briney
Preserved but no longer current.
The sea. A "dip in the BRINEY" once a year is a great attraction to Cockney excursionists. A story is told of one excursionist saying to another, as they stripped in a double machine, "Why, ’Arry, what dirty feet you’ve got!" "’Ave I; well yer see I wasn’t down last year."
Era: ca. 1874 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Historical definition reproduced from Hotten’s The Slang Dictionary (1874, public domain; Project Gutenberg #42108, retrieved 2026-07-31). Reflects the attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “briney” mean?
The sea. A "dip in the BRINEY" once a year is a great attraction to Cockney excursionists. A story is told of one excursionist saying to another, as they stripped in a double machine, "Why, ’Arry, what dirty feet you’ve got!" "’Ave I; well yer see I wasn’t down last year."
Is “briney” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.