carpet-knight
An habitué of drawing-rooms, a "ladies’ man."
English · UK & Ireland 1488
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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.
carrier-pigeon
A swindler, one who formerly used to cheat lottery-office keepers. Now used among betting men to describe one who runs from place to place with "commissions."
carriers
A set of rogues who are employed to look out and watch upon the roads, at inns, &c. in order to carry information to their respective gangs, of a booty in prospect.
carrion hunter
An undertaker; called also a cold cook, and death hunter. See COLD COOK and DEATH HUNTER.
carriwitchet
A hoaxing, puzzling question, not admitting of a satisfactory answer, as—"How far is it from the first of July to London Bridge?" "If a bushel of apples cost ten shillings, how long will it take for an oyster to eat its way through a barrel of soap?"
carrot
"Take a CARROT!" a vulgar insulting phrase.
carrots
The coarse and satirical term for red hair. An epigram gives an illustration of the use of this term:—
carrotty-pated
Ginger-hackled, red-haired. See GINGER-HACKLED.
carry corn
To bear success well and equally. It is said of a man who breaks down under a sudden access of wealth—as successful horse-racing men and unexpected legatees often do—or who becomes affected and intolerant, that "he doesn’t CARRY CORN well."
carry me out!
An exclamation of pretended astonishment on hearing news too good to be true, or a story too marvellous to be believed. Sometimes varied by "Let me die," i.e., I can’t survive that. Profanely derived from the Nunc dimittis (Luke xi. 29). The Irish say, "CARRY ME OUT, and bury me decently."
carry witchet
A sort of conundrum, puzzlewit, or riddle.
carry-on
To joke a person to excess, to CARRY ON a "spree" too far; "how we CARRIED ON, to be sure!" i.e., what fun we had. Nautical term—from carrying on sail.
cart
To put the cart before the horse; to mention the last part of a story first. To be flogged at the cart's a-se or tail; persons guilty of petty larceny are frequently sentenced to be tied to the tail of a cart, and whipped by the common executioner, for a certain distance: the degree of severity in the execution is left to the discretion of the executioner, who, it is said, has cats of nine tails of all prices.
cart-wheel
A five-shilling piece. Generally condensed to "WHEEL."
carting
The punishment formerly inflicted on bawds, who were placed in a tumbrel or cart, and led through a town, that their persons might be known.
carts
A pair of shoes. In Norfolk the carapace of a crab is called a crab cart; hence CARTS would be synonymous with CRAB SHELLS, which see.
carvel's ring
The private parts of a woman. Ham Carvel, a jealous old doctor, being in bed with his wife, dreamed that the Devil gave him a ring, which, so long as he had it on his finger, would prevent his being made a cuckold: waking he found he had got his finger the Lord knows where. See Rabelais, and Prior's versification of the story.
casa
Or CASE, a house, respectable or otherwise. Probably from the Italian CASA.—Old Cant. The Dutch use the word KAST in a vulgar sense for a house, i.e., MOTTEKAST, a brothel. CASE sometimes means a water-closet, but is in general applied to a "house of accommodation." CASA is generally pronounced carzey.
case
A house; perhaps from the Italian CASA. In the canting lingo it meant store or ware house, as well as a dwelling house. Tout that case; mark or observe that house. It is all bob, now let's dub the gig of the case; now the coast is clear, let us break open the door of the house.
case
Some years ago the term CASE was applied generally to persons or things; "what a CASE he is," i.e., what a curious person; "a rum CASE that," or "you are a CASE," both synonymous with the phrase "odd fish," common half a century ago. This would seem to have been originally a "case" for the police-court; drunkenness, &c. Among young ladies at boarding-schools a CASE means a love-affair. CASE now means any unfortunate matter. "I’m afraid it’s a CASE with him."
case vrow
A prostitute attached to a particular bawdy house.
cask
Fashionable slang for a brougham, or other private carriage. Not very general. "PILLBOX" is the more usual term.
cassam
Cheese—not CAFFAN, which Egan, in his edition of Grose, has ridiculously inserted.—Ancient Cant. Latin, CASEUS. Gael. and Irish, CAISE.
cast
To assist by lightening labour. Men in small boats who want to be towed behind steamers or sailing vessels, say "Give us a CAST." Also used by waggoners and others, who sometimes vary the performance by asking, when stuck on a hill, for a pound, possibly a pound of flesh, horse or human.
castle rag
A flag,—cant term for fourpence.
castor
A hat. To prig a castor; to steal a hat.
castor
A hat. Mostly used in pugilistic circles. Indeed many hangers-on of the P.R. have considered that the term arose from the custom of casting the hat into the ring, before entering oneself. CASTOR was the Latin name for the animal now known as the BEAVER; and, strange to add, BEAVER was the slang for CASTOR, or hat, many years ago, before gossamer came into fashion.
cat
A common prostitute. An old cat; a cross old woman.
cat
A lady’s muff; "to free a CAT," i.e., steal a muff.
cat and bagpipean society
A society which met at their office in the great western road: in their summons, published in the daily papers, it was added, that the kittens might come with the old cats without being scratched.
cat call
A kind of whistle, chiefly used at theatres, to interrupt the actors, and damn a new piece. It derives its name from one of its sounds, which greatly resembles the modulation of an intriguing boar cat.
cat harping fashion
Drinking cross-ways, and not, as usual, over the left thumb. SEA TERM.
cat in pan
To turn cat in pan, to change sides or parties; supposed originally to have been to turn CATE or CAKE in pan.
cat lap
Tea, called also scandal broth. See SCANDAL BROTH.
cat match
When a rook or cully is engaged amongst bad bowlers.
cat of nine tails
A scourge composed of nine strings of whip-cord, each string having nine knots.
cat sticks
Thin legs, compared to sticks with which boys play at cat. See TRAPSTICKS.
cat's foot
To live under the cat's foot; to be under the dominion of a wife hen-pecked. To live like dog and cat; spoken of married persons who live unhappily together. As many lives as a cat; cats, according to vulgar naturalists, have nine lives, that is one less than a woman. No more chance than a cat in hell without claws; said of one who enters into a dispute or quarrel with one greatly above his match.
cat's paw
To be made a cat's paw of; to be made a tool or instrument to accomplish the purpose of another: an allusion to the story of a monkey, who made use of a cat's paw to scratch a roasted chesnut out of the fire.
cat's sleep
Counterfeit sleep: cats often counterfeiting sleep, to decoy their prey near them, and then suddenly spring on them.
cat-faced
A vulgar and very common expression of contempt in the North of England.
cat-heads
A Woman's breasts. SEA PHRASE.
cat-in-the-pan
A traitor, a turncoat—derived by some from the Greek, καταπαν, altogether; or—and more likely—from cake in pan, a pan-cake, which is frequently turned from side to side.
cat-lap
A contemptuous expression for weak drink. Anything a cat will drink is very innocuous.
catamaran
An old scraggy woman; from a kind of float made of spars and yards lashed together, for saving ship-wrecked persons.
catamaran
A disagreeable old woman.—Thackeray.
cataract
Once a black satin scarf arranged for the display of jewellery, much in vogue among "commercial gents." Now quite out of date.
catch club
A member of the patch club; a bum bailiff.
catch fart
A footboy; so called from such servants commonly following close behind their master or mistress.
catch penny
Any temporary contrivance to raise a contribution on the public.
catch pole
A bum bailiff, or sheriff's officer.
catch-penny
Any temporary contrivance to obtain money from the public; penny shows, or cheap exhibitions. Also descriptions of murders which have never taken place.
catch-’em-alive
A humane trap; also a small-tooth comb. A piece of paper smeared with a sweet sticky substance which is spread about where flies most abound, and in this sense not particularly humane. The CATCH-’EM-ALIVE trap for rats and other such animals is humane compared with the gin trap.
catchbet
A bet made for the purpose of entrapping the unwary by means of a paltry subterfuge. See CHERRY COLOUR.
catching harvest
A dangerous time for a robbery, when many persons are on the road, on account of a horse-race, fair, or some other public meeting.
catchy
(similar formation to touchy), inclined to take an undue advantage.
cater cousins
Good friends. He and I are not cater cousins, i.e. we are not even cousins in the fourth degree, or four times removed; that is, we have not the least friendly connexion.
caterwauling
Going out in the night in search of intrigues, like a cat in the gutters.
caterwauling
Applied derisively to inharmonious singing; also love-making, from the noise of cats similarly engaged.
catever
A queer, or singular affair; anything poor, or very bad. From the Lingua Franca, and Italian, CATTIVO, bad. Variously spelled by the lower orders.—See KERTEVER.