pig at home; a mark of being master of his own house: an allusion to a well known poem and story. Brandy is Latin for pig and goose; an apology for drinking a dram after either. PIG-HEADED. Obstinate. PIG RUNNING. A piece of game frequently practised at fairs, wakes, &c. A large pig, whose tail is cut short, and both soaped and greased, being turned out, is hunted by the young men and boys,and becomes the property of him who can catch and hold him by the tail, above the height of his head. PIGEON. A weak silly fellow easily imposed on. To pigeon; to cheat. To milk the pigeon; to attempt impossibilities, to be put to shifts for want of money. To fly a blue pigeon; to steal lead off a church. PIGEONS. Sharpers, who, during the drawing of the lottery, wait ready mounted near Guildhall, and, as soon as the first two or three numbers are drawn, which they receive from a confederate on a card, ride with them full' speed to some distant insurance office, before fixed on, where there is another of the gang, commonly a decent looking woman, who takes care to be at the office before the hour of drawing: to her he secretly gives the number, which she insures for a considerable sum: thus biting the biter. PIGEON'S MILK. Boys and novices are frequently sent on the first of April to buy pigeons milk. To PIKE. To run away. Pike off; run away. PILGRIM'S SALVE. A sirreverence, human excrement. PILL, OF PEELE GARLICK. Said originally to mean one whose skin or hair had fallen off from some disease, chiefly the venereal one; but now commonly used by persons speaking of themselves: as, there stood poor pill garlick : i. e. there stood I. PILLALOO. The Irish cry or howl at funerals. PIMP. A male procurer, or cock bawd; also a small faggot used about London for lighting fires, named from introducing the fire to the coals. PIMP WHISKAN, A top trader in pimping. PIN. In or to a merry pin; almost drunk: an allusion to a sort of tankard, formerly used in the north, having silver pegs or pins set at equal distances from the top to the bottom: by the rules of good fellowship, every person drinking out of one of these tankards, was to swallow the quantity contained between two pins; if he drank more more or less, he was to continue drinking till he ended at a pin by this means persons unaccustomed to measure their draughts were obliged to drink the whole tankard. Hence when a person was a little elevated with liquor, he was said to have drunk to a merry pin. PIN BASKET. The youngest child. PIN MONEY. An allowance settled on a married woman for her pocket expences. PINCH. At a pinch; on an exigency, PINCH. To go into a tradesman's shop under the pretence of purchasing rings or other light articles, and while examining them to shift some up the sleeve of the coat, Also to ask for change for a guinea, and when the silver is received, to change some of the good shillings for bad ones; then suddenly pretending to recollect that you had sufficient silver to pay the bill, ask for the guinea again, and return the change, by which means several bad shillings are passed. To PINCH ON THE PARSON'S SIDE. To defraud the parson of his tithe. PINCHERS. Rogues who, in changing money, by dexterity of hand frequently secrete two or three shillings out of the change of a guinea. This species of roguery is called the pinch, or pinching lay. To PINK. To stab or wound with a small sword: probably derived from the holes formerly cut in both men and women's clothes, called pinking. Pink of the fashion; the top of the mode. To pink and wink; frequently winking the eyes through a weakness in them. PINKING-DINDEE. A Sweater or mohawk. PINS. Legs. Queer pins; ill shapen legs. PIPER. A broken winded horse. Irish. PISCINARIANS. A club or brotherhood, A.D. 1743. He who once a good name gets, May piss a bed, and say he sweats. PISS-BURNED. Discoloured commonly applied to a discoloured grey wig. PISS MAKER. A great drinker, one much given to liquor.. PISS POT HALL. A house at Clapton, near Hackney, built by a potter chiefly out of the profits of chamber pots, in the bottom of which the portraitof Dr.Sacheverel was depicted. PISS PROPHET. A physician who judges of the diseases of his patients solely by the inspection of their urine. Pisse : PISS-PROUD. Having a false erection. That old fellow thought he had an erection, but his was only pissproud; said of any old fellow who marries a young wife. PISSING DOWN ANY ONE'S BACK. Flattering him. PISSING PINS AND NEEDLES. To have a gonorrhea. PIT. A watch fob. He drew a rare thimble from the swell's pit. He took a handsome watch from the gentleman's fob. PIT. To lay pit and boxes into one; an operation in midwifery or copulation, whereby the division between the anus and vagina is cut through, broken, and demolished : a simile borrowed from the playhouse, when, for the benefit of some favourite player, the pit and boxes are laid together. The pit is also the hole under the gallows, where poor rogues unable to pay the fees are buried. PITT'S PICTURE. A window stopt up on the inside, to save the tax imposed in that gentleman's administration. Farty wit. PIT-A-PAT. The palpitation of the heart: as, my heart went pit-a-pat. Pintledy-pantledy; the same. PITCH-KETTLED. Stuck fast, confounded. PITCHER. The miraculous pitcher, that holds water with the mouth downwards: a woman's commodity. She has crack'd her pitcher or pipkin; she has lost her maidenhead. PIZZY CLUB. A society held, A. D. 1744, at the sign of the Tower, on Tower Hill: president, Don Pizzaro. PLAISTER OF WARM GUTS. One warm belly clapped to another; a receipt frequently prescribed for different disorders. PLANT. The place in the house of the fence, where stolen goods are secreted. Any place where stolen goods are concealed. TO PLANT. To lay, place, or hide. Plant your wids and stow them; be careful what you say, or let slip. Also to bury, as, he was planted by the parson. PLATE. Money, silver, prize. He is in for the plate; he has won the heat, i. e. is infected with the venereal disorder: a simile drawn from horse-racing. When the plate fleet comes in; when money comes to hand. PLATTER-FACED. Broad-faced. PLAY. To play booty; to play with an intention to lose. To play the whole game; to cheat. To play least in sight; to hide, or keep out of the way. To play the devil; to be guilty of some great irregularity or mismanagement. PLUCK. Courage. He wants pluck: he is a coward. Against the pluck; against the inclination. Pluck the ribbon; ribbon; ring the bell. To pluck a crow with one; to settle a dispute, to reprove one for some past transgression, To pluck a rose; an expression said to be used by women for going to the necessary house, which in the country usually stands in the garden. To pluck also signifies to deny a degree to a candidate at one of the universities, on account of insufficiency. The three first books of Euclid, and as far as Quadratic Equations in Algebra, will save a man. from being plucked. These unfortunate fellows are designated by many opprobrious appellations,such as the twelve apostles, the legion of honor, wise men of the East, &c. PLUG TAIL. A man's penis. PLUMB. An hundred thousand pounds. PLUMMY. It is all plummy; i. e. all is right, or as it ought to be. PLUMP. Fat, full, fleshy. Plump in the pocket; full in the pocket. To plump; to strike, or shoot. I'll give you a plump in the bread basket, or the victualling office: I'll give you a blow in the stomach. Plump his peepers, or day-lights; give him a blow in the eyes. He pulled out his pops and plumped him; he drew out his pistols and shot him. A plumper; a single vote at an election. Plump also means directly, or exactly: as, it fell plump upon him it fell directly upon him. : PLUMP CURRANT. I am not plump currant; I am out of sorts. PLUMPERS. Contrivances said to be formerly worn by old maids, for filling out a pair of shrivelled cheeks. PLYER. A crutch; also a trader. POGY. Drunk. POINT. To stretch a point; to exceed some usual limit, to take a great stride. Breeches were usually tied up with points, a kind of short laces, formerly given away by the churchwardens at Whitsuntide, under the denomination of tags by taking a great stride these were stretched. PoisoNED. Big with child: that wench is poisoned, see how her belly is swelled. Poison-pated: red-haired. POKE. A blow with the fist: I'il lend you a poke. A poke likewise means a sack: whence, to buy a pig in a poke, i. e. to buy any thing without seeing or properly examining it. POKER. A sword. Fore pokers; aces and kings at cards. POLISH. To polish the king's iron with one's eyebrows; to be be in gaol, and look through the iron grated windows. To polish a bone; to eat a meal. Come and polish a bone with me; come and eat a dinner or supper with me. POLL. The head, jolly nob, napper, or knowledge box; also a wig. POLT. A blow. Lend him a polt in the muns; give him a knock in the face. TO POMMEL. To beat: originally confined to beating with the hilt of a sword, the knob being, from its similarity to a small apple, called pomelle; in Spanish it is still called the apple of the sword. As the clenched fist likewise somewhat resembles an apple, perhaps that might occasion the term pommelling to be applied to fisty-cuffs. POMP. To save one's pomp at whist, is to score five before the adversaries are up, or win the game: originally derived from pimp, which is Welsh for five; and should be, I have saved my pimp. POMPAGINIS. Aqua pompaginis; pump water. See A man or woman of Boston in America: from the number of pompkins raised and eaten by the people of that country. Pompkinshire; Boston and its dependencies. PONEY. Money. Post the poney; lay down the money. PONTIUS PILATE. A pawnbroker. Pontius Pilate's guards, the first regiment of foot, or Royal Scots: so intitled from their supposed great antiquity. Pontius Pilate's counsellor; one who like him can say, Non invenio causam, I can find nq cause. Also (Cambridge) a Mr. Shepherd of Trinity College; who disputing with a brother parson on the comparative rapidity with which they read the liturgy, offered to give him as far as Pontius Pilate in the Belief. POPE. A figure burned annually every fifth of November, in memory of the gunpowder plot, which is said to have been carried on by the papists. POPE'S NOSE. The rump of a turkey. POPS. Pistols. Pop shop: a pawnbroker's shop. To pop; to pawn: also to shoot. I popped my tatler; I pawned my watch. I popt the cull; I shot the man. His means are two pops and a galloper; that is, he is a highwayman. POPLERS. Pottage. Cant. PORK. To cry pork; to give intelligence to the undertaker of a funeral; metaphor borrowed from the raven, whose note sounds like the word pork. Ravens are said to smell carrion at a distance. PORKER. A hog: also a Jew, POR |
