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

aberdasher, subs. (old colloquial: now recognised).—1. A dealer in small wares; specifically (1) a hatter, and (2, humorously) a publican (i.e., a seller of tape [q.v.]). Now restricted to a retail draper.

1632. Jonson, The Magnetic Lady, ‘Induction.’ Poetaccios, poetasters, poetitos.… And all haberdashers of small wit.

d. 1680. Butler, Remains (1759), ii., 107. He set up haberdasher of a small poetry.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, iii., 5. The haberdasher is the whistler, otherwise the spirit-merchant, Jerry—and tape the commodity he deals in.

Haberdasher of pronouns, subs. phr. (common).—A schoolmaster. For synonyms, see Bumbrusher.

Habit, subs. (old University).—See quot.

1803. Gradus ad Cantabrigiam. Habit. College Habit, College dress, called of old, Livery: the dress of the Master, Fellows, and Scholars.

Hab-nab (or Hob-nob (q.v.)), adv. (old).—1. At random; promiscuously; helter-skelter; ding-dong.

1602. Shakspeare, Twelfth Night, iii., 4. His incensement at this moment is so great that satisfaction can be none but by pangs of death and sepulchre. Hob-nob is his word; give’t, or take’t.

1690. B. E., Cant. Crew, s.v. Hab-nab, at a Venture, Unsight, Unseen, Hit or Miss.

1836. Horace Smith, The Tin Trumpet. ‘Address to a Mummy.’ Perchance that very hand now pinioned flat Has hob-and-nobbed with Pharaoh glass for glass.

Hack (or Hackney), subs. (old: now recognised).—1. A person or thing let out for promiscuous use: e.g., a horse, a whore, a literary drudge. Whence (2) a coach that plies for hire; (3) (stables’) a horse for everyday use, as offered to one for a special purpose—hunting, racing, polo. (4) (Cambridge Univ.), see quot. 1803. Also Hackster.

1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, 16,027. His Hakeney, which that was a pomele gris.

1540. Lyndsay, Satyre of the thrie Estaits, 3237. I may finde the Earle of Rothus best hacknay. [244]

1582. Hakluyt, Voyages, i., 400. There they use to put out their women to hire as we do here hackney horses.

1594. Shakspeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost, iii., 1. The hobby-horse is but a colt, and your love perhaps a hackney.

1594. Nashe, Unf. Traveller, 101 (Chiswick Press, 1890). Out whore, strumpet, sixpenny hackster, away with her to prison!

1678. Butler, Hudibras, pt. iii., c. 1. That is no more than every lover Does from his hackney-lady suffer.

1690. B. E., Cant. Crew, s.v. Hacks, or Hackneys, Hirelings. Ibid., Hackney Horses. Ibid., Hackney Scribblers. Ibid., Hackney Whores, Common Prostitutes.

1738. Pope, Ep. to Sat. Shall each spurgall’d hackney of the day, Or each new pension’d sycophant, pretend To break my windows?

1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, iv., 14. With wonderful alacrity he had ended almost in an instant, and conveyed himself into a place of safety in a hackney-coach.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hackney-writer, one who writes for attornies or booksellers.

1803. Gradus ad Cantabrigiam. Hacks. Hack Preachers; the common exhibitioners at St. Mary’s, employed in the service of defaulters, and absentees.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, i., 7. A rattler is a rumbler, otherwise a Jarvy! Better known, perhaps, by the name of a hack.

1841. Leman Rede, Sixteen String Jack, ii., 3. I’ll get a hack, be off in a crack.

Verb (colloquial, football).—To kick shins. Hacking = the practice of kicking shins at football.

1857. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ch. i. I saw, too, more than one player limp out of his path disconsolately, trying vainly to dissemble the pain of a vicious hack.

1869. Spencer, Study of Sociology, ch. viii. p. 186 (9th ed.). And thus, perhaps, the ‘education of a gentleman’ may rightly include giving and receiving hacking of the shins at foot-ball.

1872. The Echo, 3 Nov. Some of the modern foot ball players have the tips of their shoes tipped with iron, and others wear a kind of armour or iron plate under their knicker-bockers to avoid … what is called hacking.

Hackle, subs. (common).—Pluck; spirit; bottom (q.v.). To show hackle = to show fight. [Hackle = a long shining feather on a cock’s neck.] Fr., avoir du foie; n’avoir pas le flubart, or avoir du poil au ciel.

Hackslaver, verb. (old).—To stammer; to splutter; to hesitate in speech.

Hackum (or Captain Hackum, or Hackster), subs. (old).—A bully; a bravo. For synonyms, see Furioso.

1657. Lady Alimony, 1, 3 (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., p. 282). Vowing, like a desperate haxter that he has express command to seize upon all our properties.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum. Hackum, a bravado, a slasher, ‘Capt. Hackum,’ a fellow who slashes with a bowie-knife.

Had.—See Have.

Haddock, subs. (common).—1. A purse. Haddock of Beans = a purse of money. [Haddock = cod: O. Sw., Rudde; Ic., Koddi = a small bag. Cf., Codpiece.] For synonyms, see Poge.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes. Melrusio, the fish we call a hadock, or a cod. Ibid. Metter la faua nel bacello, to put the beane into the cod.

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. xiii. ‘What’s here?’ cried he, searching the attorney’s pockets … ‘a haddock, stuffed with nothing, I’m thinking.’ [245]

Haddums (or Had ’em).—See quots.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. He has been at Had’em and come home by Clapham, said of one who has caught the venereal disease.

Hag, subs. (old: now recognised).—1. A witch. Whence (2) an ugly old woman; a she-monster. Also (3) a nightmare. At Charterhouse, a female of any description; at Winchester, a matron. Hence, Hag-ridden = troubled with nightmare. Hag-born = witch-born. Hag-seed (Shakspeare, Tempest) = spawned of a witch. Hag-faced = foul-featured. In another sense, Hags = spots of firm ground in a moss or bog.

1606. Wily Beguiled (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 277). Like to some hellish hag or some damned fiend.

1606. Shakspeare, Macbeth, iv., 1. How now, you secret, black, and midnight Hags!

1627. Drayton, The Moon-calf (Chalmer’s English Poets, 1810, iv., 133). The filthy hag abhoring of the light.

1637. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, ii., 2. As if you knew the sport of witch-hunting, Or starting of a hag.

1680. Cotton, Poems, etc., ‘To Poet E.W.’ Adulterate hags, fit for a common stew.

1748. Thomson, Castle of Indolence, i., 73. Fierce fiends and Hags of hell their only nurses were.

1773–83. Hoole, Orlando Furioso, xliii., 998. But such a Hag to paradise conveyed, Had withered by her looks the blissful shade.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, xliii. Hatteraick himself, and the gypsy sailor, and that old hag.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 89. Old women were there also, with hideous vice-stamped features, veritable hags all of them.

Hag-finder, subs. (old).—A witch finder.

1637. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, ii., 2. That I do promise, or I am no good hag-finder.

Hagged, adj. (old, now [as Haggard] recognised).—Ugly; gaunt; hag-like.

Haggisland, subs. (common).—Scotland.

Haggle, verb. (old, now recognised).—To bargain keenly; to stick at, or out for, trumpery points; to debate small issues.

1849–61. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ch. xx. Haggling with the greedy, making up quarrels.

Haggler, subs. (old).—Formerly a travelling merchant; a pedlar: now (in London vegetable markets) a middleman. Cf., Bummaree.

1662. Fuller, Worthies; Dorsetshire. Horses, on which Haglers used to ride and carry their commodities.

1690. B. E., Cant. Crew, s.v. A Hagler, one that buys of the Country Folks, and sells in the Market, and goes from Door to Door. [246]

1697. Vanbrugh, Æsop, ii, 1. I’se no hagler, gadswookers; and he that says I am—’zbud, he lies!

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 83. A Haggler being, as I before explained, the middle-man.

Hail. To raise hail (or Ned, or Cain, or Hell), verb. phr. (American).—To make a disturbance; to kick up a row.

1888. Portland Transcript, 7 Mar. He is determined that they shall have a clear deed to one hundred and sixty acres of land when the question is settled, or he will raise hail.

To be hail fellow well met, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be on very easy terms: also at hail-fellow.

1574–1656. Hall’s Satires, III., i., p. 40. Now man, that erst haile-fellow was with beast, Woxe on to weene himselfe a god at least.

1665. Homer à la Mode. The cookes too, having done, were set At table hay fellow well met. [Quoted by Nares].

1667–1745. Swift, My Lady’s Lamentation. Hail fellow, well met, all dirty and wet; Find out, if you can, who’s master, who’s man.

1886. R. L. Stevenson, Kidnapped, p. 108. And at first he sings small, and is hail-fellow-well-met with Sheamus—that’s James of the Glens, my chieftain’s agent.

To be hailed for the last time, verb. phr. (nautical).—To die. For synonyms, see Aloft.

1891. W. C. Russell, Ocean Tragedy, p. 322. He’s been hailed for the last time.

Hair, subs. (venery).—1. The female pubes. Whence (2) generic for the sex: e.g., after hair = in quest of a woman; plenty of hair = lots of girls; hair to sell = a woman with a price; hair-monger = a wencher; bit of hair = the sexual favour. For synonyms, see Fleece.

To go against the Hair, verb. phr. (old colloquial).—To go against the grain, or contrary to nature. [From the texture of furs.]

1589. Nashe, Martin’s Months Minde (Grosart), i., 188. For hee euer went against the haire.

1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives, ii., 3. If you should fight, you go against the hair of your professions.

1661. Middleton, Mayor of Queenborough, C. P. xi., 122. Books in women’s hands are as much against the hair, methinks, as to see men wear stomachers, Or night-railes.

Both of a Hair, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Very much alike. Also, two of a trade, and two in a tale.

Not worth a Hair, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Utterly worthless. Cf., Cent, Rap, Dump, etc.

To a Hair, adv. phr.—(colloquial).—Exactly; to a nicety. Cf., To fit to a Hair = to fit perfectly.

1697. Vanbrugh, Æsop, i, 1. Here was a young gentlewoman but just now pencilled me out to a hair.

1738. Swift, Polite Conversation. Miss. Well I love a Lyar with all my Heart; and you fit me to a hair.

1891. W. C. Russell, Ocean Tragedy, p. 30. The fellow fits my temper to a hair.

To split Hairs, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To cavil about trifles; to quibble; to be over-nice in argument.

1693. Congreve, Old Bachelor, ii., 2. Now, I must speak; it will split a hair by the Lord Harry.

To raise (or lift) Hair, verb. phr. (American).—To scalp; hence, idiomatically, to defeat; to kill. To keep one’s hair = to escape a danger.

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 194. Kit Carson … had raised more hair from the red-skins than any two men in the Western country.

1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody, p. 101. If you’ll take the chances of keeping your hair.

To comb one’s Hair, verb. phr. (common).—To castigate; to monkey (q.v.). See Comb one’s Hair, ante.

To hold (or keep) one’s Hair (or Wool) on, verb. phr. (common).—To keep one’s temper; to avoid excitement; to take easily. Also to keep one’s shirt on, or to pull down one’s jacket (or vest). Fr., être calme et inodore.

1885. Bret Harte, A Ship of ’49, ch. vi. ‘But what the devil——’ interrupted the young man impetuously. ‘Keep yer hair on!’ remonstrated the old man with dark intelligence.

1892. Cassell’s Sat. Jour., 5 Oct., p. 45, c. 1. ‘Who make devil’s row like that all night?’ he asked. ‘Keep your hair on, Moses Trinko,’ replied the reception officer, cheerily.

A Hair of the Black Bear (or B’ar), subs. phr. (American).—A spice of the devil.

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 6. Thar was old grit in him, too, and a hair of the black b’ar at that.

To get one’s Hair Cut, verb. phr. (venery).—To visit a woman; to see a sick friend (q.v.). For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

1892. Anstey, Model Music Hall, 154. Tommy. What, Uncle, going? The W. U. (with assumed jauntiness). Just to get my hair cut.

1697. Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, lv., 4. It’s well you are come: I’m so frightened, my hair stands on end.

1886. J. S. Winter, Army Society, ch. iii. If I were to tell you some incidents of my life since you and I last met, I should make your hair stand on end.

A Hair of the Dog that Bit you, subs. phr. (common).—A ‘pick-me-up’ after a debauch. [Apparently a memory of the superstition, which was and still is common, that, being bitten by a dog, one cannot do better than pluck a handful of hair from him, and lay it on the wound. Also figuratively, see quot. 1888.]

1531. Bovilli, Prov. ii., xvi. siècle, t. i., p. 102. Du poil de la beste qui te mordis, Ou de son sanc sera guéris.

1546. Heywood, Proverbs [1874], 79. What how fellow, thou knave, I pray thee let me and my fellow have A haire of the dog that bit us last night. And bitten were we bothe to the braine aright.

1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fayre, I. ’Twas a hot night with some of us, last night, John: shall we pluck a hair of the same wolf to-day, proctor John?

1738. Swift, Polite Convers., Dial. 2. Lady Gur. But, Sir John, your ale is terrible strong and heady.… Sir John. Why, indeed, it is apt to fox one; but our way is to take a hair of the same dog next morning.

1841. Dickens, B. Rudge, ch. lii. Put a good face upon it, and drink again. Another hair of the dog that bit you, captain!

1888. Detroit Free Press. ‘Talk of the Day,’ 3 Nov. Travis.—‘Hello, De Smith! You’re looking better than I expected. I understood that you were completely crushed by that love affair. How did you recover?’ De Smith.—‘Hair of the dog that bit me. Fell in love with another girl.’ [248]

Hair-butcher, subs. (American).—A barber. For synonyms, see Nob-thatcher.

1888. Puck’s Library, May, p. 15. ’Oi ’m wullin’ thot bloomin’ hair-butcher shud have a fit, av he wants.

Hair-court, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable. To take a turn in Hair-court = to copulate.

Hair-divider (or -splitter), subs. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick. Also Beard-splitter.

Hair-pin, subs. (American).—An individual, male or female: e.g., That’s the sort of hair-pin I am = that’s my style.

1888. Detroit Free Press, 6 Oct. ‘That’s the kind of hairpins we are,’ said the enthusiastic swain.

Hairy, adj. (Oxford University).—1. Difficult.

d. 1861. Arthur Clough, Long Vacation Pastoral. Three weeks hence we return to the shop and the wash-hand-stand-bason, Three weeks hence unbury Thicksides and hairy Aldrich.

1892. Rudyard Kipling, Barrack Room Ballads. ‘The Sons of the Widow.’ Did you hear of the Widow of Windsor with a hairy gold crown on her head?

3. (venery).—Desirable; full of sex; fuckable (q.v.). [Said only of women: e.g., Hairy Bit = an amorous and taking wench.] See Hair.

To feel hairy, verb. phr. (venery).—To be inclined for coition; to have a must (q.v.).

Hairyfordshire, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. To go to Hairyfordshire = to copulate. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Hairy-oracle (or -ring), subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. Working the hairy-oracle = wenching. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Halbert. To get the halbert, verb. phr. (old military).—To rise to sergeant’s rank. [The weapon was carried by sergeants of foot.] To be brought to the halberts = to be flogged; to carry the halbert in one’s face = to show that one rose from the ranks (of officers in commission).

Half. It’s half past kissing time and time to kiss again. phr. (common).—The retort impudent (to females) when asked the time. A snatch from a ballad. [In Swift (Polite Conversation) = an hour past hanging time.]

Half-a-crack (or jiffy, or tick).—Half a second.

Half-and-half, subs. (colloquial).—Equal quantities of ale and porter; Cf., Four-half and Drinks.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 111. We were never tired of wondering how the hackney-coachmen on the opposite stand could … drink pots of half-and-half so near the last drop. [249]

1841. Albert Smith (in Punch). ‘The Physiology of the London Medical Student.’ Half-and-half … is … ale and porter, the proportion of the porter increasing in an inverse ratio to the respectability of the public house you get it from.

1854. Martin and Aytoun, Bon Gaultier Ballads. ‘My Wife’s Cousin.’ Half-and-half goes down before him, Gurgling from the pewter-pot; And he moves a counter motion For a glass of something hot.

1872. Fun, July. ‘The Right Tap.’ If the lever, meaning a plumper, were labelled ‘stout,’ and those recording a split vote half and half, the illusion would be complete.

Adj. (common).—Half-drunk; half-on (q.v.). For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

Half-and-half-coves (or men, boys, etc.), subs. (old).—Cheap or linsey-woolsey dandies; half-bucks (q.v.) and half-tigers (q.v.).

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, i., 7. Jerry. The half-and-half coves are somewhat different from the swaddies, and gay tyke boys, at the dog pit—Eh, Tom?

Half-an-eye. To see with half an eye, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To discern readily; to be quick at conclusions.

Half-baked (or Soft-baked), adj. (common).—Halfwitted; cracked; soft (q.v.); doughy (q.v.); also half-rocked (q.v.). For synonyms, see Apartments and Tile Loose. Fr., n’avoir pas la tête bien cuite.

1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, ii., 221. He must scheme forsooth, this half-baked Scotch cake! He must hold off and on, and be cautious, and wait the result, and try conclusions with me, this lump of natural dough!

1857. C. Kingsley, Two Years Ago, ch. iv. ‘A sort of half-baked body,’ said Kate.

1886. W. Besant, Children of Gibeon, Bk. II., ch. xiv. A daughter of seventeen not quite right in her head—half-baked, to use the popular and feeling expression.

1890. Answers, Xmas No., p. 19, c. 3. ‘You needn’t be so crusty,’ said Todkins to his better half. ‘Better be a little crusty than not half-baked,’ was the reply of his amiable spouse.

1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 1 Nov., p. 2, c. 3. Mr. Vane Tempest as serenest of half-baked cynics, and Mr. H. Vincent as most credulous of bibulous optimists.

Half-breed, subs. (American political).—A nick-name applied to certain New York Republicans, who wavered in their allegiance during an election to the Senate in 1881.—Norton.

Half-cocked, adv. (common).—Half-drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

1887. H. Smart, Saddle and Sabre, ch. xvii. ‘Black Bill,’ as he was called by his brother jockeys, was very often half-cocked when he got up to ride.… The man could ride as well half-drunk as sober.

To go off at half-cock (or half-cocked), verb. phr. 1. (sporting).—To fail through hasty and ill considered endeavours; and 2. (venery) = to ejaculate before completing erection.

1848. Lowell, Biglow Papers [Wk. 1891], p. 231. Now don’t go off half-cock: folks never gains By usin’ pepper-sarse instid o’ brains.

Half-cracked, adv. (common).—Lacking in intelligence. See Apartments and Tile Loose.

1887. W. P. Frith, Autobiog., i., 129. Who was what is vulgarly called half-cracked.

Half-crown Word, subs. phr. (common).—1. A difficult or uncommon vocable; a jaw-breaker (q.v.) or crack-jaw. Also (tailors’) = a sleeveboard (q.v.). [250]

Half-crowner, subs. (booksellers’).—A publication costing 2s. 6d.

Half-cut, adv. (common).—Half-drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

Half-fly Flat, subs. phr. (thieves’).—A thief’s jackal; a man (or woman) hired to do rough or dirty work.

Half-grown Shad, subs. phr. (American).—A dolt. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

Half Laugh and Purser’s Grin, subs. phr. (nautical).—A sneer; a half-and-half meaning.—Clark Russell.

Halflings, adj. (Scots’).—Betwixt and between. [Usually said of a boy or girl just leaving childhood.]

1818. Scott, Heart of Midlothian, xi. In my youth, nay, when I was a hafflins callant.

Half-man, subs. (nautical).—A landsman rated as A.B.

Half-marrow, subs. (old Scots’).—1. A faithless spouse; also a parcel husband or wife.

1600–61. Rutherford, Letters, i., 123. Plead with your harlot-mother, who hath been a treacherous half-marrow to her husband Jesus.

Half-moon, subs. (old).—1. A wig; and (2) the female pudendum. For synonyms, see Periwinkle and Monosyllable.

1611. Lodowick Barry, Ram Alley (Dodsley, Old Plays, vii., 326, ed. 1875). Is not her half-moon mine?

Half-mourning, subs. (common).—A black eye. Full-mourning = two black eyes or deep grief.

Half-nab (or nap), adv. (old).—See quot.

1791. Bampfylde-Moore Carew, Life. Half-nab—at a venture, unsight unseen, hit or miss.

Half-on, adj. (colloquial).—Half-drunk.

Half-rocked, adv. (common).—Half-witted; silly. [From a West Country saying that all idiots are nursed bottom upwards.] See Apartments and Tile Loose.

Half-saved, adv. (common).—Weak-minded; shallow-brained. See Apartments and Tile Loose.

1834. Southey, The Doctor, ch. x. William Dove’s was not a case of fatuity. Though all was not there, there was a great deal. He was what is called half-saved.

1874. M. Collins, Frances, ch. xlii. This groom was what they call in the west country half-saved.

Half-screwed, adj. (common).—More or less in liquor. See Drinks and Screwed.

1839. Lever, Harry Lorrequer, ch. ii. He was, in Kilrush phrase, half-screwed, thereby meaning more than half tipsy.

Half-seas Over, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Loosely applied to various degrees of inebriety. Formerly = half way on one’s course, or towards attainment. For synonyms, see Screwed. [251]

[In its specific sense Gifford says, “a corruption of the Dutch op-zee zober, ‘over-sea beer,’ a strong heady beverage introduced into Holland from England.” ‘Up-zee Freese’ is Friezeland beer. The German zauber means ‘strong beer’ and ‘bewitchment.’ Thus (1610) in Jonson, Alchemist, iv., 2. ‘I do not like the dulness of your eye, It hath a heavy cast, ’tis upsee Dutch.’ Other nautical terms = drunk are water-logged; sprung; slewed; with one’s jib well bowsed; three sheets in the wind; channels under, but see Drinks and Screwed.]

1697. Vanbrugh, Relapse, iii., 3. Good; that’s thinking half-seas over. One tide more brings us into port.

1714. Spectator, No. 616. The whole magistracy was pretty well disguised before I gave them the slip. Our friend the alderman was half-seas over before the bonfire was out.

1738. Swift, Pol. Convers., Dial. 1. You must own you had a drop in your eye; when I left you, you were half seas over.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. ix. Who, by this time, had entered into all the jollity of his new friends, and was indeed more than half-seas-over.

1829. J. B. Buckstone, Billy Taylor. The public-houses will not close till morn, And wine and spirituous liquors are so cheap, That we can all get nicely half seas over, And see no sea at all.

1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 40. Mr. Smith, now being more than half-seas over, became very uproarious.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. xxx. It’s pay-day with the General … and he’s a precious deal more than half-seas over.

1866. G. Eliot, Felix Holt, ch. xxviii. There’s truth in wine, and there may be some in gin and muddy beer.… I’ve got plenty of truth in my time out of men who were half-seas-over, but never any that was worth a sixpence to me.

1890. Globe, 16 Apr., p. 2, c. 1. The familiar phrase half-seas over, for example, is wanting, and for this we appear to be indebted to the Dutch.

1892. The Cosmopolitan, Oct., p. 724. The fellow half-seas-over everyone excuses.

Half-slewed, adj. (common).—Parcel drunk. For synonyms, see Screwed.

Half-snacks (or Half-snags), adv. phr. (colloquial).—Half-shares. See quots.

1683. Earl of Dorset, A Faithful Catalogue. She mounts the price and goes half snack herself.

1887. Walford’s Antiquarian, p. 252. Half-snags is a corrupted form of half snacks, i.e., half shares. If one of a party of arabs finds any article it becomes his entire property unless his fellows say Half-Snags, or ‘Quarter-bits,’ or ‘Some for your neighbours.’

Half-’un, subs. (common).—Half-a-glass of spirits and water; Half-a-Go (q.v.).

Half-widow, subs. (American).—A woman with a lazy and thriftless husband.

[For Half in combination, see also Bean: Borde; Bull; Case: Century; Couter; Dollar; George; Go; Grunter; Hog; Jack; James; Ned; Ounce; Quid; Skiv; Stretch; Tusheroon; Wheel.]

Halifax. Go to Halifax, verb. phr. (American).—Be off! go to hell (q.v.). The full text is Go to Hell, Hull, or Halifax. Cf., Bath, Blazes, Hull, Putney, etc.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe (Grosart, 1883–84, p. 284). If frier Pendela and his fellowes, had any thing to say to him, in his admiral court of the sea, let them seek him, and neither in hull, hell, nor halifax.

1875. Notes and Queries, 5 S., iv., p. 66. Go to Halifax. This expression is sometimes used in the United States as a mild substitute for a direction to go to a place not to be named to ears polite. [252]

Hall, subs. (fishmongers’).—1. Specifically the hall = Leadenhall Market. Cf., Garden, Lane, etc.

2. (Oxford Univ.).—Dinner. [Which is taken in College hall.] To hall = to dine.

Hall by the Sea, subs. phr. (medical students’).—The Examination Hall of the conjoined Board of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons. [Situate on the Embankment at the foot of Waterloo Bridge.]

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 53. I thought you coons would find your way to this hall of delight.

Hallan-shaker (or Hallen-shaker), subs. (old).—A vagabond or sturdy beggar. For synonyms, see Cadger and Mumper.

c. 1503–4. Dunbar, A General Satyre wks. (ed. David Laing, 1834), ii., 26. Sic knavis and crakkeris to play at cartis and dyce. Sic halland-schakkaris.

c. 1600. Montgomerie, Poems (Scottish Text Soc., 1885–7), ‘Polwart and Montgomerie’s Flyting,’ p. 85. halland-shaker, draught-raiker, bannock-baiker, ale-beshitten.

(?) 1642. Old Ballad. ‘Maggie Lauder.’ Right scornfully she answered him, Begone, you Hallan-shaker.

1724. Journal from London, p. 4. Had seen me than staakin about like a hallen-shaker, You wou’d hae taen me for a water-wraith.

Halliballo.—See Hulliballo.

Hallion (or Hallyon), subs. (old).—1. A rogue; a clod; a gentleman’s servant out of livery; also (2) a shrew. Cf., Hell-cat.

1847. Porter, Big Bear, etc., p. 69. The scoundrels! the oudacious little hellions!

Halloo. To halloo with the under dog, verb. phr. (American).—To take the losing side.

Halo. To work the halo racket, verb. phr. (common).—To grumble; to be dissatisfied. [From the story of the Saint in Heaven who got dissatisfied with his nimbus.]

Haltersack, subs. (old).—A gallows-bird; a general term of reproach and contempt.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, Bazaro, a shifter, a conicatcher … a haltersacke.

1619. Beaumont and Fletcher, King and no King, ii., 2. Away, you haltersack, you.

Halves, subs. (Winchester College).—(pro. Hāves.) Half-Wellington boots, which were strictly non licet (obs.).—Notions.

To go (or cry) halves, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To take (or claim) a half share or chance. In America, at the halves.

1831. Neal, Down Easters, ch. iv., p. 45. ‘Lives by preachin’ at the halves a sabba’-days.’ ‘Preaching at the halves—how’s that?’ ‘Why don’t you know? in partnership for what’s taken arter the sarmon’s over.’

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, III., 122. He’ll then again ask if anybody will go him halves.

Ham, subs. (old).—1. (in. pl.) Trousers: also Ham-cases. For synonyms, see Kicks.

2. (American).—A loafer (q.v.). Also Ham-fatter. [The American Slang Dict. says ‘A tenth-rate actor or variety performer.’]

1888. Missouri Republican, 27 Mar. Connelly … is a good fighter, but will allow the veriest ham to whip him, if there is any money to be made by it.

1888. New York Herald, 29 July. The … more prosperous professional brother of the hamfatter.

No ham and all hominy, phr. (American).—Of indifferent quality; ‘no great shakes’; ‘all work and no play’; ‘much cry and little wool.’

Hamlet, subs. (old and American). See quots.

Ham-match, subs. (common).—A stand-up luncheon.

1890. Daily Telegraph, 4 Feb. At one o’clock they relieve their exhausted frames by taking perpendicular refreshment—vulgarly termed a ham match—at some City luncheon bar.

Hammer, subs. (pugilistic).—1. A hard-hitter: especially with the right hand, like the illustrious Hammer Lane. Also Hammerer and Hammer-man.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 33. A letter written on the occasion by Henry Harmer, the hammerer.

1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, 93. When a man hits very hard, chiefly with a favorite hand, his blows are said to fall like those of a sledge-hammer. Such boxers are hammering fighters, that do not defend their own vitals, cannot make sure of a blow, and are termed hammerers and hammermen.

1887. T. E. Brown, The Doctor, p. 159. And bedad I did, and before herself too, And hammered him well.

1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody, ch. ii. ‘Hammer him? What with?—a club?’ ‘No, with my fists.’

1865. Harper’s Magazine, p. 619. The chronic bears were amusing themselves by hammering, i.e., pressing down the price of Hudsons.

1885. Fortnightly Review, xxxviii., p. 578. A ‘defaulter’ has been declared or hammered, as it is technically termed.

1888. Echo, 28 Dec. If any unfortunate member be hammered to-day or to-morrow it will in all probability be a bear.

1890. Daily Telegraph, 1 Nov. This being the third day after the general settlement, a defaulter who had been unable to provide cash was hammered, and private arrangements are reported in other quarters without resort to this extreme measure.

1891. Pall Mall Gazette, 25 July, p. 1, c. 3. But what is an ‘outside broker?’ some (possibly lady) reader may ask. Well, he may be, and often is, a regular, who has been hammered for failing to meet his ‘differences.’

1891. Tit Bits, 15 Aug. I need not go into the circumstances which led to my being expelled from that honourable body, or hammered as it is familiarly called, owing to the taps with a hammer which the head porter gives before he officially proclaims the name of a defaulter. [254]

Down as a hammer, adv. phr. (common).—1. Wide-awake; knowing (q.v.); fly (q.v.).

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 45. To be down to anything is pretty much the same as being up to it, and down as a hammer is, of course, the intensivum of the phrase.

2. (colloquial).—Instant; peremptory; merciless. Cf., Like a thousand of bricks. Also To be down on … like a hammer.

That’s the hammer, verb. phr. (colloquial).—An expression of approval or assent.

To hammer out (or into), verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be at pains to deceive; to reiterate; to force to hear.

1596. Ben Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, iii., 3. Now am I, for some five and fifty reasons, hammering, hammering revenge.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., iii., 23. If any Scholar be in doubt, And cannot well bring this matter about; The Blacksmith can hammer it out.

1888. J. McCarthy and Mrs. Campbell-Praed, The Ladies’ Gallery, ch. i. I think the chaps that are always hammering on about repentance and atonement and forgiveness of sin have got hold of the wrong end.

Hammer-and-Tongs, adv. phr. (common).—Very violently; ding-dong.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 108. His master and mistress were at it hammer and tongs.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, ch. xxxv. Our ships were soon hard at it, hammer and tongs.

1837. Marryat, Snarleyow. Ods bobs! Hammer and Tongs! long as I’ve been to sea.

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. lx. Mr. Malone fell upon them hammer and tongs

1862. M. E. Braddon, Lady Audley’s Secret, ch. iv. ‘I always said the old buffer would marry,’ he muttered, after about half an hour’s reverie. ‘Alicia and my lady, the stepmother, will go at it hammer and tongs.’

1884. Jas. Payn, Talk of the Town, ch. xx. Both parties went at it hammer and tongs, and hit one another anywhere and with anything.

Hammer-headed, adj. (common).—1. Oafish; stupid.

1600. Nashe, Summers Last Will (Grosart), vi., 169. A number of rude Vulcans, vnweldy speakers, hammer-headed clownes.

1865. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, i., 9. Mr. Boffin’s equipage consisted of a long hammer-headed old horse, formerly used in the business … a driver being added in the person of a long hammer-headed young man.

Hammering, subs. (pugilistic and colloquial).—1. A beating; excessive punishment (q.v.).

Hammering-trade, subs. (pugilistic).—Pugilism.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 49. The other, vast, gigantic, as if made, express, by Nature for the hammering trade.

Hammersmith. To go to Hammersmith, verb. phr. (common).—To get a sound drubbing.

Hampered, adj. (old: now recognised).—Let or hindered; perplexed; entangled. [From Old. Eng., hamper = a fetter: see quot. 1613]. [255]

1613. Browne, Britannia’s Pastorals, bk. i., s. 7. Shackles, shacklockes, hampers, gives and chaines.

Hampstead Donkey, subs. phr. (common).—See quot. For synonyms, see Chates.

c. 1870. Daily Paper. The witness testified to the filthy state of the linen which she wore, and also the state of the sheets. Was told not to get into bed until she had looked for the Hampstead donkeys. ‘Did you know what that meant?’—‘No sir, not until I looked on the pillow and saw three’ (loud laughter). ‘Do you mean lice?’—‘Yes, sir, I do.’

Hampstead-heath, subs. phr. (rhyming).—The teeth. For synonyms, see Grinders.

1887. Referee, 7 Nov., p. 7, c. 3. She’d a Grecian ‘I suppose,’ And of Hampstead Heath two rows, In her ‘Sunny South’ that glistened Like two pretty strings of pearls.

Hampstead-heath Sailor, subs. phr. (common).—A landlubber (q.v.); a freshwater sailor (q.v.). Fr., un marin d’eau douce or un amiral Suisse (= a Swiss admiral: Switzerland having no seaboard).

Hanced, adj. (old).—In liquor. [From Hance = ‘to elevate.’] For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

1630. Taylor, Works. I doe finde my selfe sufficiently hanced, and that henceforth I shall acknowledge it; and that whensoever I shall offer to bee hanced again, I shall arme my selfe with the craft of a fox, the manners of a hogge, the wisdom of an asse, mixt with the civility of a beare.

Hand, subs. (colloquial).—Properly a seaman; now a labourer, a workman, an agent.

1658. Phillips, New World of Words, s.v. Hand … a Word us’d among Mariners … when Men are wanted to do any Labour they usually Call for more hands.

1632–1704. Locke, Wks. A dictionary containing a natural history requires too many hands, as well as too much time.

1711. Spectator, No. 232. The reduction of the prices of our manufactures by the addition of so many new hands, would be no inconvenience to any man.

1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, i, 14. The mercantile part of the world, therefore, wisely use the term ‘employing hands,’ and esteem each other as they employ more or fewer.

1871. Chambers’ Miscellany, No. 113, p. 3. He was admitted as a hand in an establishment already numbering three hundred active workers.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 70. The hands has all bloomin’ well struck.

1892. National Observer, 22 Oct., vol. viii., p. 571. The dispute in the South-East Lancashire cotton trade is like to result in the stoppage of fourteen or fifteen million spindles which will take employment from sixty thousand hands, a fifth of them women and children.

1893. Fortnightly Review, Jan., p. 62. The wages paid to the operatives in our woollen industry are, to a marked extent, lower than those received by the hands employed in our cotton mills.

1856. Whyte Melville, Kate Coventry, ch. xv. Lady Horsingham was tolerably courageous, but totally destitute of what is termed hand, a quality as necessary in driving as in riding, particularly with fractious or high-spirited horses.

A good (or cool, neat, old, fine, etc.) hand, subs. phr. (colloquial).—An expert.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.), s.v. Hand (v.). ‘He is a good hand,’ spoke of one that is an artist in some particular mechanical art or trade, etc. [256]

1773. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, iii., 1. When I was in my best story of the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene, he asked if I had not a good hand at making punch.

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, xii. A quaint boy at Eton, cool hand at Oxford, a deep card in the regiment, man or woman never yet had the best of ‘Uppy.’

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, i., p. 33. The new man, the green hand, takes little or no heed of the entrance of the officers.… Not so the old hand.

1886. R. L. Stevenson, Kidnapped, p. 195. Ye’re a grand hand at the sleeping!