Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue
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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.

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Entries releated to PET

 

ANGLERS  Pilferers, or petty thieves, who, with a stick having a hook at the end, steal goods out of shop-windows, grates, etc.; also those who draw in or entice unwary persons to prick at the belt, or such like devices.
 
APOSTLES  To manoeuvre the apostles, i.e. rob Peter to pay Paul; that is, to borrow money of one man to pay another.
 
BUNDLING  A man and woman sleeping in the same bed, he with his small clothes, and she with her petticoats on; an expedient practised in America on a scarcity of beds, where, on such an occasion, husbands and parents frequently permitted travellers to bundle with their wives and daughters. This custom is now abolished. See Duke of Rochefoucalt's Travels in America.
 
BUNTLINGS  Petticoats.
 
BURR  A hanger on, or dependant; an allusion to the field burrs, which are not easily got rid of. Also the Northumbrian pronunciation: the people of that country, but chiefly about Newcastle and Morpeth, are said to have a burr in their throats, particularly called the Newcastle burr.
 
CAPTAIN PODD  A celebrated master of a puppet-shew, in Ben Johnson's time, whose name became a common one to signify any of that fraternity.
 
CART  To put the cart before the horse; to mention the last part of a story first. To be flogged at the cart's arse or tail; persons guilty of petty larceny are frequently sentenced to be tied to the tail of a cart, and whipped by the common executioner, for a certain distance: the degree of severity in the execution is left to the discretion of the executioner, who, it is said, has cats of nine tails of all prices.
 
COB, or COBBING  A punishment used by the seamen for petty offences, or irregularities, among themselves: it consists in bastonadoing the offender on the posteriors with a cobbing stick, or pipe staff; the number usually inflicted is a dozen. At the first stroke the executioner repeats the word WATCH, on which all persons present are to take off their hats, on pain of like punishment: the last stroke is always given as hard as possible, and is called THE PURSE. Ashore, among soldiers, where this punishment is sometimes adopted, WATCH and THE PURSE are not included in the number, but given over and above, or, in the vulgar phrase, free gratis for nothing. This piece of discipline is also inflicted in Ireland, by the school-boys, on persons coming into the school without taking off their hats; it is there called school butter.
 
COLT  One who lets horses to highwaymen; also a boy newly initiated into roguery; a grand or petty juryman on his first assize.
 
CROAKUMSHIRE  Northumberland, from the particular croaking the pronunciation of the people of that county, especially about Newcastle and Morpeth, where they are said to be born with a burr in their throats, which prevents their pronouncing the letter r.
 
CURSITORS  Broken petty-fogging attornies, or Newgate solicitors.
 
DAMPER  A luncheon, or snap before dinner: so called from its damping, or allaying, the appetite; eating and drinking, being, as the proverb wisely observes, apt to take away the appetite.
 
DELLS  Young buxom wenches, ripe and prone to venery, but who have not lost their virginity, which the UPRIGHT MAN claims by virtue of his prerogative; after which they become free for any of the fraternity. Also a common strumpet.
 
DICKY  A woman's under-petticoat. It's all Dicky with him; i.e. it's all over with him.
 
DOCK  To lie with a woman. The cull docked the dell all the darkmans; the fellow laid with the wench all night. Docked smack smooth; one who has suffered an amputation of his penis from a venereal complaint. He must go into dock; a sea phrase, signifying that the person spoken of must undergo a salivation. Docking is also a punishment inflicted by sailors on the prostitutes who have infected them with the venereal disease; it consists in cutting off all their clothes, petticoats, shift and all, close to their stays, and then turning them into the street.
 
DONKEY, DONKEY DICK  A he, or jack ass: called donkey, perhaps, from the Spanish or don-like gravity of that animal, intitled also the king of Spain's trumpeter.
 
FIDLAM BEN  General thieves; called also St. Peter's sons, having every finger a fish-hook.
 
FLICKING  Cutting. Flick me some panam and caffan; cut me some bread and cheese. Flick the peter; cut off the cloak-bag, or portmanteau.
 
GODFATHER  He who pays the reckoning, or answers for the rest of thecompany: as, Will you stand godfather, and we will take care of the brat; i.e. repay you another time. Jurymen are also called godfathers, because they name the crime the prisoner before them has been guilty of, whether felony, petit larceny, etc.
 
HOPPER-ARSED  Having large projecting buttocks: from their resemblance to a small basket, called a hopper or hoppet, worn by husbandmen for containing seed corn, when they sow the land.
 
LIMB OF THE LAW  An inferior or pettyfogging attorney.
 
LONG STOMACH  A voracious appetite.
 
MANOEUVRING THE APOSTLES  Robbing Peter to pay Paul, i.e. borrowing of one man to pay another.
 
MISH TOPPER  A coat, or petticoat.
 
NEWGATE SOLICITOR  A petty fogging and roguish attorney, who attends the gaols to assist villains in evading justice.
 
PAUNCH  The belly. Some think paunch was the original name of that facetious prince of puppets, now called Mr. Punch, as he is always represented with a very prominent belly: though the common opinion is, that both the name and character were taken from a celebrated Italian comedian, called Polichenello.
 
PET  In a pet; in a passion or miff.
 
PETER  A portmanteau or cloke-bag. Biter of peters; one that makes it a trade to steal boxes and trunks from behind stage coaches or out of waggons. To rob Peter to pay Paul; to borrow of one man to pay another: styled also manoeuvring the apostles.
 
PETER GUNNER  Will kill all the birds that died last summer. A piece of wit commonly thrown out at a person walking through a street or village near London, with a gun in his hand.
 
PETER LAY  The department of stealing portmanteaus, trunks, etc.
 
PETER LUG  Who is Peter Lug? who lets the glass stand at his door, or before him.
 
PETTICOAT HOLD  One who has an estate during his wife's life, called the apron-string hold.
 
PETTICOAT PENSIONER  One kept by a woman forsecret services.
 
PETTISH  Passionate.
 
PETTY FOGGER  A little dirty attorney, ready to undertake any litigious or bad cause: it is derived from the French words petit vogue, of small credit, or little reputation.
 
PICKING  Pilfering, petty larceny.
 
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.
 
QUEAN  A slut, or worthless woman, a strumpet.
 
QUEER MORT  A diseased strumpet.
 
RENDEZVOUS  A place of meeting. The rendezvous of the beggars were, about the year 1638, according to the Bellman, St, Quinton's, the Three Crowns in the Vintry, St. Tybs, and at Knapsbury: there were four barns within a mile of London. In Middlesex were four other harbours, called Draw the Pudding out of the Fire, the Cross Keys in Craneford parish, St. Julian's in Isleworth parish, and the house of Pettie in Northall parish. In Kent, the King's Barn near Dartford, and Ketbrooke near Blackheath.
 
SHIT SACK  A dastardly fellow: also a non-conformist. This appellation is said to have originated from the following story: - After the restoration, the laws against the non-conformists were extremely severe. They sometimes met in very obscure places: and there is a tradition that one of their congregations were assembled in a barn, the rendezvous of beggars and other vagrants, where the preacher, for want of a ladder or tub, was suspended in a sack fixed to the beam. His discourse that day being on the last judgment, he particularly attempted to describe the terrors of the wicked at the sounding of the trumpet, on which a trumpeter to a puppet-show, who had taken refuge in that barn, and lay hid under the straw, sounded a charge. The congregation, struck with the utmost consternation, fled in an instant from the place, leaving their affrighted teacher to shift for himself. The effects of his terror are said to have appeared at the bottom of the sack, and to have occasioned that opprobrious appellation by which the non-conformists were vulgarly distinguished.
 
SLAP-BANG SHOP  A petty cook's shop, where there is no credit given, but what is had must be paid DOWN WITH THE READY SLAP-BANG, i.e. immediately. This is a common appellation for a night cellar frequented by thieves, and sometimes for a stage coach or caravan.
 
SOOTERKIN  A joke upon the Dutch women, supposing that, by their constant use of stoves, which they place under their petticoats, they breed a kind of small animal in their bodies, called a sooterkin, of the size of a mouse, which when mature slips out.
 
SPANISH, or KING OF SPAIN'S TRUMPETER  An ass when braying.
 
SPIT FIRE  A violent, pettish, or passionate person.
 
STRETCH  A yard. The cove was lagged for prigging a peter with several stretch of dobbin from a drag; the fellow was transported for stealing a trunk, containing several yards of ribband, from a waggon.
 
STRUMPET  A harlot.
 
TANTRUMS  Pet, or passion: madam was in her tantrums.
 
TRENCHER MAN  A stout trencher man; one who has a good appetite, or, as the term is, plays a good knife and fork.
 
TRUMPET  To sound one's own trumpet; to praise one's self.
 
TRUMPETER  The king of Spain's trumpeter; a braying ass. His trumpeter is dead, he is therefore forced to sound his own trumpet. He would make an excellent trumpeter, for he has a strong breath; said of one having a foetid breath.
 
TWIST  A mixture of half tea and half coffee; likewise brandy, beer, and eggs. A good twist; a good appetite. To twist it down apace; to eat heartily.
 
TYBURN TIPPET  A halter; see Latimer's sermon before. Edward VI. A. D. 1549.
 
WHET  A morning's draught, commonly white wine, supposed to whet or sharpen the appetite.
 
WOLF IN THE STOMACH  A monstrous or canine appetite.