Chapter XVII: Part 17

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act i., Sc, 7. Log. Come
along, then. Now, Jerry, chivey! Jerry. Chivey? Log. Mizzle? Jerry.
Mizzle? Log. Tip your rags a gallop! Jerry. Tip my rags a gallop?
Log. Walk your trotters! Jerry. Walk my trotters? Log. Bolt! Jerry.
Bolt? oh, aye! I’m fly now. You mean go.

1837. Barham, I. L. (M. of Venice). Jessy ransack’d the house,
popp’d her breeks on, and when so Disguis’d, bolted off with her
beau—one Lorenzo.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. ix., p. 90. He was more
strongly tempted ... to make excursive bolts into the neighbouring
alleys when he answered the door.

2. (American).—The usage in the United States indicates the right of the independently minded to revolt against partisan rule, as ‘He bolted the party nominations.’ Also substantively, as ‘He has organized a bolt.’ The word derived this meaning from its sporting application to a horse when it becomes unmanageable on the race-course. Cf., Bolter. It is rarely used with its dictionary meaning in political connections; and, when so used, is generally misunderstood by the average reader.

1871. St. Louis Democrat, 3 April. ‘Several of our contemporaries
have announced it as a well-established fact, that Carl Schurz has
bolted from the Republican party. We have the very best authority
for denying the report.’

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, 3 Feb. What the Register does object to
are the fellows who bolt the ticket and support the opposition
candidate when they can not control nominations.

3. (colloquial.)—To eat hurriedly without chewing; to swallow whole; to gulp down. Wolcot in a note to the first quotation hereunder appended, explains bolt as a Hampshire word. ‘A rapid deglutition of bacon, without the sober ceremony of mastication.’

1794. Wolcot (‘P. Pindar’), Ode to Tyrants, in wks. (Dublin, 1795),
vol. II., p. 527.

Bold push’d the Emp’ror on, with stride so noble,
Bolting his subjects with majestic gobble.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xvi., p. 171. Dyspeptic
individuals bolted their food in wedges.

1857. Dickens, Dorrit, bk. I., ch. xiii., 101. ‘Give me as short a
time as you like to bolt my meals in, and keep me at it.’

1883. Daily Telegraph, Jan. 10, p. 5, col. 3. The dangerous habit
of bolting a light luncheon in two or three minutes.

Getting the bolt, phr. (thieves’).—Being sentenced to penal servitude. Cf., Boat.

To turn the corner of Bolt Street, phr. (popular).—A humorous expression for running away. Cf., Bolt, sense 1, also Queer Street, and for synonyms, see Amputate.

Bolter, subs. (old).—1. Explained by quotation. The privileged places referred to were such as Whitefriars, the Mint, Higher and Lower Alsatia, etc.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Bolter (s.), a cant name for
one who hides himself in his own house, or some privileged place,
and dares only peep, but not go out of his retreat.

2. One who ‘bolts’; especially applied to horses, but figuratively to persons in the sense of one given to throwing off restraint; in American parlance one who ‘kicks’ (q.v.).

1840. Thackeray, Paris Sk. Bk. (1872), 244. The engine may explode
... or be a bolter. [M.]

1850. F. E. Smedley, Frank Fairlegh, ch. xiii. ‘Three of the horses
had never been in harness before, and the fourth was a bolter.’

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. lviii., p. 483. This sparkling
sally is to the effect that, although he always knew she was the
best-groomed woman in the stud, he had no idea she was a bolter. It
is immensely received in turf-circles.

1881. C. J. Dunphie, The Chameleon, p. 17. It is better to ride a
steady old plodder than to trust your neck to a bolter.

3. (American.)—One who exercises the right of abstention in regard to his political party. See Bolt, verb, sense 2.

1883. Atlantic Monthly, LII., 327. To whom a ‘scratcher’ or a
bolter is more hateful than the Beast. [M.]

1884. American, VIII., 100. To denounce the twenty-seven as bolters
from their party.

Bolt-in-Tun, phr. (London thieves’).—Bolted; run away.

1819. J. H. Vaux, Memoirs. A term founded on the cant word ‘bolt,’
and merely a fanciful variation very common among flash persons,
there being in London a famous inn so called. It is customary when
a man has run away from his lodgings, broken out of jail, or made
any other sudden movement, to say ‘the Bolt-in-tun is concerned,’
or ‘he’s gone to the Bolt-in-tun’ instead of simply saying, ‘he has
bolted,’ etc.

Boltsprit, Boltspreet, Bowsprit, subs. (common).—An old and humorous term for the nose. [The analogy is between the spar or boom extending beyond the stem of a vessel and the nose as a prominent and projecting feature of the face.] For synonyms, see Conk.

1690. Shadwell, Amorous Bigot, Act v. As thou lovest thy ears, or
nose, that bolt-sprit of thy face. [M.]

1691. Shadwell, Scowerers, Act v. They do not consider the
tenderness of my bolt-sprit. [M.]

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Boltsprit (s.), a cant name for
the nose.

Bolt the Moon, verbal phr.—To remove one’s goods and chattels under cover of night with a view of evading the payment of rent. A variant of shoot the moon (q.v.); the act itself is called a moonlight flitting (q.v.).

Bolus, subs. (common).—An apothecary; a doctor. [From bolus, a large pill frequently prescribed by physicians.]

1878. Hatton, Cruel London, bk. VI., ch. ii. ‘The doctor, up from
the Indian bar, came and said I was wanted in London’ ... ‘good for
old Bolus,’ said Kernan; ‘and I believe him.’

Boman, subs. (old).—A gallant fellow. This is mentioned by Nares, who, however, could find no example illustrating its use.

Bombay Ducks, subs. (old).—1. The Bombay regiments of the East India Company’s army were so called.

2. A well known delicacy, the exact nature of which is explained by G. A. Sala in the second quotation.

1865. G. A. Sala, in Daily Telegraph, 14 August, 5, 4. His cuisine
was, with the occasional interpolation of a not entirely
objectionable curry, accompanied by Bombay ducks, exclusively
old-fashioned English.

1886. G. A. Sala, in Ill. Lon. News, 7 August, 138, 2. The Bombay
duck is the Anglo-Indian relation of the Digby chick. Alive, it is
a fish called the bummelo; dead and dried, it becomes a duck.

Bombo, Bumbo, subs. (common).—A nickname given to various mixtures, but chiefly to cold punch. Smollett, in a note in Roderick Random, speaks of it as ‘a liquor composed of rum, sugar, water, and nutmeg.’

1748. Smollett, Roderick Random, ch. xxxiv. A table well stored
with bumbo and wine.

1867. Smyth, Sailors’ Word Book. Bombo, weak cold punch.

a. 1886. Northumb. Song, in N. and Q., 6 March, 195. The pitmen and
the keelman ... drink bumbo made of gin.

Bona, subs. (popular).—A girl; young woman; a belle.

c. 18(?). Broadside Ballad, ‘Oh, Fred, don’t be so frivolous.’

Girls are in vulgar called donas,
Some are called Miss and some Mrs.,
The best of them all are called bonas,
The whole jolly lot’s fond of kisses.
I kiss pretty lips, and I squeeze finger tips,
No matter what I have to pay,

If I meet a dear maid who is somewhat afraid,
She’ll blush like a virgin and say, ‘Oh my.’

Chorus.

Adj. (theatrical).—Good. [From the Latin.]—See Rumbo.

Bonanza, subs. (American).—A happy hit; a stroke of fortune; success. [From the Spanish, a fair wind, fine weather, prosperous voyage.] Bonanza was originally the name of a mine in Nevada, which once, quite unexpectedly, turned out to be a big thing, and of enormous value; now applied to any lucky hit or successful enterprise.

1875. Scribner’s Mag., July, p. 272. But a bonanza with millions in
it is not struck every week.

1888. San Francisco News Letter, 4 Feb. The mines along the veins
running north and south, of which North Belle Isle is the center,
are all stayers, and in the east and west ledge Grand Prize has
entered a body of ore which may develop into a bonanza as big as
the one which paid millions in dividends in years gone by.

Bona-Roba, subs. (old).—A courtesan; a showy prostitute. [From Italian buona, good, + roba = a robe or dress.] The term was much in use among the older dramatists. Ben Jonson speaks of a bouncing bona-roba; and Cowley seems to have considered it as implying a fine, tall figure. Bona in modern times is frequently employed to signify a girl or young woman, without reference to morals.

1598. Shakspeare, 2 Henry IV., iii., 2. We knew where the
bona-robas were; and had the best of them all at commandment.

b. 1618, d. 1667. Cowley, Essay on Greatness (quoted by Nares). I
would neither wish that my mistress nor my fortune should be a
bona-roba;—but as Lucretius says, Parvula, pumilio, tota merum sal.

1822. Scott, Nigel, xvi. Your lordship is for a frolic into
Alsatia? ... there are bona-robas to be found there. [M.]

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 69. The other
bona-roba, known amongst her companions as Mistress Poll Maggot,
was a beauty on a much larger scale—in fact, a perfect Amazon.

Bonce, subs. (popular).—1. The head; [probably a derivative of sense 2, from the analogy between them.] For synonyms, see Crumpet.

2. A large marble [origin unknown, but see Alley].

Bone, subs. (American).—When a traveller, in passing his luggage through the Custom House, tips the officer in the expectation that the latter’s examination of his impedimenta will be more or less superficial, the fee thus given is termed a bone. The practice, is, of course, contrary to all regulations; but, human nature being human nature all the world over, it is believed that similar expedients for evading the law are not altogether unknown in England.

Adj. (thieves’).—Good; excellent; ◇ is the vagabonds’ hieroglyphic for bone, or good, chalked by them on houses and street corners as a hint to succeeding beggars. [Probably from French bon, good. Cf., Boon.]

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 232. He
[beggar] mostly chalks a signal on or near the door. I give one or
two instances. ◇ ‘Bone,’ meaning good.

1883. G. A. S[ala], in Ill. L. News, Nov. 10, p. 451, col. 3. It is
well known that the lozenge-shaped diagram chalked by beggars and
tramps on doors and walls in ‘promising’ neighbourhoods stands for
‘bone,’ a corruption of the French ‘bon,’ as a hint to succeeding
vagabonds that they will find the happiest of hunting-grounds in
the locality.

Verb (popular).—1. To filch; to steal; to make off with; to take into custody. [There are two suggested derivations:—(1) that the figure of speech is drawn from the manner in which a dog makes off with a bone; (2) that bone is a corruption of ‘bonnet’ (a gambling cheat who ‘sharks’ one’s money slyly).] For synonyms in sense of to steal, see Prig; in sense of to apprehend, see Nab.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Bone (v.), a cant word to seize
or arrest; also to cheat or strip a person of his money or goods.

1819. J. H. Vaux, Memoirs, II., 157. Tell us how you was boned,
signifies tell us the story of your apprehension, a common request
among fellow-prisoners in a jail, which is readily complied with as
a rule; and the various circumstances therein related afford
present amusement, and also useful hints for regulating their
future operations, so as to avoid the like misfortune.

1838. Dickens, Nich. Nickleby, ch. lvii., p. 467. ‘And why you were
living so quiet here, and what you had boned, and who you had boned
it from, wasn’t it?’

1861. Miss Braddon, Trail of the Serpent, bk. II., ch. ii. ‘I’m
blest if he hasn’t been and boned my mug. I hope it’ll do him more
good than it’s done me.’

1871. Chambers’ Journal, Dec. 9, A Double Event, p. 774. It would
be a breach of confidence to tell you how it was arranged, but,
after some haggling, it was arranged that, on the understanding
that I gave up the securities, I was to bone the reward which the
detectives had missed.

2. (American.)—To bribe; to ‘grease the palm.’—See Bone, subs.

3.(American cadets’.)—To study hard. [From bohn (q.v.).]

To have a bone in the leg—arm—throat, etc., phr. (common).—A humorous reason for declining to use the member spoken of; a feigned obstacle.

1542. Nicholas Udall, Erasmus’s Apophthegmes (1877, Reprint of ed.
1562). p. 375. He refused to speake, allegeing that he had a bone
in his throte, and he could not speake.

1738. Swift, Polite Conversation (conv. iii.). Nev. Miss, come, be
kind for once, and order me a dish of coffee. Miss. Pray go
yourself; let us wear out the oldest first; besides, I can’t go,
for I have a bone in my leg.

Bone-Ache, subs. (old).—The lues venerea. [The allusion is obvious.]

1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse. But cucullus non facit monachum—’tis
not their newe bonnets will keepe them from the old boan-ack.

1606. Shakspeare, Tro. and C., ii., 3. After this the vengeance on
the whole camp! or rather the bone-ache! for that, methinks, is the
curse dependent on those that war for a placket.

Bone-Box, subs. (common).—The mouth. [The teeth are here represented as the ‘bones.’ The latter are now more commonly called ‘ivories.’] For synonyms, see Potato-trap, and compare with Bone-house.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Shut your bone-box;
shut your mouth.

Bone-Crusher, subs. (sporting).—A heavy bore rifle used for killing big game. [Literally that which crushes or breaks bones by force. Cf., Bone-shaker.]

1872. H. M. Stanley, How I Found Livingstone (2 ed.), p. 63.
African game require bone-crushers; for any ordinary carbine
possesses sufficient penetrative qualities, yet has not the
disabling qualities which a gun must possess to be useful in the
hands of an African explorer. Ibid, p. 342. What is wanted for this
country is a heavy bore—No. 10 or 12 is the real bone-crusher, that
will drop every animal shot.

Boned.—See Bone, verb, sense 1.

Bone-Grubber, subs. (common).—One who lives by collecting bones from heaps of refuse, selling his spoils at the marine stores or to bone grinders. [From bone + grub, to seek by burrowing, + er.] Also called bone-picker (q.v.), and tot-pickers (q.v.). See first quotation and cf. bone-picker form. The French term is un biffin, which also signifies a foot-soldier, his knapsack being compared to a rag or bone-picker’s basket; also un chifferton or un chiffortin; un cupidon (an ironical allusion to his hook and basket); un graffin. For other synonyms, see Tot-picker.

c. 1750. ‘The Hunter’s Wedding,’ quoted in J. Ashton’s The Fleet,
1888, p. 366.

Sam the grubber, he having had warning,
His wallet and broom down did lay.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. II., p. 155. The
bone-grubber generally seeks out the narrow back streets, where
dust and refuse are cast, or where any dust-bins are accessible.
The articles for which he chiefly searches are rags and bones,—rags
he prefers,—but waste metal, such as bits of lead, pewter, copper,
brass, or old iron, he prizes above all.

1862. Mayhew, Crim. Prisons, 40. A black-chinned and lanthorn-jawed
bone-grubber.

2. A resurrectionist; a violator of graves. Cobbett was therefore called ‘a bone-grubber,’ because he brought the remains of Tom Paine from America. Cf., Bone-house. Latterly, from the quotation which follows, the term seems to have been extended to all having to do with funerals.

1863. G. A. Sala, Breakfast in Bed, essay vii., p. 181 (1864). The
crowd in Cheapside declared that I was a mute. They called me
bone-grubber.

Bone-House, subs. (familiar).—1. The human body—an obvious allusion.

1870. Emerson, Soc. and Sol., vi., 119. This wonderful bone-house
which is called man. [M.]

2. A coffin. The term is also used to signify a charnel-house, and Americans generally call a cemetery a ‘bone-yard.’

1836. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, II., p. 207. Nothing soon—lie in
bed—starve—die—Inquest—little bone-house—poor prisoner.

1846. Walbran, Guide Ripon. The celebrated bone-house no longer
exists.

1848. Forster, Life and Times of Oliver Goldsmith, II., p. 165 (bk.
IV., ch. viii.). The body [of a man who had poisoned himself] was
taken to the bone-house of St. Andrew’s, but no one came to claim
it.

Bone Muscle, verbal phr. (American college).—To practice gymnastics. Cf., Bone, verb, sense 3.

Bone-Picker, subs. (common).—1. A footman. [Evidently a contemptuous allusion to sense 2, a footman’s duties being to pick up and set in order after his employer.] The French term is un larbin.

2. (common.)—A collector of bones, rags, and other refuse from the streets and places where rubbish is placed, for the purpose of sale to marine dealers and bone crushers. The same as bone-grubber, sense 1 (q.v.).

1866. Ruskin, Crown of Wild Olives, p. 25. The deceased was a
bone-picker. he was in the lowest stage of poverty, etc.

Boner, subs. (Winchester College).—A sharp blow on the spine.

Bones, subs. (common).—1. Dice, which are also called St. Hugh’s bones (q.v.). [So called because made of bone or ivory.] ‘To rattle the bones,’ i.e., ‘to play at dice.’ The term is a very old one, as also seem to be games played with the little cubes in question.

c. 1386. Chaucer, Pard. T., 328. This fruyt cometh of the bicched
bones two, fforsweryng, Ire, falsnesse, Homycide.

a. 1529. Skelton, wks. (ed. Dyce) I., 52. On the borde he whyrled a
payre of bones.

1608. Dekker, Belman of London, in wks. (Grosart) III., 123. Who
being left by his parents rich in money and possessions, hath to
the musicke of square ratling bones danced so long, that hee hath
danced himselfe into the company of beggers.

1698. Dryden, Persius, III., 96.

But then my study was to cog the dice,
And dexterously to throw the lucky sice:
To shun ames-ace, that swept my stakes away;
And watch the box, for fear they should convey
False bones, and put upon me in the play.

1772. Foote, Nabob, Act ii. When your chance is low, as tray, ace,
or two deuces, the best method is to dribble out the bones from the
box.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. xviii. ‘I saw you sit down to
écarté last week at Trumpington’s, and taking your turn with the
bones after Ringwood’s supper.’

1861. Whyte Melville, Good for Nothing, ch. xxviii. ‘What with
speculations failing, and consols dropping all at once, not to
mention a continual run of ill-luck with the bones, I saw no way
out of it but to bolt.’

2. (common.)—Pieces of bones held between the fingers and played Spanish castanet fashion. Generally used as an accompaniment to banjo and other ‘negro’ minstrel music.

1592. Shakspeare, Midsummer Night’s Dream, iv., 1, line 27. Tita.
What, wilt thou hear some music, my sweet love? Bot. I have a
reasonable good ear in music: let us have the tongs and the bones.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, III., p. 195. Peter
rolling about in his chair like a serenader playing the bones, and
the young Othello laughing as if he was being tickled. Ibid, p.
201. The bones, we’ve real bones, rib-of-beef bones, but some have
ebony bones, which sound better than rib-bones—they tell best, etc.

1865. Times, 17 July. Amateur negro melodists ... thumped the banjo
and rattled the bones. [M.]

3. (common.)—A member of a ‘negro’ minstrel troupe; generally applied to one of the ‘end’ men who plays the bones (sense 2).

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, III. First of all we
formed a school of three—two banjos and a tambourine, and after
that we added a bones and a fiddle.

1867. Rhoda Broughton, Cometh up as a Flower, p. 236. The band
clashes out; big fiddle and little fiddle, harp and bones, off they
go.

1884. Sat. Review, June 7,740, col. 1. A single row of negro
minstrels seated on chairs ... while at the end are Bones and
Sambo. [M.]

4. (general.)—The bones of the human body, but more generally applied to the teeth. French thieves call these les piloches (f); and les osselots (m). Cf., Bone-box and Bone-house, and for synonyms, see Grinders.

5. (common.)—A surgeon; generally sawbones (q.v.). A list of curious nicknames for the medical profession will also be found under Squirt.

1887. Chamb. Journal, Jan. 8, p. 30. ‘I have sent for the village
bones, and if he can but patch me up, it may not yet be too late.’

6. (Stock Exchange.)—(1) The shares of Wickens, Pease and Co.; (2) North British 4% 1st Preference Shares, the 4% 2nd Preference Stock being nicknamed Bonettas.

As dry or hard as a bone, phr. (common), i.e., as free from moisture as a bone after it has been picked and cleaned, as by a dog.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, i. It’s as dry as a bone.

1837. R. Nicoll, Poems (1843), 83. Dubs were hard as ony bane.

One end is pretty sure to be bone, phr. (American).—An old time saying equivalent to an admission that ‘all is not gold that glitters’; that the realization of one’s hopes never comes up to the ideal formed of them.

1888. The World, 13 May. People here (in the west) have to get up
and get in order to make both ends meet, and even then one end is
pretty sure to be bone.

To be upon the bones, phr. (vulgar).—To attack.

b. 1616, d. 1704. Sir R. L’Estrange (in Annandale). Puss had a
month’s mind to be upon the bones of him, but was not willing to
pick a quarrel.

To feel a thing in one’s bones.—A simile signifying assurance; conviction.

1887. Scribner’s Magazine. I ain’t a-goin’ to mention no names but
I kin feel it in my bones that things ain’t on the square here,
there’s a nigger in the fence.

1888. Missouri Republican, 22 Feb. Nat. M. Shelton, of Lancaster,
said: ‘I am in the race of attorney-general, and I feel it in my
bones that I will get the nomination.’

To make no bones, phr. (familiar).—To make no scruple; to show no hesitation; to commence and finish a work without difficulty—now restricted to colloquial use; it was formerly current literary coin, and is frequently to be met with in our older literature. Its earlier form was, ‘to find bones in,’ which clearly shows the phrase to have originated in a reference to bones in soup, or similar food, regarded as obstacles to swallowing. In this sense it is found as early as the middle of the fifteenth century, in the Paston Letters. It does not occur in its present shape to make bones until a century later; but, from this period on to the end of the seventeenth century it was in constant use.

1459. Paston Lett., 331, I., 444. And fond that tyme no bonys in
the matere. [M.]

1542. Udall, Apoph. of Erasmus, p. 133 (1877). Yea, and rather then
faill, both whole mainor places, and also whole Lordships, the
‘make no bones, ne sticke not, quite and cleue to swallow doune the
narrow lane, and the same to spue up again.’

1565. Shacklock, Hatchet of Heresies. And instede of that whiche he
saide, This is my body, they haue made no bones at it, to say, this
is my brede.

1590. Greene, Francesco’s Fortune, in wks. VIII., 189. Tricke thy
selfe vp in thy best reparrell, and make no bones at it but on a
woing [wooing].

1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden, in wks. III., 112. He ... would make
no bones to take the wall of Sir Philip Sidney.

1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, Act iii. Man. How could I refrain? A
lawyer talked peremptorily and saucily to me, and as good as gave
me the lie. Free. They do it so often to one another at the bar,
that they make no bones on’t elsewhere.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. lxiv. Do you think that the
Government or the Opposition would make any bones about accepting
the seat if it be offered to them?

To pick a bone or bones with one, phr. (colloquial).—To have an unpleasant matter to settle with one; also, a difficulty to solve; ‘a nut to crack.’

1565. Colfhill, Answ. Treat. Cron. (1846), 277. A bone for you to
pick on. [M.]

1783. Ainsworth, Lat. Dict. (Morell), 1, s.v. Pick, To give one a
bone to pick, scrupulum alicui injicere.

1850–68. H. Rogers, Ess., II., ii. (1874), 103. Many a bone in
these lectures which a keen metaphysician would be disposed to pick
with the author.

Bonesetter, subs. (old).—A hard riding horse; a ricketty conveyance; properly one whose occupation is to set broken and dislocated bones. The sarcastic, punning reference is of course to the dire effects which naturally follow the use of an animal of such a description. The odd way in which slang is often derived, strikes one at times as very curious. Not only are words frequently coined which resemble genuine words, such as ‘solemncholy’ for ‘melancholy,’ and ‘it don’t much magnify’ for ‘it don’t much signify,’ but the meaning of such factitious words is, in many cases, either subtly reversed or endowed with an extremely cynical tinge of humour and sarcasm. The present instance is a case in point. A more modern term is boneshaker (q.v.), which is less subtle in its meaning, bone-setter being certainly far more brutally cynical in its suggestiveness. See second quotation for some curious synonyms formerly in use.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bone Setter, a hard
trotting horse.

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act i., Sc. 7. Jerry. I long
to be there,—let’s hasten to dress at once. Log. Aye; call a
rattler. Jerry. A rattler! I’m at fault again. Log. A rattler is a
rumbler, otherwise a jarvy! better known perhaps by the name of a
hack; handy enough in a wet day, or a hurry. Jerry. A hack! If it’s
the thing we rattled over the stones in to-day, It might more
properly be called a bone-setter. Tom. Or bone-breaker.—But if you
dislike going in a hack, we’ll get you a mab. Jerry. A mab! I’m at
fault again—never shall get properly broken in. Tom. A mab is a
jingling jarvy!—a cabriolet, Jerry.—But we must mind our flash
doesn’t peep out at Almack’s. ’Tis classic ground there.

Bone-Shake, verb (popular).—To ride a bone-shaker (q.v.), i.e., a heavy bicycle of a very old type.

1889. Answers, Feb. 23, p. 195, col. 1. Among those who learnt to
boneshake was Charles Dickens, who, had he lived, would have been a
devoted cyclist.

Bone-Shaker, subs. (old).—1. A hard trotting horse.—See Bone-setter.

2. (popular.)—An old type of bicycle in use prior to the introduction of india-rubber tires and other manifold improvements. The first bicycle propelled by cranks and pedals was ridden in Paris in 1864. It created enormous excitement. On being introduced into England people went bicycle mad, and the number of persons who suffered in consequence of riding the old bone-shakers was considerable. Among those who learnt to ‘bone-shake’ was Charles Dickens, who, had he lived, would have been a devoted cyclist, for he regarded the sport as a grand one, and prophesied a big future for it. In 1868 Mr. Charles Spencer rode to Brighton on a bone-shaker in 14 hours from London. The papers were full of what was then considered an extraordinary feat, but on Aug. 10, 1889, four riders of the Polytechnic Cycling Club covered the distance to Brighton and back, 108 miles, in 7 hours 50 minutes, which is better time than a most perfectly-appointed modern four-in-hand can be driven over the same course by the aid of unlimited relays of horses kept in readiness to be changed at a moment’s notice. Only one machine was used throughout the trial, viz., a safety roadster, weighing 36 lbs.

1874. A. Howard, Bicycle, 10. In 1870 and 1871, the low, long
bone-shaker began to fall in public esteem. [M.]

1884. G. L. Hillier, in Longman’s Mag., March, p. 487. The
bone-shaker, as the ribald cyclist of the present day designates
the ancestor of his present bicycle.

1885. Nineteenth Century, Jan., p. 92. In the Field’s report of the
performance of the Cambridge Town Bicycle Club we find this entry:
‘Half Mile Race on bone-shakers, not exceeding 36 in.’

Bone Standing, verbal phr. (American college).—To study hard. [Evidently an allusion to the alertness implied by a standing position.]

Bonettas, subs. (Stock Exchange.)—The 4% 2nd North British 2nd Preference Stock.—See Bones, subs., sense 6, § 2.

Bong.—See Boung.

Boniface, subs. (popular).—The landlord of a tavern or inn. [Derived from Farquhar’s play.]

1707. Farquhar, Beaux Stratagem. [Boniface is here given as the
name of landlord of the inn.]

1803. Bristed, Pedest. Tour, I., 120. To give the characteristic
features and to stamp the peculiar traits of honest Boniface.

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. xvi. The landlord either
could not, or would not, give them any actual information as to his
guests.... So the blue-coated myrmidons of Scotland Yard got but
little information from Boniface.

Boning Adjutant, verbal phr. (American cadets’).—Aping a military bearing. [From bone, to study, to imitate.] So also boning muscle (q.v.) is going in largely for gymnastics. To bone standing, to study hard. Boning demerit, giving no cause for complaint as regards one’s conduct. All West Point cadet slang.

Bonk, subs. (travelling showmens’).—A short, steep hill. [Possibly only a provincialism, or an obsolete form of ‘bank.’]

1876. Hindley, Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 302. In Lancashire,
Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Staffordshire, the approaches to some of
the large works are either up or down some steep, short hill,
usually termed bonk, and the drivers of heavily laden carts with
two horses have the breeching on the leading chain-horse, as well
as the horse in the shafts, so that when they are going down one of
these steep bonks, the horse is as useful as a help in drawing up.

Bonnet, subs. (old).—1. A gambling cheat; a decoy at auctions. [So-called because they bonnet or blind the eyes of the victims.—See Bonnet, verb, sense 1.] Hotten says sometimes called a bearer-up. The bonnet plays as though he were a member of the general public, and by his good luck, or by the force of his example, induces others to venture their stakes. Bonneting is often done in much better society than that to be found in the ordinary gaming-rooms. A man who persuades another to buy an article on which he receives commission or percentage, is said to bonnet or bear-up for the seller. Also called a bonneter. The French has bonneteur for one profuse in compliments and bows.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dictionary. Bonnet, a concealment.

1841. Comic Almanack, October. Or a man at a hell, Playing the part
of a bonnetter well.

1853. Whyte Melville, Digby Grand, ch. xxi. I began to think my
military friend was ‘a bonnet,’—one of those harpies employed by
gambling-house keepers to enhance temptation by the influence of
example, and generally selected for their respectable and innocent
appearance.

(?) 1868. Times (quoted by Brewer, Phrase and Fable, p. 104). A man who sits at a gaming-table, and appears to be playing against the table; when a stranger appears, the bonnet generally wins.

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 217. We bid
or praised up his goods: in fact, often acted as ‘puffers’ or
bonnets, to give him a leg up.

1885. Morning Post, Sept. 5, p. 7, col. 3. There was no distinct
evidence to connect him with a conspiracy to defraud.... He might
have been used as a sort of bonnet to conceal the utter
worthlessness of propositions made by the others.

2. (old.)—A pretext; pretence; or ‘make believe.’

3. A woman. [This sense is analogous to ‘petticoat,’ the names of articles of feminine attire being transferred to the wearer.]

1880. Punch’s Almanac, p. 3. Then comes Easter, Got some coin in
hand, Trot a bonnet out and do the grand.

Verb (common).—1. To act as a bonnet (q.v.); to cheat; to puff; to ‘bear up’ (q.v.).

1871. ‘Hawk’s-Eye,’ Budget of Turf Notes, p. 2. I could point out
now what horses he is bonneting for the 2,000 Guineas and Derby of
this year, and the horses whose pretensions he is trying to
discredit.

1887. Referee, 15 May, p. 1, col. 3. Nobody can suppose that I am
anxious to bonnet for the Times newspaper.

2. (popular.)—To crush a man’s hat down over his eyes.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 229. Two young men, who, now and
then, varied their amusements by bonneting the proprietor of this
itinerant coffee-house.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, II., p. 216. You are a dutiful and
affectionate little boy to come a bonnetin’ your father in his old
age.

1843. Dickens, Christmas Carol in Prose, p. 22. Scrooge reverently
disclaimed ... any knowledge of having wilfully bonneted the Spirit
at any period of his life.

1882. Saturday Review, LIV., p. 629. The students hustled and
‘bonnetted’ a new professor.

To have a green bonnet, phr. (common).—To fail in business. [From the green cloth cap formerly worn by bankrupts.]

Bonnet-Builder, subs. (popular).—A milliner. [The derivation is clear.]—See Build.

1839. Song in The Little Melodist, quoted in J. Ashton’s The Fleet,
p. 93. Will you go to Bagnigge Wells, Bonnet builder, O!

1868. Brewer, Phrase and Fable, s.v. ‘Build.’ A milliner is
jestingly called a ‘bonnet-builder.’

Bonneter.—1. See Bonnet, subs., sense 1.

2. (common.)—A crushing blow on the hat.—See Bonnet, verb, sense 2.

Bonnets So Blue, subs. (rhyming slang).—Irish stew.—See Rhyming slang.

Bono, adj. (circus and thieves’).—Good. [From the Latin.]

Booby Hutch, subs. (thieves’).—A police station; so called no doubt from the light in which the criminal classes regard those who are foolish enough or unfortunate enough to get ‘landed’ in such places. [Booby = a fool + hutch, a box or confined space.]

Booby-Trap, subs. (schoolboys’).—An arrangement of books, wet sponges, vessels of water, etc., so arranged on the top of a door set ajar that when the intended victim enters the room, the whole falls upon him.

1850. Smedley, Frank Fairlegh, ch. iii., p. 28. He had devoted it
to the construction of what he called a ‘booby-trap,’ which
ingenious piece of mechanism was arranged in the following manner:
The victim’s room-door was placed ajar, and upon the top thereof a
Greek Lexicon, or any other equally ponderous volume, was carefully
balanced, and upon this was set in its turn a jug of water. If all
these were properly adjusted, the catastrophe above described was
certain to ensue when the door was opened.

1882. F. Anstey, Vice Versâ, ch. xiv. ‘I made a first-rate
booby-trap, though, one day for an old yellow buffer who came in to
see you.’

1883. Sat. Review, Nov. 3, p. 566, col. 2. On his way down to
dinner he is suddenly drenched from head to foot by a booby-trap—a
sponge soaked in water placed above a half-open door.

Boodle, subs. (American).—1. A crowd; a company; the ‘whole boiling’ (q.v.). With this meaning the form often appears as caboodle (q.v.). [As regards derivation, which is obscure, Murray, speaking of both senses as here treated, says the U.S. boodle, in sense 1, must be the same as Markham’s ‘buddle’ (see quotation given below from New English Dictionary); sense 2 (also only in U.S.) may be a different word. Boodle suggests a Dutch origin from boedel pronounced boodle, and in its primary sense means ‘household stuff,’ and refers to property left by a testator. It is curious to note that bodle was a Scotch coin of the value of one-sixth of a penny.]

1625. F. Markham, Bk. Honour, IV., ii. Men curiously and carefully
chosen out (from all the buddle and masse of great ones) for their
approoued wisedome. [M.]

1857. O. W. Holmes, Autocrat, p. 139. He would like to have the
whole boodle of them (I remonstrated against this word, but the
professor said it was a diabolish good word ...) with their wives
and children shipwrecked on a remote island.

1865. Bacon, Handbook of America, p. 361. Boodle, ‘the whole boodle
of them,’ i.e., all, the whole. [List of Americanisms.]

1884. E. E. Hale, Xmas. in Narragansett, ch. ix., p. 272. At eleven
o’clock the ‘whole boodle of them,’ as Uncle Nahum called the
caravan ... had to boot and spur for church. [M.]

2. (American.)—In its second signification this curious word seems to have come into prominent use in politics during the past five years. Its meaning and usage is thus explained in Americanisms—Old and New. Some elections cannot be conducted without boodle first and last. Boodle does not mean the capital or stock-in-trade, except the business or trade be something secret, peculiar and illegal. Boodle always means money; but money has not always been boodle (see sense 4). Money honestly received and spent, money that circulates in regular and honest channels, that appears in cash-book and ledger and expense account, is never boodle; but when a sum—a thousand dollars, more or less—is given to some one to use in influencing a third party, given perhaps in silence and certainly without requiring any writing of acknowledgment or obligation—that is boodle. Boodle is money used for purposes of bribery and corruption; and the same word is employed to indicate the money that comes as spoils, the result of some secret deal, the profits of which are silently divided. The term is likewise used to cover the ill-gotten gains of the bank robber, or the absconding cashier. ‘He carried away so much boodle.’ In elections the primaries have to be ‘fixed,’ a great many men have to be ‘seen’; in short, the amount of money that it seems necessary in some cases to use to elect a few honest public servants is a thing to wonder at. And when these men are elected, it appears that they often lose the power of distinguishing between ‘straight money’ and boodle. The word seems destined to take its permanent place in the language.—See also Boodlers.

1884. Boston (Mass.) Globe, Oct. 7. ‘Sinews of war,’ and ‘living
issues,’ ‘soap,’ and other synonyms for campaign boodle are
familiar. [M.]

1888. Philadelphia Bulletin, 24 Feb. The best man in the world
cannot make an honest living by being a City Councilman. The office
is an unsalaried one, and any money that is made out of it is
boodle. This is the new term for plunder, fraud and every form of
stealing that can be practised by office-holders, who, in the
practice, add the crime of perjury. It is an easy business for men
of easy virtue.

1888. Puck’s Library, May, p. 3.

In the evening, up the street,
As you see him passing by,
You’re convinced his mind’s replete
With the legal science high;
That he ponders of divorce,
Or, of boodle cases great;
That he spends all day, of course,
Fighting counsel for the State.

3. (American thieves’.)—Amongst the thieving fraternity boodle is used to denote money that is actually spurious or counterfeit, and not merely money used for nefarious purposes, but which as currency is genuine enough.

4. (American general.)—Money. This is the latest sense imported into the word. The transition by which it has come to be synonymous with ‘dust,’ ‘pieces,’ ‘rhino,’ ‘oof,’ etc., is an easy one.—See Actual.

1888. Puck’s Library, Jan., p. 4.

Shakey, take a fader’s plessing,
Take it, for you ket it sheap;
Go in hot for making money,
Go in for to make a heap.
Don’ you do no dings vot’s grooked,
Don’ you do no dings vot’s mean—
Aber rake right in dot boodle,
Qviet, calm, and all serene.

To carry boodle is to utter base coinage.—See Boodler.

Fake-boodle, subs. (American thieves’).—A roll of paper over which, after folding, a dollar bill is pasted, and another bill being loosely wrapped round this it looks as if the whole roll is made up of a large sum of money in bills.

Boodler, subs. (American political).—1. One who bribes or corrupts.—See Boodle, sense 2.

1888. Omaha World. American. ‘As you are a native of Canada I
suppose you think that country is all right, but for my part I
should hate most awfully to be a subject of a queen.’ Canadian.
‘The queen is a mere figure-head; there is no difference at all
between Canada and the United States.’ ‘Come to think, I believe
you do have elections there.’ ‘I should say we did. We have
elections and campaigns, and political parties, and bosses, and
ringsters, and boodlers, and——.’ ‘Boodlers?’ ‘Plenty of ’em.’
‘Well, well! Why, you are freemen just like us.’

2. (American thieves’.)—Boodlers and shovers are the men who issue false money (see Boodle, sense 3). Swindlers of this type generally hunt in couples; one carrying the bulk of the counterfeit money, and receiving the good change as obtained by his companion, who utters the boodle piece by piece. The game is generally worked so that at the slightest alarm the boodle carrier vanishes and leaves nothing to criminate his confederate.

Booget, subs. (old cant).—A travelling tinker’s basket. Quoted by Harman [1567].

Book, subs. (sporting).—1. In betting, more especially in connection with horse racing, an arrangement of bets made against certain horses, and so calculated that the bookmaker (q.v.) has a strong chance of winning something whatever the result.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, I., p. 400. And Wilkins Flasher, Esquire,
entered it (the bet) in a little book with a gold pencil-case; and
the other gentleman entered it also, in another little book with
another gold pencil-case.

1837. Disraeli, Henrietta Temple, p. 260. Am I to be branded
because I have made half a million by a good book?

1852. F. E. Smedley, Lewis Arundel, ch. liii. ‘He has backed the
Dodona colt for the Derby, and has got a heavier book on the race
than he likes.’

1869. Gent. Mag., July, p. 231. He wins your money with a smile,
will accommodate his book to suit what bets you may choose to make.

1879. Jas. Payn, High Spirits (Change of Views). He had a
knowledge, too, of practical mathematics, which enabled him to make
a book upon every great racing event of the year.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, Oct. 21, p. 6, col. 1. Every sporting man
is flattered if termed a sportsman, but it would be almost an
insult to speak to a sportsman as a sporting man. Wherein does the
distinction lie? it may be asked. The one is a lover of sport for
the sake of the thing itself. The other is a lover of it for what
he can get out of the business. The former may bet, but he does not
look at sport through the glasses of a book; the latter always
bets, and in fact would not care about it at all if he could not
take or give odds.

2. (card-players’.)—The first six tricks at whist.

3. (general.)—The copy of words to which music is set; the words of a play; formerly only applied to the libretto of an opera.

1768. Sterne, Sentimental Journey, I., 180. A small pamphlet, it
might be the book of the opera.

1889. Answers, 8 June, p. 24. The prompter had a little table on
the ‘prompt’ side; that is, the right-hand side looking from the
house, and his ‘book’ was one mass of directions, the margins being
covered with little pictures and diagrams of the stage, showing the
positions of the leading actors in every scene.

To know one’s book, phr. (popular).—To have made up one’s mind; to know what is best for one’s interest.

c. 1879. Broadside Ballad, ‘Ain’t you glad you didn’t.’

Ain’t you glad sometimes to know,
A second thought you took,
About a subject upon which
You thought you knew your book;
Now first of all you think you will,
And then you think you won’t,
While someone says ‘Go in and win!’
And someone else says ‘Don’t.’

To suit one’s book, phr. (common).—To suit one’s arrangements. Cf., Book, subs., sense 1, the allusion being to betting books, in which bets are formally entered.

1852. F. E. Smedley, Lewis Arundel, ch. vi. ‘By which time he
expects to be so hard up that he must marry somebody, and as there
will be plenty of the needful, she will suit his book as well as
any other.’

Booked, ppl. adj. (common).—Caught; fixed; disposed of; destined, etc. From the book-keeping term—entered in a book, or registered.

1840. Hood, Up the Rhine, p. 6. I am booked for a much longer
journey.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 446. Booked, caught,
taken, or disposed of.

1881. Jas. Payn, Grape from a Thorn, ch. xxiii. ‘I don’t remember
anyone having given me an “engaged ring” before; and it’s not leap
year, neither. However, the lady’s booked, which is a great
relief.’

French thieves use être planché for ‘to be booked’; also être mort (i.e., ‘to be dead’); the adjective is rendered by faitré, and the person booked is un gerbable.

Book-Form, subs. (sporting).—The relative powers of speed or endurance of race-horses as set down in the Racing Calendar or ‘book.’

Bookie or Booky, subs. (sporting).—An abbreviated form of bookmaker (q.v.).

1885. Eng. Ill. Mag., April, p. 509. No rowdy ring, but a few quiet
and well-known bookies, who were ready enough to lay the odds to a
modest fiver.

1889. Sporting Times, 29 June.

He now had occasion to speedily hie
To the bookie who laid him the bet,
Who was one of the small and particular fry,
That at times, when convenient, forget.

Bookmaker, subs. (sporting).—The English Encyclopædia says:—In betting there are two parties—one called ‘layers,’ as the bookmakers are termed, and the other ‘backers,’ in which class may be included owners of horses as well as the public. The backer takes the odds which the bookmaker lays against a horse, the former speculating upon the success of the animal, the latter upon its defeat; and taking the case of Cremorne for the Derby of 1872, just before the race, the bookmaker would have laid 3 to 1, or perhaps £1000 to £300 against him, by which transaction, if the horse won, as he did, the backer would win £1000 for risking £300, and the bookmaker lose the £1000 which he risked to win the smaller sum. At first sight this may appear an act of very questionable policy on the part of the bookmaker; but really it is not so, because so far from running a greater risk than the backer, he runs less, inasmuch as it is his plan to lay the same amount (£1000) against every horse in the race, and as there can be but one winner, he would in all probability receive more than enough money from the many losers to pay the stated sum of £1000 which the chances are he has laid against the one winner, whichever it is.—See also Book, subs., sense 1, and Bookie.

1862. London Review, Aug. 30, p. 188. Betting there seemed to be
none ... we could not perceive a single book or bookmaker.

1880. W. Day, Racehorse in Training, ch. xxiv., p. 245. Bookmakers
pursue a legitimate and lucrative trade by laying against all
horses as they appear in the market.

1883. Hawley Smart, Hard Lines, ch. iii. Finding ... that the
bookmaker whom for once they have landed for ‘a thousand to thirty’
is hopelessly insolvent.

Bookmaker’s Pocket, subs. (sporting).—A breast-pocket made inside the waistcoat, for notes of large amount.—Hotten.—See Bookmaker.

Books, subs. (card-players’).—1. A pack of cards. A term used mainly by professional card-players. Also called devil’s books; book of broads; book of briefs. The French equivalent is un juge de paix; while une cartouchière à portées is a prepared pack used by sharpers.

1706. Mrs. Centlivre, Basset Table, IV., ii., wks. (1872) I., 245.

L. Revel. Clean cards here.

Mrs. Sago. Burn this book, ’t has an unlucky air [tears them].
Bring some more books.

2. (Winchester College.)—(a.) The prizes formerly presented by Lord Say and Sele, now given by the governing body, to the ‘Senior’ in each division at the end of ‘Half.’

(b.) The school is thus divided:—Sixth Book—Senior and Junior Division; the whole of the rest of the School is in Fifth Book—Senior Part, Middle Part, Junior Part, each part being divided into so many divisions, Senior, Middle and Junior, or Senior, 2nd, 3rd and Junior, as the case may require. Formerly there was also ‘Fourth Book,’ but it ceased to exist about twenty-five years ago.

1876. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 104. The
school was divided into three classes, or books, as they were
called. Of these, the Præfects formed one, Sixth Book; Fifth Book
was sub-divided into three parts, called respectively, ‘Senior,
Middle, and Junior part of the Fifth’; in speaking of them, the
words, ‘of the Fifth’ were generally omitted. The rest of the boys
made up ‘Fourth Book.’

(c.) Up at books.—In class; repeating lessons; now called Up to books.

1876. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 101. At each
end of school are three tiers of benches rising gradually one above
the other,—that on the ground being called ‘Senior Row,’ and the
others ‘Middle,’ and ‘Junior Row’ respectively. On these the
Classes sit when ‘up at books,’ i.e., when repeating lessons.

(d.) Books chambers.—Explained by quotation.

1876. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 103. On
Remedies (a kind of whole holiday), we also went into School in the
morning and afternoon for an hour or two without masters; this was
called books chambers; and on Sundays, from four till a quarter to
five.

(e) To get or make books.—To make the highest score at anything. Cf., Books, sense 2a.

Bookwork, subs. (University).—Mathematics that can be learned verbatim from books—all that are not problems.

Boom.—This word is a comparatively recent production in its slang sense; and is variously used as a substantive or as a verb. Before particularizing its special usages, it may be interesting to note how, within a few years, it has made its appearance in a variety of combinations; as, ‘the whole State is booming for Smith,’ or ‘the boys have whooped up the State to boom for Smith,’ or ‘the Smith boom is ahead in this State,’ etc., etc. Stocks and money are said to be booming when active; and any particular spot within a flourishing district is regarded as within the boom-belt. A successful team or party is said to be a booming squad, and we even read of boomlets to express progress of a lesser degree. [Its origin is largely a matter of conjecture, but the most probable derivation is from the nautical phrase ‘boom-out,’ signifying a vessel running rapidly before the wind; but Murray points out that as various associations are probable, and as the actual use of the word has not been regulated by any distinct etymological feeling, it is not likely that any derivation will account for all its applications.]

Subs.—Commercial activity; rapid advance in prices; a flourishing state of affairs—in all its applications it is synonymous with extreme vigour and effectiveness. The first quotation carries its use back a few years beyond the earliest date given in the New English Dictionary.

1875. Scribner’s Mag., July, p. 277. Another boom in prices is to
be looked for.

1883. Referee, May 6, p. 3, col. 2. ‘The Merry Duchess’ is a big
boom, and I understand that money is being turned away nightly.

1883. M. Twain, Life on the Mississippi, ch. lvii., p. 499. I lived
here in 1857—an extraordinary year there in real-estate matters.
The boom was something wonderful. Everybody bought, everybody sold
... anything in the semblance of a town lot, no matter how
situated, was saleable.

1888. Boston Daily Globe. After the Sheridan reception, of course
John Sherman must come to Boston. The Ohio statesman knows where
all the real live booms start. If Mr. Blaine is wise he also will
come to the ‘Hub’ without delay.

1888. Missouri Republican, 16 Feb. ‘Jim, they say thar is a big bum
up at Rome.’ ‘What’s that?’ said Jim. ‘It’s a kind of new tradin’
business what swells and shrinks, and the sweller and shrinker
stays down in a celler and works the machine. They trade in stock.’
‘Horses and mules?’ said Jim. ‘No, hit’s all on paper, and nobody
can see what he’s buyin’. You put your money in and wait for a
swell. If it comes you are all right, but if a shrink comes you are
busted, and you feel so ashamed that you don’t say anything about
it, and it never gets into the papers—nothing but the swells gits
into the papers.

Verb, intr.—To go off with a boom.—See subs. To make rapid and vigorous progress; to advance by leaps and bounds; trans. to push; to puff; to bring into prominence with a rush.

1874. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Gilded Age, ch. xxvii. There’s
200,000 dollars coming, and that will set things booming again.

1875. Scribner’s Mag., July, p. 272. Stocks may boom to-day, but
droop to-morrow, and with the crash come remorse and repentance.
Ibid, p. 277. When stocks are active they are said to be booming.

1884. M. Twain, Huckleberry Finn, xiii., 3. We boomed along down
the river, watching for lights and watching for our raft.

1888. Chicago Daily Inter-Ocean. The city of Paris is said to be
diminishing instead of increasing in population. They don’t know
how to boom a town over there.

As already stated, boom enters into many combinations; boomer (q.v.), boom-belt, booming-squad, etc.

1888. New Orleans Picayune. A boom in North Carolina is not the
kind of phenomenon to which we are accustomed here. Sales of land
at from 2 dols. to 10 dols. an acre in a boom belt are not of
record hereabout.