rhinoceral
Rich, wealthy, abounding in RHINO. At first sound it would seem as though it meant a man abounding in rhinoceroses.
English · UK & Ireland 714
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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.
rib
A wife: an allusion to our common mother Eve, made out of Adam's rib. A crooked rib: a cross-grained wife.
rib
A wife. Derivation, of course, Biblical.
ribaldry
Vulgar abusive language, such as was spoken by ribalds. Ribalds were originally mercenary soldiers who travelled about, serving any master far pay, but afterwards degenerated into a mere banditti.
ribbin
Money. The ribbin runs thick; i.e. there is plenty of money. CANT. Blue ribbin. Gin. The cull lushes the blue ribbin; the silly fellow drinks common gin.
ribbon
Gin, or other spirits. Modification of white satin.
ribbons
The reins. "To handle the RIBBONS," to drive.
ribroast
To beat till the ribs are sore.—Old; but still in use:—
rich
Spicy; also used in the sense of "too much of a good thing;" "a RICH idea," one too absurd or unreasonable to be adopted.
richard
A dictionary. See DICK.
richaud snary
A dictionary. A country lad, having been reproved for calling persons by their christian names, being sent by his master to borrow a dictionary, thought to shew his breeding by asking for a Richard Snary.
ride
"to RIDE the high horse," or "RIDE roughshod over one," to be overbearing or oppressive; "to RIDE the black donkey," to be in an ill humour.
rider
A person who receives part of the salary of a place or appointment from the ostensible occupier, by virtue of an agreement with the donor, or great man appointing. The rider is said to be quartered upon the possessor, who often has one or more persons thus riding behind him. See QUARTERED.
rider
In a University examination, a problem or question appended to another, as directly arising from or dependent on it;—beginning to be generally used for any corollary or position which naturally arises from any previous statement or evidence.
ridge
A guinea. Ridge cully; a goldsmith. CANT.
riding st
GEORGE. The woman uppermost in the amorous congress, that is, the dragon upon St. George. This is said to be the way to get a bishop.
riff raff
Low vulgar persons, mob, tag-rag and bob-tail.
rig
Fun, game, diversion, or trick. To run one's rig upon any particular person; to make him a butt. I am up to your rig; I am a match for your tricks.
rig
Or trick, "spree," or performance; "run a RIG," to play a trick.—See JOHN GILPIN. "RIG the market," in reality to play tricks with it,—a mercantile slang phrase often used in the newspapers.
rigged
"well RIGGED," well dressed.—Old Slang, in use in 1736. See Bailey’s Dictionary.—Sea.
rigging
Clothing. I'll unrig the bloss; I'll strip the wench. Rum Rigging; fine clothes. The cull has rum rigging, let's ding him and mill him, and pike; the fellow has good clothes, let's knock him down, rob him, and scour off, i.e. run away.
rigging
A process well known in connexion with sales by auction, by which articles are secured at prices considerably below their real value. See KNOCK-OUTS. To RIG the market is to do similar business on a larger scale for the purpose of affecting the supplies, and thereby increasing the profits on an original purchase of the goods thus made scarce.
right
All right! A favourite expression among thieves, to signify that all is as they wish, or proper for their purpose. All right, hand down the jemmy; every thing is in proper order, give me the crow.
right you are
A phrase implying entire acquiescence in what has been said or done. The expression is singularly frequent and general amongst the lower and middle classes of the metropolis.
rights
"to have one to RIGHTS," to be even with him, to serve him out properly. "TO RIGHTS" is also an ejaculation signifying satisfaction of the highest order.
rigmarole
Roundabout, nonsensical. He told a long rigmarole story.
rile
To offend, to render very cross, irritated, or vexed. Properly, to render liquor turbid.
ring
Money procured by begging: beggars so called it from its ringing when thrown to them. Also a circle formed for boxers, wrestlers, and cudgel-players, by a man styled Vinegar; who, with his hat before his eyes, goes round the circle, striking at random with his whip to prevent the populace from crowding in.
ring
To change; "RINGING castors," changing hats; "to RING the changes," in low life means to change bad money for good; in respectable society the phrase is sometimes employed to denote that the aggressor has been paid back in his own coin, as in practical joking, when the laugh is turned against the jester. The expression originally came from the belfry.
ringdropping
Is a pursuit to which London "magsmen" and "street-muggers" are prone. A ring or other spurious article is supposed to be found just in front of a "soft-looking party," and he or she is tempted to buy it at less than half its supposed value.
rip
A miserable rip; a poor, lean, worn-out horse. A shabby mean fellow.
rip
A rake, "an old RIP," an old libertine, or a debauchee. Corruption of REPROBATE.
ripper
A first-rate man or article.—Provincial.
ripping
Excellent, very good. Equivalent to "stunning."
rippons
Spurs: Rippon is famous for a manufactory of spurs both for men and fighting cocks.
rise
"to take a RISE out of a person." A metaphor from fly-fishing, the silly fish RISING to be caught by an artificial fly; to mortify, outwit, or cheat him, by superior cunning.
rise a barney
To collect a mob; term used by patterers and "schwassle-box" (Punch and Judy) men.
roaratorios and uproars
Oratorios and operas.
roarer
A broken-winded horse.
roarer
A broken-winded horse; or, in the more polite speech of the stable, "a high blower." ROARING, as applied to horses, is often termed "talking" by turf-men. It is often said delicately by sporting writers, when speaking of a broken-winded racehorse, that "he makes a noise."
roaring boy
A noisy, riotous fellow.
roaring trade
A very successful business.—Shopkeepers’ Slang.
roast
To expose a person to a running fire of jokes for the amusement and with the assistance of a whole company. A performance not indulged in by gentlemen. QUIZZING is done by a single person only.
roast and boiled
A nick name for the Life Guards, who are mostly substantial house-keepers; and eat daily of roast and boiled.
robert's men
The third old rank of the canting crew, mighty thieves, like Robin Hood.
rochester portion
Two torn smocks, and what nature gave.
rock-a-low
An overcoat. Corruption of the French, ROQUELAURE.
rocked
He was rocked in a stone kitchen; a saying meant to convey the idea that the person spoken of is a fool, his brains having been disordered by the jumbling of his cradle.
rocked
"he’s only HALF-ROCKED," i.e., half-witted. See HALF-ROCKED.
rof-efil
For life—sentence of punishment.
roger
A portmanteau; also a man's yard. Cant.
rogue and villain
A shillin,—common pronunciation of shilling.
rogues
The fourth order of canters. A rogue in grain; a great rogue, also a corn chandler. A rogue in spirit; a distiller or brandy merchant.
roll of snow
A piece of linen, or bundle of underclothing.
romany
A gipsy, or the gipsy language; the speech of the Roma or Zincali.—Spanish Gipsy. "Can you patter ROMANY?" i.e., can you talk "black," or gipsy lingo?
romboyles
Watch and ward. Romboyled; sought after with a warrant.
romp
A forward wanton girl, a tomrig. Grey, in his notes to Shakespeare, derives it from arompo, an animal found in South Guinea, that is a man eater. See HOYDEN.
rook
A cheat: probably from the thievish disposition of the birds of that name. Also the cant name for a crow used in house-breaking. To rook; to cheat, particularly at play.
rook
A cheat, or tricky gambler; the opposite of "pigeon."
rookery
A low neighbourhood inhabited by dirty Irish and thieves—as St. Giles’s ROOKERY.—Old. In military slang that part of the barracks occupied by subalterns, often by no means a pattern of good order.