.A/", ex. .

A NEW

DICTIONARY

A NEW

DICTIONARY

OF

AMERICANISMS

BY

SYLVA CLAPIN

Tou speak another tongue than mine, Though both are English born.

R. L. STEVENSON.

NEW YORK

LOUIS WEISS & CO., PUBLISHERS, llfi Fulton Street

PREFACE OF THE EDITORS

A very dull man, and a pertinacious reader — the terras are by no means incompatible — is said to have had Johnson's Dictionary lent to him by some mischievous friend as an interesting new work, and to have read it through from beginning to end,-quite unconscious that he was doing any- thing unusual. He observed, when he returned it, that the author appeared to him a person of considerable information, but that his style was slightly unconnected.

The remark had a good deal of truth in it, for a dictionary is not bad reading on the whole. It is much more endurable than a good many of what are called lighter books, and not much more unconnected.

What is an Americanism? In a good many instances the name is given to some archaism belated, or some English provincialism that has worked its way into general accep- tance in the United States. It is usual to object, when expressions of either kind are classed by. some one as Americanisms, that they are nothing of the kind, which, though in strictness true enough, is a little unpractical ; for surely, when words that have become obsolete in the mother country, or are merely " local " here and there, find themselves in wide or universal popularity in America, it is indeed convenient to class them as what they have prac- tically become — Americanisms. Such words, for instance, as shyster, meeching, etc., are for all practical purposes Amer- icanisms now, and are best classed and defined therewith. If we reject them, we must reject also such characteristic words as boss, stoop, portage, etc. Carry it far enough, and we would have hardly anything left but neologisms.

PREFACE OF THE EDITORS

.A very erroneous impression generally exists as to the manner in which the English language is spoken in the United State?. This has arisen in some degre irom the cir- cumstance that travellers have dwelt upon and exaggerated such peculiarities of language as have come under their observation in various parts of the Union ; but also m greater measure from the fact that in England novels and dramas in which an American figures— whether or not man of education— he is made to express himself dialect happily combining th,e peculiarities of speech of every section of the country from Maine to Texas. With the exception of Anthony Trollope's American Senator, we can- not recall to mind a single work of fiction in which this is not the case. Take, for instance, those portions of Martin Chuzzlewit, the scenes of which are laid in the United States ; Richard Fairfield, in Bulwer's My Novel ; the Colonel, m Lever's One of Them ; FuHalove, in Charles Reade's Very Hard Cash ; the younger Fenton, in Yate's Black Sheep ; or the American travellers in Mugby Junction— in each and every instance the result is to convey a most erroneous idea as to the manner in which the English language ordinarily spoken in the United States.

As a matter of fact, and as regards the great bulk of the people of the United States, there can be no question but that they speak purer and more idiomatic English than do the masses in the Old Country. In every State of the Union, the language of the inhabitants can be understood without the slightest difficulty. This is more than can be said of the dialects of the peasantry in various parts of England, these being in many instances perfectly unintelh gible to a stranger. Again, the fluency of expression and command of language possessed by Americans, even in the humbler ranks of life, form a marked contrast to the poverty of speech of the same class in England, where, as an eminent philologist has declared, a very considerable proportion of the agricultural population habitually make use of a vocabulary not exceeding 300 wordi.

The words and phrases which are here collected under the general term Americanisms may be fairly classed under four heads: 1. Genuine English words, obsolete or provin-

PREFACE OF THE EDITORS VII

cial in England and universally used in the United States ; 2. English words conveying, in the United States, a different meaning from that attached to them in England ; 3. Words introduced from other languages than the English: — French, Dutch, Spanish, German, Indian, etc. ; 4. Americanisms proper, i. e. words coined in the country, either representing some new idea or peculiar product.

All the provincialisms of the northern and western counties of England have been naturalised in the New- England States, settled, as they were, in the first instance, by the " Pilgrim Fathers ," who had left the banks of Trent and Humber, and by the later colonists who followed from Norfolk and Suffolk. A similar transmission may be traced in Virginia through the settlers from the south western counties of England. Indeed, it has already been argued, with much plausibility, by several English tourists, that New England might more correctly be called " Older England. " " Let the English traveller in the United States ", says one of those tourists, writing in the New Englander, " instead of going west from New- York, go east. Let him traverse the Holy Land of Boston Common and linger under the impecunious shadow of the old South. Let him stroll along the wharves of Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard, and spend an hour amid the quaint headstones of a New-England burying ground. My conviction is that he will come away with the impression that he has never been in quite such an old-world country as this. He has left old England indeed ; but it is only to find an older England still, 3,000 miles nearer to the setting sun. "

Let UB judge now of the extent of the modifications and alterations to which a great many English words have been subjected in America, even to their having become nearly, if not quite, as unintelligible to the average Cockney as he would find the dialect of a Northumberland village.

Thus, if a Londoner is fortunate enough to cross the Atlantic, and be introduced to a sky which has not been discoloured by smoke, a sun which has not been dimmed by fog, and an atmosphere which the powers have not forgotten to dry, and is as stimulating as champagne, but is unfortunate enough to have to buy a frock-coat— a most

VIII

PREFACE OF THE EDITORS

expensive article — or to order one — -as a rule, quite a different matter — he must call it a "Prince Albert."

Prince Albert coat it is in Republican America, what- ever it may be in Monarchical England*, where " Albert the Good " is occasionally remembered when the anniver- sary of his death comes round.

If he wants a billycock hat, he will never get it if he aska for it by that name ; he must request the shopman to bring him a "Derby."

Should the coverings of his feet Jbe worn out and he orders a, new pair of boots, he will be given Wellington?, which are " boots " in the American language; if he wants English boots he must ask for " shoes, " while if he likes to show pretty socks and wears Oxford shoes, he must call for " ties " or " low cuts, " and " slippers " if he needs pumps.

He will find, too, that he does not buy articles in a shop, but at a " store, " and he will be sent to its different departments by a " floor-walker, " not a shop-walker.

If he would travel in the city and wishes to go by or talk about what he would at home call a tram, he must be careful to say " surface car " or " street-car, " for trams have no existence in the American vocabulary.. If, further, he would, when in Rome, do what Rome floes, let him forswear the use of railway until he returns home, and train himself to say " railroad, " and let him never forget that he walks on the " sidewalk, " not on the pavement.

Should he unfortunately happen to get ill, let him boldly declare that he "feels sick," entirely heedless of what he would be understood to mean at home, or it will be taken that he is nauseated, for the words sick and ill mean just the reverse of what they signify in London; and if his doctor gives him a prescription, let him not ask to be directed to a chemist, or he will be sent off to a manufac- turer of chemical-, if any one knows the address of such a firm, but let him seek for & " pharmacy " or " drug store."

Instead of a draper's shop he will find a " dry goods store," and if he desires to go to one of the upper floors he will " take the elevator " — though, as is so frequently the case, the reverse is the truth — for he will certainly not dis-

PREFACE OF THE EDITORS IX

cover a lift ; while, if his wife has requested him to buy her some hairpins, hooks and eyes, cottons, or other small articles, he will find them at the " notion-counter."

As, being a stranger, he will not have his own carriage, he will, if he wants a drive, " ride " in a " waggon," which is not a cart for carrying packages, but a very comfortable, light, open vehicle, or else in a " buggy," an equally light conveyance with a hood, but open at the sides. If he prefers a single-horse brougham he will do well to call it a " coupe"," and if he asks for a " carriage " he will get a Victoria with a pair of horses.

In the evening he will naturally go to the theatre, but he must be careful to ask for " orchestra seats " if he wants stalls ; while if his tastes are not for drama proper, and he prefers a music-hall entertainment, he should invite his friend to go to a " variety show."

If a play is advertised as a " farce-comedy," and he imagines he will see a farcical comedy, he will be doomed to disappointment, for a farce-comedy is only an alleged play in which the characters are taken by variety show " artistes " who introduce their " specialties " — song and dance — in season and out of season. In other words, it is cousin- German to a music-hall entertainment without the diversity in the programme.

In its pronunciation United States is a law unto itself, and if the aforesaid Londoner gets " busted," or wants employment as a clerk, let him not call himself a " clark," or people will open their eyes at his peculiar occupation and let him also remember he wears a Derby hat, not a darby.

Above all, let him avoid, as he would the plague, the nasal twang which passes current for the American accent on the London stage, unless he hankers after being mis- taken for a denizen of the " wild and woolly West," or as hailing from Oshkosh or Kalamazoo, both of which places, in spite of a popular belief to the contrary, will be found on the map of the country over which the Stars and Stripes float and the bald-headed Eagle screams.

Amongst the foreign contributions to the American idiom the first is a very small offering from the poor Red Man The fact is certainly to be regretted, for, as is well known*

PREFACE OF THE EDITORS

there is music even in the roughest of Indian names, while most of them are smooth and melodious almost to perfec tion.

The representatives of so many different nationalities, landing in America in hordes vaster than those of the barbarians who from the North used to cross the Alps into Italy, have accepted the Anglo-Saxon with a celerity and completeness which almost deserves to be called a reversal ot the confusion of tongues. But, every emigrant has tended nevertheless, although to a very small extent, to influence the language of his adopted country, and some peculiar strands have thus become interwoven with the national web.

Almost all Americanisms of French origin, besides names' of places, are geographical terms. Of this class are bayou, levee, prairie, etc.

The Spaniards have been so long masters in Texas, Arizona, California and Florida, that the formation of those State?, after the Mexican war, brought into common use many words belonging to their language. Even to-day, immense regions of the South- West remain almost altogether Spanish, so far as local names and the more familiar expressions are concerned. And especially can this be said of words relating to horses and mules and to their equip- ments. It seems also probable that any future accretion to American English will be more and more from Spanish sources, the more so that the recent acquisition of Porto- Rico and the conquest of Cuba have made the United States, so to say, virtual masters of the commerce of their Spanish- speaking neighbors.

The influence of the Dutch is seen in the idioms of New York and New Jersey, but, strange to say, the Germans have not enriched the American language by a dozen impor- tant words, although their element is one of the most important in the States. The Germans have, no doubt, powerfully affected the national mind in all that pertains to the realm of thought; but the marks are not visible, because, of all foreigners, they were the ones to show the most excessive readiness to adapt themselves to all the exigencies of their new home, and their action has been too subtle and silent to leave its traces on the surface.

PREFACE OF THE EDITORS XI

he subject of Americanisms has been laboriously investi- gated by several diligent students, no less than five books — not to speak of articles in periodicals and brief essays — . devoted to the " American language ': having from time to time appeared : Pickering's Vocabulary, in 1816 ; Elwyn's Glossary, in 1859; Schele de Vere's Americanisms, in!872 ; Bartlett's Dictionary, of which successive editions were published in 1848, 1859, 1860 and 1877; and Farmer's Americanisms, in 1889.

John Pickering's "Vocabulary, or Collection of Words and Phrases supposed to be peculiar to the United States," originated in the author's practice, while living in London, of noting down, for the purpose of avoiding them, such of his own verbal expressions as were condemned by his British friends. As finally published, the list contains over five hundred words, consisting principally of mere vulgar- isms and blunders, and words really British in their origin, though not current in good London society.

Elwyn's " Glossary of Supposed Americanisms " was undertaken to show how much there yet remains in the United States of language and customs directly brought from England, a purpose quite different from that of Mr. Pickering. But the chief value of the book consists in the contributions it makes to our knowledge of Pennsylvania provincialisms, of which the author is evidently a careful observer. About four hundred and sixty words are included.

Schele de Vere's " Americanisms " differs from the other works mentioned in not adopting the usual alphabetical form common to dictionaries, but presenting American peculiarities of speech arranged in various classes. About four thousand words and phrases appear in the index.

Bartlett's " Dictionary of Americanisms " is a valuable •and entertaining work, although it has been t»o much filled up and weighed down, so to say, with slang words of merely temporary vogue, mispronunciations, grammatica 1 errors, and even wearisome repetitions. This dictionary is in its latest edition, a bulky octavo of over eight hundred pages, containing something above five thousand six hun- dred.entries.

XII

PREFACE OF THE EDITORS

Farmer's "Americanism Old and New" is likewise a valuable book, but the author lacks one essential quality for writing upon Americanisms : that of having been born and brought up in America. And thus it happens that Mr. Farmer, being an Englishman, has often failed conspi- cuously in the task of deciding what are really American- isms and what are not. We must, however, commend the author for his laudable researches in collecting so much new material, especially the words relating to the flora of America and the strange New-England euphemisms employ- ed by those in whom the remnant of the old Puritanical spirit is still strong enough to render them unwilling to utter vulgar or profane expressions openly. .

The "New Dictionary," which we present to the public, has no pretence at being a scholarly work, the author — well known tor his proceeding investigations in the peculiarities of speech of French Canada — having had here simply in view to make an up-to-date book which would be accessible and useful to a larger class of American readers than the one usually interested in philological matters. Particular attention has been paid to the faura and flora, and to the words derived from foreign languages, especially the French and Spanish, the data obtained under those two heads being especially noticeable and important. Valuable additions have been made to the newspaper and political vocabulary, to the nicknames of persons, States, cities, etc., and great care has been taken in eliminating all words which are at best only mushroom growths or linguistic abortions of merely ephemeral vogue. The reader will no doubt also remark the wide field that has been covered by this book, its scope embracing the peculiarities of speech of the Dcminion of Canada and Newfoundland as well as of the United States. Lastly, we draw attention to the valuable innovation constituted by appendices I and II, in which all substantives are classed analytically, thereby offering the advantages which have made DeVere's book on Ame- ricanisms particularly precious, and greatly facilitating, researches.

Abb.	Abbreviation.	Mex.	Mexican.
Adj.	Adjective .	N. B.	New-Brunswick.
Alg.	Algonkin.	Neb.	Nebraska.
Am.	America, or American.	N. Eng.	New England.
Cf.	Compare.	New Eug.	New England.
Co.	County.	Nfld.	Newfoundland.
Contr.	Contraction.	N. J.	New Jersey.
Corrupt.	Corruption.	N. S.	Nova Scotia.
Diet.	Dictionary.	N. Y.	New York.
Dim.	Diminutive.	Old Eng.	Old English.
Eng.	England, or English.	Ont.	Ontario.
Esp.	Especially.	Pa.	Pennsylvania.
F. A.	French-Acadian.	Part.	Participle.
F. C.	French-Canadian.	PI.	Plural.
Fern.	Feminine.	Prob.	Probably.
Fla.	Florida.	Pron.	Pronounce.
Fr.	French.	Q. V.	Which see (quum vide).
Ga.	Georgia.	R. I.	Rhode Island.
Ger.	German.	•s. c.	South Carolina.
Hist.	History.	S. E.	South-East.
I. E.	That is, namely (id est).	Sp.	Spanish.
Ind.	Indian.	S. W.	South-West.
Ky.	Kentucky.	Va.	Virginia.
Lit.	Literally.	W. Ind.	\Vcst Indian.

NUMBER OF ENTRIES

296

B.

D

G

M.

N.

Q-

R.

S. T. U.

W. Y. Z..

744

253

53

271

262

245

57

80

71

161

252

80

88

345

22

195

674

17

19

129

18

3

5,258

A NEW

OF

AMERICANISMS

A. The old Anglo-Saxon prefix A, meaning at, in, on, to, is more gene- rally retained in the United States than in England.

A. With the exception of the greater part of New England, we have the almost universal use of what we may call the short a ; that is, the pro- nunciation of that letter with the sound that it has in "man." This particularity also holds good of the provinces in England, the broad vowel sound being of cockney origin.

A for an, as in "a hotel" for "an hotel." The elision of "n" before hotel is so general in the United States that it may be regarded as universal, while in England it is very rare. This difference is the con- sequence of the difference in the pronunciation of "hotel," which in England, except among a very few cultivated speakers, is pronounced "otel."

A 1. A slang expression, borrowed from the familiar designation of ships at Lloyd's, and which can be distinctly traced to America, if not in its first creation, at least in the special meaning which it has acquired. Thus, as Sam Slick was wont to say, it is customary to hear : "She's a prime girl, she's A No. 1," and J. R. Lowell sings :

He was six foot o'man, A I, Clean grit and human natur'.

An intensified form also exists : A No 1 and no mistake, which is the equivalent of the English "First-class, letter A No. 1."

Aaron's Band. A Masonic degree, instituted by Joseph Cerneau, founder of the Sovereign Grand Consistory of the United States of America. See Cerneau rite.

•2 ABE -ABO

Abergoins, AbPOganS. A corruption of "aborigines" said to be com- mon in the West among the illiterate, and which is used jocularly for Indians.

Aboard. Not exclusively nautical, and generally also transferred from sea-life to shore-life, as in the familiar expressions : Aboard a train or a carriage, and even aboard a mule or a horse.

Aboard (all), pronounced as thoagh it were one word, accented on the syllabe " all. "

Before the invention of the railway, the Jhiglishman was generally carried by land in a coaah, while the American was taken by water in a boat. And this is why an American conductor always cries out " All aboard " as his train is about to start, while an English guard will prefer to say " Passengers, take your seats. "

Aboideau, Aboiteau, ah-bwa-doh, — toh (Fr. A. ). A sluice through a dike so arranged that the water can run out of the creek at low tide- When the tide is coming in, a valve automatically closes the passage.

Used in connection with the dikes of the Tantramar marshes in New Brunswick, and of the Grand Pre1 in Nova Scotia.

Other forms are abito, bito.

Abolitiondom. A strictly grammatical word, formed after the manner of " kingdom, " and which came into use, in the South, during the Civil War, to designate the Northern States then clamouring for the abolition of slavery.

Abolitionists. A name given, during the Revolution, and when the Constitution was made, to various societies formed for ths abolition of slavery in the United States. At first, these societies generally advocated gradual and voluntary emancipation, and indeed it was only in 1830, at the time of William Lloyd Garrison's furious arraignment of slave-holders as criminals, that radical measures were demanded with a view of obtaining the immediate abolition of slavery all over the United States.

In 1840, the Abolitionists first appeared as a distinctive political party, the great majority of them then forming the Liberty Party, which afterward acted with the Free Soil and Republican parties. The abolitionist movement finally culminated in President Lincoln's Eman- '•i]i :tion Proclamation of January 1, 1863.

Abolitionize. To convert to the doctrine of the abolitionists. Aboriginal. Used adjectively for Indian.

Boiling Robertson — had the Indian eye, and the whole cast of his counte- nance was aboriginal. (Letters from the South, I. p. 23.)

Also used in sense of original, out of the common. " That is an

idea. "

ABO— ABS 3

About. A distinctive Americanism is the habit by all classes of putting all they want to say definitely, and know definitely, in a doubtful form, i. e. " I reckon the local election about pleased you."

About East. About right, in a proper manner.

This curious slang expression originated in the West, among the New Englanders emigrated from the East. With them, naturally, all that is done in their native land is right, and hence what they admire they simply call a'tout East.

See Down En*f.

About right. Nearly right.

In the sense of well, thorough, Bartlett was surely wrong in noting about right as peculiar to America, it being in that sense a native ex- pression in many parts of England.

About the Size. An expression covering a wide field : assent, general satisfaction, approval, etc. Synonymous with about right.

Got no home, no wittles, and never a' a penny to buy none with. That's about the size of how destitoot we arc, sii-.

(James Greenwood, New Roughs' Guide, in Odd People in Odd Places.)

Above One's bend. Beyond one's power, or out of one's reach. Above one's ability, power, or capacity. Literally, above one's power of bending all his strength to a certain purpose.

This expression is common enough in the West. Referring to it, J. R. Lowell calls attention to Hamlet's " To the top of my bent." AM English equivalent is "above one's hook."

Above One's huckleberry. The equivalent, in the South, of above

lull '.< ''•• //'/.

Above par. A stock-broker's expression, extended to mean anything .superior, or beyond the ordinary. inch /• par.

Abra (>Sp. ). In the South- West, a narrow pass between mo'.intains. In Texas, however, the tvi'::: oxora i'Sj, vially applies t:j a break in a mi-* i. (q. v.) or in a rangj of hi]

Abskise (pr;>b. *!:•)•. aibacheiden). 01 local usage, in parts of tli- settled by (u'rnmir!, in sense of to depart, to g-> away.

Absquatulate. To abscond, to vanish. To run away, with the more or

less t' ,!•<•:!>! • i<iv i ol running ;:\v,iy in <l;sur;iiv.

This fictitious word first came to light in 1S33, in a play called " The Kentuckian," liy I.t-nrird, and !),3 Voi\; inclines to think that it n:;iy bi« derived frrn the Latin ah and the Ami? -lean xqunt. Our opinion would bo tint 'i!i • :ui'i'' i' ;. only M facetious ne^roism, which has come into usi in th'j s iM) j kin i oi' pl.iyf-.il way as many pjopl-'j in England, for

4 ABU-ACC

instance, might say "no forrarder." The disposition of our negro to multiplication and confusion of syllables is well known, and, in the absence of a sure derivation, the above inference possesses, we think, good ground for plausibility.

Abutter. . A real-estate term coined in Boston, and denoting the owner of an adjoining or coterminous estate.

Such of the present abutters or borderers on the said flatts.

(Boston Town Records, 10 sept. 1673.)

Academy. Used with grandiloquence for school, a custom wellnigh ancient, and not peculiar to -America, if we may well believe the scornful denunciation of it by Boswell's father, the old Laird of Auchinleck:

He keepit a schule and call'd it an acaademy.

Following the same trend of thought, every college of some pre- tensions must needs also, in the United States, be a University.

Accommodate. Used especially in New England in the sense of providing for travellers, from the English meaning of " accommodation " as applied to public houses.

Accommodation train. A slow train stopping at all stations.

According tO Glinter. According to rule, or correctly done ; properly, arithmetically. A popular standard of appeal, derived from Gunter, an English mathematician who was the inventor of a famous Rule of Proportion, at the time of the early Puritan settlements. The old laws of Rhode Island say:

All casks shall be gaged by the rule commonly known as gauging by Gunter.

In England, a similar locution is " According to Cocker," from the arithmetician Cocker, living under the reign of Charles II. The American phrase is however the older one of the two by at least half a century.

Account (of no). An expression of utter contempt, evidently borrowed from the ledger, and which is especially much used in the South, and South-West. For instance a man is of no account when he is a worthless fellow, literally when he does not "count" in the struggle for life; a thing is of no account when it has no value.

Pete ! he no'count nohow, he poor flel' hand nigger ! (J. G. Baldwin, Flush Times of Alabama, p. 117.)

Accountability. The state of being accountable. In England, "ac- countableness. "

Accountability has the authority of Robert Hall.

ACC— ACR 5

Accumulati V6S. In newspaper parlance, a kind of literary, sparring match. Some editor will make a remark or a joke ; another will cite it with comments ; and, in his turn, he will be handled by a third. Indeed, there are cases in which the original paragraph has gone the round of twenty or thirty prints. Also called codicils.

Aeeite, ah-say'-ee-tay (Sp. ). In Texas, any kind of comestible oil.

Aeequia, ah-say'-kee-ah (Sp. ). An irrigating ditch, in Texas and New Mexico. The main ditch is called aceqnia madre. Also spelled azequia, zequia.

AeequiadOP, ah-say-kee-ah'-dor (Sp.). The officer in charge of the ace- quias, in Texas and New Mexico.

In Spain, " acequiador " is the acequia builder, while " acequiero " is the officer mentioned above.

(Ind. manachigan, or achigan, Otchipwe). A common name, among the French Canadians, for the black bass of Canada. This word is found in the old writers, namely in Hennepin :

On y pesche ...... des achigans.

(Description de la Louisiane, 1688.)

The form manachigan is still used by the Algonkins of the Lake of Two Mountains, in the province of Quebec.

Acknowledge the corn. To make an admission of failure, to admit being outwitted. To confess a charge or imputation.

The best authenticated story, to account for derivation, is given by De Vere, and runs somewhat as follows :

In 1828, Hon. Andrew Stewart, from Pennsylvania, was in Congress dis- cussing the principle of Protection, and said in the course of his remarks that Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky sent their hay-stacks, corn-fields and fodder to New York and Philadelphia for sale. The Hon. Charles A. Wickliff, from Kentucky,.]' umped up and said : "Why.that is absurd,and I call the gentleman to order. We never send hay-stacks or corn-fields to New York or Phila- delphia.— Well, what do you send ? replied Mr. Stewart.— Why, horses, mules, cattle, hogs. — Well, what makes your horses, mules, cattle, hogs-? If you feed a hundred dollars' worth of hay to a horse, when you ride off to market with that horse, don't you simply get upon the top of an hay-stack worth a hun dred dollars ? Same, for your cattle. Xow, about your hogs, how much corn does it take to fatten one of them ?— Why, thirty bushels. — Then you put that thirty bushels of corn into the shape of a hog, and make it walk off to the Eastern market." At this, Mr. Wickliffe jumped up again and said : " Mr. Speaker, I acknowledge the corn."

ACPOSS lots. By the most direct way, in the quickest manner. From the habit of cutting across vacant lots, in sparsely built-up districts, in order to save distances. Brigham Young is reported to have said that

ACT— ADD

he "would send his enemies to hell arrow lo's," and J. R. Lowell improves upon him by making an epithet of the word :

To all the mos' across lot wiys of preachin' an' convertin'. (Biglow Papers, II, p. 100.)

I did'nt see Crosby go by, did you ?— He'd have had to foot it by the path cross-lots, replied Ezra, gravely, from the doorstep.

(Sarah Orne Jewett, Law Lane, in Scribner's Magazine, Dec. 1887, p. 735.)

Acting*. Literally "acting as." Said of one who fulfils ad interim the duties of a position : Acting Mayor, Acting Governor, etc.

Ad. A printer's usual abbreviation for "advertisement," now generally adopted, not only in newspaper parlance, but also in the whole adverti- sing business of the country.

Adam and Eve (Aplectrum hiemale). The popular name of the puttyroot, from its pair of tuberous roots always found together

Adamites. A current appellation, from 1821 to 1832, for the adherents of John Quincy Adams, 10th president of the United States.

Addition. A legal term to designate part of a village or city laid out in addition to original plot. (North Mississipi Valley.)

Also used generally in New England to denote new part of a house added to original building.

Addition, division and Silence. A Philadelphia expression, which for a time had a vogue as a catch phrase, and for which Wm. H. Kemble, of Pennsylvania, is generally credited. As the story goes, in March 1867, Wm. H. Kemble, then treasurer of Pennsylvania, wrote the follow- ing letter to Titian J. Coffey, a former Pennsylvania politician, but then a resident of Washington :

MY DKAK TTTTAX :— Allow me to introduce-to you my particular friend, Mr. George O. Evans. He has a claim of some magnitude that he wishes you to help him in. Put him through as you would me. He understands addition, division and silence. Yours : W. H. KKMBLE.

The story was given at length in the Xen- York Sun of Sept. 29, 1891, and Kemble admitted on the witness stand, in his suit against Charles A. Dana, that he had written the letter.

Addressed. A postal term which it is still common to find on letters sent by messengers, and denoting that those letters are to be delivered as directed. The term came up when the Post-Otfice department began to fight private mail carriers, about 1840, and only lost its significance some twenty years after. The object of so addressing letters was to avoid having them come under the postal monopoly, as, theoretically, every closed letter must be delivered by the United States postal service.

Addressee. The person to whom a letter or other object is addressed.

ADJ— ADV 7

Adjective jCPker. A term of derision applied, like ink-slinger, to those who write for the press. The allusion, in the present case, is doubtless to the indiscriminate use of adjectives, among young writers and report- ers.

Admiral. In Newfoundland, a name given to the oldest man of a fishing settlement. Also, to the recognized chief commander of a fleet of fish- ing vessels.

Admire. (1) To wonder, to be affected with surprise. Now obsolete in that sense in England, although its use has once had the highest •authority. In the New-England States, particularly in Maine, still a very current expression.

Let none admire That riches grow in hell. (Milton, Paradi.se Lost, bk. 1, 1. 690.)

He (Charles II) is so fond of the Duke of Monmouth, that everybody admires it.

(Pepy's Diary, Feb. 22, 1663.)

(2) To wish eagerly. " I should admire to go to Europe." Also especially confined to New England, although it is still heard now-a-days in some eastern counties of England.

Adobe, ah-doh'-bay (Sp. ). In the South-West, a common name for sun- dried or unbaked bricks, and, by extension, for the tenacious clay itself used as material.

Also used adjectively in the sense of suitable for making adobes, built or made of adobes. " An adobe soil, an adobe house."

Often colloquially shortened to dobe, or dobie.

Adoete, ah-dok-tay. In French Canadian folk-lore, a word used among the old " coureurs des bois," to designate an Indian who has passed a secret agreement with an evil genius. Also called Mahowmet.

Adulterer. Not only an infringer of the 7th commandment, but also one wlio "adulterates."

Adventism. The doctrine taiight by Dr. William Miller, who might be called the American counterpart of Dr. Gumming, in England.

The chief tenet of Adventism was a belief in the physical second advent of Jesus-Christ, which event Miller affirmed would take place on the 23rd of October 1844, whereupon numbers of his followers settled their earthly accounts and prepared to meet their Lord and Saviour.

Also called Millerism.

Adventist. A believer in the doctrine of Adventism, as taught by Dr, William Miller.

Also, Milli-inir'init, MiHerite.

8 ADV— AFT

Adventurer. In early colonial times, the landlord " adventuring " or investing money in a plantation.

The adventurers which raised the stock to begin and supply the Plantation, were about seventy gentlemen. ...some adventuring great summes, some small — (Captain John Smith, Historic of Virginia.)

Advice and consent. A term in American constitutional law, denoting a formal vote of specified persons or boards.

From this day there shall noe house at all be built in this towne neere unto any of the streets or laynes therein, but with the advise and consent of the overseers.

(Boston Town Records, 4 October 1636.)

Parliament used the term, 16 December 1653, in the Instrument of Government, borrowing it from Massachusetts, like the term Common- wealth.

Advisement (to have under). To have under consideration. Rarely heard in England, but common in the United States.

Af eared (Old Eng. ). Still current in the Southern States, especially Virginia, in sense of afraid, frightened.

Affection (tO). To have a liking for. A very old form, now about obsolete in England.

Afflicted. Mentally deficient, or deformed. (Maryland. )

Afore, Aforehand (Old Eng.). Still surviving in remoter regions of the New-England States, in sense of before, beforehand. Also aforetime. J. R. Lowell says that neither Spencer nor his Queen scrupled to write afore, and that 'fore was common till after Herrick.

Africanization. A word coined by Southern political writers, after the Civil War, for the act of placing under the control or domination of the black race The word obtained especially a frequent and melan- choly currency, at the time of the nefarious proceedings of the "carpet- baggers."

Africanize. To place under negro domination or control.

After. Used for afternoon, in South-Eastern Pennsylvania. "I'll see him this after. "

Afterclaps (Old Eng.). (1) A current word in Pennsylvania and the Western States, in the sense of an unjust and additional demand beyond the conditions previously stipulated of a bargain.

(2) An unexpected after-effect, the fag-end of anything. Once current in England, but very rarely heard now.

In Scotland, afterclaps means " evil consequences. "

AGA— AGU 9

Again. Used among the illiterate for against, and usually pronounced agin : "Again the house. " /

The language of low life has preserved for us again, as a preposition, instead of against. Etymologically, the form is perfectly correct, and goes back to the earliest known period of the history of our tongue. The literary language, with thorough inconsistency, uses among, as well as amongst, and indeed prefers it, while alongst, corresponding to against and once in use, has now entirely given place to along, corresponding with again.

Agate. A glass marble used by boys at play. Agaze. Astonished, open-eyed. (Thieves' slang.)

Age. In game of poker, the first player to the left of the dealer who bets. This player holds the " age, " and is not compelled to bet until all the other players have signified their intentions. Also called edge.

Ager, AgUP, Aguy, Agy. In the South, frequently used among the uneducated for " ague, " meaning a form of intermittent fever, while in the North " ague " itself is often pronounced like " plague. "

With the addition of the word " fever, " the familiar fevernagy is formed, from fever-an'-aguy for fever-and-ague. Also dumb-aqer, dumb-chill, shaking-ague.

Agohanna (Ind. Algonkin. ). A king, or chief sachem among the Indians, This word belongs to the Indian mythology of Canada, and is frequently met in the relations of some early French discoverers.

Le Roy et Seigneur du pais qu'ils appellent en leur langue Affmihanna. (Lescarbot, Nouvelle-France, p. 320.)

AgOStadero, ah-gos-tah-der-'o (Sp. agosto, the month of August, harvest- time). In Texas, a summer pasture, a tract of open country used as a pasture.

A-gFCening. (1) Growing or becoming green. " The grass will soon be a-greening. "

The prefix A is an Anglo-Saxon survival.

(2) To impose upon one's credulity. " Somebody's been a-greening on

you. "

AgPitO, ah-gree'-toh (Sp. dim. of agrio, sour). In Texas, a small, red berry ; the fruit of a species of berberis probably identical with the chaparral (q. v. ) berry.

Also called algereta, algireta.

Agua, ah'-goo-ah (Sp.). A retention, 011 the Mexican border, of the Spanish name for "water," being applied to lesser streams, as Agua A'zul (New-Mexico), Agua Dulce (Texas), etc.

Aguardiente, ah goo-ar-de-en'-tay (Sp. contr. of agua ardiente, meaning literally " burning water"). On the Mexican frontier, a kind of brandy distilled from the red wine of Mexico. Also any common distilled liquor, especially American whiskey.

Ahead. A seaman's term, used in the United States for every possible forwardness that can be imagined .

Ahead of every one, at the head, in advance of every one.

Go ahead, to go on, to proceed, to rush forward. This idiomatic phrase, which is very characteristic of the restless and energetic progress of the American people, is also sometimes converted into an adjective> as a go-ahead fellow, meaning a progressive, dashing fellow.

Although to <jo ahead is commonly regarded as a genuine Americanism, in the sense aforesaid, there are indications of its use, with same meaning, in several old English writters. Davy Crockett made the maxim "Be sure you're right, then go ahead." Indeed this use of ahead came in at least two centuries before Crocket's time, as we read in Milton :

But how, among the drove of custom and prejudice, this will be relisht by such whose capacity, since their youth, run ahead into the easy creek of a system or medulla, etc.

(Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, Letter to Parliament.)

Ai. In South Carolina, generally prononced ee ': cheer, steer, for chair, stair. With strict retaliation, ee generally becomes, in same region, a or ai, as in dare-meat for rfeer-meat.

Aiguille, a-gwel (Fr. ). A name given, in California, to spiry, needle- like, bare and inaccessible rocks.

Aim. To intend. " She aims to go to morrow." (Tennessee mountains.)

Air-hole. A term applied, in the North, to certain openings in the frozen surface of a river or .pond, which, even in the hardest winter, do not freeze.

Air-line. A railroad built in a straight line, avoiding all curves, and windings. The term originated in the West, where the surface of the level prairies lends itself admirably to those air-lines.

Although strictly limited at first to the above sense, an air-line is now often extended to mean the most direct road from one point to another.

Also called straight shoot.

To take the air fine, to go direct, and by the shortest route ; idiomati- cally, to avoid circumlocution.

Airy. Said of one who is conceited, literally who puts on " airs.''

Alacran, ah-lah-krahn'(Sp. ). A name applied, in formerly Spanish States, to different species of the genus " scorpio," common in Texas and Mexico.

ALA— ALD 11

Alameda, ah-lah-may'-dah (Sp. )• A popular name, in Texas and other South-Western States, for a road planted with alamos (cotton-wood trees), and, by extension,, for a walk or park planted with any kind of trees.

Alamo, ah'-lah-mo (Sp. ). In Texas and other South-Western States, they call alamo the species of poplar known as cotton-wood (Populus nionili- fera) in other parts of the Union. Whence, alameda.

Many places, in Texas, bear the name of alamo, among others the famous mission in San Antonio, scene of the massacre of the Texan garrison by the besieging Mexicans, in 1835.

Albany beef. A popular name for the sturgeon's flesh, in the city of Albany, where it abounds and is highly esteemed, especially when roasted in the form of steaks.

Other expressions, due to a similar mixture of names, are Cape Cod turkey, Marblehead turkey, and Tauiiton turkey.

Albany hemp (Urtica Canadensis). Canada nettle, so called from the fact that in Albany its fibrous bark was once largely used in the manufacture of hemp.

Albany regency. A political term designating an important Demo- cratic junta, having its headquarters at Albany, and which controlled for many years (1820 to 1854) the action of the Democratic party throughout the United States. See Bucktails.

Alberea, al-bear'-kah (Sp.). In Western Texas, a water hole, water pocket, or watering place;

AlbUP, al-boor' (Sp. allure*). In Texas, a game of cards.

Alcalde, al-kal'-day (Sp. ). Iri Texas, and other formerly Spanish States, a judge, magistrate, or justice of the peace. We may here recall that the ex-governor of Texas, 0. M. Roberts, who was a justice of the peace in the early days of the State, bore the affectionate nickname of "the Old Alcalde."

In Spain and Portugal, the " alcalde" is more especially the mayor of a pueblo or town, who is vested with judicial powers similar to those of a justice of the peace.

Alder. Deserves a place, among Americanisms, only in so far as the term is recklessly transferred to other shrubs, that resemble the original in the form of their leaves. Thus, we have the following :

(1) Black alder (Prinos verticillatus), a species of winter-berry ;

(2) Dirarf alil<T (Rhamnus alnifolia), the alder-leaved buckthorn ;

(3) Sjtikt'd alder, also called White alder (Clethra aluifolia), the sweet pepper-bush.

12

ALE— ALL

Alewife. A common term, along the New-England coast, for two species of fishes of the herring kind, the "Alosa vernalis" and the "Alosa aestivalis."

In Maryland and Virginia those herrings are called old wives and in Connecticut alewhaps.

The alewife is like a herrin, but has a bigger bellie ; therefore called an alewife. (John Josslyn, Two Voyages to New- England.)

The form aloof, recorded in 1678, is said to be the Narragansett name of the fish ; but it is probably an error for alewife.

Alfalfa (Sp. ). A Chilian plant of the clover family, otherwise known as lucerne of the English sanfoin, and now extensively cultivated in California, and other South-Western States.

Alfargas, AlfOPgas (Sp. ). In Texas, a popular name for saddlebags. Used almost exclusively in the plural.

Alfilaria, al-fee-lah'-ree-a (Sp. alfiler, a pin, the sxiffix ia or ria expressing assemblage, aggregation).

A valuable forage plant (Erodium cicutarium) of the dry regions of the South-West, especially Western Texas. Other names arejilaree, pin grass, storksbill.

AlgfiC. A generic name proposed by Schoolcraft, to designate the different dialects of the Algonkin languages, which were originally spoken by all the tribes of New England, the Middle States, Virginia, and part of North Carolina.

AljibaP, al-hee'-bar (Sp. aljibe or algibe). In Texas, a cistern.

Alkali flats. The region of extinct lakes and inland seas of Southern Nevada and South-Eastern California, forming wide and desert-like districts covered with an efflorescence of alkali whose dust is extremely annoying. Indeed, before the days of the Pacific railroad, so unpleasant to the traveller were the " Alkali flats," that they were called the " Old bugbear of the great American Desert. "

Same region is also graphically called Thirstland.

All any more, or simply All (Ger. alle, a familiar word used in the sense of "gone"). A Pennsylvania vulgarism signifying "all gone. " Thus, a waiter, at a restaurant, Avill say : " The roast-beef is all any more, " meaning that there is no more.

This curious piece of jargon is also frequently heard in New Jersey.

All around SpOPtS (sportsmen). Men whose interest in sport is all embracing.

Also taken in a pejorative sense, as in the case of men versed in all forms of dissipation.

ALL— ALL 13

All-a-setting. A term of barnyard origin, current in the West, and meaning " in good condition. " "It will make them all-a-setting again. "

All both (Ger. alle beide). Used for both, in South-Eastern Pennsylva-

nia.

Cf. Fr. tons deux.

All-day. Able to work a whole day, or every day ; and, by extension steady, strong. An all-day horse.

Alleriekstix (Ger. allesrichtig). A ludicrous corruption from the German, used in common schools of Cincinnati as equivalent for the English "all right."

All-fired. Probably a Puritan modification of " hell-fired, " and in that respect a profane euphemistic adjective, carrying with it the meaning of immense, excessive, or inordinate. " That's an all-fired lie. "

All flpedly. A compound of the above, sometimes used for enormously,

excessively.

Alligator. In parts of Connecticut, a name applied to the larva of the hell-granite (Corydalus cornutus), an aquatic insect used as bait for bass.

Alligator (Sp. el lagarto, literally the lizard). A term applied to all the saurians found in the New World, and more especially to the croco- dile of the southern United States. (Alligator mississipiensis. )

Alligator gar (Lepidosteus tristcechus). A large pike-like fish found in rivers of the South, and so called from its resernblance to the alligator.

Alligator pear (Laurus persea gratissima). A West-Indian fruit re- sembling a pear in shape, and much esteemed on account of its delicately flavored buttery or marrow-like pulp.

The name is also applied to the fruit of other trees of the genus Persea, as of the red bay (P. Carolinensis) of the eastern United States.

Other variants, for the alligator pear proper, are avocado pear and midshipman's butter.

Alligator tortoise (Chelydra serpentina). A marsh tortoise found in Carolinian and other Southern waters. Also called snapping turtle.

Alligator WOOd (Guarea swartzii). A West-Indian tree of the Melia family.

Allot upon (to). Used by illiterate people, in remote districts of New England, in sense of to anticipate, to intend, to form a purpose. Gene- rally contracted in to1 lot. " Plot upon going to see you."

Allotment certificate. A certificate specifying the land, etc. alloted to a person named in said certificate.

14 ALL-ALL

All-OUt (Old Eng.). An archaism preserved in the United States in the sense of by far. " He was all out the best of the lot." Quoted in Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy.

Allow. ( 1 ) Constantly used, in the Middle and Southern States, in the sense of affirming or making a statement, and then obviously a corruption of that meaning of "to allow," which is synonymous with to admit, to acknowledge.

(2) In the West, "to allow" is frequently heard in the more vague sense of to think, to suppose, corresponding with the "guess" of the North, or the " reckon" of the South.

(3) In New England, "to allow" is generally used as meaning to approve. This meaning is however common enough in the Old Country, as in the phrase affirming that the Deitj7 "cannot look upon sin with any degree of allowance."

Other variants are calculate, claim, expect, guess, reckon.

All-pOSSeSSed. Affected by evil spirits. "Swearing like all -possessed. "

All quiet On the Potomac. A phrase now become famous, and used in jest or ironically as indicative of a period of undisturbed rest, quiet enjoyment, or peaceful possession. It originated with Mr. Cameron, Secretary of War during the Rebellion, who made such a frequent use of it, in his war bulletins, that it became at last stereotyped on the nation's mind.

All right on the gOOSe (to be). This phrase had its origin in Kan- sas, during the contentions in that Sc.itj on ths subject of the extension of negro slavery within its limits, an 1 meant to bj in favour of slavery, to bs true to the cause of slavery.

Now extended to mean : to ba orthodox on the question at issue, to be true to the principles of a political party.

Also, to be sound on the. yoose.

The old saying, "everything is lovoly and the goose hangs high," is a perversion of a phrase that originated in Delaware. When the spring comes, the migratory birds fly northward ; if the weather is rainy or cloudy thair flight is near the earth, whereas, if th3 sky is clear, they soar at a gr^at height, uttering thoir characteristic erics. The phrase originally was : "Everything is lovely and ths gooss honks high."

All SOPtS. A slang term designating the drippings of glasses in saloons, collected and sold at half-price to drinkers who are not over-particular.

All S0rt3 Of. A prevalent vulgarism in th.- South and West, answering to the Eaglish slang "out-aud-ou^ " and used as a complimentary term in tli? sjnsD of cute, clever, expert.

She was all sorts of a gal... (Robb, Squatter Life.)

ALL— ALM 15

Allspice. In audition to designating the tropical Pimento (Eugenia pimenta) of the West India Islands, it is also often applied to a sweet- scented shrub of the South (Calycanthus floridus), the bark and wood of which have quite a spicy flavor. At times, a more careful distinction is attempted, by calling that shrub the Carolina Allspice, from the State in which it i i quite abundant.

All talk and no eider. Purposeless loquacity.^ Literally, much ado about nothing, the idea conveyed being the insignificance of results com- pared with the means adopted to obtain them. Particularly used in political circles.

All the g"O. Anything in great demand, or on which there is a great run. Also, all the rage.

All the time. An Americanism of the truest ring, used in sense of "al- ways."

Nature tells every secret once. Yes ; but, in man, she tells it all the time. (Emerson, Essay on Behaviour.)

All tWO. A pleonastic negro corruption used in sense of "both."

An exact equivalent of that expression is found in the French language with " tous les deux."

Alluvions. Used in parts of Texas for bottom-lands (q. v. ).

All wag" blue. A rollicking time ; a spree, a kick-up.

All WOOl and a yard Wide. A simile for thoroughgoing genuineness.

Almighty. Used as adjective and adverb, in sense of excessively great or powerful, as in the almighty doUar, meaning the power of money, Mammon regarded as an embodiment of the worship of, and the quest for gold.

However surprising it may appear, we are indebted to England for the sense attached to that wjrd, and our English cousins could even lay claim on the phrase "almighty dollar," for Ben Johnson has once said :

Whilst that for which all virtue now is sold, And almost every vice, n'tniifh/ii' gold.

(Epistle to Elizabeth, Countess of Rutland.)

The modern application of the word to dollars is traceable to Wash- ington Irving, who made use of it in his charming little sketch, entitled A Creole Village :

The almighty <l<>llar seems to have no genuine devotee in these peculiar villages.

16 ALM— AM A

al-moo-sheesh (Ind. animout, a dog, with dim. shiih). A word borrowed from the Micmac Indians, and used in the region of the Restigouche, N. B, to designate a certain variety of dogs trained up for porcupine hunting.

Pour 1'almouchiche point de piril dans la chasse.

(J. C. Tache, Soirees Cauadiennes, 1861, p. 18.)

AlmshOUSe. A term often applied, in the United States, to what would be called, in England, a poor-house or a work-house. See asylum and home.

Almud, al-mood' (Sp.). In Texas, a dry measure equivalent to about a peck.

Also as much as may be sowed with an almud of wheat or corn.

Along (to get). Used in the sense attached, in England, to the expression " to get on." Mrs. Trollope has the following words : "We must try to get along, as the Americans say."

Alonsenel (Cowania stansburiana). A Mexican term, familiarized to American ears on the Western prairies, and designating a medicinal herb, largely found in the neighbourhood of Salt Lake, which is espe- cially much esteemed for its astringent properties.

Alter. A euphemism used in the South in sense of to castrate, to geld, the transition from a general change to a special one of this kind being very natural.

AltO (Sp.). In Texas, a hill, or eminence, generally without trees.

Alumnus (fern alumna ; pi. alumni, nee}. Literally, one who is being educated at a particular college or university, and, specifically, a graduate of any such institution.

Alumni society, a society or club formed of some or all of the graduates of a college or university, for the promotion of literature and good fellowship. Some such societies are large and influential, as the Harvard club, of New- York ; the Yale, of Chicago, etc.

Also called alumni association, society of alumni, etc.

Alum-root (Henchera americana). A plant formerly much used by herb-doctors, and so called on account of its astringent properties.

The term alum-root seems to be a popular one, and other roots of an astringent character bear the same name, as for instance Geranium maculatum.

Amalgamate. A verb applied more particularly, in the United States, to the mixture or mingling of the white and black races.

Amalgamation. The mixing of the white and black races. Another word, representing the same idea, is the ill-shapen compound miscege- nation, which has lately come into use. •

AM A— AMO 17

AmargOSO, ah-mar-gos'-so (Sp.)- The bark of the goatbush (Castela Nicholsonii), used as a febrifuge and a remedy for diarrhoea, and intensely bitter, as its name implies. (Texas, esp. lower Rio Grande Valley. )

Ambia. A euphemism connected with tne use of tobacco, and designating, in Virginia and the Carolinas, the expectoration which the chewing of the weed makes necessary. When we add that the word comes probably from "amber" — denoting its color — we hope that the whole poetry and delicacy of it will be readily recognized.

Ambition. (1) Oddly used, in Virginia and North Carolina, instead of grudge, or spite. " He has an ambition against me."

(2) In the Northern States, ambition is often heard as a mere synonym for " energy."

AmbitlOUS. ( 1 ) Ill-tempered, violent, unmanageable. ' 'An ambitious horse. " (Georgia and Western States. )

(2) Angry, spiteful. (South and West.)

(3) Industrious, energetic, business-like. (New England.)

Ambuscades. Disagreements. " Him an' me had several little am- buscades." (Tennessee Mountains. )

American ivy. A name given, in the South, to the Virginian creeper. American KnightS. Knights of the Golden Circle (q. v. ).

American party. A political party, which originated in New York in 1844, with the avowed object of opposing the usurpation of the city go- vernment by foreigners. Owing to the extreme views of its leaders it fell into disfavor, but came again to the front in 1853, under the popular designation of Know-Nothings.

American tweezers. A burglar's instrument, mainly utilized by hotel thieves, for turning an inside key on the outside of a door. Also called nippers.

Amiable. Ocldly enough, this adjective, when applied to a man, is often understood in a derogatory sense, as if he were stupid.

Amnesty oath. An oath exacted of conquered Southerners, after the Civil War, in order to secure their loyalty, and granting amnesty upon cer- tain conditions. So peculiarly harsh and severe were some of the mea- sures contained in that oath, that it was at one 3 irreverently called Damna*h/ Oath, and also Iron-Clad Oath, from Gen. B. F. Butler, nick- named "Iron-Clad."

Amole. The .soap-plant (Phalangiuni pomeridianum) is known as amole in California and Arkansas. Its pulp, when rubbed on wet clothes, pro- duces an abundant lather, and even smells somewhat like new brown soap.

18

AMO— ANG

Among". The use of "among" instead of "between," when only two persons are referred to, is of frequent occurrence in the United States, although by no means absolutely unknown in England.

Among the missing (tO be). A common slang phrase denoting simply to be absent, to absent one's self.

AmparO, am-pah'-ro (Sp.). In the mining phraseology of Texas, permission to stop working a mine for a definite period, without forfeiting the concession.

Amputate. In thieves' slang, to decamp, to take flight, same way as to cut, to skip, in English slang.

Used in the

Amusers. A brutal and cynic expression, designating those thieves' accomplices who throw snuff, pepper, or other noxious substances in the eyes of a victim they intend to rob, while a confederate, under pretence of coming to the rescue, completes the operation. Old English cant, but now obsolete in England.

Anacahuita, ah-nah-kah-wee'-ta (Sp. from Mex. anaqnahitl). A small tree of the borage family (Cordia Boissieri), found in South-Western Texas, and often confused with the anaqua (q. v. ).

Anan, Anend, from "anon" (Old Eng. ). A very interesting survival still persisting, in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and among old-fashioned people, in the precise sense given by Halliwell :

Anend : How, what did you say I By lower class of persons to higher, when they do not understand what is said tg them.

The form anan is constantly met with in Fenimore Cooper's novels.

It may well be remarked here that right anend, used in sense of " continuously," is almost certainly a corruption of "on end," and has nothing to do with the above interrogative form.

Anaqua, ah-nah'-coo-ah (Sp. ). A tree or shrub of the borage family (Ehretia elliptica), found in South-Western Texas. Also called knackaway.

Anchovy pear (Grias cauliflora). digenous to Jamaica.

A large esculent mango-like fruit, in-

AnCOn, an-cone' (Sp. ). In Texas, and especially on the lower Rio Grande, a piece of land on the banks of a river, which is cultivated by irrigation. In Spain, the name applies to a small anchorage or roadstead.

And the Pise. Used, in some parts of the South, in sense of more than that, and more. See rising.

Angel. A slang word of low life designating one who possesses the means and inclination to "stand treat."

AXG— ANT 19

Angler (Lophius americanus). One of the most remarkable of American fishes, so called from its long feelers, which it protrudes from its hiding- place in the mud, for the purpose of attracting the smaller fry on which it feeds.

Also popularly but wrongfully named devilfish, sea devil.

Angler. In thieves' slang, a street prowler, generally belonging to a gang of petty thieves, and who is always on the lookout for oppor- tunities to commit small larcenies.

Angle-WOFin. In Western Connecticut, a common name for the earth-worm. Indeed, in that region, no other word is known, although, curiously enough, the verb "to angle" is not used.

Animal. A name given to new arrivals at the Military Academy of West Point. See beast.

Also, in the slang of several colleges : (1) A literal translation, or pony (q. v.) ; (2) A very vulgar person ; (3) A Welsh rabbit, or bunny (q. v.).

Animule (with a sly pun upon mule). A favorite substitute for animal, in California and the South-West.

Generally used as a substitute for "mules." A witty play upon "animals" and "mules."

AnnattO. A well known West-Indian orange-red dye, and article of commerce, otherwise also called orlian. Other forms are anotta, annotto.

Annex. In thieves' slang, to steal. The equivalent of the English " to convey."

Annexationist. In Canada, an advocate of annexation to the United

States.

See Political Union.

Anointed. One who has been flogged and chastised so severely, that an application of ointment has been deemed necessary.

In English cant the same word is used to signify great rascality.

Anointing. A chastisement severe enough to call for the application of ointment.

Another lie nailed to the counter. A detected slander. Prob. from old pratice of nailing spurious coins to shop counters.

Antagonize. In addition to ordinary English sense of "to oppose," used with the meaning of "to convert into an enemy."

Ante, Anti. A chip of an agreed value, at game of poker, being the stake or bet placed anti, or in opposition to the dealer's bet, before the cards are given.

20 ANT— ANX

Ante, Anti (to). A verb extended from the substantive, and meaning to

risk or bet generally. " What will you anti he will lose his election ? "

Another form is ante-up, mostly used in sense of to pay, to disburse.

Antic. Clown, joker. (Tennessee mountains. )

Anti-federalist. A word coined about 1788, and more particularly identified, in American history, with the political party that was then opposing the adoption of the Constitution of the United States. Also, anti-unionist.

Anti-Masonry. A movement precipitated, in 1826, by the alleged mur- - der of Morgan by the Free-Masons. Wm. H. Seward, Millard Fillmore

and Thurlow Weed were among the leaders of the Anti-Masons, and the

party wielded power for several years.

Anti-negro. This word acquired special significance, in the United States, at the period following the close of the Civil War, and during which the extension of the suffrage to the negro was being agitated. The anti-negro party was then a large and powerful one, on account of the inevitable swamping of the white by the colored vote in some of the States which was foreseen in the event of negro suffrage.

Anti-rentism. An organized opposition to manorial rights of agricul- tural lands in the State of New York, which resulted, in 1846, in the abolishment of all feudal tenures. The movement resulted from the attempt of the heirs of General Van Rensselaer to collect rents, which attempt was resisted on the ground that those semi-feudal land tenures were inconsistent with the spirit and genius of Republican institutions The anti-rant movement bore a conspicuous part in the politics of New York, during most of the decade prior to 1847, and those who were affiliated to it were called anti-renters.

Antony OVeP. A school-boy's term, in Pennsylvania, for a game of ball played by two parties on opposite sides of a school house, over which the ball is thrown. Antony is merely here a proper name pressed into service, as Reynard, Robin, etc. Also called Mty-over, haily-over.

AnxiOUS bench. A technical term preserved by some Baptist and Me- thodist communities, and designating the seat or bench near the altar to which those persons are led who are peculiarly excited, during revivals, to a consciousness of their sinfulness.

Also called anxious seat, mourners' bench or seat.

Fast falling out of use, althoxigh still common enough in New England, in a figurative sense.

AnxiOUS meeting. A religious meeting consequent on a revival.

ANX— APO 21

AnxiOUS mourner. A " mourner " at a revival, urged on by the necessity of seeking salvation, and who is led to the " anxious bench," there to receive aid and comfort.

Any. Very curiously used, like some, (q. v.), in sense of "at all." People speak of not being angry any, or angry some, meaning they were angry or not, as the case may be.

Any hOW. At any rate. " I am going to try, any how." Any hOW you can fix it. At any rate whatever.

Any more. An intensive form used in South-Eastern Pennsylvania. " I can't find my knife any more."

Anything else. An hyperbolical phrase, often added, with not, to any assertion requiring, in the speaker's mind, a strengthening affirmation. " We didn't do anything else" meaning we certainly dit it.

On the other hand, if the assertion is strongly negative, anything is changed into nothing. See nothing else.

A. P. A. Standing for American Protective Association, an organization which sprung into existence some ten years ago, with the avowed object of fighting the so-called encroachments of the Catholic Church in the United States. See Know-Nothings.

Apaism. The doctrine of the A. P. A. or American Protective Asso« ciation.

Apaist. A member of the A. P. A. One who adheres to the doctrine of the A. P. A

ApareJO, ah-pahr-a' -ho (Sp. ). A Spanish word, preserved in the former ly Spanish States, and designating a pack-saddle.

Apast. Used, in parts of the South, esp. Tennessee, for beyond, on the other side.

Cf. " to apass " (Old Eng. ) meaning to pass by, to pass on, to pass away.

ApishamOPG (Ind. apishamon, Chippewa). A saddle-blanket, mad e of buffalo-calf skins, and used on the great prairies to protect the animal's back from being chafed.

Also, a bed, or anything to lie down.

Apola (Ind.). An Indian word, frequently met in the relations of the old French traders and " voyageurs " of Canada, and designating a certain variety of stew made with larks.

li'apola, ou tituvee d'alouette-s, avoc ponrnos do terre, rule de pain, et michi gouen.

De Gaspt1, Anciens Canadians, p. 192.)

22 APP— APP

App3a?aneel. Usjd in parts of tha South, eap. Tenne3S33, ELS part, adj. from appearance. " She is very good appezranced."

Apple-bee. An assembling of neighbors, in the country, to gather apKes, or to cut them up for drying. Wnen for the latter purpose, the reunion is known as an apple-cut, orapple-peelinj. These gatherings, like " husking- bees," consist mainly of young people, and are the occasion of much merriment.

Apple-brandy. A Virginia term for a genuine brandy, distilled from fermented apple-juice.

In New England, known as apple-jack, and apple-john, whilst in the South it is called Jersey-lightning.

Other names are cider-brandy, snap-neck.

Apple-bug (Conotrachelus nenuphar). A black, beetle-shaped insect, frequenting summer pools, and so called by country people because it destroys apples, plums, etc. by puncturing them to insert its eggs, which causes the fruit to fall prematurely. Also known as the plum-weevil.

Must not be confounded with the apple-worm (Carpocapsa pomonetta), which is the name given in America to the larva of the European coddling-moth.

Apple-butter. A thick sauce made of apples stewed down in cider, which is then put away, like butter, in tubs and firkins, and keeps for nearly a year. Although not unlike the " apple-sauce " of New England, apple-butter is a dish more peculiar to Virginia and Pennsylvania, where it has been inherited from the first settlers through several generations.

Apple-jack. A popular drink, distilled from fermented apple-juice. Also commonly called jack.

Applejees or Speck and applejees (Dutch apeltjees). An old-fashioned Dutch dish still in favour in New York, and consisting of fat pork and apples which are cut up together and cooked.

Apple-leather. Apples parboiled and stirred into a paste of considerable consistency, then rolled out and dried in the sun, when they become as tough as leather. (Pennsylvania and Maryland.)

Apple PePU (Datura stramonium). (1) The Northern name of the " thorn-apple," a coarse growing and troublesome weed, the seeds and stems of which are powerful narcotic poisons.

Also called devil'tt trumpet, and Jamestmvn weed, this last one being traceable to the fact that it was first noticed in Jamestown, Va.

(2) The garden rhubarb, or pie-plant. (Maine.)

Apple-Slump. The old name of a favorite New-England dish, consisting of apples and molasses, baked whithin a bread-pie in an iron pot.

APP— ARC 23

Also known in New England as pzn-hwdy, which no doubt is a descendant of Halliwell's pandouble. Also pan-pie.

Apple-tOddy. A favorite mixture made of whiskey or brandy, then stirred into a punch, and into which roasted apples are substituted for the usual lemons.

Applicant. Besides English meaning of " one who applies " for anything, has sometimes in New England the sense of a diligent student, that is one who applies himself closely to his studies. In this latter sense, however, it is now fast growing obsolete.

Apportion. A political term meaning " to arrange " a district in the interests of the party who undertakes the work, so as to give to every one connected with that party his due share of representation in a future election.

Apportionment. The act of '* apportioning" an electoral district, so as to bear on the result of a future election.

AppP63iate. Besides ordinary meanings, has ths peculiar sense, both aa active or neuter verb, of to raise, to increase in value. " These impro- vements will appreciate your property ...... His lands have not appre-

ciated."

AppP83iation. A rising, an increase, in worth or value, besides usual meaning of estimation, valuation.

Approbate. With some people, meaning to approve, to feel or express approbation, but mostly used, as past participle, in a sort of technical sense among the clergy, to denote a person who is licensed to preach. " An approbated minister."

Also common enough in New England in sense of to grant a license to keep a public house, or sell spirituous liquors. Thus, a law enacted by the General Court of Massachusetts, in 1851, prohibits a certain class of men " being approbated to keep an inn or public house."

ar-ah'-doe (Sp. arada). In Texas, plowed land, or cultivated land in general.

APDOP Day. The day set aside, in several States, for the planting of shade and ornamental trees. The observance of Arbor Day is a typical Western innovation, and was first inaugurated, about twenty years ago, in Nebraska, during the administration of Governor Thayer, in response to the exigencies presented in the treeless and arid West.

APCh Of ZePUbbabel (Royal). The seventh degree of the American rite.

24 ARC— ARP

APCtiCS. Far-lined foot-gear, generally consisting in heavy woolen stockings to wear with boots. In England, c/oh*ht*. See overshoe*.

Argufy. A corruption of " to argue," in sense of to debate, to discuss. The participles argufied and argufying are also common.

Arid Belt. A tract of country stretching from Canada to Mexico,through the middle of the United States, and where stock raising is almost the sole industry.

Ark. A sort of massive boat, made after the form of an oblong ark, which was formerly much used on the Mississipi, for the transport of merchan- dise, before the introduction of steamboats. Now mostly relegated to the more remote water-courses of the great river, where time is of less vital importance. The ark is generally about fifteen feet wide, and from fifty to a hundred feet long, with a carrying capacity of from two to four hundred barrels.

Also called broadhorn andflathoat.

APk and Dove. A Masonic illustrative degree, preparatory to the Royal Arch degree, and, when conferred at all, given immediately before the ceremony of exaltation.

Arkansas tOOthpiek. A variety of bowie-knife, so called with savage irony in Arkansas, because its blade shuts up into the handle, and it can thus be worn more easily on the body.

Arm. In Western Florida, an arm of the prairie extending into and partly surrounded by woods. See bay.

Armory. A name applied to a place or building where fire-arms are manufactured, as well as to an armory proper.

In England, armory means only the place where arms are kept, the factory being there known as a " gun factory."

Arm-Shop. In England, a gun-smith's shop.

Around. Constantly used advcibially in scr.te cf near, in the neij.'hl or- hood. " To be around" that is, to be near, or close by.

The most violent abuse of the word is mentioned by Bartlett, in the case of a minister who is reported to have said of one of the Saviour's apostles that " he stood aroun-i the Cross,'' thereby recalling memories of that Irishman who once " surrounded " his cottage.

Arpent (Fr.). A French word still persisting for ''acre" in Louisiana, as in the days before it was a State of the Union.

Also in general use in the valley of the St. Lawrence, among the des- cendants of the old French settlers in Canada.

ARR-ASH 25

APPastPa, ar-ras-trah' (Sp. orr stre, a mining term). A South-Western word designating a primitive or drag-stone mill for pulverizing ore.

, ar-re-er'-o (Sp.). A muleteer, or driver of a pack of mules, in Texas and the South-Western States.

AFPOba, ar-ro'-bah (Sp. ). A Mexican weight (25 Ibs), and a Mexican measure (32 pints), in use in Texas.

APFOW. The flower of the sugar-cane, previous to the appearance of which the sugar-cane does not arrive at the maturity indispensable for grinding purposes.

Arrow-head (Sagittaria variabilis). A common and very variable aquatic plant, so called from the shape of its leaf. Also known in some parts of England.

APPOW-POOt (Zamia integrifolia). A valuable plant indigenous in Florida, and from which is obtained the preparation called coontie.

APPOW-WOOd (Viburnum dentatum). A tree peculiar to America, and so called from the fact that almost all the Indian tribes, roving over the Western plains, make their arrows from its long, straight stems.

APPOyo, ar-ro'-yo (Sp. ). A common name, all over the South-West, for deep, rocky ravines, or dry water-courses.

The Spanish meaning of the word is simply brook or creek, or even street gutter.

In the North-West, esp. Manitoba, the equivalent of arroyo is the coutte of the old French " voyageurs."

The word gulch, so often quoted in connection with California matters, also designates an arroyo, although perhaps generally conveying a mean- ing of a mountain ravine still more abrupt and inaccessible.

Diminutives of arroyo are arroyito, arroyidlo.

As big as all OUt Of dOOPS. Anything very large or important.

I will never truckle to any man, -though he be a* big as all out of doors.

(McClintock's Tales.)

As gOOd as. An illiteracy often heard in New York, instead of " as well as." " I'd as good go there," i. e. I might as well go there.

As I Can. Following generally a phrase like " I don't know," is fre. quently heard in the rural districts of New England, where it represents the cautious hesitation by which the Yankee thinks it prudent to qualify every promise or assertion.

The "I don't know as I can" of Yankeedom much resembles the " Quien sabe " of the Spanish.

As long as. Because, since. "As long as you are willing to do it." Ash-Cake. A Southern term for a corn-cake baked in the ashes.

26 ASH— AT

Ash-caPt. A scavenger's cart.

Ash-hopper. A lye-cask, to contain ashes, used in country districts by people who make their own soap.

AshlandePS. (1) A notorious political club, identified with Ashland square, in Baltimore.

(2) A club of Baltimore rowdies, so name from Ashland square, near which they lived.

Ash pole. The white-ash tree selected in flag-raising, in 1828, as symbolic of the whig party, in opposition to the hickory-tree of the Democrats. It might here be recalled that ' ' Ashland " was the name of Henry Clay's plantation, near Lexington, Ky.

Assemble (Old Eng. ) Still used in the sense — now obsolete in England — of joining one thing to or with another.

Assemblyman. A member of the House of Representatives in New York, and in some of the New-England States.

AssentatiOUS. One who is ready and willing to assent to all that is said.

Assign. Often heard in the South instead of "to sign." A striking illustration of the force with which analogy fashions words, coming in this instance from a vague conception of a peculiar force adhering to the initial a.

Assignment. Among newspaper men, the particular work for which a reporter is paid. His name is placed in a book called the assigjiment- book, along with others, and opposite each name is the topic which the man is expected to look after.

Assinabe (Ind. Alg. a,win, a stone). A Franco-Indian word met in the relations of the " voyageurs," and denoting a heavy stone used to keep a fishing-net in position at the bottom of the water.

Assistant. From 1621 to 1848 an Assistant was, in New England, an officer both judicial and executive, ranking next to the chief Magistrate, and being moreover a member of the Governor's Council. See Court of Assistants.

Assoeie", ah-sos-yay (Fr.). In the time of the old " voyageurs, " a partner in a fur company.

Asylum. Asylum or Home is a word often used in America, when idea iutended to be conveyed is that which an Englishman attaches to the word almshouse.

At. A particle most abused in American speech, though of course much allowance must here be made for ancient usage still surviving from the Old Country.

ATA— ATO 27

(1) Sense of by. " A sale at auction. No goods at retail.'

" I bought it at auction " is correct English, but " it will be sold at auction " is American only.

(2) Sence of about, or after. " What is he at now ?" meaning " what does he propose to do now ? "

As a mere expletive, at plays especially a prominent part in Southern speech, and seems in the South the indispensable finish to every sentence- ' ' Where have you been at ? Where does she live at ?"

(3) Sense of in. " A t the East. A t the West."

This provincialism is not, however, promiscuously used, as, curiously enough, the better-known New-England States are generally spoken of as "in the East"

(4) Sense of on, or near. " At hill, at wood," meaning a place on a hill or near a wood.

We have here a very old form, dating back from the Puritan days, and from which many proper names like Atwood and others have been derived. See on, over, to.

Ataca, Atoea, ah-tah-kah, — toh-kah (Ind. <oci). The French-Canadian name of the cranberry (Viburnum oxycoccus).

Toca, petit fruit comme cerises rouges, qui n'a point de noyau. (Sagard, Dictionnaire de la langue huronne.)

AtajO, ah-tah'-ho (Sp. ntajar, to divide off). (1) A current word, in the States bordering the old Spanish Dominions, for a drove of pack-mules.

(2) In Texas, atajo has the additional sense of a "bunch" of horses, tame or wild, though more generally the latter. Also a fence or enclo- sure in the corner of a pasture, to stop or gather wild cattle.

See reparadero.

AtamaSGO lily (Amaryllis atamasco). A small one flowered lily, espe- cially flourishing in Virginia and the Carolinas, where it is held in high esteem.

Also called the fairy lily.

At grade. Used of a railroad, crossing another road on a level.

Athens Of America. A name usually given, in the United States, to the city of Boston, on account of the culture of its inhabitants, and its numerous educational, philarithropical, and social institutions.

Also, the Classic city, the City of baked beans, the City of Notions, the Hub of the Universe, the Modem Athens, the Tri-Mountain City.

Atole ah-toh'-lay (Sp. ). A common term in formerly Spanish States, for prepared corn meal, and especially for the thin gruel made from corn meal and water or milk.

The word is probably of Mexican origin, though not in Sanchsz.

28 ATO— AVA

Atomy. An old English word still surviving in America, and used in contempt of a small person. Shakespeare has it in the very same sense, in his " King Henry IV."

Also sense of a empty-headed person.

AtOSSet (Ind.). An Indian word of the Montagnais tribe, designating a fish especially abundant in the region of Lake St. John, province of Quebec.

Atshen (Ind. ). See Outiko.

At that. Probably a contraction of " added to that," and often used as an expletive to strenghten an expression. " He is a down East Yankee, and a smart one at that."

AttlebOPO. A word applied adjectively to sham jewelry, from town of same name, in Massachusetts, celebrated for its manufactures of cheap jewelry.

Also, by extension, applied to any men or things of a sham, insincere, or doubtful character.

AugeP. A person given to prosiness ; a bore. (Thieves' slang.)

Aunt, Aunty. An affectionate term given to old negresses, in the Middle and Southern States. Similarly, uncle is used with reference to an elder- ly colored man.

Uncle and Aunt cannot be said, however, to be absolutely peculiar to America, as Pegge's Supplement to Grose distinctly states that the two words are " in Cornwall applied to all elderly persons."

Auntsary. In the Maritime provinces of Canada, a kind of catamaran turned up at both ends. A variant of " Aunt Sarah."

Cf. " Aunt Sally," the name given to an athletic game in vogue among the English country folk.

oh'-rah (Sp. ). In Texas, a species of large Mexican vulture, probably the true turkey buzzard (Cathartes aura).

Authority. (1) In Connecticut, the justices of the peace are denomi- nated the civil authority.

(2) Also used, in some States, in speaking collectively of the profes- sors, etc. of our colleges, to whom the government of those institutions is intrusted.

Avail. Used actively, instead of reflectively, that is, omitting the usual oneself. " He availed of the offer. Availing of the courtesy. . ."

Witherspoon even cites the following example : " The members of a popular government should be continually availed of the situation ..... "

The active use of to avail was not always unknown in England, for Pope has the line :

Explore What means might best his safe return avail.

AVA— AXE 29

Avails. An old word designating the proceeds of all sales, rents, profits, etc. and which is still often heard in some States, especially in New England.

J. R. Lowell maintains that avails must forcibly remind us of the vails given to servants in Old England, two terms which he assures are identical.

Avalanche. A curious corruption for " ambulance, " said to be in use in Texas and the outlying territories.

Avocado pear. Bee Alligator pear.

A Wadosi (Ind. ). The literal translation of this Indian name would be " carrier of stones," and the very peculiar fish to which it applies is found in the southern region of Hudson Bay. It appears that this fish is so called, because it ie wont, in the spring, to gather stones or gravel which serve to build small mounds where its spawn is deposited.

Awful. An intensive adjective, used in New England in sense of diaagre- able, detestable, ugly, and in the West in sense of excessive.

Taken adverbially, as in "awful hungry," etc', it has no claim at being an Americanism, as it is in that sense just often heard in England as here.

In sense of ugly, unpleasant, distasteful, the use of awful is very old, and was in past times a colloquialism often heard in England, north of the Tweed.

Ax, Axe. In sense of " to ask," still persisting here with astonishing vitality among the uneducated, especially in the South.

This word has the warrant of great antiquity and noble patronage, and was used by the best writers, in Queen Elisabeth's time, with the same frequency as ask is now. " Axe not why," says Chaucer's Miller ; and in the Frere's Tale we read : " Axe him thyself if thou not trowest me."

Still provincial in parts of England.

Axes to grind (to have). A phrase derived from politics, and meaning to have some personal object to serve, to seek personal advantages under color of party zeal. The phrase first appeared many years ago in a newspaper sketch, introducing a boy who was induced, by a clever fic- tion, to turn the grindstone for another man to grind kin axe.

The number of axes which arc taken to the various State Capitols, to be ground at the public expense, is perfectly enormous.

(Xt'io-York Tribune, March, 1871.)

The whole countryside turned out to greet McKinley, but a number of little axes that were desirous of immediate grinding had to remain in the back- ground.

(Boston Herald, Feoruary, 1899.

30 AXO— BAG

AxolOtl (Mex. all, water, and xolotl, glutton). In Texas, a name common- ly used for the Mexican water-lizard (Amblystoma mavortium).

Ayudante, ah-you-dan'-tay (Sp. ayudar, to help.). In Texas, a man temporarily employed on a ranch or hacienda.

Azote, ah-so'-tay (Sp.). In Texas, a switch, or anything used as a whip.

Baalam box. See hell-box.

Babe. A term applied to the youngest member of a class, at West Point Military College.

Babes. A Baltimore term for a noisy set of rowdies.

Babiehe (Ind. ababich, a string). A word designating, among the French Canadians, strips of eel's skin which are especially much Qsed in making snow-shoes.

This word has been known since the discovery of Canada, as we find " ababich" mentioned in Lescarbot's "Histoire de la Nouvelle-France," under date of 1612.

Bacayere, bah-kah-yair (Fr.). A variety of duck common in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Bach, Batch (to). A slang word derived from " bachelor," and mean- ing " to live in a bachelor's way." Thus, young men living alone, and doing their own cooking, are said " to batch it."

Back. (1) Often used for ago, as in the familiar phrase : "A long time back." Is a remnant of the old English form backward, formerly so employed.

(2) Sense of behind, etc. See back of.

Back (to). (1) A commercial word used in the sense of "to endorse;" literally, to write on the back of a letter, bill or check.

(2) Often heard, in parts of the West and the South, in sense of to address a letter, i. e. writing the address on the back of an envelope.

Back (to take). When a man utters a mistaken charge, or wrongfully applies an epithet, he generally says, by way of apology : "I take that back."

Back and fOPth. Often used, especially in New England, for " back- ward and forward.''

Is after all only a slight alteration of the back and fore of Scotch immigrants.

BAC— BAG 31

Back and hidden. A common colloquialism, meaning that which is secret or kept back.

Backbone. Grit, courage, moral stamina, weight of character.

The word is now common wherever the English language is spoken, but is believed to have been first introduced by the Abolitionists in the stormy days just before the war.

Baekeap (to). To speak evil of some one, so as to spoil his game. Backeap (to give a). In thieves' argot, to expose one's past life.

Back country. In colonial times, the country lying immediately back from the earlier settled Atlantic seaboard. Now, the uncleared timber country of the West, and we might add, in a figurative sense, th6 con- fines of civilization. Hence the terms back country and up country people, used adjectively in a derogatory sense, and always suggesting a certain inferiority, becaiise up the rivers, toward the headwaters, population becomes scarce, civilization imperfect, and schools few in number. Other forms are back settlements, backwoods, up country.

Back down (tO). To retreat, to yield, to give up. Very suggestive in meaning, and corresponding in a striking way to the opposite phrase of going ahead.

Equivalent forms are to back out, to back water, to take the back track.

Back down (a square). A severe rebuff, an utter collapse.

Back-end. A quaint manner of speech, meaning lately, towards the end. " He did not do very well the back end. ..."

Baek-hOUSe. A privy, so called from its position at the back of the house.

In some parts of England, it is called the backivard.

Backing1 and filling1. A backing and filling policy is one which is shilly- shally, trifling, irresolute.

Back-load. The maximum quantity of game which a man can carry on his back. (N. J.)

Back log1. A large log used, in fire-places, to support the other fuel.

Back Of. Sense of behind, previous to, back from. " This was back of Chaucer's time."

Was known in Ireland as long ago as 1732, and Mr. Heslop, in his Northumberland Words, notes it as a dialectal shortening of aback of, as in : " He wis back o' the engine-hoose at the time."

Back Seat. An inferior position.

32 BAG— BAD

Back Seat (tO take a). To retire into obscurity. The phrase also some, times implies a silent confession of failure, an inability to accomplish what one has attempted.

Back talk. An impertinent answer.

Back talk (no). A slang catch phrase indicating that the matter in question is closed to discussion.

Back track (tO take the). To retreat, to abandon, an undertaking To recede from a false position, after having gone too far.

A Western phrase derived trom the life of the hunter and trapper in the back settlements.

Backward. Often used, especially in the West, as an adjective for bashful, unwilling to appear in company, on the same principle as " forward, " meaning the very contrary. In the West, for instance, a modest and timid young man is sometimes called a " backward colt. "

Back water (to). A Western metaphor, derived from steamboat lan- guage, and meaning to retreat, to withdraw.

Backwoods. See back country.

Backwoodsman. An inhabitant of the forest, in the back country, and, by extension, a simple and unsophisticated man.

BaekWOOdS preacher. One whose clerical functions are exercised in the wild, unsettled portions of the country, with the blue vault of heaven for a church roof, and a tree stump for an altar.

Bad. (1) As an adjective, often refers not to moral depravity, but to the state of one's health, as in the familiar phrase : " I feel bad to day/' where an Englishman would say "I feel ill." According, however, to a recent article in the London Saturday Review, " to feel bad" is now a current cockney phrase.

In low slang bad receives the sense of hard, as for instance a bad man, which, in thieves' parlance, means a bull}', a bruiser.

(2) Used in sense of plenty, in South-Eastern Pennsylvania. "Phea- sants are very bad in the woods."

(3) As an adverb, bad is generally used for badly, greatly, very much. " I want to see him bad. This hurts me bad, etc."

Bad crowd. In Western parlance, a set of people not thought much of i. e. what in England would be regarded as no great shakes.

Bad egg". A Californianism for a worthless specxilation.

Badger State. The State of Wisconsin, so called in allusion to the abundance of badgers in it. Hence also the sobriquet badytr* applied to residents of Wisconsin.

BAD— BAG 33

Badger. One. who robs a man, after a woman accomplice has enticed the victim into her den.

In old English cant badgers were river thieves, and in modern English slang to badger is to tease, to annoy, in which sense it is also concur- rently used in the United States.

Badger game. In thieves' slang, a variety of the " panel game." A woman gets a man in a compromising situation, and her male accomplices either rob him, or extort money from him by threats.

Bad lands. In the arid region of the Great West, the alkali lands with bare mud buttes are called the Bad Lands, from the French " Mauvaises Terres," which was the name first applied to them by the early French explorers, on account of their striking aspect of sterile and dreary wastes j

By extension, any stretch of specially rough land.

The French name still answers in the corruption " Movey Star " of some localities.

Bad man. A desperadoe, among frontier communities, i. e. a professional

fighter or man-killer, who is a sure shot and who will use his revolver

upon the most futile pretext. Bad medicine. One who is objectionable for any reason. Derived from

the Indian "medicine man's" practice of being helpful or harmful

accordingly as he is paid.

Baft. A number, quantity." There was a great baft of people." (Texas.)

Bagasse (Fr. ). A Southern word designating the dry remains of the sugar-cane, going to the furnace for use as fuel.

Formerly the bagasse was either burned in a furnace to get rid of it or thrown out on the " levees " to help fight out the river from eating away the bank.

Baggage. A formerly English word, meaning the " impedimenta " of a traveller, now almost entirely discarded in England for the less appro priate form "luggage."

Baggage agent. An employee of a railway having charge of a baggage room at a station. Also, baggage-master.

Baggage ear. A railway car usually placed next behind the tender, and in which the baggage is stowed for conveyance. In England, luggage-van.

Baggage cheek. See check.

Baggage-smasher. A derisive name applied, on American railways, to the employee transferring baggage to and from the cars, from his usual reckless way in handling the property of travellers.

By extension, and figuratively, a coarse and brutal person.

BAG— BAL

Bagged. Used to signify imprisonment and victimization.

Probably only an extension of the idea of capture as derived from sport, through the slang "to bag," meaning to steal.

Bagging. A Southern term designating the coarse, hempen bags used in packing cotton.

Also, cotton bagging.

Bag Of nails. A state of confusion or topsy-turveydom.

Bags 0'gUtS. A useless individual. A big man with little brains. (N. J.)

Bail. In New England, a pail or bucket handle. A survival of the old Puritan days, and one which is given in Forby's Glossary as a Norfolk provincialism.

Bail (to) One's Own boat. To be self-reliant, i. e. to mind one's own business, independently and without waiting for help from others. Also, to paddle one's own canoe.

Bailee (Sp. baile, a dance). A cowboy's word, in the South- West, for a ball or dance.

It means also " bailiff, " which is significant, as the connection, in those distant regions, between balls and bailiffs, is unfortunately very frequent.

Bait. A common term, in New England, for a fulcrum, i. e. the means by which a leverage is obtained.

Baiting. (1) A hay-makers term, for a lunch in the harvest field. (2) A feed for a horse on a road.

Bake-OVen. Used in the West for the simple word oven, in a bakery. Also applied to the iron bake-pan.

The form bake-oven is of Dutch origin.

Bake-Shop, Bakery. The place where bread, pastry, etc. are sold. In England, bakers shop.

Balance. Used throughout the United States to signify the remainder of almost anything. " The balance of a speech, the balance of the day, etc." Indeed, the pitch to which this convenient mercantile word is- sometimes carried, seems wellnigh surprising, as for instance reading in a newspaper account of a shipwreck :

"The yawl took ten or eleven persons and landed them, and then went

and got the balance."

Or again, as in " William's Florida " :

"Most of the respectable inhabitants held commissions in the army..., ; the balance of the people kept little shops."

Bald-face. One of the many slang terms under which bad whiskey passes in the West.

Also, forty rod lightning, lightning whiskey, red eye, pine top.

BAL— BAL 35

Bald-faced Shirt. A cowboy's term for a white shirt.

Thought to come from the fact of Hereford cattle having white faces.

Bald-headed POW. The first row of stalls at theatres, especially those which make a feature of ballets.

A cynical allusion to the fact that these seats are generally occupied by men of mature age.

Balk. In parts of Connecticut and New York, an iron stake vised to " stake out " an animal to graze.

Balk, Baulk. Said of horses when, in going up-hill, they suddenly stop and refuse to move forward, showing, on the contrary, a disposition to go back. In the English sense, to balk means simply to frustrate or disappoint, as in the sentence given in Bailey : " Balked are the courts, and contest is no more." Its American application to horses is, hence, by no means inappropriate, a:i 1 quite expressive.

Balky, Baulky. >?aid of a horse that stands still and refuses to go forward.

Balloon (to). To fraudulently inflate prices, either in stocks or commodities. Confined to Wall street parlance.

Ballot-bOX Stuffing1. Originally practised in New- York, where boxes were constructed with false bottoms, so that an unlimited number of spurious ballots could be introduced by the party having control of the polling place.

Ball-up. In college slang, to become confused, to confuse. The intransi- tive use is the original one, and it probably comes from the " balling up " of a. horse in soft, new-fallen snow, when a snowball forms within each shoe, making the horse's footing insecure and his movements awkward.

Balm Of Gilead (Populus caudicans). A well known tree largely culti- vated in the Eastem States, more especially in New England.

Balsam fir (Abies balsamea). A slender tree growing in the North, in damp woods, and owing its name to the balsam (Canada balsam), fur- nished from certain blisters under its bark. The tree itself is also known as Balm of Gilead, in imitation of the Eastern terebinth.

Balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera). A tall tree growing from New England to Wisconsin, and owing its name to the resinous matter covering its buds. Also, tacamahac.

Baltimore Oriole (Icterus baltimore). The American oriole, differing from its European congenere in that it has here a rich orange plumage where the other has pale yellow, therefore so much more deserving its

36

BAM— BAN

name, derived from aureolus, the golden. It is especially found in large numbers near the city of Baltimore, and is also known as hang bird, from its peculiar hanging nest.

Bamboo (to). An abbreviation of " bamboozle," used with same meaning, i. e. to cheat, perplex, mystify.

BambOO-bPieP (Smilax rotundifolia). The greeen-brier of the United States, attaining at times, in the rich alluvial bottoms which it prefers, the size of the bamboo. See hull-brier.

Band. In prairie parlance, a troop or herd of bisons. In California, vast flocks of sheep are also formed into bands.

Band (to). In prairie parlance, to band means to form, to assemble cattle, sheep, into vast flocks.

Banded dPUm (genus Pogonia-y, Cuvier). A fish found in Atlantic waters, south of New York.

Also called grunter, grunts and young sheepskin.

Banded garfish (Belone truncata). A species of pike found in Southern waters, and growing to a large size.

Also called alligator <icr, or simply gar and bitt-fish.

Bang1. A style of hair-dressing adopted by women, and consisting in the hair being generally curled and frizzed upon the forehead.

Bang1 (to). To bang the hair is to dispose "bangs" upon the forehead. BangCP. At Yale College, a stout cane, a bludgeon.

BangO. A negro expletive, common to the black race in the South and the West Indies, and conveying a meaning of general pleasure.

Bang-up. (1) An old word for a heavy overcoat, still surviving in some parts of the Union.

(2) Anything of superior quality. " This cloth is bang-up."

Bank (to). To deposit money in a bank. Also, " to go shares." Bank (tO play). To play against the bank or gambling house. Bank-bill. In England, bank-note.

Banker. A vessel employed in fishing on the Banks of Newfoundland, and deriving its name from the locality.

Bankers. A name given, in North Carolina, to the people living near that part of the Atlantic coast which there is called the " banks." The b-t/t. (•<./-.« used to be wreckers of doubtful repute, but have now taken to farming and fishing.

BAN— BAR 37

Bank Shaving1. In banking parlance, the practice of purchasing notes of hand and similar documents, at enormously usurious rates of discount, the unfortunate debtor being then said to get his paper shaved.

Before banks were regulated by Act of Congress, bank-shaving prevailed extensively among the least reputable of such institutions.

Bannock. In the United States, a bannock is a cake of Indian meal fried in lard, whereas in Scotland, where the word comes from, it is a round cake of oat meal baked against a stone.

Banquette (Fr. ). A word still common in Louisiana, and other formerly French parts of the Gulf States, in sense of foot-path or sidewalk.

Also bankit, now rarely heard however, and which is merely a corruption of the above.

Banter. In South and West, a challenge, a wager.

Banter (to). Besides signifying, as in England, to joke, to jest good- humoredly, to banter means, in the West and South, to challenge to a match, to provoke to a wager.

Bantling (Old Eng.). A child, from an infant in " bands." Banty. Saucy, impudent.

Bar. The common pronunciation for bear, in certain parts of the Southern and Western States.

Commonly written b'ar. In barsmeat the sign of elision is omitted BaP. A drinking-shop, or public-house.

BaP (tO). A verb coined in the West, in sense of to frequent saloons

or drinking-shops. " He bars too much, and won't stand it long. "

(Western Scenes, p. 771.)

A spurious verb, the signification of which is derived from the drinking-

bar. BarachoiS, bah-rah-shuah (Fr. C.). In the lower St. Lawrence region, a

name designating a pond or small lake, at the mouth of a river, which is

separated from the sea by a sand bar.

Barbecue (Fr. barbe-a-queue, from snout to tail). The roasting whole of a large animal over an open fire, the animal being laid on a rude gridiron of stakes. The barbecue is a conspicuous feature of political meetings, still common especially in the South and West, and is more- over often extented to mean any public meeting in the open air, with a dinner or other refreshments. »

Although the French barbe-d-queue seems to give us the most plausible etymology of the word, many writers have however insisted on barbecue being directly derived from the Spanish b'irlwoti, which was as near as the early Spanish explorers could get to berbekot, a term formerly used among the Indians of Guiana for the wooden grill on which they broiled or smoked their meats and fishes.

38 BAH— BAR

(1) A Canadian backwoods term fora kind of blizzard, characte- rized by a powdery snow with sharp spicules cutting the face like a razor- (2) The vapor rising from the water on a frosty day. (Nfld. N. S. and N. B.)

Barber, Barberize (to). A word confined to barbers, and meaning to ply the trade of a barber, to keep a barber's shop.

Bar diggings. In miners' parlance, placers where the gold-bearing gravel gathers in the slack water portions of the streams, and is gene- rally submerged by floods. This collection is called a bar. See gulch diyyiii;/*.

Barfoot. " To take one's tea or coffee barfoot," i. e. without cream 6r sugar, is a very curious phrase sometimes heard in the West. According to J. R. Lowell, our Westerner only uses, in this very novel signification, an old English term written in precisely the same manner in the old English Coventry Plays.

Barge. A vessel of burden, of about the size and appearance of an Atlantic schooner, employed on the Mississipi and its tributaries before the introduction of steamboats.

Bark. " The word with the bark on it," i. e. without mincing the mat- ter, without circumlocution.

Bark (to). In the North-West, to cut a circular incision through the bark and alburnum of a tree, so as to kill it. A process much in vogue among new settlers, in clearing land. Also, to girdle. In the South they say, in preference, to belt trees.

Bark (to) squirrels. In the West, to strike with a rifle-ball the bark of a branch immediately beneath where a squirrel sits, and with such accuracy that the concussion will kill the little animal without in the least mutilating it.

Hence, metaphorically, the expression signifies to exercise skill and acute judgment.

Bark (tO) through the fence. To take advantage of some obstacle or shield for saying or doing something, which otherwise would not be said or done, or which might entail unpleasant consequences upon the sayer or doer.

Bark up (to) the wrong tree. To act under a mistaken impression, or, as the Englishman would say, " to get on a wrong scent," a mistake into which the trapper's dogs occasionally fall when the game has taken refuge in a tree which they cannot precisely locate, thereby often barking at the wrong one, and deluding their master into straining his eyes to no purpose.

Barley. A child's word, common in Pennsylvania, meaning to intermit play (for a rest).

BAR— BAR 39

In Scotland, barley (corrupt, of parley) is a cry used by children in certain games when a truce or temporary stop is desired.

Barm, Barme (Old Eng.). An old English word in use in New England for yeast. Shakespeare has it in his Midsummer Night's Dream, and we read in Chaucer :

"Of tarte, alum-glas, berme, wert, and argoils." Also, emptyings (pron. emptins).

8am. Frequently used for stables.

Barnacle. In Cape May, N. J. , used incorrectly for limpet found on oysters.

Barnburners. A political party representing the young Democracy of New York some fifty years ago, and whose members, through their proning reforms at any cost, were compared to the farmer who once burned down his barn to get rid of rats.

The opponents of the Barnburners were called Hunkers (q. v. ).

A hoax ; something pre-arranged, not genuine. Also current in England, but commonly supposed to be of American origin.

Barney. At Harvard College, this word was formerly used to designate bad recitations, whilst to barney was to recite badly.

Barnumize. To talk or assert oneself in the bombastic style popularly attributed to the famous American showman, P. T. Barnum.

Barra (Sp. ). In Southern Texas, the equiv. of bar, meaning a shoal or shallow entrance.

Barrack. A common word to indicate a rough four post structure for the storage of hay and straw.

In Maryland, and perhaps elsewhere, the term is applied to any kind of building intended for the storage of hay or straw.

Barraclade (Dutch baare-Uedeeren, bare-clothes). A term peculiar to New York City, and to the original' Dutch settlements of the Empire State, and designating a home-made nap-less blanket.

BarraCOOn (Sp. barracon, used in the West Indies, from barraca, a bar- rack). A slave-house, or slave-pen. An inclosure in which, at the time of slavery, negroes were temporarily detained.

BarraCOUda (Sphyraena barrocuada). A valuable fish of the pike kind, taken with a spear and especially abounding in Tampa Bay and other Florida waters.

Barranca, bar-ran'-cah (Sp.). In the formerly Spanish States, a moun- tain gorge, or deep ravine, with very steep banks, and without water .at the bottom except in the rainy season.

40 BAR— BAS

Barraneo, bar-ran'-coh (Sp.). A term applied, in the formerly Spanish States, to a bluff or to the steep bank of a river.

Barred killy. See Mi

Barrel- A political word used elliptically for a " barrel of dollars, " and having originated during the Tilden campaign of 1876, when that candi- date was charged with having opened a very large "barrel," for the benefit of his henchmen and supporters.

Barrel-boarder. A loafer in low drinking-saloons. Barrel-hOUSe. A low groggery.

Barren gravel. In mining, the gravel or rocks from which the grains and nuggets -of gold have been washed out during the process of depo- sition.

Barren ground reindeer (Tarandus arcticus). A species of caribou confined almost entirely to the Barren Grounds and to Greenland.

Barren grounds. The denomination of a vast stretch of barren lands in the north-eastern corner of North America.

Barrens. Elevated patches of poor soil, formerly abounding even in the Central and Eastern States, and either having no growth on them at all, or barely supporting stunted trees unfit for timber. In that case they are classed as Oak-barrens, Pine-barrens, etc. according to the kind of tree which prevails upon them.

In Kentucky, the term is applied to certain regions in the carboniferous limestone formation, the soil -of which is really very fertile. Hence Barren County and Barren River.

Barring OUt- In cane cultivation the removal, in the spring, of the earth from the roots of the cane, to permit the light and air to hasten the germinating of the " ratoons."

Bars (to let down the). (1) To interfere, to put a stop to a thing. (2) To wind up a business, a sitting, a session.

Bartender. The attendant in charge of a drinking saloon, and almost invariably a man, as bar-maids are almost unknown in America. Also, bar-keeper.

Base-ball. A game of ball looked upon as the national game of the United States, cricket being here comparatively unknown, and so called from the three liaxes or stations used in it.

Base-burner. A stove so constructed that the fire within is fed from the top.

Basket-meeting. A sort of picnic peculiar to the West, and where the fun is quaintly mixed lip with religious exercises, after the manner of the Pilgrim fathers.

BAS— BAT 41

A basket-meeting is usually got up on the occasion of a " corn-husking" or a "raising-bee," each bringing his provisions in a basket.

It sometimes also occurs, in sparsely populated districts, that a clergy- man's stipend is largely paid in kind, and the occasions upon which the obligation thus incurred is carried out, are called in the West basket- meetinys.

See donation parties.

Basque (Fr. C.). On the north shore of the St. Lawrence, below the city of Quebec, a name given to the velvet-duck (CEdemia velvetina), which has a black glossy plumage and red beak.

BaSSWOOd (Tilia americana). A tree closely resembling the European linden in all but the size of its leaves and flowers.

Also called simply bass or bast, and white wood. The name basswood is now obsolete in England.

Baste (to). To beat, to chastise. Other words used in same sense are larrup, lather, lick, wallop, welt, whack.

All those words are noted in Glossary of Edwin Moor, for county of Suffolk, Eng.

BastCP. A New York term for a house thief. Bat. A frolic, a spree. Contraction of " batter. "

Bat (to). (1) To strike, to beat. " To bat a man over the head.

(2) To wink, as in the phrase " to bat the eyes." Also " to bat with the eyes. " (Southern. )

Bat (on a). A slang phrase meaning "on a drunk."

Bateau (Fr.) In New Jersey, a small, flat bottomed boat, used by oys- termen.

Batter-Cake. A familiar cake of Indian meal, made with buttermilk or cream, and seldom absent from a Southern breakfast-table. Also called batter-head.

Battery. (1) A sort of boat used for duck shooting, and so ballasted that the shooter lies below the surface of the water. Other boats are box, coffin-boat, sink-boat, surface boat.

(2) The pitcher and catcher, in base- ball parlance.

Battle (to). Sometimes heard in sense of "to beat. "

Battling Stick. A stick to cleanse soiled clothes by beating, after the process of French laundry-women.

Batture (Fr. ). In Louisiana, a deposit of sediment accumulating rapidly on one bank of a river at times of high water, due to the caving in of the other bank. Also, any alluvial elevation or accumulation of land, thrown up at the mouth of a river by the action of a swift current.

42 BAW— BAY

In Canada, the term, which is principally used in the plural, is res- tricted to stationary ice formed along the banks of a river or around shoals.

Baweoek (OldEng.). A fine fellow.

Example in Shakespeare, King Henry IV.

Bawdy (Old Eng.). Has in the United States the old English sense of indecent.

Bay. (1) In Western and Southern prairie regions, a large opening of a prairie into a forest.

(2) In N. Carolina, a tract of land, low and marshy, producing the bay-tree.

(3) Applied to water, as a recess in the. land, &.bay may sometimes consist of an arm reaching far up into the back country, as Green Bay, Wisconsin ; Chesapeake Bay, Virginia.

(4) In Florida, a deep-set, open curvature of the shore, as Appalachie Bay. In Western Florida, however, the word arm is more frequently xised.

Bay-berry. (Myrica cerifera). A fragrant shrub, so called because its leaves have an odor resembling that of the bay. The berries, when boiled, yield a green wax much utilized in making candles and for other purposes.

Bay-gall. In Florida, a large and gloomy swamp, almost impenetrable* and full of deer, bear and catamount.

Bayoo. A negro term for a man who would be more aptly called a " low down mean cuss."

Bayou (Fr. boyau, a gut, a narrow passage). In the Southern states, esp. Louisiana, an arm of the sea, the accidental and secondary outlet of a lake or river. Also, a sluggish watercourse.

Several etymologists would have this word derived from the Sp. bahia, a bay, on the ground that bahia comes nearer, as to meaning, to the Anglicized bayou. But the French source seems better to u,s for phonetic reasons, and the meaning raises no serious difficulty, as cf. the various senses of " gut" in English.

BayOU State. The State of Mississipi.

Bay State. Previous to the War of Independence, Massachusetts wag known as the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. Hence, the now popular name of that State.

The name Bay State originally came from Cape Cod bay, which includes a great part of the coast of Massachusetts.

From Bay State has been coined Bay Staters, designating the inhabi- tants of Massachuset ts.

BAY— BEA 43

Bay-tree. A well known Southern shrub, of the same family as the Magnolia grandiflora, only smaller in size, and especially abounding in the localities called bays. Also called bay-laurel.

Bay truck. Along the New- Jersey shore, used for food from the bays which indent the coast, in distinction from garden truck.

Bazoo. A slang term meaningto brag, to boast or talk freely about one-self.

Be (Old Eng. ). The use of be, instead of am or are, as in the Bible, is an old English provincialism still surviving with some tenacity in seve- ral parts of New England.

Be ye content, now, deacon ?

(MRS H. B. STOWK.)

Beach. A name given to sand islands, on the Jersey coast.

Younrj or little beach, new-made beach containing young timber. Old bf.azli, parallel ridges crowned by old timber.

Beach-combers. (1) A name given to the long deep swell of ocean waves rolling on to the shore.

(2) A term much in vogue among sailors, and applied, in a derogatory sense, to certain roving characters who will not attach themselves permanently to a vessel, and are a reckless, rollicking set of fellows. Especially current on the Pacific slope.

Bead (to draw a). A Western metaphorical expression, furnished by the hunter on the prairies, and meaning "to fire a rifle." Also figura- tively, and by extension, to attack another man in his speech.

In taking cautious aim, the Western hunter raises the foresight of hi3 rifle, which resembles a bead, till it comes in a line with the hind-sight, and then fires.

Bead (to raise a). To bring to the point, to ensure success, etc.

Beagles. A nickname applied to the inhabitants of Virginia, and inherited from the Colonial Days, through the introduction, in the Old Dominion, of the English beadles of the Court Customs.

Beaker (Old Eng.). An old English word (from the Dutch beker), preser- ved in the United States in sense of " tumbler."

As bubbles that swim on the beaker's brim.

(C. F. HOFFMANN.)

Beaker is still used in England, but only with the meaning of a glass vessel for chemical analyses.

Beal. Still used in Pennsylvania, in sense of to fester, to suppurate. Now obsolete in England, but still current in Scotland.

Bean. This word, unqualified, is specialized, in its American meaning to what is called in England " French beans, " whereas the simple word " bean " implies in England the varieties of broad-bean (faba).

44 BEA— BEA

Beans (Turkish). The beans that were found here were so called by the- first Dutch and Swedish writers on America.

BeaF-bePPy. A translation of the Indian term makauabina, or mask<yw- abina, which is the name of a sorb-tree producing a berry of which bears are particularly fond. Hence the name of bear-berry, also applied to the tree itself. See pimbina.

Beard. On the New- Jersey coast, a term applied to the byssus of mussels, or the fringe of an oyster's mouth.

Bear-gTaSS. See silk-grass.

BeaP Off (to). A cowboy's term meaning to chase out a stray brand from a herd of cattle.

Also, to keep off a single animal, by riding between it and the herdy when in motion.

Bear State (pron. bar). The State of Arkansas, so named because of the vast numbers of bears which once abounded within its limits. Also often applied to the State of Kentucky.

Beast- (1) A common name for a horse in Virginia and other Southern States, as it was the custom with Englishmen at the time the Old Dominion was settled.

(2) A euphemism used for "bull" in the South, and especially common among the women-folk on farms.

(3) A name given to new cadets at the Military Academy of West- Point.

See animal.

Beast-back. Used for horseback in Kentucky. "I went beaat-bick to town."

Beat. Often used, as past participle for " beaten, " in sense of astounded, overcome. ' ' I felt beat. I was quite beat. "

Beat. (1) Used in many ways, its precise meaning often depending on its qualifying adjective.

Daisy beat, an euphonious name applied to a swindle of the firs water.

Dead beat, one who sponges on his fellows.

Live beat, anybody or anything that surpasses another. Nothing derogatory.

(2) In newspaper parlance, an exclusive story, or important news which a reporter has obtained for his own paper in advance of others.

When the story is exceedingly important, it is called a kiny beat.

Another name is .scoop.

BEA— BEA 46

Beat (to). (1) Still retains here the meaning of to surpass, to excell, given in Bailey's Dictionary. " It beats all creation. "

(2) To amaze, to astound, to overcome with astonishment, as in the form beat already given.

(3) In college slang, to attempt to recite without preparation ; to defraud, to obtain an unfair advantage of.

Beat all hollow (to). To beat thoroughly. In England, they simply say " to beat hollow."

BeatePS. A slang term for boots.

Beater-coxes is now nearly obsolete in England with same meaning, trotter-cases having supplanted it.

Beat hoop. Used in New England for drive hoop. Similarly, the hoop-stick is sometimes called a beater.

Beat On (to get a). To get the advantage of. The same idea is ex- pressed in the phrase " to beat one's way through the world," meaning to push one's interests with vigor and pertinacity.

In thieves' parlance, to get a beat on one, besides conveying the idea of obtaining an advantage, also implies that the point has been scored by underhand, secret or unlawful means.

Beat the Dutch. It beats the Dutch is often used in New York and New England, whenever a peculiarly astonishing fact has to be announced. In Bartlett's Dictionary, we meet with an instance of it, in a Revolu- tionary song, showing that it was applied in the above sense as early as 1775.

Beau (Old Eng. ). A general term, among girls, when speaking of their lover, or sweetheart.

The plural form beaux is also often used by them, in a less intimate sense, when speaking of young gentlemen who used " to wait on " them. Beau is an old word now nearly obsolete in England.

Beau (tO). Used by the uneducated in sense of " to pay attentions " to a girl, or simply " to escort."

Beautiful. A much misused term, often indiscriminately applied to anything good, pleasing, or even tasty. " Beautiful butter, a beautiful conduct. "

See elegant.

This perversion of language is not unknown in England, but such extraordinary forms as the two above cited are scarcely ever heard however in the Mother Country.

Beaver-tPee (Magnolia glauca). A tree so called from the preference shown by the beavers in using its bark for their food, and the wood for their structures or beaver-dams. Also, beaver -wood, castor-wood.

46 BEG— BEE

The name beaver-wood is furthermore also often applied to the hoop- ash (Celtis occidentals) or hackberry.

Beaver-tree is specially Western ; in the East the same tree is called the cantor-tree, from "Castor Americanus," the scientific cognomen of the American beaver.

Becaise (Old Eng.). A corruption of because used in the South, and especially current in Virginia. Also, cayxe.

Becaise was already sanctioned by usage in England, at the time when Virginia was settled.

Becaise of my thorough quietness.

(Pepys, Appendix to his diary, v. IV. p. 339.)

BeCCi, BeC-SCie, bek-ses (Fr. C.). A species of greenish-black duck (Mergas merganser) feeding especially on fish, and frequenting the region of the Gulf of St-Lawrence. The French Canadians have so nicknamed it, from its beak being like a sharp-pointed saw.

Bed-bug1. The " Cimex lectularius," otherwise known in the South uuder the Spanish nanis of chinch, brought from the West Indies. See buy.

Bed-rock. In mining phraseology, the stratum which underlies the mineral-bearing rock.

Metaphorically, " to reach bedrock," to attain a solid basis or foun- dation ; "bedrock facts," the incontestible truth.

Also, bottom-rock, rock-bed, rock-bottom.

Bed-Spread. A quilt, counterpane, or coverlet. Also, sjmply a spread. In England, bed-quilt, coverlet or counterpane.

Bee. The swarming of bees has given rise to several phrases that savour of a new country, and of the help that settlers in the backwoods are always ready to afford one another. Thus a bee has come to mean almost any gathering of neighbors to do one of their friends a good turn, and to have a social laugh or gossip over it at the same time.

Apple-bee, helping to gather the apples, and prepare them either for drying or for the vat.

Beefing-bee, an assembly of people for the purpose of slaughtering cattle.

Building-bee, or raising-bee, setting up the frame or the logs of a house or barn.

Chopping-bee, felling trees with the axe, so as to clear a tract of land.

H uxking -bee, stripping the husks from the year's crop of maize, to be stored away for the winter.

Quilting -bee, a gathering of women around a large frame, to make a patchwork quilt.

Seiviny-bee, a gathering of women to do sewing.

BEE— BEL 47

Spelling-bee, a gathering of young people to exercise their wits on spelling.

Stone-bee, clearing a field of its stones.

Beef. Used in the South and the West as the singular of oxen ; thus a beef instead of ox.

Beef (to). To kill oxen, and convert their flesh into beef.

Beef-Cattle. Animals fit for food, in contradistinction to those used as beasts of burden.

Beef-CFitteF. In South-Eastern Pennsylvania, a common name for a cow or steer to be killed for beef.

Beef dodger. A meat biscuit made of beef and Indian Corn.

Bee-gum. A term originally applied, in the South and the West, to a species of the gum-tree from which bee-hives were made. Now, the bee- hive itself, made of any kind of boards.

Also, bee-tree.

See the word gum.

Bee-line. The straightest possible route to a given point. From the well known habit of bees of flying back to their hives in a direct line. An Englishman would say "as the crow flies."

Bee-tree. In the South and the West a tree, often found hollow, in which the wild honey-bee makes its hive or nest.

Beer. A term generally applied to lager-beer, ale being used where an Englishman would say beer.

Beggar-ticks. A species of "bidens" whose seeds adhere to the clothes. Also called beggar-lice and harvest-lice. In English cant, " chats. "

Begin. Frequently used, accompanied by not, to express a very emphatic negation when making a comparison. "It doesn't begin to.." i. e. it does not approach in merit, in importance. Thus, also, an inferior article does not begin to equal a better one.

BegOSh, B'gOSh. A half-veiled oath used as an expletive and probably of negro origin.

Behindments. Arrears, liabilities, deficits.

BeldUQUe, bel-doo-'kay (Sp.). A common name, in Wes tern Texas, for a certain sheath knife, smaller than the " machete, " and larger than the " cuchillo. " Also, berduque, verduque.

Beliked. A Western term for beloved, liked.

48 BEL— BEN

Belittle. To lower in character ; to depreciate, to disparage. To make small or smaller.

This word first originated in the United States about 1796, and is now also quite familiar in England.

Bell-boy. In American hotels the " bell-boy " occupies very much the place of the English " boots. "

Bell-mare. A horse chosen to lead a caravan or drove of mules in the South-West. Generally an old white or gray mare of known gentleness and steady habits.

By extension, in slang language, a name given to a political leader.

BellOWS-flsh. See devil-fish.

Bell-Sniekle. In Eastern Pennsylvania, a name applied to a grotesquely attired visitor on Christmas night, who brings candies and toys for the good child, and rods for the bad.

Belly-bump. (1) An awkward dive, as for instance when a boy, instead of cleaving the water head first, falls flat on his stomach with a splash. Also, belly -bumper, belly-whacker.

(2) A boy's word, for coasting face downwards on a sled. Also, belly-bunk, <>eUy-bu,iter, belly-flounder, belly-grinder, belly-gut.

( 1 ) In Pennsylvania, molasses candy. (2) In New England, low sleds so named because boys lie flat on them on their bellies, when sliding down-hill in winter.

Belly-wax. A New Jerseyism for molasses candy.

Belly-Whistle. In New Jersey, a common name for a drink made o molasses, vinegar, water, and nutmeg, used by harvesters at the daily nooning.

Belongings (Old Eng. ). Often used for possessions, in sense of garments, especially gentlemen's shirts and drawers. More often, simply a euphemism for trousers.

This word appears in the Philological Society Dictionary, under sponsorship of Mr Riiskin.

A survival of old English usage.

Belt. In parts of the West, quite common for blow, in the expression " Hit him a belt."

The verb to belt is used in New England, in sense of to strike with or as with a belt.

Bend-a-bow. In parts of New England, thin ice that bends when skated upon.

Also, bendy,

BEN— BET 49

Bender. In New York, a drinking-bout or a spree, in the course of which its participants are decidedly "unbent." Perhaps also from the facetious name given to the arm, which becomes so frequently a " ben- der" in lifting the glass to the mouth.

In Lowland Scotch, bender is the name given to a hard and persistent drinker.

An intensified form is hell bender, meaning a protracted drunken frolic.

Bens. A workman's slang term for his tools.

Bent. In Kentucky, the timbers of one side of a barn as they stand framed together.

Cf. the Century Diet, and Webster's Diet, for this sense.

BePPCndO, ber-ren'-doh (Sp. ). In South-Western Texas, a common name for a deer or antelope which is found in herds of sometimes as many as two hundred. That animal has been probably so called on account of its color, "berrendo" being in Spain an adjective applied to ripening wheat when it begins to turn yellow.

BePPy. In college slang, anything easy or soft ; a good thing. Also used adjectively in sense of good-looking.

BePth. A nautical term, transferred to shore-life, and generally applied to a sleeping compartment in a sleeping car.

Best bib and tUCkCP. One's very best, meaning one's best clothes. " She was dressed in her best bib and tucker."

Bestowment- A bestowal, i. e. the act of giving, or that which is conferred or given.

Best P6om. A name generally applied, in the Northern States, to a room of a house kept closed,and scrupuloiisly clean. This room is only opened on great occasions, when company is expected, from "a custom bequeathed by the first Dutch settlers of New York.

Bet (you). A new asseveration, which has arisen in the South- West, and meaning " You may bet on what I say. " The derivation of the word is obvious enough, it having naturally emanated from a community whers gambling is prevalent.

As a pithy way of emphasizing confidence in a fact or statement, you bet is said to be now almost as prevalent in England as in America.

Better. (1) Used to assert a thing certain. " You'd better believe it."

(2) Also colloquial in the East for " more, " in which sense it is still provincial in England, though dating back to Saxon times.

BettePniOSt (Old Eng. ). A cumulative superlative common in New England, and modeled after many a similar form in Shakespeare.

I stopped the better most part of the time with my cousin, the deacon.

(Mrs. Stowe.) 4

50 BET— BIG

Also, the bettermost best. "To be dressed in one's bettermost best. "

Betty. The straw-bound and pear-shaped flask of commerce, in which olive oil is brought from Italy.

Between hay and grass- A youth who is neither a man nor a boy is said to be between hay and grass, which expression is certainly more poetical than the English " hobbledehoy," used in same sense.

Bevel- In Long Island, a slope or declivity.

Forby, in his "vocabulary of East Anglia," defines a bevel as a road which is laid higher in the middle, hence bevel-edged.

BezugO, bes-soo'go (Sp. ). A name applied, in Texas, to the coarse fish commonly called buffalo-fish (genus Ictiobus), from its hump-like back near the front of the dorsal fin.

BibibleS. An innovation used for drinks, on a bill of fare. Similarly, edibles for food. " The table was loaded with edibles and bibibles of every possible kind."

Bible Christians. A denomination of Christians abstaining from animal food and spirituous liquors, and living on vegetables and fruits.

Bif, Biff, Bift. Current in several parts of the States in sense of to strike, and especially to give a quick blow. ' ' He biffed him on the ear. "

Also used as a noun, as in the familar phrase : " To give one a biff on the ear."

Big. Great, fine, excellent in quality. " A big thing, a bi;j country, big whiskey, etc.

De Vere says the term, in sense of " great, " can hardly be called an Americanism, and quotes as proof " the biggest example " from Jeremy Taylor. But as descriptive of quality, and, in a vulgar sense, of persons of supposed consequence (a big bug), it is very probably a product of the soil, and especially must that be said of the superlative combination great big, which is certainly also a native extravagance.

A recent writer in All the year round says to " look big " and to " talk big" are very old slang expressions, and even assures us that many cellars, in England, have been filled with "big" clarets and ports long before the American spirit was distilled.

Big bug. A disrespectful but common mode of allusion to persons of wealth, distinction or social importance. The equiv. of "big-wig," or " great gun, " as used in England.

Miss Savage is a big bug, she's got more money than almost any body else

in town.

(Widow Bedott's papers.)

Other forms are big dog, big toad. Thence also come : Cattle-bug, a wealthy stock raiser. Gold-bug, a monied man.

BIG-BIL 51

Big dog. (1) The principal man of a place, or in an undertaking.

(2) A recognized leader or chief.

(3) A consequential pompous individual ; an overbearing person who will allow no one to differ from his views. See biggity.

Thence also come the following intensified forms :

Big dog of the lanyard.

Big dog with a brass collar.

Biggest toad in the puddle. Esp. current in the West to designate a recognized leader, whether in politics, or in connection with the rougher avocations of pioneer life.

Big drink. (1) A large glass of liquor.

(2) A cant term applied, in the South- West, to the Mississipi river.

(3) The Atlantic Ocean.

Big figure. See go the big figure. Biggest toad. See Ug dog.

Biggity. A negro term applied to a man inclined to be independent, consequential, assuming, or who is giving himself airs.

Big-head. A disease peculiar to cattle, and so named from the swelling produced in the head.

Big-head (to get a). Applied in cases where new ideas result in un- bearable conceit.

Big hOFH (Ovis montana). The Rocky Mountains sheep, found on the plains west of the Missouri River, and so named from its horns, which are of great size and twisted like those of a ram.

Big meeting. A Western term for the protracted religious meetings of New England, which are customary among all denominations except the Protestant Episcopal Church. See camp-meeting.

Big tree (Sequoia gigantea). The giant pine-tree of California, often reaching to a height of three hundred feet, and measuring at the base one hundred feet in circumference.

Bilberry (Vaccinium). Used here, as in England, for whortleberry, with this difference that the American variety belongs more properly to the division Euvaccinium.

The same plant was formerly known in England as the " bilberry whortle, " which term is now obsolete. '

Bile (Old Eng.). Often used for boil both as noun and verb. Bile is an old English form, which once had a defender in no less an authority than the great Dr Johnson, who says : " Bile: this is generally spelt boil, but, I think, less properly. "

52

BIL— BIN

Biled Cakes. A species of doughnuts. See doughnuts.

Biled Shirt (boiled shirt). A linen shirt being an article rarely used in the backwoods, where flannel is the constant wear, it is often called there a "biled shirt," because — forsooth ! — it has to be occasionally boiled to be washed.

Bilk (Old Eng.). An old English verb meaning to defraud, or cheat, by means just outside the laws.

Used as a noun it is considered, in the Far West, one of the most degrading epithets that could possibly be applied, signifying a person who habitually sponges upon another. Its meaning, however, is still considerably more softened in America than in England, where it is current slang for a down-right cheat or swindler.

Bill. In general use for invoice, and for a bank-note. Bill (to). To charge upon an invoice.

Bill (to fill the). Some one "fills the bill" when he comes up to the description, or is able to accomplish what is undertaken.

Bill (to foot the). To pay a bill, or to signify his intentions to pay the same.

Bill-board. A notice-board.

Billet. In Newfoundland, wood cut up for burning. See breastner, I urn, turn.

Bill-flsh (Belone truncata). A small sea-fish, fond of running up into fresh water during the summer.

Also called banded garfish, silver gar, sea-pike.

Billy. A slang word for a murderous appliance, made of a strip of leather weighted with lead.

In English slang, a policeman's staff.

Billy-noddle. A slang term applied to a fellow whose self-conceit leads him to suppose himself specially attractive to the other sex.

Bindery. A shop for book-binding, a place where books are bound.

At Worcester, he also erected a paper mill, and set up a bindery. (Isaiah Thomas, Printing, I, 402.)

Bindingf-pole. In Connecticut, a pole used to hold a load of hay on a wagon.

Another form is boom-pole, used especially in New Jersey.

Bindweed. The popular name, in Massachusetts, for the "convolvulus." Binnacle. In parts of New York, the flume of a mill stream, a mill race.

BIR— BLA 53

Birch. A birch-canoe.

Bird. In college slang : (1) a girl ; (2) a person extremely accomplished (often ironical) ; (3) a sport.

Birdie. A frequent name, especially in the South, applied to young ladies.

From bird or burd, which is a Scotch term of endearment.

Bird's eye. (1) A variety of limestone in New York, which is a peculiar geological formation of that region.

(2) A variety of maple, also called curled maple, furnishing a peculiarly beautiful wood for the cabinet-maker.

Bird's nest. In parts of New York, a fruit pudding, in which any kind of pudding fruit may be used.

BisagTe, bis-sah'-gray (Sp. ). In Texas, a plant of the cactus family, sometimes sliced and candied in Mexican sugar.

Biscuit. (1) A hot roll, or bun, usually fermented, served at breakfast or cea.

(2) A cookie, or small hard cake.

In England, a biscuit is what would be called here a cracker.

Bishop. An appendage to a lady's dress, otherwise called a bustle, or dress improver.

Bisling'S. The first milk given by a cow after calving. (N. Eng. ) A corruption of " beestings."

Bit. An old cant word designating, in some Southern States, a silver coin of the value of one eight of a dollar, the Spanish real (de plata). A $hort bit is a dime, a deface^, twenty-cent piece being called a long bit.

Other denominations exist for the same coin, as for instance escalan in New Orleans, eleven pence or: levy in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Vir- ginia, nine-pence in New England, and shilling in New York.

Four-penny pieces are still bits in some parts of England, and in Deme- rara the term is in general use for the same coin.

BlZ. A vulgar abbreviation for " business."

Biznaga, biss-nah'-gah (Sp. ). A name applied, in Texas, to several cac- taceous plants (echinocacti), all growing to large dimensions. They are armed with formidable spines, used, it is said, as toothpicks by Mexicans. Also called viznaga.

Black bass. (1) A highly esteemed fresh-water fish of the lake and river districts of the North and West. See achiyan.

(2) On the New-Jersey coast, a name given to the sea bass (Centro- pristis nigricans).

54 BLA— BLA

(3) Along portions of the Pacific coast, a name given to the black rock-fish (Sebastichthys melanops).

Black code. A collection of laws -first made by Bienville in Louisiana, which became the model for all legislation on the relations of master and slave. Its power continued long in Louisiana, even after the colony became a State of the Union.

Black-eyed Susan. A Texas term for a revolver.

Other slang equivalents in the same State are Blue Lightning, Meat in the Pot, Mr. Speaker, My unconverted Friend, a One Eyed Scribe, Peace- Maker, Pill-Box.

Blaek-flsh (Labrus americanus). A fish caught off Rhode-Island shoals, and so called from the color of its back and sides. Also, tautaug.

Black grass. A fine, short grass common- on the salt, marshy lands of the New- England coast.

Black gum (genus Nyssa). A well known tree common in the Middle States.

Other names are pepperidge, sour gum, and tupelo.

Black harpy (Centropristis nigricans). A common name applied to the black sea-bass, one of the most savory and delicate of fishes. Also called hannahill, or simply black-bass.

Black head. (Fulix marila). A popular name, on the Chesapeake bay, for the variety of sea-ducks usually known as broadbills. In Virginia, another name is raft-duck.

Black-jack. (1) The barren oak or scrub oak of botanists (Quercus nigra), a small stunted species thriving on the sea-shore, and largely used in the manufacture of walking-sticks. Also called jack-oak.

(2) In the Gulf States, a name applied to small trees (Quercus Ca- tesbcei) of little value except for fuel.

(3) In New England, rum sweetened with molasses.

(4) A miner's term for an ore of zinc, the sulphuret of zinc of chemists.

Black-Jack. An army nickname given to general John A. Logan, because of his very dark complexion.

Blackleg. A rapidly fatal disease to which cattle on the Western plains are subject.

Blackleg (to). " To blackleg it," in trade-union parlance, is to return to work before the causes of a strike have been removed or settled.

Black Republicans. A term formerly applied by Southerners to the Republican party, on account of the latter's antagonism to the intro- duction of slavery into any State where not already recognized.

BLA— BLA 55

Blaeksnake A long whip of raw-hide, with a short handle, largely used by cowboys.

Hence, the verb to blacksnake, meaning to castigate with a blacksnake whip.

Blackstrap. (1) A mixture of molasses with some spirituous liquors, and commonly distributed to the hands during harvest.

In old times, the common beverage of engine companies at tires in Boston.

(2) Among sugar manufacturers, a technical term for the residuum of molasses sugar, itself the product of a second boiling.

Black swimmer. One of the familiar names applied to the Great North- ern Diver. See loon.

Blacktail (Cervus columbianus. ) A species of large deer common on the Pacific slope, of a dark color, and with a tail tipped for two or three inches with a thick tuft of short black hair.

Also called, in some parts of the country, mule deer (Cervus macrotis), from its ears being rather long and heavy.

Black-tailed hare. The tiny rabbit of the Rocky Mountains region. See jackass-rabbit.

BlaekwOOd. A comprehensive term, in the Northern States, especially Maine, for the timber of the hemlock, pine, spruce and fir.

Bladder-tree (Straphyla). A handsome shrub, from six to ten feet high, and remarkable for its large, inflated capsules.

Blamed. A New-England euphemism for damned, derived fromblarmed. An expletive used to emphasize a statement, and partaking slightly ot the nature of an oath. Possibly English slang, but colloquial in the United States.

Blanket. The principal article of an Indian's attire. Hence, to have an ancestor who has "worn the blanket," is to have Indian blood in his veins.

Same remark applies to French Canada.

Blanket COat. A common term, in the West, for a coat made from a blanket, and generally from the quality of blanket known as " Macki- naw."

Blanket Indian. (1) A semi-civilized aborigine, who receives blankets and rations from Uncle Sam.

(-) A Western term for an Indian who still remains in a savage state.

Blarney. Besides signifying " to wheedle," as in English slang, also baars, among the low and criminal classes, ths secondary meaning of "to pick locks."

56

BLA— BLI

Blatt. To talk with noisy assurance and bluster. Doubtless a deri- vative of " blatant."

BlauseP (Dutch blazer, a blower). A typic and graphic name for the Deaf Adder (Vipera berus), which, as is well known, has the habit of distending or blowing up the skin of its neck and head.

Blaze. (1) A mark on a tree.

Some writers affect to derive the word from the old French " blazon," and quote the use of " blazen," by Shakespeare :

" Thyself thou blazerist In these two princely boys"

in a sense not altogether dissimular to the meaning conveyed by the American Hazing. At all events the word is in general use in nearly all English colonies, especially those like Australia, where there have been, or are still, large tracts of primeval forest land.

The white " blaze," or spot, in the forehead of a horse, will also here be familiar.

(2) At game of poker, a hand consisting of five court cards, and which, when played, beats two pairs.

Blaze (to). (1) A backwoodsterm, used in the sense of cutting tree barks with an axe, in passing, so that the path taken might be retraced.

(2) The process of taking possession of a tract of land, in the early settlements, by chopping a piece out of a tree here and there, within the lines chosen as one's own. Thus the new-comer would, in the language of the day, "at once blaze out on the tree-trunks his pre-emption claim,' and henceforth he was secured in his property.

As for me I am a blazed pine in the clearing of the pale-faces.

(Fenimore Cooper, Last of the Mohicans, XXXIII.)

Blazing* Star. (1) A medicinal plant (Aletris farinosa), held in great esteem by the Indians and people of the West.

Also known as the devil's bit, probably from the well known legend that the devil once bit off a portion of the root in order to destroy its medicinal properties.

Both above terms are also popularly given to a plant belonging to the genus called ' ' colchicum. "

(2) In the West, a slang term for a stampede of pack-mules or other animals from a central point.

Bleach. A family washing hung out to dry.

BlenkCP. A cant army word in sense of " to plunder,'' which originated during the Civil war.

Blick, Bliekey (Dutch blick, tin). (1) Used for a small bucket or pail, in parts of the States of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The variety is distinguished by an adjective, as " wooden "or " tin " blickey.

BLI— BLO 57

(2) In parts of New Jersey, a coat or " jumper," such as workmen wear with overalls.

Blind. (1) An arrangement of bushes, used by duck hunters, so as to secure themselves from observation.

(2) At game of poker, the ante deposited by the age previous to the deal.

See blind poker.

(3) A slang word for object, intention. " You see my blind, " i. e. the drift of what I am saying.

This is a curious illustration of the custom of some classes to use words calculated to mislead all but those initiated into the mysteries of their jargon.

In English slang, blind means a pretence, or make-believe.

Blind-eel. Among fishermen, " to catch a blind eel " is to bring to the surface a piece of seaweed or some other worthless object.

Figuratively, to obtain results of little worth, to exhaust oneself in fruitless endeavours.

BlindePS. In Newfoundland and the Canadian maritime provinces, often used for the whole bridle of a horse.

Blind pokeP. A form of poker, whose hazards are indefinitely increased by betting on the cards in one's hand prior to examination.

Blink, Blinky. Often said of sour milk, and even of vinegar which has become slightly sour.

" Blinked," as applied to milk, is still provincial in England and Scotland.

Blister. A New Jerseyism, used from Barnegat south to Cape May, for an oyster smaller than a quarter dollar.

Blizzard. A term now commonly applied to a sudden and exceptionally severe snow storm, with the air full of dry sharp crystals, which, driven before the wind, bite and sting like fire.

The word probably originated in Pennsylvania, in the counties where the German element predominates, and where it has long been familiar as implying anything sudden combined with violence (Cf. Ger. blitz, lightning). Perhaps, also, as several have been conjecturing, is it simply an onomatopy, an attempt, not wholly unsucessful, to represent the whistling and driving noise of a terrible storm.

Also, sense of a stunning blow or an overwhelm! ng argument.

Blizzardy. Anything stunning or overwhelming in its effects. Bloat. A drowned body. Also, a drunkard.

Bloated eels. In Connecticut, eels prepared for cooking by being skinned and drawn.

58 BLO— BLO

Blob. In college slang, to make a mistake. Also used as a siibstantive.

Block. (1) A connected mass or row of buildings, not intersected by streets ; or even a whole portion of a town, inclosed by streets, whether it be built upon or not.

Also called a square, notably in Baltimore.

In New York City, the block is the regular unit of distance — 20 blocks — a mile.

(2) In Wall street parlance, a block of shares means a large number of shares massed together and sold in a lump.

Also, adverbially, a block loan, a block advance, etc.

Block COal. A term applied to a peculiar kind of coal, which breaks readily into large square blocks, and is used in the smelting of, iron.

The term originated in Mahoning valley, and is now in general use all over Illinois and Indiana.

Block-Island tUPkey. A common term for salted cod-fish, in Connec- ticut and Rhode-Island.

Compare with Taunton turkey.

Blood. In some Western colleges, signifies excellent, as a blood reci- tation. A student who recites well is said to make a blood.

Blooded. An adjective used when speaking of thoroughbreds in horses or choice breeds in cattle.

In England, the form " blood " is similarly applied.

Blood-rOOt (Sanguinaria Canadensis). One of the earliest of the wild flowers, bearing a pure white blossom, and so called from the blood -red juice of its root.

Also called poccoon, an Indian name for various roots which furnish coloring pigments.

BlOOd-tllbS. A term coming from Baltimore, and designating roughs and street loafers.

" A set of Baltimore rowdies, chiefly butchers, once got the epithet from having, on an election day, dipped an obnoxious citizen head down in a tub of warm blood, and then drove him running through the town." (Bartlett.)

BlOOdy Chasm (to bridge the). A favorite expression with those orators who, after the Civil War, sought to obliterate the memory of that great struggle.

The antithetical phrase is "to wave the bloody shirt."

BlOOdy ShiPt (tO Wave the). Calling up the issues of the Civil War, for political purposes. From this spscial meaning the phrase is now also passing into general use to indicate similar tactics, in regard to any cause involving revenge as its principal object.

BLO— BLO 59

Has lately been introduced in English journalism in connection with the Irish struggle.

The origin of the expression is to be sought in the Corsican custom, in the days of the fierce " vendetta, " of waving the blood-stained shirt of a murdered man as an incitation for revenge, and its application to American politics is credited to Mr. Oliver P. Morton who, after the Civil War, took a prominent part as a leader of the more radical Repu- blicans.

Bloody shirtePS. An opprobrious epithet applied, after the Civil War, to the radical Republicans favoring a stern policy of coercion towards the South.

BlOOmeP, BlOOmePS, A costume introduced for independent women, in 1849-50, by a Mrs. Bloomer, and which comes very near that worn by Turkish ladies.

The term bloomer also frequently designates the wearer himself of such a costume.

BlOOtWOPSCht (Ger. blutwurst). The blood-sausage of the Pennsylvania Germans, very similar to the English black-pudding.

Blotter. A police station and newspaper term for a charge sheet, kept at police stations.

Blow. (1) A single blossom. Now rarely heard. From the old English " blowth," still provincial for blossom.

(2) In the South a blow of cotton means the bursting of the pods of the cotton plant.

BlOW (to). (1) To brag, to boast. In Engla nd, to blow is taken more usually in the sense of to " blab."

To talk boastfully or swaggeringly, varied in Tennessee by blowin' his bazoo.

(2) To blame, to cast a slur upon, to stigmatize.

BlOWeP. (1) A piece of sheet iron, used to create a free draught in a furnace or fire-place.

(2) A noisy, demonstrative, selp-important person ; a braggart, one who is full of gasconading stories. A very near brother, as one can see, to the Englishman who blows his own trumpet. Also, blowhard.

Blow in (to), To spend one's money freely. BlOW OUt (to). To talk violently or abusively.

BlOWth. In New England, the blossoming of flowers. "There's been a good blowth of apples this year," i. e. the flowers were numerous. • The word is still provincial in England in sense of blossom.

60

BLO— BLU

Blow up (Old Eng.). Still used, in parts of Pennsylvania, in sense of to raise or produce by blowing, in speaking of atmospheric changes. " I think it will blow up rain soon."

This windy tempest, till it blow up rain, Held back his sorrow's tide, to make it more.

(Shakespeare. Lucrece, 1. 1788.)

Bluebaeks. A term applied to the paper money of the Confederate States, in contradistinction to the " Greenbacks" of the North.

After the war, the "Bluebaeks" became known as Shucks, from their utter worthlessness, " shucks " being an old English term for the refuse of peas and similar products when shelled.

Blue Bellies. A nickname bestowed by Southerners, during the Civil War, to the soldiers of the North, from the blue color of their uniforms. Also, Boys in blue, Yanks etc.

Blue eat. A fish common in all the plain's streams, and attaining some- times a weight of fifteen to twenty-five pounds.

Blue CUris (Trichostema dichotomum). A common plant, with flowers of a deep blue and very long coiled filaments.

Also called bastard pennyroyal, from its resemblance to that plant.

Blue-flsh (Pomatomus saltatrix). A voracious salt-water fish of the mackerel order, but larger in size.

Also called skipjack, horse-mackerel (Jersey coast), and salt-water tailor (Virginia).

On the Jersey coast the name blue-fish is applied to the weak-fish, squeteauge or chickwit.

Blue grass (Poa pratensis). The name of a valuable meadow grass flour- ishing on the rich limestone lands of Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Ken- tucky, especially the latter. Hence the term blue-grass applied to Ken- tucky and its inhabitants.

In Maryland, the term blue-grass is applied to a species of grass very injurious to wheat and clover, and hard to eradicate.

The Texas ' blue-grass (Poa arachnifera) closely resembles the Ken- tucky species, the chief difference consisting in its being better adapted to a more Southern range, which fact makes it valuable for winter pasture.

Blue grass State. The State of Kentucky, so called from its rich lime- stone lands, yielding blue grass.

Blue Hen Chickens. A nickname given to the natives of Delaware, and which has its source in the following story. During the war of the Revo- lution, one of the most gallant fighters of Delaware was captain Cald- well, a man who was also notorious for his fondness of cock fighting. As he had been heard repeatedly giving vent to a peculiar theory of his,

BLU— BLU 61

i. e. that no cock was really game unless it came from a blue hen, this led in the course of time to the substitution of Blue Hen Chickens as a nickname for his regiment, all composed of admirably drilled and picked men, and from there and then the term was subsequently extended to all the sons of Delaware. See Musk-Rats.

Blue Hen State. The State of Delaware, so called from the notoriety which one of her sons, captain Caldwell, acquired in the war of the Revolution for his fondness of cock fighting. See Blue Hen Chickens and Diamond State.

Blue Law State. The State of Connecticut, from the unenviable fame acquired by the first government of New Haven Plantation, in framing the famous Blue Laws of that colony.

Also simply Blue State. Other names are Freestone State, Land of Steady Habits, Nutmeg State.

Blue Lightning. A grimly facetious name, in Texas, for a revolver.

Blue-liglltS. (1) During the war of 1812, while the British fleet lay off New London, the inhabitants 'along the coast were accused of having made signals for the benefit of the enemy, by burning blue lights at night. The charge, it is said, was utterly unfounded, but the term has survived to this day and is frequently used in political controversies as applied to traitors.

(2) At the University of Vermont the term blue-light is used to desig- nate a sneaking boy, who reports to the Faculty the short-comings of his fellow-students.

Blue nose. A nickname for a native of Nova Scotia, and derived, as Sam Slick informs us, from a celebrated kind of potato which is grown there to perfection.

Others, however, hazard the suggestion that the nickname simply refers to the blueness of nose resulting from intense cold.

The term is also used with reference to New Brunswick, but not so frequently as when speaking of Nova Scotians.

Blues. A nickname of the inhabitants of New Jersey, which has its origin in the fact that " blue " was a term once applied to an over- religious and strictly governed soatioii of that State.

Blue Skin. A contemptuous term applied to the Presbyterians, from their alleged grave deportment, or because of their stern and steady adherence to principles believed by them to be the only true ones.

Blue-Stocking (Recurvirostra Americana). (1) The American avoset, a common bird in the Northern States.

(2) In college slang, a woman student, and especially a masculine college girl devoted to study.

62 BLU— BOB

Bluet (Houstoma ccerulea). A delicate herbaceous plant, producing in the spring a profusion of pale blue flowers fading to white. Also called quakers.

Blue weed (Chicorium). The wild endive, or chicory-plant, so called in New England from its large dark-blue flowers.

Bluff. (1) A variety of the card game of poker,

(2) An excuse or a brag. Mere talk ; talk intended to mystify or deceive.

Also, one who bluffs, i. e. puts up a bluff.

(3) In the West, a hill of moderate size, by the side of a river.

In sense of bold prominence jutting out into the sea, bluff is thoroughly English.

Bluff (to). ( 1 ) To stay in a game of cards with a poor hand, and, by heavy betting, try to "bluff" the game through.

(2) To frighten a person in any way, in order to deter him from accomplishing his ends.

Also, to bluff off. ,

(3) In college slang, to make a false show of ability. To gain, or attempt to gain an advantage by making a false show. To make fun of. To answer all questions put by an instructor.

Bluff City. The city of Hannibal, Missouri, so called from the fact of its being built on high bluffs on the margin of the river.

Bluffe, Bluffer. (1) A braggart.

(2) In the patter of New York thieves, the landlord of an hotel.

Blumrnie. A Dutch word still in use for flower in New York city, and along the Hudson and Mohawk rivers.

The diminutive form blummachee or blummechie, meaning small flower, is also well known in the New York markets.

Board-bank. On the coast of New Jersey, a floor of boards placed on the bed of a creek near the shore, on which oysters are laid to fatten. See floats, platform.

Board-walk. The "parade" of American wa,tering-places, consisting in a foot-path constructed of planking.

Bob. (1) A bait, used in fishing for eels or trout. The bob is either made of a knot of worms or chicken guts, or simply of colored rags.

(2) Immature veal, the sale of which is prohibited by law. Also, bob -veal.

(3) A petty shop thief.

Bobbery. A cant term for a noise or hubbub, used here in a good natured sense, as differing from the English meaning of an objectionable row.

BOB— BOD 63

Noted as peculiar to Suffolk, England, in sense of disturbance, in Glossary of Edwin Moor, published in 1823.

Bobbing1 Club. An association of members who amuse themselves, in winter, by sliding down hills on bob-sleds.

Bob-Gat. A species of wild cat, very nearly the color of a raccoon, and from twelve to fifteen pounds in weight. Its head is rather large, and its mouth is furnished with very strong, curved teeth.

Bobolink. (Icterus agripennis). A lively little bird so called from its peculiar notes, and which is a general favorite for its inimitable and busy active flight.

Other popular names by which it is known in different parts of the Union, are reed-bird (Middle States), rice-bunting and rice-bird ( Southern States). Also called American ortolan, bob-lincoln (facetiously Robert of Lincoln), meadow-bird, skunk-black bird (from its coloring which resembles that of the skunk).

In Jamaica, the bobolink is known as butter-bird.

Bobolition, Bobolitionist. Derisive epithets for abolition, abolitionist, used by the enemies of the emancipation movement in its early days. A correspondent of the N. Y. Nation dates the term as far back as 1824, and remembers having then seen the word " on a broadsheet containing what purported to be an account of a bobolition celebration at Boston."

Bobs. Large double sleds with a box for the transportatiou of anything.

Bob Sled, Bob Sleigh. (1) A sled much used for the transportation of large timber, its special characteristic being two pairs of " bobs, " or short runners.

(2) A boy's sled, usually known as " double runner. "

Also simply called bob.

Bobtail cap. The popular name for a small tram-car, driven by a single horse, and whose only official is the driver, who collects fares and acts as conductor.

Bobwhite (Bonassa umbella). The American ruffled grouse, so called from the drumming sound produced by the rapid beating of its wings.

In New England, this bird is confused with the partridge, and in the Middle and Southern States with the quail and the pheasant.

Bockey (Dutch bokaal). A word limited to N. Y. City and its immediate vicinity, and designating a certain bowl or vessel made from a gourd.

Bodark, Bodok (Fr. lioix iFarc, lit. bow-wood). A local name, in the West, for the Osage orange (Madura aurantiaca). a shrub whose wasli is especially well adapted to make bows with.

The form bowdark, long familiar along the whole Western frontier, has now nearly entirely given way to the shorter bodok.

BOD— BOH

Bodewash (Fr. bois-de-vache). Dried cow-dung used for fuel on the prairies of the West and South-West, and gathered near springs, where cattle are apt to congregate. Also called buffalo-chips.

The Fr. bois-de-vache was the name originally applied by the old " voyageurs " of the West.

Body (Old Eng. ). A bodice, a corsage, in speaking of a woman's dress.

Their bodies were of carnation cloth of silver, richly wrought. (B. Jonson, Masque of Hymen.)

Bogie-engine., A form of locomotive used for work in railroad yards.

Bogus. (1) Applied adjectively to anything or any person suspected of being unreal or fraudulent. Thus, a woman whose beauty is artificial, is a bogus beauty, and in courts of justice bogus charges are of frequent occurrence. A maimed man wears bogus legs, and a member of a Legis- lature, supposed to have been unfairly elected, is a bogus representative. Indeed, the variety of meanings, to which the term has been bent, would be almost endless and we have even heard of the illegitimate offspring of a woman being called a bogus child.

If we may believe a story told by the Boston Daily Courier of June 12 1857, the word bogus is a corruption of the name of one Borghese, a very corrupt individual who, twenty years before, was doing a tre- mendous business up West in ""the way of fictitious checks, notes, and bills of exchange upon the principal traders and bankers. The Western people soon fell into the habit of calling the man by the more handy name of Bogus, and his goods " bogus currency.

On the other hand, and in spite of the almost historical descent of bogus from the above source, several etymologers, notably J. R. Lowell, have insisted in its being nothing but a corruption of the French baqasne, which has traveled up North from New Orleans, where it means the worthless refuse of sugar-cane.

(2) A beverage consisting of rum and molasses, well known to the fishermen in the Eastern States.

Also, caliborjUfi.

BogUS boys. A broker's term designating the swindler* and frauds, who are the pests of Wall stroet and other commercial districts.

BogUSly. In a false or fraudulent way.

Bohea-tea. A dark tea made of every other shrub and plant, onl}' not of the Chinese shrub known by that name.

Bohn. In college slang, a clos3 stuJont. Also one who uses a literal translation.

Derived from Bohn, the nam3 of a well-known publisher of translations, from the classics.

BOH— BON 65

Bohn (to). In college slang, to study hard or diligently.

Boiled down tO a point. The gist of anything ; a simile denoting a reduction to a bare statement of fact.

Bois baPPe\ bwah-bah-ray (Fr.). A name applied, in Canada, to the striped maple. (Acer Pennsj^lvanicum), a small slender tree, the bark light green striped with brown or black, and sometimes also with white.

Bois blane, bwah-blan (Fr. ). A common name, in Canada, for the American linden or lime-tree (Tilia americana). See bass-wood.

Bois-brule', bwah-brii-lay (Fr. lit. burnt-wood). (1) In Canada, and in the North-West, a burnt tract of forest. Also simply brul&. (2) A Canadian metis or half-breed.

Bois de fer (Fr. lit. ironwood). A name applied, in Canada, to the hop- hornbeam or leverwood (Ostrya Virginica).

BoiS-fortS, bwah-for (Fr. ). A name formerly applied, in the West, to the deep forest, near the sources of the Mississipi.

BoiS-pOUPPl, bwah-poo-ree (Fr. C.). A name applied, in French Canada, to the night-jar, or whip-poor-will (Caprimulgus).

Boke. A tailor's word for the shape or curve of the breast of a coat.

Boid. Freely, plentifully. " The spring don't flow as bold as it did." Cf. sense of deep, in speaking of water navigable close to the shore.

Bolt. To desert, to reject suddenly one's political party (simile of a " bolting " horse). .

To abstain from voting for, or to vote against the candidate of the " ticket " of one's party.

BoltePS. A word applied, during the Presidential election of 1884, to indicate a section of the Republican party who, for that time,, voted with the Democrats.

BoltOCPat. An atrocious verbal coinage invented in the West, during the Presidential campaign of 1896, and used to designate a Democrat having "bolted" the Bryan-Sewal ticket.

BomDO. A hedge-hog-like animal found in North Carolina, and by some called a badger.

Bonanza (Sp. lit. good fortune, good luck). A terra first applied, by Spanish speaking Californians, to the discovery, in the mining regions, of any vein or pocket of extraordinary richness. Now extended to mean any lucky nit, or successful entreprise, from a mine of the same name, in Nevada, which onca, and quite unexpectedly, turned up to be of enormous value. 5

66 BON— BOO

Bone. (1) A tip given by a traveller to a Custom House official, to ensure a superficial examination of one's baggage. A term especially well understood in New York city.

(2) In college slang, a close student. Cf. bohn.

Bone-pits. Indian places of interment scattered throughout the United States and Canada, the practice among Indian tribes being to deposit such remains in long trenches or pits.

Bones. (1) Castanets made of real bones, and used by negro minstrels. (2) In college slang : 1. A skeleton. 2. Dice. 3. Instructor in physiology and anatomy. 4. The fist. 5. A thin man.

Boneset. The popular name of the thorough wort (Eupatorium perf oliatum), a medicinal plant much esteemed for its sudorific and tonic properties, and so called because it is generally regarded as a specific for the ' ' break bone fever."

BonesetteP. (1) A slang term for a surgeon.

(2) A hard riding horse. Analogous to the "boneshaker" of the English rough, although the American term is far more brutal in its suggestiveness.

Boneyard. A cemetery.

Bony flsh (Alosa menhaden). A fish of the herring kind, caught in enormous quantities in New-England waters and as far south as Chesa- peake bay. Besides being used for food, it is also employed as manure, chiefly for Indian corn.

Also called hard-head and white-fish (Maine), moss-bunker, mossyback and skippaug (New- York), panhagen, pohagen and menhaden (Mass, and Rhode-Island). .

Booby hack. A kind of sleigh, consisting of a carriage-body put upon sleigh runners.

Only a slight alteration of the booby-hutch, an English provincialism denoting a clumsy, ill-contrived covered carriage or seat.

Boodle (Dutch buidel, a pocket, a purse). A word now immensely popular in its present meaning of bribery, plunder, and owing its sudden pro- minence to a corrupt board of New York aldermen, many of whom were convicted of having accepted bribes or boodle for their votes.

Was probably thieves' argot a long while, before generally known, meaning the "bulk of the booty." We read in Macaulay's Political Georgics (1828): "And boodle's patriot band," with evident sense of bribery and plunder. The word was also current in the Wesfc about 1870, with a meaning not far wide of its present signification in American politics.

Although several etymologers are somewhatjnclinecl to regard boodle as an anglicized form of the German beutel — meaning a purse, and,

BOO— BOO 67

in a figurative sense, money — it is however so easy to see how the Dutch buidel might have come into colloquial American without passing through English, that we can risk guessing New York as the American birth-tplace of our present boodle. We are, also, the more confirmed in that opinion, that there does not exist, so far as we know, any Anglo- Saxon dialectic form accounting for the term.

Among the thieving fraternity boodle is used to denote money that is actually spurious or counterfeit.— Fake boodle is a roll of paper, over which, after folding, a few bills are so disposed that it looks as if the whole was made up of a large sum of money. — To carry boodle is to utter base coinage, boodlers being the men who issue it.

Boodle is also sometimes identical with the slang expressions dust, rhino, for money.

Boof. (1) Scare, fright. " He got a boof." (2) Peach-brandy. (Pa.)

In parts of New York, to shy, be frightened. " That horse boogers a little at dogs."

Boogie. Ball of mucus in the nose. A term mostly restricted to school children.

BoO-hOO (to). To cry aloud, to make a bellowing noise, and, idiomati- cally, to be in a state of whining supplication. From the sounds made by a child, when crying.

Bookstore. A place where books are sold. In England, it would be called a bookseller's shop.

Boom. (1) A logger's term, descriptive of a flooded or swollen stream, bearing logs down toward tide-water. " The river is booming."

Hence, by extension, a rush of business, or a sudden advance in popularity or in price, from the analogy with the "booming out" of the logs, in the lumber districts, when the rivers rise to a sufficient height in the spring.

Perhaps also derived from the nautical phrase "boom-out," signifying a vessel running rapidly before the wind.

(2) In the mining phraseology of the Far West, a boom is an artificial torrent rushing down a slope, so as to clear off surface soil and reveal supposed mineral veins.

Boom (to). (1) To be lively, prosperous. " Business is booming."

(2) To inflate prices. Hence " to boom a town," i. e. to cause a sudden advance in the value of its real estate.

(3) To bring into prominence or public notice. " The whole State is booming the candidacy of Brown."

Booma (Ind.). A North Carolina term for the little red squirrel known, in the North, as the chickaree (Sciurus hudsonius).

68 BOO— BOS

Boom-belt. Any particular spot within a nourishing district.

BoomeP. A term applied to those adventurers who, in anticipation of the opening of a territory to settlement, attempt to exploit or boom the country on their own account.

A story put forth for political purposes, the untruth of which reacts afterwards against its disseminators.

Booming-squad. A successful team or party. Boomlet. A progress, or a boom of a lesser degree.

Boonder (Dutch). A word still in use in New York City for a scrubbing- brush.

Boost. A push, a help [up. An upward shove or push. Often used figuratively.

Boost (to). To lift or raise by pushing, in the sense of helping one up a tree or a fence.

Whereas ole Abram'd sink afore he'd let a darkle boost him*

(J. R. LOWELL, Biglow Papers, II., 106.)

Lord Palmerston was boosted into power by the agricultural interests of England. (New- York Herald.)

Booze (Old Eng.). To drink deeply.

Boozy (Old Eng.) Originally a vile gypsy word, but now largely used, even by careful writers, in sense of drunk, inebriated. The term is an interesting reminiscense of Queen Elizabeth's time, when a " bouzing ken " was the accepted expression for a public house, from the Dutch buysen, to tipple.

Border ruffians. A term originally applied to bands of voters who crossed the border from the slave States, during the Kansas-Nebraska troubles of 1854-55, in order to carry the elections in the territories.

BOS. At the University of Virginia, the dessert which the students are allowed twice per week, ,' ' Senior and Junior bos" being the two respective appellations of the same.

Bosaal (Sp. bozal, & muzzle). A peculiar halter, used in the breaking-in of unruly horses. (Texas and S. W. )

BoSCUllS (Fr. C. ). In the lower St Lawrence region, a name applied to packed ice, which offers a rough surface.

Bosom (Shirt). In England, called "shirt front.

BOSS (Dutch baas, master). (1) In universal use, all over the Union and in Canada, in a semi-respectful way, for master, employer, ^overseer, or one who deals the work out to workmen and pays their wages.

BOS— EOT 69

(2) Often heard as the equivalent of the English "Sir" of polite society, Also, figuratively, in sense of superior, sovereign. Thus the New York Herald once said, in speaking of Rotschild : " The fact is Rotschild is the real pope and boss of all Europe."

(3) In politics, the word boss generally carries with it an implication of corrupt or discreditable methods. The renowned Tweed was the first to wear the title in a semi-official way, and "political boss" has now become a familiar expression for a leader whose word is law to his henchmen, and who reigns supreme over them.

BOSS (to). To rule over, to lead, to domineer, and indeed to direct, to manage anything. " To boss a job, " i. e. to contract or superintend a work. " To boss the house, " i. e. to rule or manage it.

BOSS COW. The cow which can drive all the rest of the herd, aud so has the privilege of being first in all matters of advantage.

Bossism. The control of politics by bosses.

Boston. (1) A card game dating from the War of Independence, and so called in honor of the town of Boston. Supposed to have been invented by Dr Franklin.

(2) The generic name, for a white man, among the natives of Oregon, having originated there at the time when Massachusetts sent her enter- prising sons — mostly from Boston — on trading voyages to the Pacific coast.

Boston bread. Bread composed of Indian corn and rye meal. Also, Indian bread.

Bostonese. Said of a method of speech or manners, supposed to be specially affected by the residents of Boston.

Boton, bo-ton' (Sp.). More specifically, in South Western Texas, a peculiar knot at the end of a rope.

Bottom. (1) In the West, a piece of rich, flat land. In England, more especially, a low, alluvial land.

(2) A slang term for spirit put in a tumbler, preparatory to the addition of an aerated water. " Soda and dark bottom."

(3) Power of endurance, stamina. Slang in England but respectably colloquial in the United States.

Bottom dollar. The last of one's money.

Bottom fact. An undoubted fact, the exact truth about any matter. The phrase is also varied by bottom rock. See rock bed.

Bottoms. A common term, in the West, for low or alluvial lands enriched by overflowing rivers.

70

BOU— BOU

Also, bottom-lands, river-bottoms. See intervale.

Boueaniere (Fr.). A term applied, in Canada, both to the burning coal areas of the northern country, and to a smoke-house for drying meat.

Bougilten. An old participle used as adjective, in parts of New England, New York and New Jersey, to distinguish articles bought at a shop from the home-made ones. The term is evidently of Scotch parentage, as in the familiar phrase of Scotch settlers : "I have putten on my coat."

Still provincial in North of England, in connection with baker's bread, as compared with home-made bread.

See store clothes, store goods, etc.

Bounce. " To get the grand bounce," i. e. to be discharged from service, and especially to be dismissed from an office under government.

Bounce (to). (1) To throw out, to fire. Used especially in sense of forcibly ejecting a troublesome or noisy person from a house, a car, etc. (2) To swagger.

Bouncer. (1) One hired in a saloon or dive, for the purpose of throwing out objectionable visitors. Also, chucker-out. See bung-starter. (2) A thief who commits his depredations with bravado and bullying.

Bound (Old Eng.). (1) Determined, resolved. " I'm bound to have it."

(2) Obliged. " I feel myself bound to act in like manner."

(3) Certain. " He's boiind to succeed."

Still provincial in some parts of England, especially in English districts of South Wales.

Bounder. In New Jersey, to scrub or wash thoroughly (the person).

Bounty-jumper. A term applied, during the War of the Rebellion, to those unprincipled men then enlisting in the army, merely for the sake of the large bounty offered for volunteers, and who, as soon as they had received it, hastened to decamp, and reappeared in another State in order to go through the same performance.

Bourbon. (1) A Democrat of the straitest sect, so called from the old and uncompromising monarchical party of same name in France.

The term is also generally applied to any old-fashioned politician acting unmindful of past experience.

(2) A superior kind of rye whiskey, formerly only manufactured in Bourbon county, Kentucky.

BourdignonS (Fr. C.). In the province of Quebec, a name applied to clumps of frozen snow and earth, which make the roads very rough. Also, bourdillons, bourgignons.

BOU— BOY 71

Bourgeois (Fr. C.)- A term formerly applied, at the time of the " voyageurs," to the chief -trader, or to the head of a fur-company's fort in the great Xorth-West.

BoweP (Ger. bauer, a peasant, or yeoman). The knave of trumps, or the other knave of the same colored suit, at game of euchre, the first one being the " right bower, " and the second the " left bower. "

By extension, a man will also speak of his partner, or business assistant, as his " right bower", this expression being moreover a common term of high praise, applied to a chief, a director, etc. or indeed any one specially fitted to become a leader of some kind.

Bowie-knife. A short knife, with a broad blade sharp at the point, and so named after its inventor Col. James Bowie, a famous frontier-man of the South, living in the first half of the century.

Bowie-knife (to). To stab with that weapon.

Bowman. An antiquated term applied, in Virginia, among army men, to a body-servant.

Perhaps one of the oldest relics of pre-colony days now extant in the New World.

Bowman's root (Gillenia trifoliata). A medicinal plant, which is a species of ipecacuanha. Also called Indian physic.

Box. (1) A boat used for duck-shooting. See battery.

(2) In North Carolina, an incision made in trees, so as to hold a quantity of the sap exuding into it.

BOX (to). In Xorth Carolina, to make a bowl-like incision in gum-bearing or resinous trees for the purpose of collecting the exuding sap.

Box-ear. (1) A closed freight-car.

(2) In tramway parlance, a closed car, to distinguish it from an

opened one.

/

Box-elder (Negundium americanum). The tree also known as the ash- leaved-maple.

Box-turtle. A species of tortoise distinguished by an under shell arranged in two or three sections, which fact gives it the power, when alarmed, of rolling itself up, appearing as if enclosed in a box.

Boy. (1) A term used in the South, before the Civil War, to designate any colored man-servant without regard to age, a fact due, after all, to the same tendency which in French calls the waiter " gar9on."

(2) In the plural form, often used to designate the political hangers-on of a candidate or party, who expect for their remuneration sundry

72

BOY— BRA

minor offices or even only free drinks. Heelers has much the same meaning but is rather derogatory by implication.

Boys in blue. (1) The soldiers of the North, during the Civil War, from their blue uniforms.

(2) The official title, since the Civil War, of sundry half-military organizations, in many of which negroes predominate.

Brace. To get credit by swagger.

To brace it through, to succeed by dint of sheer impudence.

Brace game. A swindling operation.

Brace up. (1) To pull oneself together, to get to business.

(2) To take a drink. In English slang, signifies to pledge stolen goods.

Braekwater. Along the coast of New Jersey, said of the salt water of bays or rivers, near shore, modified by flow of fresh water.

Braes. A New Jerseyism for bark partially charred that slips from the wood in a charcoal pit. See brands.

Bragfuero, brah-ger'-o (Sp.). In Texas, a name applied to the girth nearer the hip, when two are used, the one nearer the shoulder being the cincha proper. See cincha.

In Spain, braguero is said of a truss, a bandage, or the breeching rope of a gun, to check the recoil.

Braid. Instead of beating the eggs, the women in New England often say braiding the eggs or cutting them.

Brainy. (1) Possessing or manifesting brain-power. Clearheaded, cou- rageous.

(2) In newspaper parlance, .a brainy journal is not, as might be sup- posed, one characterized by deep thought or research, but rather one who has become renowned for its " imaginative and airy nothings."

(3) Mental restlessness. " The Americans are a brainy people."

Brake. In parts of Connecticut, said of fern of any kind.

Brakes (to put On the). Adapted from railroad use, and meaning to act prudently, to go slow.

Branch (Old Eng.). Used in the Southern and some of the Western States for any stream or brook that is not a river or a bayou.

This word in defined in Bailey's Dictionary with same meaning, and has been also used in the same sense by sir Walter Raleigh.

In New England, only brooks are known, while in other States it is the run and the creek that prevail.

BRA— BRA 73

Branch Water. A Southern expression for stream-water, as distin- guished from well-water. ,

Brand. A mark of proprietorship placed upon cattle, especially in the Western ranches. Brands are placed usually on the hip, shoulder and side, or on any one of them, and comprise letters, numbers and figures, in every combination.

Brand-book. A register of the multitudinous marks used in branding cattle.

Brand-bunch. A small herd of cattle.

Brand-reader. An inspector appointed to examine cattle marks, in order to see whether they have been tampered with.

Brands. A New Jerseyism for imperfectly burned and charred wood in a charcoal pit. See braes.

Brandy Smash. A well known drink, of which brandy, mixed up with crushed, ice, is the chief component.

Brasero, bras-ser'-o (Sp.). A current word, in Southern Texas, for a pan, mostly made of copper or brass, to hold lighted charcoal.

Brash. (1) In New England and New York, used in sense of brittle, as applied to wood and vegetables. Also said of frangible ice, i. e. ice which' has become brittle and pulverized.

This word is no doubt a relic of the English provincialism of same name, still used in parts of England for broken twigs.

(2) Harsh, impertinent, probably from former meaning of hasty, impe- tuous, as quoted by Grose.

(3) Sickly, in poor health.

(4) In Southern New Jersey and Pennsylvania, used as a substantive in sense of a sudden sickness, with acid rising taste in the mouth. In that sense, still provincial on border of England and Scotland.

Also called water-brash.

Brashy. In Southern New Jersey and Pennsylvania, ill or indisposed. Still provincial on border of England and Scotland.

Brass City. The city of Waterbury, Connecticut, from its extensive brass manufactures.

Brasseur (Fr. C.). A species of seal (Phoca greenlandica) found in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Brave (Fr. ). A romantic term borrowed from the French, and meaning a fighting-man, a warrior, among the Indians. The word was first used by Father Hennepin, in a written document, and Indian warriors are

74 BRA— BRE

still always now-a-days officially described as braves in the military reports from the Western plains.

Bravely. Still used in the United States, as of old in England, for very well, excellently. " The work on the big New York subway is going on bravely."

Bravo (Sp.). In Texas, bold, impetuous, in speaking of a stream, and then synonym with " grande, " as Rio bravo del Norte.

When speaking of Indians, bravo means wild, roaming, uncivilized.

Breachy. In New England, said of unruly oxen, especially those breaking down fences.

Still provincial in South of England.

Bread-POOt (Psoralea esculenta). A farinaceous root found in the Rocky Mountains region, and possessing a sweet, and highly nutritious white pulp.

Breadstuff. A term designating all the cereals which can be converted into bread. Also, the bread itself.

The plural breadstuffs is now more generally used.

Break. (1) In Virginia, and other tobacco-raising States, the opening of the hogsheads of tobacco, previous to a public sale. Also, the sale itself.

(2) A Wall street term for a sudden decline in the value of stocks. See bad break.

(3) A rough, irregular piece of ground. (Neb.)

Break (to). To open the hogsheads of tobacco, previous to a public sale.

Break back. A term applied to a peculiar roof, the rear portion of which is extended beyond the line of the opposite side, and at a different angle. Such additions are very common in the country, where they are used for wash-rooms or storehouses.

Break (bad). A slang term meaning a serious mistake, or even a collapse in some business venture.

Break (to make a). To make a rush for. Probably a mere modification of the same word in billiard phraseology.

Break (to) One's back. To be crushed, defeated ; to become bankrupt. A Californianism which has spread over the whole Union and the Mother Country.

Breakbone. A species of malarial fever, peculiar to some swampy localities in the South, and so called from the extreme pain in the bones which the patients suffer.

Also known under the Spanish name of dengue.

Breakdown. (1) A noisy dance, generally identified with negro song and dance performers.

BRE— BRI 7&

In England, any dance deemed violent enough to break down the floor.

(2) A failure in any attempt or business venture.

Breaker. In parts of Pennsylvania, a name applied to a ridge of earth in hilly part of a country road, to throw surface water into side ditches. Other names are cradle, thank-y oil-ma'am, water-butt.

Breakish, Breaky. A colloquialism for frail, brittle.

Bream (Pomotis vulgaris). A fresh-water fish, of the perch variety, very glittering and beautiful.

Also called pumpkin-seed more habitually punkin-seed, from the curious spots on its sides, and sun-fish, trom its showy and glittering colors.

BreastneF. In Newfoundland and the Canadian Maritime provinces, a word often applied to a stick of wood for fuel. Cf. billet, burn, turn.

Breed. In the West, said of a half or quarter breed Indian.

Breezy. Noisy and boisterous, when used of persons. Probably a sea term.

Bretsel (Ger. bretzeln). German twisted bread. Also, pretzel.

Brewis. A New-England dish made of crusts of rye and Indian bread, with milk and molasses.

In England, a pottage of bread with broth poured over it. BriagfO, bre-ah'-go (Sp. embriagado). Often heard, in Texas, for a drunkard.

Brickie (Old Eng. }. Still common in the South, among settlers of English lineage, for frail, brittle.

The form brickly is also used.

Brief. (1) In Virginia and the South, often heard of rife, common, pre- valent, in speaking of epidemic diseases, and in that sense probably only a corruption of rife. "I hear smallpox is very brief there."

(2) Peart, frisky. " The wind is sort of brief." (South.)

Still provincial in England.

Bpiggle. To work clumsily or ineffectively. (Western Pa.)

Bright. Intelligent, quick, in sense of clear-headed, quick-witted.

Bright means here what, in England, would be called "clever," but this latter word, in the United States, denotes amiability and courtesy.

Bring. Takes in the United States almost altogether the place of the English " to fetch."

Bring on. To produce, to show.

76 BBI— BRO

Bring1 up. A steamboat term used in sense of "to stop."

Broadbill (Fulix marila). A species of wild duck frequenting the Eastern shores in the fall of the year.

Also called black head (Chesapeake bay), and Raftduch (Virginia).

BPOad hOPn. A name formerly applied, in the Mississipi region, to aflat boat of very old-fashioned rig, and used for transporting produce, etc. Also simply fiat-boat.

Broady. Among American thieves, the name given to material of any kind worth stealing.

In English cant, broady, itself a corruption of broad-cloth, is only applied to cloth.

BrogTies (Dutch broek}. An old word, now nearly obsolete, and formerly in use for " breeches."

Broke. Ruined, bankrupt, out of money.

" All broke up," i. e. either miserable, or in hard luck financially.

Broncho, BPOnCO (Sp.). In the South-West, an unbroken mustang, and by extension any native pony, even after being broken.

The Spanish signification of the name is "rough and crabbed little beast," and the term is also familiarly applied to any horses that buck and show other signs of vice.

See cayuse and mustang.

Broncho-buster. One who makes a profession of breaking-in bronchos. Also called & flash-rider.

Bronze John. A Texas name for yellow fever.

Broom Corn (Sorghum saccharatum). A variety of maize, whose top and dried seedstalks are largely used for brooms.

Broom-Sage. A tall, stiff jointed grass, common on the abandoned fields of Virginia and N. Carolina.

Brother Jonathan. The cognomen of a citizen of the United States, as John Bull is the designation of an Englishman. Said to be derived from Jonathan Trumbull, to whom Washington was often wont to apply for advice, saying : •' We must consult Brother Jonathan." The phrase soon became familiar, and ultimately passed into a bye- word.

BrotUS (pron. brought us). A superfluity, a heaped measure, i. e. something given in as make-weight. Almost exclusively confined to Charleston, S. C., and the exact equivalent of the New-Orleans layniappe.

Brought on. Said of clothes not home made. " Your clothes are brought on, I see." (Tennessee mountains.)

BRO— BUG 77

BrOW. Logs piled on the steep bank of a stream, ready to be rolled in when the spring freshet comes. (Nfld. N. B. and N. S.)

Brown bread. A bread much used in New England, and made of a mixture of two parts of corn-meal, with one part of rye-meal. In other States, known as Boston brown bread.

BPOWn Stone. A dark variety of red sandstone which, although a very perishable material, is highly esteemed in New York city in the building of fashionable quarters. Hence, " living in a brown stone house " is apt to be looked upon as a sign of gentility.

Brown thrasher (Turdus rufus). The popular name of the brown thrush, one of the best known American song-birds. Also called ground or mountain mocking-bird.. In Maryland, French mocking-bird.

Brush. (1) The undergrowth of a forest ; also branches of trees. A con- traction of brushwood.

(2) In Maryland, brush is whatever wood cannot be cut into cord wood.

In England, the term brushwood is exclusively confined to under- growth.

(3) A well-known Californian plowing implement.

Brush (to). To humbug by flattery.

Brushing up a flat. The slang equiv. of "laying it on thick," i. e. using mealy-mouthed words.

Brushed (to be). To be covered with brush (brushwood). Brusher. A cant word for a full glass.

Bubbler (Aplodinotus grunniens). The fresh water drumfish of the Ohio river, so called from its peculiar bubbling noise.

Buccaneer. A term now obsolete, applied to a long musket, by the early settlers of New England.

Buck. (1) A frame of peculiar construction, on which wood is sawed for fuel. Also called saw-buck and wood-horse. (N. J. and Pa. ) See saw-horse.

(2) A New- Jeraeyism for a fop, a flash swell. Used contemptuously.

(3) A slang term applied to a driver of a public cab.

(4) In the West, an adult male Indian or negro. Probably from the general meaning of buck as a slang term for strong or lusty. " A big buck nigger."

Buck (to). (1) To saw wood for fuel. " To buck one's wood."

(2) In speaking of horses, in the West, " to buck " is plunging forward and throwing the head to the ground, in an effort to unseat the rider.

78 BUG— BUG

(3) An equivalent of "to butt," in sense of to strike with head or horns.

(4) In slang of some colleges, to haze.

(5) Said of swinging a boy against a tree. (Kentucky.)

(6) To buck the tiger, to play against the bank at faro.

Buck ague, Buck fever. A hunter's and trapper's term for the trepidation which seizes young and inexperienced sportsmen, when in the presence of deer or other large game.

BuckbeeF (Ger. bock). The strongest beer made by the Germans, in the United States.

Buekboard. (1) A light, four-wheeled vehicle in which a long elastic board or frame is used in place of body springs and gear. Also, Luck wagon.

Buck-darting. Along the coast of New Jersey, said of a /igzag method of sailing employed on tide- water creeks.

Bucker. In political parlance, a refractory voter, one who refuses to follow the lead of his party. The significance of the term is obvious, when compared with the verb " to buck."

Bucket. A general term, in South and West, especially Kentucky, applied to all kinds of pails and cans holding over a gallon.

Bucket-Shop. (1) A petty stock gambling den, carried on in opposition to regular exchange business. (2) A low groggery.

Buckey. The name of the " alewife" in Western Connecticut.

Buckeye. (1) A beautiful variety of horse-chestnut (^sculus glabra), which used to be specially abundant in the valleys of Ohio. The tree was so called on account of the resemblance which its dark-brown nut bears to a buck's eye, when the shell first cracks and exposes it to sight.

(2) A nickname for a native of the State of Ohio.

Buckeyes are very proud of the connection with their native State- Hence, the adjective "buckeye" often used in that region to signify excellence of quality.

Buckeye State. The State of Ohio, so called from the buckeye tree (horse-chestnut), which formerly abounded in that region.

Buck fly. An insect pest of the West, which, at certain seasons, becomes very troublesome to deer.

Bucking iron. A miner's term for a small flat iron tool, used in " bucking " or breaking up ores.

Buckle. The bend of the knees. (New Eng.)

BUG— BUF 79

Buckle (to). To bend. Used of ice under one's weight. (New Eng.) Buckle in (to). To close in ; embrace or seize the body, as in a scuffle.

Buck-party. A party composed entirely of men. See hen-party, stag-party.

Buekra. A negro term, in the Southern States, fer a white man. Also used adjectively in the sense of superior, excellent, the term swanga buckra standing for an elegantly dressed white man or dandy.

In the Calabar language of Africa, buckra means the devil, in the sense of a spirit or powerful being, and the early application of the term to white men probably comes from its having been at once closely identified, by the natives, with the slavers carrying on their nefarious traffic on the Calabar coast.

Buck-saw. The saw used with a saw-buck.

Buckshot War. The electoral riots of 1838, in Pennsylvania, so called from the suppressing forces having been supplied with cartridges of the buckshot stamp.

Buckskins. (1) The American troops were so designated during the Revolutionary War, from their dressed deer or "buckskin " garments.

Analogous to Boys in Blue, Blue Bellies.

(2) A name formerly given to inhabitants of Virginia, a State settled by hunters, who traded in deer skins.

Bucksome (Old Eng.). Racy, with life and vigor and originality. So used by Milton.

BucktailS. A term applied to a political faction, which sprung in New York about 1815, in opposition to the administration of Governor De Witt Clinton. Its members were so designated from their having adopted, as insignias, ' ' bucktails " worn in their hats.

Budge. (1 Used in N^w England, and as far south as New Jersey, for intimate, familiar. " She and your sister are quite budge."

(2) An accomplice who gains access to a building during the day, for the purpose of being locked in, so as to admit his fellow thieve» during the night.

Buffalo. (1) The most gigantic of the indigenous mammalia of America, once so abundant in our Western prairies, but now nearly extinct. Also called biaon.

(2) A sleigh-robe, made of a buffalo skin. Also, buffalo-robe.

(3) A sort of fresh- water fish of the sucker species, found in the Missis- sipi and other Southern rivers.

(4) Occasionally, during the Civil War, the pilfering " bummer," on the flanks of the army, was called a buffalo.

80 BUF— BUG

(5) A name given by their opponents to those members of the Equal Rights party who in 1836 accepted the overtures of the regular Demo- cratic organization toward a coalition.

(6) A nickname given to the dwellers on the coast of North Carolina.

Buffalo-berry (Sheperdia argentea). A plant of the upper Missouri, growing in thickets, and producing scarlet berries much relished by the Indians. So called from its being mostly found on the plains once fre- quented by the buffalo.

Buffalo-bush. A shrub growing near Humboldt river, Utah, the fruit of which is called the bull-berry.

Buffalo-Chips. The dry dung of the buffalo, used for fuel. Also called bodewash.

Buffalo-elder. A liquid found in the stomach of the buffalo, and for which many a hunter has felt thankful when far removed from water.

Buffalo-Clover (Trifolium reflexum). The Western species of clover, of which the buffalo was formerly believed to be particularly fond.

BuffalO-eoW. A common expression, among colored people of Virginia, for a cow without horns, because its head somewhat resembles that of the female buffalo, whose horns are very short. See mooley cow.

Buffalo-gnat. A small, black, and poisonous insect pest, common on the prairies of the West, and infinitely more dreaded than the mosquito.

Buffalo-gPaSS (Sesteria dactyloides). A species of short grass covering the immense prairies of the West, where formerly the buffalo was roam- ing at large.

Buffalo-nut (Pyrularia oleifera). The oil nut of the West.

BuffalO-WallOW. A sink or marshy place in the prairies, caused by heavy rains, and in which the buffalo was wont formerly to take especial delight in rolling and rubbing himself.

Buffalo-WOlf. A lean and gaunt animal of the wolf kind, as tall as an ordinary greyhound, and which is of an exceedingly cowardly disposition.

Bug. A generic term, in America, for all coleopterous insects, with the exception of the " Cimex," always called in full bed-bug.

In England, the word bug is restricted to the species found in bedding, all coleopterous insects being there called " beetles. " Indeed, the term has now-a-days, in England, so limited an application, that, when a recent edition of the works of Edgar Allan Poe was put in London, the editor altered the title of one story, the " Golden Bug, " to the " Golden Beetle," in order not to give offense to " ears polite. " The English

BUG— BUL

81

writers who are apt to amuse themselves at the American habit of calling their beetles bugs, should not however lose sight of the fact that the word comes in direct line from their ancestors, as witness the fol- lowing in one of Bacon's Letters : " A bug hath buzzed it in mine ears."

Also, the verse in Pope :

" Let me flap this bug with gilded wings. "

See bed-bug, hoodlebug, hornbug, lightning bug, peabug, pinchbug, potato bug.

Bug-eaters. A term applied derisively to inhabitants of Nebraska, on account of the poverty-stricken appearance of many parts of the State. Indeed, so they say, if one living there were to refuse to eat bugs, he would, like Polonius, soon be " not where he eats, but where he is eaten. "

Buggy. (1) A light, one-horse, four wheeled vehicle, usually with one seat.

In England, a two wheeled vehicle.

(2) An adjective, meaning eaten with worms, as of dry-rotted wood.

Bug" juice. A term formerly applied to the Schlechter whiskey of the Pennsylvania Dutch, a very inferior spirit. Now extended to bad whiskeys of all kinds. Also, bug-poison.

Bugleweed (Lycopus virginicus). A medicinal plant, which is especially a favorite for affections of the chest. Also called Virginia water-horehound.

Bug OUt. To extend, or expand ; idiomatically, to be filled with astonish- ment. " His eyes bugged out, and he was interested. "

Build. Whilst in England to build is rarely, if ever, used outside its natural meaning of masonry, except for wheeled vehicles and vessels, the tendency in America is to extend the word in all ways imaginable. Thus, not only do we build embankments, tunnels, and even telegraph cables, but a merchant builds up his fortune, and a professional man his reputation. Nay, tailors often use also the word for making clothes, and will speak of " building you a nice pair of pants. "

The expression is even extended to individuals, being used in the meaning of formed. " I was not built that way, " expressing thereby one's unwillingness to adopt a specified course. Also, to build up.

Bulger. Western for anything uncommonly large, a whopper. "A bulger of a story, a bulger of a town. " Not unknown in England.

Bulkhead. Outside entrance to a cellar, with a sloping door. (New Eng.)

6

82

BUL— BUL

Bull. (1) A general prefix, in America, for large, immense.

(2) A cant word for a locomotive. Also sometimes lengthened into bidlgine.

(3) In college slang, an error, a mistake of any kind.

Bull (to). In college slang, to recite badly, to make a poor recitation. From the substantive bull, meaning a mistake or blunder of any kind.

Bull-bat (Caprimulgus americanus). The vulgar name of the large bat or night-hawk.

Also called chuck-will 's-widow, and whip-poor-will.

Bull-boat. A term applied, in the Far West, to an ox-hide boat, once commonly used for crossing rivers.

Bull-brier (genus Smilax). A large brier growing to a large size in the rich alluvial bottoms of the South-West, and whose root contains a farinaceous substance much esteemed by the Indians.

Bamboo-brier is another name, from the plant often attaining the size of a bamboo.

Bulldose. A flogging, a cowhiding, the cow's hide standing for the bull's hide.

The derivation is almost literal : a " bull dose," a flogging with a strip of hide.

Bulldose (to). To intimidate by violent and unlawful means, especially in politics. To overawe, to terrify, to silence by threats.

Also spelled bulldoze.

A term of Southern political origin, originally referring to an associa- tion of negroes whose enthusiasm on the suffrage question led them to use coercitive measures in converting their brethren to the Republican faith.

Bull-frog1 (Rana catesbiana). A large species of frog, with a deep, harsh croak, at times so potent that it resembles the low roar of a bellowing bull

In New England, bull-paddock is a popular synonym for bull-frog.

Also, bull-paddy.

See bull-tucker.

Bull-head (genus Pimelodus). One of the most common fish of the United States, usually dark in color, so called from its thick head with long feelers. Also called cat, cat-fifth, catty, horned pout.

Another species is known as mud-pout, from its preference for the mud of rivers and creeks, and, irreverently, from its black color perhaps, as minister.

Bull-headed. Clumsy and strong.

BUL— BUM 83

Bullion State. A nickname applied to the State of Missouri, from one of its senators, colonel Thomas H. Benton, having been himself nick- named " Old Bullion " on account of his exertions in favor of gold and silver currency, at the time when the question of paper versus gold and silver currency was to the front.

. A large, powerfully-built negro. Cf. buck-nigger.

Bull nose. A useless hard clam. . (Cape May Co. N. J. )

Bull nut (Carya tomentosa). A large kind of hickory nut of the Southern States.

Bull plough. A large wooden plough used with oxen.

Bullrag. To tease, to domineer over. (N. J.) Also, to bullyrag.

Bull-tailing. A cowboy's term, on the Western prairies, and meaning, when chasing bulls, to seize them by the tails and turn them somersaults.

Bull-tuekeP. A current word for a frog, among Philadelphia boys. Bull- Whack. A heavy whip used in the South- West, for driving cattle.

Bull-whackeP. One who drives cattle with a bull-whack, and by extension a cowboy, or cattle-herder.

Bully. (1) A weapon formed by tying a stone or a piece of lead in a handkerchief.

(2) A sail-boat with two masts, used for fishing and carrying small cargoes. (Nfld.)

(3) A current word used adjectively in sense of excellent, fine, capital, with a connotation of strenght or efficiency.

Bully j or you, Avell done ! bravo !

Bully has now in England usually a disagreeable meaning, but Shakes- peare uses it once or twice as a term of endearment : " What says my bully rock?" (Merry Wives of Windsor) ; and it is probably the same word as the old Scotch " billie" or " billy, " a term, as Jamieson says, expressive of affection and familiarity.

Bum. (1) In college slang : 1. A spree. 2. An unpretentious spread. 3. A frolic. Also used adjectively for bad, very poor. (2) A bummer (q. v. ).

Bum (to). A verb much in vogue, during the War of Secession, in sense of to pilfer, to loot.

Bum (on a). A slang expression meaning "on a drunk."

Bumberell. A slang word for an umbrella. Also, bumbershoot.

84

BUM— BUN

Bum-boat. Besides the English meaning of a shore boat supplying sailors with provisions, this word is also applied, in the United States, to a floating drink-shop or resort for toughs.

Bummer (Ger. bummler, idler). (1) A loafer, tramp, or vagabond. An idle, worthless fellow, without any visible means of support. Also used as a general term of reproach, in the same way as rascal, blackleg, etc. are used in England.

(2) During the war of Secession, the bummer was the usual army pest or follower, whose principal occupation was pilfering and looting ; and since the war the term has been extended to designate one who, having been formerly in the Quartermaster's or Commissary Department, now exclusively " supports " himself by lobbying.

Bummerlsm. Character of a bummer ; bummers collectively regarded. Habits of loafing and petty stealing.

BumpeP- In railway phraseology, what in England is known as a "buffer, " ana perhaps also the more appropriate term of the two.

Bun. A term frequently applied, in the United States, to the squirrel, and recalling the old English ' ' bunn, " the familiar name of the rabbit in Halliwell's Dictionary.

Bunch. (1) A mining term for an irregular mass of ore. (2) A group. "A bunch of buffaloes."

Bunch (to.). To collect, to bring together, to corral. " The speaker bunched his lips ; the herds were bunched together, etc.

Bunch-grass. A species of " festuca, " offering excellent feed for stock, and growing on the bleak mountain-sides of Nevada and neighboring territories.

BunCO (to. ). To rob, cheat, or swindle by means allied to what is called in England the confidence trick. Also, to bunko.

Bunco-Case, Bunco-game. The action of practicing the confidence- trick, a swindle generally effected by inducing a greenhorn to play cards.

Bunco-man, Buneo-SteereP. A swindler who practices the bunco-game.

Buncombe, Bunkum. Empty talk, pointless speech making, from the well-known answer of a member of Congress, from North Carolina, who, when asked why he persisted in delivering a long harangue when the members were all leaving the House to avoid it, replied : " Never mind; I'm talking to Buncombe ! " — that being the county in which he lived. Buncombe was first applied to speeches made in Congress for the mere purpose of being published and sent home to gratify constituents, but it

BUN— BUR 85

is now current all over the country to denote especially any hypocritical enthusiasm in speechifying, what is commonly called flap-doodle, gas, or bosh. Also sometimes used as an adjective. " A buncombe proclamation."

Our people talk a great deal of noneence about emancipation, but they know it's all buncombe.

(Sam Slick, in Human Nature.)

Bundle (to.)- A term designating a custom, formerly practiced in New England, of men and women sleeping on the same bed with all their clothes on, when there was not house-room to provide better accom- modation.

Stopping occasionally in the villages to eat pumpkin pies, dance at country frolics, and hurdle with the Yankee lasses. (Irving, Knickerbocker History of New York.)

The same practice is mentioned by Wright as having been customary in Wales.

BungO. A Southern name for a species of small boat.

Bung-Starter. A word said to be common, among the bartenders of the saloons of New York and vicinity, to designate an implement kept behind bars to help expelling the roughs and toughs.

BunglOWn COppePS. A term once applied to counterfeit English half- pence, which were in circulation in N. Y. State in 1785-86, and after- wards extended to mean all spurious copper coins.

Bungtown is from the slang-term " to bung," meaning to lie or de- ceive.

Bunk. A contrivance on lumbermen's sleds, to sustain the end of heavy pieces of timber.

Bunk (to). (1) To retire to rest, to retire to bed — from " bunk," a berth or bed on board ship.

(2) Among lumbermen, to so arrange lumber for inspection that a false impression is conveyed as to the cubic contents of any given pile or stack.

Bunker (Alosa menhaden). An abbreviation for mostbvnker, a species of fish of the herring kind, abounding in the waters of New England, and as far south as Chesapeake bay. See bony fish.

Bunty. . (1) Short and stumpy, as in the case of an individual who is short of stature. (Ont. ) (2) A tailless fowl. (Pa.)

Burden. In parts of New England, sometimes used for crop. " A good burden of grass."

BUR— BUS

Bureau (Fr. ). A term commonly applied to an office, in the language of officialdom. " The Pension Bureau, the Bureau of Education, etc." The French form bureaux is also used for the plural.

BureaUGPate (Fr. C.). A contemptuous term applied by the French Canadians, during the rebellion of 1837-38, to their countrymen who kept aloof from the insurrectionary movement.

Burgall (Ctenolabrus cceruleus). A New York name for the cunner or blue perch, a small fish very abundant on the Atlantic coast, from New England to Delaware bay.

Other names are choyset (Indian name), and nibbler.

BUPgfOO- A feast akin to a barbecue, among hunters and fishermen in the South and South-West, fish, flesh and fowl being compounded into a vast stew. When the burgoo has a political character, speeches are made after the partaking of the meal.

Burgoo is apparently a variant of ' ' burgood . "

Bum. (1) A clearing in the woods made by burning the trees. Cf. brule.

(2) A stick of wood for fuel. (Nfld. N. B. and N. S. ) See billet, breastner, turn..

BUPPites. A term applied to an independent and short-lived political party, organized and led by Aaron Burr in 1797.

BUPPO, boor'-ro (Sp.). An ass, donkey, and esp. the Mexican jackass, used as a pack-wood carrier. Also, a saw-horse. (Texas and S. W.) Another name is cuddy.

BUPP Oak (Quercus macrocarpa). A beautiful oak tree, laden with dark green foliage, and which abounds in the Middle and Western States. Also called overcup white oak, from the peculiar form of its acorn.

BuPPOWingf OWl (Pholeoptynx cunicularia). A species of day owl, so called from its frequenting the forsaken burrows, in the "villages" of the prairie-dog.

Bupyingf. Often used as a noun, in sense of funeral.

Bupy the hatchet. A very picturesque phrase, borrowed from the

famous Indian ceremony of making the burying of the war-hatchet the

symbol of a compact of peace. Now applied to affairs of every day life,

in sense of putting away all strife or enmity, ending a feud or difficulty.

Similarly, to dig up the hatchet, to declare war, to open hostilities.

Bush. A land covered with rank shrubbery. The primeval or virgin forest land. A thicket of trees. Uncultivated land covered with trees and undergrowth.

In England, the term more especially applies to a single shrub or thicket.

BUS— BUS 87

Bush-beans (Phaseolus vulgaris). A common name for beans that do not climb, i. e. string-beans. Also called snap-beans, or simply snaps. In England, called kidney-beans and French beans.

Bushed. Whipped, tired out, as in the case of one^who gives up work from fatigue. " She was completely bushed."

Bush-meeting1. A gathering in the woods, for religious purposes, and differing from the camp-meetiny in the fact of lasting only one day. Bush- meetings are at present mostly done away with, except among the negroes of the South, the occasion serving also as an excuse for a frolic.

Bushwhacker. (1) One accustomed to beat about through bushes. Also, sometimes, and by extension, a raw country-man.

(2) During the Civil War, the term lost its harmless meaning, having then served to designate a deserting soldier, or an unauthorized raider, from their habit of taking to the bush, to escape justice. A sort of irre- gular cavalry, analogous to the " Jayhawkers " (q v.), especially made the name of Bushwhackers famous at that time.

(3) A scythe or other instrument used for cutting brush or bushes.

(4) In politics, as in war, simply a " free-lance."

Bushwhacking. (1) Travelling through bushes, by beating them down with a scythe or a cudgel. Also propelling a boat, by pulling the bushes on the edges of the stream.

(2) Fighting in guerilla style, much in vogue at the South during the Civil War.

Bussy. A sweetheart. (Tennessee mountains. )

Bust. (1) A failure in business, being the vulgar pronunciation of " burst."

(2) In college slang, a failure in examination.

(3) A frolic, generally accompanied by boisterous drunkenness. The figure is, of course, taken from the idea of enjoying a thing to bursting " To be on a,' bust," to indulge in a drinking bout, accompanied by free and easy practices of all kinds.

The term bust is sometimes varied with buster, which, besides apply- ing to a spree, is also extended to mean any astonishing thing, person, or event, i. e. anything so large or unusual as to look like bursting.

Now common in England, but of California!! origin.

Bust (to). (1) To burst, and especially to fail in business. (2) In college slang, to fail in recitation or examination.

Bust-head. A Western term for common whiskey, literally " burst- head."

It may be interesting to note here how rich is the Western vernacular in terms for bad whiskey, the idea enshrined being mostly always brutal

88

BUT— BUT

in its plain, outspoken cynicism. Of such terms are bald-face, railroad, forty -rod-lightning, stagger-juice, stone-fence, tingle-foot, turpentine.

Mostly all those terms are especially figurative of the rapidity with which bad whiskey hurries men to the end of this life's journey.

Butcher. In newspaper jargon, a term applied to the copy-reader, who uses mercilessly the blue-pencil in cutting short reporters' stories. Also called cutter.

Butcher-bird. (Lanius septentrionalis). A small bird of the shrike kind (Collyris), almost songless, and of a dull slate color, which, in Canada and the Eastern States, is often confounded with the ' ' mocking-bird ' (Mimus polyglottus).

Also known under the popular appellation of nine-killer, from the prevailing notion that the number of grasshoppers, which he impales and hangs up as a butcher does his meat, never exceeds the number of nine every day.

Bute. An abbreviation standing for beauty. " He's a bute."

Butt. Used in the West, as a contracted form of buttock. " I fell on my butt."

Provincial in West of England for a buttock of beef only.

Butt (to). To oppose. (S. W.)

Butte (Fr.). A detached hill or knob rising abruptly in the prairies of the Far West, and reaching somewhat higher than the ordinary hill or ridge, although never to such an elevation as would entitle it to be called a mountain.

The buttes of the Rocky Mountains and Oregon are extremely pictu- resque as landmarks, a notably conspicuous one being the Butte au Chien, in the vicinity of the Red River.

Butte (to). A verb used in California in sense of " to chop off with a dull axe," and, in the North West, for laying out or recognizing an established logging-camp.

Butter. Fruit preserved by stewing down to a butter-like consistency. (Pa.)

Butter-bread. Spread bread and butter. (Pa.)

Butter fingered. Said of a person whose powers of retaining an article in his grasp are not great. (N. J. )

Butter-flsh (Stromateus triacanthus). A common slimy fish, so called from its slime which makes it very difficult to handle.

Butterfly. A common name erroneously applied, in the United States, to the night-flying moths.

BUT— BY 89

In England, the usual name is moth. See moth.

Butternut. The fruit of a tree (Juglans cinerea), so called from the oil it contains. Also called oil nut. See long walnut, white walnut.

Butternuts. (1) A term applied, during the Civil War, to the Confe- derate soldiers, from the color of their clothes, which, being home-spun, were dyed brown with the juice of the butternut.

(2) A popular name, in parts of the West and South, for overalls of the common butternut brown.

Button-bush (Cephalanthus occidentalis). A shrub growing in low- lying, swampy districts, and abounding in almost every part of the United States. So called from its globular flowers appearing at a distance like the balls, or buttons, of the sycamore tree. Also called Butter-bush, which is a corruption of the above.

Buttoningf-up. A Wall street phrase, referring to the action of brokers who, having bought stock on speculation, find it cast upon their hands, and who, for any reason, prefer to keep the matter to themselves.

ButtonwOOd (Platanus occidentalis). A New-England term for the sycamore-tree, so called from the curious ball-shaped seed vessels hanging on its branches in winter by long slender threads, and which do not drop till the following spring. Also called button tree.

Buzzard. (1) A half-facetious, half-contemptuous term applied, in several mechanical professions, to a badly-spoiled piece of work.

(2) The silver dollar, so called derisively from the buzzard-like eagle on the coin.

Also, buzzard dollar.

(3) A name applied to a vulture instead of to a hawk.

Buzzards. A nickname of the inhabitants of Georgia, from a very strict law enacted in that State for the protection of the buzzards, as they act in the capacity of scavengers.

Buzzer. A slang term for a pickpocket.

Buzzing. (1) Confidential talk.

(2) Searching or looking for. " What are you buzzing ? "

Buzz-saw. A very characteristic and picturesque expression for a circular saw.

By. (1) Used for "to" or "into." "Come by my house and stay all night." (Ga. and Fla.)

(2) Used for "of." "I met a man by the name of Smith."

90

BY— CAB

By and again. A Southern adverbial phrase meaning occasionally, no and then.

By and large- On the whole, speaking generally.

To take it by and large is a slang phrase, equivalent to taking it all round, or after due thought.

By-biddeP. An auctioneer's decoy who, by spurious bidding, runs up prices.

By SUn. Before sunset. (Ga. )

Byo. A cradle. Used in speaking to a child. Perhaps from by-lo, as in by-lo-land. (S. E. Pa.)

Caballad, generally pronounced "cavy-yard" by Americans (Sp. cibal- lada). A bunch, or drove of horses or mules, carrying merchandise. (Texas and S. W.)

Also, cavallad, cavallard.

Cabbage. / don't boil my cabbage twice, a very common expression in the country towns of Pennsylvania, and signifying that the person uttering it does not intend to repeat an observation. Allusion to the cabbage which when boiled a second time, is not always palatable.

Cabbage (to). To appropriate surreptitiously; to steal, in sense of theft of any kind.

In England, " to cabbage " is confined to tailor's slang, and means the purloining of pieces of cloth by dishonest workmen.

Cabbage-tree (Palma altissima). A well known palm-tree of Florida, from the pith of which sago is manufactured, and whose long straight stems are used as water-pipes.

" Cabbage-tree " is also a generic name, in Florida, for all palms bearing an excellent shoot.

Also called cabbage-palm or palm -cabbage.

CabestPO, kah-bes'-tro (Sp.). A kind of lasso made of hair, and used for catching horses and cattle. (S. W.)

The cabestro is also employed for fastening animals to stakes or pegs driven into the ground.

Also, cabero.

Cable, Cablegram. A message by sea cables. Now rapidly passing into general commercial use, wherever the English language is spoken. (2) A popular abbreviation for cable-tramway.

Cable (to.). To send a message by sea cables. Of same coinage as " to wire. "

CAB— GAG 91

CabOOile (the Whole). A pleonastic expression for the whole, the whole lot. Probably an enlarged form of " boodle," used in its primitive sense of bundle, estate, possession, crowd. Thus, in sense of mass or crowd, we find " buddle " so used by Markham as early as 1625.

Caboose, CabOOSe ear. A guard's or conductor's car, at the rear of a freight train.

In England, caboose (Dutch leombuis) is a nautical term for a ship's galley or kitchen, and the " caboose-car," like much of the American terminology connected with modes of land travel, has been borrowed from sea-life.

Equivalent to the guard's van attached to a goods train in England.

Also, simply a cab, by abbreviation.

kah-bray (Fr. ). The French voyageurs' name of the pronyhorn (Antilocapre americana), a species of antelope found on the plains west of the Missouri river. See pronghorn.

Caeaoui, kah-kah-we (Ind. cancanwi). Among the French Canadians, a word designating the long-tailed duck (Harelda glacialis) of the north shore of the St Lawrence, below Quebec. Also,

Cache (Fr. cacher, to hide, to conceal). A word dating back from the old " voyageurs," and meaning a hole dug in the ground, to conceal stores or provisions which it is inconvenient to carry. The term is only heard now in the remotest districts, but is still generally in use in the Canadian North West.

Cache (to). To hide, to conceal stores or provisions in the ground.

Cachupin, kah-tchoo-pin' (Sp.). A native Spaniard settled in America. Used opprobriously. (Texas and S. W.)

Caek. In parts of New England, used playfully of a small child, and generally preceded by the adjective " little." Probably a metaphorical use of the shoemaker's word for an infant's shoe. Also, tacker.

Cacomite (Mex. cacomitl). An edible bulbous root of a species of Tigridia, and from which a good flour is prepared. (Texas. )

Cad. A railway guard or conductor.

In English slang, " cad " is a generic name for omnibus conductors, but the application of the term to railway officials is peculiarly American.

Cagfeot (Fr. cage). A fisherman's term, in the region of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, for a structure used in making cod-liver oil. It is in the form of a sort of inverted cone, built of boards, with perforated bottom, over which the livers of the fish are heaped up.

CAH--CAL

Cahoot- A favorite Western word in the phrase : " The whole cahoot,' i. e. the whole lot of them.

CahOOtS (in). A slang expression meaning, in the South- West and the West, in company with or associated together. From the old English word cahoot, denoting a company or partnership.

Men who live in the same house, those in partnership, or who act in concert, are said to be " in cahoots," just as, politically, the same expression is synonymous of alliance, analogous however, in this case, to a species of jobbery, i. e. an unholy alliance.

CahOOt (to). To act in partnership.

Cain (to Paise). Of Western origin, and meaning originally to raise a disturbance with homicidal intent. While still retaining this meaning, its more general signification is that of being merely disputatious or quarrelsome.

Also, to raise hate.

A sarcastic variant is to raise merry cain.

Cake (to take the). To be the best of a kind, to beat all records, to rank the highest. From the well known cake-walks in vogue among colored people, in which a cake is in the centre of a room, and the contestants promenade around it, the couple putting on most style winning the cake.

Calabacilla, kah-lah-bah-sil'-ya (Sp.). In Texas, a gourd (Cucurbita foetidissima) with round fruit the color of an orange.

Calabash (Sp. calabaza, a gourd). (1) The gourd (Cucurbita lagenaria), and, more generally, a drinking ustensil made from the bottle-shaped shell of that plant.

(2) In a figurative sense, a jeering term applied to a weak-minded individual, that is, an "empty head."

CalabOOSe (Sp. calabozo, dungeon). The common gaol or prison. (S. W. ) CalabOOSe (to). To imprison.

Calash (Fr. caleche). (1) An old-fashioned kind of gig on two wheels, which is still in use in Canada, especially in city of Quebec, and immediate surroundings.

(2) A term applied to that particular ladies' head-gear, formed of hoops, which in England is appropriately called an " ugly. "

Calculate. Often used, especially in New England, in a similar way to the word " guess, " though not to so great an extent, that is, in the sense of to judge, to exerce his judgment, to esteem, to suppose, etc. To expect, to intend.

Calculated. Adapted to, designed for

CAL— GAL . 93

Calculation. Judgment.

Calf -kill (Kalmia angustifolia). An absurd name, given in the North, to a beautiful flowering shrub of the laurel species, from 'the erroneous supposition that its leaves, if eaten by cattle, will prove fatal. Also called lamb-kill, kill-lamb, and sheep-laurel.

CalibOgUS. A mixture of rum and spruce beer, already quoted by Grose, in 1792, as an American beverage.

Calico. (1) A term applied exclusively, in the United States, to printed cotton cloth.

In England, all white and unprinted cotton goods are now called calicoes.

(2) A slang term, especially among students, for a woman, individually as companion to a man, or collectively wherever sex plays a part in social life. By a further figure, the term is even extended to mean a flirtation, or love affair, of a more or less serious nature.

Also used adjectively in sense of pertaining to women students. " A calico course, " a course frequented by women students.

Calico-back (Strepsilas interpres). The brant-bird or turnstone, so called from the variegated plumage of its upper parts.

CalifOPnia-widOW. The equiv. of grass- widow, i. e. a married woman whose husband is away from her for any extended period.

This expression dates from the period of the Calif ornian gold fever, when so many men went West, leaving their wives and families behind them.

Callithump. A factitious word meaning to produce hideous and discor- dant sounds, with tin kettles, bells, rattles, etc.

Callithumpians. A name formerly assumed by students, in remote college towns, when out for a good time, and making all the noise and discord possible. Allusion has been made, for its etymology, to Calliope, one of the nine muses, and to the verb to thump. But we incline, how- ever, to believe that the word must be derived from the two Greek terms kalos, pleasant, and thumov, the soul, the more so because the students engaging in the sport, and who were wont to associate a good deal with the classics, were then of necessity " pleasant souls" or jolly fellows.

From the colleges, the word spread to some cities, and, in Baltimore especially, a famous gang of rowdies once was called the Callithumpian band. The term has now fallen almost entirely into disuse, and only lingers, in some out-of-the-way districts, to mean a "charivari," or burlesque serenade, given on the occasion of an unpopular wedding.

Calumet (Fr. ). An old word sprung into existence through the frequent intercourse between traders and Indians, and meaning, amongst the

94 CAM— CAN

aboriginal tribes, a tobacco-pipe with a long reed and bowl of marble, usually used also as a symbol of peace and war.

Camflre. A vulgar substitute for " camphor, " and not unfrequently found written as it is sounded.

Camote, kah-mo'-tay (Sp. ). In Southern Texas, the sweet potato, o r yam.

Camp. Even though there be but one traveller, a camp is formed, in the Far West, whenever a halt on a journey is decided.

Camp (half faced). A camp so formed that one side is opened for the free passage of the cattle and horses comprised in the train. (S. W.). Also, corral.

Campaign. The period antecedent to an election, during which the candidates take the field. The word is applied alike to a presidential election, or to the canvass of the merest petty official.

Campaign (to). To proceed upon a campaign, to exploit.

Camp down (to). To form a camp. To spend the night in the open air on the plain, or under some sheltering tree. Also, to camp out.

Camphene. A well known oil, used for lighting purposes.

Camp-meetingf. A gathering in the wood or field for religious purposes, the assemblage "camping out " in tents, booths, and other improvised and temporary habitations. In many respects a camp-meeting often partakes of the character of a protracted picnic, the religious exercices being quaintly mixed up with games and amusements of all kinds.

The " camp-meeting " was, primitively, associated with the Metho- dists, but now-a-days other denominations and associations also use the word, as applied to their own meetings. Among the Mormons, however, the term wood-meeting is almost exclusively employed.

Campus. A student's word meaning the college grounds. Also, the athletic field.

Camus-plant. See quamish.

Can. Often incorrectly used for "may," when there is no question of ability. For instance, we could read on our postal cards the following absurd statement : " Nothing but the address can be placed on this side." The English newspaper wrappers have a similar notice, correctly worded : " This wrapper may only be used for newspapers."

Can (to). To put up meats, fruits, vegetables, in air-tight cans.

Canack, Canuck, Cunnuck. Familiar and colloquial slang appellations for a native of Canada, although, within the Canadian border, a canuck is almost solely understood to be a French-Canadian.

CAN— CAN 95

Said to be derived from Connaught, which was a name given by the . French-Canadians to the Irish.

Canada rice (Zizania aquatica). A plant abounding in the Northern States and Canada, and growing along the edges of pools and sluggish streams.

Also called water-oats and wild-rice.

Canada thistle (Cnicus arvensis). A weed introduced from France into Canada, whence it has spread over the whole of North- America.

Canaigre, kah-nay'-gray (Sp.). In Texas, a species of dock (Rumex hymenosepalus), the root of which is very rich in tannic acid.

Canaille. Shorts, or low grades of flour.

Canaoua. A factitious and derogatory term formerly much employed by the French Canadians, and applied to the Indians. Also, canamiache.

Les canaouas vont 1'ecorcher comme une anguille. (De Gaspe\ Anciens Canadiens, II, 135.)

Canard branchu (Fr. C. ). In the lower St. Lawrence region, a name applied to the wood-duck (Aix sponsa), from its being wont to perch upon the branches of trees.

The term has been used by Charlevoix as early as 1744.

Cancer-POOt. The name of several plants (species of Orobauche) very common throughout the United States, and so called because they supply a pretended remedy for cancer. See squaw-root.

Candelia, can-del' -ya (Sp. ). In Texas, bad weather, especially cold weather, with rain and sleet, killing sheep and cattle.

The word implies the notion of dying, and is probably related to the Spanish idiom " acabarse la candela," i. e. to be dying.

Candidate (to). To be a candidate, to act as a candidate. To seek, or be proposed for office, etc.

Candleberry (Myrica cerifera). The wax-myrtle, bearing a berry covered with a shining wax, from which candles are made.

Candy. A name given, in the United States, to sweetmeats of all kinds. Also, candle*.

Cane-brake. A name given, in the South, to thickets of canes, abound- ing in low lands from South Carolina to Louisiana. In the Caroliiias, cane- meadow.

Cane-rush. In college slang, a contest for class supremacy, which* con- sists in trying to get and retain control, by force, of a stick or cane held at the start by members of each class. Also, cane-spree.

96

CAN— CAN

Cane-trash. The leaves of the sugar-cane, when cut and stripped for grinding. Such trash usually serves as manure for the soil. Also, bagasse.

Caney. An adjective still prevalent to designate places where cane is growing, or once grew in abundance. Hence, the " caney branch" of Kentucky and Tennessee.

Where Chinese drive

With sails and wind their

cany waggons light.

(MILTON, PARADISE LOST.)

Canker lettuce. In New England, a name applied to the plant (Pyrola rotundifolia) said to be a cure for canker.

Canker Pash. A familiar term for scarlatina fever.

Canne-de-POChe (Fr. C.). A species of duck (Histrionicus torquatus) of the lower St. Lawrence region.

Canned goods. Fruits, vegetables, etc. preserved in air-tight cans. In England, more generally known as "tinned" goods.

Cannery. An establishment, where " canning " is going on.

Canning- The process of preserving fresh fruits, vegetables, etc. in air- tight tin vessels.

Canoe. A term generally applied to the birch canoe, from the bark of the " Betula papyracea," which, being glossy and pliant, is taken whole from the tree, then spread open, and fashioned into a graceful shape. It requires no mean skill and close attention to propell the exceedingly frail thing ; hence the slang phrase of "paddling one's own canoe" meaning, as the song says, to be skillful enough to succeed unaided. Hunters are also apt to speak briefly of birch canoes as birches.

Canoe biPCh (Betula papyracea). Also called paper birch, the jt canot " of French Canada.

bouleau

Canon, Canyon, kan-yone (Sp.). A gorge or a ravine, worn by violent watercourses, and generally overhung by precipitous rocks, rising some- times, especially in the Rocky Mountains, to enormous heights which fill the beholder with feelings akin to awe.

Diminutives of cziioii are catlada, and ca/loncito.

CanoncitO, kan-yon-see'-to (Sp.). A diminutive of canon, and, more spe- cifically, in South- Western Texas, an opening in the chaparral or in the mbnfe (q. v. ).

Can-OpeneP. A Llade.i instiument adapted for opening canned goods.

CAN— CAP 97

Cant (to). A verb thoroughly colloquial in the United States, in sense of to turn about, to turn over, to roll over. For example, a person restless in bed " cants" over, when shifting the position of the body ; a log of wood is " canted" over, etc.

In England, " to cant" is now rarely heard, and then its sense is rather that of unequal balancing, or a leaning to one side.

Cantankerate. To produce strife, to make or become ill-humored. From the English cantankerous, meaning malicious or contentious.

CanteP. To slope down.

Cant-hOOk. A lever with hook, used in raising or moving heavy weights. From to cint, maaning to move or to incline to one side, to turn about. .This invention is Am erican in name and design.

Also cin-hook, more especially used however in sense of a rope with an iron hook at each end, for hoisting casks.

Canticoy (Ind. Algoiikin chintika, meaning an act of worship, with dancing). A word applied by the early Dutch of New Netherland to a merry-making, or social gathering, and still used in same sense by aged people in New York and on Long Island.

The verb to canticoy has also formerly been used, applied to Indians holding a religious worship.

Also, cantica, cantico.

Cantina (Sp.). A frequent word, in Texas, for a bar-room.

Canvasbaek (Anas valisneriana). A species of wild duck, highly esteemed for the delicacy of its flesh, and found chiefly in the Chesa- peake bay and tributaries. The pride of the American kitchen, so known from its color.

Canvass. When used politically, to count officially the votes after an election, which meaning is somewhat different from that current in England, where it simply refers to the solicitation of voters prior to an election.

Cape Cod tUPkey. A slang term for cod fish, in Massachusetts. Also, Marblehead turkey.

Cape May goody. See lafayette.

CapOPal (Sp. ). In Texas, an overseer who directs the work, but does not pay the laborers.

Capper. (1) In thieves' and gamblers' parlance, a confederate, especially one who at cards mikes false bids, with the object of enticing a genuine player.

(2) In auctioneer's slang, a man or woman acting as a dummy bidder.

Cap sheaf. Figuratively used, in the United States, to denote pre-

7

98 CAP— CAR

eminence, the highest degree, the summit. Derived from the well-known capping sheaf of straw used to decorate the top of a stack.

Caption. Originally a legal term, and now applied, in newspaper parlance, to headings or titles of articles.

Capul, kah-pool' (Sp. ). A tree or shrub of South- Western Texas, with small, blackish red or deep yellow edible berries, called cap>ule*.

Car. A railroad or tramway carriage.

In England, carriage, coach, or tramway.

The American vehicles running upon rails bear various denominations: baggage-car, drawing-room or palace-car, frei ght-car, horse-car or street- car, mail-car, sleeping-car.

(Sp.). In Texas, a sort of vulture (Polyboros cheriway), which is probably the typical Mexican eagle.

Caramel (to). In Louisiana, to burn the cane juice by a careless applica- tion of heat.

Caravan. An association of traders or pioneers, travelling between the old settlements and the new colonies, under the direction of an experienced guide. This institution now only survives in the South- West, and in some wild partions of the Rocky Mountains.

In New Mexico, the caravan is called by its Spanish name conducta.

Car-brake. The ordinary brake, used to diminish speed.

Carcajou (Fr. C. ). (1) The American wolverene (Gulo luscus), or prairie wolf.

(2) The American badger (Taxidea americana). Another scientific name is " Meles labradorica," which is certainly a misnomer, as the species of wild cat it refers to is not found in Labrador.

(3) The cougar (Felis concolor). See otsitso.

Cards (tO give). To give an advantage, a slang expression borrowed from the gaming table, and which is the equiv. of the English " to give points " derived from the billiard saloon.

CaPf- A blaze or mark made on a tree destined to be felled.

Carga (Sp. ). In Texas, a common name for a Mexican dry measure, equal to iour fanegcw, or 336 pounds.

CaPgadOP (Sp. ). In Texas, the man in charge of the packs, in a pack tra^n.

See patron.

Car-house. A covered shed, for protecting railway carriages.

CaribOU (Fr. C. ). The American reindeer (Rangifer canadensis), found in the northernmost parts of this continent. Two varieties exist, the barren

CAR— CAR 99

'ground caribou and the woodland'caribou, but some travellers tell us never- theless that these two names merely represent the same animal at diffe- rent seasons.

CarlieueS. 1 Boyish tricks and capers. " To cut carlicues," i. e. to cut capers, to indulge in frolicsome mirth.

2 Fantastic ornaments worn on a person or used in architecture.

Also, curleycuex , curlycues.

Evidently a fancifully-formed word, from curley and queue.

Carolina allspice (Calycanthus floridus). The sweet scented shrub, whose bark and wood have a somewhat spicy flavor.

Carolina pink (Spigelia marilandica). The pink root of Maryland is so called further South. It is a medicinal plant, bearing beautiful flowers, and well known as a purgative and vermifuge.

Carolina potato (Convolvulus batata). A name applied, in the Eastern States, to the sweet potato of tropical America.

Carouge eommandeur (Fr. C.). A French Canadian name applied to the red-winged starling (Agelceus phoeniceus). See officer bird.

Carpet-bagger. (1) An opprobrious term applied in the South, after the Civil War, to unprincipled political adventurers, whose wordly pos- sessions were literal}' comprised within a " carpet-bag," and who were then seeking their fortunes in any deed of shame that was safe and pro- fitable.

The term, as a party nickname, first came into existence in 1868, at the time of the meeting of the first Alabama convention, to frame a reconstructed constitution. The convention was in search of a name, and it so happened that, at a caucus of the opposition, one of the leaders, Colonel Reese, came to strike the imagination of his hearers in speaking of the large influx, into Washington, at the appointment of President Lincoln, of shabby office-seekers with carpet-bags. The next morning, the Montgomery Daily Mail applied the name of carpet-baggers to the strangers who had seized the government of the South, and the epithet has since been extended to include any unpopular person of Northern origin living in the South.

(2) In the West, a carpet '--bagger was originally a " wildcat" banker, that is, one who had no local abiding place and could not be found when wanted.

Carreta, car ray'-tah (Sp. ). In Texas, a common name for a primitive, two- wheeled car, the wheels of which are generally solid and held toge- ther by wooden pins.

Carriage. A generic name, in the United States, for any vehicle having a top, and, more specifically, for what would be called in England a double-horse victoria.

100 CAR— CAS

Carry. An equivalent of the ' ' portage- " in Maine.

Carry (to). In Virginia and the Southern States, used in sense of to lead,. to escort, to accompany. " Mr. G. carried Miss M. to the ball." This use of the word is said to have been prevalent with the English novelists of the 18th century.

In Virginia and the South we, even constantly hear: " To carry a horse to the stable, to the river," and, with respect to this curious en- tension, it is interesting to note here that, on the other hand, in some parts of England, notably Sheffield, they say, " to lead hay, corn, coals, etc. " and almost everything which elsewhere they carry or cart.

Carry (to) Stock. A Wall street phrase, meaning to hold stock for a client's account.

CaPPyal (Fr. C. carriole). The name of a four-wheeled pleasure carriage, common in the Northern States.

The term has probably originated in Canada, where however it now only means a sleigh, or sledge.

Also, carryall.

CaPPy-lOg". A rough contrivance on wheels, used for transporting timber.

Casa (Sp. ). A country-house, in the formerly Spanish states. Originally applied to a house of any kind.

cas'-car-ah (Sp.). In Texas, a common name for bark, and,, more specifically, the dry bark of trees which is used to kindle fires.

Case (in). Said, in the Southern states, of tobacco when it is soft and pliant, or in a condition to be packed away in casks without loss.

Cashaw (Ind.). An Algonkin name for pumpkin. In the West, kershaiv.

Casket. A sort of coffin which resembles a casket, its shape, top and bottom, being that of a parallelogram, and its lid having hinges and a lock, instead of being screwed down.

The word first appeared, in that sense, in the Webster supplement of 1879.

CassaPeep (W. Ind. cassava). A sauce made from the juice of the bitter cassava-root, and which becomes a very highly flavored and pleasant relish.

Cast. In parts of New England, said for hue, or tinge. " Good flour has a yellow cast."

Castanas, cas-tan'-yahs (Sp. ). The Spanish name for chestnuts, quite frequently given in Texas and the South-West to the edible fruit of the screw-pine (Pandanus), and tothe jack-fruit (Artocarpus integrifolia).

Casten (Old Eng.) An old form for cast, past participle of to cast.

CAS— CAT

101

The Old Eng. termination en, for past participles, has survived in many •words until quite recently in Xevv England, and such forms as gotten, boughten, putten, etc. are even now not unfrequtently heard.

Castor-tree (Magnolia glauca). See beaver-wood, beaver-tree.

Castoria. Castor oil so prepared as to be inoffensive to the taste and smell.

Cat, Catfish, Catty. See bull -he-id.

Cat (to). To fish for cat-fish.

Catalpa (Ind.). An ornamental tree (Catalpa cordifolia), native of the Middle and Southern States, possessing broad, large leaves, and gorgeous clusters of flowers.

Catamount (Felis concolor). The popular name of the feline species, as the cougar, the puma and the panther.

Some etymologists maintain that we have here a derivation of the two Spanish words ga'.o, a cat, and monte, a mountain. Nevertheless .the word is more probably only a shortened form of the fuller and otder name cat-a-mountain, as used by Beaumont and Fletcher :

Would any man of discretion venture such a gristle,

To the rude claws of such a cat-a-mountain.

Catan cah-tan' (Sp. ). In Texas, a fresh-water fish of the gar family, growing to a large size.

Catawamptiously. A Western expletive derived from catamount, meaning with avidity, with fierce eagerness, and founded on the ferocity of the feline animals in attacking their prey.

To be cataivamptiou-ily chawed up, an idiom signifying complete annihilation.

Catawba (Ind.). The indigenous grape of North America (Vitis labrusca), celebrated for its luscious qualities, the name being derived from the Catawba river, in the Carolines, where this variety of grape was first raised.

Cat-bird (Mimus carolinensis). A well-known oscine passerine bird, related to the mocking-bird, so called because its cry of alarm resembles the mewing of a cat.

Catch On (to). To appreciate, to be alive to the situation. To catch on to a thing is to understand it, to grasp its meaning.

Also enlarged to signify a capacity to quickly grasp an opportunity and turn it to advantage.

Catch up (to). In the West, to harness or prepare the horses or mules , for a march across the prairies.

Also used in the imperative tense, as a command to rouse from one's slumber and make ready for an early start.

102 CAT— CAV

Catchup With (to). To discover, to find guilty. "They caught up' with him for stealing the horse."

Catchy. Sometimes used in sense of impatient, irritable.

Cat's claw. The name of a shrub with sharp pines; of Western Texas (Mimosa biuncifera).

Catstick. Any unsplit stick of wood with the bark on, and small enough to be grasped by the hand. Also, small wood for burning. Probably still provincial in England, in those two senses, although the English catstick more commonly means a bat or cudgel for playing certain; games at ball.

Catted Chimney. See stick-chimney.

Cattle. Only designates, in the United States, beasts of the bovine- genus, whilst in England it is sometimes a generic term for all animals, serving for food or draught.

Cattle mark. A proprietor's brand placed upon cattle.

Cattle raiser. A grazier on a large scale. Also, when very rich, a cattle king.

Cattle range. In Kentucky, a park, even when it is one attachedto a country residence.

CailCUS. A preliminary meeting or gathering of partisans, to decide upon the action to be taken in an approaching election. The word has now crept into English parlance, but whereas in Great Britain it is only used in the sense of a private assembling of politicians before an election, its meaning has been extended in the United States to any party meeting, however large or small, held with reference to an election.

Probably the first use of the word was among the ship-caulkers of Boston, who, when they were on strike, or had a grievance to complain' of, used to hold a meeting to discuss their affairs. Such a meeting wa& called a caucus, from catdkers', the word meeting being understood1. On the other hand, if we may believe Dr Trumbuil, of Hartford, the origin of the word is Indian and must be found in cau-cau-as-ic, meaning " one- who advises. "

The word is said to have been used as early as 1724 (Gordon's Hist, of Am. Revolution).

Cavalli, ka-val'-i (Sp. ). A fish of the genus " Caranx, " found in the- * Gulf of Mexico. (Texas.)

Cave in (tO). To give up, to abandon, to collapse, to break down, from the caving in of an abandoned mine, or of a well or shaft.

Cavendish. A well-known brand of tobacco,, sweetened with syrup, or- molasses.

Also called negro-head.

CAV— CEN 10

Cavern limestone. The carboniferous limestone of Kentucky, so called from the large number of caves or holes with which it abounds.

CavOPt (to). (I) A term used, in horsemanship, in the sense of riding or running around in a heedless, purposeless manner, or simply to show off.

(2) To prance about in a playful and purposeless way.

(3) Figuratively, also used to designate any very extrayagant manner of speaking or acting, with an intention of ridiculing the action.

To cavort is chiefly used in the Southern States.

Cay, Kay, Key (Sp. cayo). A low, flat, rocky island, or ridge of rocks, in the West Indies and Florida.

Key West, Fla. is said to be derived from the Spanish " Cayo Hueso," meaning Bone Island.

Cayuse (Ind.). A name applied, in the West and South-West, to a com- mon Indian pony, a somewhat degenerated animal, but possessing remarkable powers of endurance.

Also used figuratively in a depreciative sense, 'being then applied to any poor, broken-down jade.

The " cayuse " is sometimes designated figuratively as the yatch of tfie prairie, on the same principle as the camel is the ship of the desert.

CazagOt (Fr. C. ). A word said to be derived from the dialect of the Montagnais Indians, inhabiting the Lake St. John region, in Canada, and designating, among the French Canadians, a sort of cradle made of bark, which the sqxiaws tie over their shoulders and in which they carry their nurslings.

Cedar. A name erroneously given, in the United States, to trees other than the genuine species :

Red cedar (Juniperus virginiana), a juniper.

White cedar (Cypressus thyoides), a cypress abounding in the famous cedar swamps of the South.

Cedar-SWampS. In the South, low-lying grounds mainly under water, filled with cypresses. Also called cedar-brakes.

Ceja, say '-hah (Sp.). In Texas, a long and narrow strip of chaparral

(q- v.).

Celestial. A nickname for a Chinaman. Also used adjectively.

Cellar-ease. In parts of New England, an outside entrance to a cellar, with a sloping door. See hulkhead. In the West, cellar-iv <y is used in preference.

CeneerrO, sen-ser'-ro (Sp.). In Texas, the leading mule in a pack train, wearing the bell. In Spain, a cencerro is a bell worn by the leading mule.

104

CEN— CHA

CeniZO, say-nee'-so (Sp. ceniza, ashes). A shrub of southern Texas, bearing ash-colored leaves.

Cent. A small copper coin worth the hundreth part of a dollar, and almost equivalent in value to the halfpenny of England.

Centennial State. The State of Colorado, from its having been admitted in the Union, in the centennial yearot Independence (1876).

Centrical. Still prevalent in Virginia, in sense of central.

It is time to draw our party to a head, either at York, or some other centrical place.

(SiR W. SCOTT, Ivanhoe.)

In very little vogue in England, its use, colloquially, savoring some- what of pedantry.

CentUPy-plant (Agave americana). A name given to the American aloe. See maguey.

Cenzontle (Mex. centzontlatole, four hundred voices). A name applied, in Texas, to the mocking-bird.

The forms censontle, chinchonte, and sinxonte, are also heard.

Cerda, cer'-dah (Sp.). In Texas, horse or cow-hair.

Certain. An adjective constantly used as an adverb, in sense of certainly. " He will do it certain. "

It is also frequently strenghtened by the addition of for. " We shall be burnt out for certain. " Another form is certain sure.

Certified. Certain. In Sam Slick's "Clockmaker" occurs the phrase : " I ain't quite certified we shan't have a tower [tour] in Europe yet. "

Cesarism. In American politics, the doctrine of favoring the re-election, to the Presidency, for the third time, of one who has already held the office twice.

Also, imperialism.

CesariSt- A term of reproach applied to persons favoring the re-election, to the Presidency, of a candidate having held office more than twice, and even more than once, previously.

Chacate, tchah-kah -tay (Prob. of Mex. origin). A small shrub (Krameria canescens) common iti Southern and Western Texas, the bark of which is used as a dyestuff.

Chafaud, Chaffaut (Fr. C.). A stage on piles, half in the water, where the cod-fish is beheaded. (Gulf of St Lawrence. )

Chain-lightningf. The Western equivalent for forked lightning, often rendered more redundant by being changed into chained-lightning.

Also constantly applied, figuratively, to inferior whiskey, from its terrible strength and stunning effect.

CHA-CHA 105

Chalk talk. A lecture illustrated by " lightning sketches " with the aid of a black-board and chalk. Similarly, a chalk-talker.

Chance. Used in the South to express a certain amount, portion, or supply. " He lost a smart chance of blood. "

Change. To alter, or correct anything written. " To change an invoice," i. e. to alter it.

Change (to) One's base. A humorous way of admitting a defeat, or at least the necessity of trying once more in some other way, from the well-known phrase, during the war, of those Federal Commanders who never could admit, in their official reports, of having fallen back before Lee's forces, but simply professed to have changed their bases.

Change (to meet With a). In religious, or camp-meeting parlance, to have change of heart, to experience religion, to be struck under con- viction, thereby implying that a change has come as regards the motive power regulating one's life conduct.

Change Off (to). To move household goods. Chank. To chew noisily. (N. Eng. )

ChankingS. Parings of apples and other fruits, or the core and other rejected parts of an apple. (N. Eng. )

Chapa, tchah'-pah (Sp. ). In Texas, a thin metal plate or scutcheon, usually of some precious metal, worn as ornament on the Mexican sombrero.

ChaparagO, tchah-pah-rah'-ho (Sp.). See chaparros.

ChappaPPal, tchah-par-ral' (Sp.). (1) Used in Texas and New Mexico for any thick tangle of bramble bushes or thorny shrubs in clumps.

In Spain, a " chapparral " designates only a bush of a species of oak, from chapara, a dwarf evergreen oak, and al, a termination equal to " a place of."

(2) Also the name of the chaparral cock, or road-runner (Geococcyx Californianus).

Chaparral berry. In the South-West, the fruit of a species of berberis (Berberis trifoliata).

ChaparrOS, tchah-par'-ros (Sp. ). A familiar term, in the South-West, for trousers made of stout leather, and worn especially by cowboys to protect their legs from thorny bushes.

Also, chaparajos, or simply chaps.

i

Chapote, tchah-po'-tay (Mex. txapotl). In Texas, a shrub or tree of the ebony family (Diospyros Texana), otherwise called black persimmon. Also, sapote, zapote.

106

CHA-CHA

Chaps. See chaparros.

Chaqueta, tchah-ket'-ah (Sp. ). In Texas, a jacket, and, more specifically, a jacket made of leather or very heavy cloth, worn by cowboys as a protection against thorns of the chaparral.

Chareo, tchar'-co (Sp.). In Texas, a word sometimes applied to a bold spring, generally gushing forth from a ledge of rocks.

In Spain, the term means a pool of standing water, or small lake. See reventon.

ChaPCOal blossom. In college slang, a young negress.

Charley. Among American thieves, a gold watch.

In old English slang a watchman, or beadle, and latterly a policeman.

ChaPteP-Oak City. The City of Hartford, Connecticut. This singular cognomen is supposed to have been derived from a large oak, in the cavity of which the charter of the colony of Connecticut was concealed by the Legislature, when king James II, in 1698, having decided to withdraw the privileges conferred by that document, sent Sir Edmund Andros to demand its restitution.

Chasse-gralePie. A popular superstition dating back to the days of the " coureurs des bois," under the French regime, and perpetuated among the "voyageurs" in the Canadian North- West. As the story goes, any- one may be carried through the air in a birch-canoe, in real lightning- express time, if he agrees to sell his soul to His Satanic Majesty in the event of not fulfilling certain conditions, the principal of which are that, during the time stipulated for his peregrinations, he will not strike a church steeple, nor invoke or even pronounce the name of God.

The shantymen of a later date have taken up the tradition, and it is in the French settlements, bordering the St. Lawrence river, that the legends of the cha^se-galerie are specially well known at the present time. Mr. Honore Beaugrand, ex-mayor of Montreal, who wrote an interesting tale founded on this tradition (Century Magazine, Sept. 1892), says he has met many an old voyageur who affirmed most positively that he had seen bark-canoes traveling in mid-air, full of men paddling and singing away, under the protection of Beelzebub, on their way from the timber camps of the Ottawa to pay a flying visit to their • sweethearts at home.

Chauffant (Fr. C.). In the region of the Seven Islands, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, a sort of rude shed where cod-fish is left to dry.

Chaw. A chew, i. e. a quid of tobacco.

Chaw (to). Still prevalent for " to chew," especially in Virginia and the whole South, among the illiterate. Used by Spencer and Dryden, and noted in Johnson's Dictionary. So that I was forced to buy some roll-tobacco to smell and t_o chaw.

(PEPY's DIAKV, June 7, 1665.)

CHA— CHE 107

Chaw up. To utterly demolish or defeat.

Chaw Up One's WOrdS. To eat one's words, to retract.

Cheat (Bromus scalinus). A troublesome weed, not unlike oats, growing, up amongst wheat and other grain crops, and erroneously supposed to be degenerate wheat. Hence its name. Also called chess.

ChebaCCO-boat. A peculiar craft formely much used in the cod-fisheries of Newfoundland, and so called from the fact that this class of boats was, at one time, largely built and fitted out at Chebacco, Mass.

Also pinkxtern, tobacco boat, this last one, of course, by corruption, and pinky, a shortened form of pinkstern.

Cheek, i A ticket.

2 A counter at cards.

3 A brass label fastened to a piece of baggage, and whose counterpart is given to the traveller.

4 The name, in Pennsylvania, of an impromptu meal of cold provi" sions.

Cheek (to). In railway parlance, equiv. to the English " to book."

Also, to give tallies or other receipts for personal " impedimenta '* left in cloak-rooms, etc.

Cheek-Clerk. The clerk in charge of a cloak-room, or one employed in the office at hotels, to allot rooms to visitors.

CheckePbCPPy (Gaultheria procumbens). A handsome little plant, the only species of its genus, and bearing a red-colored aromatic berry.

Also, chequerberry , chickberry.

Other names are partridge-berry, and, in New England and Canada, twin-berry, from the plant's uniformly double scarlet berry.

Cheek Pail. In railroads, a contrivance at the crossing from one line of rails to another, or at a siding, for allowing trains to run on to or move into the other line or siding.

Cheeks. Money, cash. A term derived from poker, where counters or " checks" are equivalent to current coin.

Cheeks (to pass in one's). To adjust one's account at the end of a game of poker, by handing one's counters to the banker.

Hence, also, a euphemism for dying, i. e. settling the final account of life. Especially so used in the West.

Cheek-StPap. To put a ckeck-strap on an opponent, is to adopt such measures as will enforce the doing of what is desired.

From the well-known phrase drawn from the training of horses, the. check-strap, amongst cowboys, controling the bit in the horse's mouth

108 CHE— CHI

Cheek. Has retained in America the old English meaning of a dor-post, as quoted in the Craven Glossary.

Little heard now in the United States, although still used in the same sense in the Craven dialect.

Cheek (to). In college slang, "to cheek it" is to go into recitation unprepared as if prepared.

Cheese bOX. A nickname applied by Confederates to gunboats of the Monitor type, from their cupolas or round towers, resembling huge cheese-boxes on rafts. See tindad*.

Chestnut. An old story, a trite jest, an often repeated yarn. From the average chestnut of the " dago" fruit stand, which is often of doubtful freshness.

The variants to which the word is applied may well be called legion. Thus we have chestnut songs, and if one attempts to foist a stale joke upon a company, somebody may jokingly implore him to spare the chestnut-tree, or again not to rustle the chestnut-leaves, or set the chestnut- bell a-ringing. Similarly, anything old or out of date is said to have a .chesnutty flavor.

Although chestnut is commonly supposed to be of American origin, it may here properly be recalled that in the " Broken Sword, " a two-act melodrama by William Dimond, produced at Covent Garden Theatre, London, in 1825, the following passage occurs :

Zavior— Let me see— ay ! It is exactly six years since that, peace being restored to Spain and my ship being' paid off, my kind brother offered uie a snug hammock, etc., etc.

Pablo (jumping up)— A chestnut, captain, a chestnut !

Zavior — Bah, you booby !

Pablo— And I swear, a chestnut, captain ! This is the 27th time I have heard you relate this story, and you invariably said a chestnut till now.

Zavior— Did I ? Well, a chestnut be it.

ChetOWaik (Ind.). An Indian name for the plover. Used by Longfellow, in introduction to Hiawatha.

Chew (to) One's Own meat. To attend to one's own business ; to do a thing oneself.

Chewink (Pipilo erythrophthalmns). The ground robin, so called from its peculiar note, which in some parts of the Union is reproduced in its equally familiar name of towhee. Also called marsh-robin and yrasset.

Chiben (Ind.). A name applied, among the French Canadians of the lower St. Lawrence region, to a species of sunflower (Helianthus tube- rosus), much esteemed for its sweet and farinaceous tuberous roots. Also, chibequi.

Chicagoed. A Western equivalent for " beaten out of sight."

CHI— CHI 109

A certain Chicago base-ball club having once met with phenomenal success, the other competing clubs were said to have been " Chicagoed."

Chieharra, tche-tchai'-rah' (Sp.). In Texas, the harvest-fly (Cicada spumaria).

Chickadee (Parus atricapillus). The black-cap tit, so called from its peculiar note or cry.

Also known as the hoary tit-mouse.

Chickaree (Sciurus hudsonius). The red squirrel common in all the Northern States, so called in imitation of its cry.

Chickasaw plum (Prunus chicasa). A red plum, pleasant to the taste, and abounding in the neighborhood of Red River, Arkansas, a favorite hunting-ground of the Chickasaw Indians.

Chicken-fixings. In the West, a hash, stew, or fricassee of chicken.

Also applied to any fare out of the common, and also to show of any kind, by opposition to meaning plain every-day fare, common doingt.

Chicken-grape (Vitis riparia). The Southern name of the river-grap e, a sterile vine cultivated for its sweet-scented blossoms. Also, frost-grape.

Chicken gumbo. A kind of chicken soup, in which "gumbo" enters as a component part.

Chick Wit (Ind. ) An obsolete name of the squeteague or weakfish (Cynos- cion regalis), which is still, however, sometimes heard in Connecticut. Also, chickewit, chigivit.

Chieote, tche-cot'-ay (Sp.). In Texas, a long whip with a wooden handle, used by cowboys in driving cattle. In Spain, means the end of a rope.

Chigoe (Sp. chico). In the South, a minute and noxious acarus or tick (Pulex penetrans), abounding in the sand along the bays and rivers of Maryland and Virginia, which burrows in the skin and often produces very serious inconvenience. It is not, however, so noxious as the true tropical chico, which deposits its eggs under the skin of the feet, thereby often producing dreadful sores.

Also, chigo, chigga, chiggre, jigger, need-tick.

ChilaquilCS, tche-lah-ke'-les (Mex. chilaquilitf). In Texas, a name applied to a Mexican dish of vegetables seasoned with read peppers, or of pieces of fried " tortilla " in red pepper sauce.

Chilehote, tchill-tehoh'-tay (Mex. chilchotl). In Texas, green peppers, or sweet peppers.

Chile, tche'-lay (Sp.). The American red pepper. In the plural, it reft is to the pods or fruit of the capsicum.

110 CHI— CHI

Also chile Colorado, in formerly Spanish States. Other forms are chili, chilli. See enchilada.

Chill. A common expression for fever.

Chills and feveP. Commonly used, in malarial sections, for fever and ague.

Chiltapin, tchill-tah-pinr (Mex. chiltecpin). In Texas, bird-pepper (Capsicum baccatum), a shrubby plant with yellowish or red berries, used as a condiment.

Chimisal, tche-me'-sal (Sp. ). A Spanish name of the grease-wood, used in California, Texas, and all formerly Spanish States.

Chimisal is derived from chamiza, a kind of a wild reed or cane.

Chimley (Old Eng. ). An old English form for chimney. The fuller word chimbley is perhaps even more general in the United States.

Agin the chimbly crooknecks hung.

(J. R. LOWELL. Courtin'.)

Chin (to). (1) To talk or act impudently, or with brazen effrontery.

(2) In college slang, to buzz, to gossip. To talk to an instructor for the purpose of gaining favor. To get the advantage of in a joke.

Chinaman. A slang term, in the West, for a cup of tea.

Chinatown. The Chinese quarter, in a city. From the celebrated China- town of San Francisco.

China wedding. The 20th anniversary of a wedding.

Chineapin, Chinquapin (Ind,). (1) A diminutive species of chestnut (Castanea pumila), especially common in Virginia. The name is applied both to the shrub and to the fruit.

They have a small fruit most like a very small acorn. This they call

chechinquanims —

(Capt. JOHN SMITH, Virginia. J., p. 122.)

(2) On the Pacific coast, a tree or shrub (Castanopsis chrysophylla) more nearly allied to the oak than to the chestnut, though the nut is inclosed in a similar spiny bur.

Chinch, Chintz (Sp. chinche). The name given in the South to the bed- bug.

Also applied to an insect creating great havoc among grain crops. This insect is, however, more particularly called chinch-bug.

Chink. To fill up chinks and interstices, between the roughly hewn timber of log cabins. The material used is chiefly mud or clay formed into a kind of plaster or cement.

The same process is known in North of England as " filling and daubing."

Also, chince, chime.

CHI— CHI 111

Chinkers. In thieves' argot, handcuffs united by a chain.

Chinkin. Boards, sticks, or clay used to fill spaces between logs in cabin building.

Chinook (Ind.). (1) A conventional language of the Volapuk order, invented and used in Oregon and British Columbia, and dating back to the fur- traders of the last century.

(2) A wind which blows at certain seasons, on the Pacific slope, and so called by the Indians of the Columbia River, because it comes to them from the direction of the country of the Chinooks.

Chip. A disc of ivory or bone, used in playing cards.

Chip (to). To put in money at cards ; to contribute. Also, to chip in. To join in an undertaking.

Chip beef. See hung beef.

Chip in (to). To stand one's share of expense when several have united to buy something. " We chipped in and bought some grapes. "

Chipmonk (Tamias striatus). The popular name of the striped squirrel. Also chipmunk, chipmuk, chitmunk.

Thought by some to be of Indian derivation, although it is also very possible that it may come from "chips," an old Eng. provincialism meaning lively, merry ; and, as every one knows, the " chipmonk" is an exceedingly lively little creature and a great chatterer. Also called hackee, in some of the Eastern States,

Chipper. Said of a lively, cheerful person, from the English " to chip," to be merry.

Chippy. A derogatory term for a young girl or woman of a questionable character.

Chippy-Chaser. A well-dressed loafer, lying in wait for shop girls or school-children.

Chips. To pass in one's chips was formerly more commonly used than now as a way of saying that one was dead. This, of course, was a gambling expression ; when a man had finished playing, he turned over the chips — if any — remaining in his possession, and received cash for them from the man running the game. A great number of phrases originating at the card table have found their way into common em- ployment, and occasionally are heard even in the pulpit.

Chip-yard. A wood-cutting yard, a yard in which logs are chopped for fuel.

Chirk. Still lingering in parts of New England for cheerful, lively, in good spirits, from the old English " to chirk," found in old writers in sense of chirp.

112 CHI— CHO

Chirk (to). (1) To put in good spirits ; to become lively, cheerful. To chirk up, to cheer up. .

(2) To make more comfortable. (Connecticut.)

Chipp. Substituted in the United States for the English " crick."

Chirp (to). To be merry, cheerful. Adapted from the chirping of birds, insects.

Still provincial in England.

Chirpy. Cheerful, contented.

Chisel (to). To cheat, to defraud, to swindle. Said to be a Western phrase.

To go full chisel, equiv. to the phrases " full drive" and " full split," i. e. going with earnestness, with great speed, the metaphor being derived, from the quick glancing-off motion resulting from an ill-deli\rered chisel stroke.

ChitlinS. A contraction of chitterlings, for rags, tatters. •All to chitlim, all to pieces.

Chitter. To call in question ones right to a thing, to stop to question one's right.

Chivalry. A term often applied to Southern gentry and their peculiar social views.

Claimed a* a proud title by Southerners, but always heard and used at the North with a shade of contempt.

The abbreviated form chiv is also used to designate a Southerner.

Chivaree (Fr. charivari). A terrific uproar produced by kettles, frying- pans and horns, accompanied by shouts and cries, and the singing of rather low songs under the windows of the newly married, especially if they are in advanced years or have been married before. Disapproval of unpopular persons is also expressed in the same way, and by extension the name is now applied to any tumultuous discord.

The chivaree is especially prevalent in the rural communities, and its custom extends to nearly all over the United States, especially m the districts having a sprinkling of French population, as in Louisiana, Ala- bama, etc. In French Canada, the word charivari is still preserved.

Also, shicaree.

ChivarroS, tche-var'-ros (prob. Sp. chavari, a kind of cloth). In Texas, leggins made of strong cloth or leather. See sherryvallie*.

Chock (to). Much use'l in America in sense of to fill up, to crowd to over-flowing.

Still provincial in England.

CHO— CHO 113

ChOCkfull, Chuekfull. Entirely full, an English provincialism quoted by Halliwell, and which is in general use in the United States.

Chock up. Close, tight ; said oLa thing which fits closely to another.

ChOgset (Ind. ). A common name, in New England, for a small fish (Ctenolabrus ceruleus) known in New York as the burqall, or blue fish, and blue perch.

Other names are Conner, and nibbler, from the wicked delight it takes in nibbling off the fisherman's bait.

Choke. The alluvial deposit which silts up at the mouths of rivers, etc.

Choke-berry (Pyrus arbutifolia). A somewhat stunted apple-tree, the fruit of which is possessed of astringent qualities.

Choke-ehePPy (Prunus Virginiana). A plant, so called from its astringent properties.

Choke Off. To forcibly obstruct or stop a person in the execution of a purpose. To interrupt, to frustrate. A slang and figurative expression, borrowed from the act of choking a dog to make him loose his hold.

Chomp (corrupt, of champ). To chew loudly, and especially to eat or chew up greedily.

Chomp is also a pronunciation commonly used, instead of cliamp, in North of England.

Chompins. The masticated refuse of fruit. Also, champins.

ChOOSe. Sometimes used, by the uneducated, with the peculiar meaning of "to choose not to take." For instance, " I don't choose any" would mean " I will not take any."

Choque-lTlOPt (Fr. C.). A species of mullet abounding on the coast of Gaspe, province of Quebec. Elsewhere known as goget.

ChOPe (to). To do odd jobs. ChOPe-boy. An errand-boy.

ChOPCS (of same root as Eng. " charwoman," and pronounced "tshores "). A small job or work of a domestic character ; the miscellaneous duties of a barn-yard. Mainly used in the plural, as doing chores.

The maid that milks And does the meanest chares.

(SHAKESPEARE, Antony and Cleopatra.)

" Char," in England, is used both as a noun and a verb in much the same sense.

CHO— CHU

Chouse. (1) To cheat, to defraud. Now classed as slang in England, but looked upon as orthodox in America, where it is applied to all kinds of fraudulent dealing and deceit. (2) To put forcibly into. Also, to ch&wzle.

Chowder (Fr. chaudidre). A corrupted French word designating a dish of fish, pork, onions and biscuit, invented by the Canadian ' ' voyageurs " — perhaps aided in the task by recollections of the " bouillabaisse" — and so named from the receptacle in which the savoury mess was compounded. Cider and champagne are sometimes added.

Chowder excursion. A pic-nic by the sea, so called in that a chowder forms the " piece de resistance. "

ChOWderhead. A dunce, or dunderhead. In Anglo-Chinese slang ' ' chowder " stands for a fool, and kf ' chowder-head " may be derived therefrom, without its having any connection with the American " chowder. "

Christian Scientists. A new sect, whose distinctive doctrine is that disease is all a matter of imagination, and that faith is the only healer.

Chromo Civilization. An invention of the late J. R. Dennett, and a term admirably suited to the gilt and tinsel, so to say the surface polish, which characterizes the civilization of the present time.

It is notorious that, in America, chromo lithographic prints are sent out in shoals, and are generally a sorry would-be substitute for the genuine article.

Chub. ( 1 ) A local name, in Texas, for the tautaug or blackfish. (2) In Connecticut, a round squash.

Chub-sucker (Erimyzon sucetta). An ungainly sea-fish, otherwise called the horned-wicker.

Chuck. (1) In thieves' argot, refreshments, delicacies. Also, money. (•2) A clipped form of wood-chuck.

Chuck (to). In parts of Pennsylvania and Ohio, to strike, as " to chuck one a blow on the ear."

In England, to chuck is sometimes used in sense of to throw, or impel, with a quick motion.

Is but a ball chuck'd between France and Spain. His in whose hand she drops.

(TENNYSON7, Queen Mary, iii. 1.)

Chuek-a-Chuek. A gambling game played in the West with dice. Chueklehead. An idiot, a block-head. Chuck-hole. Mud-hole, slough.

CHU— CHU 115

Chuek-WilPs-widOW (Caprimulgus Carolinensis). The common name, in the South, of a bird of the whip-poor-will family, so called from the peculiar notes of this bird resembling the sound " Chuck- will's- widow."

Chum. In college slang, a room mate.

Chump. In college slang, a queer or even stupid fellow, literally as unintelligent as a chump of wood. A butt for wit',' a blunderer.

Chumpy. In college slang, foolish, stupid. Also, mean, contemptible.

Chunk. (1) A short, stout piece of wood, or of any thing else. Still provincial in England.

(2) In Southern and Western parlance, anything short and thick^ Hence a chunk of a pony for a cob. ' We even hear of a small chunk of sentiment or patriotism.

Chunk (to). To throw sticks or chips at one. Used in South and South- West, especially in the alluvial region of the Mississipi, where there are no stones. Sometimes, in that region, to chunk will also be used in sense of throwing a 6lod of earth at some one or animal.

Chunked. In the South-West, sense of impudent or bold. ChunkeP. In New Jersey, a coal boat used on the canal.

Chunk-head. (Trigonocephalua contortrix). A name of the red-snake, or copper-head.

Chunky. Short and thick, as applied to the stature of a person. Hence, a small-built man is chunky built. Also, stocky.

Chunk-yard. A name 1 given by white traders to oblong four-square yards adjoining the high mounds and rotundas common in Florida, and supposed to have been built by the Seminole Indians. Also, chunkee-yard.

This is doubtless an Indian term, chunkee having been once the Indian name of a game played, in an enclosure as above described, with a flat, round stone, and a pole about eight feet long.

ChUPGh (to). Sometimes used in sense of to try or investigate before the church on the charge of some offense unbefitting a church member.

ChUPCh house. A meeting house, or building used for religious services.

ChUFeh-maul. A New-England vulgarism, equivalent to the English slang phrase "calling over the coals, " when the jurisdiction is one of an ecclesiastical character.

Chute (Fr.). A cascade, a waterfall, or any place of a river where the waters rush through with great fury. Also, a [river which has been artificially^ontracted, in order to increase the depth of water.

116 CID— CIR

(2) In the Mississipi region (esp. Louisiana), a bayou or narrow portion of a river. Also, an artificial conduit.

(3) An inclined plane, for lowering wood and timber by sliding,

(4) In the Far West, a rush, a stampede ; a hasty, confused migration, applied to men and animals in a body.

Also, shoot, shute (q. v. ).

CideP-Oil. A concentrated decoction of cider, to which honey is subse- quently added.

Also, cider-royal, which was probably the original name.

Cimarron, se-mar-rone' (Sp.). In Texas, used in sense of wild, as applied to plants.

Also used as a noun for shy, bashful, children.

Cinch (Sp. cincha, a girth). In the West and South-West a saddle- girth made of leather, canvas, or woven horsehair, and more specifically the girth nearer the shoulders of the horse.

Figuratively, a sure thing. Also, in college slang, an easy or agreeable study or occupation, something obtained or done without difficulty.

To have a cinch on a person, i. e. to have a bind or a dead-pull on him.

To have a cinch on a thing, i. e. to have it tied up securely.

An intensified form is a lead-pipe cinch, coming from the fact that stable boys have sometimes used lengths of half-inch lead pipe instead of rawhide as cinches to bind their saddles.

Cinch (to). To put the cinch on a horse, to pull a saddle-girth tight.

Figuratively, to have the grip on, to put the screw on. To make sure of anything,

To be cinched, a Californian localism signifying to come out on the wrong side in mining speculations.

Cincinnati OyStePS. Pigs' trotters, or pigs' feet. Many examples can be given of this strange perversion of names: Albany beef, Marble - head turkey, etc.

Similarly, in England, a fish herring is called a Billingsgate pheasant, a Yarmouth bloater, a two-eyed steak, etc.

Cipher Despatches. Allusion is often made to the celebrated Cipher Despatches which emanated from the Democratic headquarters in New York, during the contested Presidential campaign of 1876. Some of those despatches having come, after the election, into the possession of the New York Tribune, the key was most ingeniously discovered, thus throwing in full light corrupt dealings of the most flagrant nature in connection with the bribery of State-returning boards.

Circle. A spiritualist's term for a gathering of people assembled for the purpose of holding communication with spirits. Originally restricted, in

CIR— CIT 117

its meaning, to a gathering sitting around a table in a circle, for table tipping and rapping, but, later on, extended to include all meetings at which spirit communication is practiced.

Circle-riding1. A cowboy's term, on the plains and ranches, applied to the riding of herdsmen on circles converging to a common centre, for the purpose of driving in all stray beasts they may come across.

Circulate. Often used in sense of to travel, to move. Thus a gentleman, who travels on the American railways, will be said to circulate, as if he were a bank-note.

Also, to circulate in good society, etc.

Circumstance. Often used half-humourously, and almost always nega- tively, in sense of a trifle, a thing of no importance. " That was not a circumstance to what happened to me."

See priming.

To whip something into a circumstance, meaning that the thing whipped is thrown into the shade, or compares unfavorably with the object of comparison.

CiSGOVet (Ind. siskivit). A beautiful fish (Salmo amethystus) of the trout family, but possessing a flesh much more delicate than the trout proper. Also called cisco.

Citron. A species of candied fruit made from the melon, and so called from its resemblance to the fruit of the citron-tree.

Citron-melon. The popular name of the variety of melon, employed in making the crystallized fruit called citron.

City. Almost any collection of dwellings, large enough for its inhabitants to despise the name of village ; even sometimes a mere colllection of cabins, tents, and shanties, which in England would hardly be dignified with the name of hamlet.

The settlers and miners of the West are no doubt the greatest sinners in this respect, as all their mining camps are called cities, but other parts of the country, and even New England, are far from being free from such an abuse of terms.

City College. A cant term for the prison of the Tombs in New York city.

City of baked beans. The city of Boston, from its supposed predilection for baked beans.

City Of brick. The city of Pullman, in Illinois.

City Of Brotherly Love. The city of Philadelphia, from the two Greek roots (philos, love ; adelphos, brother) forming its name. Also, Quaker City.

118 CIT— OLA

City Of Churches. The city of Brooklyn, N. Y. from the number and beauty of its ecclesiastical edifices.

City Of Colleges. The city of Toronto, in Canada, from its numerous educational establishments.

City Of Elms. The city of New-Haven, in Connecticut, from the numerous elm-trees which adorn its public places. Also, Elm City.

City Of the Golden Gate. The city of San Francisco, in California, from the celebrated Golden Gate forming the entrance to its port.

Also called City of the Hundred Hills, Frisco (abb. of San Francisco), and Golden City.

City Of Magnificent Distances. The city of Washington, D. C., from its many public buildings being isolated one from another, and built on carefully selected sites.

Other names are Executive City and federal City:

City Of Notions. The city of Boston. A sarcastic allusion, partly to the thousand and one articles of utility, forming one of the staples of trade of Boston, and partly to the assumption of intellectual superiority of its inhabitants.

City Of Rocks. The city of Nashville, Tennessee, from its being built literally upon a rock, at a considerable elevation.

City Of Soles. The city of Lynn, Massachusetts, from its numerous and extensive shoe factories.

City Of Spindles. The city of Lowell, Massachusetts, from its being one of the largest centres of cotton manufacture in the United States.

City Of the Straits. The city of Detroit, Michigan, from strait being a translation of the French d^troit, a name given by the French founders of the city, on account of its being situated upon a narrow neck of land, connecting Lake Erie with Lake St. Clair.

City Of Witches. The city of Salem, Massachusetts, from the famous episodes in connection with the belief in witchcraft, which belong to the history of that town.

Civil Service Reform. A system adopted under the Cleveland admi- nistration, which obviates to the removal of officers for partisan reasons, and also, in the same time, prevents appointments to offices as rewards for partisan services.

Clabbek (Old Eng. ). A survival of old English usage, for thick milk, in Pennsylvania and the South.

"Clubber " is still provincial in England.

CLA— CLA 119

Clagfgy. In the South, often heard in sense of »heavy, in speaking of bread.

Claim. Primarily, a piece of land, or the mining property, marked out by a settler or prospector. Hence, a piece of land allotted to one, and colloquially a dwelling or resting place.

Claim (to). In the Northern States, to assert, to state as a fact, to profess. Other forms are calculate, expect, guess, reckon.

Claim-jumper. A land grabber, i. e. one who violently seizes another's claim. This practice was frequent in the early days of the country, but now-a-days the settler has to go through a regular routine when " locat- ing his claim."

Claim-jumping. The taking by violence of another's.claim.

ClaifeUP (Fr. C.). Among French Canadian lumbermen, one who goes about tramping down the snow, and removing the branches and remnants of trees from the path of the log-sleighs.

Clam. The popular name of the common shell-fish, found in the sand of tidal rivers, and of which there exist two varieties: the hard clam (quahog), and the soft clam (mananosay).

The shell-fish clam derives its English name very probably from its resemblance to a clamp, and this last word was even the only one used for a long while.

You shall scarce find any bay where you may not take many clampses

or lobsters —

(Capt. JOHN SMITH, Virginia. I,, p. 124.)

Clam-bait. The soft clam, when salted for the fisheries.

Clam-bake. (1) A dish of clams, baked in an impromptu stove of stones and weeds, in the primitive style of the Indians.

Also called Indian bed.

(2) A feast, or banquet, often having a political character, at which " clam-bakes" are freely indulged in. Especially a Rhode-Island insti- tution.

Clam-banks. Beds or banks, where clams abound.

Clam-catehePS. A nickname applied to the inhabitants of New Jersey, clam catching being the principal occupation of many of the poorer classes of that State on the Raritan Bay shoals.

Clamish. Happy, contented.

Happy as a clam at high-water, a New-England proverb of widely extended usage, and eminently representative of contentment and happiness.

120 CLA— CLA

Clam-shell. A slang expression for the lips, or mouth, which is common enough in New England, especially among the sea-coast people.

ef you let your clamshells gape

(LOWELL, Biglow Papers, II., 19.)

Clam-shell padlock. De Vere mentions that even the Government of che United States condescends to allow its patent locks on mail-bags to be officially designated as clam-shells.

Clankers. A cant word for silver, pitchers, and the like.

Clapboard. A thin, narrow board, from three to four feet long, used in the construction of farm-houses.

Considerable difference of opinion exists as to the derivation of the term. Dr. Elwyn, of Philadelphia, inclines to the opinion that the word is the same as the english provincialism ' ' clapboard " which, in the North of England, stands for a thin, smooth board on which a certain kind of bread is " clapped," called " clapbread." Bartletc, on the other hand, insists that the term was originally formed from " clove-board, " or board made by "cleaving."

Also, shak&

Clapboard (to). To cover with clapboards.

Clape (Picus amatus). The common name of the golden-winged wood- pecker. Said to have been an old provincialism, introduced by the English colonists.

Other names are flicker, high-hole, pigeon woodpecker, pique-bois jaune (Louisiana), wake-up, yellow-hammer, yiLcker.

Milk jugs furnished with swinging covers to exclude flies.

ClappeP-Pail. A name applied to a, salt-water bird of the Gulf of • Mexico.

Also called marsh-hen (q. v. ).

ClaPk. Stands for clerk in Virginia and some parts of the South, as at the time when the Old Dominion was settled.

while his clarkes were feasting of it

(PEPYS DIARY, July 30, 1662.)

In the North, " clurk."

Class-baby. In college slang, the first child born to a member of a class after graduation. Also, the youngest member of a class.

ClaSS-day. In college parlance, a day of the commencement season devoted, by the graduating class, to exercises of a more or less formal nature, and even to social entertainements.

CLA— CLE 121

Classic City. The city of Boston, from the famous classic learning of its inhabitants.

ClatteraientS. Belongings, accoutrements. (Tennessee mountains.)

ClattePWhaeking. A clatter, a racket, being a factitious compound of " to clatter," and " to whack."

Clatty. Untidy, dishevelled. A similar meaning attaches to the word in Lowland Scotch.

Claw Out. To make excuses. To get out of an embarrassment, and the like. " He'll claw out of it in some way. "

Claybank. A Texas word for a color of a yellowish dun, approaching the color of a bank of clay.

Clay-eatePS. A name given to the poor whites of some remote regions of the South, especially remote counties of South Carolina, who appease their craving for more substantial food by eating quantities of soft, white, aluminous clay, abounding everywhere.

Also a nickname applied sometimes to natives of South Carolina.

Clean CUt. Used adjectively in sense of sharp, crisp, to the point.

Thus, the sermons of an American divine have been spoken of as. specimens of rare, clean cut preaching. See clear cut.

Clean gone. In New England, used for entirely gone, out of sight.

Of frequent occurrence in Shakespeare, especially in sense of out of sight.

Clean thing. A vulgarism, denoting propriety, or what is honorable. Thus, " to do the clean thing," is to do the thing that is morally right.

Clean up. (1) In cowboy parlance, to clean up a herd is to separate from a mixed lot of cattle all the animals of same ranch or brand.

(2) In gold-mining, the operation of separating the gold after the auriferous gravel has been for a certain length of time through the sluices.

Also, substantively, the gold itself obtained at a given time by the above process.

Clear. Often used to mean " undiluted, " in speaking of liquids. In England, neat or transparent.

Clear-cut. Used adjectively for real, sterling, honest. Compare with clean-cut.

Clear grit. A person of superior worth or genuineness, as distinguished from one inferior who is only " chaff." Decided, honest, unalloyed. Other forms are real grit, true, grit.

122

CLE— OLE

Clear- grits. In Canadian politics, a name applied, in 1855, to a strong faction of the Liberal party of Upper Canada, who, under the guidance of George Brown, had then inaugurated a crusade against the French element of Lower Canada. See Orits.

Clearing. A settler's tract of land, which has been " cleared " of wood, and is ready for cultivation, The word clearing obtains, irrespective of field or cabin being visible or not on the settler's place.

Clear OUt. To disappear, to go away, to decamp. Also, to dig out, to skip.

Either borrowed from the custom-house, or from the Western usage of " clearing out " trees, in order to afford room for a settlement.

Now common on both sides of the Atlantic.

Clear SWing". To get a clear siting, i. e. to get ample scope or a good opportunity. Also, full swing.

Clear the Skirts. To vindicate the political character, to clear it from taint.

You do not in the least touch the question, nor do youclear the skirts of Gen Grant and of your party, for the basest treachery to the people.

(Letter in New York Tribune.)

Clear the track. A figure borrowed from railway parlance, and mean- ing to clear a way, either figuratively or literally, of all obstructions.

In the imperative tense is a favorite admonition, when summoning persons to get out of one's way.

Clearty. A Scotch word sometimes heard in sense of sticky, as of soil that sticks to the plough.

Clearweed (Pilea pumila). A species of nettle, so called from its semi- transparent stems. Also, richwood.

Clerk (to). To engage oneself as clerk in a store, to act as a clerk. Especially common in the West. Also, to clerk it.

Clevel. In New England, a grain of corn. Also, devil.

CleveP. Used in the United States in two senses : one implying a com- pound of good nature, honesty and obligingness ; the other, which is the accepted definition in England, implying an active, alert, adroit, ready use of means in the power of the user. That is to say, an Ame- rican clever man is one who adapts himself easily to the ways and

OLE— CLO 123

wishes of those around him, while the clever Englishman would be more akin to one who is called here a " smart " man.

Still provincial, in American sense, in several parts of England.

It must also be remarked that the American clever is only heard colloquially, and is even then fast getting superseded by the English sense of the word.

Cleverly. Sometimes heard, in New England, in sense of possibly, rea- sonably. " As soon as I cleverly can."

Cleverness. Amiable disposition of mind, kindness. (New England.) Obligingness, good nature.

Cling, Clingstone. A popular name for a v ariety of peaches in which the pulp adheres firmly to the stones. Those of which the reverse can be said are called free-stones.

Clingjohn. A rye cake lightly baked.

Clink. In New Jersey, used of two chairs w hich are tilted so as par- tially to support each other, each having two legs on the floor.

Clinker-built. A variation of the English term "clincher- built," applied to a class of boats in which the lower edge of every plank overlays the next under it.

Also used idiomatically to convey the idea of absolute certainty, or completeness in its way, thoroughness.

Clip. A blow, or stroke with the hand.

Still provincial in England. Bailey and Halliwell have a "clop" for a blow.

Clip (to). To give a blow.

ClippeP-Ship. A sailing-ship built expressly for speed, from to clip, i. e. to fly, to cut the air or waves.

Though American in origin, the term has now ceased to be exclusive to the United States.

The clipper-ships owed their origin to the eager competition for the new trade which sprang up between the Pacific coast and the Atlantic sea-ports, after California had been incorporated in the Union.

ClOCkmutch (Dutch Uap-mut$, a night cap). A New- York provincialism designing a quaint, though" not unbecoming woman's cap, composed of three pieces, a straight centre one, from the forehead to the neck, with two side-pieces. The dockmutch is still worn by some old-fashioned ladies, and a fair representation of it is often seen in Gerard Dow's paintings.

Also dapmatch, which besides being used in the above sense, is applied moreover to the designation of a certain kind of sealskin.

124

CLO— COA

Close. Scarce or difficult to obtain, in speaking of money. In England, " tight" is more generally used.

Close-herding". A cowboy's term for the difficult art of keeping cattle together in a close body.

By extension, to keep closely together, in speaking of persons, as when a sheriff, out West, will talk of close-herding several prisoners in his charge.

Close one's peepers. To go to sleep.

Close OUt. In trading parlance, to clear out, to dispose of without reserve.

Clothier. A term applied both to the manufacturer of cloth, as well as to the merchant converting it into garments.

ClOtten house. In Newfoundland, a poor one-story house, built of small hewn sticks, set vertically. Also called a tilt.

Cloud. A large woollen knit wrap for the head. Now, as well known in England.

The French - Canadians have literally translated the word into " image."

Cloudburst. The climax of a storm.

Cloud up. To become overcast, to grow cloudy, in speaking of the sky. " The sky is clouded up."

Clove (Dutch Move, a cleft). Along the Hudson river, and especially in the Catskills, a narrow gap or valley, a ravine, a gorge. Somewhat analogous to the notch of New England.

Club-tail. A common name applied to the shad, on the coast of Caro- lina, from the swollen aspect of the tail of this fish, at certain seasons, of the year, when fattened up.

Cluckers. In Southern Jersey, a name applied to frozen oysters. See rattlers.

Coach. In college slang, the director of any athletic team. Used gene- rally, as the foot-ball coach.

Coaehwhip. A name applied to a harmless colubrine serpent of the genus " Masticophis," inhabiting southerly portions of the United States.

Coal. The anthracite coal is tlms classified, according to the different sizes offered for sale :

1. Furnace coal ; 2. Egg coal ; 3. Stove ; 4. Chestnut ; 5. Pea or nut ; 6. Coal dust.

COA-COD 125

Coast (on the). Near at hand, hard by. Said by DeVere to be peculiar to Nantucket fishermen.

Coast (to). In boy's parlance, to slide down a frozen or snow-covered hill on a sled. (New York and New England.)

Now used in England by cyclists in the sense of going down a hill.

Coasting1. The amusement of sliding down hills in winter.

Coat. Used in the South for " petticoat." This contraction is also pro- vincial in some paits of England.

Cob. The stalk of maize or Indian corn. When the kernels are attached to it, it is called an ear.

Probably from the old English word "cob," meaning the top or head.

Cobbler. (1) A drink concocted of wine, sugar, lemon, and pounded ice, and imbibed through straws or other tubes.

(2) A Western dish, consisting in a kind of open fruit pie, with a very thick layer of dough.

Cocash (Ind. ). A plant (Erigeron canadense) much used by the Northern Indians for medical purposes.

Also called squaw-iceed.

Both names are also given to another medicinal plant (Senecio aureus) used for diseases of the skin.

Cochranites. A rather notorious sect who, for some time, scandalized the communities of New England by public exhibitions of so gross a character, that the authorities were more than once compelled to intervene in behalf of public order and decency. Among other articles of faith, the " Cockranites " were claiming to have arrived at such a state of perfection that they had become angels or seraphs, and as such could appear in public in the traditional garb of our first parents.

Coek Of the plains (Centrocercus urophasianus). A species of prairie- fowl, so called by Audubon, to signify his appreciation of the size and beauty of that bird.

This fine grouse is however more commonly known at the sage-hen.

Cocktail. A stimulating beverage, made of some liquor, mixed with bitters, sugar and a little water, or crushed ice.

CoCO-gTaSS. A weedy plague of the South, much dreaded by planters, as, when once fairly rooted, it will speedily ruin any field.

Cocum. See poke-berry.

C. 0. D. Collect or cash on delivery.

Letters put upon packages sent by express, and meaning that paymen . for same has to be made on delivery.

126

COD— COL

Hence, also, the colloquial use of the initials C. 0. D. to signify regularity and frequency

Codfish aristocracy. A name applied, especially in New England, to " parvenus " deficient in intelligence and good manners, from supposing that their money was made out of the fisheries.

Co-ed (abb. of co-educate). In college slang, used adjectively of an institution educating both sexes.

Coffee-tree (Gymnocladuscanadensis). An ornamental tree with valuable wood, and so called from its seeds being at times used as a substitute for coffee. This was especially the case during the Civil War. Also called Kentucky coffee-tree, and Kentucky locust.

Cohees. A nickname given to certains communities of Western Pennsyl- vania, from their use of the archaic form quo' he, i. e. " quoth he. "

Cohog (Ind.). A beautiful welk bearing the scientific name of "Venus mercenaria, " from its being a substitute among Indians for money. Also quahaug. See peac, seaioan, wampum.

CohOSh (Ind. ). An Indian name for a well known medicinal herb ( Actsea racemosa), comprising several varieties, the best known of which are the blue, white, and black cohosh. See pappoose root.

Coker-saek.

bran, etc.

In parts of the South, a sack of heavy stuff for corn,

Colcannon night. Almost universal in St John, Newfoundland, for Hallowe'en, and used by those who eat colcannon on that night.

Cold. At game of poker, cold or a cold deck is a good hand or a packed hand, i. e. a good hand right at the very start, without the necessity of drawing fresh cards.

(2) Certain, positive : cold cash. " I give it out cold that I will do it."

(3) Stale. Gold bread is stale bread.

(4) Distant. Said in New England of one whoj in play hunting to find a thing concealed, is remote from it.

Cold flour. A back-woodman's dish, consisting of parched and pulve- rized maize mixed with sugar, and stirred into a paste with water. Also known as nocake (New England), and pinole (Spanish districts).

Cold SCald. A double misfortune or trouble, the idea conveyed being that of getting frozen and scalded at one and the same time.

Cold Shut. Among trappsrs, out West, a split ring, which can be fastened by hammering, and which is used to make fast a trap's chain to a log.

COL— COL

127

Cold-Slaw (Dutch kool-slaa, cabbage salad). A salad consisting of cabbage leaves cut fine, and dressed with vinegar and oil, pepper and salt. The term, it may be remarked, is a very curious corruption of the original word, the prefix cold having been substituted to kool from an utter ignorance of the latter's foreign etymology, and simply through an innate desire to twist an unfamiliar word into a more pleasant shape. See hot-slaw.

Colima, co-lee'-mah (Sp.). In Texas, a species of dwarf prickly ash (Xanthoxylum pterola).

Collect (Dutch kolk, a pit, a lake). A depression in which rain water forms a temporary pond ; a large puddle.

A portion of New York — the neighborhood of the Tombs and Five Points — was formerly, on that account, known as " The Collect."

Collect (to). To receive money, without any connotation of gathering together. " To collect accounts."

A contraction for " to collect payments."

Collector. The principal officer, in a custom-house. Equivalent to the superintendent of the English service.

Collide. A collision.

Collide (to). To come in collision with. Formerly confined to railway phraseology, but now extended to mean any collision whatever, i. e. the violent meeting of vessels, persons, etc.

The term is a good English word, which has simply fallen into disuse in England, but is now again making its way into popular favor.

Collier. In New Jersey, used for a charcoal-burner.

Colonel. A courtesy title of all work, whether one has served with the colors or not.

A similar laxity is observable as regards professional titles, such as judge, professor, etc. Indeed, so numerous are colonels and judges in the United States as to lead one to suppose that the entire population has gathered unto itself the quintessence of the earth, as far as martial valor and legal learning are concerned.

ColOF. In mining parlance, a " speck of gold."

Colorado beetle. An insect pest about half-an-inch long, and, in color, yellow striped with black, whose name has especially become, unhappily, too familiar to growers of potatoes. Also called potato buy.

Colored. A euphemism applied to negroes, and which was especially most rife during the period immediately succeeding the Civil War, when the Republicans were striving to enhance the importance of the black

128 COM— COM

Other terms of contempt, sickly philanthropy, and humor, as the case may be, are contraband, niggers, freemen, and unbleached Americans.

Also used adjectively, in sense of pertaining to the negroes. " The colored vote. "

Comal (Mex. comalli). In Texas, a slightly hollow ustensil of stone or earthenware on which " tortillas " are cooked or baked.

Combine. A combination of persons for a common object, as for instance a trade union.

Used with same meaning as trust, but supposed not to be quite so distasteful to opponents of monopolies.

Come (to). This verb is used in a variety of slang ways, many of which are, no doubt, of English origin, although it is very difficult to draw the line with any degree of precision.

To come around, to entice, to lure, to prevail upon.

To come down, to abate prices. Also, to furnish money, equiv. of " to stump it. "

To come down from the walls, to abandon one's position, to retire.

To come in with, to bring forth, to litter. (N. Eng. )

To come it over, to convince by argument, to get the advantage of one.

To come it strong, to work vigorously, to act with force.

To come off, to occur.

To come out, (1) to make a profession of one's belief or religion. An expression used among certain religious enthusiasts.

(2) To fare in an undertaking. ' ' How did you come out of it ? " Hence to come out of the little end of the horn, an allusion to the thin

end of the horn of plenty, meaning " to fare badly. "

(3) To make one's first appearance in society, in speaking especially of a youg maiden.

To come up to the chalk, to come up to the mark, to fulfill one's pro- mises, to perform one's duty. Equiv. to the Eng. " coming up to the scratch. "

To come upon the town, in New England, to be supported at the public charge, or in the poor-house.

To come up smiling, to be impervious to rebuff or disaster ; to meet defeat without flinching.

Come-alongS. Articles of twine or wire, used by policemen in lieu of handcuffs.

Come-by-chance. Used, in parts of New England, in speaking of an illegitimate child.

Come down. Used as a substantive in sense of a fall, whether of pride or worldly prospects.

Come OUt. Used as a substantive in sense of something to admire, praise, or commend. " There is some come out in him after all."

COM— CON 129

Come-OUterS. A cant term applied, especially in New England and the Northern States, to all those who have come out from the religious organizations with which they were previously connected, and who, holding aloof from any distinctive bodies, profess to be independent concerning matters of faith.

Somewhat analogous to the " libres-penseurs " of France.

Comical. Has in the South the meaning of strange, or extraordinary.

The French-Canadians have also the word dr6le (funny) used in same sense.

Comltick (Ind.). A sort of sledge, drawn by dogs, in use in Labrador.

Commencement. Among college students, the closing exercises of the college year, when the degrees are conferred, and the graduates go out to commence active life.

Common-doings. Plain every day fare, in opposition to specially prepared dainties, or chicken-fixings.

Of Western origin, and at first restricted to the above meaning, but now extended in its application to persons, actions, and things in general of an inferior kind.

Commons. In college slang, board furnished to the students by purveyors on behalf of the college. Also, the dining rooms or buildings where the students partake of the college fare.

Company. A name applied, in California, to an amalgamation of five societies, maintaining a sort of Chinese intelligence and assurance office on a large scale.

Compass-plant (Silphium laciniatum). A plant, so called from its leaves being supposed to point north and south. Also called roxin-vxed.

Complected. Complexioned, of a certain complexion. Usually, with the addition of another word, as light-complected, etc.

Compliment. In the South- West, synonym with present.

Comprador (Sp.). An agent, sub-contractor, or boss stevedore, in the formerly Spanish States.

ConastOgaS. See con&itoya*.

Conceit (to). To have in view, to think, to form an idea. Equiv. to reckon, guess, calculate. (Interior of Xe\v England.)

Formerley colloquial in England in sense of to think, but now obsolete, although the substantive conceit still lingers in a somewhat similar sense.

Coneeity. Over particular . " He's too ccnccily about what h,- cats." 9

130

CON— CON

Concern. A term much used in the mercantile world, as applying to a certain business without regard to size.

Provincial in England and Ireland, where it denotes a small estate.

Concession. In Canada, a subdivision of a township, bordered by a public road.

Conch. (1) A name applied to the inhabitants of the Bahamas, and of the Keys of the Florida reef, from their extensive use of the flesh from concho as food.

(2) A name applied, in Key West, to a wrecker.

(3) A name applied to white inhabitants of parts of North Carolina. Also written conk, conck, konk.

Conchas (Sp.). Silver ornaments attached to the spurs worn by cowboys and other plainsmen, on high days and holiday occasions. (S. W. )

Conduct (to). Frequently used, especially in New England, without the reflexive pronoun, that is, instead of "to conduct oneself."

An offensive barbarism, which has also crept, <>i late, into the pages of several English writers.

Conducta. con-dook-tah (Sp. ). The name of the "caravan," in New Mexico, and other formerly Spanish States.

Conductor. A railway official, who has entire charge of a train, and whose functions, on the whole, somewhat resemble those of the "guard," in England.

Also captain, a sobriquet drawn by analogy from water traffic.

Conepate (Mex. conepatl). A term used to designate the skunk, in some of the Southern States.

ConestOga hOPSe. A breed of large, strong, and heavily-built horses, which was originated in Pennsylvania, and was so named from the Coneetoga river.

Conestogas. In the West, coarse, rough shoes or boots. Also, stogies.

Conestoga-wagon. A covered wagon of a large capacity, specially built for the powerful Conestoga horses.

Coney. Counterfeit money.

Confectionery. In the South- West, and other parts of the West, a bar- room or saloon. Also, grocery.

Confederate. A term applied, during the Civil War, to any person or anything connected with the Confederacy of the Southern States.

CON— CON 131

In Texas, the word confederate, is sometimes used in a very singular sense, being then synonymous with the Yankee's " About East." Thus, when wishing to express the strongest possible approval of something, the Texan will be wont to exclaim : It's mighty confederate."

Confederate States. A name assumed, in 1861, by the Southern States which seceded from the Union on the question of slavery.

Congress. The American Legislature, consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. From 1774, until near the close of the Revolution, the Legislature was called the Continental Congress, and it was the Federal Congress which ruled the country from 1781 to 1789.

Congressional. Pertaining to the Congress of the United States. Emanating from Congress.

Congressman. A member of Congress, and especially a member of the House of Representatives.

ConiackOP. A counterfeiter of coin.

Conjecture (tO). Used in New England, with a kind of mental reserva- - tion, in same sense as calculate, guess, from the ingrained characteristic of the New-Englander of never venturing upon a direct statement when there is the slightest possibility of mistake.

ConkePbill. In the Canadian Maritime provinces and Newfoundland, said of an icicle hanging from the eaves of a house or from a horse's nose.

Connection (in this). A favorite New-England phrase, meaning " in connection with this subject."

Connections. Persons related by marriage, as distinguished from those united by common descent, and who are called " relations."

The English words kinsman and kinswoman are but rarely heard in the United States.

Connections (tO make Close). Said when trains meet at junctions without causing delay to the traveller.

Conniption fit. In New England and New York, often used as a synonym for hysteria, or a state of collapse. Also, an overwrought state of mind, or nervous excitement.

Connubiate. To act in concert with, to act with.

Considerable. Of frequent occurrence, as adverb or noun, especially in the North, in the sense of much, a good deal, or for emphasizing qualities and quantities as applied to men and things. " He is considerable of a doctor. I've heard considerable of him. "

Consumpted (tO be). To have consumption of the lungs, to be a phtisic

132

CON— CON

Contemplate. To propose, to intend, to have in view. An enlarged form is " to have in contemplation." The French-Canadians make a similar use of the Fr. verb ' 'contempler. "

Continental. (1) Frequently used for colonial, in the early days of the Independence.

First applied to the Congress of 1774 ; then to the army raised under its auspices ; and then to the money or scrip issued by it.

(2) A trooper, or armed patriot, during the War of Independence.

Continental dam. Not worth a continental dam, a curious slang phrase handed down from the times of the American Revolution, and which is almost universally applied to the utterly valueless " continental " paper- money of those days.

The phrase is, however, traced back to a very different origin by Richard Grant White, who thinks it is only a mere modification of others of the same sort, as a tinker's, a trooper's damn, etc. A " continental's damn " was at first used, and afterwards the sign of the possession was gradually dropped.

Continentals. The uniform of the Continental troops during the War of the Revolution. Used exactly as the term " regimentals " is now employed.

Continuance. Sometimes used in sense of remand. This sense has obviously come, by an easy transition, from that which signifies duration.

Contraband. A term applied, during the Civil War, to the negro slaves in the South, who were then treated as " contraband of war. " General Butler, when first stationed at Fortress Monroe, is credited with the honour of having invtnted this jvery happy designation, although the term had previously been applied to negroes in Africa, as slaves or chattels, by captain Canot.

During the Civil War, the negro slave of the South was also often designated, by newspaper correspondents, as the "intelligent contraband."

Contraption. A factitious word meaning a contrivance, any new-fangled device.

Contraptions. A genuine African vulgarism applied to any new-fangled, peculiar thing or idea, as for instance an extravagant form of dress, an unusual manner of speech, etc.

Contrive. Noticed by WTitherspoon in the " Druid Letters, " in sense of to perform, to do anything by contrivance.

Bartlett says the word can still be heard in remote parts of New England, but we incline to think that it has come to be now nearly altogether obsolete.

Convenient. Has assumed, in the United States, the new meaning of near at hand, within easy reach. " Wood and water convenient to the house. "

CON— COO 133

Convention. An assembly of delegates to accomplish a specific object, civil, political, or ecclesiastical.

The most important conventions are those held, by the different political parties, for the purpose of nominating candidates for the Presidency. The delegates number many hundred, and the vote is recorded as the roll of States is called from the presiding officer's desk

In former times, that is, before increased facilities for travel, in a country as large as the United States, had really made possible the assembling of National Conventions, it was in Washington that general nominations were made, the Congressmen representing the two great parties meeting in caucus for the purpose.

Goodies. The name of a political party which originated, in 1814, in the State of New York.

So called from Abimelek Goody, a fictitious name for Gulian C. Verplank, a distinguished writer, who under cover of the above signa- ture, was the originator of the party in a series of well-written articles published in a New York paper.

A full account will be found in Hammond's Political History of New York.

Coof. In Nantucket, Mass., a local term for all "off- islanders."

Cookey (Dutch koekje, little cake). A little tit-bit ; a small, flat, sweet cake.

Also used for small cakes of various other forms, with or without sweetening.

See oly-cook.

He's lost every hoof and hide, I'll bet a cookey !

(Bret Harte, Luck of Roaring Camp, p. 227.)

Cook-house. (1) In the Southern States, a small detached building for cook's use. An out-door kitchen. (2) On board ship, the cook's galley.

Cooler. (1) The calaboose, or police station.

(2) A refreshing beverage, a drink of spirits.

(3) In college slang, a sharp retort, or a treatment purposely rude.

Cooling-board. A ghastly name given in Pennsylvania and Maryland to the board or slab upon which a dead body is laid out.

CoolwOPt (Tiarella cordifolia). A medicinal herb, celebrated for its diuretic and tonic qualities, and which is one of the far-famed remedies of the Shakers.

Coon. (1) A shortened and popular form of raccoon (q. v. ).

(2) A common term for a negro.

(3) A political nickname first applied, in 1840, to members of the Whig party, either because, as some claim, that party adopted the skin

134 COO— COP

of the raccoon as a kind of badge, or as a derisive epithet suggestive of the known character of the animal, up to all manner of shifts in self -def ens •.

(4) A gone coon is said of a man who finds himself in a serious or hopeless difficulty. A forcible phrase drawn from the idea of a coon which has been " treed."

See gone coon.

Coon'S age. A common expression, in the South, for any long period of time.

CooneP. A common term, at the South, for a canoe.

CoonePy. Whiggery, from the word "coon" having been applied to members of the Whig party. Hence also perhaps, in the Southern States, the whimsical corruption of " chicanery," which they have travestied into " shecoonery," as though it were a sort of mild feminine whiggery.

Coon-OysteP. In New Jersey, a small oyster attached to the sedge, rather than to its usual solid supports.

Coontie (Ind. ). An arrow-root indigenous in Florida (Tamia integrifolia), and from which is obtained a farina which is much esteemed. The root is-, however, in its crude state, very poisonous, and much care must be taken in extracting its deadly properties.

Coop (to). In political slang, to coop voters is to collect and confine them, as it were in a coop or cage, so as to be sure of their services on election day. For obvious reasons, which need not be further explained, liquor dealers become the usual cooper* on such occasions.

Coot. A small water-fowl (Fulica), living in marshes, and which differs considerably from its European namesake.

By extension, often applied also to a stupid or weak-minded person, a simpleton. In this connection, Halliwell notices the old proverbial saying " As stupid as a coot, " which is still provincial in England.

COOteP (Cistudo Carolina). A local name, in the South, for the common

box-turtle of the United States.

Copa (Sp.). In the formerly Spanish States, a land-mark, or any well- known tree or group of trees in the prairie by which travellers or cow- boys are guided.

A diminutive form is capita.

Copperhead. (1) A venomous and noisome serpent (Trigonocephalus con- tortrix), whose bite is considered as deadly as that of the rattlesnake, and which is so much more dangerous that it gives no warning of its approach or whereabouts.

Other popular names are chunk-head, copper-belly, deaf adder, dumb rattlesnake, red adder, red eye, red viper.

COP -COR 135

(•2) A term of transient currency applied, during the Civil War, to stay-at-home Northern men who sympathised with the South ; also to the Peace party, which was suspected of favouring the South.

Equivalent to " secret foe, " the copperhead being wont to lye in ambush and strike without warning.

Abbreviated into cap.

(3) A term of contempt for the Indian or Redman, among the early Dutch colonists.

Copperheadism. Policy of Copperheads during the Civil War ; sym- pathy of Northern men for the Confederates.

Copse. An abbreviated form of " copsewood, " sometimes used for a small wood, or a low growth of shrubs and bushes.

Coral-berry (Symphoricarpus vulgaris). The Indian currant of Missouri. Also, Indian currant.

Corbigfeau, cor-bee-jo (Fr. C. ). The French-Canadian name of a species of curlew (Numenius hudsonius), of the Gulf of St Lawrence.

This word is met in some relations of travels of the first years of the 18th century.

COPd. (1) A solid measure, equal to 128 cubic ft, used for wood or other . coarse material. (Old Eng. )

The French-Canadians similarly use the Fr. word " corde. "

Wood thus sold is called cord-wood.

(2) In the West, any indefinite and large quantity: "cords of money."

The enlargement of the term is probably due to the plentiful supply of wood, once so common in those regions.

Cordelle (Fr. ). A Western name for a tow-line.

Also, to cordelle, to propel by means of a tow-line.

Corder. In colonial times, a town officer who measured fuel by the cord. The term disappeared at the end of the 18th century.

Corduroy. To make a corduroy road, over a swamp or marsh. The roads towards Corinth were corduroyed and new ones made.

(U. S. Grant, Personal Memoirs, I. 372.)

Corduroy road. In new " clearings, " a rough kind of a road, consisting of loose poles or logs laid across a swa;np, and so called in allusion to the ribbed appearance of the " corduroy " velvet.

Similarly, a plank road; a road made with a flooring of planks laid across the tracks.

Corn. A word universally appropriated to maize, in the United States, Also, Indian corn.

In England, corn is a generic name for all cerean grain, as wheat, rye, oats, barley. It is also interesting hero to remark that most Teutonic peoples are in the habit of specializing the signification of the term, and

136 COR— COR

denoting by it thier most important cereal. Thus, and although it sometimes includes other varieties, the word " corn " stands primarily for rye in Northern and Central Germany ; for spelt in Franconia, Swabia, and most of Switzerland ; for oats in Scotland ; for barley in Sweden and Ireland.

See flint corn, pop-corn, she-corn.

Corn balls. A sweet-meat made of pop-corn and molasses.

Corn blade. The leaf of the maize.

Corn bread. Maize meal bread which is unfermented with yeast.

Corn brooms. Brooms made from the dried seedstalks of a species of maize called broom-corn.

Corn COb. The spike on which the kernels of maize grow.

Corn-cob-pipe, a pipe manufactured from the maize cob.

Corn-cob-xheU, a weapon of offense much in vogue during the Civi War, made by taking the pith out of the cob of a full ear of corn and replacing it with powder.

Corn-cracker. A sobriquet for a native of Kentucky.

Also the name for a poor white in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and other Southern States.

Corn-cracker State, the State of Kentucky.

Corn crib. A sort of lattice-work structure, in which the dried ears of maize are kept.

Corn dodger. A oake made of corn-meal and baked very hard. Also hoe-cake, Johny-cake, or simply dodyer.

In Virginia and in the West, dodger has also the meaning of unleavened corn-bread.

Cornel-tree (Cornus florida). The common dog-wood, a beautiful and useful tree, covered in early spring with large snowy-white flowers, which are replaced in the autumn by brilliant scarlet berries.

Not to be confounded with the poison sumac, which also is popularly called dog-wood. '

Corner. (1) An artificial scarcity in any commodity, created for purposes of gain by brokers and dealers. " A corner in pork, etc."

An operation in any article of speculation, by which the " shorts," not having the goods to deliver, are " cornered."

(2) In the newly-settled districts of the West, a mark on a tree, standing for the boundary line on a claim or tract of land. For instance, surveyors will say, in speaking of a particular claimant, that they often meet with his corners.

Also the tree itself so marked, which tree is besides called a corner- tree, a witness-tree.

COR— COR 137

Corner (to). (1) To raise artificially the price of a stock or a commodity. (2) To get the advantage of another person in an argument.

Corner on (to have a). (1) To have on hand a larger quantity of stock or other commodities than is really on the market.

(2) Also used colloquially in the sense of having the command of, or taking first place in anything.

Corner trees. In newly settled districts of the West, trees marking the corners of the boundary lines of a homestead, and which have been blazed in order that they might be .distinguished from others. Also called simply corners, and witness -trees.

COPn-fleld SehOOl. The old-time school house of the South.

Corn fodder. Maize sown broadcast, and left to take care of itself, after which it is used for cattle as fodder.

Corn fritter. A fritter, in the batter of which green corn has been mingled, after being grated.

Corn husk. The coarse outer leaves enclosing the ear of maize. Also, corn-shuck, corn-trash.

Corn husking1. An assembling of young people, in the country, at a neighbor's house, to strip the husks from the year's crop of maize. Also husking frolic, or simply husking, and corn-shucking.

Corn j Uiee. A Western term for whiskey.

Corn meal. Maize meal.

Corn oyster. A dish somewhat si milar to a corn-fritter, and supposed to taste like the oyster.

Corn pone. A tin-baked maize-meal bread, enriched with milk and eggs. Corn popper. A sieve-like ustensil for making pop-corn.

Corn-right. In the early days of settlement, in Virginia, the title under which land was acquired, it being then sufficient for a settler to plant an acre of corn to be entitled to one hundred acres of land.

Corn-snake (Scotophis guttatus). A large harmless serpent which frequents the corn-fields of the South.

Corn-Stalk. The stalk of the maize plant.

Corn-Stalk fiddle. A child's play-thing, ma de by loosening the external fibre of a corn stalk and placing a fiddle b ridge under each extremity.

Corn tassels. The graceful, feathery flowers of the maize plant.

Cornwallis. The name of a mock-muster held annually in New England to commemorate the surrender at Yorktown.

There is fun to a Cornwallis, I ain't agoin' to deny it.

(J. R. LOWELL, Biglow Papers, I. p, 26

138 COR— COT

COPOna, cor-on'-ah (Sp. ). Specifically, in the formerly Spanish States, the highly decorated piece of canvas used to put over each pack.

COPpOPOSity. A Pennsylvania word used for referring to the living body, the human form.

This corporosity touches the ground in a vain attempt to reach it.

(J. C. XEAL, Charcoal Sketches.)

COPPal (Sp. ). In the South-West, a circular enclosure, often tempo- rarily made with wagons, into which horses and cattle are driven for safety or other puposes.

Evidently the same as the Dutch kraal, used in South Africa for same purposes.

COTPal (to). In the South-West, to secure, to pen up horses or cattle in an enclosure, for the purpose of fending and feeding them. Also, to make up the enclosure itself.

Now colloquially extended, all over the West, in the general sense of "to embarrass in anyway." For instance, a criminal will be corralled in prison, and a debtor is corralled with debts ; Indians will corral men on the plains, and a storm will corral tourists in the mountains.

COPSe, cor-say' (Sp.). In the South-West, a ranchman's word for the cover of light leather used to protect the saddle in wet weather. Also, cource, course.

Cossade (Fr. C.). Among the French-Canadians, a name applied to a sort of marshhawk or buzzard (Falco hudsonius), frequenting the shores of rivers, or low swampy lands.

Cotbetty. A molly-coddle, a man who meddles with woman's special duties in a household.

Probably a compound of " cot, " which English glossaries give as meaning an effeminate, troublesome man, and " betty, " used very much in the same sense.

Cotton-bagging". A coarse hempen cloth, chiefly manufactured in Kentucky, and used as an outside wrapping for cotton bales. Also, simply bagging.

Cottondom. The region of the South, where cotton is grown. Also called Cottonia.

CottonmOUth (species of Trigonocephalus). A deadly snake found in Arkansas, and thought to be the same as the moccasin snake. So called from a white streak along the lips.

Cotton-POek. A variety of magnesian lime-stone found in Missouri, very valuable for building purposes, and probably so called because, when first bared to the light, its color somewhat resembles fresh gathered cotton-wool.

COT— COU 139

Cotton-Seed Oil. The oil of the cotton-seed, a product mainly used for adulteration purposes, and which has given rise to quite a large industry .

CottonWOOd. The name of several species of poplars, from the cotton- like substance in which the seeds are protected againt the cold.

The common eastern specie is the " Populus monilifera," otherwise called alamo in the South and South-West.

Couac, koo-ak. A species of heron (Nyctiardea grisea), frequenting the Gulf of St-Lawrence region, and so called from its peculiar cry.

COU blanc (Fr. C. ). Among the French-Canadians, a name applied to the ring-necked plover (Tringa hiaticula).

Coulee (Fr.). (1) In the West, a dried up creek or ravine ; a gully or narrow rocky valley of great depth.

In Mexico and California, called arroyo.

(2) In the Canadian North- West, a valley through which generally a stream runs. Also, cooley.

Council flP6. The sacred fire kept burning, in the middle of an encamp ment, while Indians hold their council.

Count. In Southern Jersey, a common name for a terrapin six inche across belly, fit for market.

A six-inch female terrapin is called a cow.

Count Clams. On the coast of New Jersey, quahaugs, 800 to the barrel.

CounterbPand. In the prairie regions, a duplicate mark placed upon cattle when sold, and which annuls the original title.

CountCPbPand (tO). To destroy a brand, on cattle, by branding on the opposite side.

CountPy-j akes. In parts of the South, country-folk, people from the backwoods. Equiv. to the English " country -joskins " or " country- bumpkins."

Count ties. To tramp a railroad, as when a tramp is compelled to walk on the ties of a railroad.

Coup (Fr.). Among the Indian tribes of the Northern plains, a very curious custom exists which is as yet unexplained. When a foe has been struck down in a fight, the scalp belongs to him who shall first strike the body with knife or tomahawk. This is the coup, so called by the old French trappers, predecessors of the Hudson bay company. The conse- quence is that, when a foe falls, even in the hottest fight, the slayer must at once, in order to obtain proper recognition of his act, give up all thought of further killing, make or give his coup, and take the scalp.

140 COU— COW

By extension, any special success or good stroke of fortune is often apt, in the West, to be called a coup, in which sense the word still also survives to this day among the French-Canadians.

Couree. See corse.

Court. In New England, the name of a legislative body composed of a House of Representatives and a Senate. " The General Court of Massa- chussetts. "

Court-House. A curious usage, which applies however mainly to official documents, prevails in Virgina of designating the county towns as the Court-Houses, without regard to their proper names. Thus Providence, the county town of Halifax, is known as Fairfax Court- ffouse, and so forth.

The same custom has also existed, to some extent, in South Carolina and Maryland.

Court Of Assistants. A court formerly in existence in New England, where a magistrate or an assistant presided. These courts were sub- sequently merged in the County Court.

Cove. (1) A term taken from sea phraseology to indicate a strip of prairie running into the woodland.

(2) A hollow, nook, or recess in a mountain. Used especially, in this sense, in parts of the Appalachian range.

See dove and notch.

Coverelip (genus Achius). The curious name by which the sole is known in the waters of New York. An equally curious appellation for the same fish is calico.

(Viburnum lentago). A small, .shrivelled fruit, somewhat resembling the common cranberry, and found in the mountains of New England.

Cow-bird (Icterus pecoris). A species of bobolink, so called from its habit of searching for food among the droppings of cattle. Also, cow -blackbird, coiupen-bird.

Cow-boy. (1) A cattle herder, or drover, in the West and South- West. Also called a cow-puncher.

(2) A contemptuous appellation applied, during the War of the Revo- lution, to the tory partisans of Westchester county, New York, and in 1861 to semi-secessionnists in New England. At the time the term first came into usage in New York, the tories had obtained, in the eyes of their opponents, an unenviable reputation for their barbarous and ruffianly ways, and it is probable that the word was afterwards perpetuated as a name for cattle-herders, because descriptive of their real or alleged rough manners and customs.

COW— CRA 141

Cowboyism. A general term tipifying the spirit and practices of the cowboys.

Cow-eateheP. A contrivance triangular in shape, fixed in front of a railway locomotive, to clear the line of cattle or other obstructions. In England, called plough.

Cow-grass. A weed which constitutes one of the plagues of farming in the Southern States.

Cow-hide. A whip of undressed leather, that is made of twisted strips of rawhide, and is principally in use amongst ranchmen and cowboys. Also, cow-skin, vaw-hide.

Cow-hide (to). To chastise with the cow-hide.

Cowlick. A slang term for a peculiar smooth arrangement of the hair, from its presenting the appearance of having been licked by a cow.

Cow-paPSnip (Heraclum latanum). The popular name of one of the far-famed Shaker remedies, celebrated for its carminative and diuretic properties.

Cow-pease. A small black bean abounding in a wild state in Texas, and forming food for man and beast.

Cow-pony. Among cowboys, a mustang before it is broken in.

Cow-town. In the West, the local centres of the stock-raising industry are often so called.

COW-whip. Among cowboys a very long lash with a very short stock, which is u^ed only in driving the herd.

Coyote (Alex, coyotl). The common name of the prairie wolf (Canis latrans), abundant almost everywhere from the great plains to the Pacific.

Often improperly spelled cayote. See f/opher.

Coyote (to). A California term meaning to sink, in the gold mines, small, shallow shafts resembling the burrow in which the prairie-wolf lives.

Also used substantively for the digging itself.

CoyOtillO, co-yo-teel'-yo. A shrub of Western Texas (Karwinskia Humboldtiana), bearing blackish berries of which the coyote is particu- larly fond. Hence, its name.

Crab-graSS (Agenus Digitaria). A species of grass, abounding in Louisiana and Texas, much to the detriment of growing crops, and yet makes excellent fodder.

142

Crab lantern.

turnover pie.

CRA— CRA

In the South, the curious name for a small pasty or

Crack (to). To forge bank-notes, cheques ; to utter worthless paper.

Possibly an idiomatic extension of the Eng. slang phrase " to crack," i. e. to force, and " cracksman," a burglar.

A person of remarkable ability. Applied especially to

Crackajack.

bicyclists.

Cracker. (1) A small, hard biscuit. Still provincial in North of England.

(2) A -small firework, what in England is called a "squib," which word is only heard here in political slang.

(3) A nickname applied to the poor whites of Georgia and South Carolina, from cracked corn being their supposed chief article of diet.

See Cracker State.

(4) A lampoon, or "mot d'esprit, " what in England is termed a " squib. "

boy. A boy attendant on "crackers," machines used for pulverizing anthracite coal.

Cracker State. The State of Georgia is occasionally so designated, from the " crackers, " the lowest and most ignorant of its citizens before the abolition of slavery.

Crackling-bread. Corn bread interspersed with cracklings.

Crackling's. (1) A favorite dish of the South, consisting of the crisp residue of hog fat, after the lard is fried out. In England, " crackling " is the crisp rind of roast pork. Also called goody 'bread. (2) A Southern term for the cinders remaining of a wood-fire.

Crack-loo. A game among bar-room loafers and others, which consists in pitching coins so that, after touching the ceiling, they shall descend as near as possible to a certain crack in the floor which has been previously selected.

Crack on (to). To put on, to apply with energy. A verb synonymous with prompt and energetic performance. " To crack on all hands," i. e. to employ all one's resources.

Cracky. A small hybrid dog. (Nfld. N. B. and N. S.) Cracky-wagon. A one-horse wagon, without springs.

Cradle. (1) A wire net basket, shaped like a child's cradle, and used to wash crushings at the gold fields.

Also called a rocker.

(2) A scythe, with a light frame work attached, used for cutting graiu. Quoted in Halliwell in that sense.

Also, cradle scytle.

CRA— CRA 143

Cradle (to).

(1) To wash ore.

(2) To cut grain with the cradle-scythe.

Cradle-hole. A rut or slight depression in a road, and, more specifi- cally, a spot in a road from which the frost is melting.

Cradle Of Liberty. The old Faneuil Hall of Boston is occasionally so called, from its having been, before the Revolution, the scene of meetings, the purpose of which was to rouse the American people to throw off the English yoke.

Cram. In college slang, one who does much extra work before an exami- nation. Also, a course requiring hard study.

Cram (tO). In college slang, to study hard, i. e. cramming the memory, without regard for assimilation.

Cramp-bark (Viburnum oxycoccus). The popular name of a medicinal plant, having anti-spasmodic properties, and which bears a bright pinkish berry of a very acid taste.

Also called, in New England, cranberry -tree. See pemhina.

Crank. An enthusiast, a fanciful or eccentric person. A man supposed to attach undue importance to some particular scheme or notion. One who manifests a deep enthusiasm in any subject or thing. An erratic person, one of ill-balanced mind.

Also used adjectively in sense of unsteady, capricious, obstinate, self- conceited. " You needn't be so crank about it."

Crap (to). In the West, to raise a crop.

To crat it on the sheers, to farm on rented land.

Crapais, era-pa (Fr. C. ). Among the French-Canadians, a common name for the sun-fish (Pomotis vulgaris).

Crap-house. A negro gambling den, where the game of " craps" ia played.

Craps. A game played with dice by negroes, and of which they are passionately fond.

Crawfish. A turn-coat, a backer-out, and especially a political renegade.

Crawfish (tO). To back out, to retract one's statements, in speaking of members of a political party who suddenly back out of a position they have long maintained, from the well known habit of the crawfish of backing out erf his position under disturbing circumstances. Also, crayfoh.

" To crawfish " is the exact equivalent of the English cant term " to rat."

144

CRA— ORE

Crawflshy. (1) Said of one who manifests a disposition to be a " craw- fish. (2) A term applied to wet land, because inhabited by crawfish.

Crawm. Im parts of New England, a pile of old straw or rubbish.

Crazy. Synonymous with mad, or insane.

This word is very seldom used, in the United States, in the English sense of unsteady, crooked, or shaky, except in such terms as crazy. work (in England, patch-work), crazy-quilt, etc.

Crazy-bone. The funny bone, the point of the elbow, a blow on which causes a painful tingling.

Crazy-quilt. A patch- work counterpane.

Creamery. A dairy, a place where butter is sold, or where milk and cream are put up in cans for market.

CPeam SOda. A favorite summer beverage, composed of ice cream mixed with soda water.

Crease. In hunting, to shoot a horse or deer in the upper part of the neck, so that it falls stunned but is not killed. Special to the West.

Creature. (1) A word generally applied, in the South, to a woman or child, and implying a certain amount of goodness, beauty, and love.

Similarly, the French creature is of constant *ccurrence, among the French Canadians, as applying to women in general.

(2) Also frequently used in the South for an animal, especially a horse, although a more common form would then be critter (q. v. )

Creek. Used extensively, except in most of New England, and as far up as Canada, to mean a running stream of fresh water, which in England is called a " brook," and in the Southern States becomes a " branch."

Creek-bottom. Low land near a creek.

Creep. In Pennsylvania, a stool.

" Creepie" is quoted by Jamieson as a low stool, in his Scottish Dictionary.

Creeper. In Now Kn.;la.i I, a shall 'iw frying-pan, a spider. Creepy. In Pennsylvania, a speckled kind of fowl.

Creeter. In parts of New England, usjd in the general sense of the noun being. " We're all poor creeters." Also, creetur. See crea'.ure.

ORE— CR1 145

Creole (Sp. criollo). This word, used both as a noun and an adjective, simply means " one of native birth," and is also applied, in the South and West Indies, to horses, cattle, and sheep, even to market produce of native growth. In the Southern States, however, the term Creole is never applied by residents to negroes or mulattoes, and in Louisiana (especially in New Orleans) the meaning of the word is restricted to a native of French descent.

Creole French. A dialect or patois of Louisiana, now rapidly passing into disuse.

Creole State. The State of Louisiana, so called from a great number of its inhabitants being descended from French and Spanish settlers.

Cree-OwlS. A facetious adaptation of Creoles sometimes applied, as a nickname, to the inhabitants of Louisiana.

Creosote plant (Larrea mexicana). A plant, characterized by its powerful resinous odor, and abounding in the sandy deserts of California and as far eastwards as Arkansas. It is particularly noxious to animals, and is employed externally in the treatment of rhumatism.

Crescent City. The city of New Orleans, Louisiana, so called because built in the form of a crescent, on a bend of the Mississipi river.

Crescent City Of the West. The city of Galena, Illinois.

Crevasse (Fr.). In the Mississipi region, a breach in the embmknient or " levee " of a river, through the pressure of the waters. R. G. White mentions the word as used by Chaucer.

Crib. (1) On the St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers, a division of a raft of staves, containing a thousand staves.

(2) A solid structure of timber or logs secured under water to serve as a wharf, jetty, or dike.

(3) In Southern Jersey, horizontal sticks piled triangularly around the centre pole in a charcoal pit.

(-1) In cjileg'j slang, a paper or book to be used unlawfully in, a recitation or examination, or in the preparation for the same.

Crib (to). In college slang, to interline, to cheat in recitation or examination, to steal.

Crimmy. In parts of New England, chilly, out of sorts, " under the weather."

Crisscross. A game played on a slate by children, and derived from the old-fashioned Primers, who almost uniformly began the alphabet with he s'^n of the Cross, called "Christ Cross." 10

146 CRT— CRO

CritteP. Always associated, in the South, in speaking of a woman, and in opposition to creature, with some idea of inferiority, or even of contempt.

Also, of constant occurrence, in the South, for an animal, especially a horse, while to other animals the term stock is applied.

Croak. In college slang, to fliink ; to play the informer, to disclose secrets.

Croaker. A name of various fishes, from the peculiar sound emitted by it, when taken out of the water.

Croker. A species of water-fowl found in the Chesapeake and rivers of Virginia.

Cronker. A species of wild goose.

Crook. A thief, a swindler, one whose ways society regards as not straight.

Crooked. Said of anything stolen. Crookedness. Rascality of every kind.

Crooked-Stick. A cross-grained and perverse person, who does not suit society, from the well known " crooked stick " that will not fit into the pile of wood.

Crooked Whiskey. Illicit whiskey, that upon which the government tax has not been paid.

Crookneck. In New England, applied to several varieties of squash having a long recurved neck.

Crop. In the language of the plains, an ear-mark on cattle, made by cutting the ear.

Also used as a verb.

Cropper. One who cultivates a farm for a share of the crop.

Croppie. A local name for a species of green bass found in Lake Minne- tonka, near the Minnehaha falls.

Cropping1. In the West and South, used to signify giving special attention to one kind of crop.

The nearest approach of cropping to the above sense, in England, is to sow or plant land.

Crosse iFr.). The implement used in the game of lacrosse.

Cross-fox (Vulpes fulvus). A breed of fox, whose color is between the silver-gray and reddish-brown varieties, and which has usually a black cross marked upon its back.

C ross-lots. See across lot*.

CRO— CRU

147

CPOSS timbers. In the West, the name of a belt of forest several hundred miles long, extending in a south-westerly direction from the Arkansas river, and which marks the natural boundary between the cultivable lands and the desert regions. The trees — -mostly post-oaks and black-jacks — are very lofty, and disposed in such singular^' regular lines and cross-lines, that they seem to have been planted at some remote period by the hand of man.

Timber, it must here be remarked, is a Western word for forest.

CrOSS-Vine (Bignonia capreolata). In the South, a trailing plant, the stem of which, when stripped of its bark, divides, as if split cross-wise into quarters.

CPOW (to eat). To take back what one has said. For instance, politicians are often compelled to eat considerable crow after an unsuccessful campaign.

Again, a newspaper editor who becomes obliged by his party to advocate " principles," very different from those which he supported a short time before, is said " to eat boiled crow."

CPOWd. Frequently used, in the South and West, for a company, an assemblage, a gathering of any kind, and of whatever size it may happen to be.

Now also frequently heard in England.

CPOWd (to). To squeeze in, to push, to crush, or simply to pass in without abnormal exertion.

Cruel (Old Eng. ). An intensive expression, much affected by uneducated people, and used as a substitute for very, exceedingly.

W. Batten denies all but is cruel mad.

(Pepy's Diary, 21 Feb. 1636.)

This use of the word was brought over from England in the early part of the 17th century, and is still common in the North of Ireland.

Cruller (Dutch kruller, a curler). A strip of sweetened dou^h, which is boiled in lard, and then loops up (curls) at the two ends. Also, doughnut, olycook.

Crummy. American slang for comely, pretty.

In England, the word is only used when speaking of a plump, full- figured girl.

CrunnOCks. Dry wood, used for kindlings. (Nfld., X. S. and X. L>. ) Crush. In college slang, a liking for a person. Also, a reception.

CrUSh-hat. Any soft head-gear. '

In England, only applied to a collapsible opera hat.

148 CRY— CUR

Cpy. To publish the banns of marriage, in church. Only 'heard nowadays in some remote districts, but was formerly, in colonial times, a meaning general throughout the whole of the New-England States.

Cubby. In the charcoal pits of New Jersey, a term applied to a little hollow-square cabin.

Cubbyhole. In New Jersey, a place in a garret where refuse is stored.

In New England, still persistent in the old English sense of a snug, confined place.

Cuekle-buttOTl. In parts of New England, the burr of the burdock, from which children make baskets.

CueumbeP-tFee. (Magnolia acuminata). A tree, so called from the resemblance of its fruit, in its early stages, to small cucumbers. As it grows the likeness disappears, and the fruit becomes pinkish-red.

Cuddy. The Mexican jackass, or burro.

Cudweed (Gnaphalium). The popular name of a species of everlasting plant.

Cuffey, Cuffy. A generic name for a negro, akin to Sambo, or Quashee. Cull. In New Jersey, to assort, in speaking of oysters.

CullinteenS. In New Jersey, bushel oysters. Cullins, poor oysters. Culls, the grade next to the poorest.

Cully. A companion, a partner, either man or woman.

From the old Eng. slang " cull, " which had the same signification.

Gunner. (1) In New England, the name of a univalve shell of the genus Patella.

(2) A popular name for the blue-perch.

Cunning. (1) Pretty, small, pleasing, tiny. " A cunning little hat."

Chiefly used by women in that sense.

(2) Often applied to that sweet and innocent intelligence so delightful in children. Thus, a cunning child is what would be called in England a " knowing little thing."

Curbstone broker. A Wall street term for an irregular speculator, who does his business on the sidewalk, and who does not belong to any Exchange.

CuriCUS (Old Eng.). Still persisting, especially among New- England farmers, in the old English sense of njce, excellent, particularly fine, of high quality. " These are curious apples."

CUR— CUT

149

The same sense still attaches to curious, in the London tea-trade, to mark the degree of excellence next to choicest. One even sees " curio- choicest. "

Curled-maple. A species of maple, the wood of which is peculiarly adapted for cabinet work.

CUSS. A mean, worthless fellow, a scamp. For instance, a despicable person will be stigmatised as a mean cuss, an ugly cuss.

Also employed in the West, although more rarely, where one wishes to express anything but a curse, often even affection.

Authorities differ as to whether cuts is derived from a mis-pronun- ciation of "curse," or whether it is an abbreviation of "'customer," with the primary idea of what is frequently called a " bad " or an " ugly" customer.

CussedneSS. Malice, spite, mischievousness. On the other hand, some instances exist in which the idea conveyed is resolution and courage.

It may here also be noted that the Coventry Plays employ cursydnesse in the sense of sheer wickedness and malignity.

CusS-WOPdS. Oaths, curses.

CustaPd apple (Annona squamosa). A West-Indian shrub, which bears a greenish-colored fruit.

Also called papaw, sugar-apple, sweet-sop.

Custom-made. Said of clothing which is made to measure.

Cut. (1) A reduction, as when speaking of a cut in freight rates for grain.

(2) In Kentucky, a common word, among tobacco-raisers, for a portion of a tobacco field.

(3) In college slang, self-imposed absence of a student from recitation.

Cut (to). (1) In New England, to beat, in speaking of eggs. Also, to braid. (2) In college slang, to absent oneself from a college exercise.

Cut a flg"UPe. To display, to do well, to show to advantage.

Cut Gapers. To be frolicksome, the idea conveyed being one of boisterous fun, with or without wine and women.

Also, to cut didoes, to cut shines.

It is here obvious that some mischief, in fact some " cutting," must be mixed up with the proceedings, or there would be no fun at all.

The derivation of " to cut didoes " has so far baffled all research, the nearest interpretation being that of Prof. Mahn, who sees in it some allusion to the cunning device by which the famous Queen Dido once received her magnificent " hide" of land.

150

CUT— CUT

Cut dirt. To go fast, to run away in haste. Allusion to the rapid nntion of a horse on a muddy road, and to the fondness of Americans for fast driving.

Cut6. A common colloquialism, especially in New England, for acute, sharp, keen. " A cute child."

Cute, for acute, has become in the United States, almost a distinct word, being stronger than the original in its peculiar meaning, and is one of the most expressive Americanisms of the day.

Also employed with same meaning as cunning, in sense of pleasing, quaintly pretty, or amusingly odd.

Cuteness. Acuteness, keenness.

Cut grass (Leersia oryzoides). A species of grass, so called from the sharp edges of its leaves.

Cut it fat. To overdo a thing, to indulge in extravagant flatteryr Synonymous with "going it too strong."

Cut-off. (1) A word of common occurrence, in, the Mississipi region, applied to a channel which a river has formed for itself, by cutting through a bend.

(2) A part of a steam-engine.

Cut One's Stick. Used in England in sense of "to leave," but enlarged in its meaning by American vigor of speech, and often heard in the United States instead of "to die."

Cut Out (to). A Western plainman's term for separating a particular animal from the rest of the herd.

Cut round. To fly about, to make a display.

Cut a SplUPge. To make a display in dress, to affect a swaggering pomposity in gait or dress.

Also, to cut a swathe, evidently in allusion to the ambition of powerful, well-trained mowers to cut the widest swathe.

Cutter. (1) A light one-horse sleigh.

(2) In newspaper parlance, the city editor who cuts short a reporter's story, by a profuse use of his blue pencil. See butcJter.

Cut-throat games. Games of chance which readily lend themselves to fatal quarrels.

Cuttoe (Fr. couteau). A word still lingering in New England, and meaning a large knife, which was much used in olden times.

Cut up (to). (1) To rudely break in upon conversation.

(2) To act in a boisterous or riotous manner. To act mischievously, play antics.

CYM— DAI

151

(3) To put to pain or to shame, to employ severe language towards a person. Chiefly used in a passive sense.

" To be cut up " about anything, in the sense of being put to mental pain or anguish, is also well known as an English colloquialism.

Cymblin. See simlin.

Cypress (Taxodium disticha). A Southern tree, which is much in request for building purposes, and which is entirely distinct from the European variety. It often attains, in America, a very great height, sometimes as much as 120 feet.

Cypress-brake. In the South, a low-lying tract of swampy ground, into which the superabundant waters of neighboring bayous find their way, and in which fallen cypresses abound. Also, cypress-swamp.

Daddoek. An old English provincialism, sometimes heard, in New England and the West, in sense of a fallen tree which is showly rotting away and falling into mould.

Daddyism. A recent word, made to represent slavish adulation of high parentage or noble birth.

Daffa-dOWn-dilly. The old English enlargement of " daffodill," used by Spencer in his " Shepherd's Callendar, " which still maintains its vitality in Virginia.

Daffa Down Dilly came up in the cold, Thro' the brown mould.

(SOUTHERN MAGAZINE, Jan. 1871.)

Daft. Frequently heard in the South, for a fool, a lunatic. " Are you daft to do such a thing ? "

From Chaucer's dajfe, and still provincial in North of England and parts of Scotland.

DagO (Sp. San Diego, the patron Saint of the Spaniards). A common name for Italians, now popular all over the United States. The term originated in Louisiana, where it at first denoted people of Spanish birth or parentage, but was gradually extended so as to apply also to Italians and Portuguese, especially to those of the low class.

In college slang, d'igo is a current word either for the Italian lan- guage, or a professor of Italian.

Daisy. First-class, out of the common. Often used particularly when speaking of the physical attributes of a woman, and in that sense its affinity can be easily traced to the sweet, crimson-tipped flower of England.

152

DAM— DAR

Damage. The pay, the cost, or, to put it precisely, the sum of extor- tion. Analogous to the English "bill", or the French " addition .

Damaged. Intoxicated.

A simile of little wit, but much point.

Damiana, dah-me-ah'-nah (Sp.). In Western Texas, a small plant exha- ling a strong aromatic odor (Chrysactinia Mexicana), and bearing yellow flowers.

Damson-plum (Chrysophyllum Cainite). A smooth-skinned West Indian fruit, of the size of a peach, with a soft pulp, and a number of glossy, brown seeds, Also called star-apple.

Dander. Anger, passion.

To get one's dander up, or raised, to get angry, to work oneself into a passion.

Possibly an English provincialism.' In " Phrase and Fable," Brewer quotes dander as a corruption of " Damned anger," and Halliwell gives

dander (anger) as common to several English counties. '"H'I- Dandy. Something out of the common, first-class.

Dandyfied. Dandyish, foppish.

Dangerous. Used colloquially in sense of endangered, being in danger. Is a local provincialism in England, and is so quoted by Forbj^ in his Vocabulary of East 'Anglia.

Dangle-berry (Gaylussacia). A species of the blue whortleberry. See bilberry.

Danites. A name formerly applied to an organisation within the Mor- mon ranks for the purpose of putting out of the way obnoxious Gentiles and apostate Mormons.

Also called Destroying Angels.

The Danites exist no longer, at least for purposes of assassination.

Dansy. Applied in Pennsylvania to persons whose faculties are failing them from old age.

",'jDansy-headed" is quoted by Grose as a provincialism of Norfolk and'Suffolk, in sense of giddy or thoughtless.

Dare. A New-Jersey and Pennsylvania provincialism, in localities settled by'Scotch-Irish, in sense of "to may. " Thus, the pupil will ask his teacher : " Dare we have a holiday."

Also used substantively, in sense of permission. " May I have the

dare to go out ? "

rmiu .

Dark and Bloody Ground. An expression formerly much used in allusion to Kentucky, and forcibly recalling suggestions of the fearful Indian wars of bygone days.

DAR— DEA

153

Darkle, Darky. A popular appellation for a negro.

Dark moon. In the West, the interval between full moon and new moon. Also, dark of the moon. Still provincial in England.

DaubeP. A species of sand-wasp (Ammophila), so called from the manner in which it builds its nest, literally daubing it all over.

Daubin. A corrupted from of " daubing," for mud used between the logs in a log house.

Day-Clown. In parts of the South, sometimes heard for sunset, the end of the day.

Daze. Often used to represent a state of utter bewilderment. " She sat, like one in a daze . . . ."

To daze, a verb, was once the ancient form of to dazzle, and was so used by Spencer, Drayton, and others.

Deacon. In New England, a new-born calf, or the skin of a very young calf.

Deacon (to). In New England, to deacon berries or apples, it to put the largest and best on top, when preparing for a sale. This curious expression owes no doubt its origin to the. Yankee proverb that " all deacons are good, but there is odds in deacons."

To deacon a calf is to knock it in the head, or kill it, as soon as it is born. (New England. )

To deacon land is to extend one's fence, so as to include a portion of the highway. (New England.)

Deacon Off (tO). To deacon off a hymn, at church, is to give it out line by line, the congregation singing each line as soon as read. This custom, which is still continued in some remote parts of New England, was wont to be the rule in former times when congregations were not generally supplied with hymn-books.

Hence the signification of "to deacon off " now extended to mean to give the cue, to lead a debate.

To funk right out o'p lit'cal strife ain't thought to be the thing, Without you deacon off the tune you want your folks should sing.

(THE BIGLOW PAPERS.)

Deacon seat. A lumberer's camp term for a plank of wood, forming a kind of settee, in the log cabin, in front of the fire.

Probably in allusion to the pews formerly reserved for the deacons, in front of the pulpit, and which were considered the best seats.

Deacon's hiding" places. In Boston slang, private curtained compart- ments in oyster saloons.

154

DEA— DEA

Dead. Used, as in England, to intensify various expressions, of which the following may properly be regarded as peculiar to t'.is United States, the meaning conveyed being that of certainty ov ex'.ro-nlty.

Dead-beat, one who sponges on others and pays nobody. One who is worn out, or has become good for nothing. Also, to de™d-beat, to live on others.

Dead-broke, utterly ruined, without any resources whatever. Also, flat-broke.

Dead-duel;, anything which has depreciated in value, to the verge of worthlessness, i. e. which is " played out." In dead earnest, in very truth, without doubt.

Dead-fall, a, huntsman's trap, so called because fie quarry h killed as well as caught by it.

Dead gone, (1) infatuated, (2) utterly collapsed.

Dead (jive-away, a betrayal, in varying shades. Also usarl as a verb.

Dead-head, (1) one who has free admission'to theatres, or rides freely on railroads; hence, dwdhism, and to dead-head. -(2) In Florida, a log so soaked with water, that it will not float. Opposite term is live log. Dead load, a great quantity of anything.

Dead-must, in newspaper parlance, an article which requires abso- lutely to be published, i. e. which cannot be kept out of the -day's edition for any reason. See must.

Dead to rights, certain, positive. For instance, policemen will say that they have a man " dead to rights, " when they have found absolute proofs of crime against him.

To be dead-set against, to be strongly opposed to, to be animated with a violent antagonism.

Dead unit, collective advocacy or, or opposition to a subject, prin- ciple, or line of action.

To have the dead wood on anything, to have control or a firm hold (Western. )

Deaden. In newly-settled districts of the West, to prepare the way for anew clearing, by " girdling" the trees, thereby wounding them to death.

Also extended, in political slang, in sense of lessening the chances of an opponent, by circumventing the peculiar dodges and tactics which play so prominent a part in elections.

Deadening". (1) The process of wovinding trees to death by " girdling. :' (2) A tract of land, the trees of which have been deadened by ' ' gird- ling. "

Deaf. In Pennsylvania, nuts are said to be "deaf "when they are decayed or empty, which probably originated from the Low Scotish custom of calling soil or vegetables " deaf, " when they are sterile.

DEA— DEH

155

Deaf-adder. The name of the hog-nosed snake, or " blauser, " in New York.

Deal. A transaction of any kind. A term borrowed from the card table. Dearborn. A light four-wheeled carriage, named after its inventor.

Death. Like dead, the word death is dragged in by slang to denote the last extremity in everything.

To be death on anything, to be completely master of a subject, or at least to be a capital hand at it ; to be passionately fond of something.

Also, to be dead on.

To dress to death, to wear clothes so fashionable, that they may have a stunning or " killing" effect.

Death Horses. The death watch.

Deck. (1) In general use, especially in the Western States, for a pack of cards. This word occurs in Hoyle's famous Book of Games, but is now obsolete in England.

But, whiles, he thought to steal the single ten, The king was slily fingered from the deck.

(SHAKESPEARE, HENRY VI.)

(2) A variety of poker, also called " twenty-deck " poker, in which twenty cards are used.

Declension. An archaic form for a refusal, the act of declining an invitation.

Now very rarely used in England. Also, declination.

Decoration Day. A public holiday, occurring generally towards the end of May, and set apart for the decoration of the graves of those who fell in the late Civil War.

Also called Memorial Day.

Deed- To convey, or transfer by deed or assignment, and generally by a deed of trust. " To deed one's property."

Deedies. In the South, a common name for chickens or young fowls.

Deef. A frequent form for " deaf ", which was the rule in England in olden times, and is still provincial in Westmoreland, Cumberland and other parts.

Deef-meat. A generic term for venison, nollowing the usual American simplicity in designating flesh-food, as in bear-meat, sheep-meat, etc.

Dehort. To exhort, to beg, to entreat. Now obsolete.

Judge Sewall, in his diary (Ap. 1, 1718), dehorted Sam Hirst to eschew idle tricks.

156 DEL— DER

Delta. A piece of land at Cambridge in the shape of a & belonging to Harvard, and used for recreation purposes.

Demean. This verb, in sense of degrade or humiliate, has been justly stigmatised as " servant-girl English," as the term cannot be separated from the sense of demeanor or deportment.

Webster too readily licences this vulgarism, in the sense of debase or lower, by a single quotation from Thackeray, of similar chatacter. At any rate, he mistakes the force of the word when he gives us Shakes- peare as follows ;

Antipholus is mad. Else he would never so demean himself.

Here it certainly means " behave" himself, and we do no think any old writer has ever used it otherwise.

Democrats. Democratic- Republican is the full official designation of this great party. It was originally known, at least until 1828-30, as the Republican party, but affiliating at that time with the Democratic faction, it assumed the compound title which it still claims. The party overthrew the Federalists in 1800, electing Jefferson to the Presidency, and remained in power until 1848, when they were defeated by the Whigs and Free Soilers. (Magazine of Am. History, vol. 15, p. 614.)

See Republicans.

The Democratic party, in the United States, is that most nearly akin to the English Conservative party.

See Lecompton Democrats, National Democrats.

Dengue, den -gay (Sp. ). A malarial fever of the South, otherwise called break-bone fever.

Department (Fr. ). A Government office at Washington, at the head of which is a Secretary. •

Most American official terms are of French derivation.

Departmental. That which relates to the principal offices or "depart- ments " of State.

Depot, dee po (Fr.). A railway station, or a railway terminus.

There is no excuse whatever for the employ of this word, which, besides, is a blunder, as the French themselves only apply it to a store- house and never to a railway station.

Similarly, the French-Canadians also say dep6t for a railway station, a meaning which they must of course have borrowed from their Yankee neighbors.

Derail. To throw a train off the track, or to be so thrown off.

Derramadero, der-rah-mah-der'-o (Sp. derramar, to pour). In Texas a drain, or draining canal.

The term is now obsolete in Spain.

DER-DEV

157

Derrick. A scaffold-like construction, to support a crane. Probably derived from Derrick, an English hangman who flourished early in the 17th century.

Desert (Fr. C. ). Among the French-Canadians, a patch of cultivated land in a clearing. Hence the Fr. verbs deserter andfaire le desert, in sense of to destroy the forest, to introduce cultivation.

Desirable. In newspaper parlance, an article which comes next to a must, and which, for some reason, may be deferred.

Desk. In New England, the pulpit in a church, and, figuratively, the clerical profession. Thus, when a father intends his son for the church, he speaks of sending him to the desk.

Desperate. Often used intensively as awful and cruel, in sense of very, exceedingly.

Also, desperately.

Despisement. A new form for contempt, disdain.

Dessert. A word often misapplied by Americans, as it is here generally understood to mean the puddings and pies, etc. following meats.

Properly speaking, the term dessert should be restricted to mean the fruits, nuts,- and sweet meats which follow the regular courses of a dinner.

Detail. Generally employed to signify a marking or telling off for any given purpose.

The verb to detail is similarly used.

Detrain. To empty a train of its passengers. Especially used when

speaking of large bodies of people. Like derail, this is a verb which

the exigencies of railway traffic have called into use. It is employed both transitively and intransitively.

Devil-fish (Lophius americanus). One of the many popular names of the American Angler, a fish of hideous appearance.

Other names are fellows-fish, fishing-frog, goose-fish, monk-fish, sea-devil.

All those names may- however be considered as being erroneously applied, as the true devil-fish is the stingray of the Southern States.

Devil'S-bit (Aletris farinosa). A popular medicinal plant.

Devil- WOOd (Olea americana). A species of live-tree growing in the Southern States, and so called from the impossibility of spliting its wood.

DevisadePO, day-ve-sah-der'-o (Sp. denxar, to desory at a distance). In Texas, a commanding hill or eminence used by cowboys to look for their horses or cattle.

158 DEW— DIG

Dewberry1 (Rubus canadensis). A low- trailing species of blackberry whose fruits differ from the English variety in color, being black, and are utterly unlike dew-drops, which the En glish berries represent by a white, wax-like covering.

In New England, called low blackberry.

Dewlap. A ranchman's term for a brand used in marking cattle, and which is a cut in the lower part of the neck.

Diamond State. The State of Delaware, so called through its small size but great importance.

Dicker. A bargain, a trade. An article bartered.

Dicker (to). To exchange, to barter, to bargain, and generally applied to trade in small articles.

May probably be traced back to the old English noun dicker, repre- senting the mimber of ten.

Dickey. In New England, a gentleman's shirt collar.

In England, a dickey is a detachable shirt front, what would be called here an extra shirt bosom.

DifflCUlted. A Lowland Scotch expression used in the South, especially Georgia, in sense of perplexed, embarrassed. Jamieson has the verb " to difficult" in his Scottish Dictionary.

Dig. In college slang, a diligent and hard-working student, i. e. one who • is supposed to dig deep into his books. Also, a thrust, a poke in the side.

Dig (to). In college slang, to study constantly and diligently.

Digger-pine (Pinus sabiniana). A species of pine of a bluish green foliage, and found mainly upon the foot-hills.

Diggers. A name applied to a tribe of wretched Indians of California, who subsist chiefly from digging for roots, for their food. These degraded people have however now mostly all gone out of existence. Also, Digger Indians.

Digging. (1) A college si ang word for the act of applying diligently to one's studies.

(2) In the South, used adjectively in sense of dear, costly. "A mighty digging price."

Diggings. A miner's term, in the West, to denote a place where the ore is dug. "Wet diggings" are near rivers or wet places, and "Dry diggings " are upon higher lands.

By extension, the neighborhood of gold mines, or even any particular locality or region, or a place of abode. For instance : " Were you ever

DIG— DIP

159

before in these diggings ? " is a phrase very often heard in the West, upon first introduction. In sense of lodgings or quarters, the word is as familiar in England as in America, having there come from Australia.

Bight. In New England, often heard in sense of small portion. " A little dight of butter." Also, dite. Cf. doit, a trifle.

Dig" Out (to). To elope, to depart. To decamp, or abscond suddenly.

Dig" up the hatchet. To open up the hostilities, to make a declaration of war. From the well-known custom of the Indians of digging up the symbolical tomahawk or hatchet, every time a renewal of warfare has been decided.

Dike. (1) In New England, a bank of earth, without reference to water. Perhaps a result of the Pilgrims' sojourn in Holland.

A term applied to the full dress, or fine clothes, of a man. Also, sometimes, the man himself who is so dressed.

To be out on a dike, to be carefully attired, to show one's finery in public.

Dike (to). To attire oneself faultlessly for social purposes.

Dicked out, to be dressed up, with connotation of being in one's best clothes.

Not unlikelv that the word is merely a corruption of the Old English "dight " which meant "decked out."

Dime. A silver coin of the U. S. worth ten cents, or the tenth of a dollar.

Dime novels. Cheap, trashy novels, sold for a dime. Of same kind as those known in England as " penny dreadfuls."

Dingbat. A bat of wood, or indeed anything that may be thrown (dinged) with force or dashed violent!}' at another object.

Dingee, Dinky. In New England, a peculiar tub-like boat, elsewhere called dory.

In England, called " dingy."

Dingle. In Northern New England, a protecting weather-shed built around the entrance to a house. Also, among Maine lumbermen, a storm-door, built by standing spruce or fir poles close together in front of the camp-door.

Dingling. Between two stools, tottering, insecure.

Dining-POOm Servant. In the South, a male waiter, the equivalent of the butler of English households.

Dip. (1) A pickpocket.

(2) A stolen kiss.

(3) In New Jersey, pudding-eause

160

DIP— DIS

Dip (to). A mode of taking tobacco by women, chiefly in the South, and which consists in rubbing the gums with a split, brush-like stick, the end of which is wetted and dipped in snuff. These filthy practices are said to have originated in the use of snuff as a powder for cleansing the teeth. Also, to rub snuff.

The stick above alluded to is called the rubbiny-Ktick or smif-nwab, and the person who indulges in the practice is called a dipper, or -imiff- dipper.

Dipper. (1) A ladle-like ustensil, used to dip water or other liquids.

(2) The constellation of the Great Bear, known in England as " Charle's Wain."

(3) A small aquatic bird, also called water-witch or hell-diver.

(4) In the South, one who dips snuff.

~\

Dipsy. In Pennsylvania, a sinker used in sea fishing. A corruption of " deap sea, " the dipsy or deep sea lead being used for soundings off- shore or in deep water.

Dirt. Very commonly used for soil, earth, clay, and, in the mining regions, for any substance dug. Thus, a gardener will fill his flower-pots with dirt, and an unfloored cabin will be spoken of as having a dirt floor. See pay dirt.

DlPt cart. A cart for removing street sweepings, what in England is called a "dust-cart."

Dirt POad. An unpaved road.

Discard. At game of poker, to taks. from one's hand the number of cards one intends to draw, and place them on the table, face upwards, near the next dealer.

DisfellOWShip (to). (1) In religious circles, to dispossess of church membership. A threat equivalent to excommunication or any other major anathema.

Also, to unfellowship. See fellowship.

Disgruntled. Disappointed, disconcerted ; to have a spoke put in one's wheel.

Also, in a contrary sense, vndisgruntled.

. Still surviving, in South and West, in sense of to forget, to fail to remember. Esp. South and West.

Now entirely obsolete in Great Britain, except in Ulster where it is. still a common vulgarism.

Distressed. Sometimes heard for wretched, miserable. '

District (to). To apportion a State into electoral districts or counties. Oftei:f synonymous with (jerrymander.

DIS— DOD

161

District courts. Courts for the administration of the Civil Law, also for Admiralty Cases, held in each of the thirty-five districts into which the United States are divided.

District school. A public school within a district. District school-master. The teacher of a district school. Dite. See dight.

Dittany (Cunila mariana). A plant, the leaves of which are used for herb tea.

Ditty-bag. A sailor's "housewife," containing what is necessary for mending his clothes.

Dive. A basement saloon, or low variety show.

Divide. In the West, a long, low ridge of land which separates rivers flowing in different directions.

DociOUS. A Southern survival, for docile, of an English provincialism.

Doeity. Like decious, is a survival, in the South, of an English provin- cialism used negatively in sense of quick comprehension, aptness, quickness of wit. " He has no docity."

Dock. The slip or space between two piers, for the reception of vessels.

In England, sense is restricted to an enclosed basin.

Various words are used for docks, according to particular regions. Thus, vessels go into ' ' docks " on their arrival at Philadelphia, but Into "slips " at Mobile; they are tied up to "wharves" at Boston, but to " piers" at Chicago.

Dockmackie (Viburnum acerifolium). A medicinal plant for external application, probably named by the Dutch, and whose properties were well known to the Indians before settlement of the country.

Dock- walloper. In New York, a loafer that hangs about the wharves.

Also, dock-loafer.

In addition to above sense, the term dock-walloper is applied also to the frequent crowds of unemployed emigrants, so often seen in every large seaport.

A laborer on the wharves or docks.

Dodger. A hard-baked cake of corn-meal, either made up with cold water into pones, or with lard or grease of some kind.

In Virginia and the West, has also the meaning of unleavened corn- bread.

Dodgers. Small hand-bills, especially those distributed in advance of a, show.

11

162

DOD— DOG

Dodunk. A stupid, simple person. (Northern New-England. )

Doe-bird (Numenius borealis). A New-England name for the Esqui- mau curlew.

Dog. A cant term for an iron instrument used by burglars.

Dog-fall. A fall in wrestling, in which neither party has the advantage.

Dogfish (Amia calva). The mnclfish of lakes Erie and Ontario, so called from its ferocious looks and voracious habits.

In other Western waters, bears the sarcastic name of lake-laivyer, evidently due to the same qualities that have procured for him the epithet of dogfish.

. A mean grog-shop, a low public house, a basement saloon. (South and West. ) Is in particular often applied to a low dive, or unlicensed whiskey

See groggery, rum-hole. Doggies. The commonest kind of marbles, generally colored brown.

DoggOned. Used, in the South, as a substitute for strong language of a blasphemous character.

A doggoned fixement is a Texan phrase applied to anything that is praiseworthy or acceptable.

DogS. A name still given to andirons, from the frequent occurrence of dog's heads on their front part. (Virginia and New England.)

Also, fire-dogs.

Provincial in parts of England, and quoted in Brockett's Glossary of . North Country Words.

Dog'S-age. A long time, an indefinite period. " To be gone a dog's-

Dog-SOldierS. A name given, among the Cheyennes, to a sort of guild composed of all the hunters of a tribe, thus comprising in fact the whole working fores which protects and supplies the women and children.

Dog-towns. In the West, the communities formed by the little marmot (Cynomus ludovicianus), miscalled the prairie-dog, whose dwellings consist of burrows thrown up like little conical huts. Also, d

Dog watch. Among reporters attached to an evening paper, said of being on duty from nine until midnight.

DogWOOd. See cornel-tree and pot.--on-Hiimac.

DOI— DON 163

Doings (pron. doin's). A Western vulgarism for victuals, prepared food ; an entertainment. Also, fixings.

Common doings, common daily fair.

Great-doings, high feasting, or solemn ceremonies. See chicken fixirit. Hard doings, hard times, dark days of adversity.

In New England, the question " How are the doin's ? " is an inquiry as to the state of the roads.

Doless. Colloquial for inefficient, lacking in manly qualities; shiftless, good for nothing.

Doless is a Scottism quoted by Jamieson.

Dollar. The standard coin of the United States, of the approximate value, in English money, of 4s. 2d.

Dollar Of the Fathers. The 412% grain silver dollar, used as a watch cry during the remonetization agitation of 1877, and which was claimed to be the coin favored by the fathers of the Republic. The opponents of the movement, on the other hand, called it dollar of the daddies, dollar of the dads.

Domestics. Goods manufactured in the country — especially cotton goods — as distinguished from imported articles.

Dominie. A name often applied to clergymen, especially of the Dutch reformed church, in portions of New York and New Jersey. From the Scotch dominie, meaning a school master. Also used adjectively. " A dominie lookin' feller."

Donate. To bestow a grant, to contribute, to give as a donation.

Donation-party. An occurrence in the rural districts, partaking of the nature of a jollification, and consisting in the presentation to the pastor of some articles of food or clothing, as a supplement to his meagre salary.

Also, giving-party, pound-parly, this last one being however specially used for a presentation of groseries, etc., put up in pound packages.

Sometimes, also, those different parties are for the benefit of public charities.

Done. Often used adverbially, esp. in the South, as an intensitive, and in a way which is quite unique, as for instance in such phrases, and cons- tantly added to a past participle : " He's done gone, done dead, done come,;' etc.

Done up.' Oft?n ln-ard, in Pennsylvania, in sense of all y;:)n:.' " Tho apples ar

164

DON— DOT

Donnoek, Donoek. In the West, and parts of New England, a stone or rock. More specifically, a large stone or boulder imbedded in the ground, but not a " tight-stone" or ledge.

Also, dornick.

Donoek and dornick are thought by some to be humorous corruptions of doughnut, while it is also very possible that they may have come down to us from the Gaelic " doirneag, " Irish " doirneog, " which means a stone of convenient size for throwing.

Doodel. In parts of Pennsylvania settled by Germans, used in sense of sing or play,. especially when speaking of unskilful performers. " We heard them doodeling away inside."

Doodle. In parts of Pennsylvania, said of a small pile of hay. " Throw the windrows up into doodles."

Doodle-bugs. In the South, applied to a species of beetles which live in holes in the ground.

Bartlett volunteers the information, in explanation of the derivation of the word, that by calling doodle several times near their holes, those bugs will make their appearance.

Doom. In Massachusetts, to assess taxes on reasonable discretion. To tax by estimate, as on the failure of a taxpayer to make a statement of his taxable property.

The law is of 1703, but the term is much older, as Massachusetts has always rated property and assessed taxes in proportion.

Doomage. A penalty or fine for neglect, under the law of New Hampshire.

Dooming-DOard. In Massachusetts, the combined assessors taxing property by estimate or at discretion.

DoOP-rock. (1) In the West, the door-stone or step. (1) In the South, a slang term for a piece of money. •

Door-tender. A door-keeper, or hall-porter.

DOPy. A kind of boat in use among fishermen. The term has reached up from the West-Indies as far up as Canada, and is especially much in use there among the Acadian fishermen of the Bay of Fundy and the Nova Scotia shore.

Also, dorie.

Dory has been inherited from the West Indies, and comes from " dorey, " the local name for a canoe hollowed out of a log of wood.

Doted. Applied alike, in the South and West, to objects animate and inanimate, in sense of unserviceable, rotten, spoiled.

In Newfoundland, and the Canadian Maritime provinces, often said of wood, especially fire-wood, which has become partly decayed and brittle.

DO— DOV 165

Do tell. A senseless Yankee catch-phrase, lugged in every where in sense of really ! you don't say so ! is it possible !

Double endeP. During the late Civil War, a special build of gun-boat round at both ends.

Double-horse (to do). (1) To do, or attempt to do two things at once. (2) To have a two-faced character or position.

Double-ripper. Two sleds fastened by a plank, and used for sliding down hills. Also, doubter.

Doug'h. Among college students, a slang term for money.

Doughface. A contemptuous nickname applied, during slavery times, to those Northern politicians who, as abettors of slavery, were looked upon as trucklers to Southern policy. John Randolph, a senator from Virginia, appears to have been the first to use the term.

By extension, a politician who is open to influence, personal or otherwise.

The term is evidently traced to the baker, meaning a man easily moved to change his opinion, in fact, as Lowell would say, " a contented and kneadable lickspittle " who can be moulded, like dough, to any shape.

Doughfaeism. Truckling to the slave power, in slavery times. A truckling policy.

Dough-head. A soft-pated fellow, a fool. (Bartlett. )

Doughie. Among ranchmen, a name applied to young immigrant cattle.

Doughnut. A popular delicacy, made of flour, eggs, sugar and milk, rolled into balls and fried in lard.

The word donnut is quoted by Halliwell, as used in Hertshire, to denote a pankake made of dough instead of batter.

See crullers, olycocks.

Do-ups. In New Jersey, a current word for preserves.

Dove. Tho old form of the past tense of dive, used in some parts of the United States, and also among the Anglo-Canadians.

Dove is now creeping into use in England, and it may also here be remarked that the strong preterit (hung for hanged) is nowadays current in provincial English speech in the case of many verbs which are pro- perly of the weak conjugation.

Plunged as if he were an otter, Dove as if he were a beaver.

(LONGFELLOW, Hiawatha.)

166 DOW— DRA

Down. A peculiar usage of down, unaccompanied by a preposition, prevails in New England, as, for example, down cellar, for down in the cellar.

Similarly, up garret, for up in the garret.

Down (to). An old word, now obsolete in England, and still preserved in America in sense of to humble, to humiliate, as an Sidney's " to down proud hearts."

Down country. Used in the interior, to denote the region round and about the mouth of a river, or near the sea. Similarly, up-country, as meaning the interior.

Down-east. Said in the West of the whole country extending eastward from the Mississipi, and particularly of the New-England States, which are the Yankee's Mecca, the only part of the States where alone a man can be born, live or die with any degree of credit to himself.

Down-easteP. A New-Englander, although in parts of New England the term is more particularly applied to a native or resident of Maine.

Down on Style. Out of the common. Down-town. The business portion of a city.

Down to the ground. Entirely, completely. " That suits me down to the ground. "

Down tO a point. To get anything down to a point, is to define its exact conditions and limitations. See boiled down to a point.

Down upon (to be). To seize with avidity. Also, in reference to persons, to be influenced by dislike or enmity. " I'll be down upon you, '' i. e. I'll be even with you.

Dozed, Dozy. Often said of timber already brittle, and which is begin- ning to decay.

Drag". (1) A kind of stout sledge upon which heavy loads, especially stones, are dragged over the ground. In the West, often called stone-boat. (2) In college slang, one who tries to curry favor.

Drag (to). In college slang, to curry favor with an instructor.

Drag-driver. A cowboy's name for a herdsman who follows in the rear of a herd of cattle to drive up the stragglers.

Dragged OUt. Used colloquially, like " fagged out," in sense of exhausted, fatigued.

DRA— DRI

167

Drag OUt. (1) A fight of a rough and tumble character, that is, which is carried to extremities.

(2) In the South, a bully, a tearer.

Drains. The tributaries of the larger rivers are sometimes so called, in the West.

Dratted. An intensive epithet derived from drat, a peculiarly British form of objurgation. " This is a dratted piece of business."

Draw. (1) The game of draw-poker.

(2) In the West, a name often applied to a broad ravine.

Draw (to). At game of poker, to receive from the dealer the same number of cards corresponding to those that have been discarded.

Draw a Straight furPOW. A metaphor derived from the plough, signifying to go right about one's business, to be truthful and honest, and to indulge in no shams or false pretences.

Draw the WOOl over the eyes. To impose upon one ; to hoodwink ; to throw dust in the eyes.

Dreadful. Used adverbially, for the purpose of giving emphasis to an expression, in sense of very, greatly, exceedingly, excessively. " A dreadful good man, a dreadful nice gall, etc."

Provincial in England, in the Westmoreland and Cumberland dialects.

Dress. Generally used for gown, as a part of a lady's costume.

To dress to death, to dress to kill, to dress to the nines, and, in the South, to dress up drunk, are women's phrases which signify to overdress, to be dressed in clothes cut in the very extreme of splendor or fashion.

DreSS around. In parts of Pennsylvania, to change outer garments. " I must dress around before I go to town."

Dressing. A term applied to the sauces, gravies, stuffings, and other condiments which accompany fish, flesh, and fowl.

DreSS OUt. Often heard for undress, in Pennsylvania.

Drink. A Western slang word to designate a river or a pond. The Mississipi river appears also quite frequently, in the South- West, as the Big Drink.

Drink, for river, is certainly an interesting illustration of the assump- tion that the chief use of any fluid is for potation, but it is nevertheless curious to notice a similar use of the word by Shakespeare, when he says of Ophelia :

Till that her garments, heavy with her drinkc, Pul'd the poor wretch .... To muddy death.

Drinks. Spirituous liquors and wines served in bar-rooms.

168

DRI— DRU

Drive. (1) In cattle districts, a gathering of herds for branding or other purposes.

(2) The annual " round-up" of cattle, in the great plains of the West %nd South-West.

(3) A mass of logs accumulated on a stream, and floated down to tide-water. (Esp. Maine and Canada.)

Drive the PiveP. In Maine and Canada, an expression used by lum- bermen, and meaning to direct the passage of logs to navigable waters.

Driver. (1) The universal name for the man who drives the horses, whether he be a coachman, a carman, or a ploughman.

(2) In the South, an overseer of negroes on a plantation. The foreman of a gang of laborers.

(3) Among lumbermen of Maine and Canada, the man who directs a drive of logs down a river to navigable waters. Also, river-driver.

(4) A hustler, a hard taskmaster.

Driveway. (1) A road set apart for driving, as distinguished from the foot-path.

(2) A covered approach to hotels, churches, etc.

Driving-park. A race-course, a tract of ground appropriated to horse- racing.

Dr.Oger (Dutch draager, a carrier, a porter). A vessel of the barge type, with or without sails, built solely for transportation of heavy loads, and known as such all over the country among mariners. Also, drogher, drugger."

Drop-game. A variety of the confidence trick, which consists in pre- tending to pick up a pocket-book full of notes, and inducing a greenhorn to part with ready money in exchange for the notes, which of course are spurious.

This trick is also played with rings and other supposed valuables.

Thence, also, pocket-book dropper, pocket-book dropping.

Drop-letter. A letter dropped into the post-office, for a resident of the same place, and which therefore does not pass through the mails at all.

Drudge. Raw whiskey. The term originated in the Eastern States. Drug-Store. What, in England, is called a " chemist's shop."

Druggist. In England, a chemist. Also, pharmacist.

Drummer. A mercantile word meaning a commercial traveller, and especially one soliciting the custom of country merchants.

Drumming. The soliciting of customers, especially country merchants, by the aid of drum/triers.

DRU— DUD 169

Drung. In Newfoundland, a narrow lane leading to a pasture. Drunk. A drinking-bout, a spree, a debauch.

DPUthePS. In the South, often heard in sense of choice, preference. " To have one's druthers" i. e. to have what one had rather have.

Dry. (1) Thirsty. So used in Micklleton's plays, and also in Skelton, and in the World (1754).

(2) Prohibitionist, in favour of temperance. " The country will give a dry majority of several hundred votes."

Similarly, a town is said to go dry when, on the question of local option, it declares for the shutting up of drinking saloons. Compare with wet.

Dry creek. A Western expression applied to a stream which, judging by first apperance, is apt to promise comfort in times of drought, but nevertheless " dries up " entirely during the summer months. Also synonymous with a coulee.

Dry-goods. Clothes, stuffs, laces, etc. that are offered for sale.

Dry goods StOFe. An establishment for the sale*of the above, what in England would be called a draper's, or haberdasher's shop.

Similarly, the French-Canadians have made marchandises seches.

Drys. A nickname applied to the members of the Prohibition or total abstinence party. Their opponents are called the wets.

Dry up (to). As the drying up of a river stops most agricultural opera- tions, to verb to dry up has become synonymous with to make amend* to quit, while dry up ! in the imperative tense, is a familiar slang term for the more considerate " hush ! "

Dry up /—no, I won't dry up. I'll have my rights, if I die for'em so you

had better dry up yourself.

• (P. REEVES, The Student's Speaker, p. 79.)

DubePSOme. In interior of New England, a common vulgarism for doubt- ful, dubious, uncertain.

Dubersome is evidently derived from the English vulgarism duberous, but whereas this English term expresses only the doubtful fact, the American duberxome is very often applied besides to an uncertain state of mind. " He was a dubersome man, who always meant well, but always hesitated between two opinions." (Mrs. H. B. Stowe. )

Dud, Dude. What we might call a very convenient tailor's block. If not American by origin, it is certainly so by usage.

Dud-Chest. A clothes' chest.

Duds. A Low Scotch word, sometimes used in England for rags and old clothes:

In the United States, wearing apparel of any kind, and indeed, some, times also, all movable property.

170

DUG— DUN

Dug-OUt. (1) A boat or canoe hollowed or dug out of a large log. Also,

dug-canoe, log-canoe, this last name being more specially used in Canada.

(2) In the West, a house or cabin made by excavating the prairie,

and throwing up the soil to form sides and a roof. Also, a cabin made

by digging into a hill, or other elevated ground.

Dully. An uncouth and needless form for stupidly.

Dumm, Dummy (Scotch dummie). (1) A stupid or silent person, a blockhead.

(2) An absent partner at cards.

In England, dummy is a slang word for deaf-mute.

DummePhead (Ger. dummkopf). A blockhead, any stupid or silent person. (Pennsylvania and Western States inhabited by Germans. ) Also, simply dumm.

Dump. (1) Any place or open lot where dirt or rubbish is unloaded. A low piece of ground will mostly thus be utilized, for the purpose of raising its level.

(2) A place at the mouth of a coal pit, where the waste is deposited.

Dump (to). To unload a cart by tilting it up, as when unloading wood, coal, etc.

Provincial in Devonshire in sense of to knock heavily, to stump. Hence, perhaps, its American application, or it might be only an imitative term made from the heavy thud produced by the unloading of a cart.

Dumpage. (1) The .privilege of dumping loads from carts, especially loads of refuse matter.

(2) A fee paid for such a privilege.

Dump-eart. A cart used for dumping, arid which usually tilts up in front. Dumping-ground. An open ground where rubbish in dumped.

Dumpy. Quite common, in the West, in sense of heavy, sad, stupid, as of a chicken with some disease.

Duneh. In Newfoundland, said of bread not properly baked.

' Duney. A variant of duncish used in parts of Pennsylvania for stupid, sottish. " He's rather a duncy fellow."

Dunfish. A superior kind of dried cod-fish, so called from the process of curing it, by which they acquire a dun color. The process itself is called dunning.

Dungaree. A vessel used, in New-York and Connecticut waters for the transportation of dung.

Dung-beetle. See tumble-lug.

DUN— BUT

171

DunkeP. A member of a sect of German- American Baptists, so named from their manner of baptism, which is practised by triple immersion. Driven from Germany by persecution early in the 18th century, the Dunkers first took refuge in Pennsylvania, and thence extended into the neighboring States, especially Ohio. Also, Tunker.

Dunky. Excessively thick, badly-proportioned, clumsily shaped.

Durham boat- A large sharp-pointed, flat-bottomed boat, formerly in much us« on the St Lawrence, Mohawk, Delaware, and other rivers, especially in the colonial period.

Dupes. In printing-house parlance, the duplicate proofs, by which the amount of type set by a compositor is measured, the aggregate dupes forming his string.

Durgfen. In New Jersey, said of a old horse, worn out by use. Durgen is still provincial in England in sense of a dwarf.

Dusky-gTOUSe. A fine large bird, second only to the sage grouse, and affording a most delicious food, which is found almost everywhere in the mountainous regions of the great West, between an altitude of about 6,000 feet and the snow line.

Other names, according to different parts of the country, are black grouse, blue grouse, and mountain grouse,.

Dust (to). In Texas, to depart rapidly, to. move about quickly, and even to castigate.

Also, to get up and dust.

DustCP. An outside coat, generally made of brown linen, and used when traveling to protect one's garments from dust.

Dutch (Germ Deutch). A generic name applied to all persons or things of German origin, and said to have been in common English use two hundred years ago.

It beats the Dutch. A common exclamation still common in all parts of the Union to indicate surprise, or applied to anything astonishing. Bartlett quotes it as early as 1775, in a Revolutionary song, and it pro- bably can be traced back to the time when the naval superiority of the Dutch had not altogether disappeared, and when Dutchmen, the world over, had obtained quite a renown for their sturdy hardihood.

Dutch CUrse. The common, or ox-eyed daisy, so called, says Bartlett, from its annoyance to farmers. Also, Dutch cuss.

Dutchman. (1) A generic name applied to members of the Dutch, German, or Scandinavian races. Also, by extension, any foreigner who speaks English brokenly or not at all.

172

BUT— EEL

(2) In carpentry, a wooden block or wedge to fill a space left or made by mistake from careless work.

Dutiable. Subject or liable to import duty.

In England, specially applied to the tax levied on real estate or farmer's stock.

Dwy. In Newfoundland, said of a sudden squall of wind, with rain or snow.

Dyed in the WOOl. Out-an-out; ingrained; thorough. Usually applied to unflinching partisanship.

Dyspeptic. Has long lost its special meaning in the United States, and is now used to denote all the various forms of weakness of the digestive organs.

IE

Eagle. A gold coin of the value of ten dollars, so called from the emblem of the republic which it bears.

A double eagle is $20, a half eagle $5.

Earth almond (Cyperus esculentus). A reed-like plant, indigenous to Southern Europe, which was introduced inco the Southern States by the Department of Agriculture, in 1854.

Also known under its Spanish name of chufa.

Earthnut (Arachnis hypogosa). The pea-nut of the South, so called from its peculiar habit of ripening its pods by burying them underground after flowering.

Also, groundnut.

In Florida, the negro name is pinder, while in Virginia and N. Carolina it is called goober.

Easy. Gently, softly. " Talk easy, walk easy, etc. "

Eat. A verb used transitively in the West, in the sense of "to supply with food. " Thus a Western steamboat is said to be able to eat two hundred passengers, and to sleep at least two hundred. " To egg, " and " to piece" are other verbs similarly formed.

Eat dirt. To retract, to be penitent, the Yankee equiv. of "to eat one's words. "

Editorial. Used elliptically, in newspaper parlance, instead of editorial article, in sense of English leader or leading article. Now also a common expression in England.

EelS-pOUt. See pout.

EEL— ENC

173

Eelskin. One of the many devious ways formerly in use, at the polls, to secure the election of some favored nominee on a ticket otherwise in the minority. An edskin was a thin slip of gummed paper, on one side of which was printed the favored politician's name, and which at the proper moment was deftly pasted on the ballot over the opponent's, name. Also called paster.

Eel-spear. A sort of trident for catching eels. In England, " eel-shear."

Egg (to). (1) To incite and push forward, to stir one up to strife. Also, to egg on. Still provincial in parts of England. In Pennsylvania, pronounced " to agg," which seems so much more exact that Grose gives agging from French agacer, to provoke. (2) To pelt with rotten eggs.

Egg-nog. Eggs, ^cream, and brandy mixed together, and a favorite beverage all over the South, especially at Christmas time.

Egypt. A sobriquet given to Southern Illinois, according to some on account of the fertility of the land, whilst others unkindly aver that it alludes to the mental darkness of the inhabitants of that region.

EjidO, ay-hee'-doe (Sp,). In Spanish or Mexican settlements in Texas, land set apart to lay out a town. Mostly restricted to deeds, or other documents, either public or private.

In Spain, the term means a common, or public space of land. See portion and suerte.

Elegant. In frequent use for anything admirable, or of first rate quality " Elegant landscape, attire, food, etc."

ElevatOP. (1) A mechanical contrivance for lifting grain, etc. to an upper floor (Bartlett). Also the building itself used for storing grain, and fitted with elevators.

(2) What in England is called a " lift, "and used for carrying persons to the upper stories.

Empire City. The city of New- York, so called from its wealth and population, and from its being the metropolis of the Empire State.

Empire State. The State of New- York, as surpassing all other States in wealth and population, and thus forming an empire of its own. Also

Excelsior State

Emptins, Emptyings. In New England, the lees of beer, cider, etc. yeast, or anything by which bread is leavened.

To run emptiiis, to show signs of not holding out well, as for instance a speech or an enterprise of any kind. Probably from 'analogy of a beer- barrel.

Enchilada, en-tche-lah'-dah (Sp.). In Texas, the name of a Mexican dish, the principal ingredient of which is chile (q. v.).

174

ENG— EUC

Engine (pron. ingine). A railroad locomotive, a fine-engine. Similarly, the French-Canadians have made engin.

Engineer. An engine-driver, an engine-man.

Similarly, the French-Canadians have made ingenieur.

Engineer (to). Often used instead of to plan, to work out.

Enthuse. ( 1 ) A newspaper barbarism meaning to fifl or to be filled with enthusiasm, to manifest delight or to become enthusiastic. (2) In a religious sense, to infuse divine spirit.

Epinette (Fr. C. ). A generic name given, by the French Canadians, to several members of the fir and larch family, of which the following are especially well known :

Epinette blanche (Albies alba), spruce ; .

Epinette rouge (Larix americana), larch ;

Epinette noire (Albies nigra), a species of fir.

The word Epinette occurs in the works of La Hontan, and dates back to the 17th century.

Esquire. A much abused title now applied, in the United States, with republican uniformity, to any one who is not already a colonel or a judge. Although now-a-days, in England, the same word is often used in a very inappropriate way, still John Bull always feels that he must draw a line somewhere ; and esquire with him usually stops at professional men and merchanls, among whom he does not include shop-keepers.

Esquite, es-kee'-tay (Mex. izquitl). In Texas, a name applied to pop-corn sweetened.

Essence-peddler. A derisive name applied to the skunk, which every one fights shy of, as from a peddler. The name, we think, was first given by the poet Lowell.

Eternal. An intensitivc of same type as almighty, awful, cruel, ever- lasting, which we owe to the terse and vigorous vernacular of the West. Thus, an eternal time is a long time.

Eternal camping ground. A simile for a future state of existence, borrowed from the phraseology of backwoodsmen.

Euchre. A game of cards, very much in vogue throughout the United States. The word is said to be of German origin, which ancestry seems so much more acceptable that the two highest cards are designated as riyht and left bower, evidently the German " bauer" or peasant.

Euchre (to). (1) To defeat, to foil, to overcome in any Pc-hc-m;1, from euchred which, in the terminology of the game euchre, means to lose two points.

(2) To defraud, or cheat.

EUC— EXP 175

Euchred. To be beaten at euchre. Eulaehon. See hoolikan.

Evacuation day. The anniversary of the day (Nov. 25, 1783) when the British troops evacuated the city of New York, and which was once kept as a public holiday.

Evening. Applied in the South and West to the afternoon, the time after sunset being designated as 7iight. Thus, it is " evening " at Richmond, while " afternoon " still lingers a hundred miles due north at Washington.

Everglades. A term applied, in the Southern States, to swampy grass- land. In Florida, however, the word is used to designate portions of land lower than the coast, and but little above the sea, covered with fresh- water.

Everlasting. Often used in the same way as almighty, in sense of very, exceedingly. " What an everlasting great city this is. " (Mark Twain.) An intensitive of the same type as almighty, awful, cruel, eternal, etc.

Everlasting (Gnaphalium). The American representative of the "Immor- telle " of Europe, so named from the endurance of its flowers when dried.

Every Which way. Anyhow, anyway. Every way, in all directions.

Evidence (to). To bear witness, to give evidence, in. sen.se of testimony.

Excellency. A title given, by courtesy,, to governprs of States, and to representatives at foreign Courts.

In Massachusetts, the title is given, by the constitution, to the Governor of the State.

ExeelsiOP State. The State of New York, from the motto " Excelsior ' upon its coat of arms.

Exchange. A euphemism for a drinking shop or saloon.

Executive City. The city of Washington, I). C. from its being the official capital of the Union, and the seat of Government.

Exereiees. A generic term for any public proceedings, especially those of a religious nature, and indeed for an}' portion of a religious service.

Expect. To intend, to think, to suppose, toantiuipatc. .V Xe\v Knglamlism used in same sense as to guess, to reckon, to calcul *

Experience. A. term having originated imong American ivvivalisi

meaning what one has passcvl through in " jetting "• religion. Thu.s. relating one's experience, is relating tho progress of one's mind in heromin" an ardent believer.

To experience religion, to become converted, Also, to yet re!iyi>,i/.

176

EXP— FAR

Expose. A corruption of exposure, which has become colloquial.

Exposition. An exhibition. To put on exposition, i. e. to exhibit. Americans follow here closely the French word " exposition. "

Express. A system in operation on all railways, for the rapid conveyance and delivery of packages and goods.

Express-car, a railway carriage for the conveyance of express packages. — Lightning express, a quick-transit train. — Express-man, answers to the parcel-conveying agent of England. — Express-office, where the business is transacted.

Express (to). (1) To send or convey by express-train, or by a special train.

(2) To send or convey through an express company.

Eye-Open6P. ( 1 ) A startler, something which arouses one's surprise.

(2) One of the many names for a morning pick-me-up, in American bar-rooms.

Face the music. To meet an emergency, to stand up against trouble. Said to have originated among actors, when nervously preparing, in the green-room, to go on the board and literally " face the music."

Factory. Often heard for muslin. " Bleached factory."

FaetOPy-COtton. Unbleached cotton made at home, in contrast with the imported one.

Fag eend. A New-Jerseyism, meaning the end piece of anything.

FaiP-maid. A popular name, on the Virginia coast, for a small fish elsewhere known as porgy, and scup.

FaiP Off. To clear off, to clear up, in S3nse of denoting that the weather is clearing up slowly. Particularly current in the South and South- West.

Also, to fair up.

Fairy. In college slang, a pretty girl.

Fairy tale. In newspaper parlance, a story whose authenticity is doubted.

Also, ghost fitory.

Faith-CUPistS. A name applied to those roligious enthusiasts who hold that all disease can be cured by faith and prayer alone.

Fake. (1) A falsity, or swindling of any kind. (2) A story without foundation.

FAR— FAN

177

In newspaper parlance, a story is called a fake, when the writer has invented the whole thing, or has depended on a too fertile imagination for his details.

Fake (to). (1) To commit a swindling.

(2) To draw solely upon one's imagination in relating a story. Especially current among newspaper men.

Fakir. (1) An itinerant merchant, so called from the street corner peddlers, who used to draw attention to their wares by performing tricks. In India, as is well known, a fakir is an adept at sleight of hand.

Also, faker.

(2) In newspaper parlance, a reporter who draws upon his imagina- tion for his facts.

Fall. (1) The season of falling leaves, the autumn.

This beautiful word, which corresponds so well to its opposite ' ' spring, " can only be called an Americanism in that it is as generally employed here as " autumn " is in England. But the word itself, although it has become somewhat unfamiliar to English ears, has been used by every writer of mark from Dryden's time.

(2) An apparatus used in hoisting and lowering goods in warehouses. Hence, fall-way, the line in which the fall works, i. e. the opening or well through which goods are raised or lowered by a, fall.

(3) Used elliptically to designate a ' ' fall of rain. "

Fall (to). Often used in sense of to fell, as to fall a tree instead of to fell a tree.

Still provincial in some parts of England.

Used by Shakespeare (Tempest) in sense of let fall :

And when I rear my hand, do you the like, To fall it on Gonzalo.

Falling weather. Used to designate rainy or snowy weather, and especially a damp, misty, or drizzling temperature.

Falls City. The city of Louisville, Kentucky, from the falls of the same name on the Ohio river,

Family. Often used to denote a man's wife and children, especially tho latter.

In England, a "man of family" almost exclusively denotes a man of good family, while in the United States it means a man who has a wife and children.

Fandango (>Sp. ). In Texas and New Mexico, originally a certain dance brought over from Spain, but now extended to mean any dancing party or nocturnal jollification of low order. 12

178

FAN— FAV

Fancies. In gambling parlance, stocks about which very little is known, and are accordingly fancied in preference to others by unscrupulous brokers, for their operations in fleecing speculating greenhorns.

Fancy. (1) Anything fantastical or unusual. " Fancy prices."

(2) Applied to things and persons more ornamental than useful. " Fancy people. "

(3) Fictitious, imaginary. " Fancy stocks," such as exist only on paper.

Fanner. Often heard in Charleston, S. C. for an open basket dishing out from the bottom upward.

Fan OUt. (1) To pass an examination with credit, to make a show at an examination. Probably from fan in the sense of winnow, and said to have originated at the Military Academy of West Point, where for many years it was local.

(2) To strike out, as in baseball.

Fantail. On the Western rivers, the stern paddle-wheel of a steamboat.

FaPC6-COm6dy. A play in which the characters are taken by variety- show "artists, " who introduce their specialities, generally in the form of songs, dances, etc.

In England, a farce-comedy would be more generally understood as a farcical comedy.

Farina. A superior quality of wheaten flour.

Fast runner (Tachydromus sexlineatus). A species of lizard of great beauty, so called from its swiftness of motion.

Fat. Rich in resinous matter ; resinous. " Fat pine. "

FattikOWS, FettiCUS (Dutch vettikost, meaning, by irony, something like rich fare). A local term, in New York City, for corn-salad, or lamb's lettuce (Valerianella).

FaVGP. (1) Often used, especially of horses and other animals, when they limp slightly, sparing one foot. " The off horse favors his right foot. "

Quoted by Grose with meaning of to ease, to spare.

(2) To resemble, especially referring to family resemblance.

FaVOPed. The combinations long-favored, square-favored, round -favored, etc., which are still current in America to describe a type of face, have now grown obsolete in England, but the foriiis -well-favored and ill- favored are still legitimate English terms.

A good favour you have

(Shakespeare, The Spectator.)

FAY— FEA

179

Fay (Old Eng. ). An old word, curtailed from fadge, still lingering in New England with the meaning of to fit. " Your coat Jays well. " In use during the Augustan age of English literature.

Faze. To disturb, ruffle, daunt. " You didn't faze him," i. e. you did not disturb him, did not even attract his attention. Also used of inanimate objects. See feaze.

Fearful. (1) Still has, in the United States, the meaning it bore in Shakespeare's time, when it was invariably used in sense of timid, timorous, or afraid.

"Romeo, come forth, come forth, thou fearful man, " as the Friar says to Romeo, who, after slaying Tybalt, is lying hidden in Friar Lawrence's cell.

So obsolete, however, has now the word become in England, in sense employed by the poet, that in most editions of Shakespeare a foot-note is appended to it, giving the definition as " timorous. " In America, the expression : " he is a fearful man, " is frequently applied to an individual of timid disposition, the meaning intended to be conveyed being precisely the opposite to that which in England would attach to the phrase, i. e. to inspire terror or awe.

(2) Used by Pennsylvanians in same manner as awful, everlasting, etc. that is, in sense of much, great, strongly.

Feast (Dutch vies). This word can hardly be said to exist any longer. Nevertheless, the phrase : " Tmjeast with it, " still lingers in New York, among the descendants of the Dutch, in the sense of " I'm disgusted with it. "

Feather (tO). Used in New England to designate the rising of cream on the surface of a cup of tea or coffee.

Feature. In newspaper parlance, often heard in sense of a special article, which is of interest from some other point of view than that of news.

Feaze (Old Eng.). To be in a feaze, to be in a state of turmoil or excitement, is a good old English word which is still colloquial in several States, especially Virginia and other Southern parts.

The form /ease is mentioned in Nail's Glossary of Yarmouth words.

And thereat came a rage and such a vese.

(Chaucer )

This expression is probably derived from the Anglo-Saxon " fysan," meaning the rapid and noisy movement of water, and from which we have received the modern '' fizz."

Also, feeze, pheeze.

Feaze (to). To vex, to bother, to knock out. In this last sense, especially, saying of somebody " that he cannot ba feazed, " it would be considered as a compliment.

The iormfaze is also frequently heard.

ISO-

FED— FEL

Federal- (1) Founded upon, or formed by a league, treaty, or compact between independent States.

(2) Pertaining to the United States, as functionally considered.

Federal City. The city of Washington.

Federal currency. The legal currency of the United States.

Federalize. To unite, or confederate for political purposes.

Federalists. A term applied to the members of the political party who favored, in the origin, the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, in preference to remaining loyal to England.

The Federalists grew out of a wing of the Colonial Whig party, with Washington as the acknowledged head, and their power was not broken until the Presidential election of 1800, when Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr were elected by the then Republicans, defeating the Federalist candidates John Adams and C. C. Pinckney.

Federals. The Union men, during the war of the Rebellion. Also, Feds, by abbreviation.

Feed. (1) A meal. " A square feed. "

(2) Fodder, for sheep, cattle, etc. , in sense of pasture.

(3) Grass. "Tall feed, " i. e. high grass.

(4) A slang term for money.

Feed (to). (1) To give as food, as to feed crumbs to the birds. (2) To take meals, board. " Where does he feed ? "

Feel. Used colloquially in sense of to feel disposed, to feel inclined. " I do not feel like walking."

To feel pole, i. e. to experience fright or sudden shock.

Feelay. A Louisiana term applied to the leaves of the sassafras prepared by being dried and powdered.

Feel One's oatS. Said of conceited or bumptious persons, who like to " put on airs," who are given to a display of self-importance.

Obviously derived from the stable, where horses fed on oats exhibit far more spirit and mettle than would otherwise be the case.

Feller (for fellow). A young woman's feller is the particular one who is paying her attention with possible matrimonial intention. Also, beau.

FellOW. Holder of^a college fellowship- Fellowship. (1) Often used in religious writings or discourses, in sense

of communion, i. e. union in religious worship, doctrine and discipline.

In England, means especially companionship, consort, society.

(2) In college parlance, a beneficiary foundation, the income of which

is awarded to a talented student, to enable him to continue his studies.

FEL— FEN

181

Fellowship (to). To hold communion with, to unite with in doctrine and discipline, in Puritan theological practice. Also, .dis-followship.

Perhaps there is no one usage, which is more generally regarded as owing its existence to the religious life of New England, than the employ of fellowship as a verb ; none also, unquestionably, which has been more violently attacked. As a matter of fact, this vocable, inelegant and unnecessary as it may seem, is five hundred years old. Chaucer, in his translation of Boethius, says of thought, that she " joineth her ways with the sun, and fellowshipeth the way of the old, cold Saturn." Of wicked men, he points out " how great pain fellowshipeth and followeth them. "

Female. A word applied indiscriminately, in the United States, to all members of the fair sex, from the first lady of the land to the lowest outcast.

Shakespeare uses the term frequently, and often with all respects, whilst Hume, we are told, calls Joan of Arc a female, and the same occurs incessantly in Walter Scott. Indeed, female for woman, runs through the whole range of English literature since the Reformation. But the idiom has now become so offensive to English taste, while in the same time maintaining a firm hold in America, that it may still properly be classed as a pseudo-Americanism.

Advanced female, an expression sneeringly applied to the " new woman," i. e. the woman claiming all the rights and privileges of men, in addition to those already willingly granted to her sex. The word was introduced at the commencement of the agitation in favor o woman suffrage.

Female help, an expression applied to any kind of employment for women, whether it be that of a governess, a chamber-maid, or a cook.

Fence. (1) A term applied, in the United States, to any kind of enclosure, even to what is called in England a " hoarding," or a wooden inclosure.

(2) A slang term to designate a house where stolen goods are received.

(snake). A zig-zag fence built up of split rails, and common in new "clearings" where wood abounds.

Also, Virginia fence, worm fence, this last word doubtless from such a fence harboring in its corners boundless supplies of vermin.

Fence (to be On the). In political slang, the exact counterpart of the old english verb " to trim," i. e. to carry water on both shoulders, or waiting to see which way the cat is going to jump.

Fence-man. As a man sitting astride his rail-fence can with equal ease jump down on either side, a fence-man, in political parlance, is one waiting to see on which side victory will declare itself, so as to join in the shouts of the winning party.

Also, fence-politician, fence rider, nigyer-on-the-fence.

182

FEN— FIE

Fenee-Piding. The practice of "sitting on the fence" in a political contest, a position understood at its best in America, where Brother Jonathan takes delight in sitting on the rail of a neighbor's fence, " whittling " for hours, to his own immense satisfaction.

FePgfen. In New Jersey, the centre pole of a charcoal pit, forming the central part of the crib (q. v.).

FePia, fer'-e-ah (Sp.). In Texas, a fair ; often synonymous withjiesta (q. v. ).

FePPy flat. A flat-boat mainly used, in the Mississipi region, for ferrying purposes.

Fetch. (1) Almost unknown, in the United States, in sense of " bringing, " but, on the other hand, often used for bringing up. " He has been fetched up for the work. "

(2) Often heard, in the South, in the sense of to perform. "He fetches his blows quick and sure. "

(3) To convince, as when some potent argument is necessary to influence strongly, or fetch a man.

(4) To agree with. " You will all fetch with me. ..."

Fetch away. To part, to separate. ' ' A fool and his money are soon fetched away. "

Fetching1. Pretty, attractive, as a fetching bonnet, or even a fetching woman.

Evidently an extension of to fetch, use in sense of to convince.

FeveP-bUSh (Benzoin odoriferum.) A name given in Massachusetts to the spice-bush or wild allspice, from its bark being much valued as a febrifuge.

Fiee (Old Eng. ). In the South, especially Kentucky, a term applied to a small dog, a cur, a puppy.

Also, fyse, phyce.

In Pennsylvania, afiste (i as in mice).

Now obsolete in England, and evidently the last small remnant of the old English foisting or fistiny hound, of which Nares gives the following gradual corruptions : foisty, foist, fyst, fyce.

Fid. A small portion of tobacco ; a plug or a quid. Evidently from " fid," a bunch of oakum put into the touch-hole of a gun.

FiddlCP. A small, lively, one-armed crab, which runs about side-ways as jerkinly and nimbly as a fiddler's bow, whence its familiar name.

Field. In New Jersey, a deserted farm overgrown with pine, scrub oak and brambles. Somewhat equivalent to plantation.

FIE— FIL

183

Field-driver. A New-England term for a civil officer, whose duty is to impound all cattle, hogs, etc., going at large on the public highways. In England, same officer is called " pound-keeper." See hoy-reeve.

Field-martin (Tyrannus carolinensis). A Southern name for the common king-bird. Also, sachem, scissor-tail.

Fiend. In college slang, a hard student, one who gets high marks. Also, one who rides a hobby, who is addicted to a particular habit.

In some colleges, the term is also applied to an instructor who makes his students work hard.

FiCPPO, fe-er'-ro (Sp. ). In Texas, a brand or mark on cattle and horses. In Spain, fierro is an old form for " hierro," iron.

Fiesta, fe-es'-tah (Sp. ). In the formerly Spanish States, any festivity, religious or national.

In the plural form las fiestas, the word is synonymous with a fair, which lasts several days.

FigUP6. (1) To count upon. " You may. figure upon getting an answer to-morrow."

(2) A common colloquialism, in the West, is "to figure on that," used in sense of to consider, to think over.

(3) To single out, to spot.

Fike (Dutch fuik, a weel, a bow-net). A current word for a large bow- net, among fishermen in the bay of New York. Also, fyke.

File. A cloth used for wiping a floor after scrubbing ; what is known to English servants as a " house-flannel." Hence, to file, to scrub with a file.

File-pail. A wash-pail, or house-maid's pail. . Also, filing-pail.

Filibuster. (1) An adventurer, engaged in a lawless pursuit and espe- cially one who, on the occasion of an insurrection, makes a practice of furnishing arms, ammunition, to the rebels, contrary to international laws, as was lately the case during the last war in Cuba.

(2) In political parlance, a member of a Legislature who obstructs legislation.

The word filibuster first came into general use in America, in 1847, after the Mexican war, when filibustering expeditions were talked of against the West Indies.

184

FIL— FIR

Filibuster (to). (1) To pilfer, to acquire by freebooting. " Erery State in the Union has been filibustered from the Indians. "

(2) To be, to act as a filibuster.

(3) In political parlance, to obstruct legislation by purposeless long speeches, calling for divisions, etc. in order to gain time. It is thus seen that the parliamentary meaning of the word implies a disposition to override regular rules.

Filibustering. (1) Freebooting, freebootery.

(2) In legislation, the use of irregular means to defeat a proposed measure. The sharp manoeuvring of a party to get an advantage over its opponent.

Also, filibusterism.

Filling1. At game of poker, to match or strengthen the cards to which you draw.

Fill the bin. A slang expression, evidently derived from the stable, and meaning to come up to the mark, to acknowledge the accuracy of a description.

Find. A discovery.

Now about as common in England as in America.

Finding's. Shoemakers' supplies in general, excepting leather. In former times, shoemakers used to go to the homes of the country people to make their footwear, the customers supplying the leather, while the mechanic had to find tools, wax, etc. The Boston directory of 1827 contains the following advertisement :

General Finding Store for boot and shoe makers — keeps all kinds of tools and other articles used by shoemakers.

Finding-Store. A shop vrhere shoemakers' tools, appliances, etc. , are sold.

In England, called a "grindery warehouse."

Fine and Close. To get one downyme and close is to find out all about a man, to deliver a stinging blow, etc.

Finger. A nip, a small quantity ; usually applied to spirituous liquors.

•in'.!

Fip.^j In Pennsylvania, and several Southern States, the vulgar name for the Spanish half real or picayune, representing 1/16 of a dollar. Also, fippenny. Fippence, for five-pence, is provincial in England.

Fire. To expel by force. To eject, dismiss, or expel forcibly or peremp- torily. Generally accompanied with "out."

Fire-bug. An incendiary.

FIR— FIS 185

Fire-eoppeP. A designation for a group of brands of whiskey, " because of their uniformity and cleanliness."

Another large group is the " sour-mash" family.

Fire-eatePS. A name originally applied, in political parlance, to the advocates of extreme Southern views, and now extended to those favoring war measures.

This expression is of Irish origin, and may be found in Barrington's sketches.

Equivalent to " Bourbon, " but probably of earlier origin.

FiPe-hunt. A night hunt for game, with the aid of torches of various kinds.

See shine.

FiP6 in the WPOng flOCk. A metaphorical expression used in the West, to denote a mistake made in rashly attacking an adversary who " turns out a Tartar," thus corresponding to the English saying about taking " tke wrong sow by the ear."

A variant is "to bark up the wrong tree."

Fireman. A railway stoker.

FiPC-WOPkS- A quaint substitute for matches, not unfrequently heard in New England. (De Vere.)

Probably at no time anything more than a perversion of language.

Piping-place. In New Jersey, a common name applied to a spot suitable for charcoal burning.

Firstly. Colloquial, in the West, for prompt, hasty, violent, hot-headed. The transition from the legitimate meaning of the word is both easy and apparent.

FiPSt-Pate and a half. An intensified form of " first-rate."

First-chop, first-class, and first-rate have been, however, erroneously quoted as Americanisms, all these words being pure idiomatic English.

Fish (to). In college slang, to curry favor with instructors. Also, sometimes used in sense of to copy from a fellow student.

Fish-CPOW (Corvus ossifragus. ) A bird almost entirely confined to the maritime districts of the Southern States, where it is seen hovering in search of small fry or crabs.

Fishepman-farmeP. On the sea-coast of Massachusetts, said of one who combines farming with fishing, according with the seasons of the year.

Fish-flake. In New England, a kind of fagot-hurdle used for drying fish.

Fish-fpy. A sort of picnic, where the fish are caught and cooked on the grounds.

186

FIS— FIX

Fishing-frog" (Lophius piscatorius). The angler, or devil-fish,

Fish-StOPy. An incredible narration ; a marvellous story aiming at taxing credulity ; the equivalent of what, in English newspaper slang, would be called a " big gooseberry " or a " sea-serpent yarn. "

Fistieate. Proceeding from "fisticuff" and meaning to quarrel, to meddle, to fight. We read, in Capt. John Smith's " Account of Virginia " : There are so many flsticating tobacco-mungers in England.

Fisty. Low, mean. Also, cross.

Fits (to give). To punish a man severely by tongue, or pen, or cow-hide, or the bare fist, or to throw him into fits, i. e. into a paroxysm of rage and fear.

But he must'n come fooling around my gal, or I'll give him Jits.

(Bartlett, a Glance at New- York.)

Also, to give Jessie.

To give particular fits, or Jessie, is the comparative of the original positive, the " ne plus ultra " of chastisement, mental or physical.

Fits (by) and Starts. By short and sudden intervals, from the suddenness and painful violence of a fit.

Five-PointePS. A name given at one time to a band of New- York rowdies, from the notorious Five Points district.

Fix. To do anything conceivable : to arrange, to unfix, to tighten, to loosen, etc. A man threatening vengeance, will even say to his adversary : " Til fix you. "

Also, to fix up.

To fix may be safely called the American word of words, silica there is probably no action whatever, performed by mind or body, which is not represented at some time or other by this universal term. A minister fixes his sermons, and a mechanic his work-bench ; a young lady, at her toilet, is fixing herself, and the waiter says " I'll fix you, " when, to the guest in doubt, he brings a varied and numerous assortment of dishes.

In commercial circles, to fix a thing for the market often comes perilously near flagrant and dishonest dealing.

Americans must have had an early liking for the word, as we read in Bradford's History of Plymouth, 1646: "Where they might fix their pieces " (muskets).

Fix (in a). In difficulties, in a dilemma, in a predicament.

An expression which in England is only slang, but is used in the United States in serious language.

The following advertisement, taken from a Boston paper, will give an idea of the extent to which the word fix is worked in the United States :

Affixed sum of money is desirable as an inheritance for your family. While you are fixing a sum of money we advise insurance, as many & fixer gets out of fix before the fixing is done.

FIX— FLA

187

Fix (OUt Of). Out of health, out of humor, out of almost any normal condition of body or mind.

Fixed. (1) A fixed fact is a certainty, or what is generally called a bottom fact.

(2) Men who are ready for any emergency are said to be fixed, also those who, according to English slang, have been " squared."

(3) At public meetings, or in political contests, those are fixed who are to be the candidates for office.

Fixings. Fixings of all kinds abound in American speech, especially in the South and West, from the railroad fixings required for the equipment of a new railway, to chicken fixings, tea and fixings, in sense of garnishings, trimmings, accompaniments of a dish.

Fix it. Any how you can fix it, no how you can fix it, slang phrases meaning not by any means, not in any way that you can arrange it.

Fix one's flint. A phrase taken from backwoods' life and equivalent to the English slang " to dish " or " to do for."

Fix OUt. Adornment, arrangement, outfit.

Fix OUt (to). To adorn, to arrange, to fit out, te display.

Fix Up. Ornament, supply, contrivance, device, arrangement.

Fix up (to). Same as to fix out. Also, to mend, to repair, to contrive.

Fizzle. In school and college slang, to make a poor recitation', and, more specifically, to fail in a recitation or an examination. Also, to fizzle out.

Flag1. To signalize a train, in the day time, with the aid of a flag. Thus, a train is now said to have been flagged before a collision.

Flag-PUSh. In college slang, a contest between two classes for a flag placed in some conspicuous position by one of them.

Flag-Station. A station where passengers are put down or taken up, only by notice or signal.

Flake (Old Eng.). A frame for drying fish. The word is a survival of English provincial usage. Seefish-fiake.

Flapdoodle. Nonsense, vain boasting, stuff they f«ed fools on, from a cock's flapping of wings and crowing.

Flap-jack (Old Eng.). A flat griddle-cooked pankake.

....and, moreo'er, puddings and flap-jacks

(Shakespeare, Pericles.) Also, slap-jack.

188

FLA— FLA

Flash. In newspaper parlance, an original device for beating time. When a set event is coming off in which there must be one of two results — as, for instance, a big .prize fight — papers are printed in advance with the names of both men in huge letters, and sent to the various distributing points. When the result of the fight reaches the office, orders are then telephoned to release the papers bearing the name of the winner.

Flashy (Old Eng.). Still persisting in Virginia in sense of anything that is not sweet and fruitful.

Else distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy thing.

(Bacon, Essay, of studies.)

Flat. (1) Low alluvial land ; a river shoal, or bottom land. On the New-England coast, all the spaces, bays, inlets, etc., where the sea flows and ebbs.

(2) A broad-brimmed and low-crowned hat, worn by women, similar to the large leghorn.

(3) A species of flat-bottomed boat, used in the Mississipi region. Also, flat-boat, and Kentucky flat.

. (4) A rejection, dismissal, or jilting, at the hands of a lover.

Flat (adj.). (1) Often used in a sense approaching very closely to the meaning of thoroughness, completeness. " A flat contradiction, a flat denial. "

(2) Low-spirited, dejected. " To ieelflat."

Flat-broke, equiv. to dead-broke, i. e. completely ruined.

Flat (to). A Western colloquialism, meaning to jilt or to reject a lorer.

Flat-boatman. (1) A man employed 'on a flat-boat in the Mississipi region.

(2) A nickname applied to Abraham Lincoln, from his having once served as a flat-boatman.

Flat-fOOted. Downright, resolute, earnest, thorough. First originated in Western political slang, and, when applied politically, is the highest summum of praise that can be bestowed upon a man. Very charac- teristic of a man who, when driven to extremity, is ready to lay down his life in the attempt to accomplish his purpose.

Flat-OUt. A Western colloquialism, which first saw the light in political meetings, and means a collapse, a fiasco, a fizzle.

Similarly, the verb to flat out, meaning to prove a failure, to collapse. " The meeting flatted out."

Flat top (Vernonia noveborocensis). In the North-Eastern States, the name of the iron-weed of Kentucky and Tennessee.

Flax Pound. To beat ; to be energetic ; to move quickly. (New Eng.)

FLE— FLO

189

Flea-bane (Erigeron canadense). One of the most hardy and common weeds, largely used as a medicinal herb, in the well known Shaker preparations, as an astringent and diuretic. The flea-bane of England is not the same plant.

Flea bitten. A Texas term to describe the color of a horse or other animal dotted with minute specks of black and white, like pepper and salt.

Fleet. In fishing, a single line of one hundred hooks, so called when the bultow was introduced in Newfoundland, in 1846.

Fleshy (Old Eng. ). Corpulent, stout. " You look quite fleshy, now."

Her sides long, fleshy, smooth and white.

(Chaucer, Troilus and Creseide, III.)

But an if the woman be anything grcwse, fat, or fleshy, " etc.

(Raynald, Birth of Mankynde, 1565.)

Now making again its way into popular English speech, though still regarded as vulgar.

Flicker (Colaptes auratus). The popular name of the golden-winged wood-pecker.

See highholder, yellow-hammer.

Flicker (to). In parts of the South, to fail, to back out.

Flint COPn. One of the many varieties of maize which, says Beverley, in his "History of Virginia," looks smooth and as full as the early ripe

Flint in. To perform or act with energy, and without standing on ceremony. Applied to all kinds of actions, even to eating. Also merely employed as a variant of " chip in. "

Flip (Ger. fiepp). A drink of brandy, beer and sugar made hot and • foaming by means of a red-hot poker.

Float. (1) In the charcoal-pits of New Jersey, a word designating the irregular sods laid on " four-foot lengths, " over which sand is placed.

Generally used in the plural.

(2) In New Jersey, a word applied to pens of boards placed in fresh water, upon which oysters fatten during one tide.

See board-bank, and platform.

FloateP. In political parlance, a candidate representing several counties, and therefore not considered directly responsible to any one of them.

Also, a doubtful voter, an elector of uncertain principles, who may perchance be secured by the highest bidder. (2) A body found floating in the wattr.

190 FLO— FLU

Floating batteries. A term applied in bitter irony by the Confederate soldiers, during the Civil War, to the army bread furnished by their Government.

Floor-walker. In England, shop-walker.

Flop-up. A day's tramp. Flop-up time, bed-time.

Flour City. The city of Rochester, N. Y. , from its being the centre of flour mills.

Also, Flower City.

Flour (to). To convert grain into flour. A word still used in those parts • where there are mills for grinding wheat.

Flouring-mill. A grist-mill, especially one in which flour is made from wheat. (Bartlett.)

Flower City. The city of Rochester, N. Y. , from its large and important nursery trade.

Fluke. In college slang, an utter failure.

To go up the fluke, to fail in recitation or examination.

Fluke (to). In college slang, to fail utterly.

Fluken. A local name, in parts of North Carolina, for the scaly whitish soil dug from mica mines.

To put thefluken on one, to get the advantage on him, to " do him up. "

Flume. (1) In mining districts, a flume is a contrivance for conveying

water, in order to wash out pay-dirt.

To go up the flume, a miner's slang term meaning " to die."

(2) A narrow passage confining water for the purpose of turning a

mill-wheel.

The term is throughly good English, especially in second sense, but is

far more largely colloquial in America.

Flumma-daddle. A holiday mess of New-England fishermen, consisting of a number of ingredients baked in the o^en, the most important of which are stale bread, pork fat, molasses, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves.

Flummux. In college slang, a poor recitation, a failure.

FlummilX (to). (1) To give in, to give up. " We regularly flummuxed" i. e. we dared not say a word.

(2) To faint, to collapse, and even to die.

To flummux is a slang term used in England, but then only transi- tively, and in the altogether different sense of to overcome, to over- whelm, to hinder, to bewilder, etc.

FLU— FLY 191

Flunk (Old Eng. ). A failure, a back-down ; a backing out through fear. In current use, in Wall street parlance.

In college phraseology, a complete failure in a recitation or an exami- nation.

The term is now obsolete in England.

Flunk (to). To give up, to back out from fear. To fail utterly in a college examination. Also, to flunk out.

Flunker. In college slang, one who fails in examination.

Flunky. (1) In college parlance, one who backs out from examination for fear of failure.

(2) In the slang of Wall street, an unlucky outsider who speculates in stocks without any knowledge of the market, or even of monetary matters.

Flush. One who has plenty of money, who is lavish in his expenditures.

Flutter-Wheel. A small water-wheel, used mostly in saw-mills, and which, from the rapidity of its motion, makes a fluttering noise.

Fly (Dutch vly). In New- York, a swamp, a marsh. The " Fly market " of New-York is well known.

Fly (to). In constant use, even among careful writers, instead of to flee.

Fly around. To make haste, to move about quickly. To be quick and active at some pressing work.

FlyeP. (1) An outsider's venture or speculation, through the regular brokers of the Stock Exchange. " To try & flyer in stocks. " (2) In the slang of railway men, a fast train.

Flying-brand. A brand used for cattle by the ranchmen of the Western plains.

Flying-fish (Prionotus lineatus.) Not the flying-fish of the tropics, the name in this case being simply an allusion to its peculiar mode of motion under water, its long outstretched fins then closely resembling the wings of a bird.

Also called sea-rol>in and pig-juh, this last designation being on account of the grunting noise emitted by the flying-fish when caught.

Fly light. To take things easily ; to make oneself comfortable.

Fly Off the handle. A figurative phrase meaning to break a promise,

and suggested by the disappointment which befalls a backwoodsman,

when his axe-head suddenly flies off leaving the useless handle in his grasp.

Hence also, by extension, to lose temper, to become unreasonably

excite i to wrath. We have even heard of a poor man having sueoeeded

192

FOG— FOR

to the fortune of a distant relative, " who went off" the handle in England rather unexpectedly. " Usually, however, in this last sense, the phrase runs " to slip off the handle. " Also, to go off the handle.

Fog. In the Canadian Maritime Provinces, last year's grass standing in the fields through the winter. Also, fog-grass.

FogfO- In parts of New England, sometimes heard in sense of ste'nch. The word is common enough among North of Ireland people.

Fogy- An ultra-conservative in politics, i. e. a man "befogged" with regards to the demands of the present time.

In England, a "fogey" is the old-fashioned person popularized by Thackeray, and in Scotland "fogie" applies to a dull and slow old man who is unable or unwilling to reconcile himself to new ideas.

Folks. In New England, used very generally for people, especially neighbors and company. " How's the/o/£s ?" Also, sense of immediate family. See white folks.

Folle-avoine (Fr. ). A name applied to the wild rice of the lakes and rivers (Zizania aquatica).

Also, riz du Canada, or Canadian rice.

Follow in One's tracks. To follow one so immediately and closely, as. . to step into his footmarks.

The phrase is of Western origin, and is now common all over the country.

F6ol around. To hang about, implying an idea of resentment to the presence of the person spokeu of.

Has also a signification akin to the verb to flirt, when applied to a man given to dangling about a woman's skirts.

Fool-flsh (genus Monocanthus). The popular name of the file-fish, from its extremely odd manner of locomotion.

Fool's gold. Bogus gold ; ore which, from its appearance, misleads the novice in mining.

Foot-lOOSe. Free, not tied to business.

Footy. (1) Poor, mean, small, insignificant, worthless, trashy. (2) A blunderer, a simpleton.

FOP. Used for from.

Some years before, he had named his two children, one for Her Majesty, and the other for Prince Albert (Hawthorne.)

This use of for is pronounced, by F. Hall, to be an Americanism of the truest ring.

FOR— FOR

193

Force. (1) A gang of laborers, as for instance those at work on a railway, or a plantation.

(2) In slavery times, the slaves pertaining to a planter, and constituting his "working force. "

Fore-day. A very expressive word often heard for the period of time immediately before sunrise.

FOPefathePS'-day. A holiday formerly kept in New England, in commemoration of the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, at Plymouth, on Dec. 22, 1620.

Forehanded. Besides ordinary English meaning of early, timely, has in America the signification of well-off, well provided, comfortable in circumstances, and even economical, in which sense it is now very rarely heard in England.

Fore-pay. Payment beforehand.

Forest City. The city of Cleveland, Ohio, from its many thoroughfares adorned with trees. Portland, Maine, and Savannah, Georgia, are also similarly named.

FOPg"e ahead. To advance, to move with alacrity ; to make rapid pro- gression.

FOP God's Sake. Thoroughly, effectively. This curious phrase, which is probably of Puritan derivation, is still sometimes heard when the meaning to be conveyed is that a thing is thoroughly, or well done.

FOPk. One of two roads into which the main road divides, at a place which is called the/or&s.

FOPkS. Where a road divides, or a river branches.

FoPlt OUt. To hand over money, to pay up. " You will please fork out that money, and pay your bill."

Also to fork over, to fork up.

In England, to fork out is merely used, in thieves' parlance, in sense of picking pockets, from seizing their contents a3 with a fork with the stiff fingers.

FOPnent (Low Scotch). Near by, alongside. Quite common, especially in Pennsylvania.

FOPPaPd. A c jiTiiption of forward, use 1 in New England in sense of early, ahead of the season. " I've got someforrard apples."

FOPty-nineP. Said of one who went to California in 1849, at the time of the great gold fever and general exodus to the gold mines. '

Id

194

FOR— FRA

Forty POd lightning1. In the West, a common term for whiskey of the most villainous description. So called because humorously warranted to kill at forty rods.

FosfOPO, fos'-for-o (Sp.). In Texas, a sulphur match, a match in general.

Foteh, Fetched (Old Eng.). The old participle of to fetch, still continueing in use among low people in the South, especially among negroes.

Foul-hand. At game of poker, a hand composed of more or less than five cards.

Foul-tip. At game of base-ball, a ball touched by the bat, but which falls within the foul line.

Foundation. In Montana, a legal notification of intent to take up a claim, consisting of four logs laid across each other so as to form a square.

Four hundred. The "society " class of New York city, said to be limited to that number, and of which the late famous McAllister was the founder and " great priest. "

Fox. (1) Used by shoemakers, when repairing boots, in sease of making a new foot to old uppers.

(2) In parts of Canada, to play truant.

Fox-fire. Rotten wood found in swampy places, and which, at night, presents a phosphorescent appearance. Hence, " that is allfox-fire, " i. e. of no consequence.

Fox-grape (Vitis labrusca). A large grape, of a rank taste, commpn on the borders of streams. In the South, a kindred grape (Vitis vulpilia or vulpina) bears larger berries and is less acid than the former.

Several explanations have been given for the name fox-grape, some etymologists pretending that it is either derived from the fox-smelling taste of the fruit, or the foxy pubescence characterizing the surface of the leaves, while others, having in sight the intoxicating qualities of the berries, maintain that they owe their appellation to the old English word "to foxe, " in sense of to intoxicate.

Foxy. In college slang, scheming, deceitful. Also, bright, well-dressed.

Fractional currency. The legal term by which the nickel and copper coins — fractional parts of silver coins— issued since the war are known.

Fraggle. In Texas, to rob, to despoil.

Frail. In Louisiana, especially New Orleans, often heard in sense of to whip, as a child.

Frame house. A house made of timber.

FRA— FBE . 195

Frat. A common abbreviation, in college slang, for a fraternity, or a member of a fraternity.

Also, pertaining to a fraternity.

Fraud. (1) A deceitful person, a cheat.

(2) A disappointment, not necessarily with suggestion of bad faith, or trickery.

Any person disappointing expectations, without the idea of attributing actual dishonesty to him.

The nearest English equiv. is the slang use of the word " sell. "

Freak. A very odd person.

In college slang, a student who is exceptionally proficient in a given subject. Also, somebody or something of a peculiar appearance.

Free. (1) Used, before the Civil war, a« the antithesis of slavery.

Free-cotton, cotton grown by free men, and not slaves.

/Vee-labor, that performed by free men.

Free- States, those States in which negro slavery did not exist.

(2) Gratuitous, open to all. " Free lunch, " in drinking saloons.

Free lunch fiend, in drinking saloons one who makes a meal off what is really provided as a snack.

Free-flgfhter. A free lance, a guerilla soldier, during the Civil War.

Free soil. In former years, lands owned by the United States, and yet free from slavery,' were called free-soil territory.

Free-SOiler. An advocate of the exclusion of slavery, from the territories belonging to the United States.

The early settlers of Kansas and Nebraska, who were opposed to slavery, were the first free-soilera, and the name still survives there with the passionate recollections of days of terrible and relentless warfare. The free-soilera were once a powerful party in politics, especially in 1852- 56, but in 1860 they were finally merged into the Republican party.

Free-SOllism. The principles and doctrines of the free-soilers.

Freestone State. The State of Connecticut, from the valuable quarries of freestone to which the State is largely indebted for its revenue.

Freeze. To wish ardently, to become possessed of an intense longing for anything. " I freeze to go back."

Freeze (to). To adhere closely to a thing ; to attach oneself strongly, to cling to another person. Also, to freeze on to. Another variant is to cotton to.

Freeze OUt. A variety of game of poker.

196 FRE— FRI

Freeze OUt (to). Applied to persons, "to leave out in the cold," so as to compel them to do one's will, the idea conveyed being that of unfair pressure.

Freezer. A refrigerator.

Freight. (1) Conveyance of merchandise by inland carriage. (2) The charge made for such conveyance.

In England, freight is a term almost exclusively confined to ocean transport.

Freightage. Charge for carriage of merchandise.

Freight-Cap. A railway car for carrying merchandise. In England, a Is van.

Freight-train. A railway train, for the carrying of merchandise. In England, a goods train.

Frejoles, fray-ho'-lez (Sp. ). In Texas, a kind of long red bean, which is one of the standard articles of diet of the Mexicans.

In Spain, the name applies to the common French bean. Also, frijoles.

Fresh. (1) In the South, especially Maryland, a small tributary of a large river, or a stream distinct from the tide-water.

Used by Milton and Bailey to denote a pool of fresh water, while Beverley writes :

There are the Mawborn Hills in the freshes of James River.

(Hist, of Virginia, p. 110,)

(2) In college slang, an abbreviation for a freshman (q. v. ). Also, freshie.

Fresh (adj.). Overbold, cheeky. Said of a man who thinks he knows everything, and who talks freely and pushes himself forward. Also, sense of unsophisticated.

Freshet (Old Eng. ). An old English word, now mostly used in America, and designating an inundation or overflowing of a river.

The word/re.^ is still used in the north of England and in Scotland, in precisely the same sense.

Fried-Cake. In New England, a kind of cake fried in lard. ' See liled-cake, doughnut.

Friends. This word is used whei'e in England "relations" would be employed.

FrijollilO, fre-bde-et'-yo (Sp.). 'In Texas, a large, leguminous shrub, with bright red, very poisonous beans (Sophora secundiflora).

FRI— FRO

197

Fpills. In the West, presumption, self-conceit. " I cannot bear his ways, it's all frills."

A somewhat less offensive meaning is conveyed in other instances, when accomplishments such as music, French, German, etc., are called frills.

To put on frills, to make considerable show on small justification; to impose oneself with an assumption of style in which conceit and bump- tiousness play a considerable part.

Frisco. A common abbreviation for San Francisco.

Frog. In railway parlance, the iron plate where two lines of railways intersect.

In England, a crossing plate.

Frog'S-hair. In parts of New England, the plant " Eleocharis acicu- laris," and other allied species.

Frolic. In the West, a pleasure party or social gathering.

An American equiv. of the English " junketing. "

Husking frolic, a gathering of young people, at a neighbor's house, to strip the husks from the year's crop of maize.

Quilting frolic, a meeting of ladies for the purpose of making bed-quilts, generally for a charitable motive, and to which the young men are wont, to find their way, on the Irishman's following principle :

If all the Young women was ducks in the water,

It's thin the young men would jump in an swim a' ter.

Fromety (Old Eng.). An old English delicacy described in Hallamshire Glossary as wheat boiled with milk, to which sugar and spice are added. Thefromety is especially well known in Maryland, where the word is, however, commonly pronounced furmety.

Front name. Often used, in the West, for the Christian or first name. In New England, the form given name is used in preference.

FrOSt-flsh (Morrhua pruinosa). A small fish, so called from its appearing off the coast in cold weather. Also familiarly called torn-cod.

FrOSt-grape. The river-grape (Vitis riparia), in its wild state. Also, chicken -grape.

Frost-Smoke. In Hudson's Bay region, a thick, black vapor, arising in winter.

Noted by Ellis in 1748.

FrOStWOrt (Cistus canadensis). A medicinal herb, possessing astringent and tonic properties, and largely used in the " Shaker preparations. "

So called from the crystals of ice which shoot from the bursting bark, during freezing weather in autumn.

198

FRO— FYK

FrOUghty (Old Eng.). In New England, spongy, brittle, easily broken, of inferior quality.

Still provincial in North of England, from "f rough, " used with same meaning.

Frowehey (Dutch vrouwtje). In city of New York and vicinity, a term applied to an old woman, with bent shoulders, and deep-wrinkled, furbelowed face. A wellnigh desperate attempt to render, into English* the staid old greeting "Vrouwtje," so much in use amongst the good burgher's wives in Knickerbocker times.

Frump (Old Eng.). Still lingering in New England in sense of to mock, to insult.

Quoted by Bailey as meaning to frizzle up the nose as in contempt, and so used by Beaumont and Fletcher.

The substantive form survives now-a-days in England, where people speak of a cross, ill-tempered person as an "old frump. "

Fudge. In newspaper parlance, a news bulletin printed in red ink, as in the case of the evening editions of the World and Journal, in New York. The fudge is inserted in actual type in the plates, the presses being stopped for the purpose.

Fudges. Chocolate bonbons, especially home-made.

Full (Old Eng. ). An old participle often heard in the South for filled. Also, fulled.

Full feather. Good trim, good condition, good form, in athletic par- lance. " To be in full feather."

Fun (to). Often used for to joke. " I'm only funning."

. To officiate at the religious ceremonies of an interment To bury. To conduct a funeral service for.

Funeral-procession. Very common in Ontario, Canada, in sense of " cortege."

Funked. In Kentuky, used in sense of rotten, as applied to tobacco.

Fuste, foos'-tay (Sp. ). In California, a strong saddle-tree, made of wood, and covered with raw-hide, used for lassooing. Also, fusty.

Fust OUt. To come to nothing, to end in smoke, to fizzle out.

Fyke. A sort of a fish-net, distended by hoops, largely used in New York and Connecticut waters.

GAB— GAL

199

Q-

Gab (originally, the mouth, in old Eng.). Used in the United States almost exclusively for idle chatter, gabble, prat, i. e. a great command of words without an over-abundance of ideas. In the South, the word is strengh- tened by being lengthened into gablement, but only in its lowest sense. We find the "gift of the gab, " in Grose, as meaning facility of speech, and Chaucer uses the verbal form in sense of "to talk idly."

Gabbey. A foolish talker, one who has " the gift of the gab. " Gaby. A simpleton. Gachupln. See cachupin.

Gad. A small whip, used to drive cows to pasture, and, more often, & whipstock without lash, made of a slender stick or rod of any kind. In this latter sense, still colloquial in England.

GaffeP. A small boy. Also, a foreman in a machine shop. In this latter sense, still provincial in England, especially when meaning the foreman of a squad of navvies.

Gait In the patter of the criminal classes, refers to one's walk in life, i. e. calling, trade, profession, manner of making a living.

Gal-boy. Used occasionally, in New England, for the more familiar torn-boy.

Gale. Often used to denote a state of pleasant excitement, especially among women and children. " The children were in such a gale, it took us nearly an hour to get them to bed. "

Galena. Salt pork, so named from the city of Galena, Illinois, being one of the chief hog-raising and pork-packing centres of the country.

Gall. (1) A generic name applied to the jelly-fishes, by New-York children.

Stinging-galls, the medusoe, or sea-nettles (Discophora). Lightning -galls, ovoidal, phosphorescent jelly-fishes {Ctenophora)

(2) Common slang for bumptiousness, conceit, effrontery, cheek, with connotation of audacity, pluck, courage of one's conviction under difficulties.

In England, the term has the meaning of rancour, and bitterness of mind or speech.

(3) A kind of low land, consisting of a matted soil of vegetable fibre, produoing little that is worth harvesting.

In Florida, such tracts of land are called bay-galls, and, were cypresses grow on them, cypress- galls.

200

GAL— GAR

Gallantize. To show attention to ladies, to do the agreeable. To v.-ait upon ladies.

Used both in the transitive and neutral forms.

(1) A West Indian mosquito, well known for its voracity and powerful sting.

Authorities vary with reference to derivation, some referring the word to gall and nip, while others would see at least the true source of the first syllable in the English provincialism " gallier, " to fight.

(2) In parts of Ontario, Canada, a large reptile-insect, found under 'stones and used as bait.

Also, galnipper.

GallOWS. A central core formed of several cornstalks interlaced diago- nally, to serve as a support for cut maize which is placed about it in forming a shock. (Century Diet. )

Galumph. To go " bumping along" in the manner that street- cars are apt to do, when driven at a high rate of speed on uneven metals. An onomatopy.

Galvanized Yankee. A contemptuous epithet applied, during the Civil War, to those Confederate prisoners who, getting weary of confinement and privations, were at last enlisted in the United States Army. The word is probabiy derived from an indistinct association with worthless galvanized imitations of gold and silver.

Gam. A sea-faring term, often used, on the Atlantic coast, in sense of a social visit, and especially of a long and merry chat among acquaintances. Originally applied to occasions when meeting friends or countrymen in a strange land, or where few opportunities exist for social intercourse.

GanehO, gan'-tcho (Sp.). In Texas and the South- West, a crooked iron for branding horses.

Also, a loop-eared horse.

GandeP-paFty. A social gathering, or party, consisting of men only.

Other forms are stag-party, and, in a less complimentary sense, gander- gang, or simply gang.

GangfC (Sp. gancho, a hook, or crook), hook to a line or snell.

In the South- West, to attach a

Garden. A term almost exclusively applied, in the United States, to what in England would be called a market-garden, i. e. a place set apart for the cultivation of vegetables, market produce, etc.

In England, garden means a place where fruits and flowers are culti- vated, besides vegetables and other plants.

Garden Of the West. The State of Illinois.

GAR— GEN 201

Garden State. The State of Kansas, from the beautiful appearance of rolling prairies which abound in that fertile region.

Garden-truck. Market-garden produce.

A name applied, in the West, not only to a military force occupying a post, but also to any fortified place, and even to old forts and posts long since abandoned.

Garvey. The name of a small scow, in Barnegat region, N. J. Gas Idle boasting, brag, lots of talk.

Gas (to). In political parlance, to deliver long speeches, merely to consume time.

Gasparau. (Fr. C.). One of the many names of the alewife, a fish of the herring kind abounding in New England and in the Canadian Maritime Provinces.

Also, gasperau.

Gat (Dutch). A term applied to several places in the vicinity of city of New York, and meaning a strait, a narrow passage at sea, as Barnegat» Hell-Gate (formerly Dutch Helle-gat).

Gate City. The city of Keokuk, Iowa, from its being the point at which the Mississipi becomes navigable.

Gaum (Old Eng. ). A survival of Elisabethan English, still provincial in England, and which is colloquial in the United States in sense of to smear, to soil. " Don't let the child gaum herself all over."

Gavel (Old Eng.). The amount of wheat cut by the reaping machine, and shaken out by one motion.

Formerly a small heap of grain sufficient to make a sheaf, in which sense it is still provincial in the east of England, from Fr. javelle.

GawnicUS. A fictitious enlargement of " gawk, " meaning a dolt, a fool, a simpleton.

Gazon (Fr. ). The carpet grass of dry uplands.

Gear-Up. Used in Pennsylvania in sense of to harness. Wright gives " gears " as horse-trappings.

Gee. To serve a certain purpose. " That won't gee, " i. e. that will not do. Oee is English, in sense of a term employed in driving a wagon.

Gee With. To agree with, to get on with.

Gentiles. A contemptuous epithet applied by Mormons to all outsiders, i. e. those who are not of their faith.

202

GEN— GET

Gentle (Old Eng. ). A survival of Elizabethan English, meaning to ease, to soften, to soothe. Young, in his "Night Thoughts," has the line " To gentle life's descent. " By extension, to tame, to subdue a horse by kind treatment.

Gentleman. A term possessing, in America, no distinctive meaning, and applied indiscriminately to men of every grade and every calling.

Similarly, the word lady is used in the same way. .

In England, both terms are specially reserved to people of education and good breeding.

Gerrymander. In political parlance, to so divide and redistribute an electoral district, that its representation, in the Legislature, will go to the party having in fact the minority of votes in that district.

The name originated during the governorship of Elbridge Gerry, in Massachusetts, that State having been then redistricted in an arbitrary manner (1811), and the termination "mander" is in humorous imitation of " salamander, " from a fancied resemblance to this animal of a map of one of the newly-formed districts.

Also used substantively, in sense of any arbitrary arrangement of the political divisions of a State.

Get. An imperative mood, meaning " go away."

Also, get a move on, i. e. go away, move along.

i Get along. The American substitute for the English phrase " to get on."

Get around. To overcome, to get the better of. Thus, to get around an opponent is to score an advantage over him. Also, to go round.

Get back at. To satirize, to call to account.

Get into the Short TOWS. To come to the end of a task, to have nearly finished, from the rapidly shortening rows at the end of a field which hoe off with surprising rapidity after the rest are done.

Get OUtSlde a thing. To understand it, or, to use a common expression, to get to the windward of it.

Get the dPOp On. Literally, to pull and fire a revolver, before one's opponent can get his own revolver in hand, and, generally speaking, to be in a position wherein one holds the life or honour of another in hand.

Get the hang Of. To acquire the knack of doing anything ; to get well acquainted with something.

Get there. To attain one's object, to be successful, as in the case, for instance, of a smart, intelligent fellow who displays great business aptitudes and meets with success.

Also used substantively, as embodying the sum of qualities necessary to attain one's object. " The much esteemed get there quality."

GET— GIR 203

Get there With both feet. A forcible extension of the above, meaning to achieve a great or wonderful success.

Ghost dance. A war dance introduced among the Sioux of Dakota, in 1891, the participants wearing long shirts of fantastic appearance.

GhOSt Story. In newspaper parlance, a reporter's story which there is good ground to think has been invented in all its details.

Gibe. To go well, when compared with another object. To be pleasing, or acceptable.

This sense, as will be seen, is thus entirely antagonistic to the ordinary acceptation of the word.

Gigging. Used in Virginia to denote night-fishing with a three-pronged spear, as it was done in the days of captain John Smith.

Gila. (Heloderma suspectum). A venomous lizard about 18 inches long over all, with head of about 2 or 3 inches, striped with an orange hue, and presenting a somewhat hideous appearance. It derives its designa- tion from the Gila river, in Arizona, where it is mostly found.

Gilded-POOSter. A person of importance, i. e. a big bug, from the gilded Booster on the top of a steeple.

Gilly. An idiot, a soft pate.

Gllly-flOWeP. A variety of apple, in New England.

Gilt. Quite common, among farmers, for a sow with her first litter of pigs. Still provincial in England.

Gilt-edged. First class, the best of its kind. Thus, a dairy-marl will speak of "gilt-edged" butter.

Gimbal-jawed. Applied to a person whose lower jaw projects beyond the upper, thus appearing to be loose and out of joint.

Derived from " gimbal," a mechanical contrivance, on board ship, for suspending anything freely, as the compass, etc.

Also, corrupted into gimber -jawed.

Gimpy. Sprightly, or active, as a gimpy horse.

Gimp and gimpy are provincial in England, in sense of nice, spruce, etc.

Gin-and-tidy. To be gin and tidy is to be spruce, neatly dressed, arrayed in one's best, what in England is known as " beat bib and tucker."

Ginete, he-nay'-tay (Sp.). In Texas, a bronco buster, i. e. a man whose business is to break mustangs.

GiPd (tO take a). Has in the North-West the peculiar meaning of to make an effort, to take a shot.

Evidently a factitious extension of the verbal form to gird, as when one girds oneself to special endeavor.

204

GIR— GLA

Girdle. In the West, a method of clearing forest-lands, consisting in making circular incisions through the bark of trees, the result of which is decay and death. Also, to bark, to belt.

Girdling1. In the West, a place cleared of trees, or where the trees have been girdled.

Gism (Dutch geest). Energy, spirit. " I knock'd all the gism out of him."

Git. (1) A Western vulgarism for go, go ahead, move on.

(2) A forcible injunction equivalent to " there's the door ; leave quickly. " This injunction is strenghtened into git out, you git, or git up and git, git up and dust, which are really emphatic notices to use the utmost expedition in departing.

Git up and git. A substantive form used in various ways. For instance a thing that has no git up and git is a thing that is weak, vain, mean, slow, etc.

Git to. Local in Pennsylvania in sense of to obtain leave, to be permitted. Also, to git to go.

Give item. To signal information unfairly to a confederate, at card playing.

Given name. Represents, especially in New England, the Christian name, or first name given to a person.

Probably a relic of the Puritan dislike to the many Saints' names given as Christian names.

Givy. Pliable, yielding, liable to give way, as when a material " gives " a little.

Especially appplied to tobacco leaves, in a certain condition of their preparation for market.

Also, givey.

Gizzard-Shad. (1) A North-Carolina term for the alewife.

(2) A fish of the Ohio (Chatoessus ellipticus), common in Cincinnati, and so called because it possesses a muscular stomach resembling the gizzard of a gallinaceous fowl.

Glade (Old Eng. primarily, a bright open spot in a wood).

(1) In New England, a tract of smooth ice.

(2) In the Southern States, a tract of land covered with water and grass. Evidently here a curtailment of everglade.

See moongladt.

Glakid (Lowland Scotch.) Used in Pennsylvania in sense of stupid. Jamieson gives the Low Scotch glaikit as unsteady, giddy, stupid.

Glare-ice. Newly frozen ice, smooth and transparent ice.

GLA— GOB 205

Glass (Old Eng.). Used in the South and West in sense of to glaze, as was done in England in the times of Boyle. " The windows are sashed

Glaze. In the East, rime, or hoar-frost, when speaking of the state of the ground.

The ground, when rimed by hoar-frost, is also said to be glazed.

Gleet (Old Eng.). A large wooden wedge. So quoted by Halliwell.

Gllbe. A term applied to writing generally, but more particularly to a written agreement.

Glimpse. To discern, to get a glimpse of. " I barely glimpsed him."

Glims. In the patter of criminal classes, a name especially given to the eyes.

In England, among the same fraternity, a lamp, a light, or a pair of spectacles.

Glut (Old Eng.). Still persisting in New England, in sense, already quoted by Halliwell, of a large wooden wedge used in splitting blocks. See gleet.

Gnarler. A generic name, among burglars, for a watch dog. Go. Success. ' ' Make a go of it.

Go (to). (1) To taste. " Don*t that go good ?"

(2) In political parlance, to vote. " The State will go Republican."

Go ahead. Spirit of progress, progressiveness, in a sense of bold and fearless progress.

Also, go aheadaticenets.

Used adjectively, means rapidly advancing, progressive. Thus, the American people, by virtue of their restless, untiring activity, are said to be a go-ahead nation.

Also, (jo aheaditi'oe.

Go ahead (to). See ahead.

Goat. A name applied, among fur-traders, to the prong-horn antelope (Antilocapre Americana).

Goatee. A tuft of hair worn on the chin, similar to a goat's beard, hence its name.

Gob. In parts of New England, a small quantity of any matter in a plastic state. A " <]db of mud."

The word is more especially colloquial, in England, in sense of a mouthful.

206

GO— GO

GO back on. To abandon a friend, or an undertaking. To turn tail, to disappoint expectation. Also equivalent to " give away, "in sense of exposure.

Go back On one's hash. In the racy vernacular of the West, to weaken in face of unexpected difficulties or hardships ; having put one's hand to the plough, to turn back.

Gobbler. In the West, a turkey, and especially a turkey-cock.

Gobble up. To carry off, to remove as by swallowing, to vanquish. Especially much used during the late civil war, in sense of " taking from the enemy," a meaning derived from the voracity which is gene, rally conveyed by gobbling.

GO better. At game of poker, to make a higher bet than one's adversary, and, by extension, to do better than others, to excel others.

GobstlckS. Silver forks and spoons, from " gob," English slang for mouth. Similarly, a bridle is called gobstrinq.

GO by. In the South, to stop, to call at. " Will you go by and dine with me," i. e. will you go by (way of) my house, and stop and dine with me?

Godet (Fr. C.). The penguin or razor-billed auk (Alca torda), of the lower St Lawrence region.

Godfathers. A flash name for " gentlemen of the jury."

Go-down. A word of squatter origin, designating a cutting in the hilly bank of a stream for enabling animals to cross it or to get to the water.

Gofer (Fr. gaufre). A relic of the early Huguenot French, still in use among the negroes for a waffle.

Go for. (1) To advocate, to be in favor of, to decide in favor of. Also, to go in for.

(2) To attack, iu a sense akin to personal castigation.

Going- Travelling. " The going is bad, owing to the deep snow. "

Go it alone. At game of euchre, to play independent of one's partner, and, idiomatically) to engage in any undertaking without outside assistance.

Go it bald-headed. To act on the spur of the moment, i. e. in s;reat haste, with eager impetuosity, as where one rushes out without his hat.

Go it blind. To run all risks, to engage in an undertaking without forethought, an expression derived from game of poker, where the player has the privilege, before seeing his hand, of " blinding " a stake, i. e. betting on the chances.

GO— GON

207

Go it Strong. To act energetically, to advocate vigorously, to live freely, and, in short, to do anything accentuated in character.

Go large. To live extravagantly.

*

Golden City. The city of San Francisco.

Golden Circle. An organization formed among "Copperheads" during the Civil War, to aid in the rescue of confederate prisoners. Also one of the alleged names of the " Klu-Klux-Klan. "

Golden eye (Bucephala americana). A large white and grey duck, other- wise known as the whistler or whistle-wing.

Golden State. The State of California, from its rich gold mines. GO like. To imitate.

GombO. A popular dish of the South, prepared with the pod of the Okra (Hibiscus esculentus). Also, the name of the plant itself. Also, gumbo.

Gone beaveP. In the West, an invalid hunter who can no longer hunt for meat.

Gone ease.

or beaten.

One who is altogether broken up, or who is completely lost

Gone COOn. A man lost beyong recovery, one whose case is absolutely hopeless.

Other variants are gone gander, gone goose, gone gosling, goner, goney.

All those expressions are varieties of a phrase that was first brought into popularity by the story of a certain Colonel Scott, a Western hunter, whose aim with rifle was so unerring that a raccoon upon a tree, at which he was going to fire, surrendered at discretion after a short parley:

— Are you colonel Scott ?

—Yes.

— The famous colonel Scott ?

— Yes, so people say.

— Don't fire, colonel, I give in, I'm a yone-coon.

GonCP. (1) One who is lost or ruined in fortune and health.

(2) A politician, a merchant, or even an official, who is " gone, " done for, finished.

(3) In the West, a hopelessly bad debt, one that is gone beyond the chance of a recovery.

Gone up. A slang phrase occasionally referring to death, but more frequently to the failure of any entreprise, great or small.

Goney. A dull, stupid fellow.

Provincial in Gloucestershire, England. Also, gony.

208

GON— GOO

Gonus. A latinized form of " goney, " used in colleges.

GoObeP (Arachnis hypogoea). A Southern name for peanuts or earthnuts. Also, guber. By extension, an inhabitant of some Southern States.

In the South, a nickname applied to an inhabitant of Georgia or Alabama, from the •' goober " being so common in those States.

Good. As applied to food, used in sense of pleasant, agreeable ; and to health, is used where Englishmen would say " well. " To feel good, i. e. to feel well, comfortable.

Good-WOOled. A man whose courage can be depended upon never to fail him.

Goody. A New-Jersyism for the spot-fish of Virginia, a fish of peculiar delicacy and in great favor from Atlantic City to Cape May.

Goody-bread. A negro delicacy, consisting of bread in which pieces of roast rind of pork have been baked.

Goody-gOOdy. Often contemptuously applied to an over- fastidious person.

Go-Off. Commencement, beginning. ' ' There may be a few blunders on> the go off, but ---- "

Go Off half-COeked. A metaphor borrowed from sporting phraseology, and applied to a person who undertakes to do a thing without due preparation, thereby failing to attain what would be otherwise within his reach.

Go Off OH his ear. To get violently angry, to go away angry. Also, to get on his ear.

Go One's death. To lay one's life on something.

Go One's pile. To expend one's fortune to the last penny, and, idioma- tically, to throw one's heart and soul into an undertaking. Allusion to the " pile" (of money) obtained in mining or trade.

Go On With the procession. To continue ; to allow no break in the continuity of any act.

A simile drawn from processions being quite a feature in American public life.

Goose. Used by shoemakers in sense of making new bottoms to a pair of boots, and renewing them half way up.

Probably adapted, for distinction's sake, from " to fox. "

GOOSeberry-fOOl. An old time dish of gooseberries and eggs, eaten with cream.

GOO— GOT 209

Goose-egg. In college slang, a nought or round O at any game. Also, zero, as in marks or other connection.

Gopher (Fr. gaufreur, from gaufre, honeycomb, waffle). (1) A generic name applied to several animals of mining or burrowing habits.

(2) In the Middle States, a species of mole, burrowing in the prairies, and more than twice the size of the common field mole.

(3) In the South, especially Georgia, a species of land turtle.

(4) In the South, the name of a rude wooden plough.

(5) In police language, a young sneak-thief or associate of burglars, who is passed into a room through a transom or window.

(6) A nickname for an inhabitant of Minnesota.

Gprmy. In New England, often said of a horse that " gawks" in stable or harness.

Gospel-Sharp. A Western term for a clergyman. Gossamer. In the East, a waterproof cloak.

Gotham. A name given, by Washington Irving, to the city of New York, as a satirical acknowledgement of the superior wisdom of its inhabitants. The word comes, of course, from the well known story of the villagers of Gotham, in Lincolnshire, who once raked the pond to get the moon out.

Gothamite. A citizen of the city of New York. In England, a simple or credulous fellow.

Go the big figure. To do things in a magnificent manner, on a large scale. " Our senators go the big figure on oysters and whiskey-punch."

Also, to (jo the whole figure, in sense of to go to the fullest extent in a speculation or entreprise. To embark upon an enterprise of magnitude.

GO the entire animal. To do a thing out and out. To put everything on one chance. Equivalent to " go the whole hog," which we have borrowed from England.

Also, to go the whole animal, to go the whole dog.

Go through. (1) To complete, to finish.

(2) To go directly, without change of car or train.

(3) When applied to a man, used in sense of " turning him inside up," i. e. either holding him up and robbing him, or otherwise linking it generally unpleasant for him.

Go through One's sweat. To accomplish one's task : to go thrmgh one's trouble or anxiety, with a connotation of nearing the end of it.

Go through the mill. To gain experience, and especially to m<«et with difficulties, losses, etc. 14

210 GOT— GRA

Go to grace. Same sense as " Go to Halifax ! " Perhaps derived from " go to grass."

Go to Halifax. Be off ! Get out ! Stop your nonsense ! A survival from Revolutionarj" times, which meant originally : " You are a Tory ; go where you belong ! "

Go tO leather. A ranchman's term used when, in riding a plunging horse, a man grasps the saddle to avoid being thrown.

Go to Smash. To be utterly ruined, or broken.

Gotten (OldEng.). An old and soft form of the past participle of " to get," which is much more colloquial in the United States than the modern " got."

Gouging. At the Naval Ac ademy of Annapolis, dishonesty in work, as for instance the copying as one's own of a theme written by another.

GougOU. A terrible monster in the form of a gigantic woman, who, according to the myths of neighbouring Indians, resided on an island of the Baiedes Chaleurs. Samuel de Champlain gives a detailed account of the gougou, taken from the lips of the natives, some of whom were clai- ming that the monster was feeding on human beings, catching them and preserving them in pouches large enough to hold a ship, all the time also emitting horrible noises.

Go Under. (A) To die, to perish, a metaphor evidently borrowed from the final disposal of the body.

(2) To fail in business, to sink in the maelstrom of financial difficulties.

Compare with German "untergehen," meaning to perish, to fall, to go to ruin.

Go up. (1) To be used up, worn up.

(2) To die, and especially to mount the gallows, to be hung. For instance, a victim of lynch law is liable to go up on the first tree that will be met.

GO up the SpOUt. (1) To come to grief, to collapse, in speaking of an affair that does not succeed.

(2) To mount the gallows, to be hung, to die.

Go up a tree. To be in difficulties, like an opossum going up a tree when hunted.

Go West. A favorite expression of Horace Greely, now often used as a mere catch-phrase in sense of quit, be off, let me alone.

Grabble. In digging potatoes, to remove large ones without disturbing the small. Also, to steal potatoes without disturbing the hill. Another form is gravel.

GRA— GRA 211

Grade. (1) A degree in rank or quality.

(2) A step or degree in any ascending or descending series.

(3) A gradient on a railroad.

Grade (to). (1) To arrange in order of some sort, whence the two tenses graded and grading. (Old Eng. )

(2) On Western ranches, to improve cattle by mixing the breeds.

(3) To change the level of a road. Is only used technically in that sense, in England, by surveyors.

Graft- (1) A shoemaker's word used in sense of adding new soles to a pair of boots.

(2) In thieves' parlance, to pick pockets. To help another to steal.

Grain (Old Eng.). (1) The universal name for the produce of all cereals : wheat, barley, rye, oats, etc. the word "corn" being applied to maize only.

The smell of grain, or tedded grass, or kine.

(MiLTON, Par. Lost, IX. 445.) What it devours not, herb, or fruit, or graine.

(MILTON, Par. Lost, XII, 184.)

(2) A particle, a bit, a little. Also curiously applied to distance, in sense of "a little further," as when one is asked " to move a grain." If he say so, may his pernicious soul Rot half a grain a day.

(SHAKESPEARE, Othello.)

Grama-grass (Sp. grama). A species of grass (Chondrosium) much esteemed as cattle-food, and which grows especially to perfection in Texas.

Grand. A much abused term, in sense of anything great or large, and even anything very good, excellent or pleasant. ' ' A grand day, a grand show, the sleighing is grand. "

where should they

Find this grand liquor that hath gilded 'em ?

(SHAKESPEARE, Tempest.)

Granger. A farmer.

Grangers, A secret society of patrons of husbandry, extending throughout the United States, and which oftentimes has taken a hand in politics, with a view to promoting the interests of agriculture.

Granite State. The State of Xew Hampshire, from its rich granite quarries.

Grape-Vine telegraph. During the Civil War, exciting news of battles not fought and victories not won were said to be received by grape-vine telegraph.

Grasset (Fr. gras). The ground robin, so called in Louisiana, from its plumpness,

Other names are chewink and marth-robin.

212

GRA— GRE

Grass-Widow. A widow by the grace of circumstances, i. e. a married ^ woman living apart from her husband. Also applied to divorcees. In England, an unmarried woman who has had a child.

Gravel. A Western equivalent of to go against the grain, to be unwilling. Shakespeare uses it in the seose of a quandary in "As you like it. "

Graveyard. Possesses, in America, the sense of a melancholy and deserted place, as for instance a lonely piece of land, where soldiers slain in battle, or the dead from an epidemic, have been buried.

For general purposes the word cemetery is preferred.

Graveyard issues. A bold and gruesome metaphor, to describe what can only be carried by extreme measures.

Gravy. Used in New England, for any liquid or juice accompanying certain dishes, as the gravy of an apple-pie, of a pudding, etc.

Graysliek. Used on the coast of New England to designate a state of the sea when the water, unbroken by waves, assumes the familiar "glassy" appearance. Thus, fishermen will be heard to say that they have got into a <jrayslick. Also, slick.

Grease. Money used for bribery, i. e. boodle.

Greased lightning. A Western metaphor for a lightning express, or quick travelling train.

Greaser. (1) A term first applied to Mexicans, during the war with Mexico, and having its explanation in the not over-cleanly appearance of certain classes of Mexicans. It was subsequently extended to all Spanish Americans generally.

(2) In the West, a vagrant miner, who gambles off his wages as soon as he receives them.

(3) On steamboats, an assistant *.o the fireman, one who oils the ma- chinery.

Great. A survival of Elisabethan English, in sense of distinguished, excellent, admirable.

Green. A generic name, in Connecticut, for any public square or common.

Greenbacks. A term first applied to the United States notes, issued on the breaking out of the Civil War, and whose versos were printed in green ink, mainly.for the propose of preventing alterations and coun- terfeits.

Now often extended to mean all legal tender notes of the United States in general.

ORE— GRI 213

GPeenbackeFS. (1) The supporters of paper currency. Also called Inflationixts, as they are opposed to the resumption of specie payments.

(2) Those who, previous to resumption of specie payments for sums of less than a dollar, were opposed to any change whatever.

(3) The advocates of an unlimited issue of paper money.

Greenback LabOP Party. A party advocating a currency based in general terms upon the National Credit and authority, without the security of a specie reserve.

. Counterfeit bills from greenbacks, and of which, if recent revelations are to be credited, a regular trade is carried on.

Green-gOOdsmen. Counterfeiters of greenbacks. Those who utter spurious paper currency. Those who deal, or affect to deal in them.

Greenhead. In New Jersey, the name of a fly common in the coast district.

Green Mountain State. The State of Vermont (Fr. vert-mont). Greens. A common name, in the South, applied to vegetables. Griddles. Used elliptically for cakes baked on a griddle. *

GPidlPOn. A nickname for the "Stars and Stripes," the flag of the United States.

Gridiron and doughboys, a slang term, used among British sailors, for the flag of the United States.

Griffln (Fr. griffon}. A Louisiana term applied to mulattoes, more espe- cially to women.

Grig". To vex, to irritate.

Still provincial in England in sense of to nip, to pinch.

Grim. A skeleton, death itself being known under the name of Old Grim.

Grind. (1) In newspaper parlance an uninteresting subject assigned to a reporter.

(2) In college slang, a student who confines himself to persistent study. Also, an instructor who demands an excessive amount of work, or a- course requiring an unusual amount of study.

Grip. A vulgar name for a satchel, chiefly heard in the West. Also, (jripsack.

Grip (to be a). To be easy to get or steal. " The leather was a grip," i. e. the pocket-book was easy to steal.

Grip (tO lose One's). (1) To lose control of anything. (2) To fail in business or other effort.

214

GUI— GRO

Gripe-fist. A miser, or broker ; evidently a corruption of "grip- fist," meaning a hand that squeezes over much.

Grist. A large number or quantity. " There was a whole grist of fellows there. "

Grit. (1) Used figuratively for courage, pluck, spirit, etc. from the grind- stone which should combine hardness and firmness to make it service-i ble. (2) A member of the Liberal party, in Canada. See clear grit.

Gritty. Courageous, spirited.

Grizzly. Used elliptically for grizzly benr . De Vere says the term grizzly is nothing more than the old English "grisly," meaning ugly, from " grise" which once was a name of swine. Grizzly-meat, bear-flesh.

Groaners. Among the thieving fraternity, those who carry out their depredations at funerals and other church gatherings.

Grocery. (1) A place where groceries are sold. In England, grocery-store or grocery-shop.

(2) In. the South- West, a frequent name for a bar-room or drinking- saloon.

Groceries. (1) Used in the plural for the articles themselves, while English usage limits it to the singular as denoting a grocer's shop or the grocer's ware.

(2) In the South-West, a freqiient word for liquors or ardent spirits.

Groggery. A low drinking saloon or grog-shop.

In the West a doggery, in New York and elsewhere a rum-hole, or rum-mill.

(Serranus erythrogaster). A thick-set fish of Florida, covered with olive colored irregular spots, and having the gills and gullet of a bright red hue.

Ground. In Virginia always used instead of land. ' ' Tobacco-ground*. "

GPOUnd-bridge. The well known corduroy-road of the South, laid in the water at the bottom of a ford.

Ground-Cherry (Physalis). An edible cherry, growing wild, and other- wise called winter-cherry.

Grounder. At game of base-ball, a ball which is struck low, or flies near the ground.

Ground-hog (Arctomys monax). The Southern name for the woodchuck of the North, a species of the marmot tribe very destructive to grass and growing-crops generally.

GRO-GRU

215

GPOUnd-hOg day. Candlemas (Feb. 2) is often designated in the Middle and Western States as Ground-hog day, from the popular belief that the ground-hog then comes annually out of his hole, after a long winter nap, to look for his shadow. If he perceives it, he retires again to his burrow, which fact means a return of cold weather and a late spring. But if he does not see his shadow, he stays out, and then mild and agreeable weather will surely set in.

Ground-nut (Arachuis hypogcea). The earth-nut, or pea-nut. Also, ground-pea. Much cultivated in the West Indies and Southern States.

Ground-plum (Astragalus caryocarpus). A plant growing on dry soil of the Mississipi region, and so called from its plum-shaped pod.

Ground-puppy. See man-eater.

Ground-Sluicing1. Amongst miners, an expression used as a substitute for shovelling, and meaning the process of washing down the sides of banks by means of water. •

Ground-Squirrel (Spermophilus tredecimlineatus). A name sometimes erroneoiisly given to the striped prairie squirrel, mentioned elsewhere as gopher. The ground squirrel is really the chipmunk.

Grout-house.

small stones.

In the Wesfc, a house built of coarse plaster containing

Grouty. In the Northern States, used in sense of cross, ill-natured, troubled in spirit. Merely a metaphorical application of an old and widely diffused English word. Thus, in Halliwell, we see that thick, muddy liquor is "grouty." Quotations are also given of "grouted" for begrimed, and of "grouts" as dregs, lees.

Growler. A common name for a jug, pail or can, brought by a customer for beer.

To rush or work the growler, to buy beer in a growler. Growlering, the business of selling beer by measure.

Grubby (Batrachus variegatus). A New-England name for the toad-fitsh, allied to the fishing-frog and resembling it in repulsive ugliness. Also, grubley, and grumpy.

On the New- Jersey coast the same fish is called oynter-fsh, from its frequenting the oyster-beds.

Grub-Stake. Food and other necessaries, furnished to prospectors in mining districts, by men who share in the profits of a mine.

GrullO, grool'-lo (Sp. f/rulla, a crane). In Texas, smoke-colored, of isabel color, in spe iking of horses.

•216

GRU— GUL

GrunteP. (1) One of the popular names of a fish (genus Pogonias), found in Atlantic waters, south of New York. Other names are banded- drum, young-sheepskin. (2) A hog, a pig.

Gubernatorial. (1) Pertaining t» government. Gubeniaiorial Mansion, i. e. Government House.

(2) Pertaining to the governor of a State. Relating to the office of Governor.

The English word " governmental/' used in England in a similar sense, is almost unknown in America.

GueSS (Old Eng. ). To judge, to suppose, to think, to surmise.

To conjecture, to state an opinion not based on exhaustive evidence.

To believe, to fancy, as an affirmation of certainty.

Although English purists have unceasingly twitted Americana upon their indiscriminate use of the verb " to guess," still, in point of fact, it can be readily shown that the word has been already used in England in every sense in which it is now used in America. Shakespeare, Chaucer, Milton, Coleridge, Selden and Locke, among the great authors, cons- tantly employ it, and indeed so orthodox is the term, that it can only be counted an Americanism on the ground that special applications of it have lived on in America while they have died out in the Mother Country.

The American use pf " to guess " is grievously misunderstood by most English people. The American guesses quite correctly, in order to draw conclusions from imperfect evidence. Indeed, his use of the word has such an immediate reference to "conjecture" — the legitimate English sense — that he might as naturally substitute j" reckon " or " calculate. " Perhaps the only difference between the English and American use of the word is that the former always denotes a fair, candid guess, while the American is sometimes apt to guess when there should be no guessing at all, as when he affirms a statement which is known to be beyond a doubt.

Guinea-COPn (Holeus sorghum). The millet of the Egyptians, a plant with a stalk of the size and appearance of maize.

Guinea-grass (Panicum maximum). A West-Indian grass, mainly used for fodder, and only of late years introduced into the United States.

Guinea-keet. See keet.

Gulch (Old Eng.). An old English word, now obsolete in the Mother Country, and of frequent occurrence, in California and the South- West, to designate a deep ravine caused by the action of water, sometimes with a stream flowing through it.

Gulch-diggingS. G old-bearing gravel found in abandoned water-courses or gulches.

GUL— GUM 217

Gulch-mining. Mining in gulches, a method akin to that of placer- mining, consisting in ascertaining the existence of the gold-croppings which are washed down by heavy rains into the ravines or gulches.

Gulf. In parts of New York, often said of a small gorge or ravine, usually narrow and having steep sides.

Gulf-weatheP. Warm, moist, cloudy weather, attributed to the influence of the Gulf Stream.

Gully. To wear a hollow channel in the earth, from the noun " gully, " a hollow channel. " The roads are much (julfied."

Glim. (1) A name given to various trees throughout the Union. The Mact-gum of the North, and sour-gum of the South both belong to the Nyassa species, while the sweet-yum, often called gum-tree or simply gnm (Liquidambar styracitlua), is the very tree which has furnished the many ligurea of speech derived from its being a favorite haunt of the opossum or raccoon : to yum, yum-yame..

(2) In the South and West, a term originally applied to bee-hives made of the hollow trunks of gum-trees, and now extended not only to any kind of hive made of wood, but also to any casks or firkins for domestic use.

(3) India-rubber, and, by extension, the plural form gums often ap- plied, especially in Philadelphia, to india-rubber shoes or overshoes. And thereby hangs a tale. It is said that a certain Philadelphian, arriving suddenly on a stormy night at the house of a friend in New- York, was asked wore his wife was, and replied that she was just outside, "wiping her yum* on the mat. "

Gum (to). To punch out the teeth of a saw, by means of a gummer. Allusion to the growth of the teeth from the gums.

Gumbo. In Kansas, Missouri, and the Indian Territory, a name given to a hard, tough soil, which underlies the good soil, and can scarcely be plowed through at all. Also called hard-pan.

Gumbo-French. A curious dialect or patois of Louisiana, and some riparian counties on the Mississipi, consisting in the main of strangely disfigured French words, with an admixture of some English and a few genuine African terms.

Mr. Van Name, of Yale college, has made quite a comprehensive study of Gumbo French.

Also, Creole French.

Gum-game. A trick, a dodge, a piece of humbug. The simile is drawn from the preference shown, by opossums, and raccoons, for the leafy retreat of the gum-trees, when hotly pursued. This is called "coming

218

GUM— GUT

the gum-game " over the hunter, and the phrase is applied with great shrewdness and force to any case in life when one thinks there is danger of getting over- reached by concealment. Hence also, to gum, meaning to deceive, to impose upon.

Gump, A foolish, stupid person ; an awkward creature. Also, yumpy.

Gumptious. One who has understanding, discernment. One who has a good opinion of himself, who is intelligent and smart.

Gumptious is derived from " gumption, " indigenous in England for comprehension, capacity.

Gun. A frequent term, in the West, for a revolver.

Gun (to). To gun a stock, in Wall street parlance, is to use every art to produce a " break," when it is known that a certain house is heavily supplied, and would be unable to resist an attack.

Gunboats. A term used in derision, during the Civil War, for the heavy contract shoes served out to the men, and which were apt to be as clumsy and awkward as the famous gunboats of the time.

GundalO (Old Eng.) In New England, and along the Atlantic coast, aflat- bottomed boat or scow, in which produce is carried to market.

Also, gundelow.

Not unknown in England, in sense of a peculiarly-shaped railroad car. " Gundelo" is in Hakluyt, and " gundello " in Booth's reprint of the Folio Shakespeare of 1683.'

Gunning (tO go). Used in the Northern States, in sense of " to go out shooting." This form of gunning for shooting occurs in Drayten. Also used figurativelj7.

Gun-Shop. A gun-smith's shop. Gun-Stick. A ramrod, in the West.

GUPPy. (1) A fisherman's term for the slime and blood resulting from handling and curing fish.

In all probability, an inheritance from the old English, though a connection with gory might, perhaps, be established.

(2) Among fishermen and in commerce, the crude oil made from the livers of cod and other fish.

Gush. A large quantity, a great abundance. " A gush of apples/' etc. GusheP. A flowing oil-well.

GutteP-snipe. (1) A little ragamuffin who plays in the gutters of the poorest part of a town.

HAB— HAL 219

(2) In Wall street parlance, and in a sense of derision and contempt, an. outside broker doing business chiefly on the sidewalk or in the street, and who is not a member of the Stock Exchange.

Habitant (Fr. C.). Among the French-Canadians, a yeoman ; a small landed proprietor ; one engaged in agricultural pursuits.

Hack (Old Eng.). A cab, or common carriage on hire. A survival of Old English usage.

In England, a hack is now a horse used for riding.

HackamOPe (8p. jaquima). In the South-West, a plaited bridle, made of horse-hair, and used on the plains for breaking in purposes.

HackbePPy (Celtis occidentals). A small tree, having a sweet edible fruit, and which gives excellent wood for fuel. Also called sugar-berry, pompion-berry.

Hackmatack (Ind). The old Indian name of the tamarack (Larix americana) of our day, a larch furnishing a hard, strong, and durable

I wood, and largely found throughout British America and the North- Eastern States.

Haily-OVeP. Same as Antony-over (q. v.).

Haiqua (Ind.). The name of a variety of shells (Dentalium) known on the Pacific coast, and which the natives use mainly for ornaments, and, in some localities, employ after the manner of wampum (q. v. ).

Half-a-hog". An English flash term applied, in Americi, to a five cent piece.

In England the term is used among thieves, to designate a six-permy- bit.

Half-bPeedS. A derisive nickname once applied to certain Republicans of New York, who wavered in their party allegiance during the tight over the United States Senatorship in 1881.

Half-saved. In New England, often used in sense of half-witted, weak- minded.

Still provincial in England.

Half-Way StPaineP. In parts of the South, said of one who tries to lire above his true station.

Half-WidOW. A term applied, in New England and New York, to a woman whose husband is shiftless, and fails to provide properly for her.

220

HAM— HAP

Ham. (1) Sporting slang for a loafer.

(2) In theatrical parlance, a tenth-rate actor or variety performer. Also, hamfatter.

HamfatteP. In the fashionable quarters of New York city, and more especially in that part known as the " Tenderloin, " a recent name applied to a second-rate dude or masher, or a low variety actor.

Hammock. In the South, an undulating tract of country, thickly wooded with oak, hickory, and magnolia. Also, hommock, hummock.

Handle. (1) To handle wines, hardware, etc. i. e. to do business in wines, etc.

(2) A peculiar meaning attaches to this verb in Connecticut, that of "to trouble" or "to distress, " as when a troublesome cough handl&f a person badly.

(3) To manage ; to overcome an opponent, particularly in wrestling.

Hand-OUt. A cold lunch given to a tramp.

Hand-round. A Western term for a social gathering or entertainment, where refreshments, instead of being served at a table, are simply handed round.

Handsomely. Among American sailors, ussd in sence of carefully, or steadily.

Hang around. To loiter about ; to loaf. In England, " to hang about."

Hang OUt. To resida. Especially current in the West.

Hang the landlady. To decamp without payment, a phrase applied to " moonshiiiing " practices of all descriptions. Another form is to stand off the tailor.

Hang up. (1) To pawn.

(2) To rob with violence on the street.

(3) To quit work. " I reckon we'll have to hany lup for all day."

Hang up one's flddle. To retire ; to give up or abandon an under- taking.

Hannahill (Centropristos nigricans). One of the popular names of the black sea-bass, one of the most savory and delicate of fishes. Also, black-harry.

Hant. In the South, especially among negroes, often heard for a ghost. " There's Hants in this here house."

Happen in. To happen to come in. To call at a house without any definite object ; to go or come in accidentally.

HAP— HAR 221

Happening's. In newspaper slang, events, occurrences. Also, occurrings.

Happen upon. To come across any one.

Happy hunting grounds. A phrase now passed into popular language, and meaning the other world, the future state, according to the belief of the Indian, whose idea of heaven naturally pictures to him a place where he can have the unlimited enjoyment of his greatest pleasure, which is hunting.

Hard. Often heard in sense of bad or undesirable, and then mostly used in combination with other words, as in a "hard case," meaning a worthless fellow, a tough.

A favorite word applied universally to men or things, from " hard money, " for gold or silver, to " hard times, " for times of business depression, evil fortune. Similarly, a man will drink, eat, or sleep ' ' hard. "

Hard cole, a cant term for silver or gold money.

Hardware, in thieves' parlance, said of counterfeit coin.

Hard Coal. Anthracite coal.

The term soft coal is applied to bituminous coal.

Hardhaek (Spiroea tomentosa). The familiar name, in New England, of a well known plant growing in low grounds, and celebrated for its astringent properties. Also, steeple-bush.

Hard pan. (1) A iirm and solid foundation ; the bottom, a figure of speech from the same term designating, in geology, the hard stratum of earth that lies below the soil.

(2) In parts of Connecticut, a mixture of clay and subsoil underlying the upper soil, and which is of a peculiarly hard consistance.

See (jumbo.

Hard pan (at). At the lowest possible point, in speaking of prices.

Obviously drawn from the geologic term, designating the lowest stratum of earth.

Hard pushed. To be " hard up, " to be in difficulties. Also, te be hard run.

Hard tack. Slang for silver money, especially dollars.

Hard Shells. Originally a nickname applied to some very strict and rigid Baptists, as opposed to Soft Shells, meaning those who were of a more liberal turn of mind, the simile being drawn from the crab in its different states of existence.

Both terms, often also simply contracted into hards and xoftx, are now freely used in a variety of political connections, the earliest conspi-

222

HAH— HAW

cuous instance of which was when the " Hunkers, " from the unswer- ving fidelity of their conduct, took the name of Hards, and their opponents, or " Barnburners, " that of Softs.

Also used adjectively, as a hard or hard-shdl Baptist, a hard-shell Democrat.

HaPd-taek. Sea-bread, or dry biscuit, as opposed to -toft-tack or fresh bread. Originated during the late Civil War.

HaPd-WOOd. A general term for all woods of solid texture, beech, ash, elm, maple, etc. as opposed to pine, or "light-wood. "

•Harm. A contraction of harmful used in the South, especially Georgia, in sense of unkind. " He never said a harm word to any one. "

Harman (Old Eng.). This old word, now obsolete in England, still retains its hold, here, among the criminal classes, for a policeman, whilst a sheriff is also designated as a harman-beak.

Hash-house. A slang word for a refreshment room. Hasty-pudding. See supawn.

Hat. A generic term, among women, for any kind of head-gear, the " sun-bonnet" being the only bonnet known in America.

Hatch. To ponder, to wonder, i. e. " hatching" thoughts and ideas. Also, tohetch.

Hatchet. A cant name for the " grease " used in lubricating the palms of dishonest customs officials. See bone.

Hate (Low Scotch haet). A bit. " There is not a hate of truth about the news."

Hate OUt (to). A significant Western term given to a practice very much akin to bo3'cotting, and which commonly results in the banishment of the person against whom it is directed.

Haul. A New Jerecyism used in sense of to pull up, as " to haul weeds."

Have. (1) To cause, or, more accurately, to cause by influence, as " I will have the servant do it."

Analogous, in that sense, to the French " faire faire quelque chose, " and still provincial, in England, in Essex and Suffolk counties.

(2) To permit, to tolerate.

Hawk. A swindler, and more especially one who works the confidence trick.

HAW— HEA

223

Hawk-Eye State. The State of Iowa, said to be so named after a famous Indian chief, who was once a terror to " voyageurs, " trappers, and pioneers.

Similarly, hawk-eyes, meaning the inhabitants of Iowa.

Hay-barrack (Dutch hooi-berg, hay-moutain). A somewhat ludicrous corruption used to designate, in New- York State, a sort of thatched roof, supported by four posts, under which the hay is stored.

Hayseed. A generic name for a countryman, one not accustomed to the wiles of city life. Also, hay-pitcher.

Hay-Ward (Old English). A township officer, whose duty it is to impound stray cattle and feed them until they are redeemed by their owners. Also, hay-warden.

This old word is found in the old English records, and is closely allied to hedge-ward, fence-ward.

Haze. (1) To frolic ; to play practical jokes, as, for instance, in speaking of the treatment which Freshmen often receive from Sophomores.

(2) To indulge in a drunken spree.

(3) Among sailors, to work at high pressure.

He. In parts of Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey, a woman speaks of her absent husband, not by name, but with the pronoun he or him.

Likewise, the 3d person is used instead of the 2d by bashful, ignorant people. In talking with you, they will say: " Will he take a chair?"

Head. In newspaper parlance, the title and sub-title of an article.

Head-Cheese. The flesh of pig's head minced, cooked, and pressed into a kind of a cheese.

Also, hor/3-liea.d cheese, and souse.

Head Off. To turn from a purpose ; to put off ; to distract attention.

Head-rights. Rights to certain of the public lands, whick every citizen, who is the head of a family, can claim of he desires to do so. These rights are also enjoyed by women, within certain limits.

Head-Stall. A halter, and even sometimes a bridle. (Nfld. N. S. and N. B.)

Heady. Sometimes heard, in Virginia, in sense of persist i: , tenacious.

Hearn (Old Eng.). The old participle form of " heard, " still current in New England and Virginia.

Or ever hearn to make your feelin's blue.

(LOWELL, Biglow Paj crs, II, p. 161.)

Heap tO. Give heed to. (New-Eng.)

224 HEA— HEL

Heater-piece. In New England, as applied to land, a triangular or wedge-shaped piece of ground.

Probably derived from the similarity of shape to the " heaters " of box irons used by housewives.

Heathen Chinee. A popular sobriquet for a Chinaman, derived from Bret Harte's poem of " Truthful James."

Heath-hen. See prairie-hen.

Heavy-handed. In New England, often said of a cook who uses much salt. " She's heavy-handed with salt. "

Heel. A cowboy's term, meaning to "lariat" or secure an animal by the hind leg.

Heeled. Prepared for an undertaking ; well armed for any purpose.

Meant originally, in the West, armed with deadly weapons, secure from attack, probably from the cock's spur, not unfrequently, as in England, supplied with a steel spur.

HeelePS. (1) A contemptuous term applied to the followers or henchmen of a politician or party.

(2) Loafers and idlers of every description, especially those frequenting drinking saloons and on the look out for " shady " work.

(3) Among thieves, the heelers are those working the "pocket-book • racket. " This consists in drawing a chosen victim's attention, by

touching his heels, to a pocket-book containing connterfeit money which has been dropped by a companion, with the object of inducing the finder to part with genuine coin in dividing the spoils.

Heel-fly. An insect pest which infests cattle on Western ranches.

Heft (Old Eng. ). Weight. Also used as a verb, in sense of to estimate weight by lifting.

Hefty. Weighty, and, by extension, important, forcible. "A hefty argument."

Heifer. Not uncommon in the West for " wife, '' and used with all kindness and respect.

Equivalent of the "old woman" of the English lower classes.

Heifers. A New Jerseyism, for young cow terrapins.

HeiF (to). Common in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in sense of to inherit.

Hell-bender (Menopoma Alleghaniensis). An aquatic reptile of the salamander type, growing sometimes to eighteen inches, and probably so called on account of its extraordinary hideousness.

HEL-HES

225

Hell-bOX. In printer's slang, the counterpart of the " batter-slipper" of the English printing offices. Also, baalam-box.

Hell-hounds. During the Civil War, a name applied by the Confederates to the Northern gun- boats.

Hellion. A term formerly much used in Massachusetts, in sence of a denizen of hell. The word, which is still common enough, has now lost all derogatory meaning, and simply applies to a " devil of a fellow."

Hell-matteP. Among printers, broken and battered type, the destina- tion of which is the hell-box.

Help. (1) A servant of any kind, and especially a domestic servant or hired hand, the term " servant " being seldom used in the United States. '

(2) An operative in a cotton or woollen factory.

This use of help is 'only an extension of the original word from an instrument to a 'person, and originated in New England where perfect social equality was wont to be the rule, at least in olden times.

The term has recently found some footing in England.

Hen-clam.

gigantea).

The New-England name of a species of clam (Mactra

Hen-hawk (Butes lineatus). Th« popular name of the red-shouldered hawk of naturalists.

Hen-hussy. In parts of New England, a man who meddles with women's affairs, especially one who concerns himself overmuch with household matters.

Hen party. A gathering consisting only of women. Compare with buck- party, stag -party.

Hermit-thPUSh (Turdus palassi). A bird of passage with sweetly plain- tive notes, and so called because of its shy and mysterious habits.

Herring pond. The Atlantic.

Herring-salmon (Coregonus clupeiformis). A local name, in the lake Erie region, for the nhad salmon or white fish.

Hessian. A political term for a mercenary person, from the fact that Hessian troops were employed by England during the war of Indepen- dence.

During the late Civil War the word was also used, at the South, as a term of reproach directed against the loyal U. S. citizens and soldiers. 15

226

HES— HIG

Hessian-fly (Cecidomyia destructor). A small iiisect, very destructive to young wheat, and which is said to owe its name to the popular notion that it was first imported into the United States in the straw beds of Hessian soldiars, enlisted during the War of the Revolution. On the other hand, many entomologists assert that it is strictly of American origin, although its existence has long been known in several European countries.

Het. Often heard in sense of heated, i. e. a building all het up.

Shakespeare and Chaucer both used the past tense " heat" instead of " heated."

Hiekey. A degree or two short of being drunk.

Hickory (Ind. pawcohiccora, as quoted by captain John Smith). A tree

of the genus " Carya " producing a timber exceedingly tough and strong,

. besides also flexible to an unusual degree, and bearing an edible nut

sometimes called walnut, esp. in the North where the real walnut does

not thrive.

Hence also figuratively employed, as adjective, in speaking of a person, either in sense of flexible or yielding, or to indicate an unswer- ving fidelity to one's principles, as was the case, for instance, in 1828, during the Jackson campaign, when the "hickory tree "became the emblem of the Democratic party, and Gen. Jackson himself was nick- named Old Hickory, from his tough and unyielding disposition.

Hickory-nut. The fruit of the hickory. These nuts are also erroneously called walnuts in the North, especially in New York.

HiekOPy-ShiPt. A shirt much worn by laborers, made of heavy twilled coton, and so called from its strenght.

Hieksites. A sect of Quakers who adopted the name of their first leader, M. Hicks, and are Socinians.

'ttichard Grant White f»v B the term has also been so used in England since the division in the Soc ety of Friends, of which it is a sign.

Hifer. To loiter. (Northern Pennsylvania. )

Highbelia (Lobelia cardinalis). A plant of the Lobelia family, so called from being of greater size than the Lobelia proper (Lobelia inflat. ), and much in vogue among quack doctors for their decoctions. Seejowbelia.

Highbinder. (1) A term applied, in San Francisco, to members of a Chinese secret society, who blackmail gamblers and prostitutes, and remove by knife orpistol those who incur the enmity of their organization. " Highbinder" is generally supposed to be of California origin, but this in an error, the word having been used in New York City, forty years ago, to denote a member of a gang. From there it]found its way to the Pacific coast.

HIG— HIN

227

According to the Century Dictionary the " high" has the same force as in "high jinks," "hifalutin," etc. while "bender" or "binder" is one who goes on a " bender."

(£) A rowdy, or roysterer.

High-blackberry. A distinctive name, for the fruit of the " Rubus VTillosus."

High-bloke. A judge, among American criminals.

. A pugilistic phrase, synonymous with the free drawing

of blood.

High-dutehePS. Skates, the blade of which is curled up high in front, while those without those ornamental projections are called dumps.

Highfalutin. High-flown language ; an exaggerated bombastic speech, with a good deal of " spread-eaglism " thrown in.

The word can be obviously traced back to [a corruption of " high- flying, ', " high-flyghting, " or " high-floating. "

Also used adjectively in sense of showy, stuck up, affected, high- sounding, bombastic.

The term has now become naturalised in England.

Also, highfaluten, highfaluting.

High holder (Picus amatus). In New York, the popular name of the flicker, or yellow hammer, from the Old English " high-whele. "

High -jinks. A thief's term for a petty gambler.

High-minded Federalists. A derisive term applied, in 1820, to a few Federalists who supported Governor Clinton, and were laughed at for their frequent use of the phrase " high-minded. "

High-muek-a-muek. Overbearing in presence ; possessed of inordinate

self-esteem ; affecting great dignity. Also, high studded.

High Old time. A Western equiv. for what in the East would be

designated " as a good time. "

High-POlleP. A fast liver ; one who gambles freely and for large sums. High-toned. Aristocratic, stylish, fashionable.

Hike. (1) To hasten, to run away, to decamp.

(2) To hitch. " The curtain hike*, " i. e. does not pull up smoothly.

(3) Said of clothing which is uneven, i. e. does not " set well. "

Hindoos. An allusive sobriquet given in 1856 to the Know-Nothings, from the president of that party, Daniel Ulman, being supposed to have been born in Calcutta, East Indies.

See Know- Nothing*, Natire Americans, Sum*.

228

HIX— HOG

Hindsight. (1) The " backsight ;' of a gun, and figuratively the popular antithesis of foresight. "An ounce of foresight is worth a pound of hindsight."

Hinny. The game oi : leap-frog. (N. Y.)

Hips (to have the). To be restless at night and unable to sleep. Hired-man. A man servant. Similarly, a hired-woman, fora servant-girl. Hi-spy. The name given by Ifttle girls to out-door hide-and-go-seek.

Hitch. This word, originally meaning a substantial obstacle and its effects upon the gait of persons, is constantly applied in America to difficulties in business matters.

Hitch (to). To marry, from hitching necessary for harness. Similarly, a couple not agreeing is said " not to hitch."

HoaPSed up (tO be). To suffer from hoarseness produced by a severe cold.

Hobble. On ranches, to secure horses or cattle, by fastening the two fore-feet together by a " lariat" or hobble. See sideline.

Hobble-bush (Viburnum lantanoides). A shrub having long, straggling branches, which impede progress, whence also called tanyle-legs and wayfaring, or wayfaring-tree.

HobO. A tramp. Originally Western, but wellnigh universal now.

Hock. The last card remaining in the deal-box, at faro.

The soda card is the top-card of the deck. Hence "from soda to hock.'' To be caught in hock, said of those who venture into the toils of card- sharpers, and get fleeced.

To be in hock, among the gambling fraternity, to be where one can enjoy free board and lodging, i. e. to be in jail.

Hoe-cake. A cake made of corn-ni3al unleavened, and baked in the ashes on the side of a hoe.

Hoe-d'OWn. A negro dance. Same as break-down.

Hoe One's POW. To do one's share of a work ; to attend to one's own business.

.Similar to " paddle one's own canoe. "

A hard row to hoe, a simile drawn from the cultivation of Indian corn, and synonymous with what is difficult of accomplishment.

Hog". A pig. Pigs are always called hogs in America, even when named figuratively.

Takes almost exclusively the place of the English " swine/' which is rarely heard in the United States.

HOG— HOL

229

Hog" (to). To behave greedily ; to appropriate greedily and selfishly.

H03T and hominy, JF pork and corn. The standard dish of all early settlers. " To be bidden to a planter's hog and hominy, is to be presented with the full, free hospitality of his house." (T. 0. Richards, Rice Fields of the South.)

A generic name, in the West, for all long, flat-ridged elevations.

The use of this term is not unknown in England, although there strictly applied to particular localities, whereas in America it has become a generic name.

Hog-Choke. In North Carolina, a species of flounder.

Hog-fish (Etheostoma caprodes). A fish common in all the Western rivers.

Hogg. Slang for a ten cent piece.

In Old English cant a hog is a shilling.

Hog-mind6F. A swine herd ; one who has charge of swine.

Hog plum (Ximenia americana). A tall shrub of South Florida, bearing a fruit in size and shape like a plum, and pleasant to the taste. Also, pig-plum.

Hog-Peeve. A title formerly given, in New England, to the local officer whose duty it was to impound stray pigs. Old Ens;. " reve," anofficer, a steward. Seejield-driver.

Hog-tight. Said, in the South, esp. Maryland, of fences that are sufficient to restrain trespassing stock, and used in the same way that in England a thing would be said to be sound,' "lock, stock, and barrel."

Hog-WallOW. A sink hole or mud spring on the prairies, presenting every appearance of having been formed by the wallowing of swine. In reality, however, hog-wallows are caused by hea'vy rains, which form a rapid succession of little hillocks and valleys, on land already parched and cracked by long drought.

Holden (Old Eng.). The old participle form of to hold, still colloquial in many parts of the United States.

We are holden to men by every sort of tie, by blood, by pride, etc.

(R. W. Emerson, Friendship, p. 187.)

Hold fOP. To hold for trial ; to detain in custody while awaiting trial. Hold OV6P. A place of detention, for prisoners awaiting trial.

Hold OVeP (to). To have an advantage over one, in some way or other. A phrase probably derived from poker phraseology.

230

HOL— HOM

Hold up (to). To stop and rob, as for instance when a railway train is " held up" by masked robbers, for the plundering of the express safes. Probably derived from the well known phrase " Hold up your hands " of Western brigands.

Hold-ups. A generic term, in the West, for robbers or brigands who make a specialty of " holding up" travellers or trains.

Holibut- In many parts of the United States, the familiar " halibut " recovers its original name ' ' holibut, " as quoted in Bailey's Dictionary. In his " World of Worlds, " Phillips also takes great pains to make us aware that the proper name of the fish is " Holy But. "

HolleP. A common form of hollo, i. e. to call out, to shout. Holly-bay. See loblolly-bay.

Holp, Holped, Holpen (Old Eng.). Old archaic preterites of "help," still sometimes heard, " holpen " being however the least frequently met with.

De Vere says holpen is still often heard in Kentucky, while in Virginia and among the negroes of the South, holped is more frequent.

Home. Often used in America where idea intended to be conveyed is that which an Englishman attaches to the word "almshouse. "

Home-bringing1. In the North of New Jersey, the entertainment given at the house of the bride-groom after the marriage.

Similarly, in Southern New Jersey, they will say home-coming. See infair.

Homely. Unattractive, plain in appearance ; as nearly as possible, ugly. In England, used for homelike, whilst in the United States it serves mainly to express a want of comeliness.

Homestead. An act passed in 1862, for the object of giving to every citizen of the United States a home farm of 160 acres, the sole condition being five year's residence upon the property, and some improvements by cultivation. A very important provision of this act is also the absolute exemption of the homestead from forced sale for debts contracted prior to the issuing of the patent, or free title. Also, Homestead Law.

Hominy (Ind. ahuminea, for parched corn, -in Roger William's Key. Other forms are rockahominy, in Beverley, and the uatatahamen of the Powhatan dialect).

An Indian dish eaten all over the Union, and consisting in a prepara- tion of corn, eather coarsely ground or broken, or the kernels merely hulled, and boiled with water. Also, homony.

HOM— HOO

231

Hominy-beater. A snapping beetle (Elater, of Pennsylvania), so called from some fancied resemblance to a kernel hulled. >

Hondou (Sp. honda, a sling for throwing stones). In Texas, the slip knot of a reata, or lariat (q. v. ).

Honey. (1) A good fellow ; one who commands admiration and respect. Also a favorite word for all real and verbal sweetness. (2) A generic name for money.

Honey (to). To cajole with soft words or promises.

Honey-fOgle (to). In the West and South, to swindle, to cheat, to humbug.

To allure by traps. Also, to honey-fuggle.

Bartlett suggests that this curious word may come from "coney fogling, " a Lancashire term mentioned by Halliwell as meaning " to lay plots. "

Honey-locust (Gleditschia triacanthus). A tree so called from its bearing a large pod containing a pulp of honey-like sweetness. Also known, in the West and South, as the thorny-locust.

Honey-SUekle (Azalea viscosa). A name given in the South to a curious woody plant, the brilliant flowers of which are surrounded by a viscous secretion. This plant is, of course, far remote from kinship with the real English honey suckle.

HoodlebUg . In Virginia, the larva of the ant-lion.

Hoodlum. A general term for roughs, or toughs, having originated in San Francisco about 1868, as the designation of a company of young ruffians.

The word is now frequently met with, in political parlance. " The Hoodlum element in politics. "

As the story goes, the origin of the name is ascribed to a newspaper- man of San Francisco, who in writing up the deviltry of a gang of young toughs, under the leadership of one Muldoon, called them the " noodlums, " that is, he simply reversed the name of the leader. The compositor read " h " for " n, " and set the word up " hoodlums. "

Hence also, hoodlumwm.

HoodOO. A negro term for a person who is bewitched, and has the power to bring bad luck.

HoodOO (to). To bewitch.

Hook (Dutch hoek, a corner, a cape). An old word designating certain corners and angular points in the Hudson and the East Rivers, as Sandy Hook, Kinderhook, etc.

232 HOO-HOP

Hookey (to play). To play truant, chiefly current in State of New York, among shool-boys.

In England, " playing the wag. "

lu New England, the form to hook Jack is used in preference.

Hoollkan 'Ind. oidachan). A small salmonoid fish of the Pacific coast (Mallotus pacificus), which comes every spring in shoals as far south as the mouth of the Columbia river.

Also called Eulachon.

W. Irving reported the same fish as " about six inches long, " called by the natives the " Uthlecan. "

Hoop-la (Fr. houp-la). An exclamation indicating jollification, and which Bartlett cites as a common stage-driver's ejaculation to his hor- ses, in California. We may be reminded of the French origin of the word by the following extract from : " Le Prisonnier de Hennes, a popular Breton " ronde " :

Dans la ville de Rennes,

Houp-la la la, houp-la,

II y a t'un prisounier.

Hoople (Dutch hoepel). A common term, amongst New- York boys, for a trundling hoop.

HOOSieP. A native pf the State of Indiana.

The most reasonable explanation of the word, is that, in the early days, the customary challenge or greeting, in that region, was " Who's here" (pron. hoosier).

On the other hand, some people think it is simply a corruption of " husher," which was formerly a common term applied, in the Western settlements, to all " bullies " in general, and more especially to the boatmen of Indiana, from their primary capacity to " hush," i. e. to still their opponents.

HoOSier cake- A coarse kind of gingerbread, so called because th<» inhabitants of Indiana — the Hoosier State — are said to be very partial to it.

HOOSieP State. The State of Indiana, from " hoosier," a nickname applied to a native of same State. Also, Hoosierdom.

HooteP. A thing not worth a hooter, is a thing not worth an iota, of no account.

Chiefly confined to New York, and probably only a corruption of the English "iota."

Hopine. A name given to malt-liquor, which, for all practical purposes, is genuine beer, it being however so called to evade the provisions of the Prohibition Act.

HOP— HOR 233

Hopping-John. In South Carolina, a dish of bacon and peas stewed with red pepper.

Hopping mad. Exceedingly angry ; mad enough to mop about.

Hop-tree (Ptelia trifoliata). A tall shrub of the Eastern States, so called from its seed clusters being used as a bitter tonic, somewhat like hops.

Horn. (1) A measure for drink ; a drink of spirits. Probably from the old custom of drinking out of a horn.

(2) In the Far West, the pommel of a saddle, from its horn-like shape.

HOPn (in a). A slang phrase, analogous to the English " over the left," and which, when applied to any statement, means the reverse of words already spoken.

HombUg. The stag-beetle (Lucanus) of England.

HomsWOggle. A Western creation applied to any kind of chaff, foolery> non-sense, denoting groundless bragging for the purpose of getting the better of another.

Also, shennnigan, skulduggery, this last word denoting however more particularly some kind of underhand plotting.

Horns WOggle (to). To cheat.

Horqueta, or-kay'-tah (Sp. dim. of horca, meaning a little fork). In Texas, a forked piece of wood tied to the leg of a horse to prevent his straying or running away.

Horse. (1) The horse being " par excellence " the friend of man, and moreover a fine horse being one of the most beautiful objects on earth, this word is often used, as a term of endearment or admiration, as applied to a dear friend or old companion, or in speaking of men, and even women, whose traits of character command respect and homage.

Amongst the ruder sort, the term affectionately becomes " Old hoss, and a man is apt to speak of himself as " this hor&e."

(2) Still current in the Old English sense of a plank support or trestle.

Horse and horse. Originally applied to horses which, in running a race, come in side by side, and then transfered to gamesters in sense of even.

Also used, in throwing poker dice, when each player wins one throw ; the third horse decides the game, and then the loser is said to have a " horse on him."

Horse-boat. A sort of ferry-boat, the propelling power of which is a horse, and especially common in Western waters. Also, horse-ferry.

Horse-Cappers. Horse swindlers, whose trick is generally to dispose of a worthless animal at a price far above its value.

234

HOR— HOU

aP. Tram-car, or tramway.

Horse-fOOt (Limulus polyphemus). The popular name of the king-crab of England, from its closely resembling a horse's hoof. Also called horse-shoe.

Horse mackerel (Cybrum maculatum). In New England, a salt water fish of the mackerel kind, otherwise called Spanish mackerel.

In same region, the name horse-mackerel is also given to the blue-fah (Temnodon saltator).

Horse marine. An awkward person.

Horse milliner (Old Eng. ). A saddler and harness maker.

This old name has high and ancient authority for its use, dating back as far as the 16th century. Sir W. Scott, also, in his " Heart of Mid- Lothian," makes Bartoline Saddletree say : " Whereas, in my wretched occupation of a saddler, horse-milliner, and harness maker."

Horse-mint (Monirda punctata). A large species of mint found from New York southward.

Horse-nettle (Solanum carolinense). A low, troublesome weed, especialty aboundai t in the Southern States, and well known for its bright, yellow berries of poisonous properties.

Horse-railroad. A tramwaj'.

Horse sense. Good, sound, practical, common sense.

Hose. The Western equivalent for ladies' stockings, which term is consi- dered very indelicate.

Hot-Slaw. Minced cabbage, pickled in vinegar and made hot. So called to distinguish it from cold-slaw.

Hounds. (1) In the old slavery days, men who hunted and caught run- away negroes.

(2) A gang of ruffians, also stjding themselves Regulator*, who infested San Francisco in 1849.

House-Car. A closed car ; a box-car.

House-keep (tO). To keep house. See keep.

Housen. Plural of " house, " heard in various parts of New England,. New York and New Jersey.

House-raising1. A gathering of neighbors or friends, in country districts, for the purpose of building or re-building a house. Such events usually- wound up with feasting and merry making. Also called ramng-bee.

HOV— HUG

235

Hove (Old Eng.)- This old preterite form of " to heave " is still in use, principally in New England and the South.

HOW. A common New-Englandiam for what did you say? used when a remark is not dearly heard or understood.

Analogous to the French " comment. "

In using this word, Americans attach to it no meaning whatever of rudeness, it being simply part of the brevity which characterises them as a people, they having no time no lose, or, at any rate, acting as if the law of life was ceaseless hurry.

HOW COme ? A Southern contraction meaning " How came it? How did it occur ? "

HOW is that for high? What do you think of it ?

This slang expression is of Western origin, and is borrowed from a low game, known as "Old Sledge, " where the " high" depends, not on the card itself, but on the adversary's hand.

HOW you talk. A New-England exclamation which may mean surprise, approbation, or, indeed, any emotion whatsoever.

Huajolote, oo-ah-ho-lo'-tay (Mex. huexolotl). In Texas, the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo Mexicana).

Huarachos, oo-ah-rah'-tchos. In Texas, a kind of sandals worn by Indians and the lower classes generally. Also, huaracJies.

Hub. A heap on a road ; a projection on a mountain.

Hub Of the Universe. A grandiloquent title given by Oliver Wendell Holmes to the city of Boston, and meaning the great centre or chief city, like the hub of a wheel, to which the spokes are subservient.

Hubbies. Rough pieces on a road, as humps or lumps, especially when a road is frozen after being cut into ruts. Also, ice formed on the surface of w»ter.

Huckleberry (Gaylussacia). A kind of blackberry, resembling the whortleberry of England. Indeed, huckleberry might be said to be merely whortleberry, pronounced with the old English interchange of k and t.

Huckleberry above the persimmons. A Southern phrase expressing

that something apparently simple and easy is far above the ability of the person who makes the attempt.

Huckster. To peddle. Especially current in Philadelphia.

Huggerum-buff. In Newfoundland and the Canadian Maritime pro- vinces, a mixture of fish and potatoes ready to fry into fish-cakes.

236

HUI— HUM

HuiSEChe, we-sah'-tchay (Mex. huaxin). In Texas, a small tree or shrub with very sweet smelling yellow flowers (Acacia Farnesiana).

Hu 1 (1) The husk of corn, peas, etc.

(2) At the South, the shell of oysters.

(3) The green and stalk of strawberries.

Hull (to). (1) To free from the husks, as in shelling peas, corn, etc. At the South, to hull oysters is to open them.

(2) In New Jersey, to gad about, wander, roam.

Hulled-corn. Indian corn, which is husked by being scalded, making afterwards a most palatable dish.

fluly. In New England, noise, uproar. " To raise huly. "

Hum around- To bring to account ; to call over the coals. See make things hum.

Hum-bird. The popular name of the humming bird, chiefly the " tro- chilus colubris. " Also, hummer.

Hum-bOX An auctioneer's desk, among thieves.

In England, the same term, in thieve's parlance, has for a long time stood for a pulpit.

Human (Old Eng. ). This word, used by Western backwoodsmen for human being, was known long ago in English literature of the highest order — appearing notably again and again in Chapman's Homer, 1603 — and its resurrection on our Western frontier is an interesting illustra- tion of the way in which a word will crop out unexpectedly in one place in a language, after having disappeared from another.

Although Bartlett designates human as being both Western and Eastern, it must be added, to avoid all misapprehension, that the word is never used in the East except jocosely and with a subaudition of reference to the frontiersman's use of it.

Humility. The marbled godwit, a frequenter of the fens and river banks of New England.

Hummer. (1) A lively, industrious worker ; one who does not let the grass grow under his feet.

Other slang equivalents are hustler, lala, rustler. (2) In thieve's parlance, a big lie.

Humphrey. A coat with false pockets, the better to facilitate thieving operations.

Hump Oneself. To make haste, to hasten, which may perhaps be old, seeing that " hump" is, etymologically, of same root as "hop. "

Hump yourself is a frequent injunction for " be sharp ! " look alive ! "

HUN— ILL 237

Hung-beef. Dried beef, so named from its being cured by hanging. Also, chip-beef.

Hunk. (1) A large piece, or slice ; a big lump, or chunk. Probably only a variation of " hunch, " used in England in precisely the same manner. (2) A country fellow. " He is a country hunk."

Hunk (Dutch honk, place, post, home). The goal, or home, in a child's game. Especially used by New- York boys.

Hence, also, to be hunk, to be safe, i. e. to have reached the goal without being intercepted by one of the opposite party ; also hunky f hunkey, meaning very fine, tip-top, good, jolly, and to be hunky, or all hunky, to be all right.

HunkePS. A local political term applied in New York, in 1844, to the Conservative Democrats, as opposed to the "Barnburners," from their supposed clinging to the homestead or home principles.

Hence, also, hunkerism, the doctrine of the hunkers.

The hunkers were also nicknamed hard-i, as opposed to the softs.

See Hardshells.

Hunting ShiPt. A blouse-like garment, generally made of deerskin, and in use amongst trappers and frontiersmen.

HuPPy up the eakCS. An injunction to expeditious movement, equivalent to : be quick ! look alive ! from the well known phrase so often heard in restaurants, in conjunction with buckwheat and other hot cakes.

Hussif. A contraction of " housewife," meaning a flannel book for needles.

Hustle. To be active in movement, or quick in speech ; to be generally alive at all points. Used actively and passively.

HuStlCP. An active, busy individual ; one who is energetic and pushing in business.

lee-boat. A kind of yatch on skates, which furnishes an exhilirating winter pastime on the frozen rivers and lakes of the Northern regions.

111. In the South-West, vicious, ill-tempered, and even immoral, as "an ill fellow, " meaning a man of bad habits, "an ill dog, " meaning one which would be rather given to bite.

" 111' has been so used in England for centuries, in connection with

. man, beast, or intentions. Thus, in the old ballad of the Widow of Watling street, we have it applied to the first and to the last :

O husband, remember your sonne, she said, Although he hath beenc ill. For by his dayly practices, Which were both lew! and ill

238

ILL-IND

Illy (Old Kng.). Still persistent in sense of " ill. "

So used by several old writers, notably by Southey and Strype.

Immense. Excellent, and especially pre-excellent. Has now also gained some acceptance in England.

Independence Day. The 4th of July, anniversary of the date of the declaration of independence of the American colonies, by Congress, in 1776.

Indian bed. See tlam-bake.

Indian bread. (1) See Boston bread.

(2) In New Jersey, the tuckahoe or fungus found underground in the pine woods.

Indian corn. Maize, so called by the first colonists because cultivated by the aborigines.

Indian dab. A Pennsylvania batter-cake.

Indian flg. (1) The prickly-pear (q. v.).

(2) The barberry fig.

(3) A large Cactus (Cereus giganteus), the fruit of which is not unlike the fig in taste.

Indian file. A single file, a single trail, from the custom of the first aborigines of creeping along in "single file," when they were interested in preventing any estimate being formed of their number.

Indian gift. A gift, a return for which is expected. This word is a sad commentary on the cupidity of the white man, whose so-called presents to the red-skins have nearly always involved returns wellnigh a hun- dredfold in value.

Indian hemp (Apocynum cannabinum). A medicinal plant.

Indian ladder. In the South a tree, the branches of which are trimmed to a few inches of the main stem, which thus form projecting substitiites for the rungs of a ladder.

Indian liqilOP. Whiskey of the vilest description, from the well-known habit of traders and Government agents of supplying Indians with whis- key adulterated with all sorts of noxious condiments.

Indian meal. Ground maize.

Indian millet (Oryzopsis cuspidata). One of the most prominent of the native grasses, growing in the Rocky Mountains region from one to two feet high, or even higher in moist situations. See bunch -grass.

Indian mortars. See pot-holes.

IND— INS 239

Indian mounds. Originally, the burial-places of the Indians, but now frequently applied, in some parts of the country, to any unusua contours of rising ground.

Indian OPChaPdS. In New York and Massachusetts, plantations of wild trees, the popular idea being that such places were originally planted by Indians.

Indian peach. A species of wild peach. Indian physic. See bowmari 's-root.

Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora). A wax-like plant, the head of which bends over before maturity. Also called wax-plant.

Indian pudding. A pudding made of maize-meal and molasses.

Indian reservations. Certain tracts of country throughout the Union, set apart by Congress for the special benefit and use of the Indians.

Indian Pice (Zizania aquatica). Wild rice, so called from the fact of certain Indian tribes depending upon it as part of their food supply.

Indian summer. The St Martin's Summer of Europe, said to have been so called by the early settlers because if afforded the Indians a last opportunity of making incursions into the settlements, before the reaj onset of winter.

Indian tobacco (Lobelia inflata). A plant, the leaves of which were sometimes used by the aborigines as a substitute for tobacco.

Indian turnip. (1) A poisonous, acrid root (Arum triphyllum), also

known as Jack in the pulpit (Rhode Island), and wake-robin (New Eng.).

(2) A Western root (Psoralea esculenta), used as food by the Sioux

Indians, and otherwise known as pomme-blanche and potnme-de-prairie.

. A wedding reception, the housewarming given by a newly married couple.

Still provincial in England and Scotland. Also, infair.

Influence. Advantage, over another person, in sense of influence (pull) of politicians.

A cant word for a horse cheat or swindler. Injunct. Legal slang, for " to issue an injunction, " to command.

In newspaper parlance, any professional writer for the press, especially a reporter. The term is, however, now generally applied contemptuously to raw hands.

Ins. Persons in office, those hoping to get in being the cu'*.

240

INS— 1ST

Inside. A variant of bottom, often used adjectively in sense of reliable. " The inside facts," i. e. trustworthy facts.

Inside Of. In common use for within, in less time than. ..." In-vde of three hours. "

Inside track. To be on the inside track of an undertaking, is to be in a position to derive advantage therefrom, to be on the safe side.

Institute. A convention, a meeting. Farmer's' institutes, lasting two or three days, with lectures and discussions, are especially very common at the West.

Institution. A practice, or habit ; a permanent or essential part of any system. " Electrocuting is now an institution in the State of New York."

Interment. A funeral, or burying.

Intervale. In New England, a name given to low or alluvial lands enriched by overflowing rivers.

In the West, same are known as bottoms, bottom-land*, or picer bottoms.

Into. (1) Used for in. "There is good land into that farm. (New Jersey and New York. )

(2) With the exception of ; short of. ' ' A dollar into ten cents. Six • miles into a quarter.'' A qualifying contraction used in Connecticut.

Involvement. State of being involved ; entanglement.

Inwardness. That which is beneath the surface ; the real interest or purpose.

The real object aimed at ; its exact drift.

Irish potato (Solanum tuberosum). The ,'popular name of the common potato, to distinguish it from the native " Sweet " or " Carolina " potato (Batatis edulis), akin to the " convolvulus. "

So called because introduced by the Irish, and used in Morse Gazetteer, 1797, s. v. Kentucky.

Iron City. The city of Pittsburg, Pa., from its enormous iron manufac- tures.-

Island. In the prairie regions, a grove or cluster of trees surrounded by prairie on every side, and so called from its resemblance to a wooden island in the sea.

Issuance. The act of publication, sending out, or delivering.

Istle (Mex. ichtli). In Texas, the strong fibre taken from the long leaves of the " Agave rigida, " and which serves to make sisal hemp. Not to be confused with iztle (q. v. ).

ITE— JAC

241

Item. (1) In newspaper slang, a point of information for the press ; a, portion of news or literary matter.

(2) A secret and unfair information at card playing. See give item.

Itemize. (1) To make, or prepare for printing a report of an information. (2) Among business men, to divide a total into its constituent parts. To make a list of ; to collect ; to write an account of a transaction.

. (1) A reporter; a penny-a-liner. (2) One who makes an abstract ; a precis-writer.

IVOFy-nut (Phytelephas macrocarpa). The Corosso nut of commerce, from the ripe fruit of which exudes a fluid largely used in the manu- facture of vegetable ivory. Also, vegetable-ivory.

Ivy. A uanfe erroneouslyygiven to the laurel, in the South. See American ivy.

Ivy-bush. A hairy faced man ; one with thick hair, long and bushy beard arid moustache.

Iztle (Mex. itztli). In Texas, a sort of obsidian used by the Indians to make arrow points, knives, etc.

Jab. To strike, stab, or thrust ; to handle roughly. A Western term, popularized by pugilists.

Jacal, hah'-cal (Mex. xacalli, a straw hut). A peculiar dwelling, com- mon in Texas and the formerly Spanish States, consisting of a rough hut built of stakes driven into the ground, and made weather-tight with fillings of clay.

Jacana, ha-cah'-nah (Mex.). In Texas, a tropical bird of the genus " Parra," found along the north banks of the Rio Grande.

Jack. An abbreviated form of jackass-rabbit.

Jack (to). Amongst ranchmen, to brand an unmarked yearling or maverick.

Jackuss-rabbit (Lepus callotis). A tiny rabbit of Texas and the Rocky Mountains region, so called from its very large ears and long, slender legs.

Also known as black-tailed hare, jac'k-rabbit, mule-rabbit and Texan* hare.

Jack-dandy. An impertinent fellow, who besides is short in stature. 16

242 JAC— JAQ

Jaek-in-the pulpit (Ariscema triphyllum). The Indian turnip, whose root, boiled in milk, constitutes a valuable adjuvant in the case of coughs.

In Connecticut, it is called the one-berry. See pomme blanche.

Jack-leg". A black-leg, a lawyer whose record would not be regarded in a desirable light.

Jack-Oak (Quercus uigra). The barren oak of botanists, otherwise called black-jack.

Jack-pot. Said at game of poker, when the game cannot be opened except by a player who holds a pair of jacks or better. Also, the accumulated bets in a game of poker.

Jaeksonites. Said of the followers of general Andrew Jackson (1821-32). Their opponents were called Adamites.

Jack Stones. The old English game of " dibbs, " played with five small stones, or with same number of bones taken from the knees of a sheep.

Jade. A cant word for a long term of imprisonment, what in England is called a " stretch. "

Jag". (1) A parcel, bundle, or load, among descendants of Puritans in the East, esp. lower New- Jersey and Long-Island. " A jag of hay or wood."

So quoted by Halliwell, and still provincial in North and Middle of England, esp. Norfolk.

(2) A decided and emphatic drunk, i. e. a load of drink, more than one can carry.

Jagger-wagOn. In New Jersey, a light, open farm-wagon used on the road for light work.

Jake. A rough, uncouth country fellow.

Jalma, hal'-mah (Sp. ). In the formerly Spanish States, a pack saddle.

JambOPee. A spree ; a noisy frolic, even sometimes bordering upon a disturbance of the peace.

Jam-up. Beyond comparison ; capital, or prime ; the pink of perfection. Equivalents in English slang are " slap up " and " bang up. "

Japanned. Said of one who is alleged to have been converted by a prison chaplain.

In English University slang, "to japan" is to ordain, the allusion being to the black garb Usually worn by the clergy.

Jaquima, hah-ke'-mah (Sp. ). The head-stall of a halter, used in Texas and California for breaking wild horses.

JAY— JIB

243

Jay. (1) A countryman or greenhorn ; an unsophisticated person.

(2) A New York synonym for a dude or masher, the allusion being in this case to the plumage of the biped.

Jay hawkePS. (1) A term applied, during the Kansas troubles of 1856, to bushrangers and guerillas, then perpetuated during the Civil War, and subsequently borne by political marauders and pillagers in general.

The term is doubtless derived from " jayhawk " (a ferocious bird, delighting in killing from mere love of sport), and is said to have first come from Australia, where it was originally coined to mean a thief by nature, who could be also, according to occasion, a murderer and pillager.

(2) A nickname given to the inhabitants of Kansas.

Jeff Davis-boxes. A facetious name given by the Confederates, during the Civil War, to their creaking, ill-built army wagons. Also, musical boxes.

Jell. To harden, as of jelly. " The jelly doesn't jell."

Jerk (Sp. charqui, dried beef). (1) Meat dried in the open air.

(2) Meat which has been cut in thin strips, and dried over a fire or in the sun.

JePk (to). To dry meat in the open air.

Jerks. A term applied to the convulsive paroxysms, which have been a marked feature at many monster gatherings of religionists. Also, jerking, or jerky exercise.

Jerky. A roughly made vehicle, which is, as its name implies, a regular " bone-shaker."

Jersey blue. The color of uniform wor,n by Jersey troops before the War of the Revolution.

Jersey-tea (Ceanothus americana). A implied by the name, in New Jersey.

herbal decoction, known, as

Jet<§6 (Fr. ). Among French-Canadian lumbermen, a place on the bank of a river where logs are heaped up upon the snow and ice until spring, time, when they are carried down by the waters.

Jew (to). The earlier editions of " Webster's Dictionary" contained the verb " to jew," and defined it " to cheat," " to play with," etc. At the request of a number of influential Israelites the word was eliminated from the book. As a matter of fact, however, the word had no con- nection with or reference to the followers of the Mosaic faith. It was derived from the French jeu and jouir, which means " to play with, "to cheat," etc. ; but its orthography had become corrupted to "jew." It did not appear in subsequent editions of the work.

Jibe. To agree with ; to harmonise ; to go well with.

244

JIG— JOC

JiCOte, he-co'-tay (Mex. xicotl.i). In Texas, a ground bee, the sting of which is very painful. Jicotera (he-co-tay'-rah), the nest of ihejicote.

Jig. A kind of spoon-bait ; an artificial squid for trolling. (New-Eng.) On river St Lawrence, a spoon-hook.

Jig (to). To play truant from school. (Nfld. N. B. and N. S.)

JiggGP. (1) One of the many names of the seed-tick, or chigre of Kentucky.

(2) In New England, a small fishing vessel, so called, it is said, from its peculiar manner of moving through the water, closely resembling that of the ill-famed " jigger " or sand- flea.

(3) A small measure used by bar-keepers.

(4) The bridge, or rest used at billiards.

(5) In Connecticut, gig, sulky.

Jigger (to). To move uneasily ; to fidget. (South-West. )

Evidently an amplified form of "to jig, " meaning to dance in a lively manner.

Jiggered. In parts of New England, not sound minded, having a screw loose. Also, jiygery, jigger-head.

Jiggling-bOErd. A spring-board, such as is used for diving and athletics. From " jig, " in the sense of quick motion.

Jilote, he-lo'-tay (Mex .xilotl). In Texas, an immature ear of corn.

Jilt. A cant word for a woman accomplice of a thief, who entices the victim and occupies his attention whilst he is being robbed.

JimbCPJaW. A protruding lower jaw. Also, ivhapper-jaw.

Jim-jaiTlS. Delirium tremens. Said to have originated in Kentucky. Also applied, figuratively, to distorted views of men and things. The contracted form, jams, is also often used.

Jim-slingeF. In parts of the South, a hard blow.

JIm-SWingeP. A name sometimes given, in the West, to a long tailed coat, especially a " Prince Albert. "

A wild, hawm-scarum kind of fellow.

Jocoque, ho-oo'-kay (Mex. xococ). In Texas, butter-milk. Also, jocoqiti.

JOE— JUD

'245

Joe-Pye weed (Eupatorium purpureum). A medicinal herb used by an Indian, called Joe-Pye, in the treatment of typhus fever. Known in Maine and surroundings.

Jog, A projection, or deviation from a straight line or even surface.

A contracted form of " joggle," meaning a piece of projecting stone introduced into a joint.

John. A common name, in the United States, for a Chinaman. Also, John Chinaman, and Johny.

John Collins. An iced drink, made of Old Tom gin, with a mixture of lemon, sugar and soda-water.

Johnnies. In parts of the West, a popular name for violets.

Johny. A nickname applied, during the late Civil War, to the Confe. derate soldiers by those of the Union armies. Also, Johny-Reb.

Johny-eake. A cake made of unleavened Indian meal, mixed with milk or water. The real Johny cake should be baked on the earth.

Johny-jump-up. The heart's-ease, or violet. Also, Johny -jumper.

Joint (Sp. junta, a collection of persons). (1) An opium-smoking den or gambling-house.

(2) Any resort of bad repute.

JokeP, At game of euchre, an additional (53d) card, ranking as the highest trump.

Jornada, hor-nah'-dah (Sp. ). A name given, in the South-West, to a land measure, i. e. as much land as may be ploughed in one day. Also, a dreary waste or arid tract of country.

In Spain, Jornada means, more specifically, a day's journey.

Jorra, hor'-rah. In Texas, any female domestic animal that is sterile.

The name may come from horro, designating, in Cuba, tobacco which does not mature well.

Josh. An inhabitant of Arkansas was thus known in the rebel army during the Civil War.

Josh (to). To hoax, to chaff, to " roast " a person ; to make fun of him.

JtlberoUS. In parts of the South, timid, timorous. Also, dubious, doubtful.

Judas tree (Cercis canadensis). A small ornamental tree, with peach like flowers.

Also called red bud.

246

JUD— JUN

Judges Of the plains. Men appointed, in cattle-raising districts, for the purpose of settling all disputes which may crop up at gatherings of cattle-men, or " round-ups. " The phrase is a literal translation of the Spanish " Jueces del Campo."

Judy. A fool, a simpleton. " To make a Judy of oneself" is, to put it mildly, " making an ass of oneself. "

Jug. A cant word for a bank.

In English slang, a prison of any kind.

Jug-bPeaking. Committing a burglary at a bank.

Jugful. Not by a jugful, by no means ; not by a great deal. Equiv. in Eng. slang : " not by a long shot. n

Jug money. To hide away, evidently the nearest approach to banking known to the majority of thieves.

Jump. To abscond, to decamp surreptitiously. To jump bail, to abscond. To jump one's bill, to leave an hotel without payment.

Jump a Claim. To occupy by force a land or mining claim, rightfully belonging to another.

See claim-jumper, bounty-jumper.

Jumper. (1) One who takes a squatter's claim. Also claim-jumper (q. v. ).

(2) In the North and North-West, a rude kind of sleigh made of two elastic poles on which a box is fastened.

Jumping-Off-plaee. (1) The destination of one's journey.

(2) The end of a road or railroad.

Also, jump-off".

Jumping-off-places formerly designated the confines of civilization, the ever shifting termini of railways being thus for a while typically known.

Jump the blind. In the West, to steal a ride on the platform of a

Jump the cut. To cheat at cards ; to so manipulate cards when cutting that the result is to give an unfair advantage to the one cutting.

Junk. (1) Old iron, rags, or other rag material.

Hence, also, junk-dealer and jimk store, for what in England are known as marine stores and marine store dealers.

(2) In New England, a substitute for "chunk," meaning a fragment of any solid substance.

Junk-bottle. The common, dark bottle, used for beer and malt liquors generally.

KAK— KEE 247

Kakawl. See cacaoui.

Kamas-TOOt (Camassia esculenta). A variety of the Indian ttirnipt called by the early French hunters pomme blanche or pomme des prairies, and very extensively used as food by the Digger Indians.

Katey. A burglar's tool for picking locks.

KatOOSe (Ger. getose). In New England, a din, a tumult, and in fact any unpleasant noise heard suddenly. Also, katowse.

Katydid (Cyrtophyllum concavum). A species of grasshopper, ao called from the peculiar noise which the male makes in autumn towards evening, by means of the membranes of its wing-covers, and which is easily interpreted as meaning Katy did, the answer being, in children's views, Katy didn't.

Kearnyites. Followers of Dennis Kearny, a Communist who once gained some notoriety at the time of, the Anti-Chinese agitation, in San Fran-

Keel-boat. A long, slender boat, of graceful build, admirably adapted to pass over shallow places, and which was formerly often seen on the Mississipi and its tributaries.

Keeler-tub. In New England, a pan or tub for washing dishes. Also, simply a keeler.

Keel OV6P. Of nautical origin, and meaning to capsize, to upset. Also, figuratively, to collapse ; to succumb to sickness or old age.

Keel up. Figuratively, to recover oneself ; to come back to one's senses, Keener. Said, in the West, of a shrewd, sharp man. " He's a keener. "

Keeping-room. In New England, the living-room, or common sitting- room next to the parlor. Still provincial in England.

Keep one's eyes peeled. To be on the alert, to have one's wits about one. We owe this phrase to the vigorous speech of the West, from the huntsman or pioneer, on the plains, having had once to depend largely, for success or safety, upon keenness of sight and untiring watchfulness.

Also, to keep one's eyes skinned.

To keep one's trigger eye on one, to keep close, and perhaps, suspicious watch of another.

To keep tab, to keep tally or count ; to score.

248

KEE— KIC

Keet. A name given in some localities to the guinea-fowl, simply from its peculiar and unpleasant note. Also, Ouinea-keet.

KellOCk (Old Eng.). A small anchor in use on fishing smacks, and mentioned by Forby.

Provincial in England, in some small sea-ports. Also, kellick, killock.

Kennebunker. In Maine, a name given to the valise in which lumber- men store their clothes, when they go into camp for the winter.

Keow. The common pronunciation for cow, in the New-England States. Still provincial in Essex, Norfolk, and Sussex counties, England.

Ketch. The old English sound and spelling of to catch, still prevalent in New England and as far south as Virginia.

That of the pens that he can muche and ket/jhe —

(Chaucer, Troilus and Cregida.

Also, to kotch, especially in Virginia. Ketchy. In New Jersey, said of changeable weather.

Kettereen (Old. Eng.). A two wheel chaise, such as were used in colonial times.

Also, kittereen, kittern.

Possibly the word ie the " cateran" of the New English Dictionary, which has the spelling " kettrin " for 1768.

A two wheel chair, commonly call'd a kittern, compleat, made in London.

(Boston News-Letter, Aug. 29, 1764.)

Kettle. In New England, a tin-pail ; a dinner-pail.

Sugar-kettle, the open boiling-pan of old, now entirely superseded.

Key-Stone State- The State of Pennsylvania, from the fact that when the names of the original thirteen States were arranged archwise in their geographical order, Pennsylvania occupied the central position.

The great importance of Pennsylvania, due to its extent, wealth, and immense manufacturing interests, makes the name Key-Stone also quite appropriate in a higher sense of the word.

Kibbling^. Small fragments of fish used as bait on the banks of New- foundland.

Among Gloucester fishermen same are called slivers, from to sliver, meaning to cut or rend lenghtwise.

Kick. In the Southern States, the equivalent of the English to " jilt. " Also, to object, to protest.

Kicker. Among politicians, one who revolts against party discipline.

KID— KIN

249

Kid. (1) A common name for a small boy or girl.

(2) In New England, a large box, on fishing vessels, into which fish are thrown as fast as they are caught.

Kill (Dutch kil, small stream, or creek). (1) A channel or arm of the sea. • (2) A stream, equiv. to the brook of New England.

Kaatskill Mountains, so called from a picturesque brook arising in their bosom.

Kill van Kull, or simply the Kills, channel separating Staten Island from Bergen Neck.

Schuylkill (hidden creek).

Kill (to). (1) In political parlance, to neutralize votes, or to defeat a measure through counter- votes or opposition.

Also used colloquially, with general meaning of to defeat, to nullify, to obstruct.

(2) To do a thing thoroughly. " To dress, to dance to kill. "

Killdee, Killdeer (Oxiechus vociferus). A small aquatic bird of the plover kind, so called from its very sharp and piercing note.

Killhag (Ind.). A wooden trap used by the hunters of Maine, Canada, and the North- West.

Killiek. In New Jersey, a small anchor.

Killing-time. A Southern term for the early winter ; literally, the killing-time for swine, which in former days was a time of overflowing abundance and great rejoicing.

Killy. A small fish of the genus Fundulus, especially abounding in the " kills." Also, killy-fi«h, mummachog.

Kindle. To light, in sense of lighting a fire.

In the United States, a fire is first built and then kindled, whilst in England it is laid and afterwards lighted.

Kindlings. Broken wood used for lighting fires. Also, kindlerx. See light-wood. Kindlings is still provincial in Suffolk, England, for fire- wood.

King. A large employer of capital and labor ; one who exercise? an undoubted preeminence in any particular trade or industry. " A cattle king, a railway king, " etc.

King-beat. In newspaper parlance, exceedingly important news which have been obtained in advance of other papers.

King-pin. The tallest pin at skittles or ten-pins.

Hence also, by analogy, the chief or superior. s

250

KIN— KNE

King's ex (abb. of King's excuse). A call used by children to stop a game for a moment.

In playing base, when a boy falls down, and to keep from being caught, he usually says : " King's ex, " which serves him as a protection.

Kinl-kinik (Ind. Alg. kinne-kanik, designating a "mixture," probably from the two Ojibway words nin kininifierji, meaning " I mix "). The inner bark of the " Cornus stolonifera, " or Red Osier, which is finely chopped and grated, and used as a mixture or substitute for tobacco. This bark, when dried and smoked, has very much the flavor of tobacco, but is more acrid. Although nearly limited to the Indians and voyageurs, the term is now occasionally used in English-speaking Canada, chiefly by traders, and also among Canadian children to whom the use of tobacco is interdicted. They then go to the swamp and make kini-icinik.

The word also serves to designate a preparation of tobacco, sumac- leaves and willow.- twigs, two thirds tobacco and one of the latter, gathered when the leaves commence turning red.

See red sumac.

Kink. (1) A " hitch " in any undertaking. A metaphorical extension of a " kink " (accidental knot) in a rope or cord. Hence also, kinky, for troublesome, excentric. (2) A pain. "A kink in the back, " i. e. lumbago.

Kinry. In the South, sometimes used for relatives, kindred.

Kip (1) A bed.

(2) A dull witted person.

(3) In New Jersey, young chicken.

Kiskitomas (Ind.). The peculiar Indian name often given to the nut of the hickory. Literally, it means a nut that may be cracked with the teeth, and Rasles gives, for the Abenaki, nesekouskadamen, i. e. " J'en casse avec les dents. "

Descendants of the Dutch settlers who inhabit New Jersey, near city of New- York, have corrupted the word into Kinky- Thomas nut.

Kite. Chief of a gang of thieves.

Kite-flying. To lead a mob or party.

Kiting (abb. into kitin'). Moving rapidly. " To go a-kitin. "

Kitty-COPneP. To cut off a corner by going across lots. Kitty-cornered, diagonal, set diagonally.

Knack. Familiarity, habit of staying near.

Knee high tO a mosquito. Very small, very short. A phrase often used in speaking of a person whom one has known from infancy. Also, knee high to a duck, to a toad, to a grasshopper.

KNI— KNO 251

Knickerbockers. Descendants of the old Dutch settlers in New York State and city. Also, a nickname for the inhabitants of city of New York.

Knife (to). To stab ; and, metaphorically, to do some one harm ; to stab him in character if not in person.

Knifing process. The cutting down of rates ; economization.

Knights Of labOP. A powerful organization of working-men, having

branches all over the Union, and connected with every known trade.

Another large organization of the kind is the Knights of Pythias.

Knob. Originally a term limited to certain peculiar round hills in Ken- tucky, formed by the weathering of the soft sandstones and shales composing them, but now meaning in the West any rising or hill.

Knobby. Hilly, accidented.

Knobite. A dweller in the knob formations of Kentucky.

Knob-lick. A deposit of alum and other salts, at the base of a knob, to which animals resort.

Knock down. To embezzle ; -to appropriate surreptitiously.

Knock down and drag OUt. In pugilistic circles, a fight carried to extremities, as when one of the contestants has to be carried out of the arena.

Knocked-up. Sense of " enceinte, " and never used, as in England, to mean fatigued.

A lady describing herself as " knocked up,," indelicately confesses to a condition sometimes affecting young married women, but not usually spoken of.

Knock OUt the Wedges. To desert ; to leave in an embarrassed con- dition.

Prob. borrowed from the phraseology of building operatives, as, when the wedges being knocked out, a scaffolding loses all its strenght.

KnOW-nothingS. A secret association, somewhat outlined after the manner of the Native Americans, and which, from 1852 to 56, cut a considerable figure in American politics. They finally ran their ship on Slavery Rock, and it foundered.

The Know-nothings got their name from professing to know nothing when questioned as to the objects of their order.

The following articles of the platform of the Know-nothings contain the gist of the Avhole :

1 Repeal of all naturalization laws.

2 None but native Americans for office.

3 A pure American common school system.

4 War to the hilt on Romanism.

252

KNO— LAD

KnOW-nothinglsm. The doctrines of the Know-nothings. See Hindoos, Native American*, Sams.

Knucks. A game at marbles in which the winner shoots at his adver sary's knuckles.

Kone. Spurious money, either paper or specie. Koniaeker. A coiner of counterfeit money.

KoOtOO- To bow ; to make courteous obeisance.

The exact Chinese synonym of the Hindoo " salaam." Also, to kotow.

Kooyah (Ind.). A name applied by the Indians of Oregon to the tobacco- root (Valeriana officinalis), and of which they make a bread called supale, after they have baked the root for two days in the ground to deprive it of its poisonous qualities. Also, kooyah root.

KriSS-kPingle (Ger. Christ-kindel, the Child-Christ). A sadly mutilated form, for the Child Christ, on whom children are wont to rely for their gifts on the Christmas-tree.

Ku-klux klan. Originally, a secret association of Southerners, organized in 1866 for the purpose of preserving order during the period of lawles- ness immediately following the war, but which afterwards outgrew the design of its founders, and often resorted to murder and the vilest outrages against negroes and settlers from the North.

This curious name is an alliterative corruption of the Greek " kuklos " (a circle), the " klan " being added to enhance the strange jingle of consonants.

Other names were The Invisible Empire, The Knights of the white Camellia, The Knights of the Golden Circle, " etc.

Hence, also, Ku-kluxer.

Labor, lah-bore' (Sp.). In Texas, any field of small size, not definite, and, more specifically, a land measure of 177 acres. See milpa.

Labrador tea (Ledum palustre and latifolium). A substitute for tea in the North-West.

Lace hOPSC. In Texas, a trig, smirk little horae.

Ladles' tresses (Neotti atortillis). In the South, an herb, so called from its flowers bearing a supposed resemblance to curls.

LAD— LAM

253

Ladino, lah-dee'-no (Sp. )• In Texas, used as a noun fora vicious, unmana- geable horse, full of cunning and tricks.

In Spain, the word is only used adjectively in sense of cunning, crafty.

Lady. A generic term applied, in the United States, to women of all stations, even to those acting in a menial or dependent capacity.

The principle, underlying the misuse of this word, in America, is of course praiseworthy, as the causes are laid deep down in the roots of Democracy, but the results are none the less deplorable.

See gentleman.

Lafayette (Leistormus obliquus). A delicious sea-fish, so called from the fact, it is said, of having arrived in the waters of New- York bay preci- sely at the same time that General Lafayette paid his last visit to America.

The Lafayette fish abounds mainly on the coast of New Jersey, where it is much relished. Hence, also, its other name of C:ipe May goody.

LagTliappe (pron. lanny-yap). In New Orleans, a gratuity of the given- away-with-a-pound-of-tea kind ; the equiv. of the thirteenth roll in a, baker's dozen.

" A nice, limber, expressive, handy word, " says Mark Twain.

See pilon.

LagOOn (Fr. lagum). In the Gulf region, a name given to the many bays, inlets, or channels, between the islands and the main coasts.

In Texas, the Sp. word laguna (lah-goo'-nah) is used in preference.

Lake-State. The State of Michigan, from its being surrounded by four of the large Northern lakes : Mfchigan, Huron, Superior, and Erie.

Lam (Old Eng. ). To thrash, to beat, to drub, to maltreat.

This word, partially colloquial in America and still provincial m Yorkshire, England, is of very old English parentage and has long had a recognized place in English literature. In a north-country ballad of the time of Edward VI, one line runs : " They lammed him and bammed him." The term may also be found in Marlowe, and we read in Beau- mont and Fetcher :

One whose dull body will require a lamming.

(A King and No King, Act. V, «c. 3.)

Lamantin, An herbivorous cetacean, otherwise called manatee or sea- cow, measuring some six or seven feet in length, and inhabiting the mouths of rivers opening on the Gulf of Mexico, and parts of South America.

Lamas. In the slang of the gamingr table, chips and tokens representing in value about $25, $50, and $125 each.

254

LAM— LAR

Lambaste. To thrash, to maltreat. An elaboration of to lam, " evidently combining" says DeVere, " the two effective agencies of lamming and basting into one formidable operation." Also, to lambaste.

Lambasting. A beating, a thrashing.

Lamb'S-quarter (Chenopodium album). A popular Southern name for a well-known herbage.

Land-bPOker. A cant word for an undertaker.

Land-grabber. An applicant for grants of public lands ; one who, under the forms of law, or in defiance of them, gets possession of the public domain or of the property of individuals.

The great majority of land-grabbers well deserve their unenviable name, through the frequent impudence of their demands and the perti- nacity with which they pursue their end.

Land-Office. The general office, at Washington, in which is vested the disposal and control of public lands.

Land Of Steady habits. The State of Connecticut, from the alleged staid deportment and excellent morals of its inhabitants.

Land warrants. Authorizations, issued by the General "Land Office" at Washington, entitling the possessors to take up new and uncultivated land.

Lane. In the South, a common name given to all roads with fences on each side.

Lang. In New Jersey, the coupling-pole of a wagon. Lap. In New Jersey, a " hank " of thread.

Lap (to). To throw on one's lap. For instance, newsboys throwing prize- oandies and magazines in the cars, are said to lap them.

Lap-tea. An informal afternoon meal, where sitting at table is dispensed with.

Lariat (Sp. la reata). A lasso made of a horse-hair rope, or of a twisted or braided raw-hide, and used on the plains of the West for catching and tethering cattle and horses.

Also, reata, which comes then very Bear being the original Spanish word, without the article.

Lariat (to). To stake out, or tether with a lariat. Also, to lariat out, to stake.

LarigO (lar-ee'-go (Sp.). In the South- West, a ring at each end of the " cinch " and forming part of the huge Mexican saddle.

LAR— LAY 255

Larrigan. In the North, a kind of moccasin made of prepared oiled leather, and used chiefly by lumbermen.

Larrup. In the West, molasses.

Last Of pea-time. To look like the last of pea-time, to be hard up ; to have a forlorn or desolate appearance ; to be in the decline of years, when one's opportunities of usefulness are fast passing away.

A most happy and picturesque phrase, as every one knows who has seen the draggled vines and sallow pods that hang forlorn upon the half- bare, ragged brush.

Also, last of pea-picking.

LatigO, lah'-te-go (Sp.). In the South- West, a strong strap or strip of leather used for tightening the "cinch" or girth in packing. Chiefly used in the plural form latigos.

Lave (Fr. leve, imperative tense of ae lever, to get up). A familiar cry for " get up !" among mountaneers and hunters of the Far West, and with which the guide, or chief-hunter of a party, rouses his companions from their short slumbers.

Law (to). To go to law. (Western. )

Law-day. In the thinly populated districts of the West, the day on which an itinerant magistrate administers the law.

Lawyer. (1) The uniform name, in America, of the person who, in England, would either be called a solicitor or a barrister, as the case might be.

(2) The black-necked stilt (Himantopus nigricollis), a small bird which has been thus wittily nicknamed, by New- Jersey people, " on account of its long bill. "

Also called longshanks and tilt.

(3) A fish of the Northern rivers (genus lota), so called, we are told by the fishermen there, " because he ain't of much use, and the slippe- riest fish that swims. " (J. Hammond, Wild Northern Scenes. )

The lake-lawyer (Amia) is the mud-fah of Western waters.

Lay. (1) A sailor's word, meaning a share in any enterprise. For instance, whalers are generally paid " by the lay, " i. e. in proportion to the success of the voyage.

(2) Terms or conditions of a bargain ; price. " He bought his goods at a good lay. "

This sense of the word is quite in keeping with its etymological signi- fication, being akin to the meaning contained in the phrase " on this lay. " We cannot, moreover, agree with Bartlett, in regarding the word as being probably a contraction of " outlay, " the idea conveyed by it being more abstract than that of a sum of money expended.

256

LAY— LEN

Lay One OUt. To defeat ; to secure an advantage; to get the better of one.

Leader. The length of fine hair or gut, connecting a fishing line with. the hook.

Also, a snell.

i Leaf. In Newfoundland, the brim of a hat.

In Newfoundland, faint, weak.

Leather. A cant word for a pocket-book. "

Hence, to pull off leather, to steal pocket-books or purses.

Leatherheads. A nickname given of old to policemen or watchmen.

Leather-WOOd (Dirca palustris). A species of maple-tree, with flexible branches and a tough, leathery bark, growing in the Northern States.

Also called moose-wood, from the fondness of the moose for its leaves,, and in New England wicopy.

The leather-wood is the " bois-de-plomb " of the French-Canadians.

LeCOmpton Democrats. A name» applied, in 1857, to the members of the Democratic party who supported the pro-slaver}' constitution. adopted at Lecompton, Kansas.

Legaderos, lay-gah-day'-ros (prob. Sp. leyadura, ligature). A Spanish- Mexican term for stirrup- straps, which, in the Mexican saddles, are veritable leg-guards.

It has been also suggested that the •word, instead of having a Spanish origin, is merely a corruption of the English " leg-guards."

Leg-drama. A ball«t.

Leg-Shop. A theatre, where stage dancing forms a prominent feature of all entertainments.

Leg-streteher. To take a leg-stretcher, to take a drink, to walk up to the refreshment bar.

This phrase is said to have originated in the stage-coach days, when passengers were wont to plight, at inns or hotels on the road, with the professed purpose of stretching their legs, this innocent relaxation always invariably ending, so to say, by having a dram (drink) at the bar.

Legua, lay'-goo-ah (Sp. ). In Texas, a league, or land measure of 4428 acres.

Leg-WOrk- In newspaper parlance, a reporters' word to characterize a task in which there is more running than writing.

Lena, lawe'-yah (Sp. ). In Texas, any kind of fire- wood or timber. Lenter. A corruption of <rlean-to, " meaning an addition to a house.

LET -LIB 257

Let Out. To commence ; to begin ; to make a statement or explanation.

Let Slide. To let anything pass.

Let it dide, let it go, don't trouble. An expressive archaism revived in the United States.

Therefore " paucas pallabris ; " let the word slide : sessa !

(Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew.).

Let up. To release ; to let go.

Hence, also, a let up, meaning a break, a relief, as when a stringency in the money-market disappears. Of pugilistic origin.

Levee (Fr. lever, to rise). An old Creole word of Louisiana used to designate the vast earth-mounds raised on both sides of the Mississipi, to protect the rich alluvial lands which are on a lower level than the bed of the river. The term has been subsequently extended to all banks, used as wharves, like the famous levee of New-Orleans. Also, levy. Leveeing, constructing levees on a river bank.

Level. Used in many phrases, the common origin of which is to be found in mining phraseology.

To do one's level best, to go to the full extent of one's ability.

To do thinys on a bro-<d level, to do things on a base of stability and fixedness.

To make an offer on a Itroad lere*f, to name the lowest price possible ; to propose the most reasonable terms or conditions.

To be level-headed, to be practical, shrewd ; to have a well-balanced mind.

LevePWOrseht (Ger. leberumrst, liver sausage). In Pennsylvania, a pudding, so-called to distinguish it from the blootworscht or blood sausage,

Levy. A contraction of elevenpence, and a local word formerly designa- ting, in some Southern States, a Spanish silver coin of the value of 12!4 cents.

Both term and coin are now obsolete.

Lewisites. A local New-York term applied to the supporters <>t (lov. Lewis, in 1804. The Lnoixitex were then the " swell" party of the day.

Liberals. This term acquired a renewed significance from a movement headed by Carl Schurz in Missouri, in 1870, which resulted in a division of the local Republicans into Liberals and Radicals, the latter being equivalent to stalwart* as more recently used. (Farmer.) Also used in combination with other party names. 17

358 LIC— LI K

Lick. (1) Effort, exertion, stroke. Hence, big lick*, used adverbially in senge of vigorously, as in the slang phrase : " To put in big licks," i. e. to make great exertions, to work hard.

(2) A locality abounding in rock-salt and saline springs, so called lick from the fondness of both wild and domesticated cattle for salt.

Also, salt-lick.

Hifj bone lick, a locality in Kentucky, abounding in saline springs, where immense numbers of animal remains have been found.

Lick (to). To chastise, to defeat, by beating or thrashing. This old word, perhaps anterior to the Tudor period, retains in the United States the full force it already had, under its 'quaint form of " tolycke,'.' in Thomas Harman's " Canting Dictionary, " published under Queen Elisabeth. The root, here, is evidently ' ' lictor, " the name of £he official who carried around the " fasces " to thrash the rabble into a proper respect for the Roman magistracy.

Liekity-Split. Very rapidly, at full speed. Also, Hckity-xiritch.

Lie aPOUnd loose. To lounge ; to loaf ; to be out of place.

The Americanism is, here, chiefly in the use of "around" for "about. "

Lift. In newspaper parlance, the taking of a big exclusive story from another newspaper, and .printing enough of it " to save ourselves. "

Lift hair. See to raixn hair.

Light and Shut. In New England, said of the weather, when the sun peeps out at intervals.

Light-bread. In the South and West, often heard for wheat bread, in distinction from " bread," which means corn-bread.

Lightning bug. The fire-fly, that flits about so picturesquely in the hot summer evenings.

Lightning-express. A through express ; a quick travelling train. A Western variant is grca»ed*lightrung.

Like all WPath. A Southern simile for vehemently, violently, angrily, generally employed to express great emphasis.

Likely. Used adjectively in sense of respectable, worthy of esteem, sensible. A likely man, a man of good character or accomplishments.

In England, the true English sense of the word is that relating to external appearance, i. e. handsome, well made, prepossessing, pleasing to the eye: A likely man, a likely woman, meaning a fine, healthy, proper man or woman, although not necessarily pretty or handsome in the face.

LIM— LIS 259

Limbs. A euphemism for " legs" sometimes used by young ladies and ultra-refined people. Sensible persons, however, have little part in such prudery.

This squeamishness may also be found on the pages of many British writers.

and the nice proportion of her arms prom ised the truest symmetry in

her limbs.

(FIELDING, TOM JONES, book IV, chap. II.)

Their limbs are of great strength, but not their arms.

(DR KNOX, Races of Men, p. 272.)

Llmekill (Old Eng.). In New England, often heard for " limekiln. "

So used by Gayton, in his " Festivous notes on Don Quixote, " and therefore a survival.

Limit. At poker, a condition made at the beginning of a game, limiting the amount of any single bet or raise.

Limonillo, lee-mo-nee'-yo (Sp. dim. of Union, lemon). In Texas, a low herb of the composite family (Actinella odorata), used as a perfume plant.

Limpsy. In New England, limp, weak, flexible. Also, limsy,

Linemen. A railway term designating the plate-layers.

Line Tiding. A plainsman's term, for patrolling, in winter time, the lints or beats on which cattle are stationed.

Lines. Reins.

Handle the lines, equiv. of to handle the ribbons or reins.

Lingua Franca. Often applied, in the United States, to the Chinook jargon of the North-West and the Pacific coast.

In Europe, those two words designate the corrupt Italian employed as the language of common intercourse in the Mediterranean and the Levant.

Lingllister (pron. linkister). In New England, a talkative busybody.

Doubtless derived from the sailor's ^usage of the word, i. e. linguist, interpreter.

Linter. In Massachusetts, a cattle feeding-trough.

List, Listing. Terms used in cotton cultivation, and signifying to make ready plots of lands. Also, to make beds or raised terraces.

Lister. In Connecticut, one who schedules or makes out lists of cattle or other property.

260

LIT— LOA

Little Giant. A nickname applied to Stephen A. Douglas, from being small of stature but of great intellect. At the time of his nomination for the Presidency, in 1859, campaign clubs, calling themselves " Little Giants, " were organized and uniformed after the manner of the Wide- awakes.

Little Mac. The army nickname of Gen. George B. McCelland, which became especially conspicuous in 1864, when the general was the Demo- cratic candidate for the Presidency.

Little Magician. The nickname of Martin Van Buren, eight president of the United States. Also, Young Hickory.

Little-misery. At game of Boston, the loss of the whole twelve trick*, after having discarded a card which is not to be shown. Also, known under its French name petite misere.

Little Rhody. The State of Rhode-Island, from itn being the smallest State in the Union. An appellation lovingly used, although it must be said that the compliment is somewhat marred when the term Gun-flints is applied to its inhabitants.

Live. (1) Quick, active, energetic, lively, as a live dealer, meaning one who is alive to his business.

(2) In activity, as a live wire, meaning a wire which is conveying an- «electric current.

In sense of ' ' lively " now very rarely heard in England, and mostly entirely superseded there by ' ' quick",

Live-oak (Quercus virens). The evergreen oak.

Live OUt (to). To be at service; to live as a domestic servant.

Lizards. A nickname applied to the inhabitants of Alabama.

Llano, lyah'-no (Sp. ). In the South-West, a Spanish-Mexican term, designating a treeless level steppe or plain.

Loaf. To lounger here and there, to remain idle. To lead the life of & vagabond, or, idle lounger.

Loafer. An idler, or dawdler. A vagabond, or idle lounger, the Ameri- can equivalent of the lazzarone of Naples.

It has been suggested that loafer must be derived from the German laii/er, which in Germany means a man irregular or unsettled in life. But Mr. Richard Grant White, whose authority on all matters pertai- ning to Americanisms is wcllnigh uncontested, is of opinion that as " loafer " was not uncommon in the N. Y. newspapers of more than sixty yeari ago, the time of its birth is against its suggested German origin ; and the place is equally against its derivation, alleged by some other etymologists, from the Spanish " gallofero, :' a wandering beggar-

LOA— LOC 261

Mr. White believes that it is simply a corruption of " low feller, " which, becoming naturally in speech " low-f'er, " was, when it came to be written, spelled as naturally loafer.

Loaferishly. In a way becoming the true loafer.

Loan. To lend.

In England, "loan " is a noun and not a verb ; it is the thing lent.

" To loan" has been used by Chaucer, and Todd has also found the •word in Huloet (1552) and Langley (1664), two little known English writers of the 16th and 17th centuries. These examples, however, ar« merely of misuse, whilst the " Americanism" consists in the turning of the misuse into common usage.

Lobby, Lobbyist. A person frequenting the approaches to legislative halls, and seeking to influence legislation by argument or bribery. Also, lobbyist.

Lobby (to). To work among a legislative body ; to wait outside the chambers of legislatures, so as to use influence for passing of certain measures.

Loblolly-bay (Gordonia lasyanthus). An ornamental tree, with a luxuriant foliage, flourishing in the maritime parts of the Southern States, Also called holly -bay.

Loblolly-pine (Pinus tieda). A variety of pine, whose timber is much used for building.

Also known as white-pine (Virginia), and old-field-pine in the South.

LobSCOUSe. In New Jersey, an awkward, hulking fellow.

Local. In newspaper parlance, an article of local interest only. Often also the reporter whose special duty it is to collect local news. Hence, also, to localize, to prepare local news for the press.

Locate. To place ; to settle in a particular spot or position. This verb has now also forced its way into England.

Location. A plot of land, chosen for a dwelling.

Locator. In American land law, one who sfelects places or settles in a particular spot.

Lock, Stock and barrel. The whole of any important matter. A figurative expression borrowed from sportsmen, and which it is strange that our much-shooting cousins across the water have left for us to invent.

Lock-eye. The game of hide-and-seek.

262

LOG— LOG

LoCO-fOCOS (Sp. loco, crazy ;foco, flash). A nickname of tansient currency and importance, first applied in 1835 to a numerous fraction of the Democratic party, and afterwards to the whole party itself.

The political application of the term, which at the time had been coined as an advertising catch, by a New York dealer, for some newly invented friction-matches, came about in this wise.

A division having arisen in the Democratic party aa to the nomination of a candidate, a grand row took place at Tammany Hall, during which the gas was put out. One of the sections — the Equal Rights party — had been provident enough to bring some " loco-focos " matches with them, and the room was relighted in a moment. They were dubbed, in consequence, Loco-focos, and the name was shortly afterwards affixed to the whole party.

LOCO-Weed (Sp. loco, mad, crack-brained). A venenous plant of the West, which, in poisoning cattle, produces all the ordinary symptoms of insanity.

Hence, to be locoed, i. e. showing signs of madness, a phrase at first only applied to cattle rendered insane by eating loco-weed, but now also extended to human beings.

Lodge (Fr. loye, a hut). The family of the Indian, whenever not the " braves " only, but women and children are all included.

Log (to). Literally, to fell trees and convert them into logs.

Log-Cabin. A cabin, made of logs, generally unhewn.

Log cabin and hard cider, a catch-phrase of the Presidential campaign of 1839, in allusion to the antecedents of the candidates. Miniature log cabins and cider barrels were then drawn in procession through the streets.

Log-Canoe. A canoe hollowed out of the trunk of a tree. Also, dii'j-out.

Logger. A lumber-man, a wood-cutter.

Logging-Camp. The place where trees are cut.

Also the cabin or hut occupied by those engaged in logging operations.

Logging SWamp. In thrf State of Maine, a generic term for any spot where pine-trees are being felled, from the finest pine-trees usually growing, in that State, in swampy places.

Logie. (1) In the West Indies, eap. Demerara, an open shed for storing the refuse of the sugar cane.

(2) Among cod-fishermen, fish of inferior quality. Mostly used in plural fogies.

LOG— LON 26S-

Log-POlling. (1) In the lumber regions, the rolling of the logs to the river, after they are felled and trimmed. It is then customary for the men of different logging-camps to assist each other in turn in this work, which is the hardest incident to their business.

(2) A political term applied to the system of cooperation by which one member will vote for the pet measure of another, in return for a like service, after the manner of lumbermen assisting each other in. rolling their logs. See pipe-laying.

Logy (Dutch log, prosy, dull). Heavy, slow, stupid. A term especially applied to men, and which comes very near the meaning of a " bore. " A lo'jy preacher, a logy talker, etc.

Lolly. In Newfoundland and the Canadian Maritime provinces, a word designating soft ice along the shore. The term is especially well known in connection with the crossing of the ice boats to Prince Edward Island.

Loma (Sp.). On the Mexican frontier, and in the formerly Spanish States a term designating a flat-topped hill or ridge. Lomita is a diminutive of the above.

Lone Star State. The State of Texas, from the flag of that State- bearing a single star in its centre.

Long-bit. Formerly, a defaced twenty-cent piece.

Long-Knives. An Indian term for white msn, in allusion to their swords, and dating from the bloody struggles of the middle of the eighteenth century.

Long-niOSS (Tillandsia usneoides). A name given, in the South, to a phenoganeous plant, hanging down in festoons from the branches of live- oaks and cypresses, and closely resembling masses of moss.

Long On (Old Eng.). A survival of old English usage, still heard in New England, and meaning "occasioned by. "

Long sauce (Old Eng.). The old English usage of calling vegetables sauce, or more commonly raxv, is still preserved in the New-England States, where lonj xanre moans beets, parsnips, carrots, etc. and *hort sauce is used in speaking of turnips, onions, and other similar bulbs.

Long SUgar. Molasses were formerly so called in North Carolina, from their ropiness.

In New England, the same product was long known under the name of. long sweetening.

Also, long sweetening.

364 . LON— LUG

Long-Tom. An apparatus used by miners in the washing of gold.

Long-Walnut. See white-walnut.

Looed (to be). A simile derived from the card table, having same meaning as "euchred," i. e. defeated or " worsted" in an undertaking.

Look-OUt. An assistant to the dealer at faro. An attendant who, at the gaming-table, is supposed to see that matters are conducted fairly, and that no mistakes are made. Also, looker-oid.

Loon. (1) A foolish fellow. " Stupid as a loon."

Evidently derived from the Scotch " loun, " or " lown, " given in Jamieson with above signification.

Also, looney.

(2) The common name of the Northern diver, or btack-mvimmer .(Colymbus torquatue).

Aft straight as a loon'* (eg, a common simile, derived from the bird in •question.

Lop. In college slang, to curry favor. Used as both noun and verb.

Lope. A long, easy gallop.

Also, to lope, meaning to leap, to run.

Botli terms, which, are mostly confined to the West, are probably only new adaptations of " lope " and " lopen," the old English forms of the preterite of " leap."

Loper. In New Jersey, a worthless, intrusive fellow.

Lop-lolly. Sometimes heard for careless, slouchy, as applied to one's gait and dress.

Lot. A piece of land, in the sense of any piece, portion, or division of land. Thus city -lots, cemetery- lot x, hou^e-lots, etc. The equivalent, in England, is " plot."

Louisiana TigePS. A nickname applied, during the Civil War, to a corps of Confederate sharpshooters.

Lowbelia. A corruption of lobelia (lobelia inflata). See hiyhbe/ia.

Low-dOWneP. In North Carolina, a wrecker.

Lueivee (Fr. lotip-cerrifr}. A corrupted form standing for the wild-cat, or lynx of Maine (Lynx canadensis). Also, lucyvee, fucyfer.

LugS. Ground leaves of tobacco, when prepared for market.

LUM— LYN 265

Lumber. Timber sawed or split for sale.

In England, lumber means cumbrous and refuse articles which are hindrances unless they are put away, ; whence all large dwelling-houses have a "lumber-room." In America, lumber meaning timber, is so rooted in our commercial speech that there is no hope of its displacement. Indeed the perversion of lumber has not only injured that word, but has almost driven timber out of use.

Lumberer, Lumberman. . (1) A man employed in the timber trade. (2) A man employed felling trees in a " lumber " shanty.

Lumber State. The State of Maine, from its extensive lumber-yards. Also, Pine-Tree State.

The law associated with nicknames does not seem, for the inhabitants of Maine, to have yet resolved itself into a real sobriquet, but no doubt it will, in course oi time.

Lummox. Colloquial in the United States for a heavy, stupid fellow. Provincial in the east of England. Also, lunk-head.

Lumper. In parts of New England, a common, unskilled laborer.

Lumper is still provincial in England for a dockhand, a stevedore.

Lunch. Besides its legitimate sense of " mid-day meal, " the word lunch is often applied, in the United States, to an improvised meal eaten at any time, by day or night. In England, they would, in that case, perhaps say a " snack " or merely " something to eat. " The American use of the word is, however, found in Sterne's " Sentimental Journey. "

Lunge. An abbreviated form of rmwkelunge (see maskinomje) used in Canada.

Lyceum. A lecture hall, or literary association, often enriched with a library and various collections.

Lynch. To inflict punishment, without the form of law.

The origin of the term is wrapped in mystery, none of the explana- tions already put forward having proved thus far conclusire.

Lyneher. One who " lynches, " i. e. inflicts punishment according to lynch law.

Lynehing-bee. A gathering of lynchers, for the purpose of lynching a criminal.

Lynch law. A kind of rough and ready justice, much in vogue in certain wild and lawless communities of the country.

266

MAC— AJ AH

Machine. (1) A fire-engine.

(2) A synjnym f jr any undertaking or e:it3rpris3.

(3) A railway official's term for a locomotive.

Machine politician. An opprobrious epithet applied to a politician who yields implicit obedience to the lead of his party.

Mackinaw (Iiid. Alg. misi-makindk, or mikkiivik, meaning big turtle). A heavy blanket originally used in the Indian trade, the chief post of which was at Mackinac.

Maereuse (Fr. C.). A species of wild duck of the Gulf of St Lawrence.

Madam. (1) A title applied to women moving in respectable society, especially ladies of old age and high social position.

(2) In accordance with an old English custom, a title given, especially in New England and Virginia, to mothers-in-law who have married daughters of their own name, so as to distinguish them from those daughters.

Marm is a familar corruption of " madam, " peculiar to New England.

(3) Among negroes, in slavery days, madam was alo a common name for a master's wife; the term is still in use, but slightly changed in meaning.

Mad-dog (Scutellaria lateriflora). A once much renowned weed for the cure of hydrophobia.

Also known as skullcap, from the shape of its flowers.

MadPC, mah'-dray (Sp.). In the South- West, used adjectiv«ly for prin- cipal, main. " Sierra madre, acequia madre, etc."

Madrona, mah-dron'-ah (Sp. madrono, strawberry-plant). In Texas, a shrub of the heath family, bearing yellowish red berries, of a sub-acid taste.

Madstone. A round stone of dark color, to which, in the South, a superstition is attached that, if applied to the part bitten, it is a specific cure for hydrophobia. „

Maguey, mah-ghay'-e (Sp. ). In the South-West, a species of aloe (Agave americana).

Also called century i>lnnt .

Mahala. In California, a vulgar name for an Indian squaw.

MahonistS. The followers, in 1878, of general Mahone, of West Virginia,, who soceded from the ranks of the Biurbon Democrats.

MAH— MAK

267

MahOUmet. In French-Canadian folk-lore, a name given, by the old " coureurs des bois, " to an evil genius having passed a secret agreement with an adoctd (q. v.).

Maidenland. In Virginia, a plot of land forming the dower of a wife, and the right to which reverts at death to her family.

Mail. (1) Letters and papers received from the post office or sent to it. (2) The train bearing the post.

In England, mail properly means the bag in which letters and papers are carried, or, when signifying the letters and papers themselves, is always used with the connotation of ocean passage, same as freight' that is, an ocean'mail.

Mail (to). To post letters or papers. Mailable. Suited for conveyance by post.

Mail-Cap. A special car, provided for the conveyance of the mail or post.

Mail-Stag"6. The stage or coach which carries the mail. In England, called a mail-coach.

Maine law. An enactment, passed about the year 1844, in the State of Maine, which provided that no one, save an officially licensed agent, should engage in the sale of intoxicating liquors.

Hence, also, Maine laicite, an advocate of the principle of Maine law.

Main-g"Uy. The chief or leader of any organization.

MajOPanO, mah-ho-rah'-no (Sp. mejorana, sweet marjoram). In Texas, a low shrub of the sage family, bearing small bluish or purple flowers.

Make. In parts of Pennsylvania inhabited by Germans, and in conjunc- tion with other words, make is used in many senses, as follows : Make awake, to waken. " Make me awake at five. " Make hot, to become heated. Used impersonally. " We were talking politics, and it made hot. "

Make one's xelf, to go. " Make yourself home at once. " Muke out, to extinguish. " Make the light out and go to bed. '" Make shut, to shut. " Make the door shut. " .Vake to, to close. " Make the window to. "

Make a Shippy. To make a sheep's face. Said of a child who twists up his face when about to cry.

Make Come. Amongst Western hunters and plainsmen, to bringdown game with the rifle; to make a dead shot.

Make gOOd. At poker, to deposit in the pool an amount equal to any bet previously made. This is done previous to raising or calling a playor. and is sometimes called seeing a bet.

268 MAK— MAN

Make meat. Among frontiersmen, to dry thin slices of animal flesh for future use.

Make (On the). On the look-out for what one can get.

Make one's Jack. To carry one's point.

A phrase borrowed from poker, and used as an affirmation of success.

Make the fur fly. To breed a disturbance ; to make a display of temper; to proceed to blows, etc.

Make thing's hum. To look alive ; to make every thing alive about oneself ; to present a scene of untiring activity.

From the humming of the bee, which insect is regarded as the emblem of restless industry.

Make tracks. To change one's quarters, with the connotation of getting away in a hurry.

Also, to pull up xtakex.

Making-up. In newspaper parlance, the process of arranging the masses of type in the form. The result is also spoken of as a make-up.

Male help. An expression applied indiscriminately to any kind of employment for men, whether it be that of a professor, a servant, or an errand-boy.

Mammee apple (Mammea americana). A well-known West Indian fruit, with a yellow flesh, and which sometimes grows to the size of a man's head.

Mammee sapota (Lucuma mammosa). A fruit, not so large a.s the mammee-apple, with reddish flesh and one large polished seed.

See sapote.

Mammy. In the South, an affectionate term given by children to negro nurses and old servants.

Also sounded and written maumer.

The old English sense of " mammy " is grand-mother, from the gypsy " mami."

Manada, man-ah'-dah (Sp. ). In California, a word especially applied to breeding mares, whilst elsewhere it is generally used when speaking of a herd of cattle or drove of horses. See remudo.

Mananosay (Ind. ). The soft-shell clam (Mya arenaria), especially abun- dant on the shores of Narragansett bay. In Maryland, called maninost.

Man-eater. In Pennsylvania, and the Eastern States, a generic name for various species of salamanders, or lizard- shaped animals, with smooth, shiny, naked skins.

MAN— MAR 269

Another name, in same regions, is spring -keeper, ^whilst in the West, all those species are known as ground-puppies, water-dogs and water- puppies.

MangO. A green musk-melon, stuffed with various condiments, and then pickled.

MangO humming bird (Trochitus colubris). The hum -bird or hummer.

MangOSteen. A variety of the East Indian mango, which flourishes in the West Indies.

Manifest destiny. As specially applied to American politics, this phrase originated with Mr. Webster, who asserted that God intended America should be a Republic.

ManitOU (Ind. Alg. manito). A spirit, either good or bad, among the Indians. Also a fetish, a ghost, a symbol, and even sometimes a god. Indeed, the term can be made to stand for an infinity of meanings, as it is well known that the Indians have a mamtou for every cave, waterfall, or other commanding object in nature.

The word is, in the United States, a descendant of the coast Algon- kin, represented by the old New England and Virginian dialects, although the same form, used in French Canada, is there also derived from the Indian without the intervention of English.

Maple-honey. The molasses-like residuum, after boiling, of the sap of the sugar-maple tree.

Also called maple-molasses, and maple-syrup.

Maple-SUgar. A sugar obtained from the sugar-maple tree. Marabou (Fr. marabout). A negro cross between a mulatto and a griffe in the proportion of I black blood, and f white.

Marble (to). To move off, to depart with alacrity — the result of per suasive argument, moral or physical. (Pennsylvania.) Also, to marvel.

MaPgOt (Fr. C. ). The gannet or solan goose of the Gulf of St. Lawrence region.

In Cartier's relation there is mention of birds, which he says " we called " godets " and " margaulx."

Mark. A cant word for the pit of the stomach. "To hit one in the mark."

Marmette (Fr. C.). The guillemot (Uria ringvia) of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence region.

Marm school. A school kept by a woman, with a certain connotation of inefficiency.

In England, and also in Connecticut, such schools were known formerly as " dame-schools."

270

MAR— MAS

School-marm, the colloquial designation for a woman having charge of a marm- school.

MaPOOning. In the South, to go on a picnic, on the shore or in the country, for several days at a stretch.

Evidently derived from maroon, which is a universally accepted term , in all English speaking countries, for a runaway slave or negro.

MaPSh hen (Rallus virginianus). The popular name of the Virginia-rail, or mud-hen.

Also a name applied to the clapper-rail, a salt-water bird of the Gulf of Mexico.

Marsh — tOPtOise. See mud-tortoise.

Marshy milk. In Charleston, S. C., a term applied to the milk of a cow feeding on the marsh grass, which gives the milk a peculiar marshy taste.

Maryland end. In Maryland and Virginia, the curious name given to the hock end of a ham, the thick part being called the Virginia end.

Both terms are said to be derived from the supposed rough resem- blance, to a ham, of the contour lines of the States of Maryland and Virginia.

Mary Walkers, Women's trousers, made after a modified form of this article of male attire, which had been adopted by Dr Mary Walker.

Masa, mas-'sah (Sp. ). In Texas, the cornmeal after it has been ground in the metate (q. v.).

Mash (Old Eng. ). In the South, the common pronunciation for " marsh." For instance, the "mash-market" of Baltimore derives its name from the fact that it was built upon low, marshy ground.

An old English form is "mas," and "mash" is found in various English dialects.

Mash. A school girl's term for a street flirtation.

Masher. A species of the " dude " variety, who rudely ogles women on public thoroughfares, in a belief, mostly always mistaken, that his charms are irresistible.

Hence to mow/I, to ogle, or " to be spoons on" where the object of such attention is an unwilling victim.

Maskeg (Ind.). A word of Cree origin designating, among the French- Canadians, a marsh or swamp.

Maskinong6 (Ind. Alg. muskelunge, the ugly fish). Among the French- Canadians, the common name of the " Esox estor," the largest pike known in America, abounding in the Northern lakes and rivers, and sometimes reaching, in the upper lakes, a length of five feet and a weight of eighty pounds.

MAS— MAU 271

In the Algonkin dialect of the Lake of Two Mountains, province of Quebec, the name of the fish Is mackinonge, and among the English- Canadians the forms mankinonye, maskalonge, muskalunge, and mutkelunge are heard.

Maskouabina. See beir-berry,

Mason and Dixon's line. The boundary line, following the 40th parallel of the North latitude, between Pennsylvania on the south and the adjoining States of Maryland and W. Virginia, and so called from its having been survej'ed, in 1763-66, by two Englishmen of the names of Mason and Dixon, in order to settle a dispute between the States in question.

The phrase was especially often echoed through the country, at the time of the first controversies about the abolition of slavery, as far back as 1820, and it was afterwards, during a long period, looked upon as representing roughly the dividing line between the Free and Slave States.

Massa. A negro vocative for any white man.

In slavery times, a term especially used for " master. "

Mast (Old Eng.). In the Middle region and in the South, used for nuts considered as food for swine, squirrels, etc. See xhac'k.

Mataehias (Fr. C.). A word of Algonkin origin designating, among the French Canadians, ornaments of beads, feathers, etc. in use among the Indians.

Also used in sense of tattooing.

This word is very old, being quoted in Champla'n, Lescarbot, Sa- gard, etc.

Match. In parts of New E igla-id, to kindle, or S3t fire .o, by the appli- cation of a match. " To match a fire, a candle, etc. "

Materialize. To become visible ; to put in an appearance.

The term, at first restricted to spiritualists, and meaning the act by which a spirit is supposed to make itself visible, became shortly after- wards associated in the public mind with putting in an appearance of any kind. Thus, a person failing to keep an appointment, or so on, would be said not to have materialized. Hence, also, materialization,

Maul. To prepare ; to make. (Southern States. )

Probably derived from the " maul, " in England a woodcutter's tool or mallet for preparing wood.

Maul and wedges. The equivalent of the " bag and baggage " of England.

272

MAY— MEA

Maverick. In Texas, a name applied to an unbranded or unmarked yearling steer, from one Samuel Maverick, formery a rich cattle-raiser of San Antonio, who was notoriously negligent in attending to the- branding of his own cattle. Other persons put their own brands upoa them, and thus became their owners.

May-apple. See swamp-honeysuckle.

May blob. A New-England name for the cowslip.

May-pop. A Southern name for the passion flower.

MeadOW. (1) Damp grass land, with an implication of inferiority,, although in parts of New England it means land devoted to the hay crop, thus coming very near to the sense, as implied in England, of any land which can be mowed.

(2) Along the coast of New Jersey, a word applied to a salt marshy- tract used for grazing and " shingling."

MeadOW-gTasS. Inferior hay, in distinction from that which grows on. uplands, and which is called " English hay." Also, meadow-hay.

MeamelOUC (Fr. mamduk}. A name given to the offspring of a white and a metis, containing 1;16 of black (negro) blood.

The following grade is demi-meamelouc, the offspring of a white and meamelouc, with 1?32 of negro Mood.

See mulatto.

Mean. (1) A term of contempt applied to one who is bad-tempered, poor in character, or is doing something contemptible to the detriment of his friend.

In England, they would say " stingy " or " close, " and indeed, in the United States, the word always carries also with it a certain sense of stinginess.

Mean enough to xteal acorn* from a blind hoy, the nee plus ultra of consummate meanness.

(2) Worthless, bad, or poor in quality.

Mean-White. A term applied in the South, in slavery times, anil especially by negroes, to a low-class white person who was too poor to. possess any slaves, and who lacked alike landed property.

A more contemptuous term for this class of people is poor-whites, poor- white folk and even white traxh, and poor-white trash.

Those wjiites, being generally intemperate and improvident, and eschewing labor of all kinds, have been during a long while, and are still more or less to-day, a stumbling block in the jjarduous task of " reconstruction " of the South.

Meat. A general term for animal -food of all kinds : beef-meat, and even sheep-meat.

MEA— MEE

273

Meat biscuits. Compounds of animal food (generally beef) and flour baked in the form of a biscuit.

Meat Chamber. A refrigerating room on board ocean going steamers.

Meat in the pot. A Texan term for a revolver or rifle, from its being often the only means by which a man can replenish his larder, literally put " meat in his pot. "

Other variants are peace-maker, a sarcastic commentary on the proverb that "Short reckonings make long friends ;" pill-bottle, a dispenser of physic, warranted easy in action and sure in effect ; pill-box.

Meat market. In England, a butcher's shop.

Meat Victuals. In parts of New England, the meat course at dinner.

Meaty. In newspaper's reporter's slang a meaty person is one who, when interviewed, can furnish a good amount of " copy. "

Mecate, may-calv-tay (Mex. mecatl). In Texas, a word for a rope, made either of hair or the fibre of the agave or ' ' maguey. "

Meehoaean (Convolvulus panduratus). The Indian name of a plant growing in sandy soil all over the United States, and whose large root possesses medicinal virtues.

Also called man-of-the-earth and wild potato vine.

Meeeh, Meeehing (Old Eng. ). This word, which is a true archaism of very respectable lineage, still survives in New York and New England, in sense of skulking, sly, sneaking, or underhand.

Hamlet calls the murderer in the dumb-show "miching mallecho," and the other Elisabethans use it too, and all with one vague connotation of illicit love-making :

Sure she has

Some meeching rascal in her house.

(BEAUMONT andJFLETCHER, Scornful Lady, v. 1 )

Such special connotation, however, was not " classical," and has not been preserved in the American use. The word is the middle English " michen," which has simply the sense of secret or underhand, and is so used in the " Romaunt of the Rose."

To go meeching about, to go in a mean or underhand way.

Meeting. An assembly for'divine worship, and often also the place of worship itself, it which sense it accords with English usage.

Meeting-house. A place^of (worship of Methodists, Quakers, etc. in Puritan times.

Meet With a Change. To be struck under conviction.

See conviction. 18

274 MEE— MET

Meet With the PUbbePS. Often heard in New England, in sense of to meet with misfortune, ill-luck. Also, pass through the rubbers.

Melon-fruit (Cariea papaya). The papaw ; a West-Indian fruit which is also called the tree melon.

Mend (on the). Often heard for convalescent, to be convalescent. Also, on the mending hand.

Mend fences. Said of a politician elected to congress or other office, when he returns home occasionally to heal up differences among his supporters, and to prepare for a renomination.

Menhaden. See bony fish.

Merchandise (to). To engage in trade ; to enter into commerce ; to transact business of any kind.

Bacon, in his Essay on Usury, uses the word several times :

For were it not for this lazic trade of usury, money would in great

part be employed upon merchandising.

Also, sometimes, to merchant.

Merchant. Anyone who engages in trade, from a wholesale dealer to a petty shopkeeper or hawker.

Mesa, mes'-sah (Sp.). In the formerly Spanish States, a high plain "or table -land.

A diminutive is mesilla, meaning a small table-land.

MeSQUite, mes-kee'-tay (Mex. miaquitl), A tree of the locust family (Algarobia glandulosa), abounding in the South and South-West, and whose pods are much liked by cattle and horses. Also, mesquit, muskeet.

Mesquit grass. A nutritious grass of great vigor and beautyj] (Stip* spata), which is found on the Western plains.

Message. An official communication from the President to congress.

Mestee (Sp. mestizo). The offspring of a quadroon and a white, the pro- portion being i black. Also, mustee, metis.

Metate (Mex. metatl). In Texas, a hollow oblong stone, used by Mexican* for grinding purposes, especially for grinding corn.

Also, sometimes, the instrument or pestle with which the grinding is done.

Methy (Lota maculosa). The burbot, a fi*h called loche by the French- Canadians.

MET— MIL

275

Metsel-SOUp (Gar. metzelsuppe, from -metzeln, to kill, to butcher). In Pennsylvania, and the Western States inhabited by Germans, a gift sent by farmers, in the killing season, to friends or near neighbors, and consis- ting of as much of the puddings and sausages they make, as is necessary for one meal.

Mezeal (Mex. mexcafli). In Texas and other formerly Spanish States, a spirituous liquor distilled from the bulb of the " maguey" after it has been baked underground.

MiehigOUen (Fr. C. ). A word of Montagnais origin designating, among the French Canadians, a variety of parsley possessing a flavor much superior to that of our domestic species.

Micky. A sobriquet for a rowdy, a rough.

Middlings. A technical term in the pork-packing trade for that portion of the animal between the hams and shoulders. (Farmer. )

Midget. The sand- fly. (Canada and North- West.)

Milehy. In New Jersey, an adjective applied to oysters " in milk, " i. e. just before or during spawning.

Mileage. An allowance made to members of Legislatures, for travelling 'expenses, to and from the seat of government.

Whenever such allowance is paid to members who are only supposed to have gone home, without having actually been absent, it is called constructive mileage. This is the case, for instance, when, one^Congress having expired on the 3rd of March, all the members who " hold over," until the next day, are supposed to have all gone home and come back to Washington within the twenty-four hours elapsed.

Mileage-ticket.

of miles.

A ticket entitling bearer to travel a certain number

Milk-ranch. Sometimes heard for a dairy farm.

Milk Sickness. A dangerous dissase peculiar to the saline districts of the West, and thought to arise from the detrimental effects of the soil and water of these regions.

Mill. An imaginary coin, representing the tenth part of a cent, or the one thousandth part of a dollar.

Mill (to). To cockle, in speaking of cloth. A weaver's term, in the mills.

Miller. A large white moth or worm, infesting tobacco plantations, and exceedingly destructive in its ravages.

Miller boy Of the Slashes. A nickname applied to Henry Clay, from his having, in his youth, tended a mill m a region known as " the Slashes, " near his birth-place.

276

MIL— MIX

Milpa (Sp. ). In Arizona and New Mexico, a land measure of 177 acres. See labor.

Mind OUt. Sometimes heard in sense of to take care, to look out.

Mink (Putorius viaon). A species of the weasel kind, that burrows in the earth near water, and the fur of which is much esteemed. Also, minx.

Mint-julep. A concoction made of brandy, sugar, and pounded ice, flavored with mint.

Mint-Stick. A peppermint sweetmeat, or stick of candy flavored with peppermint.

Minute-men. Militia men, or country troops, during the Revolution, whose engagement was that they should always be ready to march at a minute's notice.

The word originated in Worcester, in 1774.

Misery. Often heard in the South in sense of pain, especially among negroes, to whose minds the term represents any feeling which they cannot definitely describe.

Miss a figure* To make a vital mistake; to so act that unchangeable results accrue therefrom.

Mission School. The American term for what the English call " a ragged school."

MiSS lick. A stroke wide of the mark ; the false blow of an axe. A Western backwood's term.

Missouri compromise. A name given, in 1820, to an Act of Congress, intended as a compromise between the two great sections which were then struggling, in Missouri, one to promote, the other to hinder the extension of slavery. By the terms of that act, Missouri was admitted into the Union as a slave-holding State, but with the provision that slavery would be prohibited in any State thenceforth to be admitted lying north of latitude 36° 3(X .

Mitasse (Fr. C. ). A word of Indian origin in use for legging, among the French Canadians.

Mitten (to get the). To be rejected or discarded by one's sweetheart.

De Vere says the word ought to be "mittens," as the phrase is

derived from the same use jnade of the French " mitaines, " i. e. mittens

which had to be accepted by the unsuccessful lover instead of the hand

after which he aspired.

Mitten (to). To reject or discard a lover.

Mix. Not uncommon, in New England, in sense of muss, disorder, or what is called " mess " in colloquial English.

MIX— MOL '277

Mixed ticket. In politics, a "ticket" combining the nominees of different parties.

Mizzy. In Louisiana, a negro expression for the stomach-ache.

MobtOWn. A name formerly often applied to the city of Baltimore, from its having been long notorious for the gangs of roughs and rowdies which infested its streets.

MocasSOn-flsh. In Maryland, a species of sun-fish.

Moccasin (Ind. Powhattan mockassin, mohkisson. Baraga gives the Otchipwe makkisin, and Cuoq the Algonkin form makisin).

A shoe made of a strong and soft leather without a stiff sole, and frequently ornamented more or less richly. In French Canada the same word exists in the same sense, and is absolutely engrafted there on the French language.

Moccasin Snake (Toxicophis piscivorus). -A poisonous snake, brown with black bars faintly marked, like the black marks of wear and tear on the buff leather. (De Vere.)

MOCCaSOned. Said figuratively, in the South, for drunk, intoxicated, that is, " bitten by the snake."

Mocker-nut (Juglans tomentosa). The white heart hickory.

Mocking-bird (Mimus polyglottus). A native bird, so called from the inimitable mimic qualities with which it is endowed.

In some parts of the country, the butter-bird or nine-killer is con- founded with the true mocking-bird.

Mock-OPange (Prunus caroliniana). A small evergreen, bearing a resemblance to the cherry -laurel of Europe.

In England, mock orange is a name applied to the syringa.

MoCUCk (Ind. ). A large and peculiarly shaped cake of sugar.

MogOte, mo-got'-ay (Sp. ). In Texas, a thicket or bush, with heavy undergrowth, where wild cattle is wont to take refuge.

In Spain, the word means principally an insulated rock at sea. Also, an isolated mountain.

Moke. In parts of the South, a negro, and, more specifically, a negro minstrel.

Mokok (Ind.). An Acadian word designating a marsh, a swamp, in the Maritime provinces of Canada.

Molasses. A product of the sugar cane, what in England is called treacle or golden syrup.

278

MOL— MON

Molly-COtton-tail. A common name, in Virginia, for a rabbit.

Molly-MaguireS. A secret society which, for a long period, prior to 1877, terrorized the coal regions of Pennsylvania, and which derived its name from the circumstance that in the accomplishment of their designs or murders the men were dressed as women.

Momiek. In Pennsylvania, a bad carver. Obviously derived from " to momick, " which is provincial in various parts of England in sense of to cut or handle anything awkwardly.

Moniac (Fr. C. ). A sort of eider-duck (Somateria mollissima) of the Gulf of St- Lawrence region. Also, mouniac, moyac.

Monitor. A name applied to war vessels with a revolving turret, from the first iron-clad vessel of similar construction so called by Captain Ericsson, a distinguished naval engineer.

Monkey (tO). To play about; to toy with anything; to play malicious tricks.

Also, monkey around.

Monkey-business. Tricks, such as those of boys at play; proceedings at once farcical and reprehensible. (Bartlett.) Also, monkey-shines.

Monkey-Spoon. An old Americanism which, according to l)e Vere, appears to be the name of a spoon, bearing the figure of an ape carved in soKd silver on the extremity of the handle, and given at the funerals of great people in the State of New York to the pall-bearers.

Compare with the old custom of presenting apostle spoons at christen- ings, and the modern practice of presenting ordinary gold or silver spoons, etc. on like occasions.

Monkey-WPeneh-distPiet. The 3rd congressional district of Iowa was so called in 1890, from its resemblance in shape to a monkey-wrench. It has often been cited, by Democrats, as a flagrant case of Republican gerrymandering.

Monongahela (a river of Pennsylvania). A generic name for American whiskey, analogous to Usquebaugh and Inishowen, designating Scotch and Irish brands.

Monte. A Spanish-Mexican card game of pure chance.

Also often used, in Texas, as an equivalent of chaparral (q. v.).

Monumental City. The city of Baltimore, from the several fine monu- ments it contains ; also from the fact of its having had alone, for a long time, monuments in his squares, before other cities had followed her example.

MOO— MOR

279

Mooley. A common name, especially in New England, for a cow. In Connecticut, it is distinctly a hornless cow. Quoted in Halliwell as provincial in England. Also, muley.

Moondown. The Lime of setting of the moon, a word formed in the same way as sundown.

Similarly, moonrixe, the time of rising of the moon.

Mooneye (Hyodon tergisus). A fish of the herring kind, being called in some parts the "lake and river herring."

Moon-gflade. A track of moon-light on the water ; the soft and silvery track which moon-light traces on the water.

Moonshiner. A term applied, in the West, to makers of illicit whiskey, from they being supposed to carry on their operations under cover of the night.

A "moonshiner" is also one who evades the payment of excise on whiskey, and, similarly, any illicit whiskey is apt to be called moonshine whiskey or simply moonshine.

Moose (Ind. moosivah, meaning the "stripper" or "smoother" in the Abenaki dialect). A deer of immense size ( Alces Americanus), Aveighing sometimes as much as 1200 pounds, and which is mostly found in the extreme north of New England and in the wilds of Canada. The name of "stripper," given to it by the Abenakis, comes from the animal's manner of feeding by stripping the young bark and the twigs from the lower branches of the trees. f

Moose-bird (Ganulus canadensis). The Canada jay, a native of Maine. Also called ivhiskey jack.

Moose fly. A venomous fly of a rusty brown c olor, which is especially common in Maine.

Moose-WOOd (Dirca palustris). A species of maple-tree, with a tough, leathern bark, so called from its being t favorite wood with the moose.

MOOSe-yaPd. That part of a forest occupied by a special herd or family of mooses.

Mop-board. In New England, the wash-board which extends around the floor of rooms.

In England, base-board.

MOPg"an-horse. A name given to a " strain " of horses, of great renown in sporting circles, from one Justin Morgan, of Randolph, Vermont, who was a famous breeder of the beginning of the present century.

. A slang word for a saloon where all li quors are sold for 5 cents.

280

MOR— MOT

Mormons. A politico-religious sect, whose most characteristic tenet is polygamy. The Mormon people also term themselves Latter-day Saints, and derive the word Mormon from the name of the pretended author of the "Book of Mormon," from the Gaelic and Egyptian languages, alleging it to be compounded of " mor," great, and "mon, " good, or great good.

Hence, also, Mormondom, Mormonixm, Mormonites.

Mosey. To leave suddenly, generally under doubt or suspicion.

This mysterious word, about which many etymologists have exercised their wits, is probably nothing more than a mere variety of vamose (q. v. ) with the final vowel sounded and the first syllable lost.

To mosey along with any one, to agree with.

Mosey SUgar. In Pennsylvania, a sweetmeat much liked by children. Moshay. A Florida term for a keeper of bloodhounds.

Moskoui (Ind. ). An Acadian word taken from the Micmac Indians, and ' designating the bark of which birch-canoes are made.

Mosquito (Culex mosquito). A well-known insect pest, with an insatiable appetite for blood.

MosquitO-bar. A net, placed round a bed, to. protect a sleeper from the attacks of mosquitoes. Also, moftquito-net.

MosquitO-kawk. In Louisiana, a name for the dragon-fly. MOSS. A cant name for money.

Mossbacks. A term applied, at the origin, to a subdivision of the Democratic party in Ohio, supposed to comprise all the old " fogies, " as opposed to the " kids " or younger element, and now extended to mean old-time politicians and people behind the age.

A vivid allusion to the " moss-back, " which is an alligator turtle, with a growth of moss-like alga> 011 its back. Also, rock-rooted.

Mossybank. (1) A variation of mossbanker.

(2) At the time of the Civil War, a name given to men who, to avoid conscription, fled to the woods and swamps.

Mote, In parts of New Pjnglajid, a sort of little pond or puddle in an old river bed.

Moth (genus Tinea). A name strictly confined, in the United States, to the well-known domestic pest, destroyer of woollen fabrics, furs, etc. all night-flying kinds being popularly and erroneoiisly called butterflies* Also, moth-miller.

MOT— MUD 281

MotheP Of States. The State of Virginia. See Old Dominion.

Motte (Fr.). A grove or clump of trees, in the prairies.

Also called an island, by the contrast of its thick boughs with the vast ocean of waving grass surrounding it on all sides.

Nought (Old Eng. ). The old preterite form of " may, " now obsolete in England, is frequently heard in the South.

Yet mould with death, then chastise, tho' he mought.

(Fairfax.)

Mound. A barrow or tumulus supposed to have been used, mainly for sepulchral purposes, by the early inhabitants of the country.

Mound-buildePS. A name given to the race who built the mounds found in large numbers in the valleys of the Mississipi and Ohio rivers, Mexico, Yucatan, etc.

Mound City. The city of St Louis, Missouri, from its being built upon the site of many artificial mounds, believed to have been Indian burial- places.

Mountain-lamb. In parts of New England, especially New-Hampshire, a common term for deer killed out of season.

Mouse (to). A variation of to mosey (q. v.), with a connotation of aimless or fruitless motion or action.

Movey StaP (Fr. mauvaiaea terres, bad lands). An amusing corruption of the Fr. expression, meaning " bad lands. "

The designation of " mauvaises terres " was first given by the early French settlers, in the districts w-est of the Missouri, to the jagged, sterile, alkali hills abounding in that region, and Movey Star still lingers in some of those localities.

Mr Speaker. In Texas, a revolver. A speaker, against whose rulings there is usually no appeal.

Much. Often used, in New England, as a synonym of good qualities, either in men or things. " Much of a man, of an idea, etc."

Muck. In mining phraseology, the top of the soil, over the gold-bearing gravel.

MuekeP. In college slang, a youthful inhabitant of the vicinity not belonging to the college, i. e. a " towney. "

Muckrakes. A slang political epithet applied to place-mongers, i. e. those who seek the " small change " of office.

Mud-Cat. A species of cat-fish, of a muddy flavor, which attains an enormous size, and abounds in the waters of the Mississipi river.

282

MUD— MUL

Mud-eat State. The State of Mississipi, from the mud-cat, abounding in the waters of the Mississipi river.

The inhabitants are sometimes, also, humorously designated mud-cat*.

Mud-llbbleP. A small fresh-water lish.

Mill-IB /H. I'n the West, a spacies of salamander, possasaing many other " aliases."

Mud-flsh (Melanura pygmuea). A mud-burrowing fish of small size, found on the Atlantic coat.

Mud-Head. A native of the State of Tennessee.

Mud-hen. In "bucket-shop" phraseology, a woman who dabbles in stock-gambling.

Mud-lumps. The mud banks which form at the mouth of the Mississipi.

Mud-poke (dims cinerea). A species of crane, so called from its habit of resting on the mud, at the sides of streams, whilst engaged in catching fish.

Mud-Scoop. A water-dredging machine.

Mudsill. Often used, figuratively, to designate the laboring classes, or substratum of society, from the " mudsill" originally denoting a timber laid down to form a foundation for a railway-track.

The word was also much used, formerly, by Southern poople to expr. SB their contempt for Northerners, who were such "base mechanics" as to work for a living. It is now, however, very seldom heard in t'.at connection.

Mudsill clubs, a name given, in 1858, in California, to associations of miners and working-men.

Mud turtle (Sternothuerus odorata). A species of reptile, common throughout the States.

Other names are mar,ih-tortoi*e, and mud-terrapin.

Mud-wallop. To soil one's self with mud. To play in the mud when fishing.

Mugwump (Ind. Alg. mnkijuornp). An independent politician, and espe- cially a deserter from his party. One who sets himself up to be better than his fellows, i. e. a Pharisee.

Mugwump was used as early as 1872, and the Indian " mukquornp " occurs in Eliot's Indian Bible to translate such titles as lord, chief, leader, duke, etc.

Mulada, moo-lah'-dah (Sp. mula, a mule, and suffix ada, expressing aggregation). In Texas, a drove or herd of mules.

MUL— MUS

283

Mulatto (Sp. ). The offspring of black and white parents, although the term is more loosely applied, in the United States, to any one of those offsprings who has white blood in him.

Generally speaking, all persons with a " touch of the tar brush" are, in. the States, called mulattoes.

Mule-WhackeP. A teamster in charge of mules.

Muley saw (Grer. mi'Men-sage, mill-saw). A saw which is not hung in the gate. Also spelled mulay, motley, muliley.

Mull. In New England, to stir, to bustle, or to fume. A metaphor probably derived from " mulling" wine. To mull along, to move sluggishly.

Mumblety peg. A game played with knives. Al«o, mummelty peg.

Murnmaehog1 (Ind.). In Long Island Sound region, the popular name of the barred killy, or killifish (genus Fundulus).

Mummick. In Pennsylvania, to eat awkwardly and with distaste. Also, to soil, as one's clothing. Still provincial in England.

Mung (Old Eng. ). This word, which is the preterite of the old English verb " ming, " to mix — whence " mingle " — has been preserved here in all its purity and power, as in mung news, meaning confused (not false) or contradictory statements.

The original sense of " ming " is still retained, in Scotland, in the noun " mung " which means a porridge of two kinds of meal.

MunPOe Doctrine. A doctrine originated by Mr. Munroe, the fifth President of the United States, and which may be briefly described as a theory that the American continent is no longer open to any attempt, on the part of European powers, to extend their jurisdiction. On the same principle, the United States also decline to meddle in the affairs of the Eastern Hemisphere.

Mush. A kind of hasty pudding or porridge made of Indian meal boiled in water, and eaten either with milk or molasses.

In Hallamshire, England, " to mush " means to crush or pound very small, and from this our substantive may have originated.

Music. Fun ; frolic ; amusement.

Hence, also, musical, meaning amusing, and especially frequently heard in New-England. " I can't say it's musical. "

Musical-bOX. A Confederate's term, for a creaking army wagon fn use during the Civil War. Also, Je/ Davis' box.

284

MUS-MUS

Muskeg (Ind. Otchipwe mwkek, or mashkig). A term in use among the English-speaking settlers of the North-West, especially in Canada, and designating a marih, a swamp. The French-Canadian form, transmitted from the early voyageurs, is maskeg.

Muskelunge. See mastkinongt.

Musk-OX (Ovibos moschatus). An animal inhabiting the hilly, barren grounds between the Welcome and Copper mountains, from the 63d or 64th parallel to the Arctic Sea, and so called from its flesh being tainted with a strong flavor of musk.

Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus). A water rat, closely allied to the beaver, and smelling strongly of musk. The muskrat is especially hunted for its fur, which is valuable.

MuskpatS. A nickname applied to the inhabitants of the State of Delaware.

Muslin. In some States, this word is synonymous with longcloth or calico^ shirting, whilst in others, especially at the North, it is used for all thin, clear fabrics.

Musquash POOt (Cicuta maculata). A poisonous plant growing in swamps.

MUSS (Old Eng. ). A state of confusion; a noisy squabble; a row.

This old English term is defined in Nare's fllossary as " a scramble, when any small objects are thrown to be taken by those who can seize them, " and it lias moreover been used by several English writers of the 16th and 17th centuries, in a sense very much akin to the American meaning.

Like boys into a muss, kings would start forth, And cry, Your will.

(SHAKESPEARE, Antony and Cleopatra.)

Havvblo and cap no sooner are thrown down, But ther's a muss of more than half the town.

(DRYDKN, Prologue to Shad well's True Widow.)

MUSS (to). To disarrange ; to cast into disorder ; to rumple, to crumple.

Also, to

Mussy. Disarranged ; disordered ; tumbled.

Mussy (Dutch morxig). Smeary, dirty, nasty. For instance a mother, washing her child's dirty little hands, will say of them : " Too musxy in all conscience."

Must. In newspaper parlance, an article which requires to be published promptly is spoken of as a muni. Evidently the sole relic of some sen- tence like : " This must go in to-night."

An intensive form is dead muxt, i. e. an article which cannot be kept out of the paper, on any pretext whatever.

MUS— NAS

285

MllStaflna. A person in whom the proportion of black blood is one sixteenth.

Mustang (Sp. mexteno). The wild horse of the prairies, especially that of South- Western Texas. The mustang, which is very hard to subdue, is of Spanish and Indian breed, being descended from the stock intro- duced into America by the first Spanish colonists.

When young arid untrained the mustang is also called a cow-poney.

See broncho, and cay use.

MustangCPS. Men who catch and train mustangs.

Mustang-grape (Vitis rotundiflora). A grape, indigenous to Texas, carrying small bunches, and from which is made a wine somewhat similar to Burgundy.

Mutton-head. A stupid, or dull-witted person ; a chowder -head. MUX. In parts of New Jersey, a synonym for disorder, confusion Provincial, in West of England, for dirt.

1ST

NahoO (Ulmus alata). A common species of elm, of peculiar beauty of form and foliage.

Nagane (Fr. C. ). A word of Indian origin, designating, among the French-Canadians, a sort of primitive cradle which squaws tie over their back, and in which they carry their nurslings.

Naked. In Newfoundland and the Canadian Maritime provinces, often heard for pure, undiluted, as of tea without milk or sugar.

Naked possessor. In the South-West, the occupant of a plot of land during a long period, without a title.

NamayCUSh (Salmo namaycush). The well-known trout of the Northern Lakes.

NaPPagansett paeCP. A breed of horses once ver}' famous for their speed and other good points, and so called from the region of Narra- gansett bay, R. I., which was the principal breeding centre.

NaPPOW gauge mule. An animal of no, or little account.

Napy. As an emphatic negative, nary may be classed a.s a genuine Americanism. As a contraction of "ne' er a one, " it is, however, quite as much English as American.

NasebePPy (Achras sapota). A variety of sapodilla. Also, nisberry.

286

NAS-NED

Nasty. Always denotes, in the United States, something disgusting in point of smell, taste, or even moral character, and is never heard, as in P^ngland — when they will say, for instance, " nasty weather" — merelv in sense of ill-tempered or cross-grained.

Natlck Cobbler. A nickname applied (1872-76) to Henry Wilson, vice-president of the United States, from his having learned in boyhood the shoemaker's trade in Natick, Mass.

National Democrats. A section of the Democrats who, professing to entertain no sectional preference, deal with American affairs upon a national basis, and not from the standpoint of any one State or group- of States.

Native Americans. See Know- Nothings.

Nativism. The principles advocated by the Native American party,, otherwise Know-Nothings.

Natural. (1) Fierce, savage, prone to anger, cruel in disposition.

Often said of one whose actions and impulses are dominated by his- lower or animal nature, as suggested in the words : " The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God." (I. Corinthians ii. 14.) Also applied to animals. " A natural horse."

(2) Also employed instead of " native." Thus, a natural born Ame- rican is one who is born within the precincts of the United States, and the word, in that case, would have no reference to the question of legitimacy.

It must be said that natural, for native, has old English usage to excuse it, for an old book, printed in 1536, has this title: "The Complayntof Roderyck More. . . .unto the parliament howse of Ingland,. his natural, country."

(3) Not given to squeamishness.

(4) Clever ; quick-witted ; generously inclined.

In England, the thieving fraternity would mean, on the contrary, by a wttural fellow, a dull, stupid, or chowder-head fellow.

Neap. lu some parts of New England, the tongue or pole of a cart or wagon.

In Bailey's Dictionary, " neap" is a prop for staying up the tongue or pole.

Neck. In old colony days, a strip of land between rivers.

Neck Of the WOOds. In the South-West, any settlement or plantation situated in woodland districts.

Neck-tie sociable. In the; West, a Vigilance Committee's execution carried out by hanging.

Ned. A cant word for a ten dollar gold piece. Tn Knglish s"an_j, a guinea.

NEG-NIA

287

NegPO Cloth. A light fabric of cotton and wood, manufactured exclusively for negro use.

NegTO-COPn. In the West Indies, the Indian millet or durra.

Negro fellow. An opprobrious term for a black man, supposed to carry intensive contempt with it.

Negro-head. (1) A well-known brand of tobacco, prepared by softening in molasses, and pressing into hard cakes. Also called Cavendish. (2) A clump of roots of trees or ferns in the swamps of the South.

NegTOism. (1) A negro peculiarity -of speech.

(2) Pro-slaveryism ; opinions favorable to slavery, or negroes. .

Neighborhood. Often used, or more properly misused, to signify approximation to a given quantity.

" In the neighborhood of twenty miles."

In England, the meaning ^of that word, i. e. near by, in the vicinity of, is more strictly confined to places.

NePVy. (1) Robust; pithy; vigorous; having strong nerves. (2) Pungent; spirited; as applied to style of writing.

Netop (Ind. ). An Indian word (Narragansett) for friend, crony, now obsolete, and formerly in use in some towns of the interior of Massachusetts.

New-EnglandeP. An inhabitant of New England.

New-Engfander was used by Increase Mather in 1689. In 1646, the Cobler of Agawam said : " Unfriendly reports of us New English."

New-Jersey tea (Ceanothus americanus). The leaves of a plant used during the Revolution, after the Boston tea riots, as a poor substitute for imported tea. See red-root.

New-Lights. A name given, in 1801, to an offshoot of the Presbyterian Church, composed of ministers who, after having renounced the West- minster Confession of Faith and church discipline, professed to take the New Testament for their sole church discipline.

New Netherlands. The State of New York, through a grateful remem- brance of its obligations to the Dutch.

New-Orleans moss. A mossy parasite of trees, in Louisiana and Texas.

Also known as old-man 'ft-beard.

Newsy. Abounding in news ; racy, bold, and sparkling, in newspaper parlance.

Niassy. Occasionally heard, especially in the Wefit, in sense of odd or excentric, as in the case of a person who will do or say the m'ost unex- pected things.

288

NIC— NIG

Probably derived from " nias " (Fr. niais), which in England means a ninny, a simpleton.

Nick (abb. of nickel, to distinguish from 5c piece). A cent piece. These coins were formerly made of nickel.

Nickel. A fice-cent piece.

NickeP. At game of marbles, the marble to be knocked out of the ring.

Nieklehawk. Often heard, in New York, in sense of a triangular rent - or tear in cloth. A variant of ivinklehawk (q. v. ).

. A facetious name given by General Hardee, of the Confederate Army, to the monster cannon balls hurled into Charleston, during its siege by General Gilmore.

Not less wanting in sarcastic allusion was the qualification of xwamp anqel, bestowed on the gun from which these huge projectiles were driven.

Nigger-head. (1) A tuft of grass, or clump of fern-roots appearing above the waters of a swamp, and so called from its fancied resemblance to a negro's woolly head.

(2) An opprobrious epithet applied, during the Civil War, by the Copperheads (q. v.) to the Union men who were inclined to violent measures in dealing with the slavery question.

Also, nigger worshipper.

(3) A kind of heavy navy-blue cloth.

NiggeP-heads. Nuts resembling small chestnuts, found in South Carolina.

NiggeP-head Stone. A hard, heavy, black stone, abounding in the neighborhood of Baltimore, and much used for metalling roads.

Nigger-luck. A slang expression, synonymous of extraordinary good luck. Obviously from the fact that whenever good fortune comes to a negro, it is, generally speaking, without the slightest effort on his part.

Nigger-night. A New-England term applied by white young people to Saturday night courting.

Nigger-OUt. To nigger-out land, to exhaust land by improvident working, in allusion to the disastrous methods of negro tillage in the South.

Night. In Pennsylvania and some of the border States, commonly used for the hours of the afternoon.

After night, after night-fall, in the evening.

Night-key. A latch-key.

NigOg (Ind.). In the Gulf of St. Lawrence region, a sort of spear for eel or salmon fishing. The francisized form nigoyue is also used.

NIM— NOO

289

Nimshi. A foolish fellow, a nincompoop. The use of this word is confined to New England, especially Connecticut, or to speakers of New-England origin, among whom it is recognized religious cant.

Nimshi, as we are told in the Hebrew chronicles of the Bible, was the grand-father of Jehu, who revolted against Jehoram and became king of Israel. But why the name of the grand- father of this successful rebel has now become a synonym for a fool, is surely one of those things that cannot be found out.

Nine-bark (Spircea opulifolia). A dwarf-growing shrub, so called from its old bark peeling off rapidly, the word " nine, " however, bearing no actual relation to the number of layers.

Ninepence. Formerly used in New England and Virginia for 12% cents.

Nip and tUGk. Neck and neck ; on an equality. An even chance, a narrow escape.

Also, nip and frizzle.

Nippent. In Cape Breton, nighty, meny.

NippeP. A dram ; a small quantity of liquor. Hence, also, nipperkin, a tumbler.

NippePS. (1) Handcuffs.

(2) A burglar's instrument, mainly utilized by hotel thieves, for turning an inside key on the outside of a door. Also called American tweezer*.

Nocake (Ind.). Parched Indian meal. Now obsolete, but ones familiar in New England. See rokeaye.

No faiP. An expression often used, when a player acts contrary to the rules of a game.

Nogada, no-gah'-dah (Sp. ). In Southern Texas, pecan candy.

Nogal (Sp. ). In Texas, a oomnion name for the pecan tree (Carya olivse formis. )

In Spain, nogal is properly the walnut tree.

Noggin (Old Eng.). A small quantity of drink. An old English survival.

Noodlehead (Ger. nudeln). A term of reproach, which has originated in the fact that " nudaln " are apt to be considered, in Germany, the favorite food of fools.

Noodlejees (Dutch). A term hardly known outside of New York city, and designating strips of dough cut like vermicelli, and used in dump- lings and in soup. 19

290

NOO— NOT

Noodles (Ger. nuddn}. A kind of vermicelli, differing from the Italian only in the addition of eggs.

Nooning. (1) The middle of the day.

('2) Dinner-time in the hayfield ; an interval for rest and refreshment at midday.

Also, nooning-time.

Nopal (Mex. nopalli). In the formerly Spanish States, a common name for all cactaceous plants of the " Opuntia" tribe, and, more specifically, the " Opuntia coccinellifera."

NOPther. A north wind of extreme violence, blowing at certain seasons in the Gulf of Mexico.

No-see-ums (Simulium nocivum. ). A nidge or sand-fly.

Notch. A gorge or narrow passage through mountains, as the " Crawford Notch " of the White Mountains. Also, cove and gap.

Not for Joseph. An exclamation of dissent, equivalent to "not if I know myself." Also, not for Joe.

Notice. An announcement of a claim being taken up.

We liked the appearance of the place, and so we claimed some three hundred aero.? of it, and stuck our notices on a tree.

(MARK TWAIN, Roughing it.)

Ijotify. To give information or notice to a person. In England they notify a thing to a person, but they do not generally notify a person of a thing, thereby being in accordance with the French use of the verb " notifier."

Not in it. One of the many expressions of Shakespeare which have drifted into modern speech and slang usage. For instance, we read in scene 3,. act 4, of "The Winter's Tale," where the servant brings the rustics clothed as satyrs to Polixenis :

And they have a dance, which the wenches say is a gallimaufry of gambols, because thev are not in it. "

Indeed, there would seem to be few phrases of human thought or speech in which the immortal bard was not himself in it.

Notional. Fanciful or whimsical. A New-England term, which, in the West, takes sometimes the form of notionate.

Notions. Such small wares as needles, buttons, pins, threads, etc. often carried by peddlers, and which have come to be regarded so exclusively the specialty of the New-England States that they are advertised in shops and newspapers as Yankee notion*.

NUB— OCC

291

The word is not new, and even so grave and didactic a poet as Young used it over a hundred and fifty years ago exactly in the sense in which it is now used in New England :

And other worlds send odours, sauce, and song. And robes, and notions framed in foreign looms.

(Night Thoughts, Night II.)

Nubbins. Imperfectly formed ears of Indian corn.

Thought to be a corruption of " nuffiii, " a negro pronounciation of " nothing. "

Nunny-bag". In Newfoundland, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence region, a lunch bag, usually made of a piece of sealskin.

Nut-Cake. In New England, a doughnut. Nutmeg". A muskmeloii, in south of New Jersey.

Nutmeg State. The State of Connecticut, from the famous speculation in wooden nutmegs, immortalized by Sam Slick.

Wooden Nutmeijs, a name sometimes applied to the inhabitants of Connecticut.

0- Apt, in many States, to get an unnecessary r attached to it : dorlls, parasorls, etc.

Oak. Used adjectively for strong, rich, of good reputation. Obviously drawn from the notable qualities of the tree.

Oak-barrens. Clusters of scrub-oak timber on the prairies, where the soil is very poor.

Oak-opening's. Groups of short, thinly scattered oak-trees, growing on the rich undulating plains of the North-West.

Also, simply openiiu^, so called to distinguish them from the forests which are thickly wooded.

Oatmeal-mush. Porridge, made of oat meal. Also, simply oatmeal.

Obeya-man. Among negroes, a sorcerer of a particular kind. Also, obeya-woman.

From " obeah, " a secret species of witchcraft practised by the negroes in the West Indies.

Occasion. A Maryland term, signifying to go round seeking for employ- ment, i. e. looking for persons who might have " occasion " to employ them.

292

OCC— OJO

Occupying Claimant. A settler who bases his title to land upon the fact of occupation.

OcClirringS. Incidents, occurrences, in newspaper slang. Compare with happening*.

Ocelot (Mex. ocehtl). The tiger-cat of Texas (Felix pardalis). The ocelot is a beautiful and savage animal, somewhat cat-like, but with also the appearance of a small leopard, whose species has now reached us as far north as Texas from various parts of South America.

OcotillO, o-co-til'-yo (Sp.). In Texas, a name applied to a shrub of the tamarisk family (Fouquiera splendens), bearing bright scarlet flowers.

OctOPOOn. The offspring of white and quadroon parents, the proportion being 4 black.

Another name is mestee.

Offal. This word, which in England means " refuse meat, " resumes in America its ancient signification of those parts of a butchered animal which are small in size and not worth salting, as the liver and lights, the head, etc.

In New Jersey the word is commonly pronounced with accent on last syllable, and in the plural ' • off- falls. " This, indeed, may be also the original form, the word being compounded of " off" and " fall. "

Office. In the South, a common name for a small house or hut of one or two rooms, built to accommodate overflow of large family.

Officer-bird. A common name, especially in Canada and the Northern

States, for the red- winged starling (Agekeus phceniceus). .

Off-OX. An unmanageable, cross-grained fellow.

So quoted by Lowell, in his introduction to the second series of the " Biglow Papers. "

Offset. (1) In comparison of quantities, the equivalent of the English " set-off, " on debit or credit side of an account.

(2) Formerly colloquial, in New England, for a terrace laid out on the side of a hill or on rising ground.

Offset (to). To settle accounts by contra ; to set or compare one sum or quantity against or with another.

Oildom. The oil-producing districts of Pennsylvania, the principal centre of this industry.

DjO, o-ho (Sp. for eye). In the arid plains of the South-West, a spring of water, or a tuft of rank grass giving promise of a spring. See pozo.

0. K.— OLD

293

0. K. An alleged condensation of " oil korrect, " a mis-spelling of " all correct," which has now become a common catch- word for " all right." Hence, to o. k. an account, in business circles, is to initial it in evidence of its correctness.

Okra (Hibisctis esculentus). A largely used in gumbo-soup.

tropical plant, the pods of which are

Old Bullion. A nickname applied to Hon. T. H. Benton, senator from Missouri (1821-51), for his strenuous efforts in congress and through the press to introduce a gold currency.

Old Colony. The name of the first Plymouth settlement, in Massachusetts, bay, and perhaps the oldest historical name of locality yet surviving in the United States.

Old COOn. A sharp, shrewd man, from the alleged reputation of a raccoon of some experience, as a Avily, cunning animal. Also, a political manager or boss.

Old Country. At first, applied solely to England, but now meaning the Old World generally, and of course more especially Europe.

Thence also, old country-man, meaning a person who was born in Europe.

Old Dominion. The State of Virginia, from having been once the original name for all the English colonies in America, and from the State's loyalty in times of great peril to her legitimate sovereign Charles II.

Old driver. The devil.

Also old poger, old scratch, old split-foot, old toast or toaster. Old Glory. The flag of the United States ; the Stars and Stripes itself.

Old Hickory. The military and political nickname of Gen. Andrew- Jackson, presumably from his moral and physical toughness and strength. See hickory.

Old Line State. The State of Maryland, from the "Old Line" regiments contributed by Maryland during the War of the Revolution, she being then the only State that had regular troop.s of " the line."

Old North State. The State of North Carolina.

Old Planters. The oldest and most distinguished families among the early settlers in Xew England.

Old Probabilities. A nickname for the weather clerk, or chief of the Signal Service of Washington. Also, Old Probs.

394

OLD— ONE

Old Put. A familiar name given to the Revolutionary hero Israel Putnam, of Connecticut.

Old Sledge. In the South and West, the card game of All Fours.

Old SOldieP (prou. old sojer). A quid of tobacco'. Also, a common name for the ends of cigars collected in the streets.

Old squaw. A New-England name for the brown duck known to science as " Harelda glacialis."

Also called ofd-wife, thia last name being moreover applied along the coast of South Carolina to a species of sea-gull.

Olla ol'-lyah (Sp.). In the South-West, a large earthenware' pofc for holding and cooling drinking-water.

OlycOOk (Dutch oly-coek, oil-cake). A cake fried in lard, or, as W. Irving describes it, "a ball of sweetened dough fried in hog's fat." The term is particular to JTew York, although the delicacy itself is pretty generally well known as a dougnut, or a cruller.

On. (1) This preposition is employed, instead of "in, " in what at first seem to an Englishman very odd meanings, although yet in many cases very appropriate, as " living on such and such a street, coming to Europe on a steamer, writing on newspapers, etc. "

Curiously enough, Thomas Carlyle uses the same expression in hie translation of Wilhelm Meister :

Thoir soft, sweet dreams were broken in upon by a noise which arose on

the street

(Book I, chap. III.) On the street, he heard the cry of fire.

(Book V, chap. XIII.)

(2) On it for of it, as in Shakespeare, is -common enough. Also, often used redundantly with verbs and present participles. " What ye duin' an?

Onee (Ger. einmil). In parts of Pennsylvania settled by Germans, used as an expletive : " Sit down once, " i. e. once for all.

Ondatra. The Indian Iroquois name of the musk-rat.

One-eyed SePibe. A Texan term for a revolver, whose argument is generally of a persuasive, and even oftentimes also of an unanswerable nature.

One-hOPSe. Applied adjectively, in the West, to anything strikingly mean or insignificant in character, whether it be man, a church, a bank, or a town. Obviously the outcome of the intense love of horses so characteristic of the Yankee.

A variant is one-yoat, with a spice of suggestive meaning somewhat different, in a pejorative sense, from that attached to one-horse.

ONE— OPI

295

The popularity of one horse led to the coinage of team and whole team, to describe anything great or magnificent. For instance, the New York Herald had the following, at the time of the first candidacy of Gen. Grant for the Presidence :

Let us have no one-horse candidate for the Presidency. Gen. Grant is the man. He is a whole team, and a horse extra, and a dog under the waggon.

Here, as anybody can see, the " ne plus ultra" of recommendation is graphically conveyed by a charming completeness of the original figure of speech.

'On end. To be on end is to be filled with anger or astonishment.

Probably a corruption of the old saying "to have one's hair stand on end. "

Also, on eend.

On hand. At hand, present, in speaking of persons who are present, or of objects which are at hand.

On hand, in England, is more strictly limited to objects.

On herd. A cowboy's term for being " on duty. " Similarly, off herd, for "off duty. "

Onhitch. In New England, sometimes heard in sense of to pull the trigger of a gun; to fire.

The Spaniards have, in same sense, the verb " disparar. "

On it. To be on it. To be about a thing. Also, to be ready for a fight or brawl.

Onto (Old Eng. ). Still retained in the United States in sense of " on, " it bearing then the same relation to " on " as " into " does to " in." Now obsolete in England.

On to One. To be on to one, to be able to give blow for blow, to retucn tit for tat.

Oodles. A Tennessee expression signifying abundance, plenty, as in " oodles of money."

OodlinS. In Tennessee and Kentucky, used in sense of abundance, a large quantity.

Dead oodlinn, a very great quantity.

Operate. To manage, to conduct any piece of business. " To operate. in stocks. To operate in sewing-machines."

Also used transitively, as " operating a pool-room or a saloon.

Opinuated. A Southern form for conceited, opinionative, and some- times, especially among negroes, meaning obstinate and tricky, as an opinuated mule.

296

OPO-OUT

Opossum (Ind. opasscm). A marsupial mammal of nocturnal habits (Didelphys virginiana), with a white and palatable flesh and a coarfe but much esteemed pelage. Also abbreviated in possum.

An opassom hath a head like a swine, and a taile like a rat, and is of the bignesss of a cat...

(SMITH'S General! Historic of Virginia.)

Order. A thing is ordered done, in America, with the auxiliary " to be" omitted.

Ordinary. (1) Ill-looking, worthless, shabby. (Connecticut.) (2) Mean, insignificant. (West.) Generally contracted into or'nery.

Original hand. At game of poker, the first five cards dealt to any player.

(Fr. C.). Among the French-Canadians, the common name of the moose (Alces canadensis).

Ortolan (Fr. ). In the lower St. Lawrence region, a common name for the shore-lark.

In France, the word in more specially limited to the "Emberyza."

OrtS. Fodder left in crib. (Nfld. N. S. and X. B.)

OswegO-tea (Monarda didyma). A medicinal plant, prepared by the Shakers for its aromatic and stomachic properties.

OtsitSO. In French-Canadian folk-lore, a name given to a kind of hobgo- blin, who was especially wont to play tricks to the " courgurs des bois."

Ouananiehe (Ind. Montagnais wanan&iuhou, salmon). The name of an exceedingly combative fresh water salmon (Salmo amethystus), which abounds in the Lake St-John region, province of Quebec. Also, wananiche, ivananish.

Ouaouaron. See wawaron.

Ouch. A Southern exclamation of pain, disgust, or annoj'ance, which appears to be a survival, for it is quoted in ancient glossaries.

Ouragane. A word of Indian origin designating, among the French Canadians, a vessel or dish of birch-bark.

Out. (1) Used in Massachusetts and Connecticut for outward, meaning coming from the sea, as " the wind r'.v out. "

(2) Among politicians, a term applied to a member of a political party not in power. These are collectively called the ontft, the opposite side being the in#.

Out (to). To put out, as " out the fire. " (South.)

OUT— OVE

297

OutCPy (Old Eng.). Until recently this old Saxon synonym for "public Auction " was current in some of the remoter districts.

Outfit. (1) A comprehensive term applied to everything belonging to any particular pursuit. " A shooting outfit. An agent's outfit."

Also, to outfit, to fit out for any purpose whatsoever.

(5) Allowance to a public minister of the United States, on going to a foreign country, which cannot exceed a year's salary. (Worcester.)

Outiko (Ind. Alg. uindiko). In the Indian mythology of Canada, a name applied to a particularly ferocious giant and man-eater.

Outlandish. The name " Uitlanders, " which the citizens of the Transvaal have given to the immigrants and foreigners in the republic has exactly the same derivation and signification as the word " outlandishmeii, " so commonly in use in the country towns in Maine. The Oxford county farmer for instance, may not be able to distinguish by his speech a Swede from an Italian ; he calls him an " outlandishman, " and refers to manners and customs as " outlandish. "

Out Of fox. Out of order ; not fitting ; unsettled. Off the level ; out of sorts. Also, out of kilter.

Similarly, in Virginia, machinery out of repair is said to be " out of whack. "

Out Of Fide. Said, in the South, of a river that is unfordable on horse- back.

See riding rock, and riding icay.

Olltquash. A superlative form of " to quash, " in the sense of to upset.

Outside. A vulgarism for beside or except, which is even frequently applied to persons.

To get outside a thing, is to understand it.

OveP. (1) Used in a very appropriate manner, as "to write a letter over one's signature. "

(2) Used adverbially, for over again. " A dress made over, " i. e. re- made, or made over again.

Overly. Sense of very, and generally used negatively, as " not overly polite."

Overslaugh (Dutch overxlag, a bar). A sand-bar interrupting the free navigation of rivers. This word still survives in a few local names, and we may especially mention here the famous overslaugh in the Hudson, below Albany, which has been so long the dread of all skippers. Also, by extension, a skipping over.

298

OVE— PAI

Overslaugh (tO) (Dutch orerslaan, to skip over). To skip, to pretermit. This term is almost entirely limited, as a verb, to political language, and means the act of rewarding an outsider at the expense of the proper person entitled by right of seniority to the office. " There is no dariger that General Grant can be overslaughed," said the New York Tribune of Jan. 19, 1871, whilst then at the approach of a presidential election.

Over the bay. Drunk, intoxicated.

OysteP-fish. See toad-fish

Oyster-grass. In New Jersey, kelp found in oyster-beds.

OysteP-knOCkePS. In New Jersey, culling tools used to separate bunches of oysters.

OysteP-plant. The salsify. Also called vegetable oyvter.

Paas (Duth Potash). Still lingering for Easter in many families of New York city.

Similarly, the common yellow Daffodill, or Easter flower (Narcissus pseudo-narcissus) is still called in New York and along the Hudson Paas-blummachee, and Paas-eggs are the bright-color-ed Easter eggs which New- York children are so fond of cracking against each other on Easter Day.

Pack. In parts of the West and South, nsed in sense of to transport in packs or packages, as things are carried through the woods or over rough roads.

Hence, also, simply to carry, to transport.

Packing". Said of snow that can be made into snowballs. " It's good packing."

Paddle. A wooden instrument, shaped like a paddle, and used to punish boys and negroes.

Hence, also, to paMle, meaning to thrash, to punish.

Paddle One's Own canoe. To make one's way in life, to go it alone as a canoeist does.

ALso, to bail one'* own boat.

Pail (to). Sometimes heard in sense of to milk. " Pail the cow."

Paint. In the South and South-West, used as a noun for a horse or other animal which is spotted.

PA I— PAN 299

Paint the town red. To go on an drunken spree, and generally " to act the fool."

Pair-Off. Said of two members of different parties, in a legislature or other body, who agree to absent themselves from voting, the one thus neutralizing the other.

Palm (pron. paum). In New England, to smear, blot, or smudge with the hands.

Palmetto City. The city of Augusta, South Carolina, from the arms of that State which contain a palmetto.

Palmetto State. The State of South CaroKna, from the palmetto-tree growing abundantly on her shores, and hence furnishing the emblem on her coat of arms.

Palmilla (Sp. ). The soap-plant, or amole (Chlorogalum pomeridianum), of California and New- Mexico.

Palmilla, as & Spanish word, is a sort of bluish cloth.

Panel-game. A game worked by a thief in connection with a woman, who lures »en to a prepared room, the thief entering by a concealed door or a moveable panel.

Hence, also, & panel-crib, & panel -den, or panel-house, meaning a house of prostitution and theft combined, and a panel-thief, or panel-worker, to designate the operator in that infamous game.

Other variants, for a " panel-house ", are badger-crib, shake-down, touch-crib.

Panhandle. (1) A district of West Virginia, so called from its running up in a strip affecting the form of a pan-handle, between Pennsylvania and Ohio.

(2) A similar division of Texas and Nevada.

(3) A railroad of same name.

Panhandler. Along the Pacific coast, an undeserving beggar, and, more specifically, any tough character who is out of a job, and is ready to go into the " holdup " business.

It is as a rule an easy matter to trace the origin of the slang terms used by tramps, actors of the variety stages, circus employees and criminals, but the expression " panhandler, " as applied to the worthless and undeserving beggar and chronic borrower of small sums which are never repaid, is surrounded in mystery.

The term was not born among the railroad tramps, who travel over the

" Panhandle Route, " for the hardy wandering Willie has a great

contempt for the vagrant who lives by fall pretences. The term as

certainly did not originate in the " Pan Handle " of Texas, for the gentry

•of "panhandlers " would meet but short shrift in that section.

300

PAN— PAR

An industrious member of the newspaper fraternity has ventured that the idea of panhandling, or getting contributions of money with little labor, was taken from these long-handled arrangements shaped like a frying pan, which they push at you in churches. This explanation is perhaps as good as any.

Pankake. A common name for the various kinds of hot cakes prepared on a griddle.

Pan-mill. A miner's apparatus used in separating gold from the alloy of earth, with which it is found mingled. (Farmer.)

Hence, to pan out, to pan, meaning the process by which, the "pay- dirt" with water being put in a pan and then shook, it becomes possible to ascertain the out-turn of gold or other mining products.

Pansage, pan-sah-'-hay (Sp.). In Texas, a feast or " barbecue" for men exclusively, in which the " pauza, " or body of the animal is barbecued-

Panther. The popular name of the cougar, or puma.

A familiar corruption of the term ie Painter, or Pctnter.

Pants. An abbreviation of "pantaloons," universally used for trousers.

Papabotte. A delicious specimen of the plover family, which visits the Western prairies in large numbers.

Papaw (Ind.). A wild and fair-sized shrub of the Annona family (Asimiua troloba), with a sweet, edible fruit in the shape of long, fleshy pods, and so called from its fancied resemblance to the genuine papaw- tree of the tropics (Carica papaya).

PapawS. A term, current in Missouri, for politi«*l " frea lances, " and equivalent to "bushwhackers," from the fact that bushwhackers are supposed to subsist on " papaws. "

Paper City. Literall}' " a city on paper, " i. e. a city in embryo so des- cribed on paper, by unprincipled adventurers, that emigrants and settlers will repair thither in large numbers, only to find sometimes that the thriving city of their dreams contains nothing but " castles in Spain, " and has not even a log shanty to boast of.

PappOOSe. A sort of pidgin-English attempt at " babies, " as " Yengees" was the best the Indians could do at pronouncing the word English. Now applied by the whites to Indian infants in general.

Pappoose-root. See blue cohosh.

Parish. In Louisiana, synonymous with county.

PaPlOP. (1) Uniformly used, in the United Stai-es, for the English " drawing-room. "

(2) A reception-room of any kind affected to several trades. " A dentist's parlor, a manicure's, etc. "

PAR— PAT 301

Parole (to). To release or remand on bail.

Obvioush' an extension of the military usage of liberating a prisoner, on his giving his " parole d'honneur. "

Parquet. The American equivalent for the " pit " of English theatres, or play-houses.

PartieularistS. A name applied, shortly after the Revolution, to an offshoot of the Whig party, whose distinctive platform was the advocacy of States' Rights, as opposed to the Whigs favoring the doctrine of the supremacy of Federal interests.

The Partieularibts were also subsequently known as the A nfi- Federal*.

Partida, par-tee'-dah (Sp. ). In Texas and New Mexico, a drove of cattle.

Partridge-berry (Mitchella repens and Gaultheria procumbens). A name applied to both species, from the scarlet fruits of both being similar in appearance. The resemblance, however, ends there, for while the berries of the former are tasteless, those of the latter are highly flavored and pleasant to the palate.

Also called checkerberry, chickberry, twinlerry, and in New England pigeon-berry.

Pass. At game of draw poker, to throw up one's hand and retire from the game.

Hence, also, to decline an offer, to refuse.

Passageway. A passage, asile, or gangway.

Patented. An article patented is one for whose manufacture a legal monopoly is scoured.

In England, an article patent.

i

Patent OUtSldes. Partly printed newspapers, supplied wholesale to country editors, and whose blank sides or spaces are subsequently filled with local matter.

Pat hand. At game of draw poker, one which is satisfactory to the holder from the first, such as full straight, flush, or pairs.

To x'niid jiat is to keep such a hand without drawing or discarding.

Path-finder. A nickname applied to general John C. Fremont, from having been one of the first pioneers and discoverers in the Far West.

Patrolman. A police constable.

Patron, pah-tro-ne (Sp. ). In Texas and New Mexico, the man in charge of the pack train. See cargador.

302

PAT— PEA

PatFQOn (Dutch). A grantee of land to be settled, under the old Dutoh governments of New York and New Jersey.

PatrOOnship. Under the old Dutch regime of New York and New Jersey, a landed aristocracy somewhat similar to that of the " Seigneurs " of French Canada.

Also, the office of a patroon.

Paugie. Seepogyy.

Pauhagen (Ind. ). A variant for menhad^n or bonyfoth in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Also, powhas/en.

Paunch. A plainman's term, meaning to shoot a refractory steer through the " paunch, " producing a temporary quietude.

Pawky. Sometimes heard in sense of in poor health.

Pay dirt. In mining phraseology, earth which yields sufficient of the precious metals to pay the miner for his trouble.

Similarly, miners will talk of poor dirt, rich dirt and top dirt.

Hence, also, on top of dirt,, i. e. this side of the grave ; below dirt, the last resting place.

Pay rock. In mining parlance, the quartz or other rock that will pay for mining.

Also, paying-rock, pay-ntreak.

PeabUg. The small beetle which lives and feeds upon pease.

Peae (Ind. ). A variety of Indian shell specie. Also, peage, peak. See cohog, s&awan, wampum.

Peach-butter. Stewed peaches. • Compare with apple-butter.

Peaeh-leatheP. Peaches treated in the same way as apples in the production of apple leather.

Pealer. A dashing, energetic, go-ahead individual. Other variants are hummer, router, ruttler.

Pea-nut (Araehnii hypognea). The common name of the ground-nut or earth-nut.

Among negroes, in Florida, called pinder, and in Texas and Louisiana goober and </oober-pea.

Pea-nut politics. A familiar phrase for underhand or secret politics, an allusion to the paculiar habit of th<> pea-nut of burying its pods under ground after flowering.

PEA— PEM 303

Pearl-tapioca. A substitute for the tapioca of commerce, made from potatoes.

Peean-nut (pron. pecawn). A variety of hickory (Carya olivaeformis),

the fruit of which, long and olive-shaped, is a great favorite throughout the Union, whilst the tree itself has a superb appearance and produces a timber very useful for building.

So called from the French " pacane," and often so written.

Peccary. The native American hog, common in South and Central America, and found as far north as New Mexico and Texas. Its chief peculiarity is in the secretion of a fluid of very offensive smell which, •when enraged, it expels.

Peckish. In Virginia, often heard in sense of easily offended.

Peddle. To sell anything in small quantities.

Hence also, the subst. peddler.

Peddle is re-derived from pedlar, which latter word, in sympathy, is now usually written peddler, one who peddles. Mr. Lowell spells it pedler. There is, however, a certain sanction for peddle in the long obsolete English verb, although, oddly enough, the American word has been independently coined.

Peert (Old Eng.). Brisk, lively. "As peert as a lizard .... The wind blows quite peert."

Also, peart, peark.

This old word, already used by Chaucer in the American sense, ia now nearly obsolete in England, although we must say that we have seen it given as "lively" in that thoroughly English romance called " Lorna Doone. " The Welsh have also the form " pert," for smart, fine, or pretty.

Pickering quotes "perk " as being an archaic form known to him at the time he wrote his dictionary.

Also occasionally used in the modified sense of " healthy."

Pegged OUt. Ruined, or used up. Said of both men and things.

Pelican State. The State of Louisiana, from the pelican having been chosen as the emblem of its coat of arms.

PeltCP. In parts of New England, an old, worn-out horse.

PelU (Fr. C.). Among the old French traders and trappers, in the Canadian North-West and Hudson Bay region', a pelu was a beaver-skin, with the hair on, and was considered as the money unit of the country.

Pembina (Ind. Cree nipimina, watery berries, from iiijn, water, and mina, berries, fruits). A French-Canadian term for the Viburnum edule, thought by some to be a variety of the cranberry -tree (Viburnum opulus), or cramp-bark of Maine and Canada. Also, pimbina.

304

PEM— PER

(Ind. Cree pimikkdn, the ultimate root of which is pimiy, meaning grease, oil, tallow). A far-famed provender of hunters, voyageurs, and Arctic explorers, consisting of choice meat well pounded and dried, and next put into bags mixed up with melted fat.

Pena, pay'-nah (Sp.). In Texas and New Mexico, a common name for a rock or cliff.

Pencil-pusher. In newspaper slang, a reporter. Also, pencil-shover.

Pennsylvania Dutch. A South German patois composed of dialects of Franconia, the Rhenish Palatinate, and Swabiau and Allemanian districts, more or less interspersed with Germanised English words, according to the locality of settlement. (Farmer. )

Penny. A cent, the hundreth part of a dollar.

Pennyroyal (Hedeoma pulegioides). A common weed, which is nearly alike, in color and taste, to the true English pennyroyal or mint.

Pennyroyal. In the West, used adjectively to describe inferior stock. " A. penny royal steer or bull."

Pentway. A semi-public road, generally kept closed, although open to foot passengers.

These ways have now almost entirely disappeared from New England, where once they were frequently met with.

Peon-dog. In Texas, a name sometimes given to the hairless Mexican dog.

People. He is great people, is used in a commendatory sense of anyone. (Maitland.)

" I know that you are the people, " as Job said of his friends who gave him so much good advice.

Pepperidge (Nyssa multiflora). The popular name, in the South and West, for the black or sour gum, otherwise called tupelo.

Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana). A tree growing as high as a palmeta, and producing a plum of a decided vinous taste, and, when ripe, very sweet and luscious.

Persimmon beer, a beverage made from the plum of the persimmon, and dearly loved by negroes.

To rake up the persimmons, a frequent expression for " pocketing the stakes. "

Huckleberry above the persimmons, a Southern phrase expressing that something apparently simple and easy is far above the ability of the person who makes the attempt.

Persuasion. Jocularly adapted from religious use, for class, category, as in " persons of same persuasion, " meaning name religious belief.

PER— PIC

305

(Fr. pirogue). In New Jersey, a name formerly applied to a kind of oyster-boat.

Pervade. To pass through. Thus, travellers pervade a town when making a temporary, stay.

Peter Funk. A decoy, at a mock auction, employed as a "by-bidder" or " puffer," in order to raise the price of the article offered for sale.

As the story goes, Peter Funk was once the name of a person who got to be quite famous, through his skill in inciting buyers to part with their money, and paying inflated prices, at auction sales. On the other hand, the term is perhaps also a simple manufacture.

Hence, to peter, to run up prices at auction sales.

Peter (to) OUt. To exhaust, or be exhausted ; to run or dribble out ; to escape.

Petouane (Ind.). A French-Canadian term applied to the " Aster macrophyllus," a shrub of the Composite order bearing particularly rough and thick leaves.

Pettieoat-tPOUSePS. In Massachusetts, wide, baggy trousers worn by fishermen.

Pettifog. Used transitively, in newspaper parlance, in sense of to advocate in a mean, paltry manner, or to take up petty cases. "He pettifogs his client's cause."

Pewit (Sayornis fuscus). A familiar name for the fly-catcher, from the peculiar cry of that bird.

Also, pe-wee and Phoebe-bird.

In England, pewit is the common name of the lapwing, which is not at all known in America.

Peyote. A term of Mexican origin, and designating, in Texas, a plant of the cactus family, otherwise called " dry whiskey, " as it is said to produce intoxication when chewed.

Pheasant. The popular 'name, in some States, for the ruffled grouse.

Pieaeho (Sp.). An augmentative of the Spanish pico (a peak), applied in New Mexico arid Arizona to a peak or summit of a mountain standing out abruptly.

Picayune. Formerly long used, in the Southern States, especially Loui- siana and Florida, at first for the Spanish half-real, and afterwards the American sixpence, which no longer exist in currency.

The term is now used, adjectively, of anything small, mean, or insig- nificant, obviously from the comparatively insignificant value of the coin in question. Also, picayunitth.

Picayune was originally a Carib word, which has come down through the French " pecune. "

See pifitareen. 20

306

PIC— PIG

Pick. A gauge of measurement in the cotton trade, a pick being a thread Cotton cloth has so many picks to the inch.

Pick (to). When used in reference to the banjo or guitar, to pick means " to play," in the South.

Similarly, the French have "pincer."

Pickaninny (Sp. peqneno nino, little child). A term applied in the Southern States to the offspring of colored parents.

A diminutive form of the above is pickney, especially current in Soutoh Carolina.

Also frequently used, in the North and throughout the West Indies, for any young child.

Pickerel-Weed (Pontideria cordata). A common wayside and ditch plant of the North and Middle States, which bears a spike of blue flowers.

*

Pick-me-up. A tonic ; a restorative ; a drink of a spirituous kind taken after a debauch.

Pick Off. To kill by shooting. Pick On. To disturb ; to nag.

Pick-up. An impromptu meal of an " olla podrida " description, i. e. made up of such fragments as have been left by others. Also, pick-up dinner.

Pick Up (to). In New England, to put in order, as when picking up a room.

Piece. In New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, an addition to the regular meals, prepared at short notice in time of harvest, and sent out to the fields generally at ten o'clock, and again at three. A " piece " ordinarily consists of hot coffee, bread and butter, cold meat, and what- ever a generous talent for providing may furni«h.

Hence, to piece, to take an irregular snack between meals.

Pie-plant. A curious name often applied to the rhubarb.

PiCP. See dock.

Pig-nut (Carya glabra or porcina). A small species of bitter hickory nut.

Pig-plum. See hog-plum.

Pig-Weed. A rank weed, so1 called from its being generally found near pig-styes.

Pig- wick. A species of duck, with red eyes.^found in the coves and rivers of Maryland.

PIK— FIX

307

Pike. (1) A Californian name for a poor white from the Southern States, said to have originated from the supposition that the first of the class came from Pike county, Missouri.

(2) In the lumber region of Canada, a shaft of wood armed with an iron prong, used by river-drivers to move or guide logs.

Pike (to). In gambling parlance, to play cautiously and for small amounts, never advancing the value of the stake.

In old Eng. cant, to run away, which is, indeed, among thieves, . exercising caution.

Hence, also, piker, for a cautious gambler.

Pile. (1) One's stock of money; one's fortune. A term first used at the gaming table, signifying one's actual " pile" of coins, but soon extended to mean a man's available means, his fortune.

Hence, to mike one'* pile, to make hie fortune, to accumulate money. Also, to <jo one'* pile, to spend the same.

To pile in, to make a beginning.

(2) A word still retained for an arrow by boys, in New York city, from Dutch pyl.

Pile OH the agony. In newspaper slang, to intensify the effect of a sensational article by exaggerated or blood curdling details. To put all the pile on, is said of anything very much fancied.

Pilgrim. A traveller; a new arrival ; especially a greenhorn, about equiv. to a tenderfoot.

Pilgrims. A cattle breeders term for cattle on the march.

Pill. (1) A bore ; a conceited coxcomb.

(2) At Yale college, a silly, disagreeable fellow.

Pilon, pe-lone' (Sp.). In southern Texas, the gratuity given by mer- chants to customers, whenever accounts are settled. Somewhat equivalent to Ingniappe (q. v.).

In Spain, pUon is a small loai of sugar formed in a mould.

Pimbina. A word of Indian origin applied, among the French-Canadians,

to the fruit of the " Viburnum edule. ''

Pimping. In remote parts of New England, often heard in sense of small, pretty, mean.

Still provincial in England.

Pinch. In gambling parlance, to " ring the changes," i. e. to substitute bad money for good, on pretence of changing coins of a high denomination.

Pinch (in a). In a tight place ; hard up for money.

Pinch (on a). In an emergency.

Pinch-bug. An insect pest, otherwise called petz-kefer in Pennsylvania.

308

PIN— PIN

PineheP. A curious name applied, in political slang, to a bill calculated to secure a pecuniary reward from those who are interested in its defeat.

Pine-barrens. In the South, poor tracts of land covered with pine trees of a wretchedty stunted growth. (Farmer. )

Also piney-woods, a name more especially applied to large tracks covered with pines, in the low country.

Pine-knots. Knotty chips or chunks of the pitch-pine tree (Pinua rigida) which, when burning, give a very brilliant light. These torches are still much used by negroes and the poorer classes in the South.

Pine-needles. Fir cones.

Pine-nut (Pinus edulis). The edible nut of the pinion, a variety of pine- tree.

PinCPS. In New Jersey, a name applied to those living in the Jersey pines, which are the " ridge " sections of that State.

. Unlike the pine-barren, & pinery is a forest^ 9f pines, in the North and North- West, which contain the pick of timber used in the country.

Pine-StPaw. The annual castings of pine-trees. The fallen leaves of all the evergreen trees. Also, pine-tags.

Pine-top. A Maryland name for common whiskey, obviously from its resemblance to turpentine.

Pine-tPee money. Money coined in Massachusetts in the 17th century, and so called from its bearing a figure resembling a pine-tree. (Webster. )

Pine-tPee State. The State of Maine, from the extensive pine-forests which cover its central and northern parts, and from the pine-tree being one of the symbols on the State Seal.

Pinion (Sp. pinon). A species of pine-tree (Pinus edulis), found in Arkansas, New-Mexico, the Rocky Mountains, etc. the nuts of which are sweet and palatable.

Pink (Dutch Pinkster, Whitsuntide). In New York city, a flower owing its name to the season of its blooming, i. e. Whitsuntide.

Pink tea. Whiskey of any kind, good, bad, or indifferent.

Pinky (Dutch pink). A familiar term, among New York boys, to designate the little finger.

Pinole (Mex. pinolli). In Texas and New Mexico, a preparation of parched corn-meal, sugar and spice. Also, cold flour.

PIN— PIR 309

Pinto (Sp.). In Texas and New-Mexico, spotted, stained, mottled, AS of horses.

PinxteP (Dutch Pinkster). A familiar name for Whitsuntide in the States of New York and New Jersey, where Pinxter Monday is specially well known as a day of great rejoicings.

Several Whitsuntide flowers, and especially the early azalea of our woods (Azalea nudiflora) are similarly called Pinxter blummachees, or* blumachies.

PiOU-piou (pron. pew-pew). Among the French-Canadians,a name applied to the tawny-thrush (Turdus Wilsonii), from its peculiar cry.

Pipe. (1) In the language of the old French " voyageurs," a pipe meant two leagues, i. e. the time of smoking a pipe.

Still in use, among the French-Canadians, to mean a good distance.

(2) In newspaper parlance, an assignment which a reporter knows will fail.

An intensified form is a pipe dream, which gives the slang phrase in its completeness.

Pipe (to). To follow ; to watch ; to waylay ; to intercept. Also, to pipe off.

Pipe-laying1. In a general sense, pipe laying is making arrangements for a political success, without much consideration as to the means employed. But the phrase is, howewer, more especially applied to the practice of procuring fraudulent votes, towards the close of a popular election, in sufficient number to turn the scale.

Pipe-laying is derived from a fraudulent scheme, once concocted by unscrupulous politicians, to bring illegal voters from Philadelphia to New York, under the concealment of a form of contract for the laying of water-pipes for the Croton aqueduct. Hence, pipe-layer, a politician trickster.

Pipi (pron. pee-pee). A name given by the French-Canadians to the titlark (Anthus spinoletta), from its peculiar cry.

Pipsissewa (Chimaphila umbellata). An Indian simple, and a popular domestic remedy whose medicinal qualities are much esteemed. Also known as prince's pride and wintergreen.

Pique-bois jaune (Fr.). The common name, in Louisiana, of the golden- winged wood-pecker (Picus amatus), the most beautiful American bird of the genus. See dape.

Pirate. To infringe an invention or a copyright ; to appropriate withou making acknowledgement or payment.

310

PIR-PLA

Pirogue (Fr.). A generic name for a small boat or canoe. Primarily, a canoe formed out of a single large tree.

The word is in Littre and Scheler, and occurs often in the old writers: "Pirogues ou canots de bois" (Hennepin, Descript. de la Louisiane, p. 122). The derivation is English and French from Spanish, which in its turn is from the Carib dialect.

Pisque (pron. pisk). A name given, by the French-Canadians, to the golden-eye duck (Bucephala clangula), frequenting the lower St. Lawrence region.

Also applied to the Bucephala Islandica.

Pissybed. Often heard for the dandelion. Also, pies-abed.

Pistareen. A silver coin (the Spanish "peseta Sevillana") formerly current, and now out of use, of the value of one fifth of a dollar.

Now synonymous, like picayune or one-horse, with small-minded> mean, depreciated, of little value, etc.

Pit. A New York term for the hard kernel of a fruit, as of a cherry or a peaeh. From Dutch pit, a kernel.

Pita, pee -tah (Sp.). In Texas and New Mexico, the name of an agave furnishing a fine fibre utilized for sewing and kindred purposes.

Pitahaya (Sp. ). A gigantic cactus of New Mexico (Cereus giganteus), which bears the luscious fruit called Indian fig.

Pitch. To pitch it rtrong, to make a strong effort; to apply oneself strenuously to a task; to talk exaggeratingly or boastingly.

Other forms are to pitch too strong and to pitch it wild, this last one cap. in relation to a narrative or story which passes all legitimate bounds.

Of Western origin.

PivaPt (pron. pee-var). A name applied, by the French-Canadians, to the golden-winged wood-pecker (Colaptes auratus).

Pivotal State. A State, the vote of which in any election is of great importance, being likely to turn the scale one way or the other.

Place (to). When applied to a person, this means to remember or call to mind the place of his birth.

A name formerly given, in the South, to the colored mistress of a white man. (Maitland.)

Placer, plah -ser (Sp. ). A word first applied, by Hispano- Americans, to deposits of drift-sand in which gold was found, and subsequently extended to mean, not only rich mines of minerals, but also the disco- veries of any good things promising large rewards.

PLA— PLA

311

P'acer-digyings, localities where gold is found scattered in the surface drrfc.

Placer-mining, mining operations carried on in ravines or gulches.

Plain-folks. A negro term for white men or women, as opposed to colored people.

Also, plain people.

In England, ' ' plain people " would mean persons lacking in personal attractions.

Planehment. In parts of New England, often heard for ceiling.

Planing-maehine. A plane worked by steam or other power, for smoothing boards.

Plank. One of the principles of which a political " platform " is cons- tructed, the divisions of a plank being sometimes in their turn split up into splinters.

Plank (to). To lay down, to pay out money. Also, to plank down, to plank up.

Planked Shad. A shad fastened to a plank and roasted, a mode of cooking said to be much esteemed by epicures.

Plantain (Sp. platano). A-well-known West-Indian substitute for ordinary bread (Musa paradisiaca), which is paeled and roasted in hot ashes.

Plantain-patch. See potato-grant.

Plantation. (1) At first a term primarily associated, in the West-Indies and Southern States, with properties upon which slave labor was used, and afterwards given to estates or large farms appropriated to the production of staple crops.

(2) In Newfoundland, ground with buMdings and improvements for fishing purposes.

Planter. (1) I" the West Indies and Southern States, the proprietor of an estate for the cultivation of staple crops. In the case of absentees, the manager or overseer.

(2) In Newfoundland, a person engaged in the fishery business.

(3) At the origin of the first settlements, a name given to the founders of the colony of Massachusetts, to distinguish them from the Pilgrim Fathers of Plymouth Colony.

Plat (to). To divide into plats ; to lay-out in sections or plots.

Platform. (1) A metaphorical termrembodying the principles on which

a public man takes his stand. A declaration of principles — each of which

is described as a "plank " — by a political party, convention, or candidate.

The word platform, as applied'to ecclesiastical constitutions or plans

for the government of churches, is however by no means an Americanism.

312

PLA— PLU

Lord Bacon speaks of "the Exemplar or Platform of God," while Hooker mentions views " comformable to the platform of Geneva. " " A Platform of Church Discipline " is also the title of a book printed in London as early as 1653. •

(2) Along the New-Jersey coast, a planked floor where oysters are freshened.

Playa, plah'-yah (Sp.). In the South-West a name applied to the vast level plains of a saline surface, -which are prominent features of the topography of that region. Further North, same are called salt or water- prairies.

Playa is also said of the dried-up bed of some shallow lake or lagoon.

In Spain, the term means a sea-shore or beach.

Played OUt (tO be). A slang phrase taken from the gambler's language, and meaning to be without resource, as when one's last card has been played and failed.

To be exhausted, to be used up.

Playing up. In newspaper parlance, said of the presentation of news in general. ' ' To play up the exclusive news "

Play Off. To make a start.

Borrowed from the card-table.

Play OH velvet. Among gamblers, to stake the money won from the bank.

Play pOSSUm. To act a part, to deceive.

The equivalent of the old London trick, among thieves, of "shamming Abraham," or pretending to be dead, as the opossum does when escape seems impossible.

Also, simply, to possum.

Play Spell. A time for recreation or amusement.

Play the sovereign. In Pennsylvania, a candidate for office is said to be playing the sovereign when, a short time before an election, he puts on shabby clothes, drinks whiskey with everybody, and shakes hands with everyone.

Pleurisy-Foot (Asclepias tuberosa). A root used as a mild tonic and stimulant.

Pluck. The heart, liver, lungs, etc. of a slaughtered animal.

Plug. (1) A tall silk hat. Also, plug-hat.

An old worthless horse. Also, a plug-horse.

(2) A poor hand at telegraphy. Also an operator at a small " plug " station. In those two senses, the term is of course restricted to tele- graphic operators.

(3) A local accommodation train.

FLU— POC

313

Plugger. (1) One who plays in a gambling house, to induce the belief that a game is going on.

(2) In college slang, a hard student.

Plug-ugly. A term assumed by a gang of rowdies in Baltimore, and originally belonging to certain fire companies.

Plum. A generic name, in New England, for all berries, being thus used for the brilliant berries of the " Diaccena borealis, " the partridge- berries, the mountain cranberries, and some other species. To go plumming, to go huckleberrying.

Plum, Plumb. Often used as an adjective, with the meaning of quite, exactly, directly, in which case it is an Old Eng. survival. " He ought to be here plum soon. "

Plumb-Centre. A peculiar Western phrase, expressive of a crack shot at a shooting match, being thus equivalent to making a bull's eye.

Plumed knights. An appellation applied, during the Presidential campaign of 1884, to the Republican electioneering organization which was " booming " the candidacy of Mr. Elaine. The phrase arose of Mr. Elaine having himself been termed " The Plumed Knight " by Robert Ingersoll.

Plum-muSS. Boiled and mashed plums, which are rolled out into layers and then dried.

Plunder (Old Eng.). Often heard in the South and South-West for luggage, i. e. personal effects packed for carrying ; goods ; furniture.

The elder D'Israeli, in his "Curiosities of Literature," says that plunder, in sense of baggage, is an old word long known and used in England ; and the fact is that the term is a Dutch or Flemish word (meaning property of any kind) brought home by the English troops which fought under the banner of the great Swedish King, Gustavus Adolphus.

Cf. with the French " butin," still used in Canada in same sense.

Poach. Said, in New England, especially of cattle who tread soft ground, or snow and water, and churn up mud by repeated passing to and fro. Also, to podge.

Pocket. (1) In mining parlance, a small deposit of the precious metal, the word not applying however to a true fissure vein.

(2) The extreme Southern part of the State of Indiana is called " The Pocket," from the form and position of said part.

Poeket-bOOk. A general term for a purse.

POGOSOn (Ind. pocaxan). A term particular to North Carolina and further South, to denote a low-wooded swamp, generally dry in summer, and filled with water during the winter and spring months.

314

POG— POK

A very near equivalent of the word exists in the North in the pokeloken of Maine and the North- West. Also, poquonon.

Poggy (Pagrus argyrops). The New- York name of a fish of the gilt-head kind, which is much esteemed for its flavor. Also called paugie or porgie.

In Rhode-Island, ftcup.

The entire Indian name Mishewuppaug (Narragansett, for " large- scaled") is still common enough, according to Bartlett, in many parts of New England.

Point. (1) A hint ; a piece of practical information.

(2) A private information about stocks,

(3) A " unit of change " in the market rate of any given commodity, whether gold or cotton.

(4) A special characteristic, as the point* of a horse. Hence, to give anyone point*, to be superior to any one.

Pointer. (1) An item of general information. More generally colloquial than point, in that sense.

(2) Among ranchmen, a herdsman who rides at the head of a straggling herd of cattle when on the march.

Poke. (1) In New England, a contrivance to prevent unruly beasts from leaping fences, consisting of a yoke with a pole inserted pointing forward) thus naturally suggesting the meaning of the verb " to poke. "

(2) A stupid person, a bore, generally in the sense of lazyness and dawdling, and probably on the plea that " a slow poke " annoys us continually, as if we were "poked" at by a thorn in the side.

Hence, to poke, to dawdle, to travel slowly ; and poky, dull, stupid t slow.

Poke-berry (Phytolacca decandra). One of the most useful plants of the South, the roots possessing valuable emetic properties, whilst the young shoots are eaten like asparagus, and the berries afford a rich purple dye, and a favorite food for caged birds.

Ali-o, poke-weed, or simply poke.

Other variants are pocan (Virginia), the Indian name from which poke is derived ; and cocum, garget, and pigeon-berry (Northern States and New England).

Pokeloken (Ind.). A term in use among lumbermen of Maine, and their kinsmen in the North- West, to denote a marshy ground extending inland from a stream or lake. The form popelognn is also used.

Poker. The American equivalent, for popularity, of the game of whist of England, although it must be conceded that this last one is now making great strides in trying to supplant its rival.

POK-PON

31

'PokeP. This old Danish name (pokker) for the devil still retains its use in America, although here more as a child's word for any frightful object, esp. in the dark ; a hobgoblin ; a bugbear.

Hence, also, pokerish, gruesome, frightful, causing fear, especially to children.

Policy (to). To gamble with the numbers of lottery tickets, two numbers being called a " saddle, " three numbers a " gig, " and four numbers a " horse."

Political capital. The sum of events, in the career of a candidate for election, which can be used either in furthering or opposing his candi- dature.

Now also current in the political slang of England.

Political Union. Said, in Canada, of the absorption of the Dominion by the United States. A less offensive term than annexation.

Politieate. To make a trade of politics.

Pollack (Merlangus purpereus). The popular name, in New England, of an important food-fish abounding in the waters of Massachusetts and Connecticut.

.Polt, Polter (Old Eng. ). This word, now quite obsolete in England, and which dates back from the first English settlers in Virginia, is still often heard in New England and the South in the sense of a blow, a thump. " Give him a polt."

Similarly, to polt, to beat, to knock, to deal blows.

Oh, whack ! Cupid's a mannikin, Smack on my heart he hit me a polter.

GEORGE COLEM-AN, The Review, act II, s. I. )

blanche (Fr. ). The Indian turnip (Psoralea esculenta), a native of the prairies and mountains. Also called pomme de prairie. Other names are Jack-in-the pulpit, kamas-root, one-berry.

Pompano (Sp.). A fish of the herring family found in the Gulf of Mexico. Pompion. And old form for pumpkin.

Pond. A sheet of water, in the interior, smaller than a lake, also some- times of considerable size, and the nearest approach to what, in England, would be called a " mere, " a word almost unknown in the United States.

Hence, also, to pond, to accumulate water in a pond, or so as to form a pond.

In England, the word pond is generally applied to small pieces of water by the roadside, in a field, or other restricted space.

.Pone (Ind. Powhatan apohn). In Virginia and further South, a maize- cake, or bread of corn-meal.

316

PON— POO

Ponhaws. A Pennsylvania German term designating a dish made of buckwheat flour, cornmeal and scraps of pork, all boiled together, then cut into slices and fried.

Pony. (1) In college slang, a literal translation used unfairly in the prepa- ration of lessons. Also, a key to mathematical problems. Hence, to pony, to translate with the help of a pony. (2) A small glass or draught of beer.

Pony-purse. An impromptu subscription or collection, especially one collected upon the spot.

Pony-PideP. An agent of the Pony-Express of the Far West, before the advent of railways.

Pony up (to). To pay money ; to settle accounts, by the payment of money due.

Pony was formerly an old flash term, for money, in England, and in sporting slang is still used to signify £15.

Pool (to). To join forces ; to act in unison ; to combine with another for commercial purposes ; to agree on a common tariff.

In Wall street slang, to form a combination of speculators, for the purpose of buying up any particular stock

Hence, to pool one's issues, to come to an understanding for mutual advantage.

Pool holes. In New Jersey, holes two to six feet deep, full of " mucky " water, found on meadows. Also, spool holes.

Pooquaw (Ind. poquauhock). The round or hard clam (Venus mercenaria), so called in Nantucket. See quahaurj.

POOP (Old Eng. ). A favorite term, in the South, in the sense of lean, and so quoted in Middleton's plays.

Modern Eng. usage rather restricts the employment of this word, n the case of meat, to an article of indifferent quality, whilst in America the term poor, when so used, merely implies leanness.

PoOP-folksy. A common phrase, used adjectively in the South, whenever an idea of poverty needs to be conveyed. " A poor-folksy arrangement," i. e. an arrangement after the fashion of poor people.

PoOP-will. A Western variation of " whip-poor-will," from a supposed curtailment in the note of the species found on the plains.

Poose-back. Pig-a-back. Said of carrying a child on the back. Probably from "pappoose."

POQSteP about. To get up in the night and walk around.

POP— FOR

317

Pop-Corn. (1) A variety of Indian corn of a dark color, with small grains, and so called because those grains easily pop or burst open, when held in a wire-gauze over a brisk fire.

Hence, to pop corn, to parch or roast " pop corp " tills it bursts open.

(2) The dish itself of pop-corn, being the grains which have been burst open over a brisk fire. A very popular dainty, eaten with salt or sugar.

Pop-eyed. A Southern term for a person with protruding or prominent

eyes.

Poplar. See tulip-tree.

PopOCPat. In the campaign of 1896, an adherent of the Chicago, or free silver, wing of the Democratic party.

Pop Open. In Charleston, S. C. used of the rending, or tearing, or wearing through of a dress.

Poppy-eOCk. A term of contemptuous incredulity applied to bombast ; false representation ; gasconade. "Oh ! that's all poppy-cock. "

Pop-Squirt. A jackanapes ; an insignificant, but pretentious fellow.

Popular. (1) In New England, has the sense of conceited, fussy, aris- cratic. Thus, the Yankee simile : " Aspop'lar as a hen with one chicken." Compare with cunning, clever, etc. (2) In parts of the South, sense of stylish.

Porcion, por-see-on (Sp.). In Texas and New Mexico, a certain tract of land, and, more specifically, a quantity of land apportioned to primitive settlers when organizing new towns.

The primary meaning of the word is a portion or share.

Porkopolis. The city of Cincinnati, Ohio, from its be'ing a large centre of the pork-packing industry.

Portaal (Dutch). An ante-room, lobby, or passage. Restricted to settle- ments of Dutch descent, in New Jersey and New York.

Portage (Fr.). A strip of land between rapids or water-falls, or between two navigable rivers, over which canoes, stores, and " impedimenta " have to be carried on the men's backs.

A word dating back from the first " voyageurs. "

Hence, also, to portage, to carry or convey boats and outfit overland.

Porterhouse Steak. A beefsteak consisting of a choice cut of the beef between the sirloin and the tenderloin, the latter being the under cut. The origin of the term is said to be as follows. In the old coaching days there was a tavern in New York, kept by a man named Porter, famous for its steaks ; to which house one Saturday night there arrived a traveller who called for a steak. Not one was left; but the hungry traveller called and called again for a steak. Finally the innkeeper, in

318

POS— POT

his distress, took from his larder a large piece of sirloin put there for roasting, and cut from it a piece to broil. It was found so delicious that the same piece was often called for after that, and was christened after the house and its proprietor, " Porter House Steak." Up to that time this piece of meat had been used for roasting only, and the discovery of its virtues for broiling may be said to have been quite accidental.

Posey-yard. A flower-garden attached to a dwelling-house, " posey " being of course the old English term for a bouquet or bunch of flowers^ and " yard" being, in reality, derived from the same root as garden.

Postal. An abb. of postal card, which is the usual American term for post-card.

Postal Currency. Postage stamps in circulation as currency, during the early part of the Civil War.

POSt-and-ralling (pron. post-an-railin'). A kind of fence, consisting mainly of posts and rails.

Posted. Well informed. Also, potted up. Now current in England.

Post-note. In commerce, a bill of exchange drawn to order.

Post-Oak (Qwercus obtusitoba). A variety of oak found in the Middle States, and furnishing a wood much used in ship-building.

Pot. The accumulated bets in a game of poker.

Potato-grant. In the West Indies, a patch of land for growing vege- tables, allotted to resident laborers on estates. Also, plantain pitch.

Pot-holes. Naturally formed depressions in rock, due to the action of water, and which, from being circular in shape, were at one time thought to have been made by the early aborigines, for grinding and pounding corn in.

Also called Indian Mortars.

Pot-pie. A rough and ready sort of meat pie, made by spreading the crust over the bottom and sides of a pot, and filling up the inside with meat

Potty-bakeP (Dutch pott-bakker). A term still cjmmon in New York to designate a potter.

Pot-walloper. Also a dish-washer. A 'scullion, or a slovenly person. A figure evidently taken from the manner in which such an unfortunate being would be apt to knock the kitchen-pots about.

The Eng. word " pot- walloper " denotes a householder qualified for voting, literally a "pot-boiler."

In Pennsylvania, they use pot-wrestler.

POU— PRA

319

PouliS, poo-lee (Fr. C. ). In the lower St. Lawrence region, a name applied to the Labrador herring.

Pourcil, poor-sill (Fr. C.). In the lower St. Lawrence region, a name applied to a species of dolphin (Phocera communis), which has been also called the dolphin of the American seas.

Pout. The popular New England name of the catfish (Pimelodus), eel- pout being the common name of the Lota Maculosa of the lakes.

Poverty-grass (Hudsonia tormentosa). A poor sort of herbage, almost approaching the nature of a moss, which is common in New England and grows in scanty bunches on soil that refuses to produce anything else.

Powder-post. Worm-eaten, i. e. eaten by a worm which leaves its holes full of powder, as is generally the case in sapwood and hickory.

POW-WOW (Ind. poican, a pi-ophet, a conjuror, in the New England dialects). A term originally adopted by the early settlers to designate any great assembly among the Indians, and now extended to the political world in the sense of a public meeting where much parley is indulged in.

POW-WOW (to). To perform a ceremony, among the Indians, with conjurations, dances. To cure by exorcising evil spirits. " She had the doctor pow-ivow her arm, and it got well. "

The pow-wow doctor, more often a woman, is a person of importance among ignorant farming people, in Pennsylvania German communities. She mutters words over the afflicted spot, makes the sign of the cross, and often gives the patient relief.

To pow-wow is also extended in the sense of to hold a political meeting.

POZO (Sp.). A word current on the frontier of Mexico, for a spring or well, generally issuing from a hole in the ground.

Prairie (Fr. ). An extensive tract of land, level or rolling, covered with coarse grass, and generally characterized by a rich soil of great depth.

Prairie-bitters. A mixture of buffalo gall and water, to which great medicinal powers are ascribed by hunters and border-settlers.

Prairie dog1 (Cynomus ludovicianus). A variety of the marmot, so called from the supposed similarity between its warning cry and the short, sharp bark of a small dog.

Also called (jophtr, in the .West.

Prairie-hen (Tetrao pratensis). A beautiful game-bird, whose flight somewhat resembles that of the pheasant or partridge, and is especially seen in great numbers in the prairies of Missouri and Illinois.

Also called heath-hen and pinnated (jroune (West), partridrje (North), pheasant (Delaware).

Prairie-itch. A skin eruption, caused by the fine red dust of the prairies, in summer.

320

PRA— PRI

Prairie-Schooner. A huge covered waggon, used in crossing the plains before the Pacific railway was completed.

These vehicles are by no means extinct, as the railroad, even at the present time, only taps but a small portion of the Great West.

Prairie-State. The State of Illinois. Prairie-WOlf. See coyote.

Prawehey (Dutch praatje). A painful corruption of the original, and designating a gossip, in the sense of a pleasant neighborly talk. This word now retains only an antiquarian interest, being at present almost entirely extinct.

Preach. A preaching, a sermon.

Preaeher'S-stand. A Western word for a pulpit, and especially much used at camp meetings and similar gatherings.

Precinct. In electoral matters, a subdivision of a county or city ; a ward ; a district.

Pre-empt. To secure land, by being the first settler or occupant of it, according to a legal form set out in the " Pre-emption Law " of 1841.

This enactment has since been somewhat modified by the " Homestead Act " of 1862.

Hence, also, colloquially, to pre-empt, to take possession, to qualify for.

Pre-emption right. The right which an original settler or squatter has to pre-empt or secure a title to Government lands.

Pre-emptor. One who has the right to pre-empt.

Prekel (Ger. ). In Pennsylvania, a small, flat, sugar-coated cake.

Presidio (Sp.). In the former provinces of Mexico, now within the Union, a village which is built on the site of an old Mexican military post, formerly called a "presidio."

Also, a military post proper, and, more specifically, a place of confi. nement for convicts.

Pretty. In North Carolina, and parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania, this word is often heard in conjunction with weather, in sense of pleasant agreeable.

Pretzel (Ger.). A kind of biscuit, which has an incrustation of salt, and is supposed to excite thirst. Also, pretzel-bread.

Prickly-pear (Opuntia vulgaris). A sort of flat, jointed cactus, with an insipid fruit, which grows along the Atlantic coast, from Massachusetts southward, in sandy fields and about dry rocks. One variety is also called Indian-fig.

PRI-PRO

321

Primary meeting". A preliminary meeting held by the voters of a district, usually for the purpose of making nominations or electing delegates to nominating conventions.

Priminary. In the South, a predicament, a dilemma, a difficulty. Provincial in North of England.

Priming. ATo< a priming to, of no account ; not lo be compared to. See circumstance.

A backwood's term, in allusion to the old fashioned " priming," before the days of the breech-loaders.

PHmp. A woman's word meaning to linger over one's toilet ; to seek to enhance one's personal appearance by various little arts and devices.

Hence, primpy, meaning a woman given to the adornment of her person, by dress, jewels, cosmetic*, etc.

Prince-Albert. What is known, in England, ae a frock-coat.

Prink (Old Eng. ). Still persisting, in the Eastern States, in sense of to ornament, to adorn.

This word is found in Spencer, and other writers of the Elisabethan period.

Probate. A legist's word, meaning to prove (with regard to wills).

Procession (to). In colonial times, to go about in order to settle the boundaries of, as land. The word is still used in North Carolina and Tennessee.

Produce. A generic name for crops.

Professor. (1) Applied indiscriminately to any one who makes a pro- fession of anything.

(2) One who has made a public profession of a religion, and has been admitted to membership in the form peculiar to each church, wherever such a rite prevails instead of confirmation.

In this sense, professor is a usage of the 17th century, if indeed it does not belong to an earlier period, as it can be found with the above meaning, besides other places, in the greatest of Milton's prose treatises.

Progress. To move forward ; to advance.

This old form, now obsolete in England, was long used in Devonshire, from which county came a great number of the early settlers of the colonies.

In New. Jersey, to search for anything imbedded in the mud, as clams, terrapins, etc. by means of a sounding rod.

Prohibition. The prohibition, by law, of the sale of intoxicating liquors ; the political doctrine which would forbid, by law, the sale of alcoolic beverages.

Hence, also, & prohibitionist, meaning one in favor of such prohibition. •21

322

PRO— PUC

Pronghorn. A species of antelope (Antilocapre americana) found on the plains west of the Missouri river, and so called from the fact that each horn has a prong jutting out of it. See cabrie.

Pronounce. To turn out ; to prove. A curious usage, current in Nan- tucket, where a horse, for instance, when being put through his paces, will pronounce well or ill, as the case may be.

Proper. In parts of the South, especially North Carolina, often heard in sense of handsome.

PropiO, pro-'pe-o (Sp. ). In the formerly Spanish States, a word applied to a common or land owned by a municipality, and reserved, under the Spanish American law, for the benefit of the community at large, such as the erection of public buildings, markets, etc.

Prospect. In mining phraseology, the out-turn of the first panful of earth washed. Upon its result, the miner decides whether it is good or bad prospect, and governs himself accordingly.

PPOVen. This old participle, originally a Scotticism, still survives' amongst most American writers.

Provider. A husband ; a mate. A very sarcastic allusion, indeed, to the dull submission of the average American husband, whose sole object must be to provide for all the wishes of his wife.

Provineialist. In Canada, an upholder of State's rights.

Provincials. A name given in Canada, in 1775, to the American insur- gents in active campaign against the authority of England.

The American armies, at the outbreak of the War of the Revolu- tion, were also called, in Canada, Provincial troops.

Prox. Formerly used in Rhode Island and Connecticut, in electoral con- tests, but now obsolete or nearly so. The meaning of prox was a list of candidates, or a ticket, handed to the voter.

Hence, proxy, meaning the day of election itself.

Pry. A large lever employed to raise or move heavy substances. (Wor- cester. )

Also, to pry, to force open with a tool used as a lever ; to move or raise by means of a large lever.

Still provincial in some parts of England.

Publishment. In New England, publication, especially of banns of marriage.

Puck. In the North, often heard for a blow.

PUE— PUN

323

Pueblo (Sp. ). (1) A town or village, in the formerly Spanish States, espe- cially New Mexico. Also, a village of the semi-civilized Catholic Indians of New Mexico, whence their name of Pueblo Indians.

(2) A name applied, in New Mexico and Arizona, to some very pecu- liar ruins pertaining to the early aborigines, who are said to have been the legitimate descendants of the ancient Astecs, the former rulers of the country. These ruins, or Pueblo remains, are especially numerous in the region between the Uio Grande, Colorado, and Gila rivers.

Puff- WOPkePS. In newspaper slang, reporters who make a business of writing paragraphs puffing theatrical performers.

Pukes. (1) Nausea, attack of vomiting. " The_baby has the pukes." (2) A nickname applied to the inhabitants of Missouri.

Pull. (1) A profit, in business or industry.

(2) An advantage held over another person.

(3) Influence or favor with anyone, especially in politics.

Pull (to). (1) To fire on any one, i. e. to pull trigger.

(2) To arrest ; to raid a gambling-house or house of ill-fame.

Pull-baek-dreSS. A woman's gown tightly draped in front, which first came in vogue about 1876 or 1877, and was so called from all the fulness of it being taken to the back.

Pull-doo (Fr. poule (feau, water-hen). A small black duck found in the bays and inlets of the Gulf of Mexico.

Pullikins. A Kentucky word for a dentist's forceps.

Pullman. A drawing-room, or sleeping-car, so called from the name of the first constructor of these luxurious vehicles.

Now, also, a name thoroughly naturalized in England.

Pull out. To abandon ; to withdraw.

Pull up Stakes. To remove ; to change one's quarters ; to pack up one's furniture or baggage, preparatory to a removal.

The allusion, of course, is to pulling up the stakes of a tent, and is a vivid reminiscence of a nomad life amid the pathless wildernesses of the Far West.

Pulque, pool'-kay (Sp.). In the South- West, a well known intoxicating beverage, prepared from the sap of the maguey~(Agave americana).

Pumpkins. See some pumpkins.

Puncheons. In Georgia, and adjoining States, rough-hewn logs, which being smoothed on one side are laid upon sleepers as flooring.

Punish. To hurt or annoy. " My sore punished me all day."

Also used, intransitively, in sense of suffering for lack of something. More especially current in Pennsylvania jind Kentucky.

PUN— PUT

Punk. In Canada and New England, rotten-wood, or touchwood, used as tinder.

Punk (to). To push, or strike with the fist. Probably, a corruption of to punch, with which it is identical in meaning.

Punk-pudding. In the Adirondacks, a name applied to the bittern.

Also, stake-driver.

Punky (Ind. ponk). An almost invisible but fierce little gnat that bedevils all travelers in Northern woods, and whose bite is much like the stinging of a spark of fire.

Punt. In Maryland, Virginia, and other States, a canoe-like boat, hol- lowed out of a large tree.

In England, & punt is a flat- bottomed boat.

PupelO. A whilom term for cider-brandy, formerly manufactured to a great extent in New England.

Push. The latest addition to current slang is the use of the word "push," in the sense that " the fancy" and " the talent " have been employed to designate the followers or admirers of some form of sport. How long the term has been thus used orally it is impossible to say ; its first appearance in print, however, was synchronal with the big cycle shows of a few years ago in Chicago, New York and Boston, when it was applied to the army of. agents, advertisers and others engaged in pushing the sales of the various makes of wheels.

From that restricted application its scope was gradually broadened to include all devotees of the bicycle, and now it is in quite common use to characterize the followers of racing, base ball, rowing, athletics, etc.

Push-buggy. Baby-carriage.

Push-cart. A truck or barrow, pushed by hand.

Pussy. In New England, often heard for fat, corpulent.

Pussy-WillOW (Salix discolor). The swamp- willow, so called from the softness of its expanding cat-kins in early spring.

Put- To start, or go away, to be off.

Hence, the common imperative put, used for Begone ! Also, to put off', to put out.

Put a head On One. To punch or assault another, and figuratively to silence, or shut up another.

Put down One's fOOt. To be very decided, very determined in a course of action.

President Lincoln was continually represented, by the Northern papers, as putting his foot down for the removal of Gen. McClellan or Gen. Hooker, or some other object, popular at the time.

PUT— QUA 325

Put it in Strong. To speak or act with emphasis ; to express oneself strongly, or in strong language.

Put it OH ice. To charge it up.

Put On Style. To give oneself airs ; to make a boastful or showy parade, . specially referring to singularity in one's speech, dress, or habit.

Putten (Old Eng.). The old participle of to put, still surviving in parts of New P^ngland arid New York.

Putter. To needlessly engage in fussy work of no special benefit to any one.

In England, "to potter" means to trifle, to busy or perplex oneself about trifles^

PuttO (Fr. potean, a stake). A familiar term, among South- Western settlers, for a stake firmly set in the ground, to which horses and cattle are fastened.

Put up. A forcible injunction to silence, somewhat equivalent to "shut up ! "

Quackle. To suffocate, to choke. .

Still provincial in England.

Quadroon (Sp. cuarteron.). The offspring of a mulatto and a white man.

Quahaug (Ind. ). The popular name of the hard clam in New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

The name ' ' Venus Mercenaria " was applied to the quahaug on account of its having been once in general use as currency, among the Indians.

Also, quahor/.

Quaker. An imitation gun made of wood or other material, and so called from its inoffensive character. Also, quaker gun.

Quaker City. The city of Philadelphia, from association with William Penn, a Quaker, and settlement of Quakers.

Quamish (Phalangium esculentum). A variety of kamas root (q. v. ) much relished by Indians, in the West. Also, camus plant.

Quarter. A twenty-five cent piece, or a quarter of a dollar.

326

QUA— QUI

QuaPteP-hOPSe. A horse that runs the first quarter better than the rest of the race.

Hence, also, figuratively, a person that begins well, but has little- staying power.

QuaPtePS. In the South, a name formerly applied to the negro-huts on a plantation, and still surviving in some places to designate the houses of black people.

Quashee. A nickname for a negro.

Quate. A common name for a quoit.

Quawk. In parts of New England, the night-heron.

Quebrada, kay-brah'-dah (Sp. quebrar, to break). In Texas and New- Mexico, a strip of broken country, cut up by ravines.

QueeP. Mildly insane, with a connotation of ludicrousness.

In England, queer serves to express the sensation of being a little- " out of sorts, " as when one does not feel very well.

In Old English, " queer" or " quier" was a common prefix, meaning bad or wicked.

QuemadO, kay-mah'-doh (Sp. quemar, to burn). In Texas, a burnt district. Compare with Fr. briitt.

Quick-hatch. In the Hudson's Bay region, a name applied to the- wolverine, being a corruption of the Cree Indian name of that animal. Noted by Ellis in 1748.

Quiddling. Uncertain; unsteady.

QuileP. A New-Jerseyism for a holdback strap. See side-strap.

QuiliOU, pron. kee-lee-oo (Ind. Ojibway kiniou, or Jciliiw, the great or war- eagle). A word used by the voyageurs to designate the eagle, and especially the great or war-eagle. The eagle called pwkiniou by the Ojibways of Lake Superior, is named by the French voyageurs " quiliou batard, " or bastard quiliou.

Quiode, kee-odd (Fr. C. ). A species of dish, prepared with the heads of the cod-fish, and of which the fishermen of Gaspe, in the Gulf of St Lawrence, are particularly fond.

Quiote, ke -oh'-tay (Mex. qniotf). In Texas and New Mexico, the fruit of the maguey, which is always baked before being eaten.

QulPt (Sp. cuarfa). In Texas and New Mexico, a riding-whip, made of raw hide and leather plaited together, with a piece of iron in the handle.. Hence, to quirt, to break in wild horse.s.

RAB— RAF

327

R. The pure Yankee curiously misplaces his " r's ", and even omits them when they ought to be heard, as in ater, arter, for after. With him this letter is subjected to as many indignities as the letter " h" is among uneducated people in England.

RababOU (Fr. C. ). Among the old voyageurs, a name formerly applied to a concoction of flour and pemican.

RacCOOn (Ind. Alg. aroughcun, meaning scratcher). A well-known fur bearing animal allied to the opossum (Procyon lotor), and found in nearly all over North America. In folk-speech, generally cut down to coon.

Aroughcun — to spell it in the form used by captain John Smith (1624) — -had already got down to rackoon in, the writings of Roger Williams (1643), though at a later period we find it called arouyhena. It is, afterwards, rottcone, roacoon, racoune. It appears as raccon in " Josselyn " (1675), and at last as raccoon in Beverly's Virginia (1705).

In view of such overwhelming evidence for the aboriginal origin of the word, it must seem strange that so austere an etymologer as Mr. Skeat, in England, and even Worcester and Webster, on this side of the ocean, should have fallen into the error of considering raccoon as merely a sin- gular corruption of the French raton. Indeed, all we can afford here to give to those scholars is the benefit of the spelling ratoon, found in Wilson's " Account of Carolina " (1682), and which suggests that a mis- take in its etymology may have been made very earl}'.

Rackabones. Applied either to a wreck of a horse, or to an emaciated human being.

In England, " racks " is the name given by horse-copers to the bones of a dead horse.

Radicals. A name given, at the time of the anti-slavery crisis, to the most advanced among the Republicans, who were willing to sacrifice every constitutional right, rather than give up the Union. Also, contemptuously shortened to Rads.

Raft. (1) A float of wood, boards, or logs, often of a gigantic size, which is floated down from the interior to the tide-waters.

In no sense, however, distinctively American, except so far as size is concerned. The log rafts formed in the head-waters, flowing into the Mississipi, are especially of almost incredible dimensiqns.

Hence, also, to raft, to transport on a raft ; rafting, the business of constructing and floating rafts ; r ift-imcin, one who follows the business of rafting.

328

RAG— RA1

(2) The accumulation of timber or fallen trees which, floating down the great rivers of the West, are arrested by flats or shallow places, sometimes forming a formidable obstacle to navigation.

(3) A vulgar expression for a host, a large number or quantity, from the immense size of some rafts of timber or logs. " A whole raft of children."

Rag. (1) A cant term for a dollar.

Similarly, rag money, meaning paper money.

(2) In the South, a common term for any piece of linen or cotton- cloth. Also, a towel, a sheet, and even, vulgarly, a pocket-handker- chief.

A similar divergence exists in respect to rocks, for stones ; dirt, for earth, etc.

Rag" Carpet. A carpet of home manufacture, made from strips of cloth knitted or sewn together.

In England, a " scrap hearthrug."

Raid. A predatory incursion, and especially a warlike invasion on horse- back into the enemy's country.

" Raid, " derived from the verb to ride, is an old Scotch word, well known to all readers of Scott's poems, from the lines :

Widow and Saxon maid Long shall lament our raid,

(Lady of the Lake.)

Hence, also, to raid, to roust out, to make legal search.

Rail. A piece of timber, used in fencing, whether cleft, hewn or sawn. In England, the word means necessarily a round piece.

Rail (to). To travel by railway.

Rail-riding1. A savage punishment, which consists, when popular resentment against a person is fairly aroused, in placing the culprit upon the sharp edge of a rail, to be carried through the streets, the finals being generally reached in a ducking, or tarring and feathering.

Railroad. The modern method of transportation by rail, though first introduced in England, was so speedily adopted and so widely used in the United States, that a different/ terminology seems to have arisen at once in the two countries, and to have maintained itself since. It may also be remarked that whilst the English railway was a development of the old stage-coach, the American railroad was a substitute for a steamboat, a fact which may account, in a certain measure, for the striking difference of the technicalities, in vise on both sides of the ocean. The following list comprises the more important variations ;

UNITED STATES.

ENGLAND

Luggage. Luggage van.

RAI— RAI

329

Buffer. 'Car.

Check rails. Conductor. Cow-catcher, or plot. Depot. Engineer. Fireman. Freight train. Frog. Grade. Railroad. Switches. Switching off. Ticket office. Track, or roadbed. Trucks (under the cars). Turn-out.

Bumper.

Carriage.

Guard rails.

Guard.

Plough.

Station.

Driver, or engine-driver.

Stoker.

Goods train.

Crossing plate.

Gradient.

Railway.

Points.

Shunting.

Booking office.

Line.

Bogies.

Siding.

Railroad (to). (1) As an intransitive verb, to work on a railroad, to be attached to a railroad.

Hence, railroader, an employ^ on a railway.

(2) Transitively, to do a thing hastily ; to push through at a rapi^ pace. " He was railroaded to the penitentiary."

Railroad City. The city of Indianapolis, Indiana, from its being a centre for many lines of railway.

Rail-SplitteP. One of the many nicknames applied to Abraham Lincoln. Raineloak. In the West, a waterproof cloak.

Raise. (1) To grow crops. To bring up, to rear from childhood. This use of the word is legitimate English of the 17th century, as witness the following sentence, from the Memoirs of Lord Hertbert of Chertbury, written about 1645 :

My grandfather's power — was so great, that divers ancestors were

his servants, and raised by him.

Also applied, in the Southern States, to the breeding of negroes.

(2) To breed cattle, horses, etc.

(3) To fraudulently increase the amount of a cheque or bank-bill.

(4) To stake a higher amount than one's opponent, at cards. " To raise, a bet," same as to go better (q. v. ).

(5) To procure, or obtain, with a connotation of difficulty or discredi- table manner. " To raise money. "

Also to make a raise, i. e. to make a haul, to raise the wind.

(6) To make up, fabricate, invent, as when a tale is rained against •somebody.

330

RAI— RAN

(7) To build, to erect, as when neighbors assemble at a raising, or raising bee, to help erecting a house, a barn, etc. in sense of setting up the frame of a building.

Raise Cain. To have a " high old time." commotion. Also, to raise a racket.

To make a disturbance or

Raise hail. To cause a disturbance ; to kick up a row. Used in a some- what milder sense than " to raise Cain," which expression indicates more heat and passion.

Raise haiP. To scalp, in the vernacular of trappers and frontiersmen, and hence, idiomatically, to defeat, to overwhelm, as when one is said of having succeeded in " raising his opponent's hair." Afso, to lift hair.

Raise one's Ebenezer. A phrase of Puritan origin, meaning to put oneself in evidence, that is, in Biblical parlance, to set one's light on top of a hill.

Raise Sand. To get furiously angry.

Raising1 (Old Eng. ). A favorite term still surviving, in New England, for yeast. This old word, which is a literal translation of the French " levain, " was thus used by Gayton in his " Festivous Notes on Don Quixote. "

Rake up the persimmons. To pocket the stakes or spoils. The equi- valent of the English slang " to pull in the pieces. "

Rampiek. Any dead tree, and, more especially, a trunk of a dead tree standing after the top has fallen. (Nfld. N. B. and N. S.) Also, rampike, rampole.

Ranch (Sp. rancho). In the West, and on the Pacific coast, a term which has become very popular for an estate, a farm, and especially a cattle station, comprising the industry itself, with its outfit.

In Northern Mexico, a rancho is a rude hut of posts and boughs of trees, in which vaqueros or herdsmen seek shelter, and a collection of which fdrm a village.

Hence, to ranch, to engage in the cattle -raising industry ; rancher, ranchman, a cattle-raiser ; ranchero, one who keeps a ranch, or lives in a ranch ; also, in the extreme South- West, a peasant.

Randy. In Newfoundland and parts of the Canadian Maritime provinces, ussd both as a noun and verb for the amusement of coasting, or sliding down hill, as in the phrases : " Give us a randy. The boys are randying" To raise randi/ to create a disturbance.

RAN— RAT

331

Range. In the South- West, a cattleman's term, for the ground or prairie over which cattle are allowed to pasture.

A distinct word from ranch.

Hence, colloquially, to go over the range, to die, a simile drawn from the fact that, originally, the phrase was at first applied to beasts which, having strayed from the main herd, were apt to meet with fatal mishap.

Rangy. (1) Roomy, commodious ; having or permitting range or scope. (2) In stock-breeding, used in sense of a roving character, adapted for ranging or running about. Also said of an animal which is large, or loosely built.

RantankerOUS. Given to quarrelsomeness.

Probably derived from "rantan" which, in Old English, signified a drunken row, or else it may be only a variant of cantankerous.

Rapper. A contemptuous term for a spiritualist.

Rare. An epithet applied to half-couked meat, and employed here so generally that, as contrasted with " underdone, " the corresponding expression in modern England, its use may be looked upon, under ordinary circumstances, as a test of nationality.

Rare has never been common in the literary language ; but its use has been widely spread in the dialects of the North of England, and in those of the Eastern counties. Dryden speaks of new-laid eggs :

Turned by a gentle fire and roasted rare.

The word is not derived, as commonly stated, from the Anglo-Saxon " hrere, " meaning raw or crude, but from the old Eng. " rear " of which Grose says : " Rear, " early, soon. Meat under-roasted is said to be " rear, " from being taken too soon from the fire. "

Rat. (1) Among trade unions, a " blackleg" or "turncoat, " i. e. a work- man deserting the common cause. Also, a workman who works under price.

Hence, to rat, to work under price.

(2) In the South, a contemptuous epithet once applied to those who, haying fled during the war, dared not return for fear of consequences.

Rating. The estimated \vealth or credit of a person, as stated on the lists of a Commercial Agency.

RatOOns (Sp. retono, a sprout or shoot). The cuttings of sugar-cane ot the second and third year's growth, which serve for planting now fields. Hence, also, to ratoon.

Rats. An ejaculation, expressive of contemptuous sarcasm or indifference. Rat-thieving. Sneak-thieving ; petty pilfering from carriages, etc.

332

RAT— REC

Rattled. Confused ; nervous ; perplexed.

From the ordinary signification of "rattle," to shake.

(2) In California, said of horses sick from eating ra.ttlewe.ed.

Rattlers. In New Jersey, said of the poorest kind of oysters, because they rattle in their shells.

Ravage (Fr. C. ). The destruction of leaves and young shrubs, made by the orignal when feeding.

Rawhide. A whip made of raw cowhide, and mainly used by cowboys and plainsmen on the cattle ranges of the West.

Reach. In the tide-water district of New Jersey, said of a stretch of a circuitous creek between two sharp bends. Such reaches are from 200 feet to a mile or more in length.

Ready (to). An old Scotch idiom still surviving in our speech, and mean- ing to make ready, to set to rights or in order.

The term is, however, mainly used in its original form of redd, of •which Grose says : Redd, to untangle or separate. " To red up a room '' is a marked provincialism in Pennsylvania, from whence it has passed into Ohio, and the well-known following old proverb may fitfully here be recalled :

A seamstress that sews and would make her work redde, Must use a long needle -and a short thread.

Real. In general use for very. " I'm real glad to see you. "

Real estate. A common phrase for land, house property, and the like. In England, '•' real estate" is strictly restricted to the technical pro- vince of law.

a mere big sounding, vulgar phrase for houses and land, and so used is

a marked and unjustifiable Americanism.

(R. G. WHITE, Words and their Uses.)

ReboSO, ray-boh'-so (Sp. ). In formerly Spanish States a long veil worn by women over the head and shoulders.

Reciprocity. Among Canadian politicians, that which lies between free trade and " commercial union. " A variant is unrestricted reciprocity.

Reckon (Old Eng.). To calculate ; to conjecture ; to form a judgment.

The Southern equivalent of the Northern "guess," and the New- England " calculate. "

This word, which is still provincial in some counties of the North of England, in sense of to think, to believe, etc. is a survival of an old English usage :

For I reckon that the sufferings of this time

(St Paul, Romans, VIII, 18.)

REC— REF

333

Recommend. An abbreviated form of recommendation, current in New England in sense of a commendatory notice.

Reconstruction. At the close of the Civil War, a term applied by Northern statesmen to the building up anew of the shattered edifice of the South.

Record. (1) Any higher success, in any particular pursuit, than has previously been authenticated.

(2) The aggregate of actions and doings in the past of a man, which can furnish arguments for or against him, as the case may be.

Red (to). See ready.

Red brush. The part of Kentucky between the mountains and the Ohio river. Also, an inhabitant of that region.

Red cent. The smallest copper coin, the equivalent of the English " copper farthing. "

" Not a red cent, " out of money.

Also, simply, red. " He is not worth a red. "

Red eye. In the West, a well-known term for whiskey of a raw and fiery nature.

Red-head (Fuligula ferina). A species of duck much esteemed for its flesh, and so called from the color of its head.

Red-hOPSe. (1) A species of sucker (Catostomus duquesnii), found in the Ohio and its tributaries, and so called from its red color and large size. (2) A nickname applied to an inhabitant of Kentucky.

Red-hot. A common intensitive. " A red-hot time, a red-hot temper, etc.

Red-POOt. A shrub of the Far West, in the Rocky Mountains, produ- cing a tea not unlike the genuine article. See New Jersey tea.

Red Sumac. A tree, the leaves of which are largely used, by Indians and trappers, as a substitute for tobacco. See kini-kinik. Also, red-willow.

Red tape. Official routine, from color of string tying official papers.

RedemptionePS. In the early colony days, a name given, in Virginia, to emigrants from Europe who had agreed to sell this services for a given time, in order to pay or "redeem" their passage-money and other expenses.

Reformists. In^Canadian history, the name of the political party, formed by Papineau in 1820, on the basis of the reform of the constitution, and which was the chief factor in bringing the insurrection of 1837-3S.

334

Regent. In the State of New York, a member of the governing body which is invested with the superintendence of all colleges, academies, and schools in the State.

Regret. A note of apology declining an invitation.

Regular. In newspaper parlance, a general news dispatch, i. e. one coming from one of the usual news or press associations.

Regulators. In those States where Lynch law reigns supreme, a name applied to those self-constituted guardians of public virtue and morality, who form " Vigilance Committees " and join in lynching parties.

ReligiOUS. In the West, often said of a horse who is free from vice.

Remonta (Sp. ). A Spanish word in use on the plains of the South-West, to signify a group of saddle-horses.

Remuda, ray-moo'-dah (Sp.). In Texas, a" bunch" of horses, about a score. Usually applied to geldings only.

In Spain, remuda is more especially applied to a change or relay of horses.

Renverse' (Fr. C.). Among the French-Canadians, a tract of forest covered with trees blown down by storms. Compare with brute. .

RepapadePO, ray-par-ah-der'-o (Sp. ). In Texas, a part of a pasture fenced in, into which herders run cattle or horses.

Repeater. A voter who registers his vote more than once at an election. RepOPtOPial. Pertaining to the duties or functions of a reporter.

Republicans. One of the two great political parties of the United States, and a party name which has been several times adopted in the history of American politics.

The name Democratic Republicans was first suggested, in 1793, as a desirable substitute for Anti-Federalists, but in 1805 the appellation Democratic was dropped, a marked distinction being thenceforward observable between Republicans and Democrats. The name subsequently fell into disuetude, but was permanently revived, in 1856, as a political cognomen, through the opposition of the Republicans to the extension of slavery. Four years later the party came into power, and after having abolished slavery and subdued the rebellion, enjoyed an uninterrupted lease of power until 1884, on the election of G rover. Cleveland.

Reservation. Land set apart or reserved for some public use, as for schools, the Indians, etc. Also, reserve.

RES— RID

335

A resolution ; a determination. Generally used in sense of a legal or official determination, and in connection with the transactions of public bodies.

RestitutionistS. A religious sect of Massachusetts, whose chief article of faith is a belief in an immediate return of all things to their original form and purity.

RestPictionist. In Canada, an advocate of a Protective Tariff.

Result. In New England, the decision or determination of a council or deliberative assembly. (Webster. )

Resurrect. To engage in body-snatching, and, figuratively, to revive or bring to light a second time. Also, to resurrectionize.

(1) Retirement. (2) A competency, on which a man may retire.

Retirement. Withdrawal ; removal. " The retirement of the resolutions from the Senate. "

Revamp. To mend ; to repair ; to patch up. Originally an exclusively shoemaker's term, derived from " to wamp," which meant to put new upper leather to shoes.

Reventon, ray-ven-tone', (Sp. reventar, to burst). Mexico, a spring bursting forth from the earth. See charco.

In Texas and New

Reverent. In Georgia, and adjoining States, used in sense of strong,

potent, as reverent whiskey. Rewrite man. In newspaper parlance, an experienced reporter who has

the gift of unerringly seeing what is valuable in a story, and rewriting

it into terse and picturesque style, so that it stands out. This is a

development of the last two years.

Rice-birds. A nickname for the inhabitants of(South Carolina, from their alleged fondness for boiled rice.

Rich-Weed. See stone-root.

Ride. To carry ; to transport ; to convey by cart. Often heard espe- cially in city of New York. " To ride a box or a bale of goods."

RideP. In legislative practice, a bill added to another bill, so that the two may be passed together as one bill, as when, for instance, a measure which would be vetoed if presented by itself, is attached to some impor- tant appropriation bill.

In common speech, a rider is the top-rail of a zig-zag fence.

336

RID— RIL

Ride up. Said of a collar. " Your collar rides up behind."

Ridiculous. Often heard, especially in remote parts of New England^ in sense of detestable, abominable, scandalous.

Riding-roek. In the South, a conspicuous rock or land-mark in the middle of a stream which is used to show the depth of the water, and as an indication that the river is fordable or not.

Riding-way. A ford.

See out of ride.

RifflB. (1) An old corruption of " ripple " primarily applied, in Penn- sylvania, to the rocky obstructions of the Susquehanna river, and after- wards extended to any obstruction, or obstacle, and metaphorically to any misunderstanding or quarrel.

(2) A rapid, or place in a stream where a swift current, striking upon rocks, produces a boiling motion in the water. •

Riffles. In mining, parallel strips at the bottom of a sluice, so arranged that they can be easily taken out when the time comes to " clean up." These riffles cause the separation of the gold from the lighter pebbles by setting up little cross currents in the sluice stream, in the eddies of which the grains of precious metal are dropped, only to be recovered by the use of quicksilver during the clean-up.

Riffs. People of the slums, the " riff-raff." Especially current in New York city.

Rig. A common wood for a horse and wagon, i. e. a team.

Right. Fully, well. " I couldn't hear him right. I don't like it right."

Right along. Without cessation, continuously.

Right away. Directly, immediately.

Right here. Here, at this spot, at this time.

Right now. Immediately.

Right Smart, Many, a great quantity. " We raised right smart of potatoes this year."

Rile. To render a liquid turbid by stirring up the sediment, and meta- phorically to make angry, to stir up anger.

It riled me so, that I just steps up to him intending to kick him down

stairs.

(Sum Slick, Human Nature.)

Now nearly obsolete in England, its use being restricted to some country people in Norfolk and Essex, but said to be current in New England, to which region it was probably transported, in early colonial times, in the person of some East Anglican thiefs.

RIN-RIS

337

Hence, rily, or riley, turbid, excited to resentment, vexed. This form is exclusively confined to the New World.

Ring1. A combination of politicians, speculators, etc. who play into each other's hands for mutual advantage ; a coterie of men banded together for their own advantage, pecuniary or otherwise ; a combination of merchants or manufacturers to raise prices, or to secure other advan-

Curiously enough, the origin of the word is not to be found in the usual sense of "ring, " as given by the dictionaries, but is said to be as follows. Fifty years ago a New York druggist, who was a member of the board of aldermen, formed what would now be called a "boodling combine, " which created no little scandal' at the time, but has long since been forgotten. His name was Charles H. Ring, and thus originated the use of the word " ring " as applied to a syndicate of political spoilsmen.

Ringer. (1) A member of a riny.

(2) A name given to a horse entered in a race with others far below his class in speed, by a ring of dishonest turfmen.

Ring-snake. A species of black snake once common in New England, and which was so called from a yellow ring around its neck.

Rip. To go at a great pace. " Let her rip. "

Rip OUt. To utter with vehemence. An energetic slang phrase, rarely ever used except with the addition of an oath. " To rip out an oath ".

(1) An active, brisk, or lively person. Also, rip-roaring.

(2) A new and ingenious implement of burglars, used in opening safes or vaults with iron surfaces.

Rip-Pap (to). In river embankments, to throw down stone for foundations, allowing it to find its own level.

Rip-roaring1. A commonly colloquial intensitive for brisk, lively, in sense of an active, dashing individual or thing ; a tearer, or driver. Also, rip-morter, rip-snorting, rip-staver. See ripper, roarer.

Ripsnorter. A tearing, driving fellow.

Rip tail Snorter. One who creates a sensation, who attracts much attention.

Rising. Exceeding ; more than ; upwards of. " There were rising five thousand bushels.' Also, rixiiirj of.

In some parts of the South, they use the phrase and the rise to mean and more, more than that. 22

338 RIZ— ROC

Riz bread. In New Jersey, said of yeast bread, i. e. not raised with soda.

Roach. A cockroach.

Roach (to). Denotes the trimming or cutting of horses' manes, what in England is called " to hog."

A figure probably taken from the peculiar curve in some square sails, which, in nautical language, is called a roach. "

Road-beat. In Canada and the north of New York State, said of the part of a highway under the control of a single path-master.

Roanoke. A Virginian generic name for Indian shell-money. See sewan and wampum.

A noisy self-assertive individual. Other intensive variants are ring-tailed roarer, ringclipper.

Roasting-eaPS. A popular name, in the South and West, for half -ripe Indian corn, either raw or roasted before a fire or in hot ashes.

Robber. Any kind of thief.

In England, the word has always a connotation of violence.

Robe (Fr. ). The dressed skin of a buffalo, among trappers and hunters, a pack of robes being ten skins tied in a pack. This term is especially limited to the skin of the buffalo, those of other animals being simply called skins.

Buffalo robe, a skin ornamented and lined, and used as a covering in a sleigh.

Robin. (Turdus migratorius). A species of^ thrush, destroying incredible numbers of grubs, and which bears only a slight resemblanca to the robin redbreast of England.

ROCk. (1) Often heard, especially in the South and West, in sense of stone,

Door rock, in the West, the door-stone or step.

(2) In the South, a slang term for a piece of money.

Hence, to rock, to throw stones at.

Rockaway. A light one-horse vehicle, which originally was probably a " Rockaway wagon, " so called from the famous Rockaway beach, near New York city.

Rock bed. A foundation, and metaphorically the root of a matter, the gist of a question.

ROC— ROL

339

Also, rock-bottom, which, in sense of " lowest, " is often used in speak- ing of prices, as rock-bottom prices. See bed-rock, and bottom-rock.

Roek-eod. In Massachusetts, a red colored variety of cod-fish.

(1) A rocking-chair.

(2) A miner's contrivance for washing gold, being a box set upon rockers, and divided into two spaces, separated by a mesh. The gravel is thrown into the upper, the apparatus is rocked gently back and forth, the finer particles, sand and gold, pass through the netting and are caught below in a cloth. The separation is then completed by panning, and the gold is recovered by amalgamation with quick-silver.

See cradle.

Rock fence. Often heard for stone wall.

Rock-POOted. A qualification applied to the Democratic party, fondly by its members, and in derision by its foes.

Rockeage. Parched and pulverized Indian corn, mixed with sugar. Also, yokeage. See nocake.

Rocky. Shaky, either financially and physically.

Rodeo, ro-day'-o (Sp.). In Texas, a term for a round-up (q.- v.).

Rogne. (Fr.). In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and on the fishing-banks of Newfoundland, a word applied to the eggs of the cod, used in France as baits for sardines. The same word as our English " roe," which was formerly spelled "roan."

Rollejees. (Dutch rolletje, little roll). And old and favorite dish of the descendants of the Dutch, in New York and New Jersey, made up of small sausages stuffed with mince meat, which are cut into slices and fried. Also, rullichies.

Rolling1. Has in the West the peculiar meaning of undulating. Hence, rolling country, rolling lands, rotting prairies, for a country, lands, etc. which present to the eye a succession of elevations and depressions.

Rolling POadS. Public roads, in Maryland and Virginia, so called from the old custom of rolling tobacco to market in hogsheads.

Rolling-weed. See tumble-weed.

Roll OUt. In the South-West, to begin a journey, or commence an under- taking, from the fact that for many years the ox-wagon was^ the only means of transportation in Texan.

340 ROL— ROT

Roly-poly. A game played with a rubber ball and small holes dug in the ground.

RoneheF. A generic name closely associated with any thing of great size or superlativeness. Thus an overwhelming calamity, or a blow of great force, would be apt to be called a rancher. See sockdolager

Rookepy. In California, said of a school of seals.

Room (to). To lodge ; to occupy a room, either single or with another. Hence, roomer, a lodger, one who lives in a room.

Roomkeeping*. Living in a room.

ROOPbaek. A falsehood ; a bogus newspaper article ; especially a false allegation issued for political purposes, and now a general term for any political forgery or fiction.

The word was derived from the fact that, in 1844, a Whig newspaper, the "Ithaca ( N. Y. ) Chronicle, " published for political purposes alleged extracts from the Travels of Baron Roorback, which were proved almost on their appearance to have been a set up scheme to deceive the public. Thereafter, it was easy to reply to every charge preferred against the Democratic candidate, by pronouncing it another roorback.

ROOSteP. A male fowl ; a cock.

Rope (to). To catch and secure an animal by means of a lasso, or lariat, and, figuratively, to swindle, to induce one to enter a scheme in which there is strong probability that he will be cheated.

It may be here interesting to note that Shakespeare has already used " ropery " for " roguery."

Also, to rope in.

RopeP, RopeP in. One who ropes in, in either sense of the word.

Also, a decoy or "capper," for a gambling-house or for any other swindle.

Rose-apple (Jambosa vulgaris). A West-Indian fruit, which derives its name from its perfume.

ROSS. In New England and the Middle States, applied to the parasitic scaly excrescence found on trees. Still provincial in England.

Rote. In New England and the Canadian Maritime provinces, said of the noise of waves on the shore. More particularly, the sound of surf before a storm. Also, rut.

ROT— ROW

341

Rot-gut. In the West, a word often applied to particularly bad and fiery whiskey.

This word is an Old English term, used as far back as in Hey wood's " English Traveller " for a poor kind of drink, and still often heard in England in speaking of small beer.

Roughness. In the South, a term primarily applied to cornhusks used as fodder, from the roughness of the serrated blades, but now denoting any kind of coarse fodder as distinguished from grain.

Roundabout. In parts of the West, a boy's jacket re iching only to the waist.

Rounder. A New York slang term for a man given to the company of the " demi-monde. "

One who is well acquainted with the town, especially the shady side of it.

Roundhead. In the North-West, frequently said of a Swede.

Round snOW. Hard, hail-like snow which falls when a snow-storm is just turning to rain.

Round-up. On the cattle ranges of the West and South- West, the periodical stock-taking or collection of cattle for the purpose of branding. Hence, to round-up, to collect, bring together.

Round- WOOd. A Maine term for the " Mountain ash. "

Rouser. ( 1 ) Anything startling or abnormal, as a startling piece of news, or an exciting sermon.

(2) A dissipated man ; a great talker, especially one who talks very loud and occasionally yells

Roustabout. A dock laborer, or a steamboat hand in the Mississipi region. Somewhat equivalent to rough, although the roustabout, who is generally noisy, is not necessarily a rowdy.

Evidently derived from the old Eng. " roust, " quoted by Jamieson as meaning to disturb.

Rovers. A nickname applied to the inhabitants of Colorado.

Rowdy. A street loafer and thumper ; a species of blackguard disagree- ably prevalent in large cities.

Derived from " row," in which the rowdy loves so much to engage.

ROW Up. To rebuke ; to punish or scold severely.

An essentially Western phrase, dating back to the days when slaves, who had been delinquent in their work or disrespectful in their manners, were ordered to row up against the current the heavy keel-boats of early navigation on the Western rivers.

342 ROW— RUN

ROW up Salt river. To court political defeat, discomfiture, obliviom A simile drawn from the fact that Salt River — a small tributary of the Ohio, in Kentucky — is especially difficult and painful to row up, from its tortuous channel, and from the abundance of its shallows and bars. A congressman from Kentucky having once made a happy allusion to the hardships connected with the navigation of Salt River, the word took the fancy of his audience and soon became very popular.

To be rowed up Salt river, to be politically defeated, whilst, if the defeat is very overwhelming, the unsuccessful party is said to be rowed up to the very head-waters of Salt river.

Rubbed OUt. Killed, or dead. A word akin to iviped out, whose signi- fication is extended from the English slang use of the same term, meaning the fashion of rubbing out the names of friends on a slate or visiting list. See wiped out.

Rubber ICC. Thin ice that bends when skated upon.

Rubber neck. (1) A word of teasing repeated several times by one child to another, whom he has duped. Also, a person looking in vain for some one or something may be saluted, humorously, with Rubber neck.

(2( One who turns and stares or gazes with attention. Used with & certain connotation of contempt.

Rubbers. India-rubber over-shoes.

Rudder-flsh (Palinurus perciformis)* A beautiful fish, abounding in the Southern waters, along the Atlantic coast.

Rum. A generic name for all kinds of spirits, or strong intoxicants, from the fact that, formerly, rum was the favorite liquor.

Rum-bud. A pimpy eruption on the face, caused by excessive tippling.

Rum-hole. A low drinking shop, or groggery. Also, rum-mill.

Rum-SUeker. An habitual toper.

Run. (1) In the South, a brook or small stream.

The word is, of course, akin to the verb to run, and corresponds, in this sense, to the Scottish " runnock," a drain or small stream.

(2) In railway parlance, the distance which an engine or a train has. run in a given time.

Run (to). Used transitively in the sense of to have charge ; to conduct, to manage a business or concern, from the government of a country to a newspaper or shop of any kind. It may even be said of a minister that he " runs" his church in such or such a way.

Also, intransitively, in sense of to stand for election to any elective office ; to seek an appointment ; to contend for a situation or position*

RUN— RUT 343

Runagate. In parts of the West, said of a woman who neglects her household affairs to go gossiping about the neighborhood.

Run into the gTOUnd. To overdo a thing, to go to excess, a metaphor borrowed from forcing burrowing animals to seek refuge underground, and well expressive of constant and close persecution, ending in destruction.

To mar a cause, action, or speech by overdoing it.

Runner. ( 1 1 A person whose business it is to solicit passengers for steam- boats and railroads.

(2) A ticket scalper.

(3) An engine driver.

Run One's face. To get goods on credit ; to swindle, on the strenght of one's personal appearance, and plausible address. Also, to run one's shape.

Runt. Very generally applied to cattle or to men inferior in size, and, by extension, to any contemptible or miser ible creature. "Every family has its runt " is a familiar Yankee proverb arising from the fact that in every litter of pigs there is, almost invariably, one diminutive in size, what in England is called the " titman pig. "

In England, "runt" is rarely used except among farmers, butchers, and like people.

Run upon. To make fun of ; to quiz.

RushePS. A miner's term for persons proceeding to the gold diggings, from the rush which generally takes place when a profitable " find" is announced.

Rusticrat. A newly-coined word applied, in summer resorts, to a visitor of the richer class.

Rustle. (1) To be active, quick, expeditious.

(2) To grapple with circumstances ; to rise superior to all contingencies. A simile borrowed from the fact that cattle, in winter, will " rustle " for food, by " nosing " through the snow to the dried grass beneath.

RustleP. An active, busy individual, and especially one who never succumbs to circumstances.

Formerly, a ranchman's term for a cook, on a ranch, from the fact that the work incumbent to it requires considerable activity and energy.

Has lately, also, got to mean a thief , or swindler, from the abuse of the powers of activity and craft necessary to succeed in that " profession."

Rusty-dab (Platessa ferruginea). The popular name of one of the flat- fishes of the coast of Massachusetts and New York. Also, rusty flat-folk.

Rut. See rote.

344 RYE— SAD

Rye. A curtailed form, for whiskey distilled from rye.

Rye-and-Indian. In New England, brown bread made of Indian-and- rye meal.

Sabane (Fr. C.). A word of Indian origin designating, among the French- Canadians, a species of dish made of flour, molasses, and the guts of partridges or hares.

Sabbaday. A corruption of " Sabbath-day" occasionally heard in rural districts of New England.

Sabbaday-houses. Formerly, when population was scarce, houses near a church or meeting-houses, used as places of recess by worshipper coming from long distances.

Sabe (Sp. interrogative form, from saber, to know). In Texas, and the South-West, said of^shrewdness, thoughtful care, common sense ; what in colloquial English is called gumption.

Also used as a verb, interrogatively, in sense of do you know ? do you understand ? do you see ?

Sacate, sah-cah'-tay (Mex. zacatl). In Texas and New-Mexico, grass, fodder.

Also, zacate.

(Ind. Algonkin sakakomin). Among the French-Canadians, a plant or shrub commonly called the bear-berry (Arctostaphylos uva ursi), the leaves of which are used to mix with tobacco, for smoking. Also, sagakomi.

Sachem. (1) A chief or a king, among the Indians. The term has also become prominent as the name of the presiding officer of the celebrated fraction of the Democratic party, called the Tammany.

See sagamore.

(2) A bird of passage (Tyrannus carolinensis), also known in the South under the name oi f eld-martin.

Sack. A coat, a jacket.

Also, a tack-coat.

In Roderick Random we read of a "divine creature dressed in a sack of white satin, " an expression which every American will understand, though an Englishman would require to be told that she was arrayed in a "jacket. "

Sad. In Maryland and New Jersey, heavy as applied to bread.

SAF— SAL 345

Safe. A box or cupboard in which provisions are kept. In England, a " larder. "

Sag1. (1) To bend ; to yield ; to hang down. Used especially of a door which drags its hinges out of place. (2) To swerve ; to warp ; to sink. • (3) To fall in price (a trade word).

Shall never tag with doubt, nor shake with fear.

(Shakespeare, Macbeth.)

Sagamite\ sah-gah-mee-tay (Ind. Cree kisdgamitew). Among the French- Canadians, a name applied to a sort of porridge made of corn-meal, some- times mixed up with meat.

Sagamore (Ind. sakemo or sakima, a chief). A chief or a king, among the Indians, the original term having originated among the New-England Indians.

Another form is sachem, which, often considered a distinct term, means in reality the same thing as sagamore.

Sage-brush. A hardy plant of the mountains and regions of the Far West, with a foliage of a grayish green, and furnishing a sound, hard wood, very like oak.

Sage-hens. A nickname applied to the inhabitants of Nevada.

SagniehtS (Ger. literally, say-nothings). A derisive political term applied by Germans, with a fine instinct of irony, to the" Knmc-Nothings or Native Americans.

Salamander. (1) In Florida and Georgia, a species of pouched-rat (Geomys pinetia).

(2) An animal with a broad, flattened head (Menopoma alleghaniensis), allied to the salamander proper, found in the Ohio and some of the Southern rivers.

Salea, sah-lay'-ah (Sp.). In Texas, said of a sheep or goatskin, curried and stained or dyed.

Saloon. A bar-room ; a public-house or drinking-place. Also, sample-room.

Salt-bottom. Bottom land of a saline nature. See salt lick.

Salt-grass. Grass or hay from salt marshes.

Salt-holes. Pool holes of small size filled with salt water, and frequent in marshes along the coast.

Salt-horse. A slang term, for the salted beef, supplied in the rations of the United States army.

346 SAL— SAN

Salt-meadow. A kind of boggy grass-land, on some parts of the New- England coast.

Saltwater tailOP (Temnodon saltator). The Blue fish of the lower Potomac, tailor being a contemptuous term for a small shad of inferior quality. See tailor.

Sambo (Sp. zambo, bandy-legged). A term first applied to the offspring of a negro and a mulatto, and afterwards, in the South American colo- nies, to the child of a negro and an Indian woman, but now simply a generic name for all colored persons. Variants are cuffy, quashie, etc.

Sammy. Often heard in sense of soft, as of leather soaked till soft enough to make into soles.

Sams. At one time the sobriquet of the Native Americans or Know- Nothinys, the allusion being to Uncle Sam, from the Know-Nothings claiming that, in the United States, only the real Americans or native- born citizens should possess and exercice privileges and power.

Sand. Grit, courage.

Hence, also, sandy, meaning plucky, determined.

Sand-auger. A miniature cyclone or rotary storm to which the wide plains of the West and South- West are subject, and in which the wind^ keeping close to the ground, sweeps with terrific force, driving before it thick clouds of dust and sand.

Sand-bag". A weapon used by highwaymen, and consisting in a cloth bag in which some sand has been packed.

Sand-bag (to). To strike with a sand-bag ; to commit robbery with violence, the victim being first stunned with a blow from a sand-bag. Also, metaphorically, to blackmail.

Sand-bagger. A highwayman who stuns his victim with a blow from behind with a sand-bag. Also, a blackmailer.

Sand-eheiTy (Cerasus pumila). A reclining shrub of the North and West, growing on sandy soil, and bearing a black fruit of a disagreeable taste.

Sand-hillers. White people of the lowest class, in the South, especially Georgia and South Carolina, mainly found in the " pine barrens, " where they live an idle and wretched existence. Also, a nickname applied to the inhabitants of South Carolina.

Sand-plum (Prunus maritima). A wild plum growing in sandy localities.

SAN— SAU

347

Sang (Panax quinquefolium). A curtailed form of the Chinese gen-seng, or gin-seng, designating a valuable herb much esteemed for its medicinal virtues, and which abounds in Virginia and North Carolina.

Hence, to go a sanging, to gather sang, and sang-hoe, an implement employed by gatherers of sang.

Santa-Fe tea. In Texas, New Mexico, and adjoining territories, a subs- titute for the real tea, made of the leaves of the " Alstonia theaformis," which is a shrub closely resembling the tea plant of commerce.

Sapinette (Fr. C.). See tpinette.

In St. Pierre and Miquelon, off Newfoundland, sapinette, which, in French, should signify " little fir, " is there a common word, by a curious turn of the linguistic instinct, for " spruce beer. "

Sapsueker (Picus varius, etc.). A bird of the woodpecker tribe., so called from an absurd belief that it feeds on the sap of trees, thus causing them to die.

Saratoga trunk. A commodious and colossal trunk, in which ladies' dresses find ample room for expansion, and so called from the celebrated watering-place of that name. Also, simply, Saratoga.

Sarcophagus. A leaden coffin, or metallic burying-case, and a striking instance of the American tendency to high-sounding terms, however inappropriate they may be.

Sardine. (1) A jocular term for a sailor.

(2) A term of reproach, signifying a dullard.

SasS. In New England, stewed or preserved fruit. Also, figuratively, effrontery, impertinence.

Sass-tea. Sassafras tea, a decoction made of the tender shoots and the roots of a laurel (Sassafras officinale).

Sauce (pron. sass.). Vegetables, especially those eaten with flesh meat, are sometimes called sauce in New England.

Also sometimes used in sense of preserved or stewed fruits.

This word is an undoubted survival of Old Eng. usage, and is so quoted in Forby and other glossaries, as meaning vegetables eaten with flesh meat.

In the Southern States, sauce, for vegetables, is almost unknown, its place being supplied by greens.

Beaumont and Fletcher use " green sauce " for vegetables.

Long hauce : carrots, parsnips, etc.

Short .taiice : potatoes, turnips.

Sauce-man, a greengrocer or other dealer in market produce.

Sauce-marketer, a market gardener.

348

SAU— SCA

Sault, pron. soo (Fr. saut, a leap, a jumping). A name now venerable with old age, since it dates from the first French missionaries and " voyageurs " of the West, but which still firmly adheres to the rivers of Canada and those connecting the Upper Lakes, in order to designate their low waterfalls or " rapids."

Savage as a meat axe. (1) Very angry and violent ; ferociously savage.

(2) Exceedingly hungry.

It riled me so, that I just steps up to him, as savage as a meat axe:

(Sam Slick, Human Nature.)

Savane (Fr.). Among the French-Canadians, this word signifies a swamp rather than a meadow or plain, as in French and Spanish.

Savannah. In Nova-Scotia, often said of a stretch of bog or moorland.

Save. A Western metaphor of former times, meaning to shoot, to kill. In early times, on the frontier, when ammunition was scare*, even a single load of powder and shot was important, and so it was common for a hunter to say of a deer he had shot, that he had saved it, and hence, also, the Red Men he had killed, he naturally boasted of having saved.

SaVOyane (Fr. C.). A word of Indian origin applied, among the French- Canadians, to a species of hellebore (Coptis trifoliata), possessing medi- cinal properties. Also, savouillane,

Saw. To play a joke, to hoax. Also, to scold.

Saw-horse. In New England, the frame or stand on which wood is sawed for fuel. See buck.

SaW-lOgf. A log of wood cut to suitable dimensions for sawing into planks.

Saw-Whet (Ulula acadia). A small owl, so named from the resemblance of its cry to the sharp rasping or grinding of a saw.

Sawyer. In the Mississipi region, a tree washed away by the current, and becoming so embedded in the river bottom as to move in a " sawing " manner.

Compare with snag.

Say. One's turn, at game of poker, either to bet or pass.

Scab. A workman who does not belong to a trades-union or similar organization.

Scads. In parts of the West, said for a great quantity, of money."

He has scads

SCA— SCO

349

Scallawag1. A very pithy designation for one who is a loafer, vagabond, and scamp combined.

SeallyhOOt. A Texas word for to be off, to skedaddle.

Scalp. (1) To remove the hair and scalp of a fallen foe, and. by extension, to capture, to defeat, to annihilate.

(2) To drive a hard bargain.

(3) To speculate in unused railway tickets.

Scalp lock. The long tuft of hair worn by Indians.

Scalper. (1) A railway ticket broker.

(2) An operator on the Board of Trade or Stock Exchange, who deals in small lots and in an irregular way.

Scaly ice. Ice through which the skate cuts.

Scare. (1) A fight.

(2) In the West, a stampede of cattle or horses.

(3) In newspaper parlance, a heading in large type, to announce some important news.

Scare up. To hunt for, to find, to pick up. A word adopted from the hunter's vocabulary.

Scart. A not uncommon form of " scared," inherited from Old English writers.

Scary. Frightened, timid, easily scared. Also, skeery.

Scat. An abbreviation of scatter, used as an energetic variant of Be off ! Be gone !

Scatter-gun. A double bore rifle is called a " two pipe scatter-gun. "

Schedule. In newspaper parlance, a list of topics with estimate of quantity, which a correspondent sends to his paper in advance.

School, pron. like shoal. A school of fish. This word, only provincial in England, but universally used in the United States, belongs to the Dutch language when designating a large quantity or number of fishes swimming together.

Schooner. A large glass, holding a pint, used for drinking beer. Scions. In New Jersey, a name given to young growth of oak timber.

Scoat. To leave suddenly. Also, to scoot, to skeet.

Seoldenore. A water-fowl, on the coast of Maine.

350 SCO— SCR

SeOOCh. To crouch. " To scooch down in the corner. " Also, to scrooch.

Scoop. Much used especially amongst the newspaper fraternity in sense of an advantage, a good thing, i. e. some extraordinary event or occur- rence furnishing plenty " copy. "

Somewhat equiv. to the English slang " rise. "

Hence, also, to scoop, meaning to obtain an advantage, to defeat anyone.

SeOOt. In parts of New England, to move or run swiftly. To slide or glide ; to dart. No idea of running away, and by no means limited to persons.

Also used as a noun and adjective.

Other forms are skoot, skute.

Evidently connected with to skeat, or to skeet, which are old forms still preserved in the South for " to skate. "

ScOOt train. An express train ; one that omits stopping at a particular station.

Scopet (Sp. escopeta). In Texas, and the South-West, a short musket or carbine. Compare with Fr. escopette.

Scorch. In bicycle parlance, to ride very rapidly Scorcher. A bicyclist who rides very rapidly.

Scorpion. In Virginia and the Southern States, almost all active wood- lizards are called scorpions, the name being especially applied to the species " Agama undulata."

SCOW (Dutch schouw). A large flat-bottomed boat, quite familiar in the harbors of great cities, and used as a ferry-boat, a dredger, or a lighter. In the Northern Lakes, the scow is also often rigged up so as to become a tolerably fast sailer.

Scranny. A woman's word for thin, lean, or bony ; low in flesh, scraggy.

The term, which is the " scrannel " of Milton, is still provincial in England^

Also, scrawny.

In Somerset, England, they have the word " scrawv'lin, " for poor and mean.

Sbrap. Of frequent use in Charleston, S. C. , in sense of small portion.

Scrape. A technical term for the inferior turpentine gathered from the surface of the pine, a superior product being obtained by incisions in the bark.

SCR— SOU

351

'Scrape (to). "To scrape cotton, " to hoe the growing plants. A Southern expression.

Scrapple. A favorite Philadelphia dish, consisting of bacon chopped up and mixed with cornmeal, and fried in cakes.

'Scratch. In political parlance, to strike a man's name from the printed ticket of the " regular nomination. "

Scratched ticket. An election ticket with one or more names of can- didates erased.

Scratching1. An electioneering dodge, which consists in distributing narrow slips of paper gummed on the back, and bearing printed names of candidates, BO that voters may readily re-arrange the ballots to suit their own preferences.

Scrawl. In New England, brushwood, or ragged, broken branches of * tree.

Evidently connected with scroll.

Screamer. (1) A bouncing fellow or girl ; a fine strapping man or woman with connotation of tallness. A word of Western origin, equi- valent to " roarer."

Also, scrouger.

(2) A humorous story.

Screw-bean (Strombocarpus pubescens). A tree of the locust family, common in Texas and the West, and ao called from its pods being twisted like a screw.

SePOOf. To live with a friend at the latter's expense.

SCPOUge. In New England, to drive a hard bargain, to overreach one in trade.

Also used as a noun.

In Tennessee and Kentucky, to scrouge means to crowd. " Don't £ scrouge me so," i. e. give me more room.

uuin Scrub oak. In New Jersey, a name applied to a low-growing species,

usually the first timber growth on a burned district.

Scud-grass. A Florida grass, growing to a height of nearly three feet. Otherwise, Scots' grass.

Scuff. In New-England a light shoe, or slipper, without a heel, or without quarters, turned down.

Sculduggery. A Western opprobrious political term, •ignifying pro- ficiency in the art of " wire-pulling."

Scullion. Small onion, or leek.^ Also used, especially in the plural, to designate poor onions that grownup to stalk, with no bulbs.

352 SCU— SEC

Scunner. Sometimes heard for aversion. " To have a scunner towards one."

De Vere suggests a corruption of " scorner " as a possible etymology.

Scup (Dutch schoppen). A boy's term, in New- York, generally used for " to swing." Also, a scup, the swing proper.

Sea-bass (Contropristes nigricans). An excellent fish, of the perch variety, abounding in the Atlantic.

Sea-island COttOn. A once celebrated variety of cotton, grown along the sea shore in the South, and which has now been replaced by what is known as upland-cotton.

Sealer. In New England, an official appointed to test and stamp weights and measures ; also leather.

Sealing". The ceremony of spiritual marriage amongst polygamous Mor- mons, each succeeding wife being supposed to enjoy the same rights and privileges to the man who has "sealed" her to himself, as the first lawfully married wife. (Farmer. ) Also, scaling.

Searcher. In New England, an instrument used in testing butter. Sea-Side grape. A West-Indian name for the " Cocoloba uvifera."

Season. In the South, often employed for weather, and, by extension, for a spell of rain, a usage probably attributable to the fact of rain, in its proper season, being indispensable to agricultural operations, espe- cially for setting out tobacco.

Seawan, Sewant (Ind. Alg. ). A variety of specie formerly in use amongst the Indians of North America. Other varieties are cohog, wampum.

Secessiondom. A once familiar appellation for'the Confederate States.

SeeeSSlOneP, Secessionist. Applied to those who, in the South, favored secession from the Union.

Secondary. Often said, in the Eastern States, of the [second formation of a storm, especially one of the blizzard- type, off the Atlantic coast.

Second Christmas. Day after Christmas, often a holiday too. Similarly, Second New Years, January 2.

SeCOlld-day-wedding". A reception given by newly- married couples on their return from the honeymoon.

Second last. Next to last. " They live on the second last house on the street. " Particularly heard in parts of Pennsylvania.

SEC— SEL 353

Section. A horrible Americanism, says R. G. White, in " Words and their Uses," for neighborhood, vicinity, quarter, region ; a distinct part of a city, town, country, or people.

This word is the result of the division of the unoccupied lands in the West, for purposes of sale, into sections (640 acres) based upon parallels of latitude and longitude.

Sectional, SeCtionary. Pertaining to a section or portion of a country; local.

Also frequently employed as the antithesis of "national."

Sectionalism. The acts, practices, means, and results of those who favor the claims of one portion of the country in preference to those of the nation at large.

Sectionize. To survey land and map it out inso sections of 640 acres, which is done before they are offered for sale. See Homestead Act.

See the elephant. A slang phrase meaning to see the world, to gain knowledge by experience, generally at some cost to the investigator.

To "do the town," to see the sights, especially those of an immoral character.

" To see the elephant " is of course taken from wandering menageries, in which the elephant generally closes the exhibition or show.

Seem. The New-Englander often puts this verb to strange uses, as when he says : '" I can't seem to be suited. I couldn't seem to know him."

Seep • Used in New England to signify the process of straining, or running through fine pores, as when coffee is run through muslin to clear it.

Hence, also, fseepy, meaning undrained, wet. "Land is xeepy.'' Evidently but an altered form of " sipe," as quoted by Grose with same meaning.

Seigneurs (Fr.). Formerly, in Canada, the feudal landowners.

Seigniories. Formerly, in Canada, the feudal townships of the province of Quebec.

Seine (Fr.). In Louisiana and Quebec, a net, a fishing-net. Seldom. Often used adjectively in sense of rare.

Selectman. An abbreviation of " Select Townsman " applied, in New- England towns and villages, to those performing the duties of coun- cilors, i. e. managing the affairs and government of a town.

354 SEL— SHA

Selva (Sp.). In Southern Texas, a shrub used in infusion as a substitute for tea.

Send-Off. In newspaper parlance a notice, an item of news. Also, send-off notice.

Send up Green RiveP. Among the mountaineers of wild parts of the South-West, to kill a man is "to send him up Green River." This curious phrase had its origin in a once famous factory on Green River, celebrated for a superior kind of large knives, which had engraved on their blades the words "Green River Works." Hence, despatching an adversary with one of those knifes, meant literally to send his blood up Green River.

Sense. Common, in New England, in sense of to comprehend, to graps intuitively.

Serape, ser-ah'-pay (Sp.). In the formerly Spanish States, especially Texas, a kind of blanket, with stripes of variegated colors, worn by men as a cloak, and thrown across the shoulders.

Set-back. A reverse ; a discomfiture a simile taken from the reflux of water made by a counter-current.

Set-offs. Ir. New Jersey, said of sugar and cream in coffee, i. e. " trim- mings."

Set plate. In parts of Pennsylvania, used in sense of to make prepa- rations for Christmas. It means the same as to hang up one's stocking, but in certain neighborhoods, instead of hanging up stockings, children place a plate to receive gifts.

Setting-pole. A punting pole, the end of which is shod with iron.

Set up. To pay for the drinks.

Set up (to be). To be conceited ; to give oneself airs.

Seven-Up. The game of "all fours," from the number of points that have to be made to win.

Shack. (1) A log cabin, usually comprising but one room, the whole being roofed with earth supported by poles. Hence, to tihack, to live in a shack.

(2) A loafer, beggar, or vagabond. In this sense, used as a slang word in England. " He's a poor shack of a fellow. "

(3) Among people of New England derivation, often heard for nuts considered as food for swine, squirrels, etc.

See mast.

In provincial English, shack means the waste of grain " shaken " upon the ground.

(4) In college slang, a small boy employed to attend tennis players and retrieve stray balls.

Hence, to shack, to gather tennis balls as above.

SHA— SHA

355

Shaeklin'. In New Jersey, shiftless, lazy, going from one job to another. Shaekly. Ricketty ; shaky. Still provincial in England.

Shad-bellies. A nickname given to the Quakers, from the old style " shad-belly coat ;' having been associated during a long while as the most popular article of dress among the Quakers.

Shad-belly COat. A morning coat, sloping gradually from the front to the tails, and so called from its alleged resemblance to the contour of the shad.

The old style shad-belly coat was similar in character to that of the dress- coat.

Shadow. To watch, after the manner of a detective.

To be shadowed : to be followed by detectives ; to be subject to police superrision.

Shag-bark (Carya alba). A variety of hickory, furnishing a valuable timber, and so called from the roughness of its bark. Also called shell-bark,

Shake. (1) See clapboard.

(2) A fair shake, a fair trade, a satisfactory bargain. " To give one a fair shake,'' i. e. to use him properly, to give him a fair chance.

Shake (to). (1) To abandon; to discard; to turn one's back upon. Originally, mfning slang. (2) Elliptically, for to shake hands.

(3} To jilt, as in sense of discarding a lover. " She shook him, " i. o. she gave him the shake.

Shakers. A religious sect, very different to the body of people of same name in England, and which derives its distinctive appellation from the importance it attaches to the sacred or "shaking" dance, which is attributed to spiritual influence.

The Shakers are an offshoot of the Quakers, from whom they seceded in 1770. They practice celibacy, live in communities, and apart from their peculiar doctrines, are much esteemed.

Shaker yarbS. Well-known medicines prepared by the Shakers from herbs.

Shakes. (1) The ague, or fever and ague. Also, vhakiivj ague.

(2) An earthquake.

(3) In the West, long undressed shingles cut from the upper branches of a tree, and used as roofing tiles.

Shake the cross. In thieve's argot, to quit stealing.

356 SHA— SHA

Shake the elbOW. To gamble with dice.

Shaking prairie. A low, level, treeless tract of delta land, having a top soil of vegetable mould overlying immense beds of quicksand. Otherwise, trembling prairie, from the Fr. " prairie tremblante. "

Sham-leggeFS. Men who work the confidence game by pretending to sell smuggled goods.

ShamOGPat, A factitious word, designating one who pretends to be possessed of wealth, influence, rank, or indeed any quality, which is only conspicuous by its absence.

Shanghai. An old term for a tall, lanky dude ; a swell ; a masher. Shangai fowls were a long-legged variety introduced from China. Originally applied to dandies who wore the fashionable plaid shawl, wrapped about the upper part of the person, leaving the legs unprotected.

(Bartlett.)

Shangai (to). To drug a sailor, and convey him on board a vessel about to sail, thus pressing him into service unwillingly.

The practice is said to have originated and been extensively carried out at Shangai.

Shank. (1) A Virginia expression, meaning the remainder, the rest.

(2) In the South,' the negroes will often say : " The shank of the evening, " for late in the afternoon, what in New England would be called " just the edge of the evening. "

Shanty (Fr. C. chantier, a lumbering-camp).

(1) A rude hut or shed.

(2) A wooden hut inhabited by railway laborers, and similar classes of men.

Hence, to shanty, to dwell in a " shanty, " or temporary hut.

Shanty-boat. A temporary hut on a boat, erected on the immense rafts of logs frequently met. with on all American waterways.

Shantying-ground. The place where shanties are erected.

Shape. In sporting parlance, what the English call form. " To be in good shape."

Shark. In the West, a lean, hungry hog, from its voracity.

Shark (tO). To fish for this sea monster, and, idiomatically, to prey upon others.

Sharpset. Generally applied to the appetite, and signifying very hungry.

SHA— SHE

357

Sharpsin. Applied to value or quantity.

Not a sharpsin, i. e. a value or measure reduced almost to vanishing point.

ShatS. In parts of the South, said of dry pine leaves or needles.

Shave. To extort an illegal interest, in discounting a security ; to prac- tice usury ; and, metaphorically, to fleece, to defraud, or be otherwise unfair in bargains.

Hence, shaver, an usurious money-lender or discounter, and, by extension, a sharp dealer, one who is close or fraudulent in bargaining ; shaving-shop, a money lender's establishment.

Shay. A corruption of "chaise" used in the United States for a two- wheeled vehicle drawn by one horse. Hence, a " one horse shay," made famous by 0. W. Holmes as'applying to anything small and insignificant. In England, "shay" meang a post-chaise.

Sheave. In Newfoundland, to hold water with the oar, so as to stop the boat or turn more quickly.

Shebang1. (1) Any low establishment, or place. (2) A room ; a shop ; a hut ; a tent ; a cabin.

Probably derived from the Irish " shebeen, " meaning a grog shop, although some etymologists assert that it is merely a corruption of the Fr. "cabane. "

She-COPn. A variety of maize considered the most prolific for planting.

SheddeP-erab. A crab, when " shedding " its shell is so named. Also, soft crab, soft-shell crab, or simply shedder.

Sheep's head (Sparus ovia). • A highly esteemed salt-water fish, so called from the resemblance of its head to that of a sheep.

Sheer. Thin ; clear ; diaphonous ; esp. applied to fabrics of cotton or silk.

Shell. To take the corn ouf of the husk, by analogy with the shelling of peas ; that is, removing the shell. See shuck.

Shell bed. In parts of New Jersey, said of a collection of oyster shells or dried bivalves for food.

ShellePS. In New Jersey, those who open clams for market.

Shell-game. A swindling game played with walnut-shells and a pea, analogous to thimble-rigging.

Hence, shell -worker, one who works the shell-game, and by extension, a swindler, a confidence man.

Shenanigan. A curious factitious word for bounce ; chaff ; nonsense. Also, fooling or playfulness.

358 SHE— SHI

ShenkbeeP (Ger. schenkbier). A variety of beer of exceedingly weak qualities.

ShePPyvallieS (Fr. chevaliers). An amusing corruption of the old voyageur's chevaliers, or horseman's overalls, by which travellers, in former days, were wont to protect their trousers against mud and thorny bushes on long journeys on horseback.

Shift. When a boxer purposely falls to escape a knock-down blow, he ia said to make a shift.

Shilling. Still frequently heard for 12% cents. Also called York shilling. Another denomination is a long or Yankee shilling, of the value of IGij cents.

In central New York, a quarter eagle is almost invariably spoken of as a "twenty shilling gold piece.

Shim. In stone-working, said, in parts of New England, of small, flat, wedge-shaped stones used in levelling up a sill on a wall.

Shimmey (Fr. chemise, a shirt). A woman's undergarment, as Bartlett calls it, in his Dictionary, through a kind of prudery.

Shin. Primarily to walk quickly, to hustle, but now specially used, in mercantile phraseology, in speaking of a man who, finding himself short of funds to meet his engagements, goes round to his friends to borrow what he requires.

Hence, a shinner, meaning one who runs hither and thither to borrow money in an emergency.

Shin around. To gad about ; to hustle ; to move about briskly.

To shin up, to climb a tree by using the hands and feet only, a process which is apt to endanger the safety of one's shins.

Shin-dig1. A Western term for a ball or dance.

Bartlett thinks the word is only another form of "shindy, " meaning a row or disturbance.

Shindy. Besides English meaning of row or disturbance, shindy answers to :

(1) A ball game, generally called "bandy ;"

(2) A liking or fancy, as in the case of people taking a great shindy to others.

Similarly, to take a shine to, meaning to take a liking to. Also, to take a shot to one.

Shine. In the South and West, a method of still-hunting by means of & pan with fire, which " shines " in the eyes of the deer and holds it spell- bound.

See fire-hunt.

SHI-SHO 359

Shiner. A name given to several fishes of glittering appearance. The dace, however, is usually understood by the term.

Shingle. (1) A wooden tile, used for roofing.

To be short of a shingle, to be cranky ; silly ; in fact, as the English would say, to have a tile loose.

(2) A plank, and often a signboard. Hence, " to swing, to hang out one's shingle, " to put up a sign, and, metaphorically, to start in business, to commence operations.

Shingle (to). (1) To whip ; to chastise ; presumably from shingles being often employed in ehaslising children. (2) To crop the hair close in imitation of a shingle-roof.

Shingle-oak (Quercu« unbricaria). A species of oak found in the Middle States, and so called from the special use to which its timber is put.

Shingle-WeaveP. One who prepares and dresses shingles.

Shinny. (1) A game generally played on ice, with sticks and a ball, by a large party. The aim is to knock the ball into the enemy's camp. Still used in the North of England for the game "hurl" or "hockey." (2) Used adjectively for intoxicated, drunk. So quoted in Halliwell.

Shinplaster. Formerly a slang term for all paper-money, but now mostly applied to small notes of less value than a dollar.

Shinplaster is said to be an allusion to the utter worthlessness of the continental currency after the Avar of the Revolution.

Shirt-tail dash. In newspaper offices, a kind of dash or manusorip sign specially used to separate a news paragraph from explanatory matter added to it.

Also, by extension, the explanatory matter itself, with the result that the novice will be astonished by having a dispatch thrust at him with the injunction : " Put a shirt-tail to that. "

Shock. (1) A dialectal variant of shuck (q. v. ).

(2) A group of stalks of Indian corn, placed singly, and bound together at the top in a conical form.

Shoddy. Applied to an inferior kind of cloth, made from old stuff worked over; also, to anything at once pretentious and inferior. Derived from " shreddy", as made up of rotten shreds.

The term was first applied to bad clothing furnished by Government contractors.

Shoddyocracy. People who have become rich by making contracts for shoddy goods, or in any other disreputable way.

360 SHO— SHO

ShOOt. (1) A shooting match, or rifle practice at fixed targets. " A pigeon shoot. "

(2) A passage-way, by which logs, coal, grain, etc. are shot down the hill sides or overboard from a ship.

(3) A river-fall or rapid, especially one over which timber is floated, or through which boats or canoes can shoot.

Hence, to shoot, to go over a waterfall in a boat, and, figuratively, to successfully encounter a difficulty.

(4) An artificial contraction of the channel of a stream, in order to increase the depth of the water.

(5) In the West, said metaphorically for ardent pursuit of any object, or thorough enthusiasm in the performance of any action. For instance, a man passionately in love is said " to take a shoot after the object of his affections. " Allusion is no doubt to the exhilirating spice of excitement in "shooting" rapids.

Shooter. A revolver, or gun of any kind. Of Western origin. Also, shooting-iron.

Shootist. A marksman ; an adept in shooting.

ShOOt One's grandmother. To make a great mistake ; to be much disappointed ; to do what one does not intend.

Equivalent to the English phrase " to find a mare's nest."

Shoots. In New Jersey, said of spaces between concentric rings of oyster shells, showing years of growth.

Shop. A term confined, in the United States, to a workshop, the ordinary English shop being called a store.

Shop (to). In railroad parlance, a car turned or sent to the repair-shop is said to be shopped.

Short. A shortage ; a deficit.

Short-hairs. A descriptive term for low-grade politicians and ward bummers.

Its opposite is swallow-tails (q. v.).

Short-metre. A brief spell of study, work, etc. A New-England idiom derived from the psalm-singing propensities fostered in the Puritan communities of that region. (Farmer.)

And if it warn't for wakin' snakes, I'd be home again short- metre. (J. R. LOWELL, Biglow Papers.)

Similarly, to do a thing in short metre is to it quickly, or without dalay.

Shorts. Breeches ; a variation of small-clothes.

Shot-bush (Aralia spinosa). A prickly tree shrub, also humorously called tear-coat. A Southern term.

SHO— SI Shot-gun. A smooth bore gun, as distinguished from a rifle.

361

ShOUtin' member. A member of a religious body, who takes an active part in church exercices. A Shoutin' Mtthodist is a phrase especially frequently heard.

Shove. (1) The stalk of hemp.

(2) On the St Lawrence river, the piling up of the ice through expan. pion.

Shoveller (Anas clypeata). A species of duck found in the Rocky Mountains and Texas.

Show. An opportunity, or a chance to exhibit one's powers. "Give him a show. "

Shuck. The outer covering, or husk, as of a walnut or an ear of corn.

The word is well known in England, although shell is more frequently used.

Not worth shucks, worthless, of no value.

An even greater depth of worthlessness is represented by shuckless, meaning without even a shuck.

Shuck (to). (1) To strip off the husks which envelope ears of corn. See husking.

(2) In New Jersey, to open oysters.

Shuck-bottom. A chair seat made up of the outer shell or shuck of the maize ear. ,

ShysteP. A shady legal practitioner, i. e. a low-class lawyer who makes a specialty of shady cases.

Also, by extension, any kind of scheming rogue of bad repute.

De Vere suggests that the term may be attributed to the fact that a shyster sometimes finds it advisable to fight shy of his clients. But this definition is, we venture, plainly inadequate, and it is quite easy, besides, to suggest a derivation looking more probable, at least in the admitted absence of any direct evidence. Why should not shyster be really chiche- ster (Anglo-Saxon chiche, stingy ; st.er, a suffix having a sinister sense) ? " Chiche" occurs at least twice in Wycliffe's Bible, and also in the " Romaunt of the Rose, " and the suffix " ster " is also very old and had a sinister sense, as "gamester" in Skeat, Merry Wives. It must then be seen that chiche-ster is at least as suggestive of the euphonious term [ shyster, as the vague notion of a rogue shyly stirring from the neigh- borhood of his victims.

Sie-a-nine-ten. An outdoor game very similar to hi-spy, but some- what more complicated.

362 SIC— SIL

Sick. (1) III, afflicted with disease, without connotation of nausea. This usage of sick is found in the English liturgy, and is also sanctioned by the best Old English writers.

In England, sick is now only applied to express sickness of the stomach or nausea, whilst in the United States a person in bad health is always sick, even if his trouble arises from a broken leg.

To feel sick, to be disgusted with one's self.

(2) Used contemptuously in sense of very indifferent, contemptible : " He's a sick fellow at best." In that case, in England, they would say " a sorry fellow."

Sidehill. A common expression for hillside ; the slope of a hill ; sloping ground.

Sideline. (1) In Canada, a by-road running at right angles to the main or concession roads.

(2) Among plainsmen, horses are hobbled by means of sidelines. Hence, to sideline.

Side-Strap. In Connecticut, a holdback strap,

Side-tPaek. To divert the attention ; to turn from one's purpose ; or to precede others in the battle of life.

Side up. To clean up, put in order, as a room. (Nfld. N. B. and N. S.) Sidewalk. In England, a footpath or pavement. Side- WheeleP. A pacing horse.

Side-winder. A New- York term for a violent blow with the fist. In the South, they say side-wipe

Sight. Amount, and, more specifically, a large amount. "It has done him a sight of good."

Sightly. Said of a place which affords a fine view (from the place). Sight Unseen. Blind swap, i. e. without seeing articles beforehand.

Sign. (1) A trapper's term for a spoor or trail, i. e. traces of the recent presence of men or animals. A buffalo-sign, a bear-sign, an Indian- sign, etc."

(2) A signboard.

Signalize. In addition to ordinary use, often means " to make signals."

Silk-grass (Yuca filamentosa). A lilaceous plant, so called from the silky filaments that appear on the edges of its leaves.

Cartier's word " chanure" (old time spelling of "chanvre") was without doubt the product noted by nearly all the early travellers and called by them in English silk-grass. On Dec. 23, 1640, Thomas Gorges

SIL— SIN

363

wrote to John Winthrop for " some of that stuffe that with us supplies the want of hempe. Our Indyans make theyr Snow Shoes, nets and bags of it. Also of a bigger stalke called Silke-grass, which makes very fine hempe." Francis Higginson refers to it in 1630, and we also read of it in the "True Relation Concerning the State of New England, 1634. " In the Boston News Letter, May, 23, 1727, we read " Good Silk Grass, suitable for cordwainers. " Again, on Dec. 26, 1728, " Very good Silk Grass, for shoemakers.^" Both cordwainers and braziers had it for sale in Boston and, as very one knows, it needs a very tough cord to make net-work for snow-shoes.

Silk-StoekingS. The moneyed class, commonly accredited with wearing silken hose. Also a phrase applied to a section of the Democratic party.

Silver fOX (Canis argentatus). A rare black fox, much esteemed for its fur, and so called from its being mottled with white.

Silver Grays. A name applied, some forty years ago, to the Conservative wing of the Whig party. The term originated in the State of New York, and was in allu sion to the white hair of some dissidents who, at a poli- tical convention, " bolted the ticket " of their party, and at once with- drew. As those dissidents were leaving the hall, it was observed that the majority of them were men well advanced in years, which drew forth the remark from a bystander, ' ' there go the silver grays. "

Silver thaw.

andN. S.)

A sleet storm leaving tress coated with ice. (Nfld. N. B.

Silver tip. A name given, in the Canadian North West and Alaska, to a black bear having a white breast.

Silver wedding. The 25th anniversary of a wedding.

Simball. In parts of New England, a name given to a variety of doughnut.

Simlin. In the South, a variety of squash having a rjund flattish head with a scalloped edge.

The word comes from " cymnel," the name of a lenten-cake of oval form, like a squash, used primarily in the offices of the Catholic church. Lenten simnels are to this day quite common in many parts of England, and " simblin " is even now the local pronunciation in Lancashire, the b having crept between m and n as into " chimbley " and all words of that sort.

Singing sand. A name given, in New Jersey, to sand found on Long Beach, Ocean county, which emits a peculiar musical tone when the wind passes over it rapidly.

364 SIN— SKE

Singlebob. A mark used in branding cattle, meaning a slit ear dropping down.

Sing-Sing (Ind. Alg. asingsing, a place of stones). The celebrated penitentiary of New York, recalling its Indian origin with all the greater force that it is now, as Artemus Ward rightly says, " the resi- dence of gentlemen who spend their days in poundin' stun."

Sink-hole. A depression or hole in limestone formations, in which streams sink and are lost.

Common in Kentucky, and in the Middle and Western States.

Also, simply sink.

Sink-holes are low depressions in the surface, from which powerful springs gush forth, often forming large ponds on the spot, or flowing off in the shape of broad rivers, capable of turning mills and driving machinery. (De Vere.)

SiPPee. An emphatic assent or negative. Yes, sir ! first form. Yes, sirree ! more emphatic. Yes, sirree, Bob ! most emphatic of all.

Sisal hemp. The prepared fibre of an agave, very common on the Florida Keys, from Sisal, the Indian name of a town in Yucatan.

SitiO, see'-te-o (Sp.). A Spanish superficial measure, equal to a square league of land (4,428 acres), still in use in formerly Spanish States.

Size up. To form an opinion concerning a person or thing. The equiv. of to take one's measure.

Sizzle (Old Eng. ). To hiss from the action of fire ; to make a hissing sound ; to shrivel up with a hissing sound.

Also, to sizz.

An old English word, quoted by Forby, which is now almost forgotten in England.

Skanes. Iron plates, for reducing friction upon axle-trees. In England, called " clouts. "

Skate. In parts of New England, said of a worn-out horse.

Skedaddle. To depart hurriedly ; to run away.

This very inelegant word, which has set in a kind of interlingual competition for its paternity, has already been the subject of a succession of learned theories. The word has been in use for many years in the West of Scotland and North of England, in sense of to spill or to scatter,,

SKE— SKI

365

as " to skedaddle the milk," and on the other hand Irishmen have reasons to claim it as their own, deriving it from their "sgedad-ol," a term occurring in an old Irish Bible, and meaning " scattered all."

The word is said to have first appeared in print, in the United States, after the battle of Bull's Run, and, wherever it may originally come from, is sure to be retained, at least in the American sense, because of its odd and eminently descriptive sound.

SkeeziX (prob. of Dutch origin). Slang about New York city, in sense of an idle, me in, or contemptible fellow ; a ne'er-do-weel ; a good-for- nothing ; a paltry little fellow. One not to be trusted, with a connota- tion of uncouth.

Also, skeezicks, skesicks.

Skimpy. In New England, often applied to a stingy or parcimonious person.

Skin. (1) A sharper ; a blackleg. (2) A purse ; a pocket-book.

•Skin (to). (1) To get the best of ; to impose upon ; to cheat; to extort ; to rob one of his very skin.

In sense of to extort, i. e. of illtreating and pressing a man " to his skin," the term is not unknown in England, as is shown by the word " skinflint ''

(2) To ill-treat ; to press any one to his skin.

(3) In college parlance, to use a translation or crib.

Skin-game. Fraud ; chicanery.

Skin one's own Skunk. To do one's own dirty work, a phrase of pungent meaning equivalent to " washing one's own dirty linen at home."

Skin Out. To depart secreetly and hastily, as when pursued by an enemy.

Skip. A popular exclamation for Begone ! equiv. to Git ! skedadle ! light-out ! etc.

Skip-jack (Sarda pelamys). A popular name in Boston for the bonito or blue-fish.

Also applied to the species " Scomberesox scutellatus " of Lesueur. Other variants are saury, and xkipper.

Skipper. The cheese-mite. In England, cheese-hopper. Hence, skippery, abounding in cheese-mites.

Skite. To go running about ; to move about energetically.

Skive (to). In New-England, to pare leather or skin, so as to leave a bevelled edge.

Hence, sldvings, parings or waste pieces of leather.

366

iSKO— SLA

SkOOt away. To disappear suddenly.

Skunk (Ind. Abenaki seganku). A small mammifer, allied to the weasel and badger (Mephitis mephitica), and which, when irritated, emits a very fetid secretion.

Metaphorically, a mean, despicable fellow.

Hence, to skunk, used in political and college slang, in sense of to act dishonestly or with disgraceful deceit. Also, to utterly defeat, to beat out of sight, as at cards or other games, when the player failg to reach a certain point.

To skunk one's bills, to leave college without settling up.

Skunk-bear (Gulo luscus). A Western name for the wolverine or carcajou.

Skunk-blackbird. A popular name, in Canada, New- York and New England, for the common marsh-bird.

So called from its colouring — Hack mixed with white — which remotely resembles that of the ill-smelling animal.

Skunk-cabbage (Symplocarpus fcetidus). The well known strong- scented and early growing plant of New England. Of medecinal value in asthma and other disorders.

Skunk-head (Anas labradora). A popular name, on the sea-coast, for the Pied Duck of ornithologists.

Skwy. In parts of New England, said for askew. " The picture hangs *kwy. "

Also, skwywise.

Sky-serapeP. Especially applied to a very tall building of the kind now in vogue in lower Broadway, New- York city.

Also, one who reaches high, one who is exalted in his own estimation. ' Sky-scraping, tall, literally touching the sky.

Slab. The outside of logs of wood, which is generally cast aside as useless, and idiomatically a shaky or worthless character.

Hence, to slab off", to cast on one side as useless, like the outside piece of a log, or slab.

Slab (to). To make roads round the sides of mountains.

Slab-bridged. A contemptuous epithet applied to a fellow of worthless character.

Slab-Sided. Wall-sided ; having perpendicular sides. Often applied, especially, to men and women of angular appearance.

Slack. Lazy ; shiftless.

Hence, slack-twisted, used in parts of the South in sense of mentally weak, shiftles;.

SLA— SLE

367

Slack- Water navigation. An arrangement of dams -and locks for keeping a sufficient supply of water in a river not otherwise navigable at all seasons. (Farmer.)

Almost all the larger rivers, in the Eastern States, are thus made navigable high above their original limits.

Slang- whangeP. A long- winded speaker, and especially a noisy political talker. Derived from slang, and to whang, to beat.

Slang-whanger is said to be not unknown as a provincial word in England, though it attracted much attention there, when W. Irving first used it in his early writings to designate a noisy politician.

Slank. In New Jersey, a low place at side of river, bay or cove, filled with water at freshet.

Slap-dab. In parts of New York state, used for violently or awkwardly, Slash. In parts of New Jersey, a swale filled with water.

Slashes. In several parts of the Union, especially in the South and the West, low swampy grounds overgrown witb bushes. Also, openings in the woods.

Slash ground. In New York, ground on which the brushwood has been cut and left lying.

Slate. In political parlance, a programme, or list of appointments ; a list of people recommended to office by a political party, as a reward for political services, real or imaginary.

Hence, slated, placed on a list, as one who is slated for a special position.

Slate Smasher. A President or high official who will not give place to the nominees of a party.

Let Gen. Grant be encouraged to smash the slate. He is a great xlate- smasher.

(Cincinnati Enquirer, March 1869.)

SlathePS. A large quantity ; a lot. "Slathers of money."

Sleep. Used transitively in the sense of giving, or affording sleeping accommodation. Thus a sleeping-car, on a railway, sleepy so many passengers.

To accommodate, to supply with a bed, or berth.

Sleeper. A sleeping-car, on a railway.

In England, a "sleeper" is what we call here a "crosstie."

SleepePS. (1) One of the nicknames assumed by, or given to the Molly Maguires.

(2) Drunken men in the gutter. "Laying for sleepers" is the occupa- tion of street thieves.

368 SLE— SLI

Sleuth. A detective ; a professional thief-catcher.

Slice. In New England, New- York and Canada, a large fire-shovel. Still provincial in England.

Slick. In New England, a smooth place in the water, where fish abound. See gray dick.

Also used, adjeetively, in sense of dexterous, acute, quick, with conno- tation of unprincipled. "He is a slick fellow."

Slick is somewhat prevalent in the West of England, esp. in Kent, but only in the sense of sleek, i. e. smooth, glosiy.

Slicker. On the plains and in the West, a water-proof oil coat, a mackintosh.

Slick Off. To turn out quickly ; to execute with ease.

Slick up. To make sleek ; to make fine. "The house was all slicked up as neat as a pin."

Also, to smooth ; to render glossy and sleek. Here, it will be remarked, the original meaning is retained.

Slide. In the Northern States and Canada, a passage down which the water glides in a dam, used for the descent of timber, logs, etc.

Slide (to). To go away ; to be off.

To slide out. To depart stealthily ; to shirk responsibility or labor.

Slim. Besides original meaning of "thin," also used of a person poor in health, thin in face or figure ; also, idiomatically, for one of indifferent standing in the community, either as regards social position, morals, or politics. (Farmer. )

Slimsy. Flimsy in texture ; sligthly made ; frail in build. (Farmer.) Frequently applied to cotton or other cloth.

Sling. A drink composed of soda-water, ice, lemon and sugar, with the addition of either gin, whiskey, or brandy. Gin- slings are more com monly drunk.

Sling (to). To wield, or use, with a connotation of ease and rapidity of

action.

Said generally in a semi-contemptuous way : — Leg-slinging, for

dancing ; ink-slinging, for writing, in newspaper slang.

Slink. A sneak ; one who acts in an underhand manner ; a sneaking fellow.

Slinky. Thin ; lanky.

Slip. In phrase "to give the slip : to jilt one

SLI - SLU

369

Slipe. (1) A piece or slice. "A slipe of bacon."

(2) A distance. "Well, I've got a long slipe off ray steamboat." (Crockett, Tour, p. 145.)

SlippeP-down. In parts of Connecticut, a vulgar name for hasty- puddiny.

Slippery-elm. A name applied to the inner bark of the elm. Also, the name of a dwarf species of elm.

Slipping. Sometimes used for sleighing. "The dipping is pretty good."

Slippy-noose. In Connecticut, a running knot ; a slip knot.

Slob. In Newfoundland, said of soft snow or ice.

SlOOnly. Badly attired ; slovenly dressed. " He's sloonly."

Slop Over. To miss one's mark ; to make a blunder, particularly froii excess of emotion.

Slosh. Slush, i. e. snow in a soft state .

Slosh about. In the West, to wander aimlessly from place to place; generally getting more and more intoxicated, and becoming more and more objectionable. Also, to slosh around.

SlOUgh. In parts of the West and South, a swamp, a bog. Slough grass. A coarse grass growing in sloughs or wet places. Sloven. A low truck wagon. (Nfld. N. B. and N. S.)

Slug. (1) A name applied, in the beginnings of California, to a conven- tional gold piece or counter, haying a value of about forty dollars. (2) In New Jersey, a slang term for a big drink of whiskey.

Slug (to). An alternative form of to slog, to beat ; as also is slugger, o slogger, a prize-fighter.

Sluice. In mining districts, a trough used in washing earth for gold.

Ground-sluice, a trough in the ground.

Tail-sluice, a trough below other ones, through which the earth and water passes.

Sluice-box, a box placed at the lower end of the sluice to catch tha gold.

Sluice (to). To separate gold from earth, by the aid of a sluiae. Hence, to sluice off, to divert, to lay aside.

Slum. Mean, dirty, as in a xlum trick. Especially common in Philadel- phia, and probably owing its origin to the .i 24

370

SLU— SME

Slummock. In New Jersey, said of a dirty, untidy woman.

Slump (Old Eng. ). In New England, to fall or sink through ice or mud.

Slump Off. To veer ; to move away from ; and idiomatically, to fall in value, in speaking of stocks and shares. (Farmer. )

Slumpy. In New England and Canada, applied to wet, loose snow. Quoted in Jamieson, for swampy, marshy.

Slung-Shot. A weapon of oS'ense, made by placing a stone or piece of lead in a bag.

Also called sling-shot.

Slunk (Old Eng.). Said of the young of an animal which is prematurely brought forth. " A slunk calf."

Still provincial in Eastern counties of England.

Slunk (to). " To slunk school," to play truant. (Nfld. N. B. and N. S. Slush. A newspaper's term for reporter's copy.

Small potatoes. A contemptuous epithet applied to persons or things, in sense of petty, mean, or contemptible.

Smart. Shrewd, clever, active, quick, intelligent.

In England, apirt from its application to dress (elegant in dress, dressy), used in the sense of superficial showiness of character, or ability, continued with more or less wit. In short, in England, a smart man is generally only showy or witty, whilst in America a smart man's smart- ness, especially in the course of business, will always be looked upon with more or less apprehension.

Hence, smartness, for shrewdness, keenness.

Smart Chance. (1) A fair chance ; a good opportunity.

(2) In the South and West, a good deal, a considerable quantity of anything. " We have just had a smart chance of snow."

Other variants are right smart, right smart chance, and mighty smart chaiice.

(Dutch smeer-kaas). A preparation of curds spread on a flat surface to make into cheese. Otherwise known as cottage-cheese. In New York city, also called pot-cheese.

Smell-lemon (Cucurbita ovifera). A beautiful plant, so called in some States from its fragrant and yellow-striped orange-like fruit.

Smelling1 committee. An investigating committee where the matter to be inquired into is in the form of unpopular, or unsavoury details which are expected to be brought to light. (Farmer. )

The phrase originated in the examination of a convent, in Massa- chusetts, by legislation order.

SMI— SNA

371

Smile. A nip ; dram ;' or small glass of spirits. Hence, to smile, to take a drink, to tipple.

One of the oddest conversions of terms imaginable, though the process of transition is sufficiently obvious.

Smit. In New England, to crock, rub off (of dye-stuff). Smiteh. A very small quantity.

Smoke. To befool one ; to make game of. Figuratively, to so becloud one with clouds of smoke that he cannot detect the game which is played upon him.

In English detective slang, to smoke is to detect or penetrate an artifice.

Smoke-Staek. A chimney ; a funnel of a steamer.

Smoky City. The city of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, from its being the American Birmingham, the centre of the iron and hardware industries.

SmoUCh. (1) In Pennsylvania, to steal a kiss, to take a kiss by stealth. From smouch, or smoucher, which are Old English forms for a loud, sounding kiss.

(2) To steal ; to crib ; to plagiarize, in which sense it was used by Milton.

SmoilZS. In Ohio, to demolish, as with a blow ; to make a clean sweep of.

Smudge. A heap of damp combustibles, or smothered fire, used by back- woodsmen for the purpose of keeping off flies and mosquitoes.

Provincial in north of England, and already used by Gray, an old English writer, in a somewhat similar sense.

Smut-mill. Among farmers, a contrivance for dealing with "smutty" wheat.

Also, smut-machine.

Snab. In college slang, a good-looking, stylish man or woman. Hence, xnabby, stylish, tasteful, good-looking.

Snaeked. Drunk ; intoxicated. A Southern equiv. of the more common snapped. (Farmer. )

Snaek-hCUSe. A 'slang term for a restaurant.

Snag1 (Old Eng. ). In the Jlississipi region, a partly sunken tree in the bed of a river.

The word, although American in the above application,' has never- lost currency in England, it having been defined by Halliwull as a "tooth standing alone," and by Johnson as a " jag, or sharp protu- berance."

H'_n:e, to .tnai/, to' strike a snag, to run against a sunken tree, and figuratively to meet with an obstacle of any sort.

372 . SNA— SNA

Snag-boat. A steamer fitted up with a contrivance for removing snags.

" To snaggle on to a thing," to comprehend it, to catch on. Especially common in Philadelphia.

Snake. Used, in the plural form, in connection with several phrases, of which the following are among the most characteristic :

To have the snakes in one's boots, to be fidgetty, uneasy, and, more forcibly, to have delirium tremens.

To see snakes, to have the horrors, as in delirium tremens.

To wake snakes : (1) to get oneself into trouble, the eq*uiv. of to rouse sleeping dogs ; (2) to make a rousing noise, and hence to rouse up, get into action ; (3) to run with alacrity, to bolt away, from the alleged speed with which one is apt to run away from a snake.

Snake (to). In the West, to crawl or creep along on the stomach after the manner of snakes, and idiomatically to proceed stealthily, to act deceitfully. Also, and especially in political parlance, to use secret or underhand methods in striving to gain an advantage. Another form is to snake along.

(2) In the South, to beat or flog ; to give a drubbing.

(3) To proceed quickly from place to place, as when a snake is disturbed and has been put to flight.

Snake-doctor. A common term, in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the South- West, for the dragon-fly. Also, snake-feeder.

Snake-head. Formerly an upturned broken rail, on a railroad, which was apt to pierce through the bottom of a car and often caused serious accidents.

Snake OUt. To drag or haul out, as stumps of trees dragged out. Snake-rail. On the early railways, a rail occasioning snake-heads.

Snake-POOt. A name applied to various Indian remedies for smake bites.

Snake-StOPy. An incredible or improbable narration of the sea-serpent kind.

Snake-SUPe. Quite sure ; certain ; without doubt.

Snap. (1) Applied to weather, a period, a spell, as in a cold snap.

(2) Anything good. " A soft snap," an easy and well paying job.

(3) Energy, smartness ; an idiomatic extension of the legitimate meaning of " to break short," as when crisp.

Also used adjectively for rapid, quick, offhand. " A snap bargain, a snap vote."

Snap-neck. A New- Jersey name for apple-brandy.

SNA— SNO

373

SnappeP. A spscies of tortoise, common throughout the Union, and sa called from its pugnacious habits. Also, snapping turtle.

Snarl. (1) A quarrel ; an angry disputation. Provincial in England. (2) A " tight place," as regards money matters. •

Snatched. In the South-West, said of being flurried, put out of counte- nance.

Sneak-thief. A pilferer ; a petty cowardly thief. In England, same is called a " sneaksman."

Sneezer. A dashing, out-and-out, thorough going man. Allusion to a horse's snorting.

Snifter. A drink, or dram of liquor ; a nip of something neat.

Snip. Often used contemptuously, in speaking of a young person. " I don't care what the little snip does."

Snipe. In Wall Street parlance, a bucket-shop man, or cu "bstone broker.

Snippy. Overdressed ; foppish ; finical ; gaily attired. From snip, an English slang term for a tailor.

Another form is sniptious, especially used in the South.

Snips. Often heard for shears, especially among tinners and hardware dealers.

SnitS (Ger. Mchnitzel). A Pennsylvania German contraction for quartered fruit, usually dried. " We made apple snits yesterday." Also, snitz.

Snob (Old Eng. ). A journeyman shoemaker. An old English usage still prevalent in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

Snoop (Dutch ynoepen). (1) In New- York, to eat by stealth ; to pilfer delicacies after the manner of some domestics.

Hence, to snoop along, to put in an appearance, generally by stealth. (2) In New Jersey, to pry into another's affairs ; to sneak.

SnOOSCP. A thief, whose specialty is committing depredations in hotels among boarders

SnOOt. A vulgar word, for the human face or nose, apparently the same word as snout. "Hit him on the snoot."

Snore (Dutch xnoer, a string). In New- York State, a boy's word for a top string.

374 SXO-80C

Snort. Used in low language in sense of to laugh derisively ; to pooh ! pooh !

Snorter. In the West, a man of a wild disposition, as a rip-roaring snorter, and, idiomatically, anybody or anything out of the common, from a dashing riotous fellow to a gale of wind.

Snot-rag1. A vulgar word for a handkerchief, common among school boys.

Snub up. To tie up, to secure.

Hence, xnultbiny post, a post to which horses and cattle are secured, or a post around which rope of boat is fastened in lock.

Snug*. To conceal from the owner ; to hide from view. In England, boys use the word smug in the same sense.

Soak. In college slang : (1) A very hard task ; (2) A drunken fellow ; (3) An unpopular fellow ; (4) An instructor hard to work under.

Soak (to). In college slang: (1) to inflict hard Work upon ; ($) to over- charge ; (3) to hit or to strike ; (4) to drink to excess.

Hence, to get soaked, to be asked a hard question, to get drunk.

Soap. Used by the Republicans, as a telegraphic cipher for money, during the Presidential campaign of 1880.

In 1884, employed by the Democrats as a derisive party-cry, aimed at their opponents.

Soap-b6PPy (Sapindos marginatus). A tree common in the South and South-West, bearing hard black nuts, which are strung for beads and various kinds of knick-nacks.

Soap-loek. A lock of hair plastered over the temple.

A lock of hair made to keep in place by soaping it, what in England is called a "bow-catcher" or kiss-curl.

The feminine counterpart is called a spit-curl.

Hence, soap-locks, a name formerly applied to a gang of New-York rowdies, from their being addicted to the peculiarity in their appearance above described.

Socdolag'er. (1) A conclusive argument ; a winding up ; in a fight, a heavy blow, a final knock-down.

This strange word is supposed to have been humorously corrupted from doxology, a stanza sung at the close of religious services as a signal for dismissal.

(2) A fish-hook, having two hooks which close upon each other with a spring, after the fish has swallowed it.

Social. A social function of any sort.

SOC— SOL

375

Sociable. (1) A church festival.

(•2) In New England, a party, a gathering of people for sociable pur- poses.

Society. In parts of New England, a congregation, or small assembly for worship.

Sock. Generally used to emphasize an opinion or action. " To sock an argument," to state it conclusively, to drive it to the hilt.

In another sense, to charge a high price for any article ; or, in a nar- ration, to exaggerate, to "pile on the agony."

In a strike, the strikers who have given in and have returned to work, are said to sock it to the others.

In ^England, to sock is a provincialism, signifying to strike a hard blow.

SOCker. Something of great size. " That fish was an old socker." Hence, socking, in sense of very. " That was a socking big fish."

Soda. A corrupted form of " zodiac " used, among gamblers, for the top card in the box at faro.

Soda prairie. A vast arid plain covered with a deposit of natron or soda. These plains, often of great extent, are especially found in New- Mexico, Texas, and Arizona.

So fashion. An old form, still common, espscially in New England, in sence of so, in that way.

Soft-ba,ek (Trionyx ferox). A tortoise, large in size, and of considerable ferocity.

Soft-Crab. See shedder.

Soft-COPn. Overt and perceptible flattery. Also, soft-sawder, sq/t-soap. Hence, to soft-yaivder, to soft-soap, to flatter, to blarney. •

Soft money. In the contest of 1876, for the resumption of specie payments, paper money was so called, whilst the term " hard money " was applied to the issues of gold and silver.

Soft thing". An easy time ; a stroke of luck.

Soft woodlands. In British North America, pine forests.

SoldieP (to). Common throughout New England in sens3 of to loiter, lounge, shirk work, waste time.

Also, to HO'jer, which of course is only a corrupted form of the above.

To play old soldier is still a common phrase in England in sense of to shirk work, to sham illness or other disability.

376 SOL— SOS

Solicitor. A canvasser ; one who solicit? orders. In England, a solicitor is a lawyer.

Solid. (1) Often used in a sense of thoroughness, or complete agreement with. Thus, electors get solid with a candidate when they plump in, voting for him.

(2) Responsible ; wealthy. " All the solid men of the community."

Solid-colored. All of the same color. Common among cattle-breeders and dry-goods dealers.

SO long. Ooocl bye !

An English provincialism, common in Louisiana.

Sombrero, aom-bray'-ro (Sp. ). In Texas and New Mexico, more specifi- cally a Mexican hat with high tapering crown and wide brim, either of felt or straw, and often profusely adorned with silver bands, medals and embroidery.

Some. Somewhat, or something. " Jones is some on shooting. The storm hurt us some,"

(2) Used emphatically for a good deal ; very much ; notable ; famous.

Some pumpkins (usually pronounced "punkins"). A current phrase, in -New England, expressive of high appreciation, or denoting some- thing great and important, from the alleged attachment of New-En- glanders to the pumpkin.

The equivalent of the English " no small beer."

The antithesis is small potatoes.

Franklin was a poor printer-boy and Washington a land-surveyor, yet they growed to be some pumpkins. (Sam Slick.)

Soon. (1) A Southern substitute for early. " We'll have a soon supper." (2) Also heard in sense of shrewd. " He is a soon man."

SophePS. A nickname applied to the inhabitants of Arkansas.

Sophomore. In college parlance, a regular college student, candidate for a literary degree, in the second year of a four years' course. An abbreviated form is soph.

Sora (Rallus carolinus). The Carolina rail, much esteemed for its plump- ness and flavor. Also, soree.

SOPPel-tPCe (Andromeda arbcrea). A beautiful tree, otherwise called sour-wood from the acidity of its sap.

SOSSle. (1) To lounge about.

Derived from the obsolete English verb to soss, used by Swift in the sense of sitting in a lazy, careless manner

SOT— SPA

377

(2) To splash, or spill, in speaking of water spilt for want of attention. Also, to sozzle.

Sot. Vulgarly used as past tense of to set, or to sit.

Sotole, so'- toe-lay (Sp.). A species of cactus found in Texas. Also, a species of yucca, found in same State, and from which a vile liquor is distilled.

In Arizona, the name applies to soap weed.

See tequila.

SotS. Yeast is so called, in Virginia and Pennsylvania. Sot- Weed. A former term for tobacco in Maryland.

Souffl6 (Fr. Can.). A French-Canadian name applied to the Sable Island bloater.

Sound. A contracted form, for sound asleep, used in parts of New England. " The child is sound."

Soupane (Ind. suppawn}. A word in use among the French-Canadians to designate a sort of corn-mean porridge, eaten with rnilk or molasses.

SOUP. Used for pickles in parts of Pennsylvania. "Pass the sour."

SoUPCPOUt (Ger. siuerkraut). A dish consisting of cabbage, cut fine., pressed into casks, and allowed to ferment.

SOUP On. The American fondness of sweet things has led to the curious expression of sourinr/ on an unpleasant task or occupation. As the English swain is said to be sweet on his lady-love, so the Texas youth «o«r.s' on the beauty that will not listen to his addresses, and the man who abandons his plantations to take up some other business, is said to have soured on planting. (De Vere. )

SOUP-SOp (Anoira muricata). A West Indian fruit, whose name is said to be a corruption of the Indian word " Suirsaak."

Sovereigns Of Industry. An organization of the laboring classes, who by co-operation seek to obtain a more equal division of the fruits of labor than is possible when a middleman stands between a capitalist and the real producers of wea4th. (Farmer.)

Sowbelly. A soldier's name for salt pork, which largely consisted of back and belly pieces.

Sozzle. In parts of New England, a lazy, slatternly woman.

Space-gTclbbeP. In newspaper parlance, a reporter, from his alleged ambition to enhance his weekly bill by every variety of device that will give him " copy."

378

SPA— SPI

Span (Dutch). More properly a yoke, but mostly used in the United States when speaking of a pair of horses who match in color and appearance.

Hence, to span, to agree in color, or in color and size.

The word may also have come to us from the German " gespann."

Spaneel. (1) To hobble an animal by its hind legs, particularly a cow when milking.

Still provincial in that sense in England.

(2) To spancel a crab is to prevent it from biting by sticking one of its legs into each of its movable claws.

Spandy. In parts of New England, clean, spick-span, in speaking of linen.

Spanish-bayonet (Yucca treculiana). In Texas, New Mexico, and Ari- zona, a common name for a variety of yucca with sharp-pointed leaves, and producing an edible fruit resembling the papaw.

Spark. In the Northern States, to court, probably in allusion to the spick and span appearance of a lover under such circumstances. " What girl were you xparkin' last Sunday ? " In England, tpark is a sweetheart.

Spat. A petty quarrel, as one between lovers. Derived from the use of the word for a slap or blow. Hence, also, to spat.

Special. In newspaper parlance, an article sent by mail, express or tele- graph to a newspaper by one of its own writers.

Speck (Ger.). In parts of Pennsylvania, a generic name for fat meat, usually pork.

Speedway. A public way for driving faster than is proper on general highways.

Spiee-bePPy. A variety of hack-berry (q. v.). Spice-bush. See fever-biuh.

Spice-tea. A beverage made from the leaves of the spice-bush and valuable as a febrifuge.

Spider. A cast-iron frying-pan standing on three long legs.

Spike. A casual ward.

Hence, to spike, to go to or frequent the same.

Spike team. A team of three horses, or of two oxen and a horse, the latter leading the oxen or span of horses.

Spike tail. A dress-coat, or swallow-tail.

SPI— SPR

379

'Spiritual Wile. A Mormon t«rm for all wives other than the first one. These concubines are also called xea'td ones, while the jocosely inclined call them fixin's.

Splurge. To make a great display ; to swagger pompously ; to indulge in noisy demonstration.

Also, to cut or make a splurge.

Spoils system. That under which the successful party, at an election, fills all the offices with men of its own political faith. The spoils system was first used, in American politics, by Wm. S. Marcy, of New York, in the U. S. Senate in 1832.

As a matter of fact, this particular application of the doctrine of " Va3 victis " is not particular to any country, and may be said to be the watchword of all politicians, the world over.

Spook (Ger. xpuck). A ghost, a hobgoblin. The fact that spooks mostly prevail where German settlers abound, as in some parts of Virginia and in the North-West, would seem to indicate that the word might perhaps be derived from the German spuck, meaning a phantom or a vision.

Oddly enough this word is now knocking at the door of the English language from two sides, from America and from South Africa, as all readers of Mr. Rider Haggard's stirring tales with remember.

Spool holes. See pool-holes.

SpOOm. On the coast of New Jersey, used in sense of to run before the wind.

SpOOpS. In New England, a silly fellow ; a nincompoop. Also,

Sport. A gambler, a betting man. One addicted to sports.

In England, the form " sporting man" is used in preference.

SpOSh. Slush, or half-melted snow and mud.

Spots (in). A curious Western phrase meaning by intervals ; by snatches by fits and starts.

Spotter. (1) A private detective employed to spy on and report the shortcomings of employees on railroads, etc.

(2) A spy, in temperance towns, who seeks to become an informant

Sprawl. In parts of New England, use in sense of animation, vigor, energy. ''I haven't any xprmrl to-day. "

Spread-eagle. Used adjectively, in sense of bombastic, extravagant. " Spread-eagle rhetoric.

Spread-Eagleism. Flamboyant rhetoric ; exaggerate bombast ; exal- .tation of the great American bird and the land of freedom.

380 SPR— SQU

Spread Oneself. To assume airs ; to make ostentatious show of oneself.

Sprightly. In New England, used for tart, high-flavored. " A spriyhtly apple. "

Spring-bag (to). A New-Eng. farmer's term used of the filling udders of cows when about to calve. (Farmer. )

Springers. In New Jersey, said of cows about to calve.

Sppitz. In parts of Pennsylvania, inhabited by people of German descent, used for sprinkle, squirt water on. "Look out, or I'll xpritz you. "

SpPOUtS. A bunch of twigs.

Hence, " to put one through a course of sprouts," to thrash, to give him a good drubbing.

Spry. Nimble, active, quick.

Spuds. Often heard for potatoes, in Newfoundland and the Canadian Maritime Provinces.

Spung. In the tide- water district of New-Jersey, said of a piece of low ground at the head of a stream.

Hence, spuiujy, the land between a swamp and hard ground.

Spunk. Still preserved,, in America, with the Old Eng. meaning of spirit,, fire, mettle, coiirage, with connotation of manly. This usage is still also current in Scotland.

Hence, spunky, mettlesome, spirited, vivacious, and even angry, irritated ; also, to spunk up, to show pluck and spirit.

Squall. In parts of New England, to throw stones at, and more parti- cularly, to throw an object so that it skims along the ground. This is a survival of " squoil, " an Old English term for a similar action. Also to squale.

Squantlim. (1) Among the Naumkeag Indians of Massachusetts, a name for an evil spirit.

(2) Among Nantucket folks, and parts of Rhode Island, a fr e and easy jollification, where the food generally consists of chowder and baked clams and in which everyone says and does as he pleases without restraint.

Square. (1) Honourable, upright : a square man. (2) Hearty ; vigorous ; fair : a square meal.

This use of square in both the above meanings, dates back for several hundred years, as witness the following :

By heavens square eaters More meat I say.

(Beaumont and Fletcher's tragedy of Bondina, II, iii.)

SQU-SQU

381

Square (to). This word has now ill-sorted. For instance to act square, or to do the square thing are evidently right and proper. But when a man is squared it often means that he has been " seen " or •' made right ; " that is that he has accepted a bribe to connive at some illegal or immoral action. (Maitland. )

Squares. Often used as unit of distance in cities, like " blocks " in New York and elsewhere.

Squash (Ind. Alg. axquaxh, signifying green). (1) A culinary vegetable of the genus Cucurbita, similar to vegetable marrow. (2) A name formerly applied to the skunk on stinkard.

Squash-bug (Coreus tristis). A small yellow insect pest infesting vines, squashes, melons, and cucumbers.

In Connecticut, called stink-bug, from its peculiar odor, akin to that of an over-ripe pear.

Squat. (To settle upon land without possessing a title.

(2) In parts of New England, common in sense of to squeeze, crush, or pinch. " I squat my finger in the door."

Squatter. One who settles on land to which he has no title.

SquatteP sovereignty. A political phrase signifying the right of actual settlers of territories in the United States to make their own laws, without reference to the common weal. The phrase was especially much used, about 1856, by Stephen A. Douglas and his followers.

Squatter State. The State of Kansas, from its having been the battle- ground of one of the severest fights in connection with the doctrine of

squatter sovereignty.

Squaw. An Indian woman.

This word came into the language of English America at a very early period, and is probably derived from " sequa " or "esqua" which, in the Algonkin languages, is a common termination of words implying the female gender.

Squawk. To squeak, but with a deeper tone. Still provincial in England.

Squaw-man. A white man married to an Indian woman, and sharinsj tribal rights and privileges.

Squawmish. In parts of New England, said for queasy. Uiiuo

'Squaw-root (Conapholis amerieana). A medicinal plant possessing nar- cotic properties, and much recommended for correcting the secretions. Also called cancer-root.

-Squeaky. In New England and the West, used for creaky.

382

SQU— STA

Squeal. To inform, or tell tales ; to betray. A term well known to the police.

Squealer. An informer ; a betrayer. The word especially came into notoriety during the whisky ring exposures.

Squeeze. In New England, fret, whimper. Hence, squeezy, fretful.

Squeeze (to). A St^ck Exchange term, meaning to embarrass.

Squeezers. Playing cards, whose peculiarities are rounded corners, and a smaller and handlier size.

Squelch. Th crush. Now nearly obsolete in England, where its place has been taken by squash.

Squeteague (Labrus squeteague). An Indian Narragansett name for a fish common in the waters of Long Island sound and adjacent bays.

Also, ftqiietee.

In New- York, called weak fish, from its feeble exertion and resistance in being drawn in by a hook.

Squiggle. To writhe ; to squirm ; to move about like an eel ; and, idio- matically, used in speaking of a shifty, unreliable man, who seeks to evade responsibility, as an eel eludes the grasp.

Forby's Glossary of Norfolk quotes the word in the sense of "to shake a fluid about the mouth. "

Squire. In New England, a title given particularly to justices of the peace and judges, and in Pennsylvania to justices of the peace only.

In England, squire is a title customarily given to a man of property, living on his own estate.

Squirm (Old Eng.). To writhe or wriggle like an eel. .

This verb, which has only lately been revived in England, is a good Old English word which Grose, in 1825, reported obsolete. Hence ttquirmy, crooked, having a squirming shape.

Squirt. A fop ; a dandy ; a contemptible puppy. Hence, squirtin/i, dandified.

SquittePS. The diarrhoea. Provincial in England.

Stab (to) the law. To rail against any duly authorized authority, or the "powers that be." (Farmer.)

StaddlQ. An old English word still usel in New E.iglancl and New- York for a sapling or young tree.

STA— STA 383

Staddle. In the Eastern States, applied to the stakes upon which hayricks are set.

Also, the name for a young tree or sapling. Staddle is an old English term which was once applied, in England, to the bottom of a haystack.

Stag. (1) A technical name, in the New- York law courts, for a man who is always ready, for the sake of a consideration, to aid in proving an "alibi."

(2) A bullock, in which sense the word is still provincial in England. In Louisiana, more especially applied to an ox that has been castrated late in life, after running as a bull for a while.

Stag-dance. A dance performed by men only. Similarly, ttag-party, a party composed entirely of men.

Stake. In New England, used for balk, balky. Especially said of a horse that jibs, when in harness. Also, staky.

Stake (to). To mark out the limits of one's holding, as in the case of a new settler.

To move or pull up one's stakes, to abandon a position. To stick one's stakes, to take up a position. To stake out, to picket or to lariat (q. v. )

Stake and rider. A species of fence higher and stronger than a ' ' worm fence."

Stake-driver. In the Adirondacks, the bittern, so called from its booming.

Also called punh-puddi wj.

Stake-POpe. A lasso, or lariat.

Stale. In parts of New England, used to designate the handle of a tool, as in rake-*tale. Less common in fork -stale, \vhilepipe-vtale is very rare.

Stall. To stick fast in mire or snow. Still provincial in England. In New England, to set is used in the same sense.

Stalwarts. A certain section of the Republican party who hold to the doctrine that " the king (their party) can do no wrong," and who stick to it through thick and thin.

The term acquired its special significance, among Republicans, in 1878-79, under Roscoe Conkling's leadership.

Stamping1 ground. The scone of OHD'S exploits ; a favorite place of resort. South and South-West.

384 STA— STA

Stand. (1) A locality, or situation.

(2) Among sugar planters, growing canes are spoken of as a stand of canes.

Standee. Standing place at a theatre, concert, etc. A standing bed-place in a steamer.

Stand in hand. Often heard for behoove, beseem. "It stands you r hand to be careful,"

Standing1 full. In parts of Pennsylvania, used in sense of full of upright objects. " The hall was standing full of people."

Standoff. To hold at a distance. " To stand off one's creditors."

Originally, the term was first used in sense of keeping an enemy at a

distance with a rifle. Stand up to the rack. To be up to the mark or point ; to do what is

expected of one, or what one has promised.

Starigan. A small green fir or spruce tree, cut for firewood. (Nfld. N. B. andN. S.)

Star-routes. In the United States Postal Guide, certain non-remunera- . tive routes are designated by an asterisk or star. Hence their name of

star-routes.

It will be remembered that grave scandals arose jin connection with

these star-routes from 1876 to 1884.

Stars. A name given, in New-York city, to the officers of the police, from these wearing a brass badge in the shape of a star.

StaPS and baPS. A name applied, during the Civil War, to the flag of the Confederate States.

Stars and Stripes. The flag of the United States, adopted by act of Congress on the 14th June 1777.

It is held, by some authorities, that general Washington's escutcheon, which contained three bars and three five-pointed stars, suggested the National Standard of the United States.

Also, Star Spangled Banner, a name first applied to the American flag by Francis S. Key, in the beautiful song which has now become the National Anthem. As a matter of fact, however, the melody itself was an old convivial song, familiar in England and America before Key was born.

Start Out. To start, to send off, to dispatch.

State House. The legislative meeting-place of a State.

State's rights. The individual powers of each State, as opposed to the authority of the Federal government.

STA— STE

385

State-room. The cabin of a passenger steamer ; the private room of a sleeping-car.

State ticket. The list of candidates agreed upon by the leaders of a part}- for State's offices. The committee chosiug such candidates are called State fixers.

Staver. A go-ahead, dashing, active person or thing. Equivalent to rustler, rouser, etc.

Staving. Great ; strong. Also, very. " That is a staving fine horse. "

Stay with. In the United States, lovers are said to stay with one another. To be stayed with, to be courted.

This curious phrase may be compared with to sit upwith, and the equally curious English to " walk out with. "

Steamboat. In the West, said metaphorically of a dashing, go-ahead character.

Steamboat (tO). To work upon a steamer. A term confined to the hands employed on board river-boats.

Steamboaling, the business of working on board a steamboat.

Steep. (1) A slang equivalent of almost every adjective of superlative degree, as great, magnificent, extravagant.

(2) High in price.

(3) Difficult to believe.

Steeple. Universally used instead of spire.

Steer. Among gamblers, to steer one against a game is to induce him to play or speculate by false pretenses.

SteePeP. ( 1 ) A tout ; an outside salesman ; a doctor's tout.

(2) A gambler's decoy ; one who lays in wait for " suckers," and shows them where they can find a little game in which he has an interest.

Steering committee. A committee appointed to take charge of a, political campaign.

SteePS. The universal name, in Texas, for cattle. There are lead-xteers,. swing-steers, and wheel-st-

Steeve. To pass through the hands of a stevedore, in loading or unload- ing vessels.

StemmePy. In Kentucky and Missouri, a place where tobacco is stem- med ; that is, where the leaves are stripped by being stemmed.

Stem-windCP. A keyless watch. 25

386

STE— STI

Stent (Old Eng. )• In New England, an allotted task or portion, and so used by Shakespeare.

The idea still partially survives in England in the verb "to stint."

Stepmother. A slang term, in New Jersey, for a ragged nail or a roughness of the skin.

Step Out. To die ; a Western idiom which is graphically descriptive, death being, indeed, but a stepping, as it were, from one room to another.

Stepping". Sometimes heard for stair carpeting.

Stem-Wheeler. On the Ohio and Mississipi rivers, a small steamboat with only one paddle-wheel placed at the rear.

Hence, the adjective stern-wheel, applied to anything small, mean, or contemptible.

Stiek-Chimney. In newly settled districts, a temporary contrivance for conveying smoke out of a log hut, or other roughly-made building. In Massachusetts, formerly called catted chimney.

Stick OUt. To hold on to the end ; to endure unflinchingly.

Stiek-up. In the oyster district of New Jersey, said of a long, thin oyster, so called from the fact that it " sticknps, " as oystermen say, in the mud.

Stick-Wagon. In parts of Pennsylvania, a carriage with open bed. Also called road-wagon, and spindie-wayon.

Stiddiment. Sometimes heard for steadiness.

.Stiff. (1) A metaphorical expression for a corpse. More especially, a body for dissection.

(2) A lie ; a fake.

(3) A worthless fellow. " An old stiff. "

(4) A person whose manners or opinions are stiff and rigid ; or one who is obstinate or lacking in social qualities.

(5) A bore, one whose company is undesirable.

Stiffen. A sporting word, signifying to tamper with.

Still. In parts of Pennsylvania inhabited by people of Gar man descent, often used redundantly, as in the following phrases: "I have been there .it ill. I want you to stop still. " Of. the use of the Ger. schon, noch, doch.

Still-hunter. A Western term for a stalker of game.

Still-hunting. Originally a Western sporting term, signifying walking or crawling noiselessly through the woods or prairie herbs, in search of game.

STI— STO 387

Now a well known political phrase applied to secret or under-handed political methods.

Stinkard A former New- England name for the skunk.

Stink-Stone. A variety of limestone, so called from the unpleasant smell it emits when broken. Also called swine-stone.

Stitch. In New England, to form land into ridges.

StiveP. To decamp ; to move on. A low word used in the Northern States.

Stock. Domesticated, or half-tamed cattle. Now also common in England. Stock dealer, a cattle dealer. Stock raiser, a cattle farmer. Stock train, a cattle train.

Stock (to). At card playing, to stock cards is to arrange them for cheating purposes.

Stocky. (1) Firm, tough, in speaking of cloth.

(2) Short and stoutly built. In this sense, still provincial in England.

StOgieS. In parts of the West, said of coarse, rough shoes or boots. Also, cheap cigars.

Stone-boat. See dray. StOne-hOPSe. Often used for' stallion.

Stone-POOt (Collihsonia canadensis). A medicinil root, having diuretic and stomachic properties. Also called rich-weed.

StOOp (Dutch xtoep). A porch, a piazza. Also, the steps at the entrance of a house, or any open porch with seats. On account of the uniform style of building, the term has spread all over the country, even as far north as the back-woods of Canada.

In the West, the word is occasionally written stowp, and in Canada as

Store. A shop of any kind, for the sale of goods. Thus, there are book stores, clothing stores, dry-goods stores, drug stores, vegetable stores (vegetables and fruits), but strangely enough, however, a butcher keeps a meat market. Hence, storekeeper, for shopkeeper.

StOP3-ClotheS. Store goods of any kind, as opposed to those which are home-made. See bouyhten.

388

STO— STR

StOFe-pay. Payment in kind instead of cash. StOPe-SUgaP. Cane sugar, as distinguished from maple-sugar.

Store-tea. A term often applied to the real article from China, as distinct from herb-teas.

StOPy. In newspaper parlance, a generic term used to designate any- thing published in the news columns. See beat.

StOUt. In New England, often used for strong, in speaking of muscle.

Straddle. A stock-broker's term which has found its way into the poli- tical vocabulary. In 1884, " the straddle in the platform " designated measures taken to meet any contingency, whether as regards contrary voters or opposition tactics. (Farmer.)

Straight. (1) Unmixed, undiluted, as applied to liquors. " A straight drink, a whisky straight." In England they would say " neat" whisky.

(2) Honest, fair. " A straight victory," a victory gained in fair encounter.

(3) A fixed price, without connotation of a possible rebate. " 10 cents straight."

(4) Even, or uniform- in quality. " 100 barrels of Rochester flour, straight."

(5) At game of poker; a sequence of five cards.

Thus, it appears that all the above connections may easily be traced to the primary meaning of the word, i. e. not deviating nor crooked.

Straight ticket. The ticket nominated by a political party, caucus, or convention, and voted as a whole without scratching.

Straight up and down. Plain and fair in dealing ; honest to the backbone.

Stram. In New England, used in two ways :

(1) To flourish the limbs. " To go dramming along the street."

(2) To flounder, kick about. "To stram about in bed."

Strand WOOd. In parts of the South, especially Florida, pine wood cut into lengths of about 32 inches for burning in locomotives.

Strapped. Tightly pushed for money ; hard up.

Strap railroad. A railroad in which the tracks are made by fastening a " strap " of iron to a board.

Straw. In North Carolina, used for pine needles; the foliage of the pine-tree.

Straw-bail. Worthless bail ; one offerad by men of no standing. Similarly, straw bid a not intended to be taken up.

STR— STR

389

StFeak. A miner's term for a vein of ore, and, idiomatically, a mental peculiarity.

Streak (tO). To run away ; to decamp ; to " make tracks" with the utmost expedition.

Streaky. Full of apprehension ; alarmed ; anxious.

Street-ear. A tramway.

Stricken (Old Eng.). An old preterite form, still generally colloquial.

Strike. (1) In the West Indies, a strike of sugar is the quantity dealt with at one boiling.

(2) An instrument with a straight edge for levelling a measure, as in selling grain, salt, or the like.

(3) A stroke of luck ; an achievement ; a success. From the game of nine pins, where, to make a strike is to knock down all the pins with one ball.

Strike (tO). To meet or to find. "Be sure to strike Main street, and you will be in the right way."

Striker. (1) A bruiser ; a ruffian ; especially the tout or bully of a gambling den.

(2) An apprentice engineer on a Mississipi steamboat.

(3) Among politicians, a ward striker is a man who possesses some political influence in his neighborhood, and uses it for all it is worth in " striking" his candidate for money. (Maitland. )

Strike Oil. To make a hit, to be successful. To make a successful yenture, especially one that brings much money in its wakfe. A meta- phor from the vast wealth of some "oil kings" in Pennsylvania, who suddenly became rich through striking oil on their otherwise sterile lands. Also, to strike it, to strike luck, or to strike it rich.

String1. (1) An impeachment of some kind. For instance, an offer, pro- mise, or donation, •' with a string to it, " is one made contingent on something else being done, or subject to recall.

(2) In newspaper parlance, the aggregate of the articles written or put in type, either by reporters or compositors, for a given period, and which are pasted together end to end.

Stripe. Pattern ; kind ; sort. ' ' A man of the right stripe, " i. e. of the right kind. " Two men of the same stripe, " i. e. resembling each other in character.

" Every stripe of absurdity " occurs in Emerson's Essay on Beha- viour, and there is no questioning the word to be an Americanism of the truest ring.

390

STR— SUB

Striped-bass (Labrax lineatus). An Atlantic fish, highly esteemed for its delicacy, and deriving its name from being beautifully marked with seven or eight black lines on a silver-bright ground. Also called rock-fish or simply rock, and streaked bass.

A Pennsylvania name for a cow which has nearly run dry of milk. (Farmer.)

StPippePS. Among the gambling fraternity, cards cut at the sides to allow of easy swindling.

Struck under conviction. Convinced of sin, impressed with a sense of personal sinfulness.

This and many similar phrases, as to experience religion, to meet with a change, are the outcome of the plain and simple phraseology which at first, in America, characterized all religious life.

Stub (Ger. stubben). To knock one's toes against an obstacle. Stud. Sometimes heard, in the North, for stallion.

Stuff. Of frequent use, in newspaper offices, generally in allusion to completed work ; as, for example, a- man might say : " That was pretty good stuff" meaning that the writing was of some value.

Stuffening. A Western variant of stuffing, in sense of seasoning.

Stuffy. (1) Close and sultry, like a " Gulf weather " day.

(2) In parts of New England, angry, sulky, obstinate, ill-humored.

Stump. To go on the stump, to take the stump, a political electioneering phrase, meaning to deliver speeches in various places during an electoral campaign.

Public meetings are often held in the open air in newly-cleared districts, and the stumps of felled trees offer convenient platforms or rostrums for the speakers.

Hence, stump xpeech, an election address ; stump speaker, stump orator, atump oratory, all of obvious meaning ; stump prayer, an extem- poraneous prayer.

Stumpage. In Maine, a fee paid for the right of felling trees.

Stump-tail currency. Before the war of secession, a term applied, in the West, to bank-notes of doubtful value, or depreciated paper cur- rency.

Stunts. To do stunts, used in New- York City by boys, in the sense of performing some feat in rivalry, a long jump for instance, one boy " stumping " or challenging another.

Subs. In newspaper offices, an abbreviated form for " suburban news.'

SUC— SUN 391

Succotash (Ind. Narragansett mesiccwotash). A preparation of green corn and beans boiled together, and to which experts add, in true Indian style, a small allowance of venison.

SuekCP. (1) A common name for a dupe ; a victim of sharpers ; a green- horn.

(2) A hard drinker ; a drunkard. Hence, -suckerdom, for inebriates and drunkards taken collectively.

(3) A tube used for imbibing " long drinks."

(4) A despicable person, and especially a sponger, i. e. one who lives on another.

(5) A n.itive of Illinois, where, in the West, the people are said not to be overbright.

SuekeP State. A nickname applied, in the West, to the State of Illinois.

SlldaderO, soo-dah-der'o (Sp. ). In Texas and New Mexico, a fissure in a well or water-tank, from which the water is flowing.

Suerte, soo-er'-tay (Sp. ). Originally applied, in Texas, to a specifiea quantity of land (27 acres), for which the settlers drew lots,, but now said of any small lot of land.

Sugar. Xugar bush, sugar camp, sugar orchard, various names applied to a group a sugar-making-trees. Sugar camp is more restricted to the West.

Sugar-game. Among boys, the deciding game at marbles.

Sugaring time. The season of the year (March or April) when maple- sugar is made.

SugaP-liekS. In New England, the gatherings of young people in the maple groves, to eat warm sugar.

SugaP maple (Acer saccharinum). The variety of maple, from the sap of which is obtained the maple sugar of commerce.

Also, sugar-tree, and even, in parts of the West, simply sugar.

Sugar Off. To approach granulation, in making maple sugar. Also, to eat maple sugar poured on snow in a heated state.

SugaP-tit. Sugar tied up.in a piece of cotton cloth for the fretful child to suck.

Sulky. A two-wheeled carriage for a single person. In French, a " deso- bligeante."

Sundown. Sunset. A survival of old English usage still very common. Sunflsh (to). Among cowboys and plainsmen, said of the broncho, when

392

SUN— SWA

he brings first one shoulder down almost to the ground and then the other.

Sun-Shower. A shower occurring while the sun continues to shine.

Sun-Squall. On the coast of New England, a term applied to the Medusae or Sea- Nettles.

Sun-Up. A form especially current in the South for sunrise or early morning.

Supawn (Ind. asapahn, a Lenape or Delaware name for "boiled Indian meal "). A preparation of Indian meal stirred into a thick batter, and eaten with milk and sugar, or molasses. (N. Eng. N. Y. and other northern States.)

Also known under the familiar name of hasty pudding.

In Pennsylvania, and other States, called mush.

Probably also the samp mentioned by Roger Williams, and the saga- •mity of Father Marquette.

See soupane.

Sure-enOUgh. Used adjectively, in the South and West, in sense of real, genuine, or fair. " A sure-enough man or investment."

SUPface-washCP. A term of opprobrium, among the '49 miners of Cali- fornia, for an indole.nt'or lazy man, from the preference of some miners for trudging about in search of surface gold, rather than delving down to bottom rock to find the true deposit.

A party of friends descending unexpectedly upon the house of a mutual friend, each bringing some contribution toward a jollification.

In the South, there are surprise parties of a more disagreeable kind, as when a knot of people visit a negro who has had the audacity to make love to or insult a white girl, for the purpose of ' tarring and feathering, or driving him out of the town, with the menace of death, if he dare to return to it.

SuspendeFS. The American substitute for the English braces, and a delicate improvement upon the old word gallowses, which used to be common in New England.

In England, suspenders are only used by women and children to secure the stockings.

Suspicion (t3). Common in the South for to suspect. Once also cur- rent in England.

Swad (Old Eng.). A lump; amass; a crowd. An Old English collo- quialism frequently heard in New England.

SWA— SWI

393

Swag1. A depression caused by shrinking or settling down, as of earth, etc.

Hence, to swag, to shrink or collapse.

Swale. A valley, a tract of low land. Applied especially to low land between sand ridges on the coast beaches.

Provincial in Norfolk, England, with a connotation of shade, in oppo- sition to sunshine.

SwallOW-tailS. A nickname applied, during the campaign of 1876, to a considerable number of Democrats, who moved in fashionable New- York circles.

Their opponents were called .short-hairs.

Swamp-apple. An excrescence of the swamp honeysuckle, and so named from a similarity of taste between it and the well-known fruit.

Swamp-honeysuekle (Azalea nudiflora). A plant flowering in April and May, and growing in the swamps from Massachusetts to Virginia. Also called May-apple, Pinxter blummachy, and swamp-pink.

SwampePS. In State of Maine, said of men who make roads for lum- berers to convey logs to the water's edge.

Swankey. A favorite beverage with the fishermen of Newfoundland, which is a compound of molasses, vinegar and water.

Swash. In the Southern States, a name given to a narrow sound or channel of water lying within a sand bank, or between that and the shore. (Webster. ) Also, swash.

Swat- A low word, meaning to deliver a blow, to strike. Also, to swot.

Swatch. In Newfoundland, a hole in the ice, through which seals come up.

Hence, to swatch, to watch for seals at the holes in order to shoot them.

Swear Off. To renounce ; to give up ; to abandon, and, particularly, to abandon drinking.

Sweat-hOUSe. (1) Among the aboriginal tribes of California, a super- heated vault also used as a sort of religious temple, where the braves were kept sweltering all night, thence to plunge into an ice-cold river. (2) A cell in which suspected persons are confined, and subjected to examination, for the purpose of extorting confessions from them.

Swip. Among Canadian lumbermen, the great oar of a barge.

394

SWI— TAF

Swipe (to). Used in college parlance, in a variety of ways : (1) to steal ;

(2) to take without permission, not necessarily with intent to steal ;

(3) to strike ; (4) to strike the ball hard, as in baseball.

Switch. A movable rail, by which process of shunting is effected. In England, " points."

Switch (to). To turn cars from one line of rails to another. In England, to " shunt. "

Switchel. A New- England beverage of m classes, water, and ginger, with or without molasses.

Swoils. In Newfoundland, applied to seals. Hence, to go swotting.

Sword, In South Jersey, the coupling-pole of a wagon.

Tabagane. See tobogan.

Tabby-eat. (1) Female cat ; (2) cat of yellow or yellow-striped color ; (3) general word, like " pussy-cat," with no special significance.

Table-spread. A table cloth.

Table-Stakes. At game of poker, stakes placed where they may be seen. Each player cannot then be raised more than he has upon the table.

Table-ware. The appointments of a dinner table.

Taeker. A small child. The adjective " little " generally precedes the noun.

Tackey. In the South, a jade of a horse ; a sorry beast ; and idioma- tically a man neglectful of personal appearance, one who is slorenly, shabby.

Hence, tacky parties, where the guests are dressed in the commonest and most unfashionable costumes.

Tad. A human being. ''Little tads " are small boys, and " old tads '' are old men.

Cf. " little toad" as a term of endearment.

Taffy. A common corruption of toffy for candy ; also, idiomatically, flattery.

TAG— TAK

395

Tag. (1) A slight touch.

(2) The name of a boy's game.

(3) A ticket.

Tags. The foliage of a pine-tree. A shortened form of pine-tags.

Tail (to). Among cowboys, to hold a steer down by the tail after it is lassoed and heeled.

Tailings. Among miners, a term applied to refuse ore.

TailOP (Pomoolbus mediocris). The popular name of a small-sized shad of inferior flavor, peculiar to the Mississipi. See salt-water-tailor.

TajO, tah'-ho (Sp.). In Texas and New-Mexico, a deep cut or trench to collect water in time of drought.

Take. In newspaper parlance, a reporter's assignment (q. v. ). There are fat-takes and lean takes, i. e. those by which good pay is easily obtained and those which cost much labor and give small returns.

Take (tO). In Canada, said of water when it freezes.

last night. "

The river took

Take a walk. To be dismissed ; to receive one's walking papers. Take Off. To endure from. " I would'nt take that q/fhim. "

Take the bun. Said of a tall fish story, or of anything superlative.

Also, take the cake, take the bakery.

To " take the cake " is a phrase of great antiquity. The idea of a cake being given as a prize seems so obvious that it is perhaps lost labor to trace it back in literature. Athenaeus, in his " Deipnosophistae " (book 14, chap. 56) speaks of a certain kind of cake which was given as a prize at the " all-night " festivals to whomsoever kept awake through the solemnities. So the expression " hemeteros ho puramous " — " we take the cake " — would seem to have become proverbial. It occurs in two passages in Aristophanes (" Thesm. " 94, and " Eq." 277).

Take the Pag Off the bUSh. To bear away the palm ; to outvie ; to outdo. From the fact that, not unfrequently, at shooting matches, in the West, a target is improvised with a rag hung on a bush. Also, simply, to take the rag off".

Take the StaPCh OUt Of One. To take the style and stiffness out of one ; to humble ;' to snub. Westerners of the far-off States are especially apt to indulge in that enjoyment at the expense of newcomers or tenderfoots.

396 TAK— TAM

Take up. (1) In the language of the prairies, to saddle or harness a horse, or an ox team, at the beginning of a day's journey. (2) In the South, to put up at an inn.

Take Water. To back down ; to make off ; to run away.

Talk. Among Indians, a conference, negotiation, or official communication.

Talking-iron. A comical name for a gun or rifle. Also, shooting -iron,

Talk to. In parts of the South, said in sense of to court. "Judge Jackson's son has been talkiri1 to my daughter nigh on a year."

Talk round a five-eornered stump. To indulge in loquacious talk,

of a more or less exaggerated character. To engage in metaphysical reasoni.-ig of a very abstract nature.

Another variant is to talk the hind leg of a cow.

Talk turkey. To indulge in grandiloquent periods ; to use high-sounding words. An allusion to the manner in which the male bird spreads and plumes itself. (Farmer.)

Tall. An intensitive, synonym of great, fine, exceedingly, etc. " Tall whiskey, " excellent or splendid whiskey. " Tall talk, " bombastic and high-sounding folk. "

This word was formerly the recognised slang for the talk of a braggart or a liar, but may be applied in every case where inordinateness, exces- siveness, and great magnitude enter into the idea of the speaker. " He is the greatest pedestrian mentioned in the annals of tall walks. "

Talqual. In Newfoundland, said of fish sold without sorting, i. e. just as they come.

The variant all quails is also said, substantively, of fish bought without culling.

Tamal (Mex. tamaili). A preparation of maize, common in Spanish America, as far north as Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.

The tamal is made of maize crushed on the " metate, " mixed with minced meat and a liberal quantity of red pepper. The mass is then rolled in pieces of corn shucks, and after being dipped in oil is cooked in the steam of water.

Tamarae. In the Northern States, an Indian Algonkin word sometimes heard for the species of spruce, otherwise called in French " epinette rouge " (Larix americana).

Tammany. Said to come from Tammenund, a famous chief of the Lenni- Lenape or Delaware Indians, who flourished about the middle of the 17th century. Cooper has introduced him in " The Last of the Mohi-

TAN— TAR 397

cans, " chap. 28-29, where he presides at a council of his nation. Owing to his many virtues, he was facetiously canonized as the tutelary saint of the new American Republic, which fact led to a benevolent society, started in New- York in 1789, being called after his name. The new Society soon developed into a political club of powerful influence, and St. Tammany degenerated in a few years from the patronage of the Republic to that of a mere wing of the Democratic party, which position he has held since.

Tangenty. Erratic ; capricious ; crotchety in temper ; i. e. apt to fly

off at a tangent. Also, tangential.

Tan-toasteP. The singular name, at the Isles of Shoals, Maine, for a great gale or storm.

TapadePO, tah-pah-der'-o (Sp.). In the formerly Spanish States, a leather covering for the protection of the feet, and, more specifically, the " toe-fender " of the Mexican stirrup. Also used for reboso (q. v.).

TapalO, tah'-pal-o (Sp. ). In the formerly Spanish States, a coarse piece of cloth which serves as a substitute among the lower classes for the finer and costlier reboso.

Taps. A military term for the evening bugle-call.

Taps. To be on onc'e taps, to be on the alert ; ready for action. Literally, to be on one's soles, a metaphor borrowed from the shoemaker.

TapUJO, tah-poo'-ho (Sp. ). In Texas and New Mexico, applied to the blinders used on mules in pack trains.

Tarheels. A name given in derision by Mississipians to a brigade of North Carolinians, who, in one of the great battles of the Civil War, failed to hold their position on a certain hill. They were then taunted with having forgotten to tar their heels that morning, and hence the cant name. (Farmer. )

TaP kiln. In New Jersey, applied to a place where tar is tried out of pine knots.

TaPPify. To exercise undue pressure. A Southern colloquialism, used in reference to coercive measures instituted by the authorities.

TaPPy (Old Eng.). Time of tarrying.

TaPPy (to). To delay ; to remain ; to stay. This verb is now nearly obsolete in England.

398 TAR— TEN

TaPVe. A turn ; bend ; or curve.

Hence, to tarve, to turn to the right or left. " The road tarves ojfto the eastward. "

In Old English, "torve" signified twisted, from the latin "torvus. "

Tautaug1 (Tautoga Americana). The name of the Black-fish caught in the waters of Rhod* Island. The word belongs to the Algonkin language, and may be found in Roger William's Key to the Indian language.

Tax. In New England, to charge, in the sense of charging a price. " What will you tax me a yard for this cloth ? "

TaX-eateP. One who holds political office, elective or appointive ; a feeder at the public crib.

Team. (1) A term first adopted in sporting or athletic parlance, and

meaning an assemblage of people for any object : " A base-ball team. "

(2) An array of people or things ; and idiomatically applied as the

sincerest and highest form of praise. " He's a whole team, " meaning a

man whose energy and pluck can be depended on.

Tea-pomp. Among the old colonists, a term applied to a pump whose water had stood the test of making good tea.

Tear. A jollification, with connotation of noisy boisterousness produced by intoxication. Also, tear-round. On a tear, on a spree, or debauch.

Tear (to) round. To make a fuss : to create a disturbance.

Tea-Squall. A tea-party. An American slang equivalent of the Er glish tea-fight.

Teeolote (Mex. tecolotl). In Texas, the name of a species of owl. (Bubo Virginianus subarcticus.)

TeetCP. In New England, to see-saw, oscillate up and down. Used of the children's sport with plank and fulcrum.

TeetSOOk. A saddle-bag, made of buffalo hide, from which the hair has been removed. In use on the plains.

Tell. A witty story or saying ; a compliment. The equiv. of the French " bon-mot."

Tell gOOd bye. In the South, to bid farewell or good-bye. Tempest. Often heard, in New England, for thunder storm

Tend. (1) To attend. " To tend a convantion." Tend, for attend, is good Old English. (2) To kesp " To tend a shop, a store. "

TEN— TES

399

Tenderfoot. In the wild regions of the Far West, a new comer fresh from civilization ; one who has not been long enough on the tramp to be hardened.

Tend OUt On. In parts of New England, used for attend, attend to. One tends out on church, or tends out on the public library for the first opportunity to take the new magazines. Indeed, any one on the alert for any purpose whatever, is said to be tending out.

Tenement. A lodging, or flat, in a tenement house. Tenement-hOUSe. A house, let out in rooms or flats to families.

Ten-Strike. A successful stroke ; a fortunate occurrence ; a thorough piece of work. From game of ten-pins, where it means to knock down all the balls at one throw.

Tepee. An Indian tent, or wigwam, in the far West.

Tepocate (Mex. tepocatl). A peculiar, small, black fish, found in the pools and lagunas of southwestern Texas.

Tequila, tay-kee'-lah (Sp.). In Texas, the name of a Mexican alcoolic drink, made from the " sotole," and so called from a small city in Mexico, where that liquor is principally distilled.

Terawehey (Dutch te-ratje). A familiar word still lingering in New York nurseries, and the equivalent for the " creep-mouse. " This word, as will be seen, is made up exactly like prawchty, from praatje.

TePPapin (Palustris). A species of salt-water turtle, abounding south of New York, whose flesh is considered a great delicacy.

The word is clearly a corrupt form of the Algonkin name, which is quoted by Rasles as " toarebe, tortue. "

TePPBS folles (Fr.). The district on the south shore of Lake Superior. TePPCS jaunes (Fr.). The yellow stone country of Missouri.

TePPes tFemblanteS (Fr. ). In the Canadian North-West, savanes made of shakey ground.

TePPet. In New England, the guiding ring for the reins of the harness of a horse.

Bailey, in his Dictionary, gives " Tyerets" ornaments for horses.

Tesquite (Mex. tequezquitl). The alkaline efflorescence or incrustation found on the alkali deserts of New Mexico, California and Arizona.

Test-papeP. In Pennsylvania law courts, a document shown to a jury as evidence.

400 TET— TIC

Tetchy (Old Eng.). Irritable ; fractious ; touchy, when speaking of children.

This word may be found in Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet) and is still current in the western counties of England.

Tetes-de-femmes (Fr.). A name given, by the half-breeds of the Cana- dian North- West, to the little clumps of moss on the prairies.

Tew. To fume ; to fuss ; to fret.

To tew round, to make a pretence of work without performing any- thing. .Generally applied to a busybody in household affairs. In the north of England, " tew " means to labor, to work hard.

Texas. The upper deck of a Mississipi river steamboat.

Texas tender, waiter on the texas or upper deck of a Mississipi steam- boat.

Thank ye ma'ams. Hollows or depressions in a road which cause vehicles to bump up and down. A young man driving his sweetheart in a sleigh, is then permitted to take a kiss at each of these.

Thatch. A long, coarse grass, growing in the salt marshes on the New Hampshire and Massachusetts seacoast.

Hence, thatchy, said of milk. The milk tastes thatchy when the cows have eaten thatch.

Thimble-berry (Rubus occidentals). The wild black raspberry, so called from its naked receptacle having the shape of a thimble.

Thimble-weed (Rudbeckia). A medicinal plant, having diuretic and tonic properties, and so called from its receptacle resembling a thimble.

- Thirds (Old Eng. ). Commonly colloquial in sense of dower. So used in Middleton's plays.

Thoroughfare. In the South, a low gap in a range of hills, or between mountains.

Three-Square. A kind of grass found on the South Jersey meadows.

Through. In Kentucky, the number of rows worked by a set of hands through a tobacco field.

Throw up. A euphemism used for to vomit.

Throw up one's SOC/T.S, or one's boots, to vomit vehemently and copiously.

Thumper. A rough ; a bully ; a pugilist.

Thunder-heads. Heavy cumulus clouds piled above the black mass of a storm.

Thwart. On the New-England coast, sometimes heard for a rower's seat, in a boat.

Ticker. In stock-broking circles, a "tape. "

TIC— TIM

401

Ticket. A list of candidates for election, as prepared by the party leaders, or by caucus or convention.

Mixed ticket, one combining the nominees of different parties.

Scratch ticket, one from which one or more names have been erased.

Split ticket, one representing different divisions of a party.

Straight ticket, one containing the "regular nomination" without change.

Tickler. (1) A cash-balance book ; also, a memorandum in which a register of debts and payments is kept.

(2) A pocket flask, in which to carry liquor.

Tidy. An ornamental cover for a sofa or chair.

From the Old English word " tide, " meaning time as eventide, from which " tidy," in sense of timely or seasonable.

" To tie away the boat."

Tie away. Sometimes heard for to untie. Of. lock open.

Tiger. ( 1 ) The ordinary faro game is generally veiled under the term of "Ye Tiger," a curious name quite adequate to express the destructive and voracious nature of the game.

To buck, or fiyht the tiger, to gamble, and, more particularly, to play faro.

(2) A final cheer, or yell of a particularly great volume.

After the usual three cheers at a convivial or other party, when in England there would be a call for the Kentish fire, or one cheer more there is in America a call for the tiger, a growl, like that of a wild animal, in which all the company take part. The tiger is very effective for its purpose.

Tilpah (Ind. ). A plain's term for a parti-colored rug, woven and dyed by the Navajo Indians, and used under the saddle and over the true saddle blanket.

Tilt. In Newfoundland, a poor one-story house, built of small hewn sticks, set vertically. Also, clotten hou*< .

TimbeP. A generic name, in the South and West, for woodland, forests. Timbered lands, land covered with woods.

Timberheels. A slouching, slovenly walker.

Time. A good time may mean anything, from simple, innocent enjoyment to a drunken spree or debauch.

Has been used by sundry Old English writers, and is still a favourite with the good folks of many English villages, only not exactly in the American sense.

A high old time, a spree or debauch of the first class.

All the time, always.

In time, at the exact hour or time.

To make time, to be punctual. 26

4>2 TIM— TOA

Timothy (Phleum pratense). The popular name of the Herd's Grass, said to be derived from Timothy Hanson, who first introduced it into cultivation.

Tinaja, te-nah'-hah (Sp.). Primarily a large earthenware vessel, but now applied on the Mexican frontier to holes or cavities in rocks forming receptacles for water.

, te-nah-her'-ah (Sp. ). On the Mexican frontier, the stand upon which the tinaja is kept, usually the three-pronged fork of a tree. Also a weed, not identified, covering miles of country in Southern Texas, whose leaves are used as a substitute for tea.

TineladS. A facetious name given by the Confederates, during the Civft War, to their own war cruisers. The Northern men-of-war they called cheese boxes.

Tinker, A New-England name for a small mackerel.

Tinner. A tin-plate worker.

Tin-Wedding1. Celebration of the 10th anniversary of a marriage.

Tippeeanoe. A nickname given to Wm. Henry Harrison, ninth pre- sident of the United States, because of his victory over- the Indians of the North-West, under Tecumseh, in 1811.

Tipple. A drink of liquor, and especially a " fancy drink." To tipple is familiar enough in England for to drink.

TippybobS. A term of utmost contempt designating the iipper or wealth}' classes.

Tipteei5. To walk in a mincing manner.

Tisanne (Fr. ). In French Canada, a decoction of spruce-tops supposed, like sarsaparilla, to be a blood purifier.

Tithing-man. In New England, a parish officer appointed to preserve order at public worship, and enforce the proper observance of the Sabbath. (Worcester.)

TlaCO (Mex. f/acona/oni). In Texas, a copper coin, about the size of an old style United States copper cent. Two tlarox are equivalent to two and a quarter cents of our money. Other forms are tlac, thfack.

Toad-fish (Batnehtu variegatus). An ugly fish, and fisherman's pest, otherwise called ymMy and oy.iter-jixh. Also, toid-grwtter, from the noise it makes.

Toad-StickeP. A soldier's term for a sword, which was almost universal during the Civil War.

TOB— TOO

403

Tobagan (Ind. Alg. tubagun, a sl»d. In tke dialect of the Crees, otoba- nask). A sleigh or sledge, drawn by dogs in the extreme north of Canada, and used for travelling over snow. This sledge is made of thin wood, bent upward at one end, and without runners.

Also, a pleasure sled used in sliding on the snow from great heights.

Other forms are tobagin, tobagan, tabagane-(Fer\&nd, Hist, du Canada, p. 113), tabaganne (Leclercq, Relation de la Gaspesie, 1691, p. 70), tabo- gine (Lemoine, Monographies et Esquisses, p. 70).

Toboganing, sliding down hill on the snow on a tobogan.

Toboganifit, one who indulges in the sport of toboganing.

Tole. In parts of Pennsylvania, said of a drain or ditch.

Tole (to). An Old English form still persisting in sense of to allure, to draw or cause to follow. Only used, however, in connection with animals.

Toloache (Mex. toloatzin). In Texas, the name of a plant bearing purple, sweet scented flowers. This plant is a strong narcotic, and the Mexicans even think it has the property of developing gradual and per- manent insanity.

Tomahawk (Ind. Powhattan tomahack, or tamohake. In the Algonkin dialect, otamaha-eyan, whence the contracted form tahrnahyan, meaning literally a " beating-thing. " Lacombe gives the Cree otamahuk). A common name for every form of Indian war club, generally a hatchet- with a hollow handle, so that it can serve also as a pipe.

Tom-dog". In some parts of the West, a dog as distinguished from a bitch.

This usage follows, with regard to dogs, that usually connected with*1 cats only in England.

Tommy COd. The popular name, in Canada, of a small fish much esteemed for its dclicac}', and which is caught in great quantities in winter, espe- cially in the St Lawrence river. Fishing through the ice for tommy i'od is an old time Canadian sport, which is now more popular than ever. On the St Charles river, near the city of Quebec, fishing parties leasa " cabanes" on the ice and enjoy the sport for several days and nights*

Toney. High-toned ; possessing good style ; fancy; swellisb. Tongue. The pole of a waggon or omnibus.

Toot (Ger. date). In Eastern Pennsylvania, a conical pa-por bag used! among grocers.

Toot (on a). On a drunken spree.

Toothache-bush (Xanthoxylum fraxineum). The prickly ash, so calle<5 from its being a specific for toothache.

404

TOO— TOU

ToOthaehe-gPaSS (Monocera aromatica). A singular kind of grass growing in Florida, whose root affects the salivary glands, and is said to be a specific for toothache.

Tooth-picks. A nickname applied to the inhabitants of Arkansas.

ToOZeP. A boy's term for a marble. Also, twozer.

Top (to). In Pennsylvania, to snuff (a candle). TOPmentation. In New England, torment, pain, trouble. Tormented. In New England, a euphemism for damned.

TOPnillO, tor-neel'-lyo (Sp.). In Texas, the name of a tree or large shrub closely related to the mesquite, and bearing beans which are used as food by men and animals.

TOPtienee. In parts of New England, some old people call the youngest child or pet of a family a tortience.

TOPtilla, tor-til'-lyah (Sp.). In Mexico, and the formerly Spanish States, a pankake made of Indian meal, mashed and baked on an earthen pan.

TOPy. A royalist sympathiser during the war of the Revolution, in opposition to whig. Subsequently the term dropped out of popular usage, save as a contemptuous word synonym with retrograde.

Tote. Much used in the South, in sense of to carry a load. There seems also to be a general use of the word among the Maine lumbermen, in .the sense of haul (with team).

Tote load, as much as one can carry.

'Tote-team, team used in hauling.

'Toting up, going from one place to another.

Totem (Ind. Alg. Baraga has the word from ni totem, ni}' parent, my relation). A tribal mark or badge, among the Indians, represented by a device of some animal on his breast, and which is drawn in paint, or engraved in the skin of his body.

Hence totemic, relating or belonging to the totem.

Tottlish. Shaking ; vacillating ; unsteadly. From " totter, " to reel, to shake.

Sir Walter Scott used the word ' ' totty " in the same manner ;

I was somewhat totty when I received the good knight's blow

(Ivanhoe, ch. XXXIII )

Touch. (1) To obtain money from one. For instance, a political worker will touch a candidate for anything, from a dollar up. (2) A cant word, synonym of to steal.

TOU— TOW

405

Touching1 committee. A self-appointed gang of politicians and ward- workers who " bleed " candidates for office.

Tough. A street loafer and bar-room bully.

Also used adjectively in sense of strong, healthy.

Tough it Out. To endure to the end. Much used among the uneducated.

Touladi. An Indian word designating a species of trout particular to the lakes of the north of the province of Quebec.

Toulibi (Fr. Can. ). Among the French-Canadian?, the name of a species of fish (Coregoiius quadrilateralis) found in the lower St. Lawrence region.

TOW. That which is towed, as a boat or scow. Tow-boat. A freight boat ; a barge or canal boat.

Tow-head. (1) In the Mississipi region, a small tuft-like island, formed by the silting up of mud round sunken trees and through other causes. (2) A Western term for a man of dandified appearance.

Town. (1) In New England, a small territorial district or township, whether densely or thinly inhabited. Miss Leslie says it will explain Jonathan's perplexity ;

He said he couldn't see the town, There were so many houses.

(2) In New England, one of the portions into which every county is divided, and generally containing a village to which the surrounding farmers come to do their trading. This meaning is closely allied to its use in Wycliffe's time, who evidently regards the "town"'' as the agri- cultural district outside'the village, when he translates Luke XVI. 15 : " He sent him into his " toune " to feed swine. "

(3) In New England, a body of voters within a township, district, or parish.

Town-house. (1) A house where the public business of the town is trans- acted. This house has the same relation to a township, as a " town hall" has to an English borough. (2) In Connecticut, an almshouse.

Township. (1) The district or territory of a town, comprising from five to ten miles square, and subordinate to the county.

(2) In the province of Quebec (Canada) the district or parts that were exempt from feudal laws, at the time of the "seigniories," are still called townships.

TOW-POW. A shindy ; a noise ; a racket.

Tow-tail. Among the mill operatives, in New England, the name of a coarse kind of cloth.

406 TRA— TRA

Track. The spoor, or foot-marks of a man, or any animal.

The " permanent way " of a railroad.

To dear the track, the Am. equiv. of the English " to clear the deck."

To get off the track, to derail.

To have the inside track, to be in possession of all available influence on a given subject, to be in a commanding position.

To cover up one's tracks, to adopt measures of concealment.

To make tracks, to run away.

In one's tracks, immediately. Lowell says this expression is an importation from the Latin " e vestigio," or the Norman French " enes les pas."

Trade. A commercial transaction, and especially an exchange of any kind. In England, trade is applied exclusively to an avocation.

Trade (to). To sell ; to barter ; to exchange ; to dicker. The equiv. of the English " to shop."

This use of the word is good old legitimate English, as in Ezek> xxvii. 13, where we read : " They traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market."

Trade-last. In college parlance, an exchange of compliments, or a quoted compliment. Also used as a verb, in sense of to exchange compliments.

Trader. In Newfoundland, a stranger who comes to barter.

Trail- The spoor, or foot-marks of any animal.

A path ; the track left by men or animals.

On the trail, said of cattle while being driven from one range to another, or to a shipping point for beef.

To blind a trail, in the days of Indian warfare, to obliterate the traces of a trail ; and hence, figuratively, to remove the traces of one's actions.

To camp on the trail, to follow in close pursuit.

Trailer. The street car on the cable lines which is drawn by the " grip."

Train. In New England, to carry on, to act wild. Almost peculiar to girls. " She's an awful one to train." Also used substantively for frolic, romp.

Traine (Fr.). Among the French-Canadians, a peculiar low sleigh used for the transport of merchandise, wood, etc.

Trainers. In New England, militia when in training. Also, a general word for soldiers.

Training-day. The day when the militia are called out to be reviewed.

TRA— TRI

407

Tramp. A travelling or strolling vagabond who works when he must, steals when he can, and begs at all times. Quoted in Halliwell. In England, a tramp is now a foot traveller.

Transient. In hotel and boarding-house parlance, a temporary visitor, as distinguished from a permanent boarder.

Trap-door. In New England, a triangular rent in cloth. Also, trappatch. See winklekaivk.

Trash. (1) In the West Indies and Louisiana, the leaves when stripped from the sugar-cane, in order to allow it to ripen more readily. Hence, to trash, to strip the leaves from the sugar-cane.

(2) The leaves, sticks, and compact foam which accumulate by the side of a stream.

(3) A contemptuous term applied by the negroes, in the South, to poor white people.

Trash-basket. Waste-paper basket.

Tree. As an intransitive verb, to take refuge in a tree, in speaking of a wild animal, and figuratively to get out of harm's way.

In a transitive sense, to corner, to have at one's mercy, in speaking of game which has taken refuge in a tree. Hence a coon is " treed" when compelled to seek refuge in a tree.

To tree, oneself, to hide behind a tree, as in hunting or fighting. Up a tree, in difficulties, the allusion being to the uncomfortable posi- tion in which the racoon or opossum sometimes finds himself, with his enemies looking out for him at the bottom of a tree.

Tree-molasses. In the West, molasses and sugar which are the pro- ducts of the sugar maple. Also, tree-sugar.

Tree-primrose. (CEnothera fructicosa). A beautiful and fleeting flower, having a brilliant yellow hue.

Trick. In parts of the South, a small object or chattel.

Tricksy (Old Eng. ). Still surviving, in the South and West, for trickish, practicing tricks. " A tricksy horse " is especially a common expression.

Trig" (Old Eng.). Trim, neat, smart. An old form still surviving in Vir- ginia, related to " trick," in the sense of " tricked out," decorated.

TrignesS (Old Eng.). Smart appearance. Still often heard in Virginia.

Trimmings. ( 1 ) The accessories of any clish, such as flavorings, sauces, etc . (2) A woman's frills and furbelows ; the trappings of a horse ; the decorations of a house.

408 TRI— TRU

Tri-Mountain City. A name applied to the city of Boston, Mass. , from the three hills on which it was originally built.

Tri-tPi. A name applied, in Canada, to the King-bird (Tyrannus caroli- nensis), from its peculiar cry.

TrOCha. tro'-tchah (Sp.). Now used, figuratively, in the sense ^f a barrier, an obstacle, from the famous trocha imagined by general Weyler, in Cuba, to keep off the insurgents.

Trolley. An electric street car.

TrompillO, trom-peel -yo (Sp. ). A common weed of the nightshad family in southern and western Texas.

Trot. In college parlance, a translation.

TFOt (to). In college parlance, to make use of a translation. To use a pony or similar means in studying.

TPOUt. A name generally given to the " gamest " fish, according to the section of the country.

Thus, in parts of the South, the " trout " is the black perch ; in Texas, Indian Territory, and as far up as Canada, a bass ressembling the striped sea bass is so called ; and in the Rio Azul of New-Mexico, and other pure streams, the " trout " is a dace.

TPUCk. (1) Primarily meaning " stuff, " but now applied to vegetables of the kind specified as market produce.

Truck patch, a plot of ground devoted to the raising of vegetables. (2) A cart for transporting merchandise.

TPUCk (to). To barter or to trade. Truckage. Cartage. Truckman. Cart-man.

An old word, derived from the Dutch, and still lingering in New York city and surroundings in sense of a round tin box used for cake or bread.

TPUmpeter-SWan (Cygnus buccinator). A magnificent bird, as white as snow, measuring about seven feet from tip of tip of wing, and whose range is chiefly from the Mississipi valley, extending northward as far as the Pacific. So named from the trumpet tones of its call, when calling to one another.

TPUSt. A combination of merchants or manufacturers in same line of business, for controlling the manufacture and sale of various articles of necessity.

JTUC— TUN

409

TllCkahoe (an Indian name said to designate bread). A tuberous root (Sclerotium giganteum) of the traffic variety, growing in Virginia, and, like the truffle of Europe, sought bor by dogs and hogs trained for the purpose. The Indians can manage it so as, in case of necessity, to make bread of it. Hence the name of Indian bread or Indian loaf, under which it is also known. Another form is tockwogh.

Tuckahoe is also a nickname given to the inhabitants of the lower Virginia, whose poverty might drive them to eat tuckahoe. Thus it was also often heard diiring the Ciril War, of a peculiarly sad looking cons- cript coming from the Lower James, that "he was nothing but a poor Tuekahoe. "

Tuckered OUt. Wearied ; tired out. Tucket. The young green ear of Indian corn.

Tule, too-lay (Mex. tollin). A reed-like grass or bulrush (Scirpus lacus- tris), covering immense areas in the South-Western States, especially Texas and California.

In Texas, the name is also applied to several species of yucca, and te certain kinds of reeds not identified.

Tulip-tree (Liriodendron tulipifera). A large tree, bearing tulip-shaped flowers.

Also called white-wood, and in the South poplar.

Tumble. In Connecticut, a hay-cock, a heap.

Tumble-bug (Canthon lolvis). A common insect, otherwise known as the dung beetle. In England called the " straddle bob. " Akin to the sacred scaraboeus of the Egyptians, who so industriously rolls his balls dung on dusty roads and lonely paths.

Tumble-weed. One of the globular perennials of the plains, which, when dead, is pulled up by the wind, and goes rolling over the plains at the mercy of the blast. (Farmer. ) Also called rotting -weed.

Tump. In Maine, to drag home game.

Tumpline. In Maine, a peculiar contrivance consisting of a strap so placed across the forehead as to assist in carrying a pack upon the back.

Tuna, too'nah(Sp.). The Spanish name of the prickly pear cactus (Cactus opuntia) or Indian fig, bearing a purplish pear-shaped fruit which, in Southern countries, is considered very luscious.

Also the name of the pleasant beverage made from the fruit of the Indian^fig.

Tunk. In New England, a stroke, a blow with the fist. Still provincial in England.

410

TUP— UMB

Tupelo. The Indian name of the pepperidge (q.v.), a word especially well known in New England.

Turkey-blizzard (Cathartes aura). Ah American species of vulture, so called from its distant resemblance to a turkey, and which is remarkable for its graceful flight in the higher regions of the air.

Turn. (1) In Newfoundland, a stick of wood for fuel.

Curiously enough, a turn of wood is heard of from Louisiana in sense of an arm-load or a cart-load of wood, or indeed of any other quantity that can be transported at one return.

See billet, breastner, burn.

(2) In Tennessee, the quantity of corn sent at one time to the mill is termed a " turn of meal. "

Turner (Ger. ). A gymnast, belonging to a club of gymnastics. Turnerfeste (Ger.). The annual festival of a club of gymnastics.

Turning-row. In Kentucky, a row unplanted in a corn or tobacco field, where the horses turn around in plowing.

Turn-verelne (Ger. ). A club, or society, who makes gymnastics a sub- ject of pleasure as well as of health.

Turpentine State. The state of North Carolina, from its extensive pine-forests.

Twistieal. A factitious word meaning unfair, perverse, with connotation of oblique moral vision.

Twitch. Among Maine lumber-men, to drag timber by means of a chain.

Two-forty pace. With great speed, the allusion being to the 2.40 gait for a trotting horse, which, not long ago, was 'considered very good.

Two-pipe Scatter gun. A double barrelled-rifle, or fowling-piece. Also, two-shoot scatter gun.

Tyke. In Maryland, a term of reproach applied to an ugly or noisy child.

Typo. A printer's abbreviation of typographer. The Eng. equivalent is "comp."

TT

Umbrella-tree (Magnolia tripelata). A Southern tree, so called from its resemblance to an umbrella, the leaves radiating from the ends of the branches to a distance of three feet in diameter.

UNC— UPP 411

Uncle Sam. The tutelary geniue of the United States. A nickname given to the American people as a whole, or to the United States government as representing the American nation.

The nickname " Uncle Sam, " as applied to the United States government, is said to have originated as follows. Samuel Wilson, commonly called " Uncle Sam, " was a government inspector of beef and pork at Troy, New York, about 1812. A contractor, Elbert Ander- sou, purchased a quantity of provisions, and the barrels were marked "E. A., Anderson's initials, and U. S.," for United States. The latter initials were not familiar to Wilson's workmen, who required what they meant. A facetious fellow answered : " I don't know, unless they mean "Uncle Sam." A vast amount of property afterward passed through Wilson's hands marked in the same manner, and he was often joked upon the extent of his possessions. The joke spread through all the departments of the government, and before long the United States was popularly referred to as " Uncle Sam."

Under-coat. In North Carolina, a petticoat. Compare with coat.

Underground railroad. At the time of the agitation for the abolition of slavery, a name applied to a very energetic organization for enabling fugitive slaves to escape to the free States and Canada.

Under-hatches. A simile from sea-faring life, and meaning, in thieve's parlance, in trouble or in distress.

UnhOUSe. To render homeless, as in the case of a cyclone which destroys houses.

Union. The Confederacy of States known as the United States of America.

Union men. Those who, at the time of the Civil War, stood out against secession.

Unlaundered. Undressed, as applied, for example, to shirts.

Up and dust. Hurry up ! move fast ! look alive ! make the dust fly !

Up Country. The interior, or backwoods (q. v.) as opposed to the sea- shore.

Also u?ed adjectively, as an up-country man, and with connotation of a certain inferiority to the seaboard population.

Up-dump. Sometimes heard for tip over. " Be careful or you'll updump the boat.

Upheader. A horse that holds its head high. Also applied, figura- tively, to men.

Upper house. The Senate, either National or State, as distinct from the House of Representatives, which is called Lower House.

412 UPP— VEX

UppePtendom. The fashionable world ; the aristocracy.

Use. To live, make one's house. " These chickens uses round the place."

U. S. plate. Among thieves, said of fetters or hand-cuffs.

V. Often prononunced like w, especially by the older people. " Weal and winegar are good wittles to take aboard a wessel."

Vaeher(Fr.). A herdsman, or cattle-keeper; a cowboy. The Spanish equivalent of vacher, vaquero, is also sometimes used.

Valedictorian. In American colleges, the student who pronounces the valedictory oration at the annual commencement.

Valentine. In college parlance, an official written communication from secretary of faculty, generally of warning or dismissal.

Vamose (Sp. vamos, let us go). A curious grammatical perversion of tha above Spanish imperative, used chiefly in the South-West in sense of to be off, to decamp, to sneak away.

Vamose (to) the ranch, a familiar phrase on the western frontier, and in the South-West, meaning to leave the house, to quit the spot.

VaqUBPO, vah-ker'-o (Sp.) (1) A herdsman, or cattle-tender. The equivalent of the French vacher.

(2) A man who has charge of cattle, horses, aud mules ; a horseman.

Vara (Sp.). A word still heard in California, and other formerly Spanish States, and designating a lineal measure equal to 39 inches. In Texas, the .vara is still the only measure in use.

Often heard in the West and South West for wild animals. " He lay out among the varmints."

Vendue (Fr.). (1) Still heard occasionally, in some States, and the West Indies, in sense of an auction sale. Vendue-crier is especially in cons- tant use in Pennsylvania, where it began to be current as early as 1754 (see Mitttelberger's Travels, p. 22),

(2) In political parlance, a shameless assignment of offices to th highest bidders.

Vertical saw. An outrageous joke ; a dangerous piece of horse-play A serious, and even perhaps dangerous joke.

Vexed. Sorry, disappointed. " I'm terribly vexed about the boy."

VIG— WAG

413

Vigilance committee. A self-appointed body of persons for the pur- pose of punishing, and especially of lynching, who have gone unwhipped of justice.

The name originated in California, and was in all probability derived from the familiar Spanish term *' vigilante." The French " vigilance" is of course the same word, but the connection with the custom is not so evident.

Vim. Spirit ; activity ; energy.

Virgalieu (Fr. ). A New- York name for a much esteemed species of pear. It is the " Doyenne" Blanc" of French authors.

A ludicrous corruption of the above is " Burgaloo," which is the name under which the " Virgalieu " is known in other parts of the country.

Virgin-dip. In North Carolina, the flow of turpentine from pine-trees, during the first year of cutting.

Virginia-poke. At game of cards, to push one card out of the middle of the pack, and put it at the back, which is done, in a superstitious way, for the sake of trying to change one's bad luck.

Virginia-Peel. A common name for the old English " country-dance " (Fr. contre-danse).

VoodOUlSm. A kind of negro-witchcraft, in Louisiana, Hayti and San Domingo, said to be accompanied, in some places, by barbarous rites, and even by human sacrifices.

Voyageur (Fr. ). The old " coureur-des-bois" and trader of New France, so often spoken of by Parkman, and other historians.

Wabash (tO.) To cheat, to defraud; a term still common enough, in that sense, in Indiana and the West generally, although it is difficult to comprehend how the inoffensive ouabache of old (Wabash, a tributary of the Ohio) should have come to receive such a stigma.

Wabble. In the West, to clatter with the tongue ; to be given to excessive talking ; to be a ready speaker. >

Wad. A slang term for a roll of bank notes.

Wagged OUt. A Massachusetts term for tired out, exhausted.

Waggletail. The larva of the mosquito. Also called a wiyglcr.

Wagon. To convey or transport by wagon.

414

WAI— WAL

Wain (Old Eng. ). An old and obsolete word still used for wagon in parts of the United States.

We read, in Tennyson's May Queen, " Charles' Wain" for the cons- tellation of the Great Bear.

Waist. The upper portion of a lady's gown. In England, bodice.

Wait-a-bit trees. A facetious name given to a sort of jungle or thicket almost impenetrable from the innumerable thorns of its branches.

Wait upon. To court; to pay attention to a lady with a view to matrimony.

Wake up the WPOng- passenger. To be mistaken in a man, that is " to catch a Tartar ; " to interfere with a man who is capable of making an effective resistance.

A phrase borrowed from railroad thieving, as also from frequent mis- takes made at hotels in waking up passengers who are to start early in the morning.

A variant is to yet the wron/j pig by the vail, the Yankee equivalent of the Eng. to get the wrong sow by the ear.

Walking1 papers. Letters of dismissal, generally employed with a political bearing, as if in derisive allusion to the liberty granted to an official to walk out of office.

Walk OUt. Among trades'unions, a walk out is a strike.

Walk Spanish. To strut ; and, idiomatically, to be unsteady in gait. In New England, a boy is said to walk Spanish when he is lifted from behind by the seat of his trousers, so that he has to walk on his toes. Another form is to ivalk turkey.

Walk upon one's Shoe Strings. An idiom indicative of poverty and destitution ; a variant of the English "down at heels."

Wall Street. — The financial centre of the United States. The name of Wall street, in New York city, which dates back to 1653, is derived from the wall or the fence erected at that time by the Dutch to protect themselves against the inroads of the Indians.

Wallop. This word was a subject of discussion lately when a woman of refinement as hostess asked her guest to have another "wallop" of tea. The woman who was addressed had always associated the word with a vulgar expression meaning to punish, and was naturally a bit startled. Her hostess explained the word as meaning "a little bit." But no such significance is given in the Century dictionary. The first meaning there given is "to boil with a continued bubbling," and the noun, "a quick motion with agitation." There appears to be no authority for a " wal- lop of tea" unless, possibly, it be used to signify a bubble — one of those precious bubbles which, if you can catch it, is said to be a talisman of wealth and good fortune.

WAL— WAR

415

WallOWS. On some of the Western prairies, the ground has every appearance of having been rooted or torn up by bears, buffalos, or hogs. Hence, bear, buffalo, or hog ivalllowx. These wallows are, however, purely natural phenomenas.

In Texas, hog-iuallows are particularly abundant.

Walt. Lop-sided ; said of ships with a list. ply a ivalt ship.

A wait-sided ship, or sim-

Waltzing-giantS. A Nevada term for the great cylinders of sand, which, during what is called a sand-storm, go rearing across the desert with a kind of whirling and waltzing motion.

Wamble-CFOpped. A curious New-England expression meaning sick at « the stomach ; and, figuratively, humiliated, crest-fallen.

Wampum (Ind. wompam, meaning "white" in the New-England dialects, says Roger Williams, white being the color of the shells most frequent in wampum belts). An inferior shell currency, formerly in use among the aborigines, consisting of strings of shells, which were also frequently united into a broad belt, worn as an ornament or a girdle. See cohof], xetvan.

Wananish (Ind. Montagnais wananouvhou, salmon). A species of land- locked salmon, which abounds in the Lake St. John region of the Pro- vince of Quebec. ' •

(Ind.). A peculiar kind of boat used in the lumbering districts of Maine to carry tools and provisions.

WapatOO (Ind.). A name given by the Indians, in Oregon, to the bulb " Sagittaria vayiabilis," which is used as an article of food.

Wapiti (Ind. Cree wapitew, grayish or pale. Also, wapit, Ind. Shoshone or Utah, meaning yellowish). The elk or stag of America (Cervus cana- densis). The yellowish or grayish color of the wapit* being quite pecu- liar, the Shoshone wapit stands a good chance of being the original term, and this presumption is the more strengthened that the wapiti is very common in the Shoshone country, and of great importance to its inha- bitants.

Warni COOtai (Somateria spectabilis). A species of eider-duck, formerly very abundant in the region of the Oulf of St. Lawrence, but which is now only found in the north of Labrador.

WarOU. A hobgoblin, in the mythology of some Indian tribes of Canada.

War-path. A march to battle. An expression borrowed from the Indians. On the war-path, ready for a tight ; in fighting mood.

416

WAR— W AW

WaP-hOPSe. (1) Among politicians, a term applied to any energetic politicaljleader. (2) A nickname applied to general Longstreet, of the Confederate army.

Washoe-zephyP. A peculiar wind blowing regularly in the summer time, in Nevada, and so called from Washoe being a pet nickname for that State.

Washout. A flood, especially one when a roadway, bridge, or railroad embankment is carried away.

Watap (Ind. Alg.). The root of pine or tamarack, used to ROW bark canoes and the like.

Watch One's COPnePS. To keep a sharp look out, to be shrewdly atten- tive. The expression comes in this way : when a man is ploughing and reaches the corners of his land, he must be careful in turning his team and plough, or he will not break up the land thoroughly at the corners.

Watch out.

train."

In Pennsylvania, to look out. " To ivatch out for the

Water. To create fictitious stock, without its being a representative of industry expended, or work done.

The issue of fictitious railroad stock, for speculative or gambling pur- poses, is known as " watering the stock," a term derived from the prac- tice of Daniel Drew when a boy, who sold cattle by weight, and gave them salt to eat to induce thirst, and then let them drink copiously just before they were sold by live weight.

WatCP-hOPSe. In Newfoundland, after the fish has been salted long enough it is washed to remove superfluous salt and dirt. This is the water-horse, and fish so washed arid spread on the flakes to dry is called water-horse fish.

WateP-lot. A building lot over which water has already taken a heavy mortgage.

A building lot which is swamp or morass, and half the year under water.

The advantage of a water-fall for driving water- wheels, or a place affording such advantage.

WatOPSpOUt, On the high plains of the West, a name applied to the terrific rain-storms prevalent in those regions.

Water-Witch. A diviner of the presence of water, in subterranean wells, by means of the divining rod.

WawaPOn. The bull-frog. Also called by that name in French Canada. The word is from the Indian ouiraon or ouaovaron. Sagard translates " crapeau vert " into Huron by ouaraon.

WAX— WHA

417

Wax. To overcome another ; to surmount difficulties ; to obtain an advantage by diplomatic measures.

Wax-myrtle. A shrub bearing a berry covered with a shining wax.

Also called candle-berry myrtle, candles being made from the wax it supplies.

Weaken. To grow weak ; to giro way ; to abandon an undertaking. Weak Sister. An unreliable person. Wearables. Clothes ; wearing apparel. Wear OUt. To beat, to chastise.

Wear the collar. To be subject to authority, such control not being altogether to one's taste.

The antithesis of sense contained in "to wear the breeches."

In political parlance, to be directed by another in political matters.

Weasels. A nickname applied to the inhabitants of South Carolina. Weather-StPipS. Sandbags ; draught excluders. WeddinOPS. The bride and groom, with the wedding party.

Weeding. In thieve's parlance, taking a part and leaving the balance in such a manner as not to excite suspicion.

Similarly, when a thief abstracts a portion from the plunder without the knowledge of his pals, and then receives an equal proportion of the remainder, it is called weeding the swag. (Farmer. )

Weeny. In parts of New England, said of board or timbers, not of full width throughout, because the saw in cutting ran out into the bark.

Well. Used adjectively in sense of healthy, as for instance : " He is now a well man."

Wench. A negro woman.

Provincial in England for a young girl or servant-man.

WendigO . A hobgoblin, among the Northern Indians. Werowance. A chief of the Indian tribes ofVirginia and Maryland. West Pointer. A cadet at the U. S. Military Academy at West Point. Whale away. To talk vehemently, or without hindrance.

Whaler. A big, strapping fellow.

Primarily a sailor's word, from the huge size of a whale.

Wha!) over. In New England, to knock over ; to overturn with violence.

27

418 WHA— WHI

Whapper-JaW. A protruding under-jaw. The adjective whapper- jawed is also used. See jimber-jaw.

Wharf-boat. A rectangular float, on the Western rivers, for the recep- tion of goods, or for a dram-shop, which is generally moored to the shoreside to take the place of a regular fixed wharf.

Wharf up. In New England, to embank, to pile up earth.

Wheal. To swell ; to pout. An obvious relation exists between this idiom and the weals or swellings raised by beating. (Farmer. )

Wheat and Indian. A mixture of wheaten flour and maize meal.

Wheel-hOPSe. (1) In the West, one's crony or best friend.

(2) A leading man ; a political ^der ; a political party's main prop and support.

Whelk. A wale ; a sore ; a swelling ; a pustule.

Whiffet. A small insignificant man ; a whipper-snapper. (Farmer. )

Whiffle-tPOe. The bar to which the traces of a leader or dragging horse are attached.

In England, a whipple-tree.

(Ind. Abenaki awikhigan, something written). A term sprung into existence among hunters of Maine, Canada and the North West and designating the written permit to hunt, which has to be obtained from the local authorities, often represented by Indian chiefs.

During the revolutionary period, the Whigs were those favoring independence, while the Tories remained loyal to the Crown. After independence was achieved, the Whigs divided, on the then young State- rights question, into "Particularists" and "Strong Government Whigs,' or, as they were subsequently called, "Federalists." The Whig name then temporarily disappeared, to be revived in 1820, when it again com- manded a considerable following ; but it was, nevertheless, only in 1848, that it could achieve success when it elected general Zachary Taylor to the presidency, defeating the Democrats for the first time in nearly half a century. The last appearance of the Whigs, on the political battle- field, was in 1852.

Whip. To beat, without connotation of instrumental assistance ; to

defeat, to surpass, to outvie in any respect. " That whips all creation "

is a well known phrase. Whip-poor-will (Antrostomus vociferus) geuerally pronounced " Whip-

perwill." A common Southern bird with many names, amongst which

may be mentioned chuck-will's-widow and bull-bat. Other species sometimes also receive these names.

WHI— WHI 419

Whipstock. In parts of New England, often heard for whip-sooket.

Whip-Sawing. The acceptance of fess or bribes from two opposing persons or parties.

The word is said to have originated in the N. Y. State Assembly, and is evidently derived from the whip-saw of mechanics, which cuts both ways.

Hence, whipsiwed, left in the lurch.

Whip the devil aPOUnd the Stump. To enjoy the sweets of wicked- ness, and yet escape the penalty.

To make false excuses to one's self and others for doing what one likes.

Whiskey-bloat. A confirmed whiskey tippler.

Whiskey -jack (Garrulus cristatus). The Blue Jay. (Canada and parts of N. Eng. )

The name is a corruption of the Indian oui&hcatchan. See moose-lird.

Whiskey-mill. A grog-shop, in the West.

Whiskey plant. A cactus growing in Southern Texas, on the range of sand-hills bordering on the Rio-Grande, and known to the Indians as "' Picoke. " The Indians dig up the root, and take great delight in chewing it, the juice possessing a powerful- intoxicating effect. Also called whiskey -root.

Whiskey-ringf. A ring of whiskey dealers who, through the connivance of Government officials, were enabled to evade the revenue laws, and amass large fortunes. The ring was temporarily broken up in 1875.

Whiskey-Skin. A concocted drink of whiskey, sugar, crushed ice, and mint.

Otherwise called whiskey -smash.

White. Often heard for good, with connotation of straightness, in a man or thing.

This usage is doubtless derived from the " white" of an archery-butt, which was the bull's eye. Thus, a white man would be a man who always shot straight, and, figuratively, a straightforward man.

White-caps. A sort of Northern Ku-Klux organization, who take it upon themselves to regulate public morals, and to administer justice to offenders independent of th« law.

White folks. In Virginia and the South, a common name given to the whites by the negroes, who even also use the derivative adjective

White-frOSt. The mniversal term when speaking of hoar-frost.

420

WHI— WIG

White league. A military organization formed in New Orleans in 1874, ostensibly for a purpose of protection against armed uprisings of negroes but in reality to chock the growth of political power among the blacks.

White Lineps.

nation.

A political party, in Louisiana, opposed to negro domi-

White-man'S-fly. An Indian name for the honey-bee, which insect is not indigenous to America and was imported by the early settlers.

White-Oak -Cheese. Tough, hard cheese made from skimmed milk.

White-Walnut (Inglaua cinerea). A beautiful tree with wide-spreading branches, and so called from tke color of the wood. The juice of the fruit, rich in oil, serves as a dye, and hence its popular name of butter- nut (q. v.). Also called long wa'.nut.

Whole cloth. Used with an idea of thoroughness, as a lie or a truth made out of whole cloth.

WhOle-fOOted. Sound ; hearty.

Whole-SOUled. Noble minded ; possessing a noble heart.

Wicopy (Ind. wighebi, quoted by Rasles as Abenaki for bass-wood). In New England, the name of the leather- wood or moose-wood (Dirca palus- tris).

Wide-awake. A kind of broad-brimmed soft hat. In England, a billy- cock.

Wide-awakes. A political organization, largely composed of machinery clubs, and so named from the slouch hats worn by its members.

This organization, which has been a prominent factor in Republican politics, was formed in 1859, with the object of promoting the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency.

The name wide-awake was, however, as early as 1853, applied to the Know-Nothings, and the light-colored soft felt hats, which they were supposed to wear, were termed wide-awake hats.

Wiggle (to). To bend the body rapidly from side to side ; to wriggle.

Wigwam (Ind. ). An Indian cabin or hut, usually made of skins.

The Tammany Society of Philadelphia called its place of meeting a wigwam as early as 1789, and during the Harrison campaign log cabins were used under the same name as campaign meeting places. In 1859-60, huge buildings of rough boards, known as wigwams, were erected for political purposes in large towns, and the practice has been kept up ever

WIL— WIP 421

Wild-Cat. During many years, in Michigan and surrounding States, all irresponsible banks and country bank-notes of doubtful reputation were called wild-cat banks and wild-cat bills or simply wild-c its. The term arose from an insolvent bank of Michigan having had represented on its notes the vignette of a panther, familiarly called a wild-cat.

Subsequently, the term was also applied to all bogus and swindling concerns, such as wild-cat mines, wild-cat whiskey, etc.

Wild-eat train. A train not scheduled on the time-table. Also simply wild train.

Wild Cattle. A strange breed of cattle found in the hills skirting the Umpqua valley, Oregon, and whose chief peculiarity consists in their eyes and horns being jet black.

Wild-land. A Western term for unsettled land, or land which has never been cultivated.

Land not yet appropriated, i. e. not owned by special grant or actual occupancy, though generally meaning the forest, by preference.

Wilmot-proviso. An anti-slavery measure introduced into Congress, in 1846, by David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, which led to a great deal of agitation, and finally culminated in the formation of the Fret Soil Party (q.v.).

Wind breaker. In New Jersey, a screen or the like used to break the force of the wind.

Winder. In college parlance, a "crib" constructed of a long strip of paper rolled on two pencils for convenient manipulation.

Winders. On the New Jersey coast, an instrument used on the oyster boats for winding the dredge line.

WindigO. See wendigo.

Wind up. To give a quietus to an antagonist. Also, intransitively, to stop business, to close up a place of business. In this last sense, it is especially an Americanism.

Winklehawk. A triangular tear in cloth.

Winkum. In parts of New England, used for cider brandy.

Wind up One's worsted. To give the last turn of which an under- taking is capable.

Winter-killed. Killed by winter frosts.

A verb made for the sake of brevity and convenience.

Wipe Off. To wipe. Thus, to wipe off a table is simply to wipe it, without necessarily removing anything from it.

Wipe Out. To kill ; to destroy ; to annihilate. Borrowed from hunter's life.

422

WIP— YAF

Wipe up the gPOUnd. " To wipe up the ground with one " is a ruf- fian's way of saying he will knock a person down.

Wire-puller. A political " worker" who sets up plans for the election of candidates, and the passage or defeat of legislative measures.

Hence, wire-pulling, or working, political managing or manipulation.

Wire-pulling, of course, is not an American custom exclusively, as this figure of speech is as old as the " marionnettes " of Italy and France, on whose miniature stage the actors were set in motion by wires, which the exhibitor pulled from above.

Wolverine State. The State of Michigan, so called because of the vast number of wolves which once abounded within its limits.

Hence, wolverines, a nickname applied to the inhabitants of Michigan.

Wood Up. To load a steamboat with wood for fuel. A term connected with the Mississipi river traffic.

Also, figuratively, to take a drink.

Hence, wooding -place, a station where the steamers take in supplies of wood.

Wood Skin. The bark from which a canoe is made, and, by extension, the canoe itself.

Wooden Nutmegs. A current slang phrase, esp. among politicians, for any cunning deception, forged telegrams, political tricks, and falsified election-returns, from the well-known story of Sam Slick about the wooden nutmegs manufactured in Connecticut.

Worpiment. Worry ; trouble ; anxiety. Made after the manner of wonderment.

Worrisome. Worrying ; annoying.

WOPSt Way. In parts of Pennsylvania, used for very strongly, as in the following : " He wants to see you the worat way."

Wrench. Common for " rinse, " in the neighborhood of Philadelphia. " Wrench your mouth out."

Evidently the same word as the New-England rense for rinse.

Wudge. A little bunch.

Wung Out. Said for wing-and-wing, as of a schooner before the wind.

Yafful. In the Northern States and the Canadian Maritime provinces, often heard for armful.

Still provincial in England.

YAM— YEL 423

Yam (West Ind. Ihime). A large and palatable root or tuber (Dioscorea alba), common in the Southern States.

Yang, Hurry. " To be in a great yany."

Yank. In New England, a jerk.

Hence to yank, to yerk ; to snatch away unexpectedly. An attempt has been made to find in this slang term an allusion to the energy and ingenuity with which the Yank, or Yankee, overcomes all difficulties.

Yankee. In New England, a glass of whiskey sweetened with molasses ; a common beverage in the country.

Yankees. A name particularly applied, in the States, to the citizens of New England. The term originated with the Massachusetts Indians who, in their imperfect efforts to name the first English colonists, could not get any nearer to the sound of " English" than by saying Yengees, or perhaps also Yenkees. The term is also often used in a disparaging sense by political or personal antagonists of the bold pioneers and puri- tans of old.

Yanks. The universal designation of federal soldiers, during the war, in the Southern Confederacy.

Yankee (galvanized). A Confederate soldier having enlisted in the United States Army.

Yankeedom. New England.

Yap. In college parlance : (1) a contemptible person ; (2) the mouth ; (3) a countryman.

Yard. In New England, the garden attached to a house, whether in front . or behind.

Yarry. In Newfoundland, smart, quick. " You'll have to be pretty yarry to catch up with him."

Yearling". The young of a cow. Applied often indiscriminately whether the animal be two days old or three years.

YellOW COV6P. A slang term for a note of dismissal from Government employ. In the public offices yellow-tinted envelopes are largely used.

YellOW Jack. The popular name for yellow fever.

YellOW Journalism. Consists principally of huge head-lines of a startling nature, big and striking illustrations, and heavily leaded type in which the facts are presented in the most interesting style.

424

YON— ZOP

YonkePS. The old Dutch word yonker ( a cadet) still survives in the name of the town of Yonkers, which has grown up around the old manor- house of the Phillipse family, standing in Westchester on the Hudson. Before the Revolution, Mr. Phillipse was always spoken of, by his tenantry, as the Yonker, that is the gentleman by excellence, he being then the only person of social rank in that part of the country.

Young Hickory. Martin Van Buren, eighth president of the United States, so called because the political mantle of " Old Hickory '' (Jackson) was said to have fallen upon his shoulders.

Zenith City Of the Unsalted Seas. The city of Duluth, Minnesota, so christened by the great humorist hon. Proctor Knott, late governor of Kentucky.

Zit. An onomatopoetic verb, frequently heard in the West, to describe vocally the peculiar hissing of bullets when striking water.

Zopilote (Mex. tzopilotl). In Texas, a name applied to a species of turkey buzzard, black vulture (Cathartes atratus).

Foreign words, either used in their original integrity, or

derived from foreign languages, which may be

classed as Americanisms

I._WORDS CONTRIBUTED BY THE INDIANS

Achigan

Agohanna

Almouchiche

Apishamore

Apola

Assinabe

Atosset

Atshen

Awadosi

Booma

Cacaoui

Canticoy

Cashaw

Cassareep

Catawba

Cayuse

Chetowaik

Chiben

Chickwit

Chincapin

Chinook

Chogset

Chunk-yard

Ciscovet

Cocash

Cohog

426

Cohosh	Opossum
Comitick	Otsitso
Coontie	Ouananiche
Hackmatack	Ouaouaron
Haiqua	Outiko
Hickory	Papaw
Hominy	Pappoose
Hoolikan	Pauhagen
Killhag	Peac
Kini-kinik	Pimbina
Kiskitomas	Pemmican
Kooyah	Petouane
Mananosay	Pipsissewa
Manitou	Pocoson
Maskeg, Muskeg	Poggy
Maskinong6	Pokeloken
Maskouabina	Pone
Matachias	Pooquaw
Mechoacan	Pow-wow
Menhaden	Punky
Michigouen	Quahaug
Moccasin	Quiliou
Mokok	Raccoon
Moose	Sacacomi
Moskoui	Sagamite"
Mugwump	Sagamore
Mummachog	Seawan
Namaycush	Sing-Sing
Netop	Skunk
Nigog	Soupane
Nocake	Squash
Ondatra	Succotash

FRENCH WORDS
Supawn	Wangan
Tammany	Wapatoo
Tautaug	Wapiti
Tilpah	Watap
Tomahawk	Wawaron
Totem	Wendigo
Tuckahoo	Whiggiggin
Tupelo	Whiskey-jack
Wampum	Wicopy
Wananish	Wigwam
II.— WORDS CONTRIBUTED BY THE FRENCH.
Aboideau	Black-fish
Adocte"	Black -harry
Aiguille	Bodark
Arpent	Bodewash
Babiche	Bois barr£
Bacayere	Bois blanc
Bagasse	Bois-brul4
Banquette	Bois de fer
Barachois	Bois-forts
Barbecue	Bois pourri
Basque	Bosculis
Bateau	Bourdignons
Batture	Bourgeois
Bayou	Brasseur
Becci	Brave
Bill-fish^	Bureau
Black bass	Bureaucrate

427

428

FRENCH WORDS

Butte

Cabree

Cache

Cageot

Calash

Calumet

Canard bcanchu

Canne-de-roche

Carcajou

Caribou

Carouge

Carryal

Cazagot

Chafaud

Chasse-galerie

Chauffant

Chivaree

Choque-mort

Chowder

Chute

Claireur

Corbigeau

Cordelle

Cossade

Cou blanc

Coulee

Coup

Crapais

Crevasse

Crosse

Cuttoe

Department

Depot

Desert

Epinette

Folle-avoine

Gasparau

Gazon

Godet

Gofer

Grasset

Griffin

Habitant

Jetee

Lave

Levee

Lodge

Lucivee

Macreuse

Mahoumet

Marabou

Margot

Marmette

Matachias

Meamelouc

Mitasse

Moniac

Motte

Movey star

Nagane

Orignal

Ortolan

Pelu

Pique-bois jaune

DUTCH WORDS

429

Pirogue

Pisque

Pivart

Pomme blanche.

Portage

Poulis

Pourcil

Prairie

Pull-doo

Putto

Quiode

Rababou

Ravage

Renvers^

Robe

Rogne

Sabane

Sapinette

Sault

Savane

Savoyane

Seine

Shanty

Sherryvallies

Shimmey

Soupane

Torres folles, jaunes, etc.

Tetes-de-femmes

Tisanne

Toulibi

Traine

Vacher

Vendue

Virgalieu

III.— WORDS CONTRIBUTED BY THE DUTCH

Apple jees

Barraclade

Blauser

Blick, Blickey

Blummie

Bockey

Boodle

Boonder

Boss

Clockmutch

Clove

Cold-slaw

Cookey

Cruller

Droger

Fattikows

Fike

Fly

430

Frowchey

Gist

Hay-barrack

Hook

Hoople

Hunk

Kill

Logy

Noodle jeea

Olycook

Overslaugh

Paas

Patroon

Pile

GERMAN WORDS

Pink

Pinky

Pit

Portaal

Potty-baker

Prawchey

Rollejees

Scow

Smearcase

Snore

Span

Stoop

Terawchey

Trummel

IV.— WORDS|CONTRIBUTED BY THE GERMANS

Blootworscht

Bower

Bretsel

Buckbeer

Dummerhead

Dutch

Flip

Katoose

Kriss-Kringle

Leverworscht

Metsel-soup

Muley saw

Noodlehead

Noodles

Prekel

Pretzel

Sagnichts

Snits

Sourcrout

Speok

Toot

Turnerfeste

Turn-vereine

SPANISH WORDS

V.— WORDS CONTRIBUTED BY THE SPANIARDS

Abra	Arado
Aceite	Arrastra
Acequia	Arriero
Acequiador	Arroba
Adobe	Arroyo
Agostadero	Atajo
Agrito	Aura
Agua	Ayudante
Aguardiente	Azote
Alacran	Bailee
Alameda	Barra
Alamo	Barranea
Alberca	Barranco
Albur	Belduque
Alcalde	Berrendo
Alfalfa	Bezugo
Alfargas	Bisagre
Alfilaria	Biznaga
Aljibar	Bonanza
Almud	Bosaal
Alto	Boton
' Amargoso	Braguero
Amole	Brasero
Amparo	Briago
Anacahuita	Broncho
Anaqua	Burro
Ancon	Caballad
Annatto	Cabestro
Aparejo	Cachupin

432

SPANISH WORDS

Calabacilla	Chile
Calabash	Chimisal
Calaboose	Chinch
Camote	Chivarros
Canaigre	Cinch
Candelia	Colima
Canyon	Comprador
Canoncito	Conchas
Cantina	Conducta
Caporal	Copa
Capul	Corona
Casacara	Corral
Carga	Corse
Cargador	Creole
Carreta	Damiana
Casa	Dengue
Cascara	Devisadero
Castanas	Ejido
Cay	Enchilada
Ceja	Fandango
Cencerro	Feria
Cenizo	Fierro
Cerda	Fiesta
Chapa	Frijoles
Chaparago	Frijolillo
Chapparral	Fuste
Chaparros	Gancho
Chaqueta	Ginete
Charco	Grullo
Chicharra	Hackamore
Chicote	Hondou
Chigoe	Horqueta

SPANISH WORDS

433

Jalma	Nogada
Jaquima	Nogal
Jerk	Ocotillo
Joint	Olla
Jornada	Palmilla
Jorra	Pansage
Labor	Partida
Ladino	Patron
Lariat ,	Peaa
Larigo	Pickaninny
Latigo	Pilon
Legaderoi	Pinion
Legua	Pinto
Limonillo	Pita
Llano	Pitahaya
Loco-foco	Placer
Loco-weed	Plantain
Loma	Playa
Madre	Pompano
Madrona	Porcion
Maguey	Pozo
Majorano	Presidio
Manada	Propio
Masa	Pueblo
Mesa	Pulque
Mestee	Quadroon
Milpa	Quebrada
Mogote	Quemado
Mulada	Quirt
Mulatto	Ranch
Mustang	Ra toons
28

434

MEXICAN WORDS
Reboso	Suerte
Remonta	Tajo
Remuda	Tapadero
Reparadero	Tapalo
Reventon	Tapujo
Sabe	Tequila
Sambo	Tinaja .... era
Scopet	Tornillo
Selva	Tortilla .
Serape	Trocha
Sitio	Trompillo
Sombrero	Tuna
Sotole	Vaquero
Sudadero	Vara
VI.— WORDS CONTRIBUTED BY THE MEXICANS
Alonsenel	Iztle
Anacahuita	Jacal
Cacomite	Jacana
Cenzontle	Jioote
Chacate	jilote
Chilaquiles	Jocoqu*
Chilchote	Mecate
Chiltapin	Mesquite
Conepate	Metate
Coyote	Mezcal
Esquite	Nopal
Huajolote	Ocelot
Huisache	Peyote
Istle	Pinolo

MEXICAN WORDS

435

Quiote	Tesquite
Sacate	Tlaco
Tamal	Toloache
Tecolote	Tule
Tepocate	Zopilote

II

SUMMARY

I. — Buildings, Building materials, etc. II. — Geography, Landscape, Topography, etc.

III. — Household Furniture, Uetensils, etc.

IV. — Instruments, Tools, Weapons.

V. — Outdoor life : — Farming, Navigation, Fishing, Hunting and Trapping, Cowboys and Ranches, Pioneers, Lumbering, Mining.

VI. — Clothes, Dresses, Ornaments, etc. VII. — Horses, Mules, Vehicles, Harness.

VIII. — Animal kingdom : — Quadrupeds, Birds, Fishes, Amphibious animals and Reptiles, Insects.

IX. — Vegetable kingdom : — Trees, Shrubs, Medicinal Plants, Fruits, Nuts, Flowers, Vegetables.

X. — Food, Provisions, Meals. XI. — Coins, Money, Measures. XII. — Meteorology, Time, Duration.

438 BUILDINGS, ETC.

XIII.— Functions, Titles. XIV. — Amusements, Gatherings, Games, etc. XV. — Diseases, Infirmities. XVI.— Legend, Folklore. XVII.— Archaisms and Provincialisms. XVIII.— The Church. XIX. — Congress and Legislatures. XX.— The Court House. XXL— History, Politics. XXII.— Colleges.

XXIII. — Words due to relations with the Indians. XXIV. — Negroisms. — Words relating to slavery and negroes. XXV. — Onomatopies. XXVI. — Newspapers, Printing, etc. XXVII.— Railways. XXVIII. — Banking, Finance, Trade.

XXIX. — Miscellaneous Industries : — Charcoal, Cotton, Oysters, Sugar, Tobacco.

XXX. — Miscellaneous appellations. XXXI. — Bar-rooms. XXXII. — Thieves' slang.

I.— BUILDINGS, BUILDING MATERIALS, ETC.

1. — BUILDING MATERIALS.

Adobe Bird's eye Brownstone Chinkin Clapboard

Daubin Puncheons Shakes Shingle

BUILDINGS, ETC.

2. — PARTS OF BUILDINGS.

439

Bent

Breakback

Bulkhead, Cellar-case

Dingle

Door-rock

Driveway

Elevator

Lenter

Mop-board

Planchment

Steeple

Stoop

Best room Cubbyhole Keeping-room Parlor

3. — ROOMS, ETC.

Parquet

Passageway

Portaal

4. — BUILDINGS.

Barrack

Barracoon

Boucaniere

Calaboose

Casa

Clotten-house

Cook-house

Dug-out

Frame house

Grout house

Jacal

Log-cabin

Office

Shack

Shanty

Sky-scraper

Tenement

440 GEOGRAPHY, ETC.

II.— GEOGRAPHY, LANDSCAPE, TOPOGRAPHY, ETC.

1. — FORESTS, WOODS, ETC.

Bay-gall Renvers(5

Bush Soft woodlands

Cedar swamp Tar kiln

Ceja	Timber
Moose-yard	Timbered lands
2. MOUNTAINS.
Abra	Draw
Aiguille	Gulch
Arroyo	Gulf
Barranca	Hub
Break	Notch
Canyon	Pena
Clove	Picacho
Cove	Thoroughfare
3. — PRAIRIES.
Arm	Hog backs
Bay	Hog-wallows
Bluff	Indian mounds
Buffalo wallows	Indian mortars, Pot holes
Butte	Island
Collect	Knob
Coulte	Knob-lick
Cove	Llano
Devisadero	Loma
Gazon	Mesa

Motte Mound Playa Shaking prairie

GEOGRAPHY, ETC.

Soda prairie

Tetes-de-femmes

Wallows

441

4. — BIVERS, PONDS, ETC. THE SEA-SHORE.

Agua

Air-hole

Alberca

Arroyo

Barachois

Barra

Barranca

Batture

Bayou

Brackwater

Branch

Branch water

Charco

Choke

Chute

Creek, Dry creek

Crevasse

Cut-off

Drains

Drink

Fresh

Gat

Hook

Kill

Lagoon

Levee

Mote

Mud lumps

Nigger-heads

Overslaugh

Pool-holes, Spool-holes

Portage

Pozo

Reach

Reventon

Riding-rock

Riding-w.vy

Riffle

RUB

Salt-holes

Sault

Shoot

Slank

Slash

Slick

Spang

Sudadero

Swash

Tole

442

Alkali flats Arid belt Back country Back woods Bad lands Barren grounds Barrens Bois-forts Bone- pits Chunk-yards Cross-timbers

GEOGRAPHY, ETC.

5. — LOCALITIES.

Down country

Down east

Ercrglades

Garrison

Indian Reservations

Movey star

Panhandle

Presidio

Pueblo

Red brush

6. — MISCELLANEOUS DESIGNATIONS.

Alameda

Alluvions, Bottom-lands

Ancon

Arado

Bay

Bois-brule", Burn, Quemado

Bottom

Cattle range

Cay

Concession

Desert

Divide

Driveway

Flat

Fly

Gall

Glade

Green

Ground

Ground-bridge

Gumbo

Hammock

Hard pan

Heater piece

Indian orchards.

Intervale

Labor

Lick

Maskeg, Muskeg

Meadow

Mokok

Neck

FURNITURE, USTENSILS, ETC.

443

Pocason

Pokeloken

Portage

Quebrada

Rolling roads

Salt-bottom

Savane

Savannah

Sidehill

Sink-hole

Slashes

Slough

Speedway

Swag

Swale

Terres folles

Terres jaunea

Terres tremblantes

Thank ye ma'ams

Tinaja

Tow-head

III.— HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE, USTENSILS, ETC.

1. — HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE.

Base-burner Buck Casket Creep

Dud-chest Freezer Kip Mosquito-bar

Plunder

Push-buggy

Push-cart

Rocker

Safe

Saratoga trunk

Seven-up

Trash-basket

2. — USTENSILS.

Bail

Bake-oven Battling-stick Beaker

Bens Betty Blower Blick

444 INSTRUMENTS, TOOLS, ETC.

Bockey Boonder Brasero Bucket Buck -saw Clapper-creamers Carnal Corn-popper Creeper Cuttoe Dipper Fanner

File File-pail

Gad

Growler

Junk-bottle

Keeler-tub

Kettle

Metate

Monkey-spoon

Night key

Nunny-bag

Olla

Ouragane

Spider

Trummel

IV.— INSTRUMENTS, TOOLS, WEAPONS

1. — INSTRUMENTS, TOOLS.

Bushwhacker

Buzz-saw

Can-opener

Cant-hook

Fall

Flume

Flutter-wheel

Gleet

Glut

Mud-scoop

Muley saw

Paddle

Planing-machine

Pry

Pullikins

Saw-horse

Searcher

Slice

Snips

OUTDOOR LIFE
2. — ARMS, WEAPONS.
Arkansas toothpick	One-eyed scribe
Belduque	Pile
Black -eyed Susan	Quaker
Blue Lightning	Sand-bag
Bowie-knife	Scatter-gun
Buccaneer	Scopet
Bully	Shooter
Gun-shop	Shot gun
Gun-stick	Slung-shot
Hindsight	Talking-iron
Meat in the pot	Toad-sticker
Mr. Speaker	Tomahawk
V.— OUTDOOR LIFE
1. — FARMING.
Aboideau	Derramadero
Acequia	Doodle
Acequiador	Feed
Agostadero	Field
Aljibar	Fisherman-farmer
Ancon	Fog
Arado	Gallows
Brush	Gavel
Bull plough	Gilt
Burden	Gopher
Cradle	Granger.. . .ers
Crawm	Habitant
Cropper	Hayseed
Cropping	Hay -bar rack

445

446

Hog-minder

Linter

Lister

Milk-ranch

Plantation

Planter

Poke

OUTDOOR LIFE

Produce

Roughness

Shock

Shove

Smut-mill

Tumble

2. — NAVIGATION.

Ark

Barge

Bateau

Battery

Beach-combers

Birch

Broadhorn

Buck-darting

Bull-boat

Bully

Bum-boat

Bungo

Bushwhacking

Canoe

Chebacco-boat

Chunker

Clipper-ship

Cooner

Cordelle

Crib

Dingee

Ditty-bag

Dock

Dory

Droger

Dug-out

Dungaree

Durham boat

Fan tail

Ferry flat

Flat

Flat -boatman

Garvey

Gundalo

Horse-boat

Jigger

Keel-boat

Kellock

Killick

Log- canoe

Monitor

Pier

OUTDOOR LIFE

447

Pirogue

Punt

Raft

Rote, Rut

Roustabout

Runner

Sardine

Scow

Slack-water navigation

Smoke-stack

Snag-boat

State-room

Stern-wheeler

Texas

Thwart

Tow-boat

Wangan

Wharf boat

Wood skin

3.— FISHING.

Admiral

Assinabe

Banker

Blind-eel

Block-Island turkey

Bob

Cageot

Chafaud

Chauffant

Clam-bait

Dipsy

Dory

Duiifish

Eel-spear

Fike

Fisherman-farmer

Fish-flake

Flake

Fleet

Fyke

Gigging

Gurry

Jig

Jigger

Kibblings

Kid

Leader

Logie

Nigog

Plantation

Planter

Rogne

School

Seine

Slick

Socdolager

448

Swoils Talqual

OUTDOOR LIFE

Water-horse

4.— HUNTING, TRAPPING.

Battery Blind Box

Cold shut Dead-fall Fire-hunt Gone beaver Killhag

Moose -yard

Monntain-lamb

Plumb-centre

Shine

Still hunter . . ing

Track

Trail

Whiggiggin

5. — COWBOYS, RANCHES.

Alfargas

Apishamore

Black snake

Blazing star

Bodewash, Buffalojchips

Brand

Brand-book

Brand-bunch

Brand-reader

Broncho

Broncho buster

Bull-tailing

Bull-wack

Bull-whacker

Caballad

Cabestro

Cache

Camp

Cattle mark

Cattle raiser

Chaparros

Chaqueta

Chicote

Circle-riding

Clean-up

Close-herding

Conducta

Copa

Corral

Corse

OUTDOOR LIFE
Counter-brand	Manada
Cowhide	Maverick
Cow-pony	Mustang . . ers
Cow-town	Partida
Cow-whip	Pilgrims
Crop	Pointer
Dewlap	Ranch
Doughie	Range
Drag-driver	Reparadero
Drive	Rodeo
Fierro	Round-up
Flying-brand	Scare
Fuste	Singlebob
Gancho	Steers
Ginete	Stock
Judges of the plains	Vacher
Lariat	Vaquero
Line riding

449

6. — PIONEEKS.

Blaze

Caravan

Carf «

Carry

Claim

Claim-jumper

Clearing

Corduroy road

Corner, Corner trees

Girdling 29

Homestead

Jumper

Land-grabber

Land warrants

Log-cabin

Lot

Naked possessor

Notice

Occupying claimant

Paper city

450

OUTDOOR LIFE

Pony-rider	Pre-emption right
Porcion	Pre-emptor
Prairie-schooner	Squatter
7. — LUMBERING.
Boom	Lumberer
Brow	Lumberman
Bunk	Mi&s lick
Claireur	Pike
Crib	Raft
Deacon seat	Saw-log
Dingle	Shanty
Drive	Shanty-boat
Driver	Shantying ground
Jetee	Shoot
Kennebunker	Slide
Logger	Stumpage
Logging camp	Swampers
Logging swamp	Swip
Log rolling
8. — MINING.
Amparo	Boom
Arrastra	Bucking iron
Bar diggings	Bunch
Barren gravel	Claim
Bed-rock	Clean up
Black-jack	Coal
Block coal	Color
Bonanza	Cracker boy

Cradle

Diggings

Dirt

Dump

Fluken

Flume

Fool's gold

Forty-niner

Ground-sluicing

Gulch digging

Gulch mining

Hard coal

Long Tom

Muck

OUTDOOR LIFE

Pan-mill

Pay dirt

Pay rock

Placer

Pocket

Prospect

Riffles

Rocker

Rushers

Sluice

Streak

Surface-washer

Tailings

451

VI.— CLOTHES, DRESSES, ORNAMENTS, ETC,

Alfargas

Arctics

Babiche

Bald-face shirt

Bang

Bang-up

Barraclade

Beaters

Bed-spread

Best-bib and tucker

Biled shirt

Bishop

Blanket

Blanket co&t

Blick, Bliokey

Bloomer

Body

Boke

Bosom

Butternuts

Calash

Calico

Chapa

Chaparajo

Chaparras

Chaquita

Chitlins

Chivarros

Clockmutoh

Cloud

452 CLOTHES, DRESSES, ETC.

Coat Negro-cloth

Conchas Nicklehawk

Conestogas Nigger-head

Cowlick Pants

Crazy-quilt Petticoat-trousers

Crush-hat Plug

Dickey Prince-Albert

Dike Pull-back dress

Dress Rag

Duds Rag carpet

Duster Raincloak

Factory Reboso

Factory-cotton Roundabout Fix-out • Rubbers

Flat Sack

Goatee Salea

Gossamer Scuff

Gums Serape

Hat Shad-belly coat

Hickory-shirt Sherryvallies

Hose Shimmey

Huarachos Shoddy

Humphrey Shorts

Jim -s winger Slicker

Junk Snot-rag

Larrigan Soap -lock

Mary-Walkers Sombrero

Matachias Spike tail

Mitasse Stogies

Moccasin Suspenders

Muslin Table-dress

Table-ware

Tapadero

Tapalo

Tidy

Totem

Tow-tail

HORSES, MULES, ETC.

Trimmings

Under-ooat

Waist

Wearables

Wide-awake

453

VII.— HORSES, MULES, VEHICLES, HARNESS.

I. — HORSES, MULES, ETC. GROUPS OF HORSES, ETC.

Atajo

Beast

Bell-mare

Coneetoga

Cow pony

Creature, Critter

Cuddy

Lace horse

Ladino

Morgan-horse

Mulada

Mustang

Narragansett .pacer

Paint

Remonta

Remuda

Ringer

Side-wheeler

Span

Spike -team

Stone -hone

Upheader

2. — TERMS APPLIED TO OLD OR WORN-OUT HORSES.

Durgen Rackabones

Narrow gauge mule Skate

Pelter Tackey

Quarter-horse

3. — VEHICLES AND PARTS or VEHICLES.

Ash-cart

Binding-pole

Bobs

Conestoga

Cracky-wagon

Cutter

454

HORSES, MULES, ETC.
Dearborn	Prairie-schooner
Dirt car	Rig
Drag	Rockaway
Dump-cart	Shay
Express	Sloven
Hack	Stick-wagon
Horse-car	Stone -boat
Jagger-wagon	Sulky
Jigger	Sword
Jumper	Tongue
Kittereen	Tote -team
Lang	Traine
Mail-stage	Truck
Neap	Wain
4. — HARNESS, ETC.
Alfargas	Jaquima
Apishamore	Larigo
Azote	Latigo
Blacksnake	Legaderos
Blinders	Lines
Corona	Mecate
Corse	Quirt
Cow-hide	Rawhide
Cow-whip	Robe
Fuste	Side-line
Hackamore	Side-strap
Head-stall	Stake-rope
Hondou	Tapujo
Horn	Teetsook
Horqueta	Terret
Jalma	Til-pah

ANIMAL KINGDOM

455

VIII. —ANIMAL KINGDOM.

1. — QUADRUPEDS.

Almouchiche Bar

Barren ground reindeer Beef

Berrendo Big-horn Bislings Blacktail Black-tailed hare . Bob-cat Bombo Booma Boss- cow Buffalo Buffalo-cow Buffalo-wolf Bun Cabree Carcajou Caribou Catamount Chickaree Chipmonk Conepate Coon Coyote Cracky

Cross-fox Deacon Dog-towns Essence-peddler Fice Goat Gobbler Gopher Grizzly Ground-hog Ground-squirrel Hog Jack

Jackass-rabbit Jorra Lucivee Manada « Mink

Molly-cotton-tail Mooley Moose Musk-ox Musk-rat Ocelot Ondatra Opossum Orignal

456

ANIMAL KINGDOM

Pantker	Skunk
Peccary	Skunk-bear
Peon dog	Slunk
Prairie dog	Stag
Prairie-wolf	Stinkard
Pronghorn	Stud
Quick-hatch	Tabby-cat
Raccoon	Varmints
Silver fox	Wapiti
Silver tip	Yearling

2. BlKDS.

Aura	Canard-branchu
Bacayere	Canne-de-roche
Baltimore oriole	Canvasback
Basqu«	Caracara
Becci	Carouge commandeur
Black head	Cat-bird
Black swimmer •	Cenzontle
Blue stocking	Chetowaik
Bobolink	Chickadee
Bobwhite	Chuck-will's-widow
Bois-pourri	Clape
Broadbill	Clapper-rail
Brown thrasher	Cock of the plaina
Bull-bat	Coot
Burrowing owl	Corbigeau
Butcher-bird	Cossade
Buzzard	Couac
Cacaoui	Cou blanc
Calico-back	Cow-bird

ANIMAL KINGDOM
Creepy	Moniac
Croker	Moose-bird
Cronker	Mud-poke
Deedies	Officer-bird
Dipper	Old squaw
Doe-bird	Ortolan
Dusky-grouse	Papabotte
Field-martin	Pewit
Fish crow	Pheasant
Flicker	Pig-wick
Godet	Piou-piou
Golden eye	Pipi
Grasset	Pique-bois jaune
Guinea keet	Pisque
Heath-hen	Pivart
Hen-hawk	Poor-will
Hermit-thrush	Prairie-hen
High holder	Pull-doo
Huajolote	Punk-pudding
Hum-bird	Quawk
Jacana	Quiliou
Kakawi	Red-head
Keet	Rooster
Killdee	Sapsucker
Lawyer	Saw-whet
Loon	Scoldenore
Macreuse	Shoveller
Mango humming bird	Skunk-blackbird
Margot	Skunk-head
Marmette	Sora
Marsh-hen	Stake-driver
Mocking-bird	Tecolote

457

458

ANIMAL KINGDOM
Tri-tri	Whip-poor-will
Trumpeter-swan	Whiskey-jack
Turkey-buzzard	Zopilote
3.— FISHES.
Achigan	Cavalli
Albany beef	Chickwit
Alewife	Chogset
Alligator gar	Choque-mort
Angler	Chub
Atosset	Chub-sucker
Awadosi	Ciscovet
Banded garfish	Clam
Barracouda	Club-tail
Barred killy	Coverclip
Bellow-fish	Crapais
Bezugo	Croaker
Blue cat	Croppie
Blue fish	Gunner
Bony fish	Devil-fish
Bream	Dogfish
Bubbler	Eels- pout
Buckey	Eulachow
Buffalo	Fair-maid
Bull-head	Fishing-frog
Bunker	Flying-fish
Burgall	Fool-fish
Butter-fish	Frost-fish
Cape Cod turkey	Gall
Cape May goody	Gaspareau
Cat, Cat-fish, Catty	Gizzard-shad
Catan	Goody

ANIMAL KINGDOM
Groper	Panhagan
Grubby	Poggy
Grunter	Pollack
Hannahill	Pompano
Herring salmon	Poulis
Hog-fiah	Pourcil
Holibut	Pout
Hoolikan	Rock-cod
Horse mackerel	Rudder-fish
Killy	Rusty-dab
Lafayette	Saltwater tailor
Lamantin	Sea-bass
Lawyer	Sheep's head
Lunge	Shiner
Maskinong^	Skip-jack
Menhaden	Souffle1
Methy	Squeteague
Mocasson-fish	Striped-bass
Mooneye	Tailor
Mud-cat	Tautaug
Mud-dabbler	Tepocate
Mud-fish	Tinker
Mummachog	Toad-fish
Muskelunge	Tommy-cod
Namaycush	Toulibi
Ouananiche	Trout
Oyster-fish	Wananish
Paugie

459

460

ANIMAL KINGDOM

4. — AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS AND REPTILES-

Alligator tortoise	Ground-puppy
Axolotl	Heifers
Blauser	Hill- bender
Box-turtle	Horse-foot
Brasseur	Man-eater
Bull-frog	Marsh-tortoise
Bull-tucker	Moccasin snake
Chunk-head	Mud-devil
Coachwhip	Mud-turtle
Cooter	Ouaouaron
Copperhead	Ring-snake
Corn-snake	Salamander
Cottonmouth	Scorpion
Count	Shedder- crab-
Deaf -adder	Snapper
Fast-runner	Soft back
Fiddler	Soft crab
Gila	Terrapin
Gopher	Wawarbn
5. — INSECTS.
Alacran	Chicarra
Alligator	Chigoe
Apple-bug	Chinch
Bed-bug	Colorado beetle
Buck fly	Dauber
Buffalo gnat	Doodle bugs
Bug	Dung-beetle
Butterfly	Gallinipper

VEGETABLE KINGDOM

461

Xjreenhead

Heel-fly

Hessian fly

Hominy-beater

Hornbug

Jicote

Jigger

Katydid

Lightning-bug

Midget

Miller

Moose fly

Mosquito

Mosquito-hawk

Moth

No-see-ums

Peabug

Pinch-bug

Punky

Red-horse

Roach

Skipper

Snake-doctor

Squash-bug

Tumble-bug

Waggletail

White man's- fly

IX.— VEGETABLE KINGDOM

1. TREES, SHRUBS, MEDICINAL PLANTS, ETC.

Adam and Eve

Alamo

Albany hemp

Alder

Alfalfa

Alfilaria

Alligator-wood

Allspice

Alonsenel

Alum-root

Amargoso

American ivy

Amole

Anacahuita

Anaqua

Annatto

Apple Peru

Arrow

Arrow-head

Arrow-root

Arrow-wood

Ataca

Atamasco lily

Balm of Gilead

462

Balsam fir	Brake
Balsam poplar	Bread-root
Bamboo briar	Broom corn
Bass-wood	Broom sage
Bay-berry	Brush
Bay-tree	Buckeye
Bear-berry	Buffalo-berry
Bear-grass	Buffalo-bush
Beaver-tree	Buffalo-grass
Bee-tree	Bugleweed
Beggar-ticks	Bull-brier
Big-tree	Bunch-grass
Bilberry	Burr oak
'
Bird's eye	Bush
Biznaga	Button-bush
Black grass	Buttonwood
Black gum	Cabbage-tree
Black jack	Cacomite
Black-wood	Calf-kill
Bladder-tree	Camus-plant
Blazing-star	Canada rice
Blue curls	Canada-thistle
Blue grass	Canaigre
Bluet	Cancer-root
Blue weed	Candleberry
Bodark	Cane-brake
Bois barr4	Canker lettuce
Bois-blanc	Canoe birch
Bois de fer	Capul
Bone set	Carolina allspice:
Bowman's root	Carolina pink
Box-elder	Castor-tree

VEGETABLE KINGDOM

463

Catalpa

Cat's claw

Cedar

Cenizo

Century plant

Chacate

Chapparral

Chapote

Cheat

Checkerberry

Chicken-grape

Chiltapin

Chimisal

Chincapin

Choke-berry

Choke-cherry

Clear weed

Cocash

Coco-grass

Cocum

Coflee-tree

Cohosh

Colima

Compass-plant

Cool wort

Coontie

Copse

Cornel-tree

Cottonwood

Cow-grass

Cow-parsnip

Coyotillo

Crab-grass

Cramp-bark

Creosote plant

Cross- vine

Cucumber-tree

Cudweed

Curled maple

Custard apple

Cut grass

Cypress

Cypress-brake

Damiana

Devil's bit

Devil-wood

Dewberry

Digger-pine

Dittany

Dockmackie

Dogwood

Dutch curse

Earth almond

Epinette

Fever-bush

Flat-top

Flea-bane

Folle-avoine

Frijolillo

Frog's hair

Frostjvort

Grama-grass

Ground-plum

Guinea-corn

464

VEGETABLE KINGDOM

Guinea-grass

Gum

Hackberry

Hackmatack

Hardback

Hardwood

Hickory

Highbelia

Hobble-bush

Hog plum

Holly-bay

Honey-locust

Honey-Buckle

Hop-tree

Horse-mint

Horse-nettle

Huisaehe

Indian bread

Indian fig

Indian hemp

Indian ladder

Indian millet

Indian pipe

Indian rice

Indian tobacco

Indian turnip

Istla

fry

Iztle Jack oak Jilote Joe-Pye weed

Judas-tree

Kini-kinik

Kooyah

Labrador tea

Ladies' tresses

Lamb's quarter

Leather-wood

Live-oak

Loblolly-bay

Loco-weed

Long- moss

Long-walnut

Mad-dog

Madrona

Maguey

Majorano

Meadow-grass

Mechoacan

Mesquite

Mesquit grass

Mock-orange

Mogote

Moose-wood

Moskoui

Musquash root

Nahoo

Naseberry

Negro-corn

Negro-head

New- Orleans moss

Nine-bark

Nogal

VEGETABLE KINGDOM
Nopal	Poplar
Oak -barrens	Post-oak
Oak-openings	Poverty-grass
Ocotillo	Prickly-pear
Okra	Pussy-willow
Oswego-tea	Red-root
Oyster-plant	Red-sumac
Palmilla	Rich-weed
Papaw	Rolling-weed'
Pappoose root	Ross
Partridge berry	Round-wood
Pecan-nut	Sacate
Pembina	Sacacomi
Pennyroyal	Sage-brush
Pepperidge	Salt-grass
Persimmon	Salt-meadow
Petouane	Sand-cherry
Peyote	Sang
Pickerel-weed	Sapinette
Pig-plum	Savoyane
Pig-weed	Scions
Pimbina	Scrawl
Pine-barrens.	Screw-bean
Pine-knots	Scrub-oak
Pinery	Scud-grass
Pinion	Sea-island cotton
Pipsissewa	Sea-side grape
Pissybed	Shag-bark
Pita	Shaker-yarbs
Pitahaya	Shats
Pleurisy root	Shingle-oak
Pokeberry 30	Shot-bush

465

66

VEGETABLE KINGDOM

Silk-grass

Sisal-hemp

Skunk-cabbage

Slippery elm

Slough grass

Smell lemon

Snake-root

Soap-berry

Sorrel-tree

Sotole

Spanish bayonet

Spice-bush

Squaw- root

Staddle

Starigan

Stone-root

Straw

Swamp-honeysuckle

Tamarac

'Thatch

'Thimble-weed

Three-square

Timothy

Toothache-bush

Toothache-grass

Trompillo

Tuckahoo

Tule

Tulip-tree

Tumble-weed

Tuna

Tupelo

Umbrella-tree

Wait-a-bit trees

Wapatoo

Watap

Wax- myrtle

Whiskey plant J

White-walnut

Wicopy

Wood skin

Yam

2. — FRUITS, NUTS, ETC.

Agrito

Alligator pear Auchovy pear Bay-berry Bear-berry Buffalo-nut Bull nut Butternut

Castanas Catawba Chankings Chaparral berry Chickasaw plum Chicken grape Chile Chincapin

VEGETABLE KINGDOM
Chompins	May-apple
Citron- melon	Melon-fruit
Cling, Clingstone	Mocker-nut
Coral-berry	Mustang grape
Cowberry	Nigger-heads
Damson-plum	Nutmeg
Dangle-berry	Pea-nut
Dewberry	Pie-plant
Earthnut	Pig-nut
Fox-grape	Pine-nut
Frost-grape	Pit
Goober	Plantain
Ground-cherry	Plum
Ground-nut	Pompion
Hiekory-nut	Quiote
Huckleberry	rtose-apple
Hull	Sand-plum
Indian peach	Shack
Ivory nut	Simlin
Kiskitomas	Snits
Mammee apple	Sour-sop
Mammee sapota	Spice-berry
Mango	Swamp-apple
Mangosteeu	Thimble-berry
Maskouabina	Virgalieu
Mast
3. —FLOWERS.
Bindweed	Bluet
Blood-root	Blummie
Blow	Chiben

467

468

Everlasting

Gilly-flower

High-blackberry

Johnies

Johny-jnmp-up

Bean

Beans (Turkish)

ush-beans Calabash Camote

Carolina potato Cashaw Chub Cow-pease Crookneck Frejoles Garden-truck

FOOD, PROVISIONS, ETC.

May-blob May-pop Pink Tree-primrose

4. — VEGETABLES

Greens

Irish potato

Jack-in the pulpit

Kamas-root

Long-sauce

Michigouen

Pomme blanche

Sauce

Scullion

Spuds

Truck

X.— FOOD, PROVISIONS, MEALS.

Aceite

Apola

Apple-butter

Apple-jack

Applejees

Apple-leather

Apple-slump

Apply-toddy

Ash-cake

Atole

Bannock

Barn

Batter- cake

Bay-truck

Beef-dodger

Belly-guts

FOOD,

Belly- wax

Belly-whistle

Biled-cake

Bird's nest

Blackstrap

Bloated eels

Blood worscht

Bogus

Bohea-tea

Boston bread

Breadstuff

Bretsel

Brewis

Brown bread

Butter

Butter bread

Camphene

Candy

Canned goods

Cassareep

Castoria

Check

Chicken fixings

Chicken gumbo

Chilaquiles

Chilchote

Chile

Chinaman

Chip beef

Chowder

Cider-oil

Cincinnati oysters

PROVISIONS, ETC.

Citron

Clam-bake

Clingjohn

Cobbler

Cold flour

Cold-slaw

Common-doings

Cookey

Corn halls

Corn bread

Corn-dodger

Corn-fritter

Corn-meal

Corn-oyster

Corn-pone

Cotton-seed oil

Crab-lantern

Cracker

Crackling-bread

Cracklings

Cream-soda

Cruller

Deef-meat

Dip

Dodger

Doings

Doughnut

Do-ups

Dressing

Dunch

Egg-nog

Emptins

469

470 FOOD, PROVISIONS, ETC.
Enchilada	Indian dab . . . meal
Esquite	Indian pudding. . .
Farina	Jerk
Fattikows	Jersey- tea
Feed	Jocoque
Fixings	Johny cake
Flap-jack	Lap-tea
Flumma-daddle	Larrup
Fried cake	Leverworscht
Fudges	Light-bread
Galena	Long-sugar
Gofer	Lunch
Gombo	Marshy milk
Goody bread	Maryland end
Goosebery-fool	Masa
Gravy	Meat
Griddles	Meat biscuits
Grub-stake	Meat victuals
Hand-out	Metsel-soup
' Hard tack	Mezcal
Hasty pudding	Middlings
Head-cheese	Mint-stick
Hoe-cake	Mocuck
Hog and hominy	Mesey sugar
Hominy	Mush
Hooeier cake	Nocake
Hopping-John	Nogada
Hot-slaw	Noodle jees
Huggerum buff	Noodles
Hulled corn	Nooning
Hung-beei	Nut-cake
Indian bed . . . bread	Oatmeal-mush

FOOD, PROVISIONS, ETC
Offal	Sabane
Olycook	Sagamite
Pankake	Salt-horse
Peach-butter	Santa-Fe tea
Peach-leather	Sags
Pearl-tapioca	Base-tea
Pemmican	Scrapple
Pick-up	Set-offs
Piece	Slipper-down
Pinole	Smearcase
Planked shad	Sots
Pluck	•Soupane
Plum-muss	Sour
Pone	Sourcrout
Ponhaws	Speck
Pop- corn	Spice-tea
Porterhouse steak	Stuffening
Pot-pie	Succotash
Prekel	Supawn
Pretzel	Swankey
Pulque	Switchel
Quiode	Taffy
Rababou	Tamal
Raising	Tisanne
Riz bread	Tortilla
Roasting ears	Trimmings
Rockeage	Wheat and Indian
Rollejees	White-oak-cheese
Rye-and-Indian

47L

472

COINS, MONEY, ETC.

XL— COINS, MONEY, MEASURES.
1. — COINS, MONEY.
TBit	Mosa
Bluebacks	Ned
Bone	Nick
Bottom dollar	Nickel
Bungtown coppers	Ninepence
Buzzard	Pelu
Cent	Penny
•Checks	Picayune
•Coney	Pile
Coniacker	Pine-tree money
Dollar	Pistareen
Dollar of the Fathers	Postal currency
Eagle	Quarter
Federal currency	Rag
Fractional currency	Red cent
drease	Roanoke
•Greenbacks	Rock
Green-goods	Seawan
Half-a-hog	Shilling
Hard tack	• Shinplaster
Hatchet	Slug
Hogg	Soap
Honey	Soft money
Kone	Stump-tail currency
Koniacker	Tlac, tlaco
Levy	Wad
Long-bit	Wampum
Mill

Almud

Arpent

Arroba

Carga

Cord

Heft

Horn

Jigger

METEOROLOGY, TIME, ETC.

2. — MEASURES.

Jornada

Legua

Milpa

Pipe

Sitio

Suerte

Vara

473

XII.— METEOROLOGY, TIME, DURATION.

1 . — METEOROLOGY.

Barber

Bend-a-bow

Blizzard

Bosculis

Bourdignons

Candelia

Chain-lightning

Chinook

Cloudburst

Conkerbill

Cradle-hole

Day-down

Dipper

Dwy

Fall

Falling weather

Freshet

Frost-smoke

Glade

Glare-ice

Glaze

Grayslick

Gulf-weather

Hubbies

Indian summer

Killing-time

Last of pea-time

Light and shut

Lolly

Moondown

Moonglade

Norther

Packing

Round snow

FUNCTIONS, TITLES
Rubber ice	Sposh
Sand-auger	Sun-shower
Scaly ice .	Sun-squall
Season	Tan-toaster
Secondary	Tempest
Shakes	Thunder-heads
Shove	Waltzing-giants
Silver thaw	Washoe-zephyr
Slob	Washout
Slosh	Waterspout
Snab	White-frost
Snorter
2. — TIME, DURATION.
Coon's age	Night
Dog's age	Nooning
Evening	Sundown
Flop-up	Sun-up
Fore-day	Taps
XIII.— FUNCTIONS, TITLES.
Agohanna	Bone-setter
Alcalde	Boss
Assistant	Bower
Associe"	Boy
Aunt, Aunty	California widow
Ayudante	Canack, Canuck
Backwoods man	Caporal
Bell-boy	Cargador

AMUSEMENTS, GATHERINGS, ETC.
Chore- boy	Field-driver
Collector	Gal-boy
Collier	Hay- ward
Colonel	Helf
Comprador	Hired- man
Conductor	Hog-reeve
Corder	Judges of the plains
Country-Jakes	Moshay
Dining-room servant	Patron
Dominie	Potty-baker
Door- tender	Regent
Down-easter	Sachem
Driver	Sealer
Dude	Seigneurs
Dutch	Selectman
Dutchman	Snob
Engineer	Solicitor
Esquire	Squire
Excellency	Tithing-man
Feller	Truckman
Fellow	Werowance
Female

475

XIV.— AMUSEMENTS, GATHERINGS, GAMES, ETC.

1. — AMUSEMENTS, GATHERINGS.

Arbor Day Bailee Barbecue Basket meeting

Bat Bee

Bobbing club Bones

476 AMUSEMENTS,

Break down

Buck party

Burgoo

Canticoy

Chalk talk

China wedding

Chivaree

Chowder excursion

Circle

Clambake

Coasting

Colcannon night

Corn husking

Cornwallis

Decoration Day

Donation party

Double-ripper

Evacuation day

Fandango

Feria

Fiesta

Fish-fry

Forefather's day Frolic

Full feather Gander-party Ground-hog day Hand-round Hen party High-dutchers High old time Hi-spy Hoe-down

GATHERINGS, ETC.

Home-bringing

House-raising

Independence-Day

Infare

Institute

Leg drama . . . shop

Marooning

Paas

Pan sage

Pinxter (Pinkster)

Play spell

Randy

Scorcher

Second-Christmas

Second-day-wedding

Shin-dig

Shindy

Silver wedding

Social

Sociable

Squantum

Stag-dance

Sugar-licks

Surprise-party

Tabagane

Team

Tea-squall

Tin-wedding

Tobagan

Training-day

Turnerfeste

Virginia-reel

Weddiners

AMUSEMENTS, GATHERINGS, ETC. 2.— GAMES, SPORTS

477

Agate

Age

Albur

Ante, Anti

Base-ball

Battery

Blaze

Blind

Blind poker

Bluff

Boston

Bower

Check

Chip

Chuck -a-chuck

Cold

Crak-loo

Craps

Crisscross

Crosse

Deck

Doggies

Draw

Dumm, Dummy

Euchre

Foul-hand

Foul-tip

Grounder

Haily-over

Hinny

Hock

Hoople

Hunk

Ice-boat

Item

Jack pot

Jack stones

Jiggling-board

Joker

King's ex

Knucks

Lamas

Limit

Little-misery

Lock eye

Look-out

Monte

Mumblety pegs

Nicker

No fair

Old sledge

Original hand

Pass

Pat hand

Poker

Pot

Roly-poly

Say

Shift

Shinny

478

DISEASES, INFIRMITIES

Sic-a-nine-ten Snore Soda

Squeezers Sugar game

Tag Tiger Toozer Virginia poke

XV.— DISEASES,

Ager, Ague, Aguy, Agy

Big-head

Blackleg

Boogie

Brash, water-brash

Break bone

Bronze John

Buck ague, Buck fever

Canker rash

Chill

Chill and fever

Conniption fit

Dengue

Grim

INFIRMITIES.

Jerks

Jim-jams

Kink

Milk sickness

Misery

Mizzy

Prairie itch

Pukes

Rackabones

Rum-bud

Shakes

Squitters

Whelk

Yellow Jack

Adocte"

Atshen

Chasse-galerie

Gougou

Madstone

Mahoumet

Manitou

XVI.— LEGEND, FOLKLORE.

Obeya-nmn

Otsitso

Outiko

Poker

Squantum

Voodouism

Wendigo

ARCHAISMS, PROVINCIALISMS

479

XVII.— ARCHAISMS AND PROVINCIALISMS

All-out	Check
Anan, anend	Chimley
Applicant	Clabbeck
Appreciation	Deck
Atorny	Declension
Avails	Dight
Bail "	Dove
Bait	Fay
Bang-up	Feaze
Bantling	Female
Barm	Fice
Bawcock	Flake
Beaker	Flap-jack
Beau	Flunk
Behindments	Fotch
Bestowments	Fresh
Bile	Freshet
Bilk	Fromety
Blow	Gaum
Blowth	Gavel
Bobbery	Gentle
Body	Gleet
Booze	Glut
Boozy	Goney
Boughten	Gotten
Bowman	Grain
Branch	Gulch
Breachy	Gundalo
Cast	Hack
Casten	Harman

480

THE CHURCH
Hay-ward	Offal
Hearn	Outcry
Heft	Peert
Het	Plunder
Holden	Polt, Polter
Holp, Holpen	Prink
Hove	Professor
Human	Putten
Jag	Raising
Kellock	Reckon
Ketch	Ross
Kettereen	.Sauce
Limekill	Smudge
Long- sauce	Snarl
Lummox	Spunk
Mast	Staddle
Maul and wedges	Stag
Meech ing	Stent
Mought	Stricken
Mung	Swad
Muss	Thirds
Noggin	Yafful
Notions
XVIII.— THE CHURCH
Adventism	Basket meeting
Anxious bench	Bible Christians
Anxious meeting	Big meeting
Anxious mourner	Bush meeting
Backwoods preacher	Camp meeting

CONGRESS, LEGISLATURES
Christian Scientists	Mormons
Church house	New-Lights
Church-maul	Outfit
Gome-outers	Preach
Desk	Preacher's stand
Dunker	Professor
Exercices	Rapper
Experience	Restitutionists
Faith-curists	Sealing
Fellowship	Shakers
Gentiles	Shoutin' member
Hard Shells	Sociable
Hicksites	Society
Meeting-house	Spiritual wife
XIX.— CONGRESS, LEGISLATURES
Buncombe	Lobbyist
Bureau	Message
Congress	Mileage
Congressional	Pincher
Congressman	Red-tape
Court	Resolve
Court-House	Result
Court of Assistants	Retirement
Department	Rider
District courts	State House
Land-office	Upper House
Lobby	Yellow cover

481

31

482

THE COURT-HOUSE XX.— THE COURT-HOUSE

Abutter	Head-rights
Addition	Homestead
Advice and consent	Law-day
Allotment certificate	Locator
Avails	Maidenland
Bestowment	Maine-law
Black Code	Propio
Corn-right	Resolve
Doomage	Shyster
Dooming-board	Stag
Ejido	Straw-bail
Foundation	Test-paper
God fathers	Town-house
"XXI.— HISTORY, POLITICS
1. COLONIAL TIMES
Adventurer	Patroonship
Bowman	Plantation
Buccaneer	Planter
Corder	Redemptioners
Corn-right	Tea-pomp
Jersey-blue	Tithing-man
Patroon
2. WAR OF INDEPENDENCE
Continental	Minute-men
Continentals	New-Jersey tea
Hessian	Provincials

HISTORY, POLITICS

3. CIVIL WAK.

483

Bummer

Bushwhacker

Butternuts

Cheese-box

Confederate

Contraband

Copperhead, Copperheadism

Double ender

Federals

Floating-batteries

Free fighter

Galvanised Yankee

Golden Circle

{^rape-vine telegraph

Gunboats

Hell-hounds

Hessian

Jayhawkers

Jeff Davis-boxes

Johny .... Rbb

Josh

Louisiana Tigers

Mossy bank

Musical box

Nigger-babies

Nigger-heads

Secessiondom

Secessioner, 1st

Stars and bars

Tarheels

Tinclads

Yanks

Yankee (galvanized)

Abolitiondom Abolitionists Adamites

Addition, Division and Silence Africanization 'Albany regency Amalgamation American Party Amnesty oath Amiexationist Anti-federalist Anti-masonry

4. POLITICS, POLITICIANS.

Anti-negro

Anti-renti.sm

A. P. A.

Apaism

Apportionment

Ashlanders

Ash-pole

Assemblyman

Assistant

Ballot-box stuffing

Barnburners

Barrel

484

HISTORY, POLITICS
Black 'Republicans	Copperhead .... ism
Bloody shirters	Crawfish
Bobolition, Bobolitionists	Democrats
Bolters	Doughface, .... ism
Boltocrat	Eelskin
Boomerang	Federalists
Border ruffians	Fence-man
Boss, Bossism	Fence-riding
Bounty- Jumper	Filibuster
Bourbon	Filibustering
Boys	Fire-eaters
Bucker	Floater
Buckshot War	Fogy
Bucktails	Free-soiler
Buffalo	Free-soilism
Bureaucrate	Gerrymander
Burgoo	Grangers
Burrites	Graveyard issues
Bushwhacker	Greenbackers
Campaign	Greenback Labor party
Carpet-bagger	Grit
Caucus	Half-breeds
Cesarism	Hard Shells
Cesarist	Heelers
Cipher dispatches	Hessian
Civil Service Reform	High minded Federalists
Clear grits	Hindoos
Cochranites	Hunkers
Confederate States	Jacksonites
Convention	Jayhawkers
Goodies	Kearnyites
Coon, Coonery	Kicker

Know-nothings .... ism

Lecompton Democrats

Lewisites

Liberals

Loco-focos

Log-rolling

Machine-politician

Mahonists

Manifest desting

Mason and Dixon's line

Missouri compromise

Mixed ticket

Mossbacks

Muckrakes

Mugwump

Munroe Doctrine

National Democrats

Native Americans

Nativism

Negroism

Papaws

Particularists

Pea-nut politics

Pipe-laying

Plank

Platform

Plumed Knights

Political capital

Political Union

Popocrafc

Pow-wow

Precinct

HISTORY, POLITICS

Primary meeting

Provincialist .

Prox

Pull

Radicals

Reciprocity

Reconstruction

Reformists

Republicans

Restrictionist

Ring

Ringer

Sagnichts

Salt river

485

Sams

Scratched ticket

Scratching

Sculduggery

Sectionalism

Short-hairs

Silver Grays

Slate

Slate smaskers

Soap

Spoils system

Spread eagle . . . ism

Squatter Sovereignty

Stalwarts

State's rights

State ticket

Steering committee

Straddle

486

Straight ticket

Striker

Stump

Tammany

Tax-eater

Ticket

Tory

Touching committee

Vendue

War-horse

COLLEGES

Wheel-horse

Whigs

Whip-sawing

Whiskey-ring

White league

White liners

Wide-awakes

Wigwam

Wilmot-proviso

Wire-puller

XXII.— COLLEGES

Alumnus

Animal

Babe

Banger

Barney

Beast

Berry

Bird

Blob

Blood

Blue stocking

Bohn

Bone

Bones

Bos

Bull

Burn

Bust

Calico

Callithump

Callithumpians

Campus

Cane-rush

Charcoal blossom

Chum

Chump

Class-baby

Class-day

Coach

Co-ed

Commencement,

Commons

Cooler

Cram

Crib

Crush

WORDS DUE TO RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS 487

Cut Dig

Digging

Drag

Fairy

Fellow

Fellowship

Friend

Flag-rush

Fluke

Flummux

Flunk

Flunker

Frat

Freak

Fresh

Goose-egg

Gouging

Grind

Mucker

Pill

Plugger

Pony

Shack

Snab

Soak

Sophomore

Stift

Valedictorian

XXIII.— WORDS DUE TO RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS

Dog-soldiers Ghost-dance Haiqua

Blanket Indian

Bois-hjrule

Bone-pits

Brave

Breed

Buck

Calumet

Canaoua

Cazagot

Chunk-yard

Copperhead

Council fire

Coup

Diggers

Happy hunting ground Indian file

Indian gift. . . .liquor Indian mounds

Indian orchards

Indian reservations

Indian summer

Lingua Franca

Lodge

Long-Knives

Mahala

488

Manitou

Matachias

Mound-builders

Nagane

Peac

Poose-back

Pow-wow

Roanoke

Sachem

Sagamore

Scalp lock

NEGROISMS

Sea wan

Squaw

Squaw-man

Sweat-house

Tepee

Tomahawk

Totem

Wampum

War path

Werowance

Wigwam

XXIV.— NEGROISMS. WORDS RELATING TO SLAVERY AND NEGROES

Buck

Buckra

Bull nigger

Colored

Coon

Crap-house

Craps

Cuffey

Darkie

Free-soiler

Griffin

Hant

Hell-matter

Hoe-down

Hoodoo

Marabou

Mason and Dixon's line

Massa

Meamelouc

Mean-white

Mestee

Moke

Mulatto

Mustafina

Negro-fellow

Negroism

Obeya-man

Octoroon

Pickaninny

Placee

Plain-folks

Plantation

ONOMATOPIES

489

<Quadroon

<juash.ee

tSambo

Underground railroad

Voodouism

Wench

XXV. —ONOMATOPIES

•Chewink

Chickadee

•Chickaree

Chuck-will's- widow

•Couac

Pewit

Piou-piou Pi pi

Poor-will Tri-tri Whip-poor-will

XXVI.— NEWSPAPERS, PRINTING, ETC.

.Accumulati ves

Ad

Adjective jerker

Assignment

Uaalam box

.Beat

Bill-board

Butcher

Caption

^Cutter

.Dead-must

Desirable

.Dog watch

Dupes

Editorial

.Fairy tale

Fake

Fakir

Feature

Flash

Fudge

Ghost story

Grind

Happenings

Head

Hell-box

Ink-slinger

Item

Itemizer

King-beat

Leg-work

Lift

490

NEWSPAPERS, PRINTING, ETC.
Local	Scoop
Making-up	Send-off
Must	Shirt-tail dash
Occurrings	Slush
Patent outsides	Space-grabber
Pencil pusher	Special
Pipe	Story
Playing up	String
Puff workers	Stuff
Regular	Subs
Rewrite man	Take
Scare	Typo
Schedule	Yellow Journalism

XXVII. —RAILWAYS

Accommodation train Air-line

Baggage car

Baggage check

Baggage-smasher

Berth

Bogie-engine

Box-car

Bull

Bumper

Caboose

Cad

Car

Car-brake

Car- house

Check

Check rail

Conductor

Cow-catcher

Depot

Engine

Engineer

Express

Fireman

Flag station

Flyer

Freight Freightage Freight-car Freight-train,

Frog

Grade

Greased lightning

Horse-railroad

House-car

Jumping-off place

Lightning-express

Linemen

Machine

Mail .... car

Mileage-ticket

Plug

Pullman

RAILWAYS, FINANCE, ETC

Railroad Run

491

Runner

Scalper

Scoot-train

Sleeper

Snake- head

Snake-rail

State-room

Strap railroad

Switch

Track

Wild-cat train

XXVIII.— BANKING, FINANCE, TRADE

1. TRADE, BARTER, ETC.

Bank shaving Deal

Bill Dicker Bindery ' Domestics

Brotus Drummer

By-bidder Drumming

Cable Dry-goods store

Cannery . Fakir

Capper Finding-store

C. 0. D. Fore-pay

Combine Freight age

Corner Glibe

Cut Goner

Dead-duck House-milliner

492

MISCELLANEOUS INDUSTRIES

Lagniappe	Store
Lay	Store-clothes
M erchant	Store-pay
Notions	Store-tea
Outcry	Tickler
Peter Funk	Tinner
Pilon	Toot
Point	Trade
Post-note	Trader
Ring	Trust
Shake	Vendue
Shop	Walk out
Short	Wildcat....
Sight unseen
2. THE SLANG OF WALL STREET.
Block	Gutter-snipe
Bogus boys	Mud-hen
Break	Point
Bucket-shop	Scalper
Buttoning up	Snipe
Curb-stone broker	Squash
Flunk	Ticker
Flyer

XXIX.— MISCELLANEOUS INDUSTRIES.

Braes Brands Collier Crib

1. CHARCOAL.

Cubby Fergen Firing-place Float

MISCELLANEOUS INDUSTRIES

493

2. COTTOX.

Bagging	Cottendom
Blow	Pick
Cotton-bagging
3. — OYSTERS.
Barnacle	Hull
Bateau	Mananosay
Beard	Oyster grass
Blister	Oyster-knockers
Board-bank	Platform
Bull-nose	Pooquaw
Clam-banks	Quahaug
Cluckers	Rattlers
Coon-oyster	Shell bed
Count clams	Shelters
Cullinteens	Shoots
Float	Stick-up
Hen-clam	Winders
4. — SUGAR.
Arrow	Molasses
Bagasse	Ratoons
Barring out	Stand
Blackstrap	Sugar bush, camp, orchard
Cane-trash	Sugaring time
Logic	Sugar licks
Long-sugar	Sugar maple
Maple-honey	Trash
Maple- sugar	Tree-molasses

494

MISCELLANEOUS APPELLATIONS

O. — TOBACCO.

Break

Cavendish

ChaM

Cut

Express-office

Fid

Ground

Lugs

Negro-head

Old soldier

Sot- weed

Stemmery

Stogies

Through

Turning-row

XXX. -MISCELLANEOUS APPELLATIONS

1. —NICKNAMES OF PERSONS
Bankers	Celestials
Beagles	Clam-catchers
Blue Bellies	Clay-eaters
Blue Hen Chickens	Cohees
Blue Lights	Conch
Blue Noses	Corn-cracker
Blues	Cracker
Blue skins	Cree-Owls
Bois-brule" .	Dago
Boys in blue	Drys
Brother Jonathan	Flat-boatman
Buckeyes	Goober-grabber
Buckskins	Gopher
Buffaloes	Gothamite
Bug-eaters	Greaser
Butternuts	Hayseed
Buzzards	Heathen Chinee

MISCELLANEOUS APPELLATIONS
Hoosier	Piners
Jayhawkers	Pukes
John	Rail-splitter
Johny	Red-horse
Josh	Rice-bird
Knickerbockers	Round-head
Little Giant	Rovers
Little Mac	Sage-hens
Little Magician	Shad-bellies
Lizards	Silk-stockings
Miller boy of the Slashes	Sleepers
Mud-Head	Sophers
Muskrats	Suckers
Natick Cobbler	Swallow-tails
•Old Bullion	Tippecanoe
Old Driver	Tooth-picks
Old Hickory	Tuckahoo
Old Planters	Uncle Sam
Old Probabilities	War-horse
Old Put	Weasels
Pathfinder	Young Hickory

2. — NICKNAMES OF STATES, COUNTRIES, PLACES.

Badger State Bayou State Bay State Bear State Big drink Blue Grass State Blue Hen State Blue Law State

Buckeye State

Bullion State

Centennial State

Cracker State

Creole State

Dark and Blocdy Ground

Diamond State

Egypt

-496

MISCELLANEOUS APPELLATIONS

Empire State	Mud-cat State
Excelsior State	New Netherlands
Freestone State	Nutmeg State
Garden of the West	Old Colony
Garden State	Old Country
Golden State	Old Dominion
Granite State	Old Line State
Green Mountain State	Old North State
Hawk-Eye State	Palmetto State
Hoosier State	Pelican State
Key-stone State	Pine-tree State
Lake State	Pivotal State
Land of steady habits	Poket
Little Rhody	Prairie State
Lone Star State	Sucker State
Lumber State	Turpentine State
Monkey-wrench district	Wolverine State
Mother of States	-
3. — NICKNAMES or CITIES.
Athens of America	City of Soles
Bluff City	City of Spindles
Brass City	City of the Straits
Charter-Oak City	City of Witches
City of Brotherly Love	Classic City
City of Churches	Cradle of Liberty
City of Colleges	Crescent City
City of Elms	Crescent City of the West
City of the Golden State	Empire City
City of Magnificent Distances	Executive City
City of Notions	Falls City
City of Rocks	Federal City

MISCELLANEOUS APPELLATIONS

497

Flour City

Flower City

Forest City

Frisco

Gate City

Golden City

Gotham

Hub of the Universe

Iron City

Mobtown

Monumental City Mound City Palmetto City Porkopolis Quaker City Railroad City Smoky City Tri-Mountain City Zenith City

4. — COLLECTIVITIES, SOCIETIES, ORGANIZATIONS.

Boys in blue

Cod-fish aristocracy

Daddyism

Folks

Four hundred

Golden Circle

Grangers

Highbinder

Knights of Labour

Ku-Klux Klan

Molly-Maguires

Mormons

Moonshiners

Mudsill clubs

Regulators

Shoddyocracy

Sovereigns of Industry

Turn-Vereine

Uppertendom

Vigilance committee

White caps

Yankeedom

5. — WORDS EXPRESSING ACKWARDNESS, EXCENTRICITY, FOOLISHNESS, ETC.

Bell-snickle

Buncombe

Chowderhead

Chucklehead

Crank

Dodunk

Dough-head 32

Dumm, Dummy

Dummerhead

Gaby

Gawnicus

Gilly

Goney

Gump

498

MISCELLANEOUS APPELLATIONS

Horse marine	Momick
Judy	Mutton-head
Kip	Nimshi
Lobscouse	Noodlehead
Logy	Poke
Loon	Sardine
Lummox	Spoops
Lumper
6 — \VORDS EXPRESSING ADMIRATION, SMARTNESS, SUPERIORITY, ETC.
Bawcock	Hummer
Beau	Hustler
Bee-line	Keener
Big-bug	Live-beat
Boss	Old coon
Bottom	Oodles
Bottom fact	Oodlins
Bulger	Pull
Bull (prefix)	Recommend
Cap sheaf	Ripper
Chivalry	Ripsnorter
Cleargrit	Roncher
Come out	Rustler
Crackajack	Sand
Cuteness	Screamer
Gilded rooster	Snap
Gisni	Sneezer
Go ahead	Snorter
Grit	Socker
Gush	Some pumpkins
Honey	Sprawl

MISCELLANEOUS APPELLATIONS

499

Spunk Staver Trigness

Two-forty pace

Vim

Whaler

7. — \\ORDS EXPRESSING BRAG, SELF-CONCEIT, ETC.

Back talk Banter Billy-noddle Blower

Bluff er

Boomer

Buck

Bushwhacker

Flapdoodle

Frills

Gab

Gabbey

Gall

Gas

Half-way strainer

High falutin

Jack-dandy

Linguister

Pealer

Pill

Poppy-cock

Pop-squirt

Rouser

Shenanigan

Slang-whanger

Snake-story

Spread-eagle .... ism

8. — WORDS EXPRESSING CONTEMPT, DERISION, KTC.

Buzzard

Cachupin

Carpet-bagger

Chippy

Chippy-chaser

Copperhead

Cotbetty

Crawfish

Critter

Cuss, Cussedness

Dead-beat

Despisement

Dock-walloper

Doughface, — cism

Dude

Gripe-fist

Ham, Ham fatter

Hen-hussy

Hobo

Jack-leg

Jay

Loafer

500

MISCELLANEOUS APPELLATIONS

Loper	Shack
Masher	Shyster
Muckrakes	Skeezix
Pilgrim	Slink
Plug	Slummock
Pot-walloper	Small potatoes
Rat	Snip
Riffs	Sozzle
Rubber neck	Stiff
Runt	Tenderfoot
Sanjd-hillers	Tippybobs
Scab	Trash
Scallawag	Whiffet
9. — WORDS EXPRESSING DIFFICULTIES, HARM, UNFORTUXE, ETC.
Bad man	Polt, Polter
Bad medicine	Priminary
Bulldose	Puck
Daisy beat	Rail-riding
Dead beat	Scunner
Clip	Side-winder
Cold scald	Socdolager
Come down	Striker
Crooked stick	String
Drag out	Thumper
Hitch	Tormentation
Jim-slinger	Tunk
Kink	Worriment
Lambasting

MISCELLANEOUS APPELLATIONS

501

10. — WORDS EXPRESSING DISORDER, LAWLESSNESS, ETC.

Bag of nails

Beach-combers

Bender

Bobbery

Briago

Bun, Bummer,

Clatter whacking

Dander

Filibuster .... ing

Fire-bug

Five-Pointers

Highbinder

High roller

Holdups

Hoodlum

Involvement

Jake

Jamboree

Jingle-brains

Katoose

Low-downer

Lyncher

Lynching-bee

Lynch law

Micky

Mix

Muss

Mux

Neck-tie sociable

Off-ox

Panhandler

Plug-ugly

Raid

Ravage

Riffle

Roarer

Rounder

Rowdy

Runagate

Snarl

Spat

Tear

Tough

Tow-row

Tramp

11. — WORDS EXPRESSING FAILURE.

Back down Flat-out

Bounce • Fluke Breakdown Flunk

Bust Gone case

502

MISCELLANEOUS APPELLATIONS

Gone-coon

Goner

Set-back

Trocha

Walking papers Yellow cover

12. — WORDS EXPRESSING FRAUD, PLUNDER, ETC.

Barney Gum-game

Bogus Huly

J

Boodle Indian gift

Boomerang Roorbac*

Brace game Skin-game

Chestnut Squealer

Fake Stiff

Fish-story Sucker

Fraud Wooden Nutmegs

13. — WORDS EXPRESSING INFERIORITY

Back seat Dime-novels

Back track Jog

Bad egg Quarter-horse

Bag o'guts Runt

Bayoo Scrap

Behindments Tacker

Critter

14. — WORDS EXPRESSING JUDGMENT, SUCCESS

Bonanza

Boom

Boom-belt

Booming-squad

Boomlet

Go

Horse sense

Nigger-luck Placer Sabe Record Smart chance Soft thing Ten strike

BAR-ROOMS 503

15. — WORDS EXPRESSING AFFECTION, ENDEARMENT, PLEASURE, ETC.

Bango

Birdie

Bussy

Cack

Cleverness

Compliment

Creature

Mammy

Netop

16. — WORDS EXPRESSING BEWILDERMENT, FRIGHT SURPRISE, ETC.

Boof Daze Eye opener

Feaze Rouser

XXXI.— BAR-ROOMS.

Angel

Bald-face

Bar

Barrel boarder

Barrel house

Bartender

Bender

Black-jack

Bloat

Boof

Bottom

Bouncer

Bourbon

Brandy-smash

Brusher

Buck-beer

Bucket shop

Bug-juice

Bung- starter

Bust

Bust-head

Cantina

Chain-lightning

Cocktail

Confectionery

Corn-juice

Crack -loo

Crooked whiskey

jjive

Doggery

Drinks

Drudge

Drunk

Exchange

504

THIEVES' SLANG

Eye-opener	Red eye
Fip	Rot gut
Fire-copper	Rum
Flip	Rum-hole
Forty-rod lightning	Rum-sucker
Grocery	Rye
Heelers	Saloon
Hopine	Schooner
Indian liquor	Shebang
Jag	Shenkbeer
Jigger	Sleepers
John Collins	Sling
Leg-stretcher	Slug
Mint-julep	Smile
Monongahela	Snifter
Morgue	Sucker
Nipper	Tickler
Pick-me-up '	Tipple
Pine-top	Whiskey-bloat
Pink-tea	Whiskey-mill
Pony	Whiskey skin .
Pupelo	Yankee

XXXII.— THIEVES' SLANG

American tweezers

Amusers

Angler

Auger

Badger

Badger-game

Baster

Billy

Bluffer

Bob

Bouncer

Brace game

Broady

Budge

Bunco-game

Bunco-man, Bunco-steerer

Buzzer

Capper

Charley

Chinkers

Chuck

Clankers

Come-alongs

Crook

Dip

Dog

Drop game

Fence

Floater

Gait

Glims

Gnarler

Gobsticks

Groaners

Harman

Hawk

Heelers

High-bloke

High-jinks

Holdups

SLANG

Horse-cappers

Hum-box

Ingler

Jilt

Joint

Jug breaking

Katey

Kite

Koniacker

Leather

Nippers

Panel-game

Plugger

Rat-thieving

Ripper

Robber

Roper

Rustler

Sand-bagger

Sham-leggers

Shell-game

Skin

Sneak-thief

Snooser

Steerer

Strippers

U. S. plate

505

in

Reprints from English and American Periodicals

I. Americanisms, by Dr. Aubrey. LI. Wild Flowers of English speech in America, by Edward Eggleston.

III. The Philology of slang, by E. B. Tylor.

IV. The Function of slang, by Brander Matthews.

AMERICANISMS

BY DR. AUBREY

(Frttn Leisure Hour)

IT is not affectation or mere pedantry to speak of the American language, for it is becoming more and more dis- tinct, not only in matters of pronunciation and in colloquial phrases, but in the novel meanings attached to many old words, and in the fertile invention of new words. Our American cousins not infrequently express themselves as employing our common language in a way superior to the English, and doubtless the insular pronunciation, with its rising inflections, sound as peculiar to them as the more or less nasal twang — if the gentle criticism may be ventured — and the falling inflection sound to us.

Not that unifor.nity prevails throughout the wide area of the United States. There are marked provincialisms, as is the case with different districts in Great Britain, so that a " down-Easter " from Maine, or the typical "Yankee," or the resident in the Great West, differ from each other in this respect, while all of them are unlike the drawl common in the South. In the older communities there are, of course, to be found many refined and truly cultured persons, to whose conversation it'is a pleasure to listen, and who reveal in phraseology and intonation nothing of what are usually understood as Americanisms. It must also be cheerfully admitted that average people in the United States speak with much greater ease and appropriateness than persons of a corresponding position and education in England. This is to be accounted for partly by the system of recita-

510 AMERICANISMS

tions pursued in the schools, and partly by the social freedom which permits ready talk on almost every subject.

Without drawing undue refinements by way of distinc- tion, and without insisting upon local and accidental pe- culiarities, and especially without indulging in hypercri- ticism or ridicule, it may be interesting to indicate some of the meanings in which familiar words are used across the water, and to explain some of the modern phrases which are continually being devised as additions to the received vocabulary.

An ordinary dictionary does not define the peculiar terms and idioms commonly used by Americans. They can be understood, although they prefer to place the accent on the penultimate syllable of ''observatory" or " conser- vatory," or when they make " vase " rhyme with "case," or when they contract " cannot " into a sound exactly like that of Kant, the German metaphysician. They prefer to say "I'talian" and "national,'' and to pronounce "sche- dule" as if it were "skedule," and to call the last letter of the alphabet '"zee," and to spell certain words in a way peculiar to themselves, as "meager," "scepter," "center," "traveler," "unequaled," "plow," "develop," "skep- ticism," "defense," "offense," "wagon," "check" (a draft on a banker), and many others that might be cited Public speakers often place undue emphasis upon the articles "a " and " the," particularly on the former, which is made to sound like " ay," thus giving it undue prominence and an odd effect before the noun.

Young ladies are much addicted to the use. of the word '' verra," as they pronounce "very," and they describe themselves as " mad " when they are slightly vexed ; and while they would on no account mention "legs" — which are always " limbs " — they describe all insects under the generic name of "bug;" but the leg of a fowl is the "second wing." Young ladydom also uses the word " awful " for " very " in the Eastern and Middle States, where "awful hungry," "awful handsome," and so on, are continually heard. When she is about to adorn herself, or to trim a bonnet or some article of dre.ss, she says that she

AMERICANISMS 511

will " fix herself " or " fix it up : " but the same word is used in connection with meals, as "tea and fixings ; " or if a guest is in doubt over the bill of fare, the waiter will probably say. " I'll fix you," and he then brings a varied and numerous assortment of dishes.

Other words are employed in a novel or an exaggerated sense. A jug or a mug, however small, is a " pitcher; " wood, sawn into planks, is "lumber; " when a man states, "I feel bad," he refers, not to moral depravity, but to the state of his health, just as "I feel good " means that he is well and happy. " Big " is used not only for size, but as descriptive of quality, and, in a vulgar sense, of persons of supposed consequence, as " big bugs." " Biscuit " is syno- nymous with hot rolls, in which most Americans indulge twice a day, and then wonder that they suffer from indi- gestion ; whereas " crackers " are what English people usually understand as biscuits. " Real, or clear, or true grit," refers to a person of superior worth or genuineness, as distinguished from one inferior, who is only " chaff." These words evidently come from the miller, as "dough- face " may be traced to the baker ; meaning, a man easily moved to change his opinion, and who can be moulded, like dough, to any shape. " Back " is often used instead of "ago;" as " That was a long time back." "Beautiful,' and " elegant" are much misused terms, being often applied indiscriminately to anything good, pleasing- or even tasty. " Convenient " has assumed a new meaning, and refers to what is near at hand or within easy reach ; thus, a farm is advertised as " having wood and water convenient to the house." " Cute," instead of " acute,'' has become almost a distinct word, being stronger in its peculiar meaning than the original, and is one of the most expressive Americanisms of the day. " Dirt " is generally used for earth, or soil, and "rag" for any piece of linen or cotton cloth.. " Dress " has almost superseded the word "gown," as part of a lady's costume, and the upper portion, or "body," as it is termed in England, is the "waist " in America. Instead of " lead- ing article " in a newspaper, " editorial " is always used. " Hoarding " is never applied to a wooden enclosure —

512

AMERICANISMS

which is always " fence " — but only to accumulating money. '; Housekeep," as a verb, has firmly established itself in American speech. A letter or newspaper is not posted, but " mailed." Such a term as " nasty weather " is never heard ; and the adjective itself always denotes something disgusting in point of smell, taste, or even moral character, and is never heard in the presence of ladies ; but " nice " is used with great freedom, and with wide and varied mean- ings. The pavement of a street is always called the "side- walk." The American substitute for u braces" is " sus- "enders," a delicate improvement upon the older word p gallowses," common in New England.

Surpassing others in ability is often expressed by the word "whip ; " and the phrase, "That whips all creation," is well known. " Few " is used in the sense of " little," as, " I was astonished a few ; " and in like manner a man will say that he has? "heard considerable" of a person. Prepo- sitions are employed in what at first seem odd meanings, and yet in many cases they are strictly appropriate, such as " on the street ; " or a letter written "over his signature.'' In the South, members are elected to sit "on the legisla- ture." A common phrase is that " he arrived on time." But it sounds strange to hear of a field " planted to corn ; '' or the phrase " at the north ; " or " to be sold at auction." " In " is used for " into " very generally. "Nor" is fre- quently substituted for "than;" and "outside" for "be- side," or " except," as " Outside the Secretary of War, no one knew of the transaction."

As might be expected, certain words which originated as vulgarisms, and which are even now never heard in good society, yet find places in colloquial speech, because of their expressiveness, arising, perhaps, more from the sound than the precise signification. Among these are " absquatulate " and "skedaddle," in the sense of running away; and "all to smash," for an utter wreck. "High falutin" is applied to exaggerated or bombastic speech or writing. A "loafer" is an- idler or dawdler. To " cave in " means a collapse.

Public meetings are often held in the op^n air in newly- cleared districts, and the stump of a tree is a convenient

AMERICANISMS 513

platform. Hence the expressive phrase " to go on the stump " during some political agitation, or " campaign," which is now the stock phrase. In connection with this, the word '' platform" has come to signify a testament of principles or objects, each of which is described as a " plank ; " and a man who is supposed to attach undue im- portance to some particular scheme or notion is styled a " crank." Politicians are said to be engaged in " log-rol- ling," or to have " their own axes to grind," when they are thought to be seeking personal objects under colour of party zeal. Another opprobrious epithet applied to such is " machine politicians," A "caucus" is a preliminary ga- thering of a political party to decide up;>n united action ; and " lobbying " means waiting outside the chambers of legislature so as to use influence for the passing of certain measures. Political nomenclature is constantly changing, as new words are invented by speakers or newspaper writers some of which have but transient currency and are soon forgotten, such as "free:soiler," "carpet-bagger," "copper- heads," " hardshells,': " softshells," "locofocos," "know- nothings," and many more. One such word, "bolter," was applied during the Presidential election in 1884 to indicate a section of the -Republican party who for that time voted with the Democrats. "To be around " is used in the sense of being near, or close by. To " back down " is to yield ; to " take the back track " is to retreat ; and if a man utters a mistaken charge or wrongfully applies an epithet, he will probably say, by way of apology, " I take that back.'' A coverlet or counterpane is called a " bed- spread." Where an Englishman would say "as the crow flies," an American speaks of " a bee-line," and a railroad free from tunnels is an "air-line." To be "under the weather" is to suffer from a cold. A speaker is said to "voice the sentiment " of a meeting; and instead of the common English phrase that " it is well to wash dirty linen at home," the Western people have one of pungent meaning, when the offensive odour of the animal is remembered, that " every man should skin his own skunk." To "play' possum " is equivalent to the old London trick among thieves of " shamming Abra-

33

514

AMERICANISMS

ham," or pretending to be dead, as the opossum does when escape seems impossible. " It's nuts to him " denotes some difficulty in comprehending, or a task that cannot well be performed; just as nuts are hard to crack. The "given name " is the Christian name, and in the West it is some- times styled the " front name." A " live man," in the sense of quick, active, or a "live preacher," or ''live prayer- meeting," are sufficiently expressive, though somewhat inappropriate terms.

Travelling has given rise to many peculiar phrases. The line is always called "the railroad," or "the roadbed," or "the track ;" the carriages are " cars," or "steam-cars ;" the locomotive, when not so named, is the " engine," with the " i " long ; a siding is a " switch ; " the wooden sleepers are known as " ties ; " the station is a " depot; " luggage is "baggage;" the guard is a "conductor;" and when he gives the signal to start, he shouts, " all aboard ; '.' a pas- senger riding with a free pass is a " deadhead ; " a com- mercial traveller is a " drummer ; " a street carriage on hire is a " hack ; " and the street tramway -cars are "b-orse-cars." If inquiry be made for a certain street, the reply will be, "Go so many blocks, and then turn to the right or left for so many blocks more." When trains meet at junctions 'without causing delay to the traveller, he is said to "make close connections; " a quick transit is grandiloquently des- cribed as " lightning express." The name of a well-known ribbed stuff, " corduroy," has been given in new clearings to a rough kind of road, consisting of loose logs laid across the swamp. A " plankroad " is formed of sawn deals, or boards of considerable thickness, laid even and close, cross- wise. Overshoes are invariably " rubbers," being an abbre- viation of the name of the material. A rush of panic- •stricken people is a "stampede," as in the case of cattle. In naming the State of Connecticut, the second "c" is never heard ; and by many the State of Arkansas is pronounced as if the last syllable were " saw ; " while, in New England pumpkins are invariably called " punkins ; " and a person of note and wealth is said to be " some punkins." A New Knglander will commence most -of his sentences with

AMERICANISMS 515

"Wai," for "well," and will pronounce " can" as if it were written "kin." He will talk of a " potato-patch," or a " wood-lot," or a " section of kintry," or will make inquiries about absent friends by asking, " How's the folks? " He is also fond of saying, " I guess," just as the people in the Northern states say, "I calc'late," and those of the South, " I reckon." A man who can do no more is described as " played out; " the odd jobs around the house are known as "chores ; " any one out of health is said to be "sick," but if he suffers from actual vomiting he is "sick in the stomach ; " a plot of land chosen for a dwelling is a " loca- tion ;" anything specially approved of is "real good," or "real nice ; " an attack of ague is " chills and fever ; " and an attempt to force up or down prices of commodities is " a corner in.pork, or in corn, or in oil." The issue of fictitious railroad stock for speculative or gambling purposes is known as " watering the stock," a term derived from the practice of Daniel Drew when a boy, who sold cattle by weight, and gave them salt to eat to induce thirst, and then let them drink copiously just before they were sold by live weight.

Trade has its own phraseology, as in England. A shop is a " store," and the different kinds of commodities are expressed by "clothing store," "dry-goods store" (ie., drapery, etc.), ;j drug store," " grocery store," " book store," and so forth ; but a butcher keeps a " meat market," vege- tables and fruits are obtained at u " vegetable store." To " make a pile " is to amass large profits. To '' foot a bill " means an acceptance or promise to pay ; while to " fill that bill," signifies that the person fully comes up to the descrip- tion, or is able to accomplish what is undertaken. The uniform name for treacle is " molasses," and sweetmeats are " candies." One of the most popular confections is called " molasses candy." If an American is asked whether some one really did such and such a thing, and he wishes to emphasise his reply, he will probably say, " He didn't do anything else." Another intensive phrase is " at that ; " probably an abbreviation of " added to that ; " as, " He has an ugly wife, and a shrew at that ; " the descriptive epithet in this case referring, not to ill-favoured features,

516 AMERICANISMS

but to character and temper. " Ugly " is always employed in this sense, and not with reference to bad looks. A des- picable person is stigmatised as " a mean cuss." If a remark is not clearly heard or understood, the speaker will be interrupted by an abrupt " How ? " which is not meant to be rude, though if may appear so to a stranger. It is part of that brevity and point which characterise the American people, who, as a rule, have 110 time to waste, or who, at any rate, act as if the law of life was ceaseless hurry. Indeed, such phrases as " go ahead ; " the " almighty dollar," and " hurry up," are significant indications of this nature. Another is to be found in the use of verbs in a peculiar sense, as, " to collide," " to enthuse," " to erupt," "to resurrect,1' " to knife," and many more. The burglar's crime has been designated '' burglarizing ; " when caught, he is " custodized ; " and the news of his capture is promp- tly u itemized " by the penny-a-liner in the newspaper.

It must not be supposed that all the words and phrases quoted are in general use, though most of them are com- monly met with; or that they are employed by good speakers and writers. Some of them, and many others that might be given, are unquestionably of English, Dutch, or German origin, although they have become obsolete in these countries, and are much corrupted in America. Many of the provincialisms of the Northern and Eastern counties of England have become naturalised in New England, as was to be expected. A similar transmission may be traced in Virginia through the settlers from the south-western counties of England. The primary meaning is sometimes intended, instead of, as in England, the secondary meaning which has come to be almost universal. Thus, to " admire," or " admire at," is good old English for '• wonder," "Bright " means what we should call " clever," but that word, in America, denotes amiability and courtesy ; whereas " amiable1" applied to a man, is understood in a derogatory sense, as if he were stupid ; and " cunning" is ingenious ; but a " smart man " would act dishonestly if he could and dared. A " homely " person is one distinguished by great plainness of ieatures. Land or property is spoken of as

AMERICANISMS 517

likely to " appreciate " in value. The old English sense of nice, or excellent, still attaches to the word •' curious," as used by New Englanders. " Fall " is our Autumn season, from the falling of the leaves, and is the revival of a word found in Dryden and other old writers. It is to be regretted that many rich, quaint, and expressive terms have fallen into disuse in England, although they are still employed in America, as might be easily proved, in addition to the instances already given, if this were a paper on philology. Yet many words, now in common use in the United States, belong to the category of cant and slang, which, unfortu- nately, are to be found in every country and in every age. The most fertile source of this in America is, undoubtedly, the lower class of newspapers, in which originate nearly all the colloquial inelegancies and downright vulgarities of speech. Any sudden excitement, any political event, any popular literary production, creates and gives currency to a number of vulgar words, which often have in them nothing but sound, or a fancied resemblance to the action or character supposed to be expressed. As Mr. Buckle once said, referring to the fondness of the English for burlesque phrases and nicknames, " Many of these words are but serving their apprenticeship, and will eventually become the active strength of our language." There is a morality in the use of speech, whether oral or written, as well as in character and in deeds.

WILD FLOWERS OF ENGLISH SPEECH IN AMERICA

BY EDWARD EGGLESTON

(From the Century Magazine)

English in the year 1600, though enriched by the glorious group of writers of Elizabeth's reign, was still the speech of a people fond of the chimney-corner, and living shut in by their four seas. In the hundred years that followed, expanding commerce, and the planting of numerous English colonies on the mainland of America and in subtropical West India islands, subjected to a serious strain a language that had hardly ever before encountered the great world. A multitude of things had to be named that hitherto had been unknown and undreamed of even by the seers of the golden age of English imagination, and expres- sions were to be found for modes of life and action beyond the experience of Saxon or Norman. This exigency was met by taxing old phrases to their utmost through new applications, by giving new meanings and wider currency to provincial words, by borrowing from other European languages, and by plundering the dialects of the barbarians. Every new animal, new plant, new custom, demanded a new word, or, perhaps, a whole set of them. The settlers in different regions supplied identical deficiencies by diffe- rent devices, and hence came many of the local variations in our American English. If we had the means of tracing the effect of similar crises at the period of Anglo-Saxon migration from the Continent, we might account in the same way for many of the local variations in the mother- English.

520 WILD FLOWERS OF ENGLISH SPEECH, ETC.

But to specific instances. Maize, even before it was cooked, required more that twenty words. The American settler never used the word maize, which is a West Indian name imported into book-English through the Spanish. To this day we do not say maize ; our illiterate people have never heard it. To Europeans, whose only knowledge of the infidel world was deribed from the long conflict with the Turks, all things from beyond Christendom seemed to come from the lands of the Mussulman. An idol was a " maumet " — that is, a Mahomet; anew fowl from America became a " Turkey-cock. " In like manner early English comers, as Henry Hudson, for example, called the maize "• Turkish wheat.'' The beans that were found here were called " Turkish beans " by the first Dutch and Swedish writers on America, and the French called maize at first ble de Turquie. And the Italians dubbed it gran turco or grano saracenico — Saracen grain. Even in Pennsylvania the Germans "aid Turkisch corn. Later, the French named it bie d'Inde, a name connected with the belief that America was India ; and the English settler, accustomed to call all cereals "corn, " simply distinguished it among the diverse species as " Indian corn, " while all other cereals were called " English corn." (Clayton, the Virginia botanist, usually calls maize "Virginia wheat, " but a writer of 1651 has it " Indian wheat.") The American colonists also spoke of their "English harvest" and their "Indian harvest." But in speech, labor-saving processes are ever in request. The New Englander sometimes saved his precious time by dropping the latter h;tlf of the new compound. To him Indian corn became " Indian, " or, as Governor Winthrop wrote it, "Indean."

Later generations in the up-country have applied the word to the products of corn after cooking, with a some- what cannibal result. The newcomer from another part of the country, when first he crosses the Connecticut River, is startled at being asked by an innocent-looking girl Avaiter in a village tavern if he will have some " fried Indian." Even after he grows accustomed to Indian fried, boiled, and baked, the incomer is puzzled by a compound familiarly

WILD FLOWERS OF ENGLISH SPEECH, ETC. 521

called in the hill-country "rine-injun, " or" rye and In- dian." The French furnishes a parallel to the New England " Indian " ; the turkey-cock, from being a poq-d'Inde, has become a dinde, in the masculine a dindon ; and what is dinde but Indian ? And what is our " dandy " but a strut- ting turkey-cock ? — a corruption, let me suggest, of the French dindon. In passing, it is worth remarking that in the German propositions made to the Mennonites by George I, turkeys are spoken of as " Indian cocks and hens."

South of New England in the region where maize is more at home, and later in New England also, the first half of the compound was dropped in common speech; and the most widely generic of all English words for a cereal is never used in America except to name a kind of corn unknown to our English ancestors, and hardly known now in England. For, in spite of the dictionaries, the generic sense of the word ;; corn " is quite lost with us except in rare literary use. In this change the fact that the first gene- rations of English-Americans subsisted mainly on maize has embedded itself in our speech.

Few words in migrating to this country have traveled so far from English usage as " corn,'' though " meal " from the same historical cause is almost exclusively applied to the meal of Indian corn, the only exception being the com- pound u oatmeal." There are many other cases of transfer. The panther was long called a " tyger " in the Carolinas, and a " lyon " elsewhere. Our ancestors carried over the traditional sentiment and affection for the English robin to a red-breasted thrush. The brown thrush is called " brown thrasher " by our Northern country people, and was called u thrusher " by Captain John Smith in 1624. The French in Canada gave the name of rossignol to .the song-sparrow. There are to-day many intelligent French-Canadians who will laugh at you if you try to convince them that the European nightingale does not sing on the St. Lawrence. No doubt the sweetness of the song-sparrow's note is much enhanced in the province of Quebec by the borrowed glory of his name. Some bird — not the mocking-bird — was called " nightingale " in Virginia in 1649, and Josselyn's descrip-

522 WILD FLOWERS OF ENGLISH SPEECH, ETC

tion of the nightingale of the first New Englanders suggests the Baltimore oriole. In the matter of the American redbreast there seems to have been a suspicion that he was only an upstart robin, for in the North-country our farmers call this same mellifluous Baltimore oriole, " Old-England robin," a correction which must have been made early, and which is as wide of the mark as the original mistake. It may have been by the laxity of our early ornithologists that this same " oriole " got his name ; now, by a curious pedantry, some of the dictionaries try to call him only " Baltimore bird," as though popular names once fixed could be changed to accord with scientific classification. There is one advantage about the new name, which is that the naturalists and the cyclopedias have it all to them- selves ; the " swinging-bird," as they call him in southern Indiana, will hardly cease to be an oriole because he is no longer an Oriolus. But let us come back to our " Indian." The blade, the stalk, the ear, were easily named from the homologous parts of English corn. No doubt many of the first-comers said *' year " for " ear," as many of their des- cendants do to-day. The corruption is in the interest of euphony when the word is preceded by the definite article. It is worthy of remark that seed-leaves are called " ears " in the London Philosophical Transactions of the last cen- tury, and though etymologists track " ear " in its two principal senses to different sources, a fancied resemblance to the ears of an animal may have acted as an attraction in modifying the English name for an ear of wheat. If so, the resemblance was quite lost when applied to maize.

In the great maize region of the United States, green corn, whether raw or cooked, and whether cooked by roasting in front of the fire or by boiling, is called " roasting ears," shortened in pronunciation to ro' 'sin-ears. The word is in Beverly's " Virginia " (1705). and is current through the whole of the middle belt and the South. The pollen- bearing head of the plant, so graceful while it is green and pliant, was named the " tassel, " and to this day our country people, when speaking of the male flower of the maize, preserve the broad vowel of their ancestors : " tossell "

WILD FLOWERS OF ENGLISH SPEECH, ETC. 523

it will remain in spite of the schoolmaster who ignorantly makes war on archaisms of speech. In De Brahm's " His- tory of Georgia," the branches of a certain kind of pine are said to be " bare of Leaves except their Ends, where the Leaves go out in a Bunch and resemble a Tossell." It seems a matter for regret that this ancient orthography has not been retained for the head of the Indian corn. The pistillate flower of the maize, so different from anything ever seen before by the newcomers, was appropriately called the " silk," and these two names for the maize flowers indicate that the pioneers were not without a sense of the beauty of this highly ornamental plant.

But the ear probably puzzled them most, for, except the grains, the parts were very strange. To begin with, English furnished no name for the envelop with which the ear wrapped itself as an indispensable safeguard against drought, birds, and insects. Strachey, secretary to the Virginia colony when it was two years old, calls maize '" poketaws," and says that " every ear groweth with a great hose about it." The first Dutch clergyman at Albany says that the Indians made shoes of the maize " leave*," by which his translator appears to understand the blades ; but no one who knows anything about the Indian-corn plant or savage handicraft will doubt that it was of the " leaves " that envelop the car that the Mohawks made shoes. So Father Lafitau tells us that the Hurons cooked the corn enveloped in the leaves (Jeuilles), by which I understand the shucks, or husks. I do not know that the French have any other word for the envelop today. (Do I not smile yet in remembering that in translating a story of mine,the " Revue des Deux Mondes " transformed a Hoosier corn-shucking through a whole chapter into a vannage de ble f) The Virginians applied to the "great hose " that en- veloped the^maize a provincial English word used for the covering of nuts, and " shuck " became the only name for the envelop in three fourths of the United States. In a limited region farther south the infelicitous word " corn-trash " is sometimes used for shucks. The people of New England took the authorized English word for many word for many

524 WILD FLOWERS OF ENGLISH SPEECH, ETC.

vegetable coverings, and called the ear-leaves " husks " and though the word is not used in this sense by the majority of American farmers, yet as the first poets were New Englan- ders, and as the early dictionary-makers had a cultivated ignorance of all parts of the country west of Hartford, " husk " won the lead in literary use, and its more respect- able English descent will probably enable it to keep it. Since the irruption of Goths and Vandals from the West and South into metropolitan journalism and literature, "shuck" has found some recognition, and the boisterous " corn- shucking " demands a place alongside his younger, and perhaps more decorous, brother, the " husking-bee " of the Northeast. Both shuck and shucking may yet get into the dictionary carefully labeled "local U.S." Since I wrote this sentence the new " Century Dictionary, " with its liberal treatment of Americanisms, has appeared, and " shuck " is there given as used in " parts of the United States. " But " husk, " not so labeled, is far more provincial in its area. About Lake George, where the speech of the people is rich in archaisms, I find " shuck " used, not for the corn-covering, but for the outer covering of the hickory- nut, — called here and in some other Northern districts " walnut. '; But the Lake Georgians do not, I believe, speak of " bean-shucks, " as people do in parts of England- Perhaps, after all, the apparently American proverbial phrase, " not worth shucks, " is older than Jamestown, for the shucks of Indian corn are the only shucks that are valuable. But to "shuck off one's coat " in order to " lick " a man "tell his hide won't hold shucks " smacks of those parts of the United States in which a man so threatened can "take to the tall corn " for concealment. Though the Virginians never "husk" their corn, a Virginia writer of 1666 talks of " unhusking " rice and barley. In the middle region and in the South, "mast, " a good English Avord, is used for nuts considered as food for swine, squirrels, etc. In Coxe's " Carolana " (1722), it even occurs as a plural : '' Acorns, chestnuts, and other masts." Among popula- tions of New England derivation one often hears in this sense the word "shack, from the same root, doubtless, as "shake. '' In provincial English "shack :' means the waste

WILD FLOWERS OF ENGLISH SPEECH, ETC. 525

of grain shaken upon the ground ; but in the old township or manor communities in England there were common " shack-lands, " were the swine might feed on the acorns shaken down.

Husk is applied in the middle belt and in the South to the bran of corn-meal, the husk of the grain, a truly English use. In this sense the word has largely lost its final letter. It may have been docked long before it crossed the sea, and it has no final k in some other Teutonic languages. Only in Charleston, South Carolina, have I ever heard the corn-bran called " husk " with a k. The hard k is dropped in some other words in the speech of the common people. The past tense of ask often becomes " ast " and a New York newspaper of a hundred and sixty years ago informs its readers that this pronunciation was then common in York, England. In a particular life of Crockett which I saw in childhood, but of which I can find not a single copy exist- ing to-day, *' huss " occurs for the bran of corn-meal. The boy Crockett had visited an aunt who had treated him shabbily ; Davy, therefore, let loose his sylvan muse upon her.

She sifted the meal, she gimme the huss ; She baked the tread, she gimme the crus' ; She biled the meat, she gimme the bone ; She gimme a kick, and sent me home ? •

But Bartlett, whose book is untrustworthy for middle and Southern speech, is surely wrong in saying that " huss- bran " in Indiana is used for " cob." It is dangerous to assert a negative, but I doubt if the compound " huss-bran " is ever used by a Hoosier in any sense, nor have I ever heard it elsewhere. This definition appears to be a confused recollection of a fact which I stated in a newspaper article printed about 1869,— namely, that in one part, at least, of eastern Virginia, " bus" (always, so far as I know, without a trace of &) was used for the cob of Indian corn. I have heard a schoolboy treaten to throw " a corn-huss " at a com- panion, and I have heard a glossy- faced negro lad break out with : " Yeh betteh take yeah ! I smack yeh 'n de mouf widda cawn-hus' yeh doan shet up dattah ibolin' roun'me."

526

WILD FLOWERS OF ENGLISH SPEECH, ETC.

This use of the word has, I believe, become obsolete since the civil war. If the use of " hus " for u cob" was common in the Virginia colony, we may infer that it was the name given very early to the spike on which the grains of Indian corn grow, though John Smith calls it only " the core of the ears." The empty spike of wheat or other grain with the chaff attached was probably called the " husk," or " hus' " in English rustic speech. I feel very sure that " cob " had some such use, for none of the numerous senses given to " cob " in dictionaries will account for its all but universal application by the colonists along the whole coast to the spike on which the grains of Indian corn grow. I find the expression " cobs of Indian corn " in Increase Mather's " Illustrious Providences."

It is always to be remembered that of the folk -speech of other times only the merest fragments have been preserved ; in the loss of a great part of the old lingua rustica of En- gland we have lost the pedigree or parts of the pedigree of many an important modern word. The general use of " nubbin" in the North, the South, and the middle country could probably be accounted for if we knew the old folk- speech better. Of course the colloquial word " nub " for knob, as in the saying, " That is the nub of the whole matter," — the handle by which you grasp it, — gives us the clue, but the diminutive nubbin must have had a use kindred to its present application to a dwarfed ear. In Leicestershire speech it is " the stump of a tree," according to the vocabularies, and I doubt not it was applied to any- thing short, dwarfed, or stumpy. In order to catch the immigrant English tongue in the very act of shifting and adapting itself to new conditions, we cannot do better than to follow this row of Indian-corn words a little further. In New England the peculiar mode of fertilizing learned from the Indians introduced a new verb ; the first-comers " fished " their corn ground, as our Northern mountaineers have made a new verb since the arrival of the Colorado potato-bug, and the use of its well-known antidote. A man tells me that he cannot work for me to-morrow because his potato-field must " be poison-greened right off."

WILD FLOWERS OF ENGLISH SPEECH, ETC. 527

But all of the processes were not so easily named. The late Charles Deane, one of the most learned and judicious of all our historical special students, once asked me whether the corn bought of Powhatan by the settlers was in the ear or shelled. All that I knew of Indian life by observation and reading led me to think that savages would never shell corn until they came to use it, out I had that day seen in "Spilraan's Relation" that the Indians assembled to shell Powhatan's corn for him, and 1 reminded the historian of the passage. Mistakes come home to roost tit bedtime ; that night I remembered that my Lake George neighbors " shell " out their nuts when they take the " shucks " off them. It was probably only an Indian corn-shucking that Spilman was telling about. He called the taking of corn out of the husk " shelling " by analogy with the shelling of peas — that is, removing the sh-ill. At a later time, perhaps, when the verb " to shuck " became established, the Virginians applied u shell " to rubbing the grains off the cob, because wheat, though not maize, is truly shelled — that is, taken from its shell — when removed from the cob or ear.

When once Indian corn was cooked, English analogues were not sufficient, and Indian names were given to dishes prepared after the method of the Indians. Hominy, samp, pone, succotash, and supawn are Indian names, but some of them are cut down from their polysyllabled aboriginal resonance. Only people with a great deal of leisure to be used up can afford to speak languages so high-stepping as those that flourished in the days of savage oratory and cere- mony. The English split "wampumpeak " in twain, using here one section, and there another, for the Indian money. We use three fourths of an aboriginal word in " hickory," and one fourth of another in "squash," and our hominy is from the Indian ustatahamen. We have very naturally sub- stituted " musk-rat " for musquash. Many of the old writers say " musk-cat," and our frontiermen will have it " mush- rat," as an early Virginian naturalist wrote it. " Arough- cun" — to spall it in the form used by Captain John Smith (1624) — had already got to " rackoon " in the writings of Roger Williams (1643), though at a later period I find it

528 WILD FLOWERS OF ENGLISH SPEECH, ETC.

called '' aroughena, a sort of badger." It is " roscone," "roacoon." " arocoun," " racoune," and I know not what besides. It appears as " raccon " in "Josselyn" (1675), and as " raccoon " in Beverly's '' Virginia " (1705); while Clayton says, " Rackoon I take to be a species of monkey." In folk-speech it is universally further cut down to "coon." I may be pardoned a wicked delight at finding that so austere an etymologer as Mr. Skeat considers " raccoon " '' merely a singular corruption of the French raton," and cites his earliest example from a translation of Buffon, in 1792. But it is not to be expected that an English scholar would know anything about our early literature so long as professed philologists on this side of the sea manifest a remarkable ignorance of the origin of our indigenous words. Both Worcester and Webster trace raccoon to raton, in the face of Captain Smith's express declaration that aroughcun is the Indian name, and in this Smith is supported by Strachey. In view. of the overwhelming evidence for it3 aboriginal origin, I can afford to give the advocate? of the opposite opinion the benefit ot the spelling "ratoon," which I find in Wilson's ''Account of Carolina " (1682), and which only suggests that a. mistake in its etymology may have been made very early.

American-English has been somewhat reluctant to borrow from the heathen. Even after maize is in the kitchen, we have the Virginia batter-head and ash-cake, the New Eng- land hasty-pudding, the mush of the country at large, besides other adaptations of old English words, or new compounds. The cake which the Indians baked on a hot stone was cooked in New England on a pewter plate, set half on edge before the fire ; but the Southern pioneer's wife baked it on a hoe kept for the purpose, calling it a " hoe- cake." The name remained when the four-legged skillet had supplanted the hoe. " Corn-dodger " is a word whose origin is plain enough to any one who has seen a Kentucky cook toss a mass of dough rapidly from hand to hand to give it shape before dropping it into the skillet standing on the coals by the wide fireplace. In parts of North Caro- lina, however, the word is applied to a dumpling of Indian

WILD FLOWERS OF ENGLISH SPEECH, ETC: 3291

corn, which dodges up and down in boiling. A.t most,, maize brought only about half a dozen Indian words into- permanent use ; tobacco none from North American- dialects for the name is West Indian, and was civilized before the' English colonies had their beginning. When .Raleigh intro- duced the practice of " sucking the smoke" of it, it was; called uppowoc, a word brought from North Carolina ; bu& this soon gave way_to tobacco, known to the English by the1 translation of Monardes, before the plant had even been seen in England. With certain Indian articles, such as the tomahawk, the moccasin, and the wigwam, we have taken the names. The almost invisible but fierce little gnat that bedevils all travelers in Northern woods was called by the Lenni-Lenapeponfc, which Loskiel renders " living ashes." Its bite is much like the stinging of a spark of fire, but the- Indians, who were not less ingenious than white men in inventions to make etymology easy, had a pretty and mar- velous fable to account for the name. From this Indian name it came that we call the creature a u punky " ; the Algonkin word for ashes in Virginia was punguy, according to Strachey. The French softened the word to pugin. Eng;- lish race pride perhaps made the newcomers call the women and children of the savages by words out of their own tongues. — "squaws" and " pappooses," — much as they called a young bear a u cub " and not a baby ; as they called a negro child a :' piccaninny," from the Snanisb pequeno nino, now shortene'l in South Carolina to •' pick- ney." But the few Indian words that linger among us are all of the Algonkin stock, the family of Indian languages that skirted almost the whole coast, and that thus became known to the English before any others. No Indian words have come permanently into our speech for two hundred years — there are not so many now as there were in the seventeenth century. " Netop," for a friend, or crony, lin- gered locally in New England until a generation or two ago, as did v' mugwump," in a sense different from its pre- sent application. In Virginia and Maryland " cockerouse,* for captain, or leader, long remained, and in many places Indian salutations were often used by >vhite people after

34

530 WILD FLOWERS OF ENGLISH SPEECH, ETC.

the Indians had disappeared. In Minnesota, in 1856, we called a moccasin a hompo, and sometimes a house was a teepee ; but the Dakota words have long since departed from the land of Minnehaha. Except in placenames, and in some generic geographical terms like pokeloken, pocoson, and sepoose, the Indian tongues vanished as utterly as the races that spoke them.

Considering its situation in a new world, American- English has been very conservative. It borrows almost nothing from the avalanche of European immigrants. The forerunners, when our communities were small, got in .a few words, as names of things, such as kraut and lager. There are other German words, like pretzel, that linger in Pennsylvania, and some that survive in the States to the west of it. In parts of Indiana the cheese made by straining the whey from bonnyclabber is called " smear-case '' ; it is German, Schmierkcise, come in by way of Pennsylvania. So I have often heard a loose flannel or linsey-woolsey jacket Ccilled, on the Ohio River, a " wawmus," with a notion that it had something to do with "warm us." It is the German wamms, a doublet, without doubt. And the word " kittern," for a coat, used in one region of New Jersey, is no doubt akin to the German kittel, a smock-frock. " Delicatessen- store " is a hybrid used about New York city only. But \ourspeechatlargehashardlyacceptedfrom the millions of immigrant Germans so many words as it would require the fingers of one hand to count.

The Dutch, having the first chance at the metropolis, have left us hardly more words than the Germans. It is ^not quite certain that " stoop/' for a porch and steps to a house, is of New York Dutch origin. In Stow's " Survey of London " (1633) one finds that it is forbidden to encroach on the public grounds '' by land or water, as in walls, pales, stoopes, grieces, doores or cellers." It is of course possible that "stoopes " may here be used in a sense very different from our New York Avord, for in the humorous old ballad of ''Our Gudeman,'' the Avife, sheltering a rebel,

WILD FLOWERS OF ENGLISH SPEECH, ETC 531

affects to deceive her husband, whose suspicion 3 are aroused by the sight of a pair of jack-boots She declares :

It 's but a pair o' water-stoups The cooper sent to me. ' Water-stoups ! " quo* he ; " Ay, water-stoups," quo' she.

That many so-called Americanisms are but survivals of old <~n- provincial English was pointed out by Dr. Belknap in 1792. Later writers on the subject have traced still further the ancient and respectable character of words now forgotten in England, and regarded as interlopers in the home from which they came. But few know how many old English and provincial words brought to this country by our ancestors went down in the struggle for existence under new conditions. The second generation of English colonists Avere naturally inferior to the first-comers in education, and their vocabulary grew smaller. But the chief loss in colloquial words came from the falling out of use of the things represented by them. The "peale" and the " slyce " appear in early Connecticut inventories ; the words have many meanings, and so eminent an authority as Dr. Trumbull explains both of them by fire-shovel. I am inclined to think, however, that the Connecticut '' peale " was the oven -peel, the pelle a four of the French, a shovel for putting bread into the ancient oven. Miege's folio u Great French- English Dictionary " of 1788, which is valuable because it is a non-literary work — a veritable " dictionary of the vulgar tongue," and often a dictionary of the vulgarest tongue — so defines peel, and it gives " slice " the sense otfriquet, " a kind ot square skimmer for taking things from a frying-pan." More than one writer of local history, from lack of acquaintance with kitchen- civilization in the fireplace stage, has missed the mark in trying to explain the ancient use of trivet, and the lexico- graphers are equally astray. In the Southwest, no doubt, one might find the article itself to-day just as I remember it — a little three-legged iron stand on the hearth to uohold

532 WILD FLOWERS OF ENGLISH SPEECH, ETC.

the coffee-boiler or the pipkin while live coals were under- neath.

Perhaps no word in the old inventories, accounts, and statutes of the colonial age has made more confusion than the-word " plate. " Taxes were levied in Bounces of plate," accounts were kept in " plate," the value of paper money was specified in " plate,'' the salaries of royal governors were sometimes fixed in "ounces of plate," and the word is used by governors in their reports to the Lords of Trade, and it appears in royal proclamations and acts of parlia- ment. Yet no general dictionary, English or American, that I have seen gives any definition that makes clear this use of the word. The first light upon it came to me in a phrase in a New York law of 1720, which fixes the value of currency bills in " Sevil, Pillar or Mexico plate." These designations belong to coins of Spain and her dependencies. Further collation made it pretty clear that in the reign of Queen Anne plate was used generally for Spanish coined silver. In one provincial act " coined plate" is specified. One reads of " round, plate-silver buttons " in England at the same time; the buttons may have been made of Spanish coins, or perhaps it is intended to designate them as of the fineness of these coins — " coin silver," as we should say. " Plate " was usually, but not always, of the same fineness. Sir Isaac Newton, in the computation on which Queen Anne's money proclamation of 1704 is based, assigns two values to "Sevill" pieces of eight, according to whether they were "old plate" or " new plate. " Halliwell gives " plate " among . his " archaic and provincial words," but defines it by " illegal silver money, but often applied to money generally." This definition would give no sense to Sir Isaac Newton's " old plate " and u new plate " for Spanish coins of varying fineness ; nor do I find in American documents that any but Spanish silver is ever intended by it; ihe " Lyon dollars" of Holland, called in ancient slang " dog dollars," are separately named in the same sentences with plate, and their value relative to plate specified. . I think Halliwell has confused this sense of plate with a k.r. dred one, which I find in wno

WILD FLOWERS OF ENGLISH SPEECH, ETC. 533

dictionary but the "Imperial" and its successor, the " Century." Both quote from Marlowe :

Belike he has some new trick for a purse ; And if he has, he 's worth three hundred plates.

Marlowe had in mind not coins generally, but some coin of a value well understood ; it was no doubt the Spanish " piece of eight " — the once familiar large round dollars of " Seville, Mexico, Peru and Flanders." It is to this that Judge Sewell refers in his diary in 1710, where he sets down the cost of a child's coffin at " 10 plates." I remember looking on in boyish wonder while some hundreds of these old dollars were counted in columnar piles about the floor and upon the chairs. The word was too picturesque for Shakspere to miss; Cleopatra, in her exaggeration of Antony's imperial glory, says :

Rsalms and islands Were as plates dropt from his pocket.

Richardson quotes these very lines without suspecting the true sense and derivation of the word. The double sense of the word plate necessitated the use of an adjective, and the widow of Hull, the first Massachusetts mint-master, was allowed one half of all the " wearing plate ; " by which I suppose the household plate, in distinction from Spanish coin, was intended.

In Increase Mather's " Illustrious Providences " — a maga- zine of perils and horrors — a thunderbolt is described, "that brake one of the needles of the katted or wooden chimney." Here are words unknown to the dictionary. I suppose this wooden chimney to be what exists yet, in many belated regions, as the " stick chimney,1' built up of split sticks and daubed with clay ; the " needles " were, perhaps, props or stakes to support it, or the sticks of which it was built, for in the east of England a needle is " a piece of wood put by the side of a post to strengthen it," says Halliwell. But why katted ? We might cheaply derive it, as other words with this sound are derived, from the French quatre, four, because it is four-cornered, or lour-

534 WILD FLOWERS OF ENGLISH SPEECH, ETC.

sided, if other chimneys were not also usually four sided. None of our lexicographers give " cat- a- cornered " (sometimes, " cat-a-cprner-ways "). " Cater-cornered " is given as "local English and United States," But does any- body in this country say eater-cornered ? Worcester gives " catty-cornered " in a bashful note in small type. Halli- well derives " eater-cornered " from quatre, through the provincial " cater," to cut diagonally. But why go so far? Might not " catter-cornered " be only a corrupt "quarter- cornered " — that is, quartered by lines through the corners instead of in the more usual way, by lines at right angles to the sides? This etymology seems to be confirmed by a curious bit of folk-speech in the upper-Hudson country. Our people, in sawing or nailing anything at an angle other than a right angle, do not place it or cut it " quartering, "- which is the recognized technical term, — but " cattering." I am told that in parts of Vermont " cattering " is used in the sence of bias. For " cattering there is a ludicrous diminutive much oftener used in my neighborhood-namely, " kittering '' — that is, somewhat cattering ; for is not a kit a little cat ?

Before leaving this litter of cat- words, let me suggest that the " cat-stick " noted by Mr. Lowell as meaning a small stick, may have come from the "needles" of the katted chimney, and not from the game of " cat-stick." There is a game of ball played with bats called simply " cat " sometimes " two-hole cat," "three hole cat," and so on; or. " two old cat," " three old cat," in the East, according to the number of holes, or bases. A passage in " Thalia's Banquet," by Henry Peacham (1620), which Halliwell refers to cat-stick, I have no doubt marks the antiquity of the game of " cat."

" Take them who dares at nine-holes, cardes, or cat." I do not know that " nine-holes " is ever played in America, but Lake George people say of a lucky man," He has got into the nine-hole."

To come back to cats once more, why should the dictio- naries give the go-by to the child's structure of " cat-stairs" ? And why cni-stairs, and not dog-stairs ? Because a cat

WILD FLOWERS OF ENGLISH SPEECH, ETC. 535

climbs, or from the French quatre because four-sided ? Why not rather because each of the three-cornered steps, or stairs is made " kattering," as a Lake George carpenter would say. And this may throw light on the eater-cup spoken of by a writer in theMarprelate controversy. Think it trifling, if you will, but let me note that the play which I knew in Indiana half a century ago as " Pussy wants a corner," is played differently here in northern New York : the players in the corners calling to one another, " Kit catty-corner, you run, and I '11 go." This may be but a corruption of " Kit catch a corner," for the play is known in England, if I am not mistaken, as " catch corner." There are people who think that catter-corner, or catty- corner, comes from the play ; but it would grieve an etymo- logist to confess a derivation so simple ; and it is more likely that the game itself has become corrupted by the familiar phrase " catty-cornered,'' or that the " pussy," in one form, and the " catch-corner " in another, is a misap- prehension of the sense of " catty-corner " in the third.

Writers of a non-literary character are much more likely to betray the secrets of the mother-tongue than those who adhere to the conventions recognized by men of letters. Colonial records and books, and the writings of travellers and others about the colonies, would furnish us many curious words if etymologists did not contemn such Ame- rican sources. " Gripe, " a drain or ditch, is in the records of Newark; " most-an-end, " for chiefly, I find in Lechford and Josselyn ; "towing-sheets, " that is, towen sheets, or sheets of linen, in the Connecticut records. " Store " for a great quantity is used by many old writers, but " store - hogs " for hogs kept for stock I find only in the Connecticut records. It is in common use in northern New York, and I doubt not, in parts of New England, and is used in Australia in the phrase "store-cattle," that is, cattle for breeding, not for fattening, as in "The Century Dictionary" — the only one in which I find the word.

In one of the witch stories by which Increase Mather unwittingly sowed seed for his son's Salem harvest, " the feeting of cattle, " that is, cattle-tracks, are found between

536

WILD FLOWERS OF ENGLISH SPEECH, ETC.

the corn-rows where no cattle have been. But in parts of New Hampshire the women speak of " selling feeting, " that is, of disposing of the stockings they have knitted.

" Lean-to " is given as provincial in England ; I have seen it in a circular printed in London in 1886. In New England and the whole Northern region, the sloping, shed-like addi- tion to a main building, whether house or barn, is in rustic speech called the "linter," or "lenter," and the pronuncia- tion is as old as the settlement of the Northern colonies. I find it in the earliest writings " linter," " lenter,1' and " leantor," as well as " lenetoe." So prevalent and ancient is. u linter," that if there were any very reasonable way of deducing it from the root of our lintel and the French linteau, I should be inclined to think " lean-to " a form growing out of a mistake in derivation. " Reach,'' or " rea- ches," was anciently applied to the isthmus connecting a peninsula with the mainland, or " fast-land," as it was sometimes termed — as the " reaches of Nahant." An entire peninsula was commonly called a " neck," and this along the whole coast, from Lynn Neck in Massachusetts, past Cow Neck on Long Island, down to the Northern Neck of Virginia, and farther yet to Charleston Neck in South Caro- lina. A similar use of the word exits in the Mississippi valley : a peninsula almost inclosed by the meandering of a ptream is pretty sure to be named " Horseshoe Neck," and any neighborhood is referred to in proverbial slang as " this neck of woods."

I suspect the attraction of a false etymology in the name of the great vulture of our Southern country. The buzzards familiar to the English were of the falcon family, and it could hardly have been easy to transfer the name to a great raven-colored carrion-eater, as ': robin" was trans- ferred to the red-breasted thrush. But the French explorer called our great vulture dindon bdtard, the " bastard turkey- cock," as some bird was called a ''bastard plover" in the Regulations for Henry VIII. 's household. Dindon bdtard was a very descriptive name, since no doubt newcomers often mistook the vulture for the wild turkey. I have myself innocently carried home a pair of its eggs to hatch

WILD FLOWERS OF ENGLISH SPEECH, ETC 537

wild turkeys from. It would be very easy for an English explorer familiar with the name '* buzzard " to misrender the French name into " turkey-buzzard," especially if the s still lingered in the word bdtard as pronounced by the voyageur of the seventeenth century. It is remarkable that Coxe in his " Carolana " (1722) appears to call this bird " bustard," and Clayton culled it " turkey-bustard," a name sometimes given to the European bustard. But as early as 1676 Glover, in the " Transactions of the Royal Society," speaks of " turkie buzzards."

It will be interesting if, in scanning the writings of our forefathers, we can catch some word in process of change — a caterpillar butterflying himself. There are ornaments of the bead family worn by ladies down to our own time which are called " bugles." Some etymologists derive this from bugolus. or bugulus, a Low Latin word of similar meaning. In 1705 Beverly of Virginia described the Indian wTampum beads as " commonly much resembling the En- glish buglas, but not so transparent, nor so brittle." If we may accept the Low Latin origin of the word, we should here have bugulus half way to bugles. But why buglas, and not buglus ? Probably because people two hundred years ago thought that the termination had to do with the glass of which they were then coining to be made. " Sparrow- grass " for asparagus is at least as old as the time of Queen Anne, and I find it called " sparragras " in Bullock's *' Virginia " in 1649, and " sparagus " is used by Hammond about the ?ame period.

There is a vegetable mentioned as existing in Pennsyl- vania in 1682 which puzzles me. "Gallivances and pota- toes " are there coupled together. In " A Complete Dis- covery of the State of Carolina" (1682) a list is made of several sorts of "pulse," of kinds known in Europe that were grown in the colony, to wit : u Beans, Pease, Calla- vance, Figdlaes, and Bonavist/' " Callavance " in Carolina is doubtless the " gallivances " of Pennsylvania. "Pulse " was, in olden time, a vague word. Bailey defines it : '* All sorts of grain contained in hoods, husks, or shells," while Richardson, mistaking the derivation, says that it was any

538 WILD FLOWERS OF ENGLISH SPEECH, ETC.

kind of fruit that was pulled, and not cut ; but its ancient meaning was probably pottage, and it included at length all herbs used in making pottage. " Callavance" may have been a polite name for pumpkin, from the Span* ish calabaza. (I suppose it would be as hard to say why the Spanish woman who jilts a lover "gives him pumpkins," or gourds (calabazas), as to tell why young men in this country get the " mitten," or, as our country people often say, "the sack," whence also they have a verb, as ''she sacked him.") After considerable search, I have concluded not to deprive the reader of the pleasure of guessing out for himself the meaning of " figdlaes and bonavist." I will not, however, intimate that " every school-boy " knows what they are.

Nor, perhaps, would even Macaulay's school -boy be able to tell us who were the " common coasters " put under the ban in Massachusetts in 1633. That they "spent their time idiy " is evident from the records, and they are coupled with such vagrants as unsuccessful bird-hunters and reprobates who smoked pipes, or, as the records put it, " Unprofitable fowlers and tobacco takers." The '.' common coasters " may have been, but probably were not, men who practised sliding down snowy hills ; they probably were aquatic vagrants who lived Avhere the Indian was born, ': at Cape Cod, Nantucket and all along the shore." "To coast" in flat-boatman's phrase is to peddle a cargo to the French planters on the lower Mississippi, a region always called " the coast," — no doubt a corruption of the French cote. And what shall I say in exegesis of the Connecticut settler's wi'll, which directs that whatever is lacking to pay a certain debt may be made up " out of the Loder " ? As a small vessel is a principal article of property in this willr I think " loder " is here the same as " lodeship," a small fishing-craft. In this use, whatever its root, it had perhaps come to have a sense the converse of our "lighter." It was, I suppose, a boat that, running into shallow water, brought down, little by little, a cargo for the sea-going ves?el, and thus was a "loader," and perhaps the same that I find elsewhere styled " reader." 1 doubt if the old

WILD FLOWERS OF ENGLISH SPEECH, ETC. 539

word " lodeship " were not, also, from the verb to load instead of from the " Anglo-Saxon " parentage to which it has been assigned, and which makes it sister to lodestar and lodestone.

This recreation of word-hunting is something more than mere mental play, since it gives us glimpses into the life of other times, and even helps us now and then to " peek " — an Americanism akin to the old English " pike " in the same sense — through the chinking at the human mind in its mysterious workshop. But no recreation will bear pushing too far at one time, and though hundreds of curious examples of word-usage among our u fore-elders," as they call them in Yorkshire, remain behind, and though I have hardly touched the folk-speech of to-day, it is time to desist : only a vulgar pot-hunter would bag all the game in one excursion.

But if any reader, enjoying this study of the evolution of words, will have more, let me commend him to my master in the sport, who many years ago gave the heartiest encou- ragement to my earliest essays in this direction. From Mr. Lowell the reader will get better than I can give. In the preface to the second series of Biglow Papers one finds a rare combination of linguistic knowledge with careful observation of living speech, the humor indispensable to the study of popular -usage united to a clairvoyant intellect. And nowhere does Lowell's prose show to better advantage than in that essay in which it manages to retain a charac- teristic vivacity while playing packhorse to so much lore.

THE PHILOLOGY OF SLANG

BY E. B. TYLOR

(From Macmilfari's Magazine)

Slang, despised and ignored till lately by the lexicogra- phers, is a genuine and influential branch of speech. It is one of the feeders of what may be called standard language, which Avith little scruple adopts and adapts the words it happens to want, whether from the technical terms of shopmen and artisans, or oat of the quainter vocabularies of costermongers and prize-fighters, schoolboys and fops. This practical importance entitles it to be treated linguisti- cally, like any other working dialect. Nor is its theoretical value inconsiderable to the student. Like other dialects, slang is developed according to the general laws of lan- guage, and very striking are some of its illustrations of those laws. Many a philological hint may be gleaned from the talk of factories and stables, musichalls and theieves' kitchens and pawnbrokers' shops, which would be more hardly sought from the super-refined English of the school- room. My present task, exptrimentum in corpore vili, is to choose a few typical examples out of the multitude of slang words in the published vocabularies, * and to treat them

' Among the special dictionaries of Slang here used, are Mr. J. C. Hotu-n's " Slang Dictionary, " (London, 1865) ; New Kd. 1874 (Chatto and Windus) ; Cap. tain Grose's " Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue " (London, 1785, and recently reprinted) ; and Mons. Francisciue-Michel's " Etudes de Philologie compare1 e sur 1' Argot " (Paris 1856). There are many slang words in Mr. J. O. Halliwell's " Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words " (4th ed., London 1800); Dr. A. Hoppe's " English- Deutschca Supplement Lexikon" (Berlin, 1871) Mr J. R. Bartlett's " Dictionary of Americanisms" (Boston, 18o!) ; and Prof. Schcle dc Vere's American'sms " (New York, 1872).

542 THE PHILOLOGY OF SLANG

etymologically in groups, so as to display in each group a philosophical principle, or the operation of a common cause.

Like other dialects, slang increases its store of words by formation at home and adoption from abroad. Looking at its newly-created words first, we shall meet with good cases of a principle which it is really worth while to impress on English philologists — namely, that English is a language in a freely growing state, and capable of adding to itself by almost any process found in any language of the whole world, old or new. Thus, taking examples only from slang, we find operating in modern as in prse-historic ages that elementary process of language, the use of direct imita- tions of sound to form grammatical words (namely, subs- tantives, adjectives, adverbs, and even full verbroots). Such are chink for money, hubble-bubble for a hookah, to hum and haw for to hesitate, to te-he for to titter {" upon this I te-he'd," writes Madame d'Arblay), and tantwivy, an imitation of the hunter's horn, used to mean at full speed ("Away they went tantwivy"'). There are also good cases of this modern primitive speech to be found in the French argot. A puppet is there called a bouisbouis, which imitates the well-known squeak of the Punch-and-Judy man. An omnibus is called an aie-aie, from the shout which hails it, like the old French term hay-hay, the fine levied on those who disturbed the public peace by an outcry in the night. How long ago the natural interjection fi.'fi! became an adjective, may be seen in the name of " maistre fifi " given to the scavengers in an official ordinance of 1350, " De 1'estat des vuidangeurs appelez maistres FIFI. " The next stage in the origin of language is also represented by slang, where it takes fram ordinary speech words which are direct imitations of sound, and turns them to fresh use ; thus comes the verb to fie-fie — i.e. to scold ; to puff, in the sense of advertising ; such terms as bang-up, bang-full ; or such a noun as ticker for a watch (French tocquante).

The abbreviation or contraction of words, a most effective agent in the development of language, is to be seen at its best in slang. Thus cab from cabriolet, bus from omnibus,

THE PHILOLOGY OF SLANG 543

mob from mobile, " the fickle crowd," were originally slang formations, in which primary stage a mass of others remnin waiting their promotion ; cure for curiosity, tench for peni- tentiary, sal for talary, rad for radical, rit for ritualist, &c. So in French, democ, soc, reac, are short for three kind of politicians, while es and jar stand for escroc and jargon. North American Indians, or Tatars, can hardly run a sen- tence into a word more polysynthetically than we can, as witness the names of ihehugmeclose, which is a lowl's merry- thought ; the game of knockemdowns played at fairs and races ; the fly-papers which streetboys sell under the name of catchemalivos, and that general category of things known as whatdyecallens. It is true that, as to this class of words, • our language is much governed by what Dr. Latham aptly calls printer's philology. By a liberal use of hyphens and apostrophes, the printer does in a measure succeed in pre- venting the full agglutination of such compounds as the above, type thus setting asunder what speech has joined together, So in French, the humorous -compound word for an old clothes' shop, a decroche-moi-ca, is cut up by hyphens. But some similar formations are left whole, such as castus for a hospital, from the doctor's first question, Qu'as tu ? So the name by which Franz Schubert, the composer, went among his companions was '" Kanevas, " because of his habit of asking, when he met a man for the first time, " Kann er 'was ? " — " What can he do ? '' Indeed, various words of the same class have come into polite language without being vivisected ; such as affaire^ affair (though we divide the English equivalent word, a to-do} ; Italian saltimbanco, montimbanco, whence French siltimbanque, English mountebank — that is, simply a " mount-on-the- bench." As if in facetious rivalry of the old Semitic type of language, slang shows an absurd desire to vary its internal vowels. The Winchester schoolboy feels bound in honour to adopt the traditional school dialect, which indeed forms part of the now famous notions he must come up for examination in, on pain of funding ; one great rule of this jargon is to mispronounce vowels, to call a twist- marked stick a twoster, a tallow-c&nd\e a tolly, a chance a chintz, to sweat (in the sense of hard work at lessons) to

544 THE PHILOLOGY OF SLANG

swot, and an umbrella, a brolly. (The two last have even strayed beyond the college precincts, and been taken up into the general copia verborum of English slang.) As for the old English " strong perfect, " the tendency of common English to fall away from it has been met by a contrary tendency in slang, especially of the American school, to revive and imitate it ; so that while common folks will say heaved and laughed, rather than hove and lugh, the facetious classes find an evident pleasure in remarking that it snew hard, that the preacher praught full forty minutes, or the young man arrove and squoze tenderly his beloved's hand. Lastly, as might be expected, slang shows examples of dif- •ficult or unfamiliar words being altered into shapes better suited to the vulgar ear. Some of these come down to the stupidest jingles, such as nine-shillings for nonchalance, or jemmy-john for demijohn, a large wiker-cased bottle, as though this word had not .suffered enough already in its transition from Arabic damagan, itself taken from the Per- sian glass-making town of Damaghan. Some of these altered words, however, are fitted to new sense, with at uch of burner; such are have-his- car case for habeas corpus, and roratorios and uproars for oratorios and operas.

In slang, however, as in other dialects, increase is com- paratively seldom made by such new creation and altering of words as have just been instanced. The hundredfold more effective means is to take ready-made words and adapt them skilfully to new ideas. For this end, siang uses freely the grammatical devices of general language. To describe a horse as a prauncer (a prigger of pranncers is old thieves' cant for a horse-stealer) ; a foot as a trotter (French, trotting ; a feather as nvolante ; a biscuit as a cassant (like the modern American cracker) ; and the earth as the produisante, shows a kind of verbal formation quite after the manner of the Sanskrit dictionary. The converse forma- tion in English is even more instructive, as carrying our minds back to a primitive state qf language in which there was little distinction between parts of speech, and any word could be conjugated ; for instance, to knife is to stab ; to/orcZ out was originally a kind of pocket-picking by sticking in

THE PHILOLOGY OF SLANG . 545

two straight fingers forkwise ; to be cornered is to be hemmed in a corner; to befullied is to be fully committed for trial • to be county- courted is to be summoned, or to use the exactly descriptive slang term, summonsed, i. e. served with a summons in the County Court. Some of the slang adjective- substantives are well-choosen : a hardy for a stone, & flimsy for a banknote, milky ones for white linen rags ; French dure for iron, basse for the earth, curieux for a judge, and incom- mode for a lantern ; Italian dannoso (the dangerous) for the tongue, divoti (the devout ones) for the knees, perpetua (the everlasting) for the soul. Thence we come to trope and metaphor, which slang uses much, and often with fair skill. Of course, the case is one of " natural selection." Burlesque- writers, and thimble- riggers, the chaff-grinders of the club smoking-room and the cab-stand, are forever at work on new epithets and similes ; but the percentage of such that even slang will accept and give currency to is infinitesimal —not one success to a thousand failures. The public is, on the. whole, no bad judge of point and humour; and the word or phrase which it thus admits to public life is apt to have its little merits. No one without an ear for a joke would have given to that dirty fluff which gathers on undusted furniture the names of beggar's velvet ov slut's wool; would have described a rogue set on high in the pillory as an overseer, and slave- trading as black-bird-catching ; would have applied the expressive term of horse-godmother to " a large masculine woman, a gentlemanlike kind of a lady ; " would have named a publican an ale-draper oi'Sibeggarmaker, or solemly entitled a pack of cards " The History of the Four Kings ; or, Child's Best Guide to the Gallows. " There is something neat in the use of the word granny, to signify conceit of superior knowledge and importance, as in the remark quoted by Mayhew, "to take the granny off them as has white hands." Any one who has watched the tiny girls sent on errands in city streets, stretching up on tiptoe to reach a knocker high above their heads, will appreciate the term " up to the knocker, " as describing one well up to his work, or dressed out in the height of fashion. A man is said to marry for love who has no fortune with Irs wife; and in

35

546

THE PHILOLOGY OF SLANG

this way the word love has come to be equivalent to " nothing. " Not only is the phrase used uto play for love" but the billiard-marker reckons by it as a numeral in scoring the game, five-love, eight-love, &c. It was butcher's slang to call the heart, li ;er, and lights the pluck, as being plucked out together ; then courage came to be called pluck, till now everybody talks of pluck and plucky ; and why not indeed? — for they have as good a right to exist as heart and hearty. There is no need to explain why to peel means to strip, why a 'tater trap is a mouth, why to be floored and gravelled (French terrasse") is to be knocked down metaphor- ically as well as materially, to die in a horse's nightcap is to be hanged, and to be planted by the parson is to be buried. A policeman being called a blue-bottle, by mere inversion a blue-bottle receives the name of a policeman. A crown and a half-crown are known among London cabmen as a hind- wheel and & fore-wheel, as in Paris a roue de derriere and a roue de devant are P 5f. and a 2f. piece; so the name of red rag for the tongue is French chiffon rouge, and " balancer le chiffon rouge " is to talk ; the French give the name of accroche-cceur to the hook- like little curl which Germans call a buben-trdtzerlein, and English a beau- catcher. There is a whole sarcastic homily implied in calling a finger- post by the wayside a parson, in that he showeth other men the way they should go, but goeth not himself. Slang is hard on the parson in various ways. He is known as a devil- driver or devil-scolder, otherwise as the ungrateful man, inas- much as once a Aveek, at least, he abuses hi&best benefactor, the Devil.

The record of time-honoured jests preserved in Slang Dictionaries must sometimes interfere with good stories of more modern date. Thus with the following famous pas- sage in Carlyle's " Life of Sterling : " — " I have heard one trait of Sterling's eloquence, which survived on the wings of grinning rumour, and had evidently borne upon Church Conservatism in some form : " Have they not? " — or, per- haps it wa?, " Has she (the Church) not " — '; a black dragoon in every parish, on good pay and rations, horse-meat and man's meat, to patrol and battle for these things ? "

THE PHILOLOGY OF SLANG 547

Very likely, as Carlyle says, the black dragoon '' naturally at the moment ruffled the general young imagination into stormy laughter; " but the joke was somewhat elderly, for in Grose's Dictionary, long before Sterling was born, " a review of the black cuirassiers " it set down as slang for a visitation of the clergy. The same classical authority ("its date is 1785) sets clown Turkey merchant as slang for a poulterer. I must leave it to more precise antiquaries to settle the question whether the story can be true that Home Tooke (who was born in 1736) made this joke for the first time when he went to school, and the Eton boys asked him the awful social question, " What's your father ? "

It used to be a common habit of etymologists, when a word was troublesome, to alter it a little, so as to put sense into it — to do, in fact, with scientific pretension just what we have noticed the ccstermongers doing for colloquial purposes. One of these clever scholars (the great mistake of philologists lies in being too clever) Avas puzzled that a Welsh rabbit should mean a piece of toasted cheese, so he decided that it must be a corruption of Welsh rare-bit. The public believed him, and took to spelling it accordingly, so that even now the best edition of Webster's Dictionary (Bell and Daldy's) gives it as "properly Welsh rare-bit." Now, the whole of this is stuff and nonsense; the very name rare-bit is a fiction, and Welsh rabbit is a genuine slang term, belonging to a large group which describe in the same humorous way the special dish or product or peculiarity of a particular district. For examples : an Essex stile is a ditch, and an Essex lion a calf; a Field-lane duck is a baked sheep's head ; Glasgow magistrates, or Gourock hams, or Norfolk capons, are red herrings ; Irish apricots or Munster plums are potatoes ; Gravesend sweetmeats are shrimps ; and a Jerusalem pony is a donkey.

Puns produce odd new terms, as when the old hangman's machinery of cart and ladder was superseded by the " drop," and the appreciating crowd spoke of its being autumn with the criminal, meaning the fall of. the leaf ; or, to take a pleasanter instance, when a vamped-up old shoe came to be called in France a dix-huit, as being deux fois

THE PHILOLOGY OF SLANG

neuf. The slang-dealer likes wrapping up his meaning in a joke for his customer to unwrap, generally finding some- thing unpleasant inside. You want your money back from him, and he offers a draught on Aldgate pump ; you confess yourself a fool for trusting him, and he blandly recom- mends you to go to Battersea (-famous for its herb-gardens) to have your simples cut. Puns on names of places are a class by themselves. To be off to Bed/orshire or to the Stilly Isles requires no explanation ; a Greenlander is a novice, and to have a holiday at Peckham is to go without your dinner. Just so in France, ''aller a Versailles " is to be upset, a dunce has " fait son cours a Asnieres ; " and it is a recognized hint of sending a man about his business to promise him a prebend in the Abbey of Vatan. Not to dwell on this rather poor stuff, we may look next to the relics of history in slang words which have their origin in the name of some person or place, or carry the record of some event, custom, or idea.

Some of these historical derivations are modern • and familiar, such as the name's of the bobby or peeler, or the phrase of burking an unpleasant subject. It is not so gene- rally known that there was a General Martinet, who left his name to other strict disciplinarians ; that the iron door or blower of a stove used to be called a sacheverel, after the famous blower of the coals of dissension in , Queen Anne's time; that the spotted blue and white neckerchief still called a belcher bears the name of a famous prize-fighter ; and that the hoisting apparatus called a derrick, which ship-builders use in masting vessels, is so styled from a noted hangman, named Derrick, the Calcraft of the seven- teenth century, whose name passed to this gallows-like machine. The vagrant's word bastille for a union work- house ; the common name of Billingsgate for foul language; and the verb to chivey, from the boys' game of Chevy Chase, are pieces of obvious history. Others are not so obvious. Thus the thieves' jargon, which describes people in church as "hums in the autem,'1 belongs perhaps to the days when the congregation still applauded a favourite preacher with ahum; "the devil to pay, and no pitch hot" is not the

THE PHILOLOGY OF SLANG 549

sheer nonsense landsmen make of it, for it applies to a certain seam called by sailors the "devil '' for its awkward- ness to caulk ; the word cockshy keeps up a record of the once popular sport of throwing with cudgels at live cocks ; and cock-and-bull-story, a term now applied to any silly rambling tale, illustrates the contempt which fell on the ancient beast-fables, the very delight of mankind in the lower grades of civilization all round the globe. Many words of this class, had not their origin been noted down by people who happened to know them, might have remained in language thenceforth as undecipherable mys- teries. No doubt there are such historical words with lost origins in all languages, which consideration may serve to warn philologists against their besetting sin of expecting to find the etymology of everything.

The purists, conservators of English undefiled, to their best to keep out of the language of literature and polite society the low-lived words which slang brings forth. With praiseworthy sternness they elbow back these linguistic pariahs, when they come up from their native gutter to struggle for a footing among the respectabilities of the pavement. Yet some of the low-bred intruders are strong enough to hold their own, while tolerance on easier terms is given to the technicalities of trades and crafts, and the made-up words of fashionable chit-chat. Thus donkey, conundrum, fun. now unquestioned English, made their first appearance as slang ; though how they came into existence there, no etymologist has proved for certain. There is no such doubt about drag, now the regular name of a well- appointed private coach-and-four ; it was a cunt term, quite intelligible as such, for a cart or carrage ; and dragsmen were a class of thieves who followed carriages to cut away lugguage from behind. From the wretches who made a trade of stealing children, polite society has adopted their cant word to kidnap — i. e. to nab kids ; the verb to knob or nab, to snatch, is good provincial English, borrowed by the canting crew ; but kid for child may possibly be a term of their own devising. Not long since, to take another pair of examples, it was as " slangy " to speak of a tie as it now is

550

THE PHILOLOGY OF SLANG

to speak of a choker. Even the word drawers was originally cant, meaning long stockings. Curiously enough, words analogous to this last are found as cant terms in other coun- tries. Thus in the Argot (cant or slang) of France, we find tirant, " stocking, " and tirantes, " breeches," these latter being in like manner called tirantein the Furbesco (thieves' jargon) of Italy. Thus, in French as in English, the same word adapted itself to both the breeches or " haut-de- chausses, " and the stockings or " bas-de-chausses, " which are now for shortness called " ba?." But whereas the English term drawers was taken up by the hosiers, and made its way into ordinary language, the corresponding French and Italian words were never admitted into society, but were left in the slang vocubularies, to which they ori~ ginally belonged. When once such a slang word fairly makes its way into the authorized copia verborum, it may stay forever and a day. Naturally, however, most newly- coined terms gain but a local and temporary currency, and soon fall out of circulation. What captain Grose says in his Preface is quite true, that favourite expressions of the day, " as they generally originate from some trifling event,, or temporary circumstance, on falling into disuse, or being superseded by new ones, vanish without leaving a trace behind." But it is not so easy for a contemporary to spot (by the way, this neat verb of the billiard-room is wanted in standard English and will probably hold its own there) the words which will keep their place. In fact, three out of Grose's four examples prove not the transient, but the permanent nature of slang formations. He goes on to say, " Such were the late fashionable words, a Bore and a Twad- dle, among the great vulgar, Macaroni and the Barber^ among the small." It appears that, much as in our time slangrnongers have been apt to express approval by the phrases '" that's the thing, or the cheese" so a century ago they used to say " that's the barber ; " this silly phrase has certainly been forgotten — no great loss. But, on the other hand, the name of macaroni, as denoting a fop, is by no mean;) a silly word. Grose says it " arose from a club called the Macaroni Club, instituted by some of the most dressy

THE PHILOLOGY OF SLANG 551

travelled gentlemen about town." . So far so good, but can we trust the authority for this neat piece of etymology ? Grose, with his antiquarian tastes, his keen sense of humour and his blunt sense of decency, was cut out to be the lexi- cographer of all vagabonds and roysterers. He was that same " fine, fat, fodgel wight " of whose visit to Scotland his boon companion Burns warned his countrymen :

A chiel's amang you takin' notes, And, faith, he'll prent it !

But burly Grose printed some highly imaginative etymo- logies for his slang words. Granting the existence of his " Macaroni Club/' it may have had its name from the very meaning of fop or coxcomb which he derives from it. It appears from a remark of the sober Archdeacon Nares, that the Italianized form macaroni did come into use in England, between 1700 and 1750, but macaroon was in use long before, not only as meaning a delicate cake but a delicate coxcomb; it occurs is an elegy on Donne, who died in 1631:

a macaroon,

And no way fit to speak to clouted shoon.

Anyhow, the word macaroni proves the prevalence of Italian fashion in England at the time it was introduced. Thus the word carries its bit of history about with it; and if it ever falls out of common English, it will at least remain fossil in the song of " Yankee Doodle !' —

They stuck a feather in his cap, And called him macaroni.

As for the word bore, it is now established in English, root and branch, verb and noun, and its earliest definition carries its etymology — " a tedious, troublesome man or woman, one who bores the ears of his hearers with an uninteresting tale." At first, twaddle seems to Have meant more nearly the same as " bore " than it now does ; but it has long s"ince settled down as one of a group, to express a special kind of talk rather "slower" than twattle, and rather less mischievous than tattle.

552

THE PHILOLOGY OF SLANG

Many a word whose atitiquity is proved by its place in literature, or the almost equal testimony from its diffusion in provincial dialects, finds a home for its old age, and sometimes a renewal of its youth, in the Slang Dictionary. This is the case with the verb to lift in its old sense of to steal ; it has died out of modern talk, and is chiefly known to polite society through tales of the extinct race of Border heroes, who lifted droves of cattle. But modern town- thieves retain it in their jargon. According to Hotten, " There's a clock been lifted " means that a watch has been stolen. Out of this thieves' slang the word found its way back into common language in the term shoplifting — i. e. stealing from the counter on pretence of buying.

To tout is a good old word meaning to pry, peep, look out ; in old days a man would tote in at a tavern, or toot for birds in bushes ; then it came to be applied specially to th*e men sent by tradesmen or innkeepers to look out for customers on the- high-road ; and thus it has sunk to slang. Halli- well sets down the word tommy, meaning provisions, as * belonging to various dialects. It is now current among the " navvy " class in general, and seems to belong especially to the Irish. A year or so ago, one Hugh Hagan knocked an illegitimate child on the head with a wooden balk, he having told his mother before he, killed it, " The child ought not to live, as it i? eating good children's tommy." Hence we have the name of an institution righteously abhorred by political economists, the store belonging to an employer where his workmen must take out part of their earnings in kind, especially in tommy or food, whence the name of tommy-shop.* Again, the clown who declares, " That's a swinging lie," and the pleader who demands for Ir.s client most " exemplary and swingeing damages." are using what is now a slang term carrying a good powerful sound with it, but which they would probably be puzzled to explain the precise sense of. This sense is, really, what modern slang would convey by " a whopping lie," " whack- ing damages, " for swinging or swingeing or swinjin (the

* If the word is Keltic, it may belong to Irish tiomillaim, I eat, tiomiltas, eatables.

THE PHILOLOGY OF SLANG 553

last two forms give the proper pronunciation) is the parti- ciple of the old English verb to swinge, — i.e. to beat soundly :

An often dede him sore swinge.

For a last example of this antiquarian group, were it not for the slang word cockney, we should almost forget the wondrous land of Cokaygne, French Cocagne, Italian Cucca- gna, so called becaume its very houses were roofed with cakes (a cake is called in Catalan coca ; in Picardy, couque ; in Germany, kuchen ; in Scotland and America, cookie, — all from the Latin coquere). Under heaven was no such land as Cocaigne, where there was choice meat and drink for every one and welcome, where there was no night and no bad weather, and nobody quarrelled and nobody died, and they all lived happy ever after. The following lines, quoted in Mr. Thomas Wright's " St. Patrick's Purgatory, " describe the peculiar architecture to which Cocaigne owes its name : —

Ther is wel fair abbei

Of white monkes and of grei.

Ther beth bowris and halles :

Al of pasteiis beth the walles,

Of fleis, of fisse, and rich met, •

The likfullist that m^n mai et ;

Fluren cakes beth the schingles (die,

Of cherche, cloister, boure, and halle :

The pinnes both fat podinges,

Rich met to princez and kinges.

In our time, the term " Land of Cakes " has been shifted to mean Scotland, and to commemorate oat-cake ; ,but in old days it was in London that the wondering natives of the English shires localized the city of the cockneys, the Lubberland of Old England — that famous but everdistant region where the larks, done to a turn, fly into one's mouth, and the little pigs run about ready roasted, and crying " Come eat me ! " A cockney is now considered to mean a walled-in kind of cit, of narrow ideas and wide conceit. Not long since, I was present at a lecture where the orator,

554

THE PHILOLOGY OF SLANG

commenting on certain opinions of mine, accused me by implication of the Curiously combined offences of "scientific philistinisrn and cockney impudence. "

Among the non-English languages whence slang has drawn words, the Keltic dialects of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland have the first place by right of our common natio- nality. The Keltic element is not extraordinarily strong in the Slang Dictionary, but it is well marked, and every word of it sets before the historian's eye a lively picture of the meeting of Kelt and Saxon. Thus bother seems to me most likely a Keltic word, the original signification of which may be seen in the Welsh root byddar, Irish and Gaelic bodhair, to deafen ; thus, in the latter idiom, — " Na bodhair mi le d'dhrabhluinn '* — " Don't deafen me with your nonsense ! " This first sense is almost lost in modern English, where bother has come to mean to tease, annoy, perplex ; but examples from the last century show that it was plain enough then. Grose's absurd etymology of it, as being both ear'd — that is, talked to by two people at once — at any rate proves that the old sense was not yet forgotten in his day ; and this is no less evident in Swift's lines about an ear-trumpet : —

With the din wf which tube my head you so bother, That I scarce can distinguish my right ear from t'other !

The word galore sounds picturesque to English ears, as in the line of Dibdin's sea-song, " I'll soon get togs galore ; " but it comes down again to plain prose when traced to its origin in Irish go leor — i. e. enough. The verb to twig con- veys to our ears a comic notion of 'cuteness and spryness, as in the classical example where Mr. Pickwick is made aware that Dodson and Fogg's clerks are inspecting him over the screen — " ' They're a twiggin ' of you, sir,' whis- pered Mr. Weller." The word seems to have got into English through the ugliest kind of jargon, as in this choice morsel of thieves' cant, "twigihe cull, he's peery " — i.e. "observe the fellow, he is watching." But there is nothing really roguish about the word, if, as I am disposed to think, it is merely the Irish and Gaelic verb tuig, to discern or perceive

THE PHILOLOGY OF SLANG 555

N

Two Keltic words, lastly, have become slang terms, and then good English, to denote peculiar kinds of speech. The Irish brog, "a sort of shoe made of the rough hide of any beast, commonly used by the wilder Irish;" came into England first with its proper meaning of a rough shoe or brogue ; afterwards, by a quaint turn of metaphor, an Irish- man's brogue came to signify his way of talking English. The other word, cant, has been curiously mystified by the etymologists, much too ingenious to work out a plain piece of history. The dictionaries (till Wedgwood's) derive it by corruption from the beggars' chaunt or whine, although this is not in the least what beggars mean by canting — what they mean by it is to talk jargon among themselves, which is as different a thing as may be. In fact, to cante was known in the sixteenth century as a rogue's word meaning to speak, and as such it has its natural origin in Keltic dialect ; Irish caint, speech, language, vulg. "cant;" Gaelic cainnt, language, dialect. From meaning among vagabonds to speak, the word came naturally to the sense of speaking as vagabonds do — that is, in rogues' slang. As naturally, but long afterwards, cant took the sense in which we oftenest use it, that of any peculiar jargon, and especially that of sham holiness and windy philanthropy. *

The stream of French which has poured into English ever since the Norman Conquest has drifted some curious words into our mediaeval and modern slang. We still hear used at cards and dice the French numerals which our gamesters borrowed so many ages since : — ace, deuce, tray, cater, cinque, size. It used to be an accepted way of "chaffing" a glazier to call him a quarrel-picker; but a modern Englishman, to understand the joke, must go back

* A third word might probably be added to these two- viz. French baragouin = unintelligible jargon, Dutch bargoensch = slang1, English Slang barricane, barrikin, as when coster-mongers will say, confessing themselves " floored ' by phrases beyond their comprehension—" \ve can't tumble to that barrikin." Diez, and Littr£ after him, derive baragouin from the words bara gwln, meaning in Breton bread and wine, and so often heard in Breton mouths as to become a French term for talking Breton ( " Baragouincz, guas de basso Bretagne "), and thence for any jargon. But neither Diez nor Littr^ seem to be aware (though Pott is)'of the Gaelic beargna = the vernacular language of a place, which may indicate a Keltic origin for the whole group, and that a less far-fetched one than the bread-and-wine-story.

656

THE PHILOLOGY OF SLANG

in memory to the time when the French word for a carreau, or square of glass, still remained in its older form quarrel, in which form we borrowed it. The word vamp was at first a slang word, and even in Grose's time it meant, in general, to refit or rub up old hats, shoes, &c. ; while after this is added " likewise to put new feet to old boots." It is to this latter meaning that the curious French origin of the word really belongs, as is proved in Mr. Wedgwood's Dictionary, by the definition from Palsgrave — " vampey of a hose, want pied.'1'1 Thus, vamp meant at first the upper leather of a shoe ; and to vamp was a special cobbler's word for putting new " uppers," as they say ; thence, in course of time, it became a recognized dictionary word, meaning to furbish up anything. Captain Grose put on record several French words, which belonged to the slang of his time, but have dropped out since. Such are nysey, a simpleton, French niais, which pretty word originally meant an unfledged nestling (from Latin nidus} ; also the unsavoury word hogo for the smell of tainted meat — " It has a confounded hogo " (Fr. haut gout}. Other words have kept their place : thus shamming sickness is still known in London hospitals as malingering (Fr. malingre) ; and savey (Fr. savez) is current both as verb and noun — " Do you savey that? " — " He has plenty of savey."

Considering how strong was the influence of Italian fashions in medieval England, one wonders to find but two Italian words in Harman's Vocabulary of English Slang in the 16th century. One is worth mention, commission, a shirt — an amusingly Anglicized form of Italian camicia, thus mentioned by Taylor, the water poet, in 1630 : —

As from our beds we doe oft caste our eyes, Cleane linnen yeelds a shirt before we rise, Which is a garment shifting in condition ; And in the canting tongue is a commission.

In modern slang, this is cut down to mish. English thus has in the cant word commission, and the polite term che- mise, both Italian and French forms of Low Latin camisa or camisia, which in the course of its history has also stood for a soldier's linen garment, a linen night-gown, a priest's

THE PHILOLOGY OF SLANG 557

alb, and the cover of a book. Of late years, however, the invading swarms of Italian image-sellers and organ-grinders have made their language so familiar to the English streets, that Mr. Hotten has been able to collect a curious list of words, whose Italian nature is disguised under outlandish spelling and the phonetic habits of our native costermong- ers, tramps, and thieves. Thus the omey of the cassey is the man of the house (uomo della casa) ; a baker's shop is a mungarly casa, properly an eating-house (mangiare) ; to voker is to talk (yocare) ; catever or kertever is bad (cattivo). This latter word corresponds with our French form caitiff', so that we have in English three derives, two of them curiously shifted in signification, from Latin captivus, captive. But the most remarkable instance of Italian influence on our language is the adoption among London street folk of a set of Italian numerals wherewith to count pence or saltee (soldi) ; they go up to six, oney. dooe, tray, quarterer, chinker, say (uno, due, ire, quattro, cinque, sei ;) having reached the limit of the silver sixpence they begin afresh ; so that, for instance, say dooe saltee i« eightpence. There are Spanish words, too, in English slang, but, unlike the Italian, they seem all old. The time of Spain's glory as a seafaring and colonizing nation is brought back to us by words redolent of the Gold Coast and the Spanish Main. Such are calaboose for a prison (Sp. calabozo) ; picaroon, a pirate, a sharper (Sp. picaron) • picaninny for a child (Sp. pequenino, a diminutive of pequeno, little) ; palaver, talk (Sp. palabra, word). To box, a nautical term for to sail round, is up doubt Spanish boxar, boxear ; and this is clearly the meaning of to box the compass — that is, to go round and call all the points. From Sir Richard Hawkins' writ- ing of the undisciplined rabble of his crew as besonios — a word distinctly Spanish in form — it is evident that he was taking from the Spaniards their term bisono, which they used to denote a raw novice, a new-comer to the Indies. But the word is not unknown to Italian, where bisogno meant a raw recruit. From whichever origin, it was adopted in English slang as bezonian, a beggar or scoundrel, as Ancient Pistol has it —

Under which king, Bezonian ? — speak, or die !

558

THE PHILOLOGY OF SLANG

So close is thekhiahip between English and other dialects of the Teutonic stock, that the unwary etymologizer of slang is liable to mistake some good old English word for a Butch or German importation. He will derive the thieves' word for to steal, to nim (whence Corporal Nym has is name) from the German nehmen ; whereas, in fact, it goes back directly to Anglo-Saxon niman, to take ; or the old cant word cranke, for the falling sickness, &c., whence "to counterfeit cranke" i.e. to sham epileptic fits, from German krank (sick) ; whereas it is, no doubt, a genuine English world of old standing. In such cases the connection of the English and High or Low Dutch words is one of ancient collateral descent, not modern adoption. The really borrowed German words that have within the last few centuries found their way into English slang, mostly look as though they had been picked up by our soldiers in the Continental wars, and cur Bailors at Dutch ports. Such a slang sentence as " He left me without a stiver, but I didn't care a rap," may, perhaps, keep up the memory of these coins of Dutch and Swiss small change to the time when the originals are only to be seen in old metal shops and collectors' cabinets. Considering how the Germanisms of this class reached England, we need not be surprised to find many of them rather lively than reputable. Among them are carouse, from German garaus (u all out"), mean- ing to drink everything dry ; smear gelt, a bribe, from German schmiergeld — i.e. " greasing money ; " swindle, from German schwindel, which originally meant giddiness, then any giddy or extravagant scheme, and lastly, a cheat ; skellum, a scoundrel or thief, ''a Dutch skelum," as he is called in Coryat's " crudities " (Dutch and German, schelm') :

But if a drunkard be unpledged a kan, Draws out his knife, and basely stabs a man, To runne away the rascall -shall have scope ; None holds him, but all cry, Lope, scellum, lope !

It seems to have been from High Dutch that the technical language of flirtation was enriched with the verb to ogle (Ger. augeln, liebaugeln). to make eyes at one." The word was certainly slang at first, and the noun ogles, for eyes,

THE PHILOLOGY OF SLANG 559

has never ceased to be so, but seldom reaches a higher literary level than the newspaper report of a prize-fight. The original meaning of the adjective spooney no doubt belonged exclusively, as the verb to spoon still does, to the happy fatuity of courting ; though it has come since to describe the symptoms without reference to the disease. How' did our language do so long without the word, and whence did it come at last ? I do not quite know, but at any rate the idiom is also Swiss-German. To make love is loffeln, that is, to spoon; and the proverb says that Love turns many a proud lad into wood .to make a spoon of (" Liebe macht Loffelholz aus manchem jungen Knabe stolz "). I have been amused to hear from an English- woman's mouth, as a facetious bit of German translation " Sie loffelten mit einander," " They were spooning toge- ther ; " the translator being quite unaware how far she was really going back into the early a^es of Alemannic love. For last examples of the German group, we may take those quaint Americanisms which are, after all, only Low or High Dutch words brought by early or late settlers. A •cookey-shine, which is funny for a tea-party, means a feast where cookeys, little cakes (Dutch, koekje), are the staple. The American dislikes calling any man his master, where- fore he speaks of his boss (pron. bans'), which is simply Dutch baas, and meant and means master all the same. These are both Low Dutch words; for High Dutch or German the two following will serve. In German packs of cards the bauer, or peasant, corresponds to our knave ; thus it comes to pass that in America the two highest cards in the game of Euchre are called bowers. The right bouoer is the knave of trumps, and the left bower the knave of the suit of the same colour : —

But the hands that were played By that heathen Chinee,

And the points that he made

Were quite frightful to see — Till at last he put down a right bower, Which the same Nye had dealt unto me.

560 THE PHILOLOGY OF SLANG

A good deal has been written — not more, indeed, than an art of such wide prevalence deserved — about the etymology of loafer, and its derived verb to loaf. There is no difficulty, however, as to the usual view, that they come from German landlaufer, Idufer, a vagabond, an unsettled roamer about the country. The etymologists who have sought to derive loafer from Dutch looper, landlooper, or from English slang loper, landloper (which were very likely borrowed from the Low Countries), might have saved their pains had they borne in mind the essential distinction of Grimm's Law as to / and p between High German dialects such as the language we call German, arid Low German dialects such as Dutch or English. The American loafer and the English loper no doubt had a common ancestor, but neither is the descendant of the other.

The ways are various by which Latin words, good or bad, have filtered into slang. The sheriff's officer and the attorney's clerk brought their learned technicalities out of Cursitor Street and the Old Bailey, so that now ipsal dixal stands for ipse dixit, and a davy is an affidavit. Even the thief demands his quota, his share of the plunder, or may be he will be content if his comrade will " tip him some quids." This word quids, for moneys, the wherewithal (a quid stands for a sovereign), may be seen scholastically treated in the following French passage, cited by Francisque Michel : —

Simeon. — Que veut dire conquibus ? Thomas. — J'entends des escus.

The verb to fake, meaning to do, is no doubt in some way from Latin facere (possibly' through Norman French /aid, done,/a£ecT). One remembers " pals fake away " as the burden of a low street-song years ago ; the word is naturally given over to the kind of doing proper to rogues — namely, cheating and .stealing. From it is derived fakement, a false begging letter or swindling document, such as fallen school- masters screeve (Law French, scriver') for a living in tramps' lodging-houses. Less repulsive in their associations are such Latinisms as nostrum for a medecine, from " our own "

THE PHILOLOGY OF SLA 581

private recipe ; or conk for a nose, no doubt from the spouting concha of the classical fountain. And others have positively a pleasant humour, such as the schoolboy of which omnium gatherum may serve as an instance. I like the unsuspecting gravity of old Noah Webster, in his respectable and jokeless Dictionary, where he criticises the term driving tandem, with the remark that " tandem pro- perly refers to time, and not to length of line/'

Certainly it is not by literary dignity that we hare to measure languages here. English slang took tribute from the speech of, the great Aryan nations, classic and modern; but no Aryan dialect was more congenial to the English vagabond than that of the lowest and wildest of Aryan hordes, the Gipsies, who in the middle ages spread over Europe from the East. Their name for a man — of course, a gipsy man — la rom ; and chabo is a lad, a son. Borrow who knows more about the matter than other people, is probably right in saying that rum chap, now such thorough English slang, was originally nothing but a gipsy phrase, meaning gipsy lad ; in Germany, also, the gipsies call them- selves Roman.itschn.re — i€. '' sons of men." The word rum, ,when first taken into English cant, meant fine or good ; thus, *' rum booze." or " a rum bung, "' meant good liquor or a full purse. Among the words brought by the gipsies into the slang of other nations, some are very curious- Thus jockey is no doubt the gipsy horse-dealers word for a whip, chukni, meaning especially that formidable instru- ment known as a jockey- whip. A pal is a brother (Gipsy, \-lal). The term bosh for a fiddle, a word only used by the lower orders, is Gipsy. '; Can you roker Romany, and play on the bosh f " means. '; Can you talk gipsy, and play on the fiddle ? '' Of such tramps' words, now fallen to low estate, some have honoured relatives in the sacred language of India. Thus in the French Argot, chouriner (to knife a man), whence the name of the Chourine-ur in the "Mysteres de Paris," goes back through Gipsy churi to Sanskrit c/V (a knife). When the London costermonger calls a heavy shower a dowry of parny, the gipsy from whom the phrase was learnt meant a river (doriove) of pani (water) ; this 3*}

562

THE PHILOLOGY OF SLANG

latter word (Sanskrit, pdntya) is the same lhat Anglo- Indian j have imported in brandy-pawnee. These gipsy words stand linguistically in the same rank as those our soldiers have of late years brought directly from India, such as batty, wages, perquisites (Sanskrit, bhati, pay), and loot (Sanskrit, lota), plunder. If one asks for an instance of a slang word imported by Englishmen from China, the answer will be at once " first-chop." Now it is true that we did pick up the term in Chinese ports, but chop is no Chi- nese word for all that ; it is Hindi, clthdpa, a stamp or seal, especially a Custom-house stamp ; thence, in the Chinese trade dialect, a boat-load of teas is call a chop ; and the quality of teas and things in general is estimated as first- ehop, second-c/iop, &c.

A real Chinese word in English slang is kotooing, or per- forming the ko-too. Everybody knows that to run a-muck is Malay, amuk ; that bosh is Turkish for empty; that chouse is derived from a certain Turkish chiaus, or envoy, who came to England in 1609 and took in our merchants, or as we should say now, chiselled them ; and that nabob for a rich, retired Indian official is Arabic, nawab, used for the governor of a province. Mentioning Arabic, it is curious how little influence Hebrew has had on English slang. The Jewish doctors of the Middle Ages, the money-dealers, brokers, pedlars, and oldclothesmen since, have only left in our streets a few such terms as shoful, or show-full, bad money or sham jewellery (Hebrew, shafal, low, base). Positively, the languages of the North American Indians have contributed almost as much to English slang, for we talk quite naturally of a poiv-wow or a squaw ; and the street-folk can realize, without having it explained, the desperate condition of a " gone coon."

With these outlandish elements, I conclude this sketch of the Philology of Slang. Some of its proper topics, such as that of secret and artificial language, have been omitted for briefness, and others as being too repulsive. Much of the slang-maker's skill is spent on foul ideas, which make the Slang Dictionary, at its best, an unpresentable book ; •while short of this limit, there is an ugly air about lists of

THE PHILOLOGY OF SLANG

563

words so largely coined by vagabonds and criminals, whose grotesque fancy plays fitfully round the real wretchedness of their lives, in sour jests on the " skilly " and the " ever- lasting staircase." and half-shrinking, half-defiant " chaff " of the hangman and the devil. Such details as I have given, however, are enough for my purpose, to show that whether the English Dictionary acknowledges slang or not, every serious student of English must take it up and treat it seriously. There is much more novelty in this essay than I expected when I began to write it ; but the fact is, that hitherto the linguistic examination of newfangled and outcast words has by no means kept pace with their compi- lation ; and it will be some while before fresh students cease to find enough new points left to repay their' pains.

THE FUNCTION OF SLANG

BY PROFESSOR BRANDER MATTHEWS

(From Harper's Monthly)

IT is characteristic of the interest which science is now taking in things formerly deemed unworthy of considera- tion that philologists no longer speak of slang in contemp- tuous terms. Perhaps, indeed, it wag not the scholar, but the amateur philologist, the mere literary man, who affected to despise slang. To the trained investigator into the muta- tions of language and into the transformations of the vocabulary, no word is too humble for respectful consider- ation; and it is from the lowly, often, that the most valuable lessons are learned. But until recently few men of letters ever mentioned slang except in disparagement and with a Wish for its prompt extirpation. Even professed students of speech, like Trench and Alford (now sadly shorn of their former authority) are abundant in declarations of abhorrent hostility. De Quincey, priding himself on his independence and on his iconoclasm, was almost alone in saying a good word for slang.

There is this excuse for the earlier author who treated slang with contumely, that the differentiation of slang from cant was not complete in his day. Cant is the dialect of a class, often used correctly enough, as far as grammar is concerned, but often also unintelligible to those who do not belong to the class or who are not acquainted with its usages. Slang wast at first the cant of thieves, and this seems to have been its only meaning until well into the

566

THE FUNCTION OF SLANG

present century, In Redgauntlet, for example, published in 1824, Scott speaks of the "thieves" Latin called slang."1* Some time during the middle of the century slang lost this narrow limitation, and came to signify a word or a phrase- used with a meaning not recognized in polite letters, either because it had just been invented, or because it had passed out of memory. While cant, therefore, was a language within a language, so to speak, and not to be understanded of the people, slang was a collection of colloquialisms gathered from all sources, and all bearing alike the bend sinister of illegitimacy.

Certain of its words were unquestionably of very vulgar origin, being survivals of the " thieves' Latin " Scott wrote about. Among these are pal and core, words not yet admitted to the best society- Others were merely arbitrary misapplica- tions of words of good repute, such as the employment of awfully and jolly as synonymes for very — as intensives, in short. Yet others were violent metaphors, like in the. soup, kicking the bucket, holding up (a stage-coach). Others,, again, were the temporary phrases which spring up, one scarcely knows how, and nourish unaccountably for a few months, and then disappear forever, leaving no sign ; such > as shoo-fly in America and all serene in England.

An analysis of modern slang reveals the fact that it is. possible to divide the words and phrases of which it is composed into four broad classes, of quite different origin and of very varying value. Toward two of these classes it may be allowable to feel the contempt so often expressed for slang as a whole. Toward the other two classes such a feeling is wholly unjustifiable, for they are performing an inestimable service to the language.

Of the two unworthy classes, the first is that which includes the survivals of the " thieves' Latin," the vulgar- terms used by vulgar men to describe vulgar things. This is the slang which the police-court reporter knows and is fond of using profusely. This is the slang which Dickens introduced to literature. This class of slang it is which is mainly responsible for the ill repute of the word. Much of the dislike for slang felt by people of delicate taste is.

THE FUNCTION OF SLANG 567

howe\er, clue to the second clas=, which includes the ephemeral phrases fortuitously popular for a season, and then finally forgotten once for all. These mere catchwords of the moment are rarely foul, as the words and phrases of the first class often are, but they are unfailingly foolish. There you go with your (ye out, which was accepted as a humorous remark in London, and where did you get that hat ? which had a like fleeting vogue in New York, are phrases as inoffensive as they are flat. These temporary terms come and go, and are forgotten swiftly. Probably most readers of Forcythe Wilson's Old Sergeant need now to have it explained to them that during the war a grape-vine meant a lying rumor.

It must be said, however, that even in the terms of the first class there is a striving upward, a tendency to desinfect themselves, as any reader of Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue must needs remark when he discovers that phrases used now with perfect freedom had a secret significance in the last century. There are also innuendoes not a few in certain of Shakespeare's best-known plays which fortunately escape' the police of all but the special- student "of the Elizabethan vocabulary.

The other two classes of slang stand on a different footing. "Allthough they suffer from the stigma attached to all slang by the two classes already charncterized, they serve a purpose. Indeed their utility is indisputable, and it was never greater than it is to-day. One of these classes consists of old and forgotten phrases or words, which, having long lain dormant, are now struggling again to the* surface. The other consists of new words and phrases, often vigorous and expressive, but not yet set down in the literary lexicon, and still on probation. In these two classes we find a justification for the existence of slang, for it is the function of slang to be a feeder of the vocabulary. Words get threadbare and dried up ; they come to be like evaporated fruit, juiceless and tasteless. Now it is the duty of slang to provide substitutes for the good words and true which are worn out by bard service. And a many of the recruits slang has enlisted ore worthy of enrolment

568

THE FUNCTION OF SLANG

among the regular?. When a blinded conservative is called a mosaback, who is so dull as not to perceive the poetry of the word 1 When an actor tells us how the travelling company in which he was engaged got stranded, who does not recognize the force and the felicity of the expression ? And when we hear a man declare that he would to-day be rich if only his foresight had been equal to his hindsight, who is not aware of the value of the phrase? Xo wonder is it that the verbal artist hankers after such words which renew the lexicon of youth ! No wonder is it that the writer who whishes to present his thought freshly seeks these words with the bloom yet on them, and neglects the elder words desiccated as though for preservation in a herbarium !

The student of slang is surprised that he is able to bring forward an honorable pedigree for many words so long since fallen from their high estate that they are now treated as upstarts when they dare to assert themselves. Words have their fates as well as men and books; and the ups and downs of a phrase are often almost as pathetic as those of a man. It has been said that the changes of fortune are so sudden here in these United States that it is only three generations from shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves. The English language is not quite so fast as the American people, but in the English language it is only three centuries from shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves. What could seem more modern, more Western even, than deck for pack of cards, than to layout or to lay out cold lor knockdown, than to fire out for to expel forcibly ? Yet these are all good old expres- sions, in decoy no longer, but now insisting on their right to a renewed life. Deck is Elizabethan, and we find in Shakespeare's King Henry VI. (p. iii., a. v., sc. i.) that.

" The king was slily n'i'g-ir'd fmm the deck."

To lay out in its most modern sense is very early English. And_/ire out is in Shakespeare'^ 144th sonnet :

*' Till my guod angel fire uiy bad one out."

And it is also in the earlie<=t of English comedies, Ralph Roister Doistcr — acted before 1553.

THE FUNCTION OF SLANG 569

T£ven more important than this third class of slang "expressions is the fourth, containing the terms which are, •so to speak, serving their apprenticeship, and as yet uncer- tain whether or not they will be admitted finally into the guild of good English These terms are either useful or useless ; they either satisfy a need or they do not ; they therefore live or die according to the popular appreciation of their value. If they expire, they pass into the limbo of •dead and gone slang than which there is no blacker oblivion. If they survive, it is because they have been received into the literary language, having appealed to the perceptions of some master of the art and craft of speech, under whose sponsorship they are admitted to full rights- Thus we ,=ee that slang is a training-school for new expres- sions, only the best scholars getting the diploma which -confers longevity, the others going surely te their fate.

Sometimes these new expressions are words only, some- times they are phrases. To go back on, for instance, and to give one's self away are specimens of the phrase characteristic of this fourth and most interesting class of slang at its best- In its creation of phrases like these, slang is what idiom was before language stiffened into literature, ana so killed its earlier habit of idiom-making. After literature has arrived, and after the school-master is abroad, and after the printing-press has been set up in every hamlet, the idiom-making faculty of a language is atrophied by disuse. .Slang is sometimes, and to a certain extent, a survival of this faculty, or at least a substitute for its exercise. In other wo:ds (and here I take the liberty of quoting from a private Letter of one of the foremost authorities on the his- tory of English, Professor Lounsbury), "slang is an effort •on the part of the users of language to say something more vividly, strongly, concisely than the language as existing permits it to be said " ; and he adds that slang is therefore "the source from which the decaying energies of speech are constanly refreshed."

Being contrarv to the recognized standards of speech, slang finds no mercy at the hands of those who think it their duty to uphold the strict letter of the law. Nothing

570 THE FUNCTION OF SLANG

amazes an investigator more, and nothing more amuses him, thp.n to discover that thousands of words now secure in our speech were once denounced as interlopers. " There is death in the dictionary," said Lowell, in his memorable linguistic essay prefixed to the second series of the Biylow Papers ; " and where language is too strictly limited by convention, the ground for expression to. grow in is limited also, and we get a potted literature — Chinese dwarfs instead of healthy trees." And in the paper on Dryden he declared that " a language grows and is riot made," noting that " almost all the new-fangled words with which Jonson taxes MarFton.... are now current." Pedants are ever building the language about with rules of iron in a vain effort to keep it from growing naturally and according to its needs. Mob was once thought to be a low word ; and cab was a vulgar word ; and humbug was no word at all — though it was even then most useful to characterize the attempt its contemners were making.

It is true, that cab and mob are clipped words, and there is always a healthy dislike of any clipping of the verbal currency. Cycle for bicycle hns not yet been accepted,, although its derivative cyclist, seems to have made good its. position. And who can say whether or not photo will succeed in supplanting photograph ? But consols is firmly established. Two clipped words there are which have no friends — gents and pants. Dr. Holmes has put them in the- pillory of a couplet :

'' The things named pants, in certain documents, A word not made for gentlemen, but gents.

And I saw recently a sign, suspended outside a big Broad- way building, announcing that there were " Hands wanted on pants,'' the building being a clothing-factory, and not, as one might suppose, a boys' school.

The slang of a metropolis, be that where you will, in the United States or in Great Britain, in France or in Germany, is nearly stupid. There is neither fancy nor fun in the Parisian's Ohe Lambert or on dirait du veau, nor in the Londoner's all serene or there you go with your eye out — catch-

THE FUNCTION OF SLANG 571

words which are humorous, if humorous they are, only by general consent and for some esoteric reason. It is to such stupid phrases of a fleeting popularity that Dr. Holmes refers, no doubt, when he declares that *' the use of slang, or cheap generic terras, as a substitute for differentiated specific expressions is at once a sign and a cause of mental atrophy." And this use of slang is far more frequent in cities, where people often, talk without having anything to say, than in the country, where speech flows sloAvly.

Perhaps the more highly civilized a population is, the more it has parted with the power of pictorial phrase-mak- ing. It may be that a certain lawlessness of life is the cause of a lawlessness of language. Of all metropolitan slang that of the outlaws is most vigorous. It Avas after Vidocq had introduced thieves' slung into polite society that Balzac, always a keen observer and always alert to pick up unworn words, ventured to sny, perhaps to the astonishment of many, " that there is no speech more energetic, more colored, than that of these people." Balzac was not academic in his vocabulary, and he owed riot a little of the sharpness of his descriptions to his hatred of the cut- and-dried phrases of his fellow-novelists. He would willingly have agreed with Montaigne when the essayist declared that the language he liked, written or spoken, was '* a succulent and nervous speech, short and compact, not so much deli- cated an<l combed out as vehement and brusque, rather

arbitrary than monotonous not pedantic, but soldierly

rather, as Suetonius called Ceesar's." And this brings us exactly to Mr. Bret Harte's

" Phrases ^uch as camps may teach, Sabre-cuts of Saxon speech."

There is a more soldierly frankness, a greater freedom, less restraint, less respect for ]aw and order, in the West than in the East ; and this may be a reason why American slang is superior to British and to French. The catchwords of New- York may be as inept and as cheap as the catchwords of London and of Paris, but New- York is not as important to the United States as London is to Great Britain and as

§72 THE FUNCTION OF SLANG

Paris is to France ; it is not as dominating, not as absorbing. •So it is that in America the feebler catchwords of the city .give way before, the virile phrases of the West. There is little to choose between the how's your. poor feet ? of London :and the well, I should smile, of New York, for neither phrase had any excuse for existence and neither had any hope of -survival. The city phrase is often doubtful in meaning and obscure in origin. In London, for example, the four- wheel cab is called a growler; why? In New- York a can brought in filled with beer at a bar-room is called a growler, and the act of sending this can from the private hou*e to the public-house .and back is called working the growler ; — why ?

But when we find a Western writer describing the effects 'of tangle-foot whiskey, the adjective explains itself, and is justified at once. And we discover immediately the daringly condensed methaphor in the sign, " Dorft monkey with the buzz-saiv r ; the picturesqueness of the word buzz-saiv and its fitness for service are visible at a glance So we understand the phrase readily, and appreciate its force when we read the story of a Buck Fanshaw's Funeral," and are told ;' that he never went back on his mother," or when we hear the defender of " Banty Tim " declare that

" Ef one of you teches the boy He'll ivres'le /t/.s li-aJi- to-night in heir, Or my name's nut Tilman Joy."

To wrestle one's hash is not an elegant expression, one must admit, and it is not likely to be adopted into the literary language ; but it is forcible at least, and not stupid. To go back on, however, bids fair to ta^e its place in our speech as a phrase at once useful and vigorous.

From the wide and wind-swept plains of thfc West came blizzard, and although it has been suggested that the word is a survival from some local British dialect, the West still deserves the credit )f having rescued it from desuetude. From the logging camps of the Northwest came boom, an old word again, but with a new meaning, which the lan- guage promptly accepted. From still further west came the

THE FUNCTION OF SLANG 573

use of sand, to indicate staying power, backbone — what New England knows as grit, and old England as pluck (a far iess expressive wTord). From the Southwest came cinch, from the tightening of the girths of the pack-mules, and so by extension indicating a grasp of anything so firm that it cannot get away.

Just why a dead cinch should be the securest of any, I confess I do not know. Dead is piere used as an intensive ; and the study of intensives is as yet in its infancy. In all parts of Great Britain and the United States we find certain words wrenched from their true meaning and most arbi- trarily employed to heighten the value of other words. Thus we have a dead cinch, or a dead sure thing, a dead shot a dead level — and for this last term we can discover perhaps' a reason. Lowell noted in New England a use of tormented as a euphemism for damned, as "not a tormented cent.". Every American traveller in England must have remarked with surprise the British use of the Saxon synonyme of sanguinary as an intensive, the chief British rivals of bloody in this respect being blooming and blasted. All three are held to be shocking to polite ears, and it was with bated breath that the editor of a London newspaper wrote about the

prospects of "ab ywar"; while, as another London

editor declared recently, it is now impossible for a cockney to read with proper sympathy Jeffrey's appeal to Carlyle after a visit to Craigenputtock, to bring his " blooming Eve out of her blasted paradise." Of the other slang synonymes for very— jolly, " he was jolly ill " is British ; au-fully was British first, and is now American also ;_ and daisy is Ame- rican. But any discussion of intensives is a digression here, and I return as soon as may be to the main road.

"To freeze to r anything or any person is a Down East phrase, so Lowell records, but it has a jar-Western strength :; and so has " to get solid with," as when the advice his given that if a man is courting a girl it is best ".to get solid with her father." What is this phrase, however, but the French solidarity which wre have recently taken over into English to indicate a communion of interests and responsabilities ?, The likeness of French terms to American is no new thing;

574

THE FUNCTION OF S

Lowell told us that Horace Mann, in one of his public addresses, commented at some length on the beauty and moral signifiance of the French phrase s'orienfer, and called upon his young "friends to practice it," although ''there was not a Yankee in his audience whose problem had not always been to find out what was about east, and to shape his course accordingly." A few weeks ago, in turning over Karikari, a volume of M. Ludovic Halevy's clever and charming sketches of Parisian character, I met with a delightful young lady who had pas pour deux Hards de coquetterie ; and I wondered whether M Halevy, if he were an American, and one of the forty of the American Aca- demy, would venture the assertion that his heroine was not coquettish for a cent.

Closely akin io freeze to and solid with is jumped on : when severe reproof i^ administered the culprit is said to be jumped on; and if the reproof shall be unduly severe, the sufferer is said then to be jumped on with both f vet. All three of these phrases belong to a class from which the literary language has enlisted many worthy recruits in the past, and it would not surprise me to see them answer to their names whenever a new dictionary calls the roll of English words. Will they find themselves shoulder to shoulder with spook, a word of Dutch origin, now volunteering for English service both in New York and in South Africa ? And by that time will' slump have been admitted to the ranks, and/ac^ and crank, in the secondary meaning of a man of somewhat unsettled mind? Slump is an Ameri- canism, crank is an Americanism of remote British descent, andyod is a Briticism ; it is perhaps the most needed word of the three, and from it we get a name for the faddist, the bore who rides his hobby hard and without regard to the hounds.

Just ns in New York the " Upper Ten Thousand " of N. P. Willis have shrunk to the ." Four Hundred " of Mr. Ward McAllister, so in London the swells soon became the smart set, afid after a while developed into swagger people, as they became more and more exclusive and felt the need of new terms to express their new quality. But in no department

THE FUNCTION OF SLANG 575

of speech is the consumption of words more rapid than in that describing the degrees of intoxication ; and the list of slang synonymes for the drunkard, and for his condition, and for the act which brings it about, is as long as Leporello's. Among these, to get loaded arid to carry a load are expressions obvious enough ; and when we recall that Jag is a provincialism, meaning a light load, we see easily that the man who has a jag on is in the earlier stages of intoxication. This use of the word is, I think, wholly American, and it has not crossed the Atlantic as yet, or •else the British author could never have blundered into a definition of jag as an umbrella, quoting in illustration a paragraph from a St, Louis paper, which said that " Mr. Brown was seen on the street last Sunday in the rain •carrying a large fine jag." One may wonder what this British author would have made out of the remark of the •Chicago humorist, that a certain man was not always drunk •even if he did jump " from jag to jag like an alcoholic •chamois/'

Here, of course, we are fairly within the boundaries of .slang — of the slang which is temporary only, and which withers away swiftly. But is swell slang now, and /ad, and cra/nlc ? Is boom slang, and is blizzard ? And if it is difficult to draw any line of division between mere slang on the one side, and idiomatic words and phrases on the other, it is doubly difficult to draw this line between mere slang and the legitimate technicalities of a calling or a craft. Is it slang to say of a picture that the chief figure in it is out of -drawing, or that the painter has got his values wrong ? And how could any historian explain the ins and outs of New York politics who could not state frankly that the machine made a slate, and that the mugwumps broke it. Such a historian must needs master the meaning of laying pipe for a nomination, of pulling wires to secure it, of taking the stump before election, and ot log-rolling after it ; he must apprehend the exact relation of the boss to his henchmen and his heelers ; and he must understand who the half-breeds were, and the stahvirts, and how the Swallow-tails were different from the ghort-hairs.

576 THE FUNCTION OF SLANG

To call one man a boss and another a henchman may have- been slang once, but the words are lawful now, because the}'' are necessary. It is only by these words that the exact relation of a certain k nd of political leader to a cer- tain kind of political follower can be expressed succinctly^ There are, of course, not a few political phrases st 11 under the ban because they are needless. Some of these may some day come to convey an exact shade of meaning not expressed by any other word, and when this shall happen, they will take their places in the legitimate vocabulary. I doubt that this good fortune will ever befall a use of influ- ence, now not uncommon in Washington. The statesman at whose suggestion and request an office-holder has received his appointment is known as that office-holder's influence. Thus a poor widow, suddenly turned out of a post she had held for years, because it was wanted by the henchman of some boss whose good will a Senator or a department chief wished to retain, explained to a friend that her dismissal was due to the fact that her influence, had died during the summer. The inevitable extension of the merit system in the civil service of our country will probably prevent the permanent acceptance of this new meaning.

The political is only one of a vast number of technical vocabularies, all of which are proffering their words for popular consumption. Every art and every science, every trade and every calling, every sect and every sport, has its own special lexicon, the most of the words in which must always remain outside of the general speech of the whole- people. They are reserves, to be drawn upon to fill up the regular army in time of need. Legitimate enough when confined to their proper use, these technicalities become slang when employed out of season, and when applied out of the special department of human endeavor in which they have been evolved. Of course, if the public interest in this department is increased for any reason, more and more wTords from that technical vocabulary are adopted into the wider dictionary of popular speech ; and thus the general language is still enriching itself by the taking over of words and phrases from the terminology devised by experts for- th eir own use.

THE FUNCTION OF SLANG 57-7

So it is that many of the locutions of the Stock Exchang e have won their way into general knowledge, and there ar e few of us who do not know what bears and bulls are, -what a corner is, and what is a margin. The practical application of scientific knowledge -oakes the public at large familiar with many principles hitherto the exclusive possession of the experts, and the public at large gets to use freely to-day technicalities which even the learned of yesterday would not have understood. Current, for .example, and insulation, made familiar by the startlingly rapid extension of electrical possibilities in the last few years, have been so fully assimilated that they are now used independently and without avowed reference to their original electrical meaning.

The prevalence of a sport or of a game brings into genera use the terms of that special amusement. The Elizabethan dramatists, for example, use vy and revy and the other technicalities of the game of primero as freely as our Western humorists use going it blind and calling and the other technicalities of the game of poker, which nas been evolved out of primero in the course of the centuries. Some of the technicalities of euchre also, and of whis-t, have passed into every-dny speech ; and so have a many of the terms of baseball and of football, of racing and of trotting of rowing and of yachting. These made their way into the vocabulary of the average man one by one as the seasons went around, and as the sports followed one another in popularity. So during the war many military phrases were frequent in the mouths of the people, and have esta- blished themselves firmly, although there ha= been peace in the land now for nearly thirty years.

" In language, as in life," so Professor Dowden tells us, " there is, so to speak, an aristocracy and a commonalty words with a heritage of dignity, words which have been ennobled, and a rabble of words which are excluded from positions of honor and trust." Some writers and speakers there are with so delicate a sense of refinement that they are at ease only with the ennobled words, with the words that came over with the conqueror, with the lords, spiritual 37

578

THE FUNCTION OF SLANG

and temporal, of the vocabulary. Others there are, par- venues themselves, and so tainted with snobbery that they are happy only in the society of their betters, and who express the utmost contempt for the mass of the vulgar. Yet again others there are who have Lincoln's liking for the plain words of the plain1 people, the democrats of the dictionary, homely, simple, direct. These last are tolerant of the words, once of high estate, which have lost their rank and are fallen upon evil days, preferring them over the other words, plebeian once, but having pushed their fortunes energetically in successive generations, until now there are none more highly placed.

Perhaps the aristocratic figure of speech is a little mislea- ding, because in the English language, as in France after the Revolution, we find la carriere ouverte anx talents, and every word has a fair chance to attain the highest dignity in the gift of the dictionary. No doubt family connections are still potent, and it is much easier for some words to rise in life than it is for others. Most people would hold that war and law and medicine made a more honorable pedigree for a technical term than the stage, for example, or than some sport. George Eliot was reproved for her fondness for scientific slang, for speaking of the dynamic quality of Gwendolen Harleth'.s glance, for instance ; but the reproof would have been far severer, I fancy, if she had drawn on theatrical slang instead of on scientific.

And yet the stage has its own enormous vocabulary, used w.th the utmost scientific precision. The theatre is a hot-bed of temporary slang, often, as lawless, as vigorous, and as picturesque as the phrases of the West : but it has also a terminology of its own, containing some hundreds of words, use;! always with absolute exactness. A mascot, meaning one who brings good luck, and a hoodoo, meaning one who brings ill fortune, are terms invented in the theatre, it is true ; and many another odd word can be credited to the ?ame source. But every one behind the scenes knows also what skyborders are, and bunch-lights, and vampire-traps, and raking-^ieces— technical terms all of them, and all used with vigorous exactitude. Like the technicalities of any

THE FUNCTION OF SLANG 579

other profession, those of the stage are often very puzzling to the uninitiated, and a greenhorn could hardly even make a guess at the meaning of terms which every visitor to a green-room might use at any moment. What layman could explain the office of a cut-drop, the utility of a carpenter's scene, or the precise privileges of a bill-board ticket? There is one word which the larger vocabulary of the public has lately taken from the smaller vocabulary of the playhouse, and which some strolling player of the past apparently borrowed from some other vagabond familiar with thieves1 slang. This word is fake. It has always convey- ed the suggestion of an intent to deceive. " Are you going to get up new scenery for the new play ? " might be asked ; and the answer would be, " No ; we shall fake it,'' meaning thereby that old scenery would be retouched and readjusted so as to have the appearance of new. From the stage the word passed to the newspapers, and a, fake is a story invented, not founded on fact, made out of whole cloth," as the stump-speakers say. Mr. Howells, always bold in using new words, accepts fake as good enough for him, and prints it in The Quality of Mercy without the stigma of italics or quotation marks ; just as in the same story he has adopted the colloquial electrics for electric lights — i. e., " He turned off the electrics."

And hereafter the rest of us may use either fake or electrics with a clear conscience, either hiding ourselves behind Mr. Howells, who can always give a good account of himself when attacked, or else coming out into the open and assert- ing our own right to adopt either word because it is useful. "Is it called for? Is it accordant with the analysis of the language ? Is it offered or backed by good authority ? These are the considerations by wich general consent is won or repelled," so Professor Whitney tells us, '' and general consent decides every case without appeal." It happens that Don Quixote preceded Professor Whitney in this exposition of the law, for when he was instructing Sancho Pnnza, then about to be appointed governor of an island, he used a Latinized form of a certain word which had become vulgar, explaining that t; if some do not under-

580

THE FUNCTION OF SLAXli

stand these terms it matters little, for custom will bring them into use in the course of time so that they will be readily understood. That is the way a language is enrich- ed ; custom and the public are all-powerful there." Some- times the needful word which is thought to be too common for use is Latinized, as Don Quixote preferred, but more often it is ennobled without change, being simply lifted out from among its former low companions.

One of the hardest lessons for the amateurs in linguistics to learn — and most of them never attain to this wisdom — is that affectations are fleeting, that vulgarisms die of their own weakness, and that conuptions do little harm to the language And the reason is not far to seek ; either the apparent affectation, the alleged vulgarism, the so-called corruption, is accidental and useles?, in which case its vogue will be brief and it will sink swiftly into oblivion ; or else it represents a need and iills a want, in which case, no matter how careless it may be or how inaccurately formed^ it will hold its own firmly, and there is really nothing more to be said about it. In other words, slang and all other variations from the high standard of the literary language are either temporary or permanent. If they are temporary only, the damage they can do is inconsiderable. If they are permanent, their survival is due solely to the fact that, they were convenient or necessary. When a word or a phrase has come to stay (as reliable has, appar- ently), it is idle to denounce a decision rendered by the court of last resort. The most that we can do to advantage is to refrain from using the word ourselves, if we so prefer.

It is possible to go further, even, and to turn the tables on those who see in slang an ever-growing evil. Not only is there little danger to the language to be feared from those alleged corruptions, and from these doubtful locutions of evanescent popularity, but real harm is done by the purists themselves who do not understand eveiy modifica- tion of our language, and who seek to check the development of idiom and to limit the liberty which enables our speech freely to provide for its own needs as these are revealed by time. It is these half-educated censors, prompt to protest

THE FUNCTION OF SLANG 581

against whatever is novel to them, and swift to set up the standard of a narrow personal experience, who try to curb the development of a language. It cannot be declared too often and too emphatically how fortunate it is that the care of our language and the control of its development is not in the hands even of the most competent scholars. In language, as in politics, the people at large are in the long- ran better judges of their own needs than any specialist can be. As Profes?or Whitney aays, " the language would soon be shorn of no small part of its strength if placed exclusively in the hands of any individual or of any class." In the hands of no class would it be enfeebled sooner than if it were given to the guardianship of the pedants and the pedagogues.

I have no desire to be misunderstood myself, and I hope, therefore, that this little paper will not be taken as a plea for license and for lawlessness. I am not advocating the indiscriminate employment of the cheap phrases of the day, the meaningless catchwords which succeed one another in the popular vocabulary. On the contrary, I am glad of a chance to say that " a gentleman and a scholar " is never regardless and never reckless in his use of language.

A sloven in speech is as offensive as a sloven in manners or in dress ; and neatness of phrase is as pleasant to the ear as neatness of attire to the eye. A man should choose his words at least as carefully as he chooses his clothes ; a hint of the dandy even 3iis unobjectionable, if it be but a hint. But when a man gives his whole mind to his dress, it is generally because he has but little mind to give ; and so when a man spends his force wholly in rejecting wor.ls and phases, it is generally because he lacks ideas to express with the words and phrases of which he does approve. In most cases a man can say best what he has to say without lapsing into slang; but the slangy expression which tells us something is better than the immaculate sentence empty of everything but the consciousness of its own propriety.

PE 2835

Clapin, Sylva

A new dictionary of Americanisms

PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY