knock about the bub
To hand or pass about the drink. BUB is a very old cant term for drink.
English · UK & Ireland 17968
All languages English Tiếng Việt
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.
knock me down
Strong ale or beer, stingo.
knock off
To halt one's work or other activity.
knock out
to defeat or overwhelm someone
knock-down
Or KNOCK-ME-DOWN, strong ale.
knock-it-down
To show, in the "free and easy" style, approval of a song or toast, by hammering with pot or glass on the table.
knock-’em-downs
The game of skittles.
knocked-up
Tired, jaded, used up, done for. In the United States, amongst females, the phrase is equivalent to being enceinte, so that Englishmen often unconsciously commit themselves when amongst our Yankee cousins.
knocker
"up to the KNOCKER," means finely or showily dressed, in the height of fashion; proficient, equal to the task.
knocker-face
An ugly face, i.e., like an old-fashioned door-knocker.
knocking-in
Coming into college after time. A habit of KNOCKING-IN late generally leads to some unpleasantness.—Oxford University.
knocking-out
All visitors, on leaving a college after time, have to state in whose rooms they have been, that his gate-bill may be scored up for them. When a rackety party takes place, the visitors, or "out college men," are generally supplied with a list of the names of the quietest men in college, so that the whereabouts of the party may not be betrayed.—Oxford University.
knot
A crew, gang, or fraternity. He has tied a knot with his tongue, that he cannot untie with his teeth: i.e. he is married.
knowing
Sharp, shrewd, artful; "a KNOWING codger," or "a KNOWING blade," one who can take you in, or cheat you, in any transaction you may have with him. It implies also deep cunning and foresight, and generally signifies dishonesty.
knowing ones
Sportsmen on the turf, who from experience and an acquaintance with the jockies, are supposed to be in the secret, that is, to know the true merits or powers of each horse; notwithstanding which it often happens that the knowing ones are taken in.
knowledge-box
The head.—Pugilistic.
knuckle
To fight with fists, to pommel.
knuckle-duster
A large, heavy, or over-gaudy ring; a ring which attracts attention from its size.
knuckles
Pickpockets who attend the avenues to public places to steal pocket-books, watches, &c. a superior kind of pickpockets. To knuckle to, to submit.
knuller
Old term for a chimney-sweep, who solicited jobs by ringing a bell. From the Saxon, CNYLLAN, to knell, or sound a bell. See QUERIER.
konoblin rig
Stealing large pieces of coal from coalsheds.
kootee
A house.—Anglo-Indian.
kotoo
To bow down before, to cringe, to flatter. From a Chinese ceremony.
kudos
Praise; KUDIZED, praised. Greek, κύδος.—University.
kypsey
A basket. A term generally used by gipsies.
la!
A euphuistic rendering of LORD! common amongst females and very precise persons; imagined by many to be a corruption of LOOK! but this is a mistake. Sometimes pronounced LAW, or LAWKS.
lac
One hundred thousand.—Anglo-Indian.
laced
Strengthened with ardent spirits. Tea or coffee in which brandy is poured is said to be LACED.
lacing
Beating. I'll lace your jacket handsomely.
lacing
A beating. From the phrase, "I’ll lace your jacket."—L’Estrange. Perhaps to give a beating with a lace or lash. Perhaps, also, a figurative phrase for ornamenting the article in question with stripes.
ladder
To go up the ladder to rest; to be hanged.
ladder
"can’t see a hole in a LADDER," said of any one who is intoxicated. It was once said that a man was never properly drunk until he could not lie down without holding, could not see a hole through a LADDER, or went to the pump to light his pipe.
ladies’ mile
That part of Hyde Park where the feminine beauty, rank, and fashion most do congregate during the airing hours of the London season.
lady
A crooked or hump-backed woman.
lady of easy virtue
A woman of the town, an impure, a prostitute.
ladybirds
Light or lewd women.
lag
A man transported. The cove was lagged for a drag. The man was transported for stealing something out of a waggon.
lag
A returned transport, or ticket-of-leave convict.
lag fever
A term of ridicule applied to men who being under sentence of transportation, pretend illness, to avoid being sent from gaol to the hulks.
lagged
Imprisoned, apprehended, or transported for a crime. From the Old Norse, LAGDA, "laid,"—laid by the leg.
lagger
A sailor. Also, one who gives evidence; an informer.
lagging gage
A chamber-pot.—Ancient Cant.
lamb's wool
Apples roasted and put into strong ale.
lambasting
A beating. Perhaps LUMB-BASTING, from the lumbar-regions.
lambskin men
The judges: from their robes lined and bordered with ermine.
lamming
A beating.—Old English, LAM; used by Beaumont and Fletcher. Not as Sir Walter Scott supposed, from one Dr. Lamb, but from the Old Norse, LAM, the hand; also, Gaelic.
lamp
An eye. The cove has a queer lamp. The man has a blind or squinting eye.
land
How lies the land? How stands the reckoning? Who has any land in Appleby? a question asked the man at whose door the glass stands long, or who does not circulate it in due time.
land-lubber
Sea term for "a landsman." See LOAFER.
land-shark
A sailor’s definition of a lawyer.
lane
A familiar term for Drury Lane Theatre, just as Covent Garden Theatre is constantly spoken of as "the Garden."
lank sleeve
The empty sleeve of a one armed man. A fellow with a lank sleeve; a man who has lost an arm.
lansprisado
One who has only two-pence in his pocket. Also a lance, or deputy corporal; that is, one doing the duty without the pay of a corporal. Formerly a lancier, or horseman, who being dismounted by the death of his horse, served in the foot, by the title of lansprisado, or lancepesato, a broken lance.
lanthorn-jawed
Thin-visaged: from their cheeks being almost transparent. Or else, lenten jawed; i.e. having the jaws of one emaciated by a too rigid observation of Lent. Dark lanthorn; a servant or agent at court, who receives a bribe for his principal or master.
lap
Butter-milk or whey. CANT.
lap
Liquor, drink. LAP is the term invariably used in the ballet girls’ dressing-room for gin.
lark
A piece of merriment. People playing together jocosely.
lark
A frolic, a joke; "let’s have a jolly good LARK," let us have a piece of fun.—Anglo-Saxon, LAC, sport; but more probably from the nautical term SKYLARKING, i.e., mounting to the highest yards and sliding down the ropes for amusement, which is allowed on certain occasions.
larrence
An imaginary being, supposed by the Scottish peasantry to have power over indolent persons. Hence laziness is often called LARRENCE.
larruping
A good beating or hiding.—Irish.
Advertisement
Ad space — ads help keep Idiomer free. Premium will remove them.