Plastronneur, m. (popular), swell, “gorger.” From the stiff plastron, or shirt-front, sported by dandies when in “full fig.” See Gommeux.

Plat, m. (popular), deux œufs sur le ——, or deux œufs, small breasts.

C’ment ça! c’que vous m’f... là, cap’taine! n’allez pas m’dire qu’une femme qui n’a qu’deux œufs posés sur la place d’armes, peut avoir une fluxion vraisemblable à une personne avantagée comme la commandante?—Ch. Leroy, Ramollot.

Plat d’épinards, painting, or “daub.” (Popular) Faire du ——, to create a disturbance; to make a noise, “to kick up a row.” Prendre un —— d’affiches, to have no breakfast in consequence of absence of means to pay for it. Literally to walk about with an empty stomach, reading the bills posted up, to while away the time. Plats à barbe, ears, “wattles, lugs, hearing cheats.”

Le nez s’appelle un “piton;” la bouche, un “four;” l’oreille un “plat à barbe;” les dents des “dominos,” et les yeux des “quinquets.”—Les Locutions Vicieuses.

(Restaurants’) Plat du jour, dish which is got ready specially for the day, and which consequently is generally the most palatable in the bill of fare.

Ce que le restaurateur appelle dans son argot un plat du jour, c’est-à-dire un plat humain, possible, semblable à la nourriture que les hommes mariés trouvent chez eux.—Th. de Banville, La Cuisinière Poétique.

(Military) Plat, gorget formerly worn by officers.

Platane, m. (familiar), feuille de ——, rank cigar, “cabbage-leaf.”

Plateau, m. (freemasons’), a dish.

Plato. See Filer.

Plâtre, m. See Essuyer. (Printers’) Plâtre, for emplâtre, bad compositor. (Thieves’) Plâtre, silver; silver coin. Possibly an allusion to the colour and shape of the face of a watch. Je viens de dégringolarer un bobinot en plâtre, I have just stolen a silver watch. Etre au ——, to have money.

Platue, f. (thieves’), a kind of flat cake.

Plein, m. and adj. (popular), avoir son ——, to be intoxicated, “to be primed;” —— comme un œuf, comme un sac, drunk, “drunk as Davy’s sow.” See Pompette. Gros —— de soupe, a stout, clumsy man.

Pleine, adj. (popular), lune, breech, or “Nancy.” See Vasistas. (Familiar) Faire une —— eau, to dive into a river or the sea from a boat, and swim about in deep water.

Plette, f. (thieves’), skin, “buff.”

Pleurant, m. (thieves’), onion. From pleurer, to weep. The allusion is obvious. Du cabot avec des pleurants, a mess of dogfish and onions.

Pleurer (popular), en filou, to pretend to weep, crocodile fashion. Faire —— son aveugle, to void urine, “to pump ship.”

Pleut (popular), il ——! ejaculation of refusal; silence! be careful! The expression is used by printers as a warning to be silent when the master or a stranger enters the workshop.

Pleuvoir (thieves’), des châsses, to weep, “to nap a bib.” Termed also “baver des clignots.” (Military) Pleuvoir, to void urine.

Pli, m. (familiar), avoir un —— dans sa rose, to have something that mars one’s joy or disturbs one’s happiness.

La Martinière avait un “pli dans sa rose” comme il le disait lui-même.—H. France, A Travers l’Espagne.

Pliant, m. (thieves’), knife, or “chive.” Termed also “vingt-deux, surin, or lingre.” Jouer du ——, to knife, “to chive.”

Plier (popular), ses chemises, to die. “to snuff it.” See Pipe. Plier son éventail, to make signals to men in the orchestra stalls.

Plis, m. pl. (popular), des ——, derisive expression of refusal; might be rendered by, Don’t you wish you may get it? or by the Americanism, “Yes, in a horn!” See Nèfles.

Plomb, m. (restaurants’), entremets. Probably from plum pudding; (popular) venereal disease. Laver la tête avec du ——, to shoot one. Manger du ——, to be shot. Le ——, the throat, or “red lane;” the mouth. Termed also “l’avaloir, le bécot, la bavarde, la gargoine, la boîte, l’égout, la babouine, la cassolette, l’entonnoir, la gaffe, le mouloir, le gaviot.” In the English slang, “mug, potato-trap, rattler, kisser, maw-dubber, rattle-trap, potato-jaw, muns, bone-box.” Ferme ton ——, hold your tongue, “put a clapper to your mug, mum your dubber, or hold your jaw.”

—D’où sort-elle donc celle-là? Elle ferait bien mieux de clouer son bec.

—Celle-là ... celle-là vaut bien Madame de la Queue-Rousse. Ferme ton plomb toi-même.—H. France, Le Péché de Sœur Cunégonde.

Jeter dans le ——, to swallow.

Plombe, f. (thieves’), hour. An allusion to the weights of clocks, formerly “plomées.” Six plombes se décrochent, it is six o’clock. Luysard estampillait six plombes, it was six o’clock by the sun.

Voilà six plombes et une mèche qui crossent ... tu pionces encore.—Je crois bien, nous avons voulu maquiller à la sorgue chez un orphelin, mais le pantre était chaud; j’ai vu le moment où il faudrait jouer du vingt-deux et alors il y aurait eu du raisinet.—Vidocq. (It is half-past six ... sleeping yet?—I should think so; we wanted to do a night job at a goldsmith’s, but the cove was wide-awake. I was very near doing for him with my knife.)

Plomber (popular and thieves’), to emit a bad smell. From plomb, sink.

Plomber de la gargoine, to have an offensive breath. Plomber, to strike the hour. La guimbarde ne plombe pas, the clock does not strike the hour. Etre plombé, to be drunk, or “lumpy,” see Pompette; to suffer from a venereal disease.

Plombes, f. pl. (thieves’), money, “pieces.” See Quibus.

De vieux marmiteux de la haute lui ont offert de l’épouser. Mais ils n’avaient que le titre (elle veut, dit-elle, le titre avec les plombes).—Louise Michel.

Plonger (thieves’), les pognes dans la profonde, or fabriquer un poivrot, to pick the pockets of a drunken man who has come to grief on a bench.

Plongeur, m. (thieves’), poverty-stricken man, or “quisby;” tatterdemalion; (popular) scullery man at a café or restaurant.

Plotte, f. (thieves’), purse, “skin, or poge.” Termed, in old English cant, “bounge.” Faire une ——, “to fake a skin.”

Plouse, f. (thieves’), straw, “strommel.”

Ployant, or ployé, m. (thieves’), pocket-book, “dee,” or “dummy.”

J’étais avec lui à la dinée au tapis, lorsque les cognes sont venus lui demander ses escraches et j’ai remarqué que son ployant était plein de tailbins d’altèque.—Vidocq. (I was with him at dinner in the inn when the gendarmes came to ask him for his passport, and I noticed that his pocket-book was full of bank-notes.)

Pluc, m. (thieves’), booty, “regulars,” or “swag.”

Plumade, f. (obsolete), straw mattress.

Plumard, m. (popular), bed, “doss,” or “bug-walk.” Termed also “panier, pagne, pucier.”

Plumarder (military), se ——, to go to bed.

Plume, f. (thieves’), false key; a short crowbar which generally takes to pieces for the convenience of housebreakers. Termed also, “Jacques, sucre de pommes, l’enfant, biribi, rigolo.” Denominated by English housebreakers, “the stick, Jemmy, or James.” Passer à la ——, to be ill-treated by the police. Plume de Beauce (obsolete), straw, or “strommel.”

Quand on couche sur la plume de la Beauce (la paille), des rideaux, c’est du luxe.—Vidocq.

Piausser sur la —— de Beauce, to sleep in the straw. (Popular) Plumes, hair, or “thatch.” Termed also “tifs, douilles, douillards.” Se faire des plumes, or paumer ses plumes, to feel dull, to have the “blues.” (Familiar) Ecrire ses mémoires avec une —— de quinze pieds was said formerly of galley slaves. An allusion to the long oar which such convicts had to ply on board the old galleys. (Military) Plume! an ejaculation to denote that the soldier referred to will spend the night at the guard-room or in prison. An ironical allusion to the expression “coucher dans la plume,” to sleep in a featherbed, and to the hard planks which are to form the culprit’s couch. (Journalists’) Gen de ——, literary man. The term is used disparagingly.

C’est comme ça! continue le gen de plume. X... a osé m’envoyer son ouvrage en vers ... oh! la! la! quelle guitare!—Louise Michel.

Plumeau, m. (popular), va donc vieux ——! get along, you old fool, or “doddering old sheep’s head.”

Plumepatte, m., synonymous of Dache (which see).

Plumer (thieves’), le pantre, or faire la grèce, is said of rogues who, having formed an acquaintance with travellers whom they fall in with in the vicinity of railway stations, take them to a neighbouring café and induce them to play at some swindling game, with the result that the pigeon’s money changes hands. (Popular) Plumer, to sleep. Se ——, to go to bed.

Plumet, m. (familiar and popular), avoir son ——, to be drunk, or “tight.” Termed also “avoir son petit jeune homme, être paf, s’être piqué le nez.” For other synonyms see Pompette. One day, in 1853, Alfred de Musset, who then had become a confirmed tippler of absinthe, called on M. Empis, the manager of the Théâtre Français, and asked one of the officials of the theatre to introduce him into his presence. The official entered the directorial office, says Philibert Audebrand, when the following dialogue took place:—

—Monsieur le directeur ...

—Quoi? qu’y a-t-il?

—Eh bien, c’est M. Alfred de Musset.

—Mais, monsieur le directeur....

—Quoi donc?

—C’est qu’il a son “petit jeune homme.”

—Qu’est-ce que ça fait, Lachaume? Faites entrer M. Alfred de Musset avec son petit jeune homme.

Le plus piquant de l’histoire, c’est que M. Empis ne savait pas ce que voulaient dire ces mots: “avoir son petit jeune homme.”

The expression led to the following conversation between two savants:—

Un Grammairien. Eh bien, “avoir son petit jeune homme,” qu’est-ce que ça veut dire?

Un Philologue. C’est “avoir son plumet.”

Le Grammairien. Bon! me voilà bien avancé! Qu’est-ce qu’avoir son plumet?

Le Philologue. Monsieur, c’est “être paf.”

Le Grammairien. De mieux en mieux. Qu’est-ce donc qu’ “être paf”?

Le Philologue. Selon le dictionnaire de la langue verte, le mot se dit de ceux qui “se piquent le nez.”

Le Grammairien. Je ne comprends toujours pas.

Le Philologue. Eh bien, traduisez: ceux qui se saoulent.

Le Grammairien. Pour le coup, j’y suis!

Faux ——, wig, “flash, or periwinkle.”

Plumeuse, f. (popular), woman who draws so largely on a man’s purse as not to leave him a sou.

Plus (popular), n’avoir —— de fil sur la bobine, —— de crin sur la brosse, —— de gazon sur le pré, —— de paillasson à la porte, to be bald, “to be stag-faced, to have a bladder of lard,” &c. See Avoir. (Familiar and popular) Ne —— pouvoir passer sous la Porte Saint-Denis. See Passer. Plus que ça de chic! how elegant! —— que ça de toupet! what “cheek!” N’avoir —— de mousse sur le caillou, to be bald. See Avoir.

Plus de mousse sur le caillou, quatre cheveux frisant à plat dans le cou, si bien qu’elle était toujours tentée de lui demander l’adresse du merlan qui lui faisait la raie.—Zola.

C’est —— fort que de jouer au bouchon, words meant to express the speaker’s astonishment or indignation, “it is coming it rather too strong.”

Moi? exclama le fourrier stupéfait, j’aurai huit jours de salle de police? Eh ben, vrai, c’est plus fort que de jouer au bouchon!—G. Courteline.

Plus souvent (familiar and popular), certainly not; never.

C’est moi qui me chargerai de toi.—Plus souvent, va! c’est encore toi qui sera bien aise de revenir manger mon pain.—E. Monteil.

Pocharder (general), se ——, to get drunk, “to get screwed.” See Sculpter.

Pocharderie, f. (general), drunkenness.

Pochards. Signe de la croix des ——. See Ménilmuche.

Poche, adj. and subst. (popular), être ——, to be drunk, to be “screwed.” See Pompette. (Thieves’) Une ——, a spoon, or “feeder.” Termed by Rabelais “happesoupe.”

Poche-œil, m. (popular), blow in the eye. Donner un ——, to give a black eye, “to put one’s eyes in half-mourning.”

Pocher (printers’), better explained by quotation.

Prendre trop d’encre avec le rouleau et la mettre sur la forme sans l’avoir bien distribuée.—Boutmy.

Pocheté, m. (popular), dunce, or “flat.” Used sometimes as a friendly appellation.

Pochetée, f. (popular), en avoir une ——, to be dull-witted.

Pochonner (popular), to give one a couple of black eyes, “to put one’s eyes in mourning.”

Poèle à châtaignes, f. (popular), pock-marked face, “cribbage-face.”

Poétraillon, m. (familiar), poet who writes lame verses.

Pogne, f. (thieves’), thief, “prig,” see Grinche; hand, or “duke.” Plonger les pognes dans la profonde, or dans la valade, to pick a pocket, “to fake a cly.” See Grinchir.

Pogne-main (popular), à ——, heavily, roughly.

Pognon, or poignon, m. (popular), money, or “dimmock.” For synonyms see Quibus.

Poignard, m. (tailors’), the act of touching up some article of clothing.

Poigne, f. (popular), hand, “daddle.”

J’ai la poigne solide ... je vous étrangle.—E. Lemoine.

Donne-moi ta ——, “tip us your daddle.” Ergot de la ——, fingernail. Avoir de la ——, to be strong; energetic.

Poignée, f. (popular), foutre une —— de viande par la figure à quelqu’un, to box one’s ears, “to warm the wax of one’s ears.”

Poigneux, adj. (popular), strong, vigorous, “spry.”

Poignon, m. (popular), money, “tin.”

Dis donc, l’enflé, si t’as du poignon, remuche-moi la môme. Elle est rien gironde.—Richepin.

Poil, m. (popular), avoir un —— dans la main, to be lazy; to feel disinclined for work, or “Mondayish.”

Gervaise s’amusa à suivre trois ouvriers, ... qui se retournaient tous les dix pas ... ah! bien! murmura-t-elle, en voilà trois qui ont un fameux poil dans la main.—Zola, L’Assommoir.

Avoir du —— au cul, to have courage, “spunk.” Faire le ——, to surpass. Flanquer un ——, to reprimand, to give a “wigging.” Tomber sur le ——, to thrash, “to wallop.” See Voie. Un bougre à poils, a sturdy fellow, a “game” one. (Sailors’) Un cachalot bon ——, a good sailor. Un terrien à trois poils, a swell landsman. (Picture dealers’) Cuir et poils, at a high price.

Il vend son Corot très cher, “cuir et poils,” comme on dit dans ce joli commerce; et c’est son droit; car ta valeur d’un objet d’art est facultative.—A. Daudet.

(Familiar and popular) Prendre du —— de la bête, to take a “modest quencher” on the morning following a debauch, “to take a hair of the dog.” When a man has tried too many “hairs of the dog that bit him,” he is said to be “stale drunk.” If this state of things is too long continued, it is often called, “same old drunk,” from a well-known nigger story. The nigger was cautioned by his master for being too often drunk within a given period, when the “cullud pusson” replied, “Same old drunk, massa, same old drunk.” (Students’) Le faste en ——, the garden of the Palace of Luxembourg, by synonyms on the words luxe en bourre. Faire son petit ourson au faste en ——, to stroll in the Luxembourg garden.

Poins (Breton cant), theft.

Poinsa (Breton cant), to steal.

Poinser (Breton cant), thief.

Point, m. (popular), one franc; —— de côté, a nuisance. Properly a stitch in the side; creditor, or “dun;” police-officer whose functions are to watch prostitutes. (Ecole Polytechnique) Point gamma, yearly examination. See Pipo. Jusqu’au —— M, up to a certain point; in a certain degree. Le —— Q, breech. Tangente au —— Q, sword.

Pointe, f. (familiar), avoir sa ——, to be slightly in drink, or “elevated.” See Pompette.

Pointeau, m. (popular), clerk who keeps a record of the working hours in manufactories.

Pointer (popular), to thrash, “to give a walloping.” See Voie.

Si ta Dédèle est gironde, faut la gober, si elle est rosse, faut la pointer ferme.—Le Cri du Peuple, Feb., 1886. (If your little woman is a nice one you must love her, if she is a shrew you must thrash her well.)

Pointu, m. (popular), or bouillon ——, clyster; bishop. (Military) Un —— carré, a slow fellow, “stick in the mud.”

Eh bien! et les “bleus,” ils ne descendent pas? Ils n’ont donc pas entendu sonner le demi-appel, ces “pointus-carrés!” Tas de carapatas, va!—C. Dubois de Gennes.

Pointue, f. (thieves’), the Préfecture de Police. Ballonné à la ——, imprisoned in the lock-up of the Préfecture.

Poire, f. (cads’ and thieves’), head, or “tibby.” See Tronche. Tambouriner la —— à quelqu’un, to slap one’s face, “to fetch one a wipe in the mug,” or “to give a biff in the jaw” (Americanism). (Familiar and popular) Faire sa ——, to give oneself airs; to have an air of self-conceit, to look “gumptious.” Synonymous of “faire sa tête,” and, in the elegant language of cads, “faire sa merde.”

Poireau, m. (popular). Properly leek. Faire le ——, to be kept waiting at an appointed time or place, “to cool, or to kick one’s heels.” Surtout ne me fais pas faire le ——, mind you don’t “stick me up.”

Il est comme les poireaux, he is ever young and “spry.” The expression is old.

Tu me reproches mon poil grisonnant et ne consydere point comment il est de la nature des pourreaux esquels nous voyons la teste blanche et la queue verte, droicte et vigoureuse.—Rabelais.

(Familiar and popular) Un ——, a rogue who extorts money from Sodomites under threats of disclosures.

Par malheur le poireau, le chanteur, connaît aussi ce signe de reconnaissance. Si ces deux antiphysiques ont derrière eux cette araignée, toujours prête à tendre sa toile pour les surprendre c’en est fait du douillard.—Mémoires de Monsieur Claude.

Poireauter (popular), to wait a long while at an appointed place, “to cool, or to kick one’s heels.” Fielding uses the latter expression in his Amelia:—

In this parlour Amelia cooled her heels, as the phrase is, near a quarter of an hour.

Poirette, f. (thieves’), face, or “mug.” Laver la ——, to kiss.

Poirier, m. (dancing halls’), a variety of pas seul included in the cancan, a rather questionable sort of choregraphy.

L’orchestre joue et l’on répète le “canard qui barbote,” la “tulipe orageuse,” le “poirier” avec un ensemble parfait.—Gil Blas, Janvier, 1887.

Poiroté, m. (police and thieves’), rogue who is being watched by the police.

Poiroter (police and thieves’), to watch, “to give a roasting,” or “to dick.”

Pois, f. pl. (popular), coucher dans le lit aux —— verts, to sleep in the fields.

Poison, f. (familiar and popular). insulting epithet applied to a woman.

Poisse, f. (popular and thieves’), thief, “prig.” For synonyms see Grinche.

Voilà comment on devient grinche, l’homme pauvre devient gouêpeur, on l’envoie à la Lorcefé, il en sort poisse.—Vidocq. (That is how one takes to thieving; a poor man becomes a vagrant, he is sent to La Force, when he leaves he is a thief.)

Une —— à la détourne, a shoplifter, or “sneaksman,” termed formerly “buttock-and-file.” “Robbing a shop by pairs is termed ‘palming’—one thief bargaining with apparent intent to purchase,” says the Slang Dictionary, “whilst the other watches his opportunity to steal. The following anecdote will give an idea of their modus operandi. A man once entered a ‘ready-made’ boot and shoe shop, and desired to be shown a pair of boots, his companion staying outside and amusing himself by looking in at the window. The one who required to be fresh shod was apparently of a humble and deferential turn, for he placed his hat on the floor directly he stepped into the shop. Boot after boot was tried on until at last a fit was obtained, when in rushed a man, snatched up the customer’s hat left near the door, and ran down the street as fast as his legs could carry him. Away went the customer after his hat, and Crispin, standing at the door, clapped his hands, and shouted, ‘Go it, you’ll catch him?’ little thinking that it was a concerted trick, and that neither his boots nor the customer would ever return.” Detectives occasionally learn something from thieves, as appears from the stratagem resorted to by a French member of the Sûreté some time ago, who, himself a small man, and having a warrant for the arrest of an herculean and desperate scoundrel, proceeded as follows. He dogged his man, who pretended to hawk chains and watches, and, watching his opportunity, when the man had laid down his merchandise on the table of a wine-shop, he suddenly caught up one of the articles, and made off in the direction of the police station, followed thither by his quarry in hot pursuit, and crying out, “Stop thief!” Needless to say that the result was quite the reverse of that anticipated by the burly malefactor. (Dandies’) La ——, the world of cads, of “rank outsiders.”

Poissé, adj. (thieves’), stolen; caught. Au bout d’un an —— avec une pesée de gigot que j’allais fourguer. After one year nabbed with some leg of mutton which I was taking away to sell.

Poisser (popular and thieves’), to catch; to steal, “to cop, to clift, or to claim;” —— les philippes, or l’auber, to steal money. See Grinchir.

Se ——, to get drunk. See Sculpter. Se faire —— la gerce, to be guilty of unnatural offences.

Poisseur, m. (popular and thieves’), thief, or “prig.” See Grinche.

Poisseuse, f. (familiar), dressy, stylish woman, a “blooming tart.”

Poisseux, m. (familiar), dandy, or “masher.” For list of synonyms see Gommeux.

Les petits jeunes gens, les poisseux, les boudinés ... étaient à leur poste.—A. Sirven, Au Pays des Roublards.

Dandies used to apply the epithet to a cad, a “rank outsider.”

Poisson, m. (familiar and popular), one who lives on the earnings of a prostitute, whom he terms “sa marmite,” as providing him with his daily bread.

Seulement ... tout souteneur qui ne venge pas sa largue est considéré comme un fainéant. Il est condamné par la bande des poissons.—Mémoires de Monsieur Claude.

Bullies frequent all parts of Paris, but principally the outer Boulevards and Quartier Montmartre. Those of the lower sort are recognizable by their vigorous appearance, kiss-curls, tight light-coloured trousers, and tall silk cap. These degraded creatures, who are the bane of the outer quarters, readily turn murderers when “business” is slack. Léo Taxil says: “Every day the newspapers are full of the exploits of these wretches, who ply the knife as jugglers do their balls. The police are powerless against them.” In a curious pamphlet, written in 1830, as a protest of the Paris bullies against a police order, forbidding prostitutes from plying their trade in public places, we have a marlou’s portrait painted by himself:—

Un marlou, monsieur le Préfet, c’est un beau jeune homme, fort, solide, sachant tirer la savate, se mettant fort bien, dansant le chahut et le cancan avec élégance, aimable auprès des filles dévouées au culte de Vénus, les soutenant dans les dangers éminents (sic), sachant les faire respecter et les forcer à se conduire avec décence ... vous voyez bien qu’un marlou est un être moral, utile à la société.—Le beau Théodore Cancan.

The synonyms of “poisson” are the following: “Alphonse, baigne-dans-le-beurre, barbise, barbe, barbillon, barbeau, marlou, benoît, brochet, dos, dos vert, casquette à trois ponts, chevalier du bidet, chevalier de la guiche, chiqueur de blanc, bouffeur de blanc, costel, cravate verte, guiche, dessous, écaillé, fish, foulard rouge, gentilhomme sous-marin, ambassadeur, gonce à écailles, goujon, lacromuche, retrousseur, dos d’azur, dauphin, macchoux, machabée, macque, macquet, macrottin, maq, maquereau, poisson frayeur, releveur de fumeuse, maquignon à bidoche, mangeur de blanc, tête de patère, marloupatte, marloupin, marlousier, marquant, mec, mec de la guiche, monsieur à nageoires, monsieur à rouflaquettes, nég en viande chaude, patenté, porte-nageoires, roi de la mer, rouflaquette, roule-en-cul, soixante-six, un qui va aux épinards, valet de cœur, visqueux, bibi, and formerly bras de fer.” The English slang has “Sunday-man, petticoat pensioner, pensioner with an obscene prefix, ponce, prosser,” &c. (Popular) Poisson, large glass of brandy.