Chapter VIII: Part 8

1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, p. 310. I rode my gallant grey so
close to the wheel, that I grazed his near foreleg against it and
took the bark off, as his owner told me, to the tune of three pun’
sivin.

1853. Rev. Ed. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Further Adventures of
Verdant Green, p. 31. That’ll take the bark from your nozzle, and
distil the Dutch pink for you, won’t it?

To bark at the moon (colloquial).—To clamour uselessly; to agitate to no effect; to labour in vain.

1630. Taylor’s Workes. And thus my booke and comparisons end
together; for thus much I know, that I have but all this while
bark’d at the moone, throwne feathers against the winde, built upon
the sands, wash’d a blackmore, and laboured in vaine.

Barker, subs. (popular).—1. A pistol. [From barker, a noisy assailant, i.e., one who barks like a dog.] Sometimes called barking iron (q.v.). The latter, as far as is known, is the oldest term. An early use of barkers bears date of 1815, whilst barking iron occurs in Parker’s Life’s Painter, 1789.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxxiii. ‘Had he no arms?’ asked the
Justice. ‘Ay, ay, they are never without barkers and slashers.’

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. xxii. ‘Barkers for me, Barney,’
said Toby Crackit. ‘Here they are,’ replied Barney, producing a
pair of pistols.

1857. C. Kingsley, Two Years Ago, ch. xxiv. I’ll give you five for
those pistols ... being rather a knowing one about the pretty
little barkers.

English Synonyms. ‘Meat in the pot.’ (A Texan term, alluding to the means by which meat is literally provided for the pot. Texan figures of speech are often startling enough in originality and sententiousness. Nor is the moral ingenuity revealed by this vernacular less striking; e.g., when revolvers are said ‘to make all men equal.’) Other synonyms for revolvers of similar character are ‘my unconverted friend’; ‘a one-eyed scribe’ (an argument always persuasive and sometimes unanswerable); ‘blue lightning’ (sometimes a tragedy in three acts: Act i., a word; Act ii., a flash of blue lightning; and Act iii., certain death); ‘whistler’ (from the sharp hissing sound of a bullet in its flight); ‘peace-maker’ (a sarcastic commentary on the proverb that ‘short reckonings make long friends’); dag; pop; etc.

French Synonyms. Un aboyeur (popular: a literal translation of ‘barker’; also ‘a tout’); un pitroux (thieves’: in the old Provencal, pitrou bore the sense of a piece of wood or stick, and it is possible that French thieves have here merely transferred the name from one weapon to another); un pétouze (a play upon words. In the old cant pétouze signified the ancient coin known as a pistole); un bayafe (thieves’: formerly baillaf, a term employed by the robbers who infested the highways of Southern France. It is thought to be derived from two words bailler, to give, and affe or rather affre, signifying fear); un mandolet (thieves’); pied de cochon (military: literally ‘a pig’s foot’; a variety of weapon of large size and calibre); un crucifix or un crucifix à ressort (thieves’: literally ‘a crucifix,’ or ‘a crucifix with a spring’); un soufflant (thieves’: soufflet = to whisper); les burettes (thieves’ and popular: literally ‘phials’).

2. (common.)—A man employed to stand in front of shops and shows to attract the attention of passers-by, and if possible to entice them inside, where he can safely leave them to the tender mercies of the salesmen. The origin of the term is obvious; and, it is interesting to note that barker has its exact equivalent in the French aboyeur. Amongst touting photographers, in low neighbourhoods, this individual is called a doorsman, and the term is likewise applied to auction-room touts.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Barker (s.), a salesman’s
servant that walks before his door, to invite customers in to buy
cloaths.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Barker. The shopman
of a dealer in second-hand clothes, particularly about Monmouth
St., who walks before his shop and deafens every passenger with his
cries of clothes, coats, or gowns, ‘what d’ye want gemmen, what
d’ye buy?’

1828. Jon. Bee, Picture of London, p. 109. Mock-auctions and
‘selling-off’ shops are not the only pests where barkers are kept
at the doors to invite unwary passengers to ‘walk in, walk in, sale
just begun.’

1888. Texas Siftings, Oct. 13. I am a barker by profession. The
pedestrian agility required to pace up and down before the
‘Half-dime Museum of Anatomy and Natural History,’ soliciting
passers-by to enter, is of itself enormous; but where it gets in
its base hit is when it increases the appetite. McGinty knows this.
McGinty is my friend, but I wouldn’t serve a tenth of his unexpired
terms for ten dollars. I have peddled clams with McGinty and have
seen him eat three bushels of our stock. That is nothing. When the
show isn’t paying, I have to go out and eat grass. This shows you
what nickel-plated, back-action appetites we have.

3. A man with a troublesome cough; his complaint is otherwise known as a ‘churchyard cough,’ or a ‘notice to quit’ (q.v.).

4. (nautical.)—Besides being used as a designation for a pistol, barker is also employed for lower deck guns on board ship.

1842. Cooper, Jack O’ Lanthorne, I., 151. Four more carronades with
two barkers for’ard.

5. See quotation, as follows:—

1879. Greenwood, Outcasts of London. But what was barking? I
thought a great deal about the matter, and could arrive at no more
feasible conclusion than that a barker was a boy that attended a
drover, and helped him to drive his sheep by means of imitating the
bark of a dog.

6. (University.)—A noisy assertive individual; and, in a complimentary sense, a great swell.

7. (American.)—A noisy coward; a blatant bully.

Barkey (nautical).—A term of endearment in use amongst seafaring men when speaking of a vessel to which they have got attached. ‘She’s a barkey—she is, my lads!’

Barking-Irons, subs. (thieves’).—Pistols. Cf., Barker, sense 1. Barking-iron is, historically, an older term than barker by about a quarter of a century. Formerly applied, in the navy, to large duelling pistols.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 173. Pistols, barking-irons.

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. II., ch. vi. ‘And look you, prick
the touch-hole, or your barking-iron will never bite for you.’

Barking through the Fence, phr. (American).—A taking advantage of some obstacle or shield for saying or doing something, which, but for such protection, would not be said or done; or which if done or said might entail unpleasant consequences upon the sayer or doer.

Barkshire, subs. (common).—Ireland.—See Bark.

Bark up the Wrong Tree, verbal phr. (American).—Of trapper and pioneer derivation, and idiomatically used to signify that a person is at fault as to his purpose, or the means by which he is endeavouring to attain his object. The expression arose in this way: the Western huntsman found that his prey gradually became more and more wily and cunning in eluding pursuit, and frequently he and his dogs were at fault, supposing they had ‘treed’ their game when in reality, especially in the case of opossums and squirrels and such-like animals, it had escaped by jumping from the boughs of one tree to another. The dogs consequently were left barking up the wrong tree.

1835. Richmond Enquirer, Sep. 8. ‘You didn’t really go to old
Bullion,’ said a politician to an office-seeker, ‘Why, he has no
influence there, I can tell you. You barked up the wrong tree
there, my friend, and you deserve to fail.’

1888. Detroit Free Press, Oct. Professor Rose who ‘hit’ this town
last spring is around calling us a fugitive from justice, and
asking why the police don’t do something. Gently, Professor. When
we left Xenia, O., the Sheriff patted us on the back and lent us
half-a-dollar. We are the only man in this town who doesn’t turn
pale when the stage comes in, and the only one who doesn’t break
for the sage brush when it is announced that the United States
Marshal is here. We ain’t rich or pretty, but we are good, and the
Professor is barking up the wrong tree.

Barnaby. To dance barnaby, phr. (popular).—To move expeditiously; irregularly.

Barnacle, subs. (old cant).—1. A pickpocket. For synonyms, see Area sneak.

b. 1809, d. 1870. Mark Lemon, Leyton Hall. The man that stood
beside thee is old Crookfinger, the most notorious setter, barnacle
and foist in the city.

2. (old.)—A good job, or snack easily got.—Lexicon Balatronicum (1811).

3. (old.)—A gratuity given to grooms by the buyers and sellers of horses.—Lexicon Balatronicum (1811).

4. (old.)—A constant attendant; he who, or that which sticks to one like a barnacle to a ship’s bottom.

1607. Dekker, Northward Hoe! III., wks., 1873, III., 39. Ile
cashiere all my yong barnicles. [M.]

1868. Miss Braddon, Trail of the Serpent, I., i., 7. Slopper found
him a species of barnacle rather difficult to shake off.

5. (old cant.)—A decoy swindler; from the pertinacity with which such a one fastens on to a victim, and will not be shaken off until the purpose in view is effected. Cf., senses 1 and 4.

1591. Greene, Notable Discovery of Coosnage (1859), 23. Thus doth
the Verser and the Setter feign a kind friendship to the Cony....
As thus they sit tippling, coms the barnackle and thrusts open the
doore ... steps back again: and very mannerly saith I cry you
mercy, Gentlemen. I thoght a frend of mine had bin heere.

1608. Dekker, Belman of London, wks. (1885) III., 131. He that ...
before counterfeited the dronken Bernard is now sober and called
the barnacle.

6. (old.)—An individual speaking with a nasal twang; one who speaks through his nose.

1591. Percivall, Sp. Dictionary. Gango, a barnacle, one that
speaketh through the nose, Chenolopex. [Chenalopex in Pliny, a
species of goose.] [M.]

Barnacles, subs. (popular).—1. Spectacles. Formerly applied only to spectacles with side pieces of coloured glass, and used more as protectors from wind, dust, and glaring light than as aids to the sight. Hence used popularly for all kinds of glasses. The derivation seems uncertain. The principal suggested origins are:—(1) a corruption of binoculis [from Latin bini, double, + oculus, an eye]; (2) an attributive usage of barnacles, which, with ‘horse-twitchers’ or ‘brakes,’ are tools put on the nostrils of horses when they will not stand still to be shooed; and in support of this it has been pointed out [N. and Q., 1 S., v., 13] the figure of the barnacle borne in heraldry sufficiently shows why the term has been transferred to spectacles, which were formerly only kept in position by the manner in which they clipped the nose; (3) that barnacles are so called from the similarity in shape to the black streak which proceeds from the upper part of the beak in a line to the corner of, and right round the eye of the bernicle, or barnacle goose (Anser bernicla). There is a strong resemblance in the mark to a pair of spectacles.

1571. Damon and Pythias (Dodsley’s Old Plays), Hazlett IV., 81.
These spectacles put on. Grim. They be gay barnacles, yet I see
never the better.

1653. Sir Thomas Urquhart, Translation of Rabelais, bk. V., ch.
xxvii. They had barnacles on the handles of their faces, or
spectacles at most.

The difference between spectacles and barnacles seems to be indicated in this passage. In the original French the phrase reads ‘bezicles au nez.’ A later quotation illustrative of the usage is:

1822. Scott, The Fortunes of Nigel, ch. i. ‘Give me the barnacles,
my good youth, and who can say what nose they may bestride in two
years hence?’

English Synonyms. ‘Bossers’; ‘gig-lamps’; ‘goggles.’ A man wearing these aids to sight is sometimes called ‘four eyes’ (q.v.).

French Synonyms. Les persiennes (popular: properly ‘venetian shutters’); une vitrine (popular: literally ‘a shop window,’ or glass case in a museum).

2. (old cant.)—See quotation.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Barnacles (s.) ... in the
Canting Language, a pair of spectacles; also the irons or fetters
worn by felons are so called; also the gratuity or reward that
jockies have for buying horses for gentlemen.

Barndoor, subs. (sporting).—1. A facetious term for a target too large to be missed; i.e., as large as a barndoor. Hence barndoor practice as applied to organised battues, in which game is driven within a range from which it is impossible to escape. This can hardly be called sport; rather let it be known as ‘slaughter.’

2. (cricket.)—A player who blocks every ball.

Barnet! intj. (Christ’s Hospital).—Nonsense! humbug! Now obsolete.

Barnet Fair, subs. (thieves’).—The hair; part of the rhyming slang (q.v.). For synonyms see Top dressing.

Barney, subs. (popular).—1. A word which varies in sense according to the predelictions of the person using it. Generally speaking it means a jollification; ‘lark’; pleasurable outing; picnic. The ’Arries and roughs of London, however, always associate it with a certain amount of rowdyism. Its derivation is unknown, although Barrère gives a long dissertation concerning its origin in the Yiddish. As, however, this is founded mainly upon a misreading of a quotation from Punch, it is somewhat beside the mark.

2. Humbug; cheating; a hoax; something pre-arranged—not genuine. In sporting circles it signifies an unfair race of any kind.

1865. B. Brierley, Irkdale, II., 19. I won thee i’ fair powell one
toss an’ no barney.

1882. Evening News, 2 Sept., p. 1, col. 6. Blackguardly barneys
called boxing competitions. [M.]

Murray gives this last in illustration of the secondary sense which he applies to the word, viz., a prize-fight. Barney, it is true, does signify a prize-fight, but it means more than that. A fair contest would not be so named; there must be an element of chicanery in the matter. Besides which, barney is applied to unfair sporting competitions of any kind. A comparison of the different quotations given under this heading will clearly prove that point.

1884. Referee, April 13, p. 7, col. 4. Who would believe that Mr.
Gladstone shammed being ill, and that Sir Andrew Clark issued false
bulletins, and that the whole thing was a barney from beginning to
end.

1885. Bell’s Life, Jan. 3, p. 3, col. 4. Few genuine matches have
taken place this season on the Transatlantic waters, though
exhibitions and barney contests have been plentiful.

3. (American.)—At Harvard College, about the year 1810, this word was used to designate a bad recitation. To barney was to recite badly.—Hall’s College Words and Customs.

Barn-Mouse. To be bitten by a barn-mouse, phr. (old).—To be tipsy; ‘screwed.’ The Lexicon Balatronicum says ‘it is probably an allusion to barley,’ presumably as the source of malt liquor. Cf., ‘To have on’ Or ‘wear a barley-cap,’ to be tipsy; also barley-cap = a tippler.

Barn-stormer, subs. (theatrical).—A deprecatory epithet applied to strolling players.

1884. Pall Mall Gazette, 6 June, p. 5, col. 1. If this be
barn-storming, Betterton and Garrick were barn-stormers.

1886. Graphic, 10 April, p. 399. Travelling players who acted short
and highly tragic pieces to audiences of clodpoles in any barn or
shed they could get, used to be known as barn-stormers, and a
ranting, noisy style of acting and speaking is still called
‘barn-storming.’

1887. Referee, 21 August, p. 3, col. 1. Mr. Edward Terry has again
been elected at the head of the poll as trustee of the charities of
Barnes. He is not the first clever actor who has been known as a
Barnes-stormer.

The French term for one of such a troupe is cabotin.

Barnumese, subs. (American).—Barnum, the proprietor of ‘the greatest show upon earth,’ has at any rate one claim to immortal fame in having, like Boycot, Burke, and Balfour, added a new word to the English tongue. The ‘high falutin,’ bombastic style of the great man’s announcements are notorious; as much so, in fact, as is the diction of the great London newspaper which claims ‘the largest circulation in the world.’ From such circumstances we get words like barnumese and telegraphese, to signify exaggeration of style—what in slang parlance is known as the ‘putting on of side.’

Verb.—To Barnumize is to talk or assert oneself in the style popularly attributed to Barnum.

Baronet, subs. (old).—A humorous variation for sirloin [of beef].

1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. IV., ch. x. The sight of the roast
beef struck him dumb, permitting him only to say grace, and to
declare he must pay his respects to the baronet, for so he called
the sirloin.

Barrack-Hack, subs. (familiar).—1. In an inoffensive sense applied to young women who attend garrison balls year after year. So used there is no such imputation of lax morals as occurs in sense 2.

2. A soldier’s prostitute. There are but few classes of persons to whom a greater number of slang epithets have been applied than to the poor wretched creatures, who from choice, bad-treatment, or as a means of subsistence abandon themselves to a life of prostitution. These names are to be found in plenty for all grades of semi-public or public women. They run the gauntlet from the gilded courtezan to the veriest drab in the last stages of destitution and disease. The list of synonyms is both long and grim; the names in many cases speaking volumes on a subject which it would be painful as well as needless to pursue farther in this place, inasmuch as the epithets both in French and English, and, it must be added, those of other languages as well, speak with a brutal cynicism to which it would be out of place to add a comment.

English Synonyms. Ladies of accommodating morals; ladies of more complaisance than virtue; anonyma; pretty horsebreaker; artichoke; columbine; common Jack; convenient; cow; crack; aunt; ladies of easy virtue; bangster; blowen; garrison-hack; bat; bawdy-basket; bed-fagot; fireship; bit o’ muslin; laced mutton; mot; bobtail; bona roba; brevet wife; grass widow; brimstone; black Bess; brown Bessy; bulker; bunter; burick; buttock; cab moll; cat; chauvering donna; chauvering moll; barber’s chair; demi-rep; tartlet; trollop; shake; poll; dolly-mop; gay woman; unfortunate; dress-lodger; mauks; quædam (obsolete); woman; bitch; perfect lady; public ledger; necessary; warming-pan; nun.

French Synonyms. Une persilleuse (familiar); une mal peignée (popular: ‘a dirty ill-dressed woman; drab; or draggletail’); une moellonneuse (a prostitute who frequents builders’ yards); hirondelle de goguenot (military: ‘a barrack-hack’; in French soldiers’ slang un goguenot is a tin can used for making coffee or soup); un chausson (literally ‘a sock’ or ‘stocking’); almanach de trente six mille adresses (popular: literally ‘a directory.’ Cf., English ‘public-ledger’); une génisse (popular: literally ‘a heifer.’ Cf., English ‘cow’); une raccrocheuse (popular: raccrocher, ‘to hook’); une vache à lait (popular: literally ‘a milch cow’); une fleur de macadam (popular: ‘a roadside flower’; ‘a street walker’); une roulante (popular: in old French slang un roulant = a vehicle. Cf., English ‘cab’); une camelote (popular: a prostitute of the lowest class; a draggletail); une morue (popular: literally ‘a cod-fish’); une marcheuse (popular: properly ‘a walker’; in theatrical parlance, a female super); une piqueuse de trains (popular: one who prowls about railway stations. Piqueuse = needlewoman); un pigeon voyageur (familiar: a girl who travels up and down a railway seeking clients; literally ‘a carrier pigeon’); une pieuvre (familiar: a kept woman; properly ‘an octopus’); un carcan à crinoline (popular: carcan, applied to either sex is an opprobrious epithet; the phrase also signifies ‘a gaunt-woman’); un omnibus (popular: i.e., ‘one who may be ridden by all’); un cul crotté (low: properly ‘a dirty bottom’); une trychine (popular: an allusion to trichina spiralis, the disease-germ in bad pork); une fenêtrière (popular: an allusion to the custom of this class to watch at windows and invite passers-by to visit them); une traîneuse (familiar: a prostitute who plies her trade at railway stations); un trumeau (popular: literally ‘a leg of beef’); une crevette (popular: ‘a prawn’ or ‘shrimp’); une boulonnaise (a girl who ‘walks’ the Bois de Boulogne); un matelas ambulant (popular: properly ‘a walking mattress.’ Cf., English ‘bed-fagot’); une demoiselle du Pont-Neuf (popular: this kind haunt the bridge of the name over the Seine); un demi-castor (popular: a woman of the demi-monde); une laqueuse (familiar: a prostitute frequenting the lake in the Bois de Boulogne); une pailletée (common: properly ‘spangled’); un pelican (familiar: a dressy courtesan); une ningle (a literary term); une maquillée (popular: ‘one with painted face’); une gueuse (popular: gueuse = beggarly, wretched); une fille or femme du trottoir (popular: ‘a girl’ or ‘woman of the pavement’); une vieille garde (familiar: an old worn-out prostitute); une biche (popular: ‘a hind’ or ‘roe’); une déhanchée (popular: ‘a waddler’); une demi-mondaine (general: a woman of the demi-monde; a fashionable prostitute); une portion (military: literally ‘a share’ or ‘portion’; one who is shared by many); une limace (popular: properly ‘a slug’); une terrinière (the lowest sort of prostitute; terrine = earthen pan); une terreuse (a woman who prowls about lonely spots); une terrière (popular); une fille à parties (popular); une rivette; une voirie (popular: ‘a common sewer’); une boule rouge (familiar: a frequenter of the Quartier de la Boule Rouge, Fanbourg Montmartre); une vessie (popular: a very low prostitute; vessie applied to either sex is an offensive epithet); une demoiselle de bitume (familiar); un pont d’Avignon (popular); une pontonnière (popular: a prostitute who plies her trade under the arches of bridges; ponton = pontoon, ‘a bridge of boats’; pontonnier = ‘a toll gatherer’); une polisseuse de tuyaux de pipe (literally ‘a polisher of pipe stems’); une pompe funèbre (familiar: properly ‘funeral pomp’); une polisseuse de mâts de cocagne en chambre (popular: an extremely degraded variety of prostitute; literally ‘a polisher of greasy poles in a room’); une punaise (general: ‘a bug’—a public woman of the lowest grade); une dessalée (popular: literally ‘a knowing woman’); une mangeuse de viande crue (popular: ‘a devourer of raw meat’); une cité d’amour (literally ‘a city of love’); autel de besoin (popular: ‘an altar of necessity’; Cf., English ‘necessary’); une vésuvienne (familiar: literally ‘a vesuvian,’ either in allusion to the volcano or the well-known brand of matches; in either case the epithet comes very close to the old English slang ‘fireship,’ an old and diseased prostitute); peau, or peau de chien (popular: literally ‘dog’s skin’); un grenier à coups de sabre (a soldiers’ term: grenier, a granary; coups de sabre, thrusts with a broad sword); une rempardeuse (a woman who frequents the ramparts); une femme de terrain (a draggletailed woman; femme, woman, terrain, ground); une saucisse (popular: i.e., ‘a small sausage’); une trainée (familiar); une baleine (popular: ‘a whale’); une lésé-bombe (popular); une fille en brème (a registered prostitute; la brème is the card given to such women by the police); une fille en carte (a registered woman: see preceding); une boutonnière à pantalons (familiar: a kind of semi-prostitute; a sempstress who walks the streets at night; in their own words, they ‘work for their living, but do the naughty for their clothes’); une fille de maison or une fille à numéro (familiar: these names are given to girls in brothels; Cf., English ‘dress-lodgers’); une fille de tournure (familiar: this also is applied to the inmate of a brothel; literally ‘a girl of figure’); une poupée (popular: ‘a doll’); une mouquette (popular); des poules (popular: the inmates of a brothel are so called; literally ‘hens’); une galvaudeuse (popular: galvauder, ‘to scold’); une planche à boudin (familiar: literally ‘a slice of pudding’; in English harlotry ‘to take one’s pudding’ or ‘greens’ is to have sexual connection); une blanchisseuse en chemise (blanchisseuse = laundress; être dans la chemise de quelqu’un is to be constantly with one); un lard (literally ‘bacon’ or body); une gadoue (properly ‘street refuse’ or ‘mud’); un sommier de caserne (military: sommier means ‘hair-mattress,’ and caserne = ‘barracks’; applied to girls who prowl about barracks); une grivoise (this term is now obsolete, but was formerly applied to a garrison town prostitute. It means, literally, ‘a jolly canteen woman’); une paillasse à soldats (a barrack-hack; literally ‘a straw mattress for soldiers’); un passe-lacet (properly ‘a bodkin’—i.e., ‘something to be threaded’); un chameau (the term was originally applied to a gaunt, ungainly woman; it now signifies a prostitute also); un membre de la caravane (a euphemism for un chameau, q.v.); un lolo (popular); une grue (popular: a kept woman; faire le pied de grue, ‘to dance attendance’); une soupeuse (literally ‘one who takes supper’; an allusion to the ‘cabinets particuliers’ of French restaurants); une belle petite (a young and pretty prostitute of the superior class; literally ‘a pretty darling’); une pêche à quinze sous (a literary term); une boulevardière (a superior class of prostitute frequenting the boulevards); un camélia (a kept woman; a reference to the heroine of La Dame aux camélias by A. Dumas fils); une lorette (a variety of prostitute named after the Quartier Notre Dame de Lorette, the Paris Pimlico); une petite dame (literally ‘a little lady’); une impure (a kept woman; properly ‘an unchaste one’); une agenouillée (journalistic); une verticale; une horizontale de grande marque (a fashionable courtezan); une cocotte (a generic term); une pierreuse (a public woman of the lowest grade who plies her hideous trade in houses in course of building, etc.); une chamègue; un bourdon (thieves’: literally ‘a drone’); une lipète (popular); une magneuse (popular: a woman who depraves herself with members of her own sex. The name is said to be in allusion to a religious community who derived their cognomen from that of their founder, Jeanne Canart, the daughter of Nicholas Colbert, who was the Seigneur de Magneux); une vielle lanterne (popular: an old prostitute; lanterne = ‘window’); une feuille (literally ‘a leaf’; the term is one used at the Saumur School of Cavalry); un blanc (literally ‘blank’ or ‘white’; the derivation is somewhat obscure, but the term is a very ancient one for a public woman. Mangeur de blanc is a man who lives upon the earnings of prostitutes and ruins them. Formerly, the expression mettre à blanc was used in the sense of ‘to ruin’); une vache (this term in its popular signification merely means ‘a woman of indifferent character’; if a prostitute is intended, the expression is une vache à lait, a milch cow); un veau (literally ‘a calf’; the phrase is applied to a young prostitute. Cf., ‘vache à lait’); une retapeuse (popular); un wagon (popular: a dirty prostitute. Cf., wagon, ‘a railway carriage’ and un omnibus); une taupe (familiar: literally a mole, an animal that works in the dark; also ‘a cunning fox’); une Jeanneton (popular: a chambermaid at an inn); une andre (an old word; see Fourbesque landra); une roulure (popular: a public woman of the lowest description. Rouler signifies ‘to roll,’ ‘to wander,’ ‘to stroll,’ ‘to keep going’); une fille de barrière (popular: a prostitute plying her trade at the barriers or gates of the city); une dossière (thieves’: literally ‘a back’); une rouleuse (familiar: an abandoned woman; literally the name of a species of caterpillar); une paillasse à troufion (a soldier’s woman); une paillasse de corps de garde (military: literally ‘a guard-room mattress’); une marneuse (popular: a variety of low class prostitute frequenting the river-side; literally ‘clayey’); une Louis (a bully’s mistress; the allusion is to the fancy which women in brothels often have of powdering and dressing the hair in the fashion of the times of Louis XV.); une ouvrière (also a ‘bully’s’ mistress. The term signifies, literally, ‘a workwoman.’ These wretched creatures support their companions who live and batten on what the woman earns in the sale of her person); une fesse (popular: properly ‘a breech’); une marmite (harlotry: ‘a flesh pot’); un torchon (a low class of woman; torchon = ‘a dish clout’); une sauterelle (familiar: ‘a grass-hopper’); un prat; une femme de cavoisi (thieves’: a well dressed prostitute of the boulevards); une louille; une larque (a registered woman; a corruption of largue); une menesse (a thieves’ term); une larguèpe; une magnuce (see une magneuse); une casserole (thieves’: literally ‘a saucepan’); une goipeuse (thieves’: a name given to prostitutes who wander about the country); une ronfle; une ronfle à grippart; un ronfleur (thieves’: ronfler is properly ‘to snore’); un grippeur (gripper = ‘to nab’; crib; clutch); une panterne; une bourre de soie (a kept woman; bourre = floss + soie = silk); un asticot (a bully’s or thief’s mistress; literally ‘a maggot’; it may be stated that asticot is also used for both the membrum virile, and for vermicelli); une panuche (thieves’: a term applied to showily dressed women who live in brothels); une calège (thieves’: a kept woman; cale, a kind of head-dress); une ponante (thieves’: a low-class prostitute); une môme or mômeresse (thieves’); une lutainpem (thieves’); une laissée (thieves’ and roughs’); une galupe (popular: a street walking prostitute); une ponife, poniffe, or poniffle (thieves’).

For German Synonyms, see Tart.

Italian Synonyms. Una sbriso (this term has another cant signification, viz., ‘to be naked’; hence, probably, its attributive usage for a prostitute); una losena (this, like other Fourbesque terms for a woman, also means ‘a woman of the town’; indeed in most argots there seems to be little, if any distinction drawn between women of easy virtue, and the sex as a whole); una guagnastra (i.e., one who acts as a sheath; the allusion is obvious. Cf., English ‘broom’ and ‘broom-handle’ for the female pudenda and the male penis respectively); una marcona (said to be an allusion to a certain incident in the history of the Papal States); una landra (curiously enough this term signifying, in orthodox Italian, a prostitute is, in the Fourbesque, synonymous also with ‘woman.’ The French andre, a woman of the town, dates back to the sixteenth century); una brocca (literally a jug, pitcher, or stupid person); una brocchiera (from Italian brocchiere, ‘a buckler’ or ‘shield’); una baia (i.e., a mistress); una farfoia (also a nun, in which connection compare with English abbess); una chierlera (this term likewise is also used in the sense of a female devotee. Both the English and French slang have ‘nun’ as an equivalent for a prostitute); una carniera or carnifica (cant terms for a ‘sister,’ and ‘fox’ also); una cara (literally ‘dear.’ Cf., French belle petite, ‘little darling.’)

The Spanish Germania has gaya to signify a prostitute. This is an exact equivalent of the French fille de joie or ‘gay girl’; gaya in Spanish signifies ‘gay.’ Another name is found in germana, in explanation of which it may be briefly explained that the Spanish argot or Germania took its name from a band or brotherhood of thieves and robbers; and it would thus appear that germana, the name for a female member of the band was also used generically for a prostitute! Marca, or marquida and marquisa are also all used in the sense of a public woman. It may be noted that in the Italian marchesata stands for a woman when under menstruation, the physiological fact itself being called marchese; mercenario, a street walker, also signifies a nun of the religious order of La Merced.

Barracking, subs. (Australian).—Banter; chaff. Cf., Barrikin.

Barrel-Boarder, subs. (American).—A loafer in low drinking-saloons.

Barrel-Campaign, subs. (American).—Political contests in which bribery and corruption go hand-in-hand with canvassing and voting. A wealthy candidate for office is said to have originated the phrase by remarking, ‘Let the boys know that there’s a bar’l o’ money ready for ’em,’ or words to that effect. The use of the term in this sense became general about 1876.—See Boodle.

1884. Boston (Mass.) Journal, 1 Nov., 1. We are accustomed to
barrel-campaigns here. Nobody supposes this district to be
Democratic, but the Democrats depend upon carrying it with money.

1888. Florida Times Union, Feb. 11, p. 4. It will be remembered
that Mr. Flower was the nominal candidate of the anti-Cleveland men
four years ago, and with the aid of his barrel they really did
achieve some show of success.

Barrel-Fever, subs. (popular).—An indisposition caused by excessive drinking. ‘He died of barrel-fever’; i.e., ‘he killed himself through drink.’ For synonyms, see Gallon distemper.

Barrel-House, subs. (American).—A low groggery.

1888. Missouri Republican, Feb. 11. The West-Side police are still
arresting barrel-house loafers in the hope of catching an expert
cracksman among them.

Barrell’s Blues, subs. phr. (military).—A nickname given to the Fourth Foot. [From its facings and Colonel’s name from 1734 to 1739.] They are also called ‘the Lions,’ from the ancient badge of the regiment.

Barres, subs. (gaming).—Money lost at play, but not paid. The term is an old one, and has long been obsolete. A corrupt form of ‘barrace,’ an obsolete plural of ‘bar.’

Barrikin, subs. (common).—Gibberish; jargon; a jumble of words. For usage, see quotation.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 15. ‘The
high words in a tragedy we call jaw-breakers, and say we can’t
tumble to that barrikin.’ Ibid, p. 25. Can’t tumble to your
barrikin [i.e., can’t understand you]. Ibid, p. 27. The rich has
all that barrikin to themselves.

Barring.—See To bar.

Barring Out, subs. phr. (old).—Exclusion from a place by means of locks and bars. More particularly applied to a half serious but oftentimes jocular rebellion of schoolboys against the schoolmaster.

1728. Swift, Journal of a Modern Lady.

Not schoolboys at a barring-out,
Raised ever such incessant rout.

1847. Tennyson, Princess, conclusion.

Revolts, republics, revolutions, most,
No graver than a schoolboys’ barring-out.

Barrow-Bunter, subs. (old).—A barrow-woman; a female costermonger.

1771. Smollett, Humphry Clinker, i., 140. I saw a dirty
barrow-bunter in the street cleaning her dusty fruit with her own
spittle.

Barrow-Man, subs. (old).—1. A man who hawks his wares on a barrow; a costermonger. The term dates back to the middle of the seventeenth century. Un marottier is the French equivalent for one species of the fraternity, better known in England as a dudsman (q.v.).

2. Also formerly a man under sentence of transportation.

Barrow-Tram, subs. (familiar).—An ungainly person; one awkward in gait, and coarse and rawboned in feature.

Barter, subs. (Winchester College).—A half volley. From the Warden of that name famous for disposing of them.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 133. What a
noble game cricket must be when one loved it so much,
notwithstanding the previous training! What genuine excitement when
College and Commoners was played; what frantic shouting when Rapid
got well hold of a ‘barter’ ... and sent the ball from ‘Spanish
Poplar,’ right over Mead’s wall by ‘Log pond.’

1878. Adams, Wykehamica, p. 327. Barter was the most popular boy of
his day with his schoolfellows. Wonderful things are told of his
scores at cricket at which he is supposed to have been the hardest
hitter of his own times, or of any near him.... He was so renowned
for the tremendous force with which he was wont to swipe the ball,
commonly known to cricketers as a ‘half-volley,’ that it actually
changed its name in the Wykehamical vocabulary, and for fully half
a century afterwards—and, for all I know, to the present day—bore
the name of a Barter.

Verb.—To hit a ball hard at cricket.

Hitting barters.—Practice catching; full pitches hit from the middle of ‘Turf’ towards Ball-Court for catching practice towards the end of ‘Long Meads.’

Bartholomew Baby, subs. (old).—A gaudily dressed doll, such as appears to have been commonly sold at Bartholomew Fair.—See Bartholomew-pig. Also applied to a person gaudily dressed.

1682. Wit and Drollery, p. 343.

Her petticoat of sattin,
Her gown of crimson tabby,
Lac’d up before, and spangl’d ore,
Just like a Bartholomew baby.

Bartholomew-Pig, subs. (old).—Roasted pigs, says Nares, were formerly among the chief attractions of Bartholomew Fair, West Smithfield, London: they were sold piping hot, in booths and on stalls, and ostentatiously displayed, to excite the appetite of passengers. Hence a Bartholomew-pig became a common subject of allusion: the Puritan railed against it.

1614. B. Jons., Bart. Fair, i., 6. For the very calling it a
Bartholomew-pig, and to eat it so, is a spice of idolatry.

Falstaff, in coaxing ridicule of his enormous figure, is playfully called by his favourite,

1598. Shakspeare, 2 Hen. IV., ii., 4. Thou whoreson little tidy
Bartholomew-boar-pig.

Dr. Johnson thought that paste-pigs were there meant: but the true Bartholomew-pigs were substantial, real, hot, roasted pigs; as may be seen throughout the above play of old Ben, where Ursula, the pig-woman, is no inconsiderable personage. Gayton also speaks of the pig-dressers.

Like Bartholomew Fair pig-dressers, who look like the dams, as well
as the cooks of what they roasted.

Fest. N., p. 57.

The young wife in Jonson’s play pretends a violent longing for pig, that she may be taken to the fair; and it seems that her case was far from uncommon. Davenant speaks of the Bartlemew-pig,

That gaping lies on every stall,
Till female with great belly call.

The fair in its later days got to be a place of too much mobbing and riot for ladies in that condition. There might also be paste-pigs, but, if so, they were very inferior objects, and meant only for children. Mrs. Ursula also tells us the price of her pigs; namely, five shillings, five shillings and sixpence, or even six shillings! This was surely as dear in James I.’s time, as a guinea lately. The highest price, of course, was to be asked of a longing woman. The fair was abolished in 1854, having been inaugurated in 1133.—Nares.

Barts., subs. (medical students’).—An abbreviation of ‘St. Bartholomew Hospital.’

Bash, verb (popular).—To beat; thrash; or crush out of shape. Possibly from the Scandinavian bask, a slap; ‘box’ also seems to have the same derivation. Chiefly appearing in the northern dialects, bash is regarded nowadays in the light of a vulgar colloquialism. Thieves use it synonymously with ‘to flog.’—See Bashing. In older writers the word appears as pash, the ‘p’ in this case being simply a harder form than ‘b.’ An alternative onomatopoetic derivation has, however, been suggested, the ‘b’ of such words as ‘beat’ and ‘bang’ being transferred to the terminal letters of ‘dash,’ ‘gash,’ ‘smash,’ etc.

1592. Nashe, Strange Newes, in wks. II., 272. A leane arme put out
of the bed shall grind and pash euerie crum of thy booke into
pin-dust.

1622. Massinger, Virgin Martyr, II., ii. Jove’s artillery shot down
at once, to pash your gods in pieces.

1882. Daily Telegraph, Dec. 9, p. 2, col. 6. A man ... told witness
that he would earn a sovereign if he cared to give a certain
woman—the complainant—a couple of black eyes.... His instructions
were to follow the man he met in the public-house in Bear Street,
and to bash the woman he would point out to him in Portland Street.

1882. F. Anstey, Vice Versâ, ch. xii. ‘If you have got bashed about
pretty well since you came back, it’s been all your own fault, and
you know it.’

1883. Standard, March 2, p. 6, col. 7. Mr. Hannay reminded her that
when the summons was applied for, the boy’s father had said that
the boy was bashed on the floor, and received a black eye and a
bruised head.

Amongst synonyms may be mentioned the English verb ‘bang,’ and the French bêcher, which signifies properly to dig or break up ground.—See Tan.

Basher, subs. (pugilistic).—A prize-fighter. For synonyms, see Bruiser.

1882. Daily Telegraph, Dec. 16, p. 2, col. 6. According to the
statement of the prosecuting solicitor, this was the man who
undertook to point out to Leech, the professed basher, the woman
whom he was to assault in Portland Street.

Bashi-Bazouk, subs. (popular).—A ruffian; and used loosely as a more or less mild term of opprobrium; also applied to anything bizarre in character or composition. The expression came into vogue during the period when the Bulgarian atrocities were electrifying the world by their barbarous cruelty. The Bashi-bazouks are properly irregular Turkish soldiery. They are collected hastily in times of emergency; and are, consequently, somewhat impatient of discipline, assuming that such a commodity in its Western sense is known at all to the Tartar-descended Turk—‘the unspeakable Turk’ as he was fitly called during the period above alluded to. So infamous have these levies become at times, that more than once they have been disbanded in deference to pressure brought to bear upon the Turkish authorities by the Western powers.

Bashing, subs. (prison).—A flogging; a taste of the cat-o’-nine-tails. Prisoners condemned to this punishment at the commencement of their term are said by their companions to receive a bashing in; if they also undergo a flogging just previous to their release, it is called a bashing out.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 157. There were the
evidences of former floggings, or bashings, as the prisoners call
them.

Basils, subs. (old cant).—Fetters on one leg only.

Basin, subs. (American).—A schooner (q.v.).

Basing.—See That’s basing.

Basketed, ppl. adj. (old).—From this cockpit expression used of persons unable or unwilling to pay their losses, and who in consequence were relegated for the rest of the day to a basket hung over the cockpit, is derived the figurative usage in the sense of ‘to be left out in the cold’; not understood; non-plussed; ‘floored.’

b. 1788, d. 1841. Hook, Gerv. Skinner, ch. iii. Skinner was quite
enchanted with the brilliancy of his guests, although now and then
a little puzzled at their allusions; there jokes were chiefly local
or professional, and very frequently my excellent friend Gervase
was, to use a modern phrase of general acceptation, basketed.

1818. P. Egan, Boxiana, vol. I., p. 79. The fight was soon over
after this circumstance, and the sweaters and trainers were
completely in the basket!

1866. E. Yates, Land at Last.... And find you in his den, lighting
it up like—like—like—I’m regularly basketed, by jove!

To be brought or to go to the basket, phr. (familiar).—To be imprisoned; to be reduced to poverty. A basket is here the symbol of daily provision, or alms. Formerly prisoners were dependent on charity for daily sustenance, and it was customary for them to let down a basket by a string through the gaol windows, soliciting the alms of passers-by.—See also Angling for farthings.

1632. Massinger and Field, Fatal Dowry, v., 1. Pontalier [to
Liladam, who is in custody for debt].

Arrested! this is one of those whose base
And abject flattery help’d to dig his grave;
He is not worth your pity, nor my anger;
Go to the basket, and repent.

1700. Gentleman Instructed [1732], p. 6. God be praised! I am not
brought to the basket, though I had rather live on charity than
rapine. [d.]

To be left in the basket, phr. (common).—To be rejected; abandoned; unchosen. Cf., second quotation.

1840. Barham, I. L. (House Warning).

Whatever he wants, he has only to ask it,
And all other suitors are left in the basket.

1874. Bell’s Life, 26 Dec. The pick of the basket, a compact young
greyhound.

Basket-Making, subs. (old).—When enceinte a woman was formerly said ‘to have a kid in the basket.’ [Cf., Bay-window.] Hence basket-making to signify the act of copulation.

Bass, subs. (popular).—A familiar abbreviation for Bass’ ale, brewed at Burton-on-Trent.

1853. Rev. E. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Adventures of Verdant
Green, p. 23. The young gentleman exhibited great capacity for the
beer of Bass, and the porter of Guiness.

1863. Oudia, Held in Bondage, I., p. 65. Those idle lads in the
Temple, who smoke cavendish and drink Bass. Ibid, p. 126.
Discussing Bass and a cold luncheon.

1868. Miss Braddon, Only a Clod, I., p. 138. A lot of fellows
drinking no end of Bass.

18(?). Annie Thomas, A Passion in Tatters, I., p. 110. Bass that
was not worthy of its name.

Baste, verb (colloquial).—To thrash; to beat soundly. This verb is given a place here for the purpose of comparison, as it is somewhat uncertain whether it can with propriety be classed as slang. Of uncertain origin, but dating from the sixteenth century; to baste, properly ‘to sew together loosely,’ or ‘to apply fat or gravy to a joint,’ is, in its figurative usage, of more than passing interest when compared with anoint (q.v.), and other words employed in the same figurative sense. It is curious indeed to note the many synonymous analogues for a good beating or thrashing, all of which pertain more or less to slang. R. W. Hackwood [N. and Q., 7 S., vii., 153] mentions several, amongst others colting (q.v.), used by Marryat in Midshipman Easy. As bearing upon the general idea involved in this class of words, the quotation may be placed side by side with another from the King’s Own by the same writer.

1830. Marryat, King’s Own, ch. vii. ‘He always carried in his
pocket a colt (i.e., a foot and a half of rope, knotted at one end
and whipped at the other), for the benefit of the youngsters, to
whom he was a most inordinate tyrant.’

1836. Marryat, Midshipman Easy, ch. xii. ‘Then he colted me for
half-an-hour, and that’s all.’

Colting like basting is of uncertain derivation. Comparing it, however, with analogous words, may we not take it, continues the writer referred to, as very closely associated with, if not actually belonging to, the series of synonyms for the operations which derive their origin from the shoemakers, curriers, and allied trades, as we find it in ‘a leathering,’ ‘a strapping,’ ‘a tanning,’ ‘a welting,’ etc. Indeed, it is worth noting in this connection, from the number of epithets applied to the operation, what a deal of chastising has apparently been required in most trades and occupations, for nearly all—except, perhaps, the carpenter’s, where sticks are plentiful—appear to be represented, and even in the domestic circle one can have a choice of ‘a towelling,’ ‘a basting,’ ‘a clouting,’ ‘a rubbing down,’ ‘a dressing,’ ‘a trimming,’ or ‘a wiping’ when occasion requires.

1533. Bellenden, Livy, III. (1822), 223. He departit weil basit and
defuleyeit of his clothing.

1599. Greene, George-a-Greene, in wks. (Grosart) XIV., 174. Ile
baste you both so well, you were neuer better basted in your liues.

1605. Tryall of Chevalry, III., i., in Bullen’s Old Plays, iii.,
305. But, had I knowne as much, I would have basted him till his
bones had rattled in his skin.

1611. Beaumont, Knight of Burning Pestle, II., iv.

Look on my shoulders, they are black and blue;
Whilst to and fro fair Luce and I were winding,
He came and basted me with a hedge-binding.

1660. Pepys, Diary, July 22. One man was basted by the keeper, for
carrying some people over on his back, through the water.

1754. Martin, Eng. Dict., 2 ed. To baste or bast ... to beat, or
bang soundly.

1874. Mrs. H. Wood, Johnny Ludlow, 1 S., xix., p. 328. ‘Hold your
row, Davvy,’ he roared out, wrathfully: ‘you’d not like me to come
back and give you a basting.’

Among some English Synonyms may also be mentioned:—to give a hiding; to give a walloping; to dust one’s jacket; to quilt; to tan; to set about; to walk into; to manhandle; to give one Jesse; to give one gas; to dowse; to pay.

For synonyms generally, see Tan.

Baster, subs. (American thieves’).—A New York cant term for a house thief.

Bastile, subs. (vagrants’).—A workhouse. For synonyms, see Big house. Probably from the Bastile, a famous prison; lock-ups for a long time being generically named Bastiles. Now corrupted into steel.

1883. Cuthbert Bede, in Graphic, June 2, p. 558, col. 2. Mister
Corbyn had always called the workhouse by the opprobrious epithet
of the basteel.

(Thieves’.)—A prison.—See Cage. Bastile in this sense is mentioned by Captain Grose [1785].

Bat, subs. (old slang).—1. A prostitute who plies her trade by night; an allusion to the nocturnal habits of the flying mammal—indeed, another old term for a woman of the town was literally a fly-by-night. The equivalent French term, hirondelle de nuit, i.e., ‘a night swallow,’ is more poetic. For full lists of synonyms, see Barrack-hack.

2. (American.)—A spree; frolic; and sometimes a drunken bout. A contracted form of ‘batter.’

1889. Bird o’ Freedom, Aug. 7, p. 1. Mr. Pote: ‘I see in the
evening paper that a woman has been bitten by a bat, and afterwards
died of lockjaw.’ Mrs. P. (tartily): ‘If she had been bitten by the
kind of bat you went on when I was away last Saturday week, she
would probably have died of delirium tremens.’

3. (athletic.)—Pace; speed (in walking, rowing, etc.). Partly also dialectical, especially Scotch, Craven, and Lincolnshire.

1887. Daily News, 18 August, p. 6, col. 3. Here they come, a mixed
flock of birds full bat overhead.

To bat one’s eyes, phr. (American).—1. A South-western term which is explained by quotation.

1846. Overland Monthly, p. 79. The ox whip has both parts as long
as they can be managed. I have seen a poor fellow from Ohio,
totally unused to this enormous affair, swing it round his head in
many an awkward twist, while the Texans stood by and laughed to see
him knock off his hat and bat his eyes at every twitch, to avoid
cutting them out.

Cf., Italian batter d’occhio, twinkling of an eye.

2. (American gaming.)—To look on but not to play. Cf., Bet.

Off or on one’s own bat, phr. (popular).—On one’s own account; by one’s own exertions. A figurative usage of a cricketing term; ‘off one’s own bat,’ is said of a score made by a player individually.

1845. Sydney Smith, Fragm. Irish Ch., wks. II., 340, 1. He had no
revenues but what he got off his own bat. [M.]

1855. Lord Lonsdale, in Croker Papers (1884), vol. III., p. 325.
Derby ... would not make a Ministry from his own friends or his own
bat.

1880. Hawley Smart, Social Sinners, ch. xxiii. ‘You have a weakness
for the great world? Good. Score off your own bat, and it is the
great world comes to you.’

1884. Sat. Review, March 8, p. 308, col. 2. He has in the most
workmanlike manner, and off his own bat, lost for the Government an
important seat by a crushing majority.

To carry out one’s bat, phr. (popular).—This also is derived from a cricketing expression. In the game it means to be not out, i.e., the last man in. Figuratively, therefore, to carry out one’s bat is to persevere and carry through an undertaking; to outlast all other opponents; and thus to secure the result aimed at.

1874. M. Collins, Frances, ch. xxviii. The General defended his
stumps as he would have defended a fortress, and carried his bat
out with a score of a hundred and seven.

Batchelor’s Son, subs. (old).—A bastard.

Bates’ Farm or Garden, subs. (thieves’).—Coldbath Fields prison. [From a warder of that name + a certain appropriateness in the initials, C.B.F., the prison initials, and used as a stamp = Charley Bates’ Farm.] When, formerly, the convicts were put to the treadmill in this prison, they were said to be ‘feeding the chickens on Charley Bates’ Farm.’ Newgate was also called Akerman’s Hotel, from a former governor, and a similar reason has caused the Melbourne gaol to be nicknamed Castilan’s Hotel by Australian thieves.

[Circa 1850, but date uncertain.]

Bates’ Farm.

Good evening pals, how do you do,
I thought I’d give a call,
And introduce myself to you,
For I’m glad to see you all.
I’m up to every little fake,
But in me there’s no harm,
For it was this blooming morning
That I left Old Bates’ Farm.

CHORUS.

Then, here’s success my knowing kids,
I’m filled with ev’ry charm,
I feel so gay this blessed day,
I’ve left Old Bates’ Farm.

Now, every morning when you rise,
You get a starving meal,
And if you don’t eat all they send
You have to work the wheel.
Then so merrily we go,
To chapel to have prayers,
And for a little pastime work
The everlasting stairs.

Chorus.

The last time that I went to see
Old Bates, he shook my hand,
And said, ‘I’m glad to see you,
You’re a chap I understand.’
He said, ‘You’re here for nothing now?’
I said ‘Yes,’ like the rest,
It was only for knocking a bobby down,
And jumping on his chest.

Chorus.

So now I’ve got my liberty,
And once again I’m free,
I mean to ‘crack a crib’ to-night.
But pals don’t ‘crack on me.’
So if I should touch lucre,
For a time I will keep calm,
If I don’t see you here some night,
I shall at Bates’ Farm.

Chorus.

Bath. Go to Bath! phr. (familiar).—This popular saying appears to have two distinct readings, both of which, however, are traceable to the same source.

1. Go to Bath! i.e., an injunction to desist; to be gone; get out of my sight, or hearing, for you are mad or cracked—a forcible expression of incredulity, sometimes intensified by ‘and get your head shaved.’ The saying is applied to those who either relate crack-brained stories, or propose undertakings that raise a doubt as to sanity. The allusion is to the fact that, in former days, persons who showed symptoms of insanity were sent to Bath to drink the medicinal waters; the process of shaving the head being previously resorted to.

1840. Barham, I. L. (Grey Dolphin). ‘Go to Bath!’ said the baron. A
defiance so contemptuous roused the ire of the adverse commanders.

1885. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, Oct. 16, p. 362. You
tell a disagreeable neighbour to go to Bath in the sense in which a
Roman would have said abi in malam rem.