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

1673. Wycherley, Gentleman Dancing Master, iv., 1. They ne’er think of the poor watchful chambermaid, who sits knocking her heels in the cold, for want of better exercise, in some melancholy lobby or entry.

1752. Fielding, Amelia. In this parlour Amelia cooled her heels, as the phrase is, near a quarter of an hour.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford [Ed. 1854], p. 22. He expected all who kicked their heels at his house would behave decent and polite to young Mr. Dot.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, ch. xiii. Tell him that I’ll trouble him to forget to go to sleep again as he did last time, and leave me here kicking my heels contrary to the rules of the service. [297]

1879. Sala, Paris Herself Again, i. We cooled our heels during the ordinary an intolerable half hour.

1888. Lynch, Mountain Mystery, ch. xlvi. That young gentleman, who had been cooling his heels for what seemed like half the night.

1601. Shakspeare, Henry VIII., v., 4. If the king blame me for it, I’ll lay ye all By the heels, and suddenly.

1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, iii. Sir, if you be not quiet the quicklier, I’ll have you clapp’d fairly by the heels, for disturbing the Fair.

1663–1678. Butler, Hudibras, i., 3. Th’ one half of man, his mind, Is, sui juris, unconfined, And cannot be laid by the heels.

1886. R. L. Stevenson, Kidnapped, p. 184. If they lay me by the heels, Alan, it’s then that you’ll be needing the money.

To lift one’s heels, verb. phr. (venery).—To lie down for copulation; to spread (q.v.).

To turn (or topple) up the heels (or toes), verb. phr. (old).—To die. For synonyms, see Aloft.

1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse [Grosart], ii., 77. Our trust is … you will tourne up their heeles one of these yeares together, and prouide them of such vnthrifts to their heires, as shall spend in one weeke … what they got … all their lifetime.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe. Leaven thousand and fifty people toppled up their heels.

To take to (or show) a pair of heels, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To take to flight; to run away. For synonyms, see Amputate.

1864. Chambers’ Journal, Dec. Once before he had ‘found meanes yet at length to deceive his keepers, and took him to his heels’ to the sea coast.

His heels, verb. phr. (gaming).—The knave of trumps at cribbage or all-fours. Hence ‘two for his heels’ = two points scored (at cribbage) for turning up this card.

To tread upon (or to be at or upon) the heels, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To follow close or hard after; to pursue.

To go heels over head, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To turn a somersault; to be hasty; to fall violently. Also Top over Tail.

1540. Lyndsay, Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis, 3744. This fals warld is turnit top ouir taill.

To have (or get) the heels of, verb. phr. (old).—To outrun; to get an advantage.

1605. Shakspeare, King Lear, ii., 2. A good man’s future may grow out at heels.

1851–6. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., 122. He was a little down at heel.

Heeled, adj. (American).—Armed. [From the steel spur used in cock-fighting.]

Heeler, subs. (American).—1. Followers or henchmen of a politician or a party.

1888. Denver Republican, 29 Feb. The heelers and strikers, bummers and stuffers, otherwise known as practical [298]politicians, who do the work at the Democratic polls, and manipulate the primaries and local conventions.

1888. New York Herald, 4 Nov. A band succeeded them and preceded a lot of ward heelers and floaters.

3. (American thieves’)—An accomplice in the pocket-book racket (q.v.). [The Heeler draws attention, by touching the victim’s heels, to a pocket-book containing counterfeit money which has been let drop by a companion, with a view to inducing the victim to part with genuine coin for a division of the find.]

4. (Winchester College).—A plunge, feet foremost, into water. Fr., une chandelle.

Heel-taps, subs. (common).—1. Liquor in the bottom of a glass. Bumpers round and no heel taps = Fill full, and drain dry! See Daylight. Fr., la musique.

1795. Gent. Mag., p. 118. Briskly pushed towards me the decanter containing a tolerable bumper, and exclaimed, ‘Sir, I’ll buzz you: come, no heel-taps!’

1836. Dickens, Pickwick (Ed. 1857), p. 10. No heel-taps, and he emptied the glass.

1838. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, ch. xxxii. There was a proper objection to drinking her in heeltaps.

1841. Punch, i., 117. Empty them heeltaps, Jack, and fill out with a fresh jug.

1844. Buckstone, The Maid with the Milking Pail. Added to which, she’s a termagant, and imbibes all the heeltaps.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xiv. The relics of yesterday’s feast—the emptied bottles … the wretched heel-taps that have been lying exposed all night to the air.

Heifer, subs. (common).—A woman; old heifer (in Western America) = a term of endearment. For synonyms, see Petticoat.

18(?). In the Back Woods, p. 71. Now, git out, I says, or the ol’ heifer ’ll show you whar the carpenter left a hole for you to mosey.

Heifer-paddock, subs. (Australian).—A ladies’ school.

1885. Mrs. Campbell-Praed, Australian Life. The cattle (women) hereabouts are too scattered.… Next year I shall look over a heifer-paddock in Sydney, and take my pick.

Heigh-ho, subs. (thieves’).—Stolen yarn. [From the expression used to apprise the fence that the speaker had stolen yarn to sell.]

Heights. To scale the heights of connubial bliss, verb. phr. (venery).—To copulate. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

Helbat, subs. (back).—A table.

Hell, subs. (old).—1. Generic for a place of confinement, as in some games (Sydney), or a cell in a prison: specifically, a place under the Exchequer Chamber, where the king’s debtors were confined.

1593. Shakspeare, Comedy of Errors, iv., 2. A hound that runs counter, and yet draws dry-foot well, One that before the judgement, carries poor souls to hell.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Secreta.… Also the name of a place in Venice where all their secret records and ancient evidences be kept, as hell is in Westminster Hall. [299]

2. (old).—A workman’s receptacle for stolen or refuse pieces, as cloth, type, etc.; one’s eye. Also Hell-hole and Hell-box. See Cabbage. Hell-matter = (printers’) old and battered type.

(?). Newest Academy of Compliments. When taylors forget to throw cabbage in hell, And shorten their bills, that all may be well.

1589. Nashe, Martins Months Minde (Grosart), i. 185. Remember the shreddes that fall into the Tailors hell, neuer come backe to couer your backe.

1592. Defence of Conny Catching, in Greene’s Wks., xi., 96. This hel is a place that the tailors haue vnder their shopboord, wher al their stolne shreds is thrust.

1606. Day, Ile of Gulls. That fellowes pocket is like a tailors hell, it eats up part of every mans due; ’tis an executioner, and makes away more innocent petitions in one yeere, than a red-headed hangman cuts ropes in an age.

1625. Jonson, Staple of News, i., 1. That jest Has gain’d thy pardon, thou hadst lived Condemn’d To thine own hell.

1663. T. Killegrew, Parson’s Wedding, iii., 5., in Dodsley, O.P. (1780) xi., 452. Careless [addressing a tailor]. Why then, thou art damned. Go, go home, and throw thyself into thine own hell; it is the next way to the other.

1663–1712. King, Art of Cookery. In Covent Garden did a taylor dwell, Who might deserve a place in his own hell.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hell, the Place where the Taylers lay up their Cabbage, or Remnants, which are sometimes very large.

1698. Money Masters All Things, p. 56. The Cheating Knave some of the clues does throw Into his hell-hole; and then lets her know That he her web cannot work out o’ th’ Loom.

1704. Swift, Tale of a Tub, Sec. iii. The tailor’s hell is the type of a critic’s common-place book.

1814. C. Lamb, Melancholy of Tailors in Poems, etc. (Ed. Ainger), p. 333. The tailor sitting over a cave or hollow place, in the cabalistic language of his order, is said to have certain melancholy regions always open under his feet.

1853. Notes and Queries, 1 S., viii., 315, c. 2. The term cabbage, by which tailors designate the cribbed pieces of cloth, is said to be derived from an old word ‘cablesh,’ i.e., wind-fallen wood. And their hell where they store the cabbage, from helan, to hide.

3. (common).—A gambling house. [Whence Silver-hell = a gambling house where only silver is played for; Dancing-hell = an unchartered hall; and so forth.]

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, ii., 4. Jerry. A hell, Tom? I’m at fault again! Log. A gambling house, Jerry!

1841. Comic Almanack, p. 280. A man at a hell, Playing the part of a Bonnetter well.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. xxxix. He plays still; he is in a hell every night almost.

1890. Saturday Review, 1 Feb., p. 134, c. 2. These private hells nevertheless exist, and as all money found on the premises is seized by the police, the players have to resort to all kinds of subterfuge when the three loud knocks are heard which indicate the presence of the commissaire.

4. (venery).—The female pudendum; cf., Heaven. For synonyms, see Monosyllable. [See Boccaccio, Decameron.]

Heaven, Hell and Purgatory, subs. phr. (old).—Three ale-houses formerly situated near Westminster Hall.

1672. Marvell, Rehearsal (Grosart), iii, 212. War broke out, and then to be sure hell’s broke loose.

1703. Farquhar, Inconstant, iv., 4. Hell broke loose upon me, and all the furies fluttered about my ears. [300]

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 96. Tho’ hell’s broke loose, and the Devils roar abroad.

Hell of a (lark, goer, row, and so forth), adj. phr. (common).—Very much of a ——; a popular intensitive.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 229. I hope to h—— the horse will break his neck and his rider’s too.

To play (or kick up) hell and tommy, verb. phr. (common).—To ruin utterly. Also, to play hell and break things; to raise hell; to make hell’s delight.

1837–40. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, p. 287 (Ed. 1862). And in the mean time rob ’em, plunder ’em, and tax ’em; hang their priests, seize their galls, and play hell and tommy with them, and all because they speak French.

1859. De Quincey, Wks. (14 vol., ed. vi., 336). About a hundred years earlier Lord Bacon played h—— and tommy when casually raised to the supreme seat in the Council by the brief absence in Edinburgh of the King and the Duke of Buckingham.

1867. Lahore Chronicle, 20 May. The Sepoys are burning down the houses, and playing h—— and tommy with the station.

1879. Justin M’Carthy, Donna Quixote, ch. xxxii. We’ll have a fine bit of fun, I tell you. I’ve played hell-and-tommy already with the lot of them.

To lead apes in hell, verb. phr. (old).—To die an old maid. [From a popular superstition.]

1599. Henry Porter, The Two Angry Women of Abingdon. (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii., 294–5). For women that are wise will not lead apes in hell.… Therefore, come husband: maidenhead adieu.

1600. Shakspeare, Much Ado about Nothing, ii., 1. He that is more than youth is not for me, and he that is less than man I am not for him; therefore I will … even lead his apes into hell.

1605. London Prodigal, ii. But ’tis an old proverb, and you know it well, that women, dying maids, lead apes in hell.

1611. Chapman, May-day, v. 2. I am beholden to her; she was loth to have me lead apes in hell.

1659. The London Chanticleers, i., 2. I’ll always live a virgin! What! and lead apes in hell?

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 179. Celladon at that began To talk of apes in hell.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Bloudie Jacke.’ They say she is now leading apes … And mends Bachelors’ small clothes below.

To put the devil into hell, verb. phr. (old).—To copulate.—Boccaccio. [Hell = female pudendum.] For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

To give hell, verb. phr. (common).—To trounce; abuse; or punish severely. Also (American), to make one smell hell (or a damn particular smell).

Hell-for-leather, adv. phr. (common).—With the utmost energy and desperation.

1892. R. Kipling, Barrack Room Ballads. When we rode hell-for-leather, Both squadrons together, Not caring much whether we lived or we died.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xxix. I tried every place, everything; went to Ems, to Wiesbaden, to Hombourg, and played like hell.

Go to hell! phr. (Common).—An emphatic dismissal: the full phrase is, ‘Go to hell and help the devil to make your mother into a bitch pie.’ [A variant is, [301]‘Go to hell and pump thunder.’] For analogous phrases, see Oaths.

1836. Michael Scott, Cruise of the Midge, p. 72. So, good men, go to hell all of you—do—very mosh go to hell—do.

1889. Daily News, 21 Dec., p. 7, c. 1. He was asked to see somebody about his evidence, and told him to go to hell.

1892. Kipling, Barrack Room Ballads. ‘Ford o’ Kabul River.’ Kabul town’ll go to hell.

Hell and Scissors! intj. (American).—An ejaculation of surprise and ridicule. In England, Scissors!

Hell-bender, subs. (American).—A drunken frolic; a tremendous row. Also Hell-a-popping and Hell’s delight.

Hell-broth, subs. (common).—Bad liquor. For synonyms, see Drinks.

Hell-cat (-hag, -hound, -kite, etc.), subs. (old: now recognised).—A man or woman of hellish disposition; a lewdster of either sex; cf., Hallion.

1606. Shakspeare, Macbeth, v., 7. Macd. Turn, hell-hound, turn! Macb. Of all men else I have avoided thee.

Hell-driver, subs. (old).—A coachman.

Hellite, subs. (gaming).—A professional gambler.—Ducange.

Hellophone, subs. (American).—The telephone. [From Halloo! + phone.]

Help, subs. (colloquial: once literary).—A hired assistant. Lady-help = a woman acting as a companion, and undertaking the lighter domestic duties with or without wages.

1839. De Quincey, Murder as one of the Fine Arts, ii. For domestic helps are pretty generally in a state of transition.

1848. Burton, Waggeries, p. 77. A bevy of ready helps rushed upon him and tore him from the seat of honour.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. vi. ‘Well, you’ve had a pretty good day of it,’ said Tom, who had been hugely amused; ‘but I should feel nervous about the help, if I were you.’

So help (or s’elp or s’welp) me God (Bob, never, or say-so, etc.), phr. (common).—An emphatic asseveration.

1892. A. Chevalier, ‘Mrs. ’Enery ’Awkins.’ Selp me Bob I’m crazy, Liza, you’re a daisy.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 62. ’Selp me never, old pal, it’s a scorcher.

1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, ch. xiv. Well, so help my blessed tater, if this isn’t our old Jose turned up again.

Helpa, subs. (back).—An apple.

Helpless, adj. (colloquial).—Drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

Hemispheres, subs. (venery).—The paps. For synonyms, see Dairy.

Hemp (or Hemp-seed, Stretch-Hemp, Hemp-string, or Hempy), subs. (old).—1. A rogue; a candidate fit for the gallows. Frequently used jocularly. A crack-halter (q.v.). Fr., une graine de bagne. [302]

1532. Sir T. More, Wks. [1557], folio 715. [He] feareth [not] to mocke the Sacrament, the blessed body of God, and ful like a stretch hempe, call it but cake, bred, or starch.

1566. Gascoigne, Supposes, iv., 3. If I come near you, hempstring, I will teach you to sing sol fa.

1606. Chapman, Mons. D’Olive, Act v., p. 135. (Plays, 1874). Van. A perfect young hempstring. Va. Peace, least he overhear you.

1659. Lady Alimony, iv., 6. (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., p. 350). Now, you hempstrings, had you no other time to nim us but when we were upon our visits?

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hemp, young-hemp, An appellation for a graceless boy.

1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. xxxiv. She’s under lawful authority now; and full time, for she was a daft hempie.

1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, [Ed. 1840], p. 139. ‘We’ll see that, young hempseed,’ replied Sharples.

1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, iv, 14. Laudanum, therefore, being unable to stop the health of our hero, which the fruit of hempseed, and not the spirit of poppy-seed, was to overcome.…

To wag hemp in the wind, verb. phr. (old).—To be hanged. See Hempen Fever and Ladder.

1532. Sir T. More, Wks. [1557], folio 715. Tindall calleth blessing and crossynge but wagging of folkes fingers in the æyre, and feareth not (like one yt would at length wagge hempe in the winde) to mocke at all such miracles.

Hempen-bridle, subs. (old).—A ship’s rope or rigging. See Horse and Tree.

Hempen Collar (candle, circle, cravat, croak, garter, necktie, or habeas), subs. (old).—The hangman’s noose; a halter. Also Hemp, and the Hearty-choke. Cf., Anodyne neck-lace. See quot. 1595.

1530–95. Turbervile, Of Two Desperate Men. A man in deepe despaire, with hempe in hand, Went out in haste to ende his wretched dayes.

c. 1586. Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv., 4. When the hangman had put on his hempen.

1594. Shakspeare, 2 Henry VI., iv., 7. Ye shall have a hempen candle then, and the pap of a hatchet.

c. 1785. Wolcot [P. Pindar], Rights of Kings, Ode xviii. Your hemp cravats, your pray’r, your Tyburn miser.

1819. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor, ch. xvi. I wad wager twa and a plack that hemp plaits his cravat yet.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Hempen Habeas. He will get over it by a hempen habeas.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. iv. If ever I know as how you makes a flat of my Paul, blow me tight, but I’ll weave you a hempen collar: I’ll hang you, you dog, I will.

1886. Miss Braddon, Mohawks, ch. xxviii. A full confession were perhaps too much to expect. Nothing but the immediate prospect of a hempen necklace would extort that.

Hempen Fever. To die of a hempen fever, verb. phr. (old).—To be hanged. For synonyms, see Ladder.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hempen Fever, a man who was hanged, is said to have died of a hempen fever; and in Dorsetshire to have been stabbed with a Bridport dagger; Bridport being a place famous for manufacturing hemp into cords.

1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 76. She had been married four times; three of her husbands died of hempen fevers.

Hempen-fortune, subs. (old).—Bad luck; a term for the gallows. [303]

1705. Vanbrugh, The Confederacy, v., 1. If ever I see one glance of your hempen fortune again, I’m off your partnership for ever.

Hempen-squincy, subs. (old).—Hanging. For synonyms, see Ladder.

1646. Randolph’s Jealous Lovers. Hear you, tutour, Shall not we be suspected for the murder, And choke with a hempen squincy.

Hempen-widow, subs. (old).—A woman widowed by the gallows.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hempen Widow, One whose Husband was Hanged.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th Ed.). Hempen-Widow (s.), a woman whose husband was hanged.

1834. Harrison Ainsworth, Rookwood, p. 89. In a box of the stone-jug I was born, Of a hempen-widow the kid forlorn Fake away.

Hen, subs. (common).—1. A woman. Specifically, a wife or mistress. For synonyms, see Petticoat.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Hen. In Black-boy Alley I’ve a ken, A tyke and fighting cock; A saucy tip-slang moon-eyed hen, Who is oft mill-doll at block.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 20. Whenever there’s hens on the crow, ’Arry’s good for a hinnings,—no fear!

Hens and Chickens, subs. phr. (thieves’).—Pewter measures; quarts and pints. Cf., Cat and Kittens.

1851. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. i., p. 276. The hens and chickens of the roguish low lodging-houses are the publicans’ pewter measures; the bigger vessels are ‘hens,’ the smaller are ‘chickens.’

Hen-drinking, subs. (provincial).—See quot.

1859. Notes and Queries, 2 S. viii., 239. There is yet another [Yorkshire marriage-custom], viz., the hen-drinking. On the evening of the wedding day the young men of the village call upon the bridegroom for a hen—meaning money for refreshments … should the hen be refused, the inmates may expect some ugly trick to the house ere the festivities terminate.

Hen Frigate, subs. (nautical).—A ship commanded by the captain’s wife. Cf., Hen-pecked.

Hen-fruit, subs. (American).—Eggs.

Hen (or Chicken)-hearted, adj. (old: now recognised).—Timorous; cowardly.

d. 1529. Skelton, Why Come Ye not to Courte. They kepe them in their holdes Lyke hen-hearted cuckoldes.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th Ed.). Hen-hearted, of a cowardly, fearful, or timorous disposition.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. (2nd Ed.), s.v. ‘Poltron.’ A coward, or hen-hearted fellow.

1762. Foote, Liar, iii., 2. Why, what a dastardly, hen-hearted——But come, Papillion, this shall be your last campaign. [304]

Hen-house, subs. (old).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hen-house, a house where the woman rules, called also a she-house.

Hen-party (Convention- or Tea-), subs. (common).—An assemblage of women for political or social purposes. Cf., Bull or Stag-party. Also, Bitch-, Tabby-, and Cat-party.

Hen-pecked, adj. (old: now recognised).—Petticoat government; ruled by a woman.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Henpeckt Friggat, whose Commander and Officers are absolutely sway’d by their Wives. Ibid. Henpeckt Husband, whose Wife wears the Breeches.

1695. Congreve, Love for Love, iv., 13. I believe he that marries you will go to sea in a hen-pecked frigate.

1712. Arbuthnot, History of John Bull, Pt. I., ch. v. He had a termagant wife, and, as the neighbours said, was playing henpecked!

1712. Spectator, No. 479. Socrates, who is by all accounts the undoubted head of the sect of the hen-pecked.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th Ed.). Hen-pecked, a man that is over-awed by his wife, and dares do nothing disagreeable to her inclinations.

1771. Smollett, Humphry Clinker, l. 27. I shall never presume to despise or censure any poor man for suffering himself to be henpecked, conscious how I myself am obliged to truckle to a domestic demon.

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. xxxvii. He had fallen from all the height and pomp of beadleship, to the lowest depth of the most snubbed hen-peckery.

1857. A. Trollope, Barchester Towers, ch. iii. But Mrs. Proudie is not satisfied with such home dominion, and stretches her power over all his movements, and will not even abstain from things spiritual. In fact, the bishop is hen-pecked.

Hen’s-arsehole.—See Mouth.

Hen-snatcher, subs. (American).—A chicken thief.

1888. Bulletin, 24 Nov. All the dead-beats and suspected hen-snatchers plead when before the Bench that they were only ‘mouching round,’ etc.

Hens’-rights, subs. (American).—Women’s rights.

Hen-toed, adj. phr. (common).—To turn the toes in walking like a fowl.

Here. Here’s to you (at you, unto you, now, or luck), phr. (common).—An invitation to drink; here’s a health to you. For synonyms, see Drinks.

1717. Ned Ward, Wks. ii., 71. Then we were fain To use Hertfordshire kindness, here’s to you again.

1853. Diogenes ii., 46. Each a pot in his hand.… Observed in a style of remarkable ease, ‘Old Buck here’s luck,’ And then at the pewter proceeded to suck.

I am not here, phr. (tailors’).—‘I don’t feel inclined to work’; ‘I wish to be left alone.’

Here-and-Thereian, subs. phr. (old).—A rolling stone; a person with no permanent address. Lex. Bal., 1811. [305]

Hereford, adj. (American cowboy). White. [Herefords are white-faced.]

Herefordshire-weed, subs. (old).—An oak.

Her Majesty’s Carriage, subs. phr. (common).—A prison van; the Queen’s ’bus. See Black Maria. Fr., l’omnibus à pègres.

Her Majesty’s Tobacco Pipe, subs. (common).—The furnace where the forfeited tobacco from the Customs House is burnt. [Now a thing of the past: the tobacco being distributed to workhouses, etc.]

1871. Echo, 27 Jan. All that was not sold will be burnt, according to custom, in her majesty’s tobacco pipe. We cannot think such waste justifiable.

Hermit (or Baldheaded Hermit), subs. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

Herod. To out-herod Herod, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To out-do; specifically (theatrical) to excel in rant.

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, iii., 2. Oh, it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious, perriwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings … it out-herods Herod.

Herring. Neither fish, flesh, fowl, nor good red herring, phr. (old).—Neither one thing nor the other.

1682. Dryden, Duke of Guise, Epil. (6th line from end). Neuters in their middleway of fleering, Are neither fish, nor flesh, nor good red herring.

To throw a sprat to catch a herring (or whale), verb. phr. (old).—To forego an advantage in the hope of greater profit.

1826. Buckstone, Luke the Labourer, i., 2. I give dat like throwing away a sprat to catch a herring, though I hope on this occasion to catch a bigger fish.

1890. Grant Allen, Tents of Shem, ch. xix. He’s casting a sprat to catch a whale.

Dead as a herring (or shotten herring), adv. phr. (old).—Quite dead. [Herrings die sooner on leaving the water than most fish.] See Dead.

1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, ii., 3. By gar de herring is no dead as I vill kill him.

1785. Burns, Death and Dr. Hornbook. I’ll nail the self-conceited sot As dead’s a herrin’.

1790. Rhodes, Bombastes Furioso, Sc. 4. Ay, dead as herrings—herrings that are red.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 117. People jammed inside like herrings in a barrel.

The devil a barrel the better herring, phr. (old).—All bad alike.—Lex. Bal. In modern American, all alike; indistinguishable. Cf., Sardine.

Herring-gutted, adj. (old).—Lanky; thin.—Grose.

Herring-pond, subs. (common).—The sea; specifically, the North Atlantic Ocean. See Briny and Puddle. To be sent across the herring-pond = to be transported.

1722. England’s Path to Wealth. ’Tis odds but a finer country, cheaper and better food and raiment, wholesomer air, easier rents and taxes, will tempt many of your countrymen to cross the herring-pond.

1729. Gay, Polly, i., 1. Bless us all! how little are our customs known on this side the herring pond! [306]

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, etc., s.v. Herring-pond—the sea, the Atlantic; and he who is gone across it is said to be lagged, or gone a Botanizing.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 256, ed. 1854. You’re too old a hand for the herring-pond.

1864. M. E. Braddon, Henry Dunbar, ch. xxv. You’re not going to run away? You’re not going to renounce the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and make an early expedition across the herring-pond—eh?

1884. Phillipps-Woolley, Trottings of a Tenderfoot. Everyone nowadays has read as much as he or she cares to about the voyage across the herring-pond.

1889. Notes and Queries, 7 S., vii., p. 36, c. 2. Terms which have lived in America, and again crossed the herring-pond with modern traffic.

1890. Punch, 6 Feb. Saturday.—My connection with war ended. Calculate I start to-morrow with the Show across the herring-pond, to wake up the Crowned Heads of Europe!

1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody, ch. xvii. If so, I’ll—I’ll cut him, when I cross the—er—herrin’ pond.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 119. I guess we have ruined one or two well-known authors, on the other side of the herring pond.

Hertfordshire-kindness, subs. (old).—An acknowledgment, or return, in kind, of favours received. (But see quots., 1662, 1690, and 1738).

1662. Fuller, Worthies. This is generally taken in a good and grateful sense, for the mutual return of favours received: it being (belike) observed that the people in this county at entertainments drink back to them who drank to them.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hertfordshire-kindness, Drinking to the same Man again.

1717. Ned Ward, Wks., ii., 7. Then we were fain To use Hertfordshire-kindness, Here’s to you again.

1738. Swift, Polite Conversations. Neverout. My Lord, this moment I did myself the honour to drink to your Lordship. Lord Smart. Why then that’s Hertfordshire Kindness. Neverout. Faith, my Lord, I pledged myself: for I drank twice together without thinking.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hertfordshire Kindness, drinking twice to the same person.

Hewgag. The Hewgag, subs. (American).—A name for an undeterminate, unknown, mythical creature.—Slang, Jargon, and Cant.

Hey-gammer-cook. To play at Hey-gammer-cook, verb. phr. (venery).—To copulate. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

Hiccius Doccius, subs. phr. (Old Cant).—A juggler; also a shifty fellow or trickster.

1676. Shadwell, Virtuoso, ii., p. 19. I shall stand here till one of them has whipt away my Mistris about business, with a Hixius Doxius, with the force of Repartee, and this, and that, and Everything in the world.

1678. Butler, Hudibras, iii., 3, 579. At Westminster, and Hickses-Hall, And Hiccius Dockius play’d in all.

1688. Wycherley, Country Wife, iii. That burlesque is a Hocus-pocus trick they have got, which by the virtue of Hictius doctius, topsey-turvey, etc.

1812. Johnson, Eng. Dict., s.v. Hiccius doccius … a cant word for a juggler; one that plays fast and loose.

Adj. (old).—Drunk; slovenly. Also, Hickey (q.v.). For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

1733. North, Examen, i., 3, 137 (1740). The author with his Hiccius-doxius delivery.

Hic Jacet, subs. phr. (common).—A tombstone; also a memorial inscription. [From the opening words.]

1598. Shakspeare, All’s Well, etc., iii., 6. The merit of service is seldom attributed to the true … performer. I would have that drum … or hic jacet.

1858–59. Tennyson, Idylls of the King (‘Vivien’). Among the cold hic jacets of the dead.

Hick, subs. (Old Cant).—I. A man; specifically a countryman; a booby. Also (American thieves’) Hickjop and Hicksam. For synonyms, see Joskin.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hick, any Person of whom any Prey can be made, or Booty taken from; also a silly Country Fellow.

1720. Smith, Lives of Highwaymen and Pyrates, ii., 39. Among whom was a country farmer … which was not missed at all by the Country Hick.

1725. New Cant. Dict. Song 3. ‘The Thief-catcher’s Prophesy.’ The Eighth is a Bulk, that can bulk any Hick.

1754. Scoundrel’s Dict. The fourteenth, a gamester, if he sees the Hick sweet He presently drops down a cog in the street.

Hickety-split, adj. (American).—With all one’s might; at top speed; hammer and tongs (q.v.); full chisel (q.v.).

Hickey, adj. (old).—See quot.

Hickory-shirt, subs. (American).—A checked shirt, cotton or woollen.

Hide, subs. (common).—The human skin. Once literary; now colloquial and vulgar.

1568. Bannatyne MSS., ‘When Flora, etc.’ (Hunterian Club, 1879–88). Sche is so brycht of hyd and hew, I lufe bot hir allane I wene.

1607. Marston, What You Will, ii., I. A skubbing railer, whose course harden’d fortune, Grating his hide, gauling his starued ribs, Sittes hauling at Deserts more battle fate.

1731. C. Coffey, The Devil to Pay, Sc. 5. Come, and spin, you drab, or I’ll tan your hide for you.

1892. Kipling, Barrack-Room Ballads. ‘Gunga-Din.’ An’ for all ’is dirty ’ide ’e was white, clear white, inside.

1868. Cassell’s Mag., May, p. 80. This was carried across the yard to Jacky as a regular challenge, and some said that Kavanagh and his friends were coming over to hide Jacky after dinner.

1885. Punch, 29 Aug. p. 98. And the silver-topped rattan with which the boys I used to hide.

Hidebound, adj. (old: now recognised).—Barren; intractable; niggardly; pedantic; utterly immovable.

1606. Return from Parnassus, ii., 4 (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 125). Any of the hidebound brethren of Oxford or Cambridge.

1672. Wycherley, Love in a Wood, i., 2. I am as barren and hidebound as one of your scribbling poets, who are sots in company for all their wit.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hidebound Horse, whose Skin sticks very close, and tite like a Pudding Bag, usually when very Fat. Ibid. Hidebound Muse, Stiff, hard of Delivery, Sir J. Suckling call’d Ben Johnson’s so.

1893. Pall Mall Gaz., 24 Feb. ‘High Time to Get Up.’ The most dragging inertness and the most hide-bound celerity.

Hiding, subs. (common).—A thrashing. For synonyms, see Tanning.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, ii., p. 23. May the Gown give the Town a jolly good hiding. [308]

1864. Mark Lemon, Jest Book, p. 236. Some people have a notion that villany ought to be exposed, though we must confess we think it a thing that deserves a hiding.

1871. All the Year Round, 18 Feb. p. 288. Served me right if I’d got a hiding.

1883. Pall Mall Gaz., 16 Apr., p. 7, c. 2. They should stone all boys they met who were not members of the society, or in default themselves receive a good hiding.

1888. Sportsman, 22 Dec. The chairman told Deakin he could scarcely expect anything but a hiding for being connected with such a scurrilous publication.

1891. Licensed Vict. Mirror, 30 Jan., p. 7, c. 1. Before Paddock could claim the victory, which cost the Redditch fighter one of the severest hidings he ever had to put up with.

Higgledy-piggledy, adj. (Old Cant: now recognised).—In confusion; topsy-turvy; at sixes and sevens.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Alla rappa, snatchingly, higledi-pigledie, shiftingly, rap and run.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Higglede-piggledy, all together, as Hoggs and Piggs lie Nose in Arse.

1758. A. Murphy, The Upholsterer, ii. Ambassadors and Hair-Cutters, all higgledy-piggledy together.

1812. Johnson, Eng. Dict., s.v. Higgledy-piggledy, a cant word, corrupted from higgle, which denotes any confused mass, as higglers carry a huddle of provisions together.

1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, ch. xxii., p. 199. His name’s got all the letters in it, higgledy-piggledy.

1873. Miss Broughton, Nancy, ch. ii. We are all higgledy-piggledy—at sixes and sevens!

1876. M. E. Braddon, Joshua Haggard, ch. xvi. ‘If some of you will sit down,’ remonstrated Judith, ‘I’ll pour out the tea. But I don’t feel as if anybody wanted it while you’re standing about higgledy-piggledy.’

Higgler, subs. (old).—A hawker.

High, adj. (American).—Drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

2. (colloquial).—Stinking; gamey (q.v.).; whence, by implication, diseased (as a prostitute); obscene in intention and effect.

The high and dry, subs. phr. (clerical).—The High Church or Anglo-Catholic party in the Establishment, as opposed to the low and slow (q.v.), or Evangelical section. Cf., Broad and Shallow.

1854. Conybeare, Church Parties, 74. Its adherents [of the High Church] are fallen from their high estate, and are contemptuously denominated the high and dry, just as the parallel development of the Low Church is nicknamed ‘low and slow.’

1857. Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers, ch. liii. Who belongs to the high and dry church, the High Church as it was some fifty years since, before tracts were written and young clergymen took upon themselves the highly meritorious duty of cleaning churches?

1886. Graphic, 10 Apr., 399. In the Church have we not the three schools of High and Dry, Low and Slow, and Broad and Shallow?

1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 18 Oct., 6, 1. It seems to me that Mr. Chamberlain must really look out or he will find himself, as the result of that insidious ‘mellowing process’ to which Mr. Matthews has testified, landed high and dry in a Toryism compared to which Sir Walter Barttelot will show in Radical colours.

High and mighty, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Arrogant; imperious; proud; ‘on the high horse,’ or the ‘high ropes’ (q.v.); full of side (q.v.). [309]

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 121. None of your high and mighty games with me.

1892. Henley and Stevenson, Deacon Brodie, i., 2. Ye need na be sae high and mighty onyway.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 49. ‘Mighty high some people are, ain’t they?’ the man observed loudly, straightening himself, and ordering a nobbler for himself.

Too high for one’s nut, adv. phr. (American).—Out of one’s reach; beyond one’s capacity; over one’s bend (q.v.).

You can’t get high enough, verb. phr. (common).—A derisive comment on any kind of failure. [Probably obscene in origin.]

How is that for high? phr. (American).—‘What do you think of it?’ [Once a tag universal; common wear now.]

1860. Bartlett, Americanisms, s.v. High. For when he slapped my broad-brim off, and asked, How’s that for high? It roused the Adam in me, and I smote him hip and thigh!

1872. Clemens (Mark Twain), Roughing It, 334. We are going to get it up regardless of expense. [He] was always nifty himself, and so you bet his funeral ain’t going to be no slouch,—solid silver door-plate on his coffin, six plumes on the hearse, and a nigger on the box in a biled shirt and a plug hat,—how’s that for high?

1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 23 Sep., p. 2, c. 1. ‘Cricket’ stories are the thing just now. How is this for high?

High-bellied (or High in the Belly), adj. phr. (colloquial).—Far gone in pregnancy. Also High-waisted.

Highbinder, subs. (American).—1. A Chinese blackmailer.

High-bloke, subs. (American).—1. A judge.

Higher-malthusianism, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Sodomy.

Highfalute, verb. (American).—To use fine words. Also to yarn (q.v.). See Highfaluting. Fr., faire l’étroite.

Highfaluting, subs. (formerly American: now general).—Bombast; rant.

1865. Orchestra. We should not think of using high-falutin on ordinary serious occasions, and that we never shall use it in future, unless we happen to speak of the Porcupine critic.

1886. Pall Mall Gaz., 3 May, 6, 2. A glib master of frothy fustian, of flatulent high-falutin’, and of oratorical bombast.

1870. Friswell, Modern Men of Letters. A driveller of tipsy, high-flown, and high-falutin’ nonsense.

1884. Echo, 17 Mar., p. 1, c. 4. It is the boast of high-falutin’ Americans that theirs is a country ‘where every man can do as he darn pleases.’

High-feather. In high feather, adv. phr. (colloquial).—In luck; on good terms with oneself and the world.

High-fly. To be on the high-fly, verb. phr. (thieves’).—Specifically, to practise the begging-letter imposture, but (generally) to tramp the country as a beggar.

1839. Brandon, Poverty, Mendicity, and Crime, 163. The High-fly—beggars, with letters, pretending to be broken-down gentlemen, captains, etc. [310]