barking irons
Pistols, from their explosion resembling the bow-wow or barking of a dog. IRISH.
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.
barking-iron
Or BARKER, a pistol. Term used by footpads and thieves generally.
barkshire
A member or candidate for Barkshire, said of one troubled with a cough, vulgarly styled barking.
barn
A parson's barn; never so full but there is still room, for more. Bit by a barn mouse, tipsey, probably from an allusion to barley.
barn stormers
Theatrical performers who travel the country and act in barns, selecting short and tragic pieces to suit the rustic taste.
barnaby
An old dance to a quick movement. See Cotton, in his Virgil Travesti; where, speaking of Eolus he has these lines,
barnacle
A good job, or snack easily got: also shellfish growing at the bottoms of ships; a bird of the goose kind; an instrument like a pair of pincers, to fix on the noses of vicious horses whilst shoeing; a nick name for spectacles, and also for the gratuity given to grooms by the buyers and sellers of horses.
barnacles
Spectacles; possibly a corruption of binoculi; but derived by some from the barnacle (Lepas Anatifera), a kind of conical shell adhering to ships’ bottoms. Hence a marine term for goggles, which they resemble in shape, and for which they are used by sailors in case of ophthalmic derangement.
barney
An unfair race of any kind: a sell or cross. Also a lark, jollification, or outing. The word BARNEY is sometimes applied to a swindle unconnected with the sporting world.
barrel fever
He died of the barrel fever; he killed himself by drinking.
barrikin
Jargon, speech, or discourse; "We can’t tumble to that BARRIKIN," i.e., we don’t understand what he says. "Cheese your BARRIKIN," shut up. Miege calls it "a sort of stuff;" Old French, BARACAN.
barrow man
A man under sentence of transportation; alluding to the convicts at Woolwich, who are principally employed in wheeling barrows full of brick or dirt.
bartholomew baby
A person dressed up in a tawdry manner, like the dolls or babies sold at Bartholomew fair.
bartlett’s
Dictionary of Americanisms; a Glossary of Words and Phrases colloquially used in the United States, 8vo. New York, 1859.
bash
To beat, thrash; "BASHING a dona," beating a woman; originally a provincial word, applied to the practice of beating walnut trees, when in bud, with long poles, to increase their productiveness. Hence the West country proverb—
basket
An exclamation frequently made use of in cock-pits, at cock-fightings, where persons refusing or unable to pay their losings, are adjudged by that respectable assembly to be put into a basket suspended over the pit, there to remain during that day's diversion: on the least demur to pay a bet, Basket is vociferated in terrorem. He grins like a basket of chips: a saying of one who is on the broad grin.
basket-making
The good old trade of basket-making; copulation, or making feet for children's stockings.
bastard
The child of an unmarried woman.
bastardly gullion
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
baste
To beat, properly to pour gravy on roasting meat to keep it from burning, and add to its flavour. Also a sewing term.
bastile
The workhouse. General name for "the Union" amongst the lower orders of the North. Formerly used to denote a prison, or "lock-up;" but its abbreviated form, STEEL, is now the favourite expression with the dangerous classes, some of whom have never heard of BASTILE, familiar as they are with "steel."
bastonading
Beating any one with a stick; from baton, a stick, formerly spelt baston.
bat
A low whore: so called from moving out like bats in the dusk of the evening.
bat
"on his own BAT," on his own account. Evident modification of the cricket term, "off his own bat," though not connected therewith.—See HOOK.
batch
We had a pretty batch of it last night; we had a hearty dose of liquor. Batch originally means the whole quantity of bread baked at one time in an oven.
batchelor's fare
Bread and cheese and kisses.
bats
A pair of bad boots.
battells
The weekly bills at Oxford. Probably originally wooden tallies, and so a diminutive of bâton.—University.
batter
Wear and tear; "can’t stand the BATTER," i.e., not equal to the task; "on the BATTER," "on the streets," "on the town," or given up to roystering and debauchery.
battle of the nile
A tile—vulgar term for a hat. "Cool his BATTLE, Bill."
battle-royal
A battle or bout at cudgels or fisty-cuffs, wherein more than two persons are engaged: perhaps from its resemblance, in that particular, to more serious engagements fought to settle royal disputes.
battner
An ox: beef being apt to batten or fatten those that eat it. The cove has hushed the battner; i.e. has killed the ox.
batty
Wages, perquisites. Derived from BATTA, an extra pay given to soldiers while serving in India.
batty-fang
To beat; BATTY-FANGING, a beating; also BATTER-FANG. Used metaphorically as early as 1630.
bawbee
A halfpenny. Scotch.
bawdy basket
The twenty-third rank of canters, who carry pins, tape, ballads, and obscene books to sell, but live mostly by stealing. Cant.
be-argered
Drunk. (The word is divided here simply to convey the pronunciation.)
be-blowed
A derisive instruction never carried into effect, as, "You BE-BLOWED." Used similarly to the old "Go to." See BLOW ME.
beach-comber
A fellow who prowls about the sea-shore to plunder wrecks, and pick up waifs and strays of any kind.—Sea.
beak
A justice of-peace, or magistrate. Also a judge or chairman who presides in court. I clapp'd my peepers full of tears, and so the old beak set me free; I began to weep, and the judge set me free.
beak
Originally a magistrate, judge, or policeman; now a magistrate only; "to baffle the BEAK," to get remanded. Ancient Cant, BECK. Saxon, BEAG, a necklace or gold collar—emblem of authority. Sir John Fielding was called the BLIND-BEAK in the last century. Maybe connected with the Italian BECCO, which means a (bird’s) beak, and also a blockhead.—See WALKER.
beaker-hunter
Or BEAK-HUNTER, a stealer of poultry.
bean
A guinea. Half bean; half a guinea.
beans
Money; "a haddock of BEANS," a purse of money; formerly, BEAN meant a guinea; French, BIENS, property.
bear
One who contracts to deliver a certain quantity of sum of stock in the public funds, on a future day, and at stated price; or, in other words, sells what he has not got, like the huntsman in the fable, who sold the bear's skin before the bear was killed. As the bear sells the stock he is not possessed of, so the bull purchases what he has not money to pay for; but in case of any alteration in the price agreed on, either party pays or receives the difference. Exchange Alley.
bear
One who contracts to deliver or sell a certain quantity of stock in the public funds on a forthcoming day at a stated place, but who does not possess it, trusting to a decline in public securities to enable him to fulfil the agreement and realize a profit.—See BULL. Both words are slang terms on the Stock Exchange, and are frequently used in the business columns of newspapers.
bear-leader
A tutor in a private family. In the old days of the "grand tour" the term was much more in use and of course more significant than it is now.
bear-up
And ~Bearer-up~.—See BONNET.
beard splitter
A man much given to wenching.
bearings
I'll bring him to his bearings; I'll bring him to reason. Sea term.
beast
To drink like a beast, i.e. only when thirsty.
beast with two backs
A couple engaged in intimate physical activity
beat
The allotted range traversed by a policeman on duty.
beater-cases
Boots. Nearly obsolete. TROTTER CASES is the term nowadays.
beau trap
A loose stone in a pavement, under which water lodges, and on being trod upon, squirts it up, to the great damage of white stockings; also a sharper neatly dressed, lying in wait for raw country squires, or ignorant fops.
beau-nasty
A slovenly fop; one finely dressed, but dirty.
beaumont and fletcher’s
Comedy of The Beggar’s Bush, 4to, 1661.
beaver
Old street term for a hat; GOSS is the modern word, BEAVER, except in the country, having fallen into disuse.
bebee
A lady.—Anglo-Indian.
becalmed
A piece of sea wit, sported in hot weather. I am becalmed, the sail sticks to the mast; that is, my shirt sticks to my back. His prad is becalmed; his horse knocked up.