Slang and its analogues, 2 | Project Gutenberg

Italian Synonyms. Basta; casa (a house. The forms casaccia and cazanza are also used); cavagna; travagliosa (literally laborious); sentina (properly a sink of vice); viscola or visco losa.

Spanish Synonyms. Madrastra; angustias or ansias (literally grief or anguish); banasto (literally a large round basket); banco (properly a bench); temor (i.e., fear); trena (f).

Portuguese Synonyms. Estarim or xelro; limoeiro (a cant name for a prison in Lisbon).

1875. W. E. Henley, Unpublished Ballad. ‘In the breeding cage I cops her, With her stays off, all a’blowin’!—Three parts sprung.’—

4. (parliamentary).—The Ladies’ Gallery in the House of [17]Commons; sometimes called the chamber of horrors, which appertains more properly to the Peeresses’ Gallery in the Upper House.

1870. London Figaro, 10 June. ‘The Angels in the House.’ Mr. Crauford’s Motion for the expulsion of strangers (during the debate on The Contagious (Women’s) Diseases Act) had reference to the cage and not to the Reporters’ Gallery.

Cagg, verb (old military).—Grose says ‘a military term used by the private soldiers, signifying a solemn vow or resolution not to get drunk for a certain time; or, as the term is, till their cagg is out, which vow is commonly observed with the strictest exactness: e.g., “I have cagg’d myself for six months. Excuse me this time, and I will cagg myself for a year.” Common in Scotland, where the vow is performed with divers ceremonies.’

Cag-Mag, subs. (vulgar).—Primarily a provincialism for a tough old goose; now a vulgarism for refuse, or rubbish, or scraps and ends. The transferred sense is older than given in the N.E.D. Cf., Keg-meg. [Brewer derives it, ‘from the Gaelic and Welsh,’ cag magu, whilst others consider it as originally a University slang term for a bad cook, κακὸς μάγειρος. The Latin magma (Pliny), = dregs or dross.] Also a plain or dirty woman.

1769. Pennant, Tour in Scotland, 1774, p. 10. Vast numbers [of geese] are driven annually to London; among them, all the superannuated geese and ganders (called here [Lincoln] cag-mags).

1839.—Comic Almanack, Sept., p. 188, But here’s the greatest grief, and sure it makes one choke to put on A libel to one’s neck, just like cheap cag-mag-scrag of mutton.

1851–61.—H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 133. ‘Do I ever eat my own game if it’s high? No, sir, never, I couldn’t stand such cag-mag.’

1864.—Temple Bar, vol. X., p. 185. No kag-mag wares are sold, no cheap articles are retailed.

Cain. To raise cain, phr. (American).—To proceed to extreme measures; to be quarrelsome; to make a disturbance. Of Western origin; primarily applied to men who would have shown no hesitation in shooting or stabbing; generally = merely disputatious or quarrelsome. Variants are to raise hate, hell, or hell and tommy, and to raise ned (q.v.). [An allusion to the anger of the first fratricide.]

1849.—Ruxton, Scenes in the Far West, p. 117. He had been knocking around all day in every grog-shop and bar-room in town, and when evening came he was seen swaggering down Main Street, his head bare, his eyes bloodshot, and his revolver in hand, shouting: ‘Who’ll hinder this child? I am going to raise Cain! Who’s got anything to say agin it?’

1869.—Mrs. Beecher Stowe, Old Town Folks, p. 116. ‘I’ll tell you what, Solomon Peters,’ said Miss Asphyxia, ‘I’d jest as soon have the red dragon in the Revelation a comin’ down on my house as a boy! If I don’t work hard enough now, I’d like to know, without having a boy around raisin’ gineral Cain.’

Cain and Abel, subs. phr. (rhyming slang).—A table.

Cainsham-Smoke, subs. phr. (old).—The tears of a wife-beaten husband.—Dunton. Ladies’ Dictionary [1694].

Cake or Cakey, subs. (popular).—1. A fool or dullard. Quoted by Grose in his Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue [1785], in various provincial glossaries, and generally colloquial in the lower strata of society. [In punning allusion, some have thought, to the doughy [18]softness of a cake, a name given at first to any ‘flat’ kind of sweetened breadstuff. Hence variants, such, for example, as ‘flat,’ ‘soft,’ and ‘muff.’ Others, however, trace it to the Greek κακὸς, bad, and point out that in University slang a clever man is called a good man and the opposite a bad one, or a cake.] For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1841. Comic Almanack, ‘Twelfth Night,’ p. 256. And ever since, on fair Twelfth Night, A wand’ring form is seen: A female form, and this its cry:—‘Vy vot a cake I’ve been!’

1842. J. R. Planché, The White Cat, II., iv. Your resignation proves that you must be The greatest cake he in his land could see!

1862. Mrs. H. Wood, Channings, ch. xxix. If Pye does not get called to order now, he may lapse into the habit of passing over hardworking fellows with brains to exalt some good-for-nothing cake with none, because he happens to have a Dutchman for his mother.

To take the cake, phr. (common).—To rank the highest; to carry off the honours; to be the best of a kind; ‘to fill the bill’ (theatrical). [Cake has long been employed symbolically in this connection; in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, ‘to get one’s share of the cake’ was a common colloquialism. The special application has been popularised in the U.S.A. In certain sections of the country ‘cake walks’ are in vogue among the coloured people. The young bucks get themselves up most elaborately, and walk from one end of the hall to the other, under the gaze of beauty and the critical glance of the judges. The marking is done on a scale of numbers, and the ties are walked off with the utmost finish and a rare attention to style. The prize is a cake and the winner takes it.] Whimsical variations are to take or yank the bun; to slide away with the banbury; to annex the whole confectioner’s shop. Cf., to take the kettle = to take the prize for lying.

1885. San Francisco News Letter, Between you ’n me, red stockings ain’t becomin’ to all—ahem—limbs, ’n for cool cheek ’n dash. I back some o’em against any saleslady ’t makes a livin’ by it, the way ’t some o’ those girls ’d pin on a boutonnière took the cake.

Hurry up the cakes! phr. (American) = Look sharp! Buckwheat and other hot cakes form a staple dish at many American tables, but the phrase has now become pure slang.

Like hot cakes, phr. (American).—Quickly; with energy; a variant of like winking, or like one o’clock (q.v.).

1888. Punch’s Library, p. 15. ‘Will go like hot cakes.’ Book Seller (to Clerk). ‘Haven’t we an overstock of “Jack, the Giant Killer,” on hand, James?’ Clerk. ‘Yes, sir.’ Book Seller. ‘Well, take ’m up to the Polo Grounds this afternoon; they’ll sell fast enough there.’

Cakey-Pannum Fencer.—See Pannum fencer.

Calaboose, subs. (American and nautical).—The common gaol. [This word comes into popular use from the Spanish calabozo through the French calabouse.] So also to calaboose = to imprison. [19]

1840. R. H. Dana, Two Years before the Mast, ch. xxi. A few weeks afterwards I saw the poor wretch sitting on the bare ground, in front of the calabozo, with his feet chained to a stake, and handcuffs about his wrists.

1888. Santa Ana Blade. Charley Read struck an old tramp in the calaboose the other day, who looked disgusted at his headquarters and remarked ‘Well I’ve been in every jail from Portland to Santa Ana, but this is the d—nest snide of a calaboose I ever struck yet.’

Calculate, verb (U.S. colloquial).—To think; expect; believe; intend; indeed, almost any sense save the legitimate, which is ‘to estimate by calculation.’ It belongs to the same class of colloquialisms as guess and reckon. Calculate is sometimes, especially in New England, corrupted into cal’late.

1830.—Galt, Lawrie, T., II., v. (1849), 56. I calculate, that ain’t no thing to make nobody afeard.

1848.—J. R. Lowell, Biglow Papers. The Sarjunt he thout Hosea hedn’t gut his i teeth cos he looked a kindo’s though he’d jest come down, so he cal’lated to hook him in, but Hosy woodn’t take none of his sarse.

1851.—Miss Wetherell, Queechy, ch. xix. ‘Your aunt sets two tables, I calculate, don’t she?’

Caleys, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Caledonian Railway Ordinary Stock.

1881.—Atkin, House Scraps. ‘If anything tickles our fancy We buy them, Brums, Caleys or Apes.’

Calf, subs. (colloquial).—An ignoramus; a dolt; a weakling. Cf., Calf lolly. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1553.—Udall, Royster D., II., iv., in Hazl. Dodsley, III., 94. You great calf, ye should have more wit, so ye should.

1872. Hamilton Aïdé, Morals and Mysteries, p. 60. She had a girlish fancy for the good-looking young calf who had so signally disgraced himself.

To eat the calf in the cow’s belly, phr. (common).—A variant of ‘to count one’s chickens before they are hatched.’

1748. Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe [ed. 1811], III., 135. I ever made shift to avoid anticipations: I never would eat the calf in the cow’s belly, as Lord M’s phrase is.

Calf-Clingers, subs. (common).—Pantaloons; i.e., close-fitting trousers. [Derivation obvious.] For synonyms, see Bags and Kicks.

1884.—J. Greenwood, Little Ragamuffins. Knee-breeches were just going out of fashion when I was a little boy, and calf-clingers (that is, trousers made to fit the leg as tight as a worsted stocking) were ‘coming in.’

Calf, Cow, and Bull Week, subs. phr. (operatives’).—Before the passing of the Factory Acts it was customary in manufacturing districts, especially for men, women, and children, to indulge in the practice of working very long hours for a period of three weeks before the Christmas holidays. In the first, which was called ‘calf week,’ the ordinary hours of work were but slightly exceeded; in the second, or ‘cow week,’ they were considerably augmented; and in the third, or ‘bull week,’ it was common for operatives to spend the greater portion of the twenty-four of each day in their workshops. The practice resulted in extreme exhaustion and—naturally—indulgence to excess in stimulants. [20]

1871.—Echo, 4 Dec. Calf, cow, and bull week. We find a good illustration of the beneficial influence of the Factory Acts in the reports of the Government Inspectors just issued. The district inspector expresses the hope that the measures which he took against some offenders in bull week last year will extinguish for good and all this absurd and illogical custom.

Calf’s Head, subs. (common).—A stupid, witless individual. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1600.—Shakspeare, Much Ado about Nothing, V., i., Claudio: ‘I’ faith, I thank him; he hath bid me to a calf’s head and a capon; the which if I do not carve most curiously, say my knife’s naught.’

Calf-Lick.—See Cow-lick.

Calf-Lolly, subs. (old).—An idle simpleton; a general term of reproach.

1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, bk. I., ch. xxv. Jobbinol goosecaps, foolish loggerheads, flutch calf-lollies.

Calf-Love, subs. (common).—A youthful, romantic fancy. [A sarcastic allusion to the blind unreasoning character of boy and girl attachments.]

1863. Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia’s Lovers, II., 104. It’s a girl’s fancy—just a kind o’ calf-love—let it go by.

1884. Longman’s Mag., IV., 50. I was still at the early and agonising stage of the passion which is popularly known as calf-love.

Calfskin-Fiddle, subs. (old).—A drum.

Calf-Sticking, subs. (thieves’).—Explained by quotation. [Cf., Calf and Stick].

1883. Daily Telegraph, 25 July, p. 2, col. 1. The venerable oarsman grinned, and set me right by explaining that what was called calf-sticking by those who practised it was the putting off of worthless rubbish, on the pretence that it was smuggled goods, on any foolish or unscrupulous person who could be inveigled into treating for the same.

Calibogus, subs. (American).—A very old name for a mixture of rum and spruce beer, being quoted by Grose in 1785 as ‘an American beverage.’ The last two syllables of the word are thought to be derived from the French bagasse, the refuse of the sugar cane. This view would seem to be supported by the fact that rum is itself a product of the sugar cane.

1861. L. de Boileau, Recoll. Labrador Life, p. 162. Callibogus, a mixture of Rum and Spruce-beer, more of the former and less of the latter.

Calico, adj. (old).—Thin; wasted; attenuated. [Calicut is the name of the Indian city whence the material of the comparison was brought. The earliest reference for original signification given by Murray is 1505; but he omits the cant meaning.]

1733. Nathaniel Bailey, Colloquies of Erasmus (translated), p. 37. In such a place as that your callico body (tenui corpusculo) had need have a good fire to keep it warm.

1861. Sala, Seven Sons of Mammon. A shrewd, down-east Yankee once questioned a simple Dutchman out of his well-fed steed, and left him instead a vile calico mare in exchange.

Calico-Bally, adj. (common).—Somewhat ‘fast’; applied to [21]one always on the look out for amusement. [Primarily used of frequenters of calico-balls.]

18(?). Broadside Ballad, ‘The Flipperty-Flop Young Man.’ I once was a cabby and hack young man, And a little bit calico-bally; A picture card out of the pack young man, And frequently music hally.

California.—See Californian, sense 2.

Californian, subs. (common).—1. A red or hard-dried herring. Further explained by quotations. Also Soldier, Atlantic ranger and Glasgow Magistrate.

1873.—Cassell’s Mag., Jan., p. 245, Very large quantities of cured herrings came from North Britain at that time, and, excepting those from the Firth of Forth, they were more cured, dryer and salter than those from Norfolk. Some were sent very dry indeed, as hard as a stick, and of a very deep red colour; such were used, as similar fish now are, for exportation. About the time of the gold discoveries, some one applied the term Californian to these. The word was appropriate, and Californians such highly-coloured herrings are called to this day.

California Widow, subs. phr. (American).—A married woman whose husband is away from her for any extended period; a grass widow (q.v.) in the least offensive sense. The expression dates from the period of the Californian gold fever, when so many men went West, leaving their wives and families behind them.

Calk, verb (Eton College).—To throw.

Call, subs. (Eton College).—The time when the masters do not call absence (q.v.).

To have or get a call upon, phr. (American).—To have a preference, or the first chance.

1888.—Puck’s Library, May, p. 23, Picture Dealer (to Professional’s Husband): ‘No, sir; I can’t sell no more of your wife’s pictures unless she gets down some of that flesh, and looks kinder æstheticker. The ethereal and intellectual has got the call on the old style of beauty now-a-days.’

To call a go, verbal phr. (vagrants’ and street patterers’).—To change one’s stand; to alter one’s tactics; to give in at any game or business. [From the go ‘call’ in cribbage.]

1851–61.—H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 252. To call a go, signifies to remove to another spot, or adopt some other patter, or, in short, to resort to some change or other in consequence of a failure.

Calle, subs. (old and American thieves’).—A cloak or gown. Quoted by Grose [1785], and still in use in the U.S.A. amongst the criminal classes. For synonyms, see Caster.

Calp or Kelp, subs. (old).—A hat. [Origin unknown.] For synonyms, see Golgotha.

Calvert’s Entire.—The Fourteenth Foot. [Called Calvert from their colonel, Sir Harry Calvert (1806–1826), and entire, because three entire battalions were kept up for the good of Sir Harry, when adjutant-general. A play upon words in reference [22]to Calvert’s malt liquors.] This regiment was also called the Old and Bold.

1780. R. Tomlinson, Slang Pastoral, canto viii. Gin! What is become of thy heart-chearing fire, And where is the beauty of Calvert’s Intire?

1871. Chambers’ Journal, 23 Dec., p. 803, col. 1. The 14th Foot, Calvert’s Entire.

1886. Tinsley’s Magazine, April, p. 322. A very curious name, Calvert’s Entire, used to be attached to the 14th, but this as well as the circumstances which gave rise to it are forgotten.

Calves. Calves gone to grass, subs. phr. (old).—Said of spindle shanks; i.e., slender, undeveloped legs, with lack of calves.

There are many ways of dressing calves’ heads, phr. (old).—Many ways of saying or doing a foolish thing; a simpleton has many ways of showing his folly; or, generally, if one way won’t do, we must try another.

Calves’ heads are best hot, phr. (common).—A sarcastic apology for one sitting down to eat with his hat on.—See Stand-up.

Calx, subs. (Eton College).—The goal line at football. [From a Latin sense of calx = a goal, anciently marked with lime or chalk.] At Eton calx is a space so marked off at each end of wall; good calx is the end at which there is a door for a goal; bad calx the end where part of an elm tree serves the purpose.

1864. Daily Telegraph, Dec. 1. The Collegers were over-weighted … and the Oppidans managed to get the ball down into their calx several times. [m.]

Cambridge Oak, subs. (old).—A willow. [An allusion to the abundance of this tree in the county in question, which is situate in the Fen District.] Formerly many analogous sayings were in vogue; e.g., ‘A Cotswold lion’ for ‘a sheep,’ etc.—See also Cambridgeshire nightingale.

Cambridgeshire or Fen Nightingale, subs. phr. (common).—A frog. [The county is scored with canals and dykes; the allusion is to the natural preponderance of the croaking of frogs over the singing of nightingales.] Cf. Cambridge oak and Cape nightingale.

1875. Chambers’ Journal, No. 581, p. 107, col. 2. The male of the eatable frog is distinguished … by … a pouch.… These pouches increase the volume of the croak, and render it so powerful that the possessors have, from the county in which they are particularly plentiful, received the nickname of Cambridgeshire nightingales.

Camden-Town, subs. (rhyming slang).—A halfpenny, or ‘brown.’ For synonyms, see Mag.

Camel’s Complaint, subs. phr. (common).—Low spirits; the hump (q.v.).

Camesa, subs. (thieves’).—A shirt chemise, or ‘shimmy.’ [From the Spanish camisa, or Italian camicia.] The word appears in various forms from the beginning of the seventeenth century, e.g., ‘camisa,’ ‘camiscia,’ ‘kemesa,’ ‘camise,’ and in a more genuinely English dress as ‘commission’ (q.v.), which in turn is shortened into mish (q.v.). For synonyms, see Flesh-bag.

1785.—Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Camesa (cant, Spanish): a shirt or shift.

1812.—Byron, Childe Harold II., Tambourgi ii. Oh! who is more brave than a dark Suliote, In his snowy camese and his shaggy capote?

1834.—H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. With my fawnied famms, and my onions gay, my thimble of ridge, and my driz (laced) kemesa.

Camister, subs. (thieves’).—A preacher or clergyman. From the white gown or surplice. [From Latin camisia, a linen tunic, alb, or shirt, + (probably) a termination suggested by ‘minister.’] For synonyms, see Devil-dodger.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 231. [List of patterer’s words.] Camister = Minister.

Camp. To go to camp, phr. (Australian).—To go to bed; to take rest. [From the practice in the early settlers’ days of forming a camp whenever a halt for the night was called.]

1887. All the Year Round, 30 July, p. 66, col. 2. To go to camp, by a transference of its original meaning, now signifies, in the mouth of a dweller in houses, simply ‘to lie down,’ ‘to go to bed.’

1878. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’) Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion, p. 66. Sure enough one night the trap took Mrs. Jones’s principal tomcat into camp, and finished him up.

18(?) H. Kendall, Billy Vickers. At punching oxen you may guess There’s nothing out can camp him; He has, in fact, the slouch and dress Which bullock-driver stamp him.

Campbell’s Academy, subs. phr. (old).—The hulks, or lighters, on board of which felons were condemned to hard labour. Mr. Campbell was the first director.—Grose.—See Academy and Floating academy. For synonyms, see Cage.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 11. He was tried at Guildhall, Westminster, and sentenced to improve as a pupil in Mr. Duncan Campbell’s Floating Academy for five years.

Camp-Candlestick, subs. (military)—An empty bottle, or a bayonet. Quoted in the Lexicon Balatronicum [1811]. For synonyms in the sense of ‘an empty bottle,’ see Dead-man.

Camp-Stool Brigade, subs. phr. (common).—Said in the first place of people who wait outside a place of entertainment to secure the best seats, and bring camp-stools with them to rest themselves.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 23 Sept., p. 5, col. 2. The first night of the Gaiety Wanderers will not be forgotten in a hurry. Seats for the occasion were booked a year ago last April! Can you wonder that the camp-stool brigade besieged the pit door as early as 10 a.m.?

Can, subs. (American).—1. A dollar piece.

Canack, Canuck, Kanuck, K’nuck, subs. (American).—A Canadian, usually a K’nuck. [Obscure, and limited in its application within the Canadian frontier. There, a Canuck is understood to be a French Canadian, just as within the limits of the Union only New Englanders are termed Yankees; whereas elsewhere that appellation is given indiscriminately to [24]natives of all the States. It is by some supposed that Canuck is a corruption of Connaught, the name applied by French-Canadians to the Irish, from which it would follow that, by a process of inversion, a nickname given by one section of a nation to another has, in course of time, been applied to the whole. Others, however, think the first syllable of ‘Canada’ has been joined to the Algonkin Indian substantive termination uc or uq.]

Canary or Canary-Bird, subs. (thieves’).—1. A prisoner; a very old cant term for habitual offenders; or, as Grose says [1785], ‘a person used to be kept in a cage’ (q.v.). The same idea occurs in some foreign equivalents, e.g., the French, oiseau de cage, and the German, Kastener, from Kasten, a chest or case. For synonyms, see Wrong ’un.

1725.—New Canting Dictionary. Canary-bird, a little, arch, or knavish boy; a rogue or whore taken and clapped into the cage or roundhouse.

1839.—Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 55. Now for the cage, my pretty canary-bird. Before we start I’ll accommodate you with a pair of ruffles.

2. (general).—A mistress. [See preceding quot. (1725): the term is still in use.] For synonyms, see Tart.

3. (common).—Formerly a guinea, but now applied to a sovereign [From similarity of colour.]

English Synonyms. Yellow boy; goldfinch; yellow hammer; shiner; gingleboy; monarch; couter; bean foont; James (from Jacobus); poona; portrait; quid; thick ’un; skin; skiv; dragon; goblin. A guinea was also called a ‘ned.’

French Synonyms for the equivalent twenty franc piece are, un jaunet (popular: literally ‘butter-cup’ or ‘yellow-boy’); une sigue, sigle, sigolle or cig (thieves’); un bonnet jaune (popular: literally ‘yellow-cap’ or ‘bonnet’); un bouton (i.e., ‘a master-key’); une maltaise (old cant; according to Victor Hugo this gold coin was used on board the convict galleys at Malta); un moule à boutons (popular); une médaille d’or (popular: = a gold medal).

German Synonyms. Gelbling (gelb = yellow); Fuchs (a gold piece; literally ‘a fox’).

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Canary-Birds in a canting sense, guineas.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xvi. Fifty as fair yellow canary-birds as e’er chirped in the bottom of a green silk purse.

1842. Punch, p. 168. ‘Prolusiones etymologicæ,’ 13. Goldfinches—Canaries.—Singing birds; the which whose possesseth needeth never to pine for lack of notes.

4. (thieves’).—A female watcher or stall; a mollisher (q.v.). Cf. Crow = a male watcher. Fr. une marque franche.

1862. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lond. Poor, IV., 337. Sometimes a woman, called a ‘canary,’ carries the tools [of burglars], and watches outside.

5. (Salvation Army).—A written promise of a donation or subscription. At some of the meetings of the ‘Army’ instead of [25]sending round the plate, the ‘officers’ distribute slips of paper on which those present are invited to record their benevolent intentions. The original colour of the slips was yellow—hence the nickname.

Cancer. To catch or capture a cancer, phr. (common).—See Crab.

1857. Hood, Pen and Pencil Pictures p. 141. He had another way of capturing cancers, namely, by never putting his oar into the water at all.

Candle-Keepers, subs. (Winchester College).—The eight seniors in college by election who are not præfects. They enjoy most of the privileges of præfects without their powers.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 30. The Seven Candle-keepers (why so-called, I have no idea, nor have I ever heard any interpretation of the appellation). These were the seven inferiors who had been longest in the school, quite independently of their position in it; they were generally old and tough. Of these, the senior had almost as much power as a præfect; he had a ‘valet’ in chambers, one or two ‘breakfast fags,’ and the power of fagging the twenty juniors when in school, or in meads. The junior candle keeper was called ‘the Deputy,’ and had also some slight privileges besides that of having a valet and breakfast fag, which was common to all of them.

Candlestick, subs. 1. (Winchester College).—A humorous corruption of the word ‘candidate.’

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 175. Each of these [the Electors] had in turn the privilege of nominating a boy for admission into Winchester till all vacancies were filled, of which there were generally about twelve, but always many more ‘Candidates’ (or Candlesticks, as they were often called).

1878. H. C. Adams, Wykehamica, p. 418. Candlestick, merely a facetious version of ‘candidate.’

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and Lon. Poor, I., p. 529. There was his (Nelson’s) pillar at Charing Cross, just by the candlesticks (fountains).

Candy, adj. (old).—Given by Grose in 1785, and by the Lexicon Balatronicum, in 1811, as ‘drunk—an Irish term.’

Candyman, subs. (northern).—A bailiff or process server. Originally a seller of candy. [In October, 1863, there was a great strike of miners at the collieries of Messrs. Strakers and Love, in the county of Durham. As no adjustment of the difference was possible, the owners determined to eject the miners from their cottages. For this purpose, an army of rascals were engaged, including at least one whose ordinary occupation was that of hawking candy and sweetmeats. The man was recognised and was chaffed; and candyman, which rapidly became a term of reproach, was soon applied to the whole class; and since that time is come into general use over the two northern counties whenever ejectments take place.]

1863. Newcastle Chronicle, Oct. 31. The colliery carts and waggons stood at the doors, and the furniture was handed out, and piled quickly but carefully upon them. It was evident that the candymen had warmed to their work. The name of candyman has been given to the loaders because of their avocations of ‘candy’ hawking, from which they are supposed to have been taken to be put to this work.

1876. Notes and Queries, 5 S., v., 405. A term in the North for men employed to [26]carry out evictions against cottage occupiers.

Canister, subs. (general).—1. The head. [A transference of the original meaning, ‘a box or case for holding things.’] For synonyms, see Crumpet.

1821. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 4. Tom. I’ve nobb’d him on the canister.

1885. Bell’s Life, Jan. 3, p. 8, col. 4. Once more did the star of Australia rise, but to set from additional raps on the canister. He fell on his knees, and his head droped on his breast.

2. (common).—A hat. [Formerly canister-cap (see sense 1); subsequently shortened to canister.] For synonyms, see Golgotha.

1887. Atkin, House Scraps. Turning round, I saw my unfortunate beaver, or canister, as it was called by the gentry who had it in their keeping, bounding backwards and forwards.

Cank, adj. (old).—Dumb; silent. [Curiously enough, cank also signifies ‘to chatter,’ or ‘cackle as a goose’; it only survives in this latter sense.]

Cannibal, subs. (Cambridge University).—In the bumping races at Cambridge, a college may be represented by more than one boat. The best talent is put into the first, but it has sometimes happened that the crew of the second have got so well together that it has disappointed the prophets and bumped the first of its own college. In this case it is termed a cannibal, it having eaten up its own kind, and a fine is enacted from it by the University Boat Club.

Cannikin or Canniken, subs. (old).—The plague. [Grose includes it in his dictionary under the sense of ‘a small can,’ but this was not a slang usage.]

Cannis-Cove, subs. (American).—A dog-fancier. [Either from Latin canis, a dog, or the Fr. caniche, poodle + cove, a man.]

Cannon.—See Canon.

Cannon-Balls, subs. (political).—1. A nickname, now obsolete, given to the irreconcileable opponents of free trade in England.

1858. Saturday Review, 30 Oct., p. 413, col. 2. The amendment … which sealed for ever the fate of Protection, was carried [in 1852] with only fifty dissentient voices—the celebrated cannon-balls. [m.]

Canoe. To paddle one’s own canoe, phr. (American).—To make one’s own way in life; to exhibit skill and energy; to succeed unaided; a slang phrase of Western American origin, but now universal. [Extremely careful and clever manipulation is required in the management of canoes, especially in shooting rapids; otherwise the surging body of water might swamp the boat, or sunken rocks strike and seriously damage it. Hence the adoption of such an expression to signify skill, close attention, and [27]energy.] A variant is to bail one’s own boat; and the French have a proverbial saying, il conduit or il mène bien sa barque.

1845. Harper’s Magazine, May. Voyager upon life’s sea, to yourself be true; And, where’er your lot may be, Paddle your own canoe.

1868. Broadside Ballad, sung by Harry Clifton. My wants are small, I care not at all, If my debts are paid when due. And to drive away strife on the ocean of life, I paddle my own canoe.

1870. C. H. Spurgeon. At Metropolitan Tabernacle [speaking of Mr. John Magregor said]—He puts his trust in God and paddles his own canoe.

1871. De Vere, English of the New World, p. 343. The familiarity with boating, which the unsurpassed number of watercourses all over the country naturally produces everywhere, has led to the use, not only of paddling one’s own canoe, … but also of ‘bailing one’s own boat,’ in the sense of ‘minding one’s own business,’ independently and without waiting for help from others.

Canon or Cannon, adj. (thieves’).—Drunk. [The origin of this term is very obscure, although many guesses have been hazarded. Amongst these may be mentioned (1) From the ‘can’ having been used freely. Rather less absurd is (2) its derivation from the French slang expressions un canon, a glass drunk at the bar of a wine-shop; canonner, to drink wine at a wine-shop, or to be a habitual tippler; se canonner, to get drunk; and un canonneur, a tippler, wine-bibber, or drunkard. Yet another suggested origin is (3) from the German cannon, a drinking cup, from which is obtained canonised, = ‘shot’ or ‘drunk.’ A German proverb runs er ist geschossen, and Barrère points out that canon becomes naturally confused with can, German Kaune, a tankard, and Canonenstiefel, or ‘canon’ (i.e., long boots), a common pattern of tankard.] For synonyms, see Screwed.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL., 502. One night I was with the mob, I got canon (drunk), this being the first time.

Canoodle, verb (American).—1. To fondle; bill and coo; indulge in endearments.—See Canoodling. [There are two suggested derivations—(1) from cannie in the sense of gentle, and (2) that the primary signification may have been ‘to act as a noodle,’ i.e., to play the fool.] For synonyms, see Firkytoodle.

1864. G. A. Sala, Temple Bar, Dec., p. 40. He is an adept in that branch of persuasive dialectics known as conoodling. He will conoodle the ladies (bless their dear hearts! and how sharp they think themselves at making a bargain!) into the acquisition of whole packages of gimcrack merchandise.

1879. Punch, March 15, p. 117, col. 2. ‘Our Representative Man.’ Then he and the matchless one struggle, snuggle, and generally conoodle together rapturously. Then the matchless Ecstacy being the wife, not of the Chevalier, but of Charles VI., King of France, she, this impulsive, loving, beautiful, hugging, conoodling young Ecstacy, has the cool impudence to declare that theirs is a ‘guiltless love.’

1879. E. H. Marshall, in Notes and Queries, 5 S., xi., 375. When I was an undergraduate at Oxford, to canoodle was the slang expression for paddling one’s own canoe on the bosom of the Cherwell or the Isis.

18(?). Green Room Jokes. ‘Pray, good sir, what is a canoodler?’ ‘Tell you, mum, queer business, mum, but prosperous, money—heaps of it, mum, for you and me’—and he winked significantly, jerked up a chair, and squatted in it, all in a breath.… Undeterred, he rattled on: [28]‘I’m an original thinker, mum. Invent business opportunities. Share ’m with actors, and then we canoodle—divvy the profits. Me and Sheridan made a big thing on the Japanese advertising screen in “School for Scandal!” Big thing.’

Canoodler.—See Canoodle.

Canoodling, verbal subs. (American).—Endearments.

1859. Sala, Twice Round the Clock, 11 a.m., par. 8. A sly kiss, and a squeeze, and a pressure of the foot or so, and a variety of harmless endearing blandishments, known to our American cousins (who are great adepts at sweet-hearting) under the generic name of conoodling.

Cant, subs. and verb.—[As regards derivation (whether noun or verb), to signify the speech, phraseology, or whine peculiar to thieves, beggars, and vagrants, authorities differ among and with themselves: the word occurs as early as 1540, and has long since achieved respectability. Grose was probably wrong in thinking it a corruption of chaunting, and it was certainly in use long prior to the two Scotch clergymen, Oliver and Andrew Cant, who are said to have preached with such a voice and such a manner as to give their name to all speaking of the same kind. A correspondent of Notes and Queries (2 S., vii., 158) suggests as a possible source the ordinary word mendicant (fr. Lat. mendico), but this is historically improbable, and the weight of evidence is in favour of the Latin cantus, singing or song, though it must be observed that neither the ancient nor the modern usage implies a mere sing-song, but rather the whine of one bent on deceit. There is a consciousness of hypocrisy by the canting in connection with religion, politics, begging, or anything else; and this principle is recognized in the attempt on the part of The Scots Observer to substitute Bleat (subs. and verb) for the cant of æstheticism, the cant which deals with art in the language of sentiment and emotion. It has been further suggested that if the word meant singing, the A.S. cantere is a much more probable source of origin than the Latin canto or cantus; but there is an argument which seems to lend additional weight to the claim of the latter language: the French chanter, to sing, is sometimes used in the sense of cant. In answer to a whining, lying tale (in reply indeed to anything incredible whether whining or brazen), a Frenchman would say, ‘Qu’est-ce que vous chantez là.’ Whatever the derivation, however, there is little doubt that Andrew Cant has little to do with it; indeed, Pennant in his Tour in Scotland, vol. I., p. 122, says that ‘Andrew canted no more than the rest of his brethren, for he lived in a whining age.’]

Subs.—1. The secret speech or jargon of the vagrant classes—gipsies, thieves, beggars, etc.; hence, contemptuously, the peculiar phraseology of a particular class or subject. Identical with Thieves’ Latin, St. Giles’ Greek, Peddlar’s French, etc. (q.v.); but for synonyms, see Flash.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.) Cant (s.): a barbarous broken sort of speech made use of by gypsies.

1856. C. Reade, Never too Late, ch. [29]xlv. All this not in English, but in thieves’ cant.

Here follow specimens of ancient and modern jargon. Further illustrations will be found in the canting songs in the Appendix.

1567. Harman, Caveat (E.E.T. Soc., extra series, IX., 1869), p. 84–86. The vpright Cofe canteth to the Roge. Vpright-man.—Bene Lightmans to thy quarromes, in what lipken hast thou lypped in this darkemans, whether in a lybbege, or in the strummell? Roge.—I couched a hogshead in a Skypper this darkemans. Vpright-man.—I towre the strummel trine vpon thy nabchet and Togman. Roge.—I saye by the Salomon I will lage it of with a gage of benebouse; then cut to my nose watch. Man.—Why, hast thou any lowre in thy bonge to bouse? Roge.—But a flagge, a wyn, and a make, etc., etc., etc.

1881. New York Slang Dictionary. ‘Oh! I’m fly. You mean jumping Jack, who was done last week for heaving a peter from a drag. But you talked of padding the hoof. Why, sure, Jack had a rattler and a prad?’ ‘Yes, but they were spotted by the harmans, and so we walked Spanish.’ ‘Was he nabbed on the scent?’ ‘No; his pal grew leaky and cackled.’ ‘Well, Bell, here’s the bingo—sluice your gob! But who was the cull that peached?’ ‘A slubber de gullion named Harry Long, who wanted to pass for an out-and-out cracksman, though he was merely a diver.’ ‘Whew! I know the kiddy like a copper, and saved him once from lumping the lighter by putting in buck. Why, he scarcely knows a jimmy from a round robin, and Jack deserved the tippet for making a law with him, as all coves of his kidney blow the gab. But how did you hare it to Romeville, Bell for I suppose the jets cleaned you out?’ ‘I kidded a swell in a snoozing-ken, and shook him of his dummy and thimble.’ ‘Ah! Bell! you were always the blowen for a rum bing.’

2. (pugilistic)—a blow or toss. [In Mem. Capt. P. Drake, II., xiv., 244 (1755), occurs this passage, ‘To give me such a cant as I never had before or since, which was the whole length of the coffee-room; he pitched me on my head and shoulders under a large table at the further end.’ Transition from the nautical sense of heeling over to that embodied in ‘cant on the chops,’ is easy.] For synonyms, see Bang, Dig, and Wipe.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, vol. III., p. 415. The house was good for a cant—that’s some food—bread or meat.

1877. Besant and Rice, Son of Vulcan, pt. I., ch. ix. The slavey’s been always good for a kant, and the cove for a bob.

4. (tramps’).—A gift. [Possibly connected with cant, sense 3, a share or portion.]

1567. Harman, Caveat (1869), 34. ‘It shall be lawefull for the to Cant’—that is, to aske or begge—‘for thy living in al places.’

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 17 (B. Club’s Repr., 1874). According to the saying that you [thieves and cadgers] haue among your selues (If you can Cant, you will neuer worke) shewing that if they haue beene rogues so long, that they can Cant, they will neuer settle themselues to labour againe.

2. To speak the jargon of gipsies, beggars, and other vagrants.—See Canting.

1592. Defence of Conny-catching, in Greene’s Works, XI., 45. At these wordes Conny-catcher and Setter, I was driven into as great a maze, as if one had dropt out of the clowds, to heare a peasant cant the wordes of art belonging to our trade.

1609. Dekker, English Villainies (1638), And as these people are strange, both in names and in their conditions, so do they speake a language (proper only to themselves) called Canting, which is more strange. This word canting, seemes to be [30]derived from the Latine Verbe (Canto) which signifies in English to sing, or to make a sounde with words, that is to say, to speake. And very aptly may Canting take its derivation, à cantando, from singing, because amongst these beggerly consorts that can play on no better instruments, the language of canting is a kinde of Musicke, and he that in such assemblies can cant best, is counted the best musician.

1639. Ford, Lady’s Trial, V., 1. One can man a gulan, and cant, and pick a pocket.

1881. New York Slang Dictionary. ‘On the trail.’ ‘But cant us the cues. What was the job?’ ‘A pinch for an emperor’s slang. We touched his leather too, but it was very lathy.’

Cantab, subs. (colloquial).—A student at Cambridge. [An abbreviation of ‘Cantabrigian.’]

1750. Coventry, Pompey Litt. II., x. (1785), p. 18, col. 1. The young cantab … had come up to London. [m.]

1821. Byron, Don Juan, c. iii., st. 126. And I grown out of many ‘wooden spoons’ Of verse (the name with which we cantabs please To dub the last of honours in degrees).

Cantabank, subs. (old).—A common ballad singer. [From Latin cantare, to sing, + banco, bench; i.e., a singer on a stage or platform.]

1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie (Arb.), 96. Small and popular Musickes song by these Cantabanqui vpon benches and barrels heads. [m.]

1834. Taylor, Ph. van Art, pt. I., iii., 2. He was no tavern cantabank that made it, But a Squire minstrel of your Highness’ court.

Cantankerous, adj. (colloquial).—Cross-grained; ill-humoured; self-willed; productive of strife. See also quot. 1773. [Thought to be derived from the M. E. contak, conteke, contention or quarrelling.] So also cantankerously and cantankerousness. For synonyms, see Crusty.

1773. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, II. There’s not a more bitter cantankerous road in all Christendom.

1775. Sheridan, Rivals, Act v., Sc. 3. But I hope Mr. Faulkland, as there are three of us come on purpose for the game, you wont be so cantankerous as to spoil the party by sitting out.

1876. M. E. Braddon, Joshua Haggard, ch. xvi. And who was to nurse this peevish, cantankerous old man.

1835. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xxiv. You may [by contentious writing] happify your inimies [and] cantankerate your opponents. Ibid. 3 S., ch. xii. Plato Frisk, a jumpin’ Quaker, a terrible cross-grained cantankersome critter.

Cante.—See Canter.

Canteen Medal, subs. phr. (military).—A good conduct stripe for the consumption of liquor.

Canter, subs. (old).—A vagrant or beggar; one who cants (q.v.) or uses the secret language otherwise called Peddlars’ French, St. Giles’ Greek, etc. The form has varied, Greene using cante, whilst many writers speak of the fraternity as the canting crew.—See Appendix. [From cant, verb, sense 1, + er.]

1592. Greene, Quip for Upst. Courtiers, Harl. Misc. V., 396. I fell into a great laughter, to see certain Italianate cantes, humourous cavaliers, youthful gentlemen, etc.

1625. Ben Jonson, Staple of News, Act ii. A rogue, a very canter I, sir, one that maunds upon the pad.

1630. Taylor, (‘Water Poet’), wks. II., 239, i. Two leash of oyster-wives [31]hyred a coach on a Thursday after Whitsontide … they were so be-madam’d, be-mistrist, and ladified by the beggars, that the foolish women began to swell with a proud supposition or imaginary greatness, and gave all their mony to the mendicanting canters.

1878. Charles Hindley, Life and Times of James Catnach. ‘Song of the Young Prig.’ My mother she dwelt in Dyot’s Isle, One of the canting crew, sirs.

Canticle, subs. (old).—A parish clerk. [From canticle, a song or psalm; one of the duties of a parish clerk being to lead the congregational singing.] So given in Grose [1785], and in the Lexicon Balatronicum [1811]. Also called an amen curler (q.v.).

Canting, verbal subs. (old).—The jargon used by beggars, thieves, gipsies, and vagrants. The same as Cant, subs., sense 1, which seems to be an abbreviated and later form of canting; Cf. ‘cab’ from ‘cabriolet’ and ‘bus’ from ‘omnibus.’

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 6, Their language which they terms peddelers Frenche or canting.

1610. Jonson, Alchemist, II. Supr. What a brave language here is! next to canting.

1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia. I., in wks. (1720) IV., 27. A particular language which such rogues have made to themselves, called canting, as beggars, gipsies, thieves, and jail-birds do.

1742. Johnson, Highwayman and Pyrates, p. 57. All the canting language (which comprehends a parcel of invented words, such as thieves very well know, and by which they can distinguish one another from the other classes of mankind.)

1592. Groundwork of Conny-Catching, 99. The manner of their canting speech [m.]

1871. London Figaro, 13 May, p. 3, col. 2. ‘Bill’s dead on for a lark with the canting bloke,’ whispered a lean and hungry-looking ‘casual’ to a no less half-starved neighbour.

Canting Crew.—See Canter.

Can’t Say National Intelligencer, phr. (American).—A euphemistic expression equivalent to ‘drunk.’ [The National Intelligencer is an old Washington newspaper.] For synonyms, see Screwed.

Can’t see a Hole in a Ladder, phr. (American).—Referring to a superlative form of intoxication. For synonyms, see Screwed.

Canuck.—See Canack.

Canvass. To receive the canvass, phr. (old).—A seventeenth century colloquialism for ‘to be dismissed’; in modern slang ‘to get the sack.’—See Bag, sense 2, and Sack.

1652. Shirley, The Brothers, Act. ii. As much as marriage comes to, and I lose My honor, if the Don receives the canvas.

Canvasseens, subs. (nautical).—Sailors’ canvas trousers. For synonyms, see Bags and Kicks.

Canvass-Town, subs. (general).—The Volunteer Encampment at Wimbledon or Bisley when the National Rifle Association meets; also any camp or ‘baby’-city. Cf., Bull’s-eye Villas.

Cap, subs. (thieves’).—1. A false cover to a tossing coin, called a cover-down. The cap showed either head or tail as it was left on or taken off. Obsolete. [32]

2. (old).—The proceeds of an improvised collection. [Cf., ‘to send round the cap or hat.’]

1851. Eureka; Sequel Ld. Russell’s Post Bag, 21. What amount of cap is realised out of an average field? [m.]

3. (Westminster School).—The amount of the collection at Play and Election dinners. [From the College cap being passed round on the last night of Play for contributions. Cf., ‘to send round the cap.’]

Verb (thieves’).—1. To stand by a friend; to take part in any undertaking; to lend a hand. Grose has ‘to take one’s oath.’

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. I will cap downright; I will swear home.