Slang and its analogues past and present, volume III (of 7)

Gone, adj. (colloquial).—1. Ruined; totally undone. Also, adv., an expression of completeness, e.g., Gone beaver, corbie, coon, gander, or goose = a man or an event past praying for: Cf., Go up and Go down.

1604. Shakspeare, Winter’s Tale, iv., 3. He must know ’tis none of your daughter nor my sister; we are gone else. [176]

1843–4. Haliburton, Sam Slick in England, ch. xviii. If a bear comes after you, Sam, you must be up and doin’, or it’s a gone goose with you.

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 40. From that moment he was gone beaver; he felt queer, he said, all over.

1857. Notes and Queries, 2 S. iii., 519. To call a person a gone corbie, is only to say in other words, it’s all up with him.

1862. Clough, Poems. He had been into the schools; plucked almost; all but a gone-coon.

1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, I., 178. I shall meet her again next week; will you come? Any friend of mine is welcome. Wish me joy, old fellow; I’m a gone coon.

Gone on, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Enamoured of; infatuated with; mashed on (q.v.); sweet on (q.v.). Generally in contempt. Fr., aimer comme ses petits boyaux. For synonyms, see Sweet on.

1887. John Strange Winter, That Imp, p. 44. He was a fine fellow, and no mistake. And was gone on Lady Lorrimor!

1890. Illustrated Bits, 29 Mar. p. 10, c. 3. He must have been terribly gone on this woman.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 113. ‘Poor chap, he’s very far gone,’ thought Jack.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 31. I’ll eat my old boots if she isn’t dead gone on.

Goner, (or Gones, Gonus, or Goney), subs. (American).—1. A fool; a simpleton. Also Gauney (q.v.). For synonyms, see Buffle or Cabbage-head.

1857. Punch, 31 Jan. But the lark’s when a goney up with us they shut, As ain’t up to our lurks, our flash patter, and smut.

1860. Haliburton, Sam Slick, ‘The Season Ticket,’ No. X. ‘It’s only grief, Nabby dear, my heart is broke.’ ‘Is that all, you goney?’ says she, ‘it’s lucky your precious neck ain’t broke.’

a. 1871. The Dartmouth, vol. iv. One day I heard a Senior call a fellow a gonus. ‘Gonus,’ echoed I, ‘what does that mean?’ ‘Oh,’ said he, ‘you’re a Freshman, and don’t understand. A stupid fellow, a dolt, a boot-jack, an ignoramus, is here called a gonus. All Freshmen,’ he continued gravely, ‘are gonuses.’

2. (colloquial).—A person past recovery, utterly ruined, or done for in any way.

1876. S. L. Clemens (Mark Twain), Tom Sawyer, p. 99. ‘Yes, but she ain’t dead; and, what’s more, she’s getting better too.’ ‘All right, you wait and see. She’s a goner, just as dead sure as Muff Potter’s a goner.’

1888. Cincinnati Enquirer. Fortunately, she did not see me, or else I should have been a goner.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 261. ‘Make a noise or follow me, and you’re a goner,’ said Smirk.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 212. A few more of her meddlings and she’s a goner, that’s what she is.

Gong (or Gong-house), subs. (old).—A privy. For synonyms, see Mrs. Jones.

1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales. ‘The Parsons Tale’ [Riverside Ed. (1880)], ii., 241. Thise fool wommen, that mowe be likned to a commune gong, whereas men purgen hire ordure.

Gong-farmer (or Gong-man), subs. (old).—An emptier of cesspools; a gold-finder (q.v.).

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Curadestri, a iakes, goong, or doong farmer.

Gonof (or Gonnof or Gonoph or Gnof), subs. (thieves’).—1. A thief; specifically a pick-pocket, and especially an adept. [From the Hebrew. Ancient English; a legacy from the old time Jews. It came into use again with the moderns who employ it commonly. Cf., gonov = thief in Ex. xxii, 2 and 6, viz., ‘if the gonov be found.’] See Thieves.

1857. Dickens, On Duty with Inspector Field, in ‘Reprinted Pieces’ p. 256. If the smallest gonoph about town were crouching at the bottom of a classic bath Inspector Field would nose him. [177]

1849. Morning Chronicle, 2 Nov. A burglar would not condescend to sit among pickpockets. My informant has known a housebreaker to say with a sneer, when requested to sit down with the gonoffs, ‘No, no, I may be a thief, but at least I’m a respectable one.’

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. III., p. 325. The gonaff (a Hebrew word signifying a young thief, probably learnt from the Jew ‘fences’ in the neighbourhood).

1852. Judson, Myst., etc., of New York, ch. vii. He next assumed his present profession, and became a gnof or pickpocket.

1876. Hindley, Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 146. Oh, you tief! you cheat! you gonnof!

1889. C. T. Clarkson and J. Hall Richardson, Police, p. 321. Boys who creep into houses.… Young gunneffs or gonophs.

1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, 3187–8. Whilom there was, dwelling in Oxenforde, A rich gnof, that gertes helde to borde.

c. 1547. Song (quoted by Hotten). The country gnoffes, Hob, Dick, and Hick, With clubbes and clouted shoon, Shall fill up Dussin Dale With slaughtered bodies soone.

Gonophing, subs. (thieves’).—Picking pockets.

1857. Dickens, The Detective Police, in ‘Reprinted Pieces,’ p. 240. From the swell mob, we diverge to the kindred topics of cracksmen, fences … designing young people who go out gonophing, and other ‘schools.’

Gooby, subs. (common).—A simpleton; a blockhead. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1892. Ally Sloper, 19 Mar., p. 90, c. 3. Why, you old gooby, Mister Sloper will pay us twice as much for the ducks.

Good! subs. (printers’).—An abbreviation of ‘Good Night!’

Adj. (colloquial).—Responsible; solvent; principally now with ‘for’; e.g., He is good for any amount. Also, expert.

1598. Shakspeare, Merchant of Venice, i., 3. Antonio is a good man: my meaning in saying that he is a good man, is to have you understand me that he is sufficient.

1824. Reynolds, Peter Corcoran, 91 Good with both hands and only ten stone four.

Good goods, in. pl., subs. phr. (sporting).—Something worth trying for; a success. In the superlative, ‘best’ goods.

1886. Sporting Times, 17 July, 1/4. He was a nice young man for a small tea party, And rather good goods at a Sunday-school treat.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 39. There’s Warner in ‘Drink’; now, that’s business, good goods and no error.

Bit (or Piece) of Goods, subs. phr. (common).—A woman. For synonyms, see Petticoat.

Good old … adj. phr. (popular).—A familiar address, derisive or affectionate according to circumstances. See quots.

1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 16 Sept., p. 6, c. 1. It was Mephisto’s greeting to Mary Anne—in Marguerite’s garden—‘Good old Mary Anne!’!!!

Ibid. The famous medico craned his neck out of the window, and, sniffing in the smoke, cried, good old London. This is a true story.

Ibid., 17 Sept. Mr. Chirgwin … rouses mirth by … exclaiming good old spot! as he discloses the large white ace of diamonds painted over his right optic. [178]

1892. Chevalier ‘The Little Nipper.’ ’E calls ’is mother ‘Sally,’ And ’is father ‘good old pally,’ And ’e only stands about so ’igh, that’s all!

To feel good, verb. phr. (American).—To be jolly; comfortable; ‘in form’; to be on perfect terms with oneself.

1887. Proctor [in Knowledge, 1 Dec., p. 29]. A friend of mine tells me a proposition was once invitingly made to him which, to say the least, involved no virtuous self-abnegation, and he was urged to accept it by the plea that it would make him feel good.

1888. Texas Siftings, 15 Sept. The saloons are going Saturday afternoon, and the men feel pretty good before they come abroad.

To be in one’s good books, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be in favour; in good opinion. Conversely, To be in one’s bad books = To be in disfavour. See Book.

Good at it (or at the Game), adj. phr. (venery).—An expert bedfellow, male or female.

For good (or For good and all), adv. phr. (colloquial).—Completely; entirely; finally.

1673. Wycherley, Gent. Danc. Master, ii., in wks. (1713), 276. If I went, I would go for good and all.

1693. Congreve, Old Batchelor, Act i., Sc. 3. Sharp. Faith, e’en give her over for good and all: you can have no hopes of getting her for a Mistress.

1875. Ouida, Signa, vol. II., ch. v., p. 66. So the child went up to the hills with Bruno, and stayed there for good and all.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., ii., 260. And she is as good for the game as e’er pissed.

Good cess, subs. phr. (Irish).—Good luck. (Probably an abbreviation of ‘success.’) Bad Cess = the reverse.

1845. Buckstone, Green Bushes, i., 1. All. Bravo, Paddy! Good cess to ye, Paddy! Hurrah!

Goodfellow (or Good Boy, or Good Man), subs. (old).—1. A roysterer; a boon companion.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Good Fellow, a Pot companion or Friend of the Bottle.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. A word of various imports, according to the place where it is spoken; in the city it means a rich man; at Hockley in the Hole, or St. Giles’s, an expert boxer; at a bagnio in Covent Garden, a vigorous fornicator; at an alehouse or tavern, one who loves his pot or bottle: and sometimes, though but rarely, a virtuous man.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xvii. Rattling Reginald Lowestoffe of the Temple—I know him; he is a good boy.

1608. Middleton, Trick to Catch the Old One, ii., 1. Luc. Welcome, good fellow. Host. He calls me thief at first sight. [Footnote in ‘Mermaid Series’ Ed. Good fellow was then the cant term for a thief.] [179]

1870. Evening Standard, 11 Feb. ‘Police Report.’ Police detective said that he believed the two prisoners were good men. In reply to the magistrate he explained that he meant they were old thieves.

Good Girl (or Good One), adj. phr. (old).—A wanton.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie. Gaultière—A whore, punke, drab, queane, gill, flirt, strumpet, cockatrice, mad wench, common hackney, good one.

Goodman, subs. (old).—1. A gaoler; a dubsman (q.v.).

1721–2. Woodrow, History, ii., 636. The goodman of the Tolbooth came to him in his chamber, and told him he might save his life, if he would sign the petition.

Goodman-turd, subs. (old).—A contemptible fellow; a bad-egg (q.v.).

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes. Dometa, an old worde for a shitten fellow, or goodman-turde.

Good Night! intj. phr. (general).—A retort to an incredible statement or a delightful piece of news. See Carry me out!

Good-people, subs. (old colloquial).—The fairies.

1828. G. Griffin, Collegians, ch. v. An nothin’ shows itself now by night, neither spirits nor good people.

1848. Forster, Oliver Goldsmith, bk. I., ch. 1, p. 8 (5th ed.). A small old parsonage house (supposed afterwards to be haunted by the fairies, or good people of the district).

1891. R. L. Stevenson, Kidnapped, p. 168. ‘Did ever ye hear tell of the story of the Man and the Good People?’—by which he meant the fairies.

Good (or Good Old) Sort, subs. phr. (popular).—A man of social and other parts.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 149. Had we not better make a clean breast of it, and trust to his generosity; he seems a good sort?

Good Thing, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Something worth having or backing; a bon mot; good goods (q.v.). In racing a presumed cert (q.v.).

1884. Saturday Review, 2 Aug., p. 147, c. 2. The Goodwood Stakes was considered a good thing for Florence, who has proved herself to be an extraordinary mare.

1888. Sporting Life, 10 Dec. In a field of four, Livingstone, who was voted a good thing, was served up a warm favourite.

1891. Daily Telegraph, 21 Mar. It had been generally anticipated that this was a good thing for Oxford.

1892. Ally Sloper, 19 Mar., p. 90, c. 3. That them as trades in rags and bones Makes more than them as writes good things.

Good Time, subs. phr. (old).—A carouse; a friendly gathering; an enjoyable bout at anything.

To have a good time, verb. phr. (old).—To be fortunate or lucky; to enjoy oneself; to make merry. See Cocum.

1596. Jonson, Every Man in His Humour, i., 2. As not ten housewives pewter, again a good time, shews more bright to the world than he! [= some festival, ‘when housewives are careful to set out their furniture to the best advantage.’—Note by Whalley, given in Cunningham’s Gifford’s Jonson (1870)].

1863. A. Trollope, Rachel Ray, ii., 6., 109. Eating cake and drinking currant wine, but not having, on the whole, what our American friends call a good time of it.

1864. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. xxxviii. And what have you been doing? Had a good time?

1883. Bret Harte, In the Carquinez Woods, ch. ix. But we must keep it dark until after I marry Nellie, don’t you see. Then we’ll have a good time all round, and I’ll stand the drinks. [180]

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 14. My idea of man’s chief end was to enrich the world with things of beauty, and have a fairly good time myself while doing so.

Good ’un, subs. phr. (colloquial).—1. A man, woman, or thing of decided and undoubted merit. Cf., Good-girl.

1828–45. T. Hood, Poems, vi., p. 254 [ed. 1846]. A good ’un to look at but bad to go.

1854. Martin and Aytoun, Bon Gaultier Ballads. ‘The Dirge of a Drinker.’ Like a good ’un as he is.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 160. He’s a real good un, and when his party plank the stuff down it’s generally a moral.

2. (colloquial).—An expression of derisive unbelief: e.g., a lie. See Whopper.

Good-wooled, adj. phr. (American).—Of unflinching courage; of the greatest merit; thoroughly dependable.

Goody, subs. (popular).—1. A matron: the correllative of goodman = husband. (Used like auntie, and mother, and gammer, in addressing or describing an inferior.) (A corruption of good-wife).

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Mona, … Also a nickname for women as we say gammer, goodie, goodwife, such a one.

1689. Accts. of the Churchwardens of Sprowston. Paid goody Crabbin for washing the surplis and church powrch, 1s. 3d.

d. 1732. Gay. Swarm’d on a rotten stick the bees I spy’d Which erst I saw when goody Dopon dy’d.

d. 1745. Swift. Plain goody would no longer down: ’Twas Madam in her grogram gown.

1802. Bloomfield, Rural Tales, ‘Richard and Kate.’ Come, Goody, stop your humdrum wheel.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, ‘The Witches’ Frolic.’ Old Goody Price, Had got something nice.

1663. Butler, Hudibras, pt. 1, c. 3. The more shame for her goodyship, To give so near a friend the slip.

2. (colloquial).—A religious hypocrite, male or female; the ‘unco guid’ of Burns.

1836. Kidd, London Ambulator, p. 14. Clapham is celebrated for goodies—ladies of a certain age, who not having succeeded in finessing for husbands, betake themselves to a religious life as a dernier resort.

1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 23 Nov., p. 3., c. 1. The Christmas tale of adventure … has perhaps cast off its element of goody-goodyism, but the general features and cast are as of old.

1853. Mayhew, Letters Left at a Pastrycook’s. Propped up on each side with bags of oranges, cakes, and goodies.

1855. H. A. Murray, Lands of the Slave and the Free, ch. xii. Adjourning from time to time to some café for the purpose of eating ices or sucking goodies.

Adj. (colloquial).—Well-meaning but petty; officiously pious. Also goody-goody.

1864. D. W. Thompson, Daydreams of a Schoolmaster, p. 230. I would rather they were not too good; or goody. Let us have a little naughtiness, sprinkled in at intervals.

1892. S. Watson, Wops the Waif, p. 7. He knew well enough the whole of this enterprise had sprung from a goody-goody idea of ‘doing something,’ born of impulse and whim.

Goodyear, subs. (old).—The pox. (A corruption of gougeer, from gouge = a soldier’s trull). For synonyms, see Ladies’ Fever.

Gook, subs. (American).—A low prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack Hack and Tart.

Goose, subs. (common).—1. A tailor’s smoothing iron. (Whose handle is shaped like the neck of the bird.) Hence the old ditton, ‘A taylor be he ever so poor is sure to have a goose at his fire.’—Grose. Fr., un gendarme.

1606. Shakspeare, Macbeth, ii., 3. Come in, taylor; here you may roast your goose.

1606. Dekker, Newes from Hell, in Wks. (Grosart) ii., 114. Every man being armed with his sheeres and pressing Iron, which he calls there his goose.

1638. Randolph, Hey for Honesty. … Tailor. Oh! it is an age that, like the Ostrich, makes me feed on my own goose.

1703. Ward, London Spy, pt. xii., p. 276. He grew as hot as a Botcher’s goose.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Goose (s.) … also the large, heavy iron used by taylors, to press down their seams with when heated very hot.

1766. Kenrick, Falstaff’s Wedding, iii., 1. Although they had been hissing all the way like a tailor’s goose.

1861. Sala, Twice Round the Clock, Noon, Par. 12. An Irish tailor who has had a slight dispute with his wife the night before, and has corporeally chastised her with a hot goose—a tailor’s goose, be it understood—to the extent of all but fracturing her skull.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. ii., p. 89. On the return of the warders from their own breakfast, the tools—scissors, sleeve-boards, irons, or geese—are served out.

1591. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, ii., 4. Mercutio. Was I there with you for the goose? Rom. Thou wast never with me that thou wast not for the goose.

1865. G. F. Berkeley, My Life etc., i., 276. On the adventure reaching the ears of the Duke of Wellington, the active experimentalist received considerable goose.

Verb. (common).—1. To hiss; to condemn by hissing. Also to get the goose or the big bird (q.v.). Among Fr. equivalents are: appeler or siffler Azor (= to whistle a dog, Azor being a common canine appellation); boire une goutte (= to be goosed); attrapper; reconduire; se faire travailler; empoigner; éreinter; polisonner; égayer.

1854. Dickens, Hard Times, ch. vi. He was goosed last night, he was goosed the night before last, he was goosed to-day.

1858. Dickens, Xmas Stories (Going into Soc.), p. 67 (House. Ed.). Which makes you grind your teeth at him to his face, and which can hardly hold you from goosing him audible when he’s going through his War-Dance.

1873. Hornet, 29 Jan., p. 211, c. 2. Ferdin. Fact! My soul is sick on’t. Goosed last night; My salary docked.

1875. T. Frost, Circus Life, p. 281. An artiste is goosed, or gets the goose, when the spectators or auditors testify by sibillant sounds disapproval or dissatisfaction.

1886. Graphic, 10 Apr., p. 399. To be goosed, or, as it is sometimes phrased, ‘to get the big bird,’ is occasionally a compliment to the actor’s power of representing villainy, but more often is disagreeably suggestive of a failure to please.

1888. Cassell’s Saturday Journal, 22 Dec., p. 301. We was pretty nigh goosed.

3. (cobblers’).—To mend boots by putting on a new front half-way up, and a new bottom; elsewhere called footing boots. Cf., Fox.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2. (common).—A chaperon; one who takes third place to save appearances or play propriety (q.v.); a daisy- or gooseberry-picker. [183]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gooseberry-picker, subs. (colloquial).—1. A person whose labour profits, and is credited to, another; a ghost (q.v.). [184]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Goose-Riding. See Gander-pulling.

Goose’s Gazette, subs. (old).—A lying story; a flim-flam tale; that is, a piece of reading for a goose, sense 2. [185]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Gorge (v.), to eat over-much, to cram, glut, or fill unreasonably. [186]

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

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

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

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

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

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

1872. M. E. Braddon, Dead Sea Fruit, ch. xiv. The gorger’s awful coally on his own slumming, eh?… I mean to say that our friend the manager is rather sweet upon his own acting.

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

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

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

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

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

Gormagon, subs. (old).—See quots.

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

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

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

Gorram (or Goram).—See By Goldam.

Gorry.—See By Gorry!

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

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

Gosh, see by gosh.

Gospel, subs. (colloquial).—1. Anything offered as absolutely true. Also gospel-truth. [187]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1884. A. Lang, Much Darker Days, p. 25. Yes, the white hat, lying there all battered and crushed on the white snow, must be the hat of Sir Runan! … who else would wear the gay gossamer of July in stormy December? [188]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gothic, adj. (old).—See Goth.

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

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

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

1854. Bradley, Verdant Green, Pt. II., p. 5. Besides his black go-to-meeting bags please to observe the peculiarity, etc. [189]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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