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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 TIT
| ALTITUDES | The man is in his altitudes, i.e. he is drunk. | |
| AMBASSADOR | A trick to duck some ignorant fellow or landsman, frequently played on board ships in the warm latitudes. It is thus managed: A large tub is filled with water, and two stools placed on each side of it. Over the whole is thrown a tarpaulin, or old sail: this is kept tight by two persons, who are to represent the king and queen of a foreign country, and are seated on the stools. The person intended to be ducked plays the Ambassador, and after repeating a ridiculous speech dictated to him, is led in great form up to the throne, and seated between the king and queen, who rising suddenly as soon as he is seated, he falls backwards into the tub of water. | |
| 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. | |
| ARTHUR, KING ARTHUR | A game used at sea, when near the line, or in a hot latitude. It is performed thus: A man who is to represent king Arthur, ridiculously dressed, having a large wig made out of oakum, or some old swabs, is seated on the side, or over a large vessel of water. Every person in his turn is to be ceremoniously introduced to him, and to pour a bucket of water over him, crying, hail, king Arthur! if during this ceremony the person introduced laughs or smiles (to which his majesty endeavours to excite him, by all sorts of ridiculous gesticulations), he changes place with, and then becomes, king Arthur, till relieved by some brother tar, who has as little command over his muscles as himself. | |
| AUNT | Mine aunt; a bawd or procuress: a title of eminence for the senior dells, who serve for instructresses, midwives, etc. for the dells. See DELLS. | |
| BALUM RANCUM | A hop or dance, where the women are all prostitutes. N. B. The company dance in their birthday suits. | |
| BARBER'S CHAIR | She is as common as a barber's chair, in which a whole parish sit to be trimmed; said of a prostitute. | |
| BATCH | We had a pretty batch of it last night; we had a hearty dose of liquor. Batch originally means the whole quantity of bread baked at one time in an oven. | |
| BEAR | One who contracts to deliver a certain quantity of sum of stock in the public funds, on a future day, and at stated price; or, in other words, sells what he has not got, like the huntsman in the fable, who sold the bear's skin before the bear was killed. As the bear sells the stock he is not possessed of, so the bull purchases what he has not money to pay for; but in case of any alteration in the price agreed on, either party pays or receives the difference. Exchange Alley. | |
| BEEF EATER | A yeoman of the guards, instituted by Henry VII. Their office was to stand near the bouffet, or cupboard, thence called Bouffetiers, since corrupted to Beef Eaters. Others suppose they obtained this name from the size of their persons, and the easiness of their duty, as having scarce more to do than to eat the king's beef. | |
| BLACK FLY | The greatest drawback on the farmer is the black fly, i.e. the parson who takes tithe of the harvest. | |
| BLASTED FELLOW or BRIMSTONE | An abandoned rogue or prostitute. | |
| BLESSING | A small quantity over and above the measure, usually given by hucksters dealing in peas, beans, and other vegetables. | |
| BOLT | To run suddenly out of one's house, or hiding place, through fear; a term borrowed from a rabbit-warren, where the rabbits are made to bolt, by sending ferrets into their burrows: we set the house on fire, and made him bolt. To bolt, also means to swallow meat without chewing: the farmer's servants in Kent are famous for bolting large quantities of pickled pork. | |
| BUNTER | A low dirty prostitute, half whore and half beggar. | |
| BUTTER BOX | A Dutchman, from the great quantity of butter eaten by the people of that country. | |
| CALVES HEAD CLUB | A club instituted by the Independents and Presbyterians, to commemorate the decapitation of King Charles I. Their chief fare was calves heads; and they drank their wine and ale out of calves skulls. | |
| CASE VROW | A prostitute attached to a particular bawdy house. | |
| CAT | A common prostitute. An old cat; a cross old woman. | |
| CHALKERS | Men of wit, in Ireland, who in the night amuse themselves with cutting inoffensive passengers across the face with a knife. They are somewhat like those facetious gentlemen some time ago known in England by the title of Sweaters and Mohocks. | |
| CHRISTENING | Erasing the name of the true maker from a stolen watch, and engraving a fictitious one in its place. | |
| CLOVEN FOOT | To spy the cloven foot in any business; to discover some roguery or something bad in it: a saying that alludes to a piece of vulgar superstition, which is, that, let the Devil transform himself into what shape he will, he cannot hide his cloven foot | |
| COMMODITY | A woman's commodity; the private parts of a modest woman, and the public parts of a prostitute. | |
| COMPANY | To see company; to enter into a course of prostitution. | |
| COVENT GARDEN NUN | A prostitute. | |
| CURTEZAN | A prostitute. | |
| CUSTOM-HOUSE GOODS | The stock in trade of a prostitute, because fairly entered. | |
| 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. | |
| 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. | |
| DRIBBLE | A method of pouring out, as it were, the dice from the box, gently, by which an old practitioner is enabled to cog one of them with his fore-finger. | |
| DRURY LANE VESTAL | A woman of the town, or prostitute; Drury-lane and its environs were formerly the residence of many of those ladies. | |
| EASY VIRTUE | A lady of easy virtue: an impure or prostitute. | |
| EXPENDED | Killed: alluding to the gunner's accounts, wherein the articles consumed are charged under the title of expended. Sea phrase. | |
| FEET | To make feet for children's stockings; to beget children. An officer of feet; a jocular title for an officer of infantry. | |
| FEN | A bawd, or common prostitute. | |
| FLASH PANNEYS | Houses to which thieves and prostitutes resort. Next for his favourite MOT (Girl) the KIDDEY (Youth) looks about, And if she's in a FLASH PANNEY (Brothel) he swears he'll have her out; So he FENCES (Pawns) all his TOGS (Cloathes) to buy her DUDS, (Wearing Apparel) and then He FRISKS (Robs) his master's LOB (Till) to take her from the bawdy KEN (House). | |
| FOYSTED IN | Words or passages surreptitiously interpolated or inserted into a book or writing. | |
| 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. | |
| GREY PARSON | A farmer who rents the tithes of the rector or vicar. | |
| GYPSIES | A set of vagrants, who, to the great disgrace of our police, are suffered to wander about the country. They pretend that they derive their origin from the ancient Egyptians, who were famous for their knowledge in astronomy and other sciences; and, under the pretence of fortune-telling, find means to rob or defraud the ignorant and superstitious. To colour their impostures, they artificially discolour their faces, and speak a kind of gibberish peculiar to themselves. They rove up and down the country in large companies, to the great terror of the farmers, from whose geese, turkeys, and fowls, they take very considerable contributions. | |
| HEDGE WHORE | An itinerant harlot, who bilks the bagnios and bawdy-houses, by disposing of her favours on the wayside, under a hedge; a low beggarly prostitute. | |
| JURY LEG | A wooden leg: allusion to a jury mast, which is a temporary substitute for a mast carried away by a storm, or any other accident. SEA PHRASE. | |
| KEEP | To inhabit. Lord, where do you keep? i.e. where are your rooms? ACADEMICAL PHRASE. Mother, your tit won't keep; your daughter will not preserve her virginity. | |
| KEMP'S MORRIS | William Kemp, said to have been the original Dogberry in Much ado about Nothing, danced a morris from London to Norwich in nine days: of which he printed the account, A. D. 1600, intitled, Kemp's Nine Days Wonder, etc. | |
| KETCH | Jack Ketch; a general name for the finishers of the law, or hangmen, ever since the year 1682, when the office was filled by a famous practitioner of that name, of whom his wife said, that any bungler might put a man to death, but only her husband knew how to make a gentleman die sweetly. | |
| KIMBAW | To trick, cheat or cozen; also to beat or to bully. Let's kimbaw the cull; let's bully the fellow. To set one's arms a-kimbaw, vulgarly pronounced a-kimbo, is to rest one's hands on the hips, keeping the elbows square, and sticking out from the body; an insolent bullying attitude. | |
| LACED MUTTON | A prostitute. | |
| LADY OF EASY VIRTUE | A woman of the town, an impure, a prostitute. | |
| LANSPRISADO | One who has only two-pence in his pocket. Also a lance, or deputy corporal; that is, one doing the duty without the pay of a corporal. Formerly a lancier, or horseman, who being dismounted by the death of his horse, served in the foot, by the title of lansprisado, or lancepesato, a broken lance. | |
| LATITAT | A nick-name for an attorney; from the name of a writ. | |
| LEAPING OVER THE SWORD | An ancient ceremonial said to constitute a military marriage. A sword being laid down on the ground, the parties to be married joined hands. | |
| LONG STOMACH | A voracious appetite. | |
| LOUSE LADDER | A stitch fallen in a stocking. | |
| LUMPING | Great. A lumping penny worth; a great quantity for the money, a bargain. He has'got a lumping penny-worth; frequently said of a man who marries a fat woman. | |
| MACCARONI | An Italian paste made of flour and eggs. Also a fop: which name arose from a club, called the Maccaroni Club, instituted by some of the most dressy travelled gentlemen about town, who led the fashions; whence a man foppishly dressed, was supposed a member of that club, and by contraction styled a Maccaroni. | |
| NOKES | A ninny, or fool. John-a-Nokes and Tom-a-Stiles; two honest peaceable gentlemen, repeatedly set together by the ears by lawyers of different denominations: two fictitious names formerly used in law proceedings, but now very seldom, having for several years past been supplanted by two other honest peaceable gentlemen, namely, John Doe and Richard Roe. | |
| ONE IN TEN | A parson: an allusion to his tithes. | |
| PARISH SOLDIER | A jeering name for a militiaman: from substitutes being frequently hired by the parish from which one of its inhabitants is drawn. | |
| 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. | |
| PIECE | A wench. A damned good or bad piece; a girl who is more or less active and skilful in the amorous congress. Hence the (CAMBRIDGE) toast, May we never have a PIECE (peace) that will injure the constitution. Piece likewise means at Cambridge a close or spot of ground adjacent to any of the colleges, as Clare-hall Piece, etc. The spot of ground before King's College formerly belonged to Clare-hall. While Clare Piece belonged to King's, the master of Clare-hall proposed a swop, which being refused by the provost of King's, he erected before their gates a temple of CLOACINA. It will be unnecessary to say that his arguments were soon acceded to. | |
| PIN | In or to a merry pin; almost drunk: an allusion to a sort of tankard, formerly used in the north, having silver pegs or pins set at equal distances from the top to the bottom: by the rules of good fellowship, every person drinking out of one of these tankards, was to swallow the quantity contained between two pins; if he drank more or less, he was to continue drinking till he ended at a pin: by this means persons unaccustomed to measure their draughts were obliged to drink the whole tankard. Hence when a person was a little elevated with liquor, he was said to have drunk to a merry pin. | |
| PINCH ON THE PARSON'S SIDE | To defraud the parson of his tithe. | |
| PONTIUS PILATE | A pawnbroker. Pontius Pilate's guards, the first regiment of foot, or Royal Scots: so intitled from their supposed great antiquity. Pontius Pilate's counsellor; one who like him can say, Non invenio causam, I can find no cause. Also (Cambridge) a Mr. Shepherd of Trinity College; who disputing with a brother parson on the comparative rapidity with which they read the liturgy, offered to give him as far as Pontius Pilate in the Belief. | |
| POT HUNTER | One who hunts more tor the sake of the prey than the sport. Pot valiant; courageous from drink. Potwallopers: persons entitled to vote in certain boroughs by having boiled a pot there. | |
| POT-WABBLERS | Persons entitled to vote for members of parliament in certain boroughs, from having boiled their pots therein. These boroughs are called pot-wabbling boroughs. | |
| PUBLIC LEDGER | A prostitute: because, like that paper, she is open to all parties. | |
| QUID | The quantity of tobacco put into the mouth at one time. To quid tobacco; to chew tobacco. Quid est hoc? hoc est quid; a guinea. Half a quid; half a guinea. The swell tipped me fifty quid for the prad; the gentleman gave fifty pounds for the horse. | |
| RECEIVER GENERAL | A prostitute. | |
| ROOM | She lets out her fore room and lies backwards: saying of a woman suspected of prostitution. | |
| SCREW | To copulate. A female screw; a common prostitute. To screw one up; to exact upon one in a bargain or reckoning. | |
| SIR JOHN | The old title for a country parson: as Sir John of Wrotham, mentioned by Shakespeare. | |
| SIZE OF ALE | Half a pint. Size of bread and cheese; a certain quantity. Sizings: Cambridge term for the college allowance from the buttery, called at Oxford battles. | |
| SPANISH PADLOCK | A kind of girdle contrived by jealous husbands of that nation, to secure the chastity of their wives. | |
| SPANK | To run neatly along, beteeen a trot and gallop. The tits spanked it to town; the horses went merrily along all the way to town. | |
| SPOONEY | Thin, haggard, like the shank of a spoon; also delicate, craving for something, longing for sweets. Avaricious. That tit is damned spooney. She's a spooney piece of goods. He's a spooney old fellow. | |
| SPREAD EAGLE | A soldier tied to the halberts in order to be whipped; his attitude bearing some likeness to that figure, as painted on signs. | |
| SQUIRREL | A prostitute: because she like that animal, covers her back with her tail. Meretrix corpore corpus alit. Menagiana, ii. 128. | |
| STALLING | Making or ordaining. Stalling to the rogue; an ancient ceremony of instituting a candidate into the society of rogues, somewhat similar to the creation of a herald at arms. It is thus described by Harman: the upright man taking a gage of bowse, i.e. a pot of strong drink, pours it on the head of the rogue to be admitted; saying, - I, A.B. do stall thee B.C. to the rogue; and from henceforth it shall be lawful for thee to cant for thy living in all places. | |
| STITCH | A nick name for a taylor: also a term for lying with a woman. | |
| STITCHBACK | Strong ale. | |
| SWAG | A shop. Any quantity of goods. As, plant the swag; conceal the goods. Rum swag; a shop full of rich goods. | |
| TAIL | A prostitute. Also, a sword. | |
| TAT | Tit for tat; an equivalent. | |
| THIEF TAKERS | Fellows who associate with all kinds of villains, in order to betray them, when they have committed any of those crimes which entitle the persons taking them to a handsome reward, called blood money. It is the business of these thief takers to furnish subjects for a handsome execution, at the end of every sessions. | |
| THINGSTABLE | Mr. Thingstable; Mr. Constable: a ludicrous affectation of delicacy in avoiding the pronunciation of the first syllable in the title of that officer, which in sound has some similarity to an indecent monosyllable. | |
| THOROUGH STITCH | To go thorough stitch; to stick at nothing; over shoes, over boots. | |
| TIT | A horse; a pretty little tit; a smart little girl. a tit or tid bit; a delicate morsel. Tommy tit; a smart lively little fellow. | |
| TIT FOR TAT | An equivalent. | |
| TITTER | To suppress a laugh. | |
| TITTER TATTER | One reeling, and ready to fall at the least touch; also the childish amusement of riding upon the two ends of a plank, poised upon the prop underneath its centre, called also see-saw. Perhaps tatter is a rustic pronunciation of totter. | |
| TITTLE-TATTLE | Idle discourse, scandal, women's talk, or small talk. | |
| TITTUP | A gentle hand gallop, or canter. | |
| TOWN | A woman of the town; a prostitute. To be on the town: to live by prostitution. | |
| TRENCHER MAN | A stout trencher man; one who has a good appetite, or, as the term is, plays a good knife and fork. | |
| TUP RUNNING | A rural sport practised at wakes and fairs in Derbyshire; a ram, whose tail is well soaped and greased, is turned out to the multitude; any one that can take him by the tail, and hold him fast, is to have him for his own. | |
| 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. | |
| UNFORTUNATE WOMEN | Prostitutes: so termed by the virtuous and compassionate of their own sex. | |
| WASP | An infected prostitute, who like a wasp carries a sting in her tail. | |
| WHET | A morning's draught, commonly white wine, supposed to whet or sharpen the appetite. | |
| WILLING TIT | A free horse, or a coming girl. | |
| WOLF IN THE STOMACH | A monstrous or canine appetite. | |
| WOMAN OF THE TOWN, or WOMAN OF PLEASURE | A prostitute. | |
| ZEDLAND | Great part of the west country, where the letter Z is substituted for S; as zee for see, zun for sun. | |