shout
To pay for drink round. "It’s my SHOUT," says he who pays. Possibly because the payer originally SHOUTED to the bar-keeper of an hotel to score the drink to him.—Australian, but now general.
English · UK & Ireland 2057
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Expressions you’ll hear in Britain and Ireland — distinctly British usage first, then widespread staples.
shove-halfpenny
A gambling pot-house pastime, played on a table. A very old game, originally called push-penny.
shovel
To be put to bed with a shovel; to be buried. He or she was fed with a fire-shovel; a saying of a person with a large mouth.
shovel
A term applied by the vulgar crowd to the inelegant twisted hats worn by the dignitaries of the Church. Dean Alford says, "I once heard a venerable dignitary pointed out by a railway porter as "an old party in a SHOVEL."—Queen’s English.
shrimp
A little diminutive person.
shrimp
A diminutive person.—Chaucer.
shtumer
A horse against which money may be laid without risk. See SAFE UN.
shunt
To avoid, to turn aside from. From the railway term.
shut of
Or SHOT OF, i.e., rid of. A very common expression amongst the London lower orders. One costermonger will say to another:—"Well, Ike, did yer get SHUT O’ them there gawfs [apples]?" i.e., did you sell them all?
shut up!
Be quiet, don’t make a noise; to stop short, to cease in a summary manner, to silence effectually. The following is from a literary paper:—"Only the other day we heard of a preacher who, speaking of the scene with the doctors in the Temple, remarked that the Divine disputant completely SHUT THEM UP!" SHUT UP, utterly exhausted, done for.
shy
A throw. See the following:—
shy cock
One who keeps within doors for fear of bailiffs.
shyster
A duffer, a vagabond. Variation of "shicer."
si quis
A candidate for "orders." From the notification commencing SI QUIS—if any one.
sices
Or SIZES, a throw of sixes at dice.
sick as a horse
Very ill.
sickener
A dose too much of anything. Too much of even a good thing will make a man sick.
side
An affirmative expression in the cant language of the northern towns. "Do you stoll the gammy?" (Do you understand cant?) "SIDE, cove" (yes, mate).
side pocket
He has as much need of a wife as a dog of a side pocket; said of a weak old debilitated man. He wants it as much as a dog does a side pocket; a simile used for one who desires any thing by no means necessary.
side-boards
Or STICK-UPS, shirt collars. Name applied some years ago, before the present style of collars came into fashion.
sift
To embezzle small coins, those which might pass through a sieve—as threepennies and fourpennies—and which are, therefore, not likely to be missed.
sight
"to take a SIGHT at a person," a vulgar action employed by boys and others to denote incredulity, or contempt for authority, by placing the thumb against the nose and extending the fingers, which are agitated in token of derision.
silence
To silence a man; to knock him down, or stun him. Silence in the court, the cat is pissing; a gird upon any one requiring silence unnecessarily.
silk snatchers
Thieves who snatch hoods or bonnets from persons walking in the streets.
silly season
A period of foolish or irrational behavior
silver beggar
Or LURKER, a vagabond who travels through the country with "briefs" containing false statements of losses by fire, shipwrecks, accidents, &c. Forged documents are exhibited with signatures of magistrates and clergymen. Accompanying these are sham subscription books. The former, in beggar parlance, is termed "a sham," whilst the latter is denominated "a delicate."
silver laced
Replete with lice. The cove's kickseys are silver laced: the fellow's breeches are covered with lice.
sim
One of a Methodistical turn in religion; a Low Churchman; originally a follower of the late Rev. Charles Simeon.—Cambridge.
simon
Sixpence. Simple Simon: a natural, a silly fellow; Simon Suck-egg, sold his wife for an addle duck-egg.
simon
Or SIMPLE SIMON, a credulous, gullible person. A character in a song, but now common.
simon pure
"the real SIMON PURE," the genuine article. Those who have witnessed Mr. Charles Mathews’s performance in Mrs. Centlivre’s admirable comedy of A Bold Stroke for a Wife, and the laughable coolness with which he, the false SIMON PURE, assuming the Quaker dress and character of the real one, elbows that worthy out of his expected entertainment, will at once perceive the origin of this phrase.—See act v. scene i.
simpkin
Or SIMKIN, champagne.—Anglo-Indian. Derived from the manner in which native servants pronounce champagne.
simples
Physical herbs; also follies. He must go to Battersea, to be cut for the simples--Battersea is a place famous for its garden grounds, some of which were formerly appropriated to the growing of simples for apothecaries, who at a certain season used to go down to select their stock for the ensuing year, at which time the gardeners were said to cut their simples; whence it became a popular joke to advise young people to go to Battersea, at that time, to have their simples cut, or to be cut for the
simpleton
Abbreviation of simple Tony or Anthony, a foolish fellow.
simpson
Water used in the dilution of milk. Term in use among cow-keepers. From this the parish pump has been called Mrs. SIMPSON.
sing small
to speak or sing softly
sing-song
A harmonic meeting at a pot-house, a free-and-easy.
single peeper
A person having but one eye.
singleton
A very foolish fellow; also a particular kind of nails.
sinkers
Bad money,—affording a man but little assistance in "keeping afloat."
sinks
A throw of fives at dice. French, CINQ.
sir john
The old title for a country parson: as Sir John of Wrotham, mentioned by Shakespeare.
sir loin
The sur, or upper loin.
sir reverence
Human excrement, a t--d.
sir timothy
One who, from a desire of being the head of the company, pays the reckoning, or, as the term is, stands squire. See SQUIRE.
sir walter scott
A pot,—generally of beer.
sirretch
Cherries. Very often SIRRETCHES.
siserara
A hard blow.—Suffolk. Many derive this term from the story of Sisera in the Old Testament, but it is probably a corruption of CERTIORARI, a Chancery writ reciting a complaint of hard usage.
sit-upons
Trousers. See INEXPRESSIBLES.
sith-nom
A month. This is because the slang was made from months, not month. Perhaps because the latter was not easy; perhaps because terms of imprisonment run longer than a month, and are often enumerated in the "kacab genals." However it may be, "months" in this mode of speaking has a double plural as it stands now.
sitting breeches
One who stays late in company, is said to have his sitting breeches on, or that he will sit longer than a hen.
sivvy
"’pon my SIVVY," i.e., upon my soul or honour. Corruption of "asseveration," like DAVY, which is an abridgment of "affidavit."
six and eight-pence
An attorney, whose fee on several occasions is fixed at that sum.
six and tips
Whisky and small beer. IRISH.
six-water grog
A sea-term for the weakest grog possible—six portions of water to one of rum—hardly enough spirit to "swear by."
sixes and sevens
Left at sixes and sevens: i.e. in confusion; commonly said of a room where the furniture, &c. is scattered about; or of a business left unsettled.
sixty
"to go along like SIXTY," i.e., at a good rate, briskly.
sixty-per-cent
A bill-discounter. From the rate of interest generally charged. If bill-discounters profess to do the business for less, they generally make up the level sixty by extras.
size
To order extras over and above the usual commons at the dinner in college halls. Soup, pastry, &c., are SIZINGS, and are paid for at a certain specified rate per SIZE, or portion, to the college cook. Peculiar to Cambridge. Minsheu says, "SIZE, a farthing which schollers in Cambridge have at the buttery, noted with the letter s."
size of ale
Half a pint. Size of bread and cheese; a certain quantity. Sizings: Cambridge term for the college allowance from the buttery, called at Oxford battles.