leaf
To go off with the fall of the leaf; to be hanged: criminals in Dublin being turned off from the outside of the prison by the falling of a board, propped up, and moving on a hinge, like the leaf of a table. IRISH TERM.
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Expressions you’ll hear in Britain and Ireland — distinctly British usage first, then widespread staples.
leaky
Apt to blab; one who cannot keep a secret is said to be leaky.
leaping over the sword
An ancient ceremonial said to constitute a military marriage. A sword being laid down on the ground, the parties to be married joined hands, when the corporal or serjeant of the company repeated these words:
leary
Flash, knowing, artful, sly.
leary bloke
A clever or artful person.
least in sight
To play least in sight; to hide, keep out of the way, or make one's self scarce.
leather
To lose leather; to be galled with riding on horseback, or, as the Scotch express it, to be saddle sick. To leather also meant to beat, perhaps originally with a strap: I'll leather you to your heart's content. Leather-headed; stupid. Leathern conveniency; term used by quakers for a stage-coach.
leather
To beat or thrash. Probably from allusion to the skin, which is often called LEATHER. Some think the term is from the LEATHER belts worn by soldiers, which are often used as weapons in street rows. Most likely from there being "nothing like LEATHER" with which to administer a thrashing.
leathern conveniency
A carriage.
leaving shop
Or DOLLY SHOP, an unlicensed house where goods are taken into pawn at exorbitant rates of interest.
led captain
A fashionable spunger, a "swell" who by artifice ingratiates himself into the favours of the master of the house, and lives at his table. Probably from the fact that a real captain leads, but that a sham one is led—to the dinner-table.
leer
Empty.—Oxfordshire. Pure German, as is nearly so the next word.
leery
On one's guard. See PEERY.
left-handed wife
A concubine; an allusion to an ancient German custom, according to which, when a man married his concubine, or a woman greatly his inferior, he gave her his left hand.
leg
To make a leg; to bow. To give leg-bail and land security; to run away. To fight at the leg; to take unfair advantages: it being held unfair by back-sword players to strike at the leg. To break a leg; a woman who has had a bastard, is said to have broken a leg.
leg
A part of a game. In some old games there are so many LEGS to the chalk, and so many chalks to the game. Sometimes the LEGS are called chalks, and the chalks LEGS—one word is as good as another, provided an agreement is made beforehand.
leg it
To run; "to give a LEG," to assist, as when one mounts a horse; "making a LEG," a countryman’s bow,—projecting the LEG from behind as a balance to the head bent forward.—Shakspeare.
leg of mutton fist
A large, muscular or bony hand.
leg-and-leg
The state of a game when each player has won a LEG. In Ireland a LEG is termed a horse, LEG-AND-LEG being there termed "horse-and-horse."
leg-of-mutton
Humorous street term for a sheep’s trotter, or foot.
leggers
Sham leggers; cheats who pretend to sell smuggled goods, but in reality only deal in old shop-keepers or damaged goods.
length
Forty-two lines of a dramatic composition.—Theatrical.
let alone
not to mention, even less likely
let drive
to allow someone to take control
let in
To cheat or victimize. "He let me in heavily."
let on
To give an intimation of having some knowledge of a subject. Ramsay employs the phrase in the Gentle Shepherd. Common in Scotland.
let the cat out
Or LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG, a common phrase, which implies that a secret is to be or has been let out.
letch
A whim of the amorous kind, out of the common way.
letty
A bed. Italian, LETTO.—Lingua Franca.
levanter
A card-sharper, or defaulting gambler. It was formerly the custom to give out to the creditors, when a person was in pecuniary difficulties, and it was convenient for him to keep away, that he was gone to the East, or the LEVANT; hence, when one loses a bet, and decamps without settling, he is said to LEVANT. The LEVANT was also a notorious place for queer customers, who would do anything rather than pay. Its reputation is not particularly odorous even now.
levy
A shilling.—Liverpool. Among labourers a LEVY is a sum obtained before it is due, something to keep a man going till Saturday-night comes, or his task is finished.
lexicon
Balatronicum; a Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence, by a Member of the Whip Club, assisted by Hell-fire Dick, 8vo. 1811.
libben
A private dwelling-house. CANT.
liber vagatorum
Der Betler Orden, 4to. Translated into English, with Notes, by John Camden Hotten, as The Book of Vagabonds and Beggars, with a vocabulary of their Language (Rotwelsche Sprach); edited, with preface, by Martin Luther, in the year 1528, 4to, with woodcuts. 1859.
liberty
Ground let in parts of Yorkshire for shooting purposes.
libken
A house to lie in. CANT.
lick
A blow; LICKING, a beating; "to put in big LICKS," a curious and common phrase, meaning that great exertions are being made.—Dryden; North.
lickspittle
A parasite, or talebearer.
lickspittle
A coarse but singularly expressive term for a parasite, who puts up with indignities for the sake of advantages.
life in st. george’s fields
Or, The Rambles and Adventures of Disconsolate William, Esq., and his Surrey Friend, Flash Dick, with Songs and a FLASH DICTIONARY, 8vo. 1821.
lifer
A convict who is sentenced to imprisonment for life.
lift
To give one a lift; to assist. A good hand at a dead lift; a good hand upon an emergency. To lift one's hand to one's head; to drink to excess, or to drink drams. To lift or raise one's elbow; the same.
lift
To steal, pick pockets; "there’s a clock been LIFTED," said when a watch has been stolen. The word is as old as the Border forays, and is used by Shakspeare. SHOPLIFTER is a recognised term. Old Gothic, LLIFAN, to steal; Lower Rhenish, LÖFTEN.
lig
A lie, a falsehood.—Lancashire. In old ballads the word "lie" is often spelt "LIG." In old Saxon, LIG is to lie, but to lie as in a bed.
light
Credit, trust; "to get a LIGHT at a house" is to get credit. When a man’s credit is stopped, his LIGHT is said to be put out. LIGHT also means life. "I’ll put your LIGHT out" is a murderous threat.
light bob
A soldier of the light infantry company.
light house
A man with a red fiery nose.
light troops
Lice; the light troops are in full march; the lice are crawling about.
light-fingered
Thievish, apt to pilfer.
light-heeled
Swift in running. A light-heeled wench; one who is apt, by the flying up of her heels, to fall flat on her back, a willing wench.
lightning
Gin. A flash of lightning; a glass of gin.
lightning
Gin; "flash o’ LIGHTNING," a glass of gin.
lights
A worthless piece of meat; applied metaphorically to a fool, a soft or stupid person.
likeness
A phrase used by thieves when the officers or turnkeys are examining their countenance. As the traps are taking our likeness; the officers are attentively observing us.
lil
A book, generally a pocket-book.—Gipsy.
liliputian
A diminutive man or woman: from Gulliver's Travels, written by Dean Swift, where an imaginary kingdom of dwarfs of that name is described.
lily benjamin
A great white coat. See BENJAMIN.
lily shallow
(WHIP SLANG) A white driving hat.
limb
A troublesome or precocious child.
limbo
A prison, confinement.