buck up
to cheer up or become more enthusiastic
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buck up one's ideas
to improve or revise one's ideas
buck up to
to accept and deal with a difficult situation
buckaroonie
Dollar.
buckaroonies
Dollars.
bucket
To kick the bucket; to die.
bucket afloat
A coat. This is also called I’m AFLOAT, and is generally contracted to "cool his Imer," or "nark his bucket." There is no necessity to particularize all contractions. With the key already given they will be evident.
bucket and spade
basic equipment for a seaside holiday
bucket down
raining very heavily
bucket list
A list of experiences to have before dying
bucket of bolts
Something, especially a vehicle, that is old and in poor condition
bucket of rust
An old, unreliable vehicle
bucket of syrup
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
buckhorse
A smart blow or box on the ear; derived from the name of a celebrated "bruiser" of that name. Buckhorse was a man who either possessed or professed insensibility to pain, and who would for a small sum allow anyone to strike him with the utmost force on the side of the face.
buckinger's boot
The monosyllable. Matthew Buckinger was born without hands and legs; notwithstanding which he drew coats of arms very neatly, and could write the Lord's Prayer within the compass of a shilling; he was married to a tall handsome woman, and traversed the country, shewing himself for money.
buckle
To bend; "I can’t BUCKLE to that." I don’t understand it; to yield or give in to a person. Shakspeare uses the word in the latter sense, Henry IV., i. 1; and Halliwell says that "the commentators do not supply another example."
buckle down
to work hard and seriously
buckle to
to start working hard or make an effort
buckle up
Prepare for a challenging or rough experience
buckle-beggar
A COUPLE-BEGGAR, which see.
buckle-to
To bend to one’s work, to begin at once, and with great energy—from buckling-to one’s armour before a combat, or fastening on a bundle.
buckled
To be married. Also to be taken in custody. Both uses of the word common and exchangeable among the London lower classes.
buckley
"Who struck BUCKLEY?" a common phrase used to irritate Irishmen. The story is that an Englishman having struck an Irishman named Buckley, the latter made a great outcry, and one of his friends rushed forth screaming, "Who struck Buckley?" "I did," said the Englishman, preparing for the apparently inevitable combat. "Then," said the ferocious Hibernian, after a careful investigation of the other’s thews and sinews, "then, sarve him right."
buckley's and none
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
buckley's chance
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Buckley's Chance
An extremely remote chance. Two explanations of the phrase's origin exist.
Buckmaster's Light Infantry
The 3rd West India Regiment was so called from Buckmaster, the tailor, who used to issue "Light Infantry uniforms" to the officers of the corps without any authority from the Commander-m-Chief.
buckra
A white man. The original of this term is a "flogging man," from the Hebrew, and the application of it to the whites by the West Indian negroes is, therefore, rather interesting. They probably first learned it from a missionary.
bucky
A gun.
buddha
Marijuana.
Buddha and the boar
A Hindu legend relates that Buddha died from eating boar's flesh dried. The third avatar of Vishnu was in the form of a boar, and in the legend "dried boar's flesh" probably typifies esoteric know- ledge prepared for popular use. None but Buddha himself must take the responsibility of giving out occult secrets, and he died while preparing for the general esoteric knowledge.
buddhist priest
The Grand Lama or Dalai Lama (the Sacred Lama) was the ruler of Tibet, under the more or less nominal suzerainty of China. In 1910 he fled to India before an invading Chinese army, was deposed, and Tibet has since been in an unsettled state.
Bude Light
A very bright light obtained by supplying an argand gas-jet with oxygen, invented by Sir Goldsworthy Gurney (1793-1875) about 1834, and first used in a lighthouse at Bude, Cornwall.
budge
To move, to "make tracks."
Budge Bachelors
A company of men clothed in long gowns lined with budge or lambs' wool, who used to accompany the Lord Mayor of London at his inauguration.
budget
A wallet. To open the budget; a term used to signify the notification of the taxes required by the minister for the expences of the ensuing year; as To-morrow the minister will go to the house, and open the budget.
budgy
Drunk.
budju
The vagina.
bufe
A dog. Bufe's nob; a dog's head. CANT.
bufe nabber
A dog stealer. CANT.
buff
All in buff; stript to the skin, stark naked.
buff
The bare skin; "stripped to the BUFF."
buff the muffin
to engage in self-pleasuring activity
buff up
to improve or strengthen something
Buffalo Bill
This was the name made famous by William Frederick Cody (1846- 1917), one of the world's greatest showmen. He was born in Iowa and when little more than a boy was a rider of the Pony Express (#.v.). In 1861 he became a scout and guide for the U.S. army, and fought in the Civil War. In 1867 he made a contract to supply the labourers constructing the Kansas Pacific railway with buffalo meat, hence his sobriquet.
buffer
A boxer.
buffer
One that steals and kills horses and dogs for their skins; also an inn-keeper: in Ireland it signifies a boxer.
buffer
A navy term for a boatswain’s mate, one of whose duties it is—or was—to administer the "cat."
Buffer State
A small, self-governing state separating two larger states, and thus tending to prevent hostilities between the two. The term seems to have originated on the north- west frontiers of India.
buffle-head
A stupid or obtuse person.—Miege. German, BUFFELHAUPT, buffalo-headed. Occurs in Plautus’ Comedies made English, 1694.
buffs
The Third Regiment of Foot in the British army. From their facings.
bufl sessions
In U.S.A. this phrase is applied to long talks, among men only, about life in general or some particular problem.
bufo
toad, frog
bug
A nick name given by the Irish to Englishmen; bugs having, as it is said, been introduced into Ireland by the English.
bug off
to go away and leave someone alone
bug storm
a sudden, intense period of criticism or controversy
bug-hunter
A low wretch who plunders drunken men.
bug-walk
A bed.
bug-walk
A coarse term for a bed.
bugaboe
A scare-babe, or bully-beggar.
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