Chapter XXI: Part 21

d. 1680. Butler, Remains (1759), ii., 458. A horse-courser is one
that hath read horses, and understands all the virtues and vices of
the whole species by being conversant with them, and how to take
the best advantage of both.

1742–4. North, Life of the Lord Keeper, i., 271. There were
horse-copers among them.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Horse-coser, vulgarly and corruptly
pronounced horse-coser, a dealer in horses. The verb to cose, was
used by the Scots, in the sense of bartering or exchanging.

1863. Sporting Life, 29 Apr., p. 4, col. 3. Copers and Chaunters
are now in full feather.

1864. London Review, 18 June, p. 643. Amongst the mysteries of
horse-flesh is the noble science of coping, and its practitioners
the horse-copers.

1874. G. A. Lawrence, Hagarene, ch. ii. He had lived somewhat
precariously by his wits; eking out the scanty allowance wrung from
his miserly old sire, by betting and horse-coping on a small scale.

1884. Daily News, 23 Aug., p. 4, c. 7. The most accomplished gipsy
copers, if they are not belied, are not satisfied with merely doing
up an unsound horse and selling him as a sound one, but frequently
steal outright the subject of their scientific and often lucrative
experiments.

1888. Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, ch. i. Poaching must be
something like cattle and horse-duffing.

1889. Answers, 27 July, p. 141, c. 1. Allow me to expose some more
tricks of horse copers.

1893. National Observer, 5 Aug., p. 291, col. 1. A veracious
horse-coper is a monster which the world ne’er saw.

Horse-collar, subs. (venery).—1. The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

2. (tailors’).—An extremely long and wide collar.

3. (old).—A halter. To die in a horse’s nightcap = to be hanged. See Ladder.

English Synonyms.—Anodyne necklace; Bridport dagger; choker; hempen cravat; hempen elixir; horse’s neckcloth; horse’s necklace; neck-squeezer; neckweed; squeezer; St. Andrew’s lace; Sir Tristram’s knot; tight cravat; Tyburn tiffany; Tyburn tippet; widow.

French Synonym.—La cravate de chanvre.

1593. Bacchus’ Bountie in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park), ii., 304. Yea,
his very head so heavie as if it had beene harnessed in an
horse-nightcap.

1608. Penniles Parliament in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park), I., 181. And
those that clip that they should not, shall have a horse night-cap
for their labour.

1681. Dialogue on Oxford Parliament (Harl. Misc., ii., 125.). He
better deserves to go up Holbourn in a wooden chariot, and have a
horse night-cap put on at the farther end.

1883. Echo, 25 Jan., p. 2, c. 4. Even an attempt is made to lighten
the horror of the climax of a criminal career, by speaking of dying
in a horse’s night-cap, i.e., a halter.

Horse-editor, subs. (American journalists’).—A sporting editor. Horse-copy = sporting news.

Horseflesh, See Dead Horse and Horse, verb. sense 2.

Horse-godmother, subs. (old).—A strapping masculine woman; a virago. Fr., une femme hommasse.

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

d. 1819. Wolcot, Wks. In woman angel sweetness let me see No
galloping horse-godmother for me.

1838. Selby, Jacques Strop, iii., 1. What a couple of
horse-godmothers.

1846–8. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ii., ch. 4. How do, my dear? Come
to see the old man, hay? Gad—you’ve a pretty face, too. You ain’t
like that old horse-godmother, your mother.

Horse-latitudes, subs. (nautical).—A space in the Atlantic, north of the trade-winds, where the winds are baffling.

1891. W. C. Russell, Ocean Tragedy, p. 137. The winds even north of
the rains and horse-latitudes were in a sense to be reckoned on.

Horse-laugh, subs. (colloquial).—A loud, noisy laugh; a guffaw.

1738. Pope, Ep. to Satires, i., 38. A horselaugh, if you please, at
honesty.

Horse-leech, subs. (colloquial).—1. An extortioner; a miser.

2. (venery).—Anything insatiable. Also a whore.

1597. Hall, Satires, iv., 5. An horse-leech, barren wench, or
gaping grave.

1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, ii., 1. You are one of those
horse-leeches that gave out I was dead in Turnbull Street.

3. (old).—A horse-doctor; also a quack.

1594. Nashe, Terrors of the Night (Grosart, iii., 250). Whereas his
horse-leech ... will give a man twenty guineas in one.

1597. Hall, Satires, ii., 4. No horse-leech but will look for
larger fee.

Horse-marines, subs. (common).—A mythical corps, very commonly cited in jokes and quizzies on the innocent. [The Jollies (q.v.) or Royal Marines, being ignorant of seamanship, have always been the butt of blue-jackets.] Tell that to the marines (or horse-marines) the sailors won’t believe it = a rejoinder to an attempt at imposition or credulity. Often amplified with when they’re riding at anchor. See also Bingham’s Dandies.

1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, ch. xxi. ‘Come, none of your
quizzing, my old buck,’ said Sir Bingo—‘what the devil has a ship
to do with horse’s furniture?—Do you think we belong to the
horse-marines?’

c. 1870. Broadside Ballad, ‘Captain Jinks.’ I’m Captain Jinks of
the Horse-Marines.

1886. Stephens and Yardley, Little Jack Sheppard, p. 3. They may
tell that yarn to the horse marines, For we bean’t such fools as we
looks.

1886. Tinsley’s Mag., Apr., 321. Owing to a singular deviation from
the ordinary functions of cavalry, the 17th Lancers were once
christened the horse marines.

1892. Wops the Waif [Horner’s Penny Stories], ch. i., p. 1. Oh,
nothink, eh! You’d better tell that to the hoss marines; I’ve lived
a sight too long in Shoreditch to take that in.

Horse-milliner, subs. (common).—1. A dandy trooper.

1778. Chatterton, Ballads of Charity, ii., 113. The trammels of his
palfrey pleased his sight, For the horse-milliner his head with
roses dight.

1813. Scott, Bridal of Triermain, ii., 3. One comes in foreign
trashery Of tinkling chain and spur, A walking haberdashery Of
feathers, lace and fur; In Rowley’s antiquated phrase,
Horse-milliner of modern days.

2. (old).—A saddler and harness-maker.

1818. Scott, Heart of Midlothian, xi. In my wretched occupation of
a saddler, horse-milliner, and harness maker, we are out
unconscionable sums just for barkened hides and leather.

Horse-nails, subs. (common).—1. Money. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

To feed on horse-nails, verb. phr. (cribbage).—So to play as not so much to advance your own score as to keep down your opponent’s.

To knock into horse-nails, verb. phr. (common).—To knock to pieces; to be absolutely victorious.

Horse-nightcap, subs. (old).—See Horse’s-Collar.

Horse-pox, subs. (old).—A superlative of Pox (q.v.). Used in adjuration. E.g., A horse-pox on you! Ay, with a horse-pox, etc.

Horse-Protestant, subs. (tailors’).—A churchman.

Horse-sense, subs. (American).—Sound and practical judgment.

1893. Lippincott, Mar., p. 260. A round bullet head, not very full
of brains, perhaps, yet reputed to be fairly stocked with what is
termed horse sense.

Horses-and-Mares. To play at horses-and-mares, verb. phr. (schoolboys’).—To copulate. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

Horse’s-head, subs. (cobblers’).—The boot-sole, heel, and what is left of the front after the back and part of the front have been used to fox (q.v.) other boots withal.

Horse-shoe, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. [In German, Sie hat ein Hufeisen verloren (of women) = she has been seduced, i.e., she has lost a horse-shoe.]

Horse’s-meal, subs. (old).—Meat without drink.

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

Horse-sovereign, subs. (common).—A twenty-shilling piece with Pistrucci’s effigies of St. George and the Dragon.

1871. London Figaro, 26 Jan. A number of those coins, sometimes
known as horse sovereigns, are to be issued.

Hortus, subs. (venery).—See quot. [Cf., Garden.] For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

1728. Bailey, Eng. Dict., s.v. Hortus [by some writers] the privy
parts of a woman.

Hose. In my other hose, subs. phr. (old). A qualification of refusal or disbelief; in a horn (q.v.); over the left (q.v.).

1598. Florio. A Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Zoccoli Zoccoli, tushtush,
awaie, in faith sir no, yea in my other hose.

Hoss. See Horse.

Hoss-fly (or Old Hoss-fly), subs. (American).—A familiar address; cf., Horse, subs. sense 3.

Host. To reckon without one’s host, verb. phr. (old: now recognised).—To blunder.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Host. To reckon without one’s
host, or count your Chickens before they are Hatched.

Mine Host, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A taverner.

Hosteler, subs. (old).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hosteler, i.e., oat stealer.

Hot, subs. (Winchester College).—1. A mellay at football.

2. (Ibid).—A crowd.

1878. Adams, Wykehamica, p. 367. It would be replaced and a fresh
hot formed.

Adj. (colloquial).—1. Of persons: sexually excitable; lecherous; on heat (q.v.); randy (q.v.). Of things (as books): obscene; blue (q.v.); high-kilted (q.v.); Hot member (q.v.) = a male or female debauchee; or (as in sense 2), a man or woman contemptuous of decorum. Hot as they make them = exceedingly amorous or reckless. Hot-blooded = lecherous: as (in Merry Wives, v., 5) ‘the hot-blooded gods assist me.’ Hot-house (q.v.) = a brothel.

1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales. Prologue to Canterbury Tales,
lines 97 and 98. So hote he lovede, that by nightertale, He sleep
no more than doth a nightyngale.

1596. Ben Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, iv., 8. Dost thou not
shame, When all thy powers in chastity are spent, To have a mind so
hot.

1598. Shakspeare, 1 Henry IV., i., 2. A fair hot wench in
flame-coloured taffeta.

1599. H. Porter, Two Angry Women of Abingdon (Dodsley, Old Plays,
4th ed., 1875, vii., 354). Are ye so hot, with a pox? Would ye kiss
my mistress?

1605. Jonson, Volpone, iii., 6. I am now as fresh, As hot, as high,
and in as jovial plight As when in that so celebrated scene At
recitation of our comedy For entertainment of the great Valois, I
acted young Antinous.

1608. Shakspeare, Antony and Cleopatra, iii., 11. Besides what
hotter hours, Unregistered in vulgar fame you have Luxuriously
picked out.

1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, ii., 1. The whelp was hot and
eager.

1693. Congreve, Old Bachelor, v., 8. If either you esteem my
friendship or your own safety, come not near that house—that corner
house—that hot brothel.

1697. Vanbrugh, Relapse, iii., 5. Young men are hot, I know, but
they don’t boil over at that rate.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., iv., 123. He laughs to see the girls so
hot.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 37. As most of our plays are now
cribbed from the French, wy they’re all pooty hot.

2. (colloquial).—Careless of decorum; boisterous; utterly reckless and abandoned.

1888. J. Runciman, The Chequers, p. 187. You’re a red-hot member!

3. (thieves’).—Well known to the police; dangerous; uncomfortable; e.g., To make it hot for one.

1830. Buckstone, Wreck Ashore, i., 4. Mil. This place is now too
hot for me, captain. Bills overdue, and bailiffs in full chase,
have driven me to a hasty leave of my home.

1841. Tait’s Edinburgh Mag., viii., 217. Finding all too hot to
hold him.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Hot. The cove had better move his
beaters into Dewsville, it is too hot for him here.

1882. Evening Standard, 3 Oct., p. 5, c. 4. The Constable added
that at the station the Prisoner told him that if he did not make
it too hot he would give him £5.

1888. Tit Bits, 24 Mar., 373. The hottest suburb of London during
Jubilee year was supposed to be Ealing.

1890. Marriott-Watson, Broken Billy (in Under the Gum-tree, p. 31).
With a few pals, almost as brutal as himself, he made the place
pretty hot from time to time.

1891. Morning Advertiser, 26 Mar., p. 2, col. 4. When Baker was
arrested he asked Detective-sergeant Gold not to make it too hot
for them, and tried to induce the officer to receive a sovereign.

1891. J. Newman, Scamping Tricks, p. 36. You’ll find they will make
it hot for you.

4. (colloquial).—See quot. 1690. Also violent; sharp; severe.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. hot, exceeding Passionate.

1886. R. L. Stevenson, Kidnapped, p. 167. ‘Well,’ said he, ‘yon was
a hot burst, David.’

1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, ch. xvi. I started life in a training
stable, and a hot life it was for a boy.

5. (venery).—Infected; venereally diseased.

6. (colloquial).—Alive; vehement; instant.

1864. Browning, Dramatic Romances (ed. 1879, iv., 180), ‘The
Italian in England.’ Breathed hot and instant on my train.

Verb (Winchester College).—To crowd; to mob.

To give (get, or catch) it hot, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To thrash or reprove soundly; to be severely beaten or taken to task.

1859. Fast Life, p. 54. The craters, of course, caught it hot, and
many had the sack.

1872. Figaro, 22 June. The German Emperor, Bismarck, and Earl
Granville also got it, but not quite so hotly.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iv., p. 887. A young man who
... had been guilty of bigamy, and to such a degree that he got it
hot for such a crime—five years.

1892. Anstey, Model Music-Hall, 32. She spotted me in ’alf a jiff,
and chaffed me precious hot.

Like a cat on hot bricks, phr. (colloquial).—Uncomfortable; restive.

1886. J. S. Winter, Army Society, ch. xvi. Lady Mainwaring looked
like an eel in a frying-pan, or, most of anything perhaps, like a
cat on hot bricks.

Hot with, phr. (common).—Spirits with hot water and sugar. See Cider and, and Cold without.

Hot-arsed, adj. phr. (venery).—Excessively lewd. [Of women only.] Cf., Biter.

Hot-beef. To give hot-beef, verb. phr. (thieves’ rhyming).—To cry ‘Stop thief.’ Also Beef (q.v.).

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., xl., 506. He followed, giving
me hot beef (calling ‘Stop thief’).

Hot-cakes. To go off like hot cakes, verb. phr. (common).—To sell readily; to be in good demand.

1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 11 Oct., p. 6, c. 1. Sold at one penny retail
they often go off like hot cakes.

1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, ch. xii. It went off like hot cakes.

Hot-foot, adv. (colloquial).—Instant in pursuit.

Hotch-potch, subs. (old: now recognised).—A medley; a hodge-podge (q.v.).

1597. Hall, Satires, i., 3. A goodly hotch-potch when vile
russettings are matched with monarchs and mighty kings.

1606. Return from Parnassus, iv., 2. (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed.,
1875, ix., 183). This word, hotch-potch in English is a pudding;
for in such a pudding is commonly not one thing only, but one thing
with another.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hotch-potch, an Oglio, or Medly
of several Meats in one Dish.

c. 1709. W. King, Art of Cookery, ix. (Chalmers, English Poets,
1810, ix., 259). The first delighting in hodge-podge, gallimaufry,
forced meats ... and salmagundy.

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.

1728. Patrick Walker, Alexander Peden, ‘Postscript’ (ed. 1827, i.,
128). A hotch-potch or bagful of Arian, Arminian, Socinian,
Pelagian, etc.

1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 17 Oct., p. 2, c. 1. Both are a sort of
hotchpotch of songs, dances, and extravaganzas.

Hot-coppers, subs. (common).—The fever and parched throat, or mouth (q.v.), attending a debauch. See Cool one’s Copper.

1830. Egan, Finish to Life in London, 156. The ‘uncommonly big
gentleman’ in spite of swallowing oceans of soda-water, declared
his copper to be so hot that he thought all the water in the sea
could not reduce his thirst!

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 244. ‘Oh blow your physiology!’ says Rapp.
‘You mean to say you’ve got a hot copper—so have I. Send for the
precious balm and then fire away.’

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. xliii. ‘Nothing like that beer,’ he
remarked, ‘when the coppers are hot.’

1864. Comic Almanack, p. 63. ‘Cold Cream Internally.’ Cold cream is
an excellent remedy for hot coppers.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 134. He came ... as
happy-looking, and lively as if no such thing as hot coppers
existed.

Hotel (also Cupid’s Hotel and Cupid’s Arms).—subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. Cf., Cock Inn. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Hotel Barbering, subs. (common).—Bilking.

1892. Daily Chronicle, 28 Mar., p. 5, c. 7. The inference is now
fairly admissable that he may possibly have divided his time
between polygamous pursuits and hotel barbering exploits.

Hotel Warming-pan, subs. phr. (common).—A chambermaid. Also warming-pan (q.v.). Fr., une limogère.

Hot-flannel (or Flannel), subs. (old).—Gin and beer, with nutmeg, sugar, etc., made hot.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 144. A mixed kind of liquor
... when drank in a morning it is called flannel.

1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, bk. III., ch. iii., p. 269. A jug
of what he termed hot flannel for three—a mixture of gin, beer, and
eggs.

Hot-house, subs. (old).—A brothel. Also (see quot. 1616), a public bath. For synonyms, see Nanny-shop.

1596. Nashe, Have with You to Saffron Walden (Grosart, iii., 106).
Any hot-house or bawdy-house of them all.

1599. Jonson, Every Man out of His Humour, iv., 4. Let a man sweat
once a week in a hot-house, and be well rubbed and froted with a
plump juicy wench and clean linen.

1603. Shakspeare, Measure for Measure, ii., 1. Now she professes a
hot-house, which is a very ill house too.

1606. The Return from Parnassus, i., 2 (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th
ed., 1875, ix., 115). He cannot swagger it well in a tavern, nor
domineer in a hot-house.

1616. Jonson, Epigrams, ‘On the New Hot-house.’ Where lately
harboured many a famous whore, A purging bill now fixed upon the
door Tells you it is a hot-house: So it may, And still be a
whore-house. They’re synonyma.

1699. Garth, The Dispensary, ii., line 157. A hot-house he prefers
to Julia’s arms.

Hot Meat (or Beef or Mutton), subs. phr. (venery).—See Bit.

Hot-member (or Hot ’un).—See Warm Member.

Hot-Milk, subs. (venery).—The semen. For synonyms, see Cream.

Hot-place, subs. (colloquial).—Hell. For synonyms, see Tropical Climate.

1891. F. H. Groome, Blackwood, Mar., p. 320. A letter from her son
in Hull, told the curate that ‘that did give me a tarn at fust, for
I thought that come from the hot place.’

Hot-pot, subs. (old).—Ale and brandy made hot.

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

1788. G. C. Stevens, Adv. of a Speculist, ii., 56. A watchman and
an old Blind Woman, troubled with the palsy, drinking hot-pot
together.

Hot-potato. To drop like a hot potato, verb. phr. (common).—To abandon (a pursuit, a person, a thing) with alacrity.

Hot-pudding. To have a hot-pudding for supper, verb. phr. (venery).—To copulate. Of women only. [Pudding (Durfey) = the penis]. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

Hot-stomach. So hot a stomach as to burn the clothes off his back, phr. (old).—Said of one who pawns his clothes for drink.—Lex. Bal.

Hottentot, subs. (East-end). See quot.

1880. G. R. Sims, How the Poor Live, ch. x. The cry of Hottentots
went round. ‘Hottentots’ is the playful way in this district of
designating a stranger, that is to say, a stranger come from the
West.

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

Hot-tiger, subs. (Oxford Univ.).—Hot-spiced ale and sherry.—Hotten.

Hot-water. To be in hot-water, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be in trouble, in difficulties, or worried.

1846. Punch’s Almanack, 29 Nov. The Times first printed by steam,
1814, and has kept the country in hot water ever since.

1864. Mark Lemon, Jest book, p. 238. Lord Allen, in conversation
with Rogers, the poet, observed: ‘I never put my razor into hot
water, as I find it injures the temper of the blade.’ ‘No doubt of
it,’ replied Rogers; ‘show me the blade that is not out of temper
when plunged into hot water.’

Hound, subs. (Cambridge Univ.).—1. See quot.

1879. E. Walford, in N. and Q., 5 S., xii., 88. In the Anecdotes of
Bowyer ... we are told that a hound of King’s College, Cambridge,
is an undergraduate not on the foundation, nearly the same as a
‘sizar.’

2. (colloquial). A mean, contemptible fellow; a scoundrel; a filthy sneak.

Hounslow-heath, subs. (rhyming).—The teeth. For synonyms, see Grinders. Also Hampstead-heath.

1887. Dagonet in Referee, 7 Nov., p. 7, c. 3. She’d a Grecian ‘I
suppose,’ And of Hampstead Heath two rows.

Houri of Fleet-street, subs. phr. (common).—A prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

House, subs. (theatrical).—1. An audience. To bring down the house = to elicit a general burst of applause. Fr., avoir sa côtelette; boire du lait.

1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v. House. With them (the players)
it means Covent-garden or Drury-lane, or indeed any other theatre.
‘A full-house’ and ‘half-a-house’ indicate the state of the
receipts or number of the audience.

1870. Athenæum, 13 Aug., p. 120. ‘Letter of J. O. Halliwell.’ It is
now certain that Shakespeare was never proprietor of either (the
Globe or Blackfriars) theatre. His sole interest in them consisted
in a participation, as an actor in the receipts of what is called
the house.

1873. Home News, 24 Jan. I exerted myself, not for praise of that
well-dressed mob they called the house, but for very love of the
congenial sport.

1892. Sydney Watson, Wops the Waif, ch. iii., p. 4. There was
tremendous enthusiasm this evening. Every scene was uproariously
applauded, and at the climax the whole house rose and cheered and
encored with tumultuous feeling.

The House (colloquial).—(1) The Stock Exchange; (2) The House of Commons; (3) Christ Church, Oxford.

House under the hill, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

House (or apartments) to let, subs. phr. (common).—A widow.—Lex. Bal. Also Bill-of-Sale and Man-trap.

Father of the House, subs. phr. (Parliamentary).—The oldest elected member. See Babe.

House that Jack built, subs. phr. (common).—A prison. For synonyms, see Cage.

Like a house on fire, adv. phr. (common).—Quickly; with energy. See Like.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, ii., 85. I’m getting on
like a regler house on fire.

Safe as houses, adv. phr. (common).—Perfectly safe.

1864. E. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. xxxii., p. 361 (1873). I
have the means of doing that, as safe as houses.

1874. T. Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd, ch. lvii. ‘The clothes
will floor us as safe as houses,’ said Coggan.

1886. Grant Allen, In All Shades, ch. i. Why, of course, then,
that’s the explanation of it—as safe as houses, you may depend upon
it.

1890. Grant Allen, Tents of Shem, ch. xxviii. You may make your
forgery itself as safe as houses.

House-bit (or -keeper, or -piece), subs. (colloquial).—A servant-mistress.

House-dove, subs. (old).—A stay-at-home.

Household-brigade. To join the Household Brigade, verb. phr. (common).—To marry. For synonyms, see Splice.

1881. Home Tidings, April, p. 42, c. 1. Jem Ryan joined the
household brigade on Easter Monday, E. New acting as best man.

House of Civil Reception, subs. phr. (old).—A brothel. For synonyms, see Nanny-shop.

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

House of Commons (or House of Office), subs. phr. (old).—A W.C. For synonyms, see Mrs. Jones.

1611. Chapman, May-Day, iv., 2. No room save you turn out my wife’s
coal-house, and her other house of office attached to it, reserved
for her and me sometimes, and will you use it being a stranger?

1748. Smollett, Roderick Random, c. xiii. Taking the candle in his
hand, which he had left burning for the purpose, he went down to
the house of office.

d. 1780. Robertson of Struan, Poems, 83. So to a House of Office
straight a school-boy does repair, To ease his postern of its
weight.

House-tailor, subs. (old).—An upholsterer.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. House-tailers, Upholsterers.

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.

Housewife (or Huswife, or Hussy), subs. (colloquial).—1. Primarily, a house-keeper. Hence (a) a domestic servant; (b) a wanton or a gad-about wench; and (c) a comic endearment. Hence, too, housewifery, subs., and housewife’s tricks = the habit of wantonness, the practice of men.

1508. Gawain and Gologras, ‘Ballade,’ (Pinkerton, Scottish Poems,
1792, iii.). A gude husy-wife ay rinning in the toun.

1589. Puttenham, English Poesie, 1589, ii., 16 (ed. Arber, p. 148).
Half lost for lack of a good huswife’s looking to.

1600. Look about You, sc. 28 (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875,
vii., 476). Huswife, I’ll have you whipped for slandering me.

1602. Shakspeare, Twelfth Night, i., 2. I hope to see some
housewife take thee between her legs and spin it off.

1659. Lady Alimony, iii., 3 (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875,
xiv., 331). And if the hussy challenge more, Charm the maundering
gossip with your roar. Idem. iii., 6. (p. 340). If I make not these
haxters as hateful to our hussies as ever they were to us, their
husbands, set me up for a Jack-a-Lent.

1672. Ray, Proverbs, s.v., Cat. Cats eat what hussies spare.

1673. Wycherly, Gentleman Dancing Master, iv., 1. What, hussy,
would you not do as he’d have you?

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

1694. Congreve, Double Dealer, iv., 3. When I was of your age,
hussy, I would have held fifty to one I could have drawn my own
picture.

1697. Vanbrugh, Æsop, i., 1. Hark you hussy. You can give yourself
airs sometimes, you know you can.

1708. Mrs. Centlivre, The Busy-Body, iv., 2. I’ll charm you,
housewife. Here lies the charm that conjured this fellow in.

1708. Prior, Poems (Aldine ed. ii., 270), ‘The Insatiable Priest.’
To suppress all his carnal desires in their birth At all hours a
lusty young hussy is near.

1720. Swift, Poems, ‘A Portrait’ (Chalmers, English Poets, 1810,
xi., 448). A housewife in bed, at table a slattern.

1728. Swift, Poems, ‘My Lady’s Lamentations’ (Chalmers, English
Poets, 1810, xi., 460). Consider before You come to threescore, How
the hussies will fleer Whene’er you appear.

1731. C. Coffey, The Devil to Pay, i. Don’t you know, hussy, that I
am king in my own house.

1732. Henry Fielding, The Mock Doctor, i. Ay, hussy, a regular
education; first at the charity-school where I learned to read.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, c. xviii. He supposed the object
of his love was some paltry hussy, whom he had picked up when he
was a boy at school.

d. 1764. Lloyd, Poems (1774), ‘Chit-Chat.’ Lud! I could beat the
hussey down, She’s poured it all upon my gown.

1768. Goldsmith, Good Natured Man, ii. And you have but too well
succeeded, you little hussy, you.

1771. Smollett, Humphrey Clinker (ed. 1800, p. 43). And I have been
twice in the bath with mistress and na’r a smock upon our backs,
hussy.

1782. Cowley, Bold Stroke for a Husband, i., 2. Don C. Now, hussy,
what do you expect?

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

1786. Burns, The Inventory. Frae this time forth I do declare, I’se
ne’er ride horse nor hizzie mair.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxii. Say nothing of that,
housewife, ... or I will beat thee—beat thee with my staff.

1829. C. A. Somerset, The Day After the Fair, i. Oh, you hussy! so
you were Madame Maypole!

1893. R. le Gallienne, Intro. Liber Amoris, p. xliv. To think of
poor Hazlitt gravely lavishing his choice Elizabethan quotations on
the hussey.

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

Housey, adj. (Christ’s Hospital).—Belonging to the Hospital.

Housle, verb. (Winchester College).—To hustle.

Hoveller, subs. (nautical).—A beach-thief.

How. How came you so? phr. (old).—Drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

1824. T. Hook, Sayings and Doings, 1st S. Merton, ch. xiii. Ould
Mrs. Etherington was a right bad one; she used to be Lord, how come
you so! every night, as regular as she went to bed.

How much? phr. (common).—‘What do you say?’ ‘What do you mean?’ What price?—a general request for explanations.

1852. F. E. Smedley, Lewis Arundel, ch. xxxiv. ‘Then my answer must
mainly depend on the exact height of the principles.’ ‘On the how
much?’ inquired Frere, considerably mystified.

How are you off for soap, phr. (old).—A street catch.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, ch. iv. Well, Reefer, how are you off
for soap?

1842. Punch, ii., 94, c. 2. Walker! how are you off for soap?

How the blazes. See Blazes.

How is that for high. See High.

How’s your poor feet, phr. (streets’).—A street catch, of no particular meaning. See Street Cries.

1863. All the Year Round, x., 180. How’s your poor feet? a year ago
cheated half the natives of Cockaigne into the belief that they
were gifted with a special genius for repartee.

1863. G. A. Sala, Breakfast in Bed, p. 163 (1864). But how would
you like a screeching multitude, fifty thousand strong, and with
not one of whom, to the best of your knowledge, you had even a
bowing acquaintance, to vociferate in your track—in the public
street, mind—‘Ya-a-a-h! how are your poor feet?’

1890. Town and Country (Sydney), 11 Jan., p. 19, c. 4. Henry
Irving’s revival of ‘The Dead Heart’ has revived a bit of slang....
When the play was brought out originally, where one of the
characters says, ‘My heart is dead, dead, dead!’ a voice from the
gallery nearly broke up the drama with How are your poor feet? The
phrase lived.

How’ll you have it, phr. (common).—An invitation to drink. For synonyms, see Drinks.

How we apples swim (sometimes amplified by Quoth the horse-turd)! verb. phr. (old).—Said in derision of a parvenu; of a person in better company than he (or she) has any right to keep; or of a pretender to honour or credit he (or she) does not deserve.

1670. Ray, Proverbs, s.v.

1697–1764. Hogarth (Works by J. Ireland and J. Nichols, London,
1873) III., p. 29. And even this, little as it is, gives him so
much importance in his own eyes, that he assumes a consequential
air, sets his arms akimbo, and strutting among the historical
artists cries, how we apples swim.

1860. Cornhill Mag. (D. Mallett, Tyburn), Dec., p. 737. While
tumbling down the turbid stream, Lord, love us, how we apples swim.

Howard’s Garbage, subs. phr. (military).—The Nineteenth Foot. Also Green Howards.

Howard’s Greens, subs. phr. (military).—The Twenty-fourth Foot. [From its facings and its Colonel’s name, 1717–37.]

How-do-you-do, subs. (colloquial).—A ‘to do’; a ‘kettle of fish’; a ‘pass.’

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xxvi. Thinks I, here’s a
pretty how do you do; I’m in for it now, that’s a fact.

Howler, subs. (common).—An unblushing falsehood; an enormous blunder; a serious accident; and so forth. To come (or go) a howler = to come to grief; to run amuck.

1885. Daily News, 16 May, p. 4, c. 8. Now, to speak respectfully of
old scholars that were before us, the translators of the Bible
constantly made what undergraduates call howlers, or grievously
impossible blunders.

1886. Stephens and Yardley, Little Jack Sheppard, p. 34. Jack. My
dears, you’re late. Bess. Our hansom came a howler.

1888. Indoor Paupers, p. 24. As to how we are to spend the eight
hours, or thereabouts, that remain after meals, church, and howlers
are disposed of, nobody, except ourselves and a few private friends
outside, cares in the least.

1891. Moonshine, 14 Mar. Oh, I saw some piece in which a Johnnie
smoked some cigarettes, and at last came a howler, and wanted to
commit suicide.

1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 12 Sep., p. 2, c. 3. We wondered yesterday
how many of our classical readers would see the howler—or the joke.

Howling, adj. (common).—A general intensitive. E.g., Howling-swell = a man in the extreme of fashion; howling-lie = a gross falsehood; howling-bags = trousers extravagant in cut or pattern; howling-cad, etc.

1865. G. A. Sala, Trip to Barbary, ch. vii. The hotel at Marseilles
was full of our countrymen of the order known at Lane’s and
Limmer’s as howling swells.

1887. Household Words, 11 June, 116. Let’s hook it; that Jenny
Morris is such an howling swell that she won’t wait for any one.

1889. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 8 Feb. The Hon. Juggins was what is
popularly known as a howling swell.

1892. Anstey, Model Music-Hall, 146. And all the while your heart
was given to a howling cad.

Hoxter, subs. (old).—1. An inside pocket.

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood bk. III., ch. v. No slour’d hoxter my
snipes could stay.

2. (Royal Military Academy).—Extra drill. [Corruption of extra.] Fr., le bal.

1887. Barrère, Argot and Slang. The hoxter consists in the painful
ordeal of being compelled to turn out of bed at an early hour, and
march up and down under the watchful eye of a corporal.

Hoys. See Hoist.

Hoyt. See Hoit.

Hub, subs. (American).—1. Boston. Also, Hub of the Universe. [The description is Oliver Wendell Holmes’s.] Since extended to other centres or chief cities (see quot. 1876).

1869. Boston Herald, Dec. He is to have a quintette club of
amateurs with him, from the Hub.

1872. Daily Telegraph, 4 July. Boston claims to be the Hub of the
universe; but New York grandiloquently asserts itself to be the
universal wheel itself.

1872. Daily Telegraph, Dec. The wealth of the Hub of the Universe,
as Bostonians delight to call their city, is very great.

1876. Daily News, 18 Jan. Calcutta ... swaggers as if it were the
hub of the Universe.

1888. Boston Daily Globe. The typical girl of the Hub has been much
written about in the novels of the period, and without doubt she is
worth all the attention bestowed upon her.

2. (colloquial).—A husband. See Hubby.

Hubble-bubble, subs. (colloquial).—1. See quots.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th Ed.). Hubble-Bubble (s.) a confused
noise made by a talkative person, who speaks so quick, that it is
difficult to understand what he says or means.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Hubble-bubble. Confusion. A hubble
bubble fellow, a man of confused ideas, or one thick of speech,
whose words sound like water bubbling out of a bottle.

2. (common).—A hookah; a pipe by which the smoke is passed through water.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Hubble-bubble.... Also an
instrument used for smoaking through water in the East Indies,
called likewise a caloon and hooker.

1868. Ouida, Under Two Flags, ch. xxii. The Moor, warmly grateful,
was ever ready to give him a cup of coffee and a hubble-bubble in
the stillness of his dwelling.

1887. Field, 15 Oct. Off I went down the ravine, and half a mile
below came to Besan quietly smoking his hubble-bubble.

1891. W. C. Russell, Ocean Tragedy, p. 130. A burning atmosphere
sickly with the smell of the incense of the hubble-bubble, with a
flavour of hot curry about.

Hubble-de-shuff, adv. (old).—Confusedly.—Lex. Bal.

Hubbub, subs. (old: now recognised).—See quots.

d. 1639. Robert Carey (Earl of Monmouth), Memoirs, 1759, p. 155.
This made a great hub-bub in our Court.

1667. Milton, Paradise Lost, ii., 951. A universal hubbub wild, Of
stunning sounds.

1682. Bunyan, Holy War (1893 ed. M. Peacock, p. 58). The conscience
and understanding begin to receive conviction, and they set the
soul in a hubbub.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hubbub, a Noise in the Streets
made by the Rabble.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hubbub, a noise, riot, or
disturbance.

1893. Westminster Gaz., 8 Aug., p. 2, col. 1. An indescribable
hubbub of showmen’s, hawkers’, and children’s voices from near and
far.

Hubby (or Hub), subs. (colloquial).—A husband.

1798. Morton, Secrets Worth Knowing. Epilogue. The wife poor thing,
at first so blithe and chubby, Scarce knows again her lover in her
hubby.

1807. Stevens, Wks., p. 175. What could hubby do then, what could
hubby do? But sympathy-struck, as she cry’d, he cry’d too.

1811. Poole, Hamlet Travestied, ii., 3. Now, madam, this once was
your hubby.

1883. Referee, 17 Apr., p. 3, c. 2. I did hear it whispered that
her parents and guardians, or her horrified hubby, had turned the
key on her.

Huck, verb. (old).—To chaffer; to bargain.

1577. Holinshead, Description of England, ed. 1807, i., 315. It was
his custome likewise to saie, if anie man hucked hard with him
about the price of a gelding: ‘So God helpe me ... either he did
cost me so much,’ or else, ‘By Jesus I stole him.’

Huckleberry. Above one’s huckleberry (bend, or hook), adv. phr. (American).—Beyond one’s ability; out of one’s reach. See Bend.

1848. J. F. Cooper, The Oak Openings. It would be above my bend to
attempt telling you all we saw among the red skins.

1852. ‘L’Allegro,’ As Good as a Comedy, p. 61. Well, Squire Barry,
you’re a huckleberry above my persimmon, but I reckon something can
be done.

Huckle-my-butt, subs. (old).—Beer, egg, and brandy made hot.

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

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, iii., 5. ‘If that’s a bowl of
huckle-my-butt you are brewing, Sir William,’ added he, addressing
the knight of Malta, ‘you may send me a jorum at your convenience.’

Huckster, subs. (old: now recognised).—1. A retailer of small goods; a pedlar.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Huckster, the Retailers of the
Market, who Sell in the Market at second Hand.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hucksters, itinerant retailers of
provisions.

2. (old).—A mean trickster.

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

In huckster’s hands, adv. phr. (old).—See quot.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hucksters.... In huckster’s
hands, at a desperate Pass, or Condition, or in a fair way to be
Lost.

Hucksum (also Huckle, or Huckle-bone, or Huck-bone).—The hip.

c. 1508. Dunbar, Flyting (Poems, ed. 1834, ii., 72). With
huck-bones harth and haw.

d. 1529. Skelton, Elynor Rummyn (Poems, 1843, i.). The bones of her
huckels Lyke as they were buckels.

1575. Still, Gammer Gurton’s Needle, i., 3 (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th
ed., 1875, iii., 180). For bursting of her huckle-bone, or breaking
of her shin.

Huddle, verb. (venery).—To copulate. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

Hue, verb. (old).—See quot.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. The Cove was Hued in the
Naskin, the Rogue was severely Lasht in Bridewell.

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

Huey, subs. (Old Cant).—A town or village.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 231.
‘Where do you stall to in the huey?’ which, fairly translated,
means, ‘Where do you lodge in the town?’

Huff, subs. (colloquial).—1. An outburst of temper; peevishness; offence at some real or imaginary wrong or slight. Hence, to get (or take) the huff = to fly into a passion.

1599. H. Porter, Two Angry Women of Abingdon (Dodsley, Old Plays,
4th ed., 1875, vii., 311). And as thou say’st to me, to him I said,
But in a greater huff and hotter blood.

1676. Etherege, Man of Mode, Wks. (1704), i., 190. Tax her with the
next fop that comes Into my head, and in a huff march away.

1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia, Wks. (1720), iv., 63. If you were
not the brother to my dearest friend, I know what my honour would
prompt me to [walks in a huff].

1700. Farquhar, Constant Couple, ii., 2. I offer’d her fifty
guineas, and she was in her airs presently, and flew away in a
huff.

1705–7. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. II., pt. iv., p. 26. I pay’d
three Shillings, in a Huff, For my half Pint of liquid Stuff.

1759–67. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, ch. xxix. He left off the study
of projectiles in a kind of huff, and betook himself to the
practical part of fortification only. Idem. ch. c. Can I? cried
Susannah, shutting the door in a huff.

1769. Chatterton, Poems, ‘Journal’ (Chalmers, English Poets, 1810,
xv., 495). ‘Sir,’ quoth the Rector in a huff.

1777. Sheridan, Trip to Scarborough, i., 1. The lady not
condescending to give me any serious reasons for having fooled me
for a month, I left her in a huff.

1825. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, bk. II., ch. 16. What a huff you’re at!
I only axed a question.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xx. He is as proud as Lucifer, he is
always taking huff about one thing or the other.

1855. Browning, Men and Women, ‘Fra Lippo Lippi’ (Ed. 1864, p.
357). You’ll not mistake an idle word Spoke in a huff by a poor
monk?

1885. T. E. Brown, The Doctor, p. 30. Already my goodness! he’s
taking the huff.

1892. Anstey, Model Music-Hall, 37. Some parties in a huff rage At
the plea for Female Suffrage.

2. (old).—A bully; a Hector (q.v.); a sharper. Also Captain Huff.

1569. Preston, Cambises (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iv.,
177). [Enter three ruffians, huff, Ruff, and Snuff.]

1680. Cotton, Complete Gamester, p. 333. Huffs, hectors, setters,
gilts, pads, biters, etc.

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

1693. Congreve, Old Bachelor, iv., 9. Good, slovenly Captain Huff,
Bluffe (what is your hideous name?).

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

3. (common).—A dodge; a trick.

4. (draughts’).—A term in the game of draughts; the penalty for not taking a piece.

5. (Winchester College).—See Huff-cap.

Verb. (colloquial).—1. To bluster; to bounce; to swagger.

1607. How a Man May Choose a Good Wife, etc., iv., 3 (Dodsley, Old
Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 78). A huffing wench i’ faith.

1630. Taylor, Workes. The smell is the senting bawd, that huffs and
snuffs up and downe, and hath the game alwayes in the winde. Ibid.
One asked a huffing gallant why hee had not a looking-glasse in his
chamber; he answered, he durst not, because hee was often angry,
and then he look’d so terribly that he was fearefull to looke upon
himselfe.

d. 1631. Donne, Satires, iv. (Chalmers, English Poets, 1810, v.,
158). To th’ huffing, braggart, puffed nobility.

1643. Randolph, Muses Looking-Glasse, i., 1. Flowrd. Iniquity
aboundeth, though pure zeal Teach, preach, huffe, puffe, and snuffe
at it, yet still, Still it aboundeth.

1673. Wycherley, Gentleman Dancing Master, v., 1. How! my surly,
huffing, jealous, senseless, saucy master.

1675. Wycherley, Country Wife. ‘Prologue.’ Well, let the vain rash
fop, by huffing so, Think to obtain the better terms of you.

1680. Dryden, Prol. to Lee’s Cæsar Borgia, p. 29. So big you look,
though claret you retrench, That, armed with bottled ale, you huff
the French.

d. 1680. Rochester, Poems, ‘Woman’s Honour’ (Chalmers, English
Poets, 1810, viii., 239). This huffing honour domineers In breasts
when he alone has place.

1682. Bunyan, Holy War (ed. M. Peacock, 1893, p. 72). He refused
and huffed as well as he could, but in heart he was afraid.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Huff. To huff and ding, to
bounce and swagger.

1690. The Pagan Prince. And the same threats and menaces of the
palatine being carry’d to the marshal de Tonneure, notwithstanding
all his former encomiums, Oh! quo he, the palatine’s a young
prince; give him leave to huff and ding for his living; words break
no bones: when all’s done, ’tis the coach wheel, not the fly that
raises the dust.

1699. Robert Franck, Northern Memoirs (quoted in New Review, Aug.,
1893, p. 145). So huffed away.

1700. Mrs. Centlivre, Perjured Husband. ‘Epilogue.’ Let cowards
cease to huff.

1705. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. I., pt. iii., p. 14. And in
their frenzy, huff and threaten With what sad stripes we shall be
beaten.

1708. Prior, Poems, ‘The Mice.’ (Aldine ed. ii., 244, 50). One went
to Holland where they huff folk, T’other to vend his wares in
Suffolk.

1714. Newest Academy of Compliments. Pray neighbour, why d’ye look
awry? You’re grown a wondrous stranger; You huff, you pout, you
walk about As tho’ you’d burst with anger.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 283. Thus, thus I strut and huff.
Idem., i., 154. But when the new ones did stoop, The t’other as
huffing would be. Idem., v., 99. When Bullies leave huffing and
Cowards their Trembling.

1725. Swift, Poems, ‘A New Song’ (Chalmers, English Poets, 1810,
xi., 446). If he goes to the baker’s the baker will huff, And
twenty pence ask for a twopenny loaf.

d. 1742. Somerville, Occasional Poems, ‘The Officious Messenger’
(Chalmers, English Poets, 1810, xi., 206). Her ladyship began to
huff.

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

2. To anger; to cheek (q.v.); to get angered.

1708. Mrs. Centlivre, The Busy-Body, iii., 4. Impossible, without
he huffs the lady, and makes love to Sir Francis.

1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ch. xliii. Upon this she huffs
outright, and tells Tom he may go about his business, for she
didn’t care if she never sees him no more.

1839. W. H. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, p. 133 (Ed. 1840). If they
do, now and then, run away with a knocker, paint a sign, beat the
watch, or huff a magistrate.

Intj. (obsolete).—See quots. Also Huffa and Huffa-gallant. [Probably the oldest form of the word.]

c. 1510. Rastell, Four Elements (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875,
i., 20). With huffa gallant, tirl on the berry, And let the wide
world wind.

c. 152(?). Hick Scorner (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i.,
188). Huff! huff! huff! who sent after me.

d. 1529. Skelton, Poems, ‘Against Garnesche’ (Dyce, i., 118, and
note ii., 181–2). Huf a galante, Garneysche, loke on your comely
ars.

To stand the huff, verb. phr. (old).—To stand the reckoning.—Lex. Bal.

Also Huffy = easily offended; Huffed = annoyed; Huffily = testily; in a tantrum.

1825. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, bk. II., ch. 15. A leetle on the huffy
order, I guess! Aint you?

1852. H. B. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ch. xvi. I ... actually was
so cruel as to restrict him to one dozen of my cambric
handkerchiefs. Dolph was particularly huffy about it, and I had to
talk to him like a father to bring him round.

1853. Lytton, My Novel, bk. I., ch. ix. Though the Squire was
inclined to be very friendly to all his neighbours, he was, like
most country gentlemen, rather easily huffed.

1873. Miss Broughton, Nancy, ch. xxxvi. ‘I have no doubt you
would!’ say I, turning sharply and huffily away.

1875. Ouida, Signa, vol. II., ch. xx., p. 324. ‘She is a stupid
little mule,’ thought the old woman, angrily. ‘She feels nothing,
she sees no greatness in it all—she is only good to grub amongst
her cabbages.’ And she went away huffed.

1885. T. E. Brown, The Doctor, p. 31. huffed is he, eh? And who
regards him?

Huff-cap (or Huff), subs. (Old Cant: still in use at Winchester College).—1. Strong ale. [‘From inducing people to set their caps in a bold and huffing style.’—Nares.]

1579. Fulwell, Art of Flattery. Commonly called Hufcap, it will
make a man look as though he had seene the devil.

1586. Holinshed, Description of England. These men hale at Huff-cap
till they be red as cockes and little wiser than their combes.

1602. Campion, English Poesy (Bullen, Works, 1889, p. 247). Hunks
detests when huffcap ale he tipples.

1614. Greene, Looking-Glass [Dyce], p. 127. The ale is strong ale,
’tis hufcap; I warrant you, ’twill make a man well.

1630. Taylor, Wks. And this is it, of ale-houses and innes,
Wine-marchants vintners, brewers, who much wins By others losing, I
say more or lesse, Who sale of hufcap liquor doe professe.

1870. Mansfield, School Life, p. 180. Washed down by libations of
Huff.

1878. Adams, Wykehamica, s.v. Huff, the strong ale brewed by the
College.

2. (old).—A swaggering bully; a Hector (q.v.).

1596. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe (Grosart, Works, v., 306). The
huff-cappes to drink in that house, thou shalt be sure of always.

1630. Taylor, Wks. But ’tis a maxime mortals cannot hinder, The
doughty deeds of Wakefield’s huffe-cap Pinder Are not so pleasant
as the faire Aurora, When Nimrod rudely plaid on his bandora.

1687. Clifford, Notes upon Dryden, letter 2. Prethee tell me true,
was not this huff-cap once the Indian emperour, and at another time
did not he call himself Maximine?

1706. Farquhar, Recruiting Officer, v., 6. You have made a fine
speech good Captain Huff-cap.

Adj. (old).—Swaggering; blustering; rousing.

1597. Hall, Satires, i., 3. Graced with huff-cap terms and
thundering threats.

Huffer, subs. (old).—A swaggerer.

1682. Banks, Vertue Betrayed, Prol. lines 23–4. Welcome
mask-teazer, peevish gamster, huffer: All fools, but politicians,
we can suffer.

1770. Lord Hailes, Ancient Scottish Poetry, note on ‘Seven Deadly
Sins,’ line 34. Huffers (or threateners), boasters, and they who
pick quarrels.

Huffle, verb. (venery).—1. To bag-pipe (q.v.).

2. (colloquial).—To shift; to hesitate; to waver.

Huff-snuff, subs. (old).—A person apt to take offence.

1592. Nashe, Strange News, etc. (Grosart, Works, ii., 184). Gabriel
Huffe-Snuffe Knowne to the world for a foole, and clapt in the
Fleete for a poet.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Risentito.... Also a huffe
snuffe, one that will soone take pepper in the nose, that will
revenge euerie small matter.

1750. Ozell, Rabelais, iv., pref. xxiii. Freebooters, desperadoes,
and bullying huff-snuffs.

Huftie-tuftie, adj. (old).—Swaggering; gallant.

1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden (Grosart, Works, iii., 106). Came a
ruffling it out, huftie-tuftie, in his velvet suit.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, (Grosart, Works, v., 250).
Huftie-tuftie youthful ruffling comrades, wearing every one three
yards of feathers in his cap for his mistres’ favour.

Hug, subs. (thieves’).—Garrotting (q.v.). Also verbally, and to put on the hug.

1864. Home Magazine, 16 Mar. Hoax upon hoax about the putting on
the hug was played off upon a credulous and bugbear-loving
community.

2. (old).—The sexual embrace. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride. Also the close hug.

1659. Lady Alimony, ii., ‘Prologue’ (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed.,
1875, xiv., 288). Apt for a spousal hug.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., iv., 163. They’ve a new drug Which is
called the close hug.

Verb. (colloquial).—Properly to grapple with and hold the body, as a bear with his fore-paws. Hence (1) to cuddle; and (2) to perform the sexual embrace (see subs., sense 2). Hence, also, to hug brown bess (q.v.); to hug the gunner’s daughter = to cuddle a gun for punishment; to hug the ground = to fall, or be hit off one’s legs; to give the hug (pugilists) = to close with and grapple the body; to hug the shore (or bank, or wall) to keep close to; cornish hug = a hold in wrestling; to hug a belief (or delusion, or thought) = to cherish; to hug one’s chains = to delight in captivity.

1696. Landsdowne, Poems, ‘Prologue to The She-Gallants’ (Chalmers,
English Poets, 1810, xi., p. 36). Then, like some pensive
statesman, treads demure, And smiles and hugs to make distinction
sure.

1602. Campion, English Poesy (Buller, Works, 1889, p. 249). Changed
is Helen. Helen hugs the stranger.

1631. Drayton, The Mooncalf (Chalmers, English Poets, 1810, iv.,
133). Hug him, and swear he was her only joy.

1637. Beaumont and Fletcher, Elder Brother, iv., 1. This night I’ll
hug my Lilly in my arms.

d. 1649. Drummond, Posthumous Poems, ‘Of a Kiss.’ Nor her who had
the fate Ravis’d to be and hugged on Ganges’ shore.

1659. Lady Alimony, iv. (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv.,
288a). Shall we hug none of our own, But such as drop from the
frigid zone.

c. 1708. W. King, The Art of Love, Pt. iv. (Chalmers, English
Poets, 1810, ix., 266). Then hugging her in brawny arm.

d. 1710. R. Duke, Poems, ‘A Song’ (Chalmers, English Poets, 1810,
ix., 224). Close hugs the charmer, and ashamed to yield, Though he
has lost the day yet keeps the field. Idem. She hugs the dart that
wounded her, and dies.

d. 1742. Somerville, Occasional Poems, etc., ‘The Fortune-Hunter,’
canto iii. (Chalmers, English Poets, 1810, xi., 221). Drinks double
bub with all his might And hugs his doxy every night.

1746. Smollett, Advice, line 4. We’ll hug the curse that not one
joy can boast.

d. 1764. Lloyd, Poems (1774), ‘The Cit’s County Box.’ Hugging
themselves in ease and clover.

d. 1773. G. Cunningham, Poems, ‘Holiday-Gown’ (Chalmers, English
Poets, 1810, xiv., 441). He hugs me so close, and he kisses so
sweet.

1791. Antient and Modern Scottish Songs, ‘My Jockey is a Bonnie
Lad,’ ii., 325. And then he fa’s a kissing, clasping, hugging,
squeezing, tousling, pressing, winna let me be.

d. 1796. Burns, The Jolly Beggars. And at night in barn or stable,
hugs our doxies on the hay.

Hugger-mugger, subs. (colloquial).—Muddle; confusion.

1868. C. Reade, Foul Play, ch. vii. Why didn’t you tell me, and I’d
have tidied the room: it is all hugger-mugger, with miss a leaving.

1885. T. E. Brown, The Doctor, p. 36. And every place as neat as a
pin, And couldn’t stand no hugger-mugger.

1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 28 Oct., p. 2, c. 2. He wrote some lampoons
in the papers at the time, in which he ridiculed the hugger-mugger
of the prosecution.

Adv. (old).—See quots.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hugger-Mugger, Closely or by
Stealth, Underboard: To eat so, that is, to Eat by one’s self.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hugger-Mugger, by stealth,
privately, without making an appearance; they spent their money in
a hugger-mugger way.

Adj. (common).—Confused; disorderly; hap-hazard; hand-to-mouth (q.v.).

1882. Daily Telegraph, 5 Oct., p. 2, c. 2. Nor, can they be very
severely blamed for this hugger-mugger, slipshod way of life.

Verb. (common).—To meet by stealth; to lay heads together.

1879. Justin McCarthy, Donna Quixote, ch. xxxii. I can see already
that she won’t stand much more of you and me hugger-muggering
together.

In hugger-mugger, adv. phr. (old).—1. In secret.

1565. Stapleton, Fort. of the Faith, fol. 88. They should not have
lurked all this while in hucker-mucker.

1588. J. Udall, Demonstration of Discipline, p. 30. (ed. Arber).
The Byshop without any lawfull election, is chosen in huggermuger
of the canons, or prebendaries onely, without the knowledge of the
people.

1594. Nashe, Unfortunate Traveller (Grosart, Works, v., 19). Myself
that am but a poore childish wel-willer of yours, with the vain
thought that a man of your desert and state by a number of pesants
and varlets should be so incuriously abused in hugger-mugger haue
wept al my vrine upward.

1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden (Grosart, Works, iii., 181). Hee sent
her 18 pence in hugger-mugger, to pay the fiddlers.

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, iv., 5. King. ... We have done but
greenly, In hugger-mugger to inter him.

1602. Dekker, Satiromastix, iii., 133 (Dodsley, Old Plays, viii.,
48). One word, sir Quintilian, in hugger-mugger.

1607. Tourneur, Revenger’s Trag. (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed.,
1875), v., i. And how quaintly he died, like a politician, in
hugger-mugger.

1611. Coryat, Crud., ii., p. 251, repr. So these perhaps might
sometimes have some furtive conversation in hugger mugger.

1633. Ford, ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore, ii., 1. There is no way but to
clap up a marriage in hugger-mugger.

1639–61. Rump Songs, i. [1662], 54. They brought me Gold and Plate
in Huggar-Muggar.