poll
The head, jolly nob, napper, or knowledge box; also a wig.
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poll
At Cambridge, the "ordinary degree" candidates for the B.A. Examination, who do not aspire to the "Honours" list. From the Greek, οἱ πόλλοι, "the many."
polony
Cockney shortening and vulgar pronunciation of Bologna (sausage). The sausages which are sold under the name of POLONIES have, however, no nearer connexion with Bologna sausages than that of the word’s derivation.
polt
A blow. Lend him a polt in the muns; give him a knock in the face.
pomland
England.
pomp
To save one's pomp at whist, is to score five before the adversaries are up, or win the game: originally derived from pimp, which is Welsh for five; and should be, I have saved my pimp.
pompadours
The Fifty-sixth Regiment of Foot in the British army.
pompaginis
Aqua pompaginis; pump water. See AQUA.
Pompey's PHlar
A Corinthian column of red granite, nearly 100 ft. high, erected at Alexandria by Publius, Prefect of Egypt, in honour of Diocletian and to record the con- quest of Alexandria in 296. It has about as much right to be called Pompey's pillar as the obelisk of Heliopolis, re-erected by Rameses II at Alexandria, has to be called Cleopatra's Needle.
pompkin
A man or woman of Boston in America: from, the number of pompkins raised and eaten by the people of that country. Pompkinshire; Boston and its dependencies.
ponce
A degraded man who lives upon a woman’s prostitution. Low-class East-end thieves even will "draw the line" at PONCES, and object to their presence in the boozing-kens.
pond
Or HERRING-POND, the sea; so called by those who were sent across it at the national expense.
poney
Money. Post the poney; lay down the money.
ponge
Or PONGELOW, beer, half-and-half; the term is also used as a verb, as in the Cockney phrase, "let’s PONGELOW, shall we?"
pongo
A soldier.
ponies
Horsepower.
pontius pilate
A pawnbroker. Pontius Pilate's guards, the first regiment of foot, or Royal Scots: so intitled from their supposed great antiquity. Pontius Pilate's counsellor; one who like him can say, Non invenio causam, I can find no cause. Also (Cambridge) a Mr. Shepherd of Trinity College; who disputing with a brother parson on the comparative rapidity with which they read the liturgy, offered to give him as far as Pontius Pilate in the Belief.
Pontius Pilate
Its one horn signifies the Gospel of Truth. — Le Bestiaire Divin de Guillaume, Clerc de Normandie (13th century).
Pontius Pilate's Body-guard
The 1st Foot Regiment, now called the Royal Scots, the oldest regiment in the British Army. The fable is that when in the French service as Le Regi- ment de Douglas they had a dispute with the Picardy regiment about the antiquity of their respective corps. The Picardy officers declared they were on duty on the night of the Cruci- fixion, when the colonel of the 1st Foot replied, If we had been on guard, we should not have slept at our posts.
pony
Twenty-five pounds.—Sporting.
Pony Express
This was the U.S. govern- ment mail system across the continent just before the days of railways and telegraphs. It ran from St. Joseph, Missouri, to the Pacific Coast and was inaugurated in 1860; less than two years later it was superseded by the electric telegraph.
pony in the barn
An unexpected and pleasant surprise
poo pirate
A gay man.
poona
A sovereign. Corruption of "pound;" or from the Lingua Franca.
poonts
Breasts.
poop factory
a place producing large amounts of nonsense or useless things
poop in one's pants
to be extremely frightened or nervous
poop machine
A person who constantly talks or produces worthless ideas
poop oneself
to be extremely frightened or nervous
poophole loophole
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
poopy
Faeces.
poor as a rat
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Poor as Job
The allusion is to Job being deprived by Satan of everything he possessed.
poor little rich boy
A person who is wealthy but emotionally deprived or insecure.
poor little rich girl
A wealthy person who is considered spoiled or selfish
poor man
The blade-bone of a shoulder of mutton is so called in Scotland. In some parts of England it is termed a "poor knight of Windsor/* because it holds the same relation to "Sir Loin'* as a Windsor knight does to a baronet. Scott (Bride of Lammermoor, ch. xix) tells of a laird who, being asked by an English landlord what he would have for dinner, produced the utmost consternation by saying, "I think I could relish a morsel of a poor man.
poor man's shilling
Something considered a cheap or inferior alternative
poor power
Lacking authority or influence despite a position of power
Poor Richard
The assumed name of Ben- jamin Franklin in a series of almanacks from 1732 to 1757. They contained maxims and pre- cepts on temperance, economy, cleanliness, chastity, and other virtues; and several ended with the words, "as poor Richard says.
POOR ROBIN
AN ALMANACK. After a New Fashion. Wherein the Reader may see (if he be not blinde) many remarkable things worthy of Observation. Con- taining a two-fold Kalendar, viz., the Julian or English; and the Roundheads or Fanaticks; several Saints' days, and Observations upon every Month. Written by POOR ROBIN, Knight of the Burnt-Island, a well-wisher to the Mathematicks.
Poor Robin's Almanack
A farcical al- manack, parodying those who seriously in- dulged in prophecy, published at intervals from 1664 to as late as 1828.
Poorer than Iros
A Greek proverb, adopted by the Romans and the French, alluding to the beggar referred to above.
pop
To pawn or pledge; "to POP up the spout," to pledge at the pawnbroker’s,—an allusion to the spout up which the brokers send the ticketed articles until such times as they shall be redeemed. The spout runs from the ground-floor to the wareroom at the top of the house. Ginger-beer is also known as POP.
Pop Goes the Weasel
The title of this song is said to refer the habit of London hatters of "popping," or pawning, their "weasels," or accessories, on Saturday nights, to buy liquor.
pop in
to visit briefly and informally
pop on
To turn on.
pop one's cork
to become extremely angry or excited
pop one's wad
to spend or use up all of one's resources at once
pop shop
A pawnshop.
pop someone's cherry
to take someone's virginity
pop the cherry
to lose one's virginity
pop the question
To ask someone to marry you
pop up
To appear or happen suddenly
popcorn movie
A film that is entertaining but lacks depth or intellectual value.
pope
A figure burned annually every fifth of November, in memory of the gunpowder plot, which is said to have been carried on by the papists.
Pope Joan
A mythical female pope, fabled In the Middle Ages to have succeeded Leo IV {855). The vulgar tale is that Joan conceived a violent passion for the monk Folda and m order to get admission to him assumed the monastic habit. Being clever and popular, she was elected pope, but was discovered through giving birth to a child during her enthromza- tion. The whole story has long since been ex- ploded.
pope of the time being
This probably refers to Boniface VI, an abandoned profligate who was elected Pope by the mob in 896 and held the position for only fifteen days. The only Saint Boniface to be Pope was Boniface I, who died in 422.
Pope Urban for absolution
"No," said His Holiness, "you can no more hope for mercy than this dry staff can be expected to bud again.'* Tannhauser departs in despair; but on the third day the papal staff bursts into blossom; the Pope sends in every direction for Tannhauser, but the knight is nowhere to be found, for, mercy having been refused, he has returned to end his days in the arms of Venus.
pope's nose
the tail end of a cooked chicken or turkey
pope’s-eye
A peculiar little part in a leg of mutton, much esteemed by lovers of that joint.
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