ALDERMAN LUSHINGTON. See Lush.
ANDREW MILLER’S LUGGER, a king’s ship or vessel.
AREA SNEAK, or AREA SLUM, the practice of slipping unperceived down the areas of private houses, and robbing the lower apartments of plate or other articles.
ARM-PITS. To work under the arm-pits, is to practise only such kinds of depredation, as will amount, upon conviction, to what the law terms single, or petty larceny; the extent of punishment for which is transportation for seven years. By following this system, a thief avoids the halter, which certainly is applied above the arm-pits.
AWAKE, an expression used on many occasions; as a thief will say to his accomplice, on perceiving the person they are about to rob is aware of their intention, and upon his guard, stow it, the cove’s awake. To be awake to any scheme, deception, or design, means, generally, to see through or comprehend it.
BACK-JUMP. A back-window. See Jump.
BACK-SLANG, to enter or come out of a house by the back-door; or, to go a circuitous or private way through the streets, in order to avoid any particular place in the direct road, is termed back-slanging it.
BACK-SLUM, a back room; also the back entrance to any house or premises; thus, we’ll give it ’em on the back-slum, means, we’ll get in at the back-door.
BAD HALFPENNY. When a man has been upon any errand, or attempting any object which has proved unsuccessful or impracticable, he will say on his return, It’s a bad halfpenny; meaning he has returned as he went.
BANDED, hungry.
BANDS. To wear the bands, is to be hungry, or short of food for any length of time; a phrase chiefly used on board the hulks, or in jails.
BANG-UP. A person, whose dress or equipage is in the first style of perfection, is declared to be bang up to the mark. A man who has behaved with extraordinary spirit and resolution in any enterprise he has been engaged in, is also said to have come bang up to the mark; any article which is remarkably good or elegant, or any fashion, act, or measure which is carried to the highest pitch, is likewise illustrated by the same emphatical phrase.
BARKING-IRONS, pistols; an obsolete term.
BARNACLES, spectacles.
BASH, to beat any person by way of correction, as the woman you live with, &c.
BASTILE, generally called, for shortness, the Steel; a cant name for the House of Correction, Cold-Bath-Fields, London.
BEAK, a magistrate; the late Sir John Fielding, of police memory, was known among family people by the title of the blind beak.
BEAN, a guinea.
BEEF, stop thief! to beef a person, is to raise a hue and cry after him, in order to get him stopped.
BELLOWSER. See Wind.
BENDER, a sixpence.
BENDER, an ironical word used in conversation by flash people; as where one party affirms or professes any thing which the other believes to be false or insincere, the latter expresses his incredulity by exclaiming bender! or, if one asks another to do any act which the latter considers unreasonable or impracticable, he replies, O yes, I’ll do it—bender; meaning, by the addition of the last word, that, in fact, he will do no such thing.
BEST, to get your money at the best, signifies to live by dishonest or fraudulent practices, without labour or industry, according to the general acceptation of the latter word; but, certainly, no persons have more occasion to be industrious, and in a state of perpetual action than cross-coves; and experience has proved, when too late, to many of them, that honesty is the best policy; and, consequently, that the above phrase is by no means à-propos.
BETTY, a picklock; to unbetty, or betty a lock, is to open or re-lock it, by means of the betty, so as to avoid subsequent detection.
BILLIARD SLUM. The mace is sometimes called giving it to ’em on the billiard slum. See Mace.
BISHOP. See Christen.
BIT, money in general.
BIT-FAKER, a coiner. See Fake.
BIT-FAKING, coining base money.
BLACK DIAMONDS, coals.
BLEEDERS, spurs.
BLOODY-JEMMY, a sheep’s head.
BLOW THE GAFF, a person having any secret in his possession, or a knowledge of any thing injurious to another, when at last induced from revenge, or other motive, to tell it openly to the world and expose him publicly, is then said to have blown the gaff upon him.
BLOWEN, a prostitute; a woman who cohabits with a man without marriage.
BLUE-PIGEON, lead.
BLUE-PIGEON FLYING, the practice of stealing lead from houses, churches, or other buildings, very prevalent in London and its vicinity.
BLUNT, money.
BOB, or BOBSTICK, a shilling.
BODY-SLANGS. See Slangs.
BODY-SNATCHER, a stealer of dead bodies from churchyards; which are sold to the surgeons and students in anatomy.
BOLT, to run away from or leave any place suddenly, is called bolting, or making a bolt: a thief observing an alarm while attempting a robbery, will exclaim to his accomplice, Bolt, there’s a down. A sudden escape of one or more prisoners from a place of confinement is termed a bolt.
BOLT-IN-TUN, a term founded on the cant word bolt, and merely a fanciful variation, very common among flash persons, there being in London a famous inn so called; it is customary when a man has run away from his lodgings, broke out of a jail, or made any other sudden movement, to say, The Bolt-in-tun is concerned; or, He’s gone to the Bolt-in-tun; instead of simply saying, He has bolted, &c. See Bolt.
BONED, taken in custody, apprehended; Tell us how you was boned, signifies, tell us the story of your apprehension; a common request among fellow-prisoners in a jail, &c., which is readily complied with in general; and the various circumstances therein related afford present amusement, and also useful hints for regulating their future operations, so as to avoid the like misfortune.
BONNET, a concealment, pretext, or pretence; an ostensible manner of accounting for what you really mean to conceal; as a man who actually lives by depredation, will still outwardly follow some honest employment, as a clerk, porter, newsman, &c. By this system of policy, he is said to have a good bonnet if he happens to get boned; and, in a doubtful case, is commonly discharged on the score of having a good character. To bonnet for a person, is to corroborate any assertion he has made, or to relate facts in the most favourable light, in order to extricate him from a dilemma, or to further any object he has in view.
BOUNCE, to bully, threaten, talk loud, or affect great consequence; to bounce a person out of any thing, is to use threatening or high words, in order to intimidate him, and attain the object you are intent upon; or to obtain goods of a tradesman, by assuming the appearance of great respectability and importance, so as to remove any suspicion he might at first entertain. A thief, detected in the commission of a robbery, has been known by this sort of finesse, aided by a genteel appearance and polite manners, to persuade his accusers of his innocence, and not only to get off with a good grace, but induce them to apologize for their supposed mistake, and the affront put upon him. This masterstroke of effrontery is called giving it to ’em upon the bounce.
BOUNCE, a person well or fashionably drest, is said to be a rank bounce.
BOWLED OUT, a man who has followed the profession of thieving for some time, when he is ultimately taken, tried, and convicted, is said to be bowled out at last. To bowl a person out, in a general sense, means to detect him in the commission of any fraud or peculation, which he has hitherto practised without discovery.
BRACE UP, to dispose of stolen goods by pledging them for the utmost you can get at a pawnbroker’s, is termed bracing them up.
BRADS, halfpence; also, money in general.
BREAKING UP OF THE SPELL, the nightly termination of performance at the Theatres Royal, which is regularly attended by pickpockets of the lower order, who exercise their vocation about the doors and avenues leading thereto, until the house is emptied and the crowd dispersed.
BREECH’D, flush of money.
BRIDGE, to bridge a person, or throw him over the bridge, is, in a general sense, to deceive him by betraying the confidence he has reposed in you, and instead of serving him faithfully, to involve him in ruin or disgrace; or, three men being concerned alike in any transaction, two of them will form a collusion to bridge the third, and engross to themselves all the advantage which may eventually accrue. Two persons having been engaged in a long and doubtful contest or rivalship, he, who by superior art or perseverance gains the point, is said to have thrown his opponent over the bridge. Among gamblers, it means deceiving the person who had back’d you, by wilfully losing the game; the money so lost by him being shared between yourself and your confederates who had laid against you. In playing three-handed games, two of the party will play into each other’s hands, so that the third must inevitably be thrown over the bridge, commonly called, two poll one. See Play across.
BROADS, cards; a person expert at which is said to be a good broad-player.
BROOMSTICKS. See Queer-Bail.
BROWNS and WHISTLERS, bad halfpence and farthings; (a term used by coiners.)
BUB, a low expression signifying drink.
BUCKET. To bucket a person is synonymous with putting him in the well. See Well. Such treatment is said to be a bucketting concern.
BUFF. To buff to a person or thing, is to swear to the identity of them; swearing very positively to any circumstance, is called buffing it home.
BUFFER, a dog.
BUG, or BUG OVER. To give, deliver, or hand over; as, He bug’d me a quid, he gave me a guinea; bug over the rag, hand over the money.
BULL, a crown, or five shillings.
BULL-DOG, a sugar-loaf.
BULL-HANKERS, men who delight in the sport of bull-hanking; that is, bull-baiting, or bullock-hunting, games which afford much amusement, and at the same time frequent opportunities of depredation, in the confusion and alarm excited by the enraged animal.
BUM-CHARTER, a name given to bread steeped in hot water, by the first unfortunate inhabitants of the English Bastile, where this miserable fare was their daily breakfast, each man receiving with his scanty portion of bread, a quart of boil’d water from the cook’s coppers!
BUM-TRAP, a sheriff’s officer or his follower.
BUNCE, money.
BURICK, a prostitute, or common woman.
BUSH’D, poor; without money.
BUSHY-PARK, a man who is poor is said to be at Bushy park, or in the park.
BUSTLE, a cant term for money.
BUSTLE, any object effected very suddenly, or in a hurry, is said to be done upon the bustle. To give it to a man upon the bustle, is to obtain any point, as borrowing money, &c., by some sudden story or pretence, and affecting great haste, so that he is taken by surprise, and becomes duped before he has time to consider of the matter.
BUZ, to buz a person is to pick his pocket. The buz is the game of picking pockets in general.
BUZ-COVE, or BUZ-GLOAK, a pickpocket; a person who is clever at this practice, is said to be a good buz.
CABIN, a house.
CADGE, to beg. The cadge is the game or profession of begging.
CADGE-GLOAK, a beggar.
CANT OF DOBBIN, a roll of riband.
CAP, synonymous with Bonnet, which see.
CARDINAL, a lady’s cloak.
CARRY THE KEG, a man who is easily vexed or put out of humour by any joke passed upon him, and cannot conceal his chagrin, is said to carry the keg, or is compared to a walking distiller.
CASTOR, a hat.
CAT and KITTEN RIG, the petty game of stealing pewter quart and pint pots from public-houses.
CAZ, cheese; As good as caz, is a phrase signifying that any projected fraud or robbery may be easily and certainly accomplished; any person who is the object of such attempt, and is known to be an easy dupe, is declared to be as good as caz, meaning that success is certain.
CHANDLER-KEN, a chandler’s shop.
CHANT, a person’s name, address, or designation; thus, a thief who assumes a feigned name on his apprehension to avoid being known, or a swindler who gives a false address to a tradesman, is said to tip them a queer chant.
CHANT, a cipher, initials, or mark of any kind, on a piece of plate, linen, or other article; any thing so marked is said to be chanted.
CHANT, an advertisement in a newspaper or hand-bill; also a paragraph in the newspaper describing any robbery or other recent event; any lost or stolen property, for the recovery of which, or a thief, &c., for whose apprehension a reward is held out by advertisement, are said to be chanted.
CHARLEY, a watchman.
CHARLEY-KEN, a watch-box.
CHATS, lice.
CHATTY, lousy.
CHAUNT, a song; to chaunt is to sing; to throw off a rum chaunt, is to sing a good song.
CHEESE IT. The same as Stow it.
CHEESE THAT. See Stow that.
CHINA STREET, a cant name for Bow Street, Covent Garden.
CHIV, a knife; to chiv a person is to stab or cut him with a knife.
CHRISTEN, obliterating the name and number on the movement of a stolen watch; or the crest, cipher, &c., on articles of plate, and getting others engraved, so as to prevent their being identified, is termed having them bishop’d or christen’d.
CHUM, a fellow prisoner in a jail, hulk, &c.; so there are new chums and old chums, as they happen to have been a short or a long time in confinement.
CHURY, a knife.
CLEANED OUT, said of a gambler who has lost his last stake at play; also, of a flat who has been stript of all his money by a coalition of sharps.
CLOUT, a handkerchief of any kind.
CLOUTING, the practice of picking pockets exclusively of handkerchiefs.
CLY, a pocket.
CLY-FAKER, a pickpocket.
COACH-WHEEL, a dollar or crown-piece.
COME. A thief observing any article in a shop, or other situation, which he conceives may be easily purloined, will say to his accomplice, I think there is so and so to come.
COME IT, to divulge a secret; to tell any thing of one party to another; they say of a thief who has turned evidence against his accomplices, that he is coming all he knows, or that he comes it as strong as a horse.
COME TO THE HEATH, a phrase signifying to pay or give money, and synonymous with Tipping, from which word it takes its rise, there being a place called Tiptree Heath, I believe, in the County of Essex.
COME TO THE MARK, to abide strictly by any contract previously made; to perform your part manfully in any exploit or enterprise you engage in; or to offer me what I consider a fair price for any article in question.
CONCERNED. In using many cant words, the lovers of flash, by way of variation, adopt this term, for an illustration of which, see Bolt-in-Tun, Alderman Lushington, Mr. Palmer, &c.
CONK, the nose.
CONK, a thief who impeaches his accomplices; a spy; informer, or tell-tale. See Nose, and Wear it.
COVE, the master of a house or shop, is called the Cove; on other occasions, when joined to particular words, as a cross-cove, a flash-cove, a leary-cove, &c., it simply implies a man of those several descriptions; sometimes, in speaking of any third person, whose name you are either ignorant of, or don’t wish to mention, the word cove is adopted by way of emphasis, as may be seen under the word Awake.
COVER, to stand in such a situation as to obscure your Pall, who is committing a robbery, from the view of by-standers or persons passing, is called covering him. Any body whose dress or stature renders him particularly eligible for this purpose, is said to be a good cover.
COVESS, the mistress of a house or shop, and used on other occasions, in the same manner as Cove, when applied to a man.
CRAB, to prevent the perfection or execution of any intended matter or business, by saying any thing offensive or unpleasant, is called crabbing it, or throwing a crab; to crab a person, is to use such offensive language or behaviour as will highly displease, or put him in an ill humour.
CRAB’D, affronted; out of humour; sometimes called, being in Crab-street.
CRABSHELLS, shoes.
CRACK, to break open; the crack is the game of house-breaking; a crack is a breaking any house or building for the purpose of plunder.
CRACKSMAN, a house-breaker.
CRACK A WHID, to speak or utter: as, he crack’d some queer whids, he dropt some bad or ugly expressions: crack a whid for me, intercede, or put in a word for me.
CRACKER, a small loaf, served to prisoners in jails, for their daily subsistence.
CRAP, the gallows.
CRAP’D, hanged.
CRIB, a house, sometimes applied to shops, as, a thimble-crib, a watch-maker’s shop; a stocking-crib, a hosier’s, &c.
CROAK, to die.
CROOK, a sixpence.
CROSS, illegal or dishonest practices in general are called the cross, in opposition to the square. See Square. Any article which has been irregularly obtained, is said to have been got upon the cross, and is emphatically termed a cross article.
CROSS-COVE, or CROSS-MOLLISHER, a man or woman who lives upon the cross.
CROSS-CRIB, a house inhabited, or kept by family people. See Square-Crib.
CROSS-FAM, to cross-fam a person, is to pick his pocket, by crossing your arms in a particular position.
CUE. See Letter Q.
CUT THE LINE. See Line.
CUT THE STRING. See String.
CUT THE YARN. See Yarn.
CUTTING-GLOAK, a man famous for drawing a knife, and cutting any person he quarrels with.
DAB, a bed.
DAB IT UP, to dab it up with a woman, is to agree to cohabit with her.
DANCERS, stairs.
DANNA, human, or other excrement.
DANNA-DRAG, commonly pronounced dunnick-drag. See Knap a Jacob, &c.
DARBIES, fetters.
DARKY, night.
DARKY, a dark lanthorn.
DEATH-HUNTER, an undertaker.
DICKY, or DICK IN THE GREEN, very bad or paltry; any thing of an inferior quality, is said to be a dicky concern.
DIMMOCK, money.
DING, to throw, or throw away; particularly any article you have stolen, either because it is worthless, or that there is danger of immediate apprehension. To ding a person, is to drop his acquaintance totally; also to quit his company, or leave him for the time present; to ding to your pall, is to convey to him, privately, the property you have just stolen; and he who receives it is said to take ding, or to knap the ding.
DINGABLE, any thing considered worthless, or which you can well spare, having no further occasion for it, is declared to be dingable. This phrase is often applied by sharps to a flat whom they have cleaned out; and by abandoned women to a keeper, who having spent his all upon them, must be discarded, or ding’d as soon as possible.
DISPATCHES, false dice used by gamblers, so contrived as always to throw a nick.
DO, a term used by smashers; to do a queer half-quid, or a queer screen, is to utter a counterfeit half-guinea, or a forged bank-note.
DO IT AWAY, to fence or dispose of a stolen article beyond the reach of probable detection.
DO IT UP, to accomplish any object you have in view; to obtain any thing you were in quest of, is called doing it up for such a thing; a person who contrives by nob-work, or ingenuity, to live an easy life, and appears to improve daily in circumstances, is said to do it up in good twig.
DO THE TRICK, to accomplish any robbery, or other business successfully; a thief who has been fortunate enough to acquire an independence, and prudent enough to tie it up in time, is said by his former associates to have done the trick; on the other hand, a man who has imprudently involved himself in some great misfortune, from which there is little hope of his extrication is declared by his friends, with an air of commiseration, to have done the trick for himself; that is, his ruin or downfall is nearly certain.
DOBBIN, riband. See Cant.
DOLLOP, a dollop is a large quantity of any thing; the whole dollop means the total quantity.
DONE, convicted; as, he was done for a crack, he was convicted of house-breaking.
DORSE, a lodging; to dorse with a woman, signifies to sleep with her.
DOUBLE, to double a person, or tip him the Dublin packet, signifies either to run away from him openly, and elude his attempts to overtake you, or to give him the slip in the streets, or elsewhere, unperceived, commonly done to escape from an officer who has you in custody, or to turn up a flat of any kind, whom you have a wish to get rid of.
DOUBLE-SLANGS, double-irons.
DOWN, sometimes synonymous with awake, as, when the party you are about to rob, sees or suspects your intention, it is then said that the cove is down. A down is a suspicion, alarm, or discovery, which taking place, obliges yourself and palls to give up or desist from the business or depredation you were engaged in; to put a down upon a man, is to give information of any robbery or fraud he is about to perpetrate, so as to cause his failure or detection; to drop down to a person is to discover or be aware of his character or designs; to put a person down to any thing, is to apprize him of, elucidate, or explain it to him; to put a swell down, signifies to alarm or put a gentleman on his guard, when in the attempt to pick his pocket, you fail to effect it at once, and by having touched him a little too roughly, you cause him to suspect your design, and to use precautions accordingly; or perhaps, in the act of sounding him, by being too precipitate or incautious, his suspicions may have been excited, and it is then said that you have put him down. put him fly, or spoiled him. See Spoil it. To drop down upon yourself, is to become melancholy, or feel symptoms of remorse or compunction, on being committed to jail, cast for death, &c. To sink under misfortunes of any kind. A man who gives way to this weakness, is said to be down upon himself.
DOWN AS A HAMMER; DOWN AS A TRIPPET. These are merely emphatical phrases, used out of flash, to signify being down, leary, fly, or awake to any matter, meaning, or design.
DRAG, a cart. The drag, is the game of robbing carts, waggons, or carriages, either in town or country, of trunks, bale-goods, or any other property. Done for a drag, signifies convicted for a robbery of the before-mentioned nature.
DRAG-COVE, the driver of a cart.
DRAGSMAN, a thief who follows the game of dragging.
DRAKED, ducked; a discipline sometimes inflicted on pickpockets at fairs, races, &c.
DRAW, to draw a person, is to pick his pocket, and the act of so stealing a pocket-book, or handkerchief, is called drawing a reader, or clout. To obtain money or goods of a person by a false or plausible story, is called drawing him of so and so. To draw a kid, is to obtain his swag from him. See Kid-Rig.
DRIZ, lace, as sold on cards by the haberdashers, &c.
DROP, the game of ring-dropping is called the drop.
DROP, to give or present a person with money, as, he dropp’d me a quid, he gave me a guinea. A kid who delivers his bundle to a sharper without hesitation, or a shopkeeper who is easily duped of his goods by means of a forged order or false pretence, is said to drop the swag in good twig, meaning, to part with it freely.
DROP A WHID, to let fall a word, either inadvertently or designedly.
DROP-COVE, a sharp who practises the game of ring-dropping.
DROP DOWN. See Down.
DRUMMOND, any scheme or project considered to be infallible, or any event which is deemed inevitably certain, is declared to be a Drummond; meaning, it is as sure as the credit of that respectable banking-house, Drummond and Co.
DUB, a key.
DUB AT A KNAPPING-JIGGER, a collector of tolls at a turnpike-gate.
DUB-COVE, or DUBSMAN, a turnkey.
DUBLIN-PACKET. See Double.
DUB UP, to lock up or secure any thing or place; also to button one’s pocket, coat, &c.
DUCE. Twopence is called a duce.
DUDS, women’s apparel in general.
DUES. This term is sometimes used to express money, where any certain sum or payment is spoken of; a man asking for money due to him for any service done, or a blowen requiring her previous compliment from a family-man, would say, Come, tip us the dues. So a thief, requiring his share of booty from his palls, will desire them to bring the dues to light.
DUES. This word is often introduced by the lovers of flash on many occasions, but merely out of fancy, and can only be understood from the context of their discourse; like many other cant terms, it is not easily explained on paper: for example, speaking of a man likely to go to jail, one will say, there will be quodding dues concerned, of a man likely to be executed; there will be topping dues, if any thing is alluded to that will require a fee or bribe, there must be tipping dues, or palming dues concerned, &c.
DUMMY, a pocket-book; a silly half-witted person.
DUMMY-HUNTERS, thieves who confine themselves to the practice of stealing gentlemen’s pocket-books, and think, or profess to think, it paltry to touch a clout, or other insignificant article; this class of depredators traverse the principal streets of London, during the busy hours, and sometimes meet with valuable prizes.
DUNNICK, or DANNA-DRAG. See Knap a Jacob.
FADGE, a farthing.
FAKE, a word so variously used, that I can only illustrate it by a few examples. To fake any person or place, may signify to rob them; to fake a person, may also imply to shoot, wound, or cut; to fake a man out and out, is to kill him; a man who inflicts wounds upon, or otherwise disfigures, himself, for any sinister purpose, is said to have faked himself; if a man’s shoe happens to pinch, or gall his foot, from its being over-tight, he will complain that his shoe fakes his foot sadly; it also describes the doing any act, or the fabricating any thing, as, to fake your slangs, is to cut your irons in order to escape from custody; to fake your pin, is to create a sore leg, or to cut it, as if accidentally, with an axe, &c., in hopes to obtain a discharge from the army or navy, to get into the doctor’s list, &c.; to fake a screeve, is to write any letter, or other paper; to fake a screw, is to shape out a skeleton or false key, for the purpose of screwing a particular place; to fake a cly, is to pick a pocket; &c. &c. &c.
FAKE AWAY, THERE’S NO DOWN, an intimation from a thief to his pall, during the commission of a robbery, or other act, meaning, go on with your operations, there is no sign of any alarm or detection.
FAKEMAN-CHARLEY; FAKEMENT. As to fake signifies to do any act, or make any thing, so the fakement means the act or thing alluded to, and on which your discourse turns; consequently, any stranger unacquainted with your subject will not comprehend what is meant by the fakement; for instance, having recently been concerned with another in some robbery, and immediately separated, the latter taking the booty with him, on your next meeting you will inquire, what he has done with the fakement? meaning the article stolen, whether it was a pocket-book, piece of linen, or what not. Speaking of any stolen property which has a private mark, one will say, there is a fakeman-charley on it; a forgery which is well executed, is said to be a prime fakement; in a word, any thing is liable to be termed a fakement, or a fakeman-charley, provided the person you address knows to what you allude.
FAM, the hand.
FAM, to feel or handle.
FAMILY, thieves, sharpers and all others who get their living upon the cross, are comprehended under the title of “The Family.”
FAMILY-MAN, or WOMAN, any person known or recognised as belonging to the family; all such are termed family people.
FANCY, any article universally admired for its beauty, or which the owner sets particular store by, is termed a fancy article; as, a fancy clout, is a favourite handkerchief, &c.; so a woman who is the particular favourite of any man, is termed his fancy woman, and vice versâ.
FAWNEY, a finger-ring.
FAWNIED, or FAWNEY-FAM’D, having one or more rings on the finger.
FEEDER, a spoon.
FENCE, a receiver of stolen goods; to fence any property, is to sell it to a receiver or other person.
FIB, a stick. To fib is to beat with a stick; also to box.
FIBBING-GLOAK, a pugilist.
FIBBING-MATCH, a boxing match.
FILE, a person who has had a long course of experience in the arts of fraud, so as to have become an adept, is termed an old file upon the town; so it is usual to say of a man who is extremely cunning, and not to be over-reached, that he is a deep file. File, in the old version of cant, signified a pickpocket, but the term is now obsolete.
FINGER-SMITH, a midwife.
FI’PENNY, a clasp-knife.
FLASH, the cant language used by the family. To speak good flash is to be well versed in cant terms.
FLASH, a person who affects any peculiar habit, as swearing, dressing in a particular manner, taking snuff, &c., merely to be taken notice of, is said to do it out of flash.
FLASH, to be flash to any matter or meaning, is to understand or comprehend it, and is synonymous with being fly, down, or awake; to put a person flash to any thing, is to put him on his guard, to explain or inform him of what he was before unacquainted with.
FLASH, to shew or expose any thing; as I flash’d him a bean, I shewed him a guinea. Don’t flash your sticks, don’t expose your pistols, &c.
FLASH-COVE, or COVESS, the landlord or landlady of a flash-ken.
FLASH-CRIB, FLASH-KEN, or FLASH-PANNY, a public-house resorted to chiefly by family people, the master of which is commonly an old prig, and not unfrequently an old-lag.
FLASH-MAN, a favourite or fancy-man; but this term is generally applied to those dissolute characters upon the town, who subsist upon the liberality of unfortunate women; and who, in return, are generally at hand during their nocturnal perambulations, to protect them should any brawl occur, or should they be detected in robbing those whom they have picked up.
FLASH-MOLLISHER, a family-woman.
FLASH-SONG, a song interlarded with flash words, generally relating to the exploits of the prigging fraternity in their various branches of depredation.
FLESH-BAG, a shirt.
FLAT. In a general sense, any honest man, or square cove, in opposition to a sharp or cross-cove; when used particularly, means the person whom you have a design to rob or defraud, who is termed the flat, or the flatty-gory. A man who does any foolish or imprudent act, is called a flat; any person who is found an easy dupe to the designs of the family, is said to be a prime flat. It’s a good flat that’s never down, is a proverb among flash people; meaning, that though a man may be repeatedly duped or taken in, he must in the end have his eyes opened to his folly.
FLAT-MOVE. Any attempt or project that miscarries, or any act of folly or mismanagement in human affairs is said to be a flat move.
FLATS, a cant name for playing-cards.
FLIP, to shoot.
FLOOR, to knock down any one, either for the purpose of robbery, or to effect your escape, is termed flooring him.
FLOOR’D, a person who is so drunk, as to be incapable of standing, is said to be floor’d.
FLUE-FAKER, a chimney-sweeper.
FLY, vigilant; suspicious; cunning; not easily robbed or duped; a shopkeeper or person of this description, is called a fly cove, or a leary cove; on other occasions fly is synonymous with flash or leary, as, I’m fly to you, I was put flash to him, &c.
FLY THE MAGS, to gamble, by tossing up halfpence.
FOGLE, a silk-handkerchief.
FORKS, the two fore-fingers of the hand; to put your forks down, is to pick a pocket.
FOSS, or PHOS, a phosphorus bottle used by cracksmen to obtain a light.
FRISK, to search; to frisk a cly, is to empty a pocket of its contents; to stand frisk, is to stand search.
FRISK, fun or mirth of any kind.
GAFF, to gamble with cards, dice, &c., or to toss up.
GAFF, a country fair; also a meeting of gamblers for the purpose of play; any public place of amusement is liable to be called the gaff, when spoken of in flash company who know to what it alludes.
GALANEY, a fowl.
GALLOOT, a soldier.
GAME, every particular branch of depredation practised by the family, is called a game; as, what game do you go upon? One species of robbery or fraud is said to be a good game, another a queer game, &c.
GAMMON, flattery; deceit; pretence; plausible language; any assertion which is not strictly true, or professions believed to be insincere, as, I believe you’re gammoning, or, that’s all gammon, meaning, you are no doubt jesting with me, or, that’s all a farce. To gammon a person, is to amuse him with false assurances, to praise, or flatter him, in order to obtain some particular end; to gammon a man to any act, is to persuade him to it by artful language, or pretence; to gammon a shopkeeper, &c., is to engage his attention to your discourse, while your accomplice is executing some preconcerted plan of depredation upon his property; a thief detected in a house which he has entered, upon the sneak, for the purpose of robbing it, will endeavour by some gammoning story to account for his intrusion, and to get off with a good grace; a man who is, ready at invention, and has always a flow of plausible language on these occasions, is said to be prime gammoner; to gammon lushy or queer, is to pretend drunkenness, or sickness, for some private end.
GAMMON THE TWELVE, a man who has been tried by a criminal court, and by a plausible defence, has induced the jury to acquit him, or to banish the capital part of the charge, and so save his life, is said, by his associates to have gammoned the twelve in prime twig, alluding to the number of jurymen.
GAMS, the legs, to have queer gams, is to be bandy-legged, or otherwise deformed.
GARNISH, a small sum of money exacted from a new chum on his entering a jail, by his fellow-prisoners, which affords them a treat of beer, gin, &c.
GARDEN, to put a person in the garden, in the hole, in the bucket, or in the well, are synonymous phrases, signifying to defraud him of his due share of the booty by embezzling a part of the property, or the money, it is fenced for; this phrase also applies generally to defrauding any one with whom you are confidentially connected of what is justly his due.
GARRET, the fob-pocket.
GEORGY, a quartern-loaf.
GILL, a word used by way of variation, similar to cove, gloak, or gory; but generally coupled to some other descriptive term, as a flash-gill, a toby-gill, &c.
GIVE IT TO, to rob or defraud any place or person, as, I gave it to him for his reader, I robb’d him of his pocket-book. What suit did you give it them upon? In what manner, or by what means, did you effect your purpose? Also, to impose upon a person’s credulity by telling him a string of falsehoods; or to take any unfair advantage of another’s inadvertence or unsuspecting temper, on any occasion; in either case, the party at last dropping down, that is, detecting your imposition, will say, I believe you have been giving it to me nicely all this while.
GLAZE, a glass-window.
GLIM, a candle, or other light.
GLIM-STICK, a candlestick.
GLOAK, synonymous with Gill, which see.
GNARL, to gnarl upon a person, is the same as splitting or nosing upon him; a man guilty of this treachery is called a gnarling scoundrel, &c.
GO-ALONGER, a simple easy person, who suffers himself to be made a tool of, and is readily persuaded to any act or undertaking by his associates, who inwardly laugh at his folly, and ridicule him behind his back.
GO OUT, to follow the profession of thieving; two or more persons who usually rob in company, are said to go out together.
GOOD, a place or person, which promises to be easily robbed, is said to be good, as, that house is good upon the crack; this shop is good upon the star; the swell is good for his montra; &c. A man who declares himself good for any favour or thing, means, that he has sufficient influence, or possesses the certain means to obtain it; good as bread, or good as cheese, are merely emphatical phrases to the same effect. See Caz.
GORY, a term synonymous with cove, gill, or gloak, and like them, commonly used in the descriptive. See Flat and Swell.
GRAB, to seize; apprehend; take in custody; to make a grab at any thing, is to snatch suddenly, as at a gentleman’s watch-chain, &c.
GRAB’D, taken, apprehended.
GRAY, a halfpenny, or other coin, having two heads or two tails, and fabricated for the use of gamblers, who, by such a deception, frequently win large sums.
GROCERY, halfpence, or copper coin, in a collective sense.
GRUB, victuals of any kind; to grub a person, is to diet him, or find him in victuals; to grub well, is to eat with an appetite.
GUN, a view; look; observation; or taking notice; as, there is a strong gun at us, means, we are strictly observed. To gun anything, is to look at or examine it.
HADDOCK, a purse; a haddack stuff’d with beans, is a jocular term for a purse full of guineas!
HALF A BEAN, HALF A QUID, half-a-guinea.
HALF A BULL, half-a-crown.
HALF-FLASH AND HALF-FOOLISH, this character is applied sarcastically to a person, who has a smattering of the cant language, and having associated a little with family people, pretends to a knowledge of life which he really does not possess, and by this conduct becomes an object of ridicule among his acquaintance.
HAMMERISH, down as a hammer.
HANG IT ON, purposely to delay or protract the performance of any task or service you have undertaken, by dallying, and making as slow a progress as possible, either from natural indolence, or to answer some private end of your own. To hang it on with a woman, is to form a temporary connexion with her; to cohabit or keep company with her without marriage.
HANK, a bull-bait, or bullock-hunt.
HANK, to have a person at a good hank, is to have made any contract with him very advantageous to yourself; or to be able from some prior cause to command or use him just as you please; to have the benefit of his purse or other services, in fact, upon your own terms.
HANK, a spell or cessation from any work or duty, on the score of indisposition, or some other pretence.
HIGH-TOBY, the game of highway robbery, that is, exclusively on horseback.
HIGH-TOBY-GLOAK, a highwayman.
HIS-NABS, him, or himself; a term used by way of emphasis, when speaking of a third person.
HOBBLED, taken up, or in custody; to hobble a plant, is to spring it. See Plant.
HOG, a shilling; five, ten, or more shillings, are called five, ten, or more hog.
HOIST, the game of shop-lifting is called the hoist; a person expert at this practice is said to be a good hoist.
HOLE. See Garden.
HOPPER-DOCKERS, shoes.
HORNEY, a constable.
HOXTER, an inside coat-pocket.
IN IT, to let another partake of any benefit or acquisition you have acquired by robbery or otherwise, is called putting him in it: a family-man who is accidentally witness to a robbery, &c., effected by one or more others, will say to the latter, Mind, I’m in it; which is generally acceded to, being the established custom; but there seems more of courtesy than right in this practice.
IN TOWN, flush of money; breeched.
JACOB, a ladder; a simple half-witted person.
JACK, a post-chaise.
JACK-BOY, a postillion.
JACKET, to jacket a person, or clap a jacket on him, is nearly synonymous with bridging him. See Bridge. But this term is more properly applied to removing a man by underhand and vile means from any birth or situation he enjoys, commonly with a view to supplant him; therefore, when a person, is supposed to have fallen a victim to such infamous machinations, it is said to have been a jacketting concern.
JASEY, a wig.
JEMMY, or JAMES, an iron-crow.
JERRY, a fog or mist.
JERVIS, a coachman.
JERVIS’S UPPER BENJAMIN, a box, or coachman’s great coat.
JIGGER, a door.
JOB, any concerted robbery, which is to be executed at a certain time, is spoken of by the parties as the job, or having a job to do at such a place; and in this case as regular preparations are made, and as great debates held, as about any legal business undertaken by the industrious part of the community.
JOGUE, a shilling; five jogue is five shillings, and so on, to any other number.
JOSKIN, a country-bumbkin.
JUDGE, a family-man, whose talents and experience have rendered him a complete adept in his profession, and who acts with a systematic prudence on all occasions, is allowed to be, and called by his friends, a fine judge.
JUDGEMENT, prudence; economy in acting; abilities, (the result of long experience,) for executing the most intricate and hazardous projects; any thing accomplished in a masterly manner, is, therefore, said to have been done with judgement; on concerting or planning any operations, one party will say, I think it would be judgement to do so and so, meaning expedient to do it.
JUDY, a blowen; but sometimes used when speaking familiarly of any woman.
JUGELOW, a dog.
JUMP, a window on the ground-floor.
JUMP, a game, or species of robbery effected by getting into a house through any of the lower windows. To jump a place, is to rob it upon the jump. A man convicted for this offence, is said to be done for a jump.
KELP, a hat; to kelp a person, is to move your hat to him.
KEMESA, a shirt.
KEN, a house; often joined to other descriptive terms, as, flash-ken, a bawdy-ken, &c.
KENT, a coloured pocket-handkerchief of cotton or linen.
KICK, a sixpence, when speaking of compound sums only, as, three and a kick, is three and sixpence, &c.
KICKSEYS, breeches; speaking of a purse, &c., taken from the breeches pocket, they say, it was got from the kickseys, there being no cant term for the breeches pocket. To turn out a man’s kickseys, means to pick the pockets of them, in which operation it is necessary to turn those pockets inside out, in order to get at the contents.
KID, a child of either sex, but particularly applied to a boy who commences thief at an early age; and when by his dexterity he has become famous, he is called by his acquaintances the kid so and so, mentioning his sirname.
KIDDY, a thief of the lower order, who, when he is breeched, by a course of successful depredation, dresses in the extreme of vulgar gentility, and affects a knowingness in his air and conversation, which renders him in reality an object of ridicule; such a one is pronounced by his associates of the same class, a flash-kiddy, or a rolling-kiddy. My kiddy is a familiar term used by these gentry in addressing each other.
KID-RIG, meeting a child in the streets who is going on some errand, and by a false, but well fabricated story, obtaining any parcel or goods it may be carrying; this game is practised by two persons, who have each their respective parts to play, and even porters and other grown persons are sometimes defrauded of their load by this artifice. To kid a person out of any thing, is to obtain it from him by means of a false pretence, as that you were sent by a third person, &c., such impositions are all generally termed the kid-rig.
KINCHEN, a young lad.
KIRK, a church or chapel.
KNAP, to steal; take; receive; accept; according to the sense it is used in; as, to knap a clout, is to steal a pocket-handkerchief; to knap the swag from your pall, is to take from him the property he has just stolen, for the purpose of carrying it; to knap seven or fourteen pen’worth, is to receive sentence of transportation for seven or fourteen years; to knap the glim, is to catch the venereal disease; in making a bargain, to knap the sum offered you, is to accept it; speaking of a woman supposed to be pregnant, it is common to say, I believe Mr. Knap is concerned, meaning that she has knap’d.
KNAPPING A JACOB FROM A DANNA-DRAG. This is a curious species of robbery, or rather borrowing without leave, for the purpose of robbery; it signifies taking away the short ladder from a nightman’s cart, while the men are gone into a house, the privy of which they are employed emptying, in order to effect an ascent to a one-pair-of-stairs window, to scale a garden-wall, &c., after which the ladder, of course, is left to rejoin its master as it.
KNIFE IT. See Cheese it.
KNUCK, KNUCKLER, or KNUCKLING-COVE, a pickpocket, or person professed in the knuckling art.
KNUCKLE, to pick pockets, but chiefly applied to the more refined branch of that art, namely, extracting notes, loose cash, &c., from the waistcoat or breeches pockets, whereas buzzing is used in a more general sense. See Buz.
LAG, to transport for seven years or upwards.
LAG, a convict under sentence of transportation.
LAG, to make water. To lag spirits, wine, &c., is to adulterate them with water.
LAGGER, a sailor.
LAGGING-DUES, speaking of a person likely to be transported, they say lagging dues will be concerned.
LAGGING MATTER, any species of crime for which a person is liable on conviction to be transported.
LAG SHIP, a transport chartered by Government for the conveyance of convicts to New South Wales; also, a hulk, or floating prison, in which, to the disgrace of humanity, many hundreds of these unhappy persons are confined, and suffer every complication of human misery.
LAMPS, the eyes; to have queer lamps, is to have sore or weak eyes.
LARK, fun or sport of any kind, to create which is termed knocking up a lark.
LAWN, a white cambric handkerchief.
LEARY, synonymous with fly.
LEARY-COVE. See Fly.
LEATHER-LANE, any thing paltry, or of a bad quality, is called a Leather-lane concern.
LETTER Q, the mace, or billiard-slum, is sometimes called going upon the Q, or the letter Q, alluding to an instrument used in playing billiards.
LETTER-RACKET, going about to respectable houses with a letter or statement, detailing some case of extreme distress, as shipwreck, sufferings by fire, &c.; by which many benevolent, but credulous, persons, are induced to relieve the fictitious wants of the impostors, who are generally men, or women, of genteel address, and unfold a plausible tale of affliction.
LEVANTING, or RUNNING A LEVANT, an expedient practised by broken gamesters to retrieve themselves, and signifies to bet money at a race, cock-match, &c., without a shilling in their pocket to answer the event. The punishment for this conduct in a public cockpit is rather curious; the offender is placed in a large basket, kept on purpose, which is then hoisted up to the ceiling or roof of the building, and the party is there kept suspended, and exposed to derision during the pleasure of the company.
LIFE, by this term is meant the various cheats and deceptions practised by the designing part of mankind; a person well versed in this kind of knowledge, is said to be one that knows life; in other words, that knows the world. This is what Goldsmith defines to be a knowledge of human nature on the wrong side.
LIGHT, to inform of any robbery, &c., which has been some time executed and concealed, is termed bringing the affair to light; to produce any thing to view, or to give up any stolen property for the sake of a reward, to quash a prosecution, is also called bringing it to light. A thief, urging his associates to a division of any booty they have lately made, will desire them to bring the swag to light.
LILL, a pocket-book.
LINE, to get a person in a line, or in a string, is to engage them in a conversation, while your confederate is robbing their person or premises; to banter or jest with a man by amusing him with false assurances or professions, is also termed stringing him, or getting him in tow; to keep any body in suspense on any subject without coming to a decision, is called keeping him in tow, in a string, or in a tow-line. To cut the line, or the string, is to put an end to the suspense in which you have kept any one, by telling him the plain truth, coming to a final decision, &c. A person, who has been telling another a long story, until he is tired, or conceives his auditor has been all the while secretly laughing at him, will say at last, I’ve just dropped down, you’ve had me in a fine string, I think it’s time to cut it. On the other hand, the auditor, having the same opinion on his part, would say, Come, I believe you want to string me all night, I wish you’d cut it; meaning, conclude the story at once.
LOB, a till, or money-drawer. To have made a good lob, is synonymous with making a good speak.
LOCK-UP-CHOVEY, a covered cart, in which travelling hawkers convey their goods about the country, and which is secured by a door, lock, and key.
LODGING-SLUM, the practice of hiring ready-furnished lodgings, and stripping them of the plate, linen, and other valuables.
LOOK AT A PLACE, when a plan is laid for robbing a house, &c., upon the crack, or the screw, the parties will go a short time before the execution, to examine the premises, and make any necessary observations; this is called looking at the place.
LOUR, money.
LUMBER, a room.
LUMBER, to lumber any property, is to deposit it at a pawnbroker’s, or elsewhere for present security; to retire to any house or private place, for a short time, is called lumbering yourself. A man apprehended, and sent to gaol, is said to be lumbered, to be in lumber, or to be in Lombard-street.
LUSH, to drink; speaking of a person who is drunk, they say, Alderman Lushington is concerned, or, he has been voting for the Alderman.
LUSH, beer or liquor of any kind.
LUSH-CRIB, or LUSH-KEN, a public-house, or gin-shop.
LUSH, or LUSHY, drunk, intoxicated.
LUSHY-COVE, a drunken man.