Chapter XXII: Part 22

1663. Butler, Hudibras, i., 3. Where’er th’ in hugger-mugger lurk,
I’ll make them rue their handy-work.

1762. Churchill, The Ghost, bk. iii., line 27. It must not, as the
Vulgar say, Be done in Hugger Mugger way.

1815. Mirror for Mag., p. 457. For most that most things knew, in
hugger-mugger utter’d what they durst.

Hugging, subs. (common).—Garotting (q.v.).

Hugsome, adj. (colloquial).—Carnally attractive; Fuckable (q.v.).

Hulk (Hulky, or Hulking Fellow), subs. (colloquial).—A fat person; a big lout. Generally, ‘great hulk of a fellow.’

d. 1631. Drayton, The Mooncalf (Chalmers, English Poets, 1810, iv.,
126). Wallowing she lay, like to a boist’rous hulk Dropsied with
humours.

1698. Ward, London Spy, Pt. xiv., p. 324. Up in the Chimney Corner
sat a great hulking Fellow.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th Ed.). Hulk (s.) ... also a lazy,
dronish fellow.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hulkey, or Hulking, a great hulkey
fellow, an overgrown clumsy lout, or fellow.

1858. G. Eliot, Mr. Gilfil’s Love-Story, ch. ii. When you’ve got
... some great hulky fellow for a husband, who swears at you and
kicks your children.

1870. Chambers’s Journal, 9 July, p 447. He sees a slouching,
shambling, hulk of a fellow standing listlessly in a doorway.

1871. G. Eliot, Middlemarch, ch. lvi. I want to go first and have a
round with that hulky fellow who turned to challenge me.

1883. A. Dobson, Old-World Idylls, p. 164. I’d like to give that
hulking brute a hit—Beating his horse in such a shameful way!

1893. National Observer, 29 July, p. 267, col. 2. The absolute
ascendancy exercised by a small but brilliant member ... over a
hulking Junior.

Verb (colloquial).—To hang about; to mooch (q.v.).

Hull between Wind and Water, verb. phr. (venery).—To possess a woman. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

Hull-cheese, subs. (Old Cant).—See quot. For synonyms, see Swipes.

1622. Taylor, A Very Merry Wherry-Ferry (Hindley, Works, 1872), 19.
Give me hull-cheese, and welcome and good cheer. Ibid. Hull-cheese,
is much like a loafe out of a brewers basket, it is composed of two
simples, mault and water, in one compound, and is cousin germane to
the mightiest ale in England.

Hulverhead, subs., and Hulver-headed, adj. (old).—See quots. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hulver-head, a silly Foolish
fellow.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hulver Headed, silly, puzzle-pated.

Hum, subs. (Old Cant).—1. A kind of strong liquor: probably a mixture of beer and spirits, but see quot. 1690. Also hum-cap.

1616. Ben Jonson, Devil’s an Ass, i., 1. Carmen Are got into the
yellow starch, and chimney sweepers To their tobacco, and strong
waters, hum, Meath, and Obarni.

1619. Fletcher, Wild Goose Chase, ii., 3. Lord, what should I ail?
What a cold I have over my stomach; would I’d some hum.

1622. Fletcher, Beggars’ Bush, ii., 1. Except you do provide me hum
enough, And lour to bouze with.

d. 1645. Heywood, Drunkard, p. 48 [Gifford]. Notwithstanding the
multiplicity of wines, yet there be stills and limbecks going,
swetting out aqua vitæ and strong waters, deriving their names from
cinnamon, balm, and aniseed, such as stomach-water, humm, etc.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hum-cap, old, mellow and very
strong Beer.

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

2. (common).—A trick; a delusion; a cheat. Also a lie.

1756. The World, No. 164. Now if this be only a hum (as I suppose
it is) upon our country apes, it being blown in the World will put
an end to it.

d. 1764. Lloyd, Poems (1774), ‘A Tale.’ There, my good critics,
lies the hum.

1806. Lamb, Letters in Wks. (Ed. 1852), ch. v., p. 81. I daresay
all this is hum!

1820. Reynolds (P. Corcoran), The Fancy, ‘King Tims the First.’ You
or your son have told a bouncing hum.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Hum—a whispered lie.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Row in an Omnibus Box.’ It’s ‘No
Go!’—it’s ‘Gammon!’—it’s ‘all a Hum!’

1848. Punch, vol. XIV., p. 37. ‘Ye Frenche Goe Uppe to London.’
That ye French threats were all bouncing, That ye muster was a hum,
And they’d never dare to come.

1885. T. E. Brown, The Doctor, p. 49. A hum and a huff, And none o’
the real stuff.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 76. Married life may be ticketed
honey, but I know it’s more of a hum.

3. (old).—See quot.

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

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hums, persons at church; there is a
great number of hums in the autem, there is a great congregation in
the church.

Verb (old).—1. To cheat; to bamboozle; to quiz (q.v.).

1762. Goldsmith, Life of Nash, in Wks., p. 552 (Globe). Here Nash,
if I may be permitted the use of a polite and fashionable phrase,
was humm’d.

1764–1817. J. G. Holman, Abroad and at Home, i., 3. Ser. It is
queer enough that his father, Sir Simon Flourish, should be hummed
so as to think he is going the tour of Europe, when, all the while,
he never got a step farther than St. George’s Fields.

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

1811. Poole, Hamlet Travestied, iii., 1. Go seek him there: I fear
he’s only humming.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 4. While you hum the poor spoonies with
speeches so pretty.

d. 1840. Mad. D’Arblay, Diary, ii., 153 [ed. 1842]. I don’t mean to
cajole you hither with the expectation of amusement or
entertainment; you and I know better than to hum or be hummed in
that manner.

1856. Elliott, Carolina Sports, p. 122. I hummed him, my stripping
was all a feint.

2. (old).—To mumble.

d. 1842. Maginn, Vidocq Versified. To hear Old Cotton humming his
pray.

To hum and haw, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To hesitate, to raise objections.

1469. Paston Letters, II., 347 (Ed. Gairdner). He wold have gotyn
it aweye by humys and by hays, but I wold not so be answeryd.

1594. Nashe, Unf. Traveller (Grosart, Wks., v., 96). Hee made no
more humming or haulting, but in despite of her husbandes
kinsfolkes, gaue her her Nunc dimittis.

1610. Jonson, Alchemist, iii., 2. You may be anything, and leave
off to make Long-winded exercises; or suck up Your ha! and hum! in
a tune.

1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, i., 1. A sober-drawn exhortation of
six hours, whose better part was the hum-ha-hum.

1620. Massinger, Fatal Dowry, iv., 1. Do you stand Humming and
hahing now?

d. 1680. Butler, Remains (1759), ii., 103. He hums and hahs.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hum and Haw, to Hesitate in
Speech; also to delay, or difficultly to be brought to Consent.

1706. Mrs. Centlivre, Love at a Venture, iv., 2, Wks. (1872), i.,
304. That was the first excuse that came at my tongue’s end—and you
know there is no humming and hawing with my old master, sir.

1729. Swift, Intelligencer, No. 14, p. 165 (2nd Ed.). If any person
... shall presume to exceed six minutes in a story, to hum or haw,
use hyphens between his words, or digressions.

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

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. vi. Lord Ascot hummed and hawed,
and told him to tell his father he had been a good boy.

To make things hum, verb. phr. (American).—To force the pace; to keep moving.

1888. San Francisco Weekly Exam., 23 Feb. Ever since he has taken
the newspaper reins in San Francisco he has made things hum.

1890. Punch, 22 Feb. If I was flush of the ochre, I tell you I’d
make the thing hum.

1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 28 Aug., p. 2, c. 3. With their advent things
begin to hum.

1893. W. T. Stead, Review of Reviews, p. 152. In the opinion of
both foes and friends we make things hum.

To hum around, verb. phr. (American).—To call to account; to call over the coals (q.v.).

Human, subs. (old: now American).—A human being. [Also Human Boar]. For synonyms, see Cove.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., ii., 332. Mongst humans by Court
dunning.

1783–5. Cowper, Task, ii., line 105. And agonies of human and of
brute.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xxviii. They have little
hovels for their cattle ... and a house for the humans as grand as
Noah’s Ark.

1882. Daily Telegraph, 13 Dec., p. 2, c. 2. In the opening pages
Mr. Matthew Arnold mourns in verse over the death of ‘Poor
Matthias,’ who is not a human but a canary.

1888. Denver Republican. He was only a dog ... but was much more
useful to society than many humans.

Humber-keels. See Billy-Boy.

Humble Pie. To eat humble pie, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To submit; to apologise; to knock under. For synonyms, see Cave In.

1862. Thackeray, Philip, xxvii. If this old chief had to eat humble
pie, his brave adversaries were anxious that he should gobble up
his portion as quickly as possible, and turned away their honest
old heads as he swallowed it.

1887. Manville Fenn, This Man’s Wife, ch. ii., 4. Our savings are
gone and we must eat humble pie for the future.

Hum-Box, subs. (common).—1. A pulpit.

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

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

1827. Lytton, Pelham, p. 302 [Ed. 1862]. Well, you parish bull
prig, are you for lushing Jacky, or pattering in the hum-box?

1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, bk. III., ch. ix., p. 309. He was
nicknamed the ‘Amen bawler’ (parson) and recommended to take to the
hum-box (pulpit) as better suited to him than cadging.

English Synonyms:—Autem; cackle tub; clack loft; cowards’ castle; gospel mill (also a church); wood.

2. (American).—An auctioneer’s rostrum.

Humbox Patterer, subs. (common).—A parson. For synonyms, see Devil Dodger and Sky Pilot.

1839. G. W. M. Reynolds, Pickwick Abroad, p. 223. Though the humbox
patterer talked of hell.

Humbug, subs. (old: now recognised).—1. A hoax; an imposture; a swindle.

1735–40. Killigrew, The Universal Jester; or a pocket companion for
the Wits: being a choice collection of merry conceits, facetious
drolleries, &c., clenchers, closers, closures, bon-mots, and
Humbugs. [Title].

1754. Connoisseur. No. 14. Single words, indeed, now and then broke
forth; such as—odious, horrible, detestable, shocking, humbug. This
last new-coined expression, which is only to be found in the
nonsensical vocabulary, sounds absurd and disagreeable whenever it
is pronounced.

1762. Churchill, The Ghost, bk. I., line 72. And that Great Saint,
we Whitefield call, Keeps up the Humbug Spiritual.

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

1828. Webster, Eng. Dict., s.v.

2. Deceit; pretence; affectation.

1837. R. H. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends. (Ed. 1862). p. 239. That
sort of address which the British call humbug and Frenchmen
‘Finesse.’ (It’s ‘Blarney’ in Irish—I don’t know the Scotch.)

1842. Douglas Jerrold, Bubbles of the Day, i. Never say humbug;
it’s coarse. Sir P. And not respectable. Smoke. Pardon me, my lord;
it was coarse. But the fact is, humbug has received such high
patronage, that now it’s quite classic.

3. A cheat; an impostor; a pretender. Also (old), hummer.

d. 1783. Henry Brooke, Poems (1776). ‘On Humbugging.’ (Chalmers’
English Poets, 1810, xvii., 428). Our hummers in state, physic,
learning, and law.

1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v. Hum. He is a humbug that has
recourse to the meanness. He wishes to be a bugaboo, or most
exalted fool.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xxx. ‘You’re a humbug, sir.’ ‘A what?’
said Mr. Winkle, starting. ‘A humbug, sir. I will speak plainer, if
you wish it. An imposter, sir.’

Verb. To hoax; to swindle; to cajole.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. lxxxv. He who seemed to be
most afflicted of the two taking his departure with an exclamation
of ‘Humbugged, egad!’

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

1826. The Fancy, ii., 77. We would not have the reader believe we
mean to humbug him—not for a moment.

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. xliii. She was always ready to
help him, provided, as she told him, ‘he didn’t humbug.’

Hence Humbugging = hoaxing, swindling, or Humbugable = gullible. Humbuggery = deception; imposture. Humbugger = a cheat, a hoaxer.

d. 1763. Henry Brooke, Poems (1778), ‘On Humbugging.’ (Chalmers,
English Poets, 1810, xvii., 428). Of all trades or arts in repute
or possession humbugging is held the most ancient profession. Idem.
To you, ... the humbuggers of hearts.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xviii. The species of wit which
has been long a favourite in the city, under the names of
cross-biting, giving the dor, bamboozling, cramming, hoaxing,
humbugging, and quizzing.

1825. Southey, Letters, iii., 488 [ed. Warter, 1856]. My charity
does not extend so far as to believe that any reasonable man
(humbuggable as the animal is) can have been so humbugged.

1826. The Fancy, ii., 29. A contemporary writer of eminence some
years ago termed such exhibitions humbugging.

1840. Thackeray, Paris Sketch Book, p. 31. Do you not laugh, O
Pharos of Bungay, at the continuance of a humbug such as this?—at
the humbugging anniversary of a humbug?

1852. Judson, Myst., etc., of New York, ch. iv. Oh, blast your
humbuggery—talk plain English to me.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. v. When the old lady was gone, Mr.
Hobson had no need of any more humbugging, but took his pleasure
freely.

1883. Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, ch. xl., p. 369. Traces
of its inflated language and other windy humbuggeries survive along
with it.

Humdrum, subs. (old: now recognised).—1. A tiresome dullard; a steady-going, common-place person. See also quot. 1725.

1596. Jonson, Every Man in His Humour, i., 1. By gads-lid I scorn
it, I, so I do, to be a consort for every humdrum.

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v. Hum-Drums or Hums, a Society of
Gentlemen, who meet near the Charter-House, or at the King’s Head
in St. John’s Street. Less of mystery, and more of Pleasantry than
the Free Masons.

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

2. Monotony; tameness; dullness.

1823. Hints for Oxford, p. 63. Men of spirit must ever dislike the
unleavened humdrum of its monkish constitution.

1893. The Nation, 13 July, p. 32, col. 1. We go so far with the
adorers of home and humdrum.

3. (old).—The same as Humbug (q.v.).

1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden (Grosart, Works, iii., 14). Whereof
generous Dick (without humdrum be it spoken) I utterly despair of
them.

4. (old).—A wife; also a husband.

Adj. Dull; tame; commonplace; monotonous.

1702. Vanbrugh, False Friend, ii. A very humdrum marriage this.

1705. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. I., pt. ii., p. 6. Tho’ it is
their humdrum fashion To hate all musical precation.

1730. Jas. Miller, Humours of Oxford, Act I., p. 7 (2nd Ed.). Your
fellows of colleges are a parcel of sad, muzzy, humdrum, lazy,
ignorant old caterpillars.

d. 1764. Lloyd, Poems (1774), ‘A Familiar Epistle.’ So frothy,
vapid, stale, humdrum.

1765. C. Smart, Fables, xv., line 5. Content in humdrum mood
t’adjust Her matters to disperse the dust.

1774. Foote, Cozeners, i., 1. Not one, madam, of the humdrum,
drawling, long winded tribe.

1775. Sheridan, Rivals, ii., 1. Yet am I by no means certain that
she would take me with the impediment of our friends’ consent, a
regular humdrum wedding, and the reversion of a good fortune on my
side.

d. 1823. Bloomfield, Poems, ‘Richard and Kate’ (1825), p. 89. Come,
Goody, stop your humdrum wheel.

1825. Harriet Wilson, Memoirs, iii., 237. You are, in fact, too
constant for Paris. One has enough of all that hum-drum stuff in
England.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. lxi. The most fervent Liberals,
when out of power, become humdrum Conservatives, or downright
tyrants or despots in office.

1863. Alex. Smith, Dreamthorpe, p. 23. Giddy people may think the
life I lead here staid and humdrum, but they are mistaken.

1893. Standard, 8 Aug., p. 4, col. 6. The thing, in his view, is to
rattle off something pretentious, and avoid the humdrum and
tiresome methods which statesmanship of the pre-Home-Rule period
used to respect.

Humdurgeon, subs. (old).—1. An imaginary illness.—Grose.

2. (common).—Needless noise; ado about nothing.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxiii. I would never be making a
humdudgeon about a scart on the pow.

Humdurgeoned, adj. (old).—Annoyed.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford. Don’t be humdurgeoned but knock down a
gemman.

Humguffin (common).—A hobgoblin. Also a derisive address.

Humgumptious, adj. (obsolete).—See quot.

1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v. Hum. A knowing sort of humbug is
humgumptious.

Hummer, subs. (old).—1. See quot.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hummer, a loud Lie, a Rapper.

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

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th Ed.). Hummer (s.) a great,
monstrous, or notorious lie.

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

2. (American).—A man or woman of notable parts; a high stepper (q.v.); a good goer (q.v.). Cf., Rustler.

1889. Ally Sloper, 6 July. If Tootsie is anything as lively as the
‘Gaiety Girls,’ she must be a hummer.

1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody, ch. xvii. I just wanted to see my Tillie
dance once. She’s a society hummer now.

3. (obsolete).—See Humbug, sense 3.

Humming, adj. (old). Strong—applied to drink; brisk—applied to trade; hard—applied to blows. Humming October = the specially strong brew from the new season’s hops; stingo (q.v.).

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Humming Liquor, Double Ale, Stout,
Pharoah.

1701. Farquhar, Sir Harry Wildair, iv., 2. The wine was humming
strong.

1736. Fielding, Don Quixote, iii., 4. Landlord, how fares it? You
seem to drive a humming trade here.

1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry, ch. vii. Let us fortify our stomachs
with a slice or two of hung beef, and a horn or so of humming
stingo.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxiii. A humming double pot of
ale.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends. ‘The Wedding Day.’ A mighty
magnificent tub Of what men, in our hemisphere, term ‘Humming Bub,’
But which gods—who, it seems, use a different lingo, From mortals,
are wont to denominate ‘Stingo.’

1864. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, bk. III., ch. vii. Wegg, in
coming to the ground, had received a humming knock on the back of
his devoted head.

Hump, verb. (common).—1. To spoil; to botch; to do for.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. i., p. 252. To
hump in street parlance, is equivalent to ‘botch,’ in more genteel
colloquialism.

2. (colonial).—To shoulder and carry. E.g., To hump one’s swag = to shoulder one’s kit.

1886. Daily Telegraph, 1 Jan. Ladies whom I have met humping their
own drums.

1887. All the Year Round, 30 July, p. 66. A large blanket rolled up
which contains the personal luggage of the man who carries or humps
it.

1887. G. A. Sala in Illus. Lon. News, 12 Mar., 282/2. All kinds of
luggage, generally speaking, which are manually carried, are at
present said to be humped. I have had to hump mine many a time and
oft.

1888. Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, ch. xxii. We humped our
saddles and swags ourselves.

1890. Family Herald, 8 Feb., p. 227. I was just debating whether I
had better hump my drum.

3. (old).—See quot. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hump, to hump. Once a fashionable
word for copulation.

To hump oneself, verb. phr. (American).—To stir; to prepare for attack; to fancy oneself.

1847. Porter, Quarter Race, etc. p. 177. Ef thar are anything he
humps hisself on besides ugly, it is his manners among the
fimmales.

1847. Porter, Big Bear, etc., p. 126. He was breathin’ sorter hard,
his eye set on the Governor, humpin’ himself on politics.

To get (or have) the hump, verb. phr. (common).—To be despondent, hurt, put out, down in the mouth (q.v.). also, to have the hump up or on. For synonyms, see Snaggy.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe (Grosart, Works, v., 267). So in his
humps about it ... that he had thought to have tumbled his
hurrie-currie ... into the sea.

1885. Punch, 10 Jan., p. 24. I had got the ’ump, and no error,
along o’ Bill B. and that gal.

1892. Anstey, Model Music-Hall, 43. The company consume what will
be elegantly referred to as ‘a bit of booze.’ Aunt Snapper gets the
’ump.

1886. Jerome, Idle Thoughts, p. 14. ’Arry refers to the heavings of
his wayward heart by confiding to Jimee that he has got the
blooming hump!

Humpey, subs. (Australian).—See quot.

1893. Gilbert Parker, Pierre and his People, p. 135. McGann was
lying on his back on a pile of buffalo robes in a mountain hut.
Australians would call it a humpey.

Humphrey, subs. (American thieves’).—A coat with pocket holes but no pockets.—Matsell.

To dine with Duke Humphrey. See Dine, Sir Thomas Gresham, and Knights.

1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse [Grosart], ii., 18. I ... retired me
to Paules, to seeke my dinner with Duke Humfrey.

1843. Moncrieff, The Scamps of London, i., 1. Dines oftener with
Duke Humphrey than anybody else, I believe.

Humpty-dumpty, subs. (colloquial).—1. A short and thick-set person; a grundy (q.v.); a hunch-back. For synonyms, see Forty Guts.

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

2. (old).—See quot. 1690.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Humptey Dumptey, Ale boild with
Brandy.

1698. M. Sorbière’s Journey to London in the Year 1698, p. 135,
quoted in Notes and Queries, 6 S., xii., 167. He answer’d me that
he had a thousand such sort of liquors, as Humtie Dumtie, Three
Threads....

1786. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1837. Disraeli, Venetia, i., 14. As for the beverage they drank
humpty-dumpty, which is ale boiled with brandy.

Adj. and adv. (colloquial).—Short and thick; all of a heap; all together.

Hum-strum, subs. (old).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Humstrum, a musical instrument made
of a mopstick, a bladder, and some pack-thread, thence also called
bladder and string, and hurdy gurdy; it is played on like a violin,
which is sometimes ludicrously called a humstrum; sometimes instead
of a bladder, a tin canister is used.

Hunch, verb. (old: now colloquial).—To jostle; to shove; to squeeze. For synonyms, see Ramp.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hunch, to justle, or thrust.

1712. Arbuthnot, Hist. of John Bull, Pt. III., App., ch. iii. Then
Jack’s friends began to hunch and push one another.

1738. Swift, Polite Convers., Dial. 1. I was hunched up in a
hackney-coach with three country acquaintance.

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

1847. Porter, Quarter Race, etc., p. 163. I hadn’t fairly got to
sleep before the old ’oman hunched me.

Hung. See Well-hung.

To be hung up, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To come to a standstill; to be in a fix.

1891. Fun, 10 June, p. 237. ‘Ah! by Bendigo, I forgot! Grimmy’s
hung up!’ ‘What, Grimmy? Never!’

Hungarian, subs. (Old Cant).—1. A hungry man; a rare pecker (q.v.).

1608. Dodsley, Merry Devil of Edmonton [Old Plays, v. 267]. Away, I
have knights and colonels at my house, and must tend the
hungarians.

1632. Lupton, London [‘Harl. Misc.’], ix., 314. The middle aile [of
St. Paul’s] is much frequented at noon with a company of
hungarians, not walking so much for recreation as need.

2. (Old Cant).—A freebooter.

1608. Merry Devil of Edmonton [Dodsley, Old Plays, v. 285]. Come,
ye Hungarian pilchers, we are once more come under the zona torrida
of the forest.

1893. National Observer, ‘Spoliation,’ ix., 357. But, after all, it
is only another note in the gamut of spoliation, whereof Mr.
Gladstone’s hungarians (a good old word that!) would have the
mastery.

Hunk. To be (or get) hunk or all hunk, verb. phr. (American).—1. To hit a mark; to achieve an object; to be safe. Also (2) to scheme. [From Dutch honk = goal or home.]

1847. Darley, Drama in Pokerville, p. 50. I’ll allow you’re just
hunk this time.

1893. Detroit Free Press, June 23, ‘He Threatens to go back,’ p. 3.
I propose to have some of it, or I’ll get hunk.

Hunker (or Old Hunker), subs. (American).—In New York (1844) a Conservative Democrat, as opposed to the Young Democracy or Barn-Burners (q.v.). Hence, an anti-progressive in politics.

Hunks, subs. (old).—A miser; a mean, sordid fellow; a curmudgeon. For synonyms, see Snide.

1602. Dekker, Satiro-Mastix, in Wks. (1873), i., 201. Blun. Nay
prethee deare Tucca, come you shall shake—Tuc. Not hands with great
Hunkes there, not hands, but Ile shake the gull-groper out of his
tan’d skinne.

1602. Campion, English Poesy (Works, Bullen, 1889, p. 247). But it
drinks up all: that hunks detestable.

1647–80. Rochester, Wks.; p. 11. There was an old coveteous hunks
in the neighbourhood, who had notwithstanding his age, got a very
pretty young wife.

1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, v., 2. Make a very pretty show in
the world, let me tell you; nay, a better than your close hunks.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hunks, a covetous Creature, a
miserable Wretch.

1712. Spectator, No. 264. Irus has ... given all the intimations he
skilfully could of being a close hunks with money.

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

1837. Marryat, Snarley-yow, ch. 12. So while they cut their raw
salt junks, With dainties you’ll be cramm’d. Here’s once for all my
mind, old hunks, Port Admiral, you be dammed!

1839. Buckstone, Brother Tom (Dick’s ed., p. 15). One calls him an
old hunks, another a selfish brute.

1840. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, ch. vii., p. 35. That you become
the sole inheritor of the wealth of this rich old hunks.

1846. Melville, Moby Dick, 75 (ed. 1892). Bildad, I am sorry to
say, had the reputation of being an incorrigible old hunks.

1857. A. Trollope, Three Clerks, ch. iii. I am sure he is a cross
old hunks, though Mamma says he’s not.

1893. Theodore Martin, Roman Elegies, ii. (Goethe Society Trans.,
1891–2, p. 72). Joys that he stints not his gold like the close
hunxes of Rome.

Hunky, adj. (American).—Good; jolly; a general superlative. Also Hunkidorum.

d. 1867. Browne, ‘Artemus Ward,’ The Shakers (Railway ed.), p. 43.
‘Hunky boy! Go it my gay and festive cuss!’

1873. Justin McCarthy, Fair Saxon, ch. xxxviii. The guard dies, but
never surrenders! Fine, isn’t it? But the hunky-boy that said that
surrendered all the same.

1888. Texas Siftings, 20 Oct. Robert is all hunky, but he had a
mighty close call the week before last.

Hunt, verb. (old).—To decoy a pigeon (q.v.) to the tables. Hence hunting = card-sharping. Flat-catching (q.v.).

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hunting (c.), decoying or
drawing others into Play.

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

To hunt for soft spots, verb. phr. (American).—To make oneself comfortable; to seek one’s ease.

1888. San Francisco Weekly Examiner, 22 Mar. It was demnition hot,
and I commenced to hunt for soft spots in my saddle.

To hunt grass, verb. phr. (pugilists’).—To be knocked down; to be grassed (q.v.). Also, to be puzzled; to be dumfoundered.

1869. Clemens [Mark Twain], Innocents at Home, ch. ii. I hunt grass
every time.

To hunt leather, verb. phr. (cricketers’).—To field at cricket.

1892. Cassell’s Sat. Jour., 21 Sep. p. 13, c. 2. For nearly ten
years I earned a living—and a good one—by ‘wielding the willow’ and
hunting the leather.

To hunt the dummy, verb. phr. (thieves’).—To steal pocket books.

1878. Charles Hindley, Life and Times of James Catnach, p. 171.
(Chorus)—Speak to the tattler, bag the swag, And finely hunt the
dummy.

To hunt the squirrel, verb. phr. (old).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hunting the Squirrel, an amusement
practised by post boys, and stage coachmen, which consists in
following a one-horse chaise, and driving it before them, passing
close to it so as to brush the wheel, and by other means terrifying
any woman, or person that may be in it. A man whose turn comes for
him to drink, before he has emptied his former glass, is said to be
hunted.

In, or out of, the hunt, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Having a chance, or none; in or out of the swim (q.v.). Admitted to, or outside, a circle or society.

Hunt-about, subs. (colloquial).—1. A prying gossip.

2. (common).—A walking whore.

Hunt-counter, subs. (old).—A beggar.

1623. Shakspeare, 2 Henry IV., i., 2. You hunt-counter, hence!
Avaunt!

Hunters. Pitching the hunters, verb. phr. (costermongers’). See quot.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 390. Pitching the
hunters is the three sticks a penny, with the snuff-boxes stuck
upon sticks; if you throw your stick, and they fall out of the
hole, you are entitled to what you knock off.

1876. Hindley, Cheap Jack, p. 235. When ... there was no cattle
jobbing to be done, he would pitch the hunters, that is, put up the
‘three sticks a penny’ business.

Hurly-Burly, subs. (old: now colloquial).—A commotion; a bustle; an uproar.

c. 1509–1547. Lusty Juventus (Dodsley), [Old Plays, 4th ed., 1874,
ii., 85]. What a hurly-burly is here! Smick smack, and all this
gear!

1539. Tavernier, Garden of Wysdom, E. ii. verso. Thys kynge [Gelo]
on a tyme exacted money of hys comons, whome when he perceuyed in a
hurly burly for the same, and ready to make an insurrection, he
thus sodaynly appeased.

1542. Udall, Apophthegms of Erasmus [1877], p. 115. the meaning of
the Philosophier was, that princes for the ambition of honour, rule
and dominion, being in continuall strife, and hurlee burlee, are in
very deede persons full of miserie and wo.

1551. More, Utopia, (Pitt Press ed., 1884, i., 52, 5). Whereby so
many nations for his sake should be broughte into a troublesome
hurlei-burley.

1567. Fenton, Tragical Dicsourses, f. 104. They heard a great noyse
and hurleyburley in the street of the Guard and chief officers of
the Watch.

1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse (Grosart, Works, ii., 53). Not
trouble our peaceable Paradise with their private hurlie-burlies
about strumpets.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe (Grosart, Works, v., 293). Put them in
feare where no feare is, and make a hurlie-burlie in the realm.

1606. Shakspeare, Macbeth, i., 1. When the hurley-burley’s done,
When the battle’s lost and won.

1619. T. North’s Diall of Princes (1557), corrected, p. 703, c. 1.
Two or three dayes before you shall see such resort of persons,
such hurly burly, such flying this way, such sending that way, some
occupyed in telling the cookes how many sorts of meates they will
have....

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

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

1771. Smollett, Humphrey Clinker (ed. 1890, p. 185). As for the
lawyer he waited below till the hurly-burly was over, and then he
stole softly to his own chamber.

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

1811. J. and H. Smith, Horace in London, pp. 18–25, Ode ii.,
‘Hurly-burly’ (Title).

1886. Max Adeler, Out of the Hurly-Burly. Title.

1893. St. James’s Gazette, xxvii., 4076, p. 4. While all London was
making holiday, Paris was engaged in a hurly-burly of a very
different kind.

Hurra’s-nest, subs. (nautical).—The utmost confusion; everything topsy-turvy. For synonyms, see Sixes and Sevens.

1840. R. H. Dana, Two Years Before the Mast, ch. ii. Everything was
pitched about in grand confusion. There was a complete hurrah’s
nest, as the sailors say, ‘everything on top and nothing at hand.’

1869. Mrs. Stowe, Old Townsfolks, ch. iv. You’ve got our clock all
to pieces, and have been keeping up a perfect hurrah’s nest in our
kitchen for three days. Do either put that clock together or let it
alone.

Hurrah in Hell. Not to care a single hurrah in hell, verb. phr. (American).—To be absolutely indifferent.

1893. Harold Frederic, National Observer, IX., 1 Apr., p. 493, col.
2. I don’t care a single hurrah in sheol.

Hurry, subs. (musical).—A quick passage on the violin, or a roll on the drum, leading to a climax in the representation.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 66. The wrongful heir comes in
to two bars of quick music (technically called a hurry).

Hurry-curry, subs. (obsolete).—See quot.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe (Grosart, Works, v. 267). The ... was so
in his humps upon it ... that he had thought to have tumbled his
hurrie currie, or ... can, into the sea.

Hurry-durry, adj. (old).—Rough; boisterous; impatient of counsel or control.

1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, i., 1. ’Tis a hurrydurry blade.

Hurrygraph, subs. (American).—A hastily written letter.

1861. Independent, 31 July. I must close this hurrygraph, which I
have no time to review.

Hurry-whore, subs. (old).—A walking strumpet.

1630. Taylor, Wks. And I doe wish with all my heart, that the
superfluous number of all our hyreling hackney carryknaves, and
hurry-whores, with their makers and maintainers, were there, where
they might never want continuall imployment.

Husband’s-boat, subs. (common).—The Saturday boat to Margate during the summer season.

c. 1867. Vance, Broadside Ballad. ‘The Husband’s Boat.’

1887. Murray, in New Eng. Dict., Pt. III., p. 956, c. 3. Waiting at
Margate Pier for the husband’s boat on Saturday afternoon.

Husband’s-supper. To warm the husband’s supper, verb. phr. (common).—To sit before the fire with lifted skirts. Fr., faire chapelle.

Husband’s-tea, subs. (common).—Weak tea; water bewitched (q.v.).

Hush, verb. (old).—To kill.—Grose.

Hush-money, subs. (old: now recognised).—Money paid for silence, to quash a case, or stay a witness; a bribe; blackmail.

1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 26. I expect hush-money to be regularly
sent for every folly or vice any one commits in this whole town.

1713. Guardian, No. 26. A poor chambermaid has sent in ten
shillings out of her hush-money, to expiate her guilt of being in
her mistress’s secret.

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

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th Ed.), s.v.

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

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xxxvii. To allow Ada to be made a
bribe and hush-money of, is not the way to bring it out.

1884. Spectator, p. 530. They were disappointed of their
hush-money, but he gave them an easy revenge.

Hush-shop (or -crib), subs. (common).—An unlicensed tavern.

1872. Globe, 18 Sep. At Barrow-in-Furness the new Licensing Act has
had the effect of calling numerous hush shops into existence.

Husky, subs. (Winchester College).—Gooseberry fool with the husks in it, obsolete. [Notions.]

1870. Mansfield, School Life, p. 145. There were two kinds
[Gooseberry fool] Husky and non-husky.

Adj. (American).—Stout; well built.

Husky-lour, subs. (Old Cant).—A guinea; a job (q.v.). For synonyms, see Canary.

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

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

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

Hussy, subs. (colloquial).—A corruption of housewife (q.v.).

Hustle, verb. (venery).—1. To copulate. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

2. (American).—To bestir oneself; to go to work with vigour and energy. Also to hustle around.

Hustler, subs. (American).—An active, busy man or woman. A hummer (q.v.); a rustler (q.v.).

1890. Harold Frederic, Lawton Girl. A whimsical query as to whether
this calamitous boy had also been named Benjamin Franklin crossed
his confused mind, and then ... whether the child if so named,
would be a hustler or not.

Hutch, subs. (common).—A place of residence or employment; one’s diggings (q.v.).

Hutter. See Hatter.

Huxter, subs. (common).—Money. Also Hoxter. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

c. 186(?). Broadside Ballad. These seven long years I’ve been
serving, and Seven I’ve got for to stay, All for meeting a bloke
down our alley And a-taking his huxters away.

Huzzy (or Huzzie), subs. (old).—A case of needles, pins, scissors, bodkins, etc.; a housewife’s companion.

Hymeneal-Sweets, subs. (venery).—Copulation.

1604. Marston, Malcontent, i., 3. True to her sheetes, nay, diets
strong his blood, To give her height of hymeneall sweetes.

Hypernese, subs. (Winchester College).—See quot. Ziph (q.v.).

1864. The Press, 12 Nov. p. 1098. This dialect of school cryptoëpy
was known in our youth as Hypernese. When spoken fast it defies an
outsider’s curiosity. If two consonants commence a syllable, the
former is dropped, and W substituted: thus breeches would be
wareechepes. If P commences a syllable, G is interpolated: thus
penny would be pegennepy.... That Ziph and its cognate languages
are well known beyond the boundaries of Winchester is certain.
Bishop Wilkins described it, without mentioning it as a novelty, a
couple of centuries ago.

Hyphenated American, subs. (American).—A naturalised citizen, as German-Americans, Irish-Americans, and the like. [Nortons.]

Hypocrite, subs. (American).—A pillow slip or ‘sham.’

Hypogastric-cranny, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum.—Urquhart. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Hyps (or Hypo), subs. (old).—The Blue Devils (q.v.).

1710. Swift, Tatler, No. 230. Will Hazard has got the hipps, having
lost to the tune of five hund’rd pound.

1729. Swift, Poems (Chalmers, English Poets, 1810, xi., 486). And
the doctor was plaguily down in the hips.

1738. Swift’s Polite Conversation, Dial. 1. Her ladyship was
plaguily bamb’d; I warrant it put her into the hipps.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1830. C. Lamb, Pawnbroker’s Daughter, i., 2. The drops so like to
tears did drip, They gave my infant nerves the hyp.

1854. Haliburton, Americans at Home, i., 176. The old man would
give up to the hypo, and keep his bed for weeks. During this time,
he wouldn’t say a word, but ‘I’m not long for this world.’

End of Vol. III.

LONDON
HARRISON AND SONS, PRINTERS,
ST. MARTIN’S LANE.