Chapter III: Part 3

Verb. (American).—To retire through fear; to fail (as in a lesson); to cause to fail. Cf., Funk.

1838. Neal, Charcoal Sketches, IV. Why, little ’un, you must be
cracked, if you flunk out before we begin.

1847. The Yale Banger, 22 Oct. My dignity is outraged at beholding
those who fizzle and flunk in my presence tower above me.

1853. Amherst Indicator, p. 253. They know that a man who has
flunked, because too much of a genius to get his lesson, is not in
a state to appreciate joking.

1871. John Hay, ‘Jim Bludso of the Prairie Bell,’ in New York
Tribune, Jan. But he never flunked, and he never lied, I reckon he
never know’d how.

Flunkey, subs. (nautical).—1. A ship’s steward.

2. (American.)—An ignorant dabbler in stock; an inexperienced jobber.

1862. A Week in Wall St., p. 90. A broker, who had met with heavy
losses, exclaimed: ‘I’m in a bear-trap,—this won’t do. The dogs
will come over me. I shall be mulct in a loss. But I’ve got time;
I’ll turn the scale; I’ll help the bulls operate for a rise, and
draw in the flunkies.’

3. (American University.)—One that makes a complete failure in a recitation; one who flunks (q.v.).

1859. Yale Lit. Magazine. I bore him safe through Horace, Saved him
from the flunkey’s doom.

4. (colloquial).—A man-servant, especially one in livery. Hence, by implication, a parasite or Toady (q.v.). Fr., un larbin.

1848. Thackeray, Book of Snobs; ch. v. You who have no toadies; you
whom no cringing flunkeys or shopmen bow out of doors.

Whence, Flunkeyism = Blind worship of rank, birth, or riches. Fr., la larbinerie.

1857. J. E. Ritchie, Night Side of London, p. 23. Our trading
classes, becoming richer and more sunk in flunkeyism every day.

Flurryment, subs. (common.)—Agitation; bustle; confusion; nervous excitement. [Pleonastic, from Flurry.]

1848. Jones, Sketches of Travel, p. II. Mary and all on em was in a
monstrous flurryment.

Flurry One’s Milk, verb. phr. (common).—To be worried, angry, or upset; To fret one’s kidneys (q.v.); To tear one’s shirt, or one’s hair (q.v.).

Flush, subs. (gamesters’).—A hand of one suit.

Adj. (colloquial).—1. With plenty of money; the reverse of hard up (q.v.); warm (q.v.). Also abounding in anything: e.g. flush of his patter = full of his talk; flush of the lotion = liberal with the drink; flush of his notions = prodigal of ideas; flush of her charms = lavish of her person; and so forth.

1603. Dekker, Batchelor’s Banquet, ch. viii. Some dames of the
company, which are more flush in crownes than her good man.

1605. The Play of Stucley, l. 538. They know he hath received His
marriage money: they perceive he’s flush And mean to share with him
ere all be gone.

1663. Dryden, Wild Gallant, Act II. Con. Since you are so flush,
sir, you shall give me a locket of diamonds of three hundred
pounds.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Flush in the pocket c.
full of money. The cull is flush in the fob, the Spark’s pocket is
well lined with money.

1767. O’Hara, Two Misers, Act I. What stops many an hopeful
project? lack of cash—[looking archly at him]. Are you flush, Sir?

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1846. Thackeray, V. F., vol. I. ch. xxviii. The expenses were borne
by Jos and Osborne, who was flush of money and full of kind
attentions to his wife.

1861. A. Trollope, Framley Parsonage, ch. viii. Allow me to draw on
you for that amount at three months. Long before that time I shall
be flush enough.

1864. Economist, 29 Oct. The world was then, if such a very
colloquial expression could be pardoned, ‘flush of cash,’ and it
sent in that cash rapidly and at once.

2. (common).—Intoxicated (i.e., full to the brim); also flushed. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

3. (colloquial).—Level: e.g., flush with the top, with the water, with the road, with the boat’s edge, etc.

Verb. (common).—1. To whip.

English Synonyms.—To bludgeon; to bumbaste; to breech (Cotgrave); to brush; to club; to curry; to dress with an oaken towel; to drub; to drybeat; to dry-bob; to drum; to fib; to flap; to flick; to flop; to jerk; to give one ballast; to hide; to lamm; to larrup; to paste; to punch; to rub down; to swinge; to swish; to switch; to trounce; to thump; to tund (Winchester); to wallop. See also Tan.

French Synonyms.—Donner l’avoine (pop. = to give a feed of hay); allumer (popular); bouiser (thieves’: un bouis = a whip).

Italian Synonyms.—Smanegrare; cotillare; corillare; cerire.

2. (colloquial).—To clean by filling full, and emptying, of water: e.g., to flush a sewer; to wash, swill, or sluice away. Also to fill with water: e.g., to flush a lock.

1884. Henley and Stevenson, Admiral Guinea, i., 8. Pray for a new
heart; flush out your sins with tears.

3. (shooting).—To start or raise a bird from covert: e.g., to flush a snipe, or a covey of partridges. Hence (venery) to flush a wild duck = to single out a woman for grousing (q.v.).

To come flush on one, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To come suddenly and unexpectedly (Marvell); to overwhelm (as by a sudden rush of water).

Flushed on the Horse, phr. (prison).—Privately whipped in gaol.

Flush-hit, subs. phr. (pugilistic).—A clean blow; a hit full on the mark and straight from the shoulder. For synonyms, see Dig.

1891. Lic. Vict. Mirror, 30 Jan., p. 7, col. 2. Landed a very heavy
flush hit on the mouth.

Adv. (colloquial).—Full; straight; right on (q.v.).

1888. Sporting Life, 15 Dec. Both cautious, Wilson with marked
frequency leading off, and getting the left flush on the face.

Fluster, verb. (old).—To excite; to confuse, abash, or flummox (q.v.); to upset, or be upset, with drink.

1602. Shakspeare, Othello, I., 3. The very elements of this warlike
isle,—Have I to-night fluster’d with flowing cups.

1711. Spectator, No. 87. It is very common for such as are too low
in constitution to ogle the idol upon the strength of tea, to
fluster themselves with warmer liquors.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., ii., 261. When I vext proud Celia just
come from my glass, She tells me I’m flustered, and look like an
ass.

1731. Fielding, Letter Writers. Act II., Sc. 5. Who hath taken me
to the tavern, and, I protest, almost fluster’d me.

Flustered (or Flustrated), ppl. adj. (old).—Excited by drink, circumstances, another person’s impudence, etc.; also mildly drunk. Cf., Flusticated. For synonyms, see Screwed.

1686. Common. of Women, Prol. Another to compleat his daily task,
fluster’d with claret, seizes on a mask.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. flustered, drunk.

1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 3. I ... therefore take this public
occasion to admonish a young Nobleman, who came flustered into the
box last night.

1748. T. Dyche, Dict. (5th ed.) Flustered (a) ... somewhat
intoxicated with liquor.

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. XIV., ch. ix. This latter, though
not drunk, began to be somewhat flustered.

1779. The Mirror, No. 57. All of them flustered, some of them
perfectly intoxicated.

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

Flusticated, or Flustrated, ppl. adj. (old and colloquial).—Confused; in a state of heat or excitement. Cf., Flustered.

1712. Spectator, No. 493. We were coming down Essex Street one
night a little flustrated.

1766. Colman, Cland. Marriage V., in works (1777) i. 271. Your mind
is too much flustrated, and you can neither eat nor drink.

1843. Maj. Jones’ Courtship, I. Somehow I was so flustrated that I
tuk the rong way.

1847. Porter, Big Bear, &c., p. 98. I sot down, being sorter
flusticated like, thinkin’ of that skrape, last time I was there.

Flustration, subs. (old and colloquial).—Heat; excitement; bustle; confusion; flurry (q.v.).

1771. Smollet, Humphrey Clinker, I., 126. Being I was in such a
flustration.

1843. Major Jones’ Courtship, viii. The old woman’s been in a
monstrous flustration ’bout the comet.

1847. Porter, Quarter Race, etc., p. 177. My wife is in a delicut
way, and the frite might cause a flustration.

1848. Jones, Studies of Travel, p. 21. The old woman was in such a
flustration she didn’t know her lips from anything else.

1872. Mortimer Collins, Two Plunges for a Pearl, vol. II., ch. vii.
Then was this pretty little actress whom he admired in a great
state of flustration.

Flute, subs. (old).—1. The recorder of a corporation.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Tibia, a flute, a recorder, a
pipe.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Flute, c. The recorder
of London or of any other town.

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1825. Kent, Modern Flash Dict. Flute—the recorder of any town.

2. (venery).—The penis. Also the one-holed, the living, or the silent flute. To play a tune on the one-holed flute = to have connection. Cf., Dryden (Sixth Juvenal, line 107). ‘And stretch his quail-pipe till they crack his voice.’ For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

1720. Durfey, Pills, etc., vi., 31. He took her by the middle, And
taught her by the flute.

1736. Cupid, p. 163. The Flute is good that’s made of Wood, And is,
I own, the neatest; Yet ne’ertheless I must confess, The silent
flute’s the sweetest.

Flutter, subs. (common).—1. An attempt, or shy (q.v.), at anything; a venture in earnest; a spree; a state of expectancy (as in betting). Hence gambling.

1883. Echo, 26 Feb. p. 4, col. 2. I have no stable tip, but I fancy
the animal named will at any rate afford backers a flutter for
their money.

1889. Licensed Vict. Gazette, 8 Feb. Of course he told her he only
went in for a little flutter occasionally.

1890. Saturday Review, 1 Feb., p. 134, col. 1. They find out the
addresses of people whom they see at the races—people whom they
suspect to be fond of a flutter, and then an invitation is sent to
a little soirée intime.

1887. Henley, Culture in the Slums, iii. I likes a merry little
flutter, I keeps a Dado on the sly, In fact my form’s the blooming
Utter.

2. (common).—The act of spinning a coin.

3. (venery).—Connection defloration. To have had a flutter = (1) to have been there (cf., greens); and (2) to have lost one’s maidenhead.

Verb. (common).—1. To spin a coin (for drinks); also to gamble.

2. (common).—To go in for a bout of pleasure.

To flutter the ribbons, verb. phr. (common).—To drive.

1864. Eton School Days, chap. 1, p. 11. As I was going to be
saying, I used to flutter the ribands of the London Croydon and
South Coast coach.

[Flutter, if not a word of all-work, is a word with plenty to do.
Thus, to have (or do) a flutter = to have a look in (q.v.), to go
on the spree, and (of both sexes) to have carnal connection; to be
on the flutter = to be on the spree, and also (venery) to be all
there (q.v.) or on the spot (q.v.); to flutter a judy—both to
pursue and to possess a girl; to flutter a brown = to spin a coin;
to flutter (or fret) one’s kidneys = to agitate, to exasperate; to
flutter a skirt = to walk the streets; and so forth.]

Flux, verb. (old).—1. To cheat; to cozen; to overreach. For synonyms, see Stick.

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

2. (old.)—To salivate. Grose, (1785).

Fly, subs. (old).—A familiar; hence, by implication, a parasite or sucker (q.v.). [In the sixteenth and seventeenth century it was held that familiar spirits, in the guise of flies, lice, fleas, etc., attended witches, who for a price professed to dispose of the power for evil thus imparted.]

1596. Lodge, Incarnate Devils. This divel prefers an Ephimerides
before a Bible; and his Ptolemey and Hali before Ambrose, golden
Chrisostome, or S. Augustine: promise him a familiar, and he will
take a flie in a box for good paiment.

1610. Ben Jonson, Alchemist i. You are mistaken, doctor, Why he
does ask one but for cups and horses, A rifling fly, none of your
great familiars.

1622. Massinger, Virgin Martyr, ii., 2. Courtiers have flies That
buzz all news unto them.

2. (old).—A printer’s devil; specifically a boy who lifted the printed sheets from the press. [Now the vibrating frame used for the same purpose.]

1688. R. Holme, Academy of Armory. These boys do in a
printing-house commonly black and bedaub themselves, when the
workmen do jocosely call them devils, and sometimes spirits, and
sometimes flies.

3. (trade).—A customer.

4. (common).—The act of spinning a coin. Cf., Flutter.

5. (old).—A public wagon: afterwards (colloquial) a four-wheel hackney coach. Fr., mouche (fly) = a public boat on the Seine.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall, s.v.

6. (common).—A policeman. For synonyms, see Beak and Copper.

1857. Snowden, Magistrates’ Assistant, 3rd ed., p. 446. A
policeman; a fly.

Adj. (common).—1. Knowing; artful (q.v.); up to every move; cute. Also fly to, a-fly, fly to the game, and fly to what’s what. Cf., Awake, and, for synonyms, see Knowing; fly dog (q.v.).

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, Cheese it, the coves are fly = be
silent, the people understand our discourse.

1823. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act II., Sc. 2. Jerry.
Charlies’ fiddles?—I’m not fly, Doctor. Log. Rattles, Jerry,
rattles! Jerry rattles! you’re fly now, I see.

1838. Glascock, Land Sharks and Sea Gulls, II., 4. That’s right; I
see you’re fly to every fakement.

1850. Lloyd’s Weekly, 3 Feb. ‘Low Lodging Houses of London.’ They
say the fliest is easy to take in sometimes—that’s the artfullest;
but I could do no good there.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 260. ‘We
were too fly to send anybody to market but ourselves.’

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. xxxv. [Chas. Ravenshoe to
Shoeblack]. ‘On the cross?’ said Charles. ‘Ah,’ the boy said, ‘he
goes out cly-faking and such. He’s a prig, and a smart one, too.
He’s fly, is Harry.’

1876. Miss Braddon, Dead Men’s Shoes, ch. lii. ‘Go and fetch the
cleverest police officer in Liverpool, and let him wait outside
this door till I want him.’ ‘I’m fly,’ answers the youth,
brightening at the prospect of excitement and remuneration. ‘Case
of ’bezzlement, I suppose, Sir?’

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. ii., p. 125. A certain
prisoner, who was what is termed a very fly man, i.e., a clever,
scheming fellow ... sounded him as to getting tobacco and other
matters.

188(?). Jenny Hill, Broadside Ballad. I’ve cut my wisdom teeth,
some at top, some underneath.... So you needn’t try it on; I’m fly.

1890. Punch, 30 Aug., p. 9. Briggs, Junior, a lobsculler called me;
I wasn’t quite fly to his lay.

1891. Licensed Victuallers’ Gazette, 9 Jan. If you get among a fly
lot, why they’d skin you in less than no time.

2. (common).—Dextrous.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. No dummy hunter had
forks so fly.

1839. Reynolds, Pickwick Abroad, p. 223. We’ll knap a fogle with
fingers fly.

3. (venery).—Wanton. Fly-girl, -woman, or -dame = a prostitute.

1888. San Francisco News Letter, 4 Feb. ‘I’m just gettin’ sick’n
tired o’ the way ’t them fly dames go on, ’n the way ’t the fellahs
hang round ’em ’n dance with ’em ’n so forth.’

Verb. (thieves’).—1. To toss; to raise; to fly the mags = to toss up half-pence (cf., subs., sense 4).

1857. Snowden, Magistrates’ Assistant, 3rd ed., p. 447. To lift a
window, to fly a window.

2. (pugilistic).—To give way: as, china flies in the baking.

1865. G. F. Berkeley, My Life, II. 296. Heenan ... told me his
right hand was worth nothing to him, and we have since seen that
his left flies, or, in other words, becomes puffed, softened, or
severely damaged by the force of his own blows.

To fly around, verb. phr. (American).—To bestir oneself; to make haste. Also to fly around and tear one’s shirt.

1851. Hooper, Widow Rugby’s Husband, p. 44. Old ’ooman, fly around,
git somethin’ for the Squire and Dick to eat.

To fly the flag, verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To walk the streets.

2. (vulgar).—To experience the menstrual flux.

See also Flag.

To fly high (or rather high).—1. verb. phr. (common).—To get, or be drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

2. (colloquial).—To keep the best company, maintain the best appearances, and affect the best aims: i.e., to be a High-flier (q.v.). Also, to venture for the biggest stakes in the biggest way.

To fly low, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To make as little of oneself as possible; to sing small (q.v.); and (among thieves) to keep out of the way when wanted (q.v.).

To fly off the handle, verb. phr. (American pioneer).—To lose temper; to fail of a promise; to jilt; to die; also to slip off the handle (q.v.); to disappoint in any way. [In pioneer life for an axe to part company with its handle is a serious trial to temper and patience.]

1843–4. Haliburton, The Attaché. You never see such a crotchical
old critter as he is. He flies right off the handle for nothing.

1867. Home Journal (New York), 21 July (speaking of a man who had
succeeded to a large fortune it says) he went off the handle in
England rather unexpectedly.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 195. If a fair lady loses her
temper, or worst of all, if she breaks the tender promise, she is
said to fly off the handle, and the disappointment is as serious to
the unlucky lover as a lost axe to many a settler.

1888. Pittsburg Chronicle. ‘I can’t say that I’am stuck on Sue
Fitzpercy,’ remarked Amy. ‘She is liable to fly off the handle.’

To fly out, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To get angry; to scold.

1612. Chapman, Widow’s Tears, Act II., p. 317 (Plays, 1874). For
wherefore rage wives at their husbands so when they fly out? for
zeal against the sin?

1665–6. Pepys, Diary, 17 Jan. It is to be feared that the
Parliament will fly out against him and particular men, the next
Session.

1712. Spectator, No. 479. He (Socrates) has said, My dear friend,
you are beholden to Xantippe, that I bear so well your flying out
in a dispute.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xx. ‘And then the Colonel flies out
about his boy, and says that my wife insulted him!’

To make the fur (or feathers) fly, verb. phr. (common).—To attack effectively; to make a disturbance; to quarrel noisily like two tom cats on the tiles, who are said (in American) to pull fur, or to pull wool.

1847. Porter, Big Bear, etc., p. 132. Thar, they’ve got him agin,
and now the fur flies.

1888. Denver Republican, 29 Feb. ‘Wait until the National Committee
assembles on February 22,’ said the organizer, ‘and you will see
the fur fly from the Cleveland hide.’

To take on the fly, verb. phr. (vagrants’).—To beg in the streets; a specific usage of adverbial sense.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, II., p. 59. The ‘first
move’ in his mendicant career was taking them on the fly, which
means meeting the gentry on their walks, and beseeching or at times
menacing them till something is given.

To fly a kite, verb. phr. (common).—To raise money by means of accommodation bills; to raise the wind (q.v.).

1812. From an old Dublin Jester. [The story, however, with slight
variations, is told of other judges. See N. and Q., S. ix., 6
326–394.] In a case before the Lord Chancellor of Ireland Mr.
Curran, on behalf of the suitor, prayed to be relieved from the
payment of some bills for which he had not received consideration,
but only lent his name as an accommodation. Mr. Curran, in the
course of his pleadings, mentioned the terms kite and raising the
wind several times, when his lordship requested to know the meaning
of the words. ‘My lord,’ Mr. Curran replied, ‘in your country
(meaning England) the wind generally raises the kite, but with us,
significantly looking at the gentlemen of the bar, the kite raises
the wind.’

1848. Punch, XIV., p. 226. ‘The Model Gentleman.’ He never does ‘a
little discounting’ nor lends his hand to ‘flying a kite.’

1849. Perils of Pearl Street, p. 82. Flying the kite is rather a
perilous adventure.

1880. G. R. Sims, Ballads of Babylon (Little Worries). You have a
kite you cannot fly, and creditors are pressing.

1891. Licensed Victuallers’ Gazette, 23 Jan. Prince Alexis
Soltykoff, who has been flying kites, and getting into trouble
thereby, is the only son of Prince Soltykoff, the steward of the
Jockey Club.

2. (thieves’).—To go out by the window.

3. (lodging-house).—To evacuate from a window.

4. (colloquial).—To attempt; to set one’s cap at.

1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliot, ch. xii. ‘They say that you flew
your kite at that girl of George Cecil’s who has married that prig,
Lord Mewstone.’

To fly the blue pigeon, verb. phr. (thieves’).—To steal lead from roofs. See Blue-pigeon. Fr., faire la mastar au gras-double, or la faire au mastar.

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter. Thieves who fly the blue pigeon,
that is, who steal lead off houses, or cut pipes away ... cut a
hundredweight of lead, which they wrap round their bodies next to
the skin. This they call a bible (q.v.), and what they steal and
put in their pockets, they call a testament (q.v.).

1887. Judy, 27 April, p. 200. A burglar whose particular lay was
flying the blue pigeon, i.e., stealing lead.

To let fly, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To hit out. [From cock-fighting.]

1859. Punch, vol. XXXVII., p. 54. ‘Essence of Parliament.’ Monday,
25 July. Lord Lyndhurst let fly and caught him what (if pugilistic
terms be not out of place when one is alluding to so pacific a
personage) may be designated an extremely neat one on the conk.

Not a feather to fly with, adv. phr. (common).—Penniless and ruined; dead-broke (q.v. for synonyms).

To break a fly on a wheel, verb. phr. (colloquial). To make a mountain of a molehill. Cf., To crack a nut with a Nasmyth hammer = to lavish force or energy.

The fly on the wheel, subs. phr. (colloquial).—One who fancies himself of mighty importance. [From the fable.]

I don’t rise to that fly, phr. (common) = I don’t believe you; you won’t catch me with such bait as that. [From fly-fishing.]

Off the fly, adv. phr. (colloquial).—On the quiet; laid up in dock; doing nothing: said of a strumpet retired from business, or a man (or woman) who has given over the pursuit of pleasure.

On the fly, adv. phr. (popular).—1. Walking the streets; out for a lark (q.v.); off work (q.v.); out on the spree (q.v.).

2. (thieves’).—In motion: e.g., ‘I got in one on the fly’ = I landed a blow while I was running.

1868. Temple Bar, xxiv., p. 538. I prigged an old woman’s poke on
the fly.

Fly-blow, subs. (common).—A bastard; cf., Bye-blow. A nonce word.

1875. Ouida, Signa, vol. I., ch. viii., p. 140. No doubt that
little fly-blow is his own.

Fly-blown, adj. (common).—1. Intoxicated. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

1877. Judy, 18 May, p. 236. The officer assisted the pastor out,
and hinted that he was slightly ‘fly-blown.’

2. (Australian).—Cleaned-out; without a rap; Hard-up (q.v. for synonyms).

1889. Star, 3 Jan. Our diggers go into Castlemaine to get their
hair cut, and once there, they get on the spree, and come back
fly-blown.

3. (common).—Used, or done-up; washed-out (q.v.).

4. (venery).—Deflowered. Also stale (q.v.); ‘known for a wanton.’ Also suspected of disease.

Fly-by-Night, subs. (old).—1. A sedan chair on wheels; a usage of the Regency days.

2. (common).—A defaulting debtor; one who shoots the moon (q.v.). Also applied to the act.

3. (venery).—A prostitute. See Bat, and for synonyms, Barrack-hack and Tart.

4. (common).—A noctambulist for business or for pleasure: i.e., a burglar or a common spreester (q.v.).

5. (obsolete).—A term of opprobrium.

1796. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd ed.), s.v. An ancient
term of reproach to an old woman, signifying that she was a witch,
and alluding to the nocturnal excursions attributed to witches who
were supposed to fly abroad to their meetings mounted on brooms.

6. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Fly-cage, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Fly-catcher, subs. (venery).—1. The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

2. (common).—An open-mouthed ignoramus; a Gapeseed (q.v.)—Sydney Smith. Fr., gobe-mouche.

Flycop, subs. (American).—A sharp officer; one well broken in to the tricks of trade. [From fly = knowing + cop, a policeman.]

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.

Fly-disperser Soup, subs. phr. (common).—Oxtail.

Flyer.—1. See Flier in all senses.

2. (old).—A shoe. For synonyms, see Trotter-case.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of Terms, etc., s.v.

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1791. Life and Adventures of Bamfylde Moore Carew, s.v.

1851. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. II., p. 34. There is
another article called a flyer, that is, a shoe sold without being
welted.

3. (Winchester).—A half-volley at football. A made-flyer is when the bound of the ball is gained from a previous kick, by the same side, against canvas or any other obstacle, or is dropped, as in a ‘drop-kick.’ This is now confused with a ‘kick-up.’

Fly-flapped, adj. (obsolete).—Whipped in the stocks, or at the cart’s tail.—Grose.

Fly-Flapper, subs. (old).—A heavy bludgeon.

Fly-flat, subs. (turf).—A would-be connoisseur and authority. [From fly = knowing + flat = a fool.]

Flying.—To look as if the Devil had shit him (or her) flying (common and proverbial).—Said in derision of one odd-looking, filthy, or deformed.

Flying-angel.—See Angel.

Flying Bricklayers, subs. phr. (military).—The mounted Royal Engineers.

Flying Camps, subs. phr. (old).—Couples or gangs of beggars.

1699. B. E., Dict. of the Canting Crew. Beggars plying in flying
camps. Beggars plying in bodies at funerals.

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

Flying-caper, subs. (thieves’).—An escape from prison; leg-bail (q.v.).

1864. Daily Paper, ‘Police Report.’ The blues are always ready to
spot a fellow who has tried on the flying-caper with them, and
given them leg-bail.

Flying-cat.—See Cat.

Flying Country, subs. phr. (hunting).—A country where the going (q.v.) is fast and good.

1856. Whyte Melville, Kate Coventry, ch. xii. The heavy-top hounds
are an establishment such as, I am given to understand, is not
usually kept in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, and other
so-called ‘flying counties.’

Flying Cove, subs. phr. (American thieves’).—An impostor who gets, or tries to get, money from persons who have been robbed by pretending to give such information as will lead to recovery. Formerly, Flying-porter (Grose).

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogues’ Lexicon, s.v.

Flying-dustman.—See Stiff-un.

Flying-dutchman, subs. (common).—The London and Exeter express (G. W. R.). See also Flying Scotchman and Wild Irishman. Cf., Dead-meat train and Larky subaltern’s coach.

Flying-horse (or Mare), subs. (wrestling).—The throw by which an opponent is sent over the head. Introduced, says Bee, by Parkins.

1754. Foote, Knights, Act I. But we don’t wrestle after your
fashion; we ha’ no tripping; fath and soul! we all go upon close
hugs or the flying-mare.

1884. Referee, 23 March, p. 1., col. 1. In the third and last bout,
Klein brought his man clean over his head—holding him by his
own—with a sort of flying-mare, and elicited thunders of applause.

1886. Pall Mall Gazette, 5 July, p. 4. On a Mississippi steamer he
astonished a rowdy who was shocked at his unnatural objection to
whisky, by performing upon him the feat known to British wrestlers
as ‘the flying mare.’

Flying-jigger or Gygger, subs. (thieves’).—A turnpike gate. [Jigger = a door or gate.]

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.

Flying-man, subs. (football).—A skirmisher good at taking, and running with, the ball.

1864. Eton School Days, ch. 23, p. 255. He possessed good wind, and
was a very good ‘kick-off,’ and he could ‘bully’ a ball as well as
any one. He was a little too heavy for ‘flying-man,’ but he made a
decent ‘sidepost,’ and now and then he officiated as ‘corner.’

Flying-mare. See Flying-horse.

Flying Pasty, subs. phr. (obsolete).—Excrement wrapped in paper and thrown over a neighbour’s wall. [Grose.]

Flying-porter. See Flying cove.

Flying-stationer, subs. (street).—A hawker of street ballads; a paperworker (q.v.), or running patterer (q.v.). Cf., croak. ‘Printed for the flying-stationer’ is the imprimatur on hundreds of broadsheets from the last century onwards.

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. Ballad singers and
hawkers of penny histories.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. I, p. 228. That
order or species of the pattering genus known as flying stationers,
from the fact of their being continually on the move while
describing the attractions of the ‘papers’ they have to sell.

1886. Athenæum, 31 July, p. 139. Scores of tracts were issued in
the Newgate region, from Giltspur Street to Blowbladder Street,
whence numbers of flying stationers drew their supplies long before
either of the Catnachs were born.

Flymy. Adj. (streets).—Knowing, fast (q.v.); roguish; sprightly. From Fly (q.v.).

1887. W. E. Henley, Villon’s Good Night. You flymy titters fond of
flam.

Fly-my-kite, subs. phr. (rhyming).—A light.

Flymy-mess, to be in a flymy-mess, verb. phr. (military).—To be hungry and have nothing to eat. For synonyms, see peckish.

Fly-slicer, subs. (common).—A cavalry-man: cf., Mudcrusher. French lancers are allumeurs de gaz, their weapons being likened to a lamplighter’s rod.

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. Fly-slicers:
Life-guardmen, from their sitting on horseback, under an arch,
where they are frequently observed to drive away flies with their
swords.

Fly the Garter, subs. phr. (schoolboys’).—Leap-frog.

1863. G. A. Sala, Breakfast in Bed, Essay VIII., p. 187 (1864). He
has very probably been playing fly-the-garter in the gutter instead
of waiting his turn at the office.

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

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

Foaled, adj. (hunting).—Thrown from a horse. Fr., faire parache.

Fob, or Fub, subs. (old).—1. A cheat; a trick; a swindle. To come the fob = to impose upon; to swindle; cf., come over.

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Canting Crew. Fob, c., a cheat trick.

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, Fob, s.v.

1852. Judson, Mysteries of New York, ch. vii. He come ze fob on
some of ze nobilitie, and zey invite him to go to Amerique.

2. (old: now recognised).—A breeches pocket; a watch pocket.

1678. Butler, Hudibras, III., i., 107. Had rifled all his pokes and
fobs Of gimcrack whims and gingumbobs.

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Canting Crew. Fob, c., also a little
pocket.

1703. Marvell, Poems on Affairs of State. ‘Royal Revolutions.’ When
plate was in pawn and fob at an ebb. Ibid. ‘Last Instructions,’
etc. More gold in’s fob, more lace upon his coat.

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

3. (common).—A watch chain or ribbon, with buckle and seals, worn hanging from the fob.

Verb. (old).—1. To rob; to cheat; to pocket; also to fob off.

1700. Congreve, Way of the World, i., 9. There were items of such a
treaty in embrio; and if it shou’d come to life poor Mirabell wou’d
be in some sort unfortunately fobb’d, i’faith.

1703. Mrs. Centlivre, Stolen Heiress, III., iv., wks. (1872), i.,
358. I shall be fobbed of my mistress by and by. Why, Frank, why,
thou wilt not fob me, wilt thou?

1731. Fielding, Grub Street Opera, i., 5. While ev’ry one else he
is fobbing, He still may be honest to me.

1789. Wolcot [P. Pinder], Rowland for an Oliver, in wks. (Dublin,
1795), Vol. II., p. 159. To use a cant phrase, we’ve been finely
fobb’d, Indeed, have very dext’rously been robb’d.

1840. Howitt, Visits to Remarkable Places, p. 170. Very pretty sums
he has fobbed now and then.

1842. Punch, III., p. 239, col. 2. The world turns its back on you,
and neither by cards nor dice can you fob your brother mortal out
of a single guinea.

2. (old).—To deceive; trifle with; disappoint; to put off dishonestly or unfairly.

1598. Shakspeare, 2 Henry IV., ii., 1. A hundred mark is a long
loan for a poor lone woman to bear, and I have borne, and borne,
and borne, and have been fubbed off and fubbed off.

1602. Shakspeare, Othello, IV., 2. I think it is scurvy, and begin
to find myself fobbed in it.

1610. Shakspeare, Coriolanus, I., 1. You must not think to fob off
our disgrace with a tale.

1884. Fortnightly Review, XXXVI., p. 75. In nothing are amateur
backers of horses fobbed off by professionals with less than the
legitimate odds than in backing double and triple events.

1864. The Tramp Exposed, p. 7. A miserable, a job lot of humanity
as had ever been fobbed off on a defrauded universe.

To gut a fob, verb. phr. (old).—To pick pockets. Cf., Fob, verbal sense 1. For synonyms, see Prig.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, 1. Diddling your subjects, and
gutting their fobs.

Fobus, subs. (old).—An opprobrious epithet.

1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, II., 1. Ay, you old fobus.

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

Fodder, subs. (common).—Paper for the closet, bum-fodder (q.v.).

Fœtus. To tap the fœtus, verb. phr. (medical).—To procure abortion.

Fog, subs. (old).—Smoke.—Grose. [1785]; Modern Flash Dict. [1823]; Matsell [1859]. [Cf., Fogus.]

In a Fog, subs. phr. (colloquial).—In a condition of perplexity, doubt, difficulty, or mystification: as, ‘I’m quite in a fog as to wha you mean.’

Verb (old).—1. To smoke.

2. (colloquial).—To mystify; to perplex; to obscure.

1836. W. H. Smith, ‘The Thieves’ Chaunt.’ There’s a nook in the
boozing-ken, Where many a mug I fog.

1883. Punch, May, p. 210, col. 1. So large a picture, treated so
ideally—Not that that means stricture—Fogs us to find room for it.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 29 Sept. We turns what we say into tangle
talk so as to fog them.

Fogey, or Fogy, Fogay, or Foggi, subs. (old).—An invalid or garrison soldier or sailor. Whence the present colloquial usages: (1) a person advanced in life, and (2) an old-fashioned or eccentric person; generally old fogey. [Derivation doubtful; suggestions are (1) from Su. G. fogde and (2) from Eng. folk. See Notes and Queries, 1 S. vii., 354, 559, 632; viii., 64, 154, 256, 455, 652; 6 S. ix., 10, 195.]

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1812. Letter quoted in Notes and Queries, 6 S., ix., 10. My company
is now forming into an invalid company. Tell your grandmother we
will be like the Castle foggies.

1855. Thackeray, The Ballad of Bouillabaisse. When first I saw ye,
cari luoghi, I’d scarce a beard upon my face, And now, a grizzled,
grim old fogy, I sit and wait for Bouillabaisse.

1864. Tangled Talk, p. 104. An old fogey, who particularly hated
being ‘done.’

1867. Nesmith, ‘Reminiscences of Dr. Anthon,’ in The Galaxy, Sept.,
p. 611. The adherents of ‘progress’ mostly regard classics as old
fogey, and ‘see no use’ in the laborious years which youth spend
upon them.

1883. James Payn, The Canon’s Ward, ch. xv. ‘He would have
preferred some bookish sneak like Adair, or some old fogey like
Mavors.’

1888. Sporting Life, 10 Dec. So it is with the sister art of music,
for I (myself something of an old fogey in such matters).

So also fogeyish = old-fashioned; eccentric. Fogeydom = the state of fogeyishness; and fogeyism = a characteristic of Fogeydom.

1877. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. i. They repaired
arm-in-arm to their club—the Renaissance, now past its prime, and a
little fogyish.

1883. Saturday Review, 31 March, p. 403, col. 1. Not the least
among the pleasures of fogeydom, so ably depicted by Thackeray, is
the confidence that it inspires in the hearts of the fairer sex.

Foggage, subs. (colloquial).—Fodder, especially green-meat.

1785. Burns, To a Mouse. And naething now to bigg a new ane
o’foggage green.

Fogged, ppl. adj. (common).—1. Drunk. Cf., foggy. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

2. (common).—Perplexed; bewildered; at a loss. [From fog (q.v.), to perplex]. For synonyms, see Flabbergasted.

1883. Illust. London News, 6 Jan., p. 6, col. 3. They were all
treading on one another’s heels, trying to do their best, but
hopelessly fogged.

1887. All the Year Round, 30 July, 30, p. 68. An Australian says
that he is bushed just as an Englishman, equally
characteristically, declares that he is fogged.

Fogger, subs. (old).—1. A huckster; a cringing, whining beggar; a pettifogger.

1614. Terence in English. I shall be exclaimed upon to be a
beggarly fogger, greedily hunting after heritage.

2. (old).—A farm servant whose duty is to feed the cattle; i.e., to supply them with foggage (q.v.).

Foggy, adj. (common).—1. Drunk; i.e., clinched or hazy (q.v.). For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

2. (colloquial).—Dull; fatwitted; thick (q.v.).

Fogle, subs. (thieves’).—A silk handkerchief; also generic. [Cf., Ital., foglia = a pocket, a purse; Fr., fouille = a pocket]. A cotton handkerchief is called a clout.

English Synonyms.—Bandanna; belcher; billy; clout; conch-clout; fam-cloth; flag; kent-rag; madam; muckender; mucketer (Florio); nose-wipe; pen-wiper; rag; sneezer; snottinger or snot-rag; stook; wipe. See Billy.

French Synonyms.—Un cachemire (popular); un blave or blavin (thieves’; from O.F., blave = blue); une fassolette (thieves’: It., fazzoletto); un chiffon or chiffonnion (popular = a rag); un moufion (popular); les mouchettes (popular = wipes).

German Synonyms.—Schneitzlingsschneiche (cf., Snot-rag); Flammert or Flamme (also a neckerchief and an apron); Wisch (= also clothing of any kind).

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry (1890), p. 74, Jerry’s sneezer was
touched with some convulsive efforts so that his fogle was
continually at work.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood bk. iii., ch. 5. Fogles and fawnies soon
went their way.

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. xviii. ‘If you don’t take fogles
and tickers——’ ‘What’s the good of talking in that way?’ interposed
Master Bates: ‘he don’t know what you mean.’ ‘If you don’t take
pocket-handkerchiefs and watches,’ said the Dodger.

1841. Tait’s Edinburgh Mag., viii., p. 220. Fawnies or fogles,
onions gay, all were the same to me.

1849. Punch’s Almanack, ‘The Swell Mobsman’s Almanack.’ Their
fogles fetch next to nothing.

1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, bk. II., ch. i., p. 60. They’re
just made for hooking a fogle [handkerchief] out of a clye.

Fogle-hunter, subs. (thieves’).—A thief whose speciality is fogles (q.v.). Fr. un blaviniste or un chiffonier, but for synonyms, see Stookhauler.

1827. Maginn, in Blackwood’s Mag. ... the fogle hunters doing Their
morning fake in the prigging lay.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. xvi. Who’s here so base as would
be a fogle-hunter?

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, p. 44. ‘What’s the matter now?’ said
the man, carelessly. ‘A young fogle-hunter,’ replied the man who
had Oliver in charge.

1843. Punch, IV., p. 129. Rich charities the chapel throng. The
swell mob they are there, The Bishop’s sermon is not long, The
fogle-hunter ware!

Fogle-hunting (or drawing), subs. phr. (thieves’).—Stealing pocket-handkerchiefs; i.e., ‘prigging of wipes.’

1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, etc., p. 82. Q. ‘Where’s Teddy?’ A.
‘He’s out a fogle-hunting.’ Sometimes ’tis said ‘drawing fogles,’
and ‘fogle-drawing.’

Fogram, or Fogrum, subs. (old).—A fussy old man. [Cf., colloquial sense of Fogey.]

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1793. Butt, Poems. We teach old maxims, neither less nor more, Than
Locke, or humble Hooker taught before, Those fogrums, quizzes,
treats, and bores, and gigs. Were held in some account with ancient
prigs.

1798. O’Keefe, Fontainbleau, II., 3. Never mind, old fogrum, run
away with me.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.

Adj. (old).—Fogeyish; stupid.

1777. Foote, Trip to Calais, i, Father and mother are but a couple
of fogrum old fools.

Hence Fogramity = (1) Fogeyism (q.v.), and (2) the state of Fogeyishness.

1796. D’Arblay, Camilla, ii., 5. Nobody’s civil now, you know, it
is a fogramity quite out of date.

Fogue, adj. (American thieves’).—Fierce; fiery.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.

Fogus, subs. (old).—Tobacco. [Cf., Fogus.] For synonyms, see Weed.

1671. Head, English Rogue, I., v., p. 49 (1874), s.v. 1724. Coles,
English Dict., s.v. 1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulg. Tongue. Tip me
a gage of fogus.

1821. Haggart, Life, p. 133. A hole in the roof of my cell, through
which I handed her plenty of fogus.

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. Troll us a stave, my
antediluvian file, and in the meantime tip me a gage [pipe] of
fogus, Jerry.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.

Foiler, subs. (old).—A thief.

1669. Nicker Nicked, in Harl. Misc. [ed. Park], ii., 108. Given in
list of names of thieves.

Foin, verb. (obsolete).—To copulate, i.e., to thrust, to poke (q.v.). Also subs.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Scazzata: A thrust, a push, a
foyne, or the serving to a woman of a man’s pricke.

1598. Shakspeare, 2 Henry IV., ii., 4. Thou whoreson little tidy
Bartholomew boar pig, when wilt thou leave fighting o’days, and
foining o’nights, and begin to patch up thine old body for heaven?

Foist, Foyst, or Fyst, subs. (old).—1. A cheat; a swindler; a sharper.

1592. John Day, Blind Beggar (Bullen), p. 21. Your nipper, your
foyst, your rogue, your cheat.

1596. Ben Jonson, Every Man in His Humour iv., 7. Prate again, as
you like this, you whoreson foist you.

1607. Dekker, Jests to Make you Merie in wks. (Grosart) II., 326.
Now to our foysts, alias pickpocket, alias cutpurse.

1609. Dekker, Lanthorne and Candelight, in wks. (Grosart) III.,
212. A foyst nor a Nip shall not walke into a Fayre or a
Play-house.

1611. Middleton, Roaring Girl, O. Pl., vi., 113. This brave fellow
is no better than a foist. Foist! what is that? A diver with two
fingers; a pickpocket; all his train study the figging law, that’s
to say cutting of purses and foisting.

2. (old).—A trick; a swindle; an imposture. Also Foyster and Foister.

1605. Ben Jonson, Volpone or the Fox, iii., 9. Put not your foists
upon me. I shall scent ’em.

3. (old).—A silent emission of wind through the anus (see quot., sense 2); a cheeser. See Fart and Fousty. [Coles has to fyst, vissio; which in his Latin part he renders to fizzle. Also fysting cur; and in Sherwood’s English Dictionary, subjoined to Cotgrave, fysting curs, and other offenders of the same class, are fully illustrated.]

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Loffa, a fizle, a fiste, a close
fart.

1605. Jonson, Eastward Hoe, pl. iv., 270. Marry, fyst o’ your
Ruidess. I thought as much.

1662. Rump Songs, II., 3. That a reason be enacted (if there be not
one), Why a fart hath a voice, and a fyst hath none, Which nobody
can deny.

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Canting Crew. Foyst ... also a close
strong stink, without noise or report.

1785. Grose. Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. Fice or Foyse.

Verb. (old).—1. To trick; to swindle; to pick pockets.

1607. Dekker, Jests to Make You Merie, in wks. (Grosart) II., 332.
But now to the manner of the foysting of a pocket, the sharing of
the money, and how honest men may avoide them.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Rept., 1874). To
foyst, to picke a pocket.

1653. Middleton, Spanish Gipsy, ii., 1. I mean fitching, foisting,
nimming.

2. (old).—To fart. Also to copulate (Urquhart).

1539. David Lyndsay, Thrie Estaitis (Works, Laing, 1879), ii., 109.
Ane fistand flag.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Loffare, s.v.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie, Vessir, s.v.

Foister, or Foyster, subs. (old).—A pick-pocket; a cheat.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Barattiere, a barterer, a
trucker, a marter, an exchanger, a briber, a cheater, a false
gamester, a cousener, a broker, a fripper, a chaffrer, a cogger, a
foyster, a deceiuer, a coni-catcher, a bareter, a prowler.

(?). Mirrour for Magistrates, p. 483, When facing foisters, fit for
Tiburn. fraies, Are food-sick faint.

Follower, subs. (colloquial).—A maid-servant’s sweetheart; a beau. For synonyms, see Jomer.

1838. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, ch. xv. Five servants kept. No
man. No followers.

1860. Chambers’ Journal, XIII., p. 32. No followers allowed.

1870. Spectator, 15 Jan. It is safer, unkind as it may seem, to
forbid the presence of a ‘follower’ in the house. A girl is less
likely to get into mischief when she is walking with her friend in
the street or talking with him over the area gate, than when she
receives him alone in the kitchen.

1872. The Ladies, 29 June, p. 335. If you take into consideration
that ‘followers’ are in most houses strictly forbidden, what wonder
is it that girls are now and then caught flirting with the butcher
and the baker at the area railings?

Follow-me-lads, subs. phr. (common).—Curls or ribands hanging over the shoulder; cf., Fr., suivez-moi-jeune-homme = ribbons flying behind a lady’s dress. Also Followers.

1872. Spectator. ‘Follow-me-lads’ are not in themselves very
pretty, though, like any other fashion, they become the Princess,
and they are exceedingly costly.

Follow on, subs. phr. and verb (cricket).—A team eighty runs behind the other in the first innings is obliged to follow on; i.e., to take to the wickets a second time. A run more, and it saves the follow on.

1891. Pall Mall Gazette, 5 Aug. ‘Notts. v. Surrey.’ The game, with
a possible prospect of the follow-on, being saved.

Follow your nose! intj. phr. (streets’).—A retort on asking the way. The full phrase is, ‘Follow your nose, and you are sure to go straight.’

1620. Percy, Folio MSS., p. 462. He went to the sea syde, and
ffollowed his nose.

1854. Notes and Queries, x., p. 66. In what collection of tales
published in 1834 shall I find the tale entitled follow your nose?

Foo-foo, subs. (American).—A person of no account; an insignificant idiot; a poop (q.v.).

1837. A Glance at New York (in Bartlett). Don’t know what a foo-foo
is? Well, as you’re a greenhorn, I’ll enlighten you. A foo-foo, or
an outsider, is a chap that can’t come the big figure.

Fool, subs. (colloquial.)—A dish of gooseberries, boiled with sugar and milk. [Fr., groseilles en foule.] Also, a gull (q.v.).

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., III., 9. ‘Praise of the Dairy Maid.’ A
lady, I heard tell, Not far off did dwell, Made her husband a fool,
and it pleased him quite well.

1774. Goldsmith, Retaliation. And by the same rule, Magnanimous
Goldsmith’s a gooseberry fool.

No Fool, subs. phr. (American colloquial).—A phrase laudatory, applied to neuter nouns. Cf., No Slouch.

1848. Jones, Sketches of Travel, p. 33. I tell you what, Charlston
ain’t no fool of a city.

To make a fool of, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To delude. Specifically (venery), to cuckold, or to seduce under promise of marriage.

To fool about (or around), verb. phr. (American).—To dawdle; to trifle with; to be infatuated with; to hang about; to defraud.

1837. A Glance at New York. Mose—Now look a-here, Liz,—I go in for
Bill Sykes, ’cause he runs wid our machine; but he musn’t come
foolin’ round my gal, or I’ll give him fits.

1884. Hawley Smart, Post to Finish, ch. xvii. From what I hear, you
came to Riddleton, fooling after my daughter. Now, I’ll have no
caterwauling of that sort.

1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody of Nowhere, p. 124. I should think you
had too much ed-u-cash to fool about such a going on.

Fool-finder, subs. (obsolete).—A bum-bailiff.—Grose.

Foolish, adj. (prostitutes’).—Said of a man that pays. ‘Is he flash (q.v.) or foolish = Is he the cully or the other.’—Grose.

Fool-monger, subs. (colloquial).—A person, male or female, living by their wits, e.g., a promoter (q.v.); a betting-man; a swindler. Also Fool-catcher and Fool-trap (q.v.).

Foolometer, subs. (colloquial).—A standard, positive or neuter, whereby to gauge the public taste.

Fool’s Father, subs. phr. (theatrical).—The pantaloon or old ’un. (q.v.)

Fool-sticker, subs. phr. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick. Also Fool-maker.

Fool’s Wedding, subs. phr. (common).—A party of women. For synonyms, see Hen Party.

Fool-trap, subs. (colloquial).—1. A fool-monger (q.v.).

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

3. (colloquial).—A high-class harlot.

Foont, subs. (thieves’)—A sovereign [Probably a corruption of Ger. Pfund.] For synonyms, see Canary.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL., 502. The mob got me up a
break (collection), and I got between five or six foont
(sovereigns).

Foot, verb. (common).—1. To acknowledge payment; e.g., to foot a bill; cf., Foot-up.

1848. Durivage, Stray Subjects, p. 183. If our plan succeeded the
landlord was to foot the bill, and stand treat.

2. (football and colloquial).—To kick; to hoof (q.v.). Cf., Merchant of Venice, I., 3, You, that did void your rheum upon my beard, And foot me, as you spurn a stranger cur.

1852. Bristed, Upper Ten Thousand, p. 223. Both teams were footing
their very best.

To foot it, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To walk. For synonyms, see Pad the Hoof.

1892. Price, From Arctic Ocean to Yellow Sea. The discomfort of
having to foot it.

To foot-up, verb. phr. (American colloquial).—To sum up the total (of a bill); to tot up (q.v.). Hence, to pay; to discharge one’s obligations; to reckon up (q.v.); to summarize both merits and defects, and strike a balance. Footing-up = the reckoning, the sum total. Fr., gamberger.

1865. Sala, A Trip to Barbary. The Arab abhors statistics. He won’t
be tabulated if he could help it, and were you to go to Algeria,
Doctor Colenso, you would find a deeply rooted objection among the
people to the reckoning, or footing-up, as the Americans call it,
of anything animate or inanimate.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 310. To foot a bill, by paying the
amount at the bottom of the account, is a phrase equally well known
abroad and with us.

1882. McCabe, New York, XXI., 333. The transactions of ‘the Street’
foot up an almost fabulous sum daily.

1884. G. A. S[ala], in Ill. Lon. News, 29 March, p. 294, col. 3.
They foot up (American English) to an almost alarming amount in
thousands of dollars.

To put one’s best foot (or leg) foremost, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To use all possible despatch; to exert oneself to the utmost.

1596. Shakspeare, King John, iv., 2. Nay, but make haste; the
better foot before.

To put one’s foot into anything, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To make a mess of it; to get into a scrape. The bishop (i.e., the Devil) has put his foot in it (Old English proverb) is said of burned porridge or over-roasted meat.—Grose. Fr., faire une gaffe.

1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v.

1888. Daily Telegraph, 7 May. Faire une gaffe, in modern Parisian
slang, may be best rendered as to put your foot in it.

To have one foot (or leg) in the grave, verb. phr. (common).—On one’s last legs; measured for a funeral sermon. Also as adj.

1825. English Spy, i., pp. 199–200. With one leg in the grave he’ll
laugh.

1890. Globe, 15 May, p. 5, col. 2. One-foot-in-the-grave paralytic
sort of people.

To pull foot, verb. phr. (American).—To make haste. Variants are to take one’s foot in one’s hand, and to make tracks; but for synonyms, see Absquatulate and Skedaddle.

1825. Neal, Brother Jonathan, Bk. I., ch. iv., How they pulled foot
when they seed us commin.

1836. Michael Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. viii. ‘Why, pull foot,
captain,’ promptly replied Paul.

1843–4. Haliburton, Sam Slick in England. I look’d up; it was
another shower, by gosh. I pulls foot for dear life.

To take Mr. Foot’s horse, verb. phr. (old).—To walk; to go by Shank’s mare (q.v.) For synonyms, see Pad the hoof.

To know the length of one’s foot, verb. phr. (old).—To be well acquainted with one’s character.

1581. Lilly, Euphues, etc. But you shall not know the length of my
foot, untill by your cunning you get commendation.

1614. Terence in English. He measures an other man’s foote by his
owne last. Hee considers an other mans meaning by his owne intent.

Footer, subs. (Harrow: once common).—1. Short for ‘football.’

2. (University).—A player of football according to Rugby rules.

Foot-hot, adv. (Old English).—In hot haste; hot-foot (q.v.)

1848. Burton, Waggeries, etc., p. 65. I’m darned if I don’t streak
it to the Squire’s foot-hot.

Footing, subs. (common).—Money paid on entering upon new duties, or on being received into a workshop or society: as at sea when a comrade first goes aloft. Formerly foot-ale: cf., Garnish. Fr., arroser ses galons = to christen one’s uniform.

1777. Howard, State of Prisons in England and Wales, quoted in J.
Ashton’s The Fleet, p. 295. A cruel custom obtains in most of our
Gaols, which is that of the prisoners demanding of a new comer
garnish, footing, or (as it is called in some London Gaols)
chummage.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, I., 48; I must instantly pay down
two shillings for my footing.

1788. G. A. Stevens, Adv. of a Speculist, i., 211. I was drove from
street to street by women of my own profession, who swore I should
not come in their beats until I had paid my footing.

1830. Carleton, Collegian’s Colleen Bawn, 94. ‘Pay your footing
now, Master Kyrle Daly, before you go farther,’ said one.

1840. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. iii. ‘Waiter, half-a-dozen
of iced champagne here, to pay for Mr. Slick’s footin’.’

1891. Clark Russell, An Ocean Tragedy, p. 86. I was going aloft and
wished to pay my footing.

Footle, verb., and Footling, adj. (colloquial).—To dawdle, trifle, potter; dawdling, trifling, pottering; messing about (q.v.).

Footlicker, subs. (old).—A servant: a lickspittle.

1609. Shakspeare, The Tempest, IV., 1. Do that good mischief which
may make this island Thine for ever, and I, thy Caliban, For aye
thy foot-licker.