back out
To reverse (a vehicle) from a confined space.
English · UK & Ireland 1634
All languages English Tiếng Việt
Where will you be? Anywhere UK & IrelandUnited StatesOnline slangBusiness jargon
Expressions you’ll hear in Britain and Ireland — distinctly British usage first, then widespread staples.
barber's clerk
An overdressed shopboy who affects the airs and graces of a gentleman.
bawdy-house bottle
A very small bottle.
bay fever
Any illness feigned by convicts to avoid being sent to Botany Bay.
bayard of ten toes
The feet, as a means of travelling.
beat around the bush
To avoid saying something directly; to approach a topic indirectly.
bellows to mend
out of breath
big house
Prison, jail.
billingsgate pheasant
A red herring or bloater.
birds of a feather
People with similar interests.
Black Maria
A police van for transporting prisoners.
black sheep
Shameful person.
blood-red fancy
A red neckerchief worn at prizefights to show support for a contender.
blow a cloud
To smoke a cigar or pipe.
blow out
To extinguish something, especially a flame, especially by means of a strong current of air or another gas.
blue Billy
The refuse ammoniacal lime from gas factories.
blue blanket
A rough overcoat made of coarse pilot cloth.
blue ruin
Low-end gin, usually home-made.
bone box
An ambulance.
bowl out
To take all the opponents' wickets (in whatever way) and thus end their innings.
brace up
To strengthen with bracing material.
break shins
To borrow money.
break the ice
To do or say something that relieves initial awkwardness and gets a conversation or event started.
Burdon's Hotel
Whitecross Street Prison, London, England.
butcher's mourning
A white hat with a black mourning hatband.
b flats
Bugs.—Compare F SHARPS.
b. k. s
Military officers in mufti, when out on a spree, and not wishing their profession to be known, speak of their barracks as the B. K. S.
b.n.c
For Brasenose, initials of Brazen Nose College. In spite of the nose over the gate the probability is the real name was Brasinium. It is still famous for its beer.—University.
babble
Confused, unintelligible talk, such as was used at the building the tower of Babel.
babes
The lowest order of KNOCK-OUTS (which see), who are prevailed upon not to give opposing biddings at auctions, in consideration of their receiving a small sum (from one shilling to half-a-crown), and a certain quantity of beer. They can, however, even after this agreement, be secured on the other side for a little longer price. There is no honour among thieves—at all events not among auction thieves—nowadays.
babes in the wood
Criminals in the stocks, or pillory.
bacchus and venus
Or, A Select Collection of near Two Hundred of the most Witty and Diverting Songs and Catches in Love and Gallantry, with Songs in the Canting Dialect, with a DICTIONARY explaining all Burlesque and Canting Terms, 12mo. 1738.
back
To support by means of money, on the turf or otherwise.—See LAY.
back biter
One who slanders another behind his back, i.e. in his absence. His bosom friends are become his back biters, said of a lousy man.
back jump
A back window.—Prison term.
back slang it
To go out the back way. Equivalent to "Sling your hook out of the back-door," i.e., get away quickly.
back up
His back is up, i.e. he is offended or angry; an expression or idea taken from a cat; that animal, when angry, always raising its back. An allusion also sometimes used to jeer a crooked man; as, So, Sir, I see somebody has offended you, for your back is up.
back-end
That portion of the year which commences with October. This phrase is peculiar to the turf, and has its origin in the fact that October was actually, and is now nearly, the finishing portion of the racing season. Towards BACK-END the punters and "little men" generally begin to look forward with anxiety to their winter prospects, and "going for the gloves" is not only a frequent phrase, but a frequently recurring practice.
back-hander
A blow on the face with the back of the hand, a back-handed tip. Also a drink out of turn, as when a greedy person delays the decanter to get a second glass. Anything done slyly or secretly is said to be done in a back-handed manner.
backed
Dead. He wishes to have the senior, or old square-toes, backed; he longs to have his father on six men's shoulders; that is, carrying to the grave.
backer
One who places his money on a particular man or animal; a supporter of one side in a contest. The great body of betting men is divided into BOOKMAKERS and BACKERS.
backslums
The byeways and disreputable portions of a town.
bacon
He has saved his bacon; he has escaped. He has a good voice to beg bacon; a saying in ridicule of a bad voice.
bacon
The body, "to save one’s BACON," to escape.
bad
"to go to the bad," to deteriorate in character, to be ruined. Virgil has an almost similar phrase, in pejus ruere, which means, by the way, to go to the worse.
bad bargain
One of his majesty's bad bargains; a worthless soldier, a malingeror. See MALINGEROR.
bad egg
A scoundrel or rascal.
bad lot
A term derived from auctioneering slang, and now generally used to describe a man or woman of indifferent morals.
bad words
Words not always bad of themselves but unpleasant to "ears polite," from their vulgar associations.
badge
A term used for one burned in the hand. He has got his badge, and piked; he was burned in the hand, and is at liberty. Cant.
badge-coves
Parish Pensioners. Cant.
badger
To tease, to annoy by "chaffing." Suggestive of drawing a badger.
badgers
A crew of desperate villains who robbed near rivers, into which they threw the bodies of those they murdered. Cant.
badminton
Blood,—properly a peculiar kind of claret-cup invented at the Duke of Beaufort’s seat of that name. BADMINTON proper is made of claret, sugar, spice, cucumber peel, and ice, and was sometimes used by the patrons of the Prize Ring as a synonym for blood.
baffaty
Calico. Term used in the drapery trade.
bag
He gave them the bag, i.e. left them.
bag
To seize or steal, equivalent to "collar."
bag of nails
He squints like a bag of nails; i. e. his eyes are directed as many ways as the points of a bag of nails. The old BAG OF NAILS at Pimlico; originally the BACCHANALS.
baggage
Heavy baggage; women and children. Also a familiar epithet for a woman; as, cunning baggage, wanton baggage, &c.
bagman
A commercial traveller. This word is used more in reference to the old style of commercial travellers than to the present.