1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

PIGEON'S MILK. Boys and novices are frequently sent on the first of April to buy pigeons milk.

To PIKE. To run away. Pike off; run away.

PILGRIM'S SALVE. A sirreverence, human excrement.

PILL, or PEELE GARLICK. Said originally to mean one whose skin or hair had fallen off from some disease, chiefly the venereal one; but now commonly used by persons speaking of themselves: as, there stood poor pill garlick: i.e. there stood I.

PILLALOO. The Irish cry or howl at funerals.

PIMP. A male procurer, or cock bawd; also a small faggot used about London for lighting fires, named from introducing the fire to the coals.

PIMP WHISKIN. A top trader in pimping.

PIMPLE. The head.

PIN. In or to a merry pin; almost drunk: an allusion to a sort of tankard, formerly used in the north, having silver pegs or pins set at equal distances from the top to the bottom: by the rules of good fellowship, every person drinking out of one of these tankards, was to swallow the quantity contained between two pins; if he drank more or less, he was to continue drinking till he ended at a pin: by this means persons unaccustomed to measure their draughts were obliged to drink the whole tankard. Hence when a person was a little elevated with liquor, he was said to have drunk to a merry pin.

PIN BASKET. The youngest child.

PIN MONEY. An allowance settled on a married woman for her pocket expences.

PINCH. At a pinch; on an exigency.

PINCH. To go into a tradesman's shop under the pretence of purchasing rings or other light articles, and while examining them to shift some up the sleeve of the coat. Also to ask for change for a guinea, and when the silver is received, to change some of the good shillings for bad ones; then suddenly pretending to recollect that you had sufficient silver to pay the bill, ask for the guinea again, and return the change, by which means several bad shillings are passed.

To PINCH ON THE PARSON'S SIDE. To defraud the parson of his tithe.

PINCHERS. Rogues who, in changing money, by dexterity of hand frequently secrete two or three shillings out of the change of a guinea. This species of roguery is called the pinch, or pinching lay.

To PINK. To stab or wound with a small sword: probably derived from the holes formerly cut in both men and women's clothes, called pinking. Pink of the fashion; the top of the mode. To pink and wink; frequently winking the eyes through a weakness in them.

PINKING-DINDEE. A sweater or mohawk. IRISH.

PINS. Legs. Queer pins; ill shapen legs.

PIPER. A broken winded horse.

PISCINARIANS. A club or brotherhood, A.D. 1743.

PISS. He will piss when he can't whistle; he will be hanged. He shall not piss my money against the wall; he shall not have my money to spend in liquor.

 
He who once a good name gets,
May piss a bed, and say he sweats.
 

PISS-BURNED. Discoloured: commonly applied to a discoloured grey wig.

PISS MAKER. A great drinker, one much given to liquor.

PISS POT HALL. A house at Clapton, near Hackney, built by a potter chiefly out of the profits of chamber pots, in the bottom of which the portrait of Dr. Sacheverel was depicted.

PISS PROPHET. A physician who judges of the diseases of his patients solely by the inspection of their urine.

PISS-PROUD. Having a false erection. That old fellow thought he had an erection, but his—was only piss-proud; said of any old fellow who marries a young wife.

PISSING DOWN ANY ONE'S BACK. Flattering him.

PISSING PINS AND NEEDLES. To have a gonorrhea.

PIT. A watch fob. He drew a rare thimble from the swell's pit. He took a handsome watch from the gentleman's fob.

PIT. To lay pit and boxes into one; an operation in midwifery or copulation, whereby the division between the anus and vagina is cut through, broken, and demolished: a simile borrowed from the playhouse, when, for the benefit of some favourite player, the pit and boxes are laid together. The pit is also the hole under the gallows, where poor rogues unable to pay the fees are buried.

PITT'S PICTURE. A window stopt up on the inside, to save the tax imposed in that gentleman's administration. PARTY WIT

PIT-A-PAT. The palpitation of the heart: as, my heart went pit-a-pat. Pintledy-pantledy; the same.

PITCH-KETTLED. Stuck fast, confounded.

PITCHER. The miraculous pitcher, that holds water with the mouth downwards: a woman's commodity. She has crack'd her pitcher or pipkin; she has lost her maidenhead.

PIZZY CLUB. A society held, A. D, 1744, at the sign of the Tower, on Tower Hill: president, Don Pizzaro.

PLAISTER OF WARM GUTS. One warm belly'dapped to another; a receipt frequently prescribed for different disorders.

PLANT. The place in the house of the fence where stolen goods are secreted. Any place where stolen goods are concealed.

To PLANT. To lay, place, or hide. Plant your wids and stow them; be careful what you say, or let slip. Also to bury, as, he was planted by the parson.

PLATE. Money, silver, prize. He is in for the plate; he has won the KEAT, i.e. is infected with the venereal disorder: a simile drawn from horse-racing. When the plate fleet comes in; when money comes to hand.

PLATTER-FACED. Broad-faced.

PLAY. To play booty; to play with an intention to lose. To play the whole game; to cheat. To play least in sight; to hide, or keep out of the way. To play the devil; to be guilty of some great irregularity or mismanagement.

PLUCK. Courage. He wants pluck: he is a coward. Against the pluck; against the inclination. Pluck the Ribbon; ring the bell. To pluck a crow with one; to settle a dispute, to reprove one for some past transgression. To pluck a rose; an expression said to be used by women for going to the necessary house, which in the country usually stands in the garden. To pluck also signifies to deny a degree to a candidate at one of the universities, on account of insufficiency. The three first books of Euclid, and as far as Quadratic Equations in Algebra, will save a man from being plucked. These unfortunate fellows are designated by many opprobrious appellations, such as the twelve apostles, the legion of honor, wise men of the East, &c.

PLUG TAIL. A man's penis.

PLUMB. An hundred thousand pounds.

PLUMMY. It is all plummy; i.e. all is right, or as it ought to be.

PLUMP. Fat, full, fleshy. Plump in the pocket; full in the pocket. To plump; to strike, or shoot. I'll give you a plump in the bread basket, or the victualling office: I'll give you a blow in the stomach. Plump his peepers, or day-lights; give him a blow in the eyes. He pulled out his pops and plumped him; he drew out his pistols and shot him. A plumper; a single vote at an election. Plump also means directly, or exactly; as, it fell plump upon him: it fell directly upon him.

PLUMP CURRANT. I am not plump currant; I am out of sorts.

PLUMPERS. Contrivances said to be formerly worn by old maids, for filling out a pair of shrivelled cheeks.

PLYER. A crutch; also a trader.

POGY. Drunk.

POINT. To stretch a point; to exceed some usual limit, to take a great stride. Breeches were usually tied up with points, a kind of short laces, formerly given away by the churchwardens at Whitsuntide, under the denomination of tags: by taking a great stride these were stretched.

POISONED. Big with child: that wench is poisoned, see how her belly is swelled. Poison-pated: red-haired.

POKE. A blow with the fist: I'll lend you a poke. A poke likewise means a sack: whence, to buy a pig in a poke, i.e. to buy any thing without seeing or properly examining it.

POKER. A sword. Fore pokers; aces and kings at cards. To burn your poker; to catch the venereal disease.

POLE. He is like a rope-dancer's polo, lead at both ends; a saying of a stupid sluggish fellow.

POLISH. To polish the king's iron with one's eyebrows; to be in gaol, and look through the iron grated windows. To polish a bone; to eat a meal. Come and polish a bone with me; come and eat a dinner or supper with me.

POLL. The head, jolly nob, napper, or knowledge box; also a wig.

POLT. A blow. Lend him a polt in the muns; give him a knock in the face.

TO POMMEL. To beat: originally confined to beating with the hilt of a sword, the knob being, from its similarity to a small apple, called pomelle; in Spanish it is still called the apple of the sword. As the clenched fist likewise somewhat resembles an apple, perhaps that might occasion the term pommelling to be applied to fisty-cuffs.

POMP. To save one's pomp at whist, is to score five before the adversaries are up, or win the game: originally derived from pimp, which is Welsh for five; and should be, I have saved my pimp.

POMPAGINIS. Aqua pompaginis; pump water. See AQUA.

POMPKIN. A man or woman of Boston in America: from, the number of pompkins raised and eaten by the people of that country. Pompkinshire; Boston and its dependencies.

PONEY. Money. Post the poney; lay down the money.

PONTIUS PILATE. A pawnbroker. Pontius Pilate's guards, the first regiment of foot, or Royal Scots: so intitled from their supposed great antiquity. Pontius Pilate's counsellor; one who like him can say, Non invenio causam, I can find no cause. Also (Cambridge) a Mr. Shepherd of Trinity College; who disputing with a brother parson on the comparative rapidity with which they read the liturgy, offered to give him as far as Pontius Pilate in the Belief.

POPE. A figure burned annually every fifth of November, in memory of the gunpowder plot, which is said to have been carried on by the papists.

POPE'S NOSE. The rump of a turkey.

POPS. Pistols. Popshop: a pawnbroker's shop. To pop; to pawn: also to shoot. I popped my tatler; I pawned my watch. I popt the cull; I shot the man. His means are two pops and a galloper; that is, he is a highwayman.

POPLERS. Pottage. CANT.

PORK. To cry pork; to give intelligence to the undertaker of a funeral; metaphor borrowed from the raven, whose note sounds like the word pork. Ravens are said to smell carrion at a distance.

PORKER. A hog: also a Jew.

PORRIDGE. Keep your breath to cool your porridge; i. e. held your tongue.

PORRIDGE ISLAND. An alley leading from St. Martin's church-yard to Round-court, chiefly inhabited by cooks, who cut off ready-dressed meat of all sorts, and also sell soup.

POSEY, or POESY. A nosegay. I shall see you ride backwards up Holborn-hill, with a book in one hand, and a posey in t'other; i.e. I shall see you go to be hanged. Malefactors who piqued themselves on being properly equipped for that occasion, had always a nosegay to smell to, and a prayer book, although they could not read.

POSSE MOBILITATIS. The mob.

POST MASTER GENERAL. The prime minister, who has the patronage of all posts and places.

POST NOINTER. A house painter, who occasionally paints or anoints posts. Knight of the post; a false evidence, one ready to swear any thing for hire. From post to pillar; backwards and forwards.

POSTILION OF THE GOSPEL. A parson who hurries over the service.

POT. The pot calls the kettle black a-se; one rogue exclaims against another.

POT. On the pot; i.e. at stool.

POT CONVERTS. Proselytes to the Romish church, made by the distribution of victuals and money.

POT HUNTER. One who hunts more tor the sake of the prey than the sport. Pot valiant; courageous from drink. Potwallopers: persons entitled to vote in certain boroughs by having boiled a pot there.

POTATOE TRAP. The mouth. Shut your potatoe trap and give your tongue a holiday; i.e. be silent. IRISH WIT.

POTHOOKS AND HANGEKS. A scrawl, bad writing.

POT-WABBLERS. Persons entitled to vote for members of parliament in certain boroughs, from having boiled their pots therein. These boroughs are called pot-wabbling boroughs.

POULAIN. A bubo. FRENCH.

POULTERER. A person that guts letters; i.e. opens them and secretes the money. The kiddey was topped for the poultry rig; the young fellow was hanged for secreting a letter and taking out the contents.

POUND. To beat. How the milling cove pounded the cull for being nuts on his blowen; how the boxer beat the fellow for taking liberties with his mistress.

POUND. A prison. See LOB'S POUND. Pounded; imprisoned.

Shut up in the parson's pound; married. POWDER

POWDER MONKEY. A boy on board a ship of war, whose business is to fetch powder from the magazine.

POWDERING TUB. The same as pickling tub. See PICKLING TUB.

PRAD LAY. Cutting bags from behind horses. CANT.

PRAD. A horse. The swell flashes a rum prad: the e gentleman sports a fine horse.

PRANCER. A horse. Prancer's nab.; a horse's head, used as a seal to a counterfeit pass. At the sign of the prancer's poll, i.e. the nag's head.

PRATE ROAST. A talkative boy.

PRATING CHEAT. The tongue.

PRATTS. Buttocks; also a tinder box. CANT.

PRATTLE BROTH. Tea. See CHATTER BROTH, SCANDAL BROTH, &c.

PRATTLING BOX. The pulpit.

PRAY. She prays with her knees upwards; said of a woman much given to gallantry and intrigue. At her last prayers; saying of an old maid.

PREADAMITE QUACABITES. This great and laudable society (as they termed themselves) held their grand chapter at the Coal-hole.

P–K. The virile member.

PRICK-EARED. A prick-eared fellow; one whose ears are longer than his hair: an appellation frequently given to puritans, who considered long hair as the mark of the whore of Babylon.

PRICKLOUSE. A taylor.

PRIEST-CRAFT. The art of awing the laity, managing their consciences, and diving into their pockets.

PRIEST-LINKED. Married.

PRIEST-RIDDEN. Governed by a priest, or priests.

PRIG. A thief, a cheat: also a conceited coxcomical fellow.

PRIG NAPPER. A thief taker.

PRIGGERS. Thieves in general. Priggers of prancers; horse stealers. Priggers of cacklers: robbers of hen-roosts.

PRIGGING. Riding; also lying with a woman.

PRIGSTAR. A rival in love.

PRIME. Bang up. Quite the thing. Excellent. Well done. She's a prime piece; she is very skilful in the venereal act. Prime post. She's a prime article.

PRIMINAKY. I had like to be brought into a priminary; i.e. into trouble; from PREMUNIRE.

PRINCE PRIG. A king of the gypsies; also the head thief or receiver general.

PRINCES. When the majesty of the people was a favourite terra in the House of Commons, a celebrated wit, seeing chimney sweepers dancing on a May-day, styled them the young princes.

PRINCOD. A pincushion. SCOTCH—Also a round plump man or woman.

PRINCOX. A pert, lively, forward fellow.

PRINCUM PRANCUM. Mrs. Princum Prancum; a nice, precise, formal madam.

PRINKING. Dressing over nicely: prinked up as if he came out of a bandbox, or fit to sit upon a cupboard's head.

PRINT. All in print, quite neat or exact, set, screwed up. Quite in print; set in a formal manner.

PRISCIAN. To break Priscian's head; to write or speak false grammar. Priscian was a famous grammarian, who flourished at Constantinople in the year 525; and who was so devoted to his favourite study, that to speak false Latin in his company, was as disagreeable to him as to break his head.

PRITTLE PRATTLE. Insignificant talk: generally applied to women and children.

PROG. Provision. Rum prog; choice provision. To prog; to be on the hunt for provision: called in the military term to forage.

PROPS. Crutches.

PROPERTY. To make a property of any one; to make him a conveniency, tool, or cat's paw; to use him as one's own.

PROUD. Desirous of copulation. A proud bitch; a bitch at heat, or desirous of a dog.

PROVENDER. He from whom any money is taken on the highway: perhaps provider, or provider. CANT.

PROPHET. The prophet; the Cock at Temple Bar: so called, in 1788, by the bucks of the town of the inferior order.

PRUNELLA. Mr. Prunella; a parson: parson's gowns being frequently made of prunella.

To PRY. To examine minutely into a matter or business. A prying fellow; a man of impertinent curiosity, apt to peep and inquire into other men's secrets.

PUBLIC MAN. A bankrupt.

PUBLIC LEDGER. A prostitute: because, like that paper, she is open to all parties.

PUCKER. All in a pucker; in a dishabille. Also in a fright; as, she was in a terrible pucker.

PUCKER WATER. Water impregnated with alum, or other astringents, used by old experienced traders to counterfeit virginity.

PUDDINGS. The guts: I'll let out your puddings.

PUDDING-HEADED FELLOW. A stupid fellow, one whose brains are all in confusion.

PUDDING SLEEVES. A parson.

PUDDING TIME. In good time, or at the beginning of a meal: pudding formerly making the first dish. To give the crows a pudding; to die. You must eat some cold pudding, to settle your love.

PUFF, or PUFFER. One who bids at auctions, not with an intent to buy, but only to raise the price of the lot; for which purpose many are hired by the proprietor of the goods on sale.

PUFF GUTS. A fat man.

PUFFING. Bidding at an auction, as above; also praising any thing above its merits, from interested motives. The art of puffing is at present greatly practised, and essentially necessary in all trades, professions, and callings. To puff and blow; to be out of breath.

PUG. A Dutch pug; a kind of lap-dog, formerly much in vogue; also a general name for a monkey.

PUG CARPENTETER. An inferior carpenter, one employed only in small jobs.

PUG DRINK. Watered cyder.

PUGNOSED, or PUGIFIED. A person with a snub or turned up nose.

PULLY HAWLY. To have a game at pully hawly; to romp with women.

PULL. To be pulled; to be arrested by a police officer. To have a pull is to have an advantage; generally where a person has some superiority at a game of chance or skill.

PUMP. A thin shoe. To pump; to endeavour to draw a secret from any one without his perceiving it. Your pump is good, but your sucker is dry; said by one to a person who is attempting to pump him. Pumping was also a punishment for bailiffs who attempted to act in privileged places, such as the Mint, Temple, &c. It is also a piece of discipline administered to a pickpocket caught in the fact, when there is no pond at hand. To pump ship; to make water, and sometimes to vomit. SEA PHRASE.

PUMP WATER. He was christened in pump water; commonly said of a person that has a red face.

PUNCH. A liquor called by foreigners Contradiction, from its being composed of spirits to make it strong, water to make it weak, lemon juice to make it sour, and sugar to make it sweet. Punch is also the name of the prince of puppets, the chief wit and support of a puppet-show. To punch it, is a cant term for running away. Punchable; old passable money, anno 1695. A girl that is ripe for man is called a punchable wench. Cobler's Punch. Urine with a cinder in it.

PUNK. A whore; also a soldier's trull. See TRULL.

PUNY. Weak. A puny child; a weak little child. A puny stomach; a weak stomach. Puny, or puisne judge; the last made judge.

PUPIL MONGERS. Persons at the universities who make it their business to instruct and superintend a number of pupils.

PUPPY. An affected or conceited coxcomb.

PURBLIND. Dim-sighted.

PURL. Ale in which wormwood has been infused, or ale and bitters drunk warm.

PURL ROYAL. Canary wine; with a dash of tincture of wormwood.

PURSE PROUD. One that is vain of his riches.

PURSENETS. Goods taken up at thrice their value, by young spendthrifts, upon trust.

PURSER'S PUMP. A bassoon: from its likeness to a syphon, called a purser's pump.

PURSY, or PURSIVE. Short-breathed, or foggy, from being over fat.

PUSHING SCHOOL. A fencing school; also a brothel.

PUT. A country put; an ignorant awkward clown. To put upon any one; to attempt to impose on him, or to make him the but of the company.

PUZZLE-CAUSE. A lawyer who has a confused understanding.

PUZZLE-TEXT. An ignorant blundering parson.

Q

QUACK. An ungraduated ignorant pretender to skill in physic, a vender of nostrums.

QUACK-SALVER. A mountebank: a seller of salves.

QUACKING CHEAT. A duck.

QUAG. Abbreviation of quagmire; marshy moorish around.

QUAIL-PIPE. A woman's tongue; also a device to take birds of that name by imitating their call. Quail pipe boots; boots resembling a quail pipe, from the number of plaits; they were much worn in the reign of Charles II.

QUAKERS. A religious sect so called from their agitations in preaching.

QUAKING CHEAT. A calf or sheep.

QUANDARY. To be in a quandary: to be puzzled. Also one so over-gorged, as to be doubtful which he should do first, sh—e or spew. Some derive the term quandary from the French phrase qu'en dirai je? what shall I say of it? others from an Italian word signifying a conjuror's circle.

QUARREL-PICKER. A glazier: from the small squares in casements, called CARREUX, vulgarly quarrels.

QUARROMES, or QUARRON. A body. CANT.

QUARTERED. Divided into four parts; to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, is the sentence on traitors and rebels. Persons receiving part of the salary of an office from the holder of it, by virtue of an agreement with the donor, are said to be quartered on him. Soldiers billetted on a publican are likewise said to be quartered on him.

TO QUASH. To suppress, annul or overthrow; vulgarly pronounced squash: they squashed the indictment.

QUEAN. A slut, or worthless woman, a strumpet.

QUEEN DICK. To the tune of the life and death of Queen Dick. That happened in the reign of Queen Dick; i.e., never.

QUEEN STREET. A mart governed by his wife, is said to live in Queen street, or at the sign of the Queen's Head.

QUEER, or QUIRE. Base, roguish, bad, naught or worthless. How queerly the cull touts; how roguishly the fellow looks. It also means odd, uncommon. CANT.

QUEER AS DICK'S HATBAND. Out of order, without knowing one's disease.

TO QUEER. To puzzle or confound. I have queered the old full bottom; i.e. I have puzzled the judge. To queer one's ogles among bruisers; to darken one's day lights.

QUEER WEDGES. Large buckles.

QUEER BAIL. Insolvent sharpers, who make a profession of bailing persons arrested: they are generally styled Jew bail, from that branch of business being chiefly carried on by the sons of Judah. The lowest sort of these, who borrow or hire clothes to appear in, are called Mounters, from their mounting particular dresses suitable to the occasion. CANT.

QUEER BIRDS. Rogues relieved from prison, and returned to their old trade.

QUEER BIT-MAKERS. Coiners. CANT.

QUEER BITCH. An odd, out-of-the-way fellow.

QUEER BLUFFER. The master of a public-house the resort of rogues and sharpers, a cut-throat inn or alehouse keeper.

QUEER BUNG. An empty purse.

QUEER CHECKERS. Among strolling players, door-keepers who defraud the company, by falsely checking the number of people in the house.

QUEER COLE FENCER. A putter off, or utterer, of bad money.

QUEER COLE MAKER. A maker of bad money.

QUEER COVE. A rogue. CANT.

QUEER CUFFIN. A justice of the peace; also a churl.

QUEER DEGEN. An ordinary sword, brass or iron hilted.

QUEER KEN. A prison. CANT.

QUEER KICKS. A bad pair of breeches.

QUEER MORT. A diseased strumpet. CANT.

QUEER NAB. A felt hat, or other bad hat.

QUEER PLUNGERS. Cheats who throw themselves into the water, in order that they may be taken up by their accomplices, who carry them to one of the houses appointed by the Humane Society for the recovery of drowned persons, where they are rewarded by the society with a guinea each; and the supposed drowned persons, pretending he was driven to that extremity by great necessity, also frequently sent away with a contribution in his pocket.

QUEER PRANCER. A bad, worn-out, foundered horse; also a cowardly or faint-hearted horse-stealer.

QUEER ROOSTER. An informer that pretends to be sleeping, and thereby overhears the conversation of thieves in night cellars.

QUEER STREET. Wrong. Improper. Contrary to one's wish. It is queer street, a cant phrase, to signify that it is wrong or different to our wish.

QUITAM. A quitam horse; one that will both carry and draw. LAW WIT.

TO QUIBBLE. To make subtle distinctions; also to play upon words.

QUICK AND NIMBLE. More like a bear than a squirrel. Jeeringly said to any one moving sluggishly on a business or errand that requires dispatch.

QUID. The quantity of tobacco put into the mouth at one time. To quid tobacco; to chew tobacco. Quid est hoc? hoc est quid; a guinea. Half a quid; half a guinea. The swell tipped me fifty quid for the prad; the gentleman gave fifty pounds for the horse.

QUIDS. Cash, money. Can you tip me any quids? can you lend me some money?

QUIFFING. Rogering. See TO ROGER.

QUIDNUNC. A politician: from a character of that name in the farce of the Upholsterer.

QUILL DRIVER. A clerk, scribe, or hackney writer.

QUIM. The private parts of a woman: perhaps from the Spanish quemar, to burn. (CAMBRIDGE) A piece's furbelow.

QUINSEY. Choked by a hempen quinsey; hanged.

QUIPPS. Girds, taunts, jests.

QUIRE, or CHOIR BIRD. A complete rogue, one that has sung in different choirs or cages, i.e. gaols. CANT.

QUIRKS AND QUILLETS. Tricks and devices. Quirks in law; subtle distinctions and evasions.

QUIZ. A strange-looking fellow, an odd dog. OXFORD.

QUOD. Newgate, or any other prison. The dab's in quod; the poor rogue is in prison.

QUOTA. Snack, share, part, proportion, or dividend. Tip me my quota; give me part of the winnings, booty, or plunder. CANT.