thick un
A sovereign; originally a crown piece, or five shillings.
English · UK & Ireland 1611
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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.
thief
You are a thief and a murderer, you have killed a baboon and stole his face; vulgar abuse.
thief in a candle
Part of the wick or snuff, which falling on the tallow, burns and melts it, and causing it to gutter, thus steals it away.
thief takers
Fellows who associate with all kinds of villains, in order to betray them, when they have committed any of those crimes which entitle the persons taking them to a handsome reward, called blood money. It is the business of these thief takers to furnish subjects for a handsome execution, at the end of every sessions.
thimble
A watch. The swell flashes a rum thimble; the gentleman sports a fine watch.
thimble
Or YACK, a watch.—Prison Cant.
thimble-rig
A noted cheating game some years back, played at fairs and places of great public thronging, consisting of two or three thimbles rapidly and dexterously placed over a pea. The THIMBLE-RIGGER, suddenly ceasing, asks under which thimble the pea is to be found. Any one not a practised hand would lose nine times out of ten any bet he might happen to make with him. The pea is generally concealed under his nail. THIMBLE-RIGGING has of late years given way to "broad-working."
thimble-twisters
Thieves who rob persons of their watches.
thin-skinned
Over-nice, petulant, apt to get a "raw." See that term.
thingstable
Mr. Thingstable; Mr. Constable: a ludicrous affectation of delicacy in avoiding the pronunciation of the first syllable in the title of that officer, which in sound has some similarity to an indecent monosyllable.
thingumbob
Mr. Thingumbob; a vulgar address or nomination to any person whose name is unknown, the same as Mr. What-d'ye-cal'em. Thingumbobs; testicles.
thingumy
THINGUMBOB, expressions used for the name of a thing which cannot be recollected at the instant.
thirding
A custom practised at the universities, where two thirds of the original price is allowed by the upholsterers to the students for household goods returned to them within the year.
thirteener
A shilling in Ireland, which there passes for thirteen pence.
thomas
Man Thomas; a man's penis.
thomas
(I.), My Thought Book, 8vo. 1825.
thomond
Like Lord Thomond's cocks, all on one side. Lord Thomond's cock-feeder, an Irishman, being entrusted with some cocks which were matched for a considerable sum, the night before the battle shut them all together in one room, concluding that as they were all on the same side, they would not disagree: the consequence was, they were most of them either killed or lamed before the morning.
thorns
To be or sit upon thorns; to be uneasy, impatient, anxious for an event.
thorough churchman
A person who goes in at one door of a church, and out at the other, without stopping.
thorough cough
Coughing and breaking wind backwards at the same time.
thorough go nimble
A looseness, a violent purging.
thorough stitch
To go thorough stitch; to stick at nothing; over shoes, over boots.
thorough-good-natured wench
One who being asked to sit down, will lie down.
thought
What did thought do? lay'in bed and beshat himself, and thought he was up; reproof to any one who excuses himself for any breach of positive orders, by pleading that he thought to the contrary.
three sheets in the wind
Unsteady from drink.—Sea.
three threads
Half common ale, mixed with stale and double beer.
three to one
He is playing three to one, though sure to lose; said of one engaged in the amorous congress.
three-penny upright
A retailer of love, who, for the sum mentioned, dispenses her favours standing against a wall.
three-quarters of a peck
The neck,—in writing, among experts, expressed by the simple "3/4," as it is pronounced.
throttle
The throat, or gullet.
through
Finished. In America, where this word is most used in the sense now given, a guest who has had enough will, when asked to take more, say, "I’m THROUGH," which is certainly preferable to the other Americanism, "crammed."
thrums
Threepence. Also, in Coventry, remnants and waste pieces of silk.
thrups
Threepence. See the preceding, which is more general.
thud
The dull, dead sound made by the fall of a heavy body, or the striking of a bullet against any soft, fleshy substance.
thumb
By rule of thumb: to do any thing by dint of practice. To kiss one's thumb instead of the book; a vulgar expedient to avoid perjury in taking a false oath.
thummikins
An instrument formerly used in Scotland, like a vice, to pinch the thumbs of persons accused of different crimes, in order to extort confession.
thump
A blow. This is better than a thump on the back with a stone; said on giving any one a drink of good liquor on a cold morning. Thatch, thistle, thunder, and thump; words to the Irish, like the Shibboleth of the Hebrews.
thumper
A magnificently constructed lie, a lie about which there is no stint of imaginative power.
thumping
Great! a thumping boy.
thumping
Large, fine, or strong.
thunderbomb
An imaginary ship of vast size. See MERRY DUN OF DOVER.
thunderer
The Times newspaper, sometimes termed "the THUNDERER of Printing House Square," from the locality where it is printed.
thwack
A great blow with a stick across the shoulders.
tib of the buttery
A goose. CANT. Saint Tibb's evening; the evening of the last day, or day of judgment: he will pay you on St. Tibb's eve. IRISH.
tibbing out
Going out of bounds.—Charterhouse.
tibby
The head. Street slang, with no known etymology. To drop on one’s TIBBY is to frighten or startle any one, to take one unawares.
tick
To run o'tick; take up goods upon trust, to run in debt. Tick; a watch. SEE SESSIONS PAPERS.
tick
Credit, trust. Johnson says it is a corruption of "ticket,"—tradesmen’s bills being formerly written on tickets or cards. On TICK, therefore, is equivalent to on TICKET, or on trust. In use in 1668, and before, as follows:—
ticker
A watch. Formerly cant, now street slang.
ticket
"that’s the TICKET," i.e., that’s what is wanted, or what is best. Probable corruption of "that’s etiquette," or, perhaps, from TICKET, a bill or invoice. This phrase is sometimes extended into "that’s the TICKET for soup," in allusion to the card given to beggars for immediate relief at soup kitchens. See TICK.
tickle
To puzzle; "a reg’lar TICKLER" is a poser.
tickle pitckeb
A thirsty fellow, a sot.
tickle tail
A rod, or schoolmaster. A man's penis.
tiddlywink
Slim, puny; sometimes TILLYWINK.
tidy
Tolerably, or pretty well; "How did you get on to-day?"—"Oh, TIDY."—Saxon.
tie
A dead heat. A game of any kind, in which the possibility exists, is said to end in a tie, if the markings are level on each side at the finish. In racing parlance, all level finishes are called dead-heats.
tied up
Given over, finished; also married, in allusion to the hymeneal knot, unless a jocose allusion be intended to the "halter" (altar). See BUCKLED, term in use among costermongers and street folk generally.
tiff
A pet, a fit of ill humour.
tiffin
A breakfast, déjeûner à la fourchette.—Anglo-Indian Slang.
tiffing
Eating or drinking out of meal time, disputing or falling out; also lying with a wench, A tiff of punch, a small bowl of punch.