill-luck is expressed by être abonné au guignon; literally ‘to become a subscriber to ill-luck’; in Spanish, dar al traste con los negocios, signifies, colloquially, ‘to fail’ or ‘to be unfortunate in business.’

3. (familiar).—An unpleasant return or snub for a proffered kindness.

Cold Comfort, subs. phr. (trade).—An expression used of articles sent out on approval and returned. [Merely an extension of the literal meaning i.e., what is barren of consolation: a usage dating from the sixteenth century.

Cold Cook, subs. (popular).—An undertaker. [Literally one who has to deal with cold meat, i.e., the lifeless human body.] Cf., Cold meat and its derivatives.

English Synonyms. Carrion hunter; body snatcher; death hunter; black worker (see Black work).

French Synonyms. Un emballeur de refroidis (thieves’: an undertaker’s man; literally ‘a packer of cold meat’).

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

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

Cold Cookshop, subs. phr. (popular).—An undertaker’s premises.—See Cold cook.

Cold Cream.—See Cream of the valley.

Cold Deck, subs. (American thieves’).—A prepared pack of cards. Cf., Concaves and convexes and Stock broads. More politely a good hand obtained on first dealing and without drawing fresh cards.

1880. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Screamers. I never have gambled
from that day to this—never once—without a cold deck in my pocket.
I cannot even tell who is going to lose in games that are being
played unless I deal myself.

Cold Gruel.—See Cold coffee, sense 2.

Cold Meat, subs. (common).—A corpse. [The human carcass is compared to butchers’ wares.] For synonyms, see Dead Meat. Among medical students the term cold meat or pickles (q.v.) = specimens direct from the subject.

1819. Thos. Moore, Tom Crib’s Mem. to Con., p. 25. In the Twelfth
and Last Round Sandy fetched him a downer, That left him all’s one
as cold meat for the Crowner.

To make cold meat of one, verbal phr. (common).—To kill. For synonyms, see Cook one’s goose.

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, p. 148 (ed. 1857). ‘You mustn’t
handle your piece in that ’ere way, when you come to have the
charge in it, sir,’ said the tall gamekeeper, gruffly, ‘or I’m
damned if you won’t make cold meat of some of us!’

Cold-Meat Box, subs. phr. (common).—A coffin. [From cold-meat, a corpse, + box, a receptacle.] For synonyms, see Eternity box.

1889. Sporting Times, 3 Aug., p. 1, col. 3. ‘Well, s’pose I perched
first?’ ‘Well,’ replied Pitcher, ‘I should just come in where you
were lying in the cold-meat box, and I should whisper in your ear,’
etc.

Cold-Meat Cart, subs. phr. (common).—A hearse. [From cold-meat, a corpse, + cart.] Fr., mannequin à refroidis. Cf., Cold-meat train.

1820. Reynolds (‘Peter Corcoran’), The Fancy, p. 46. He’s gone—how
very muddy some folks die!—He’s for the cold-meat cart, and so am
I.

Cold-Meat Train, subs. phr. (popular).—Generally, the funeral trains to Brookwood, Kensal Green, and other cemeteries. Specifically, the last train at night per S.W.R., by which officers can reach Aldershot in time for their morning duties. It starts about 2 a.m. from Nine Elms, and is properly a goods train, but a carriage is attached which is known as the ‘Larky Subaltern.’ [It is an error to suppose that this particular train received its nickname for taking corpses to Woking Cemetery. It carries nothing more dreadful than a portion of the beef and mutton for the morning ration to the troops in camp; and, as before stated, a few belated officers.]

1876. R. M. Jephson, Girl He Left Behind Him, ch. xi. The train by
which Dorrien journeyed to Aldershot was that one known as the
cold-meat.

Cold Pig. To give cold pig, verbal phr. (common).—To waken a sleeper either by sluicing him with cold water, or by suddenly stripping him of his bed-clothes.

1818. J. R. Planché, Amoroso, King of Little Britain. For if the
Queen should come this way, As sure as fate and quarter day, cold
pig will be your fare.

1837. Comic Almanack, June. I’ve given him strap,—a thick rope’s
end,—cold pig! In vain!—There lies the stupid clown, As if the
Night Mare held him down.

1846. Thackeray, Jeames’s Diary (in Punch, vol. II., p. 72). ‘What
was it I red there? What was it that made me spring outabed as if
sumbady had given me cold pig?—I red Rewin in that share list—the
Pannick was in full hoporation.’

1869. W. Bradwood, The O. V. H., ch. xxxv. Then he came back rosy
and hungry, and revenged himself by an administration of cold pig
to the still slumbering Ralph.

Subs. (thieves’).—1. A person robbed of his clothing. Cf., sense 2.

2. (thieves’).—A corpse. For synonyms, see Dead meat.

3. (commercial travellers’).—The ‘empty returns’ sent back by rail to wholesale houses.

Cold Shivers, subs. phr. (common).—A figure of speech describing the effect of illness, intense fear or any violent emotion. An American equivalent is a ‘cold shake,’ which may refer alike to a period of cold weather, and an attack of fever and ague.

1864. Derby Day, p. 50. ‘There’s our friend the Littl’un,’ he
resumed; ‘he’s all shivery shakey as if he got the staggers or the
cold shivers, and was going wurra, wurra, wurra, between his teeth,
as if he couldn’t help himself.’

Cold Shoulder. To give, show, or turn the cold shoulder, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To treat a person with studied coldness, neglect, or contempt; to ‘cut,’ in a modified form. The phrase appears to have been first used by Scott in the Antiquary, in the glossary to which it is explained as ‘to appear cold and reserved.’ Jamieson localizes it in the South of Scotland.

1816. Scott, Antiquary, ch. xxxiii. The countess’s dislike didna
gang farther at first than just showing o’ the cauld shouther.

1840. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, ch. lxvi. He gives me the cold
shoulder on this very matter, as if he had had nothing to do with
it, instead of being the first to propose it.

1880. G. R. Sims, Three Brass Balls, pledge iii. They were not
received everywhere with open arms. He was, of course, but the wife
was occasionally cold shouldered.

c. 1882. Broadside Ballad, ‘Where’s the Cat?’ She gave him the cold
shoulder, and quickly told him to depart.

Cold Slaw.—See Cabbage, sense 1.

Cold Tea, subs. (common).—Brandy—a seventeenth and eighteenth century colloquialism. For synonyms, see Drinks.

1690. Dict. Cant. Crew. Cold tea: brandy.

1693. Remonstrance of the Batchelors, in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park),
IV., 505. Since their sex has been so familiar with brandy
(blasphemed by the name of cold tea).

1857. Notes and Queries, 2 S., iii., p. 59, s.v.

1888. C. J. Dunphie, The Chameleon, p. 235. It is worthy of remark
that cold tea was a slang name for Brandy in the 18th century.

Cold Water Army, subs. phr. (colloquial).—The general body of total abstainers.

Cold Without, subs. phr. (common).—Spirits and cold water without sugar. Cf., Cider and; also Hot with.

1837. R. H. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, p. 156 (ed. 1862). On the
fire, too, she pops some nice mutton-chops, And she mixes a stiff
glass of cold without.

1853. Bulwer Lytton, My Novel. I laugh at fame. Fame, sir! not
worth a glass of cold without.

Cole or Coal, subs. (popular).—Money. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 52 (1874). Tip the
cole to Adam Tyler, give what money you pocket-pickt to the next
party, presently.

1676. A Warning for Housekeepers (canting song). But when that we
come not agen, As we walk along the street, We bite the Culley of
his cole.

1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia, I., in wks. (1720) IV., 16. Cheat.
My lusty rustick, learn, and be instructed. Cole is, in the
language of the witty, money; the ready, the rhino.

16(?). Song of Seventeenth Century, (quoted in Halliwell and Wright’s ed. of Nares’ Glossary). The twelfth a trapan, if a cull he doth meet, He naps all his cole, and turns him i’ th’ street.

1741. Walpole, ballad in Letters to Mann, i., 22. This our captain
no sooner had finger’d the cole, But he hies him aboard with his
good Madam Vole.

1837. R. H. Barham, The Ingoldsby Legends (ed. 1862), p. 398.
Moreover—the whole Of the said cash or cole; Shall be spent for the
good of the said Old Woman’s soul!

1844. Puck, p. 146. Thank you for the offer of your bill; but I can
wait until you can finger the cole, when I shan’t stand on ceremony
about taking a cool hundred or two....

To post or tip the cole, phr. (common).—To hand over money; to ‘shell’ or ‘fork out.’—See 1671 quot., subs. sense.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 13. ‘Will he
post the cole? Will he come down with the dues? Ask him that,’
cried Blueskin. Ibid. If he don’t tip the cole without more ado,
give him a taste of the pump, that’s all.

1883. G. A. S[ala], in Ill. L. News, Nov. 10, p. 451, col. 3. The
lamented J. B. Buckstone, at a Theatrical Fund Dinner, once
entreated the guests present to post the cole, i.e., to be prompt
with their subscriptions and donations.

Colfabias or Colfabis.—See quot.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict. Colfabias, a Latinized Irish phrase
signifying the closet of decency, applied as a slang term to a
place of resort in Trinity College, Dublin.

Coliander or Coliander-Seeds, subs. (old).—Money.—Grose [1785]. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

Collar, verb (common).—To seize: appropriate; steal; e.g., ‘collar his dragons,’ i.e., steal his sovereigns. [Properly ‘to seize by the collar’; hence, by transition, ‘to lay hold of anything forcibly.’] For synonyms, see Nab and Prig.

1841. Leman Rede, Song, ‘Kit Clayton,’ in Sixteen-String Jack, Act
i., Sc. 3. Ve collar’d the blunt, started off for town, With the
dashy, splashy, leary, little stringer, Horses knock’d up, men
knocked down—Phililoo!

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. lvii., p. 476. Look well after your
own money, for they are dead certain to collar it, if they can.

1866. London Miscellany, March 3, p. 58. I slept in Holborn
Workhouse. While I was asleep the other coves tore every rag up and
collar’d my toke.

1866. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 242. Old Sir
John Collywobbles had six black horses, six white horses, and six
pied horses. So I recommended my father-which-is-in-law to collar
the lot.

1884. W. Besant, Julia, ch. iv. Your grandmother tells me you’ve
plucked up spirit at last and won’t let her collar more than half
the wages.

To Collar the Bun, Cake, Banbury, or Confectioner’s Shop, verb. phr. (common).—To be easily first; to surpass.—See Cake.

Out of Collar, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Out of work; out of cash; not in training. Conversely, in collar = in work; in comfortable circumstances; and, as regards training, ‘fit’ or ‘in form.’ [Simile taken from the stable, in allusion to a horse, i.e., with his collar on or off.]

French Synonyms. Balloter (tailors’ = ‘to be out of work’); caler (popular and nautical = ‘to sink’); envoyer à la comédie (popular: to dismiss a workman for want of work to give him. Cf., remporter une veste); être à la comédie (‘to be out of work’); un panas (popular: ‘one out of work’); un inspecteur des pavés (literally ‘an inspector of the pavement’); avoir de la laine (to be in work).

1857. Ducange Anglicus, The Vulgar Tongue. A decent allowance made
to seedy swells, head robbers, and flunkeys out of collar.

1867. Scottish Journal, p. 39, col. 1. There is nothing that so
materially and frequently effects the well-being and social
position of a working man as the circumstances arising from being,
in his own phrase, ‘out of collar’—that is, his being unable to
obtain work when he is able to do it and anxious to get it to do.
Ibid. A workman on tramp will, if he is tolerably well known in the
trade, and if he have, when in collar, shown a disposition to
assist those who were out, often be kept among his former
shopmates.

1880. Millikin, Punch’s Almanack. Now October! Back again to
collar, Funds run low, reduced to last ’alf dollar.

c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, ‘Why Did She Leave her Jeremiah?’ When I
was in collar I loved a fair maid, With eyes of a sweet dark blue.

Against collar, adv. phr. (common).—Uphill; working against difficulties, or against the grain.

To be put to the pin of the collar, verbal phr. (common).—To be driven to extremities; to come to the end of one’s resources.

To wear the collar, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To be subject to control not altogether to one’s liking. The antithesis of ‘to have the whip hand’ and ‘to wear the breeches’; etc.

Collar and Elbow, subs. phr. (wrestling).—A term for a peculiar style of wrestling—the Cornwall and Devon style.

Collar-Day, subs. (old).—Hanging day. [In allusion to the hangman’s noose.] Also Wry-neck-day (q.v.); Fr., jour de la St. Jean Baptiste.

Collared. To be collared, verbal phr. (gaming).—To be unable to play one’s usual game owing to temper, ‘funk,’ or other causes.

Collared Up, ppl. adj. (colloquial).—Kept close to business. Cf., Out of collar.

Collar or Get the Big Bird.—See Big Bird, and for synonyms, Goosed.

Collar Work, subs. phr. (colloquial). Laborious work.—See Against Collar.

1883. Daily Telegraph, July 3, p. 2, col. 1. The bald patches on
their shoulders testified to their intimate acquaintance with
collar work and tugging on stoney roads with heavy loads behind
them.

1888. Ant. Trollope, What I Remember. And when Lucca was reached
there were still fourteen miles, nearly all collar work, between
that and the baths.

Collector, subs. (old).—A highwayman or footpad.

College, subs. (thieves’).—A prison; the inmates are called collegians or collegiates (q.v.); Newgate was formerly called ‘the City College.’ The Spanish Germania has colegio and collège is found in the argot of French thieves.

1703. Title, ‘The History of Whittington’s Colledge otherwise
(vulgarly) called Newgate. London, Printed in the Year 1703.’

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. College, Newgate, or any other
prison.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick Papers (about 1827), p. 370 (ed. 1857).
‘Mornin’, gen’l’mem’, said Sam, entering at the moment with the
shoes and gaiters; ‘avay vith melancholly, as the little boy said
ven his schoolmissus died. Velcome to the college, gen’l’mem.’

1859. Matsell, Vacabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, p. 20. College: a
State prison.

1889. Answers, 8 June, p. 25. I have since met several men whom I
knew in prison at one time or other, and most of them have
recognised me; but only one other has stopped me to remind me that
we were at ‘college’ together.

College Chum.—See Collegiate.

Colleger, subs. (University and public schools’).—A square cap, otherwise known as a mortar-board. For general synonyms, see Golgotha.

Collegian.—See Collegiate.

Collegiate, Collegian or College Chum, subs. (thieves’).—The inmate of a prison.—[See College.]

1743. North, Life of Lord Guildford, I., 123. His beginnings were
debauched, and his study and first practice in the gaol. For having
been one of the fiercest town-rakes and spent more than he had of
his own, his case forced him upon that expedient for a lodging, and
there he ... busied himself with the cases of his
fellow-collegiates.

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

1836. Dickens, Pickwick Papers (about 1827), p. 369 (ed. 1857). ‘I
say—do you expect anybody this morning? Three men—devilish
gentlemanly fellows—have been asking after you downstairs, and
knocking at every door on the hall flight: for which they’ve been
most infernally blown up by the collegians that had the trouble of
opening ’em.’

1859. G. W. Matsell, Vocabulum, or the Rogues Lexicon, College
Chum: a fellow-prisoner.

1884. Dickens. [Quoted in Supplement to Annandale’s ed. of
Ogilvie’s Imperial Dict.] It became a not unusual circumstance for
letters to be put under his door at night enclosing half-a-crown
... for the father of the Marshalsea, ‘with the compliments of a
collegian taking leave.’

Ladies’ College, subs. (general).—A brothel. For synonyms, see Nanny-shop.

Collogue, verb (colloquial).—To confer confidentially and secretly; to conspire; to wheedle; or flatter. The term is also used in a humorous sense. [From Lat. col, together + Lat. loquor, to speak, influenced probably by ‘colleague’ and ‘colloquy.’]

1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden, in wks. III., 136. For once before I
had bin so cousend by his colloging, though personally we neuer met
face to face.

1676. Earl of Rochester, Hist. of Insipids, st. 9. When to give
Money he can’t cologue ’um, He doth with Scorn prorogue, prorogue
’um.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). collogue (v.): to treat with a
person underhandedly, to cheat, flatter, coax, or sooth a person in
order to get a secret out of him.

1818. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. xxxvii. It was hardly possible two such
d—d rascals should collogue together without mischief to honest
people.

1857. Barham, I. L. (House-warming). Miss Alice, in short, was
supposed to collogue—I Don’t much like the word—with the subtle old
rogue, I’ve heard call’d by so many names,—one of them’s Bogy.

1858. G. Eliot, Mr. Gilfil’s Love-Story, ch. iv. ‘We shall be
poisoned wi’ lime an’ plaster, and hev the house full o’ workmen
collogeing wi’ the maids, an’ makin’ no end o’ mischief.’

1861. G. Eliot, Silas Marner, ch. ix. ‘And how long have you been
so thick with Dunsey that you must collogue with him to embezzle my
money?’

Colly-Molly, adj. and adv. (old).—Melancholy. [A jocular corruption of the word. Cf., Solemoncholy and (in Dr. Marigold’s Prescriptions) lemon-jolly.]

17(?). Decl. of Pop. Imp. sign. Q. 3. (quoted in Nares). The devil
was a little colli-mollie and would not come off.

Colly Wobbles, subs. (common).—The stomach-ache; also the rumblings of flatulency; figuratively, the stomach.

English Synonyms. Wiffle-waffles; gripes; mulligrubs.

French Synonyms. Mal au bréchet; also gargouillade.

1853. Cuthbert Bede, Verdant Green, pt. I., ch. viii. ‘Peakyish you
feel, don’t you, now, with a touch of the mulligrubs in your
collywobbles?’

c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, ‘Complaints’ or ‘The Ills of Life.’ Then
I’ve had the colic, spasms, dizziness, and swimmings, Mullygrubs
and collywobbles, with delicious trimmings.

Colour, subs. (sporting).—1. The handkerchief worn as a badge by prize-fighters and other professional athletes. Each man chooses his own, and it was once a practice to sell them to backers to be worn at the ring-side. The present rules of the Ring provide as follows:—‘That every man shall be provided with a handkerchief of a colour suitable to his own fancy, and that the seconds proceed to entwine these handkerchiefs at the upper end of one of the centre stakes of the ring; that these handkerchiefs shall be called the colours, and that the winner of the battle at its conclusion shall be entitled to their possession as the trophy of victory.’ For a description of various ‘fancies,’ see Billy. In racing circles the colours are the owner’s and are shown in the jockeys’ caps and jackets.

1818. P. Egan, Boxiana, vol. I., p. 170. The Chicken now sported
the blue-spotted silk handkerchief, as the champion’s colour.

1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, bk. II., ch. xii., p. 189. Each
of the men had, previous to the fight, done a little profitable
business by selling pocket-handkerchiefs, which they called their
colours.

2. (popular).—Used of money; e.g., ‘I have not seen the colour of his money’ = I have not received payment.—See quots.

1736. Fielding, Don Quixote, I., iii. If I have seen the colour of
gold this fortnight, may I never see Teresa Pancha again.

1836. Marryat, Midshipman Easy, ch. xix. The padrone informed them
that he should like to see the colour of their money before they
went on board.

Coloured on the card, phr. (racing).—Having the colours in which a jockey is to ride inserted on the card of the race.

Off colour, adv. phr. (common).—Exhausted; run down; ‘seedy.’

c. 1876. Broadside Ballad, ‘That’s Where The Money Goes.’ London’s
Police will be made up of men, Cold Rabbit Pie will be off colour
then.

Colour One’s Meerschaum, verbal phr. (common).—To get brandy-faced; to drink one’s nose into a state of pimples and scarlet.

Colquarron, subs. (old)—The neck. For synonyms, see Scrag.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. colquarron: a man’s neck (cant),
his colquarron is just about to be twisted, he is just going to be
hanged.

1830. Sir E. B. Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 5 (ed. 1854). ‘’Tis a rum
business, and puzzles I! but mum’s the word, for my own little
colquarren.’

Colt, subs. (popular).—1. A person new to office, or, to the exercise of any art; e.g., a professional cricketer during his first season; a first-time juryman; a thief in his novitiate. [Properly a colt is a young male horse.]

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

1885. Daily News, 28 August, p. 3, col. 7. A match arranged for the
benefit of the young players of the county was commenced yesterday
at Manchester, when the Lancashire Eleven were opposed to
Twenty-six colts.

2. (nautical).—See quots.