а

LABLE.

BL A BLACK Fly. The greatest drawback on the farmer is the

black fly, i. e. the parson who takes tithe of the harvest. BLACK GUARD. A shabby, mean fellow; a term said to be

derived from a number of dirty, tattered roguish boys,who attended at the Horse Guards, and Parade in St. James's Park, to black the boots and shoes of the soldiers, or to do any other dirty offices. These, from their constant attendance about the time of guard mounting, were nick-named

the black-guards. BLACK JACK. A nick name given to the Recorder by the

. Thieves. BLACK JACK. A jug to drink out of, made of jacked lea

ther. BLACK JOKE. A popular tune to a song, having for the

burden,“ Her black joke and belly so white:” figuratively

the black joke signifies the monosyllable. See MONOSY LBLACK INDIES. Newcastle upon Tyne, whose rich coal

mines prove an Indies to the proprietors. BLACKLEGS. A gambler or sharper on the turf or in the cock

pit: so called, perhaps, from their appearing generally in

boots; or else from game-cocks whose legs are always black. Black Monday. The first Monday after the school-boys

MONDAY holidays, or breaking up, when they are to go to school,

and produce or repeat the tasks set them. BLACK PSALM. Tosing the black psalm; to cry: a saying

used to children. BLACK SPICE RACKET. To rob chimney sweepers of

their soot, bag and soot. BLACK SPY. "The Devil. BLACK STRAP. Bene Carlo wine; also port. A task of

labour imposed on soldiers at Gibraltar, as a punishment

for small offences. BLANK. To look blank; to appear disappointed or con

founded. BLANKET HORNPIPE.

The amorous congress. BLARNEY. He has licked the blarney stone; he deals in the

wonderful, or tips us the traveller. The blarney stoneis a triangular stone on the very top of an ancient castle of that name in the county of Cork in Ireland, extremely difficult of access; so that to have ascended to it, was considered as a proof of perseverance, courage, and agility, whereof many are supposed to claim the honour, who never atchieved the adventure: and to tip the blarney, is figuratively used telling a marvellous story, or falsity; and also

sometimes to express flattery. Irish. A BLASTED FELLOW or BRIMSTONE. An abandoned rogue or prostitute. Cant.

TO BLAST,

BLO To Blast. To curse. BLATER. A calf. Cant. BLEACHED MORT. A fair-complexioned wench. BLEATERS. Those cheated by Jack in a box. Cant. See

JACK 'IN A Box. BLEATING CHEAT. A sheep. Cant. BLEATING RIG. Sheep stealing Cant. BLEEDERS. Spurs. He clapped his bleeders to his prad;

he put spurs to his horse. BLEEDING CULLY. One who parts easily with his money,

or bleeds freely. BLEEDING NEW.

A metaphor borrowed from fish, which will not bleed when stale. BLESSING. A small quantity over and above the measure,

usually given by hucksters dealing in peas, beans, and

other vegetables. BLIND. A feint, pretence, or shift. BLIND CHEEKS. The breech. · Buss blind cheeks; kiss

mine a-se. BLIND Excuse. A poor or insufficient excuse. A blind ale

house, lane, or alley; an obscure, or little known or fre

quentedale-house, lane, or alley. Blind HARPERS. Beggars counterfeiting blindness, playing

on fiddles, &c. BLINDMAN'S BUFF. A play used by children, where one

being blinded by a handkerchief bound over his eyes, attempts to seize any one of the company, who all endeavour to avoid him; the person caught must be blinded in

his stead. BLIND CUPID. The backside. BLINDMAN'S HOLIDAY. Night, darkness, BLOCK HOUSES. Prisons, houses of correction, &c. BLOCKED AT BOTII ENDS. Finished. Thegame is blocked

at both ends; the game is ended. Blood. A riotous disorderly fellow. BLOOD for BLOOD. A term used by tradesmen for barter

ing the different commoditiesin which they deal. Thus a hatter furnishing a hosier with a hat, and taking payment

in stockings, is said to deal blood for blood. BLOOD Money. The reward given by the legislature on the

conviction of highwaymen, burglars, &c. BLOODY Back. A jeering appellation for a soldier, allud

ing to his scarlet coat. BLOODY. A favourite word used by the thieves in swearing,

as bloody eyes, bloody rascal. Bloss or Blowen. The pretended wife of a bully, or shoplifter. Cant. с

To Blot,

.

BL U
To BLOT THE SKRIP AND JAR IT.

To stand engaged or bound for any one.

Cant. Blow. He has bit the blow, i. e. he has stolen the goods,

Cant. BLOWEN. A mistress or whore of a gentleman of the

scamp. The blowen kidded the swell into a snoozing ken, and shook him of his dummee and thimble; the girl inveigled the gentleman into a brothel and robbed him

of his pocket book and watch. Blower. A pipe. How the swell funks his blower and

lushes red tape; what a smoke the gentleman makes

with his pipe, and drinks brandy. To BLOW THE GROUNSILS. To lie with a woman on the

floor. Cant. To BLOW THE GAB. To confess, or impeach a confe

derate. Cant. BLOW-UP. A discovery, or the confusion occasioned by one, A BLOWSE, or BLOWSABELLA. A woman whose hair is

dishevelled, and hanging about her face; a slattern. BLUBBER, The mouth.-I have stopped the cull's blubber;

I have stopped the fellow's mouth,meant either by gagging

or murdering him. To BLUBBER, To cry. To sporT BLUBBER. Said of a large coarse woman, who

exposes her bosom, BLUBBER CHEEKS. Large flaccid cheeks, hanging like

the fat or blubber of a whale. BLUE, To look blue; to be confounded, terrified, or disap

pointed. Blue as a razor; perhaps, blue as azure, Blue BOAR, A venereal bubo. Blue Devils, Low spirits. BLUE FLAG. He has hoisted the blue flag; he has com

menced publican, or taken a public house, an allusion to

the blue aprons worn by publicans. See ADMIRAL OF BLUE PIGEONS. Thieves who steal lead off houses and

churches. Cant. To fly a blue pigeon; to steal lead

off houses or churches. BLUE PŁUMB. A bullet.-Surfeited with a blue plumb;

wounded with a bullet. A sortment of George R-'s blue plumbs; a volley of ball, shot from soldiers' fire

locks, BLUE SKIN, A person begotten on a black woman by a

white man. One of the blue squadron; any one having a cross of the black breed, or, as it is termed, a lick of the tar brush.

BLUE

THE BLUE.

a

a

BOL
Blue TAPE, or SKY BLUE. Gin.
Blue Ruin. Gin. Blue ribband; gin. .
BLUFF, Fierce, surly. He looked as bluff as bull beef.

. BLUFFER. An inn-keeper. Cant. BLUNDERBUSS. A short gun, with a wide bore, for car

rying slugs; also a stupid, blundering fellow. BLUNT. Money. Cant. To BLUSTER. To talk big, to hector or bully. BOARDING SCHOOL. Bridewell, Newgate, or any other

prison, or house of correction. BOB. A shoplifter's assistant, or one that receives and car

ries off stolen goods. All is bob; all is safe. Cant. Вов. A shilling BOBBED. Cheated, tricked, disappointed. BOBBISI. Smart, clever, spruce. BOB STAY. A rope which holds the bowsprit to the stem or

cutwater. Figuratively, the frenum of a man's yard. BOBTAIL. A lewd woman, or one that plays with her tail;

also an impotent man, or an eunuch. Tag, rag, and bob • tail; a mob of all sorts of low people, To shift one's bob; to move off, or go away. To bear a bob; to join in chorus with any singers. Also a term used by the sellers of game,

for a partridge. Body SNATCHERS. Bum bailiffs. BODY OF DIVINITY BOUND IN BLACK CALF. A parson. BoG LANDER. An Irishman; Ireland being famous for its

large bogs, which furnish the chief fuel in many parts

of that kingdom. BOG TROTTER. The same. Bog House. The necessary house. To go to bog; to go to

stool. BOG LATIN. Barbarous Latin. Irish. See Dog LATIN,

and APOTHECARIES LATIN. Bogy. Ask bogy, i. e. ask mine a-se. Sea wit. Bon. Said to be the name of a Danish general, who so ter

rified his opponent Foh, that he caused him to bewray himself. Whence, when we smell a stink, it is custoto exclaim, Foh! i.e. I smell general Foh. He cannot say Boh to a goose ; i. e. he is a cowardly or sheepish fellow. There is a story related of the celebrated Ben Jonson, who always dressed very plain; that being introduced to the presence of a nobleman, the peer, struck by his homely appearance and awkward manner,exclaimed,as if in doubt,

you Ben Johnson! why you look as if you could not say Boh to a goose!” “ Boh?" replied the wit.

! Bold. Bold as a miller's shirt, which every day takes a rogue by the collar. C2

BOLT.

BOR Bolt. A blunt arrow. Bolt UPRIGHT. As erect, or straight up, as an arrow

set on its end. To Bolt. To run suddenly out of one's house, or hiding

place, through fear; a term borrowed from a rabbitwarren, where the rabbits are made to bolt, by sending ferrets into their burrows: we set the house on fire, and made him bolt. To bolt, also means to swallow meat without chewing: the farmer's servants in Kent are fa

mous for bolting large quantities of pickled pork. Bones. Dice, BONES Bone Box. The mouth. Shut your bone box; shut your

mouth. Bone PICKER. A footman. BONED. Seized, apprehended, taken up by a constable. Cant. Bolus. A nick name for an apothecary. BONE SETTER. A hard-trotting horse. Booby, or Dog Booby. An awkward lout, clodhopper, or

country fellow. See CLODHOPPER and Lout. A bitch

booby; a country wench. Booby Hutch. A one-horse chaise, noddy, buggy, or

leathern bottle. Books. Cards to play with. To plant the books; to place

the cards in the pack in an unfair manner. BOOK-KEEPER. One who never returns borrowed books. Out of one's books; out of one's favor, Out of his books ;

out of debt. Boot CATCHER. The servant at an inn whose business

it is to clean the boots of the guest. Boots. The youngest officer in a regimental mess, whose

a duty it is to skink, that is, to stir the fire, snuff' the canales, and ring the bell. See SKINK.---To ride in any one's old

boots; to marry or keep his cast-off mistress. Booty. To play booty; cheating play, where the player

purposely avoids winning. BO-PEEP. One who sometimes hides himself, and some

times appears publicly abroad, is said to play at bo-peep.

Also one who lies perdue, or on the watch. BORACH10. A skin for holding wine, commonly a goat's;

also a nick name for a drunkard. BORDE. A shilling. A half borde; a sixpence, BORDELLO. A bawdy house. BORE. A tedious, troublesome man or woman, one who

bores the ears of his hearers with an uninteresting tale;

a term much in fashion about the years 1780 and 17816 BORN UNDER A THREEPENNY HALFPENNY PLANET,

a