Chapter XI: Part 11

4. (venery).—To go wenching; to womanize (q.v.).

5. (venery).—To possess a woman.

Goose Without Gravy, subs. phr. (nautical).—A severe but bloodless blow. See Wipe.

To be sound on the goose. verb. phr. (American).—Before the civil war, to be sound on the pro-slavery question: now, to be generally staunch on party matters; to be politically orthodox.

1857. Providence Journal, 18 June. To seek for political flaws is
no use, His opponents will find he is sound on the goose.

1857. Gladstone, Kansas: or Squatter Life, p. 43. One of the boys,
I reckon? All right on the goose, eh? No highfaluten airs here, you
know.

1862. Lowell, Biglow Papers, II. Northern religion works wal North,
but it’s ez suft ez spruce, compar’d to our’n for keepin’ sound,
sez she, upon the goose.

1875. American English in Chamb. Journal, 25 Sept., p. 610. A man
who can be depended upon by his party is said to be sound on the
goose.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 22. He didn’t appear quite so
sound on the goose as he ought to ha’ done.

To find fault with a fat goose, verb. phr. (old).—To grumble without rhyme or reason.—B. E. (1690).

To kill the goose for the golden eggs, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To grasp at more than is due; to over-reach oneself. (From the Greek fable.)

Everything is lovely and the goose hangs high, phr. See Everything.

He’ll be a man among the geese when the gander is gone, phr. (old).—Ironical; = ‘He’ll be a man before his mother.’

Go! shoe the goose, phr. (old).—A retort, derisive or incredulous = the modern ‘To hell and pump thunder.’

Unable to say boh! to a goose, phr. (colloquial).—Said of a bashful person.—Grose.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 76. And now ... he can hardly say
boh to a goose.

See also Wild-goose Chase.

Goose-and-Duck, subs. phr. (rhyming).—A fuck.

Goose and Gridiron, subs. phr. (political American).—The American eagle, and the United States flag. See Gridiron.

1891. Standard, 3 Jan., p. 3, c. 1. This is curious, considering
the almost fetish-like veneration entertained by the modern
American for his Standard, which, coupled with the national bird,
tempted the Loyalists in the early days of the war to vent endless
rude witticisms on the goose and gridiron.

Gooseberry, subs. (common).—1. A fool. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head. [Perhaps from Gooseberry Fool; as in Goldsmith’s Retaliation:—‘And by the same rule Magnanimous Goldsmith’s a gooseberry fool.’]

2. (common).—A chaperon; one who takes third place to save appearances or play propriety (q.v.); a daisy- or gooseberry-picker.

3. (common).—A marvellous tale; a munchausen (q.v.); a flim-flam. Also gigantic, and giant goosberry. Hence Gooseberry season = the dull time of journalism, when the appearance of monstrous vegetables, sea serpents, showers of frogs, and other portents is chronicled in default of news. Cf., silly season (q.v.).

1870. Figaro, 22 June. If we have no big gooseberries this season,
we have at least a big salmon.

1871. Graphic, 22 Apr. Mr. Tupper excited a great deal of
incredulity a few years ago by announcing in the prodigious
goosberry season that he had discovered an ancient Roman coin
embedded in the heart of an oak tree.

1885. Ill. London News, 18 July, p. 50, c. 2. Amongst journalists
there is popularly known what they call ‘the giant gooseberry
season,’ the meaning of which is, that when Parliament has risen
and the Law Courts are shut and subjects on which to write become
scarce, adventurous spirits are apt to discourse in their
newspapers of fruit of abnormal size, and other natural prodigies,
which, according to current banter, exist only in their own
imagination.

4. in. pl. (venery).—The testicles. For synonyms, see Cods.

To play (or do) gooseberry, verb. phr. (common).—To play propriety; also to sit third in a hansom.

1877. Hawley Smart, Play or Pay. ch. vi. To take care of a pretty
girl, ... with a sister to do gooseberry.

1880. G. R. Sims, Jeph, p. 8. Mamma always played gooseberry on
these occasions.

1883. Globe, 6 July, p. 1, c. 5. They will be compelled in
self-defence to have a shorthand writer present to play gooseberry,
and to be able to furnish proof that their discourse was innocent.

1892. J. McCarthy and Mrs. Campbell-Praed, Ladies’ Gallery, p. 51.
Well, I am not a good hand at playing gooseberry, and I don’t like
spoiling sport.

To play old gooseberry, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To play the deuce; to upset or spoil; to throw everything into confusion; but see quot. 1811. Old Gooseberry = The devil (see Skipper). [See Notes and Queries, 2 S x., 307, 376; xii., 336.]

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

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Gooseberry. He played up old
gooseberry among them; said of a person who, by force or threats,
suddenly puts an end to a riot or disturbance.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 22. Will play up old gooseberry soon with
them all.

1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf. To play up gooseberry; children
romping about the house or the parent rating them over.

1837. Ingoldsby Legends. ‘Bloudie Jacke of Shrewsberrie.’ There’s a
pretty to-do! All the people of Shrewsbury playing old gooseberry
With your choice bits of taste and virtù.

1865. H. Kingsley, Hillyars and the Burtons, ch. lxii. Lay on like
old gooseberry.

1892. Globe, 12 July, p. 2, c. 2. We all know his capacity for
playing old goosberry with things in general.

Gooseberry-eyed, adj. (old).—Grey-eyed. (Lex. Bal., 1811).

Gooseberry-grinder, subs. (old).—The breech. For synonyms, see Monocular eyeglass.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Gooseberry-grinder, s.v. Ask Bogey the
gooseberry-grinder, ask mine a——e.

Gooseberry Lay, subs. phr. (thieves’).—Stealing linen from a line.

Gooseberry-picker, subs. (colloquial).—1. A person whose labour profits, and is credited to, another; a ghost (q.v.).

2. (common).—A chaperon. See Gooseberry, subs. sense 2.

1884. Cornhill Mag., Dec., p. 578. The good host experienced the
sensations of being gooseberry-picker. He sat under a tree, ate,
drank, smoked, and finally fell asleep, whilst the Prince and
Ottilie explored the Gaulish city and the convent.

Gooseberry-pudding, subs. (rhyming).—A woman. For synonyms, see Petticoat.

Gooseberry-wig, subs. (old).—A large frizzled wig. ‘Perhaps,’ says Grose (s.v.), ‘from a supposed likeness to a gooseberry bush.’

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Goosecap, subs. (common).—A booby, male or female; a noodle. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1593. G. Harvey, Pierce’s Super. in wks. II., 72. A foole, an
idiot, a dolt, a goose-capp, an asse, and soe fourth.

1604. Dekker, Honest Wh. in wks. (1873), ii., 81. Out, you gulles,
you goose-caps, you gudgeon-eaters!

1622. Beaumont and Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iv., 4. Why, what a
goose-cap wouldst thou make me!

1763. Foote, Mayor of Garratt, Act i. My husband is such a
goose-cap that I can’t get no good out of him at home or abroad.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. A silly fellow or woman.

Goose- (or Goose’s) Egg, subs. (American).—No score. Also Gooser. See Duck.

1886. New York Times, July. With nine unpalatable goose-eggs in
their contest.

1889. Modern Society, 12 Oct., p. 1264. An enthusiastic lady
cricketer has just bowled over Mr. Jones in a matrimonial match.
‘No, Mr. Brown, I cannot marry you. You score a gooser this time.’

Goose-flesh (or Goose-skin), subs. (colloquial).—A peculiar tingling of the skin produced by cold, fear, etc.; the sensation described as ‘cold water down the back’; the creeps (q.v.).

1824. Miss Ferrier, Inheritance, ch. ii. Her skin began to rise
into what is vulgarly termed goose-skin.

Goose-gog (or Goose-gob), subs. (common).—A gooseberry.

Goose-grease, subs. phr. (venery).—A woman’s spendings (q.v.). See Goose, subs., sense 6.

Goose-month, subs. (old).—The lying-in month. Cf., Gander-month.

Goose-persuader, subs. (common).—A tailor. For synonyms, see Snip.

Gooser, subs. (popular).—1. A settler; a knock-out blow; the act of death. See Dig and Wipe.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. III., p. 133.
It was he who saved my life. If it hadn’t been for him it would
have been a gooser with me.

1857. Morning Chronicle, 9 Sept. In the event of my getting a
gooser.

2. (sporting).—No score; a goose-egg (q.v.).

3. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

Goose-Riding. See Gander-pulling.

Goose’s Gazette, subs. (old).—A lying story; a flim-flam tale; that is, a piece of reading for a goose, sense 2.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxxiv. Lieutenant Brown ... told
him some goose’s gazette about his being taken in a skirmish with
the land-sharks.

Goose-shearer, subs. (common).—A beggar. For synonyms, see Cadger. [From goose = simpleton + shearer = a cheater.]

Goose’s-neck, subs. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

Goose-step, subs. (common).—Balancing on one foot and moving the other back and forwards without taking a step. [A preliminary in military drill, the pons asinorum of the raw recruit.] Also (more loosely) ‘marking time’: that is, lifting the feet alternately without advancing.

1840. Tate’s Mag., Sept., p. 607. Whether the remarkable evolution
[the goose step] was called ... from the nature of the operation
requiring the exhibitor to stand on one leg, in imitation of the
above-named animal, I am totally at a loss to say.

1890. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 7 Nov. He won his spurs at Punchestown
before he had mastered the goose step.

Goose-turd Green, adj. (old).—A light-yellowish green.—Cotgrave.

Goosey-gander, subs. (common).—A fool. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

Goosing-slum, subs. (American).—A brothel. [Goosing = womanizing; also copulating.] For synonyms, see Nanny-shop.

Gopher, subs. (American).—1. A young thief; especially a boy employed by burglars to enter houses through windows, skylights, etc. [In natural history gopher = a burrowing squirrel.]

2. (Southern States).—A rude wooden plough.

Goree, subs. (old).—Money; specifically gold or gold-dust. From Fort Goree on the Gold Coast. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1696. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

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

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Gorge, subs. (vulgar).—1. A heavy meal; a tuck-in (q.v.); a blow-out (q.v.).

1553. Wilson, Arte of Rhetorique, p. 112. The counseler heareth
causes with lesse pain being emptie, then he shal be able after a
ful gorge.

1883. Daily News, March 24, p. 3, c. 4. The keeper tries these
brutes once a week to see whether they are ready for a gorge, and
the python has been known to devour eight ducks at one meal,
feathers and all, before signifying enough.

2. (theatrical).—A manager; an abbreviation of gorger (q.v.).

Verb (vulgar).—To eat voraciously; also to gulp as a fish does when it swallows (or gorges) a bait. For synonyms, see Wolf.

1572. Satirical Poems, Scottish Text Society, 1889–91,
‘Lamentacioun,’ ii., 232. Gorged waters ever greater grows.

1633. Massinger, New Way to Pay Old Debts, iii., 2. Mar. Come, have
patience If you will dispense a little with your worship, And sit
with the waiting women, you’ll have dumpling, Woodcock, and
butter’d toasts too. Greedy. This revives me: I will gorge there
sufficiently.

1654. Chapman, Revenge for Honour, Act i., Sc. 1. Here men o’ th’
shop can gorge their musty maws With the delicious capon, and fat
limbs of mutton.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Gorge (v.), to eat over-much,
to cram, glut, or fill unreasonably.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xxxiv., p. 336. No man had
spoken a word; every one had been intent, as usual, on his own
private gorging; and the greater part of the company were decidedly
dirty feeders.

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. iii. Who might be such a fine
race, if they would only not gorge their food so rapidly.

Gorger, subs. (vulgar).—1. A voracious eater; a scruncher (q.v.). Rotten gorger = a lad who hangs about Covent Garden eating refuse fruit.

2. (common).—A well-dressed man; a gentleman. [Gypsy, gorgio = gentlemen.] Fr., un gratiné.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Mung the gorger; beg child beg, of
the gentleman.

3. (common).—An employer; a principal: especially the manager of a theatre. [Perhaps because he takes (or gorges) all the fat (q.v.).] Also cully-gorger. Fr., amendier.

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.

4. (old).—A neckerchief. [From gorge = throat.]

1320–30. Gawaine, 957. That other wyth a gorger watz gored ouer the
swyre.

Gorgonzola Hall, subs. phr. (Stock Exchange).—Formerly the New Hall; now the corporation generally. [From the colour of the marble.]

1887. Atkin, House Scraps, Gorgonzola Hall got turned into New
Billingsgate.

Gorm, verb. (American University).—To gorge (q.v.). For synonyms, see Wolf.

I’m gormed, phr. (popular).—A profane oath. See Gaum.

1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, ch. iii. If it [his generosity]
were ever referred to, ... he struck the table a heavy blow with
his right hand (had split it on one such occasion), and swore a
dreadful oath that he would be gormed if he didn’t cut and run for
good, if it was ever mentioned again.

1883. Punch, May 19, p. 230, c. 2. Why, of course I hardly expects
to be believed, but I’m gormed if there was more than six of one
and half-a-dozen of the other.

1884. Julian Sturgis, in Longman’s Mag., iii., 623. ‘Gormed if
there ain’t that old parson again!’ cried Henry, with enthusiasm.

Gormagon, subs. (old).—See quots.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. A monster with six eyes, three
mouths, four arms, eight legs, five on one side and three on the
other, three arses, two tarses, and a cunt upon its back; a man on
horseback with a woman behind him.

1892. Fennell, Stanford Dict., s.v., Gormagon ... a member of an
English Secret Society which existed in the second quarter of 18 c.

Gormy-ruddles, subs. (common).—The intestines.

Gorram (or Goram).—See By Goldam.

Gorry.—See By Gorry!

Goschens, subs. (Stock Exchange).—The 2¾ per cent. Government Stock created by Mr. Goschen in 1888.

1889. Man of the World, 29 June. The nickname Goschens is going out
of fashion. The new 2¾ stock is now called by the old name.

1891. Punch, 4 Apr. Securities yielding a larger return than 2¾
Goschens.

Gosh, see by gosh.

Gospel, subs. (colloquial).—1. Anything offered as absolutely true. Also gospel-truth.

1862. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. lx. She is a good young woman,
and a honest young woman in her way, and what she says this night
about her brother is gospel-truth.

1864. Derby Day, p. 35. Apparently unable to resist the powerful
influences brought to bear upon him, he replied, in a tone which
carried the impress of veracity with it, ‘Gospel.’

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 175. It was true as gospel.

To do gospel, verb. phr. (common).—To go to church.

Gospel-gab, subs. (common).—Insincere talk concerning religion; cant.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 146. Yes; when I saw
I was in for it, I told them my name and all about my father
without any reserve; that, with a little gospel-gab and howling
penitence, got the church people interested in me, and so I was let
off easily.

Gospel-Grinder (-postillion, -sharp, or -shark), subs. (common).—A clergyman or missionary. For synonyms, see devil-dodger and sky-pilot;—

French Synonyms.—La forêt noire (thieves’ = the black forest); une entonne ramparte (thieves’); entonner = to intone; une antiffle (thieves’); une cavée (thieves’ = a black hole); une chique (thieves’).

Spanish Synonym.—Salud.

Italian Synonyms.—Balza; balzana.

1869. S. L. Clemens, Innocents at Home, p. 19. ‘A what!’
‘Gospel-sharp—parson.’ ‘Oh! why did you not say so before? I am a
clergyman—a parson.’

1877. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. viii. Else we should
be as stagnant as a Connecticut Gospel-grinder in his village
location.

Gospeller, subs. (colloquial).—An Evangelist preacher; in contempt. Also Hot-gospeller (= a preaching fanatic.)

Gospel-mill (or -shop), subs. (common).—A church or chapel. Also schism-shop and doxology-works (q.v.).

1782. Geo. Parker, Humorous Sketches, p. 88. From Whitfield and
Romaine to Pope John range; Each Gospel-shop ringing a daily
change.

1791. Life of J. Lackington, Letter xix. As soon as I had procured
a lodging and work my next enquiry was for Mr. Wesley’s
Gospel-shops.

1852. Judson, Mysteries of New York, pt. II., ch. ii., p. 13. On
about that ere gospel-shop as you was agoin for to crack last week.

1869. S. L. Clemens (Mark Twain) Innocents at Home, p. 17, 18. Are
you the duck that runs the gospel-mill next door.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 35. It’s all gospel-shop gruel.

Goss (or Gossamer), subs. (common).—A hat. (At first a make of peculiar lightness called a four-and-nine (q.v.).) In quot. 1836 = a white hat. For synonyms, see Golgotha.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xii. ‘That’s one thing, and every hole
lets in some air, that’s another—wentilation gossamer I calls it.’
On the delivery of this sentiment, Mr. Weller smiled agreeably upon
the assembled Pickwickians.

1838. Jas. Grant, Sketches in London, ch. ix., p. 294. Another
passenger inquired whether the hat was ‘a vashing beaver von?’
while a fourth inquired whether it was ‘a gossamer ventilator?’

1851. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. II., p. 49. I have
sold hats from 6d. to 3s. 6d., but very seldom 3s. 6d. The 3s. 6d.
ones would wear out two new gossamers, I know.

1884. A. Lang, Much Darker Days, p. 25. Yes, the white hat, lying
there all battered and crushed on the white snow, must be the hat
of Sir Runan! ... who else would wear the gay gossamer of July in
stormy December?

1888. Harper’s Magazine, LXXVII., 139. Flinging off his gossamer
and hanging it up to drip into the pan of the hat rack.

To give (or get) goss, verb. phr. (American).—To requite an injury; to kill; to go strong; to get an opportunity; to put in big licks (q.v.). Sometimes ejaculatory, as ‘Give me goss and let me rip!’

1847. Robb, Squatter Life, p. 75. Gin him goss without sweetin.

1847. Darley, Drama in Porterville, p. 114. Divers hints passed
from one to another among the more excitable citizens, that ‘Old
Sol’ was going to get goss, sure.

1847. Porter, Quarter Race, etc., p. 115. Shouts of ‘Fair play,’
‘Turn ’em out,’ ‘Give him goss,’ were heard on all sides.

a. 1852. Traits of American Humour, II., 261. Ef I don’t, the old
man will give me goss when I go back.

Gossoon, subs. (colloquial Irish).—A boy. [A corruption of Fr., garçon = a boy.]

Gotch-gutted, adj. (old).—Pot-bellied; ‘a gotch in Norfolk, signifying a pitcher or large round jug.’—Grose.

Got ’em Bad, phr. (common).—A superlative of earnestness or excessiveness: e.g., anyone doing his work thoroughly, a horse straining every nerve, a very sick person, especially a patient in the horrors (q.v.), is said to have got ’em bad.

Got ’em On (or All On), phr. (common).—Dressed in the height of fashion. See Rigged Out.

1880. Punch, 28 Aug., p. 90.

188(?). Broadside Ballad, ‘’Arry.’ Where are you going on Sunday,
’Arry, now you’ve got ’em on?

188(?). Broadside Ballad. ‘He’s got ’em on.’

Goth, subs. (common).—A frumpish or uncultured person; one behind the times or ignorant of the ways of society.

1712. Spectator, No. 367. But I shall never sink this paper so far
as to engage with Goths and Vandals.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. lxi. You yourself are a Goth
... to treat with such disrespect a production which ... will, when
finished, be a masterpiece of its kind.

1865. Ouida, Strathmore, ch. ii. For God’s sake don’t suppose me
such a Goth that I should fall in love with a dairymaid, Strath!

Gotham, subs. (common).—New York City. Gothamite, a New Yorker. [First used by Washington Irving in Salmagundi (1807).]

1852. Jutson, Mysteries of New York. ch. xiii. One of the vilest of
all hells in Gotham.

1852. Bristed, Upper Ten Thousand, p. 37. The first thing, as a
general rule, that a young Gothamite does is to get a horse.

Gothic, adj. (old).—See Goth.

1700. Congreve, The Way of the World, iv. 4. Ah, rustic, ruder than
Gothic!

1773. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, ii., 8. Why, with his usual
Gothic vivacity, he said I only wanted him to throw off his wig to
convert it into a tête for my own wearing.

Go-to-meeting Bags (or Clothes, Dress, etc.), subs. phr. (common).—Best clothes. [As worn on Sundays, or holiday occasions.]

1837–40. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, p. 243 (Ed. 1862). If he
hadn’t his go-to-meetin’ dress and looks on this day to the jury,
it’s a pity.

1854. Bradley, Verdant Green, Pt. II., p. 5. Besides his black
go-to-meeting bags please to observe the peculiarity, etc.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s Schooldays, pt. II., ch. v. I want to
give you a true picture of what every-day school life was in my
time, and not a kid-glove and go-to-meeting-coat picture.

1857. Kingsley, Two Years Ago. Looks right well in her
go-to-meeting clothes.

Gouge, subs. (American).—An imposture; a swindle; a method of cheating.

1845. New York Tribune, 10 Dec. R—— and H—— will probably receive
from Mr. Polk’s administration $100,000 more than respectable
printers would have done the work for. There is a clean, plain
gouge of this sum out of the people’s strong box.

Verb. (old).—1. Grose says, ‘To squeeze out a man’s eye with the thumb, a cruel practice used by the Bostonians in America.’

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 49. His eyes having been
gouged in a mountain fray.

2. (American).—To defraud.

1845. New York Tribune, 26 Nov. Very well, gentlemen! gouge Mr.
Crosby out of the seat, if you think it wholesome to do it.

1874. W. D. Howells, Foregone Conclusions, ch. iii. The man’s a
perfect Jew—or a perfect Christian, one ought to say in Venice; we
true believers do gouge so much more infamously here.

1885. Bret Harte, A Ship of ’49, ch. i. He’s regularly gouged me in
that ’ere horsehair spekilation.

Gouger, subs. (American).—A cheat; a swindler. For synonyms, see Rook.

Gouging, subs. (American).—Cheating.

Goujeers. See Goodyear.

Gourd, subs. (old).—False dice with a cavity within, which in Fullams (q.v.) was filled with lead to give a bias. See also High-men and Low-men.

1544. Ascham, Toxophylus. What false dyse use they? as dyse stopped
with quicksilver and heares, dyse of vauntage, flattes, gourds, to
chop and chaunge when they liste.

1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, i., 3. Let vultures gripe
thy guts! for gourd and fullam holds, And high and low beguiles the
rich and poor.

1616. Beaumont and Fletcher, Scornful Lady, iv. And thy dry bones
can reach at nothing now But gourds or nine-pins; pray go fetch a
trencher, go.

Gourock Ham, subs. (common).—A salt herring (Gourock was formerly a great fishing village). For synonyms, see Glasgow Magistrate.

Government-man, subs. (old Australian).—A convict.

1864. Smythe, Ten Months in Fiji Islands, q.v.

1883. Graphic, 17 Mar., p. 262, c. 3. They never settle down as
thousands of our Government men cheerfully did in Australia after
they had their freedom.

Government-securities, subs. (common).—Handcuffs; fetters generally. For synonyms, see Darbies.

Government-signpost, subs. (old).—The gallows. For synonyms, see Nubbing-cheat.

1887. A. Barrère, Argot and Slang, p. 272. Montagne du géant. Fr.
(obsolete), gallows, scrag, nobbing cheat, or government signpost.

Governor (or Guv), subs. (common).—1. A father. Also relieving officer; old ’un; pater; nibso; and his nibs. Applied to elderly people in general. Fr., le géniteur and l’ancien (= the old ’un).

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xx. p. 169. ‘You’re quite certain it
was them, governor?’ inquired Mr. Weller, junior. ‘Quite, Sammy,
quite,’ replied his father.

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 28. But—mind! don’t tell the governor!

1852. Comic Almanack, p. 19. Your father: Speaking to him, say
‘Guvnor,’ or ‘Old Strike-a-light;’ of him, ‘The old un.’

1859. Witty Political Portraits, p. 111. Unconscious of the
constitutional delusions on which his governor has thrived.

1889. Answers, 20 Apr., p. 323. To call your father ‘The Governor’
is, of course, slang, and is as bad as referring to him as ‘The
Boss,’ ‘The Old Man,’ or ‘The Relieving Officer.’

1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 9 Jan. It was mortifying to be done in
that manner by a low fellow like Muggins, that I had always looked
upon as a fool, and had made a butt of when the guv. was out of the
way.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 118. The Governor is
in an awful funk about him.

2. (common).—A mode of address to strangers. Fr., bourgeois.

1892. Anstey, Voces Populi (Second Series). ‘At the Guelph
Exhibition.’ Right, guvnor; we’ll come.

3. (colloquial).—A master or superior; an employer.

English Synonyms.—Boss; captain of the waiters; captain; chief; colonel; commander; chief bottle-washer; ganger; head-butler; head-cook and bottle-washer; gorger; omee; rum-cull.

French Synonyms.—Le pantriot (popular and thieves’: also = a young nincompoop); le, or la, pâte (popular: properly paste or dough); le naïf (printers’: obsolete); le herz or hers (thieves’: obviously from the German); le loncegué (thieves’: Fr., back-slang; = gonce, itself a slang term for a man); le galeux (popular: = one with the itch); le grêle (popular: specifically a master-tailor); le singe (= monkey); le troploc; le nourisseur (= the grubber); l’ogre (specifically a fence); le notaire (= publican); le patron (colloquial: = governor).

Italian Synonyms.—Chielmiero (vulgar).

Governor’s-stiff, subs. (American).—A pardon.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Gower-street Dialect. See Medical Greek.

Gowk, subs. (prison).—A simpleton. (Scots’ gowk = a cuckoo). For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head. Also a countryman. For synonyms, see Joskin.

1816. Scott, Antiquary, ch. x. ‘Hout awa’, ye auld gowk,’ said
Jenny Rintherout.

To hunt the gowk, verb. phr. (common).—To go on a fool’s errand.

Gowler, subs. (old).—A dog; specifically a howler.

Gown, subs. (Winchester College)—1. Coarse brown paper. (obsolete).

2. (University).—The schools as distinguished from the town (q.v.)., e.g., Town and Gown.

1847. Thackeray, Punch’s Prize Novelists, ‘Codlingsby,’ p. 232.
From the Addenbrooke’s hospital to the Blenheim turnpike, all
Cambridge was in an uproar—the College gates closed—the shops
barricaded—the shop-boys away in support of their brother
townsmen—the battle raged, and the Gown had the worst of the fight.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, II., ch. iii. When Gown was absent,
Town was miserable.

1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 30 May, p. 4, c. 3. Town and Gown joined in
harmony.

Gownsman (also Gown), subs. (university).—A student.

1800. C. K. Sharpe, in Correspondence (1888), i., 96. A battle
between the gownsmen and townspeople ... in spite of the
Vice-Chancellor and Proctors.

1850. F. E. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, ch. xxv. The ancient town of
Cambridge, no longer animated by the countless throngs of gownsmen,
frowned in its unaccustomed solitude.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford. The townsmen ... were met by the
gownsmen with settled steady pluck.

Grab, subs. (vulgar).—1. A sudden clutch.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1st S., ch. viii. He makes a grab at
me, and I shuts the door right to on his wrist.

2. (American).—A robbery; a steal (q.v.). Cf., Grab-gains.

3. (old).—A body-stealer; a resurrectionist.

1830. S. Warren, Diary of a Late Physician, ch. xvi. Sir ——’s
dressers and myself, with an experienced grab—that is to say, a
professional resurrectionist—were to set off from the Borough.

4. (gamesters’).—A boisterous game at cards.

Verb (vulgar).—1. To Pinch (q.v.); to seize; to apprehend; to snatch or steal. Grabbed = arrested.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. The pigs grabbed the kiddy for a crack.

1818. Maginn, Vidocq’s Song. Tramp it, tramp it, my jolly blowen,
Or be grabbed by the beaks we may.

1837. Lytton, Ernest Maltravers, Wk. I., ch. x. There, man, grab
the money, it’s on the table.

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. xiii. Do you want to be grabbed,
stupid?

1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 39. Don’t muddle your
brains with any more of that Pharaoh. You’ll need all your strength
to grab him.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., 396. I was
grabbed for an attempt on a gentleman’s pocket.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 236. I watched a
movement, till one of the servant girls had brought another load of
grub out, and as she turned her back and went into the house I
grabbed the key, and so they couldn’t lock it nohow.

1886. Baring Gould, Golden Feather, p. 23 (S.P.C.K.). There are
some folks ... so grasping that if they touch a farthing will grab
a pound.

2. (thieves’).—To hold on; to get along; to live.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., 149. I do manage
to grab on somehow.

Grab-all, subs. (colloquial).—1. An avaricious person; a greedy-guts (q.v.).

1872. Sunday Times, 18 Aug. This gentleman, it is well known, has
worked with indomitable energy on behalf of the millions, and has
succeeded in wresting from the mean and contemptible grab-alls of
that government which professes to study the people’s interest
those portions of the Embankment which the public money has paid
for.

2. (colloquial).—A bag to carry odds and ends, parcels, books, and so forth.

Grabber, subs. (common).—In. pl., the hands. For synonyms, see Daddle and Mauley.

Grabble, verb. (old).—1. To seize: a frequent form of grab (q.v.).

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. To grabble the bit; to seize any one’s
money.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum. You grabble the goose-cap and I’ll frisk
his pokes.

2. (venery).—To grope; to fumble; to fam (q.v.).

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., 193. When Nelly, though he teized her,
And grabbled her and squeezed her.

Grabby, subs. (military).—An infantry-man. [Used in contempt by the mounted arm.] Fr., marionnette.

1868. Whyte Melville, White Rose, ch. x. ‘Is it a good regiment?
How jolly to dine at mess every day!’ ‘I shouldn’t like to be a
grabby though’ (this from the Dandy); ‘and after all, I’d rather be
a private in the cavalry than an officer in the regiment of feet!’

Grab-gains, subs. (thieves’).—The trick of snatching a purse, etc., and making off.

Grab-game (or -coup, or -racket), subs. (old).—A mode of swindling: the sharpers start by betting among themselves; then the by-standers are induced to join; then stakes are deposited; lastly, there is a row, when one of the gang grabs the stakes, and decamps. But see quot., 1823.

1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v. Grab-coup, modern practice of
gambling, adopted by the losers, thus the person cheated, or done,
takes his opportunity, makes a dash at the depository of money, or
such as may be down for the play, and grabs as much as possible,
pockets the proceeds, and fights his way out of the house.

18(?). Scenes in the Rocky Mountains, p. 282. ‘I’ll bear you
company. What d’ye say to that?’ ‘Just as you like,’ responded his
two companions, ‘that is provided you won’t attempt the grab game
on us.’

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 219. ‘Now,
boss!’ he cried, not unkindly, ‘is this to be run shipshape; or is
it a Dutch grab-racket?’

Grace-card, subs. (Irish).—The Six of Hearts. [For origin see N. and Q., 5th Series, iv., 137].

Gracemans, subs. (old).—Grace-church Street Market.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (W. Club’s Rept., 1874).
Gracemans, Gratious Streete market.

Graduate, subs. (turf).—1. A horse that has been run.

2. (colloquial).—An adept; an artful member (q.v.).

3. (venery).—An unmarried woman who has taken her degree in carnal lore.

Verb. (colloquial).—To seek and acquire experience: in life, love, society, or trade; and so on.

Gradus, subs. (gamesters’).—A mode of cheating: a particular card is so placed by the shuffler that when he hands the pack to be cut, it projects a little beyond the rest; the chance being that it is the turn-up. Also the step (q.v.). [From the Latin.]

Gradus-ad-parnassum, subs. (old literary).—The treadmill. For synonyms, see Wheel-of-life.

Graft, subs. (common).—Work; employment; lay (q.v.).: e.g. What graft are you on now? Great-graft = profitable labour; good biz (q.v.). Also Grafting and Elbow-grease.

French Synonyms.—Le bastimage (thieves’); le goupinage (thieves’); la laine (tailors’); le maquillage (thieves’); le massage (popular); la masse; le mèche (printers’).

1878. Graphic, 6 July, p. 2. According to the well-known maxim in
the building trade, ‘Scotch masons, Welsh blacksmiths, English
bricklayers, Irish labourers’.... Perhaps in a generation or two
Paddy will fail us. He will have become too refined for hard
grafting.

1887. Henley, Villon’s Straight Tip. The merry little dibbs you bag
At my graft, no matter what.

1892. Tit Bits, 19 Mar., p. 417, c. 1. Millbank for thick shins and
graft at the pump.

Verb (common).—1. To work. Fr., bausser; membrer.

2. (American).—To steal.

3. (old).—To cuckold; to plant horns.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

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

4. (American).—To sole old boots. Cf., Goose and Translate.

Grampus, subs. (colloquial).—A fat man. For synonyms, see Forty-guts.

To blow the Grampus. (nautical).—To drench; and (common), to sport in the water.

Grand, subs. (colloquial).—Short for ‘grand piano.’

1891. Morning Advertiser, 28 Mar. A precocious young relative is
now about to take the daïs. There she stands, violin in hand, and
there begins the preliminary scramble on the hired grand.

Adj. (colloquial).—A general superlative.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 19. Wot we want in a picter is
flavour and ‘fetch,’ and yours give it me grand.

To do the Grand, verb. phr. (common).—To put on airs. For synonyms, see Lardy-dah.

Grand Bounce. See Bounce.

Grandmother. To see one’s grandmother, verb. phr. (common).—To have a nightmare.

To see (or have) one’s grandmother (or little friend, or auntie) with one. verb. phr. (common).—To have the menstrual discharge. See Flag.

To shoot one’s grandmother, verb. phr. (common).—To be mistaken; to have found a mare’s nest; to be disappointed. Commonly ‘You’ve shot your grannie.’

To teach one’s grandmother (or grannie) how to suck eggs, verb. phr. (common).—To instruct an expert in his own particular line of business; to talk old to one’s seniors.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1892. Globe, 27 Jan., p. 1, c. 5. Evidently he did not consider, as
Englishmen seem to do, that grandmothers possess no more knowledge
than is required to efficiently suck eggs.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 210. ‘Confound you
stupid, what do you take me for, that you try to teach your
grandmother to suck eggs.’

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 77. She’s a teaching ’er
grandmother, she is, although she’s a littery swell.

My grandmother’s review. subs. phr. (obsolete).—The British Review. [The nickname was Lord Byron’s.]

Grand-strut, subs. (old).—The Broad Walk in Hyde Park.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, i., 4. We’ll start first to the
show shop of the metropolis, Hyde Park! promenade it down the grand
strut.

Granger, subs. (American political).—1. A member of the Farmers’ Alliance; a secret society, nominally non-political, but really taking a hand in politics when occasion offered to favour agricultural interests. [During the decade of years ending 1870, it attained to great numerical strength, and extended throughout the United States.] See Agricultural Wheel.

2. (American).—Hence, a farmer; a countryman; anyone from the rural districts. For synonyms, see Joskin.

Grangerise, verb. (literary).—To fill out a book with portraits, landscapes, title-pages, and illustrations generally not done for it.

1883. Sala, Living Wonders, p. 497. Mr. Ashton’s Social Life in the
Reign of Queen Anne ... would be a capital book to grangerize.

Grangerism, subs. (literary).—The practice of illustrating a book with engravings, etc., from other sources. [From the practice of illustrating Granger’s Bibliographical History of England.]

1883. Saturday Review, Jan. 27, p. 123, c. 2. Grangerism, as the
innocent may need to be told, is the pernicious vice of cutting
plates and title-pages out of many books to illustrate one book.

Grangerite, subs. (literary).—A practitioner in grangerism (q.v.).

1890. ‘Grangerising,’ in Cornhill Mag., Feb., p. 139. Another
favourite subject, and suitable also for the Grangerite, is
‘Boswell’s Johnson.’ It must be admitted that this delightful book
may gain a fresh chance by being thus treated, but ‘within the
limits of becoming grangerism.’

Grannam, subs. (old). Corn. [From the Latin.]—Fr., le grenu, or grelu. It., re di granata; staffile; corniole. Sp., grito.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65. Grannam, corne.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Rept., 1874).
Granmer, corne.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 49 (1874).
Grannam, corn.

1706. E. Coles, Eng. Dict., Grannam, c. corn.

1737. Bacchus and Venus. ‘The Strowling Mort.’ Grannam ever filled
my sack.

Grannam’s-gold. subs. (old).—Wealth inherited. [Grannam = grandmother: cf., Beaumont and Fletcher, Lover’s Progress, iv., 1. ‘Ghosts never walk till after midnight, if I may believe my grannam.’]

Granny, subs. (nautical).—1. A bad knot with the second tie across; as opposed to a reef knot in which the end and outer part are in line. Also Granny’s Knot or Granny’s Bend.

2. (common).—Conceit of superior knowledge.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 404. To take the
granny off them as has white hands.

Verb (thieves’).—To know; to recognise. Also to swindle.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 461. The shallow
got so grannied in London.

Ibid., p. 340. If they granny the manley (perceive the signature)
of a brother officer or friend.

Grant. To grant the favour, verb. phr. (venery).—To confer the sexual embrace; to spread (q.v.).

1720. Durfey, Pills, etc., vi. 58. If at last she grants the
favour, And consents to be undone.

1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, iv. 7. I ... never would grant the
favour to any man till I had drunk a heavy glass with him.

Grape-shot, adj. (common).—Drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

Grape-vine, subs. (American).—A hold in wrestling.

Grape-vine Telegraph, subs. phr. (American).—News mysteriously conveyed. [During the Civil War bogus reports from the front were said to be by the Grape-vine Telegraph.] Also Clothes-line Telegraph.

Grapple, subs. (common).—The hand. Also grappler. For synonyms, see Daddle and Mauley.

1852. Hazel, Yankee Jack, p. 9. Give us your grappler on that, old
fellow.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 246. Anything she
once put her grapples on she slipped inside.

Grapple-the-rails, subs. (Irish).—Whiskey. For synonyms, see Drinks and Old Man’s Milk.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Grapple-the-rails, a cant name used in
Ireland for whiskey.

Grappling-irons (or -hooks), subs. (old).—1. Handcuffs. For synonyms, see Darbies.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1830. Buckstone, Wreck Ashore, i., 4. I hope the bailiffs have not
laid their grappling irons on young Miles.

2. (nautical).—The fingers. For synonyms, see Fork. Also Grapplers and Grappling-Hooks.

Grass, subs. (Royal Military Academy).—1. Vegetables. Cf., bunny-grub. Fr., gargousses de la canonnière.

2. (American).—Fresh mint.

3. (common).—Short for sparrow-grass (q.v.) = asparagus.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab and Lond. Poor, I., 539. He sold grass,
and such things as cost money.

4. (Australian printers’).—A temporary hand on a newspaper; hence the proverb, ‘a grass on news waits dead men’s shoes.’ Cf., Grass-hand = a raw worker, or green hand.

a. 1889. Fitzgerald, Printers’ Proverbs, quoted in Slang, Jargon,
and Cant. Why are the grass, or casual news hands not put on a more
comfortable footing?

Verb (pugilistic).—To throw (or be thrown); to bring (or be brought) to ground. Hence, to knock down; to defeat; to kill.

1818. Egan, Boxiana, ii., 375. He had much the worst of it, and was
ultimately grassed.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 57. The shame that aught but death should
see him grassed.

1846. Dickens, Dombey, xliv., 385. The Chicken himself attributed
this punishment to his having had the misfortune to get into
Chancery early in the proceedings, when he was severely fibbed by
the Larkey One, and heavily grassed.

1881. Daily Telegraph, 26 Nov. The Doctor had killed twenty out of
twenty-five, while his opponent had grassed seventeen out of the
same number.

1883. W. Besant, All in a Garden Fair. Intro. It was a sad example
of pride before a fall; his foot caught in a tuft of grass, and he
was grassed.

1888. Sporting Life, 11 Dec. Just on the completion of the minute
grassed his man with a swinging right-hander.

1891. J. Newman, Scamping Tricks, p. 119. I saw I was grassed, so I
took his measurement.

1892. F. Anstey, Voces Populi. ‘The Riding-Class,’ p. 108. Didn’t
get grassed, did you?

To give grass, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To yield.

To go to grass, verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To abscond; to disappear. Also to hunt grass.

2. (common).—To fall sprawling; to be ruined; to die.

1876. Hindley, Cheap Jack, p. 237. Elias was sent to grass to rise
no more off it.

3. (common).—To waste away (as of limbs).

To hunt grass, verb. phr. (common).—1. To decamp.

2. (cricket).—To field; to hunt leather (q.v.).

3. (American). To fall; to go to ground; hence, to be puzzled or bewildered.

1869. S. L. Clemens, Innocents at Home, p. 21. You’re most too many
for me, you know. When you get in with your left I hunt grass every
time.

To cut one’s own grass. verb. phr. (thieves’).—To earn one’s own living.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 242. ‘Cut her own
grass! Good gracious! what is that!’ I asked. ‘Why, purvide her own
chump—earn her own living,’ the old man replied.

To be sent to grass. verb. phr. (University).—To be rusticated; to receive a travelling scholarship (q.v.).

1794. Gent. Mag., p. 1085. And was very near rustication [at
Cambridge] merely for kicking up a row after a beakering party.
‘Soho, Jack!’ briskly rejoined another, ‘almost presented with a
travelling fellowship? very nigh being sent to grass, hey?’

Go to grass! phr. (common).—Be off! You be hanged! Go to hell!

1848. Durivage, Stray Subjects, p. 95. A gentleman who was swimming
about, upon being refused, declared that he might go to grass with
his old canoe, for he didn’t think it would be much of a shower,
anyhow.

1865. Bacon, Handbook of America, p. 363. Go to grass! be off! get
out!

To let the grass grow under one’s feet, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To proceed or work leisurely. Fr., limer.

To take Nebuchadnezzar out to grass, subs. phr. (venery).—To take a man. [Nebuchadnezzar = penis.] For synonyms, see Greens.

Grass-comber, subs. (nautical).—A countryman shipped as a sailor.

1886. W. Besant, World Went Very Well Then, ch. xxix. Formerly,
Jack would have replied to this sally that, d’ye see, Luke was a
grass comber and a land swab, but that for himself, there was no
tea aboard ship, and a glass of punch or a bowl of flip was worth
all the tea ever brought from China.

Grasser, subs. (sporting).—A fall.

Grasshopper, subs. (common).—1. A waiter at a tea-garden.

2. (rhyming).—A policeman, or copper (q.v.).

3. (thieves’).—A thief. See Gunner.

1893. Pall Mall Gaz., 2 Jan., p. 4., c. 3. Quite a ‘school’ of
youthful grasshoppers are in possession of one corner of the ice,
but on the Westminster side of the park ’pon bridge there is a good
sprinkling of old hands.

Grassing, subs. (printers’).—Casual work away from the office. See Smouting.

Grassville, subs. (old).—The country; cf., Daisyville.

Grass-widow, subs. (old).—1. An unmarried mother; a deserted mistress. See Barrack-hack and Tart.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Widow’s weeds, a grass-widow,
one that pretends to have been married, but never was, yet has
children.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Widow’s weeds; a grass-widow; a
discarded mistress.

2. (colloquial).—A married woman temporarily separated from her husband.

[The usually accepted derivation that grass = Fr., grâce is
doubtful. Hall (says J. C. Atkinson, in Glossary of Cleveland
Words) gives as the definition of this word ‘an unmarried woman who
has had a child’; in Moor’s Suffolk Words and Phrases, grace-widow,
‘a woman who has had a child for her cradle ere she has had a
husband for her bed’; and corresponding with this is the N. S. or
Low Ger., gras-wedewe. Again, Sw. D., gras-anka, or -enka =
grass-widow, occurs in the same sense as with us: ‘a low,
dissolute, unmarried woman living by herself.’ The original meaning
of the word seems to have been ‘a woman whose husband is away,’
either travelling or living apart. The people of Belgium call a
woman of this description haeck-wedewe, from haecken, to feel
strong desire.... It seems probable, therefore, from the etymology,
taken in connection with the Clevel. signification, that our word
may rather be from the Scand. source than from the German; only
with a translation of the word enka into its English equivalent.
Dan. D., graesenka, is a female whose betrothed lover (fastman) is
dead; nearly equivalent to which is German, strohwittwe, literally
straw-widow. See N. and Q. 6 S. viii., 268, 414; x. 333, 436, 526;
xi. 78, 178.]

English Synonyms.—Californian widow; widow-bewitched; wife in water colours.

1700. Congreve, Way of the World, Act iii. If the worst come to the
worst,—I’ll turn my wife to grass—I have already a deed of
settlement of the best part of her estate, which I wheedl’d out of
her.

1877. Chamb. Journal, 12 Mar., p. 173. Mrs. Brittomart was one of
those who never tolerated a bow-wow—a species of animal well known
in India—and never went to the hills as a grass-widow.

1878. London, a grass-widow. And so, you see, it comes to pass That
she’s a widow out at grass And happy in her freedom.

1882. Saturday Review, 11 Feb. She is a grass-widow, her husband is
something in some Indian service.

1885. W. Black, White Heather, ch. xli. Mrs. Lalor, a grass-widow
who was kind enough to play chaperon to the young people, but whose
effective black eyes had a little trick of roving on their own
account.

1889. Daily Telegraph, 12 Feb. She had taken up her residence at a
house in Sinclair-road, Kensington, where she passed as a
grass-widow. She represented that her husband was engaged in
mercantile pursuits.

Grass-widower, subs. (common).—A man away from his wife.

1886. New York Evening Post, 22 May. All the grass-widowers and
unmarried men.

Gravel, verb. (old).—1. To confound; to puzzle; to floor (q.v.).

1593. G. Harvey, Pierus Supererog, in wks. II., 296. The finest
intelligencer, or sagest Politician in a state, would undoubtedly
have been gravelled in the execution of that rash attempt.

1597. Hall, Satires, III., vi., 14. So long he drinks, till the
black caravell Stands still fast gravelled on the mud of hell.

1600. Shakspeare, As You Like It. When you were gravelled for lack
of matter.

1604. Marlowe, Faustus, Act i., Sc. 1. And I, that have with
concise syllogisms gravell’d the pastors of the German church.

1659. Torriano, Vocabulario, s.v.

1667. Dryden, Sir Martin Marr-all, Act iii. Warn. He’s gravelled,
and I must help him out.

1663. Dryden, An Evening’s Love, Act ii. A difficult question in
that art, which almost gravels me.

1857. A. Trollope, Three Clerks, ch. xxxiv. He was somewhat
gravelled for an answer to Alaric’s earnest supplication, and
therefore made none till the request was repeated.

1886. R. L. Stevenson, Kidnapped, p. 206. I thought Alan would be
gravelled at that, for we lacked the means of writing in that
desert.

1893. National Observer, 11 Feb., p. 321. In truth to talk of Burns
as the apotheosis of Knox is really to gravel and confound your
readers; and but for the context one might be suspected that the
innuendo hid a touch of sarcasm.

2. (American).—To go against the grain.

1887. Clemens, Life on the Mississippi, ch. xiv., p. 138. By long
habit, pilots came to put all their wishes in the form of commands.
It gravels me to this day, to put my will in the weak shape of a
request, instead of launching it in the crisp language of an order.

Gravel-crusher, subs. (military).—A soldier doing defaulter’s drill.

Gravel-grinder, subs. (popular).—A drunkard. For synonyms, see Lushington.

Gravel-rash, subs. (colloquial).—The lacerations caused by a fall.

To have the gravel rash, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be reeling drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

Gravesend-bus, subs. (common).—A hearse.

Gravesend-sweetmeats, subs. (popular).—Shrimps.

Gravesend-twins, subs. (common).—Solid particles of sewage.

Grave-yard, subs. (common).—1. The mouth. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

To keep a private grave-yard, verb. phr. (American).—To affect ferocity; to bluster.

Gravy, subs. (venery).—The sexual discharge; the spendings (q.v.) both male and female. [Hence gravy-giver = the penis and the female pudendum; and gravy-maker = the female pudendum. Hence, too, to give one’s gravy = to spend (q.v.). Cf., Beef and Mutton.]

d. 1796. Burns, ‘Dainty Davie,’ in Merry Muses. I wot he cam atween
my thie, An’ creeshed it weel wi’ gravy.

Gravy-eye, subs. (common).—A derisive epithet: e.g., Well Old gravy-eye.

Grawler, subs. (old).—A beggar. For synonyms, see Cadger.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary p. 62. Not so much as would
sweeten a grawler in the whole of them.

Gray, subs. (thieves’).—1. A coin showing either two heads or two tails; a pony (q.v.).

1828. G. Smeeton, Doings in London, p. 40. Breslaw could never have
done more upon cards than he could do with a pair of grays
(gaffing-coins).

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. II., p. 154.
Some, if they can, will cheat, by means of a half-penny with a head
or a tail on both sides, called a gray.

1868. Temple Bar, Vol. XXIV., p. 539. They have a penny with two
heads or two tails on it, which they call a grey, and of course
they can easily dupe flats from the country. How do they call it a
grey, I wonder? I suppose they have named it after Sir George Grey
because he was a two-faced bloke.

2. (common).—See Grayback, sense 1.

3. in. pl. (colloquial).—Yawning; listlessness. Cf., Blues.

Grayback, subs. (common).—1. A louse. Also Scots Greys. Fr., un grenadier. For synonyms, see Chates.

2. (American).—A Confederate soldier. [Partly from the colour of his uniform, and partly because of its inhabitants. Cf., sense 1.] See Blue-bellies.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 9 Feb., p. 5, c. 4. The Confederate armies,
during the great Civil War in America ... were known ... as
Greybacks, whereas their Federal opponents, from the light-azure
gaberdines which they wore, were dubbed ‘blue-bellies.’

1890. Scribner’s Mag. Mar., p. 283. Mrs. Rutherford stood in such
abject fear of the graybacks that she regarded the possession of so
large a sum as simply inviting destruction.

Gray-beard, subs. (colloquial).—1. An old man. Mostly in contempt.

1593. Shakspeare, Taming of the Shrew, Act ii., Sc. 1. Grey-beard,
thy love doth freeze.

a. 1845. Longfellow, Luck of Eden Hall. The gray-beard, with
trembling hand obeys.

2. (old).—Originally a stoneware drinking jug; now a large earthenware jar for holding wine or spirits. [From the bearded face in relief with which they were ornamented.]

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, Grey-beard, s.v. Dutch earthen jugs,
used for smuggling gin on the coasts of Essex and Suffolk, are at
this time called grey-beards.

1814. Scott, Waverley, ch. lxiv. There’s plenty of brandy in the
grey-beard.

1886. The State, 20 May, p. 217. A whisky or brandy which is held
in merited respect for very superior potency is entitled [in
America] ‘reverent,’ from the same kind of fancy which led the
Scotch to call a whisky jar a grey-beard.

Gray-cloak, subs. (common).—An alderman above the chair. [Because his proper robe is a cloak furred with grey amis.]

Gray-goose, subs. (Scots’).—A big field stone on the surface of the ground.

1816. Scott, Black Dwarf, ch. iv. Biggin a dry-stane dyke, I think,
wi’ the grey-geese as they ca’ thae great loose stones.

Grayhound, subs. (general).—1. A fast Atlantic liner; one especially built for speed. Also ocean grayhound.

1887. Scientific American, vol. LVI., 2. They [ships] are built in
the strongest possible manner, and are so swift of foot, as to have
already become formidable rivals to the English grey hound.

2. (Cambridge University).—An obsolete name for a member of Clare College; a clarian.

1889. Whibley, Cap and Gown, xxviii. The members of Clare ... were
called grayhounds.

Gray-mare, subs. (common).—A wife; specifically one who wears the breeches (q.v.). [From the proverb, ‘The gray mare is the better horse’ = the wife is master: a tradition, perhaps, from the time when priests were forbidden to carry arms or ride on a male horse: Non enim licuerat pontificem sacrorum vel arma ferre, vel praeter quam in equâ equitare.—Beda, Hist. Eccl. ii., 13. Fr., mariage d’epervier = a hawk’s marriage: the female hawk being the larger and stronger bird. Lord Macaulay’s explanation (quot. 1849) is the merest guess-work.]

1546. John Haywood, Proverbs [Sharman’s reprint, 1874]. She is
(quoth he) bent to force you perforce, To know that the grey mare
is the better horse.

1550. A Treatyse, Shewing and Declaring the Pryde and Abuse of
Women Now a Dayes (in Hazlitt’s Early Popular Poetry, iv., 237).
What! shall the graye mayre be the better horse, And be wanton
styll at home?

1605. Camden, Remains Concerning Britain [ed. 1870, p. 332]. In
list of proverbs. (Is said to be the earliest in English.)

1670. Ray, Proverbs, s.v.

1698–1750. Ward, London Spy, part II., p. 40. Another as dull as if
the grey mare was the better Horse; and deny’d him Enterance for
keeping late Hours.

1705–1707. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. II., pt. iv., p. 5.
There’s no resisting Female Force, Grey mare will prove the better
Horse.

1717. Prior, Epilogue to Mrs. Manley’s Lucius. As long as we have
eyes, or hands, or breath, We’ll look, or write, or talk you all to
death. Yield, or she-Pegasus will gain her course, And the grey
mare will prove the better horse.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., p. 240. For the grey mare has proved the
better horse.

1738. Swift, Polite Convers., dial. 3. I wish she were married; but
I doubt the gray mare would prove the better horse.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xix. By the hints they dropped, I
learned the gray mare was the better horse—that she was a matron of
a high spirit.

1819. Macaulay, Hist. England. The vulgar proverb, that the grey
mare is the better horse, originated, I suspect, in the preference
generally given to the grey mares of Flanders over the finest coach
horses of England.

1883. G. A. S[ala], in Illustr. London News, 14 Apr., p. 359, c. 2.
She [Mrs. Romford], did not over-accentuate either her
strong-mindedness or her jealousy of her flighty husband; but she
let him and the audience unmistakably know that she was in all
respects the grey mare in the Romford stable.

Gray-parson (or Gray-coat parson), subs. (old).—A lay impropriator, or lessee of tithes.