Chapter XII: Part 12

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, grey parson, s.v. A farmer who rents the
tythes of the rector or vicar.

1830 in Cobbett’s Rural Rides, vol. I., p. 123 note (ed. 1886). The
late editor says, that, having been a large holder of lay tithes,
the author applied to Mr. Nicholls, the name of the grey-coated
parson.

Grease, subs. (common).—1. A bribe; palm-oil (or -grease). (q.v. for synonyms). In America Boodle (q.v.). greasing = bribing.

1823. Bee, Dict. of Turf, s.v. A bonus given to promote the cause
of anyone.

2. (printers’).—Well-paid work; fat (q.v.).

3. (common).—Fawning; flattery (a figurative use of sense 1).

Verb (old).—1. To bribe; to corrupt by presents; to tip (q.v.). Also more fully to grease in the fist, hand, or palm. Fr., coquer la boucanade. For synonyms, see Square.

1557. Tusser, Husbandrie, ch. 68, pt. 2, p. 159 (E.D.S.). How
husbandrie easeth, to huswiferie pleaseth, And manie purse greaseth
With silver and gold.

1578. Whetstone, Promoss and Cassandra, ii., 3. Grease them well in
their hands.

1592. Greene, Quip, in wks., xi., 261. That did you not grease the
sealers of Leaden Hall throughly in the fist, they should never be
sealed, but turned away and made forfiet by the statute.

1619. Fletcher, Wild Goose Chase. Am I greased once again?

1649. F. Quarles, Virgin Widow, IV., i., p. 40. Greaze my fist with
a Tester or two, and ye shall find it in your penny-worths.

1678. C. Cotton, Scarronides, Bk. IV., p. 70 (ed. 1725). Him she
conjures, intreats, and prays, With all the Cunning that she has,
greases his Fist; nay more, engages Thenceforth to mend his
Quarters-wages.

1693. Dryden, Persius, iii., 139. And after, envy not the store Of
the greas’d advocate, that grinds the poor.

1698–1700. Ward, London Spy, pt. xv., p. 364. But the Gay Curteyan
who trades for gold, That can but grease a palm when she’s in hold,
No Justice need she dread.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1878. Jas. Payn, By Proxy, ch. x. His Excellency, your master, has
given orders, I presume, that after I have made my compliments—as
delicate a phrase as he could think of for greasing the hands of
justice—I shall be at liberty to visit my friend.

1879. Horsley, in Macmillan’s Magazine, Oct. When I went to the
fence he bested (cheated) me because I was drunk, and only gave me
£8 10s. for the lot. So the next day I went to him and asked him if
he was not going to grease my duke (put money into my hand).

1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 2 Sept., p. 7, c. 2. Did other people having
business with the printing bureau tell you that it would be
necessary to grease Sénécal?

2. (common).—To fawn; to flatter. Formerly, to grease one’s boots.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Onger i stivali, to grease ones
bootes, id est, to flatter or cog with, to faune vpon one.

3. (old).—To gull; to cheat; to do.

To grease a fat sow in the arse, verb. phr. (old).—To bribe a rich man.—Grose.

To grease one’s gills, verb. phr. (common).—To make a good or luxurious meal.

Greased Lightning, subs. phr. (American).—An express train.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 359. The usual Express Train is not
half fast enough for the impatient traveller; he must have his
Lightning Express Train, and in the Far West improves still farther
by calling it greased lightning, after a favourite Yankee term.

Like Greased Lightning, adv. phr. (American).—Very quick. See Bed-post.

1848. Durivage, Stray Subjects, p. 72. Quicker than greased
lightnin’, My covies, I was dead.

1890. Globe, 27 Aug., p. 2, c. 5. He is drawn along at a rapid
rate, or, as the correspondent puts it, he is whisked all over town
like greased lightning.

1891. J. Newman, Scamping Tricks, p. 98. He measured again, and
then off went his coat like greased lightning, and we all followed
suit.

Greaser, subs. (American).—1. A Mexican in general; also a Spanish American: see quots. 1848 and 1888. The term originated during the Mexican war.

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 3. Note. The Mexicans are
called Spaniards or greasers (from their greasy appearance) by the
Western people.

1855. Marryat, Mountains and Mole Hills, p. 236. The Americans call
the Mexicans greasers, which is scarcely a complimentary
soubriquet; although the term greaser camp as applied to a Mexican
encampment is truthfully suggestive of filth and squalor.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, Prologue i. Behind the
leaders followed a little troop of three, consisting of one English
servant and two greasers.

1883. Bret Harte, In the Carquinez Woods, footnote to ch. vii.
Greasers, Californian slang for a mixed race of Mexicans and
Indians.

1888. Century Mag., October. To avenge the murder of one of their
number the cowboys gathered from the country round about, and
fairly stormed the greaser—that is, Mexican—village where the
murder had been committed, killing four of the inhabitants.

1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody, ch. 2. Don’t let the greaser git his
fingers in your ha’r.

2. in. pl. (Royal Military Academy).—Fried potatoes, as distinguished from boilers = boiled potatoes.

To give one greaser, verb. phr. (Winchester College).—To rub the back of the hand hard with the knuckles.

Grease-spot, subs. (common).—The imaginary result of a passage at arms, physical or intellectual.

1844. Haliburton, The Attaché, ch. xvi. If he hadn’t a had the
clear grit in him, and showed his teeth and claws, they’d a
nullified him so you wouldn’t see a grease-spot of him no more.

Greasy-chin, subs. (old).—A dinner.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Lay of St. Gengulphus.’ And to
every guest his card had express’d ‘Half past’ as the hour for a
greasy chin.

Great Cry and Little Wool.—See Cry.

Great Go (or Greats), subs. (Cambridge University).—The final examination for the B.A. degree; cf., Little-go. At Oxford, greater.

1841. Prince of the New-made Baccalere, Oxford. Great-go is passed.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. x. Both small and great are
sufficiently distant to be altogether ignored, if we are that way
inclined.

1856–7. Thackeray, King of Brentford’s Test., st. 7. At college,
though not fast, Yet his little-go and great-go, He creditably
pass’d.

1871. Morning Advertiser, 28 Apr. Yes, Mr. Lowe has been plucked
for his great go.

1883. Echo, 3 May, p. 2, c. 4. But few, indeed, are the men who
have been in for greats during the last twenty years, and who have
not blessed Mr. Kitchin for his edition of the Novum Organum.

Great Gun, subs. phr. (common).—1. A person of distinction; a thing of importance.

English Synonyms.—Big bug; big dog of the tanyard; big dog with the brass collar; big gun; big head; big one; big (or great) pot; big wig; biggest toad in the puddle; cock of the walk; don; large potato; nob; rumbusticator; stunner; swell; swell-head; topper; top-sawyer.

French Synonyms.—Un gros bonnet (familiar = big wig); un fiérot (a stuck-up); un herr (from the German); Monsieur Raidillon or Monsieur Pointu (= Mr. Stuck-up).

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. ii. A Spanish Ecclesiastic,
the Canon of ——. Plenty of great guns, at any rate—a regular park
of artillery.

1843. Haliburton, Sam Slick in England, ch. xv. The great guns and
big bugs have to take in each other’s ladies.

Ibid., p. 24. Pick out the big bugs and see what sort of stuff
they’re made of.

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. x. The great guns of the
party, the rector of the parish, the member for the county.

2. (pedlers’).—A peculiar practice; a trick of particular usefulness and importance; a favourite wheeze (q.v.).

1851. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 256. The
street-seller’s great gun, as he called it, was to make up packets,
as closely resembling as he could accomplish it those which were
displayed in the windows of any of the shops.

To Blow Great Guns, verb. phr. (nautical).—To blow a gale; also to blow great guns and small arms.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], 23. ‘Curse me, if I
don’t think all the world means to cross the Thames this fine
night!’ observed Ben. ‘One’d think it rained fares as well as
blowed great guns.’

1854. H. Miller, Sch. and Schm. (1858), 14. It soon began to blow
great guns.

1865. H. Kingsley, Hillyars and Burton, ch. lxxvii. It was blowing
pretty high guns, sou’ eastern by east, off shore and when we came
to the harbour’s mouth there was Tom Wyatt with his pilot just
aboard.

1869. Arthur Sketchley, Mrs. Brown on Things in General. I never
did see such weather, a-blowin great guns as the sayin’ is.

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 340. It blew
great guns from the seaward.

Great-house. See Big-house.

Great-Joseph, subs. (old).—An overcoat.

Great Scott! intj. (American).—An exclamation of surprise; an apology for an oath. [Possibly a memory of the name of Gen. Winfield Scott, a presidential candidate whose dignity and style were such as to win him the nickname “Fuss-and-Feathers.”] Also Great Cæsar.

1888. New York Mercury. Great Scott! you don’t say so.

1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody of Nowhere, p. 98. Bob, what’s the matter
with you? Great Scott! the mine hain’t give out.

1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 19 June, p. 396, c 2. Great Scotch!—no,
we mean Scott—well, language worthy of the great Harry prevailed
for awhile.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 305. ‘Great Scott! what the deuce
is Wells up to?’ said the Squire.

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 106. Great
Cæsar!

1892. Tit Bits, 19 Mar., p. 416, c. 1. He. Great Cæsar! There you
go again! She. James will you please remember that it is your wife
to whom you are speaking, sir? He. No other woman could drive me
raving, distracted, crazy, asking silly questions about—She. James!

Great Shakes. See Shakes.

Great Smoke, subs. (thieves’)—London.

Great Sun, intj. (common).—An exclamation.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly. Great Sun! I think I see
it now.

Great-unwashed, subs. (colloquial).—The lower classes; the rabble. Also the unwashed. [First used by Burke; popularised by Scott.]

1892. Sydney Watson, Wops the Waif, ch. iii., p. 4. We begin to
understand what is meant by the lowest classes, the great unwashed.

Great Whipper-in, subs. phr. (common).—Death; old floorer (q.v.).

Grecian, subs. (old).—1. A roysterer; a greek (q.v.).

2. (Christ’s Hospital).—A senior boy.

3. (popular).—An Irishman.

Grecian Accent, subs. (popular).—A brogue.

Grecian-bend, subs. (common).—A stoop in walking. [Affected by some women c. 1869–80.] Cf., Alexandra Limp, Roman Fall, Italian Wriggle, Kangaroo Droop.

1821. Etonian, ii., 57. In person he was of the common size, with
something of the Grecian bend, contracted doubtless from sedentary
habits.

1869. Daily Telegraph, 1 Sept. I do not, however, think the ‘stoop’
our girls now have arises from tight-lacing. Some affect what is
called the Grecian bend.

1870. Orchestra, 25 Mar. ‘Grand Comic Concert.’ The ladies have
their Grecian bend, our typical gentleman explains a correspondent
masculine affectation which he dubs ‘The Roman Fall—The Roman
Fall.’

1871. Morning Advertiser, 4 Dec. A lady of five feet becomes, say,
five feet two inches per heels, five feet six inches per hair, five
feet again, per Grecian bend.

1876. Chambers’ Journal, No. 629. Your own advocacy for the Grecian
bend and the Alexandra limp—both positive and practical imitations
of physical affliction.

1886. Cornhill Magazine, Dec., p. 618. You ain’t nearly fine enough
for a waitress or for ’im, neether. He likes a smart young woman
with a Grecian bend.

Greed, subs. (thieves).—Money. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1857. Ducange Anglicus, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Greedy-gut (or -guts), subs. (old).—A voracious eater; a glutton. [As in the old (schoolboys’) rhyme: ‘Guy-hi, Greedy-gut, Eat all the pudding up.’] For synonyms, see Stodger. Fr., un glafâtre.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, Edace, an eater, a devourer. a
greedigut. Ibid. Putti occhi, greedie eies.

1772. Coles, Eng. Dict., s.v.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Greek, subs. (old).—1. Slang, or flash (q.v.); usually St. Giles’ Greek (q.v.). Cf., Cant, Gibberish, etc.

2. (colloquial).—A card-sharper; a cheat.

1528. Roy and Barlow, Rede me and be not wrothe, p. 117 [ed. Arber,
1871]. In carde playinge he is a goode Greke And can skyll of post
and glycke, Also a prayre of dyce to trolle.

1568. Satirical Poems, ‘Scottish Text Soc.’ [1889–91] i., 77. A
cowle, a cowle, for such a greek were fitter far to wea’re.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Grecheggiare ... to play the
Greek.

1602. Shakspeare, Troilus and Cressida, v. 6. Come, both you
cogging Greeks; have at you both.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, xxviii. Most of the cant phrases in Head’s
English Rogue, which was published, I believe, in 1666, would be
intelligible to a Greek of the present day.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, ii., 5. Come lads, bustle about;
play will begin—some of the pigeons are here already, the Greeks
will not be long following.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. IV., ch. i. Jerry was a Greek by
nature, and could land a flat as well as the best of them.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xxxvi. He was an adventurer, a
pauper, a blackleg, a regular Greek.

1861. Once a Week, 25 May, p. 97. As the Greek places the packet
[of cards] on the top of the other, he allows it to project the
least bit in the world.

1884. Saturday Review, 16 Feb., p. 202. Without a confederate the
now fashionable game of baccarat does not seem to offer many
chances for the Greek.

3. (old).—An Irishman.

1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf. Greek, s.v. Irishmen call themselves
Greeks.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. i., p. 240. We
had the Greeks (the lately arrived Irish) down upon us more than
once.

1872. Standard, 3 Sept. ‘Melbourne Correspondence.’ The most
noticeable point of comparison between the two Administrations is
the presence or the absence of the Greek element from the Cabinet.
Greek, as some of your readers are aware, is colonial slang for
‘Irish.’

4. (thieves’).—A gambler. Also a highwayman.

Merry Greek, subs. phr. (old).—A roysterer; a drunkard. Cotgrave. [In Latin, Graecare = to play the Greek—high-living and hard drinking.]

1602. Shakspeare, Troilus and Cressida, iv., 4. A woful Cressid
’mongst the merry Greeks.

Greek Fire, subs. phr. (thieves’).—Bad whiskey; Rotgut (q.v.).

1889. Clarkson and Richardson, Police, p. 321, s.v.

Greek Kalends, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Never. To defer anything to the Greek Kalends is to put it off sine die. (The Greeks used no kalends in their reckoning of time.)

c. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth. Consid. Parlt., wks. (1711) 185. That
gold, plate, and all silver, given to the mint-house in these late
troubles, shall be paid at the Greek Kalends.

1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, bk. I., ch. xx. The judgment or decree
shall be given out and pronounced at the next Greek Calends, that
is, never.

1823. Byron, Don Juan, c. xiii., st. 45. They and their bills,
‘Arcadians both,’ are left To the Greek Kalends of another session.

1825. Scott, Betrothed. Intro. Will you speak of your paltry prose
doings in my presence, whose great historical poem, in twenty
books, with notes in proportion, has been postponed ad Græcas
Kalendas?

1872. O. W. Holmes, Poet Breakf. T. i., 18. His friends looked for
it only on the Greek Calends, say on the 31st of April, when that
should come round, if you would modernize the phrase.

1882. Macmillan’s Mag., 253. So we go on ... and the works are sent
to the Greek Calends.

English Synonyms.—In the reign of Queen Dick; when the devil is blind; when two Sundays come in a week; at Doomsday; at Tib’s Eve; one of these odd-come-shortlys; when my goose pisses; when the ducks have eaten up the dirt; when pigs fly; in a month of Sundays; once in a blue moon.

French Synonyms.—Mardi s’il fait chaud (obsolete); Dimanche après la grande messe (popular); quand les poules pisseront; semaine des quatre jeudis (popular: when four Thursdays come in a week).

Green, subs. (common).—1. Rawness; simplicity. Generally, ‘Do you see any green in my eye’? = Do you take me for a fool? See adj. sense.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, ii., 247. I’m not a
tailor, but I understands about clothes, and I believe that no
person ever saw anything green in my eye.

1892. Ally Sloper, 19 Mar., p. 95, c. 2. Ally Sloper the ’cute,
Ally Sloper the sly, Ally Sloper, the cove with no green in his
eye.

1892. Illustrated Bits, 22 Oct., p. 14, c. 2. Sindin’ both shlips
is it? How wud Oi have a check on ye? Do ye see inny green in me
oi?

Adj. (colloquial).—Simple; inexperienced; gullible; unsalted (q.v.).

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, Act i., Sc. 3. Pol. Affection! pooh! you
speak like a green girl.

1605. Chapman, All Fools, Act iv., p. 67 (Plays, 1874). Shall I
then say you want experience? Y’are green, y’are credulous; easy to
be blinded.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Green (a) ... so likewise a
young or unexperienced person in arts, sciences, etc., is sometimes
said to be green, raw, etc.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry. Tom. No; you’re green! Jerry.
Green! Log. Ah! not fly! Tom. Yes, not awake!

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. viii. ‘My eyes, how green!’
exclaimed the young gentleman. ‘Why a beak’s a madgst’rate.’

1841. Punch, July 17, p. 6. What a green chap you are, after all. A
public man’s consistency! It’s only a popular delusion.

1850. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, p. 19. Eh! why! what’s the matter
with you? have I done anything particularly green, as you call it?

1856. T. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School Days, pt. I., ch. ii. You try
to make us think ... that you are, even as we, of the working
classes. But bless your hearts, we ain’t so green.

1869. Literary World, 31 Dec., p. 129, c. 2. His fellow-passengers
laughed at him for being so green.

1879. Punch’s Almanack, p. 7. Seasonable Slang. For Spring.—You be
blowed! For Summer.—I’ll warm yer! For Autumn.—Not so blooming
green! For Winter.—An ice little game all round.

1887. Lippincott, July, p. 104. Within the last day or so a young
fellow has arrived who is in danger of being eaten by the cows, so
green is he.

1890. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 7 Nov. Being quite green at the time, I
rather lost my head over my good fortune.

Verb (colloquial).—To hoax; to swindle. At Eton to green up. For synonyms, see Gammon.

1836–41. T. C. Buckland, Eton. I was again catechized on many
points personal to myself, and some mild attempts were made to
green me, as boys call it.

1889. Answers, 2 Mar., p. 218, c. 1. Whereupon the old humbug burst
into a loud guffaw, as though he were rejoicing at having greened
the toff.

1892. Anstey, Voces Populi (Second Series). ‘Bank Holiday,’ 147.
The Damsel (giggling). You go on—you don’t green me that w’y.

Greens, subs. (old).—1. Chlorosis: i.e., the green sickness.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 313. The maiden takes five, too,
that’s vexed with her greens.

2. in. pl. (printers’).—Bad or worn out rollers.

To have, get, or give one’s greens, verb. phr. (venery).—To enjoy, procure, or confer the sexual favour. Said indifferently of both sexes.

Hence, also, on for one’s greens = amorous and willing; after one’s greens = in quest of the favour; green-grove = the pubes; green-grocery = the female pudendum; the price of greens = the cost of an embrace; fresh greens = a new piece (q.v.). [Derived by some from the old Scots’ grene = to pine, to long for, to desire with insistence: whence greens = longings, desires; which words may in their turn be referred, perhaps, to Mid. Eng., zernen, A.S., gyrnan, Icelandic, girna = to desire, and Gothic, gairns = desirous. Mod. Ger., begehren = to desire. See Dalziel, Darker Superstitions of Scotland, 1835, p. 106:—‘He answered that he wald gif the sum Spanyie fleis callit cantarides, quhilk, gif thou suld move the said Elizabeth to drynk of, it wold mak hir out of all question to grene eftir the.’ Trial of Peter Hay, of Kirklands, and others, for Witchcraft, 25th May, 1601. But in truth, the expression is a late and vulgar coinage. It would seem, indeed, to be a reminiscence of garden (q.v.), and the set of metaphors—as kail, cauliflower, parsley bed, and so forth (all which see)—suggested thereby.]

English Synonyms.—To be all there but the most of you; in Abraham’s bosom; up one’s petticoats (or among one’s frills); there; on the spot; into; up; up to one’s balls; where uncle’s doodle goes; among the cabbages.

To dance the blanket hornpipe; the buttock jig; the cushion dance (see Monosyllable.); the goat’s jig; the mattress jig; the married man’s cotillion; the matrimonial polka; the reels o’ Bogie (Scots’); the reels of Stumpie (Scots’); to the tune of the shaking of the sheets; with your arse to the ceiling, or the kipples (Scots’).

To go ballocking; beard-splitting; bed-pressing (Marston); belly-bumping (Urquhart); bitching (Marston); bum-fighting; bum-working; bum-tickling; bum-faking; bush-ranging; buttock-stirring (Urquhart); bird’s-nesting; buttocking; cock-fighting; cunny-catching; doodling; drabbing; fleshing it; flesh-mongering; goosing; to Hairyfordshire; jock-hunting; jottling; jumming (Urquhart); leather-stretching; on the loose; motting; molrowing; pile-driving; prick-scouring; quim-sticking; rumping; rump-splitting; strumming; twatting; twat-faking; vaulting (Marston, etc.); wenching; womanizing; working the dumb (or double, or hairy) oracle; twat-raking; tummy-tickling; tromboning; quim-wedging; tail-twitching; button-hole working; under-petticoating.

To have, or do, a bit of beef (of women); business (Shakspeare); bum-dancing; cauliflower; cock; cock-fighting; cunt; curly greens; fish; on a fork; fun; off the chump end; flat; front-door work; giblet pie; the gut- (or cream- or sugar-) stick (of women); jam; ladies’ tailoring; meat; mutton; pork; quimsy; rough; sharp-and-blunt (rhyming slang); stuff; split-mutton; skirt; summer cabbage.

To have, or do, or perform, the act of androgynation (Urquhart); a ballocking; a bit; a lassie’s by-job (Burns); a bedward bit (Durfey); a beanfeast in bed; a belly-warmer; a blindfold bit; a bottom-wetter (of women); a bout; a brush with the cue; a dive in the dark; a drop-in; a double fight; an ejectment in Love-lane; a four-legged frolic; a fuck; a futter; a game in the cock-loft; a goose-and-duck (rhyming); the culbatizing exercise (Urquhart); a grind; a hoist-in; a jottle; a jumble-giblets; a jumble-up; an inside worry; a leap; a leap up the ladder; a little of one with t’other (Durfey); a mount; a mow (David Lyndsay, Burns, etc.); a nibble; a plaster of warm guts (Grose); a poke; a put; a put-in; a random push (Burns); a rasp; a ride; a roger; a rootle; a rush up the straight; a shot at the bull’s eye; a slide up the board; a squirt-and-a squeeze; a touch-off; a touch-up; a tumble-in; a wet-’un; a wipe at the place; a wollop-in.

Specific.—To have, or do, a back-scuttle, (q.v.); a buttered bun (q.v.); a dog’s marriage (q.v.); a knee-trembler, perpendicular, or upright (q.v.); a matrimonial (q.v.); spoon-fashion (q.v.); a st. george (q.v.).

To play at, All-fours; Adam-and-Eve; belly-to-belly (Urquhart); brangle-buttock (Urquhart); buttock-and-leave-her; cherry-pit (Herrick); couple-your-navels; cuddle-my-cuddie (Durfey); Hey Gammer Cook (C. Johnson); fathers-and-mothers; the first-game-ever-played; Handie-Dandie; Hooper’s Hide (q.v.); grapple-my-belly (Urquhart); horses-and-mares (schoolboys’); the close-buttock-game (Urquhart); cock-in-cover; houghmagandie (Burns); in-and-in; in-and-out; Irish-whist (where-the-jack (q.v.)-takes-the ace [see Monosyllable.]); the-loose-coat-game (Urquhart); Molly’s hole (schoolboys’); pickle-me-tickle-me (Urquhart); mumble-peg; prick-the-garter; pully-hauly (Grose); put-in-all; the-same-old-game; squeezem-close; stable-my-naggie; thread-the-needle; tops-and-bottoms; two-handed-put (Grose); up-tails-all.

General.—To Adam and Eve it; to blow the groundsels; to engage three to one; to chuck a tread; to do (Jonson); to do it; to do ‘the act of darkness’ (Shakspeare), the act of love, the deed of kind, the work of increase, ‘the divine work of fatherhood’ (Whitman); to feed the dumb-glutton; to get one’s hair cut; to slip in Daintie Davie (Scots’), or Willie Wallace (idem); to get Jack in the orchard; to get on top of; to give a lesson in simple arithmetic (i.e., addition, division, multiplication and subtraction); to give a green gown (q.v.); to go ‘groping for trout in a peculiar river’ (Shakspeare); to go face-making; to go to Durham (North Country); to go to see a sick friend; to have it; to join faces (Durfey); to join giblets; to make ends meet; to make the beast with two backs (Shakspeare and Urquhart); to make a settlement in tail; to play top-sawyer; to put it in and break it; to post a letter; to go on the stitch; to labor lea (Scots); to tether one’s nags on (idem); to nail twa wames thegither (idem); to lift a leg on (Burns); to ride a post (Cotton); to peel one’s end in; to put the devil into hell (Boccaccio); to rub bacons (Urquhart); to strop one’s beak; to strip one’s tarse in; to grind one’s tool; to grease the wheel; to take on a split-arsed mechanic; to take a turn in Bushey-park, Cock-alley, Cock-lane, Cupid’s-alley, Cupid’s-corner, Hair-court, ‘the lists of love’ (Shakspeare), Love-lane, on Mount Pleasant, among the parsley, on Shooter’s-hill, through the stubble; to whack it up; to wollop it in; to labour leather; to wind up the clock (Sterne).

Of women only.—To get an arselins coup (Burns); to catch an oyster; to do the naughty; to do a spread, a tumble, a back-fall, what mother did before me; a turn on one’s back, what Eve did with Adam; to hold, or turn up one’s tail (Burns and Durfey); to get one’s leg lifted, one’s kettle mended, one’s chimney swept out, one’s leather stretched; to lift one’s leg; to open up to; to get shot in the tail; to get a shove in one’s blind eye; to get a wet bottom; what Harry gave Doll (Durfey); to suck the sugar-stick; to take in beef; to take Nebuchadnezzar out to grass; to look at the ceiling over a man’s shoulder; to get outside it; to play one’s ace; to rub one’s arse on (Rochester); to spread to; to take in and do for; to give standing room for one; to get hulled between wind and water; to get a pair of balls against one’s butt; to take in cream; to show (or give) a bit; to skin the live rabbit; to feed (or trot out) one’s pussy (q.v.); to lose the match and pocket the stakes; to get a bellyful of marrow pudding; to supple both ends of it (Scots); to draw a cork; to get hilt and hair (Burns); to draw a man’s fireworks; to wag one’s tail (Pope); to take the starch out of; to go star-gazing (or studying astronomy) on one’s back; to get a green gown (Herrick and Durfey); to have a hot pudding (or live sausage) for supper; to grant the favour; to give mutton for beef, juice for jelly, soft for hard, a bit of snug for a bit of stiff, a hole to hide it in, a cure for the horn (q.v.), a hot poultice for the Irish toothache; to pull up one’s petticoats to; to get the best and plenty of it; to lie under; to stand the push; to get stabbed in the thigh; to take off one’s stays; to get touched up, a bit of the goose’s-neck, a go at the creamstick, a handle for the broom.

Conventionalisms.—To have connection; to have carnal, improper, or sexual intercourse; to know carnally; to have carnal knowledge of; to indulge in sexual commerce; to go to bed with; to lie with; to go in unto (Biblical); to be intimate, improperly intimate, familiar, on terms of familiarity with; to have one’s will of; to lavish one’s favours on; to enjoy the pleasures of love, or the conjugal embrace; to embrace; to have one’s way with; to perform connubial rites; to scale the heights of connubial bliss; to yield one’s favours (of women); to surrender, or give one the enjoyment of one’s person (of women); to use benevolence to; to possess. For other synonyms, see Ride.

To send to dr. green, verb. phr. (old).—To put out to grass.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. My horse is not well, I shall send
him to Doctor Green.

S’elp me greens! (or taturs!) intj. (common).—A veiled oath of an obscene origin; see Greens. For synonyms, see Oaths.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. iii., p. 144.
They’ll say, too, s’elp my greens! and ‘Upon my word and say so!’

1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 23 Jan. ‘Well, s’elp me greens,’ he
cried, wiping his eyes and panting for breath, ‘if you arn’t the
greatest treat I ever did meet; you’ll be the death o’ me, Juggins,
you will. Why, you bloomin’ idiot, d’ye think if they had’nt been
rogues we should have been able to bribe ’em?’

Just for greens, adv. phr. (American).—See quot.

1848. Jones, Sketches of Travel, p. 7. I’ve made up my mind to make
a tower of travel to the big North this summer, jest for greens, as
we say in Georgia, when we hain’t got no very pertickeler reason
for anything, or hain’t got time to tell the real one.

Green-apron, subs. (old).—A lay preacher. Also adjectively. For synonyms, see Devil-Dodger and Sky-Pilot.

1654. Warren, Unbelievers, 145. It more befits a green-apron
preacher, than such a Gamaliel.

1705. Hickeringill, Priestcraft, I. (1721) 21. Unbeneficed Noncons.
(that live by Alms and no Paternoster, no Penny, say the
green-aprons).

1765. Tucker, Lt. Nat., II., 451. The gifted priestess amongst the
Quaker is known by her green apron.

Green-back, subs. (common).—1. A frog.

2. (University).—One of Todhunter’s series of mathematical text-books. (Because bound in green cloth. Cf., Blue-ruin.)

3. (American).—The paper issue of the Treasury of the United States; first sent out in 1862 during the civil war. [From the backs being printed in green.] Hence green-backer = an advocate for an unlimited issue or paper money.

1873. Echo, 8 May. This was accomplished by the issue of legal
tender notes, popularly known as greenbacks.

1877. Clemens, Life on the Mississippi, ch. lvii., p. 499. Anything
in the semblance of a town lot, no matter how situated, was
saleable, and at a figure which would still have been high if the
ground had been sodded with greenbacks.

1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody of Nowhere, p. 228. Gussie can hear the
crinkle of the greenbacks as he folds them up.

Green Bag, subs. (old).—A lawyer. [From the green bag in which robes and briefs were carried. The colour is now blue, or, in cases of presentation from seniors to juniors, red.]

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

English Synonyms.—Black box; bramble (provincial); devil’s own; gentleman of the long robe; land-shark; limb of the law; mouth-piece; Philadelphia lawyer (q.v.); quitam; six-and-eightpence; snipe; sublime rascal.

French Synonyms. Un bavard (pop. = a talker or mouthpiece); un blanchisseur (= whitewasher); un brodancheur à la plaque, aux macarons, or à la cymbale (thieves’: a notary-public); un gerbier (thieves’); un grippemini (obsolete: grippeminaud = thief); un inutile (thieves’: a notary-public); une éponge d’or (= a sucker-up of gold: in allusion to the long bills); un macaron huissier (popular).

Italian Synonyms.—Dragon del gran soprano; dragonetto (= a dragon, or suck-all).

Spanish Synonyms.—Remedio (= a remedy); la letraderia (= a body or society of lawyers); cataribera (jocular).

Green-Bonnet, to have (or wear) a green bonnet, verb. phr. (common).—To fail in business; to go bankrupt. [From the green cloth cap once worn by bankrupts.]

Green Cheese. See Cream Cheese and Moon.

Green Cloth. See Board of Green Cloth.

Green Dragoons, subs. (military).—The fifth Dragoon Guards; also known as the Green Horse. [From their green facings.]

Greener, subs. (common).—A new, or raw hand; specifically employed of inexperienced workmen introduced to fill the place of strikers; Dung (q.v.). Cf., Flint. For synonyms, see Snooker.

1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 14 Oct., p. 6, c. 3. A howling mob of Hebrew
men and women ... in their own Yiddish jargon criticised the new
arrivals, or greeners, in language that was anything but
complimentary.

Green-Goods, subs. (American).—1. Counterfeit greenbacks.

1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody of Nowhere, p. 223. In his opinion
Stillman Myth, and Co., were in the green goods business.

2. (venery).—A prostitute new to the town; a fresh bit (q.v.).

Green-goods Man (or Operator), subs. (American).—1. A counterfeiter of spurious greenbacks; a Snide-pitcher (q.v.).

1888. Troy Daily Times, 3 Feb. Driscoll was hung, but the green
goods-man escaped, for the only proof against him was that he sold
a quantity of paper cut in the shape of bills, and done up in
packages of that size.

2. (venery).—A Fresh Bit (q.v.) fancier. Also an amateur of defloration; a minotaur (q.v.).

Green-goose, subs. (old).—1. A cuckold.

2. (old).—A prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

1594. Shakspeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost, iv., 3. This is the liver
vein, which makes flesh a deity; A green goose, a goddess, pure,
pure idolatry.

1607. Beaumont and Fletcher, Woman Hater, i., 2. His palace is full
of green geese.

Green-gown. To give a green-gown, verb. phr. (old).—To tumble a woman on the grass; to copulate. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

1647–8. Herrick, Hesperides. ‘To Corinna To go a Maying.’ Many a
green gown has been given.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Green gown, s.v. A throwing of young
lasses on the grass and kissing them.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 277. Kit gave a green gown to Betty,
and lent her his hand to rise.

1719. Smith, Lives of Highwaymen, i., 214. Our gallant being
disposed to give his lady a green gown.

1742. C. Johnson, Highwaymen and Pyrates. Passim.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Green-head, subs. (old).—A greenhorn. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Greenhead, s.v., A very raw novice
or inexperienced fellow.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Greenhorn (or Green-Head, or Greenlander), subs. (common).—A simpleton; a fool; a gull (q.v.); also a new hand. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head. To come from Greenland = to be fresh to things; raw (q.v.). Greenlander sometimes = an Irishman.

1753. Adventurer, No. 100. A slouch in my gait, a long lank head of
hair and an unfashionable suit of drab-coloured cloth, would have
denominated me a greenhorn, or in other words, a country put very
green.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xliv. ‘Why, wha but a crack-brained
greenhorn wad hae let them keep up the siller that ye left at the
Gordon-Arms?’

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist. A new pall.... Where did he come from?
Greenland.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. ix. All these he resigned to lock
himself into a lone little country house, with a simple widow and a
greenhorn of a son.

Greenhouse, subs. (London ’bus-drivers’).—An omnibus.

Green Howards, subs. phr. (military).—The Nineteenth Foot. [From its facings and its Colonel’s name (1738–48), and to distinguish it from the Third Foot, also commanded by a Col. Howard.] Also Howard’s Garbage.

Green Kingsman, subs. (pugilistic).—A silk pocket-handkerchief: any pattern on a green ground.

Green Linnets, subs. phr. (military).—The 39th Foot. [From the facings.]

Greenly, adv. (old).—Like a greenhorn; foolishly.

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, Act iv., Sc. 5. King. ... We have done
but greenly, In hugger-mugger to inter him.

Greenmans, subs. (old).—1. The fields; the country.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Rept.) 1874.
Greenemans, the fields.

2. in sing. (builders’).—A contractor who speculates with other people’s money.

Green-meadow, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Greenness, subs. (colloquial).—Immaturity of judgment; inexperience; gullibility.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Greenness (s) ... also the
rawness, unskilfulness, or imperfection of any person in a trade,
art, science, etc.

1838. Jas. Grant, Sketches in London, ch. vi., p. 205. Instances of
such perfect simplicity or greenness, as no one could have
previously deemed of possible existence.

Green-rag.—See Greeny, sense 1.

Green-river. To send a man up green-river, verb. phr. (American).—To kill. [From a once famous factory on Green River, where a favourite hunting-knife was made.] For synonyms, see Cook One’s Goose.

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 175. A thrust from the keen
scalp-knife by the nervous arm of a mountaineer was no baby blow,
and seldom failed to strike home up to the green river [i.e., the
mark] on the blade.

Green-sickness, subs. (old).—Chlorosis.

Green-turtle. To live up to green-turtle, verb. phr. (American).—To do, and give, one’s best. [From the high esteem in which the green fat of turtle is held.]

1888. Paton, Down the Islands. People who, as hosts, live up to
their green turtle.

Greenwich Barber, subs. (old).—A retailer of sand from the Greenwich pits. [A pun upon ‘shaving’ the banks.]

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Greenwich-Goose, subs. (old).—A pensioner of Greenwich Hospital.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Greeny, subs. (old theatrical).—1. The curtain. [From the colour.] Also Green-rag.

1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry, p. 110 [ed. 1890]. It is far more
difficult to please the company behind Greeny; I beg pardon, sir, I
should have said than the audience before the curtain.

2. (University).—A freshman. For synonyms, see Snooker.

1834. Southey, The Doctor, ch. i. He was entered among the greenies
of this famous University.

3. (common).—A simpleton; a Greenhorn (q.v.). For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1852. Judson, Myst., etc., of New York, part III., ch. 9, p. 58.
Anybody could know that these was took by a greeny.

1887. Congregationalist, 7 April. Jim said I was a greeny ... [and]
that he had a lot of houses.

Greetin’ Fu’, adv. phr. (Scots’), Drunk: literally ‘crying drunk.’ For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

Greeze, subs. (Westminster School).—A crowd; a push (q.v.).

Gregorian, subs. (old).—A kind of wig worn in the 17th century. [After the inventor, one Gregory, a barber in the Strand.]

1658. Honest Ghost, p. 46. Pulling a little down his Gregorian.

Gregorian-tree, subs. (old).—The gallows. [After a sequence of three hangmen of the name.] For synonyms, see Nubbing-cheat.

1641. Mercurius Pragmaticus. This trembles under the black rod, and
he Doth fear his fate from the Gregorian tree.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Gregorine, subs. (common).—A louse; specifically, head vermin. [From the Italian.] For synonyms, see Chates.

Greshamite, subs. (old).—A Fellow of the Royal Society.—B. E. [1690.]

Grey.—See Gray, passim.

Griddle, subs. (streets’).—To sing in the streets. Whence, Griddling = street-singing; griddler = a street-singer.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor. Got a month for
griddling in the main drag.

1877. Besant and Rice, Son of Vulcan, pt. I., ch. xii. Cardiff
Jack’s never got so low as to be griddling on the main
drag—singing, I mean, on the high-road.

1888. W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, ch. iv., p. 53. They [street
singers] have not yet invented Moody and Sankey, and therefore they
cannot sing ‘Hold the Fort’ or ‘Dare to be a Daniel,’ but there are
hymns in every collection which suit the gridler.

1890. Daily Telegraph, 20 May. Singing or shouting hymns in the
streets on Sundays. To this system the name of gridling has been
applied. The gridlers, it was stated, were known to boast, as they
returned to their haunts in Deptford and Southwark, how much they
could make in a few hours.

Gridiron, subs. (American).—1. The United States’ flag; the Stars and Stripes. Also Stars and Bars; Blood and Entrails; Gridiron and Doughboys; and, in speaking of the Eagle in conjunction with the flag, the Goose and Gridiron.

2. (common).—A County Court Summons. [Originally applied to Writs of the Westminster Court, the arms of which resemble a gridiron.]

1859. Sala, Gaslight and Daylight, ch. xxi. He collects debts for
anybody in the neighbourhood, takes out the abhorred gridirons, or
County Court summonses.

3. (thieves’).—The bars on a cell window. Fr., les gaules de Schtard.

The Gridiron, subs. phr. (common).—The Grafton Club. [Where the grill is a speciality.]

On the Gridiron, adv. phr. (common).—Troubled; harassed; in a bad way; on toast (q.v.).

The Whole Gridiron, subs. phr. (common).—See Whole Animal.

Grief, To Come to Grief, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To come to ruin; to meet with an accident; to fail. In quot., 1891 = trouble.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. x. We drove on to the Downs, and we
were nearly coming to grief. My horses are young, and when they get
on the grass they are as if they were mad.

1888. Cassell’s Saturday Jour., 8 Dec., p. 249. In the United
States he had started a ‘Matrimonial Agency,’ in which he had come
to grief, and he had been obliged to return to this country for a
similar reason.

1891. Sportsman, 28 Feb. The flag had scarcely fallen than the
grief commenced, as Midshipmite and Carlo rolled over at the first
fence, Clanranald refused at the second, and Dog Fox fell at the
third.

Griffin (or Griff), subs. (common).—1. A new-comer; a raw hand; a Greenhorn (q.v.) See Snooker and Sammy Soft. [Specific uses are (Anglo-Indian) = a new arrival from Europe; (military) = a young subaltern; (Anglo-Chinese) = an unbroken horse.] Griffinage (or Griffinism) = the state of greenhornism.

1859. H. Kingsley, Geoffry Hamlyn, ch. xxviii. All the griffins
ought to hunt together.

1878. Besant and Rice, By Celia’s Arbour, ch. xxx. We were in the
Trenches; there had been joking with a lot of griffs, young
recruits just out from England.

1882. Miss Braddon, Mount Royal, ch. xxii. There was only one of
the lads about the yard when he left, for it was breakfast-time,
and the little griffin didn’t notice.

1883. Graphic, 17 March, p. 286, c. 3. Many a youngster has got on
in his profession ... by having the good fortune to make a friend
of the old Indian who took him in as a griffin or a stranger.

2. (colloquial).—A woman of forbidding manners or appearance; a Gorgon. Also a caretaker, chaperon, or sheep-dog (q.v.) [A reflection of the several griffins of ornithology and of heraldry: the former a feeder on birds, small mammals, and even children; the latter (as in Milton) a perfection of vigilance.]

1824. R. B. Peake, Americans Abroad, i., 2. It is always locked up
by that she-griffin with a bunch of keys.

3. (thieves’).—A signal: e.g., to tip the griffin = to warn; to give the office (q.v.), or tip (q.v.). The straight griffin = the straight tip.

1888. Cassell’s Sat. Jour., 22 Dec., p. 305. Plank yourself at the
corner to give the griffin if you hear or see owt.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 22. He’s got the straight griff
for something.

1891. J. Newman, Scamping Tricks, p. 95. When he wanted to give the
chaps in the office the straight griffin, he used to say, ‘Nelson’s
my guide.’

4. in. pl. (trade).—The scraps and leavings from a contract feast, which are removed by the purveyor.

Griff-metoll, subs. (old).—Sixpence. For synonyms, see Tanner.

1754. Discoveries of John Poulter, s.v.

Grig, subs. (old).—1. An active, lively, and jocose person: as in the phrase ‘Merry as a Grig.’ [An allusion to the liveliness of the grasshopper, sand-eel, or to grig (= Greek: cf., Troilus and Cressida i. 2; iv. 4).]

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie. Gale-bon-temps. A merry grig.

1673. Wycherley, Gent. Danc. Master, i., 1., wks. (1713) 251. Hah,
ah, ah, cousin, dou art a merry grigg—ma foy.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Grig s.v. A merry grig; a merry
fellow.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 43. The statesman that talks on the
Woolsack so big, Could hustle to the open as merry as a grig.

1765. Goldsmith, Essays VI. I grew as merry as a grig, and laughed
at every word that was spoken.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xix, p. 159. The learned gentleman
... is as merry as a grig at a French watering-place.

2. (thieves’).—A farthing; a gigg (q.v.). For synonyms, see Fadge.

1680. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Not a grig did he tip me, not a
farthing would he give me.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 15. ‘He shall go
through the whole course,’ replied Blueskin, with a ferocious grin,
‘unless he comes down to the last grig.’

Verb. (American).—To vex; to worry.

1855. Haliburton [S. Slick], Human Nature, p. 83. That word
‘superiors’ grigged me. Thinks I, ‘My boy, I’ll just take that
expression, roll it up in a ball, and shy it back at you.’

Grim, subs. (American thieves’).—A skeleton. Also Grin.

Old Mr. Grim, subs. phr. (common).—Death. For synonyms, see Old Floorer.

Grin, verb. (American University, Virginia).—See quot.

1887. Lippincott, July, p. 99. If there are many ‘old men’ in the
room they immediately begin to grin him; that is, they strike on
their plates with their knives and forks, beat with their feet, and
shout at the top of their voices, in the effort to make their
victim grin. Woe to him if they succeed; for in that event the same
thing will be repeated three times a day, until he ceases to notice
it.

To grin in a Glass Case. verb. phr. (old).—To be shown as an anatomical preparation. [The bodies and skeletons of criminals were once preserved in glass cases at Surgeon’s Hall.—Grose.]

To flash the Upright Grin, verb. phr. (venery).—To expose the person (of women).

Grinagog, the Cat’s Uncle, subs. phr. (old).—A grinning simpleton.—Grose.

Grincums, subs. (old).—Syphilis. For synonyms, see Ladies’ Fever.

1608. Middleton, Family of Love, B. 1. I had a receipt for the
grincomes in his own hand.

1635. Jones, Adrasta or the Woman’s Spleen, c. 2. You must know,
sir, in a nobleman ’tis abusive; no, in him the serpigo, in a
knight the grincomes, in a gentleman the Neapolitan scabb, and in a
serving man or artificer the plaine pox.

1637. Massinger, Guardian, iv. The comfort is, I am now secure from
the grincomes, I can lose nothing that way.

Grind, subs. (common).—1. A walk; a constitutional: e.g., ‘to take a grind’ or (University) ‘to go on the Grandchester (or Gog Magog Hills) grind.’

2. (common).—Daily routine; hard or distasteful work.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, pt. III., ch. xi. To a University
man, a grind did not possess any reading signification, but a
riding one. In fact, it was a steeple-chase, slightly varying in
its details according to the college that patronised the pastime.

1870. London Figaro, 28 July. The world is a wearisome grind, love,
Nor shirk we our turn at the wheel.

1880. A. Trollope, The Duke’s Children, ch. xxv. ‘Isn’t it a great
grind, sir?’ asked Silverbridge. ‘A very great grind, as you call
it. And there may be the grind and not the success. But——’

1880. One and All, 27 Mar., p. 207. Soul-weary of life’s horrid
grind, I long to come to thee.

3. (schools’).—Study; reading up for an examination; also a plodding student, i.e., a grinder.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School Days, pt. II., ch. v. ‘Come along,
boys,’ cries East, always ready to leave the grind, as he called
it.

1887. Chambers’ Jour., 14 May, p. 310. Smalls made just such a goal
as was required, and the grind it entailed was frequently of no
slight profit to him.

4. (medical students’).—A demonstration: as (1) a ‘public grind’ given to a class and free to all; and (2) a ‘private grind’ for which a student pays an individual teacher. In America, a quiz (q.v.).

5. (Oxford University).—Athletic sports. Also, a training run.

1872. Chambers’ Jour., April. Joe Rullock, the mighty gymnasiarch,
the hero of a hundred grinds, the unwearied haunter of the
palæstra, could never give the lie to his whole past life, and deny
his own gymnastics.

6. (venery).—An act of sexual intercourse: e.g., To do a grind. [Mill and grindstone (venery) = the female pudendum.] For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Macinio, the grinding of grist.
Also taken for carnal copulation.

1647. Ladies Parliament. Digbie’s lady takes it ill, that her Lord
grinds not at her mill.

The grind, subs. phr. (Cambridge University).—The ferry-boat at Chesterton.

Verb. (University).—1. To prepare for examination to study: to read.

1856. T. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School Days, pt. II., ch. vii. ‘The
thing to find out,’ said Tom meditatively, ‘is how long one ought
to grind at a sentence without looking at the crib.’

2. (University).—To teach; to instruct; to coach (q.v.).

3. (common).—To do a round of hard and distasteful work; to apply oneself to daily routine.

1880. Punch, 5 June, p. 253. ‘Fred on Pretty Girls and Pictures.’
And the pars in the Scanmag—he does them—are proper, and chock full
of ‘go.’ Only paper I care to grind though.

4. (venery).—To copulate.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Grind, s.v.

5. trans. (American).—To vex; to ‘put out.’

1879. W. D. Howells, Lady of the Aroostook, ch. vii. After all, it
does grind me to have lost that money!

Also grinding = (1) the act of reading or studying hard; (2) the act or occupation of preparing students, for an examination; and (3) the act of copulation.

On the grind, subs. phr. (venery).—Said of incontinent persons of both sexes. Also of prostitutes.

To grind an axe.—See Axe.

To get a grind on one, verb. phr. (American).—To play practical jokes; to tell a story against one; to annoy or vex.

To grind wind, verb. phr. (old prison).—To work the treadmill. See Everlasting Staircase.

1889. Clarkson and Richardson. Police, p. 322. On the treadmill ...
grinding wind.

Grinder, subs. (college).—1. A private tutor; a coach (q.v.). Cf., Crammer.

1812. Miss Edgeworth, Patronage, ch. iii. Put him into the hands of
a clever grinder or crammer, and they would soon cram the necessary
portion of Latin and Greek into him.

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 201. Then contriving to accumulate five
guineas to pay a grinder, he routs out his old note books from the
bottom of his box and commences to read.

1841. A. Smith, ‘The London Medical Student’ in Punch, i., p. 229.
G was a grinder, who sharpen’d the the fools.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. v. She sent me down here with a
grinder. She wants me to cultivate my neglected genius.

2. Usually in. pl. (common).—The teeth.

English Synonyms.—Bones; chatterers; cogs; crashing cheats; dining-room furniture (or chairs); dinner-set; dominoes; front-rails; Hampstead Heath (rhyming); head rails; ivories; park-palings (or railings); snagglers; tushes (or tusks); tomb-stones.

French Synonyms.—Les soeurs blanches (thieves’ = the ‘white sisters’ or ivories); les chocottes (thieves’); les cassantes (thieves’ = grinders); les broches (popular = head-rails); les crocs (popular = tusks); le clou de giroflé (common = a decayed, black tooth); les branlantes (popular = the quakers: specifically, old men’s teeth); le mobilier (thieves’ = furniture); les meules de moulin (popular = millstones); le jeu de dominos (thieves’ = dominoes); les osanores (thieves’); les osselets (thieves’ = bonelets); les palettes (popular and thieves’); la batterie (= the teeth, throat, and tongue).

German Synonyms.—Krächling (= grinderkin; from krachen = to crush).

Italian Synonyms.—Merlo (= battlement); sganascio; rastrelliera (= the rack).

1597. Hall, Satires, iv., 1. Her grinders like two chalk stones in
a mill.

1640. Humphrey Mill, Night’s Search, Sect. 39, p. 194. Her grinders
white, her mouth must show her age.

1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, bk. IV. Author’s Prologue. The devil of
one musty crust of a brown George the poor boys had to scour their
grinders with.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Grinder, s.v. The Cove has Rum
Grinders, the Rogue has excellent Teeth.

1693. Dryden, Juvenal, x., 365. One, who at sight of supper open’d
wide His jaws before, and whetted grinders tried.

1740. Walpole, Correspondence. A set of gnashing teeth, the
grinders very entire.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. xlv. Like a dried walnut
between the grinders of a Templar in the pit.

1817. Scott, Ivanhoe, c. 16. None who beheld thy grinders
contending with these peas.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 23. With grinders dislodg’d, and with
peepers both poach’d.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. iv., ch. i. A grinder having been
dislodged, his pipe took possession of the aperture.

1836. M. Scott, Cruise of the Midge, p. 83. Every now and then he
would clap his head sideways on the ground, so as to get the back
grinders to bear on his prey.

1848. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, ch. xiii. Sir Robert Peel, though
he wished it ever so much, has no power over Mr. Benjamin
Disraeli’s grinders, or any means of violently handling that
gentleman’s jaw.

1871. Chambers’ Jour., 9 Dec., p. 772. My grinders is good enough
for all the wittels I gets.

1888. Sporting Life, 28 Nov. Countered heavily on the grinders.

To take a grinder, verb. phr. (common).—To apply the left thumb to the nose, and revolve the right hand round it, as if to work a hand-organ or coffee-mill; to take a sight (q.v.); to work the coffee-mill (q.v.). [A street boy’s retort on an attempt to impose on his good faith or credulity.]

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xxxi. Here Mr. Jackson smiled once
more upon the company; and, applying his left thumb to the tip of
his nose, worked a visionary coffee-mill with his right hand,
thereby performing a very graceful piece of pantomime (then much in
vogue, but now, unhappily, almost obsolete) which was familiarly
denominated taking a grinder.

1870. Athenæum, 8 July. ‘Rev. of Comic Hist. of United States.’ He
finds himself confronted by a plumed and lightly-clad Indian, who
salutes him with what street-boys term a grinder.

Grinding-house, subs. (old).—1. The House of Correction. For synonyms, see Cage.

1614. Terence in English. The fellow is worthy to be put into the
grinding-house.

2. (venery).—A brothel. For synonyms, see Nanny-shop. [Grinding-tool = the penis.]

Grinding-mill, subs. (common).—The house of a tutor or Coach (q.v.) where students are prepared for an examination.

Grind-off (or Grindo), subs. (common).—A miller. [From a character in The Miller and his Men.]

Grindstone, subs. (common).—1. A tutor; a coach (q.v.).

2. (venery).—The female pudendum.

To bring (hold, put, or keep) one’s nose to the grindstone, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To oppress, harass, or punish; to treat harshly. To have one’s nose kept to the grindstone = to be held to a bargain, or at work.