Slang and its analogues, 2 | Project Gutenberg

1872. Spencer, Study of Sociology, ch. vi., p. 119 (9 ed.). The dishonesty implied in the adulterations of tradesmen and manufacturers … in cooking of railway accounts and financial prospectuses.

1888. Grant Allen, This Mortal Coil, ch. v. Where Warren Relf was seated cooking a sky in one of his hasty seaside sketches.

1890. Saturday Review, 1 Feb., p. 134, col. 1. We referred, in our last article upon this [gambling] subject, to the Paris Mutuels, and explained their working. Now money has to be found somehow for the poorer classes to get to the Mutuel and back their fancies, and the clerk cooks his books, and the shop-boy ‘fingers the till.’

3. (colloquial).—To swelter with heat and sweat. In this sense the Fourbesque has ansare; literally ‘to be out of breath.’

To cook one’s goose, verbal phr. (common).—To ‘settle’; ‘worst’; kill; or ruin.

English Synonyms. To anodyne; to put to bed; to snuff out; to give, or cook one’s gruel; to corpse; to cooper up; to wipe out; to spiflicate; to settle, or settle one’s hash; to squash; to shut up; to send to pot; to smash; to finish; to do for; to bugger up; to put one’s light out; to stop one’s little game; to stop one’s galloping; to put on an extinguisher; to clap a stopper on; to bottle up; to squelch; to play hell (or buggery) with; to rot; to squash up; to stash; to give a croaker. For synonyms in the sense of circumvention, see Floored.

French Synonyms. Avoir son affaire (familiar: this also means to have got ‘a settler,’ and ‘to be absolutely drunk’); buter (thieves’ = ‘to kill’ or ‘execute’); escarper (thieves’); envoyer essayer une chemise de sapin (military: literally ‘to send one to try on a deal shirt.’ Cf., ‘wooden surtout’ = coffin); faire suer un chêne (popular: suer = to sweat; chêne = cove); faire passer le goût du pain (familiar = ‘to give one his gruel’); coffier (thieves’: an abbreviation of escoffier, to kill); conir (thieves’); ébasir (thieves’: formerly esbasir; Fourbesque sbasire and Germania esbasir); mettre à l’ombre (general = to put in the shade); endormir (thieves’); entailler (thieves’); abasourdir (thieves’: properly ‘to astound’); chouriner or suriner (thieves’: ‘chourin’ or surin = a knife); estourbir (thieves’); scionner (thieves’: from scion = a knife); faire un machabée (thieves’: in cant machabée = a drowned corpse. Michel thinks the expression originated either in the reading of II. Macabees, ch. xii., which is still retained in the Mass for the Dead, or through la danse macabre, the Dance of Death shown in the engravings of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries); faire flotter un pante (popular = to cook one’s goose by drowning. Flotter = to float. i.e., like a corpse); crever la paillasse (popular: literally ‘to rip open the mattress’); laver le linge dans la saignante (thieves’: to wash linen in blood): dévisser le trognon à quelqu’un (popular); entonner (popular: see Michel); estrangouiller (popular = ‘to strangle’; from a veterinary term étranguillon = ‘the strangles’); tortiller la vis, or le gaviau (thieves’); terrer (thieves’: to ‘guillotine’); faire la grande soulasse [175](thieves’: soulas, Old French = ‘solace’ or ‘comfort’); rebâtir un pante (thieves’); sonner (popular); lingrer (popular); envoyer ad patres (popular = ‘to send to one’s fathers’); envoyer en paradis (general = ‘to send to kingdom-come’); envoyer en parade (thieves’ = ‘to send on parade’); capahuter (thieves’ = to get rid of an accomplice to secure his share of the booty; sometimes rendered by refroidir à la capahut); décrocher (military: literally ‘to unhook,’ ‘to take down’); descendre quelqu’un (popular = to bring down); couper le sifflet (popular = to cut one’s whistle); watriniser (popular: in reference to M. Watrin, who was murdered by the Decazeville miners in 1886. Cf., the English ‘to burke’); moucher le quinquet (popular: ‘to snuff the lamp’); faire saigner du nez (thieves’ = ‘to give a bloody nose’); sabler (thieves’); faire banque (common); suager (thieves’: from suer, ‘to sweat’).

German Synonyms. Abfetzen (to kill by cutting or stabbing); abmeken, abmacken (Hebrew mocho = to put aside, to destroy, or to give ‘tit for tat.’ North German afmurksen); bekern machen (from the Hebrew peger. Used of animals it is the equivalent of krepieren); hargenen or horeg sein (‘to kill’ or ‘murder.’ Horeg, the murderer; Horug, the murdered; nehrog, murdered; nehrog werden, to be murdered; Hereg or Harigo, the murder); heimthun, or heimerlich spielen (heim, a corruption of the Hebrew chajim = life); Kappore machen or fetzen (literally ‘to make purified.’ From the Hebrew kophar); memissen or memissren; die Neschome nehmen (Hebrew neschomo, the soul or life); pegern or peigern; rozechenen or rozchenen (Hebrew, rozach = to kill); schächten (Hebrew, schochat).

Italian Synonym. Sbasire (literally ‘to cause to faint’ or ‘swoon.’ Sbasire su le funi = to swoon on the rope, i.e., to be hanged).

Spanish Synonyms. Apretar á uno la nuez (properly to clutch the Adam’s apple, i.e., the throat); apiolar (properly ‘to gyve a hawk’ or ‘to tie game together by the legs’; and metaphorically, ‘to seize’ or apprehend); despabilar (literally ‘to snuff a candle.’ Cf., Fr. moucher le quinquet and the Eng. ‘to put on an extinguisher’); apercollar (also, ‘to seize one by the collar’).

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 360. When the clarences, the cabs that carry four, came in, they cooked the hackney-coachmen in no time.

1853. Rev. E. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Adventures of Verdant Green, p. 270. Billy’s too big in the Westphalia’s gig-lamps, you’re the boy to cook Fosbrooke’s goose.

1861. A. Trollope, Framley Parsonage, ch. xlii. Chaldicotes, Gagebee, is a cooked goose, as far as Sowerby is concerned. And what difference could it make to him whether the Duke is to own it or Miss Dunstable.

1865. G. A. Sala, Trip to Barbary, ch. v. The first Napoleon … once nearly killed himself by his addictedness to Provençal cookery. Yes; a mess of mutton and garlic—’tis said it was poisoned—very nearly cooked the goose of Achilles.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. ii., p. 128. Seeing how the fellow was acting he sent him two ‘shise’ notes, which gave him a dose that cooked him. I saw the man myself, serving his time at Dartmoor. [176]

1888. Puck’s Library, May, p. 10. When the chromo first emerged from chaos, the producers of that kind of picture insisted that the goose of the artist was cooked.

Cookey or Cookie. To bet a cookie, verbal phr. (American).—The custom of preparing the cakes still known in Scotland as cookies was part and parcel of American life. [The cookey, like the English pancake on Shrove Tuesday, and the hot cross bun on Good Friday, forms a special old-fashioned dainty at Christmas-tide and New Year. From the Dutch koekje, dim. of koek, a cake.]

1870. Bret Harte, Luck of Roaring Camp, p. 227. Don’t know what he is! He lost every hoof and hide, I’ll bet a cookey!

1872. Lloyd’s Weekly, 28 April. ‘Probate Court Report.’ Might have said she would bet a cookey that the will was in America. (Laughter.)

1888. Detroit Free Press, 31 March. A book has just been published to instruct reporters in the use of proper phrases. We bet a cookey no reporter will ever read it.

Cookeyshine, subs. (old Scots).—An afternoon meal at which cookies (q.v.) form a staple dish. Cf., Tea-fight, Muffin-worry, etc. (q.v.). [From cookey, a small cake, + shine (q.v.), an entertainment.]

1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, I., 103. Dr. Sampson, loq.: We shall see whether we are on the right system: and if so, we’ll dose her with useful society in a more irrashinal forrm; conversaziones, cookeyshines, et cetera. And if we find ourselves on the wrong tack, why then we’ll hark back.

Cook-Ruffian, subs. (old).—A bad or indifferent cook, ‘who would cook the devil in his feathers.’

Cool, adj. (colloquial).—1. Impertinent; audacious; calmly impudent.

1870. Figaro, 22 May. It is considered to be cool to take a man’s hat with his name written in it, simply because you want to get his autograph.

Cool as a Cucumber, phr. (common).—Without heat; also, metaphorically, calm and composed.

2. (In reference to money; e.g., a cool hundred, thousand, etc.) Commonly expletive; but sometimes used to cover a sum a little above the figure stated.

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. VIII., ch. xii. Mr. Watson, too, after much variety of luck, rose from the table in some heat, and declared he had lost a cool hundred, and would play no longer.

1771. Smollet, Humphry Clinker, l. 41. I’ll bet a cool hundred he swings before Christmas.

1825. Miss Edgeworth, Love and Law, i., 2. Suppose you don’t get sixpence costs, and lose your cool hundred by it, still it’s a great advantage.

1841, Lytton, Night and Morning, bk. II., ch. x. Borrowed his money under pretence of investing it in the New Grand Anti-Dry-Rot Company; cool hundred—it’s only just gone, sir.

1890. Illustrated Bits, 29 March, p. 8, col. 2. I made three thousand last year, but if I have good luck this year I shall make a cool fifty thousand.

Cool-Crape, subs. (old).—A shroud, or winding sheet.—Grose.

Cooler, subs. (old).—1. A woman.—Grose [1785]. For synonyms, see Petticoat.

1742. Charles Johnson, Highwaymen and Pyrates, p. 293. ‘Not I,’ replied Jones, very readily, ‘I neither know nor [177]care who you are, tho’ before you spoke I took you for a brewer because you travel with your cooler by your side.’

3. (common).—Ale or stout after spirits and water. Sometimes called ‘putting the beggar on the gentleman’; also damper (q.v.).

1821. P. Egan, Tom and Jerry (ed. 1890), p. 76. Many persons … in order to allay the heat or thirst arising from the pernicious use of such quantities of ardent spirits, frequently take a glass of porter, which is termed a cooler, ‘a damper,’ etc.

Cool-Kick, subs. (Eton College).—When a behind (q.v.) or ‘back’ gets a kick with no one up to him.

Cool-Lady, subs. (old).—A female follower of the camp who sells brandy.—Grose [1785].

Cool-Nantz, subs. (old).—Brandy. For synonyms, see Drinks.

Cool one’s Coppers, verbal phr. (popular).—To allay the morning’s thirst after a night of drink. Cf., Hot-coppers and Dry as a lime basket.

1861. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. iii. We were playing Van John in Blake’s rooms till three last night, and he gave us devilled bones and mulled port. A fellow can’t enjoy his breakfast after that without something to cool his coppers.

1870. Sportsman, 17 Dec. ‘A Chapel Meeting.’ Bring me a mouthful, George, shouted a grasping Typo one day to his chum, who, at the trough in the furthest corner of the room, was cooling his coppers with cold water.

Coon, subs. (American).—1. A man. [Coon, a curtailment of ‘racoon’ (Procyon lotor), is thought to be of Indian origin (Algonquin, aroughcun, the scratcher), though some trace it to the French raton. The contraction dates from about 1840, when the racoon was used as a kind of political totem.]

1860. Punch, vol. XXXIX., p. 227. ‘The Baby in the House.’ I sign him, said the Curate Howe, O’er Samuel Burbott George Bethune, Then baby kicked up such a row As terrified that reverend coon.

2. (American).—A nigger, e.g., a coons’ bawdy house = a house where none are kept but girls of colour.

Gone coon, subs. phr. (American).—One in a serious or hopeless difficulty. A Scots equivalent is gone corbie, i.e., a dead crow. Cf., Gone goose. [The explanation generally given is that during the American War a spy dressed in racoon skins ensconced himself in a tree. An English rifleman (the nationalities are reversible) levelled his piece at him, whereupon the American exclaimed: ‘Don’t shoot, I’ll come down. I know I am a gone coon.’]

1845. Mr. Giddings, in Congress (quoted in De Vere). Besides the acquisition of Canada, which is put down on all sides as a gone coon.

1857. Dickens, Lying Awake, in Reprinted Pieces, p. 192. I must think of something else as I lie awake; or, like that sagacious animal in the United States who recognised the colonel who was such a dead shot, I am a gone coon.

1864. Derby Day, p. 51. We shan’t get to your advice till the crack’s hocussed and done for, and we’re all ruined as safe as coons.

1867. London Herald, 23 March, p. 221, col. 3. ‘We’re safe to nab him; safe as houses. He’s a gone coon, sir.’

1883. Calverley, Fly Leaves, p. 83. ‘On the Brink.’ She stood so calm, so like a ghost, Betwixt me and that magic moon. That I already was almost A finished coon. [178]

Coon’s Age, subs. phr. (American).—A long time; ‘a blue moon.’ The racoon is held to be a long-lived animal.

b. 1780, d. 1851. Audubon, Life, I., p. 178. ‘Wall, Pete, whar have you been? I hav’n’t seen you this coon’s age.’

Coop, subs. (thieves’).—A prison. For synonyms, see Cage.

1866. London Miscellany, 3 Mar., p. 58, col. 3. I don’t think that’s no little let-down for a cove as has been tip-topper in his time, and smelt the insides of all the coops in the three kingdoms.

1877. J. Greenwood, Dick Temple. You say that you have been in the coop as many times as I have.

Cooped-up, ppl., adj., phr. (old).—Imprisoned. [From coop (q.v.), a place of detention.] For synonyms, see Limbo.

Cooper or Cooper up, verb (thieves’ and vagrants’).—1. To destroy; spoil; settle; or finish.

Coopered, ppl. adj. (racing, thieves’, and vagrants’).—Hocussed; spoiled; ruined; e.g., a house is said to be coopered when the importunity of many tramps has caused its inmates to cold-shoulder the whole fraternity; a coopered horse is a horse that has been ‘got at’ with a view to prevent its running.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 232. ‘Cooper’d,’ spoiled by the imprudence of some other patterer.

Coored, adj. (old).—Whipped.—D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171 [1821].

Coot, subs. (American).—A stupid fellow; generally ‘a silly’ or ‘mad old coot.’ Stupid as a coot is a common English provincialism. [The fulica altra, the bald or common coot, like the ostrich, is said to bury its head when pursued, thinking none can see it, as it cannot see itself.] For synonyms, see Buffle-head and Cabbage-head.

Cooter.—See Couter.

Cop, subs. (common).—A policeman. [From cop, verb, sense 1.] For synonyms, see Beak, sense 1, and Copper.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, p. 124. Oh! where will be the culls of the bing … And all the cops and beaks so knowin’, A hundred stretches hence?

1879. Punch, 3 May, p. 201, col. 1. I suppose if the Toffs took a fancy for chewing a stror or a twig, Like a tout or a hostler, or tumbled to carryin’ a bludgeon as big As a crib cracker’s nobby persuader, Pall Mall would be jolly soon gay With blue-blooded blokes a green cop might mistake for foot-pads on the lay.

Verb (common).—1. To seize; steal; catch; take an unfair advantage in a bet or bargain. [Cop has been associated with the root of the Latin cap-io, to seize, to snatch; also with the Gypsy kap or cop = to take; Scotch kep; and Gallic ceapan. Probably, however, its true radix is to be found in the Hebrew cop = a hand or palm. Low-class Jews employ the term, and understand it to refer to the act of snatching.]

[Cop like Chuck (q.v.), is a sort of general utility verb. Thus to Cop the [179]Needle = to get angry; to Cop the Bullet or the door = to get the sack; to Cop it Hot = to be severely clapped; to Cop it (said of women) = to be got with child; and to Cop the Brewer = to be drunk.]

For synonyms in the sense of to steal, see Prig; and in the sense of to seize, see Nab.

1864. Manchester Courier, 13 June. ‘Copper’ … a slang name for a policeman derived from cop, which is a well known and generally used vulgarism for ‘catch.’

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL., p. 500. I was taken by two pals (companions) to an orchard to cop (steal) some fruit.

1883. Punch, Sept. 29, p. 146, col. 2. ‘Bill’s not such a fool as you think; He’ll cop my truncheon, pat, Jam the whistle into my mouth, And stretch the Peeler flat.’

1887. W. E. Henley, Villon’s Straight Tip to all Cross Coves. Booze and the blowens cop the lot.

English Synonyms. To give the clinch; to make one kiss the clink; to accommodate; to nobble; to bag; to box; to fist (old); to scoop; to take up; to victimize; to run in; to give or get one the boat; to buckle; to smug; to nab; to collar; to pinch; to nail; to rope in; to shake; to pull up.

French Synonyms. Empioler (thieves’); tomber au plan (thieves’ = to be apprehended); étre mis au plan (thieves’ = to be imprisoned); enfourailler (thieves’); bâcler or boucler (thieves’: literally to buckle, put a ring to); bloquer (military: properly to blockade); étre le bon (popular = to be arrested; also to be the right man); boulotter de or coucher à la boîte (military = to get frequently locked up. La grosse boîte = a prison; boîte aux refléxions = a prison cell); mettre quelqu’un dans la blouse (familiar = to ‘pocket,’ as at billiards); se faire cuire (popular = to be arrested); clouer (popular: clou = guard-room or cell); coller au bloc (popular: coller is properly to stick, as with glue, but in a slang sense it carries the meaning of to place or put; bloc = prison); piper (familiar); poisser (popular and thieves’); grimer (popular); coquer (thieves’: also, to peach or inform); enflacquer (thieves’); mettre or fourrer dedans (familiar: literally to put inside); mettre à l’ombre (common: literally to put in the shade); mettre au violon (popular: see violon under Cage); grappiner (popular); poser un gluau (thieves’ = to lime, as in snaring birds); empoigner (popular = to fist; possibly a dictionary word); piger (popular); emballer (popular and thieves’; properly to pack up); gripper (this has passed into the language); encoffrer (popular = to ‘box up’); encager (familiar = to cage); accrocher (properly to hook); ramasser de la boîte (military: also ramasser quelqu’un and se faire remasser); souffler (thieves’); faire tomber malade (popular = to make one ill); agrafer (literally to hook or clasp; avoir son linge lavé (thieves’ = to have one’s linen washed).

German Synonyms.—Bekaan scheften (from the Hebrew kaan); im Kühlen sitzen (literally to sit in the cold. Cf., Fr., mettre à l’ombre); krank werden (literally [180]to fall ill; equivalent to the Fr. faire tomber malade); ins Leck baun (Viennese thieves’ M.H.G. luken = to lock up); millek sein (to be imprisoned); trefe fallen (to be apprehended under grave circumstances; e.g., with burglar’s instruments or stolen goods); versargen (to imprison for a long time); abfassen (students’ slang); ankappen (popular colloquialism); klemmen (M.H.G. klembern = to press heavily); taffen, tofes nehmen, tofes lokechnen, or tofes lekichnen (from the Hebrew tophas); vercheweln, vercheifeln or verheifeln (from the Hebrew chobal; also to bind or gag).

Copbusy, verb (thieves’).—See quot.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 445. To hand over the booty to a confederate or girl—to copbusy.

Copper, subs. (popular).—A policeman. [From cop, verb, senses 1 and 2, (q.v.), to catch, + er; literally a catcher.] Equivalents are robin or robin-redbreast; m.p. (i.e., member of police); copperman (an Australian prison term); but for synonyms, see Beak, to which may be added the following.

French Synonyms. Un chasse-coquin (popular: also = a ‘beadle’ and ‘bad wine.’ Literally ‘a beggar-driver’: Cf., chasse-chien = a beadle employed to drive away dogs); un chasse-noble (thieves’); le cadratin (police; a term applied to the detective force; properly what printers call an ‘em quad’); l’enplaque (thieves’); une fauvette à tête noire (thieves’: literally ‘a black-cap’); un bricul or briculé (thieves’: an inspector of police); une casserole (thieves’ = a detective; also a prostitute. Properly ‘a saucepan’ or warming-pan); un emballeur (thieves’: properly ‘a packer’); un ficard (thieves’); un arnacq or arnache (thieves’); un vesto de la cuisine (thieves’ = a detective. Vesto = haricot bean; cuisine = detective force); rabatteur de pantes (thieves’ = a beater of game, man being the quarry); un bigorneau (properly a periwinkle); un cognac (thieves’); un quart (pop: faire son quart = to be on the watch); un radis noir (common: also = a priest or devil-dodger); un renifleur (thieves’: renifler = to sniff); mari Robin (thieves’); un marchand or solliceur de lacets (thieves’: lacets = hand-cuffs); lapin ferré (a mounted policeman); un liêge (thieves’).

German Synonyms. Blaukragen (Viennese thieves’: for an armed policeman; literally ‘a blue collar,’ in allusion to the uniform); Blitzableiter (literally ‘the lightning conductor’); Bosser-Isch (a play upon words is involved in this term. It is derived from the Hebrew bosar = meat. Bosser-Isch signifies literally ‘meat-man,’ i.e., a butcher, or translated into literary German, Fleischmann. In the first half of the last century a certain Lieutenant Fleischmann was especially zealous in ‘persecuting’ the robber gangs infesting the district between Frankfurt and Darmstadt. Every hunter of rogues and vagabonds has since then been called a Bosser-Isch or Fleischmann. Hence its application to the police); Greiferci (specially applied to the ‘criminal’ police); [181]Hadatsch or Hatschier (Viennese thieves’); aie Herren (the police force generally; literally ‘the gentlemen’); Husche, Huscher, Husskiefel or Husskopf (a mounted policeman); Iltis or Iltisch (thieves’); Kapdon (from the Hebrew kophad: literally ‘to draw together,’ or intransitively ‘to cut off’; applied to a clever policeman); Karten (the police. Cf., Garden = guards); Koberer (the officer in charge of the regulations over registered prostitutes; Koberer = ‘fancy-man,’ or ‘protector’); Klisto (a mounted policeman; from the Hanoverian gypsy glisto); Kreuzritter (Viennese thieves’ = a policeman who is also a soldier; more correctly, a police-soldier); Laileschmir (a night policeman; from the Hebrew lailo, ‘the night’); Laterne (Viennese thieves’); Lederzeug (a mounted policeman); Mischpoche (a Hebrew word signifying ‘the family,’ ‘the relations’; gang of robbers; the inmates of a prison; the police force taken as a whole); Polenk or Polente (Hanoverian slang for the police; possibly from the Gypsy polontschero = ‘the night-watchman’ or ‘herdsman’); Poliquetsch (a term applied either to the force or to a single member); Quetsch (Cf., foregoing); Schin (an abbreviation, being the Hebrew letter ‏ש‎, for the turnkey of a prison, a policeman, etc.; ein platter Schin, a policeman who makes common cause with a burglar; miser Schin, a policeman who is hated); Spinatwächter (soldiers’ for a police-soldier; in allusion to the green uniform); Spitz or Spitzl (a vigilant policeman, from Spitz = pointed, from which is derived Spitz-bube, a thief); Teckel (Hanoverian for foot-police); Zaddik (from the Hebrew signifying ‘the just’ or ‘pious one’; used sarcastically as a nickname for the guardians of the right); Zenserei (Viennese thieves’: Zenserer = a police superintendent. Apparently the modern form of the old Sens, Sins, Söns, Sims, or Simser, of which the derivation is clearly to be found in Zent or Cent, from the Centenæ of the Frankish kings, who divided the counties into Centenæ and Decaniæ for the purposes of administration).

Italian Synonyms. Falcon de draghetti (literally ‘a hawk preying on schoolboys’); sbirre.

Spanish Synonym. Abrazador (m; literally ‘one who embraces’; abrazar = to hug, or clasp).

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, p. 21. ‘The knuck was copped to rights, a skin full of honey was found in his kick’s poke by the copper when he frisked him’; [i.e.] the pickpocket was arrested, and when searched by the officer a purse was found in his pantaloons pocket full of money.

1864. Manchester Courier, 13 June. The professors of slang, however, having coined the word, associate that with the metal, and as they pass a policeman they will, to annoy him, exhibit a copper coin, which is equivalent to calling the officer copper.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 237. I daresay the coppers quite expected us the next night, and looked out for us.… Coppers, I may inform the reader, is slang for police.

1889. Punch, 3 Aug., p. 49, col. 2. Young ’Opkins took the reins, but soon in slumber he was sunk—(Indignantly) When a interfering copper ran us in for being drunk!

Copperheads, subs. (American).—A nickname applied to different sections of the American nation: first to the Indian; then [182]to the Dutch colonist (see Irving, Knickerbocker); lastly, during the Civil War, to certain Northern Democrats who sympathised with the South. [Properly the Trigonocephalus contortrix.]

1864. Walt Whitman, Diary, 10 April [in Century Mag., Oct., 1888]. Exciting times in Congress. The copperheads are getting furious, and want to recognise the Southern Confederacy.

1872. Daily Telegraph, 29 Aug. Should he [Mr. Greeley] be elected, he will owe his victory to … the copperhead ring of the Democratic party.

1881. W. D. Howells, Dr. Breen’s Practice, ch. ix. He lived to cast a dying vote for General Jackson, and his son, the first Dr. Mulbridge, survived to illustrate the magnanimity of his fellow-townsmen during the first year of the civil war, as a tolerated copperhead.

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, 2 March. Gay was executed, I think, in November, 1862, at Indianapolis. He was … a virulent copperhead.

Copperman, subs. (Australian prison).—A policeman. Cf., Copper.

Copper-Nose, subs. (old).—The swollen, pimply nose of habitual drunkards. A ‘jolly’ or ‘bottle’ nose; in Fr., une bette-rave, i.e., a beetroot; also un piton passé à l’encaustique. Cf., Grog-blossom. For synonyms for the nose generally, see Conk.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. x. ‘The stoutest raven dared not come within a yard of that copper nose.’

Copper’s Nark, subs. (thieves’).—A police spy; one in the pay of the police. [From copper (q.v.), a policeman, + nark, a spy; used as a nark signifies to watch or look after.]

1879. Thos. Satchell, in Notes and Queries, 5 S., xi., 406. Copper’s Nark: A police spy.

1887. W. E. Henley, Villon’s Good Night. Likewise you coppers’ narks and dubs What pinched me when upon the snam.

1889. Answers, 20 July, p. 121, col. 1. He instructed me … on no account to appear to be anxious to pry into their secrets, lest I should be mistaken for a copper’s nark, i.e., a person in the pay of the police.

Copperstick, subs. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick.

Copus, subs. (Univ.).—A wine or beer cup, which was commonly imposed as a fine upon those who talked Latin in hall or committed other breaches of etiquette. Dr. Johnson derives it from episcopus, and if this be correct it is doubtless the same as bishop.

Copy of Countenance, subs. phr. (old).—A sham; humbug; pretence.

1579. Gosson, Apol. of the Schoole of Abuse, p. 64 (Arber). They have eaten bulbief, and threatned highly, too put water in my woortes, whensoeuer they catche me; I hope it is but a coppy of their countenance.

1607. Dekker, Westward Ho, Act ii., Sc. 1. I shall love a puritan’s face the worse, whilst I live, for that copy of thy countenance.

1637. Fletcher, Elder Brother, V., i. Nor can I change my copy, if I purpose to be of your society.

1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, bk. III., ch. xiv. This, as he afterwards confessed on his death-bed, i.e., in the court at Tyburn, was only a copy of his countenance; for that he was at that time as sincere and hearty in his opposition to Wild as any of his companions.

1756. Foote, Englishman from Paris, Act i. And if the application for my advice is not a copy of your countenance, a mask; if you are obedient, I may set you right. [183]

Coral Branch, subs. phr. (venery).—The penis.

Core, Coreing, verb and verbal subs. (old).—See quot.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171. Coreing: picking up small articles in shops.

Corinth, subs. (old).—A brothel. For synonyms, see Nanny-shop. Cf., Corinthian and Corinthianism.

1609. Shakspeare, Timon of Athens, Act ii., Sc. 2. Would we could see you at Corinth!

Corinthian, subs. (old).—1. A rake; a loose liver; sometimes specifically, a fashionable whore. Shakspeare has it, ‘a lad of mettle,’ but in another place he uses corinth as above. In the slang sense an allusion to the notoriety of Corinth as a centre of prostitution, i.e., the temple-city of Aphrodite. Κορινθάεσθαι, = to Corinthianise was Greek slang. Hence the proverb—Οὺ παντὸς ἀνδρὸς εἰς Κόρινθον ισθ’ ὁ πλοῦς: and Horace, Epist. lib. 1, xvii., 36—

Also used as an adjective, a verbal form being to corinthianize. Cf., Shakspeare’s use of Ephesians in II. King Henry IV., ii. 2. For synonyms, see Molrower.

1598. Shakspeare, I Henry IV., Act ii., Sc. 4. And tell me flatly I am no proud Jack, like Falstaff; but a Corinthian, a lad of mettle, a good boy.

b. 1608. d. 1674. Milton, Apology for Smect. And raps up, without pity, the sage and rheumatic old prelatess, with all her young Corinthian laity.

1890. Daily Telegraph, 25 Feb., p. 4, col. 7. Is it not curious that hotel proprietors [at Monte Carlo] should countenance, if not encourage, a Tom and Jerry tone and a wild Corinthian element, even in well-conducted restaurants?

1890. Henley and Stevenson, Beau Austin, iii., 1. I assure you, Aunt Evelina, we are Corinthian to the last degree.

2. A dandy; specifically applied in the early part of the present century to a man of fashion; e.g., Corinthian Tom, in Pierce Egan’s Life in London. For synonyms, see Dandy.

1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 9. ’Twas diverting to see, as one ogled around, How Corinthians and Commoners mixed on the ground.

1832. Pierce Egan, Book of Sports, p. 210. ‘I would be a Corinthian to the end of the chapter if I could—but the truth is, I was not lucky enough to be born a swell.’

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. iv. Where the hospitable ‘Jem’ received his more aristocratic visitors, and to which, as Corinthians, or ‘swells,’ we were immediately admitted.

1854. Thackeray, Leech’s Pictures in Quarterly Review, No. 191, Dec. Corinthian, it appears, was the phrase applied to men of fashion and ton … they were the brilliant predecessors of the ‘swell’ of the present period.

Corinthianism, subs. (old and modern).—See Corinthian, in both senses of which, mutatis mutandis, corinthianism is employed.

Cork, subs. (common).—1. A bankrupt. For analogous terms, see Quizby.

2. (Scotch).—The general name in Glasgow and neighbourhood for the head of an establishment, e.g., of a factory, or the like. [184]

To draw a cork, verbal phr. (pugilistic).—To draw blood. A variant is to tap one’s claret.

1818. P. Egan, Boxiana, vol. I., p. 136. Several blows exchanged, but no corks were drawn.

1819. Thos. Moore, Tom Crib’s Mem. to Cong., p. 25. … This being the first Royal claret let flow, Since Tom took the Holy Alliance in tow, The uncorking produced much sensation about, As bets had been flush on the first painted snout.

1837. S. Warren, Diary of a Late Physician, ch. xii. Tap his claret cask—draw his cork!

Cork-brained, adj. phr. (old).—Light headed; foolish.

Corker, subs. (common).—1. That which closes an argument, or puts an end to a course of action; a settler; a finisher (q.v.); specifically a lie. Cf., whopper.

2. Anything unusually large, or of first-rate quality; remarkable in some respect or another; e.g., a heavy blow; a monstrous lie.—See Whopper.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xix. ‘Then I lets him have it, right, left, right, jist three corkers, beginning with the right hand, shifting to the left, and then with the right hand ag’in.’

To play the corker.—To indulge in the uncommon; to exhibit exaggerated peculiarities of demeanour; specifically in school and university slang to make oneself objectionable to one’s fellows.

1882. F. Anstey, Vice Versâ, ch. vii. ‘Why, you’re sticking up for him now!’ said Tom … astonished at this apparent change of front. ‘If you choose to come back and play the corker like this, it’s your look-out.’

Corks, subs. (general).—1. A butler. [An allusion to one of the duties of the office.] Cf., Burn-crust, a baker; Master of the mint, a gardener; Cinder-Garbler, a maid-of-all-work, etc.

2. (nautical).—Money. [A facetious allusion to money as the means of ‘keeping afloat.’] For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

Corkscrewing, verbal subs. (common).—The straggling, spiral walk of tipsiness.

Corkscrews, subs. pl. (general).—Very stiff and formal curls, once called bottle-screws.

1890. Notes and Queries, 5 April. Bottle-screws—Dr. Murray has this word in the N.E.D. as obsolete, meaning cork-screws, as we now call them.

Corky, adj. (colloquial).—Sprightly; lively. [An allusion to the buoyancy of a cork.] Shakspeare uses it in King Lear, iii., 7. Com., ‘Bind fast his corky arms’; but with him (1605) it = ‘withered.’

Corn, subs. (American).—1. Food; sustenance; grub. [A figurative usage of the legitimate word.]

1870. Green Bay (Wis.) Gaz., Oct. I therefore take thus to forewarn You not to trust her with a straw, For I will never pay her corn Unless compelled to by the law.

1843. John S. Robb. ‘The Standing Candidate.’ ‘Ef you war a babby, just new born, ’Twould do you good this juicy corn!’ [185]

To acknowledge the corn, phr. (American).—See Acknowledge, and the following quote:

1846. New York Herald, 27 June. The Evening Mirror very naïvely comes out and acknowledges the corn, admits that a demand was made, etc.

Corned, ppl. adj. (common).—1. Drunk. [Hotten: ‘possibly from soaking or pickling oneself like salt-beef.’ Barrère: ‘almost beyond doubt … an Americanism from corn, a very common name for whisky.’ Both are wrong; the verb ‘to corn’ is a common provincialism and Scotticism signifying ‘to be drunk.’] For synonyms, see Screwed.

1835. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, p. 257 (ed. 1862). ‘I was pretty well corned thet arternoon, but still I knew what I was about.’

Corner, subs. (colloquial).—1.—See verbal sense.

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 309. Mr. Bill Greyson thought it much more likely that a syndicate of bookmakers had plotted to make a good thing out of the horse by working him in the betting-market like any other corner on the Stock Exchange.

2. (sporting).—Tattersall’s Subscription Rooms once situate at the top of Grosvenor Place, near Hyde Park Corner; now removed to Albert Gate, but still known by the old nickname.

1848. W. M. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, ch. x. He is a regular attendant at the corner, where he compiles a limited but comfortable libretto.

1874. G. A. Lawrence, Hagarene, ch. v. She heard how—without anticipating the stable commission, or making any demonstration at the corner—the cream of the long odds against the Pirate had been skimmed.

3. (sporting).—Short for Tattenham Corner, a crucial point on the Derby course on Epsom Downs.

4. (thieves’).—A share; an opportunity of ‘standing in’ for the proceeds of a robbery.

Verb (colloquial).—To get control of a stock or commodity and so monopolize the market; applied to persons, to drive or force into a position of difficulty or surrender, e.g., in an argument. [Probably American, being a simple extension of the legitimate meaning of the word to drive or force into a corner or place from which there is no means of escape.] French equivalents are être en fine pégrène, and se mettre sur les fonts de baptême. Tailors speak of a man as cornered who has pawned work entrusted to him, and cannot redeem it. Also used as a ppl. adj.

1848. Lowell, Fable for Critics, p. 24. Such [books] as Crusoe might dip in, altho’ there are few so Outrageously cornered by fate as poor Crusoe.

1851. Hawthorne, House of Seven Gables, ch. v. A recluse, like Hepzibah, usually displays remarkable frankness, and at least temporary affability, on being absolutely cornered, and brought to the point of personal intercourse.

1883. Graphic, April 21, p. 406, col. 2. Chief member of a ring which has cornered colza oil this winter to such an extent that the price has been very considerably enhanced during the last few months.

To be round the corner, verbal phr. (common).—To get round or ahead of one’s fellows [186]by dishonest cuts, doublings, twists, and turns. For synonyms, see Knowing.

To turn the corner, phr. (common).—To get over the worst; to begin to mend in health or fortune.

To be cornered, verbal phr. (common).—To be in a ‘fix.’ Fr., être dans le lac.

Corner-Man or Cove, subs. (common).—1. A loafer; literally a lounger at corners.

1851. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, IV., 445. I mean by corner-coves them sort of men who is always a standing at the corners of the streets and chaffing respectable folks a-passing by!

1885. Chamb. Journal, Feb. 28, p. 136. Curley Bond was well known in the district as a loafer and corner-man.

2. (music hall).—The ‘Bones’ and ‘Tambourine’ in a band of negro minstrels.

Corn In Egypt, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Plenty of all kinds. [Biblical.]

Cornish Duck, subs. (trade).—A pilchard. Cf., Yarmouth capon.

Corn-Juice, subs. (American).—Whiskey. For synonyms, see Drinks.

1888. Detroit Free Press, May. … Don’t be for ever loafing whar the corn-juice flows.

Cornstalk, subs. (Australian).—Generic for persons of European descent, but especially applied to girls. The children of Anglo-Australians are generally taller and slighter in build than their parents. Originally a native of New South Wales; now general. Cf., Bananalander.

1885. Chambers’ Journal, March 21, p. 191. The stockman—a young six-foot Cornstalk (or native of New South Wales).

1887. G. L. Apperson, in All the Year Round, 30 July, p. 67, col. 2. A native of New South Wales is known as a cornstalk.

1888. Colonies and India, 14 Nov. Auld Jamie Inglis has written ‘anither buik, ye ken’ … for the delectation of the youthful Cornstalk’s mind.

Cornstealers, subs. (American).—The hands. For synonyms, see Bunch of fives and Daddle.

1835. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker. ‘How is you been, my old bullock?’ and he squeezed his cornstealers till the old gineral began to dance like a bear on red-hot iron.

Corny-Faced, adj. (old).—Red and pimply with drink. [From corn, to render intoxicated, + faced.]

Coroner, subs. (common).—A severe fall. [Literally a fall likely to produce a coroner’s inquest.]

Corporal, To mount a corporal and four, verbal phr. (old).—To practice masturbation.—See Frig.

Corporation, subs. (colloquial).—A protuberant stomach. For synonyms, see Bread-basket and Victualling office.

1849. C. Bronté, Shirley, ch. xvi. The former, looming large in full canonicals, walking as became a beneficed priest, under the canopy of a shovel hat, with the dignity of an ample corporation.

1887. W. P. Frith, Autobiog., i., 49. Very stout men … each possessing larger corporations than are commonly seen. [187]

Corpse, subs. (sporting).—A horse in the betting for market purposes alone; otherwise a stiff’un.—See Cock, subs., sense 4.

Verb (theatrical).—1. To confuse; ‘to queer’; to blunder and so ‘put out’ one’s fellows: to spoil a scene.—See Regular corpser.

1886. Graphic, April 10, p. 399. An actor who forgets his words is said to ‘stick,’ or be ‘corpsed.’

1886. Cornhill Mag., Oct., p. 436. He expressed a hope that Miss Tudor ‘wouldn’t corpse his business’ over the forge-door again that evening.

2. (common).—To kill (literally to make a corpse of one). A Fr. equivalent is parler sur quelqu’un. For synonyms, see Cook one’s goose.

1884. Editor of Notes and Queries [in ‘Answers to Correspondents’ (6 S., ix., 120), says that]. ‘To corpse … is one of many customary and coarse ways of menacing the infliction of death. It is horribly familiar in London.’

1887. W. E. Henley and R. L. Stevenson, Deacon Brodie, Act 4. Moore. And is he thundering well corpsed?… Then damme, I don’t mind swinging.

Corpse-Provider, subs. (common).—A doctor or physician. For synonyms, see Crocus.

Corpse Reviver, subs. phr. (American).—A mixed drink.—See Drinks.

1871. Birmingham Daily Post, 22 Dec. And our American refreshment bars, In drinks of all descriptions cut a dash, From corpse revivers down to ‘brandy smash.’

1883. Daily Telegraph, March 8, p. 7, col. 1. In winter the dash into the open air or the standing for a few minutes in a line of comrades will certainly enhance the joys of the English equivalents for the Yankee corpse reviver.

Correct or K’rect Card.—See Card.

Corroboree, subs. (Australian).—A disturbance. [Properly a tremendous native dance.]

Corsican, subs. (sporting).—Something out of the common; a ‘buster.’ [A ‘Burnandism.’]

Corybungus, subs. (pugilistic).—The posteriors.—See Blind cheeks, Bum, and Monocular eye glass.

Cosh, subs. (popular and thieves’).—A ‘neddy’; a life-preserver; a short, loaded bludgeon. Also a policeman’s truncheon.

Cosouse.—See Come Souse.

Cossack, subs. (common).—A policeman. For synonyms, see Beak and Copper.

1886. Graphic, Jan. 30, p. 130, col. 1. A policeman is also called a ‘cossack,’ a ‘Philistine,’ and a ‘frog.’

Costard, subs. (old).—The head. [Properly an apple.] For synonyms, see Crumpet.

1534. N. Udall, Roister Doister, III., v., p. 58 (Arber). I knocke youre costarde if ye offer to strike me.

1605. Shakspeare, King Lear, Act iv. Sc. 6. Edg. … Nay, come not near th’ old man; keep out, che vor ye, or ise try whether your costard or my bat be the harder.

1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary, Costard, the head; a kind of opprobrious word, used by way of contempt, probably alluding to a costard apple. [188]

1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. xii. ‘It’s hard I should get raps over the costard.’

Cotch, verb (vulgar).—To catch. [A corruption.] Also ppl. adj., cotched.

1889. Pall Mall Gaz., Oct. 12, p. 5, col. 2. Taken before some French beak whom he did not know, and an interpreter brought, the cotched culprit was made to pay 20 f.

Cots, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—See quot. [A corruption of ‘cotton.’]

1810. Charles Lamb, Recollections of Christ’s Hospital [1835], p. 24. The Cots, or superior Shoe Strings of the Monitors.

Cotsold or Cotswold Lion, subs. phr. (old).—A sheep. Mentioned by Ray in his proverbs. For synonyms, see Wool-bird.

1615. Harington, Epigrams, bk. III., ep. 18. Lo then the mystery from whence the name Of Cotsold lyons first to England came.

Cotton-Lord or King, subs. (common).—A wealthy cotton manufacturer.

1883. Hawley Smart, Hard Lines, ch. xix. ‘But, Mr. Fulsby [a Manchester man], the country will never … do away with the army because you cotton lords consider it unnecessary.’

Cottonopolis, subs. (general).—Manchester. [In allusion to the staple.] Cf., Albertopolis, Cubitopolis, Hygeiapolis.

1884. Echo, May 12, p. 4, col. 2. For the big race [Manchester Cup] at Cottonopolis a fine lot are let in.

Cottons, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Confederate Bonds. [From the staple of the Southern States.]

Cotton To, verb (common).—To take a fancy to; to unite with; to agree with. In the last sense it is found occasionally in the Elizabethan writers, and is American by survival. [As regards derivation, it comes from the Welsh cytuno, to agree, to consent.]

Some French analogues are:—Avoir un béguin pour quelqu’un and avoir un pépin pour une femme; one who cottons to another is by students called un colleur; while concubinage by sheer force of habit is damned as le collage.

1582. Stanyhurst, Virgil, p. 19 (Arber). If this geare cotten, what wight wyl yeelde to myn aulters Bright honor and Sacrifice.

1605. Play of Stucley, I., 290. John a Nokes and John a Style and I cannot cotton.

1837. Barham, I. L. (The Bagman’s Story). For when once Madam Fortune deals out her hard raps, It’s amazing to think, How one cottons to drink!

1846. Punch, vol. II., p. 12. I agree in the words of Mrs. Judy, who says, ‘My dear, I hope one day to see Peel and Cobden cotton together.’

1864. Derby Day, p. 152. ‘You stop here and cotton up to the gipsies,’ exclaimed Charley Brickwood.

1880. Ouida, Moths, ch. vii. ‘Ride? Ah! That’s a thing I don’t cotton to anyhow,’ said Miss Fuschia Leach, who had found that her talent did not lie that way.

1821. P. Egan, Tom and Jerry (ed. 1890), p. 92. Many of the most hardened and desperate offenders, from the kindness, attention, and soothing conduct of the Rev. Mr. Cotton [the chaplain at Newgate, 1821], who is indefatigable in administering consolation to their troubled minds, have become the most sincere penitents.

1864. Athenæum, 29 Oct., No. 1931. Rev. of Sl. Dict. When a late chaplain [189]of Newgate [Rev. Mr. Cotton] used to attend poor wretches to the scaffold, standing by their side to the last moment, they were said to ‘die with cotton in their ears!’ Let us add here, that Rowe invented the phrase ‘launched into eternity,’ to signify the simple but solemn matter of hanging.

This was by no means the only instance of a popular punning allusion to the name of Cotton. The Jesuit Father Coton, having obtained a great ascendency over Henri IV., it was remarked by that monarch’s subjects that, unfortunately, ‘his ears were stuffed with cotton.’

Cotton-Top, subs. (obsolete).—A woman loose in fact, but keeping up some sort of appearance. [In allusion to cotton stockings with silk feet.]

Couch a Hogshead, verbal phr. (old).—To lie down and sleep. [Couch, to lie down, was in common use in Shakspeare’s time (Merry Wives of Windsor, v., 2). Hogshead = the head.]—See, however, quot., 1610, and for synonyms, see Balmy.