basket-making
The good old trade of basket-making; copulation, or making feet for children's stockings.
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basques toberac
A ceremony which takes place after sunset, when the performers, to show their indignation against some man or woman who has outraged propriety, assemble before the house, and make an appalling din with bells, horns, tin pans, and other noisy instruments.
bassy
A knife.
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.
bat a thousand
to succeed perfectly in every attempt
bat an eyelid
remain completely calm and unemotional
bat around
To have each of a team's batting line-up positions complete an at-bat in the same half-inning.
bat five hundred
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
bat for the other team
to be homosexual, typically when it is not openly acknowledged
bat of an eye
very quickly, almost instantly
bat one's eyes
to flirt or show attraction by blinking or moving one's eyes
bat the breeze
to chat casually and pointlessly
Bat-cat Club
A club formed about the beginning of the 18th century by the leading Whigs of the day, and held in the house of Christopher Catt, a pastrycook of Shire Lane, which used to run north from Temple Bar to Carey Street (its site is now covered by the Law Courts). Christopher Catt's mutton pies, which were eaten at the club, were also called kit- cats, and in the Spectator (No. IX) we are told that it was from these the club got its name.
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.
bate an ace
to do something exceptionally well
bath brick
Alluvial matter compressed to the form of a brick, and used for cleaning knives, polishing metals, etc. It is made at Bridgwater, the material being dredged from the river Parrett, which runs through Bridg- water.
bath bun
The Sun.
bath chair
A chair mounted on wheels and used for invalids. First used at Bath, which for long has been frequented by in- valids on account of its hot springs.
Bath Oliver
A special kind of biscuit in- vented by Dr. William Oliver (1695-1764), physician to the Bath Mineral Water Hospital, and an authority on gout.
bath post
A letter paper with a highly glazed surface, used by the ultra-fashionable visitors of Bath when that watering-place was at its prime. See POST-PAPER.
bath stone
A limestone used for building, and f9und in the Lower Oolite, near Bath. It is easily wrought in the quarry but hardens on •exposure to the air.
bathroom singer
Someone who sings well in private but not in public
Batman and Robin
A fixed-order word pair (irreversible binomial); full definition pending editorial review.
bats
A pair of bad boots.
battells
The weekly bills at Oxford. Probably originally wooden tallies, and so a diminutive of bâton.—University.
batten down
To close or make watertight, referring to hatches and cargo.
batten down the hatches
Prepare for a difficult or challenging situation
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.
battery acid
Coffee.
battle bowler
This was a nickname given in World War I to the steel helmet or "tin hat" worn at the front. Used again 1939-45, when it was also called a "tin topee.
Battle of Britain
The prolonged aerial operations over Southern England and the Channel, August-September 1940, in which the
Battle of the Books
A satire by Swift (written 1697, published 1704), on the literary squabble as to the comparative value of ancient and modern authors. In the battle the ancient books fight against the modern books in St.
Battle of the Giants
See GIANTS. Battle of the Herrings, See HERRINGS.
Battle of the Nations
See NATIONS. Battle of the Poets, The. A satirical poem (1725) by John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, in which the versifiers of the time are brought into the field.
battle of the nile
A tile—vulgar term for a hat. "Cool his BATTLE, Bill."
Battle of the Standard
See STANDARD. Battle of the Three Emperors. See THREE EMPERORS.
battle royal
A certain number of cocks, say sixteen, are pitted together; the eight victors are then pitted, then the four, and last of all the two; and the winner is victor of the battle royal. Metaphorically, the term is applied to any contest of wits, etc.
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.
battledore book
A name sometimes formerly given to a horn-book (#.v.), because of its shape. Hence, perhaps, the phrase "Not to know B from a battledore." See B.
battner
An ox.
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.
baubles and beads
Trivial or attractive but worthless things
Bauld Wullie
See BELTED WILL. Baulk. See BALK. Baviad, The (bav' i ad). A merciless satire by Gifford on the Delia Cruscan poetry, pub- lished 1794, and republished the following year with a second part called The M&vfad. Bavius. and Maevms were two minor poets pilloried by Virgil (Eclogue, iii, 9).
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.
bawl one's eyes out
To cry intensely and uncontrollably
bawl out
To scold or reprimand someone severely
bawl-baby
A crybaby.
Bay Psalm Book
A metrical version of the Psalms published by Stephen Daye at Cam- bridge, Massachusetts, in 1680. One of the first printed works of the New World, and now highly prized. "What the Gutenberg Bible is to Europe, the Bay Psalm Book is to the United States"— A. E. Newton. In 1947 a copy changed hands at auction for $151, 000.00.
bay salt
Coarse-grained salt, formerly obtained by slow evaporation of sea-water and used for curing meat, etc. Perhaps so called because 01 iginally imported from the shores of the Bay of Biscay. "Bay," in this case, does not signify the colour.
Bayardo's Leap
Three stones, about thirty yards apart, near Sleaford. It is said that Rinaldo was riding on his favourite steed, when the demon of the place sprang up behind him; but Bayardo in terror took three tremendous leaps and unhorsed the fiend.
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