Hackle, pluck; “to show HACKLE,” to be willing to fight. Hackles are the long feathers on the back of a cock’s neck, which he erects when angry,—hence the metaphor.
Hackslaver, to stammer in one’s speech, like a dunce at his lesson.
Haddock, a purse.—See BEANS.
Hair of the dog, a “modest quencher,” taken the morning following a debauch. Originally a “HAIR OF THE DOG that bit you.” This is very old, and seems to show that homœopathy is by no means new, so far as topers, at all events, are concerned.
Half-a-bean, half-a-sovereign.
Half-a-bull, two shillings and sixpence.
Half-a-couter, half-a-sovereign.
Half-a-hog, sixpence; sometimes termed HALF-A-GRUNTER.
Half-and-half, a mixture of ale and porter, much affected by medical students; occasionally Latinized into “dimidium dimidiumque.” Cooper is HALF-AND-HALF, made of stout and porter. The term of HALF-AND-HALF is also applied to the issue of marriages between gipsies and “white people.”
Half-a-stretch, six months in prison.
Half-a-tusheroon, half-a-crown.
Half-baked, soft, doughy, half-witted, silly. Half-rocked has a similar meaning.
Half-foolish, ridiculous; means often wholly foolish.
Half Jack. See JACKS.
Half-mourning, to have a black eye from a blow. As distinguished from “whole-mourning,” two black eyes.
Half-rocked, silly, half-witted. Derived from a vulgar idea that in the Westcountry children are nursed in a peculiar manner, which in afterlife affects their wits. They are said to be nursed bottom upwards, so as to sleep without much rocking. If this is inconsequent it is the fault of the saying and not of the dictionary. Compare HALF-BAKED.
Half-seas-over, reeling drunk.—Sea. Used by Swift.
Hall, THE, Leadenhall Market, among folk who get their livings there, in the same way as “The Garden” refers to Covent Garden.
Hand, a workman or helper, a person. “A cool HAND,” explained by Sir Thomas Overbury to be “one who accounts bashfulness the wickedest thing in the world, and therefore studies impudence.”
Hander, a second, or assistant. At some schools blows on the hand administered with a cane are so called.
Handicap, an arrangement by which, in any description of sport, every competitor in a race is supposed to have a chance of winning equal to the chances of his opponents. Handicapping, in horse-racing signifies the adjudgment of various weights to horses differing in age, power, and speed, so as to place them as much as possible on an equality. At other sports this equalization is managed by means of starts.
The old game of HANDICAP (hand i’ the cap) is a very different affair; and, as it is now almost obsolete, being only played by gentlemen in Ireland, after hunting and racing dinners, when the wine has circulated pretty freely, merits a description here. It is played by three persons, in the following manner:—A wishes to obtain some article belonging to B, say a horse; and offers to “challenge” his watch against it. B agrees; and C is chosen as HANDICAPPER to “make the award”—that is, to name the sum of money that the owner of the article of lesser value shall give with it, in exchange for the more valuable one. The three parties, A, B, and C, put down a certain stake each, and then the HANDICAPPER makes his award. If A and B are both satisfied with the award, the exchange is made between the horse and watch, and the HANDICAPPER wins, and takes up the stakes. Or if neither be satisfied with the award, the HANDICAPPER takes the stakes; but if A be satisfied and B not, or vice versâ, the party who declares himself satisfied gets the stakes. It is consequently the object of the HANDICAPPER to make such award as will cause the challenger and challenged to be of the same mind; and considerable ingenuity is required and exhibited on his part. The challenge having been made, as stated, between A’s watch and B’s horse, each party puts his HAND into a CAP or hat [or into his pocket] while C makes the award, which he purposely does in as rapid and complex a manner as possible. Thus, after humorously exaggerating the various excellences of the articles, he may say—“The owner of the superior gold lever watch shall give to the owner of the beautiful thoroughbred bay horse, called Flyaway, the watch and fifteen half-crowns, seven crowns, eighteen half-guineas, one hundred and forty groats, thirteen sovereigns, fifty-nine pence, seventeen shillings and sixty-three farthings. Draw, gentlemen!” A and B must instantly then draw out and open their hands. If money appears in both, they are agreed, and the award stands good; if money be in neither hand, they are also agreed, but the award is rejected. If money be only in one hand, they are not agreed, the award is off, and the stakes go as already stated. Very frequently, neither A nor B is sufficiently quick in his mental calculation to follow the HANDICAPPER, and not knowing on the instant the total of the various sums in the award, prefers being “off,” and, therefore, “draws” no money. As in this event the HANDICAPPER gets the stakes, the reason for the complex nature of his award is obvious.
When HANDICAPPING has once commenced in a convivial party, it is considered unsportsmanlike to refuse a challenge. So when the small hours draw on, and the fun becomes fast and furious, coats, boots, waistcoats, even shirts are challenged, HANDICAPPED, and exchanged, amidst an almost indescribable scene of good humoured joviality and stentorian laughter. This is the true HANDICAP. The application of the term to horse-racing has arisen from one or more persons being chosen to make the award between persons, who put down equal sums of money, on entering horses unequal in power and speed for the same race. So that the HANDICAP has ultimately come to be regarded as an arrangement of a purely business-like nature, by which means affairs, no matter how much they may differ in degree, may be arranged satisfactorily by all parties. The use of the word is spreading rapidly, and it has already a sense beyond that of mere sporting.
Handicap, to make even, as a Roland for an Oliver. Not long since in a pedestrian enclosure, a pugilist who had been specially retained on one side struck a member of the other party, who not being a fighting-man received the blow with apparent contentment. The injured person had, however, determined on being revenged, and about an hour afterwards he knocked the professional down with a big stick, using the words at the same time, “that HANDICAPS us” (that makes us even). The word is often used thus also: A man finding himself inferior to another at fisticuffs will, seizing a weapon, exclaim, “I’ll HANDICAP you,” i.e., I’ll bring you to my level (or “level myself up”) with this.
Handle, a nose; the title appended to a person’s name; also a term in boxing, “to HANDLE one’s fists,” to use them against an adversary.
Handling, a method of concealing certain cards in the palm of the hand, or in fashionable long wristbands; one of the many modes of cheating practised by sharpers.
Hand-me-downs, second-hand clothes. See REACH-ME-DOWNS.
Hand-saw, or CHIVE FENCER, a man who sells razors and knives in the streets.
Handseller, or CHEAP JACK, a street or open-air seller, a man who carries goods to his customers, instead of waiting for his customers to visit him.
Hanging, in difficulties. A man who is in great straits, and who is, therefore, prepared to do anything desperate to retrieve his fortunes, is said, among sporting men, to be “a man HANGING,” i.e., a man to whom any change must be for the better.
Hangman’s wages, thirteenpence halfpenny.—Old. 17th century.
“’Sfoot, what a witty rogue was this to leave this fair thirteenpence halfpenny, and this old halter,” intimating aptly—
Here had been his work, and here his wages.”
The clothes of the culprit were also the hangman’s wages. See one of Lord Bacon’s aphorisms, beginning “A cursed page.”
Hang out, to reside,—in allusion to the ancient custom of hanging out signs.
Hang up, to rob with violence, to garrotte. Most likely from throttling associations in connexion with the practice of garrotting.
Hannah, “that’s the man as married HANNAH,” a Salopian phrase to express a matter begun or ended satisfactorily. Meaning actually, “that’s the thing.”
Hansel, or HANDSEL, the lucky money, or first money taken in the morning by a pedlar.—Cocker’s Dictionary, 1724. “Legs of mutton (street term for sheep’s trotters, or feet) two for a penny; who’ll give me a HANSEL? who’ll give me a HANSEL?” Hence, earnest money, first-fruits, &c. In Norfolk, HANSELLING a thing is using it for the first time, as wearing a new coat, taking seisin of it, as it were. Danish, HANDSEL; Anglo-Saxon, HANDSELEN.
Ha’porth o’ coppers, Habeas Corpus.—Legal slang.
Ha’porth o’ liveliness, the music at a low concert, or theatre. Also a dilatory person.
Happy-go-lucky, careless, indifferent as to the favours or reverses of fortune.
Haramzadeh, a very general Indian term of contempt, signifying base-born.—Anglo-Indian.
Hard lines, hardship, difficulty. Soldiers’ term for hard duty on the lines in front of the enemy. Lines was formerly synonymous with Lot, see Ps. xvi. 6.—Bible version—“The LINES are fallen unto me in pleasant places;” Prayer-Book do.—“The LOT is fallen unto me in a fair ground.”
Hard mouthed un, any one difficult to deal with, a sharp bargainer, an obstinate person. Derivation obvious.
Hard tack, ship biscuits. This is a term used by sailors to distinguish their ordinary sea-bread from that obtained on shore, which is called soft TACK, or soft tommy. Hard tack is also a phrase used by the London lower classes to signify coarse or insufficient food.
Hard-up, a cigar-end finder, who collects the refuse pieces of smoked cigars from the gutter, and having dried them, smokes them, or sells them as tobacco to the very poor. See TOPPER.
Hard-up, in distress, poverty-stricken.—Sea.
Hardy, a stone.—North.
Harebrained, reckless, unthinking.
Harry, or OLD HARRY, (i.e., Old Hairy?) the Devil; “to play OLD HARRY with one,” i.e., ruin or annoy him.
Harry-soph, (ἐρίσοφος, very wise indeed), a student of law or physic at Cambridge who, being of the same standing as the students in arts in his year, is allowed to wear a full-sleeved gown when they assume their B.A. gowns, though he does not obtain his actual degree so soon. An undergraduate in his last year is a Senior Soph, in his last term a Questionist.
Harum-scarum, wild, dissipated, reckless; four horses driven in a line. This is also called SUICIDE. See TANDEM, RANDEM, UNICORN, &c.
Hash, a mess, confusion; “a pretty HASH he made of it;” to HASH UP, to jumble together without order or regularity. The term also occurs in the phrase “to settle his HASH,” which is equivalent to “give him his gruel,” or “cook his goose,” i.e., to kill him.
Hatchet, “to throw the HATCHET,” to tell lies. Same as “to draw the long bow.”
Hatchet, “to sling the HATCHET,” to skulk.—Sea.
Hawbuck, a vulgar, ignorant, country fellow, but one remove from the clodpole.
Hawse holes, the apertures in a ship’s bows through which the cables pass; “he has crept in through the HAWSE-HOLES,” said of an officer who has risen from the grade of an ordinary seaman, whose original position in the vessel was forward—before the mast.—Navy.
Hay bag, a woman.
Haymarket Hectors, bullies who, in the interest of prostitutes, affect the neighbourhood of Leicester Square and the Haymarket.
Haze, to confuse and annoy a subordinate by contradictory, unnecessary, and perplexing orders.
Hazy, intoxicated, also dull and stupid.
Head-beetler, the bully of the workshop, who lords it over his fellow-workmen by reason of superior strength, skill in fighting, &c. Sometimes applied to the foreman.
Header, a plunge head foremost into water, or a fall in the same posture from accident. Nowadays a theatrical expression for any supposedly daring jump of hero or heroine in sensational dramas.
Head or tail, “I can’t make HEAD OR TAIL of it,” i.e., cannot make it out. Originally a gambling phrase.
Head-rails, the teeth.—Sea.
Head-serag, a master, overseer, or other important personage; from SERANG, a boatswain.—Bengalee, and Sea.
Heap, “a HEAP of people,” a crowd; “struck all of a HEAP,” suddenly astonished.
Heat, a bout, or turn, in horse or foot racing. By means of heats the field is gradually reduced.
Heavy dragoons, bugs, in contradistinction from fleas, which are “light infantry.”—Oxford University.
Heavy wet, malt liquor—because the more a man drinks of it, the heavier and more stupid he becomes.
Hedge, to get away from any dangerous spot. “We saw the slop coming, and HEDGED at once.”
Hedge, to secure oneself from loss over one bet by making others. HEDGING, as a system of betting, is entirely dependent upon what happens in the market after a horse has been backed. From information, or good judgment, a backer selects, say, three horses, A, B, and C, whom he thinks likely to advance in the betting, and takes 50 to 1—say £1000 to £20—against each of them. As the race-day approaches the horse A may fall out of the betting, from accident or other cause, and have to be written off as a dead loss of £20. But the other two horses, as anticipated, improve in public favour, and the backer, who now becomes a HEDGER, succeeds in laying 5 to 1—say £500 to £100—against B, and 2 to 1—say 500 to £250—against C. The account then stands thus:—A is a certain loss of £20; but if B wins, the HEDGER will receive £1000 and pay £500; balance in favour, £500. If B loses, the HEDGER will receive £100 and pay £20; balance in favour, £80. If C wins, the hedger will receive £1000 and pay £500; balance in favour, £500. If C loses, the HEDGER will receive £250 and pay £20; balance in favour, £230. Deducting, then, the loss of £20 on A, the HEDGER’S winnings will be considerable; and he cannot lose, providing his information or judgment lead to the required result. It must be borne in mind that very often a man who feels inclined to go in for a HEDGING speculation, may back half a dozen horses, not one of which sees a short price or goes to the post; besides which it must never be forgotten, that, however well turf speculations may look on paper, they are subject to the contingency of the bets being honourably paid on settling-day—the Monday after a race—when unfortunately there are often more “receivers” than “payers” at the clubs. However, turf transactions are among professionals conducted at least as honourably as are any other business matters; and it is only the fledgling swell, to whom the Legislature gives special opportunities of losing his money, who is generally non est when paytime comes. “The Druid” in Post and Paddock has remarked:—
“The term HEDGING has been quite superseded by “laying off;” and we had, in fact, quite forgotten it till we saw it stated in the papers lately, by a clergyman, who did not answer a question on doctrine as the Bishop of Exeter exactly liked, that his lordship addressed him to this effect: ‘You are HEDGING, sir; you are HEDGING!’”
Usually correct as “The Druid” was, he seems to have fallen into an error here, as HEDGING, and “laying off,” have been exchangeable terms, as far as the oldest turfite can say. It should be remembered that HEDGING is generally done with the man who has originally laid the odds; for as a natural consequence, when the backer finds it convenient to hedge, the layer finds it equally so to back the horse back,—the first loss being considered always the best by bookmakers who are bookmakers. Besides which, the layer has generally a lot of “dead money”—money to the good over horses he has laid against, which have since been struck out—and this he profitably expends in backing certain horses back for the purpose of levelling up the book.
Hedge-popping, shooting small birds about the hedges, as boys do; unsportsmanlike kind of shooting.
Heel-tap, the small quantity of wine or other beverage left in the bottom of a glass, considered as a sign that the liquor is not liked, and therefore unfriendly and unsocial to the host and the company. See DAY-LIGHT.
Heigh-ho! a cant term for stolen yarn, from the expression used to apprize the dishonest shopkeeper that the speaker had stolen yarn to sell.—Norwich Cant.
Hell, a fashionable gambling-house. Small places of this kind are called “silver hells.” Reason obvious.
Hell and Tommy, utter destruction.
Helter-skelter, anyhow, without regard to order or precedence.
Hempen cravat, the hangman’s noose.
Hen and Chickens, large and small pewter pots.
Hen-pecked, said of one whose wife “wears the breeches.” From the action of the hen in paired cage-birds.
Herring-pond, the sea; “to be sent across the HERRING-POND,” to be transported.
Hiding, a thrashing. Webster gives this word, but not its root, HIDE, to beat, to flay by whipping. Most likely from the part attacked. The threat of thrashing is sometimes conveyed thus:—“I’ll tan (or dress) your HIDE.”
Higgledy-piggledy, confusedly, all together,—as pigs lie.
High and dry, an epithet applied to the soi-disant “orthodox” clergy of the last century, for whom, while ill-paid curates did the work, the comforts of the Establishment were its greatest charms.
The Bench for honour, and the Stall for ease.”
Though often confounded with, they are utterly dissimilar to, the modern High Church or Anglo-Catholic party, who now receive the title at times; while their opponents receive the corresponding appellation of “Low and Slow,” and the so-called “Broad Church” is defined with equal felicity as the “Broad and Shallow.” Humourists have divided these three portions of one Church into Attitudinarians, Platitudinarians, and Latitudinarians.
High Church, term used in contradistinction from “Low Church.”
Highfalutin’, showy, affected, tinselled, affecting certain pompous or fashionable airs, stuck up; “come, none of yer HIGHFALUTIN’ games,” i.e., you must not show off or imitate the swell here.—American slang, now common in Liverpool and the East-end of London. From the Dutch, VERLOOTEN. Used generally now in the sense of fustian, high-sounding, unmeaning eloquence, bombast.
High-flier, anything above the common order. Apt students, fast coaches, and special trains are sufficient instances of the extreme openness of the qualification.
High-fly, “ON THE HIGH-FLY,” on the genteel or letter-bearing begging system.
High-flyer, a genteel beggar or swindler. A begging-letter impostor.
High-flyer, a large swing, in frames, at fairs and races. The first fast coaches were called high-flyers on account of their desperate speed.
High jinks, “ON THE HIGH JINKS,” taking up an arrogant position, assuming an undue superiority. Scott explains this game in Guy Mannering. Nowadays HIGH JINKS is often used to mean a jollification.
High-lows, laced boots reaching a trifle higher than ankle-jacks.
High-strikes, corruption of Hysterics.
Hipped, bored, offended, crossed, low-spirited, &c. This may have been originally hypped, and have had some connexion with hypochondriacal affections.
Hitched, an Americanism for married. From the word HITCH, used in America in the sense of to harness.
Hittite, a facetious sporting term for a prize-fighter. Derived from the Bible.
Hivite, a student of St. Begh’s College, Cumberland, which is pronounced and generally written St. Bee’s. Literally, Hive-ite.
Hoax, to deceive, or ridicule,—Grose says this was originally a University cant word. Corruption of HOCUS, to cheat.
Hob and nob, to act in concert with another; to lay “heads together;” to touch glasses in drinking; to fraternize in a convivial meeting or merry-making. Originally meaning “foot and head,”—the touching of the top of one glass with the bottom of another, and then reversing the order. Nowadays it means simply to clink glasses together as a salutation before imbibing.
Hobbadehoy, a youth who has ceased to regard himself as a boy, and is not yet regarded as a man.
Hobble, trouble of any kind. A man is said to be in a HOBBLE when he has offended the proprieties in any way, “from pitch and toss to manslaughter.”
Hobbled, committed for trial; properly said of animals fed by the wayside, with their forelegs fastened together. Hence people who gather burdens about them are said to get into HOBBLES.
Hob Collingwood, according to Brockett, a north country term for the four of hearts, considered an unlucky card.
Hobson’s choice, “this or none.” Hobson was a carrier at Cambridge, and also a letter-out of horses for hire; and is said to have always compelled his customers to take the horse that stood in the stall next the stable-door or none at all. He was a benefactor to the town, and Hobson’s Conduit still stands as a memorial of him.
Hock-dockies, shoes.
Hocks, the feet and ankles; CURBY HOCKS, round or clumsy feet and ankles. Term originating with horsey men.
Hocus, to drug a person for purposes of robbery. The potion generally consists of snuff and beer among rogues of the lowest class, and is by them called “snuffing a bloke;” or sometimes, when the drug is administered to a woman for purposes other than those of robbery, “snuffing a blowen.”
Hocus pocus, gipsy words of magic, similar to the modern “presto fly.” The gipsies pronounce “Habeas Corpus,” HAWCUS PACCUS (see Crabb’s Gipsies’ Advocate, p. 18); can this have anything to do with the origin of HOCUS POCUS? Turner gives OCHUS BOCHUS, an old demon. Pegge, however, states that it is a burlesque rendering of the words of the Roman Catholic Church service at the delivery of the host, HOC EST CORPUS, which the early Protestants considered as a species of conjuring, and ridiculed accordingly.
Hodge, a countryman or provincial clown. Most country districts in England have one or more families in the name of HODGE; indeed, GILES and HODGE appear to be the favourite hobnail nomenclature. Hodge is said to be simply an abbreviation of Roger.
Hog, a shilling.—Old Cant.
Hog, “to go the whole HOG;” “the whole HOG or none,” to do anything with a person’s entire strength, not “by halves;” realized by the phrase “in for a penny in for a pound.” Bartlett claims this to be a pure American phrase; whilst Ker, of course, gives it a Dutch origin.—Old. “To go the whole HOG” is frequently altered by those people who believe there is wit in circumlocution, into “the entire animal,” or “the complete swine!”
Hoga, do. “That wont HOGA,” i.e., that wont do, is one of the very commonest of the Anglo-Indian slang phrases.
Hogmagundy, the process by which the population is increased.
That ends in Hogmagundy.”—Burns.
Hogmany night, New Year’s Eve, when presents are solicited by the young folk.—Scotch.
Hogo, a tremendous stench. From haut goût. Now often pronounced FOGO.
Hoisting, shoplifting.
Hold hard, an exclamation made when a sudden stoppage is desired. Originally an expression used in riding or driving, now general.
Hollow, “to beat HOLLOW,” to excel.
Holy Joe, a sea-term for a parson.
Holy Land, a very old term for the Seven Dials,—where St. Giles’s Greek is spoken.
Homo, a man. Lingua Franca; but see OMEE, the more usual Cockney pronunciation.
Hondey, a Manchester name for an omnibus, and the abbreviation of HONDEYBUSH, the original Lancashire pronunciation of the word.
Honest Shilling, a shilling earned by a process actually immoral, but not positively illegal. The money earned by a prostitute is said to be honest, as distinguished from that obtained by a thief. Probably from the story of the converted burglar, who determined to sin no more himself, and who lectured against dishonesty, but sent his wife out regularly every evening with instructions to earn an HONEST SHILLING.
Honey blobs, a Scotch term for large ripe, yellow gooseberries.
Honour bright, an asseveration which means literally, “by my honour, which is bright and unsullied.” It is often still further curtailed to “HONOUR!” only.
Hook, an expression at Oxford, implying doubt, either connected with Hookey Walker, or with a note of interrogation (?) “Yes, with a HOOK at the end of it!” i.e., with some reservation, generally that of doubt, by the speaker.
Hook, to steal or rob. See the following.
Hook or by crook, by fair means or foul—in allusion to the hook with which footpads used to steal from open windows, &c., and from which HOOK, to take or steal, has been derived. Mentioned in Hudibras as a cant term.
Hook it, “get out of the way,” or “be off about your business;” generally varied by “take your HOOK.” “To HOOK it,” to run away, to decamp; “on one’s own HOOK,” dependent upon one’s own exertions. Originally connected with the preceding, but now perfectly “on its own HOOK.”
Hookey walker! ejaculation of incredulity, usually shortened to WALKER!—which see.
Hooks, “dropped off the HOOKS,” said of a deceased person—possibly derived from the ancient practice of suspending on hooks the quarters of a traitor or felon sentenced by the old law to be hung, drawn, and quartered, which dropped off the hooks as they decayed.
Hook um snivey (formerly “HOOK and SNIVEY”), a low expression, meaning to cheat by feigning sickness or other means. Also a piece of thick iron wire crooked at one end, and fastened into a wooden handle, for the purpose of undoing from the outside the wooden bolt of a door. Sometimes used as an irrelevant answer by street boys. As, “who did that?”—“HOOK UM SNIVEY”—actually no one.
Hop, a dance.—Fashionable slang.
Hop merchant, a dancing master.
Hop o’ my thumb, an undersized person. From the story of that name. Portion of a set of phrases established for the benefit of the small, in which Tomtit, Little Breeches, Daniel Lambert, Sixfoot, Twentystun, &c., play a prominent part.
Hopping Giles, a cripple. St. Ægidius or Giles, himself similarly afflicted, was the patron saint of lazars and cripples. The ancient lazar houses were dedicated to him.
Hoppo, custom-house officer, or custom-house. Almost anything connected with custom-house business.—Anglo-Chinese.
Hop the twig, to run away; also, a flippant expression meaning to die. Many similar phrases are used by the thoughtless and jocose, as “laying down one’s knife and fork,” “pegging out,” from the game of cribbage, and “snuffing it.” A new form of this phraseology is to say that a man has “given up” or “given in.”
Hornswoggle, nonsense, humbug. Believed to be of American origin.
Horrors, the low spirits, or “blue devils,” which follow intoxication. Incipient del. trem.
Horse, contraction of Horsemonger-Lane Gaol, also a slang term for a five-pound note.
Horse, to flog. From the old wooden horse or flogging-stool.
Horsebreaker. See PRETTY HORSEBREAKER.
Horse chaunter, a dealer who takes worthless horses to country fairs and disposes of them by artifice. He is generally an unprincipled fellow, and will put in a glass eye, fill a beast with shot, plug him with ginger, or in fact do anything so that he sells to advantage. See COPER.
Horse marine, an awkward person. In ancient times the “jollies,” or Royal Marines, were the butts of the sailors, from their ignorance of seamanship. “Tell that to the MARINES, the blue jackets wont believe it!” was a common rejoinder to a “stiff yarn.” A HORSE marine (an impossibility) was used to denote one more awkward even than an ordinary “jolly.” Nowadays the MARINES are deservedly appreciated as one of the finest regiments in the service.
Horse nails. At the game of cribbage, when a player finds it his policy to keep his antagonist back, rather than push himself forward, and plays accordingly, he is sometimes said “to feed his opponent on HORSE NAILS.”
Horse nails, money.—Compare BRADS.
Horse’s nightcap, a halter; “to die in a HORSE’S NIGHTCAP,” to be hanged.
Horsey, like a groom or jockey. Applied also to persons who affect the turf in dress or conversation.
Hot coppers, the feverish sensations experienced in the morning by those who have been drunk over-night.
Hot tiger, an Oxford mixture of hot-spiced ale and sherry.
House of Commons, a humorous term for the closet of decency.
Houses; “safe as HOUSES,” an expression to satisfy a doubting person; “Oh! it’s as safe as HOUSES,” i.e., perfectly safe, apparently in allusion to the paying character of house property as an investment. It is said the phrase originated when the railway bubbles began to burst, and when people began to turn their attention to the more ancient forms of speculation, which though slow were sure.
Housewarming, the first friendly gathering in a new or freshly-occupied house.
How-came-you-so? intoxicated.
How much? A facetious way of asking for an explanation of any difficult or pedantic expression. “Why don’t you cook your potatoes in an anhydrohepsaterion?” A waggish listener might be excused for asking, “An anhydro—HOW MUCH!”
How’s your poor feet? an idiotic street cry with no meaning, much in vogue a few years back.
Hoxter, an inside pocket.—Old English, OXTER. Probably the low slang word HUXTER, money, is derived from this. Oxter is, among the Irish, an armpit.
Hubble bubble, the Indian pipe termed a hookah is thus designated, from the noise it makes when being smoked.
Huey, a town or village.—Tramps’ term.
Huff, a dodge or trick; “don’t try that HUFF on me,” or “that HUFF wont do.” Also a term in the game of draughts,—the penalty for failing to take an opponent’s piece when an opportunity occurs.
Huff, to vex, to offend; a poor temper. Huffy, easily offended. Huffed, annoyed, offended. Some folk are tersely and truly described as easily HUFFED.
Hugger-mugger, underhand, sneaking. Also, “in a state of HUGGER-MUGGER” means to be muddled.
Hulk, to hang about in hopes of an invitation. See MOOCH.
Hulky, extra-sized.—Shropshire. From this and from hulk we probably get our adjective HULKING, as applied to the great lazy ruffians who infest low neighbourhoods.
Hum and haw, to hesitate, or raise objections.—Old English.
Humble pie, to “eat HUMBLE PIE,” to knock under, to be submissive. The UMBLES, or entrails, and other unprime parts of a deer, were anciently made into a dish for servants, while their masters feasted off the haunch.
Hum-box, a pulpit. This is a very old term.
Humbug, an imposition, or a person who imposes upon others. A very expressive but slang word, synonymous at one time with HUM AND HAW. Lexicographers for a long time objected to the adoption of this term. Richardson uses it frequently to express the meaning of other words, but, strange to say, omits it in the alphabetical arrangement as unworthy of recognition! In the first edition of this work, 1785 was given as the earliest date at which the word could be found in a printed book. Since then HUMBUG has been traced half a century further back, on the title-page of a singular old jest-book—“The Universal Jester; or a pocket companion for the Wits: being a choice collection of merry conceits, facetious drolleries, &c., clenchers, closers, closures, bon-mots, and HUMBUGS,” by Ferdinando Killigrew. London, about 1735-40.
The notorious Orator Henley was known to the mob as ORATOR HUMBUG. The fact may be learned from an illustration in that exceedingly curious little collection of Caricatures, published in 1757, many of which were sketched by Lord Bolingbroke—Horace Walpole filling in the names and explanations. Halliwell describes HUMBUG as “a person who hums,” and cites Dean Milles’s MS., which was written about 1760. In the last century, the game now known as double-dummy was termed HUMBUG. Lookup, a notorious gambler, was struck down by apoplexy when playing at this game. On the circumstance being reported to Foote, the wit said—“Ah, I always thought he would be HUMBUGGED out of the world at last!” It has been stated that the word is a corruption of Hamburgh, from which town so many false bulletins and reports came during the war in the last century. “Oh, that is Hamburgh [or HUMBUG],” was the answer to any fresh piece of news which smacked of improbability. Grose mentions it in his Dictionary, 1785; and in a little printed squib, published in 1808, entitled Bath Characters, by T. Goosequill, HUMBUG is thus mentioned in a comical couplet on the title-page:—
Humbug, Follie, and Varietee.”
Gradually from this time the word began to assume a place in periodical literature, and in novels written by not over-precise authors. In the preface to a flat, and most likely unprofitable poem, entitled, The Reign of HUMBUG, a Satire, 8vo, 1836, the author thus apologizes for the use of the word:—“I have used the term HUMBUG to designate this principle [wretched sophistry of life generally], considering that, it is now adopted into our language as much as the words dunce, jockey, cheat, swindler, &c., which were formerly only colloquial terms.” A correspondent, who in a number of Adversaria ingeniously traced bombast to the inflated Doctor Paracelsus Bombast, considers that HUMBUG may, in like manner, be derived from Homberg, the distinguished chemist of the court of the Duke of Orleans, who, according to the following passage from Bishop Berkeley’s Siris, was an ardent and successful seeker after the philosopher’s stone!
“§194.—Of this there cannot be a better proof than the experiment of Monsieur Homberg, who made gold of mercury by introducing light into its pores, but at such trouble and expense that, I suppose, nobody will try the experiment for profit. By this injunction of light and mercury, both bodies became fixed, and produced a third different to either, to wit, real gold. For the truth of which fact I refer to the memoirs of the French Academy of Sciences.”—Berkeley’s Works, vol ii. p. 366 (Wright’s edition).
Another derivation suggested is that of AMBAGE, a Latin word adopted into the English language temp. Charles I. (see May’s translation of Lucan’s Pharsalia), and meaning conduct the reverse of straightforward. Again, in the (burlesque) Loves of Hero and Leander (date 1642), we find “Mum-bug, quoth he, ’twas known of yore,” a cant expression, no doubt, commanding a person to “shut up,” or hold his tongue, and evidently derived from the game of mum-budget or silence, upon which Halliwell (Dict. Arch.) has descanted.
AMBAGE is also used in the sense of “circumlocution.” “Without any long studie or tedious AMBAGE.”—Puttenham, Art of Poesie.
“Umh! y’ are full of AMBAGE.”—Decker’s Whore of Babylon, 1607.
De Quincey thus discourses upon the word:—
“The word HUMBUG, for instance, rests upon a rich and comprehensive basis; it cannot be rendered adequately either by German or by Greek, the two richest of human languages; and without this expressive word we should all be disarmed for one great case, continually recurrent, of social enormity. A vast mass of villany, that cannot otherwise be reached by legal penalties, or brought within the rhetoric of scorn, would go at large with absolute impunity were it not through the stern Rhadamanthean aid of this virtuous and inexorable word.”—Article on “Language.”
The original collater of these notes purchased the collection of essays known as the Connoisseur at the sale of Thackeray’s library. At the end of vol. i. he found a memorandum in the great humourist’s handwriting—“p. 108, ‘HUMBUG,’ a new-coined expression.” On referring to that page (in the 3rd edition, 1757) this paragraph was noted:—
“The same conduct of keeping close to their ranks was observed at table, where the ladies seated themselves together. Their conversation was here also confined wholly to themselves, and seemed like the mysteries of the Bona Dea, in which men were forbidden to have any share. It was a continued laugh and whisper from the beginning to the end of dinner. A whole sentence was scarce ever spoken aloud. Single words, indeed, now and then broke forth; such as, odious, horrible, detestable, shocking, HUMBUG. This last new-coined expression, which is only to be found in the nonsensical vocabulary, sounds absurd and disagreeable whenever it is pronounced; but from the mouth of a lady it is ‘shocking,’ ‘detestable,’ ‘horrible,’ and ‘odious.’”
The use of this term is almost universal; in California there is a town called Humbug Flat—a name which gives a significant hint of the acuteness of the first settler.
Humdrum, monotonous, tedious, tiresome, boring; “a society of gentlemen who used to meet near the Charter House, and at the King’s Head, St. John’s Street, Clerkenwell. They were characterized by less mystery and more pleasantry than the Freemasons.”—Bacchus and Venus, 1737. In the West the term applies to a low cart.
Humming, strong as applied to drink. Extra strong ale is often characterized as “HUMMING October.” Maybe from its effect on heads not quite so strong.
Hump, low spirits. A costermonger who was annoyed or distressed about anything would describe himself as having “the HUMP.”
Hump, to botch, or spoil.
Hump up, “to have one’s HUMP UP,” to be cross or ill-tempered—like a cat with its back set up. See BACK and MONKEY.
Humpty-dumpty, short and thick; all of a heap; all together, like an egg.
Also a hunchback. Humpty is an abbreviated form of the expression.
Hunch, to shove, or jostle.
Hunks, a miserly fellow, a curmudgeon.
Hunky, an American term which means good, jolly, &c. As, “a HUNKY boy,” a good jovial fellow; and “everything went off HUNKY.”
Hunter pitching, the game of cockshies—three throws a penny.—See COCKSHY.
Hurdy-gurdy, a droning musical instrument shaped like a large fiddle, and turned by a crank, used by Savoyards and other itinerant foreign musicians in England, now nearly superseded by the hand-organ. From the peculiar noise made by the instrument, which in Italy is called “viola.”
Hurkaru, a messenger.—Anglo-Indian.
Husbands’ boat, the Saturday afternoon packet to Margate during the summer season. So called for obvious reasons. The passengers by this boat come in for an unusual share of attention from the cads peculiar to this watering-place.
Husbands’ tea, very weak tea. See WATER BEWITCHED.
Hush-money, a sum given to quash a prosecution or stay evidence. Money given to any one for the purpose of quieting him.
Hush-shop, or CRIB, a shop where beer and spirits are sold “on the quiet”—no licence being paid.
Huxter, money. Term much in use among costermongers and low sharpers. Probably from OXTER or HOXTER.
Hyps, or HYPO, the blue devils. From HYPOCHONDRIASIS.—Swift.
Hy-yaw! an interjectional exclamation of astonishment.—Anglo-Chinese.