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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 ROOK
| BACK UP | His back is up, i.e. he is offended or angry; an expression or idea taken from a cat; that animal, when angry, always raising its back. An allusion also sometimes used to jeer a crooked man; as, So, Sir, I see somebody has offended you, for your back is up. | |
| CAT MATCH | When a rook or cully is engaged amongst bad bowlers. | |
| CROOK | Sixpence. | |
| CROOK BACK | Sixpence; for the reason of this name, see CRIPPLE. | |
| CROOK SHANKS | A nickname for a man with bandy legs. He buys his boots in Crooked Lane, and his stockings in Bandy-legged Walk; his legs grew in the night, therefore could not see to grow straight; jeering sayings of men with crooked legs. | |
| CROOK YOUR ELBOW | To crook one's elbow, and wish it may never come straight, if the fact then affirmed is not true - according to the casuists of Bow-street and St. Giles's, adds great weight and efficacy to an oath. | |
| GREGORIAN TREE | The gallows: so named from Gregory Brandon, a famous finisher of the law; to whom Sir William Segar, garter king of arms (being imposed on by Brooke, a herald), granted a coat of arms. | |
| JEMMY | A crow. This instrument is much used by housebreakers. Sometimes called Jemmy Rook. | |
| LADY | A crooked or hump-backed woman. | |
| LORD | A crooked or hump-backed man. These unhappy people afford great scope for vulgar raillery; such as, 'Did you come straight from home? if so, you have got confoundedly bent by the way.' | |
| PANTER | A hart: that animal is, in the Psalms, said to pant after the fresh water-brooks. Also the human heart, which frequently pants in time of danger. | |
| PARTIAL | Inclining more to one side than the other, crooked, all o' one hugh. | |
| 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. | |
| RIB | A wife: an allusion to our common mother Eve, made out of Adam's rib. A crooked rib: a cross-grained wife. | |
| ROOK | A cheat: probably from the thievish disposition of the birds of that name. Also the cant name for a crow used in house-breaking. To rook; to cheat, particularly at play. | |
| SIDLEDYWRY | Crooked. | |
| SKEWVOW, or ALL ASKEW | Crooked, inclining to one side. | |
| ZAD | Crooked like the letter Z. He is a mere zad, or perhaps zed; a description of a very crooked or deformed person. | |