churchyard cough
A cough that is likely to terminate in death.
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churchyard cough
A deep, chesty cough which sounds like a presage of death. Churrigueresque (chu rig er esk'). Over- ornate, as applied to architecture. The word, frequently used by Richard Ford (1796-1858) in his writings on Spain, derives from Jose Churriguera (1650-1723) a Spanish architect of the baroque school.
churl
Originally, a labourer or husbandman: figuratively a rude, surly, boorish fellow. To put a churl upon a gentleman; to drink malt liquor immediately after having drunk wine.
chutty
chewing gum
Cid Hamet Benengeli
The supposititious author upon whom Cervantes fathered The Adventures of Don Quixote.
cigar
The penis.
Cigars and Cigarettes
The word cigar comes from cicada, the Spanish cigar-shaped beetle. The natives of Cuba were already smoking tobacco in this form when the white men first invaded their country. Cigars as we know them were introduced into U.S.A. by General Putnam, in 1762, on his return from the capture of Havana by the Earl of Albemarle, and this fashion of smoking soon spread to Europe.
Cimbrian Druids
This, in turn, was stolen from him while it was being taken to Massilia (Marseilles); and when he encountered the Cimbrians both he and Maximus, his brother- consul, were defeated, and 112,000 of their men were left upon the field (106 B.C.).
cinder
Any liquor used in connexion with soda-water, as to "take a soda with a CINDER in it." The cinder may be sherry, brandy, or any other liquor.
cinder garbler
A servant maid, from her business of sifting the ashes from the cinders. CUSTOM-HOUSE WIT.
cinnamon ring
The anus.
Circle of Ulloa
A white rainbow or luminous ring sometimes seen in Alpine regions opposite the sun in foggy weather. Named from Antonio de Ulloa (1716-95), a Spanish naval officer who founded the observa- tory at Cadiz and initiated many scientific enterprises.
circle the drain
to be in a downward spiral and nearing collapse
circuit slugger
A touring performer or athlete who travels to different locations
circular file
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
circular firing squad
A group that attacks its own members
circulating capital
Wages, or raw material. This sort of capital is not available a second tune for the same purpose.
circumbendibus
A roundabout way, or story. He took such a circumbendibus; he took such a circuit.
circumbendibus
A roundabout way, a long-winded story.
Circumlocution Office
A term applied in ridicule by Dickens in Little Dorrit to our public offices, because each person tries to shuffle off every act to someone else; and before anything is done it has to pass through so many departments and so much time elapses that it is hardly worth having bothered about it.
circumstances alter cases
Changing circumstances can alter the nature of a situation or decision
circumstantial evidence
That based on corrobor- ative incidents.
cit
A citizen of London.
citaye
A city.
city banker
A wanker.
city centre
The central area of a city
City of Refuge
Moses, at the command of God, set apart three cities on the east of Jordan, and Joshua added three others on the west,, whither any person might flee for refuge who had killed a human creature inadvertently. The three on the east of Jordan were Bezer, Ramoth, and Golan; the three on the west were Hebron, Shechem, and Kedesh (Deut. iv, 43;/<w/z. xx, 1-8).
civil liberty
The liberty of a subject to conduct his own arTairs as he thinks proper, provided he neither infringes on the equal liberty of others, nor offends against the good morals or laws under which he is living.
Civil List
The grant voted annually by Parliament to pay the personal expenses of the Sovereign, the household expenses, and the pensions awarded by Royal bounty; before the reign of William III it embraced all public expenditure, except that on the army and navy.
civil reception
A house of civil reception; a bawdy-house, or nanny-house. See NANNY-HOUSE.
Civil Service Estimates
The annual Parlia- mentary grant to cover the expenses of the diplomatic services, the post office and tele- graphs, education, the collection of the revenue, and other expenses neither pertaining to the Sovereign nor the armed services,
civil tongue
Polite and respectful language
civil war
Wai? between citizens (civiles)* In English history the term is applied to the war between Charles I and his Parliament; but the War of the Roses was a civil war also. In America, the War of Secession (1861-65).
Civility costs nothing and buys everything (Mary Wortley Montagu)
Politeness is inexpensive but can achieve great things
civility money
A reward claimed by bailiffs for executing their office with civility.
Ciwie Street
In the 1939-45 War this was the term by which men in the Services referred to civilian life.
Clabber Napper's Hole
Near Gravesend; said to be named after a freebooter; but more likely the Celtic Caerber Varber (water-town lower camp).
clack
A tongue, chiefly applied to women; a simile drawn from the clack of a water-mill.
Clack Dish
A dish or basin with a movable lid. Some two or three centuries ago beggars used to proclaim their want by clacking the lid of a wooden dish.
clack-box
A garrulous person, so called from the rattle formerly used by vagrants to make a rattling noise and attract attention.—Norfolk.
clack-loft
A pulpit, so called by orator Henley.
clacker
A testicle.
claggum
Boiled treacle in a hardened state, hardbake.—See CLIGGY.
claim someone's life
cause someone's death
clam
A dollar.
clam smacker
A lesbian.
clamp down on
to suppress or control something strictly
clan
A family's tribe or brotherhood; a word much used in Scotland. The head of the clan; the chief: an allusion to a story of a Scotchman, who, when a very large louse crept down his arm, put him back again, saying he was the head of the clan, and that, if injured, all the rest would resent it.
clank
A silver tankard. CANT.
clank napper
A silver tankard stealer. See RUM BUBBER.
clap
To strike the palms of the hands together, creating a sharp sound.
clap
A venereal taint. He went out by Had'em, and came round by Clapham home; i.e. he went out a wenching, and got a clap.
clap
To place; "do you think you can CLAP your hand on him?" i.e., find him out. CLAP is also a well-known form of a contagious disease.
clap cheeks
To have sex or have sex with.
clap eyes on
to see something or someone for the first time
clap on the shoulder
An arrest for debt; whence a bum bailiff is called a shoulder-clapper.
clap one's hands red
to applaud enthusiastically
clap up
to imprison
clap-trap
High-sounding nonsense. An ancient theatrical term for a "TRAP to catch a CLAP by way of applause from the spectators at a play."—Bailey’s Dictionary.
clapper
The tongue of a bell, and figuratively of a man or woman.
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