cling-rig
Stealing tankards from public-houses, &c.
English · UK & Ireland 17968
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Expressions you’ll hear in Britain and Ireland — distinctly British usage first, then widespread staples.
clink
A place in the Borough of Southwark, formerly privileged from arrests; and inhabited by lawless vagabonds of every denomination, called, from the place of their residence, clinkers. Also a gaol, from the clinking of the prisoners' chains or fetters: he is gone to clink.
clinkers
A kind of small Dutch bricks; also irons worn by prisoners; a crafty fellow.
clipper
A fine fast-sailing vessel. Applied also as a term of encomium to a handsome woman.
clipping
Excellent, very good. CLIPPER, anything showy or first-rate.
cloak twitchers
Rogues who lurk about the entrances into dark alleys, and bye-lanes, to snatch cloaks from the shoulders of passengers.
clock
A watch. Watches are also distinguished by the terms "red clock," a gold watch, and "white clock," a silver watch. Generally modified into "red’un" and "white’un."
clod hopper
A country farmer, or ploughman.
clod pate
A dull, heavy booby.
close
As close as God's curse to a whore's a-se: close as shirt and shitten a-se.
closh
A general name given by the mobility to Dutch seamen, being a corruption of CLAUS, the abbreviation of Nicholas, a name very common among the men of that nation.
cloth market
He is just come from the cloth market, i.e. from between the sheets, he is just risen from bed.
cloud
Tobacco. Under a cloud; in adversity.
cloud
TO BE UNDER A, to be in difficulties, disgrace or disrepute; in fact, to be in shady circumstances.
clout
A blow. I'll give you a clout on your jolly nob; I'll give you a blow on your head. It also means a handkerchief. CANT. Any pocket handkerchief except a silk one.
clout
Or RAG, a cotton pocket-handkerchief.—Old Cant. Now "clouts" means a woman’s under-clothes, from the waist downwards, i.e., petticoats when they are on the person; but the term is extended to mean the whole unworn wardrobe. Probably St. Giles’s satire, having reference to the fact that few women there possess a second gown.
clouted shoon
Shoes tipped with iron.
clouting lay
Picking pockets of handkerchiefs.
cloven foot
To spy the cloven foot in any business; to discover some roguery or something bad in it: a saying that alludes to a piece of vulgar superstition, which is, that, let the Devil transform himself into what shape he will, he cannot hide his cloven foot
clover
To be, or live, in clover; to live luxuriously. Clover is the most desirable food for cattle.
clover
Happiness, luck, a delightful position—from the supposed extra enjoyment which attends cattle when they suddenly find their quarters changed from a barren field to a meadow of clover.
cloves
Thieves, robbers, &c.
cloy
To steal. To cloy the clout; to steal the handkerchief. To cloy the lour; to steal money. CANT.
club
A meeting or association, where each man is to spend an equal and stated sum, called his club.
club
In manœuvring troops, so to blunder in giving the word of command that the soldiers get into a position from which they cannot extricate themselves by ordinary tactical means. Young officers frequently "CLUB" their men, and get consequently "wigged" by the inspecting general.
club law
Argumentum bacculinum, in which an oaken stick is a better plea than an act of parliament.
clump
A lump. Clumpish; lumpish, stupid.
clump
To strike, to beat.—Prov.
clunch
An awkward clownish fellow.
clutches
Hands, gripe, power.
clutter
A stir, noise, or racket: what a confounded clutter here is!
cly
Money; also a pocket. He has filed the cly; he has picked a pocket. CANT.
cly
A pocket.—Old Cant for to steal. A correspondent derives this word from the Old English, CLEYES, claws; Anglo-Saxon, CLEA. This pronunciation is still retained in Norfolk; thus, to CLY would mean to pounce upon, to snatch.—See FRISK. Gael., CLIAH (pronounced CLEE), a basket.
clyster pipe
A nick name for an apothecary.
coach
A private tutor. Originally University, but now general. Any man who now trains or teaches another, or others, is called a coach. To coach is to instruct as regards either physical or mental acquirements. A private tutor is sometimes termed a RURAL COACH when he is not connected with a college. At Rugby a flogging is termed a "coaching."
coach wheel
A half crown piece is a fore coach wheel, and a crown piece a hind coach wheel; the fore wheels of a coach being less than the hind ones.
coach-wheel
Or TUSHEROON, a crown-piece, or five shillings.
coal
Money; "post the COAL," put down the money. The phrase was used by Mr. Buckstone at the Theatrical Fund Dinner of 1863. From this is derived the theatrical term COALING, profitable, very good, which an actor will use if his part is full of good and telling speeches—thus, "my part is full of COALING lines." This term was used in the sporting world long anterior to Mr. Buckstone’s speech. See COAL.
coals
"to haul (or pull) over the COALS," to take to task, to scold. Supposed by Jamieson to refer to the ordeal by fire. To "take one’s coals in," is a term used by sailors to express their having caught the venereal disease. It means that they have gotten that which will keep them hot for a good many months.
cobbing
A punishment inflicted by sailors and soldiers among themselves. See Grose and Captain Marryat’s novels. A hand-saw is the general instrument of punishment.
cobbler
A mender of shoes, an improver of the understandings of his customers; a translator.
cobblers punch
Treacle, vinegar, gin, and water.
cock
A familiar term of address; "jolly old COCK," a jovial fellow, "how are you, old COCK?" Frequently rendered nowadays, COCK-E-E, a vulgar street salutation—probably a corruption of COCK-EYE. The latter is frequently heard as a shout or street cry after a man or boy.
cock ale
A provocative drink.
cock and a bull story
A roundabout story, without head or tail, i.e. beginning or ending.
cock and bull story
A long, rambling anecdote.—See Peroration to Tristram Shandy.
cock bawd
A male keeper of a bawdy-house.
cock of the company
A weak man, who from the desire of being the head of the company associates with low people, and pays all the reckoning.
cock one's toes
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
cock pimp
The supposed husband of a bawd.
cock robin
A soft, easy fellow.
cock your eye
Shut one eye: thus translated into apothecaries Latin.--Gallus tuus ego.
cock-a-hoop
In high spirits. Possibly the idea is from the fact that, if a cock wins a fight, he will mount on anything near, and crow lustily and jubilantly. It is noticeable that under these circumstances a cock always gets off the ground-level if he can.
cock-a-wax
An amplification of the simple term COCK, sometimes "Lad of WAX," originally applied to a cobbler, but now general.
cock-a-whoop
Elevated, in high-spirits, transported with joy.
cock-and-hen-club
A free and easy gathering, or "sing-song," where females are admitted as well as males.
cock-and-pinch
The old-fashioned beaver hat, affected by "swells" and "sporting gents" forty years ago—COCKED back and front, and PINCHED up at the sides.
cock-eye
A term of opprobrium often applied to one that squints.
cock-sure
Certain: a metaphor borrowed front the cock of a firelock, as being much more certain to fire than the match.
cockalorum
Or COCKYLORUM, amplification of cock or cocky.
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