Slang and its analogues past and present, volume 3 [of 7]

Chapter V: Part 5

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1892. Ally Sloper, 2 Apr., p. 106, col. 3. My father takes the
chair at friendly leads.

Friends in Need, subs. phr. (common).—Lice. For synonyms, see Chates.

Frig, verb trans. and refl. (venery).—To masturbate. Also subs. = an act of masturbation. Known sometimes as keeping down the census. [Latin, fricare = to rub.]

English Synonyms.—To bob; to box the Jesuit [‘St. Omer’s lewdness,’ Marston, ‘Scourge’ (1598)]; to chuff; to chuffer; to claw (Florio); to digitate (of women); to eat (or get) cock-roaches; to bring up (or off) by hand; to fight one’s turkey (Texan); to finger or finger-fuck (of women); to friggle (Florio); to fuck one’s fist (of men); to fetch mettle (Grose); to handle; to indorse; to jerk, play, pump, toss, or work off; to lark; to milk; to mount a corporal and four; to mess, or pull about; to play with (schoolboys’), to rub up; to shag; to tickle one’s crack (of women); to dash one’s doodle; to touch up; to play paw-paw tricks (Grose); to wriggle (old). For foreign synonyms, see Wriggle.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Fricciare ... to frig, to
wriggle, to tickle.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie. Branler la pique, To Frig.

1728. Bailey, Dict., s.v. Frig, to rub.

c. 1716–1746. Robertson of Struan. Poems, 83. So to a House of
office ... a School-Boy does repair, To ... fr—— his P—— there.

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

Frigate, subs. (common).—A woman.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Friggat well rigg’d, a
woman well drest and gentile.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. A well-rigg’d frigate, a well-dressed
wench.

Frigging, subs. (venery).—1. The act of masturbation; the ‘cynick friction’ (Marston, Scourge); otherwise simple infanticide.

2. (old).—Trifling [Grose, 1785.]

Adj. and adv. (vulgar).—An expletive of intensification. Thus, frigging bad = ‘bloody’ bad; a frigging idiot = an absolute fool. See also Foutering and Fucking.

Frightfully, adv. (colloquial).—Very. An expletive used as are awfully, beastly, bloody, etc. (q.v.).

Frig-pig, subs. (old).—A finnicking trifler.

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

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Frigster (in fem. Frigstress) subs. (venery).—A masturbator; an indorser (q.v., also = a Sodomite).

Frillery, subs. (common).—Feminine underclothing. For synonyms, see Snowy. To explore one’s frillery (venery) = to grope one’s person.

Frills, subs. (American).—Swagger; conceit; also accomplishments (as music, languages, etc.); and culture; cf., Man with no frills.

1870. Sacramento Paper (quoted in De Vere). ‘I can’t bear his talk,
it’s all frills.’

1884. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Adventures of Huck Finn. 33. I never
see such a son. I bet I’ll take some of these frills out of you
before I’m done with you.

To put on one’s frills, verb. phr. (American).—To exaggerate; to chant the poker; to swagger; to put on side (q.v.); to sing it (q.v.). Fr., se gonfler le jabot, and faire son lard.

1890. Rudyard Kipling, National Observer, March, 1890, p. 69. ‘The
Oont.’ It’s the commissariat camel putting on his blooming frills.

2. (venery).—To get wanton or prick-proud (q.v.); in a state of must (q.v.).

To have been among one’s frills, verb. phr. (venery).—To have enjoyed the sexual favour. For synonyms, see Greens.

Frint, subs. (old).—A pawnbroker. For synonyms, see Uncle.

1821. Real Life in London, i., p. 566.

Frisco, subs. (American).—Short for San Francisco.

1870. Bret Harte, Poems, ‘Chiquita.’ Busted hisself at White Pine,
and blew out his brains down in Frisco.

1890. Sporting Life, 8 Nov. The battle ... took place in the
theatre, Market St., Frisco.

Frisk, subs. (old).—1. A frolic; an outing; a lark (q.v.); mischief generally.

1697. Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, iii., 1. If you have a mind to take
a frisk with us, I have an interest with my lord; I can easily
introduce you.

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

1825. The English Spy, vi., p. 162. Dick’s a trump and no
telegraph—up to every frisk, and down to every move of the domini,
thoroughbred and no want of courage.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xx., p. 171. ‘When you and I had
the frisk down in Lincolnshire, Guppy, and drove over to see that
house at Castle Wold.’

2. (old).—A dance.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 274. Let’s have a neat frisk or so,
And then rub on the law.

1782. Cowper, Table Talk, 237. Give him his lass, his fiddle, and
his frisk, Is always happy, reign whoever may.

1880. Ouida, Moths, ch. xiv. And her fancy-dress frisks, and her
musical breakfasts, were great successes.

3. (venery).—The act of copulation. See Greens and Ride.

Verb (thieves’).—1. To search; to run the rule over (q.v.); Especially applied to the search made, after arrest, for evidence of character, antecedents, or identity. Hence, careful examination of any kind.

1781. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 179. They frisk him? That is
search him. Ibid., p. 122. Putting a lap-feeder in our sack, that
you or your blowen had prig’d yourselves though we should stand the
frisk for it.

1828. Jon. Bee, Pict. of London. p. 69. The arms are seized from
behind by one, whilst the other frisks the pockets of their
contents.

1852. Judson, Mysteries, etc., of New York, ch. vii. Vel sare, the
offisare ’ave frisk me: he ’ave not found ze skin or ze dummy, eh?

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, p. 21. ‘The knuck was
copped to rights, a skin full of honey was found in his kick’s poke
by the copper when he frisked him’; [i.e.] the pickpocket was
arrested, and when searched by the officer a purse was found in his
pantaloons pocket full of money.

2. (thieves’).—To pick pockets; to rob. To frisk a cly = to empty a pocket.

1852. Judson, Mysteries, etc. of New York, ch. iv. You’re as good a
knuck as ever frisked a swell.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 13 June, p. 7, col. 3. The ragged little
wretches who prowl in gangs about the suburbs, who crawl on their
hands and knees into shops in order to ‘frisk the till.’

3. (venery).—To ‘have (q.v.) a woman.’ For synonyms, see Ride.

To dance the Paddington frisk, verb. phr. (old).—To dance on nothing; i.e., to be hanged. [Tyburn Tree was in Paddington.] For synonyms, see Ladder.

Frisker, subs. (old).—A dancer.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., ii., 20. At no Whitsun Ale there e’er
yet had been Such Fraysters and Friskers as these lads and lasses.

Frivol or Frivvle, verb. (colloquial).—To act frivolously; to trifle. [A resuscitation of an old word used in another sense, viz., to annul, to set aside].

1883. W. Black, Yolande, ch. xx. ‘Mind, I am assuming that you mean
business—if you want to frivole, and pick pretty posies, I shut my
door on you but, I say, if you mean business, I have told Mrs. Bell
you are to have access to my herbarium, whether I am there or not.’

Frog, subs. (common).—1. A policeman. For synonyms, see Beak and Copper.

1881. New York Slang Dict., ‘On the Trail.’ I must amputate like a
go-away, or the frogs will nail me.

1886. Graphic, 30 Jan., p. 130, col. 1. A policeman is also called
... a ‘frog,’ the last-named because he is supposed to jump, as it
were, suddenly upon guilty parties.

2. (common).—A Frenchman. Also froggy and frog-eater. [Formerly a Parisian; the shield of whose city bore three toads, while the quaggy state of the streets gave point to a jest common at Versailles before 1791: Qu’en disent les grenouilles? i.e., What do the frogs (the people of Paris) say?]

1883. Referee, 15 July, p. 7, col. 3. While Ned from Boulogne says
‘Oui mon brave,’ The Froggies must answer for ‘Tamatave.’

3. (popular).—A foot. For synonyms, see Creepers.

To frog on, verb. phr. (American).—To get on; to prosper frogging-on = success.

Frog-and-Toad, subs. (rhyming).—The main road.

Frog-and-Toe, subs. (American thieves’).—The city of New York.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, p. 35. Coves, let us
frog-and-toe, coves, let us go to New York.

Froglander, subs. (old).—A Dutchman. Cf., frog, sense 2.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew, s.v.

1852. Judson, Mysteries, etc., of New York, ch. xiv. The funny swag
which they raised out of the froglander coves.

Frog-salad, subs. (American).—A ballet; i.e., a leg-piece (q.v.).

Frog’s March. To give the frog’s march, verb. phr. (common).—To carry a man face downwards to the station; a device adopted with drunken or turbulent prisoners.

1871. Evening Standard, ‘Clerkenwell Police Report,’ 18 April. In
cross-examination the police stated that they did not give the
defendant the frog’s march. The frog’s march was described to be
carrying the face downwards.

1884. Daily News, Oct. 4, p. 5, col. 2. They had to resort to a
mode of carrying him, familiarly known in the force, we believe, as
the frog trot, or sometimes as the frog’s march.... The prisoner is
carried with his face downwards and his arms drawn behind him.

1888. Daily Telegraph, 22 Dec. Whether the ‘bobbies’ ran the tipsy
man in, treating him meanwhile to a taste of the frog’s march, and
whether he was fined or imprisoned for assaulting the police, is
not upon the record.

1890. Bird o’ Freedom, 19 Mar., p. 1, col. 1. And then he gets the
frog’s march to the nearest Tealeaf’s.

Frog’s Wine, subs. phr. (old).—Gin. For synonyms, see Drinks and Satin.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Frolic, subs. (common).—A merry-making.

1847. Robb. Squatter Life, p. 133. At all the frolicks round the
country, Jess was hangin’ onter that gal.

Frosty-face, subs. (old).—A pox-pitted man. Grose (1785).

Front, verb (thieves’).—To conceal the operations of a pickpocket; to cover (q.v.).

1879. J. W. Horsley in Macmillan’s Mag., XL., 506. So my pal said,
‘Front me (cover me), and I will do him for it.’

Front-attic (or -door, -garden, -parlour, -room, or -window). subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable. To have (or do) a bit of front-door work = to copulate.

1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v. Mrs. Fubb’s front-parlour (vide
Tom Rees) is not to be mistaken for any part of any building.

Front-door Mat, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pubic hair. For synonyms, see Fleece.

Front-gut, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Frontispiece, subs. (pugilists’).—The face. For synonyms, see Dial.

1818. P. Egan, Boxiana, I., p. 221. Tyne put in right and left upon
the Jew’s frontispiece two such severe blows, that Crabbe’s
countenance underwent a trifling change.

1845. Buckstone, Green Bushes, i., 1. It’s a marcy my switch didn’t
come in contract with your iligant frontispiece.

1860. Chambers’ Journal XIII., p. 368. His forehead is his
frontispiece.

1864. A. Trollope, Sm. Ho. at Allington (1884), vol. ii., ch. V.,
p. 47. He said that he had had an accident—or rather, a row—and
that he had come out of it with considerable damage to his
frontispiece.

1891. Sporting Life, 28 Mar. It must be confessed that the
ludicrous was attained when Griffiths subsequently appeared with a
short black pipe in his distorted and battered frontispiece.

Front-windows, subs. (common).—1. The eyes; also the face.

2. In sing. (venery).—The female pudendum. Cf., front-attic; and for synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Frost, subs. (common).—A complete failure. Cf., Fr., un four noir. Also un temps noir = a blank interval; a prolonged silence (as when an actor’s memory fails him).

1885. Saturday Review, 15 Aug., p. 218. He is an absolute and
perfect frost.

1885. Bell’s Life, 3 Jan., p. 3, col. 6. We regret we cannot write
favorably concerning this matter, the affair being almost as big a
frost athletically as it was financially.

1889. Star, 17 Jan. The pantomime was a dead frost.

2. (common).—A dearth of work; to have a frost = to be idle.

Froudacious, Froudacity, adj. and subs. See quots.

1888. Colonies and India, 14 Nov. The word ‘Froudacity,’ invented
by Mr. Darnell Davis in his able review of The Bow of Ulysses,
recently published, has reached the height of popularity in the
Australasian Colonies, where it has come into everyday use. In the
Melbourne Assembly the other day an hon. member observed—speaking
of some remarks made by a previous speaker—that he never heard such
froudacious statements in his life. The colonial papers are
beginning, also, to spell the word with a small ‘f,’ which is
significant.

1889. Graphic, 16 Feb. By exposing some of Mr. Froude’s manifold
errors (the most dangerous is that which assumes the sour Waikato
clays to be rich because they grow fern) he justifies the
Australian adjective Froudacious.

Froust, subs. (Harrow School).—1. Extra sleep allowed on Sunday mornings and whole holidays. Fr., faire du lard.

2. (common).—A stink; stuffiness (in a room).

Frousty, adj. (common).—Stinking.

Frout, adj. (Winchester College).—Angry; vexed.

Frow (or Froe, or Vroe), subs. (old).—A woman; a wife; a mistress. [From the Dutch.]

1607. Dekker, Westward Ho, Act V., Sc. 1. Eat with ’em as hungerly
as soldiers; drink as if we were froes.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew, V. Brush to your froe
and wheedle for crap, c. whip to your mistress and speak her fair
to give or lend you some Money.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. (2 ed.), s.v.

1789. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 119 A flash of lightning next Bess
tipt each cull and frow.

Fruitful Vine, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Fruitful vine. A woman’s private
parts, i.e., that has flowers every month, and bears fruit in nine.

Frummagemed, adj. (old).—Choked; strangled; spoilt.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, Pt. I., ch. v., 49 (1874). Frummagem,
Choakt.

1724. E. Coles, Eng. Dict. Frummigam, c. choaked.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Choaked, strangled, or hanged.
Cant.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxviii. ‘If I had not helped you
with these very fambles (holding up her hands), Jean Baillie would
have frummagem’d you, ye feckless do-little!’

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 21. There he lay, almost
frummagem’d.

Frump, subs. (old).—1. A contemptuous speech or piece of conduct; a sneer; a jest.

1553. Wilson, Art of Rhetorique, p. 137. (He) shall be able to
abashe a right worthie man, and make him at his witte’s ende,
through the sodaine quicke and vnlooked frumpe giuen.

1589. Greene, Menaphon, p. 45. For women’s paines are more pinching
if they be girded with a frumpe than if they be galled with a
mischiefe.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Bichiacchia, jestes, toyes,
frumps, flim-flam tales, etc.

1606. T. Dekker, Seven Deadly Sinnes, p. 44 (ed. Arber). The
courtiers gives you an open scoffe, ye clown a secret mock, the
cittizen yat dwels at your threshald, a ieery frump.

1630. Taylor, Works. But yet, me thinkes, he gives thee but a
frumpe, In telling how thee kist a wenches rumpe.

1662. Rump Songs, ‘Arsy-Varsy,’ etc., ii., 47. As a preface of
honor and not as a frump, First with a Sir reverence ushers the
Rump.

1668. Dryden, An Evening’s Love, Act IV. Sc. 3. Not to be
behindhand with you in your frumps, I give you back your purse of
gold.

2. (common).—A slattern; more commonly a prim old lady; the correlative of fogey (q.v.). Fr., un graillon.

1831. J. R. Planché, Olympic Revels, Sc. i. Cheat, you stingy
frump! Who wants to cheat?

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, I., p. 157. Get into the hands of
the other old frumps.

1857. Thackeray, Virginians, ch. xxxi. She is changed now, isn’t
she? What an old Gorgon it is! She is a great patroness of your
book-men, and when that old frump was young they actually made
verses about her.

3. (old).—A cheat; a trick.

1602. Rowland, Greene’s Ghost, 37. They come off with their ...
frumps.

Verb (old).—To mock; to insult.

1589. Nashe, Month’s Mind, in Works, Vol. I., p. 158. One of them
... maketh a iest of Princes, and ‘the troubling of the State, and
offending of her Maiestie,’ hee turneth of with a frumping
forsooth, as though it were a toie to think of it.

1593. G. Harvey, Pierces Super, in Works II., 107. That despiseth
the graces of God, flowteth the constellations of heaven, frumpeth
the operations of nature.

1609. Man in the Moone. Hee ... frumpeth those his mistresse
frownes on.

1757. Garrick, Irish Widow, I., i. Yes, he was frumped, and called
me old blockhead.

Frumper, subs. (old).—A sturdy man; a good blade.

1825. Kent, Modern Flash Dict., s.v.

Frumpish, adj. (colloquial).—Cross-grained; old-fashioned and severe in dress, manners, morals, and notions; ill-natured; given to frumps. Also Frumpy.

1589. Greene, Tullies Love, in wks. vii., 131. Who were you but as
fauourable, as you are frumpish, would soone censure by my talke,
how deepe I am reade in loues principles.

1701. Farquhar, Sir Harry Wildair, Act. V., Sc. 5. She got, I don’t
know how, a crotchet of jealousy in her head. This made her
frumpish, but we had ne’er an angry word.

1757. Foote, Author, Act II. And methought she looked very frumpish
and jealous.

1764. O’Hara, Midas, I., 3. La! mother, why so frumpish?

1864. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, Bk. I., ch. xi. ‘Don’t fancy me a
frumpy old married woman, my dear; I was married but the other day,
you know.’

1889. Modern Society, 12 Oct., p. 1271, col. 2. Quite an elderly
and superannuated look is given to the toilette which is finished
off by a woollen cloud or silken shawl, and only invalids and
sixty-year-old women should be allowed such frumpish privileges.

Frushee, subs. (Scots’).—An open jam tart.

Fry, verb (common).—To translate into plain English. Cf., boil down.

1881. Jas. Payn, Grape from a Thorn, ch. xxx. ‘I shall repose the
greatest confidence in you, my dear girl, which one human being can
entrust to another,’ was one of its sentences, which, when it came
‘to be fried,’ meant that she should delegate to her the duties of
combing Fido and cutting her canary’s claws.

Go and fry your face, phr. (common).—A retort expressive of incredulity, derision, or contempt.

Frying-pan. To jump from the frying-pan into the fire, verb. phr. (common).—To go from bad to worse. Cf., ‘from the smoke into the smother’ (As You Like it, i., 2.). Fr., tomber de la poêle dans la braise.

1684. Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, Part II. Some, though they shun
the frying-pan, do leap into the fire.

To Fry the Pewter, verb. phr. (thieves’).—To melt down pewter measures.

F Sharp, subs. phr. (common).—A flea; cf., B flat.

Fuant, subs. (old).—Excrement.—B. E. Dict. of the Canting Crew.

Fub, verb. (old).—To cheat; to steal; to put off with false excuses. Also Fubbery = cheating, stealing, deception.

1598. Shakspeare, 2 Henry IV., II., 1. I have borne, and borne, and
borne, and have been fubbed off, and fubbed off from this day to
that day.

1604. Marston, Malcontent, i., 3. O no; but dream the most
fantastical. O heaven! O fubbery! fubbery!

1619. Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, ii., 2. My letter fubb’d too.

1647. Cartwright, Ordinary. iv., 4. I won’t be fubbed.

Fubsey or Fubsy, adj. (old).—Plump; fat; well-filled. Fubsy dummy = a well-filled pocket book; fubsy wench = a plump girl.

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

1825. English Spy, I., p. 188. Old dowagers, their fubsy faces,
Painted to eclipse the Graces.

1837. Marryat, Snarley-yow, I., ch. viii. Seated on the widow’s
little fubsy sofa.

Fubsiness, subs. (common).—Any sort of fatness.

Fuck, subs. (venery).—1. An act of coition. For synonyms, see Greens.

2. (venery).—The seminal fluid. For synonyms, see Cream.

Verb. (common).—To copulate. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

c. 1540. David Lyndsay, ‘Flyting with King James.’ Aye fukkand like
ane furious fornicator.

1568. Clerk, Bannatyne MSS., Hunterian Soc. Publication, p. 298. He
clappit fast, he kist, he chukkit, As with the glaikkis he wer
ourgane; Yit be his feiris he wald haif fukkit.

1568. Anonymous, Bannatyne MSS., Hunterian Soc. Publication, p.
399. ‘In Somer when Flouris will Smell.’ Allace! said sch, my awin
sweit thing, Your courtly fukking garis me fling, Ye wirk sae
weill.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, Fottere. To jape; to sarde, to
fucke; to swive; to occupy.

1620. Percy, Folio MSS., p. 459. [Hales and Furnivall, 1867.] A
mighty mind to clipp, kisse, and to ffuck her.

1647–80. Rochester, ‘Written under Nelly’s Picture.’ Her father
fucked them right together.

1683. Earl of Dorset, ‘A Faithful Catalogue.’ From St. James’s to
the Land of Thule, There’s not a whore who f——s so like a mule.

c. 1716–1746. Robertson of Struan, Poems, 256. But she gave proof
that she could f——k, Or she is damnably bely’d.

1728. Bailey, English Dict., s.v. Fuck ... Feminam subigitare.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. F——k, to copulate.

c. 1790(?). Burns, Merry Muses. And yet misca’s a poor thing That
fucks for its bread.

Fuckable, adj. (venery).—Desirable. Also Fucksome.

Fucker, subs. (common).—1. A lover; a fancy joseph (q.v.).

2. (common).—A term of endearment, admiration, derision, etc.

Fuck-finger, subs. phr. (venery).—A fricatrix.

Fuck-fist, subs. phr. (venery).—A frigster (q.v.); a masturbator. For synonyms, see Milkman.

Fuck-hole, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Fucking, subs. (venery).—Generic for the ‘act of kind.’

1568. Scott, Bannatyne MSS., Hunterian Soc. Publication, p. 363.
‘To the Derisioun of Wantoun Wemen.’ Thir foure, the suth to sane,
Enforsis thame to fucking ... Quod Scott.

1575. Satirical Poems, etc., Scottish Text Soc. Pub. (1889–90) i.,
208. ‘A Lewd Ballat.’ To se forett the holy frere his fukking so
deplore.

Adj. (common).—A qualification of extreme contumely.

Adv. (common).—Intensitive and expletive; a more violent form of bloody (q.v.). See Foutering.

Fuckish, adj. (venery).—Wanton; proud (q.v.); inclined for coition.

Fuckster, subs. (venery).—A good performer (q.v.); one specially addicted to the act. A woman-fucker (Florio), but in feminine fuckstress.

Fud, subs. (venery).—The pubic hair. For synonyms, see Fleece. Also the tail of a hare or rabbit.

1785. Burns, The Jolly Beggars. They scarcely left to co’er their
fuds.

Fuddle, subs. (common).—1. Drink. [Wedgwood: A corruption of fuzz.]

1621. Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy. The university troop dined
with the Earl of Abingdon and came back well fuzzed.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew, s.v. fuddle, Drink.
‘This is rum fuddle, c. this is excellent Tipple.’

1705. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, I., Pt. iv., p. 18. And so, said I,
we sipp’d our fuddle, As women in the straw do caudle, ’Till every
man had drown’d his noddle.

1733. Bailey, Erasmus, p. 125 (ed. 1877). Don’t go away; they have
had their dose of fuddle.

2. (common).—A drunken bout; a drunk.

1864. Glasgow Citizen, 9 Dec. Turner is given to a fuddle at times.

Verb. (colloquial).—To be drunk.

1720. Durfey, Pills, etc., vi., 265. All day he will fuddle.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. (2nd ed.). To fuddle. 1. To make a
person drunk. 2. To grow drunk.

1770. Foote. Lame Lover, iii. Come, Hob or Nob, Master Circuit—let
us try if we can’t fuddle the serjeant.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. x. He boxed the watch; he fuddled
himself at taverns; he was no better than a Mohock.

1889. Echo, 15 Feb. If rich, you may fuddle with Bacchus all night,
And be borne to your chamber remarkably tight.

Fuddlecap (or Fuddler), subs. (common).—A drunkard; a boon companion. For synonyms, see Lushington.

1607. Dekker, Jests to make you Merie, in wks. (Grosart) ii., 299.
And your perfect fuddlecap [is known] by his red nose.

d. 1682. T. Browne, Works, iii., 93. True Protestant fuddlecaps.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew, fuddlecap, a drunkard.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.) Fuddlecap (S.) one that loves
tippling, an excessive drinker, or drunkard.

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

Fuddled, adj. (colloquial).—Stupid with drink. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

1661. Pepys, Diary, 8 March After dinner, to drink all the
afternoon ... at last come in Sir William Wale, almost fuddled.

1713. Guardian, No. 145. It was my misfortune to call in at Tom’s
last night, a little fuddled.

1730. Thomson, Autumn, 537. The table floating round, And pavement
faithless to the fuddled foot.

1838. Dickens, Nich. Nickleby, ch. lx., p. 485. You’re a little
fuddled to-night, and may not be able to see this as clearly as you
would at another time.

1841. Punch, I., p. 74. The Sultan got very fuddled last night with
forbidden juice in the harem, and tumbled down the ivory steps.

1864. Glasgow Citizen, 19 Nov. No other word has so many
equivalents as ‘drunk.’... One very common and old one has escaped
Mr. Hotten—fuddled.

1888. Daily News, 28 Nov. Music halls would soon decrease in
numbers if drink were not sold in them, for sober people would not
go to see spectacles only attractive to those who were half
fuddled.

Fudge, subs. (colloquial).—Nonsense; humbug; an exaggeration; a falsehood. [Provincial French, fuche, feuche; an exclamation of contempt from Low Ger. futsch = begone; see, however, quots. 1700 and 1712.] Also as an exclamation of contempt.

1700. Isaac Disraeli, Notes on the Navy. There was, in our time,
one Captain Fudge, a commander of a merchant-man; who, upon his
return from a voyage, always brought home a good cargo of lies;
insomuch that now, aboard ship, the sailors, when they hear a great
lie, cry out fudge.

1712. W. Crouch, A Collection of Papers. In the year 1664 we were
sentenced for banishment to Jamaica by Judges Hyde and Twisden, and
our number was 55. We were put on board the ship Black Eagle; the
master’s name was Fudge, by some called Lying Fudge.

1766. Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield, ch. xi. Who ... would cry out
fudge! an expression which displeased us all, and, in some measure,
damped the rising spirit of the conversation.

1841. Lytton, Night and Morning, Bk. II., ch. vii. Very genteel
young man—prepossessing appearance—(that’s a fudge!)—highly
educated; usher in a school—eh?

1850. Thackeray, Rebecca and Rowena, ch. i. Her ladyship’s
proposition was what is called bosh ... or fudge in plain Saxon.

1861. Cornhill Magazine, iv., 102. ‘A Cumberland Mare’s Nest.’ ...
Up jumped the worthy magistrate, And seizing ‘Burn,’ Of justices
the oracle and badge, he straight Descended to his ‘lion’s den’ (a
sobriquet in fudge meant) Where he, ‘a second Daniel,’ had often
‘come to judgment.’

1864. Tangled Talk, p. 108. It is fudge to tell a child to ‘love’
every living creature—a tapeworm, for instance, such as is bottled
up in chemists windows.

1865. Morning Star, 1 June. Old as I am and half woor out, I would
lay (too bad, Mr. Henley, this) upon my back and hallo fudge!

1882. Daily Telegraph, 5 Oct., p. 2, col. 2. Much that we hear
concerning the ways and means of the working classes is sheer
fudge.

Verb. (colloquial).—1. To fabricate; to interpolate; to contrive without proper materials.

1776. Foote, The Bankrupt, iii., 2. That last ‘suppose’ is fudged
in.

1836. Marryat, Midshipman Easy, ch. xviii. By the time that he did
know something about navigation, he discovered that his antagonist
knew nothing. Before they arrived at Malta, Jack could fudge a
day’s work.

1858. Shirley Brooks, Gordian Knot. Robert Spencer was hiding from
his creditors, or fudging medical certificates.

1859. G. A. Sala, in John Bull, 21 May. I had provided myself with
a good library of books of Russian travel, and so fudged my Journey
Due North.

2. (schoolboys’).—To copy; to crib; to dodge or escape.

1877. Blanch, The Blue Coat Boys p. 97. Fudge, verb., trans. and
intrans. To prompt a fellow in class, or prompt oneself in class
artificially. Thence to tell; e.g., ‘fudge me what the time is.’

3. (common).—To botch; to bungle; to muff (q.v.)

4. (schoolboys’).—To advance the hand unfairly at marbles.

Fug, verb. (Shrewsbury School).—To stay in a stuffy room.

Fugel, verb. (venery).—To possess; to have (q.v.).

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 126. Who fugelled the Parson’s fine
Maid.

Fuggy, subs. (schoolboys’).—A hot roll.

Adj. (Shrewsbury School).—Stuffy.

Fugo, subs. (obsolete).—The rectum, or (Cotgrave) ‘bung-hole.’

1720. Durfey, Pills, etc., vi., 247. This maid, she like a beast
turned her fugo to the East.

Fulhams or Fullams, subs. (old).—Loaded dice; called ‘high’ or ‘low’ fulhams as they were intended to turn up high or low. Cf., gourd. [Conjecturally, because manufactured at Fulham, or because that village was a notorious resort of blacklegs.] For synonyms, see Uphills.

1594. Nashe, Unf. Traveller, in wks. v., 27. The dice of late are
growen as melancholy as a dog, high men and low men both prosper
alike, langrets, fullams, and all the whole fellowshippe of them
will not affoord a man his dinner.

1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, i., 3. Let vultures gripe
thy guts! for gourd, and fullam holds, And high and low beguile the
rich and poor.

1599. Jonson, Every Man out of His Hum., iii., 1. Car.: Who! he
serve? ’sblood, he keeps high men, and low men, he! he has—fair
living at Fullam. [Whalley’s note in Gifford’s Jonson, The dice
were loaded to run high or low; hence they were called high men or
low men, and sometimes high and low fullams. Called fullams either
because F. was the resort of sharpers, or because they were chiefly
made there.]

1664. Butler, Hudibras, Part II., C. i., 1. 642. But I do wonder
you should chuse This way t’ attack me with your muse, As one cut
out to pass your tricks on, With fulhams of poetic fiction. [Note
in Dr. Nash’s Ed., vol. I., p. 272 (Ed. 1835). ‘That is, with
cheats or impositions. Fulham was a cant word for a false die, many
of them being made at that place.’]

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxiii. Men talk of high and low
dice, Fulhams and bristles ... and a hundred ways of rooking
besides.

2. (colloquial).—A sham; a make-believe (q.v.). [From sense 1.]

1664. Butler, Hudibras, ii., 1, Fulhams of poetic fiction.

Fulham Virgin, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A fast woman. Cf., Bankside lady; Covent Garden nun; St. John’s Wood vestal, etc.

Fulk, verb (old schoolboys’).—To use an unfair motion of the hand in plumping at taw.—Grose.

Fulke, verb (venery).—To copulate. [A euphemism suggested by Byron in Don Juan, the first and last words of which, so adepts tell you, are ‘I’ and ‘fulke.’]

Fulker, subs. (old).—A pawnbroker. For synonyms, see Uncle.

1566. Gascoigne, Supposes, ii., 3. The Fulker will not lend you a
farthing upon it.

Full, adj. (colloquial).—1. Drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

1888. Detroit Free Press, 15 Dec. When he was full the police came
and jugged.

2. (turf). Used by bookmakers to signify that they have laid all the money they wish against a particular horse.

Full-guts, subs. phr. (common).—A swag-bellied man or woman.

A Full hand, subs. phr. (American waiters’). Five large beers. For analogous expressions, see Go.

Full in the belly, subs. phr. (colloquial).—With child.

Full in the pasterns (or the hocks), subs. phr. (colloquial).—Thick-ankled.

Full team, subs. phr. (American).—An eulogium. A man is a full team when of consequence in the community. Variants are whole team, or whole team and a horse to spare. Cf. one-horse = mean, insignificant, or strikingly small.

Full in the waistcoat, adj. phr. (colloquial).—Swag-bellied.

Full of ’em, adj. phr. (common).—Lousy; nitty; full of fleas.

Full to the bung, adj. phr. (colloquial).—Very drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

To have (or wear) a full suit of mourning, verb. phr. (pugilists’).—To have two black eyes. Half-mourning = one black eye. For synonyms, see Mouse.

To come full bob, verb. phr. (old colloquial).—To come suddenly; to come full tilt.

1672. Marvell, Rehearsal Transposed (in Grosart, iii., 414). The
page and you meet full bob.

Full against, adv. phr. 1. Dead, or decidedly opposed to, a person, thing, or place.

Full-bottomed (or -breeched, or -pooped), adv. phr. (colloquial).—Broad in the hind; barge-arsed (q.v.)

Full-flavoured, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Peculiarly rank: as a story, an exhibition of profane swearing, an emission of wind, etc.

Full-fledged, adv. phr. (venery).—Ripe for defloration.

Full-gutted, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Stout; swag-bellied.

Full of emptiness, adv. phr. (common).—Utterly void.

Full on, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Set strongly in a given direction, especially in an obscene sense: e.g., full on for it or full on for one = ready and willing au possible.

At full chisel, adv. phr. (American).—At full speed; with the greatest violence or impetuousity. Also full drive; full split. Cf. hickety split; ripping; staving along; two-thirty, etc.

In full blast, swing, etc., adv. phr. (colloquial).—In the height of success; in hot pursuit.

1859. Sala, Twice Round the Clock, 5 a.m., Part I. At five a.m. the
publication of the Times newspaper is, to use a north-country
mining expression, in ‘full blast.’

1884. Daily News, Feb. 9, p. 5, col. 2. If he visit New York in
that most pleasant season, the autumn, he will find that the ‘fall’
trade is ‘in full blast.’

1888. Daily Telegraph, 17 Nov. By half-past ten o’clock the
smoking-room was in full swing.

In full dig, adv. phr. (common).—On full pay.

In full feather, see Feather.

In full fig.—1. See Fig (to which may be added the following illustrative quotations).

1836. M. Scott, Cruise of the Midge, p. 178. In front of this
shed—full fig, in regular Highland costume, philabeg, short hose,
green coatee, bonnet and feather, marched the bagpiper.

1836. M. Scott, Cringle’s Log, ch. xi. Captain Transom, the other
lieutenant, and myself in full puff, leading the van, followed by
about fourteen seamen.

1838. Haliburton, Clockmaker, (2nd ed.), ch. viii. ‘Lookin’ as
pleased as a peacock when it’s in full fig with its head and tail
up.’

1841. Punch, i., p. 26, col. 1. Dressed in full fig—sword very
troublesome—getting continually between my legs.

1874. Mrs. H. Wood, Johnny Ludlow (1st ed.), No. IV., p. 62. When
our church bells were going for service, Major Parrifer’s carriage
turned out with the ladies all in full fig.

2. adv. phr. (venery).—Said of an erection of the penis; prick-proud (q.v.). For synonyms, see Horn.

Like a straw-yard bull: full of fuck and half starved, phr. (venery). A friendly retort to the question, ‘How goes it?’ i.e., How are you?

Full of it, phr. (common).—With child.

Full of guts, phr. (colloquial).—Full of vigour; excellently inspired and done: as a picture, a novel, and so forth. See Guts.

Full of beans, see Beans.

Full of bread, see Bread.

Fuller’s Earth, subs. phr. (old).—Gin. For synonyms, see Satin.

1821. Real Life in London, i., 394. The swell covies and
out-and-outers find nothing so refreshing, after a night’s spree,
when the victualling office is out of order, as a little fuller’s
earth, or dose of Daffy’s.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, iii., 3. Bring me de kwarten of de
fuller’s earth.

Fullied. To be fullied, verb. phr. (thieves’).—To be committed for trial. [From the newspaper expression, ‘Fully committed.’] Fr., être mis sur la planche au pain.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, Vol. iii., p. 397.
He got acquitted for that there note after he had me ‘pinched’
(arrested). I got fullied (fully committed).

1879. Horsley, ‘Autobiography of a Thief,’ in Macmillan’s Magazine,
xl., 506. I ... was then fullied and got this stretch and a half.

1889. Answers, 13 April, p. 313. At the House of Detention I often
noticed such announcements as ‘Jack from Bradford fullied for
smashing, and expects seven stretch,’ i.e., fully committed for
trial for passing bad money, and expects seven years’ penal
servitude.

Fulness. There’s not fulness enough in the sleeve top. phr. (tailors’).—A derisive answer to a threat.

Fumbler, subs. (old).—An impotent man.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Fumbler, c., an
unperforming husband; one that is insufficient; a weak Brother.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., vi., 312. The old fumbler (title).

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

c. 1790. Burns, ‘David and Bathsheba,’ p. 40. ‘By Jove,’ says she,
‘what’s this I see, my Lord the King’s a fumbler.’

Fumbler’s Hall, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum. See, however, quot. 1690. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Fumbler’s hall, the
place where such (fumblers, q.v.) are to be put for their
non-performance.

Free of Fumbler’s hall, phr.—Said of an impotent man.

Fumbles, subs. (thieves’).—Gloves.

1825. Kent, Modern Flash Dict., s.v.

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

1881. New York Slang Dict., s.v.

Fun, subs. (old).—1. A cheat; a trick.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew, s.v.

2. (old).—The posteriors, or Western End (Marvell). Probably an abbreviation of fundament. For synonyms, see Blind Cheeks and Monocular Eye-glass.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. I’ll kick your fun, c.,
I’ll kick your arse.

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

Verb. (old).—1. To cheat; to trick. Also to put the fun on.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. What do you fun me? Do
you think to Sharp or Trick me? Ibid. He put the fun upon the cull,
c., he sharp’d the Fellow. Ibid. I funn’d him, c., I was too hard
for him; I outwitted or rook’d him.

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

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

To poke fun at, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To joke; to ridicule; to make a butt.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, i., p. 280. O fie! Mister
Noakes,—for shame, Mr. Noakes! To be poking your fun at us
plain-dealing folks.

1855. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’) Human Nature, p. 124. I thought you
was pokin’ fun at me; for I am a poor ignorant farmer, and these
people are always making game of me.

1865. Neal, Charcoal Sketches (in Bartlett). Jeames, if you don’t
be quit poking fun at me, I’ll break your mouth, as sure as you sit
there.

To have been making fun, verb. phr. (common).—Intoxicated. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

To have (or do) a bit of fun, verb. phr. (venery).—To procure or enjoy the sexual favour. For synonyms, see Greens.

Functior or Functure, subs. (Winchester College).—An iron bracket candlestick, used for the nightlight in college chambers. [The word, says Winchester Notions, looks like fulctura, an earlier form of fulture, meaning a prop or stay with phonetic change of l into n.]

1870. Mansfield, School Life at Winchester, p. 68. Beside the
window yawned the great fireplace, with its dogs, on which rested
the faggots and bars for the reception of the array of boilers.
Above it was a rushlight, fixed in a circular iron pan fastened to
a staple in the wall; it was called the functior.

Fundamental Features, subs. phr. (common).—The posteriors. For synonyms, see Blind Cheeks and Monocular Eye-glass.

1818. Moore, Fudge Family, ix., Aug. 21. O can we wonder, best of
speechers, When Louis seated thus we see, That France’s
‘fundamental features’ Are much the same they used to be?

Funds, subs. (colloquial).—Finances; e.g. ‘my funds are very low.’

Funeral. It’s not my (or your) funeral, verb. phr. (American).—i.e., It is no business of mine, or yours. Fr., nib dans mes blots (= that is not my affair). Also used affirmatively.

1867. Mrs. Whitney, A Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite’s Life, p. 183.
‘It’s none of my funeral, I know, Sin Saxon,’ said Miss Craydocke.
‘I’m only an eleventh-hour helper; but I’ll come in for the holiday
business ... that’s more in my line.’

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 239. This is none of your funeral
is heard quite frequently as an indirect rebuke for intermeddling,
with the ludicrous undercurrent of thought, that the troublesome
meddler has no right to be crying at a strange man’s funeral.

1877. Hartford Times, 17 Oct. Senators Blaine and Barnum passed
down to New York, en route to Washington, on Wednesday last, when
Barnum asked Blaine how he liked the news from Ohio. ‘Oh, that
isn’t my funeral, I want you to understand,’ replied the plucky
Maine Senator.

1888. Missouri Republican, 8 Apr. After a lot of slides had been
exhibited the audience howled for Miss Debar. It got so noisy that
Mr. Marsh reluctantly exclaimed—‘Well, is this your funeral or
mine?’

Fungus, subs. (old).—An old man.

Funk, subs. (old).—1. Tobacco smoke; also a powerful stink. Cf., Ger., funke; Walloon funki.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. What a funk here is!
What a thick smoke. Smoak of Tobacco is here! Ibid. Here’s a damn’d
funk, here’s a great stink.

2. (vulgar).—A state of fear; trepidation, nervousness, or cowardice; a stew (q.v.). Generally, with an intensitive, e.g., a ‘mortal,’ ‘awful,’ ‘bloody,’ ‘blue,’ or ‘pissing’ funk. Fr., la guenette; le flubart (thieves’); la frousse (also = diarrhœa). It., filo = thread.

1796. Wolcott, Pindarina, p. 59. If they find no brandy to get
drunk, Their souls are in a miserable funk.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 21. Up he rose in a funk.

1821. P. Egan, Tom and Jerry (1890), p. 91. I was in a complete
funk.

1837. Barham, I. L., Look at the Clock, ed. 1862, p. 39. Pryce,
usually brimful of valour when drunk, Now experienced what
schoolboys denominate funk.

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 9. The mules, which was
a-snorting with funk and running before the Injuns ... followed her
right into the corral, and thar they was safe.

1850. Literary World (New York), 30 Nov. So my friend’s fault is
timidity.... I grant, then, that the funk is sublime, which is a
true and friendly admission.

1856. Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, p. 196. If I was
going to be flogged next minute, I should be in a blue funk.

1859. Whitty, Political Portraits, p. 30. Lord Clarendon did not
get through the business without these failures, which result from
the intellectual process termed freely funk.

1861. Macmillan’s Magazine, p. 211. I was in a real blue funk.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xxxvi. I was in a real blue
funk and no mistake.

1870. London Figaro, 19 Oct. After the Fire. He was in a mortal
funk, no doubt.

1871. Maxwell, in Life (1882), xvi., 382. Certainly χλωρὸν θéος is
the Homeric for a blue funk.

1888. Cassell’s Saturday Journal, 29 Dec., p. 305. You’re always in
a funk about nothing at all.

3. (schoolboys’).—A coward.

1882. F. Anstey, Vice Versâ, ch. v. Bosher said, ‘Let’s cut it,’
and he and Peebles bolted. (They were neither of them funks, of
course, but they lost their heads.)

Verb. (common).—1. To smoke out. See Funk the cobbler.

1720. Durfey, Wit and Mirth, vi., 303. With a sober dose Of coffee
funks his nose.

1578. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. funk, to smoke, figuratively to smoke or
stink through fear.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, ii., 2. Tom. But, I say, only see
how confoundedly the dustman’s getting hold of Logic—we’ll funk
him. (Tom and Jerry smoke Logic), Log. Oh, hang your cigars, I
don’t like it; let’s have no funking.

1841. Punch, I., p. 172. Look here ... isn’t it considerable clear
they’re a all funking like burnt cayenne in a clay pipe, or
couldn’t they have made a raise somehow to get a ship of their own,
or borrow one to send after that caged-up coon of a Macleod.

2. (common).—To terrify; to shrink or quail through nervousness or cowardice.

1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, Bk. III., ch. vi., p. 294.
Perhaps we’re only funking ourselves useless, and it mayn’t be the
farm chaps at all.

3. (colloquial).—To fear; to hesitate; to shirk; and (among pugilists) to come it (q.v.).

1836. Smith, The Individual, ‘The Thieves’ Chaunt.’ But dearer to
me Sue’s kisses far Than grunting peck or other grub are, And I
never funk the lambskin men When I sits with her in the boozing
ken.

1846. Punch, X., p. 163. But as yet no nose is bleeding, As yet no
man is down; For the gownsmen funk the townsmen, And the townsmen
funk the gown.

1848. J. R. Lowell, Biglow Papers. To funk right out o’ p’lit’cal
strife ain’t thought to be the thing.

1873. M. Collins, Squire Silchester’s Whim, ch. xvii. Come along!
don’t funk it, old fellow.

English Synonyms.—To come it; to lose one’s guts; to shit one’s breeches; to get the needle (athletic).

French Synonyms.—Paniquer (thieves’: Panique = sudden fright); blaguer (familiar: = to swagger: Il avait l’air de blaguer mais il n’était pas à la noce = he put on a lot of side, but he didn’t like it); avec la cœur en gargousse (sailors’ = with sinking heart); avoir une fluxion (popular: fluxion = inflammation); avoir la flemme (popular: also = to be idle); avoir le trac or trak (general); foirer (popular: foire = excrement); léziner (popular: also = to cheat).

Spanish Synonym.—Pajarear.

Italian Synonym.—Filare (= to run: Fr., filer).

4. (colloquial).—To be nervous; to lose heart.

1827. ‘Advice to Tommy,’ Every Night Book (by the author of ‘The
Cigar’). Do not go out of your depth, unless you have available
assistance at hand, in case you should funk.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School Days, ii., p. 5. He’s funking; go
in Williams!

1857. Moncrieff, The Bashful Man, ii., 4. Ah! Gyp, hope I sha’n’t
get plucked; funk confoundedly: no matter, I must put a bold face
on it.

1857. Hood, Pen and Pencil Pictures, p. 144. I have seen him out
with the governor’s hounds: he funked at the first hedge, and I
never saw him again!

1863. Reade, Hard Cash, ii., p. 135. I told him I hadn’t a notion
of what he meant! ‘O yes I did,’ he said, ‘Captain Dodd’s fourteen
thousand pounds! It had passed through my hands.’ Then I began to
funk again at his knowing that.... I was flustered, ye see.

1865. H. Kingsley, The Hillyars and the Burtons, ch. xxxiii. The
sound of the table falling was the signal for a rush of four men
from the inner room, who had to use a vulgar expression, funked
following the valiant scoundrel Sykes, but who now tried to make
their escape, and found themselves hand to hand with the policemen.

1871. Morning Advertiser, 11 Sept. ‘Holy Abr’ham!’ mused he
vauntingly, ‘shall British sailors funk, While tracts refresh their
spirits, tea washes down their junk?’

1890. Pall Mall Gazette, 17 Oct. p. 2, col. 1. They wanted badly to
get one steamer loaded and sent to New Zealand. The non-union men
funked loading her on account of the union men.

1891. Licensed Vict. Gazette, 13 Feb. Smith’s friends thought he
was funking, and shouted to Tom to go in and punch him.

5. (schoolboys’).—To move the hand forward unfairly in playing marbles; to fudge (q.v.).

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Funk, to use an unfair motion of the
hand in plumping at taw.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., p. 144. I’ve
noticed them, too, playing at ring-taw, and one of their
exclamations is ‘Knuckle down fair, and no funking.’

To funk the cobbler, verb. phr. (schoolboys’).—To smoke out a schoolmate: a trick performed with asafœtida and cotton stuffed into a hollow tube or cow’s horn; the cotton being lighted, the smoke is blown through the keyhole.

1698–1700. Ward, London Spy, Pt. IX., p. 197. We smoak’d the Beans
almost as bad as unlucky schoolboys us’d to do the coblers, till
they sneak’d off one by one, and left behind ’em more agreeable
Company.

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

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Slang and its analogues past and present, volume 3 [of 7]Chapter V: Part 5

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