Chapter XII: Part 12

1740. North, Examen, p. 129. To that [Oates’s plot] and the
author’s bilk account of it I am approaching.

Verb (common).—To cheat; defraud; evade one’s obligations; escape from, etc. (see subs., sense 2, and compare with quotations). For synonyms, see Stick. Cf., Bite.

1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, Act v., Sc. 3. 1. Knight: Ay, a
great lawyer that shall be nameless bilked me too.

1729. Gay, Polly, Act ii., Sc. 9. Honour plays a bubbles part, ever
bilk’d and cheated.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Bilk (v.), to cheat, balk,
disappoint, deceive, gull, or bubble; also to go out of a
publick-house or tavern, without paying the reckoning.

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. XIV., ch. iv. ‘I promise you,’
answered Nightingale, ‘I don’t intend to bilk my lodgings; but I
have a private reason for not taking a formal leave.’

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bilke. ‘Let us bilk
the rattling cove’; let us cheat the hackney coachman of his fare:
bilking a coachman, a box keeper, or a poor whore, was formerly
among men of the town thought a gallant action.

1847. Lytton, Lucretia, pt. II., ch. xix. ‘Are you playing me
false? Have you set another man on the track with a view to bilk me
of my promised fee?’

To bilk the blues, phr. (thieves’).—To evade the police.—See Blues.

To bilk the schoolmaster, phr. (common).—To obtain knowledge or experience without paying for it.

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 5. Log. Well,
don’t grumble—every one must pay for his learning—and you wouldn’t
bilk the schoolmaster, would you? But, come, I’m getting merry; so
if you wish for a bit of good truth, come with me, and let’s have a
dive among the cadgers in the back slums, in the Holy Land.

Bilker, subs. (common).—A cheat; a swindler. Sometimes abbreviated to bilk (sense 3).

Bilking, subs. (common).—The action of cheating or swindling.

Bill, subs. (Eton College).—1. A list of the boys who have to go to the head master at 12 o’clock; also of those who get off absence (q.v.), or names-calling, e.g., an eleven playing in a match are thus exempt.

1876. Brinsley Richards, Seven Years at Eton. Some of the small
boys whom this delightful youth tempted to ape his habits, had
often occasion to rue it when they staggered back to college giddy
and sick, carrying with them a perfume which told its tale to their
tutors, and caused them to be put in the bill.

2. (Harrow School.)—Names-calling.

To hang up a bill, phr. (American political).—Explained by quotation.

1887. Cornhill Magazine, June, p. 628. To hang up a bill is to pass
it through one or more of its stages, and then to lay it aside and
defer its further consideration for a more or less indefinite
period.

To rush a bill, phr. (American political).—To expedite the passing of a bill through the Senate and Congress. Cf., Rush.

1887. Cornhill Magazine, June, p. 628. To rush a bill is an
expression well known in the American Senate, and occasionally also
used here.

Long or short bill, subs. phr. (thieves’).—A long or short term of imprisonment.

To pay a bill at sight, phr. (old).—Said of a man or woman who is always ready for sexual commerce.

Billbrighter, subs. (Winchester College).—A small fagot used for lighting coal fires in Kitchen. So called from a servant, Bill Bright, who was living in 1830.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 89. The
Kitchen is a spacious apartment with a vaulted roof, occupying the
entire height of the building on the west side of the quadrangle,
and at least half its length; here we might see a few Fags
endeavouring to coax Jem Sims, John Coward, or Mother Mariner (the
cooks), for an extra supply of mashed potatoes, till Kitchen is
cleared by the exasperated Manciple, who has just detected a
delinquent in the act of secreting under his gown an armful of the
small faggots used for lighting the Kitchen fires (called Bill
Brighters), an opportunity for purloining which was never allowed
to slip by a Junior of a properly regulated mind.

Billed Up, ppl. adj. (military).—In the Guards’ regiments to be billed up signifies to be confined to barracks.

Billet, subs. (popular).—A situation; a ‘berth.’ [From billet, an official military order requiring food and shelter to be provided for the soldier bearing it.]

To get a billet, phr. (thieves’)—When in prison to obtain promotion to duties which carry with them certain privileges.

Billiard Block, subs. (society).—An epithet applied to one who puts up with disagreeables for the sake of pecuniary or other advantages; also, occasionally, to one who acts as ‘jackal’ for another and to tame cats (q.v.).

1831. Mrs. Gore, Mothers and Daughters, p. 75. The Duke of L. was
fortunate in somewhat more than the usual apportionments of
souffre-douleurs, doubles, billiard-blocks, living hunters, younger
brothers, to talk to the young lady nieces, etc.

Billiard-Slum, subs. (Australian thieves’).—False pretences.

To give on the billiard-slum.—See Mace.

Billingsgate, subs. (popular).—Foul, coarse language; scurrilous vituperation. From the evil reputation which the market of the same name has enjoyed for centuries. In the seventeenth century references to the violent and abusive speech of those frequenting the place were very numerous. In French an analogous reference is made to the Place Maubert, long noted for its noisy market.

1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, Act iii. Quaint. ... Whose
reputation, though never so clear and evident in the eye of the
world, yet with sharp invectives—Wid. Alias, Billingsgate. Quaint.
With poignant and sour invectives, I say, I will deface.

1711. Defoe, The Review, vol. VII., preface. As long as faction
feeds the flame, we shall never want Billingsgate to revile one
another with.

1712. Spectator, No. 451. Our satire is nothing but ribaldry, and
Billingsgate.

1852. Thackeray, Esmond, ch. ix. If she had come with bowl and
dagger, would have been routed off the ground by the enemy with a
volley of Billingsgate, which the fair person always kept by her.

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack. Messrs. Cannon
and Co. defied the surgeon or anybody else to say the fish was bad,
and kept jabbering away both at the same time and in elegant
Billingsgate, until the constable returned; but he came without the
doctor, who had gone to attend an urgent case out of the town, and
the people at his house could not say when he would return.

To Billingsgate or talk Billingsgate.—To scold; to talk coarsely, or violently; to ‘slang.’

1678. A. Littleton, Lat. Dict. To Billingsgate it. Arripere
maledictum ex trivio.

So also, You’re no better than a Billingsgate fish-fag, i.e., rude and ill-mannered; Billingsgatry, scurrilous language.

Billingsgate Pheasant, subs. (common).—A red herring or bloater. This is also called a two-eyed steak, but for synonyms, see Atlantic-ranger.

Bill of Sale, subs. (old).—Widow’s weeds. Such are also said to have apartments or a house to let (q.v.).

Billy, subs. (thieves’).—1. A pocket or neck-handkerchief, chiefly of silk. The various ‘fancies’ have been thus described:—Belcher, darkish blue ground, large round white spots, with a spot in the centre of darker blue than the ground. This was adopted by Jem Belcher, the pugilist, as his ‘colours,’ and soon became popular amongst ‘the fancy.’ Bird’s-eye wipe, a handkerchief of any colour, containing white spots. The blue bird’s-eye is similar to the Belcher except in the centre. Sometimes a bird’s-eye wipe has a white ground and blue spots. Blood-red fancy, red. Blue Billy, blue ground, generally with white figures. Cream fancy, any pattern on a white ground. King’s man, yellow pattern on a green ground. Randal’s man, green, with white spots; named after the favourite colours of Jack Randal, pugilist. Water’s man, sky coloured. Yellow fancy, yellow with white spots. Yellow man, all yellow. For synonyms generally, see Wipe.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 444. A silk handkerchief.
A billy.

2. (thieves’.)—Stolen metal.—See Billy-hunting.

3. (American thieves’.)—A weapon used by desperadoes, and also by the police when apprehending violence or dangerous resistance on the part of the former when pursued. The construction of a billy varies, but usually it is composed of a piece of untanned cowhide, as hard as horn itself, some six inches in length, twisted or braided into a sort of handle, and covered from end to end with woollen cloth. One extremity is loaded with three quarters of a pound of lead; to the other is firmly attached a loop, large enough to admit a man’s hand, formed of strong linen cord, and intended to allow the billy to hang loose from the wrist, and at the same time prevent it being lost or wrenched from the grasp of its owner. At close quarters, it proves a very savage and formidable arm of defence, resembling, but being much more dangerous than the ordinary slung-shot in use by policemen and others. Twelve ounces of solid lead and raw-hide, dashed against the thickest skull by a strong armed ruffian, would as effectually silence a man as an ounce of the same metal discharged from the bore of a Springfield rifle. It may be remarked that billy in English slang is a policeman’s staff, a very different weapon.

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, Ap. 4. The condition of the man reported
as having been shot twice in the head on Thursday afternoon, is not
at all alarming. It transpires that his wounds are not of the
gun-shot sort, but were inflicted with a billy in the hands of a
Pinkerton man.

4. (popular.)—A policeman’s staff; a truncheon.

1884. Daily News, Ap. 7, p. 5, col. 1. Anderson was first brought
down by a pistol shot, and was then corrected with a billy, till he
declared himself vanquished.

5. (Australian and New Zealand.)—A bushman’s tea-pot or saucepan.

1885. G. A. Sala, in Daily Telegraph, Sept. 3, 5, 5. They got
enough flour from Sydney to make their ‘dampers,’ and enough tea to
boil in their billies.

1886. G. Sutherland, Australia, p. 104. A billy, or small tin can,
for boiling tea or coffee.

1889. Illustrations, Oct., p. 22. Refusing a pressing invitation to
stay and spend Christmas with the good people with whom I had been
boarding, and heeding lightly their remarks as to ‘new chum,’
‘dangers of the bush,’ ‘all alone,’ ‘strange country,’ etc., etc.,
I took a look at the map, and packed my ‘swag.’ Now a ‘swag’
proper, usually contains blankets, towels, ‘billy,’ pannikin, and
many other articles ... Ibid, p. 28. The ‘billy’ is off, but the
roadman (Irish, of course) gives me a grateful cup of beer, and
accompanies me to the hotel another mile down the road.

Billy Barlow, subs. (common).—A street clown; a mountebank—so called from the hero of a slang song. Billy was a real person, semi-idiotic, and though in dirt and rags, fancied himself a swell of the first water. Occasionally he came out with real witticisms. He was a well-known street character about the East-end of London, and died in Whitechapel Workhouse.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 148.
Billy Barlow is another supposed comic character, that usually
accompanies either the street-dancers or acrobats in their
peregrinations. The dress consists of a cocked-hat and red feather,
a soldier’s coat (generally a sergeant’s with sash), white trousers
with the legs tucked into Wellington boots, a large tin eye-glass,
and an old broken and ragged umbrella.

These merry Andrews are otherwise called Jim crows and saltimbancos; among the French, un pitre.

Billy-Boy, subs. (nautical).—A vessel like a galliot, with two masts, the fore-mast square-rigged. They hail mainly from Goole. Also called humber-keels.

Billy-Button, subs. (rhyming slang).—1. Mutton.

2. (tailors’.)—A contemptuous term for a journeyman tailor.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, III., p. 117. And
there I did Jeremiah Stitchem to his Billy Button. Ibid, p. 142. A
laughable sketch entitled Billy Button’s ride to Brentford, and I
used to be Jeremiah Stitchem, a servant of Billy Button’s, that
comes for a ‘situation.’

Billy-Buzman, subs. (thieves’).—A thief whose speciality is silk pocket and neckerchiefs. [From billy, slang for a pocket-handkerchief, + buzman, slang for a thief.]

Billy-Cock, subs. (popular).—A round, low-crowned hat—generally of soft felt, and with a broad brim. Speculation has been rife as to the derivation of the term. Murray says ‘apparently the same as “bully-cocked,” used 1721, probably meaning after the fashion of the “bullies” or hectoring “blades” of the period’ (see quot.). A writer, C. K. C. in Notes and Queries, however [6 S., ii., p. 355], points out that ‘these hats were first made for “Billy Coke”—or to speak more respectfully, Mr. William Coke—a gentleman well known at Melton Mowbray a quarter of a century ago [circa 1853], and used by him at the great shooting parties at Holkham. The old-established hatters in the West-end still call them “Coke hats.”’ Of the reality of the personality of William Coke of Melton fame there is, and can be no doubt, and although the name of the hat may be derived from ‘bully-cock,’ yet the weight of evidence seems to be against it, unless a slight transference of meaning, very common in slang, has taken place.

1721. Amherst, Terræ Filius, No. 46, p. 246. [A description of an
Oxford ‘smart’ or dandy.] When he walks the street, he is easily
distinguish’d by a stiff silk gown, which rustles in the wind, as
he struts along; a flaxen tie-wig, or sometimes a long natural one,
which reaches down below his waist; a broad bully-cock’d hat, or a
square cap of above twice the usual size; white stockings, thin
Spanish leather shoes; his cloaths lined with tawdry silk, and his
shirt ruffled down the bosom as well as at the wrists. Besides all
which marks, he has a delicate jaunt in his gait, and smells very
philosophically of essence.

1862. Life Among Colliers, 35. I was told to take off my bonnet,
and tie a billy-cock [wide-awake] tight down.

1872. Farjeon, Griff, p. 14. With the men, mole-skin trousers,
pea-jackets, billy-cock hats, and dirty pipes predominated.

1884. Pall Mall G., March 28, p. 11, col. 1. He wore a plaited
blouse drawn in at the waist and a dilapidated billy-cock hat.

2. (Australian.)—The billy-cock of the Antipodean colonies differs from the English head-gear known by the name in being made of hard instead of soft felt, and in having a turned up brim.

For synonymous terms of head-gear, see Deerstalker.

Billy-Fencer, subs. (thieves’).—A marine store dealer.—See Fence.

Billy-Goat, subs. (common).—A tufted beard; similar to that of a goat.

1882. Standard, 11 Feb., p. 3, col. 2. Hair turning grey, hazel
eyes, billy-goat beard. [M.]

Billy-Hunting, subs. (thieves’).—1. Collecting and buying old metal.—See Billy-fence.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 465. ‘He
goes tatling and billy-hunting in the country (gathering rags and
buying old metal).’

2. Going out to steal pocket-handkerchiefs.—See Billy, sense 1.

Billy Noodle, subs. (American).—This combination stands in American slang for a fellow whose self-conceit leads him to suppose himself specially attractive to the other sex. [From Billy, a male name, + noodle, a fool.]

Billy-Roller, subs. (common).—See quotations.

1840. Mrs. Trollope, Michael Armstrong, ch. xiv. ‘What is the
billy-roller?’... ‘It’s a long stout stick, ma’am, that’s used
often and often to beat the little ones employed in the mills when
their strength fails.’

1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, III., 1166. This is the billy-roller, so
much talked of in the controversies between the operatives and
masters in the cotton-factories, as an instrument of cruel
punishment to children, though no such machine has been used in
cotton-mills for half a century at least. [M.]

Bim, Bimshire, subs. (West Indian).—Nicknames for a Barbadian and the island of Barbadoes. This place is also sometimes jeeringly called Little England, and Barbadian is contracted into ’Badian.

1887. Paton, Down the Islands. Barbadoes is known all the world
over as the little island that pays her way; it has never been
conquered; its people are enterprising and energetic, go-ahead and
driving; in short, the business men of these islands (the
Caribbees). Barbadian may therefore be said to mean a man with ‘go
and grit, energy and vim.’

Bing.—See Bynge a waste.

Binge, subs. (Oxford Univ.)—A drinking bout.

Bingham’s Dandies, subs. (military).—The 17th Lancers. From its Colonel (Lord Bingham) causing the men’s uniforms to fit so well. It is one of the smartest regiments of the service. They were also at one time christened the Horse Marines (q.v.). Two troops of this showy corps were employed as marines on board the ‘Hermione’ frigate during some severe fighting in the West Indies. Hence the sobriquet now almost quite forgotten. But the 17th are still well-known as the Death or Glory Boys, from their badge, which consists of a death’s head, with the words, ‘or glory.’

Bingo, subs. (old cant).—Brandy, or other spirituous liquor. Thought by Dr. Murray to be a humorous formation from B. for ‘brandy’ (Cf., ‘B. and S.’) and stingo.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of Vulgar Tongue. Bingo, brandy.

1830. Bulwer Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 41.

FIGHTING ATTIE’S SONG.

Air.—‘He was famed for deeds of arms
’Rise at six—dine at two—
Rob your man without ado-
Such my maxims—if you doubt
Their wisdom, to the rightabout!’

(Signing to a sallow gentleman on the same side of the table to
send up the brandy bowl.)

‘Pass round the bingo,—of a gun,
You musty, dusty, husky son!’

(The sallow gentleman in a hoarse voice,)

‘Attie—the bingo’s now with me,
I can’t resign it yet, d’ye see!’

(Attie, seizing the bowl,)

‘Resign, resign it—cease your dust!’

(Wresting it away, and fiercely regarding the sallow gentleman.)

‘You have resigned it—and you must.’

CHORUS.

‘You have resigned it—and you must.’

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, xxxiii. Some soda water with a
dash of bingo clears one’s head in the morning.

For all synonyms, see Drinks.

Hence bingo boy, a tippler; a drunkard. Bingo mort, a drunken woman.—See Mort.

Bingy, adj. (trading).—A term largely used in the butter trade to denote bad, ropy butter; nearly equivalent to vinnied. It may be noted that in the English Dialect Society’s Chestere Glossary, bingy is given as a peculiar clouty or frowsty taste in milk—the first stage of turning sour.

1857. Mrs. Gaskell, Life of C. Bronté, ch. iv. The milk, too, was
often bingy, to use a country expression for a kind of taint that
is far worse than sourness, and suggests the idea that it is caused
by want of cleanliness about the milk pans, rather than by the heat
of the weather.

1860. Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia’s Lovers, ch. xv. I’ve heerd my aunt say
as she found out as summat was wrong wi’ Nancy as soon as the milk
turned bingy, for there ne’er had been such a clean lass about her
milk-cans afore that.

Binnacle Word, subs. (old nautical).—A fine or affected word, which sailors jeeringly offer to chalk up upon the binnacle.—Grose.

Birch-Broom, subs. (rhyming slang).—A room.

Like a birch-broom in a fit, phr. (common).—Said of a rough, towzly head.

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 90. I should
like to know what looks worse than to see a young man or woman with
their hair in an uproar, like a birch-broom in a fit, and some of
you chaps down there look as if you hadn’t had your hair combed
since last reaping time, when you did it with a field-rake, which
is very harrowing to one’s feelings.

Birchin Lane.—To send one to Birchin Lane, phr. (old).—To castigate; to flog. A punning allusion to birch, a rod. Cf., Strap oil, etc.

Bird, subs. (theatrical).—Mr. H. J. Byron says that when a piece is hissed the actors say ‘The bird’s there!’;—the bird alluded to being the goose notorious for its hissing capacities.—See however, Big bird and Goose.

Verb (old).—To thieve; to steal; to look for plunder. So used by Ben Jonson.

Bird-Cage, subs. (common).—1. A bustle, an article of feminine attire, used for extending the skirts of the dress. So called because at one time constructed of such a size and in such a manner as to be not altogether unlike an elongated bird-cage.

1860 circa. Broadside Ballad, ‘The Agricultural Irish Girl,’ verse
3.

She has no great education, for
She’s not much past her letters;
But for acting like a lady, I
Would like to see her betters:
She does not read Ouida’s works,
Nor Bow Bells’ fashions pages;
And she does not wear those things behind,
The ladies call bird-cages.

Among English Synonyms may be mentioned canary cage; backstaircase; false hereafter; bishop.

French Synonyms. Un volapuk; un strapontin; un lieutenant (a pun on tenant lieu de ce qui manque); un nuage (parcequ’il cache la lune; lune = the posteriors).

2. (common.)—A four-wheeled cab. For synonyms, see Growler.

3. (racing.)—The paddock at the Newmarket race-course where saddling takes place. It adjoins the grand stand.

1884. St. James’s Gazette, May 1, p. 1. All the favourites were
brought into the bird-cage. [M.]

Birdlime, subs. (rhyming slang).—1. Time.

2. (old.)—A thief. From the glutinous substance of the same name spread upon twigs for the purpose of catching birds and holding them fast.

1705. Vanbrugh, Confederacy, V., 2. That birdlime there stole it.

1705. Vanbrugh, Confederacy, III., 2. My rogue of a son has laid
his birdlime fingers on’t.

Bird’s-Eye, Bird’s-Eye Fogle, Bird’s-Eye Wipe, subs. (common).—A silk handkerchief spotted with eye-like markings.—See also Billy and Wipe.

1665. Pepys, Diary, May 14. To church, it being Whit-Sunday; my
wife very fine in a new yellow bird’s-eye hood, as the fashion is
now.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xviii. He wore a blue
bird’s-eye handkerchief round his neck.

1883. Daily Telegraph, August 7, p. 6, col. 2. His neckerchief was
of the same hue [silver grey], with a light crimson bird’s-eye.

Bird-Witted, adj. (old).—Inconsiderate; thoughtless; easily imposed on.—Grose.

1605. Bacon, Adv. Learning, II. (1861), 228. If a child be
bird-witted, that is, hath not the faculty of attention, the
mathematics giveth a remedy thereunto.

1650. Ussher, Ann., VI., 360. [He] proved ... but a bird-witted
man.

Birk, subs. (back slang).—A ‘crib’ (q.v.), i.e., a house. For synonyms, see Diggings.

Birthday Suit, subs. (common).—Naked; in the buff (q.v.); in the suit in which Adam and Eve first saw each other, and ‘were not ashamed.’ A French equivalent is s’habiller en sauvage.

1771. Smollett, Humphry Clinker, l. 61. I went in the morning to a
private place, along with the housemaid, and we bathed in our
birth-day soot.

Bishop, subs. (old).—1. A warm decoction of wine, orange or lemon peel, and sugar—but variously compounded. Similar to flip and purl (q.v.).

1703. English Spy, p. 255. Most noble cracks, and worthy cousin
trumps,—permit me to introduce a brother of the togati, fresh as a
new-blown rose, and innocent as the lilies of St. Clements. Be unto
him ever ready to promote his wishes, whether for spree or sport,
in term and out of term,—against the Inquisition and their
bull-dogs—the town-raff and the bargees—well-blunted or stiver
cramped—against dun or don—nob or big-wig—so may you never want a
bumper of bishop.

1738. Swift, Women Who Cry Oranges, wks., 1755, IV., i., 278. Well
roasted, with sugar and wine in a cup. They’ll make a sweet bishop.

1753. The World, No. 37. Punch, bishop, cool tankard, and negus are
equally denied me.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xlviii., p. 421. He and the landlord
were drinking a bowl of bishop together.

2. subs. (American).—A bustle—part of feminine attire consisting of a pad worn on the back part of the waist, and designed to give prominence to the skirt. For synonyms, see Bird-cage.

1848. Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms, p. 42. Bishop. An
appendage to a lady’s wardrobe, otherwise called a bustle.

I sing the bishop, alias the bustle.

1862–75. Saxe, Progress. Imperial Fashion decides the gravest
questions which divide the world.

If wrong may not, by circumstance, be right,—
If black cravats be more genteel than white,—
If, by her bishop, or her ‘grace,’ alone
A genuine lady, or a church, is known.

3. (common.)—A chamber utensil; a jerry; jordan; and it (q.v.).

4. (Winchester College.)—The sapling with which a fagot is bound together.

Verb.—1. A term among horse dealers, for burning marks into a horse’s teeth, after he has lost them by age; or, by other deceptive arts to give a good appearance to a bad horse. By bishopping, a horse is made to appear younger than he is. The expression is derived from the name of a person who initiated the practice, and has no connection with ‘to bishop,’ a provincialism for ‘to burn.’ For synonyms, see Fig.

1727. R. Bradley, Family Dict., vol. I., s.v. ‘Horse.’ This way of
making a horse look young, is by Horse Coursers called Bishoping.

1884. Ill. Lon. News, 23 August, 171, col. 2. To bishop ... a term
... signifying the use of deceptive arts to make an old horse
appear like a young one.

In French the process is called masquer en alezan; also maquiller un gayet.

2. To murder by drowning. The term, now obsolete, is like burke and boycott from the name of an individual. A man named Bishop drowned a boy in Bethnal Green, in 1831, to sell the body for dissecting purposes.

1837. Barham, I. L. (Account of a New Play). I burked the papa, now
I’ll bishop the son. [d.]

1864. Athenæum, p. 559, col. 1. We have ‘to burke,’ and ‘to
bishop.’ [M.]

Bismarquer, verb (familiar).—To cheat; to play foul at cards or billiards. A word formed from the name of Prince Bismarck, the German Chancellor, whose policy in 1865–6 roused the indignation of a large section of European thought.

Bit, Bite, Byte, subs. (old).—1. An old cant term for money. For synonyms, see Actual.

1532. Use of Dice Play (Percy Soc.). Now waxen is he so proud of
his gain, because he hath gotten a new chain, fyer new apparel, and
some store of byte.

1592. Defence of Conny-Catching, in Greene’s wks. XI., 44. So some
that would not stoope a farthing at cardes, would venter all the
byte in their boung at dice.

1607. Dekker, Jests to make you Merie, in wks. (Grosart) II., 328.
If they follow you in the street, and once know where the bung and
the bit is, as much as to say your purse and the money.

1608. Dekker, Belman of London, in wks. (Grosart) III., 122. To
learne before he play what store of Bit he hath in his Bay, that
is, what money he hath in his pursse.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 149. Snack the bit. To share
the money.

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. He is caught—he must
‘stand and deliver’; then out with the dummy [pocket book], and off
with the bit.

2. (colloquial)—The name given to coins varying in value according to locality—usually, however, to the silver piece of the lowest denomination. Fourpenny pieces are still called bits in English slang, but are more popularly known as Joeys (q.v., for synonyms); and in Demerara the term is in general use for the same coin; in America a 12½ cent piece is called a bit, and a defaced 20 cent piece is termed a long bit. A bit is the smallest coin in Jamaica, equal to 6d.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Bit (s.) ... In the West
Indies, it is the least piece of silver coin, which goes current at
7 pence half-penny.

1875. Scribner’s Magazine, July, p. 277. For a young city, San
Francisco is very much wedded to petty traditions. It clings to the
bit with a deathlike tenacity; clings to it against all reason and
against its own interests. The bit is a mythical quantity. It is
neither twelve and a half cents, nor half of twenty-five; it is
neither fifteen cents nor ten cents. If you buy a bit’s worth, and
throw down twenty-five cents, you get ten cents back; if you offer
the same ten cents in lieu of a bit, you are looked upon as a mild
sort of a swindler. And yet, the bit is the standard of minimum
monetary value.

Bitch, subs. (low).—1. An opprobrious term for a woman, generally containing an implication of lewdness and ‘fastness.’ Not now in literary use, though formerly so. [From its primary sense of a female dog.] It is the most offensive apellation that can be given to an English woman, even more provoking than that of whore.

1400. Chester Pl. (1843), 181. Whom calleste thou queine skabde
biche? [M.]

1575. J. Still, Gammer Gurton, II., ii. Come out, thou hungry needy
bitch. [M.]

1712. Arbuthnot, John Bull (1755), 9. An extravagant bitch of a
wife.

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. XVII., ch. iii. There was my lady
cousin Bellaston, and my lady Betty, and my lady Catharine, and my
lady I don’t know who; damn me if ever you catch me among such a
kennel of hoop-petticoated bitches.

1833. Marryat, P. Simple (1834), 446. You are a ... son of a bitch.

2. (old.)—Applied, opprobriously, as in sense 1, to a man. It has long since passed out of decent usage.

c. 1500. E. E. Misc. (1855), 54. He is a schrewed byche, In fayth,
I trow, he be a wyche.

1675. Hobbes, Odyssey, xviii., 310. Ulysses looking sourly
answered, You bitch. [M.]

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. XVII., iii. It is an old
acquaintance of above twenty years standing. I can tell you
landlord is a vast comical bitch, you will like un hugely.

Verb (low).—1. To go whoring; molrowing; to frequent the company of prostitutes.

2. To yield, or give up an attempt through fear.—Grose.

3. (common.)—To spoil; to bungle.

To stand bitch.—To make tea, or do the honours of the tea table, or to perform a female part. Bitch is here used generically for a woman.

Bitch Booby, subs. (old military).—A country girl.—Grose.

Bitchery, subs. (low).—Harlotry; lewdness. [From bitch, sense 1, + ery.]

1532–3. More, Confut. Tindale, wks., 648, col. 1. Such marriage is
very vnlawfull leckery and plain abhominable bychery.

1598. Marston, Sco. Villanie, I., iv., 188. He will vnline himselfe
from bitchery.

1663–1704. Thomas Brown, Works, Serious and Comical, III., p. 94.
Thither run Sots purely to be drunk that they may ... forget ...
the roguery of their lawyers, the bitchery of their paramours, or
the ingratitude of the world.

(?). Stanyhurst, Description of Ireland, p. 14. The quip sat as unseemly in his mouth as for a whore to reprehend bitchery, or for an usurer to condemn simony.

Bitch Party, subs. (popular).—A party composed of women. Originally an Oxford term for a tea-party, tea being considered a beverage only fit for women. [From bitch, a woman, + party.] Also hen party (q.v.). Cf., Stag party.

1889. C. Whibley, In Cap and Gown, Characters of Freshmen, p. 176.
‘The studious freshman ... goeth to a small bitch-party and findeth
his gown taken “by mistake.”’

Bite, subs. (old).—1. An old slang term for money.—See Bit.

2. (old.)—The female pudenda. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

3. An imposition; a piece of humbug; a ‘sell’ or ‘do.’ Cf., Bilk, Bam, Bargain, and Sell, for synonyms. The sense runs through all stages, from jocular hoaxing to downright swindling. Also in the sense of disappointment, as in the old proverb ‘the biter bit.’ A man is bitten when he burns his fingers meddling in matters, which, though promising well, turn out failures.—See also Cross bite.

1711. Steele, Spectator, No. 156, ¶ 2. It was a common bite with
him, to lay Suspicions that he was favoured by a Lady’s Enemy.

1721. Amherst, Terræ Fil., ix., 43. Sharpers would not frequent
gaming-tables, if the men of fortune knew the bite.

1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. ix. ‘It’s all a bam, ma’am—all a
bamboozle and a bite, that affair of his illness.’

1860. Sat. Review, Ap. 14, 475, 2. That form of practical joking,
which in the time of ‘The Spectator,’ was known as a bite ... in
the popular slang of the day, is designated ‘a sell.’

1883. Daily News, Ap. 18, p. 5, col. 4. Lord Randolph Churchill, we
fear, has been making Mr. Gladstone the victim of what, in the
slang of Addison’s time, would have been called a bite, and what in
the slang of our own time is called a ‘sell.’

4. (old.)—A sharper; cheat; trickster. Cf., Bilk. See Rook for synonyms.

1742. Fielding, Miss Lucy (1762), 176. Is this wench an idiot, or a
bite? Marry me, with a pox!

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. xcviii. From which
circumstance it was conjectured that Peregrine was a bite from the
beginning, who had found credit on account of his effrontery and
appearance, and imposed himself upon the town as a young gentleman
of fortune.

1787. S. Jenyns, in Dodsley, III., 169. The fool would fain be
thought a bite.

5. (popular.)—Applied in a transferred sense to anybody or anything suspected of being different to what it appears, but not necessarily in a bad sense.

1846. Brackenridge, Mod. Chiv., 21. The jockeys suspected that the
horse was what they call a bite, that under the appearance of
leanness and stiffness, was concealed some hidden quality of
swiftness.

6. (common.)—One who drives a hard bargain; a ‘close fist.’

7. (familiar.)—A nickname for a Yorkshireman.—See Daily News, Sept. 11, 1883, and Yorkshire Post, Jan. 9, 1884.

1883. Daily News, Sept. 4, p. 5, col. 6. The great and puissant
race known indifferently as ‘tykes’ or bites.

8. (printers’.)—An irregular white spot on the edge or corner of a printed page, caused by the frisket not being sufficiently cut out.

1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc. in Savage Dict. Print, s.v. Bite. If the
frisket is not sufficiently cut away, but covers some part of the
form, so that it prints on the frisket, it is called a bite. [M.]

1884. Blades, Caxton, 130. In ‘Speculum Vitæ Christi’ we actually
find a bite, half of the bottom line remaining unprinted. [M.]

Verb (old).—1. To deceive; cheat; swindle; to ‘do’ or ‘take in.’ In modern colloquial English to slick or to sell (q.v.). Formerly used both transitively and passively; now only in latter.

1669. Nicker Nicked, in Hart. Misc. (ed. Park), ii., 109. Then a
rook ... follows him close, and engages him in advantageous bets,
and at length worries him, that is gets all his money, and then
they smile and say, ‘The lamb is bitten.’

1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 12. Nay, he has bit you fairly enough,
that’s certain.

1724. A Journey through England. Many a poor German hath been bit
by an ordinary or his taylor, after this manner; they have suffered
the poor wretch to run in debt, made him an extravagant bill, and
then arrested him, and so forced him to pay their demands.

1731. Fielding, The Lottery, Sc. 3. However, Madam, you are bit as
well as I am; for I am no more a lord, than you are a fortune.

1822. [Nares] Love in a Barn, an old ballad.

He shall not have my maiden-head,
I solemnly do swear;
But I’ll bite him of a portion,
Then marry with Ralph, my dear.

1838. Thackeray, Yellowplush Memoirs, ch. x. ‘You were completely
bitten, my boy—humbugged, bamboozled—ay, and by your old father,
you dog.’

1853. Thackeray, Barry Lyndon, ch. xvii., p. 232. I have no
particular pleasure in recalling my Newmarket doings. I was
infernally bit and bubbled in almost every one of my transactions
there.

Hence 2. (popular.)—To strike a hard bargain.

3. (old.)—To steal; e.g., ‘to bite the roger,’ to steal a portmanteau; ‘to bite the wiper,’ i.e., to purloin a handkerchief.

Intj. (old.)—1. Formerly an equivalent to the modern ‘Sold!’ ‘Done!’ etc.

1704. Cibber, Careless Husband, Act iii.

Ld. Mo. ’Tis possible I may not have the same regard to her frown
that your Lordship has.

Ld. Fop. That’s bite, I’m sure; he’d give a joint of his little
finger to be as well with her as I am.

1738. Swift, Polite Conversation (conv. i.).

Miss. I’m sure the gallows groans for you.

Nev. Bite, Miss; I was but in jest.

1714. Addison, Spectator, No. 514. It is a superstition with some
surgeons who beg the bodies of condemned malefactors, to go to the
gaol and bargain for the carcass with the criminal himself.... The
fellow who killed the officer of Newgate, very forwardly, and like
a man who was willing to deal, told him, ‘Look you, Mr. Surgeon,
that little dry fellow, who has been half starved all his life, is
now half dead with fear, cannot answer your purpose.... Come, for
twenty shillings I am your man.’ Says the Surgeon, ‘Done, there’s a
guinea.’ This witty rogue took the money, and as soon as he had it
in his fist, cries, ‘bite, I am to be hanged in chains.’

2. (Charterhouse.)—A warning = Cave!

To do a thing when the maggot bites, phr. (common), is to do it when the fancy takes one; ‘at one’s own sweet will.’ When a person acts from no apparent motive in external circumstances, he is said to have ‘a maggot in his head,’ to have ‘a bee in his bonnet’; or, in French, avoir des rats dans la tête; in Platt-Deutsch, to have a mouse-nest in his head, the eccentric behaviour being attributed to the influence of the internal irritation. Cf., Apartments to let.

Bite One’s Hips, verbal phr. (tailors’).—To regret a word or action.

Bite One’s Name In, verbal phr. (common).—To drink heavily; to tipple; also to drink greedily.

Bite on the Bridle, verbal phr. (old).—To be pinched in circumstances; to be reduced; in difficulties.

Biter, subs. (old).—1. A practical joker; a hoaxer; one who deceives; a cheat and trickster. Cf., Bite. The term now only survives in the proverbial expression, ‘the biter bit.’ For synonyms, see Rook.

1669. Nicker Nicked, in Hart. Misc. (ed. Park), ii., 108. [Biter is
given in a list of names of cheats and thieves’.]

1680. Cotton, Complete Gamester, in Singer’s Hist. Playing Cards
(1816), p. 333. Hectors, setters, gilts, pads, biters, etc., and
these may all pass under the general appellation of rooks.

1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 12. A biter, who is a dull fellow, that
tells you a lye with a grave face, and laughs at you for knowing
him no better than to believe him.

1711. Spectator, No. 47. These gentlemen are commonly distinguished
by the name of biters: a race of men that are perpetually employed
in laughing at those mistakes which are of their own production.

1712. Spectator, No. 504. A biter is one who tells you a thing you
have no reason to disbelieve in itself, and perhaps has given you,
before he bit you, no reason to disbelieve it for his saying it;
and if you give him credit, laughs in your face, and triumphs that
he has deceived you.

1812. Coombe, Syntax, Picturesque, c. xix.

Pray have you travell’d so far north,
To think we have so little wit,
As by such biters to be bit?

2. (old.)—An amorous woman (sexually). Cf., Athanasian wench.

Bite the Ear, verbal phr. (thieves’).—To borrow. Formerly, a term of endearment; to caress fondly. For synonyms, see Shins.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., xl., 502. He used to want to
bite my ear (borrow) too often.

Bite the Thumb, verbal phr. (old).—To make a gesture of contempt, which was formerly regarded in the light of an insult. Nares says the thumb in the action represented a fig, and the whole was equivalent to ‘a fig for you.’ There are several gestures of this kind. That best known is probably taking a sight (q.v.). A similar gesture of contempt is used by the lower orders in France which, there is little doubt, is the ‘biting the thumb’ spoken of in Romeo and Juliet. The person using the gesture placed the nail of his thumb under the front teeth of the upper jaw, and then jerked the thumb forward, using at the same time an expression equivalent to ‘I don’t care that for you.’ Another contemptuous action is placing the thumb between the closed fore and middle fingers; while according to Darwin’s Expression of the Emotions, it appears that with the Dakota Indians of North America ‘contempt is shown ... conventionally by the hand being closed and held near the breast; then, as the fore arm is suddenly extended, the hand is opened and the fingers separated from each other. If the person at whose expense the sign is made is present, the hand is moved towards him and the head sometimes averted from him.’ This sudden extension and opening of the hand perhaps indicates the dropping or throwing away a valueless object.

1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, i., 1. I will bite my thumb at
them; which is a disgrace to them if they bear it.

1596. Lodge, Wit’s Miserie. Behold next I see Contempt marching
forth, giving me the fies, with his thombe in his mouth.

1638. Randolph, Muses’ L. Glass, O. Pl., ix., 220. Dogs and
pistols! To bite his thumb at me! Wear I a sword To see men bite
their thumbs?

1678. Rules of Civility, transl. from French, p. 44. ’Tis no less
disrespectful to bite the nail of your thumb, by way of scorn and
disdain, and drawing your nail from between your teeth, to tell
them you value not this what they can do.

Bite Up, subs. (tailors’).—An unpleasant altercation.

Bit-Faker or Turner Out, subs. (thieves’).—Coiner of bad money. [From bit, an old canting term for money, + faker, one who makes, or does.] Also bit-maker.—See Turner out and Faker.

Bit Faking, subs. (thieves’).—Manufacturing base coin; counterfeiting. [From bit + fake + ing.—See preceding.] Cf., Turner out.

Biting Up, subs. (tailors’).—Grieving over a loss or bereavement.

Bit-Maker, subs. (old).—A counterfeiter.—See Bit-faker.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 447. Coiners—bit-makers.

Bit-o’-Bull, subs. (old).—Beef. The French say un gobet; formerly, a dainty morsel.

Bit of Blood, subs. (common).—A high-spirited horse; a thoroughbred. The derivation is obvious. For synonyms, see Prad.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 10.

’Mong the vehicles, too, which were many and various,
From natty barouche down to buggy precarious,
We twigg’d more than one queerish sort of turn-out,
C—n n—g came in a job, and then canter’d about
On a showy, but hot and unsound, bit of blood,
(For a leader once meant, but cast off, as no good).

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, II., p. 156. Not that we slacken
in our pace the while, not we: we rather put the bits of blood upon
their mettle.

Bit of Cavalry, subs. (old).—A horse.

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act i., Sc. 6. Tom. You are
now at Tattersal’s, Jerry, a very worthy fellow, who made his
fortune by a horse called Highflyer. Jerry. Hum! and if one may
judge from the splendour and extent of his premises, he seems to be
no small highflyer himself. Tom. You are right, Jerry—I shall here
buy a bit of cavalry—that is a prad, on your judgment.

Bit of Ebony, subs. (common).—A negro or negress. For synonyms, see Snowball.

Bit of Fat, subs. (common).—1. An unexpected pecuniary advantage in a transaction.

2. (printers’.)—See Fat.

Bit of Jam.—See Jam.

Bit of Leaf, subs. (thieves’).—Tobacco.

Bit of Muslin, subs. (common).—A young girl; generally applied only to prostitutes. Also bit of stuff. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack.

Bit of Mutton, subs. (familiar).—A woman; generally, a prostitute is meant. Cf., Laced mutton, and for synonyms, see Barrack-hack.

Bit of Sticks, subs. phr. (sporting).—A corpse. For synonyms, see Dead meat.

Bit of Stiff, subs. (common).—A bank-note, or other paper money; the equivalent of money when not in specie, i.e., a draft or bill of exchange.

1854. Lever, Dodd Family Abroad, I., 313. I’m sorry that bit of
stiff, meaning the bill, wasn’t for five thousand francs.

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 234. He
liked to have the party’s name written across a piece of paper with
a stamp attached, commonly called a bit of stiff.

To do a bit of stiff, phr. (common).—To accept a bill.

Bit of Stuff, subs. (familiar).—An overdressed man; a man with full confidence in his appearance and abilities; a young woman; also called a bit of muslin.

1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ch. xxiii. ‘One night he says to me,
“Will, come up and I’ll show you a devilish fine piece of stuff.”
So I walks with him, and he takes me to a shop where they dealed in
marine stores, and we goes and finds your mother in the back
parlour.’

Bit On.—See On.

Bitter, subs. (popular).—A glass of beer.

To do a bitter.—To drink a glass of bitter. Originally, says Hotten, an Oxford term varied by to do a beer.

1853. Rev. E. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Verdant Green, 1st., III.,
ch. x. Mr. Verdant Green and Mr. Bouncer ... turned into the
coffee-room of ‘The Mitre’ to do bitters, as Mr. Bouncer phrased
the act of drinking bitter beer.

c. 1882. Comic Song, ‘The West End Boys,’ verse 3.

Let fortune frown and friends betray,
There’s a class of men that’s ever gay,
Where some make troubles, they make joys,
And are known by the title of the West End Boys.
They commence their evening with cigars,
And ‘How-d’ye-do, dear,’ at the bars,
‘Another bitter, I really can’t go,
There’s something about you that charms me so.’
Oh, don’t they like, etc.

Bittock, subs. (originally provincial; now common).—A distance of very undecided length. If a North countryman be asked the distance to a place, he will most probably reply, ‘a mile and a bittock.’ The latter may be considered any distance from one hundred yards to ten miles. Also of time. [From bit + ock, a diminutive suffix.]

1802. J. Wilson (‘Congleton’), M.S. Let. to F. Boucher. Bittock, a
small Piece or small Bit; Cheshire. [M.]

1816. Scott, Old Mortality, ch. x. ‘To Chamwood, madam? It’s unco
late, and its sax miles an’ a bittock down the water.’

1884. Daily News, April 15, p. 4, col. 7. Edinburgh University is
three hundred years old, or rather, three hundred years and a
bittock.

Bit You.—A hair of the dog that bit you.—See Hair.

Bivvy or Gatter, subs. (provincial).—Beer; ‘shant of bivvy,’ a pot or quart of beer; probably from the Italian, bevere, bere. Latin, bibere. English, beverage.

Biz, subs. (originally American, now general).—A vulgar corruption for business, employment, or occupation. ‘Good biz’ is profitable business.

1882. Democracy, ch. vii. A number of gentlemen were waiting for
interviews with the President, and among them was the whole
Pennsylvania delegation, ready for biz, as Mr. Tom Lord remarked,
with a wink.

1884. Saturday Review, Jan. 5, p. 13, col. 2. It is satisfactory to
learn from the conductor of the circus that biz is very fair.

1889. Ally Sloper, Aug. 17, p. 262, col. 1. We understand, though
we cannot vouch for the truth of the statement, that a New York
lady, moving in the best society, while twisting some worsted, hit
upon the idea of applying a little system of her own to a larger
field than mere yarn, so she invented a machine for twisting wire
rope, and has sold the patent for £10,000 and a royalty upon future
sales. Very good biz, this, eh!

B. K. S., subs. (military).—An abbreviation of ‘barracks’; its usage is explained by quotation.

1887. Standard, 10 Feb., p. 5, col. 2. B. k. s., used by officers
‘in mufti,’ who do not wish to give their address.

Blab, subs. (vulgar).—A revealer of that which should be kept secret; a betrayer; a babbler. A depraved word; once in common use, but rarely employed now, except colloquially. Grose [1785] includes it in his Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue as forming part of the slang of his time. These remarks apply with more or less cogency to blab when used, to signify loose talk or chatter, when employed as a verb, and to the various derivative compounds and allied forms, such as ‘blabber,’ ‘blabbing,’ ‘blabbing-book,’ etc.—a taint of vulgarism now rests upon them all.

Black Act, subs. (American).—A corrupted form of black art (q.v.).

Blackamoor’s Teeth, subs. (old).—Cowrie shells—the currency of some savage tribes.

1700. W. King, Transactioneer, p. 36. He has shells called
Blackmoore’s Teeth, I suppose ... from their Whiteness. [M.]

1719. W. Wood, Surv. Trade, p. 334. Known by the Name of Cowries
amongst Merchants, or of Blackamores’ Teeth among other Persons.
[M.]

Black-and-Tan, subs. (vagrants’).—Porter or stout and ale, mixed in equal quantities. [From black, in allusion to the dark colour of porter and stout, + and + tan, i.e., of the yellowish brown colour of ale.]

Black-and-Tan Country, subs. phr. (American).—The Southern States of North America. [From black, a sobriquet for a negro, + and + tan, a pun and an allusion to the slang verb ‘to tan,’ to thrash or beat + country; i.e., the country where the negroes were tanned or beaten.]

Black and White, subs. phr. (colloquial).—The black characters of print or writing on white paper. Therefore, to put a thing down in black and white is to preserve it in writing or in print. Black on white is a variant.

1596. Jonson, Every Man in His Humour, IV., ii. I have it here in
black and white. [Pulls out the warrant.]

1667. Shirley, Love Tricks, Act ii., Sc. 2. Gov. [with a letter]
... Alas, poor gentleman! Little does he think what black and white
is here.

1712. Spectator, No. 286. My desire is, Sir, that you will be
pleased to give us, in black and white, your opinion in the matter
of dispute between us.

1714. Spectator, No. 616. They had like to have dumfounded the
justice; but his clerk came in to his assistance, and took them all
down in black and white.

1837. Carlyle, French Revolution, pt. III., bk. II., ch. viii. His
accounts lie all ready, correct in black and white to the uttermost
farthing.

1874. Mrs. H. Wood, Johnny Ludlow, 1 S., No. xii., p. 202. ‘A man
can’t so much as put on a pair of clean stockings in the morning,
but its laid before high quarters in black and white at mid-day by
the secret police!’

Black-Arse, subs. (old).—A kettle; a pot. [From black, from its colour, + arse, the posterior, hinder, or ‘bottom’ part.]

Black Art, subs. (old).—1. Picking of locks; burglary. For synonyms, see Crack.

1591. Greene, Conny-Catch., wks., 1883, II., x., 72. I can set down
the subtiltie of the blacke art, which is picking of lockes.

1608. Dekker, Belman of Lond., wks., 1884–5, III., 137. This blacke
art ... is called in English, Picking of Lockes.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Black art, the art of
picking a lock.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. [The definition given is the same as
that of Grose, as above-mentioned.]

2. (undertakers’.)—The business of an undertaker. Cf., Black work.

1861. Sala, Seven Sons of Mammon, i., p. 78. Rich men’s funerals in
the first style of black art.

Black-ball, verb (common).—See Pill.

Blackballing, subs. (nautical).—Stealing or pilfering. A sailor’s word. It originated amongst the employees of the old Black Ball line of steamers between New York and Liverpool. The cruelty and scandalous conduct of officers to men—and sailors to each other—were so proverbial, that the line of vessels in question became known all over the world for the cruelty of its officers, and the thieving propensities of its sailors.

Blackbeetles, subs. (old).—The lower strata of society. [Apparently a term of contempt derived from the cockroach, generally called a blackbeetle.] Obsolete.

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 6. Jerry: Tom,
here’s a group of blackbeetles—do you see those lovely mendicants?
Tom: Beauty in rags—I do—Cupid imploring charity. I’ll relieve him,
for I’ll be after that match-girl directly. Jerry: And I’ll chant a
few words to that beautiful ballad-singer. Log: And I’ll take pity
on that charming beggar.

Blackberry Swagger, subs. (common).—A person who hawks tapes, boot-laces, etc.

Blackbird, subs. (popular).—Formerly an African captive on board a slaver; now generally understood as referring to a Polynesian indentured labourer, who, if not by name a slave, is often one to all intents and purposes. [Obviously derived from the black or dark-brown colour of these people.]

1881. Chequered Career, p. 180. The white men on board knew that if
once the blackbirds burst the hatches ... they would soon master
the ship. [M.]

Verb.—To capture negroes or Polynesians; to kidnap (see subs.). Hence the verbal substantive and ppl. adj. blackbirding, in the same sense.

1883. Graphic, April 21, p. 398, col. 1. The day is not far distant
when, to avoid blackbirding, and the revengeful massacres which
these kidnappers provoke, the whole of Oceania will have to be
placed under civilised control.

1883. Academy, 8 Sep., p. 158. [He] slays Bishop Patteson by way of
reprisal for the atrocities of some blackbirding crew. [M.]

1884. Pall Mall Gazette, 19 Aug. p. 2, col. 2. Years ago
blackbirding scoundrels may have hailed from Fiji. [M.]

Blackbird-Catching.—See Blackbird.

Black-Birders, subs. (popular).—See quotation.

1883. All the Year Round, 22 Sep., p. 355. Blackbirders, the
kidnappers for labour purposes on the islands of the Pacific.

Black Box, subs. (old).—A lawyer. So given in Grose [1785]; Lexicon Balatronicum [1811]; and in Duncombe’s Sinks of London [1848]. [From the black tin boxes in which clients’ papers are kept.]

Black-Boy, subs. (old).—See Black-coat.

Black Bracelets, subs. (old).—Handcuffs. For synonyms, see Darbies.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 63.

When the turnkey, next morning, stepped into his room,
The sight of the hole in the wall struck him dumb;
The sheriff’s black bracelets lay strewn on the ground,
But the lad that had worn ’em could nowhere be found.
Tol-de-rol!