black indies
Newcastle upon Tyne, whose rich coal mines prove an Indies to the proprietors.
English · UK & Ireland 17968
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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.
black jack
A nick name given to the Recorder by the Thieves.
black joke
A popular tune to a song, having for the burden, "Her black joke and belly so white:" figuratively the black joke signifies the monosyllable. See MONOSYLLABLE.
black monday
The first Monday after the school-boys holidays, or breaking up, when they are to go to school, and produce or repeat the tasks set them.
black psalm
To sing the black psalm; to cry: a saying used to children.
black spice racket
To rob chimney sweepers of their soot, bag and soot.
black strap
Bene Carlo wine; also port. A task of labour imposed on soldiers at Gibraltar, as a punishment for small offences.
black-a-vised
Having a very dark complexion.
blackberry-swagger
A person who hawks tapes, boot-laces, &c.
blackbirding
Slave-catching. Term most applied nowadays to the Polynesian coolie traffic.
blackguard
A low or dirty fellow; a rough or a hulking fellow, capable of any meanness or cowardice.
blackguardiana
Or, Dictionary of Rogues, Bawds, &c., 8vo, WITH PORTRAITS [by James Caulfield]. 1795.
blackleg
A rascal, swindler, or card cheat. The derivation of this term was solemnly argued before the full Court of Queen’s Bench upon a motion for a new trial for libel, but was not decided by the learned tribunal. Probably it is from the custom of sporting and turf men wearing black top-boots. Hence BLACKLEG came to be the phrase for a professional sporting man, and thence for a professional sporting cheat. The word is now in its worst sense diminished to "leg."
blacklegs
A gambler or sharper on the turf or in the cockpit: so called, perhaps, from their appearing generally in boots; or else from game-cocks whose legs are always black.
blackwork
Undertaking. The waiters met at public dinners are often employed during the day as mutes, etc. Omnibus and cab drivers regard BLACKWORK as a dernier ressort.
bladder-of-lard
A coarse, satirical nickname for a bald-headed person. From similarity of appearance.
blade
A man—in ancient times the term for a soldier; "knowing BLADE," a wide-awake, sharp, or cunning man.
blank
To look blank; to appear disappointed or confounded.
blanket hornpipe
The amorous congress.
blarney
He has licked the blarney stone; he deals in the wonderful, or tips us the traveller.
blarney
Flattery, powers of persuasion. A castle in the county of Cork. It is said that whoever kisses a certain stone in this castle will be able to persuade others of whatever he or she pleases. The name of the castle is derived from BLADH, a blossom, i.e., the flowery or fertile demesne. BLADH is also flattery; hence the connexion. A more than ordinarily persuasive Irishman is said to have "kissed the BLARNEY stone."
blast
To curse. Originally a Military expression.
blaze
To leave trace purposely of one’s way in a forest or unknown path by marking trees or other objects.
blazes
A low synonym for the infernal regions, and now almost for anything. "Like BLAZES" is a phrase of intensification applied without any reference to the original meaning. Also applied to the brilliant habiliments of flunkeys, since the episode of Sam Weller and the "swarry."
bleached mort
A fair-complexioned wench.
bleaters
Those cheated by Jack in a box. CANT.--See JACK IN A BOX.
bleating rig
Sheep stealing. Cant.
bleed
To victimize, or extract money from a person, to sponge on, to make suffer vindictively.
bleeders
Spurs. He clapped his bleeders to his prad; be put spurs to his horse.
bleeding cully
One who parts easily with his money, or bleeds freely.
bleeding new
A metaphor borrowed from fish, which will not bleed when stale.
blessing
A small quantity over and above the measure, usually given by hucksters dealing in peas, beans, and other vegetables.
blest
A vow; "BLEST if I’ll do it," i.e., I am determined not to do it; euphemism for CURST.
blether
To bother, to annoy, to pester. "A BLETHERING old nuisance" is a common expression for a garrulous old person.
blew
Or BLOW, to inform, or peach, to lose or spend money.
blewed
A man who has lost or spent all his money is said to have BLEWED it. Also used in cases of robbery from the person, as, "He’s BLEWED his red ’un," i.e., he’s been eased of his watch.
blind
A feint, pretence, or shift.
blind
A pretence, or make-believe.
blind cheeks
The breech. Buss blind cheeks; kiss mine a-se.
blind excuse
A poor or insufficient excuse. A blind ale-house, lane, or alley; an obscure, or little known or frequented ale-house, lane, or alley.
blind harpers
Beggars counterfeiting blindness, playing on fiddles, &c.
blind-half-hundred
The Fiftieth Regiment of Foot; so called through their great sufferings from ophthalmia when serving in Egypt.
blind-hookey
A game at cards which has no recommendation beyond the rapidity with which money can be won and lost at it; called also WILFUL MURDER.
blind-man’s-holiday
Night, darkness. Sometimes applied to the period "between the lights."
blindman's buff
A play used by children, where one being blinded by a handkerchief bound over his eyes, attempts to seize any one of the company, who all endeavour to avoid him; the person caught, must be blinded in his stead.
blink-fencer
A person who sells spectacles.
blinker
A blackened eye.—Norwich. Also a hard blow in the eye. BLINKERS, spectacles.
bloated aristocrat
A street term for any decently dressed person. From the persistent abuse lavished on a "bloated and parasitical aristocracy" by Hyde Park demagogues and a certain unpleasant portion of the weekly press.
blob
(from BLAB), to talk. Beggars are of two kinds—those who SCREEVE (introducing themselves with a FAKEMENT, or false document) and those who BLOB, or state their case in their own truly "unvarnished" language.
block
The head. "To BLOCK a hat," is to knock a man’s hat down over his eyes.—See BONNET. Also a street obstruction.
block houses
Prisons, houses of correction, &c.
block ornaments
The small dark-coloured and sometimes stinking pieces of meat which used to be exposed on the cheap butchers’ blocks or counters; matters of interest to all the sharp-visaged women in poor neighbourhoods. Since the great rise in the price of meat there has been little necessity for butchers to make block ornaments of their odds and ends. They are bespoke beforehand.
blocked at both ends
Finished. The game is blocked at both ends; the game is ended.
bloke
A man; "the BLOKE with the jasey," the man with the wig, i.e., the Judge. Gipsy and Hindoo, LOKE. North, BLOACHER, any large animal.
blood
A riotous disorderly fellow.
blood
A fast or high-mettled man. Nearly obsolete, but much used in George the Fourth’s time.
blood for blood
A term used by tradesmen for bartering the different commodities in which they deal. Thus a hatter furnishing a hosier with a hat, and taking payment in stockings, is said to deal blood for blood.
blood money
The reward given by the legislature on the conviction of highwaymen, burglars, &c.
blood-money
The money that used to be paid to any one who by information or evidence led to a conviction for a capital offence. Nowadays applied to all sums received by informers.
bloody
A favourite word used by the thieves in swearing, as bloody eyes, bloody rascal.