boarding school
Bridewell, Newgate, or any other prison, or house of correction.
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boarding school
A school where the pupils are fed and lodged as well as taught The term is sometimes applied to "prison." I am going to boarding school, going to prison to be taught good behaviour.
boat
Originally to transport; the term is now applied to penal servitude. To "get the BOAT," or to "be BOATED," is to be sentenced to a long term of imprisonment equivalent to transportation under the old system.
boat race
The face.
boatercycle
A jet ski.
bob
A shilling.
bob
A shoplifter's assistant, or one that receives and carries off stolen goods. All is bob; all is safe. Cant.
bob
A shilling. Formerly BOBSTICK, which may have been the original. BOB-A-NOB, a shilling a-head.
bob stay
A rope which holds the bowsprit to the stem or cutwater. Figuratively, the frenum of a man's yard.
bob tail
A lewd woman, or one that plays with her tail; also an impotent man, or an eunuch. Tag, rag, and bobtail; a mob of all sorts of low people. To shift one's bob; to move off, or go away. To bear a bob; to join in chorus with any singers. Also a term used by the sellers of game, for a partridge.
bob's your uncle
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
bob's your uncle
In other words, "That'll be all right; you needn't bother any more." The origin of the phrase is unknown; it was certainly in use in the 1880s, but no satisfactory explanation of who "Bob" was has been brought forward.
bob, my pal
A gal,—vulgar pronunciation of girl.
bobar
Excrement.
bobbar
Excrement.
bobbed
Cheated, tricked, disappointed.
bobbery
A squabble, tumult.—Anglo-Indian.
bobbish
Smart, clever, spruce.
bobbish
Very well, clever, spruce. "How are you doing?" "Oh! pretty BOBBISH."—Old.
bobby
A policeman: both BOBBY and PEELER were nicknames given to the new police, in allusion to the Christian name and surname of the late Sir Robert Peel, who was the prime mover in effecting their introduction and improvement. The term BOBBY is, however, older than the introduction of the new police. The official square-keeper, who is always armed with a cane to drive away idle and disorderly urchins, has, time out of mind, been called by the said urchins, "BOBBY the beadle."
bobstick
A shilling.
bod
The body.
bodes me no good
GAY: Fable, xxxvii. Bar sinister. See BAR.
bodkin
Any one sitting between two others in a carriage, is said "to ride BODKIN." Amongst sporting men, applied to a person who takes his turn between the sheets on alternate nights, when the hotel has twice as many visitors as it can comfortably lodge; as, for instance, during a race-week.
body and soul
Completely and utterly
body blow
A severe setback or disappointment
body colour
Paint containing body or consistency. Water-colours are made opaque by mixing with white lead.
body corporate
An aggregate of indivi- duals legally united into a corporation.
body English
nonverbal communication using body language
body-snatcher
A bailiff or runner: SNATCH, the trick by which the bailiff captures the delinquent. These terms are now almost obsolete, so far as the pursuits mentioned are concerned.
boeotian ears
Ears unable to appreciate music or rhetoric. Well, friend, I assure thee thou hast not got Boeotian ears [because you can appreciate the beauties of my sermons], — LE SAGE: Gil Bias, vii, 3.
boep
beer belly
boerie
boerewors
bog
To go away.
bog
Or BOG-HOUSE, a privy, as distinguished from a water-closet. Originally printers’ slang, but now very common, and not applied to any particular form of cabinet d’aisance. "To BOG" is to ease oneself by evacuation.
bog house
The necessary house. To go to bog; to go to stool.
bog lander
An Irishman; Ireland being famous for its large bogs, which furnish the chief fuel in many parts of that kingdom.
bog latin
Barbarous Latin. Irish.--See DOG LATIN, and APOTHECARIES LATIN.
bog off
go away, leave me alone
bog orange
A potato.
bog-oranges
Potatoes. A phrase perhaps derived from the term "Irish fruit," which, by some strange peculiarity has been applied to potatoes; for even the most ignorant Cockney could hardly believe that potatoes grow in a bog.
bog-trotter
Satirical name for an Irishman.—Miege. Camden, however, speaking of the "debateable land" on the borders of England and Scotland, says, "both these dales breed notable BOG-TROTTERS."
bogged down
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
bogus
An American term for anything pretending to be that which it is not—such as BOGUS degrees, BOGUS titles, &c.
bogy
Ask bogy, i.e. ask mine a-se. Sea wit.
boh
Said to be the name of a Danish general, who so terrified his opponent Foh, that he caused him to bewray himself. Whence, when we smell a stink, it is custom to exclaim, Foh! i.e. I smell general Foh. He cannot say Boh to a goose; i.e. he is a cowardly or sheepish fellow.
Bohemia on Maundy Thursday
She is also said to have been heard to speak on two occasions, once in December, 1628, when she said, "I wait for judgment!" and once at Neuhaus, when she said to the princes, *' *Tis ten o'clock.
Bohemian Brethren
A religious sect formed out of the remnants of the Hussites. They arose at Prague in the 15th century, and are the forerunners of the modern Moravians.
boil over
to become extremely angry or violent
boil up
to suddenly become angry or violent
boilers
Or BROMPTON BOILERS, a name originally given to the New Kensington Museum and School of Art, in allusion to the peculiar form of the buildings, and the fact of their being mainly composed of, and covered with, sheet iron. This has been changed since the extensive alterations in the building, or rather pile of buildings, and the words are now the property of the Bethnal Green Museum.—See PEPPER-BOXES.
boiling frog
Describes a situation where a problem develops gradually, unnoticed until it's too late.
boiling hot
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
boiling mad
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
boiling point
The point at which someone's anger or frustration becomes extreme
boko
The nose. Originally pugilistic slang, but now general.
bold
Bold as a miller's shirt, which every day takes a rogue by the collar.
bold and beautiful
Confident and attractive
bold as brass
Downright impudent; without modesty. Similarly we say "brazen- faced.
Bold Briareus
Handel (1685-1759), so called by Pope: — Strong in new arms, lo ' giant Handel stands, Like bold Briareus, with a hundred hands; To stir, to rouse, to shake the soul he comes, And Jove's own thunders follow Mars's drums; POPE: Dunciad, iv, 65.
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