Slang and its analogues, 2 | Project Gutenberg

2. (public schools’ and University).—To take off or touch one’s hat in salutation; also to cap to and to cap it.

1593. H. Smith, Serm. (1871) I., 203. How would they cap me were I in velvets. [m.]

1803. Gradus ad Cantabrigiam p. 23. s.v. bore. Other bores are to attend a sermon at St. Mary’s on Sunday … to cap a fellow.

Cap one’s lucky, verbal phr. (American thieves’).—To run away. For synonyms, see Amputate.

Cap or cast one’s skin, verbal phr. (thieves’).—To strip naked. For synonyms, see Peel.

To set one’s cap at, phr. (colloquial).—To set oneself to gain the affections. Said only of women.

1773. Graves, Spiritual Quixote, bk. III., ch. xi. I know several young ladies who would be very happy in such an opportunity of setting their caps at him.

1773. O. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, Act i., Sc. 1. ‘Well, if he refuses … I’ll only break my glass for its flattery, set my cap to some newer fashion, and look out for some less difficult admirer.’

1846. Thackeray, V. Fair, ch. iii. The wily old fellow said to his son, ‘Have a care, Joe; that girl is setting her cap at you.’

To cap a quotation, anecdote, proverb, &c., phr. (colloquial).—To fit with a second from the same, or another, author; to ‘go one better’ in the way of anecdote or legend.

1584. Peele, Arraignm. Paris, iv., ii. (1829) 48. Sh’ath capt his answer in the cue. [m.]

1856. Vaughan, Mystics (1860) I., i. v. Now you come to Shakspeare, I must cap your quotation with another. [m.]

To pull caps, phr. (colloquial).—To wrangle in an unseemly way.—Said only of women.

1763. Colman, Deuce is in Him, I., in wks. (1777) IV., 120. A man that half the women in town would pull caps for.

1771. Smollet, Humphry Clinker, line 19. At length, they fairly proceeded to pulling caps, and everything seemed to presage a general battle.

17(?). Wolcot, P. Pindar, p. 140. Behold our lofty duchesses pull caps, And give each other’s reputation raps, As freely as the drabs of Drury’s school.

1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, ch. vii. Well, dearest Rachel, we will not pull caps about this man.

Cape Cod Turkey, subs. phr. (American).—A salted cod fish, another name for which is marble-head turkey. Cf., Billingsgate pheasant, Yarmouth capon, and Albany beef.

1865. C. Nordhoff, 1 May (in letter). A salted cod fish is known in American ships as a cape cod turkey. [33]

1890. New York Herald, 3 June. ‘Newfoundland Fishery Dispute.’ Factories have been established for the production of cape cod turkeys; i.e., salted cod fish.

Capella, subs. (theatrical).—A coat. [From the Italian.]

English Synonyms. Benjamin; cover-me-decently; upper benjamin (a great coat); joseph; wrap-rascal; bum-cooler or arse-hole-perisher, or shaver (a short jacket); claw-hammer, swallow-tail, steel-pen (all three = a dress coat); M.B. coat; panupetaston; rock-a-low; reliever; pygostole; ulster; monkey-jacket. See also Caster, many synonyms of which = a coat.

French Synonyms. Un cache-misère (familiar: specially applied to a coat buttoned close to the throat to conceal the absence of a shirt or the soiled state of one’s linen); un alpague (also alpaga and alpag); un elbeuf; un Berry (a fatigue jacket); une menuisière (pop.: a long coat); un ne-te-gêne-pas-dans-le-parc (a short jacket; also termed un saute-en-barque, un pet-en-l’air, and un montretout).

German Synonyms. Oberhänger (an overcoat; also a cloak). Wallnusch (Hanoverian: corruption from the Hebrew malbusch = clothes); Schwalbenschweif (a dress-coat, a ‘swallow-tail’).

Italian Synonym. Tappe (clothing in general; it also signifies ‘feathers’).

Cape-Nightingale, subs. (colonial).—A frog. Cf., Cambridgeshire nightingale.

1889. H. A. Bryden, Kloof and Karroo: or Sport, Legend, and Natural History in Cape Colony. The very smell of the water and the din of the huge frogs, cape nightingales as we call them, revived them.

Capeovi, adj. (costers’).—Sick; seedy (q.v. for synonyms). Cf., Capivi.

Caper, subs. (vagrants’).—A device, idea, performance, or occupation. Americans use it in the same sense as racket (q.v.), e.g., the ‘real estate racket’ or ‘caper.’ [From the figurative sense of caper, signifying a fantastic proceeding, freak, or prank.] Also used in the sense of ‘the go,’ ‘the fad,’ i.e., the latest fashionable fancy.

1867. London Herald, 23 March, p. 221. ‘He’ll get five years penal for this little caper,’ said the policeman.

1870. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 220. Charley would reply … ‘I have just done such and such an amount to-day with these people,’ at the same time showing the invoice of the goods he had just purchased at the house where he got change for his fifty sovereigns. The conversation, as a rule, ended in Charley’s giving them an order too. Of course, this little caper would only ‘wash’ once.

1884. J. Greenwood, The Little Ragamuffins. ‘Are you goin’ a ‘tottin’?’ ‘No,’… ‘Then what caper are you up to?’

To cut a caper upon nothing, or to cut caper sauce, phr. (old).—To be hanged. For synonyms, see Ladder.

1708. Motteux, Rabelais. IV. xvi. Two of the honestest Gentlemen in Catchpole-land had been made to cut a caper on nothing.

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. And my father, as I’ve heard say, Was a merchant of capers gay, Who cut his last fling with great applause. [34]

Caper-Juice, subs. (American).—Whiskey. [From caper, a freak or antic + juice.] For synonyms, see Drinks.

1888. Portland Transcript, 29 Feb. Say, fellers, let’s take a leetle mo’ uv the caper juice. [They drink again. Sam and the girl exchange affectionate glances.]

Caper-Merchant, subs. (old).—A dancing master. [From caper, a frolicsome leap or step, + merchant.] Also called a hop-merchant (q.v. for synonyms).

Capital, To work capital, verbal phr. (old).—To commit an offence punishable with death.

1878. Charles Hindley, Life and Times of James Catnach. And though I don’t work capital, And do not weigh my weight, sirs, Who knows but that in time I shall.

Capivi or Capivvy (vulgar).—Balsam copaiba, a popular remedy for clap.

To cry capivvy (sporting).—To be persecuted to the death, or very near it. In Handley Cross [1843] Mr. Jorrocks promises to make the foxes cry capivvy.

Capon, subs. (popular).—Primarily, a red herring; but applied to other kinds of fish, herrings now receiving the distinctive cognomen of Yarmouth capons. The usage is a very old one, and it is notable that Glasgow Magistrate, another name for a red herring, was formerly Glasgow capon.

c. 1640. J. Smyth, Hundred of Berkeley (1885), 319. The Sole wee call our Seuverne Capon. [m.]

1719. Ramsey, Hamilton, II., iii. A Glasgow capon and a fadge ye thought a feast. [m.]

1812. W. Tennant, Anster F., iv. Each to his jaws A good Crail’s capon holds [note ‘a dried haddock’]. [m.]

Cappadochio, Caperdochy, or Caperdewsie, subs. (old).—Nares says ‘a cant term for a prison.’ [The same authority suggests that it is a corruption of Cappadocia: ‘The king of Cappadocia, says Horace, was rich in slaves, but had little money.’] For synonyms, see Cage.

1600. Heywood, I. Edw. IV. My son’s in Dybell here, in Caperdochy, i’ the gaol.

1607. w. s., Puritan, in Supp. Shaks., II., 510 (n.). How captain Idle? my old aunt’s son, my dear kinsman, in Cappadochio?

1663. Butler, Hudibras, I., ii., 832. I here engage myself to loose ye, and free your heels from caperdewsie.

Capper, subs. (American thieves’).—1. A confederate; at cards one who makes false bids in order to encourage a genuine player. [See Cap, verb, sense 1.]

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 319. In the West a striker is not only a shoulder-hitter, as might be suspected, but a runner for gambling establishments, who must be as ready to strike down a complaining victim as to ensnare an unsuspecting stranger.… Cappers they are called, when the game is the famous Three-Card Monte.

1881. New York Slang Dictionary. Gamblers are called knights of the green cloth, and their lieutenants, who are sent out after greenhorns, are called decoys, cappers, and steerers.

2. (auctioneers’).—A dummy bidder whose function is either to start the bidding or to run up the price of articles for sale.

Capper-Clawing.—See Clapper-clawing. [35]

Captain, subs. (general).—1. A familiar and jesting form of address. An equivalent of ‘governor,’ ‘boss,’ etc. Very common in U.S.A., where also it signifies the conductor or guard of a train—an analogy being drawn between the phraseology of rail and water traffic. (see quot. 1862).

1598. Shakspeare, King Henry IV., pt. 2, Act ii., Sc. 4. Doll Tearsheet. A captain! God’s light, these villains will make the word as odious as the word ‘occupy.’

1862. Russell, Diary, North and S., I., xiii., 139. All the people who addressed me by name prefixed ‘Major’ or ‘Colonel.’ ‘Captain’ is very low.… The conductor who took our tickets was called ‘Captain.’ [m.]

2. (old).—A gaming or bawdy house bully. Cf., Fielding’s Captain Bilkum in Covent Garden Tragedy. Fr. un major de table d’hôte.

1731. Daily Journal, Jan. 9. ‘List of the officers established in the most notorious gaming-houses.’ 12th. A Captain, who is to fight any gentleman who is peevish for losing his money.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Captain (s.) … and in the Cant Phrase, a captain is a bully, who is to quarrel or fight with peevish gamesters, who are testy or quarrelsome at the loss of their money; and sometimes it signifies money itself, as, ‘the captain is not at home,’ that is, there is no money in my pocket.

[Captain is also a fancy title for a highwayman in a good way of business; Fletcher uses the term copper-captain, as also does Washington Irving, for one who has no right to the title, and, in modern athletics, we have the captain of a club or crew, with the corresponding verb to captain.]

Captain Armstrong. To come Captain Armstrong, phr. (turf)—To ‘pull’ a horse and thus prevent him from winning. Captain Armstrong is often used for a dishonest jockey. [A play upon words, i.e., ‘to pull with a strong arm.’]

1864. Sporting Life, 5 Nov. (Leader). Captain Armstrong is again abroad, muscular and powerful, riding his favourite hobby in the steeple-chase field, preparing thus early in the season for pulling, stopping, and putting the strings on.

Captain Copperthorn’s Crew. subs. phr. (old).—All officers Said of a company where everyone wants to be first.

Captain Cork, subs. phr. (military).—A nickname for a man who is slow in passing the bottle.

Captain Crank, subs. phr. (old).—The chief of a gang of highwaymen.

Captain Grand, subs. phr. (old).—A haughty, blustering fellow. For synonyms, see Furioso.

Captain Hackum, subs. phr. (old).—A hectoring bully.—Grose.

Captain Lieutenant, subs. phr. (old).—Meat neither young enough for veal, nor old enough for beef. [The simile is drawn from the brevet officer who, while ranking as captain, receives lieutenant’s pay.]—Grose.

Captain Queernabs, subs. phr. (old).—A shabby or ill-dressed man. For synonyms, see Guy.

Captain Quiz, subs. phr. (old).—A mocker.

Captain Sharp, subs. phr. (old).—A cheating bully, or one in a set [36]of gamblers, whose office it is to bully the ‘pigeon,’ who refuses to pay.—Grose. Cf., Captain, sense 2.

Captain Tom, subs. phr. (old).—The head or leader of a mob; also the mob itself.—Grose.

Caravan, subs. (old).—1. A dupe; gull; a subject of plunder.—See Bubble.

1676. Etherege, Man of Mode, III., iii., in wks. (1704), 233. What spruce prig is that? A caravan, lately come from Paris.

1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia. [In list of cant words prefixed to.] Caravan: a bubble, the cheated.

1889. G. L. Apperson, in Gentleman’s Magazine (‘Seventeenth Century Colloquialisms’), p. 598. Towards the end of the century a person easily gulled, or ‘bubbled’ was known as a caravan, but earlier the term ‘rook’ which is now restricted to a cheat or sharper, appears to have been applied to the person cheated.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Caravan: a good round sum of money about a man, and him that is cheated of it.

3. (pugilistic).—A railway train, especially a train expressly chartered to convey people to a prize fight. [Early in the present century caravan, now shortened to ‘van,’ was applied to a third class covered railway carriage; now a pleasure party is so described; also a gypsy’s cart; also the wheeled cages of a travelling menagerie.]

Caravansera, subs. (pugilistic).—A railway station. As thus: ‘The scratch must be toed at sharp five, so the caravan will start at four from the caravansera.’—Hotten. See Caravan, sense 3.

Card, subs. (common).—1. A device; expedient; or undertaking; that which is likely to attain its object, or through which success is sure. Thus we have such expressions as a ‘good card,’ a ‘strong card,’ a ‘safe card,’ a ‘likely, or a doubtful card.’ [Figurative; from card playing.] That’s a sure card sounds modern, but as Lowell has pointed out it is to be found in the old interlude of ‘Thursytes’ (1537).

1763. Fr. Brooke, Lady J. Mandeville, in Barbauld Brit. Novelists (1820) xxvii., 23. Poor fellow! I pity him; but marriage is his only card. [m.]

1826. Scott, Woodstock, III., xiv., 358. No card seemed to turn up favourable to the royal cause.

2. A character; an odd fish; an eccentric; generally coupled with such adjectives as ‘knowing,’ ‘old,’ ‘queer,’ ‘downy,’ ‘rum,’ etc. [Apparently derived from the card-table, such expressions as a ‘sure card,’ a ‘sound card,’ being of very ancient use. Osric tells Hamlet that Laertes is the card and calendar of gentry.—(Hamlet, v., 2.)]

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, 264. Mr. Thomas Potter, whose great aim it was to be considered as a knowing card.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xx., p. 173. ‘Such an old card as this; so deep, so sly, and secret.’

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. ii. Frank Hardingstone was, to use their favourite word, ‘a great card’ amongst all the associates of his age and standing.

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. xii. A quaint boy at Eton, cool hand at Oxford, a deep card in the regiment, man or woman never yet had the best of ‘Uppy.’ [37]

1864. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, bk. III., ch. i. ‘You’re one of the Patriarchs; you’re a shaky old card; and you can’t be in love with this Lizzie.’

3. (common).—The ‘ticket’; the ‘figure’; the correct thing. [Possibly from the k’rect card (q.v.) of racing.]

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II., p. 47. I’ve got 10s. often for a great coat, and higher and lower, oftener lower in course; but 10s. is about the card for a good thing.

Verb.—Also carding, subs. (Irish Nationalist). A peculiar form of torture, which consists in the application of the card, a spiked or toothed implement used in the preparation of flax and wool, to the naked shoulders, &c., and is commonly reserved for ‘unpatriotic’ girls and women.

1889. The Scots Observer. ‘They never told the ramping crowd to card a woman’s hide.’

To give one cards, phr. (American).—To give one an advantage. The English equivalent, ‘to give points,’ is derived from the billiard saloon. An analogous French phrase is faire un bœuf.

1888. Grip (Toronto), May. You know that Artie found a Chinaman out in ’Frisco who could give him cards and spades and beat him out.

On the cards, phr. (common).—Within the range of probability. [Dickens popularised the expression, which appears to mean ‘possible to turn up,’ as anything in the game when the cards are turned up. Still, it is not unlikely that the phrase originated with cartomancy, at a time when cards were frequently consulted as to the issue of enterprises.] See N. and Q., 7 s. iv., 507; v. 14, 77, 495.

1740. Smollett, Translation of Gil Blas. I showed them tricks which they did not know to be on the cards, and yet acknowledged to be better than their own.

1813. Sir R. Wilson, Diary, II., 40. It is not out of the cards that we might do more. [m.]

1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, I., p. 219. By way of going in for anything that might be on the cards, petition to the House of Commons, etc.

1868. W. Collins, Moonstone, I., p. 149. It’s quite on the cards, sir, that you have put the clue into our hands.

1874. Saturday Review, April, p. 488. When they discovered that a Restoration was not at present on the cards, they became Conservatives.

1890. H. D. Traill, A Bulgarian Appeal. ‘Saturday Songs,’ p. 43. I’ll be shot if I do, though it’s equally true That it’s quite on the cards I’ll be shot if I don’t.

To pack, stock, or put up, the cards, phr. (Western American).—To prepare cards for cheating purposes.—See Concaves, Pack, and Stock broads.

To speak by the card, phr. (general).—To speak with precision; or with the utmost accuracy. [An allusion to the card of the mariner’s compass.]

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, v., 1, 149. We must speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us.

1867. Yates, Forlorn Hope, i., p. 23. ‘Are you speaking by the card?’ said Count Bulow, with the slightest foreign accent.

1879. Trollope, Thackeray [in ‘English men of Letters’ series], p. 186. Henry Esmond … however, is not made to speak altogether by the card, or he would be unnatural.

Cardinal, subs. (old).—1. A red cloak worn by ladies circa 1740 and later. [From the colour and shape which suggested a cardinal’s vestment.] [38]

1755. Connoisseur, No. 62. That fashionable cloak … which indeed is with great propriety styled the cardinal.

1755. The World, No. 127. I have made no objection to their (the ladies) wearing the cardinal, though it be a habit of popish etymology, and was, I am afraid, first invented to hide the sluttishness of French dishabille.

1881. Besant and Rice, Chap. of the Fleet, pt. 1, ch. iv. In the windows of which were hoods, cardinals, sashes, pinners, and shawls.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xv. He goes up, and finds the remains of the supper, Tankards full of egg-flip and cardinal, and a party playing at vingt-un.

3. in plural (street).—Shoeblacks. [In allusion to the red tunics of some London brigades. That stationed in the City is now better known as the City Reds.]

1889. T. Mackay [on ‘Shoeblacks’], in Time, Aug., p. 132. From that hour the Shoeblack Brigade has been firmly established in London … costermongers called them cardinals.

4. (American).—A lobster; from its colour when cooked. Jules Janin once made a curious blunder and called the lobster le cardinal de la mer. Cardinal hash = a lobster salad.

Care. Not to care or be worth a [fig, pin, rap, button, cent, straw, rush, or hang, etc.], phr. (colloquial).—Similes of indifference; to care about a matter not even so much as to the value of a fig, a pin, or a straw. Fr. s’en battre l’œil.—See Not worth a Fig.

1590. Spenser, Fairie Queene, I., ii., 12. He … cared not for God or man a point. [m.]

1760. Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, xlvi. Not that I care three damns what figure I may cut.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, ed. 1846, vol. I., ch. iii., p. 13. You told him you did not care a fig for him.

1848–62. J. R. Lowell, Biglow Papers. ‘Don’t fire,’ sez Joe, ‘it ain’t no use, Thet Deacon Peleg’s tame wil-’goose’; Seys Isrel, ‘I don’t care a cent, I’ve sighted an’ I’ll let her went.’

1871. London Figaro, May 13, p. 4, col. 2. Coster Ballads, ‘Found Drowned.’ ‘Well, sir, to cut it short, she ’ad the chap—’Twos cruel ’ard on me—I don’t believe he cared for ’er a rap, But so it wos, yer see.’

1889. Answers, June 22, p. 49, col. 1. ‘Is it for sale?’ demanded the visitor, excitedly. ‘If it is I want it. I don’t care a snap what it costs.’

I don’t care if I do, phr. (American).—A street phrase, meaning nothing in particular. Also a form of accepting an invitation to drink: ‘Will you peg?’ ‘I don’t care if I do.’

1888. New York Tribune. Volapuk will never be popular in Kentucky. It contains no sentence to take the place of that classic phrase, I don’t care if I do.

Care-Grinder, subs. (thieves’).—More usually the vertical care-grinder.—See quot. For synonyms, see Wheel of life.

1883. Echo, Jan. 25, p. 2, col 4. The treadmill again, is more politely called … the wheel of life, or the vertical care-grinder.

Cargo, subs. (Winchester College).—A hamper from home. The word is still in use.

1870. Mansfield, School Life at Winchester College, p. 77. The boys, eager for breakfast, tumultuously rushed out from school-court … to see if Poole, [39]the porter, had letters, or, what was even more delightful, a cargo (a hamper of game or eatables from home).

1883. Every-day Life in our Public Schools. Scholars may supplement their fare with jam, potted meats … or, better still, from the contents of cargoes, i.e., hampers from home.

Carler, subs. (New York thieves’).—A clerk. For synonyms, see Quill-driver.

Carlicues.—See Curlycues.

Carney or Carny, subs. (colloquial).—Soothing and seductive flattery; language covering a design. [The origin is unknown, though some have conjectured the word to be of Irish derivation. As a verb it first appears as a dialecticism, and is now mostly in use as a ppl. adj.—carneying (q.v.). The word, however, seems to be fast making its way into respectable usage, and is even now largely in literary use.]

Verb, tr. and intrans.—To wheedle; coax or insinuate oneself; to act in a cajoling manner.—See Carneying.

Carneying, ppl. adj. (common).—In a wheedling, coaxing, or insinuating manner. Cf., Carney.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. II., p. 566. When I tried to turn ’em off they’d say, in a carnying way, ‘Oh, let us stay on,’ so I never took no heed of ’em.

1869. H. J. Byron, Not such a Fool as He Looks [French’s Acting ed.], p. 12. Sharp old skinflint, downy old robber as he is, he’s under Jane Mould’s thumb, and well he knows it. (In carnying voice) With many thanks, sir, for your kind attention to my case.

1871. Daily Telegraph, 15 May, ‘Critique on Mr. H. J. Byron’s Play of An English Gentleman.’ Rachel does not like Brandon’s carnying ways.

1884. R. L. Stevenson in Eng. Illustr. Mag., Feb., p. 305. The female dog, that mass of carnying affectations.

1885. Clement Scott, in Ill. Lon. News, 3 Oct., p. 339, 2. The change from the carnying, wheedling sneak to the cowardly bully, is extremely clever.

Carnish, subs. (thieves’).—Meat. [From the Italian carne, flesh, through the Lingua Franca. Carne, in French argot, signifies tough meat.]

French Synonyms. La crie, crigne, or crignolle (thieves’: Old Cant; Greek, κρίας; Fourbesque, crea, creata, creatura, criulfa; Germania, crioja); la criolle (thieves’); la niorte (thieves’); la barbaque or bidoche (popular); le choléra (popular = bad meat); le mastic (= bread or meat).

German Synonyms. Kärner (this is the same as carnish and comes from the Italian carne; Kärnerfetzer = a butcher).

Italian Synonyms. Bronco (specially applied to beef); slavigna; crea (see remarks under crie in French synonyms).

Carnish-Ken, subs. (thieves’).—A thieves’ eating house, or prog-shop. [From carnish, meat, through the Italian carne, + ken, a house or dwelling.] A French equivalent for the proprietor of such a place is un fripier, a term which also means a cook, a ‘dripping’ or old clothes’ man.

Carny.—See Carney.

Caroon, subs. (costermongers’).—A five shilling piece. [Hotten and Barrère trace it to the French couronne, Spanish and Italian [40]corona; it is in all probability a mispronunciation of the English word ‘crown.’]

English Synonyms. Bull, or bull’s-eye; cartwheel, coach-wheel, or simply wheel; tusheroon; dollar; thick ’un (obsolete, the term being now applied to a sovereign); case; caser; decus.

The nearest French equivalent, a five franc piece, is called un roue de derrière (literally ‘a hind wheel,’ and corresponding pretty closely to the English wheel, cartwheel, and coachwheel); un bouton de guêtre; un blafard de cinq balles; une drille or dringue; une croix (the old six franc piece, in allusion to the cross inscribed on it); une chatte (a piece of six francs: very old; and formerly prostitutes’); une médaille or médaille de St. Hubert (popular); un monarque (popular); un œil de bœuf (= an ox’s eye); un noble étrangère (literary: = a distinguished stranger).

1859. G. W. Matsell, Vocabulum, or the Rogue’s Lexicon. Kersey-mere kicksies, any colour, built very slap with the artful dodge, from three caroon.

Carpet, verb (colloquial).—To reprimand. Equivalents are to ‘call over the coals,’ to ‘give a wigging’ or ‘earwigging,’ etc. The phrase sometimes runs ‘to walk the carpet.’ so also carpeting; for synonyms, see Wig.

1823. Galt, Entail, III., xxix., 278. Making … her servants walk the carpet. [m.]

1840. H. Cockton, Valentine Vox, xli. They had done nothing! Why were they carpeted?

1871. Chester Chronicle, 11 Feb. ‘Report of Affiliation Case at Hawarden Petty Sessions.’ [The plaintiff, Louisa Jackson, said] neither did Lunt, the page, say that night if her master knew of her coming home in that state she would be carpeted for it.

1877. Hawley Smart, Bound to Win, ch. xxx. There is no hurry; but, before the race, I think Mr. Luxmoore will have to carpet Sam.

To bring on the carpet. To bring up or forward. A slang rendering of mettre sur le tapis.

Carpet-Bag, subs. used attributively as adj. (American).—See Carpet-bagger for explanation of such phrases as carpet-bag rule, carpet-bag adventurers, carpet-bag government, etc.

1872. New York Herald, 22 Aug. Hundreds of millions have been taken from the pockets of the people since the beginning of the war by dishonest contractors, unjust claimants, county robbers, and city plunderers, and Carpet-bag State Governments. Ibid. The Tammany robberies, although trifling in comparison with the old revenue robberies, and the present wholesale plunder of the Carpet-bag Governments in the South, etc.

1888. Chicago Record. The head of the ticket is one of the most vulnerable men who figured in Southern politics in the carpet-bag era. No man of that period left a blacker record.

Carpet-Bagger, subs. (American political).—A political adventurer. [After the Civil War, numbers of Northerners went South. Honest or not, they were looked upon with suspicion by the Southerners, and, as they were generally Republican in politics and joined with the freedmen at the polls, the nickname carpet-bagger came to have, and still retains, a political significance. It was unjustly applied to many well-meaning men, but at the same time it fitted the horde of corrupt adventurers who infested the South, and whose only ‘property qualification’ was contained in the carpet bag with [41]which they had arrived from the North. Originally, however, a carpet-bagger was a ‘wild-cat banker’ out West: a banker, that is, who had no local abiding place, his worldly possessions being contained in a carpet bag.] Applied to politics the term has become of general application.—Cf., Scalawag.

1868. Daily News, Sept. 18. All carpet-baggers and ‘scalawags’ are whites. The carpet-baggers are immigrants from the North who have thrown themselves into local politics, and through their influence with the negroes obtained office.

1871. New York Post, April. ‘The general drift of public sentiment is, that the carpet-baggers, scalawags, ex-slaves, ex-slaveholders, rebels reconstructed, rebels unreconstructed, and Southern loyalists should be left, for a brief period at least, to fight out their own battles, in their own way; and that if the nation is ever again to become a party to their quarrels, it shall be on no slight pretext and for no trivial purpose.’

1877. Temple Bar, May, p. 107. At the same moment a swarm of adventurers settled in the conquered states, and became governors, judges, tax-collectors, and so on. These are the carpet-baggers of history. They came with two shirts, got salaries of (on an average) four thousand dollars per annum, and made fortunes of a million in four years!

Carpet-Bag Recruit, subs. phr. (military).—A recruit of better than the ordinary standing; one with more than he stands upright in.

Carpet-Swab, subs. (common).—A carpet-bag.

1837. Barham, I.L. (Misadv. at Margate). A little gallows-looking chap—dear me! what could he mean? With a carpet-swab and mucking togs, and a hat turned up with green.

Carrier, subs. (old).—See quot., and Cf., Carrier-pigeon.

1725. New Cant. Dict. Carriers: a sett of Rogues … employ’d to look out, and watch upon the Roads, at Inns, etc., in order to carry Information to their respective Gangs, of a booty in Prospect.

Carrier-Pigeon, subs. (old).—1. A cheat—especially one who victimised lottery office keepers. Cf., Carrier.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Carrier Pigeons; sharpers who attend the drawing of the lottery in Guildhall, and as soon as a number or two are drawn, write them on a card, and run with them to a confederate, who is waiting near at hand, ready mounted; with these numbers he rides full speed to some distant insurance office before fixed on, where there is another of the gang, commonly a decent-looking woman, who takes care to be at the office before the hour of drawing; to her he secretly gives the number, which she insures for a considerable sum, thus biting the biter.

2. (racing).—One that runs from place to place with ‘commissions’; a kind of tout.

Carrion, subs. (venery).—1. A prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and tart.

Carrion Case, subs. (common).—A shirt or chemise. [From carrion, the human body, + case, a covering.] For synonyms, see Flesh bag.

Carrion Hunter, subs. (old).—An undertaker. [Carrion was formerly general to signify a corpse]. For synonyms, see Cold cook.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Carrion Hunter: an undertaker, etc.

Carrots, subs. (popular).—Red hair. Used attributively, and also as a proper name. The [42]adjectival form is carrotty. An analogous colloquialism is Ginger-hackled, which see for synonyms.

1685. S. Wesley, Maggots, 57. The Ancients … Pure carrots call’d pure threads of beaten gold. [m.]

1703. T. Baker, Tunbridge Walks, quoted in Ashton’s Social Life in Reign of Q. Anne, I., 129. Jenny Trapes! What that Carrot-pated Jade.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xiv. Not to appear before Mr. Cringer till I had parted with my carroty locks.

1848. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, ch. vii. ‘Blanche, with her radish of a nose, and her carrots of ringlets.’

1864. Mark Lemon, Jest Book, p. 205. Carrots Classically Considered. Why scorn red hair? The Greeks, we know (I note it here in charity) Had taste in beauty, and with them The graces were all Χαριται.

1882. Daily Telegraph, Oct. 6, p. 2, col. 1. The two elder of the party were a boy and a girl of unmistakably Irish parentage, and with unkempt and carrotty heads of hair.

Take a carrot! (common).—A vulgar insult; equivalent to calling one a fool, or telling one to ‘go to hell.’ The phrase was originally obscene [Cf., Et ta sœur! aime-t-elle les radis?] and applied to women only.

Carry Boodle, verbal phr. (American).—See Boodle.

Carry Coals, verbal phr. (obsolete).—To put up with insults; to endure an affront or injury.

1593. G. Harvey, Pierces Supererog., in wks. II., 32. Because Silence may seeme suspicious to many: Patience contemptible to some … a knowne forbearer of Libellers, a continuall bearer of coales.

1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, i., 1. Gregory o’ my word, we’ll not carry coals.

1638. H. Shirley, Martyr’d Souldier, Act ii., Sc. 1. Hub. I can carry anything but Blowes, Coles, my Drink, and—the tongue of a Scould.

Carry Corn, verbal phr. (common).—To bear success well and equably. It is said of a man who breaks down under a sudden access of wealth—as successful racing men and unexpected legatees often do—or who becomes affected and intolerant, that ‘he doesn’t carry corn well.’

Carryings On, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Frolicsome or questionable proceedings; a course of conduct that attracts attention.—See Carry on.

1663. Butler, Hudibras, I., ii., 556. Is this the end to which these carryings on did tend?

1859. Sala, Gaslight and Daylight, ch. xxi. Many have heard her stern demands for rent, and her shrill denunciation of the carryings on of her tenants.

1876. M. S. Braddon, Joshua Haggard, ch., iv. ‘And what about the rest of the time when he wasn’t with you? Fine carryings on indeed for a grocer’s daughter!’

Carry-Knave, subs. (old).—A common prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

1630. Taylor’s Workes. And I doe wish with all my heart that the superflous number of all our hyreling hackney carry-knaves, and hurry-whores, with their makers and maintainers were there.

Carry Me Out and Bury Me Decently, phr. (general).—An exclamation or objurgation generally called forth by an incredible story, or by something displeasing to the auditor; varied by ‘let me die!’ ‘good [43]night!’ etc., as also by ‘carry me home!’ ‘carry me upstairs!’ ‘carry me out and leave me in the gutter!’ A writer in Notes and Queries [2 S., iii., 387] states it to have been in use circa 1780. [The origin is obscure, but some derive it from the Nunc dimittis (Luke ii. 29).]

1857. Notes and Queries, 16 May, p. 387, col. 2. Carry me out and bury me decently. Do any of your correspondents recollect to have heard this phrase?

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xlv. And so the president comes out to see the St. Ambrose boat row? Seldom misses two nights running. Then ‘carry me out, and bury me decently’ … Don’t be afraid. I am ready for anything you like to tell me.

1864. The Reader, Nov. 12. Mr. Hotten has carry me out. Well the equivalent ‘Federal’ is ‘D’you tell?’

Carry On, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To make oneself conspicuous by a certain line of behaviour; to conduct oneself wildly or recklessly; to joke or frolic; also in a special sense applied to open flirtation on the part of both sexes.

French equivalents are canarder (based on canard = a ‘take in,’ an extravagant or absurd story); faire du jardin (popular).

1856. Whyte Melville, Kate Coventry, ch. iii. With lynx-eyes she notes how Lady Carmine’s eldest girl is carrying on with young Thriftless.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xxxv. ‘She and I carried on for a whole season. People talked.’

1884. M. Twain, Huckleberry Finn, ch. xxii., 222. And all the time that clown carried on so it most killed the people.

Carry one’s real estate about one, verbal phr. (American).—To neglect the finger nails till they show a black rim; to go so unwashed as to display a considerable amount of what Palmerston called ‘matter in the wrong place.’

1877. Joseph Hatton, in Belgravia, April, p. 221. We looked at the hands of several of the gamblers, and found that they carried their real estate with them.

Carry Out One’s Bat.—See Bat.

Carry the Stick, verbal phr. (Scotch thieves’).—To rob in the manner described in quotation.—See also Tripping up.

1870. Times. 21 Sept [Marlborough Street Police Court Report.] Police Sergeant Cole said the prisoner’s plan was for the woman to go up to well-dressed elderly or drunken men, to get them into conversation, and rob them. The male prisoner would then come up, and, pretending to be a detective, make a disturbance, so as to enable the woman to escape. The practice was called in London ‘tripping up,’ and in Scotland, where it is also practised, carrying the stick.

Carsey, subs. (thieves’).—A house, den, or crib. [From the Lingua Franca casa = a house.] For synonyms, see Ken.

Cart, verb (University).—To defeat: in a match, a fight, an examination, a race, &c. We carted them home = we gave them an awful licking.

In the cart, or carted, phr. (racing).—1. An employee is said to put an owner in the cart when, by some trick or fraud, his horse is prevented from winning. Also in the box.

1889. Evening Standard, 25 June. [Sir Chas. Russell’s speech in Durham-Chetwynd case.] It was alleged that in two races run by Fullerton in 1887, Sir George Chetwynd—to use a vulgarism—had been put in the cart by his Jockey. [44]

1883. Referee, 1 April, p. 1, col. 1. No one, not even the previously most authoritative—and most in the cart—seems at all astonished at the success of Knight of Burghley.

3. (gaming).—The lowest scorer at any point is said to be in the cart; sometimes on the tailboard.

Cart-Grease, subs. (common).—Butter; in the first instance bad butter.

English Synonyms. Cow-grease; Thames mud; cow-oil; spread; scrape; smear; ointment; sluter.

German Synonyms. Schmierling (Schmier is properly ‘grease,’ especially ‘wheel-grease,’ also ‘ointment.’ The term is, therefore, practically identical with cart-grease); Schmunk (used by knackers. Schmünkig signifies ‘fat’ of any kind, but especially that of horses).

Carts, subs. (common).—A pair of shoes. For synonyms, see Trotter-cases.

Cart-Wheel, subs. (popular)—1. A five-shilling piece. A variant is coach-wheel, and both forms are often contracted into wheel. For synonyms, see Caroon.

1871. London Figaro, 15 Feb. ‘Mornings at Mutton’s.’ The coin of the realm in question was the largest that we have known in the present century—so large, that, in the slang language of thieves and costermongers, it is called a cart-wheel, ‘coach-wheel’ and ‘thick-’un.’ It was, in fact, a crown-piece.

3. (popular).—A continuous series of somersaults in which the hands and feet alternately touch the ground, the appearance produced being similar to the spokes of a cart wheel in motion. Otherwise called a Catharine wheel.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II., p. 562. We either do the cat’unwheel (Sic) or else we keep before the gentleman and lady, turning head-over-heels. Ib., p. 564: at night I go along with the others tumbling. I does the cat’enwheel. (Sic.)

1864. Sala, in Daily Telegraph, Dec. 23. I saw a little … blackguard boy turning cartwheels in front of the Clifton House.

Carver and Gilder, subs. phr. (common).—A match maker. Cf., Fingersmith, a midwife.

Casa.—See Case.

Cascade, subs. (Australian).—1. In Tasmania beer is called cascade because manufactured from ‘cascade’ water. Cf., Artesian. For synonyms, see Swipes and Drinks.

2. (theatrical).—Explained by quotation. Another name for the same effect is hang out.

1851. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, III., p. 156. The principal distinction between pantomimes and ballets is that there are more cascades, and trips, and valleys in pantomimes, and none in ballets. A trip is a dance between Harlequin and the Columbine, and cascades and valleys are trundling and [45]gymnastic performances, such as tumbling across the stage on wheels, and catching hold of hands and twirling round.

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. ii. I daresay five hundred rank and file, at the fewest, were all cascading at one and the same moment.

Case, subs. (colloquial).—1. A certainty in fact, an accentuated or abnormal instance in character. When two persons fall in love, or are engaged to marry, it is said to be a case with them. An eccentric person is likewise a case. [As a designation for persons, case probably had its origin in Journalese and Police-court English; e.g., a case of larceny.]

1848. Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms. Case: a character, a queer one; as ‘That Sol Haddock is a case.’ ‘What a hard case he is,’ meaning a reckless scapegrace, mauvais sujet.

1859. H. Kingsley, Geoffrey Hamlyn, ch. xlii. Tossed from workhouse to prison, from prison to hulk—every man’s hand against him—an Arab of society. As hopeless a case, my lord judge, as you ever had to deal with.

1868. O. W. Holmes, Guardian Angel, ch. iv., p. 35 (Rose Lib.). ‘It was a devilish hard case,’ he said, ‘that old Malachi had left his money as he did.’

1872. Miss Braddon, To the Bitter End, ch. xlviii. They have only been engaged three weeks; but from the day we first met Lord Stanmore at a hunting breakfast at Stoneleigh, the business was settled. It was a case, as you fast young men say.

1880. Hawley Smart, Social Sinners, ch. xxiv. He saw people began to make way for him when she was concerned; in short, that they looked upon it as a case.

1887. Cassell’s Mag., Dec, p. 26. It isn’t Mr. and Mrs. Cardewe he comes to see! It’s Miss Amy.… They have met before; and in my opinion it’s a case!

2. (thieves’)—A bad five-shilling piece; half a case, a bad half-crown. Cf., caser. In America a dollar, good or bad. [There are two sources, either of which may have contributed this slang term. (1.) Caser, the Hebrew word for a crown; (2.) silver coin is frequently counterfeited by coating or casing pewter or iron imitations with silver.—Hotten.]

3. (old).—A house, respectable or otherwise. Subsequently restricted to a brothel, and, by derivation, a ‘water-closet.’ [Presumably from the Italian casa, a house, through the Lingua Franca. It is found in various forms, casa, case, caser, carser, carsey, the last a phonetic rendering of the usual pronunciation of casa.] For synonyms, see Ken.

1678. Marvell, wks. (1875) III., 497. A net … That Charles himself might chase To Caresbrook’s narrow case. [m.]

1785. Grose, Dict. of Vul. Tongue. Case: a house, perhaps from the Italian casa. In the canting lingo it meant store or warehouse, as well as dwelling house. Tout that case: mark or observe that house. It is all bob, now let’s dub the gigg of the case: now the coast is clear, let us break open the door of the house.

1883. Echo, Jan. 25, p. 2, col. 3. From the Italian we get the thieves’ slang term casa for house.

4. (Westminster School).—The discussion by Seniors and Upper Election preceding a tanning (q.v.), and the tanning itself. [46]

A case of Pickles, subs. phr. (colloquial).—An incident; a bad break-down; a break up.

A case of Stump, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Said of one absolutely guiltless of the possession of coin.

Caseine, subs. (rare).—The correct thing. A variant of the cheese (q.v.) Cf., Cassan.

1856. C. Kingsley, Letter, May. Horn minnow looks like a gudgeon, which is the pure caseine.

Caser, subs. (thieves’).—Five shillings.—See Case and Caroon.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL., 501. One morning I found I did not have more than a caser (5s.).

Case-Vrow, subs. (old).—A prostitute in residence in a particular brothel; now called a dress-lodger (q.v.). [From case (q.v.), a house, + Dutch vrouw, a woman.]

Casey, subs. (thieves’).—Cheese.—See Cassan.

Cash.—See Cassan.

Equal to cash.—Of unquestionable merit. In allusion to the fact that paper currency is largely a medium of exchange.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., chap. xvi. Though I say it, that shouldn’t say it, they [the U.S. Americans] fairly take the shine off creation—they are actilly equal to cash.

To cash a Prescription, subs. phr. (colloquial).—To get a prescription made up.

1890. The Scots Observer, p. 399, col. 2. The Socialist, with an ear for Ibsen, and an eye for Wagner, and a prescription in his pocket that only needs to be cashed for the world to forget its past, and belie its present, and bedevil its future.

Cashels, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Great Southern and Western of Ireland Railway Stock. [Said to be derived from the fact that the line originally had no station at Cashel.]

Cash or Pass in One’s Checks. verbal phr. (American). To die. Derived from the game of poker, where counters or checks, purchased at certain fixed rates, are equivalent to coin. The euphemism is drawn from the analogy between settling one’s earthly accounts, and paying in dues at the end of the game.

18(?). John Hay, Jim Bludsoe of the Prairie Belle. ‘How Jimmy Bludsoe pass’d in his checks The night of the Prairie Belle.’

1870. Bret Harte, Outcasts Poker Flat. Beneath this tree lies the body of J. O. who … handed in his checks on the 7th December, 1850.

1872. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Roughing It, p. 332. ‘You see,’ said the miner, ‘one of the boys has passed in his checks, and we want to give him a good send off.’

1882. Dodge, Plains of the Great West. As close a shave as I ever made to passing in my checks was from a buffalo stampede.

1888. New York Sun. Well, I owned the mule for several years after that, and when he finally passed in his checks I gave him as decent a burial as any pioneer ever got.

Cash-Up, verb (colloquial).—To liquidate a debt by the transfer of money, i.e., cash, or its equivalent. For synonyms, see Shell out.

1837. Barham, I. L. (M. of Venice). And Antonio grew In a deuce of a stew, For he could not cash up, spite of all he could do.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, I., p. 213. ‘When my father’s executors [47]cash up’ he used strange expressions now and then, but that was his way.—‘Cash up’s a very good expression’ observed Martin, ‘when other people don’t apply it to you.’