helter skelter
To run helter skelter, hand over head, in defiance of order.
English · UK & Ireland 17968
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Expressions you’ll hear in Britain and Ireland — distinctly British usage first, then widespread staples.
helter-skelter
Anyhow, without regard to order or precedence.
hemp
Young hemp; an appellation for a graceless boy.
hempen cravat
The hangman’s noose.
hempen fever
A man who was hanged is said to have died of a hempen fever; and, in Dorsetshire, to have been stabbed with a Bridport dagger; Bridport being a place famous for manufacturing hemp into cords.
hempen widow
One whose husband was hanged.
hen
A woman. A cock and hen club; a club composed of men and women.
hen and chickens
Large and small pewter pots.
hen house
A house where the woman rules; called also a SHE HOUSE, and HEN FRIGATE: the latter a sea phrase, originally applied to a ship, the captain of which had his wife on board, supposed to command him.
hen-pecked
Said of one whose wife "wears the breeches." From the action of the hen in paired cage-birds.
henley’s
(John, better known as ORATOR HENLEY) Various Sermons and Orations. 1719-53.
henpecked
A husband governed by his wife, is said to be henpecked.
here and thereian
One who has no settled place of residence.
herring
The devil a barrel the better herring; all equally bad.
herring gutted
Thin, as a shotten herring.
herring pond
The sea. To cross the herring pond at the king's expence; to be transported.
herring-pond
The sea; "to be sent across the HERRING-POND," to be transported.
hertfordshire kindness
Drinking twice to the same person.
hick
A country hick; an ignorant clown. CANT.
hickenbothom
Mr. Hickenbothom; a ludicrous name for an unknown person, similar to that of Mr. Thingambob. Hickenbothom, i.e. a corruption of the German word ickenbaum, i.e. oak tree.
hickey
Tipsey; quasi, hickupping.
hide and seek
a game where one person hides and others try to find them
hidebound
Stingy, hard of delivery; a poet poor in invention, is said to have a hidebound muse.
hiding
A thrashing. Webster gives this word, but not its root, HIDE, to beat, to flay by whipping. Most likely from the part attacked. The threat of thrashing is sometimes conveyed thus:—"I’ll tan (or dress) your HIDE."
higgledy-piggledy
Confusedly, all together,—as pigs lie.
high and dry
Left in a difficult or precarious situation
high church
Term used in contradistinction from "Low Church."
high eating
To eat skylarks in a garret.
high jinks
A gambler at dice, who, having a strong head, drinks to intoxicate his adversary, or pigeon.
high living
Luxurious and extravagant lifestyle
high ropes
To be on the high ropes; to be in a passion.
high water
It is high water, with him; he is full of money.
high-flier
Anything above the common order. Apt students, fast coaches, and special trains are sufficient instances of the extreme openness of the qualification.
high-fly
"ON THE HIGH-FLY," on the genteel or letter-bearing begging system.
high-flyer
A genteel beggar or swindler. A begging-letter impostor.
high-lows
Laced boots reaching a trifle higher than ankle-jacks.
high-strikes
Corruption of Hysterics.
highfalutin’
Showy, affected, tinselled, affecting certain pompous or fashionable airs, stuck up; "come, none of yer HIGHFALUTIN’ games," i.e., you must not show off or imitate the swell here.—American slang, now common in Liverpool and the East-end of London. From the Dutch, VERLOOTEN. Used generally now in the sense of fustian, high-sounding, unmeaning eloquence, bombast.
hike
To hike off; to run away. CANT.
hind leg
To kick out a hind leg; to make a rustic bow.
hinney, my honey
A north country hinney, particularly a Northumbrian: in that county, hinney is the general term of endearment.
hipped
Bored, offended, crossed, low-spirited, &c. This may have been originally hypped, and have had some connexion with hypochondriacal affections.
hitched
An Americanism for married. From the word HITCH, used in America in the sense of to harness.
hittite
A facetious sporting term for a prize-fighter. Derived from the Bible.
hivite
A student of St. Begh’s College, Cumberland, which is pronounced and generally written St. Bee’s. Literally, Hive-ite.
hoax
To deceive, or ridicule,—Grose says this was originally a University cant word. Corruption of HOCUS, to cheat.
hoaxing
Bantering, ridiculing. Hoaxing a quiz; joking an odd fellow. UNIVERSITY WIT.
hob and nob
To act in concert with another; to lay "heads together;" to touch glasses in drinking; to fraternize in a convivial meeting or merry-making. Originally meaning "foot and head,"—the touching of the top of one glass with the bottom of another, and then reversing the order. Nowadays it means simply to clink glasses together as a salutation before imbibing.
hob collingwood
According to Brockett, a north country term for the four of hearts, considered an unlucky card.
hobbadehoy
A youth who has ceased to regard himself as a boy, and is not yet regarded as a man.
hobberdehoy
Half a man and half a boy, a lad between both.
hobble
Trouble of any kind. A man is said to be in a HOBBLE when he has offended the proprieties in any way, "from pitch and toss to manslaughter."
hobbled
Impeded, interrupted, puzzled. To hobble; to walk lamely.
hobbled
Committed for trial; properly said of animals fed by the wayside, with their forelegs fastened together. Hence people who gather burdens about them are said to get into HOBBLES.
hobbledygee
A pace between a walk and a run, a dog-trot.
hobby
Sir Posthumous's hobby; one nice or whimsical in his clothes.
hobby horse
A man's favourite amusement, or study, is called his hobby horse. It also means a particular kind of small Irish horse: and also a wooden one, such as is given to children.
hobby horsical
A man who is a great keeper or rider of hobby horses; one that is apt to be strongly attached to his systems of amusement.
hobnail
A country clodhopper: from the shoes of country farmers and ploughmen being commonly stuck full of hob-nails, and even often clouted, or tipped with iron. The Devil ran over his face with hobnails in his shoes; said of one pitted With the small pox.
hobson's choice
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
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