spouting club
A meeting of apprentices and mechanics to rehearse different characters in plays: thus forming recruits for the strolling companies.
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sprat
A sixpence.
spread
Butter. Term with workmen and schoolboys. See SCRAPE.
spread eagle
A soldier tied to the halberts in order to be whipped; his attitude bearing some likeness to that figure, as painted on signs.
spread one's legs
to be receptive or open to new experiences
spread one's wings
To become independent and explore new opportunities
spread oneself thin
To take on too many tasks or responsibilities at once
spread out
To extend or expand over a large area
spread the word
To share or disseminate information
spread-eagle oratory
"A compound of exaggeration, effrontery, bombast, and ex- travagance, mixed with metaphors, platitudes, threats and irreverent appeals flung at the Almighty." (North American Review, Novem- ber, 1858.
spree
A frolic. Fun. A drinking bout. A party of pleasure.
spree
A boisterous piece of merriment; "going on the SPREE," starting out with intent to have a frolic. French, ESPRIT. In the Dutch language, SPREEUW is a jester.
spring fever
A feeling of restlessness and excitement during spring
spring for
to pay for something willingly
spring in one's step
to feel energetic and enthusiastic
Spring Tide
The tide that springs or leaps or swells up. These full tides occur a day or two after the new and full moon, when the attrac- tion of both sun and moon act in a direct line.
spring to life
To suddenly become active or vibrant
spring to mind
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
spring-ankle warehouse
Newgate, or any other gaol: IRISH.
springer-up
A tailor who sells low-priced ready-made clothing, and gives starvation wages to the poor men and women who "make up" for him. The clothes are said to be SPRUNG-UP, or "blown together."
sprint race
A short-distance race, ran at the topmost speed throughout. SPRINT is in the North synonymous with SPURT, and hence the name.
sprog
A new recruit.
sprogget
child
spruce up
to make something look more attractive or tidy
sprung
Inebriated sufficiently to become boisterous.
spry
Active, strong, manly. Much used in America, but originally English.
spuddy
A seller of bad potatoes. In lower life, a SPUD is a raw potato; and roasted SPUDS are those cooked in the cinders with their skins on.
spun
When a man has failed in his examination at Woolwich, he is said to be SPUN; as at the Universities he is said to be "plucked" or "ploughed."
spunge
A thirsty fellow, a great drinker. To spunge; to eat and drink at another's cost. Spunging-house: a bailiff's lock-up-house, or repository, to which persons arrested are taken, till they find bail, or have spent all their money: a house where every species of fraud and extortion is practised under the protection of the law.
spunge
A mean, paltry fellow, sometimes called a SPUNGER.
spunging-house
The sheriff’s officer’s house, where prisoners, when arrested for debt, used to be taken. As extortionate charges were made there for accommodation, the name was far from inappropriate.
spunk
Rotten touchwood, or a kind of fungus prepared for tinder; figuratively, spirit, courage.
spunk
Spirit, fire, courage, mettle, good humour.
spunk-fencer
A lucifer-match seller.
spunks
Lucifer-matches.—Herefordshire; Scotland. SPUNK, says Urry, in his MS. notes to Ray, "is the excrescency of some tree, of which they make a sort of tinder to light their pipes with."
spur money
A small fine formerly imposed on those who entered a church wearing spurs, because of the interruption caused to divine service by their ringing. It was collected by the Choir-boys or the beadles.
spur of the moment
Done without prior planning or thought
sputter out
To emit a series of irregular, erratic popping or spitting sounds before shutting off.
squab
A fat man or woman: from their likeness to a well-stuffed couch, called also a squab. A new-hatched chicken.
squabby
Flat, short and thick. From SQUAB, a sofa.
square
Honest, not roguish. A square cove, i.e. a man who does not steal, or get his living by dishonest means.
square
Honest; "on the SQUARE," i.e., fair and strictly honest; "to turn SQUARE," to reform, and get one’s living in an honest manner,—the opposite of "cross." The expression is, in all probability, derived from the well-known masonic emblem the SQUARE, the symbol of evenness and rectitude.
square away
To organize or settle something
square cap
A trencher or mortar-board, like the college cap G?.v.).
square cove
An honest man, as distinguished from "cross cove."
square meal
A complete and satisfying meal
square moll
An honest woman, one who does not "batter."
square on
Directly and honestly
square one
back to the starting point
square peg in a round hole
Someone who does not fit in or is unsuited to a particular situation
square shooter
A person who is honest and fair in their dealings
square toes
An old man: square toed shoes were anciently worn in common, and long retained by old men.
squaring his nibs
Giving a policeman, or any official, money for an immoral or unlawful purpose. The term HIS NIBS has no reference to any functionary, as the words mean simply "him," and may be applied to any one.
squarum
A cobbler’s lapstone.
squash
To crush; "to go SQUASH," to collapse.
squash the beef
to resolve a conflict or disagreement
squeak
A narrow escape, a chance: he had a squeak for his life. To squeak; to confess, peach, or turn stag. They squeak beef upon us; they cry out thieves after us. CANT.
squeak
An escape. Generally used with regard to the avoidance of casualties. Among thieves, too, a prisoner acquitted after a hard trial is said to have had "a narrow SQUEAK for it."
squeak on a person
To inform against, to peach.
squeaker
A bar-boy; also a bastard or any other child. To stifle the squeaker; to murder a bastard, or throw It into the necessary house.--Organ pipes are likewise called squeakers. The squeakers are meltable; the small pipes are silver. CANT.
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