baccy
»Man works, as he thinks, for beer and baccy.» (T. T. T. 59. 20.)
A »minor poet.» Conversation between ladies and gentlemen.
»You had to walk ten miles to get your baccy.» (Three Men In A Boat 8. 8.)
»He sent them out to buy his baccy,» (Novel Notes 80. 16.)
A young gentleman.
Baccy is a vulgar form of tobacco, more vulgar than bacco. The formation of the word, with a gradual weakening of the last, unaccented syllable, is characteristic of vulgar language: baccoᵘ > baccŏ (or backer) > baccy.
bally
»I call the whole thing bally foolishness.» (Three Men In A Boat 14. 7.)
A comparatively recent coinage, it is said, of The Sporting Times from the Irish bally-hooly.
The word is used in the same manner as blooming and bloody, i. e. as a meaningless intensive expression. Bloody is an adj. used on every possible occasion by Eng. workmen, but without meaning. Schoolboys and grown-up persons of the better classes use bally.
chip in
»She took ‘the liberty of chipping in’, to use her own expression.» (They And I. 226. 6.)
An actress.
= of joining in the conversation.
To chip in is sport-slang (Cards) for »to put a chip (or counter) in the pool»; hence, by extension, to make a contribution to, or take part in, anything—e. g. a conversation or an enterprise.
coach
»The shy, backward boy I had coached and bullied.» (Sketches 83. 10.)
A cultivated man.
»For a fortnight past the O’Kelly had been coaching me.» (P. Kelver II. 80. 7.)
The same.
= to prepare for an examination.
Also: to train in physical acquirements, e. g. in (= tutor or traince in Standard English) cricket or rowing.
A coach: a person who trains another (but more disparaging); analogous terms are crammer, feeder, grinder.
The word is originally schoolboy and academical slang, but now in general use among all classes.
crib
»’Ow could ’e get a crib? no character, no references.» (P. Kelver II. 56. 12.)
A young clerk.
= situation, place.
Originally commercial slang, like berth in the same sense.
do
»He will only let us have them (the rooms) on the understanding that we ‘do for’ ourselves.» (P. Kelver II. 110. 26.)
A gentleman.
= to attend on (as landladies on lodgers). Probably servants’ slang.
jaw
»Go to hell with your snivelling jaw.» (Novel Notes 179. 10.)
A convict.
Schoolboy slang for lengthy talk—esp. in the nature of a reproof.
Cf. None of your jaw, you swab! (Smollett, Roderick Random.) Shut up your jaw! = Hold your tongue!
land
»He killed three of them before Harris could land him with the frying-pan.» (Three Men In A Boat 46. 22.)
»By-the-by, he landed you pretty heavily, didn’t he?» (The Prude’s Progress. 16. 20.)
A gentleman.
To land, boxers’ slang = to hit, to beat.
mash
»One day he fell in love; or to put it in the words of Teddy Tidmarsh, who brought the news to us, ‘got mashed on Gerty Lowell’.» (Sketches 55. 28.)
»It’s like ’aving an Alcock’s porous plaster mashed on yer.» (Novel Notes 212. 15.)
Uncultivated young man.
To be mashed on and to be spoony on are rather common expressions for to be in love with. (Cf. to be nuts on.)
According to Leland, the term mashed originates from the Gipsy-word mash = masher-ava: allure; according to others, it is a variation of smash[6]. (Smite, smitten is used in the same sense.)
In the eighties, it came to England from America, where it was used especially among actors.
Cf. mash: sweetheart. to mash, to be on the mash: to flirt. masher: (1) a species of Don Juan, esp. among choristers and actresses; (2) a dandy and, as adj., smart.
The term is, I suppose, originally actors’ slang.
slippy
»You make her marry the Prince; and be slippy about it.» (They And I. 75. 14.)
A schoolboy.
Schoolboy slang for be quick:
(Cf. expressions as »the ship slipped through the water».)
spoon, spoony
»spooning smutty-faced servant-gals across area railings.» (T. T. T. 157. 3.)
Uneducated young man.
»Spoony couples.» (T. T. T. 129. 24.)
A waiter.
To spoon, originally student-slang = flirt, make love. Spoony = enamoured.
(A spoon, originally = a simpleton, esp. an absurd whole-hearted lover.)
stodgy
»I often feel sorry for you, having nobody but grown-up people to talk to.»—
»They do get a bit stodgy after a certain age,» agreed the Babe. (Tommy And Co. 164. 16.)
A young gentleman.
Stodgy, probably schoolboy slang, is something heavy, unappetizing, or difficult to digest, lying heavily on the stomach, literally or figuratively: e. g. ill-cooked potatoes, a man whose conversation is all facts and no wit, etc.
Cf. stodge: food, a heavy meal. stodger: a glutton.
tuck
»Waste not your substance upon tops and marbles, nor yet upon tuck (Do ye still call it »tuck»?).» (P. Kelver I. 111. 6.)
The author.
Schoolboy slang for pastry, sweetstuff, and the like.
Cf. tuck-shop = a pastrycook’s.
The term is also used as a generic for edibles and appetite.
twig
»Too terribly true. She’d twig it.» (They And I. 258. 4.)
A schoolgirl.
»It being a foggy night, nobody twigged me.» (Tommy And Co. 42. 21.)
A London brat.
Schoolboy slang for notice.
Cf. »Glad you are not twigged, gen’lemen.» (F. W. Farrar, Eric or Little By Little. III.)
Twiggez-vous? = Do you see?