Chapter XVIII: Part 18

1888. Chicago Herald. Ben Butterworth, of Ohio, one of the
mainstays of John Sherman’s booming squad, has just had the title
of boss Republican tariff debater conferred upon him by the culture
of Boston.

To top one’s boom off, phr. (nautical).—To be off, or to start in a certain direction.

1871. G. Meredith, Harry Richmond, ch. xxxviii., p. 346 (1886).
‘And now top your boom, and to bed here.’

Boomer, subs. (American).—1. One who booms or causes an enterprise to become flourishing, active or notorious. [From boom, subs., + er.]

1888. Times, Sept. 26, p. 8. [He] is a North-Western boomer of
great earnestness. [M.]

1885. Boston (Mass.) Journal, Aug. 19, p. 2, col. 4. The Oklahoma
boomers. [M.]

2. Attributively applied to anybody or anything considerably above the average. Thus, what English people would call a bouncing lie, an American, if given to slang, would call a boomer; so also a fine woman, a horse with extra good points, etc., etc.

Boomerang, subs. (American).—Figuratively used to signify acts or words, the results of which recoil upon the person from whom they originate. The boomerang is properly an Australian missile weapon which, when thrown, can be made to return to the thrower; or which, likewise, can be caused to take an opposite direction to that in which it is first thrown.

1845. Holmes, Modest Request, Poems (1884), 42. Like the strange
weapon, which the Australian throws, Your verbal boomerang slaps
you on the nose. [M.]

1870. Lowell, Among My Books, 1 S. (1873), 219. The boomerang of
argument, which one throws in the opposite direction of what he
means to hit. [M.]

Booming, ppl. adj. (American).—Flourishing; active; in good form; large; astonishing.—See Boom and Boomer in all senses.

Boom-Passenger, subs. (nautical).—A sailor’s slang term for a convict on board ship. Derived from the circumstance that prisoners on board convict ships were chained to, or were made to crawl along or stand on the booms for exercise or punishment.—Hotten.

Boon-Companion, subs. (colloquial).—A comrade in a drinking bout; a good fellow. [Boon is evidently a corruption of the French bon.]

1566. Drant, Med. Morall, A. v. He is my bone companion, it’s he
that cheares up me. [M.]

1592. Greene, Quip, in wks. XI., 220. To seeke good consortes and
boone companions to passe away the day withall.

1594. Nashe, Terrors of the Night, in wks. III., 228. Our Poets or
boone companions they are out of question.

1600. W. Kemp, Nine Days’ Wonder, in Arber’s English Garner, vol.
VII., p. 27. And coming to my inn, where the host was a very boon
companion, I desired to see him.

1712. Arbuthnot, History of John Bull, pt. I., ch. v. This was
occasioned by his being a boon companion, loving his bottle and his
diversion.

1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, ch. xxiii. The morning after a
debauch is usually one of reflection, even to the most customary
boon companion.

1827. Lytton, Pelham, ch. lxvii. We went downstairs to our dinner,
as charmed with each other as boon companions always should be.

Boon-Companionship, subs. (colloquial).—Jollity; conviviality.—See Boon-companion.

1592. Nashe, Strange Newes, in wks. II., 176. Thinke not, though
vnder correction Of your boone-companionship, I am disposd to be a
little pleasant, I condemne you of anie immoderation, either in
eating or drinking.

1849. Lytton, Caxtons, pt. XII., ch. iv. A little society, and
boon-companionship ... would take Roland out of those gloomy
reveries.

Boong.—See Bung.

Boorde.—See Bord.

Boost, subs. (American).—A hoisting; a ‘shove’; a ‘lift’; a ‘push up’—a New England vulgarism.

1858. Dow, Sermons. Office seekers ask you to give them a boost
into the tree of office. [M.]

1866. T. A. Richards, Rice Fields of the South. [A negro-preacher
in South Carolina, loq.] ‘For, my bredderen, little Zaccheus was
bound to see the Lord for once, dough he had to climb up de tree to
do it. And how did he get up der tree? Ah, how did he get up der
tree, my bredderen? Did he wait for some lazy nigger to bring him a
ladder? Ah, no, my bredderen. Did he wait to be boosted? Ah, no, my
bredderen. Not a boost! He climbed right straight up der tree
hisself, like de possum, by his own hands and feet and de grace of
God!’

1888. Puck’s Library, May, p. 11. A genius took hold of the
business, and gave it a little boost. He was a man of the times,
and he applied his reasoning faculties to the problem presented to
him. ‘What,’ he asked, ‘is the chief means of success?’

Verb.—To hoist; to lift up; to shove.—See subs.

1848–64. J. R. Lowell, Biglow Papers, II., 106. Whereas ole Abram
’d sink afore he’d let a darkie boost him.

1872. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Roughing It, ch. vii. You ought
to have seen that spider-legged old skeleton go! and you ought to
have seen the bull cut out after him, too—head down, tongue out,
tail up, bellowing like everything, and actually mowing down the
weeds, and tearing up the earth, and boosting up the sand like a
whirlwind!

1884. Harper’s Magazine, Aug., p. 481, col. 1. To boost a jurist of
so much helpless avoirdupois in through the carriage door.

Boosy.—See Boozy.

Boot, verb (military).—To beat; to punish with a strap. The punishment is irregular and unconventional, being inflicted by soldiers on a comrade discovered guilty of some serious breach of the unwritten law of comradeship, such as theft, etc. The beating was formerly inflicted with a bootjack—hence the name.

Booth, subs. (thieves’).—A house; ‘to heave a booth,’ i.e., ‘to rob a house.’

Booth-Burster, subs. (theatrical).—A loud and noisy actor. A variant of barn-stormer (q.v.).

Booting, subs. (military).—A punishment administered with a strap. Cf., Colting.

Boot-Joe, subs. (military).—Musketry drill.

Boot-Leg Plan.—See On the boot-leg plan.

Bootlick, subs. (American).—A flunkey; hanger-on; or doer of dirty work. [In England such a one is called a ‘bootlicker,’ of which bootlick is probably an abbreviated form.]

Verb.—To toady; to hang on; to undertake ‘dirty’ work.

Boots, subs. (colloquial).—1. The servant at hotels and places of a kindred character who cleans the boots of visitors. Formerly called boot-catchers, because in the old riding and coaching days part of their duty was to divest travellers of their footgear.

2. (military.)—The youngest officer in a regimental mess.

Like old boots—beans—bricks—blazes, etc., phr. (common).—Thoroughly; vigorously. A simile as general in its application as it is irrelevant. It may mean anything, everything, and nothing. Why old boots and not new boots is beyond comprehension.

1868. Miss Braddon, Sir Jasper, ch. xxvii., p. 282. I’ll stick to
you like old boots.

1874. Saturday Review, Jan., p. 55. An Oxford man, nay even a
Balliol man ... introduced in the story a pleasing change by such a
phrase as jawing away like old boots.

To buy old boots, phr. (old).—To marry or keep the cast-off mistress of another man.

To die in one’s boots (q.v.).

Boots and Leathers.—See Commoner peal.

Booty. To play booty, phr. (old).—To play falsely; dishonestly; or unfairly; this with the object of not winning, a previous arrangement having been made with a confederate to share the spoils resulting from the bogus play. Sometimes it takes the form of permitting the victim to win small stakes in order to encourage him to hazard larger sums which, naturally, he is not allowed to win.—See quotation from Dyche.

1575. Frat. of Vacabondes, p. 13. They wil make as much as they
can, and consent as though they wil play booty againt him.

1608. Dekker, Belman of London, in wks. (Grosart) III., 133. They
... haue still an eare how the layes [bets] are made, and according
to that leuell doe they throw their bowles, so that be sure the
bowlers play booty.

1742. Fielding, Joseph Andrews, bk. I., ch. ii. The best gamesters,
before they laid their money, always inquired which horse little
Joey was to ride; and the bets were rather proportioned by the
rider than by the horse himself; especially after he had scornfully
refused a considerable bribe to play booty on such an occasion.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Booty (s.), plunder, spoil,
prize; also a cant word signifying a pretence to one thing, and at
the same time intends and does the contrary, in order to cheat,
impose upon, and draw in a person to lay wagers, play at some game,
etc.

1776. Colman, The Spleen, in wks. (1777) IV., 276. Jubilee started
and stumbled but, by-the-bye, I believe his rider played
booty—Duenna won the stakes, and the knowing ones were all taken
in.

1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. vii. ‘Were he caught playing booty, he
would be disarmed, and probably dismounted.’

1831. Disraeli, Young Duke. One thing remained to be lost—what he
called his honour, which was already on the scent to play booty.

So also booty = playing booty, and booty-fellow, a sharer in the plunder.

Booze, subs. (popular).—1. Drink; a draught. The older forms are bouse or bouze (q.v.), but booze in its present form appears as early as 1714. For synonyms, see Drinks.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4 ed.), p. 11. Booze, Drink. [List of
cant words.]

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 6. Jemmy.
Gemmen, have you ordered the peck and booze for the evening? Sold.
Suke. Aye, aye, I’ve taken care of that—shoulder of veal and
garnish—Turkey and appendleges—Parmesan—Filberds—Port and Madery.

1889. Sporting Times, 6 July. Kid. The Music Hall Sports are at
Alexandra Park on the 23rd, and there will be rare doings on that
occasion. Master and Shifter both give prizes, and there will be
booze in our drag.

2. A drinking bout; a tipsy frolic. Murray’s first quote for this form and sense is dated 1864; but, from the following, it will be seen to be at least thirty years older. For synonyms, see Jamboree.

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. ‘We’ll have a jolly
boose when all’s over.’

1884. St. James’s Gazette, 19 Dec., p. 4, col. 1. There was a great
booze on board.

Verb (common).—To drink heavily; to tipple; to guzzle. An old term employed in some sense of ‘to drink’ as early as 1300. Also booze (q.v.). For synonyms, see Swill.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 5. The buriall was tourned to
bousing and belly cheere.

1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, in wks. II., 91. They should haue
all the companie that resort to them, bye bowzing and beere-bathing
in their bouses every after-noone.

1777. Colman, Epilogue to Sheridan’s School for Scandal. While good
Sir Peter boozes with the squire.

1853. Thackeray, Barry Lyndon, ch. xiii., p. 173. ‘I wonder, Sir
Charles Lyndon, a gentleman who has been the King’s ambassador, can
demean himself by gambling and boozing with low Irish black-legs!’

So also boozed (ppl. adj.), drunk, fuddled; boozy (adj.), drunken, ‘screwed’; boozing (verbal subs.), the act of drinking hard; and boozer (subs.), a drunkard, a tippler—examples of which respectively will be found hereunder in sections.

b. 1529. Skelton, Elynoor Rommin, in Hart. Misc. (ed. Park), I.,
416.

Droupy and drowsie,
Scurvy and lousie
Her face all bowsie.

1592. Greene, Quip, in wks. XI., 253. To marke the bowsie drunkard
to dye of the dropsy.

1611. Cotgrave, Piailleur: m ... a tipler, bowser.

1616. Jonson, Devil’s an Ass, V., 4. And in the meantime, to be
greasy, and bouzy.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. iv., p. 36 (1874). Most
part of the night we spent in boozing, pecking rumly ... that is
drinking, eating.

1693. Dryden, Juvenal, x., 288. Which in his cups the bowsy poet
sings.

1705. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. II., pt. IV., p. 14. Amongst a
Crowd of Sots, half boozy.

c. 1819. Wolcot, P. Pindar, p. 303, ed. 1830.

This landlord was a boozer stout,
A snuff-taker and smoker. [d.]

1848. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, ch. xxiii. The boozy unshorn wretch
is seen hovering round quays as packets arrive, and tippling drams
in inn bars where he gets credit.

1848. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, ch. xxxiii. The quantity of
brandy-and-water that Jack took showed what a regular boozer he
was.

1850. P. Crook, War of Hats, 50. Boozed in their tavern dens, The
scurril press drove all their dirty pens.

1866. G. Eliot, Felix Holt, ch. xi. ‘Till they can show there’s
something they love better than swilling themselves with ale,
entension of the suffrage can never mean anything for them but
entension of boozing.’

1889. Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday, Aug. 24, p. 267, col. 2.

In Canton gardens I have boozed;
Beneath the palm-trees I have snoozed;
I’ve seen the alligator smile,
And peppered at the crocodile.

Boozing Cheat, subs. (thieves’).—A bottle. [From booze (q.v.), drink, + cheat, from A.S. ceat, a thing.]

Boozing-Ken, subs. (old).—A drinking den. [From booze (q.v.), drink, + ken, a place.] A term of long standing. A French equivalent is une bibine, but for general synonyms, see Lush crib.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65. A bowsing-ken, a ale house.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874).
Bowsing-ken, an Ale-house.

1622. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, II., i.

When last in conference at the boozing-ken,
This other day we sat about our dead prince.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4 ed.), p. 11. Boozing-ken, an
Ale-house. [List of cant words in.]

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. The hovel which they
termed their boozing-ken.

Boozington, subs. (Australian thieves’).—A drunkard. [Apparently a formation from booze (q.v.), to drink, on the model of lushington (q.v.), an English equivalent.] For synonyms, see Elbow crooker.

Borachio, subs. (old).—A nickname for a drunkard; formerly a skin for holding wine. For synonyms, see Elbow crooker.

Borak. To poke borak, verbal phr. (colonial).—To pour fictitious news into credulous ears; to ‘stuff’; to ‘kid.’

1587. Notes and Queries, 7 S., iii., 476. Poke borak, applied in
Colonial conversation to the operations of a person who pours
fictitious information into the ears of a credulous listener.

Bord, Borde, Boorde, subs. (old cant).—A shilling. The origin is unknown. For synonyms, see Blow.

1567. Harman, Caveat, p. 85. Roge, but bouse there a bord, i.e.,
but drink there a shilling.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874).
Boord, a shilling; Halfe a Boord, sixepence.

1611. Dekker, Roaring Girle, wks. (1873) III., 219. My Lord Noland
... bestowes vpon you two, two boordes and a half.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 47 (1874). Borde,
a shilling.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. [The same
definition.]

Bordeaux, subs. (pugilistic).—Blood [an allusion to the colour of the wine. Cf. Claret and Badminton]. For synonyms, see Claret.

Bord You! phr. (nautical).—An expression used to claim the next turn in drinking.

Bore, subs. and verb (old slang, but now recognised).—Anybody or anything wearisome or annoying; to weary or to be wearied. [The derivation is unknown, and the word does not appear in English literature prior to 1750. Hotten’s reference to Shakspeare, King Henry VIII., i., 1,

At this instant
He bores me with some trick,

is a misreading, ‘bore’ in this instance signifying ‘to stab,’ as the context clearly shows.]

Verb (sporting).—To push or thrust out of the course; and boring, subs., the practice of ‘boring.’ Amongst pugilists it signifies to drive an opponent on to the ropes of the ring by sheer weight, whilst amongst rowing men it denotes the action of a coxswain in so steering a boat as to force his opponent into the shore, or into still water, thus obtaining an unfair advantage; also analogously applied to horse-racing. The term, as so used, is a very old one, and is derived from the persistency of motion of a boring tool.

1672. Vanbrugh, Lover’s Quarrels, 317 in Hazl. E. P., pt. II., 266.
He bor’d him out of the saddle fair.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress. M—rl—y, that very
great Count, stood deploring, He hadn’t taught Georgy his new modes
of boring.

1821. The Fancy, vol. I., p. 255. Evans bored in, and upset his man
in the first round.

1870. Dickens, Edwin Drood, ch. xvii., p. 129. Their fighting code
stood in great need of revision, as empowering them not only to
bore their man to the ropes, but ... also to hit him when he was
down.

Born Days. All One’s Born Days, phr. (colloquial).—One’s lifetime.

1740. Richarsdon, Pamela, III., 383. He never was so delighted in
his born days.

1758. Richardson, Grandison, I., 103. There was one Miss Byron, a
Northamptonshire lady, whom I never saw before in my born days.

1809. Miss Edgeworth, Ennui, ch. ix. Craiglethorpe will know just
as much of the lower Irish as the Cockney who has never been out of
London, and who has never in all his born days seen an Irishman but
on the English stage.

Born Weak, phr. (nautical).—Said of a vessel feebly built.—Clark Russell’s Sailors’ Language.

Bosh, subs. (common).—Nonsense; rubbish; ‘stuff’; ‘rot’—anything beneath contempt. [The derivation is uncertain. Murray says the word became current in England from its frequent occurrence in Morier’s Persian novels, Ayesha [1834], etc., most of them extremely popular productions. Its source has been suggested in the Turkish bosh lakerdi, ‘empty talk’; in the German bosh or bossch, an equivalent of ‘swipes’; and in the Gypsy bosh, ‘a noise,’ ‘a fiddle,’ from which latter it has been thought that there may be some connection between the exclamation bosh! and fiddle-de-dee (q.v.).]

1834. Morier, Ayesha, I., 219. This firman is bosh—nothing, [M.]

1857. C. Kingsley, Two Years Ago, ch. x. I always like to read old
Darwin’s Loves of the Plants, bosh as it is in a scientific point
of view.

1880. Punch, 10 Jan., p. 9, col. 2. ‘Prophet,’ said I, ‘of things
evil!’ ‘Things are going to the devil’ Is the formula of fogies, I
have heard that bosh before.

Verb.—To humbug; to spoil; to mar.

1870. Macmillan’s Magazine, XXI, 71. You bosh his joke [a man’s] by
refusing to laugh at it; you bosh his chance of sleep by playing on
the cornet all night in the room next to him. [M.]

1883. Miss Braddon, Golden Calf, ch. xiv. ‘And wouldn’t he make a
jolly schoolmaster?’ exclaimed Reginald. ‘Boys would get on
capitally with Jardine. They’d never try to bosh him.’

Intj.—Nonsense! Rubbish! It’s all my eye!—See All my eye.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xxi. Bosh! It’s all correct.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, October 30, p. 3, col. 1. ‘You always
learn in front of the looking-glass, do you not, Mr.
Brandram?’—‘Bosh!’ was the laughing reply. ‘I generally learn my
plays and recitations whilst I am dressing; but you don’t think I
deliberately stand and make monkey-faces in the looking-glass.’

Bosh Faker, subs. (vagrants’).—A violin player. [From Gypsy bosh, a violin, + faker, a performer or player.]

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 231.

Can you rocker Romanie
Can you patter flash,
Can you rocker Romanie
Can you fake a bosh.

Boshing, subs. (American thieves’).—A flogging. [Apparently a corrupted form of bashing.]—See Bash.

Boshy, adj. (common).—Trumpery; nonsensical.—See Bosh.

1882. F. Anstey, Vice Versâ, ch. iv. ‘There was no dancing, only
boshy games and a conjuror.’

Bos-Ken, subs. (vagrants’).—A farmhouse. An old canting term. [From L. bos = ox + ken, a house.] Cf., Ken.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 472. ‘Up
at a bosken (farm-house) they’ll get among the servant girls.’

Boskiness, subs. (popular).—The quality of being fuddled with drink; bemused; a state of drunkenness.

1887. Judy, 31 August, p. 101. The Town Councillor had a squabble
with his parent ... and accused him of boskiness.

Bosky, adj. (popular).—Drunk; tipsy; fuddled. [Derivation uncertain; bosky = ‘wooded,’ or ‘bushy,’ and there may be an allusion to the obscurity and overshadowing, peculiar to a wooded country. Bailey [1728] has also bosky = swelled, but does not give the slang sense of the word, although it appears in the editions 1730–6. It may, therefore, be a figuratively humorous reading of ‘swelled,’ i.e., ‘tight.’] For synonyms, see Screwed.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Bosky (a.), fuddled, half or
quite drunk.

1824. Blackw. Mag., XVI., 573. He may be tipsy, bosky, cut, or
anything but drunk.

1886. Punch, 17 April, p. 185. I got a bit bosky last night. Has
the ’eadache got into my rhymes?

Bosman, subs. (vagrants’).—A farmer. [From the Dutch bosch-man, one who lives in the woods; otherwise Boschje-man, or bushman.] Cf., Bosken.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 471.
‘I’ve seen the swell bosmen (farmers) buy the pills to give the
people standing about.’

Boss, subs. (American and English).—1. A master; a head man; one who directs. [From the Dutch baas, a master.] Few words have acquired a greater hold on American life than this term, and the primitive meaning of master, overseer, or superior of any kind, though in a large measure retained to this day, has been widened out in every direction. The political boss is the leader whose word is law to his henchman. Boss Tweed, of New York, is believed to have been the first to bear the title in a semi-official way. The phrase boss rule is said to have been invented by Mr. Wayne MacVeagh, and employed by him in political speeches in Chicago. It is now in common use in this sense. In the two first quotations the word appears to be used much as in the modern sense. For synonyms, see Governor.

1590. Marlowe, Tamburlaine, pt. I., Act iii., Sc. 3. Zab. Base
concubine, must thou be placed by me, That am the empress of the
mighty Turk? Zen. Disdainful Turkess and unreverend boss!

1679. M. Philipse, Early Voyage to New Netherlands (quoted by De
Vere). Here they had their first interview with the female boss or
supercargo of the vessel.

1848. Bartlett, Americanisms. I have never known a second wife but
what was boss of the situation.

1850. New York Herald, May 24. The Eternal City is in a very
curious position. The Pope has returned to his ancestral home; but
he has nothing in his pocket, and Rothschild refuses to let him
have any more money. A thousand years ago, and the boot would have
been on t’other leg.... To-day it is very different. The Father of
Holiness is the dependent of the Jew, and Rothschild is the real
Pope and boss of all Europe.

1888. New York Herald, Jan. 12. Alderman Campbell—I move an
amendment to make Hamline the general superintendent and chief boss
of this whole gas business.

2. (popular.)—A short-sighted person; also one who squints. Cf., Boss-eyed and Boss, verb, sense 2.

3. (popular.)—A miss; a blunder. Cf., Boss, verb, sense 2.

Adj.—Pleasant; first rate; chief.

1884. Echo, March 3, p. 1, col. 4. The Americans are acknowledged
to be the boss artificers in wood.

1888. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 18. Take it all together, with
scarcity of food and little sleep, we had a hard but a boss time.

Verb.—1. To manage; direct; control.—See subs., sense 1.

1856. National Intelligencer, Nov. 3. The little fellow that bosses
it over the crowd.

1872. Athenæum, March 9. A child wishing to charge his sister with
being the aggressor in a quarrel for which he was punished,
exclaimed, ‘I did not boss the job; it was sister.’

1883. Saturday Review, April 28, p. 515, col. 1. It is long since
the more respectable inhabitants of America have been divided
between the convenience of the Irish as hewers of wood and drawers
of water, and as voters easily bossed or bribed on the one hand,
and the manifold nuisance of them on the other.

1885. Sporting Times, July 6. The Shah has fairly bossed everything
this week—he has been chief actor in our social system.

1888. Texas Siftings, July.

When lovely woman hires a servant
And bosses her around all day,
What makes the girl pray half so fervent
As her desire to run away.

2. (popular.)—To miss one’s aim; to make such a shot as a boss-eyed (q.v.) person would be expected to make. Boss-shot is a common phrase.

1887. N. and Q., 7 S., iii., 236. To boss is schoolboy slang for
‘to miss.’

So also derivatives—bossing, acting as a boss; bossism, a system of management or wire-pulling; bossy, pertaining to the qualities of a leader.

Bossers, subs. (common).—Spectacles.—See Barnacles.

Boss-Eyed, adj. (common).—Said of a person with one eye, or rather with one eye injured; a person with an obliquity of vision. In this sense sometimes varied by squinny-eyed and swivel-eyed (q.v.). Also used as a subs.—Boss-eye.

c. 1884. Broadside Ballad, ‘Put me some Jam Roll by, Jenny.’

Come where the waves roll high, Jenny,
Come where the waves roll high,
Jenny, old girl, I love you,
Come where the waves roll high.
Come where the waves roll high, Jenny,
Come where the sea-sick lie,
Come where we eat salt-junk, love,
Come with your old bos-eye.

French Synonyms. Borgniat; cligner des œillets (a military term, ‘to be boss-eyed’); boiter des calots (‘to be boss-eyed’); calorgne.

Bostruchyzer, subs. (Oxford University).—A small kind of comb for curling the whiskers.—Hotten. Obsolete.

Bot, Bott, Botts, subs. (common).—The colic; belly-ache; gripes. Properly a name given to maggots found in the intestines of horses, under the hides of oxen, and in the nostrils of sheep. A French equivalent is la tourmente, i.e., ‘the torment.’

1787. Burns, Death and Dr. Hornbook, st. 27.

A countra Laird had ta’en the batts,
Or some curmurring in his guts.

1816. Scott, Old Mortality, ch. viii. ‘I ne’er gat ony gude by his
doctrine, as ye ca’t, but a sour fit o’ the batts wi’ sitting amang
the wet moss-hays for four hours at a yoking.

Botanical Excursion, subs. (old).—A thief’s circumlocution for transportation—the allusion being to Botany Bay (q.v.).

Botany Bay, subs. (University).—1. At Oxford, Worcester College is so designated on account of its remote situation as regards the bulk of the collegiate buildings. It will be seen that a similar reason has caused a certain portion of Trinity College, Dublin, to receive an identical nickname. The general idea underlying the term is obviously that to get to the places in question one has figuratively to go almost as far as if transported to the real Botany Bay, formerly a convict settlement in New South Wales.

1841. Lever, Charles O’Malley, ch. xx., note. Botany Bay was the
slang name given by college men to a new square rather remotely
situated from the remainder of the college [i.e., Trinity, Dublin].

1853. Rev. E. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Adventures of Verdant
Green, I., p. 63. A name given to W. College, from its being the
most distant college.

2. (thieves’ and prison.)—Penal servitude. Formerly convicts [1787–1867] were transported to Botany Bay, a convict settlement at the Antipodes. Hence to go to Botany Bay was in popular use for a long term of imprisonment.

Botany-Bay Fever, subs. (old).—Transportation; penal servitude. Convicts condemned to transportation were said to have died of, or to have Botany-Bay fever. Cf., Hempen fever for hanging.

Botch, subs. (old).—A tailor. [An abbreviated form of ‘botcher,’ which has been used for a very long period in all the following senses—a cobbler, tailor who does repairs, jobber, and an unskilful workman.] Also called a Snip, which see for synonyms.

Bottle. To turn out no bottle, phr. (sporting).—Not to turnout well; to fail.

Bottle-Ache, subs. (common).—Drunkenness; also applied to an attack of delirium tremens. [From bottle, in allusion to drink causing indisposition, + ache, a pain or sickness.] There are many curious terms for this effect of intemperance, such as Jim-jams, barrel-fever, quart-mania; but for full list of synonyms, see Gallon distemper.

Bottle-Arsed, adj. phr. (printers’).—Type thicker at one end than the other—a result of wear and tear.

Bottle-holder, subs. (common).—A second at a prize-fight, hence—

2. One who gives moral support; a backer; an adviser. In the Times of 1851, Lord Palmerston was reported to consider himself the bottle-holder of oppressed states: and in Punch of the same year, a cartoon appeared representing that statesman as the ‘judicious bottle-holder.’

1753. Smollett, Ct. Fathom (l.). An old bruiser makes a good
bottle-holder.

1816. Scott, Antiquary, ch. xxxix. Petrie ... recommends, upon his
own experience, as tutor in a family of distinction, this attitude
to all led captains, tutors, dependents, and bottle-holders of
every description.

1822. Scott, The Fortunes of Nigel, ch. ii. Cold water, and a
little vinegar, applied according to the scientific method
practised by the bottle-holders in a modern ring.

1860. Thackeray, Philip, ch. xl. ‘Do you remember his tremendous
fight with Biggs?’ ‘Remember? who didn’t? Marston was Berry’s
bottle-holder.’

Bottle-Holding, verbal subs. (common).—Backing; supporting.

1878–80. Justin MacCarthy, History of Our Own Times, II., p. 115.
The noble lord (Palmerston) told the deputation that the past
crisis was one which required on the part of the British Government
much generalship and judgment, and that a good deal of judicious
bottle-holding was obliged to be brought into play.

Bottle of Brandy in a Glass, phr. (common).—A glass of beer; a recent and absurd slang introduction.

Bottle of Spruce, subs. (rhyming slang).—Twopence. The play of words is upon ‘deuce’ = two.

Bottles, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Barrett’s Brewery and Bottling Co. Shares.

Bottle-Sucker, subs. (nautical).—An able-bodied seaman; the abbreviation is A.B.S., and a bottle-sucker is supposed to be a humorous rendering.

Bottle-Up, verb (old).—To restrain (temper, feelings, etc.); to keep or hold back.

1622. T. Scott, Belg. Pismire, 53. Vapours ... botteled up in
cloudes.

1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliot, ch. xi. Austin played very bad,
trumped his partner’s ... knave, led out strong suits of trumps
without any suit to follow, bottled them when his partner led them
first time round.

1871. Cincinnati Commercial, April, p. 637. He will bottle up his
wrath, having had some experience in the line of bottling up during
the war, and pour out his vials upon General Farnsworth’s head,
whenever the occasion offers.

Bottom, subs. (colloquial).—1. The posteriors; not now in literary use. For synonyms, see Blind-cheeks and Bum.

1794–6. E. Darwin, Zoon. (1801), III., 253. So as to have his head
and shoulders much lower than his bottom.

1822–36. J. Wilson, Noctes Ambr., xxxix. (1864), iv., 79. The
Dunghill cock ... hides his head in a hole ... unashamed of the
exposure of his enormous bottom.

1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II., iv., i., 185. Patriot women take
their hazel wands, and fustigate ... broad bottom of priests.

2. (popular.)—Capital; resources; stamina; ‘grit.’

1662. Fuller, Worthies (1840), II., 451. Beginning on a good bottom
left him by his father.

1747. Captn. Godfrey, Science of Defence, p. 34. I have mentioned
strength and art as the two ingredients of a boxer. But there is
another, which is vastly necessary; that is, what we call a
bottom.... There are two things required to make this bottom, that
is, wind and spirit, or heart, or wherever you can fix the
residence of courage.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, pref., p. xv. The
peculiarities of this boxer discussed—his power of standing with
his arms extended for two whole days, without any rest, by which
means he wore out his adversaries’ bottom, and conquered without
either giving or taking.

1846. Thackeray, V. Fair, vol. II., ch. xiv. He did not like to
dine with Steyne now. They had run races of pleasure together in
youth when Bareacres was the winner. But Steyne had more bottom
than he, and had lasted him out.

3. (popular.)—Spirit placed in a glass prior to the addition of water. [From bottom, the lowest surface or part of anything, the foundation, the basis. See peculiar American usage in 1883 quot.] Also used as a verb.

1854. Sir Theo. Martin, Bon Gaultier Ballads. Bottomed well with
brandy.

1857. A. Trollope, Three Clerks, ch. xxxi. Gin and water was the
ordinary tipple in the front parlour; and any one of its denizens
inclined to cut a dash above his neighbours, generally did so with
a bottom of brandy.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 2 July, p. 5, col. 3. Soda and dark bottom
is mentioned in a list of American drinks in this article.

To knock the bottom out of one, phr. (American).—To overcome; to defeat, etc.

1888. Cleveland Leader. The declination of Mr. Blaine, has knocked
the bottom out of Mugwumpery.

Bottom Dollar, subs. phr. (American).—The last dollar. The phrase ‘to bet one’s bottom dollar’ is frequently heard.

Bottom Facts, subs. phr. (American).—The exact truth about any matter. To ‘get to the bottom facts’ concerning a subject, is to arrive at an unquestionable conclusion concerning it; or, as is said in England, to get to the root of the question.

1877. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Life on the Mississippi, p.
393. You take a family able to emba’m, and you’ve got a soft thing.
You can mention sixteen different ways to do it—though there aint
only one or two ways when you come down to the bottom facts of
it—and they’ll take the highest priced way every time. It’s human
nature—human nature in grief.

The phrase is also varied by bottom rock.

1888. Omaha World. Bottom Rock. Conductor (on California train some
years hence)—‘All out for Pitholeville.’ Real Estate Agent
(entering car)—‘Orange groves and apple orchards, two for a penny.’

Bottomless Pit, subs. (old slang).—A coarse and vulgar name for the female pudenda. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Botty, subs. (popular).—An infant’s posteriors; the French say tu tu.

Adj. (popular).—Conceited; swaggering. To look botty is in French, faire sa merde; faire son matador.

Bough, subs. (old).—The gallows. Tree (q.v.) is used in a similar sense.

1590. Swinburn, Testaments, 53. Or in Kent in Gauelkind ... for
there it is said, the father to the boughe, and the son to the
ploughe. [M.]

1596. Spenser, State Irel., wks. (1862), p. 553, col. 2. Some ...
have beene for their goods sake caught up, and carryed straight to
the bough.

1870. Morris, Earthly Par., III., iv., 77. If she doom thee to the
bough.

Boughs. Up in the boughs, phr. (old).—In a passion. Quoted by Grose.

Bounce, subs. (common).—Brag; swagger; boastful falsehood and exaggeration.

1714. Steele, Lover (1723), 93. This is supposed to be only a
bounce.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Bounce (s.) ... also the huff,
brag, or swaggering of a bully or great pretender.

1765. Goldsmith, Haunch of Venison, l. 14. But hold—let me
pause—don’t I hear you pronounce this tale of the bacon a damnable
bounce?

1856. Whyte Melville, Kate Coventry, ch. i. Only tell a man you
think him good-looking, and he falls in love with you directly; or
if that is too great a bounce—and indeed very few of them have the
slightest pretensions to beauty—you need only hint that he rides
gallantly.

1880. Blackwood’s Mag., May, p. 670. The whole heroic adventure was
the veriest bounce, the merest bunkum!

2. Impudence; cheek; brass (q.v.).

1872–4. John Forster, Life of Dickens, ch. lx. It is the face of
the Webster type, but without the bounce of Webster’s face.

3. A boaster; swaggerer; showy swindler; bully. Cf., Bouncer.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict. Bounce, a person well or fashionably
drest is said to be a rank bounce.

Verb.—1. To boast; bluster; hector; bully; blow up.

1633. Fletcher, Nt. Walkers, IV., i. I doe so whirle her to the
Counsellors’ chambers ... and bounce her for more money.

1698. Ward, London Spy, pt. XVIII., p. 428. With lies he tells his
Bloody Feats, And Bounces like a Bully.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Bounce (v.), to swagger, boast,
crack, stump, or pretend to great matters.

1749. Walpole, Lett. to Mann, 3 May (1833), vol. II., p. 374. The
Lords had four tickets a-piece, and each Commoner at first but two,
till the Speaker bounced and obtained a third.

1760. Colman, Polly Honeycombe, in wks. (1777) IV., 55. Nay, nay,
old gentleman, no bouncing; you’re mistaken in your man, sir!

1859. H. Kingsley, Geoffrey Hamlyn, ch. v. ‘He’ll be drinking at
all the places coming along to get his courage up to bounce me.’

1883. Daily News, July 26, p. 4, col. 8. To bounce is simply to
prevail on persons whose mirth interferes with the general
enjoyment to withdraw from society which they embarrass rather than
adorn.

2. To lie; to cheat; to swindle.

1762. Foote, Liar, II., i. If it had come to an oath, I don’t think
he would have bounced.

1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliot, ch. x. ‘It’s them gals, Mr.
Austin, got a shilling of mine among un somewhere, and wants to
bounce me out of it.’

On the bounce, phr. (common).—In a state of spasmodic movement; general liveliness.

1889. Sporting Times, June 29. Funny to a degree was it to watch
some of the select and chosen of Lord Coventry, Major Clements, and
those that rule the interior of the Invited Enclosure at Ascot.
Several well known defaulters would be observed going to and fro
‘on the bounce,’ including one young gentleman who once signed his
surname uninitialled to a cheque which was cashed by a confiding
tradesman, who took the said endorsement for that of his baronial
parent.

To get the grand bounce, phr. (American).—This is equivalent, in political parlance, to dismissal, especially in reference to government appointments.

Bounceable, adj. (common).—Prone to bouncing or boasting; ‘uppish’; ‘bumptious.’ [From bounce (q.v.) + able.]

1830. S. Warren, Diary of a Late Physician, ch. xvi. As soon as we
had exhibited sundry doses of Irish cordial to our friend Tip—under
the effects of which he became quite bouncible, and ranted about
the feat he was to take a prominent part in.

1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, ch. iv. I heard that Mr. Sharp’s
wig didn’t fit him; and that he needn’t be so bounceable—somebody
else said ‘bumptious’—about it.

Bouncer, subs. (common).—1. A bully; hector; blusterer; one who talks swaggeringly. [From the verb bounce, senses 1 and 2, + er.]

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (4 ed.). Bouncer (s.), a bully or
hectoring bravado.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, IV., 24. Those who
cheat the Public ... Bouncers and Besters defrauding, by laying
wagers, swaggering, or using threats.

2. (thieves’.)—A thief who steals goods from shop counters while bargaining with the tradesman. The exact French equivalent is dégringoleur, and the practice itself is termed dégringoler à la carre.

3. (common.)—A lie; a liar. For synonyms, see Whopper. [This usage in many instances completely overlaps sense 4.]

1762. Foote, Liar, II., i. He will tell ye more lies in an hour,
than all the circulating libraries put together will publish in a
year ... he was always distinguished by the facetious appellation
of the bouncer.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, ch. xxxi. ‘He’s ... such a
bouncer!!... I mean that he’s the greatest liar that ever walked a
deck.’

1872. M. E. Braddon, Dead Sea Fruit, ch. xxii. ‘In that case, I
should say wait, and put your trust in Time—Time, the father of
Truth, as Mary Stuart called him when she wanted to go in for a
bouncer,—and oh, what an incredible number of royal bouncers were
carried to and fro in the despatches of that period!’

4. (common.)—Anything large of its kind; a ‘whopper’; a ‘thumper’; a ‘corker.’

1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden, in wks. III., 140. My Book will grow
such a bouncer, that those which buy it must bee faine to hire a
porter to carry it after them in a basket.

5. (American.)—A man who ejects; a ‘chucker-out’ (q.v.).

1883. Daily News, July 26, p. 4, col. 8. The other fresh American
type is less remarkable—the bouncer. One might suppose that a
bouncer was a noisy braggart; but no. A scientific writer in the
Nation describes a bouncer as a ‘silent, strong man.’ Every one who
mixes much in society in Whitechapel will understand the functions
of the bouncer when we explain that he is merely the English
‘chucker-out.’

6. (harlotry.)—A prostitute’s companion; ponce; bully. For synonyms, see Ponce.

7. (naval.)—A gun that ‘kicks’ when fired.

Bouncing, ppl. adj. (common).—Vigorous; lusty; exaggerated; excessive; big. This word has manifold meanings, referring, in its various senses, to largeness of size, vigour of action, with the idea of ungainliness rather than elegance. It is, as will be seen, of long continued use.

c. 1563. Jacke Jugder, p. 42 (ed. Grosart). And made you a banket
[banquet], and bouncing cheare.

1588. Marprelate’s Epistle, p. 14 (ed. Arber). For there must bee
orders of ministers in the congregation where you meane this
bounsing priest should haue superiortie.

1611. Middleton, Roaring Girle, Act iii., Sc. 3. The duck that sits
is the bouncing ramp, that roaring girl my mistress.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xix. While I was at work in the
shop, a bouncing damsel, well dressed, came in.

1846. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ch. ii. By the side of many tall and
bouncing young ladies in the establishment, Rebecca Sharp looked
like a child.

Bouncing Cheat, subs. (old).—A bottle. [Bouncing, probably, says Grose, an allusion to the explosive noise made in drawing a cork, + cheat, a thing = Anglo Saxon ceat of the same meaning.] The French equivalent is une rouillarde or rouille, said to be derived from rouler. Empty bottles, it may be mentioned, are known as dead-men; camp-candlesticks; dead-marines; fellow-commoners, etc. For other synonyms, see Dead-men.

Bounder, subs. (popular).—1. A four-wheeled cab or growler (q.v.). [Supposed to be an allusion to the jolting motion caused when travelling over a rough road, a fact intensified by the indifferent springs upon which such vehicles are often hung.]

2. (University.)—A student whose manners are not acceptable; one whose companionship is not cared for.

3. (University.)—A dog-cart. Cf., sense 1.

4. (common.)—A vulgar though well-dressed man; a superior kind of ‘’Arry’; one whose dress and personal appearance are correct, but whose manners are of a questionable character. The term is very often used in connection with bally (q.v.). a bally-bounder is one of the most objectionable of the genus. A synonymous term is snide (q.v.), and French equivalents are un mufe and un espèce de cafouilleux. A curious instance of French back-slang is found in another name—un lof, loff, loffard, loffe; lof here is fol reversed, i.e., mad, senseless, foolish.

Bound To Be Had, Bound To Shine, etc., ppl. adj. (colloquial).—This expression enters into many slang phrases; for instance, when it seems certain that a man will be out-witted, cheated, or ‘bested,’ it is said of him that he is bound to be had; similarly, a man fated or resolved to distinguish himself is bound to shine. The colloquial use of bound dates back as far as 1360, but the peculiar expressions which bring it within the category of slang, are of much later origin. The following quotation will illustrate the usage in question, and further examples will be found under had, shine, etc.

1864. Hartford Post, July 14. When the public have an opportunity
of examining this beautiful steamer, they will pronounce her the
finest and most comfortable boat they have ever visited, and be
satisfied that she is bound to shine.

Boung.—See Bung.

Boung-Nipper.—See Bung-nipper.

Bounty-Jumper, subs. (American).—A term applied to men who, receiving a bounty when enlisting, desert, re-enlist, and receive a second bounty. [From bounty, a gratuity given to recruits on joining the army or navy, + jumper, a slang term for one who decamps surreptitiously.] The War of the Rebellion is responsible for this, as for many other colloquialisms. As the conflict lengthened out, men became in great request, and large bounties were offered by the North for volunteers. This bounty was found in many cases to be a direct incitement with unprincipled men to bad faith and unfair dealing. Such would enlist, receive their bounty, join their regiment, and then decamp, to reappear in another State, to go through the same performance. Cases were known where this was done many times over, and the practice was called bounty-jumping.—See Jumping.

1875. Higginson, History of United States, p. 306. Bringing into
the service many bounty-jumpers, who enlisted merely for money, and
soon deserted to enlist again.

ante 1880. Song of the Bounty-Jumper (quoted in Bartlett).

My song is of a fast young man whose name was Billy Wires;
He used to run with the machine, and go to all the fires:
But as he lov’d a soldier’s life, and wished strange things to
see,
So the thought struck him that he would go and jump the
bounti-e.

Bounty-Jumping, subs. (American).—Obtaining a bounty by enlisting and then deserting. Cf., Bounty-jumper.

1887. Illus. Lon. News, May 14, 552, 1. In the Civil War in America
between the Northern and Southern States, bounty-jumping, or
enlisting, and obtaining the bounty in several regiments, and then
deserting, rose to the dignity of a fine art.

Bourbon, subs. (American).—1. A Democrat of the straitest sect; a fire-eater. Applied, for the most part, to the Southern Democrats of the old school. This use of the word probably ante-dates the Civil War, but no instance of such use has been found in print. Bourbon County, Kentucky, is popularly associated with this kind of Democrat, but we must look to the old Bourbon party in France—uncompromising adherents of political tradition—for its true paternity.

2. A superior kind of whiskey; originally applied to that manufactured in Bourbon, Kentucky. For synonyms, see Drinks.

Bouse, Bowse, Booze, subs. (old).—1. Applied to drink or liquor of any kind. In the sixteenth century bouse formed part of the cant of beggars and thieves; latterly the word, whether as substantive or verb, has become colloquial. [Thought to be derived from the Dutch busen, to drink to excess.] For synonyms, see Drinks.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65. Bowse, drinke.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874).
Bowse, drinke.

1633. Massinger, New Way to Pay Old Debts, I., i. Well. No bouse?
nor no tobacco?

1785. Grose, Dictionary Vulgar Tongue. Bouze, etc., drink.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. As above.

2. (old.)—A drinking bout; a carouse. This sense is more frequently current than sense 1.

Verb.—To drink to excess; to tipple; to ‘swill.’ Both this and the substantive seem to have been known as early as 1300, but neither came into general use until the sixteenth century, from which period both forms have become more and more colloquial. For synonyms, see Lush.

1567. Harman, Caveat, p. 32. They bowle and bowse one to another,
and for the tyme bousing belly chere.

1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse. Who surmise, if there were no
playes, they should have all the companie that resort to them bye
bowzing and beere-bathing in their houses everie afternoone.

1615. Harington, Epigrams.

Yet such the fashion is of Bacchus crue
To quaffe and bowze, until they belch and spue.
Well, leave it, Marcus, else thy drinking health.
Will prove an eating to thy wit and wealth.

So also bouser, a toper; bousing, hard drinking; and bousy, intoxicated or ‘screwed.’

Bouse the jib, verbal phr. (nautical).—To tipple; to drink heavily.—See Lush.

Bousing Ken, subs. (old).—A tavern; inn; or drinking den; now applied to a low public house. For synonyms, see Lush crib.

1567. Harman, Caveat. Man. What, stowe your bene, cofe, and cut
benat whydds, and byng we to rome vyle, to nyp a bong; so shall we
haue lowre for the bousing ken, and when we byng back to the
deuseauyel, we wyll fylche some duddes of the Ruffemans, or myll
the ken for a bagge of dudes.

1652. Brome, Jovial Crew, II., wks. (1873) III., 390 ... As Tom or
Tib When they at bowsing ken do swill.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 27. But
notwithstanding the Protean nature of the Flash or Cant language,
the greater part of its vocabulary has remained unchanged for
centuries, and many of the words used by the Canting Beggars in
Beaumont and Fletcher, and the Gipsies in Ben Jonson’s Masque, are
still to be heard among the Gnostics of Dyot-street and
Tothill-fields. To prig is still to steal; to fib, to beat; lour,
money; duds, clothes; prancers, horses; bouzing-ken, an alehouse;
cove, a fellow; a sou’s baby, a pig, etc., etc.

Bouzy.—See Boozy.

Bow. Two (or many) strings to one’s bow, phr. (colloquial).—To have an alternative; more resources than one. The phrase sometimes formerly ran to have many strings to the bow. Numerous figurative expressions in all languages indicate the dominant pursuits of the respective nations; the English abounds in habitual phrases testifying to the engrossing avocations in all times. It is in this manner that to have two strings to one’s bow has passed into proverbial usage. In the fourteenth century—a Frenchman, Gaston de Foix, said of our ancestors, ‘Of bows I know not much, but who would know more, let him go to England, for that is truly their business.’ In the olden time, archery, as the dominant pursuit, gave figures of speech to the language—with the very pith of wisdom or Saxon sarcasm. If you made an enemy’s machinations recoil upon himself, you ‘outshot a man in his own bow.’ If you are a cautious man, ‘Always have two strings to your bow,’ and ‘Get the shaft-hand of your adversaries,’ or ‘Draw not thy bow before thy arrow be fixed.’ Of course, if you can ‘Kill two birds with one shaft,’ so much the better. Never ‘shoot wide of the mark’—that is, don’t make a foolish guess on a subject you know nothing about. Of useless, silly conversation, our ancestors said—‘The fool’s bolt is soon shot’; and if a man evidently exaggerated, he was said to ‘draw a long bow.’ If a man’s pretensions were not in accordance with the facts of his case—in other words, if he came under the category of ‘false pretences’—it was said that he ‘had a famous bow, but it was up at the Castle.’ Vain military and other boasters were the many who ‘talked of Robin Hood, but who never shot his bow.’ ‘An archer is known by his aim, and not by his arrows’; that is, if you are not answerable for your materials, at least show your skill in the modus operandi; or at all events, don’t depend entirely upon your tool.

1562. Heywood, Prov. and Epigr. (1867), 30. Ye have many stryngis
to the bowe. [M.]

1588. Marprelate’s Epistle, p. 18 (ed. Arber). Doe you not thinke
that I haue two strings to my bow.

1606. John Day, Isle of Gulls, Act ii., Sc. 2, p. 39. A wise man’s
bow goes with a two-fold string.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xvii. He was resolved to have two
strings to his bow, that in case the one failed, he might use the
other.

(?) T. Brown, wks. IV., 115, ed. 1760. A man in Amsterdam is suffer’d to have but one religion, whereas in London he may have two strings to his bow.

1886. Mrs. Riddell, For Dick’s Sake, ch. iv., p. 11 (S.P.C.K.). She
had a second string to her bow, which suited her far better; and
she sent Dick back his letters and his presents, and a note
beginning, ‘Dear sir,’ and ending ‘Yours truly.’

To draw the long bow, phr. (colloquial).—To exaggerate; to ‘gas’; to ‘talk up.’

1819–24. Byron, Don Juan, xvi., 1. They ... draw the long bow
better now than ever.

To draw the bow up to the ear, phr. (colloquial).—To do a thing with alacrity; ‘to put on full steam’; to exert oneself to the utmost.

1860. Macmillan’s Mag., Feb., p. 258. So Miller, the coxswain, took
to drawing the bow up to the ear at once.

Bow-Catcher, subs. (common).—A kiss-curl. For synonyms, see Aggerawator. [A corruption of ‘beau-catcher.’ Cf., Bell-rope.]

Bowdlerize, verb (colloquial).—To expurgate by removing offensive or questionable words from a book or writing. [From Dr. T. Bowdler’s method in editing an edition of Shakspeare, in which, to use his own words, ‘Those ... expressions are omitted which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family.’]

1836. Gen. P. Thompson, Let. in Exerc. (1842), IV., 124. Among the
names ... are many, like Hermes, Nereus, ... which modern
ultra-christians would have thought formidably heathenish; while
Epaphroditus and Narcissus they would probably have bowdlerized.

1870. Notes and Queries, 4 S., vi., p. 47. No profane hand shall
dare, for me, to curtail my Chaucer, to bowdlerise my Shakspeare,
or to mutilate my Milton.

1874. E. L. Linton, Patricia Kemball, ch. iii. Her uncle had not
made her read much beside the Bible and Shakspeare, which last he
had bowdlerised on his own account with a broad pen and very thick
ink.

From this comes bowdlerization, squeamish emasculation of a work; also bowdlerizer, etc.

1882. Westm. Review, April, p. 583. The bowdlerization which the
Editor has thought necessary is done in an exceedingly awkward and
clumsy fashion.

Bower, subs. (American thieves’).—A prison—a transferred usage of the orthodox word. For synonyms, see Cage.

Bowery Boy, Bowery Girl, subs. (American).—The ’Arry and ’Arriet of New York of some years ago. The Bowery is a well known thoroughfare in the American metropolis. [Formerly spelt bouwerij, and derived from bouw, tillage, or bouwen, to till, to cultivate, being equivalent to the modern Dutch word boerderij, a farm, or the business of farming. The Bowery was the farm of Governor Stuyvesant.] Cf., Blood tub.

Bowlas, subs. (common).—Explained by quotation.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 208.
Bowlas, or round tarts made of sugar, apple, and bread.

Bowled, ppl. adj. (Winchester).—Croppled (q.v.).

Bowler.—See Boler.

Bowles, subs. (common).—Shoes. For synonyms, see Trotter-cases.

Bowl Out, verb (popular).—To overcome; to get the better of; to defeat. [Formerly a cricketing term—to bowl a man out by displacing the bails.] Cf., Bowl over. Among thieves it signifies, in a transitive form, to be arrested or ‘lagged.’

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dictionary. Bowled out, when he [a thief]
is ultimately taken, tried, and convicted [he] is said to be bowled
out at last.