http:\/\/gutenberg.net.au\/ebooks06\/0600111.txt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\nTitle: A New and Comprehensive Vocabulary of the Flash Language\nAuthor: James Hardy Vaux\n\n\n\nNote. The Author has found it necessary to introduce frequently, in the\ncourse if his definitions, technical, or cant words and Phrases. This he\ncould not avoid without much tautology and unpleasing circumlocution. The\nReader will therefore take notice, that all such cant terms are placed in\nItalics; and where at a loss to comprehend them, he has only to refer to\ntheir alphabetical position for an explanation. \n\n[Note: Italics have not been used in this ebook]\n\n\nORIGINAL DEDICATION.\n\nTo THOMAS SKOTTOWE, Esq., of His Majesty's 73d Regiment, Commandant of\nNewcastle, in the Colony of New South Wales, and one of His Majesty's\nJustices of the Peace for that Territory.\n\nSIR,\n\nWITH the utmost deference and respect, I beg leave to submit to your\nperusal the following sheets. The idea of such a compilation first\noriginated in the suggestion of a friend; and however the theme may be\ncondemned as exceptionable by narrow minds, I feel confident you possess\ntoo much liberality of sentiment to reject its writer as utterly\ndepraved, because he has acquired an extensive knowledge on a subject so\nobviously disgraceful. True it is, that in the course of a chequered and\neventful life, I have intermixed with the most dissolute and unprincipled\ncharacters, and that a natural quickness of conception, and most\nretentive memory, have rendered me familiar with their language and\nsystem of operations.\n\nPermit me, Sir, to assure you most seriously, that I view with remorse\nthe retrospect of my hitherto misspent life, and that my future exertions\nshall be solely directed to acquire the estimable good opinion of the\nvirtuous part of the community.\n\nI trust the Vocabulary will afford you some amusement from its novelty;\nand that from the correctness of its definitions, you may occasionally\nfind it useful in your magisterial capacity.\n\nI cannot omit this opportunity of expressing my gratitude for the very\nhumane and equitable treatment I have experienced in common with every\nother person in this settlement, under your temperate and judicious\ngovernment.\n\nI have the honour to remain,\nwith the most dutiful respect,\nSir,\nYour devoted, and very humble Servant,\n\nJ. H. VAUX.\n\nNewcastle,\n5th July, 1812\n\nThe Author (a prisoner under sentence of transportation for life) having,\nby an alleged act of impropriety, incurred the Governor's displeasure,\nwas at this period banished to Newcastle, a place of punishment for\noffenders: these sheets were there compiled during his solitary hours of\ncessation from hard labour; and the Commandant was accordingly presented\nby the Author with the first copy of his production.\n\n\n\n\nA VOCABULARY OF THE FLASH LANGUAGE\n\n\n* * * * *\n\n\nALDERMAN LUSHINGTON. See LUSH.\n\nANDREW MILLER'S LUGGER: a king's ship or vessel.\n\nAREA SNEAK, or AREA SLUM: the practice of slipping unperceived down the\nareas of private houses, and robbing the lower apartments of plate or\nother articles.\n\nARM-PITS: To work under the arm-pits, is to practise only such kinds of\ndepredation, as will amount, upon conviction, to what the law terms\nsingle, or petty larceny; the extent of punishment for which is\ntransportation for seven years. By following this system, a thief avoids\nthe halter, which certainly is applied above the arm-pits.\n\nAWAKE: an expression used on many occasions; as a thief will say to his\naccomplice, on perceiving the person they are about to rob is aware of\ntheir intention, and upon his guard, stow it, the cove's awake. To be\nawake to any scheme, deception, or design, means, generally, to see\nthrough or comprehend it.\n\nBACK-JUMP. A back-window. See JUMP.\n\nBACK-SLANG: to enter or come out of a house by the back-door ; or, to go\na circuitous or private way through the streets, in order to avoid any\nparticular place in the direct road, is termed back-slanging it.\n\nBACK-SLUM: a back room; also the back entrance to any house or premises;\nthus, we'll give it 'em on the back-slum, means, we'll get in at the\nback-door.\n\nBAD HALFPENNY. When a man has been upon any errand, or attempting any\nobject which has proved unsuccessful or impracticable, he will say on his\nreturn, It's a bad halfpenny; meaning he has returned as he went.\n\nBANDED: hungry.\n\nBANDS. To wear the bands, is to be hungry, or short of food for any\nlength of time; a phrase chiefly used on board the hulks, or in jails.\n\nBANG- UP. A person, whose dress or equipage is in the first style of\nperfection, is declared to be bang up to the mark. A man who has behaved\nwith extraordinary spirit and resolution in any enterprise he has been\nengaged in, is also said to have come bang up to the mark; any article\nwhich is remarkably good or elegant, or any fashion, act, or measure\nwhich is carried to the highest pitch, is likewise illustrated by the\nsame emphatical phrase.\n\nBARKING-IRONS: pistols; an obsolete term.\n\nBARNACLES: spectacles.\n\nBASH: to beat any person by way of correction, as the woman you live\nwith, etc.\n\nBASTILE: generally called, for shortness, the Steel; a cant name for the\nHouse of Correction, Cold-Bath-Fields, London.\n\nBEAK: a magistrate; the late Sir John Fielding, of police memory, was\nknown among family people by the title of the blind beak.\n\nBEAN: a guinea.\n\nBEEF: stop thief! to beef a person, is to raise a hue and cry after him,\nin order to get him stopped.\n\nBELLOWSER. See WIND.\n\nBENDER: a sixpence.\n\nBENDER: an ironical word used in conversation by flash people; as where\none party affirms or professes any thing which the other believes to be\nfalse or insincere, the latter expresses his incredulity by exclaiming\nbender! or, if one asks another to do any act which the latter considers\nunreasonable or impracticable, he replies, O yes, I'll do it--bender;\nmeaning, by the addition of the last word, that, in fact, he will do no\nsuch thing.\n\nBEST: to get your money at the best, signifies to live by dishonest or\nfraudulent practices, without labour or industry, according to the\ngeneral acceptation of the latter word; but, certainly, no persons have\nmore occasion to be industrious, and in a state of perpetual action than\ncross-coves; and experience has proved, when too late, to many of them,\nthat honesty is the best policy; and, consequently, that the above phrase\nis by no means a-propos.\n\nBETTY: picklock; to unbetty, or b e g a lock, to open or relock it, by\nmeans of the betty, so as to avoid subsequent detection.\n\nBILLIARD SLUM. The mace is sometimes called giving it to 'em on the\nbilliard slum. See MACE.\n\nBISHOP. See CHRISTEN.\n\nBIT: money in general.\n\nBIT-FAKER: a coiner. See FAKE.\n\nBIT-FAKING: coining base money.\n\nBLACK DIAMONDS: coals.\n\nBLEEDERS: spurs.\n\nBLOODY-JEMMY: a sheep's head.\n\nBLOW THE GAFF: a person having any secret in his possession, or a\nknowledge of any thing injurious to another, when at last induced from\nrevenge, or other motive, to tell it openly to the world and expose him\npublicly, is then said to have blown the gaff upon him.\n\nBLOWEN: a prostitute; a woman who cohabits with a man without marriage.\n\nBLUE-PIGEON: lead.\n\nBLUE-PIGEON FLYING: the practice of stealing lead from houses, churches,\nor other buildings, very prevalent in London and its vicinity.\n\nBLUNT: money.\n\nBOB, or BOBSTICK: a shilling.\n\nBODY-SLANGS. See SLANGS.\n\nBODY-SNATCHER: a stealer of dead bodies from church which are sold to the\nsurgeons and students in anatomy.\n\nBOLT: to run. away from or leave any place suddenly, is c bolting, or\nmaking a bolt: a thief observing an alarm while attempting a robbery,\nwill exclaim to his accomplice, Bolt, there's a dawn. sudden escape of\none or more prisoners from a place of confinement is termed a bolt.\n\nBOLT-IN-TURN: a term founded on the cant word bolt merely a fanciful\nvariation, very common among flash persons, there being in London a\nfamous inn so called; it is customary when a man has run away from his\nlodgings, broke out of a jail, or ma any other sudden movement, to say,\nThe Bolt-in-fun is concerned; or? He's gone to the Bolt-in-turn; instead\nof simply saying, He has bolted, etc. See BOLT.\n\nBONED: taken in custody, apprehended; Tell us how you was boned,\nsignifies, tell us the story of your apprehension; a common request among\nfellow-prisoners in a jail, etc., which is readily complied with in\ngeneral; and the various circumstances therein related afford present\namusement, and also useful hints for regulating their future operations,\nso as to avoid the like misfortune.\n\nBONNET: a concealment, pretext, or pretence; an ostensible manner of\naccounting for what you really mean to conceal; as a man who actually\nlives by depredation, will still outwardly follow some honest employment,\nas a clerk, porter, newsman, etc. By this system of policy, he is said\nto have a good bonnet if he happens to get boned, and, in a doubtful\ncase, is commonly discharged on the score of having a good character. To\nbonnet for a person, is to corroborate any assertion he has made, or to\nrelate facts in the most favourable light, in order to extricate him from\na dilemma, or to further any object he has in view.\n\nBOUNCE: to bully, threaten, talk loud, or affect great consequence; to\nbounce a person out of any thing, is to use threatening or high words, in\norder to intimidate him, and attain the object you are intent upon; or to\nobtain goods of a tradesman, by assuming the appearance of great\nrespectability and importance, so as to remove any suspicion he might at\nfirst entertain. A thief, detected in the commission of a robbery, has\nbeen known by this sort of finesse, aided by a genteel appearance and\npolite manners, to persuade his accusers of his innocence, and not only\nto get off with a good grace, but induce them to apologize for their\nsupposed mistake, and the affront put upon him. This masterstroke of\neffrontery is called giving it to 'em upon the bounce.\n\nBOUNCE: a person well or fashionably drest, is said to be a rank bounce.\n\nBOWLED OUT: a man who has followed the profession of thieving for some\ntime, when he is ultimately taken, tried, and convicted, is said to be\nbowled out at last. To bowl a person out, in a general sense, means to\ndetect him in the commission of any fraud, or peculation, which he has\nhitherto practised without discovery.\n\nBRACE UP: to dispose of stolen goods by pledging them for the utmost you\ncan get at a pawnbroker's, is termed bracing them up.\n\nBRADS: halfpence; also, money in general.\n\nBREAKING UP OF THE SPELL: the nightly termination of performance at the\nTheatres Royal, which is regularly attended by pickpockets of the lower\norder, who exercise their vocation about the doors and avenues leading\nthereto, until the house is emptied and the crowd dispersed.\n\nBREECH'D: flush of money.\n\nBRIDGE: to bridge a person, or throw him over the bridge, is, in a\ngeneral sense, to deceive him by betraying the confidence he has reposed\nin you, and instead of serving him faithfully, to involve him in ruin or\ndisgrace; or, three men being concerned alike in any transaction, two of\nthem will form a collusion to bridge the third, and engross to themselves\nall the advantage which may eventually accrue. Two persons having been\nengaged in a long and doubtful contest or rivalship, he, who by superior\nart or perseverance gains the point, is said to have thrown his opponent\nover the bridge. Among gamblers, it means deceiving the person who had\nback'd you, by wilfully losing the game; the money so lost by him being\nshared between yourself and your confederates who had laid against you.\nIn playing three-handed games, two of the party will play into each\nother's hands, so that the third must inevitably be thrown over the\nbridge, commonly called, two poll one. See PLAY ACROSS.\n\nBROADS: cards ; a person expert at which is said to be a good\nbroad-player.\n\nBROOMSTICKS. See QUEER BAIL.\n\nBROWNS and WHISTLERS: bad halfpence and farthings; (a term used by\ncoiners.)\n\nBUB: a low expression signifying drink.\n\nBUCKET. To bucket a person is synonymous with putting him in the well.\nSee WELL. Such treatment is said to be a bucketting concern.\n\nBUFF, To buff a person or thing, is to swear to the identity of them;\nswearing very positively to any circumstance, is called buffing it home.\n\nBUFFER: a dog.\n\nBUG or BUG OVER. To give, deliver, or hand over; as, He bug'd me a quid,\nhe gave me a guinea; bug over the rag, hand over the money.\n\nBULL: a crown, or five shillings.\n\nBULL-DOG: a sugar-loaf.\n\nBULL-HANKERS: men who delight in the sport of bull-banking; that is,\nbull-baiting, or bullock-hunting, games which afford much amusement, and\nat the same time frequent opportunities of depredation, in the confusion\nand alarm excited by the enraged animal.\n\nBUM-CHARTER: a name given to bread steeped in hot water, by the first\nunfortunate inhabitants of the English Bastile, where this miserable fare\nwas their daily breakfast, each man receiving with his ; scanty portion\nof bread, a quart of boil'd water from the cook's coppers!\n\nBUM-TRAP: a sheriff's officer or his follower.\n\nBUNCE: money.\n\nBURICK: a prostitute, or common woman.\n\nBUSH'D: poor; without money.\n\nBUSHY-PARK: a man who is poor is said to be at Bushy park, or in the\npark.\n\nBUSTLE: a cant term for money.\n\nBUSTLE: any object effected very suddenly, or in a hurry, is said to be\ndone upon the bustle. To give it to a man upon the bustle, is to obtain\nany point, as borrowing money, etc.; by some sudden story or pretence,\nand affecting great haste, so that he is taken by surprise, and becomes\nduped before he has time to consider of the matter.\n\nBUZ: to buz a person is to pick his pocket. The buz is the game of\npicking pockets in general.\n\nBUZ-COVE, or BUZ-GLOAK: a pickpocket; a person who is clever at this\npractice, is said to be a good buz.\n\nCABIN: a house.\n\nCADGE: to beg. The cadge is the game or profession of begging.\n\nCADGE-CLOAK: a beggar.\n\nCANT OF DOBBIN: a roll of riband.\n\nCAP: synonymous with BONNET, which see.\n\nCARDINAL: a lady's cloak.\n\nCARRY THE KEG: a man who is easily vexed or put out of humour by any joke\npassed upon him, and cannot conceal his chagrin, is said to carry the\nkeg, or is compared to a walking distiller.\n\nCASTOR: a hat.\n\nCAT and KITTEN RIG: the petty game of stealing pewter quart and pint pots\nfrom public-houses.\n\nCAZ: cheese; As good as caz, is a phrase signifying that any projected\nfraud or robbery may be easily and certainly accomplished; any person who\nis the object of such attempt and is known to be an easy dupe, is\ndeclared to be as good as caz, meaning that success is certain.\n\nCHANDLER-KEN: a chandler's shop.\n\nCHANT: a person's name, address, or designation; thus, a thief who\nassumes a feigned name on his apprehension to avoid being known, or a\nswindler who gives a false address to a tradesman, is said to tip them a\nqueer chant.\n\nCHANT: a cipher, initials, or mark of any kind, on a piece of plate,\nlinen, or other article; any thing so marked is said to be chanted.\n\nCHANT: an advertisement in a newspaper or hand-bill; also a paragraph in\nthe newspaper describing any robbery or other recent event; any lost or\nstolen property, for the recovery of which, or a thief, etc., for whose\napprehension a reward is held out by advertisement, are said to be\nchanted.\n\nCHARLEY: a watchman.\n\nCHARLEY-KEN: a watch-box.\n\nCHATS: lice.\n\nCHATTY: lousy,\n\nCHAUNT: a song; to chaunt is to sing; to throw off a rum chaunt, is to\nsing a good song.\n\nCHEESE IT. The same as Stow it.\n\nCHEESE THAT. See STOW THAT.\n\nCHINA STREET: a cant name for Bow Street, Covent Garden.\n\nCHIV: a knife; to chiv a person is to stab or cut him with a knife.\n\nCHRISTEN: obliterating the name and number on the movement on a stolen\nwatch; or the crest, cipher, etc., on articles of plate, and getting\nothers engraved, so as to prevent their being identified, is termed\nhaving them bishop'd or christen'd.\n\nCHUM: a fellow prisoner in a jail, hulk, etc.; so there are new chums\nand old chums, as they happen to have been a short or a long time in\nconfinement.\n\nCHURY: a knife.\n\nCLEANED OUT: said of a gambler who has lost his last stake at play; also,\nof a flat who has been stript of all his money by a coalition of sharps.\n\nCLOUT: a handkerchief of any kind.\n\nCLOUTING: the practice of picking pockets exclusively of handkerchiefs.\n\nCLY: a pocket.\n\nCLY-FAKER: a pickpocket.\n\nCOACH-WHEEL: a dollar or crown-piece.\n\nCOME. A thief observing any article in a shop, or other situation, which\nhe conceives may be easily purloined, will say to his accomplice, I think\nthere is so and so to come.\n\nCOME IT: to divulge a secret; to tell any thing of one party to another;\nthey say of a thief who has turned evidence against his accomplices, that\nhe is coming all he knows, or that he comes it as strong as a horse.\n\nCOME TO THE HEATH: a phrase signifying to payor give money, and\nsynonymous with Tipping, from which word it takes its rise, there being a\nplace called Tiptree Heath, I believe, in the County of Essex.\n\nCOME TO THE MARK: to abide strictly by any contract previously made; to\nperform your part manfully in any exploit or enterprise you engage in; or\nto offer what I consider a fair price for any article in question.\n\nCONCERNED. In using many cant words, the lovers of flash, by way of\nvariation, adopt this term, for an illustration of which, see\nBOLT-IN-TURN, ALDERMAN LUSHINGTON, MR. PALMER, etc.\n\nCONK: the nose.\n\nCONK: a thief who impeaches his accomplices; a spy; informer, or\ntell-tale. See NOSE, and WEAR IT.\n\nCOVE: the master of a house or shop, is called the Cove; on other\noccasions, when joined to particular words, as a cross-cove, a\nflash-cove, a leary-cove, etc., it simply implies a man of these several\ndescriptions; sometimes, in speaking of any third person, whose name you\nare either ignorant of, or don't wish to mention, the word cove is\nadopted by way of emphasis, as may be seen under the word AWAKE.\n\nCOVER: to stand in such a situation as to obscure your Pall, who is\ncommitting a robbery, from the view of by-standers or persons passing, is\ncalled covering him. Any body whose dress or stature renders him\nparticularly eligible for this purpose, is said to be a good cover.\n\nCOVESS: the mistress of a house or shop, and used on other occasions, in\nthe same manner as Cove, when applied to a man.\n\nCRAB: to prevent the perfection or execution of any intended matter or\nbusiness, by saying any thing offensive or unpleasant, is called crabbing\nit, or throwing a crab; to crab a person, is to use offensive language or\nbehaviour as will highly displease, or put him in an ill humour.\n\nCRAB'D: affronted; out of humour; sometimes called, being in Crab-street.\n\nCRABSHELLS: shoes.\n\nCRACK: to break open; the crack is the game of house-breaking; a crack is\na breaking any house or building for the purpose of plunder.\n\nCRACKSMAN: a house-breaker.\n\nCRACK A WHID: to speak or utter: as, he crack'd some queer whids, he\ndropt some bad or ugly expressions: crack a whid for me, intercede, or\nput in a word for me.\n\nCRACKER: a small loaf, served to prisoners in jails, for their daily\nsubsistence.\n\nCRAP: the gallows.\n\nCRAP'D: hanged.\n\nCRIB: a house, sometimes applied to shops, as, a thimble-crib, a\nwatch-maker's shop; a stocking-crib, a hosier's, etc.\n\nCROAK: to die.\n\nCROOK: a sixpence.\n\nCROSS: illegal or dishonest practices in general are called the cross, in\nopposition to the square. See SQUARE. Any article which has been\nirregularly obtained, is said to have been got upon the cross, and is\nemphatically termed a cross article.\n\nCROSS-COVE, or CROSS-MOLLISHER, a man or woman who lives upon the cross.\n\nCROSS-CRIB: a house inhabited, or kept by family people. See SQUARE CRIB.\n\nCROSS-FAM: to cross-fam a person, is to pick his pocket, by crossing your\narms in a particular position.\n\nCUE. See letter Q.\n\nCUT THE LINE. See LINE.\n\nCUT THE STRING. See STRING.\n\nCUT THE TARN. See YARN.\n\nCUTTING-GLOAK: a man famous for drawing a knife, and cutting any person\nhe quarrels with.\n\nDAB: a bed. DAB IT UP: to dab it up with a woman, is to agree to cohabit\nwith her.\n\nDANCERS: stairs.\n\nDANNA: human, or other excrement.\n\nDANNA-DRAG: commonly pronounced dunnick-drag. See KNAP A JACOB, etc.\n\nDARBIES: fetters.\n\nDARKY: night.\n\nDARKY: a dark lanthorn.\n\nDEATH-HUNTER: an undertaker.\n\nDICKY, or DICK IN THE GREEN: very bad or paltry; any thing of an inferior\nquality, is said to be a dicky concern.\n\nDIMMOCK: money.\n\nDING: to throw, or throw away; particularly any article you have stolen,\neither because it is worthless, or that there is danger of immediate\napprehension. To ding a person, is to drop his acquaintance totally; also\nto quit his company, or leave him for the time present; to ding to your\npall, is to convey to him, privately, the property you have just stolen;\nand he who receives it is said to take ding, or to knap the ding.\n\nDINGABLE: any thing considered worthless, or which you can well spare,\nhaving no further occasion for it, is declared to be dingable. This\nphrase is often applied by sharps to a flat whom they have cleaned out;\nand by abandoned women to a keeper, who having spent his all upon them,\nmust be discarded, or ding'd as soon as possible.\n\nDISPATCHES: false dice used by gamblers, so contrived as always to throw\na nick.\n\nDO: a term used by smashers; to do a queer half-quid, or a queer screen,\nis to utter a counterfeit half-guinea, or a forged bank-note.\n\nDO IT AWAY: to fence or dispose of a stolen article beyond the reach of\nprobable detection.\n\nDO IT UP: to accomplish any object you have in view; to obtain any thing\nyou were in quest of, is called doing it up for such a thing; a person\nwho contrives by nob-work, or ingenuity, to live an easy life and appears\nto improve daily in circumstances, is said to do it up ill good twig.\n\nDO THE TRICK: to accomplish any robbery, or other business successfully;\na thief who has been fortunate enough to acquire an independence, and\nprudent enough to tie it up in time, is said by his former associates to\nhave done the trick; on the other hand, a man who has imprudently\ninvolved himself in some great misfortune, from which there is little\nhope of his extrication is declared by his friends, with an air of\ncommiseration, to have done the trick for himself; that is, his ruin or\ndownfall is nearly certain.\n\nDOBBIN: riband. See CANT.\n\nDOLLOP: a dollop is a large quantity of any thing; the whole dollop means\nthe total quantity.\n\nDONE: convicted; as, he was done for a crack, he was convicted of\nhouse-breaking.\n\nDORSE: a lodging; to dorse with a woman, signifies to sleep with her.\n\nDOUBLE: to double a person, or tip him the Dublin packet, signifies\neither to run away from him openly, and elude his attempts to overtake\nyou, or to give him the slip in the streets, or elsewhere, unperceived,\ncommonly done to escape from an officer who has you in custody, or to\nturn up a flat of any kind, whom you have a wish to get rid of.\n\nDOUBLE-SLANGS: double-irons.\n\nDOWN: sometimes synonymous with awake, as, when the party you are about\nto rob, sees or suspects your intention, it is then said that the cove is\ndown. A down is a suspicion, alarm, or discovery, which taking place,\nobliges yourself and palls to give up or desist from the business or\ndepredation you were engaged in; to put a down upon a man, is to give\ninformation of any robbery or fraud he is about to perpetrate, so as to\ncause his failure or detection; to drop dawn to a person is to discover\nor be aware of his character or designs; to put a person down to any\nthing, is to apprize him of, elucidate, or explain it to him; to put a\nswell down, signifies to alarm or put a gentleman on his guard, when in\nthe attempt to pick his pocket, you fail to effect it at once, and by\nhaving touched him a little too roughly, you cause him to suspect your\ndesign, and to use precautions accordingly; or perhaps, in the act of\nsounding him, by being too precipitate or incautious, his suspicions may\nhave been excited, and it is then said that you have put him down, put\nhim fly, or spoiled him. See SPOIL IT. To drop dawn upon yourself, is to\nbecome melancholy, or feel symptoms of remorse or compunction, on being\ncommitted to jail, cast for death, etc. To sink under misfortunes of any\nkind. A man who gives way to this weakness, is said to be down upon\nhimself.\n\nDOWN AS A HAMMER; DOWN AS A TRIPPET. These are merely emphatical phrases,\nused out of flash, to signify being dawn, leary, fly, or awake to any\nmatter, meaning, or design.\n\nDRAG: a cart. The drag, is the game of robbing carts, waggons, or\ncarriages, either in town or country, of trunks, bale-goods, or any other\nproperty. Done for a drag, signifies convicted for a robbery of the\nbefore-mentioned nature.\n\nDRAG-COVE: the driver of a cart.\n\nDRAGS MAN: a thief who follows the game of dragging.\n\nDRAKED: ducked; a discipline sometimes inflicted on pickpockets at fairs,\nraces, etc.\n\nDRAW: to draw a person, is to pick his pocket, and the act of so stealing\na pocket-book, or handkerchief, is called drawing a reader, or clout. To\nobtain money or goods of a person by a false or plausible story, is\ncalled drawing him of so and so. To draw a kid, is to obtain his swag\nfrom him. See KID-RIG.\n\nDRIZ: lace, as sold on cards by the haberdashers, etc.\n\nDROP: the game of ring-dropping is called the drop.\n\nDROP: to give or present a person with money, as, he dropp'd me a quid,\nhe gave me a guinea. A kid who delivers his bundle to a sharper without\nhesitation, or a shopkeeper who is easily duped of his goods by means of\na forged order or false pretence, is said to drop the swag in good twig,\nmeaning, to part with it freely.\n\nDROP A WHID: to let fall a word, either inadvertently or designedly.\n\nDROP-COVE: a sharp who practises the game of ring-dropping.\n\nDROP-DOWN. See DOWN.\n\nDRUMMOND: any scheme or project considered to be infallible, or any event\nwhich is deemed inevitably certain, is declared to be a Drummond;\nmeaning, it is as sure as the credit of that respectable banking-house,\nDrummond and Co.\n\nDUB: a key.\n\nDUB AT A KNAPPING-JIGGER: a collector of tolls at a turnpike-gate.\n\nDUB-COVE, or DUBSMAN: a turnkey.\n\nDUBLIN-PACKET. See DOUBLE.\n\nDUB UP: to lock up or secure any thing or place; also to button one's\npocket, coat, etc.\n\nDUCE. Twopence is called a duce.\n\nDUDS: women's apparel in general.\n\nDUES. This term is sometimes used to express money, where any certain sum\nor payment is spoken of; a man asking for money due to him for any\nservice done, or a blowen requiring her previous compliment from a\nfamily-man, would say, Come, tip us the dues. So a thief, requiring his\nshare of booty from his palls, will desire them to bring the dues to\nlight.\n\nDUES. This word is often introduced by the lovers of flash on many\noccasions, but merely out of fancy, and can only be understood from the\ncontext of their discourse; like many other cant terms, it is not easily\nexplained on paper; for example, speaking of a man likely to go to jail,\none will say, there will be quodding dues concerned, of a man likely to\nbe executed; there will be topping dues, if any thing is alluded to that\nwill require a fee or bribe, there must be tipping dues, or palming dues\nconcerned, etc.\n\nDUMMY: a pocket-book; a silly half-witted person.\n\nDUMMY-HUNTERS: thieves who confine themselves to the practice of stealing\ngentlemen's pocket-books, and think, or profess to think, it paltry to\ntouch a clout, or other insignificant article; this class of depredators\ntraverse the principal streets of London, during the busy hours, and\nsometimes meet with valuable prizes.\n\nDUNNICK, or DANNA-DRAG. See KNAP A JACOB.\n\nFADGE: a farthing.\n\nFAKE: a word so variously used, that I can only illustrate it by a few\nexamples. To fake any person or place, may signify to rob them; to fake a\nperson, may also imply to shoot, wound, or cut; to fake a man out and\nout, is to kill him; a man who inflicts wounds upon, or otherwise\ndisfigures, himself, for any sinister purpose, is said to have faked\nhimself; if a man's shoe happens to pinch, or gall his foot, from its\nbeing overtight, he will complain that his shoe fakes his foot sadly; it\nalso describes the doing of any act, or the fabricating any thing, as, to\nfake your slangs, is to cut your irons in order to escape from custody;\nto fake your pin, is to create a sore leg, or to cut it, as if\naccidentally, with an axe, etc., in hopes to obtain a discharge from the\narmy or navy, to get into the doctor's list, etc.; to fake a screeve, is\nto write a letter, or other paper; to fake a screw, is to shape out a\nskeleton or false key, for the purpose of screwing a particular place; to\nfake a cly, is to pick a pocket; etc., etc., etc.\n\nFAKE AWAY, THERE'S NO DOWN: an intimation from a thief to his pall,\nduring the commission of a robbery, or other act, meaning, go on with\nyour operations, there is no sign of any alarm or detection.\n\nFAKEMAN-CHARLEY; FAKEMENT. As to fake signifies to do any act, or make\nany thing, so the fakement means the act or thing alluded to, and on\nwhich your discourse turns; consequently, any stranger unacquainted with\nyour subject will not comprehend what is meant by the fakement; for\ninstance, having recently been concerned with another in some robbery,\nand immediately separated, the latter taking the booty with him, on your\nnext meeting you will inquire, what he has done with the fakement?\nmeaning the article stolen, whether it was a pocket-book, piece or linen,\nor what not. Speaking of any stolen property which has a private mark,\none will say, there is a fakeman-charley on it; a forgery which is well\nexecuted, is said to be a prime fakement; in a word, any thing is liable\nto be termed a fakement, or a fakeman-charley, provided the person you\naddress knows to what you allude.\n\nFAM: the hand.\n\nFAM: to feel or handle.\n\nFAMILY: thieves, sharpers and all others who get their living upon the\ncross, are comprehended under the title of \u201cThe Family.\u201d\n\nFAMILY-MAN, or WOMAN: any person known or recognised as belonging to the\nfamily; all such are termed family people.\n\nFANCY: any article universally admired for its beauty, or which the owner\nsets particular store by, is termed a fancy article; as, a fancy clout,\nis a favourite handkerchief, etc.; so a woman who is the particular\nfavourite of any man, is termed his fancy woman, and vice versa.\n\nFAWNEY: a finger-ring.\n\nFAWNIED, or FAWNEY-FAM'D: having one or more rings on the finger.\n\nFEEDER: a spoon.\n\nFENCE: a receiver of stolen goods; to fence any property, is to sell it\nto a receiver or other person.\n\nFIB: a stick. To fib is to beat with a stick; also to box.\n\nFIBBING-GLOAK, a pugilist.\n\nFIBBING-MATCH: a boxing match.\n\nFILE: a person who has had a long course of experience in the arts of\nfraud, so as to have become an adept, is termed an old file upon the\ntown; so it is usual to say of a man who is extremely cunning, and not to\nbe over-reached, that he is a deep file. File, in the old version of cant,\nsignified a pickpocket, but the term is now obsolete.\n\nFINGER-SMITH: a midwife.\n\nFI'PENNY: a clasp-knife.\n\nFLASH: the cant language used by the family. To speak good flash is to be\nwell versed in cant terms.\n\nFLASH: a person who affects any peculiar habit, as swearing, dressing in\na particular manner, taking snuff, etc., merely to be taken notice of,\nis said to do it out of flash.\n\nFLASH: to be flash to any matter or meaning, is to understand or\ncomprehend it, and is synonymous with being fly, down, or awake; to put a\nperson flash to any thing, is to put him on his guard, to explain or\ninform him of what he was before unacquainted with.\n\nFLASH: to shew or expose any thing: as I flash'd him a bean, I shewed him\na guinea. Don't flash your sticks, don't expose your pistols, etc.\n\nFLASH-COVE, or COVESS: the landlord or landlady of a flash-ken.\n\nFLASH-CRIB, FLASH-KEN, or FLASH-PANNY, a public-house resorted to chiefly\nby family people, the master of which is commonly an old prig, and not\nunfrequently an old-lag.\n\nFLASH-MAN: a favourite or fancy-man; but this term is generally applied\nto those dissolute characters upon the town, who subsist upon the\nliberality of unfortunate women; and who, in return, are generally at\nhand during their nocturnal perambulations, to protect them should any\nbrawl occur, or should they be detected in robbing those whom they have\npicked up.\n\nFLASH-MOLLISHER: a family-woman.\n\nFLASH-SONG: a song interlarded with flash words, generally relating to\nthe exploits of the prigging fraternity in their various branches of\ndepredation.\n\nFLESH-BAG: a shirt.\n\nFLAT. In a general sense, any honest man, or square cove, in opposition\nto a sharp or cross-cove; when used particularly, it means the person\nwhom you have a design to rob or defraud, who is termed the flat, or the\nflatty-gory. A man who does any foolish or imprudent act, is called a\nflat; any person who is found an easy dupe to the designs of the family,\nis said to be a prime flat. It's a good flat that's never down, is a\nproverb among flash people; meaning, that though a man may be repeatedly\nduped or taken in, he must in the end have his eyes opened to his folly.\n\nFLAT-MOVE. Any attempt or project that miscarries, or any act of folly or\nmismanagement in human affairs is said to be a flat move.\n\nFLATS: a cant name for playing-cards.\n\nFLIP: to shoot.\n\nFLOOR: to knock down anyone, either for the purpose of robbery, or to\neffect your escape, is termed flooring him.\n\nFLOOR'D: a person who is so drunk, as to be incapable of standing, is\nsaid to be floor'd.\n\nFLUE-FAKER: a chimney-sweeper.\n\nFLY: vigilant; suspicious; cunning; not easily robbed or duped; a\nshopkeeper or person of this description, is called a fly cove, or a\nleary cove; on other occasions fly is synonymous with flash or leary, as,\nI'm fly to you, I was put flash to him, etc.\n\nFLY THE MAGS: to gamble, by tossing up halfpence.\n\nFOGLE: a silk handkerchief.\n\nFORKS: the two forefingers of the hand; to put your forks down, is to\npick a pocket.\n\nFOSS, or PHOS: a phosphorus bottle used by cracksmen to obtain a light.\n\nFRISK: to search; to frisk a cly, is to empty a pocket of its contents;\nto stand frisk, is to stand search.\n\nFRISK: fun or mirth of any kind.\n\nGAFF: to gamble with cards, dice, etc., or to toss up.\n\nGAFF: a country fair; also a meeting of gamblers for the purpose of play;\nany public place of amusement is liable to be called the gaff, when\nspoken of in flash company who know to what it alludes.\n\nGALANEY: a fowl.\n\nGALLOOT: a soldier.\n\nGAME: every particular branch of depredation practised by the family, is\ncalled a game; as, what game do you go upon? One species of robbery or\nfraud is said to be a good game, another a queer game, etc.\n\nGAMMON: flattery; deceit; pretence; plausible language; any assertion\nwhich is not strictly true, or professions believed to be insincere, as,\nI believe you're gammoning, or, that's all gammon, meaning, you are no\ndoubt jesting with me, or, that's all a farce. To gammon a person, is to\namuse him with false assurances, to praise, or flatter him, in order to\nobtain some particular end; to gammon a man to any act, is to persuade\nhim to it by artful language, or pretence; to gammon a shop-keeper,\netc., is to engage his attention to your discourse, while your\naccomplice is executing some preconcerted plan of depredation upon his\nproperty; a thief detected in a house which he has entered, upon the\nsneak, for the purpose of robbing it, will endeavour by some gammoning\nstory to account for his intrusion, and to get off with a good grace; a\nman who is, ready at invention, and has always a flow of plausible\nlanguage on these occasions, is said to be a prime gammoner; to gammon\nlushy or queer, is to pretend drunkenness, or sickness, for some private\nend.\n\nGAMMON THE TWELVE: a man who has been tried by a criminal court, and by a\nplausible defence, has induced the jury to acquit him, or to banish the\ncapital part of the charge, and so save his life, is said, by his\nassociates to have gammoned the twelve in prime twig, alluding to the\nnumber of jurymen.\n\nGAMS: the legs, to have queer gams, is to be bandy-legged, or otherwise\ndeformed.\n\nGARNISH: a small sum of money extracted from a new chum on his entering a\njail, by his fellow-prisoners, which affords them a treat of beer, gin,\netc.\n\nGARDEN: to put a person in the garden, in the hole, in the bucket, or in\nthe well, are synonymous phrases, signifying to defraud him of his due\nshare of the booty by embezzling a part of the property, or the money, it\nis fenced for; this phrase also applies generally to defrauding anyone\nwith whom you are confidentially connected of what is justly his due.\n\nGARRET: the fob-pocket.\n\nGEORGY: a quartern-loaf.\n\nGILL: a word used by way of variation, similar to cove, gloak, or gory;\nbut generally coupled to some other descriptive term, as a flash-gill, a\ntoby-gill, etc.\n\nGIVE IT TO: to rob or defraud any place or person, as, I gave it to him\nfor his reader, I robb'd him of his pocket-book. 'What suit did you give\nit them upon? In what manner, or by what means, did you effect your\npurpose? Also, to impose upon a person's credulity by telling him a\nstring of falsehoods; or to take any unfair advantage of another's\ninadvertence or unsuspecting temper, on any occasion; in either case, the\nparty at last dropping down, that is, detecting your imposition, will\nsay, I believe you have been giving it to me nicely all this while.\n\nGLAZE: a glass-window.\n\nGLIM: a candle, or other light.\n\nGLIM-STICK: a candlestick.\n\nGLOAK: synonymous with GILL, which see.\n\nGNARL: to gnarl upon a person, is the same as splitting or nosing upon\nhim; a man guilty of this treachery is called a gnarling scoundrel, etc.\n\nGO-ALONGER: a simple easy person, who suffers himself to be made a tool\nof, and is readily persuaded to any act or undertaking by his associates,\nwho inwardly laugh at his folly, and ridicule him behind his back.\n\nGO OUT: to follow the profession of thieving; two or more persons who\nusually rob in company, are said to go out together.\n\nGOOD: a place or person, which promises to be easily robbed, is said to\nbe good, as, that house is good upon the crack; this shop is good upon\nthe star; the swell is good for his montra; etc. A man who declares\nhimself good for any favour or thing, means, that he has sufficient\ninfluence, or possesses the certain means to obtain it; good as bread, or\ngood as cheese, are merely emphatical phrases to the same effect. See\nCAZ.\n\nGORY: a term synonymous with cove, gill, or gloak, and like them,\ncommonly used in the descriptive. See FLAT and SWELL.\n\nGRAB: to seize; apprehend; take in custody; to make a grab at any thing,\nis to snatch suddenly, as at a gentleman's watch-chain, etc.\n\nGRAB'D: taken, apprehended.\n\nGRAY: a half-penny, or other coin, having two heads or two tails, and\nfabricated for the use of gamblers, who, by such a deception. frequently\nwin large sums.\n\nGROCERY: half-pence, or copper coin, in a collective sense.\n\nGRUB: victuals of any kind; to grub a person, is to diet him, or find him\nin victuals; to grub well, is to eat with an appetite.\n\nGUN: a view; look; observation; or taking notice; as, there is a strong\ngun at us, means, we are strictly observed. To gun any thing, is to look\nat or examine it.\n\nHADDOCK: a purse; a haddock stuff'd with beans, is a jocular term for a\npurse full of guineas!\n\nHALF A BEAN, HALF A QUID; half-a-guinea.\n\nHALF A BULL: half-a-crown.\n\nHALF-FLASH AND HALF-FOOLISH: this character is applied sarcastically to a\nperson, who has a smattering of the cant language, and having associated\na little with family people, pretends to a knowledge of life which he\nreally does not possess, and by this conduct becomes an object of\nridicule among his acquaintance.\n\nHAMMERISH: down as a hammer.\n\nHANG IT ON: purposely to delay or protract the performance of any task or\nservice you have undertaken, by dallying, and making as slow a progress\nas possible, either from natural indolence, or to answer some private end\nof your own, To hang it on with a woman, is to form a temporary connexion\nwith her; to cohabit or keep company with her without marriage.\n\nHANK: a bull-bait, or bullock-hunt.\n\nHANK: to have a person at a good hank, is to have made any contract with\nhim very advantageous to yourself; or to be able from some prior cause to\ncommand or use him just as you please; to have the benefit of his purse\nor other services, in fact, upon your own terms.\n\nHANK: a spell of cessation from any work or duty, on the score of\nindisposition, or some other pretence.\n\nHIGH-TOBY: the game of highway robbery, that is, exclusively on\nhorseback.\n\nHIGH-TOBY-GLOAK: a highwayman.\n\nHIS-NABS: him or himself; a term used by way of emphasis, when speaking\nof a third person.\n\nHOBBLED: taken up, or in custody; to hobble a plant, is to spring it. See\nPLANT.\n\nHOG: a shilling; five, ten, or more shillings, are called five, ten, or\nmore hog.\n\nHOIST: the game of shop-lifting is called the hoist,. a person expert at\nthis practice is said to be a goad hoist.\n\nHOLE. See GARDEN.\n\nHOPPER-DOCKERS: shoes.\n\nHORNEY: a constable.\n\nHOXTER: an inside coat-pocket.\n\nIN IT: to let another partake of any benefit or acquisition you have\nacquired by robbery or otherwise, is called putting him in it: a\nfamily-man who is accidentally witness to a robbery, etc., effected by\none or more others, will say to the latter, Mind, I'm in it: which is\ngenerally acceded to, being the established custom; but there seems more\nof courtesy than right in this practice.\n\nIN TOWN: flush of money; breeched.\n\nJACOB: a ladder; a simple half-witted person.\n\nJACK: a post-chaise.\n\nJACK-BOY: a postillion.\n\nJACKET: to jacket a person, or clap a jacket on him, is nearly synonymous\nwith bridging him. See BRIDGE. But this term is more properly applied to\nremoving a man by underhand and vile means from any birth or situation he\nenjoys, commonly with a view to supplant him; therefore, when a person,\nis supposed to have fallen a victim to such infamous machinations, it is\nsaid to have been a jacketing concern.\n\nJASEY: a wig.\n\nJEMMY, or JAMES: an iron-crow.\n\nJERRY: a fog or mist.\n\nJERVIS: a coachman.\n\nJERVIS'S UPPER BENJAMIN: a box, or coachman's great coat.\n\nJIGGER: a door.\n\nJOB: any concerted robbery, which is to be executed at a certain time, is\nspoken of by the parties as the job, or having a job to do at such a\nplace; and in this case as regular preparations are made, and as great\ndebates held, as about any legal business undertaken by the industrious\npart of the community.\n\nJOGUE: a shilling; five jogue is five shillings, and so on, to any other\nnumber.\n\nJOSKIN: a country-bumbkin.\n\nJUDGE: a family-man, whose talents and experience have rendered him a\ncomplete adept in his profession, and who acts with a systematic prudence\non all occasions, is allowed to be, and called by his friends, a fine\njudge.\n\nJUDGEMENT: prudence; economy in acting; abilities, (the result of long\nexperience,) for executing the most intricate and hazardous projects; any\nthing accomplished in a masterly manner, is, therefore, said to have been\ndone with judgement; on concerting or planning any operations, one party\nwill say, I think it would be judgement to do so and so, meaning\nexpedient to do it.\n\nJUDY: a blowen,. but sometimes used when speaking familiarly of any\nwoman.\n\nJUGELOW, a dog.\n\nJUMP: a window on the ground-floor.\n\nJUMP: a game, or species of robbery effected by getting into a house\nthrough any of the lower windows. To Jump a place, is to rob it upon the\njump. A man convicted for this offence, is said to be done for a jump.\n\nKELP: a hat; to kelp a person, is to move your hat to him.\n\nKEMESA: a shirt.\n\nKEN: a house; often joined to other descriptive terms, as, a flash ken, a\nbawdy-ken, etc.\n\nKENT: a coloured pocket-handkerchief of cotton or linen.\n\nKICK: a sixpence, when speaking of compound sums only, as, three and a\nkick, is three and sixpence, etc.\n\nKICKSEYS: breeches; speaking of a purse, etc., taken from the breeches\npocket, they say, it was got from the kickseys, there being no cant term\nfor the breeches pocket. To turn out a man's kickseys, means to pick the\npockets of them, in which operation it is necessary to turn those pockets\ninside out, in order to get at the contents.\n\nKID: a child of either sex, but particularly applied to a boy who\ncommences thief at an early age; and when by his dexterity he has become\nfamous, he is called by his acquaintances the kid so and so, mentioning\nhis sirname.\n\nKIDDY: a thief of the lower order, who, when he is breeched, by a course\nof successful depredation, dresses in the extreme of vulgar gentility,\nand affects a knowingness in his air and conversation, which renders him\nin reality an object of ridicule; such a one is pronounced by his\nassociates of the same class, a flash-kiddy or a rolling-kiddy. My kiddy\nis a familiar term used by these gentry in addressing each other.\n\nKID-RIG: meeting a child in the streets who is going on some errand, and\nby a false, but well fabricated story, obtaining any parcel or goods it\nmay be carrying; this game is practised by two persons, who have each\ntheir respective parts to play, and even porters and other grown persons\nare sometimes defrauded of their load by this artifice. To kid a person\nout of any thing, is to obtain it from him by means of a false pretence,\nas that you were sent by a third person, etc.; such impositions are all\ngenerally termed the kid-rig.\n\nKINCHEN: a young lad.\n\nKIRK: a church or chapel.\n\nKNAP: to steal; take; receive; accept; according to the sense it is used\nin; as, to knap a clout, is to steal a pocket-handkerchief; to knap the\nswag from your pall, is to take from him the property he has just stolen,\nfor the purpose of carrying it; to knap seven or fourteen pen'worth, is\nto receive sentence of transportation for seven or fourteen years; to\nknap the glim, is to catch the venereal disease; in making a bargain, to\nknap the sum offered you, is to accept it; speaking of a woman supposed\nto be pregnant, it is common to say, I believe Mr. Knap is concerned,\nmeaning that she has knap'd.\n\nKNAPPING A JACOB FROM A DANNA-DRAG: This is a curious species of robbery,\nor rather borrowing without leave, for the purpose of robbery; it\nsignifies taking away the short ladder from a nightman's cart, while the\nmen are gone into a house, the privy of which they are employed emptying,\nin order to effect an ascent to a one-pair-of-stairs window, to scale a\ngarden-wall, etc., after which the ladder, of course, is left to rejoin\nits master as it can.\n\nKNIFE IT. See CHEESE IT.\n\nKNUCK, KNUCKLER, or KNUCKLING-COVE: a pickpocket, or person professed in\nthe knuckling art.\n\nKNUCKLE: to pick pockets, but chiefly applied to the more refined branch\nof that art, namely, extracting notes, loose cash, etc., from the\nwaistcoat or breeches pockets, whereas buzzing is used in a more general\nsense. See BUZ.\n\nLAG: to transport for seven years or upwards.\n\nLAG: a convict under sentence of transportation.\n\nLAG: to make water. To lag spirits, wine, etc., is to adulterate them\nwith water.\n\nLAGGER: a sailor.\n\nLAGGING-DUES: speaking of a person likely to be transported, they say\nlagging dues will be concerned.\n\nLAGGING MATTER: any species of crime for which a person is liable on\nconviction to be transported.\n\nLAG SHIP: a transport chartered by Government for the conveyance of\nconvicts to New South Wales; also, a hulk, or floating prison, in which,\nto the disgrace of humanity, many hundreds of these unhappy persons are\nconfined, and suffer every complication of human misery.\n\nLAMPS: the eyes; to have queer lamps, is to have sore or weak eyes.\n\nLARK: fun or sport of any kind, to create which is termed knocking up a\nlark.\n\nLAWN: a white cambric handkerchief.\n\nLEARY: synonymous with fly.\n\nLEARY-COVE. See FLY.\n\nLEATHER-LANE: any thing paltry, or of a bad quality, is called a\nLeather-lane concern.\n\nLETTER Q: the mace, or billiard-slum, is sometimes called going upon the\nQ, or the letter Q, alluding to an instrument used in playing billiards.\n\nLETTER-RACKET: going about to respectable houses with a letter or\nstatement, detailing some case of extreme distress, as shipwreck,\nsufferings by fire, etc.; by which many benevolent, but credulous,\npersons, are induced to relieve the fictitious wants of the imposters,\nwho are generally men, or women, of genteel address, and unfold a\nplausible tale of affliction.\n\nLEVANTING, or RUNNING A LEVANT: an expedient practised by broken\ngamesters to retrieve thcmselves, and signifies to bet money at a race,\ncockmatch, etc., without a shilling in their pocket to answer the event.\nThe punishment for this conduct in a public cockpit is rather curious;\nthe offender is placed in a large basket, kept on purpose, which is then\nhoisted up to the ceiling or roof of the building, and the party is there\nkept suspended, and exposed to derision during the pleasure of the\ncompany.\n\nLIFE: by this term is meant the various cheats and deceptions practised\nby the designing part of mankind; a person well versed in this kind of\nknowledge, is said to be one that knows life; in other words, that knows\nthe world. This is what Goldsmith defines to be a knowledge of human\nnature on the wrong side.\n\nLIGHT: to inform of any robbery, etc., which has been some time executed\nand concealed, is termed bringing the affair to light,. to produce any\nthing to view, or to give up any stolen property for the sake of a\nreward, to quash a prosecution, is also called bringing it to light. A\nthief, urging his associates to a division of any booty they have lately\nmade, will desire them to bring the swag to light.\n\nLILL: a pocket-book.\n\nLINE: to get a person in a line, or in a string, is to engage them in a\nconversation, while your confederate is robbing their person or premises;\nto banter or jest with a man by amusing him with false assurances or\nprofessions, is also termed stringing him, or getting him in tow; to keep\nany body in suspense on any subject without coming to a decision, is\ncalled keeping him in tow, in a string, or in a tow-line. To cut the\nline, or the string, is to put an end to the suspense in which you have\nkept anyone, by telling him the plain truth, coming to a final decision,\netc. A person, who has been telling another a long story, until he is\ntired, or conceives his auditor has been all the while secretly laughing\nat him, will say at last, I've just dropped down, you've had me in a fine\nstring, I think it's time to cut it. On the other hand, the auditor,\nhaving the same opinion on his part, would say, Come, I believe you want\nto string me all night, I wish you'd cut it; meaning, conclude the story\nat once.\n\nLOB: a till, or money-drawer. To have made a good lob, is synonymous with\nmaking a good speak.\n\nLOCK-UP-CHOVEY: a covered cart, in which travelling hawkers convey their\ngoods about the country; and which is secured by a door, lock, and key.\n\nLODGING-SLUM: the practice of hiring ready furnished lodgings, and\nstripping them of the plate, linen, and other valuables.\n\nLOOK AT A PLACE: when a plan is laid for robbing a house, etc., upon the\ncrack, or the screw, the parties will go a short time before the\nexecution, to examine the premises, and make any necessary observations;\nthis is called looking at the place.\n\nLOUR: money.\n\nLUMBER: a room.\n\nLUMBER: to lumber any property, is to deposit it at a pawnbroker's, or\nelsewhere for present security; to retire to any house or private place,\nfor a short time, is called lumbering yourself. A man apprehended, and\nsent to gaol, is said to be lumbered, to be in lumber, or to be in\nLombard-street.\n\nLUSH: to drink; speaking of a person who is drunk, they say, Alderman\nLushington is concerned, or, he has been voting for the Alderman.\n\nLUSH: beer or liquor of any kind.\n\nLUSH-CRIB, or LUSH-KEN: a public-house, or gin-shop.\n\nLUSH, or LUSHY, drunk, intoxicated.\n\nLUSHY-COVE: a drunken man.\n\nMACE: to mace a shopkeeper, or give it to him upon the mate, is to obtain\ngoods on credit, which you never mean to pay for; to run up a score with\nthe same intention, or to spunge upon your acquaintance, by continually\nbegging or borrowing from them, is termed maceing, or striking the mace.\n\nMACE-GLOAK: a man who lives upon the mace.\n\nMAG: a halfpenny.\n\nMANCHESTER: the tongue.\n\nMANG: to speak or talk.\n\nMAULEY: the hand.\n\nMAX: gin or hollands.\n\nMILESTONE: a country booby.\n\nMILL: to fight. To mill a 'person is to beat him.\n\nMILL A GLAZE: to break a window.\n\nMILL-DOLL: an obsolete name for Bridewell house of correction, in\nBridge-street, Blackfriars, London.\n\nMILLING-COVE: a pugilist.\n\nMITTS: gloves.\n\nMITTENS: the hands.\n\nMIZZLE: to quit or go away from any place or company; to elope, or run\naway.\n\nMOLLISHER: a woman.\n\nMONKEY: a padlock.\n\nMONKERY: the country parts of England are called The Monkery.\n\nMONTRA: a watch.\n\nMORNING-SNEAK: going out early to rob private houses or shops by slipping\nin at the door unperceived, while the servant or shopman is employed in\ncleaning the steps, windows, etc.\n\nMOTT: a blowen, or woman of the town.\n\nMOUNT: to swear, or give evidence falsely for the sake of a gratuity. To\nmount for a person is also synonymous with bonnetting for him.\n\nMOUNTER: a man who lives by mounting, or perjury, who is always ready for\na guinea or two to swear whatever is proposed to him.\n\nMOUTH: a foolish silly person; a man who does a very imprudent act, is\nsaid to be a rank mouth.\n\nMOVE: any action or operation in life; the secret spring by which any\nproject is conducted, as, There is a move in that business which you are\nnot down to. To be flash to every move upon the board, is to have a\ngeneral knowledge of the world, and all its numerous deceptions.\n\nMR. KNAP. See KNAP.\n\nMR. NASH. See NASH.\n\nMR. PALMER. See PALM.\n\nMR. PULLEN. See PULL or PULL UP.\n\nMUFF: an epithet synonymous with mouth.\n\nMUG: the face; a queer mug is an ugly face.\n\nMURPHY'S COUNTENANCE: a pig's face.\n\nMYNABS: me, myself.\n\nNAIL: to nail a person, is to over-reach, or take advantage of him in the\ncourse of trade or traffic; also, to rob, or steal; as, I nail'd him for\n(or of) his reader, I robbed him of his pocket-book; I nail'd the swell's\nmantra in the push, I picked the gentleman's pocket of his watch in the\ncrowd, etc. A person of an over-reaching, imposing disposition, is\ncalled a nail, a dead nail, a nailing rascal, a rank needle, or a needle\npointer.\n\nNANCY: the posteriors.\n\nNAP the BIB: to cry; as, the mollisher nap'd her bib, the woman fell a\ncrying.\n\nNASH: to go away from, or quit, any place or company; speaking of a\nperson who is gone, they say, he is nash'd, or Mr. Nash is concerned.\n\nNE-DASH: nothing.\n\nNEEDLE: (see NAIL) to needle a person is to haggle with him in making a\nbargain, and, if possible, take advantage of him, though in the most\ntrifling article.\n\nNEEDLE-POINTER. See NAIL.\n\nNEEDY-MIZZLER: a poor ragged object of either sex; a shabby-looking\nperson.\n\nNIB: a gentleman, or person of the higher order. People who affect\ngentility or consequence, without any real pretensions thereto, arc from\nhence vulgarly called Half-nibs or Half-swells; and, indeed, persons of\nlow minds, who conceive money to be the only criterion of gentility, arc\ntoo apt to stigmatize with the before-mentioned epithets any man, 'who,\nhowever well-bred and educated, may be reduced to a shabby external, but\nstill preserves a sense of decorum in his manners, and avoids associating\nwith the vagabonds among whom he may unfortunately be doomed to exist.\n\nNIBB'D: taken in custody.\n\nNIBBLE: to pilfer trifling articles, not having spirit to touch any thing\nof consequence.\n\nNIBBLER: a pilferer or petty thief.\n\nNIX, or NIX MY DOLL: nothing.\n\nNOB IT: to act with such prudence and knowledge of the world, as to\nprosper and become independent without any labour or bodily exertion;\nthis is termed nobbing it, or fighting nob work. To effect any purpose,\nor obtain any thing, by means of good judgment and sagacity, is called\nnabbing it for such a thing.\n\nNOB-PITCHERS: a general term for those sharpers who attend at fairs,\nraces, etc., to take in the flats at prick in the garter, cups and\nballs, and other similar artifices.\n\nNO DOWN. See FAKE AWAY, etc.\n\nNOSE: a thief who becomes an evidence against his accomplices; also, a\nperson who seeing one or more suspicious characters in the streets, makes\na point of watching them in order to frustrate any attempt they may make,\nor to cause their apprehension; also, a spy or informer of any\ndescription.\n\nNOSE: to nose, is to pry into any person's proceedings in an impertinent\nmanner. To nose upon anyone, is to tell of any thing he has said or done\nwith a view to injure him, or to benefit yourself.\n\nNULLING-COVE: a pugilist.\n\nNUT: to please a person by any little act of assiduity, by a present, or\nby flattering words, is called nutting him; as the present, etc., by\n'which you have gratified them, is termed a nut.\n\nNUTS UPON IT: to be very much pleased or gratified with any object,\nadventure, or overture; so a person who conceives a strong inclination\nfor another of the opposite sex, is said to be quite nutty, or nuts upon\nhim or her.\n\nNUTS UPON YOURSELF: a man who is much gratified with any bargain he has\nmade, narrow escape he has had, or other event in which he is interested,\nwill express his self-satisfaction or gladness by declaring that he is,\nor was, quite nuts upon himself.\n\nOFFICE: a hint, signal, or private intimation, from one person to\nanother; this is termed officeing him, or giving him the office; to take\nthe office, is to understand and profit by the hint given.\n\nOLD LAG: a man or woman who has been transported, is so called on\nreturning home, by those who are acquainted with the secret. See LAG.\n\nOLIVER: the moon.\n\nOLIVER IS IN TOWN: a phrase signifying that the nights are moonlight, and\nconsequently unfavourable to depredation.\n\nOLIVER'S UP: the moon has risen.\n\nOLIVER WHIDDLES: the moon shines.\n\nONE UPON YOUR TAW: a person who takes offence at the conduct of another,\nor conceives himself injured by the latter, will say, never mind, I'll be\none upon your taw; or, I'll be a marble on your taw; meaning, I'll be\neven with you some time.\n\nONION: a watch-seal, a bunch if onions, is several seals worn upon one\nring.\n\nORDER-RACKET: obtaining goods from a shopkeeper, by means of a forged\norder or false pretence.\n\nOUT-AND-OUT: quite; completely; effectually. See SERVE and FAKE.\n\nOUT-AND-OUTER: a person of a resolute determined spirit, who pursues his\nobject without regard to danger or difficulties; also an incorrigible\ndepredator, who will rob friend or stranger indiscriminately, being\npossessed of neither honour nor principle.\n\nOUT OF FLASH. See FLASH.\n\nOUT OF THE WAY: a thief who knows that he is sought after by the traps on\nsome information, and consequently goes out of town, or otherwise\nconceals himself, is said by his palls to be out if the way for so and\nso, naming the particular offence he stands charged with. See WANTED.\n\nOUT OF TWIG, to put yourself out of twig, is to disguise your dress and\nappearance, to avoid being recognised, on some particular account; a man\nreduced by poverty to wear a shabby dress is said by his acquaintance to\nbe out if twig; to put any article out of twig, as a stolen coat, cloak,\netc., is to alter it in such a way that it cannot be identified.\n\nPALL: a partner; companion; associate; or accomplice.\n\nPALM: to bribe, or give money, for the attainment of any object or\nindulgence; and it is then said that the party who receives it is palmed,\nor that Mr. Palmer is concerned.\n\nPALMING-RACKET: secreting money in the palm of the hand, a game at which\nsome are very expert.\n\nPANNY: a house.\n\nPANNUM: bread.\n\nPARK. See BUSHY-PARK.\n\nPATTER: to talk; as, He patters good flash, etc.\n\nPATTER'D: tried in a court of justice; a man who has undergone this\nordeal, is said to have stood the patter.\n\nPEAR-MAKING: inlisting in various regiments, taking the bounty, and then\ndeserting.\n\nPENSIONER: a mean-spirited fellow who lives with a woman of the town, and\nsuffers her to maintain him in idleness in the character of her\nfancy-man.\n\nPETER: a parcel or bundle, whether large or small; but most properly it\nsignifies a trunk or box.\n\nPETER-HUNTING: traversing the streets or roads for the purpose of cutting\naway trunks, etc., from travelling carriages; persons who follow this\ngame, are from thence called peter-hunters, whereas the drag more\nproperly applies to robbing carts or wagons.\n\nPETER-HUNTING-JEMMY: a small iron crow, particularly adapted for breaking\nthe patent chain, with which the luggage is of late years secured to\ngentlemen's carriages; and which, being of steel, case-hardened, is\nfallaciously supposed to be proof against the attempts of thieves.\n\nPETER-THAT: synonymous with Stow-that.\n\nPICK-UP: to accost, or enter into conversation with any person, for the\npurpose of executing some design upon his personal property; thus, among\ngamblers, it is called Picking up a flat, or a mouth: sharpers, who are\ndaily on the look-out for some unwary countryman or stranger, use the\nsame phrase; and among drop-coves, and others who act in concert, this\ntask is allotted to one of the gang, duly qualified, who is thence termed\nthe picker-up; and he having performed his part, his associates proceed\nsystematically in cleaning out the flat. To pick up a cull, is a term\nused by blowens in their vocation of street-walking. To pick a person up,\nin a general sense, is to impose upon, or take advantage of him, in a\ncontract or bargain.\n\nPIGS, or GRUNTERS: police runners.\n\nPINS: the legs.\n\nPINCH: to purloin small articles of value in the shops of jewellers,\netc., while pretending to purchase or bespeak some trinket. This game is\ncalled the Pinch--I pinch' d him for a fawney, signifies I purloined a\nring from him; Did you pinch any thing ill that crib? did you succeed ill\nsecreting any thing in that shop? This game is a branch of shoplifting;\nbut when the hoist is spoken of, it commonly applies to stealing articles\nof a larger, though less valuable, kind, as pieces of muslin, or silk\nhandkerchiefs, printed cotton, etc. See HOIST.\n\nPINCH-GLOAK: a man who works upon the pinch.\n\nPIPES: boots.\n\nPIT: the bosom pocket in a coat.\n\nPIT- MAN: a pocket-book worn in the bosom-pocket.\n\nPITCHER. Newgate in London is called by various names, as the pitcher,\nthe stone Pitcher, the start, and the stone jug, according to the humour\nof the speaker.\n\nPLANT. To hide, or conceal any person or thing, is termed Planting him,\nor it; and any thing hid is called, the plant, when alluded to in\nconversation; such article is said to be in plant; the place of\nconcealment is sometimes called the plant, as, I know of a fine plant;\nthat is, a secure hiding-place. To spring a plant, is to find any thing\nthat has been concealed by another. To rise the plant, is to take up and\nremove any thing that has been hid, whether by yourself or another. A\nperson's money, or valuables, secreted about his house, or person, is\ncalled his plant. To plant upon a man, is to set somebody to watch his\nmotions; also to place any thing purposely in his way, that he may steal\nit and be immediately detected.\n\nPLAY A-CROSS. What is commonly termed playing booty, that is, purposely\nlosing the game, or match, in order to take in the flats who have backed\nyou, (see BRIDGE) while the sharps divide the spoil, in which you have a\nshare. This sort of treachery extends to boxing, racing, and every other\nspecies of sport, on which bets are laid; sometimes a sham match is made\nfor the purpose of inducing strangers to bet, which is decided in such a\nmanner that the latter will inevitably lose. A-cross signifies generally\nany collusion or unfair dealing between several parties.\n\nPLUMMY. Right; very good; as it should be; expressing your approbation of\nany act, or event, you will say, That's plummy, or It's all plummy;\nmeaning it is all right.\n\nPOGUE. A bag, (probably a corruption of poke.)\n\nPOPS. Pistols; an obsolete term.\n\nPOST, or POST THE PONEY. To stake, or lay down the money, as on laying a\nbet, or concluding a bargain.\n\nPOUNDABLE. Any event which is considered certain or inevitable, is\ndeclared to be poundable, as the issue of a game, the success of a bet,\netc.\n\nPOUND IT. To ensure or make a certainty of any thing; thus, a man will\nsay, I'll pound it to be so; taken, probably from the custom of laying,\nor rather offering ten pounds to a crown at a cock-match, in which case,\nif no person takes this extravagant odds, the battle is at an end. This\nis termed pounding a cock.\n\nPRAD. A horse.\n\nPRADBACK. Horseback.\n\nPRIG. A thief.\n\nPRIG. To steal; to go out a-prigging, is to go a-thieving.\n\nPRIME. In a general sense, synonymous with plummy; any thing very good of\nits kind, is called a prime article. Any thing executed in a stylish or\nmasterly manner, is said to be done in prime twig. See FAKEMENT, and\nGAMMON THE TWELVE.\n\nPULL. An important advantage possessed by one party over another; as in\ngaming, you may by some slight, unknown to your adversary, or by a\nknowledge of the cards, etc., have the odds of winning considerably on\nyour side; you are then said to have a great pull. To have the power of\ninjuring a person, by the knowledge of any thing erroneous in his\nconduct, which leaves his character or personal safety at your mercy, is\nalso termed having a pull upon him, that is (to use a vulgar phrase) that\nyou have him under your thumb. A person speaking of any intricate affair,\nor feat of ingenuity, which he cannot comprehend, will say, There is some\npull at the bottom of it, that I'm not fly to.\n\nPULL, or PULL UP: to accost; stop; apprehend; or take into custody; as to\npull up a Jack, is to stop a post-chaise on the highway. To pull a man,\nor have him pulled, is to cause his apprehension for some offence; and it\nis then said, that Mr. Pullen is concerned.\n\nPULLED, PULLED UP, or IN PULL: Taken in custody; in confinement.\n\nPUSH: a crowd or concourse of people, either in the streets, or at any\npublic place of amusement, etc., when any particular scene of crowding\nis alluded to, they say, the push, as the push, at the spell doors; the\npush at the stooping-match, etc.\n\nPUT DOWN. See DOWN.\n\nPUT FLASH. See FLASH.\n\nPUT FLY. See FLY.\n\nPUT UP: to suggest to another, the means of committing a depredation, or\neffecting any other business, is termed, putting him up to it.\n\nPUT UP AFFAIR: any preconcerted plan or scheme to effect a robbery,\netc., undertaken at the suggestion of another person, who possessing a\nknowledge of the premises, is competent to advise the principal how best\nto proceed.\n\nPUTTER UP: the projector or planner of a put-up affair, as a servant in a\ngentleman's family, who proposes to a gang of housebreakers the robbery\nof his master's house, and informs them where the plate, etc., is\ndeposited, (instances of which are frequent in London) is termed the\nputter up, and usually shares equally in the booty with the parties\nexecuting, although the former may lie dormant, and take no part in the\nactual commission of the fact.\n\nPUZZLING-STICKS: the triangles to which culprits are tied up, for the\npurpose of undergoing flagellation.\n\nQ. See LETTER Q.\n\nQUEER: bad; counterfeit; false; unwell in health.\n\nQUEER, or QUEER-BIT: base money.\n\nQUEER SCREENS: forged Bank-notes.\n\nQUEER IT: to spoil it, which see.\n\nQUEER-BAIL. Persons of no repute, hired to bail a prisoner in any\nbailable case; these men are to be had in London for a trifling sum, and\nare called Broomsticks.\n\nQUID: a guinea.\n\nQUOD: a gaol. To quod a person is to send him to gaol. In quod, is in\ngaol.\n\nQUOD-COVE: the keeper of a gaol.\n\nQUODDING-DUES. See DUES.\n\nRACKET: some particular kinds of fraud and robbery are so termed, when\ncalled by their flash titles, and others Rig; as, the Letter-racket, the\nOrder-racket; the Kid-rig; the Cat and Kitten-rig, etc., but all these\nterms depend upon the fancy of the speaker. In fact, any game may be\ntermed a rig, racket, suit, slum, etc., by prefixing thereto the\nparticular branch of depredation or fraud in question, many examples of\nwhich occur in this work.\n\nRAG: money.\n\nRAG-GORGY: a rich or monied man, but generally used in conversation when\na particular gentleman, or person high in office, is hinted at; instead\nof mentioning his name, they say, the Rag-gorgy, knowing themselves to be\nunderstood by those they are addressing. See COVE, and SWELL.\n\nRAMP: to rob any person or place by open violence or suddenly snatching\nat something and running off with it, as, I ramp'd him of his montra; why\ndid you not ramp his castor? etc. A man convicted of this offence, is\nsaid to have been done for a ramp. This audacious game, is called by\nprigs, the ramp, and is nearly similar to the RUSH, which see.\n\nRANK: complete; absolute, downright, an emphatical manner of describing\npersons or characters, as a rank nose, a rank swell, etc. etc.\n\nRATTLER: a coach.\n\nREADER: a pocket-book.\n\nREADER-HUNTERS. See DUMMY-HUNTERS.\n\nREGULARS: one's due share of a booty, etc. on a division taking place.\nGive me my regulars, that is, give me my dividend.\n\nREIGN: the length or continuance of a man's career in a system of\nwickedness, which when he is ultimately bowled out, is said to have been\na long, or a short reign, according to its duration.\n\nRESURRECTION-COVE: a stealer of dead bodies.\n\nRIBBAND: money in general.\n\nRIDGE: gold, whether in coin or any other shape, as a ridge montra, a\ngold watch; a cly-full of ridge, a pocket full of gold.\n\nRIG. See RACKET.\n\nRINGING, or RINGING-IN: to ring is to exchange; ringing the changes, is a\nfraud practised by smashers, who when they receive good money in change\nof a guinea, etc., ring-in one or more pieces of base with great\ndexterity, and then request the party to change them.\n\nRINGING CASTORS: signifies frequenting churches and other public\nassemblies, for the purpose of changing hats, by taking away a good, and\nleaving a shabby one in its place; a petty game now seldom practised.\n\nRISE THE PLANT. See PLANT.\n\nROCK'D: superannuated, forgetful, absent in mind; old lags are commonly\nsaid to be thus affected, probably caused by the sufferings they have\nundergone.\n\nROLLERS: horse and foot patrole, who parade the roads round about London\nduring the night, for the prevention of robberies.\n\nROMANY: a gypsy; to patter romany, is to talk the gypsy flash.\n\nROOK: a small iron crow.\n\nROUGH-FAM, or ROUGH-FAMMY: the waistcoat pocket.\n\nROW IN THE BOAT: to go snacks, or have a share in the benefit arising\nfrom any transaction to which you are privy. To let a person row with\nyou, is to admit him to a share.\n\nRUFFLES. Handcuffs.\n\nRUGGINS'S: to go to bed, is called going to Ruggins's.\n\nRUM: good, in opposition to queer.\n\nRUMBLE-TUMBLE: a stage-coach.\n\nRUMP'D: flogged or scourged.\n\nRUMPUS: a masquerade.\n\nRUSH: the rush, is nearly synonymous with the ramp; but the latter often\napplies to snatching at a single article, as a silk cloak, for instance,\nfrom a milliner's shop-door; whereas a rush may signify a forcible entry\nby several men into a detached dwelling-house for the purpose of robbing\nits owners of their money, etc. A sudden and violent effort to get into\nany place, or vice-versa to effect your exit, as from a place of\nconfinement, etc., is called rushing them, or giving it to 'em upon the\nrush.\n\nRUSSIAN COFFEE-HOUSE: a name given by some punster of the family, to the\nBrown Bear public-house in Bow-street, Covent-garden.\n\nSACK: a pocket; to sack any thing is to pocket it.\n\nSALT-BOXES: the condemned cells in Newgate are so called.\n\nSALT-BOX-CLY: the outside coat-pocket, with a flap.\n\nSAND: moist sugar.\n\nSAWNEY: bacon.\n\nSCAMP: the game of highway robbery is called the scamp. To scamp a person\nis to rob him on the highway. Done for a scamp signifies convicted of a\nhighway robbery.\n\nSCAMP, or SCAMPSMAN: a highwayman.\n\nSCHOOL: a party of persons met together for the purpose of gambling.\n\nSCOT: a person of an irritable temper, who is easily put in a passion,\nwhich is often done by the company he is with, to create fun; such a one\nis declared to be a fine scot. This diversion is called getting him out,\nor getting him round the corner, from these terms being used by\nbull-hankers, with whom also a scot is a bullock of a particular breed,\nwhich affords superior diversion when hunted.\n\nSCOTTISH: fiery, irritable, easily provoked.\n\nSCOUT: a watchman.\n\nSCOUT-KEN: a watch-house.\n\nSCRAG'D: hang'd.\n\nSCRAGGING-POST: the gallows.\n\nSCREEN: a bank-note.\n\nSCREEVE: a letter, or writing paper.\n\nSCREW: a skeleton or false key. To screw a place is to enter it by false\nkeys; this game is called the screw. Any robbery effected by such means\nis termed a screw.\n\nSCREWSMAN: a thief who goes out a screwing.\n\nSCURF'D: taken in custody.\n\nSEEDY: poor, ragged in appearance, shabby.\n\nSELL: to sell a man is to betray him, by giving information against him,\nor otherwise to injure him clandestinely for the sake of interest, nearly\nthe same as bridgeing him. (See BRIDGE.) A man who falls a victim to any\ntreachery of this kind, is said to have been sold like a bullock in\nSmithfield.\n\nSERVE: to serve a person, or place, is to rob them; as, I serv'd him for\nhis thimble, I rob'd him of his watch; that crib has been served before,\nthat shop has been already robbed, etc. To serve a man, also sometimes\nsignifies to maim, wound, or do him some bodily hurt; and to serve him\nout and out, is to kill him.\n\nSHAKE: to steal, or rob; as, I shook a chest of slop, I stole a chest of\ntea; I've been shook of my skin, I have been robbed of my purse. A thief,\nwhose pall has been into any place for the purpose of robbery, will say\non his coming out, Well, is it all right, have you shook? meaning, did\nyou succeed in getting any thing? When two persons rob in company, it is\ngenerally the province, or part, of one to shake, (that is, obtain the\nswagg), and the other to carry, (that is, bear it to a place of safety).\n\nSHALLOW: a hat.\n\nSHAN: counterfeit money in general.\n\nSHARP: a gambler, or person, professed in all the arts of play; a cheat,\nor swindler; any cross-cove, in general, is called a sharp, in opposition\nto a flat, or square-cove; but this is only in a comparative sense in the\ncourse of conversation.\n\nSHARPING: swindling and cheating in all their various forms, including\nthe arts of fraud at play.\n\nSHIFTER: an alarm, or intimation, given by a thief to his pall,\nsignifying that there is a down, or that some one is approaching, and\nthat he had, therefore, better desist from what he is about.\n\nSHINER: a looking-glass.\n\nSHOOK: synonymous with rock'd.\n\nSHOVE-UP: nothing.\n\nSHUTTER-RACKET: the practice of robbing houses, or shops, by boring a\nhole in the window shutter, and taking out a pane of glass.\n\nSINGLE-HANDED: robbery by yourself, without a pall.\n\nSIR SYDNEY: a clasp knife.\n\nSKIN: a purse, or money bag.\n\nSKIN: to strip a man of all his money at play, is termed skinning him.\n\nSLANG. A watch chain, a chain of any kind; also a warrant, license to\ntravel, or other official instrument.\n\nSLANG: to defraud a person of any part of his due, is called slanging\nhim; also to cheat by false weights or measures, or other unfair means.\n\nSLANG WEIGHTS, or MEASURES: unjust, or defective ones.\n\nSLANGING-DUES: 'when a man suspects that he has been curtailed, or\ncheated, of any portion of his just right, he will say, there has been\nslanging-dues concerned.\n\nSLANG'D: fettered.\n\nSLANGS: fetters, or chains of any kind used about prisoners; body-slangs\nare body-irons used on some occasions.\n\nSLAVEY: a servant of either sex.\n\nSLIP: the slash pocket in the skirt of a coat behind.\n\nSLOP: tea.\n\nSLOP-FEEDER: a tea-spoon.\n\nSLOUR: to lock, secure, or fasten; to slour up is also to button up; as\none's coat, pocket, etc.\n\nSLOUR'D, or SLOUR'D UP: locked, fastened, buttoned, etc.\n\nSLUM: a room.\n\nSLUM. See RACKET and LODGING-SLUM.\n\nSLY. Any business transacted, or intimation given, privately, or under\nthe rose, is said to be done upon the sly.\n\nSMASHER: a man or woman who follows the game of smashing.\n\nSMASHING: uttering counterfeit money; smashing of queer screens,\nsignifies uttering forged bank notes. To smash a guinea, note, or other\nmoney, is, in a common sense, to procure, or give, change for it.\n\nSMISH: a shirt.\n\nSMUT: a copper boiler, or furance.\n\nSNEAK: The sneak is the practice of robbing houses or shops, by slipping\nin unperceived, and taking whatever may lay most convenient; this is\ncommonly the first branch of thieving, in which young boys are initiated,\nwho, from their size and activity, appear well adapted for it. To sneak a\nplace, is to rob it upon the sneak. A sneak is a robbery effected in the\nabove manner. One or more prisoners having escaped from their confinement\nby stealth, without using any violence, or alarming their keepers, arc\nsaid to have sneak'd 'em, or given it to 'em upon the sneak. See RUSH.\n\nSNEAKSMAN: a man or boy who goes upon the sneak.\n\nSNEEZER, or SNEEZING-COFER: a snuff-box.\n\nSNITCH: to impeach, or betray your accomplices, is termed snitching upon\nthem. A person who becomes king's evidence on such an occasion, is said\nto have turned snitch; an informer, or talebearer, in general, is called\na snitch, or a snitching rascal, in which sense snitching is synonymous\nwith nosing, or coming it.\n\nSNIPES: scissors.\n\nSNIV: an expression synonymous with bender, and used in the same manner.\n\nSNOW: clean linen from the washerwoman's hands, whether it be wet or dry,\nis termed snow.\n\nSNOOZE: to sleep; a snooze sometimes means a lodging; as, Where can I get\na snooze for this darky instead of saying a bed.\n\nSNUFFING: going into a shop on some pretence, watching an opportunity to\nthrow a handful of snuff in the eyes of the shopkeeper, and then running\noff with any valuable article you can lay hands on; this is called\nsnuffing him, or giving it to him upon the snuff racket.\n\nSOLD. See SELL.\n\nSOUND: to sound a person, means generally to draw from him, in an artful\nmanner, any particulars you want to be acquainted with; as, to sound a\nkid, porter, etc., is to pump out of him the purport of his errand, the\ncontents of his bundle, or load, etc., that your pall may know how to\naccost him, in order to draw the swag. See DRAW and KID-RIG. To sound a\ncly, is to touch a person's pocket gently on the outside, in order to\nascertain the nature of its contents.\n\nSPANGLE: a seven-shilling piece.\n\nSPANK: to spank a glaze, is to break a pane of glass in a shop window,\nand make a sudden snatch at some article of value within your reach,\nhaving previously tied the shop-door with a strong cord on the outside,\nso as to prevent the shopman from getting out, till you have had full\ntime to escape with your booty; to spank a place, is to rob it upon the\nspank, a spank is a robbery effected by the above means.\n\nSPEAK: committing any robbery; is called making a speak; and if it has\nbeen productive, you are said to have made a rum speak.\n\nSPEAK TO: to speak to a person or place is to rob them, and to speak to\nany article, is to steal it; as, I spoke to the cove for his montra; I\nrobb'd the gentleman of his watch. I spoke to that crib for all the\nwedge; I robb'd that house of all the plate. I spoke to a chest of slop;\nI stole a chest of tea. A thief will say to his pall who has been\nattempting any robbery, \u201cWell, did you speak? or, have you spoke?\u201d\nmeaning, did you get any thing?\n\nSPELL: the play-house.\n\nSPICE: the spice is the game of footpad robbery; describing an exploit of\nthis nature; a rogue will say, I spiced a swell of so much, naming the\nbooty obtained. A spice is a footpad robbery.\n\nSPICE GLOAK: a footpad robber.\n\nSPIN A YARN. See YARN.\n\nSPLIT: to split upon a person, or turn split, is synonymous with nosing,\nsnitching, or turning nose. To split signifies generally to tell of any\nthing you hear, or see transacted.\n\nSPOIL IT: to throw some obstacle in the way of any project or\nundertaking, so as to cause its failure, is termed spoiling it. In like\nmanner, to prevent another person from succeeding in his object, either\nby a wilful obstruction, or by some act of imprudence on your part,\nsubjects you to the charge of having spoiled him. Speaking of some\nparticular species of fraud or robbery, which after a long series of\nsuccess, is now become stale or impracticable from the public being\nguarded against it, the family will say, that game is spoiled at last. So\nhaving attempted the robbery of any particular house or shop, and by\nmiscarrying caused such an alarm as to render a second attempt dangerous\nor impolitic, they will say, that place is spoil'd, it is useless to try\nit on any more.\n\nSPOKE TO: alluding to any person or place that has been already robbed,\nthey say, that place, or person, has been spoke to before. A family man\non discovering that he has been robbed, will exclaim, I have been spoke\nto, and perhaps will add, for such a thing, naming what he has lost.\nSpoke to upon the screw, crack, sneak, hoist, buz, etc. etc., means\nrobbed upon either of those particular suits or games. Upon any great\nmisfortune befalling a man, as being apprehended on a very serious\ncharge, receiving a wound supposed to be mortal, etc., his friends will\nsay, Poor fellow, I believe he's spoke to, meaning it is all over with\nhim.\n\nSPOONY: foolish, half-witted, nonsensical; a man who has been drinking\ntill he becomes disgusting by his very ridiculous behaviour, is said to\nbe spoony drunk; and, from hence it is usual to call a very prating\nshallow fellow, a rank spoon.\n\nSPOUT: to pledge any property at a pawnbroker's is termed spouting it, or\nshoving it up the spout.\n\nSPREAD: butter.\n\nSPRING THE PLANT. See PLANT.\n\nSQUARE: all fair, upright, and honest practices, are called the square,\nin opposition to the cross. Any thing you have bought, or acquired\nhonestly, is termed a square article,. and any transaction which is\nfairly and equitably conducted, is said to be a square concern. A\ntradesman or other person who is considered by the world to be an honest\nman, and who is unacquainted with family people, and their system of\noperations, is by the latter emphatically styled a square cove, whereas\nan old thief who has acquired an independence, and now confines himself\nto square practices, is still called by his old palls a flash cove, who\nhas tyed up prigging. See GROSS and FLAT. In making a bargain or\ncontract, any overture considered to be really fair and reasonable, is\ndeclared to be a square thing, or to be upon the square. To be upon the\nsquare with any person, is to have mutually settled all accompts between\nyou both up to that moment. To threaten another that you will be upon the\nsquare with him, some time, signifies that you'll be even with him for\nsome supposed injury, etc.\n\nSQUARE-COVE. See SQUARE.\n\nSQUARE-CRIB: a respectable house, of good repute, whose inmates, their\nmode of life and connexions, are all perfectly on the square. See\nCROSS-CRIB.\n\nSQUEEZE: the neck.\n\nSTAG: to turn stag was formerly synonymous with turning nose, or\nsnitching, but the phrase is now exploded.\n\nSTAG: to stag any object or person, is to look at, observe, or take\nnotice of them.\n\nSTAINES: a man who is in pecuniary distress is said to be at Staines, or\nat the Bush, alluding to the Bush inn at that town. See BUSH'D.\n\nSTAKE: a booty acquired by robbery, or a sum of money won at play, is\ncalled a stake, and if considerable, a prime stake, or a heavy stake. A\nperson alluding to any thing difficult to be procured, or which he\nobtains as a great favour, and is therefore comparatively invaluable,\nwould say, I consider it a stake to get it at all; a valuable or\nacceptable acquisition of any kind, is emphatically called a stake,\nmeaning a great prize.\n\nSTALL: a violent pressure in a crowd, made by pick-pockets for the more\neasily effecting their depredatory purposes; this is called making a rum\nstall in the push.\n\nSTALL OFF: a term variously applied; generally it means a pretence,\nexcuse, or prevarication-as a person charged 'with any fault, entering\ninto some plausible story, to excuse himself, his hearers or accusers\nwould say, O yes, that's a good stall off, or, Aye, aye, stall it off\nthat way if you can. To extricate a person from any dilemma, or save him\nfrom disgrace, is called stalling him off; as an accomplice of your's\nbeing detected in a robbery, etc., and about to be given up to justice,\nyou will step up as a stranger, interfere in his behalf, and either by\nvouching for his innocence, recommending lenity, or some other artifice,\npersuade his accusers to forego their intention, and let the prisoner\nescape; you will then boast of having stalled him off in prime twig. To\navoid or escape any impending evil or punishment by means of artifice,\nsubmission, bribe, or otherwise, is also called stalling it off. A man\nwalking the streets, and passing a particular shop, or encountering a\ncertain person, which or whom he has reasons for wishing to avoid, will\nsay to any friend who may be with him, I wish you'd stall me off from\nthat crib, (or from that cove, as the case may be) meaning, walk in such\na way as to cover or obscure me from notice, until we are past the shop\nor person in question.\n\nSTALL UP: To stall a person up, (a term used by pickpockets,) is to\nsurround him in a crowd, or violent pressure, and even sometimes in the\nopen street, while walking along, and by violence force his arms up, and\nkeep them in that position while others of the gang rifle his pockets at\npleasure, the cove being unable to help or defend himself; this is what\nthe newspapers denominate hustling, and is universally practised at the\ndoors of public theatres, at boxing matches, ship-launches, and other\nplaces where the general anxiety of all ranks, either to push forward, or\nto obtain a view of the scene before them, forms a pretext for jostling,\nand every other advantage which the strength or numbers of one party\ngives them over a weaker one, or a single person. It is not unusual for\nthe buz-coves, on particular occasions, to procure a formidable squad of\nstout fellows of the lower class, who, though not expert at knuckling,\nrender essential service by violently pushing and squeezing in the crowd,\nand, in the confusion excited by this conduct, the unconcerned prigs reap\na plentiful harvest, and the stallers up are gratified with such part of\nthe gains acquired, as the liberality of the knuckling gentlemen may\nprompt them to bestow. This coup de guerre is termed making a regular\nstall at such a place, naming the scene of their operations. See STALL.\n\nSTAMPS: shoes.\n\nSTAND THE PATTER. See PATTER'D.\n\nSTAR. The star is a game chiefly practised by young boys, often under ten\nyears of age, although the offence is capital. It consists of cutting a\npane of glass in a shop-window, by a peculiar operation I called starring\nthe glaze, which is performed very effectually by a common penknife; the\ndepredators then take out such articles of value as lie within reach of\ntheir arm, which if they are not interrupted, sometimes includes half the\ncontents of the window. A person convicted of this offence is said to\nhave been done for a star.\n\nSTART. See PITCHER.\n\nSTASH. To stash any practice, habit, or proceeding, signifies to put an\nend to, relinquish, or quash the same; thus, a thief determined to leave\noff his vicious courses will declare that he means to stash (or stow)\nprigging. A man in custody for felony, will endeavour, by offering money,\nor other means, to induce his prosecutor's forbearance, and compromise\nthe matter, so as to obtain his liberation; this is called stashing the\nbusiness. To stash drinking, card-playing, or any other employment you\nmay be engaged in, for the time present, signifies to stow it, knife it,\ncheese it, or cut it, which are all synonymous, that is, to desist or\nleave off. See WANTED.\n\nSTASH IT. See STOW IT, which has the same meaning.\n\nSTAUNCH: a resolute faithful associate, in whom one may place implicit\nconfidence, is said by his palls to be a staunch cover.\n\nSTEAMER: a tobacco-pipe.\n\nSTEVEN: money.\n\nSTICK: a pistol.\n\nSTICKS: household furniture.\n\nSTING: to rob or defraud a person or place is called stinging them, as,\nthat cove is too fly; he has been stung before; meaning that man is upon\nhis guard; he has already been trick'd.\n\nSTINK: When any robbery of moment has been committed, which causes much\nalarm, or of which much is said in the daily papers, the family people\nwill say, there is a great stink about it. See WANTED.\n\nSTONE-JUG; STONE-PITCHER: See PITCHER.\n\nSTOOP: the pillory is called the stoop; to be stoop'd, is to be set on\nthe pillory.\n\nSTOOPING-MATCH: the exhibition of one or more persons on the pillory. See\nPUSH.\n\nSTOW: to stow any business, employment, or mode of life, is the same as\nto stash it, etc. See STASH.\n\nSTOW, STOW IT; or STOW FAKING: an intimation from a thief to his pall, to\ndesist from what he is about, on the occasion of some alarm, etc. See\nAWAKE.\n\nSTOW, or STOW-MANGING: an intimation from one flash-cove to another in a\nmixed company to be silent, or drop the subject, he was upon. See MANG.\n\nSTOW THAT. When a person advances any assertion which his auditor\nbelieves to be false, or spoken in jest, or wishes the former to recant,\nthe latter will say, stow that, if you please, or, cheese that, meaning\ndon't say so, or that's out of the question.\n\nSTRETCH. Five or ten stretch, signifies five or ten yards, etc.; so in\ndealing for any article, as linen, etc., I will give you three hog a\nstretch, means, I'll give three shillings a yard. See HOG.\n\nSTRING. See LINE.\n\nSTRUMMEL: the hair of the head. To get your strummel faked in twig, is to\nhave your hair dressed in style.\n\nSTUBBS: nothing.\n\nSUIT: in general synonymous with game; as, what suit did you give it to\n'em upon? in what manner did you rob them, or upon what pretence, etc.,\ndid you defraud them? One species of imposition is said to be a prime\nsuit, another a queer suit: a man describing the pretext he used to\nobtain money from another, would say, I draw'd him if a quid upon the\nsuit if so and so, naming the ground of his application. See DRAW. A\nperson having engaged with another on very advantageous terms to serve or\nwork for him, will declare that he is upon a good suit. To use great\nsubmission and respect in asking any favour of another, is called giving\nit to him upon the humble suit.\n\nSWAG: a bundle, parcel, or package; as a swag of snow, etc. The swag, is\na term used in speaking of any booty you have lately obtained, be it of\nwhat kind it may, except money, as Where did you lumber the swag? that\nis, where did you deposit the stolen property? To carry the swag is to be\nthe bearer of the stolen goods to a place of safety. A swag of any thing,\nsignifies emphatically a great deal. To have knap'd a good swag, is to\nhave got a good booty.\n\nSWAG. Wearing-apparel, linen, piece-goods, etc., are all comprehended\nunder the name of swag, when describing any speak lately made, etc., in\norder to distinguish them from plate, jewellery, or other more portable\narticles.\n\nSWELL: a gentleman; but any well-dressed person is emphatically termed a\nswell, or a rank swell. A family man who appears to have plenty of money,\nand makes a genteel figure, is said by his associates to be in swell\nstreet. Any thing remarkable for its beauty or elegance, is called a\nswell article; so a swell crib, is a genteel house; a swell mollisher, an\nelegantly-dressed woman, etc. Sometimes, in alluding to a particular\ngentleman, whose name is not requisite, he is styled, the swell, meaning\nthe person who is the object of your discourse, or attention; and whether\nhe is called the swell, the cove, or the gory, is immaterial, as in the\nfollowing (in addition to many other) examples: I was turned up at\nChina-street, because the swell would not appear; meaning, of course, the\nprosecutor: again, speaking of a person whom you were on the point of\nrobbing, but who has taken the alarm, and is therefore on his guard, you\nwill say to your pall, It's of no use, the cove is as down as a hammer;\nor, We may as well stow it, the gory's leary. See COVE and DOWN.\n\nSWIMMER: a guard-ship, or tender; a thief who escapes prosecution, when\nbefore a magistrate, on condition of being sent on board the\nreceiving-ship, to serve His Majesty, is said by his palls to be\nswimmered.\n\nSWISH'D: married.\n\nSWODDY, or SWOD-GILL: a soldier.\n\nTANNER: a sixpence. Three and a tanner, is three and sixpence, etc.\n\nTAT: to flog or scourge.\n\nTATTS: dice.\n\nTATT-BOX: a dice-box.\n\nTATS AND ALL: an expression used out of flash, in the same manner as the\nword bender; and has a similar meaning.\n\nTEAZE: to flog, or whip.\n\nTHIMBLE: a watch.\n\nTHIMBLED: having, or wearing a watch.\n\nTHRUMS, THRUMBUSKINS, or a THRUM-MOP: three pence.\n\nTHROUGH IT, or THROUGH THE PIECE: getting acquitted on an indictment, or\nsurmounting any other trouble, or difficulty, is called getting through\nit, or thro' the piece; so, to get a man through it, etc., is to\nextricate him by virtue of your counsel and friendly assistance;\nsometimes called pulling him through it.\n\nTHROW OFF: to talk in a sarcastical strain, so as to convey offensive\nallusions under the mask of pleasantry, or innocent freedom; but,\nperhaps, secretly venting that abuse which you would not dare to give in\ndirect terms; this is called throwing off, a practice at which the flash\nladies are very expert, when any little jealousies arise among them. To\nbegin to talk flash, and speak freely of robberies past, or in\ncontemplation, when in company with family people, is also termed\nthrowing off; meaning to banish all reserve, none but friends being\npresent; also, to sing when called on by the company present. See CHAUNT.\n\nTILBURY: a sixpence.\n\nTINNY: a fire; a conflagration.\n\nTINNY-HUNTERS: persons whose practice it is to attend fires, for the\npurpose of plundering the unfortunate sufferers, under pretence of\nassisting them to remove their property.\n\nTIP: to give, pay, or bribe. To take the tip, is to receive a bribe in\nany shape; and they say of a person who is known to be corruptible, that\nhe will stand the tip. The tip is a term frequently used to signify the\nmoney concerned in any dealings or contract existing between parties;\nsynonymous with the dues. See DUES.\n\nTITTER: a young woman or girl.\n\nTOBY: to toby a man, is to rob him on the highway; a person convicted of\nthis offence, is said to be done for a toby. The toby applies exclusively\nto robbing on horseback; the practice of footpad robbery being properly\ncalled the spice, though it is common to distinguish the former by the\ntitle of high-toby, and the latter of low-toby.\n\nTOBY-GILL, or TOBY-MAN: properly signifies a highwayman.\n\nTODDLE: to walk slowly, either from infirmity or choice. Come, let us\ntoddle, is a familiar phrase, signifying, let us be going.\n\nTODDLER: an infirm elderly person, or a child not yet perfect in walking.\n\nTOG: a coat; to tog, is to dress or put on clothes; to tog a person, is\nalso to supply them with apparel, and they are said to be well or queerly\ntog'd, according to their appearance.\n\nTOG'D OUT TO THE NINES: a fanciful phrase, meaning simply, that a person\nis well or gaily dressed.\n\nTOGS, or TOGGERY: wearing-apparel in general.\n\nTOM BRAY'S BILK: laying out ace and deuce at cribbage.\n\nTOM BROWN: twelve in hand, or crib.\n\nTOOLS: implements for house-breaking, picklocks, pistols, etc., are\nindiscriminately called the tools. A thief, convicted on the police act,\nof having illegal instruments or weapons about him, is said to be fined\nfor the tools.\n\nTOP: to top a clout or other article (among pickpockets) is to draw the\ncorner or end of it to the top of a person's pocket, in readiness for\nshaking or drawing, that is, taking out, when a favourable moment occurs,\nwhich latter operation is frequently done by a second person.\n\nTOP'D: hanged.\n\nTO THE NINES; or, TO THE RUFFIAN. These terms are synonymous, and imply\nan extreme of any kind, or the superlative degree.\n\nTOUT: to tout a person, is to watch his motions; to keep tout, is to look\nout, or watch, while your pall is effecting any private purpose. A strong\ntout, is a strict observation, or eye, upon any proceedings, or person.\n\nTOW; or, TOWLINE. See LINE. To tow a person out; that is, from his\npremises, or post: is to decoy him therefrom by some fictitious story, or\nother artifice, while your pall seizes the opportunity of his absence, to\nrob the place he has imprudently quitted.\n\nTRAPS: police officers, or runners, are properly so called; but it is\ncommon to include constables of any description under this title.\n\nTRICK. See DO THE TRICK.\n\nTRIG: a bit of stick, paper, etc., placed by thieves in the keyhole of,\nor elsewhere about, the door of a house, which they suspect to be\nuninhabited; if the trig remains unmoved the following day, it is a proof\nthat no person sleeps in the house, on which the gang enter it the\nensuing night upon the screw, and frequently meet with a good booty, such\nas beds, carpets, etc., the family being probably out of town. This\noperation is called trigging the jigger.\n\nTRY IT ON: to make all attempt, or essay, where success is doubtful. So\nto try it on with a woman, signifies to attempt her chastity.\n\nTURN UP: to desist from, or relinquish, any particular habit or mode of\nlife, or the further pursuit of any object you had in view, is called\nturning it up. To turn up a mistress, or a male acquaintance, is to drop\nall intercourse, or correspondence, with them. To turn up a particular\nhouse, or shop, you have been accustomed to use, or deal at, signifies to\nwithdraw your patronage, or custom, and visit it no more. To quit a\nperson suddenly in the street, whether secretly or openly, is called\nturning him up. To turn a man up sweet, is to get rid of him effectually,\nbut yet to leave him in perfect good humour, and free from any suspicion\nor discontent; this piece of finesse often affords a field for the\nexercise of consummate address, as in the case of turning up a flat,\nafter having stript him of all his money at play, or a shopkeeper, whom\nyou have just robbed before his face of something valuable, upon the\npinch, or the hoist.\n\nTURNED UP: a person acquitted by a jury, or discharged by a magistrate\nfor want of evidence, etc., is said to be turned up. See SWELL.\n\nTURNIPS: to give any body turnips signifies to turn him or her up, and\nthe party so turned up, is said to have knap'd turnips.\n\nTURN UP A TRUMP: to be fortunate in getting a good stake, or by any other\nmeans improving your finances.\n\nTWIG: any thing accomplished cleverly, or as it should be, is said to be\ndone in twig, in good twig, or in prime twig. A person well dress'd is\nsaid to be in twig. See DROP, GAMMON THE TWELVE, and OUT OF TWIG.\n\nTWISTED: hanged.\n\nTWO POLL ONE. See BRIDGE.\n\nTYE IT UP: to tye up any particular custom, practice, or habit, is\nsynonymous with knifeing, stowing, turning it up, or stashing it. To 0'e\nit up is a phrase, which, used emphatically, is generally understood to\nmean a course of depredation and wickedness. See SQUARE, and DO THE\nTRICK.\n\nUNBETTY: to unlock. See BETTY.\n\nUNDUB: to unlock, unfasten, etc. See DUB UP.\n\nUNPALLED: a thief whose associates are all apprehended, or taken from him\nby other means, is said to be unpalled, and he is then obliged to work\nsingle-handed.\n\nUNSLOUR: to unlock, unfasten, or unbutton. See SLOUR. Speaking of a\nperson whose coat is buttoned, so as to obstruct the access to his\npockets, the knucks will say to each other, the cove is dour'd up, we\nmust unslour him to get at his kickseys.\n\nUNTHIMBLE: to unthimble a man, is to rob, or otherwise deprive him of his\nwatch.\n\nUNTHIMBLED: having been divested of one's watch.\n\nUP IN THE STIRRUPS: a man who is in swell street, that is, having plenty\nof money, is said to be up in the stirrups.\n\nUPON THE CROSS. See Cross.\n\nUPON THE SQUARE. See SQUARE.\n\nUPON THE SUIT, etc. See SUIT.\n\nUPPER-BEN, UPPER-BENJAMIN, UPPER-TOG, a great-coat.\n\nVARDO: a waggon.\n\nVARDO-GILL: a waggoner.\n\nWACK: to share or divide any thing equally, as wack the blunt, divide the\nmoney, etc.\n\nWACK: a share or equal proportion, as give me my wack, that is, my due\npart.\n\nWALKER: an ironical expression, synonymous with bender, and used in the\nsame manner.\n\nWALKING-DISTILLER. See CARRY THE KEG.\n\nWANTED: when any of the traps or runners have a private information\nagainst a family person, and are using means to apprehend the party, they\nsay, such a one is wanted; and it becomes the latter, on receiving such\nintimation to keep out if the way, until the stink is over, or until he\nor she can find means to stash the business through the medium of Mr.\nPalmer, or by some other means.\n\nWATER-SNEAK: robbing ships or vessels on a navigable river, or canal, by\ngetting on board unperceived, generally in the night. The water-sneak, is\nlately made a capital offence.\n\nWEAR IT: to wear it upon a person, (meaning to wear a nose, or a conk,)\nis synonymous with nosing, conking, splitting, or coming it, and is\nmerely one of those fanciful variations so much admired by flash people.\n\nWEAR THE BANDS. See BANDS.\n\nWEDGE: silver; as a wedge-feeder, a silver spoon, etc.; but silver coin,\nas well as silver plate, are both comprehended under the name of wedge.\nSee RIDGE and SPEAK TO.\n\nWEED: tobacco.\n\nWEED: to pilfer or purloin a small portion from a large quantity of any\nthing; often done by young or timid depredators, in the hope of escaping\ndetection, as, an apprentice or shopman will weed his master's lob, that\nis, take small sums out of the till when opportunity offers, which sort\nof peculation may be carried on with impunity for a length of time; but\nexperienced thieves sometimes think it good Judgment to weed a place, in\norder that it may be good again, perhaps for a considerable length of\ntime, as in the instance of a warehouse or other depot for goods, to\nwhich they may possess the means of access by means of a false key; in\nthis ease, by taking too great a swag, at first, the proprietors would\ndiscover the deficiency, and take measures to prevent future depredation.\nTo weed the swag is to embezzle part of the booty, unknown to your palls,\nbefore a division takes place, a temptation against which very few of tm\nfamily are proof, if they can find an opportunity. A flash-cove, on\ndiscovering a deficiency in his purse or property, which he cannot\naccount for, will declare that he, (or it, naming the article,) has been\nweeded to the ruffian.\n\nWEEDING DUES: speaking of any person, place, or property, that has been\nweeded, it is said weeding dues have been concerned. See DUES.\n\nWEIGH FORTY: term used by the police, who are as well versed in flash as\nthe thieves themselves. It is often customary with the traps, to wink at\ndepredations of a petty nature, and for which no reward would attach, and\nto let a thief reign unmolested till he commits a capital crime. They\nthen grab him, and, on conviction, share (in many cases) a reward of\n40l., or upwards; therefore these gentry will say, Let him alone at\npresent, we don't want him till he weighs his weight, meaning, of course,\nforty pounds.\n\nWELL: to well your accomplice, or put him in the well, is explained under\nthe word GARDEN, which see.\n\nWHIDDLE: to speak of, or mention any thing, as, Don't you whiddle about\nso and so, that is, don't mention it.\n\nWHIDDLER: a talkative or tell-tale person, who is not fit to be trusted\nwith a secret.\n\nWHIDS: words. See CRACK A WHID.\n\nWHISTLERS. See BROWNS AND WHISTLERS.\n\nWIN, or WINCHESTER: a penny.\n\nWIND: a man transported for his natural life, is said to be lag'd for his\nwind, or to have knap'd a winder, or a bellowser, according to the humour\nof the speaker.\n\nWOOLLY-BIRDS: sheep.\n\nWORK. To work upon any particular game, is to practise generally, that\nspecies of fraud or depredation, as, He works upon the crack, he follows\nhousebreaking, etc. An offender having been detected in the very fact,\nparticularly in cases of coining, colouring base-metal, etc., is\nemphatically said to have been grab'd at work, meaning to imply, that the\nproof against him being so plain, he has no ground of defence to set up.\n\nWRINKLE: to lie, or utter a falsehood.\n\nWRINKLE: an untruth.\n\nWRINKLER: a person prone to lying; such a character is called also a\ngully, which is probably an abbreviation of Gulliver, and from hence, to\ngully signifies to lie, or deal in the marvellous.\n\nYACK: a watch (obsolete.)\n\nYARN: yarning or spinning a yarn is a favourite amusement among\nflash-people; signifying to relate their various adventures, exploits,\nand escapes to each other. This is most common and gratifying, among\npersons in confinement or exile, to enliven a dull hour, and probably\nexcite a secret hope of one day enjoying a repetition of their former\npleasures. See BONED. A person expert at telling these stories, is said\nto spin a fine yarn. A man using a great deal of rhetoric, and exerting\nall his art to talk another person out of any thing he is intent upon,\nthe latter will answer, Aye, Aye, you can spin a good yarn, but it won't\ndo; meaning, all your eloquence will not have the desired effect.\n\nYELLOW: jealous; a jealous husband is called a yellow gloak.\n\nYOKUFF: a chest, or large box.\n\nYORK: To stare or look at any person in an impertinent manner, is termed\nyorking; to york any thing, in a common sense, is to view, look at, or\nexamine it.\n\nYORK: a look, or observation; a flash-cove observing another person (a\nflat) who appears to notice or scrutinize him, his proceedings, or the\ncompany he is with, will say to his palls, That cove is yorking as strong\nas a horse, or, There is York-street concerned.\n\nYOUKELL: a countryman, or clown.\n\nYOURNABS: yourself; an emphatical term used in speaking to another person.\n\n\n\nFINIS.\n<\/pre>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"” Convicts have their own jargon,also called flash language, which they use tocommunicate with each other. They use this special vocabulary to prevent outsiders from listening but also to express some sort of solidarity among them. And because Australia used to be a penal colony, it is not surprising that the flash language was a … <\/p>\n
Continue reading “Flash Language”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[17,3],"tags":[134,25,293],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paET2V-fs","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":731,"url":"https:\/\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/index.php\/2018\/10\/24\/superhero-2044-formalhautians-without-number\/","url_meta":{"origin":958,"position":0},"title":"Superhero 2044 – Formalhautians Without Number","author":"richard","date":"October 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Superhero 2044 - A Retrospective See links at the bottom of the above for more Superhero 2044 info (including one I wrote a while ago). and also :- Thoul's Paradise Interview With Donald Saxman Super Rules for Superhero 2044 - Thoul's Paradise Rules Enhancements for Superhero 2044 - Donald Saxman\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "RPG"","block_context":{"text":"RPG","link":"https:\/\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/index.php\/category\/rpg\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":942,"url":"https:\/\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/index.php\/2019\/01\/26\/the-age-of-macquarie\/","url_meta":{"origin":958,"position":1},"title":"The Age of Macquarie","author":"richard","date":"January 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A view of part of Parramatta Port Jackson,\u00a0J.W. Lewin, 1809. Courtesy State Library of New South Wales http:\/\/www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au\/exhibition\/objectsthroughtime-history\/1790-1830\/index.html\" Around this time Matthew Flinders was exploring the coastline of New South Wales and New Holland. In 1802 \u2013 1803 Finders circumnavigated the continent and was the first person to use the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/index.php\/category\/fantasy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":960,"url":"https:\/\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/index.php\/2019\/01\/28\/currency-lads-lasses\/","url_meta":{"origin":958,"position":2},"title":"Currency Lads & Lasses","author":"richard","date":"January 28, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Currency_lads_and_lasses Currency lads and lasses (collectively known as currency or the currency) were the first generations of native-born white Australians. They were the children of the British settlers, including convicts, who arrived in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, beginning with the First Fleet in 1788.[1] In the early\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/index.php\/category\/fantasy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":940,"url":"https:\/\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/index.php\/2019\/01\/26\/historical-population-of-australia\/","url_meta":{"origin":958,"position":3},"title":"Historical Colonial Population of Australia","author":"richard","date":"January 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"http:\/\/chartsbin.com\/view\/eooIn 1820, around 36,000 immigrants in New South Wales.So, a small population of possible Player Characters with those numbers.","rel":"","context":"In "Data Science"","block_context":{"text":"Data Science","link":"https:\/\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/index.php\/category\/data-science\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":934,"url":"https:\/\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/index.php\/2019\/01\/26\/first-public-railroads-in-australia\/","url_meta":{"origin":958,"position":4},"title":"First Public Railroads in Australia","author":"richard","date":"January 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Track laying \" New South Wales: In 1849, the Sydney Railway Company started building the first railway track in New South Wales between Sydney and Parramatta\u2014a distance of 22 km. The project ran into financial difficulty and was taken over by the New South Wales colonial government. The line opened\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "RPG"","block_context":{"text":"RPG","link":"https:\/\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/index.php\/category\/rpg\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1596,"url":"https:\/\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/index.php\/2023\/01\/05\/dungeon23-005-ruby-base-level-01-key-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":958,"position":5},"title":"Dungeon23 \u2013 006 Ruby Base Level 01 Key 2","author":"richard","date":"January 5, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Dr Ruby Lava Armor slightly used from Freedom Force encounter Dr Ruby's lava armor -much better condition than her brother's Standing against a wall are what appear to be suits of some sort of possibly metallic armour. Each is slightly different, with one looking much more used and if close\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "RPG"","block_context":{"text":"RPG","link":"https:\/\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/index.php\/category\/rpg\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Ruby-Base-Level-01_Key4_illustration1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=958"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":959,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958\/revisions\/959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicheroes.space\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}