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

Gourd, subs. (old).—False dice with a cavity within, which in Fullams (q.v.) was filled with lead to give a bias. See also High-men and Low-men.

1544. Ascham, Toxophylus. What false dyse use they? as dyse stopped with quicksilver and heares, dyse of vauntage, flattes, gourds, to chop and chaunge when they liste.

1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, i., 3. Let vultures gripe thy guts! for gourd and fullam holds, And high and low beguiles the rich and poor.

1616. Beaumont and Fletcher, Scornful Lady, iv. And thy dry bones can reach at nothing now But gourds or nine-pins; pray go fetch a trencher, go.

Gourock Ham, subs. (common).—A salt herring (Gourock was formerly a great fishing village). For synonyms, see Glasgow Magistrate.

Government-man, subs. (old Australian).—A convict.

1883. Graphic, 17 Mar., p. 262, c. 3. They never settle down as thousands of our Government men cheerfully did in Australia after they had their freedom.

Government-securities, subs. (common).—Handcuffs; fetters generally. For synonyms, see Darbies.

Government-signpost, subs. (old).—The gallows. For synonyms, see Nubbing-cheat.

1887. A. Barrère, Argot and Slang, p. 272. Montagne du géant. Fr. (obsolete), gallows, scrag, nobbing cheat, or government signpost.

Governor (or Guv), subs. (common).—1. A father. Also relieving officer; old ’un; pater; nibso; and his nibs. Applied to elderly people in general. Fr., le géniteur and l’ancien (= the old ’un).

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xx. p. 169. ‘You’re quite certain it was them, governor?’ inquired Mr. Weller, junior. ‘Quite, Sammy, quite,’ replied his father. [190]

1852. Comic Almanack, p. 19. Your father: Speaking to him, say ‘Guvnor,’ or ‘Old Strike-a-light;’ of him, ‘The old un.’

1859. Witty Political Portraits, p. 111. Unconscious of the constitutional delusions on which his governor has thrived.

1889. Answers, 20 Apr., p. 323. To call your father ‘The Governor’ is, of course, slang, and is as bad as referring to him as ‘The Boss,’ ‘The Old Man,’ or ‘The Relieving Officer.’

1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 9 Jan. It was mortifying to be done in that manner by a low fellow like Muggins, that I had always looked upon as a fool, and had made a butt of when the guv. was out of the way.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 118. The Governor is in an awful funk about him.

1892. Anstey, Voces Populi (Second Series). ‘At the Guelph Exhibition.’ Right, guvnor; we’ll come.

English Synonyms.—Boss; captain of the waiters; captain; chief; colonel; commander; chief bottle-washer; ganger; head-butler; head-cook and bottle-washer; gorger; omee; rum-cull.

French Synonyms.—Le pantriot (popular and thieves’: also = a young nincompoop); le, or la, pâte (popular: properly paste or dough); le naïf (printers’: obsolete); le herz or hers (thieves’: obviously from the German); le loncegué (thieves’: Fr., back-slang; = gonce, itself a slang term for a man); le galeux (popular: = one with the itch); le grêle (popular: specifically a master-tailor); le singe (= monkey); le troploc; le nourisseur (= the grubber); l’ogre (specifically a fence); le notaire (= publican); le patron (colloquial: = governor).

Governor’s-stiff, subs. (American).—A pardon.

Gower-street Dialect. See Medical Greek.

Gowk, subs. (prison).—A simpleton. (Scots’ gowk = a cuckoo). For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head. Also a countryman. For synonyms, see Joskin.

1816. Scott, Antiquary, ch. x. ‘Hout awa’, ye auld gowk,’ said Jenny Rintherout.

Gowler, subs. (old).—A dog; specifically a howler.

Gown, subs. (Winchester College)—1. Coarse brown paper. (obsolete).

2. (University).—The schools as distinguished from the town (q.v.)., e.g., Town and Gown.

1847. Thackeray, Punch’s Prize Novelists, ‘Codlingsby,’ p. 232. From the Addenbrooke’s hospital to the Blenheim turnpike, all Cambridge was in an uproar—the College gates closed—the shops barricaded—the shop-boys away in support of their brother townsmen—the battle raged, and the Gown had the worst of the fight.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, II., ch. iii. When Gown was absent, Town was miserable.

1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 30 May, p. 4, c. 3. Town and Gown joined in harmony. [191]

Gownsman (also Gown), subs. (university).—A student.

1800. C. K. Sharpe, in Correspondence (1888), i., 96. A battle between the gownsmen and townspeople … in spite of the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors.

1850. F. E. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, ch. xxv. The ancient town of Cambridge, no longer animated by the countless throngs of gownsmen, frowned in its unaccustomed solitude.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford. The townsmen … were met by the gownsmen with settled steady pluck.

Grab, subs. (vulgar).—1. A sudden clutch.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1st S., ch. viii. He makes a grab at me, and I shuts the door right to on his wrist.

1830. S. Warren, Diary of a Late Physician, ch. xvi. Sir ——’s dressers and myself, with an experienced grab—that is to say, a professional resurrectionist—were to set off from the Borough.

Verb (vulgar).—1. To Pinch (q.v.); to seize; to apprehend; to snatch or steal. Grabbed = arrested.

1818. Maginn, Vidocq’s Song. Tramp it, tramp it, my jolly blowen, Or be grabbed by the beaks we may.

1837. Lytton, Ernest Maltravers, Wk. I., ch. x. There, man, grab the money, it’s on the table.

1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 39. Don’t muddle your brains with any more of that Pharaoh. You’ll need all your strength to grab him.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., 396. I was grabbed for an attempt on a gentleman’s pocket.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 236. I watched a movement, till one of the servant girls had brought another load of grub out, and as she turned her back and went into the house I grabbed the key, and so they couldn’t lock it nohow.

1886. Baring Gould, Golden Feather, p. 23 (S.P.C.K.). There are some folks … so grasping that if they touch a farthing will grab a pound.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., 149. I do manage to grab on somehow.

Grab-all, subs. (colloquial).—1. An avaricious person; a greedy-guts (q.v.).

1872. Sunday Times, 18 Aug. This gentleman, it is well known, has worked with indomitable energy on behalf of the millions, and has succeeded in wresting from the mean and contemptible grab-alls of that government which professes to study the people’s interest those portions of the Embankment which the public money has paid for.

Grabber, subs. (common).—In. pl., the hands. For synonyms, see Daddle and Mauley.

Grabble, verb. (old).—1. To seize: a frequent form of grab (q.v.).

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum. You grabble the goose-cap and I’ll frisk his pokes.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., 193. When Nelly, though he teized her, And grabbled her and squeezed her. [192]

Grabby, subs. (military).—An infantry-man. [Used in contempt by the mounted arm.] Fr., marionnette.

1868. Whyte Melville, White Rose, ch. x. ‘Is it a good regiment? How jolly to dine at mess every day!’ ‘I shouldn’t like to be a grabby though’ (this from the Dandy); ‘and after all, I’d rather be a private in the cavalry than an officer in the regiment of feet!’

Grab-gains, subs. (thieves’).—The trick of snatching a purse, etc., and making off.

Grab-game (or -coup, or -racket), subs. (old).—A mode of swindling: the sharpers start by betting among themselves; then the by-standers are induced to join; then stakes are deposited; lastly, there is a row, when one of the gang grabs the stakes, and decamps. But see quot., 1823.

1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v. Grab-coup, modern practice of gambling, adopted by the losers, thus the person cheated, or done, takes his opportunity, makes a dash at the depository of money, or such as may be down for the play, and grabs as much as possible, pockets the proceeds, and fights his way out of the house.

18(?). Scenes in the Rocky Mountains, p. 282. ‘I’ll bear you company. What d’ye say to that?’ ‘Just as you like,’ responded his two companions, ‘that is provided you won’t attempt the grab game on us.’

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 219. ‘Now, boss!’ he cried, not unkindly, ‘is this to be run shipshape; or is it a Dutch grab-racket?’

Grace-card, subs. (Irish).—The Six of Hearts. [For origin see N. and Q., 5th Series, iv., 137].

Gracemans, subs. (old).—Grace-church Street Market.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (W. Club’s Rept., 1874). Gracemans, Gratious Streete market.

Graduate, subs. (turf).—1. A horse that has been run.

Verb. (colloquial).—To seek and acquire experience: in life, love, society, or trade; and so on.

Gradus, subs. (gamesters’).—A mode of cheating: a particular card is so placed by the shuffler that when he hands the pack to be cut, it projects a little beyond the rest; the chance being that it is the turn-up. Also the step (q.v.). [From the Latin.]

Gradus-ad-parnassum, subs. (old literary).—The treadmill. For synonyms, see Wheel-of-life.

Graft, subs. (common).—Work; employment; lay (q.v.).: e.g. What graft are you on now? Great-graft = profitable labour; good biz (q.v.). Also Grafting and Elbow-grease.

French Synonyms.—Le bastimage (thieves’); le goupinage (thieves’); la laine (tailors’); le maquillage (thieves’); le massage (popular); la masse; le mèche (printers’).

1878. Graphic, 6 July, p. 2. According to the well-known maxim in the building trade, ‘Scotch masons, Welsh blacksmiths, English bricklayers, Irish labourers’.… Perhaps in a generation or two Paddy will fail us. He will have become too refined for hard grafting.

1887. Henley, Villon’s Straight Tip. The merry little dibbs you bag At my graft, no matter what. [193]

1892. Tit Bits, 19 Mar., p. 417, c. 1. Millbank for thick shins and graft at the pump.

Grampus, subs. (colloquial).—A fat man. For synonyms, see Forty-guts.

To blow the Grampus. (nautical).—To drench; and (common), to sport in the water.

Grand, subs. (colloquial).—Short for ‘grand piano.’

1891. Morning Advertiser, 28 Mar. A precocious young relative is now about to take the daïs. There she stands, violin in hand, and there begins the preliminary scramble on the hired grand.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 19. Wot we want in a picter is flavour and ‘fetch,’ and yours give it me grand.

To do the Grand, verb. phr. (common).—To put on airs. For synonyms, see Lardy-dah.

Grand Bounce. See Bounce.

Grandmother. To see one’s grandmother, verb. phr. (common).—To have a nightmare.

To see (or have) one’s grandmother (or little friend, or auntie) with one. verb. phr. (common).—To have the menstrual discharge. See Flag.

To shoot one’s grandmother, verb. phr. (common).—To be mistaken; to have found a mare’s nest; to be disappointed. Commonly ‘You’ve shot your grannie.’

To teach one’s grandmother (or grannie) how to suck eggs, verb. phr. (common).—To instruct an expert in his own particular line of business; to talk old to one’s seniors.

1892. Globe, 27 Jan., p. 1, c. 5. Evidently he did not consider, as Englishmen seem to do, that grandmothers possess no more knowledge than is required to efficiently suck eggs.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 210. ‘Confound you stupid, what do you take me for, that you try to teach your grandmother to suck eggs.’

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 77. She’s a teaching ’er grandmother, she is, although she’s a littery swell.

My grandmother’s review. subs. phr. (obsolete).—The British Review. [The nickname was Lord Byron’s.]

Grand-strut, subs. (old).—The Broad Walk in Hyde Park.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, i., 4. We’ll start first to the show shop of the metropolis, Hyde Park! promenade it down the grand strut.

Granger, subs. (American political).—1. A member of the Farmers’ Alliance; a secret society, nominally non-political, but really taking a hand in politics when occasion offered to favour agricultural interests. [During the decade of years ending 1870, it attained to great numerical strength, and extended throughout the United States.] See Agricultural Wheel. [194]

2. (American).—Hence, a farmer; a countryman; anyone from the rural districts. For synonyms, see Joskin.

Grangerise, verb. (literary).—To fill out a book with portraits, landscapes, title-pages, and illustrations generally not done for it.

1883. Sala, Living Wonders, p. 497. Mr. Ashton’s Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne … would be a capital book to grangerize.

Grangerism, subs. (literary).—The practice of illustrating a book with engravings, etc., from other sources. [From the practice of illustrating Granger’s Bibliographical History of England.]

1883. Saturday Review, Jan. 27, p. 123, c. 2. Grangerism, as the innocent may need to be told, is the pernicious vice of cutting plates and title-pages out of many books to illustrate one book.

Grangerite, subs. (literary).—A practitioner in grangerism (q.v.).

1890. ‘Grangerising,’ in Cornhill Mag., Feb., p. 139. Another favourite subject, and suitable also for the Grangerite, is ‘Boswell’s Johnson.’ It must be admitted that this delightful book may gain a fresh chance by being thus treated, but ‘within the limits of becoming grangerism.’

Grannam, subs. (old). Corn. [From the Latin.]—Fr., le grenu, or grelu. It., re di granata; staffile; corniole. Sp., grito.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Rept., 1874). Granmer, corne.

1737. Bacchus and Venus. ‘The Strowling Mort.’ Grannam ever filled my sack.

Grannam’s-gold. subs. (old).—Wealth inherited. [Grannam = grandmother: cf., Beaumont and Fletcher, Lover’s Progress, iv., 1. ‘Ghosts never walk till after midnight, if I may believe my grannam.’]

Granny, subs. (nautical).—1. A bad knot with the second tie across; as opposed to a reef knot in which the end and outer part are in line. Also Granny’s Knot or Granny’s Bend.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 404. To take the granny off them as has white hands.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 461. The shallow got so grannied in London.

Ibid., p. 340. If they granny the manley (perceive the signature) of a brother officer or friend.

Grant. To grant the favour, verb. phr. (venery).—To confer the sexual embrace; to spread (q.v.).

1720. Durfey, Pills, etc., vi. 58. If at last she grants the favour, And consents to be undone.

1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, iv. 7. I … never would grant the favour to any man till I had drunk a heavy glass with him.

Grape-shot, adj. (common).—Drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

Grape-vine, subs. (American).—A hold in wrestling.

Grape-vine Telegraph, subs. phr. (American).—News mysteriously conveyed. [During the Civil War bogus reports from the front were said to be by the Grape-vine Telegraph.] Also Clothes-line Telegraph. [195]

Grapple, subs. (common).—The hand. Also grappler. For synonyms, see Daddle and Mauley.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 246. Anything she once put her grapples on she slipped inside.

Grapple-the-rails, subs. (Irish).—Whiskey. For synonyms, see Drinks and Old Man’s Milk.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Grapple-the-rails, a cant name used in Ireland for whiskey.

Grappling-irons (or -hooks), subs. (old).—1. Handcuffs. For synonyms, see Darbies.

1830. Buckstone, Wreck Ashore, i., 4. I hope the bailiffs have not laid their grappling irons on young Miles.

2. (nautical).—The fingers. For synonyms, see Fork. Also Grapplers and Grappling-Hooks.

Grass, subs. (Royal Military Academy).—1. Vegetables. Cf., bunny-grub. Fr., gargousses de la canonnière.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab and Lond. Poor, I., 539. He sold grass, and such things as cost money.

4. (Australian printers’).—A temporary hand on a newspaper; hence the proverb, ‘a grass on news waits dead men’s shoes.’ Cf., Grass-hand = a raw worker, or green hand.

a. 1889. Fitzgerald, Printers’ Proverbs, quoted in Slang, Jargon, and Cant. Why are the grass, or casual news hands not put on a more comfortable footing?

Verb (pugilistic).—To throw (or be thrown); to bring (or be brought) to ground. Hence, to knock down; to defeat; to kill.

1818. Egan, Boxiana, ii., 375. He had much the worst of it, and was ultimately grassed.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 57. The shame that aught but death should see him grassed.

1846. Dickens, Dombey, xliv., 385. The Chicken himself attributed this punishment to his having had the misfortune to get into Chancery early in the proceedings, when he was severely fibbed by the Larkey One, and heavily grassed.

1881. Daily Telegraph, 26 Nov. The Doctor had killed twenty out of twenty-five, while his opponent had grassed seventeen out of the same number.

1883. W. Besant, All in a Garden Fair. Intro. It was a sad example of pride before a fall; his foot caught in a tuft of grass, and he was grassed.

1888. Sporting Life, 11 Dec. Just on the completion of the minute grassed his man with a swinging right-hander.

1891. J. Newman, Scamping Tricks, p. 119. I saw I was grassed, so I took his measurement.

1892. F. Anstey, Voces Populi. ‘The Riding-Class,’ p. 108. Didn’t get grassed, did you?

To go to grass, verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To abscond; to disappear. Also to hunt grass.

1876. Hindley, Cheap Jack, p. 237. Elias was sent to grass to rise no more off it.

1869. S. L. Clemens, Innocents at Home, p. 21. You’re most too many for me, you know. When you get in with your left I hunt grass every time.

To cut one’s own grass. verb. phr. (thieves’).—To earn one’s own living.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 242. ‘Cut her own grass! Good gracious! what is that!’ I asked. ‘Why, purvide her own chump—earn her own living,’ the old man replied.

To be sent to grass. verb. phr. (University).—To be rusticated; to receive a travelling scholarship (q.v.).

1794. Gent. Mag., p. 1085. And was very near rustication [at Cambridge] merely for kicking up a row after a beakering party. ‘Soho, Jack!’ briskly rejoined another, ‘almost presented with a travelling fellowship? very nigh being sent to grass, hey?’

1848. Durivage, Stray Subjects, p. 95. A gentleman who was swimming about, upon being refused, declared that he might go to grass with his old canoe, for he didn’t think it would be much of a shower, anyhow.

To let the grass grow under one’s feet, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To proceed or work leisurely. Fr., limer.

To take Nebuchadnezzar out to grass, subs. phr. (venery).—To take a man. [Nebuchadnezzar = penis.] For synonyms, see Greens.

Grass-comber, subs. (nautical).—A countryman shipped as a sailor.

1886. W. Besant, World Went Very Well Then, ch. xxix. Formerly, Jack would have replied to this sally that, d’ye see, Luke was a grass comber and a land swab, but that for himself, there was no tea aboard ship, and a glass of punch or a bowl of flip was worth all the tea ever brought from China.

Grasser, subs. (sporting).—A fall.

Grasshopper, subs. (common).—1. A waiter at a tea-garden.

1893. Pall Mall Gaz., 2 Jan., p. 4., c. 3. Quite a ‘school’ of youthful grasshoppers are in possession of one corner of the ice, but on the Westminster side of the park ’pon bridge there is a good sprinkling of old hands.

Grassing, subs. (printers’).—Casual work away from the office. See Smouting.

Grassville, subs. (old).—The country; cf., Daisyville.

Grass-widow, subs. (old).—1. An unmarried mother; a deserted mistress. See Barrack-hack and Tart.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Widow’s weeds, a grass-widow, one that pretends to have been married, but never was, yet has children.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Widow’s weeds; a grass-widow; a discarded mistress.

[The usually accepted derivation that grass = Fr., grâce is doubtful. Hall (says J. C. Atkinson, in Glossary of Cleveland Words) gives as the definition of this word ‘an unmarried woman who has had a child’; in Moor’s Suffolk Words and Phrases, grace-widow, ‘a woman who has had a child for her cradle ere she has had a husband for her bed’; and corresponding with this is the N. S. or Low Ger., gras-wedewe. Again, Sw. D., gras-anka, or -enka = grass-widow, occurs in the same sense as with us: ‘a low, dissolute, unmarried woman living by herself.’ The original meaning of the word seems to [197]have been ‘a woman whose husband is away,’ either travelling or living apart. The people of Belgium call a woman of this description haeck-wedewe, from haecken, to feel strong desire.… It seems probable, therefore, from the etymology, taken in connection with the Clevel. signification, that our word may rather be from the Scand. source than from the German; only with a translation of the word enka into its English equivalent. Dan. D., graesenka, is a female whose betrothed lover (fastman) is dead; nearly equivalent to which is German, strohwittwe, literally straw-widow. See N. and Q. 6 S. viii., 268, 414; x. 333, 436, 526; xi. 78, 178.]

1700. Congreve, Way of the World, Act iii. If the worst come to the worst,—I’ll turn my wife to grass—I have already a deed of settlement of the best part of her estate, which I wheedl’d out of her.

1877. Chamb. Journal, 12 Mar., p. 173. Mrs. Brittomart was one of those who never tolerated a bow-wow—a species of animal well known in India—and never went to the hills as a grass-widow.

1878. London, a grass-widow. And so, you see, it comes to pass That she’s a widow out at grass And happy in her freedom.

1882. Saturday Review, 11 Feb. She is a grass-widow, her husband is something in some Indian service.

1885. W. Black, White Heather, ch. xli. Mrs. Lalor, a grass-widow who was kind enough to play chaperon to the young people, but whose effective black eyes had a little trick of roving on their own account.

1889. Daily Telegraph, 12 Feb. She had taken up her residence at a house in Sinclair-road, Kensington, where she passed as a grass-widow. She represented that her husband was engaged in mercantile pursuits.

Grass-widower, subs. (common).—A man away from his wife.

1886. New York Evening Post, 22 May. All the grass-widowers and unmarried men.

Gravel, verb. (old).—1. To confound; to puzzle; to floor (q.v.).

1593. G. Harvey, Pierus Supererog, in wks. II., 296. The finest intelligencer, or sagest Politician in a state, would undoubtedly have been gravelled in the execution of that rash attempt.

1597. Hall, Satires, III., vi., 14. So long he drinks, till the black caravell Stands still fast gravelled on the mud of hell.

1604. Marlowe, Faustus, Act i., Sc. 1. And I, that have with concise syllogisms gravell’d the pastors of the German church.

1667. Dryden, Sir Martin Marr-all, Act iii. Warn. He’s gravelled, and I must help him out.

1663. Dryden, An Evening’s Love, Act ii. A difficult question in that art, which almost gravels me.

1857. A. Trollope, Three Clerks, ch. xxxiv. He was somewhat gravelled for an answer to Alaric’s earnest supplication, and therefore made none till the request was repeated.

1886. R. L. Stevenson, Kidnapped, p. 206. I thought Alan would be gravelled at that, for we lacked the means of writing in that desert.

1893. National Observer, 11 Feb., p. 321. In truth to talk of Burns as the apotheosis of Knox is really to gravel and confound your readers; and but for the context one might be suspected that the innuendo hid a touch of sarcasm.

1887. Clemens, Life on the Mississippi, ch. xiv., p. 138. By long habit, pilots came to put all their wishes in the form of commands. It gravels me to this day, to put my will in the weak shape of a request, instead of launching it in the crisp language of an order.

Gravel-crusher, subs. (military).—A soldier doing defaulter’s drill.

Gravel-grinder, subs. (popular).—A drunkard. For synonyms, see Lushington. [198]

Gravel-rash, subs. (colloquial).—The lacerations caused by a fall.

To have the gravel rash, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be reeling drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

Gravesend-bus, subs. (common).—A hearse.

Gravesend-sweetmeats, subs. (popular).—Shrimps.

Gravesend-twins, subs. (common).—Solid particles of sewage.

Grave-yard, subs. (common).—1. The mouth. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

To keep a private grave-yard, verb. phr. (American).—To affect ferocity; to bluster.

Gravy, subs. (venery).—The sexual discharge; the spendings (q.v.) both male and female. [Hence gravy-giver = the penis and the female pudendum; and gravy-maker = the female pudendum. Hence, too, to give one’s gravy = to spend (q.v.). Cf., Beef and Mutton.]

d. 1796. Burns, ‘Dainty Davie,’ in Merry Muses. I wot he cam atween my thie, An’ creeshed it weel wi’ gravy.

Gravy-eye, subs. (common).—A derisive epithet: e.g., Well Old gravy-eye.

Grawler, subs. (old).—A beggar. For synonyms, see Cadger.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary p. 62. Not so much as would sweeten a grawler in the whole of them.

Gray, subs. (thieves’).—1. A coin showing either two heads or two tails; a pony (q.v.).

1828. G. Smeeton, Doings in London, p. 40. Breslaw could never have done more upon cards than he could do with a pair of grays (gaffing-coins).

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. II., p. 154. Some, if they can, will cheat, by means of a half-penny with a head or a tail on both sides, called a gray.

1868. Temple Bar, Vol. XXIV., p. 539. They have a penny with two heads or two tails on it, which they call a grey, and of course they can easily dupe flats from the country. How do they call it a grey, I wonder? I suppose they have named it after Sir George Grey because he was a two-faced bloke.

Grayback, subs. (common).—1. A louse. Also Scots Greys. Fr., un grenadier. For synonyms, see Chates.

2. (American).—A Confederate soldier. [Partly from the colour of his uniform, and partly because of its inhabitants. Cf., sense 1.] See Blue-bellies.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 9 Feb., p. 5, c. 4. The Confederate armies, during the great Civil War in America … were known … as Greybacks, whereas their Federal opponents, from the light-azure gaberdines which they wore, were dubbed ‘blue-bellies.’

1890. Scribner’s Mag. Mar., p. 283. Mrs. Rutherford stood in such abject fear of the graybacks that she regarded the possession of so large a sum as simply inviting destruction.

Gray-beard, subs. (colloquial).—1. An old man. Mostly in contempt.

1593. Shakspeare, Taming of the Shrew, Act ii., Sc. 1. Grey-beard, thy love doth freeze.

a. 1845. Longfellow, Luck of Eden Hall. The gray-beard, with trembling hand obeys.

2. (old).—Originally a stoneware drinking jug; now a large earthenware jar for holding wine or spirits. [From the bearded face in relief with which they were ornamented.] [199]

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, Grey-beard, s.v. Dutch earthen jugs, used for smuggling gin on the coasts of Essex and Suffolk, are at this time called grey-beards.

1814. Scott, Waverley, ch. lxiv. There’s plenty of brandy in the grey-beard.

1886. The State, 20 May, p. 217. A whisky or brandy which is held in merited respect for very superior potency is entitled [in America] ‘reverent,’ from the same kind of fancy which led the Scotch to call a whisky jar a grey-beard.

Gray-cloak, subs. (common).—An alderman above the chair. [Because his proper robe is a cloak furred with grey amis.]

Gray-goose, subs. (Scots’).—A big field stone on the surface of the ground.

1816. Scott, Black Dwarf, ch. iv. Biggin a dry-stane dyke, I think, wi’ the grey-geese as they ca’ thae great loose stones.

Grayhound, subs. (general).—1. A fast Atlantic liner; one especially built for speed. Also ocean grayhound.

1887. Scientific American, vol. LVI., 2. They [ships] are built in the strongest possible manner, and are so swift of foot, as to have already become formidable rivals to the English grey hound.

2. (Cambridge University).—An obsolete name for a member of Clare College; a clarian.

1889. Whibley, Cap and Gown, xxviii. The members of Clare … were called grayhounds.

Gray-mare, subs. (common).—A wife; specifically one who wears the breeches (q.v.). [From the proverb, ‘The gray mare is the better horse’ = the wife is master: a tradition, perhaps, from the time when priests were forbidden to carry arms or ride on a male horse: Non enim licuerat pontificem sacrorum vel arma ferre, vel praeter quam in equâ equitare.—Beda, Hist. Eccl. ii., 13. Fr., mariage d’epervier = a hawk’s marriage: the female hawk being the larger and stronger bird. Lord Macaulay’s explanation (quot. 1849) is the merest guess-work.]

1546. John Haywood, Proverbs [Sharman’s reprint, 1874]. She is (quoth he) bent to force you perforce, To know that the grey mare is the better horse.

1550. A Treatyse, Shewing and Declaring the Pryde and Abuse of Women Now a Dayes (in Hazlitt’s Early Popular Poetry, iv., 237). What! shall the graye mayre be the better horse, And be wanton styll at home?

1605. Camden, Remains Concerning Britain [ed. 1870, p. 332]. In list of proverbs. (Is said to be the earliest in English.)

1698–1750. Ward, London Spy, part II., p. 40. Another as dull as if the grey mare was the better Horse; and deny’d him Enterance for keeping late Hours.

1705–1707. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. II., pt. iv., p. 5. There’s no resisting Female Force, Grey mare will prove the better Horse.

1717. Prior, Epilogue to Mrs. Manley’s Lucius. As long as we have eyes, or hands, or breath, We’ll look, or write, or talk you all to death. Yield, or she-Pegasus will gain her course, And the grey mare will prove the better horse.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., p. 240. For the grey mare has proved the better horse.

1738. Swift, Polite Convers., dial. 3. I wish she were married; but I doubt the gray mare would prove the better horse.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xix. By the hints they dropped, I learned the gray mare was the better horse—that she was a matron of a high spirit. [200]

1819. Macaulay, Hist. England. The vulgar proverb, that the grey mare is the better horse, originated, I suspect, in the preference generally given to the grey mares of Flanders over the finest coach horses of England.

1883. G. A. S[ala], in Illustr. London News, 14 Apr., p. 359, c. 2. She [Mrs. Romford], did not over-accentuate either her strong-mindedness or her jealousy of her flighty husband; but she let him and the audience unmistakably know that she was in all respects the grey mare in the Romford stable.

Gray-parson (or Gray-coat parson), subs. (old).—A lay impropriator, or lessee of tithes.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, grey parson, s.v. A farmer who rents the tythes of the rector or vicar.

1830 in Cobbett’s Rural Rides, vol. I., p. 123 note (ed. 1886). The late editor says, that, having been a large holder of lay tithes, the author applied to Mr. Nicholls, the name of the grey-coated parson.

Grease, subs. (common).—1. A bribe; palm-oil (or -grease). (q.v. for synonyms). In America Boodle (q.v.). greasing = bribing.

Verb (old).—1. To bribe; to corrupt by presents; to tip (q.v.). Also more fully to grease in the fist, hand, or palm. Fr., coquer la boucanade. For synonyms, see Square.

1557. Tusser, Husbandrie, ch. 68, pt. 2, p. 159 (E.D.S.). How husbandrie easeth, to huswiferie pleaseth, And manie purse greaseth With silver and gold.

1578. Whetstone, Promoss and Cassandra, ii., 3. Grease them well in their hands.

1592. Greene, Quip, in wks., xi., 261. That did you not grease the sealers of Leaden Hall throughly in the fist, they should never be sealed, but turned away and made forfiet by the statute.

1649. F. Quarles, Virgin Widow, IV., i., p. 40. Greaze my fist with a Tester or two, and ye shall find it in your penny-worths.

1678. C. Cotton, Scarronides, Bk. IV., p. 70 (ed. 1725). Him she conjures, intreats, and prays, With all the Cunning that she has, greases his Fist; nay more, engages Thenceforth to mend his Quarters-wages.

1693. Dryden, Persius, iii., 139. And after, envy not the store Of the greas’d advocate, that grinds the poor.

1698–1700. Ward, London Spy, pt. xv., p. 364. But the Gay Curteyan who trades for gold, That can but grease a palm when she’s in hold, No Justice need she dread.

1878. Jas. Payn, By Proxy, ch. x. His Excellency, your master, has given orders, I presume, that after I have made my compliments—as delicate a phrase as he could think of for greasing the hands of justice—I shall be at liberty to visit my friend.

1879. Horsley, in Macmillan’s Magazine, Oct. When I went to the fence he bested (cheated) me because I was drunk, and only gave me £8 10s. for the lot. So the next day I went to him and asked him if he was not going to grease my duke (put money into my hand).

1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 2 Sept., p. 7, c. 2. Did other people having business with the printing bureau tell you that it would be necessary to grease Sénécal?

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Onger i stivali, to grease ones bootes, id est, to flatter or cog with, to faune vpon one.

To grease a fat sow in the arse, verb. phr. (old).—To bribe a rich man.—Grose.

To grease one’s gills, verb. phr. (common).—To make a good or luxurious meal.

Greased Lightning, subs. phr. (American).—An express train.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 359. The usual Express Train is not half fast enough for the impatient traveller; he must have his Lightning Express Train, and in the Far West improves still farther by calling it greased lightning, after a favourite Yankee term.

1848. Durivage, Stray Subjects, p. 72. Quicker than greased lightnin’, My covies, I was dead.

1890. Globe, 27 Aug., p. 2, c. 5. He is drawn along at a rapid rate, or, as the correspondent puts it, he is whisked all over town like greased lightning.

1891. J. Newman, Scamping Tricks, p. 98. He measured again, and then off went his coat like greased lightning, and we all followed suit.

Greaser, subs. (American).—1. A Mexican in general; also a Spanish American: see quots. 1848 and 1888. The term originated during the Mexican war.

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 3. Note. The Mexicans are called Spaniards or greasers (from their greasy appearance) by the Western people.

1855. Marryat, Mountains and Mole Hills, p. 236. The Americans call the Mexicans greasers, which is scarcely a complimentary soubriquet; although the term greaser camp as applied to a Mexican encampment is truthfully suggestive of filth and squalor.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, Prologue i. Behind the leaders followed a little troop of three, consisting of one English servant and two greasers.

1883. Bret Harte, In the Carquinez Woods, footnote to ch. vii. Greasers, Californian slang for a mixed race of Mexicans and Indians.

1888. Century Mag., October. To avenge the murder of one of their number the cowboys gathered from the country round about, and fairly stormed the greaser—that is, Mexican—village where the murder had been committed, killing four of the inhabitants.

1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody, ch. 2. Don’t let the greaser git his fingers in your ha’r.

2. in. pl. (Royal Military Academy).—Fried potatoes, as distinguished from boilers = boiled potatoes.

To give one greaser, verb. phr. (Winchester College).—To rub the back of the hand hard with the knuckles.

Grease-spot, subs. (common).—The imaginary result of a passage at arms, physical or intellectual.

1844. Haliburton, The Attaché, ch. xvi. If he hadn’t a had the clear grit in him, and showed his teeth and claws, they’d a nullified him so you wouldn’t see a grease-spot of him no more.

Greasy-chin, subs. (old).—A dinner.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Lay of St. Gengulphus.’ And to every guest his card had express’d ‘Half past’ as the hour for a greasy chin.

Great Cry and Little Wool.—See Cry.

Great Go (or Greats), subs. (Cambridge University).—The final examination for the B.A. degree; cf., Little-go. At Oxford, greater.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. x. Both small and great are sufficiently distant to be altogether ignored, if we are that way inclined. [202]

1856–7. Thackeray, King of Brentford’s Test., st. 7. At college, though not fast, Yet his little-go and great-go, He creditably pass’d.

1871. Morning Advertiser, 28 Apr. Yes, Mr. Lowe has been plucked for his great go.

1883. Echo, 3 May, p. 2, c. 4. But few, indeed, are the men who have been in for greats during the last twenty years, and who have not blessed Mr. Kitchin for his edition of the Novum Organum.

Great Gun, subs. phr. (common).—1. A person of distinction; a thing of importance.

English Synonyms.—Big bug; big dog of the tanyard; big dog with the brass collar; big gun; big head; big one; big (or great) pot; big wig; biggest toad in the puddle; cock of the walk; don; large potato; nob; rumbusticator; stunner; swell; swell-head; topper; top-sawyer.

French Synonyms.—Un gros bonnet (familiar = big wig); un fiérot (a stuck-up); un herr (from the German); Monsieur Raidillon or Monsieur Pointu (= Mr. Stuck-up).

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. ii. A Spanish Ecclesiastic, the Canon of ——. Plenty of great guns, at any rate—a regular park of artillery.

1843. Haliburton, Sam Slick in England, ch. xv. The great guns and big bugs have to take in each other’s ladies.

Ibid., p. 24. Pick out the big bugs and see what sort of stuff they’re made of.

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. x. The great guns of the party, the rector of the parish, the member for the county.

2. (pedlers’).—A peculiar practice; a trick of particular usefulness and importance; a favourite wheeze (q.v.).

1851. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 256. The street-seller’s great gun, as he called it, was to make up packets, as closely resembling as he could accomplish it those which were displayed in the windows of any of the shops.

To Blow Great Guns, verb. phr. (nautical).—To blow a gale; also to blow great guns and small arms.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], 23. ‘Curse me, if I don’t think all the world means to cross the Thames this fine night!’ observed Ben. ‘One’d think it rained fares as well as blowed great guns.’

1865. H. Kingsley, Hillyars and Burton, ch. lxxvii. It was blowing pretty high guns, sou’ eastern by east, off shore and when we came to the harbour’s mouth there was Tom Wyatt with his pilot just aboard.

1869. Arthur Sketchley, Mrs. Brown on Things in General. I never did see such weather, a-blowin great guns as the sayin’ is.

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 340. It blew great guns from the seaward.

Great-house. See Big-house.

Great-Joseph, subs. (old).—An overcoat.

Great Scott! intj. (American).—An exclamation of surprise; an apology for an oath. [Possibly a memory of the name of Gen. Winfield Scott, a presidential candidate whose dignity and style were such as to win him the nickname “Fuss-and-Feathers.”] Also Great Cæsar.

1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody of Nowhere, p. 98. Bob, what’s the matter with you? Great Scott! the mine hain’t give out. [203]

1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 19 June, p. 396, c 2. Great Scotch!—no, we mean Scott—well, language worthy of the great Harry prevailed for awhile.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 305. ‘Great Scott! what the deuce is Wells up to?’ said the Squire.