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The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue dates from 1811 and this is probably the only full, uncensored and searchable
version of this dictionary on the internet. All the original crudities have been restored and it offers an
interesting perspective on Common English from the time of the Regency and Jane Austen.
Select a letter or type a word and click Find. Searches are automatically wild-carded and clicking on words in the first column will look for all occurrences of that word, or related word.
Example:You click A and one of the results is ARSE. If you now click on ARSE the full list of related content will be displayed.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Select a letter or type a word and click Find. Searches are automatically wild-carded and clicking on words in the first column will look for all occurrences of that word, or related word.
Example:You click A and one of the results is ARSE. If you now click on ARSE the full list of related content will be displayed.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Entries releated to DROP
| APRIL FOOL | Any one imposed on, or sent on a bootless errand, on the first of April; which day it is the custom among the lower people, children, and servants, by dropping empty papers carefully doubled up, sending persons on absurd messages, and such like contrivances, to impose on every one they can, and then to salute them with the title of April Fool. This is also practised in Scotland under the title of Hunting the Gowke. | |
| COG | The money, or whatsoever the sweeteners drop to draw in a bubble. | |
| DROP | The new drop; a contrivance for executing felons at Newgate, by means of a platform, which drops from under them: this is also called the last drop. See LEAF. See MORNING DROP. | |
| DROP A COG | To let fall, with design, a piece of gold or silver, in order to draw in and cheat the person who sees it picked up; the piece so dropped is called a dropt cog. | |
| DROP COVES | Persons who practice the fraud of dropping a ring or other article, and picking it up before the person intended to be defrauded, they pretend that the thing is very valuable to induce their gull to lend them money, or to purchase the article. See FAWNY RIG, and MONEY DROPPERS. | |
| DROP DOWN | To be dispirited. This expression is used by thieves to signify that their companion did not die game, as the kiddy dropped down when he went to be twisted; the young fellow was very low spirited when he walked out to be hanged. | |
| DROP IN THE EYE | Almost drunk. | |
| DROPPING MEMBER | A man's yard with a gonorrhoea. | |
| EVES DROPPER | One that lurks about to rob hen-roosts; also a listener at doors and windows, to hear private conversation. | |
| FAWNEY RIG | A common fraud, thus practised: A fellow drops a brass ring, double gilt, which he picks up before the party meant to be cheated, and to whom he disposes of it for less than its supposed, and ten times more than its real, value. See MONEY DROPPER. | |
| FOUNDLING | A child dropped in the streets, and found, and educated at the parish expence. | |
| GAFF | A fair. The drop coves maced the joskins at the gaff; the ring-droppers cheated the countryman at the fair. | |
| GOLD DROPPERS | Sharpers who drop a piece of gold, which they pick up in the presence of some unexperienced person, for whom the trap is laid, this they pretend to have found, and, as he saw them pick it up, they invite him to a public house to partake of it: when there, two or three of their comrades drop in, as if by accident, and propose cards, or some other game, when they seldom fail of stripping their prey. | |
| JOSKIN | A countryman. The dropcove maced the Joskin of twenty quid; The ring dropper cheated the countryman of twenty guineas. | |
| LAG | To drop behind, to keep back. Lag last; the last of a company. | |
| MONEY DROPPERS | Cheats who drop money, which they pretend to find just before some country lad; and by way of giving him a share of their good luck, entice him into a public house, where they and their confederates cheat or rob him of what money he has about him. | |
| MORNING DROP | The gallows. He napped the king's pardon and escaped the morning drop; he was pardoned, and was not hanged. | |
| NEW DROP | The scaffold used at Newgate for hanging of criminals; which dropping down, leaves them suspended. By this improvement, the use of that vulgar vehicle, a cart, is entirely left off. | |
| OATHS | The favourite oaths of the thieves of the present day are, "God strike me blind!" "I wish my bloody eyes may drop out if it is not true!" "So help me God!" "Bloody end to me!" | |
| RUM DROPPER | A vintner. | |
| STAGGERING BOB, WITH HIS YELLOW PUMPS | A calf just dropped, and unable to stand, killed for veal in Scotland: the hoofs of a young calf are yellow. | |
| SUPERNACOLUM | Good liquor, of which there is not even a drop left sufficient to wet one's nail. | |
| SWEETNESS | Guinea droppers, cheats, sharpers. To sweeten to decoy, or draw in. To be sweet upon; to coax, wheedle, court, or allure. He seemed sweet upon that wench; he seemed to court that girl. | |
| TENDER PARNELL | A tender creature, fearful of the least puff of wind or drop of rain. As tender as Parnell, who broke her finger in a posset drink. | |
| THREE-LEGGED MARE, or STOOL | The gallows, formerly consisting of three posts, over which were laid three transverse beams. This clumsy machine has lately given place to an elegant contrivance, called the NEW DROP, by which the use of that vulgar vehicle a cart, or mechanical instrument a ladder, is also avoided; the patients being left suspended by the dropping down of that part of the floor on which they stand. This invention was first made use of for a peer. See DROP. | |