Chapter XVII: Part 17

1893. Danvers, The Grantham Mystery, ch. xiii, I am not
particularly anxious to run the risk of being compelled to have a
hearty-choke for breakfast one fine morning.

Heat, subs. (racing and colloquial).—A bout; a turn; a trial; by whose means the ‘field’ is gradually reduced. Cf., Handicap.

1681. Dryden, Epil. to Saunders’s Tamerlane, 25. But there’s no
hope of an old battered jade; Faint and unnerved he runs into a
sweat, And always fails you at the second heat.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. lxxxviii. Our adventurer had
the satisfaction of seeing his antagonist distanced in the first
and second heats.

1753. Adventurer, No. 37. The first heat I put my master in
possession of the stakes.

1819. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor, ch. xxii. There was little to
prevent Bucklaw himself from sitting for the county—he must carry
the heat—must walk the course.

On Heat, subs. phr. (venery).—Amorously inclined, hot (q.v.). [Said of women and bitches.]

Heathen-philosopher, subs. (old).—See quot.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. A sorry poor tatter’d Fellow,
whose Breech may be seen through his Pocket-holes.

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

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v. This saying arose from the
old philosophers, many of whom despised the vanity of dress to such
a point, as often to fall into the excess complained of.

Heave, subs. (old).—1. An attempt to deceive or cajole: a dead-heave = a flagrant attempt.

2. in. pl. (American).—An attack of indigestion or vomiting.

Verb (American).—1. To vomit.

1862. Browne (‘Artemus Ward’), Artemus Ward, his book. ‘Cruise of
the Polly Ann.’ Stickin my hed out of the cabin window, I hev.

2. (old).—To rob: has survived, in Shropshire, as a provincialism. The heler (hider) is as bad as the heaver = the receiver is as bad as the thief.

1567. Harman, Caveat, p. 66. To heue a bough, to robbe or rifle a
boweth.

1575. Awdeley, Fraternitye of Vacabondes. But hys chiefest trade is
to rob bowthes in a faire, or to pilfer ware from staules, which
they cal heaving of the bowth.

1608. Dekker, Belman of London in Wks. (Grosart) III., 102. But the
end of their land-voiages is to rob Boothes at fayres, which they
call Heaving of the Booth.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, Pt. I., ch. xlv. p. 319 (1874). I met
with an old comrade that had lately heav’d a booth, Anglice broken
open a Shop.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Heave a bough. To rob a house.

1724. Coles, Eng. Dict., s.v.

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

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary, (5th Ed.). Heave (v.) ... and in the
Canting Language, it is to rob or steal from any person or thing.

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

To heave on (or ahead), verb. phr. (old).—To make haste; to press forward.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, ch. iv. Come heave ahead, my lads, and
be smart.

Heaven, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable. To feel one’s way to heaven = to grope (q.v.) a woman. See also, St. Peter.

Heavenly-collar, (or lappel), subs. (tailors’).—A collar or lappel that turns the wrong way.

Heaver, subs. (old).—1. The bosom; the panter (q.v.).

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Heaver. A breast.

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

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

2. (American).—A person in love: i.e., sighing (= heaving the bosom, or making play with the heaver) like a furnace.

3. (old).—A thief: cf., Heave (verbal sense 2).

Heavy. See Heavy-wet.

Adj. (American).—Large: e.g., a heavy amount = a considerable sum of money.

To come (or do) the heavy, verb. phr. (common).—To affect a vastly superior position; to put on airs or frills (q.v.). See Come and Do.

The heavies, subs. phr. (military).—The regiments of Household Cavalry, 4th and 5th Dragoon Guards, and 1st and 2nd Dragoons. [From their equipment and weight.]

1841. Lever, Chas. O’Malley, ch. lviii. I’m thinking we’d better
call out the heavies by turns.

Heavy-arsed (old colloquial), adj. phr.—Slow to move; inert; hard to stir. See Arse.

d. 1691. Richard Baxter. Shove to heavy-arsed Christians. [Title.]

Heavy-Cavalry (or Dragoons), subs. (common).—Bugs; light-infantry = fleas. Also heavy horsemen, the heavy troop, and the heavies.

Heavy-grog, subs. (workmen’s).—Hard work.

Heavy-grubber, subs. (common).—1. A hearty eater; a glutton. For synonyms, see Stodger.

1858. Dickens, Great Expectations, ch. xl., p. 190. ‘I’m a heavy
grubber, dear boy,’ he said, as a polite kind of apology when he
had made an end of his meal, ‘but I always was. If it had been in
my constitution to be a lighter grubber, I might ha’ got into
lighter trouble.’

Heavy-plodder, subs. (old).—A stock-broker.

1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London, s.v.

Heavy- (or Howling-) swell, subs. (common).—A man or woman in the height of fashion: a spiff (q.v.).

1892. Anstey, Model Music Hall, 74. We look such heavy swells, you
see, we’re all aristo-crats.

Heavy-wet, subs. (common).—1. Malt liquor; specifically porter and stout. Also heavy. For synonyms, see Drinks and Swipes.

1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry, p. 75. The soldiers and their companions
were seen tossing off the heavy wet and spirits.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. vii. I had been lushing heavy wet.

1838. Grant, Sketches in London, p. 92. If it be heavywet, the
favorite beverage ... of Dr. Wade.

1849. C. Kingsley, Alton Locke, ch. ii. Here comes the heavy. Hand
it here to take the taste of that fellow’s talk out of my mouth.

1852. Judson, Mysteries of New York, bk. II., ch. x. What’ll it be,
my covies? Heavy wet, cold or warm?

1888. J. Runciman, The Chequers, p. 86. Mother up with your heavy
wet and try suthin’ short.

2. (common).—An extraordinarily heavy drinking bout.

Hebe, subs. (old).—1. See quots.

1648–9. Crashaw, Poems. ‘On the Death of Mr. H.’ Ere Hebe’s hand
had overlaid His smooth cheeks with a downy shade.

1778. Bailey, Eng. Dict., s.v. The first Hair appearing about the
genital parts; also the Parts themselves; but more specifically the
Time of Youth at which it first appears.

2. (common).—A waiting maid at an inn; a barmaid.

1603. J. Sylvester, Tr. Du Bartas, Mag., p. 65 (1608). Heer, many a
Hebe faire, heer more than one Quick-seruing Chiron neatly waits
vpon The Beds and Boords.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xlix. Shortly after the same Hebe
brought up a plate of beef-collops.

1886. Athenæum, 9 Jan., 63/2. It is not with the Colonel’s Hebes,
however, that the manœuvres of the military quintet are carried on.

1891. Sportsman, 25 Mar. Not even the kindly morning welcome of La
Rærdon, most pleasant and courteous of deft-handed Hebes, could
blot out the fact.

Hebrew, subs. (common).—Gibberish; Greek (q.v.). To talk Hebrew = to talk nonsense or gibberish.

1705. Vanbrugh, Confederacy, ii., 1. Mon. If she did but know what
part I take in her sufferings——. Flip. Mighty obscure. Mon. Well,
I’ll say no more; but——. Flip. All Hebrew.

1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v. ‘You may as well talk Hebrew,’
said of jargon.

Hector, subs. (old).—A bully; a blusterer.

1659. Lady Alimony, ii., 6 (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875,
xiv., 322). Hectors, or champion haxters, pimps or palliards.
Ibid., iii., I., (p. 326). Levelling at honour, they declare
themselves glorious hectors.

b. 1670. J. Hacket, Archbp. Williams, ii., 203. One Hector, a
phrase at that time for a daring ruffian, had the ear of great ones
sooner than five strict men.

1674. Cotton, Complete Gamester, p. 333. Shoals of Huffs, Hectors,
Setters, Gilts, Pads.... And these may all pass under the general
or common appellation of Rooks.

1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, iv., 1. She would rather trust her
honour with some dissolute debauched hector.

1679. Butler, Hudibras, iii., 2, 108. As bones of Hectors when they
differ, The more th’are Cudgel’d, grow the Stiffer.

1689. Lestrange, Tr. Erasmus, p. 139. And a Ruffling Hector that
lives upon the Highway.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hector, a Vaporing, Swaggering
Coward.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., ii., 24. I hate, she cry’d, a hector, a
Drone without a Sting.

1725. New Cant. Dict.

1750. Ozell, Rabelais, iv., Pref. xxiii. These roaring hectors.

1757. Pope, Imit. Hor., ii., 1, 71. I only wear it in a land of
Hectors, thieves ... and Directors.

1778. Bailey, Eng. Dict., s.v.

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

1826. Congress Deb., ii., 1., p. 1024. He hoped it would invite ...
a reply from the Southern Hector ... of this debate.

Verb (common).—To play the bully; to bluster. Also to play the Hector.

1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, ii., 1. No hectoring, good Captain.

1849–61. Macaulay, Hist. of Eng., ch. xvi. To play the Hector at
cockpits or hazard tables.

To wear Hector’s cloak, verb. phr. (old).—To receive the right reward for treachery. [When Thomas Percy, Earl of Northumberland, was routed in 1569, he hid himself in the house of Hector Armstrong, of Harlaw, who betrayed him for hire, and prospered so ill thereafter that he died a beggar by the roadside.]

Hectoring, subs. and adj. (old: now recognised).—Bullying; blustering.

1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, ii., 1. Thou art soe debauched,
drunken, lewd, hectoring, gaming companion. Ibid., ii., 1. Every
idle, young, hectoring, roaring companion, with a pair of turned
red breeches, and a broad back, thinks to carry away any widow of
the best degree.

1893. St. James’s Gazette, xxvii, 4074, p. 3. Mr. Sexton with much
unnecessary outlay of hectoring bluster, repudiates guilty
knowledge.

Hedge, subs. (racing).—See verbal sense.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown, p. 200. Now listen, you young fool, you
don’t know anything about it; the horse is no use to you. He won’t
win, but I want him as a hedge.

1864. Eton Schooldays, ch. vii. He took the precaution to take
those odds five or six times by way of a hedge, in case anything
should happen to Chorley.

Verb (racing).—1. To secure oneself against, or minimise the loss on a bet by reversing on advantageous terms; to get out (q.v.). [Thus, if a man backs A to win him £100 at 5 to 1, he will if possible hedge by laying (say) 3 to 1 to the amount of (say) £60 against him. He will then stand thus: If A wins he gains on the first bet £100, and loses on the second £60, leaving a net gain of £40; if A loses he loses on the first bet £20, and wins on the second £20, thus clearing himself.] See Standing on Velvet and Go.

1616. Jonson, Devil is an Ass, iii., 1. I must have you do A noble
gentleman a courtesy here, In a mere toy, some pretty ring or
jewel, Of fifty or threescore pound. Make it a hundred, And hedge
in the last forty that I owe you, And your own price for the ring.

1671. Buckingham, The Rehearsal, Prol. Now, critics, do your worst,
that here are met, For, like a rook, I have hedg’d in my bet.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hedge, to secure a desperate
Bet, Wager, or Debt.

1736. Fielding, Pasquin, Act iii. Sneer. That’s laying against
yourself, Mr. Trapwit. Trap. I love a hedge, sir.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Hedge (v.) ... also to secure
or re-insure a dangerous debt, voyage, wager, etc.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. lxix. They changed their
note, and attempted to hedge for their own indemnification, by
proposing to lay the odds in favour of Gauntlet.

1754. Connoisseur, No. 15. Whatever turn things take, he can never
lose. This he has effected, by what he has taught the world to
call, hedging a bet.

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

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. xii. If she says ‘Yes,’
sell out.... If she says ‘No’ get second leave.... So it’s hedged
both ways.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 201. You’d better hedge some of
your sweep money.

2. (common).—To elude a danger.

To die by the hedge, verb. phr. (common).—To die in poverty.

To hang in the hedge, verb. phr. (old).—See quot.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. It hangs in the hedge, of a Law-suit
or anything else Depending, Undetermined.

As common as the hedge (or highway), phr. (old).—Very common.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. As common as the hedge or
highway, said of a prostitute or Strumpet.

1725. New Cant. Dict. s.v.

By hedge or by crook. See Hook.

Hedge-bird, subs. (old).—See quot.

1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, ii., 1. Out, you rogue, you
hedge-bird, you pimp, you panier-man’s bastard, you.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Hedge-bird, a Scoundrel or sorry
Fellow.

1725. New Cant. Dict.

Hedge-bottom Attorney (or Solicitor), subs. phr. (legal).—A person who, being not admitted or being uncertificated (or, it may be, admitted and certificated both, but struck off the rolls for malpractice), sets up in the name of a qualified man, and thus evades the penalties attaching to those who act as solicitors without being duly qualified. [All the business is done in another name, but the hedge-bottom is the real principal, the partner being only a dummy.]—Sir Patrick Colquhoun in Slang, Jargon and Cant.

Hedge-creeper, subs. (old).—A hedge-thief; a skulker under hedges; a pitiful rascal.

1594. Nashe, Unfortunate Traveller p. 32 (Chiswick Press, 1892).
Call him a sneaking eavesdropper, a scraping hedge-creeper, and a
piperley pickthanke.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hedge-creeper; a pitiful
rascal.

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

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

Hedge-docked, adj. (venery).—Deflowered in the open.

Hedge-marriage (or wedding), subs. (old).—An irregular marriage performed by a hedge-priest (q.v.); a marriage over the broom.

Hedge-note, subs. (old).—Low writing. [As Dryden: ‘They left these hedge-notes for another sort of poem.’]

Hedge-popping, subs. (sporting).—Shooting small birds about hedges. Whence Hedge-popper = a trumpery shooter; and Hedge-game = small birds, as sparrows and tits.

Hedge-priest (or parson), subs. (old: now recognised).—A sham cleric; a blackguard or vagabond parson; a couple beggar. [As Johnson notes, the use of Hedge in a detrimental sense is common. As Hedge-begot; Hedge-born; Hedge-brat; Hedge-found; Hedge-docked (q.v.); Hedge-tavern (= a low alehouse); Hedge-square (q.v.); Hedge-reared; Hedge-mustard; Hedge-writer (= a Grub-street author); Hedge-building, etc. Shakspeare uses the phrase ‘Hedge-born’ as the very opposite of ‘gentle blooded’ (1 Henry VI., iv., 1).] Specifically, Hedge-priests = (in Ireland) a cleric admitted to orders directly from a Hedge-school (q.v.) without having studied theology. [Before Maynooth, men were admitted to ordination ere they left for the continental colleges, so that they might receive the stipend for saying mass.]

1588. Marprelate’s Epistle, p. 30 (Ed. Arber). Is it any maruaile
that we haue so many swine dumbe dogs nonresidents with their
iourneimen the hedge-priests ... in our ministry.

1594. Shakspeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost, v., 2. The pedant, the
braggart, the hedge-priest, the fool, and the boy.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes. Arlotto, the name of a merie
priest, a lack-latine, or hedge-priest.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hedge Priest. A sorry Hackney,
Underling, Illiterate, Vagabond, see Patrico.

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

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

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xvii. A hedge-parson, or
buckle-beggar, as that order of priesthood has been irreverently
termed.

Hedger. See Hedge, sense 2.

1828–45. Hood, Poems (Ed. 1846), p. 96. A black-leg saint, a
spiritual hedger.

Hedge-school, subs. (Irish).—A school in the country parts of Ireland formerly conducted in the open air, pending the erection of a permanent building to which the name was transferred. Hence, hedge-schoolmaster.

Hedge-square. To doss (or snooze) in Hedge-square (or street), verb. phr. (vagrants’).—To sleep in the open air.

English Synonyms.—To skipper it; to doss with the daisies; to be under the blue blanket; to put up at the Gutter Hotel; to do a star pitch.

French Synonyms.—Coucher à l’hotel de la belle étoile (pop. = to sleep at the Star Hotel); manger une soupe aux herbes (popular); filer la comète (popular = to nose the comet); coucher dans le lit aux pois verts.

1877. Greenwood, Under the Blue Blanket. The vagrant brotherhood
have several slang terms for sleeping out in a field or meadow. It
is called ‘snoozing in Hedge Square,’ etc.

Hedge-tavern (or -ale-house), subs. (old).—See quot.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hedge Tavern or Alehouse, A
Jilting, Sharping Tavern, or Blind Alehouse.

1705. Farquhar, Twin-rivals, i., 1. That was ... in the days of
dirty linen, pit-masks, hedge-taverns, and beef-steaks.

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

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

Hedge-whore (or Hedge-bit), subs. (old: now recognised).—A filthy harlot working in the open air.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, s.v., Zambracca, a common
hedge-whore, strumpet, a base harlot.

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

Hedging, subs. (racing).—See Hedge, verbal sense 2.

1867. A. Trollope, Claverings, ch. xxiv. He would be lessening the
odds against himself by a judicious hedging of his bets.

Heel. To bless the world with one’s heels, verb. phr. (old).—To be hanged. For synonyms, see Ladder.

1566–7. Painter, Palace of Pleasure, sign R., 8. And the next daye,
the three theves were conveied forth to blesse the worlde with
their heeles.

To cool (or kick) the heels, verb. phr. (common).—To wait a long while at an appointed place.

1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair. Who forthwith comitted my little
hot furie to the stockes, where we will leave him to coole his
heeles, whilst we take a further view of the faire.

1673. Wycherley, Gentleman Dancing Master, iv., 1. They ne’er think
of the poor watchful chambermaid, who sits knocking her heels in
the cold, for want of better exercise, in some melancholy lobby or
entry.

1752. Fielding, Amelia. In this parlour Amelia cooled her heels, as
the phrase is, near a quarter of an hour.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford [Ed. 1854], p. 22. He expected all who
kicked their heels at his house would behave decent and polite to
young Mr. Dot.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, ch. xiii. Tell him that I’ll trouble
him to forget to go to sleep again as he did last time, and leave
me here kicking my heels contrary to the rules of the service.

1879. Sala, Paris Herself Again, i. We cooled our heels during the
ordinary an intolerable half hour.

1888. Lynch, Mountain Mystery, ch. xlvi. That young gentleman, who
had been cooling his heels for what seemed like half the night.

To lay by the heels, verb. phr. (common).—To confine; to fetter; to jail.

1601. Shakspeare, Henry VIII., v., 4. If the king blame me for it,
I’ll lay ye all By the heels, and suddenly.

1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, iii. Sir, if you be not quiet the
quicklier, I’ll have you clapp’d fairly by the heels, for
disturbing the Fair.

1663–1678. Butler, Hudibras, i., 3. Th’ one half of man, his mind,
Is, sui juris, unconfined, And cannot be laid by the heels.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1886. R. L. Stevenson, Kidnapped, p. 184. If they lay me by the
heels, Alan, it’s then that you’ll be needing the money.

To lift one’s heels, verb. phr. (venery).—To lie down for copulation; to spread (q.v.).

To turn (or topple) up the heels (or toes), verb. phr. (old).—To die. For synonyms, see Aloft.

1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse [Grosart], ii., 77. Our trust is ...
you will tourne up their heeles one of these yeares together, and
prouide them of such vnthrifts to their heires, as shall spend in
one weeke ... what they got ... all their lifetime.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe. Leaven thousand and fifty people
toppled up their heels.

To take to (or show) a pair of heels, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To take to flight; to run away. For synonyms, see Amputate.

1593. Shakspeare, Comedy of Errors. Nay ... Sir, I’ll take my
heels.

1864. Chambers’ Journal, Dec. Once before he had ‘found meanes yet
at length to deceive his keepers, and took him to his heels’ to the
sea coast.

His heels, verb. phr. (gaming).—The knave of trumps at cribbage or all-fours. Hence ‘two for his heels’ = two points scored (at cribbage) for turning up this card.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

To tread upon (or to be at or upon) the heels, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To follow close or hard after; to pursue.

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, iv., 7. One woe doth tread upon another’s
heels.

To go heels over head, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To turn a somersault; to be hasty; to fall violently. Also Top over Tail.

1540. Lyndsay, Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis, 3744. This fals warld
is turnit top ouir taill.

To have (or get) the heels of, verb. phr. (old).—To outrun; to get an advantage.

1748. Smollett, Roderick Random. Thou hast got the heels of me
already.

Down (or out) at heel, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Slipshod; shabby; in decay.

1605. Shakspeare, King Lear, ii., 2. A good man’s future may grow
out at heels.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1851–6. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., 122. He was a
little down at heel.

Heeled, adj. (American).—Armed. [From the steel spur used in cock-fighting.]

Heeler, subs. (American).—1. Followers or henchmen of a politician or a party.

1888. Denver Republican, 29 Feb. The heelers and strikers, bummers
and stuffers, otherwise known as practical politicians, who do the
work at the Democratic polls, and manipulate the primaries and
local conventions.

1888. New York Herald, 4 Nov. A band succeeded them and preceded a
lot of ward heelers and floaters.

2. (American).—A bar, or other loafer; anyone on the look-out for shady work.

3. (American thieves’)—An accomplice in the pocket-book racket (q.v.). [The Heeler draws attention, by touching the victim’s heels, to a pocket-book containing counterfeit money which has been let drop by a companion, with a view to inducing the victim to part with genuine coin for a division of the find.]

4. (Winchester College).—A plunge, feet foremost, into water. Fr., une chandelle.

Heel-taps, subs. (common).—1. Liquor in the bottom of a glass. Bumpers round and no heel taps = Fill full, and drain dry! See Daylight. Fr., la musique.

1795. Gent. Mag., p. 118. Briskly pushed towards me the decanter
containing a tolerable bumper, and exclaimed, ‘Sir, I’ll buzz you:
come, no heel-taps!’

1836. Dickens, Pickwick (Ed. 1857), p. 10. No heel-taps, and he
emptied the glass.

1838. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, ch. xxxii. There was a proper
objection to drinking her in heeltaps.

1841. Punch, i., 117. Empty them heeltaps, Jack, and fill out with
a fresh jug.

1844. Buckstone, The Maid with the Milking Pail. Added to which,
she’s a termagant, and imbibes all the heeltaps.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xiv. The relics of yesterday’s
feast—the emptied bottles ... the wretched heel-taps that have been
lying exposed all night to the air.

2. (common).—A dance peculiar to London dustmen.

Heifer, subs. (common).—A woman; old heifer (in Western America) = a term of endearment. For synonyms, see Petticoat.

18(?). In the Back Woods, p. 71. Now, git out, I says, or the ol’
heifer ’ll show you whar the carpenter left a hole for you to
mosey.

Heifer-paddock, subs. (Australian).—A ladies’ school.

1885. Mrs. Campbell-Praed, Australian Life. The cattle (women)
hereabouts are too scattered.... Next year I shall look over a
heifer-paddock in Sydney, and take my pick.

Heigh-ho, subs. (thieves’).—Stolen yarn. [From the expression used to apprise the fence that the speaker had stolen yarn to sell.]

Heights. To scale the heights of connubial bliss, verb. phr. (venery).—To copulate. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

Helbat, subs. (back).—A table.

Hell, subs. (old).—1. Generic for a place of confinement, as in some games (Sydney), or a cell in a prison: specifically, a place under the Exchequer Chamber, where the king’s debtors were confined.

1593. Shakspeare, Comedy of Errors, iv., 2. A hound that runs
counter, and yet draws dry-foot well, One that before the
judgement, carries poor souls to hell.

1658. Counter-Rat. In Wood Street’s hole, or counter’s hell.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Secreta.... Also the name of a
place in Venice where all their secret records and ancient
evidences be kept, as hell is in Westminster Hall.

2. (old).—A workman’s receptacle for stolen or refuse pieces, as cloth, type, etc.; one’s eye. Also Hell-hole and Hell-box. See Cabbage. Hell-matter = (printers’) old and battered type.

(?). Newest Academy of Compliments. When taylors forget to throw
cabbage in hell, And shorten their bills, that all may be well.

1589. Nashe, Martins Months Minde (Grosart), i. 185. Remember the
shreddes that fall into the Tailors hell, neuer come backe to couer
your backe.

1592. Defence of Conny Catching, in Greene’s Wks., xi., 96. This
hel is a place that the tailors haue vnder their shopboord, wher al
their stolne shreds is thrust.

1606. Day, Ile of Gulls. That fellowes pocket is like a tailors
hell, it eats up part of every mans due; ’tis an executioner, and
makes away more innocent petitions in one yeere, than a red-headed
hangman cuts ropes in an age.

1625. Jonson, Staple of News, i., 1. That jest Has gain’d thy
pardon, thou hadst lived Condemn’d To thine own hell.

1663. T. Killegrew, Parson’s Wedding, iii., 5., in Dodsley, O.P.
(1780) xi., 452. Careless [addressing a tailor]. Why then, thou art
damned. Go, go home, and throw thyself into thine own hell; it is
the next way to the other.

1663–1712. King, Art of Cookery. In Covent Garden did a taylor
dwell, Who might deserve a place in his own hell.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hell, the Place where the
Taylers lay up their Cabbage, or Remnants, which are sometimes very
large.

1698. Money Masters All Things, p. 56. The Cheating Knave some of
the clues does throw Into his hell-hole; and then lets her know
That he her web cannot work out o’ th’ Loom.

1704. Swift, Tale of a Tub, Sec. iii. The tailor’s hell is the type
of a critic’s common-place book.

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

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

1814. C. Lamb, Melancholy of Tailors in Poems, etc. (Ed. Ainger),
p. 333. The tailor sitting over a cave or hollow place, in the
cabalistic language of his order, is said to have certain
melancholy regions always open under his feet.

1853. Notes and Queries, 1 S., viii., 315, c. 2. The term cabbage,
by which tailors designate the cribbed pieces of cloth, is said to
be derived from an old word ‘cablesh,’ i.e., wind-fallen wood. And
their hell where they store the cabbage, from helan, to hide.

3. (common).—A gambling house. [Whence Silver-hell = a gambling house where only silver is played for; Dancing-hell = an unchartered hall; and so forth.]

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, ii., 4. Jerry. A hell, Tom? I’m at
fault again! Log. A gambling house, Jerry!

1841. Comic Almanack, p. 280. A man at a hell, Playing the part of
a Bonnetter well.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. xxxix. He plays still; he is in a
hell every night almost.

1890. Saturday Review, 1 Feb., p. 134, c. 2. These private hells
nevertheless exist, and as all money found on the premises is
seized by the police, the players have to resort to all kinds of
subterfuge when the three loud knocks are heard which indicate the
presence of the commissaire.

4. (venery).—The female pudendum; cf., Heaven. For synonyms, see Monosyllable. [See Boccaccio, Decameron.]

Heaven, Hell and Purgatory, subs. phr. (old).—Three ale-houses formerly situated near Westminster Hall.

1610. Jonson, Alchemist, v., 2. He must not break his fast In
Heaven or Hell.

Hell broke loose, subs. phr. (common).—Extreme disorder; anarchy.

1632. Hausted, Rivall Friends, v., 10. Fye, fye, hell is broke
loose upon me.

1672. Marvell, Rehearsal (Grosart), iii, 212. War broke out, and
then to be sure hell’s broke loose.

1703. Farquhar, Inconstant, iv., 4. Hell broke loose upon me, and
all the furies fluttered about my ears.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 96. Tho’ hell’s broke loose, and the
Devils roar abroad.

Hell of a (lark, goer, row, and so forth), adj. phr. (common).—Very much of a ——; a popular intensitive.

All to hell (or gone to hell), adj. phr. (colloquial).—Utterly ruined.

To hope (or wish) to hell, verb. phr. (common).—To desire intensely.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 229. I hope to h—— the horse will
break his neck and his rider’s too.

To play (or kick up) hell and tommy, verb. phr. (common).—To ruin utterly. Also, to play hell and break things; to raise hell; to make hell’s delight.

1837–40. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, p. 287 (Ed. 1862). And in the
mean time rob ’em, plunder ’em, and tax ’em; hang their priests,
seize their galls, and play hell and tommy with them, and all
because they speak French.

1859. De Quincey, Wks. (14 vol., ed. vi., 336). About a hundred
years earlier Lord Bacon played h—— and tommy when casually raised
to the supreme seat in the Council by the brief absence in
Edinburgh of the King and the Duke of Buckingham.

1867. Lahore Chronicle, 20 May. The Sepoys are burning down the
houses, and playing h—— and tommy with the station.

1879. Justin M’Carthy, Donna Quixote, ch. xxxii. We’ll have a fine
bit of fun, I tell you. I’ve played hell-and-tommy already with the
lot of them.

To lead apes in hell, verb. phr. (old).—To die an old maid. [From a popular superstition.]

1599. Henry Porter, The Two Angry Women of Abingdon. (Dodsley, Old
Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii., 294–5). For women that are wise will
not lead apes in hell.... Therefore, come husband: maidenhead
adieu.

1600. Shakspeare, Much Ado about Nothing, ii., 1. He that is more
than youth is not for me, and he that is less than man I am not for
him; therefore I will ... even lead his apes into hell.

1605. London Prodigal, ii. But ’tis an old proverb, and you know it
well, that women, dying maids, lead apes in hell.

1611. Chapman, May-day, v. 2. I am beholden to her; she was loth to
have me lead apes in hell.

1659. The London Chanticleers, i., 2. I’ll always live a virgin!
What! and lead apes in hell?

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 179. Celladon at that began To talk
of apes in hell.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Bloudie Jacke.’ They say she is
now leading apes ... And mends Bachelors’ small clothes below.

To put the devil into hell, verb. phr. (old).—To copulate.—Boccaccio. [Hell = female pudendum.] For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

To give hell, verb. phr. (common).—To trounce; abuse; or punish severely. Also (American), to make one smell hell (or a damn particular smell).

Hell-for-leather, adv. phr. (common).—With the utmost energy and desperation.

1892. R. Kipling, Barrack Room Ballads. When we rode
hell-for-leather, Both squadrons together, Not caring much whether
we lived or we died.

Like hell, adv. phr. (common).—Desperately; with all one’s might.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xxix. I tried every place,
everything; went to Ems, to Wiesbaden, to Hombourg, and played like
hell.

Go to hell! phr. (Common).—An emphatic dismissal: the full phrase is, ‘Go to hell and help the devil to make your mother into a bitch pie.’ [A variant is, ‘Go to hell and pump thunder.’] For analogous phrases, see Oaths.

1836. Michael Scott, Cruise of the Midge, p. 72. So, good men, go
to hell all of you—do—very mosh go to hell—do.

1889. Daily News, 21 Dec., p. 7, c. 1. He was asked to see somebody
about his evidence, and told him to go to hell.

1892. Kipling, Barrack Room Ballads. ‘Ford o’ Kabul River.’ Kabul
town’ll go to hell.

Hell and Scissors! intj. (American).—An ejaculation of surprise and ridicule. In England, Scissors!

Hell-bender, subs. (American).—A drunken frolic; a tremendous row. Also Hell-a-popping and Hell’s delight.

Hell-broth, subs. (common).—Bad liquor. For synonyms, see Drinks.

Hell-cat (-hag, -hound, -kite, etc.), subs. (old: now recognised).—A man or woman of hellish disposition; a lewdster of either sex; cf., Hallion.

1606. Shakspeare, Macbeth, v., 7. Macd. Turn, hell-hound, turn!
Macb. Of all men else I have avoided thee.

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

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

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

Hell-driver, subs. (old).—A coachman.

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

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

Hellite, subs. (gaming).—A professional gambler.—Ducange.

1838. Grant, Sketches in London. Prosecuting the hellites for
assault.

Hellophone, subs. (American).—The telephone. [From Halloo! + phone.]

Help, subs. (colloquial: once literary).—A hired assistant. Lady-help = a woman acting as a companion, and undertaking the lighter domestic duties with or without wages.

1824. Peake, Americans Abroad, i., 1. Have you seen my help—my
nigger.

1839. De Quincey, Murder as one of the Fine Arts, ii. For domestic
helps are pretty generally in a state of transition.

1848. Burton, Waggeries, p. 77. A bevy of ready helps rushed upon
him and tore him from the seat of honour.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. vi. ‘Well, you’ve had a
pretty good day of it,’ said Tom, who had been hugely amused; ‘but
I should feel nervous about the help, if I were you.’

So help (or s’elp or s’welp) me God (Bob, never, or say-so, etc.), phr. (common).—An emphatic asseveration.

1888. J. Runciman, The Chequers, p. 86. I’ll pay it back, s’elp me
Gord.

1892. A. Chevalier, ‘Mrs. ’Enery ’Awkins.’ Selp me Bob I’m crazy,
Liza, you’re a daisy.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 62. ’Selp me never, old pal, it’s
a scorcher.

1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, ch. xiv. Well, so help my blessed
tater, if this isn’t our old Jose turned up again.

Helpa, subs. (back).—An apple.

Helpless, adj. (colloquial).—Drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

Hemispheres, subs. (venery).—The paps. For synonyms, see Dairy.

Hemp (or Hemp-seed, Stretch-Hemp, Hemp-string, or Hempy), subs. (old).—1. A rogue; a candidate fit for the gallows. Frequently used jocularly. A crack-halter (q.v.). Fr., une graine de bagne.

1532. Sir T. More, Wks. [1557], folio 715. [He] feareth [not] to
mocke the Sacrament, the blessed body of God, and ful like a
stretch hempe, call it but cake, bred, or starch.

1566. Gascoigne, Supposes, iv., 3. If I come near you, hempstring,
I will teach you to sing sol fa.

1598. Shakspeare, 2 Henry IV., ii., 1. Do, do, thou rogue, thou
hemp-seed.

1606. Chapman, Mons. D’Olive, Act v., p. 135. (Plays, 1874). Van. A
perfect young hempstring. Va. Peace, least he overhear you.

1659. Lady Alimony, iv., 6. (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875,
xiv., p. 350). Now, you hempstrings, had you no other time to nim
us but when we were upon our visits?

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hemp, young-hemp, An appellation
for a graceless boy.

1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. xxxiv. She’s under lawful authority now;
and full time, for she was a daft hempie.

1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, [Ed. 1840], p. 139. ‘We’ll see
that, young hempseed,’ replied Sharples.

2. (old).—A halter.

1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, iv, 14. Laudanum, therefore, being
unable to stop the health of our hero, which the fruit of hempseed,
and not the spirit of poppy-seed, was to overcome....

Verb (American).—To choke or strangle.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

To wag hemp in the wind, verb. phr. (old).—To be hanged. See Hempen Fever and Ladder.

1532. Sir T. More, Wks. [1557], folio 715. Tindall calleth blessing
and crossynge but wagging of folkes fingers in the æyre, and
feareth not (like one yt would at length wagge hempe in the winde)
to mocke at all such miracles.

Hempen-bridle, subs. (old).—A ship’s rope or rigging. See Horse and Tree.

Hempen Collar (candle, circle, cravat, croak, garter, necktie, or habeas), subs. (old).—The hangman’s noose; a halter. Also Hemp, and the Hearty-choke. Cf., Anodyne neck-lace. See quot. 1595.

1530–95. Turbervile, Of Two Desperate Men. A man in deepe despaire,
with hempe in hand, Went out in haste to ende his wretched dayes.

c. 1586. Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv., 4. When the hangman had put on
his hempen.

1594. Shakspeare, 2 Henry VI., iv., 7. Ye shall have a hempen
candle then, and the pap of a hatchet.

c. 1785. Wolcot [P. Pindar], Rights of Kings, Ode xviii. Your hemp
cravats, your pray’r, your Tyburn miser.

1819. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor, ch. xvi. I wad wager twa and a
plack that hemp plaits his cravat yet.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Hempen Habeas. He will get over it by a
hempen habeas.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. iv. If ever I know as how you
makes a flat of my Paul, blow me tight, but I’ll weave you a hempen
collar: I’ll hang you, you dog, I will.

1886. Miss Braddon, Mohawks, ch. xxviii. A full confession were
perhaps too much to expect. Nothing but the immediate prospect of a
hempen necklace would extort that.

Hempen Fever. To die of a hempen fever, verb. phr. (old).—To be hanged. For synonyms, see Ladder.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hempen Fever, a man who was hanged,
is said to have died of a hempen fever; and in Dorsetshire to have
been stabbed with a Bridport dagger; Bridport being a place famous
for manufacturing hemp into cords.

1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 76. She had been married
four times; three of her husbands died of hempen fevers.

Hempen-fortune, subs. (old).—Bad luck; a term for the gallows.

1705. Vanbrugh, The Confederacy, v., 1. If ever I see one glance of
your hempen fortune again, I’m off your partnership for ever.

Hempen-squincy, subs. (old).—Hanging. For synonyms, see Ladder.

1646. Randolph’s Jealous Lovers. Hear you, tutour, Shall not we be
suspected for the murder, And choke with a hempen squincy.

Hempen-widow, subs. (old).—A woman widowed by the gallows.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hempen Widow, One whose Husband
was Hanged.

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

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th Ed.). Hempen-Widow (s.), a woman
whose husband was hanged.

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

1834. Harrison Ainsworth, Rookwood, p. 89. In a box of the
stone-jug I was born, Of a hempen-widow the kid forlorn Fake away.

Hen, subs. (common).—1. A woman. Specifically, a wife or mistress. For synonyms, see Petticoat.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Hen. In Black-boy Alley I’ve a ken, A
tyke and fighting cock; A saucy tip-slang moon-eyed hen, Who is oft
mill-doll at block.

2. (common).—Drink money. See Hen drinking.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 20. Whenever there’s hens on the
crow, ’Arry’s good for a hinnings,—no fear!

Verb (Scots’).—To funk; to turn tail; to hen on = to fear to attempt.

Cock and hen club, subs. phr. (common).—A club composed of men and women.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Hens and Chickens, subs. phr. (thieves’).—Pewter measures; quarts and pints. Cf., Cat and Kittens.

1851. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. i., p. 276. The
hens and chickens of the roguish low lodging-houses are the
publicans’ pewter measures; the bigger vessels are ‘hens,’ the
smaller are ‘chickens.’

Hen-drinking, subs. (provincial).—See quot.

1859. Notes and Queries, 2 S. viii., 239. There is yet another
[Yorkshire marriage-custom], viz., the hen-drinking. On the evening
of the wedding day the young men of the village call upon the
bridegroom for a hen—meaning money for refreshments ... should the
hen be refused, the inmates may expect some ugly trick to the house
ere the festivities terminate.

Hen Frigate, subs. (nautical).—A ship commanded by the captain’s wife. Cf., Hen-pecked.

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

1883. Clark Russell, Sailors’ Language, s.v.

Hen-fruit, subs. (American).—Eggs.

Hen (or Chicken)-hearted, adj. (old: now recognised).—Timorous; cowardly.

d. 1529. Skelton, Why Come Ye not to Courte. They kepe them in
their holdes Lyke hen-hearted cuckoldes.

1506–56. Udal, James I. He is reconed a lowte and a henne-hearted
rascall.

1639–61. Rump Songs, i., [1662] 319. Let the hen-hearted Cit drink
whey.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th Ed.). Hen-hearted, of a cowardly,
fearful, or timorous disposition.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. (2nd Ed.), s.v. ‘Poltron.’ A coward, or
hen-hearted fellow.

1762. Foote, Liar, iii., 2. Why, what a dastardly, hen-hearted——But
come, Papillion, this shall be your last campaign.

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

1812. Johnson, Eng. Dict., s.v. Hen-hearted ... a low word.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxviii. Are you turned hen-hearted,
Jack?

Hen-house, subs. (old).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hen-house, a house where the woman
rules, called also a she-house.

Hen of the game. See Game.

Hen-party (Convention- or Tea-), subs. (common).—An assemblage of women for political or social purposes. Cf., Bull or Stag-party. Also, Bitch-, Tabby-, and Cat-party.

Hen-pecked, adj. (old: now recognised).—Petticoat government; ruled by a woman.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Henpeckt Friggat, whose
Commander and Officers are absolutely sway’d by their Wives. Ibid.
Henpeckt Husband, whose Wife wears the Breeches.

1695. Congreve, Love for Love, iv., 13. I believe he that marries
you will go to sea in a hen-pecked frigate.

1712. Arbuthnot, History of John Bull, Pt. I., ch. v. He had a
termagant wife, and, as the neighbours said, was playing henpecked!

1712. Spectator, No. 479. Socrates, who is by all accounts the
undoubted head of the sect of the hen-pecked.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th Ed.). Hen-pecked, a man that is
over-awed by his wife, and dares do nothing disagreeable to her
inclinations.

1771. Smollett, Humphry Clinker, l. 27. I shall never presume to
despise or censure any poor man for suffering himself to be
henpecked, conscious how I myself am obliged to truckle to a
domestic demon.

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

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. xxxvii. He had fallen from all the
height and pomp of beadleship, to the lowest depth of the most
snubbed hen-peckery.

1857. A. Trollope, Barchester Towers, ch. iii. But Mrs. Proudie is
not satisfied with such home dominion, and stretches her power over
all his movements, and will not even abstain from things spiritual.
In fact, the bishop is hen-pecked.

Hen’s-arsehole.—See Mouth.

Hen-snatcher, subs. (American).—A chicken thief.

1888. Bulletin, 24 Nov. All the dead-beats and suspected
hen-snatchers plead when before the Bench that they were only
‘mouching round,’ etc.

Hens’-rights, subs. (American).—Women’s rights.

Hen-toed, adj. phr. (common).—To turn the toes in walking like a fowl.

Here. Here’s to you (at you, unto you, now, or luck), phr. (common).—An invitation to drink; here’s a health to you. For synonyms, see Drinks.

1651. Cartwright, Royal Slave. Here’s to thee, Leocrates.

1717. Ned Ward, Wks. ii., 71. Then we were fain To use
Hertfordshire kindness, here’s to you again.

1853. Diogenes ii., 46. Each a pot in his hand.... Observed in a
style of remarkable ease, ‘Old Buck here’s luck,’ And then at the
pewter proceeded to suck.

Here’s luck, phr. (tailors’).—I don’t believe you.

I am not here, phr. (tailors’).—‘I don’t feel inclined to work’; ‘I wish to be left alone.’

Here’s to it, phr. (common).—An obscene toast. See It, sense 2.

Here-and-Thereian, subs. phr. (old).—A rolling stone; a person with no permanent address. Lex. Bal., 1811.

Hereford, adj. (American cowboy). White. [Herefords are white-faced.]

Herefordshire-weed, subs. (old).—An oak.

Her Majesty’s Carriage, subs. phr. (common).—A prison van; the Queen’s ’bus. See Black Maria. Fr., l’omnibus à pègres.

Her Majesty’s Tobacco Pipe, subs. (common).—The furnace where the forfeited tobacco from the Customs House is burnt. [Now a thing of the past: the tobacco being distributed to workhouses, etc.]

1871. Echo, 27 Jan. All that was not sold will be burnt, according
to custom, in her majesty’s tobacco pipe. We cannot think such
waste justifiable.

Hermit (or Baldheaded Hermit), subs. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

Herod. To out-herod Herod, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To out-do; specifically (theatrical) to excel in rant.

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, iii., 2. Oh, it offends me to the soul to
hear a robustious, perriwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters,
to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings ... it
out-herods Herod.

Herring. Neither fish, flesh, fowl, nor good red herring, phr. (old).—Neither one thing nor the other.

1682. Dryden, Duke of Guise, Epil. (6th line from end). Neuters in
their middleway of fleering, Are neither fish, nor flesh, nor good
red herring.

To throw a sprat to catch a herring (or whale), verb. phr. (old).—To forego an advantage in the hope of greater profit.

1826. Buckstone, Luke the Labourer, i., 2. I give dat like throwing
away a sprat to catch a herring, though I hope on this occasion to
catch a bigger fish.

1890. Grant Allen, Tents of Shem, ch. xix. He’s casting a sprat to
catch a whale.

Dead as a herring (or shotten herring), adv. phr. (old).—Quite dead. [Herrings die sooner on leaving the water than most fish.] See Dead.

1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, ii., 3. By gar de herring
is no dead as I vill kill him.

1785. Burns, Death and Dr. Hornbook. I’ll nail the self-conceited
sot As dead’s a herrin’.

1790. Rhodes, Bombastes Furioso, Sc. 4. Ay, dead as
herrings—herrings that are red.

Like herrings in a barrel, adv. phr. (common).—Very crowded.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 117. People jammed inside like
herrings in a barrel.

The devil a barrel the better herring, phr. (old).—All bad alike.—Lex. Bal. In modern American, all alike; indistinguishable. Cf., Sardine.

Herring-gutted, adj. (old).—Lanky; thin.—Grose.

Herring-pond, subs. (common).—The sea; specifically, the North Atlantic Ocean. See Briny and Puddle. To be sent across the herring-pond = to be transported.

1722. England’s Path to Wealth. ’Tis odds but a finer country,
cheaper and better food and raiment, wholesomer air, easier rents
and taxes, will tempt many of your countrymen to cross the
herring-pond.

1729. Gay, Polly, i., 1. Bless us all! how little are our customs
known on this side the herring pond!

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

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, etc., s.v. Herring-pond—the sea, the
Atlantic; and he who is gone across it is said to be lagged, or
gone a Botanizing.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 256, ed. 1854. You’re too old a
hand for the herring-pond.

1864. M. E. Braddon, Henry Dunbar, ch. xxv. You’re not going to run
away? You’re not going to renounce the pomps and vanities of this
wicked world, and make an early expedition across the
herring-pond—eh?

1884. Phillipps-Woolley, Trottings of a Tenderfoot. Everyone
nowadays has read as much as he or she cares to about the voyage
across the herring-pond.

1889. Notes and Queries, 7 S., vii., p. 36, c. 2. Terms which have
lived in America, and again crossed the herring-pond with modern
traffic.

1890. Punch, 6 Feb. Saturday.—My connection with war ended.
Calculate I start to-morrow with the Show across the herring-pond,
to wake up the Crowned Heads of Europe!

1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody, ch. xvii. If so, I’ll—I’ll cut him, when
I cross the—er—herrin’ pond.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 119. I guess we have
ruined one or two well-known authors, on the other side of the
herring pond.

Hertfordshire-kindness, subs. (old).—An acknowledgment, or return, in kind, of favours received. (But see quots., 1662, 1690, and 1738).

1662. Fuller, Worthies. This is generally taken in a good and
grateful sense, for the mutual return of favours received: it being
(belike) observed that the people in this county at entertainments
drink back to them who drank to them.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hertfordshire-kindness,
Drinking to the same Man again.

1717. Ned Ward, Wks., ii., 7. Then we were fain To use
Hertfordshire-kindness, Here’s to you again.

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

1738. Swift, Polite Conversations. Neverout. My Lord, this moment I
did myself the honour to drink to your Lordship. Lord Smart. Why
then that’s Hertfordshire Kindness. Neverout. Faith, my Lord, I
pledged myself: for I drank twice together without thinking.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hertfordshire Kindness, drinking
twice to the same person.

Hewgag. The Hewgag, subs. (American).—A name for an undeterminate, unknown, mythical creature.—Slang, Jargon, and Cant.

Hey-gammer-cook. To play at Hey-gammer-cook, verb. phr. (venery).—To copulate. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

1720. C. Johnson, Highwaymen and Pyrates, ‘Margaret Simpson’
(q.v.).

Hiccius Doccius, subs. phr. (Old Cant).—A juggler; also a shifty fellow or trickster.

1676. Shadwell, Virtuoso, ii., p. 19. I shall stand here till one
of them has whipt away my Mistris about business, with a Hixius
Doxius, with the force of Repartee, and this, and that, and
Everything in the world.

1678. Butler, Hudibras, iii., 3, 579. At Westminster, and
Hickses-Hall, And Hiccius Dockius play’d in all.

1688. Wycherley, Country Wife, iii. That burlesque is a Hocus-pocus
trick they have got, which by the virtue of Hictius doctius,
topsey-turvey, etc.

1812. Johnson, Eng. Dict., s.v. Hiccius doccius ... a cant word for
a juggler; one that plays fast and loose.

Adj. (old).—Drunk; slovenly. Also, Hickey (q.v.). For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

1733. North, Examen, i., 3, 137 (1740). The author with his
Hiccius-doxius delivery.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hicksius Doxius, Drunk.

Hic Jacet, subs. phr. (common).—A tombstone; also a memorial inscription. [From the opening words.]

1598. Shakspeare, All’s Well, etc., iii., 6. The merit of service
is seldom attributed to the true ... performer. I would have that
drum ... or hic jacet.

1858–59. Tennyson, Idylls of the King (‘Vivien’). Among the cold
hic jacets of the dead.

Hick, subs. (Old Cant).—I. A man; specifically a countryman; a booby. Also (American thieves’) Hickjop and Hicksam. For synonyms, see Joskin.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hick, any Person of whom any
Prey can be made, or Booty taken from; also a silly Country Fellow.

1720. Smith, Lives of Highwaymen and Pyrates, ii., 39. Among whom
was a country farmer ... which was not missed at all by the Country
Hick.

1725. New Cant. Dict. Song 3. ‘The Thief-catcher’s Prophesy.’ The
Eighth is a Bulk, that can bulk any Hick.

1754. Scoundrel’s Dict. The fourteenth, a gamester, if he sees the
Hick sweet He presently drops down a cog in the street.

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

Hickety-split, adj. (American).—With all one’s might; at top speed; hammer and tongs (q.v.); full chisel (q.v.).

Hickey, adj. (old).—See quot.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Hickey, Tipsy; not quite drunk;
elated.

Hickory-shirt, subs. (American).—A checked shirt, cotton or woollen.

Hide, subs. (common).—The human skin. Once literary; now colloquial and vulgar.

1568. Bannatyne MSS., ‘When Flora, etc.’ (Hunterian Club, 1879–88).
Sche is so brycht of hyd and hew, I lufe bot hir allane I wene.

1607. Marston, What You Will, ii., I. A skubbing railer, whose
course harden’d fortune, Grating his hide, gauling his starued
ribs, Sittes hauling at Deserts more battle fate.

1731. C. Coffey, The Devil to Pay, Sc. 5. Come, and spin, you drab,
or I’ll tan your hide for you.

1892. Kipling, Barrack-Room Ballads. ‘Gunga-Din.’ An’ for all ’is
dirty ’ide ’e was white, clear white, inside.

Verb (common).—To flog. For synonyms, see Tan.

1868. Cassell’s Mag., May, p. 80. This was carried across the yard
to Jacky as a regular challenge, and some said that Kavanagh and
his friends were coming over to hide Jacky after dinner.

1885. Punch, 29 Aug. p. 98. And the silver-topped rattan with which
the boys I used to hide.

Hidebound, adj. (old: now recognised).—Barren; intractable; niggardly; pedantic; utterly immovable.

1606. Return from Parnassus, ii., 4 (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed.,
1875, ix., 125). Any of the hidebound brethren of Oxford or
Cambridge.

1672. Wycherley, Love in a Wood, i., 2. I am as barren and
hidebound as one of your scribbling poets, who are sots in company
for all their wit.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hidebound Horse, whose Skin
sticks very close, and tite like a Pudding Bag, usually when very
Fat. Ibid. Hidebound Muse, Stiff, hard of Delivery, Sir J. Suckling
call’d Ben Johnson’s so.

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

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

1893. Pall Mall Gaz., 24 Feb. ‘High Time to Get Up.’ The most
dragging inertness and the most hide-bound celerity.

Hiding, subs. (common).—A thrashing. For synonyms, see Tanning.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, ii., p. 23. May the Gown give the
Town a jolly good hiding.

1864. Mark Lemon, Jest Book, p. 236. Some people have a notion that
villany ought to be exposed, though we must confess we think it a
thing that deserves a hiding.

1871. All the Year Round, 18 Feb. p. 288. Served me right if I’d
got a hiding.

1883. Pall Mall Gaz., 16 Apr., p. 7, c. 2. They should stone all
boys they met who were not members of the society, or in default
themselves receive a good hiding.

1888. Sportsman, 22 Dec. The chairman told Deakin he could scarcely
expect anything but a hiding for being connected with such a
scurrilous publication.

1891. Licensed Vict. Mirror, 30 Jan., p. 7, c. 1. Before Paddock
could claim the victory, which cost the Redditch fighter one of the
severest hidings he ever had to put up with.

Higgledy-piggledy, adj. (Old Cant: now recognised).—In confusion; topsy-turvy; at sixes and sevens.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Alla rappa, snatchingly,
higledi-pigledie, shiftingly, rap and run.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Higglede-piggledy, all
together, as Hoggs and Piggs lie Nose in Arse.

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

1758. A. Murphy, The Upholsterer, ii. Ambassadors and Hair-Cutters,
all higgledy-piggledy together.

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

1812. Johnson, Eng. Dict., s.v. Higgledy-piggledy, a cant word,
corrupted from higgle, which denotes any confused mass, as higglers
carry a huddle of provisions together.

1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, ch. xxii., p. 199. His name’s got
all the letters in it, higgledy-piggledy.

1873. Miss Broughton, Nancy, ch. ii. We are all
higgledy-piggledy—at sixes and sevens!

1876. M. E. Braddon, Joshua Haggard, ch. xvi. ‘If some of you will
sit down,’ remonstrated Judith, ‘I’ll pour out the tea. But I don’t
feel as if anybody wanted it while you’re standing about
higgledy-piggledy.’

Higgler, subs. (old).—A hawker.

High, adj. (American).—Drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

2. (colloquial).—Stinking; gamey (q.v.).; whence, by implication, diseased (as a prostitute); obscene in intention and effect.

The high and dry, subs. phr. (clerical).—The High Church or Anglo-Catholic party in the Establishment, as opposed to the low and slow (q.v.), or Evangelical section. Cf., Broad and Shallow.