low-water
But little money in pocket, when the finances are at a low ebb.
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.
lowing rig
Stealing oxen or cows.
lubber
An awkward fellow: a name given by sailors to landsmen.
lubber
A clown, or fool.—Ancient Cant, LUBBARE. Among seamen an awkward fellow, a landsman.
lubber’s hole
An aperture in the maintop of a ship, by which a timid climber may avoid the difficulties of the "futtock shrouds;" hence as a sea-term the LUBBER’S HOLE represents any cowardly way of evading duty.
luck
"down on one’s LUCK," wanting money, or in difficulty.
lucky
"to cut one’s LUCKY," to go away quickly. See STRIKE.
ludlam’s dog
An indolent, inactive person is often said to be "as lazy as LUDLAM’S DOG, which leaned its head against the wall to bark." Sailors say "as lazy as Joe the Marine, who laid down his musket to sneeze."
lug
"my togs are in LUG," i.e., in pawn.
lug chovey
A pawnbroker’s shop.
lugs
Ears or wattles. See WATTLES.
luke
Nothing.—North Country Cant.
lully prigger
A rogue who steals wet clothes hung on lines to dry.
lully triggers
Thieves who steal wet linen. Cant.
lumber
Live lumber; soldiers or passengers on board a ship are so called by the sailors.
lumber
To pawn or pledge. Probably from LOMBARD.
lumber house
A house appropriated by thieves for the reception of their stolen property.
lumber troop
A club or society of citizens of London.
lumbered
Pawned; sometimes imprisoned.
lump
Anything exceptionally large, "as a LUMP of a man," "a great LUMP of a fellow," &c.
lump it
To dislike it; "if you don’t like it, you may LUMP IT;" sometimes varied to, "if you don’t like it, you may do the other thing." Probably from the fact that, in bulk or in lump, the good has to be taken with the bad. What you don’t like must be reckoned with the LUMP. To LUMP IT is also to take off at a draught, as medicine or a dram. "He LUMPED IT down at once."
lump of coke
A bloke—vulgar term for a man.
lump work
Work contracted for, or taken by the LUMP.
lumper
A contractor. On the river more especially a person who contracts to deliver a ship laden with timber.
lumpers
Persons who contract to unload ships; also thieves who lurk about wharfs to pilfer goods from ships, lighters, &c.
lumping
Great. A lumping penny worth; a great quantity for the money, a bargain. He has'got a lumping penny-worth; frequently said of a man who marries a fat woman.
lumpy
Intoxicated. Also used to signify enceinte.
lurch
To be left in the lurch; to be abandoned by one's confederates or party, to be left in a scrape.
lurch
A term at the game of cribbage. A is said to LURCH B when the former attains the end, or sixty-first hole, of the board before the latter has pegged his thirty-first hole; or, in more familiar words, before B has turned the corner. A LURCH sometimes, and then only by agreement, counts as a double game or rub.
lurched
Those who lose a game of whist, without scoring five, are said to be lurched.
lurcher
A lurcher of the law; a bum bailiff, or his setter.
lurk
A sham, swindle, or representation of feigned distress. An imposition of any kind is a LURK.
lurker
An impostor who travels the country with false certificates of fires, shipwrecks, &c. Also, termed a SILVER BEGGAR, which see.
lurries
Money, watches, rings, or other moveables.
lush
Intoxicating drinks of all kinds, but generally used for beer. It is generally allowed, as has been stated, that LUSH and its derivatives claim Lushington, the brewer, as sponsor.
lushey
Drunk. The rolling kiddeys hud a spree, and got bloody lushey; the dashing lads went on a party of pleasure, and got very drunk.
lushington
A drunkard, or one who continually soaks himself with lush. Some years since there was a LUSHINGTON CLUB in Bow Street, Covent Garden.
lushy
Intoxicated. Johnson says, "opposite to pale," so red with drink. He must, however, have been wrong, as the foregoing derivation shows.
lylo
Come hither.—Anglo-Chinese.
lynch-law
Summary punishment. From an American judge famous for hanging first and trying afterwards.
l’estrange’s
(Sir Roger) Works (principally translations). V.D.
m. b. coat
(i.e., Mark of the Beast,) a name given to the long surtout worn by some of the clergy,—a modern Puritan form of abuse, said to have been accidentally disclosed to a High Church customer by a tailor’s orders to his foreman.
m.p
Member of the police, one of the slang titles of the Force.
m.t
Railway slang used by porters and pointsmen for empties, or empty carriages. See MOLL THOMSON’S MARK.
mab
A cab, or hackney-coach.
maccaroni
An Italian paste made of flour and eggs. Also a fop: which name arose from a club, called the Maccaroni Club, instituted by some of the most dressy travelled gentlemen about town, who led the fashions; whence a man foppishly dressed, was supposed a member of that club, and by contraction styled a Maccaroni.
mace
To sponge, swindle, or beg, in a polite way: "give it him (a shopkeeper) on the MACE," i.e., obtain goods on credit and never pay for them; also termed "striking the MACE."
mace cove
A swindler, a sharper, a cheat. On the mace; to live by swindling.
maceman
Or MACER, a welcher, magsman, or general swindler; a "street-mugger."
machines
Mrs. Phillips's ware. See CUNDUM.
mackerel
A bawd: from the French maquerel. Mackerel-backed; long-backed.
madam
A kept madam; a kept mistress.
madge
The private parts of a woman.
madza
Half. Italian, MEZZA. This word enters into combination with various cant phrases, mainly taken from the Lingua Franca, as MADZA CAROON, half-a-crown, two-and-sixpence; MADZA SALTEE, a halfpenny [see SALTEE]; MADZA POONA, half-a-sovereign; MADZA ROUND THE BULL, half a pound of steak, &c. This word is, in street phraseology, invariably pronounced MEDZER.
mag
A halfpenny.—Ancient Cant, MAKE. MEGS were formerly guineas.—B. M. Carew. MAKE, the old form, is still used by schoolboys in Scotland. "Not a blessed MAG!" would be the phrase of a cadger down on his luck to express his penniless state.
maggotty
Whimsical, capricious.
maggoty
Fanciful, fidgety. Whims and fancies were formerly termed MAGGOTS, from the popular belief that a maggot in the brain was the cause of any odd notion or caprice a person might exhibit. Deer are sometimes found to have maggots in their brains, which, perhaps, accounts for the origin of the term.
maginn
(Dr.) wrote Slang songs in Blackwood’s Magazine. 1827.
magnum bonum
A bottle containing two quarts of wine. See SCOTCH PINT.
magsman
A street swindler, who watches for countrymen and "gullible" persons, and persuades them out of their possessions. MAGSMEN are wonderful actors. Their work is done in broad daylight, without any stage accessories; and often a wink, a look, or a slip of the tongue would betray their confederacy. Their ability and perseverance are truly worthy of a better cause. MAGSMEN are very often men of superior education.
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