feathers
Money, wealth; "in full FEATHER," rich. FEATHERS is also a term applied to dress; "in full FEATHER," means very often in full costume. It also means, at times, in high spirits.
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Expressions you’ll hear in Britain and Ireland — distinctly British usage first, then widespread staples.
fee, faw, fum
Nonsensical words, supposed in childish story-books to be spoken by giants. I am not to be frighted by fee, faw, fum; I am not to be scared by nonsense.
feed
A meal, generally a dinner. Originally stable slang, now pretty general.
feeder
A spoon. To nab the feeder; to steal a spoon.
feele
A daughter, or child.—Corrupted French.
feet
To make feet for children's stockings; to beget children. An officer of feet; a jocular title for an officer of infantry.
feint
A sham attack on one part, when a real one is meant at another.
fellow commoner
An empty bottle: so called at the university of Cambridge, where fellow commoners are not in general considered as over full of learning. At Oxford an empty bottle is called a gentleman commoner for the same reason. They pay at Cambridge 250 l. a year for the privilege of wearing a gold or silver tassel to their caps. The younger branches of the nobility have the privilege of wearing a hat, and from thence are denominated HAT FELLOW COMMONERS.
fellow-commoner
Uncomplimentary epithet used at Cambridge for an empty bottle.
felt
A hat.—Old term, in use in the sixteenth century.
fen
A bawd, or common prostitute. CANT.
fen-nightingales
Toads and frogs, from their continued croaking at night.
fence
A purchaser or receiver of stolen goods; also, the shop or warehouse of a FENCER.—Old Cant.
fencing ken
The magazine, or warehouse, where stolen goods are secreted.
feringee
A European—that is, a Frank.—Anglo-Indian.
fermerdy beggars
All those who have not the sham sores or clymes.
ferrara
Andrea Ferrara; the name of a famous sword-cutler: most of the Highland broad-swords are marked with his name; whence an Andrea Ferrara has become the common name for the glaymore or Highland broad-sword. See CLAYMORE.
ferret
A tradesman who sells goods to young unthrift heirs, at excessive rates, and then continually duns them for the debt. To ferret; to search out or expel any one from his hiding-place, as a ferret drives out rabbits; also to cheat. Ferret-eyed; red-eyed: ferrets have red eyes.
ferricadouzer
A knock-down blow, a good thrashing. Probably derived, through the Lingua Franca, from the Italian, "far’ cader’ douser," to knock down. "Far’ cader’ morto," is to knock down dead.
fetch
A trick, wheedle, or invention to deceive.
feuterer
A dog-keeper: from the French vautrier, or vaultrier, one that leads a lime hound for the chase.
few
Used to signify the reverse, thus:—"Don’t you call this considerably jolly?" "I believe you, my bo-o-oy, A FEW." Sometimes the reply is, "just a FEW." Another expression of the same kind is RATHER, which see.
fi-fa
A writ of Fieri-Facias.—Legal.
fi-fi
Thackeray’s term for Paul de Kock’s novels, and similar modern French literature.
fib
To beat or strike.—Old Cant.
fibbing
A series of blows delivered quickly, and at a short distance.—Pugilistic.
fid of tobacco
A quid, from the small pieces of tow with which the vent or touch hole of a cannon is stopped. SEA TERM.
fid-fad
A game similar to chequers, or drafts, played in the West of England.
fiddle
A sharper, "a street mugger." In America, a swindle or an imposture.
fiddle faddle
Trifling discourse, nonsense. A mere fiddle faddle fellow; a trifier.
fiddle-face
A person with a wizened countenance.
fiddle-faddle
Twaddle, or trifling discourse.—Old Cant.
fiddle-sticks!
An exclamation signifying nonsense. Sometimes "Fiddle-de-dee."
fiddler
A sharper, a cheat; also a careless, negligent, or dilatory person. On board some ocean steamers the FIDDLER is the capstan-house, the only place on board where passengers are permitted to smoke. The term FIDDLER is easily traceable to the fact that, while the seamen are working the capstan-bars, a man sometimes plays on the fiddle to cheer them at their toil.
fiddles
Transverse pieces of wood used on shipboard to protect the dishes at table during stormy weather. Swing tables obviate the use of FIDDLES.
fiddlestick's end
Nothing; the end of the ancient fiddlesticks ending in a point; hence metaphorically used to express a thing terminating in nothing.
fiddling
Doing any odd jobs in the streets, holding horses, carrying parcels, &c., for a living. Among the middle classes, FIDDLING means idling away time, or trifling, and amongst sharpers it means gambling.
fidgets
He has got the fidgets; said of one that cannot sit long in a place.
fidlam ben
General thieves; called also St. Peter's sons, having every finger a fish-hook. CANT.
field
The whole of the runners in a race of any kind. "A FIELD of fourteen runners was placed in care of the starter." In betting phraseology the FIELD represents the bulk of the horses, as opposed to the favourite. "The FIELD for a pony," means that the offerer will lay 25l. against the favourite, preferring the chances of a winner turning up amongst the others.
field lane duck
A baked sheep's head.
fieri facias
A red-faced man is said to have been served with a writ of fieri facias.
fieri-facias
A red-faced man is often jocularly said to have been served with a writ of FIERI-FACIAS.
fig
"in full FIG," i.e., full-dress costume, "extensively got up." Possibly an allusion to the dress assumed by our first parents after they were naked and not ashamed, or else an abbreviation of figure, in the references to plates in books of fashions.
fig-leaf
A small apron worn by ladies.
figaro
A barber; from Le Nozze di Figaro.
figger
A little boy put in at a window to hand out goods to the diver. See DIVER.
figging law
The art of picking pockets. CANT.
figure
"to cut a good or bad FIGURE," to make good or indifferent appearance; "what’s the FIGURE?" how much is to pay? FIGURE-HEAD, a person’s face.—Sea term.
figure dancer
One who alters figures on bank notes, converting tens to hundreds.
filch
To steal, or purloin. Originally a cant word, derived from the FILCHES, or hooks, thieves used to carry, to hook clothes, or any portable articles from open windows.—Vide Decker. It was considered a cant or gipsy term up to the beginning of the last century. Harman has "FYLCHE, to robbe." Probably from "FILICHI," Romany for a handkerchief.
file
A deep or artful man, a jocose name for a cunning person. Originally a term for a pickpocket, when to FILE was to cheat or rob. FILE, an artful man, was used in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. To deal with an artful man is sometimes said to be like biting a FILE.
filibuster
An American adventurer, who, if successful, helps to extend the boundaries of the United States, becomes a General, and receives high honours, but who remains a FILIBUSTER, and is despised as such, if he fails. The Texan, Nicaraguan, and kindred expeditions were of a FILIBUSTERING order.
fillet of veal
The treadwheel in the house of correction.
fillibrush
To flatter, praise ironically.
fimble-famble
A lame, prevaricating excuse.—Scandinavian.
fin
An arm. A one finned fellow; a man who has lost an arm. SEA PHRASE.
fin
A hand; "come, tip us your FIN," viz., let us shake hands.—Sea.
finder
One who FINDS bacon and meat at the market before they are lost, i.e., steals them.
fine
Fine as five pence. Fine as a cow-t--d stuck with primroses.