Slang and its analogues, 2 | Project Gutenberg

1836. Michael Scott, Cruise of the Midge [Ry. ed. 1860], p. 134. How the devil can you get anything out of an empty vessel?

1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry, p. 46. The passions, as I’ve said, are far from evil, But if not well confined they play the devil.

To pull the devil by the tail, phr. (colloquial).—To go to ruin headlong; also to be reduced to one’s last shift. Cf., To play the devil with.

1890. European Mail, 2 Aug., p. 30, col. 2. The immense disproportion between the solid assets and the liabilities of the enterprise made experienced Parisian financiers say from the first that the company was pulling the devil by the tail, and a perusal of M. Monchicourt’s report must confirm this view.

To whip the devil round the stump, verb. phr. (American).—To enjoy the sweets of wickedness and yet escape the penalty.

1857. New York Evening Post. While Mr. Jones is describing his wants in the money line, and telling the president how near through he is, that officer is carrying on a mental addition it may be after this manner: Jones, you’re a clever fellow, but Smith tells me you are engaged in a coal-stock operation. I have heard also that you have been dabbling in Erie. There is a want of candor now, I perceive, in the statement of your affairs. There, you are now whipping the devil around the stump: I see his foot.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 187. Nor is the slang phrase: to whip the devil around the stump to be traced very clearly to the backwoods.

1872. Haldeman, Pennsylvania Dutch. I whipped the devil round the stump, And gave a cut at every jump.

Haul devil, pull baker, phr. (colloquial).—To contend with varying fortunes. In the sense of endeavouring to overreach, a variant is diamond cut diamond.

1889. Cornhill Mag., July, p. 99. I can’t get proper accounts from her; and it’s a regular case of pull devil, pull baker, whenever I want to look at the trades-people’s books.

And the devil knows what or who, phr. (colloquial).—A term used vaguely and indefinitely to include details not specifically mentioned or known.

1717. Mrs. Centlivre, A Bold Stroke for a Wife, Act iii., Sc. 1. Per. Why, what a pack of trumpery has this rogue picked up! His pagod, poluflosboio, his zonos moros musphonons, and the devil knows what.

To go to the devil, phr. (colloquial).—To go to rack and ruin. Go to the devil! = begone! A summary form of dismissal with no heed as to what may become of the person who is sent about his business.

1801. T. Dibdin, The Birthday, Act i., Sc. 2. Capt. Hold your tongue, Junk; you are a libellous rascal. You, and your box, too, may go to the devil.

To hold a light or candle to, or burn a candle before, the devil, phr. (colloquial).—To propitiate through fear; to assist or wink at wrong doing. Shakspeare (Merchant of Venice, Act ii., Sc. 6), employs ‘What! must [274]I hold a candle to my shame,’ in much the same sense. [From the practice of burning candles before the images of saints, etc.]. Not fit to hold a candle to the devil = a simile of inferiority. To hold a candle to another = to assist in, occupy a subordinate position, or (see quot., 1859) to compare to another.

c. 1461. In Paston Letters, II., 73 (ed. Gairdner). For it is a common proverbe, ‘A man must sumtyme set a candel befor the Devyle;’ and therefor thow it be not alder most mede and profytabyl, yet if ij harmys the leste is to be take.

1557. Tusser, Husbandrie, p. 148. Though not for hope of good, Yet for the feare of euill, Thou maist find ease so proffering up a candell to the deuill.

1672. Wycherley, Love in a Wood, I., i., wks. (1713), 346. You cannot hold a candle to the devil.

1705. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. I., pt. III., p. 17. To hold a candle to the devil, Is not the means to stop this evil.

1828. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth, ii., 213. Here have I been holding a candle to the devil, to show him the way to mischief.

1859. H. Kingsley, Geoffrey Hamlyn, ch. xxxii. A Frenchman is conceited enough, but, by George, he can’t hold a candle to a Scotchman.

The devil, or the devil and all to pay, phr. (colloquial).—A simile of fruitless effort; awkward consequences to be faced. [Nautical: originally, ‘There’s the devil to pay and no pitch hot’; the ‘devil’ being any seam in a vessel, awkward to caulk, or in sailors’ language ‘to pay.’ Hence by confusion the deuce to pay (q.v.).]

1711. Swift, Journal to Stella, 28 Sept. Letter 31. And then there will be the devil and all to pay.

1761. Colman, Jealous Wife, III., in wks. (1777), i., 69. There’s the devil to pay in meddling with them.

1836. Michael Scott, Cruise of the Midge. [Ry. ed. 1860], p. 127. Here was the devil to pay with a vengeance.

1837. R. H. Barham, The Ingoldsby Legends. The Execution (ed. 1862), p. 198. Hollo! Hollo! Here’s a rum go. Why, Captain!—My Lord!—Here’s the devil to pay!—The fellow’s been cut down and taken away!

1866. G. Eliot, Felix Holt, ch. xxi. He made a fool of himself with marrying at Vesoul; and there was the devil to pay with the girl’s relations.

Talk of the devil and you’ll see his horns or tail, phr. (colloquial).—Said of a person who, being the subject of conversation, unexpectedly makes an appearance. Fr., parlez des anges et vous en voyez les ailes.

b. 1664, d. 1721. M. Prior. Hans Carvel. Since therefore ’tis to combat evil, ’Tis lawful to employ the Devil, Forthwith the Devil did appear, For name him and he’s always near.

1822–36. Jno. Wilson, Noctes Amb. I., 274. [The shepherd has thrown back to the fire a live coal.] Belyve the blisters’ll be rising like foam-bells; but deil may care.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xlix., p. 428. He was a mighty free and easy, roving, devil-may-care sort of person, was my Uncle, gentlemen.

1839. Lever, Harry Lorrequer, ch. xii. There was also a certain devil-may-care recklessness about the self-satisfied swagger of his gait.

1849. Albert Smith, in Gabarni in London (Acrobats). Unsettled, wandering, and devil-may-care as his disposition may be, he cannot be called idle.

1863. Hon. Mrs. Norton, Lost and Saved, p. 33. Treherne had a hot twinge of doubt, in spite of his devil-may-care style of writing, whether Lewellyn would answer him at all.

1865. Punch, vol. XLVIII., p. 106. Fechter’s acting [as Robert Macaire] in The Roadside Inn may be described as the devil-may-care style. [275]

Devil take, or fetch, or send, or snatch, or fly away with, you, me, him! etc., phr. (colloquial).—An imprecation of impatience. Fr., le boulanger t’entrolle en son pasclin.

1837. R. H. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (ed. 1862), p. 339. Don’t use naughty words, in the next place, and ne’er in your language adopt a bad habit of swearin’. Never say, ‘Devil take me,’ or ‘shake me,’ or ‘bake me,’ or such-like expressions. Remember Old Nick, To take folks at their word, is remarkably quick.

There’s the devil among the tailors, phr. (common).—A row is going on. [Edwards:—Originating in a riot at the Haymarket when Dowton announced the performance for his benefit, of a burlesque entitled ‘The Tailors: a Tragedy for Warm Weather.’ Many thousands of journeymen tailors congregated, and interrupted the performances. Thirty-three were brought up at Bow Street next day.—See Biographica Dramatica under ‘Tailors.’]

When the devil is blind, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Never, i.e., in a month of Sundays; said of anything unlikely to happen. For synonyms, see Greek Kalends.

Devil Dodger, subs. (common).—A clergyman. Also, by implication, anyone of a religious turn of mind.

English Synonyms.—Devil catcher, driver, pitcher, or scolder; snub devil; bible pounder; duck that grinds the gospel mill; commister; camister; sky-pilot; chimney-sweep; rat; rum (Johnson); pantiler; cushion smiter, duster, or thumper; couple, or buckle, beggar; rook; gospel grinder; earwig; one-in-ten (tramps’ = a tithe-monger); finger-post; parish prig; parish bull; holy Joe; green apron; black cattle (collectively); crow; the cloth (collectively); white choker; patrico; black coat; black fly; glue pot; gospel postillion; prunella; pudding-sleeves; puzzle-text; schism-monger; cod; Black Brunswicker; spiritual flesh-broker; head-clerk of the Doxology Works; Lady Green; fire-escape; gospel sharp; padre (Anglo-Indian); pound-text.

French Synonyms.—Un radicon (thieves’); un otage (popular: = hostage, in allusion to events under the Commune of 1871); un radis noir (familiar: also a police officer. In allusion to ‘the cloth’); un ratichon (pop. from ratissé, rasé = shaved); un sanglier (thieves’: a wild boar, but also a play upon words sans without, + glier, the infernal regions); un raze or razi (thieves’); un rochet (thieves’: a surplice); un pante en robe (thieves’: ‘a cove in a gown,’ also a judge); un chasublard (popular); une calotte (fam.: le régiment de la calotte = the skull-cap brigade, i.e., the company of the Society of Jesus); un corbeau (pop.: = crow); un couac (popular); un babillard (thieves’: especially a confessor, a ‘blab-monger’); un bichot (a bishop); une enseigne de cimetière (‘a cemetery signpost.’ Cf., sky-pilot and finger-post); un bâton de réglisse (thieves’: = a stick of liquorice. Also a police-officer); un barbichon (popular: a preaching friar. From barbe = beard, in allusion to the long beard characteristic of the order). [276]

German Synonyms.—Herrle (especially applied to Catholic priests). Lefranz or Lefrenz (a transposition of Franzle or Fränzle = the Franciscan. Liber Vagatorum Lefrenzin, = a priest’s harlot, still popular in N. Germany); Schocherer (from Hebrew schochar = black. Cf., analogous English terms); Schwarzfärber (Schwarz = black; Färber = a dyer).

Italian Synonyms.—Chiodrino; capellano rosso (a cardinal; ‘a red chaplain’); farfoio (= a monk; farfoia, a nun); rossignolo (= ‘a nightingale’); pisto or pistolfo (Michel: ‘parce qu’il suit le condamné à la piste’).

Spanish Synonym.—Cleriguillo (= a little cleric: both insult and endearment).

1791. Lackington, Memoirs, Letter vi. [ed. 1803]. These devil-dodgers happened to be so very powerful (that is, noisy) that they soon sent John home, crying out he should be damn’d.

1889. Cornhill Mag., Jan., p. 50. He’s just a kind of a fine-haired cuss—a gambler, or a devil-dodger. I reckon … I’m open ter bet he’s a preacher.

Devil-Drawer, subs. (old).—An indifferent artist.

Devilish, adv. (colloquial).—Used intensitively. Cf., Awfully, and Beastly.

1755. The World, No. 140. How arbitrary is language! and how does the custom of mankind join words, that reason has put asunder. Thus we often hear of hell-fire cold, of devilish handsome, and the like.

1780. Mrs. Cowley, The Belle’s Stratagem, iii., 1. I tell you, sir, that, for all that, she’s dev’lish sensible.

1871. Sir M. Lopez, Speech on Army Bill, H. of C., 3 July. It was devilish hard—he meant very hard—to lay it.

Devil’s Bed-posts, or Devil’s Four-poster, subs. phr. (cards’).—The four of clubs; held as an unlucky ‘turn-up.’

1879. J. C. J., in N. and Q., 5 S., xii., 473. In London I have always heard the four of clubs called the devil’s bedpost, and also that it is the worst turn-up one could have.

Devil’s-Bones, subs. (old).—Dice; also Devil’s teeth. Cf., Devil’s books.

1664. Etherege, Comical Revenge, II., iii., in wks. (1704), 27. I do not understand dice: I understand good pasture and drink—hang the devil’s bones.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxiii. A gamester, one who deals with the devil’s bones and the doctors.

Devil’s-Books, subs. (common).—Cards. [Of Presbyterian origin; in reproof of a synonymous term—King’s Books, or more fully, The History of the Four Kings (Fr., livre des quatre rois).] Also Books of Briefs (Fr., la cartouchière à portées).

1729. Swift, Intelligencer, No. 4, p. 43 (2nd ed.). Cards are the devil’s own invention, for which reason, time out of mind, they are and have been called the devil’s books.

18(?). Thackeray, Character Sketches (Capt. Rook and Mr. Pigeon). I often think that the devil’s books, as cards are called, are let out to us from Old Nick’s circulating library.

Devil’s-Claws, subs. (thieves’).—The broad arrow on convicts’ uniforms.

Devil’s-Colours or Livery, subs. (common).—Black and yellow.

Devil’s-Daughter, subs. (common).—A shrew.

Devil’s-Delight. To kick up the devil’s delight, verbal phr. (common).—To make a disturbance. [277]

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. xv. His wives, five or six on ’em, was yowlin’, and cryin’, and kickin’ up the devil’s delight.

1863. Chas. Reade, Hard Cash, I., 278. Well then, speak quick, both of you, said Sharpe, or I’ll lay ye both by the heels. Ye black scoundrels, what business have you in the Captain’s cabin, kicking up the devil’s delight?

Devil’s-Dozen, subs. (old).—Thirteen; the original baker’s-dozen (q.v.). [From the number of witches supposed to sit down together at a ‘Sabbath.’ In Fr. le boulanger (the baker) = the devil.]

Devil’s-Dung, subs. (old).—Asafœtida: the old pharmaceutical name. [From the smell.] Now recognised.

1604. Dekker, Honest Wh., in wks. (1873), ii. 40. Fust. The divel’s dung in thy teeth: I’ll be welcome whether thou wilt or no.

1759. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, vol. VIII., ch. xi. ’Tis all pepper, garlic, staragen, salt, and devil’s dung.

1804. C. K. Sharpe, in Correspondence (1888), i. 203. I devoured loads of devil’s dung rounded into pills.

Devil’s-dust, subs. (trade).—1. Old cloth shredded for re-manufacture. [In allusion both to the swindle and to the ‘dust’ or ‘flock’ produced by the disintegrating machine which is called a ‘devil.’ The practice and the name are old. Latimer, in one of his sermons before Edward the Sixth, treating of trade rascality, remarked that manufacturers could stretch cloth seventeen yards long, into a length of seven-and-twenty yards: ‘When they have brought him to that perfection,’ he continues, ‘they have a pretty feat to thick him again. He makes me a powder for it, and plays the pothicary. They call it flock-powder, they do so incorporate it to the cloth, that it is wonderful to consider; truly a good invention. Oh that so goodly wits should be so applied; they may well deceive the people, but they cannot deceive God. They were wont to make beds of flocks, and it was a good bed too. Now they have turned their flocks into powder, to play the false thieves with it.’ Popularised by Mr. Ferrand in a speech before the House of Commons, March 4, 1842 (Hansard, 3 S, lxi., p. 140) when he tore a piece of cloth made from devil’s dust, into shreds to prove its worthlessness.] Also Shoddy (q.v.).

1840. Carlyle, Misc., iv., 239. Does it beseem thee to weave cloth of devil’s dust instead of true wool, and cut and sew it as if those wert not a tailor but the fraction of a very tailor?

1864. Times, 2 Nov. It is not many years since Mr. Ferrand denounced the devil’s dust of the Yorkshire woollen manufacturers; this devil’s dust arises from the grand translation of old cloth into new.

1883. Hawley Smart, Hard Lines, ch. i. One looks up at the snow-white walls … and then remembers grimly what a mess the devil’s dust, as used by modern artillery, would make of them in these days.

Devil’s Guts, subs. (old).—A surveyor’s chain.

Devil’s Own, subs. (military).—1. The Eighty-Eight Foot. [A contraction of the devil’s own Connaught boys, a name given by General Picton for their gallantry [278]in action and their irregularity in quarters during the Peninsular War, 1809–14.]

2. (volunteer)—The Inns of Court Volunteers [in allusion to the legal personnel].

1864. Mark Lemon, Jest Book, p. 211. At a review of the volunteers, when the half-drowned heroes were defiling by all the best ways, the devil’s own walked straight through. This being reported to Lord B——, he remarked, ‘that the lawyers always went through thick and thin.’

1872. Daily Telegraph, 28 Nov. In Richmond Park the Inns of Court Rifle Volunteers, more familiarly known as the Devil’s Own, were inspected by Colonel Daubeney.

Devil’s-Paternoster. To say the Devil’s Paternoster, verb. phr. (old).—To grumble.

1614. Terence, in English. D. What devills pater noster is this he is saying? what would he? what saist thou honest man?

Devil’s Playthings, subs. phr. (common).—Cards.—See Devil’s Books.

Devil’s-Sharpshooters, subs. (American).—Clerics who took part in the Mexican War.

Devil’s-Smiles, subs. (common).—April weather with alternations of sunshine and rain.

Devil’s-Tattoo, subs. (common). Drumming the fingers on any resonant surface, or tapping the floor with one’s feet, acts of vacancy or impatience.

1817. Scott, Search after Happiness, st. xv. His sugar-loaves and bales about he threw, And on his counter beat the devil’s tattoo.

1837. R. H. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (ed. 1862), p. 181. Her tears had ceased; but her eyes were cast down, and mournfully fixed upon her delicate little foot, which was beating the devil’s tattoo.

1841. Lytton, Night and Morning, bk. III., ch. vi. Mr. Gawtrey remained by the fire beating the devil’s tattoo upon the chimney-piece.

1855. Thackeray, The Newcomes, II., 130. Lady Kew (loq.): ‘Have you been quarrelling as much as usual?’ ‘Pretty much as usual,’ says Barnes, drumming on his hat. ‘Don’t beat that devil’s tattoo.’

Devil’s Teeth.—See Devil’s Bones.

[Also to note in this connexion are devil’s own boy = a young blackguard; imp of the devil = idem; devil’s own ship = a pirate; devil’s own luck = uncommon, or inexplicable, good fortune; to lead one the devil’s own dance = to baffle one in the pursuit of any object; the devil a bit says punch = a jocular yet decided negative; and neat but not gaudy, as the devil said when he painted his bottom pink and tied up his tail with pea green, a locution employed of aged ladies dressed in flaming colours.]

Deviltry, subs. (low).—A vulgar form of ‘devilry.’

Devor, subs. (Charterhouse).—Plum Cake. [From the Latin.]

Devotional-Habits, subs. (stable).—Said of a horse that is apt to ‘say his prayers,’ i.e., to stumble and go on his knees.

Dew-Beaters, -Dusters, or -Treaders, subs. (old).—1. Pedestrians out early in the morning, i.e., before the dew is off the ground.

1692. Hacket, Life of Williams, i., 57. It is not equity at lust and pleasure that is moved for, but equity according to decrees and precedents foregoing, as the dew-beaters have trod their way for those that come after them.

2. (common).—The feet. [An extension of sense 1.] For synonyms, see Creepers. [279]

1823. Scott, Peveril, ch. xxxvi. First hold out your dew-beaters till I take off the darbies. Is that usual? said Peveril, stretching out his feet.

3. (tramps’).—Shoes. [Cf., senses 1 and 2.] In Norfolk, heavy shoes for wet weather.—Forby.

Dew-bit, subs. (common).—A snack before breakfast. Cf., Dew-Drink and Dew-Beaters.

Dew-Drink, subs. (common).—A drink before breakfast. Cf., Dew-Bit and Dew-Beaters. Fr., une goutte pour tuer le ver, i.e., ‘to drown the maggot,’ or ‘to crinkle the worm.’ Not, of course, the ‘early worm’ of the proverb, but his spiritual cousin, the worm that never dies.

Dewitt, verb (old).—To lynch. [The two De Witts, opponents of William of Orange, were massacred by the mob in 1672, without subsequent enquiry.] Cf., Boycott, Burke, Cellier.

1690. Modest Enquiry into the Present Disasters (Life of Ken, p. 561). It is a wonder the English Nation … have not in their fury de-witted some of these men who have brought all this upon us. And I must tell them that the crimes of the two unhappy brothers in Holland (which gave rise to that word) were not fully so great as some of theirs.

b. 1664, d. 1721. Prior, The Viceroy. To her I leave thee, gloomy peer, Think on thy crimes committed; Repent, and be for once sincere, Thou ne’er wilt be de-witted.

1849–1861. Macaulay, Hist. of England. One writer … expressed his wonder that the people had not … dewitted the nonjuring prelates.

Dewse-a-Vyle.—The country.—See Daisyville. Cf., Rom-vile = London.

1567. Harman, Caveat, etc., s.v. 1609. Dekker, Lanthorne and Candlelight, in wks. (Grosart), iii., 200, s.v. 1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38. (H. Club’s Repr., 1874), s.v. 1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4th ed.), p. 12, s.v.

Dewskitch, subs. (tramps’).—A thrashing. For synonyms, see Tanning.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. i., p. 244. It means a dewskitch (a good thrashing).

Dial or Dial-plate, subs. (common).—The face. To turn the hands on the dial = to disfigure the face.

English Synonyms.—Frontispiece; gills (the jaws); chump (also the head); phiz; physog; mug; jib; chivy, or chevy; roach and dace (rhyming); signboard; door-plate; front-window.

French Synonyms.—La binette (familiar: quelle sale binette = what an ugly mug); un abcès (pop. = ‘a red or bloated face’); la fertille (thieves’: also straw); la fiole (fam. = phial); la bobine (pop: from O. F. bobe = grimace); une balle d’amour (prostitutes’: a handsome face); une balle (pop.: also = a franc piece and head); une glutouse (thieves’); une gargouille, gargouine, or gargue (popular); une gargarousse (thieves’); une gargagoitche (thieves’); une frime (thieves’: une frime à la manque = ugly face).

German Synonyms.—Bonum or Bunem (Hanoverian: from Heb. ponim = face); Ponim (see preceding); Rauner (also = the eye; im Rauner halten = to keep an eye upon one).

Italian Synonyms.—Berlo; baleffo (literally, a gash or scar: primarily = the mouth). [280]

Spanish Synonyms.—El mundo (also = the world); el geme (a woman’s face. Properly, the space between the extended ends of thumb, and forefinger).

1889. Bird o’ Freedom, 7 Aug., p. 3. An absinthe tumbler which caught him a nasty crack across the dial finally convinced him that discretion was the better part of valour.

1890. Polytechnic Magazine; 21 March. ‘Boxing Brutalities.’ Now if there is a rule that no competitor may strike another with a force greater than a fixed number of pounds, it will be easy to disqualify a man whose opponent’s dial shows a greater amount of punishment.

Dials, subs. (prison).—Convicts and thieves hailing from Seven Dials.

Diamond-Cracking, subs. (Australian thieves’).—1. Stonebreaking.

1885. Australian Printers Keepsake. He caught a month, and had to white it out at diamond-cracking in Castieu’s Hotel [Melbourne Gaol].

Dibble, subs. (common).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick.

Dibs or Dibbs, subs. (common).—Generic for money. [Said to be a corruption of diobs, i.e., diobolus, a classic coin = 2½d. Another derivation is from the hucklebones of sheep, popularly dibbs, used for gambling; Scots ‘chuckies.’] For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt. To brush with the dibs = to abscond with the cash; To tip over the dibs = to pay down or ‘shell out’; To flash the dibs = to show money, etc.

1837. Barham, I. L. (Dead Drummer). One of their drummers, and one Sergeant Matcham, Had brush’d with the dibs, and they never could catch ’em.

1842. Comic Almanack, p. 313. Governor,—Science can’t be purchased without dibbs. When we want subjects we must shell out.

1862. Penny Newspaper. The other informed him that if he did not tip over the dibs he would blow his —— brains out.

1880. Punch’s Almanack, p. 7. Time to think about my outing. No dibs yet, though, so it’s no use shouting.

1887. W. E. Henley, Villon’s Straight Tip. The merry little dibbs you’ll bag.

Dice. To box the Dice, verb. phr. (legal).—To carry a point by tricking or swindling.

Dick, subs. (common).—1. A dictionary; a Richard (q.v.); also, by implication, fine language or long words.—See Swallow the Dick.

1860. Haliburton (‘Sam. Slick’), The Season Ticket, No. xii. Ah, now you are talking ‘dic.,’ exclaimed Peabody, and I can’t follow you. When I talk —— You use the vulgar tongue, retorted the Senator.

1861. Dutton Cook, Paul Foster’s Daughter, ch. xxvi. No. I’d take my dying dick he hasn’t got a writ in his pocket, or he couldn’t move along so easy as that.

Verb (thieves’).—To look; to pipe (q.v.); e.g., the bulky’s dicking = the policeman is watching you. [From the gypsy dikk.] Fr., gaffer. For synonyms, see Pipe. [281]

In the reign of Queen Dick, adv. phr. (common).—Never; ‘when two Sundays come in a week.’ For synonyms, see Greek Kalends.

1864. Standard, 13 Dec., Rev. of Sl. Dicy. Moreover … a few days since, a ‘bus driver in altercation with his conductor, who threatened him with paying off soon, replied, ‘Oh yes, in the reign of queen dick,’ which, on inquiry we found to be synonymous with ‘Never,’ or ‘Tib’s eve.’’

To swallow the Dick, verb. phr. (common).—To use long words without knowledge of their meaning; to high falute (American).

Up to Dick, adv. phr. (common).—Not to be ‘taken in’; ‘artful’; ‘fly’; wide-awake. For synonyms, see Downy. Also = up to the mark, i.e., perfectly satisfactory.

1877. J. Greenwood, Under the Blue Blanket. ‘Ain’t that up to dick, my biffin?’ ‘I never said it warn’t.’

1887. Walford’s Antiquarian, April, p. 251. Betwixt you and me I think you’ll agree That of course I look ‘up to Dick.’

Dickens, subs. (old).—The devil (q.v.) or deuce (q.v.); used interchangeably. [A corruption of nick (q.v.).] For synonyms, see Skipper.

1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, Act III., Sc. ii. I cannot tell what the dickens his name is.

1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, bk. I., prol. (Bohn), vol. I., p. 99. But hearken, joltheads, you vie-dayes, or dickens take ye.

1727. John Gay, Beggar’s Opera, Act I. Sc. 1. Peach. What a dickens is the woman always whimpering about murder for! No gentleman is ever looked upon the worse for killing a man in his own defence.

1880. G. R. Sims, Zeph. ch. xv. ‘Inez is fretting after Pedro,’ he said to himself, ‘but what the dickens is Totty blubbering about?’

1889. C. Haddon Chambers, Ne’er-do-Well, ‘In Australian Wilds.’ What the dickens could I do? I believe I swore a little at first, and then I flourished my whip.

Dicker, subs. and verb: also Dickering, subs. (American).—Barter; swap (q.v.): generally applied to trade in small articles.

1830. Cobbett, in Rural Rides, I., 199 (1886). It is barter, truck, change, dicker, as the Yankees call it, but, as our horse-jockeys call it, swap, or chop.

1888. New York Weekly Times, 28 March. He had perhaps been considering the advisability of making a dicker with his old political opponents in the hope of bettering his condition.

1888. Denver Republican, 7 April. After some dickering a style of coffin was selected and a price decided upon.

Dickey, subs. (old).—1. A woman’s under petticoat.

b. 1766, d. 1823. Bloomfield, Richard and Kate. But now, as at some nobler places Amongst the leaders ’twas decreed Time to begin the dicky races, More famed for laughter than for speed.

1841. John Mills, Old Eng. Gentleman, ch. vii., p. 60 (3rd ed.). A young dickey, in the full kick of youth, mistook some sweet briar for a thistle.

3. (common).—A sham shirt front, formerly a worn-out shirt. [282]Cf., sense 4. [Hotten: originally tommy (from the Greek, τομη, a section), a word once used in Trinity College, Dublin.] Also, by implication, any sham contrivance; see quots.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, I., 82, note. Dickey: cant for a worn-out shirt.

1835–40. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 2 S., ch. ix. She made frill, shirt-collar, and Dicky fly like snow.

1836. Willis Gayford Clarke, The Olla Podriana Papers. For a handkerchief I had flourished a common dickey, the strings whereof fell to my feet.

1848. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, ch. xx. Those wretched Beaux Tibbs’s of society, who sport a lace dickey, and nothing besides.

1857. Hood, Pen and Pencil Pictures, p. 206. Do not take off that article of apparel which Fanny Fern distinguishes by a name which, on this side the Atlantic, is the familiar for a youthful Richard. Spare it, we say … although it may be (and we guess, from the absence of cuffs and sleeves, it is) an imitation, a sham, a make-shift!

1872. Public Opinion, 24 Feb., p. 241. ‘Inside Newgate.’ What is she here for? I asked, pointing to a florid-looking girl who was taking a deep professional interest in ironing a dickey.

1876. Jas. Greenwood, Low Life Deeps. ‘I saw a laden waggon bearing the name of one of the cheap advertising firms you speak of.’… ‘Ah, bearing the name … you saw a waggon wearing a dicky, you mean—a false front-plate with a name on it which slips on and off like them on the wans that the pianoforte-makers borrow.’

1883. Jas. Greenwood, ‘Veteran of Vauxhall,’ in Odd People in Odd Places, p. 38. Besides these articles there was a pair of what had once been white linen cuffs, a dickey of the same dubious complexion, and a white tie.

5. (nautical).—A ship’s officer or mate; generally, second dickey, i.e., second mate.

Adj. (common).—1. Sorry; inferior; paltry and poor in quality. Dickey domus (theatrical) = a poor ‘house.’

2. (London).—Smart. A corruption of up to dick (q.v.). Cf., subs., sense 6.

All dickey with [one], adv. phr. (common).—Queer; gone wrong; ‘all up with.’

1811. Poole, Hamlet Travestied, III., vi. O, Hamlet! ’tis all dickey with us both You’ve done my business by a blow, ’tis true; But I—Oh! I—have done the same for you.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 21. ’Twas all dicky with Georgy, his mug hung so dead.

1837. Thackeray, in Fraser’s Magazine, 10 Oct. Sam, the stable boy [who from living chiefly among the hosses and things has got a sad low way of talking], said it was all dicky, and bid us drive on to the nex’ page.

1837. Barham, I. L. (Brothers of Birchington). Here a monk, whose teeth funk and concern made to chatter, Sobs out as he points to the corpse on the floor, ‘’Tis all dickey with poor Father Dick—he’s no more.’

1882. Daily Telegraph, 3 Oct., p. 2, col. 2. I was coolly told that ‘anyhow, all the actual meat there was in, say half a pound of cheap German sausage, couldn’t do any one much harm if it was ever so dicky.’

Dickey-bird, subs. (common).—1. A louse. For synonyms, see Chates.

3. (venery).—A prostitute; generally naughty dicky-bird. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and tart.

c. 1830. Broadside Ballad, George Barnwell. When he had put the shutters [283]up He went to see his dickey-bird, And when he came back next morning, Blowed if he could speak a word.

Dickey-diaper, subs. (old).—A linendraper.

Dickey-dido, subs. (popular).—An idiot. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

Dickey-Lagger, subs. (common).—A bird catcher. [From dickey, a pet name for a bird + lagger, one who lays hold of.]

1881. W. Black, Beautiful Wretch, ch. xviii. ‘They’re starved out in this weather, Miss; and then the boys come out wi’ their guns; and the dicky-laggers are after them too.’ ‘The what?’ ‘The bird-catchers, Miss.’

Dickey-Sam, subs. phr. (common).—A native of Liverpool.

1870. Athenæum, 10 Sept. We cannot even guess why a Liverpool man is called a Dickey Sam.

1884. Book Lore, Dec., p. 27. The natives of Liverpool call themselves, or are called by others, Dicky Sams.

Dicky, subs. (Scots’).—1. The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick.

Diddies, subs. (common).—The paps. For synonyms, see Dairy.

Diddle, subs. (old).—1. Gin. For synonyms, see Drinks. In America, liquor generally.

1858. H. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, bk. iii., ch. i, p. 252. And there’s a first-rate ‘diddle cove’ (publican) keeps a gin-shop there.

1885. Punch, 5 Sept., p. 110. And something whispered me—in diction chaste—It’s all a diddle!

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, 1. Diddling your subjects, and gutting their fobs.

1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, ch. v. And Jack is diddled, said the Baronet.

1841. Comic Almanack, p. 266. Thus, while pig and tail the villagers diddle, My tale’s in the middle, my tale’s in the middle!

1880. Hawley Smart, Social Sinners, ch. xv. He had me, and no mistake. Done, yes, diddled; and I thought I had rather an easy-going lawyer to deal with.

1887. Lic. Vict. Gazette, 2 Dec., 362, 1. You have been done, regularly diddled, by that fellow.

2. (venery).—To copulate. Cf., Diddle, subs., sense 2. For synonyms, see Ride.

Diddle-Cove, subs. (American).—A landlord. Cf., Diddler.

Diddler, subs. (common).—A cheat; a dodger. [From diddle (q.v.) + er.] For synonyms, see Rook.—See Jeremy Diddler (Kenny’s Raising the Wind). Also a chronic borrower. Diddling = cheating; also borrowing.

Diddly-pout, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Didoes, subs. (American).—Pranks; tricks; fantastic proceedings.—See Cut Didoes, and Cut Capers. [284]

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xvii. I met a man this mornin’ … frum Halifax, a real conceited lookin’ critter as you e’enamost ever seed, all shines and didoes.

1851. New York Tribune, 10 April, Had the Free States been manly enough, true enough, to enact the Wilmot Proviso as to all present or future territories of the Union, we should have had just the same didoes cut up by the chivalry that we have witnessed, and with no more damage to the Union.

Die or Dee, subs. (American thieves’).—A pocket-book. Matsell’s Vocabulum [1859]. For synonyms, see Leather.

Die-by-the-Hedge, subs. phr. (provincial).—The flesh of animals deceased by accident or of disease; by implication, inferior meat.

Die-Hards, subs. (military).—The Fifty-Seventh Foot. [From the rallying call at Albuera (1811) its Colonel (Inglis) calling to the men, ‘Die hard, my men, die hard,’ when it had thirty bullets through the King’s Colour, and only had one officer out of twenty-four, and one hundred and sixty-eight men out of five hundred and eighty-four, when left standing.]

Die in One’s Boots or Shoes, verb. phr. (old).—1. To be hanged. For synonyms, see Ladder.

1837. R. H. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends. ‘The Execution’ (ed. 1862), p. 196. And there is McFuze And Lieutenant Tregooze, And there is Sir Carnaby Jenks of the Blues All come to see a man die in his shoes.

1888. Denver Republican, 9 April. When in liquor he was quarrelsome and the prediction was commonly made that he would die with his boots on.

2. (American).—To ‘die standing’: at work, ‘in harness,’ in full possession of one’s faculties.

1887. Scribner’s Magazine. These stiff prairie plants never wilt—they die in their boots.

1888. Cincinnatti Enquirer, Title: died with his boots on. The killing of the notorious Desperado Leo Renfro.

Die with One’s Ears Stuffed with Cotton.—See Cotton.

Dig, subs. (colloquial).—1. A blow, thrust, punch, or poke; in pugilism = a ‘straight left-hander’ delivered under the guard on the ‘mark.’

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 51. While ribbers rung from each resounding frame, and divers digs, and many a ponderous pelt.

1876. C. W. Wall, trans. Molière, vol. i., p. 80. The digs in the ribs I gave you with such hearty good will.

English Synonyms.—Auctioneer; biff; bang; buck-horse; buster; chatterer; chin-chopper; chopper; clip; click; clinker; clout; cock; cork; comber; cuff; cant; corker; dab; downer; douser; ding; domino; floorer; ferricadouzer; fibbing; facer; flush-hit; finisher; gooser; hot ’un; jaw-breaker; lick; mendoza; muzzler; noser; nobbler; nose-ender; nope; oner; punch; stock-dollager; stotor; spank; topper; twister; whack; wipe.

French Synonyms.—Un coup d’encensoir (popular: a tap on the nose; ‘one on the smeller’); un coup de tampon (pop.: tampon = buffer); un coup de Garibaldi (thieves’: a butt in the stomach); un moule de gant (popular: ‘a mould for a glove’); une mornifle (colloquial: ‘a wipe in the jaw’); [285]une mandole (popular); une gnole (popular: from torgnole); un coup de gilquin (popular); un cataplasme de Venise (popular); un gnon (popular); une dariole (pop.: also, a cream-cake); une beugne (popular); une dandine (popular: ‘a twister’); une baffre (popular); des castagnettes (military: punches); une châtaigne (popular); une couleur (popular); une bouffe (popular: bouffée = gust or blast); un cabochon (popular); un estaffion (popular); une estaphe (popular); une accolade; une balle de coton (thieves’).—See also Tan, verb.

German Synonym. Azkes malaikes (Viennese thieves’: = a blow with the fist on the throat. The derivation may be: azke from Heb. osak, to quarrel + malaikes from Heb. melocho, work).

Spanish Synonyms.—Duros (whip-strokes; also = harsh, merciless); tapaboca (a ‘corker’: also any action or observation which cuts one short); pasagonzalo (a quick hit); capon (generally colloquial); chamorrada (a butt with the head); mojada (a stab); zumbido or zumbo (literally, a humming or buzzing); tantarantin (a thwack; also = beat of a drum); tarja (also = a target).

2. (American).—A diligent student. [By implication from the verb (q.v.); also study; e.g., To have a dig at Cæsar or Livy.

1876. Miss Alcott, Little Wives, ch. ix. He … turned studious, and gave out that he was going to dig, intending to graduate in a blaze of glory.

Dig a day under the skin, verb. phr. (common).—To make a shave serve for two days.

Digester.—See Patent Digester.

Digged.—See Jigged.

Diggers, subs. (common).—1. Spurs; ‘persuaders.’

1881. New York Slang Dict. ‘On the Trail.’ ‘If you do,’ returned Bill, ‘I will fix my diggers in your dial-plate and turn it up with red.’

Diggers’-Delight, subs. (New Zealand).—A wide-brimmed felt hat. For synonyms, see Golgotha.

Diggings, subs. (common).—A place of residence or employment. [First used at the Western lead mines in the U.S.A. to denote whence ore was dug.]

English Synonyms.—Birk; box; case; crib; chat; den; dry-lodgings; drum; place; pig-sty; pew; cabin; castle; chaffing-crib; caboose; sky-parlour; shop; ken; dossing-ken; hole; rookery; hutch; hang-out. [286]

French Synonyms.—Une bagnole (pop.: from bagne = hulks); un bazar (military: also, a brothel); un bocal (pop.: also = stomach); une baraque (common: in disparagement); une baite (thieves’); une case (thieves’); une carrée (thieves’); une cambriole (thieves’); une cambuse (popular); une condition (thieves’); un creux (thieves’); une piole or piolle (thieves’).

Italian Synonyms.—Bacchia; clocchia or cloccia (also = a bell); coschetto delle Fantasime.

Spanish Synonyms.—Caverna (‘a cavern’; cf., English den); aduana (also = a brothel, and thieves’ resort); nido (‘a nest’; nido de ladrones, a ‘cross-drum’; a thieves’ resort); percha (‘a perch’).

1838. J. C. Neal, Charcoal Sketches, II., 119. Look here, Ned, I reckon it’s about time we should go to our diggings; I am dead beat.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 171. The miner in California and Nevada has been known, in times of a rush, to speak of a place where he could stand leaning against a stout post, as his diggings for the night.

1883. Referee, 1 July, p. 3, col. 2. Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft are changing their diggings, and clearing out of Cavendish-square.

1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, ch. viii. Oh, he lives round the corner. You may see his diggings from your daughter’s bedroom window, sir.

1888. C. J. Dunphie, The Chameleon, p. 86. ‘Diggings’ I call my dwelling, according to the prevalent slang.

Diggums, subs. (provincial).—1. A gardener.

Dilberries, subs. (common).—Fæcal and seminal deposits in the hair of the anus and the female pudendum; clinkers.

Dilberry-bush, subs. (common).—The hair about the female pudendum or the anus.—See Dilberries.

Dildo, subs. (old).—An instrument (of wax, horn, leather, india-rubber, gutta-percha, etc., and other soft material), shaped like, and used by women as a substitute for, the penis. Now called a broom-handle or broomstick, the pudendum in this connection = broom (q.v.). [Bailey: from It., diletto, a woman’s delight or from dally = to toy.] In Lombardy, passo tempo.

c. 1672. Butler, Dildoides (Occasioned by Burning a hogshead of dildoes at Stocks Market).

1886. Burton, The Thousand Nights and a Night, vol. x, p. 239. Of the penis succedaneus, that imitation of the Arbor-vitæ, or Sotor-Kosmou, which the Latins called phallus and fascinum, the French godemiché, and the Italians passatempo and diletto (whence our dildo), every kind abounds, varying from a stuffed ‘French Letter’ to a cone of ribbed horn, which looks like an instrument of torture.

Verb (old).—To wanton with a woman. Cf., subs., sense. For synonyms, see Firkytoodle.

Dilly, subs. (common).—A night cart; formerly a coach. [From Fr., diligence.]

17(?). The Anti-Jacobin. So down thy hill, romantic Ashbourne glides, The Derby Dilly having four inside.

Dilly-bag, subs. (Australian).—A wallet; or scran-bag.

1880. A. C. Grant. Their own dilly-bags have nothing of value or interest in them. [287]

Dilly-dally, verb (colloquial).—To loiter; hesitate; trifle. [A duplication of dally.]

1740. Richardson, Pamela, i., 275. What you do, sir, do; don’t stand dilly-dallying.

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. XVIII., ch. xii. But if I had suffered her to stand shill I shall I, dilly dally, you might not have had that honour yet awhile.

1869. W. S. Gilbert, The Bohemian Girl. When at a pinch you should never dilly-dally.

Dimber, adj. (old).—Pretty, neat, lively. Variants are scrumptious; natty. Fr., batif (thieves’); fignole (thieves’); girofle (thieves’).

Dimber Cove = a sprightly man, a gentleman: Dimber Mort = a pretty girl. Fr., une largue girofle. Cf., Dimber-damber.

1837. Disraeli, Venetia, book I., ch. xiv. ’Tis a dimber cove, whispered one of the younger men to a companion: Ibid, Tip me the clank like a dimber mort.

Dimber-damber, subs. (old).—A captain of thieves or vagrants. [From dimber (q.v.), skilful, etc., + damber (q.v.), a chief or head man.]

1749. Life of Bampfylde-Moore Carew, ‘Oath of the Canting Crew.’… No dimber damber, angler, dancer, prig of cackler, prig of prancer.

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. No; no refusal, exclaimed a chorus of voices. Dick Turpin must be one of us. He shall be our dimber damber.

Dimmock, subs. (common).—Money. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. IV., ch. i. ‘I have … pocketed the dimmock’ (‘here ’tis,’ continued he, parenthetically slapping his pockets).

Dinahs, subs. (Stock-Exchange).—Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway Ordinary Stock.