dog’s ears
The curled corners of the leaves of books, which have been carelessly treated. The use of this term is so common that it is hardly to be considered slang.
Animals · Muông thú 421
Buffaloes, cats, fish, and the creatures carrying our metaphors.
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Donkey Kong
An uncivilized or ill-mannered person; a boor.
donkey, donkey dick
A he, or jack ass: called donkey, perhaps, from the Spanish or don-like gravity of that animal, intitled also the king of Spain's trumpeter.
eight eyes
I will knock out two of your eight eyes; a common Billingsgate threat from one fish nymph to another: every woman, according to the naturalists of that society, having eight eyes; viz. two seeing eyes, two bub-eyes, a bell-eye, two pope's eyes, and a ***-eye. He has fallen down and trod upon his eye; said of one who has a black eye.
everybody and their dog
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
f sharps
Fleas. Compare B FLATS.
feathered friend
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
fee, faw, fum
Nonsensical words, supposed in childish story-books to be spoken by giants. I am not to be frighted by fee, faw, fum; I am not to be scared by nonsense.
finders, keepers; losers, weepers
Synonym of finders, keepers.
fish lips
The vagina.
flay the fox
To vomit. Now replaced by the more popular "shoot the cat."
flogging cully
A debilitated lecher, commonly an old one.
forest puppy
Deer.
frig pig
A trifling, fiddle-faddle fellow.
fur and feathers
Everything and everyone
gallows bird
A grief, or pickpocket; also one that associates with them.
get your goat
To irritate someone.
gib cat
A northern name for a he cat, there commonly called Gilbert. As melancholy as a gib cat; as melancholy as a he cat who has been caterwauling, whence they always return scratched, hungry, and out of spirits. Aristotle says, Omne animal post coitum est triste; to which an anonymous author has given the following exception, preter gallum gallinaceum, et sucerdotem gratis fornicantem.
goodyer's pig
Like Goodyer's pig; never well but when in mischief.
Goose, gander and gosling are three sounds but one thing. (Strauss, 1994 p. 104)
Different aspects are essentially the same thing
ground squirrel
A hog, or pig. SEA TERM.
grunting peck
Pork, bacon, or any kind of hog's flesh.
guinea to a goose
A sporting phrase, meaning long odds in favour of, or against, anything under notice. In the City this state of things is represented by the phrase, Lombard Street to a China orange. There are also other colloquialisms on this subject, but their power is, as a rule, mainly dependent upon their indecency.
hair of the dog
A small amount of alcohol consumed to alleviate a hangover
have a tiger by the tail
to control something powerful and difficult to manage
heavy dragoons
Bugs, in contradistinction from fleas, which are "light infantry."—Oxford University.
hell cat
A termagant, a vixen, a furious scolding woman. See TERMAGANT and VIXEN.
hen and chickens
Large and small pewter pots.
herd cats
to manage or organize a group of people who are difficult to control
horse's ass
a foolish or stupid person
horse's mouth
directly from the original or most reliable source
hump up
"to have one’s HUMP UP," to be cross or ill-tempered—like a cat with its back set up. See BACK and MONKEY.
hung beef
A dried bull's pizzle. How the dubber served the cull with hung beef; how the turnkey beat the fellow with a bull's pizzle.
i'll hear it from the horse's mouth
Learn something directly from the original source
in twig
Handsome; stilish. The cove is togged in twig; the fellow is dressed in the fashion.
ivy bush
Like an owl in an ivy bush; a simile for a meagre or weasel-faced man, with a large wig, or very bushy hair.
jiggot o’ mutton
A leg of mutton. From Fr. GIGOT.
jingle boxes
Leathern jacks tipped with silver, and hung with bells, formerly in use among fuddle caps. CANT.
jolly dog
A merry facetious fellow; a BON VIVANT, who never flinches from his glass, nor cries to go home to bed.
kilkenny cat
A popular simile for a voracious or desperate animal or person, from the story of the two cats in that county, who are said to have fought and bitten each other until a small portion of the tail of one of them alone remained.
knappers poll
A sheep's head. CANT.
let the cat out
Or LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG, a common phrase, which implies that a secret is to be or has been let out.
like a bowl in a china shop
Eggcorn of like a bull in a china shop.
like a chicken with the pip
feeling sick or unwell
like shit through a goose
Very fast.
long one
A hare; a term used by poachers.
long-tailed beggar
A cat. The tale that hangs thereby runs thus:—A boy, during his first very short voyage to sea, had become so entirely a seaman, that on his return he had forgotten the name of the cat, and was obliged, pointing to puss, to ask his mother "what she called that ’ere LONG-TAILED BEGGAR?" Accordingly, sailors, when they hear a freshwater tar discoursing too largely on nautical matters, are very apt to say, "But how, mate, about that ’ere LONG-TAILED BEGGAR?"
look for a dog to kick
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
looking as if one could not help it
Looking like a simpleton, or as if one could not say boh! to a goose.
louse house
The round house, cage, or any other place
lowing rig
Stealing oxen or cows.
meat stick
The penis.
monkey around
to fool around or waste time
my lord
A nickname given to a hunchback.
nature of the beast
A fundamental aspect of something's character
newgate bird
A thief or sharper, frequently caged in Newgate.
nine lives
Cats are said to have nine lives, and women ten cats lives.
of course my horse
Traditional English proverbial phrase; full definition pending editorial review.
old dog
A knowing blade, an experienced person. Butler uses the phrase, Hudibras, part ii. canto iii. 208, where it was said of Sidrophel, "And was OLD DOG at physiology." An Irish proverb says, "OLD DOG for hard road," meaning that it requires an experienced person to execute a difficult undertaking.
old horse
salt junk