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

1704. King, Orpheus and Eurydice (Chalmers, English Poets), vol. ix., p. 284. A lady of prodigious fame, Whose hollow eyes and hopper breech Made common people call her witch.

Hopper-docker, subs. (old).—A shoe. For synonyms, see Trotter-cases.

Hop-picker, subs. (common).—1. A prostitute; also Hopping-wife. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

1888. Indoor Paupers, p. 55. Numbers of them go regularly to the hop-gardens; and each man must have a female companion—a hopping wife as she is termed.

Hopping-Giles, subs. (common).—A cripple. For synonyms, see Dot-and-go-one.

1885. Household Words, 27 June, p. 180. St. Giles is the patron saint of cripples; hence a lame person is mockingly called hopping giles.

Hopping-jesus, subs. (colloquial).—A lameter. For synonyms, see Dot-and-go-one.

Hopping-mad, adj. (American).—Very angry.

Hop-pole, subs. (common).—A tall, slight person, male or female. For synonyms, see Lamp-post.

1850. Smedley, Frank Farleigh, p. 5. I was tall for my age, but slightly built, and so thin, as often to provoke the application of such epithets as hop-pole, ‘thread-paper,’ etc.

Horizontal-refreshment, subs. (venery).—1. Carnal intercourse; cf., Upright. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride. [Fr., une horizontale = a prostitute.] Also, To Horizontalise. [351]

2. (common).—Food taken standing; generally applied to a mid-day snack at a bar.

Horn, subs. (common).—1. The nose. Also, Horney. For synonyms, see Conk.

1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v. Horney—a nose; one that resounds in expectoration.

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West. p. 126. They called the Scotchman to take a horn.

3. (venery).—An erection of the penis. [Properly of men only; but said of both sexes. In the feminine equivalents are Cunt-itch and Cunt-stand].

Hence To get (or have) the horn, verb. phr. = to achieve erection; to cure the horn = to copulate; horning and horny, in course of, or disposed to erection; hornification, subs. = the state, or process, of erection; hornify (see verb), = to get (or give) the horn; Miss Horner, subs. = the pudendum muliebre; old horney (or hornington) = the penis.

English Synonyms.—Cock- (or prick-) stand; Irish toothache; in one’s Sunday (or best) clothes; the jack; hard-on (American); horn-colic; horn-mad (said also of an angry cuckold); fixed bayonets; lance in rest; the old Adam; standing; on the stand; stiffened up; the spike.

Horn, verb (colloquial).—To cuckold. [Becco (= a he-goat) and cornuto (= a horned thing) are good Italian for a cuckold; in Florio (Worlde of Wordes, 1598) andar in cornouaglia senza barca (i.e., to go to Cornwall without a ship) = to win the horn; and the expression, as the example from Lydgate appears to show, may very well have been imported into English from the Italian. Also, it seems to have begun to be literary about the middle of the sixteenth century, when the Italian influence was at its height. For the rest it passed in triumph into written English, was used in every possible combination, had a run at least two centuries long, and is still intelligible, though not in common service.] See Actæon, antlers, bull’s feather, freeman of bucks, etc.

Hence, to hornify (see subs., sense 3), and to graft (or give) horns; to wear horns = to live a cuckold; horner, subs. = a cuckold maker; horn-mad, adj. phr. (q.v.); horned, adj. = cuckolded; horn-grower (or merchant) subs. = a married man; horn-fever, subs. = cuckoldry; to exalt one’s horn, verb. phr. = (1) to cuckold, and (2) to rejoice in, or profit by, the condition; to wind the horn = to publish the fact of cuckoldom; horns-to-sell, subs. phr. = (1) a lewd wife, and (2) a wittol; to point the horn = to fork the fingers in derision (as in Hogarth’s ‘Industrious and Idle Apprentice,’ 1790, plate v.); horn-works = the process of cuckolding; at the sign of the horn = in cuckoldom; horn-pipe = (see quot. 1602); horned herd, subs. phr. = husbands in general (specifically, the city men, the Citizens of London, the cuckolding of whom by West-end gallants is a constant theme of seventeenth century jokes); gilt-horn, subs. = a contented Cuckold; spirit of hartshorn = the suspicion or the certainty of cuckoldom; long horns, subs. = a notorious cuckold; knight of Hornsey, also member for Horncastle, subs. phr. = a cuckold, etc.

d. 1440. Lydgate, Falle of Prynces, ii., leaf 56 (ed. Wayland, 1557, quoted in [352]Dyce’s Skelton, 1843, ii., 132). To speke plaine Englishe made him cokolde. Alas I was not auised wel before Vnkonnyngly to speake such language: I should haue sayde how that he had an horne.… And in some land Cornodo men do them call, And some affirme that such folk have no gall.

c. 152(?). Hick Scorner (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i., 180). My mother was a lady of the stews, blood born, And (Knight of the Halter) my father wore an horne.

c. 1537. Thersites (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i., 412). Why wilt thou not thy hornes inhold? Thinkest thou that I am a cuckold.

c. 1550. The Pride and Abuse of Women (176 in Early Pop. Poetry, ed. Hazlitt, iv., 237). And loke well, ye men to your wives.… Or some wyll not styche.… To horne you on everye side.

1568. Bannatyne MSS. ‘The use of Court,’ p. 765 (Hunterian Club, 1886). Vp gettis hir wame, Scho thinkis no schame For to bring hame The laird ane horne.

1574. Appius and Virginia (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iv., 118). A hairbrain, a hangman, or a grafter of hornes.

1575. Laneham’s Letter (ed. 1871). p. 40. With yoor paciens, Gentlmen, … be it said: wear it not in deede that hornz bee so plentie, hornware I beleeue woold bee more set by than it iz, and yet thear in our parts, that wyll not stick too auoow that many an honest man both in citee and cuntree hath his hoous bv horning well vphollden, and a daily freend allso at need.

c. 1580. Collier of Croydon (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, viii., 436). My head groweth hard, my horns will shortly spring.

1586. Lupton, 1,000 Not. Things, ed. 1675, p. 261. Take heed thou art not horn’d, and then fetcht home.

1597. Hall, Satires, i., 8. Fond wittol that would’st load thy witless head, With timely horns before thy bridal bed. Idem, ii., 7. If chance it come to wanton Capricorne, And so into the Ram’s disgraceful horne.

1598. Shakspeare, 2 Henry IV., Act i., sc. 2. Well, he hath the horn of abundance and the lightness of his wife shines through it.

1598. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, v., 1. See, what a drove of horns fly in the air, Winged with my cleansèd and my credulous breath.

1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, ed. 1641, v., 41. The adulterous Sargus.… Courting the Shee Goates on the grassie shore Would horn their husbands that had horns before.

1599. Jonson, Every Man Out of his Humour, iv., 4. Now horn upon horn pursue thee, thou blind, egregious, dotard.

1600. Look About You, Sc. 10 (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, v., 415). By adding horns unto our falcon’s head.

1600. Shakspeare, As You Like it, iv., 2. Take thou no scorn to wear the horn, It was a crest ere thou wast born.

1600. Shakspeare, Much Ado about Nothing, i. Then up comes the devil with his horns upon his head, looking like an old cuckold. Ibid. v. 1. But when shall we see the savage bull’s horns on the sensible Benedict’s head.

1601. Jonson, Poetaster, iv., 3. And there is never a star in thy forehead but shall be a horn if thou dost persist to abuse me.

1602. Campion, English Poesy (Bullen, Works, 1889, p. 248). Mock him not with horns, the case is altered.

1603. Philotus (Pinkerton, Scottish Poems, 1792, iii., 17). Sen thair may be na uther buit? Plat on his heid ane horne.

1604. Marston, Malcontent, i., I. Mendoza is the man makes thee a horned beast: ’tis Mendoza cornutes thee.

1605. Jonson, Volpone, ii., 4. Volp.: Nay, then, I not repent me of my late disguise. Mos.: If you can horne him, Sir, you need not.

1605. Chapman, All Fools, v., 1 (Plays, 1874, p. 75). And will you blow the horn yourself where you may keep it to yourself? Go to, you are a fool. Ibid. (p. 76.) It may very well be that the devil brought horns into the world, but the women brought them to the men.

1607. How a Man May Choose a Good Wife From a Bad, ii., I. (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, ix., 28). Quando venis aput, I shall have two horns on my caput. [353]

1607. Dekker, Northward Hoe, Act i., p. 8. If a man be deuorst, whether may he haue an action or no, gainst those that make horns at him. Ibid. iv., p. 54. This curse is on all letchers throwne, They give horns and, at last, hornes are their owne.

1608. Rowlands, Humor’s Looking Glass, p. 22. Besides, shee is as perfect chast as faire. But being married to a jealous asse, He vowes shee horns him.

1609. Jonson, Epicœne, iii., 1. By that light you deserve to be grafted, and your horns reach from one side of the island to the other.

1616. Jonson, Devil’s an Ass, v., 5. And a cuckold is, Wherever he puts his head, with a wannion, his horns be forth, the devil’s companion.

1618. Samuel Rowlands, The Night Raven, p. 25. ’Tis this bad liver doth the horne-plague breed, Which day and night my jealous thoughts doth feed.

1623. Cockeran, Eng. Dict. s.v. Sargus, an adulterous fish which goes on the grassie shore, and hornes the hee Goates that had horns before.

1627. Drayton, Agincourt and Other Poems, p. 174. Some made mouthes at him, others as in scorne With their forkt fingers poynted him the horn.

1629. Davenant, Albovine, ed. 1673, p. 436. ’Twas a subtle reach to tell him that the King had horn’d his brow.

1633. Rowley, Match at Midnight (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiii., 40). horning the headman of his parish and taking money for his pains.

1633. Ford, Love’s Sacrifice, iii., 3. Fernando is your rival, has stolen your duchess’s heart, murther’d friendship; horns your head, and laughs at your horns.

1637. Beaumont and Fletcher, Elder Brother, iv., 4. I shall have some music yet At my making free o’ th’ company of horners.

1640. Rawlins, The Rebellion, i., I. (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 15). Fresh as a city bridegroom that has signed his wife a grant for the grafting of horns.

1643. Brome, A New Diurnal. (Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 1810, vi., 667). Prince Rupert, for fear that his name be confounded, Will saw off his horns, and make him a Roundhead.

1647. Beaumont and Fletcher, Women Pleased, v. 3. I shall then be full of scorn, Wanton, proud (beware the horn).

1653. Middleton and Rowley, The Spanish Gypsy, iii., I. Beggars would on cock-horse ride. And boobies fall a-roaring, And cuckolds though no horns be spied, Be one another goring.

1653. Davenant, The Siege of Rhodes, p. 34. It stuffs up the marriage bed with thorns, It gores itself, it gores itself with imagined horns.

1657. Middleton, Women, Beware of Woman (1657), iii., 2. Cuckolds dance the hornpipe, and farmers dance the hay. Idem., iv., 2. Go, lie down, master; but take care your horns do not make holes in the pillow-beers.

1659. Lady Alimony, i., 2 (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 280). My scene, Trillo, is horn alley. Ibid., iii., 6 (p. 340). Doubt nothing, my fellow Knights of hornsey.

1661. Webster, Cure for a Cuckold (1661), v., 2. He that hath horns thus let him learn to shed.

1663. Killigrew, The Parson’s Wedding, iv., 1 (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 473). I hope to exalt the Parson’s horn here. Ibid., (p. 477). Only to fright the poor cuckholds and make the fools visit their horns. Ibid., v., 4 (p. 519). Methinks my horns ache more than my corns. Ibid. ib. (p. 520). I have seen a cuckold of your complexion: if he had lent as much hoof as horn, you might have hunted the beast by the slot.

1664. Butler, Hudibras, II., ii. For when men by their wives are cowed, Their horns of course are understood.

1668. L’Estrange, Visions of Quevedo, p. 251 (ed. 1708). He that marries, ventures fair for the horn, either before or after.

1672. Ray, Proverbs (in Bohn, 1889), s.v. He had better put his horns in his pocket than wind them. Idem. (p. 184). Horns and gray hairs do not come with years. Idem. id., Who hath horns in his pocket let him not put them on his head.

1675. Wycherley, Country Wife, v., 4. Epilogue: Encouraged by our woman’s man to-day, a horner’s part may vainly think to play. Ibid., i., 1. I make no more cuckolds, sir. [Makes horns.] Ibid., iv., 3. If ever you suffer your wife to trouble me again here, she shall carry you home a pair of horns.

1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, iv., 1. First, the clandestine obscenity in the very name of horner. [354]

d. 1680. Butler, Remains (1757), ii., 372. His own branches, his horns, are as mystical as the Whore of Babylon’s Palfreys, not to be seen but in a vision.

1693. Congreve, Old Bachelor, iv., 15. Pox choke him. Would his horns were in his throat.

1695. Congreve, Love for Love, iv., 15. The clocks will strike twelve at noon, and the horned herd buzz in the Exchange at two.

1698. Farquhar, Love and a Bottle, iv., 3. Should I ever be tried before this judge, how I should laugh to see how gravely his goose cap sits upon a pair of horns!

1700. Congreve, Way of the World, iii., 7. Man should have his head and horns, and woman the rest of him.

1702. Steele, The Funeral or Grief à la Mode, Act. i., p. 22. This wench I know has played me false, and horned me in my gallants. [Note.—That the speaker is a female shows the word to have been transferable to the other sex.]

1708. W. King, Art of Love, pt. x. (Chalmers, English Poets, 1810, ix., 274). Sometimes his dirty paws she scorns, While her fair fingers show his horns.

1708. Prior, Poems. ‘The Turtle and Sparrow,’ line 302–9. ‘Two staring Horns,’ I often said, ‘but ill became a sparrow’s head’ … ‘Whilst at the root your horns are sore, The more you scratch, they ache the more.’

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 174. Who’s the Cuckoo, Who’s the Cuckold, who’s the horner?

1728. Patrick Walker, Alexander Peden, ‘Postscript’ (ed. 1827, i.). A profane, obscene meeting called the horn-order.

1737. Fielding, Tumble-Down Dick, Works (1718) iii., 408. Think it enough your betters do the deed, And that by horning you I mend the breed.

d. 1742. Somerville, Occasional Poems (Chalmers, English Poets, 1810, xi., 238). If I but catch her in a corner, Humph! ’tis your servant, Colonel Horner.

1759–67. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, ch. xxxvii. Nor have the horn-works he speaks of anything to do with the horn-works of Cuckoldom.

1765. C. Smart, Fables, xi., line 66. And though your spouse my lecture scorns. Beware his fate, beware his Horns.

d. 1770. Chatterton, The Revenge, i., I. Let her do what she will, The husband is still, And but for his horns you would think him an ass. Idem., ii., 4. Have you come horning.

1786. Captain Morris (Collection of Songs), The Great Plenipotentiary, (9th ed. 1788, stanza ix., p. 43). She had horned the dull brows of her worshipful spouse Till they sprouted like Venus’s myrtle.

d. 1796. Burns, Merry Muses, ‘Cuddy the Cooper,’ p. 84. On ilka brow she’s planted a horn, An’ swears that there they shall stan’, O.

1813. Moore, Poems, ‘Re-inforcements for the Duke,’ iii., 209. Old H——df——t at horn-works again might be tried.

1816. Quiz, Grand Master, canto vii., p. 199, line 10. (She) smil’d, declaring that she scorn’d him, (She might have added that she’d horn’d him).

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, c. xxxvi. O what a generous creature is your true London husband! Horns hath he, but, tame as a fatted ox, he goreth not.

1825. Scott, The Betrothed, ch. xvii. I ever tell thee, husband, the horns would be worth the hide in a fair market.

To draw in one’s horns, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To withdraw or to retract; to cool down.

To horn off, verb. phr. (American). = To put on one side; to shunt. [As a bull or stag with his horns.]

1851. Hooper, Widow Rugby’s Husband, etc., p. 69. You horned me off to get a chance to get gaming witnesses out of the way.

In a horn, adv. phr. (American).—A general qualification, implying refusal or disbelief; over the left (q.v.).

1858. Washington Evening Star, 26 Aug. I have mentioned before the innumerable comforts—in a horn—of the old White Sulphur Springs.

To wind (or blow) the horn, verb. phr. (old).—To break wind; to fart (q.v.). [355]

1620. Percy, Folio, MSS., ‘Fryar and Boye.’ Her tayle shall wind the horne.

To cure the horn, verb. phr. (venery).—To copulate. See Horn, subs., sense 3. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

To come out of the little end of the horn, verb. phr. (common).—To get the worst of a bargain; to be reduced in circumstances. Also, to make much ado about nothing. Said generally of vast endeavour ending in failure. [Through some unexpected Squeeze (q.v.)].

1605. Jonson, Chapman, and Marston, Eastward Hoe, i., 1. I had the horne of suretiship ever before my eyes. You all know the devise of the horne, where the young fellow slippes in at the butte-end, and comes squesd out at the buckall.

1624. Fletcher, Wife for a Month, iii., 3. Thou wilt look to-morrow else Worse than the prodigal fool the ballad speaks of, That was squeezed through a horn.

1847. Porter, Big Ben, etc., p. 37. How did you make it? You didn’t come out at the little end of the horn, did you?

1847. Porter, Quarter Race, etc., p. 24. You never saw such a run of luck; everywhere I touched was pizen, and I came out of the leetle end of the horn.

1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 3 July, i., 2. The ‘great Trek,’ in that expressive transatlantic phrase, has toddled out of the little end of the horn.

Horn-colic, subs. (venery).—See Horn, subs., sense 3.

Hornet, subs. (common).—A disagreeable, cantankerous person.

Hornie (or Horness), subs. (old).—1. A constable or watchman; a sheriff.

1821. Haggart, Life, 51. The woman missing it immediately, she sent for the hornies.

1785. Burns, Address to the Deil. O thou! whatever title suits thee, Auld Hornie, Satan, Nick, or Clootie.

Hornify, verb. (colloquial).—See Horn, subs., sense 3 and verb.

Horn-mad, adj. (old).—1. See quot. 1690.

1593. Shakespeare, Comedy of Errors, ii., 1. Why, mistress, sure my master is horn-mad.

1599. Henry Porter, The Two Angry Women of Abingdon (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii.). And then I wound my horn, and he’s horn-mad.

1639–61. Rump Songs, [1662], 293. The Country has grown sad, The City is horn-mad.

1647. Beaumont and Fletcher, The Woman’s Prize, ii., 6. After my twelve strong labours to reclaim her, Which would have made Don Hercules horn-mad.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Horn-mad, stark staring Mad, because Cuckolded.

1693. Congreve, Old Bachelor, iv., 22. Ay, I feel it here; I sprout; I bud; I blossom; I am ripe horn-mad.

1694. Congreve, Double Dealer, iv., 20. She forks out cuckoldom with her fingers, and you are running horn-mad after your fortune.

1695. Congreve, Love for Love, v., 8. She’s mad for a husband, and he’s horn-mad. [356]

1698. Farquhar, Love and a Bottle, iv., 3. Thou’rt horn-mad. Prithee, leave impertinence.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxvi. Ye might as well expect brandy from beanstalks, or milk from a crag of blue whunstane. The man is mad, horn-mad, to boot.

1825. Harriette Wilson, Memoirs, ii. 228. The little he did say was chiefly on the subject of cuckolds and cuckolding. His lordship was horn-mad.

Hornswoggle, subs. (American).—Nonsense; humbug (q.v.). For synonyms, see Gammon.

Verb (American).—To humbug; to delude; to seduce.—Slang, Jargon, and Cant. Cf., In a horn.

Horn-thumb, subs. (old).—A pickpocket. [From the practice of wearing a sheath of horn to protect the thumb in cutting out.] See Thieves.

1569. Preston, Cambises (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1874, iv., 235). But cousin, because to that office ye are not like come, Frequent your exercises, a horne on your thumbe, A quick eye, a sharp knife.

1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, ii. I mean a child of the horn-thumb, a babe of booty, boy, a cut-purse.

1614. Greene, Looking-Glass [Dyce], p. 138. I cut this from a new-married wife by means of a horn-thumb and a knife.—Six shillings, four pence.

Horrors, subs. (common).—The first stage of delirium tremens. For synonyms, see Gallon-distemper. Also low spirits, or the blues (q.v.).

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 50. Paying the penalty in a fit of horrors.

1857. Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (quoted by Bartlett). This poison (fusil oil), which acts with terrible results on the nerves; seeming like a diabolical inspiration, stirring up mania, convulsions, and the horrorsin an incredibly short space of time.

1864. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, bk. iv., ch. viii. What are popularly called ‘the trembles’ being in full force upon him that evening, and likewise what are popularly called the horrors, he had a very bad time of it; which was not made better by his being so remorseful as frequently to moan ‘Sixty threepennorths.’

1864. F. W. Robinson, Mr. Stewart’s Intentions, ch. i. ‘Well, sermons always gave me the horrors, and engendered a hate of the sermonizer.’

1883. Stevenson, Treasure Island ch. iii., p. 20 (1886). If I don’t have a dram o’ rum, Jim, I’ll have the horrors.

1889. C. Haddon Chambers, In Australian Wilds. He’s sober now, you see; but he managed to get blind drunk before eleven o’clock this morning, and last week he narrowly escaped an attack of the horrors.

1892. Henley and Stevenson, Three Rags, ‘Admiral Guinea,’ iv., 3. It’s the horrors come alive.

Horse, subs. (common).—1. A five-pound note. See Finnup.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, 1, p. 457. The only thing that frightens me when I’m in prison is sleeping in a cell by myself—you do in the Old Horse and the Steel.

1838. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xviii. He is all sorts of a hoss, and the best live one that ever cut dirt this side of the big pond, or t’other side either. [357]

1847. Robb, Squatter Life, p. 74. What in the yearth did you do with old Hoss on the road?—He ain’t gin out, has he? Ibid., p. 70. None of your stuck-up imported chaps from the dandy states, but a real genuine westerner—in short, a hoss!

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 5. Hyar’s a hoss as’ll make fire come.

1857. Gladstone, Englishman in Kansas, p. 43. Here, boys, drink. Liquors, captain, for the crowd. Step up this way, old hoss, and liquor.

1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, iv., 3. Say’st thou so, filly? Thou shalt have a leap presently, I’ll horse thee myself, else.

1857. Notes and Queries, 2 S., iv., p. 192. A workman horses it when he charges for more in his week’s work than he has really done. Of course he has so much unprofitable work to get through in the ensuing week, which is called dead horse.

1867. All the Year Round, 13 July, p. 59. To horse a man, is for one of two men who are engaged on precisely similar pieces of work to make extraordinary exertions in order to work down the other man. This is sometimes done simply to see what kind of a workman a new man may be, but often with the much less creditable motive of injuring a fellow workman in the estimation of an employer.

Horse foaled of an acorn, subs. phr. (old).—1. The gallows. For synonyms, see Triple-tree.

1760–61. Smollett, Sir L. Greaves, ch. viii. I believe as how ’tis no horse, but a devil incarnate; and yet I’ve been worse mounted, that I have—I’d like to have rid a horse that was foaled of an acorn (i.e., he had nearly met with the fate of Absalom).

1827. Lytton, Pelham, ch. lxxxii. The cove … is as pretty a Tyburn blossom as ever was brought up to ride a horse foaled by an acorn.

1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 8. … As to this little fellow … he shall never mount a horse foaled by an acorn, if I can help it.

2. (military).—The triangles or crossed halberds under which soldiers were flogged.

1889. Chambers’s Journal, 3 Aug., 495. Mr. Clark Russell declares that salt-horse works out of the pores, and contributes to that mahogany complexion common to sailors, which is often mistakenly attributed to rum and weather.

One-horse, adj. (American). Comparatively small, insignificant, or unimportant.

1858. Washington Evening Star. On Friday last, the engineer of a fast train was arrested by the authorities of a one-horse town in Dauphin County, Pa., for running through the borough at a greater rate of speed than is allowed by their ordinances.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 221. The indignant settler who has been ill-treated, as he fancies, in court, denounces his attorney as a ‘miserable, one-horse lawyer;’ and the Yankee newly arrived in England does not hesitate to declare that ‘Liverpool is a poor one-horse kind of a place,’ a term applied by Mark Twain to no less a city than Rome itself; and a witty clergyman of Boston inveighed once bitterly against ‘timid, sneaking, one-horse oaths, as infinitely worse than a good, round, thundering outburst.’

1891. National Review, Sep., p. 127. Mr. Marion Crawford’s Witch of Prague (Macmillan & Co.) is, as his compatriots would say, rather a one-horse witch.

To be horsed, verb. phr. (old).—To be flogged [from the wooden-horse used as a flogging-stool]; to take on one’s back as for a flogging. [358]

1678. Butler, Hudibras, pt. III., c. 1. The spirit hors’d him like a sack Upon the vehicle his back.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. xvii. Our unfortunate hero was publicly horsed, in terrorem of all whom it might concern.

1857. Thackeray, Virginians, ch. v. Serjeants, school-masters, slave-overseers, used the cane freely. Our little boys had been horsed many a day by Mr. Dempster.

1881. Notes and Queries, 1 Jan., p. 18. I got well horsed for such a breach of discipline.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Horseplay. Fallen away from a horseload to a cartload, spoken ironically of one considerably improved in flesh on a sudden.

To put the cart before the horse, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To begin at the wrong end; to set things hind-side before.

To put the saddle on the right horse, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To apportion accurately.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Horse. Set the saddle on the right horse, lay the Blame where the Fault is.

To ride on a horse with (or bayard of) ten toes, verb. phr. (common).—To walk; to use the Marrowbone-stage. Cf., Shanks’s Mare.

1606. Breton, Good and Badde, p. 14. His trauell is the walke of the woful, and his horse Bayard of ten toes.

1662. Fuller, Worthies, Somerset, ii., 291. At last he [Coryat] undertook to travail into the East Indies by land, mounted on an horse with ten toes.

As good as a shoulder of mutton to a sick horse, phr. (old).—Utterly worthless.

1596. Ben Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, ii., 1. Counsel to him is as good as a shoulder of mutton to a sick horse.

As strong as a horse, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Very strong: a general intensitive.

Horsebreaker (or Pretty Horsebreaker), subs. (colloquial).—A woman (c. 1860), hired to ride in the park; hence, a riding courtesan. See also quot. 1864. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

1864. E. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. iv., p. 33 (1873). Kate Mellor was a horsebreaker, a bonâ fide horsebreaker; one who curbed colts, and ‘took it out of’ kickers and rearers.

1865. Public Opinion, 30 Sep. These demi-monde people, anonymas, horsebreakers, hetairæ … are by degrees pushing their way into society.

Horse-buss, subs. (old).—A loud-sounding kiss; a bite.

Horse-capper (-coper, -coser, -courser, or -chaunter), subs. (common).—A dealer in worthless or ‘faked’ horses. [Originally good English. To cope = to barter.] See Chanter. Hence Horse-coping and Horse-duffing.

1616. Overbury, Characters (Rimbault, 9th ed., 1856, p. 120). An arrant horse-courser hath the trick to blow up horseflesh as the butcher does veal. [359]

d. 1680. Butler, Remains (1759), ii., 458. A horse-courser is one that hath read horses, and understands all the virtues and vices of the whole species by being conversant with them, and how to take the best advantage of both.

1742–4. North, Life of the Lord Keeper, i., 271. There were horse-copers among them.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Horse-coser, vulgarly and corruptly pronounced horse-coser, a dealer in horses. The verb to cose, was used by the Scots, in the sense of bartering or exchanging.

1863. Sporting Life, 29 Apr., p. 4, col. 3. Copers and Chaunters are now in full feather.

1864. London Review, 18 June, p. 643. Amongst the mysteries of horse-flesh is the noble science of coping, and its practitioners the horse-copers.

1874. G. A. Lawrence, Hagarene, ch. ii. He had lived somewhat precariously by his wits; eking out the scanty allowance wrung from his miserly old sire, by betting and horse-coping on a small scale.

1884. Daily News, 23 Aug., p. 4, c. 7. The most accomplished gipsy copers, if they are not belied, are not satisfied with merely doing up an unsound horse and selling him as a sound one, but frequently steal outright the subject of their scientific and often lucrative experiments.

1888. Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, ch. i. Poaching must be something like cattle and horse-duffing.

1889. Answers, 27 July, p. 141, c. 1. Allow me to expose some more tricks of horse copers.

1893. National Observer, 5 Aug., p. 291, col. 1. A veracious horse-coper is a monster which the world ne’er saw.

Horse-collar, subs. (venery).—1. The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

3. (old).—A halter. To die in a horse’s nightcap = to be hanged. See Ladder.

English Synonyms.—Anodyne necklace; Bridport dagger; choker; hempen cravat; hempen elixir; horse’s neckcloth; horse’s necklace; neck-squeezer; neckweed; squeezer; St. Andrew’s lace; Sir Tristram’s knot; tight cravat; Tyburn tiffany; Tyburn tippet; widow.

1593. Bacchus’ Bountie in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park), ii., 304. Yea, his very head so heavie as if it had beene harnessed in an horse-nightcap.

1608. Penniles Parliament in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park), I., 181. And those that clip that they should not, shall have a horse night-cap for their labour.

1681. Dialogue on Oxford Parliament (Harl. Misc., ii., 125.). He better deserves to go up Holbourn in a wooden chariot, and have a horse night-cap put on at the farther end.

1883. Echo, 25 Jan., p. 2, c. 4. Even an attempt is made to lighten the horror of the climax of a criminal career, by speaking of dying in a horse’s night-cap, i.e., a halter.

Horse-editor, subs. (American journalists’).—A sporting editor. Horse-copy = sporting news.

Horseflesh, See Dead Horse and Horse, verb. sense 2.

Horse-godmother, subs. (old).—A strapping masculine woman; a virago. Fr., une femme hommasse.

d. 1819. Wolcot, Wks. In woman angel sweetness let me see No galloping horse-godmother for me.

1846–8. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ii., ch. 4. How do, my dear? Come to see the old man, hay? Gad—you’ve a pretty face, too. You ain’t like that old horse-godmother, your mother.

Horse-latitudes, subs. (nautical).—A space in the Atlantic, north of the trade-winds, where the winds are baffling. [360]

1891. W. C. Russell, Ocean Tragedy, p. 137. The winds even north of the rains and horse-latitudes were in a sense to be reckoned on.

Horse-laugh, subs. (colloquial).—A loud, noisy laugh; a guffaw.

Horse-leech, subs. (colloquial).—1. An extortioner; a miser.

1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, ii., 1. You are one of those horse-leeches that gave out I was dead in Turnbull Street.

1594. Nashe, Terrors of the Night (Grosart, iii., 250). Whereas his horse-leech … will give a man twenty guineas in one.

Horse-marines, subs. (common).—A mythical corps, very commonly cited in jokes and quizzies on the innocent. [The Jollies (q.v.) or Royal Marines, being ignorant of seamanship, have always been the butt of blue-jackets.] Tell that to the marines (or horse-marines) the sailors won’t believe it = a rejoinder to an attempt at imposition or credulity. Often amplified with when they’re riding at anchor. See also Bingham’s Dandies.

1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, ch. xxi. ‘Come, none of your quizzing, my old buck,’ said Sir Bingo—‘what the devil has a ship to do with horse’s furniture?—Do you think we belong to the horse-marines?’

c. 1870. Broadside Ballad, ‘Captain Jinks.’ I’m Captain Jinks of the Horse-Marines.

1886. Stephens and Yardley, Little Jack Sheppard, p. 3. They may tell that yarn to the horse marines, For we bean’t such fools as we looks.

1886. Tinsley’s Mag., Apr., 321. Owing to a singular deviation from the ordinary functions of cavalry, the 17th Lancers were once christened the horse marines.

1892. Wops the Waif [Horner’s Penny Stories], ch. i., p. 1. Oh, nothink, eh! You’d better tell that to the hoss marines; I’ve lived a sight too long in Shoreditch to take that in.

Horse-milliner, subs. (common).—1. A dandy trooper.

1778. Chatterton, Ballads of Charity, ii., 113. The trammels of his palfrey pleased his sight, For the horse-milliner his head with roses dight.

1813. Scott, Bridal of Triermain, ii., 3. One comes in foreign trashery Of tinkling chain and spur, A walking haberdashery Of feathers, lace and fur; In Rowley’s antiquated phrase, Horse-milliner of modern days.

1818. Scott, Heart of Midlothian, xi. In my wretched occupation of a saddler, horse-milliner, and harness maker, we are out unconscionable sums just for barkened hides and leather.

Horse-nails, subs. (common).—1. Money. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

To feed on horse-nails, verb. phr. (cribbage).—So to play as not so much to advance your own score as to keep down your opponent’s.

To knock into horse-nails, verb. phr. (common).—To knock to pieces; to be absolutely victorious. [361]

Horse-nightcap, subs. (old).—See Horse’s-Collar.

Horse-pox, subs. (old).—A superlative of Pox (q.v.). Used in adjuration. E.g., A horse-pox on you! Ay, with a horse-pox, etc.

Horse-Protestant, subs. (tailors’).—A churchman.

Horse-sense, subs. (American).—Sound and practical judgment.

1893. Lippincott, Mar., p. 260. A round bullet head, not very full of brains, perhaps, yet reputed to be fairly stocked with what is termed horse sense.

Horses-and-Mares. To play at horses-and-mares, verb. phr. (schoolboys’).—To copulate. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

Horse’s-head, subs. (cobblers’).—The boot-sole, heel, and what is left of the front after the back and part of the front have been used to fox (q.v.) other boots withal.

Horse-shoe, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. [In German, Sie hat ein Hufeisen verloren (of women) = she has been seduced, i.e., she has lost a horse-shoe.]

Horse’s-meal, subs. (old).—Meat without drink.

Horse-sovereign, subs. (common).—A twenty-shilling piece with Pistrucci’s effigies of St. George and the Dragon.

1871. London Figaro, 26 Jan. A number of those coins, sometimes known as horse sovereigns, are to be issued.

Hortus, subs. (venery).—See quot. [Cf., Garden.] For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

1728. Bailey, Eng. Dict., s.v. Hortus [by some writers] the privy parts of a woman.

Hose. In my other hose, subs. phr. (old). A qualification of refusal or disbelief; in a horn (q.v.); over the left (q.v.).

1598. Florio. A Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Zoccoli Zoccoli, tushtush, awaie, in faith sir no, yea in my other hose.

Hoss. See Horse.

Hoss-fly (or Old Hoss-fly), subs. (American).—A familiar address; cf., Horse, subs. sense 3.

Host. To reckon without one’s host, verb. phr. (old: now recognised).—To blunder.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Host. To reckon without one’s host, or count your Chickens before they are Hatched.

Hosteler, subs. (old).—See quot.

Hot, subs. (Winchester College).—1. A mellay at football.

Adj. (colloquial).—1. Of persons: sexually excitable; lecherous; on heat (q.v.); randy (q.v.). Of things (as books): obscene; blue (q.v.); high-kilted (q.v.); Hot member (q.v.) = a male or female debauchee; or (as in sense 2), a man or woman contemptuous of decorum. [362]Hot as they make them = exceedingly amorous or reckless. Hot-blooded = lecherous: as (in Merry Wives, v., 5) ‘the hot-blooded gods assist me.’ Hot-house (q.v.) = a brothel.

1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales. Prologue to Canterbury Tales, lines 97 and 98. So hote he lovede, that by nightertale, He sleep no more than doth a nightyngale.

1596. Ben Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, iv., 8. Dost thou not shame, When all thy powers in chastity are spent, To have a mind so hot.

1598. Shakspeare, 1 Henry IV., i., 2. A fair hot wench in flame-coloured taffeta.

1599. H. Porter, Two Angry Women of Abingdon (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii., 354). Are ye so hot, with a pox? Would ye kiss my mistress?

1605. Jonson, Volpone, iii., 6. I am now as fresh, As hot, as high, and in as jovial plight As when in that so celebrated scene At recitation of our comedy For entertainment of the great Valois, I acted young Antinous.

1608. Shakspeare, Antony and Cleopatra, iii., 11. Besides what hotter hours, Unregistered in vulgar fame you have Luxuriously picked out.

1693. Congreve, Old Bachelor, v., 8. If either you esteem my friendship or your own safety, come not near that house—that corner house—that hot brothel.

1697. Vanbrugh, Relapse, iii., 5. Young men are hot, I know, but they don’t boil over at that rate.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 37. As most of our plays are now cribbed from the French, wy they’re all pooty hot.

2. (colloquial).—Careless of decorum; boisterous; utterly reckless and abandoned.

3. (thieves’).—Well known to the police; dangerous; uncomfortable; e.g., To make it hot for one.

1830. Buckstone, Wreck Ashore, i., 4. Mil. This place is now too hot for me, captain. Bills overdue, and bailiffs in full chase, have driven me to a hasty leave of my home.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Hot. The cove had better move his beaters into Dewsville, it is too hot for him here.

1882. Evening Standard, 3 Oct., p. 5, c. 4. The Constable added that at the station the Prisoner told him that if he did not make it too hot he would give him £5.

1888. Tit Bits, 24 Mar., 373. The hottest suburb of London during Jubilee year was supposed to be Ealing.

1890. Marriott-Watson, Broken Billy (in Under the Gum-tree, p. 31). With a few pals, almost as brutal as himself, he made the place pretty hot from time to time.

1891. Morning Advertiser, 26 Mar., p. 2, col. 4. When Baker was arrested he asked Detective-sergeant Gold not to make it too hot for them, and tried to induce the officer to receive a sovereign.

1891. J. Newman, Scamping Tricks, p. 36. You’ll find they will make it hot for you.

1886. R. L. Stevenson, Kidnapped, p. 167. ‘Well,’ said he, ‘yon was a hot burst, David.’

1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, ch. xvi. I started life in a training stable, and a hot life it was for a boy.

1864. Browning, Dramatic Romances (ed. 1879, iv., 180), ‘The Italian in England.’ Breathed hot and instant on my train.

To give (get, or catch) it hot, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To thrash or reprove soundly; to be severely beaten or taken to task.