Slang and its analogues, 2 | Project Gutenberg

1861. Sala, Seven Sons of Mammon, II., p. 197. ‘But they may cash up.’ ‘Cash up! They’ll never cash up a farthing piece.’

Cask, subs. (popular).—A brougham; otherwise a pill-box (q.v.). A French equivalent is une bagniole.

Cass.—See Cassan.

Cassan, subs. (thieves’).—Old Cant for cheese. Also cass, casson, cassam, cassom, and casey. The oldest form is cassan, which is found in Harman’s Caveat or Warening for Common Cursetors, the first known dictionary of English cant [1567]. Cass, chiefly American thieves, is a latter corruption probably influenced by the Dutch kaas, or the M. Dutch kâse, Lat. caseus. [For suggested derivation, which corresponds to that given in the N.E.D., see second quot.]

French Synonyms. Le renâché (thieves’ term); une côtelette de menuisier, de perruquier, or de vâche (popular terms for a portion of Brie; literally a cabinet-maker’s, hair-dresser’s, or cow-cutlet); le dûreme (thieves’); une boussole de réfroidi or de singe (popular = a Dutch Cheese.)

German Synonyms. Fendrich (Old Cant appearing in the Liber Vagatorum [1529] as Wenderich or Wendrich; subsequently modified into Fähndrich. The derivation is referable, perhaps, to an old practice, prevalent in North Germany, of using as a board sign [Fahne, a flag, standard, banner] with three cheeses pictured); Gewine (from the Hebrew gewino); Karnet or Kornet; Kawine (a variant of Gewine); Stinkefix (from the O.H.G. Stinchan, to smell, to stink; this is especially applied to old cheese).

Italian Synonyms. Tenerosa (cream cheese); mascherpo; stifello (literally a kind of flute, in allusion to the holes in some kinds of cheese, notably Gruyère).

1567. Harman, Caveat (1869), p. 86. She hath a Cacking chete, a grunting chete, ruff Pecke, cassan, and popplarr of yarum.

1609. Dekker, Lanthorne and Candlelight, in wks. (Grosart) III., 195. Cassan is cheese, and is a worde barbarously coynd out of the substantive caseus, which also signifies a cheese.

1656. Broome, Jovial Crew, Act ii. Here’s ruffpeck and cassan, and all of the best, And scraps of the dainties of gentry cofe’s feast.

Castell, verb (old).—To see or look. [It is uncertain as to whether this word is slang or not. It is not included in the N.E.D.] For synonyms, see Pipe.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). To Castell: to see or looke.

Caster, subs. (old).—1. A cloak. [Cf., Castor, a hat; there seems to be no historical improbability for a similar derivation]. [48]

Another Old Cant term for a cloak was calle (q.v.), and the French have un bleu, whilst the Italian Fourbesque has toppo and manto, the latter probably meaning ‘a long black veil’; Calaõ. tralha. The Germania renders cloak by noche (literally ‘night,’ and signifying also in a canting sense ‘sadness’ and ‘sentence of death’); nube (literally a ‘cloud’); pelosa (specially applied to a cloak worn in the morning; literally ‘shaggy’ or ‘hairy’); bellosa or vellosa (a sailor’s cloak).

1567. Harman, Caveat [E. E. Text Soc., 1869], p. 77. He walketh in softly a nights, when they be at their rest, and plucketh of as many garmentes as be ought worth that he may come by, … and maketh porte sale at some conuenient place of theirs, that some be soone ready in the morning, for want of their Casters and Togemans.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). Caster: a Clocke.

2. (colloquial).—A cast-off or rejected person or thing. [From cast, thrown, + er.]

1859. Lang, Wand. India, p. 144. The horse which drew the buggy had been a caster … a horse considered no longer fit for the cavalry or horse artillery, and sold by public auction, after being branded with the letter R on the near shoulder. [m.]

Castieu’s Hotel, subs. phr. (Australian thieves’).—The Melbourne gaol, so called from Mr. J. B. Castieu. For list of nicknames of this description, see Cage.

18(?). Australian Printers Keepsake. He caught a month, and had to white it out at diamond-cracking in Castieu’s Hotel.

Castle-Rag, subs. (rhyming slang).—A flag or fourpenny piece. For synonyms, see Joey.

Cast-Offs, subs. (nautical).—1. Landsmen’s clothes. For synonyms, see Togs.

Castor, subs. (old).—A hat. [From Latin castor, a beaver, hats having formerly been made of beaver’s fur.] For synonyms, see Golgotha.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict., 2 ed. Castor: lat., 1, a beaver, a beast like an otter. 2, a fine hat made of its fur.

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 5. Jerry. (Walks about, and, by mistake, takes Logic’s hat, which he puts on.) Damn the cards! Log. (Following Jerry, and rescuing castor.) Don’t nibble the felt, Jerry!

1857. O. W. Holmes, Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, ch. viii. The last effort of decayed fortune is expended in smoothing its dilapidated castor. The hat is the ultimum morieus of ‘respectability.’

1860. Morning Post, Jan. 30. Such as tin for money, castor for hat, brick for good fellow, gemman for gentleman.

Cast Sheep’s Eyes, verbal phr. (common).—To ogle; to leer or ‘make eyes’ at; formerly to look modestly and with diffidence, but always with longing or affection. [Probably in allusion to the quiet, gentle gaze of sheep.] The phrase has been varied by to cast lamb’s eyes. Fr. ginginer; lancer son prospectus, and un oeil en tirelire = an eye full of amorous expression.

1590. Greene, Francesco’s Fortunes, in wks. VIII., 191. That casting a sheepe’s eye at hir, away he goes; and euer since he lies by himselfe and pines away. [49]

1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, V., iii. Who chances to come by but fair Nero in a sculler; And seeing Leander’s naked leg and goodly calf, Cast at him from the boat a sheep’s eye an’ a half.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xvi. There was a young lady in the room, and she threw … many sheep’s eyes at a certain person whom I shall not name.

1864. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ch. vii. He would stand for some time casting lamb’s-eyes at the object of his affections—to the amorous audacity of the full-grown sheep he never soared.

1881. Hawley Smart, Gt. Tontine, ch. xi. It isn’t to be expected a well-bred lass like this is going to knock under the minute a young fellow makes sheep’s-eyes at her.

Cast Up Accounts.—See Accounts, to which may be added the following.

French Synonyms. Jeter du cœur—or son lest—sur carreau (general: literally to ‘throw hearts or diamonds’ or ‘throw one’s heart,’ here meaning the stomach, ‘on the floor’); compter ses chemises (popular); débecqueter (popular); deborder (popular); lâcher son goujon (general); lâcher une fusée (popular).

1607. Dekker, Westward Ho, Act v., Sc. 1. Mist. Wafer. I would not have ’em cast up their accounts here, for more than they mean to be drunk this twelve-month.

1808. R. Anderson, Cumbrld. Ball, 26. The breyde she kest up her accounts in Rachel’s lap. [m.]

Cat, subs. (old).—1. A prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack.

[1401. Pol. Poems, II., 113. Be ware of Cristis curse, and of cattis tailis.] [m.]

1535. Lyndesay, Satyre, 468. Wantonnes. Hay! as one brydlit cat, I brank. [m.]

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Cat (s.) … also a cant word for a lewd, whorish woman, or street-walker.

1788. Falconbridge, Afr. Slave Tr., 40. A cat (an instrument of correction, which consists of a handle or stem, made of a rope three inches and a half in circumference, and about eighteen inches in length, at one end of which are fastened nine branches, or tails, composed of log line, with three or more knots upon each branch). [m.]

1870. London Figaro, 23 Dec. We are delighted to learn that Mr. Baron Bramwell, at the Warwick Assizes, on Saturday, sentenced a batch of street thieves to hard labour for eighteen months, and twenty lashes each, with an instrument called the cat.

1889. Globe, 26 Oct., p. 7, col. 3. The ‘Cat.’ A companion of the prisoner was convicted last session of being concerned in the assault and robbery, and was sentenced to eighteen months’ hard labour and to receive twenty-five lashes.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 444. To steal a muff—To free a cat.

5. (thieves’).—A quart pot. Pint pots are called kittens. Stealing these pots is termed cat and kitten sneaking.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II., p. 118. 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). Ibid. I., p. 460. At this lodging-house cats and kittens are melted down.… A quart pot is a cat, and pints and half-pints are kittens.

7. (common).—A monster infesting lodging houses, and assimilating, [50]with equal readiness, cold meat and coals, spirits and paraffin, etc., etc.

1827. R. B. Peake, Comfortable Lodgings, Act I., Sc. iii. I wonder whether the cat ever comes in here, and knocks anything over? Sir Hippington Miff, here’s your health!—Ladies, yours! (Drinks.) Bless my soul! the cup’s empty! I’ll turn it over, and lay the fault at pussy’s door.

1871. Figaro, 2 July. ‘My Landlady.’ Who on my viands waxes fat?—Who keeps a most voracious cat!—Who often listens on my mat? My Landlady.

To jerk, shoot, or whip the cat; or simply, to cat. To vomit; generally from over indulgence in drink.—See Accounts and Cast up Accounts.

1609. Armin, Maids of More-cl. (1880), 70. Ile baste their bellies and their lippes till we haue ierk’t the cat with our three whippes. [m.]

1630. J. Taylor (‘Water P.’), Brood Cormor, wks. III., p. 5, col. 1. You may not say hee’s drunke.… For though he be as drunke as any rat He hath but catcht a fox, or whipt the cat.

1830. Marryat, Kings Own, ch. xxxii. I’m cursedly inclined to shoot the cat.

To whip the cat, otherwise to draw through the water with a cat, phr. (old).—1. To indulge in practical jokes. [For suggested origin, see quotation 1785.]

1614. B. Jonson, Barthol. Fair, I., iv. [n.]. I’ll be drawn with a good gib cat through the great pond at home. [m.]

1690. B. E., Dictionary Canting Crew. Catting: drawing a Fellow through a Pond with a cat.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Cat-whipping or whipping the cat: a trick often practised on ignorant country fellows, vain of their strength; by laying a wager with them, that they may be pulled through a pond by a cat; the bet being made, a rope is fixed round the waist of the party to be catted, and the end thrown across the pond, to which the cat is also fastened by a pack-thread, and three or four sturdy fellows are appointed to lead and whip the cat; these, on a signal given, seize the end of the cord, and pretending to whip the cat, haul the astonished booby through the water.

2. (tailors’, etc.).—To work at private houses. In America the term is also used by carpenters and other itinerants, especially schoolmasters who ‘board round.’ At one time it was more convenient to pay in kind than in currency; and, in rural New England, a school-teacher would be ‘boarded round’ amongst his pupils’ parents as a part of his remuneration. (See Washington Irving’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow.) This was called whipping the cat.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, 648. Whipping the cat: an old English phrase, used only by tailors and carpenters, has maintained its existence in New England, Pennsylvania, and a few other States, where it denotes the annual visit of a tailor to repair the clothes of a household. It is said to have originated in a very rough practical joke, which bears the same name in Hampshire, England, and of which, it is surmised, the tailor may have been the victim (J. R. Lowell). The simple tailors of former days liked thus to go from house to house in the rural districts, providing the families with clothing. The chief romance for the happy ‘Schneider’ was in the abundant and wholesome cheer of the farmer who employed him, and as his annual visits fell in the pudding and sausage season, he was usually crammed with that kind of ‘vegetables,’ as he facetiously called them, to his heart’s content. The only objection made to catwhipping, was that it afforded no opportunity to ‘cabbage,’ and in former days this was a serious grievance. The introduction of large manufacturing establishments, low-priced ready-made clothing, and the advent of the sewing-machine, have now nearly made an end to this itinerant occupation. The terms catwhipper and catwhipping were often facetiously, and [51]sometimes very irreverently, applied to other itinerant professions: even ‘schoolmasters’—there were no ‘teachers,’ much less ‘educators,’ in those benighted days—were called catwhippers, when they boarded, as was quite usual, in turns with the parents of their scholars. Itinerating preachers also were, by the initiated, included in this category.

To see how the cat will jump, phr. (common).—To watch the course of events. An American equivalent is to sit on the fence.—See Fence and Jumping Cat.

1827. Scott, in Croker Pap. (1884), I., xi., 319. Had I time, I believe I would come to London merely to see how the cat jumped. [m.]

1853. Bulwer Lytton, My Novel, IV., p. 228. ‘But I rely equally on your friendly promise.’ ‘Promise! No—I don’t promise. I must first see how the cat jumps.’

1859. Lever, Davenport Dunn, III., 229. You’ll see with half an eye how the cat jumps.

1874. Sat. Rev., p. 139. This dismays the humble Liberal of the faint Southern type, who thinks that there are subjects as to which the heads of his party need not wait to see how the cat jumps.

1887. ‘Pol. 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.

You kill my cat and I’ll kill your dog, phr. (common). ‘Ca’ me, ‘ca’ thee; an exchange in the matter of ‘scratching backs’—in Fr. passez moi la casse, et je t’enverrai la senne.

To let the cat out of the bag, phr. (common).—To reveal a secret; a variant with a slightly modified sense is to put one’s foot in it. [This and the kindred phrase ‘to buy a pig in a poke,’ are said to have had their origin in the bumpkin’s trick of substituting a cat for a young pig and bringing it to market in a bag. If the customer were wary the cat was let out of the bag, and there was no deal.]

1760. Lond. Mag., XXIX., p.224. We could have wished that the author … had not let the cat out of the bag. [m.]

1782. Wolcot (‘P. Pindar’), Pair of Lyric Epistles To the Reader. But, to use a sublime phrase, as it would be letting the cat out of the bag, I have fortune.

1811. C. K. Sharpe, in Correspondence (1888), I., 475. She has let a wicked cat out of the bag to G. M. respecting his mother.

1855. Mrs. Gaskell, North and South, ch. xliv. You needn’t look so frightened because you have let the cat out of the bag to a faithful old hermit like me. I shall never name his having been in England.

1888. Macdermott [on the case of Crawford v. Dilke]. This noble representative of everything good in Chelsea, He let the cat, the naughty cat, right out of the Gladstone bag.

Who ate or stole the cat? phr. (common).—A gentleman whose larder was frequently broken by bargees, had a cat cooked and placed as a decoy. It was taken and eaten, and became a standing jest against the pilferers.

To lead a cat and dog life phr. (popular).—To quarrel night and day. Said of married (or unmarried) couples.

To turn cat in the pan, phr. (old).—To ‘rat’; to reverse one’s position through self-interest; to play the turncoat. [The derivation is absolutely unknown. The one generally received—that ‘cat’ is a corruption of ‘cate’ or ‘cake’—is historically untenable.]

c. 1559. Old Play, ‘Marriage of Witt and Wisdome.’ Sc. 3. Now am I true araid like a phesitien; I am as very a turncote as the wethercoke of Poles; For now I will calle my name Due Disporte. So, so, finely I can turne the catt in the pane. [52]

1593. 4 Lett. Conf., in wks. (Grosart) II., 286. If it bee a home booke at his first conception, let it be a home booke still, and turne not cat in the panne.

1625. Bacon, Essays (of Cunning), p. 441 (Arber). There is a Cunning, which we in England call, The Turning of the Cat in the Pan, which is, when that which a Man says to another, he laies it, as if Another had said it to him.

c. 1720. Song, ‘The Vicar of Bray.’ ‘When George in pudding time came in, And moderate men looked big, sir, He turned a cat-in-pan once more, And so became a Whig, sir.’

1816. Scott, Old Mortality, ch. xxxv. ‘O, this precious Basil will turn cat in pan with any man!’ replied Claverhouse.

To feel as though a cat had kittened in one’s mouth, phr. (popular).—To ‘have a mouth’ after drunkenness.

Many other phrases and proverbial sayings might, more or less justifiably, be classed as slang in this connection; e.g., to fight like Kilkenny cats; to grin like a Cheshire cat; not room enough to swing a cat; able to make a cat speak, and a man dumb; who shot the cat (the last a reproach addressed to volunteers), etc.

Catamaran, subs. (colloquial).—A vixenish old woman; also a cross-grained person of either sex. [Cf., Catamount. Probably associated with the colloquial use of cat, a quarrelsome, vicious woman]. For synonyms, see Geezer.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, ch. vi. The cursed drunken old catamaran, cried he, I’ll go and cut her down by the head.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. lxxv. ‘What a woman that Mrs. Mackenzie is!’ cries F. B. ‘What an infernal tartar and catamaran!’

1861. Macmillan’s Magazine, June, p. 113. She was such an obstinate old catamaran.

Catamount, Catamountain, or Cat O’Mountain, subs. (American).—A shrew. [Cf., Catamaran and Beaumont and Fletcher’s use of the word for a wild man from the mountains, itself a transferred sense of catamount = a leopard or panther.]

1616. Fletcher, Cust. of Country, I., i. The rude claws of such a cat o’ mountain!

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., ch., xii. She was a dreadful cross-grained woman, a real catamount, as savage as a she-bear that has cubs.

Cat and Mouse, subs., phr. (rhyming slang).—A house.

Catastrophe, subs. (old).—The tail or latter end. Cf., the Falstaffism ‘I’ll tickle your catastrophe.’

Catawampous, Catawamptiously, adj. and adv. (popular).—With avidity; fiercely; eagerly; or violently destructive. See Catawampus.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch., xxi., 216. There air some catawampous chawers in the small way too, as graze upon a human pretty strong.

1853. Lytton, My Novel, bk. X., ch. xx. If a man like me … is to be catawampously champed up by a mercenary selfish cormorant of a capitalist.

18(?). F. Burnand, The White Cat. Don’t hurt me; spare a poor unhappy pup, Or I’ll be catawampously chawed up.

Catawampus, subs.—Vermin, especially those that sting and bite. [Apparently formed from Catawampous (q.v.).]

1880. Mortimer Collins, Thoughts in My Garden, vol. I., p. 244. Look at their [spiders’] value in destroying wasps [53]and blue-bottles, gnats, midges, and all manner of catawampuses, as the ladies call them.

Catch, subs. (colloquial).—A man or woman matrimonially desirable; formerly in a canting sense, a prize or booty [see quot. 1877]. A woman who is ‘no great catch’ is in French argot termed une grognotte.

1593. Shakspeare, Taming of the Shrew, Act ii., Sc. 1, 333. Bap. The gain I seek is—quiet in the match. Gre. No doubt but he hath got a quiet catch.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.) Catch (s.) … also a cant word for a prize, booty, etc.

1842. Comic Almanack, p. 333. Angelina Ampletin was one of the prettiest girls in Pimlico, and if there was any truth in rumour, very far from one of the worst catches.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 244. Well, as it was her catch, I thought as I’d consult along of her whether we should take the £200.

Catch or Cut a Crab, verbal phr. (common).—There are various ways of catching a crab, as for example, (1) to turn the blade of the oar or ‘feather’ under water at the end of the stroke, and thus be unable to recover; (2) to lose control of the oar at the middle of the stroke by ‘digging’ too deeply; or (3) to miss the water altogether. An English variant is to ‘capture a cancer,’ an American form being ‘to catch a lobster.’—See Lobster.

1844. Puck, p. 134. Now, Johnson, thou wilt surely rue! Didst ever pull before? (Brown had been up to fish at Kew. And caught—of crabs—a store.)

1849. John Smith (J. D. Lewis) Hark, the gun has gone thrice, and now off in a trice, With the Johnians we’re soon on a level. When Hicks, who’s no dab, with his oar cuts a crab, And our coxswain he swears like the Devil.

1857. Hood, Pen and Pencil Pictures, p. 144. Awful muff! Can’t pull two strokes without catching as many crabs; he’d upset the veriest tub on the river.

1872. Daily News, 10 Sept. ‘London Rowing Club Regatta.’ The excitement and fun engendered by the numerous scrimmages resulted in ‘fouls’ and crabs of most portentous magnitude.

Catch a Tartar, verbal phr. (popular).—To unexpectedly meet with one’s superior; to fall into one’s own trap; having a design upon another, to be caught oneself. [Explanation may be found, perhaps, in the horror born of the atrocities of the Tartar hordes who devastated Eastern Europe in the reign of St. Louis of France. Cf., Tartar, a person of irritable temper.] An American variant is to catch on a snag (q.v.).

1682. Dryden, Prol. to King and Queen, in wks., p. 456 (Globe). When men will needlessly their freedom barter for lawless power, sometimes they catch a tarter.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xxx. Who, looking at me with a contemptuous sneer, exclaimed, Ah, ah! have you caught a tarter?

1778. Fanny Burney, Diary, 23 Aug. ‘Ah,’ he (Johnson) added, ‘they will little think what a tarter you carry to them.’

1857. O. W. Holmes, Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, ch. v. When the Danish pirates made descents upon the English coast, they caught a few tartars occasionally, in the shape of Saxons.

c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, ‘Unhappy Because it Can’t Last.’ They say two heads are better than one, so I took a wife and caught a tartar, and found two of a trade could never agree, and proved the proverb that marry in haste repent at leisure.

Catch-’em-Alive, or Alivo, subs. phr. (common).—1. A fly-paper. [54][In allusion to the sticky substance smeared over the paper which, attracting the flies, literally ‘catches them alive.’]

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 38. They used to … call ’em Egyptian flypapers, but now they use merely the word ‘flypapers,’ or ‘fly-destroyers,’ or ‘fly-catchers,’ or ‘catch ’em alive, oh’s.’

1857. Dickens, Dorrit, wks. I., ch. xvi., 122. And such coats of varnish that every holy personage served for a fly trap, and became what is now called in the vulgar tongue a catch-em-alive, O.

1890. Globe, 16 April, p. 1, col. 3. Typhoid microbes take as kindly to sluggish waters as flies do to catch-em-alive-oh’s.

Catch-Fart, subs. (old).—A footman, or page boy. [A combination of catch, in its ordinary sense, + fart (q.v.). Fourbesque, bolognino and falcone (‘a falcon’).]

Catch it, verb (colloquial).—To get a scolding or castigation; to get into trouble; to ‘come in for it.’ For synonyms, see Tan and Wig.

1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ch. xxxviii. We all thought Tom was about to catch it.

1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, xvi., 218. He catches it if he does not bring home a fair proportion to his wife.

Catch me! or Catch me at it! phr. (colloquial).—An intimation that the person speaking will not do such and such a thing. An analogous phrase is don’t you wish you may get it!

1780. Mrs. Cowley, The Belle’s Stratagem, Act iii., Sc. 2. First Gent. May I be a bottle, and an empty bottle, if you catch me at that! Why, I am going to the masquerade.

1830. Galt, Lawrie, T., V., iv. (1849), 207. Catch me again at such costly daffin.

1846. Dickens, Dombey and Son, I., p. 112, col. 3. ‘You have a committee to-day at three, you know.’ ‘And one at three, three-quarters,’ added Mr. Dombey, ‘Catch you at forgetting anything!’ exclaimed Carker.

Catch on, verb (colloquial).—To understand; to grasp in meaning; to apprehend; to attach or fix oneself to; to quickly seize an opportunity and turn it to advantage. [A literal translation, in fact, into the language of slang of the Latin apprehendere.] A French equivalent is piger, but for synonyms, see Twig.

1884. Lisbon (Dakota) Star, 27 June. Now is the time to catch on in order to keep up with the procession. [m.]

1889. The Nation, 19 Dec., p. 499, col. 1.… The farmer knows only the traffic of his market town and his county, and he is slow to catch on to the new and progressive.

1890. Globe, Feb. 13, p. 1. col. 5. Well, assuming that the notion were to catch on, and the example of this enterprising mother to be generally imitated in the upper orbits of the social system, would there be a balance of advantage to the nation?

Catch on a Snag, verbal phr. (American).—to catch a Tartar (q.v.); to meet with one’s superior.

1887. Stuart Cumberland, The Queen’s Highway. In rough Western parlance a man who falls in with such a player (a man, who, bearing a high reputation for all-round godliness, is a crack ‘poker’ player) catches on a snag, and it is said that everyone who visits the [55]North-West comes across, sooner or later, the snag on which he is to catch.

Catch on the Hop, verbal phr. (popular).—Properly to catch or have on the hip, as Gratiano catches Shylock.—See Hop.

c. 1869. The Chickaleary Bloke, sung by Vance. For to get me on the hop, or on my ‘tibby’ drop, You must wake up very early in the morning.

Catch-Pole, subs. (old).—A warrant-officer; a bum-bailiff. A very old term formerly in respectable use, but employed contemptuously from the sixteenth century. [From catch, to arrest, or stop, + pole or poll, the head.] Fourbesque, foco or fuoco = fire. Cf., Bum-bailiff.

1377. Langl., P. Pl., bk. XVIII., 46. Crucifige, quod a cacchepolle I warante hym a wicche. [m.]

c. 1510. Barclay, Mrr. Good Mann. (1570), G., iv. Be no towler, catchpoll, nor customer.

1601. B. Johnson, Poetaster, III. Catchpole, loose the gentlemen, or by my velvet arms, etc.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. xcvii. The catchpole, after a diligent search, had an opportunity of executing the writ upon the defendant.

1859. Sala, Gaslight and Daylight, ch. xiii. You are brought there by a catchpole, and kept there under lock and key until your creditors are paid.

Catch the Wind of the Word, verbal phr. (Irish).—To quickly understand the meaning of what is said. For synonyms, see Twig.

Catchy, adj. (colloquial).—Vulgarly or cheaply attractive; of a quality to take the eye or ear; easily caught and remembered (as a tune). Wrongly used in quot. 1885.

1885. S. O. Addy, in N. and Q., 6 S., xii., 143. This seemed to be like one of those catchy questions which examiners in law and history are said to ‘stump’ the candidates.

Caterpillar, subs. (old).—A soldier. For synonyms, see Mudcrusher.

Caterwaul, verb (colloquial).—Properly to make a noise like cats at rutting time; to woo, to ‘make love.’ The quotations show the process of transition from the old figurative usage of the word, to be ‘in heat,’ ‘to be lecherous,’ to the current sense. For synonyms, see Firkytoodle.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, in wks. V., 284. The friars and monks caterwawld from the abbots and priors to the novices.

1700. Congreve, Way of the World, Act i., Sc. 9. An old aunt, who loves catterwauling better than a conventicle.

1771. Smollet, Humphry Clinker, l. 64. I hope you have worked a reformation among them [servant-maids], as I exhorted you in my last, and set their hearts upon better things than they can find in junketting and caterwauling with the fellows of the country.

1884. Hawley Smart, Post to Finish, ch. xvii. From what I hear, you came to Riddleton fooling after my daughter. Now, I’ll have no caterwauling of that sort.

Catever, subs. (common).—A queer, or singular affair; anything poor or bad. [From the Lingua Franca, and Italian cattivo, bad.] Variously spelled by the lower orders.—Hotten.

Catfish Death, subs. (American).—Suicide by drowning.

c. 1889. Chicago Press [quoted by Barrère].… driving his sweetheart to lunacy and a catfish death, by his dime-museum freaks. [56]

Catgut-Scraper, subs. (common).—A fiddler. [From catgut, the material of which fiddle strings are made, + scraper, one that rubs or scrapes.] Sometimes simply scraper or catgut; the latter of which is also used to signify the music produced. Also Rosin-the-bow and Teaser of the Catgut.

1633. Massinger, Guardian, IV., ii. Wire-string and catgut, men and strong-breathed heautbois. [m.]

1785. Burns, Jolly Beggars. Her charms had struck a sturdy caird, As weel’s a poor gut-scraper.

1796. Wolcot (‘P. Pindar’), Tristia, wks. (1812) V., 267. Behold! the Catgut-scraper with his croud Commands at will the house of hospitality.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 21. Or they will call to the orchestra, saying, ‘Now then you catgut-scraper! Let’s have a ha’purth of liveliness.’

Cat Harping Fashion, adv. phr. (nautical).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Drinking cross ways, and not as usual over the left thumb.

Cat Heads, subs. (old).—The paps. For synonyms, see Dairy.

Cathedral, subs. (Winchester College).—A high hat. [So called because only worn when going to the Cathedral.] For synonyms, see Golgotha.

1690. B. E., Dictionary Canting Crew. Cathedral: old-fashioned, out of Date, Ancient.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Cathedral: old-fashioned, an old cathedral bedstead, chair, etc.

Catharine Puritans, subs. phr. (University).—Members of St. Catharine’s Hall, at Cambridge. [Puritan from the pun on the words Catharine and Καθαίρειν = to purify.] They were also called Doves (q.v.).

Catherine Hayes, subs. (Australian).—See quot. [The derivation may presumedly be traced to the immense popularity of the Irish singer at the antipodes.]

1859. Frank Fowler, Southern Light and Shadows, p. 53. [A liquor consisting of] claret, sugar, and nutmeg.

Cat’s, subs. (University).—A short name for St. Catharine’s Hall.

Cat’s Men, subs. (University).—Members of St. Catharine’s Hall.

Catherine Wheel.—See Cartwheel.

Cat-Lap, subs. (common).—Thin potations of any sort, especially tea. Such a beverage being so feeble as to be only fit for women. For synonyms, see Scandal broth.

1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, ch. xiii. We have tea and coffee aboard … You are at the age to like such catlap.

1864. M. E. Braddon, Aurora Floyd, ch. xvii. ‘I’ve mashed the tea for ’ee,’ said the ‘softy’; ‘I thought you’d like a coop.’ The trainer shrugged his shoulders. ‘I can’t say I’m particular attached to the cat-lap,’ he said, laughing.

Cat-Market, subs. (common).—A number of people all talking at once. ‘You make a row like a cat-market’—a general ‘caterwauling.’ [57]

Cat-Match, subs. (old).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Cat Match: when a rook or cully is engaged amongst bad bowlers.

Catoller or Catolla, subs. (old).—A noisy, prating fellow.—See quot.

1832. Pierce Egan, Book of Sports, p. 70. [Catolla is given as a foolish, betting man.]

Cat-o’-Nine-Tails or Cat, subs. (common).—A nine-lashed scourge now used for the punishment of criminals, but until 1881 the authorised means of punishment in the British army and navy. [From cat, a beast with claws, + o’ + nine tails, the nine knotted lashes.] History is against the view of some military authorities that the cat-o’-nine-tails was a Batavian importation of William III., and that the word ‘cat’ is derived from the Sclavonic kat, an executioner, or from katowae, to lash or torture. Another theory is that it was introduced at the time of the Armada (1588), when vast numbers of these ‘straunge whips’ were found in the captured ships of the Spaniards. A ballad of the period declares of the Spaniards that—

They made such whippes wherewith no man Would seeme to strike a dogge; So strengthened eke with brasen tagges And filde so roughe and thinne, That they would force at every lash The bloud abroad to spinne.

This view is not inconsistent with the quotations, the first of which antedates the earliest given in the N.E.D. by thirty years.] In prison parlance the cat-o’-nine-tails is known as number one or the nine-tailed bruiser (q.v.), the birch as number two (q.v.).

1665. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. iii., p. 28 (1874). A Cat of Nine-tails (as he called it) being so many small cords.

1702. Vanbrugh, False Friend, prologue. You dread reformers of an impious age, You awful cat-a-nine-tails to the stage.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. v. ‘I’ll bring him to the gangway, and anoint him with a cat-a-nine-tails.’

1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., pt. III., bk. VII., ch. iii. Rash coalised kings, such a fire have ye kindled; yourselves fireless, your fighters animated only by drill-sergeants, mess-room moralities, and the drummer’s cat.

Cat-Party; also Bitch-Party, subs. (common).—A party consisting entirely of women. [From cat, a woman, + party.] Cf., Stag-party, and see Hen-Party for synonyms.

Cats, subs. (commercial).—Atlantic Seconds were formerly so-called for telegraphic purposes.

Cats and Dogs. To rain cats and dogs, sometimes extended to and pitchforks and shovels, phr. (popular).—To rain heavily. [The French catadoupe, a waterfall, has been suggested as the origin. Another etymon has been found in the Greek κατὰ δόξαν in reference to the downpour being out of the common. Possibly Swift, who seems to have been the first to have used the expression, may have evolved it out of his own description of a city shower (1710).]

Now from all parts the swelling kennels flow, And bear their trophies with them as they go.… Drown’d puppies, stinking sprats, all drench’d in mud, Dead cats, and turnip-tops, come tumbling down the flood.]

1738. Swift, Pol. Convers., dial. 2. I know Sir John will go, though he was sure it would rain cats and dogs. [58]

1819 (Feb. 25). Shelley to Peacock, in Letters, etc. (Camelot), p. 264. After two months of cloudless serenity, it began raining cats and dogs.

1837. Barham, I. L. (Blasphemer’s Warning). But it rains cats and dogs and you’re fairly wet through Ere you know where to turn, what to say, or to do.

Cat’s Foot. To live under the cat’s foot, phr. (old).—To be under petticoat government; hen-pecked. Cf., Apron-string.—See Cat’s-paw.

Cat’s Head, subs. (Winchester College).—The end of a shoulder of mutton; further explained by quotation.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 84. His meal [dinner] took place at six o’clock p.m. in College (in Commoners’ it was at one); it was ample in quantity, and excellent in quality. That of the Præfects was nicely served in joints, that of the Inferiors was divided into portions, (Dispars; there were, if I remember rightly, six of these to a shoulder, and eight to a leg of mutton, the other joints being divided in like proportion. All these ‘Dispars’ had different names; the thick slice out of the centre was called ‘a Middle Cut,’ that out of the shoulder a ‘Fleshy,’ the ribs ‘Racks,’ the loin ‘Long Dispars’; these were the best, the more indifferent were the end of the shoulder, or Cat’s head, the breast, or ‘Fat Flab,’ etc., etc.)

Catskin-Earls, subs. (parliamentary).—The three senior earls in the House of Lords, viz., the Earls of Shrewsbury, Derby, and Huntingdon, the only three earldoms before the seventeenth century now existing, save those that (like Arundel, Rutland, etc.), are merged in higher titles, and the anomalous earldom of Devon (1553), resuscitated in 1831. [A correspondent of Notes and Queries (7 S. ix., p. 314) suggests that the reason of the application may be that in the seventeenth or late in the sixteenth century an order was issued for the use of ermine instead of the skin of cats—(but were such skins then used?)—for the robes of a peer. If so, however, it is curious that there are not ‘catskin dukes’ and ‘catskin barons’ as well. There is yet another theory: an earl’s robes consist (now) of but three rows of ermine; but in some early representations they are shown with four, the same as (now) a duke; and it has been suggested that these four rows (quatre-skins) may have given the name of catskin.]

1861–75. Dean Hook, Life of Cardinal Pole, vide note, p. 264. The Earl of Huntingdon is one of the three Catskin Earls of the present day.

Cat’s-Meat, subs. (common).—The lungs. [The ‘lights’ or lungs of animals are usually sold to feed cats.]

Catso, subs. and intj. (old).—The penis. Murray says: ‘Also catzo.’ [a. It. cazzo = membrum virile. Also an exclamation, Cf., the English ejaculation, Balls! Florio says: ‘also as cazzica, interjection, “What! God’s me! God forbid! tush!” ’] Frequent in seventeenth century in the Italian senses; also = rogue, scamp, cullion. Cf., Fr. cul, couillé and couillon as terms of contempt; also see the later Gadso.

Cat’s-Paw or Cat’s-Foot, subs. (common).—A dupe or tool. [A reference to the fable (Bertrand et Raton) of a monkey using the paw of a cat, dog, or fox, to pull roasted chestnuts off the fire, current in the sixteenth century, but varying considerably in details. The earliest printed [59]version occurs in John Sambucus’ Emblemata (Plantin, Antwerp, 1564), where the sufferer is a dog, and not a cat. There is, however, a story of the same kind told (Maiol. Coll. vii., scil Simon Maiolus, Astensis, Episcopus Vulturariensis, Dies Caniculares, h.e. Colloquia XXIII., Physica, Collog. vii., p. 249, Ursellis, 1600) of Pope Julius II., 1503–13 [see N. and Q., 6 S., viii., 35.]]

[1657. M. Hawke. Killing is murder. These he useth as the Monkey did the cat’s paw to scrape the nuts out of the fire.]

1782. Geo. Parker, Humorous Sketches, p. 140. They lug in Spain, to their assistance, a cat’s-paw made.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. lvi. Sir Robert, who had rather begun to suspect that his plebeian neighbour had made a cat’s-paw of him, inclined his head stiffly.

1878. M. E. Braddon, Cloven Foot, ch. xli. He felt angry with himself for having been in some wise a cat’s-paw to serve the young man’s malice.

Cat-Sticks, subs. (old).—Thin legs. [In comparison to the stick used by boys in the game of tip-cat.] For synonyms see Drumsticks.

Cat’s-Water, subs. (common).—Gin. [From cat, a woman + water, a white liquid.] Cf., Bitches’ wine = champagne. For synonyms, see Drinks.

Cattie, adj. and adv. (printers’).—An imperfect or ‘smutty’ look on a printed sheet, caused by an oily or unclean roller.

Catting, verbal subs. (common).—1. Vomiting.—See Cat, verb.

Cattle, subs. (common).—A term of contempt applied to human beings. Cf., Queer cattle, Kittle cattle. The generic names of the lower creation are pretty generally used in such transferred senses; e.g., Queer fish, Downy bird, Pigeon, Rook, Sad dog, etc. In England mostly employed disparagingly, but in the U.S.A. bug—here the name of one of the most offensive of vermin, but there the common term for all varieties of beetles—is used in a good sense; e.g., Big bug.

1579. Gosson, School of Abuse, p. 27 (Arber’s ed.). We have infinite Poets, and Pipers, and suche peeuishe cattel among vs in Englande.

1600. Shakspeare, As You Like It, Act iii., Sc. 2, 435. Boyes and women are … cattle of this colour.

188(?) G. R. Sims, Dagonet Ballads (‘Moll Jarvis’). Queer cattle is women to deal with? Lord bless ye, yer honour, they are!

[Cattle is often used of horses. See Harrison Ainsworth’s Rookwood: Have you any horses? Our Cattle are all blown. Also Goldsmith’s ‘She Stoops to Conquer.’]

Cattle-Bug, subs. (American).—See Bug, subs., sense 4.

Caudge-Pawed, adj. (old).—Left-handed.—Grose.

Caught on the Fly, phr. (American).—‘Caught in the act.’ An equivalent of ‘caught on the hop’ or ‘hip.’—See Hop.

Cauliflower, subs. (old).—1. A clerical wig supposed to resemble [60]a cauliflower; modish in the time of Queen Anne.

3. (popular).—The foaming head of a tankard of beer. In France, a glass of beer without any head is termed un bock sans linge or sans faux-col.

1882. Daily Telegraph, Oct. 10, p. 5, col. 4. This gave the porter a fine frothy or cauliflower head. [m.]

4. (military).—In plural.—The Forty-seventh Regiment of Foot, so called from its white facings. It is also known as The Lancashire Lads from its county title.

Caulk, subs. and verb (nautical).—1. Sleep; to sleep. In substantive form it sometimes appears as caulking. To caulk formerly meant ‘to pick out a soft plank,’ i.e., to lie down on deck; to sleep with one’s clothes on. [Cf., Bundling.]

1836. Marryat, Midshipman Easy, ch. xix. But it’s no go with old Smallsole, if I want a bit of caulk.

1851. Chambers’ Papers, No. 52, p. 30. Sleeping upon deck is called, I know not why, calking.

2. Verb.—To cease; to shut up; i.e., to stop one’s talk or leave off talking. [This usage is obviously derived from the legitimate meaning of the word, to stop up crevices and seams.] For synonyms, see Stow it.

3. (common).—To copulate; to do the ‘act of kind.’ For synonyms, see Ride.

Caulker, subs. (common).—1. A dram; a stiff glass of grog—generally applied to a finishing bumper. When this happens to be sherry and follows the drinking of red wines it is called a whitewash (q.v.). [There are three suggested derivations: (1) that it is a punning reference to caulking, that which serves to keep out the wet; (2) because such a draught takes a deal of swallowing; and (3) that it is a corruption of corker (q.v.), a regular stopper.] For synonyms, see Go.

1808. J. Mayne, Siller Gun, 89 (Jam.). The magistrates wi’ loyal din, Tak off their cau’kers. [m.]

1836. M. Scott, Cruise of the Midge, ch. vi. We … finished off with a caulker of good cognac.

1849. C. Kingsley, Alton Locke, ch. xxi. ‘Take a caulker? Summat heavy, then?’

1871. A. Forbes, My Experiences of the War between France and Germany, II., p. 201. The Mobile officer joins us heartily in a caulker, and does not need to be pressed to take a little supper.

1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, ch. viii. The caulker of rum served out under the break of the poop by the light of a bull’s-eye lamp.

2. (popular).—A lie; anything surprising or incredible. For synonyms, see Whopper.

1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, ch. xxxi. I also took care that she should never afterwards be able to charge me with having told her a real caulker.

Caution, subs. (popular).—A colloquialism used both of men and things. Anything out of the common, or that conveys a warning; something wonderful or staggering; something to be avoided. Anything that causes surprise, wonder, fear, or indeed any uncommon emotion, is a caution to this, that, or the other. [61]At Oxford in 1865 it was employed to designate a ‘guy’ or ‘cure.’

1835. C. F. Hoffman, Winter in the West, p. 234. The way the icy blast would come down the bleak shore was a caution.

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. ii. ‘The way he cleaned out a southerner, a fine young Carolinian, who made a series of matches with him, was, as the Squire himself would have said, a caution.’

1861. Whyte Melville, Good for Nothing, ch. i. Such a clench of the slender hand and stamp of the slender foot as constitute what our American friends term a caution.

Cautionary, adj. (American).—Pertaining to that which is a caution (q.v.).

1843–4. Haliburton, Sam Slick in England. Well, the way the cow cut dirt was cautionary; she cleared stumps, ditches, windfalls, and everything.

Cavaulting or Cavolting, verbal subs. (old).—Sexual intercourse. [From the Lingua Franca cavolta, the equivalent of horsing or riding, both of which are frequently used in the same sense. Italian cavaliero = a rake or debauchee.] Cf., Cavort. For synonyms, see Greens.

Cavaulting School, subs. (old).—A house of ill-fame.—See Cavaulting, and for synonyms, see Nanny-shop.

Cave or Cave in, verb (American).—To give way when opposition can no longer be maintained; to break down; to ‘turn up.’ [Derived from the practice of navvies in digging earthworks, when the lower part is undermined until it can no longer sustain the overhanging mass. Murray says all the earliest instances of cave in, in print, are from America, and its literary use appears to have arisen there; but, as the word is given as East Anglian by Forby [1830], and is widely used in Eng. dialects, it is generally conjectured to have reached the U.S. from East Anglia.] The French has barrer; the Spanish acomodarse; and the Fourbesque battere.

English Synonyms. To knuckle under; knock under; give in; sing small; turn it up; chuck it up; jack up; climb down (q.v.); throw up the sponge; chuck it; go down; go out; cut it; cut the rope (pugilistic), etc.

1837–40. Haliburton, Sam Slick, Hum. Nat., 55 (Bardett). He was a plucky fellow, and warn’t a goin’ to cave in that way.