bitter end
to the very end, no matter how unpleasant
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bitter pills may have blessed effects
Unpleasant experiences can have beneficial outcomes
bittock
A distance of very undecided length. If a North countryman be asked the distance to a place, he will most probably reply, "a mile and a BITTOCK." The latter may be considered any distance from one hundred yards to ten miles.
bivvy
Beer.
bivvy
Or GATTER, beer; "shant of BIVVY," a pot or quart of beer. In Suffolk the afternoon refreshment of reapers is called BEVER. It is also an old English term.
biz
Contraction of the word business; a phrase much used in America in writing as well as in conversation.
blab
A tell-tale, or one incapable of keeping a secret
black a-se
A copper or kettle. The pot calls the kettle black a-se. Cant.
Black Agnes
The palfrey of Mary Queen of Scots, given her by her brother Moray, and named after Agnes of Dunbar.
black and blue
A fixed-order word pair (irreversible binomial); full definition pending editorial review.
Black and Tans
Members of the irregular force enlisted in 1920 for service in Ireland as auxiliaries to the Royal Irish Constabulary. So called because their original uniform was the army khaki with the black leather accoutre- ments of the R.
black and white
clear and straightforward
Black Arl
The art practised by conjurors, wizards, and others who professed to have dealings with the devil; so called from the idea that necromancy (<?.v.) was connected with the Lat. niger, black.
black art
The art of picking a lock. Cant.
Black Assize
July 6th, 1 577, when a putrid pestilence broke out at Oxford during the time of assize. The chief baron, the sheriff, and a large number of the Oxford gentry (some accounts say 300) died.
black babies
difficult or unpleasant tasks
Black Bess
The famous mare ridden by the highwayman Dick Turpin, which, tradition says, carried him from London to York.
black book
He is down in the black book, i.e. has a stain in his character. A black book is keep in most regiments, wherein the names of all persons sentenced to punishment are recorded.
Black Book of the Admiralty
An old navy code, said to have been compiled in the reign of Edward III.
Black Book of the Exchequer
An official account of the royal revenues, payments, perquisites, etc., in the reign of Henry II.
black books
To be in my black books. In bad odour; in disgrace; out of favour. A black book is a book recording the names of those who are in disgrace or have merited punishment. Amherst, in his Terrce Filius^ or the Secret History of the Universities of Oxford (1726), speaks of the Proctor's black book, and tells us that no one can proceed to a degree whose name is found there.
Black Brunswickers
A corps of 700 volunteer hussars under the command of Frederick William, Duke of Brunswick, who had been forbidden by Napoleon to succeed to his father's dukedom. They were called "Black" because they wore mourning for the deceased Duke. Frederick William fell at Quatre-Bas, 1815.
black cap
A small square of black cloth. This is worn by a judge when he passes sentence of death on a prisoner; it is part of the judge's full dress, and is also worn on 'November 9th, when the new Lord Mayor takes the oath at the Law Courts.
Black Cattle
Negro slaves. BIRDS, and see BLACK Ox. Black Country, The.
black dark
nighttime.
black day
A day of disaster or misfortune
Black Death
A plague which ravaged Europe in 1348-51; it was a putrid typhus, in which the body rapidly turned black. It reached England in 1349, and is said to have carried off twenty-five millions (one fourth of the population) in Europe alone, while in Asia and Africa the mortality was even greater.
black diamonds
Coals; talented persons of dingy or unpolished exterior; rough jewels.
Black Diamonds
Coals Coals and dia- monds are both forms of carbon. Black Dog. See DOG.
Black Doll
The sign of a marine store shop. The doll was a dummy dressed to indicate that cast-off garments were bought. See DOLLY SHOP.
Black Douglas
Sir William Douglas, lord of Nithsdale, who died about 1392.
black eye
We gave the bottle a black eye, i.e. drank it almost up. He cannot say black is the white of my eye; he cannot point out a blot in my character.
black fly
The greatest drawback on the farmer is the black fly, i.e. the parson who takes tithe of the harvest.
Black Friars
The Dominican friars; so called from their black cloaks.
Black Friday
December 6th, 1745, the day on which the news arrived in London that the Pretender had reached Derby; also May 10th, 1886, when widespread panic was caused by Overend, Gurney and Co., the brokers, suspending payment.
Black Game
Heath-fowl; in contra-dis- tinction to red game, as grouse. The male bird is called a blackcock.
Black Genevan
A black preaching gown, formerly used in many Anglican churches, and still used by Nonconformists. So called from Geneva, where Calvin preached in such a robe.
black gold
Oil, especially crude oil, due to its high value
black guard
A shabby, mean fellow; a term said to be derived from a number of dirty, tattered roguish boys, who attended at the Horse Guards, and Parade in St. James's Park, to black the boots and shoes of the soldiers, or to do any other dirty offices. These, from their constant attendance about the time of guard mounting, were nick-named the black-guards.
Black Hand
A lawless secret society, formerly active in the U.S.A.; most of the members were Italians.
black hat
A hacker who breaks into computers for malicious purposes
Black Horse
The 7th Dragoon Guards, or 'the Princess Royal's Dragoon Guards " Their "facings" are black. Also called Strawboots," "The Blacks.
black in the face
Extremely angry. The face is discoloured with passion or distress.
black indies
Newcastle upon Tyne, whose rich coal mines prove an Indies to the proprietors.
black jack
A nick name given to the Recorder by the Thieves.
black jack
A large leather gotch, or can, lor beer and ale, so called from the outside being tarred.
black joke
A popular tune to a song, having for the burden, "Her black joke and belly so white:" figuratively the black joke signifies the monosyllable. See MONOSYLLABLE.
black letter
The Gothic or German type which, in the early days of printing, was the type in commonest use. The term came into use about 1600, because of its heavy, black appearance in comparison with roman type.
black letter day
An unlucky day; one to be recalled with regret. m The Romans marked their unlucky days with a piece of black charcoal, and their lucky ones with white chalk, but the allusion here is to the old liturgical calendars in which the saints' days and festivals are distinguished by being printed in red.
black lie
A deliberate and harmful falsehood
black list
A list of persons in disgrace, or who have incurred censure or punishment; a list of bankrupts for the private guidance of the mercantile community. See BLACK BOOKS.
Black Maria
The van which conveys prisoners from the police courts to jail. There is an unsupported tradition that the term originated in America. Maria Lee, a negress of great size and strength, kept a sailors' boarding house in Boston, and when constables required help it was a common thing to send for "Black Maria," who soon collared the refractory and led them to the lock-up.
black mark
A negative comment or criticism
black market
Illicit trade of goods or services
black market
A phrase that came into use during World War II, to describe illicit dealing in rationed goods.
Black Mass
This is the name given to the sacrilegious mass said by diabolists in which the Devil was invoked in place of God and various obscene rites performed in ridicule of the proper ceremony.
black monday
The first Monday after the school-boys holidays, or breaking up, when they are to go to school, and produce or repeat the tasks set them.
Black Monday
Easter Monday, April 14th, 1360, was so called. Edward III was with his army lying before Paris, and the day was so dark, with mist and hail, so bitterly cold and so windy, that many of his horses and men died. Monday after Easter holidays is called "Black Monday," in allusion to this fatal day.
black or white
Completely one way or the other, with no middle ground
black out
to lose consciousness or memory
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