lame duck
A person who cannot fulfill their contracts.
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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.
leg bail
Escape from custody by running away.
limb of the law
A lawyer, or clerk articled to that profession.
little go
Any minor or preliminary activity.
lob's pound
Alternative form of lobspound (“prison”).
London Ordinary
The beach at Brighton.
louse trap
A comb (toothed implement for grooming).
la!
A euphuistic rendering of LORD! common amongst females and very precise persons; imagined by many to be a corruption of LOOK! but this is a mistake. Sometimes pronounced LAW, or LAWKS.
lac
One hundred thousand.—Anglo-Indian.
laced
Strengthened with ardent spirits. Tea or coffee in which brandy is poured is said to be LACED.
lacing
Beating. I'll lace your jacket handsomely.
lacing
A beating. From the phrase, "I’ll lace your jacket."—L’Estrange. Perhaps to give a beating with a lace or lash. Perhaps, also, a figurative phrase for ornamenting the article in question with stripes.
ladder
To go up the ladder to rest; to be hanged.
ladder
"can’t see a hole in a LADDER," said of any one who is intoxicated. It was once said that a man was never properly drunk until he could not lie down without holding, could not see a hole through a LADDER, or went to the pump to light his pipe.
ladies’ mile
That part of Hyde Park where the feminine beauty, rank, and fashion most do congregate during the airing hours of the London season.
lady
A crooked or hump-backed woman.
lady of easy virtue
A woman of the town, an impure, a prostitute.
ladybirds
Light or lewd women.
lag
A man transported. The cove was lagged for a drag. The man was transported for stealing something out of a waggon.
lag
A returned transport, or ticket-of-leave convict.
lag fever
A term of ridicule applied to men who being under sentence of transportation, pretend illness, to avoid being sent from gaol to the hulks.
lagged
Imprisoned, apprehended, or transported for a crime. From the Old Norse, LAGDA, "laid,"—laid by the leg.
lagger
A sailor. Also, one who gives evidence; an informer.
lagging gage
A chamber-pot.—Ancient Cant.
lamb's wool
Apples roasted and put into strong ale.
lambasting
A beating. Perhaps LUMB-BASTING, from the lumbar-regions.
lambskin men
The judges: from their robes lined and bordered with ermine.
lamming
A beating.—Old English, LAM; used by Beaumont and Fletcher. Not as Sir Walter Scott supposed, from one Dr. Lamb, but from the Old Norse, LAM, the hand; also, Gaelic.
lamp
An eye. The cove has a queer lamp. The man has a blind or squinting eye.
land
How lies the land? How stands the reckoning? Who has any land in Appleby? a question asked the man at whose door the glass stands long, or who does not circulate it in due time.
land-lubber
Sea term for "a landsman." See LOAFER.
land-shark
A sailor’s definition of a lawyer.
lane
A familiar term for Drury Lane Theatre, just as Covent Garden Theatre is constantly spoken of as "the Garden."
lank sleeve
The empty sleeve of a one armed man. A fellow with a lank sleeve; a man who has lost an arm.
lansprisado
One who has only two-pence in his pocket. Also a lance, or deputy corporal; that is, one doing the duty without the pay of a corporal. Formerly a lancier, or horseman, who being dismounted by the death of his horse, served in the foot, by the title of lansprisado, or lancepesato, a broken lance.
lanthorn-jawed
Thin-visaged: from their cheeks being almost transparent. Or else, lenten jawed; i.e. having the jaws of one emaciated by a too rigid observation of Lent. Dark lanthorn; a servant or agent at court, who receives a bribe for his principal or master.
lap
Butter-milk or whey. CANT.
lap
Liquor, drink. LAP is the term invariably used in the ballet girls’ dressing-room for gin.
lark
A piece of merriment. People playing together jocosely.
lark
A frolic, a joke; "let’s have a jolly good LARK," let us have a piece of fun.—Anglo-Saxon, LAC, sport; but more probably from the nautical term SKYLARKING, i.e., mounting to the highest yards and sliding down the ropes for amusement, which is allowed on certain occasions.
larrence
An imaginary being, supposed by the Scottish peasantry to have power over indolent persons. Hence laziness is often called LARRENCE.
larruping
A good beating or hiding.—Irish.
larry dugan's eye water
Blacking: Larry Dugan was a famous shoe-black at Dublin.
lashins
Large quantities; as, "LASHINS of whisky." An Irishism in common use.
latchpan
The lower lip—properly a dripping-pan; "to hang one’s LATCHPAN," to pout, be sulky.—Norfolk.
lathy
Thin, slender. A lathy wench; a girl almost as slender as a lath.
latitat
A nick-name for an attorney; from the name of a writ.
laugh
To laugh on the wrong side of the mouth; to cry. I'll make him laugh on the wrong (or t'other) side of his mouth.
launch
The delivery, or labour, of a pregnant woman; a crying out or groaning.
lavender
Laid up in lavender; pawned.
lavender
"to be laid up in LAVENDER;" to be in pawn; to be out of the way for an especial purpose. From the practice among housewives of placing LAVENDER in drawers in which linen and clothes are to be kept for any period.
law
To give law to a hare; a sporting term, signifying to give the animal a chance of escaping, by not setting on the dogs till the hare is at some distance; it is also more figuratively used for giving any one a chance of succeeding in a scheme or project.
law
"to give LAW to an animal" is a sporting term signifying to give the hare or stag a chance of escaping, by not setting on the hounds till the quarry has run some distance. Also, used for giving any one a chance of succeeding in a difficult undertaking by allowing him so much grace or preliminary notice.
lay
Enterprize, pursuit, or attempt: to be sick of the lay. It also means a hazard or chance: he stands a queer lay; i.e. he is in danger. CANT.
lay
A pursuit or practice, a dodge. Term in this sense much used by thieves.
lay down the knife and fork
To die. Compare PEGGING-OUT, HOPPING THE TWIG, and similar flippancies.
laystall
A dunghill about London, on which the soil brought from necessary houses is emptied; or, in more technical terms, where the old gold collected at weddings by the Tom t--d man, is stored.
lazy
As lazy as Ludman's dog, who leaned against the wall to bark. As lazy as the tinker, who laid down his budget to f--t.
lazy man's load
Lazy people frequently take up more than they can safely carry, to save the trouble of coming a second time.
lazybones
An instrument like a pair of tongs, for old or very fat people to take any thing from the ground without stooping.