Chapter XXI: Part 21

Bubble Company, subs. (common).—A swindling association, enterprise or project. [From bubble, to cheat, + company.] The South Sea Bubble will occur to mind in this connection.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. (2 ed.). Bubble ... 5 (in Commerce), a
cant name given to certain projects for raising money on imaginary
grounds.

1880. Hawley Smart, Social Sinners, ch. xix. ‘My inheritance
disappears as if it had been invested in a bubble company.’

Bubbled, ppl. adj. (old).—Gulled; deceived; befooled. [From bubble, to cheat, + ed.]

a. 1683. Oldham, Wks. and Rem. (1686), 66. Bubled Monarchs are at
first beguil’d ... at last depos’d, and kill’d. [M.]

1701. Defoe, True Born Englishman, Introd.

Who shall this bubbled nation disabuse,
While they, their own felicities refuse?

1889. Gentleman’s Mag., June, p. 598. Towards the end of the
century [xvii] a person easily gulled, or bubbled was known as a
‘caravan,’ but earlier the term ‘rook,’ which is now restricted to
a cheat or sharper, appears to have been applied to the person
cheated.

Bubbling Squeak, subs. (army).—Hot soup.

Bubbly Jock, subs. (old Scotch).—1. A turkey-cock; a ‘gobbler.’ [Probably in allusion to the cry of the bird.]

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bubbly jock, a
turkey-cock.

1843. Thackeray, Irish Sketch Book, ch. xv. He took but one glass
of water to that intolerable deal of bubbly jock.... Three
turkey-wings and a glass of water.

1877. Besant and Rice, Son of Vulcan, pt. II., ch. xviii. Puffing
his cheeks like some infuriated bubbly jock in a stable-yard.

2. (common.)—A stupid boaster.

3. (popular.)—A pert, conceited, pragmatical fellow; a prig; a cad.

1883. G. A. Sala, Living London, p. 113. Mr. Benjamin Bunny (Mr. J.
L. Toole) is the good-natured husband of a pretty young wife (Miss
Winifred Emery). Mr. Bunny is, to use a Scotticism, ‘sair
owerhanded,’ not by a ‘bubbly jock,’ but by his wife’s aunt.

Bubby.—See Bub and Bubbies.

Bucco, subs. (American thieves’).—A dandy. [A corruption of buck (q.v.).]

Buck, subs. (common).—1. In the first instance a man of spirit or gaiety of conduct; later a fop, a dandy. [A transferred sense of buck, the male of the fallow deer.] In the form ‘old buck’ it is merely a familiar mode of address. The epithet, as applied to a man about town, is somewhat obsolete; masher, dude, and swell having taken its place. Cf., Blood.

1725. New Cant. Dict. Buck, as a bold buck, is sometimes used to
signify a forward daring Person of either Sex.

1752. Fielding, Amelia, bk. X., ch. ii. A large assembly of young
fellows, whom they call bucks.

1846–48. Thackeray, V. Fair, ch. vi. She had sate by him on the box
of his open carriage (a most tremendous buck he was, as he sat
there, serene, in state, driving his greys).

1889. Answers, Feb. 9. The ancient buck was last seen (at the age
of eighty-four) wearing a wig, a pair of stays, ‘plumpers,’ rouge,
and padding, and he daily anointed his face with a compound called
‘skin-tightener.’ ‘Skin-tightener’ removes wrinkles, and after the
face has been washed with ‘bloom of roses,’ the wearer can strut
forth with the consciousness that all the world takes him for a
quarter of a century younger than he is.

2. (common.)—An unlicensed cabdriver. Apparently also applied to a sham fare.—See last quotation.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 362.
The long-day men are the parties who mostly employ the bucks ...
they are glad to avail themselves of the services of a buck for
some hours at the end of the day. Ibid. The bucks are unlicensed
cabdrivers, who are employed by those who have a license to take
charge of the cab while the regular drivers are at their meals or
enjoying themselves.

1865. Morning Star, 14 Sept. What is the prisoner? Constable: He is
a buck, who hangs about an omnibus stand. [M.]

1887. Daily News, 5 October, 5, 4. At Bow Street something was
further heard of the buck. This person ... is the sham fare whom a
cabby drives past the police in order to get up to the theatre
doors out of his proper turn, and so increase his chance of
securing a legitimate fare.

3. (old.)—A sixpence. [Thought to be a corruption of fyebuck (q.v.).] The word is rarely used by itself, but generally denotes the sixpence attached to shillings in reference to cost, as, ‘three and a buck,’ three shillings and sixpence. For synonyms, see Bender.

1885. Household Words, June 20, p. 155. ‘Buck’ is most likely a
corruption of ‘fyebuck,’ a slang name for sixpence, which is now
almost, if not altogether, obsolete.

4. (schoolboys’.)—A large marble. Cf., Alley, Bonce, Mivey.

1885. Household Words, June 20, p. 155. Readers whose school-days
are still green in their memories will also recognise in buck the
name for the large marble once dear to their boyish hearts.

5. (American.)—A term used in poker (q.v.). Cf., Tiger.

Adj. (American University).—At Princeton College anything which is of an intensive degree, good, excellent, pleasant or agreeable, is called buck.

Verb (American).—1. To oppose; to run counter to. [Possibly a corruption of butt, or from buck as applied to a horse.—See sense 2.]

2. (Western American.)—As applied to horses this term is used to describe the action of plunging forward and throwing the head to the ground in an effort to unseat the rider—a motion of which probably no domesticated beast is capable, aside from the Texan miserable and treacherous species of horse. A raw hand thus relates his experience:—‘When I was told how hard he could buck, I only laughed, my impression being that no pony standing on four legs could throw me off. I mounted my new horse, and waving my bran new hat about my head, galloped away in a dignified style. Suddenly the horse stopped. His ears went back, and his hind legs went between his front. The motion was a curious one. But I did not fall. Realizing that the man on his back could ride a little bit, the pony got right down to business. My stomach seemed to fly up into my mouth, and millions of stars floated about my head. I am not prepared to state what kind of hold the pony got on me, but I went sprawling on the ground, my nose making an irrigating ditch. It was all done not more than one hundred yards from where my girl was standing. I stuck on well, however, as the saddle, blanket, gun and bridle came off with me. The wild yell that greeted my exploit nearly drove me mad. While I spit the dirt and curses out of my mouth, I thought that if I had that pony back I’d break him in or break my head. It ran out on the prairie and joined the Government herd. When an old-timer tried to fix things for me in front of my girl by saying, “It’s no disgrace, pardnr, that horse can buck off a porus plaster,” I thanked him from the bottom of my heart.’

3. (commercial.)—A variant of to cook (q.v.), as applied to accounts.

4. (Western American.)—To play against the bank, usually ‘to buck the tiger.’—See following.

1879. Bret Harte, Gabriel Conroy, p. 375. I don’t like your looks
at all. I’d buck against any bank you ran, all night.

1880. Bret Harte, Brown of Calaveras. (Tales of the Arg., p. 81).
Why don’t you say you want to buck agin’ faro?

1888. Hotel Mail.

A man may hunt the wildest game
Along the Nile or the Niger,
In woods or ranch;
But he will find the sport most tame
Compared with bucking the tiger
At dear Long Branch.

5. (Western American.)—To put forth one’s whole energy. [An extension of meaning from sense 4.]

1870. San Antonio Paper. ‘You’ll have to buck at it like a whole
team, gentlemen, or you won’t hear the whistle near your diggings
for many a year.’

To run a buck, verbal phr. (old Irish).—To poll a bad vote at an election.—Grose.

Buck or fight the tiger, verbal phr. (American).—To gamble. [There are two derivations suggested:—(1) that the phrase is derived from the parti-coloured division or stripes on a gambling table; (2) that it is of Chinese origin. A favourite figure of one of the Chinese gods of gambling is a tiger standing on his hind-feet, and grasping a large cash in his mouth or his paws. Sometimes the image is made of wood or clay, or drawn on a piece of paper or board. The title of the beast, His Excellency the Grasping Cash Tiger, is frequently written on a piece of paper, and placed in the gambling rooms between two bunches of mock-money suspended under the table or on the wall behind it. This figure is the sign for a gambling house: ‘The Fighting Tiger.’]

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, Feb. 14. Last night and to-day they have
succeeded in placing under arrest six of the gaming-house keepers
of the city and subpœnaed thirty citizens as witnesses, among whom
are said to be prominent city officials and business men. The
affair has caused a good deal of talk already, and if reports are
anywhere near true, it will create a great sensation when the cases
are called, and more than one unsuspecting wife will have her eyes
opened to the fact that the wicked tiger, and not legitimate
business has been detaining her husband out so late at night.

Buck Bait, subs. (thieves’).—Bail given by a confederate. Cf., Bait.

Buck Down, verbal phr. (Winchester College).—To be sorry; unhappy. Cf., Buck up and Bucksome.

Bucked. To be bucked, verb (Uppingham).—To be tired. Cf., Buck up.

Buckeen, subs. (Irish).—A bully.—Grose. Properly a young man of the poorer aristocracy.

Bucket, subs. (American).—An anonymous letter.

Verb (general).—1. To ride hard; not to spare one’s beast.

1856. Whyte Melville, Kate Coventry, ch. xi. ‘I had rather give
Brilliant a good bucketing’ [Aunt Horsingham shuddered—I knew she
would, and used the word on purpose] ‘over an even heath or a line
of grass, than go bodkin in a chariot.’

1864. Yates, Broken to Harness, II., p. 218. There’s room in the
Row to give him [the horse] a very good bucketing.

1868. Tottenham, C. Villars, I., 243. Bucketing his wretched horse
home to Cambridge. [M.]

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 342. ‘Ten thousand
pardons, Dollie, dearest; but I only got your message an hour or so
ago, and am so busy I couldn’t get here before. As it is I have had
to bucket my hack unmercifully.’

2. (old.)—To cheat; ruin; deceive.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v. To bucket a person is
synonymous with putting him in the well.

1828. Scott, Diary, in Lockhart (1839), ix., 253. Thurtell ... must
in slang phrase have bucketed his palls.

3. (rowing.)—To take the water unfairly—with a scoop at the beginning of the stroke instead of a steady even pull throughout.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xv., p. 130. He was
not so straight in the back as an Oxford stroke; and he bucketed
about a good deal, but he got along.

To give the bucket, phr. (old).—To dismiss from one’s employment; to ‘send a person about his business.’—Cf., Bag and Sack.

1860. Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia’s Lovers, ch. xxi. He were sore put
about because Hester had gi’en him the bucket.

To kick the bucket, phr. (general).—To die. [The bucket here is thought to refer to a Norfolk term for a pulley.] When pigs are killed they are hung by their hind legs on a bucket.—For synonyms, see Aloft.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bucket; to kick the
bucket; to die.

1796. Wolcot (‘P. Pindar’), Tristia, wks. (1812) V., 242. Pitt has
kicked the bucket.

1840. Marryat, Poor Jack, xxx. He drained it dry ... and kicked the
bucket.

1849. Kingsley, Alton Locke, ch. ii. ‘Fine him a pot’ roared one,
‘for talking about kicking the bucket. He’s a nice young man to
keep a cove’s spirits up, and talk about a short life and a merry
one.’

1876(?). Broadside Ballad, ‘Ten Little Niggers.’

Eight little niggers never heard of heav’n,
One kicked the bucket, and then there were seven.

1889. Answers, July 27, p. 141, col. 3. The high-school girl
explained to her particular friend yesterday that He kicked the
bucket was slang, and that the polite expression was, ‘He propelled
his pedal extremities with violence against a familiar utensil used
for the transportation of water and other fluids.’

Bucket Afloat, subs. (rhyming slang).—A coat.

Bucket Shop, subs. (American).—1. Primarily a petty stock gambling den carried on in opposition to regular exchange business, and usually of a very doubtful character. The New York World recently investigated the whole question, and gave some very interesting details as to the many tortuous ways of these crooked corners of the money world. The conclusion arrived at was that Wall Street and its vicinity did not contain a single ‘square and honest’ bucket-shop; all their dealings were nothing but ‘a brace gambling game.’ By their schemes the customer had ‘not the ghost of a chance to win.’ Their quotations were obtained surreptitiously, and, in handling them, the bucket-shop keepers in several ways take unfair advantage of their clients. The term bucket shop has become common in England, but, fortunately for the community at large, no comparison can be drawn between the establishments known by that name in England, and those which flourish in America under the same title, though in very truth the proceedings of some of the former are scandalous enough. [Possibly from bucket (q.v.), to cheat, + shop. As an alternative derivation, the ‘bucket’ into which the tape falls may be suggested.]

1887. Daily News, 14 April, 7, 1. Mr. Charles Fisher said that he
carried on business as an agent.... He did Stock Exchange business,
for clients. Mr. Besley: Commonly called a bucket shop, I think.

1888. Missouri Republican, Feb. 12. New York, Feb.
11.—(Special).—Inspector Brynes was seized with another spasm of
indignation against the bucket-shops this morning, and, accompanied
by detectives and a squad of officers, he swooped down upon the
lairs of these enemies of the Stock Exchange that abound on Lower
Broadway and New Street.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 12 Nov., p. 3, col. 1. ‘The tape is
credited with fostering gambling.’ ‘Well, we know that there are
bucket-shops, but we have for some time refused to entertain any
proposal for a machine if there is the least prospect of its being
used for bucket-shop purposes. There is gambling, of course, but it
is unfair to say that the tape is responsible for it. The tape was
not originated for that purpose, but in order to inform the public,
through the newspapers or otherwise, how securities were going, and
it does that. In practice it serves as a check between client and
broker, and broker and jobber.’

2. Also applied generally to low groggeries; lottery offices; gambling dens, etc.

Buck Face, subs. (old).—A cuckold; one who in French slang is said to be un loger rue du Croissant.

Buck Fitch, subs. (old).—An old roué; a lecherous old man.

Buckhara, subs. (American).—A name given in California to a cattle-driver or cowboy.

Buckhorse, subs. (pugilistic).—A smart blow or box on the ear. [Derived from the name of a celebrated ‘bruiser’ of that name. Buckhorse was a man who either possessed or professed insensibility to pain, and who would for a small sum allow anyone to strike him with the utmost force on the side of the face. His real name was John Smith, and he fought in public 1732–46.]

French Synonyms. (For the blow itself.) Une boffete (from the old word buffet); une bouffe; une châtaigne; une accolade; une pamure. To receive a buckhorse, encaisser un soufflet; to give a buckhorse; donner la savate.

1864. Blackwood’s Mag., II., p. 463 (the Public Schools’ Report,
1864—Westminster School). One of the Seniors informs us that the
common punishment was buckhorsing. ‘That was boxing the ears, was
it?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Buckhorsing was rather severe, was it not?’ etc. ‘I
got buckhorsed pretty often.’

1876. Lord Albemarle, Fifty Years of my Life, quoted in Temple Bar,
August, 1884, p. 517. He then felled me to the ground by a swinging
buckhorse on my right cheek.

Buckish, adj. (old).—Foppish; dandyish. [From buck (q.v.) + ish.] Now colloquial.

1782. D’Arblay, Diary, etc. (1876), i., 463. A buckish kind of
young man of fashion.

1785. Wolcot (‘P. Pindar’), Apolog. Postscript to Ode upon Ode, in
wks. (Dublin, 1795), vol. I., p. 365. Did not good Nathan tell that
buckish youth, David the King, that he stole sheep?

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 57. Having beat the rounds
(as buckish spirits phrase it) of that bustling microcoser, the
British metropolis, for eighteen months.

1812. Coombe, Dr. Syntax, Picturesque, ch. xvii.

A buckish blade, who kept a horse,
To try his fortune on the course.

1858. G. Eliot, Janet’s Repentance, ch. v. ‘I’ve made him as neat
as a new pin this morning, and he says the Bishop will think him
too buckish by half.’

1873. W. D. Howells, A Chance Acquaintance, ch. xiii. A very
buckish young fellow, with a heavy black moustache and black eyes,
who wore a jaunty round hat, blue checked trousers, a white vest,
and a morning-coat of blue diagonals.

Buck-Jump, subs. (stable).—A jump made in buck (q.v., verb, sense 2) fashion.

1864. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ch. ix. The instant the
chestnut was mounted he reared, and indulged in two or three
‘buck-jumps’ that would have made a weaker man tremble for his
backbone.

Buckle, verb, trans. and intrans. (colloquial).—1. To unite or be united in wedlock—a humorous term. For synonyms, see Splice. French thieves call such a union l’amadouage.

1693. Dryden, Juvenal, vi., 37. Is this an age to buckle with a
bride?

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. lxvii. Who ... declared
himself well satisfied with the young man’s addresses, and desired
that they might be buckled with all expedition.

1822. Scott, The Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxxii.

‘Buckle them, my Lord Bishop, as fast as you can....

‘The Bishop accordingly opened his book and commenced the marriage
ceremony.’

1857. A. Trollope, Three Clerks, ch. xlvi. ‘We could have half a
dozen married couples all separating, getting rid of their ribs and
buckling again, helter-skelter, every man to somebody else’s wife.’

Buckle-Beggar, subs. (old).—A Fleet prison ‘clergyman’; one who celebrated marriage ceremonies therein; thence, one who celebrated irregular marriages; a hedge priest; one who undertook similar offices for gypsies and tramps—a buckle the beggars.—See Couple-beggar. [Of Scotch derivation, but Cf., Buckle, verb, sense 1.]

c. 1700. Ld. Fountainhill, Diary, in Larwood, Bk. Cleric. Anecd.,
294. He after turn’d a buckle-beggar, i.e., one who married without
license. [M.]

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xvii. (II., p. 86). A hedge
parson, or buckle-beggar, as that order of priesthood has been
irreverently termed. Ibid, ch. xxvii. (III., p. 22). Dr. R., who
buckles beggars for a tester [sixpence] and a dram of Geneva.

Buckled, ppl. adj. (thieves’).—Arrested; taken into custody; ‘scragged.’

Buckle Down, verb (common).—To ‘settle down’; to become reconciled to; a variant of to ‘knuckle down’ (q.v.).

1874. Jos. Hatton, Clytie, bk. III., ch. iv. ‘But you do not buckle
down to your position,’ said Cuffing ... ‘you wrangle, you higgle.’

Buckler, subs. (American thieves’).—A collar. Cf., All-rounder.

Buckles, subs. (old).—Fetters of any kind. For synonyms, see Darbies.

Buckle To, verb (familiar).—To undertake; grapple with; ‘slip in’; work vigorously.

1557. Tusser, Husbandrie, ch. xcvi., st. 84, p. 187 (E.D.S.).

Then purchase some pelfe,
by fiftie and three:
or buckle thy selfe,
a drudge for to bee.

1663. Butler, Hudibras, pt. I., ch. ii., l. 926.

And fitting it for sudden fight,
Straight drew it up, t’attack the Knight,
For getting up on stump and huckle,
He with the foe began to buckle.

1712. Arbuthnot, Hist. of John Bull, pt. IV., ch. viii. At last
Esquire South buckled to, to assist his friend Nic.

1883. James Payn, Thicket than Water, ch. xxvii. ‘Of course it
could never have been taken up as a serious occupation; the way you
buckled to at it, as I told Mr. Payton, was something amazing.’

1889. Modern Society, 19 Oct., p. 1302. (‘How the Nobility live in
Germany.’) Though, as a rule, courteous to ladies at dinner, when a
course is served all buckle to, and conversation is at an end. Each
gentleman forgets his fair neighbour, and minds only number one.
Between the courses, when nothing better is on, they converse, and
always everything is served à la Russe.

Bucksome, adj. (Winchester College).—Happy; in a state of ‘buck-uppishness.’—See Buck-up.

Buck Up, verbal phr. (Winchester College).—To be glad; pleased. Cf., Buck down. The usual expression is ‘Oh buck up,’ a phrase which at Westminster School would have a very different meaning, namely, ‘exert yourself.’ At Uppingham to be bucked (q.v.) is to be tired.

Budge, subs. (old).—1. A pickpocket; a general thief.—See quots., and for synonyms, Area-sneak and Thieves.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 48 (1874). Budge,
one that steals cloaks.

1674. R. Head, Canting Acad., 95. The Budge ... his employment is
in the dark of the Evening, to go into any door that he seeth open,
and ... take whatever next cometh to hand.

2. (thieves’.)—Also called sneaking budge (q.v.). In more modern times an accomplice who gains access to a building during the day for the purpose of being locked in. When night comes he is thus easily able to admit his fellow thieves. For synonyms, see Area-sneak, and Cf., Standing bridge.

1752. Fielding, Amelia, bk. I., ch. iii. ‘I find you are some
sneaking budge rascal’ [cant term for pilfering].

3. (old.)—Drink; liquor.—See Drinks. [Thought to be a corruption of booze.] There are several derivatives—Budgy, ‘drunk’; Budging-ken, ‘a public house’; Cove of the budging-ken, ‘a publican’; Budger, ‘a drunkard’—all of which see.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171. Budge, drink.

Verb (old slang, but now colloquial).—To move; ‘to make tracks.’ For modern synonyms, see Amputate, and Cf., Budge-a-beake.

Budge-a-Beake, verbal phr. (old).—To run away (presumably from justice). There seems some connection in meaning between this expression and a modern phrase—‘to bilk the blues’ (q.v.). [From budge (q.v.), ‘to move away,’ ‘to decamp,’ + a + beak (q.v.), a policeman.] For synonyms, see Amputate.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874).
Budge-a-beake, runne away.

Budger, subs. (old).—A drunkard. [From budge, subs., sense 3, ‘drink’ (q.v.) + er.] For synonyms, see Elbow crooker.

Budging-Ken, subs. (old).—A public house.—See Budge. [From budge, drink, + ken (q.v.), a place or house.] For synonyms, see Lush crib.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171. Budge kain, a
public-house.

Budgy, adj. (old).—Drunk; intoxicated. [From budge (q.v.), sense 3, drink.] For synonyms, see Screwed.

Bud of Promise, subs. phr. (American).—A facetious term for a young, unmarried woman.—See Rosebud.

1889. Charlestown Enterprise.

The young, unmarried girl, in sport,
Is called a bud of promise;
She blooms each year at some resort,
The weather when it warm is.
And in the Fall a score of men,
Whose hearts till now have harm missed,
Compare sad notes, and find out then
To each the bud is promised.

Bud Sallogh (Old Irish).—A term applied to one who practises unmentionable vices.—See Jesuit.

Buenos Ayres (provincial).—The Royal Crescent at Margate at the extreme end of the town used to be so called. The houses remained unfinished for a very considerable time.—H. J. Byron.

Bufe, subs. (old cant).—A dog. [Murray says, from the sound of its bark.]—See Buffer, and Tike for synonyms.

1567. Harman, Caveat, 84. Bufe, a dogge.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bufe, a dog; Bufe’s
nob, a dog’s head.

Bufe-Nabber or Napper, subs. (old).—A dog thief. [From bufe, old cant for a ‘dog,’ + nabber, one who steals or ‘nabs.’] For synonyms, see Area-sneak.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bufe-nabber, a
dog-stealer.

Buff, subs. (common).—1. The bare skin. [An allusion to the colour.]

1654. Chapman, Revenge for Honour, I., i.

Then for accoutrements you wear the buff,
As you believed it heresy to change
For linen: surely most of yours is spent
In lint.

1749. H. Fitzcotton, Homer, I., 38. If you perplex me with your
stuff—All that are here shan’t save your buff. [M.]

1760. Johnston, Chrysal, II., 235. ‘I have got as many clothes and
things of all kinds as would serve to set up a Monmouth-street
merchant: if the place had held out but a few days longer, the poor
devils must have done duty in their buff; ha! ha! ha!’ ‘And the
properest dress for them,’ returned the admiral; ‘who wants any
clothes in such a climate as this?’

1824. Hughes, Magic Lay of the One-horse Chay (Blackwood). When our
pair were soused enough, and returned in their buff.

1856. H. Mayhew, Gt. World of London, p. 223. ‘There’s a fine young
chap there, stript to the buff, and working away hard!’

1872. C. King, Sierra Nev., viii., 176. Stripping ourselves to the
buff, we hung up our steaming clothes. [M.]

2. (old.)—A man; a fellow; also buffer (q.v.).

1708–15. Kersey, Buff ... a dull Sot, or dronish Fellow. [M.]

1709. Brit. Apollo, II, No. 8, p. 3, col. 2. Tell me Grave Buffs,
Partly Gods, partly men. [M.]

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v. Buff, a Newgate Cant Word used in
familiar Salutation as, How dost do, my Buff?

1748. Smollett, Roderick Random, ch. iv., p. 15. Mayhaps old buff
has left my kinsman here his heir.

1764. Brydges, Homer Travest. (1797), II., 420. You seem afraid
these buffs will flinch.

Buff it, verb (common).—1. To swear to; to adhere to a statement hard and fast; to stand firm. [Query from ‘to bluff.’] To buff it is sometimes enlarged—to buff it home.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v. Buff, To buff to a person or
thing, is to swear to the identity of them.

1881. New York Slang Dictionary. Buffing it home is swearing
point-blank to anything, about the same as bluffing it, making a
bold stand on no backing.

2. (common.)—To strip; to bare oneself to the ‘buff’ or skin.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II., p. 416. ‘You had
better buff it, Jim,’ says I; but Jim wouldn’t do it, and kept his
trowsers on. Ibid, p. 417. So I locks the door, and buffs it, and
forces myself up, etc.

In buff, phr. (common).—Naked; in a state of nudity. Among English equivalents are Abram (q.v.) and birthday suit (q.v.), but for all synonyms, see Nature’s garb.

1602. Dekker, Satiro-Mastix. I go in stag, in buff.

1855. Notes and Queries, 1 S., xi., p. 467. We say of one in a
state of nudity, ‘he is in buff.’

To stand buff, verbal phr. (old).—To stand the brunt; to pay the piper; to endure without flinching. [From buff, an old pugilistic term for a blow.]

a. 1680. Butler, Hudibras’s Epitaph. And for the good old cause
stood buff ’Gainst many a bitter kick and cuff.

1697. Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, I., i. Would my courage come up to a
fourth part of my ill-nature, I’d stand buff to her relations, and
thrust her out of doors.

1737. Fielding, The Miser, Act ii., Sc. 2. Love. How! rascal, is it
you that abandon yourself to those intolerable extravagancies?
Fred. I must even stand buff, and outface him.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). To stand Buff (v.), to stand
stoutly to a thing, to be resolute and unmoved, though the danger
be great.

1761. Colman, Jealous Wife, V., i., 139. Stick close to my advice
and you may stand buff to a tigress.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xii. ‘Stand buff against the
reproach of thine over-tender conscience.’

Buff-Ball, subs. (vagrants’).—A dancing party in which both sexes dance together naked. [From buff (q.v.), naked, + ball.] Cf., Ballum rancum.

1880. Greenwood, In Strange Company. The most favourite
entertainment at this place is known as buff-ball, in which both
sexes—innocent of clothing—madly join, stimulated with raw whiskey,
and the music of a fiddle and a tin whistle.

Buffer, subs. (old).—1. A dog. [Considerable obscurity surrounds the origin of this term. It occurs in varying forms from 1567 down to the present time. Harman gives it as bufe (1567) and bufa (1573); Rowlands as buffa (1610); Head as bugher (1673); whilst in The Memorials of John Hall it first appears as buffer.] Synonymous terms will be found under Tike.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65. Bufa, a dogge.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874).
Buffa, a Dogge.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4 ed.), p. 11. Buffer, a Dog.

1842. Lover, Handy Andy, ch. iv. ‘It is not every day we get a
badger, you know.... Reilly the butcher has two or three capital
dogs, and there’s a wicked mastiff below stairs, and I’ll send for
my ‘buffer’ and we’d have some spanking sport.’

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 162. They
had a dog belonging to them that would be sure to begin a quarrel
with another buffer, whenever his master or mistress found a match.

2. (common.)—A man; a fellow—sometimes used with a slightly contemptuous meaning; generally speaking a familiar mode of address, as in Old Buffer, although even this form may be used disparagingly.

1749. H. Fitzcotton, Homer, I. (1748), 23. You’re a buffer always
rear’d in The brutal pleasures of Bear-garden, [M.]

1837. Barham, I. L. (The Bagman’s Dog).

So I’ll merely observe, as the water grew rougher,
The more my poor hero continued to suffer,
Till the Sailors themselves cried, in pity, ‘Poor buffer!’

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.’

3. (pugilistic.)—A boxer; one of ‘the fancy.’ [Hotten gives this as of Irish origin, but it would rather seem to come from O.E. buff, a blow.]

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 7.

Last Tuesday, at Moulsey, the Balance of Power
Was settled by twelve Tightish Rounds in an hour,
The Buffers, both ‘Boys of the Holy Ground.’—Ibid, p. 51:—
Yet, sprightly to the Scratch both Buffers came,
While ribbers rung from each resounding frame,
And divers digs, and many a ponderous pelt,
Were on their broad bread-baskets heard and felt.
With roving aim, but aim that rarely miss’d,
Round lugs and ogles flew the frequent fist;
While showers of facers told so deadly well,
That the crush’d jaw-bones crackled as they fell!

4. (old.)—See quots.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Buffer, a Rogue that kills good
sound Horses only for their Skins.

1737. Bacchus and Venus. Buffer, a rogue that killed good sound
horses for the sake of their skins, by running a long wire into
them.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Buffer, one that
steals and kills horses and dogs for their skins.

5. (old.)—One who took a false oath for a ‘consideration.’ Cf., Bail.

6. (old.)—A pistol. Cf., Barker.

1824. Sir W. Scott, Red Gauntlet. ch. iii. Here be a pair of
buffers will bite as well as bark.

7. (old.)—A smuggler; rogue; or cheat.

8. (nautical.)—A navy term for a boatswain’s mate, one of whose duties it is—or was—to administer the ‘cat.’ Cf., O.E. Buff, a blow.

Buff Howards, subs. (military).—The Third Regiment of Foot; now contracted into Buffs. It was nicknamed the Buff Howards, from its facings and Colonel from 1737 to 1749; also the Nut-crackers (q.v.); and the Resurrectionists (q.v.), from its re-appearing at the Battle of Albuera after being dispersed by the Polish Lancers; also the ‘Old Buffs,’ from its facings, and to distinguish it from the 31st, the ‘Young Buffs’; but the most ancient ‘Old Buffs’ were the ‘Duke of York and Albany’s Maritime Regiments,’ raised in 1664, and incorporated into the 2nd or Coldstream Guards in 1689.

1886. Tinsley’s Mag., ‘Our Regimental Mottoes and Nicknames,’
April, p. 319. The Buffs—a corps which enjoys the almost unique
privilege of marching through the city of London with bayonets
fixed. The 3rd Foot owes its immortal cognomen to the fact of its
having originally been clad in scarlet, lined and faced with buff;
its members also had buff waistcoats, buff breeches, and buff
stockings. Being the senior regiment thus clothed, they were
occasionally styled the ‘Old Buffs’; and the 31st, raised in 1702,
and dressed in a precisely similar fashion, were known as the Young
Buffs. The following tradition, however, offers a more
circumstantial account of the latter appellation. Having earned in
some hotly-contested action, the good opinion of a general under
whom they were serving, and who expressed his approbation by
calling out to the 31st, ‘Well done, Old Buffs!’ A few of the men,
somewhat excited by close combat, replied, ‘We are not the Old
Buffs, Sir.’ Whereupon the general cried, ‘Then well done, Young
Buffs!’ And so the ‘Young Buffs’ they became, and have since
remained, although the days of buff waistcoats and stockings have
long passed away.

Buffle, subs. (old).—A fool; a stupid person. Cf., Buffle-head and Buff, sense 2. Murray quotes it as occurring in 1655, but the term is, as will be seen, nearly a century older. [After French buffle.] For synonymous terms, see following:—

English Synonyms. Buffle-head; Sammy-soft, often contracted into Sammy; sheep’s head; crock (the original meaning is rather concerned with a slow worthless horse, but in sporting phraseology it has also come to mean a foolish, good-for-nothing person); duffer; dotty (also used by prostitutes of a low class to designate their protector or fancy man); cuckoo; calf; cabbage-head; cake; block; greenhorn; old curmudgeon; doddering old sheep’s head.

French Synonyms. Un échappé de Charenton (échapper = to escape; Charenton is the name of a lunatic asylum in Paris; hence one escaped from Charenton. Cf., English colloquial use of the names of Hanwell, Colney Hatch, and Bedlam in describing idiotic or foolish conversation or behaviour); échappé d’Herode (Cf., foregoing); un vieil embaumé (this term is applied to a foolish person well advanced in years; an old curmudgeon); un actionnaire (literary: properly a shareholder).

German Synonyms. Amhorez (literally a countryman; from Hebrew om, the people, + erez, country); Blechseppel (a soldier’s term); Chammer (a butcher’s or knacker’s word; it also signifies a donkey, and is derived from the Hebrew chamor); Dilmisch, Dilledapp, Dilldapp, Dilledali, Dellemelle, Dirledapp, Didel, Tatidel, Dudeldop, Dilldan (all these are popular expressions for a stupid fellow. Cf., dildalfen = to exhaust); Ewil (from the Hebrew owal; the term also stands for a sinner); Godeschaute (a great fool, a perfect fool; from the Hebrew godol, great, strong, celebrated, + schoto, a fool); Gomol (used only as a nickname; from the Hebrew gamal, a camel); Hanne or Hannes (a shortened form of Johannes, the German for the English John; it is curious that in both languages the nicknames Hanne and Jack should, as applied to men, always be used depreciatingly, see Jack); Harbogen, Hornickel, Hornigel (besides signifying a fool or weak-headed one, these words are used to designate an ox; they are employed indiscriminately); Heckel, Häckel, Hegel (also a fop; heckeln = to fool anyone, probably from hacken or hecheln, to hew, to hackle); Koppel (a diminutive of Jacob; sometimes written Jockel); Ksil (from the Hebrew kossal; variations in spelling are Kessil, Kessel, and in students’ slang Theekessel); Nebbich or Newich (among thieves employed to designate the clumsy, stupid fellow who is only entrusted with unimportant tasks connected with a robbery, such for instance as holding the sacks in which the stolen property is placed, or in carrying off the plunder); Nille or Knolle or Nolle (these terms are used to signify a fool, jester, or the male penis); Nowel or Newil or Nebel (also a cunning fellow, a rogue or ‘sly blade’; das ist ein Newele, the equivalent of the Low German dat is een Aas vun Kêrl might be rendered by the English ‘he is a devil of a fellow’); Oochbram or Ogbrôm (a fool or rather one whose craziness resembles in extent the traditional stature of Og, King of Bashan—at least authorities agree in thinking this the most likely derivation of the word. Among the Jews Og is taken as an image of gigantic size. When the Israelites advanced on Edrëi, Og sat on the wall of the town, and his feet reached to the ground, so that Moses at first thought he was part of the wall, but when he discovered that it was a man he was seized with terror. Rum = on high, therefore Og b’rum = the [great] Og on high. Er hat die Grösse von Og Melech haboschon, he has the size of Og, King of Bashan. A corresponding expression is found in the Low German, de lange Rick, i.e., a tall, slenderly built fellow); Schote or Schaute or Schotte (from the Hebrew schoto; used especially of one who can be cheated or robbed with his eyes open; a tradesman or money changer who can be robbed while transacting business at the counter or while exchanging money); Sonof (a Hebrew word signifying properly a tail, and mostly used proverbially of things low and contemptible. It is also employed to designate the male penis; the German Gaunerspräche offers frequent examples in which contemptible names are also used synonymously for the male and female organs of generation).

Italian Synonyms. Fiadetto (besides its meaning of a dolt or duffer, this term is also applied to a thief, rogue, or indeed a villain of any description); ribeba or ribecca (a goose or simpleton; properly a violin or Jewish harp); cordovano (this also means in the Fourbesque, a big man; properly it is the name of Morocco or Spanish leather); furlana; marietta or marietto (a dolt or dunce).

Spanish Synonym. Dupa (Cf., English dupe).

1580. Beehive of the Romish Churche, fo. 66 b. An unlearned buffle
did babble.

1655. Comic Hist. Francion, iv., 22. He said to the three buffles
who stood with their hats in their hands. Tell me you Waggs, etc.
[M.].

1710. Pol. Ballads (1860), II., 90. To see the chief attorney such
a buffle.

Buffle-Head, subs. (old).—An ignoramus; a stupid obtuse fellow. Cf., Buffle, and which see for synonyms.

1659. Lady Alimony, I., ii., in Hazl. Dodsley, xiv., 278. What a
drolling buffle-head is this!

1663. Pepys, Diary, March 17. But my Lord Mayor a talking,
bragging, buffle-headed fellow.

1668. Pepys, Diary, Jan. 29. He tells me that Townsend, of the
Wardrobe, is the veriest knave and buffle-head that ever he saw.

1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, Act ii. Oliv. You know nothing, you
buffle-headed stupid creature you.

1686. D’Urfey, Commonwealth of Women, I., i. A damn’d huffing
fellow yonder, a Rebel, Whiggy buffle-head.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict., 2 ed. Buffle-head, an ignoramus, or
dull sot.

1887. Dead Man’s Rock, bk. I., ch. v. ‘Jonathan’s a buffle-head ...
a daft fule like Jonathan.’

Buffleheaded, adj. (old).—Stupid; idiotic; foolish. [From bufflehead, a foolish fellow (q.v.), + ed.]

1883. Baring Gould, John Herring, vol. II., ch. xxv., p. 275.
(Tauchnitz ed.) ‘A buffleheaded sort of a chap,’ said Joyce.

Buffs, subs. (military).—The Third Regiment of Foot in the British army. From their facings.—See Buff Howards.

1849. Macaulay, Hist. England, I., 295. The third regiment,
distinguished by flesh-coloured facings, from which it derived the
well-known name of the Buffs.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 232. His father
was a captain in the Buffs, and himself a commissioned officer at
seventeen.

1874. Saturday Review, p. 95. This regiment [the First or Grenadier
Guards] has almost the longest record of any in the service, only
yielding, we believe, to the 1st Royals, and to the 3rd Buffs,
which were originally raised for the service of the States-General
of Holland.

Buffy, adj. (common).—Intoxicated. For synonyms, see Screwed.

1866. Yates, Land at Last, I., p. 85. Flexor was fine and buffy
when he came home last night, after you was gone, sir.

1872. Besant and Rice, R. M. Mortiboy, ch. xlii. ‘My ideas take me
first of all unawares. They generally begin, like a toothache, when
I least expect them. Perhaps when I feel a little buffy, in the
morning; mayhap, after an extra go of grog the night before. Then
one comes all of a sudden.’

Bug, subs. (thieves’).—1. A breast pin.

2. (Old Irish.)—A jeering name for an Englishman—Grose says ‘because bugs were introduced into Ireland by Englishmen!!’

3. (American.)—The term bug is, in the United States, not confined merely, as in England, to the domestic pest, but is applied to all insects of the Coleoptera order, which includes what in this country are generally called beetles. The English bug (Cimex lectularius) is, in the Southern States, known as the chinch. It may be mentioned, however, that at Winchester College a usage akin to that prevailing in America exists. There a bug merely means an insect, whether belonging to the Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, or any other order. Synonyms for the English domestic pest will be found under Norfolk Howards.

1642. Rogers, Naaman the Syrian, 74. Do not all as much and more
wonder at God’s rare workmanship in the Ant, the poorest bugge that
creeps.

1888. Grass Valley (Cal.) Tidings. Entomology, or bugology, is now
taught to some extent in our public schools. This is well, and is
of use. The children ought to learn about the bugs that are
destructive to useful vegetation. It is better to learn much about
bugs than so much about how to solve those arithmetical problems
that will never face anybody in the practical affairs of life.

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, March. The Insane Asylum Board some time
ago discontinued a bug-killer’s employment, and the doctor avers
that the old hospital building is swarming with cockroaches, and
that these bugs will soon be large and fat enough to carry out the
inmates and take their food and clothes.

4. (American.)—Bug is also used idiomatically in various combinations, as big bugs (q.v.), a jocose and vulgar name for persons of wealth or distinction. Thence, similarly, cattle-bugs, that is, wealthy stock-raisers; gold-bugs, or monied men, etc.

1843. Haliburton, Sam Slick in England, ch. xv. The great guns and
big bugs have to take in each other’s ladies. Ibid, p. 24. Pick out
the big bugs and see what sort of stuff they’re made of.

1888. St. Louis Globe Democrat, March 5. ‘Would Senator Allison’s
well-known views on silver coinage operate materially against him
in New York.’ ‘I think not; I do not think the feeling against
silver is anything like as strong as it was. Of course, a few
gold-bugs might fight him, but any of the men I have mentioned are
reasonably certain to carry New York.’

That beats the bugs, phr. (American).—A phrase conveying a high mead of praise; ‘that beats cock-fighting.’

Verb (old).—1. A cant word among journeymen hatters, signifying the exchanging some of the dearest materials of which a hat is made for others of less value. Hats are composed of the furs and wools of diverse animals, among which is a small portion of bever’s fur. Bugging is stealing the bever, and substituting in lieu thereof an equal weight of some cheaper ingredient. Bailiffs who take money to postpone or refrain the serving of a writ, are said to bug the writ.—Grose.

2. (thieves’.)—To bribe. In old slang, bailiffs accepting money to delay service were said to bug the writ.

3. (thieves’.)—To give; hand over; to deliver. Cf., sense 2.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict. ‘He bug’d me a quid.’ ‘Bug over the
rag.’

Bugaroch, adj. (Old Irish).—Pretty; comely; handsome.—Grose.

Bug-Blinding, subs. (military).—Whitewashing operations.

Bugger, subs. (old).—1. A thief whose speciality is stealing breast-pins from drunken men. [From bug, a cant term for a breast pin, + (g) ger.] Also called a bug hunter. For synonymous terms, see Area-sneak and Bug-hunter.

2. (low.)—A man; a fellow. A coarse term of abuse without, however, any reference to the legal meaning—a sodomite. The French has an exact equivalent in Bougre, which Littré says is une terme de mépris et d’injure, usité dans le langage populaire le plus trivial et le plus grossier. The term, as applied to a man, is equivalent to bitch (q.v.), as applied to women. Hence also buggery (q.v.).

1719. D’Urfey, Pills, I., 59. From every trench the bougers fly.
[M.]

1854. M. Holmes, Tempest and Sun, 203. ‘If I’d known all you city
buggers was comin’, I’d a kivered my bar feet.’ [M.]

Buggery, adj. (low).—An indefinite expression signifying disgust; or disapprobation. Of the same type as bloody, blamed, blasted, etc. (q.v.), but conveying a somewhat intenser meaning.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 23. A buggery
fool, why don’t he let people go to hell their own way? Ibid, p.
180. Here mother, give us one of your buggery trotters.

Buggy, subs. (old).—A leather bottle.

Bugher.—See Buffer.

Bug-Hunter, subs. (thieves’).—A thief who plunders drunken men. The same as bugger, sense 1.

French Synonyms. Un poivrier (popular and thieves’); un allumeur (this term is also applied to an auction room ‘button’ or confederate, and to a card-sharper’s decoy); faire un louave, or faire les gavés (to go bug-hunting. Louave and gavé = drunkard, the latter from gaver, to glut).

1856. H. Mayhew, Gt. World of London, p. 46. Those who hocus or
plunder persons by stupefying; as ‘drummers,’ who drug liquor, and
‘bug-hunters,’ who plunder drunken men.

2. subs. (old).—An upholsterer.—Lexicon Balatronicum.

Bug-Juice, subs. (common).—1. Ginger ale.

2. (American.)—The Schlechter whiskey of the Pennsylvania Dutch—a very inferior spirit. Also called bug-poison. These terms are now applied to bad whiskey of all kinds. For synonyms, see Drinks.

1888. Texas Siftings, 7 July. It is a singular fact, that nearly
every character introduced by Charles Dickens into his numerous
novels, was addicted to drinking ... each and every individual took
his bug-poison with surprising regularity and eminent satisfaction.

Bugle It, verb (American cadets’).—To abstain from going into class until the last moment—i.e., until the bugle sounds.

Bug Walk, subs. (common).—A bed. [Derivation obvious.]

English Synonyms. Bedfordshire; Sheet Alley; Blanket Fair; Land of Nod; doss; rip; Cloth Market.

French Synonyms. Un portfeuille (familiar: properly ‘a portfolio’); la boîte à puces (popular: this almost exactly corresponds to the English ‘bug walk,’ the French phrase signifying ‘the flea box’); le pucier (popular: from puce = flea); le tremblant (popular); le plumard (popular); le fournil (popular and thieves’); la halle aux draps (popular: literally, Sheet Market or Fair. Cf., English ‘Blanket Fair’); le pagne; le panier aux ordures.

Build, subs. and verb (popular).—Properly ‘to build is to construct,’ says Murray, ‘for a dwelling and by extension of meaning ... to construct by fitting together of separate parts; chiefly with reference to structures of considerable size ... (not, e.g., a watch or a piano).’ Difficult as it may be at times to draw a dividing line between a literary, or even a colloquial usage and a slang signification, there can be little doubt that when build is applied to the make or style of dress, that it is the purest slang—‘It’s a tidy build, who made it?’ A tailor, it may be noted, is sometimes called a ‘trousers’ builder.’ In the United States, this verb is used with much more latitude than in England. There, as Fennimore Cooper puts it, everything is built. The priest builds up a flock; the speculator a fortune; the lawyer a reputation; the landlord a town; and the tailor, as in England, builds up a suit of clothes. A fire is built instead of made, and the expression is even extended to individuals, to be built being used with the meaning of formed. ‘I was not built that way’; and hence in a still more idiomatic sense to express unwillingness to adopt a specified course or carry out any inconvenient plan.—See Not built that way.

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. xx. That creator of manly
beauty, who builds your coat on the model of an Apollo.

1853. Rev. E. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Verdant Green, pt. I., ch.
x. If he forswore the primitive garments that his country-tailor
had condemned him to wear, and adapted the build of his dress to
the peculiar requirements of university fashion.

1871. A. Forbes, My Experience of the War, etc., II., p. 19. I met
a gentleman who had got a dress coat built in the place
[Versailles].

1880. Punch, Jan. 10, p. 6. The spread of education and liberal
ideas.—His Grace the Duke of Poplar and Bermondsey. ‘Just look at
these bags you last built me, Snippe! J’ever see such beastly bags
in your life? I shall always be glad to come and dine with you, old
man; but I’ll be hanged if you shall ever measure me for another
pair of bags!’ Mr. Snippe (of Snippe and Son, St. James’s Street).
‘You’ve always grumbled about your bags, as you call ’em, ever
since you were my fag at Eton; and at Christchurch you were just as
bad, even though my poor dear old governor used to come all the way
down and measure you himself. It ain’t the fault of the bags, my
dear Popsy—it’s the fault of the legs inside ’em! So, shut up, old
Stick-in-the-mud, and let’s join the ladies—the duchess has
promised to give us “Little Billee.”’

Build a chapel, verbal phr. (nautical).—To steer badly, and so cause a ship to veer round.

Not built that way, phr. (general).—Not to one’s taste, in one’s line—a general expression of disapproval or dissent, whether said of persons or things.

1881. American Humorist, May 12. We cannot shut our eyes to the
fact that mankind is passing through a great era of change; even
womankind is not built as she was a few brief years ago.

1888. Missouri Republican, Jan. 25.

‘Why didn’t you roll down?’
‘I wasn’t built that way.’

Bulgarian Atrocities, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Varna and Rutschuk Ry. 3 per cent. obligations.

1887. Atkin, House Scraps.

And we’ve really quite a crew
Of fancy names to represent a share....
But fancy, by the way,
Now, in the present day,
A Varna’s a Bulgarian atrocity.

Bulge, verb (American).—The legitimate meaning is extended in many odd ways. ‘Bags’ bulge, but do not get baggy; and in a similar fashion when a man is ‘all attention,’ his eyes are said to bulge.

1888. Puck’s Library, May, p. 31. A Phenomenal Fee. ‘Yes,’ said a
pompous young lawyer, on a street-car, to a friend: ‘I hadn’t been
downtown half an hour this morning, before I got a fee of ten
dollars!’ Then the eyes of a man who was hanging on to a strap
began TO bulge. ‘I say, young feller,’ he whispered earnestly:
‘what saloon d’ye work at? I’m a waiter, myself!’

To go or be on a bulge, verbal phr. (American).—To drink to excess.

To get the bulge on one, verbal phr. (American mining slang).—To obtain an advantage over; an equivalent is to get the drop on one.

1869. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Innocents at Home, p. 18. Well,
you’ve rather got the bulge on me. Or maybe we’ve both got the
bulge, somehow.

1885. Household Words, Oct. 10, p. 466. ‘Smart chap, that Jacob,
for a nig!’ remarked he, as we told him the outlines of our story.
‘I guess now he’s had the bulge on you pretty considerable this
trip.’

1888. American Humorist, May 12. ‘Pop! are you up there?’ ‘Yes, my
son.’ ‘I saw he had the bulge on you and I got the gun and dropped
him!’ ‘Right, my boy. That’s what I was praying for.’

Bulger, adj. (common).—Large; synonymous with buster (q.v.).

Bulk, subs. (old).—See quots.—See also File and Bulker, sense 2.

1674. R. Head, Canting Acad., 35. Bulk and File. The one jostles
you, whilst the other picks your pocket.

1725. New Cant. Dict. Bulk, an assistant to a File or Pickpocket,
who jostles a Person up against the Wall, while the other picks his
Pocket.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bulk and file, two
pickpockets; the bulk jostles the party to be robbed, and the file
does the business.

Bulker, subs. (old).—1. A prostitute of a low type—generally one who had no settled home; one who slept on a ‘bulk,’ a kind of sill projecting from a window. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack.

1691. Shadwell, Scowerers, Act i., Sc. 1. ‘Every one in a petticoat
is thy mistress, from humble bulker to haughty countess.’

1728. Baily, Bulker, a Common Jilt; a Whore.—Canting term. [In a
later edition (1790) he adds ‘one who would lay down on a bulk to
anyone.’]

2. (old.)—A thief. Cf., Bulk.

1669. Nicker Nicked, in Hart. Misc. (ed. Park), II., 108. Bulker
occurs in a list of names of thieves.

1678. Four for a Penny, in Hart. Misc. (ed. Park), IV., 147. He is
the treasurer of the thieves’ exchequer, the common fender of all
bulkers and shop-lifts in the town.

Bulky, subs. (provincial).—A police constable. Said to be a northern term. For synonyms, see Beak.

1821. Edinburgh Mag., August, p. 156. This enterprising ruffian
boasts of his success in deceiving the bulkies on a search, by
concealing his stolen notes in the cape of his coat.

1841. Lytton, Night and Morning, bk. V., ch. ii. ‘Inquiries about
your respectability would soon bring the bulkies about me.’

Adj. (Winchester College).—Rich or generous, or both. The opposite of brum (q.v.).

Bull, subs. (colloquial.)—1. Formerly a blunder or mistake; now generally understood as an inconsistent statement; a ludicrous contradiction, often partaking largely of the nature of a pun. [Bull in M.E. = to befool; to mock.] The term was current long before the form Irish bull is met with.