Slang and its analogues, 2 | Project Gutenberg

1878. Besant and Rice, By Celia’s Arbour, ch. xxxix. The lieutenant picked him up, and placed him—because he declined to stand; and, indeed, the claret was flowing freely—in the President’s arm chair.

Claret Jug, subs. (pugilistic).—The nose. [From claret, blood, + jug, a receptacle.] For synonyms, see Conk.

1859. Punch, vol. XXXVII., p. 22. ‘A Chapter on Slang.’ A man’s broken nose, is his claret-jug smashed.

Clarian, subs. (Cambridge University).—A member of Clare Hall, Cambridge; also a Greyhound (q.v.).

Class, subs. (athletic).—The highest quality or combination of highest qualities among athletes. He’s not class enough, i.e., not good enough. There’s a deal of class about him, i.e., a deal of quality. The term obtains to a certain extent among turfites.

1884. Referee, March 23, p. 1, col. 3. The elasticity necessary for anything like class at sprinting departs comparatively early.

Claw, subs. (prison).—A lash of the cat-o’-nine-tails. Cf., Clawed-off, sense 1.

1876. Greenwood, A Night in a Work-house. Oh! cuss that old Kerr, who condemned me to twenty-five claws with the cat.

1873. Greenwood, In Strange Company. A ruffian being uncertain as to the morning when he is to have, as he himself would say, claws for breakfast, is in the habit of lying night after night in a sweat of terror.

Clawed-off, adv. phr. (old).—1. Severely beaten or whipped. Cf., Claw.

Claw-Hammer, subs. (Irish).—A dress coat. [From a supposed similarity in the cut of the tails to a claw hammer, one end of which is divided into two claws, for extracting nails from wood.] Also called steel-pen coat and swallow-tail. For synonyms of evening dress generally, see War-paint.

1863. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Passages from English Note-books, I., 538. Sea-captains call a dress-coat a claw-hammer.

1883. Punch, July 21, p. 29, col. 2. An ‘Impressionist’ is not impressive In a claw-hammer on a public platform.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, Nov. 11, p. 7, col. 1. After the claw-hammer crowd had been exhausted, he sent up an invitation to the great army of unvarnished.

Clay, subs. (colloquial).—A clay pipe. Cf., Yard of clay, but for synonyms, see Churchwarden.

1859. Fairholt, Tobacco (1876), 173. Such long pipes were reverently termed aldermen in the last age, and irreverently yards of clay in the present one. [121]

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xxi., p. 223. ‘He is churchwarden at home, and can’t smoke anything but a long clay.’

1866. London Miscellany, 19 May, p. 235, col. 2. Surely these men, who win and lose fortunes with the stolidity of a mynheer smoking his clay yard, must be of entirely different stuff from the rest of us.

1871. Calverley, Verses and Tr. Ode Tobacco. Jones … daily absorbs a clay after his labours.

To moisten, soak, or wet one’s clay, verbal phr.—To drink. [Clay = the human body.]

1711. Addison, Spectator, No. 72, par. 9. To moisten their clay, and grow immortal by drinking.

1731. Fielding, Letter Writers, Act ii., Sc. 2. A soph, he is immortal, And never can decay; For how should he return to dust Who daily wets his clay?

1790. Rhodes, Bombastes Furioso. Moistening our clay and puffing off our cares.

1800. Morning Chronicle (in Whibley, p. 92). Cram not your attics With dry mathematics, But moisten your clay with a bumper of wine.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xxxix., p. 345. Ever and anon moistening his clay and his labours with a glass of claret.

1837. Barham, I. L. (The Monstre Baloon). And they’re feasting the party, and soaking their clay, With Johannisberg, Rudesheimer, Moselle, and Tokay.

1864. Lowell, Fireside Trav., 119. When his poor old clay was wet with gin. [m.]

Clean, adj. and adv. (colloquial and expletive).—1. Entirely; altogether; e.g., clean gone, clean broke, etc. Employed by the best writers until a recent date, and scarce colloquial even now.

1888. W. E. Henley, A Book of Verses, ‘Ballade of a Toyokuni Colour Print.’ Child, although I have forgotten clean, I know That in the shade of Fuji-san, What time the cherry orchards blow, I loved you, once, in old Japan.

1890. Mark Rutherford (‘Reuben Shapcott’), Miriam’s Schooling, p. 11. The memory of the battle by the hill Moreh is clean forgotten.

1878. Charles Hindley, Life and Times of James Catnach. The cleanest angler on the pad, In daylight or the darky.

Clean-Out, verbal phr. (colloquial)—To exhaust; strip; ‘rack’; or ruin. Fr., se faire lessiver.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict. Cleaned out: said of a gambler who has lost his last stake at play; also, of a flat who has been stript of all his money.

1819. Thos. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 38. All Lombard-street to ninepence on it, Bobby’s the boy would clean them out!

1840. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, ch. xxix., p. 184. He never took a dice-box in his hand, or held a card, but he was plucked, pigeoned, and cleaned out completely.

c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, ‘When I was Prince of Paradise.’ I introduced ‘loo’—in an hour or two, I’d cleaned all their pockets right out.

Clean Potato, phr. (general).—The right thing. Of an action indiscreet or dishonest, it is said that ‘It’s not the clean potato.’

Clean Straw, subs. (Winchester College).—Clean sheets. [Before 1540 the beds were bundles of straw on a stone floor. At that date Dean Fleshmonger put in oaken floors, and provided proper beds, such as existed in 1871 in Third, and later in the case of the Præfect of Hall’s unused beds in Sixth. The term has never been used, as stated by Barrère, in reference to mattresses of any kind, straw or other.]

Clean Wheat. It’s the clean wheat, phr. (general). The [122]best of its kind. For synonyms, see a1 and Fizzing.

Clear, adj. and adv. (old).—Thick with liquor. [Apparently on the principle lucus a non lucendo.]

1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia, I., iv. Yes, really I was clear; for I do not remember what I did.

1699. Vanbrugh, Relapse, IV., iii. I suppose you are clear—you’d never play such a trick as this else.

Clear as Mud, adv. phr. (common) = Not particularly lucid.

Clear Crystal, subs. (popular).—White spirits, as gin and whisky, but extended to brandy and rum.

Clear Grit, subs.—1. (Canadian).—A member of the colonial Liberal party.

1884. Fortnightly Review, May, 592. There arose up [in Canada] a political party of a Radical persuasion, who were called Clear Grits, and the Clear Grits declared for the secularisation of the Clergy Reserves.

1835–40. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xxxii. I used to think champagne no better nor mean cider … but if you get the clear grit there is no mistaking it.

1861. New York Tribune, 10 Oct. Nor do we think the matter much mended by a clear grit Republican convention, putting one or two Democrats at the foot of their tickets.

Clear out (or Clear off), verbal phr. (colloquial).—1. To depart.

1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, II., 151. Like many a hero before him, he cleared out.

1861. Harper’s Monthly, August. You’ll have to clear out, and that pretty quick or I’ll be after you with a sharp stick.

1885. Truth, 28 May, 1847. I would have the Canal under the control of an International Commission … and then I would clear out of the country.

1849–50. Thackeray, Pendennis. The luck turned from that minute … came away cleared out, leaving that infernal check behind me.

1884. Illustrated London News, Christmas Number, p. 6, col. 2. He cleared you out that night, old man.

Cleave, verb (old).—To be wanton; used of women. [Quoted by Grose, 1785.]

Cleft, subs. (common).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Clegg, subs. (Scots).—A horse-fly.

Clencher.—See Clincher.

Clergyman, subs. (common).—A chimney-sweep. [In allusion to the colour of ‘the cloth.’] Clergymen in their turn = ‘chimney sweeps.’

1589. R. Harvey, Pl. Perc., I. A quarrel, by the highway side, between a brace of Saint Nicholas Clargie men. [m.]

1597. Shakspeare, King Henry IV., i. 1. Sirrah, if they meet not with St. Nicholas’ clerks, I’ll give thee this neck.

Clerked, ppl. adj. (old). Imposed upon; ‘sold’ (q.v.).

Clerks.—See St. Nicholas’ Clerk.

Clerk’s Blood, subs. (old).—Red ink. A common expression of Charles Lamb’s.

Clever Shins, phr. (school).—Sly to no purpose.

Cleymes, subs. (old).—Artificial sores, made by beggars to excite charity.

Click, subs. (pugilistic).—A blow. For synonyms, see Dig, bang and wipe. Also a hold in wrestling.

1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 18. Home-hits in the bread-basket clicks in the gob. Ibid, p. 30.

1871. Daily Telegraph, 8 April. C. and W. Wrestling Society. The various competitors struggled hard and put on all they knew in ‘hipes,’ ‘hanks,’ ‘clicks,’ ‘strokes,’ and ‘buttockings.’

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Click (v.) … or to stand at a shop-door and invite customers in, as salesmen and shoemakers do.

Clicker, or Klicker, subs. (old).—1. A shop-keeper’s tout. [Formerly a shoemaker’s doorsman or barker (q.v.), but in this particular trade the term is nowadays appropriated to a foreman who cuts out leather and dispenses materials to workpeople; a sense not altogether wanting from the very first.]

c. 1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Clicker: the shoemaker’s journeyman or servant, that cutts out all the work, and stands at or walks before the door, and saies, ‘What d’ye lack, sir? what d’ye buy, madam?’

1698. Ward, London Spy, pt. V., p. 117. Women were here almost as Troublesome as the Long-Lane Clickers.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Clicker (s.): the person that stands at a shoe-maker’s door to invite customers to buy the wares sold there.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dictionary. Clicker: a female touter at the bonnet shops in Cranbourne Alley. In Northamptonshire, the cutter out in a shoemaking establishment.

Clift, verb (thieves’).—To steal. For synonyms, see Prig.

Climb Down, subs. and verb (colloquial).—The abandonment of a position; downward or retrograde motion; the act of surrender. At first American.

1871. Rev. H. W. Beecher, Star Papers, p. 41, quoted in De Vere’s Americanisms. To climb down the wall was easy enough, too easy for a man who did not love wetting. Ibid. I partly climbed down, and wholly clambered back again, satisfied that it was easier to get myself in than to get the flowers out.

1889 St. James’s Gazette, 22 Nov., p. 12, col. 2. I am particularly pleased (adds our correspondent) with the noble [124]conduct of the Bread Union, the first to climb down, and the promptest to send in its little bill.

1890. Globe, 7 April, p. 2, col. 2. It is satisfactory to learn on no less an authority than that of the New York Herald that the general election may at the moment be regarded remote. This is indeed a climb down on the part of the chief disseminator of the Dissolution rumour.

1890. Globe, 19 Feb., p. 2, col. 2. Mr. MacNeill’s ‘personal statement’ in the House yesterday was distinctly in the nature of a climb down.

Clinch, subs. (thieves’).—A prison cell. [? From clinch, to clutch, grip, and hold fast. Cf., Clink.] Variants in English are box, cob, salt-box, chokey and shoe. Fr., une cachemitte, une cachemar or cachemince (all thieves’, from cachot, ‘a black hole’); also un clou (military); maison de campagne (military); un mazaro, or lazaro; une matatane (military); un ours (popular); un abattoir (thieves’; properly ‘a slaughter house.’ This last, the name of the condemned cell in the prison of La Roquette, corresponds to the Newgate Salt Box). In German: Näck (only in Zimmermann; single cell in a prison; probably from the U.G. Noche and the M.H.G. Nacke = boat, from its shape; derivation from the Hebrew Nekef = hole, is also possible).

To get or kiss the Clinch or Clink, verbal phr. (thieves’).—To be imprisoned. For synonyms, see Cop.

Clincher or Clencher, subs. (colloquial).—1. That which decides a matter, especially a retort which closes an argument; a ‘finisher,’ ‘settler,’ ‘corker.’ [From clinch, ‘to secure or make fast,’ through its obsolete meaning of ‘to pun or quibble,’ + er.]

1839. Pierce Egan, Finish to Life in London, p. 13. Death comes but once, the Philosophers say And ’tis true my brave boys, but that once is a clencher It takes us from drinking and loving away And spoils at a blow the best tippler and wencher.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xvi., p. 136. ‘Why cannot I communicate with the young lady’s friends?’ ‘Because they live one hundred miles from here, sir,’ responded Job Trotter. ‘That’s a clincher,’ said Mr. Weller, aside.

2. (common).—An unsurpassed lie; a ‘stopper-up,’ [This sense flows naturally from sense 1 and the accepted usages of clinch, verb and noun. Cf., Clinker, Whopper, Thumper, Whacker, etc.] For synonyms, see Whopper.

Cling-Rig.—See Clink-rig.

Clink, subs. (old).—1. A prison or lock-up; specifically applied, it is thought, to a noted gaol in the borough of Southwark; subsequently to places—like Alsatia, the Mint, etc.—privileged from arrests; and latterly, to a small dismal prison or a military guard room. For synonyms, see Cage.

1515. Barclay, Egloges, I. (1570) A. 5, 4. Then art thou clapped in the Flete or Clinke. [m.]

1642. Milton, Apol. for Smect, § ii., in wks. (1806) I., 237. And the divine right of episcopacy was then valiantly asserted, when he who would have been respondent, must have bethought himself withal how he could refute the Clink or the Gatehouse.

1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ch. xix. Come along with me; we’ve a nice clink at Wandsworth to lock you up in. [125]

1839. H. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, ep. I., ch. vi. The old and ruinous prison belonging to the liberty of the Bishop of Winchester (whose palace formerly adjoined the river); called the Clink.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II. He wouldn’t have been hobbled but the melting-pot receiver proved his selling the clink to him.

1724–40. Ramsay, Tea-t. Misc., 14. The Warld is rul’d by Asses, And the Wise are sway’d by clink.

1789. Burns, Let. J. Tennant, May ye get … Monie a laugh, and monie a drink, An’ aye enough o’ needfu’ clink.

1817. Hogg, Tales and Sk., II., 2, 3. Such young ladies as were particularly beautiful … and had the clink. [m.]

4. (colloquial). Also bum-clink.—A very indifferent beer made from the gyle of malt and the sweepings of hop bins, and brewed especially for the benefit of agricultural labourers in harvest time.

1863. Sala, Capt. Dang., I., ix., 266. A miserable hovel of an inn … where they ate their rye-bread and drank their sour clink. [m.]

To kiss the clink, verbal phr. (old).—To be imprisoned. [From Clink, subs., sense 1.] For synonyms, see Cop.

1588. John Udall, State of the Ch. of England, etc., p. 22 (Arber’s ed.) Diotr. Awaye, thou rayling hypocrite, I will talke with thee no longer, if I catche thee in London, I will make thee kiss the clinke for this geare. Paul. In deede the Clynke, Gate-house, White-lyon, and the Fleet, haue bin your onely argumentes whereby you haue proued your cause these many yeeres.

Clinker, subs.—1. (in plural, old).—Fetters. For synonyms, see Darbies.

3. (thieves’).—A chain of any kind, whether fetter or watch chain. Cf., sense 1.

c. 1863. Thackeray, Men’s Wives, Frank Berry, ch. i. Berry goes gallantly in, and delivers a clinker on the gown-boy’s jaw.

5. (colloquial, chiefly sporting).—Any thing or person of first-rate and triumphant quality; also a clincher (q.v.); a ‘settler.’ Cf., sense 4.

1733. Swift, Life and Character Dean S——t. A protestant’s a special clinker. It serves for sceptic and free-thinker. [m.]

1869. Daily Telegraph, 5 April. Despite the indifferent manner in which Vagabond cut up at the finish of the Metropolitan, quite sufficient was seen of him to prove that at a mile and a half he is a clinker.

1871. Daily News, 17 April, p. 2., col. 1. Ripponden and Cheesewring performed so indifferently as to strengthen the doubts whether they are really clinkers.

6. (common).—Deposits of fæcal or seminal matter in the hair about the anus or the female pudendum.

To have clinkers in one’s bum, phr. (vulgar).—To be uneasy; unable to sit still. [126]

Clinkerum. The same as clink, sense 1.

Clinking, ppl. adj. (common).—First-rate; extra good; about the best possible. Cf., Clipping, Thumping, Whopping, Battling, etc.

1887. Sporting Times, 12 March, p. 2, col. 2. Prince Henry must be a clinking good horse when in the humour to go.

1889. Polytechnic Mag., 24 Oct., p. 263. Soon afterwards the Poly. obtained a free kick, and Young notched a point for them. Heard again steered the ball to the Clapham goal, and Toghill put in a clinking shot which just shaved the upright.

Clink-Rig or Cling-Rig, subs. (old).—Stealing silver tankards from public-houses, etc. [From clink, plate, + rig, a theft, or dodge.]

Clip, subs. (colloquial).—A smart blow, e.g., a clip in the eye. For synonyms, see Dig, bang, and wipe.

1830. Marryat, King’s Own, xxvi. The master fires and hits the cat a clip on the neck.

1835. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker (1862), 89. He made a pull at the old-fashioned sword … and drawing it out he made a clip at him.

1860. Police Gazette, 17 November. He ran up to him, hit him a severe clip, and dashed through the window.

Verb (colloquial).—To move quickly. For analogous terms, see Amputate. [Probably originally a falconry term = to fly swiftly.]

1833. M. Scott, Tom Cringle, xii. (1859), 281. He clipped into the water with the speed of light.

1835–40. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker (1862), 46. He sees a steam-boat a clippin it by him like mad.

1843–4. Sam Slick in England, viii. (Bartlett). I ran all the way, right down as hard as I could clip.

Clipe, verb (school).—To tell tales; to ‘split’; to Peach; q.v. (for synonyms).

Clipper, subs. (colloquial).—A triumph in horses, men, or women; a splendid man; a brilliant or very stylish woman; an admirable horse. [From Clipper, = a vessel built with a view to fast sailing; previous to which the term was applied to a hack for the road.]

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xv. A perfect pictur’ of a horse, and a genuine clipper; could gallop like the wind.

1846. Thackeray, V. Fair, ch. xvi. You have head enough for both of us, Beck, said he. You’re sure to get us out of the scrape. I never saw your equal, and I’ve met with some clippers in my time, too.

1851. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, I., p. 133. They [wild ducks] come over here when the weather’s a clipper; for you see cold weather suits some birds and kills others.

Clipping or Clippingly, ppl. adj. and adv. (common).—Excellent; very showy; first-rate. [From that sense of clipping = that flies or moves fast.—See quot., 1643.] For synonyms, see A1 and Fizzing.

1643. P. Quarles, Emblemes, B. IV., ii., p. 194 (ed. 1648). O that the pinions of a clipping Dove Would cut my passage through the Empty Air, Mine eyes being sealed, how would I mount above The reach of danger and forgotten care!

1860. Thackeray, Philip, ch. i., p. 46. What clipping girls there were in that barouche.

1864. E. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. xxiii. [Mr. Commissioner Beresford loq.:] Clipping riders, those girls! good as Kate Mellon anyday! [127]

Cloak, subs. (thieves’).—A watch case. [From cloak, an outer garment.]

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 70. Near to these hopeful youths sat a fence, or receiver, bargaining with a clouter, or pickpocket, for a ‘suit,’ or, to speak in more intelligible language, a watch and seals, two ‘cloaks,’ commonly called watch-cases and a ‘wedge-lobb,’ otherwise known as a silver snuff-box.

Cloak-Twitchers, subs. (old).—Thieves who made a special business of robbing the lieges of their cloaks. [From cloak + twitch, to snatch, + er.] In the old French cant these rogues were termed tirelaines, i.e., wool-pullers (tirer = pull). For synonyms, see Thieves.

Clobber, subs. (common).—Primarily old, but now also applied to new clothes. For synonyms, see Togs.

1879. J. W. Horsley, Macm. Mag., XL., 502. Having a new suit of clobber on me.

1889. Answers, 11 May, p. 374, col. 3. The clobber (old clothes) which have been presented by charitable persons are exchanged and sold.

1889. Sporting Times, quoted in Slang, Jargon, and Cant, p. 255. If you are hard up always tell the dear things that you are a gentleman’s valet. This will account for your good clobber.

Verb.—Also clobber up. 1. To patch; revive; or ‘translate’ clothes. [Properly applied to cobbling of the lowest class. Cf., Clobberer.]

1865. Cassell’s Paper, Article, ‘Old Clo’.’ They are now past ‘clobbering,’ ‘reviving,’ or ‘translating,’ they are, in fact, at the lowest point of Fortune’s wheel: but the next turn puts them in its highest point again.

2. To dress smartly; to rig oneself out presentably. For synonyms, see Rig out.

1879. J. W. Horsley, Macm. Mag., XL., 501. I used to get a good many pieces about this time, so I used to clobber myself up and go to the concert-rooms.

1886. W. E. Henley, Villon’s Good-Night. You judes that clobber for the stramm.

1889. Fun [quoted in S., J., and C. p. 256]. ‘D’you know, if you were clobbered up I shouldn’t mind taking you out?’ She promised to be presentable. In her own words she said, ‘I’ll come clobbered up like a dukess.’

To do clobber at a fence, phr. (thieves’).—To sell stolen clothes. Fr., laver les harnais.

Clobberer, subs. (common).—See quot. and Cf., Clobber, subs. and verb.

1864. The Times, Nov. 2. Old clothes that are intended to remain in this country have to be tutored and transformed. The clobberer, the ‘reviver,’ and the ‘translator’ lay hands upon them. The duty of the clobberer is to patch, to sew up, and to restore as far as possible the garments to their pristine appearance.

Clock, subs. (thieves’).—A watch. A red clock = a gold watch; a white clock = a silver watch. Generally modified into ‘red’un’ and ‘white’un,’ but for synonyms, see Ticker.

1886. Tit-Bits, 5 June, p. 121. Thus Fillied for a Clock and Slang, reveals the fact that the writer stole a watch and chain, was apprehended, and has been fully committed for trial.

To know what’s o’clock, phr. (common).—To be on the alert; in full possession of one’s senses; a downey cove: generally knowing (q.v. for synonyms). A variant is to know the time o’day.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 451. Our governor’s wide awake, he is, [128]I’ll never say nothin’ agin him, nor no man; but he knows what’s o’clock, he does, uncommon.

1849–50. Thackeray, Pendennis, I., p. 138. I’m not clever, p’raps, but I am rather downy, and partial friends say that I know what’s o’clock tolerably well.

Clod-Crushers, subs. (popular).—1. Clumsy boots. [In agriculture an implement for pulverising clods. Cf., Beetle-crushers, and for synonyms, see Trotter-cases.]

Clods and Stickings, subs. phr. (paupers’).—See quot.

1871. Daily Telegraph, 24 Oct., Henry Melville’s (the pauper) passionate, ‘beutiful,’ for Stepney Workhouse is a grotesque reflex of Marie Stuart’s pathetic farewell to France. Is the skilly we wonder most ‘beutiful’ at Stepney, or are the clods and stickings unusually free from bone.

Cloister-Roush, subs. (Winchester College: obsolete).—See quot.

1870. Mansfield, School Life at Winchester College, p. 117. We had some singular customs at the commencement of Cloister time. Senior part and Cloisters, just before the entrance of the Masters into School, used to engage in a kind of general tournament; this was called Cloister Roush.

Clootie (Scots).—The Devil.—See Cloots.

Cloots (Scots), subs.—Hooves.

1786. Burns, The Death and Dying Words of Puir Mailie. An’ no to rin and wear his cloots, Are ither menseless, graceless brutes.

Close as Wax, adv. phr. (general).—Miserly; niggardly; secretive. [A simile derived mainly from close, adj. = hidden or reticent.]

1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, I., 231. Then commenced a long and steady struggle, conducted with a Spartan dignity and self command, and a countenance as close as wax.

Close-File, subs. (old).—A person secretive or ‘close’; not ‘open’ or communicative. [From close, adj. = secretive + file = a man.]

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 8. Tom Sheppard was always a close file, and would never tell whom he married.

Cloth. [Generally the cloth], subs. (colloquial).—Primarily clergymen; the members of a particular profession. For synonyms, see Devil-dodger.

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers (about 1827), p. 363 (ed. 1857). ‘I maintain that that ’ere song’s personal to the cloth,’ said the mottle-faced gentleman.

1864. Daily Review, Nov. 3. It might have seemed more decorous to draw our illustration of the Doctor’s [Revd.] ingenuity from an incident related of two persons who have some right to be considered as in a sense belonging to the cloth—The Abbess and Novice of Andouillets.

Clothes-Line. Able to sleep upon a clothes-line, phr. (common).—Capable of sleeping anywhere or in any position; said of those able and willing to rest as well upon the roughest ‘shakedown’ as upon the most comfortable bed. [Cf., Two-penny rope and plank-bed.] Also applied in a transferred sense—a synonym for general capacity and ability.

Clothes-Pin. That’s the sort of clothes-pin I am, phr. (popular).—That’s the sort of man I am. In the case of women That’s the sort of hair-pin (q.v.). [129]

Cloth-Market, subs. (old).—A bed. [Of obvious derivation. Cf., Fr., la halle aux draps.] For synonyms, see Bug-walk and Kip.

1738. Swift, Pol. Convers., dial i. I hope your early rising will do you no harm. I find you are but just come out of the cloth market.

1824. T. Fielding, Proverbs, etc. (Familiar Phrases), p. 148. He’s in the cloth market. In bed.

Cloud.—See Blow a cloud. Cloud originally signified tobacco smoke.—[Grose, 1785.] Fr., en griller une = to smoke a pipe or cigarette; also en griller une sèche and en griller une bouffarde.

Cloud-Cleaner, subs. (nautical).—See quot. Angel’s footstool, and Cf.

1883. W. Clark Russell, Sailors’ Word Book, p. 31. Cloud-cleaner, an imaginary sail jokingly assumed to be carried by Yankee ships.

Clout, subs. (vulgar).—1. A blow; a kick. For synonyms, see Bang, Dig, and Wipe.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Clout: a blow (cant), I’ll give you a clout on your jolly nob; I’ll give you a blow on the head.

1864. M. E. Braddon, Aurora Floyd, ch. xx. ‘If you had a father that’d fetch you a clout of the head as soon as look at you, you’d run away perhaps.’

2. (thieves’).—A pocket-handkerchief. [A.S. clút, a clout or patch; Dan. klud, Swed. klut, or perhaps from the Keltic; hence, any worthless piece of cloth.] For synonyms, see Wipe, sense 2.

1574–1637. Ben Jonson, Metam. Gipsies. And Tidslefoot has lost his clout, he says, with a three-pence and four tokens in’t.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall, 4 ed., p. 11. [List of Cant Words in.] Clout: a handkerchief.

1754. Fielding, Jon. Wild, bk. I., ch. ix. A neat double clout, which seemed to have been worn a few weeks only, was pinned under her chin.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. A handkerchief (cant). Any pocket handkerchief except a silk one.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict. Clout, or Rag, a cotton pocket handkerchief (old cant).

3. plural (low).—A woman’s under-clothes, from the waist downwards. Also her complete wardrobe, on or off the person.

Verb (low).—1. To strike. Fr., jeter une mandole. For synonyms, see Tan.

1576–1625. Beaumont and Fletcher [quoted in Annandale’s ed. of Ogilvie’s Imperial Dict.]. Pay him over the pate, clout him for all his courtesies.

17(?). Scots Ballad. I’ll clout my Johnnie’s grey breeks For a’ the ill he’s done me yet.

1785. Burns, The Jolly Beggars. In vain they searched when off I marched To go and clout the caudron.

Clouter, subs. (old).—A pickpocket—especially one who steals handkerchiefs. [From clout, sense 2 (q.v.), a pocket-handkerchief, + er.] Cf., Clouting, sense 2. For synonyms, see Stook-hauler.

1839. W. H. Ainsworth, J. Sheppard, p. 158, ed. 1840. Near to these hopeful youths sat a fence, or receiver, bargaining with a clouter, or pickpocket.

Clouting, verbal subs. (common). 1. A beating, basting, or tanning (q.v. for synonyms).—See also Baste. [130]

Cloven, Cleaved, Cleft, adj. (old).—Terms applied to a sham virgin. (Cleft, subs. = the female pudendum.)

In Clover, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Well-off; comfortable; e.g., like a horse at grass in a clover field.

Clow, subs. (Winchester College). Pronounced clō.—A box on the ear. [Possibly from clout (q.v.) on the model of ‘bow’ from ‘bout,’ and ‘low’ from ‘lout.’ Halliwell gives ‘clow’ as a Cumberland word, meaning ‘to scratch.’] Cf., Baste, and for general synonyms, see Bang, Dig, and Wipe.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 140. The juniors did not get much fun out of the regular games, as their part consisted solely in kicking in the ball, and receiving divers kicks and clows in return for their vigilance. Ibid, p. 39. Nor, when ordered to ‘hold down,’ (i.e., put your head in a convenient position) for a clow, would the victim dare to ward off the blow.

Verb.—To box one on the ear. It was customary to preface the action by an injunction to ‘hold down.’—See quot., 1870, under subs., sense.

Clowes, subs. (old).—Rogues.—Grose [1785].

Cloy, Cligh, or Cly, verb (old).—To steal. For synonyms, see Prig. An old Gloucestershire vulgarism for the hands is clees.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 8 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). They are sure to be clyd in the night by the angler, or hooker, or such like pilferers that liue upon the spoyle of other poore people.

1622. Head and Kirkman, Canting Song, in English Rogue. I met a Dell, I viewed her well, She was benship to my watch; So she and I did stall and cloy, Whatever we could catch.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v. To cloy the clout, to steal the handkerchief. To cloy the lour, to steal money.

Cloyer, subs. (old).—A thief who intruded on the profits of young sharpers, by claiming a share.

1611. Middleton, Roaring Girl, O. Pl., vi., 113. Then there’s a cloyer, or snap, that dogs any new brother in that trade, and snaps,—will have half in any booty.

Cloyes, subs. (old).—Thieves; robbers, etc. [In Grose, 1785, and Lexicon Balatronicum, 1811.]—See Cloy and Cloyer.

Cloying, verbal subs. (old) Stealing.

1739. Poor Robin. Money is now a hard commodity to get, insomuch that some will venture their necks for it, by padding, cloying, milling, filching, nabbing, etc., all of which in plain English is only stealing.

Club, verb (military).—In manœuvring troops, so to blunder the word of command that the soldiers get into a position from which they cannot extricate themselves by ordinary tactics.

18(?). Thackeray, Novels by Eminent Hands. ‘Phil Fogarty.’ ‘Clubbed, be jabers!’ roared Lanty Clancy. ‘I wish we could show ’em the Fighting Onety-Oneth, Captain, darlin’!’

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. xi. If you’re in difficulties, [131]ask Sergeant File what is best to be done, only don’t club ’em, my boy, as you did at Limerick.

Clump, subs. (common).—A blow, generally a heavy one, with the hand.—See quots. under verbal sense. For synonyms, see Bang, Dig, and Wipe.

Verb (common).—To strike; to give a heavy blow. Fr., faire du bifteck. For synonyms, see Tan.

1864. Derby Day, p. 52. ‘We can’t give ’em in charge now.’… ‘Because why? I’ll tell you … we shouldn’t know when to spot ’em. No. I want to clump them. It will spoil sport to call in the bobbies.’

1874. W. E. Henley, MS. Ballad. Which they calls me the Professor, But I’m only Hogan’s Novice, Bloody artful with the mufflers, And a mark on fancy clumping.

1888. Daily News, 2 Jan., p. 7, col. 1. The prisoner clumped (struck) both of them, and then ran away.

Clumper, subs. (common).—1. A thick, heavy boot for walking. [Clumps in shoemakers’ technology = extra fore or half soles.] Cf., quot. under Clumping. For synonyms, see Trotter-cases.

Clumperton, subs. (old).—A countryman. For synonyms, see Joskin.

1870. All the Year Round, Mar. 5. ‘Byegone Cant (Geo. II.).’ Clumpertons agape at the giant proportions of the still somewhat new St. Paul’s would turn from their wondering walks to shudder and shrink at the ghastly gallows exhibition at Newgate.

Clumping, verbal subs. (common).—Walking heavily and noisily: as in hobnails or in clogs.

1864. [From Hotten’s MS. Collection, n.d.] ‘Why, woman! dost ’oo think I’se had naught better to do than go clumping up and down the sky a-searching for thy Tummas?’

Cly, subs. (thieves’).—1. A pocket; purse; sack; or basket. For synonyms, see Brigh and Sky-rocket.

1742. Charles Johnson, Highwaymen and Pirates, p. 252. Filing a cly which is picking pockets of watches, money, books or handkerchiefs.

1748. T. Dyche, Dict. (5 ed.). Cly (s.): the cant term for … purse or pocket.

1818. Maginn, from Vidocq. The Pickpocket’s Chaunt. A regular swell cove lushy lay. To his clies my hooks I throw in, Tol, lol, etc.

1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, bk. II., ch. i., p. 69. They’re just made for hooking a fogle [handkerchief] out of a clye.

1878. Charles Hindley, Life and Times of James Catnach. Frisk the cly and fork the rag, Draw the fogles plummy.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.), Cly (s.): the cant name for money, a purse, or a pocket.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 66. The ruffian cly thee, the deuil take thee.

1609. Dekker, a Gypsy song, in Lanthorne and Candlelight, etc. The Ruffin cly the nab of the Harman beck. If we mawnd Pannam, lap or Ruff-peck.

Cly-Faker, subs. (thieves’).—A pickpocket. [From cly, a pocket, + fake, to steal. + er.] For synonyms, see Stookhauler. [132]

1827. Lytton, Pelham, ch. lxxxii. They were gentlemen-sharpers, and not vulgar cracksmen and clyfakers.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 14. ‘Oh, I see!’ replied Blueskin, winking significantly.… ‘Now! slip the purse into my hand. Bravo! the best cly-faker of ’em all; couldn’t have done it better.’

Cly-faking, subs. (thieves’).—Pocket-picking. For synonyms, see Push.

1851. Borrow, Lavengro, ch. xxxi., p. 112 (1888). ‘What do you mean by cly-faking?’ ‘Lor, dear! no harm; only taking a handkerchief now and then.’

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. lx. Well, sir, I won’t deny that the young woman is Bess, and perhaps she may be on the cross, and I don’t go to say that what with flimping, and with cly-faking, and such-like, she mayn’t be wanted.

Cly-Off, verb (old).—To carry off. Cf., Cly, verb, sense 1.

1656. Brome, Jovial Crew. Act ii. Here safe in our skipper Let’s cly off our peck, And bowse in defiance O’ th’ Harman-beck.

Clyster-pipe, subs. (old).—An apothecary. [From clyster = an injection for costiveness.] Fr., un flûtencul, a play upon words. For synonyms, see Gallipot.

Cly the Gerke or Jerk, verbal phr. (old).—See quots.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 66. To cly the gerke, to get a whipping. Cf., to cop a hiding.

1827. Lytton, Pelham, ch. lxxxii. You deserve to cly the jerk for your patter.

Coach, subs. (formerly University and public schools’; now common).—A private tutor; and in a transferred sense one who trains another in mental or physical acquirements, e.g., in Sanskrit, Shakspeare, cricket, or rowing. Analogous terms are crammer, feeder, and grinder.

1850. F. E. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, ch. xxix., p. 240. Besides the regular college tutor, I secured the assistance of what, in the slang of the day, we irreverently termed a coach.

1853. C. Bede, Verdant Green, pt. I., pp. 63–4. ‘That man is Cram, the patent safety. He’s the first coach in Oxford.’ ‘A coach,’ said our freshman in some wonder. ‘Oh, I forgot you didn’t know college slang. I suppose a royal mail is the only gentleman coach you know of. Why, in Oxford a coach means a private tutor you must know; and those who can’t afford a coach, get a cab alias a crib alias translation.’

1864. Eton School-days, ch. ix., p. 103. Lord Fitzwinton, one of the smallest and best coaches—in aquatics—in the school.

1871. Times. ‘Report of the Debate in House of Lords on University Test Bill.’ The test proposed would be wholly ineffective … while it would apply to the college tutors, who had little influence over the young men, it would not affect the coaches, who had the chief direction of their studies.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 29 Nov., p. 1, col. 3. The schoolmaster is concerned with the education of boys up to eighteen; all beyond that falls either to the coach or the professor.

Verb (common).—To prepare for an examination by private instruction; to train: in general use both by coacher and coachee.

1846. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ch. v. The superb Cuff himself … helped him on with his Latin verses, coached him in play-hours.

1870. London Figaro, June 10. ‘Quadrille Conversation.’ It is, we fear, Quixotic to hope that ladies and gentlemen invited to the same ball would coach with the same master. [133]

Coachee, subs. (colloquial).—A coachman. Cf., Cabby.

1819. Thos. Moore, Tom Crib’s Mem. Cong., p. 79. This song … in which the language and sentiments of Coachee are transferred so ingeniously.

Coaching, verbal subs. (common).—1. Instruction; training, etc.—See Coach, subs. French students call it la barbe.

1836. Pluck Examination Papers for Candidates at Oxford and Cambridge, by Scriblerus Redivivus [Oxford]. The system of coaching pupils considerably improved by the examiners becoming pupils.

Coachman, subs. (anglers’).—A fly-fisher’s rod. [In allusion to whipping the stream.]

Coach-Wheel, subs. (popular).—A crown-piece, or five shillings. For synonyms, see Cart-wheel.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Coach wheel: a half crown piece is a fore coach wheel, and a crown piece a hind coach wheel, the fore wheels of a coach being less than the hind ones.

Coal.—See Cole.

To take in one’s coals, or winter coals, phr. (nautical).—To contract a venereal disease. For synonyms, see Ladies’ fever.

Coal-Box, subs. (musical).—A chorus. [Obviously ‘music-hally’ or ‘circussy’ in derivation: a cross between rhyming slang and a clown’s wheeze (q.v.).]

1809–70. Mark Lemon, Up and Down London Streets. The slang word for chorus, coal box, if we might mention anything so ungenteel.

Coaley, subs. (common).—A coal-heaver, or porter.

1880. Jas. Greenwood, ‘Diddler Domesticus,’ in Odd People in Odd Places, p. 93. With such arguments the bargain is driven to a conclusion, and the grateful coaley takes his departure.

1889. Star, 3 Dec., p. 3, col. 4. The coalies demonstrated last night in right novel fashion at St. Pancras Arches.

Coaling or Coally, adj. (theatrical).—Among ‘pros’ a coally or coaling part is one that is grateful to the player. [Hotten says it means ‘profitable,’ and derives it from cole = money, but this is doubtful.—See quot.]

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

Coal-Scuttle, subs. (common).—A poke bonnet; modish once, but now reserved for old-fashioned Quakeresses and ‘Hallelujah Lasses.’ [From the shape.]

1838. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby. There was Miss Snevellici … glancing from the depths of her coal-scuttle bonnet at Nicholas.