Chapter VII: Part 7

Balbus, subs. (University).—A Latin prose composition. In Arnold’s well-known text book, Latin Prose Composition, balbus turns up at every corner; he is here, there, and everywhere; he appears to be willing and able to do anything, and go anywhere; in fact it is balbus this, and balbus that, until the wonder is whether balbus was not something of a prig or bore, or both. At all events those who used the text book in question, cannot fail to remember that doughty old fossil of a Roman to their dying day.

1870. Quarterly Review. Balbus was in constant use.

Balderdash, subs. (old).—1. Adulterated wine; a mixture of liquors such as wine and beer, milk and beer, etc.

2. (colloquial).—Frothy talk; nonsense; a jumble of words.

1885. Murray, New English Dictionary, Art. Balderdash, vol. I., p.
633, col. 3. From the evidence at present, the inference is that
the current sense was transferred from 1 or 2 [i.e., Froth, frothy
liquid, or a jumbled mixture of liquids] either with the notion of
‘frothy talk,’ or of ‘a senseless farrago,’ or ‘jumble of words.’
Most etymologists have, however, assumed 3 [nonsense; frothy talk,
etc.] to be the original sense, and sought its explanation in the
obvious similarity of balder to dialectical balder, ‘to use coarse
language’; Dutch, balderen, ‘to roar, thunder’; Norwegian, baldra;
Icelandic, baldrast, ballrast, ‘to make a clatter,’ and of -dash to
the verb dash in various senses. The Welsh baldorddus, adj., f.
baldordd, ‘idle, noisy talk, chatter,’ has also been adduced....
Other conjectures may be found in Wedgwood, Skeat, and E. Müller.

Bald-Face, subs. (American).—New whiskey; so villainous is the compound, that only by courtesy can it be recognised as at all approaching the Simon Pure. For synonyms, see Drinks.

Bald-Faced Shirt, subs. (American).—In cowboy lingo, a white shirt; from the fact of being white on the face or front. Ordinarily bald-face is used of animals, e.g., a bald-faced stag. Hereford cattle, too, have white faces, and as cowboys are brought into close contact with all kinds of cattle, the term as applied to a linen shirt is possibly a mere transference in sense. Cf., Boiled shirt.

Bald-Faced Stag, subs. (common).—A bald-headed man; [from bald-faced, having white on face + stag, a slang term for a man. Cf., Stag party.] For synonyms, see Bladder of lard.

Baldheaded.—To go it baldheaded, phr. (American).—With eager impetuosity, or great haste; to do a thing with all one’s might and main. A suggestion of action without stopping to cover one’s head, i.e., on the spur of the moment.

1848–62. J. R. Lowell, Biglow Papers, p. 6.

It ain’t by princerples nor men
My preudunt course is steadied,—
I scent which pays the best, an’ then
Go into it baldheaded.

1869. Our Young Folks. Whenever he had made up his mind to do a
thing he went at it baldheaded. [de v.]

1888. Pall Mall Gazette, June 22. The Chicago Republicans, to use
an Americanism, have gone baldheaded for protection. If shouting
could win a Presidential contest, Blaine and Protection would be
certain.

To snatch baldheaded, phr. (American).—To defeat a person in a street fight.

1871. R. Grant White, Words and Their Uses.

The crowd than gave a specimen of calumny broke loose,
And said I’d snatched him baldheaded, and likewise cooked his
goose.

Bald-Headed Row, subs. phr. (American).—The first row of stalls at theatres, especially those which make a feature of ballets. The term is a cynical allusion to the fact that these seats are generally occupied by men of mature age; the innuendo is obvious.—See Frog-salad.

Balditude, subs. (American).—A state of baldness. Probably a nonce word.

1882. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn, p. 187. Trouble has done it, Bilgewater, trouble has done it;
trouble has brung these gray hairs and this premature balditude.

Baldober or Baldower, subs. (thieves’).—A leader; a head man; a spokesman. This term has been imported into the lingo of English thieves from the German Gaunersprache, in which it has very much the same meaning.

Balductum, subs. (old).—Nonsense; rubbish. Cf., Balderdash.

Baldy, subs. (American).—A colloquial vulgarism for a bald-headed man. Cf., Balditude.

Balfour’s Maiden, subs. (Parliamentary).—A nickname given to a kind of covered battering-ram used by the Royal Irish Constabulary in carrying out evictions in Ireland in the years 1888–9. On many estates the tenants made most desperate resistance to all attempts on the part of the landlords to recover possession, upon which the latter appealed for, and obtained the assistance of the authorities. This but served to intensify the struggle, and the tenants, driven to extremities, in some cases resisted all endeavours, even to throwing boiling water over the soldiers and police employed against them. To protect the evictors, and also to render easier the demolition of the cabins of the wretched people, a kind of covered battering-ram was made, whereupon the Home Rule Party sarcastically gave it, amongst other nick-names, that of Balfour’s maiden. The term was first used by Sir Wm. Harcourt in a speech at a monster Home Rule meeting, held at St. James’s Hall, on Wednesday, April 10, 1889. An account of the incident runs as follows:—

1889. Daily News, April 11. Resolute government has not been
absolutely extinguished. Now at Letterkenny, Mr. Balfour has
introduced a new invention, the latest development of resolute
government. The Government were questioned on the subject, and they
accepted the responsibility for the facts. It stated that in view
of the Olphert estate evictions, there reached there an iron-headed
spiked battering-ram to be used in carrying out the evictions. Why,
really, gentlemen, when you read of these things they are like the
pictures one sees of the Siege of Jerusalem—(loud laughter)—of the
implements, which the Latins called tormenta. We are familiar with
them in old mediæval castles. You find instruments called ‘The
Scavenger’s Daughter,’ and ‘The Maiden,’ and other implements of
that character. I think this last pattern of ram of Mr. Balfour’s
might be called ‘The Unionist’s Daughter’—(loud laughter)—or it
might be christened ‘Balfour’s Maiden.’ (Cheers and laughter.) But
not to deprive the Liberal Unionists of their share we might call
it ‘Chamberlain’s Tenants’ Protector.’ (Renewed merriment.)

Ball, subs. (thieves’).—1. A prison ration. 2. A drink.

To open the ball, phr. (common).—To commence an undertaking; to start off.

1876. Eton Chronicle, July 20.

... Whatever may seem the mishaps of his team,
Whatever their failings and sinnings,
He who opened the ball and who saw them all fall,
Scarce deserved that defeat in one innings.

Ballad-Basket, subs. (old).—A street singer.—See Street pitcher. A French equivalent is un braillard.

Ballambangjang, subs. (nautical).—The Straits of Ballambangjang, though unnoticed by geographers, are frequently mentioned in sailors’ yarns as being so narrow, and the rocks on each side so crowded with trees inhabited by monkeys, that the ship’s yards cannot be squared, on account of the monkey’s tails getting jammed into, and choking up, the brace blocks.—Hotten.

Ballast, subs. (common).—Money. For synonyms, see Actual.

Well-ballasted, adj. (common).—A rich man is said to be well-ballasted.

English Synonyms. ‘To be flush’; also ‘to have brass; brads,’ etc. See synonyms for money generally under Actual.

Among French equivalents for the solidity arising from the possession of wealth may be mentioned:—Être zingué (popular: literally ‘to be covered with zinc’); avoir des monacos (popular: monaco is an ironical term for a sou); daim huppé (popular: daim, a slang term for a swell, is properly a ‘buck,’ and huppé also signifies high in station, well-off); homme au sac (familiar: ‘a man with a bag,’—presumably of money); avoir des picaillons (popular: picaillons is thought to be a corruption of picarons, a Spanish coin); être de la fête (popular: i.e., ‘to be in luck’s way’); être sacqué (popular: meaning obvious); rupin (thieves’ term); avoir de ce qui sonne (popular: ‘to have that which chinks’); tailler en plein drap (popular).

In the Spanish Germania a rich or well-ballasted man is florido, i.e., ‘flowery’ or ‘agreeable.’

Ball Face, subs. (American).—A contemptuous epithet applied by negroes to white persons. Salem, Mass., 1810–1820.

Ball-Keeper, subs. (Winchester College).—In ‘Commoners’ an ‘Inferior’ appointed to look after cricket and footballs. In return for this service he was exempted from ‘kicking in’ and ‘watching out.’ ‘Junior in College’ has to bring through balls every evening.—See Balls.

Ball of Fire, subs. phr. (popular).—A glass of fiery and pungent brandy. For all synonyms, see Drinks.

Ballooning, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Inflating the price of stocks by fictitious means, such as newspaper articles, bogus sales, etc.

Balloon It, verb. (American).—To indulge in rhodomontade; to draw the long bow; to talk big. Obviously from ‘to puff or swell out’ as a balloon.

1878. T. Sinclair, Mount, 33. Gas-brained, ballooning wandering
men. [M.]

Ball O’ Wax, subs. (common).—A snob, or shoe-maker.—See Snob.

Balls. To bring through balls, phr. (Winchester College).—‘Junior in College’ collects footballs from the lockers in school, and brings them through at six o’clock to be blown, or repaired, if necessary.

To make balls of, verb. phr. (popular).—To go wrong; to do what ‘lands’ one in trouble; generally, to make a mistake.

All balls, adv. (popular).—All rubbish; nonsense. For synonyms, see All my eye.

Ballum Rancum, subs. (old).—A hop or dance, where the women are all prostitutes; a dance at a brothel. These orgies sometimes take the form of ‘buff-balls,’ all present dancing in the nude.

Bally, adj. (popular).—A comparatively recent coinage, it is said, of the Sporting Times, from ‘bally-hooly.’ Generally, though not always, used as is ‘bloody,’ in the lower strata of the body politic. It also signifies intensity, and in cases where the vocabulary at command is limited, bally does yeoman’s service for such words as ‘fearful,’ ‘dreadful,’ ‘terrible,’ ‘outrageous,’ ‘confounded.’

1889. Sporting Times, July 6 (Answers to Correspondents). H. G.
Steele.—Thanks. What a bally idiot you must be.

1889. Bird o’ Freedom, Aug. 7, p. 5. Newman Noggs, bringing small
boy to carry master’s bag, and inculcating manners at the same
time, ‘Now, what would you say if I was to give you sixpence for
taking it?’ ‘I should say ’twasnt half enough, and you can bally
well take it yourself,’ was the prompt reply. Boys are boys
nowadays, and no error, thinks Newman.

Bally-Bounder.—See Bally and Bounder.

Bally-Fellow.—See Bounder and Bally.

Bally Flat.—See Bounder and Bally.

Bally Fool.—See Bounder and Bally.

Ballyrag.—See Bullyrag.

Balm, subs. (old).—A lie.—Duncombe.

Balmy, subs. and adj. (common).—Sleep; sleepy. [From the figurative sense of balmy, i.e., deliciously soft and soothing.]

To have a dose of the balmy; i.e., ‘to go to sleep.’

1840. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, ch. viii., p. 42. ‘As it’s
rather late, I’ll try and get a wink or two of the balmy.’

English Synonyms. To doss; to go to Bedfordshire (q.v.)—a play upon words.

French Synonyms. La pionce or pionçage (popular: subs., see pioncer); le somno (popular: an abbreviated form of somnolence); piquage de romance (a military term); casser une canne, or sa canne (popular: this also means ‘to die.’ In French as in other languages the analogy between Sleep and Death is fully recognised. Many of the French slang phrases for the former are also used to express the latter. Mors janua vitæ!); casser son pif (popular: pif in French argot = ‘the nose.’ Amongst the peasants of Normandy and Berry it signifies a ‘grog-blossom’); pioncer (popular: from piausser, a provincialism for ‘to sleep’); piquer un chien (popular: piquer a canting verb of action, ‘to do’; therefore ‘to do as a dog’); piquer une romance (popular); faire son lézard (popular: Cf., piquer un chien); faire son michaud (thieves’: i.e., ‘to rest one’s head or knowledge box’); roupiller (this term is in general colloquial use); se recueillir (popular: ‘to wrap oneself in meditation’); compter des pauses (musicians’: ‘to count the beats.’ Cf., various suggested remedies for overcoming insomnia; e.g., counting slowly up to a hundred, etc., etc.); taper de l’œil (popular: ‘to rub the eyes.’ Cf., English ‘to have sleepy dust in one’s eyes’); mettre le chien au cran de repos (popular: ‘to curl oneself up like a dog’); souffler ses clairs (popular: ‘to blow or put out one’s light,’ i.e., ‘to shut the eyes’); fermer maillard (popular: to close one’s shutters, i.e., eyelids. Maillard was the inventor of a particular kind of shutter. Other analogous expressions are être terrassé par maillard, i.e., ‘to be extremely sleepy.’ Sleep is expressed by fermeture); faire schloff or schloffer, from the German schlafen.

Spanish Synonym. In the Germania difunto, properly ‘defunct,’ is used for asleep.

A Portuguese Synonym for sound sleep is a bom sornar, i.e., ‘to sleep on both ears.’

2. Dull-witted; thick-skulled. In this sense balmy is used up and down the whole gamut of imbecility from mere stolidity to downright insanity. Popularly used, it signifies in most cases little more than shallow-brained or muddle-headed; or, to use slang equivalents in their most familiar sense, ‘to be touched,’ ‘to be wrong in the upper story,’ ‘dotty.’ Among thieves, however, it is usually applied to insanity, to put on the balmy stick being, among convicts, to feign madness.

1851. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 231. List
of patterers’ words. Balmy—Insane.

A large number of synonyms will be found under apartments to let, but in addition to those there mentioned may be instanced the following in the French slang:—Demenager (popular: ‘to remove one’s furniture.’ It also means ‘to die’); paumer la sorbonne (i.e., ‘to punch the head,’ sorbonne being a slang term for that part of the human body. The Sorbonne is a well-known university and seat of learning. Among thieves, too, sorbonner is used in the sense of ‘to think’); être un peu toc (i.e., slightly crazy; toc in slang = ridiculous); avoir une pomme de canne felée (popular: a rather opprobrious expression, meaning ‘to have a slate off.’ Cf., ‘to have a tile loose’); avoir une fissure (literally ‘to have a crack’); avoir un grain.

Balmy Cove, subs. (common).—A weak-minded individual; one who has ‘a tile loose.’ [From balmy (q.v.) + cove, a man.] Among French thieves such an individual is called un hurlubier (hurlublu is an obsolete term used jestingly for a giddy goose or hair-brained person); also biscayen from the Bicêtre prison which has a lunatic ward for demented convicts. The prison itself is called La Biscaye, but this name has no connection with the province of Biscay as might be supposed.

Balsam, subs. (thieves’ and popular).—One of the many generic names for money. A full list of synonyms will be found under Actual. The allusion of course is obvious, i.e., a healing soothing agent or agency; but, in its secondary signification of impertinence, ‘brass,’ ‘cheek,’ etc., the reverse of the shield is given. Such reversals in the legitimate meanings of words are not uncommon in slang.

Bam, subs. (old slang).—1. A cheat; an imposition; a story intended to hoax the credulous; what nowadays generally goes under the name of chaff or humbug [bam is thought to be an abbreviated form of bamboozle (q.v.)]. Murray has traced it back to 1762, but it appears nearly twenty years previous in Dyche’s dictionary, and also in Martin’s, the second edition of which was published in 1754.—See verb To bam.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Bam (s.), a sham or pretence, a
lying excuse.

1762. Foote, Orators, Act ii. Why I know that man, he is all upon
his fun; he lecture—why ’tis all but a bam.

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

Verb.—To hoax, to bamboozle; to wheedle; to cheat. [Of same formation as substantive, which see above, and Cf., Bamboozle.] The first trace of it appears in Cibber’s Double Gallant [1707], and is discussed by Swift in his introduction to Polite Conversation [1738], where he mentions among ‘the exquisite refinements’ then in vogue,—bam for bamboozle, and bamboozle for, God knows what. Whereupon a correspondent of Notes and Queries [2 S., Jan. 10, ’57, p. 31] alluding to the despair of etymologists in regard to these words remarked that if from was put in the place of for, it would describe the predicament in which philologists are placed.

1754. H. Martin, Eng. Dict., 2 ed. To bam, or to bamboozle, to fun,
to fib, to sham.

1760. Colman, Polly Honeycombe, in wks. (1777) IV., 43. Lord, how
well he behaves! We shall certainly bam the old gentleman.

1830. Marryat, King’s Own, ch. xlix. ‘Now, you’re bamming me—don’t
attempt to put such stories off on your old granny.’

1874. E. L. Linton, Patricia Kemball, ch. xxxix. For a moment the
thought flashed across him whether ‘that tale of Gordon Frere was
all a bam, and had the girl taken a liking for himself?’

Bamblustercate, verb. (nonce-word).—A factitious creation signifying to embarrass; confuse; or hoax in a blustering manner. [From bam, to hoax, or confuse + bluster, noisy assertion + cate, a termination in imitation of ‘conglomerate’.]—See also Comflogisticate.

Bamboo, verb. (American).—A corruption of bamboozle. To cheat; to victimize; to hoax.—See, however, Bam and Bamboozle.

Bamboozle, verb. (familiar).—To hoax; deceive; or impose upon. Philologists are all confessedly at sea in regard to the derivation of bamboozle and its attributive forms, but the general tendency of evidence is to refer it to a gypsy origin. Johnson states it to be a cant word; and Bouchier, in his glossary says, ‘it has with great propriety long had a place in the gypsy or canting dictionaries,’ it being in his opinion ‘the sole invention of gypsies or vagrants.’ Leland thinks it ‘possibly’ the Hindu word bambhorna, to humbug, with the gypsy terminative āsel. Wedgwood suggests its origin in the Italian bamboccio, a young babe, and metaphorically an old dotard or babyish gull; imbambolare, to blear or dim one’s sight, also with flatteries and blandishments, to inveigle and make a fool of one. If a verb were made of bambocciolo in the same way as bambocciolare, it would have much the sense of bamboozle. A. E. Quekett (N. and Q., 5 S., xii., 488) throws a side-light upon this last theory by pointing out that in Shakspeare’s Taming of the Shrew, Katharina says, ‘Belike you mean to make a puppet of me,’ and Petruchio replies, ‘Why true; he means to make a puppet of thee.’ Comparing this passage with the rest of the scene it would seem that Petruchio’s answer is not a mere repetition of Katharina’s words, but contains a double entendre of some kind. He (Quekett) then hazards that perhaps she meant to say, ‘Perhaps you mean to treat me as a doll without a will of its own,’ while Petruchio appears to mean something very like, ‘He wishes to bamboozle you.’

Be all this as it may, bamboozle first came into vogue during the early part of the last century; for in the Tatler No. 230 [1710], we read, ‘The third refinement observable in the letter I send you consists in the choice of certain words invented by some pretty fellows, such as banter, bamboozle, country-put, and kidney, some of which are now struggling for the vogue, and others are in possession of it’!

So also with the derivatives; e.g., bamboozle (subs.); Bamboozled; bamboozlement; bamboozler; bamboozling.

1703. Cibber, She Would and She Would Not, II., i. (1736), 34. Sham
proofs, that they propos’d to bamboozle me with. [M.]

1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 31. But, says I, sir, I perceive this is
to you all bamboozling.

1712. Arbuthnot, History of John Bull, pt. III., ch. vi. There are
a sort of fellows that they call banterers and bamboozlers, that
play such tricks; but it seems these fellows were in earnest!

1731. Coffey, Devil to Pay, Act i., Sc. 3. You juggler, you
cheating, bamboozling villain!

1754. Foote, Knights, Act ii. You are tricked, imposed on,
bamboozled!

1779. R. Cumberland, Wheel of Fortune, Act ii., Sc. 1. You know I
love you, Emily, ... and therefore you baffle and bamboozle and
make a bumpkin of me.

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

1827. Lytton, Pelham, ch. xxxvi. ‘One does not like to be
bamboozled out of one’s right of election, by a smooth-tongued
fellow, who sends one to the devil the moment the election is
over.’

1886. Sat. Review, No. 1587, p. 423. The public is a great
bamboozable body.

(Nautical).—To decoy the enemy by hoisting false colours—merely an extension of the popular sense.

English Synonyms. ‘To throw dust in the eyes’; ‘to use the pepper-box’; ‘to gild the pill’; ‘to throw a tub to a whale’; ‘to make believe the moon is made of cream cheese’; ‘to jockey’; ‘to stick’; ‘to bilk’; ‘to do’; ‘to best’; ‘to do brown’; ‘to bounce’; ‘to take in’; ‘to kid’; ‘to gammon.’

French Synonyms. Une monteuse de coups (a woman who bamboozles her lovers); monter des couleurs (popular: ‘to deceive by false representations’; couleur signifies ‘pretence,’ ‘semblance’); faire la queue à quelqu’un (popular); tirer la carotte (thieves’); faire voir le tour (popular); canarder (popular: literally ‘to shoot at one from a sheltered position’; i.e., to have an advantage, and thus to be able to hoax or humbug); dindonner (popular: from dindon, a ‘goose’); faire le coup, or monter le coup à quelqu’un (popular: coup in French slang is ‘a secret process,’ ‘a knack’ or ‘dodge’—hence ‘to deal one an underhand blow,’ or ‘to serve one a trick’); empaler (popular: ‘to deceive by false representations’; literally ‘to empale’); passer des curettes (popular: ‘to make a fool of one’); monter une gaffe (popular: gaffe in French slang = ‘a joke’; a piece of deceit); monter le job or jobarder (popular: job is equivalent to ‘simpleton’ or ‘flat,’ and is the same as jobelin); mener en bateau un pante pour le refaire (thieves’: ‘to deceive a man in order to rob him’); monter un batteau (popular); donner un pont à faucher (thieves’: ‘to lay a trap or snare’); promener quelqu’un (popular: ‘to make a fool of one.’ Cf., ‘to rush’); compter des mistouffles (familiar: mistouffle = ‘a scurvy trick’; ‘a joke’); gourrer (popular: ‘to stick’; ‘to kid’; ‘to deceive’); affluer (from à flouer, ‘to cheat’; ‘to diddle out of’); roustir (popular and thieves’: ‘to cheat’); affûter (thieves’: ‘to make unlawful profits’); bouler (popular); juiffer (popular: literally ‘to Jew’ as in English); pigeonner (familiar: ‘to do,’ ‘to pluck.’ In English slang the victims of card and other sharpers are called ‘pigeons’); flancher (popular: ‘to laugh at’ or ‘ridicule’); faire la barbe (popular: Cf., faire la queue); hisser un gandin (thieves’: literally ‘to hoist a dandy’ or ‘swell’); mettre dedans (popular: to take a rise out of one; literally to ‘take in’); être l’autre (popular: Cf., ‘to get left.’ The phrase also signifies ‘to be the lover,’ the mistress); planter un chou (familiar).

German Synonyms.—See Jockey.

Italian Synonyms. Traversare (literally ‘to cross over’); dar la stolfa.

Spanish Synonym. Encantar (literally ‘to enchant,’ ‘to entertain with soft words’).

Bambosh, subs. (nonce word).—Apparently a variation of bamboozling, as follows. [Bam + bosh.] Humbug; deceit; hoaxing.

1865. Day of Rest, Oct., 585. I was deaf to all that bambosh. [M.]

Bambsquabbled.—This coined word, which is, however, rarely used except in humorous writings, first saw the light in The Legend of the American War. It signifies discomfiture and defeat, or stupefaction; sometimes written bumsquabbled.

1835–40. T. C. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 2 S., ch.
ii. The judge said, ‘He had got too much already, cut him off the
other two-thirds, and make him pay all costs.’ If he didn’t look
bumsquabbled it’s a pity.

Banaghan. He beats Banaghan, phr. (old).—An Irish saying of one who tells wonderful stories; Banaghan, thought Grose, was a minstrel famous for dealing in the marvellous—a kind of prototype of Baron Munchausen. Of this, deponent knowing nothing, says the same.

Banagher, verb. (old).—To bang.

Bananaland, Bananalander, subs. (Australian).—Queensland, and a native of Queensland respectively. Apparently from a large portion of that section of the fifth continent lying within the tropics, thus allowing of the cultivation of the banana tree (Musa sapientum).

1886. Chamb. Journal, Feb. 20, p. 124. Booted and spurred
‘Cornstalks’ and Banana-men (natives of New South Wales and
Queensland respectively).

1887. Melbourne (Victoria) Sportsman, 23 March, p. 7, col. 2. Paddy
Slavin came from Queensland with the reputation of having beaten
all the Bananalanders.

1887. Sydney (N.S.W.) Bulletin, 26 Feb., p. 6. His friends rallied
up to congratulate him, and see him through, after the custom of
the simple Bananalander.

It may be interesting to note that a native of New South Wales is nicknamed a ‘cornstalk’ because built somewhat tall and thin. Those whose stature is shorter, with circumference of wider dimensions in proportion to their height are said to be ‘nuggety.’ The gum trees of Tasmania give the elegant nickname ‘gumsucker’ to its inhabitants. In this practice antipodean colonists follow suit with their cousins across the Atlantic.—See Nicknames.

Banco, subs. (Charterhouse School).—Evening preparation down at ‘house’ each day, superintended by a monitor. It answers to the Winchester toy-time.

Banco-Steerer.—See Bunco-steerer.

Bandanna, subs. (common).—Formerly a silk handkerchief with white, yellow, or other coloured spots on a dark ground. Now applied to handkerchiefs of all kinds. The name is thought to come from the Spanish bandano, a neckerchief.

1752. J. Long, Bengal (1870), 31. Plain taffaties, ordinary
bandannoes, and chappas.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. iv. The Colonel was striding about
the room in his loose garments, puffing his cigar fiercely anon,
and then waving his yellow bandanna.

Banded, ppl. adj. (old).—Hungry. To mitigate the pangs of hunger, starving men tighten the belt round the ‘middle.’ Bamfylde Moore Carew, the king of the beggars, mentions the practice. Cf., Caffre’s tightener and bands.

Bandero, subs. (American).—Widows’ weeds; a corruption of the now obsolete ‘bandore,’ a widow’s head-dress. Bandore was itself a corruption of the French bandeau, given by Littré as anciennement, coiffure des veuves. The term was current about the beginning of the last century, but in 1785 we find it quoted as slang. It appears, however, to have survived in America whilst dropping entirely out of use in the Mother Country. In the English drapery trade mourning goods are sometimes called afflictions (q.v.).

Ban-Dog, subs. (old).—A bailiff, or his assistant. Originally, says Murray, a dog tied or chained up either to guard a house, or on account of its ferocity; hence generally a mastiff or bloodhound. The transition from this point to the slang sense is clear.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 12. ‘But where
are the lurchers?’ ‘Who?’ asked Wood. ‘The traps!’ responded a
bystander. ‘The shoulder-clappers!’ added a lady, who, in her
anxiety to join the party, had unintentionally substituted her
husband’s nether habiliments for her own petticoats. ‘The
ban-dogs!’ thundered a tall man whose stature and former avocations
had procured him the nickname of ‘The long drover of the Borough
market.’ ‘Where are they?’ ‘Ay. where are they?’ chorused the mob,
flourishing their various weapons, and flashing their torches in
the air; ‘we’ll sarve ’em out.’

Bands, subs. To wear the bands (old cant).—To be hungry.—See Banded.

B. and S. (popular).—An everyday colloquialism, in the abbreviated form, for brandy and soda.

1868. Whyte Melville, White Rose, ch. xiii. Before the b. and
s.—signifying a beaker of brandy and soda-water—could make its
appearance.

1881. W. Black, Beautiful Wretch, ch. v. ‘Come away, and I will get
you some tea, though what would be better for you still, would be
some b. and s.’

1882. Punch, vol. LXXXII., p. 69, col. 1.

I’ll sing you a fine new song, all about a fine young spark,
Who’s a fine young London gentleman, quite up to any lark,
Who takes supper very early, and breakfasts in the dark;
Who’s a real ‘dear old chappie,’ as I needn’t perhaps remark.

* * * * *

He will say that port and sherry his nice palate always cloy;
He’ll nothing drink but ‘b. and s.’ and big magnums of ‘the
boy’;
He’s the darling of the barmaid and the honest waiter’s joy,
As he quaffs his Pommery, ‘Extra Sec,’ his ‘Giesler,’ or
‘Ivroy.’

Bandy, subs. (thieves’).—A sixpence; so called, in the first instance, from these coins being often thin, worn, and bent. Also called a cripple and bender, but, for synonyms, see the latter. The term appears in Grose [1785].

1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 25, n. A bandy or cripple,
a sixpence.

1885. Household Words, June 20, p. 155. The sixpence is a coin more
liable to bend than most others, so it is not surprising to find
that several of its popular names have reference to this weakness.
It is called a bandy, a ‘bender,’ a ‘cripple.’

Bang, subs. (colloquial).—1. A blow; Old Norse, bang, a hammering. Though a dictionary word, bang has not yet succeeded in passing from the limbo of vulgarism in many of its uses. For example, a ‘bang of the door’ sounds legitimate enough, and is an expression to which even the most pronounced stickler for linguistic purity would scarcely object; yet, a ‘bang on the nose’ or ‘jaw’ would, doubtless, be looked upon as low and vulgar. Only to illustrate such variations, can the word find a fitting entry into these pages. Amongst pugilists and the vulgar, bang is, without doubt, closely identified with personal castigation; and, in this connection.

English Synonyms are not rare. To bang one in the jaw; to spoil one’s picture; to give a wipe on the nose; to fetch one a stinger, etc. The blow itself is designated a whopper; wipe; clout; prop; cant; dig; corker; shooting stars (in allusion to the dazed condition of a person so struck, stars being seen dancing before one’s eyes).

French Synonyms. Un gnon (popular); un écopage (familiar); une dandine (popular); un cabochon (common); un estaffion (popular: may be rendered ‘a bang on the nut’); un coup de gilquin (popular); un renfoncement (colloquial: ‘a blow with the fist’; lit. ‘an indentation’); une beugne (common); une beigne (popular); une dariole (familiar: properly a kind of pastry); un coup de tampon (popular: ‘a hard shove’; tampon, ‘a buffer’); une balle de coton (popular); une baffre (popular: ‘a blow in the face with the fist’); un pétard (familiar: either ‘a box on the ear’ or ‘a cant on the gills’); une paraphe (popular: paraphe is properly the flourish added to one’s signature); dégrader le portrait à quelqu’un (popular: ‘to fetch one a bang in the mug.’ Cf., ‘to spoil one’s picture’); détacher un coup de pinceau sur la frimousse (popular: ‘to make pencil marks upon the face’; i.e., ‘to spoil one’s physiognomy,’—the allusion presumably being to the face as the work of the Divine Artist). For other synonyms, see Wipe.

2. A style adopted by women in dressing the hair upon the forehead, generally curled and frizzed, the process being thus described. To make the bang, one must begin by dividing the front hair at half-inch distances from ear to ear, combing the rest back. This is repeated until the whole front hair has been successfully banged. In England these fringes are also called toffs (q.v.).

1880. W. D. Howell, The Undiscovered Country, ch. viii. When one
lifted his hat to wipe his forehead, he showed his hair cut in
front like a young lady’s bang.

1883. Pall Mall Gazette, Dec. 19, p. 4, col. 1. It was no doubt
unfortunate that when the Empress Eugenie cut her hair across her
forehead from sorrow of heart, the women of five continents should
imitate her until the bang became universal.

Verb.—1. To deliver a blow as described under bang (subs. 1); generally, to thump or strike violently; to thrash.

1588. Marprelate’s Epistle, p. 4 (ed. Arber). His grace will cary
to his grave I warrant you the blowes which M. Cartwright gave him
in this cause: and, therefore, no marvell though he was loth to
have any other so banged as he himselfe was to his woe.

1592. John Day, Blind Beggar, Act ii., Sc. 2, p. 37. I am sure my
cloak cannot go without hands; and I’ll have it again, or I’ll bang
it out of the coxcombs of some of them.

b. 1719. H. Carey, Sally in our Alley, st. 3.

My master comes, like any Turk,
And bangs me most severely.

1731. Fielding, The Lottery, Sc. 2. Ah, think, my lord! how I
should grieve to see your lordship bang’d.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. II., p. 47. ‘It
was good stuff and good make at first, and hasn’t been abused, and
that’s the reason why it always bangs a slop, because it was good
to begin with.’

1884. Cornhill Mag., April, p. 442. ‘Davis,’ said Toddy, ‘you
haven’t had a banging this term, and you’re getting cocky.’

2. To dress the hair with a fringe on the forehead, cut squarely across, so that it ends abruptly.

1882. Century Mag., XXV., 192. He was bareheaded, his hair banged
even with his eyebrows in front.

1888. Detroit Free Press.

Bang, Sister, bang with care;
If your poker’s too hot you’ll lose your hair.

3. To surpass; to excel. So also banging, adj., great or thumping.

4. (Stock Exchange.)—To loudly offer stock with the intention of lowering the price.

To be banged up to the eyes, phr. (common).—To be drunk. For synonyms, see Screwed.

Bang-Beggar, subs. (old).—A constable or beadle. It is not quite clear whether this is not merely a dialecticism. In Lowland Scotch it signifies a strong staff.

Banger, subs. (common).—A lie. Generally, that’s a banger! This elegant phrase is sometimes varied by ‘that’s a whopper’ (q.v.); or the now classical ‘thumper’ (q.v.), an invention of the late Lord Iddesleigh.

(Yale College).—A club-like cane or stick; a bludgeon. This word is one of the Yale vocables.—Hall’s College Words and Customs.

Yale Lit. Mag., vol. XX., p. 75.

The Freshman reluctantly turned the key,
Expecting a Sophomore gang to see,
Who, with faces masked and bangers stout,
Had come resolved to smoke him out.

Bang-Off, adv. (familiar).—Without stopping; right away; e.g., ‘I wrote as promised bang-off,’ i.e., without delay. [From bang, a loud, sudden sound + off, movement from a place or thing.]

Bang-Out. To bang-out, verbal phr. (common).—To depart hurriedly and with noise.

Adv. phr.—Completely, entirely, combined with suddenness; e.g., ‘the candle went bang-out.’

Bang-Pitcher, subs. (old).—A drunkard. Possibly only dialectical.

Bangster subs. (provincial).—According to Jamieson:—1. A violent and disorderly person, who regards no law but his own will. 2. A victor. 3. A braggart. 4. A loose woman.

1820. Scott, The Abbot, ch. xix. If the Pope’s champions are to be
bangsters in our very change houses, we shall soon have the
changelings back again, [h.]

1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, ch. xxiii. If you are so certain of
being the bangster—so very certain, I mean, of sweeping stakes,
what harm will Miss Clara come to by your having the use of her
siller.

Bang-Straw, subs. (old).—A nickname for a thresher of corn; a provincialism.

Bang-Tailed, adj. (popular).—Short tailed. Usually applied to horses.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. vi. ‘These bang-tailed
little sinners any good?’ said Drysdale, throwing some
cock-a-bondies across the table. ‘Yes, I never like to be without
them and a governor or two.’

Bang-Up, adj. phr. (common).—First-rate; quite up to the mark; A 1; slap up; in the height of fashion. Also banged-up.

1812. H. and J. Smith, Rejected Addresses, p. 188. Dance a bang-up
theatrical cotillion.

1842. Lever, Jack Hinton, ch. vii. His hat set jauntily on one
side, his spotted neckcloth knotted in bang-up mode.

1844. Quarterly Review, XXIV., 368. We could not resist giving a
specimen of John Thorpe ... altogether the best portrait of a
species which, though almost extinct, cannot yet be quite classed
among the Palæotheria, the bang-up Oxonian.

1846. Thackeray, V. Fair, vol. I., ch. xxxiv. There appeared on the
cliff in a tax cart, drawn by a bang-up pony ... his friends, the
Sutbury Pet and the Rottingdean Fibber.

Subs.—Also used substantively as in the following example; that which is quite right; the ‘thing’; the ‘go.’

1882. Punch, LXXXII., 185, 1. Modern Life in London, or Tom and
Jerry back again. The trio turned into the Arcade, and saw a number
of gay sparks and fair ones promenading. ’Twas a curious sight, a
glimpse of Life in London, one of its primest features, and yet, as
the Corinthian remarked to his Coz, these people seemed like the
‘ghosts of a former generation.’ ‘These then are the dandies, the
fops, the goes and the bang-ups, these the Corinthians of to-day,’
was also Tom’s exclamation to young Bob, who said, ‘I don’t know
about being Corinthians, but some of these fellows are very ‘good
form,’ and as to being bang-up, a good many poor old chappies are
deuced hard-up.’

Verb tr.—To make smart; produce in first-rate style.

1821. Coombe, Dr. Syntax, Tour iii., c. v.

Pat to his neckcloth gave an air
In style, and á la militaire;
His pocket too a kerchief bore
With scented water sprinkled o’er;
Thus banged-up, sweeten’d, and clean shav’d,
The sage the dinner-table braved.

Bangy, subs. (Winchester College).—‘Brown’ sugar. From Bangalore, a once coarse-growing sugar country.

Adj.—Colour of brown sugar; e.g., bangy bags, brown trousers. These were also called bangies. So universally was the term bangy used to designate a brownish hue, that a gate of that colour at Winchester College, formerly leading from Grass Court into Sick House Meads, was called the Bangy Gate. The name is now often used for the gate by Racquet Court, into Kingsgate Street.

Banian-Days or Banyan-Days, subs. (nautical).—Those days in which sailors have no flesh meat. Probably derived from the practice of the Banians, a caste of Hindoos, traders or merchants, who entirely abstained from all animal food.

1690. Ovington, in Yules’ Anglo-Indian Glossary. Of kitcheney
(butter, rice, and dai) the European sailors feed in these parts,
and are forced at such times to a Pagan abstinence from flesh,
which creates in them an utter detestation to those banian-days as
they call them.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xxv. They told me that on Mondays,
Wednesdays, and Fridays, the ship’s company had no allowance of
meat, and that these meagre days were called banyan-days, the
reason of which they did not know; but I have since learned they
take their denomination from a sect of devotees in some parts of
the East Indies, who never taste flesh.

1820. Lamb, Elia (Christ’s Hospital). We had three banyan to four
meat days in the week.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. lxiii. If he might be so bold as to
carry on the Eastern metaphor, he would say, knowing the excellence
of the Colonel’s claret and the splendour of his hospitality, that
he would prefer a cocoanut day at the Colonel’s to a banyan-day
anywhere else.

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack. [From
Strolling Players’ bill.] Wooldridge’s Theatre. Wanted 700 men, to
man that splendid first-class, Frigate, ‘The Theatre,’ commanded by
A. J. Wooldridge, now lying at her moorings, in Cheapside. Mr.
Wooldridge, with all due respects to his brother Tars, hopes they
will lend a hand to man his Vessel. He cannot offer them a barrel
of Ale, but he will make them a promise of his unfeigned thanks and
gratitude for this and past favours, with his hearty good wishes
for the prosperity of the Town and Trade of Brighton; that his
Shipmates, wherever bound, may set sail with fair wind and good
passage; that they may never have short allowance—banyan days; or a
southerly wind in the Bread Basket.

Banjo, subs. (common).—A bed-pan; also called a fiddle or slipper (q.v.)—the latter from an improved shape which allows of its being slipped in without disturbing the patient.

Bank, subs. (common).—A lump sum of money; one’s fortune.

Verb (thieves’).—1. To secure; to obtain (in a pilfering sense).

2. To put in a place of safety.

3. To go shares; to divide fairly with confederates.

4. (prison.)—Millbank prison.

1889. Answers, May 25, p. 412. We approached our destination,
Millbank—the bank in a convict’s parlance.

Bankers, subs. (old).—Clumsy boots and shoes; now called beetle-crushers. For synonyms generally, see Trotter-cases.

Bank Shaving, subs. phr. (American).—Before banks were regulated by Act of Congress, a practice prevailed among the least reputable of such institutions of purchasing notes of hand and similar documents at enormously usurious rates of discount. Many were the facilities for sharp practice of every kind. Such banks were called shaving banks, and the unfortunate wretch who thus ‘raised the wind’ was said to get his paper shaved. The origin of the phrase may be looked for in maritime nomenclature, a shaver from a sailor’s point of view being a man who is cute and unscrupulous—possibly from the unpleasant operation of shaving on board ship when crossing the line.

Bankside Ladies, subs. phr. (old).—Ladies of more complaisance than virtue. Bankside, Southwark, was once the fashionable theatrical quarter of London. There stood once the Globe, the Swan, the Rose, and the Hope theatres. On the boards of the first-named originally appeared most of Shakspeare’s plays. In Old London the neighbourhoods of the principal theatres appear to have been noted for anything but vestal virtue. Covent Garden and Drury Lane, like Bankside, have entered largely into the vicious slang of the past.

1638. Randolph, Muses’ Looking-Glass, O. Pl., 9., 206. Come, I will
send for a whole coach or two of Bankside ladies, and we will be
jovial.

Bank-Sneak, subs. (American).—A variety of the genus thief who confines his attention to bank robberies. Smart, clever, well-dressed, they usually work in gangs, two or three confederates being employed as cover whilst the leader does the work. In large towns considerable finesse is exhibited by these men in effecting their purpose; but in the more thinly populated districts polish and ruse are abandoned in favour of more drastic methods. The bank-sneak of the West pursues his depredations more as a bandit; his city confrère is more adroit, and therefore infinitely more dangerous. For synonyms, see Area-sneak.

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, Feb. 16. Buffalo officers to-day picked
out from a batch of Erie convicts Watt N. Jones, the notorious
bank-sneak and burglar so widely known professionally in every city
of the United States and Canada.

Banner, subs. (American news-boys’).—The money paid for board and lodging at the homes frequented by these flying mercuries. The origin of the term is unknown.

Bant, verb (common.)—To follow the dietary prescribed by Mr. Banting.—See Banting.

Banting, subs. (common).—A course of diet by which fat people seek to reduce their bulk. It consists in strictly discarding as food all articles known to favour the development of adipose tissue. It was introduced about the year 1864 by a Mr. W. Banting—hence the name. The dietary recommended was the use of butcher’s meat principally, and abstinence from beer, farinaceous food, and vegetables. Also figuratively, to reduce in any way.

1864. Times, 12 Aug., 4. The classics seemed to have undergone a
successful course of banting.

1868. Miss Braddon, Only a Clod, p. 114. She was a rigid
disciplinarian of the school formed by Mr. Banting. Ibid., p. 113.
A parlour where all the furniture seemed to have undergone a
prolonged course of banting.

1883. Knowledge, 27 July, p. 49, col. 2. Bantingism excludes beer,
butter, and sugar.

Bantling, subs. (old).—A young, or small child. This word, once slang, is now a received dictionary word. It is stated in Bacchus and Venus [1737], and by Grose, to be a cant term. It was formerly synonymous with bastard. Appended are a few examples of its use when knocking for admittance at the doors of the dictionaries.

1593. Drayton, Eclog., vii., 102. Lovely Venus ... smiling to see
her wanton bantlings game.

1635. Quarles, Emblems, II., viii. (1718), 93. See how the dancing
bells turn round ... to please my bantling.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xlvii. ‘That he may at once
deliver himself from the importunities of the mother and the
suspense of her bantling.’

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. lxxx. ‘Let the bantlings,’
said she, ‘be sent to the hospital ... and a small collection be
made for the present support of the mother.’

1758. Goldsmith, Essays, x. Who follow the camp, and keep up with
the line of march, though loaded with bantlings and other baggage.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxi. ‘Sell me to a gipsy, to
carry pots, pans, and beggars bantlings.’

Banty, adj. (American thieves’).—Saucy; impudent.

Baptised or Christened, ppl. adj. (old).—Mixed with water; spirits and wines are said to be baptised when diluted. The French equivalent is chrétien; also baptisé.

1636. Healey, Theophrastus, 46. He wil give his best friends his
baptized wine.

Bar, verb and prep. (colloquial and racing).—1. Used as a verb bar signifies to exclude; to prohibit; also to object to a person or action. Its lineage is of undoubted respectability, but its usage is now but little removed from the vulgar. As a preposition it is synonymous with ‘except’—mainly used in racing; e.g., ‘Four to one bar one.’

c. 1598. Shakspeare, M. of Venice, ii., 2, 207. Nay, but I bar
to-night: you shall not gauge me by what we do to-night.

1672. Wycherley, Love in a Wood, wks. III. (1712), 382. That were
as hard as to bar a young parson in the pulpit, the fifth of
November,—railing at the Church of Rome.

1697. Vanbrugh, Æsop, Act ii. What I have in my mind, out it comes:
but bar that; I’se an honest lad as well as another.

1752. Foote, Taste, Act ii. I don’t suppose now, but, barring the
nose, Roubiliac could cut as good a head every whit.

1818. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. iii. ‘I should like to try that
daisy-cutter of yours upon a piece of level road (barring canter)
for a quart of claret at the next inn.’

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. lv., p. 483. ‘I’ll bet you ten guineas
to five, he cuts his throat,’ said Wilkins Flasher, Esquire.
‘Done,’ replied Mr. Simmery. ‘Stop! I bar,’ said Wilkins Flasher,
Esquire, thoughtfully. ‘Perhaps he may hang himself.’

2. (American thieves’.)—To stop; to cease. Obviously an attributive meaning of the legitimate word.

3. (American colloquial.)—A spurious verb, the signification of which is derived from the drinking-bar. Thus a tippler is said to bar too much when given to inordinate drinking.

Baragan Tailor, subs. (tailors’).—A rough-working tailor.

Barb, verb (old cant).—To barb gold was heretofore a cant term for clipping or shaving it. The modern term is to sweat (q.v.). [Apparently from to barber, to shave or trim.]

1610. Ben Jonson, Alchemist, I., i. Ay, and perhaps thy neck within
a noose, for laundring gold, and barbing it.

Barber, verb. (University).—When impositions are worked off by deputy they are said to be barberised. Tradition relates that a learned barber was at one time frequently employed as a scapegoat in working off this species of punishment inflicted on peccant students—hence the expression. A story ben trovato esd non e vero!

That’s the barber.—A street catch-phrase, says Grose, about the year 1760. There is nothing new under the sun; not even idiotic and wearisome street cries, which so many good philologists deplore as a sign of the depravity of the times. That’s the barber, like ‘Who’s your hatter?’ and ‘How’s your poor feet?’ meant nothing, save a general and indefinite comment on any action, measure, or thing. ‘All serene!’ (q.v.) is presumably its nearest modern street equivalent.

Barber’s-Cat, subs. (old).—A weak, sickly looking individual. In French such a person is called un faiblard and un astec, the latter an allusion to the Mexican dwarfs. According to Hotten, the term is also ‘used in connexion with an expression too coarse to print.’

Barber’s-Chair, subs. (old).—A prostitute; a drab; a strumpet. So called from a barber’s-chair being common to all comers. It will be remembered that Shakspeare in All’s Well [ii., 2.] likens an all-embracing answer to a question to ‘a barber’s-chair that fits all buttocks; the pin-buttock, the quatch-buttock, the brawn-buttock, or any buttock.’

1621. Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, III. iv., i, iii. (1651), 665.
A notorious strumpet as common as a barber’s-chair. [M.]

1708. Motteux, Rabelais’ Pantagr., Prognost. v. Bonarobaes.
Barber’s-chairs, hedge whores.

Barber’s-Clerk, subs. (common).—A term of reproach generally applied by mechanics and artisans to overdressed and vaunting clerks and shopmen. In a secondary sense it is used of anyone over-particular in his personal appearance. The phrases ‘oh, he’s just come from the barber’s,’ and ‘one of Truefitt’s young men’ are common enough.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 155. ‘Tailor!’ screamed a third.
‘Barber’s-clerk!’ shouted a fourth. ‘Throw him o-ver!’ roared a
fifth, [d.]

Barber’s Music, subs. (old).—Harsh and roughly discordant music. Barber’s shops were formerly places of great resort, and the old plays are full of references to the means by which customers, while waiting their turn, wiled away the time. Amongst other things it was usual to provide a cittern, a musical instrument similar to a guitar, upon which any who chose could try their skill. Many of the old proverbs refer to this circumstance. Ben Jonson in The Silent Woman [iii., 5] makes Morose say of his wife whom his barber had recommended, ‘I have married his cittern that is common to all men’; and Matheo, in The Honest Whore, speaks of a barber’s citterne for every serving man to play upon. Therefore, it is little wonder that barber’s music should be synonymous with discord.

1660. Pepys, June 5. My lord called for the lieutenant’s cittern,
and with two candlesticks with money in them for symbols (cymbals)
we made barber’s music.

Barefooted on the Top of Ones Head, phr. (American).—Bald-headed. The application of the simile is obvious.

Bargain. Selling a bargain, phr. (old).—A species of low wit, much in vogue about the latter end of the reign of Queen Anne, but which is of much more ancient usage. It is frequently alluded to by Swift, who remarks that ‘the maids of honor often amused themselves with it.’ If so, it seems incredible; and one would say so much the worse for the ‘maids of honor.’ It is thus described: A person would come into a room full of company, apparently in a fright, crying out, ‘It is white, and follows me!’ On any of the company asking what? the bargain was sold by the first speaker naming a certain portion of the body. In another, and happily more decent form, this somewhat senseless ‘sell’ still has a vogue. This slang expression and practice was apparently well known to Shakspeare, who makes Costard use it in Love’s Labour Lost [Act iii., Sc. 1], ‘The boy hath sold him a bargain.’

Barge, subs. (printers’).—1. A ‘case’ in which there is an undue proportion of some letters, and a corresponding shortness of those which are most valuable.

2. The term is also applied among printers to a card or small box on or in which ‘spaces’ are put while correcting formes away from ‘case.’

Verb.—To abuse; to slang. Cf., Bullyrag. The allusion is, of course, to the rough mode of speaking peculiar to bargees or bargemen.

1861. Albert Smith, Medical Student, p. 102. ‘Whereupon they all
began to barge the master at once; one saying “his coffee was all
snuff and chick-weed.”’

(Uppingham School.)—To knock against a person; to come into collision with.

Barge-Arse, subs. (common).—A man or woman of rotund development at the back. [From barge, a clumsy vessel, + arse, O.E., posterior or buttock.] A low term of ridicule. Also used as an adjective, barge-arsed.

Barge-pole, subs. (Winchester College).—A large stick or thick bough, of which there was one in each fagot. Also generally used for any large piece of wood.

Bark, subs. (common).—1. An Irishman or Irishwoman. Cf., Barkshire.

1869. Notes and Queries, 4 S., iii., 406. In Lancashire an Irishman
is vulgarly called a bark.

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 191. Mike
when asked by some of his countrymen why he called Fairbanks a
‘bark,’ i.e., an Irishman, said, ‘If I had not put the ‘bark’ on
him he would have put it on me, so I had the first pull.’

2. The skin. This occurs also dialectically. In Alan Ramsay’s poems [1758] it is so used.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xx., p. 209. To the great
detriment of what is called by fancy gentlemen the bark upon his
shins, which were most unmercifully bumped against the hard leather
and the iron buckles.

1876. Family Herald, 2 Dec., p. 80, col. 1. With the bark all off
his shins from a blow with a hockey stick.

3. (colloquial.)—A cough. Cf., verb, To bark, sense 2.

Verb.—1. To scrape; or rub off the skin; to abraise.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, p. 227. So, after getting up
[the tree] three or four feet, down they came slithering to the
ground, barking their arms and faces.

1859. Macmillan’s Magazine, Nov., p. 18. The knuckles of his right
hand were barked.

1872. Mark Twain, Roughing It, p. 16 (Routledge’s ed.). Every time
we avalanched from one end of the stage to the other, the
‘Unabridged Dictionary’ would come too; and, every time it came, it
damaged somebody. One trip it barked the Secretary’s elbow; the
next trip it hurt me in the stomach, and the third, it tilted
Bemis’s nose up till he could look down his nostrils—he said.

2. To cough; generally applied when it is persistent and hacking.

The word with the bark on it, phr. (American).—Without mincing the matter; without circumlocution.

1872. Mark Twain, Roughing It, chap. xv. If ever another man gives
a whistle to a child of mine, and I get my hands on him, I will
hang him nigher than Haman! That is the word with the bark on it.

To take the bark off, phr. (popular).—To reduce in value, either deliberately, or by accident; a figurative usage of ‘to graze,’ ‘to take the skin off.’