pump water
He was christened in pump water; commonly said of a person that has a red face.
English · UK & Ireland 17968
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Expressions you’ll hear in Britain and Ireland — distinctly British usage first, then widespread staples.
punch
A liquor called by foreigners Contradiction, from its being composed of spirits to make it strong, water to make it weak, lemon juice to make it sour, and sugar to make it sweet. Punch is also the name of the prince of puppets, the chief wit and support of a puppet-show. To punch it, is a cant term for running away. Punchable; old passable money, anno 1695. A girl that is ripe for man is called a punchable wench. Cobler's Punch. Urine with a cinder in it.
punch
Or the London Charivari.
pundit
A person who assumes to be very grave and learned.—Anglo-Indian.
punk
A whore; also a soldier's trull. See TRULL.
punkah
A fan, usually a fan of very large size, worked with a string, and used to ventilate rooms.—Anglo-Indian.
punt
To gamble; PUNTING-SHOP, a gambling-house. Common in ancient writers, but now disused. The word seems confined to playing for "chicken stakes." PUNT means now in the sporting world to back horses for small stakes.
punter
A small professional backer of horses.
puny
Weak. A puny child; a weak little child. A puny stomach; a weak stomach. Puny, or puisne judge; the last made judge.
pup and ringer
I.e., the "Dog and Bell," the sign of a flash public-house.
pupil mongers
Persons at the universities who make it their business to instruct and superintend a number of pupils.
puppy
An affected or conceited coxcomb.
purdah
A curtain.—Anglo-Indian.
pure finders
Street-collectors of dogs’ dung.—Humorous.
purl
Ale in which wormwood has been infused, or ale and bitters drunk warm.
purl
To spill; PURLED is a hunting and steeplechasing term synonymous with "foaled," or "spilt" (thrown); "he’ll get PURLED at the rails."
purl royal
Canary wine; with a dash of tincture of wormwood.
purler
A heavy fall from a horse in the hunting or steeplechasing field.
purse proud
One that is vain of his riches.
pursenets
Goods taken up at thrice their value, by young spendthrifts, upon trust.
purser's pump
A bassoon: from its likeness to a syphon, called a purser's pump.
push
A robbery or swindle. "I’m in this PUSH," the notice given by one magsman to another that he means to "stand in."
pushing school
A brothel.
pussey-cats
Corruption of Puseyites, a name constantly, but improperly, given to the Tractarian party in the Church, from the Oxford Regius Professor of Hebrew, who by no means approved of the Romanizing tendencies of some of its leaders. The name still sticks, however, to this day.
put
A country put; an ignorant awkward clown. To put upon any one; to attempt to impose on him, or to make him the but of the company.
put
A game at cards, once fashionable, but now played among thieves and costermongers only.
put on
To promise another money or valuables in the event of an anticipated success. "You’re ON a quid if Kaiser wins," might often have been heard before last St. Leger. Many hangers-on of the turf live almost entirely by what they are PUT ON, by bookmakers and backers for whom they do odd work.
put that in your pipe and smoke it
Accept that fact or decision
put up
To suggest, to incite, "he PUT me UP to it;" he prompted me to do it. PUT UP, to stop at an hotel or a tavern for entertainment.
put upon
Cheated, victimized, oppressed.
puttun
Regiment.—Anglo-Indian.
puzzle-cause
A lawyer who has a confused understanding.
puzzle-text
An ignorant blundering parson.
pyah
Weak, useless, paltry. This word, much in use among sailors, is evidently derived from the Indian term PARIAH, signifying the lowest caste of Hindoos. Thus the Pariah dogs in India are termed PYAH dogs; and the Pariah descendants of the old Portuguese settlers are called PYAH Portuguese. Sailors term the natives of St. Helena—a wretched-looking set of individuals—PYAH Englishmen.
pygostole
The least irreverent of names for the peculiar M. B. coats worn by Tractarian curates:—
pyjands
A kind of drawers or loose pantaloons.—Anglo-Indian.
quack
An ungraduated ignorant pretender to skill in physic, a vender of nostrums.
quack-salver
A mountebank: a seller of salves.
quag
Abbreviation of quagmire; marshy moorish around.
quail-pipe
A woman's tongue; also a device to take birds of that name by imitating their call. Quail pipe boots; boots resembling a quail pipe, from the number of plaits; they were much worn in the reign of Charles II.
quaker
A lump of excrement.
quakers
A religious sect so called from their agitations in preaching.
quality
Gentry, the upper classes.
quandary
To be in a quandary: to be puzzled. Also one so over-gorged, as to be doubtful which he should do first, sh--e or spew. Some derive the term quandary from the French phrase qu'en dirai je? what shall I say of it? others from an Italian word signifying a conjuror's circle.
quandary
Described in the dictionaries as a "low word," may fittingly be given here. It illustrates, like "hocus-pocus," and other compound colloquialisms, the singular origin of slang expressions. QUANDARY, a dilemma, a doubt, a difficulty, is from the French, QU’EN DIRAI-JE?—Skinner.
quarrel-picker
A glazier: from the small squares in casements, called CARREUX, vulgarly quarrels.
quartered
Divided into four parts; to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, is the sentence on traitors and rebels. Persons receiving part of the salary of an office from the holder of it, by virtue of an agreement with the donor, are said to be quartered on him. Soldiers billetted on a publican are likewise said to be quartered on him.
quartereen
A farthing.—Gibraltar term. Italian, QUATTRINO.
quean
A slut, or worthless woman, a strumpet.
quean
A strumpet. In Scotland, a lower-class woman. Saxon, CWEAN, a barren old cow.
queen dick
To the tune of the life and death of Queen Dick. That happened in the reign of Queen Dick; i.e., never.
queen street
A mart governed by his wife, is said to live in Queen street, or at the sign of the Queen's Head.
queen’s tobacco-pipe
The kiln in which all contraband tobacco seized by the Custom-house officers is burned.
queer
An old cant word, once in continual use as a prefix, signifying base, roguish, or worthless,—the opposite of RUM, which signified good and genuine. QUEER, in all probability, is immediately derived from the cant language.
queer as dick's hatband
Out of order, without knowing one's disease.
queer bail
Insolvent sharpers, who make a profession of bailing persons arrested: they are generally styled Jew bail, from that branch of business being chiefly carried on by the sons of Judah. The lowest sort of these, who borrow or hire clothes to appear in, are called Mounters, from their mounting particular dresses suitable to the occasion. CANT.
queer birds
Rogues relieved from prison, and returned to their old trade.
queer bitch
An odd, out-of-the-way fellow.
queer bluffer
The master of a public-house the resort of rogues and sharpers, a cut-throat inn or alehouse keeper.
queer checkers
Among strolling players, door-keepers who defraud the company, by falsely checking the number of people in the house.
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