Black Saladin
Warwick's famous horse, which was coal-black. Its sire was Malech, and according to tradition, when the race of Malech failed, the race of Warwick would fail also. And it was so.
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Black Sea meet
They were said to close together when a vessel attempted to sail be- tween them, and thus crush it to pieces. Cyanean means blue-coloured, and Sym- plegades means dashers together.
black sheep
A disgrace to the family or community; a mauvais sujet. Black sheep are looked on with dislike by some shepherds, and are not so valuable as white ones. Cp.
Black Shirts
The black shirt was the distinguishing garment worn by the Italian Fascists and adopted in England by their imitators.
black spice racket
To rob chimney sweepers of their soot, bag and soot.
black strap
Bene Carlo wine; also port. A task of labour imposed on soldiers at Gibraltar, as a punishment for small offences.
black strap
Bad port wine. A sailor's name for any bad liquor. In North America, "Black-strap" is a mixture of rum and molasses, sometimes vinegar is added.
black velvet
A drink composed of champagne and Guinness stout in equal parts. It was the favourite drink of the Iron Chancel- lor, Bismarck.
Black Watch
Originally companies em- ployed about 1725 by the English government to watch the Islands of Scotland. They dressed in a "black" or dark tartan. They were enrolled in the regular army as the 42nd regiment under the Earl of Crawford, in 1737. Their tartan is still called 'The Black Watch Tartan," Trie regiment is now officially "The Royal Highlanders," but is still called "The Black Watch.
black-a-vised
Having a very dark complexion.
blackberry-swagger
A person who hawks tapes, boot-laces, &c.
blackbirding
Slave-catching. Term most applied nowadays to the Polynesian coolie traffic.
blackguard
A low or dirty fellow; a rough or a hulking fellow, capable of any meanness or cowardice.
blackguardiana
Or, Dictionary of Rogues, Bawds, &c., 8vo, WITH PORTRAITS [by James Caulfield]. 1795.
blackhawk and his tribe
Bird symbolizes keenness, cunning, and tenacity. 87th: Golden Acorn. Their patch is a green field with a golden acorn which symbolizes strength.
blackleg
A rascal, swindler, or card cheat. The derivation of this term was solemnly argued before the full Court of Queen’s Bench upon a motion for a new trial for libel, but was not decided by the learned tribunal. Probably it is from the custom of sporting and turf men wearing black top-boots. Hence BLACKLEG came to be the phrase for a professional sporting man, and thence for a professional sporting cheat. The word is now in its worst sense diminished to "leg."
blacklegs
A gambler or sharper on the turf or in the cockpit: so called, perhaps, from their appearing generally in boots; or else from game-cocks whose legs are always black.
blackstuff
Tarmac.
blackthorn winter
The cold weather which frequently occurs when the blackthorn is in blossom. See ICE-SAINTS.
blackwork
Undertaking. The waiters met at public dinners are often employed during the day as mutes, etc. Omnibus and cab drivers regard BLACKWORK as a dernier ressort.
bladder-of-lard
A coarse, satirical nickname for a bald-headed person. From similarity of appearance.
bladdered
Drunk.
blade
A man—in ancient times the term for a soldier; "knowing BLADE," a wide-awake, sharp, or cunning man.
Blade Tom
The Earl of Ormonde, Lord Deputy of Ireland in the reign of Elizabeth; so called from his ungracious ways and "black looks,1*
blame Canada
To jokingly blame Canada for something
blame game
Accusing others to deflect responsibility
blank
To look blank; to appear disappointed or confounded.
blank cartridge
Cartridge with powder only, that is, without shot, bullet, or ball.
blank cheque
A cheque duly signed, but without specifying any sum of money; the amount to be filled in by the payee.
blank out
to forget or be unable to recall something
blank verse
Rhymeless verse in continu- ous decasyllabics with iambic or trochaic rhythm, first used in English by the Earl of Surrey in his version of the &neid> about 1540. There is other unrhymed verse, but it is not usual to extend to such poems as Collms's Ode to Evening, Whitman's Leaves of Grass, or the vers libre of to-day, the name blank verse.
blanket hornpipe
The amorous congress.
blanket term
A term that encompasses a broad range of concepts or ideas
blare out
To broadcast or announce something loudly and publicly
blarney
He has licked the blarney stone; he deals in the wonderful, or tips us the traveller.
blarney
Flattery, powers of persuasion. A castle in the county of Cork. It is said that whoever kisses a certain stone in this castle will be able to persuade others of whatever he or she pleases. The name of the castle is derived from BLADH, a blossom, i.e., the flowery or fertile demesne. BLADH is also flattery; hence the connexion. A more than ordinarily persuasive Irishman is said to have "kissed the BLARNEY stone."
Blasphemous Balfour
Sir James Balfour, the Scottish judge, was so called because of his apostasy. He died in 1583. He is said to have served, deserted, and profited by all parties.
blast
To curse. Originally a Military expression.
blast from the past
Something or someone from one's past that is unexpectedly encountered again
blast off
to launch or start something suddenly and energetically
blast out
Play music very loudly
Blatant Beast
In Spenser's Faerie Queene "a dreadful fiend of gods and men, ydrad"; the type of calumny or slander.
Blayney's Bloodhounds
The old 89th Foot; so called because of their unerring certainty, and untiring perseverance in hunting down the Irish rebels in 1798, when the corps was commanded by Lord Blayney.
blaze
To leave trace purposely of one’s way in a forest or unknown path by marking trees or other objects.
blaze away
to start doing something with a lot of energy and enthusiasm
blazes
A low synonym for the infernal regions, and now almost for anything. "Like BLAZES" is a phrase of intensification applied without any reference to the original meaning. Also applied to the brilliant habiliments of flunkeys, since the episode of Sam Weller and the "swarry."
bleached mort
A fair-complexioned wench.
bleaters
Those cheated by Jack in a box. CANT.--See JACK IN A BOX.
bleating rig
Sheep stealing. Cant.
blechy
Disgusting.
bleed
To victimize, or extract money from a person, to sponge on, to make suffer vindictively.
bleed red ink
to suffer significant financial losses
bleed the lizard
To urinate.
bleeders
Spurs. He clapped his bleeders to his prad; be put spurs to his horse.
bleeding cully
One who parts easily with his money, or bleeds freely.
bleeding edge
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
bleeding new
A metaphor borrowed from fish, which will not bleed when stale.
bleeding of a dead body
It was at one time believed that, at the approach of a murderer, the blood of the murdered body gushed out. If in a dead body the slightest change was observable in the eyes, mouth, feet, or hands, the murderer was supposed to be present. The notion still survives m some places.
bleeding of the nose
According to some, a sign that one is in love. Grose says if it bleeds one drop only it forebodes sickness, if three drops the omen is still worse; but Metton, m his Astrologaster, says, "If a man's nose bleeds one drop at the left nostril it is a sign of good luck, and. vice versa.
bleedingly
extremely
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