Slang and its analogues, 2 | Project Gutenberg

Fat- (also Thick-) Chops, subs. (common).—A contumelious epithet.

Fat-Cock, subs. (common).—An epithet rather jocular than derisive for a stout and elderly man; also (venery) a double-sucker (q.v.).

Fater, Faytor, or Fator, subs. (old).—A fortune-teller. Lexicon Balatronicum [1811]. In Spencer = a doer; in Bailey = an idle fellow; a vagabond. [From Fr. faiteur.]

Fat-Fancier, (or -Monger,) subs. (venery).—An amateur of stout women.

Fat-flab, subs. (Winchester School).—A cut off the fat part of a breast of mutton.—See Cat’s Head.

Fat- (or Full-) Guts, subs. (common).—An opprobrious epithet for a fat man or woman.

Fat-head, subs. (common).—A dolt.

Fat-headed, -skulled, -thoughted, -pated, -brained, and -witted (colloquial) = dull; stupid; slow.

1885. Mrs. J. H. Riddell, Mitre Court, ch. xix. He is a fathead—a great blundering John Bull.

Father, subs. (thieves’).—1. A receiver of stolen property; a fence (q.v.). [378]

2. (general).—A chief in authority; an elder: e.g., the father of the house = the oldest member of the House of Commons (cf., Babe); among printers, the chairman of the chapel, the intermediary between master and men; in naval circles, the builder of a man-of-war or Government ‘bottom.’

Father Derbies’ Bands.—See Darbies.

Father’s Brother, subs. phr. (common).—A pawnbroker; my uncle (q.v.).

Fat Jack of the Bone-house, subs. phr. (common).—A contumelious epithet for a very stout man.

Fat-mutton, subs. (venery).—A fat bit (see Bit of Fat), i.e., a stout bed-fellow.

Fatness, subs. (common).—Wealth. Cf., Fat = rich.

Fatten-up, verb (theatrical).—To write fat (subs., sense 3) into a part.

Fat-un, subs. (common).—An emission of wind from the anus of peculiar rankness; a ‘roarer’ (Swift).

Fatty (or Fatymus, or Fattyma), subs. (colloquial).—A jocular epithet for a fat man; a comic endearment for a fat woman.

Faugh-a-Ballagh Boys, subs. phr. (military).—The Eighty-Seventh Foot; also known as the eagle-takers (q.v.), and the old fogs (q.v.). [From Fag an bealac = ‘Clear the Way,’ the name of the regimental march.]

Faulkner, subs. (old).—A tumbler; juggler. Lex. Balat. [1811] and Duncombe’s Sinks of London [1848].

Fawney, or Fauney, subs. (common).—1. A ring; Fr., une brobuante; une broquille; un chason; Fourbesque, cerchiosa.

2. A swindle (also called Fawney-dropping, or rig), worked as follows:—A ring (snide) is let drop in front of a passer-by, who picks it up, and is confronted by the dropper, who claims to share. In consideration of immediate settlement he offers to accept something less than the apparent value in cash. Also done with pocket-books, meerschaum pipes, etc. Fawney-dropper = one that practices the ring-dropping trick; Fawney-bouncing = selling rings for a pretended wager; Fawnied = ringed.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 174. Fawny. An old, stale trick, called ring-dropping.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 471. He wears a stunning fawny (ring) on his finger.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 389. I do a little in the fawney dropping line; (fawneys are rings).

1857. Ducange Anglicus, The Vulgar Tongue, p. 39. Fawney-droppers gammon the flats and take the yokels in.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, p. 124. And where … The Chips, the fawneys, Chatty-feeders, The bugs, the boungs, and well-filled readers.

Feager, subs. (old).—See quot. and cf., Feaker.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). A Feager of Loges, one that beggeth with counterfeit writings. [379]

Feague, verb (old).—To send packing; to whiff away.

1826. Scott, Journal [pub. 1890], I., 205. Though this be Monday, I am not able to feague it away, as Bayes says—[The reference, as furnished by Dr. Murray to Mr. David Douglas, editor of the Journal (1890), is to certain editions of Buckingham’s farce, The Rehearsal: ‘I lay my head close to it with a snuff-box in my hand, and feague it away.’]

Feak, subs. (old).—The fundament. Lex. Balat. [1811].

Feather, subs. (colloquial).—1. Kind; species; company; cf., Birds of a feather. For synonyms, see Kidney.

1608. Dekker, Belman of London, in wks. (Grosart), III., 140. And he delivers it either to a Broker or some Bawd (for they all are of one feather).

1609. Shakspeare, Timon of Athens, Act i., Sc. 1. I am not of that feather, to shake off My friend when he must need me.

2. in pl. (common).—Money; wealth.—[See Feather one’s nest.] For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

3. (venery).—The female pubic hair (Prior and T. Moore). For synonyms, see Fleece.

1871. Mrs. H. Wood, Dene Hollow. ch. xxx. And now things went on swimmingly. Captain Clanwaring, in feather as to cash, at least temporarily, was the gayest of the gay.

1886. Graphic, 30 Jan., p. 130, col. 2. On these generally convivial occasions, Watty, by reason of his office [butler], was of course always in full feather.

In high or full feather, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Elated; brilliant; conspicuous.

1852. H. B. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ch. viii. Sam was in the highest possible feather, and expressed his exultation by all sorts of supernatural howls and ejaculations.

1856. T. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-Days, pt. II., ch. iv. Martin leads the way in high feather; it is quite a new sensation to him, getting companions, and he finds it very pleasant, and means to show them all manner of proofs of his science and skill.

To feather one’s nest, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To amass money; specifically to enrich oneself by indirect pickings and emoluments. [From birds collecting feathers (see also sense 2) to line their nests.]

1590. Greene, Francesco’s Fortunes, in wks., viii., 138. She sees thou hast fethred thy nest, and hast crowns in thy purse.

1662. Pepys, Diary, 7 June. Mr. Coventry had already feathered his nest in selling of places.

1700. Congreve, Way of the World, Act v., Sc. 1. You have forgot this, have you, now you have feather’d your nest.

1705. Vanbrugh, Confederacy, I., ii., 25 (1734). If I don’t feather my nest, and get a good husband, I deserve to die.

1858. G. Eliot, Janet’s Repentance, ch. xiii. Dempster must have feathered his nest pretty well; he can afford to lose a little business.

To feather an oar, verb. phr. (aquatics).—In rowing, to turn the blade horizontally, with the upper edge pointing aft, as it leaves the water, for the purpose of lessening the resistance of the air upon it.

d. 1814. Dibdin, The Waterman. He feathered his oars with such skill and dexterity, Winning each heart and delighting each eye. [380]

1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 5. The swells in high feather.

1878. Lang, Ballad of the Boat-race. They catch the stroke and they slog it through, With Cambridge heavy and low in the feather, The standing sin of the fair Light Blue.

To show the white feather, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To turn cur; to prove oneself a coward. [Among game cocks a cross-bred bird is known by a white feather in the tail. Of old the breed was strictly preserved in England, for though birds of all descriptions were reared in the farm-yard, special care was taken that game fowls did not mix with them; but this would occasionally happen, and while the game birds were only red and black, white feathers would naturally appear when there was any cross. The slightest impurity of strain was said to destroy the bird’s courage, and the half-breeds were never trained for the pit. It became an adage that any cock would fight on his own dunghill, but it must be one without a white feather to fight in the pit.]

1842. Comic Almanack, p. 306. Precluding the possibility of anyone, at any time, showing a white feather.

Feather-bed and Pillows, subs. phr. (venery).—A fat woman.

Feather-bed Lane, subs. phr. (old).—A rough or stony lane.

Feather-bed Soldier, subs. phr. (old colloquial).—A practised and determined whoremonger.

Feck, verb (old).—To discover the safe way of stealing or swindling.

Feed, subs. (colloquial).—A meal; spread (q.v.), or blow-out (q.v.). Fr., une lampie (from lamper = to gulp down). [From the stable usage = an allowance of provender. An analogue, however, is found in Milton: ‘For such pleasures till that hour At feed or fountain never had I found.’]

1830. Bulwer Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 22, ed. 1854. Like most single men, being very much the gentlemen so far as money was concerned, he gave them plenty of feeds, and from time to time a very agreeable hop.

1853. Rev. E. Bradley (‘C. Bede’), Verdant Green, pt. III., p. 90 (q.v.).

1861. A. Trollope, Framley Parsonage, chap. iii.… It’s deuced shabby of him, not hunting here in his own county. He escapes all the bore of going to lectures, and giving feeds to the neighbours; that’s why he treats us so.

1864. E. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. xxxiii. He had been accustomed to describe Mr. Schröder as ‘a good old cock, sir; a worthy old party; kind-hearted, and all that, and giving no end of good feeds.’

18(?). Bret Harte, The Man of no Account. When the ‘Skyscraper’ arrived at San Francisco we had a grand feed.

1883. G. A. S[ala], in Illustr. L. News, 7 July, p. 3, col. 1. To be able to escape from a large public feed is, indeed, a sweet boon; but there are some big dinners at which attendance is a case of ‘must.’

d. 1674. Milton. For such pleasures till that hour At feed or fountain never had I found. [381]

To be off one’s feed, verb. phr. (common).—To have a distaste for food. [From the stable.]

1836. M. Scott, Cringle’s Log, ch. ix. Shall I fill you a cup of coffee, Obed?… Why, man, you are off your feed.

1881. Jas. Payn, Grape from a Thorn, ch. liii. I won’t take a rasher this morning, thank you; nor yet any pigeon pie. I’m rather off my feed.

To feed the dummy or the dumb-glutton (q.v.), verb. phr. (venery).—To have connection. For synonyms, see Ride.

To feed the fishes, verb. phr. (common).—To be sea-sick; also to be drowned.

1884. Home Tidings, 22 Nov., p. 398. Although I fed myself shortly before arriving abreast of Eddystone, I fed the fish shortly afterwards.

Feeder, subs. (common).—1. A spoon; among thieves a silver spoon. To nab a feeder = to steal a spoon.

2. (university).—A tutor; crammer (q.v.); coach (q.v.).—(See Dr. Blimber’s Mr. Feeder in Dombey and Son).

1766. O. Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield, chap. vii. (ed. 1827), p. 41. Mr. Thornhill came with a couple of friends, his chaplain and feeder.

1864. Glasgow Herald, 9 Nov. [Review of Hotten’s Slang Dictionary.] Feeder is given here as ‘old cant’ for a spoon.

Feeding-bottle, subs. (colloquial).—The paps. For synonyms, see Dairy.

Feel, verb (venery).—To take liberties with a woman. For synonyms, see Firkytoodle.

Feel a Thing in One’s Bones.—See Bones.

Feele, subs. (common).—A girl or daughter. For synonyms in the former sense, see Titter. [Fr., fille; It., figlia.] Feeles = mother and daughter.

Feeler, subs. (colloquial)—1. A device or remark designed to bring out the opinions of others.

1841. Tait’s Mag., Sept. ‘Political Register.’ The Times is putting out feelers on the corn-law question.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 29 Nov., p. 6, col. 3. The efforts made to purchase the Halliwell-Phillips collection by private subscription in Birmingham, have (says the local Times) utterly failed. A feeler was sent out by the Free Libraries Committee.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iv., p. 259. I one day asked a man … if the hard work of prison did not spoil his hands for delicate manipulations. ‘Oh, bless you, no!’ he replied;… ‘In a week or two a man can bring his hooks and feelers into full working trim again and no mistake.’

Feet. Making feet for children’s stockings, verb. phr. (old).—Begetting or breeding children.

Officer of feet, subs. phr. (old military).—An officer of infantry.—Grose [1785].

How’s your poor feet? phr. (common).—A street catch [382]phrase in the early part of the sixties. [For suggested derivation cf., quot., 1890.]—See Street cries.

1863. All the Year Round, p. 180, col. 1. ‘How’s your poor feet?’ a year ago cheated half the natives of Cockaigne into the belief that they were gifted with a special genius for repartee.

1890. Town and Country (Sydney), 11 Jan., p. 19, col. 4. Henry Irving’s revival of ‘The Dead Heart’ has revived a bit of slang.… When the play was brought out originally, where one of the characters says, ‘My heart is dead, dead, dead!’ a voice from the gallery nearly broke up the drama with ‘How are your poor feet?’ The phrase lived.

Feet-Casements, subs. (common).—Boots or shoes. For synonyms, see Trotter-Cases.

Feeze [also Feaze, Feize, and Pheeze], verb (old).—1. To copulate. For synonyms, see Ride.

Feint, subs. (old).—A pawnbroker. For synonyms, see My Uncle.

1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London, s.v.; 1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.

Feker, subs. (American thieves’).—Trade; profession; cf., Feck.

Fell a Bit on, verb. phr. (tailors’).—To act craftily; in an underhand manner.

Fell-and-didn’t, phr. (tailors’).—Said of a man walking lame.

Fellow.—See Old fellow.

Fellow-Commoner, subs. (university).—An empty bottle. For synonyms, see Dead man.

1794. Gent. Mag., p. 1084. One [student at Cambridge] was a Harry Soph; another a fellow-commoner and senior Soph, and occasionally jocularly called an empty bottle, whilst è contrà, a bottle decanted was, from time to time, denominated a fellow-commoner.

Felt, subs. (old).—A hat of felted wool. For synonyms, see Golgotha.

1609. Dekker, Gul’s Horne-Booke, chap. iv. For, in my opinion, ye braine that cannot choose his Felt well (being the head ornament) must needes poure folly into all the rest of the members.

1614. J. Cooke, Green’s Tu Quoque, in Anc. Brit. Drama (1810), ii., 567. Sir Lion. Aye, but son Bubble, where did you two buy your felts? Scat. Felts! by this light mine is a good beaver.

1823. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 5. Don’t nibble the felt, Jerry.

1841. Thynne, Deb. between Pride and Lowliness. A faire cloke on his backe, and on his head a felt.

Fem.—See Famble.

Fen, subs. (thieves’).—A prostitute or procuress.—Grose [1785].

Verb (schoolboys’).—(also Fend, Fain, Fainits, etc.). A term of warning, or of prohibition: as to prevent any change in the existing conditions of a game; e.g., at marbles, Fen-placings = no alteration in position of marbles is permissible; fen-clearances = removal of obstacles is forbidden. [Fend = M. E. defend in sense of ‘to forbid.’] Fain, Fain I, (with which cf., Bags I) are corruptions. At Winchester, Fingy you or Fingy that are analagous; [383]but at Christ’s Hospital Fin = ‘I won’t have,’ the reverse of Bags I.

ante. 1815. E. C. Harrington, in N. and Q., 5 S., vii., 98. Respecting the word fen … I can testify to the use of the term by schoolboys prior to the battle of Waterloo … meaning that we protested against an exceptional action.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House. ‘I’m fly,’ says Jo. ‘But fen larks, you know.’

1877. Notes and Queries, 5 S., vii., 178. A comical application, was, I remember well, ‘Fen live lumber’! which, if pronounced in time, would disable your opponent from moving a bystander out of the way of his shot.

Fence, subs. (common).—1. A purchaser or receiver of stolen goods.—See verbal sense, and Thieves.

English Synonyms. Fencing master, or cully; billy-fencer; angling cove; stallsman; Ikey; family-man; father.

French Synonyms. Une crosse (thieves’); un carreur (thieves’); un attriqueur or une attriqueuse (thieves’); un franc de maison (also = landlord of a thieves’ lodging-house or ‘flash ken’); un fourgue, fourgat, or fourgasse (thieves’); une nourrice (a female fence; = nurse); un meunier (= a miller; porter au moulin = to fence the swag); un ogre (thieves’).

German Synonyms. Pascher or Verpascher (from paschlnisenen = to peddle illegally); Sarser, or Sasser (= a go-between); Tschorrgoi (gypsy).

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4th ed.), p. 3. The Fence and he [a thief], are like the Devil and the Doctor, they live by one another.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Fence (s.) … and in the Canting Language, signifies one who receives and disposes of stolen goods for the robbers.

1834. W. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, p. 171 (ed. 1864). The fence and he are like the devil and the doctor, they live by one another; and, like traitors, ’tis best to keep each other’s counsel.

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, p. 60. What are you up to? Ill-treating the boys, you … insatiable old Fence.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, vol. II., p. 106. In one of my inquiries among the young thieves and pickpockets in the low lodging-houses, I heard frequent accounts of their selling the metal goods they stole to fences, and in one particular instance to the mistress of a lodging house, who had conveniences for the melting of pewter pots (called ‘cats and kittens’ by the young thieves according to the size of the vessels).

1883. Daily Telegraph, 13 June, p. 7, col. 2. The criminal who, without the aid of the professional fence, would experience much difficulty in disposing of his booty.

1885. Indoor Paupers, p. 73. The articles bore the workhouse stamp, were much worn, and would not have brought the thief more than a couple of pence, even supposing that he could find a fence, who would venture to purchase.

2. A place where stolen goods are purchased or received. [From sense 1.] Also a Dolly-, leaving-, or swag-shop—(q.v.); Fencing-crib. Fr., un moulin.

1847. Illus. Lon. News, 2 May. The keeper of the fence loves to set up in business there [Clerkenwell]—low public-houses abound, where thieves drink and smoke—Jew receivers work the corners.

1848. Punch, vol. xiv., p. 149. If Citizen Blanc hold to his opinions of 1839, we may expect no law of international copyright from the Republic. Let M. Galignani rejoice; and let his Bibliotheque in the Rue Vivienne still remain the greatest literary fence in Europe.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). To fence property, to sell any thing that is stolen. [384]

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 153. Fenced. Is disposing of anything stolen for a quarter of the value.

1828. Jon Bee, Picture of London, p. 212. Even though he be a thief himself, or more harmfully engaged in fencing others’ thefts.

1830. Bulwer Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 298, ed. 1854. Vell, ven ve came out, you minds as on the voman had a bundle in her arms, and you spake to her, and she answered you roughly, and left us all and vent straight home; and ve vent and fenced the swag that wery night, and afterwards napped the regulars.

1885. Chamb. Journal, 21 Feb., p. 126. Moreover, he was strongly suspected of fencing—that is, purchasing stolen property.

To be, sit, or ride on the fence, verb. phr. (American).—To be neutral; to be ready to join the winning side; to wait ‘to see how the cat will jump.’ Also, To sit on both sides of the hedge. [Cf., Latin prævaricato = straddling with distorted legs.]—See Jumping Cat.

1862. J. Russell Lowell, Biglow Papers, II., p. 97. A kind o’ hangin’ round an’ settin’ on the fence, Till Providence pinted how to jump an’ save the most expense.

1887. ‘Political Slang,’ in Cornhill Mag., June, p. 626. Those who sit on the fence—men with impartial minds, who wait to see, as another pretty phrase has it, ‘how the cat will jump.’

1888. Texas Siftings, 7 July. While Democratic papers will claim that Judge Thurman is as hearty and well at seventy-five as he was at fifty-five, journals on the other side of the fence will represent him to be a weak, feeble old man, much better fitted for the invalid than the vice-presidential chair.

Those who thus seek to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds are called fence-men. The operation is fence-riding, which sometimes qualifies for rail-riding (q.v.).

1848. New York Herald, 14 Oct. All the fence-men, all the doubters, all the seekers after majorities, will now bustle up, come out, and declare that General Taylor is the most popular man in the country, and that he was always their first choice.

1868. Congressional Globe, 17 July. This question is one of clear right and wrong, and there can be no fence-riding, when the rights of four millions of men are at stake.

Fencer, subs. (tramps’).—A hawker of small wares; a tramp: generally used in connection with another word; thus, driz-fencer (q.v.) = a pedlar of lace.

Fencing-Crib or Ken, subs. (thieves’).—A place where stolen goods are purchased or secreted.—See Fence, subs., sense 2.

1839. W. H. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, p. 277, ed. 1840. ‘It only leads to the fencing crib,’ replied Wild. ‘There’s no outlet that way.’

Fencing-Cully, subs. (thieves’).—A receiver of stolen goods.—See Fence.

Fen-Nightingale, subs. (common).—A frog. Also Cambridgeshire, and Cape Nightingale.

Ferguson. You can’t lodge here, Mr. Ferguson, phr. (street).—A street cry, popular about 1845–50; used in derision or denial. [Mr. J. H. Dixon, writing to Mr. John Camden Hotten, under date Nov. 6, 1864, says the phrase originated thus:—A young Scotsman, named Ferguson, visited Epsom races, where he got very drunk. His friends applied to several hotel keepers to give him [385]a bed, but in vain. There was no place for Mr. Ferguson. He was accordingly driven to London by his companions, who kept calling out, Ferguson, you can’t lodge here. This was caught up by the crowd, repeated, and in a week was all over London, and in a month all over the kingdom. Mr. Dixon states he was introduced to Mr. Ferguson, and that two of his companions were intimate friends.]—See Street-cries.

Ferm, subs. (Old Cant).—A hole; with Spencer = a prison.

1632. Dekker, English Villanies. He [an angler for duds] carries a short staff in his hand which is called a filch, having in the nab or head of it a ferme (that is to say a hole).

Ferret, subs. (thieves’).—1. A barge-thief.

Ferreting, subs. (venery).—The act of connection.

Ferret Out, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be at pains to penetrate a mystery of any kind by working underground.

Ferricadouzer, subs. (pugilist).—A knock-down blow; a thrashing. [From the Italian fare cadere, to cause to fall + dosso, back.] For synonyms, see Dig.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 244. Then there wasn’t no risk with Haynan … no fear of a ferricadouzer for the butcher.… What does it mean? It means a denskitch (a good thrashing).

Fess, verb (colloquial).—To confess; to own up. Fr., norguer.

Festive, adj. (colloquial).—Loud; fast; a kind of general utility word. Gay and festive cuss (Artemus Ward) = a rollicking companion.

Fetch, subs. (old).—1. A stratagem; indirectly bringing something to pass.

1576. J. Skelton, Merie Tales, xiii. Yea sayde Skelton, if thou have such pretie fetchis, you can dooe more then thys; and therefore if thou dooeste not one thynge that I shel tell thee, I wil folowe the lawe on thee. What is that sayde the Myller. If that thou dooeste not stele my cuppe of the table when I am sette atte meate thou shalt not eskape my handes.

1727. John Gay, Beggar’s Opera, Act II., Scene 2. Mac. Be pacified, my dear Lucy; this is all a fetch of Polly’s, to make me desperate with you, in case I get off. If I am hanged, she would fain have the credit of being thought my widow. Really, Polly, this is no time for a dispute of this sort; for whenever you are talking of marriage, I am thinking of hanging.

1780. Mrs. Cowley, Belle’s Stratagem, v. 1. Why, my illness was only a fetch, man, to make you marry Letty.

1848. Lowell, Fable for Critics, p. 19. But as Cicero says he won’t say this or that (a fetch, I must say, most transparent and flat), After saying whate’er he could possibly think of.

3. (old).—A likeness: e.g., the very fetch of him = his very image or spit (q.v.). Also an apparition.

Verb (colloquial).—1. To please; to excite admiration; to arouse attention or interest. [386]

1607. Dekker, Westward Ho! Act ii., Sc. 2. Earl. Ha! Bird. O, I thought I should fetch you: you can ‘ha’ at that; I’ll make you hem anon.

1610. Jonson, Alchemist, II. This will fetch ’em, And make them haste towards their gulling more. A man must deal like a rough nurse, and fright Those that are froward, to an appetite.

1727. Gay, Beggar’s Opera, Act I., Sc. 8. Polly. Give her another glass, Sir; my Mama drinks double the quantity whenever she is out of order. This, you see, fetches her.

1864. E. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. v., p. 48 (1873). But now he was certainly fetched, as his friends would call it, and began to feel an interest in Miss Townshend, which he had never felt for any other person.

1867–70. C. G. Leland, Hans. Breitmann’s Ballads. Dot fetched him. He shtood all shpell-bound.

1879. Justin McCarthy, Donna Quixote, ch. xvii. She was quite clever enough to take on any part that might best commend her to the people she sought to please; and she thought she had hit upon the best way to fetch Gabrielle, as she would herself have put it.

1882. Besant, All Sorts and Cond. of Men, ch. xxx. You shall be my assistant: you shall play the piano and come on dressed in a pink costoom, which generally fetches at an entertainment.

1883. Referee, 1 April, p. 2, col. 4. There were scenes, though, wherein she fairly fetched her audience.

1884. S. L. Clemens (‘M. Twain’), Huckleberry Finn, xxi., 205. Hamlet’s soliloquy, you know; the most celebrated thing in Shakespeare. Ah, it’s sublime, sublime! Always fetches the house.

1884. G. A. Sala, in Ill. Lon. News, 17 May, p. 470, col. 3. The maritime conflagration fetched the audience, especially the pit and gallery.

[Some combinations are To fetch the farm = to get infirmary treatment and diet; To fetch a stinger (colloquial) = to get in a heavy blow; To fetch a lagging (thieves’) = to serve one’s term; To fetch a howl = to cry; To fetch a crack = to strike; To fetch a circumbendibus = to make a detour; To fetch the brewer = to get drunk.]

To fetch away, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To part; e.g., ‘a fool and his money are soon fetched away.’

Fetching, ppl. adj. (colloquial).—Attractive (as of women); pleasing (as of a dress or bonnet).

c. 1882. Broadside Ballad. ‘You May Lay Odds on That.’ Some most fetching dresses the ladies now wear, You may lay odds on that.

1889. Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday, 17 August, p. 262, col. 2. How can they show off a pretty figure and a fetching bathing costume if they go in further than knee deep?

1889. Bird o’ Freedom, 7 Aug., p. 3. Quite delighted at being at last understood and appreciated by one of the fetching sex, Stewart made the running so fast that I couldn’t see the way he went.

Fettle. In good or in proper fettle, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Drunk. [From provincial English fettle = a state of fitness.]

Few. A few, or Just a few, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Originally (cf., quot., 1778) a little. Hence, by implication, on the lucus a non lucendo principle, considerably; e.g., ‘Were you alarmed?’ ‘No, but I was astonished a few!’ i.e., ‘I was greatly surprised.’ Cf., rather = a good deal. [387]

1778. D’Arblay, Diary, etc., 6 July, vol. I., ch. i., p. 15 (1876). So I trembled a few, for I thought, ten to one but he’d say: ‘He?—not he—I promise you!’

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xx., p. 173. I appeal to our mutual friend, Smallweed, whether he has or has not heard me remark, that I can’t make him out. Mr. Smallweed bears the concise testimony, a few.

Fib, verb (Old Cant).—1. To beat; specifically (pugilism) to get in a quick succession of blows, as when you get your man round the neck (i.e., into chancery) and pommel his ribs or face.

1811. Southey, Letters (ii., 236). I have been taking part in the controversy about ‘Bell and the Dragon,’ as you will see in the Quarterly, where I have fibbed the Edinburgh (as the fancy say) most completely.

1853. Thackeray, Men’s Wives, Frank Berry, ch. 1. For heaven’s sake, my boy, fib with your right, and mind his left hand!

1853. Rev. E. Bradley (‘C. Bede’). Verdant Green, pt. I., p. 106. His whole person put in chancery, stung, bruised, fibbed, propped … and otherwise ill-treated.

1865. G. F. Berkeley, My Life, etc., I., 311. As there was no room to hit out, in the phraseology of the ring, I fibbed at half a dozen waistcoats and faces with all my might and main.

1694. Congreve, Double Dealer, Act iv., Sc. iii. You fib, you baggage, you do understand, and you shall understand.

1712. Arbuthnot, Hist. of John Bull, pt. IV., ch. iv. Whereby one may know when you fib, and when you speak truth.

1863. Alex. Smith, Dreamthorp, p. 11. Could I have fibbed in these days; Could I have betrayed a comrade?

1738. Swift, Polite Convers., Dial. 2. If I had said so I should have told a fib.

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. III., ch. iv. Those who will tell one fib will hardly stick at another.

1773. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, Act iii. Ask me no questions, and I’ll tell you no fibs.

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, chap. 58. ‘Oh! you dreadful fib,’ said Flora.

1883. Hawley Smart, Hard Lines, ch. xix. Mrs. Charrington saw no harm … in the utterance of a pretty fib; but she refused to place a deliberate lie upon paper.

Fibber, subs. (colloquial).—A liar. [From Fib.]

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Fibber (s.) a liar, one who speaks falsely, etc.

1785. Wolcot, Lyric Odes, No. 6, in wks. (1809), i., 67. Your royal grandsire (trust me, I’m no fibber) Was vastly fond of Colley Cibber.

1882. Jas. Payn, For Cash Only, ch. xxvi. For one’s lover to be a fibber is bad enough, but to be a forger

Fibbery, subs. (colloquial).—Lying.

1857. Ducange Anglicus, Vulg. Tongue. ‘The Leary Man.’ And if you come to fibbery You must mug one or two.

Fibbing, subs. (pugilist).—1. Pummelling an opponent’s head while ‘in chancery’; a drubbing. Fr., bordée de coups de poings. [From Fib (q.v.).]

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Mem. to Cong., p. 2. And if the Fine Arts Of fibbing and loving be dear to your hearts.

1834. W. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, p. 268 (ed. 1864). Resolved his fibbing not to mind.

1837. Barham, I. L. (The Ghost). Whom sometimes there would come on a sort of fear his Spouse might knock his head off, Demolish half his teeth, or drive a rib in, She shone so much in ‘facers’ and in fibbing. [388]

Fibbing-Gloak, subs. (Old Cant).—A pugilist. For synonyms, see Hittite. [From Fib, sense 1 + Gloak, a man.]

Fibbing-Match, subs. (thieves’).—A prize-fight.—See Fib, sense 1.

Fibster, subs. (colloquial).—A liar. [From Fib, verb, sense 2.]

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. xx. You wicked old fibster! Didn’t you hesitate, stammer, and blush, when you said that?

Fiddle, subs. (common).—1. A sharper; sometimes old fiddle. For synonyms, see Rook.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. i., p. 44. The taskmaster warder came in, bringing with him the fiddle on which I was to play a tune called ‘Four pounds of oakum a day.’ It consisted of nothing but a piece of rope and a long crooked nail.

1832. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act II., Sc. 2. There’s one! go it, Jerry!—Come, Green. Log. Aye, come, Jerry there’s the Charlies’ fiddles going. Jerry. Charlies’ fiddles?—I’m not fly, Doctor. Log. Rattles, Jerry, rattles! you’re fly now, I see. Come along, Tom! Go it, Jerry!

1663. Pepys, Diary, 13 July. Where all the ladies walked, talking and fiddling with their hats and feathers, and changing and trying one another’s by one another’s heads, and laughing.

1738. Swift, Polite Convers., Dial. 2. He took a pipe in his hand, and fiddled with it till he broke it.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Fiddle (v.) … also to spend a person’s time about matters of small or no importance.

1883. Hawley Smart, Hard Lines, ch. iii. That second charger of Mr. Harperley’s is smart, but they’ve had him fiddling about so long in the school, he’s most likely forgot how to gallop.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 140. She is supposed to bring in all the money she has taken, but that we don’t know, and we are generally fiddled most tremendous.

3. (common).—To earn a livelihood by doing small jobs on the street.—See Fiddling.

To play first or second fiddle, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To take a leading or a subordinate part. Among tailors second fiddle = an unpleasant task. [389]

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xii., p. 122. To say that Tom had no idea of playing first fiddle in any social orchestra but was always quite satisfied to be set down for the hundred and fiftieth violin in the band, or thereabouts, is to express his modesty in very inadequate terms.

1847. Thackeray, Letter, 2 Jan., to W. E. Ayton in Memoirs. If my friend will shout, Titmarsh for ever, hurrah for etc., etc., I may go up with a run to a pretty fair place in my trade, and be allowed to appear before the public as among the first fiddles.

1886. Jas. Payn, Grape from a Thorn, ch. xi. She had inherited from her mother an extreme objection to playing, in any orchestra whatsoever, the second fiddle.

Fiddle-bow, subs. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick.

Fiddle-faced, adj. (colloquial).—Wizened, also substantively.

1885. W. Westall, Larry Lohengrin, ch. v. Tell me how far, in your opinion, I answer to this flattering description of yours—white-chokered, strait-laced, and fiddle-faced?

Fiddle-faddle, subs. (colloquial).—Twaddling; trifling; ‘little nothings’; rot (q.v.). Fr., oui, les lanciers!

1593. G. Harvey, Pierces Super. in wks. II., 98. Or who of judgment, will not cry? away with these paultringe fidle-fadles.

1657. Political Ballads (ed. Wilkins, 1860), vol. I., p. 139. After much fiddle-faddle The egg proved addle.

1712. Spectator, No. 299. Their mother tells them … that her mother danced in a ball at Court with the Duke of Monmouth; with abundance of fiddle-faddle of the same nature.

1876. C. H. Wall, trans. Molière, vol. i., p. 157. I see nothing about here but white of eggs, milk of roses, and a thousand fiddle-faddles that I know nothing about.

1712. Arbuthnot, Hist. of John Bull, pt. III., ch. viii. She was a troublesome, fiddle-faddle old woman, and so ceremonious that there was no bearing of her.

b. 1811, d. 1863. Thackeray, Character Sketches (Fashionable Authoress). She interlards her works with fearful quotations from the French, fiddle-faddle extracts from Italian operas, German phrases, fiercely mutilated, and a scrap or two of bad Spanish.

Verb. To toy; to trifle; to talk nonsense; to gossip; to make ‘much cry and little wool.’

1761. Dr. Hawksworth, Edgar and Emmeline, I., ii. Here have I had a young, tempting girl fiddle-faddling about me these two hours to dress me.

1873. Miss Broughton, Nancy, ch. xxxvii. I am idly fiddle-faddling with a piece of work.

Fiddle-head, subs. (nautical).—A plain prow as distinguished from a figure-head. Hence fiddle-headed = plain; ugly.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, III., i., 316 (ed. 1846). She has a d——d pretty run; but I hope Captain O’Brien will take off her fiddle-head and get one carved: I never knew a vessel do much with a fiddle-head.

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. v. ‘Zounds! you’ve broke it, you fiddle-headed brute!’ exclaimed a choleric voice …, startling the ladies most unceremoniously, and preparing them for the spectacle of a sturdy black cob trotting rebelliously down the farm-road.

Fiddler, subs. (old).—1. A trifler; a careless, negligent, or dilatory person. [From Fiddle, to trifle.]

3. (pugilistic).—A prize-fighter; one who depends more on activity than upon strength or ‘stay.’

4. (common).—A sixpence. [From the old custom of each couple at a dance paying the fiddler a sixpence. Cf., Fiddler’s money.]

1885. Household Words, 20 June, p. 155. Why a sixpence should be a ‘magpie’ it would be hard to say. A more easily explained name … is a fiddler. This probably from the old custom of each couple at a dance paying the fiddler sixpence, and, moreover ‘fiddler’s money’ is generally small money.

1885. Household Words, 20 June, p. 155. fiddler. This same word also does duty as an equivalent for a farthing.

Fiddlers’-Fare, subs. (old).—Meat, drink, and money—Grose, 1785.

Fiddlers’-Green, subs. (nautical).—A sailor’s elysium (situate on the hither and cooler side of hell) of wine, women, and song.

1837. Marryat, Snarley-Yow, ch. ix. At Fiddler’s Green, where seamen true, When here they’ve done their duty, The bowl of grog shall still renew, And pledge to love and beauty.

1842. Lover, Handy Andy, ch. xii. ‘He would as soon go into Squire Egan’s house as go to Fiddler’s Green.’ ‘Faith, then, there’s worse places than Fiddler’s Green,’ said Andy, ‘as some people may find out one o’ these days.’

1884. Henley and Stevenson, Admiral Guinea, iv., 4. Jack Gaunt, … it’s thanks to you I’ve got my papers, and this time I’m shipped for Fiddler’s Green.

Fiddlers’-Money, subs. (old).—Sixpences. [From the custom at country merry-makings of each couple paying the fiddler sixpence.] Also generically, small silver.

Fiddlestick! intj. (colloquial).—Nonsense; sometimes fiddle-stick’s end and fiddle-de-dee.

1600. Nashe, Summer’s Last Will, in wks. (Grosart) VI., 130. A fiddle-sticke! ne’re tell me I am full of words.

1701. Farquhar, Sir Harry Wildair, Act IV., Sc. ii. Golden pleasures! Golden fiddlesticks—What d’ye tell me of your canting stuff?

1834. Southey, The Doctor, ch. clxxxix. At such an assertion he would have exclaimed, a fiddlestick! Why and how that word has become an interjection of contempt I must leave those to explain who can.

1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, iii., 1. Here’s my fiddlestick: here’s that shall make you dance.

Fiddling, subs. (streets’).—1. A livelihood got on the streets, holding horses, carrying parcels, etc.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 211. A lad that had been lucky fiddling (holding horses, or picking up money anyhow).

1850. Lloyd’s Weekly, 3 Feb. ‘Low Lodging Houses of London.’ I live on 2s. a week from thieving, because I understand fiddling—that means, buying a thing for a mere trifle, and selling it for double, or for more, if you’re not taken in yourself.

b. 1667, d. 1745. Swift [quoted in ‘Annandale’]. Good cooks cannot abide what they call fiddling work.

1802. C. K. Sharpe, in Correspondence (1888), i., 152. He is a mighty neat, pretty little, fiddling fellow, and exceedingly finely bred.

1880. Hawley Smart, Social Sinners, ch. xiii. I will look in at that time, and trust to find you have settled all these fiddling preliminaries.

Fid-fad, subs. (old).—A contracted form of fiddle-faddle (q.v.); also applied to persons.

1754. The World, No. 95. The youngest, who thinks in her heart that her sister is no better than a slattern, runs into the contrary extreme, and is, in everything she does, an absolute fidfad.

1874. E. L. Linton, Patricia Kemball, ch. xvi. The fidfads, called improvements, which were not wanted and seldom properly managed.

Fidlam-Bens or Coves, subs. (thieves’).—Thieves who steal anything they can lay hands on. Also St. Peter’s Sons.

Fie-for-shame, subs. phr. (schoolgirls’).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Field. To chop the field, verb. phr. (racing).—To win easily [Field = the horses taking part in a race.]

Fielder, subs. (betting).—A backer of the field [i.e., the ruck (q.v.). as against the favorite]. At cricket, a player in the field as against the team at the wickets.

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. vi. I accommodate a vociferous fielder with 6 to 4 in hundreds as my concluding stake.

1883. Graphic, 11 August, p. 138, col. 2. As a batter, bowler, and fielder combined … he has yet no equal.

Field-lane Duck, subs. phr. (common).—A baked sheep’s head.

Fient, intj. phr. (Scots colloquial).—An expression of negation: e.g., fient a hair care I = Devil a hair I care.

Fieri Facias. To have been served with a writ of fieri facias, verb. phr. (legal).—Said of a red-nosed man. [A play upon words.]

1594. Nashe, Unf. Traveller, in wks. v., 44. Should I tell you how many pursenants with red noses, and sargeants with precious faces, shrunke away in this sweat, you would not belieue me … a pursenant or a sargeant at this present, with the verie reflexe of his firie facias, was able to spoile a man a farre of.