A Dictionary of Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words

LOAVER, money. —See LOUR.

LOB, a till, or money drawer.

LOBB, the head. —Pugilistic.

LOBLOLLY, gruel. —Old: used by Markham as a sea term for grit gruel, or hasty pudding.

LOBLOLLY BOY, a derisive term for a surgeon’s mate in the navy.

LOBS, words. —Gipsey.

LOBSTER, a soldier. A policeman from the colour of his coat is styled an unboiled, or raw LOBSTER.

LOBSTER-BOX, a barrack, or military station.

LOLLY, the head. —See LOBB. —Pugilistic.

LONG-BOW, “to draw,” or “shoot with the LONG BOW,” to exaggerate.

LONG-TAILED-ONES, bank notes, or FLIMSIES, for a large amount.

LOOF FAKER, a chimney-sweep. —See FLUE FAKER.

LOOSE. —See ON THE LOOSE.

LOOT, swag, or plunder. —Hindoo.

LOP-SIDED, uneven, one side larger than the other. —Old.

LOPE, this old form of leap is often heard in the streets.

LORD, “drunk as a LORD,” a common saying, probably referring to the facilities a man of fortune has for such a gratification; perhaps a sly sarcasm at the supposed habits of the “haristocracy.”

LORD, a hump-backed man. —See MY LORD.

LORD OF THE MANOR, a sixpence.

LOUD, flashy, showy, as applied to dress or manner. —See BAGS.

LOUR, or LOWR, money; “gammy LOWR,” bad money. —Ancient cant, and Gipsey.

LOUSE-TRAP, a small tooth comb. —Old cant.—See CATCH ’EM ALIVE.

LOVE, at billiards “five to none” would be “five LOVE,” – a LOVE being the same as when one player does not score at all.

LOVEAGE, tap droppings, a mixture of spirits, sweetened and sold to habitual dram-drinkers, principally females. Called also ALLS.

LUBBER, a clown, or fool. —Ancient cant, LUBBARE.

LUBBER’S HOLE, an aperture in the maintop of a ship, by which a timid climber may avoid the difficulties of the “futtock shrouds” – hence, a sea term for any cowardly way of evading duty.

LUCK, “down on one’s LUCK,” wanting money, or in difficulty.

LUCKY, “to cut one’s LUCKY,” to go away quickly. —See STRIKE.

LUG, “my togs are in LUG,” i. e., in pawn.

LUG, the ear. —Scotch.

LUG, to pull, or slake thirst. —Old.

LUG CHOVEY, a pawnbroker’s shop.

LULLY PRIGGERS, rogues who steal wet clothes hung on lines to dry.

LUMBER, to pawn or pledge. —Household Words, No. 183.

LUMMY, jolly, first-rate.

LUMPER, a contractor. On the river, more especially a person who contracts to deliver a ship laden with timber.

LUMP THE LIGHTER, to be transported.

LUMP WORK, work contracted for, or taken by the lump.

LUMPERS, low thieves who haunt wharves and docks, and rob vessels; persons who sell old goods for new.

LUMPY, intoxicated.

LUNAN, a girl. —Gipsey.

LURK, a sham, swindle, or representation of feigned distress.

LURKER, an impostor who travels the country with false certificates of fires, shipwrecks, &c.

LUSH, intoxicating drinks of all kinds, but generally used for beer. The Globe, 8th September, 1859, says “LUSH and its derivatives claim Lushington, the brewer, as sponsor.”

LUSH, to drink, or get drunk.

LUSH-CRIB, a public house.

LUSHINGTON, a drunkard, or one who continually soaks himself with drams, and pints of beer. Some years since there was a “Lushington Club” in Bow-street, Covent Garden.

LUSHY, intoxicated. Johnson says “opposite to pale,” so red with drink.

MAB, a cab, or hackney coach.

MACE, a dressy swindler who victimizes tradesmen.

MACE, to spunge, swindle, or beg, in a polite way; “give it him (a shopkeeper) on the MACE,” i. e., obtain goods on credit and never pay for them; also termed “striking the MACE.”

MADZA, half. Italian, MEZZA. This word enters into combination with various cant phrases, mainly taken from the Lingua Franca, as MADZA CAROON, half-a-crown, two-and-sixpence; MADZA SALTEE, a halfpenny [see SALTEE]; MADZA POONA, half-a-sovereign; MADZA ROUND THE BULL, half-a-pound of steak, &c.

MAG, a halfpenny. —Ancient cant, MAKE. Meggs were formerly guineas. —B. M. Carew.

MAG, to talk. A corruption of NAG. —Old; hence MAGPIE.

MAGGOTTY, fanciful, fidgetty. Whims and fancies were formerly termed MAGGOTS, from the popular belief that a maggot in the brain was the cause of any odd notion or caprice a person might exhibit.

MAGSMAN, a street swindler, who watches for countrymen and “gullable” persons.

MAHOGANY, “to have one’s feet under another man’s MAHOGANY,” to sit at his table, be supported on other than one’s own resources; “amputate your MAHOGANY,” i. e., go away, or “cut your stick.”

MAIN-TOBY, the highway, or the main road.

MAKE, a successful theft, or swindle.

MAKE, to steal.

MAKE UP, personal appearance. —Theatrical.

MANG, to talk. —Scotch.

MARE’S NEST, a Cockney discovery of marvels, which turn out no marvels at all. An old preacher in Cornwall, up to very lately employed a different version, viz.: “a cow calving up in a tree.”

MARINATED, transported; – from the salt-pickling fish undergo in Cornwall. —Old cant.

MARINE, or MARINE RECRUIT, an empty bottle. This expression having once been used in the presence of an officer of marines, he was at first inclined to take it as an insult, until some one adroitly appeased his wrath by remarking that no offence could be meant, as all that it could possibly imply was, “one who had done his duty, and was ready to do it again.” —See HORSE MARINE. —Naval.

MARRIAGE LINES, a marriage certificate. —Provincial.

MARROWSKYING. —See MEDICAL GREEK.

MARYGOLD, one million sterling. —See PLUM.

MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS, when the leader of the House of Commons goes through the doleful operation of devoting to extinction a number of useful measures at the end of the session, for want of time to pass them. —Vide Times, 20th July, 1859: Mr. C. Foster, on altering the time of the legislative sessions. —Parliamentary slang.

MATE, the term a coster or low person applies to a friend, partner, or companion; “me and my MATE did so and so,” is a common phrase with a low Londoner. – Originally a Sea term.

MAULEY, a signature, from MAULEY, a fist; “put your FIST to it,” is sometimes said by a low tradesman when desiring a fellow trader to put his signature to a bill or note.

MAULEY, a fist, that with which one strikes as with a MALL. —Pugilistic.

MAUND, to beg; “MAUNDERING on the fly,” begging of people in the streets. —Old cant. Maung, to beg, is a term in use amongst the Gipseys, and may also be found in the Hindoo Vocabulary. Maund, however, is pure Anglo Saxon, from MAND, a basket. Compare “beg,” which is derived from BAG, a curious parallel.

MAW, the mouth; “hold your MAW,” cease talking.

MAX, gin; MAX-UPON TICK, gin obtained upon credit.

M. B. COAT, i. e., Mark of the Beast, a name given to the long surtout worn by the clergy, – a modern Puritan form of abuse, said to have been accidentally disclosed to a Tractarian customer by a tailor’s orders to his foreman.

MEALY-MOUTHED, plausible, deceitful.

MEDICAL GREEK, the slang used by medical students at the hospitals. At the London University they have a way of disguising English, described by Albert Smith as the Gower-street Dialect, which consists in transposing the initials of words, e. g., “poke a smipe” – smoke a pipe, “flutter-by” – butterfly, &c. This disagreeable nonsense is often termed MARROWSKYING. —See GREEK, St. Giles’ Greek, or the “Ægidiac” dialect, Language of ZIPH, &c.

MENAGERY, the orchestra of a theatre. —Theatrical.

MIDDY, abbreviation of MIDSHIPMAN. —Naval.

MIDGE NET, a lady’s veil.

MIKE, to loiter; or, as a costermonger defined it, to “lazy about.” The term probably originated at St. Giles’, which used to be thronged with Irish labourers (Mike being so common a term with them as to become a generic appellation for Irishmen with the vulgar) who used to loiter about the Pound, and lean against the public-houses in the “Dials” waiting for hire.

MILKY ONES, white linen rags.

MILL, a fight, or SET TO. Ancient cant, MYLL, to rob.

MILL, to fight or beat.

MILL, the treadmill, prison.

MILL-TOG, a shirt – most likely the prison garment.

MISH, a shirt, or chemise. From COMMISSION, the Ancient cant for a shirt, afterwards shortened to K’MISH or SMISH, and then to MISH. French, CHEMISE; Italian, CAMICIA.

“With his snowy CAMESE and his shaggy capote.” —Byron.

MITTENS, fists. —Pugilistic.

MIZZLE, to run away, or decamp; to disappear as in a mist. From MIZZLE, a drizzling rain; a Scotch mist.

“And then one mizzling Michaelmas nightThe Count he MIZZLED too.” —Hood.

MOB. Swift informs us, in his Art of Polite Conversation, that MOB was, in his time, the slang abbreviation of Mobility, just as NOB is of Nobility at the present day. —See SCHOOL.

MOBILITY, the populace; or, according to Burke, the “great unwashed.” Johnson calls it a cant term, although Swift notices it as a proper expression.

MOBS, companions; MOBSMEN, dressy swindlers.

MOKE, a donkey. —Gipsey.

MOKO, a name given by sportsmen to pheasants killed by mistake in partridge shooting during September, before the pheasant shooting comes in. They pull out their tails, and roundly assert they are no pheasants at all, but MOKOS.

MOLL, a girl; nickname for Mary. —Old cant.

MOLL’D, followed, or accompanied by a woman.

MOLLISHER, a low girl or woman; generally a female cohabiting with a man, and jointly getting their living by thieving.

MOLLSACK, a reticule, or market basket.

MOLL-TOOLER, a female pickpocket.

MOLLYCODDLE, an effeminate man; one who caudles amongst the women, or does their work.

MOLLYGRUBS, or MULLIGRUBS, stomach-ache, or sorrow – which to the costermonger is much the same, as he believes, like the ancients, that the viscera is the seat of all feeling.

MOLROWING, “out on the spree,” in company with so-called “gay women.” In allusion to the amatory serenadings of the London cats.

MONEKEER, a person’s name or signature.

MONKEY, spirit, or ill temper; “to get one’s MONKEY up,” to rouse his passion. A man is said to have his MONKEY up, or the MONKEY on his back, when he is “riled,” or out of temper; also to have his BACK or HUMP up.

MONKEY, a padlock.

MONKEY, the instrument which drives a rocket. —Army.

MONKEY, £500.

MONKEY WITH A LONG TAIL, a mortgage. —Legal.

MONKEY’S ALLOWANCE, to get blows instead of alms, more kicks than half-pence.

MONKERY, the country, or rural districts. Old word for a quiet, or monastic life. —Hall.

MOOCH, to sponge; to obtrude yourself upon friends just when they are about to sit down to dinner, or other lucky time – of course quite accidentally. – Compare HULK. To slink away, and allow your friend to pay for the entertainment. In Wiltshire, ON THE MOUTCH is to shuffle.

MOOCHING, or ON THE MOOCH, on the look out for any articles or circumstances which may be turned to a profitable account; watching in the streets for odd jobs, scraps, horses to hold, &c.

MOOE, the mouth; the female generative organ. —Gipsey and Hindoo. Shakespere has MOE, to make mouths.

MOON, a month – generally used to express the length of time a person has been sentenced by the magistrate; thus “ONE MOON” is one month. —See DRAG. It is a curious fact that the Indians of America and the roaming vagabonds of England should both calculate time by the MOON.

MOONEY, intoxicated. —Household Words, No. 183.

MOONLIGHT, or MOONSHINE, smuggled gin.

MOONSHINE, palaver, deception, humbug.

MOP, a hiring place (or fair) for servants. Steps are being taken to put down these assemblages, which have been proved to be greatly detrimental to the morality of the poor.

MOP UP, to drink, or empty a glass. —Old.

MOPS AND BROOMS, intoxicated. —Ho. Words, No. 183.

MOPUSSES, money; “MOPUSSES ran taper,” money ran short.

MORRIS, to decamp, be off. Probably from the ancient MORESCO, or MORRIS DANCE.

MORTAR-BOARD, the term given by the vulgar to the square college caps.

MOTT, a girl of indifferent character. Formerly Mort. Dutch, MOTT-KAST, a harlotry.

MOUNTAIN-DEW, whisky, advertised as from the Highlands.

MOUNTAIN PECKER, a sheep’s head. —See JEMMY.

MOUNTER, a false swearer. Derived from the borrowed clothes men used to MOUNT, or dress in, when going to swear for a consideration.

MOUTHPIECE, a lawyer, or counsel.

MOVE, a “dodge,” or cunning trick; “up to a move or two,” acquainted with tricks.

MRS. JONES, the house of office, a water-closet.

MRS. HARRIS and MRS. GAMP, nicknames of the Morning Herald and Standard newspapers, while united under the proprietorship of Mr. Baldwin. Mrs. Gamp, a monthly nurse, was a character in Mr. Charles Dickens’ popular novel of Martin Chuzzlewit, who continually quoted an imaginary Mrs. Harris in attestation of the superiority of her qualifications, and the infallibility of her opinions; and thus afforded a parallel to the two newspapers, who appealed to each other as independent authorities, being all the while the production of the same editorial staff.

MUCK, to beat, or excel; “it’s no use, luck’s set in him; he’d MUCK a thousand.” —Mayhew, vol. i, p. 18. To run a muck, or GO A MUCKER, to rush headlong into certain ruin. From a certain religious phrenzy, which is common among the Malays, causing one of them, kreese in hand, to dash into a crowd and devote every one to death he meets with, until he is himself killed, or falls from exhaustion —Malay, AMOK, slaughter.

MUCK OUT, to clean out, – often applied to one utterly ruining an adversary in gambling. From the Provincial MUCK, dirt.

MUCK-SNIPE, one who has been “MUCKED OUT,” or beggared, at gambling.

MUCKENDER, or MUCKENGER, a pocket handkerchief. —Old.

MUDFOG, “The British Association for the Promotion of Science.” —University.

MUD-LARKS, men and women who, with their clothes tucked above knee, grovel through the mud on the banks of the Thames, when the tide is low, for silver spoons, old bottles, pieces of iron, coal, or any articles of the least value, deposited by the retiring tide, either from passing ships or the sewers. Occasionally those men who cleanse the sewers, with great boots and sou’ wester hats.

MUFF, a silly, or weak-minded person; MUFF has been defined to be “a soft thing that holds a lady’s hand without squeezing it.”

MUFFIN-WORRY, an old ladies’ tea party.

MUFTI, the civilian dress of a naval or military officer when off duty. —Anglo Indian.

MUG, to fight, or chastise.

MUG, “to MUG oneself,” to get tipsy.

MUG, the mouth, or face. —Old.

MUGGING, a thrashing, – synonymous with slogging, both terms of the “ring,” and frequently used by fighting men.

MUGGY, drunk.

MUG-UP, to paint one’s face. —Theatrical. To “cram” for an examination. —Army.

MULL, “to make a MULL of it,” to spoil anything, or make a fool of oneself. —Gipsey.

MULLIGRUBS. —Vide MOLLYGRUBS.

MULTEE KERTEVER, very bad. —Italian, MOLTO CATTIVO.

MUMMER, a performer at a travelling theatre. —Ancient. Rustic performers at Christmas in the West of England.

MUMPER, a beggar. —Gipsey. Possibly a corruption of MUMMER.

MUNDUNGUS, trashy tobacco. Spanish, MONDONGO, black pudding.

MUNGARLY, bread, food. Mung is an old word for mixed food, but MUNGARLY is doubtless derived from the Lingua Franca, MANGIAR, to eat. – See the following.

MUNGARLY CASA, a baker’s shop; evidently a corruption of some Lingua Franca phrase for an eating house. The well known “Nix mangiare” stairs at Malta derive their name from the endless beggars who lie there and shout NIX MANGIARE, i. e., “nothing to eat,” to excite the compassion of the English who land there, – an expression which exhibits remarkably the mongrel composition of the Lingua Franca, MANGIARE being Italian, and Nix an evident importation from Trieste, or other Austrian seaport.

MUNGING, or “MOUNGING,” whining, begging, muttering. —North.

MUNS, the mouth. German, MUND. —Old cant.

MURERK, the mistress of the house. —See BURERK.

MURKARKER, a monkey, – vulgar cockney pronunciation of MACAUCO, a species of monkey. Jackey Macauco was the name of a famous fighting monkey, which used about thirty years ago to display his prowess at the Westminster pit, where, after having killed many dogs, he was at last “chawed up” by a bull terrier.

MURPHY, a potato. Probably from the Irish national liking for potatoes, MURPHY being a common surname amongst the Irish. —See MIKE. Murphies (edible) are sometimes called DUNNAMANS.

MURPHY, “in the arms of MURPHY,” i. e., fast asleep. Corruption of MORPHEUS.

MUSH, an umbrella. Contraction of mushroom.

MUSH, (or MUSHROOM) FAKER, an itinerant mender of umbrellas.

MUSLIN, a woman or girl; “he picked up a bit of MUSLIN.”

MUTTON, a lewd woman. —Shakespere.

MUTTON-WALK, the saloon at Drury Lane Theatre.

MUZZLE, to fight or thrash.

MUZZLE, the mouth.

MUZZY, intoxicated. —Household Words, No. 183.

MY AUNT, a water-closet, or house of office.

MY LORD, a nickname given to a hunchback.

MY TULIP, a term of endearment used by the lower orders to persons and animals; “kim up, MY TULIP,” as the coster said to his donkey when thrashing him with an ash stick.

MY UNCLE, the pawnbroker, – generally used when any person questions the whereabouts of a domestic article, “Oh! only at MY UNCLE’S” is the reply. Up the spout has the same meaning.

NAB, to catch, to seize; “NAB the rust,” to take offence. —Ancient, fourteenth century.

NABOB, an Eastern prince, a retired Indian official, – hence a slang term for a capitalist.

NAIL, to steal, or capture; “paid on the NAIL,” i. e., ready money; NAILED, taken up, or caught – probably in allusion to the practice of NAILING bad money to the counter. We say “as dead as a DOOR-NAIL;” – why? Shakespere has the expression in Henry IV. —

“Falstaff. What! is the old king dead?Pistol. As nail in door.”

A correspondent thinks the expression is only alliterative humour, and compares as “Flat as a Flounder,” “straight as a soldier,” &c.

NAM, a policeman. Evidently back slang.

NAMBY PAMBY, particular, over nice, effeminate. This, I think, was of Pope’s invention, and first applied by him to the affected short-lined verses addressed by Ambrose Phillips to Lord Carteret’s infant children. —See Johnson’s Life of Pope.

NAMUS, or NAMOUS, some one, i. e., “be off, somebody is coming.” —Back slang, but general. —See VAMOS.

NANNY-SHOP, a disreputable house.

NANTEE, not any, or “I have none.” Italian, NIENTE, nothing. —See DINARLY.

NANTEE PALAVER, no conversation, i. e., hold your tongue. —Lingua Franca.– See PALAVER.

NAP, or NAB, to take, steal, or receive; “you’ll NAP it,” i. e., you will catch a beating! —North; also old cant. —Bulwer’s Paul Clifford.

NAP, or NAPPER, a hat. From NAB, a hat, cap, or head. —Old cant.

NAP ONE’S BIB, to cry, shed tears, or carry one’s point.

NAP THE REGULARS, to divide the booty.

NAP THE TEAZE, to be privately whipped in prison.

NARK, a person in the pay of the police; a common informer; one who gets his living by laying traps for publicans, &c.

NARK, to watch, or look after, “NARK the titter;” watch the girl.

NARP, a shirt. —Scotch.

NARY ONE, provincial for NE’ER A ONE, neither.

NASTY, ill-tempered, cross-grained.

NATION, very, or exceedingly. Corruption of DAMNATION.

NATTY, pretty, neat, tidy. —Old.

NATURAL, an idiot, a simpleton.

NECK, to swallow. Neck-oil, drink of any kind.

NECK OR NOTHING, desperate. —Racing phrase.

NEDDY, a life preserver. – Contraction of KENNEDY, the name of the first man, it is said in St. Giles’, who had his head broken by a poker. —Vide Mornings at Bow Street.

NEDDY, a donkey.

NEDS, guineas. Half-neds, half-guineas.

NED STOKES, the four of spades. —North Hants.—See Gentleman’s Magazine for 1791, p. 141.

NEEDFUL, money, cash.

NEEDY, a nightly lodger, or tramp.

NEEDY MIZZLER, a shabby person; a tramp who runs away without paying for his lodging.

NESTS, varieties. —Old.

NEVER-TRUST-ME, an ordinary phrase with low Londoners, and common in Shakespere’s time, vide Twelfth Night. It is generally used instead of an oath, calling vengeance on the asseverator, if such and such does not come to pass.

NEWGATE FRINGE, or FRILL, the collar of beard worn under the chin; so called from its occupying the position of the rope when Jack Ketch operates. Another name for it is a TYBURN COLLAR.

NEWGATE KNOCKER, the term given to the lock of hair which costermongers and thieves usually twist back towards the ear. The shape is supposed to resemble the knocker on the prisoners’ door at Newgate – a resemblance that would appear to carry a rather unpleasant suggestion to the wearer. Sometimes termed a COBBLER’S KNOT, or cow-lick, which see.

NEWMARKET, in tossing halfpence, when it is agreed that the first toss shall be decisive, the play is said to be NEWMARKET.

NIBBLE, to take, or steal. Nibbler, a petty thief.

NIBS, the master, or chief person; a man with no means but high pretensions, – a “shabby genteel.”

NICK, or OLD NICK, the evil spirit. —Scandinavian.

NICK, to hit the mark; “he’s NICKED it,” i. e., won his point.

NICK-KNACK, a trifle. – Originally cant.

NIGGLING, trifling, or idling; taking short steps in walking. —North.

NIL, half; half profits, &c.

NILLY-WILLY, i. e., Nill ye, will ye, whether you will or no, a familiar version of the Latin, NOLENS VOLENS.

NIMMING, stealing. Immediately from the German, NEHMEN. Motherwell, the Scotch poet, thought the old word NIM (to snatch or pick up) was derived from nam, nam, the tiny words or cries of an infant, when eating anything which pleases its little palate. A negro proverb has the word: —

“Buckra man nam crab,

Crab nam buckra man.”

Or, in the buckra man’s language —

“White man eat [or steal] the crab,

And the crab eats the white man.”

NINCOMPOOP, a fool, a hen pecked husband, a “Jerry Sneak.” – Corruption of non compos mentis.

NINE CORNS, a pipeful of tobacco.

NINES, “dressed up to the NINES,” in a showy or recherché manner.

NINEPENCE, “right as NINEPENCE,” all right, right to a nicety.

NIP, to steal, take up quickly.

NIPPER, a small boy. Old cant for a boy cut-purse.

NIX, nothing, “NIX my doll,” synonymous with NIX. German, NICHTS, nothing. —See MUNGARLY.

NIX! the signal word of school boys to each other that the master, or other person in authority, is approaching.

NIZZIE, a fool, a coxcomb. —Old cant, vide Triumph of Wit.

NOAH’S ARK, a long closely buttoned overcoat, recently in fashion. So named by Punch from the similarity which it exhibits to the figure of Noah and his sons in children’s toy arks.