cabbage
Pieces of cloth said to be purloined by tailors. Any small profits in the way of material.
Browse all entries 4942
All languages English Tiếng Việt
cabbage-head
A soft-headed person.
cabbaged
Very drunk.
cabby
Popular name for the driver of a cab. This title has almost supplanted the more ancient one of jarvey.
Cabinet Ministers
In British politics, a deliberative committee of the principal mem- bers of the Government, who are privileged to consult and advise the sovereign (originally in his private cabinet, or chamber), and who lead, and are responsible to, Parliament. The number of members has varied from a dozen to as many as twenty-two, but it always contains the chief officers of state, viz.
caboose
The galley or cook-house of a ship; a term used by tramps to indicate a kitchen.
cacafeogo
A sh-te-fire, a furious braggadocio or bully huff.
Cachecope Bell
In some parts of England it was customary to ring a bell at a funeral when the pall was thrown over a coffin. This was called the cachecope bell, from Fr., cache corps, conceal the body. Cachet (kash' a) (Fr.). A seal; hence, a dis- tinguishing mark, a stamp of individuality.
cack
To laugh.
cackle
To blab, or discover secrets. The cull is leaky, and cackles; the rogue tells all. CANT. See LEAKY.
cackleberry
An egg.
cackling-cove
An actor. Also called a MUMMERY-COVE.—Theatrical.
cacoethes loquendi
A passion for making speeches or for talking.
cacoethes scribendi
The love of rushing into print; a mania for authorship.
cad
Or CADGER (from which it is shortened), a mean or vulgar fellow; a beggar; one who would rather live on other people than work for himself; a man who tries to worm something out of another, either money or information. Johnson uses the word, and gives huckster as the meaning, in which sense it was originally used. Apparently from CAGER, or GAGER, the old Cant term for a man. The exclusives at the English Universities apply the term CAD to all non-members.
caddee
A helper. An under-strapper.
Cader Idris
Cader in Welsh is "chair," and Idris is the name of one of the old Welsh giants. The legend is that anyone who passes the night sitting in this "chair" will be either a poet or a madman.
cadge
To beg. Cadge the swells; beg of the gentlemen.
cadge
To beg in an artful, wheedling manner.—North. In Scotland to CADGE is to wander, to go astray. See under CODGER.
cadging
Begging, generally with an eye to pilfering when an opportunity occurs. To be "on the cadge" is almost synonymous with "on the make."
cadillac problem
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
cadmean letters
The sixteen simple Greek letters said, in Greek mythology, to have been introduced by Cadmus (tf.v.) from Phoenicia.
cadmean victory
A victory purchased with great loss. The allusion is to the armed men who sprang out of the ground from the teeth of the dragon sown by Cadmus (q.v ), who fell foul of each other, only five escaping death.
caesar's wife must be above suspicion
Those in positions of power must be beyond reproach
caesarian operation
The extraction of a child from the womb by cutting the abdomen ; so called because Julius Caesar was thus brought into the world.
cag
To be cagged. To be sulky or out of humour. The cove carries the cag; the man is vexed or sullen.
cag
To irritate, affront, anger. Schoolboy slang.
cag magg
Bits and scraps of provisions. Bad meat.
cage
A minor kind of prison. A country lock-up which contained no offices.
cagg
To cagg; a military term used by the private soldiers, signifying a solemn vow or resolution not to get drunk for a certain time; or, as the term is, till their cagg is out: which vow is commonly observed with the strictest exactness. Ex. I have cagg'd myself for six months. Excuse me this time, and I will cagg myself for a year. This term is also used in the same sense among the common people of Scotland, where it is performed with divers ceremonies.
cagg maggs
Old Lincolnshire geese, which having been plucked ten or twelve years, are sent up to London to feast the cockneys.
cagmag
Bad food, scraps, odds and ends; or that which no one could relish. Grose give CAGG MAGGS, old and tough Lincolnshire geese, sent to London to feast the poor cockneys. Gael., French, and Welsh, CAC, and MAGN. A correspondent at Trinity College, Dublin, considers this as originally a University slang term for a bad cook, κακὸς μάγειρος. There is also a Latin word used by Pliny, MAGMA, denoting dregs or dross.
cah
Because.
Cain and Abel
Two people who are closely related but have a contentious relationship
Cain-coloured Beard
Yellowish, or sandy red, symbolic of treason. In the ancient tapestries Cain and Judas are represented with yellow beards; but it is well to note that in the extract below the word, in some editions, is printed "ca«£-coloured." See YELLOW.
cake
A "flat;" a soft or doughy person, a fool.
cake and gingerbread
Something very easy to obtain or achieve
cake crumbs
Small, scattered remains of something
cake walk
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
cakehole
The mouth.
cakes and ale
Pleasurable things in life
cakes and ale
A good time. Life is not all cakes and ale. Life is not all beer and skittles — all pleasure.
cakey-pannum-fencer
Or PANNUM-FENCER, a man who sells street pastry.
calaboose
A prison.—Sea slang, from the Spanish.
calculate
A word much in use among the inhabitants of the Western States U.S., as "I CALCULATE you are a stranger here." New Englanders use the word "guess" instead of CALCULATE, while the Virginians prefer to say "reckon."
calf-skin fiddle
A drum. To smack calf's skin; to kiss the book in taking an oath. It is held by the St. Giles's casuists, that by kissing one's thumb instead of smacking calf's skin, the guilt of taking a false oath is avoided.
calibogus
Rum and spruce beer, American beverage.
california
Or CALIFORNIANS, money. Term generally applied to gold only. Derivation very obvious.
california corn flakes
Cocaine.
caligula's horse
Incitatus. It was made a priest and consul, had a manger of ivory, and drank wine from a golden goblet.
call
A notice of rehearsal, or any other occasion requiring the company’s presence, posted up in a theatre. "We’re CALLED for eleven to-morrow morning."
call a lid
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
call an audible
Change plans suddenly due to new information
call for something
to demand or request something
call it
to stop or end something
call it a night
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
call it an early night
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
call it as one sees it
To describe something honestly and objectively
call it stumps
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
call off the dogs
to stop pursuing or harassing someone
Advertisement
Ad space — ads help keep Idiomer free. Premium will remove them.