A Dictionary of Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words

New York, 1859

It is a curious fact connected with slang that a great number of vulgar words common in England are equally common in the United States; and when we remember that America began to people two centuries ago, and that these colloquialisms must have crossed the sea with the first emigrants, we can form some idea of the antiquity of popular or street language. Many words, owing to the caprices of fashion or society, have wholly disappeared in the parent country, whilst in the colonies they are yet heard. The words SKINK, to serve drink in company, and the old term MICHING or MEECHING, skulking or playing truant, for instance, are still in use in the United States, although nearly, if not quite, obsolete here.

BEAUMONT and FLETCHER’S Comedy of The Beggar’s Bush, 4to, 1661, or any edition.

Contains numerous cant words.

BEE’S (Jon.) Dictionary of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, the Pit, the Bon Ton, and the Varieties of Life, forming the completest and most authentic Lexicon Balatronicum hitherto offered to the notice of the Sporting World, by Jon. Bee [i. e. John Badcock], Esq., Editor of the Fancy, Fancy Gazette, Living Picture of London, and the like of that, 12mo.

1823

This author published books on Stable Economy under the name of Hinds. He was the sporting rival of Pierce Egan. Professor Wilson, in an amusing article in Blackwood’s Magazine, reviewed this work.

BEE’S (Jon.) Living Picture of London for 1828, and Stranger’s Guide through the Streets of the Metropolis; shewing the Frauds, the Arts, Snares, and Wiles of all descriptions of Rogues that everywhere abound, 12mo.

1828

Professes to be a guide to society, high and low, in London, and to give an insight into the language of the streets.

BEE’S (Jon.) Sportsman’s Slang, a New Dictionary of Terms used in the affairs of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, and the Cockpit; with those of Bon Ton and the Varieties of Life, forming a Lexicon Balatronicum et Macaronicum, &c., 12mo, plate.

For the Author, 1825

The same as the preceding, only with an altered title. Both wretched performances, filled with forced and low wit.

BLACKGUARDIANA; or, Dictionary of Rogues, Bawds, &c., 8vo, WITH PORTRAITS [by James Caulfield].

1795

This work, with a long and very vulgar title, is nothing but a reprint of Grose, with a few anecdotes of pirates, odd persons, &c., and some curious portraits inserted. It was concocted by Caulfield as a speculation, and published at one guinea per copy; and, owing to the remarkable title, and the notification at the bottom, that “only a few copies were printed,” soon became scarce. For philological purposes it is not worth so much as any edition of Grose.

BOXIANA, or Sketches of Modern Pugilism, by Pierce Egan (an account of the prize ring), 3 vols, 8vo.

1820

Gives more particularly the cant terms of pugilism, but contains numerous (what were then styled) “flash” words.

BRANDON. Poverty, Mendicity, and Crime; or, the Facts, Examinations, &c., upon which the Report was founded, presented to the House of Lords by W. A. Miles, Esq., to which is added a Dictionary of the Flash or Cant Language, known to every Thief and Beggar, edited by H. Brandon, Esq., 8vo.

1839

A very wretched performance.

BROME’S (Rich.) Joviall Crew; or the Merry Beggars. Presented in a Comedie at the Cockpit, in Drury Lane, in the Year (4to.)

1652

Contains many cant words similar to those given by Decker, – from whose works they were doubtless obtained.

BROWN’S (Rev. Hugh Stowell) Lecture on Manliness, 12mo.

1857

Contains a few modern slang words.

BRYDGES’ (Sir Egerton) British Bibliographer, 4 vols, 8vo.

1810–14

Vol ii., page 521, gives a list of cant words.

BULWER’S (Sir Edward Lytton) Paul Clifford.

V.D.

Contains numerous cant words.

BULWER’S (Sir Edward Lytton) Pelham.

V.D.

Contains a few cant terms.

BUTLER’S Hudibras, with Dr. Grey’s Annotations, 3 vols, 8vo.

1819

Abounding in colloquial terms and phrases.

CAMBRIDGE. Gradus ad Cantabrigiam; or a Dictionary of Terms, Academical and Colloquial, or Cant, which are used at the University, with Illustrations, 12mo.

Camb., 1803

CANTING ACADEMY; or Villanies Discovered, wherein are shewn the Mysterious and Villanous Practices of that Wicked Crew – Hectors, Trapanners, Gilts, &c., with several new Catches and Songs; also Compleat Canting Dictionary, 12mo., frontispiece.

1674

Compiled by Richard Head.

CANTING; a Poem, interspersed with Tales and additional Scraps, post 8vo.

1814

A few words may be gleaned from this rather dull poem.

CANTING DICTIONARY; comprehending all the Terms, Antient and Modern, used in the several Tribes of Gypsies, Beggars, Shoplifters, Highwaymen, Foot Pads, and all other Clans of Cheats and Villains, with Proverbs, Phrases, Figurative Speeches, &c., to which is added a complete Collection of Songs in the Canting Dialect, 12mo.

1725

The title is by far the most interesting part of the work. A mere make-up of earlier attempts.

CAREW. Life and Adventures of Bamfylde Moore Carew, the King of the Beggars, with Canting Dictionary, portrait, 8vo.

1791

There are numerous editions of this singular biography. The Canting Dictionary is nothing more than a filch from earlier books.

CHARACTERISMS, or the Modern Age Displayed; being an attempt to expose the Pretended Virtues of Both Sexes, 12mo (part i., Ladies; part ii., Gentlemen), E. Owen.

1750

An anonymous work, from which some curious matter may be obtained.

CONYBEARE’S (Dean) Essay on Church Parties, reprinted from the Edinburgh Review, No. CC., October, 1853, 12mo.

1858

Several curious instances of religious or pulpit slang are given in this exceedingly interesting little volume.

COTTON’S (Charles) Genuine Poetical Works, 12mo.

1771

Scarronides, or Virgil Travestie, being the first and fourth Books of Virgil’s Æneis, in English burlesque, 8vo, 1672, and other works by this author, contain numerous vulgar words now known as slang.

DECKER’S (Thomas) The Bellman of London; bringing to light the most notorious villanies that are now practised in the Kingdome, 4to, black letter.

London, 1608

Watt says this is the first book which professes to give an account of the canting language of thieves and vagabonds. But this is wrong, as will have been seen from the remarks on Harman, who collected the words of the vagabond crew half a century before.

DECKER’S (Thomas) Lanthorne and Candle-light, or the Bellman’s Second Night’s Walke, in which he brings to light a brood of more strange villanies than ever were to this year discovered, 4to.

London, 1608–9

This is a continuation of the former work, and contains the Canter’s Dictionary, and has a frontispiece of the London Watchman with his staff broken.

DECKER’S (Thomas) Gulls Hornbook, 4to.

1609

“This work affords a greater insight into the fashionable follies and vulgar habits of Q. Elizabeth’s day than perhaps any other extant.”

DECKER’S (Thomas) O per se O, or a new Cryer of Lanthorne and Candle-light, an Addition of the Bellman’s Second Night’s Walke, 4to, black letter.

1612

A lively description of London. Contains a Canter’s Dictionary, every word in which appears to have been taken from Harman without acknowledgment. This is the first work that gives the Canting Song, a verse of which is inserted at page 20 of the Introduction. This Canting Song was afterwards inserted in nearly all Dictionaries of Cant.

DECKER’S (Thomas) Villanies discovered by Lanthorne and Candle-light, and the Helpe of a new Cryer called O per se O, 4to.

1616

“With Canting Songs neuer before printed.”

DECKER’S (Thomas) English Villanies, eight several times prest to Death by the Printers, but still reviving again, are now the eighth time (as at the first) discovered by Lanthorne and Candle-light, &c., 4to.

1648

The eighth edition of the “Lanthorne and Candle-light.”

DICTIONARY of all the Cant and Flash Languages, both Ancient and Modern, 18mo.

Bailey, 1790

DICTIONARY of all the Cant and Flash Languages, 12mo.

London, 1797

DICTIONARY of the Canting Crew (Ancient and Modern), of Gypsies, Beggars, Thieves, &c., 12mo.

N.D. [1700]

DICTIONNAIRE des Halle, 12mo.

Bruxelles, 1696

This curious Slang Dictionary sold in the Stanley sale for £4 16s.

DUCANGE ANGLICUS. – The Vulgar Tongue: comprising Two Glossaries of Slang, Cant, and Flash Words and Phrases used in London at the present day, 12mo.

1857

A silly and childish performance, full of blunders and contradictions. A second edition appeared during the past year.

DUNCOMBE’S Flash Dictionary of the Cant Words, Queer Sayings, and Crack Terms now in use in Flash Cribb Society, 32mo, coloured print.

1820

DUNTON’S Ladies Dictionary, 8vo.

London, 1694

Contains a few cant words.

EGAN. Grose’s Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, with the addition of numerous Slang Phrases, edited by Pierce Egan, 8vo.

1823

The best edition of Grose, with many additions, including a Life of this celebrated antiquarian.

EGAN’S (Pierce) Life in London, 2 vols, thick 8vo, with coloured plates by Geo. Cruikshank, representing high and low life.

18 —

Contains numerous cant, slang sporting, and vulgar words, supposed by the author to form the basis of conversation in life, high and low, in London.

ELWYN’S (Alfred L.) Glossary of supposed Americanisms– Vulgar and Slang Words used in the United States, small 8vo.

1859

GENTLEMAN’S MAGAZINE, 8vo.

N.D.

“In a very early volume of this parent magazine were given a few pages, by way of sample, of a Slang Vocabulary, then termed Cant. If, as we suspect, this part of the Magazine fell to the share of Dr. Johnson, who was then its editor, we have to lament that he did not proceed with the design.” —John Bee, in the Introduction to his Slang Dictionary, 1825.

GENTLEMAN’S MAGAZINE, vol. xcii., p. 520.

Mention made of slang.

GLOSSARIES of County Dialects.

V.D.

Many of these will repay examination, as they contain cant and slang words, wrongly inserted as provincial or old terms.

GOLDEN CABINET (The) of Secrets opened for Youth’s delightful Pastime, in 7 parts, the last being the “City and Country Jester;” with a Canting Dictionary, by Dr. Surman, 12mo.

London, N.D. (1730)

Contains some curious woodcuts.

GREENE’S (Robert) Notable Discovery of Coosnage, now daily practised by sundry lewd persons called Conie-catchers and Crosse biters. Plainly laying open those pernitious sleights that hath brought many ignorant men to confusion. Writen for the general benefit of all Gentlemen, Citizens, Aprentices, Country Farmers, and Yeomen, that may hap to fall into the company of such coosening companions. With a delightful discourse of the coosnage of Colliers, 4to, with woodcuts.

Printed by John Wolfe, 1591

The first edition. A copy of another edition, supposed to be unique, is dated 1592. It was sold at the Heber sale.

GREENE’S (Robert) Groundworke of Conny-Catching, the manner of their PEDLERS’ FRENCH, and the meanes to understand the same, with the cunning slights of the Conterfeit Cranke. Done by a Justice of the Peace of great Authoritie, 4to, with woodcuts.

1592

Usually enumerated among Greene’s works, but it is only a reprint, with variations, of Harman’s Caveat, and of which Rowland complains in his Martin Markall. The second and third parts of this curious work were published in the same year. Two other very rare volumes by Greene were published —The Defence of Cony-Catching, 4to, in 1592, and The Black Bookes Messenger, in 1595. They both treat on the same subjects.

GROSE’S (Francis, generally styled Captain) Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 8vo.

178 —

The much sought after First Edition, but containing nothing, as far as I have examined, which is not to be found in the second and third editions. As respects indecency, I find all the editions equally disgraceful. The Museum copy of the First Edition is, I suspect, Grose’s own copy, as it contains numerous manuscript additions which afterwards went to form the second edition. Excepting the obscenities, it is really an extraordinary book, and displays great industry, if we cannot speak much of its morality. It is the well from which all the other authors – Duncombe, Caulfield, Clarke, Egan, &c. &c. – drew their vulgar outpourings, without in the least purifying what they had stolen.

HAGGART. Life of David Haggart, alias John Wilson, alias Barney M‘Coul, written by himself while under sentence of Death, curious frontispiece of the Prisoner in Irons, intermixed with all the Slang and Cant Words of the Day, to which is added a Glossary of the same, 12mo.

1821

HALL’S (B. H.) Collection of College Words and Customs, 12mo.

Cambridge (U.S.), 1856

Very complete. The illustrations are excellent.

HALLIWELL’S Archaic Dictionary, 2 vols, 8vo.

1855

An invaluable work, giving the cant words used by Decker, Brome, and a few of those mentioned by Grose.

HARLEQUIN Jack Shepherd, with a Night Scene in Grotesque Characters, 8vo.

(About 1736)

Contains Songs in the Canting dialect.

HARMAN’S (Thomas, Esq.) Caveat or Warening for Common Cursetors, vulgarely called Vagabones, set forth for the utilitie and profit of his naturall countrey, augmented and inlarged by the first author thereof; whereunto is added the tale of the second taking of the counterfeit Crank, with the true report of his behaviour and also his punishment for his so dissembling, most marvellous to the hearer or reader thereof, newly imprinted, 4to.

Imprinted at London, by H. Middleton, 1573

Contains the earliest Dictionary of the Cant language. Four editions were printed —

William Griffith 1566

William Griffith 1567

William Griffith 1567

Henry Middleton, 1573

What Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was to the authors of the earlier part of the present century, Harman’s was to the Deckers, and Bromes, and Heads of the seventeenth.

HARRISON’S (William) Description of the Island of Britain (prefixed to Holinshed’s Chronicle), 2 vols, folio.

1577

Contains an account of English vagabonds.

HAZLITT’S (William) Table Talk, 12mo (vol. ii. contains a chapter on Familiar Style, with a notice on Slang Terms.)

V.D.

HEAD’S (Richard) English Rogue, described in the Life of Meriton Latroon, a Witty Extravagant, 4 vols., 12mo.

Frans. Kirkman, 1671–80

Contains a list of cant words, evidently copied from Decker.

HELL UPON EARTH, or the most pleasant and delectable History of Whittington’s Colledge, otherwise vulgarly called Newgate, 12mo.

1703

HENLEY’S (John, better known as ORATOR HENLEY) Various Sermons and Orations.

1719–53

Contain numerous vulgarisms and slang phrases.

[HITCHING’S (Charles, formerly City Marshal, now a Prisoner in Newgate)] Regulator; or, a Discovery of the Thieves, Thief-Takers, and Locks, alias Receivers of Stolen Goods in and about the City of London, also an Account of all the FLASH WORDS now in vogue amongst the Thieves, &c., 8vo., VERY RARE, with a curious woodcut.

1718

A violent attack upon Jonathan Wild.

HOUSEHOLD WORDS, No. 183, September 24.

Gives an interesting but badly digested article on slang; many of the examples are wrong.

JOHNSON’S (Dr. Samuel) Dictionary (the earlier editions).

V.D.

Contains a great number of words italicised as cant, low, or barbarous.

JONSON’S (Ben.) Bartholomew Fair, ii., 6.

Several cant words are placed in the mouths of the characters.

JONSON’S (Ben.) Masque of the Gipsies Metamorphosed, 4to.

16 —

Contains numerous cant words.

KENT’S (E.) Modern Flash Dictionary, containing all the Cant Words, Slang Terms, and Flash Phrases now in Vogue, 18mo., coloured frontispiece.

1825

L’ESTRANGE’S (Sir Roger) Works (principally translations).

V.D.

Abound in vulgar and slang phrases.

LEXICON Balatronicum; a Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence, by a Member of the Whip Club, assisted by Hell-fire Dick, 8vo.

1811

One of the many reprints of Grose’s second edition, put forth under a fresh, and what was then considered more attractive title. It was given out in advertisements, &c., as a piece of puff, that it was edited by a Dr. H. Clarke, but it contains scarcely a line more than Grose.

LIBER VAGATORUM: Der Betler Orden, 4to.

The first edition of this book appears to have been printed at Augsburg, by Erhard Öglin, or Ocellus, about 1514, – a small quarto of twelve leaves. It was frequently reprinted at other places in Germany; and in 1528 there appeared an edition at Wittemberg, with a preface by Martin Luther, who says that the “Rotwelsche Sprach,” the cant language of the beggars, comes from the Jews, as it contains many Hebrew words, as anyone who understands that language may perceive. This book is divided into three parts, or sections; the first gives a special account of the several orders of the “Fraternity of Vagabonds;” the second, sundry “notabilia” relating to the different classes of beggars previously described; and the third consists of a “Rotwelsche Vocabulary,” or “Canting Dictionary.” There is a long notice of the “Liber Vagatorum” in the “Wiemarisches Jahrbuch,” 10te, Band, 1856. Mayhew, in his “London Labour,” states that many of our cant words are derived from the Jew fences. It is singular that a similar statement should have been made by Martin Luther more than three centuries before.

LIFE IN ST. GEORGE’S FIELDS, or the Rambles and Adventures of Disconsolate William, Esq., and his Surrey Friend, Flash Dick, with Songs and a FLASH DICTIONARY, 8vo.

1821

MAGINN (Dr.) wrote Slang Songs in Blackwood’s Magazine.

1827

MAYHEW’S (Henry) London Labour and London Poor, 3 vols, 8vo.

1851

An invaluable work to the inquirer into popular or street language.

MAYHEW’S (Henry) Great World of London, 8vo.

1857

An unfinished work, but containing several examples of the use and application of cant and slang words.

MIDDLETON (Thomas) and DECKER’S (Thomas) Roaring Girl; or Moll Cut Purse, 4to.

1611

The conversation in one scene is entirely in the so-called Pedlar’s French. It is given in Dodsley’s Old Plays.

MODERN FLASH DICTIONARY, 48mo.

1825

The smallest slang dictionary ever printed.

MONCRIEFF’S Tom and Jerry, or Life in London, a Farce in Three Acts, 12mo.

1820

An excellent exponent of the false and forced “high life” which was so popular during the minority of George IV. The farce had a run of a hundred nights, or more, and was a general favourite for years. It abounds in cant, and the language of “gig,” as it was then often termed.

MORNINGS AT BOW STREET, by T. Wright, 12mo, with Illustrations by George Cruikshank.

Tegg, 1838

In this work a few etymologies of slang words are attempted.

NEW CANTING DICTIONARY, 12mo.

N.D.

A copy of this work is described in Rodd’s Catalogue of Elegant Literature, 1845, part iv., No. 2128, with manuscript notes and additions in the autograph of Isaac Reed, price £1 8s.

NEW DICTIONARY of the Terms, Ancient and Modern, of the Canting Crew in its several tribes of Gypsies, Beggars, Thieves, Cheats, &c., with an addition of some Proverbs, Phrases, Figurative Speeches, &c., by B. E. Gent, 12mo.

N.D. [1710]

Afterwards issued under the title of Bacchus and Venus, 1737, and in 1754 as the Scoundrel’s Dictionary.

NEW DICTIONARY of all the Cant and Flash Languages used by every class of offenders, from a Lully Prigger to a High Tober Gloak, small 8vo., pp. 62.

179 —

Mentioned by John Bee.

NOTES AND QUERIES. The invaluable Index to this most useful periodical may be consulted with advantage by the seeker after etymologies of slang and cant words.

PARKER. High and Low Life, A View of Society in, being the Adventures in England, Ireland, &c., of Mr. G. Parker, a Stage Itinerant, 2 vols in 1, thick 12mo.

Printed for the Author, 1781

A curious work, containing many cant words, with 100 orders of rogues and swindlers.

PARKER’S (Geo.) Life’s Painter of Variegated Characters, with a Dictionary of Cant Language and Flash Songs, to which is added a Dissertation on Freemasonry, portrait, 8vo.

1789

PEGGE’S (Samuel) Anecdotes of the English Language, chiefly regarding the Local Dialect of London and Environs, 8vo.

1803–41

PERRY’S (William) London Guide and Stranger’s Safeguard, against Cheats, Swindlers, and Pickpockets, by a Gentleman who has made the Police of the Metropolis an object of enquiry twenty-two years (no wonder when the author was in prison a good portion of that time!)

1818

Contains a dictionary of slang and cant words.

PHILLIPS’ New World of Words, folio.

1696

PICKERING’S (F.) Vocabulary, or Collection of Words and Phrases which have been supposed to be peculiar to the United States of America, to which is prefixed an Essay on the present state of the English Language in the United States, 8vo.

Boston, 1816

The remark made upon Bartlett’s Americanisms applies equally to this work.

PICTURE OF THE FANCY, 12mo.

18 —

Contains numerous slang terms.

POTTER’S (H. T., of Clay, Worcestershire) New Dictionary of all the Cant and Flash Languages, both ancient and modern, 8vo, pp. 62.

1790

POULTER. The Discoveries of John Poulter, alias Baxter, 8vo, 48 pages.

(1770?)

At pages 42, 43, there is an explanation of the “Language of Thieves, commonly called Cant.”

PRISON BREAKER, The, or the Adventures of John Shepherd, a Farce, 8vo.

London, 1725

Contains a canting song, &c.

PUNCH, or the London Charivari,

Often points out slang, vulgar, or abused words. It also, occasionally, employs them in jokes, or sketches of character.

QUARTERLY REVIEW, vol. x., p. 528.

Gives a paper on Americanisms and slang phrases.

RANDALL’S (Jack, the pugilist, formerly of the “Hole in the Wall,” Chancery lane) Diary of Proceedings at the House of Call for Genius, edited by Mr. Breakwindow, to which are added several of Mr. B.’s minor pieces, 12mo.

1820

Believed to have been written by Thomas Moore. The verses are mostly parodies of popular authors, and abound in the slang of pugilism, and the phraseology of the fast life of the period.

RANDALL (Jack) A Few Selections from his Scrap Book; to which are added Poems on the late Fight for the Championship, 12mo.

1822

Frequently quoted by Moore in Tom Crib’s Memorial.

SCOUNDREL’S DICTIONARY, or an Explanation of the Cant Words used by Thieves, Housebreakers, Street-robbers, and Pickpockets about Town, with some curious dissertations on the Art of Wheedling, &c., the whole printed from a copy taken on one of their gang, in the late scuffle between the watchmen and a party of them on Clerkenwell green, 8vo.

1754

A reprint of Bacchus and Venus, 1737.

SHARP (Jeremy) The Life of an English Rogue, 12mo.

1740

Includes a “Vocabulary of the Gypsies’ Cant.”

SHERWOOD’S Gazetteer of Georgia, U.S., 8vo.

Contains a glossary of words, slang and vulgar, peculiar to the Southern States.

SMITH’S (Capt.) Compleat History of the Lives and Robberies of the most Notorious Highwaymen, Foot-pads, Shop-lifts, and Cheats, of both Sexes, in and about London and Westminster, 12mo, vol. i.

1719

This volume contains “The Thieves New Canting Dictionary Of the Words, Proverbs, &c., used by Thieves.”

SMITH (Capt. Alexander) The Thieves Grammar, 12mo., p. 28.

17 —

A copy of this work is in the collection formed by Prince Lucien Bonaparte.

SMITH’S (Capt.) Thieves Dictionary, 12mo.

1724

SNOWDEN’S Magistrate’s Assistant, and Constable’s Guide, thick small 8vo.

1852

Gives a description of the various orders of cadgers, beggars, and swindlers, together with a Glossary of the Flash Language.

SPORTSMAN’S DICTIONARY, 4to.