blether
To bother, to annoy, to pester. "A BLETHERING old nuisance" is a common expression for a garrulous old person.
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blew
Or BLOW, to inform, or peach, to lose or spend money.
blewed
Drunk.
blewed
A man who has lost or spent all his money is said to have BLEWED it. Also used in cases of robbery from the person, as, "He’s BLEWED his red ’un," i.e., he’s been eased of his watch.
blick
A pistol.
blicker
A handgun.
blicky
A pistol.
blimp out
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
blind
A feint, pretence, or shift.
blind
A pretence, or make-believe.
blind as a bat
A bat is not blind, but if disturbed and forced into the sunlight it cannot see, and blunders about. It sees best in the dusk.
blind as a beetle
Beetles are not blind, but the dor-beetle or hedge-chafer, in its rapid flight, will occasionally bump against one as if it could not see.
blind as a mole
Moles are not blind, but as they work underground, their eyes are very small. There is a mole found in the south of Europe, the eyes of which are covered by membranes, and probably this is the animal to which Aristotle refers when he says, " the mole is blind.
blind as an owl
Owls are not blind, but being night birds, they see better in partial darkness than in the full light of day.
blind cheeks
The breech. Buss blind cheeks; kiss mine a-se.
blind date
Social engagement between two people who have not met before
blind ditch
One which cannot be seen. Here blind means obscure, or concealed, as in Milton's "In the blind mazes of this tangled wood" (Cotntts, 181).
blind excuse
A poor or insufficient excuse. A blind ale-house, lane, or alley; an obscure, or little known or frequented ale-house, lane, or alley.
blind harpers
Beggars counterfeiting blindness, playing on fiddles, &c.
blind hedge
A ha-ha (q. v.) . Blind Magistrate, The. Sir John Fielding, knighted in 1761, was born blind. Sitting at Bow Street, he was m the commission of the Peace for Middlesex, Surrey, Essex, and the liberties of Westminster.
blind leaders of the blind
Those who give advice to others in need of it, but who are, themselves, unfitted to do so. The allusion is to Matt, xv, 14.
blind leading the blind
Incompetent people guiding others who are also incompetent
blind spot
This is a small area not sensitive to light, situated on the retina where the optic nerve enters. The term is used figuratively to describe some area in one's discernment where judgment and under- standing are lacking.
blind with science
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
blind-half-hundred
The Fiftieth Regiment of Foot; so called through their great sufferings from ophthalmia when serving in Egypt.
blind-hookey
A game at cards which has no recommendation beyond the rapidity with which money can be won and lost at it; called also WILFUL MURDER.
blind-man’s-holiday
Night, darkness. Sometimes applied to the period "between the lights."
blindman's buff
A play used by children, where one being blinded by a handkerchief bound over his eyes, attempts to seize any one of the company, who all endeavour to avoid him; the person caught, must be blinded in his stead.
blindman's buff
A very old-established name for an old and well-known children's game. "Buff" here is short for "buffet," and is an allusion to the three buffs or pats which the "blind man" gets when he has caught a player.
blindman's holiday
The hour of dusk, when it is too dark to work, and too soon to light candles. The phrase was in common use at least as early as Elizabethan times.
blink first
To give in or back down first in a confrontation
blink of an eye
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
blink-fencer
A person who sells spectacles.
blinker
A blackened eye.—Norwich. Also a hard blow in the eye. BLINKERS, spectacles.
blinkers
Spectacles.
blinking
bloody
blivit
A gadget.
bloated aristocrat
A street term for any decently dressed person. From the persistent abuse lavished on a "bloated and parasitical aristocracy" by Hyde Park demagogues and a certain unpleasant portion of the weekly press.
blob
(from BLAB), to talk. Beggars are of two kinds—those who SCREEVE (introducing themselves with a FAKEMENT, or false document) and those who BLOB, or state their case in their own truly "unvarnished" language.
block
The head. "To BLOCK a hat," is to knock a man’s hat down over his eyes.—See BONNET. Also a street obstruction.
block and tackle
A system of pulleys and ropes for lifting heavy loads
block houses
Prisons, houses of correction, &c.
block ornaments
The small dark-coloured and sometimes stinking pieces of meat which used to be exposed on the cheap butchers’ blocks or counters; matters of interest to all the sharp-visaged women in poor neighbourhoods. Since the great rise in the price of meat there has been little necessity for butchers to make block ornaments of their odds and ends. They are bespoke beforehand.
block out
to ignore or exclude something
blocked at both ends
Finished. The game is blocked at both ends; the game is ended.
blocking and tackling
Fundamental or basic aspects of a task or project
bloke
A man; "the BLOKE with the jasey," the man with the wig, i.e., the Judge. Gipsy and Hindoo, LOKE. North, BLOACHER, any large animal.
blood
A riotous disorderly fellow.
blood
A fast or high-mettled man. Nearly obsolete, but much used in George the Fourth’s time.
blood and gore
Violent or gruesome acts and their consequences
blood and guts
A fixed-order word pair (irreversible binomial); full definition pending editorial review.
blood for blood
A term used by tradesmen for bartering the different commodities in which they deal. Thus a hatter furnishing a hosier with a hat, and taking payment in stockings, is said to deal blood for blood.
blood in the water
A situation where someone is vulnerable to attack or criticism
blood is thicker than water
Family ties are stronger than any other relationship
blood is thicker than water
Relationship has a claim which is generally acknowledged. It is better to seek kindness from a kinsman than from a stranger. Water soon evaporates and leaves no mark behind; not so blood. So the interest we take in a stranger is thinner and more evanescent than that which we take in a blood relation. The proverb occurs in Ray's Collection (1672) and is probably many years older.
blood money
The reward given by the legislature on the conviction of highwaymen, burglars, &c.
blood money
Money paid to a person for giving such evidence as shall lead to the con- viction of another; money paid to the next of kin to induce him to forgo his "right" of seeking blood for blood, or (formerly) as compensation for the murder of his relative; money paid to a person for betraying another, as Judas was paid blood-money for his betrayal of the Saviour.
blood relation
One in direct descent from the same father or mother; one of the same family stock.
Blood Royal
The royal family or race; also called simply "the blood," as "a prince of the blood.
blood without groats is nothing
Family with- out fortune is worthless. The allusion is perhaps to black pudding, which consists chiefly of blood and groats formed into a sausage.
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