Slang and its analogues, 2 | Project Gutenberg

1842. Punch, vol. II., p. 21, col. 2. It soundeth somewhat like a cram: but our honour is at stake, and we repeat the ‘mile.’

1864. Le Fanu, Uncle Silas, ch. xxxviii. ‘It is awful, an old un like that telling such crams as she do!’

1864. Quiver, 4 June. By some delicate distinction the falsehood presented itself under the guise of a cram, and not of a naked lie.

1887. W. E. Henley, Villon’s Good Night. You magsmen bold that work the cram.

2. (colloquial).—Hard, forced study. Resulting rather in a test of memory than of capacity.

1872. Morning Post, Oct. 15. Poor Toots, the head boy of Dr. Blimber’s academy … bloomed early and had by cram been enabled to answer any given set of questions, and to work any papers at an ‘exam.’

1872. Daily Telegraph, July 25. ‘Speech Day at King’s College School.’ Dr. Maclear also said a few words on the advantage of boys going up straight from school to college without any interval of cram.

1878. Jas. Payn, By Proxy, ch. xii. They have gained their position by cram of the philosophic kind.

3. (colloquial).—One who prepares another for an examination; a coach; a ‘grindstone.’

1861. Dutton Cook, Paul Foster’s Daughter, ch. ix. ‘I shall go to a coach, a cram, a grindstone.’

4. (University).—An adventitious aid to study; a translation; a ‘crib.’ For synonyms, see Pony.

1853. Rev. E. Bradley (‘C. Bede’), Verdant Green, pt. II., p. 68. The infatuated Mr. Bouncer madly persisted … in going into the school clad in his examination coat, and padded over with a host of crams.

Verb (colloquial).—1. To study at high pressure for an examination. Also to prepare one for examination. Cf., Dig and Coach.

1825–27. Hone, Every-day Book, Feb. 22. Shutting my room door, as if I was ‘sported in’ and cramming Euc.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, chap. li., p. 446. ‘He crammed for it, to use a technical but expressive term; he read up for the subject, at my desire, in the Encyclopædia Britannica.’ [204]

1844. Puck, p. 13. Though for Great Go and for Small, I teach Paley, cram and all.

1872. Besant and Rice, My Little Girl. The writer of one crushing article crammed for it, like Mr. Pott’s young man.

2. (general).—To lie; to deceive, [Literally to stuff with nonsense.] For synonyms, see Stick.

1794. Gent. Mag., p. 1085. Luckily, I crammed him so well, that at last honest Jollux tipped me the cole [money].

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xviii. A thousand ridiculous tales … with some specimens of which our friend Richie Moniplies had been crammed … by the malicious apprentice.

Crammer, subs. (general). 1. A liar; one who tells crams (q.v.). [From cram (m), a lie, + er.]

1861. H. C. Pennell, Puck on Pegasus, p. 17. I sucked in the obvious crammer kindly as my mother’s milk.

1880. A. Trollope, The Duke’s Children, ch. xxxviii. ‘What on earth made you tell him crammers like that?’ asked Silverbridge.

c. 1884. Broadside Ballad, ‘On Monday I Met Mary Ann.’ I thought t’would last for ever and I never should be sold, Because I was so clever in the crammers that I told.

3. (general).—One who prepares men for examination; a coach, or grinder (q.v., for synonyms).

1812. Miss Edgeworth, Patronage, ch. iii. Put him into the hands of a clever grinder or crammer, and they would soon cram the necessary portion of Latin and Greek into him.

1872. Evening Standard, 16 Aug. ‘The Competition Wallah.’ The crammer follows in the wake of competitive examinations as surely as does the shadow the body.

Cramming, verbal subs. (common).—The act of studying hard for an examination. [From cram (q.v., sense 2) + ing.] American, boning.

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 201, col. 1. Aspirants to honours in law, physic, or divinity, each know the value of private cramming.

1863. Charles Reade, Hard Cash, I., p. 16. ‘All this term I have been (‘training’ scratched out and another word put in: c—r oh, I know) cramming.’ ‘Cramming, love?’ ‘Yes, that is Oxfordish for studying.’

1869. Spencer, Study of Sociology, ch. xv., p. 574 (9 ed.). And here, by higher culture, I do not mean mere language-learning, and an extension of the detestable cramming system at present in use.

1872. Daily News, Dec. 20. Competitive examinations for the public service defeated in a great measure, the object of their promoters, which was to place rich and poor on an equality, because success was made to depend very largely on successful cramming, which meant a high-priced crammer.

Cramped or Crapped, ppl. adj. (old).—Hanged; also killed. For synonyms, see Ladder.

Cramping-Cull, subs. (old).—The hangman. [From the cramping of the rope, + cull, a man.] Cf., cramp rings (q.v.).

Cramp in the Hand, subs. phr. (common).—Meanness; stinginess.

Cramp-Rings, subs. (old).—Bolts; shackles; fetters. [Properly a ring of gold or silver, which after being blessed by the sovereign, was held a specific for cramp and falling-sickness.] For synonyms, see Darbies.

1609. Dekker, Lanthorne and Candlelight [ed. Grosart, III., 203]. Straight we’re to the Cuffin Queer forced to bing; And ’cause we are poor made to scour the cramp-ring. [205]

1671. Head and Kirkman, The English Rogue, ‘Canting Song.’ Till cramprings quire, tip Cove his Hire, And Quire-ken do them catch.

Cramp-Words, subs. (old).—1. Hard, unpronounceable vocables; crackjaw words (q.v.).

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Cramp words (s.): hard, difficult, unusual or uncommon words.

1779. Mrs. Cowley, Who’s the Dupe? II., ii. I’ve been in the Dictionary this half-hour, and have picked up cramp words enough to puzzle and delight the old gentleman the remainder of his life.

1812. Coombe, Tour in S. of Picturesque, C. xxv. Who get cramp words, and cant the Muse In Magazines and in Reviews.

1748. Dyche, Dict., 5 ed. Cramp-words(s) … also in the canting dialect the sentence of death pass’d by the judge upon a criminal.

Cranberry-Eye, subs. (American). A blood-shot eye resulting from alcoholism.

Crank, subs. (old).—1. Sometimes cranke.—See quots. and Counterfeit crank.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 33. These that do counterfet the cranke be yong knaues and yonge harlots, that deeply dissemble the falling sicknes. For the crank in their language is the fallinge evill.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). Crancke, the falling sickenesse: and thereupon your Rogues that counterfeit the falling sickenes, are called counterfeit crancks.

3. (American).—An eccentric, a crotcheteer. [From the colloquial cranky (q.v.) = full of crotchets; crazy.] Cf., Counterfeit Crank.

1886. Florida Times Union, 22 May. I know perfectly well that I shall probably be called an old fogy, if not a crank, for presuming to think that anything in the past can be better than in the present.

1887. New York Tribune, 4 Nov. A good deal of ridicule, mostly good-natured, is showered upon the base-ball crank, as everybody persists in calling the man or woman who manifests any deep interest in the great American game.

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, 2 Feb. The man was evidently a crank, and said that 4,000 dollars were due him by the Government.

Crank-Cuffin, subs. (old).—One of the canting-crew whose specialty was to feign sickness. [From crank (q.v., sense 1), the ‘falling-sickness,’ + cuffin (see Cove), a man.]

1749. Bampfylde Moore-Carew, Oath of the Canting Crew. I, Crank-Cuffin, swear to be True to this fraternity.

Cranky, adj. (colloquial).—Crotchetty; whimsical; ricketty; not to be depended upon; crazy. [Cf., quot., 1787.]

English Synonyms. Dicky; maggotty; dead-alive; yappy; touched; chumpish; comical; dotty; rocketty; queer; faddy; fadmongering; twisted; funny.

French Synonyms. Chevrotin (popular: applied to a bad or irritable temper); être comme un crin (popular); avoir sa chique (familiar: said of the temper).

1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary. Cranky, ailing, sickly; from the Dutch crank, sick. [206]

1840. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, ch. vii., p. 33. Adding to this retort an observation to the effect that his friend appeared to be rather cranky in point of temper.

1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, II., 113. He had repeatedly been called into cases of mania described as sudden, and almost invariably found the patient had been cranky for years.

1873. Mrs. Edwards, A Vagabond Heroine, in Temple Bar, June. ‘On goes the cranky carriage, on goes the swearing driver and the high souled Burke.’

1874. Mrs. H. Wood, Johnny Ludlow, 1 S., No. III., p. 42. ‘What’s the matter now?’ asked Mrs. Hall, in her cranky way.

Cranny, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Cranny-Hunter, subs. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms; see Creamstick.

Crap, subs. (old):—1. Money; sometimes crop. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary and Dict. Vulg. Tongue [1785]. Crap … In the north it is sometimes used for money.

1830. Bulwer Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 255 (ed. 1854). ‘Ah!’ said Long Ned, with a sigh, ‘that is all very well, Mr. Nabbem; but I’ll go to the crap like a gentleman.’

1834. Harrison Ainsworth, Rookwood. And what if, at length, boys, he comes to the crap Even rack punch has some bitter in it.

3. (printers’).—Type that has got mixed; technically known as ‘pi.’ [Here compared to excrement.]

2. (common).—To ease oneself by evacuation. For synonyms, see Bury a Quaker and Mrs. Jones.

Crapped, ppl. adj. (old).—Hanged. [From crap (q.v., subs., sense 2), + ed.]—See Cropped.

Crapping Casa, Case, Castle or Ken, subs. (common).—A water-closet. [From crap, verb, sense 2 (q.v.), to ease oneself, + ing + casa or ken, a house.] For synonyms, see Bury a Quaker and Mrs. Jones.

Crapping-Castle, subs. (hospital).—A night-stool.

Crash, subs. (old).—1. Entertainment. Probably a cant word.—Nares.

2. (theatrical).—The machine used to suggest the roar of thunder; a noise of desperate (and unseen) conflict; an effect of ‘alarums, excursions’ generally.

Crashing-Cheats or Chetes, subs. (old).—1. The teeth. [From crash, to break to pieces. + ing + cheat, a thing, from A.S. ceat.] For synonyms, see Grinders.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 66. Crashing chetes: appels, peares, or any other fruit.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874), Crashing cheates: apples.

Crater, Cratur, or Creature, subs. (old).—Formerly, any kind of liquor, but now, Irish whiskey. [Fuller speaks of water as ‘a creature so common and needful,’ and Bacon describes light as ‘God’s first creature.’ Transition is easy.] The skin of the creature = the bottle. For synonyms, see Drinks.

1598. Shakspeare, II. King Henry IV., ii. 2. My appetite was not princely got; for, by my troth, I do now remember the poor creature, small beer.

1663. Howard, The Committee, Act iv. Mrs. Day. Oh fie upon’t! who would have believ’d that we should have liv’d to have seen Obadiah overcome with the creature.

1683. S. B. Anacreon done into English out of the original Greek. Oxford. There goes a very pleasant Story of him, that once having took a Cup too much of Creature, he came staggering homewards through the Market Place, etc;

1772. Graves, Spiritual Quixote, bk. VII., ch. ii. You will never be able to hold out as Mr. Whitfield does. He seems to like a bit of the good cretur as well as other folks.

1816. Scott, Old Mortality, I., p. … I do most humbly request … that … thou wilt take off this measure, called by the profane a gill, of the comfortable creature, which the carnal do denominate brandy.

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. xiv. He produced two bottles of brandy … so we passed the creature round, and tried all we could to while away the tedious night.

1842. Punch, vol. II., p. 23. And reaching home refresh myself with a ‘kervartern of the cretur!’

1864. Good Words, p. 952. Well as an Irishman—who had already paid for one pot of porter and a drop of the crater besides—I was not going to hear anything against ould Ireland.

Crawl, subs. (tailors’).—A workman who curries favour with a foreman or employer; a ‘lickspittle’ or ‘bum-sucker.’

Crawler, subs. (common).—1. A cab that leaves the rank and ‘crawls’ the street in search of fares.

1860. Daily News. It is said the question of making increased provisions for cab-stands, with a view to the restriction of the wandering cabs called crawlers, is now under the consideration of the Chief Commissioner of Police.

1885. Daily News, August 7, p. 5, col. 1. How often does the driver of the crawler increase his pace just as he sees some one venturing to attempt a crossing.

2. (common).—A contemptible person, especially a ‘bum-sucker’ or ‘lickspittle.’ For Synonyms, see Snide.

1885. Evening News, 21 Sept., p. 4, col. 1. The complainant called her father a liar, a bester, and a crawlers.

Crawthumpers, subs. (old).—1. Roman Catholics, ‘the Pope’s cockrels’ (1629). Also called brisket-beaters and, collectively, the breast-fleet. In America a crawthumper = an Irishman or dick, i.e., an Irish Catholic.

1782. Wolcot, Lyric Odes, No. 7; in wks. (1809) I., 69. We are no crawthumpers, no devotees.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Craw Thumpers: Roman Catholics, so called from their beating their breasts in the confession of their sins.

1889. Philadelphia Public Ledger [quoted in S. J. & C., p. 279]. Wanted a servant-maid. No pulings or crawthumpers need apply.

Cream, subs. (venery).—The seminal fluid; Marlowe’s ‘thrice decocted blood’; the ‘white-blow’ and the ‘father-stuff’ of Whitman. A single drop is called a snowball (q.v.). [208]

English Synonyms. Butter; buttermilk; fuck; white honey; jelly; baby-juice; homebrewed; jam; ‘delicious jam’ (Whitman); lather; ‘lewd infusion’; love-liquor; milk; milt; ointment; the oyster; roe; seed; soap; spendings; sperm; spermatic juice (Rochester); spume; spunk; starch; stuff; the tread.—See Come.

Portuguese Synonyms. Leite (= milk); esporra; langouha (= a kind of thick gum).

Cream Cheese. To make one believe the moon is made of cream (or green) cheese, verbal phr. (popular).—To humbug; to deceive; to impose upon. For synonyms, see Bamboozle and Jockey.

Cream Fancy.—See Billy, subs., sense 1.

Cream Jugs, subs. (Stock Exchange).—1. Charkof-Krementschug Railway Bonds.

1887. Atkin, House Scraps. Oh! supposing our cream-jugs were broken, Or ‘Beetles’ were souring the ‘Babies.’

Cream of the Valley, also Cold Cream, subs. phr. (common).—Gin. Cf., Mountain Dew = whiskey. For synonyms, see Drinks.

1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, ch. i., p. 1. ‘What’s up, Jim? … is it cream o’ the walley or fits as has overcome the lady?’

1864. Comic Almanack, p. 63. Cold Cream Internally.—Cold cream is an excellent remedy for ‘hot coppers.’

Cream-Stick, subs. (common).—The penis. [Literally a stick supplying cream (q.v.).]

English Synonyms. Aaron’s Rod; Adam’s Arsenal (the penis and testes); the Old Adam; arbor vitæ; arse-opener; arse-wedge; athenæum; bayonet; bean-tosser; beak; beef (the penis and testes); bag of tricks (idem); belly-ruffian; Billy-my-Nag; bludgeon; Blueskin; bracmard (Urquhart); my body’s captain (Whitman); broom-handle; bum-tickler; bush-beater; bush-whacker; butter-knife; catso or gadso; child-getter; chink-stopper; clothes-prop; club; cock; concern; copper-stick; crack-hunter; cracksman; cranny-haunter; cuckoo; cunny-catcher; ‘crimson chitterling’ (Urquhart); dagger; dearest member (Burns); dicky; dibble (Scots); dirk (Scots); Don Cypriano (Urquhart); doodle; dropping member; drumstick; eye-opener; father-confessor; ‘cunny-burrow ferret’ (Urquhart); fiddle-bow; o-for-shame; flute; fornicator; garden-engine and gardener (garden = the female pudendum); gaying instrument; generation tool (C. Johnson and Urquhart); goose’s neck; cutty gun (Scots); gut-stick; hair- (or beard-) splitter; hair-divider; Hanging Johnny; bald-headed hermit; Irish root; Jack-in-the-box; Jack Robinson; jargonelle; Jezabel; jiggling-bone (Irish); jock (q.v.); Dr. Johnson; ‘Master John Goodfellow’ (Urquhart); John-Thomas; ‘Master John Thursday’ (Urquhart); man Thomas; jolly-member (Urquhart); Julius Cæsar; ‘knock-Andrew’ (Urquhart); lance of love; Langolee (Irish); leather-stretcher; life-preserver; live sausage (Urquhart); Little Davy (Scots); lollipop; lullaby; machine; ‘man-root’ (Whitman); marrow-bone; marrow-bone-and-cleaver; [209]Member for Cockshire; merry-maker; middle-leg; mouse; mole; mowdiwort (Scots); Nebuchadnezzar (cf., Greens); nilnisistando (Urquhart); Nimrod; nudinnudo (Urquhart); ‘nine-inch knocker’ (Urquhart); old man; peace-maker; pecker; pecnoster; pego; pestle; pike (Shakspeare); pike-staff; pile-driver; pintle; pizzle; ploughshare; plug-tail; pointer; ‘poperine pear’ (Shakspeare); Polyphemus; ‘pond-snipe’ (Whitman); prick (Shakspeare and Fletcher); ‘prickle’; privates, and private property (the penis and testes); ‘privy member’ (Biblical); quim-stake; ramrod; ‘Rector of the females’ (Rochester); Roger; rolling-pin; root; rudder; rump-splitter; Saint Peter (who ‘keeps the keys of Paradise’); ‘sausage’ (Sterne); sceptre; shove-straight; sky-scraper; solicitor-general; spigot; ‘split-rump’ (Urquhart); spindle; sponge (cf., Ramrod); staff of life; stern-post; sugar-stick; tarse; tent-peg; thing; ‘thumb of love’ (Whitman); ‘tickle-gizzard’ (Urquhart); tickle-toby; tool; toy; trifle (tailors’); trouble-giblets; tug-mutton; unruly-member; vestry-man; watch-and-seals (the penis and testes); wedge; whore-pipe (Rochester); wimble; yard; Zadkiel (almanack) = the female pudendum.

French Synonyms. Le sansonnet (popular: literally a starling); le gluant (thieves’ = Old Slimy. In Argot also ‘a baby’); l’asticot (properly = a flesh-worm); le jambot (Villon).

German Synonyms. Bletzer (from Bletz = a wedge; bletzen = to beget); Breslauer (Viennese thieves’ = magnum membrum virile; also, a head-piece, and a large glass, or indeed any quantity of brandy); Bruder (also an expression belonging to the Fiesellange; literally a brother. Cf., Schwesterlein, little sister = the female pudendum); Butzelmann (in Luther’s Liber Vagatorum [1529]; Buze = little man); Fiesel (supposed to be from Faser a birch-rod or fibre; the Eng. feaze is also connected with it. Thus, Mädchenfiesel, a ‘hot member’; Pechfiesel, a shoemaker, etc. Fiesellange signifies the language of the strong, i.e., those of the ‘fellowship’ of thieves, burglars, and rowdies [Fr., coupeur], etc. In Vienna Fiesel = the lowest and most dangerous type of bawdy-house bully). Dickmann (also, an egg, or testicle); Pinke or Finke (Low German); Schmeichaz or Schmeigaz (O.H.G. smeichen = to flatter, to laugh); Schwanz (also, a fool or boaster).

Portuguese Synonyms. Pae de todos (= father of all); porra (= a strong stick); virgolleiro (= that which deprives of virginity); pica (= lance; also, a measure equal in length to the handle of a long spear; cf., Eng. yard); bacamarte (= a milk-giving gun); a montholia de Pastor (= an oil-flask).

Creamy, adj. (general).—Excellent; first-rate. For synonyms, see a1 and Fizzing.

Creation. To beat or lick creation, verbal phr. (American).—To overpower; excel; surpass; to be incomparable. English variants are ‘to beat hollow, to sticks, or to fits,’ etc. Cf., Big as all outdoors. [210]

1848. Bartlett, Dict. of Amer. ‘Proverbs.’ When a man runs his head against a post, he curses the post first, all creation next, and something else last, and never thinks of cursing himself.

1862. Among the Mermaids. ‘An Old Sailor’s Yarn,’ p. 86. The notion of finding the capting’s cask pleased me mightily cos I knowed it would tickle the old man like all creation.

1888. Detroit Free Press, 14 Aug. I’m willin’ to take advice. Beats all creation how I mistook, but I shan’t go agin yer words.

Creeme, verb (old).—To slip or slide anything into the hands of another.—Grose [1785].

Creeper, subs. (general).—One who cringes and ‘curries favour’; a ‘skunk,’ or snide (q.v., for synonyms).

Creepers, subs. (common).—1. The feet.

English Synonyms. Dew-beaters; beetle-crushers; understandings; trotters; tootsies; stumps (also the legs); everlasting shoes; hocks; boot-trees; pasterns; ards (Old Cant: now used as an adjective, = ‘hot’); double-breasters; daisy-beaters; kickers; crabs; trampers; hockles; hoofs; pudseys.

French Synonyms. Les trottins (popular: trottiner, to go a jog-trot; aller chercher les pardons de Saint-Trottin, to take a walk instead of going to church); les reposoirs (common: properly [in sing.] a resting place or pause; also an altar set up in the streets for a procession); les ripatons (popular); les palerons (thieves’: properly, in sing., a shoulder-blade); les paturons (thieves’: properly pasterns); les harpions (thieves’: also hands). Cotgrave has harpe d’un chien = a dog’s claw or paw; also, Il mania très bien ses harpes, He stirred his fingers very nimbly. [Cf., ‘pickers and stealers’ = fingers]; les mains courantes (popular: literally running hands).

German Synonyms. Tretter (Cf., English ‘trotter’); Trittling, or Trittchen (Hanoverian = shoe, boot, foot, or staircase); Trittlingspflanzer or Trittlingsmelochner (the shoemaker).

Creeps, subs. (common).—The peculiar thrill resulting from an undefinable sense of dread. [Literally a ‘crawling’ of the flesh as with fear.] Also known as goose-flesh, cold shivers, and cold water down the back.

1864. E. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. xiii. [Late Autumn.] Dreary down in the old country mansions … where the servants, town-bred, commence to be colded, sniffy, to have shivers and creeps.

1870. London Figaro, 27 June. ‘A River Romance.’ Talking about bodies, I could give you the creeps with what I’ve seen.

1883. The Lute, 15 Jan., p. 18, col. 2. We see the great tragedian holding on to a chair, and giving his audience creeps with the ‘Dream of Eugene Aram.’

1890. Globe, 22 May, p. 1, col. 4. Miss Gertrude is the sister of Mrs. Chanler-Rives (better known as Amélie, or still better as the writer of The Quick or the Dead, by which many ladylike persons have been given ‘the creeps’).

Crevecœur.—See Heart-breaker. [211]

Crevice, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Cri, subs. (popular).—The Criterion, theatre and restaurant, at Piccadilly Circus.

c. 1886. Broadside Ballad, ‘Another Fellah’s.’ Round into the cri ev’ry evening I slip, And deep in the pale sparkling bitter I dip.

Crib, subs. (old).—1. The stomach. Cf., Cribbing, sense 1. [A transferred sense of crib = a manger, rack, or feeding place. Cf., Isaiah i., 3, ‘The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib.’] For synonyms, see Bread-basket and Victualling office.

1656. Brome, Jovial Crew, Act. ii. Here’s pannum and lap, and good poplars of Yarrum, To fill up the crib, and to comfort the quarron.

2. (colloquial).—A house; place of abode; apartments; lodgings; shop; warehouse; ‘den,’ ‘diggings,’ or ‘snuggery.’ For synonyms, see Diggings. [From A.S., crib, or cribb a small habitation.]

1598. Shakspeare, King Henry IV. Why, rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs, Than in the perfumed chambers of the great?

1830. Bulwer Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 80 (ed. 1854). Now, now in the crib, where a ruffler may lie, Without fear that the traps should distress him.

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. xix. The crib’s barred up at night like a jail.

1860. Chambers’ Journal, vol. XIII., p. 212. He said he was awful flattered like by the honour of seeing two such gents at his crib.

1882. Daily News, 5 Oct., p. 5, col. 2. To manage escapes from prison successfully is only an application of the principles which enable the burglar to crack the rural crib and appropriate the swag of her Majesty’s peaceful subjects.

3. (popular).—A situation, ‘place,’ or ‘berth.’ [The transition from subs., sense 2, is easy and natural.]

4. (school and University).—A literal translation surreptitiously used by students; also a theft of any kind; specifically, anything copied without acknowledgment.—[See verb., sense 2.] For synonyms, see Pony.

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 185. He has with a prudent forethought stuffed his cribs inside his double-breasted waistcoat.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xxii. I wish I had read Greek a little more at school … when we return I think I shall try and read it with cribs.

1856. T. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, pt. II., ch. vi. Tom, I want you to give up using vulgus books and cribs.

1889. Globe, 12 Oct., p. 1, col. 4. Always, it seems likely, there will be men ‘going up’ for examinations; and every now and again, no doubt, there will be among them a wily ‘Heathen Pass-ee’ like him of whom Mr. Hilton speaks—who had cribs up his sleeve, and notes on his cuff.

1827. Maginn, from Vidocq. Lend me a lift in the family way. You may have a crib to stow in.

Verb (colloquial).—1. To steal or pilfer; used specifically of petty thefts. For synonyms, see Prig.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Crib (v.): to with-hold, keep back, pinch, [212]or thieve a part out of money given to lay out for necessaries.

1772. Foote Nabob, Act i. There are a brace of birds and a hare, that I cribbed this morning out of a basket of game.

1846. T. Hood, Ode to Rae Wilson, Esqr., wks., vol. IV., p. 224. Yet sure of Heaven themselves, as if they’d cribb’d Th’ impression of St. Peter’s keys in wax.

1855. Robert Browning, Men and Women. Fra Lippo Lippi, ed. 1863, p. 351. Black and white I drew From good old gossips waiting to confess Their cribs of barrel-droppings, candle-ends.

1889. Answers, 27 July, page 141, col. 1. He knew that if the manuscript got about the Yankees would think it a smart thing to crib it.

2. (school and University).—To use a translation; to cheat at an examination; to plagiarise.

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 177. Cribbing his answers from a tiny manual of knowledge, two inches by one-and-a-half in size, which he hides under his blotting-paper.

1856. T. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, pt. II., ch. iii. Finishing up with two highly moral lines extra, making ten in all, which he cribbed entire from one of his books.

Cribbage-Face and Cribbage-Faced, subs. and adj. phr. (common).—Pock-marked and like a cribbage-board. Otherwise colander-faced, crumpet-faced, pikelet-faced, and mockered (q.v.).

French Synonyms. Avoir un grenier à lentilles (popular: a cock-loft, granary, or garret, for the storage of lentils); ne pas s’être assuré contre la grêle (popular: grêle = hail); un morceau de gruyère (popular: that cheese being honeycombed with holes); avoir un moule à gaufres (popular: moule = mould; gaufre = a cake); une écumoire (familiar: properly a skimmer); poèle à châtaignes (poèle = frying pan and châtaignes = chestnuts; the colander-like shovel for roasting chestnuts).

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Cribbage-faced: marked with the small-pox, the pits bearing a kind of resemblance to the holes in a cribbage-board.

Cribber, subs. (military).—A grumbler. [A horse that gnaws his crib or manger.] Cf., Crib-biter, and for synonyms, see Rusty-guts.

Cribbeys or Cribby-Islands, subs. (old).—Blind alleys, courts, and bye-ways; Fr., culs-de-sac.

Cribbing, verbal subs. (old).—1. Food and Drink. Cf., Crib, sense 1.

1656. R. Brome, A Jovial Crew. For all this ben cribbing and Peck let us then, Bowse a health to the gentry cofe of the ken.

2. (schools’ and University and general).—Stealing; purloining; using a translation. Cf., Crib, subs., sense 4.

1862. Farrar, St. Winifred’s, ch. xxxv. They would not call it stealing but bagging a thing, or, at the worst, cribbing it—concealing the villainy under a new name.

Crib-Biter, subs. (common).—An inveterate grumbler. [Properly a horse that worries his crib, rack, manger, or groom, and at the same time draws in his breath so as to make the peculiar noise called wind-sucking.] French equivalents are un gourgousseur; un rême; un renâcleur; and un renaudeur.—See Cribber.

Crib-Cracker, subs. (general).—A housebreaker. [213]

1880. G. R. Sims, How the Poor Live, p. 11. The little boys look up half with awe and half with admiration at the burly Sikes with his flash style, and delight in gossip concerning his talents as a crib-cracker, and his adventures as a pickpocket.

Crib-Cracking, verbal subs. (thieves’).—Housebreaking.

1852. Punch, vol. XXIII., p. 161. With higher ambition Bill Sykes he burned, And becoming experter as he grew older, From cly-faking to crib-cracking turned.

Cries.—See Street cries.

Crikey! Cracky! Cry! intj. (common).—Formerly, ‘a profane oath’; now a mere expression of astonishment. [A corruption of ‘Christ.’]

1837. R. H. Barham, The Ingoldsby Legends (ed. 1862), p. 276. It would make you exclaim, ’twould so forcibly strike ye, If a Frenchman Superbe!—if an Englishman crikey!

1841. Comic Almanack, p. 275. Oh! crikey, Bill; vot a conch that lady’s got!

1853. Diogenes, II., 54. O, crikey! the switching I got, At the hand of the cruel old miser.

1888. W. E. Henley. ‘Culture in the Slums.’ ‘O crikey, Bill!’ she says to me, she ses. ‘Look sharp,’ ses she, ‘with them there sossiges.’

Crimini, Criminey, or Crimes!—See Crikey. [Possibly the latter usage has been influenced by crimen meum, my fault.]

1700. Farquhar, Constant Couple, Act iv., Sc. 1. Murder’d my brother! O crimini!

1816. Scott, Antiquary, ch. xvi. ‘A monument of a knight-templar on each side of a Grecian porch, and a Madonna on the top of it!—O crimini!’

1841. The Comic Almanack, p. 280. ‘A Lament for Bartlemy Fair.’ Oh! lawk; oh! dear; oh! crimeny me; what a downright sin and a shame.

Crimson. To make things look crimson, verbal phr. (American).—To indulge in a drunken frolic; to paint the town red (q.v.)

Crimson Chitterling, subs. phr. (old).—The penis. Used by Urquhart. For synonyms, see Creamstick.

Crincle-Pouch, subs. (old).—A sixpence. For synonyms, see Bender.

1593. ‘Bacchus’ Bountie,’ Harl. Misc., II., p. 270 [ed. 1808–11]. See then the goodnes of this so gracious a god, al yee, which in the driest drought of summer, had rather shroude your throates with a handfull of hemp, than with the expence of an odde crinclepouch, wash yourselues within and without, and make yourselues as mery as dawes.

Crinkum-Crankum, subs. (old).—The female pudendum. [Properly a winding way.] For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Crinkums, subs. (old).—A venereal disease. Cf., Crinkum-crankum. For synonyms, see Ladies’ fever.

Crinoline, subs. (common).—A woman. For synonyms, see Petticoat.

Cripple, subs. (old).—1. A ‘snid’ (Scots) or sixpence.—[See quots., 1785 and 1885.] For synonyms, see Bender.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Cripple: six pence, that piece being commonly much bent and distorted.

1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 25, n. A bandy or cripple, a sixpence.

1885. Household Words, 20 June, p. 155. The sixpence is a coin more liable to bend than most others, so it is not surprising [214]to find that several of its popular names have reference to this weakness. It is called a bandy, a ‘bender,’ a cripple.

2. (common).—An awkward oaf; also a dullard. Fr., malapatte (popular: properly mal à la patte). [Figurative for one that creeps, limps, or halts—whether physically or mentally.] Cf., sense 3, and Go it, you cripples.

3. (Wellington College).—A dolt; literally one without a leg to stand on. Cf., sense 2, and Go it, you cripples.

Go it, you cripples! phr. (general).—A sarcastic comment on strenuous effort; frequently used without much sense of fitness; e.g., when the person addressed is a capable athlete. Wooden legs are cheap is sometimes added as an intensitive.

1840. Thackeray, Cox’s Diary. ‘Striking a balance,’ p. 229. ‘O! come along,’ said Lord Lollypop, ‘come along this way, ma’am! Go it, ye cripples.’

Crisp, subs. (popular).—A banknote. For synonyms, see Soft.

Crispin, subs. (common).—A shoemaker. [From Saints Crispin and Crispianus, the patrons of the ‘gentle craft,’ i.e., shoemaking.]

1861. Punch, vol. XLI., p. 246. Crispin, everybody knows to be a name for a shoemaker.

St. Crispin’s Lance, subs. phr. (old).—An awl. [From Crispin (q.v.) + lance, a weapon.] Fr., une lance.

Crispin’s Holiday, subs. phr. (old).—Every Monday throughout the year, but most particularly the 25th of October, being the anniversary of Crispinus and Crispianus.

Croak, subs. (thieves’).—A dying speech, especially the confession of a murderer. Also the same as printed for sale in the streets by a ‘flying stationer.’ [From the verbal sense (q.v.).]

1887. A. Barrère, Argot and Slang, p. 272. The criminal … would perhaps utter for the edification of the crowd his ‘tops, or croaks,’ that is, his last dying speech.

1887. W. E. Henley, Villon’s Straight Tip. Go crying croaks, or flash the drag.

Croaker, subs. (old).—1. A sixpence. For synonyms, see Bender.

4. (common).—A corpse. [From croak, verb. sense, through croaker, senses 2 and 3.] For synonyms, see Dead-meat.

1886. Ulster Echo, 31 July, p. 4. The inspector of nuisances said the meat was known as croaker, or the flesh of an animal which had died a natural death.

6. (prison).—A doctor [connected with crocus, but influenced by croaker, subs., senses 2, 3, and 4.]

1889. Evening News [quoted in Slang, Jargon, and Cant]. One man who had put his name for the ‘butcher’ or croaker, would suddenly find that he had three ounces of bread less to receive, and then a scene would ensue. [215]

7. (common).—A person, male or female, who sees everything en noir, and whose conversation is likened to that of the raven, which is a bird of ill-omen.—See Goldsmith’s Good Natured Man. Fr., un glas = also a passing bell.

Croakumshire, subs. (old).—Northumberland. [Grose: ‘from the particular croaking in the pronunciation of the people of that county, especially about Newcastle and Morpeth, where they are said to be born with a burr in their throats, which prevents their pronouncing the letter “r”.’]

Crock, subs. (common).—A worthless animal; a fool; said of a horse it signifies a good-for-nothing brute; of a man or woman, a duffer, a ‘rotter.’ [Most likely from the Scots crock = an old sheep.]

1887. Sporting Times, 12 March, p. 2, col. 5. The wretched crocks that now go to the post will be relegated to more appropriate work.

1889. Bird o’ Freedom, 7 Aug., p. 3. For five minutes that crock went about twice as fast as it had ever done.

1889. Illustrated Bits, 13 July. ‘I say,’ said the Lumberer to the Old Hermit, as they stood at the mouth of the Cave listening to the song birds, ‘you are getting a bit of a crock—failing fast, I should say.’

Crocketts, subs. (Winchester College).—A kind of bastard cricket, sometimes called ‘small crochetts.’ Five stumps are used and a fives ball, with a bat of plain deal about two inches broad, or a broomstick.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 122. The more noisily disposed would indulge in … playing Hicockolorum, or Crocketts.

To get crocketts, verbal phr.—To fail to score at cricket; to make a duck’s egg.

Crocodile, subs. (University).—A girl’s school walking two and two.

Crocus, Crocus-Metallorum or Croakus, subs. (common).—A doctor; specifically, a quack. [Conjecturally, a derivative of croak = to die. Cf., quot. 1781, under Crocussing rig.]

English Synonyms. Pill; squirt; butcher; croaker; corpse-provider; bolus; clyster; gallipot. [Several of these terms also = an apothecary.]

French Synonyms. Un dragueur (popular: literally a dredging machine); un cliabeau (a doctor at St. Lazare); un bénévole (popular: a young doctor, especially one walking the hospitals); un marchand de morts subites (common: literally ‘a dealer in sudden death.’ Cf., Corpse provider).

Italian Synonyms. Maggio (signifying God, king, lord, and pope); posteggiatore (literally ‘he that places’; used of any charlatan, but particularly of a quack doctor); dragon di farda.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Crocus or crocus metallorum: a nickname for the surgeons of the army and navy.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 231 (quoted in list of patterer’s words).

Crocus-Chovey (vagrants’ and thieves’).—A doctor’s shop. From [crocus = doctor + chovey, a shop.]

Crocus-Pitcher, subs. (vagrants’ and thieves’).—A quack ambulant. [From crocus (q.v.), a doctor, + pitcher, one that stands in the street to hold forth concerning his business.]

Crocussing-Rig, subs. (old).—Travelling from place to place, as a quack doctor. [From crocus (q.v.), a doctor, + ing + rig, a performance or trick.]

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 171. Crocussing Rig is performed by men and women, who travel as Doctors or Doctoresses.

Crone, subs. (showmen’s).—A clown or buffoon.

Crook, subs. (old).—1. A sixpence. [An abbreviation of crookback (q.v.).]

1887. Orange Journal, 16 April. Strange as the statement may seem, the public know nothing of the work of a really clever crook, and the police themselves know very little more. The explanation of this ignorance is a very simple one. A crook whose methods are exposed is a second-rate crook.

On the crook, adv. phr. (thieves’).—The antithesis of on the straight (q.v.). Cf., On the cross.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL., 503. Which he had bought on the crook (dishonestly).

To crook (or cock) the elbow, or the little finger, verbal phr. (popular).—To drink. [A French colloquialism, identical in meaning, is lever le coude; a hard drinker is un adroit du coude.] For synonyms, see Lush.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms. To crook the elbow, is one of the many slang terms for drinking.

1877. Besant and Rice, With Harp and Crown, ch. xix. The secretary … might have done great things in literature but for his unfortunate crook of the elbow. As he only crooks it at night, it does not matter to the hospital.

1888. Detroit Free Press, 3 May, p. 4, col. 1. I’ll … ask him to take a drink, chat with him while he crooks his elbow.

Crook-Back, subs. (old).—A sixpenny piece, many of the slang names of which suggest a bashed and battered appearance; e.g., ‘bender,’ ‘cripple,’ ‘crook,’ crookback, etc. Quoted by Grose [1785]. For synonyms, see Bender.

Crooked, ppl. adj. (colloquial).—Disappointing; the reverse of straight (q.v.); pertaining to the habits, ways, and customs of thieves.—See On the crook. So also, mutatis mutandis, crookedness = rascality of every kind.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. ii., p. 126. The prisoner’s friend was also a ‘fly’ man, and he immediately saw how he could thoroughly pay off the crooked officer.

1884. Daily Telegraph, 22 Jan., p. 3, col. 1. My time was up the same day as that of two lads of the crooked school; it was through them that I took to thieving.

1884. Echo, 28 Jan., p. 4, col. 1. Last season will be long remembered in the racing world for the crookedness of some owners.

1888. Detroit Free Press, 3 Nov. ‘What are you trying to get out of me?’ ‘I am going to see that to-night you are [217]better lodged to begin with. I may decide to do more, but that will depend pretty much on yourself.’ ‘Nothing crooked, is it?’ asked the other, suspiciously!

Crooked as a Virginia (or snake) fence, phr. (American).—Uneven; zig-zag; said of matters or persons difficult to keep ‘straight.’ To make a Virginia fence is to walk unsteadily, as a drunkard. The Virginia fences zigzag with the soil.

Crooky, verb (common).—To hang on to; to lead; to walk arm-in-arm; to court or pay addresses to a girl. For synonyms, see Trot out.

Crop.—See Crap, sense 1.

Cropped, ppl. adj. (old).—Hanged. For synonyms, see Ladder and Topped.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 30. Sentencing some more to be crapped (sic) [hanged].

Cropper, subs. (common).—A heavy fall or failure of any kind; generally ‘to come a cropper.’ [Originally hunting.] Analagous French phrases are avoir une discussion avec le pavé (literally ‘to argue with the pavement’); prendre un billet de parterre (a punning play upon words: the pit of a theatre is parterre; par terre = on the ground: hence to take a ticket for the pit); se lithographier (popular). For synonyms in a metaphorical sense, see Go to pot.

1868. Echoes from the Clubs, 23 Dec. ‘Pleasures of the Hunting Field.’ In short, it is fox-hunting which … induces the belief that life is a mistake without occasional croppers.

1869. H. J. Byron, Not such a Fool as He Looks (French’s Acting ed.), p. 8. Mr. Topham Sawyer missed his own tip as well as his wictim’s, and came down a cropper on a convenient doorstep.

1880. A. Trollope, The Duke’s Children, ch. lxvii. Talking to his father he could not quite venture to ask what might happen if he were to come a cropper.

1883. Daily News, 24 Jan., p. 5, col. 3. Ouida treads ‘alone, aloft, sublime’ where Astræa might fear to pass, and though she comes what men call croppers over a thousand details, she is sublimely unconscious of her blunders.

Croppie or Croppy, subs. (old).—Originally applied to criminals cropped as to their ears and their noses by the public executioner; subsequently, to convicts, in allusion to their close cropped hair; hence to any person whose hair was cut close to the head; e.g., the Puritans and the Irish Rebels of 1789.

1870. Sir G. C. Lewis, Letters, p. 410. Wearing the hair short and without powder was, at this time, considered a mark of French principles. Hair so worn was called a ‘crop.’ Hence Lord Melbourne’s phrase, ‘crop-imitating wig’ [Poetry of Anti-Jacobin, p. 41]. This is the origin of croppies, as applied to the Irish rebels of 1789.

1877–79. Green, Short Hist. Eng. People, ch. x., The croppies, as the Irish insurgents were called in derision from their short-cut hair.

Croppled. To be croppled, verbal phr. (Winchester College).—To fail in an examination; to be sent down at a lesson.

Croppy.—See Croppie.

Crops, verbal phr.—To go and look at the crops = to leave the room for the purpose of consulting Mrs. Jones (q.v.).

Cross, subs. (thieves’).—1. A pre-arranged swindle. In its special sporting signification a [218]cross is an arrangement to lose on the part of one of the principals in a fight, or any kind of match. When both principals conspire that one shall win, it is called a double cross (q.v.). [Obviously a shortened form of cross-bite (q.v., verbal sense).]

1834. W. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood. Two milling coves, each vide avake, Vere backed to fight for heavy stake; But in the mean time, so it vos, Both kids agreed to play a cross.

1864. Derby Day, p. 39. ‘As sure as the sun shines, Askpart ’ll lick ’em; if so be,’ he added significantly, ‘as there ain’t no cross.’

1867. A. Trollope, Claverings, ch. xxx. I always suppose every horse will run to win; and though there may be a cross now and again, that’s the surest line to go upon.

2. (thieves’).—A thief; also cross-man, cross-cove, cross-chap, squire, knight, or lad, of the cross, etc. [Literally a man on the cross (q.v.).] For synonyms, see Thieves.

1830. Bulwer Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 72, ed. 1854. There is an excellent fellow near here, who keeps a public-house, and is a firm ally and generous patron of the lads of the cross. Ibid, p. 140. Gentlemen of the Road, the Street, the Theatre and the Shop! Prigs, Toby-men, and squires of the cross!