Chapter XVI: Part 16

1695. Congreve, Love for Love, iii., i. O you young harlotry.

1893. T. E. Brown, Old John, p. 205. That specious harlotry from
hell’s black bosom spewed.

Adj. (old).—Disreputable.

1598. Shakspeare, 1 Henry IV., ii., 4. Oh rare! he doth it as like
one of these harlotry players, as ever I see.

Harman-beck (or Harman), subs. (old).—An officer of justice. For synonyms, see Beak and Copper.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 66. The harman-beck, the constable.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-All. With the harman-beake out and alas
to Whittington we goe.

1656. Broome, Jovial Crew, ii. Here safe in our skipper let’s cly
off our peck, And bowse in defiance o’ th’ harman-beck.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Harman-beck, a Beadle.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4th ed.), p. 12. Harminbeck, a
Constable.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Harman Beck, a beadle (cant).

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xvii. From the watchmen who
skip On the Harman Beck’s errand.

1828. Lytton, The Disowned. The worst have an awe of the harman’s
claw.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Harman Beak. The Sheriff.

Harmans, subs. (Old Cant).—The stocks. [The suffix ‘mans’ is common; Cf., lightmans, darkmans, roughmans, etc.]

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 66. The harmans, the stockes.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-All, p. 39 (H. Club’s Rept., 1874).
Harmons the stockes.

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

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4th ed.), p. 12, s.v.

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.

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

Harness. In Harness, adj. phr. (colloquial).—In business; at work: as, to die in harness = to die at one’s post; to get back into harness = to resume work after a holiday. [Harness also = armour.]

1872. Fun, 10 Aug. ‘Over.’ Aye! But the sting of it’s here, Just as
I’m back into harness, Others are off to sea, mountain, and mere.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 2. My father died in
harness.

Harp, interject. (Irish).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Harp ... harp is also the Irish
expression for ‘woman’ or ‘tail,’ used in tossing up in Ireland,
from Hibernia being represented with a harp, on the reverse of the
copper coins of that country, for which reason it is in hoisting
the copper, i.e., tossing up, sometimes likewise called music.

To harp on, verb. phr. (old, now recognised).—To dwell persistently and at any cost upon a subject.

1596. Nashe, Have with you to Saffron Walden. As if I had
continually harped upon it in every tenth line of my book.

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, ii., 2. Still harping on my daughter.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Harp-upon a business, to insist
on it.

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

1886. R. L. Stevenson, Kidnapped, p. 291. He was back harping on my
proposal.

Harper, subs. (old).—A brass coin current in Ireland, temp. Elizabeth, value one penny. [From the Irish Harp figured upon it.]

1574–1637. Ben Jonson, The Gipsies Metamorphosed. A two-pence I had
to spend ever and above; besides the harper that was gathered
amongst us to pay the piper.

Have among you my blind harpers, phr. (old).—See quot.

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v. Harpers.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Have among you my blind harpers, an
expression used in throwing or shooting at random among a crowd.

Harridan, subs. (old, now recognised).—See quots. Also (colloquial) a disagreeable old woman. [A corruption of O. Fr. haridelle = a worn out horse, a jade.]

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Harridan, one that is half
Whore, half Bawd.

1705–7. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. II., pt. ii., p. 27. Old
Leachers, Harridans, and Cracks.

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Harridan, a hagged old woman, a
miserable scraggy worn out harlot, fit to take her bawd’s degree.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch., xxxix. ‘Now what could drive it
into the noddle of that old harridan,’ said Pleydell.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Harrington, subs. (old).—A brass farthing. [Lord Harrington obtained a patent of manufacture under James I.]

1616. B. Jonson, Devil is an Ass, ii., 1. Yes, sir, it’s cast to
penny half-penny farthing, O’ the back side there you may see it,
read; I will not bate a Harrington o’ the sum.

1632. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, ii., 6. His wit he cannot so dispose
by legacy As they shall be a Harrington the better for’t.

Harry, subs. (old).—1. A countryman; a clown. For synonyms, see Joskin.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Harry. A country fellow.

2. (colloquial).—See ’Arry.

Old Harry, subs. (common).—The devil. For synonyms, see Skipper.

1693. Congreve, Old Bachelor, ii., 1. By the Lord Harry I’ll stay
no longer.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. iv. May Old Harry fly off with
him.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (1865), p. 406. Shall I summon Old
Harry himself to this spot?

Harry of the West, subs. phr. (political American).—Henry Clay.

To play old Harry, verb. phr. (common).—To annoy; to ruin; to play the devil.

1889. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 18 Jan. Otherwise played old Harry with
the guardians of the peace.

Tom, Dick, and Harry, phr. (common).—Generic for any and everybody; the mob.

1886. R. L. Stevenson, Kidnapped, p. 287. He rode from public house
to public house and shouted his sorrows into the lug of Tom, Dick,
and Harry.

What Harry gave Doll, verb. phr. (old venery).—The penis: also generic for fornication.

Harry-bluff, subs. (rhyming).—Snuff.

Harry-common, subs. phr. (old).—A general wencher.

1675. Wycherley, Country Wife, v., 4. Well, Harry Common, I hope
you can be true to three.

Harry-soph, subs. (Cambridge Univ.: obsolete).—See quots.

1795. Gent. Mag., p. 20. A Harry, or errant Soph, I understand to
be either a person, four-and-twenty years of age, and of an infirm
state of health, who is permitted to dine with the fellows, and to
wear a plain, black, full-sleeved gown: or, else, he is one who,
having kept all the terms, by statute required previous to his
law-act, is hoc ipso facto entitled to wear the same garment, and,
thenceforth, ranks as bachelor, by courtesy.

1803. Gradus ad Cantabrigiam. Harry Soph; or Henry Sophister;
students who have kept all the terms required for a law act, and
hence are ranked as Bachelors of Law by courtesy. They wear a
plain, black, full-sleeved gown.

Harum-scarum, adj. and subs. (old colloquial).—1. Giddy; careless; wild; a thoughtless or reckless fellow.

1740. Round about our Coal Fire, c. i. Peg would scuttle about to
make a toast for John, while Tom run harum scarum to draw a jug of
ale for Margery.

1780 Mad. D’Arblay, Diary, i., 358 [ed. 1842]. He seemed a mighty
rattling harem-scarem gentleman.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Harum Scarum, he was running harum
scarum, said of any one running or walking carelessly and in a
hurry, after they know not what.

1836. Marryat, Japhet, ch. xcii. I’m not one of those harum-scarum
sort, who would make up a fight when there’s no occasion for it.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. v. They had a quarrel with Thomas
Newcome’s own son, a harum-scarum lad, who ran away, and then was
sent to India.

1870. London Figaro, 19 Oct. ‘Within an inch.’ Tom—that’s my
son—has worked with me in the mine ever since he was quite a little
chap; and a harum-scarum young dog he was, when a boy.

2. (sporting).—Four horses driven in a line; suicide (q.v.).

Has-been, subs. (colloquial Scots’).—Anything antiquated; specifically in commendation: as ‘the good old has-beens’; cf., never was.

1891. Sportsman, 1 Apr. Big Joe M’Auliffe proved conclusively that
he is one of the has beens or else one of the never wasers, as Dan
Rice, the circus man, always called ambitious counterfeits.

Hash, subs. (colloquial).—1. A mess; specifically in the phrase ‘to make a hash of.’ For synonyms, see Sixes and Sevens.

1747. Walpole, Lett. to Mann, 23 Feb. (1833) Vol. II., p. 274.
About as like it, as my Lady Pomfret’s hash of plural persons and
singular verbs or infinitive moods was to Italian.

1836. Michael Scott, Cruise of the Midge, p. 115 [Ry. ed.]. Listado
never could compass Spanish, because, as he said, he had previously
learnt French, and thus spoke a hash of both.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends. ‘M. of Venice.’ Don’t suppose my
affairs are at all in a hash, But the fact is, at present I’m quite
out of cash.

1843. Punch’s Almanack, July (q.v.).

1845. Punch’s Guide to Servants, ‘The Cook,’ Vol. IX., p. 45. He
who gives a receipt for making a stew, may himself make a sad hash
of it.

1886. R. L. Stevenson, Kidnapped, p. 97. Ye’ve made a sore hash of
my brig.

1889. Sporting Life, 30 Jan. Successfully negotiated the tricky
entrance to the stable-yard of the hotel, at which job I have been
in a mortal funk many a time with poor old Jim beside me, for fear
of making a hash of it.

1890. Grant Allen, Tents of Shem, ch. xvi. She made a hash of the
proper names, to be sure.

2. (American cadets’).—Clandestine preparation for supper after hours.

3. (colloquial).—A sloven; a blockhead.

1785. Burns, Epistle to J. Lapraik. A set o’ dull, conceited
hashes.

Verb (colloquial).—1. To spoil; to jumble; to cook up and serve again.

1891. Notes and Queries, 7 S. xii., 22 Aug., p. 144. I do not think
that Earle, a scholar of a high order and a man of the most keen
wit and judgment, would have spoken thus of a thing hashed up by a
hard-headed pedant, however able, such as Gauden.

2. (American).—To vomit. Also to flash the hash (q.v.). For synonyms, see Accounts and Cat.

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

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

3. (Cheltenham School).—To study hard; to swat (q.v.).

To settle one’s hash, verb. phr. (common).—To defeat one’s object; to kill. For synonyms, see Cook one’s Goose.

1864. Browning, Dramatis Personæ. ‘Youth and Art.’ You’ve to settle
yet Gibson’s hash.

c. 1871. Butler, Nothing to Wear. To use an expression More
striking than classic, it settled my hash.

1883. Punch, Nov. 3, p. 208, c. 1. That one stab, with a
clasp-knife, which settled the young Squire’s hash in less than two
seconds.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 123. We’ll keep the
cops off till you settle his hash, the rest replied, getting round
us.

To go back on one’s hash, verb. phr. (American).—To turn; to succumb; to weaken (q.v.).

Hash-house, subs. (American).—A cheap eating-house; a grubbing crib (q.v.).

1883. Daily Telegraph, 10 Jan., p. 5, c. 4. There are [in New York]
lunch counters, cookshops, ‘penny’ restaurants, fifteen-cent
restaurants, commonly called hash-houses and foreign cafés.

Haslar-hag, subs. (nautical).—A nurse at the Haslar Hospital. Cf., Hag.

Hastings. To be none of the Hastings sort, verb. phr. (old colloquial).—To be slow, deliberate, or slothful.

1690. b. e., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. You are none of the Hastings,
of him that loses an Opportunity or a Business for want of
Dispatch.

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

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. He is none of the Hastings sort; a
saying of a slow, loitering fellow: an allusion to the Hastings
pea, which is the first in season.

Hasty, adj. (old: now recognised).—Rash; passionate; quick to move.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hasty, very Hot on a sudden.

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

Hasty G., subs. (Cambridge Univ.).—See quot.

1883. Daily News, 24 Mar., p. 5, c. 2. Mr. Weller’s own hasty g.
(as Cambridge men say when they mean a ‘hasty generalisation’).

Hasty Pudding, subs. (common).—1. A bastard. For synonyms, see Bloody Escape.

2. (old).—A muddy road; a quag.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. The way through Wandsworth is
quite a hasty pudding.

Hat, subs. (Cambridge Univ.).—1. A gentleman commoner. [Who is permitted to wear a hat instead of the regulation mortar-board.] Also Gold Hatband.

1628. Earle, Microcosmographie. ‘Young Gentleman of the
Universitie’ (ed., Arber, 1868). His companion is ordinarily some
stale fellow that has beene notorious for an ingle to gold
hatbands, whom hee admires at first, afterwards scornes.

1803. Gradus ad Cantabrigiam. Hat Commoner; the son of a Nobleman,
who wears the gown of a Fellow Commoner with a hat.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. xxxii. I knew intimately all the
hats in the University.

1841. Lytton, Night and Morning, bk. I., ch. i. He had certainly
nourished the belief that some one of the hats or tinsel
gowns—i.e., young lords or fellow-commoners, with whom he was on
such excellent terms ... would do something for him in the way of a
living.

2. (venery).—The female pudendum. Generally Old Hat. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, i., 6 (note). I shall conclude this
learned note with remarking that the term old hat is used by the
vulgar in no very honourable sense.

1760. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, ch. cxxvi. A chapter of
chambermaids, green gowns, and old hats.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. [‘Because often felt.’] See also
Top Diver.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

3. (Scots’).—A prostitute of long standing. For synonyms, see Barrack-Hack and Tart.

To eat one’s hat (or head), verb. phr. (common).—Generally, I’ll eat my hat. Used in strong emphasis. See Eat.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, xlii., 367. ‘If I knew as little of life
as that, I’d eat my hat and swallow the buckle whole,’ said the
clerical gentleman.

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. xiv. Even admitting the
possibility of scientific improvements being ever brought to that
pass which will enable a man to eat his own head, Mr. Grimwig’s
head was such a particularly large one that the most sanguine man
alive could hardly entertain a hope of being able to get through it
at a sitting.

1844. J. B. Buckstone, The Maid with the Milking Pail. If you are
not as astonished as I was, I’ll eat old Rowley’s hat.

1876. Hindley, Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 216. I’ll eat my hat.

1887. E. E. Money, Little Dutch Maiden, II., viii., 148. And if you
don’t run up against him next day in Bond Street, you may eat your
hat!

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 38. If some of the swells didn’t
ditto, I’ll eat my old hat, which it’s tough.

To get a hat, verb. phr. (cricketers’).—See Hat-trick.

To get into the hat, verb. phr. (common).—To get into trouble.

To have a brick in one’s hat, verb. phr. (American).—To be top-heavy with drink. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

To hang up one’s hat.—See Hang.

To pass (or send) round the hat, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To make a collection.

To talk through one’s hat, verb. phr. (American).—To rag; to huff; to bluster.

1888. New York World, 13 May. Dis is only a bluff dey’re
makin’—see! Dey’re talkin’ tru deir hats.

All round my hat, phr. (streets).—A derisive retort. [From a Broadside Ballad, popular c. 1830: ‘All round my hat I wears a green willow, All round my hat for a twelvemonth and a day, And if any one should ask you the reason why I wear it, Tell them my true love is gone far away’; sung to a tune adapted from a number in Zampa.] Also, as in quot. = all over; completely; generally.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 54. I’m a ’ot un, mate, all round
my ’at.

Shoot that hat! phr. (streets).—A derisive retort. Also I’ll have your hat! Both circa 1860–72.

Well, you can take my hat! phr. (American) = ‘Well, that beats me,’ i.e., ‘that is past belief.’

1873. A Yankee in a Planter’s House. ‘What’s yer name?’ ‘Name
Grief, manssa.’ ‘Name what?’ ‘Name Grief.’ ‘Get out! Yew’re jokin’!
What’s yer name, anyhow?’ ‘Name Grief manssa.’ ‘Wal, yew kin take
my hat.’

What a shocking bad hat, phr. (streets).—[Said to have originated with a candidate for parliamentary honours, who made the remark to his poorer constituents, and promised them new head-gear.]

1892. Anstey, Model Music Hall, 140. Lord B. Regular bounder!
Shocking bad hat! Ver. Not so bad as his boots, and they are not so
bad as his face.

Hatch, verb. (common).—To be brought to bed with child; to bust up (q.v.).

To be under hatches, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be in a state of trouble, poverty or depression. Also dead.

1606. Marston, The Fawne, iv. Remember hee got his elder brother’s
wife with child ... that will stow him under hatches, I warrant
you.

1632–1704. Locke [quoted in Ency. Dict.]. He assures us how this
fatherhood continued its course, till the captivity in Egypt, and
then the poor fatherhood was under hatches.

1639–1661. Rump Songs, i. [1662], 260. And all her orphans bestowed
under hatches.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Under the Hatches, in Trouble,
or Prison.

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v. Under the Hatches, in Trouble, or
Prison.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Under the hatches, in trouble,
distress, or debt.

1789. Dibdin, Tom Bowling, For though his body’s under hatches his
soul has gone aloft.

1835. Buckstone, Dream at Sea. iii., 3. Good-bye, dame, cheer up;
you may not always be under hatches.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Hatchet, subs. (tailors’).—1. An ill-favoured woman. For general synonyms, see Ugly Mug.

2. (American).—A bribe received by Customs officers in New York for permitting imported dutiable goods to remain on the wharf when they ought to go to the general store-house.

To bury (or dig up) the hatchet.—See Bury.

To throw (or sling) the hatchet, verb. phr. (common).—1. To tell lies, to yarn; to draw the long bow (q.v.). Hence hatchet flinging (or throwing) = lying or yarning.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 94. This is a fault, which
many of good understanding may fall into, who, from giving way too
much to the desire of telling anecdotes, adventures, and the like,
habituate themselves by degrees to a mode of the hatchet-flinging
extreme.

1821. P. Egan, Life in London, p. 217. There is nothing creeping or
throwing the hatchet about this description.

1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, ch. xx. We had to call her mother,
and, if anyone stopped, she’d sling the hatchet to them, and tell
them she was a poor lone widow left with five children.

2. (nautical).—To sulk.

Hatchet-faced, adj. (old colloquial: now recognised).—See quots. For synonyms, see Ugly-mug.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hatchet-fac’d, Hard favor’d,
Homely.

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hatchet Face, a long thin face.

1865. Sala, Trip to Barbary, p. 130. The man in black baize with
the felt képi, and who had a hatchet face desperately scarred with
the small-pox, looked from head to heel a bad egg.

1888. J. Runciman, The Chequers, p. 7. His hatchet face with its
piggish eyes, his thin cruel lips, his square jaw, are all
murderous.

Hatch, Match, and Dispatch Column, subs. phr. (journalistic).—The births, marriages, and deaths announcements. Also Cradle, Altar and Tomb Column.

Hatchway, subs. (common).—1. The mouth. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

2. (venery).—The female pudendum. Also Fore-hatch. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Hate-out, verb. (American).—To boycott; to send to Coventry.

18(?). S. Kercheval, History of Virginia. The punishment for
idleness, lying, dishonesty, and ill-fame generally, was that of
hating the offender out, as they expressed it. It commonly resulted
in the reformation or banishment of the person against whom it was
directed. If a man did not do his share of the public service, he
was hated-out as a coward.

Hatfield, subs. (common).—A drink, whose chief ingredients are gin and ginger-beer.

1883. Daily News, 5 July, p. 5, c. 1. There are, we believe, all
sorts of strong waters in the mild-looking and seductive hatfield,
while the majority of ‘cups’ are distinctly ‘mixed.’

Hatful, subs. (colloquial).—A large quantity; a heap.

1859. Punch, lxxx., vi., 236. If they had trusted their own
judgment they would have won a hatful.

1864. M. E. Braddon, Henry Dunbar, ch. xxii. He was in a very good
temper however, for he had won what his companions called a hatful
of money on the steeple-chase.

Hatpeg, subs. (common).—The head. For synonyms, see Crumpet.

Hatter, subs. (Australian).—A gold-digger working alone.

1881. A. Bathgate, Waitaruna, p. 88. He is what they call a hatter,
that is he works alone.

1885. Chambers’ Journal, 2 May, p. 286. Some prefer to travel, and
even to work, when they can get it, alone, and these are known to
the rest as hatters.

1890. Illustrations, p. 158. The former occupant was what is known
as a hatter, i.e., a digger living by himself.

1890. Marriott Watson, Broken Billy. He was looked upon as a
hatter, that is to say, a man who has lived by himself until his
brain has been turned.

Who’s your hatter? phr. (streets).—A catch-cry long out of vogue.

Mad as a hatter, phr. (colloquial).—Very mad.

1863. Marshall [Title, of a farce]. Mad as a Hatter.

Hat-trick, subs. (cricket).—Taking three wickets with three consecutive balls: which feat is held to entitle the bowler to a new hat at the cost of the club.

1888. Sportsman, 28 Nov. Mr. Absolom has performed the hat trick
twice, and at Tufnell Park he took four wickets with four balls.

1892. Cassell’s Sat. Jour. 21 Sept., p. 13, c. 2. On one occasion I
succeeded in doing the hat trick.

1892. Woolwich Polytechnic Mag., 20 May. Three of these wickets
were taken in succession, thus accomplishing the hat-trick.

Hat-work, subs. (journalists’).—Hack work; such stuff as may be turned out by the yard without reference to quality.

1888. H. Rider Haggard, Mr. Meeson’s Will, c. 1. And
five-and-twenty tame authors (who were illustrated by thirteen tame
artists) sat—at salaries ranging from one to five hundred a year—in
vault-like hutches in the basement, and week by week poured out
that hat-work for which Meeson’s was justly famous.

Haulable, adj. (University).—Used of a girl whose society authorities deem undesirable for the men: e.g., she’s haulable = a man caught with her will be proctorised.

Haul-bowline, subs. (nautical).—A seaman. For synonyms, see Strawyarder.

Haul-devil, subs. (common).—A clergyman. For synonyms, see Devil-dodger and Sky-pilot.

Haul Devil, Pull Baker. See Devil.

Haut-boy (or Ho-boy), subs. (American).—A night scavenger; a jakesman or gold-finder (q.v.).

Have, subs. (common).—1. A swindle; a take-in (q.v.); a do (q.v.). For synonyms, see Sell.

2. in. pl. (common).—The moneyed classes; as opposed to the Have-nots, their antipodes.

1893. National Observer, Feb. 25, ix., 357. A body whose policy is
to make the Have-nots as comfortable and objectionable as possible
at the cost in coin and comfort of the Haves.

3. (in. pl.) subs. (Winchester College).—Half-boots. Pronounced Hāves.

Is that a Catch or a Have? verb. phr. (vulgar).—A formula of acknowledgment that the speaker has been ‘had.’ [If the person addressed be unwise enough to answer with a definition, the instant retort is ‘Then you catch (or have, as the case may be) your nose up my arse.’]

Verb (colloquial).—1. To cheat; to take-in; to do. See Be.

1805. G. Harrington, New London Spy (4th Ed.) p. 26. Ten to one but
you are had, a cant word they make use of, instead of saying, as
the truth is, we have cheated him.

1825. Egan, Life of an Actor, ch. iv. ‘He’s not to be had,’ said
Gag, in an audible whisper.

1878. Hatton, Cruel London, bk. II., ch. v. ‘They have had me,
bless you,’ said Brayford, ‘the men who have “limbed” you.’

1889. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 8 Feb. Not to be had so easily, my good
man.

1889. Answers, 23 Feb., p. 196, c. 2. But even these fellows, sharp
as they are, have been caught napping lately in a humorous way.
Those who have had them have been young fellows with friends inside
the Stock Exchange.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 161. Had me nicely once at cards.

1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 23 Jan. I never felt so wild in my life.
I’m no fool, you know, and I began to think I was being had a bit.

1891. J. Newman, Scamping Tricks, p. 58. I was nearly had.

1892. Illus. Bits, 22 Oct., p. 14. c. 2. Oh, mebboy, Oi wasn’t t’
be had that way. Oi always kape resates—spishully Gov’ment wans. Oi
got it safe and cosy in me pocket-book.

2. (venery).—To possess carnally. [Said indifferently of, and by, both sexes.] For synonyms, see Greens.

To have had it, verb. phr. (venery).—To have been seduced.

To have (or take) it out of one, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To punish; to retaliate; to extort a quid pro quo; to give tit for tat.

To have it out with one, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To speak freely in reproof; to complete an explanation; to settle a dispute with either words or blows.

1886. J. S. Winter, Army Society, ch. xix. Instead of going down to
St. Eve’s and having it out, he fretted, and worried, and fumed the
six days away.

1888. Daily News, 8 Dec. There was a question as to who struck the
first blow, but it seemed to him certain that a man who crossed the
road to have it out with another was the most likely to have
commenced hostilities.

To have on, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To secure a person’s interest, attention, sympathy: generally with a view to deceiving him (or her).

To have towards (or with, or at), verb. phr. (old).—1. To pledge in drinking; to toast. See Here.

1637. Cartwright, Royal Slave. Here’s to thee, Leocrates. Leoc.
Have towards thee, Philotas. Phil. To thee, Archippus. Arch. Here,
Molops. Mol. Have at you, fidlers.

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. ii. ‘Have with you, boy—have
with you,’ shouted half-a-dozen other voices, while each stuck his
oaken twig through the handkerchief that held his bundle, and
shouldered it, clapping his straw or tarpaulin hat, with a slap on
the crown, on one side of his head, and staggering and swaying
about under the influence of the poteen.

2. (common).—To agree with.

To have on toast, verb. phr. (common).—1. To take in.

2. (common).—To worst in argument.

To have on the raws, verb. phr. (common).—To teaze; to touch to the quick.

To let one have it, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To punish severely.

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 8. ‘Hurraw, Dick, mind your
hair,’ and I ups old Greaser and let one Injun have it, as was
going plum into the boy with his lance.

Have up, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To bring before the authorities; to summons (q.v.).

Havercake-lads, subs. phr. (Military).—The Thirty-third Foot. [From the circumstance that its recruiting sergeants always preceded their party with an oatcake on their swords.]

Havey-cavey, adj. (old).—Uncertain; doubtful; shilly-shally.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Havil, subs. (old).—A sheep. For synonyms, see Wool-bird.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Havock, subs. (old: now recognised).—Devastation; waste.

1607. Shakspeare, Julius Cæsar, iii., 1. Cry havock, and let slip
the dogs of war.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. They made sad Havock, they
Destroy’d all before ’em.

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.

Hawcubite, subs. (old).—A roysterer; a street bully. [After the Restoration there was a succession of these disturbers of the peace: first came the Muns, then followed the Tityre Tus, the Hectors, the Scourers, the Nickers, the Hawcubites, and after them the Mohawks (q.v.).]

Hawk, subs. (common).—1. A card-sharper; a rook (q.v.).

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hawk, c., a Sharper.

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v. Hawk, a Sharper.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hawk also signifies a sharper, in
opposition to pigeon.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Hawk. A Confidence Man; a swindler.

1891. New York Herald [London ed.], 31 May. These were hawks and
pigeons, and those who are no longer pigeons, and never had, or
will have, an inclination to be hawks.

2. (common).—A bailiff; a constable. For synonyms, see Beak.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. I., ch. iii. ‘The game’s spoiled
this time, Rob Rust, anyhow,’ growled one, in an angry tone; ‘the
hawks are upon us, and we must leave this brave buck to take care
of himself.’

Verb (old).—See quots.

1589. Nashe, Anatomie, Whereas, by their humming and hawking ...
they have leisure to gesture the mislike of his rudeness.

1600. Shakspeare, As You Like It, v., 3. Shall we clap into ’t
roundly, without hawking, or spitting, or saying we are hoarse?

1604. Marston, Malcontent, ii., 2. Is he troubled with the cough of
the lungs still? Does he hawke a night’s?

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. ... Also spitting difficulty.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. ... Hawking, an effort to spit up
the thick phlegm, called oysters, whence it is wit upon record, to
ask the person so doing, whether he has a license, a punning
allusion to the act of hawkers and pedlars.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xlvi. This tremendous volley of
superlatives which Sampson hawked up from the pit of his stomach.

1822. Byron, Vision of Judgment, xc. To cough and hawk, and hem,
and pitch His voice into that awful note of woe.

Ware Hawk! phr. (old).—A warning; look sharp! See subs. sense 2.

d. 1529. Skelton, Ware Hawk (Title).

1625. Jonson, Staple of News, v. 2. See! the whole covey is
scattered; ware, ware the hawks!

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hawk, ware hawk, the word to look
sharp, a bye-word when a bailiff passes.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. iii. Ware hawk! Douse the Glim.

To hawk one’s meat, verb. phr. (common).—To peddle one’s charms, i.e., to show a great deal of neck and breasts. Fr., montrer sa viande.

Hawk-a-mouthed, adj. phr. (old).—See quot.

c. 1750. Dialogue in the Devonshire Dialect (Palmer, 1839) s.v. One
that is perpetually hawking and spitting; also foul-mouthed.

Hawker, subs. (old: now recognized).—A pedlar.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hawkers. Retail News-Sellers.

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hawkers, licensed itinerant
retailers of different commodities, called also pedlars; likewise
the sellers of newspapers.

Hawking, verb. subs. (old: now recognised).—Peddling; offering small wares for sale from door to door. Also see quot. 1690.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hawking, going about Town and
Country with Scotch-Cloth, etc., or News-Papers: also Spitting
difficultly.

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.

Hawk-eye State, subs. phr. (American).—Iowa. [After the famous Indian chief.]

Hawse. To fall athwart one’s hawse, verb. phr. (nautical).—To obstruct; to fall out with; to counter and check.

Hawse-holes. To come (or creep) in through the hawse-holes, verb. phr. (nautical).—To enter the service at the lowest grade; to rise from the forecastle.

1830. Marryat, King’s Own, ch. viii. His kind and considerate
captain was aware that a lad who creeps in at the hawse-holes,
i.e., is promoted from before the mast, was not likely to be
favourably received in the midshipmen’s mess.

1889. Chambers’ Journal, 3 Aug., 495. A sailor who rose from the
ranks was formerly said to have crept through the hawse-holes.

Hay. To make hay, verb. phr. (University).—To throw into confusion; to turn topsy-turvy; to knock to pieces in argument or single combat. Also, to kick up a row.

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. vii. The fellows were mad with
fighting too. I wish they hadn’t come here and made hay afterwards.

To dance the hay, verb. phr. (old).—See quot.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. To Dance the Hay. To make Hay
while the Sun Shines, or make good use of one’s Time.

Hay-bag, subs. (thieves’).—A woman. [I.e., something to lie upon.] For synonyms, see Petticoat. Fr., une paillaisse.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. I., p. 231,
q.v.

Hay-band, subs. (common).—A common cigar. For synonyms, see Weed.

1864. Glasgow Herald, 9 Nov., q.v.

Haymarket-hector, subs. (old).—A prostitute’s bully. See Hector.

c. 1675. Marvell, Cutting of Sir John Coventry’s Nose, vi. O ye
Haymarket Hectors!

Haymarket-ware, subs. (common).—A common prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

Hay-pitcher (or Hay-seed), subs. (American).—A countryman. Cf., Gape-seed.

1851. Herman Melville, Moby Dick, p. 36 (ed. 1892). Ah! poor
hayseed.

1888. New York World. ‘I wouldn’t hev come into his shop if I had
known it,’ protested the imitation hay-pitcher.

1888. Detroit Free Press, Sept. Al. (to hayseed)—Ever read Ouida?
H.—No, but by golly I must get his books. The weeds in my garden
are raisin’ eternal tarnation.

1890. Norton, Political Americanisms, p. 53. Hayseeds—rustics. The
‘hayseed delegation’ in a State legislature is supposed to consist
of farmers or their representatives.

1890. Judge, ‘Christmas No.’, p. 31. Them two fellers ... has been
passin’ d’rog’tory remarks about that hayseed’s ears.

1893. Clark Russell, Life of the Merchant Sailor, in Scribner’s,
xiv, 8. Hired by the State to court the hayseed to the tenders.

Hays! intj. (American).—An injunction to be gone; git (q.v.).

1851. Judson, Mysteries of New York, ch. i., p. 12. Cut and run, my
darling! Hays! is the word, and off you go.

Haze, subs. (American).—Bewilderment; confusion; fog (q.v.).

Verb (American).—1. To play tricks or practical jokes; to frolic. Hence, Hazing. Also to mystify or Fog (q.v.).

1848. N. Y. Com. Adv., 2 Dec. W. had been drinking, and was hazing
about the street at night, acting somewhat suspiciously or
strangely [when the officer arrested him].

1887. Lippincott’s Mag., July, p. 105. This and the Dyke are the
only approaches to hazing that I have ever heard of here.

1888. Philadelphia Bulletin, 27 Feb. So woman is completing her
conquest of the planet. She rows. She smokes. She preaches. She
hazes. She shoots. She rides.

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 39. In some
of the studios at that date, the hazing of new pupils was both
barbarous and obscene.

2. (nautical).—To harass with overwork or paltry orders. Also to find fault.

1840. R. H. Dana, Two Years Before the Mast, ch. viii. Haze is a
word of frequent use on board ship, and never, I believe, used
elsewhere. It is very expressive to a sailor, and means to punish
by hard work. Let an officer once say ‘I’ll haze you,’ and your
fate is fixed. You will be ‘worked up,’ if you are not a better man
than he is.

1852. Bristed, Upper Ten Thousand, p. 205. Here I have been five
days ... hazing—what you call slanging—upholsterers.

1883. Stevenson, Treasure Island, ch. xi., p. 89 (1886). I’ve had
a’most enough o’ Cap’n Smollett; he’s hazed me long enough, by
thunder!

1889. Notes and Queries, 7 S. viii., 31 Aug. My old partner, who
served his time at sea, always spoke of giving a man ‘a good
hazing’ when he meant he had been finding fault with his doings,
etc.

Hazel-geld, verb. (old).—See quots.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hazel-geld, to Beat any one
with a Hazle-Stick or Plant.

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hazle-gild, to beat anyone with a
hazle stick.

Hazy, adj. (old: now recognised).—1. See quot.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hazy Weather, when it is Thick,
Misty, Foggy.

2. (common).—Stupid with drink; mixed (q.v.). For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

1824. T. Hook, Sayings and Doings, 1st. S. ‘Friend of the Family,’
p. 179. One night at a public-house I was foolish enough to brag.
Hazy, Sir—you understand? smoking and drinking.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends. ‘Lay of S. Cuthbert.’ Stamp’d on
the jasey As though he were crazy, And staggering about just as if
he were hazy.

He, subs. (Charterhouse).—A cake. A young he = a small cake. See She.

Head, subs. (nautical).—1. A man-of-war’s privy.

2. (common).—The obverse of a coin or medal. Heads or tails? = Guess whether the coin spun will come down with head uppermost or not. [The side not bearing the Sovereign’s head has various devices: Britannia, George and the Dragon, a harp, the Royal arms, an inscription, etc.—all included in the word ‘tail,’ i.e., the reverse of ‘head.’ The Romans said heads or ships?]

d. 1680. Butler, Remains (1759), ii., 431. Let his chance prove
what it will, he plays at cross you lose, and pile you win.

1871. Observer, 16 Apr. Perhaps for the first time Parliament is
asked to enjoin a settlement of public dispute by means of tossing
heads or tails, ‘cross or pile.’

3. (old).—An arrangement of the hair; a coiffure.

1773. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, ii., 10. Pray how do you
like this head?... I dressed it myself from a print in the Ladies’
Memorandum Book for last year.

To have at one’s head, verb. phr. (old).—To cuckold.

1640. Gough, Strange Discovery. Not if you stay at home, and warm
my bed; But if you leave me, have at your head.

To take one in the head, verb. phr. (old).—To come into one’s mind.

1609. Holland, Amenianus Marcellinus. Now, it tooke him in the
head, and incensed was his desires (seeing Gaule now quited) to set
first upon Constantius.

To do on head, verb. phr. (old). To act rashly.

1559. Eliote, Dict. Abruptum ingenium, a rash brayne that dooeth
all thinges on head.

To do on one’s head, phr. (thieves’).—To do easily and with joy.

To fly at the head, verb. phr. (old).—To attack; to go for (q.v.).

1614. Terence in English. Fellow servant, I can very hardly
refraine my selfe, but that I must needes flee at the head of him.

To eat one’s head. See Hat.

To eat one’s (or its) head off, verb. phr. (common).—To cost more than the worth in keep.

1703. Country Farmer’s Catechism. My mare has eaten her head off at
the Ax in Aldermanbury.

1878. Parker Gillmore, Great Thirst Land, ch. vii. Our horses were
eating their heads off at livery.

1893. Cassell’s Sat. Jour., 1 Feb. p. 384, 2. A lot of raw material
in stock which, in local parlance, would eat its head off if kept
warehoused.

To run on head, verb. phr. (old).—To incite.

1556. Heywood, Spider and Fly. Thirdlie, to set cocke on hope, and
run on heade.

To give one’s head (or one’s beard) for washing, verb. phr. (old).—To yield tamely and without resistance. Fr., laver la tête = to reprimand; to admonish with point, energy, and force.

1615. Beaumont and Fletcher, Cupid’s Revenge, iv., 3. I’m
resolved.... And so am I, and forty more good fellows, That will
not give their heads for the washing, I take it.

1663. Butler, Hudibras, I., iii., 255. For my part it shall ne’er
be said, I for the washing gave my head, nor did I turn my back for
fear.

To put a head (or new-head) on one, verb. phr. (common).—1. To change a man’s aspect by punching his head: hence, to get the better of one’s opponent; to annihilate. Also to put a new face on.

1870. R. Grant White, Words and their Uses. But all his jargon was
surpassed, in wild absurdity, By threats, profanely emphasised, to
put a head on me.... Instead of putting on a head he strove to
smite off mine.

18(?). Bret Harte, Further Words from Truthful James. To go for
that same party for to put a head on him.

1888. Runciman, The Chequers, p. 80. I’d put a new head on yer for
tuppence.

2. (colloquial).—To froth malt liquors. [E.g., ‘Put a head on it, Miss,’ addressed to the barmaid, is a request to work the engine briskly, and make the liquor take on a cauliflower (q.v.)]

Heads I win, tails you lose, phr. (common).—A gage of certainty = In no case can I fail: I hold all the trumps.

1890. Welfare, Mar., p. 8., c. 1. A director holding shares to the
extent of £50 will draw a yearly recognition of his patronage to
the tune of £100. It is unnecessary to ask whether such a course of
speculation follows the principle of tails you lose, heads I win.

To get the head into chancery, verb. phr. (formerly pugilists’: now common).—To get the other fighter’s head under one arm and hold it there; a position of helplessness. See Chancery.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 18. When Georgy, one time, got the head
of the Bear into chancery.

2. (colloquial).—Hence to get, or be got, into a posture of absolute helplessness.

To knock on the head, verb. phr. (common).—To kill; to destroy; to put an end to.

1871. Weekly Dispatch, 21 May. ‘Police Report.’ The magistrate (Mr.
Newton) refused the application for bail, remarking that the sooner
the house was done away with the better, and he would take care
that it and all connected with it were knocked on the head.

To get (or put) the head in a bag. See Bag.

To get (or have) a swelling in the (or a big-) head, verb. phr. (common).—To be or become conceited; to put on airs.

1888. Cincinnati Enquirer. Anna Kelly ... is missing from her home
in Newport. Somebody has been swelling her head.

1890. Star, 27 Jan. Although he received but £100 for his share, he
got the big head, went to pieces, and is now on the retired list.

To hit the right nail on the head, verb. phr. (common). To speak or act with precision and directness; to do the right thing. [The colloquialism is common to most languages. The French say, Vous avez frappé au but (= You have hit the mark). The Italians, Havete dato in brocca (= You have hit the pitcher: alluding to a game where a pitcher stood in the place of Aunt Sally (q.v.)). The Latins, Rem acu tetigisti (= You have touched the thing with a needle: referring to the custom of probing sores.)]

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., iii., 21. The common Proverb as it is
read, That a Man must hit the nail on the head.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 43. That’s what I meant when I
said that that josser, whose name I’ve forgotten ’ad ’it the right
nail on the ’ead.

To argue (or talk) one’s head off, verb. phr. (common).—To be extremely disputative or loquacious; to be all jaw (q.v.).

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 22. Argue your ’ead off like.

To bundle out head (or neck) and heels, verb. phr. (common).—To eject with violence.

To have no head, verb. phr. (common).—1. (of persons). To lack ballast; to be crack-brained. See Apartments to Let. Hence, to have a head on = to be cute, alert; to have sand (q.v.).

1888. Lynch, Mountain Mystery, ch. 2. Caledonia was declared to
possess a Coroner with a head, and a very good one on him, and a
messenger was sent to rouse him.

2. (of malt liquors).—To be flat. See Cauliflower.

To have a head, verb. phr. (common).—To experience the after-effects of heavy drinking (cf., Mouth); also to have a head-ache. For synonyms, see Screwed.

To give one his head, verb. phr. (common).—To give one full and free play; to let go.

To have maggots in the head, verb. phr. (common).—To be crotchetty, whimsical, freakish; to have a bee in one’s bonnet. For synonyms, see Apartments.

To hurt in the head, verb. phr. (old).—To cuckold; to cornute.

To lie heads and tails, verb. phr. (common).—To sleep packed sardine fashion, i.e., heads to head-rail and foot-rail alternately.

Over head and ears (in work, love, debt, etc.), phr. (common).—Completely engrossed in; infatuated with; to the fullest extent.

1589. Nashe, Pasqvill of England (Grosart), i., 114. Presently he
fetcheth his seas himselfe, and leaps very boldly ouer heade and
eares.

1735. Granville (quoted in Johnson’s Dict., s.v. Head). In jingling
rimes well fortified and strong, He fights intrenched o’er head and
ears in song.

Without head or tail, adv. phr. (common).—Incoherent; neither one thing nor the other. E.g., I can’t make head or tail of it = I cannot make it out.

1728. Vanbrugh, Journey to London, iv. He had the insolence to
intrude into my own dressing room here, with a story without a head
or tail.

1736. Fielding, Pasquin, v. Take this play, and bid ’em forthwith
act it; there is not in it either head or tail.

1874. Mrs. H. Wood, Johnny Ludlow, 1st Series, No. 12, p. 203. Mrs.
Blair has been writing us a strange rigmarole, which nobody can
make head or tail of.

1891. W. C. Russell, Ocean Tragedy, p. 22. There is nothing to make
heads or tails of in it that I can see.

To have a head like a sieve, verb. phr. (common).—To be unreliable; to be forgetful.

Heads out! phr. (American university).—A warning cry on the approach of a master.

Arse over Head. See Arse and Heels over Head.

Mutton-head (or Headed).—See Mutton-head.

Fat (or soft) in the head, adv. phr. (common).—Stupid. For synonyms, see Apartments.

Off one’s head, adv. phr. (common).—Stupid; crazy. For synonyms, see Apartments.

Shut your head, phr. (American).—‘Hold your jaw.’

Head-beetler, subs. (workmen’s).—1. A bully; and (2) a foreman; a ganger (q.v.).

1886. Chambers’ Journal, 18 Sept., p. 599. Head-beetler is used (in
Ulster) in the same vulgar sense as ‘Head-cook and bottle-washer’
in some localities. The ‘beetle’ was a machine for producing
figured fabrics by the pressure of a roller, and head-beetler
probably means the chief director of this class of work.

Head-bloke. See Head-screw.

Head-bully (or -cully).—See quots.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Head bully of the pass or
passage bank. The Top Tilter of the Gang, throughout the whole
Army, who Demands and receives Contribution from all the Pass Banks
in the Army.

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.

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

Head-cook and bottle-washer, subs. phr. (common).—1. A general servant; in contempt.

2. (common).—One in authority; a boss (q.v.). Cf., Head-beetler.

1876. Hindley, Adv. of a Cheap-Jack, p. 66. Fred Jolly being the
head-cook and bottle-washer.

Head-clerk. Head-clerk of doxology works, subs. phr. (American).—A parson. See Devil-dodger.

1869. Clemens (Mark Twain), Innocents at Home, ch. ii. If I’ve got
the rights of it, and you are the head clerk of the doxology works
next door.

Header, subs. (tailors’).—A notability; a big-wig (q.v.).

to take a header, verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To plunge, or fall, headforemost, into water: and (theatrical), to take an apparently dangerous leap in sensational drama. Hence, to go straight and directly for one’s object.

1856. Inside Sebastopol, ch. xiv. We may surely shut the door and
take a header.

1863. Fun, 4 Apr., p. 23. Did the chairman commence the proceedings
by taking a tremendous header ... a verbatim report might be
interesting.

1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, ch. vii. ‘Miss Hawke,’ said
I, plucking up my heart for a header and going in, so to speak,
with my eyes shut and my hands clenched.

Head-fruit, subs. (old).—Horns: i.e., the result of being cuckolded.

1694. Congreve, Double Dealer, ii., 3. That boded horns: the fruit
of the head is horns.

Head-Guard, subs. (thieves’).—A hat; specifically, a billy-cock.

1889. Clarkson and Richardson, Police, p. 21. A billy-cock, a
head-guard.

Heading, subs. (American cowboys’).—A pillow; any rest for the head.

Heading ’em, subs. phr. (streets).—The tossing of coins in gambling. (In allusion to the head on the coin.)

Head-marked, adj. (venery).—Horned. To know by head-mark = to know (a cuckold) by his horns.

Headquarters, subs. (racing).—Newmarket. (Being the chief racing and training centre.)

1888. Sportsman, 28 Nov. Of the two-year olds that ran ... races
for them are the strong point of that particular gathering at
headquarters.

Head-rails, subs. (old nautical).—The teeth. For synonyms, see Grinders.

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

1853. Bradley, [Cuthbert Bede] Verdant Green, Pt. II., ch. iv. He
had agreeable remarks for each of his opponents ... to another he
would cheerfully remark, ‘your head-rails were loosened there,
wasn’t they?’

Head-robber, subs. (journalists’).—1. A plagiarist.

2. (popular).—A butler.

Head-screw (or bloke), subs. (prison).—A chief warder.

Heady, adj. (old: now recognised).—1. See quot.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Heady, strong Liquors that
immediately fly up into the Noddle, and so quickly make Drunk.

2. (colloquial).—Restive; full of arrogance and airs; opinionated.

1864. National Review, p. 535. I think it’s the novels that make my
girls so heady.

Heady-whop, subs. (streets).—A person with a preternaturally large head. (A corruption of whopping-head (q.v.).)

Healtheries, subs. (common).—The Health Exhibition, held at South Kensington. [Others of the series were nick-named The Fisheries, The Colinderies, The Forestries, etc.]

Heap, subs. (colloquial).—A large number; lots; a great deal.

1371. Chaucer, Boke of the Duchesse, iii., 295 (1888, Minor Poems,
Skeat, p. 23). Of smale foules a gret hepe.

1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, i., 23/575 (Riverside Press). The
wisdom of an heepe of lerned men.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xxxv. I sha’n’t see her
again, and she wont hear of me for I don’t know how long; and she
will be meeting heaps of men.

1885. Punch, 4 July, p. 4. ‘Splendid sight,’ he goes on, ‘heaps of
people—people you don’t see anywhere else—and lots of pretty
girls.’

1888. Texas Siftings, 20 Oct. He did not encroach on the domain of
familiarity, but he looked a heap.

1892. Gunter, Miss Dividends, xi. Every one here would do a heap
for Bishop Tranyon’s darter.

Adv. (American).—A great deal.

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 223. He pronounced himself a
heap better.

All of a heap, phr. (old: now colloquial).—Astonished; confused; taken aback; flabbergast (q.v.); and (pugilists’) ‘doubled up.’

1593. Shakspeare, Titus Andronicus, ii., 4. Lord Bassianus lies
embrewed here, all on a heap.

1775. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. VIII., ch. ii. My good landlady was
(according to vulgar phrase) struck all of a heap by this relation.

1775. Sheridan, Duenna, ii., 2. That was just my case, too, Madam;
I was struck all of a heap for my part.

1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. xxiv. The interrogatory seemed to strike
the honest magistrate, to use the vulgar phrase, all of a heap.

1832. Egan, Book of Sports, s.v. All of a heap and all of a lump,
unmistakably doubled up by a smasher.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick. ‘And what’s the lady’s name?’ says the
lawyer. My father was struck all of a heap. ‘Blessed if I know,’
said he.

1888. J. McCarthy and Mrs. Campbell-Praed, The Ladies’ Gallery, ch.
xiv. The idea seemed to take him all of a heap.

1891. Scots’ Mag., Oct., p. 321. Spinks and Durward were struck, as
we may say, all of a heap, when they fully realised that Folio had
disappeared.

Heaped, adj. (racing).—1. Hard put to it; floored (q.v.).

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 158. They’ve all heard
of Blackton’s accident, and fancy we’re fairly heaped for someone
to ride.

2. (venery).—Piled in the act.

1607. Cyril Tourneur, Revenger’s Tragedy, ii., 1. O, ’twill be
glorious to kill ’em ... when they’re heaped.

Hear. To hear a bird sing (old).—To receive private communication; in modern parlance, a little bird told me so.

1598. Shakspeare, 2 Henry IV., v., 5. I will lay odds, that ere
this year expire, We bear our civil swords and native fire As far
as France. I hear a bird so sing.

Hearing, subs. (common).—A scolding; a lecture. For synonyms, see Wigging.

Hearing-cheats, subs. (old cant).—The ears.

1567. Harman, Caveat, s.v.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hearing Cheats, Ears.

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.

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

English Synonyms.—Drums; flappers; leathers; lugs (Scots’); taps; wattles.

French Synonyms.—Les plats à barbe (popular = large ears); les oches or loches (thieves’); les isgourdes (popular); des feuilles de chou (popular = cabbage leaves); des écoutes or éscoutes (popular = hearing cheats); des cliquettes (popular).

German Synonyms.—Horcher (= the listener); Linzer, Loser, (Viennese: also Losling, Leusling, Leisling, or Lauschling): Osen.

Heart. Next the heart, adv. phr. (old).—Fasting.

1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse [Grosart], ii., 37. You may command
his hart out of his belly, to make you a rasher on the coales, if
you will next your heart.

1633. Rowley, Match at Midnight, i. Made drunk next her heart.

[Other colloquial usages are at heart = in reality, truly, at
bottom; for one’s heart = for one’s life; in one’s heart of hearts
= in the inmost recesses of oneself; to break the heart of = (a) to
cause great grief, or to kill by grief, and (b) to bring nearly to
completion; to find in one’s heart = to be willing; to get or learn
by heart = to commit to memory; to have at heart = to feel strongly
about; to have in the heart = to design or to intend; to lay or
take to heart = to be concerned or anxious about; to set the heart
at rest = to tranquilize; to set the heart on = to be desirous of,
to be fond of; to take heart of grace = to pluck up courage.]

Heart-and-dart, subs. (rhyming). A fart (q.v.).

Heartbreaker, subs. (old).—A pendant curl; a love-lock (q.v.). Fr., un crêvecœur.

1663. Butler, Hudibras, Pt. I., c. 1. Like Samson’s heartbreakers,
it grew In time to make a nation rue.

1694. Ladies’ Dict. A crevecœur, by some called heartbreaker, is
the curled lock at the nape of the neck, and generally there are
two of them.

1816. Johnson, Eng. Dict., s.v. A cant name for a woman’s curls,
supposed to break the hearts of all her lovers.

Heartburn, subs. (streets).—A bad cigar. For synonyms, see Weed.

Heartsease, subs. (old).—1. See quot.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Heartsease. A twenty-shilling
piece.

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.

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

2. (old).—Gin. For synonyms, see White Satin.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hearts-ease. An ordinary sort
of strong water.

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.

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

Hearty, subs. and adj. (common).—Drink; drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

My Hearty, phr. (nautical).—A familiar address.

Hearty-choke. To have a hearty choke and caper sauce for breakfast, verb. phr. (old).—To be hanged. Cf., Vegetable breakfast, and for synonyms, see Ladder.

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

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, ‘Nix my Doly,’ Who cut his last fling
with great applause To a hearty choke with caper sauce.