I I E) 
 
 OF THL 
 U N I VLR5 ITY 
 or ILLINOIS 
 
 1884 
 
The person charging this material is re- 
 sponsible for its return to the library from 
 which it was withdrawn on or before the 
 Latest Date stamped below. 
 
 Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books 
 are reasons for disciplinary action and may 
 result in dismissal from the University. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 
 
 HOV b 1 
 
 my 
 
 m 1 
 
 HITS 
 
 JUL 1«i 
 JUN28 
 
 191 S 
 
 m 
 
 APR 1 0 19180 
 MAR 1 3 
 
 MAR 1 7|d} 
 DEC 2 0 1990 
 
 UIC-REC'B hARaG'93 
 
 111 
 
 m 0 ^ 200^ 
 
 1380 
 
 1993 
 
 m 
 
 L161 — O-1096 
 
DICTIONARY 
 
 OF 
 
 AMERICANISMS 
 
 GLOSSARY OF WORDS AND PHRASES 
 
 USUALLY REGARDED AS PECULIAR TO 
 
 THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN RUSSELL BARTLETT. 
 
 FOURTH EDITION, 
 
 GREATLY IMPROVED AND ENLARGED. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 
 1884. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by 
 
 JOHN RUSSKLL BARTLETT, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Rhode Island. 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1877, by 
 
 JOHX RUSSELL BARTLETT, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at "Washington. 
 
 Cambridge : 
 Press of John Wilson dr' Son. 
 
/ ff't 
 
 PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 The second edition of this Dictionary was published in Boston 
 in 1859, and a third the following year. The former was greatly 
 enlarged from the first edition, the latter was a reprint of the 
 second edition without alterations. 
 
 During the eighteen years that have passed since the last 
 revision, the vocabulary of our colloquial language has had 
 large additions, chiefl}^ from the sources whence additions usually 
 come. To the Indian, the Dutch, the German, the French, and 
 the Spanish elements, there have been but few contributions. 
 From the arts, from new inventions, from new settlements, par- 
 ticularly those in mining districts, from commerce, mau}^ words 
 have been adopted ; while the late civil war has also furnished 
 its share. But, perhaps, the larger share of additions is from 
 the vocabulary of slang, which may be divided into several 
 classes. First are the terms used by the bankers and stock- 
 brokers of Wall Street, which are well understood, and employed 
 by those who operate in stocks in all our large cities. These 
 ma}^ be classed among the more respectable slang. They are 
 employed not only by merchants, but by all who have money to 
 invest, or who operate in stocks. Educated men also make use of 
 them, for the reason that there are no terms which so well express 
 the operations connected with money. JNext we have " College 
 Slang," or words and expressions in common use among the 
 students in our colleges and pupils of our higher schools. These 
 
iv PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 words are so numerous that, when explained at length, and 
 accompanied by examples, they make a volume of themselves. 
 Then there is the slang of poUticians, of the stage, of sportsmen, 
 of Western boatmen, of pugilists, of the pohce, of rowdies and 
 "roughs," of thieves, of work-shops, of the circus, of shop- 
 keepers, workmen, &c., which taken together form a rich mine 
 whence new words are derived ; some of which, after a struggle, 
 become engrafted on our language, and finally obtain places in 
 " Webster's Unabridged." 
 
 Objections have been made to the incorporation of slang 
 terms in a work like the present, on the ground that it tends to 
 preserve them and perpetuate their use. It is true that it does 
 preserve them, but it does not perpetuate their use ; for they often 
 disappear as suddenly as the}^ come into existence. Slang terms 
 will remain in use only so long as they may be useful in colloquial 
 language. They may then be supplanted by others more ex- 
 pressive, and sink into oblivion. But, even though they may 
 become obsolete, it is no reason why they should not be included 
 in a Dictionary or Glossary. Words having a political signifi- 
 cance sometimes have an existence of ten or twenty years. 
 The}' are emplo3'ed b}' the newspaper press, are heard in the 
 halls of legislation, and find a place in our poKtical annals. The 
 extinction of an old political party, the organization of another 
 with new issues and a new platform, will be accompanied by new 
 terms which will become the shibboleth or watchword of the 
 party. The names of the older parties cease to be used, and are 
 soon forgotten. Such is the history of the terms Federals, 
 Bucktails, Barnbui-ners, Old Hunkers, Loco-Focos, Silver Greys, 
 and Know-Nothings. The clubs and flash}^ young men have their 
 slang, often growing out of the fashion of the day, or out of 
 the customs of society ; while the number introduced from the 
 humbler classes is much gi-eater. Sometimes these strange 
 words have a known origin ; but, of the larger number, no one 
 
PREFACE TO THE FOUKTH EDITION. 
 
 V 
 
 knows whence they come. Slang is thus the source whence 
 large additions are made to our language. 
 
 A writer in " Household Words" (No. 183) has gone so far 
 as to remark that a person "shall not read one single parlia- 
 mentar}' debate, as reported in a first-class newspaper, without 
 meeting scores of slang words," and "that from Mr. Speaker in 
 his chair to the Cabinet Ministers whispering behind it, from 
 mover to seconder, from true-blue Protectionist to extremest 
 Radical, the New House of Parliament echoes and re-echoes 
 with slang." 
 
 "The universahtj of slang," says Mr. Hotten,^ "is extraor- 
 dinar3\ Let an}" person for a short time narrowly examine the 
 conversation of their dearest and nearest friends ; aye, censor- 
 hke, even slice and analyze their own supposed correct talk, and 
 the}' shall be amazed at the numerous unauthorized, and what 
 we can only call vulgar, words they continually employ. . . . 
 I am aware that most new words are generally regarded as slang, 
 although afterwards they may become useful and respectable 
 additions to our standard dictionaries." 
 
 Within the last few j^ears, several Enghsh writers have had the 
 courage to acknowledge the importance of the slang element in 
 our language, and to write in its defence. Among them is 
 Mr. E. B. Tylor, the learned author of "Primitive Culture," 
 and of "Researches into the Early History of Mankind," who 
 thus writes : — 
 
 " Slang, despised and ignored till lately b}^ the lexicographers, 
 is a genuine and influential branch of speech. It is one of the 
 feeders of what may be called standard language, which with 
 little scruple adopts and adapts the words it happens to want, 
 whether from the technical terms of shopmen and artisans, or 
 out of the quainter vocabularies of coster-mongers and prize- 
 fighters, school-boys and fops. This practical importance 
 
 1 Slang Dictionary, p. 40. 
 
\[ niEFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 entitles it to be treated lingnistically, like any other working 
 dialect. Nor is its theoretical value inconsiderable to the student. 
 Like other dialects, slang is developed according to the general 
 laws of language, and very striking are some of its illustrations 
 of those laws. Many a philological hint may be gleaned from 
 the talk of factories and stables, music-halls and thieves' kitchens 
 and pawnbrokers' shops, which would be more hardly sought from 
 the super-refined Enghsh of the school-room."^ 
 
 Philologists and other scholars, when a term is wanted for 
 some new invention, some new product in the arts, in machinery 
 or manufactures, usualty form one from the Greek or Latin. 
 A word thus formed may be plain to scholars famihar with those 
 languages ; but, where one comprehends the meaning, a hun- 
 dred fail to do so. This is particularly the case with the scien- 
 tific names of plants and flowers. The botanist creates a name 
 from the Latin, which is only familiar to scholars ; while the com- 
 mon people invent a name which is descriptive of the plant, or 
 of its habits, to which the}' cling with great tenacit}^, and by 
 which the plant is ever after known. Such are the "Pitcher- 
 plant," " Love-lies-bleeding," " Sweet WiUiam," " Jack-in-the- 
 pulpit," "None-so-pretty." So, too, of birds. The peasant 
 christens them, like his flowers, after their habits. 
 
 The late civil war has given rise to man}' singular words. 
 Some of these, in common use among our soldiers during the 
 war, have since been dropped. Others have not only been pre- 
 served in our colloquial dialect, but have been transplanted to 
 and adopted in foreign countries where the English language is 
 spoken. Among the former are the words contraband, as applied 
 to slaves, hummer^ copperhead^ confederates^ carpet-baggers^ jay- 
 hawker^ greenback^ monitor^ ku-klux^ skedaddle^ skyugle^ &.Q,. 
 
 In the mining districts of Cahfornia and Nevada, many 
 strange words and phrases have sprung into existence, some of 
 
 1 The Philosophy of Slang, in MacmHlan's Mag.,Vol. XXIX. p. 502. 
 
PEEFACE TO THE FOUKTH EDITION. Yli 
 
 which have so taken root that they are heard in the colloquial 
 language of the towns and cities, and have even crept into the 
 ephemeral literature of the Pacific States. By no writers has 
 this peculiar idiom been so much employ ed as by Bret Harte 
 and Mark Twain. In speaking of the language of the mining 
 regions, the latter ssljs: "The slang of Nevada is the richest 
 and most infinitely varied and copious that ever existed anj^- 
 where in the world, perhaps, except in the mines of California 
 in the ' early days.' It was hard to preach a sermon without it, 
 and be understood." ^ 
 
 The term "Americanisms," as used in this Dictionary, will 
 he found to include the following classes of words : — 
 
 1. Archaisms, i. e. old English words, obsolete, or nearly so, in 
 England, but retained in use in this country. 
 
 2. English words used in a different sense from what they are in 
 England. These include many names of natural objects differently 
 applied. 
 
 3. Words which have retained their original meaning in the United 
 States, although not in England. 
 
 4. English provincialisms adopted into general use in America. 
 
 5. Newly coined words, which owe their origin to the productions 
 or to the circumstances of the country. 
 
 6. Words borrowed from European languages, especially the French, 
 Spanish, Dutch, and German. 
 
 7. Indian words. 
 
 8. Negroisms. 
 
 9. Peculiarities of pronunciation. 
 
 This fourth edition contains about one-third more matter than 
 the preceding. In preparing it, I have to acknowledge m}' 
 indebtedness to the following gentlemen, who have rendered me 
 
 1 To any one desirous to become familiar with the shing of the mining 
 regions of Nevada and California, we would recommend a perusal of chap. 
 47 of Mark Twain's "Roughing It," in which he relates the interview 
 "between Scotty Briggs and the clergyman. A notorious cliaracter named 
 Buck Fanshaw having "passed in his checks," Scotty desired for him a 
 funeral which " should be no slouch." 
 
viii PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 aid : to the Hon. J. Hammond Trumbull, of Hartford, for lists 
 of words, together with examples of their use, and particularly 
 for his etymologies of Indian words ; to the Hon. James Russell 
 Lowell, Professor William Everett, and Mr. William Boyd 
 of Cambridge, for copious lists of words ; to the Rev. R. Man- 
 ning Chipman, of New Lisbon, Conn., for annotations on the 
 previous edition of this work and very copious lists of words ; 
 to Messrs. Charles E. Stratton of Boston, Edward Spen- 
 cer of Randallstown, Mar3^1and, John D. Sears of Upper 
 Sandusky, Ohio, G. H. Curtis of New Orleans, Dr. F. C. 
 Clarke of Providence, Professor William F. Allen of the 
 University of Wisconsin, Mr. Albert R. Cooke of Chicago, 
 and to Miss Christine Ladd of Union Springs, New York, for 
 lists of words and phrases. 
 
 At the end of the volume will be found an Addenda, contain- 
 ing words and phrases which were prepared too late for inser- 
 tion in their proper places. Also a collection of Proverbs and 
 of Similes ; and the names of the States and principal cities, 
 accompanied by their vulgar or nicknames. 
 
 J. R. B. 
 
 Providence, R. L, 
 
 November, 1877. 
 
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 The first edition of this Dictionary was published in New York 
 in 1848. It met with a quick sale, and soon passed out of print. 
 Aware of its many imperfections, I began my preparations for a 
 new edition before it had fully left the press. From that time 
 to the day the last sheets of this edition left my hands for the 
 printer, now ten years, I have been more or less occupied in its 
 preparation. Nearly three years of this period I spent in the 
 Interior of the country, in the service of the United States as 
 Commissioner on the Mexican Boundary ; but, even there, I 
 failed not to note the pecuUarities of the famihar language of 
 the frontier, and carefully recorded the words and phrases I met 
 with for future use. This experience enabled me to collect the 
 singular words occurring in prairie and frontier life, as well as 
 those common to Texas, New Mexico, and California. Most of 
 these have come from the Spanish, and are now fairly engrafted 
 on our language. 
 
 The other alterations and improvements made in this edition 
 consist in the addition of a very large number of words and 
 phrases peculiar to the United States ; so that it now contains 
 probably twice as many as the first edition. The examples or 
 illustrations from authors, showing the use of words, have also 
 been greatly multiplied. This seemed desirable, as examples 
 convey a far more correct idea of their meaning and use than a 
 simple definition. The histories of words and their definitions 
 have also been corrected and improved. 
 
X 
 
 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 In the additions to this work, I have to acknowledge valuable 
 contributions from several friends, who took an interest in the 
 subject. To the Rev. Wm. S. Murphy, Tresident of the Uni- 
 versity of Missouri, I am indebted for many words and phrases 
 pecuhar to the West ; to Mr. John Gilmaky Shea, for New 
 York words ; to Dr. A. L. El win, of Philadelphia, for the use 
 of a manuscript vocabulary of Americanisms collected by him ; 
 to Mr. James Mitchell, of Nantucket, for words in use in 
 that island ; to Professor Geo. C. Schaeffer, of Washington, 
 for many terms of natural histor}', words relating to the arts, 
 and Westernisms ; and to Dr. Francis Lieber, of Columbia 
 College, New York, for many sound remarks, of which I have 
 availed m3'self in the pages of the work. 
 
 Large additions have been made to the common terms of plants, 
 trees, and fruits of the United States, as well as of those which 
 enter into our commerce. These, being familiar words of our 
 language, seem as worthy of being noted and explained as others. 
 For valuable contributions to this class of words, I am indebted 
 to Dr. Edward Foreman, of Washington ; while Mr. Alex. J. 
 CoTHEAL, a merchant of New York, and well known in the fi^^ld 
 of Oriental literature, has kindly furnished me the common names 
 of the trees, fruits, nuts, &c., which enter into our commerce. 
 
 In preparing the first edition of this work, I was at a loss what 
 to include in the collection of words ; and, preferring to err on 
 the side of copiousness, admitted man}^ words common to the 
 colloquial language of England and this country, which have 
 now been rejected to make wa}^ for pure Americanisms. Of the 
 words so rejected there are nearl}' eight hundred. The following 
 are examples : ahove-hoard, Adam's ale, to advocate, afeard, afore, 
 afterdaps, bamboozle, to bark one's shins, bobtail, bogtrotter, bolt-up- 
 right, boozy, bo-peep, to bore, born dags, bran new, brown study, bj- 
 the-by, to hold a candle, to catch a Tartar, caterwaul, catspaw, to 
 chalk out, chink, chouse, chuffy, circumbendibm, chip-trap, clincher. 
 
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 xi 
 
 clout, cool, cosey, oowUch, cramho, criss-cross, cross-grained, crotchety, 
 crowsfeet, curmudgeon, curry favor, to cut one's acquaintance, cut 
 and run, cut a dash, dahster, dead alive, dawdle, demijohn, duds, 
 Dich^s hathand, dilly-dally, dog cheap, down in the month, driving 
 at, dumpy, elbow grease, to feather one's nest, &c., &c. 
 
 A good mail}' such words have nevertheless been retained, on 
 the principle that a word now used only in some out-of-the-wa}' 
 locality in England, but quite general here, may be regarded as 
 a pecuharity of the English language as spoken in America, i. e. 
 an Americanism ; but, as it is often impossible to know with 
 exactness to what extent a word is used in England, it is hkely 
 that man}' of these should properl}' have been omitted. 
 
 Many words common to the colloquial language both of Eng- 
 land and America have been allowed to remain, because they 
 have not yet been honored with a place in the current standard 
 Dictionaries. Of these there are man}^ which in the glossaries 
 are ascribed to " various dialects," and which should be inserted 
 in any general Dictionary of the Enghsh language which aims at 
 completeness. Were such a work as the new English Dictionary 
 projected by the Philological Society of London alread)' in exist- 
 ence, the insertion of a large number of words of this class could 
 have been dispensed with. 
 
 From what has been said, it will be seen that the present edi- 
 tion, while it does not wholly reject words of English origin, 
 claims to be more strictly American than the first. At the same 
 time, the first edition will still have a value of its own, as show- 
 ing more fully how much of the colloquial language of England 
 is retained in use in this country. 
 
 Due attention has been given to some valuable criticisms on 
 the first edition, in a paper by the late Dr. Felix Fliigel, entitled 
 " Die englische Philologie in Nordamerika," which ap})eared in 
 Gersdorf's Repertorium for 1852 ; also, to criticisms whicli ap- 
 peared in the " Western Continent" newspaper of Philadelphia, 
 
Xli PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 and the "Literary World" of New York, soon after the publi- 
 cation of the volume. Some excellent illustrations have been 
 obtained from a paper on " Canadian English," by the Rev. A. 
 Constable Geikie, read before the Canadian Institute, 28th of 
 March, 1857, and printed in its Journal. 
 
 The first edition was translated into the Dutch language under 
 the title of " Woordenhoeh van Americanismen, etc. Bewerkt door 
 M. Keijzer. Gorinchem, 1854," leaving out the quotations which 
 illustrate the use of words. It was hoped that this work would 
 furnish assistance in settling the et3^mology and meaning of some 
 of the old Dutch words still used in New York ; but it has 
 proved of little use. 
 
 At the close of the book will be found a collection of Ameri- 
 can similes and proverbs, together with the abbreviations of the 
 names of States, &c., which were inserted in the body of the 
 first edition. 
 
 To my friend, Mr. William W. Turner, of Washington, I 
 take pleasure in again making my acknowledgments for the 
 valuable aid furnished me in the present as well as in the former 
 edition, not only for the contribution of numerous words and 
 illustrations, but for his correction and supervision of the whole 
 work. 
 
 J. R. B. 
 
 Pkovidence, R. I., March, 1859. 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION, 
 
 In venturing to lay before the public a Vocabulary of the col- 
 loquial language of the United States, some explanation may 
 be necessary for the broad ground I have been led to occupy. 
 
 I began to make a list of such words as appeared to be, or at 
 least such as had generally been called, Americanisms, or pecu- 
 liar to the United States, and at the same time made reference 
 to the several authors in whose writings they appeared ; not 
 knowing whether, in reality, they were of native growth, or 
 whether the}' had been introduced from England. When this 
 list had expanded so as to embrace a large number of the words 
 used in famiUar conversation, both among the educated as well 
 as among the uneducated and rustic classes, the next object was 
 to examine the dialects and provincialisms of those parts of 
 England from which the earl}' settlers of New England and our 
 other colonies emigrated. 
 
 The provincialisms of New England are more familiar to our 
 ears than those of an}^ other section of the United States, as 
 they are not confined within the hmits of those States, but have 
 extended to New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, 
 which States have been, to a gi'eat extent, settled b}' emigrants 
 from New England. 
 
 On comparing these famihar words with the provincial and 
 colloquial language of the northern counties of England, a most 
 striking resemblance appeared not only in the words commonly 
 regarded as peculiar to New England, but in the dialectical pro- 
 
Xiv PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 nunciation of certain words, and in the general tone and accent. 
 In fact, it may be said, without exaggeration, that nine-tenths of 
 the colloquial peculiarities of New England are derived dir ctly 
 from Great Britain ; and that they are now provincial in tho:e 
 parts from which the early colonists emigi'ated, or are to be found 
 in the writings of well-accredited authors of the period when 
 that emigration took place. Consequentl}^, it is obvious that we 
 have the best authorit}' for the use of the words referred to. 
 
 It may be insisted, therefore, that the idiom of New England 
 is as pure English, taken as a whole, as was spoken in England 
 at the period when these colonies were settled. In making this 
 assertion, I do not take as a standard the nasal twang, the 
 drawling enunciation, or those perversions of language which 
 the ignorant and uneducated adopt. Nor would I acknowledge 
 the abuse of many of our most useful words. For these per- 
 versions I make no other defence or apology but that the}^ occur 
 in all countries and in every language. 
 
 Having found the case to be as stated, I had next to decide 
 between a vocabular}^ of words of purely American origin, or 
 one in which should be embraced all those words usually called 
 provincial or vulgar, — all the words, whatever be their origin, 
 which are used in familiar conversation, and but seldom emplojxd 
 in composition, — all the perversions of language, and abuses of 
 words into which people, in certain sections of the country, have 
 fallen, and some of those remarkable and ludicrous forms of 
 speech which have been adopted in the Western States. The 
 latter plan seemed the most satisfactory-, and this I determined 
 to adopt. 
 
 AVith so broad a ground, many words must necessaril}- be em- 
 braced which are to be found in the dictionaries of Drs. Johnson 
 and Webster, with the remark that they are low or vulgar, or 
 only to be heard in famihar conversation. Another class, not in 
 the dictionaries referred to, is contained in the provincial glos- 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 XV 
 
 saries of England. A third class, entirely distinct from the 
 preceding, consists of slang words which are not noticed by lexi- 
 cographers, 3'et are so much employed as to deserve a place in 8 
 glossary. 
 
 Such is the plan which I have thought most advisable to adopt, 
 and which I hope will give satisfaction. In carrying out this 
 plan, I have endeavored to give the most accurate definitions, 
 citing the authorities in all cases where I have been enabled to 
 find an}". Except as regards words of purely American origin 
 (e. g. those derived from the Indian languages and from the 
 Dutch) , I have generally kept aloof from etymologies and et}"- 
 mological discussions. These the reader will find in abundance 
 — such as they are — in the works of Johnson, Todd, Webster, 
 Worcester, and others. 
 
 Words of a pro^dncial character, and such as have become 
 obsolete in composition, are often of doubtful signification. 
 Illustrations from well-known authors, w^herein such words are 
 emplo3'ed, are of service in arriving at their true meaning. 
 These have been employed in the present Glossary, and serve 
 the double purpose of illustration, and of rendering the book 
 more readable than if confined to a dry collection of definitions. 
 This mode of showing the sense in which words have been em- 
 plo^'cd b}' authors was first practised on a comprehensive scale 
 by Dr. Johnson, whose labors are thereby greatly enhanced in 
 value to the philologist ; and has since been carried out more 
 completely in Mr. Richardson's dictionary. 
 
 The class of words which are purely American in their origin 
 and use, I have also attempted to illustrate, by extracts from 
 American authors whose writings relate to that class of people 
 among which these words are chiefly found. These books con- 
 tain descriptions of country life, scenes in the backwoods, popu- 
 lar tales, songs, &c., in which the colloquial or familiar language 
 of particular States predominates. The humorous writings of 
 
xvi 
 
 PKEFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 Judge Haliburton of Nova Scotia give a tolerably correct though 
 exaggerated specimen of the provincialisms of New England. 
 The letters of Major Downing are of the same character, and 
 portraj^ the dialect of New England with less exaggeration.^ 
 There are no books in which the Western words and phrases 
 are so fully exhibited ; though all the works which aim to illus- 
 trate Western life contain more or less of the idioms peculiar to 
 the people. Judge Hall, Mrs. Kirkland (Mary Clavers), the 
 author of the New Purchase, Charles F. Hoffman, and various 
 tourists, have displayed in their several works the peculiarities 
 of the people of the West, and occasionally their language. 
 Mr. Crockett, however, himself a native of that region, associ- 
 ating from infancy with its woodsmen, hunters, and farmers, 
 whose language is full of quaint words and figures of speech, 
 has unintentionally made us better acquainted with the colloquial 
 language of the West than any other author. 
 
 I am also indebted to a series of books pubUshed by Messrs. 
 Carey and Hart, called the " Librar}' of Humorous American 
 Works," which consist of a series of tales and adventures in the 
 South-west and West, by Wm. T. Porter, editor of the "New 
 York Spirit of the Times;" John S. Robb and J. M. Field, 
 Esqs., of St. Louis, Missouri; the editor of the "New Orleans 
 Pica3^une ; " and some anonymous writers. In these several 
 works, the drolleries and quaint savings of the West are admir- 
 ably incorporated into tales of the settlers, their manners and 
 customs, vivid descriptions of Western scenery, pohtical and 
 dramatic scenes. We have no books which present so gi'aphic 
 an account of Western life, related in the exaggerated and 
 metaphorical language peculiar to the people of that region. 
 
 1 Among other books from which I have quoted examples of tlie use of 
 words common to New England and the Northern States are Judd's " Mar- 
 garet," the " Widow Bedott Papers," " The Biglow Papers " of James Rus- 
 sell Lowell, and the Sermons of Dow, Junior (Elbridge G. Page), " My 
 Acquaintances and Betsy Bobbet's." 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. Xvii 
 
 In Southern provincialisms, I find myself most deficient, 
 haying seen no books except Major Jones's "Courtship" and 
 "Sketches," "Georgia Scenes," and "Sherwood's Gazetteer 
 of Georgia," in which, however, a considerable number of local 
 words are to be found. 
 
 The newspapers have afforded me many illustrations of the 
 use of words, which I have not failed to make use of. These 
 illustrations, it will be seen, are chiefly from the New York 
 papers, viz. the ' ' Commercial Advertiser," the ' ' Tribune," and the 
 "Herald," for the simple reason that I have been in the practice 
 of reading, them daily. When I met with a w^ord or phrase 
 peculiarl}' American, or one which was employed in a sense dif- 
 fering from the use of the same in England, it was at once 
 noticed and secured. All our newspapers contain more or less 
 colloquial w^ords ; in fact, there seems no other way of express- 
 ing certain ideas connected with passing events of everj^-day life, 
 with the requisite force and piquancy. In the English newspa- 
 pers, the same thing is observable, and certain of them contain 
 more of the class denominated slang w^ords than our own. The 
 Whig papers throughout the United States employ certain po- 
 litical terms in advocating the principles of their partj^, and in 
 denouncing those of their opponents. The Democratic papers 
 pursue a similar course. The advocates and opponents of Abo- 
 lition, Fourierism, &c., invent and employ man}^ words peculiar 
 to themselves.- So with the rehgious sects : each new-fangled 
 notion brings into existence some addition to our language, 
 though that addition is not always an improvement. 
 
 The value of this Glossary would have been greatly enhanced, 
 if, as is usual in the compilation of similar works, I had been 
 able to avail myself of the assistance of persons residing in 
 various parts of our countr}-. No collection of words, profess- 
 ing to contain the colloquial language of the entire country, can 
 approach an}- degree of completeness or correctness, without the 
 
 b 
 
Xviii PllEFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 aid of many hands and heads. None but a native of New Eng- 
 land, educated on her soil, and who has mingled with all classes 
 of society, has the requisite familiarit}' with the words and phrases 
 peculiar to her people. So with the Western and Southern pro- 
 vinciaHsms. One born and brought up where the}' are spoken, 
 who has heard and used them when a boy, and grown up in their 
 midst, can alone portra}' them in their true sense. The aid of 
 such persons it was impossible to procure ; and the words here 
 brought together have been, with ver}^ few exceptions, collected 
 b}' m3'self. The deficiencies and imperfections are such, there- 
 fore, as could not be avoided under the circumstances. 
 
 The words of Dutch origin, most if not all of w^hich are used 
 01 understood in the city of New York and those portions of its 
 vicinity colonized by natives of Holland, were furnished by Mr. 
 Alexander J. Cotheal, a gentleman born and educated in New 
 York, whose learning in other branches of philological science is 
 well known to many. A few other words have been given me 
 from time to time by other friends, who knew that I was making 
 this collection. To all of these I am happy to express my 
 acknowledgments. 
 
 When the work had advanced far towards completion, and one- 
 half had been put in type, the occurrence of some terms common 
 in political language, the exact meaning of which was not clear, 
 led me to apply to my friend John Inman, Esq. , editor of the New 
 York "Commercial Advertiser," for aid. He readily comphed 
 with m}- request, and kindly furnished the definitions of several 
 terms of daily occurrence in the political language of the day. I 
 regret that I did not have his valuable aid in defining and illus- 
 trating the use of words and phrases which occur in the early 
 part of this Glossary. The contributions of Mr. Inman are 
 acknowledged where they appear. 
 
 To my friend Mr. Wm. W. Turner I am under great obhga- 
 tions for aid rendered me in preparing this work for the press. 
 
PEEFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 xix 
 
 Mr. Turner's extensive acquaintance with the European and 
 Oriental languages, together with an unusual sagacity in philo- 
 logical criticism, have peculiarly fitted him to give aid in the 
 ]3reparation of a work hke this. I have therefore submitted 
 the whole to his supervision, and adopted his views in all my 
 conclusions. At his suggestion, I have struck out many etymo- 
 logies taken from standard dictionaries, which it was evident 
 were wholl}' erroneous. 
 
 In noticing the words embraced in this Glossar}^, the reader 
 will probabl}^ think that msLuy have been admitted which ought 
 not to have a place in a Dictionary of American Provinciahsms. 
 From what has already been said, it will be seen that it is very 
 difficult to draw the line between what should be admitted and 
 what excluded ; and I have thought it better to err on the side 
 of copiousness, than by too rigid a system of selection to run 
 into the opposite extreme. 
 
 A careful perusal of nearly all the English glossaries has 
 enabled me to select what appeared most desirable to embrace, 
 and what to avoid, in an American book of a similar kind. 
 Cant words, except such as are in general use, the terms used 
 at gaming-houses, purely technical words, and those only known 
 to certain trades, obscene and blasphemous words, have b.'cn 
 discarded. 
 
 For a better understanding of the subject, as well as to show 
 the importance of collecting and preserving the colloquial dia- 
 lects of our countr}^, I have prefixed to the Vocabulary some 
 remarks on language, in which the reader will find that the 
 study of dialects and provincialisms is considered as worthy the 
 attention of philologists as the investigation of the language of 
 literature. 
 
 J. R. B. 
 
 New York, 1848. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 DIALECTS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 The most recent investigations in which the science of philo« 
 logy has been brought to bear on the Enghsh language have 
 shown that it is of purel}- Gothic origin, descended through 
 languages of which sufficient remains to make grammatical as 
 well as etjTTiological comparisons practicable. It is ti'ue that 
 some have regarded it as a perfect mongrel, without any natural 
 parent, compounded of various languages and dialects, Greek, 
 Latin, Saxon, French, Welsh, &c., &c. But, although the lan- 
 guage is Yery much mixed, it is a question whether it is not as 
 pure, and as closely aUied to the Anglo-Saxon and Moeso-Gothic, 
 as the languages in the south of Europe are to the Latin. Or, 
 in other words, it is probable that the English is not more im- 
 pregnated with words of the Latin stock than the Italian, 
 French, Spanish, and Portuguese are with words of the Teu- 
 tonic stock. 
 
 The natural tendencj" of language is to improve ; and, when a 
 people cannot express in a comprehensive manner a particular 
 idea or shade of meaning, they either form a word to denote it 
 from a root or roots already in the language, or borrow a word 
 from other languages which expresses it alread3\ 
 
 With regard to the EngHsh language, this last-mentioned pro- 
 cess has been adopted to an extent which, while it has enriched 
 our vocabular}^ with a vast number of terms, has, it must be 
 confessed, greatl}' impaired its reproductive power. The origi- 
 nal substratum of Anglo-Saxon speech has been overlaid with 
 multitudes of common and conversational words from the French, 
 
xxii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 literaiy and ecclesiastical terms from the Latin, and technicalities 
 from the Greek ; and the process is constant!}' going on. Yet, 
 in spite of these immense accessions to its vocabulary, the 
 structure of the Enghsh has remained in all essential respects 
 the same trom the period when it first became a language. 
 Moreover, the number of foreign importations contained in our 
 dictionaries gives by no means a correct idea of the number of 
 such words which we actuall}' make use of. The gi'cater part 
 of our household, colloquial, and poetical expressions are Saxon, 
 and so are all those important words called particles, on which 
 tlie whole structure of speech hinges ; whereas, an immense num- 
 ber of the words derived from other sources belong exclusivel}' 
 to the language of books, and many even to particular sciences. 
 
 There is another fact to be observed, which is that these dif- 
 ferent classes of words are not used in the same proportion b}^ 
 all members of society. Persons mthout education, and who 
 are consequentl}' not familiar with the language of literature, 
 employ- almost exclusivel}- in their conversation the simple and 
 expressive Saxon terms ; while persons belonging to the more 
 ftwored classes of society supply the place of man}'^ of these 
 terms by others derived from the language of books. The old 
 words thus discarded, which are often far more expressive and 
 more consonant to the genius of the language than the appar- 
 enth' more elegant novelties by which they are supplanted, are 
 from that time considered as the exclusive property of the com- 
 mon people, and receive the name of provincial, colloquial, or 
 vnlfiur. 
 
 But, notwithstanding all this, the common speech often enters 
 largely into composition, and in some instances constitutes the 
 chief excellence of a writer. In dramatic composition, the col- 
 loquial language predominates. In Shakespeare, we find every 
 vaiiety of diction of which the English language is susceptible, 
 from the loftiest flights of the statesman and philosopher to the 
 familiar language of the lowest of the people. In Ben Jonson, 
 Beaumont and Fletcher, Shirle}', and the other dramatic authors, 
 we find the familiar idiom to be the most prevalent. 
 
 If we examine the literature of other countries, we shall find 
 that the colloquial tongue has been employed in written com- 
 
INTRODUCTIOX. 
 
 xxiii 
 
 positions of a similar kind, and with equal success. In addition 
 to Aristophanes and Plautus among the ancients, Cervantes ma}^ 
 be mentioned as an example in Spain, and the writings of Rabe- 
 lais and Moliere in France. The colloquial dialect is generally 
 more ancient than the literar^^ language, as the latter is con- 
 stantl}' changing, while the former remains nearl^^ stationary. 
 
 If any person will take the trouble to examine the earl}' dic- 
 tionaries of the English language, or the dictionaries of which 
 Enghsh forms a part, he will be surprised at the large number 
 of words which have become so completely obsolete as to be 
 undeserving a place in modern compilations. 'Exen the Enghsh 
 dictionar}' of Bailey, which at the time Dr. Johnson pubhshed 
 his was the standard, abounds in words which are now never 
 used in composition. This class of words was employed by 
 authors from Chaucer's time, or about the year 1400, to the 
 beginning of the seventeenth centur3\ the middle of that 
 century, the}' had ceased to be used in books, but were preserved 
 in dictionaries for a century longer. The great mass of them, 
 however, are found in one or more of the numerous provincial 
 dialects of England to the present day. 
 
 The dialects of the English language now spoken in England 
 have existed from a very early period. It is not pretended by 
 writers on the subject that any are of recent origin. " In earl}^ 
 times," sa3'S Dr. Bosworth, "there was clearly a considerable 
 dialectic variety in the Avritings of men residing in different 
 provinces. The differences observable in the language of the 
 most cultivated classes would be still more marked and apparent 
 in the mass of population, or the less educated connnnnity. 
 These, from their agricultural pursuits, had little connnunication 
 with the inhabitants of other provinces ; and, having few 0})por- 
 tunities and little inducement to leave their own neighborhood, 
 they intermarried among each other, and, from their limited 
 acquaintance and circumscribed views, they would naturally be 
 much attached to their old manners, customs, and language. 
 The same cause operating from age to age would keep united 
 the greater part of the i)opulation, or the families of the middle 
 stations of life : it may, therefore, be well expected that much 
 of the peculiarity of dialect prevalent in Anglo-Saxon times 
 
xxiv 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 IS i^reserved even to the present dsij in the provincial dialects of 
 the same districts. In these local dialects, then, remnants of 
 the Anglo-Saxon tongue may be found in the least altered, most 
 uncorrupt, and therefore its purest state." ^ 
 
 In an ethnological point of view, the English dialects afford 
 important materials for elucidating that portion of EngUsh his- 
 tory which relates to the earl}' colonization of Great Britain ; 
 for, if historj' were silent on the subject, a philological test 
 applied to the dialects of the country would show what nations 
 contributed to its colonization. 
 
 The "Edinburgh Review" for April, 1844, in an article on the 
 ProvinciaMsms. of the European Languages, gives the following 
 results of an inquir}^ into the number of provincial words which 
 had then been arrested by local glossaries : — 
 
 
 1,993 
 
 
 
 r Devonshire and Cornwall 
 
 878 
 
 
 589 
 
 < Devonshire (North) . . 
 
 1,146 
 
 
 592 
 
 
 370 
 
 
 . 1,568 
 
 Herefordshire .... 
 
 822 
 
 
 . 6,169 
 
 Lancashire 
 
 1,922 
 
 North County . . . 
 
 . 3,750 
 
 Suffolk 
 
 2,400 
 
 Cheshire 
 
 903 
 
 
 2,500 
 
 Grose and Pegge ^ . . 
 
 . 3,500 
 
 Somersetshire .... 
 
 1,204 
 
 
 30,687 
 
 "Admitting that several of the foregoing are synonymous, 
 superfluous, or common to each county, there are nevertheless 
 man}' of them which, although alike orthographically, are vastly 
 dissimilar in signilication. Making these allowances, the}' amount 
 to a little more than 20,000 ; or, according to the number of 
 English counties hitherto illustrated, to the average ratio of 1478 
 to a county. Calculating the twenty-six unpublished in the same 
 ratio (for there are supposed to be as many words collected by 
 persons who have never pubhsbed them) , they will furnish 36,428 
 additional provincialisms, forming in the aggregate 59,000 words 
 in the colloquial tongue of the lower classes, which can, for the 
 chief part, produce proofs of legitimate origin." 
 
 1 Preface to Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, p. xxvi. 
 
 2 Set down as Metropolitan. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXV 
 
 Since the above was written, a most important contribution to 
 this department of hterature has been made in the pubhcation 
 of " A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Obsolete 
 Phrases, Proverbs, and Ancient Customs, from the fourteenth 
 century. By J. 0. Halliwell. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1847." This 
 admirable work actualh^ contains 50,000 words, a great portion 
 of which are illustrated by extracts from manuscripts. It will be 
 found b}^ most persons to ampty supply the place of the numerous 
 separate glossaries for stud3'ing the dialects of England, while it 
 affords indispensable assistance for the correct understanding of 
 the earl}' writers. A still later publication of the same descrip- 
 tion, and which has constantly been consulted with advantage in 
 preparing the second edition of the present work, is the " Dic- 
 tionary of Obsolete and Provincial English, containing words 
 from the English writers previous to the nineteenth centur}', 
 which are no longer in use, or are not used in the same sense, 
 and words which are now used only in the provincial dialects. 
 Compiled by Thomas Wright, Esq. 2 vols. 12mo. London, 
 1857." 
 
 As it does not fall within the scope of these inquiries to dis- 
 cuss the languages to which the English bears a relationship, we 
 shall pass over these, and come at once to the Anglo-Saxon. 
 This forms the basis of the English language, and is to be con- 
 sidered as the mother-tongue, upon which many words and phrases 
 from other languages, at successive periods, during a space of 
 fourteen centuries, have been engrafted. 
 
 The Saxons brought their language into Britain in the year 
 449, when the invasion under Hengist took place. What the 
 language was at this period it is impossible to show, as no writ- 
 ings of the time have come down to us. It probably' approached 
 nearer to its immediate progenitor, the Low German and Moeso- 
 Gothic, than the form it assumed several centuries later, when 
 we first find written documents.-^ 
 
 1 It is true tliat the celehrated Anglo-Saxon poem of Beowulf is consid- 
 ered to be contemporary with Hengist. But its editor, Mr. Kendjle, states 
 that the poem as contained in the Cottonian MS., British Museum, is not so 
 old; and there occur in it Cliristian allusions which fi.x this text at least at 
 a period subsequent to a. d, 597. 
 
XX vi 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The large number of invaders who followed Ilengist compelled 
 the ancient inhabitants to retire ; and in about a centur\- the 
 whole country was formed into a Saxon kingdom, wherein their 
 language took the place of the Celtic. This language, thus 
 introduced and so firml}' established, has been called pure Saxon 
 b}' the learned Dr. Hickes in his ''Thesaurus Veterum Lingua- 
 rum Septentrionalium." 
 
 The languages of the Angles and Saxons were closely allied to 
 each other. In fact, from a comparison of the earliest specimens 
 that have come down to us, it is evident that they w^ere merely 
 dialects of the same tongue, spoken b}' people living contiguous 
 to each other. The other Gothic invaders or colonists of Brit- 
 ain, who have left traces of their language, are the Jutes of Jut- 
 land and the Friesians of Friesland. 
 
 The Danes made their first descent on the English coast in 
 787, and were soon repelled. Successive invasions followed ; 
 and, when Charlemagne compelled them to retreat before his 
 victorious armies, they sought a refuge in Britain, laying waste 
 the country and plundering wherever they came. The Saxons 
 alwaj^s got rid of them as soon as possible, either by force of 
 arms or contributions of money. Yet in man}' instances they 
 established colonies, and after 230 years of warfare thc}^ suc- 
 ceeded in raising a Danish king to the throne of England in the 
 year 1017. His reign, however, was short; for in twent3'-four 
 3'ears the Danish dynast}' was extinct, and a Saxon king again 
 succeeded. 
 
 This is the period where Dr. Hickes places the second stage 
 of the Anglo-Saxon language, being that in which it was affected 
 by the Danish invasions, receiving new w^ords or dialectical 
 changes. Mr. Forby, in his remarks on the dialect of East 
 Anglia, says that no part of I^ngland was more completely over- 
 run or longer occupied than this ; but he denies that a number 
 of words sufficiently large was imported to give a new color and 
 character to the Saxon tongue.^ 
 
 " The French element appeared in our language with the bat- 
 tle of Hastings (a. d. 10G6), perhaps in a shght degree during 
 
 1 Forby's Introd, to the Vocab. of East AngHa, p. 31. 
 
INTRODUCTIOK. 
 
 xxvii 
 
 the -reign of Edward the Confessor." ^ It is the dialect spoken 
 in the northern parts of France, and denominated Norman- 
 French, which has had the greatest influence upon the English 
 language. 
 
 Those parts of Great Britain which have contributed most to 
 our pro-vdnciahsms are the counties of Norfolk and Suffollv, and 
 the Scottish Borders. It was chiefl}^ from these counties that 
 New England was colonized ; hence, their pecuharities of lan- 
 guage are most numerous in the New England States. The 
 provincialisms used in the districts referred to have been collected 
 and published in Forbj^'s Vocabulary of East Anglia, 2 vols. 
 12mo, London, 1830 ; Moor's Suffolk Words and Phrases, 
 12mo, London, 1823 ; Brockett's Glossary of North Country 
 Words, with their etymolog}', 3d edition, 2 vols. 12mo, New- 
 castle-upon-Tyne, 184G ; and Carr's dialect of Craven in the 
 West Riding of York, 2 vols. 12mo, 2d edition, London, 1828. 
 
 AMERICAN DIALECTS. 
 
 Dialects originate in various waj's. First, b}^ the proximity 
 of nations speaking diflferent languages, in which case many 
 words and phrases are borrowed from one into the otlier ; wit- 
 ness the Scotch and Irish dialects of the English. Secondly, by 
 migrations. This is the most fruitful and permanent source of 
 dialects. AVe see its effects in the language of Enghind ; for 
 the immigrations of various nations into Great Britain from the 
 Saxons down to the period of the Norman conquest are yet 
 distinctly marked in the dialects of that country. . 
 
 In the United States, it is easy to point out causes which, in 
 the course of a few generations, will nuitcrially allcct the Eng- 
 lish language in the particular districts of country where those 
 influences are at work. Dialects will spring up as marked as 
 
 1 Latham on tlie Englisli Language, p. 45. 1st edit. 
 
xxviii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 those of Great Britain. A free intercourse may in some cases 
 check the permanency of these dialects ; but in those parts of 
 the country aside from the great thoroughfares, where a dialect 
 has once become firmly established, a thousand 3'ears will not 
 suffice to eradicate it. 
 
 The State of New York was originall}- settled hj the Dutch. 
 The number of their colonists was never large, nor did they 
 extend their settlements be3'ond the valle}^ of the Mohawk and 
 lands adjacent ; yet we find even in this thickl}' settled State, 
 after a lapse of two hundred years, that they have left evident 
 traces on our spoken languages. In the cities of New York and 
 Albany, man}" Dutch words have become incorporated into the 
 common speech. In some of the inland villages of Dutch ori- 
 gin, the inhabitants still use the language of their fathers ; and 
 there are even individuals who never spoke an}" other. 
 
 The words so adopted by us embrace geographical names, — a 
 class of words which the first colonists of a country or the primi- 
 tive inhabitants themselves generally leave to their posterity or 
 to the subsequent occupants. Many of the other words which 
 the Dutch have left us are terms belonging to the kitchen. 
 These have been preserved and handed down by cooks and do- 
 mestic servants, until from constant use they are become famil- 
 iar to all. Among these terms are cookey, cruller, olykoke, spack 
 and applejees, noodlejees, rullichies, koolslaa, pit. 
 
 The terms for various playthings, holidays, &c., preserve 
 among children .their original Dutch names ; as, scup, sriore, 
 Jioople, peewee, pile, pinkster, paas. Other w^ords confined to 
 children are pinky, terawchy. 
 
 Articles of wearing apparel in some instances retain their 
 Dutch names ; as, barraclade, clockmntcli. 
 
 Besides these there are terms, the use of which is not confined 
 to the districts originally colonized from Holland, but has been 
 extended to New England and several of the Northern States, 
 and even to Canada ; such as stoop, a porch, boss, a master- 
 workman, &c. 
 
 If a few Dutch colonists mingled with the English have been 
 able to engraft so many words on our language, what may we 
 not expect from the hundreds of thousands of Germans in the 
 
INTRODUCTIOK. 
 
 xxix 
 
 State of Pennsylvania? There the German language will doubt- 
 less exist for centuries ; for although the}^ are situated in the 
 midst of an English-speaking population, far more numerous 
 than themselves, and although the government and laws are 
 conducted through the English language, still the tendency of a 
 people of common origin to cling together, — the pubhcation of 
 newspapers, almanacs, and books in German, — and the culti- 
 vation to some extent of German literature, will tend to preserve 
 the idiom and nationality of the people. It is true the language 
 is alread}^ much corrupted, and in the course of time it must 
 give wa}' to the English ; but it will leave behind it an almost 
 imperishable dialect as a memento of its existence. In the 
 States of Ohio and Texas, where there are large settlements of 
 Germans, a similar result must follow. 
 
 In the State of Illinois is a colon}' of Norwegians. These 
 people before coming to America sent out an agent, who selected 
 •and purchased for them a large tract of land in one section of 
 that State. They were accompanied by their clergjTuan and 
 schoolmaster. They are thus kept together, and will for a long 
 time preserve their language and nationality. But it must also 
 eventuall}' give wa}', after engrafting on the EngUsh language in 
 that vicinity a Norwegian dialect. 
 
 There are large settlements of Welsh emigrants in the States 
 of Pennsylvania and New York. In the latter, in Oneida County, 
 one may travel for miles and hear nothing but the Welsh lan- 
 guage. These people have their newspapers and magazines in 
 their native tongue, and support many churches wherein their 
 language alone is preached. The Welsh, however, are not in 
 sufficient numbers, nor are they sufficiently isolated, to retain 
 for any length of time their native form of speech ; neither can 
 they produce any sensible dialectical change in our language, 
 owing to the great difference between it and their own. They 
 will, however, add some words to it. 
 
 In the State of Louisiana, which was colonized by the French, 
 and in Florida, which was colonized by the Spaniards, there are 
 many words of foreign origin, scarcely known in the Northern 
 States. The geographical divisions, the names of rivers, moun- 
 tains, bays ; the peculiarities of soil and climate ; all that re- 
 
XXX 
 
 INTEODUCTION. 
 
 lates to the cultivation of the earth, the names of fishes, birds, 
 fruits, vegetables, coins, &c., &c., retain to a great extent the 
 names given them by the first possessors of the country. The 
 same classes of words are preserved in Lower Canada, where 
 they were originally given by the French. We have adopted 
 them into our own tongue, where they will for ever remain in 
 use. Among the words of French origin are bagasse, banquette, 
 cache, chute, bodette, bayou^ sault, levee, crevasse, Jiabitan, portage, 
 voyageur. 
 
 The Spanish colonists in Florida, and our intercourse with 
 Mexico and the Spanish main, were the means of introducing 
 a few Spanish words. Since the annexation of Texas, New 
 Mexico, and California, our vocabulary has received numerous 
 additions from this source. These consist of geographical terms, 
 as arroyo, acequia, barranca, canyon, cienega, cieneguita, faralones, 
 loma, mesa, mesilla, playa, ojo, sierra, Jornada ; of names of arti- 
 cles of food, as tortilla, frijoles, atole, pinole, chile ; and of various 
 other terms, as arriero, adobe, corral, chaparal, pistareen, rancho, 
 ranchero, lariat, lasso, fandango, stampede, scrape, tinaja, vamos, 
 vaquero . 
 
 The Indian terms in our language, as might be supposed, are 
 numerous. First, as to geographical names. These abound in 
 every State in the Union, though more in some States than in 
 others. In New England, particular^ on the coast, Indian 
 names are very common. Nearly all the rivers, bays, and 
 prominent landmarks bear them, as Housatonic, Connecticut, Win- 
 nepesaukie, Quinnebaug, Pawcatuch, Merrimack, Kennebec, Penob- 
 scot, Narragansett, Passamaquoddy, &c. In other parts of the 
 country, too, the rivers retain their aboriginal names, as the 
 Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Susquehanna, Roanoke, Altamaha, 
 Chattahoochee, Alabama, &c., &c. And the same may be said 
 of the great lakes ; as, Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan, as well 
 as the lesser ones of Seneca, Cayuga, Canandaigua, Oneida, Win- 
 nipeg, Winnebago ; and also of nearly all the ba3's, mountains, 
 and numerous geographical divisions and locaUties. Man}' of 
 the aboriginal names, however, have been discarded for others 
 less appropriate. In New England, the towns and villages were 
 chiefly named after the towns in England from which the early 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xxxi 
 
 colonists emigrated. In the State of New York there is a strange 
 discrepanc}' in the names of places. Before the Revolution, the 
 people seemed to prefer the aboriginal names : not onh' the 
 rivers, lakes, hills, &c., but man}- of the toM'ns, received them. 
 After the war, the names of distinguished statesmen and soldiers 
 were applied to the new counties and towns. Besides geo- 
 graphical names, the Indian languages have supplied us with : 
 1st, man}' names of beasts and fishes, as caribou, cayman, chipmuh^ 
 moose, ocelot, opossum, raccoon, skunk, manitee, sqiieteague, menha- 
 den, pauhaugen, scuppaug^ qualiaug, terrapin ; 2d, of plants, as 
 persimmon, chincapin, pecan, tuckahoe, maize, kinnikinnik, tobacco, 
 — particular!}' preparations of them for food, as sa.mp, hominy, 
 succotash, svpaicn, from Indian corn, and, from the cassava plant, 
 mandioca and tapioca ; 3d, names of articles known to and used 
 b}" the Indians, and which the Europeans did not possess, as 
 canoe, hammock, moccasin, icampum, sewan, wigwam, tomahawk, 
 pemmican, tepee, toboggin ; and, 4th, names applied by Indians 
 to themselves in their various relations, as inca, cazique, cock- 
 arouse, mingo, sachem, sagamore, squaw, pappoose. 
 
 The greatest perversions of the EngUsh language arise from 
 two opposite causes. One of them is the introduction of vul- 
 garisms and slang by uneducated people, who, not having the 
 command of proper words to express their ideas, invent others 
 for the purpose. These words continue among this class, are 
 transmitted b}' them to their children, and thus become perma- 
 nent and provincial. They are next seized upon b}' stump- 
 speakers at political meetings, because they are popular with the 
 masses. Next we hear them on the floor of Congress and in our 
 halls of legislation. Quoted by the newspapers, tlic}' become 
 familiar to all, and take their place in the colloquial language of 
 the whole peoi)le. Lexicographers now secure them and give 
 them a place in their dictionaries ; and thus they are lirmly 
 engrafted on our language. The study of lexicography will 
 show that this process has long been going on in England, and 
 doubtless other languages are subject to similar influences. 
 
 But the greatest injur}' to our language arises from the i)er- 
 version of legitimate words and the invention of h} brid and 
 other inadmissible expressions by educated men, and particularly 
 
xxxii 
 
 INTEODUCTION. 
 
 by the clergy. This class is the one, above all others, which 
 ought to be the conservators rather than the perverters of lan- 
 guage. It is nevertheless a fact which cannot be denied, that 
 many strange and barbarous w^ords, to which our ears are gradu- 
 all}^ becoming familiar, owe to them their origin and introduc- 
 tion : among them may be mentioned such verbs as to fellowship, 
 to difficult, to eventuate, to resurrect, to doxologize, to happify, to 
 donate, to fvneralize, &c., &c. 
 
 Political writers have made, and are constantl}^ making, large 
 additions to our stock of words and phrases. Alex. Hamilton's 
 writings abound in newl}' coined expressions ; many of which 
 have been adopted by Dr. Webster, and have a place in his dic- 
 tionar3\ But few, however, have come into general use, as his 
 writings have not been widel}^ diflused, and there is nothing to 
 recommend them for adoption by scholars. Mr. N. P. Willis, 
 also, has the reputation of inventing many new words, some of 
 which, though not yet embodied in our dictionaries, are much 
 used in familiar language. Judge Story has contributed his 
 share of new words ; but, as they are confined to legal treatises 
 and works on the Constitution, the}' can never seriously affect 
 the language. 
 
 Writers of political articles in the newspapers, stump-orators, 
 and the members of legislative bodies, have added much to the 
 English vocabulary-. This class of words, though not remark- 
 able for their elegance, are often highly- expressive, and become 
 more widely- known than other classes. In many instances, 
 however, their existence is but short. They often spring up 
 with a party ; and as the parties become extinct, or give place 
 to new ones, the terms which express their peculiar ideas or doc- 
 trines likewise fall out of use. In this class may be included 
 such terms as Old Hunker, Buchtail, Federalist, Barnhurner, Loco- 
 foco, Young Democracy, Democratic Republican, Know-nothing, 
 Native American, Nullijier, Nullijication, Coon, Coonery, Fire- 
 eater, Black Republican, Silver-gray, Wire-puller, &c. 
 
 There are words, however, in this class, which, having grown 
 out of our peculiar institutions, are of a permanent nature. 
 The origin of some of these is involved in obscurity, while that 
 of others is w-ell known. Sometimes a little incident trivial in 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xxxiii 
 
 itself has brought into existence words which are extremely 
 expressive, and which will remain as long as our institutions 
 exist. In this class, we find caucus, mass-meeting, buncombe or 
 bunkum, to lobby, to gerrymander, mileage, gubernatorial, senatorial, 
 squatter sovereignty, stamping ground, stump, &c. 
 
 The peculiar ph3'sical features of the country — its animals, 
 productions, aborigines, forest-life, &c. — have been a most 
 fruitful source, from which have sprung perhaps the largest 
 number of new words, as necessary and useful to ourselves as 
 any derived from our Saxon ancestors. These terms are not 
 used in England, for the simple reason that there they are not 
 wanted. Although I cannot agree with Dr. Webster, that " we 
 rarely find a new word introduced into a language which is 
 entirely useless," — for there are unquestionably thousands of 
 words encumbering our dictionaries which might well be dis 
 pensed with, — 3'et there is no doubt that, in most instances, 
 " the use of new terms is dictated by necessity or utility : some- 
 times to express shades of difference in signification, for which 
 the language did not supply a suitable term ; sometimes to 
 express a combination of ideas by a single word, which other- 
 wise would require a circumlocution. These benefits, which are 
 often perceived, as it were, instinctively by a nation, recommend 
 such words to common use, till the cavils of critics are silenced 
 by the weight of authority." — Letter to J. Pickering, p. 7. 
 
 Were we to classify the periods when names were applied to 
 places in the State of New York, for example, we would call 
 that in which the Indian names were applied the aboriginal 
 period. This is as far back as it would be safe for ordinary 
 mortals to go, leaving the " antediluvian^^ period to the second- 
 sight of such seers as Mr. Rafinesque.^ 
 
 The Indian names seem to have prevailed till the Revolution. 
 Then came a burst of patriotism among the settlers, many of 
 whom doubtless had served in the war, and every new place was 
 christened with the names of the warriors and statesmen of the 
 day. Thus arose Washington County, Washington Village, and Wash- 
 ington Hollow; Jefferson County, Village, Lake, &c. The State 
 
 1 See Introduction to History of Kentucky, 
 c 
 
xxxiv 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of New York has thus perpetuated, in her towns and villages, 
 the names of Adams^ Jay^ Lafayette^ Hamilton^ Madison. PlacJcney, 
 Putnam^ Pulaski, Schayler, De Kalb, Steuben, Sullivan, Gates, 
 Franklin, Greene, Monroe, Washington, Wayne, &g. This m a j well 
 be styled the patriotic period. The names of statesmen and 
 generals, however, did not suffice for the patriotism of our early 
 pioneers ; for we find interspersed among them the names of 
 Freedom, Freetmvn, Freeport, Friendship, Independence, Liberty^ 
 Victory^ Hopewell, Harmony, Concord, Union, &c. 
 
 Next comes the classical period ; for by what other term could 
 we designate a period when towns were christened by the names 
 of such men as Homer, Virgil, Solon, Ovid, Cato, Euclid, Brutus, 
 Pompey, Tully, Cicero, Cincinnatus, Aurelius, Scipio, Ulysses, 
 Seneca, Hannibal, Hector, Romulus, Lysander, Manlius, Camillus, 
 and Marcellus ; or of such places as Athens, Sparta, Marathon, 
 Troy, Corinth, Pharsalia, Palmyra, Utica, Smyrna, Attica, Mace- 
 don, Ithica, Phoenicia, Tyre, Rome, and Carthage. 
 
 Testimony to the piety (to say nothing of the good taste) of 
 our forefathers is also afforded b}' the occurrence of such names, 
 also in the State of New York, as Eden, Paradise, Babylon, 
 Nineveh, Mount Sinai, Jerusalem, Jericho, Hebron, Goshen, Canaan, 
 Bethany, Bethlehem, Bethpage, Sharon, Sodorn, Siloam, Lebanon, Mo- 
 riah, &c. Of the names of European cities there are Antwerp, 
 Amsterdam, Berlin, Boston, Cambridge, Copenhagen, Dresden, Dun- 
 dee, Florence, Frankfort, Geneva, Genoa, Hamburg, Hague, Lisbon, 
 Leyden, Liverpool, Manchester, Madrid. Milan, Moscow, Naples, 
 Oxford, Odessa, Parma, Palermo, Paris, Rome, Riga, Stockholm, 
 Turin, Verona, Vienna, Versailles, Venice, and York. There are 
 towns in the same State named after nearly ever}' countr}' in 
 Europe, as Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Poland, Greece, 
 Italy, Sardinia, Holland, and Wales. There is a town of Mexico, 
 Chili, Peru, Lima, Havana, Cuba, Cairo, Alexandria, Memphis, 
 Egypt, Arabia, Persia, China, Pekin, Canton, Delhi, Bombay, 
 Manilla, Batavia, Java, and Teddo. Distinguished authors and 
 statesmen of England are remembered in the towns of Addison, 
 Burns, Burke, Byron, Clarendon, Chesterfield, Dry den. Gray, Gran- 
 ville, Hampden, Hume, " Junius,'^ Locke, Marlborough, Milton. Scott, 
 Sheridan, Sidney, Spencer, Somers, and Walton. But little fond- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXXV 
 
 ness is exhibited for dramatic authors, as the name of the 
 greatest of them all has been forgotten ; not even a pond, a 
 hollow, or a swamp in the United States has been honored with 
 the name of Shakspeare. If we were to classify all the names 
 of places in the State of New York, we should be puzzled to 
 find a place for the names of Big Indian, Coiv Neck, Half Way^ 
 Half Moon. Mad Creek, Mosquito Cove, Ohlong, Owl Pond, Oxhoiu^ 
 Painted Post, Pitcher, Red Jacket, Rough and. Ready, Success. Spe- 
 onk. Sing Sing, Sugar Lonf, Yaphank, and the like. The name 
 of Penn Tan is said to have been manufactured b}' the first set- 
 tlers, part of whom were from Penns3-lvania and the rest from 
 New England, by taking the first s^dlable from " Penns3'lvania," 
 and the last from "Yankee." 
 
 In California, many places have been absurdly named from 
 some trifling incident connected with the first settlement ; such 
 are Hangfown., Shirt Tail Canyon, Flapjack Canyon., Whiskey 
 Gulch, Port Wine Diggins, Humhn.g Flat, Murderer s Bar, Jackass 
 Gulch., Red Dog, Travellers'' Rest. Some of these retain their 
 names even after thej' become populous villages. The following 
 are sufficiently important to have post-offices, as appears from 
 the oflflcial Postal Guide : Big Trees, Big Pine, Dutch Flat, Big 
 Oak Flat, Black Bear, Buck Eye, Hay Fork, Happy Gamp, Horse- 
 town., Fair Play, Grizzly Flat, Gas Jet, Left Hand, Two Rocks, 
 Uncle Sam, You Bet, and Zum. Zum. 
 
 But California is not alone in the oddness of the nomenclature 
 of her towns. If any one curious in the subject will turn to the 
 pages of the United States Postal Guide, he will find names 
 quite as odd in some of the older States. In Arkansas will be 
 found Black Fish, Bright Star, Black Jack, Blue Ball, Big Bottom, 
 Buck Htm, Due West, Evening Shade, Oil Trough, Opposition, 
 Rocky Comfort, Social Hill, Sub Rosa, Ten Mile, and War Eagle ; 
 while Illinois glories in her Bible Grove, Lone Tree, Moonshine, 
 Sugar L<>af Fair Weather, Red Bud, Robin s Nest, and Blue Glass. 
 From the Western States we turned to Georgia, one of the old 
 original "Thirteen" States, to see what her nomenclature is, 
 and found some names quite as odd as those of the new States, 
 Among them are Air Line, Anvil Block, Cold Water, Cheery Log, 
 
xxxvi 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Dirt. Town, Pine Log, Rising Fawn, Saw Dust, Social Circle^ 
 Talking Rock, Ty Ty, Wolf Skin, and War Woman. 
 
 Strangely formed factitious words are much affected at the 
 West, abskize, absquatulate, catawanipously, exjlunctify, obscute, 
 slantendicular, &c., &c. ; and in the South such onomatopees as 
 keslosh. kesouse, keswollop, kewhollux, &c. 
 
 The battle-fields of the Mexican war are commemorated in 
 eighteen Buena Vistas, sixteen Montereys, nine Palo Altos, and 
 three Resacas. And the names of its heroes have given birth to 
 a host of Taylors and Taylorvilles^ Worths and Worthvilles, Pierces 
 and Piercevilles, besides Piercetown, Pierceland, and Pierce Point ; 
 also several Polks and Polkvilles, together with Polktown, Polk 
 City, Polk Patch, Polk Precinct, and Polk Run ; and two addi- 
 tional Quitmans. The officers who distinguished themselves in 
 the late civil war, and the statesmen of the day, will not be for- 
 gotten as the new States fill up. 
 
 In consequence of the variety of origin of the names of States 
 and towns, the formation of nouns from them to denote the 
 native or citizen of such State or town is sometimes difficult and 
 even impossible. Thus New Yorker, Vermonter, Rhode Islander, 
 will do well enough ; and so will Virginian, Georgian, Philadel- 
 pfiian, Bostonian, Mohilian ; but Baffcdoan, lllinoian, Ohioan, are 
 hardly admissible ; while Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Ar- 
 kansas refuse to ^ield to the process at all. 
 
 The class of new words and new meanings of old words which 
 owe their origin to circumstances or productions peculiar to the 
 United States, such as ark, backwoods, backwoodsmen, breadstvffs, 
 barrens, blaze, bottoms, broad-horn, buffalo-robe, cane-brake, cypress- 
 brake, clearing, corn-broom, corn-shacking, deadening, diggings, dug- 
 out, flat-boat, hog-wallow, husking, interval, location, pine-barrens, 
 prairie, pre-emption, reservation, salt lick, savannah, snag, sawyer, 
 squatter, &c., are necessar}' additions to the language. 
 
 The metaphorical and other odd expressions used first at the 
 West, and afterwards in other parts of the country, often origi- 
 nate in some curious anecdote or event, which is transmitted 
 from mouth to mouth, and soon made the property of all. Po- 
 litical writers and stump speakers perform a prominent part in 
 the invention and diff'usion of these phrases. Among these may 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xxxvii 
 
 be mentioned to cave in, to acknowledge the corn, to flash in the 
 pan, to hark up the wrong tree, to loake up the wrong passenger, to 
 pull up stakes, to he a caution, to fizzle out, to flat out, to peter out, 
 to fix his flint, to he among the missing, to give him Jessy, to see the 
 elephant, to fly around, to spread one's self, to tucker out, to use up, 
 to walk into, to cotton, to hifer, to chisel, to slope, to lobby, to gerry- 
 mander, to splurge, &c., &c. 
 
 Our people, particularly those who belong to the West and 
 South, are fond of using intensive and extravagant epithets, both 
 as adjectives and adverbs, as awful, powerful, motistrous, dreadful, 
 mighty, almighty, all fired, &c. ; while euphemistic oaths are one 
 of the characteristics of the Yankee dialect. 
 
 The words bankable, boatable, dutiable, mailable, mileage, are well 
 formed and useful terms, which have been generally adopted by 
 those who have occasion to make use of them. But the words 
 dubersome, disremember, decedent, docity, and the like, can hardly 
 be called necessary additions to our language. 
 
 There is a diversity in the pronunciation of certain words in 
 different parts of the United States, which is so perceptible that 
 a native of these particular districts may be at once recognized 
 by a person who is observant in these matters*. Residents of 
 the cit}' of New York are perhaps less marked in their pronun- 
 ciation and use of words than the residents of any other city or 
 State, the reason of which is obvious. The population is so 
 fluctuating, so man}- people from every part of the country, as 
 well as from England, Scotland, and Ireland, are congregated 
 there, who are in dail}" contact with each other, that there is less 
 chance for any idiom or peculiarity of speech to grow up. Nev- 
 ertheless, grammatical inaccuracies are far from uncommon in 
 the speech of the wealthier classes, and slang is cultivated to 
 an increasing extent b}' the rowd^'" portion of the population. 
 
 The large number of educated men in New England, her 
 admirable schools and higher institutions of education, have had 
 a powerful influence in moulding the language of her people. 
 Yet, notwithstanding this fact, in Boston and other towns in 
 Massachusetts, there exist some glaring errors in the vulgar 
 speech. There are peculiarities also to be observed in the lite- 
 rary language of the Bostonians. The great extent to which 
 
xxxviii 
 
 INTRODUCTION-. 
 
 the scholars of New England have carried the study of the 
 German language and literature for some years back, added 
 to a very general neglect of the old masterpieces of P^nglish 
 composition, have had the effect of giving to the writings of 
 many of them an artificial, unidiomatic character, which has an 
 inexpressibly unpleasant effect to those who are not habituated 
 to it. 
 
 The agricultural population who live in the interior of New 
 England have a strongly marked provincial dialect, b}^ which 
 they may be distinguished from the people of every other part 
 of the Union. The chief peculiarit}' is a drawling pronuncia- 
 tion, sometimes accompanied by a speaking through the nose, 
 as eend for end^ dawg for dog^ Gaivd and Go-od for God^ &c. 
 Before the sounds ow and oo, they often insert a short which 
 we will represent by the letter y ; as, hyow for cow, vyow for vow^ 
 tyoo for too, dyoo for do, &c., &c. The numerous words em- 
 plo3^ed in New England which are not heard in other parts of 
 the country are mostl}' genuine old words still provincial in the 
 north of England : ver}' few are of indigenous origin. 
 
 A very common mispronunciation in New England is in such 
 words as Neii\* Tuesday, Dew, Duke, where the vowel-sound in 
 stoop is given for the vowel-sound in few, thereby pronouncing 
 them Noo, Toosday, Doo, Dooh. This error among us is noticed 
 by all English people, who are very particular in giving these 
 and similar words their correct pronunciation. The educated in 
 the Middle States pronounce these words correctl3\ 
 
 Among some of the Western people there are strange ideas 
 regarding the use of certain words, which has led the mock- 
 modest to reject them and substitute others. Thus, to speak of 
 the names of animals onl}' , the essentiall}' English word hvll is 
 refined be3'ond the mountains, and perhaps elsewhere, into cow- 
 creattire^ male-cow, and even gentleman-coio ! A friend who re- 
 sided manj^ years in the West has told me of an incident where 
 a gray-headed man of sixty doffed his hat reverently and apolo- 
 gized to a clergyman for having used inadvertent!}* in his hear- 
 ing the plain Saxon term. Male sheep, male hog^ &c., are of a 
 piece with the preceding, to which we ma}^ add rooster, he biddy^ 
 game chicken, &c. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xxxix 
 
 The chief pecuharity in the pronunciation of the Southern and 
 Western people is the giving of a broader sound than is proper 
 to certain vowels ; as, whar for where, thar for there^ har for hear. 
 Ear and here are both pronounced like year ; honse^ ahout^ &c. , 
 have a pronunciation approaching to hoose, ahoot, &c. ; and the 
 final r is omitted, as you do for your door^ &c. 
 
 In the following table of words incorrectly pronounced, such 
 as belong to New England are designated b}' the letters N. E. ; 
 those exclusively Western, by the letter W. ; the Southern 
 words, by S. ; the rest are common to various parts of the 
 Union. In this attempt at classification there are doubtless 
 errors and imperfections ; for an emigrant from Vermont to 
 Illinois would introduce the provincialisms of his native district 
 into his new residence. Many of these inaccuracies are also 
 heard in England. 
 
 a-tilly 
 
 for actually. 
 
 curous 
 
 for curious. 
 
 aim 
 
 ,, earn. 
 
 cupalo 
 
 ,, cupola. 
 
 airy 
 
 „ area. 
 
 curchy 
 
 „ curtesy. 
 
 alk-r.s 
 
 ,, always, S. W. 
 
 cuss 
 
 ,, curse. 
 
 arethnietic 
 
 ,, arithmetic. 
 
 dar 
 
 ,, dare, W. 
 
 arrant 
 
 „ errand. 
 
 darter 
 
 ,, daughter. 
 
 artt-r 
 
 ., after. 
 
 deef 
 
 ,, deaf. 
 
 ary 
 
 „ e"er a. 
 
 dew 
 
 „ do, N. E. 
 
 attackted 
 
 ,, attack'd. 
 
 deestrict 
 
 ,, district, N. E. 
 
 anywheres 
 
 ,, anywhere. 
 
 desput 
 
 „ desperate, N. E. 
 
 bac.ielder 
 
 ,, bachelor. 
 
 dooz 
 
 „ does, N. E. 
 
 ba- 
 
 „ bear, W. 
 
 drap 
 
 ,, drop, S. 
 
 becase 
 
 „ because. 
 
 dreffle 
 
 „ dreadful, N. E. 
 
 bellowses 
 
 ,, bellows. 
 
 dribble 
 
 ,, driblet. 
 
 ben 
 
 been, N. E. 
 
 drownded 
 
 ,, drown' d. 
 
 bile 
 
 ,, boil. 
 
 druv 
 
 ,, drove. 
 
 binieby 
 
 by and by. 
 
 dubous 
 
 ,, dubious. 
 
 bust 
 
 ,, burst. 
 
 eend 
 
 ,, end. 
 
 caired 
 
 ,, carried, N. E. 
 
 everywheres 
 
 ,, everywhere. 
 
 caze 
 
 „ because. 
 
 fer 
 
 ,, for. 
 
 cheer 
 
 „ chair. 
 
 forrerd 
 
 forward, N. E. 
 
 chimbly 
 
 ,, chimney. 
 
 fust 
 
 „ first. 
 
 chist 
 
 „ chest, N. E. 
 
 gal 
 
 
 clar 
 
 „ clear, W. 
 
 gin 
 
 „ given. 
 
 closte 
 
 ,, close. 
 
 gineral 
 
 ,, general. 
 
 considable 
 
 • ,, considerable. 
 
 git 
 
 » get. 
 
 cotch'd 
 
 caut^ht, W. 
 
 gownd 
 
 „ gown. 
 
 crick 
 
 ., creak. 
 
 grievious 
 
 ,, grievous. 
 
 critter 
 
 „ creature. 
 
 gwine 
 
 „ going, S. 
 
 cunnle 
 
 colonel. 
 
 har 
 
 ,, hair, \V. 
 
xl 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 hath 
 
 for hearth, S. 
 
 ruff 
 
 for roof, N. E. 
 
 hankecher 
 
 handkerchief. 
 
 sarce 
 
 sauce. 
 
 header 
 
 hinder. 
 
 sarcer 
 
 saucer. 
 
 hist 
 
 „ hoist. 
 
 sarve 
 
 ,, serve. 
 
 holt 
 
 „ hold. 
 
 sartin 
 
 ,, certain, N. E. 
 
 huff 
 
 hoof. 
 
 sass 
 
 „ sauce, N. E. 
 
 hull 
 
 „ whole, N. E. 
 
 sassy 
 
 ,, saucy. 
 
 hum 
 
 „ home, N. E. 
 
 scace 
 
 ,, scarce, W. 
 
 humbly 
 
 ,, homely, N. E. 
 
 schollard 
 
 „ scholar, S. W. 
 
 idea 
 
 ,, idea, S. 
 
 sen 
 
 ,, since. 
 
 ile 
 
 „ oil. 
 
 shet 
 
 „ shut, S. 
 
 injine 
 
 ,, engine. 
 
 shuk 
 
 ,, shook, W. 
 
 innards 
 
 ,. inwards. 
 
 sich 
 
 ,, such. 
 
 inter 
 
 ,, into. 
 
 skeart 
 
 „ scared, S. W. 
 
 innemy 
 
 ,, enemy. 
 
 sorter 
 
 ,, sort of. 
 
 janders 
 
 ,, jaundice. 
 
 smaart 
 
 ,, smart, S. 
 
 jedge 
 
 ,, iuda:e, N. E. 
 
 spettacle 
 
 spectacle. 
 
 jest 
 
 „ just. 
 
 spile 
 
 ,, spoil. 
 
 jiiie 
 
 ,, join. 
 
 spose 
 
 ,, suppose. 
 
 jiste 
 
 ,, joist. 
 
 squinch 
 
 ,, quench. 
 
 keer 
 
 ,, care. 
 
 Stan 
 
 stand. 
 
 ketch 
 
 „ catch. 
 
 star 
 
 ,, stair, W. 
 
 kin 
 
 ,, can. 
 
 steeple 
 
 „ staple, W. 
 
 kittle 
 
 „ kettle. 
 
 stiddy 
 
 ,, steadv. 
 
 kiver 
 
 ,, cover. 
 
 stun 
 
 ,, stone, N. E. 
 
 larn 
 
 „ learn. 
 
 streech 
 
 ,, stretch, W. 
 
 larnin 
 
 ., learning. 
 
 stupenduous 
 
 stupendous. 
 
 lawth 
 
 ,, loath. 
 
 sutliin 
 
 ,, something, N. K 
 
 leetle 
 
 little. 
 
 tech 
 
 ,, touch. 
 
 lieves 
 
 „ lief. 
 
 tend 
 
 ,, attend. 
 
 mash 
 
 marsh. 
 
 tell'd 
 
 „ told, N. E. 
 
 million 
 
 ,, melon. 
 
 tew 
 
 „ to, N. E. 
 
 mischievious 
 
 „ mischievous. 
 
 thar 
 
 „ there, W. 
 
 mountanious 
 
 ,, mountainous. 
 
 tole 
 
 „ told. 
 
 naaink 
 
 „ nothing, L. I. 
 
 tossel 
 
 ,, tassel. 
 
 nary 
 
 ne'er a. 
 
 tuck 
 
 „ took. 
 
 niffffer 
 
 .. neerro. 
 
 torectlv 
 
 directlv, S. 
 
 nuss 
 
 nurse. 
 
 tremenduous 
 
 tremendous. 
 
 ole 
 
 ,, old. 
 
 twiste 
 
 twice. 
 
 only 
 
 ,, only, S. 
 
 umberell 
 
 umbrella. 
 
 onst 
 
 ,, once. 
 
 valeation 
 
 valuation. 
 
 pint 
 
 point. 
 
 varmint 
 
 vermin W. 
 
 pooty 
 
 ,, pretty. 
 
 wal 
 
 ,', well, N. E. 
 
 punkin 
 
 ,, pumpkin. 
 
 wh:ir 
 
 „ where, W. 
 
 pus 
 
 ,, purse, N. E. 
 
 wu it 
 
 „ won't, N. E. 
 
 racket 
 
 ,, rocket. 
 
 wunst 
 
 „ once, W. 
 
 rale 
 
 ,, real. 
 
 wus 
 
 ,, worse. 
 
 rayley 
 
 „ really. 
 
 3'aller 
 
 „ yellov/. 
 
 rayther 
 
 ,, rather. 
 
 year 
 
 „ ear, S. 
 
 rench 
 
 „ rinse. 
 
 yere 
 
 „ here, S. 
 
 rheumatiz 
 
 „ rheumatism. 
 
 yourn 
 
 „ yours. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xli 
 
 Americanisms exhibit themselves, not in the use of peculiar 
 words and pronunciations alone, but also in some points of 
 gi-ammar. Thus, to mention a few : — 
 
 The termination -ity for abstract nouns is preferred in many 
 cases to the English -ness; so that we have, for instance, such 
 words as accountability, instead of accountableness ; obtusify for 
 obtuseness^ &c. Of a like nature are rendition for rendering^ 
 reservation for reserve. 
 
 The terminations -er and -est, which indicate* the degrees of 
 comparison of adjectives, are often discarded for the adverbs 
 more and most^ even before monosyllables, contrar}^ to good Eng- 
 hsh usage. And the possessive relation is often denoted b}^ the 
 preposition o/, where the termination -s would be neater and 
 more idiomatic. 
 
 The influence of the French language seems to be visible, not 
 onh^ in the preceding instances, but also in the use of the definite 
 article before the names of diseases ; as, the gout, the consump- 
 tion, the headache, the erysipelas, &c. 
 
 It ma}' be owing to the influence of the German language, in 
 which the adverbs are nothing but apocopated adjectives, that 
 the adjectival ending is so often omitted b}' vulgar speakers ; as, 
 "I have got wet bad;'' "See that 3'ou do it good;'' "He'll 
 take cold sure." 
 
 On the other hand, it seems owing to the teachings of some 
 priggish pedagogue, who had learned that " adverbs quahfy 
 verbs," and knew nothing be3'ond it, that adverbs are now often 
 emplo3'ed where idiomatic usage requires an adjective; as, "I 
 feel very hadJy;" " You look charmingly" &c. So that we may 
 expect soon to hear, "She seems ignorantly ;" "He became 
 quite craziiy," &c. ; and to be unable any longer to make the dis- 
 tinction between "He feels warmly" and "He feels warm." The 
 ladies seem more especially to alfect this form of speech, which is 
 more common at the South than at the North ; whence it is likel}' 
 that it originated in a Southern boarding-school. The persons 
 who use it are not aware that it is reall}' the person or thing 
 which is qualified in these cases, and not the action or state 
 of being. 
 
 Among the American pecuharities of style, one of the most 
 
xlii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 remarkable is a tendenc}' to exaggeration. "The use of ex- 
 travagant terms," says Dr. Lieber, in one of his letters to me 
 on the subject, "is ver}- common. These are often used by 
 deficiently educated persons who edit newspapers, and more 
 frequently by the same class of people when speaking in public. 
 In tlie South and West, this custom prevails to a greater extent 
 than at the North. ' This is the finest cow in the State of South 
 Carolina,' observes one. ' The handsomest woman south of the 
 Potomac,' says another. And a man who kept a countr}^ school 
 with ten small scholars was said to be making ' bushels of money ' 
 by it." 
 
 This sort of exaggeration frequently assumes the form of what 
 in England is ver}' appropriateh' termed "fine writing," but 
 which with us is better known as " highfaluten." Thus, a West- 
 ern critic, speaking of the acting of a Miss Logan, says the way 
 in which she chanted the Marseillaise was ' ' terrible in its inten- 
 sity," and that the impression made " must create for her a name 
 that will never die." This, however, "does not begin "with 
 Miss Wyatt, whose performances at Springfield, Illinois, are 
 thus described in a criticism in one of the papers of that 
 city : — 
 
 " Illumined by the lyric muse, she is magnificent. All nerve, 
 all palpitation, her rounded form is the fittest setting for her dia- 
 mond soul ! She has grace which is more than beauty, and dis- 
 tinction which adorns still more than grace. She appears the 
 incarnation of genius ! — it struggles within her ! — inspiration 
 quivers down her snow-white arms, and trembles on her fingers' 
 ends, — passion wrestles in her quivering frame, and shudders 
 through her limbs. Her soul flickers in ever}^ accent, and looms 
 up in every pantomime, while serene smiles pla}^ about her 
 mouth. Her draper}' follows her gestures, — her gestures her 
 passions. Every attitude is a model, ever}' pose is a classic 
 statue." 
 
 " The very opposite," says Dr. Lieber, " is the case at pres- 
 ent in England. There has been no period and no country in 
 which perspicuity, simplicity, and manliness of style are so gen- 
 eral as at present in English Reviews ; even newspapers, e.^. the 
 "London Spectator," are models of these attributes of a good 
 
INTEODUCTION. 
 
 xliii 
 
 st3'le. Monckton Milnes, M. P., told me he had not the least 
 doubt but that the House of Commons of the present day would 
 not stand the eloquence of Fox, Sheridan, or Burke. I asked, 
 ' What would they do ? ' ' The members would instantly leave 
 their seats,' was the reply. Mr. Mihies also spoke of several 
 American writers w;hose style was correct ; still, he could alway s 
 detect some florid expression characteristic of their people." 
 
 Before closing these observations on American provincialisms, 
 I should do injustice to previous writers on the same subject, not 
 to speak of their works. The earliest of these, as far as my 
 knowledge extends, is that of Dr. Witherspoon. In a series of 
 essay's entitled "The Druid," which appeared originally in a 
 periodical publication in 1761, he devotes numbers 5, 6, and 7 
 of these essa3's, about twenty pages in all, to Americanisms, 
 perversions of language in the United States, cant phrases, &c. 
 The}' were afterwards published in his collected works, in 4 vols. 
 8vo, Philadelphia, 1801, and ma}' be found in the fourth 
 volume. 
 
 The most important work of the kind is that of the late Hon. 
 John Pickering. He began with an article in the ' ' Memoirs of 
 the American Academy of Arts and Sciences," Boston. This 
 was soon after enlarged and pubhshed in a separate volume 
 entitled " A 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 
 Lamjiiage in the United States." Boston, 1816. pp. 206. (Con- 
 taining about 520 words.) This valuable and interesting work 
 received much attention, and in the following year appeared a 
 pamphlet, entitled Letter to the Hon. John Pickering., on the 
 Subject of h is Vocabulary, or Collection of Words and Phrases sup- 
 posed to be peculiar to the United States.'" l^y Noah Webster. 
 8vo. Boston, 1817. pp. 69. 
 
 In the Transactions of tlie Albany Institute, 1830, Vol. I., is 
 an article entitled '■''Notes on Mr. Pickering's Vocabulary, &c., 
 with Preliminary Observations." By T. Rome^'n Beck. In Mr. 
 Sherwood's " Gazetteer of Georgia" is a glossary of words pro- 
 vincial in the Southern States. The latest work on provincial- 
 isms, but chiefly of errors in grammar, is Grammatical 
 
xliv 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Corrector, or Vocabulary of the Common Errors of Speech ; alpha- 
 hetlcally arranged, corrected, and explained for the Use of Schools 
 and Private Individuals^ B}^ Setli T. Hurd. 12mo. Philadel- 
 phia, 1847.^ 
 
 Since the publication of the first edition of this work, there 
 have been pubhshed two additions of a work entitled ' ' A Collec- 
 tion of College Words and Customs.'' Bj B. H. Hall. 12mo. 
 Cambridge, The last edition in 1856. This is a ver}^ complete 
 work in its way, and contains many Americanisms which origi- 
 nated at Colleges. An excellent little volume, b}' Dr. A. L. 
 Elwyn of Philadelphia, entitled " Glossary of Supposed A merican- 
 {s7iisr has also appeared. This is a useful work, and shows how 
 man}' of our supposed Americanisms are really English. 
 
 As the charge has been frequently made against us by Eng- 
 lish critics of perverting our vernacular tongue, and of adding 
 useless words to it, it will not be out of place to state here that, 
 in the belief of the author, the English language is in no part 
 of the world spoken in greater purity b}' the great mass of the 
 people than in the United States. In making this assertion, he 
 does not depend wholly on his own observation : it has repeat- 
 edly been made by intelhgent Englishmen who have travelled in 
 the United States, and had an opportunity of judging. On this 
 subject, the author of an English work, entitled the "Back- 
 woods of Canada," has the following judicious remarks : — 
 
 "With the exception of some few remarkable expressions, 
 and an attempt at introducing fine words, the lower order of 
 Yankees have a decided advantage over our English peasantry 
 in the use of grammatical language : the}^ speak better English 
 
 1 In preparing this work, I have examined all the English provincial 
 glossaries, and the principal English dictionaries ; which it was necessary to 
 do, in order to know what words and phrases were still provincial in Eng- 
 land. Many of the facts in that portion of the Introduction which treats 
 of English dialects have been drawn from similar essays appended to the 
 several glossaries. But I am chiefly indebted to the enlarged Preface to 
 Dr. Bosworth's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, which presents the best historical 
 analysis extant of the English language ; and to the admirable and later 
 work of Professor Latham, " The English Language," London, 1841, which 
 is unquestionably the most valuable work on English philology and gram- 
 mar which has yet appeared. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xlv 
 
 than you will hear from persons of the same class in any part of 
 England, Ireland, or Scotland; a fact that we should be unwill- 
 ing to allow at home." — p. 83. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, President of Princeton College, 
 born and educated in Scotland, made a similar remark in 1784. 
 In an essa}' on the language, he says : — 
 
 ' ' The vulgar in America speak much better than the vulgar 
 in Great Britain, for a very obvious reason ; namely, that being 
 much more unsettled, and moving frequentl}^ from place to place, 
 they are not so liable to local peculiarities either in accent or 
 phraseolog3\" — Works, Vol. IV. p. 281. 
 
 The "London Quarterl}^ Review," in noticing Silliman's "Trav- 
 els in England," quotes his remark on the use of the English lan- 
 guage in England and in America, where'in the Professor insists 
 that it is " more correctly spoken at this time (1805) b}" the mass 
 of the Americans than b}" the mass of the English nation." 
 "This assertion," adds the reviewer, " is founded upon a com- 
 mon and very easy mistake as to the nature of provincial dia- 
 lects, and upon a curious fact in the history of language. There 
 are no provincial dialects in America : emigrants from all parts 
 of Great Britain have met there, and intermixed with each other, 
 and with natives of the countrj'. The peculiarities of dialect 
 have necessarily been melted down into the general speech, w^hich 
 is common English ; and this is the language, therefore, which 
 all children learn as their mother tongue. The low-bred Lon- 
 doner does not transmit his A^ulgar shibboleth, and the child of 
 the Northumbrian is free from the hurr which sticks in the throat 
 of his father. Dialects can only be preserved by collective bodies 
 speaking the language which the}* acquired in their 3'outh ; the}' 
 cannot therefore continue in promiscuous colonies." — Vol. 15, 
 p. 61. 
 
 We cannot sa}' as much, however, in fovor of our literary dia- 
 lect. The ripest scholars among us acknowledge the fact that 
 in the best authors and public speakers of Great Britain there is 
 a variet}' in the choice of expressions, a correctness in the use of 
 the particles, and an idiomatic vigor and raciness of style to 
 which few or none of our writers can attain. The unfortunate 
 tendency to favor the Latin at the expense of the Saxon ele- 
 
xlvi 
 
 TNTRODUCTION. 
 
 ment of our language, which social and educational causes have 
 long tended to foster in the mother country, has with us received 
 an additional impulse from the great admixture of foreigners in 
 our population. It is not likely that the pure old idiomatic Eng- 
 lish style can ever be restored in this country ; but there is no 
 good reason to doubt that the fusion of the present rather hete- 
 rogeneous elements of which our society is composed will result 
 in the production of a style and a literature which will also have 
 their beauties and their merits, although fashioned after a some- 
 what different model. 
 
AMERICAN WORDS AND PHRASES. 
 
DICTIONARY 
 
 OP 
 
 AMERICAN WORDS AND PHRASES. 
 
 A. 
 
 A 1. The highest classification of a vessel on Lloyd's list. Some- 
 times "copper-bottomed" is added. Years ago it was commoir 
 to see the mark appended to the name of a vessel in an advertise- 
 ment for freight or passengers. So far the term and its use are 
 English; but, in a commercial country, the use of such terms is 
 often extended beyond their original application. 
 
 It is well known to those who are in turn well known to Stewart, and who stand 
 on his books rated A No. 1 for the length of their bills, that the fitting out a 
 young lady nowadays for a winter season in town, or a summer season at a 
 watering-place, assimilates more nearly to preparing a vessel for a voyage 
 around the world than any other analogous undertaking. — N. Y. Commercial 
 Advertiser. 
 
 The Niagara, New Orleans, and Louisville packet is one of the most mag- 
 nificent steamers now running the river. Her interior arrangements are com- 
 plete, and her officers A No. 1. — Western Paper. 
 
 Got a prime nigger, said the slave-dealer ; an A number one cook and no 
 mistake 1 Picked her up cheap. — Mrs. Stowe, Bred, Vol. I. p. 313. 
 
 Abergoin. The term " aborigines " is corrupted by some of the illit- 
 erate people of the West into Aber gains or Abrogans. 
 
 Abisselfa. A, by itself, A. It will be recollected by many that in 
 the olden time the first letter of the alphabet was denominated 
 "abisselfa" when it formed a syllable by itself, as in tlie word 
 able. The scholar, in spelling the word, was taught to say, "a, by 
 itself, a (rapidly, abisselfa)^ b, I, e, ble, able.^^ We derive this 
 word and the use of it from England, where it is used in Suffolk 
 county. See Moor's Glossary. 
 
 To abolitionize. To convert to the doctrines of the abolitionists. 
 
2 
 
 ABO— ACC 
 
 Abolitiondom. Said in the Confederate States, during the late civil 
 war, of the loyal States. 
 
 They [the people of Tennessee] cannot be sold to Abolitiondom. — Knoxville, 
 Tennessee Jtefjister, 18G7. 
 
 About Right. To do a thing about right is to do it well. 
 
 I fell foul of the old mare; and if I didn't give it to her about rirjht^ then 
 there 's none o' me, that 's all. — New Enyland Stories. 
 
 Above one's Bend. Out of one's power. A common expression in 
 the Western States. Above one^s huckleberry is a vulgarism of the 
 same signification. 
 
 I shall not attempt to describe the curiosities at Peale's Museum; it is above 
 my bend. — Crockett, Tour down East. 
 
 Above Par. A term originally applied to stocks, but often trans- 
 ferred to other things which are superior; as, " This horse is above 
 par; " " These goods are above par; " meaning that they are above 
 the ordinary standard, better than common. 
 
 Above Snakes. Exaggerated cant for *'from the ground," or 
 more than above the ground. 
 
 Those two tall Kentuckians, with their tufted chins, somewhere about seven 
 feet above snakes. — Worthy'' s Travels in the United States. 
 
 To absquatulate. To run away, to abscond. A factitious vulgarism. 
 
 W was surrendered by his bail, who was security for his appearance at 
 
 court, fearing he was about to absquatulate. — iV. Y. Herald, 1847. 
 
 A railroad station-master at Oakdale has absquatulated with funds belonging 
 to the railroad and various individuals. — N. T. Tribune. 
 
 Hope's brightest visions absquatulate with their golden promises before the 
 least cloud of disappointment, and leave not a shinplaster behind. — Bow^s 
 Sermons, Vol. I. p. 309. 
 
 According to Gunter. Gunter was a distinguished arithmetician, 
 and the inventor of a chain and scale for measuring. The Laws 
 of Rhode Island, both colonial and recent, referring to measures, 
 say, " All casks shall be gauged by the rule commonly called 
 * gauging by Gunter.'" This refers to the instrument called 
 " Gunter's Slide-rule," adapted for gauging. Hence anything cor- 
 rectly and properly done is said to be " according to Gunter." 
 
 Mr. K , a respected citizen of Detroit, has published a letter entirely ex- 
 onerating General Cass from the charge of having defrauded his association in 
 the land speculations. He is positive that all was done according to Gwiter. — 
 N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 The expression ' ' according to Hoyle ' ' is .also common ; and an 
 old fellow, who never played a game of whist in his life, always 
 said " according to Hodge." 
 
ACC— ACR 
 
 8 
 
 Account. "These hogs are of no account,^ ^ meaning of no value. 
 The word is used rn the West to the exclusion of other shades 
 of meaning. See No Account. 
 
 Accountability. The state of being accountable. In England, the 
 form accou7itabIenes.<i is used. The same difference is observable 
 in a number of words. 
 
 Acequia. (Span.) The irrigating ditches used in Texas and New 
 Mexico are called Acequias. The larger or principal one, which 
 supplies the smaller, is called the Acequia Aladre, or main ditch. 
 The word is sometimes spelled azequia or zequia. 
 
 As the mustang sprang over the zequia, the flowing skirt of the manga was 
 puffed forward. — Mayne Eeid, The War Trail. 
 
 To acknowledge the Corn. An expression of recent origin, which 
 has now become very common. It means to confess or acknowledge 
 a charge or imputation. The following story is told as the origin of 
 the phi-ase : — 
 
 Some years ago, a raw customer, from the upper country, determined to try his 
 fortune at New Orleans. Accordingly he provided himself with two flat-boats, 
 — one laden with corn and the other with potatoes, — and down the river he 
 went. The night after his arrival he went up town, to a gambling-house. Of 
 course he commenced betting, and, his luck proving unfortunate, he lost. When 
 his money was gone, he bet his "truck ; " and the corn and potatoes followed 
 the money. At last, when completely cleaned out, he returned to his boats at 
 the wharf ; when the evidences of a new misfortune presented themselves. 
 Through some accident or other, the flat-boat containing the corn was sunk, and 
 a total loss. Consoling himself as well as he could, he went to sleep, dreaming 
 of gamblers, potatoes, and corn. It was scarcely sunrise, however, when he was 
 disturbed by the "child of chance," who had arrived to take possession of the 
 two boats as his winnings. Slowly awakening from his sleep, our hero, rub- 
 bing his eyes and looking the man in the face, replied: " Stranger, / acknowl- 
 edge the corn, — take 'em ; but the potatoes you can't have, by thunder ! " — Pitts- 
 burg Commercial Advertiser. 
 
 The Evening Mirror very naively comes out and acknowledges the coim, admits 
 that a demand was made, &c. — New York Herald, June 27, 1846. 
 
 Enough, said the Captain. I 'm hoaxed, I 'm gloriously hoaxed. I acJonowledge 
 the com. — Pickings from the Picayune, p. 80. 
 
 None of my enterprises, however, have been omitted ; and, though a portion 
 of my " Confessions " may by some be considered injudicious, I prefer frankly 
 to acknowledge the co?'« wherever I have had a hand in plucking it. — P. T. 
 Bamum. 
 
 Across Lots. By short cuts, in the quickest manner. 
 
 I swore in Nauvoo, when my enemies were looking me in the face, that I 
 would SI nd them to hell across lots if they meddled with me. — Speech of Brigliam 
 Youmi, 1857. 
 
4 
 
 ACT— ADV 
 
 Acting. Acting as ; fulfilling the duties ; holding the position of. It 
 is said of one who, not formally inducted into an office or position, 
 performs the duties of it ad interim; as "Acting Governor," 
 "Acting Pastor," &c. 
 
 Action. An amusing article appeared in the " National Intelli- 
 gencer," Washington, in 1846, on the abuse of this word. The 
 writer says : — 
 
 "The proceedings of Congress; the decision of Congress, or either House; the 
 vote of the Senate or of the House, preliminary or final ; the considei-ation of a 
 bill or measure; the signature of the President after a bill has passed both 
 Houses; or the sanction or approval of the President, — these are modes of 
 expression no longer known. The words I underscore have disappeared — gone 
 for ever, it would seem. Nobody hears of them more. It is the action of the 
 House, or the House taking action ; the action oi the Senate, or the Senate taking 
 action; or what action will the House take, or what action will the Senate take; 
 or both Houses are waiting for the action of the Pi-esident." 
 
 Adam and Eve. (^Aplectum hyemale.) Putty root, so called from the 
 bulb of the preceding year being always connected with the new 
 one. 
 
 To admire. 1. To wonder at; to be affected with slight surprise. — 
 Ray. 
 
 In New England, particularly in Maine, the word is used in this 
 sense. Some of the old English writers so employed it. 
 
 I perceive these lords 
 At this encounter do so much admire, 
 That they devour their reason. — Shakspeare. 
 
 2. To like very much. This verb is often and very absurdly used 
 in New England in such expressions as, "I should admire to see the 
 President." 
 
 Adobies. (Span, adobes.) Sun-baked brick used for building houses, 
 
 fortifications, and making enclosures, in Texas, New Mexico, &c. 
 
 The large and economical adobe brick, hardened in the sun and without fire, 
 supersedes other materials for walls and fences in this dry atmosphere [that of 
 the great Plains], and, as in Syria and Egypt, resists decay for centuries. — W. 
 Gilpin in Nat. Intel., 1857. 
 
 Adulterer. A person who adulterates. 
 
 One of the gentlemen, while conversing with the Committee, remai'ked that 
 his friend (indicating him) knew all about the adulteration of liquors; . . . 
 whereupon the proverbiul joker, Mr. Thaddeus Stevens (chairman of the Com- 
 mittee), said: "Then let the adulterer speak for himself." — iV. Y. Herald, 27 
 March, 1862. 
 
 Adventism. See Millerism. 
 
 Adventist. See Millerite. 
 
AFF— AGU 
 
 5 
 
 Affinity. A man or a woman for whom one of the opposite sex feels 
 a strong attachment, amounting to a passion ; indeed, so strong is 
 this passion claimed to be, that husbands leave their wives, and 
 wives their husbands, for one for whom they possess a stronger 
 affection, and between whom they pretend there is a stronger aifin- 
 ity. This individual they call their " affinity." The following 
 example conveys the meaning of the word : — 
 
 " Ain't Theron Gusher a married man ? " [inquired Josiah Allen's wife of Miss 
 Betsy Bobbet]. 
 
 Oh, yes, some." 
 
 "Some!" I repeated in a cold accent. "He is either married, or he hain't 
 married, one or the other; " and again I repeated coldly, "Is he a married man, 
 Betsy?" 
 
 " Oh, yes, he has been a married man a few times, or what the cold world calls 
 marrying, — he has got a wife now; but I do not believe he has found his affinity 
 yet, though he has got several bills of divorcement from various wimmen, trying 
 tofind htx.''— Betsy Bobbet, p. 190. 
 
 " Says she \i. e. Miss Bobbet], ' When a woman finds that her soul is clogged 
 and hampered, it is a duty she owes to her higher nature to find relief.' " 
 
 " Says I [i. e. Josiah Allen's wife], 'When a woman has such feelin's, instead 
 of leavin' her husband, and goin' round huntin' up an affinitee, let her take a 
 good thorough wort puke.' " — Ibid., p. 327. 
 
 Referring to the four millions of Spiritualists which Judge Edmunds declared 
 to be in the United States, J. Warren Chase afiirms that all these Spiritualists 
 accept the doctrine of special nffinities between man and woman : affinities which 
 imply a spiritual relation of the sexes higher and holier than that of marriage. 
 — Dixon, SpiHtual Wives, p. 75. 
 
 To Africanize. To place under Negro domination. 
 
 Africanization. The act of placing under Negro domination. This 
 and the preceding are words of recent introduction by Southern 
 political writers. 
 
 After Night. After nightfall; in the evening; as, "A meeting will 
 be held in the court-house after night. This expression is said to 
 be peculiar to the Middle States. — Hurd^s Grammatical Corrector. 
 
 Aguardiente. (Span.) On the Mexican frontier, as well as in 
 Spanish America, any distilled liquor, whether rum, brandy, or 
 whiskey. 
 
 General Sherman, in speaking of a dinner at San Francisco, on 
 the 4th July, 1846, says: — 
 
 "A man of some note, named Sinclair, presided, and, after a substantial meal 
 and a reasonable supply of ayuardiente, we began the toasts." — Memoirs, Vol. I 
 p. 49. 
 
 Agur-forty. Aqua-fortis, vulgarly so called at the South-west. 
 
6 
 
 AGU— ALE 
 
 The doctors fed me on lodlum tea and epecac, washed down with myrtle tea, — 
 't wa'n't of no manner of use ; they then tried ayur-forty, — if it had been agur- 
 hundred, 't wouldn't have done. — N. Y. Spirit of the Times^ Frontier Tale. 
 
 Aguy and Agur for agve; fecer-an^-aguy for " fever and ague; " com- 
 mon among the uneducated, wherever this distressing disease is 
 known. The word ague is pronounced in some localities so as to 
 rhyme with plague. 
 
 Ahead. Forward, in advance. This word, originally a sea term, is 
 now in very common use by all classes of speakers and writers. 
 
 Our banks, being anxious to make money for their stockholders, are probably 
 right to drive aAeacZ, regardless of consequences, &c. — N. Y. Com. Adv., 'Nov. 
 29, 1845. 
 
 Agee. Askew; as "'to have one's hat agee.^^ From the term gee used 
 in driving cattle. 
 
 Airy. Conceited. Said of one who puts on airs. 
 
 Alamo. (Span.) {Populus monilifera.) See Cotton-Wood. 
 
 Albany Beef. Sturgeon; so called because a part of the sturgeon's 
 flesh has much the look, and not a little of the taste, as well as 
 texture, of ox muscle. It abounds in the Hudson River, and is 
 much eaten in the city of Albany. 
 
 Albany Hemp. (Urtica Canadensis.) Canada nettle, so called fi*om 
 the use made of its fibrous bark. 
 
 Albany Regency. A name popularly given in the United States to a 
 junto of astute Democratic politicians, having their head-quarters 
 at Albany, who controlled the action of the Democratic party for 
 many years, and hence had great weight in national politics. — 
 Wheeler, Diet. 
 
 Alcoholism. The practice, the results of using alcohol; drunken- 
 ness. 
 
 Three deaths of alcoholism ; three of diseases of the bones, joints, &c. ; forty 
 of the brain and nerves. — N. Y. Herald, March, 1862. 
 
 Alder. Beside the true alders, various shrubs belonging to quite dif- 
 ferent families are so called, generally on account of a resemblance 
 in the leaves ; thus, Rhamnus alnijiorus (alder-leaved buckthorn) is 
 " dwarf alder; " Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepper-bush) is "spiked " 
 or ' ' white alder ; ' ' Prinos verticillatus (winter berry) is ' ' black 
 alder." 
 
 Alewife, plur. Alewives. {Alosa vernalis, Storer.) A fish of the 
 herring kind, abounding in the waters of New England. In Mary- 
 land and Virginia they are called " old wives ; Alewhap, plur. 
 Alewhaps, in Connecticut. 
 
ALF— ALK 
 
 7 
 
 The name appears to be an Indian one, though it is somewhat changed, as ap- 
 pears by the earliest account we have of it. In former times, the Indians made 
 use of these fish to manure their lands, as the menhaden are now used. Mr. 
 Winthrop says: "Where the ground is bad or worn-out, they put two or three 
 of the fishes called aloof es under or adjacent to each corn-hill ; whereby they had 
 many times a double crop to what the ground would otherwise have produced. 
 The English have learned the like husbandry, where these aloqfes come up in 
 great plenty." — Philosophical Trans., 1678. 
 
 High up in the open fire-place were two dozen hard-wood rods, that severally 
 supported about a dozen gasperaux, or alewives, that were undergoing the process 
 of smoking. — Sam Slick, Wise Saws, p. 128. 
 
 Alfalfa. A plant derived from Chili, and now extensively cultivated 
 in California. It is understood to be simply the lucerne of Europe 
 (Medicago saliva), differing in habit of growth, if at all, only as a 
 result of difference of soil and climate. It is a plant allied to the 
 clover family. It has lately been introduced into Texas, and is 
 found to be admirably adapted to the black prairie soil of that 
 State. — IT. S. Agricultural Report for 1875, p. 394. 
 
 Mr. Squier, who found the plant growing luxuriantly in Peru, 
 thus speaks of it : — 
 
 Our mules pricked up their ears, and, with visions of infinite alfalfa before 
 them, broke into a lively trot. — Travels in Peru, p. 475. 
 
 Algic. Relating to the Algonkin tribes. Formed by IVIr. Schoolcraft 
 
 from the word Algonkin. 
 Alienage. The state of being an alien. — Webster. Neither this nor 
 
 the following word is to be found in the English dictionaries, except 
 
 the recent one of Mr. Knowles. They are common, however, in 
 
 professional books. 
 
 Where he sues an executor, &c., the plaintiff's alienage is no plea. — Laires's 
 Pleading on Assumpsit, p. 687. 
 
 To restore estates, forfeitable on account of alienage. — Judge Story. 
 Alienism. The state of being an alien. — Webster, Knowles. 
 
 The prisoner was convicted of murder; on his arraignment he suggested his 
 alienism, which was admitted. — 2 Johnson's Reports, 381. 
 
 The law was very gentle in the construction of the disability of alienism. — 
 Chancellor Kent, 
 
 Alkali Desert, Alkali Land. Wide districts of land in Colorado 
 and Xevada, and more appropriately called a desert, covered with 
 an efflorescence of alkali. 
 
 As you drive over the uncultivated part of the plain, you see occasionally the 
 white flowery efllorescence of alkali. Frequently a farm would extend into the 
 midst of this alkali land. — Nordhoffs California, p. 144. 
 
 And now we entered upon one of that species of deserts whose concentrated 
 hideousness shames the diffused and diluted horrors of Sahara, — an alkali desert. 
 
8 
 
 ALL 
 
 For sixty-eight miles there was but one break in it. The alkali dust cut through 
 our lips, it persecuted our eyes, it ate through the delicate membranes and made 
 our noses bleed and kept them bleeding. — Mark Twain, Moug/iing It, p. 143-4. 
 
 All any more. A common expression in Pennsylvania among the 
 illiterate to mean "all gone." Thus a servant will say, "The 
 potatoes is all any more^ i. e. are all gon<e; or she will say simply, 
 "They 'sail." 
 
 All-Day. Continuing a whole day, able to work a whole day or every 
 day ; steady; strong. " An all-day horse," &c. 
 
 All-fired. Enormous, excessive; enormously, excessively. A low ex- 
 pression; probably a puritanical corruption of hell-Jired, designed to 
 have the virtue of an oath without offending polite ears. 
 
 I was woked up by a noise in the street; so I jumps up in an all-fired hurry, 
 ups with the window, and outs with my head. — Sam Slick. 
 
 I 'm dying — I know I am ! My mouth tastes like a rusty cent. The doctor 
 will charge an all-Jired price to cure me. — Knickerbocker Mag., 1845. 
 
 The first thing I know'd, my trowsers were plastered all over with hot molas- 
 ses, which burnt all-Jired bad. — Major Jones's Courtship, p. 87. 
 
 Old Haines sweating like a pitcher with ice-water in it, and looking all-jired 
 tired. — Porter'' s Tales of the South-west, p. 58. 
 
 You see the fact is, Squire (said the Hoosier), they had a mighty deal to say 
 up in our parts about Orleans, and how all-Jired easy it is to make money in it ; 
 but it 's no ham and all hominy, I reckon. — Pickings from the Picayune, p. 67. 
 
 AU-firedly. Enormously, excessively. 
 
 Rum does every thing that is bad ; wonder if it is rum that makes potatoes rot 
 so all-f redly. — Milne, Farm Fence, p. 8. 
 
 All-holler. To beat one all-holler, or all hollow, is to beat him thor- 
 ouglily. 
 
 All-possessed. Affected by evil spirits, or demons; possessed. 
 
 Bill Jenkins was a dreadful mean man; used to get dnmk every day, and 
 swore like all-possessed when he got mad. — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 30. 
 
 All Sorts. Pleel-taps of drinks of all sorts left in glasses at a public 
 house, poured into a common receptacle, and sold to poor drinkers 
 at half price. — Baltimore Farmer. 
 
 All Sorts of. A Southern expression, synonymous with expert, acute, 
 excellent, capital. It answers to the English slang term bang-up 
 or out-and-out. It is a prevalent idiom of low life, and often heard 
 in the colloquial language of the better informed. A man who in 
 New England would be called a curious or a smart fellow would in 
 the South be called all sorts of a fellow; expert in many ways. 
 
 She was all sorts of a gal, — there warn't a sprinklin' too much of her : she had 
 an eye that would make a fellow's heart try to get out of his bosom, her step was 
 light as a panther's, and her breath sweet as a prairie tlower. — Bobb, Squatter 
 Life. 
 
ALL 
 
 9 
 
 If you can only get Kit rid of them little failings [blindness and deafness], 
 you 'II find him all sorts of a horse. — Traits of Amer. Humor. 
 To pen an Ode upon Oil-of-Bob 
 Is all sorts of a job. — Poe, Life of Thingum Bob. 
 
 All-to-pieces. 1. Excessively ; as, "I beat him last night at poker 
 all-to-pieces.^^ 
 2. Excessive, out-and-out. 
 
 Miss G sot down in a rocking-chair, hauled out her snufF-box (for she was 
 
 an all-to-pieces snuff-taker), and began to rock and snuff and rock as hard as ever 
 she could. — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 324. 
 
 The expression is used in England, and is noticed by Ha Hi well, 
 in the Int. to his Dictionary. 
 
 They growl, shud you not own that it 
 
 Beats Danbury all-to-pieces. — Poem in Essex Dialect. 
 
 All-to-smash. Smashed to pieces. This expression is often heard in 
 low and familiar language. It is an English provincialism. Mr. 
 Halliwell says, that a Lancashire man, telling his master the mill- 
 dam had burst, exclaimed, " Maister, maister, dam 's brossen, and 
 aw^s-to-smash.^^ — Archaic and Prov. Dictionary. See Smash. 
 
 Alley. 1. A place where the game of nine or ten pins is played ; usu- 
 ally called a nine or ten pin alley, and sometimes simply an alley. 
 
 2. An ornamental marble, used by boys for shooting in the ring, 
 &c. ; also called in England a taw. It is made of marble or of 
 painted clay or of alabaster. In some cities, the boys call white 
 marbles alleys. 
 
 Jim. I '11 give you a marble. I '11 give you a white alley. White alley, Jim ! 
 And it 's a bully taw. — Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer, p. 27. 
 
 Alligator. 1. A large American reptile, resembling the Egyptian cro- 
 codile, having a wide, obtuse muzzle and unequal teeth. Though 
 still numerous in Florida, Louisiana, and Texas, they are no longer 
 regarded as very dangerous. The name, according to Cuvier, is a 
 corruption of the Spanish and Portuguese el lagarto, equivalent to 
 the Latin lacerta. 
 
 2. In the Western States, the name is applied also to the Meno- 
 poma allegheniensis, a salamandroid animal. 
 
 Alligator Gar. The gar-fish of the South, so called from the resem- 
 blance its long jaws bear to those of the alligator. 
 
 Alligator Pear. (Laurus persea.) A West Indian fruit, resembling 
 a pear in shape. It contains within its rind a yellow butyraceous 
 substance, which, when the fruit is perfectly ripe, constitutes an 
 agreeable food, an English corruption of the Spanish avocalo and 
 
10 
 
 ALL— ALM 
 
 French avocat. In England this is sometimes called Vegetable 
 Marrow, and so is the succada squash. 
 
 To allot upon. To intend, to form a purpose; as, I Hot upon going 
 to Boston. Used by uneducated people in the interior of New Eng- 
 land. See Lot upon. 
 
 Allotment Certificate. A certificate specifying the land, &c., allotted 
 to a person named in said certificate. 
 
 President Lincoln has appointed the following persons to provide for allotment 
 certificates dimon^iiiQ volunteers from New York State. — N. Y. Tribune, Dec. 30, 
 1861. 
 
 To allow. 1. To declare; assert; maintain; affirm; common in the 
 Middle and Southern States, but never heard in New England. 
 2. To think; to suppose. Western. 
 
 The lady of the cabin seemed kind, and allowed we had better stop where we 
 were. — Ca7'lton, The New Purchase. 
 
 Gentlemen from Arkansas allowed that California was no better than other 
 countries ; and the proof of it was, that they could only get twenty dollars a 
 week and board olfered them for driving an ox-team. — Farnham, California. 
 
 He Howed he'd ge me half a crown. 
 
 An treat me wud some beer, 
 If I wud make it up wud him, 
 
 An let un goo off clear. 
 
 Tom CladpoWs Journey to Lunnun. 
 
 Allspice. 1. The aromatic berry of the Eugenia pimenta^ the, Allspice 
 Pimento or Bayberry Tree, a native of South America and the West 
 India Islands. From being cultivated in Jamaica, it is often called 
 Jamaica Pepper. 
 
 2. The "sweet-scented shrub" {Calycanthus Jioridus) is also 
 known as Carolina Allspice, the bark and w^ood having a somewhat 
 spicy flavor. 
 
 All- two. The word hoth is so expressed by the negroes of South Caro- 
 lina, Georgia, and Florida. — W. F. Allen, Int. to Slave Songs. In 
 the following definition of love by a slave, the words appear in the 
 last sentence : — 
 
 Arter you lub, you lub, you know, boss. You can't broke lub. Man can't 
 broke lub. Lub stan' — 'e ain't gwine broke. Man hab to be berry smart to 
 broke lub. Lub is a ting stan' jus' like tar; arter he stick, he stick, he ain't 
 gwine move. Hab to kill all-two arter he lub befo' you broke lub. — Ibid., 
 p. xxxvi. 
 
 Almighty Dollar. A term applied to the love of money as " the root 
 of all evil." " Almighty gold " is used by Farquhar in the " Re- 
 cruiting Officer," Act iii. Sc. 2. 
 
ALO— AME 
 
 11 
 
 The almic/hty dollar, that great object of universal devotion throughout our 
 land, seems to have no genuine devotee in these peculiar [Creole] villages. — 
 W. Irving, Wolferfs Boost, p. 40. 
 
 The almighty dollar exerted a more powerful influence in California than in 
 the old States ; for it overcame all pre-existing false notions of dignity. — Borth- 
 wich's California, p. 165. 
 
 Along. Forward, on, Mrs. Trollope has the following words : "We 
 must try to get along, as the Americans say." Lover also was 
 puzzled to discover what the young American lady meant by saying 
 that she was so unwell that she " could not get along. ''^ An Eng- 
 lishman would say, get on. 
 
 Alonsenel. The Mexican name for Cowania stansburiana, a plant 
 growing extensively in the vicinity of Salt Lake, and held in great 
 esteem as a styptic in hemorrhages, and as a general astringent. 
 
 Alum-Root. (Henchera Americana.) A plant so called from its 
 astringency. 
 
 To amalgamate. This word, which properly denotes the uniting of 
 mercury with other metals, is universally applied, in the United 
 States, to the mixing of the black and white races. 
 
 Amalgamation. The mixing or union of the black and white races. 
 
 Ambia. Used in the South and West for tobacco juice. It is a 
 euphemism for the spittle produced by this voluntary ptyalism. 
 More commonly spelled and pronounced Ambeer, probably from 
 Amber, — denoting its color. 
 
 Ambition. In North Carolina this word is used instead of the word 
 grudge; as, "I had an ambition against that man." I am credibly 
 informed that it is even employed in this manner by educated men. 
 
 Ambitious. Angry, enraged. A native of Georgia was heard to say, 
 " I was powerful ambitious and cussed snortin'." The word is used 
 in the West in a similar sense. Thus, they say an '■^ambitious 
 horse," meaning thereby a horse that is fiery and unmanageable. 
 In Massachusetts and Connecticut, energetic, industrious. 
 
 Amenability. State of being amenable or answerable. — Judge Story, 
 Webafer. Not in the English dictionaries. 
 
 Americanism. A way of speaking peculiar to this country. — Wither- 
 spoon. 
 
 " By Americanism,^' says Dr. Witherspoon, " I understand a use 
 of phrases or terms, or a construction of sentences, even among 
 persons of rank and education, different from the use of the same 
 terms or phrases, or the construction of similar sentences, in Great 
 Britain. In this sense it is exactly similar in its formation and 
 signification to the word ' Scotticism.' " — Works, Vol. IV. 
 
12 
 
 AME— ANO 
 
 To Americanize. To render American ; to naturalize in America. — 
 
 Webster. 
 
 Americanization. The act of rendering American, or of subjection 
 
 to the laws and usages of the United States. 
 Among, for between. This word is often used when reference is made 
 
 only to two persons. Ex. : " The money was divided among us two." 
 Among the Missing. To be among the missing is to absent one's self. 
 
 If a person inquires if you are at home, the servant is directed to say, No, if 
 you don't want to be seen, and choose to be among the missing. — S. Slick, 
 Nature and Human Nature, p. 17. 
 
 The crowd of office-seekers in Washington will be among the missing, when 
 they learn the President's decision. — N. Y. Herald. 
 
 Anagreeta. " Corn gathered before maturity, and dried in an oven 
 or the hot sun, by which means it retains its sweetness, and is easily 
 dressed, making a fine mixture in puddings, especially with pease; 
 but this is only practised in the provinces of New York and New 
 Jersey." — Romans^s Nat. Hist, of Florida, p. 122. 
 
 Anan (from anon) . How ? What do you say ? It is made use of in 
 vulgar discourse by the lower class of persons addressing a superior, 
 when they do not hear or comprehend what is said to them. It 
 is going out of use now. — Halliwell. The word is common in 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 Anchovy Pear. (Grias cauUJlora.) A fruit of Jamaica. It is large, 
 contains a stone, and is esculent. This plant is imperfectly known 
 to botanists, and does not yet appear to be classed. 
 
 Ancient Dominion. Virginia. See Old Doyninion. 
 
 Andpersand. Two generations ago, when Irish schoolmasters were 
 common at the South, this expression, equivalent to the & annexed 
 to the alphabet (meaning Sf per se, and,^' to distinguish it from 
 Sfc.) was in frequent use. 
 
 Annatto. (Anotta, Annotto, Webst.) The West Indian name of the 
 dye " orlian,^^ called by the Indians anoty. — De Vries, 1634. 
 
 Annexation. Often used in the restricted sense of the addition of 
 new territory to that of the United States, and often with the acces- 
 sory idea of unlawful acquisition. 
 
 Annexationist. One who favors the policy of annexation. 
 
 Annexion was solemnly advocated by Mr. Sumner as a better word 
 than annexation. 
 
 Anog. An andiron. Amasa Lincoln's inventory of Mary Stratton's 
 estate, Athol, Mass., 1840. See Hand-dog. 
 
ANT 
 
 13 
 
 To ante. To risk; to venture a bet. The a7ite is the stake first 
 put up, before the cards are dealt, or betting on the hands begins. 
 Each player puts his ante in the pool, before [ante'] beginning the 
 game or hand. 
 
 You have heard of the difficulty that " The Bulletin " has fallen into. I have 
 had to ante up there at the rate of $200. I hope the friends there have made 
 arrangements which will ensure the permanency of the paper. — N. Y. Tribune, 
 Aug. 10, 1861, Letter of Truston Polk, of Tennessee. 
 
 Antehumous. Published before the death of the author; as post- 
 humous is after the death. In speaking of a forthcoming work 
 called the " Life and Times of James Buchanan," the " New York 
 Herald," Jan. 3, 1862, says: — 
 
 The venerable ex-President could not wait until the grass grew over his grave 
 to have his life written, for the popular estimation of Mr. Buchanan is too well 
 settled to be disturbed or altered by this antehumous attempt at self-justitication. 
 
 Anti-Bank. Adverse to banking. 
 
 Had this constitution been submitted whole, with all its anti-Bank, anti-Negro 
 imperfections on its head, it would have stood a better chance. — N. Y. Tribune, 
 June 23, 1862. 
 
 Anti-Federalist. " This word was formed about the year 1788, to 
 denote a person of the political party that opposed the adoption 
 of the Constitution of the United States, which was then always 
 spoken of by the name of the Federal Constitution. The word 
 is not now much used ; having been superseded by various other 
 names, which have been successively given to the same party." — 
 Pickering'' s Vocabulary. 
 
 Anti-Mason. One hostile to masonry or free-masonry. — Worcester. 
 
 Anti-Masonic. Hostile to masonry. 
 
 Anti-Masonry. Hostility to masonry. 
 
 Anti-Negro. Hostility to Negroes. See Anti-Bank. 
 
 Anti-Re ntism. An organized opposition to manorial rights of agri- 
 cultural lands in the State of New York. The early Dutch land 
 proprietor of New Netherland (now New York) was invested with 
 titles and privileges of a lord patroon or protector, and his colony or 
 manor was governed by the same customs and laws as were the 
 feudal manors of Holland. A large number of manors were created 
 under the Dutch, and subsequently under the English colonial gov- 
 ernment, and existed at the outbreak of the American Revolution. 
 The result was, that at the close of the Revolution a large propor- 
 tion of this land in the settled parts of the State was held by the 
 patroons, and the cultivators occupied their farms on leases, for one 
 
14 
 
 ANT 
 
 or more lives, or from year to year, stipulating for the payment of 
 rents, dues, and services, copied from the feudal tenures of England 
 and Holland. In 1779 and 1785, laws were enacted abolishing 
 feudal tenures; but the proprietors of manor grants contrived to 
 form a deed by which the grantees covenanted to perform certain 
 services, and pay rents and dues, similar to the feudal incidents 
 abolished. After many years of suffering under these exactions, 
 the tenants, in 1839, held meetings to form some plan to rid them- 
 selves of their grievances. Societies to effect this object were 
 formed, which became known as anti-rent associations. Following 
 these came a secret armed organization, extending through several 
 counties, pledged to protect tenants from arrest, and to guard their 
 property from levy and sale upon execution. These armed bodies, 
 dressed as Indians, appeared masked, and prevented the sheriff 
 from performing his duties. They insulted all w^ho sympathized 
 with the patroons, and held public meetings, and passed resolutions 
 denouncing the landed proprietors. These violent proceedings finally 
 led to bloodshed. In 1812, a commission, appointed to hear wit- 
 nesses and counsel, failed to accomplish any thing. The disaffection 
 increased, owing to the unyielding exactions of landlords. Governor 
 Wright finally felt compelled to issue a proclamation declaring one 
 of the counties in a state of insurrection. Trials and convictions 
 followed. Next came the organization of a political party which 
 favored the measures of the anti-renters. At the State Constitutional 
 Convention of 1846, so many members had been elected in the 
 interest of the anti-renters^ that they were enabled to procure the 
 insertion of a clause in the new constitution, abolishing all feudal 
 tenures and incidents, and forbidding the leasing of agricultural 
 land for a term not exceeding twenty years. After 1847, no instance 
 of resistance to law or to the serving of process occurred. The 
 excitement died out, and the anti-rent influence ceased to be a dis- 
 turbing force in politics. The organization contented itself with 
 efforts to contest the validity of the titles of their landlords, and to 
 the legality of the conditions and covenants contained in the manor 
 grants. — American Cyclopedia. 
 
 Anti-Slavery. 1. Hostile to slavery. 2. Hostility to slavery. 
 
 Anti-Slaveryist. An opposer of slavery. 
 
 He [President Lincoln] had been teased and pressed by radical antislaveryists 
 until he was compelled to offer a compromise. — Speech of Mr. Wadsworth of 
 Kentucky, in Congress, N. Y. Herald, March 13, 1862. 
 
 Anti-Southern. Opposed to the alleged interests of Southern men. 
 I was stigmatized as an Abolitionist or Black Republican, an anti-Southern 
 man, kc.—N. Y. Tribune, Nov. 8, 1861, Letter of W. S. Speer, of Tennessee. 
 
ANT— APP 
 
 15 
 
 Anti-Union. Hostility to the American Union. 
 
 Any how you can fix it. At any rate whatever. 
 
 Any Thing Else. A hyperbolical phrase, denoting a strong affirma- 
 tion, which has recently sprung up and become quite common, is 
 given in the following quotation : — 
 
 Loco-Foco. Didn't General Cass get mad at Hull's cowardice, and break his 
 sword V 
 
 Whig. He didn't do any thing else. — Newspaper. 
 
 Anxious Meeting. A religious meeting consequent on a revival. 
 
 Anxious Seat. A term used in revival phraseology. A seat occu- 
 pied by those who feel anxious about their spiritual welfare. In 
 Maryland called the mourners' bench. 
 
 Aparejo. (Span., pron. ajsara^o.) A pack-saddle. The word is em- 
 ployed in the countries acquired from Mexico, where pack-saddles 
 are used. 
 
 Apishamore. (Chippewa, ajoMamon.) Any thing to lie down on ; a 
 bed, A saddle-blanket, made of buffalo-calf skins, used on the 
 great prairies. 
 
 Wolves are a constant annoyance on the plains, creeping to the camp-tires, and 
 gnawing the saddles and apishamores. — Buxton, Far West. 
 
 Appellate. Relating to appeals. 
 
 In all cases affecting ambassadors, &c., the supreme court shall have original 
 jurisdiction : in all other cases before mentioned, the supreme court shall have 
 appellate jurisdiction. — Constitution of the United States, Art. 3. 
 
 The king of France is not the fountain of justice ; the judges, neither the 
 original nor the appellate, are of his nomination. — Burke, Revolution. 
 
 For a fuller account of this word, about which there has been 
 much discussion by lexicographers, see Mr. Pickering's Vocabulary, 
 where many authorities are cited. It was first given by Mason, in 
 his supplement to Johnson's Dictionary, and was afterwards adopted 
 by Todd. 
 
 Appetitical. Pertaining to the appetite. See the illustration to 
 Planked Shad. 
 
 Appetizer. That which will provoke an appetite. The verb to ap- 
 petize is provincial in the north of England. 
 
 Apple. This name is given in the tropics to fruits of various kinds 
 which are not apples; as the Bel-apple, Cashew-apple, Custard- 
 apple, Conch-apple, Ground-apple, Mamma-apple, Monkey-apple, 
 Pine-apple, Sugar-apple, Wood-apple, &c. 
 
 Apple-Butter. A sauce made of apples stewed down in cider. This 
 is generally made in quantity, and kept for use during the winter. 
 
16 
 
 APP 
 
 The manufacture occupies a whole night, and is made the occasion 
 of a frolic among the young folks. 
 
 Oh, dear, I am so thirst}' ; 
 
 I 've just been down to supper; 
 I drank three quarts of apple-jack. 
 And a pound of apple-butter. — Comic Song. 
 
 Apple-Brandy. A liquor distilled from fermented apple-juice; also 
 
 called Apple-Jack and Cider-Brandy. 
 
 It was feared that the conquerors of Goed Hope, flushed with victory and apple- 
 brandy, might march to the capital, take it by storm, and annex the whole prov- 
 ince to Connecticut. — Irving, Knickerbocker, 
 
 Apple-Cart. "He upset his apple-cart," i. e. he knocked him 
 down. See Lobster Cart. 
 
 Apple-Cut. A collection of young people for the purpose of cutting 
 up apples for drying; also called an Apple-Bee. These gatherings, 
 like husking-bees, which take place in the country, are the occasion 
 of much merriment. See Bee. 
 
 I have seen enough boldness used by a parcel of girls at one huskin' or apple- 
 cut, to supply four presidential elections. — Betsy Bobbet, p. 290. 
 
 Apple-Jack. A liquor distilled from fermented apple-juice; apple- 
 brandy. In England the term is applied to Jiapjacks. — Forby. 
 
 Young's men, dressed in the Confederate uniform, mingled with the people, told 
 them the news and got news of them, cursed the Yankees, and drank stirrup- 
 cups of apple-jack to their discomfiture. — Woodbury, Hist. 2d E. I. Rey't, 
 p. 337. 
 
 Apple-Leather. Apples parboiled and stirred into a paste of consid- 
 erable consistency; then rolled out and dried in the sun. When 
 dry, it is about as tough as leather, and comes away in sheets of the 
 thickness of tanned cowhide, — whence its name. — Pennsylvania 
 and Maryland. 
 
 Apple-Peeling. A gathering of neighbors in the country for the 
 purpose of peeling apples for drying or preserving; an Apple- Cut or 
 Apple- Bee, which see above. 
 
 I never knowed but one gal in my life as had cyphered into fractions, and 
 she was so dog on stuck up, that she turned up her nose one night at an apple- 
 peelin' bekase I tuck a sheet off the bed to splice out the table-cloth, which was 
 rather short. — Eyghston, The Hoosier Schoolmaster. 
 
 Apple [of] Peru. See Jamestown Weed. 
 
 Apple-Toddy. A favorite mixture made of whiskey or brandy, re- 
 sembling punch, in which roasted apples take the place of lemon- 
 peel. 
 
 In speaking of the Swedish invaders of New Netherland, Irving 
 says : — 
 
APP 
 
 ir 
 
 Like [the Yankees] they were great roysterers, much given to revel on hoe- 
 cake and bacon, mint-julep, and apple-toddy. — Knickerbocker, p. 247. 
 
 Applicant One who applies himself closely to his studies. A sense 
 of the word common in New England. 
 
 The English appear to use the word only in the sense of "one 
 who applies for any thing," in which sense it is most commonly 
 employed by us. 
 
 Appointable. That may be appointed or constituted ; as officers are 
 appointed by the Executive. — Federalist^ Webster. 
 
 To appreciate, v. a. To raise the value of. — Webster. This sense 
 of the word is not in any English dictionary except Knowles's, 
 which is quite a recent work. 
 
 Lest a sudden peace should appreciate the money. — Ramsay. 
 
 Also, V. n., to rise in value; as, " The currency of the country 
 appreciates." — Webster. The common acceptation of the word, 
 however, with us, as in England, is to estimate correctly, to put 
 a thing at its right value. 
 
 Appreciation. A rising in value ; increase of worth or value. — 
 Webster. This noun, like the verb from which it is derived, is 
 commonly used by us in its appropriate meaning of estimation, val- 
 uation ; and this will hereafter be understood of all similar words 
 where a peculiar meaning is assigned to them, unless an express 
 statement is made to the contrary. 
 
 To approbate. (Lat. approbo, to approve.) This word was for- 
 merly much used at our colleges, instead of the old English word 
 approve. The students used to speak of having their performances 
 approbated by their instructors. It is now in common use with our 
 clergy as a sort of technical term, to denote a person who is licensed 
 to preach; they would say, such a one is approbated, that is, licensed 
 to preach. It is also common in New England to say of a person 
 who is licensed by the county courts to sell spirituous liquors, or to 
 keep a public house, that he is approbated ; and the term is adopted 
 in the law of Massachusetts on this subject. — Pickerinxfs Vocabu- 
 lary. 
 
 Dr. Webster observes that this is a modem word, but in common 
 use in America. Mr. Todd introduces it in his edition of Johnson, 
 from Cockeram's old vocabulary, the definition of which is, "to 
 allow, to like." Mr. Todd says it is obsolete. 
 
 All things contained in Scripture is approbate by the whole consent of all the 
 clergie of Christendom. — Sir T. ElyoVs Governor, fol. 226. 
 
 2 
 
18 
 
 ARA— ARM 
 
 Arab. " Street Arabs " is a term applied to ragamuffin boys, or 
 
 what are in France called gamins. 
 To argufy. To argue; also to import, signify. This word has a 
 
 place in several of the English glossaries. In this country it is only 
 
 heard among the most illiterate. 
 
 Argufying. Arguing. 
 
 I listen to a preacher, and try to be better for his argiifying. — Sam Slick, 
 Human Nature. 
 
 Aristocratic. Strangely misapplied in those parts of the country 
 where the population is not dense. The city, in the surrounding 
 country towns, is deemed " aristocratic." The people in the villages 
 consider the inhabitants of the towns ' ' aristocratic, ' ' and so on. The 
 term is not applied so much to those who make pretensions as to those 
 who live in better style, and have more of the comforts and refine- 
 ments of life about them; it is very common in small country news- 
 papers and in political speeches in out-of-the-way places. 
 
 There have been more than one hundred steamboat arrivals here since our last 
 issue. We believe that the aristocratic " Mayflower " was among them. — Illinois 
 paper. 
 
 Ark. A large boat, employed on our rivers before the introduction of 
 steamboats, to transport merchandise. These boats are first men- 
 tioned in "A Description of the Settlement of Genesee County, 
 N. Y.," published in 1799. The writer says: " When the waters of 
 the Susquehanna are high by the melting of the snow on the Alle- 
 ghany Mountains, a species of boat may be made to descend the 
 stream, that will carry from two hundred to five hundred barrels of 
 flour." In a note, it is stated that these boats were invented by a 
 Mr. Knyder, of Juniata River, who first tried the experiment, and 
 reached Baltimore in safety. " They are made of plank, are broken 
 up after discharging their cargo, and sold for lumber, with little or 
 no loss. They are navigated by three or five men, and will float 
 down at the rate of eighty miles a day; they are called Arks."*^ 
 See also Doc. Hist, of New York, Vol. II. p. 668. See Fiat-Boat. 
 
 Arkansas Toothpick. A bowie-knife of a peculiar kind, the blade 
 of which shuts up into the handle. 
 
 Straightway leaped the valiant Slingsby 
 
 Into armor of Seville, 
 With a strong Arkansas toothpick 
 
 Screwed in every joint of steel. 
 
 Bo?i Gaultier, American Ballads. 
 
 Armory. A place or building where fire-arms are manufactured ; as, 
 the " Springfield Armory." 
 
ARO— ASS 
 
 19 
 
 Around. About, near; as, " Sam is around in New York." 
 
 I was standing around when the fight took place. — Police Gazette. 
 A friend assures me he has heard a clergyman in his sermon say 
 of one of the disciples that " he stood around the cross." 
 
 Arrastra. (Span., properly Arrastre.) The drag-stone mill for pulver- 
 izing or amalgamating ore. 
 
 Arriero. (Span.) A muleteer. The Mexicans, who are the most 
 expert in this business, are invariably employed in Texas, and for 
 all mule-trains used in the commerce of the prairies. 
 
 Arrow-Head. (Sagittaria variabilis.) A common and very variable 
 aquatic plant, so called from the shape of its leaf. 
 
 Arrow-Wood. (Viburnum dentatum.) It is from the long and 
 straight stems of this shrub that the Indians between the Missis- 
 sippi and the Pacific make their arrows. 
 
 Arroyo. (Span.) 1. A small river; a rivulet. 
 
 2. The dry bed of a small stream ; a deep ravine caused by the 
 action of water. Common in New Mexico and California. 
 
 Down the arroyo, out across the mead, 
 By he'rith and hollow, sped the flying maid. 
 
 Bret Harte, Friar Pedro's Ride. 
 
 As, for that., which; as, " Nobody as I ever heard on." This vulgar- 
 ism is confined to the illiterate. It is noticed in the Craven and 
 Herefordshire Glossaries. 
 
 Ascotch. A name given by boys in New York to a small mass of 
 wet gunpowder. 
 
 As good as. In the phrase, I 'd as good's go to New York, instead 
 of, "I might as well go to New York." Only heard among the 
 illiterate. 
 
 As long as. Because, since. "We '11 come, as long as it 's pleasant." 
 New York. 
 
 Ash-Cake. A corn-cake baked in the ashes. Southern. 
 Ash- Cart. A cart that goes from door to door to collect ashes. 
 Ash-Hopper. A lye-cask, or an inverted pyramidal box to contain 
 
 ashes, resembling a hopper in a mill. They are common in the 
 
 country, where people make their own soap. 
 Ashlanders. A club of Baltimore rowdies, so named from Ashland 
 
 Square, near which they lived. 
 Assemblyman. A member of the House of Representatives in New 
 
 York, and in some of the New England States. 
 
20 
 
 ASS— ATA 
 
 A small party of the members of the Legislature, both Senators and Assembly- 
 men, accompanied the Commissioners. — N. Y. Tribune, Dec. 18, 1861. 
 
 Assistant. A member of the Governor's Council. An officer both 
 judicial and executive, next in rank to the Chief Magistrate. Xew 
 England, 1621 to 1848. See Court of Assistants. 
 
 Associated Press. A number of newspaper establishments in New 
 York and elsewhere, which have entered into a joint arrangement 
 for procuring telegraphic and other news V> be equally furnished to 
 them all, have assumed the name of " The Associated Press.^* 
 
 Association. In civil affairs, this word is much used at the present 
 day, to denote the principle of uniting the producing classes in 
 societies, for the purpose of obtaining for themselves a larger share 
 of the fruits of their labor. 
 
 We do not claim that our rules are perfect, but we wish to make them so ; 
 being firml}' convinced that the science taught by Fourier will ultimatel}- lead us 
 into true Association, if we follow it as a science, and that we must have some 
 correct rules of progress to govern us during the transition period from civiliza- 
 tion to Association. — N. Y. THbune. 
 
 Associational. Pertaining to an association of clergymen. — Webster. 
 
 In order to obtain a license, and afterwards to be admitted to ordination, they 
 [the students in divinity] must, in each case, pass through the Associational or 
 Presbyterian examination. — Quarterly Review, 1815. 
 
 Associationist. One who advocates the Fourier doctrine of associa- 
 tion. 
 
 At. Used as a verb; as, "I at him to do it." To demand; to require. 
 We was a-layin' out to carry half a barrel of pork [to the donation party], and 
 I made a big jar of butter, and sold it for five dollars, and I atted Josiah to sell 
 the pork, and get the money for that. — Betsy Bobbet, p. 206. 
 
 At, for hy. Used in the expression, " sales at auction." 
 
 The English say, " sales hy auction," and this is in analogy with 
 the expressions, " sales hy inch of candle; " " sales hy private con- 
 tract. ' ' — Pickering^ s Vocahulary. 
 
 At, for in. The very common expressions " at the North," " at the 
 West," instead of "in the North," "in the West," offend an 
 English ear. 
 
 At is often used superfluously in the South and West, as in the ques- 
 tion, " Where is he a/?" 
 Atajo. (Span., pron. atdho.) A drove of pack-mules. 
 
 Atamasco Lily. (Amaryllis atamasco.) A small one-flowered lily, 
 held in like esteem, in Virginia and North Carolina, with the daisy 
 in England. 
 
ATH— AVA 
 
 21 
 
 Athens of America. A name sometimes given to Boston, Massachu- 
 setts. Also called Modern Athens d^ndi The Hub, which see. 
 
 Atlantic States. States bordering on the Atlantic. 
 
 Atole. In the Spanish portions of North America, gruel, generally 
 of corn-meal. 
 
 At that A cant phrase, which has recently become popular. It is used 
 to define more nearly or intensify something already said; as, " He 's 
 got a scolding wife, and an ugly one at that/^ 
 
 "Liquor up, gentlemen." We bowed. "Let me introduce you to some of the 
 most highly esteemed of our citizens." We bowed again. " Now then, Mis- 
 ter," turning to the man at the bar, " drinks round, and cobblers at that.'''' — 
 Notes on the North-western States, Blackwood, Sept., 1855. 
 
 A- tremble. Trembling, quivering; deeply moved. 
 
 And beholding a noble and venerable tree, he says, " Oh, what majestj'- and 
 glory! Five hundred years sit enthroned on the top of that monarch of the 
 forest." And he feels himself all a-tremble. — The Independent, Aug. 14, 1862. 
 Sermon by H. W. Beecher. 
 
 Attitudinize. To assume affected attitudes. — Worcester. 
 
 Authority. In Connecticut the justices of the peace are denominated 
 the civil authority. — Webster. 
 
 Mr. Pickering says : ' ' This word is also used in some of the States 
 in speaking collectively of the professors, &c., of our colleges, to 
 whom the government of those institutions is intrusted. ' ' 
 
 The authority required him to give bonds for his good behavior. — 3£iss H. 
 Adams'' s History of New England, p. 64. 
 
 Available. That may be used with success or advantage. — Worcester. 
 
 For some months past, a regular sj-stem of crying down Mr. Clay as unavaiU 
 able has been prosecuted with indefatigable energy and adroitness throughout 
 
 the Union Mr. Clay is a great man — able statesman — all of us prefer 
 
 him to anybody else if he could be elected, but I 'm afraid he isn't available. — 
 Letter in N. Y. Tribune, May, 1848. 
 
 Availability. Quality of being available. — Worcester. That qualifi- 
 cation in a candidate which implies or supposes a strong probability 
 of his success, apart from substantial merit, — a probability result- 
 ing from mere personal or accidental popularity. The thing has 
 long existed in the papal government, where the advanced age of a 
 candidate for the triple crown has often been the motive of his 
 election ; the idea being that he would soon die out of the way, and 
 leave the chair vacant for a new trial of strength under more favor- 
 able auspices, perhaps, for some of the electing cardinals. Inoffen- 
 siveness — exemption from strong hostility in any quarter — is a 
 frequent element of availability. — /. Inman. 
 
22 
 
 AVA— AWF 
 
 As this word is not noticed by any lexicographer except Dr. 
 Worcester, and is now much used, it is thought advisable to give 
 several examples of its use. 
 
 These political conventions are certainly becoming more odious and objection- 
 able from year to year; and availability, not merit or qualifications, is the only 
 requisite to secure a nomination. — Baltimore Cor. of the N. Y. Herald, May, 1848. 
 
 The only possible motive for the choice of Mr. Cass, that we can imagine, is 
 his presumed availability, the elements of this being his known predilection, real 
 or assumed, for territorial acquisition in all quarters, by warlike means as well 
 as others, and his avowed devotion to the Southern or slave-holding interest. — 
 N. Y. Com. Adv., May 2G, 1848. 
 
 The Whigs, within the last few days, have presented candidates for the highest 
 office in the gift of the people, who are without any principles. . . . What do 
 they mean by this in thus presenting candidates who have no principles? They 
 proceed on the principle of mere availability, and nothing else. They are again 
 going to insult your judgments, and tarnish the character of the nation, by their 
 exhibitions of coon-skins and hard cider, and their midnight debaucheries, as 
 they did in — Speech of J. Bowlin, N. Y. Herald, June 12, 1848. 
 
 Availed. Dr. Witherspoon notices this word as used in the following 
 example: " The members of a popular government should be con- 
 tinually availed of the situation and condition of every part." — 
 Works, Vol. lY. p. 296. 
 
 The newspapers sometimes say, " An offer " (for instance) "was 
 made, but not availed of^ 
 
 Avalanche. A Texan corruption of the French Ambulance. A spring 
 Avocado Pear. See Alligator Pear. 
 
 Awful. 1. Disagreeable, detestable, ugly. A word much used among 
 the common people in New England, and not unfrequently among 
 those who are educated. The expression "an awful-looking 
 woman" is as often heard as "an ugly woman." The word is 
 now more common in England than in the United States. 
 
 The country people of the New England States make use of many quaint ex- 
 pressions in their conversation. Every thing that creates surprise is awful with 
 them: '"What an awful wind! awful hole! awful hill! awful mouth! aioful 
 nose! " &c. — LamberVs Travels in Canada and the United States. 
 
 The practice of moving on the first day of May, with one half the New-Yorkers, 
 is an awful custom. — Major Downing, May-day in New York. 
 
 2. Very great, excessive. 
 
 Pot-pie is the favorite dish, and woodsmen, sharp set, are awful eaters. — 
 Carlton, The New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 182. 
 
 It is even used in this sense adverbially, and with still greater 
 impropriety, like many other adjectives. Thus, we not unfrequently 
 hear such expressions as "an awful cold day." 
 
AWF— BAG 
 
 23 
 
 There was Old Crane pokin' round among the gals, and mighty particular to 
 Kezier Winkle. Ain't it ridiculous ? I don't see what he could fancy about her. 
 I never thought she was so awful handsome as some folks does. — Widoio Beclott 
 Papers. 
 
 3. Enormous, flagitious; as, " an a«o/M^ crime." 
 Awfully. 1. Exceedingly, excessively. Now an adjective of all 
 work in English society. " 0 thanks very much ! I so awfully 
 obliged ! ' ' 
 2. Enormously. 
 The chimneys were awfully given to smoking. — Carlton, New Purchase. 
 
 To axe. (Ang.-Sax., acsian, axian.) To ask. This word is now 
 considered a vulgarism; though, like many others under the same 
 censure, it is as old as the English language. Among the early 
 writers it was used with the same frequency as ask is now. In Eng- 
 land it still exists in the colloquial dialect of Norfolk and other 
 counties. "A true-born Londoner," says Pegge, "always axes 
 questions, axes pardon, and at quadrilles axes leave." 
 
 And Pilate axide him. Art thou Kyng of Jewis ? And Jhesus answeride and 
 seide to him, Thou seist. — Wlcliff, Trans, of the Bible. 
 A poor lazar, upon a tide, 
 
 Came to the gate, and axed meate. — Gower, Conf. Amantis. 
 
 Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby, in a letter to her 
 son, Henry VIL, concludes with — 
 
 As herty blessings as 3'e can axe of God. — Lord Howard. 
 
 In the next reign, Dr. John Clarke writes to Cardinal Wolsey, 
 and tells him that — 
 
 The King axed after yowr Grace's welfare. — Pegge'' s Anecdote. 
 
 The word is much used by the uneducated in the United States. 
 
 Day before yesterday, I went down to the post-office, and ax^d the postmaster 
 if there was any thing for me. — Major Jones's Courtshij), p. 172. 
 
 I have often axed myself what sort of a gall that splendiferous Lady of the 
 Lake of Scott's was. — Sam Slick in England, eh. 30. 
 
 B. 
 
 Babes. The name of a set of Baltimore rowdies. 
 
 Back, V. To back a letter is Western for to " direct " it. 
 
 Back is often used for ago; as in the phrase, "a little while hack,''* 
 i. e. "a short time ago." 
 
 Back and forth. Backwards and forwards, applied to a person in 
 walking; as, " He was walking back and forth.^^ A common ex- 
 pression in the familiar language of New England. 
 
24: 
 
 BAG 
 
 Backbone. Moral stamina, strength of will, firmness of purpose; the 
 antithesis to doughface. A figurative expression recently much 
 used in political writings. 
 
 Infirmity of purpose is the cause of more serious lapses of infirmity of principle. 
 Men do not know how to resist the small temptations of life, from some deficiency 
 in their dorsal arrangements ; and the natural result is a departure from the 
 right. Backbone is the material which is designed to make an upright man; 
 and he must be firm on all points, if he would pass scatheless through the struggle 
 of life. — The Republic, 1857. 
 
 Back Country. The interior and sparsely settled portions. See Back- 
 woods. 
 
 To back down. To back out ; to retreat. 
 
 Back-Furrow. To plough so that the second and fourth ridge of earth 
 
 made is laid against or on the first and third ridges ; to turn the 
 
 soil every other time reversely. 
 Back-House. A necessary house, privy; so called from its position. 
 
 In some parts of England it is called the Backward. Comp. the 
 
 Lat. posticum. 
 
 To back out, v. To retreat from a difficulty, to refuse to fulfil a 
 promise or engagement. A metaphor borrowed from the stables. 
 Equivalent expressions are to hack water ^ to take the hack track. Or 
 from passengers who have met in a road not wide enough for one to 
 pass by the other. 
 
 Mr. Bedinger, in his remarks in the House of Representatives on the Mexican 
 war, Jan. 25, 1848, said: "He regretted the bloodshed in Mexico, and wished 
 it would stop. But, he asked, would gentlemen be willing to back out, and for- 
 sake our rights ? No, no. No turning back. This great countr}-^ must go ahead." 
 
 The Whigs undertook to cut down the price of printing to a fair rate, but at 
 last backed out, and voted to pay the old prices. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 To all appearance, we are on the eve of a bloody contest, if not a revolution. 
 What will be the consequence ? One or the other party must back out, or no one 
 can tell what will be the result. — National Intelligencer. 
 'T would save some whole cart-loads of fuss, an' three or four months o' jaw, 
 If some illustrious patriot should back out and withdraw. 
 
 Biylow Papers, p. 124. 
 
 Back out. To give up. 
 
 Well, boys, you know Hoss Allen, — no back out in him, anyhow ! — Hoss Allen, 
 of Missouri. 
 
 Back Track. To take the hack track is to retrace one's steps, to 
 retreat ; and hence is equivalent to to hack out. Western. 
 
 To back Water, v. To retreat, or withdraw; a Western metaphor, 
 derived from steamboat language. 
 
 Backing and Filling. Advancing and retreating, shilly-shally, inde- 
 cision. A nautical metaphor, used also, it is believed, in England. 
 
BAG— BAD 
 
 25 
 
 There has been so much hacking and filling not onh' upon the Cuba question, 
 but upon every other, that no confidence can be placed in the declaration which 
 either General Pierce or his cabinet may make. — N. Y. Herald, June 15, 1854. 
 
 A backin" and fillin' and wrigglin' policy will never fetch any thing about. — 
 Major Downing. 
 
 Back-Log. A large piece of wood used in fire-places where wood is 
 burned. Fore-sticks form part of the same fire. 
 
 Backward. Is sometimes used in the West for bashful, unwilling to 
 appear in company, on the same principle as " forward " in correct 
 language means the very contrary. 
 
 Backwoods. The partially cleared forest region on the Western 
 frontier of the United States, called also the hack settlements. This 
 part of the country is regarded as the back part or rear of Anglo- 
 American civilization, which fronts on the Atlantic. It is rather 
 curious that the English word hack has thus acquired the meaning 
 of western, which it has in several Oriental languages, and also in 
 Irish. Probably, for the like reason. 
 
 Backwoodsman. In the United States, an inhabitant of the forest 
 on the Western frontier. — Wehster. 
 
 The project of transmuting the classes of American citizens and converting 
 sailors into backwoodsmen is not too monstrous for speculators to conceive and 
 desire. — Fisher Ameses Works, p. 144. 
 
 I presume, ladies and gentlemen, it is your curiosity to hear the plain, unedu- 
 cated backwoodsman in his home style. — CrocketVs Tour, p. 126. 
 
 Bacon-Color. Being of a color of bacon. 
 
 Maria is eighteen years old, very likely; has a very pleasant countenance, light 
 haBon-colored skin. Plato is nineteen years old, bacon-color and squarely built. 
 — N. Y. Tribune, Letter from Norfolk, May 19, 1862. 
 
 Bad Lands. " In the arid region of the Western portion of the United 
 States, there are certain tracts of country which have received the 
 name of mawaises terres, or bad lands. These are dreary wastes, 
 naked hills with rounded or conical forms, composed of sand, sandy 
 clays, and fine fragments of shaly rocks, with steep slopes, and, 
 yielding to the pressure of the foot, they are climbed only by the 
 greatest toil, and it is a labor of no inconsiderable magnitude to 
 penetrate or cross such a district of country." — Powell's Explora- 
 tion of the Colorado of the West, p. 149. 
 
 There is an immense clayey formation that extends towards the south, produc- 
 ing, in the vicinity of drainage courses, a series of bad lands, that probably causes 
 this region of b'td lands. — Captain Ludlow, Reconnoissance of the Black Hills of 
 Dacotah, p. 58. 
 
 Bad. Badly; greatly, very much. Examples: "That bile hurts me 
 had ; " "I want to see him Jarf." 
 
26 
 
 BAG— BAI 
 
 Bagasse. (Fr.) Stalks of sugar-cane, from which the juice has been 
 expressed. It is used as fuel under the sugar-kettle. Called also 
 Cane- trash. 
 
 Bagasse Furnace. A furnace arranged to burn the sugar-cane stalks. 
 Baggage. Literally, what is contained in a bag or bags; the clothing 
 
 or other conveniences which a traveller carries with him on a jour- 
 ney. The English appear to have discarded the word altogether 
 for the less appropriate term luggage. 
 
 Having despatched my baggage by water to Altdorf. — Coxe, Travels. 
 
 This is sometimes called more fully hag and baggage. 
 
 Seventeen members of Congress arrived to-day with their bag and baggage. — 
 Washington paper. 
 
 Get ye packing then out of our churches, with your bags and baggages, hoyse 
 up sail for New England, &c. — Mercurius Eusticus, p. 167. 
 
 Baggage-Car. The car on a railroad in which the baggage is stowed. 
 
 It is placed next behind the tender. 
 Baggage-Smasher. 1. A man who transfers baggage to and from 
 
 railroad cars, steamboats, &c. So called from the reckless manner 
 
 in which these persons handle the property of travellers. 
 
 The following is from the Ballad of the " Centennial Baggage 
 
 Smasher,^ ^ printed in the " Indianapolis Sentinel: " — 
 
 Pete was a tip-up baggage-man : he ran on Number 4, 
 
 Where the tears and groans of travelling folks unflinchingly he bore ; 
 
 He cared not how the women wept, or strong men raved and swore, 
 
 While he mutilated sample-cases, desolated Saratogas, annihilated ordinary luggage, 
 
 immolated carpet-bags, exterminated bandboxes, and extinguished travellers* 
 
 outfits by the score, — 
 
 This fine old T. P. baggage-man, one of the modern time. 
 
 Then Pete he seized a shabby trunk, with snorts of wrath and scorn, 
 And in two seconds both the handles from the ends had torn ; 
 And, heedless of the pleadings of the passenger forlorn. 
 
 He banged the trunk on the platform, and then threw it over the top of the car, and 
 let an omnibus run over it. 
 
 2. A rough, brutal person. 
 
 Gamblers, ticket-swindlers, emigrant robbers, baggage-smashers, and all the 
 worst classes of the city. — N. Y. THbune, Nov. 23, 1861. 
 
 Bagging. See Cotton-Bagging. 
 
 Bail. The handle of a bucket or pail. New England; and provincial, 
 
 Norfolk County, England. — Forby^s Glossary. 
 
 Bait. A fulcrum. A term common in New England. 
 Baiting. Limch in the field at hay-time. 
 
BAK— BAL 
 
 27 
 
 Bake-Oven. (Dutch.) This term is often used in the West for the 
 simple word oven in a bakery. It is also applied to the iron bake- 
 pan. 
 
 Bake-Shop. The place where articles made by bakers are sold. 
 Southern. 
 
 As a general thing, the stores are closed; . . . the baJce-skops, however, seem 
 to be driving a great business. — iV. F. Tribune, May 16, 1862, Letter from 
 Norfolk, Va. 
 
 Balance. A mercantile word originally introduced into the ordinary 
 language of life by the Southern people, but now improperly used 
 throughout the United States to signify the remainder of any thing. 
 The balance of money, or the balance of an account, are terms well 
 authorized and proper ; but we also frequently hear such expressions 
 as the " balance of a speech; " " The balance of the day was idly 
 spent; " " A great many people assembled at the church: a part got 
 in, the balance remained without." 
 
 The yawl returned to the wreck, took ten or eleven persons and landed them, 
 and then went and got ih.Q balance from the floating cabin. — Albany Journal, 
 Jan. 7, 1846. 
 
 Most of the respectable inhabitants held commissions in the army or govern- 
 ment offices ; the balance of the people kept little shops, cultivated the ground, 
 &c. — Williams's Florida, p. 115. 
 
 The boats of the South Ferry forced their way through the ice, and kept up 
 their communication for the balance of the day. — New Yorh Tiibune. 
 
 The monopoly of the things of this world that are necessary to human subsist- 
 ence b}' a few constitutes those few the masters of the balance of mankind. — 
 The States ( Washinyton), March 26, 1858. 
 
 Bald Face. Common (penny) whiskey, particularly when it is new; 
 also figuratively and appropriately called "Red Eye " or "Pine 
 Top; " perhaps from the suspicion that it contains a large proportion 
 of turpentine. This latter sort is also called " Lightning Whiskey," 
 because " warranted to kill at forty rods." 
 
 Bald-headed. To go it bald-headed ; in great haste, as where one 
 rushes out without his hat. 
 
 Balk, baulk. A balky horse. This word has been considered an 
 Americanism, but it is found in Spenser's Faery Queene. See Baulk. 
 
 Ball-Face. A contemptuous epithet applied by negroes to white per- 
 sons, Salem, Mass., 1810-20. 
 
 Ballot-Box Stuffing. A new name for a new crime. This consists 
 in the use of a box for receiving ballots at an election, so constructed 
 with a false bottom and compartments as to permit the introduction 
 of spurious ballots to any extent by the party having it in charge. 
 The most outrageous frauds have been committed by this means. 
 
28 
 
 BAL— BAN 
 
 Three or four men are here [in Indianapolis] from New York and Baltimore, 
 
 who are in reality detectives sent on to look after the Democratic roughs and ballot- 
 box staffers. — Cor. N. Y. Tnbune, Oct., 1876. 
 
 The following telegram was received from Cincinnati a few days 
 preceding the Presidential election, Nov. 7, 1876. 
 
 The city is strangely quiet to-night. Both parties are full of business. Several 
 experts at ballot-box stuffing were spotted here to-da}'. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Tallmadge, of Brooklyn, in his sermon, when 
 speaking of the Presidential candidates, Hayes and Tilden, said: 
 
 If either accepts the Presidential chair at the hands of the ballot-stufftrs, he will 
 be but the bramble of discord therein. — N. Y. paper. 
 
 Ballooning, in Wall Street parlance, is running up a stock beyoud 
 its value, by newspaper articles, fictitious sales, or other means. 
 
 Ballyhack. "Go to Ballyhack!^' A common expression in New 
 England. I know not its origin. It savors in sound, however, of 
 the Emerald Isle. 
 "You and Obed are here too." 
 
 "Let Obed go to Ballyhack. Come along out." — Margaret, p. 55. 
 
 Balm of Gilead. (Populus caudicans.) A tree, which extends from 
 New England to Wisconsin and Kentucky. It is rare in a wild 
 state, but common in cultivation. — OraT/. 
 
 Balsam Fir. (Abies balsamea.) A slender tree growing in cold, damp 
 woods and swamps, from New England to Pennsylvania and north- 
 wards. The blisters under the bark furnish the well-known " Can- 
 ada Balsam;" hence its name. It is also called Canada Balsam 
 and Gilead Fir. 
 
 Balsam Poplar, (Populus balsamifera.) A tall tree growing from 
 New England to Wisconsin and northwards. Its large buds are 
 varnished with a fragrant, resinous matter. — Gray. 
 
 To bamboo; to bam. To cheat; to bamboozle. Connecticut, but 
 probably imported from the South. Bam is provincial in England. 
 — Wright. 
 
 Banana. The fruit of the Musa sapientum, a well-known tropical 
 fruit, imported into the United States from the West Indies. 
 
 Band. A troop or herd of bisons is called, in prairie parlance, "a 
 band of buffalo." 
 
 Banded Drum. See Grunter. 
 
 Bango ! A common exclamation among the Negroes both North and 
 South. 
 
 Bang up. Any thing of good quality; superior; first rate. "This 
 cloth is hang up.^' 
 
BAN— BAR 
 
 29 
 
 Banjo. Probably a corruption of the O. E. bandore. A rude sort of 
 guitar, a favorite instrument with the Negroes. The term itself is 
 probably of negro origin. Spelled by Miss Edgeworth, who was very 
 familiar with West India usages, Ban j ah. — See Belinda, 
 
 How oft when a boy, with childish joy, 
 
 I 've roam'd at the close of day, 
 When our work was done, to have some fun, 
 And hear the hanjo play. — Negro Melody. 
 Ole Nashville dey say is a very nice town, 
 Dar de niggers pick de cotton till de sun goes down ; 
 Dey dance all night to de ole hanjo, 
 
 Wid a corn-stalk fiddle and a shoe-string bow. — Negro Melodies. 
 Bankable. Keceivable at a bank, as bills; or discountable, as notes. 
 — Webster. 
 
 Among the great variety of bank-notes which constitute our cir- 
 culating medium, many are below par, and consequently are not 
 received at the banks. Those only which are redeemed with specie 
 or its equivalent are received at the banks, and are of the class called 
 bankable. 
 
 Banker. A vessel employed in fishing on the banks of Newfoundland. 
 " There were employed in the fisheries 1,232 vessels, — namely, 584 to 
 the Banks, 648 to the Bay and Labrador; the bankers may be put 
 down at 36,540 tons." 
 
 The vessels that fish at the Labrador and Bay are not so valuable as the hanhers^ 
 more particularly those from Maine, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. — J. Q. 
 Adams on the Fisheries, p. 219. 
 
 Bankit. (Fr. banquette.^ Sidewalk. Louisiana. 
 Banquette. The name for the sidewalk in some of our Southern 
 cities. 
 
 To banter. To challenge, defy; namely, to a race, a shooting-match, 
 
 &c. Southern and Western. 
 Banter. A challenge. Southern and Western. There will be a 
 
 banter on the bare ground," meaning a shooting-match. 
 Bar, for bear. The common pronunciation in certain parts of the 
 
 Southern and Western States. 
 Barbecue. (Span, barbacoa.) A term used in the Southern States 
 
 and in the West Lidies for dressing a hog whole; which, being split 
 
 to the backbone, is laid flat upon a large gridiron, and roasted over 
 
 a charcoal fire. — Johnson, Webster. 
 
 A writer in the " AVestminster Review " supposes the word to be ? 
 
 conniption of the French barhe-a-queue, i. e. from snout to tail 
 
 Comp. cap-a-pie', from head to foot. 
 
30 
 
 BAR 
 
 Oldfield, with more than harpy throat endued, 
 
 Cries, " Lend nie, gods, a whole hog barbecued.''^ — Pope. 
 
 Now the festive board with viands is stored. 
 
 Savory dishes be there, I ween ; 
 Rich puddings and big, and a barbecued pig, 
 
 And ox-tail soup in a China tureen. — Inrjoldsby Legends. 
 
 This word is now much used in the South and West for a public 
 meeting in the open air witli a dinner or other refreshments. 
 
 A genuine Virginia barbecue, whether of a social or a political character, is a 
 rural entertainment which deserves more praise than censure ; and we know of 
 none which affords the stranger a better opportunity of studying the character of 
 the yeomanry of the Southern States. — Lanman's Adventures, Vol. II. p. 259. 
 
 To barberize. A term among country hairdressers. " I can shoemake 
 through the week, and barberize on public days; " that is, on days 
 of public business, which call farmers to the country town. To 
 barber is so used in old writers. 
 
 Barely tolerable. Referring to the state of one's health. " How are 
 
 you, Mr. B. ? " " Wall, I 'm barely tolerable.'' 
 Barfoot. " I take my tea barfoot'' said a backwoodsman when asked 
 
 if he would have cream and sugar; i. e., without either. 
 
 Barge. A vessel of burden, employed on the Mississippi and its tribu- 
 taries before the introduction of steamboats. It is thus described 
 by Flint: " The barge is of the size of an Atlantic schooner. It had 
 sails, masts, and rigging, not unlike a sea vessel, and carried from 
 fifty to an hundred tons. On the lower courses of the Mississippi, 
 w^hen the wind did not serve and the waters were high, it was 
 worked up stream by the operation that is called ' warping,' — a 
 most laborious, slow, and difficult mode of ascent, in which six or 
 eight miles a day was good progress." — Hist, and Geogr. of Miss. 
 Valley. See Safety Barge. 
 
 To bark a Tree. To make a circular incision through the bark so 
 as to kill the tree. See Girdle. 
 
 To bark off Squirrels. A common way of killing squirrels among 
 those who are expert with the rifle, in the Western States, is to 
 strike with the ball the bark of the tree immediately beneath the 
 squirrel, the concussion produced by which kills the animal in- 
 stantly without mutilating it. — Audubon, Ornithology, Vol. I. p. 294. 
 
 To bark up the Wrong Tree. A common expression at the West, 
 denoting that a person has mistaken his object, or is pursuing the 
 wrong course to obtain it. In hunting, a dog drives a squirrel or 
 other game into a tree, where, by a constant barking, he attracts its 
 
BAR 
 
 31 
 
 attention until the hunter arrives. Sometimes the game escapes, or 
 the dog is deceived, and harks up the wrong tree. 
 
 If you think to run a rig on me, yon have made a mistake in the child, and 
 harked up the wrong tree. — S. Slick, Human Nature, p. 124. 
 
 When people try to hunt [office] for themselves, • . . and seem to be 
 harking up the wrong sapling, I want to put them on the right trail. — CrocketVs 
 Tour, p. 205. 
 
 Barm. (Ang.-Sax. beorm.) Yeast. This old English word is pre- 
 served in New England. 
 
 Barnburners. A nickname given in the State of New York to the 
 more radical and progressive section of the Democratic party, other- 
 wise called the Young Democracy, as opposed to the conservative 
 tendencies of old Hunkerism. See Hunker. 
 
 This school of Democrats was termed Barnburners, in allusion to the story of an 
 old Dutchman, who relieved liimself of rats b}'^ burning down his barns which 
 they infested, — just like exterminating all banks and corporations, to root out 
 the abuses connected therewith. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 "A certain hind, it has been said, 
 Whose weakest member was his head, 
 But full as wise as Democrats, 
 Burned down his barn to kill the rats." 
 Pills, Poetical, Political, and Philosophical, and by Peter Pepper Box, Phila., 1809. 
 
 Barrack. (From the Haitian hajaraque, a large house capable of 
 holding many persons, whence Span, harraca, Eng. harracks. Wedg- 
 wood derives it from the Gaelic barrack. The Indian origin is the 
 most plausible.) A straw-thatched roof supported by four posts, 
 capable of being raised or lowered at pleasure, under which hay is 
 kept. Also called, in New York, liay-barrach, probably from the 
 Dutch. In Maryland, and perhaps elsewhere, the term is applied 
 to any kind of building intended for the reception of straw or hay. 
 See Hay-Barrack. 
 
 Barraclade. (Dutch, barre kledeeren, cloths undressed or without a 
 nap.) A home-made woollen blanket without nap. This M^ord is 
 peculiar to New York City, and those parts of the State settled by 
 the Dutch. 
 
 Barracoon. (Span., Jarraca ; Haitian, Jayara^^we.) A slave-house, or 
 enclosure. 
 
 Barranca. (Span.) A deep break or ravine, caused by heavy rains 
 or a watercourse. The banks of such are always steep and abrupt, 
 like a wall, owing to the tenacity of the soil, and the suddenness 
 with which they are made. A sloping bank by a river's side, or a 
 similarly formed ravine, is not a barranca. These perpendicular 
 
BAR— BAS 
 
 walls of earth are found in Texas and New Mexico, and are a 
 marked feature in their topography. 
 Barrens. Elevated lands or plains upon which grow small trees, but 
 never timber. They are classed as Pine-barrens, Oak-barrens, &c., 
 according to the kind of tree which prevails upon them. In Ken- 
 tucky, the term is applied to certain regions in the carboniferous 
 limestone formation, the soil of which is really very fertile. Hence 
 Barren County and Barren River. In these places, the water flows in 
 subterranean channels; and hence a dryness of the surface, which, 
 according to some, has permitted annual fires to sweep ofE the tim- 
 ber, while, according to others, it has not permitted its growth. 
 
 Barren-Ground Reindeer. {Tarandus arcticvs^^ich.) A species of 
 Caribou confined almost entirely to the "Barren Grounds," the 
 north-eastern corner of North America. It occurs also in Green- 
 land. — Baird. 
 
 Base. A game of ball much played in America, so called from the 
 three bases or stations used in it. A country game mentioned in 
 Moor's Suffolk Words. Yet it is asserted by the English cricket- 
 players that the game was wholly unknown in England until intro- 
 duced from this country. Of all games of ball, this is now played 
 more than any other, and it is only known as " Base-Ball." 
 
 Base-Burner. A sheet-iron stove for burning anthracite coal, which 
 is only fed at the top, while the fire is confined to the base, or lower 
 part, of the stove. 
 
 Basket Meeting. In the West, a sort of picnic, generally with some 
 religious "exercises." 
 
 Bass. A name applied to several species of excellent sea and lake fish. 
 
 See Black Bass, Sea Bass, Striped Bass. 
 
 Basswood. {Tilia Americana.) A tree resembling the European lime 
 or linden ; from the use of its inner bark for making mats or cord- 
 age, the tree is also called hast or hass. The name, however, is now 
 obsolete in England. In the United States, it is also called White- 
 wood. 
 
 From its want of strength (both in the bark and wood), the name 
 of the tree is made a reproach in the following extract from one of 
 Brigham Young's " sermons ! " 
 
 I say, as the Lord lives, we are bound to become a sovereign State in the Union, 
 or an independent nation by ourselves ; and let them drive us from this place if 
 they can, — they cannot do it. I do not throw this out as a banter. You Gen- 
 tiles and hickory and basswood Mormons can write it down, if you please ; but 
 write it as I speak it. 
 
BAT— BAY 
 
 33 
 
 To bat. To hat the eyes, in Southern parlance, is to wink. We also 
 hear the expression " to bat a man over the head; " i. e., to strike 
 him. 
 
 Battery. A sort of boat used for duck-shooting in the Chesapeake, in 
 which the shooter lies below the surface of the water. It is also 
 called, among other local names, a Surface-boat, Coffin-boat, Sink, 
 or Box. — Lewis, American Sportsman. 
 
 A friend in Maryland informs me that the usual term there is 
 Sink-boat, — so called, because the whole body of the boat is below 
 the surface, — one of the common forms being a hogshead, ballasted 
 so that the upper end shall be only an inch or two above water. 
 
 To baulk. A horse in harness who stands still and refuses to go for- 
 ward is said to balk. Baulking is one of the most serious vices of a 
 horse. The word is noticed by Webster, but not by Worcester ; nor 
 is it found in this sense in the English dictionaries or provincial 
 glossaries. See Balk. 
 
 Ner\'ous, well-bred horses are more susceptible of the influences . 
 which induce baulking than are cold-blooded and indolent ones. — 
 Jennings, The Horse and his Diseases, p. 200. 
 
 Baulky. A baulky horse is one that stands still and refuses to go 
 forward. 
 
 Bay. 1. A well-known Southern tree, sometimes called ^ay-ZawreL It 
 is of the same family as the Magnolia grandijiora, which it resem- 
 bles except in size. 
 
 2. A piece of low, marshy ground, producing large numbers of 
 Bay-trees. North Carolina. 
 
 3. An arm of a prairie extending into, and partly surrounded by, 
 woods. 
 
 Bayberry. (Myrica cerifera.) A shrub, with fragrant leaves, having an 
 odor resembling that of the bay. The berries, when boiled in water, 
 yield a fragrant green wax, known as "bayberry tallow," used for 
 making candles, &c. 
 
 Bay Laurel. See Bay, above. 
 
 Bay Rum. A liquor obtained by distilling the leaves of the bay-tree. 
 
 It is chiefly used for the purposes of the toilet. 
 Bay State. The State of Massachusetts. The original name of the 
 colony was Massachusetts Bay. Hence among the New England 
 people it was usually called the Bay State. 
 Lift again the stately emblem on the Bay State's rusted shield, 
 Give to Northern winds the pine-tree on our banner's tattered field! — Whittier. 
 When first the Pilgrims landed on the Bay State's iron shore, 
 The word went forth that slavery should one day be no more. — Lowell. 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 BAY— BE A 
 
 Bayou. (Fr. boj/au, a gut. See Fr. hoyau, voyau; Fr. voie^ a way, a 
 course.) In Louisiana, the outlet of a lake; a channel for water. 
 
 Beach-Combers, 1. The long waves rolling in from the ocean. 
 
 2. A term much in vogue among sailors in the Pacific. "It 
 is applied to certain roving characters, who, without attaching 
 themselves permanently to a vessel, ship now and then for a short 
 cruise in a whaler, but upon condition only of being honorably 
 discharged the very next time the anchor takes hold of the bot- 
 tom, no matter where they are. They are, mostly, a reckless, 
 rollicking set, wedded to the Pacific, and never dreaming of ever 
 doubling Cape Horn again on a homeward-bound passage. Hence 
 tlieir reputation is a bad one." — Melloille, Omoo, p. 109. 
 
 Beach Plum. See Sand Plum. 
 
 Bean. This word unqualified means, in America, the various kinds 
 of kidney-beans (phaseolus), called in England French beans; w^hile 
 the simple w^ord beans, in England, would imply the varieties of 
 broad-bean (faha). 
 Bear. A word to denote a certain description of stock-jobbers. — John- 
 son. The same term is used among the brokers and stock-jobbers 
 of Wall Street, New York. Their plans of operation are as accu- 
 rately described in the annexed extract from Warton as they can 
 be at the present moment : — 
 
 He who sells that of which he is not possessed is proverbially said 
 to sell the skin before he has caught the bear. It was the practice 
 of stock-jobbers, in the year 1720, to enter into a contract for trans- 
 ferring South Sea stock at a future time for a certain price ; but he 
 who contracted to sell had frequently no stock to transfer, nor did 
 he who bought intend to receive any in consequence of his bargain; 
 the seller was therefore called a bear, in allusion to the proverb, and 
 the buyer a bull, perhaps only as a similar distinction. The con- 
 tract was merely a wager, to be determined by the rise or fall of 
 stock: if it rose, the seller paid the difference to the buyer, propor- 
 tioned to the sum determined by the same computation to the seller. 
 — Dr. Warton on Pope. The " bear " pulls down (with his paws) ; 
 so the broker buying lowers the price. 
 
 There has been a very important revolution made in the tactics of a certain 
 extensive operator in Wall Street. The I irgest bull in the street has become a 
 bear, and the rank and tile have been thrown into the greatest confusion and left 
 without a leader. — Ntio York Her(dd. 
 
 My salary was doubled when Bullion & Co. 
 
 Decided that into the street I should go. 
 
 And Httend all the buying and selling of shares, 
 
 As well keeping track of the bulls and the btars: 
 
BEA 
 
 '65 
 
 A few lucky hits, when the hears were all short, 
 And a twist of my own, where the bulls were all caught, 
 Gave me prestige and fame, so what could I fear ? 
 I was sailing ahead on three thousand a year. 
 
 Reynolds, Romance of Smol'e, p. 22. 
 
 Bear-Grass. (Yucca filament osa.) Sometimes called Silk Grass, from 
 the fibres which appear on the edges of the leaves. It is not a grass. 
 
 Bear State. A name by which the State of Arkansas is known at the 
 West. I once asked a Western man if Arkansas abounded in bears, 
 that it should be designated as the "Bear State." "Yes," said 
 he, " it does; for I never knew a man from that State but he was a 
 bar, and in fact the people are all barish to a degree." 
 
 To bear the Market. To operate upon the stock market by selling or 
 agreeing to deliver a large amount of a particular stock which the 
 seller does not possess; to influence or affect the price of stocks by 
 sensational reports. 
 
 There is no truth in the startling developments, implicating British officials, 
 in the '* Herald's " despatch. . . . His Lordship is wholly guiltless of the charge 
 which the " Herald." in its anxiety to bear the market, has brought agaiust him. 
 — N. Y. Tribune, Nov. 29, 18G1. 
 
 Bear-Wallow. See Hog-Wallow. 
 
 Beast. A common name for a horse in the Southern and Western 
 States. It is quite common to see in villages the invitation to trav- 
 ellers, " Entertainment for man and beast; " and in the Bible we 
 read, " A certain Samaritan ... set him on his own beast. 
 
 To beat. 1. To excel, surpass in a contest. Thus we say, one racer 
 or steamer beats another. So, too, " It beats all creation," i. e. 
 surpasses every thing. 
 
 The Widow Bedott is the brazen-facedest critter t' ever lived, — it does beat 
 all. I never see her equal. — Bedott Papers, p. 77. 
 
 2. To overcome with astonishment, to amaze, astound. We some- 
 times hear, especially from the mouths of old people, such expres- 
 sions as, "I felt 6ea^," " I was quite ftea/," i. e. utterly astonished. 
 
 There is a common expression, " That beats Buck,^^ synonymous 
 with the Irish, " That bangs Bannagher." 
 
 Beat, n. One who excels or surpasses another, a superior. See Dead- 
 Beat. 
 
 Sam Slick was a queer chap. I never see the beat of him. — Yankee TJiWs 
 Stories. 
 
 To beat all hollow. To beat thoroughly. 
 
 Beat 'em. " Well, that is the beat 'em;" i. e., it beats all, it sur- 
 
36 
 
 BEA— BEE 
 
 passes all others. The thing in question may be better, or it may 
 be worse than any other. 
 
 Beat out. Tired or fagged out. 
 
 Beau. This word, neaily obsolete in England, is in common use with 
 
 us to mean a lover, sweetheart. 
 
 The expression is quite familiar in a less intimate sense, also; as 
 for young ladies to speak of the beaux, meaning simply the young 
 gentlemen who used to " wait on " them. 
 
 To beau. To act in the capacity of a gallant or beau. 
 
 Well, I got to beaiiin^ Miss Patience about a spell ; and kept my eye on Nance, 
 to see how the cat was jumpin'. — Yankee HiWs Stories, 
 
 Beaver-Dam. The obstruction placed across a stream by beavers. 
 
 Beaver-Tree. {Magnolia glarica.) Called also Beaver-wood, and 
 sometimes Castor-wood, probably from the preference shown by the 
 beavers for the bark as food, or for the wood as useful in their 
 structures. The Hoop-ash (Celtis occidentalis) , or Hackberry, is also 
 called Beaver- wood. 
 
 Bed-Spread. In the interior parts of the country, the common name 
 for a bed-quilt, counterpane, or coverlet. See Spread. 
 
 Bee. An assemblage of people, generally neighbors, to unite their 
 labors for the benefit of an individual or family. The quilting-hees 
 in the interior of New England and New York are attended by 
 young women, who assemble around the frame of a bed-quilt, and 
 in one afternoon accomplish more than one person could in weeks. 
 Refreshments and beaux help to render the meeting agreeable. 
 Apple-bees are occasions when the neighbors assemble to gather 
 apples or to cut them up for drying. The terms apple-cut and peach- 
 cut are also common. Husking-bees, for husking corn, are held in 
 barns, which are made the occasion of much frolicking. Spelling- 
 bees are assemblages for competition in spelling, which see else- 
 where. In new countries, when a settler arrives, the neighboring 
 farmers unite with their teams, cut the timber, and build him a 
 log house in a single day; these are termed raising-bees, alluding to 
 a bee-swarm. See Spelling-Bee. 
 
 Bee-Hive. A mercantile establishment in which activity is, or is 
 assumed to be, exhibited in receiving and attending to many 
 customers. 
 
 Beech-Drops. A term applied to various plants without green foliage, 
 parasitic on the roots of the beech. 
 
BEE— BEI 
 
 37 
 
 Beef. In Louisiana, Texas, and some other parts of the South-west, 
 an ox is called a heef ; and oxen, beeves: in New York, and occa- 
 sionally in New England, any grown animal of the ox-kind. 
 
 Beef-Cattle. Oxen for the beef-market; or to be sold for food. 
 
 Beef-Dodger. Meat biscuit. Comp. Corn-Dodger. 
 
 It is a small party, but great in the requisite qualifications, and goes unincum- 
 bered with superfluities: no wheels, two or three mules apiece, and pinole, pem- 
 mican, and beef-dodgers for their principal support. — Speech of Colonel BerUon, 
 May 7, 1853. 
 
 Bee-Gum. In the South and West, a term originally applied to a 
 species of the gum-tree from which beehives were made ; and now 
 to beehives made of any kind of boards. See Gum. 
 
 Bee-Line. Bees, after having loaded themselves with honey, always 
 fly back to the hive in a direct line. Hence, a bee-line is the 
 straightest course from one point to another. It is sometimes called 
 an air-line. 
 
 In England, the expression "as the crow flies " would convey 
 the same idea. 
 
 This road is one of nature's laying. It goes determinedly straight up and 
 straight down the hills, and in a bee-line, as we say. — Mrs. Clavers. 
 
 The sweetened whiskey I had drank made me so powerful tliick-l^ged, that 
 when I started to walk my track warn't any thing like a bee-line. — The Ameri- 
 cans at Home, Vol. I. 
 
 We moved on like men in a dream. Our foot-marks, seen afterwards, showed 
 that we had steered a bee-line for the brig. — Kane, Arctic Explorcctions, Vol. I. 
 p. 198. 
 
 Sinners, you are making a bee-line from time to eternity; and what yon have 
 once passed over you will never pass again. — Dow's Sermons, Vol. I. p. 215. 
 
 Bee-Tree. In the South and West a tree, often found hollow, in which 
 the wild honey-bee makes its hive or nest. See Gum-Tree. 
 
 Beggar-Ticks. A species of Bldens whose seeds (fruit) adhere to the 
 clothes. The term is also applied to a species of Desmodium whose 
 pods break at the joints; the latter is sometimes called Beggar-lice. 
 See Harvest Lice. 
 
 Behindments. Arrearages. 
 
 Being. Pres. part, of the verb to be, equivalent to because. 
 
 This word is noticed by Boucher, as much in use in the Middle 
 States of America, and as an idiom of the Western counties of Eng- 
 land. It is also heard among the illiterate in New England. 
 
 The word is used in the same way that we hear seeing as em- 
 ployed in common speech; a usage which we have directly from tlie 
 English vulgar, and which is the idiomatic form in French. E. g.: 
 
38 
 
 BEL 
 
 "Well, sir, seein^ as it's you;" seein' as how I couldn't 
 help it." 
 
 I sent you no more peasen, been the rest would not have suited you. — Boucher's 
 Glossary. 
 
 And beinrje that a barrell of furs was lost in the shippe, the collonie hath taken 
 order for the recruitinge of that loss. — Rhode Island Records, 1G58. 
 
 The charge of the matter shall be borne b}^ the towne of Warwick, beinge they 
 have been at some charges already. — Ibid., 1659. 
 
 "Got a prime nigger," said the slave-trader; "an A number one cook, and 
 no mistake! Picked her up real cheap, and I 'U let you have her for eight hun- 
 dred dollars, beinrj as you 're a minister." — Mrs. Stowe, Dred, Vol I. p. 313. 
 
 The mug cost fifteen pence when 't was new ; but bein' it had an old crack in 
 it, I told her she needn't pay but a shilling for it. — Mdjor Downing. 
 
 Bein" ye '11 help Obed, I 'II give ye the honey. — Margaret, p. 20. 
 
 Beliked. Liked, beloved. A Western term. 
 
 I do believe me and Nancy was beliked by the Indians ; and many 's the veni- 
 son and turkey they fotch'd us as a sort of present, and maybe a kind of pay 
 for breadstuffs and salt Nancy used to give them. — Carlton, The New Purchase. 
 
 This gentleman is generall}' beliked bv his fellow-citizens. — Baltimore Cor. of 
 theN. Y. Herald. 
 
 Belittle. To make smaller, to lower in character. — Webster. To 
 speak of a thing in a depreciatory or contemptuous way. 
 
 Mr. Pickering says: A well-known English Review, in enumer- 
 ating the faults of our writers, thus mentions this, among other 
 words: "President Jefferson talks of belittling the productions of 
 nature." — Q'^arL Itev., X. 528. 
 
 We fear men's minds grow really belittled, where they ought to be enlarged. 
 Brook Eastford, p. 124. 
 
 Mr. Goodrich, in his " Reminiscences," says, when he returned 
 to his native place, after many years' absence in Europe: — 
 
 Every thing looked belittled, degenerated in dimensions. The church seemed 
 small, the galleries low, the pulpit mean. — Vol. I. p. 309. 
 
 " I won't stand that," said Mr. Slick, " I won't stay here and see you belittle 
 Uncle Sam for nothin'. He ain't worse than John Bull, arter all." — Snm Slick 
 in England, ch. 19. 
 
 An article in the " New York Times," Jan. 10, 1857, relative to 
 Congressional corruptions being made the subject of discussion in 
 the House of Representatives, says: — 
 
 Upon a motion being made for a committee of investigation, the usual efforts 
 were made to belitde the press, and treat its censures with contempt. — N. Y. 
 Times. 
 
 Bellows Fish. See Sea-Devil. 
 
 Bellows-Top. " When egg was beaten in it [flip], it was called bellows- 
 top ; partly, perhaps, from its superior quality and partly from the 
 
BEL— BEN 
 
 39 
 
 greater quantity of white froth that swelled to the top of it." — Joel 
 
 Parker, Centennial Address, 1873. 
 Belly-Bender. Floating pieces of ice, or weak ice, which bend under 
 
 one, as he passes from one cake to another. Boys take great pleasure 
 
 in this precarious amusement. 
 Belly-Bound. A sort of apple. (Fr. telle et hon.) Connecticut. 
 Belly-Bumbo. A mode of sliding down hill by boys on their sleds, 
 
 when lying on their bellies. See Belly-Guts. 
 Belly-Button. The navel. 
 
 Belly-Plumper. (Germ, jw/owipen, to plump; to plunge.) The same 
 as Belbj-Guts, No. 1. Sometimes when the slide is without the sled. 
 Eastern Massachusetts. 
 
 Belly-Guts. Move commorAj Belly Gutter. 1. A term applied by boys 
 to the manner of sliding down hill on their sleds, when lying on 
 their bellies. Boys also characterize this sport by the names of 
 lelly-Jlounders, Jlumps and bump. See Belly-Plumper, Belly-Bumbo. 
 2. In Pennsylvania, molasses candy is so called. 
 
 Bell wort. The popular name of plants of the genus Uvular ia. 
 
 Belongings. In the "Washington Union" is an advertisement 
 headed " Gentlemen's Belongings ; " from which it appears that this 
 term means the under-garments of gentlemen, such as shirts 
 drawers, stockings, &c. The term is merely a Saxon translation 
 of appurtenances. 
 
 Bender. In New York, a spree, a frolic. To "go on a bender is 
 to go on a spree. In this case, a man comes under spiritual influ- 
 ences so potent, that, not being able to stand straight under them, 
 he must bend. 
 
 The friends of the new-married couple did nothing for a whole month but 
 pmokeand drink metheglin during the bender they called the honeymoon. — Sain 
 aiick, Human Nature, p. 276. 
 
 A couple of students of Williams College went over to North Adams on a 
 bender. This would have been a serious matter under the best of circumstances, 
 but each returned with "a brick in his hat," &c. — Newspaper, April, 1857. 
 I met her at the Chinese room; 
 
 She wore a wreath of roses, 
 She walked in beauty like the night. 
 
 Her breath was like sweet posies. 
 I led her through the festal hall. 
 
 Her glance was soft and tender; 
 She whispered gently in my ear, 
 " Say, Mose, ain't this a bender ? " 
 
 Putnam's Monthly, Aug., 1854. 
 
 A passenger on board a Mississippi steamboat, fast aground on a 
 sand-bar, thus describes the state of things: — 
 
'40 
 
 BER— BET 
 
 The captain and bar-keeper were playing poker, . . . the crew all on a bender 
 in the engine-room, firemen all drunk on the boiler-deck, and everybody gener- 
 ally enjoying themselves. — Doesticks, p. 169. 
 
 Bermudian Vine. See Chicken-Grape. 
 
 To best. To get the better of. "I 've bested him more than he ever 
 bested me." 
 
 Bestowment. 1. The act of giving gratuitously; a conferring. — 
 Webster. This word, which is much used by our theological writers, 
 is not in the English dictionaries. 
 
 God the Father had committed the bestowment of the blessings purchased to his 
 Son. — Edwards on Redemption. 
 If we consider the bestowment of gifts in this view. — Chauncy, U. Lab. 
 
 2. That which is conferred or given. — Webster. 
 
 They strengthened his hands by their liberal bestowments on him and his fam- 
 ily. — Christian Magazine, III. 665. 
 
 The free and munificent bestowment of the Sovereign Judge. — Theody. 
 
 Mr. Todd has bestoival in his edition of Johnson, but cites no 
 authority for its use. Dr. Webster thinks bestowment preferable on 
 account of the concurrence of the two vowels in bestowal. 
 Betterments. (Generally used in the plural number.) 1. The im- 
 provements made on new lands, by cultivation and the erection of 
 buildings. — Pickering'' s Vocabulary. 
 
 2. The improvement received by an estate from the widening of 
 a highway, and also the sum assessed upon such estate for such 
 improvement. 
 
 " This word," adds Mr. Pickering, "was first used in the State 
 of Vermont., but it has for a long time been common in the State of 
 New Hampshire : and it has been getting into use in some parts of 
 Massachusetts, since the passing of the late law, similar to the Bet- 
 terment Acts (as they are called) of the States above mentioned. It 
 is not to be found in Mr. Webste7'\<i nor in any of the English dic- 
 tionaries that I have seen, except Ash's; and there it is called ' a 
 bad word.' It is thus noticed by an English traveller in this 
 country, in speaking of those people who enter upon new lands 
 without any right, and proceed to cultivate them : — 
 
 These men demand either to be left owners of the soil or paid for their better- 
 ments ; that is, for what they have done towards clearing the ground. — Kendall, 
 Travels in the United States, Vol. III. p. 160. 
 
 Bettermost. The best. The word, w^hich is provincial in England, 
 is used in Xew England. 
 
 The bettermost cow, an expression we do not find in Shakspeare or Milton. — 
 Mrs. Kirkland. 
 
BET— BIG 
 
 41 
 
 Sometimes is heard the expression hettermost best; as, "These 
 girls are dressed in their hettermost hest.^^ 
 
 Betty. (Ital. boccetta.) A pear-shaped bottle wound around with 
 straw, in which olive oil is brought from Italy. Called by chemists 
 a " Florence flask." 
 
 Between Hay and Grass. Neither one thing nor another. Between 
 boyhood and manhood. Between two stages of existence, of pro- 
 gress, age, development, &c. 
 
 Bevel. A slope, or declivity. Long Island. " The road is laid on a 
 i. e. higher in the middle. — Forbi/^s Vocah. of East Anglia. 
 
 B'hoys, i. e. Boys, a name applied to a class of noisy young men of 
 the lower ranks of society in the city of New York. 
 
 The "New York Commercial Advertiser," April 12, 1817, in 
 speaking of the approaching election, uses the following lan- 
 guage:— 
 
 All the b^hoys wiM vote, — ay, more than all. Let every Whig do his duty. 
 Another year with a Democratic mayor, — and such a mayor as the h^hoys would 
 force upon the city ! Who can tell what the taxes will be ? 
 
 Then come, every friend of the Union, 
 
 Come, old men, and come, ye b'hoijs; 
 Let 's go it for old Rough and Ready, 
 
 Who never was scared at a noise ! — Political Song. 
 
 Bible Christians. The " Philadelphia Mercury " thus gives a summary 
 of the creed of this new sect: " This denomination abstain from all 
 animal food and spirituous liquors, and live on vegetables and fruits. 
 They maintain the unity of God, the divinity of Jesus, and the 
 salvation of man, attainable only by a life of obedience to the light 
 manifested to his mind and a grateful acknowledgment of his in- 
 debtedness to the great Giver of all." 
 
 Biddable. This Irish word is in use in the West. " White servants 
 are not biddable ; " that is, manageable, obedient, tractable. 
 
 Teach your boys, too, to yoke up the young steers, to use them kindly, with 
 patient perseverance, to make them as bidable [sic] as this boy has made these 
 [now on exhibition]. — N. Y. Tribune, Sept. 9, 1861, Letter from Watertown^ 
 N. Y. 
 
 Biddy. An Irish servant girl, probably from ^riW^/e^, a common name 
 among the class. 
 
 Big. Great, fine, excellent. The ^^big bell," the big altar," and 
 the " 6«/7 desk " of a church, are assuredly big vulgarisms. The 
 " big horn," for the last trumpet, is almost profane. 
 " Hello ! " sez he, " what 's that V " 
 
42 
 
 BIG 
 
 " That ere," sez I, " 's some o' the biggest whiskey that ever slipped down a 
 feller's tliroat, witiiout sniellin' o' the customs." — N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 Big Bugs. People of consequence. Probably the origin of this word 
 lies hid in some anecdote that would be woiih finding out. 
 
 Then we 'II go to the Lord's house, — I don't mean to the meetin' house, but 
 where the nobles meet, pick out the big bugs, and see what sort o' stuff they 're 
 made of. — Sam Slick in England, ch. 24. 
 
 These preachers dress like big bugs, and go ridin' about on hundred-dollar 
 horses, a-spungin' poor priest-ridden folks, and a-eaten chicken-fixens so power- 
 ful fast that chickens has got scarce in these diggins. — Carltoti's New Purchase, 
 Vol. II. p. 140. 
 
 The free-and-easy manner in which the hare-brained Sir Robert Peel described 
 some of the big bugs at Moscow has got him into difficulty. — N. Y. Times, Feb- 
 ruary, 1857. 
 
 Miss Samson Savage is one of the big bugs, — that is, she 's got more money 
 than a'most anybody else in town. — Btdott Papers, p. 301. 
 
 Big Dog In some parts of the country, the principal man of a place 
 or in an undertaking is called the hig dog vnth a brass collar, as 
 opposed to the little curs not thought worthy of a collar. 
 
 Big Drink. 1. A large glass of liquor. 
 
 2. A cant term applied, at the South-west, to the Mississippi River. 
 
 Well, as I was sayin', off I sot, went through Mississippi, crossed the big drink, 
 come too now and then, when the chill come it too strong, but couldn't git shut 
 of the ager. — N. Y. Spirit of the Times, Frontier Incident. 
 
 Big Figure. To go the big figure, or do things on the big figure, means 
 to do them on a large scale. This vulgar phrase is used at the West 
 and South. 
 
 Well, I glory in her spunk, but it 's monstrous expensiA^e and unpleasant to do 
 things on the big figure that she 's on now. — Major Jones's Courtship. 
 
 Biggest. Greatest, finest, most excellent; as, "He's the biggest 
 kind of a musician." 
 
 The thermal springs are regarded by the trappers as the breathing-places of 
 his Satanic majesty; and considered, moreover, to be the biggest kind of medi- 
 cine to be found in the mountains. — Buxton, Life in the Far West, p. 129. 
 
 Biggest Toad. Biggest toad in the puddle. A Western expression for 
 a head-man ; a leader of a political party, or of a crowd. Not an 
 elegant expression, though sometimes well applied. Thus a Western 
 newspaper, in speaking of the most prominent man engaged in the 
 political contest for one of the Presidential candidates before Con- 
 gress, says : " IVIr. D. D. F. — is the biggest toad in the puddle.^' 
 
 Big Head. 1. A swelling of the head in cattle. 
 
 2. A term used in the West to denote that affection in youth 
 which has recently found a more elegant designation in the term 
 
BIG— BIL 
 
 43 
 
 •'Young America." It is applied to boys who smoke cigars, chew- 
 tobacco, drink strong liquors, gamble, and treat their parents and 
 superiors as their inferiors. Of such a boy it is said, " He has got 
 the hig head.^^ Also called sivell head. 
 
 Big Horn. (Ovis montana.) Another name for the Rocky Mountain 
 Sheep, an animal extensively distributed through North America 
 along the highlands of the Rocky Mountains from California to the 
 parallel of 68°. — i\ F. Baird. 
 
 Big Meeting. Common in the West for " protracted meeting." In 
 country towns where there are no churches and where preachers are 
 seldom seen, the arrival of one is a matter of importance to the 
 whole surrounding region. The people assemble in great numbers 
 and from a distance, and, having come so far, one sermon will not 
 suffice; so for several days together religious services are held. 
 This has originally no reference to any especial interest in the 
 hearers, but the transition to the ordinary "protracted meeting" 
 is natural. 
 
 Big Trees. {Sequoia gigantea, Washingtonia, WelUngtonia.) The giant 
 pine trees of California are universally known as the Big Trees. 
 
 Professor Brewer saw trees on the western flanks of the Sierra 
 Madre, one of which measured one hundred and six feet in circum- 
 ference four feet above the ground, and was two hundred and seventy- 
 six feet in height. Another is spoken of which measured one 
 hundred and twelve in circumference, but had been broken off at 
 the height of three hundred feet, where it was eighteen feet in 
 diameter. It was conjectured that, when entire, it could not have 
 been less than four hundred feet in height. The Redwood {Se- 
 quoia sempervirens), another of these giants of the forest, has been 
 found growing to the height of two hundred and seventy feet. 
 
 The industries of the Pacific coast, like the big trees, grow in great clumps; 
 and a single axe well laid at the roots will do surprising things among them. 
 But the ground will shake when these Bonanza kings come down. — Providence 
 Joumul, May 5, 1876. 
 
 Bilberry. {Vaccinium .) The popular name of shrubs belonging to 
 different species of whortleberry. 
 
 Biling, Bilen. A vulgar pronunciation of boiling. The phrase the 
 whole (or more commonly hull) kit and hilin^ means the whole lot, 
 applied to persons or things. 
 
 The United States Marshal, who was looking for crooked whiskey, was on his 
 way to arrest the whvh biliii' of [men] for treasonable proceedings. — Petroleum 
 V. Nasby. 
 
44 
 
 BIL— BIT 
 
 Yes, Evelina, I 've been pisoned, — so are all the Lowerys, the whole hd'ui' of 
 them ; and somebody ought to be hung for it, — who, I can't say. — Grindtr 
 Papers^ p. 101. 
 
 Bilk. Tn the Far West, the most degrading epithet that one can apply 
 to another is to call him a hilk. 
 
 The term was entirely novel to me, and I first asked its meaning of a landlord, 
 who explained to me by saying that a hilk is a man who never misses a meal 
 and never pays a cent. — McClure, Rocky Mountain^ p. 211. 
 
 Bill-Board. A board on which to affix handbills or bulletins. 
 
 A bill-board is the only news-sheet we know of which is subject to the editorial 
 supervision of every man who comes along; yet people who fail ignominiously in 
 their efforts to edit a bill-board are firmly convinced that they could edit a news- 
 paper. — Rome {N. Y.) Sentinel. 
 
 Bill-Fish. (Belone truncata.) A small sea-fish fond of running up 
 into fresh water during the summer, and often taken a considerable 
 distance from the ocean. Also called Sea-pike, Silver Gar-fish, &c. 
 
 Billy. A weapon used by desperadoes, and sometimes carried by 
 policemen. See Slung-Shot. 
 
 A day or two since a poor German was taken to prison, and, on examining 
 him, it was discovered that he was a victim to the billy. — N. Y. Herald. 
 
 Bindweed. The popular name in Massachusetts for the convolvulus. 
 — B!gelow''s Flora. This term is preferable to the provincial Eng- 
 lish " Robin run over the hedge." 
 
 Bindery. A place where books are bound. 
 
 Bird's-eye Limestone. The name of a formation in the New York 
 
 system of Geology. 
 Bishop. An appendage to a lady's wardrobe, otherwise called a 
 Bustle. 
 
 I sing the bishop, alias the bustle, 
 
 A theme transcendent for a human tongue; 
 Prepare, my muse, for a heroic tussel ! 
 
 Let ever}^ nerve with energy be strung! 
 
 The Bustle, a Philos. Poem. 
 
 Mr. Saxe, in his poem on " Progress," says that Imperial Fash- 
 ion decides the gravest questions which divide the world. 
 
 If wrong may not, hy circumstance, be right, — 
 If black cravats be more genteel than white — • 
 If, by her bishop, or her "grace," alona 
 A genuine lady, or a church, is known. 
 
 Bison. See Buffalo. 
 
 Bit. (Span, pieza.) The name, in some Southern States, of a silver 
 coin of the value of one eighth of a dollar, the Spanish real (de 
 
BLA 
 
 45 
 
 plata). It is called also an eleven penny hit or a levy. See the article 
 Federal Currency. 
 Black, n. A slave. 
 
 Black, adj. Pertaining to, consisting in, favorable or unfavorable to, 
 a negi'o or slave. 
 
 They proclaim the emancipation of the -whites from slave-holding thraldom, 
 and predict that the downfall of Blach bondage is not far distant. — The Inde- 
 pendent, Nov. 14, 1861, Art. by H. Greeley. 
 
 Black Bass. 1. A favorite game fish, found in abundance in most of 
 our Northern lakes and Western rivers. 
 
 2. On the Jersey coast, this name is also given to the Sea Bass. 
 (^Centropristes nigricans.') 
 
 Blackberry. This term is universal in the United States for the Eng- 
 lish Bramble-berry. 
 
 Blackberry Bush. Bramble-bush. 
 
 Blackfish. See Tautaug. 
 
 Blackgum. (Geim^ Nyssa.) A tree common to the Middle States. 
 
 Blackie. A negro; formerly in the Southern States, a slave. 
 
 Families and hotels cannot depend on their servants \i. e. slaves] remaining to 
 cook the morrow's dinner; and helpless misses and masters, who have needed 
 Blackie to pull on their stockings and brush their hair, are brought to contem- 
 plate the awful time when they must take care of their own hose and hair. — 
 N. Y. Tribune, June 13, 1862, Letter from Beaufort, N. C 
 
 Black- Jack. 1. The Quercus nigra, or Barren Oak; its more common 
 name is Scrub Oak. 
 
 2. Rum sweetened with molasses. New England. 
 
 3. A face blackened by difficulty of breathing; as the cause of 
 such a face, hanging. 
 
 If the rebel troops become guerillas, they will have to be hung. The blach- 
 jacks will be far more fatal to them than yellow jack was to our troops. — iV. Y. 
 Observer, June 5, 1862. 
 
 4. A miner's name for an ore of zinc. It is composed of sulphur 
 and zinc, and chemically is sulphuret of zinc. It is often associated 
 ■with a lead ore called galena, and its presence in such cases is always 
 objectionable and lessens the value of the lead ore. The Black Hills^ 
 Cor. of the Philadelphia Times says : — 
 
 " We found here a small laj'er of silver ore containing lead and some copper, 
 and a large underlayer of blackjack of too poor a quality to work. The green- 
 horns here call this blackjack galena, and some are actually putting it up for 
 galena." 
 
 Black Maria. A close, box-carriage, generally painted black, used 
 for carrying convicts to a prison or penitentiary. 
 
46 
 
 BLA 
 
 Blackstrap. Gin and molasses. The English sailors call the com- 
 mon uines of the Mediterranean blackstrap. — Falconer^s Marine 
 Dictionary. 
 
 Come, Molly dear, no blackstrap to-night, switchel or ginger pop. — Marrjaret^ 
 p. 300. 
 
 Mister, I guess you never drink'd no blackstrap, did you ? Why, bless you, 
 it 's the sweetest drink that ever streaked down a gullet. — IlilVs Yankee Stories. 
 
 Blackstrap in old times was the common beverage of engine com- 
 panies at fires in Boston, and is thus poetically alluded to by one of 
 her writers : — 
 
 But oh ! let blackstraj)^ s sable god deplore 
 Those engine-heroes so renowned of yore ! 
 
 Harvard Rer/ister, p. 2.35. 
 
 Blackwood. Hemlock, pine, spruce, and fir. Maine. 
 
 Bladder-Tree. {Straphylea.^ A handsome shrub, from six to ten feet; 
 high, remarkable for its large inflated capsules. — Bigdow^s Flora 
 Bostoniensis. 
 
 Bladder-Wort. (Utricularia vulgaris.) The popular name of an 
 aquatic plant, appearing above water only with its stalks and flowers. 
 — Ibid. 
 
 Blamed. A euphemism for doomed or damned. New England. 
 
 Blanket. A term used distinctively for the clothing of an Indian. To 
 say of one's father or mother that they " wore the blanket " implies 
 that they were but half-civilized Indians. Western. 
 
 Blanket Coat. A coat made from a blanket, common in the AVest, 
 and often seen with the black stripe of the border of the original 
 blanket crossing various parts of the garment. Such a coat, of a 
 bright blue, would be deemed a great oddity in the Atlantic States ; 
 in the West, a green one would be considered equally ridiculous. 
 See Macldnaw Blanket. 
 
 Blanket Indian. A wild Indian, whose principal article of dress is 
 the blanket. 
 
 Blatancy. A blatant habit ; quality of being blatant. 
 
 The senile weakness of Crittenden, the loud-mouthed blatancy of Vallandigham, 
 and the harmless venom of Cox. — X. Y. Tribune, April 15, 1802, Letter from 
 Washington. 
 
 Blauser. (Dutch, blazer, a blower.) The name given by the Dutch 
 settlers to the hog-nosed snake, from its habit of distending or 
 blowing up the skin of its neck and head. The other popular names 
 in Xew York are Deaf- Adder and Buckwheat-nosed Adder. — Nat. 
 Hist, of New York. 
 
BLA— BLO 
 
 47 
 
 Blaze. In traversing the dense forests of the West, a person would 
 soon lose his way and find it difficult to retrace his steps, without 
 some landmark. This is made by cutting a piece out of the side 
 of trees at a sufficient distance from each other to enable the trav- 
 eller readily to discover them, and thus follow the direct path oi 
 road. Such a mark is called a hlaze^ and trees thus marked are 
 said to be blazed. That horse has a blazed forehead," meaning 
 a white spot on it. 
 
 Tliree blazes in a perpendicular line on the same tree indicating a legislative 
 road; the single blaze, a settlement or neighborhood road. — Carlton, The Niia 
 Purchase. 
 
 After traversing a broad marsh, however, where my horse seemed loath to ven- 
 ture, I struck a burr-oak opening, and soon found my way by the Mazed trees 
 back to the mail trail. — Hoffman, Winter in the West. 
 
 I kept the banks of the bayou, and determined to mark the tree with a blaze. 
 — A Stray Yankee in Texas, p. 63. 
 
 Do you see that 6Za2e in the hemlock tree? Well, he up and as quick as a 
 wink fired and liit it in the centre. — S. Slick, Human Nature, p. 112. 
 
 To blaze or blaze out. To designate by blazing (see the preceding 
 article) ; to mark out. 
 
 Champollion died in 1832, having done little more than blaze out the road to be 
 travelled by others. — NotVs Chronoloijy, Ancient and Scr'qdural, p. 36. 
 
 Blazing Star. (Alefris farinosa.) A plant, the root of which is 
 greatly esteemed by the Indians and people of the West for its 
 medicinal virtues. It is also called Devil's Bit. Both names are 
 also applied to other and very different plants. 
 
 Blickey. (Dutch, blik, tin.) In New York and New Jersey, a tin 
 pail. 
 
 Blind Eel. When a fisherman brings up a piece of sea-weed on his 
 
 hook, he is said to have caught a blind eel. 
 Blizzard. A poser. This word is not known in the Eastern States. 
 
 A gentleman at dinner asked me for a toast; and, supposing he meant to have 
 some fun at my expense, I concluded to go ahead, and give him and his likes a 
 blizzard. — CrocketVs Tour, p. 16. 
 
 Bloated Eels. Eels skinned and eviscerated. Connecticut. 
 
 To blind a Trail. To conceal a person's foot-prints, or to give them 
 the appearance of going in a different direction; and, figuratively, 
 to deceive a person by putting him on the wrong track. 
 
 Block. A term applied in America to a square mass of houses in- 
 cluded between four streets. It is a very useful one. The term is 
 used in the " London Quarterly Review," vol. Ixxxviii. p. 477, in an 
 article on " Sanitary Consolidation." It is also applied, sometimes. 
 
48 
 
 BLO 
 
 to large houses or other large buildings, which have accommodations 
 for several families, several shops, &c. 
 
 Such an average block, comprising two hundred and eighty-two houses and 
 covering nine acres of ground, exists in Oxford Street. It forms a compact square 
 mass, or "insula," to borrow a term from the Komans, favorably situated for 
 military engineering. 
 
 This term is not universal, for in many cities square is used. 
 A Mock of shares is a Wall Street phrase, and means a large 
 number of shares in a railroad or other stock company massed to- 
 gether and sold in a lump. 
 Blockade. Embarrassment to shipping by ice; an ice-field. 
 
 The condition of the ice at Port Huron, Michigan, is unchanged. The field 
 has reached St. Clair River. . . . The blockade will remain until, &c. — Boston 
 Journal. 
 
 Block-Island Turkey. Salted codfish. Common in Connecticut and 
 
 Rhode Island. Comp. Taunton Turkey. 
 Blooded. Blooded cattle^ or stock, is a term applied to horses, horned 
 
 cattle, swine, &c., of choice breeds. 
 
 Blood Orange. An orange, the pulp and juice of which are reddish 
 or blood-like in their color. 
 
 Blood-Root. (Sanguinaria Canadensis.) The plant is so called from 
 the blood-red juice which exudes from a fresh root when broken. 
 See Puccoon. 
 
 Blood-Tubs. A set of rowdies in Baltimore, chiefly butchers, who 
 got their epithet from having on an election day dipped an obnox- 
 ious German head down in a tub of warm blood, and then di'ove 
 him running through the town. See Plug- Ugly. 
 
 From the song of the Irish Legion, written after the attack on 
 the Union soldiers while passing through Baltimore, in 1861: — 
 
 Blood-Tubs and Plug-Uglies, and others galore, 
 Are sick for a thrashing in sweet Baltimore; 
 Be jabers! that same I 'd be proud to inform 
 Of the terrible force of an Irishman's arm. 
 
 Bloomer. The Bloomer costume is one devised by a Mrs. Bloomer, 
 and worn by some of the more ardent advocates for woman's rights. 
 It consists of a short gown, reaching a little below the knees, and 
 pantalettes. 
 
 To blow. 1. To boast, brag; to " talk big." " You blow behind my 
 back, but dare not say any thing to my face." 
 
 2. To expose one. 
 
 3. To flout at; to reproach; to censure. 
 
BLO— BLU 
 
 49 
 
 Blower. 1. A plate of sheet-iron, used to partially stop the opening 
 of a grate or furnace, and thus increase the draft. 
 
 2. A braggart; a teller of incredible anecdotes, feats, and hair- 
 breadth escapes. 
 
 Blowin' his Bazoo. Gasconade ; braggadocio. Tennessee. 
 
 Blow of Cotton. In the South, the bursting of the pods. 
 
 Blow out. A festive entertainment. Frequently used for a party or 
 ball. " Mr. B gave a big ' blow out,^ last night," &c. 
 
 To blow out. To talk violently or abusively. The pious Uncle Tiif , 
 as related by Mrs. Stowe, wonders how people get to heaven among 
 the conflicting doctrines. 
 
 Dere's de Methodists, dey cuts up de Presbyterians; de Presbyterians pitch 
 into de Methodists, and both are down on de Episcopals ; while de Baptists tink 
 dey none on dem right ; and while dey 's all blowing out at each other dat ar way, 
 I 's wondering whar's de way to Canaan. — Mrs. Stowe, Dred, Vol. I. p. 276. 
 
 To blow up. To give one a blowing up is to accuse, berate, or 
 denounce him; to scold. 
 
 Blowth. (Ang.-Sax. Ablossom.) The blossoming of flowers. "Ther's 
 ben a good blowth o' apples this year; " i. e., the flowers are numer- 
 ous. The word is provincial in the west of England, and is pre- 
 served in New England. 'l^ 
 
 The first age after the flood was, by ancient historians, called Golden. Ambi- 
 tion and covetousness being as then but green and newly grcfwn up ; the seeds 
 and effects whereof were as yet but potential, and in the blowth and bud. — 
 Raleigh, Hist, of the World, Part 1, book 1, ch. 9, p. 107, edit. 1677. 
 
 Blue. 1. Gloomy, severe; extreme, ultra. In the former sense, it is 
 applied especially to the Presbyterians, to denote their severe and 
 mortified appearance. Thus, beneath an old portrait of the seven- 
 teenth century, in the Woodburn Galleiy, is the following inscrip- 
 tion : — 
 
 A true blue Priest, a Lincey Woolsey Brother, 
 One legg a pulpit holds, a tub the other ; 
 An Orthodox grave, moderate Presbyterian, 
 Half surplice cloake, half Priest, half Puritan. 
 Made up of all these halfes, hee cannot pass 
 For any thing entirely but an ass. 
 
 In the latter sense, it is used particularly in politics. 
 
 The bluest description of old Van Rensselaer Federalists have followed Colo- 
 nel Prentiss (in Otsego County). — N. Y. Tiibune. 
 
 2. A synonyme in the tippler's vocabulary for drunk. To drink 
 *' till all 's blue " is to get exceedingly tipsy. 
 
 Blue Backs. A term applied to the paper money of the Confederate 
 
 4 
 
50 
 
 BLU 
 
 government in contradistinction to the Greenbacks of the North. 
 When they depreciated, they became known as shucks. 
 
 Blue-Berry. (Vaccinium tenellum.) A fruit resembling the whortle- 
 berry in appearance and taste. 
 
 Blue-Blood. An aristocrat; one of high family. 
 
 " The Nation " itself declares that Professor Seelye was elected to Conj^ess by 
 a thoroup^hl}^ blue-blood Massachusetts community. — Let. of Gail Hamilton in 
 N. Y. Tnbune. The writer adds, " No sooner did Professor Seelye deliver an 
 opinion opposed to that of 'The Nation,' than that journal — to use a pioneer 
 [backwoodsman's] but picturesque Western phrase — sat up on its hind legs and 
 howled." 
 
 Blue-blooded. Proud of assumed high descent; regarding one's self 
 as of good birth. 
 
 This high-toned and blue-blooded Christian statesman was [so thought or said 
 " The Nation "] the victim of disease. — Ibid. 
 
 Blue-Book. A printed book containing the names of all the persons 
 holding office under the government of the United States, with their 
 place of birth, amount of salary, &c. It answers to the Red-Book 
 of England and Canada. 
 
 Blue Curls. (Trichostema dicliotomum.) From the shape and color of 
 its flowers. A common plant resembling pennyroyal, and hence 
 called bastard pennyroyal. 
 
 Blue-Fish. {Temnodon saltator.) A salt-water fish of the mackerel 
 order, but larger in size. It is one of the most voracious fishes on 
 the Atlantic coast. It bites readily at any object drawn rapidly 
 through the water; as a bone squid or metal spoon, a minnow, white 
 rag, and in fact any conspicuous bait. On the Jersey coast, these 
 fish are called Horse-mackerel; and in Virginia, Salt-water Tailors. 
 Another name is the Skip-jack. On the Jersey coast, the name 
 Blue-fisli is applied to the Weak-fish, Squeteauge, or Chickwit. 
 See Horse- Mackerel. 
 
 Blue-Grass. The name of the grass of the rich limestone land of Ken- 
 tucky and Tennessee. It affords pasture for ten or eleven months 
 in the year, and flourishes in the partial shade of the woods in which 
 there is no undergrowth. The change from the fertile soil upon 
 which this grass flourishes to that which is pooi-er is sudden and 
 well marked. Hence the term " Blue-grass " is applied both to the 
 region and its inhabitants. " Grape-vine," for similar reasons, is 
 used in opposition to "Blue-grass," although not with equal pro- 
 priety, as the vine does grow well on either soil, while the blue-grass 
 does not. — Oweii's Geological Survey of Kentucky. 
 
BLU 
 
 51 
 
 A look at the Blue-Grass region of Kentucky will of itself make one forget the 
 fatigues of a journey from New York. " God's own country " was the charac- 
 terization given by one gentleman. Here are the celebrated stock farms, where 
 the racehorses of the country are bred. — Corr. N. Y. Post, June, 1877. 
 
 In Maryland and some other States, the term is applied to a spe- 
 cies of grass that volunteers and causes much trouble; being injuri- 
 ous to wheat and clover, and hard to eradicate. In Connecticut, 
 Quickgrass, or TicitcJigrass. 
 
 Blue Hen. A popular name applied to the State of Delaware. 
 
 Blue Hen's Chickens. The sobriquet or cant name of the people of 
 Delaware. 
 
 At the beginning of the Revolutionary war, there lived in Sussex 
 County of that colony a gentleman of fortune, named Caldwell, who 
 was a sportsman and breeder of fine horses and game-cocks. His 
 favorite axiom was, that the character of the progeny depends more 
 on the mother than on the father, and that the finest game-cocks 
 depended on the hen, rather than on the cock. His observation 
 led him to select a blue hen and he never failed to hatch a good 
 game-cock from a blue hen's egg. Caldwell distinguished himself 
 as an officer in the First Delaware Regiment for his daring spirit. 
 The high state of its discipline was conceded to his exertions, so 
 that when officers were sent on recruiting service it was said that 
 they had gone home for more of Caldwell's game-cocks ; but, as Cald- 
 well insisted that no cock could be truly game unless its mother 
 was a blue hen, the expression Blue Hen^s ChicJcens was substituted 
 for game-cocks. — Delaware Slate Journal, July, 1860. 
 
 Let the word be Forward ! Until you see the Stars and Stripes floating over 
 Sumter, and every other fort in the harbor in the city of Charleston. Delaware's 
 honor is in your hands. . . . Blue Hen's Chickens to the front ! Forward! 
 March! — Delaware Inquirer, May 5, 1801. 
 
 Blue Laws. Where and how the story of the Xew Haven Blue Laws 
 originated is a matter of some curiosity. According to Dr. Peters, 
 the epithet blue was applied to the laws of New Haven by the neigh- 
 boring colonies, because these laws were thought peculiarly sangui- 
 nary; and he says that blue is equivalent to bloody. It is a sufficient 
 refutation of this account of the matter to say that, if there was 
 any distinction between the colony of New Haven and the other 
 united colonies of New England in the severity of their punishments, 
 New Haven was the last of the number to gain this bad pre-emi- 
 nence. Others have said that certain laws of New Haven, of a 
 more private and domestic kind, were bound in a blue cover; and 
 hence the name. This explanation has as little probability as the 
 
52 
 
 BLU 
 
 preceding for its support. It is well known that, on the restoration 
 of Charles II., the Puritans became the subject of every kind of 
 reproach and contumely. Not only what was deserving of censure 
 in their deportment, but their moi-ality, was especially held up to 
 scorn. The epithet Uue was applied to any one who looked with 
 disapprobation on the licentiousness of the times. The Presbyte- 
 rians, under which name all dissenters were often included, as they 
 still dared to be the advocates of decency, were more particularly 
 • designated by this term; their religion and their morality being 
 marked by it as mean and contemptible. Thus Butler : — 
 
 For his religion, it was fit 
 
 To match his learning and his wit ; 
 
 'Twas Presbyterian true blue.— Hudib., Canto I. 
 
 That this epithet of derision should find its way to the colonies 
 was a matter of course. It was here applied not only to persons, 
 but to customs, institutions, and laws of the Puritans, by those who 
 wished to render the prevailing system ridiculous. Hence probably 
 a belief with some, that a distinct system of laws, known as the 
 Blue Laws, must have somewhere a local habitation. — Praf. Kings- 
 ley'' s Hist. Discourse. 
 
 Blue Law State. Connecticut. 
 
 Blue-Lights. During the war of 1812, while the British fleet lay off 
 New London, blue lights were often seen at night near the shore, 
 which were attributed by Commodore Decatur (whose vessels lay 
 there for security) to persons who were friendly to the British, and 
 hence traitors. The conclusion was an unjust one, as no American 
 was ever discovered or even suspected of burning them. Hence, 
 says Mr. Goodrich, " Blue-lights, meaning treason on the part of 
 Connecticut Federalists during the war, is a standard word in the 
 flash dictionary of Democracy." " Even to this day," he says else- 
 where, "Connecticut Blue-Lights are the grizzly monsters with 
 which the nursing fathers and mothers of Democracy frighten their 
 children into obedience — just before elections!" — Recollections, 
 Vol. 1. p. 439 and 484. 
 
 Horace Greeley, and a train of real blue light Clayites from your State, have 
 arrived this morning, and make their head-quarters at the Franklin. Horace has 
 fastened on his armor with rivets and hammer, and the Taylor men will find him 
 a regular ''barnburner! " — New York Herald. 
 
 Blue-Nose. The slang name for a native of Nova Scotia. 
 
 " Pray, sir," said one of my fellow-passengers, "can you tell me why the Nora 
 Scotians are called ' Blue-Noses ? ' " 
 
BLU 
 
 53 
 
 "It is the name of a potato," said I, "which they produce in great perfection, 
 and boast to be the best in the world. The Americans have, in consequence, 
 given them the nickname of Blue.-Noses.'" — Sam Slick. 
 
 The sort o' trash a feller gits to eat doos beat all nater. 
 
 I 'd give a year's pay for a smell o' one good blue-nose later. 
 
 Lowell^ The Biylow Papers. 
 Do you know the reason monkeys are no good? Because they chatter all day 
 long, — so do the niggers, — and so do the Blue-Noses of Nova Scotia. — Sam 
 Slick. 
 
 After a run [in the steamer] of fourteen days, we entered the harbor of Hali- 
 fax, amid the hearty cheers of a large number of Blue-Noses. — Sir George Simp- 
 son's Overland Journey, Vol. I. p. 19. 
 
 Blue Perch. See Bur gall. 
 
 Blue Pill. A bullet. 
 
 Between blue j^iUs, halters, and the penitentiary, we shall soon work off this 
 element of rascaldom and horse-thieves. — N. Y. Tnbune, Let. from, Missouri, 
 Nov. 19, 1861. 
 
 Blue-Skins. A nickname applied to the Presbyterians, from their 
 alleged grave deportment. 
 
 Blue-Stocking. The American avocet (Recurvirostra Americana) . A 
 common bird in the Northern States. 
 
 Bluets. (Oldentandriaccerulea.) A delicate little herb, producing in 
 spring a profusion of light-blue flowers fading to white, with a 
 yellowish eye. — Gray, The Houstonia of Linnaeus. 
 
 Blue Weed. (Chicorium.) Wild endive, bearing a large dark-blue 
 flower. New England. 
 
 Bluff, n. A high bank, almost perpendicular, projecting into the sea. 
 
 In America, it is applied to: 1. A high bank, presenting a steep 
 front along a river, in the interior of the country. Hence it is also 
 used as a geological term to denote the lacustrine formation where 
 these high banks occur. 
 
 Here you have the advantage of mountain, bluff, interval, to set off the view. 
 — Margaret, p. 282. 
 
 2. A game of cards, alias Poker. 
 
 To bluff off. To put off a troublesome questioner or dun with a grufE 
 answer ; to frighten a person in any way, in order to deter him from 
 accomplishing his ends. 
 
 "I goes you five dollars, this time," says Jim, posting at the same time the 
 tin. 
 
 "I sees dat, and I goes you ten better," said Bill; "you ain't a-goin' to bluff 
 dis child, nshow you can fix it." 
 
64 
 
 BLU— BOA 
 
 " I sees you again," said Jim, " and goes you forty better ; dis Orleans nigger 
 won't stay stumped, dat I tells you, sartin." — N. Y. Sjnnt of the Times. 
 
 In the course of the dispute, Jim let out some offensive remark, which brought 
 a rejoinder from Joe. The former tried the bluffiufj system; but Joe said he had 
 stood enough, and would put up with no more insults from his bullying neighbor. 
 — Southern Sketches, p. 137. 
 
 To bluff on Poker is to bet on a worthless hand as if it were a good 
 hand, and force your antagonist to back down in fear; so to hluff a 
 man, and to hluff him off, are slightly different, the latter probably 
 being English, the former the technical form of "Bluffing oif," 
 which the game brings about. 
 
 Blummeohies. (Dutch.) This Dutch word for small flowers is still 
 preserved in the New York markets. 
 
 Blummies. (Dutch.) Flowers. In the State of New York, and par- 
 ticularly in the city and along the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers. 
 
 A gentleman, ruralizing along the banks of the Hudson, stopped 
 to pick some wild flowers near where sat an aged man, and said: — 
 
 "These flowers are beautiful, — it is a treat for one from the city to gaze on 
 them ! " 
 
 " Flowers ?" replied the old man, with an air of bewilderment. "Flowers! 
 what be they ? " 
 
 " Why, these! " replied I, stooping and picking some. 
 
 " Oh, the blummies ! Yes, the blummies be very thick hereabouts ! " he replied. 
 
 Blur-eyed. Blear-eyed. " The &^Mr-e?/ec? slanderer. " — N.Y. Tribune, 
 June 14, 1862. 
 
 To board round. To supply, to receive board in rotation; as, " to 
 board round." " They will board him round." In New England, 
 formerly a general expression, relating to a custom once prevalent in 
 rural districts, when the school-teacher received board in different 
 families from which children were sent to school. 
 
 Boards. In the South-west, boards are strips of wood from two to 
 four feet in length, riven from blocks, and differing only in size 
 from shingles. All sawed stuff, which at the North is called hoards, 
 is here caUed plank. 
 
 Boatable. Navigable for boats or small river-craft. — Webster. This 
 useful word has only recently been adopted into the English Dic- 
 tionaries. 
 
 The inhabitants of this State shall have liberty ... to fish in all boatable and 
 other waters, not private property. — Constitution of Vermont. 1786, ch. ii. 
 
 The Seneca Indians say, they can walk four times a day from the boatable 
 waters of the Alleghany to those of the Tioga. — Morse's Geography. 
 
BOA— BOB 
 
 55 
 
 This word, says Dr. Webster, though of modern origin, is well 
 formed according to the English analogies, like fordable^ creditable^ 
 &c. The advantage of using it is obvious, as it expresses an impor- 
 tant distinction in the capacity of water to bear vessels. Navigable 
 is a generic term, of which boatable is the species; and as the use 
 of it saves a circumlocution, instead of being proscribed, it should 
 be received as a real improvement. — Letter to J. Pickering on his 
 Vocabulary, p. 6. 
 
 The objection to this word is that it is a hybrid, composed of a 
 Saxon noun and a Latin ending. It is like fordable, but not like 
 creditable^ which is all Latin. We should hardly use the word trust- 
 able. We can well enough do with trustful. 
 
 Boating. Transporting in boats. — Webster. 
 
 Bob. A knot of worms or chicken-guts on a string, used in fishing 
 for eels, and in the South for trout. The bob is frequently made 
 of colored rags, red, black, &c. ; and, for large trout, it is a bait 
 equivalent to the artificial fly. 
 
 Bobolink. {Icterus agripennis.) A lively little bird, so called from 
 its notes, which in the fall frequents the wild rice of shallow rivers 
 and marshes, where it becomes very fat. It is highly esteemed by 
 epicures. Other popular names by which it is known in different 
 parts of the country are Rice-bird, Rice-bunting, Reed-bird, Meadow- 
 bird, May-bird, Butter-bird, American Ortolan, and lastly — and 
 most inappropriately — Skunk Blackbird. 
 
 The happiest bird of our spring is the Bobolink. This is the chosen season of 
 revelry for him. He comes amidst the pomp and fragrance of the season; his life 
 seems all sensibility and enjoyment, all song and sunshine. — W. Irving, Wol- 
 fert's Roost. 
 
 Philosophers may teach thy whereabouts and nature, 
 
 But wise, as all of us, perforce, must think 'em, 
 The school-boy best has fix'd thy nomenclature, 
 
 The poets, too, must call thee Bob-o-Linkiun. — Hoffman, Poems. 
 
 Merrily swinging on briar and weed, 
 Near to the nest of his little dame, 
 Over the mountain side or mead, 
 
 Robert of Lincoln is telling his name, 
 Bob-o^ -link, boh-o' -link, 
 Spink, spank, spink. — W. C. Bryant. 
 
 Bob-Sled. A sled much used for the transportation of large timber 
 from the forest to a river or public road. . Maine. Its peculiarity 
 consists in its having two pair of bobs or short runners. So is also 
 the Bob-sleigh. 
 
56 
 
 BOC— BOG 
 
 Bockey. (Dutch, hukaal.) A bowl or vessel made from a gourd. A 
 term peculiar to the city of New York and its vicinity. 
 
 Booking. So called from the name of the town in Essex County, 
 England, where made. A kind of baize or woollen cloth, either 
 plain or stamped with colored figures, used to cover floors or to 
 protect carpets. It is also called Jioor-cloth. 
 
 I knew that the large cloth which covered the middle of the floor, and which 
 the Avonieu call a bockinu, had been brouglit and nailed down there, after a solemn 
 family council, as the best means of concealing the darns ... in the carpet. — 
 Mrs. Siowe {House and Home Papers)., Atlantic Montldy, Jan., 1864, p. 43. 
 
 Bodette. (Fr. beaudette.) In Canada, the common name for a cot- 
 bedstead. 
 
 Bodewash. (Fr. bois de vache.) Dried cow-dung, used for fuel on 
 the treeless plains of the Far West. Also called Buffalo Chips, which 
 see. 
 
 Body-Bolt. A king-bolt. 
 
 The front wheels of the wagon became detached, and the body-iolt . . . was 
 driven into the ground up to its head. — The Press, Philadelphia, Nov. 17, 1869. 
 
 Bogue. " I don't git much done without I bogue right in along with 
 my men." 
 
 Bogus, n. A liquor made of rum and molasses. Comp. Calibogus. 
 
 Bogus, adj. Counterfeit, false. 
 
 The " Boston Courier " of June 12, 1857, in reporting a case before 
 the Superior Court in that city, gives the following as the origin of 
 this word: " The word bogus is a corruption of the name of one 
 Borghese., a very corrupt individual, who, twenty years ago or more, 
 did a tremendous business in the way of supplying the gi-eat West, 
 and portions of the South-west, with counterfeit bills and bills on 
 fictitious banks. The Western people fell into the habit of shorten- 
 ing the name of Borghese to that of Bogus ; and his bills, as well 
 as all others of like character, w^ere universally styled by them 
 " io^Wd- currency. " By an easy and not very unnatural transition, 
 the word is now applied to other fraudulent papers, such as sham 
 mortgages, bills of sale, conveyances, &c. 
 
 " Look at these bank-bills," said the stranger ; " keep those that are good, and 
 return me the bad." 
 
 "I guess the whole pile are bogus,'''' said Confidence Bob, as he turned over 
 his roll. — North, The Slave of the Lamp, p. 33. 
 
 The wide-awake citizens of Boston have been sadly bitten by a bogus issue of 
 the old Pine-Tree Shilling currency," got up by a smart Gothamite. — American 
 Notes and Queiits, July, 1857. 
 
BOG— BON 
 
 57 
 
 The Know-Nothings of Massachusetts must behave themselves better than 
 they did in their visit to the Catholic nunnery, or they will be repudiated b}' 
 their brethren in other States, as bogus members of the order. — N. Y. Herald. 
 
 Not one cent should be given to pay the members of the boyiis legislature of 
 Kansas, or for the support of the bogus laws passed by them. — Boston Atlas. 
 
 Bogusly. In a false way. 
 
 I and my assistants [in Tennessee] are loyal to the United States ; that when 
 this office came under the rebel government, and the oath was sent to us, we 
 filed it bofjously [sic], and sent it to Richmond without swearing to it. — N. Y. 
 Herald, May 2, 18G2, Washington Letter. 
 
 Boiled Shirt. A white shirt. Western. 
 
 In order to attend the Governor's reception, I borrowed a boiled shirt., and 
 plunged in with a Byron collar, and polished boots, and also the other necessary 
 apparel. — McClure, The Eocky Mountains, p. 412. 
 
 'Twas only last night, sure, they gave me a call 
 
 To deliver a lecture at Hibernia Hall. 
 
 I put on a biled shirt, and hastened there quick, 
 
 But the blackguards did serve me the divil's own trick. — Ed. Burton's Songs. 
 
 Bois d'Arc. (Madura aurantiaca.) The Osage orange of Missouri 
 and Arkansas, which see. 
 
 The bows [of the Comanches] are made of the tough and elastic wood of the 
 bois d'arc, or Osage orange, strengthened and reinforced with the sinews of the 
 deer wrapped firmly around them. — Marcy, Exp. of the Red River, p. 98. 
 
 Bois de Vache. See Buffalo-Chips. 
 
 Bolivar Hat. A Leghorn bonnet with a broad brim, worn a few yeara 
 since. 
 
 To bolt. To omit voting for; to reject; to desert a political party 
 suddenly; as, "Mr. B was dissatisfied with the political plat- 
 form, and hotted.''^ 
 
 We may bolt particular candidates on those tickets. Bolt a fraudulent nomi- 
 nation, scratch every unworthy candidate, but sustain the Union ticket and 
 cause.— iV. Y. Tribune, Oct. 3,'l8Gl. 
 
 This sense of the word is derived from its sense as meaning to 
 spring aside; to be off from. 
 
 Bombo. An animal of North Carolina, said to resemble the hedge- 
 hog, and by some called a Badger. 
 
 When the people [of North Carolina] entertain their friends, they fail not to 
 set before them a capacious bowl of Bombo, so called from the animal of that 
 name. — Westover Papers, p. 28. 
 
 Bonanza. (Span, prosperity; success.) In California and Nevada, 
 a rich mine; a lucky hit; a successful enterprise, particularly in 
 gold and silver mining. 
 
58 
 
 BON— BOO 
 
 The principal place for mining is at the foot of a naked granite mountain, the 
 so-called Bonanza. — Wizlizemis, Northern Mexico, 1847. 
 
 The contract for the Legislative printing, awarded by the Controller to Par- 
 menter, of Tro}', has been generally regarded here as in the nature of a big 
 bonanza. — N. Y. Tribune, March 2, 1876. 
 
 The recent rapid decline in Bonanza stocks in the San Francisco market has 
 occasioned considerable uneasiness among the holders of these securities. . . . 
 A reporter interviewed Mr. Flood on the subject. The Bonanza king was bitterly 
 indignant at the means employed to depreciate his mines. — Boston Post, May 5, 
 1876. 
 
 The buyer of lottery tickets is ever hopeful of a big bonanza, that he may 
 recover the thousands of dollars sunk during many years of indulging in this 
 folly. — Boston Herald, March, 1875. 
 
 To bone. To apply one's self closely. " To ^one into it. " 
 
 Bone. A term well understood in New^ York, and perhaps in other 
 large commercial cities ; it means a fee paid by passengers to cus- 
 tom-house officers for permission to pass their baggage with a slight 
 examination. If the bone is large, the trunks may not be opened 
 at all. 
 
 Bones. Substitutes for castanets, so called from the substance from 
 which they are made. Among " negro minstrels," one is always a 
 performer on these instruments, whence he is styled " Brudder 
 Bones 
 
 'T was the finest place for miles around, 
 
 And ole galls wouldn't all come down. 
 And they 'd so light on every night 
 
 To the old banjo's sweet sound. 
 The fiddle there, and den de bones. 
 
 And de merry tambourine, 
 Oh, wish dat I could see again 
 
 De ole plantation green. — Negro Melody. 
 
 Boneset. {Eupatorium perfoliatum.') The popular name of a medi- 
 cinal plant. So called because it was popularly reported to be a 
 specific for the Dengue, or Breakhone fever. — Rafinesque^s Med. 
 Flora, I. 179. Its properties are sudorific and tonic. 
 
 Bony-Fish. See Menhaden. 
 
 Booby-Hut. A carriage-body put upon sleigh-runners. New Eng- 
 land. It is a slight alteration of the term hoohy-hutch, used in the 
 east of England to denote a clumsy, ill-contrived, covered carriage 
 or seat. 
 
 Boodle. (Fr. hotel, boteau, a bundle; Germ, beutel.) "The whole 
 kit and boodle of them," i. e. all, the whole. New England. Per- 
 haps from the O. Eng. bottel, a bunce, or a bundle, as of straw. 
 See Caboodle. 
 
BOO— BOS 
 
 59 
 
 Toboo-hoo. To cry aloud; to bawl, bellow, roar. 
 
 The little woman boo-hoo'd right out, threw herself incontinently full on his 
 breast, hung around his neck, and went on in a surprising way for such a mere 
 artificial as an actress. — Field, Drama in Pokerville. 
 
 0 ye rash and inconsiderate children of iniquity ! You will go down to your 
 graves boo-hooing like a kicked boob}^, soul-shattered, body-tattered, looking as 
 though you had made your escape from a regiment of wild-cats. — Dow''s Sermons, 
 Vol. II.' p. 277. 
 
 Bookstore. A place where books are kept and sold. It is the com- 
 mon term in the United States for what is called, in England, a 
 hooksellerh shop. 
 
 Boonder or Bounder. A scrubbing-brush. New York. 
 
 To boost. To lift or raise by pushing. — Webster. Chiefly used by 
 Northern boys, who apply it to the act of shoving a person by the 
 posteriors up a tree or over a fence. " Boost me up this tree, and 
 I '11 hook you some apples." 
 
 He clambered back into the box (in the theatre), the manager assisting to boost 
 him with the most friendly solicitude. — Field, Drama in Pokerville. 
 
 1 have often noticed the alacrity with which the policemen of New York pilot 
 unprotected females across the street, and boost them into stages. — Doesticks. 
 
 It is just as difficult to boost a sinner up to heaven without corresponding effort 
 on his part, as it would be for a child to shoulder a sack of Turk's Island salt. — 
 Dow's Sermons. 
 
 Office-seekers ask you to give them a boost into the tree of office. And what 
 do they do? They eat the apples, and then throw the cores at your heads. — 
 Dow^s Sermons. 
 
 Lord Palmerston was boosted into power by the agricultural interests of Eng- 
 land. — New York Herald. 
 
 To boot. To " boot a man " is to kick him. 
 
 Bootee. A kind of short or half boot. — Worcester, 
 
 Boot-Lick. One who cringes to and flatters a superior for the purpose 
 of obtaining favors; a lickspittle, a toady. 
 
 Borning-Ground. Native soil. West Indies, as given in Thome's 
 Report, &c. 
 
 Bosaal. (Span, hozal, a muzzle.) A peculiar kind of halter, used in 
 breaking and riding unruly horses. 
 
 Boss. The o pronounced like a in all. (Dutch, baas.) A master, 
 an employer of mechanics or laborers. Hence we hear of a boss- 
 carpenter, a 5o.<?.s--bricklayer, />o.s.s-shoemaker, &c., instead of master- 
 carpenter, &c. The word probably originated in New York, and is 
 
60 
 
 BOS 
 
 now used in many parts of the United States. The blacks often 
 employ it in addressing white men in the Northern States, as they 
 do massa (master) in the Southern States. 
 
 At a meeting of the journeymen boot and shoemakers in New 
 York, April 9, 1850, it was 
 
 " Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting that it is very desirable that 
 the boot and shoemakers form an incorporated company for the purpose of secur- 
 ing to its members constant employment and direct patronage of shoe-buyers, 
 and independence from the tyrannical dictation of intermediate capitalists or 
 bosses''^ 
 
 It isn't saj'ing much for your boss politicianer that he chose you, when I was on 
 his list for promotion. — J. Neal, Peter Brush. 
 
 The Eternal City is in a very curious position. The Pope has returned to his 
 ancestral liome ; but he has nothing in his pocket, and Rothschild refuses to let 
 him have any more money. A thousand years ago, and the boot would have been 
 on t'other leg. . . . To-day it is very different. The Father of Holiness is the 
 dependent of the Jew, and Rothschild is the real Pope and boss of all Europe. — 
 Neio York Herald, May 24, 1850. 
 
 A correspondent of the " Xew York Times," Oct. 21, 1876, on 
 board the U. S. ship " Franklin," thus wrote of a notorious char- 
 acter whom they were carrying to Xew York from Spain: — 
 
 We are conveying no less public celebrity than Boss Tweed ; . . . but the 
 slippery old eel may again evade the clutches of the law, and want to know 
 "what we are going to do about it." The old Boss looks quite jolly, &c. 
 
 The candidates named by John Kelley, the Boss of Tammany Hall, for city 
 officers, furnish a bone of contention among Democrats. — New Yoi'k papers, 
 Oct., 1876. 
 
 Boss. (Lat. hos.) Among the hunters of the prairies, a name for 
 the buffalo. 
 
 Boss, adj. Some late writers are so fond of this word, that they 
 use it as an adjective. Thus one says : "Veteran Hatch caught 
 the boss string of trout," meaning probably a very large lot. 
 
 To boss. To rule over ; to direct. To "Joss a job" is to super- 
 intend it 
 
 Let his Woman's Rights companion 
 
 Boss the house and take the money, — 
 
 Boss them, and cut off the dead-heads 
 
 When she made it pay expenses. — Pluribustah. 
 
 " What detains yon at court ? " said a lawyer to an unsophisticated country- 
 man attending in a court-room in Arkansas. 
 
 " Why, sir," said the countryman, " I 'm fotched here as a jury, and they say 
 if I go home they will have to find me, and they moutn't do that, as I live a good 
 piece." 
 
 " What jury are you on ? " asked a lawyer. 
 "What jury?" 
 
BOS— BOU 
 
 61 
 
 " Yes, what jury ? Grand or traverse jury ? " 
 
 " Grand or travis jury ? Dad-fetched if I know." 
 
 "Well," said the lawyer, " did the judge charge you ? " 
 
 " Well, squire," said he, "the little fellow that sits up in the pulpit, and kinder 
 bosses it over the crowd, gin us a talk ; but I don't know whether he charged any 
 thing or not." 
 
 The crowd broke up in a roar of laughter, and the sheriff called court. — Nat. 
 Intelligencer, Xov. 3, 1856- 
 
 Bossy. A familiar name applied to a calf. In Dorsetshire, England, 
 a spoilt child is called a bossy calf. Cf . fioaxos. 
 
 Bothersome. Inconvenient; vexatious. 
 
 The entente conliale does not include this particular point of policy, as it might 
 prove a trifle bothersome. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 The great naval expedition has been a laughably bothersome subject to the New 
 York press. — Winstead Herald, Oct. 1, 1861. 
 
 Bottom Dollar. The last dollar. When a man's money is gone, he 
 will say, "I 've seen my bottom dollar.'^ 
 
 The brother of Miss Kate Field, having witnessed the opening of 
 Parliament, said to her : — 
 
 I saw the whole play; admired the Queen's dignity, and you may bet your 
 bottom dollar I don't want to go again. — London Truth, Feb. 8, 1877. 
 
 Bottom Fact. An undoubted fact; that which is unquestionable. 
 
 " The Methodist " newspaper, in speaking of raising money for 
 churches, says: — 
 
 '* Take it altogether, there is no way to raise money for the church without 
 giving it. And here is the '■bottom fact '' in the trouble: we want the church 
 to have the money; but we want somebody else to pay it." 
 
 The public has a large interest in the case of the election of Senator Grover 
 [of Oregon]. Curiosity has been on the tiptoe these many weeks to know the 
 bottom facts in it — N. Y. Tribune, March 17, 1877. 
 
 Bottom-Laiids. In the Western States, this name is given to the rich 
 flat land on the ba^lks of rivers, which in New England is generally 
 called " interval land," or simply " interval." — Pickering'' s Vocab., 
 Webster. 
 
 Our sleigh, after winding for some time among this broken ground, and passing 
 over one or two small but beautiful pieces of bottom-land among the ravines, 
 reached at last the top of the bluff. — Hoffman. 
 
 To bouge. (Old Fr. bour/e, swelling. — Cotcjrave.') To swell out, to 
 bulge. This old word is noticed by Dr. Johnson. It is nearly ob- 
 solete in England, but is preserved in the interior of New England. 
 
 When the sun gets in one inch, it is ten o'clock; when it reaches the stone that 
 bouyes out there, it is dinner-time. — Margaret, p. 6. 
 
G2 
 
 BOU 
 
 Boughten. Wliich is bought. This is a common word in the interior 
 of New Enghmd and Now York. It is applied to articles purchased 
 from the shops, to distinguish them from articles of home manu- 
 facture. Many farmers make their own sugar from the maple-tree, 
 and their coftee from barley or rye. West India sugar or coffee is 
 then called boughten sugar, &c. " This is a home-made carpet; that 
 a boughten one," i. e. one bought at a shop. In the north of Eng- 
 land, bakers' bread is called bought-hread. 
 
 I 'm going to buy a dress and half a dozen pairs of stockings. Common ones 
 I knit, but I took a notion for some bouf/hten ones for best. — Grinder Papers, 
 p. 20. 
 
 To bounce. A word now extensively used for the forcible excluding 
 of a troublesome or noisy person from a house or bar-room, a car, 
 &c., sometimes with the addition "out." — "I daresn't go in 
 there, the bar-tender 's drunk, and I might get bounced.'^ The 
 word may be found in the police reports. See Bounce in Addenda. 
 
 Bound. 1. Determined, resolved. A vulgarism not peculiar to the 
 United States. 
 
 A handsome nigger 's bound to shine, 
 Like dandy Jim of Caroline. — Song. 
 I 'm on the way to be as sombre and solemn as you are, but I 'm bound to have 
 a good time first. — Mrs. Stowe, Dred. 
 
 You see, my buck brethren, that the women are bound to get the better of us. 
 If the}' can't do it in one way, they will in another. In them you behold the wild- 
 cat, the lamb, and the dove. They first let loose their untamed feline propensi- 
 ties ; next they give the juvenile sheep a trial; and, if that fail, they rel}' upon 
 the loving pigeon. — Dow's Sermons. 
 
 2. Certain. To a limited extent, bound has been made sjTiony- 
 mous wdth sure, certain. Thus it is said of a young man of talent, 
 " He is bound to succeed; " of a candidate for political office, " He 
 is bound to be elected;" of a young and growing village, " It is 
 bound to become a large place." This is a revival of the old sense of 
 the term, which has been obsolete or provincial in England, and has 
 no sanction from Johnson, Richardson, or any of our leading lexi- 
 cographers. — Webster. 
 Bounty-Jumper. A term applied during the late civil war to men who 
 received a bounty when enlisting; who then ran away, enlisted in 
 another State, and received a second bounty. Instances are known 
 where men received three bounties in this way. 
 
 My song is of a fast yonng man whose name was Billy Wires ; 
 He used to run with the machine, and go to all the fires : 
 But as he loved a soldier's life, and wished strange things to see, 
 So the thought struck him that he would go and jump the Bounti-e. 
 
 Song of the Bounty-Jumper, 
 
BOU— BOW 
 
 68 
 
 Bourbon. 1. Whiskey from Bourbon County, Kentucky. A terra 
 generally used to distinguish the better kinds of whiskey, which are 
 mostly made from corn instead of rye. 
 
 2. A political name for a Democrat, especially of one factious or 
 turbulent. 
 
 The Bourbon in South Carolina, as everywhere else, makes a tremendous 
 racket, but he dwindles when the vote is taken. — N. Y. Herald, May 17, 1877. 
 
 It seems hardly credible, yet the Mississippi journals assert that ex-Governor 
 Humphreys is almost certain to be the Democratic candidate for Governor of that 
 State. He is an irredeemable Bourbon. — N. Y. Tribune, June 15, 1877. 
 
 The temper of it [Senator Morton's letter] may repel or harden the hearts of 
 the fire-eating Bourbons. — Cor. Washington Star. 
 
 Bow-dark Tree. (Fr. hois d^arc.) The Osage orange {Madura 
 aurantiaca). A Western tree, much used by the Indians to make 
 bows from. See Osage Orange. 
 
 Bower. In the game of euchre, the two highest cards are called 
 bowers. The knave of trumps is the right bower ; the knave of the 
 suit of the same color, the left bower. The name comes from the 
 German packs of cards, in which the card corresponding to our knave 
 is a peasant, called bauer. 
 
 But the hands that were played 
 
 By that heathen Chinee, 
 And the points that he made 
 Were quite frightful to see, — 
 Till at last he put down a right bower, 
 Which the same Nye had dealt unto me. 
 
 Bret Harte, The Heathen Chinee. 
 
 Bowie. A bowde-knife. 
 
 He has already made 12,000 pikes and a number of bowies. — N. Y. Tribune, 
 June 12, 1862, Despatch from Richmond. 
 
 Bowie-Knife. (Pron. boo-ee.) A knife from ten to fifteen inches 
 long, and about two inches broad, so named after its inventor. 
 Colonel Bowie. They are worn as weapons by persons in the South 
 and South-western States only, and concealed in the back part of 
 the coat or in the sleeve. Bon Gaultier, in his American Ballads, 
 describes a scene in Congress, where a young member turning to Mr. 
 Clay asks, " What kind of a Locofoco 's that? " alluding to a con- 
 spicuous character who had just entered. 
 
 "Young man," quoth Clay, " avoid the way of Slick of Tennessee. 
 Of gougers fierce, the eyes that pierce, the fiercest gonger he ; 
 He chews and spits as there he sits, and whittles at the chairs, 
 And in his hand, for deadly strife, a bowie-knife he bears." 
 I advise you, one and all, to enter every election district in Kansas, and vote 
 
64 
 
 BOW— BOY 
 
 at the point of the bowie-knife and revolver. Neither give nor take quarter, as 
 our case demands it. — Speech of Gen. Strinffelloio in the Kansas Legislature. 
 There 's some men here as I iiave got to shoot, 
 
 There 's some men here as I have got to stick, 
 Let any on you jest my words dispute, 
 I '11 put this bowie-knife into him, slick. 
 
 Sony of the Border Ruffian. 
 Bowling- Alley. A i^lace for playing at bowls, or ten-pins. In Eng- 
 land, long bowling, as described by Strutt, was played on the 
 ground ; our game is played on a plank flooring. There were other 
 differences, which it is not necessary to specify. 
 Bowman. A term used in Virginia for a military body-servant. 
 
 Each captain and lieutenant was entitled, and I believe is so now, to select from 
 the rank of his company a soldier to wait on him, to carry- messages, to cater for 
 him, and to cook for him; and the soldier thus selected was called bowman. 
 The term is very ancient, and traces as far back as before the invention of gun- 
 poAvder and muskets. — Sketches of Virginia. 
 
 Bowman's Root. (Glllenia trifoUata.) A medicinal plant; also called 
 Indian physic. 
 
 Box. 1. A boat for duck-shooting. See BatterTj. 
 
 2. An incision made in trees so as to hold a quantity of the sap 
 exuding into it, as, in North Carolina, for collecting turpentine. — 
 OlmstecVs Sea-Board Slave States. 
 
 To box. In North Carolina, to make the box, or bowl-like incisions 
 in trees. — Olmsted. 
 
 Box-Car. A house-car, so called; a close car used to convey merchan- 
 dise on railroads. 
 
 Box-Coat. A heavy overcoat, originally worn by coachmen; when 
 not in use, usually carried by teamsters and drivers under their hox 
 or seat. 
 
 Box-Elder. (Negundo aceroides.) Sometimes ash-leaved maple. 
 Box-Settle. A settle whose seat is the cover of a box (i. e. a bunk). 
 0. W. Holmes. 
 
 Box-Turtle. A species of tortoise, the lower shell of which has, in 
 one variety two parts, in another variety three parts, joined by a 
 sort of ligamentous hinge. It moves so as to enclose the body as if 
 in a box. 
 
 Boy. At the South, the universal name for a black male servant. 
 In Ireland, the wwd denotes an unmarried man in any menial em- 
 ployment, whatever his age. In many languages, as in Hebrew, 
 Greek, Latin, and French, the same word expresses a male child 
 and a serving-man; just as "girl" and "maid" denote a female 
 servant. 
 
BRA~BRE 
 
 65 
 
 Brack. A break or crack, a flaw. — HalUwell. This old word is still 
 used in New England, as it is by early English authors, of a break 
 or flaw in a piece of cloth. See Brash. 
 
 Having a tongue as nimble as his needle, with servile patches of glavering 
 flattery to stitch up the bracks, &c. — Antonio and Mellida, 1602. 
 
 The calico was beautiful, M'hile not a brack could be found in it. — New 
 England Tales. 
 
 Brahma. Brahma fowls. From Brahmapootra, a river in India. 
 Also called Bramans. 
 
 Brainy. Having brains; clear-headed. A fresh, clean brainy., cour- 
 ageous man. — Albany Journal., March, 1877. 
 
 Branch. A brook. Almost every stream in the South is known 
 either as a river, a bayou, or a branch ; bayou being synonymous 
 with creek, and branch with brook. " ^rancA-water " is distin- 
 guished from " well-water." 
 
 The pasturage of the prairies was scanty and parched; and most of the 
 branches, or streams, were dried up. — W. Irving^s Tom- on the Prairies. 
 
 Bran-Duster. A sort of bolt in which the bran is freed from adhering 
 flour. 
 
 Brash. Brittle. In New England, this word is used in speaking of 
 wood or timber that is brittle. In New York, it is often heard in 
 the markets, applied to vegetables. Ex. : " These radishes are 
 6ras^," i. e. brittle. In many parts of England, twigs are called 
 brash. See Brack. 
 
 Brave. An Indian warrior; a term borrowed from the French. 
 
 The Count promised himself many hardy adventures and exploits in company 
 with his youthful brave, when we should get among the buffaloes in the Pawnee 
 hunting-grounds. — Irviny's Tour on the Prairies. 
 
 Breachy. A term applied to unruly oxen in New England, particu- 
 larly to such as break down fences or through enclosures. It is 
 provincial in the south of England in the same sense. 
 
 Bread-Root. (Psoralea esculenta.) A plant resembling the beet in 
 form, which is found near the Rocky Mountains, sometimes grow- 
 ing from twenty to thirty inches in circumference. It contains a 
 white pulpy substance, sweet and palatable. — Scenes in the Rocky 
 Mountains, p. 50. 
 
 Bread-Stuff. Bread-corn, meal, or flour; bread. — Webster, Pickering. 
 This very useful word is American. Mr. Pickering says, " It was 
 first used in some of the official papers of our government, soon after 
 the adoption of the present Constitution. ... It has probably 
 
 5 
 
66 
 
 BRE 
 
 been more readily allowed among us, because we do not, like the 
 English, use the word corn as a general name for all sorts of grain, 
 but apply it almost exclusively to Indian corn, or maize." He cites 
 the following authorities : — 
 
 The articles of exports . . . arebreadstuffs ; that is to say, bread-grains, meals, 
 and bread. — Report of the Secretary of State {Mr. Jefferson) on Commercial 
 Jtestrictions, Dec. 16, 1793. 
 
 One great objection to the conduct of Britain was her prohibitory duty on the 
 importation of breadstuff, &c. — Marshall, Life of Washinyton, Vol. V. p. 519. 
 
 In Jamaica, the term bread-kind is applied to esculent roots, &c., 
 substituted for bread. 
 
 Break. A regular sale of tobacco at the "breaking" or opening of 
 the hogsheads. Local in Virginia. 
 
 Break. A break in the stock-market. A Wall Street phrase : where 
 stock is kept up by artificial means, and a money stringency, or 
 similar cause, makes it difficult to carry a load, the attack of a bear 
 clique or the actual inability to holders will produce a decline in 
 value. The market breaks down. — Medbery, Men and Mysteries 
 of Wall Street. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Cuyler visited the Stock Exchange about the time of the Erie 
 break, and reported his vieAvs to a religious paper. . . . The clerical looker-on 
 took a cheerful view of things, and was confident that a fair proportion of these 
 keen stock-heroes were not unfitted for spiritual communion. — Ibid., p. .327. 
 
 Break-Back. A term applied to a peculiar roof, common in the coun- 
 try, where the rear portion is extended beyond the line of the oppo- 
 site side, and at a different angle. The addition thus acquired is 
 used as a wash-room, a storehouse, or for farming implements. 
 
 The house of neighbor B was a low edifice, two stories in front ; the rear 
 
 being called a break-back, that is sloping down to a height of ten feet. — Good- 
 rich's Reminiscences, Vol. I. p. 78. 
 
 Breakbone. A species of fever. 
 
 The warm weather is adding to this the typhoid, the bilious, and another fever 
 to which the natives [of the South-western States] give the name (said to be 
 very graphic) of 5reflZ.-i6o?ie, in which every bone in the body feels as if it were 
 broken. It is a cousin-german to the typhus. — Y. Tribune, May IG, 18G2, 
 Letter from Cincinnati. 
 
 Breakbone Fever. A term commonly used to denote the 
 " Dengue," a malarious fever of the South. It is so called either 
 from the "pain in the bones," of which the patients complain, or 
 from the great debility which follows the attack; both reasons have 
 been assigned for the appellation. 
 
BRE— BRI 
 
 67 
 
 Break-down. 1. A riotous dance, with which balls are often termi- 
 nated in the country. 
 
 Take up the carpet — move the bed — call the fiddler, and let's have a regular 
 hreak-doicn. — Southern Sketches, p. 60, 
 
 Come, hold on, boys, don't clear out when the quadrilles are over, for we are 
 going to have a break-down to wind up with. — New England Tales. 
 
 2. A dance in the peculiar style of the Negroes. 
 
 3. Failure of an attempt ; withdrawing from what one had begun. 
 
 The District Attorney entered a nolle prosequi in its [a court's] indictment 
 of ... It would be interesting after this flat break-down. — N. Y. Tribune, 
 May 11, 1877. 
 
 To break down. To produce strong emotion in ; greatly move; as, 
 " He broke right down," i. e. was deeply affected. 
 
 Oh, you don't know what a new life it put into me and my husband. It was 
 such a kind, touching letter, it broke us both down, and tilled us with joy. — Lett, 
 in Home Missionary, May, 1877. 
 
 Breakish. Frail; brittle. See Breaks/. 
 
 To break out in a New Spot. To do some new thing; to do some- 
 thing else. 
 Breaky. As breakish. New England. 
 Bream. See Sunjish. 
 Breezy. Noisy. 
 
 Brewis. In the North of England, a pottage made of slices of bread 
 with fat broth poured over them. — Halliwell. 
 
 In New England, the term is applied to crusts of rye and Indian 
 or other bread softened with milk and eaten with molasses. 
 
 Brick in the Hat. " He has got a brick in his hat " is an expression 
 applied to an intoxicated person; meaning he is top-hea\^, and 
 cannot walk steady. 
 
 Brickley, for brittle. (Du. brickie.) Used in Georgia. — Sherwood's 
 Gazetteer. 
 
 Brief. Rife, common, prevalent. This word is provincial in Eng- 
 land, and is much used by the uneducated in the interior of New 
 England and in Virginia, when speaking of epidemic diseases. It 
 is probably a corruption of rife. 
 
 Bright. Intelligent, quick, having an active mind. A term often 
 applied to children; as, " Although he has had but little schooling, 
 our Jonathan is a bright lad." 
 
 Brill. Rough edge of tin, &c., made by cutting; a burr. Eastern 
 Massachusetts. 
 
68 
 
 BRI— BRO 
 
 Britishers. The use of this word is often by British writers ascribed 
 to the Americans. The charge is unjust. We never heard an 
 American call an Englishman a "Britisher;" yet, by English 
 authors, it is constantly put in the mouth of Americans. Thus 
 Lord Macaulay, in his journal, says : — 
 
 An American has written me from Arkansas, and sent me a copy of Bancroft's 
 "History." Very civil and kind; but by some odd mistake he directs to me at 
 Abbotsford. Does he think that all Britishers who write books live togetherV — 
 Life and Letters, Vol. II. p. 250. 
 
 Broadbill. {Anafi marila.) The common name of a wild duck, which 
 appears on our coast in large numbers in October. On the Chesa- 
 peake it is called Black-head; and in Virginia, Raft-duck. 
 
 Broad-Horn. A name by which the flat-boats on the Mississippi were 
 formerly known. See Fiat-Boat. 
 
 At Wheeling, I embarked in a flat-bottomed family boat, technically called a 
 broad-horn, a prime river conveyance. — W. Irving, Wolfei-t's Boost, p. 258. 
 
 "Been boating, Ben, since I met you ? " I inquired, after a short pause. 
 
 " Well, yes, mostly," answered Ben, deliberately. "Drove a pretty fair busi- 
 ness last year; only sunk one broad-horn, and that war snagged on the Missis- 
 sippi." — Ben Wilson's Jug Race. 
 
 I 'm the man that, single-handed, towed the broad-horn over a sand-bar, — the 
 identical infant, who girdled a hickory by smiling at the bark ; and if any one 
 denies it, let him make his will and pay the expenses of a funeral. — Thorp, in 
 Harper'' s Mag. 
 
 Brogues. (Dutch, hroek.) Breeches. 
 
 [General Von Poffenburgh's] men being thus gallantly arrayed, — those who 
 lacked muskets shouldering spades and pickaxes, and every man being ordered 
 to tuck in his shirt-tail and pull up his brogues, &c. — Knickerbocker, N. Y. 
 
 Broncho. A native California horse. 
 
 If low in purse, [the miner] traverses the mountains on foot; but, if able to 
 own an animal, he has a broncho (native or Californian) pony, mule, jack on 
 which he carries his outfit, consisting of grub, pan, spade, blanket, and revolver. 
 — McClure, The Rocky Mountains, p. 319. 
 
 The emigrants travelled in an old wagon, drawn by a pair of broncho or native 
 horses, and would probably be six or eight months on the road [to Missouri]. — 
 Nordhoff's California, p. 138. 
 
 Broom-Corn. {Sorghum saccharatum.) A species of com which 
 grows from six to eight feet high, from the tufts of which brooms 
 are made. Very different plants are used for this purpose in 
 Em'ope, and the English broom is as unlike ours as possible. 
 
 Brother Jonathan. The origin of this term, as applied to the United 
 States, is given in a recent number of the " Xorv\'ich Courier." 
 The editor says it was communicated by a gentleman now upwards 
 
BRO 
 
 69 
 
 of eighty years of age, who was an active participator in the scenes 
 of the Revolution. The story is as follows: — 
 
 When General Washington, after being appointed commander of the army of 
 the Revolutionary war, came to Massachusetts to organize it and make prepara- 
 tions for the defence of the country, he found a great want of ammunition and 
 other means necessary to meet the powerful foe he had to contend with, and 
 great difficulty to obtain them. If attacked in such condition, the cause at once 
 might be hopeless. Qn one occasion, at that anxious period, a consultation of 
 the officers and others was had, when it seemed no way could be devised to make 
 such preparation as was necessary. His Excellency Jonathan Trumbull the 
 elder was then governor of the State of Connecticut, on whose judgment and aid 
 the general placed the greatest reliance, and remarked: "We must consult 
 ' Brother Jonathan ' on tiie subject." The general did so, and the governor was 
 successful in supplying many of the wants of the army. When difficulties 
 afterwards arose, and the army was spread over the country, it became a 
 by-word. We must consult Brother Jonathan. The term Yankee is still applied 
 to a portion; but Brother Jonathan has now become a designation of the whole 
 country, as John Bull has for England. 
 
 Brotus. (Pron. brought us.) A word found exclusively in the mouths 
 of negro market women and itinerant street hucksters and school- 
 boys, in Charleston, S.C., — who always ask for it in their pur- 
 chases of peanuts, plums, chinquapins, chestnuts, &c. Brotus means 
 the superfluity of a helping, — the running over of a measure which 
 has been "heaped up and shaken down." It is the extra and 
 gratuitous surplusage which the vendor of peaimts gives her cus- 
 tomer for his patronage. In New Orleans, the Creole word (in Gumbo 
 French) which exactly represents brotus is lagniappe (lan-yap). 
 
 Broughtens up. Bringing up, educating. A vulgar corruption, often 
 used jocosely. 
 
 I 'm a Yankee, said Slick, and I ain't above ownin' to it, and so are you ; but 
 you seem ashamed of your hraaghtens up., and I must say you are no great credit 
 to them. — S. Slick, Human Nature, p. 83. 
 
 Brown. A colored person of lighter hue than a black. 
 
 The jealousy between the blacks and browns, which has done so much mischief 
 in the West Indies, is not fostered by American people of color. — The Inde- 
 pendent, April 10, 1862. 
 
 Brown. To do a thing up brown is to do it to perfection. A com- 
 mon vulgarism, derived from the kitchen. 
 
 " Well, I think Ellen 's a dmn' it up brown ! There '11 be another weddin' soon, 
 I guess." — Southern Sketches, p. 57. 
 
 From Jefferson Davis's Proclamation, freely paraphrased from 
 Vanity Fair : — 
 
 To pay his best in duty bound each faithful rebel knave is, 
 So let the thing be done up brown, for things look black, 
 
 Jeff. Davis. 
 
70 
 
 BRO— BUG 
 
 John Bull, slyly winkin', then said unto he: 
 " My dear Times, my old covey, go pitch into he ; 
 Let us wallop great Doodle now when he is down; 
 If we wallops him well, we will do Jiiui up brownV 
 
 The London Times on American Affairs, 1861. 
 
 Brown-Bread Bread made of rye meal and Indian meal (maize) 
 
 baked very slowly in an iron vessel. Much used in New England; 
 hence, in other States, it is generally called Boston Brown Bread. 
 
 Brown Stone. A dark variety of the red sandstone, now so fashion- 
 able as a building material that its imitations in paint and mastic 
 outdo the original in darkness, and rows of houses in some of our 
 cities are now to be seen almost black. 
 
 Brown Thrasher. {Turdus rufus.) The popular name of the Ferru- 
 ginous Thrush, called also the Brown Thrush. It is also called the 
 Ground Mocking-bird. In Maryland, it is called the French Mock- 
 ing-bird. 
 
 I love the city as dearly as a hroicn thrasher loves the green tree that shel- 
 tered its young. — C. Mathews, Works, p. 125. 
 
 Brummagen. A worthless copper coin, said to have been made for- 
 merly in Birmingham, England. Hence, any thing of no worth; 
 factitious ; spurious. 
 
 This silence on the part of the Rebel President as to the cause of the war, and 
 the sole reason for setting up his h'ummayen government, &c. — N. Y. Tribune, 
 Nov. 28, 1861. 
 
 Bruug, for hrought. Used by ignorant persons, especially by blacks, at 
 the South. 
 
 Brush, for brusJiwood , is an Americanism, and moreover is not con- 
 fined to undergi'owth, but comprises also branches of trees. 
 
 In Maryland, the term is applied to w'hatever wood, in clearing 
 up w^ood-land, cannot be cut into cord-ivood. It is piled up into 
 brush-heaps, suffered to dry, and is then burned. 
 
 Bubber. A stout or stoutly mammalated old woman. Used in 
 Salem, Mass., in 1820, and since. " Bubber Jones." (Fr. poitron, 
 old woman; Old Fr. pect, poitron ; Lat. pectus, the breast.) 
 
 Bubbler. A fish found in all the waters of the Ohio River. Its name 
 is derived from the singular gmnting noise which it makes, a noise 
 which is familiar to eveiy one who has been much on the Ohio. — 
 FlinVs Mississippi Valley. 
 
 Buccaneer. A long musket, a term applied to it by the early settlers 
 of Xew England. 
 One Woodcock discharged his long musquet, called in those days a buccaneer, 
 
BUG 
 
 71 
 
 at a single Indian, and broke his thigh-bone. — Mass. Hist. Coll., 1 Ser. Vol. X. 
 p. 139. 
 
 Buck. (Swed. hock, Du. bok, a he-goat.) 1. A frame or stand of 
 peculiar construction, on which wood is sawed for fuel. In New 
 England it is called a Saw-horse. See Sawbuck. 
 
 2. The Pennsylvanian does not saw wood; he '■^ bucks " it. 
 
 Buck. A " buck nigger " is a term often vulgarly applied to a negi'O 
 man. Western. So in London, a '■'■buck sweep," among the 
 populace. 
 
 During the discussion preceding the Presidential election, in 1860, 
 one argument against the Republican ticket was,> " Should you like 
 to have your sister marry a big buck nigger? " 
 
 The Indians [of Utah] wander about in squads, the bucks and the squaws, as 
 they are designated, always separate. — McClure, Rocky Mountains, p. 151. 
 
 To buck. 1. Used instead of butt, applied to animals pushing with 
 their head and horns, and metaphorically of players at football and 
 such games, pugilists, &c. Comp. Bunt. 
 
 2. To rear up, applied to horses and mules. Western. 
 
 As if some devilish infection pervaded the atmosphere, one of our horses, a 
 Kiyuse, or native pony, took a fit of bucking soon after we left, and was particular 
 to select the most dangerous portions of the road for the display of his skill in 
 that line. — McClure, Rocky Mountains, p. 301. 
 
 A correspondent of the " Chicago Tribune," writing from Texas, 
 has a word of caution to those who have to travel on horseback in 
 that country : — 
 
 " In this event," writes he, " do not select a mustang . . . unless you want to 
 be initiated into the mysteries of bucking. The mustang is the onlv animal in the 
 world that can buck, and it ought to be a source of thanksgiving that such is the 
 case. The buck consists of the mustang's springing forward with quick, short, 
 plunging leaps, and coming down stiff-legged, with his head between his fore- 
 legs, and as near the ground as possible." 
 
 Buck Beer. (German, hock bier.) The strongest kind of German 
 beer, said to be so called from causing the drinker to caper like a 
 goat (hock). It is, of course, intoxicating. 
 
 Bucket. The term is applied, in the South and West, to all kinds of 
 pails and cans holding over a gallon. 
 
 Buckey. An alewife. Western Connecticut. See Aleimfe. 
 
 Buckeye. 1. (jEscuIus glabra.) A small tree growing on the river 
 banks from West Pennsylvania and Virginia to Michigan and Ken- 
 tucky, the bark of which exhales an unpleasant odor. Other species 
 have the same name. The word is in some places applied to the 
 horse-chestnut. 
 
72 
 
 BUG 
 
 2. A native of the State of Ohio, in which the j^sculus glabra 
 abounds. 
 
 A newspaper correspondent, speaking of the Western soldiers, 
 says : — 
 
 The Hoosiers and Buckeyes hankered after the hot wheaten cake with which 
 their States are always so abundantly supplied. 
 
 Buckeye State. The State of Ohio ; so called from the Buckeye-tree, 
 which abounds there. 
 
 When President Hayes visited Providence, on the 28th June, 
 1877, after being introduced by Mayor Doyle, he was greeted with 
 cheers, and spoke as follows: — 
 
 It is with the greatest pleasure that I meet you here. For the past hour I have 
 been shaking hands, but we have found it impossible, in this retail way, to greet 
 all the people of the State. We have, accordingly, thought it best to exchange 
 greetings with you by wholesale. I, therefore, ask every lady and gentleman to 
 consider that here and now I give you a hearty Buckeye shake. 
 
 Buck Fever. Agitation of inexperienced hunters, caused by seeing 
 a deer, or other large game. 
 
 Smith blazed away at the deer ; but where the ball went, mercy knows. The 
 animal dashed forward and went crashing up the hillside. Smith acknowledged 
 to a severe attack of the buck fever. — Hammond, Wild Northern Scenes, p 127. 
 
 The sensation is also called the Buck-ague, the term used by Mr. 
 Kendall, who was so agitated that he missed several fine shots at 
 deer. 
 
 There is a very common disease prevalent among young and inexperienced 
 hunters in Texas, which is known as the Buck-ague. — Santa Fe Expedition, 
 Vol. II. p. 321. 
 
 Buck-Fly. An insect which torments the deer at certain seasons. 
 
 Buckra. A white man. A term universally applied to white men by 
 the blacks of the African coast, the West Indies, and the Southern 
 States. In the language of the Calabar coast, buckra means devil; 
 not, however, in the sense we apply to it, but that of a demon, a 
 powerful and superior being. The term swanga buckra, often used 
 by the blacks, means an elegantly dressed white man or dandy. I 
 am indebted to the Bev. J. L. Wilson, who is familiar with the 
 African language alluded to, for the etymology of this word. 
 
 Which country you like best? Buckra country very good, plenty for yam 
 (food), plenty for bamboo (clothing). Buckra man book larn. Buckra man rise 
 early, — he like a cold morning; nigger no like cold. — Cai'michaeVs West Indies^ 
 Vol. I. p. 311. 
 
 Great way off at sea. 
 
 When at home I binny, 
 
 Buckra man take me 
 
 From de coast of Guinea. — Song. 
 
BUG— BUF 
 
 73 
 
 Sometimes the negro owns a spider, and generally a coffee-pot and mill, which 
 as before have been broken to use in the buckrd's house. — Atlantic Monthly, 
 June, 1877, p. 678. 
 
 Buck-Shot. Large shot, or small bullets, used in deer-shooting. 
 
 The reason that so many more of the King's troops were wounded than killed 
 in the late action [of Breed's Hill] in New England is that the Americans use 
 a small shot, called buckshot, which is much smaller than the soldiers' bullets. — 
 Letter from an English Officer, in General Gage's Ai-my, in Gaines's Mercury, 
 Aug. 14, 1775. 
 
 Buckskins. A term applied to the American troops during the Rev- 
 olutionary war. The Marquis de Chastellux, in his Travels in North 
 America, in 1780-82, says: " The name of Buckskin is given to the 
 inhabitants of Virginia, because their ancestors were hunters, and 
 sold buck or rather deer skins." 
 
 As applied to certain American soldiers, we are inclined to believe 
 that from their wearing garments made of dressed deerskins the 
 term was applied to them. 
 
 Cornwallis fought as long 's he dought, 
 
 An' did the buckskins claw him. — Burns. 
 
 Bucktails. The name of a political party in the State of New York, 
 which sprung up about the year 1815. Its origin is thus described 
 by Mr. Hammond: " There was an order of the Tammany Society 
 who wore in their hats, as an insignia, on certain occasions, a portion 
 of the tail of the deer. They were a leading order, and from this 
 circumstance the friends of DeWitt Clinton gave those who adopted 
 the views of the members of the Tammany Society, in relation to 
 him, the name of Bucktails ; which name was eventually applied to 
 their friends and supporters in the country. Hence the party op- 
 posed to the administration of Mr. Clinton were for a long time 
 called the ' Bucktail Party.' " — Polit. Hist, of New York, Vol. I. 
 p. 450. 
 
 That beer and those bucktails I never forget; 
 
 But oft, when alone and unnoticed by all, 
 I think, Is the porter cask foaming there yet. 
 
 Are the bucktails still swigging at Tammany Hall ? 
 
 Halleck's Fanny. 
 
 Buffalo. 1. {Bison Americanus.) This, the most gigantic of the in- 
 digenous mammalia of America, once overspread the entire Northern 
 half of the American continent. At the time of the discovery by 
 the Spaniards, an inhabitant even down to the shores of the Atlan- 
 tic, it has been beaten back by the western march of civilization, 
 until, at the present day, it is only after passing the giant Missouri 
 and the headwaters of the Mississippi that we find the American 
 Bison or Buffalo — S. F. Baird. 
 
74 
 
 BUF 
 
 The term buffalo is often used independently for " buffalo robe," 
 whence a story is told of two Englishmen just arrived at Boston. 
 They ordered a sleigh, having heard of such a thing in a general 
 way, without being conversant with the particulars. "Will you 
 have one buffalo or two?" asked the hostler. "Why," said the 
 cockney, looking a little frightened, " we '11 have only one the first 
 time, as we 're not used to driving them! " 
 
 Edward Everett used to tell this story somewhat differently. The 
 sleigh being ordered, the stable-keeper said to the hostler, " Put ir* 
 a buffalo. Bill." " Well," said the Englishman, " if you 've got a 
 horse, I 'd rather drive him." 
 
 He tears along behind him a sleigh of the commonest construction, furnished 
 with an ancient and fragmentary buffalo, which serves for robe and cushion both. 
 — The Upptr Ten Thousand, p. 17. 
 
 2. A sort of fresh-water fish resembling the Sucker. It is found 
 in the Mississippi and other Southern rivers. 
 
 Buffalo-Eeiry. (Shepherdia argentm.) A small tree growing in 
 thickets on the banks of streams in the valleys of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains. Its scarlet berries are eaten by the Indians. 
 
 Buffalo-Bush. A shrub growing near Humboldt River, Utah. Its 
 fruit is called Bull-berry. 
 
 Buffalo-Chips. The dry dung of the buffalo, used for fuel on the 
 prairies, and hence called by the French bois de cache. The dung 
 of cattle is extensively used for the same purpose in other parts of 
 the world. In Armenia, according to Mr. Curzon, it is collected 
 from the cattle- yards and mixed with chopped straw by tramping 
 on it with the naked feet while it is in a moist state. It is then 
 cut into square blocks and treasured up for winter's use, forming 
 the exclusive fuel, under the name of tezek, for all classes. In 
 Thibet it is used under the name of arghol. Hue, in his travels in 
 Mongolia, describes its use there. In fact, throughout all Tartary 
 or Turkestan, where there is a deficiency of wood, this article is in 
 universal use for fuel. On the woodless plains of Texas, New 
 Mexico, and Chihuahua, travellers use dry cattle-dung for fuel, 
 gathering it up near springs frequented by cattle. 
 
 We were fortunate enough to find some lodge-poles, which, eked out hybois de 
 vache ior fuel, served to give us a capital roast of buffalo-meat. — Stansbun/s 
 Salt Lake Exp., p. 37. 
 
 Buffalo-Clover. ( Trifolium rejlexum and stoloniferum.) The Western 
 species of clover. 
 
 Buffalo-Gnat A small black insect found on the prairies, which not 
 only attacks the face and hands, but insinuates itself under the 
 
f 
 
 BUF— BUI 
 
 75 
 
 clothing, upon the arms and breast. Its bite is poisonous, hence it 
 is more dreaded than the mosquito. — Gregg^ Com. of the Prairies^ 
 Vol. II. p. 28. 
 
 Buffalo-Grass. (Sesteria dacty hides.) A species of short grass from 
 two to four inches high, covering the boundless prairies on which 
 the buffaloes feed. A remarkable characteristic of some varieties 
 of this grass is that "the blade, killed by the frost of winter, is 
 resuscitated in spring, and gradually becomes green from the root 
 up, without casting its stubble or emitting new shoots." — Colonel 
 Dodge. " The buffalo grass of the high plains and the gramma grass 
 are identical, though entirely different in growth and appearance." 
 — Plains of the Great West, p. 32. 
 
 Buffalo-Nut. (Pyrularia oleifera.) Oil nut. Western. 
 
 Buffalo-Robe. The skin of the buffalo, dressed for use. 
 
 Not having time to robe myself exactly for a daylight street-walk, I donned a 
 buffalo-robe, slipped on my boots, and put out. — Life on the Prairies. 
 
 Buffalo-Wallow. A depression in a prairie caused by heavy rains. 
 The water being soon absorbed, the ground opens in cracks ; when 
 another hard rain comes, it is again absorbed, leaving wider cracks 
 than before. This process is repeated until quite a depression is made 
 in the soil, which has become so hardened that it will retain water. 
 When the buffalo is shedding his hair, for the want of trees he rolls 
 and rubs himself in these water-holes, which are his especial delight. 
 Sometimes the prairie will be dotted for a mile with these holes, 
 which are from five to ten feet in length and from six inches to two 
 feet in depth. — Dodge, Plains of the Great West, p. 27. 
 
 Bug. In the United States, coleopterous insects are generally called 
 bugs; thus May bug, June bug. Golden bug, &c. In England, they 
 are called beetles, and the word bug is restricted to the species found 
 in bedding. The Spanish word chinch is in more general use at the 
 South. 
 
 Bug Juice. Bad whiskey. 
 
 We have taken wood, eggs, cabbages, lumber, saur krout. coon-skins, and bug 
 juice on subscriptions in our time, and now a man writes us to know if we would 
 like to send our paper six months, for a large owl. If we come across any fellow 
 who is out of owl we '11 do it. — Osborne (Kansas) Farmer: 
 
 Bugle-Weed. (Lycopus Virginicus.) A plant which has much reputa- 
 tion for its medicinal properties. It is also known as the Virginian 
 Water-horehound. 
 
 To build a Fire, instead of to make a fire, is a common phrase, origi- 
 nating, probably, in the backwoods, where large fires are made of 
 logs piled one above the other. 
 
76 
 
 BUI— BUL 
 
 To build up. To erect; and, metaphorically, to establish. 
 
 In this manner, it was thought we should sooner build up a settlement, as the 
 phrase goes. In America, the reader should know, every thing is built. The 
 priest builds up a flock ; the speculator, a fortune ; the lawyer, a reputation ; and 
 the landlord, a settlement. — Coo/;er, Sntnnstoe. 
 
 Mr. R. has never done any thing to the "Courier" and "Enquirer" to make 
 them hunt him down or cast ridicule on him, while endeavoring to build up for 
 himself an unsullied character among his fellow-men. — N. Y. Tribune, 1848. 
 
 To build clothes. Tailors use this expression for making clothes. 
 " Guess we can build you a neat pant off these goods, sir." 
 
 Cf. Ger. bilden. 
 
 Bulger. Something uncommonly large, a whopper. Western. 
 
 We soon came in sight of New York ; and a bulger of a place it is. — Crockett, 
 p. 37. 
 
 Bull. A stock-exchange term for one who buys stock on speculation 
 for time, i. e. agrees with the seller, called a " bear," to take a cer- 
 tain sum of stock at a future day at a stated price; if at that day 
 stock fetches more than the price agreed on, he receives the differ- 
 ence; if it falls or is cheaper, he either pays it, or becomes a " lame 
 duck." This description of a bull, from Grose's Slang Dictionary, 
 corresponds precisely with the bulls of Wall Street, who speculate in 
 stocks in the same manner. See Lame Duck and Bear. 
 
 There was a smive qui peut movement to-day in the stock-market; and the 
 clique of bulls, finding it impossible to stem the rush, gave up the attempt to sus- 
 tain the market, and lei things go down with a run. . . . Such a state of the 
 market as is now exhibited is nearly as bad for the bears as the bulls. — jV. Y. 
 Tnbune, Dec. 10, 1845. 
 
 Bull-Bat. {Caprimulgus Americanus .) Night-hawk; whippoorwill. A 
 gang of blackguard boys in Washington City have adopted this very 
 appropriate name. 
 
 Bull-Boat. A boat made of ox-hides, used for crossing rivers in the 
 Far West. 
 
 We obtained hides, and, by the aid of some Indians, constructed a bull-boat, by 
 taking willow rods and laying a keel and ribs between two stakes driven in the 
 ground, . . - and then cross-sticks, tied with thongs, making the skeleton of a 
 canoe. Three hides were sewed together, and stretched over the willow-work. — 
 — Stansbury's Salt Lake, p. 21. 
 
 Bull Briar, Bamboo Briar. A large briar in the alluvial bottoms of 
 the South-west, the root of which contains a farinaceous substance 
 from which the Indians make bread. 
 
 BuUdose, Bulldoze. To intimidate. 
 
 The origin of this term has been furnished me by Dr. J. Dickson 
 Bruns, of New Orleans. BuUdose originated in Louisiana with the 
 " Union Rights Stop " Leagues (Xegi-o), whose enthusiasm on the 
 
BUL 
 
 77 
 
 suffrage question led them to form oath-bound societies, which scru- 
 tinized closely the politics of disaffected brethren ; and if any Negro 
 were found voting, or was suspected of an intention to vote the 
 Democratic ticket, he was first warned, then flogged, and, if these 
 milder measures failed to convert him to the true faith, shot. 
 
 Give him a hulldose meant give him a flogging, — a " cowhid- 
 ing," — the cow's hide (a strip of untanned hide, rolled into a 
 whip) standing for the bull's hide, — the " koorbatch " of Egypt, 
 made there of the hide of the rhinoceros. 
 
 Hence, from the noun, buUdose,^^ the verb "to buUdose,^^ — 
 erroneously spelled " bulldoze,^' — and its participle " bulldosing.'^ 
 
 The ' ' New York Tribune ' ' gives the following explanation of the 
 term : — 
 
 The term Bulldozers, which is so variously printed in the 
 New Orleans despatches, is the name applied to an organization of 
 armed white men, whose ostensible business it is to keep the 
 Negroes from stealing the cotton crop. On election day, however, 
 the Bulldozers " go gunning for Negroes who manifest a. disposi- 
 tion to vote the Republican ticket. 
 
 Bulldozing. Intimidating by violent means. 
 
 There was a bad case of " hulldozing " in Cincinnati on Monday night. A 
 handful of bold Democrats had gathered to let out their pent-up desire for Tilden 
 
 or blood. . . . Mr. C was in the chair, and was warming up the faithful with 
 
 an address, when the Republicans crowded around him in so threatening a manner 
 that he mounted the table, shook his address in their faces, and declared, like a 
 true hero, that he was not to be intimidated." — iV. Y. Tribune, Dec, 1876. 
 
 We are told, and there is cause to believe, that the record of neither party in 
 Louisiana is perfectly clean, and that upon both sides there has been no lack of 
 "bulldozing." — N. Y. Times. 
 
 "But you shall go to school," said a Chicago man to his youthful son, one 
 morning this week, "and I want no more argument about it." 
 
 Then, as the paternal reached for something hanging up behind the stove, the 
 boy looked him sadly in the ej^e, and inquired : " Father, would you bulldoze me 
 into it ?" — Chicago Journal, 
 
 The "Providence Journal," Jan. 31, 1877, alluding to the win- 
 tering of the Russian ships of war in New York, says : — 
 
 The Russian fleet is not engaged in a hulldozing mission in American waters, 
 but in the safer occupation of keeping out of the way 
 
 To bulldoze. To intimidate by violent and unlawful means. 
 
 The " New York Tribune "of Dec. 23, 1876, in an article entitled 
 " Not to be Bulldozed, says : — 
 
 If the State of Connecticut . . . had any apprehensions lest, in the present un- 
 loosing of tongues in Congress, their representatives . . . might be intimidated, 
 
78 
 
 BUL 
 
 or bulldozed, or terrorized, or choked down by usurpation and tyranny. Senator 
 Eaton dispelled it in his coiu-ageous utterances on the floor of the Senate. 
 
 The "Providence Press," in its New Year's Address for 1877, 
 when speaking of the political situation in several of the Southern 
 States, says : — 
 
 Louisiana, too, was mixed, 
 
 And ere they f^ot the matter fixed, 
 
 Bulldozin(j had been introduced, 
 
 And many from their homes vamoosed. 
 
 A man and a brother was bulldozed into buyin;^ a large number of small flags 
 by a gang of street Arabs in City Hall Park. This intimidation was doubtless a 
 delicate compliment to the Southern atmosphere that visited the citv yesterday. 
 N. Y. Herald. 
 
 The " Xew York Herald," March 7, 1877, in speaking of the 
 new cabinet of President Hayes and the desire of the party leaders 
 to dictate who shall compose it, says : — 
 
 If he yields, he will only be nominal President; not even a peer of the party 
 leaders, but a bulldozed vassal. ... If he has strength of character and tact, 
 the bulldozers cannot subdue him. ... If he gives up Mr. Evarts, he can 
 make a stand on nobody, and the bulldozers will dictate his cabinet. 
 
 The carpet-bagger and bulldozer are not successful agents of civilization. — 
 N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Bullionist. One that favors coin instead of paper, as a monetary 
 currency. 
 
 Bullion State. The State of Missouri; so called in consequence of 
 the exertions made by its Senator, Mr. Benton, in favor of gold and 
 silver currency, in opposition to banks and a paper currency. The 
 honorable Senator was hence often nicknamed Old Bullion^ and the 
 State he represented the Bullion State. 
 
 At the Democratic meeting in New Y^'ork, June 12, 1848. to ratify 
 the nomination of General Cass, the Hon. James Bowlin, of Mis- 
 souri, in denouncing the Whig party, said : — 
 
 I deny that the election of 1840 was carried by the people. It was carried by 
 duplicity. It was carried by the imfortunate state of the times, which was not 
 the result of Democratic rule, and by false charges against the American Democ- 
 racy ; and, thank God, in my own State, in the Bullion State, they did not 
 succeed in depreciating our majority. — N. Y. Herald, June 13, 1848. 
 
 Bull-Lion. John Bull; England. 
 
 This profuse magnanimous Lion, or Bull-Lion, [talks] as if it were gloni' to 
 adore guineas, and shame to be fond of dollars, — as if Bull-Lion, as he is, would 
 not give Magna Charta. Milton, Shahspeare, and even Bacon, for the convenience 
 and profit of a single cotton crop. — X. Y. Tribune, June 1, 1862. 
 
 Bull-Nut. A large kind of hickory-nut. 
 
 Bull's-Eye. A small and thick old-fashioned watch. 
 
BUL— BUM 79 
 
 Bully, a^/y. Fine, capital. The highest term of commendation. A ^ w t'x.-^^ ^ 
 
 low word, used in the same manner as the English use the word J^^'^dj^ lO Uj- 3 
 crack ; as, " a hullij horse," a hilly picture." ^'q ^I^^pJ^ 
 
 The bully steamboat " Crystal Pal.ace" passed up to St. Louis on Monday. 
 We have no doubt she left papers. — Cairo City Times, 1855. 
 
 I don't want no better friend than Buck Fanshaw. . . . Take him all round, 
 pard, there never was a hullier man in the mines. . . . No man ever know'd 
 Buck to go back on a friend. — Mark Twain, Roughing It, p. 333. 
 
 The Mississippi boatman, when engaged in a race, exclaims: — 
 
 Now is the time for a bully trip, 
 
 So shake her up and let her rip. — Boatman'' s Song. 
 Ha ! Bully for me again, when my turn for picket is over ; 
 And now for a smoke, as I lie, with the moonlight in the clover. 
 
 Shanley, The Brier-wood Pipe. 
 
 The following stanza is from a poem on American affairs that 
 appeared in England during the late civil war. It has reference to 
 blockade runners sent by John Bull from England. 
 
 So he sent not a vessel across the broad sea, 
 Vich vas hawful 'ard times for poor Jefferson D., 
 And wrote unto Doodle, "Hold on, and be true! " 
 And Jonathan answered Bull, " Bully for you.'''' 
 
 You're doin' the politics bully, as all our family agree; 
 
 Just keep your old goose-quill a-floppin, and give 'em a good one for me. 
 
 Carlton, Home Ballads, p. 86. 
 
 Bullyrag. To revile in vulgar terms ; to abuse or scold vehemently. 
 — Forbi/^s Glossary. 
 
 I don't want nothing better 'n this; I don't git enough to eat gin'ally, — and 
 here they can't come and pick a feller and bullyrag him so. — Mark Twain, Tom 
 Sawyer, p. 118. 
 
 Bummer. An idle, worthless fellow without any visible means of 
 support. A word much used by our soldiers during the late civil 
 war. The " New York Herald," May 2, 1876, thus describes the 
 individual: The army ftwrnmer is usually a " General" who has been 
 in the Quartermaster's or Commissary Department, and whose rank 
 represents influence about the War Office, and days and nights of 
 hard duty about Willard's and the Arlington. Since the war, he 
 has been very " loyal." lie has " sustained " tlie Union, and " sup- 
 ported " the government. Unable to earn an honest living, with- 
 out brains for any position higher than that of a car conductor, he 
 lives by lobbying. He knows the inside of every office, the favorite 
 wine of a secretary, and the kind of dinner fancied by this states- 
 man or the other. So, in time, he finds himself in the enjoyment 
 of a good income, for which he does nothing but eat and drink and 
 
80 
 
 BUM 
 
 talk. He is a disgrace to the army, whose uniforai he wears for 
 his own gain. 
 
 When it was reported that the Federal government refused to recof^nize Con- 
 federate prisoners as " prisoners of war," General Jackson and myself advocated 
 that the Confederate government should then proclaim a '*war to the knife," 
 neither asking nor granting quarter. We thought that the war would thereby 
 sooner come to an end, with less destruction of life; we thought also that such a 
 mode of warfare would inspire terror to the armed invaders and rcluce the num- 
 ber of army followers, bummers, &c., who were the curse of all armed invasions. 
 
 — Extract of Letter from General Beaureyard to the Governor of Tennessee, 
 N. Y. Herald, April' 30, 1875. 
 
 So long as substantial citizens choose to leave politics to shoulder-hitters, rum- 
 sellers, and bummers of every degree, so long will they be robbed at every turn. 
 
 — N. Y. Commercial Adv., Sept. 9, 1874. 
 
 In speaking of the order of General Grant sending General Custer 
 to his regiment, the " Xew York Herald," May 4, 1876, says: — 
 
 This action of the President in the case of General Custer is unfortunate. If he 
 had any thing against the General, he should have ordered him before a Court of 
 Inquiry. But because Custer has evidence of the corruption of certain army 
 bummers, he is sent to his regiment under circumstances that amount to a humil- 
 iation. 
 
 A bill is before the Legislature of Illinois, with a view to control the operations 
 of the bummer element in the primary meetings of political parties. — Boston 
 Herald, April 8, 1877. 
 
 " The Bar-tender's Story," portraying a frequenter of the bar- 
 room, says: — 
 
 For he got to increasin' his doses. 
 
 And took 'em more often, he did; 
 And it growed on him faster and faster, 
 
 Till into a bummer he slid. 
 
 Bummerism. Character of a bummer ; bummers collectively regarded. 
 
 If Deputy Sheriffs might attend without scandal; if beautiful bummerism, 
 feminine and fair, &c. — Philadelphia Press, Jan. 5, 1870. 
 
 Bumper. That part of the frame of a railroad car which is provided 
 with springs for an elastic material to meet the shock of the sim- 
 ilar part of the next car. In England, they use the words buffer 
 and hunter. 
 
 Bumptious. Self-conceited; forward; pushing. — Halliwell. See 
 Gumptiom. 
 
 Sir E. L. B. Lytton, in "My Xovel," gives an amusing disquisi- 
 tion on the words gumption and bumptious : — 
 
 " She vias always — not exactly proud-like — but what I call gumptious." 
 "I never heard that word before," said the parson. Bumptious, mdeed, 
 though I believe it is not in the dictionary, has crept into familiar parlance, 
 especially amongst young folks at school and college." 
 
BUN 
 
 81 
 
 Bumptious is bumptious, and gumptious is gumptious," said the landlord. 
 "Now, the town beadle is humptioiis, and Mrs Avenel is gumptious." 
 " She is a very respectable woman," said Mr. Dale. 
 
 "In course, sir; all gumptious folks are; they value themselves on their 
 respectability, and look down on their neighbors." 
 
 Parson. " Gumptious — gumption. I think I remember the substantive at 
 school; not that m}- master taught it to me. Gumption — it means cleverness." 
 
 Landlord. " There 's gumption and gumptious ! Gumption is knowing; but 
 when I say that sum uu is gumptious, I mean — though that 's more vulgar like 
 — sum un who does not think small beer of hisself. You take me, sir V " 
 
 To bunch. To bring together; to corral, which see. 
 
 The horses not captured by the Indians have been hunched at either end of the 
 hostile, and I doubt if there will be regular coaches for a month to come. — 
 3IcClure, Rocky Alountains, p. 99. 
 
 B *nch-Grass. A species of Festuca which grows on the plains of New 
 Mexico. 
 
 1 » bundle. Mr. Grose thus describes this custom: " A man and 
 woman lying on the same bed with their clothes on ; an expedient 
 practised in America on a scarcity of beds, where, on such occasions, 
 husbands and parents frequently permitted travellers to bundle with 
 their wives and daughters." — Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. 
 
 The Rev. Samuel Peters, in his " General History of Connecti- 
 cut " (London, 1781), enters largely into the custom of bundling as 
 practised there. He says: " Notwithstanding the great modesty of 
 tlie females is such that it would be accounted the greatest rude- 
 ness for a gentleman to speak before a lady of a garter or leg, yet it 
 is thought but a piece of civility to ask her to bundle. The learned 
 and pious historian endeavors to prove that bundling was not only a 
 Christian custom, but a very polite and prudent one. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Emmons asks, — 
 
 Is not this custom, which has no name in the dictionary, but which is com- 
 monly called bundling, a sinful custom V — Works, Vol. I. p. 81. 
 
 The Rev. Andrew Barnaby, who travelled in New England, in 
 1759-60, notices this custom, which then prevailed. He thinks that 
 though it may at first " appear to be the effects of grossness of char- 
 acter, it will, upon deeper research, be found to proceed from sim- 
 plicity and innocence." — Travels, p. 144. 
 
 Van Corlear stopped occasionally in the villages to eat pumpkin-pies, dance at 
 country frolics, and bundle with the Yankee lasses. — Knickerbocker, New York. 
 
 Bundling is said to be practised in Wales. — WrigWs Dictionarg. 
 Whatever may have been the custom in former times, I do not 
 think bundling is now practised anywhere in the United States. 
 
 Mr. Masson describes a similar custom in Central Asia: " Many 
 
 6 
 
82 
 
 BUN 
 
 of the Afglian tribes have a custom in wooing similar to what in 
 Wales is known as hundling-up, and which they term namzat haze. 
 The lover presents himself at the house of his betrothed with a 
 suitable gift, and, in return, is allowed to pass the night with her, 
 on the understanding that innocent endearments are not to be 
 exceeded." — Journeys in Beloochistan, Afghanistan, ^c, Vol. III. 
 p. 287. 
 
 Buncome, Bunkum. Judge Halliburton, of Nova Scotia, thus ex- 
 plains this very expressive word, which is now as well undeintcod 
 as any in our language: "All over America, everyplace likes to 
 hear of its member of Congress, and see their speeches; and, if they 
 don't, they send a piece to the paper, inquirin' if their members 
 died a natural death, or was skivered with a bowie-knife, for they 
 hante seen his speeches lately, and his friends are anxious to know 
 his fate. Our free and enlightened citizens don't approbate silent 
 members; it don't seem to them as if Squashville, or Punkinsville, 
 or Lumbertown was right represented, unless Squashville, or Pun- 
 kinsville, or Lumbertown makes itself heard and known, ay, and 
 feared too. So every feller, in bounden duty, talks, and talks big 
 too, and the smaller the State, the louder, bigger, and fiercer its 
 members talk. Well, when a crittur talks for talk's sake, jist to 
 have a speech in the paper to send to home, and not for any other 
 airthly puppus but electioneering, our folks call it Bunkum.''^ 
 
 The origin of the phrase, "talking for Buncombe," is thus re- 
 lated in Wheeler's History of North Carolina: " Several years ago 
 in Congress, the member from this district arose to address the 
 House, without any extraordinary powers, in manner or matter, to 
 interest the audience. Many members left the hall. Very naively 
 he told those who remained that they might go too ; he should speak 
 for some time, but ' he was only talking for Buncombe.'' " 
 
 Mr. Goodrich, in his pleasant " Reminiscences," in describing 
 his native valleys, says: — 
 
 On every side the ear was saluted by the mocking screams of the red-headed 
 woodpecker, the cawing of congresses of crows, clamorous as if talking to buii- 
 combe. — Yo\. I. p. 101. 
 
 Mr. Saxe, speaking of the Halls of Congress, says: — 
 
 Here, would-be Tullys pompously parade 
 
 Their tumid tropes for simple buncombe made, 
 
 Full on the chair the chilling torrent shower, 
 
 And work their word-pumps through the allotted hour. 
 
 Progress, A Poem. 
 
BUN 
 
 83 
 
 Come on, ye stump men eloquent, in never-ending stream, 
 Let office be your glorious goal, and hunkum be 3'our theme ; 
 The vast and vaulted capitol shall echo to \o\xy jaws. 
 And universal Yankeedom shall shout in your applause. 
 
 Dr. Bigelow, Am. Rejected Addresses, The American Congress. 
 The House of Representatives broke down upon the corruption committee's bill 
 to protect the integrity of members of Congress, having first passed it for bun- 
 combe.— N. Y. Tribune, March 2, 1857. 
 
 Here is an amusing biography of General Houston, bulky in size, capital in 
 paper, and evidently got up for buncombe. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Our people talk a great deal of nonsense about emancipation, but they know 
 it 's all buncombe. — Sam Slick, Human Nature, p. 175. 
 
 Bunkum is also used as an adjective. 
 
 General Sibley was within thirty miles of Fort Craig, with twenty-five hundred 
 Texans, with artillery, and had issued a bunkum proclamation. — N. Y. Tribune, 
 Feb. 11, 1862, Despatch from Kansas. 
 
 Bungay. Go to Bungay! A mild way of saying, "Go to h — 
 Bungay being a place where there is supposed to be less caloric. 
 New England. 
 
 Bungo. (Span, bongo.) A kind of boat used at the South. 
 
 The most urgent steps were being taken to press every bungo and canoe to the 
 immediate relief of the people along the coast, in order to embark them without 
 delay. — N. 0. Picayune. 
 
 Bungtown Copper. A spurious coin, of base metal, a very clumsy 
 counterfeit of the English halfpenny or copper. It derived its name 
 from the place where it w^as first manufactured, then called Bung- 
 town, now Barneysville, in the town of Rehoboth, Mass. The 
 Bungtown copper never was a legal coin. The British halfpenny or 
 copper was. The term is used only in New England. 
 
 These flowers wouldn't fetch a Bungtown copper. — Margaret, p. 19. 
 
 Anti-slavery professions just before an election ain't worth a Bungtown copper. 
 — Biglow Papers, p. 147. 
 
 The last thing I remember [having been tipsy] was trying to pay my fare with 
 a Bungtown copper. — Doesticks, p. 62. 
 
 Bunk. 1. (Ang.-Sax. f/enc, a bench, a form.) A wooden case, used 
 in country taverns and in offices, which serves alike for a seat dur- 
 ing the day and for a bed at night. The name is also appliod to 
 the tiers of standing bed-places used in the lowest class of lodging- 
 houses. 
 
 Dr. Jamieson has the word bunker, a bench or sort of low chests, 
 that serve for seats, — also, a seat in the window, which serves for 
 a chest, opening with a hinged lid. — Etym. Diet. Scottish Language. 
 Ithers frae off the bunkers sank, 
 
 We e'en like the coUops scor'd. — Ramsay's Poems, Vol. I. p. 280. 
 
84 
 
 BUN— BUR 
 
 In some parts of Scotland, a hunker or bunkart, which Dr. Jamie- 
 son thinks to be the same word, means an earthen seat in the 
 fields. In the north of England, a seat in front of a house, made 
 of stones or sods, is called a hink. 
 
 2. Bunk, also applied to berths in second-class steamboats. In 
 some of them, the engine-house has a bunk-room, and those who 
 sleep there at night are termed bunkers. The same language ap- 
 plies to the " cribs " of rowdy clubs; and the word " to bunk " has 
 become very generally engrafted upon our common language of the 
 streets. 
 
 3. A piece of wood placed on a lumberman's sled to enable it to 
 sustain the end of heavy pieces of timber. — Maine. 
 
 To bunk. 1. To retire to bed in a bunk. 
 
 2. Among lumbermen, to pile wood deceitfully so as to increase 
 the apparent quantity in the survey. 
 
 Bunker. {Alosa menhaden.) The Menhaden or Mossbunker, an abbre- 
 viation of the latter, which see; also Menhaden. 
 
 In an article on the Long Island Fishery, the " Sag Harbor Ex- 
 press ' ' says : — ■ 
 
 During the last two weeks, the bunker or menhaden fishery has been very 
 brisk. During the last week, the Sterling Oil Works at Cedar Point took in 
 800,000 fish, and in three days of the same week Wells's factory took 1.000.000. 
 The "Greenport Times " states that large quantities of bunkers are taken in 
 pounds, as high as 50,000 being secured in some of them at a single lift. 
 
 Bunkum. See Buncome. 
 
 Bureau. 1. The name commonly given, in America, to a chest of 
 drawers. 
 
 2. A subdivision of one of the government departments, as the 
 " Indian Bureau," the " Pension Bureau," &c. 
 
 Burgall. (Ctenolahrus cceruleus.) A small fish, very common in Xew 
 York; also found on the coast of New England, and as far south as 
 Delaware Bay. The usual length is about six inches, though they 
 are sometimes found twelve inches. Other names for the same fish 
 are Nibbler, from its nibbling off the bait when thrown for other 
 fishes; Chogset, the Indian name; and in 'New England, those of 
 Blue Perch and Conner. 
 
 Burgaloo. Pear. See Virgalieu. 
 
 To burgle. To commit burglary ; to break into ; to rob. 
 
 Robbed. The Waverly National Bank burgled. — Phila. Press, March 15, 
 1870. 
 
 To burn up. In correct English, papers, haystacks, briars, &c., are 
 
BUR— BUS 
 
 85 
 
 burned up. The grass is also said to be burned up by drought ; but 
 it is hardly proper to say that such a man was ruined by being 
 burned up. "Mr. Smith's factory was burned up,^^ it should be 
 " burned down; " and, applied to a man, " burned out." 
 Burr-Oak. (Quercus rnacrocarpa.) A beautiful tree, more than sixty 
 feet in height, laden with dark tufted foliage. It is found mostly 
 beyond the Alleghanies, in the fertile districts of Kentucky and 
 West Tennessee, and in Upper Louisiana near the Missouri. It is 
 also called Overcup White Oak. — Michaux. 
 
 The trees, with very few exceptions, were what is called the burr-oak, a small 
 variety of a very extensive genus; and the spaces between them, always irregu- 
 lar and often of singular beauty, have obtained the name of "openings." — 
 Cooper, The Oak Openings. 
 
 Burr-Stone. A species of silex or quartz occurring in amorphous 
 
 masses, partly compact, but containing many irregular cavities. 
 
 It is used for mill-stones. — Cleveland^ Mineralogy. 
 Bursted. A form of the past tense and participle frequently employed 
 
 instead of the correct form, burst. So "bust'' and "busted." 
 
 Vulgar. 
 
 Bush. (Dutch, bosch, a wood.) The woods, a forest, or a thicket of 
 trees or bushes. This term, which is much used in the Northern 
 States and Canada, probably originated in New York. 
 
 Bush-Bean. (Phaseolus vulgaris.) The useful vegetable, brought 
 originally from Asia and long cultivated in Europe, called in Eng- 
 land Kidney-bean and French Bean. With us they are also called 
 String-beans and Snap-beans, or Snaps. 
 
 Bush-Meeting. Gatherings in the woods for the purpose of religious 
 worship. A few rough benches are put up at some convenient 
 point, and the meeting lasts from early morning till late at night. 
 Distinguished from camp-meetings in the fact of lasting only one day 
 (the Sabbath usually), having no tents put up, and being in every 
 respect more impromptu. At present they are done away with in 
 many places, except at the South among the Negroes, to whom there 
 can be no more delightful frolic than a bush-meetin\ 
 
 Bushwhacker. 1. One accustomed to beat about or travel through 
 bushes; a clodhopper, raw countryman, greenhorn. 
 
 Do you think all our eastern dignitaries combined could have compelled 3'oung 
 bushwhackers to wear coats and shoes in recitation-roomsV — Carlton, New Pur- 
 chase, Vol. II. p. 87. 
 
 The Van B s of Nyack were the first that did ever kick with the left foot; 
 
 they were gallant bushwhackers and hunters of raccoons by moonlight. — Knicker- 
 bocker'' s New York. 
 
86 
 
 BUS 
 
 Every bush whacker and forest ranj^er thought he knew where to find the trees. 
 — S. Slick. Nature and Human Nature, p. 15. 
 
 2. Ill the late civil war, an irregular, or guerilla Confederate 
 soldier. 
 
 Should guerillas or bushwhackers molest our march, or should the inhabitants 
 burn bridges, or otherwise manifest local hostility, then army commanders should 
 order and enforce a devastation more or less relentless. — General Sherman's 
 Field Order, Nov. 9, 1864. 
 
 3. A scythe or other instrument used for cutting brush or bushes. 
 I know not the victim soon destined to fall before the keen-edged bushwhacker 
 
 of Time, or I would point him out. — Dow's Sermons, Vol. I. 
 
 Bushwhacking. 1. Travelling or pulling through bushes. 
 
 The propelling power of the keel-boat is by oars, sails, setting-poles, the cor- 
 delle, and, when the waters are high and the boat runs on the margin of the 
 bushes, bushwhacking, or pulling up by the bushes. — Flint's Hist, and Geogr. of 
 
 Mississippi Valley. 
 
 2. Fighting in guerilla style, much in vogue at the South during 
 the late civil war. 
 
 The tiends in small parties select a position behind fences, trees, «Scc., fire 
 upon the Union troops as they pass, and then run. . . . This infernal ^ws^wAacA;- 
 ing shall not be practised on the men of my command, without my enforcing the 
 severest retaliation. — Colonel Deitzler, in N. Y. Herald, June 29, 1802. 
 
 Bust. A burst, failure. The following conundrum went the rounds 
 of the papers at the time the Whig party failed to elect Mr. Clay 
 to the Presidency: " Why is the Whig party like a sculptor? Be- 
 cause it takes Clay, and makes a hust.''^ 
 2. A frolic; a spree. Vulgar. 
 
 In old times, Joshua sent Jericho on a bust with his horns. — N. Y. Herald, 
 Jan. 11, 1862. 
 
 And when we get our pockets full 
 
 Of this bright, shinin' dust. 
 We 'II travel straight for home again. 
 
 And spend it on a bust. — California Song. 
 
 To bust. To burst ; to fail in business. This "snilgar pronunciation 
 
 of the word burst is very common. 
 
 I was soon fotch'd up in the victualling line — and I busted lor the benefit of 
 my creditors. — C. Neal, Dolhj Jones. 
 
 When merchants fondly trust !o paper, 
 And find too late that banks betray, 
 What art can help them through the scrape, or 
 Suggest the means wherewith to pay ? 
 
 The only way to stop each croaker. 
 
 And pay the banks to whom they trust; 
 To bring repentance to the broker. 
 
 And wring his bosom, is " to bust.'''' — N. Y. Evening Post. 
 
 Buster. 1. A roistering blade, a dashing fellow. 
 
BUS— BUT 
 
 87 
 
 I went on, larning something every day, until I was reckened a buster, and 
 allowed to be the best bar -hunter in my district. — Thorpe, Big Bear of Arkansas. 
 
 Applied also to any large person, especially to overgrown children. 
 " Ain't he a 6M5/er." " Come here, buster, in the sense of "sonny," 
 " who 's your daddy ? " 
 2. A frolic, a spree. 
 Bust-Head, i. e. Burst-head. Common whiskey. 
 Butcher-Eird. See Nine-Killer. 
 
 Butt. 1. The small pipe affixed to the hose of a fire-engine. 
 
 2. The buttocks. The word is used in the West in such phrases 
 as, "I fell on my "He kick'd my In the west of 
 England, it denotes a buttock of beef. 
 
 3. A sort of flat and short hinge, that, when folded, hutts on 
 itself. 
 
 To butt. To oppose. South-west. 
 
 Butte. (French.) This word is of frequent occurrence in books that 
 relate to the Rocky Mountain and Oregon regions, "where," says 
 Colonel Fremont, " it is naturalized, and, if desirable to render into 
 English, there is no word which would be its precise equivalent. 
 It is applied to the detached hills and ridges which rise abruptly, 
 and reach too high to be called hills or ridges, and not high enough 
 to be called mountains. Knob, as applied in the Western States, 
 is their most descriptive term in English; but no translation or 
 paraphrasis would preserve the identity of these picturesque land- 
 marks." — Exped. to the Rocky Mountains, p. 145. 
 
 Sir George Simpson, in his " Overland Journey," when travers- 
 ing the Red River country, speaks of a conspicuous landmark in the 
 sea of plains, known as the Butte aux Chiens, . . . towering with 
 a height of about four hundred feet over a boundless prairie as level 
 and smooth as a pond. — Vol. 1. p. 54. 
 
 On entering the broken ground, the creek turns more to the westward, and 
 passes by two remarkable buttes of a red conglomerate, which appear at a dis- 
 tance like tables cut in the mountain side. — Ruxton^s Mexico and Rocky Moun- 
 tains, p. 241. 
 
 Butter-Bird. See Bobolink. 
 
 Butter-Bush. The Cephalanthus Canadensis, or butter-bush, grows in 
 swamps and low, wet, marshy grounds in almost every part of the 
 United States. — N. Y. Tribune, July 24, 1861. This is a corrup- 
 tion of Button-Bush, which vsee. 
 
 Butter-Fish. (Murcenoides.) So called from the slime with which 
 
88 
 
 BUT— BUY 
 
 it is covered, rendering it difficult to handle. Found all along our 
 coast. 
 
 Perch are found about the rocks, and lump or hutter-fish are sometimes caught. 
 — Thaxter, J. of Shoals, p. 88. 
 
 Butterine. Another name for oleomargarine, or butter made of fat, 
 and greasy or oily substances. See Oleomargarine. 
 
 Butternuts. A term a})plied to the Confederate soldiers during the 
 late civil war, so called from the color of their clothes, a cinnamon 
 color, which color is obtained from the skins of the hutte.rnut. 
 
 We marvelled as we went by that no ambitious butternut discharged his rifle 
 or shot-gun at the fleet as it passed; but he did not. — N. Y. Tribune, June 11, 
 1862, Letter from Tennessee. 
 
 The butternut gentry . . . about four hundred of them [here prisoners] are in 
 the camp hospitals. — The Independent, March 22, 1862, Letter from Chicago. 
 
 Button-Bush. (Cephalanthus occidentalis.) A shrub which grows 
 along the water-side, its insulated thickets furnishing a safe retreat 
 for the nests of the blackbird. Its flowers appear at a distance like 
 the balls of the sycamore tree; hence its name. — Bigelow. 
 
 Buttoning up. A Wall Street phrase. When a broker has bought 
 stock on speculation and it falls suddenly on his hands, whereby 
 he is a loser, he keeps the matter to himself, and is reluctant to 
 confess the ownership of a share. This is called buttoning up. — A 
 Walk in Wall Street, p. 47. 
 
 Buttonwood or Button-Tree. (Platanus occidentalis.) The popular 
 name, in New England, of the sycamore-tree; so called from the 
 balls it bears, the receptacle of the seeds, which remain on the 
 trees during the winter. — Michaux's Sylva. Sometimes called But- 
 ton-ball tree. 
 
 Buyer's Option. A purchaser of stocks at the broker's board, buyer'' s 
 option, thirty, sixty, or ninety days, can call for the stock any day 
 within that time, or wait until its expiration. He pays interest at 
 the rate of six per cent up to the time he calls. A purchase on 
 buyer'' s option is generally a fraction above the cash price. 
 
 To buy in. The act of purchasing stock in order to meet a " short " 
 contract, or to enable one to return stock which has been borrowed. 
 Medbery, Men and Mysteries of Wall Street. 
 
 To buy one's Time. An apprentice "buys his time; " i. e., he pays 
 his employer, to whom he is bound, a certain sum of money, to 
 release him before his term of apprenticeship has expired. 
 
 To buy or sell Flat. A broker's phrase, meaning to buy or sell divi- 
 dend-making stocks, or securities having interest coupons attached. 
 
BUZ— CAB 
 
 89 
 
 ■without making account of the interest accrued since the last pre- 
 ceding payment of dividend or interest. 
 Buzzer. A pickpocket. 
 
 While the [New York] police had no right to arrest pickpockets unless they 
 caught them committing a theft, yet as they had the power to do so, they exer- 
 cised it, find many were the car-buzzers they led captives to police head-quarters. 
 Galaxy for 1867, p. 634. 
 
 By and again. Occasionally, now and then. A Southern expression. 
 
 " By and then " is given in " Robinson Crusoe " as Friday's corruj)- 
 
 tion of by and by. 
 By and large. From every point of view ; on the whole ; after due 
 
 consideration. 
 
 Taken by and large, it [General Sherman's prediction] was a good philosophi- 
 cal forecast. — Boston Journal. 
 
 Taken by and large, it has been a profitable season for business. — State of the, 
 Markets. 
 
 By-Bidder. A person employed at public auctions to bid on articles 
 
 put up for sale, to enhance the price. 
 By Sun. Before sunset. Georgia. 
 
 By the Name of. Some persons will say, " I met to-day a man hy 
 the name of Smith." An Englishman would say " of the name," 
 &c. ; except in such phrases as "he went by the name of Smith. 
 
 c. 
 
 Cabbage-Tree. (Palma altisdma.) A palm-tree found in East Florida. 
 From its pith very good sago is made, and its long trunks serve for 
 pipes to convey water underground. — Bartrani's Florida Journal. 
 This name, according to locality, is given to all palms that bear an 
 esculent shoot. See Palm Cabbage. 
 
 Caberos. (Span, cabestro, a halter.) A rope made of hair, used for 
 catching wild horses and cattle. It is used in the same manner as 
 the "lariat," which is made of raw hide. These two words are in 
 common use in Louisiana and Texas, and imply what is, at the 
 North, termed a lasso. 
 
 Bill Stone had his rifle for himself and a strong caberos for his horse, and so 
 did n't bother anybody about feeding. — iV^. F. Spititof the Times, Western Tale. 
 
 Cablegram. Telegram by the Atlantic Cable. 
 
 Cablegrams received by the State Department indicate that there is no longer 
 any possibility of averting war between Russia and Turkey. — Telegraphic 
 Report, Ap-il 21, 1877. 
 
90 
 
 CAB— CAC 
 
 Caboodle. The whole caboodle is a common expression, meaning the 
 whole lot. It is used in all the Northern States as well as in some 
 of the Southern. The word boodle is used in the same manner. 
 
 They may recoinineiid to the electors of Hamilton County to disregard so much 
 of the law as constitutes two election districts of Hamilton County. Having done 
 this, Medary will be looking out for a job ; Olds will be often in Fairlield cozeii- 
 ing for a nomination to Congress ; and the whole caboodle will act upon the rec- 
 ommendation of the " Ohio Sun," and endeavor to secure a triumph la the old 
 fashion way. — Oliio State Journal. 
 
 Up with the stripes and stars, and down with stars and bars, 
 
 Let the cry of the Eagle still be Union. 
 Hail Columbia, Yankee Doodle, God bless the whole caboodle. 
 
 Christt/s Songster. 
 
 When Josiah Allen's wife visited Stewart's great store in Xew 
 York, she says, in describing her visit, — 
 
 I walked up to the counter as collected lookiu' as if I owned the whole caboodle 
 of them, and New York village and Jonesville. — Bttsy Bobbet, p. 351. 
 
 Caboose Car. The last car of a freight-train on a railway for the 
 conductor's use. 
 
 Cacao. The fruit of the cacao-tree {Theohroma cacao), of which choco- 
 late is made; hence also called Chocolate-nuts, commonly spelled 
 and pronounced Cocoa. 
 
 Cache. (French.) A hole in the ground for hiding and preserving 
 provisions which it is inconvenient to carry. Travellers across 
 the prairies, hunters, and the settlers in the Far West, often resort 
 to this means for preserving their provisions. 
 
 The term cache is also used to designate other means of preserving 
 articles of various kinds. See in " Harper's Mag." for Nov., 1869, 
 description and illustrative woodcut of a cache, which was a plat- 
 form on which, supported on branches of trees, provisions, &c., were 
 kept from the reach of bears and other animals. 
 
 I took advantage of a detached heap of stones, to make a cache of a bag of 
 pemmican. — Back, Journal of an Arctic Voyage. 
 
 The cache, which I had relied so much upon, was entkely destroyed by the 
 bears. — Br. Kane, Arctic Explorations, Vol. I. 
 
 To cache. To hide or conceal in the ground. 
 
 We returned to camp, and cached our meat and packs in the forks of a cotton- 
 wood-tree, out of reach of wolves. — Ruxtow s Adventures in New Mexico. 
 
 When Dr. Hovey's party reached Mann's Fort, they were well-nigh exhausted. 
 The fort was vacant, but after much search they found plenty of salt pork 
 which had been cached by its former occupants. — New York Tribune. 
 
 Cachunk ! A word like thump ! describing the sound produced by 
 the fall of a heavy body. Also written kerchunk! A number of 
 
CAC— CAL 
 
 91 
 
 fanciful ouomatopoetic words of this sort are used in the South and 
 West; in all of which the first syllable, which is unaccented, is sub- 
 ject to the same variety of spelling. These words are of recent 
 origin. 
 
 Cacique or Cazique. (W. Ind. cazic, cachic.) A chief or king among 
 the aborigines of the West India Islands. This, like other terms 
 of the sort, has been extended by the whites beyond its original 
 limits. 
 
 Cack. A small shoe ; a shoe for a child. Massachusetts. 
 Cacomite. A name for the bulbous root of a species of Tigridia from 
 
 which a good flour is prepared, in Mexico. 
 Cade. A calf; a pet. 
 
 Cadeau. (Fr.) A present ; gift ; compliment. 
 
 A present, a gift, as some wretched beings affecting to adorn English say, a 
 cadeau. — N. Y. Tribune, Dec. 30, 1861. 
 
 Cahoot. (Perhaps Fr. capute, a hut, a cabin.) It is used in the South 
 and West to denote a company, or partnership. Men who live in 
 the same hut or shanty, or who make one family, are " in cahoot.^ ^ 
 
 Pete Hopkins ain't no better than he should be, and I wouldn't swar he wasn't 
 in cahoot with the devil. — Chronicles of Pineville. 
 
 I 'd have no objection to go in cahoot with a decent fellow for a character, but 
 have no funds to purchase on my own account. — New Orleans Picayune. 
 
 The Hoosier took him aside, told him there was a smart chance of a pile on one 
 of the [card] tables, and that if he liked he would go in with him — in cahoot! 
 — Field, Western Tales. 
 
 To cahoot. To act in partnership. 
 
 Commodore Morgan sells out his interest to Commodore Garrison in the Nica- 
 ragua line, and Garrison settles his difficulties with Commodore Vanderbilt, and 
 they all agree to cahoot with their claims against Nicaragua and Costa Kica. — 
 New York Herald, May 20, 1857. 
 
 Cahot. (Fr. Jolt.) A bank of snow across a road made by sleighs, 
 which heap up the snow in front and leave a corresponding depres- 
 sion or hollow. Cahots are common throughout Canada where the 
 snow is deep, and are great obstructions to travelling. A particular 
 kind of sleigh called a " traineau " chiefly cause these cahots. An 
 effort was made by act of Parliament a few years since to prevent 
 the use of the traineaux, but it met with so much opposition from 
 the Canadians that the law could not be enforced. In the United 
 States, we call these " thank-ye-ma^ams.^^ 
 
 Calabash. 1. A large gourd, the fruit of the Cucurhita lagenaria, or 
 calabash vine. 
 
92 
 
 CAL 
 
 2. (Crescentia cujete.) A gourd that grows upon trees in Spanish 
 America and the West Indies. The fruit is large and round, and 
 serves for bowls. That of another species or variety is oval, and 
 furnishes drinking-cups and chocolate-cups. In South America, 
 the name is Totuma ; in Central America, Jicara; and in Cuba, 
 Giiira. 
 
 3. A humorous name for the head, generally implying emptiness ; 
 as, " He broke his calabash.'''' Possibly a corruption of the Spanish 
 caheza. 
 
 Calaboose. (Fr. calabouse ; Span, calahozo.) In the South-western 
 States, the common jail or prison. 
 
 There 's no peace in a steamer, it is nothing but a large calaboose chock full of 
 prisoners. — Sam Slick, Human Nature. 
 
 To calaboose. To imprison. South-western. 
 
 We have a special telegraphic despatch from St. Louis, giving the information 
 that Colonel Titus, late of Nicaragua, now claiming to be of Kansas, was cala- 
 boosed on Tuesday for shooting at the porter of the Planters' House. — Cincinnati 
 Commercial, 1857. 
 
 Calash. (Fr. calecTie.) 1. A two- wheeled carriage, resembling a 
 chaise, used in Canada. 
 
 2. A covering for the head, usually worn by ladies to protect 
 their head-dresses when going to evening parties, the theatre, &c. 
 It is formed of hoops after the manner of a chaise-top. 
 f To calculate. 1. This word, which properly means to compute, to 
 estimate, has been erroneously transferred from the language of the 
 counting-house to that of common life, where it is used for the 
 words to esteem; to suppose; to believe; to think; to expect; intend, 
 &c. It is employed in a similar way to the word guess, though not 
 to so great an extent. Its use is confined to the illiterate of Xew 
 England. Calculated is, in iS'ew England much, by some almost 
 exclusively, used in the sense of adapted (to) , designed (for) ; and 
 in the former of these mischosen and ill-applied applications is see ■ 
 in English writers, e. g. Harris's " Great Commission " (often). 
 
 Mr. Cram requested those persons who calculated to join the singin' school to 
 come forward. — Knickerbocker Mag., Vol. XVII. 
 
 2. To adapt, as in " calculated." 
 
 Calf-Kill. (Kalinia angustifolia.) A plant, so called from its poison- 
 
 I went on board the other day. 
 
 To hear what the boatmen had to say ; 
 
 While there I let my passion loose. 
 
 When they clapped me in the calaboose. — The Boatman's Song. 
 
 f 
 
 7n,X. la^, yie^ , ^<tl V, jo,^ 
 
CAL 
 
 93 
 
 ous properties, which are, however, not so great as the name im- 
 ports. Also called Lamb-kill and Sheep Laurel. 
 
 Calibogus. Rum and spruce-beer. — CartwrighVs Labrador (1792), 
 Vol. III. Glossary. An American beverage. — Grose. 
 
 Calico. The word was originally applied to white cottons from Lidia. 
 In England, white cotton goods are still called calicoes. In the 
 United States, the term is applied exclusively to printed cotton cloth. 
 
 Call. An invitation from the vestry of a church to a clergyman to oc- 
 cupy their pulpit is technically termed a call, the loudness of which 
 call is considered to be in a direct ratio to the salary offered. 
 
 The renowned Mr. Dow, Jr., at the close of one of his sermons, 
 said : — 
 
 I have observed that a great many country people have lately joined my con- 
 gregation. Let the good work goon! I hope to coax a few more such sheep 
 into my fold before I preach my farewell sermon ; and that ma}' be pretty soon, 
 as I have had a loud $600 call elsewhere. — Sermons, Vol. I. p.. 317. 
 
 Call Contract. A contract for the future delivei-y of stock is termed 
 a call, and gives the holder the privilege of purchasing of the party 
 with whom the contract is made a certain number of shares of the 
 stock named, within a definite time, at a stipulated price. 
 
 Callithumpians. It was a common practice in I^ew York, as well as 
 other parts of the country, on New Year's Eve, for persons to assem- 
 ble with tin horns, bells, rattles, and similar euphonious instruments, 
 and parade the streets, making all the noise and discord possible. 
 This party was called the Callithumpians, or the Callithumpian band. 
 An allusion to Calliope and as well to thurnpinf/. Fortunately, the 
 custom has now fallen almost, if not entirely, into disuse. 
 
 A gang of Baltimore rowdies once assumed the name. The 
 present substitute for this is a similar procession at sunrise on the 
 4th of July, in grotesque or worse attire, calling themselves 
 "Antiques and Horribles," a corruption of the venerable Ancient 
 and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston. 
 
 Applied also to any burlesque serenade, particularly when given 
 to unpopular persons on their marriage. 
 
 Call-Loans. Loans on call are loans of money where the borrower 
 agrees to pay at any moment when called for. Banks having large 
 deposits which are liable to be called for any day often loan money 
 at less than the ordinary rates in this way to brokers. 
 
 To speculate in fancy stocks on c(dl-loans is simply to put your hand in the 
 lion's mouth, or yourself in the hands of a Shylock, with the expectation of 
 getting out without being fleeced. — N. Y. Herald. 
 
9-i 
 
 CAL— CAM 
 
 If the merchants of New York in this year 1870 wish to warn the banks against 
 oall-loam^ by which our present trade is imperilled, let them organize a sub- 
 scription for an accurate history of banking in the metropolis during 185;3-54. — 
 Medbery, Men and Mysteiies of Wall Street^ p. 308. 
 
 Calls. Operations of this kind are made generally by those "curb- 
 stone brokers" who are under the impression that higher prices 
 will soon rule in certain stocks. A speculator is desirous of making 
 a little operation, and he offers to give !$50 for the privilege of call- 
 ing for 100 shares New York Central Railroad stock at 91 per cent 
 in ten or fifteen days. The price fixed on the part of the buyer is 
 always a fraction above the cash price. If the stock goes down ten, 
 twenty, or thirty per cent, the party buying the call can only lose 
 $50. If it goes up to 91^, he gets his money back, and all above 
 that is so much profit. This business is confined almost entirely to 
 the curbstone brokers : it is a species of betting about on a par 
 with " roulette." — Hunt^s Merchants Mag., 1857. 
 
 Calumet. Among the aboriginals of America, a pipe, used for smok- 
 ing tobacco, whose bowl is usually of soft red marble, and the tube 
 a long reed, ornamented with feathers. An old Norman word de- 
 rived from chalumeau. — Charlevoix, Vol. II. 212. It was introduced 
 into Canada by the settlers from Normandy. The Iroquois name 
 for a pipe is ganondaoe, and among some other tribes poagan. The 
 calumet is used as a symbol or instrument of peace and war. To 
 accept the calumet is to agree to the terms of peace ; and to refuse 
 it is to reject them. The calumet of peace is used to seal or ratify 
 contracts and alliances, to receive strangers kindly, and to travel 
 with safety. The calumet of tear, differently made, is used to pro- 
 claim war. 
 
 As soon as we sat down, the Illinois [Indians] presented us, according to 
 custom, their calumet, which one must needs accept, or else he would be looked 
 upon as an open enemj- or a mere brute. — Marquette, 1673. 
 
 The savages make use of the calumet in all their negotiations and state affairs; 
 for when they have a calumet in their hand, they go where they will in safet}'. 
 — La Hontan, Voyages dans V Amerique (170-4). 
 
 To camp. (Old Eng. To contend.) To kick with the foot, especially 
 a ball, so as to raise it in the air. Eastern Massachusetts. The 
 word is also provincial in England for a game of ball. — Wright. 
 
 Campaign. The season of political excitement preceding an election. 
 The word " canvass," which the English use with this meaning, is 
 much used with us for the official counting of votes. See, for 
 instance, the Election Laws of the State of New York, "of the 
 canvass and estimate of the votes." 
 
CAM— CAN 
 
 95 
 
 Campbellite. A follower of the doctrines of Alexander Campbell. 
 See Christian. 
 
 Camphene. Pure oil of turpentine, a compound of eight parts of 
 hydrogen and ten of carbon. Used for burning in lamps. 
 
 If a man will light his lamp with whale oil when gas and camphene are 
 at hand, he must be content with a bad illumination. — For-bes, Literary 
 Papers, p. 158. 
 
 Camp-Meeting. A meeting held in the wood or field for religious 
 purposes, where the assemblage encamp and remain several days. 
 These meetings are generally held by the Methodists. The Mor- 
 mons calls it a Wood-meeting. 
 
 To can. To put into cans; to preserve by "canning," as meats, 
 fruits, &c. 
 
 Canada. (Span., pron. canyada.) A narrow valley or glen between 
 
 mountains ; a small canon. 
 Canada Balsam. See Balsam Fir. 
 Canada Nettle. See Albany Hemp. 
 
 Canada Rice. (Zizania aquatica.) A plant which grows in deep 
 water along the edges of ponds and sluggish streams, in the North- 
 ern States and Canada. It is called, in some places. Wild Rice and 
 Water Oats. 
 
 Cancer Root. A species of orohanche of Linnseus. Yellowish plants, 
 
 famous as ingTedients in " cancer powders," 
 Candidacy. Candidateship; the position of a candidate. — Webster. 
 
 Mr. Opdike then boldly came forth, and, by the unprecedentedly brilliant and 
 energetic canvass made under his candidacy, carried the party with vast prestige, 
 &c. — N. Y. THbune, Nov. 22, 1861. 
 
 To candidate. To be a candidate; to act, or be received as a can- 
 didate. 
 
 Setting him to be candidating in season. — The Congregationalist, Jan. 6, 1870. 
 
 Candidateship. The state of being a candidate. — Webster. 
 
 Candle-Lighting. Time of, or near the time of lighting candles; as, 
 " at early candle-lighting; " sometimes we hear, "at early candle- 
 light." New England. 
 
 Cane-Brake. A thicket of canes. They abound in the low lands 
 from South Carolina to Louisiana. 
 
 Did you ever hear of a bar bustin' in through a cane-hraJce, and know how 
 near a hurricane it is ? — Story of the Bear-Hunter. 
 
 Cane-Meadow. The Carolinian name for a cane-brake. — Bartram 
 
 Cane-Trash. See Bagasse. 
 
96 
 
 CAN 
 
 Caney. Caney Fork or Branch is a frequent name for streams in 
 Kentucky and Tennessee, undoubtedly from canes having grown 
 there formerly, although now extii^pated. 
 
 Can-Hook. A rope with an iron hook at each end, used for hoisting 
 
 casks. See Cant Hook. 
 Canker-Rash. The disease called Scarlatina. 
 
 Canoe. (West Indian, canahua, canoa.) An Indian boat made of bark 
 or skins. 
 
 Canoe Birch. (Befula papyracea.) Also called Paper Birch, the 
 Boleau a canot of the French Canadians. Common in the forests of 
 the Eastern States north of lat. 43°, and in Canada, where it attains 
 the height of seventy-five feet. Its bark is a brilliant white: it is 
 often used for roofing houses and for the manufacture of small 
 boxes; but its most important use is for canoes. — Michaux. 
 
 Canon. (Span., pron. canyon.) A narrow, tunnel-like passage between 
 high and precipitous banks, formed by mountains or table-lands, 
 often with a river running beneath. 
 
 The Platte forces its way through a barrier of table-lands, forming one of those 
 striking peculiarities incident to mountain streams, called a cafion. — Scenes in 
 the Rocky Mountains^ p. 111. 
 
 Major Powell, in describing the topography of the country wat- 
 ered by the Colorado of the West, gives a particular account of the 
 great canon of that river through which he passed in a boat, the 
 only instance known of any one having descended it in safety. 
 After describing the formation of canons in general, he thus 
 writes: — 
 
 " For more than a thousand miles along its course, the Colorado 
 has cut for itself such a canon; but at some few points, where 
 lateral streams join it, the canon is broken, and narrow, transverse 
 valleys divide it properly into a series of canons.^ ^ Twelve rivers, 
 whose names are given, " have also cut for themselves such narrow, 
 winding gorges, or deep canons. ''^ 
 
 " Every river entering these has cut another canon ; every lateral 
 creek has cut a canon; every brook runs into a canon; every rill 
 born of a shower, and born again of a shower, and living only 
 during these showers, has cut for itself a canon ; so that the whole 
 upper portion of the basin of the Colorado is traversed by a laby- 
 rinth of these deep gorges." 
 
 The longest canon of the Colorado is 217^ miles in length ; then 
 there is a break, which is followed by 65 miles more; its sides in 
 many places vertical, and from 1,000 to 3,500 feet in height. 
 
CAN 
 
 97 
 
 Can-Opener. An instrument for opening tin cans of preserved meats, 
 
 vegetables, sardines, &c. 
 Can't come it is a vulgar expression for cannot do it. " You canU come 
 it over me so; " i. e., you cannot take such an advantage of me. Mr. 
 Hamilton notices this expression among the provincialisms of York- 
 shire. — Nugce Liferarice, p. 353. 
 
 The following dialogue is reported to have occurred in a crowded 
 New York omnibus: — 
 
 Old Gent. Let me take you on my lap. 
 Woman. No, you can^t come that, old chap; 
 He that takes that task to do 
 Must be some likelier one than you. 
 
 Cant-Hook. A wooden lever with an iron hook at one end, with which 
 heavy articles of merchandise or timber are canted over. Some- 
 times called Can-hook. 
 
 Canticoy or Cantica. An Algonkin word, denoting an act of wor- 
 ship; applied by the early Dutch of Xew Netherland to social 
 gatherings. Campanius, in his Vocabulary of New Sweden 
 (Delaware), has succhiman chintika, priest, spiritual (or religious) 
 man; and in his translation of the Lord's Prayer has chintil-at foi 
 " hallowed be " of the English. So chintika manetto, for " God the 
 Holy Ghost," or third person of the Trinity. The word is still 
 used by aged people in New York and on Long Island. Mr. 
 Murphy, in a note to his translation of Dankers's and Sluyter's 
 " Voyage to New York," 1679-80 (p. 275), says the Canticoy appears 
 to have been a dance which the Indians practised on various occa- 
 sions. Denton calls it " a dancing match, where all persons that 
 came were freely entertained, it being a festival time. — Desc. of 
 New York, 1670. 
 
 The first of these Indians having received a horrible wound . . . wished them 
 to let him kinte-kaeye, — being a dance performed by them as a religious rite, &c. 
 — Broad Advice (1649), 2 N. Y. Hist. Coll., 3. 258."^ 
 
 These Indians had canticoyed {(jekintekayt) there to-day, that is, conjured the 
 devil, and liberated a woman among them, who was possessed by him, as the}' 
 M. — Bankers, Voyaye to N. Y. (1G79), p 275. 
 
 Canuck. A Canadian ; colloquial and in newspapers. 
 Canvas-Back. (Anas valisneriana.) A wild duck, found chiefly in 
 the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, and highly esteemed for the 
 delicacy of its flesh. It derives its name from the color of its back. 
 When all the folks who love good eating, 
 And think of little else but treating, 
 With pleasure oft their lips will smack. 
 When speaking of a canvas-hack. 
 
 Miss Ramsay, Poetical Picture of America, p. 5G. 
 7 
 
98 
 
 CAP 
 
 To cap all. To surpass all; to cap the climax. 
 
 Well, the horse got stuck in one of them snowbanks, and there we sot unable 
 to stir; and, to cap all, Deacon Bedott was took with a dreadful crick in his 
 back. — Widotv Btdott Papers. 
 
 Cape Cod Turkeys. Codfish. See Marhlehead Turkeys. 
 
 Cape May Goody, The name given, on the Jersey coast, to the 
 Lafayette fish. 
 
 Capper. A by-bidder; men and women in the employ of auctioneers 
 in the city of Xew York, to bid on articles put up for sale. 
 
 Cap-Sheaf. A small sheaf of straw forming the top of a stack. — 
 Dorset Glossary. Figuratively used, in the United States, to denote 
 the highest degree, the summit. 
 
 Of all the days that I ever did see in this 'ere world, moving-day in New York 
 is the cap-sheaf. — Major Downing., May-day in New York, p. 43. 
 
 There 's one manufacture in New England that might stump all Europe to pro- 
 duce the like, — the manufacture of wooden nutmegs. That 's a co/^-sAeo/'that 
 bangs the bush. — Sam Slick. 
 
 Sam PendergrHss's wife has been' tellin' me about the party; and of all the 
 strains ever I heard on, I should think that the cap-shtaf. — Widow Bedott 
 Papers, p. 88. 
 
 The cap-sheaf, though, of mean Americans, 
 Is the blowin' Congressman, that goes an' Stan's 
 Afore the wisdom o' this mighty nation, 
 Forgettin' all about his lofty station. 
 
 Ballad from Vanity Fair. 
 
 Josiah Allen's wife, in describing a female lecturer on woman's 
 rights, says : — 
 
 I didn't like her looks. Of all the painted, and frizzled and ruffled, and 
 humped-up and laced-down critters I ever see, she was the cap sheaf . — Betsy 
 BobbeU p. 337. 
 
 Captain's Beat. The limits within which the members of a military 
 
 company reside. Within the same limits the votes are received on 
 
 election days. Southern. 
 Caption. This legal term is used in the newspapers in cases where 
 
 an Englishman would say title, head, or heading. 
 To captivate, v. a. (Lat. captico; Fr. capfiver.) To take prisoner; 
 
 to bring into bondage. — Johnson. To seize by force; as an enemy 
 
 in war. — Webster. 
 
 How ill-becoming is it in thy sex, 
 To triumph like an Amazonian trull 
 
 Upon their woes, whom fortune captivates ! — Shakspeare. 
 They stand firm, keep out the enemy, truth, that would captivate or disturb 
 them. — Locke. 
 
CAR 
 
 99 
 
 The unnatural brethren who sold their brother into captivity are now about to 
 be captivated themselves, and the hinder himself to be bound in his turn. — Dr. 
 Adam Clarke, Eejlec, 4th Genesis. 
 
 I have an English engraving published in 1756, entitled " A 
 Prospective View of the Battle fought near Lake George, 8th Sep- 
 tember, 1755, ... in which the English were victorious, capti- 
 vating the French general with a number of his men, and putting 
 the rest to flight. " 
 
 In his remarks on this word, Mr. Pickering says it was new to 
 him, and that he had never seen it in the newspapers. Subse- 
 quently, however, he discovered it in two or three of our authors- 
 It cannot be said to be in use among writers at the present day. It 
 is well known that Congress, in adopting the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, prepared by Mr. Jefferson, omitted certain passages 
 contained in the original draft. Among these was the following 
 paragraph relating to the slave-trade : — 
 
 He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred 
 rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended 
 him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to 
 more miserable death in transportation thither. 
 
 In noticing the above passage. Lord Brougham says: The Mord 
 captivating will be reckoned an Americanism (as the Greeks used 
 to say of their colonists, a Soloecism). But it has undoubted Eng- 
 lish authority, — Locke, among others. — Statesmen of George III. 
 
 Twenty-three people were killed in this surprisal, and twenty-nine were cnpti- 
 vated. — Belknap, Hist. New Hampshire, Vol. I. ch. 10. 
 
 The singularly interesting event of captivating a second Royal army [Lord 
 Cornwallis's] produced strong emotions. — Ramsay, History American Revolution, 
 V.l. II. p. 274. 
 
 Car. 1. The carriages that compose a railway train are, with us, 
 called "railroad car.?." These are of various kinds: as the palace 
 ov drawing-room cars, which are luxuriously fitted up; the sleeping- 
 car and the ord'm^ir j passenger-cars , one of which is the smoking-car, 
 for those who must needs indulge in that luxury; the baggage-car ; 
 and the mail-car. Sometimes a whole train is composed of freight- 
 cars. The English travel by "rail," or take the " train " from 
 one place to another. We go by the cars, or take the cars. 
 
 2. A square box, in which, floating, live fish are preserved. In 
 England, it is called a cawf. 
 . To carbonado. To boil; to cook upon coals. Southern. See Olm- 
 steacVs Seaboard Slave States. 
 
 Car-Brake. A lever which, acting by friction on the wheels, helps to 
 stop the train. 
 
100 
 
 CAR 
 
 Carcajou. A name now appropriated to the American Badger (Meles 
 Lnhrado?'ica, a species so named, apparently, because not found in 
 Labrador), but which originally was applied to the Cercoleptes 
 caudivoloulus. See Kinkajou. 
 
 Not unlike a badger, only they are bigger and more mischievous. — La Hon~ 
 tan, Voynyes (1703), Vol. I. p. 8l' 
 
 DeKay makes the carcajou of La Hontan the Wolcerene (Gulo 
 luscus'), or Glutton, which, as John Hunter informed him, was 
 called by the Indians of his tribe gwingwalirjay, which he interpreted 
 a " tough thing," and afterwards explains it as " a hard character." 
 But Charlevoix (Vol. II. 129) describes the Canadian carcajou, 
 or (fuincajou, as having a long tail (which the wolverene has not), 
 and of a reddish-brown color. 
 
 This creature [the carcajou] is of the cat kind. ... He comes upon [his 
 enemy] . . . unperceived, or climbs up into a tree, and, taking his station on 
 some of the branches, waits till one of them takes shelter under it; when 
 he fastens upon his neck, soon brings blood, and drags his prey to the ground. 
 Tills he is enabled to do by his long tail, with which he encircles the body of his 
 adversary. — Travels, p. 450. 
 
 Carf. The mark made in a tree to be felled. 
 Car-House. A building in which railroad cars are kept. 
 Caribou. The American reindeer, of which there are two species, the 
 Barren Ground and the Woodland Caribou. 
 
 Harts and caribous are killed, both in summer and winter, after the same man- 
 ner with the elks ; excepting that the caribous, which are a kind of wild asses, 
 make an easy escape, when snow is at hand, by virtue of their broad feet. — La 
 Hontan, North America, 1704. 
 
 Carlicues or Curly cues. Boyish tricks, capers. To cut or cut up 
 
 carlicues is to cut capers. From curly and cue; or, perhaps, a cor- 
 ruption of the Fr. caracole. Span, caracol. Comp. " cavort," by 
 transposition made from cur ret. 
 
 " Sally," says I, ''will you take me for better or worse ? " 
 
 This put her to considering, and I gave a flourishing about the room, and cut 
 a curly cue y{\x\\ my right foot, as much as to say, "Take your own time." — 
 McClintock's Tales 
 
 It is generally supposed that nature is perfect in all her works, — except when 
 she gets odd freaks in her head, and cuts up carlicues by way of experiment. — 
 Dow^s Sermons, Vol. III. p. 48. 
 
 Carolina Allspice. See Allspice. 
 
 Carolina Potato. The sweet potato (Convolvulus batata), so called in 
 the Eastern States. 
 
 Carpet-Baggers. " Unprincipled adventurers, who sought their for- 
 tunes in the South by plundering the disarmed and defenceless 
 
CAR 
 
 101 
 
 people. Some of them were the dregs of the Federal army, — the 
 meanest of the camp followers; many were fugitives from Northern 
 justice; the best of them were those who went down after the peace, 
 ready for any deed of shame that was safe and profitable. These, 
 combining with a few treacherous 'scalawags,' and some leading 
 negroes to serve as decoys for the rest, and backed by the power of 
 the general government, became the strongest body of thieves that 
 ever pillaged a people. Their moral grade was far lower. . . . 
 They swarmed on all the States from the Potomac to the Gulf, and 
 settled in hordes, not with the intent to remain there, but merely 
 to feed on the substance of a prostrate and defenceless people. 
 They took whatever came within their reach, intruded themselves 
 into all private corporations, assumed the functions of all offices, 
 including the courts of justice, and in many places they even ' run 
 the churches. ' By force of fraud, they either controlled all elections, 
 or else prevented elections from being held." — North American 
 Review^ for July, 1877. 
 
 We are indebted to President Hayes for his idea of what consti- 
 tutes a carpet-bagger. It appears that on the 12th June, 1877, a 
 delegation from Alabama waited upon the President. After dis- 
 cussing various matters, the telegraphic report to the newspapers 
 says : — 
 
 The conversation turned upon the subject of carpet-bnggers, when the President 
 Haid he did not regard as a carpet-bagger a man who went South to become a 
 bona fide resident. Only those who went South for the purpose of holding office 
 as a matter of business should be stigmatized as a carpet-bagger. 
 
 We are fortunate in obtaining a description of the car pet-hag ger 
 from Wade Hampton, Governor of South Carolina, who, in a speech 
 made at Auburn, N. Y., on the 19th June, 1877, in alluding to the 
 late political contest in that State, said: — 
 
 It was a contest waged by the people of South Carolina not, as demagogues 
 would tell you, against Northern men. It was a contest waged against cnrpet- 
 6(7</r/ers, and when I 9>diy <arpet-ba(j(jers\ mean by that thief. We do not call 
 any Northern man, any Irishman, any German, any Englishman who settles in 
 our midst as an honest citizen, a carpet-bagger. We welcome such with open 
 arms. We tell them to come to our genial skies and fertile soil. Come one, 
 conie all, and pledge them in the name of the State a hospitable, warm-hearted 
 reception. 
 
 "You call me a cajpet-fMU/f/er,^' contemptuously' exclaimed an indignant but 
 witty Republican, who had been interrupted in a political speech in a Mississippi 
 back county. " I am a carpet bafjc/er. I have neither house nor land nor shelter 
 nor property of any kind. I am a carpet-ba(/(/er, — perhaps the only one you ever 
 saw. You people are great fools. You call Governor Ames a carpet-bagger. 
 He 's no caipet-bar/fjer : he owns a house in Boston." Whereat the whole crowd 
 •houted assent. — Washington Cor. N. Y. Hei'oM. 
 
102 
 
 CAR 
 
 Dr. O. W. Holmes, in a recent poem upon the contest in Con^ 
 gress on the Presidential question, entitled " How not to settle it," 
 says : — 
 
 One half cried, "See! the choice is S. J. T..! " 
 
 And one iialf swore stoutl}* it was t' other; 
 Both drew the knife to save the Nation's life 
 
 By wholesale vivisection of each other. 
 
 Then rose in mass that monumental Class, — 
 
 " Hold ! hold ! " they cried, '• {?ive us, give us the daggers! " 
 
 " Content! content! " exclaimed with one consent 
 The gaunt ex-rebels and the cai-pet-bat/yers." 
 
 We have an amusing instance of "What's in a name?" Captain Parr, a 
 delegate from Nanseniond to the recent Constitutional Convention in Virgi ia, 
 was the inventor of tlie now Avell-known epithet " Carptt-bayyer.'''' In conse- 
 quence of this term, carpet-ba (/s have fallen into such disrepute that not one can 
 be sold in the South; and those have suffered who had a stock on hand of an 
 article before readily salable. As usual, men have run into the opposite extreme ; 
 and although the habits of the cai'ptt-bay(je.r have changed as little as his ward- 
 robe has increased, yet nothing but trunks the size of a Newfoundland's kennel 
 will now suffice, and the railway officials are disgusted at the change. — Anylo- 
 American Times. 
 
 The carpet-bay Governments of the Southern States, under the protection of 
 Grant's bayonets, have rolled up an aggregate debt in the nine cotton States of 
 $194,000,000. —A^. Y. World. 
 
 See also the poem on the Carpet-bagger at the word " -So/ne." 
 
 Carpet- Weed. A small spreading plant, common in cultivated ground. 
 
 (Mollugo.) — Bigelow''s Plants of Boston. 
 
 Carrom. (Fr. caramhole.) In the game of billiards, the act of hit- 
 ting two balls at once with the ball struck by the cue. — Hoyle. 
 A carom, or carrojn, therefore, is a lucky blow. 
 
 Dana hit Greeley over the head with the account books of the establishment ; 
 but this proved to be a blank shot. Greeley retaliated by overwhelming him with 
 back files of the " Tribune.-' . . . Dana knocked Greeley into a cocked hat by a 
 splendid chance carrom with one of A. Oakey Hall's pamphlets. — N. Y. Herald, 
 April 3, 1862. 
 
 To carry away. To move to ecstasy, to transport, to be charmed. 
 
 A puritanical deacon, shocked at the idea of introducing an organ 
 into a church, getting much excited, exclaimed: — 
 
 Organs of wood and brass seem like idolatry, as if we couldn't praise the Lord 
 with our natural voices ! I got carried away, and am certainly afraid all this 
 care for the outer portion will only make it worse for the better part of us. — 
 
 JEastford, or Huusehvld Shetches. 
 
 "Do you remember old Jabe Green's wife up to Wiggletown?" said the 
 Widow Bedott. " She was always carried away with every new thing. Two or 
 three years ago, wLen Millerism was makin' such a noise, she was clear killed 
 
CAR 
 
 103 
 
 up with it. Again she "was wide awake against Sabbath-breakin', — then 't was 
 moral reform." — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 123. 
 I was completely carried away with the music. 
 Comp. Job XV. 12 with Psalms xc. 5. 
 Carry. A portage. Maine. 
 
 Carry-All. A four-wheeled pleasure carriage, capable of holding 
 several persons or a family; hence its name. Some, however, con- 
 sider it a corruption of the French carriole. The name is common 
 in the Northern States. In Canada, it is applied to a sleigh. 
 
 Carry Guts to a Bear. " He ain't fit to carry gvts to a bear^^ is a 
 phi-ase that expresses a degree of worthlessness impossible to be 
 equalled. 
 
 Carry-Log. A set of wheels used for transporting timber. 
 
 One day, 'bout two weeks after I commenced workin' for the Squire, I was 
 drivin' 'long, settin' straddle of a stock on my carry-log, when I sorter druv over 
 a little stump, and the duriied log come unfastened. — N. Y. Spintof the Times. 
 
 The onh- carry-log we could obtain broke in attempting to transport the first 
 gun. — iV. Y. Tribune, Feb. 27, 1862, Letter from Roanoke Island. 
 
 To carry on. To riot; to frolic. 
 
 We notice some young scapegraces, who get up their wild freaks at night and 
 continue them till morning. Sometimes they carry on even longer than this. — 
 N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 To carry Stock. When a broker is holding stock for a customer, 
 retaining it in his own possession until ordered to sell, he is said to 
 be carrying the stock for his customer's account. 
 
 Mr. M [who had failed, subsequently] paid up every dollar of his indebted- 
 ness, entering the market as an outside bull operator, and invariabh' carrying 
 whatever stock he touched, until it reached a figure admitting of superb realiza- 
 tions. — Mtdbery, Men and Mysteries of Wall Street, p. 189. 
 
 Carrying3-on. Rio tings, frolickings. 
 
 There is good authority for the use of this term by English 
 writers of the seventeenth century. 
 
 Is this the end 
 To which these carryings-on did tend ? 
 
 Butler's Hudibras, Pt. 1, Cant. 2. 
 Everybody tuck Christmas, especially the niggers, and sich carryin's-on — sich 
 dancin' and singin' — and shootin' poppers and sky-rackets — you never did see. 
 
 — Major Jones's Courtship. 
 
 When he reflected that wherev^er there were singin' schools, there would be 
 carryings-on, he thought the cheapest plan would be to let them have their fun out. 
 
 — Peter Cram, in Knickerbocker Mag. 
 
 "Jeff, let them seminary galls alone," said his aunt ; "they arc a wild set; 
 and don't have such carryins-on with them." — Widow Bedott Papers. 
 
 Cartmau. (Pron. carman.) One who drives a cart. New York. 
 
104 
 
 CAS— CAT 
 
 Case. A character, a queer one; as, That Sol Haddock is a case^ 
 " AVhat a liard case he is," meaning a reckless scapegrace, mau- 
 vais sujet. 
 
 "I say, Jekyl," said Tom Gordon, "this sister of mine is a pretty rapid little 
 case, as you saw by the way she circumvented us this morning." — Mrs. Stowe, 
 Dred, Vol. I. p 2()3. 
 
 Cashaw, sometimes spelt kershaw. (Algonkin.) A pumpkin. 
 
 [The Indians of Virj^inia] have growing near their towns Peaches, Strawberries, 
 Cushawes, Melons, Pompions, &c. The Cvshawes and Ponipions they lay by, 
 w^hich will keep several months good after they are gather'd. — Beverly, Hist, oj 
 Viryinia (1722), p. 152. 
 
 Cassareap. The juice of the bitter yucca- root boiled down to a sauce. 
 Heat dissipates the poisonous property of the fresh juice. West 
 Indies. 
 
 Cassava or Cassader. (W. Ind. casavi.) The native name of a 
 shrub of Central and South America, from the root of which Tapioca 
 and Mandioca are extracted. See Tapioca. 
 
 The plant of whose root the Indian bread cazava is made is a low herbe. — 
 Gerard, Herbale, ed. of 1633, p. 1543. 
 
 Hariot in speaking of the plant says: — 
 
 Some of our company called it Cassavy ; ... it groweth in ver}' muddie pooles 
 and moist groundes. Being dressed according to the countrey. it maketh a good 
 bread, and also a good spoonemeate, and is used verie much by the inhabitants. 
 — Newfoundland of Viryinia, 1590, p. 17. 
 
 And here Cassatvder, to which, though its juice 
 Be Poyson, yet they now have a device 
 To press and grate it, so in time of need. 
 And sometimes else, they safely on it feed. 
 
 Hardie's Last Voyaye to Bermudas (1671), p. 11. 
 
 Castanas, or Chestnuts, in tropical America, is the name given some- 
 times to the Jack Fruit {Artocarpus integrifolia) , and sometimes to 
 the edible fruit of the Screw Pine (Pandanus). 
 
 Castoria. Castor oil so prepared that its offensive properties are 
 removed. 
 
 Caswash ! Dash ! splash ! The noise made by a body falling into the 
 
 water. See Cachunk. 
 Catalpa. (Catalpa cordifoUa.) An ornamental tree; a shade-tree 
 
 with large flowers, common in the Middle and Southern States. 
 
 The aboriginal name. 
 Catamount A name applied synonymously with Panther and Painter 
 
 to several wild, fierce animals analogous to Felis concolor, but not 
 
 specially employed to designate that species. 
 
CAT 
 
 105 
 
 Catawampously or Catawamptiously. Fiercely, eagerly. To be 
 catawamptioushj chawed up is to be completely demolished, utterly 
 defeated. One of the ludicrous monstrosities in which the vulgar 
 language of the South-western States abounds. 
 
 In this debate, Mr. B. was catawamptiously chawed up ; his arguments were 
 not only met, but his sarcasm returned upon himself with great effect. — Charles- 
 ton Mercury. 
 
 There is something cowardly in the idea of disunion. Where is the wealth 
 and power that should make us fourteen millions take to our heels before three 
 hundred thousand slaveholders, for fear of being catawamptiously chawed up^ — 
 Speech of Fred. Douylass, 3857. 
 
 Citizens and fellers : on the bloody ground on which our fathers catawampously 
 poured out their claret free as oil, let the catamount loose, and prepare the en- 
 gines of vengeance. — S. H. Hill, Speech on the Oregon Question. 
 
 Catawba Grape. A cultivated variety of Vitis labrusca. It is the 
 great wine-grape of the United States. 
 
 Cat-Bird. (Mimus Carolinensis.) A bird of the thrush family. 
 
 Catch. A term used among fishermen to denote a quantity of fish 
 taken at one time. In some districts, they say " a haul of fish." 
 
 It is said that the catch of blue fish in the inlet and river is greater than ever 
 known so early in the season, and that they are served up secundum artem at 
 Mr. Williston's. — N. Y. Courier and Enquirer, ixm^ 1858. 
 
 To catch. To catch the railway train is to be in time for obtaining 
 a passage in it. 
 
 To catch a Weasel asleep. It is supposed that this little animal is 
 never caught napping, for the obvious reason that he sleeps in his 
 hole beyond the reach of man. The expression is applied to per- 
 sons who are watchful and always on the alert, or who cannot be 
 surprised; as, "You cannot deceive me, any sooner than you can 
 catch a weasel asleep,^'' or " You can't catch a weasel asleep.'''' The 
 expressions are common. 
 
 To catch up. Among travellers across the great prairies, the phrase 
 means, to prepare the horses and mules for the march. 
 
 The mule must have been there seven or eight hours, b}' the grass she had 
 eat; a pony had been hitched there too, and after the mule had been catched up. 
 — N. Y. Spirit of the Times, Frontier Tale. 
 
 They travelled all night, and wlien day broke took to the bush, camped down 
 ii smart piece off the trail, stayed till about noon, catched up their fresh horses, 
 took a bee-line through the timber, and, when night came, pushed for the trail 
 agin. — Ibid. 
 
 Come, boys, it's daylight, we've a long march before us; so catchup, and 
 we '11 be off. — Praine Scenes. 
 
lOG 
 
 CAT— CAU 
 
 Catechise. A vulgarism once common in New England, among 
 school-children and their elders, for catechism (<*. e. the West- 
 minster Assembly's Shorter Catechism). Boys and girls "said 
 their catechise " 
 
 All seeming, to his knowing eyes, 
 Familiar as his catechise. 
 
 Or " Webster's Spelling Book." 
 
 Whittier, Extr.froin a N. Eng. Legend. 
 
 Catfish. (Genus Pimelodus. Cuvier.) This fish, in several varieties, 
 is common throughout the United States under different popular 
 names. It is also called by the name of Horned-pout, Bull-head, 
 Mud-pout, Minister, or simply Cat, Often called catties by the 
 Negroes, especially in many parts of the South. There is a very 
 large specif^i; called the Channel Catfish, which is noticed by Dr. 
 Kirtland in his Report on the Geology of Ohio. 
 
 Cat-Rig. A boat-rig with one mast near the bow with only one sail, 
 and that one a boom-sail. 
 
 Catstick. A bat or cudgel, used by New England boys in a game at 
 ball. It is known by the same name in England, though used for 
 a different play. In Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maryland, and 
 further South, the term is applied to small wood for burning. In 
 " Ernest Bracebridge," a very nice boy's book, a similar meaning 
 is given to Dogstick. 
 
 When the cat is laid upon the ground, the player with his cudgel or catstick 
 strikes it smartly, it matters not at which end, and it will rise high enough for 
 him to beat it away as it falls, in the same manner as he would a ball. — Strutt, 
 Sports and Pastimes. 
 
 Armed with a few rusty swords, catsticks, pitchmops, and clubs, &c. — Drake^s 
 Hist, of Boston, Vol. I. p'. 624. 
 
 Cat-Tail Grass. Herd's-grass, or timothy. 
 
 Catting. Fishing for " cat." Thus, a story is told of an old Negro, 
 who, while fishing, was seen to keep only the catfish and throw all 
 others, even of the better kinds, back into the water. On being 
 asked the reason, he replied, " Lilly massa, when I goes a cattin\ I 
 goes a cattin\''^ 
 
 Cattle-Mark. The brand bearing the owner's name. 
 
 Cattle-Range. In Kentucky, a park. 
 
 Cattle-Train. See Stock-Train. 
 
 Caucus. A jn-ivate meeting of the leading politicians of a party, to 
 agree upon the plans to be pursued in an approaching election. 
 Gordon, in his History of the American Revolution, 1788, says : 
 
CAU— CAV 
 
 107 
 
 " The word is not of novel invention. More than fifty years ago, 
 Mr. Samuel Adams's father, and twenty others, one or two from the 
 north end of the town, where all ship business is carried on, used 
 to meet, make a caucus, and lay their plan for introducing certain 
 persons into places of trust and power. When they had settled it, 
 they separated, and used each his particular influence within his 
 own circle," &c. — Vol. I. p. 240. 
 
 " From the above remarks of Dr. Gordon on this word," says 
 Mr. Pickering, " it would seem that these meetings were in some 
 measure under the direction of men concerned in the ' ship business ; ' 
 and I had therefore thought it not improbable that caucus might be 
 a corruption of caulkers\ the word 'meetings' being understood. 
 I was afterwards informed that several gentlemen in Salem and 
 Boston believed this to be the origin of the word." 
 
 The earliest mention of this word, that has come under my notice, 
 is in John Adams's Diary, under date of February, 1763, where he 
 says : — 
 
 This day learned that the caucus club meets, at certain times in the f^arret of 
 Tom Dawes, the adjutant of the Boston regiment. — Woi-hs, Vol. II. p. 144. 
 
 I '11 be a voter, and this is a big character, able to shoulder a steamboat, and 
 carry any candidate that the caucus at Baltimore ma}' set up against the people. 
 What's the people to a caucus? Nothing but a dead ague to an earthquake. — 
 CrockeWs Tour, p. 206. 
 
 Causal ty. Much used for casualty. 
 
 To be a Caution. To be a warning. A common slang expression. 
 
 The way the Repealers were used up was a caution to the trinity of O'Connell, 
 Repeal, and Anti-Slavery, when thej' attempt to interfere with true American 
 citizens. — New York Herald. 
 
 There's a plaguy sight of folks in America, Major, and the way they swallow 
 down the cheap books is a caution to old rags and paper-makers. — Major Down- 
 ing, May-day in New York, p. 'i. 
 
 Moses wound up his description of the piano, by saying that the way the dear 
 creeturs could pull music out of it was a caution to hoarse owls. — Thorpe's Mys- 
 teries of the Backwoods, p. 24. 
 
 A large portion of (Captain IMarrvatt's "Travels of Mons. Violet" is stolen 
 from the " New Orleans Picayune ; " and it will not be surprising if Kendall [the 
 author] lets his sting into this trans-Atlantic robber. He can do it in a way that 
 will be a caution. — Providence Journal. 
 
 Our route was along the shore of the lake in a northerly direction, and the way 
 the icy blast would come down the bleak shore was a caution. — Hoffman, Winter 
 in the West, p. 234. 
 
 Caution to Snakes is often heard. 
 
 Cavendish. Tobacco softened and pressed. — Webster. Also called 
 Neyro-head. 
 
108 
 
 CAV 
 
 Cavern Limestone. The carboniferous limestone of Kentucky, so 
 called from the innumerable caves which its hard strata contain. 
 In the softer limestone of the West, the roof of the cavern falls in 
 and forms on the surface a " sinkhole," a funnel-shaped depression, 
 which, if the opening is not closed, sometimes proves fatal to 
 animals and even to man. 
 
 Cavallard. (Span, caballada, pron. cac-oy-yard.) A term used, in 
 Louisiana and Texas, by the caravans which cross the prairies, to 
 denote a band of horses or mules. 
 
 The chef d'o&uvre of this Indian's rascality was exhibited in his stealing our 
 M'hole cavallard, consisting of ten head of horses and mules, which he drove to 
 the mountains. — Scenes in the Rocky Mountains, p. 80. 
 
 Two or three were mounted, and sent into the prairie in search of the caviarde 
 of horses. — A Stray Yankee in Texas, p. 97. 
 
 Cave. A caving in; a yielding, submission. 
 
 There is evidence all around that the disaffected portion of the people of Nash- 
 ville and vicinitN' are becoming more reconciled to the Union "invasion." . . . 
 While I do not believe that there will be a speedy general cave of all Secession 
 SAMnpathies, I am satisfied that the majority of our citizens will feel little regret 
 at the change of rulers. — NY. Tribune, March 31, 1862, Lett, from NashviUe. 
 
 To cave in. Said of the earth which falls down when one digs into a 
 bank. Figuratively, to break down; to give up. 
 
 He was a plucky fellow, and warn't a-goin' to cave in that way. — S. Slick, 
 Human Nature, p. 55. 
 
 At the late dinner, Mr. W arose to make a speech, but soon caved in. — 
 
 Washington Paper. 
 
 The South-western and Western Locos, it is thought, will cave in, and finally 
 go for the Treaty [of peace with Mexico], though they talk loud against it now. 
 
 — N. Y. Tribune, March 4, 1848. 
 
 Dr. Kane, in alluding to the weak state of his companions, says, Morton felt so 
 much better that he got up at six ; but he caved in soon after. — Arctic Explora- 
 tions, Vol. II. p, 94. 
 
 Caveson. (Fr. cace^-on.) A muzzle for a horse. iN'ew England. 
 
 There, Chilion, it is just as I told you. The rake-shame put a caveson on him. 
 
 — Maryaret, p. 304. 
 
 To cavort. To ride; to prance; to curvet. 
 
 He tossed himself into everv attitude which m-in could assume on horseback. 
 
 In short, he cavorted most magnanimously. — Georyia Scenes. 
 
 For several days past, they [the soldiers] have cavorted around the suburbs in 
 
 sufficient numbers to pillage with impunity. — N. Y. Herald, June 9, 1862, //-ont 
 
 Richmond, Va., Despatch. 
 Cavortin'. A corruption of the word " curvetting," applied to 
 
 horses and their riders when prancing about in order to show off; 
 
 and then figuratively to any person capering about. A word chiefly 
 
 used in the Southern States. 
 
CAW— CHA 
 
 109 
 
 A whole gang of fellers, and a heap more of young ladies, came ridin' up and 
 reinin' in, and prancin' and cavortin\ — Major Joneses Courtshi]), p. 41. 
 
 Old Alic had a daughter, that war a most enticin' creatur ; and I seed Tom 
 Settlers cavortin' round her like a A^oung buffalo. — Hobb, Squatter Life. 
 
 There 's some monstrous fractious characters down in our bent, and they 
 mustn't come a cavortin' about me when I give orders. — Major Jones's Cour-tship, 
 p. 20. 
 
 Cawhalux ! Whop ! The noise made by a box on the ear. 
 
 I hadn't sot no time before, cawhalux ! some one took me the right side o' the 
 head with a dratted big book. The fire flew out of my eyes like red coals. — 
 Major Jones's Courtship. 
 
 Cayman. (West Indian.) This native name for the alligator is still 
 retained in the West Indies. 
 
 Cedar. A name applied in the United States to different genera of 
 the Pine family. The Red Cedar (Jumperus Virginiana) is a juniper. 
 
 The White Cedar ( Cupressus tliyoides) is a cypress, which is found 
 in the "Cedar Swamps." 
 
 Cent. A copper coin of the United States, whose value is the hun- 
 dredth part of a dollar. — Webster. There is a bad habit, west of 
 New England, of calling a cent 2i penny. 
 
 Centre. The central part of a township, where, if not elsewhere 
 within the township, are usually a church, and more or less of a 
 village. In Killingly, Connnecticut, are North Killingly, South 
 Killingly, East Killingly, and "Killingly Centre.''^ Many other 
 townships in New England have similar divisions. 
 
 Centre-Board. A board or plank keel which is drawn up or let down 
 through a case made in small craft that ply in shallow waters; a 
 sliding keel. 
 
 Certain, for certainly. " He 's dead cer/«m." " I '11 go to-morrow, 
 sure and certain.'''' " Certain sure " and " Sartin sure.'''' All very 
 common. 
 
 While the flames were getting the better of our firemen, in their attempts to 
 save the Baptist church, an aged African shouted out, " De idea ob try in' to 
 sabe a Baptises editiss by sprinklm', — nufKn but 'mersion do dat work dis 
 time, sartin sure!'^ — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 To certificate off. Sometimes the "ojf ' is omitted; as, "He cer- 
 tificated," i. e. he went off by, after having presented a certificate. 
 See Sign off. 
 
 Chained Lightning. Western, for forked lightning. 
 
 Chalk. A long chalk vulgarly means a gi'eat distance, a good deal. 
 
110 
 
 CHA 
 
 When a person attempts to effect a particular object, in which he 
 fails, we say, " He can't do it by a long chalk. 
 
 'T was al)out calf-tiine, and not a hundrefl year ar^o, by a lonr) chalk, that the 
 biggest kind <»f rendezvous was held to Independence, a mighty handsome little 
 location away up on old Missouri. — Buxton, Far West, p. 14. 
 
 Put on your hat, or you may get a sunstroke, which will cause you more pain 
 than the helmet did % a Ivnfj cJudk. — Sam Slick, Human Nature. 
 
 If Nova Scotia is behind in intelligence, it is a long chalk ahead on us in other 
 respects. — Sam Slick. 
 
 To chance. To risk. 
 
 Change. To meet tcith a change is to have change of heart, to expe- 
 rience religion. 
 
 " Do you mean to insinuate that ye 've met with a change ? " said the Widow 
 Bedott to Jim Clarke, the peddler. 
 
 " I think I may confidently say I hev," said Jim. 
 " How long since V " 
 
 " AVall, about a year and a half. I experienced religion over in Varmont, at 
 a protracted meetin'. I tell ye, Widow, them special efforts is great things; 
 ever sence I've come out, I've felt like another critter." — Widow Bedott 
 Papers, p. 108. 
 
 Chaparral. In Spain, a chaparral is a bush of a species of oak. The 
 termination al signifies a place ahounding in ; as, chaparral a place 
 of oak-bushes; almendral, an almond orchard; />arra/, a vineyard; 
 cafetal, a coffee plantation, &c. 
 
 This word, chaparral, has been introduced into the language 
 since our acquisition of Texas and New Mexico, where these bushes 
 abound. It is a series of thickets, of various sizes, from one hun- 
 dred yards to a mile through, with bushes and briars, all covered 
 with thorns, and so closely entwined together as almost to prevent 
 the passage of any thing larger than a wolf or hare. 
 
 We had, too, a lieutenant of His Majesty's Royal Marines, another of Nature's 
 noblemen, who preferred a camp to the toils of field sports, when a scrub was to 
 be crawled under or forced through at the risk of tattered garments, scratched 
 hands, and bleeding noses, to say nothing about a basking rattlesnake or so, as 
 formidable as the. chaparral of Palo Alto, defended by gigantic cactus here, 
 sharp-pointed yuccas there, and cat-claw briars everywhere. — N. Y. Sjnritof the 
 Times. 
 
 The Mexicans laid their plans right well, 
 And placed their men in a chaparral. 
 But Rough-and-Koady made them smell 
 Gunpowder a la Polka. — Comic Song. 
 
 To chaw up. To demolish, discomfit. 
 
 I heerd Tom Jones swar he 'd chaw me u^), if an inch big of me was found in 
 them diggins in the mornin'. — Rohb, Squatter Life, p. 63. 
 
CHA— CHE 
 
 111 
 
 Miss Patience smiled, and looked at Joe Cash. Cash's knees trembled. All 
 eyes were upon him. He sweat all over. Miss Patience said she was gratified 
 to hear Mr. Cash was a musician ; she admired people who had a musical taste. 
 Whereupon Cash fell into a chair, as he afterwards observed, chawed up. — 
 Thorpe's Backwoods, p. 28. 
 
 To chaw up one's Words. To eat one's words; to retract. 
 
 Do you want nie to tell a lie by chawing up my own words f — Southern 
 Sketches, p. 34. 
 
 Cheat. See Chess. 
 
 Chebacco Boat. A description of fishing vessel employed in the 
 Newfoundland fisheries. So called from Chebacco Parish, Ipswich, 
 Mass., where many were fitted out. They are also called Pink- 
 sterns, and sometimes Tobacco Boats. 
 
 Checker-Berry. (Mitchella.) A handsome little plant, the only 
 species of its genus. Also called Chickberry. The Wintergreen 
 (Gualtheria) is also in some places called Box-berry and Tea-berry. 
 
 Check Guerilla. One who frequents gambling rooms, and solicits 
 money, or the checks used therein to represent money, from the 
 proprietors, by-standers, or betters, and who has no other means of 
 living other [.s•^■c] than the money so obtained. — Statutes of Nevada 
 (1877), chap. ex. sec. 2. 
 
 Checks. 1. Money, cash. See Pass in one^s Checks. 
 
 The old man's toast: " It 's hard work to keep your sons in check while they 
 're young; it's harder to keep them in checks when the}^ grow older." 
 
 2. Counters used in gambling, which are handed in to the banker 
 at the end of the game; hence " Passing in his checks " is a euphe- 
 mism for dying. 
 
 How Jimmy Bludsoe pass'd in his checks, 
 
 The night of the " Prairie Belle." — John Hay, Jim Bludsoe. 
 
 Frojn a fugitive poem in a newspaper, entitled " Grandpa's Solilo- 
 quy," in which many slang words are used: — 
 
 Of death we spoke in language plain, 
 
 That no one would perplex; 
 But in these days one doesn't die, 
 
 But passes in his checks. 
 
 Cheek. Courage; impudence. Provincial in England. — WrighVs 
 Prov. Die. 
 
 I 've known men rise by talent, though such are exceptions rare, 
 And so[ne by perseverance and industry and care; 
 There are men who build up fortune by saving a dollar a week ; 
 But the best thing to make your way in the world is to travel upon your cheek, 
 
 Boston Traveller^ P. Thompson, 
 
112 
 
 CUE— CHI 
 
 Cheese. That 's the cheese, i. e. just the thing; that was well done. 
 
 If greenbacks ain't not just the cheese, 
 
 I guess there 's evils that 's extremer ; 
 For instance, — sliinplaster idees, 
 
 Lilie tliem put out by Gov'nor Seymour. — Lowell. 
 
 Cheese Box. 1. A box in which cheese is kept. 
 
 2. A ciipolated iron-cased gunboat (in aUusion to its cupola or 
 round tower). The Confederates termed the "Monitor" a cheese- 
 box on a i"aft. 
 
 Where is the "Monitor " ? We have not heard a word of the little cheese-box 
 since the repulse in James River until yesterday. — iV. Y. Tribune, June 10, 18G2. 
 
 Chemiloon. A dress-reform garment combining the chemise and 
 drawers in one garment. From the Fr. chemise. 
 
 " I feel awful good in my chemiloon,^' she said, " and then I wear suspenders." 
 Dr. Alary Walker, Lect. on Dress. 
 
 Chequet. An Indian name of the Labrus squeteague, or weak-fish, 
 retained in parts of Connecticut and Rhode Island. 
 
 Fish have been scarce and high. A fine lot of Chequet, a scarce fish in this 
 market, made their appearance yesterday and sold readih' at 12^ cents a pound. 
 — Hartford Market RepH. 
 
 Cherimoya. West India and South America. The fruit of the A nona 
 cherimolia. full of white, creamy, and custard-like pulp. Much 
 esteemed. A variety {A. glabra) is called by the Spaniards of 
 Cuba Mamon ; by the French, Cachiment coeur boeuf. 
 
 Cherry-Tomato. See Tomato. 
 
 Chess. {Bromus secalinus.) A troublesome weed, often found in 
 wheat-fields, which gave rise to the erroneous opinion that it was 
 degenerated wheat. It is also called Cheat. 
 
 Chessycat. (Cheshire Cat.) Although Charles Lamb's query as to 
 the reason why cats grin in Cheshire has not yet met wdth a satis- 
 factoiy solution, still the fact itself seems to remain undisputed. 
 A correspondent of the " New York Tribune," discussing the dis- 
 tinctive quality that separates man from the brute creation, ob- 
 seiTes, "Rabelais, forgetting the hyena and the Chessycat, says it 
 is laughter." 
 
 Chewink. The ground robin ; so called from its peculiar note. On 
 Long Island it is called the Towhee Goldfinch; and in Louisiana, 
 from its plumpness, Grasset. — Natural History of New York. 
 
 Chicha. (West Ind ) A sweet fermented liquor made of Indian corn, 
 pine-apple, banana, &c. 
 
CHI 
 
 113 
 
 Chickadee. (Parus atricapillus .) The black-cap titmouse, a very 
 common little bird, so called from its peculiar note. — Audubon^ 
 Ornith. 
 
 Far distant sounds the hidden chicJcadee 
 
 Close at my side ; far distant sound the leaves. . . . 
 
 Lowell, An Indian Summer ReveHe. 
 
 When the chichadee is peeping 
 
 In the branches overhead. 
 And the bluebird seems to listen 
 
 To each loving word that's said. — T. L. Mitchell. 
 
 Chickaree. (Sciurus Hudsonii.) The popular name of the Red Squir- 
 rel. 
 
 Chickasaw Plnm. (Prunus cMcasa.) A plum growing on the banks 
 of the Red River, Arkansas, upon small bushes from two to six feet 
 high. They are very large and sweet, and vary in color from a light 
 pink to a deep crimson. — Capt. Marcy^s Report^ p. 19. 
 
 Chicken Fixings. In the Western States, a chicken fricassee. 
 
 The remainder of the breakfast table [in New York] was filled up with some 
 warmed-up old hen, called chicken Jixings. — Itubio, Travels in the U. S. 
 
 We trotted on very fast, in the assurance of rapidly approaching a snug break- 
 fast of chicken fxins, eggs, ham doins, and corn slapjacks. — Carlton, New 
 Purchase, Vol. II. p. 69. 
 
 I guess I '11 order supper. What shall it be ? Corn-bread and common doins. 
 or wheat-bread and chicken Jixinsf — Sam Slick, 3d Ser., p. 118. 
 
 Chicken-Grape. The River Grape, or Vitis riparia ; also called Frost- 
 Grape. The sterile vine is cultivated for its sweet-scented blos- 
 soms, and is then called Bermudian Vine. 
 
 Chicken Snake. A name popularly applied to various species of 
 snakes which are considered as particularly destructive to chickens 
 and eggs. 
 
 Chickwit or Chickewit. The " weak-fish. " Connecticut. See Blue Fish. 
 
 Chigoe, spelled also chigre, cTiigrjer, jigger, &c. 1. (^Pulex penetrans.) 
 Sand-fleas, which penetrate under the skin of the feet, particularly 
 the toes. As soon as they accomplish this, an itching sensation is 
 felt; when the chigre ought to be removed by means of a needle 
 breaking the skin. No uneasiness follows; but, should this pre- 
 caution be neglected, the insect breeds in the toe, and sometimes 
 produces dreadful sores. These insects are found in the West 
 Indies and the adjacent shores of the Gulf of Mexico. — CarmichaeVs 
 West Indies, Vol. I. p. 189. 
 
 2. In Kentucky, the term is applied to a minute red acariis, or 
 tick, which buries itself in the skin, while the true chico of the 
 
 8 
 
114 
 
 CHI 
 
 South (ptpulex) causes torment by the growth of the eggs which it 
 deposits under the skin. They are found in abundance in the sand 
 along the bays and rivers of Maryland and Virginia. 
 
 Child. This child is a common expression in the West for " this per- 
 son," i. e. myself. 
 
 Human nature can't go on feeding on civilized fixings in this l)ig village ; and 
 this child lias felt like going West for many a month, being half froze for buffler 
 meat and mountain doin's. — Ruxton, Fur Wtst. 
 
 Chili Colorado. (Span.) Red pepper. In California, Texas, and in 
 the States bordering on Mexico, the Spanish term is universally 
 used. It is used as a liquid, and in great quantities. 
 
 I was helped to a dish of rabbit, with what I thought to be an abundant sauce 
 of tomato. Taking a good mouthful, I felt as though I had taken liquid fire. 
 The tomato was Chili Colorado. — General Sherman's Memoirs^ Vol. I. p. 22. 
 
 Chills and Fever. A name for fever and ague. 
 
 Chincapin, Chinquapin. (Powhatan Ind.) {Castanea pumila.) A 
 diminutive species of chestnut, shaped like a boy's top, common 
 south of Pennsylvania. 
 
 They have a small fruit growing on little trees, husked like a chestnut, but 
 the fruit most like a very small Acorne. This they call Chechinquamins, which 
 they esteeme a great daintie. — Smith's General Hist, of Virginia, 1624. 
 Their nuts, black walnuts, persimins, 
 Kiscatoma nuts and chinquapins. 
 
 Ramsay, Picture of AmeHca, p. 161. 
 
 Chinee. A marble. 
 
 Chinch or Chintz. (Span, chinche.) The name given in the South- 
 ern and INIiddle States to the Bed-bug (cimex). 
 
 Chinches are a sort of flat bug, which lurks in the bedsteads and bedding, and 
 disturbs people's rest a-nights. — Beverly's Virginia, 3705. 
 
 Miss Ramsay, in her poetical account of her residence in Virginia, 
 in describing the apartments she occupied, says: — 
 
 I thought I on the wall espy'd innumerable insects move, 
 And swiftly o'er the whitewash rove ; 
 
 She called the mistress, and asked " who owTied this live and 
 moving wall ? ' ' 
 
 "Oh ma'am, they 're chintzes,'" she did say. 
 
 " Chintzes,'" said I ; " pray what are they ? " 
 
 *' They 're insects, ma'am," she coolly said, 
 
 "That sometimes trouble us in bed." 
 
 Poetical Picture of America, p. 72. 
 
 Chinch-Bug. A fetid insect, destructive to wheat, maize, &c., in the 
 
 Soutliern and Western States. — Farm. Encyclop. 
 Chinese Sugar-Cane. See Sorghum. 
 
CHI 
 
 115 
 
 To chink. To fill up chinks, or interstices. The process of filling 
 with clay the intei-stices between the logs of houses in the new 
 countries, and then plastering them over with the same material, is 
 called chinking and daubing. In the north of England, it is called 
 daubing and filling. — Moor. Also to chince. 
 
 Our loghouse quarters, however, were closely chinked and daubed, and we 
 passed a comfortable night. — Kendall's Santa Fe Exp., Vol. I. p. 28. 
 
 The interstices of the log wall were '•'■chinked,''" the chinking being large chips 
 and small slabs, dipping like strata of rocks in geology; and the daubinf/. yellow 
 cla}"- ferociously splashed in soft by the hand of the architect. — Carlton, The 
 New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 61. 
 
 A huge pair of antlers occupied a conspicuous place in the little cabin, and upon 
 its unchinked walls many a coon and deer skin were drying. — The Fire Hunt. 
 
 I met with a lot of these the other day in Southern Illinois ; and, as it can have 
 no bearing upon the election now, perhaps you would like to have it to use for 
 chinking in among your election returns. — N. Y. Sjnnt of the Times. 
 
 Chinsing. Filling with moss the vacancies between the studs of 
 houses, to keep out wind and frost, — Cartwi'ight's Labrador (1792), 
 Vol. III. Glossary. 
 
 To chip in. To put in a piece of money or a bank-note; to con- 
 tribute. 
 
 An idea seems A'ery generally to prevail that the printer should " chip in'* to 
 every charitable and religious operation. — The W instead (Conn.) He7-a Id, Nov. 
 22. 1861. 
 
 Chipmuk, or Chipmonk. The popular name for the Striped Squirrel 
 (Sciurus striatus). Probably an Indian word. 
 
 The children were never tired of watching the vagaries of the little chipmonk^ 
 as he glanced from branch to branch. — Mrs. Clavers's Forest Life. 
 
 Chipper. Lively. 
 
 Over the hill to the poor-house I 'm trudgin' my wear}-- way, — 
 
 I, a woman of seventy, and only a trifle gray, — 
 
 I, who am smart and chipper, for all the years I 've told, 
 
 As many other woman that 's only half as old. 
 
 Carlton, Farm Ballads, p. 51. 
 
 Chip- Yard. A yard, or that portion of a yard, in which logs are 
 chopped for fuel. 
 
 If the soil around the body of the trees should become too stiff, it may be 
 carefully removed and its place supplied by coarse manure, or the scrapings of 
 the chip-yard. — New England Farmer. 
 
 Chiravari. (Fr., pron. cheraree.) A custom that prevails in those 
 parts of the United States which were originally colonized by the 
 French, as Louisiana, Missouri, &c. Also common iu Canada. 
 When an unequal match takes place, when an old bachelor marries, 
 
116 
 
 cm 
 
 or a widow or widower marries soon after they become such, their 
 friends assemble on the night of the wedding with tin horns, bells, 
 tin kettles, and whatever will make a discordant noise. This 
 " serenade" is nightly continued until the party is invited in and 
 handsomely entertained. See Callithumpians. 
 
 Chirimoya. (Annona chirimoya.^ The Custard Apple of the more 
 temperate part of the tropics. 
 
 Chirk. 1. Lively, cheerful, in good spirits, in a comfortable state; as 
 when one inquires about a sick person, it is said, he is chirk. The 
 word is wholly lost, except in New England. — Webster. It is 
 doubtless derived from the old verb to c/u>/;.(Ang.-Sax. cercian), 
 i. e. to chirp, which is found in old English writers. 
 2. To make more comfortable. Connecticut. 
 
 Afore I had mixed a second glass of switchel, up they came, and the General 
 looked as chirk and lively as a skipper. — Major Downiny's Lttttrs. 
 
 To chisel. To cheat; to swindle. Comp. To gouge. A Western 
 word. 
 
 The banking-house of have, by their recent failure, chiselled the people 
 
 of California out of a million of dollars. — Alta CuliJ'ornian. 
 
 To those who are in the habit of being chiselled by their butchers and grocers, 
 we would advise a visit to the governor's room and examine the standard of 
 weights and measures. — New York Herald. 
 
 "State your case," said a Western lawyer to a "sucker," who had apphed 
 for advice. 
 
 "It 's an infarnal mean case of woman-swindling; it sets my teeth a gritten to 
 think on it. I've been owdaciously c7(i*-e//eJ, dan darn my foolish pictur! I 
 might have known that puke warn't to be trusted. — ;S^. Louis Reveille. 
 
 Chisel. To go full chisel., to go forcibly, earnestly, violently, or as at 
 great speed. Connecticut. See Full Chisel. 
 
 Chitlins. (A contraction of chitterlings.') Rags, tatters. 
 
 While I was in this way rolling in clover, they were tearing my character all 
 to chitlins up at home. — Jiobb, Squatter Life. 
 
 They did all they could to tear my reputation to chitlins. — Sam Slick, Human 
 Nature, p. 188. 
 
 I told you it wur a sorrowful story ; but you would hev it out, and jest see how 
 it makes parfect chitlins of your feelin's. — Western Tales. 
 
 Chiv. The California term for Southerner, — an abbreviation for 
 Chivalry. 
 
 Chivalry. A cant term for the people of the South. 
 
 Had the Free States been njanly enough, true enough, to enact the Wilmot 
 Proviso as to all present or future territories of the Union, we should have had 
 just about the same didoes cut up by the chivalry that Ave have witnessed, and 
 with no more damage to the Union. — N. Y. Tribune, April 10, 1851. 
 
CHO 
 
 117 
 
 Chock-full. Entirely full; see also Chuck-full. 
 
 I 'm chock-full of genius and running over, said Pigwiggin. — Neal. 
 By this time we got into a shabby-looking street, chock-full of hogs and boys. 
 — Major Downing, May-day in New York. 
 
 Chock up. Close, tight; said of a thing which fits closely to another. 
 
 Chogset. (Indian.) A small fish common along the coast of New 
 England and farther South; also called Salt Water Perch. In New 
 York, it is called a Burgall, which see. 
 
 Choke-Berry. (Pyrus arbutifolia.) A plant having astringent prop- 
 erties. 
 
 Choke-Cherry. The popular name of the Prunus Virginiana, so called 
 from its astringent properties. 
 
 To choke off. To stop (a person) in the execution of a purpose. A 
 figurative expression, borrowed from the act of choking a dog to 
 make him loose his hold. To arrest a public speaker when growing 
 tedious is called choking him off. This is done by shufiiing the feet, 
 applauding where applause is uncalled for, by putting questions of 
 order, &c. 
 
 I spent a couple of hours in the House, amused by watching the dignified pro- 
 ceedings of our Representatives. The operation of ^'^ choking off''" a speaker was 
 very funny, and reminded me of the lawless conduct of fighting school-boys. — 
 N. Y. Express, Feb. 21, 1848. 
 
 Choker. A cravat. See Whitechokered. 
 
 To chomp. To chew loudly ; to champ. This pronunciation is com- 
 mon to the north of England and to New England. (Also used in 
 the West and South.) 
 
 Chompins or Champins. The residuum of an apple or other fruit 
 after it has been chewed, or "chomped," and the juice only swal- 
 lowed. 
 
 Chop. A Chinese word signifying quality; first introduced by mari- 
 ners in the China trade, but which has now become common in all 
 our sea-ports. Originally the word was applied only to silks, teas, or 
 other goods from China; now the phrase first-chop is an equivalent 
 to " first-rate," and applied to eveiy thing. 
 
 A smart little boss, says I, you are a cleaning of: he looks like a, first-chop 
 article. — Sam Slick in England, ch. 2. 
 
 I went to board at a famous establishment in Broadway, where sundry young 
 merchants of the first-chop were wont to board. — Perils of Pearl Street. 
 
 Chore. A small piece of domestic work; a little job; a char. 
 
 In England, the word char is used both as a noun and as a verb. 
 
118 
 
 CHO— CHU 
 
 The pronunciation also varies; in some of the southern counties, it 
 is pronounced chewe, or choor. 
 
 In Arnei-ica, only the noun is employed, and generally in the 
 plural. The pronunciation is uniformly chore. It is mostly con- 
 fined to New England. 
 
 " Hunting cattle is a dreadful c^o?'e," remarked one of our neif^hborfi, after 
 threading the country for three weeks in search of his best ox. — Mrs. C'lavers's 
 Forest Life. 
 
 Radney comes down and milks the cow, and does some of my other little chores. 
 Margaret, p. 388. 
 
 Girl-hunting is certainly among our most formidable chores. — Mrs. Kirkland, 
 
 Western Clearings. 
 
 The editor of the " Boston Daily Star," in recently relinquishing 
 his charge, gives the following notice: — 
 
 Any one wishing corn hoed, gardens weeded, wood sawed, coal pitched iu, 
 paragraphs written, or small chores done with desjiatch and on reasonable terms, 
 will please make immediate application to the retiring editor. 
 
 To chore. (Anglice, char.) " Bridget was choring [working] when I 
 
 left home." To "chore about." Connecticut. 
 Chore-Boy. A boy who does chores. In the north of England where 
 
 " char " is still used, they have char-hoys and char-women. — Wright, 
 
 And look that the hangings in the matted room be brushed down, and the 
 char-woman rub the rest of the rooms. — Revet, The Town Shifts, 1671. 
 
 Chowder. A favorite dish in New England, made of fish, pork, 
 onions, and biscuit stewed together. Cider and champagne are 
 sometimes added. Picnic parties to the sea-shore generally have a 
 dish of chowder, prepared by themselves in some grove near the 
 beach, from fish caught at the same time. Grose describes the 
 same as a sea-dish. A veal chowder when fish are scarce is a very 
 agreeable soup. 
 
 Chowderhead. A word corresponding with the forcible, if not classi- 
 cal, terms numskull and dunderhead. See Muttonhead. 
 
 Christian. (Pron. with the first i long.) A name assumed by a sect 
 which arose from the great revival in 1801. 
 
 Christianization. This substantive is to be found occasionally in 
 our religious publications. The verb to christianize, which is in the 
 dictionaries, is in use among the English writers; but the substan- 
 tive is never employed by them. — Pickering, Vocabulary. 
 
 Chub. 1. A name sometimes given to the Blackfish. 
 
 2. A round squash. Connecticut. 
 Chub Sucker. A sea-fish, otherwise called the Horned Sucker. 
 
CHU 
 
 119 
 
 Chuck-a-Liick. A Western game played with dice. 
 
 At Holly P'ork, Tenn., any one can be accommodated. Cards or chuclc-a-Iuck, 
 old corn or cider, a fight or a foot-race mattered not : it was to be had at a 
 moment's notice. — Southern Skelches, p. 160. 
 
 Chuck-full. Entirely full. Common in familiar language, as well as 
 chock-full, which see for other examples. 
 
 [At dinner] the soiB labor of the attendants was to keep the plates chuck-full 
 of something. — Carlton^ The New Purchase^ Vol. I. p. 181. 
 
 J '11 throw that in, to make chuck-full the " measure of the country's glory." 
 — Crockett, Tour, p 86. 
 
 Chuck- Will's-Widow. The common name of a bird of the whip- 
 poorwill family. (Caprimulgus Carolinensis.) Mr. Audubon says : 
 " About the middle of March, the forests of Louisiana are heard to 
 echo with the well-known notes of this interesting bird. No sooner 
 has the sun disappeared, and the nocturnal insects emerge from 
 their burrows, than the sound ' Chuck-wiW s-widow repeated with 
 great clearness and power six or seven times in as many seconds, 
 strike the ear." — Ornithology^ Vol. I. p. 273. 
 
 Chufa. (See Earth Almond.') 
 
 Chuk ! A noise made in calling swine. Always repeated at least 
 three times. Ciacco is one of the Italian words for hog. 
 
 Chunk. A short, thick piece of wood, or of any thing else; a chump. 
 The word is provincial in England, and colloquial in the United 
 States. 
 
 I rode an all-fired smart chunk of a pony, — real creole, — cane-raised, — walk 
 six miles an hour, and run like a scared deer in a prairie a-fire. — N. Y. Spirit 
 of the Times, Frontier Incident. 
 
 It is true that now and then a small chunk of sentiment or patriotism or philan- 
 thropy is thrown in awkwardly among the crudities and immoralities [of the 
 stage], but it evidently has no business there. — New York in Slices, The 
 Theatre. 
 
 To chunk. To throw sticks or chips at one. Southern and Western. 
 Chunked. Any person who is impudent or bold, at the South-west, 
 is said to be chunked. See chunk. 
 
 Chunk-Head. A name of the Trigonocephalus contortrix, red snake, 
 or copper-head. See Storer and Holhrook. 
 
 Chunky. Short and thick. Often applied to the stature of a person, 
 as "he is a chunky little fellow." 
 
 Chunk Yard or Chunkee Yard. A name given by the white traders 
 to the oblong four-square yards adjoining the high mounts and 
 rotundas of the modern Indians of Florida. In the centre of these 
 
120 
 
 CHU 
 
 stands the obelisk; and at each corner of the further end stands a 
 slave post, or strong stake, where the captives that are burnt alive 
 are bound. — Bartram. 
 
 The pyramidal hills or artificial mounts, and highwaA's or avenues, leading 
 from them to artificial lakes or ponds, vast tetragon terraces, chunk-yards, and 
 obelisks or pillars of wood, are the only monuments of labor, ingenuity, and mag- 
 nificence, that I have seen worth}' of notice. — Bartram, Travels in Florida 
 (1773), p. 518. 
 
 This is doubtless an Indian term, and the enclosure a place where 
 the natives played a game called chunLee, as will appear by the fol- 
 lowing extract from Du Pratz : — 
 
 " The warriors practise a diversion which they call the r/ame of 
 the pole., at which only two play at a time. Each pole is about eight 
 feet long, resembling a Roman f ; and the game consists in rolling a 
 flat, round stone, about three inches in diameter and one inch thick, 
 and throwing the pole in such a manner that when the stone rests 
 the pole may be at or near it. Both the antagonists throw their 
 poles at the same time, and he whose pole is nearest the stone 
 counts one, and has the right of rolling the stone." — History of 
 Louisiana, 1720. 
 
 Speaking of the Indians of Florida, Romans says, — 
 
 Their favorite game of chunke is a plain p-oof of the evil consequences of a 
 violent passion for gaming, upon all classes ; at this they play from morning till 
 night, . . . and they bet high. — Nat. Hist, of FloHda, 1776, p. 80. 
 
 Church. Mr. Pickering has the following remarks on this w^ord : "A 
 church, as a body of persons, is distinguished, in Xew England, from 
 a congregation, by the privileges which the former in general reserve 
 to themselves of receiving exclusively in that church the sacrament 
 and baptism, in consequence of their having publicly declared their 
 assent to the creed which that church maintains. Marriage, burial, 
 and public worship are open to the members of the congregation 
 at large, according to the forms and methods employed in each 
 chm'ch ; as are also catechising for children and visits to the sick." 
 — Vocabulary. 
 
 Church-Maul. To call to account ; to discipline by ecclesiastical 
 methods. N. England. Vulgar. 
 
 Chute. 1. A rush ; a stampede. 
 
 The Douglas and Breckenridge men . . . are rushing to Lincoln with a per- 
 fect stampede. Besides this, the Bell men are also taking the same chute every 
 day. — Baltimore Patriot, Sept., 1860. 
 
 2. A bayou ; a side channel. Louisiana and along the Missis- 
 sippi River. 
 
CID— CIT 
 
 121 
 
 When we came to a bayou or chute^ the fleet would divide, part going the irreg- 
 ular way, and part keeping the direct course. — N. Y. Tiibune^ June 11, 1861, 
 Lett, from Fort Pillow., Tenn. 
 
 We were running chute after chute, — a new world to me, — and if there was 
 a particularly cramped place in a chute, we were pretty sure to meet a broadhorn 
 there; and, if he failed to be there, we would find him at the head of the chute. 
 Mark Twain, in Atlantic Monthly.^ for April, 1875. 
 
 3. (Fr. chute.) A water-fall; a cascade. See Shoot and Schute. 
 Cider. All talk and no cider is a phrase equivalent to " great cry and 
 
 little wool." 
 Cider Brandy. See Apple Brandy. 
 
 Cider Oil. Cider concentrated by boiling, to which honey is subse- 
 quently added. Also called cider royal, probably the original name; 
 such being found in old receipt books, and is perhaps English, or 
 may come from the supposed superior quality of the beverage. 
 
 Cienega. (Span.) A marsh. New Mexico and Texas. A small 
 marsh is called a cienegidta. 
 
 Cimlin. A squash, so called in the Middle and Southern States. See 
 Cymhling. 
 
 Cincinnati Oysters. Pigs' feet. 
 
 To circulate. To travel. Used in this sense many times in a pam- 
 phlet on the " Frauds, Extortions, and Oppressions of the Railroad 
 Monopoly in New Jersey." In comparing the rates of travel in 
 various States, by which it is shown that the rates in New Jersey 
 are the highest in the world, the author says of the traveller: — 
 
 Arriving in Maryland, a slave State, he circulates at a cost of from three to 
 five cents per mile. 
 
 Circumstance. Not a circumstance, in the sense of a thing of no 
 account, nothing in comparison, is a vulgarism which has become 
 popular within the last few years. 
 
 I never saw so lean and spare a gall as Miss A since I was raised. Pha- 
 raoh's lean kine warn't the smallest part of a circumstance to her. I had to look 
 twice before I could see her at all. — Sam Slick, Human Nature, p. 184. 
 
 Cisco. The popular name of a fish of the herring kind which abounds 
 in Lake Ontario, particularly in Chaumont Bay at the east end, 
 where thousands of barrels are annually caught and salted. 
 
 Citified. Having and exhibiting the peculiarities of residents of 
 cities. New England. 
 
 To citizenize. To make a citizen ; to admit to the rank and privileges 
 of a citizen. — Webster. Rarely used. 
 
 Talleyrand was citizenized in Pennsylvania, when there in the form of an emi- 
 grant. — T. PickeHny. 
 
122 
 
 CIT— CLA 
 
 Citron. Sweetmeats made from a melon, so as closely to resemble 
 that made from- the fruit of the citron-tree. 
 
 Citron Melon. The sort of melon employed for that purpose. 
 
 City. The new settlers and miners in the far Western States and 
 Territories, anxious that the particular spots upon which they have 
 built their rude cabins or pitched their tents, or where they have 
 " located," may become a great town or city, at once add the word 
 " city " to the name they have chosen. For example, at the present 
 time (Dec, 1876), when it is hardly safe for white men to be in the 
 district in Wyoming and Dakota known as the "Black Hills," 
 seven places are marked on the maps bearing the names of " Crook 
 City," "Gay City," " Deadwood City," "Spring City," "Golden 
 City," " Custer City," and " Kapid City." Modest towns and vil- 
 lages are unknown. It is safe to say that there are not five hundred 
 inhabitants in either of these so-called cities. In Kew England, 
 too, many villages are so named. 
 
 Civil Authority. Justices of the peace are considered as the cwil 
 autliority of the town in which they dwell. — SivifCs System of the 
 Laios of Connecticut (1795), I. 109. 
 
 The term is yet retained in the Connecticut Statute Book, and 
 in common use. 
 
 Civism. Love of country; patriotism. — Webster. This, like the pre- 
 ceding word, is one of the productions of the French Revolution; 
 and, though frequently used several years ago, is now obsolete here 
 as well as in France. — Pickering^ s Vocabulary. 
 
 Claim. A piece of public land which a squatter marks out for him- 
 self and settles upon, with the intention of purchasing it when the 
 government will olfer it for sale. There are also claims for mines. 
 
 To claim. To assert. 
 
 This verb, although in common use, is not found in the dic- 
 tionaries. 
 
 A boy of fourteen, named George LaDoo, applied for a night's lodging at the 
 Third Police Station last evening, and stated that he had left his home in Green- 
 fi« ld, N. H , that morning, at the command of his parents, who claimed to be 
 unable to support him. — Boston Journal. 
 
 John Belcher has brought a writ against .Jolm F. Costello, to recover on certain 
 notes given by the latter for a grocery store in Winthrop. The notes are claimed 
 to be worthless. 
 
 There is a curious legal complication in our courts pending the distribution of 
 the estate of the late John D. Lewis, a deceased Avealthy merchant of this city. 
 ... He never made known his history, and claimed he had no relations living, 
 Boston Transcrijpt, Feb. 7, 1876. 
 
CLA 
 
 123 
 
 Claim-Jumper. One who violently seizes on another's land claim. 
 Claim-Jumping. Violently seizing on another's claim. 
 Clam. The popular name of certain shell-fish, highly esteemed ior 
 food. They are of two principal kinds: — 
 
 1. The Hard Clam (Venus inercenaria) ^ a very common mollusk, 
 found buried in the sand or shores of marine districts at half-tide. 
 See Quahog. 
 
 2. The Soft Clam, or Mananosay {JShja arenaria)^ obtained from 
 the shores of tidal rivers by digging one or two feet in the loose 
 sand. It has a long, extensible, cartilaginous snout, or proboscis, 
 through which it ejects water; whence it is also called Stem-clam. 
 Abundant on the shores of Narragansett Bay. 
 
 A friend informs me that in Maiyland the latter is always called 
 the maninose, and never soft-shell clam. 
 
 Clam-Bake. Clams, baked in the primitive style of the Indians, fur- 
 nish one of the most popular dishes on those parts of the coast 
 where they abound, and constitute a main feature in the bill of fare 
 at picnics and other festive gatherings. The method of baking is 
 as follows: A cavity is dug in the earth, about eighteen inches deep, 
 which is lined with round stones. On this a fire is made; and, 
 when the stones are sufficiently heated, a bushel or more of soft 
 clams (according to the number of persons who are to partake of 
 the feast) is thrown upon them. On this is put a layer of rock- 
 weed gathered from the beach, and over this a second layer of sea- 
 weed. Sometimes the clams are simply placed close together on 
 the ground, with the hinges uppermost, and over them is made a 
 fire of brush. This is called an Indian bed of clams. Clams baked 
 in this manner are preferred to those cooked in the usual way in 
 the kitchen. 
 
 Parties of ten or twenty persons, of both sexes, are the most 
 common. Often they extend to a hundred, when other amuse- 
 ments are added; and on one occasion, that of a grand political 
 mass-meeting in favor of General Harrison on the 4th of July, 1840, 
 nearly 10,000 persons assembled in Rhode Island, for whom a c/am- 
 hake and chowder were prepared. This was probably the greatest 
 feast of the kind that ever took place in New England. 
 
 The "Boston Atlas" quotes the following as the opinion of a 
 German Professor who had written on the United States: — 
 
 The people assemble at the side of the river, and feast upon a species of oyster 
 called the clam, after which they grow noisy and clamor about their rights. 
 
 Cam-hakes are a Rhode Island institution, so much so that the 
 
124 
 
 CLA 
 
 aldermanic proportions of some of her jolliest sons rise and fall with 
 the tide; and they are notoriously happy at high-water. When 
 given pro bono publico^ clain-bakes are like cattle-show dinners in 
 mammoth tents; but when enjoyed by a select party, on some re- 
 tired beach or tiny islet, they are gorgeous. 
 
 "At such times, 
 "With shoes and stockings doffed, and trowsers rolled 
 Above their knees, the men adventurous wade 
 Through mud and water 'for to dig for clams ; ' 
 While on some smooth-worn stones the maidens pile 
 A heap of sun-dried branches, which enflamed 
 By loco-foco match or otlier means, 
 Kindles straightway, and heats the hearth beneath; 
 Next sweeping off the ashes, lay the clams, 
 And cover o'er with seaweed, tliat may keep 
 Enclosed the fierce caloric. Then when done, 
 And the shell opens of itself, the morsel sweet 
 Is gobbled from that natural spoon, its juices all 
 Retained, its flavor full and perfect." — Perley. 
 
 Clam-Shell. The lips, or mouth. There is a common though vulgar 
 expression in New England of "Shut your clam-shell ; that is, 
 " Shut your mouth, hold your tongue." The padlock now used on 
 the United States mail-bags is called the " Clam-shell padlock." 
 
 You don't feel much like speakin', 
 When if 3-ou let your clam-shells gape, a quart of tar will leak in." 
 
 Lowell, Biylow Papers, Vol. II. p. 19. 
 
 Clapboard. A thin, narrow board, used to cover the sides of houses, 
 and placed so as to overlap the one below it. Originally c/ofe-board, 
 or board made by cleaoing. In England, according to Bailey's 
 Dictionary, a clapboard is a thin board formed ready for the cooper's 
 use, in order to make casks or vessels. 
 
 Ship-plankes, clove-board and pike-staves, these lade home ships twice a year 
 hence. — Desc. of New Albion (1648), Force's Repr., p. 31. 
 
 Mr. Oldham had a small house near the weir at Watertown, made all of dap- 
 boards [i. e. of cloven boards, without timber], burned August, 1632. — Winthrop, 
 Journal, Vol. I. p. 87. 
 
 Richard Longe was fined, in 1635, for riving divers good trees into clapboards. 
 Mass. Records, Vol. I. p. 163. 
 
 To clapboard. To cover with clapboarding. 
 
 The house was neat and comfortable. It was a small frame building, clap- 
 boarded on the sides and roof. — Margaret, p. 18. 
 
 Clape. The common name of the Golden- winged Woodpecker, in the 
 State of New York. Dr. DeKay thinks it " a provincial word, in- 
 troduced by the early English colonists." It is elsewhere called 
 High-hole, Old Eng. Hygh-vhele, Hig-hawe; mod. HickwaU and 
 
CLA— CLE 
 
 125 
 
 Hictway (Booth); Yucker, Yuckel (Wiltshire); Flicker, Wake- 
 up, Pigeon Woodpecker, and Yellow-hammer; in Louisiana, Pique- 
 bois-jaune. — Nat. Hist, of New York. 
 Clapmatch. 1. A kind of woman's cap. See Clockmutch. 
 
 2. A kind of seal-skin. 
 Clatterwhacking. A clatter, racket. 
 
 When we went a bar hunting, I heard the darndest clatterwhacking and noise 
 in the road behind us. — Southern Sketches, p. 32. 
 
 Clay -Eaters, otherwise Dirt-Eaters. A miserable set of people in- 
 habiting some of the Southern States, who subsist chiefly on tur- 
 pentine whiskey, and appease their craving for more substantial 
 food by filling their stomachs with a kind of aluminous earth 
 which abounds everywhere. This gives them a yellowish, drab- 
 colored complexion, with dull eyes, and faces whose idiotic expres- 
 sion is only varied by a dull despair or a devilish malignity. They 
 are looked down upon by the Negroes with a contempt which they 
 return by a hearty hatred. — Ida May. See fully in " Thompson's 
 Practice of Medicine." 
 
 The Clean Thing. A low expression, denoting propriety, or what is 
 honorable. 
 
 It is admitted that sending out ships to phmder your neighbor or adversary is 
 as much as mere words in making war. I don't like it. It isn't the clean thing. 
 Crockett, Tour, p. 193. 
 
 A man may be the straight thing, that is, right up and down like a cow's tail; 
 but hang me if he can do the clean thing any how he can fix it. — S. Slick, 
 Human Nature, p. 53. 
 
 Clean Ticket. The entire regularly nominated ticket at an election ; 
 
 a ticket without any erasures; also called a ^'■straight ticket." 
 
 " He went the clean ticket on the Whig nominations." 
 Cle£ur Grit. The right sort; having no lack of spirit; unalloyed; 
 
 decided. 
 
 Nor do we think the matter much mended by a clear grit Republican conven- 
 tion, putting one or two Democrats at the foot of their ticket. — New York 
 Tribune, Oct. 10, 1861. 
 
 In Canada, a Clear Grit means a Liberal in politics. 
 Clearing. A place or tract of land cleared of wood for cultivation; 
 a common use of the word in America. — Webster. 
 
 After we reached the boundaries of the clearing and plunged into the timbered 
 land, this lieat was exchanged for a grotto-like coolness. — 3Irs. Clavers's Forest 
 Life, Vol. I. p. 04. 
 
 Clearing House. An establishment recently organized in the city of 
 New York, where clerks from the various banks daily meet to settle 
 the balances of their respective institutions. 
 
126 
 
 CLE 
 
 To clear out. To take one's self off; to depart, decamp. A figure 
 borrowed from the custom-house. A vessel " takes her clearance 
 papers," or " clears out " for departure. 
 
 This tiling of man-worship I am a stranger to; I don't like it; it taints every 
 action of life: it is like a skunk getting into a liouse, — long after he has cleared 
 out, you smell him in every room and closet from the cellar to the garret. — 
 Crockett's Speec/i, Tour, p. 74. 
 
 I turned round, and was going to clear out. But, says he, Stop, Mister! — 
 Major Doionin(/'s Af ay-day in New York. 
 
 Not a soul has disturbed our peaceful repose, except that Colonel Colden and 
 the Dickenses came, one night after we had gone to bed, and cleared out the next 
 day at noon. — Ticknor's Life and Letters, Lett, to H. S. Leyare, Vol. II. p. 207. 
 
 Clear Swing. Good opportunity. See Full Swing. 
 
 As so(m as civilization arrives at years of discretion, we expect to see our cities 
 purged of rowdyism, incentives to vice abated, and a clear swiny and ample 
 reward granted to labor and intelligence. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 To clerk or to clerk it. To act in the capacity of a clerk In com- 
 mon use at the West, and occasionally heard in New York. 
 
 T^acWmg;. clerking, law, &c.. are so very precarious, except to men of estab- 
 lished reputation and business, that it is next to madness for a j'outh to come 
 here relying upon them. — A". Y. Tribune, April 19, 1849. 
 
 Young Soublette had b^en clerking down to the fort on the Platte, so he know'd 
 something. — Ruxton. Far West, p. 17. 
 
 I was struck with the original mode in which the young gentleman who was 
 clerking it managed his spelling. — A Stray Yankee in Texas, p. 197. 
 
 Clever. The following are the English senses of this word as given 
 by Dr. AVorcester: Dextrous, skilful {Addison) \ just, fit, proper, 
 commodious {Pope)'., well-shaped, handsome {Arhuthnot). 
 
 In the United States, clever is much used as a colloquial word in 
 the sense of good-natured, well-disposed, honest; and the phrase 
 ^'clever man" or clerer fellow " is employed to denote a person 
 of good-nature, good disposition, or good intention. — Worce.^ter^s 
 Dictionary. 
 
 The landlord of the hotel was a very clever man, and made me feel quite at 
 home in his house. — Crockett's Tour down East. p. 22. 
 
 It is related that an English lady arriving in Xew York, being 
 recommended to take a servant- girl who was described to her as clever, 
 but not smart, answered that such a maid would suit her admir- 
 ably. But she soon learned that her new acquisition was merely 
 inoffensive and dull; whereas, she had expected one brisk and 
 intelligent, without being showy or dressy. We sometimes hear the 
 expressions " English clever " and " Yankee clever " used to indi- 
 cate the sense in which the word is to be taken. 
 
CLE— CLI 
 
 127 
 
 We have also heard the word used in a sort of hybrid sense, as in 
 the question and answer: "How are you getting on?" "First- 
 rate, thank you." " Well, that clever.'''' 
 
 Cleverly. This is much used in some parts of New England, instead 
 of icell or very well. In answer to the common salutation, " How do 
 you do? " we often hear, " I am cleverly.'''' It is also used in the 
 sense of fairly, completely. 
 
 The Iflndlord comes to me, as soon as I was cleverly up this morning, looking 
 full of importance. — Sam Slick in Enyland, ch. 8. 
 
 Cleverness. Mildness or agreeableness of disposition; obligingness; 
 
 good nature. Used in New England. — Webster. 
 Clevis, or Clevy. (Fr. clef., clavette.) An iron, bent to the foi'm of 
 
 an ox-bow, with the two ends perforated to receive a pin, used on 
 
 the end of a cart-neap, to hold the chain of the forward horse or 
 
 oxen; or, a draft-iron on a plow. — Webster. 
 
 Cliflf. A part of the Silurian limestones of the West have been called 
 " Cliff limestone," from the bold cliffs found on the banks of 
 streams. The word much used in this way is usually pronounced 
 clifts, and hence the adjective cliffy, frequently applied to streams as 
 a proper name. Thus, "a clifty country" is one abounding in 
 cliffs. 
 
 Climb down. To climb is to ascend, to mount, to rise, but in no 
 sense to descend. Yet we sometimes find it used with the latter 
 signification. Thus, Mr. H. Ward Beecher, in describing his visit 
 to Oxford, says: — 
 
 To climb down the wall was easy enough, too easy for a man who did not love 
 wetting. 
 
 And again : — 
 
 I parth- climbed down, and wholly clambered back again, satisfied that it was 
 easier to get myself in than to get the flowers out. — Star Pajyers, p. 41. 
 
 Cling or Clingstone. A variety of the peach in which the flesh 
 adheres, or clings, firmly to the stone. When the stone readily 
 separates from the flesh, they are called free-stones or open stones. 
 The word peach frequently designates the free-stone, while the others 
 are called clings. 
 
 Clingjohn. A soft cake of rye. 
 
 Clinker-built. A term applied to a class of boats in which the 
 lower edge of every plank overlays the next under it, like clap- 
 boards on the side of a house. It is a variation of the English term 
 clincher-built. 
 
128 
 
 CLI— COA 
 
 Clip. A blow or stroke with the hand; as, *' He hit him a dip." — 
 Webster. Pjoviiicial in Enghmd and the Northern States. 
 
 Clipper-Ship. Ships built in the clipper style, with a special view to 
 quick voyages ; clipper-built ships. They owed their origin to the 
 immensely profitable trade which sprang up between the Atlantic 
 sea-ports and San Francisco, soon after the occupation of California 
 by Americans from the United States. 
 
 Clique. A combination of stock-brokers or capitalists, for the pur- 
 pose of increasing or diminishing the price of stocks, in order to 
 break down the market. Also called a ring. 
 
 Clitchy. Clammy, sticky, glutinous. — Pickeriri(fs Vocab. Mr. Pick- 
 ering says he has " heard this word used in a few instances by old 
 people in New England; but it is rarely heard." In Devonshire, 
 England, they use the verb to ditch, meaning to stick, to adhere, 
 to become thick or glutinous. From this our word is evidently 
 derived. 
 
 Clockmutch. (Du., klapmuts, a night-cap ) A woman's cap com- 
 posed of three pieces, — a straight centre one, from the forehead to 
 the neck, with two side pieces. A New York term. 
 
 Close. Held firmly ; difficult to obtain ; scarce. Usually said of money ; 
 
 as, " Money is close. 
 Cloud. A woman's knit head-covering. 
 To cloud up. To grow cloudy ; to cloud over. 
 
 Although the morning was fine and pleasant, it clouded up before eight o'clock 
 and commenced raining. — Bi^anVs Journey to California, p. 43. 
 
 Club-Tail. The common shad, the fatter portion of which have the 
 tail swollen, and on the coast of Carolina, where they are taken, are 
 called club-tails. — Nat. Hist. N. Y. 
 
 Coachee. Fr. A coachman ; a stage-driver. 
 
 Coach-Whip. In Virginia, the name of a snake. 
 
 Of no description I shall make 
 
 Of either glass or rattle-snake ; 
 I 've not the coach-whip, or the green, 
 
 The moccasin or wampum seen. 
 
 Ramsmj, Picture of America, p. 166. 
 
 Coal. The anthracite coal of commerce is thus classified in the mar- 
 kets where sold : 1. Broken or furnace coal, being the largest 
 lumps; 2. Stove or range coal; 3. Pea or nut coal; 4. Egg coal; 
 5. Coal dust. 
 
 Coal-Oil. Oil extracted from certain coal ; petroleum. 
 
COA— COC 
 
 129 
 
 To coast. To slide down hill with sleds on the snow ; a term used by 
 boys in New England. See Tahogganing. 
 
 Coasting. The amusement of sliding down hill with sleds on the 
 snow. 
 
 I guess Aunt Libby never broke one of the runners of her sled some Saturday- 
 afternoon, when it was prime coasting. — Fanny Fern. 
 
 Coat. Used in the South for petticoat. Formerly common, and still 
 
 provincial, in England. 
 Cob. The spike on which the kernels of maize, or Indian corn, grow. 
 
 When the corn is attached to it, it is called an "•ear." The old 
 
 English word coh, the top or head (from the Saxon cop), is doubtless 
 
 the origin of the term. 
 
 The following short but pithy dialogue is represented as passing 
 
 between two Virginia Negroes soon after the surrender of Lord 
 
 Cornwallis, at the siege of Yorktown: — 
 
 Mingo. Halloo, brudder Sam ; how you do ? 
 Sam. Oh, don't know, brudder Mingo; mighty poorly. 
 Mingo. Poorly ! indeed ! you no hear de news ? 
 Sam. No. What sorter news ? 
 
 Mingo. Why, don't you know dat are great man dey call Cornwallis ? 
 Sam. Yes, I hera nufE 'bout him shooting after white folks all over de 
 country. 
 
 Mingo. Well, I s'pose you know Gin'ral Washington ? 
 Sam. Oh. yes ! I know ole masser. 
 
 Mingo. Well, I tell you what: he no Cornwallis now, he CoJwallis ; Gin'ral 
 Washington shell all de corn off him too slick. — Cherokee Phoenix, May 21, 1828. 
 
 Cobb. A blow on the buttock. Wright, in his Dictionary of Obso- 
 lete and Provincial English, explains the word as follows: " A pun- 
 ishment used among seamen for petty offences or irregularities, by 
 bastinadoing the offender on the posteriors with a cobbing-stiek or 
 pipe-staff." 
 
 Should any Negro be found vending spirituous liquors, without permission from 
 his owner, such Negro so offending shall receive fifteen cobbs or paddles for every 
 such offence from the hands of the patrollers of the settlement or neighborhood 
 in which the offence was committed. — Cherokee Phoenix, April 10, 1828. 
 
 Cobbler. 1. A drink made of wine, sugar, lemon, and pounded ice, 
 and imbibed through a straw or other tube; as, a " sherry cobbler.^* 
 2. A sort of pie, baked in a pot lined with dough of great thick- 
 ness, upon which the fruit is placed; according to the fruit, it is 
 an apple or a peach cobbler. Western. 
 Cocash and Squaw-weed. Names given to Erigeron Canadense (and 
 other species of the genus), used by the Northern Indians for medi- 
 cine. — Rajinesque, Med. Flora, I. 167. 
 
 9 
 
130 
 
 COC— COD 
 
 Cockarouse. A title of honor among the Indians of Virginia, and 
 
 long afterwards used by the Englisli settlers as a term for a person 
 of consequence. " Werowance or cockarouse," says Captain John 
 Smith, " means a captain." — Hist. Virginia^ 1024. 
 
 A cockarouse is one that has the honor to be of the kinff or queen's council, 
 with relation to the affairs of government. — Beverbfs Virfjinia, 1705, Book III. 
 With spur of punch which lay in pate, 
 Ere long we lighted at the gate; 
 Where in an ancient cedar house, 
 Dwelt my new friend, a cockerouse. 
 
 The Sot-weed Factor ; or, A Voyage to Maryland, 1708. 
 
 Cocktail. A stimulating beverage, made of brandy, gin, or other 
 liquor, mixed with bitters, sugar, and a very little water. A friend 
 thinks that this term was suggested by the shape which froth, as 
 of a glass of porter, assumes when it flows over the sides of a tumbler 
 containing the liquid effervescing. " A bowie-knife and a foaming 
 cocktail.' ' — N. Y. Tribune, May 8, 1862. 
 
 In the American's Apostrophe to Bon Gaultier, addressed to 
 Dickens, after his visit to the United States, he says: — 
 
 Did we spare our brandy cocktails, stint thee of our whiskey-grogs ? 
 Half the juleps that we gave thee would have floored a Newman Noggs. 
 
 Book of B'tllads. 
 
 Coco Grass. An insidious grass or weed much dreaded by Southern 
 planters, as it will speedily overrun and ruin any field in which it 
 takes root. 
 
 Cocoa-Nut. 1. The well-known fruit of the Cocos nucifera, a kind of 
 palm which is a native of the West Indies and South America, as 
 well as of the other parts of the world. 
 2. The head. 
 
 Coco-Plum. (Sp. hicaco. Chrysobalanus hicaco.) A fruit grown at 
 Barbadoes. 
 
 Cocos or Eddoes. The tuberous root of the Arum esculentum, the 
 principal dependence for a supply of food among the laboring popu- 
 lation of the West Indies. 
 
 C. O. D. Collect on delivery. Letters put upon packages sent by 
 express, the charges on which must be paid on delivery. 
 
 Codding. Fishing for codfish. A common term in Xew England 
 seaports, where vessels are fitted out for the pui-pose. 
 
 Codfish Aristocracy. A class of people who, with wealth, are too 
 apt to be deficient in intelligence and good manners, and who, 
 nevertheless, assume airs of importance. See Shoddy. 
 
COF— COL 
 
 131 
 
 Coffee-Tree or Kentucky Coffee-Tree. (Gymnocladus Canadensis.) 
 An ornamental tree with valuable wood, the seeds of which were 
 once used as a substitute for coffee. 
 
 Coffin-Boat. See Battery. 
 
 Cohees. A term applied to the people of certain settlements in 
 Western Pennsylvania from their use of the archaic form Quo' lie^ 
 — " Quoth he." 
 
 Cohosh, sometimes called Black Cohosh or Black Snake-root (Cimici- 
 fuga racemosa), a well-known medicinal plant. There are also (Actce 
 alba) White Baneberry, Blue Cohosh, (Leontice thalictroides) Pap- 
 poose Root, or Squaw Root, and other allied plants. 
 
 White cohush will bring out the whelk in less than no time ; and brook lime will 
 break any fever. — Margaret, p. 375. 
 
 Cold, adj. 1. Applied in a peculiar way to those who do not engage 
 in some particular undertaking, e. g. a revival in a church (this seems 
 to be the original use), a railroad company, a bank, or even a con- 
 spiracy to cheat some one. He who does not earnestly engage in 
 it is said to be cold. 
 
 How many shares in the Bank have been subscribed to-day ? Why, Smith 
 
 took ten and Jones twentj'. And how many did Jackson take V Oh, he 's cold, 
 he 'd only take one, provided I 'd swap horses with him. 
 
 2. In poker, to have a good hand cold is to have it dealt you at 
 the start, without having to draw new cards. 
 
 3. Distant. Said of one who, in play hunting to find the thing 
 concealed, is remote from it. New England. 
 
 Cold as Presbyterian Charity. A relic of the dislike had towards 
 Presbyterians when Episcopacy was established in Virginia by law, 
 and the leaders of Virginia society sympathized with the English 
 Presbyterians, especially as Cromwell and the other Puritans about 
 1640-1645 were known as Presbyterians. 
 
 They are cold ns Presbyterian charity, and mean enough to put the sun in 
 eclipse, are the English. — Sam Slick in England. 
 
 Why, Colonel, the riv-^er is pretty considerable for a run ; but the water is cool 
 as Presbyterian charity. — Crockett'' s Tour. 
 
 It was common in England, particularly during and after Crom- 
 well's time, to ridicule the Presbyterians; thus Hudibras says: — 
 
 When thou at any thing would'st rail, 
 Thou mak'st Presbytery thy scale. 
 As if Presbytery were a standard 
 To size whatever 's to be slandered. 
 
 Part I. Canto 3. 
 
132 
 
 COL 
 
 Cold Bread. The adjective cold is constantly applied to bread that 
 is not cold at all, but simply not hot; also, to stale bread. 
 
 Cold Slaw. See Kool Slaa. 
 
 Cold Sore. An eruption usually about the mouth, and generally 
 
 accompanying a cold in the head. 
 Collapsity. Collapt; collapsion. 
 
 Maii}'^ emigrants arriving at that state of collapsity termed flat broke stayed at 
 Los Angeles because they could not go on. — San Francisco paper. 
 
 Collar. To wear the collar. To be under the control of another ; to 
 be subject to. 
 
 So, when one 's chose to Congress, ez soon ez he 's in it, 
 A collar grows right round his neck in a minnet. 
 
 Lowell, The Biglow Papers. 
 
 CoUards. A corruption of Colewort, a kind of cabbage grown in the 
 South, the leaves of which do not form a close head, and which are 
 much used as "greens." In the South they are called collards. 
 " Bacon and collards " are a universal dish there. 
 
 The poor trash who scratched a bare subsistence from a sorry patch of beans 
 and collards, and the staggering bully, who did not condescend to do any thing. — 
 Gilmore, My Southern Friends, p. 54. 
 
 In England, young cabbage is called colewort. 
 
 How turnips hide their swelling heads below, 
 
 And how the closing coleivorts upwards grow. — Gay. 
 
 Collarette. (Fr.) A peculiar shaped collar of muslin, lace, or linen 
 worn by ladies. 
 
 Colonel. A title of courtesy. There is a great fondness in the West 
 and South for the higher military titles, but particularly for that of 
 Colonel. New England, too, may be charged with the same weak- 
 ness. 
 
 A friend has related to me the following anecdote : — 
 
 A gentleman had taken a fine stallion to a fair in Kentucky, and was received 
 with great cordiality and respect. He had never held any military rank, and 
 noticing that he was addressed by every one as Colonel, although others of the 
 party were not, he inquired the reason, and received the following reply: 
 " AVell, sir, Colonel, sir, is a title of courtesy; and here in Kentucky, sir, we 
 always give it to any gentleman who keeps a hotel or owns a stud horse, sir." 
 
 Cold Flour. A preparation made of Indian corn (maize) parched 
 and pulverized, mixed with one-third its quantity of sugar. Two 
 or three teaspoonf ills of this compound stirred in a glass of water 
 will answer for a meal when food is scarce. See Nocake and Pinole. 
 
 Collect. (Du. kolk.1 a pit, a lake.) A pond supplied by rain; a 
 water-puddle. New York. That portion of the city of New York 
 
COL— COM 
 
 133 
 
 now occupied by the " Tombs," the Five Points," and vicinity, 
 was formerly known as ' ' The Collect. ' ' 
 
 Collector. There are three principal officers in each of the large Cus- 
 tom Houses in this country, the Collector, Naval Officer, and Sur- 
 veyor. 
 
 It is the duty of the collector to receive all manifests, reports, and documents 
 required to be made or exhibited on the entry of any vessel or cargo ; record all 
 manifests, and, together with the naval officer, estimate the amount of duties 
 payable on imports, indorsing the same on the respective entries; receive, or 
 secure by bond, payment of duties ; grant permits for the unlading or delivery of 
 imports; and, with the approbation of the Secretary of the Treasury, employ 
 persons as inspectors, weighers, gaugers, measurers, and clerks. — Act March 2, 
 1797. 
 
 To collide. To strike or dash against each other; to strike or dash, 
 — followed by with. — Webster. To come into collision, particularly 
 in the case of railroad trains approaching each other from opposite 
 directions. 
 
 Many objections have been made to the use of this word, under 
 the impression that it is new and coined for the occasion ; but it has 
 long been used by English writers precisely in the sense now used 
 when speaking of collisions of railway trains. 
 
 The flints that hide 
 The seeds of fire, thus tossed in air, collide. 
 
 Dryden, Ovid, Metam., b. xv. 
 The outward [ayre], being strucke or collided by a solid body, still strikes the 
 next ayre. — Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy (1632), p. 274. 
 
 Colored. A term applied to persons who have Negro blood in their 
 
 veins. They are called " people of color," " colored people." 
 Comb. A ridge or hill ; a bluff. 
 
 The position of Drury's Bluff possesses a natural strength. . . . The turn of 
 the river that brings the boats in sight is only 600 yards distant. The bluff is a 
 high ridge or comb. — Richmond Enquirer, May 19, 1862. 
 
 To come. To make come, in Western parlance, applied to game, 
 means to bring it down with your rifle. 
 
 Well, them English are darned fools, they can't fix a rifle any ways ; but that 
 one did shoot " some; " leastwise, he made it throw plumb-centre. He made the 
 buffer come, he did, and fout well at Pawnee Fork too. — N. Y. Sjnrit of the 
 Times. 
 
 To make drunk come means to produce intoxication. 
 To come around. To coax, wheedle, entice. To get around is used 
 in the same sense. 
 
 Mrs. Truxton, besides doing the washing for a number of families, and making 
 •hrouds on funeral occasions, was a great stickler for equal marriages ; and ob- 
 
134 
 
 COM 
 
 Berved that " it was onaccountable to her that such a proper nice young man as 
 Mr. Pacldelford could be pervailed on to go and marry secli a gal as that Sally 
 Ann Lynes." " But yet," she continued, as though she had reflected further on 
 the subject, "lean tell you how it 's all been brought about; they've come 
 around that young man, they've come around him. Oh, don't I know that old 
 Mrs. Lyons," (she meant Sally Ann's mother,) "she 's cunning as a shark." 
 A Wtddiny at Nutmtyville. 
 
 To come in with. To bear, bring forth, have. " The mare will 
 come in next summer." " The cow comes in with a calf in good 
 time." Connecticut. 
 
 To come it strong. To work vigorously. 
 
 Alluding to the Chinaman Ah Sing, when playing euchre, Bret 
 Harte says : — 
 
 In his sleeves which were long 
 
 He had twenty-four packs, 
 Which was commy it strong, 
 
 Yet I state but the facts. — The Heathen Chinee. 
 
 To come out. 1. An expression used among certain religious enthu- 
 siasts, meaning to make an open profession of religion. 
 
 I experienced religion at one of brother Armstrong's protracted meetin's. Thorn 
 special efforts is great things, — ever since I come out, I 've felt like a new critter. 
 Widow Bedott Papers, p. 108. 
 
 2. " How did you come out 1 " means, how did you fare in your 
 undertaking ? Come off would be more agreeable to English usage. 
 To come out at the little end of the horn means to fare badly, to fail. 
 
 Can you wonder that the blue noses who keep such an unprofitable stock came 
 out at the sm,all eend of the horn in the long run? — Sam Slick, 1st Series. 
 
 3. A young lady when she first makes her appearance in society 
 is said to come out. 
 
 Clara, just seventeen, and a very pretty girl, is looking forward with impatience 
 to next year, and coming out in society. — Miss Gould, MarjoiHe^s Quest, p. 4G. 
 
 Come-Outers. This name has been applied to a considerable number 
 of persons in various parts of the J^orthern States, principally in 
 . New England, who have recently come out of the various religious 
 denominations with which they have been connected; hence the 
 name. They have not themselves assumed any distinctive organi- 
 zation. They have no creed, believing that every one should be 
 left free to hold such opinions on religious subjects as he pleases, 
 without being held accountable for the same to any human 
 authority. 
 
 They hold a diversity of opinions on many points, — some believ- 
 ing in the divine inspiration of the Scriptures, and others that they 
 
COM 
 
 135 
 
 are but human compositions. They believe Jesus Christ to have 
 been a divinely inspired teacher, and his religion a revelation of 
 eternal truth; that, according to his teachings, true religion consists 
 in purity of heart, holiness of life, and not in opinions ; that Chris- 
 tianity, as it existed in Christ, is a life rather than a belief. — 
 Evanses History of Religions, with Additions by an American Editor. 
 
 I am a Christian man of the sect called come-outers, and have had experience ; 
 and when I meet the brethren, sometimes I speak a word in season. — S. Slick, 
 Human Nature. 
 
 In describing Harry Franco, Mr. Lowell says, he — 
 
 Is half upright Quaker, half downright Come-outer, 
 
 Loves Freedom too well to go stark mad about her. — Fable for Critics. 
 
 To come over. To come over, or come it over one, means to get the 
 advantage of one. Vulgar. 
 
 To come up to the Chalk. To come up to the mark, {. e. to do one's 
 
 duty, fulfil one's promises. 
 To come upon the Town. To be supported at the public charge, or in 
 
 the poor-house. Common in all parts of New England. 
 
 To come upon the town, in America, does not mean precisely the same thing 
 as for a lady to come upon the town in London. It is like a poor person in Eng- 
 land cominf/ upon the jyarish, or becoming a public charge. — Note to the English 
 ed. of McFingal (1792), p. 10, at the lines (referring to the debts of "Mother 
 Britain "): — 
 
 And now 'twas thought, so high they 'd grown, 
 She 'd break, and come upon the town. 
 
 Coming-out Sunday. The day on which a new-married couple made 
 their first appearance at church ; usually, the Sunday after the wed- 
 ding. "This custom continued more than a century after 1719 
 [when Mather mentioned it]. It was termed 'coming out groom 
 and bride.' It still remains in many places." — Judd's Hadley, 
 p. 244. 
 
 Commander. A beetle or wooden maul. New York. 
 
 Commissioner. 1. A government officer, the next in rank to a Secre- 
 tary. Thus the Commissioner of patents, the Commissioner of the 
 Land Office, and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, are subordi- 
 nates of the Secretary of the Interior. 
 
 2. Corporator : corporate members of the A. B. C. F. M. 
 
 Common. " As well as common "is an expression much in use for 
 *' as well as usual." 
 
 Common Doings. Originally employed in the West to designate 
 plain or common food in opposition to dainties, but now applied to 
 
136 
 
 COM— CON 
 
 persons, actions, or things in general of an inferior kind. See 
 Chicken Fixings. 
 
 Community is by some persons used as is " society," for persons, 
 neighborhood, &c., — without the definite article prefixed. See 
 FeWs Eccles. Hist, of N. E. 
 
 Compassive. Compassionating. (Sp. compasivo.) — C. A. Goodrich. 
 
 Complected. Of a certain complexion, colored in the face. Western. 
 
 That lady is mighty pale complected. I 'm afeard she 's consumpted ; she 'a 
 always complaining of some misery. — Western Sketches. 
 
 You 're rather dark complected, and blue is a trying color for dark skins. — 
 
 Widow Btdott Pdjiers. '.' > ' ^ • 
 
 Compliment. A present. South-western. 
 
 Compus. Sane; of sound mind; compos mentis. " He is not compus.'''* 
 Litchfield, Conn. 
 
 Concageer. A name applied to the small lizards and salamanders of 
 the United States. 
 
 To conceit. (Pron. consate by those who use the word.) To form an 
 idea ; to think. An old English word, but now obsolete. It is pre- 
 served in the interior parts of New England; as, " She conceited 
 she would go; " i, e., she thought strongly of going. 
 
 Those whose . . . vulgar apprehensions conceit but low of matrimonial purposes. 
 — Milton. 
 
 Twice-laid dishes I can stand ; salt fish and corn beef twice laid I sometimes 
 consait is as good as when it was first cooked. — Sam Slick, Wise Saws, p. 12. 
 
 Concern. In mercantile usage, an establishment or firm for the 
 transaction of business. It is provincial in England and Ireland, 
 where it denotes a small estate ; business. 
 
 Concerned. 1. (Pron. consarned.) A euphonistic Yankeeism, equi- 
 valent to deuced, devilish, i. e. very greatly. 
 
 2. Sorrowful, distressed; as, " Concerned for his soul." 
 
 You can keep your money. I 'm consarned sorry for it, but I must take that 
 ar yalier gal back with me. — A Stray Yankee in Texas, p. 51. 
 
 Concession. A subdivision of townships in Canada, along each of 
 
 which is a road. 
 Conck. A wrecker. The same as Conk and Konck. 
 
 A Negro on this Key, familiarly called Old Sandy, is a more successful culti- 
 vator of the soil than all the rebel concks together. — N. Y. Tribune, 'Sov. 27, 
 1861, Lett, from Key West. 
 
 Concoa. The butternut. So caUed (or oftener pronounced as the 
 word conquer), and thus WTitten and printed in Essex County, Mass. 
 Perhaps of Indian origin. 
 
CON 
 
 137 
 
 To conduct, instead of "to conduct one's self; " leaving out the reflex- 
 ive pronoun. This offensive barbarism is happily confined to New 
 England, where it is common both in speech and writing. Like 
 some other expressions in the same predicament, it has received the 
 tacit sanction of Dr. Webster, himself a New England man. 
 
 Conductor. The man who takes the fare, and has charge generally 
 of a railroad train. 
 
 Conestoga Horse. A heavy draught horse well known in the States 
 of New York and Pennsylvania. Before the introduction of railroads, 
 these horses were the great carriers of produce from the interior of 
 Pennsylvania to the sea-board. Six and sometimes more of these 
 noble animals, attached to a huge, white-topped wagon, were a 
 marked feature in the landscape of this State. They originated in 
 Pennsylvania towards the close of the last century, and are believed 
 to have descended from a mixture of the Flemish cart-horse with an 
 English breed. — Herbert^ Horse and Horsemanship. 
 
 Conestoga Wagon. A wagon of the kind described in the preceding 
 article, first made in Conestoga, Lancaster County, Penn. 
 
 The vast, white-topped wagons, drawn by superb teams of the stately Conesto- 
 gas, were [once] a distinguishing feature of that great agricultural State. — 
 Jennings, The Hoi'se, p. 61. 
 
 Confectioner. Used in this country pretty much in the sense of the 
 English j9as/r?/-coo^. In England, a confectioner never sells cakes, 
 ice-cream, &c. 
 
 Confectionery. In the South-west and some parts of the West, a 
 bar-room. 
 
 Confederate. One who lives in, pertaining to, the so-called Southern 
 Confederacy. 
 
 Confederate States. The term assumed by the government of 
 Southern States on seceding from the United States. 
 
 Hurrah ! for the Southern Confederate States, 
 
 With her banner of white, red, and blue ; 
 Hurrah ! for her daughters, the fairest on earth, 
 And her sons ever loyal and true. 
 
 3fnson, Southern Poems of the War, p. 41. 
 
 Conference. The name of a religious body or association. 
 
 In the published report of the Providence Annual Conference held 
 at New Bedford, its name is used as follows without the article, the 
 same as we speak of Congress. 
 
 Last evening it was announced that Conference would make a final adjourn- 
 ment this morning. . . . Not because they wish Con/e?-ence to close, but because 
 of the interesting character of certain features of this last assembling of Confer- 
 ence. — Cor. of Providence Press. 
 
108 
 
 CON 
 
 Conference-House. A chapel for week-day religious worship, &c. 
 
 Connecticut. 
 
 Conference-Meeting. An assembly in which prayer and exhorta- 
 tions are made; a lecture-room for religious societies. New Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Conference-Room. A room for conference and prayer, and for the 
 pastor's less formal addresses. 
 
 Confidence Man. One who by plausible stories and falsehoods, or 
 
 by assurance, obtains the confidence of kind-hearted people. 
 
 This well-known phrase is said to have thus originated: A few 
 years ago, a man in New York, well dressed, and of exceedingly 
 genteel manners, went about saying, in a very winning manner, to 
 almost every gentleman he met, " Have you confidence enough in 
 me, an entire stranger, to lend me five dollars for an hour or two? " 
 In this way, he got a good deal of money, and came to be generally 
 known in the courts and elsewhere as " the confidence man/^ 
 
 Congress. This term is applied by us especially to three differently 
 constituted bodies of representatives of the people that have suc- 
 ceeded each other in the government of the country. The first is 
 the Continental Congress, assembled in 1774, and which conducted 
 the national affairs until near the close of the Revolution. The 
 second is the Federal Congress, which met under the Articles of 
 Confederation, adopted March, 1781, and ruled the country till 1789. 
 The third is the Congress of the United States, which fii'st met under 
 the Constitution, on the 4th of March, 1789. 
 
 Congressional. Pertaining to a congress, or to the Congress of the 
 United States; as. Congressional debates. — Webster. 
 
 The congressional institution of Amphictyons, in Greece. — Barton. 
 The conflict between Congressional and State authority originated with the 
 creation of those authorities. — Marshall, Life of Washington. 
 
 Congressman. A member of Congress. 
 
 Our congressmtn, my dear hearers, what are they V Nothing but bloodsuckers 
 upon the cheek of the United States. They talk and drink for eight dollars a 
 day, and you have to stand the treat. —Dow's Sermons, Vol. III. p. 137. 
 
 From the ballad of the "Sharp Congressman," in "Vanity 
 Fair," 1863: — 
 
 Xot a brisker trade was going 
 "Worth knowing or showing 
 Than that from contracts growing 
 
 To the sharp Congressman. 
 
 Couiacker. A counterfeiter of coin. 
 
CON 
 
 189 
 
 Connection. "In this connection.^ ^ In connection with this subject. 
 
 A Xew England phrase, used to such a degree that it has become 
 
 quite shocking to nervous people. 
 Conner. See Bui-gall. 
 
 Conniption Fit. This term is exclusively used by the fair sex, who 
 can best explain its meaning. Ex. : " George, if you keep coming 
 home so late to dinner, I shall have a conniption.^* As near as 
 I can judge, conniption Jits are tantrums or hysterics. 
 
 Sam Slick, in his visit to a " female college," made proposals to the "presi- 
 dentress," which she at first imagined was for her hand. On discovering her 
 error, she fainted and fell into a conniption Jit. — Nature and Human Nature. 
 
 Consequentious. Affectedly great ; pompous; pretending to impor- 
 tance. New England. 
 Consequentiousness. That quality which is characteristic of a con- 
 sequentious person. 
 
 He rides at the State's expense upon steamboats and railroad cars, seeking in 
 all places to impress upon beholders an idea of his mighty consequentiousness. — 
 N. Y. Herald, April 26, 1862. 
 
 Considerable. 1. A good deal. This word is frequently used in the 
 following manner in the Northern States : ' ' He is considerable of a 
 surveyor; " " Considerable of it may be found in the country." — 
 Pickering. 
 
 Parson Tuttle 's considernhle of a man ; but in my opinion he won't never be 
 able to hold a candle to Elder Sniffles. — Widow Bedott Faj^ers, p. 128. 
 
 2. Pretty, considerably. A common vulgarism. 
 
 A body has to stir about considerable smart in this country, to make a livin', 
 I tell you. — Sam Slick in Entjlnnd, ch. 6. 
 
 To consociate. To unite in an assembly or convention, as pastors 
 and messengers or delegates of churches. — Webster. 
 
 Consociation. Fellowship or union of churches by their pastors and 
 delegates; a meeting of the pastors and delegates of a number of 
 Congregational Churches, for aiding and supporting each other, and 
 forming an advisory council in ecclesiastical affairs. — Webster. 
 Consociation of churches is their mutual and solemn agreement to 
 exercise communion in such acts as aforesaid, amongst themselves, 
 with special reference to those churches, &c. — Result oj the Sijnody 
 1662. 
 
 Constable. Mr. Webster notices the following distinction between 
 the application of this word in England and in the United States : 
 " In England there are high constables, petty constables, and con- 
 stables of London. In the United States, constables are town or city 
 
140 
 
 CON 
 
 officers of the peace, with powers similar to those possessed by the 
 constables in Great Britain." Mr. Pickering says that, " in many 
 of the cities, boroughs, and other local jurisdictions in England, they 
 have peace officers called constables, whose powers are not materially, 
 if at all, different from those of our constables." 
 Constituted Authorities. The officers of government collectively, in 
 a kingdom, city, town, &c. This expression has been adopted by 
 some of our writers from the vocabulaiy of the French Revolution. 
 — Pickering. 
 
 Neither could he perceive danger to liberty except from the constituted author- 
 ities, and especially from the executive. — MarshaWs WasJdnyton. 
 
 Constitutionality. Used chiefly in political language, to signify the 
 state of being agreeable to the constitution of a State or of the 
 United States. 
 
 The argument upon this question has naturally divided itself into two parts, the 
 one of expedienaj, the other of constitutionality. — Debates in Congress in 1802. 
 
 The judges of the Supreme Court of the United States have the power of deter- 
 mining the constitutionality of laws. — Webster. 
 
 To contemplate. To consider or have in view, in reference to a 
 future act or event ; to intend. — Webster. This sense of the word 
 is not found in Johnson or Richardson. 
 
 If a treaty contains an}' stipulations which contemj)late a state of future war. — 
 Kent's Commentaries. 
 Continental. A word much used during the Revolution to designate 
 w^hat appertained to the Colonies as a whole. This originated before 
 the Declaration of Independence, when the term " United States " 
 was employed; yet continental, variously applied, was used during 
 the war, as ^^continental troops," ^^continental money," &c. Mr. 
 Irving, in his Life of Washington, in speaking of the organization 
 of the American army, says: " Many still clung to the idea that in 
 all these proceedings they were merely opposing the measui-es of the 
 ministry, and not the authority of the crown; and thus the army 
 before Boston was designated as the Continental army, in contra- 
 distinction to that under General Gage, which was called the Min- 
 isterial army." 
 
 This word will remind every one of the famous reply of Colonel 
 Ethan Allen, when asked by what authority he summoned Fort 
 Ticonderoga to surrender. " I demand it," said he, " in the name 
 of the great Jehovah and of the Continental Congress! " 
 Contrabands. Xegro slaves, first so called by General B. F. Butler, 
 and treated as Contraband of War. The history of the application 
 of the term is as follows : — 
 
CON 
 
 141 
 
 The establishment of a military post by General Butler at New- 
 port News, on the 22d May, 1861, threw the white inhabitants of 
 Hampton into such alarm that most of them prepared for flight, and 
 many left their homes the same night. "In the confusion, three 
 Xegroes escaped, and, making their way across the bridges, gave 
 themselves up to a Union Picket, saying that their master. Colonel 
 Malloiy, was about to remove them to North Carolina to work upon 
 rebel fortifications there. . . . They were brought to Fortress 
 Monroe, and the circumstance was reported to the general in the 
 morning. He questioned each of them separately, and the truth of 
 their story became manifest. He needed laborers. He was aware 
 that the rebel batteries that were rising around him were the work 
 chiefly of slaves, without whose assistance they could not have been 
 erected in time to give him trouble. He wished to keep these men. 
 The garrison wished them kept. The country would have deplored 
 or resented the sending of them away. If they had been Colonel 
 Malloiy's horses, or Colonel Mallory's spades, or Colonel Mallory's 
 percussion-caps, he would have seized them, and used them, without 
 hesitation. Why not property more valuable for the purposes of the 
 rebellion than any other ? He pronounced the electric words : ' These 
 men are Contrahand of War. Set them at work.' " — Parton^ General 
 Butler in New Orleans, and Sketch of Previous Career, p. 127. 
 
 The escaped Negroes had scarcely been set at work, when an 
 interview was requested by some of the Confederate officers with 
 General Butler. At tliis interview, the question of these slaves was 
 discussed. General Butler said: "I shall detain the Negroes as 
 contraband of war. You are using them upon your batteries. It is 
 merely a question whether they shall be used for or against the 
 government." . . . " I greatly need the labor which has providen- 
 tially fallen into my hands; but if Colonel Mallory [the owner] will 
 come into the fort and take the oath of allegiance to the United 
 States, he shall have his Negroes, and I will endeavor to hire them 
 from him." 
 
 Butler pronounced the magic word " Contraband,^ ^ and summoned the Nef^ro 
 into the arena. . . . Contraband is a bad word, and may be a bad law, but it is 
 worth all the Constitution ; for in a moment of critical emergency it summoned 
 the saving elements into the national arena, and it showed the government how 
 far the sound fibre of the nation extended. — Speech of Wendell Phillips. 
 
 I 've just come from Virginny, 
 
 Dat good ole Southern land ; 
 I 'm a simple picaninny. 
 
 Although a contraband 
 
142 
 
 CON 
 
 A secesh soldier took my hand, 
 
 "Come fight wid us," says he. 
 Says I, "I'm but a contraband, 
 But you don't secession we." 
 
 Sonfj, The Inttllifjent C(/ntrahand. 
 I owned a hundred niggers, 
 
 All sound and likely working hands, 
 Worth very pretty figgers, 
 But now they 're contrabands. 
 
 The Plaint of the Planter, Vanity Fair. 
 Good-evening, Avhite folks, here am I from old Virginny shore, 
 A regular living specimen of a contraband of war. 
 
 Sony, The Happy Contraband. 
 Dar 's a mighty famous Hunter in de 'partment of the Souf, — 
 
 An' he gubberns all oi) Dixie, as yoxi know, 
 An' he talks to de darkies by de words of his mouf, — 
 Savin' : " Niggers, you 's at liberty to go ! " 
 You may lay down de shobel an' de hoe-o-o ! 
 You may dance wid de fiddle an' de bow; 
 Dar is no more cotton for de contraband to pick, 
 Dar is no more cotton for to mow. 
 
 Chorus. — Den lay down, &c. 
 
 New York Sunday Times, 1862. 
 
 Although to General Butler has been ascribed the honor of the 
 invention of the term " contraband " to slaves in the time of war, it 
 had previously been applied to Negroes in Africa by Captain Canot. 
 Speaking of the sale of Negroes by government officers and agents on 
 the west coast of Africa, he remarks: — 
 
 It is even said that the Captain-General himself is sometimes present in the 
 sanctuary, and, after a familiar chat about the happy landing of the contraband, 
 the requisite rouleaux are insinuated into the official desk, under the intense 
 smoke of a fragrant cigar. — Twenty Years in an African Cruiser, 1854, p. 108. 
 
 Contraption. Contrivance, device. A factitious word in frequent 
 use. 
 
 Contrive. The use of this word in the sense of to do or perform any 
 thing by contrivance is perhaps peculiar to America. It is noticed 
 by Dr. Witherspoon, in the " Druid Letters." I have never heard 
 it in New England. 
 
 Rash mortals, ere you take a wife, 
 Contrice your pile to last for life. 
 
 B. FrankUn, Poor Richard's Almanac for April, 1741. 
 
 I am sorry for the accident of your son's capti\nty. , . . Any hard money 
 which you maybe able to forward to me, or Mr. Tilghraan (who is of my family), 
 shall be contrived to him, by some means or other. — Letter from General Wash- 
 inyton to Mrs. Graydon {Graydon's Memoirs), p. 229. 
 
 The expression is common among a portion of our countiymen, 
 
CON— coo 
 
 148 
 
 and is not unusual, it is believed, in New England. — Note hy Editor, 
 on the above. 
 
 To convene. This is used in some parts of New England in a very- 
 strange sense; that is, to he convenient, fit, or suitable. Ex. : " This 
 road will convene the public," i. e. will be convenient for the public. 
 The word, however, is used only by the illiterate. — Pickering. 
 
 Convenient, used to signify " near at hand," " easy of access," is an 
 Irishism frequently pointed out by English critics, which found its 
 way even into President Polk's last message, where it is applied to 
 timber for ship-building in the neighborhood of San Francisco. 
 
 Convention. An assembly of delegates to accomplish some specific 
 object, civil, political, or ecclesiastical. — Webster. 
 
 Conversationalist, improperly used for conversationist, or converser. 
 
 Conversions. Bonds are frequently issued with a provision whereby 
 they can at any moment be exchanged for equivalent stock. Such 
 securities are called convertible, and the act of substitution is styled 
 conversion. — Medbery, Men and Mysteries of Wall Street. 
 
 Coodies. The name of a political sect in the State of New York, 
 which originated in the year 1814. At that time, a series of well- 
 written articles appeared in a New York paper, signed Abimeleck 
 Coody. He professed to be a mechanic. " He was a Federalist, and 
 addressed himself principally to the party to which he belonged. 
 He endeavored to show the impropriety of opposing the war, and 
 urged them to come forward in defence of their country. He also 
 attacked De Witt Clinton with great severity." The writer was 
 ascertained to be Mr. Gulian C. Verplanck, then, as now, distin- 
 guished for his talents. He was replied to by a writer under the 
 signature of " A Traveller," said to be De Witt Clinton, who thus 
 speaks of this party: "The political sect called the Coodies, of 
 hybrid nature, is composed of the combined spawn of Federalism 
 and Jacobinism, and generated in the venomous passions of dis- 
 appointment and revenge, without any definite character; neither 
 fish nor flesh nor bird nor beast, but a nondescript made up of 
 'all monstrous, all prodigious things.' " — Hammond'' s Polit. Hist, 
 of N. Y. 
 
 To oook. " To cook an account " is equivalent to falsify accounts for 
 fraudulent ends. To cook up a charge, in polite dialects, is to 
 invent some criminal accusation to get rid of persons in any way 
 obnoxious. Frequently practised by receivers of stolen goods. 
 
 Cookey. (Dutch, koekje.) A little cake. Used in New York and 
 in New England. A New Yearns Cookey is a peculiar cake made 
 
144 
 
 COO 
 
 only in New York, and at the Christmas holidays. In the olden 
 time, each visitor, on New Yeaj-'s day, was expected to take one 
 of these cakes. The custom is still practised to a considerable 
 extent. 
 
 Mrs. Child thinks it best to let the little dears have their own way in every 
 thing, and not to give them more cookies than they, the dear children, deem 
 requisite. — Sunday Mercury, N. Y. 
 
 Cook-House. 1. House for cook's use. Southern. 
 2. On board of ships. The galley. 
 
 Cooler. A drink of spirits. 
 
 Cooling-Board. The board on which a dead body is laid out. Penn- 
 sylvania and Maryland. 
 
 Coolwort. (Tiarella cordi/oUa.) The popular name of an herb, the 
 properties of which are diuretic and tonic. It is prepared for sale 
 by the Shakers. 
 
 Coon. 1. A popular contraction of raccoon, the name of an animal. 
 
 Autumnal eve, when shines the silver moon. 
 The hunter seeks to find the fatted coon. 
 Hard chased and routed by the hunting dog, 
 He mounts a tree or finds a hollow log. 
 
 E. H. Smith, Hist, of Black Hawk, p. 100. 
 
 2. A nickname applied to members of the Whig party, which 
 adopted the raccoon as an emblem. 
 
 Democrats, freemen ! keep your council-fires brightly burning. Let no one 
 remain listless, or doubt, or hesitate; "push on your columns," rout the coons, 
 beat them, overwhelm them, and let the welkin ring with the soul-stirring tidings 
 that Massachusetts is safe, — free from the curse of Whiggery. — Boston Post. 
 
 3. A gone coon is said of a man whose case is hopeless. 
 
 Coon's Age. A long time; as, "I have not been there in a coon^s 
 
 The backwoodsman jumps from his horse, and, slapping the grave-looking 
 gentleman on the back, says: "Hallo, old boss, whar have 3^ou been this cotm's 
 ageV and they go in and wood up \i. e. drink]. — A Stray Yankee in Texas. 
 This child hain't had much money in a coon's age. — Southern Sketches. 
 Cooner. A common term, at the South, for a canoe. 
 Coonery. Whiggery. See Coon, No. 2. 
 
 Democrats of the old Bay State, one charge more, and the work is thoroughly 
 done. "Once more to the breach," and you will hear the shouts of Democratic 
 victory and the lamentations of the vanquished. We must achieve a victory, — 
 the people must be free, — coonery must fall with all its corruptions and abomina- 
 tions, never more to rise. — Boston Post. 
 
 Coontie Adka or Coontie Chatta. The name of an arrow-root 
 
COO— COP 
 
 145 
 
 preparation obtained from the root of Zamia integrifolia by the 
 Indians in Florida, where the plant is indigenous. 
 Cooping of Voters. Collecting and confining them, several days 
 previous to an election, in a house or on a vessel hired for the pur- 
 pose. Here they are treated with good living and liquors, and at 
 a proper day are taken to the polls and " voted," as it is called, for 
 the party. 
 
 Coot. (Fulica.) The name of a small water-fowl which lives in 
 marshes, and, when closely pursued, buries its head in the mud. 
 There is a species of the American coot that resembles a duck, 
 and varies much from the European bird of the name. See AVil- 
 son's " Ornith.," Vol. III. p. 82. It is often applied by us to a 
 stupid person; as, " He is a poor coo^." Mr. Halliwell notices the 
 old proverbial saying, " As stupid as a cooL" 
 
 Little coot! don't you know the Bible is the best book in the world '? — Mar- 
 garet, p. 134. 
 
 Copperhead. (Trigonocephalm contortrix.) A poisonous serpent, 
 whose bite is considered as deadly as that of the rattlesnake. Its 
 geographical range extends from 4.5° north latitude to Florida. It 
 has various other popular names, as Copper-belly, Red Viper, Red 
 Adder, Red Eye, Deaf Adder, Dumb Rattlesnake, Chunk-head. 
 
 The mower mows on, though the adder may writhe, 
 And the copperhead curl round the bleeding scythe. 
 
 2. A venomous biped, of Northern birth and Southern tendencies ; 
 a term applied early in the late civil war to Northern sympathizers 
 with the Confederates ; a disloyal person. 
 
 It is to be settled whether Copperheads or loyal men are to rule this country. 
 There is a perfect understanding between the leading Copperheads in the North 
 and the leading Rebels in the South. — General BlunVs Speech in Kansas, N. Y. 
 Tribune, Feb. 24, 1863. 
 
 From one of the best and bitterest political poems of the late civil 
 war, entitled the "Copperhead," by John Hopely, we select the 
 two following verses : — 
 
 Of all the factious men we 've seen, 
 P2xisting now or long since dead, 
 No one was ever known so mean 
 As him we call a Copperhead ; 
 A draft-evading Copperhead ; 
 A rebel-aiding Copperhead ; 
 A growling, slandering, scowling, pandering, 
 Vicious, States-rights Copperhead. 
 
 "When widows mourned their lonely lot. 
 And orphan children wept their dead, 
 10 
 
146 
 
 COP— COR 
 
 Who said (heir just deserts they got ? 
 The Northern rebel Copperhead ; 
 
 The widow-libelling Coppefhead ; 
 The grief-deriding Copperhead ; 
 The false, conspiring, city-firing, 
 Booth-admiring Copper h e ad. 
 
 3. A term of contempt with the early Dutch colonists. 
 
 These were the men who vegetated in the mud along the shores of Pavonia, 
 being of the race of genuine Copperheads. — Irvinf/, Knickerbocker. 
 
 Copperheadism. Acts or management, policy of Copperheads; sym- 
 pathy with insurrectionists. 
 
 The celebrated People's Regiment, 44th New York, has spoken out in the 
 matter of Copperheadism. — N. Y. Tribune., March 11, 18G3. 
 
 Coral Berry. (^Symphoricarpus vulgaris.^ The Indian currant of 
 Missouri. 
 
 Cord. A large quantity. Western. 
 
 Cordelle. (French.) A tow-line. Western. 
 
 The propelling power of the keel-boat is by oars, sails, setting poles, the cordelh) 
 &c. — Flint, Hist, of Miss. Valley. 
 
 To cordelle. To drag by a tow-line. See Keel-Boat. 
 
 We were obliged to cordelle the boat along the left shore. — FreynonVs Report. 
 Corduroy Road. A road or causeway constructed with logs laid to- 
 gether over swamps or marshy places. When properly finished, 
 earth is thrown between them, by which the road is made smooth ; 
 but in newly settled parts of the United States they are often left 
 uncovered, and hence are extremely rough and bad to pass over 
 with a carriage. Sometimes they extend many miles. They de- 
 rive their name from their resemblance to a species of ribbed velvet, 
 called corduroy. 
 
 I had to cross bayous and crik? (wall, it did beat all natur), 
 Upon a kind o' corduroy, first log, then alligator. 
 
 Loicell, Biylow Pajyers. 
 
 To corduroy. To lay logs upon ; to convert into; to make a corduroy 
 road. 
 
 We had perfectly impassable roads, until corduroyed. — N. Y. Tribune, Letter 
 from Camp Scott. 
 
 Cork. A misuse for caulk, wliich sometimes is found in print. " A 
 denial corked and graved." — The Independent, Feb. 13, 1862. 
 
 Corked. A term applied to wdne which has acquired a taste of the 
 cork. 
 
 Corn. (Zea mays.) Maize, throughout the United States, is called 
 Indian corn, or simply corn. 
 
COR 
 
 147 
 
 In England, the term corn is aj)plied generically to wheat, barley, 
 and other small grains. For this we use the term grain. 
 
 Among the various articles of food made from Indian corn, cooked 
 and uncooked, are the following : Ash Cake; Indian Bread; Boiled 
 and Roasted Corn; Brown Bread; Corn Bread; Corn Cake; Corn 
 Dodger; Corn Fritters; Corn Starch; Corn Oyster; Corn Juice 
 (whiskey); Hasty Pudding; Indian Meal; Indian Pudding; Hoe 
 Cake; Hominy; Johnny Cake; Farina; Mazina; Pinole; Pop Corn; 
 Pone ; Rye and Indian Bread ; Succotash ; and Tortillas. 
 Corn. All for corn. Honest, well-meant, sincere. " He took it all 
 for corn ; " i. e., he believed it to be true. " All for wheat " is also 
 heard. 
 
 Surprised that he took it all for loheat, and in innocence of his heart was about 
 to carry it into effect. — N. Y. Tribune^ April, 1877. 
 
 Corn and Cob Mill. A mill for grinding the entire ear of Indian 
 corn. 
 
 Corn Basket. A large basket for carrying the ears of maize. — 
 W ebster. 
 
 Corn-Blade. The leaf of the maize. Corn-blades are collected and 
 used as fodder in some of the Southern States. — Webster. 
 
 Corn-Bread. Unleavened bread made from the meal of Indian corn. 
 
 Corn-Brooms. Brooms made from the tops of a species of corn, 
 called Broom-corn. 
 
 Corn-Cob. The spike on which the kernels of corn grow. 
 
 B3'^ron is said to have remarked that "the greatest trial to a woman's beauty 
 is the ungraceful act of eating eggs." Some Yankee rejoices that the poet could 
 never have seen a lady hanging on by the teeth to a blazing hot corn-cob. — 
 Bait. Sun. 
 
 Corn-Cracker. Tlie nickname for a native of Kentucky. It is said 
 
 that this term is applied in some of the Southern Mates to poor 
 
 whites living in the mountain regions. 
 Corn-Crib. A structure raised some feet from the ground, and with 
 
 sides made of slats some distance apart, or of lattice-work, to admit 
 
 the air. In it the dried ears of maize are kept. 
 
 Corn-Dodger. A kind of cake made of Indian corn, and baked very 
 hard. It is sometimes simply called dodger (which see). Much 
 used in the South. 
 
 The universal food of the people of Texas, both rich and poor, seems to be 
 corn-dodger and fried bacon. — Olmsted, Texas. 
 
 Tlie Sucker State, the countrv of vast projected railroads, good corn-dodgers^ 
 splendid banking-houses, and poor currency. — Robb, Sauatter Life, p. 28. 
 
148 
 
 COR 
 
 He opened a pouch which he wore on his side, and took from thence one or 
 two corn-dud (ji'rs and half a broiled rabbit, which his wife had put up for hunt- 
 ing provisions. — Mrs. Sfowe, Drtd, Vol. II. p. 170. 
 
 Corn-fed. Stout, plump, spoken of a woman. See Bacon-fed in 
 Grose. 
 
 Corn-Fodder. Used especially of maize plants from seed sown broad- 
 cast and grown as oats are. Dried or undried, employed as fodder 
 for cattle. 
 
 Corn-Fritter. A fritter in the batter of which green Indian corn has, 
 after being grated, been mingled. 
 
 A very minute account which Mrs. Kittridge was giving of the way to make 
 corn-fritters which should taste exactly like oysters. — The Independent, Feb. 
 13, 1862, bij Mrs. H. B. Stowe. 
 
 Corn-Husk or Corn-Chuck. The coarse outer leaves which enclose 
 the ear of Indian corn. 
 
 Corn-Husking or Corn-Shucking. An occasion on which a farmer 
 invites the young people of the neighborhood to his house or barn, 
 to aid him in stripping the husks from his corn. See Huxking. 
 
 There was a corn-husking, and I went along with Sal Stebbins. There was all 
 the gals and boys settin' round, and I got sot down so near Sal Babit that I 'II 
 be darned if I did n't kiss her afore I know'd what I was about. — Traits of 
 American Humor. 
 
 Corn- Juice. Whiskey. A Western term. 
 
 I informed the old fellow that Tom wanted a fight ; and as he was too full of 
 corn-juice to cut carefully, I didn't want to take advantage of him. — Robb. 
 Squatter Life. 
 
 Old Monongahela whiskey, 
 
 Whiskey made of Indian corn-juice. — Pluribusfah. 
 
 Corn- Oyster. A fritter to which the combined effects of grated 
 Indian corn (not quite ripe) and heated butter impart a taste like 
 that of oysters. 
 
 In this secret direction about the mace lay the whole mystery of corn-oysters. 
 Mrs. H. B. Stowe, in The Independent. 
 
 Corn Pone. A superior kind of corn bread, made with milk and 
 
 eggs and baked in a pan. See Pone. 
 Corn-Right. In early times, a right acquired by settlers, who by, 
 
 planting an acre or more of corn were entitled to one hundred acres 
 
 of land. These privileges which were acquired in Virginia were 
 
 called Corn-Rights. 
 
 Corn-Shuck. The Southern term for corn-husk, which see. 
 
 You can have a mattress of bar-skin to sleep on, and a wild-cat skin pulled off 
 whole, stuffed with corn-shuch, for a pillow. — Thorpe, Big Bear of Arlcwnsas. 
 
COR 
 
 149 
 
 Corn-Shucking. The Southern term for corn-husling, which see. 
 
 The young people were all gibberin' and talkin' and lau.shin', as if they 'd 
 been to a cornshuckin' more'n to a meetin' house. — Major Jones. 
 
 Coru-Snake. The Coluber guttatus of the Southern States. 
 
 Corn-Stalk. A stalk of corn, particularly the stalk of the maize. — 
 Webster. Mr. Pickering says, " The farmers of New England use 
 this term, and more frequently the simple term stalks, to denote the 
 upper part of the stalks of Indian corn (above the ear) , which is cut 
 off while green, and then dried to make fodder for their cattle. — 
 Vocabulary. 
 
 Corn-Stalk Fiddle. A child's plaything, made by loosening the 
 external fibre of a corn-stalk, and placing a bridge under each 
 extremity. 
 
 There is no more sentiment in the soul of an old bachelor than there is music 
 in a corn-stalk Jiddle. — Dow's Sermons. 
 
 Corn-Trash. The outer envelopes of Indian corn, also called husks 
 and shucks. In Jamaica, they are cut in strips and used for stuffing 
 mattresses. See Shucks. 
 
 The beds with which they provided their guests were not of feathers, but of 
 wholesome fine picked corn-trash, with clean sheets. — Dallas, Hist, of the, 
 Maroons, Vol. I. p. 119. 
 
 Corner. When a party is made up to buy a large amount of stock, a 
 larger quantity than is known to be at the time in the market, it is 
 called a corner. The plan is generally kept very private. As soon 
 as the clique is formed, the brokers purchase gradually large lots of 
 stock on time, "buyer's option." After this has been fixed, they 
 sell on time, "seller's option," if possible nearly to the extent of 
 their purchases on buyer's option. The object of this is to provide 
 a market for this stock after the corner has run out. This having 
 been all arranged, the clique commence buying for cash, and in so 
 doing put up prices rapidly. Having inflated the market pretty 
 well, they make a sudden call for several thousand shares of stock 
 on their buyer's option, and then there comes a sharp time among 
 the sellers, who are generally all short. This creates an active 
 demand, and the clique sell their cash stock to the bears or shorts, 
 who purchase at high rates for delivery at much lower prices to the 
 very parties selling. — Hunfs Merchants Mag., Vol. XXXVII. See 
 also Medbery's "Men and Mysteries of Wall Street," for a more 
 extended account of the process of cornering, p. 87-100. 
 
 The " New York Tribune," March 14, 1876, in speaking of the 
 failure of Daniel Drew, who at one time was a large holder of Erie 
 Railway stock, says: — 
 
150 
 
 COR 
 
 Being possessed of the facilities to guard against a corner, lie began to sell 
 Erie stock short at the prevailing high prices. 
 
 To corner. 1. To corner a pei-.son is to get the advantage of him in an 
 argument, as thougli he were physically placed in a corner from 
 which he could not escape. This use of the word can hardly be an 
 Amei-icanism ; yet it is not found in the English dictionai-ies. 
 
 2. A Wall Street word, which means to raise artificially the price 
 of stock in the manner described in the article Corner. 
 
 There is a large class of brokers in Wall Sti eet, who sometimes c(»ntrol a good 
 deal of money, and who make speculation their business. These generally unite 
 in squads for the purpose of cornerinf/, — which means that they first get the 
 control of some particular stock, and then, by making a great many contracts 
 on time, com])el the parties to pay whatever dift'ereiice they choose, or rather 
 what they can get; for they sometimes overrate the purse of those they contract 
 with. — A Week in Wall Street, p. 81. 
 
 The remarkable fluctuations in the stock-market are chiefly the result of a 
 successful corneiiny operation. — N. Y. Journal of Com. 
 
 The Erie Railroad cornei iny has been a very unfortunate affair for many mem- 
 bers of the board. — N. Y. Herald. 
 
 Corner-Trees. See Witness-Trees. 
 
 Corp. A corpse is so called in Pennsylvania. 
 
 Corral. (Span.) A pen or place of security for horses and cattle in 
 the form of a circle, often temporarily made with wagons, &c., by 
 parties of emigrants crossing the prairies. The area of this circle is 
 sufficiently large to permit the horses and cattle to graze during the 
 night. On the outside of the corral, the tents are pitched, with 
 their doors outward; and in front of these the camp-fires are lighted. 
 — Texas and New Mexico. This is evidently the same as the Dutch 
 Kraal, which in Southern Africa is used, like the Spanish, both as 
 a noun and a verb. 
 
 Among the trees, in open spaces, were drawn up the wagons, formed into a 
 corral or square, and close together, so that the whole made a most formidable 
 i'lrt. and, when filled with some hundred rifles, could defy the attacks of Indians 
 01 Mexicans. — Raxton''s Mexico and Rochy Mountains, p. 177. 
 
 I lost a portion of my cattle, which broke through the kraal in the night, and 
 were never again heard of. — Anderson, Lake N'' garni, p. 360. 
 
 To corral. To corral cattle is to secure them in an enclosure, to pen 
 them. To coop up; to put into a close place. 
 
 During the stay of the Indians, the animals were all collected and corralled, as 
 their j)ench'int for horse-flesh might lead some of the young men to appropriate 
 a horse or a mule. — Buxton's Adventures, p. 238. 
 
 The hyenas were in the habit of harassing the goat-kids, which for security 
 were kraalhd against the wall of the house. — Anderson, Lake N'yami, p. 350. 
 
 Well, as soon as the animals were unhitched from the wagons, the governor 
 
COT 
 
 151 
 
 sends out a strong guard, seven boys, and old hands at that. It was pretty nigb 
 upon sun-down, and Bill had just sung out to corral. The boys were drivin' in 
 the animals, and we were all standin' round to get 'm in slick, when " howgh- 
 owgh-owgli-ough " we hears i-ight behind the bluff, and 'bout a minute and a 
 pt^nect crowd of Injuns gallops down upon the animals. — Western Adventures. 
 
 AMieii the first edition of this work was issued, the word corral 
 was used only in its original sense, as above given. But it is now 
 used at the Far ^Vest and on the plains in a far more extended sense. 
 jMr. McClure speaks of it as an expressive Westernism in common 
 use. " If a man is embarrassed in any way, he is corra'led. The 
 Indians corral men on the plains; the storms corral tourists in the 
 mountains ; the criminal is corralled in prison ; the tender swain is 
 corralled by crinoline ; the business man is corralled by debt, or more 
 successful competitors ; the unfortunate politician is corralled by the 
 mountaineei-s, the gulchmen, or the settlers; the minister is corralled 
 when he is called to be the pastor of a congregation; and the gam- 
 bler corrals the dust of the miner. — Rocky Mountains^ p. 210. 
 
 But the indications are that, between the brigade moving up from Fort Scott 
 and this command. General Rains will get cm-railed. — N. Y. Tribune, Jan. 10, 
 1862. 
 
 Cotbetty. A man who meddles in the woman's part of household 
 affairs. Xorth and East. It is probably of English origin. Halli- 
 well and Wright give both cot and cot-quean with the same meaning. 
 See BettJj. 
 
 Cotch, for caught. A Negro vulgarism. 
 
 Snake baked a hoe-cake, 
 Left a frog to watch it ; 
 Frog Avent to sleep. 
 
 Lizard come and cotch it. — Virginia Negro Song. 
 
 Cotton-Bagging. A coarse, hempen cloth, chiefly manufactured in 
 Kentucky, for packing cotton in. Sometimes called simply Bag- 
 ging- 
 
 Cottondom. The States in which cotton is produced; generally at 
 the South. 
 
 Cotton-Grower. A person who cultivates the cotton-plant. 
 
 It exhorts the cotton-grow trs of other countries to take courage and persevere. 
 N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Cotton is King. King Cotton. Before the late rebellion, and for a 
 year or two after the war broke out. Southern people said, " Cotton 
 isKinr/;^^ that the Northern States could not do without cotton, 
 and that it would eventually conquer. Writers and political econo- 
 mists all uttered the same cry, and claimed the triumph of cotton, 
 
152 
 
 COT 
 
 the ^reat product of the South. A book by E. N. Elliott, bearing 
 the following title, was published at Augusta, in 1860: — 
 
 Cotton is King, and Pro-Slavery Arguments ; comprising the writings of Ham- 
 mond, Harper, Christy, Stringfellow, Hodge, Bledsoe, and Cartwright on this 
 subject. 
 
 See this new king wlio comes apace. 
 And treats us like a conquered race: 
 He comes from Dixie's Land by rail, 
 His throne a ragged cotton bale. 
 
 On to the White House straight 
 
 He 's marching, — rather late ; 
 
 Clanking along the land, 
 
 The shackles in his hand. 
 Hats off, hats off. 
 Ye slaves, of curs begotten. 
 Hats off to great Kincj Cotton. — R.H. Stoddard. 
 
 Some think it is Law that rules our land ; 
 
 Law in the popular British will; 
 But I know better; I understand 
 How the Cotton King holds the upper hand. 
 
 For his spindles are standing still. 
 
 Ballad for Ye Bold Briton, N. Y. Vanity Fair. 
 
 " Old Cotton, the King, boys, — aha ! 
 
 With his locks so fleecy and white," 
 Descends like a falling star. 
 
 To the sceptre he had no right. 
 
 Old Cotton, the once potent King, 
 
 Is struck from his impotent throne ; 
 Each continent now claims a limb. 
 
 His heart cold and chill it has grown. 
 
 E. V. Smith, in N. Y. Evening Fast. 
 
 For when I stooped to steal and fight 
 
 I thought that Cotton still was King. 
 I did not know the Union's might. 
 
 Nor count upon this sort of thing. 
 
 ■ The Ryme of the Rebel, Vanity Fair. 
 
 To cotton to. " To cotton to one "is to take a liking to him, to 
 fancy him; literally, to stick to him as cotton would. The term is 
 common at the South and West. 
 
 There were divers queer characters on board the steamer, with whom Tom was 
 a great favorite ; but none of them cottoned to him more kindly than an elderly 
 Hoosier from the depths of Indiana. — Field. 
 
 Ain't you, now, a consistent old critter V 
 
 You that cracked yourself up as the great manumitter. 
 
 To make love to the system you once proclaimed rotten. 
 And cotton to slavery for slavery's Cotton. 
 
 Ballad, Uncle Sam to Mother Britannia. 
 
COT 
 
 153 
 
 In a poem in the " London Times," on American affairs, published 
 in 1861, John Bull thus speaks: — 
 
 I knows Jefferson D. is a rascally chap, 
 
 Who goes in for cribbin' the government pap ; 
 
 That Exeter Hall may be down upon me, 
 
 But, as Jeff, has the cotton, I '11 cotton to he. 
 The expression is in the first edition of this Dictionary, but was 
 omitted from the second for the reason that it was found to be an 
 old English one. We have been called to account on several occa- 
 sions, by the " Atlantic Monthly " among others, for the omission 
 of the expression, in the belief that it was an Americanism, and 
 therefore give place to it again, with examples showing its ancient 
 use. 
 
 Dr. Johnson has the verb To Cotton, " to unite with." Webster^ 
 " to unite; to agree; to adhere." The former quotes the following 
 from Swift: — 
 
 A quarrel will end in one of you being turned off, in which case it will not be 
 easy to cotton with another. — Swift. 
 
 Didst see, Frank, how the old goldsmith cottoned in with his beggarly com- 
 panion ? — Walter Scott. 
 Styles and I cannot cotton. — Hist, of Copt. Stukely, B. 2. 
 The following examples of the use of the expression may suffice to 
 show its ancient use : — 
 
 So feyneth he, things true and false 
 
 so always mingleth he, 
 That first with midst, and midst with laste 
 maye cotton and agree. — 
 
 Drant, Horace, The Arte of Poetry (1567). 
 He meanes whatever horseman next he spied 
 
 To take his horse a frend or else a foe. 
 At this is Discord pleas'd, and said to Pride 
 That she was glad their bus'nes cotned so. 
 
 Harrinfjton, Orlando, b. xvii. s. 17 (1561). 
 Cottonia. The same as Cottondom, which see. 
 
 The Confederates having determined to abandon all the Border States, and 
 make a stand in Cottonia proper. — Cincinnati Times, April, 1862. 
 
 Cotton-Mouth. A poisonous snake of Arkansas. 
 
 Cottonocracy. A term applied to the Boston manufacturers, espe- 
 cially by the " Boston Whig " newspaper. 
 
 Cotton Rock. A variety of magnesian limestone, of a light buff or 
 gray color, found in Missouri. It is very soft when fresh from the 
 quarry, and can be easily wrought for building purposes. — Swallow^s 
 Geolof/j/ of Missouri. 
 
 Cotton-Wood {Populus monilifera.) A species of poplar, so called 
 
154 
 
 COU 
 
 from the cotton-like substance surrounding the seeds, which grows 
 on tlie margins of hikes and streams from New England to Illinois 
 and southward, especially westward. In Texas and New ^lexico, 
 it is called Alamo. 
 
 Coulee. (French.) A narrow rocky valley of great depth, with in- 
 clined sides, and from ten to fifty miles in length, distinguished 
 from a canon which has precipitous sides. They occur in Oregon. 
 
 Council Fire. The sacred fire kept burning while the Indians hold 
 tlieir councils. 
 
 Couiicilmanic. Pertaining to a councilman. " Fifth Councilmamc 
 District. Delegates nominated." — N. Y. Tribune, 'Nov., 18Q1. 
 
 To count. To reckon, suppose, think. " I count on going " is very 
 common. 
 
 Newman. You '11 pass muster! a proper fine fellow. 
 Doolittle. I calculate I be. 
 Newman. Ready to enter on duty ? 
 
 Doolittle. I should be glad to know what kind of way you count to improve 
 nie. — D. Hutnj^hreys, The Yankee in England. 
 
 Count St. Luc Read the superscription. You can read ? 
 Doolittle. I count I can, — and spell, too. — /bid. 
 
 To counter-brand. To destroy a brand by branding on the opposite 
 side. In the praii'ie regions of the South-west, the calves are 
 marked by cropping their ears, the cross as well as the brand of each 
 stock-owner being i-ecorded in the county records. When cattle are a 
 year old, they are branded; and, if afterwards sold, the same brand 
 is burnt in on the opposite side, thus destroying the original title. 
 
 Counter- Jumper. A clerk in a retail " store," whose place is behind 
 a counter ; sometimes called a counter-hopper. 
 
 With physical forces developed in the school of slavish endurance, and mind 
 untasked and neglected, what wonder the farmer's boy deems the life of a city 
 counter-jumjier close upon the confines of heaven ! — Essay by L. P. Harvey, 1852. 
 
 Countersign Signal. A signal which serves as a countersign; much 
 used during the late civil war. 
 
 Day and night countersign signals, by which friendly regiments may be dis- 
 tinguished, will be adopted by the Army of the Potomac. — General Order of 
 General McClellan, Oct., 1861.' 
 
 Country- Jakes. People from the backwoods. Tennessee. 
 
 County. " In speaking of counties,''^ says Mr. Pickering, " the names 
 of which are composed of the word shire, we say the county of Hamp- 
 shire, the county of Berkshire, &c. In England, they would say 
 either Hampshire or Berkshire simply, without the word county ; or, 
 the county of Hants., the county of Berks., &c. The word shire of 
 
cou— cow 
 
 155 
 
 itself, as everybody knows, means county; and in one instance (in 
 Massachusetts) this latter word is used instead of shire ^ as a part 
 of the name: 'The county of Duke^s County.^ " — Pickering'' s 
 Vocabulary. 
 
 Couple. A couple of any thing sometimes means a few ; as, " Shall 
 I go to market and get a couple of cherries? " Pennsylvania. 
 
 Court. In Xew England, this word is applied to a legislative body 
 composed of a House of Representatives and a Senate ; as, the Gen- 
 eral Court of Massachusetts. See Charter of Connecticut. 
 
 Court-House. The county towns of Vii-ginia are often called so 
 without regard to their proper names. Thus Providence, the 
 county town of Fairfax, is unknown by that name, and passes as 
 Fairfax Court-House ; Culpepper Cow^t-House has superseded its 
 proper name of Fairfax, more common in Lower Virginia. The 
 same practice has existed to some extent in South Carolina and 
 Maryland. ."-^ 
 
 Court of Assistants. A court formerly in existence in New England 
 where a magistrate or an Assistant presided. . . . These courts 
 were subsequently merged in the County Court. — Caulkins^s Hist. 
 Norwich. See Assistant. 
 
 Cove. A strip of prairie extending into the woodland. 
 
 Cover. To cover one^s shorts. A AVall Street phrase. Where stock 
 has been sold and the market rises, the seller buys where he can, in 
 order to protect himself on the day of delivery. This is covering 
 short sales. — Medbery, Men and Mysteries of Wall Street., p. 134. 
 
 The affairs of the organization were wound up, and on dividing the assets it 
 ■was discovered that the Treasurer had used up all the funds in a frantic effort to 
 cover. — Ibid., p. 227. 
 
 Coverclip. (Genus Achius. Lacepede.) The popular name of the 
 sole, a fish connnon in the waters of New York. Ccdico is another 
 name for it — Nat. Hist, of New York. 
 
 Cowbird, Cow Blackbird, or Cowpen Bird. {Icterus pecoris.) A 
 bird allied to the Crow Blackbird and Orchard Oriole. So called 
 from its often alighting on the backs of cattle and searching for 
 worms in their dung. 
 
 Cowberry. (Vaccinium vitis-idcea.) A plant resembling the common 
 cranberry, but larger. It is found on certain mountains in Massa- 
 chusetts. — Bigelow^s Flora Bostoniensis. Also in Maine. — Tho- 
 reau's Maine Woods., p. 316. The Wi-sa-gu-mi-na of the Crees. 
 
 Cowboys. 1. A contemptuous appellation applied to some of the 
 tory partisans of Westchester County, New York, during the Revo- 
 
15G 
 
 COW— CRA 
 
 lutionary war, who were exceedingly barbarous in the treatment of 
 their opponents who favored the American cause. 
 
 2. Many things will be taught you [in Texas] by the cowhoy^. 
 The cowboy is the cattle-herder and drover. A cow-pony the mus- 
 tang he trains and uses. — Texas Cor. Chicago Tribune. 
 
 Cowboyism. Spirit and practices of the Cowboys. Applied, August, 
 1861, in Fairfield County, Connecticut, to semi-secessionists there 
 and elsewhere in New England. 
 
 Cow-Catcher. A contrivance formerly fixed in front of a locomotive 
 to take up cattle or other obstacles, and prevent them from getting 
 beneath the wheels and throwing the cars off the track. 
 
 Cow-Critter. A cow. New England and Western. 
 
 And so that pourin' dissentions in our cup; 
 
 And so that blamed cow-critter was always coming up. 
 
 Carlton, Farm Ballads, p. 18. 
 
 Cowhide or Cowskin. A particular kind of whip made of twisted 
 strips of raw hide ; it is also called a Raw Hide. 
 
 To cowhide. To flog with a cowhide or cowskin. 
 
 To be out of office and in for a cowhiding is not a pleasant change from eight 
 dollars a day and all sorts of nice pickings. [Alluding to an ex-member of Con- 
 gress.] — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Cow-Lease. A right of pasturage for a cow in a common pasture. 
 Nev\^ England. — Pickering. Provincial in the west of England. 
 
 Cow-Parsnip. (Heraclewn latanum.) The popular name of a plant, 
 classed among the herbs prepared by the " Shakers," as containing 
 properties carminative and diuretic. 
 
 Cow-Pease. A small black bean growing luxuriantly in Texas. 
 They are eaten alike by cattle and their owners. 
 
 Cow-Pony. A young and unbroken mustang. See Cowboy. 
 
 Coyote. (Mexican, coy oil.) The prairie-wolf (Canis latrans). 
 
 Coyote Diggings. Small shafts sunk by the gold miners in California, 
 so called from their resemblance to the holes dug or occupied by the 
 coyote. This animal lives in cracks and crevices made in the plains 
 by the intense summer heat. 
 
 The coyote diyyinys require to be very rich to pay, from the great amount of 
 labor necessary before any pay-dirt can be obtained. — Borthwick's Calif oimia, 
 p. 138. 
 
 Crab-Grass. (Gen. Digitaria.) A species of grass which grows spon- 
 taneously in the cultivated fields of Louisana and Texas, is very 
 injurious to the crops, and yet makes excellent fodder, being equal 
 
CRA 
 
 157 
 
 to the best hay. In appearance, it resembles the Orchard grass of 
 the North. 
 
 Crab-Lantern. A small turnover pie. South. 
 
 Crab-Schooner. The sort of vessel otherwise termed Crab^ Grab ? 
 
 The ''Reliance," a vessel belonging to our Potomac flotilla, has captured a 
 crnb-schooner named the "Monitor." — N. Y. Tribune, June 14, 1862, Letter 
 y'/Wrt Washington. 
 
 Crack of Day. Break of day, or, as they say in England, " creak of 
 day." The narrow crack of light on the horizon which is the first 
 appearance of dawn. — Wedgwood. 
 
 Cracker. 1. A little paper cylinder filled with powder, imported from 
 China; called also a Fire-cracker. It receives its name from the 
 noise it produces in exploding. In England, it is called a squib. 
 
 2. A small biscuit. So called also in the north of England. 
 All the kinds of bread called crackers in this country are known as 
 biscuit in England. 
 
 3. A nickname, applied to the poor white people of Georgia and 
 South Carolina, otherwise called Sand-killers, which see. Probably, 
 says Olmsted, from their peculiar dialect, almost incomprehensible 
 and difficult to report or describe. 
 
 "I was amused enough," said Nina, "with Old Hundred's indignation at hav- 
 ing got out the carriage and horses to go over to what he called a Cracker fune- 
 ral." — -l/rs. Stowe, Bred, Vol. I. p. 152. 
 
 Cracker-Boy. A boy employed about the crackers (machines that 
 crush anthracite coal). 
 
 Young boys — cracker-bnys they are called — whose duty it is to pick out and 
 throw away the bits of slate and other impurities which come whirling along with 
 the coal — The Independent, March 13, 1861. 
 
 Cracklings. 1. Cinders, the remains of a wood fire; a word used in 
 the Southern States. 
 
 When it lightened so, she said t' other eend of the world was afire, and we 'd 
 all be bumt to crncklin's before morning. — Major Jones's Courtship. 
 
 2. The crisp residue of hog fat after the lard is fried out. It is 
 kept for kitchen use. In New England called "pork scraps." 
 CracMinfj-breud is corn bread interspersed with cracklings. In 
 England, crackling is the crisp rind of roast pork. 
 
 Well, fetch up your nag. I am perhaps a leetle, just a leetle, of the best man 
 at a horse swap that ever stole cracklings out of his mammy's fat gourd. Where 's 
 your boss V — Trai's of American Humor, Vol. I. 
 
 Crack-Loo. A game among bar-room loafers and otliers. Played by 
 pitching coin so as to touch the ceiling, the object being to have 
 
CRA 
 
 your coin fall as near as possible to the cracks in the floor; he who 
 conies nearest winning. 
 To crack on. To put on; to apply; to do energetically. 
 
 It was a very easy matter for the lagging vessels, by crnckiny on all steam, to 
 coine up with the others. — N. Y. Tiibune, Letter from Steamer Atlantic. 
 
 Cradle-Scythe. Called also simply a cradle. It consists of a common 
 scytlie with a light frame-work attached, corresponding in form with 
 the scythe. It is used for cutting grain, instead of the sickle; and 
 enables the farmer to perform treble the work that could be accom- 
 plished with the latter implement. On large farms, it is now super- 
 seded by the still more efficient Reaping ]Machine. 
 
 To cradle. To cradle grain is to cut it in the same manner that 
 grass is cut or mowed with the implement above described. 
 
 The operation of cradliny is worth a journey to see. The sickle may be more 
 classical ; but it cannot compare in beauty with the swaying, regular motion of 
 the cradle. — .Urs. Clavers, Western CltarhKjs. 
 
 Cradle. A machine resembling a child's cradle used in v,-ashing out 
 the auriferous earth of California. Also called a Rocker. 
 
 Cradle of Liberty. The famous old building in Boston, known as 
 Faneuil Hall, where the orators of the Revolution roused the people 
 to resistance to British oppression. 
 
 Cramp-Bark ( Viburnum oxycoccus.) The popular name of a medi- 
 cinal plant; its properties are anti-spasmodic. It bears a fruit in- 
 tensely acid. In New England, it is called the Tree Cranberry. 
 
 Cranberry Tree. A popular name, in the North-eastern States, of 
 the Viburnum npulus vel oxijcoccus, a shrub bearing a bright pinkish 
 berry, which has a sharp acid taste. The Moose-berry {inon(ji<6a- 
 mina) of the Crees. Charlevoix calls it the Pemine. 
 
 Crank. Unsteady, capricious. In this last sense, it is applied to 
 character or manner, whence it has passed into the signification of 
 obstinate, self-conceited, opinionative, abrupt. 
 
 If you strong electioners didn t think you were among the elect, you wouldn't 
 be so crank about it. — Mrs. Stoice, Bred, Vol. I. p. 317. 
 
 Cranky. 1. Unsteady, as the gait of a tipsy man. 
 
 2. Queer, crotchety. 
 Crawfish. (Astacus Barton ii.) 1. The popular name of the fresh- 
 water lobster. 
 
 2. A political renegade. In English parliamentary phrase, "a 
 rat." 
 
 To crawfish. To back out from a position once taken; particularly 
 
CRA— CRE 
 
 159 
 
 applied to politicians, evidently from the mode of progression of the 
 animal. Western. The English term is "to rat." 
 
 We acknowledge the corn, and retreat, retrograde, crawjish, or climb down, in 
 as graceful a style as the circumstances of the case will admit. — Cahv Times. 
 
 Crawfishy. A term applied to wet land, because inhabited by craw- 
 fish. See Spnuty. 
 
 Crazy-Bone. The point of the elbow. 
 
 Creamery. A place where butter is made; also, where milk and 
 cream are put up in cans for market. 
 
 He recently purchased a creamery, and is putting up milk for the New York 
 Market. — Briihjeport Conn, Standard. 
 
 In the general features of the butter market there is no change. The fine 
 ci-tameiies are considered well sold at 23 cts. ; . . . Western creamery, 22 cts. ; 
 State creamery, 20 cts. — Neio Yorlc Bulletin. 
 
 To crease. To shoot an animal so that the bullet will cut the skin 
 on the upi:>er part of the neck, without doing any serious injury. 
 When ahorse cannot be caught, he is frequently creased. Although 
 he is not much hurt, he will fall at the touch of the bullet, and 
 remain quiet and powerless until his pursuers secure him. Used 
 only in the West. 
 
 Finding it impossible to get within noosing distance [of the wild horse], and 
 seeing that his horse was receding and growing alarmed, Beatte slid down from 
 the saddle, levelled his rifle across the back of his mare, and took aim, with the 
 intention of creasinrj him. — Irvine's Tour on the Prairies. 
 
 Creature. In the plural number, this word is in common use among 
 farmers as a general term for horses, oxen, &c. Ex. : " The creatures 
 will be put into the pasture to-day." — Pickering. In the South, a 
 horse is generally called a critter ; while, to other animals, the term 
 stock is applied. 
 
 The owners or claimers of any such creatwes [i. e. "swine, neat cattle, horses, 
 or sheep"], impounded as aforesaid, shall pay the fees, &c. — Provincial Laics 
 of Mass — Statute 10, Wm. III. 
 
 Creek. In New York, Connecticut, the Middle and Western States, 
 and in Canada, a small stream is called a creek. The term is 
 incorrectly applied; as its original signification, according to the 
 dictionaries, is a small port, a bay or cove, from which it has 
 gradually been extended to small rivers. 
 
 Creek-Bottom. Low land near a creek. 
 
 Creeper. A shallow iron dish used in frying; a spider. Nc^v 
 England. 
 
 Creole. In the West Indies, in Spanish America, and in the South- 
 
160 
 
 CRE— CRO 
 
 ern States, one born of European parents; but as now used in the 
 South it is applied to every thing that is native, peculiar to, or 
 raised there. Jn the New Orleans market, one may hear of Creole 
 corn, Creole chickens, creole cattle, and creole horses. In that city, 
 too, a Creole is a native of French extraction, as pure in pedigree as 
 a Howard; and great offence has been given by strangers apply- 
 ing the term to a good-looking mulatto or quadroon. 
 
 Creosote Plant. (Larrea Mexicana.) This plant abounds from the 
 Arkansas to the Rio del Norte, and in the sandy deserts of Cali- 
 fornia. It is characterized by a resinous matter of powerful odor. 
 Animals refuse to eat it. It is employed as an external application 
 in rheumatism. 
 
 Crescent City. The city of New Orleans, so called from its peculiar 
 shape. 
 
 In the City of the Crescent, by red Mississippi's waves, 
 
 Walks the haughty Creole lady with her daughters and her slaves. 
 
 Ballad of the Crescent City, Harper'' s Weekly. 
 The restoration of the authority of the United States ... is a guarantee of 
 the future prosperity and glory of the Crescent City under the protection of the 
 American government. — Proc. of Gen. Shepley, 1862. 
 
 Crevasse. (French.) The breaking away of the embankments or 
 levees on the lower Mississippi by pressure of the water. 
 
 Crispse and Cripsy, for crisp and crispy. 
 
 Critters, for creatures, is a common vulgarism in pronunciation. 
 
 You hear folks say, such a man is an ugly-grained critter, he '11 break his 
 wife's heart ; just as if a woman's heart was as brittle as a pipe-stalk. — Sam 
 
 Slick. 
 
 Croaker. A small and very beautiful fish, found in great abundance 
 in the bays and inlets of the Gulf of Mexico. It is sometimes 
 found farther north. It derives its name from a peculiar croaking 
 sound, which it utters when taken. 
 
 Croke. Miss Ramsay, speaking of the plants of Virginia, says: — 
 
 They send their Negroes to the fields 
 For the wild salads nature yields, 
 Such as lamb's quarters, dock and poke, 
 Purslain, wild ivy, beet, and croke. 
 
 Poetical Picture of America. 
 
 Croker. A water-fowl that inhabits the Chesapeake and the larger 
 rivers of Virginia. 
 
 Crook-Neck. A species of squash. New^ England. 
 
 Ciccksd Stick. A cross-grained, perverse person. 
 
CRO 
 
 161 
 
 So as I ain't a croohed stick, just like, like old (I swow, 
 
 I don't know as I know his name) — I '11 go back to my plough. 
 
 Biylow Papers. 
 
 The widow R must have been dreadfully put to it for a husband, to take 
 
 up with such a crooked stick as Elder B . — Major Downing. 
 
 To crook. To crook one's elbow or one's little finger is to tipple. 
 
 Crooked as a Virginia Fence. A phrase applied to any thing very 
 crooked ; and figuratively to persons of a stubborn temper who are 
 difficult to manage. 
 
 Crooked Whiskey. Whiskey upon which the excise tax has not 
 been paid. See Whiskey. 
 
 Cropper. One who cultivates a farm on shares, or raises a crop in 
 consideration of receiving a portion of it. 
 
 Cropping. This term, in the South and West, means devoting the 
 chief attention to the cultivation of one article. 
 
 Cross-Fox. (Vulpes fulvus.) A fox whose color is between the com- 
 mon reddish-yellow and the silver-gray, having on its back a black 
 cross. These animals are rare, and their skins command a high 
 price. Cartwright says, " The Cross Fox is bred between a silver 
 and a yellow." — Labrador, Vol. III. Glossary. 
 
 To cross one's Track. To oppose one's plans; synonymous with the 
 nautical phrase " to run athwart one's hawse." 
 
 Cross Timbers. A belt of forest or woodland, from five to thirty 
 miles in width, which extends from the Arkansas River in a south- 
 westerly direction to the Brazos, a distance of four hundred miles. 
 The wood is chiefly post-oak and black-jack. The forest is passable 
 for wagons, and is a marked feature in the region where it is found, 
 being the boundary between the cultivable and the desert portions. 
 
 The whole of the cross timber abounds in mast. There is a pine oak which 
 produces acorns pleasant to the taste. — Jrving's Tour on the Prairies. 
 
 Crotchical. Crotchety. A common colloquial word in New England. 
 
 You never see such a crotchical old critter as he is. He flies right off the 
 handle for nothin'. — Sam Slick in England. 
 
 Crowd. Any number of persons together is called, in Western par- 
 lance, a crowd ; so that the word is often equivalent to " company." 
 
 The conveniences of the toilet were wanting, as in all far Western places. A 
 couple of tin basins, filled with muddy water from the Missouri, stood on a 
 board ; while a square ff)ot of mirror, with a brush and comb attached by means 
 of a string, hung upon the wall for the use of the crowd. — Description of a Hotel 
 in Kansas. 
 
 Here, boys, drink. Liquors, captain, for the crowd. Step up this way, old 
 boss, and liquor. — Gladstone, Englishman in Kansas, p. 43. 
 
 11 
 
162 
 
 CRO— CUX 
 
 In a discussion pending the election of chaplain in the House of 
 Representatives, Mr. Elliott, of Kentucky, nominated the Rev. John 
 Morris : — 
 
 "He is," said Mr. E., "a regular member of the Hardshell Baptist Church, 
 a very pious man, not of very eminent ability, but just the man to pray for such 
 a crowd as this." 
 
 The "New York Tribune," of June 1, 18-57, in speaking of 
 Walker's party of filibusters from Costa Rica, says : — 
 
 Commodore Erskine has signified his intention not to carry any more of this 
 crowd to Aspinwall, out of deference to the New Grenadian authorities. 
 
 I recognized a man as one of my fellow-passengers from New York to Chagres. 
 I was glad to see him, as he was one of the most favorable specimens of that 
 crowd. — Borth wick's California, p. 195. 
 
 Grower. Another squeamish substitute for Cock, like Booster. 
 
 Cruel. One of the numerous substitutes for very, exceedingly. A 
 man who had been seriously ill with cramp, or something of the 
 kind, sent for the doctor, who arrived after the painful paroxysm 
 had ceased, and when weakness had succeeded to pain. 
 
 "How are you, my friend?" said the Doctor. "Oh, Doctor, I'm powerful 
 weak, but cruel easy." 
 
 Cruller. (Dutch Icruller, a curler.) A cake, made of a strip of sweet- 
 ened dough, boiled in lard, the two ends of which are twisted or 
 curled together. Other shapes are also employed. The New York- 
 ers have inherited the name and the thing from the Dutch. In 
 Maryland, the words cruller, doughnut, and fossnock are used indis- 
 criminately for the same kind of cake. 
 
 Crush-Hat. A soft hat. 
 
 To cry. To publish the banns of marriage in church. New England. 
 I should not be surprised if they were cried next Sabbath. — Margaret. 
 
 Cucumber Tree. (Magnolia acuminata.) A tree, so called from a 
 slight resemblance of its young fruit to a cucumber. As it grows, 
 the resemblance is lost, and the fruit becomes pinkish-red. 
 
 Cuffy. A very common term for a Negro. 
 
 To cultivate. To use the implement named " cultivator; " as a verb 
 
 tr. and intr. The ordinary word in Eastern Connecticut. 
 Cunners. Univalve shells of the genus Patella. New England. 
 
 Two fishermen had been despatched at daybreak to procure a supply of cod 
 for a chowder and cunners for a fry, and we were expecting a rare supper. — 
 Lee, Merrimaclc, p. 133. 
 
 Cunning. A word used chiefly by women ; as, " a cunning little hat," 
 meaning a neat, pretty hat; tiny. 
 
CUN— CUR 
 
 163 
 
 Cunnuck or K'nuck. A name applied to Canadians by the people 
 in the Northern States. See Canuck. 
 
 Missus didn't affection Yankees much ; and Cunnucks she hated like poison, 
 'cause they enticed off Negroes. — Sam Slick, Human Nature. 
 
 Cupalo, for cupola, is a common error of pronunciation. It is also a 
 very old one, as appears from the following passage: — 
 Whose roof of copper shineth so, 
 
 It excells Saint Peter's cupello. — Political Ballads, 1660. 
 
 Curb-Stone Brokers. Stock-operators, whose place of business is on 
 the edge of the pavement in the vicinity of the Merchants' Ex. 
 change, and whose account-books are said to be kept in their hats. 
 " This is a very large class of speculators, and is composed of the 
 oldest and most experienced operators in the street [Wall Street^ 
 New York]. Many of them have been members of the Stock Ex- 
 change, but from having failed to fulfil their contracts during some 
 of the numerous ups and downs of the market have been compelled 
 to vacate their seats, and lost their membership. The curbstone 
 brokers have leased a large room directly under that occupied by the 
 regular board ; and during the session of the board a communication 
 is kept up between the rooms, so that any transaction is known 
 below as soon as made. Upon information derived in this way, 
 the curb-stone brokers operate among themselves, and frequently 
 with, and for the account of, the outsiders. This class of specula- 
 tors are particularly fond of operating in ' puts ' and ' calls,' and in 
 fact resort to all the different methods of doing a large business on 
 a small capital." — Hunt's Merchant'' s Mag., Vol. XXXVII. 
 A more recent name for curb-stone brokers is gutter-snipes. 
 
 The outside Board Avas becoming a power. There were two hundred regular 
 brokers ; but the irregular, curbstone, outside phalanx was far more numerous; 
 and the " New York Herald " asserted that the curb-stone men were held in better 
 repute in matter of contracts than their competing brethren. — Medbery, Men and 
 Mysteries of Wall Street, p. 305. 
 
 Curios. Curiosities. " He 's a dealer in curios." 
 
 Japanese cunos are as powerful as mercury to attract gold. — Griffis, The 
 Mikados Empire, p. 351. 
 
 Curious. " This wwd or curious is often heard in New England 
 among the common farmers, in the sense of excellent, or peculiarly 
 excellent ; as in these expressions : ' These are curious apples ; ' ' This 
 is curious cider,' &c. This use of the word is hardly known in our 
 seaport towns." — Pickering. 
 
 Curleycues. See Carlicues. 
 
164 
 
 CUS— CUT 
 
 Cuspidor, Cuspidore. (Sp. escupidor, a spitter.) A 8pittx)on, usu- 
 ally globe-shaped. 
 Cuss. A vulgar pronunciation of the word curse. 
 Cuss (for customer). A worthless fellow; a scamp. *' An ugly cuss.^* 
 
 Colonel J , of New York, and being a jovial, festive, and lively ctias, his 
 
 comrades always spoke of him as the Gay Yorker. — Leavenworth Conservative. 
 The cuss that specs in man's necessities. 
 An' makes big profits, in sich times as these, 
 An' has to lie in poor men's doubtin' faces 
 To help him out, is wus 'n t' other cases. 
 
 Ballad, Vanity Fair, 1862. 
 
 Cussedness. Malice; perverseness ; spite. 
 
 The Constitution is about to be used once more by the Democrats as a screen 
 for "pure cussedness.'''' They have already started the inquiry M-hether or not 
 it Avill be constitutional for Congress when it meets to appropriate money for the 
 support of the army which the President has maintained in an unconstitutional 
 manner V — N. Y. Tnbune, May 12, 1877. 
 
 Cuss-Words. Oaths. 
 
 Custard- Apple. See Sioeet Sop ; also Papaw. 
 
 Customable. Subject to the payment of duties called customs. — Webster. 
 The term dutiable is in general use in New York; customable is 
 rarely heard. 
 
 Customer, A chap; and, figuratively, an awkward person to deal 
 with or manage; as "an ugly customer," a " rum customer." 
 
 Cut. A term used in colleges to denote the failure of either an officer 
 or a student to appear at the appointed time and place for prayers 
 and recitations. 
 
 To cut Didoes. Synonymous with to cut capers, i. e. to be frolick- 
 some. 
 
 Who ever heerd them Italian singers recitin' their jabber, showin' their teeth, 
 and cuttin' didoes at a private concert ? — S. Slick in Enylnnd. 
 
 Watchman! take that 'ere feller to the watch-house; he comes here a cutting 
 up his didoes every night. — Pickings from the Picayune. 
 
 On, on he splurged, until not two ounces of vital air filled his breathing appa- 
 ratus; over the fence of his relative's grounds Xick flew, and up the lane he trav- 
 elled, bustled into the house, foamed, fumed, and cut up such wondrous strange 
 didoes that his wife and friends believed he had gone stark mad. — N. Y. Spiiit 
 of the Times. 
 
 To cut Dirt. To run; to go fast. Synonymous with " to cut one's 
 stick." A vulgar expression, probably derived from the quick 
 motion of a horse or carriage over a country road, which makes the 
 dirt fly. 
 
 Well, the way the cow cut dirt yras cautionary; she cleared stumps, ditches, 
 windfalls, and every thing. — Sam Slick in England. 
 
CUT 
 
 165 
 
 "Noyf cut dirt! screamed I; and, Jehu Gineral Jackson! if he didn't make a 
 straight shirt-tail for the door, may I never make another pass. — Field^ Western 
 Tales. 
 
 To cut a Swathe. The same as to cut a dash. 
 
 The expression is generally applied to a person walking who is 
 gayly dressed, and has a pompous air or swagger in his or her gait, 
 in allusion to the sweeping motion of a scythe. 
 
 The Miss A s cut a tall suxithe, I tell you, for they say they are descended 
 
 from a governor of Nova Scotia, and that their relations in England are some 
 punkins too. — Sam Slick, Human Nature. 
 
 Awake ! arouse ye, sinners ! Know that you are but a notch or two lower than 
 the angels ; that you are not only put here to make money, kiss the women, and 
 cut a swathe, but to fill a higher and more important destiny. — Dow's Sermons. 
 
 To cut a Splurge. The same as the foregoing, to make a show or 
 display in dress. 
 
 Since Miss C has got a hyst in the world, she tries to cut a splurge, and 
 
 make folks think she 's a lady. — Widow Bedott Papers. 
 
 Cute. (An abbreviation of acute.) Acute, sharp, keen. It is pro- 
 vincial in various parts of England. In New England, it is a com- 
 mon colloquialism, though never used by educated people. 
 
 Now, says I, I 'm goin' to show you about as cute a thing as you 've seen in 
 many a day. — Major Downing's Letters, p. 214. 
 
 Mr. Marcy was a right cute, cunning sort of a man ; but in that correspondence 
 General Taylor showed himself able to defend himself against the fire in the 
 rear. — Mr. Gentry'' $ Remarks at the Taylor Meeting in jV. F. 
 
 Miss Allin, in her " Home Ballads," in describing the Yankee, 
 says: — 
 
 No matter where his home may be. 
 
 What flag may be unfurled, 
 He '11 manage, by some cute device, 
 
 To whittle through the world. 
 
 Cuteness. Acuteness, keenness. 
 
 He had a pair of bright, twinkling eyes, that gave an air of extreme cuteness 
 to his physiognomy. — Knickerbocker Mag., Aug., 1845. 
 
 Cut-Grass. {Leersia oryzoides.) The common name of a species of 
 grass, with leaves exceedingly rough backward, so as to cut the 
 hands if drawn across them. — Bigelow^s Flora. 
 
 To cut it too Fat. To overdo a thing. Synonymous with ' ' going it 
 too strong." 
 
 It's bad enough to be uncomfortable in your own house without knowing 
 why; but to have a philosopher of the Sennaar school show you why you are so 
 is cutting it rather too fat. — Potiphar Papers, p. 131. 
 
 When the U. S. mail was carried to California by stage, the con- 
 
166 
 
 CUT 
 
 tractors claimed from the government damage for the loss of horses 
 by the Indians. 
 
 When the teams are so placed as to invite the raids of the savage, and the 
 government expected to pay the company double or treble value for practicably 
 handing over their stock to the Indians, it is cuttiny it rather fat. — McClure. 
 Rocky Mountains^ p. 182. 
 
 Cut-off. 1. Passages cut by the great Western rivers, particularly the 
 Mississippi, affording new channels, and thus forming islands. 
 These cut-offs are constantly made. 
 
 When the Mississippi, in making its cut-offs, is ploughing its way through the 
 virgin soil, there fioat upon the top of this destroying tide thousands of trees, 
 that covered the land and lined its curving banks. — Thorpt's B'ickwoods, p. 172. 
 
 The settlement was one of the prettiest places on the Mississippi, — a perfect 
 location ; it had some defects, until the river made the cut-off' at Shirt Tail Bend, 
 which remedied the evil. — Thorpe, Biy Bear of Arkansas. 
 
 Since my own day on the Mississippi, cut-offs have been made, . . . which 
 shortened the river sixty-seven miles. In my own time, a cut-off' wsls made at the 
 American Bend which shortened the river ten miles or more. — Mark Twain, in 
 Atlantic Monthly, for August, 1875, p. 198. 
 
 2. A part of a steam-engine. " The Corliss cut-off.^' 
 To cut round. To fly about ; to make a display. 
 
 The widow made herself perfectly ridiculous. She was dressed off like a 
 3'oung gal, and cut round, and laughed, and tried to be wonderful interesting. — 
 Widow Bedott Papers, p. 91. 
 
 Instead of sticking to me as she used to do, she got to cuttin' round with all 
 the young fellows, just as if she cared nothin' about me no more. — N. Y. Spirit 
 of the Times. 
 
 To cut Stick or To cut one's Stick. To be off; to leave imme- 
 diately, and go with all speed. A vulgar expression and often 
 heard. It is also provincial in England. 
 Dinner is over. It 's time for the ladies to cut stick. — Sam Slick in England, 
 If ever you see her, and she begins that way, up hat and cut stick double quick. 
 To cut under. To undersell in price. New York. 
 To cut up. 1. To employ severe language towards a person; to 
 shame, to put to pain, &c., chiefly used in a passive sense; as, " ikir, 
 A. was quite cut up at what you said." 
 
 2. To interrupt one rudely in talk. 
 
 3. To be riotous. 
 
 Now, say, what 's the use 
 
 Of all this abuse. 
 Of cutting up, and thus behaving riotr, 
 And acting with such awful impropriety? 
 
 Leland, Meister KarVs Sketch-Booh, p. 265. 
 
 To cut up Shines. To cut capers, play tricks. 
 
CUT— DAG 
 
 167 
 
 A wild bull of the prairies was cutting up shines at no great distance, tearing 
 up the sod with hoofs and horns. — Knickerbocker Mag. 
 
 " What have these men been doing? " asked the Recorder. 
 
 " Oh, they were cutting up all kinds of shines ; knocking over the ashes barrels, 
 shying stones at lamps, kicking at doors, and disturbing the peace of the whole 
 city." — Pickings from the Picayune, p. 61. 
 
 Cutter. A light one-horse sleigh. 
 
 Sleighs are swarming up and down the street, of all sorts and sizes, from the 
 huge omnibus with its thirty passengers to the light, gayly painted cutters, with 
 their solitary, fur-capped tenants, &c. — The Upper Ten Thousand, p. 4. 
 
 And then we '11 go sleighing, in warm raiment clad, 
 
 With fine horses neighing as if they were glad, 
 
 The shining bells jingle, the swift cutter flies; 
 
 And, if our ears tingle, no matter ; who cries V — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Cuttoes. (French couteau, a knife.) A large knife, used in olden 
 times in New England. 
 
 There were no knives and forks, and the family helped themselves on wooden 
 plates, with cuttoes. — Margaret, p. 10. 
 
 Cymbling. A variety of squash, so called at the South, in speaking 
 of which Beverly says, "The Clypeatse are sometimes called 
 cymnels, from the lenten-cake of that name, which many of them 
 much resemble." — Hist, of Virginia., p. 113. In the dialect of 
 Somerset, simlin is a kind of cake; and elsewhere simnel is a rich 
 cake of a peculiar form. In Salop the term is applied to a plum- 
 cake with a raised crust. — Halliwell. 
 
 Cypress-Brake. A basin-shaped depression of land near the margin 
 of shallow, sluggish bayous, into which the superabundant waters 
 find their way. In these places, are vast accumulations of fallen 
 cypress-trees, which have been accunmlating for ages. These are 
 called cypress-brakes. — Dickeson on the Cypress Timber of Louisiana. 
 
 D. 
 
 Daddock. The heart or body of a tree thoroughly rotten. — Asu. 
 
 This old word is not noticed by Johnson, Todd, or Webster. It 
 is introduced by Mr. Worcester in his new dictionary. 
 
 The great red daddocks \ay in the green pastures, where they had lain 3'ear after 
 year, crumbling away, and sending forth innumerable forms of vegetable life. — 
 Margaret, p. 215. 
 
 Daddy-Long-Legs. A small-bodied spider with very long legs. 
 
 Dagos. Originally people of Spanish parentage, born in Louisiana, 
 now applied there to all Italians, Sicilians, Spanish, and Por- 
 tuguese. 
 
168 
 
 DAM— DAR 
 
 Damaged. Intoxicated. 
 
 Damson Plums, of the West Indies. See Star- Apple. 
 Dander. 1. Scurf at the roots of the hair; dandruff. 
 
 2. To get one^s dander up, or to have one^s dander raised, is to get 
 into a passion. Here, it would seem, the dandruff is ludicrously 
 put for the hair itself, which is represented as being raised on end, 
 like the fur of some animals when enraged. This as well as the 
 preceding use of the word is found in English dialects. 
 
 The Department of State did not keep back the letters of Mr. Rives, in which 
 he boasts that he had outwitted the French. Well, this sort of jnit up the dander 
 of the French. — Crockett, Tour, p. 198. 
 
 The fire and fury that blazed in her eye gave ocular evidence of her dander 
 being up — Pickinys from the New Orleans Picayune, p. 163. 
 
 As we looked at the immense strength of the "Northumberland's " mast, we 
 could not help thinking that Neptune must have his dander considerably raised 
 before he could carry it away. — N. Y. Com. Adv. 
 
 I felt my dander lisin' when the impertinent cuss went and tuck a seat along- 
 side of Miss Mary, and she begun to smile and talk with him as pleasin' as could 
 be. — Major Jo?ies's Courtship, p. 77. 
 
 Dandyfied. Dandyish ; like a dandy. 
 
 Dandy-Trap. Loose brick in the pavement; when stepped upon, the 
 muddy water underneath gushes up and soils boots or clothing. 
 
 Dangerous. Endangered, being in danger. — Forhy. This sense is 
 local in England, and colloquial in the United States. — Worcester. 
 
 Dangle-Berry. (Gaylussacia.) A species of the blue whortleberry. 
 
 Dangnation. A euphemism for damnation. 
 
 Danites. 
 
 If the enemies of the Mormons are to be trusted, they have a 
 secret battalion of Danites, serpents in the path, destroying angels, 
 who are banded for any deed of daring and assassination ; and the 
 frequent violent deaths of travellers are attributed to the treacher- 
 ous stroke of some brother of the fraternity. — North Am. Rev.^ 
 Article on Mormonism, July, 1862. 
 Dark and Bloody Ground (The). An expression foiTnerly much 
 used in allusion to Kentucky, of which name it is said to be a trans- 
 lation. The phrase is an epitome of the early history of the State, 
 of the dark and bloody conflicts of the first white settlers with their 
 savage foes; but the name originated in the fact that this was the 
 grand battle-ground between the Northern and Southern Indians. 
 — Wheeler''s Dictionary. 
 
 On the occasion of the reception of President Hayes at Louisville, 
 Kentucky, Sept. 17, 1877, Gov. Wade Hampton said: — 
 
DAR— DEA 
 
 169 
 
 I came here chiefly that I might extend a warm greeting to the President as he 
 struck Southern soil, as he stood on the once dark and bloody ground of Ken- 
 tucky, no longer so, but, as I trust in God, here and elsewhere a land of peace, 
 prosperity, and happiness. 
 
 Darky. A common term for a Negro. 
 
 I wish de legislatur would set dis darlcie free, 
 
 Oh ! what a happy place den de darlcie land would be. 
 
 We 'd have a darkie parliament, 
 
 An' darkie codes of law. 
 An' darkie judges on de bench, 
 
 Darkie barristers and aw. — Ethiopian Melodies (1848). 
 
 Dark Moon. The interval between the old and the new moon. 
 Western. Qu. Dark o' the Moon? 
 
 I always alter my, colts and plant my 'taters during the dark moon. — Letter 
 from a Western Farmer. 
 
 Darsen't, for dares not. It is vulgarly used in all persons and numbers. 
 
 To deacon a Calf is to knock it in the head as soon as it is born. — 
 
 Connecticut. 
 
 To deacon Land is to extend one's fence so as to include a portion 
 of the highway. — Haddam. Connecticut. 
 
 To " Deacon Berries " is to put the largest on top. To " Deacon 
 Apples " is, when barrelling them for sale, to put the best on top. 
 
 To deacon off To give the cue to. Derived from a custom, once 
 universal but now extinct, in the New England Congregational 
 Churches. An important part of the office of deacon was to read 
 aloud the hymns given out by the minister, one line at a time, the 
 congregation singing each line as soon as read. — Lowell. In some 
 of the interior parts of New England, the custom of deaconing off 
 hymns is still continued. It used to be called " lining out the 
 psalm." 
 
 The custom is nearly as old as the Reformation, and long ante- 
 dates early colonial days in New England. It was recommended to 
 churches not supplied with books, by the Westminster Assembly, 
 in 1664; and Dr. Watts complained of its prevalence in congrega- 
 tions and private families in England, — in the preface to an early 
 edition of his psalms. — Hood^s Hist. Music in New England., p. 184, 
 201. 
 
 When all was ready [to commence the religious exercises], a prayer was made 
 and the chorister deaconed the first two lines. — Goodrich's Reminiscences, Vol. I. 
 p. 77. 
 
 To funk right out o' p'lit'cal strife ain't thought to be the thing, 
 Without you deacon off the tune you want your folks should sing. 
 
 The Biylow Papers, 
 
170 
 
 DEA 
 
 Deacons' Hiding-Places. Curtained stalls in Boston oyster-saloons. 
 Deacon's Meeting. One, in the pastor's absence, conducted by a 
 deacon. 
 
 Deacons' Seat. A pew formerly made on the pulpit's front, for 
 deacons to occupy. The chief edifice at Hanover (Dartmouth 
 College) had, in 1832, and before, a pulpit buttressed by two pews, 
 the higher for a " ruling elder." 
 
 Dead-Beat. 1 . A mixture of ginger-soda and whiskey, taken by hard 
 drinkers after a night's carousal. 
 
 2. One who lives on others; a most hardened sponge. 
 
 Dead-beat. Worn out; exhausted; good for nothing. 
 
 Dead-broke. Utterly exhausted of cash, penniless. 
 
 Damphool squared up his board bill and paid his washer-woman, which left 
 him dead-broke. — Doesticks, p. 141. 
 
 To be dead-broke was really, as far as a man's comfort was concerned, a matter 
 of less importance in the mines than in ahnost any other place. — Borthwick's 
 Cali/b/nia, p. 255. 
 
 To deaden. 1. In newly settled parts of the West, where it is de- 
 signed to make a " clearing," some of the trees are cut down; the 
 others are girdled, or deadened, as they say, i. e. deprived of force 
 or sensation. If the majority of trees are thus girdled, the field is 
 called a deadening ; otherwise, it is a clearing. — Carlton, The New 
 Purchase, Vol. I. 240. 
 
 2. A political candidate at the West deadens his competitor's 
 votes in a district by doing away with false impressions, misstate- 
 ments, &c., originating with the other party. 
 
 Deadening. A piece of land the trees on which have been deadened 
 by girdling. 
 
 Dead Heads. Persons who drink at a bar, ride in an omnibus or 
 railroad car, travel in steamboats, or visit the theatre, without 
 charge, are called dead heads. These consist of the engineers, 
 conductors, and laborers on railroads; the keepers of hotels; the 
 editors of newspapers, &c. 
 
 " The principal avenue of our city," writes a learned friend in Detroit, " h;is a 
 toll-gate just by the Elmwood Cemetery road. As the cemetery had been laid 
 out some time previous to the construction of the plank-road, it was made one of 
 the conditions of the company's charter that all funeral processions should go 
 back and forth free. One day. as Dr. Price, a celebrated physician, stopped to 
 pay his toll, he remarked to the gate-keeper: — 
 
DEA 
 
 171 
 
 " ' Considering the benevolent character of our profession, I think you ought 
 to let us pass free of charge.' 
 
 "'No, no, doctor,' the keeper readily replied, 'we couldn't afford that, ^ou 
 send too many dead heads through here as it is.' 
 
 "The doctor paid his toll, and never asked any favors after that." — Wash, 
 Even. Star, Oct., J857. 
 
 Deadheadism. The practice of travelling with free tickets. 
 
 As I had never experienced the blessed privilege of deadheadism, I could not 
 naturally resist the opportunity of enjoying so new a sensation; and I beg to 
 assure you that it is by no means so unpleasant as you might imagine. It was a 
 pleasure similar to that which Lucretius describes as enjoyed by standers on the 
 shore when they see ships tossed about on the sea, to behold wretches crowding 
 to the ticket-offices and disbursing their money, when you have nothing to do but 
 to take your seat and be carried through the air without money and without price. 
 Letter inN. Y. Tiibune, June, 1857. 
 
 It is also too much the practice of railway companies to give free 
 passes to members of State Legislatures, in order to make them 
 friendly disposed. In many instances, however, the members 
 exact the privilege of riding free over the roads. 
 
 The Superior Court has enjoined the New York and New Haven Railroad 
 from issunig free passes to members of the Legislature. . . . This action will be 
 rather agreeable to the Railroad Company, as it will relieve all the railroads in 
 the State from the practice of dead-headiny members of the Legislature. — Con- 
 necticut Paper. 
 
 Dead Horse. Work for which one has been paid before it is per- 
 formed. When a printer, on Saturday night, includes in his bill 
 work not yet finished, he is said, on the following week, to " work 
 oif a dead horse. ''^ Also used in England. 
 
 Dead Rabbits. A name recently assumed by the Irish faction in the 
 city of New York. 
 
 If the Dead Rabbit think he slays, 
 
 Or the Plug-Ugly think he 's slain, 
 They do but pave the subtle ways 
 
 I 've trod, and mean to tread again. 
 
 Parody on Emerson'' s Brahma, N. Y. Even'g Post. 
 
 Dead-Set. Opposition; resolute antagonism; hostility; as "it was 
 a dead-set between them." 
 
 Dead set against. Strongly opposed to. 
 
 Deaf Adder. See Dlauser. 
 
 Deaf Nut. A nut the kernel of which is decayed. Pennsylvania. 
 
 Provincial in England. 
 
 Death. To be death on a thing is to be completely master of it, a 
 capital hand at it ; like the quack-doctor who could not manage the 
 
172 
 
 DEA— DEE 
 
 whooping-cough, but was, as he expressed it, " death on fits." 
 Vulgar. 
 
 Did you ever hearn tell of the man they calls Chunkey ? born in Kaintuck and 
 raised on the Mississippi! death on bar, and smartly in a panther fight. — N. Y. 
 Spirit of the Times. 
 
 Women, I believe, are born with certain natural tastes. Sally was death on 
 lace, and old Aunt Thankful goes the whole figure for furs. — Sam Slick, Human 
 Nature., p. 225. 
 
 Death-Horses. An insect, perhaps the " death's head moth." 
 Among the insects of Virginia, Miss Ramsay mentions : — 
 
 Locusts, tobacco-worms, and slugs, 
 Death-horses, or the hard-shell bugs. 
 
 Poetical Picture of America, p. 168. 
 
 Decedent. A deceased person. — Laivs of Pennsylcania. 
 
 Deceiving for deceitful ; as, *' A very deceiving hole in the road." 
 
 Deck. A pack of cards. This term is old English. Thus Shak- 
 
 soeare says, — 
 
 But, whiles, he thought to steal the single ten. 
 The king was slily fingered from the deck. — 3 Henry VI., v. 1. 
 I'll deal the cards, and cut you from the deck. — Tioo Maids of Moreclacke, 1609. 
 "Waiter," cried out an Arkansas traveller, "bring down my baggage." 
 " What is it, sir ?" "A bowie-knife, a pair of pistols, a deck of cards, and one 
 shirt." 
 
 Deck is defined by Ash, "a pack of cards piled one upon 
 another. ' ' 
 
 Deck. Twenty-Deck Poker is a variety where twenty cards are used. 
 
 Declension. We sometimes see this word used in the newspapers, in 
 speaking of a person's declining to be a candidate for office. Ex. : 
 In consequence of the declension of our candidate, we shall be 
 obliged to vote for a new one. — Pickering. 
 
 Declination. Used in the same sense as the preceding word. It is 
 said to have been first employed by Mr. John Pintard, when he 
 declined a re-election as president of the American Bible Society. 
 
 Decoration-Day. Day appointed for decoration, especially of graves 
 of soldiers and sailors, who fell in the late civil war. 
 
 Deed, for indeed. Very common throughout the South. Ask a 
 Negro if it is cold, he will answer, " Deed it is." 
 
 To deed. To convey or transfer by deed. A popular use of the 
 word in America; as, " He deeded all his estate to his eldest son." 
 — Webster. 
 
 Deestrick. A common pronunciation among the illiterate for district. 
 
DEL— DEP 
 
 173 
 
 Deliver. Many of the clergy now-a-days " deliver " the Scriptures 
 and hymns to their hearers instead of reading them. 
 
 Delivery. In Wall Street parlance, when stock is brought to the 
 buyer in accordance with the rules of the Stock Exchange, it is 
 called a " good delivery." When there are irregularities, the power 
 of attorney not being satisfactory, or in some other way the rules 
 of the Exchange are contravened, the delivery is pronounced bad, and 
 the buyer can appeal to the Board. — Medbery, Men and Mysteries 
 of Wall Street^ p. 135. 
 
 To demonstrate. To show one's self; to make exhibitions. 
 
 Certain judges, hostile to the purpose and scope of the law, soon began to 
 demonstrate against it. — iV. Y. Tribune, Feb. 10, 1862. 
 
 To demoralize. To corrupt and undermine the morals of; to destroy 
 or lessen the effect of moral principles on. — Webster. Professor 
 Lyell, who visited Dr. Webster, says, " When the Doctor was asked 
 how many words he had coined for his Dictionary, he replied, only 
 one, ' to demoralize ; ' and that not for his Dictionary, but in a pam- 
 phlet published in the last century." — Travels in the United States, 
 p. 53. Mr. Jodrell, in his " Philology of the English Language," 
 gives the word a place, and cites as an example a passage from 
 a speech by Lord Liverpool, in the House of Lords, March 11, 
 1817: — 
 
 They had, endeavored to guard and protect the people against the attempts 
 which were made to corrupt and demoralize them. 
 
 The native vigor of the soul" must wholly disappear, under the steady influence 
 and the demoraliziny example of profligate power and prosperous crime. — 
 Walsh, Letters on France. 
 
 Dengu^. See Break-Bone Fever. 
 
 Department. (Fr. departement.) The principal offices of the federal 
 government at Washington, at the head of each of which is a Sec- 
 retary, are styled departments. Thus we have the State Department, 
 Literior Department, Treasury Department, &c. This expression 
 and also the following are borrowed from the French. 
 
 Departmental. Pertaining to a department or division. — Webster. 
 
 The game played by the revolutionists in 1789 was now played against the 
 departmentfd guards called together for the protection of revolutionists. — 
 Burke, Pre/, to Brissofs Address. 
 
 Which it required all the exertion of the departmental force to suppress. — 
 H. M. Williams, Letters on Fi-ance. 
 
 Depot, French. (Pron. dee'po.') A railroad station-house. In Eng- 
 land, it is called a Station. 
 
 We have also provision depots, butter depots, &c. 
 
174 
 
 DEP— dp:v 
 
 To deputize. To depute ; to appoint a deputy ; to empower to act for 
 aiiotlier, as a sheriff. — Webster. 
 
 This word is not in any of the English dictionaries except one of 
 the early editions of Bailey, where it appears in the preface among 
 words in modern authors, collected after the Dictionary was printed. 
 Mr. Pickering remarks that the word is sometimes heard in con- 
 versation, but rarely occurs in writing, and has always been consid- 
 ered as a mere vulgarism." 
 
 They seldom think it necessary to deputize more than one person to attend to 
 their interests at the seat of government. — Port Folio, January, 1811. 
 
 Deseret. A name (which they say means honey bee) given by the 
 Mormons to the Territory of Utah, which they occupy. When Mr. 
 Edward Everett was Secretary of State, he prevented the name 
 being used as the official one for the Territory. 
 
 Desk. The pulpit in a church, and figuratively the clerical profes- 
 sion. "The Rev. Mr. Poundtext appears well at the desk/^ " He 
 intends one son for the bar, and another for the desk.^^ This New 
 England word is not generally used in other parts of the country. 
 
 The pulpit, or as it is here [in Connecticut] called, the desk, was filled by three, 
 if not four, clergymen ; a number which, by its form and dimensions, it was able 
 to accommodate. — KendaWs Travels, Vol. I. p. 4. 
 
 They are common to every species of oratory, though of rarer use in the desk, 
 &c. — Adams's Lecture on Rhetoiic. 
 
 Dessert. (Fr. dessert, desservir, to clear away.) This term, which 
 properly signifies the fruits and nuts or second course brought on 
 the table after the substantial parts of a dinner, is often improperly 
 applied in the United States to the puddings and pies. A common 
 error is that of accenting the first syllable. 
 
 To desulphurize. To take the sulphur out of ^^llcanized Caoutchouc. 
 Devil's Darning-Needle, Devil's Needle. A common name for the 
 
 Dragon-fly. In England, according to Wright, it is called the 
 
 Devil's Needle. 
 
 Now and then a long-legged spider would run across our track with incredible 
 rapidity, or a devil's darniny-needle would pertinaciously hover above our heads, 
 and cause me, impressed with an old nursery caution, to duck and dodge, and 
 hold my hands over my ears, until the winged spectre would fly away across the 
 garden. — Putnam's Monthly, June, 1854. 
 
 Devil-Fish. (Genus Lophius. Cuvier.) 1. The common name of 
 the American Angler, so called from its hideous form. It is also 
 known by the names of Sea-devil, Fishing-frog, Bellows-fish, 
 Goose-fish, Monk-fish, and others. — Storer^s Fishes of Mass. 
 2. At the South, this name is applied to the Stingray, vulg. Stin- 
 
DEV— DIG 
 
 175 
 
 garee (CepTialoptera vampyras), which sometimes grows to a great 
 size. See Stingaree. 
 
 The Devil-Jish of the Mediterranean is the Octopus^ a gigantic 
 squid. 
 
 Devilment. Deviltiy; wickedness. 
 
 As those bridges took fire while I was out of town, they swore that I was the 
 bell-wether and ringleader of all the devilment that was going on, and hence that 
 I must have had a hand in it. — N. Y. Herald, Speech of W. G. Brownlow of 
 Tennessee. 
 
 Devil Wood. {Olea Americana.) American olive growing in the 
 Southern States. A small evergreen, but its fruit has no value. 
 It is impossible to split, hence its name. 
 Dewberry. (Riibus Canadensis.) A low- trailing species of Black- 
 berry. See Low Blackberry. 
 Dicker. Barter; also articles received in barter. Western. 
 
 Grant that the North 's insulted, scorned, betrayed, 
 O'erreached in bargains with her neighbor made, 
 When selfish thrift and party held the scales 
 For peddling dicker, not for honest sales, 
 Whom shall we strike? — Whittier, The Panorama. 
 
 To dicker. To barter. Used in New York and New England. 
 
 The white men who penetrated to the semi-wilds [of the West] were always 
 ready to dicker and to swap, and to trade rifles and watches, and whatever else 
 they might happen to possess. — Cooper, The Oak Openinys. 
 
 Difference. Among stock operators, the price at which a stock is bar- 
 gained for and the rate on day of delivery are usually not the same. 
 The variation is known as the difference, and occasionally brokers 
 pay over this money balance instead of furnishing the stock. — Med- 
 hery. Men and Mysteries of Wall Street. 
 
 Different from. We say one thing is " different froin " another. In 
 England, the expression is " different ^o," and so the old English 
 writers quoted in Richardson's Dictionary. Comp. Averse. 
 
 DifiBculted. Perplexed. Mr. Sherwood has this among the words 
 peculiar to Georgia, and there are examples of its use to be found 
 in some of our well-known authors. It is in common use at the 
 bar: " The gentlemen, I think, will be difficulted to find a parallel 
 case." 
 
 There is no break in the chain of vital operation ; and consequently we are not 
 difficulted at all on the score of the relation which the new plant bears to the old. 
 Bush on the Resurrection, p. 51. 
 
 Dr. Jamieson has the verb to difficult in his Scottish Dictionary. 
 Dig. 1. A diligent student, one who learns his lessons by hard and 
 long-continued exertion. — HaWs College Words. 
 
176 
 
 DIG 
 
 There goes the dig, just look! 
 
 How like a parson he eyes his book ! 
 
 N. Y. Literary World, Oct. 11, 1851. 
 By this 't is that we get ahead of the diy. 
 'Tis not we that prevail, but the wine that we swig. 
 
 Amherst Indicator, Vol. II. p 252. 
 
 2. A thrust. " Hit him a dig.'''' In vulgar use. 
 
 Digger, Digger Indian. A name applied to various wretched tribes 
 of Indians, of California, too degraded or enfeebled to hunt. They 
 live chiefly upon roots, which they obtain by digging. Hence their 
 name. 
 
 Digging. 1. A word first used at the Western lead mines, to denote a 
 place where the ore was dug. Instead of saying this or that mine, 
 the phrase in vogue is these diggings or those diggings. 
 
 Mr. Charles F. Holfman visited the Galena lead-mines, and while 
 there was shown about to the various estates, where the people were 
 digging for ore. The person who accompanied him said: — 
 
 Mr. , from your State, has lately struck a lead, and a few years will 
 
 make him independent. We are now, you observe, among his digginys. — Win- 
 ter in the West, Let. 25. 
 
 The principal diggings near Hangtown were surface diggings, but, with the 
 exception of river diggings, ever}^ kind of mining was seen in full force. — Borth- 
 wick's California, p. 120. 
 
 In California, the term is applied to places near gold mines. Wet 
 diggings are near rivers or wet places. Dry diggings are upon flats 
 or higher lands which are usually dry. 
 
 The phrase these diggings is now provincial in the Western States, 
 and is occasionally heard in the Eastern, to denote a neighborhood 
 or particular section of country. 
 
 Boys, fellars, and candidates, I am the first white man ever seed in these 
 diggings. I killed the first bar [bear] ever a white skinned in the county, and 
 am the first manufacturer of whiskey, and a powerful mixture it is too. — Robb, 
 Squatter Life. 
 
 I ain't a vain man, and never was. I hante a morsel of it in my composition. 
 I don't think any of us Yankees is vain people; it 's a thing don't grow in our 
 diggings. — Sam Slick in England, ch. 24. 
 
 2. The act of studying hard; diligent application. — Hall. 
 
 I've had an easy time in college, and enjoyed the "otium cum dignitate," — 
 the learned leisure of a scholar's life, — always despised digging, you know. — 
 Harvard Beg., p. 194. 
 
 3. Dear or costly; as, "A mighty digging Tprice.^^ A Southern 
 word. — Sherwood's Georgia. 
 
 4. To dig is used among the lower classes at the South for the 
 
DIL— DIN 
 
 177 
 
 act of dipping or rubbing snuff. A friend informs me that to dig 
 is more common than to dip snuff. 
 To dill. (Probably the same as to dull.) To soothe. The word is 
 used in the north of England. 
 
 I know what is in this medicine. It '11 dill fevers, dry up sores, stop rheumatis, 
 drive out rattlesnake's bite, kill worms, &c. — Margaret, p. 140. 
 
 Dime. (Fr. dixme or dvne^ tenth.) A silver coin of the United 
 States, in value the tenth of a dollar, or ten cents. 
 
 This term, peculiar to our decimal currency, is now in common 
 use at the South and West; but in the Eastern and Xorthern States, 
 Avhence the Spanish real and half-real, which long formed a large 
 portion of the circulation, have only recently been banished, it is 
 usually called a ten-cent piece, and the half-dime a Jive-cent piece. 
 
 Small articles are sold in the New Orleans markets by the picayune or dime's 
 worth. If you ask for a pound of tigs, you will not be understood ; but for a 
 dime^s worth, and they are in your hands in a trice. — Sketches of' New Orleans, 
 N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 The currency [in New Orleans] is more truly national than that of any other 
 part of the United States. Every thing sells by dimes and \\Q\i-dimes, "bits " 
 and "picayunes" being the same value; and as for copper money, I have not 
 seen the tirst red cent. — Bayard Taylor, Letter from N. 0., July, 1849. 
 
 Dimes. Common in the West and South for money. " She 's got 
 
 the dimes; " i. e., she is an heiress. 
 Dime Novels. Cheap, trashy novels sold for a dime (ten cents) each. 
 
 There is also a great variety of song books, known as " Dime Song 
 
 Books." 
 
 Ding. Very, excessively. A Southern word. See Darn. 
 
 It was ding hot ; so I sot down to rest a bit under the trees. — Chron. of Pine- 
 ville. 
 
 Dingbat. A bat of wood that may be thrown (dinged) ; a piece of 
 money ; a cannon-ball ; a bullet. 
 
 Instead of feathers and bristles flying in all directions [shooting fowls], it has 
 been found necessary [by the United States government] to expend the dinybats, 
 to put something more substantial on the "fly " [in motion] to bring our unruly 
 relatives to their P's and Q's. — N. H. Palladium, Letter from U. S. Ship 
 " Cumberland,'' Dec. 25, 1861. 
 
 Dinged. Very, excessively. An expletive peculiar to the South, the 
 equivalent of the Northern darned. 
 
 You know it 's adinged long ride from Pineville, and it took me most two days 
 to get there. — Major Jones's Courtship. 
 
 Dingee, Dinky. Common in New England for a flat-bottomed boat 
 
 made of boards. Used indiscriminately with Dory. 
 
 12 
 
178 
 
 DIN— DIS 
 
 Dingling. Tottering; insecure; prob. i. q. dangling. 
 
 We have been telling our readers that Federalism is just now in a very dinyling 
 ■way, while the "Express" insists that the Democracy is in the same condition. 
 — N. Y. True Sun, Aug. 26, 1848. 
 
 Dining-Room Servant. A male house-servant or waiter. 
 
 Dip. Sauce for puddings. South-western. 
 
 To dip Snuff. A mode of taking tobacco, practised by women in 
 some parts of the United States, and particuhirly at the South, may 
 be thus described: A little pine stick or bit of rattan about three 
 inches long, split up like a brush at one end, is first wetted and then 
 dipped into snuff; with this the teeth are rubbed, sometimes by the 
 hour together. Some tie the snuff in a little bag, and chew it. 
 These filthy practices originated in the use of snuff for cleansing 
 the teeth. 
 
 Dipper. 1. A vessel, generally with a handle, used to dip water or other 
 liquor. 
 
 2. The seven bright stars in the constellation of the Great Bear; 
 popularly so called from their arrangement in the form of a dipper 
 with a handle; they are also known as Charles's Wain. 
 
 3. A small aquatic bird, common throughout the United States; 
 also called the Water-witch and Hell-diver. (Horned Grebe. Xut- 
 tall, Ornith.)— iVa^. Hist, of New York. 
 
 Dippers. Those who use snuff as above. " She 's a dipper. " 
 
 Dipsy. A term applied, in some parts of Pennsylvania, to the float of 
 a fishing-line. From "deep sea." The deep sea or d ipsij lea.d is 
 used for obtaining soundings off-shore or in deep water. 
 
 Dirt. This word is used more commonly and frequently with us than 
 in England, to denote earth, clay, &c. An English traveller in the 
 United States observes that he heard a man speak of his having 
 wheeled dirt, to repair a road. A dirt road," as distinguished 
 from a turnpike-road, is often heard in the West. The " ^i>f-cart," 
 or cart which removes street sweepings, would in London be 
 called a "dust-cart." 
 
 In Califarnia, is the universal word to signify the substance dug, — 
 
 earth, clay, gravel, or loose slate. The miners talk of rich dirt and poor dirt, 
 and of stripping off so many feet of "top dirt " before getting to ''pay dirt," the 
 latter meaning dirt with so much gold in it that it will pay to dig it up and wash 
 it. — B or th wick's Calif urnia, p. 120. 
 
 Dirt-Eaters, Dirt-Eating. See Clay-Eaters. 
 
 Disciples of Christ. Sometimes called Campbellites, or Reformers. 
 As is usual in similar cases, the brethren who unite under the name 
 
DIS 
 
 179 
 
 of Disciples of Christ, or Christians, are nicknamed after those who 
 have been prominent in gathering them together. — Encyc. Religious 
 Knoioledge. 
 
 Mr. Campbell, the author of the above " article," affirms that, in 
 1823, the Baptists at first favored his views. He had adopted their 
 leading tenet. The editor of " The Christian Reformer," Rev. W. 
 B. Orvis, " was originally a Baptist. He now recognizes no New 
 Testament ordinances to be binding as a ritual law, in that respect 
 agreeing with the Friends." Campbell was originally a Presby- 
 terian. 
 
 To disfellowship. To dispossess of church-membership. A mon- 
 strous word. See To fellowship. 
 
 No person that has been disfellowshipped, or excommunicated from the church, 
 will be allowed to go forth in the dance that is conducted by the sanction and 
 authority of the church. — Mormon Regulation, published in the Froiitier (Iowa) 
 Guardian, Nov. 28, 1849. 
 
 Disgruntled. Disappointed; disconcerted. 
 
 Congressman Carr of Indiana was not brought up by hand. He misses no 
 opportunity of getting in a whack at his disgruntled party friends. — A'". Y. 
 Ti-ibune, Feb. 28, 1877. 
 
 At a hearing before the Legislative Committee of Rhode Island, 
 on the subject of reducing the number of the school committee of 
 Providence, Mr. D. R. Ballou made a speech against the measure, 
 in which he said : — 
 
 We have had enough exercise of extraordinary power, and this continual 
 grasping after authority for the purpose of meeting the individual case of some 
 disgruntled persons should receive the stamp of this committee's disapprobation. 
 Providence Journal, March 1, 1877. 
 
 The men of all others most inconsolable in view of the election of Hayes are 
 the disgruntled Republicans who forsook their party and went over to Tilden, 
 counting upon his success and the rewards he was to bestow on them. — Orange 
 {N. J. ) Journal. 
 
 We have also heard the word undisgruntled used. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Newman Hall, of London, tells how when he was journeying to 
 Chicago, an apple-peddling boy, on the cars, without any preliminaries took hold 
 of and immediately examined his breast-pin. Nevertheless the reverend gentle- 
 man, quite undisgruntled, remarked, " Was it not there to be seen V Was he not 
 a man and a brother? " — Springrfield Republican, Nov. 20, 1809. 
 
 Disguised in Liquor, or simply disguised. Intoxicated. 
 
 To disremember. To forget. Used chiefly in the Southern States. 
 
 " Well, I disremember about that," said the Widow Bedott, " but I do remem- 
 ber o' hearin' you blow the Elder up for goin' to Baptist meetin'." — Widow 
 Btdott Papers, p. 129. 
 
180 
 
 DIS— DIV 
 
 It 's a curious story, and I '11 tell you all of it I can think on. But some 
 things perhaps I may disi emember. — Western Tale, N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 I '11 thank 3'ou, when we meet again, not to disremember the old saying, but 
 let every man skin his own skunks. — David Crockett. 
 
 Distressed. (Fron. dis-tr ess'- ed.) Miserable; wretched. Distressed 
 man! " was, and perhaps is, a favorite exclamation with ladies at 
 the North. 
 
 " Why," said the peddler to the Widow Bedott, who had selected an article 
 for her wedding-dress, "a body 'd think 'twas some everlastin' old maid, instead 
 of a handsome young widder that had chosen such a distressed thing for a weddin' 
 dress." — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 313. 
 
 District. A common pronunciation of this word in the country is 
 
 DeestJ'ick. 
 
 District Courts. In American law. Courts held in each of the 
 thirty-five districts into which the United States are divided, con- 
 sisting each of a single judge, and which act both as courts of com- 
 mon law and as courts of admiralty. 
 
 District School. A public or free school within a district. 
 
 District Schoolmaster. The teacher of a district school. 
 
 The district schoolmaster hain't got a friend on the flat side of earth. The 
 boys snowball him during recess ; the girls put hot water in his hair-dye ; and 
 the school-committee make him work for half the money a bar-tender gets, and 
 board him around the neighborhood, where they give him rye coffee, sweetened 
 with molasses to drink, and codfish balls three times a day for victuals. — Josh 
 Billings''s Works, p. 325. 
 
 Dite. A little thing; a doit. " I don't care a dite.''^ New England. 
 
 Ditty-Bag. A sailor's housewife, containing his thread, needles, tape, 
 
 &c., for mending his clothes. 
 Divide. The name applied by Western hunters and guides to a ridge 
 
 of land which divides waters running in different directions; a 
 
 dividing ridge. 
 
 We commenced to ascend another divide ; and, as we approached the summit, 
 the narrow valley leading to it was covered with timber and long grass. — 
 Emory's New Mexico and California, p. 105. 
 
 The eastern fork [of the Arkansas] skirts the base of the range, coming from 
 the ridge, called the divide, which separates the waters of the Platte from 
 the Arkansas. — Buxton's Adventures, p. 241. 
 
 Continued our route towards an opening in the elevated ridge which stretched 
 across our path in a direction from north to south, called the divide. — BartletVs 
 Personal Narrative, Yol. I. p. 73. 
 
 Divert. This word expresses fully what no word at present does. 
 The word " divide " is not etymologically applicable, as it does not 
 convey the idea of altitude as the cause of separation ; while the 
 
DIX— DOC 
 
 181 
 
 word dicoi't implies elevation, the cause of the divortia aquarum^ 
 whence its derivation also. — Dr. Antisell, Geolog. Rept, Pacific R.R, 
 Survey, Vol. VII. 
 We think the word watershed expresses the meaning as fully. 
 
 On crossing the divortheUveen the small stream, a tributary of the Salinas, and 
 the waters of the San Antonio, this bed was found to occupy a large surface and 
 to be the uppermost rock. — Dr. Antisell, Ibid., p. 40. 
 
 Disianic. Noting Dixie and what pertains to it. 
 
 Unless the blockade is raised very soon, the Dixianic provinces will soon be 
 resolved into . . . Egyptian darkness. — Cincinnati Gazette, Feb., 1862. 
 
 Dixie, Dixie Land. An ideal paradise in the Southern States. 
 
 In a small volume entitled Bryant's " Songs from Dixie's Land " 
 is the following note on the origin of the term of Dixie'' s Land : — 
 
 "In the popular mythology of New York City, Dixie was the 
 Negro's paradise on earth in times when slavery and the slave- 
 trade were flourishing in that quarter. Dixie owned a tract of land 
 on Manhattan Island, and also a large number of slaves ; and his 
 slaves increasing faster than his land, an emigration ensued, such 
 as has taken place in Virginia and other States. Naturally, the 
 Negroes who left it for distant parts looked to it as a place of un- 
 alloyed happiness, and it was the ' old Virginny ' of the Negroes 
 of that day. Hence Dixie became synonymous with an ideal 
 locality, combining ineffable happiness and every imaginable requi- 
 site of earthly beatitude." 
 
 The sweetest, the happiest place on earth 
 Is Dixie, sweet Diode the land of my birth. 
 I wish I was in de land of cotton, 
 'Simmon seed and sandy bottom — 
 
 Chortis. Look away — look away — Dixie Land. 
 In Dixie's Land whar I was born in. 
 Early on one frosty mornin', 
 
 Chortis. Look away — look away — Dixie Land. 
 
 Negro Melodies, Dixie's Land. 
 
 Dobber. A float to a fishing-line. So called in New York. 
 
 The most singular luck attended Ten Broeck, who, falling overboard, was mi- 
 raculously preserved from sinking by his nether garments. Thus buoyed up, he 
 floated on the waves like an angler's dobber, &c. — Knickerbocker, N. York. 
 
 DociouB. A corruption of docile, as "a docious young man,'' "a 
 docious horse." 
 
 I was so mad that I swore just nigh on to half an hour, right straight on eend. 
 I can hardly keep my tongue docious now to talk about it. — Western Life, 
 N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 Docity. (Fr. docilite.) A low word, used in some parts of the 
 
182 
 
 DOC— DOG 
 
 United States to signify quick comprehension. It is only used in 
 conversation, and generally with a negative, thus : " He has no 
 docifi/.^^ It is a provincial word in England. — Pickering. 
 
 Dock. We often apply the term to the " slip " or space between two 
 piers for the reception of vessels. It is believed to be restricted in 
 England to an enclosed basin. " Balance dock,^' " sectional dock,'^ 
 " screw dock,^^ are none of them really docks, but contrivances by 
 which vessels are raised from the water for repair. 
 
 Dock-Loafer. A loafer that hangs about the docks. 
 
 Dock-loafers, rag-pickers, wandering gypsies, wild Indians. — The Indepen- 
 dent, March, 1862. 
 
 Dockmackie. {Viburnum aceri folium'). Probably named by the 
 Dutch, among whom the plant was used for external applications 
 in tumors, &c., — a practice learned by them from the Indians. 
 
 Dock Walloper. A loafer that hangs about the wharves. New 
 York. 
 
 Doctor. The cook on board a ship ; so called by seamen. 
 
 To doctor. To cook up; manage, oversee, modify. 
 
 The news [of success to the United Slates armies, said the English leading 
 journals] all came through Northern channels, and was doctored by the govern- 
 ment which controlled the telegraph. — H. Greeley, in the N. Y. Independent, 
 June, 1862. 
 
 Dod Fetched. A euphemistic form of swearing. 
 
 Liddy, don't be so pesky starch, I '11 be dod fetched if I meant any harm. — 
 
 Southern Sketches. 
 
 Dodger. A hard-baked cake or biscuit. Dead and garred, i. e. thor- 
 oughly done. Dead gar. — Thomson^ Eng. Etymons. See Corn- 
 Dodger and Beef- Dodger. 
 
 Do don't, for do not or donH^ is a common expression in Georgia and 
 South Carolina, and not by any means confined to the uneducated 
 classes. 
 
 Dod rot it, Dod drat it. Confound it. A euphemistic oath. 
 
 He began cussin' like all wrath, and says he, Dod rot that old Mike Shouter. — 
 Southern Sketches, p. 31. 
 
 Here 's the old man agoin' to give you another wallopin'. I '11 cut and run, 
 and dot drot me if I don't. — Sam Slick, Human Nature, p. 60. 
 
 To dog. To hunt with dogs. 
 
 What is to be the fate of Soulouque and his subjects ? How long will it take 
 to pick a quarrel with them, and when will regiments from the South, trained at 
 home to the hunting and dogging oi fugitive slaves, achieve what Bonaparte could 
 not, the re-enslavement of Hayti, and wipe out in blood ''the horrors of St. 
 Domingo," the standing bugbear of emancipation ? — N. Y. Tribune, Nov. 8, 1854. 
 
DOG— DOL 
 
 183 
 
 Dog-gauned. A euphemistic form of swearing. Southern. 
 
 If there 's a doy-goned abolitionist aboard this boat, I should like to see him. 
 I 'ni the man to put a chunk o' lead into his wooU}' head right off. — Gladstone^ 
 EiKjlishman in Kansas, p. 46. 
 
 No, says I, I won't do no sicli dog on thing; for when I likes a chap, I likes 
 him. But if you want to fight, I 'm your man. — Southern Sketches, p. 33. 
 
 Mr. Carlton, in describing the reception by the choir of the new 
 church organ, says : — 
 
 But when that choir got up to sing, 
 
 I couldn't catch a word ; 
 They sung the most dog-yondest thing 
 
 A body ever heard ! — Farm Ballads, p. 80. 
 
 Dogged. A euphemistic oath; as, "I '11 be dogged if I do it." 
 
 Doggery. A low drinking-house. West and South. The " Cleve- 
 land Plaindealer," in speaking of the riotous proceedings connected 
 with the Erie Railroad troubles, says: — 
 
 The mob crowded the sheriff on, and drove him into the Key Stone Saloon, a 
 small dogya'y, where they kept him for half an hour. 
 
 Dog my Cat. Small swearing. 
 
 Dog-Power. 1 . Force exerted by a dog. 
 
 2. A machine for churning worked by a dog. " The dog Carlo 
 
 refused to go on the dog-power/^ Such machines are much used in 
 
 Central New York, and probably elsewhere. 
 Dog's Age. A long time. 
 
 Doings. (Pron. doins.) Prepared food; victuals. A Western vul- 
 garism. See Chicken Fixings. 
 
 If thar wasn't cold doins about that time (in the mountains), this child wouldn't 
 say so. Thar was no buffalo and no meat, and we had been livin' on our mocca- 
 sins for weeks ; and poor doins that feedin' is. — Buxton's Life in the Far West, 
 p. 17. 
 
 Dollar Mark ($). The origin of this sign to represent the dollar has 
 been the cause of much discussion. One writer says it comes from 
 the letters U. S. (United States), which, after the adoption of the 
 Federal Constitution, were prefixed to the Federal currency, and 
 which afterwards, in the hurry of writing, were run into one 
 another; the U being made first and the S over it. Another, that 
 it is derived from the contraction of the Spanish word pesos, dollars, 
 or pesos fuertes, hard dollars. A third, that it is a contraction for 
 the Spanish fuertes, hard, to distinguish silver or hard dollars 
 from paper-money. The more probable explanation is that it is a 
 modification of the figures f , formerly used to denote a piece of 
 eight reals, or, as a dollar was then called, a piece of eight. 
 
184 
 
 DOL— DON 
 
 As to my boat, it was a very good one ; and that he saw, and told me he would 
 buy it of me for the ship's use; and asked me what I would have for it. I told 
 him that I could not ofter to make any price of the boat, but left it entirely to 
 him ; ui)on which he told me he would give me a note of hand to pay me eighty 
 pieces of ei<jht for it in IJrazil. He offered me also sixty yweces of ei<jht more for 
 my boy Xury, which I was loath to take ; not that I was not willing to let the 
 captaii; have him, but I was loath to sell the poor boy's liberty, who had assisted 
 me so faithfully in procuring my own. — Robinson Crusoe, sec. 4. 
 
 A variety of other theories will be found in the "Historical 
 Magazine," Vol. I. pp. 122, 186, 245. 
 Doless. Inefficient. " He 's a sort of a fellow." 
 
 Dolittle. A drone; an idle person. 
 
 Do me. Such a thing will do me, meaning that it will answer my 
 purpose. 
 
 Domestics. (Used only in the plural.) Domestic goods, i. e. cotton 
 
 goods of American manufacture. 
 To donate. To give as a donation; to contribute. The word has 
 
 only recently been admitted into the dictionaries of Worcester and 
 
 Webster. 
 
 There have been received from the Foreign Bible Society $7,000, not including 
 $1,000 recently donated. — Baptist Missionary Herald, Rep. 1846. 
 
 The display of articles exhibited [at the Fair in Albany] was very tasteful and 
 attractive ; and the friends of the cause in Massachusetts and other places donated 
 liberally. — N. Y. Tribune, Nov 6, 1846. 
 
 Mr. Peabody donates to the city of Baltimore an institute for the moral and 
 intellectual culture of the inhabitants. — N. Y. Herald, Feb. 19, 1857. 
 
 Donation. That which is given or bestowed; a gift, a grant. Do- 
 nation is usually applied to things of more value than presents. — 
 Webster. 
 
 Webster says that donation is usually applied to things of more value than 
 presents; but while such may be true in the States, I have known it applied here 
 to a basket of musty cakes. I suppose that donation has a certain meaning in 
 law. Its most ordinary English application is to a single gift in money, in con- 
 tradistinction to the periodical payments of a fixed sum or subscription. When 
 applied to ajiresent, public or private, I apprehend such an application of the 
 term has its origin in mere pomposity. The language stands in no need of such 
 an expression so long as we have our old Saxon t/ift. — Rev. A. C. Geikie, Cana- 
 dian Journal, Sept., 1857. 
 
 Donation Party. A party consisting of the friends and parishioners 
 of a country clergyman assembled together, each individual bring- 
 ing some article of food or clothing as a present to him. Where 
 the salary of a clergyman is small, the contributions at a donation 
 party are very acceptable. It is also called a giving party. See 
 Pound Party. 
 
DON 
 
 185 
 
 In the Bedott Papers " is an amusing description of a donation 
 party given to a country minister who had a salary of but |400 a 
 year. On this occasion, the visitors were very numerous, and the 
 articles presented so very few that the minister's family were com- 
 pelled to contribute the larger portion of the refreshments. The 
 poor clergyman sent in his resignation immediately after, and, on 
 being asked by a deacon for the reason of his sudden withdrawal, 
 answered : — 
 
 I 've been your pastor two years, and you 've had the kindness to give me two 
 donation 2}nrties. I 've stood it so far, but I can't stand it any longer; brethren, 
 I feel convinced that one more donation party would completely break me down, 
 p. 271. 
 
 Marietta Holley, in her amusing book called " My Opinions and 
 Betsy Bobbet's," has an amusing account of a donation party. 
 
 Some folks carried the littlest things. There was a family of seven hearty 
 men and women, and all they carried was a book-mark of perforated paper and 
 a plate of cookeys. There Avere seven book-marks and fourteen pair of slips for 
 the minister's only boy. Of course there were some other things; a few sassige, 
 a little flour, and some dried blackberries. — Ibid., p. 207. 
 
 Done, instead of did; as, "I done it," " They done the business." 
 A common vulgarism in the State of New York, also heard in the 
 province of Leinster, Ireland. An officer wrote to his general, in 
 the late war, that his troops "tZone their duty;" and in certain 
 letters pui-porting to be from the "upper ten," in praise of Dr. 
 Townsend's medicines, we read that "they done the writers great 
 good." 
 
 Done with a past participle, as "he's done come, done gone, done 
 said, done did it," &c., is a Negro vulgarism frequently heard at 
 the South. 
 
 Oh! she waked me in the mornin', and it 's broad day; 
 I look'd for my canoe, and it 's done gone away. 
 
 Porter's Tales of the South-west, p. 133. 
 
 I 'm mighty easy on the trigger, and the next mornin' I was done gone. I 
 kissed the old woman, spanked the children, threaten'd the niggers, promised 
 the overseer a new covering and demijohn of red eye if all went straight, got all 
 my little fixins together, and off I set. — N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 '•Why, Tomtit, what upon earth is this for? " said Nina. 
 
 "Laws, missis, there's been a gentleman waiting for 3'ou these two hours. 
 And, missis, she 's done got on her best cap, and gone down in the parlor for 
 him." — Afrs. Stowe, Dred, Vol. I. p. 139. 
 
 ** How d'y Miss Kate," returned Bob, grinning ; " Uncle Pete is done dead and 
 buried." 
 
 '* Is that a fact ? " asked Mr. Mitchell, looking out. 
 
 "Fac truf, Mas'r ! an' what 's more. Aunt Milly is like to die too; she 's gruv 
 herself nearly to death 'bout it." — Emma Bartlttt. 
 
186 
 
 DON— DOO 
 
 When you come in too late for the early breakfast at a Texas hotel, the sable 
 attendant will tell you "dey's all done had breakfast an hour ago." A thing 
 is never done in Texas, it is done done. A person has never gone anywhere, 
 but done yune. And if the waiter tells you he has really done something you 
 have employed him to do, he will say that he has "(/one yone and done done it." 
 His power of assertion can g^ no further. — Texas Cor. Chicayo Tribune. 
 
 Donock. A stone; a term almost peculiar to Arkansas, though usei 
 more or less throughou^-the South. In the West it is Dornick. 
 
 Then bring me a couple of donocks, 
 Place them at my head and my toe, 
 And do not forget to write on it 
 
 The name of old Kosin-the-bow. — Sony, Rosin the Bow. 
 
 Do-Nothing. An idle, worthless fellow, who will take his ease in 
 his own way, and labor only when compelled to. 
 
 Every New England village, if you only think of it, must have its do-nothiny 
 as regularly as it has its school-house or meeting-house. — Mrs. Stowe, Oldtown 
 Folks, eh. iv. 
 
 There is on the face of the earth no do-notliiny whose softness, idleness, general 
 Inaptitude of labor, and universal shiftlessness can compare with that of this 
 worth}' as found in a brisk Yankee village. — Ibid., ch. iv. 
 
 The Rip Van Winkle of Irving is a good specimen of the do- 
 nothing class of village idlers. 
 
 Don't amount to much. In speaking of a person of little account, 
 or one of no consequence, it is common to say, " He don't amount 
 to much." In England, they would say "no great shakes." 
 
 Don't know. Often, indeed generally, pronounced dunno. 
 
 Don't know as I know. These expressions are often used intro- 
 ductorily in reply to a question. One asks a question, when the 
 reply is, "Wall, don't know as I know," though pronounced 
 Dono-zi-no. A story told in Salem, Mass., runs thus: — 
 
 A West India merchant described to an English friend the Yankees as being 
 remarkable for their want of information ; they didn't know what they had, and 
 they readily confessed to that effect. The friend was incredulous, but at that 
 moment a Yankee skipper entered the counting-room, was asked, " What have 
 you brought this time?" and replied "Well, I don't know: onions, flour, »&c." 
 Said the merchant to his friend, " Didn't I tell you the truth ? " 
 
 I don't know as I shan't, for I don't know but I shall. This un- 
 couth expression, Mr. Hurd says, is very common in the eastern 
 towns of Massachusetts, near Cape Cod. — Grammatical Corrector. 
 
 Don't see it. / donH see it is a very common expression, equivalent 
 to dissent. 
 
 Doodle. A Yankee-doodle ; a Yankee; a Unionist. 
 
DOO— DOU 
 
 187 
 
 Whoop ! the Doodles have broken loose, 
 
 Roariijg round like the very deuce ! 
 Want a weapon ? Wliy, capture one ! 
 
 Ever}^ Doodle has got a gun, 
 Belt, and bayonet, bright and new, — 
 
 Kill a Doodle, and capture two. 
 
 Rockinyham Virg. Register, War Song. 
 
 Doodle Bugs. A kind of beetles which live in holes in the ground. 
 
 By calling doodle several times near their holes, it is said the bugs 
 
 will come out. Louisiana. 
 To doom. To tax at discretion. A New England term. 
 
 When a person neglects to make a return of his taxable property 
 
 to the assessors of a town, those officers doom him; that is, judge 
 
 upon, and fix his tax according to their discretion. — Pickering. 
 
 The estates of all merchants, shopkeepers, and factors, shall be assessed b}-- 
 the rule of common estimation, according to the will and doom of the assessors. 
 — Massachusetts Colony Laws, p. 14, ed. 1660. 
 
 Doomage. A penalty or fine for neglect. Laws of New Hampshire. — 
 Webster. 
 
 Door-Rook. The door stone or step. Western. 
 
 Doree. A fish commonly called John Dory with us as in England. 
 
 This last name is a corruption of the French jaune doree., golden 
 
 yellow, which is the color of the fish. 
 Dory. A kind of boat for fishermen. 
 
 Doted. Changed, or half rotten ; as, " doted wood. " West and South. 
 
 Do tell ! A vulgar exclamation common in New England, and synony- 
 mous with. Really! Indeed ! Is it possible! 
 
 A bright-eyed little demoiselle from Virginia came running into the dairy of a 
 country-house in New Hampshire, at which her mother was spending the sum- 
 mer, with a long story about a most beautiful butterfly she had been chasing; 
 and the dairy-maid, after hearing the story through, exclaimed. Do tell 1 The 
 child immediately repeated the story, and the good-natured maid, after hearing 
 it through a second time, exclaimed again, in a tone of still greater wonder. Do 
 tell! A third time the story was told, and the third time came the exclamation 
 of wonder, Do tell ! The child's spirits were dashed, and she went to her mother 
 with a sad tale about Ruth's teasing her; while poor Ruth said that "those 
 dnown country gals were so strange ; keep telling me the same thing over and 
 over. I never see any thing like it! " — iV. Y. Com. Adv. 
 
 Double. A flower the number of whose petals is increased by culti- 
 vation is said to be double; when the increase is vei-y great, it is 
 termed very double ! 
 
 Double-Ender. A kind of steam gunboat built and employed dur- 
 ing the late civil war, round at both ends. 
 
 Double-Horse. Doing or attempting to do two things at once; 
 
188 
 
 DOU 
 
 twaddling; having a two-faced character or position. See One- 
 Horse. 
 
 Members of Congress who perforin the great double-horse act of riding both 
 [Gen. Fremont's] proclamation and Halleclt's General Order No. 3 [regarded 
 as contradictory to or inconsistent with said Proclamation]. — N. Y. Tribune^ 
 Dec. 27, 1861. 
 
 Double-jadsd. To ride double-jaded is to ride with a pillion. 
 Double Ripper. Two sleds from six to ten feet apart connected by a 
 
 plank, upon which boys slide down hill. Many accidents have 
 
 been caused by their use. Also called a Douhler. 
 
 The double-ripj^er now is laid aside with other engines of calamity. — News- 
 pajMr. 
 
 Dough. Dough-facism ; semi-secessionism ; want of loyalty. 
 
 The Rhode Islanders should have given us our Loyalt}^ and our Dough oa 
 separate plates ; for the strongest stomachs will hardly relish such a salmagundi 
 as this. — iV. Y. Tribune, Feb. 27, 1862. 
 
 Dough-Faces. A contemptuous nickname, applied to the i^orthern 
 favorers and abettors of negro slavery. The term generally means 
 a pliable politician, one who is accessible to personal influences 
 and considerations. It was first applied, however, by John Ran- 
 dolph of Roanoke to such Northern members of Congress as mani- 
 fested especial willingness to fall in with the views and demands of 
 the South on questions involving the " peculiar institution." Speak- 
 ing of the Northern Democrats, he bitterly said: — 
 
 I knew that these men would give way. They were scared at their own dough- 
 faces, — yes, they were scared at their own dough-faces. We had them ; and, if 
 ■we had wanted more, we could have had them. 
 
 The truth is that, while the Southerners need and are willing to pay for the 
 services of the dough-faces, they dislike their persons and despise their discourse. 
 JV. Y. Tiibune, April, 1848. 
 
 Thanks to a kind Providence and the manly straightforwardness of John C. 
 Calhoun, the great question of extension or non-extension of human slavery 
 under the flag of this republic is to be pressed to a decision now. Desperate, 
 idolatrous, and blind as is his devotion to slavery, we would sooner see him 
 President to-morrow than any dough-face in the Union. 
 
 This term has also been applied to Southern men w^ho are false 
 to the principles of slavery, as Northern dough-faces are to the 
 principles of freedom. 
 
 There was a disposition in the Senate to evade the question, — to slip a bill for 
 the establishment of the Oregon territory through the Senate, without calling 
 attention to the slavery question, and under the immediate pressure of the demand 
 made for the military defence of the territory from the Indians The Whigs of 
 the North and of the South were silent. The Democratic Cass men of the North 
 and of the South were mum. Two-thirds of the Senate were dough-faced. There 
 «tre Southern as well as Northern dough-faces; men looking to the spoils care 
 
DOU— DOW 
 
 189 
 
 not for principles, whether they be of the North or of the South. — Washing- 
 ton Cor. N. Y. Com. Adv., June 4, 1848. 
 
 Dough-Facism. Truckling to the slave power. 
 
 The slaveholders will cling to the institutions of slavery as long as new markets 
 are being opened for their slaves. Let the people of the free States see to it that 
 it is circumvented by every reasonable means. If they are firm, the douyh-facism 
 of their representatives will be cured. — Letter of J. C. Snodyrass, oj' Baltimore, 
 1849. 
 
 Dough-Head. A soft-pated fellow, a fool. 
 
 Doughnut. A small, roundish cake, made of flour, eggs, and sugar, 
 moistened with milk, and boiled in lard. — Webster. According to 
 Halliwell, the term donnut is used in Hertshire, to denote a pancake 
 made of dough instead of batter. In speaking of the preparations 
 for a picnic, Mr. Shillaber says: 
 
 And then he lays in lots of pickings. 
 Mammoth douyhnuts, legs of chickens ; 
 For prices down at Hampton Beach 
 Are very much beyond his reach. — Poems. 
 
 ]VIr. Elliott, in describing the manners and customs of the olden 
 time in New England, says: — 
 
 At the supper-table many a sweet thing was whispered behind a douyhniit, 
 and many a sentiment tucked in a pie. — New Enyland History, Vol. I. p. 468. 
 
 Hannah is a smart, willin' gall, and a rael worker, and a prime cook into the 
 bargain ; but let her alone for in the douyhnut line and for pumpkin pies. — 
 McClintock' s Tales. 
 
 Dove. Dived. Very common among seamen, and not confined to 
 them. The Rev. A. C. Geikie says: In England, when a swimmer 
 makes his first leap, head foremost, into the water, he is said to dive, 
 and is spoken of as having dived, in accordance with the ordinary 
 and regular construction of the verb. Not so, however, is it with 
 the modern refinements of our Canadian English. In referring to 
 such a fact here, it would be said, not that he dived, but that he 
 dove. Even Longfellow makes use of this form — so harsh and 
 unfamiliar to English ears — in the musical measures of his Hia- 
 watha : — 
 
 " Straight into the river Kwasind 
 Plunged as if he were an otter. 
 Dove as if he Avere a beaver," &c. 
 
 Canadian Journal, Sept., 1857. 
 
 Dowd. A woman's night-cap, composed of two pieces of cloth, the 
 seam running from the forehead to the neck. It is sometimes called 
 a " squaw-shaped cap." New York. The word is used in the same 
 sense in Devonshire, England. 
 
190 
 
 DOW— DRA 
 
 Down. A low condition; feeling less sang-uine than is usual; as 
 " Up " denotes a condition or state of mind higher than is usual. 
 " He has his ups and downs." " The ups and downs of business." 
 See at In. 
 
 Down Cellar, for down in or into the cellar, is a common New England 
 expression. So, too, is "up garret." 
 
 Down Country. Used in the interior to denote on or toward the sea- 
 board; occasionally, the sea-board, or the land near a river's mouth. 
 Comp. Up Country^ &c. 
 
 Down East. 1 . In or into the Eastern States, i. e. New England. 
 2. Maine, sea-coast of Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. 
 
 "We have never heard of better missionary ground than down East ; the people 
 int''llic:ent, the climate healthful, the villages numerous and wealthy. — A''. Y. 
 Christian Enquirer, Sept. 9, 18-48. 
 
 Mr. Hill, in one of his visits down East, was belated one evening, and was 
 compelled to seek shelter in a farm-house. — G. H. Hill, Tales. 
 
 Down Easter. 1. A New Englander. 
 
 2. Properly, as used in Massachusetts, a native or resident of 
 Maine. 
 
 Down upon. To be down upon is to seize with avidity, as a bird of 
 prey would pounce doion upon its victim. Alluding to the state of 
 the poultry market, the " New York Tribune " says: — 
 The boarding-house keepers are down upon geese. 
 
 This phrase is also used to express disapprobation, dislike, or 
 enmity; as, "I '11 be down upon you," i. e. I '11 come up with you, 
 or pay you off for some injury or insult, &c. A common expression 
 at the West is, "I '11 be down upon you like a thousand of brick." 
 To doxologize. To give glory to God, as in doxology; to praise 
 with doxologies. — Webster. 
 
 No mstance is to be found in which primitive Christians doxologized the spirit 
 of God as a person. — Christian Disciple, Vol. II. p. 295. 
 
 Mr. Pickering says he " never met with the word in any other 
 American work nor in any English publication, but that it may 
 possibly be a part of the professional language of divines." Mr. P. 
 further observes that he found it in the early editions of the diction- 
 aries of Ash and Bailey, from which it was afterwards discarded. 
 Drag out. A "knock down and drag out'''' is a fight carried to 
 extremities. The term drag out seems to be also used at the South, 
 to denote a bully, a tearer. 
 
 "Knock down and drag out, — 
 Carry on the war, boys." — Old War Song of\%\Z. 
 
DRA— DRE 
 
 191 
 
 Set to your partner, Dolly, — cut him out, Jim, — Sal does put her foot down 
 good. The yallow roan 's up! He 's a rael storraer, ring clipper, snow belcher, 
 and drag out. — Southern Sketches. 
 
 Dragged-out. Fatigued; exhausted; worn out with labor. 
 
 Drat it. To curse a thing. Derived, probably, from the expression 
 "Odd rot it." 
 
 To draw a Bead. To take aim with a rifle, by gradually raising the 
 front sight, called the bead, to a level with the hind sight. 
 
 One look from the Colonel brought White's rifle up to his cheek; he drew a 
 bead on him mighty quick, and the lawyer stopped his lumbering and moved off. 
 N. Y. Spirit of the Tirnes, Western Tale. 
 
 The Missourians, with their long, five-foot barrel rifles, which were their con- 
 stant companions, could draw a bead on a deer, a squirrel, or the white of an 
 Indian's eye, with equal coolness and certainty of killing. — Borthwick's Calif or- 
 nian, p. 151. 
 
 The moon rose, . . . and rifle in hand we approached the trees where the 
 unconscious birds were roosting. Creeping along the round, I raised my rifle 
 and endeavored to obtain a sight, but the light was too obscure to draw a bead. 
 Ruodon's Adventures in Mexico., p. 181. 
 
 To draw a Straight Furrow. A metaphor taken from the plough- 
 man. Also, " to run a straight furrow." To mind one's own busi- 
 ness; to do one's proper work, without turning aside or being 
 diverted to "side issues; " to go straight ahead. 
 
 Governor B. is a sensible man ; 
 
 He stays to his home and looks arter his folks ; 
 He draws his furrow as straight as he can. 
 
 And into nobody's tater-patch pokes. 
 
 Lowell, The Biglow Papers. 
 
 Dreadful. Very, exceedingly. This and the words awful, terrible., 
 de.<iperate, monstrous, &c., are indiscriminately used by uneducated 
 people for the purpose of giving emphasis to an expression. 
 
 I never see a woman on the road so dreadfuU late, in all the days of my 'ver- 
 gall life. Who are you V — Madam KnighV s Journal (1704), p. 12. 
 
 A con-espondent says, " I shall never forget how emphatically a 
 man in about 1842 said what I did not understand, 'Dr. Fisk [of 
 New Braintree, Mass.] is a dreadful good man.' " 
 
 There was a swod of fine folks at Saratoga, and dreadful nice galls. — Major 
 Downiny^s Letter, p. 3.5. 
 
 It 's a fact. Major, the public has a dreadful crA\\xi' appetite for books. — Ibid., 
 May-day in N. F., p. 4. 
 
 The young ladies thought Mr. Harley's new storekeeper a dreadful nice young 
 man, if he hadn't such a horrid nose. — Chronicles of Pineville. 
 
 She was a dreadful good creature to work. — Mrs. Clavera. 
 
192 
 
 DRE— DRI 
 
 It is used in the same way in England, in the "Westmoreland and 
 Cumberland dialects : — 
 
 I send to this an, to tell thee amackily what dreadful fine things I saw i' th' 
 road tuv at yon Dublin. — Poems and Glossary, p. 125. 
 
 Dress. A woman's gown. 
 
 To dress. To dress to death, dress to kill, dress to the nines, and, in 
 the South, to dress up drunk, are women's phrases, which signify to 
 overdress, dress to excess. 
 
 When you see a gentleman tipteering along Broadway, with a lady wiggle- 
 wagging by his side, and both dressed to kill, as the vulgar would say, you may 
 say that he looks out for himself and takes care of A. No. 1. — Dow's Sermons, 
 Vol. I. p. 208. 
 
 Dressing. Stuffing; forced meat; gravy. 
 
 Drink. A river. "The Big Drink is a common term applied by 
 South-western people to the Mississippi River. 
 
 The old boat was a rouser, — the biggest on the drink, had the best officers, 
 and paid the best prices. — Major Bunkum, in N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 He kept shoving the boat out, and the first thing I knowd, down I went, ker- 
 wash, into the drink. — Southern Sketches, p. 36. 
 
 About evenin' I got my small dug-out, and, fixin' my rifle in the fore eend, I 
 jest paddled over the diink. — A Niyht on the Missouri. 
 
 Drinking. " He 's a drinking man," i. e. a toper. 
 
 Drinks. Mixed Drinks. See Liquors. 
 
 Drive. 1. In Texas, the annual gathering of large herds of cattle for 
 the purpose of branding. This is provided for by law in California. 
 
 See Rodeo and Judges of the Plain. 
 
 When a regular drive is made, a dozen neighbors, from twenty miles or more 
 about, assemble at a place agreed upon, each man bringing two or three extra 
 horses. These are driven before the companv, and form the nucleus of the cattle 
 herd collected. They first drive the outer part of the circuit, within which their 
 cattle are supposed to range, the radius of which is here about forty miles. All 
 cattle having their marks, and all calves following their cows, are herded and 
 driven to pens which have been prepared. They are absent from two to three 
 weeks upon the first drive, usually contriving to arrive by night at a pen in 
 which the stock are enclosed, otherwise guarding them in the open prairie. 
 When the vicinity of a house is reached, the cattle are divided. The calves are 
 branded, and all turned loose again. — Olmsted's Texas, p. 369. 
 
 2. The great mass of logs accumulated during the winter near a 
 stream for the purpose of being floated down to tide-water in the 
 following spring. Maine and Canada. 
 
 Driver. 1. He or that which drives; a coachman, a carman. — Wor- 
 cester. In England, the driver of a carriage is called a " coachman." 
 2. A negro-driver, an overseer of slaves on a plantation. 
 
DRI— DRO 
 
 193 
 
 The estates [of the planters] were managed by overseers, who directed the 
 agricultural operations and managed the slaves through colored deputies called 
 drivers. — South Carolina Society, Atlantic Monthly for 1877, p. 671. 
 
 3. Among lumbermen, the man who directs the floating or driving 
 of logs and timber from the woods where cut down a river to navi- 
 gable waters. Maine and Canada. 
 
 Throughout this long and painful journey, the driver is ever present, constantly 
 hovering near his precious charge ; now working for hours in the chilling water, 
 where the ice runs in masses, lifting with heavy pikes, &c. — Harper's May., 
 Vol. XX. p. 449. 
 
 To drive the River. An expression used by lumbermen, meaning to 
 direct the passage of rafts, logs, or timber down a river to tide-water. 
 It is a hazardous business, and requires men of great experience. 
 Maine and Canada. 
 
 How glad I am, dear Tom, that you have obtained a substitute to drive the 
 river, instead of going down yourself; you will be home sooner, and escape the 
 many dangers of the river. — Hai-per's Mag , Vol. XX. p. 448. 
 
 Drive- Way. 1. A passage; as from the passage to one's stable, or 
 into a yard. 
 
 2. An unfloored strip of ground covered with a hay-loft used in 
 stage-coach days at hotels, &c. 
 
 3. A passage overhung with a roof to shelter church-goers alight- 
 ing at the side door of a church. New England. 
 
 Driving Park. Euphemistic designation of a race-course; ground 
 appropriated to horse-racing. "A five-mile race at the Driving- 
 Park. ' ' — Boston Journal. 
 
 To be driving at. "What are you driving atV^ that is, what are 
 you about? what object have you in view? A colloquial expres- 
 sion, in very common use. 
 
 We confess that we are exceedingly puzzled to know exactly what our long- 
 cherished friend is driving at, in his repeated discussions of the question above 
 involved. — N. Y. Com. Advertiser. 
 
 People ludicrate my situation, and say they don't know what the deuce I 'm 
 dHving at. — NeaPs Charcoal Sketches. 
 
 "I have heard enough now," said the recorder, "to know what you and he 
 would be driving at.'' — Pickings from the Picayune, p. 135. 
 
 Droger or Drogher. (Dutch, draager, a carrier, a porter.) Lumber 
 droger, cotton droger, &c. A vessel built solely for burden, and 
 for transporting cotton, lumber, and other heavy articles. 
 
 Drop. The top-front of pantaloons. See the name formerly used for 
 the same part, at Fall. 
 
 Drop Game. A trick practised by the light-fingered gentry of New 
 
 13 
 
194 
 
 DRO— DUB 
 
 York and other Eastern cities on their country cousins. One drops 
 a pocket-book containing a large roll of bank-notes a short distance 
 before an approaching stranger, which a confederate picks up just 
 as the stranger is about to do so. He opens the roll, affects surprise 
 at his discovery, manifests sympathy for the loser, and tells the 
 stranger that, being about to leave town, he will surrender it to 
 him for |10 or ^20, on condition that he will advertise it and en- 
 deavor to find the owner. Greenhorn eagerly snaps at the tempt- 
 ing bait; but on reaching his hotel finds, of course, that he is the 
 possessor of a package of spurious money. 
 
 Drop-Letter. A letter dropped into the post-office for a resident of 
 the same place, and which is therefore not to be mailed. 
 
 Drummer. A person employed by city houses to solicit the custom of 
 country merchants. See Drumming. 
 
 Drumming, in mercantile phrase, means the soliciting of customers. 
 It is chiefly used in reference to country merchants, or those sup- 
 posed to be such. Instead of patiently waiting for these persons to 
 come and purchase, the merchant or his clerk goes to them and 
 solicits their custom. In this manner, the sale of goods is often 
 expedited ; and though the practice of drumming is held by some to 
 be neither very modest nor very dignified, still it must be owned to 
 add very largely, in certain cases, to the amount of goods sold. 
 Indeed, without drumming, it is suspected that sundry houses which 
 make a remarkable show and noise would do very little business. 
 
 The expenses of drumming amount to no small sum. Besides 
 employing extra clerks and paying the extra price for their board 
 at the hotels, the merchant has to be very liberal with his money in 
 paying for wdne, oyster suppers, theatre tickets, and such other 
 means of conciliating the favor of the country merchant as are usu- 
 ally resorted to by drurrmers. — Perils of Pearl Street, ch. 9. 
 
 Drunk. A drinking bout. The expression is common, " Such a 
 one is on a big drunk. 
 
 Dry up. 1. To be or become cheerful. 2. To be silent; to " hush up." 
 
 Dubersome. Doubtful. A vulgarism common in the interior of New 
 England. Duberous is used in England. 
 
 I have been stvidyin' Tattersall's considerable, to see whether it is g safe shop 
 to trade in or no. But I 'm dubersome ; I don't like the cut of the sporting folks 
 here. — Sam Slick in Enyland, ch. 28. 
 
 Before noon, rain came, and then the pilot muttered that he felt dubersome 
 about the appearances. — Lieutenant Wise, Scampavia, p. 18. 
 
 Dubous A mispronunciation of dubious. 
 
DUD— DUN 
 
 195 
 
 Dud-Chest. A clothes' chest. Duds is a Scottish word for old clothes, 
 
 and is much used here in the same sense. 
 Duk' o' Darby. (Duke of Derby.) The bobolink, which see. 
 Dug-out. 1. The name, in the Western States, for a boat or canoe 
 
 hewn or dug out of a large log. They are common in all the rivers 
 
 and creeks of the United States and Canada. In the latter country, 
 
 they are called log canoes. 
 
 A cj'press suitable for a canoe, or dug-out, was selected, and in two da3's shaped, 
 hollowed out, and launched. — A Stray Yankee in Texas, p. 35. 
 
 After a fashion I got to my dug-out, with no weapon along but the paddle. 
 Snags were plent3^ I felt strong as a boss too; and the c^M^-ot«< hadn't leaped 
 more 'n six lengths afore — co-souse I went! — the front eend jest lifted itself 
 agin a sawyer and emptied me into the element. — Rohh, Squatter Life. 
 
 2. A house set on, and partly consisting of, a hillside. Western. 
 
 Dull Music. A term applied to any thing tedious. 
 
 Dumb Betty. A washing machine, barrel-shaped, with a rotary shank. 
 
 Dumb Chill or Dumb Ague. An expression common in malaria 
 
 regions to denote that form of intermittent fever which has no well 
 
 defined " chill." 
 
 To dump. To unload wood, coal, &c., from a cart by tilting it up. 
 The word is used in Devonshire in the sense of to knock heavily, 
 to stump. Hence, probably, its American application. 
 
 You would have thought it ridiculous, my fair friends, if your parents had told 
 you that you were to love such a one, and nobody else, as though the heart's 
 affections were a load of wood, — as easily dumped at one door as another. — Bow's 
 Sermons, Vol. I. p. 254. 
 
 I once got twenty dollars from an omnibus driver for running into my carriage, 
 knocking off a wheel, and dumping my wife and child into the street. — The 
 Upper Ten Thousand, p. 149. 
 Dumpage. 1. The privilege of dumping loads from carts, especially 
 loads of refuse matter. — Webster. 
 
 2. A fee paid for such a privilege. — Ihid. 
 Dump-Cart. A cart that tilts up in front, and so " dumps " its load 
 Vjehind. 
 
 Dumping-Ground. A low piece of ground where earth, &c., is to be 
 deposited for the purpose of raising its level. 
 
 There is much difficulty in getting dumping-grounds for the dirt from the streets ; 
 but the contractors say they can and will do the work. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Dumpy. Sad; surly; dumpish. 
 
 The sweet, courteous, amiable, and good-natured "Saturday Review" has 
 dumpy misgivings upon the same point. —iV. Y. Trilmne, March 12, 18(i2. 
 
 Dunflsh. Codfish cured in a particular manner, by which they acquire 
 
196 
 
 DUN— DUT 
 
 a dun color. They command a higher price, and are much superior 
 to those cured in the ordinary way. 
 
 Dungaree. A vessel used for conveying dung, as at New York and in 
 
 along the shores of Connecticut. 
 
 Dunning. A peculiar operation for curing codfish. — Webster. Fish 
 for dunning are caught early in the spring, and often in February. 
 At the Isles of Shoals, off Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the cod are 
 taken in deep water, split, and slack-salted; then laid in a pile for 
 two or three months, in a dark store, covered for the greatest part 
 of the time with salt hay or eel-grass, and pressed with some weight. 
 In April or May, they are opened and piled as close as possible in the 
 same dark store till July or August, when they are fit for use. — 
 J. Haven. 
 
 The process of dunning, which made the [Isle of] Shoals fish so famous a cen- 
 tury ago, is almost a lost art, though the chief fisherman at Star still duns a few 
 yearly. — Thaxter, Isles of Shoals, p. 83. 
 
 Dunnow'z I know. The nearest your true Yankee ever comes to 
 acknowledge ignorance. — Lowell. 
 
 Durham Boat. A large, open, flat-bottomed boat, formerly used on 
 the St. Lawrence, Mohawk, and other rivers. They were used as 
 freight boats only, and were propelled against the current by means 
 of poles. 
 
 Durned. A softened pronunciation of damned. 
 Dust. To dust is to depart rapidly. 
 
 Duster. An outside garment, generally made of browai linen, to protect 
 railway travellers from dust. During the late Centennial Exhibi- 
 tion, thousands of people from the country flocked to the Eastern 
 cities, wearing this garment, who were known to the hotel-clerks as 
 the " duster community." 
 
 " They go everywhere," said a clerk of a New York hotel, " and are the busiest 
 people you ever heard of . They don't have time to take their c/ws^ers off ; they 
 come in their dusters, they eat in their dusters, and to the best of my belief they 
 sleep in their dusters. Why, a man told me that he counted 914 linen dusters the 
 other morning on Broadway between Union Square and Wall Street. But if any 
 one supposes that behind that expanse of linen there beats a heart unused to the 
 ways of the world, he is very much mistaken. I have found our guests to be 
 shrewd, well-informed, well-to-do persons, with no desire to take advantage of 
 others, and with no intention of being cheated themselves." — N. Y. Tribune, 
 Sept. 23, 1876. 
 
 Dutch. It beats the Dutch is an expression often applied, in New York 
 and New England, to any thing astonishing. The earliest instance 
 
DUT— EAR 
 
 197 
 
 of its occurrence that I have met with is in a Revolutionary ^ong 
 written during the siege of Boston, in 1775: — 
 
 And besides all the movtars, bombs, cannons, and shells, 
 And bullets and guns, as the newspaper tells. 
 Our cargoes of meat, drink, and cloaths beat the Dutch ; 
 Now who would not tarry and take t' other touch ? 
 
 Neiv Eng. Hist. Register, April, 1857, p. 191. 
 
 Dutch-Curse. The white field daisy, so called from its annoyance to 
 farmers. 
 
 Dutchman. A flaw in a stone or marble slab, filled up by an insertion. 
 Dutch Oven. A tin screen placed before a kitchen range, or open 
 
 wood-fire, within which is the meat to be roasted. 
 Dutiable. Subject to the imposition of duties or customs. — Webster. 
 This is a very convenient word, and is in common use, both by the 
 
 ofiicers of the customs, and by merchants having transactions with 
 
 them. 
 
 The dutiable imports this year amount to about two hundred and ten million 
 dollars, nearh' one-half of which were imported the first quarter of the year. — 
 Speech of Senator Wilson, May 24, 1858. 
 
 Dyed in the Wool. Ingrained; thorough. 
 
 The Democrats, on the authority of Mr. Cameron's letter, are beginning to 
 claim General Taylor as a Democrat dyed in the wool, as a Democrat of the Jeffer- 
 sonian order of 1798. —iV. Y. Com. Adv., May 24, 1847. 
 
 E. 
 
 Eagle. A gold coin of the United States, of the value of ten dollars, 
 so called from its bearing, on the reverse, the figure of the American 
 eagle. There are also double-eagles of twenty dollars, as well as 
 half and quarter eagles. 
 
 jBar-Bob. An ear-drop. 
 
 Early Candle-Light. Used to denote the beginning of the evening; 
 as, " The meeting will begin at early candle-light.''^ 
 
 Ear-Mark. The mark made on the ear of a horse, cow, pig, or sheep 
 by its owner; and hence the token or signal by which a thing is 
 known. So used also in the north of England. The laws of sev- 
 eral of the States require the ear-mark of every proprietor to be 
 recorded with the town-clerk, as evidence for reclaiming strays, &c. 
 
 Earnest. Boys call it playing marbles in earnest, when it is under- 
 stood that the winners shall keep the marbles. Sometimes they say, 
 Let's play for keeps. 
 
198 
 
 £AR— EEL 
 
 Earth Almond. (Cyperus esculentus.) A perennial, indigenous to 
 Southern Europe, growing in the form of a rush, some three feet 
 high, producing small tubers the size of a common bean, and called 
 b}^ the Valencians " Chufas." It was one of the plants distributed 
 by the Patent Office in 1854. — White, Gardening for the South. It 
 is the huh al azeez of Egypt. 
 
 Easy. A word in common use among merchants and bankers. " Our 
 bank is easy,'''' meaning that its loans are not extended, or that 
 money is plentiful. " The money market is easy ; " or " money is 
 cas?/," i. e. loans of money may easily be procured. 
 
 East, for yeast. North Carolina. 
 
 East. About east is about right; in a proper manner. A common 
 slang expression in New England. 
 
 I went into the dining-room, and sot down afore a plate that had my name writ 
 on a card onto it ; and I did Avalk into the beef and 'taters and things about east. 
 H. Bigelow''s Letters in Family Comp. 
 
 To eat, V. a. To supply with food. A Western use of the word. It 
 
 was used in the same way along the line of the Massachusetts and 
 Vermont railways in 1843-47 at the cheap boarding-houses. 
 
 Hoosier. Squire, what pay do you give '? 
 Contractor. Ten bits a day. 
 
 Hoosier. Why, Squire, I was told you 'd give us two dollars a day and eat 
 us. — Pickings from the Picayune, p. 47. 
 
 To eat Dirt. To retract ; to be penitent. 
 
 A poem in the " New York Evening Post," entitled " A Vision of 
 January 4, 1861," in describing a procession in Broadway, says: — 
 Houses in the Southern trade, although their skirts were clear, 
 Had, for the sake of example, come in from far and near ; 
 They bore a sable banner, all lettered in gold foil, 
 " After eating so much dirt, are we asked to swallow free soil ? " 
 
 Eddoes. See Cocos. 
 
 Educational. Pertaining to education; derived from education; as, 
 educational habits. — Webster. The authority cited by Webster for 
 the use of this word is " Smith," — a rather indefinite one. Mr. 
 Pickering says the word was new to him until he saw it in the 
 following extract: — 
 
 It is believed that there is not an individual of the college who would, if ques- 
 tioned, complain that he has, in any instance, felt himself pressed with opinions 
 which interfered with his educational creed. — Dr. Grant^s Beport to the Trustees 
 of New Jersey College, 1815. 
 
 Eel-Giass. (Zostera marina.) A plant thrown ashore in large quan- 
 tities by the sea. It is also called Sea-wrack. 
 
EEL — ELE 
 
 199 
 
 A large number of good-looking swine are kept, and are littered with eel-grass, 
 which is converted into compost. — Jackson, Geology of Rhode Island, p. 153. 
 
 Eel- Skin. A thin, narrow slip of paper, with the name of a candi- 
 date on one side, and coated with mucilage on the other, so as to be 
 quickly and secretly placed over the name of an opponent, on a 
 printed ballot. (New England and New York.) " Eel-skins," 
 judiciously distributed, are the most efficient instruments for " split- 
 ting tickets," and securing the election of some favored nominee on 
 a ticket otherwise in the minority. 
 
 Eel-Spear. A sort of trident for catching eels. Called, in England, 
 an Eel-shear. 
 
 E'en a'most, for almost. A vulgarism. 
 
 He knows the catechism, and has got the whole Bible e''eny most by heart. — 
 Margaret, p. 113. 
 
 The village boys would raise a party of gals, and start off early in the morning* 
 for Toad Hill, where the blackberries was e'en almost as plentiful as mosquitoes 
 in these diggings. — Lafayette Chronicle. 
 
 Oh, 'tis a dreadful thing to be 
 In such distress and misery ! 
 I 'm e'en, a'' most a nateral fool. 
 
 All on account o' Sally Poole. — Widow Bedott Papers. 
 Eend, for end. A vulgar pronunciation of the word, which is also 
 
 common in various parts of England. 
 To egg. To pelt with rotten eggs. 
 
 \V. S. Bailey, the abolition editor of the "Newport (Ky.) News," was egged out 
 of Alexandria, Campbell County, in that ^tate, on Monday. — Bolt. Sun, Aug. 1, 
 1857. 
 
 To egg on. To urge on. 
 
 Egypt. A nickname given to southern Illinois: according to some, 
 on account of its fertility; according to others, because of the men- 
 tal darkness of its inhabitants. See example at Yankeedom. 
 
 To elect. To choose, to prefer, to determine in favor of. — Webster. 
 The Americanism consists in the construction of this verb with a 
 following infinitive. 
 
 In pursuance of the joint resolution of Congress "for annexing Texas to the 
 United States," my predecessor, on the third day of March, 1845, elected to sub- 
 mit the first and second sections of that resolution to the republic of Texas, as au 
 overture, on the part of the United States, for her admission as a State into our 
 Union. This election I approved. — Message to Congress, Dec. 1, 1845. 
 
 If it be said that all travellers will not elect to go by the express train, and that 
 there should be further time and greater allowance than five days, many trav- 
 ellers will take other routes, &c. — Eejwrt on Pacifc Railroad. 
 
 Elephant. To see the elephant is to gain experience of the world, gen- 
 
200 
 
 ELE— ENG 
 
 erally at some cost to the investigator. The phrase doubtless origi- 
 nated from some occurrence at a menagerie. 
 
 Elevator. 1. A mechanical contrivance for lifting grain, &c., to an 
 upper floor ; also a building containing one or more elevators. 
 
 2. A mechanical contrivance now in use at large hotels for carry- 
 ing guests to the upper stories. 
 
 Josiah Allen's wife, being on a visit to New York, stopped at the Astor House. 
 
 " My room," says she, "was on the fifth story, and I told J. Beans'es ex-wife 
 that how I was goin' to climb up them stairs I didn't know, I was so tuckered 
 out. ... I guess I can weather it some way." 
 
 Mrs. Bean. "Here is the elevator, be carried up." 
 
 There was a big nigger comin' right towards us, and I thought she meant him; 
 for they have been called such funny names ever since the war, that I thought 
 like Elevator'''' was one of 'em. But I jest put my foot right down to once, 
 and saj's I, firmly, — 
 
 "I hain't a-goin' to be dogged upstairs by that nigger," &c. 
 
 But Beans'es ex-wife explained it {the elevator'] to me. There was a little room 
 about as big as our smoke-house, all fixed off as neat as a pin, and all we had to do 
 was to get in, and then we was histed right up in front of our room. — Betsy 
 Bobhet, p. 295. 
 
 Empire State. The State of New York ; so called from the enter- 
 prise of its people, its wealth, population, extent of canals, rail- 
 roads, &c. 
 
 The Emjyire State is your New York ; 
 
 I grant it hard to mate her; 
 Yet still give me the Nutmeg State, 
 
 "Where shall we find a greater ? — Allin, Yankee Ballads. 
 
 Empt. From the participle emptied, a word coined by old ladies in 
 New England; as, " Go and empt out the water." 
 
 Emptyings. (Pron. emptins.) The lees of beer, cider, &c. ; yeast, or 
 any thing by which bread is leavened. 
 
 'T will take more emptins, by a long chalk, than this new party 's got, 
 To give such heavy cakes as these a start, I tell ye what. 
 
 The Biyloto Papers. 
 
 To engage. To promise or pledge one's self to perform certain duties. 
 In the State of Rhode Island, all civil or military officers, instead of 
 being sworn to perform the duties which appertain to their offices, 
 and to obey the laws, are engaged so to do. 
 
 From the formation of this colony in 1647, no person was compelled to take an 
 oath, for the reason, probably, that it involved an act of worship ; nor has any 
 person since, under any circumstances, been obliged to take one. An affirmation, 
 on penalty of perjury, has been received with as full effect as an oath. Persons 
 appointed to office were, in the technical language of Rhode Island, engaged to 
 the faithful performance of their duties ; and the appointing power at the same 
 time entered into a reciprocal engagement to the officer, wherein they engage 
 
ENG— ENW 
 
 201 
 
 themselves to the utmost of their power to support and uphold the officer in the 
 lawful performance of his duties. — Colonial Records of Rhode Island. 
 
 Jlngine. (Pron. hijine, the last syllable rhyming with line.) A Fire- 
 engine. See Machine. 
 
 Engineer. The engine-driver on our railroads is thus magniloquently 
 designated. 
 
 To enjoy. To enjoy bad health is a whimsical yet by no means un- 
 common expression. 
 
 My husband enjoyed miserable health for a number of years afore he died. — 
 Widow Bedott, p. 143. 
 
 A correspondent furnishes me the following: — 
 
 On meeting a friend, he said to him, How are you to-da}^ ? On his replying, 
 with a very sober face, " Oh, / enjoy very poor health, indeed," he stared a mo- 
 ment at my assurance : Then you have made a high attainment in respect to 
 Christian duties. I have enjoyed poor health considerable in ni}' life, but never 
 did I enjoy so much sickness, in so short a time, as I did on that pleasure excur- 
 sion to the island. 
 
 Enpishemo. A word used West at the Rocky Mountains, to denote 
 the housings of a saddle, the blanket beneath it, &c. The late 
 George Gibbs, who gave me the word, said he could not trace it 
 to the Spanish, and thought it might be Indian. 
 
 To ensilage. (Fr.) The act of preparing fermented corn-fodder; 
 process, &c. This method is known in France as the ensilage of 
 fodder, because the fodder is sometimes packed in " silos " or pits. 
 In Germany, the product is called " sour hay." — N. Y. Tribune, 
 April, 1877. 
 
 To enthuse. 1. To show enthusiasm; to manifest great delight in 
 any thing. A recent word which is still confined to newspapers. 
 
 He did not, if we may be allowed the expression, enthuse to any extent on the 
 occasion. — Cor. N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 The Providence liquor-dealers sent an emissary to this cit}' to see if they could 
 not work up some enthusiasm for Barnaby ; but the dealers here would not enthuse 
 worth a cent. — Cor. Providence Journal. 
 
 2. In a religious sense, to infuse a divine spirit within. 
 
 You present to them an object large enough to enthuse an angel's soul. — Rev. 
 C. L. Woodworth. 
 
 Entry. The fee paid to the State upon entering an action in the 
 Supreme Court or Court of Common Pleas in Rhode Island. Some 
 other States use the same term. 
 
 To enweave. To inweave. 
 
 It is true that God has given to us, and enwoven in our nature, a desire for per- 
 fection and completeness made manifest to our senses. — Mrs. H. B. Stowe in 
 The Indejjendent, April 3. 1802 
 
202 
 
 ERI— EVE 
 
 Erie. Hennepin (ch. xix.) says, " The Havens call this Lake Erige, 
 or Erilke, that is, the Lake of the Cat; " but the inhabitants of 
 Canada have softened it into Erie. In ch. Ixix. he again men- 
 tions it as " Lake Erie, or of the Cat." 
 
 Esquipomgole. Another name for Kinnickinnick, or a mixture of 
 tobacco and cornel bark. 
 
 Esquire. In England, this title is given to the younger sons of noble- 
 men, to officers of the king's courts and of the household, to coun- 
 sellors at law, justices of the peace while in commission, sheriffs, 
 and other gentlemen. In the United States, the title is given to 
 public officers of all degrees, from governors down to justices and 
 attorneys. Indeed, the title, in addressing letters, is bestowed on 
 any person at pleasure, and contains no definite description. It is 
 merely an expression of respect. — Webster. 
 
 In our own dear title-bearing, democratic land, the title of esquire, officially 
 and by courtesy, has come to include pretty much everybody. Of course every- 
 body in office is an esquire, and all who have been in office enjoy and glory in 
 the title. And what with a standing arni}^ of legislators, an elective and ever- 
 changing magistracy, and almost a whole population of militia officers, present 
 and past, all named as esquii'es in their commissions, the title is nearly universal. 
 N. Y. Com. Advertiser. 
 
 Essence-Pedler. A skunk. 
 
 Euchre. A sort of game played with cards, very much in vogue 
 
 throughout the United States. See Yuca. 
 Euchred. To be beaten at Euchre ; checkmated ; used up ; and figura- 
 tively applied to one who has been defeated, outwitted, or foiled in 
 any scheme. Comp. Looed. 
 
 Now Jefferson D., when you come to reflect. 
 
 Don't it strike you that somehow you 've failed to connect? 
 
 Don't you think you cried game just a little too fast. 
 
 That you played a lone hand and got euchred at last ? — Vanity Fair. 
 
 Evacuation Day. The day on which the British army evacuated the 
 city of New York, Nov. 25, 1783, the annual return of which has 
 been celebrated in that city for nearly a century. Speaking of old 
 times in New York, Samuel Wood worth thus alludes to the day • — 
 
 The British troops had gone away ; 
 
 And every patriot true 
 Then kept Evacuation Day, 
 
 When this old house was new. 
 
 New York Post, March 27, 1877. 
 
 Evener (of a carriage). The swing splinter-bar. 
 Evening. In the South and West there is no afternoon. From noon 
 till dark is evening. It is strange to an unaccustomed ear to be 
 
EVE— EXP 
 
 203 
 
 accosted with " Good evening, at two or three o'clock in the day. 
 Where this usage prevails, immediately after sunset it is " night." 
 
 To eventuate. To happen; to issue; to take effect. A word not 
 unfrequently used in the United States, but rarely used by English 
 writers. — Worcester. 
 
 Everglades. Tracts of land covered with water and grass ; peculiar 
 to the Southern States. In Florida, the term is applied to portions 
 of the land lower than the coast, and but little above the level of 
 the sea, covered with fresh water. The islands elevated above this 
 swamp are called " hummocks." 
 
 Everlasting. Very; exceedingly. 
 
 New York is an everlasting great concern. — Major Downing, May-day in New 
 York. 
 
 Everlasting, Life Everlasting. (Gnaphalium.) So called from its 
 medicinal properties (so the books say), but much more likely from 
 the French "Immortelle," a similar plant, so named from the en- 
 durance of its flowers when dried. 
 
 Every Once in a While. A singular though very common expression, 
 signifying the same as every now and then. It is probably English. 
 
 Every which Way. Everyway: anywise. Colloquial. It sometimes 
 mars otherwise well- written works ; e. g., " The Land and the Book." 
 
 Excellency. A title given by courtesy to governors of States and to 
 ministers of foreign countries. In Massachusetts, the title is given 
 by the Constitution. We sometimes see it given to the President 
 of the United States, for which there is no authority. 
 
 Exchangeability. The quality or state of being exchangeable. — 
 Webster. 
 
 The law ought not to be contravened by an express article admitting the ex- 
 changeability of such persons. — Washington. 
 
 Excursionist. A person who goes on a pleasure trip. A common 
 newspaper term. 
 
 At a few minutes past seven o'clock, on Saturday evening, the steamer " Pow- 
 hatan'' was loosed from her moorings, and, with some two hundred excursionists 
 on boai-d, steamed down the Potomac River. — Wash. Evening Star, July 6, 1858. 
 
 The Executive. The officer, whether king, president, or other chief 
 magistrate, who superintends the execution of the laws; the person 
 who administers the government; executive power and authority in 
 government. — Webster. 
 
 The Executive City. Washington. 
 
 To expect. To think; to suppose, to anticipate. As, " I expect he 
 
204 
 
 EXP— EYE 
 
 is at home." In speaking of this use of the word, Webster says, 
 This blunder, which is far too common, even among educated 
 persons, ought to be studiously avoided by every one." 
 Escperience. To give, tell, or relate one's experience, are phrases in 
 use among certain sects, and meaning, to relate before a meeting 
 of the church the progress of one's mind in becoming an ardent 
 believer in the doctrines of Christianity. 
 
 Now, brethren and sisters, I 'm going to give my experience, — to tell how I 
 got religion. — Western Pulpit. 
 
 At these meetings there was praying and exhorting, and telling experiences., 
 and singing sentimental religious hymns. — GoodricJi's Reminiscences^ Vol. I. 
 p. 214. 
 
 To experience Religion. To become converted. 
 
 I experienced religion at one of brother Armstrong's protracted meetings ; — 
 and I tell ye, them special efforts is great things, — ever since I came out I 've 
 felt like a new critter. — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 108. 
 
 Express. A rapid conveyance of packages and goods, which in the 
 course of the last twenty years has grown up into an enormous busi- 
 ness in the United States. 
 
 To express. To transmit by a special messenger in anticipation of 
 the regular mail. 
 
 The President's message will be expressed through to Boston, by order of the 
 Postmaster-General. — Washington Republic. 
 
 Express-Man. A man belonging to an express office, who calls for and 
 bi'ings parcels with a wagon. 
 
 Express-Office. An establishment from which are transmitted par- 
 cels and goods. 
 
 Express -Wagojn. The wagon in which packages, boxes, &c., are 
 
 taken to and from an express office. 
 Eye-Opener. That which causes surprise. 
 
 Eyes skinned- To keep oneh eyes skinned or eyes peeled is to be on 
 the alert. 
 
 Keep your eyes skinned and your rifles clean ; and the minute you find I 'm 
 back, set off. — iV. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 Keep your eye skinned for sign, and listen to my horn. — Traits of Amencan 
 Humor, Vol. II. 
 
 Now, Mr. Arch, I 've got you, and if you don't keep your eye skinned, I '11 lick 
 you till your hide won't hold shucks. — Mike Hooter, hy a Missourian. 
 
FAC— FAL 
 
 205 
 
 F. 
 
 To face the Music. To meet the emergency. It correspomis to the 
 English slang phrase, " to come up to the scratch." 
 
 The "Worcester Spy," Sept. 22, 1857, in commenting upon the 
 commercial failm-es, says : — 
 
 Although such reverses would seem to fall with crushing weight upon some of 
 our most substantial citizens, a strong determination to fact the music is ever}'-- 
 where manifested. 
 
 Governor Chamberlain says he stands ready at all times to face the music. . . . 
 He says, "I am amenable to the laws of South Carolina for my acts, and when- 
 ever the officers of the law wish to call me to account I shall respond." — New 
 York paper. 
 
 Factory Cotton. Unbleached cotton goods, of domestic manufac- 
 tm-e. 
 
 Paculate. To arrange, put in order, prepare. Local in New Eng- 
 land, and evidently formed from faculty, as if facultate. 
 
 Fair and Square. Perfectly correct, honorable ; straightforward. 
 
 As to my principles, I glory 
 
 In hevin' nothin' o' the sort; 
 I ain't a Wig, I ain't a Tory, 
 
 I'm jest a candidate, in short; 
 Thet 's fair an' square an' parpendicler. 
 
 Lowell, The Bitjlow Papers. 
 
 To fair oflF, to fair up. To clear off, clear up. South-western. 
 
 He quitted the boat at Natchez, moved to the North, and, whenever he see a fog 
 risin', took to his bed and kept it till it faired off. — Western Tales. 
 
 There 's going to be a nasty fog to-night, and you had best run the boat till 
 nine, and then tie up, — have the steam kept up, and call me if it fairs up. — 
 Major Bunkum, N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 Fair Shake. A fair trade; a satisfactory bargain or exchange. A 
 
 New England vulgarism. 
 To fall. Often improperly used for fell in the United States, and in 
 
 some parts of England; as "to fall a tree," instead of " to fell a 
 
 tree." — Worcester. 
 
 Fall. 1. The fall of the leaf; autumn; the time when the leaves 
 drop from the trees. 
 
 This beautifully picturesque expression, which corresponds so well 
 to its opposite sprinf/, has been said to be peculiar to the United 
 States. Mr. Pickering notices the following remark in llees's 
 Cyclopaedia: "In North America, the season in which the fall of 
 
206 
 
 FAL— FAN 
 
 the leaf takes place derives its name from that circumstance, and 
 instead of autumn is universally called the fall.'''' — Art. Deciduous 
 Leaves. It is used, however, in England in the same sense ; although 
 autumn is as generally employed there as fall is in the United 
 States. 
 
 What crowds of patients the town doctor kills, 
 Or how last /«7^ he raised the weekly bills. — Di-yden's Juvenal. 
 Hash worked the farm, burnt coal in the fall, made sugar in the spring, drank, 
 smoked, &c. — Margaret, p. 13. 
 
 2. The apparatus used in hoisting and lowering goods in ware- 
 houses, &c. The term is borrowed from a contrivance for the same 
 purpose used on shipboard. 
 
 3. The upper front part of a pair of pantaloons; a drop. 
 Falling Weather. A rainy or snowy time. 
 
 Fall- Way. The opening or w'ell through which goods are raised and 
 lowered by a fall. It is often merely a succession of openings 
 through the several floors of the building, which are generally unen- 
 closed, and the source of frequent accidents. 
 
 Family. This word is often used to denote a man's wife and children, 
 especially the latter. Hence the phrases, " a man of family, " Have 
 you any family " " How is your father's family ? " 
 
 The term is also used in law books and statutes, exempting 
 property from execution for debt. 
 
 Family Room. This term is applied, in the West, to a room gener- 
 ally occupied by the mother and young children to the exclusion of 
 visitors and strangers. 
 
 To fan out. To make a show at an examination, alluding probably to 
 the peacock spreading his tail. This term originated at the United 
 States Military Academy at West Point, where for years it was 
 local; but it is now gradually finding its way through the country. 
 
 Fancies. Fancy stocks, which see below. 
 
 Yesterday was a blue day in Wall Street: the fancies looked down, and the 
 bears looked up. — Stock Report N. Y. Herald. 
 
 Take up any annual registry of the Stock Exchange, and you can check off in 
 a moment the temporary fancies of the year by such as show the widest varia- 
 tions. — Men and Mysteries of Wall Street, p. 213. 
 
 Fancy Stocks. A species of stocks which are bought and sold to a 
 great extent in New York. Unlike articles of merchandise, which 
 may be seen and examined by the dealer, and which always have 
 an intrinsic value in every fluctuation of the market, these stocks 
 are wholly wrapped in mystery. No one knows any thing about 
 them, except the ofiicers and directors of the companies, who, from 
 
FAN— FEA 
 
 207 
 
 their position, are not the most likely men to tell you the truth. 
 They serve no other purpose, therefore, than as the representative 
 of value in stock gambling. Nearly all the fluctuations in their 
 prices are artificial. A small fluctuation is more easily produced 
 than a large one; and, as the calculations are made on the par value, 
 a fluctuation of one per cent on stock worth $20 a share is just five 
 times as much on the amount of money invested as it would be on a 
 par stock Consequently, if a " Flunkie " can be drawn in, he may 
 be fleeced five times as quick in these as in good stocks. — AW eek in 
 Wall Street. 
 
 Fandango. (Spanish.) A lively dance. In Texas, New Mexico, and 
 California, this term is applied to a ball or dance of any sort. 
 
 Farallon. (Spanish, pron. faraydn.) A small, pointed island in the 
 sea. The meaning of this geographical term, applied to islands on 
 the California coast, has puzzled many. 
 
 Farina. 1. Wheaten grits. 
 
 2. Extra superfine flour of wheat. 
 
 Farzino or Farziner. A vulgar contraction of far-as-I-know, exten- 
 sively used through New England and New York, including Long 
 Island. 
 
 Gen. And Avhat kind of characters are the Count and Countess? 
 
 Doolittle. Why, I han't been here such a despud while as to have larnt my- 
 self much about the matter. But, by hearsay, they are a topping sort of people, 
 and pretty much like the Boston folks, full of notions. At times he is obstropu- 
 lous. He may be a straight-going critter, farzino, manwards ; but in his dealings 
 with t' other sex, he is a little twistical. — D. Humphreys, Yankee in England. 
 
 Fast. That lives at a rapid rate; dissipated. A flash word. 
 
 Mr. Cephas Bubble is undeniably the fastest young man in the market ; for 
 he's not only ashamed of his parentage and birthplace, but he is actually 
 ashamed he was ever a boy. — Miss Wellniont, Substance and Shade, p. 108. 
 
 Fast hooks, like fast men, soon exhaust their constitutions. — Norton's Liter- 
 ary Gazette. 
 
 Fat-Pork Tree. A name of the Coco-Plum. Barbadoes. 
 
 Favored. A term applied to the face; the expression of countenance; 
 as, '* She is long/rtj;orerf," which means that she has a long, pointed 
 face. This use of the word was once common in England, but is 
 now obsolete. Thus Shakspeare : — 
 
 A good favour you have, but that you have a hanging look. 
 The porter owned that the gentleman favoured his master. — The Spectator. 
 
 Fearful. Much, great, strongly. Pennsylvania. 
 
208 
 
 FEA— FED 
 
 Feast. A corruption of the Dutch vies, nice, fastidious. " I 'm feast of 
 it," is a literal translation of the Dutch Ik ben er vies van, i. e. I am 
 disgusted with, I loathe it. A New York phrase, mostly confined 
 to the descendants of the Dutch. 
 
 To feather. A friend has reminded me of this colloquial word, which 
 is used in some parts of New England to denote the appearance of 
 curdled cream, when it rises upon the surface of a cup of tea or 
 coffee, in the form of little flakes, somewhat resembling feathers. 
 We say, " The cream feathers. — Pickering. 
 
 Feaze. The same as feeze and pheeze. 
 
 England is, we are told, about to send three regiments to Canada. Don't get 
 into a feaze about it. — N. Y. Tinbune, June 28, 1861, Lett, from Pans. 
 
 Federal. 1. Founded upon or formed by a league, treaty, or compact 
 between independent States. The government of the United States 
 is a federal government, as being formed by the union of several 
 independent States, each surrendering a portion of its power to 
 the central authority. A federal is strictly distinguishable from a 
 national government (though in the United States the terms are 
 often used indiscriminately), the latter being properly an aggrega- 
 tion of individual citizens. The Constitution of the United States 
 is pronounced by Mr. Madison to be neither a national nor a fed- 
 eral constitution, but a composition of both. — Federalist, No. 39. 
 
 2. Pertaining to the United States; often in contradistinction 
 from any or all of the States, as functionally considered. 
 
 Federal City. Washington, as the seat of government. 
 
 Federal Currency. The legal currency of the United States. Its 
 coins are the gold eagle of ten dollars; the double eagle, twenty 
 dollars; half and quarter eagles of proportionate value. The silver 
 dollar of one hundred cents, its half, quarter, tenth, and twentieth 
 parts. The coin of ten cents value is called a dime ; that of five 
 cents, a half-dime. The lowest coin in common use was the copper, 
 now supplanted by the nickel cent. Half-cent coins have been 
 made, but few or none of late years. In the commercial cities and 
 along the sea-board, Spanish coins of a dollar and the fractional 
 parts of a dollar were very common, and passed currently for their 
 original value, until the act of February 21, 1857, which, by reduc- 
 ing the value of the quarter, eighth, and sixteenth of a dollar by 
 twenty per cent, caused the foreign coinage to be suddenly with- 
 drawn from the currency. 
 
 Previous to the adoption of our federal currency, pounds, shillings, 
 and pence were used. But these denominations became unstable in 
 
FED 
 
 209 
 
 value, in consequence of the great depreciation wliich took place in 
 the paper-money issued by the colonies. 
 
 In the year 1702, exchange on England was 33 1 per cent above 
 par ; and silver and gold bore the same relative value to paper- 
 money. The depreciation in the latter continued to increase until, 
 in the year 1749, £1,100 currency was only equal to £100 sterling, 
 or eleven for one. In 1750, a stop was put to the further deprecia- 
 tion of the money of the province of Massachusetts by a remittance 
 from England of £183,000 sterling, in Spanish dollars, to reimburse 
 the expense the province had been at in the reduction of Cape Breton 
 in the old French war. The depreciated money was then called in, 
 and paid off at the rate of a Spanish dollar for forty-five shillings of 
 the paper currency. At the same time, a law was made fixing the 
 par of exchange between England and Massachusetts at £133^ cur- 
 rency for £100 sterling, and six shillings to the Spanish dollar. 
 
 The difference of exchange, or depreciation of the paper-money, 
 regulated in the same manner the currencies of the other colonies. 
 Throughout New England, as has been before stated, it was six 
 shillings to the dollar of 4.s. Qd. sterling. In New York, eight shil- 
 lings, or about seventy-five per cent depreciation. Pennsylvania, 
 7s. Qd-t or about sixty-six per cent depreciation. In some of the 
 Southern States, it was 4s. Qd. to the dollar, and accordingly no 
 depreciation. In Halifax currency, including the present British 
 provinces, it was five shillings to the dollar, or about eleven per 
 cent, &c. 
 
 In consequence of the above-named diversity in the colonial cur- 
 rencies, in New England the Spanish real of one-eighth of a dollar, 
 or 12^ cents, is called a ninepence ; in New York, a shilling ; in 
 Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, elevenpence or a levy ; and in 
 many of the Southern States, a hit. The half-real, of the value of 
 one-sixteenth of a dollar, is called in New York a sixpence ; in New 
 England, /owrpence ha^penny, or simply fourpence; in Pennsylvania, 
 Maryland, and Virginia, a Jip ; and in Louisiana, 2^, picayune. The 
 disappearance of the coins from circulation already caused these 
 names to fall likewise into disuse. 
 
 Federalists. An appellation in America given to the friends of the 
 Constitution of the United States, at its formation and adoption ; 
 and to the political party which favored the administration of Presi- 
 dent Washington. — Webster. 
 
 To federalize. To unite in compact, as different States; to confed- 
 erate for political purposes. — Webster. 
 
 14 
 
210 
 
 FEE— FEL 
 
 Feed. Used as a noun, for grass; as, " tall /eet?," i. e. high grass. 
 Feed-Trough. A trough in which is placed the food for animals, as in 
 
 sheds, and as fastened to posts, at which horses, &c., are fed in towns. 
 To feel. To feel to do a thing is an expression commonly used by 
 
 some clergymen, for to feel inclined, to be disposed to do it. 
 Feelay, or Gumbo feelay. Sassafras leaves dried and powdered. 
 
 Louisiana. 
 
 Feet. There are people who consider it witty to use this plural 
 instead of its singular foot. 
 
 When I was 2i.feet high, I was my mammy's joy, 
 The ladies all caressed me, and called me pretty boy, 
 They said I was a beauty, my face it was complete, 
 Except this tarnal ugly nose, but it stuck out a feet. 
 
 Western Melodies. 
 
 Feeze, Feaze, " To be in a feeze " is to be in a state of excitement. 
 Provincial in England. (Comp. Fr. f ache, angry.) 
 
 Larcenie is the felonious taking away of another man's personal goods without 
 his knowledge or insight, yet without making any assault upon his person or 
 putting him into a fease. — Code of Laws of Rhode Island, 1647. 
 
 Some years ago, we remember, New York was in its annual feeze about mad 
 dogs, and the public mind was somewhat exercised touching the best method 
 of doing murder upon the unhappy canines. — N. Y. Commercial Advertiser, 
 Oct. 16, 1848. 
 
 When a man 's in a feeze, there 's no more sleep that hitch. — Sam Slick in 
 Enyland, ch. 2. 
 
 Fellow or Feller. Very commonly used in the United States, in the 
 
 sense of lover, siceetheart. See Beau. 
 
 Fellow or Black Fellow. A black man. Southern. 
 
 Fellow-Countryman. One belonging to the same countiT, a com- 
 patriot. This has been censured as an American pleonasm, like 
 play-actor, inasmuch as good English usage has conferred this mean- 
 ing on the word countryman alone. (See Pickering, sub voce.) 
 Still, the want of a more definite expression has been felt in Eng- 
 land as well as in this country; and the term felloio-countryman, 
 as distinguished from countryman, rustic, as the French compairiote 
 and German lamlsmami are distinguished from paymn and land- 
 mann, has long been used in America, and in England has been 
 adopted and sanctioned by such authorities as Southey and Lord 
 Brougham. 
 
 Fellowship. Companionship; consort; society. — Johnson. With 
 us it is often used in religious writings and discourses, instead of 
 the word communion, to denote " mutual intercourse or union in 
 religious worship, or in doctrine and discipline." 
 
FEL— FEM 
 
 211 
 
 To fellowship. A verb formed from the preceding noun. To fellow- 
 ship with is to hold communion with ; to unite with in doctrine and 
 discipline. This barbarism appears with disgusting frequency in 
 the reports of ecclesiastical conventions, &c., and in the religious 
 newspapers generally. Mr. Pickering, in the Supplement to his 
 Vocabulary, said he had just become acquainted with the Word. 
 The following is the first example which he gives : — 
 
 "We considered Llm heretical, essentially unsound in the faith; and on this 
 ground refused to ftllowshipy{'\\h. him. — Address to the Christian Public, Greeii- 
 Jield, 1813. 
 
 If the Christian Alliance could not felloivship with the Southern slaveholders 
 for gain, they ought to say so outright. — Speech at the Christian Alliance Con- 
 ference, May 8, 1847. 
 
 It is also used actively without the preposition, as in the following 
 examples : — 
 
 How can we expect the fellowship of the preachers of the Reformation ? I do 
 not expect it, because our fellowship was predicated upon a vain uniformity of 
 belief. If it were, I could never have ftllowshipped them V — Rev. J. B. Fergu- 
 son's Discourse. 
 
 We therefore fellowship him in taking a course of preparatory studies for the 
 Christian ministry. — Board of Madison University, New York, Jan. 1, 18-iO. 
 
 Female. A person of the female sex, a woman or girl. There has 
 been much said of the use and abuse of this word, and whether it 
 is proper to designate women by it. Doctor Johnson thus defines 
 
 female: " A she; one of the sex that brings forth young." Mrs. 
 Sarah J. Hale, in speaking of the word, has the following remarks 
 (we do not indorse her grammatical criticism): "Where used to 
 discriminate betM^een the sexes, the word female is an adjective. 
 We do not object to the term when used necessarily, as an adjec- 
 tive; but many writers employ the word as a noun, which, when 
 applied to woman, is improper, and sounds ujipleasantly, as refer- 
 ring to an animal. To illustrate: almost every newspaper we open, 
 or book we read, will have sentences like these : ' A man and two 
 
 females were seen,' &c., 'A gentleman was walking with a female 
 companion,' ' The females were much alarmed,' ' A female child,' 
 &c. Now why is such a style of writing tolerated? AVhy is the 
 adjective, which applies to all female animals, used as the noun 
 designating woman ? It is inelegant as well as absurd. Expressed 
 correctly, thus, ' A man and two women,' &c., ' A gentleman and 
 a lady,' 'The women were alarmed,' 'A little girl.' Who does 
 not see and feel that these last sentences are in better taste, more 
 correct in language, and more definite in meaning? We call on 
 
212 
 
 FEN 
 
 our sex, on women, to use pen and voice to correct the error of lan- 
 guage which degrades them by the animal epithet only." 
 
 In the House of Delegates in Maryland, in a debate " on the passage of the bill 
 to protect the reputation of unmarried females,'''' the title was amended by strik- 
 ing out the word females" and inserting "women," as the word ''''female''^ 
 was an Americanism in that application. — Baltimore Patriot^ March, 1839. 
 
 At Birmingham, England, a few years since a woman advertised 
 to walk a rope, blindfolded and in a sack, fell to the ground and was 
 killed. Queen Victoria, on hearing of it, sent a letter to the Mayor 
 of Birmingham, asking him to use his influence to put a stop to 
 such exhibitions. Her Majesty's letter does credit to her good 
 heart; but her amanuensis, who signs his name C. B. Phipps, thus 
 wrote : — 
 
 "Her Majesty cannot refrain from making known through you her personal 
 feelings of horror that one of her subjects — a female — should have been sacri- 
 ficed to the gratification of the demoralizing taste, unfortunately prevalent, for 
 exhibitions attended with the greatest danger to the performers." 
 
 Again, we have high English authorities for the use or rather 
 misuse of the word. The " New York Post," March 3, 1877, in 
 an article on the Tractarian Controversy in England, quotes the 
 following remarks by Goldwin Smith, on the subject of the edu- 
 cation of women : — 
 
 "Many young hearts and many deep heads," says the Professor, "naturally 
 inclined to this reaction [Tractarianism], and a change in university and female 
 education would extinguish the tendency almost in its source." To which the 
 "Post" adds, " Mark the word female^ 
 
 In the summer time, our inns are filled to bursting. Coaches run frantically 
 from every point of the compass. . . . The donkeys in our streets multiply a hun- 
 dred-fold, tottering under the weight of ^xiormow?, females visiting our waterfalls. 
 — Miss Martineau, Autobiography, Vol. I. p. 529, Boston ed. 
 
 Fen. A prohibitory exclamation used by boys in their games; as, 
 " Fen play ! " i. e. I forbid you to play, stop! Compare the Latin 
 defendo, French dtfendre. 
 Fence. 1. In politics, " to be on the fence "is to be neutral, or to 
 be ready to join the strongest party, whenever it can be ascertained 
 which is so. 
 
 When everj' fool knows that a man represents, 
 
 Not the fellows that sent him, but them on the fence, 
 
 Impartially ready to jump either side. 
 
 And make the first use of a turn of the tide. — Biglow Papers. 
 
 2. A house where stolen goods are received. 
 
 Fence-Man. A politician who is "on the fence." 
 
 All the fence-men, all the doubters, all the seekers after majorities, will now 
 bustle up, come out, and declare that Greneral Taylor is the most popular man in 
 
FEN— F. F. V. 
 
 213 
 
 the country, and that he was always their first choice. — N. Y. Herald, Oct. 14, 
 1848. 
 
 Fence-Rail. A rail used in fences. 
 
 His fence-rails were all burned for firewood. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Fence-Riding. The practice of " sitting on the fence," or remaining 
 neutral in a political contest until it can be seen ' ' which way the 
 cat is going to jump." 
 
 The South will not vote for a Northern candidate who is nominated as such, 
 nor the North for a Southern man who is nominated on exclusive Southern 
 principles. In this matter there can be no neutral ground. The dividing line is 
 narrow, but distinct; it admits of no fence-riding ; the candidate must be on one 
 side or the other ; and when the time shall come, that either the North or the 
 South adopts a candidate on sectional grounds, it will not be difiicult to foretell 
 the issue. — N. Y. Mirror. 
 
 Ferry-Flat. A flat boat used for crossing, and sometimes for descend- 
 ing, the Mississippi River and its tributaries. Flint says: "The 
 fernj-flat is a scow-boat, and, when used as a boat of descent for 
 families, has a roof or covering. These are sometimes in the ver- 
 nacular phrase called sleds." — Hist, and Geog. of Miss. Valley. 
 
 To fetch up. To stop suddenly. This sense of the word is not 
 noticed in the English dictionaries, nor by Webster. " He fetched 
 up all standing; " that is, he made a sudden halt. The more com- 
 mon phrase with us is, "He brought up all standing." It is a 
 nautical vulgarism, the figure being that of a ship which is suddenly 
 brought to, while at full speed and with all her sails set. 
 
 Fetterlock. Fetlock. New England. See Fetterlock-deep. 
 
 Fetterlock-deep. As high as, rising to, sinking in as far as to, the 
 fetlocks. 
 
 I determined to . . . go on horseback to the Inlet. I found, however, that the 
 distance was forty miles through heavy sand, fttterlock-deep. — N. Y. Tribune^ 
 Let. from Fortress Monroe. 
 
 Fetticua or Vettikost, vulg. Fdttikows. (Valerlanella.) Corn- 
 salad or Lamb's-lettuce. A word used in New York. 
 
 Fever-Bush. Wild allspice, so called in Massachusetts. See Spice- 
 Bush. 
 
 Pew. Used as a slang term, a few means a little. 
 
 "I say, stranger, tell me about the trick of the wells' blowing up; and I'll 
 tell you the trick of the gun, which rather skeared you a few, as I think." — 
 Hoffman, Forest Scenes. 
 
 F. F. V. First Families of Virginia. 
 
 The famous initials F. F. V. have had their significanc* changed by some of 
 our boys in the late campaign, in consequence of their constant alacrity in running, 
 to Fast Footed Virginians. — iV. Y. Tribune, Aug. 2, 18G1. 
 
214 
 
 FIC— FIE 
 
 The life of a trooper is pleasure and ease, 
 Just suited to sprigs of the old F. F. F.'s. 
 
 The Cavalier'' 8 Song. 
 
 Dare you dispraise ruy royal parts, 
 And prate of Freedom, Commeice, Arts V 
 What are the}' to my pedigree ? 
 
 Why, Adam was an F. F. V. ! — Ballad of King Cotto'/i. 
 
 rice, Fyse. A term applied in Kentucky to a small dog; a cur. A 
 friend informs me he has heard the term in Washington. It is an 
 old English word, now obsolete and not found in recent English 
 dictionaries or glossaries. Nares alone notices it under the name 
 of fi/st, from which comes foist, as a " fois ting-Hound, or Cur, 
 a small dog of the lap-dog kind." ^vTares quotes Coles's Diet. : "A 
 fysting (foisting) cur." But the word is not in the first ed. of 
 Coles, 1708. See Fiste. 
 
 As for shepherds' dogs, foisting curs, and such whom some fond ladies make 
 their daily, nay, nightly companions too, I shall pass over. — Gentleman's Recrea- 
 tions, p 23. 
 
 Fid. A fid of tobacco, is a " plug " or small piece, from '■'■fid,^^ a bunch 
 of oakum put into the touch-hole of a gun to keep the powder dry. 
 Coles. 
 
 Fiddler. A kind of small crab, with one large claw and a very small 
 one. It lives on the salt meadows, where it makes its burrows. 
 
 Fidlars are a sort of small crabs, that lie in holes in the marshes. The raccoons 
 eat them very much. I never knew any one to try whether they were good meat 
 or no. — Laioson's Carolina, 1718. 
 
 Down from the pine woods we turn on the sandy beach, where whole annies 
 oi fiddlers are scurrying to their holes and marvellously disappear while we are 
 looking at them, vanishing as huge rain-drops when they strike the earth. — 
 Florida Cor. Forest and Stream. 
 
 [The Fish-Crows] alight on large mud flats bordering the salt-water marshes 
 for the purpose of catching the small crabs called Fiddlers. — Audubon, Ornith. 
 Blog., Vol. 11. p. 269. 
 
 Field-Driver. A civil officer, whose duty it is to take up and impound 
 swine, cattle, sheep, horses, &c., going at large in the public high- 
 ways, or on common and unimproved lands, and not under the 
 charge of a keeper. New England. 
 
 Field Martin. A name sometimes given in the South to the Kiug- 
 Bird. 
 
 Field-Hand. A person who works in a field. A common term In 
 the Slave States for an agricultural laborer. " A prime field-hand.^ ^ 
 Fiendishment. A fiendish act or spirit. 
 
 The Proclamation will be but little more than the indecent expression of Lin- 
 coln's rage and fiendishments. — Richmond Enquirer^ Dec, 1862. 
 
FIG— FIL 
 
 To fight the Tiger. To gamble. 
 
 Strange, isn't it, that so many countrymen who come to New York to "see 
 the elephant " will go and fight the tiger. — N. Y. Commercial Adv. 
 
 To figure. " Figure on that " means to consider it; to think it over. 
 Western. 
 
 File. A cloth used for wiping a floor after scrubbing. 
 File-Pail or Filing-Pail. A wash-pail. 
 
 Filibuster. (SjDanish, Jilibustero .) A freebooter. A word brought 
 into common use in consequence of the expeditions against Cuba 
 under Lopez in the year 1851, to the members of which expedition 
 it was applied. It is from the Spanish Jilibustero, which, like the 
 French Jlibustier, is itself a corruption of the English freebooter, 
 German freibeuter, a term imported into England during the Low 
 Country wars of Qu.een Elizabeth's time, and pretty generally 
 applied to the Buccaneers who ravaged Spanish America about 
 1680-90. An attempt has been made to deduce the etymology of 
 the word from the Low Dutch vlie-boot, i. q. Jly-boat, a sort of Dutch 
 clipper. 
 
 Our modern filibusters are the scum of our society, not men whom "quick 
 bosoms " drive upon desperate adventures ; but men whom rascality has outlawed, 
 men whom society, instead of sending forth with blessings, kicks out with con- 
 tempt. Broken-down gamblers, drunken lawyers, unsuccessful publicans, dissi- 
 pated shoe-makers, detested swindlers, men under whose feet every plank has 
 broken, are those who now-a-days assume the bearing, and attempt to walk in the 
 footsteps, of Cortez or of Clive. — N. Y. Courier and Enquirer. 
 
 To filibuster. 1. To acquire by freebooting. 
 
 What was Moses but a filibuster, whose mission was to dispossess tribes retro- 
 grading (or whose civilization was corrupting before matured), and to plant in 
 their stead another people, whose subsequent annals show them to have been at 
 least in no wise superior to our own ? What were the Normans, from whom the 
 sovereigns of Great Britain affect to derive their descent, and a portion of their 
 title to the crown, but filibusters? What the Pilgrim Fathers but filibusters? 
 What State, what territory in this Union has not h^QW filibustered ivom the Indians, 
 or purchased from those who had fidibustered it? Have ever five years elapsed 
 down to the present time since the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers that some of 
 the monarchies of Europe have not, somewhere, been filibustering something? 
 Letter of General Henningsen to Senator Toombs, 1857. 
 
 2. To be, to act as, a filibuster. 
 Filibustering, Filibusterism. Freebooting, freebootery. The word 
 is now (1877) much used in politics, particularly in Congress, and 
 means the sharp manojuvriiig of one political party to get an advan- 
 tage over an opponent. 
 
 The history' of British India is but one vast scheme oi filibustering. Alexander 
 the Great wa}» a filibuster; so was Caisar, and so Napoleon. Nicholas in his day 
 
216 
 
 FIL— FIN 
 
 is a filibuster, and so was Ciiarles the XIL Cortez was a filibuster, and every 
 foot of Spanish dominion in America was acquired h\ Jilibusterin<j alone. Everjr 
 foot of Mexican soil is now under the dominion, lanj^uage, laws, usages, and lit- 
 urgy of fdibusterisrn. — C(diJ'oi-nia Pioneer^ Jan., 1854. 
 
 Colonel H. P. Watkins was convicted, March 24, 1854, in the United State 
 District Court, of setting on foot a military expedition against the republic oj 
 Mexico, — in other words, of filibusteri&m. — Annals of San Franoisco, p. 525. 
 
 Fillipeen or Phillipina. (German, Vielliehchen.') There is a custom 
 
 common in the Northern States, at dinner or evening parties, when 
 almonds or other nuts are eaten, to reserve such as are double or 
 contain two kernels, which are called Jillijjeens. If found by a lady, 
 she gives one of the kernels to a gentleman, when both eat their 
 respective kernels. When the parties again meet, each strives to 
 be the first to exclaim Fillipeen ! for by so doing he or she is en- 
 titled to a present from the other. Oftentimes the most ingenious 
 methods are resorted to by both ladies and gentlemen to surprise 
 each other with the sudden exclamation of this mysterious word, 
 which is to bring forth a forfeit. Another way of obtaining the 
 forfeit by this game is to get one to take something from the hand 
 of the other. 
 
 In a book on German life and manners, entitled " A Bout with 
 the Burschens, or Heidelberg in 1844," is an account of the exis- 
 tence of this custom in Germany, which at the same time furnishes 
 us with the etymology of the word : — 
 
 Amongst the queer customs and habits of Germany, there is one which struck 
 me as being particularly original, and which I should recommend to the consid- 
 eration of turf-men in England; who might, perhaps, find it nearly as good a 
 way of getting rid of their spare cash as backing horses that have been made 
 safe to lose, and prize-fighters who have never intended to fight. It is a species 
 of betting, and is accomplished thus : Each of two persons eats one of the ker- 
 nels of a nut or almond which is double. The first of the two who, after so doing, 
 takes any thing from the hand of the other, without saying Ich denJce, " I think,'' 
 has to make the other a present of a value which is sometimes previously deter- 
 mined, and sometimes left to the generosity of the loser. The presents are called 
 Vielliebchens, and are usually trities of a few florins' value ; a pipe, riding-whip, 
 or such like. 
 
 To fill the Bin. To acknowledge ; to come up to the mark. Of. to 
 
 acknowledge the corn? 
 
 "Sir," said he, — and he [W. L. Yancey] is a beautiful speaker and person- 
 ally a very fine-looking man, — "are you the celebrated Parson Brownlow V" 
 "I 'm the only man on earth," I replied, "that flls the bin.'^ — Speech ofW. G. 
 Brownluw of Tenn. in N. Y. Herald, May 16, 18G2. 
 
 Fills. A common mispronunciation for thills, the shafts of a wagon 
 
 or chaise. 
 Fineiied. Made fine ; dandified. 
 
FIP— FIR 
 
 217 
 
 If this new judge is the s\icked-UTp, fnejied sort of a character they pictur' him, 
 
 I don't want to see him. —Robb, Squatter Life, p. 73. 
 Fippenny Bit, or, contracted, Fip. Fivepence. In Pennsylvania, 
 
 and several of the Southern States, the vulgar name for the Spanish 
 
 half-real. (See Federal Currency.) Fippence, for fivepence, is 
 
 provincial in England. 
 To fire. To fling with the hand, as a stone or other missile. 
 To fire away. To begin ; to go on. An expression borrowed from 
 
 the language of soldiers and sailors. 
 
 The chairman rose and said : " We are not ready yet, we must go on in order." 
 Calls for Mr. H . Mr. H from the midst of the audience said, " Gentle- 
 men, I beg to be excused. I came here to listen, not to speak." Loud cries of 
 " Go ahead ! " " Out with it ! " " Fire away " Whereupon he commenced. — 
 JV. Y. Herald, Sketch of a Political Meeting. 
 
 jE*ire-Dogs. A support for wood in a fire-place; andirons. — Webster. 
 Fire-Eaters. A name given by their political opponents to the advo- 
 cates of extreme Southern views. Of recent introduction. 
 
 ThQ fire-eaters in the territory and the fire-eaters outside do not at all agree in 
 their views of what is proper to be done in reference to voting on the constitu- 
 tion. — Lecompton (Ka'iisas) Democrat, Nov., 1857. 
 
 The fire-eaters are making a very " big boo for a little goose." There is no 
 strength whatever out of the Gulf States ; and, although they keep Walker very 
 close in his room, he is seen and known enough to make all efforts to elevate 
 him even to the rank of a bold pirate ridiculous. — iV. Y. Evening Post, 1857. 
 
 The " Savannah Republican," in noticing the call for a convention 
 of the Southern States previous to the late war, said : — 
 
 " Our noble band of sisters, all embarked in one common bottom, need not be 
 taught their duty by a set of gaissy, fire-eating politicians, such as are likely to 
 constitute the staple of a Southern Convention." 
 
 Fire-Hook. A stout hook at the end of a spar, used in pulling down 
 buildings when on fire. 
 
 Fire-Hunt, A hunt for game in the night with the aid of a long- 
 handled pan containing light wood or pitch-pine knots ignited. 
 This is carried on the shoulder of the hunter until he sees the eyes 
 of the animal of which he is in pursuit. 
 
 The fire-hunt was Sam's hobby. He had often urged me to accompany him, 
 just to see how slick he could shine a buck's eyes, and had drawn from me a 
 promise to go with him on some of these hunts. — Traits of American Humor, 
 Vol. II. p. 171. 
 
 To fire into the Wrong Flock is a metaphorical expression us*d at the 
 West, denoting that one has mistaken his object, as when a sports- 
 man fires at a different flock from what he intended. It is synony- 
 mous with " To bark up tlie wrong tree." 
 
218 
 
 FIR 
 
 I said, when General J cocked his gun and began his war upoi the Sen- 
 ate, he would find he had fired into the wrong fiock. — CrockeWs Speech, Tour, 
 p. 81. 
 
 I will make that gone}' a caution to sinners I know. He has fired into the 
 wrony fiock timQ. I'll teach him not to do it again. — Sam Slick, Human 
 Nature, p. 107. 
 
 Fire-Water. The name given by some of the Indian tribes to ardent 
 spirits. 
 
 Magna's Canada fathers came into the woods, and taught him to drink fire- 
 water, and he became a rascal. — Cooper,The Last of the Mohicans, p. 146. 
 
 The Taos whiskey, a raw, fiery spirit, has a ready market among the trappers 
 and Indian traders, who find the fire-water the most profitable article of trade 
 with the aborigines. — Ruxton's Adventures in the Rocky Mountains, p. 200. 
 
 Fire-Wood. Wood designed for fuel. 
 
 Fire Zouave. A term popularly applied to companies of Zouaves, the 
 members of which had been firemen in the city of New York. 
 
 A Pet Lamb astonishes the Secessionists. The Richmond papers tell of a Fire 
 Zouave who was caught and taken to Fairfax, &c. — N. Y. Tribune, July 18, 
 1861. 
 
 First. One, single. An absurd use of the word, which has recently 
 crept into the newspapers and public speeches from the colloquial 
 language of the West. " I won't pay you the Jirst red cent; " i. e.,1 
 will not pay you a single cent. 
 
 And here was I, who had been half tempted to fret because a stream of water 
 leaking through the top of the coach couldn't alight anywhere else but on my 
 knees, which I couldn't move the first inch, absurdly fancying that but for that 
 I might have slept- — Letter in JV. Y. Tribune, May 23, 1849. 
 
 Think how many of the young mechanics of New York, who are earning their 
 ten or twelve dollars per week, do not save the first cent from one year's end to 
 the other, but squander all they ought to lay up in dissipation. — Ibid., Aug. 20, 
 1849. 
 
 I am not aware of having committed the first act which should bring upon me 
 the displeasure of the house or an}' of its members. — W. A. GilberVs Speech in 
 House of Representatives, Feb. 27, 1857. 
 
 First-Class. A man in England possesses notable capacity, and people 
 style him capable, or able, or great. In Canada, he is designated 
 first-class. To speak of a first-class carriage, or a first-class prize, or 
 even a first-class prize ox, may be right enough; but why apply 
 phrases with such poor associations to men of splendid intellect? Is 
 it not enough that a man be great ? Will he seem any greater when 
 indissolubly associated with a railway van? — Rev. A. C. Geikie, in 
 Canadian Journal, Sept. , 1857. 
 
 First-Rate. Of the first class or order ; superior ; superexcellent. An 
 expression now in very common use, applied, as most superlatives 
 
FIR— FIS 
 
 219 
 
 are in the United States, with very little discrimination. It was 
 formerly said of large and important things, as " a Jirst-rate ship." 
 Kow we hear of Jirst-rate pigs," '■'■Jirst-rate liquors," ^'■Jirst-rate 
 lawy-ers." 
 
 The Jirst^ate importance of the subject, and the real merits of the work, are 
 deserving of a portion of our space. — Westminster Review^ July, 1847. 
 
 A young woman wants a situation as a chambermaid. She is a Jirst-rate washer 
 and ironer, and plain sewer. — Adrertisement in N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 It is also used adverbially; thus, if we ask a person how he is, he 
 replies, " I am first-i^ate,'^ i. e. in excellent health, very well. 
 
 Mr. Borthwick found the California Indians had acquired this use 
 of the phrase ; for, says he : — 
 
 When you salute them with " How d' ye do," or if you really want to know 
 the state of their health, they invariably answer fuss-rate. So having ascertained 
 that they were all fuss-rate, I made inquiries as to my way. — Three Years in 
 California, p. 211. 
 
 Well, there 's some men whose natural smartness helps them along first-rate. 
 Major Jones's Courtship, p. 31. 
 
 Mary liked all the speakers ^rs^-m^e, except one feller who gin the galls all 
 sorts of a shakin'. — Ibid., p. 168. 
 
 The "London Illustrated News," Dec. 6, 1856, in speaking of 
 Assheton Smith, a celebrated huntsman, says: — 
 
 In his Leicestershire days, he was ^rsi-ra<e as a horseman ; .... and in one of 
 the worst scenting countries, he has for years shown the^?'S^-m^e sport. 
 
 First Rate and a Half. Any thing somewhat better than what is 
 
 considered ^r.s7-rafe; or ^/zrsi-rafe intensified. 
 First Swathe. First quality ; first chop. New York. 
 
 Nothing '11 serve you but a first-swathe mug, about twenty-three years old. — 
 C. Matheics, Puffer Hopkins. 
 
 Fish-Bail. Salt codfish chopped fine and mixed with potatoes ; it is 
 then made into balls and fried, or, for those who don't like grease, 
 baked upon a griddle. An amusing song called the "Lone Fish- 
 Bail " was very popular a few years ago. At one of the cheap 
 eating-houses, a customer who had one of these balls, having called 
 for a piece of bread, 
 
 The waiter roared it through the hall, 
 
 " We don't give bread with one fish-balV^ 
 
 Fish-Crow. (Corvus ossijragus. Wilson.) A bird almost entirely 
 confined to the maritime districts of the Southern States. During 
 the summer, they are sometimes found as far north as Pennsylvania. 
 They are generally seen hovering over bays and rivers as well as over 
 salt poixds and marshes, searching for small fry or for small crabs 
 called Fiddlers. — Audubon. 
 
220 
 
 FIS— FIX 
 
 Fisherman-Farmer. Said of such persons as alternate farming and 
 fishing at different periods, especially such as customarily farm in 
 one, and fish in another part of each year. Sea-coast of Massachu- 
 setts. 
 
 Fish-Flake. A frame covered with fagots, for the purpose of drying 
 
 fish. New England. See Flakes. 
 Fishing-Frog. See Devil-Fish. 
 
 Fish-Pot. A wicker basket, sunk, with a cork float attached, for 
 
 catching crabs, lobsters, &c. 
 Fish-Pound. A net attached to stakes, and used for entrapping and 
 
 catching fish ; a wear. Connecticut. 
 
 Fish-Story. A story that taxes credulity; an incredible narration. 
 Fishy. Having the characteristics of a fish-stoiy; rather incredible. 
 
 We did not lose a man. This sounds rather fohy ; but they had no artillery. 
 N. Y. Tribune, Nov. 25, 1861. 
 
 Fiste (i as in mice). A small dog; a puppy. Pennsylvania. 
 
 Fits. " To give one fits " means, by a vulgar hyperbole, to give one 
 
 such a punishing as to throw him into fits, to punish him very 
 
 severely. 
 
 Mose. Now look a-here, Liz, — I go in for Bill Sykes, 'cause he runs wid our 
 machine; but he mustn't come foolin' round my gal, or I '11 give him Jits. — A 
 Glance at New Yorh. 
 
 Aid. Voorhies. Go on, Mr Jones. 
 
 Witness. He said that the Atlas was coming out, to give Mayor Wood and 
 myself '■\fits.'''' 
 
 Alfh Ely. Was he to give any thing else? 
 
 Witness. Yes, he said he was going to " give us jessie." — New Yorh City 
 Council Debates. 
 
 Sometimes additional force is given to this epithet by threatening 
 to " giYQ particular fits,^^ as in the following example: — 
 
 Lady Bulwer has just published a new novel, called "Very Successful," in 
 which rumor reports that Sir Edward is to get particular fits. — N. Y. Times. 
 
 I rather guess as how the old man will give particular fits to our folks to-day. 
 Eggleston, The Hoosier Schoolmaster, p. 101. 
 
 Fix. A condition; predicament; dilemma. 
 
 Some feller jest come and tuck my bundle and the jug of spirits, and left me in 
 this here^;?a;. — Chron. of Pineville, p. 47. 
 
 Are you drunk too ? Well, I never did see you in that fix in all my liA'-e-long 
 born days. — Georgia Scenes, p. 163. 
 
 The gentleman must be stronger in the faith than ourselves, if he does not find 
 himself in an awkward j?a;. — N. Y. Commercial Advertiser, Oct. 18, 1845. 
 
 To fix. In popular use, to put in order; to prepare; to adjust; to set 
 
FIX 
 
 221 
 
 or place in the manner desired or most suitable. Mr. Lyell, in his 
 " Travels in North America," chap, iii., has the following remarks 
 on this word : — 
 
 At one of the stations where the train stopped, we heard some young woman 
 from Ohio exclaim, " Well, we are in a pretty fix!'" and found their dilemma to 
 be characteristic of the financial crisis of these times, for none of their dollar notes 
 of the Ohio banks would pass here. The substantive '■'■fix'" is an acknowledged 
 vulgarism ; but the verb is used in New England by well-educated people, in the 
 sense of the French "arranger," or the English "do." To fix the hair, the 
 table, the fire, means to di-ess the hair, lay the table, and make up the fire ; and 
 this application is, I presume, of Hibernian origin, as an Irish gentleman. King 
 Corney, in Miss Edgeworth's tale of Ormond, says, "I'll fix him and his 
 wounds." 
 
 "Where they might fix their pieces" [muskets]. — BradfiorcVs 
 Hist, of Plymouth^ 1648. In citing this passage, Palfrey says, " Brad- 
 ford put the word to that use when he spoke only his native Not- 
 tinghamshire. " — Hist, of Neio England, Vol. II. p. 68, note. 
 
 The word is equally common in Ontario, Canada. Boys threaten- 
 ing vengeance say, " I '11 fx you! " 
 
 One of their most remarkable terms is to fix. Whatever work requires to be 
 done must he. fixed. '■^ Fix the room" is to set it in order. Fix the table," 
 " Fix the fire," says the mistress to her servants; and the things prefixed accord- 
 ingly. — Backwoods of Canada, p. 82. 
 
 To fix it. A vulgarism of recent origin, but now very common. It 
 is heard in such phrases as, "I will not do so and so, any how you 
 can fx it,^^ or, still worse, " no how you can fx it,^^ i. e. not in any 
 way that you can arrange it; not by any means. 
 
 A wet day is considerable tiresome, any way you can fix it. — Sam SlicJc in 
 Enyland, eh. 2. 
 
 If I was an engineer, I 'd clap on steam, — I'd fire up, I tell you ; you wouldn't 
 get me to stop the engine, no way you could fix it. — Pichinys from the Picayune. 
 
 The master called them up, and axed them the hardest questions he could find 
 in the book; but he couldn't stump 'em, no how he could fix it — Major Jones's 
 Courtship, p. 36. 
 
 Workin' ain't genteel nor independent, no how you can fix it. — Pichinys from 
 the Picayune, p. 74. 
 
 " According to my notions, riches and grandeur ain't to be compared to religion, 
 no how you can fix it; and I always said so," said the Widow Bedott. — Bedott 
 Papers, p. 135. 
 
 To fix one's Flint is a phrase taken from backwoods life, and means 
 the same as to settle, to do for, to dish. 
 
 "Take it easy, Sam," says I, " your flint is fixed ; you are wet through ; " and 
 I settled down to a careless walk, quite desperate. — Sam Slick in Enf/land; ch. 2. 
 
 The Bluenose hante the tools; and, if he had, he couldn't use them. That's 
 the reason any one a'most can "^x his flint for him." — Ibid. 
 
222 
 
 FIX 
 
 To fix out. To set out (adorn, arrange), supply, fit out, display. 
 
 Fix-out. Adornment, arrangement, " out-fit. " 
 
 To fix up. As fix out; and also to mend, repair; and to contrive. 
 
 Fix-up. From the verb as above. It is used to denote an ornament, 
 a supply, a contrivance, device, arrangement. 
 
 The "Albany Argus," still hoping for some sort of a compromise or fix-up 
 with the rebels, says : — 
 
 Fixed Fact. A positive or well-established fact, what the French call 
 un fait accompli. The origin of the phrase is attributed to the Hon. 
 Caleb Gushing. 
 
 The "Boston Post," June, 1847, in speaking of the trial of 
 Captain Stetson for piratically running away with a ship and cargo, 
 says : — 
 
 That he did dispose of a large quantity of oil, and afterwards desert from the 
 vessel, are fixed facts. 
 
 In many localities, spiritualism ha"* become a, fixed fact., and its modus operandi 
 is well understood by those who have investigated it as a mental science on the 
 platform of cause and effect. — ChHstian Spiritualist. 
 
 Fixings. A word used with absurd laxity, especially in the South and 
 West, to signify arrangements, embellishments, trimmings, gar- 
 nishings of any kind. 
 
 The theatre was better filled, and the fixings looked nicer, than in Philadelphia. 
 Crockett., Tour down East, p. 38. 
 
 All the fellows fell to getting grapes for the ladies ; but the}- all had their Sunday 
 fixins on, and were afraid to go into the brush. — Major Joneses Courtship, p. 42. 
 
 A mnn who goes into the woods, as one of these veteran settlers obser\'ed to me, 
 has a heap of little fixins to study out, and a great deal of projecting to do. — 
 Judge Hall, Letters from the West, Letter 18. 
 
 When we parted, I wanted to pay him something handsome for all his trouble ; 
 out I ^ouldii't gii him to take nothing but an X, to buy some wimmia fixitis for 
 the old lady as a compliment from me. — N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 "Ah! " exclaimed the teamster [to a gentleman who had a good deal of lug- 
 gage], " what anybody on earth can want Avith such lots of fixins, I'm sure 's 
 dark to me." — Mrs. Clavers, Forest Life, Vol. I. p. 97. 
 
 One half of the country is overflowed in the winter, and t'other half, which is 
 a darned sight the biggest, is covered with cane, pimento, and other fixins. — 
 Porter's South-western Tales, p. 123. 
 
 The following advice was given to the editor of a new Western 
 paper: — 
 
 Advertise our doins in gineral, such as we got to sell, and throw yourself wide 
 on the literary fixins and poetry for the galls ; and. Mister, if you do this with spirit, 
 the whole town will take your paper. — Robb, Squatter Life, p. 31. 
 
 For a use of the term as applied to food, see Chicken Fixings, 
 
FIZ 
 
 223 
 
 Fizz. To fizzle the elbow is to knock the " crazy bone." 
 
 Fizzle. A ridiculous failure. The figure is that of wet powder, 
 which burns with a hissing noise and then goes out without pro- 
 ducing any effect. It is nearly equivalent to the analogous expres- 
 sion, " a flash in the pan." 
 
 There is an English proverb which says, " Eveiy pea has its vease^ 
 and a bean fifteen." This establishes the etymology of the word; 
 for vease is simply the Italian vescia (crepitus ventus)^ which Baretti, 
 in his Italian Dictionary, expressly defines by the word fizzle. 
 
 In many colleges of the United States, this elegant term is used 
 to denote a blundering recitation. It has been held that to hit just 
 one third of the meaning constitutes "a perfect fizzle.^'' — HalVs 
 College Words. The "Brunonian," Feb. 24, 1877, defines the 
 word to mean " where the student thinks he knows, but can't 
 quite express it," or "he tries to express it, and the professor 
 thinks he doesn't quite know." 
 
 With mind and body so nearly at rest that naught interrupted my inmost repose 
 save cloudy reminiscences of a morning fizzle and an afternoon flunk, my tran- 
 quillity was sufficiently enviable. — Yale Literary Magazine, Vol. XV. p. 114. 
 Here he could fizzles mark, without a sigh, 
 
 And see orations unregarded die. — The Tomahaivh, Nov., 1849. 
 
 In Princeton College, the word blue is used with fizzle, to render 
 it intensive; as, he made a blue fizzle,^' " He fizzled blue.''^ 
 
 The term is used with equally happy effect in political as in 
 college slang. 
 
 The trick of the administration to palm off the Washington Union upon the 
 Senate as the National Democrat organ was a fizzle and a shocking failure. — 
 N. Y. Herald. 
 
 To fizzle. 1. To fail in reciting; to recite badly. A correspondent 
 from Williams College says: "Flunk is the common word when 
 some unfortunate man makes an utter failure in recitation. He 
 fizzles when he stumbles through at last." A writer in the " Yale 
 Literary Messenger " thus aptly defines the word: " Fizzle. To rise 
 with modest reluctance, to hesitate often, to decline finally; gen- 
 erally, to misunderstand the question." — HalVs College Words. 
 
 My dignity is outraged at beholding those who fizzle and flunk in my presence 
 tower above me. — The Yale Banyer, Oct. 22, 1847. 
 
 2. To cause one to fail in reciting. Said of an instructor. — HalL 
 
 Fizzle him tenderly, 
 
 Bore him with care ; 
 Fitted so slenderly, 
 
 Tutor, beware. - Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XIII. p. 321. 
 
224 
 
 FIZ— FLA 
 
 To fizzle out. To be quenched, extinguished; to prove a failure. 
 A favorite expression in Oiiio. 
 
 The factious and revolutionary action of the fifteen has interrupted the regular 
 business of the Senate, disgraced the actors, and fizzled out! — Cincinnati Gazette. 
 
 Is the new hotel [one called the Burnet House] to be given up or to go on ? 
 To go on. It cannot be possible, after all that has been said and done about a 
 "splendid hotel," that our enterprising business men will let it fizzle out. — Ibid. 
 
 You never get tired of a good horse. He don't fizzle out. You like him better 
 and better every day. — San Slick, Human Nature, p. 55. 
 
 Flakes. (Old Eng. fleyke or hyrdylle, Du. vlaeck.) Fish-flakes. 
 (Dutch, vlaak, a hurdle for wool.) Long poles laid upon crotch ed 
 posts driven into the ground, parallel to each other, about two feet 
 apart and covered with brush, upon which codfish are spread 
 to dry. 
 
 Some tear downe Flakes, whereon men yeerely dry their fish, to the great hurt 
 and hindrance of many other that come after them. — Whitbourne, Disc, and Dis- 
 coverie of New-Found-land (Lond. 1022), p. 66. 
 
 The OAvners of vessels [in fishing districts] have a flake-yard in the vicinity of 
 the landing-places, to which the fish are carried on being landed. — Peter Gott, 
 the Fisherman. 
 
 Yhh.-flakes were spread upon the beach, and the women were busy in turning 
 the cod upon them. — Sam Slick, Human Nature. 
 
 Flap-Doodle. Nonsense, vain boasting; as of a cock flapping his 
 wings and crowing. 
 
 McMahon goes on to say, in a dreadfully low-spirited style, that the South is 
 a Pelican ; that we are her progeny ; that she has drained her breasts to feed 
 us; and to utter other flap-doodle for the nourishment of the Richmond mind. — 
 N. Y. Tribune, Jan. 20, 1862. 
 
 Flapjack. A flat pancake fried upon a griddle; also called a slapjack. 
 It is an old English word, and is mentioned by Shakspeare. 
 
 We '11 have flesh for holidays, fish for fasting-days, and, moreover, puddings 
 Rud flapjacks ; and thou shalt be welcome. — Pericles, ii. 1, 
 
 Sarah Wilkerson, good cretur, she was, one of the likeliest heifers that was 
 ever raised. She could heft a barrel of flour as easy as I can flirt a. flapjack. — 
 Mark Twain, Roughing It, p. 384. 
 
 To flash in the Pan. To fail of success. A metaphor borrowed 
 from the old-fashioned flint-and-steel gun, which, after being primed 
 and ready to be discharged, sometimes flashed in the pan. 
 
 Mr. Lowell, in his poem on the school-house, speaks of the dame 
 who, prim and calm, 
 
 could detect at once 
 Who flashed in the pan, and who was downright dunce. 
 
 Flash-Board. A board placed upon a mill-dam when a river is low, 
 in order to obtain a gi-eater fall of water. It is temporary, being 
 placed and removed from the dam as cii*cumstances require. 
 
FLA 
 
 225 
 
 Flat. 1. In America, this word is applied to low alluvial lands. " The 
 Mohawk flats" is a term universally applied to the valley of the 
 Mohawk River, on either side of which are alluvial lands. See BoU 
 torn Lands. It is also applied to river shoals, where they are of 
 much extent. 
 
 In New England, all the spaces between high and low water 
 mark on the seashore, or in bays, inlets, &c., where the sea flows 
 and ebbs. 
 
 The title of the Commonwealth, as owner thereof in fee, to all the^rt^s or lands, 
 . . . below the ordinary line of riparian ownership, from which the natural flow 
 of the tides in Boston harbor has been cut off by dams or otherwise, and also the 
 Jlats below said line, is hereby asserted and d-eclared, &c. — Laws of Massa- 
 chmetts. 
 
 And now the airy Flats we pass, their church, 
 Litigious hall, and taverns, and approach 
 The gloomy shade of dark continuous wood, 
 That runs high westward to the Mohawk's fount. 
 
 McKinnoTi's Poems, p. 34. 
 
 2. A broad-brimmed, low-crowned, straw hat, worn by women. 
 
 3. A species of flat-bottomed boat, used on the Mississippi and 
 other rivers. See Fiat-Boat. 
 
 4. A rejection, dismissal. See To flat. 
 
 5. A term used where money or stocks are lent without interest. 
 
 6. A dull-headed person. 
 
 To flat. To reject a lover; as, "Miss Deborah gave Ike the flat^^^ 
 *' He 's got the flat,'' " She flatted him." Western. 
 
 Fiat-Boat. A rude sort of vessel used for transporting produce, &c., 
 down the Mississippi River. It is thus described by Flint: "They 
 are simply an oblong ark, with a roof slightly curved from the cen- 
 tre to shed rain. They are generally above fifteen feet wide, and 
 from fifty to eighty and sometimes an hundred feet in length. The 
 timbers of the bottom are massive beams, and they are intended to 
 be of great strength, and to carry a burden of from two to four hun- 
 dred barrels. Great numbers of cattle, hogs, and horses are conveyed 
 to market in them. We have seen family boats of this description, 
 fitted up for the descent of families to the lower country, with a 
 stove, comfortable apartments, beds, and arrangements for commo- 
 dious habitancy. — Hint, and Geogr. of Miss. Valley. These boats 
 are also called Kentucky Flats and Broad-horns. See Ark. 
 
 Finally one of 'em ses, "Don't make fun of the unfortunate; he 's hardly got 
 over bein' blowed up yet. Let 's make up a puss for him." Then they all throwed 
 in and made up five dollars. As the spokesman handed me the change, he axed 
 me, " Whar did you find yourself arter the 'splosion V " " In a Jlat-boat,^' ses I. 
 Widow Bayly's Husband. 
 
 15 
 
226 
 
 FLA— FLO 
 
 To flat-boat. To transport in a flat-boat. 
 
 The first enterprise of Josiah Hedges on his own account was a trading excur- 
 sion to New Orleans with fruit, which he Jlat-boated from Wheeling to that 
 point. — Nat. Intelliffencer, July 29, 1858. 
 
 Flat-Boatman. A hand employed on a flat-boat. 
 
 Flat-broke. Utterly bankrupt, entirely out of money. The Califor- 
 nia correspondent of the " Boston Post," in speaking of the emigra- 
 tion, says: "Many emigrants, arriving in that state of collapsity 
 termed flat-broke, staid at Los Angeles because they couldn't go on." 
 
 To flat out. To collapse; to prove a failure. A Western phrase 
 applied to a political meeting; as, " The meeting flatted out." 
 President Dwight v^as criticising a passage in a theme, and, being 
 hard up for a simile, said : Why, it 's as flat — it 's as flat — it 's as 
 flat as a flat piece of lead, flatted out flat." 
 
 The word is also used as a noun. " It was a complete flat-out.'* 
 " He made a flat out." 
 
 Flat-footed. Downright, resolute; firmly, resolutely. A term be- 
 longing to the Western political slang, with which the halls of 
 Congress, as well as the newspapers, are now deluged. 
 
 Colonel M attempted to define his position, but, being unable, exclaimed : 
 
 I 'm an independent, fiat-footed man, and am neither for nor against the mill- 
 dam. — Tennessee Newspaper. 
 
 At the forks of the road there lived a brawny, stalwart son of Vulcan. He was 
 a man of strong will, and a zealous disciple of Tom Paine. His Herculean frame, 
 and bold, flat-footed way of saying things, had impressed his neighbors, and he 
 held the rod in terrorem over them. — Harper^s Mag., Sept., 1858. 
 
 Mr. Pickens, of South Carolina, has come out flat-footed for the administra- 
 tion, — a real red-hot Democrat, dyed in the wool, — denounces Mr. Calhoun, — 
 and is ready now to take any high office. But the mission to England is beyond 
 his reach. — N. Y. Herald, June 30, 1846. 
 
 Flat Top. See Iron Weed. 
 
 To flax round. To be energetic ; to move quickly. New England. 
 
 Flea-Bane. {Erigeron Canadense.) One of the most hardy and com- 
 mon weeds. It propagates itself rapidly, and since the discovery of 
 America has been introduced and spread through most countries in 
 Europe. — Bigelow's Flora Bost. 
 
 This plant is sold by the Shakers for its medical properties, which 
 are astringent and diuretic. 
 
 Flicker. See Clape. 
 
 Flitter. A corruption of the word fritter^ a pancake. 
 
 Floor. Used in Congress, in this expression, to get the floor; to have 
 the floor; to obtain the floor ^ — that is, to obtain an opportunity of 
 
FLO— FLU 
 
 22T 
 
 taking part in a debate. The English say, to he in possession of the 
 House. — Pickering^ s Vocabulary . 
 
 To flour. To grind and bolt; to convert into flour. — Webster. A 
 word used in those parts of the country where there are mills for 
 grinding wheat. Ex. : " The mill can Jiour two hundred barrels a 
 day ; " i. e., it can make so many barrels of flour. 
 
 Flouring-Mill. A grist-mill, especially one in which flour is made 
 from wheat. 
 
 Flummux. In colleges, applied to a poor recitation; a failure. — 
 HaWs College Words. 
 
 To flummux. To give in, give up; to die. The word is used in 
 England, but not in the same manner. According to Halliwell, it 
 means "to overcome, frighten, bewilder, foil, disappoint, or mys- 
 tify, also to maul or mangle." — Diet, of Arch, and Prov. Wo7'ds. 
 
 Prehaps Parson Hyme didn't put into Pokerville for two mortal hours ; and 
 prehaps Pokerville didn't mizzle, wince, and finally fummix right beneath him. 
 Field, Drama in Pokerville. 
 
 Be ye men of mighty stomachs, 
 Men that can't be made to Jiummux. 
 
 Oyster War of Accomac, N. Y. Tribune, April, 1849. 
 
 I thought I should a flummuxed ! The dogs they sidled back ; an' Ike cussed; 
 and I lay down an' rolled, till I was so full I thought I should a bust my biler. 
 Mike Hooter''s Bear Stoi^y. 
 
 Plunk. A backing out; a total failure in a college recitation. 
 
 The Sabbath dawns upon the poor student burdened with the thought of the 
 lesson or flunk of the morrow morning. — Yale Tomahawk, Feb., 1851. 
 
 In mood}'- meditation sunk, 
 
 Eeflecting on my future flunk. — Songs of Yale, 1853. 
 
 To flunk. To fail utterly in a college examination. The " Bruno- 
 nian," Feb. 24, 1877, says a flunk is a complete fizzle, and a dead 
 flunk is where one refuses to get out of his seat. 
 
 They know that a mai. who has flunked, because too much of a genius to get 
 his lesson, is not in a state to appreciate joking. — Amherst Indicator, Vol. I. 
 p. 253. 
 
 Way down in Hoosic Valley 
 
 Minds put forth their shoots, 
 And many weary hours are passed 
 
 In grubbing lingual roots. 
 There I fizzled and there I flunked, 
 
 So mournful all the day; 
 Till the welcome pony came at last, 
 
 And bore my toil away. 
 
 Carmina Collegensia, Songs of Williams, p. 93. 
 
228 
 
 FLU— FLY 
 
 To flunk out. To retire through fear ; to give up, back out. 
 
 Why, little one, you must be cracked, if you jlunJc out before we begin. — J. C. 
 Neal. 
 
 We must have at least as many subscribers as there are students in college, or 
 flunk out. — The Crayon, Yale Coll., 1823. 
 
 Flunky. 1. A class of people, who, unacquainted with the manner 
 in which stocks are bought and sold, and deceived by appearances, 
 come into Wall Street without any knowledge of the market. The 
 consequence is, they make bad investments, or lose their money. 
 These the brokers call Jlunkies. — A Week in Wall Street, p. 81. 
 
 A broker, Avho had met with heavy losses, exclaimed : "I 'm in a bear-trap, — 
 this won't do. The dogs will come over me. I shall be mulct in a loss. But 
 I've got time; I'll turn the scale; I'll help the bulls operate for a rise, and 
 draw in the flunkies.'''' — Ibid , p. 90. 
 
 2. In college parlance, says Mr. Hall, in his "College Words," 
 "one who makes a complete failure; one who flunks. 
 
 1 bore him safe through Horace, 
 Saved him from the flunkey'' s doom. 
 
 Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XX. 
 Flutter-Wheel. A water-wheel of small diameter, which from the 
 rapidity of its motion makes a fluttering noise; hence its name. 
 Used mostly for ordinary saw-mills. 
 Fly. (Dutch, vly.) In New York, a swamp, a marsh. "The Fly 
 
 market " of New York is well known. 
 To fly around. To stir about; to be active. A very common ex- 
 pression. Fly round and tear your shirt is not an infrequent inten- 
 sification. 
 
 Come, gals,^?/ round, and let 's get Mrs. Clavers some supper. — A New Home, 
 p. 13. 
 
 Fetch on the pies and puddings. Fly round and change the plates. — Widow 
 Bedott Papers, p. 167. 
 
 Flyer. A venture. To take a Jlyer in stocks is the expression used 
 in Wall Street when persons not stock-brokers, or dealers in stocks, 
 occasionally make a venture. Their orders are given to the regular 
 brokers, who execute them for a commission, without becoming 
 personally responsible to the parties with whom they make the 
 transaction. 
 
 The most successful bankers and merchants often employ their spare funds in 
 iakmg flyers. — New York Stock Report. 
 
 When the open and close Boards [of brokers] so far coalesced as to meet in 
 one Long Room, old notions had become so thoroughly rubbed away that mem- 
 bers spoke frankly of their neat turns and flyers. — Medbery, Men and Mysteries 
 of Wall Street, p. 111. 
 Flying-Fish. See Sea Robin. 
 
FLY— FOO 
 
 229 
 
 To fly off the Handle. To break out, become excited; also, to break 
 a promise. 
 
 When I used to tell minister this, as he was flying off the handle, he 'd say, 
 Sam, you 're as correct as Euclid, but as cold and dry. — Sam Slick, Human 
 Nature, p. 149. 
 
 Now and then one of the girls would promise, and ihewfly off at the handle; 
 but most all contrived some reason for giving me the bag to hold. — McClintock, 
 BeedWs Marriage. 
 
 Fog-Horn. A huge horn blov^n by steam, chiefly used at sea to warn 
 vessels when in a fog. It is said that the sound can be worked up to 
 a power of being heard sixty miles away. It is also called a Syren. 
 
 Folks. This old word is much used in New England, instead of 
 "people" or "persons." 1. For the persons in one's family, as 
 in this common phrase, "How do your folks do ? " that is, your 
 family. 2. For people in general; as in expressions of this kind, 
 " What do folks think of it ? " &c. Dr. Johnson observes that " it 
 is now only used in familiar or burlesque language." — Pickering. 
 When English writers try to imitate Yankee talk, they make us 
 say folk ; on the other hand, they make us say helps^ instead of help. 
 
 Old good man Dobson of the green 
 
 Remembers he the tree has seen, 
 
 And goes with folks to shew the sight. — Swift. 
 
 Foo-Foo. In New York, a term of contempt, nearly equivalent to 
 " small potatoes," a man not worth notice. 
 
 Don't know what a foo-foo\?,'i Well, as you're a greenhorn, I'll enlighten 
 you. A foo-foo, or an outsider, is a chap that can't come the big figure. — A 
 Glance at New York. 
 
 Fool-Fish. (Geims Monocanthus. Cuvier.) The popular name of the 
 Long-finned File-fish. "Our fishermen apply to it the whimsical 
 name of Fool-fish," says Dr. DeKay, "in allusion to what they 
 consider its absurd mode of swimming with a wriggling motion, its 
 body being sunk, and its mouth just on a level with the water." — 
 Nat. Hist, of New York. 
 
 Foot. "To foot it" is familiar English; but the Western phrase, 
 " To take his foot in his hand," is assuredly a bold stretch of lan- 
 guage. " Put down one^s foot.^^ To be determined. 
 
 Foot-Gin. A cotton-gin moved by the foot; it is more used than 
 the gin operated by steam. 
 
 Footstool. The earth An irreverent familiarization of Isaiah Ixvi. 1. 
 
 Foot-Stove. A contrivance for keeping the feet warm, formerly 
 carried by old ladies to the meeting-houses on Sundays, and used by 
 huckster- women in the markets. It consists of a small square tin 
 box, perforated with holes and enclosed in a wooden frame, with a 
 
230 
 
 FOO— FOR 
 
 wire handle. It has a door on one side, through which is thrust a 
 
 small square iron dish of live coals, sprinkled over with a few ashes. 
 Footy, Fouty. A mistake; a simpleton; a blunderer; any one 
 
 slightly valued. Local in Massachusetts. 
 For, before the infinitive particle "to," so frequent in early writers, 
 
 but now deemed a vulgarism, is still retained in the West. 
 Forbidden Fruit. (Citrus Paradisi.) The Paradise Orange, a fruit 
 
 almost as large as a shaddock. Jamaica, W. Ind. The shrub is 
 
 now cultivated by our horticulturists. 
 Force. In the South, the slaves of a planter able to work in the field. 
 To force Quotations is where brokers wish to keep up the price of 
 
 stock, and to prevent its falling out of sight. This is accomplished 
 
 by a small sale or by " washing." — Medbei-y, Men and Mysteries of 
 
 Wall Street. 
 
 Forefathers' Day. In N"ew England, the day on which the Pilgrims 
 
 landed at Plymouth (the 21st December). 
 Fore God. A negro asseveration. j*>iw< afk.ij 3 77* 
 
 /itH/t,*^'; r • A story is told of a slave, age somewhere between 90 and 100, who, at what- " 
 
 ever time of day he met his master, always said, "■ ^Fore God, massa, hain't had 
 ^^^--T^ '^^ ^V^ a mouthful to eat to-day." oL^^d, B.^^-*^ -. ^"^ ^ 2. 4 f /^/^ /.i ■ 
 fe^n J Fore-handed. To be fore-handed is to be in good circumstances, to 
 be comfortably off. Compare Aforeliand. The expression is much 
 used in the interior parts of the country. 
 
 Many of the new houses which have been built have been built by mechanics, 
 fore-handed men, as we say in New England, who have accumulated small sums. 
 Providence Jom-nal. 
 
 Mrs. Ainsworth made so long a visit among her Eastern friends, -who are now 
 fore-handed folks, that she has come back imbued most satisfactorily with a 
 loving appreciation of the advantages of civilization. — 3Irs. Clavers, Forest Life, 
 Vol. I. p. 50. 
 
 Foreign-born. Born elsewhere than in United States. 
 
 Our native mechanics and working men, in the average, receive more wages, 
 and hold more eligible positions, than they would if no foreign-horn laborer were 
 now m the country. — N. Y. Tribune, Dec. 24, 1861. 
 
 Fore Pay. " There are two bad paymasters, no pay and fore pay.'' ^ 
 This proverbial expression is frequently heard in the West. 
 
 Forest City. Cleveland, in the State of Ohio; and Portland in 
 Maine. 
 
 For God's Sake. Thoroughly. *' They used to build for God's sake 
 in those days." " That was nailed for God's sake." 
 
 To fork over. To hand over; to pay over, as money. A slang 
 expression of fi-equent use. 
 
FOR— FOX 
 
 231 
 
 He groaned in spirit at the thought of parting with so much money. There 
 was, however, no help for it, so he forhed over the five dollars. — Knickerbocker 
 Magazine. 
 
 A would-be prophet down South lately said, in one of his sermons, that " he 
 was sent to redeem the world and all things therein." Whereupon, a native 
 pulled out two five-dollar bills of a broken bank, and asked him io foi-k over the 
 specie for them. — Newspaper. 
 
 What more right has a man to say to you, " Stand and deliver your name," 
 than to sav, " Stand and fork over your purse " ? — Sam Slick, Human Nature, 
 p. 17. 
 
 To fork up. To pay up; as, "Jonathan, I've trusted you long 
 enough: so fork up.^^ 
 
 Forks. In the plural, the point where a road parts into two; and the 
 point where a river divides, or rather where two rivers meet and 
 unite in one stream. Each branch is called a fork. — Webster. 
 
 Finally, the Pawnees abandoned the field to their victorious enemies, leaving 
 sixty of their warriors upon the ensanguined battle-ground. The defeated party 
 were pursued only a short distance, and then permitted to return without further 
 molestation to their village, at the Forks of the Platte. — Scenes in the Rocky 
 Mountains, p. 50. 
 
 About the same time, the village on Republican Fork of Kansas was also aban- 
 doned, and its inhabitants united with the Loups. — Ibid. 
 
 Forlornity. Forlorn condition. This word appeared in a Sunday 
 School book by Mrs. . 
 
 To fort in. To intrench in a fort. 
 
 A few inhabitants forted in on the Potomac. — Marshall's Washington. 
 
 Fortiner, Fortino. (For-aught-I-know.) This remarkable specimen 
 of clipping and condensing a phrase approaches the Indian method 
 of forming words. The word is very common through New Eng- 
 land, Long Island, and the rest of New York. See Farziner. 
 
 Forward. Forehead; so Forrerd for forward. 
 
 Forwarding Merchant. One whose business it is to receive and for- 
 ward goods for others. The internal navigation and trade of the 
 United States, so great is the extent of our country, requires for- 
 warding merchants in all the principal towns. 
 
 Fotoh, for fetched, is used by ignorant persons, especially the blacks at 
 the South. 
 
 Found. Ignorant and careless speakers say, " The prisoner was found 
 ten dollars," instead of he was fined. They want to form the past 
 tense, and the proper word sounds too much like the present find. 
 Comp. Held. 
 
 To fox. 1. To fox boots is to repair them by renewing the lower 
 portion. 
 
 2. To play truant. So employed in some parts of Canada. 
 
232 
 
 FOX— FRE 
 
 Fox Grape. (Vitis lahrusca.) A large grape common on the borders 
 of streams. The surface of the leaf is characterized by its foxy 
 pubescence. The Southern fox grape is Vitis vulpina. Its fruit is 
 larger, and its taste more agreeable, than the former. 
 
 To fraggle. To rob. A word used in Texas. 
 
 Frame-House. A house whose frame is of squared timber. Used 
 much as " timber-house " is in England, for distinction's sake. 
 
 Opposite Farnholt's house is a quaint old windmill, which, with the surround- 
 mg frame-houses, seems to date from the first settlement of the country. — N. Y. 
 Tribune, April 23, 1862. 
 
 Fraud. A deceitful person ; a cheat. 
 
 Free-Fighter. A partisan ranger; a guerilla soldier. 
 
 We publish the recent act of [the Confederate] Congress, authorizing the rais- 
 ing and bringing into service of partisan rangers. Now is the time for free- 
 f(/klers, men of dash and daring. — Petersburg ( Va.) Eaqiress, April 29, 1862. 
 
 Free Labor. Labor performed by freemen, in contradistinction to that 
 of slaves, a term formerly in vogue both at the North and South. 
 
 So, wheresoe'er our destiny sends forth 
 Its widening circles to the South or North, 
 Where'er our banner flaunts beneath the stars 
 Its mimic splendors and its cloud-like bars. 
 There shall Free Labor''s hardy children stand. 
 The equal sovereigns of a slaveless land. 
 
 J. G. Whittier, The Panorama. 
 
 Free Love. Freedom of the affections ; the right to consort with those 
 with whom we have " elective affinities," regardless of the shackles 
 of matrimony. Within the last few years, several associations have 
 been organized in the North, for the purpose of carrying this doc- 
 trine into practical effect. See Affinity. 
 
 "And you believe in Free Love, do you not?" [said Prof. Gusher to Josiah 
 Allen's wife]. 
 
 " How free V " said she, coolly. 
 
 "Free to marry anybody you want to, and as long as you want to, from half 
 a day up to five years or so." 
 
 " No. sir! " says she, " I believe in rights, but I don't believe in wrongs ; for, 
 of all the miserable doctrines that was ever let loose upon the world, the doctrine 
 of Free Lore is the miserablest. Free Love ."' she repeated in indignant tones, 
 "it ought to be called free deviltry." — Betsy Bobbet, p. 195. 
 
 "Josiah Allen's wife " called on Mrs. Victoria Woodhull to discuss with her 
 the subject of women's rights andy>ee love. 
 
 "You are right, Victoria, in your views of wimmen's votin," . . . said the 
 former, " but you are wrong in X\\hfree love business ; you are wrong in keepin' 
 house with two husbands at the same time." — Ibid., p. 319. 
 
 Free Lover. An advocate of the free-love doctrine. 
 
 A "reform convention" assembled at Rutland, Vermont, on Friday. About a 
 
FEE 
 
 233 
 
 thousand persons — abolitionists, spiritualists, and free lovers — attended, the 
 spiritualists predominating. — Bait. Sun, June 28, 1858. 
 
 Berlin Heights is a village in Ohio, in which bands of Free Lovers have settled, 
 so as to be a comfort and protection to each other; also, for the convenience of 
 hapless pairs by a large matrimonial exchange. — Dixon, Spiritual Wives, p. 387 
 
 Free Lovism. The doctrine of free love. 
 
 Free-Nigger. A reproachful term in the Southern States of America, 
 to denote an abolitionist, or a Northerner. 
 
 Thousands, sir, voted the Secession ticket just to prove that Ihey were not 
 abolitionists, — not Lincoln men, — and that they abhorred free-nigger barba- 
 rianism. — N. Y. Tribune, '^oy. 8, 1861, Letter from Tennessee. 
 Free Soil. Freedom of the soil belonging to the United States, and 
 not yet formed into States, from Negro slavery. 
 
 The people are roused! They 've slumbered too long, 
 While Freedom grew weak, and Tyranny strong. 
 But now they are coming from hill and glen. 
 They come to the rescue, — the Free-Soil men. 
 
 Mrs. Child, Free Soil Song. 
 
 Free-S oiler. An advocate of the exclusion of slavery from the territo- 
 ries belonging to the United States. A word which first came into 
 use in the year 1848. 
 
 I only want to see the first free-soiler here. I '11 drop the first one that opens 
 his mouth for abolition cusses. I '11 be dog-gauned if I don't. — Gladstone, Eng- 
 lishman in Kansas, p. 48. 
 
 Free-Soilism. The principles or doctrines of the advocates of free- 
 dom in the territories in opposition to those of slavery. 
 
 I tell you, mark every scoundrel among 3'ou that is the least tainted withyVee- 
 soilism or abolitionism, and exterminate him. Neither give nor take quarter 
 from them. — Speech of General Stnngfellow in the Kansas Legislature. 
 
 Free to say, Free to confess. Common expressions equivalent to 
 *' I do not hesitate to say." To acknowledge. 
 
 We are/ree to soy that an intelligent apprehension of all the facts which might 
 here be exposed, and a candid allowance for them, ought to afli'ect the tone towards 
 England in which our histories are written. — North Am. Rev., Oct., 1858, 
 p. 468. 
 
 Free States. Those States in which Negro slavery does not exist. 
 
 Equal and exact justice to both slave and free States is the only ground upon 
 which the Southern States can maintain their claim to equal rights in the Federal 
 Union. — Richmond Enquirer, Aug., 1858. 
 
 Freeze. A Southern term for frosty weather. 
 
 The effects of the late/reeze have been severely felt. — Charleston paper. 
 
 To freeze. 1. To have a longing desire for any thing. South-western. 
 
 This child has felt like going West for many a month, being half froze for 
 buffalo meat and mountain doins. — Ruxton's Far West. 
 
234 
 
 FRE— FRI 
 
 2. To freeze to. To cling to any person; to "cotton to;'* to 
 grasp. 
 
 A clergyman, coming from an inland town to a parish in Boston 
 that was supposed to be somewhat effete and old-fogyish, received 
 this advice: " If you can find a young man in that church, /ree^e to 
 him; " and he literally did, but hardly in the sense intended. 
 Freezer. A refrigerator. 
 
 To freeze out. Nearly equivalent to "leaving out in the cold," as 
 the South threatened to serve New England in a new confederacy. 
 The expression is heard frequently, of late, in various applications. 
 It has lately been employed, " the freezing out policy," with refer- 
 ence to the management of some life-insurance companies, to com- 
 pel policy-holders to surrender their policies by unfair devices, &c. 
 I find a game of " Freeze-out Poker" mentioned in a letter from 
 Badwood (Black Hills), in "Harper's Monthly," October, 1877, 
 p. 799: " They doant do nuthin' but drink whiskey and playe frease 
 aout poker.'" 
 
 Freight-Car. A railway car for carrying merchandise. 
 
 Freight-Train. A train of cars on a railway, expressly for carrying 
 merchandise, lumber, &c. In England, called a "goods train." 
 
 Fresh, n. 1. An abbreviation for Freshman. 
 
 2. Used locally in Maryland for a stream distinct from the tide- 
 water; as, " Allen's Fresh," " Pile's Fresh." The lands in Talbot 
 County, Md., are divided into freshes and salts. 
 
 Fresh, adj. Forward, bold; as, " Don't make yourself too f-esh here." 
 
 Freshet. A flood, or overflowing of a river, by means of heavy rains 
 or melted snow; an inundation — Webster. 
 
 This word is used in the Northern and Eastern States. That it 
 is an old English word is evinced by the following extract from the 
 " Description of New England," written and published in England, 
 in 1658: — 
 
 "Between Salem and Charlestown is situated the town of Lynn, near to a river, 
 whose strong freshet at the end of the winter filleth all her banks, and with a 
 violent torrent vents itself into the sea." — p. 29. 
 
 It appears to be now confined to America ; but the word fresh is 
 still used in the north of England and in Scotland in precisely the 
 same sense. It is also used in Louisiana. See Pickering's Vocab- 
 ulary for a full discussion of the word and its uses. 
 Frijoles. (Spanish, pron. fre-ho-les.) Kidney beans {Phaseolus) in 
 all their varieties. A common article of food upon the plains and 
 on the Mexican frontier. 
 
FRI— FRY 
 
 235 
 
 Frisco. The city of San Francisco, so called throughout California. 
 Froe. An iron cleaver, or splitting-knife. 
 
 The shingle-maker stands with froe, in one hand and mallet in the other, en- 
 deavoring to rive a billet of hemlock on a block. — Margaret, p. 159. 
 
 " He beat his head all to smash with a froe,'''' said one. " No, it was with an 
 axe," said another. — Ibid., p. 323. 
 
 Frog. The iron plate where two lines of railroad intersect ; probably 
 so called from its resemblance to the " frog " of a horse's foot. 
 
 Frolic. A favorite term in the West for a party. 
 
 Fromety, Frumty. Wheat boiled with milk, to which sugar and 
 spice are added. — Hallamshire Glossary. Used in Maryland, 
 where it is called furmetty. 
 
 Front Name. Christian name. " The familiar manner in which 
 the telegraph handles my front name^^^ i. e. in calling him Ben. 
 
 Frost-Fish. (Genus Morrhua.) A small fish which abounds on our 
 coast during the winter months. It is also called Tom-cod. — Storer. 
 
 Frost-Grape. See Chicken-Grape. 
 
 Frostwort. (^Cistus Canadensis.^ A medicinal plant prepared by the 
 Shakers, and used for its astringent and tonic properties. 
 
 Froughy. Frough is provincial in the north of England, and means 
 any thing loose, spongy, or easily broken ; often applied to wood, as 
 " brittle " is to mineral substances. — Brocketfs Glossary. " Froughy 
 butter " is rancid butter. 
 
 This word is in common use in many parts of New England. It 
 is doubtless a corruption of froughy which is sometimes used here. 
 Pickering. 
 
 Frowchey. (Dutch, vrouwfje.) A furbelowed old woman. Local in 
 
 New York and its vicinity. 
 To frump. To mock; to insult. A very old word, occurring in the 
 dictionaries of Cotgrave and Minshew. 
 I was abas'd and frumped, sir. — Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 This old word, though long out of use in England, still lingers 
 among the descendants of the first settlers in New England. 
 
 The sleighs warped from side to side; the riders screamed, cross-bit, /rw/npec?, 
 and hooted at each other. — Margaret, p. 174. 
 
 Pry. Judging from what travellers say, one of the most abominable 
 dishes among the farmers of Texas is what is there called a " fry." 
 It is thus described by a correspondent of the " Chicago Tribune : " 
 
 If you are asked both at supper and breakfast to help yourself to the fry, don't 
 you do so unless you have acquired a relish for sole-leather. This, fry is the most 
 
236 
 
 FUF— FUN 
 
 abominable dish in the thirty-eight States and Territories. It consists of lean 
 beef salted and dried, parboiled and fried in grease. Saw-dust is juicier, and 
 sole-leather is tenderer. 
 
 Fuffy. Light; soft; puffy. Used in Yorkshire, England, and pre- 
 served in some parts of New England. 
 
 She mounted the high, white, plain; a dead and unbounded waste lay all 
 about her. — Maryaret^ p. 168. 
 
 Full Chisel. At full speed. A metaphor from a chisel, which, when 
 not properly struck, starts off violently sidewise; an equivalent for 
 the phrases " full drive " and " full split," both of which are used 
 in England and in this country. A modern New England vul- 
 garism. 
 
 " Oh, yes, sir, I '11 get you my master's seal in a minute." And off he set full 
 chisel. — Sam Slick in England, ch. 2. 
 
 The moose looked round at us, shook his head a few times, then turned round 
 and fetched a spring right at us full chisel. — John Smith's Letter's. 
 
 At that the boys took arter them full chisel, and the galls run as if a catamount 
 had been arter them. — Downing, 3f ay-day in New York, p. 46. 
 
 And so the Yankee staves along 
 Full chisel, hitting right or wrong; 
 And makes the burden of his song. 
 
 By Golly ! — Anonymous. 
 
 Full Swing. " He 's going full swing," i. e. very fast; at full speed. 
 
 Not peculiar to the United States. 
 Full Team. A powerful man; a man of consequence. See Whole 
 
 Team. 
 
 Fundum. A sea-bottom. This term, used first by Governor Wise of 
 Virginia, in a message to the Legislature, is occasionally heard 
 derisively. "The great Virginia Fundum. Re-opening of the 
 Oyster Trade." — iV. Y. Tribune, Dec. 20, 1861. 
 
 Funeral. "To preach a funeral.'''' In some parts of the West, the 
 funeral sermon is preached, not at the time of the burial, but long 
 after, sometimes even a year after the death of the person. The 
 custom arose, probably, from the difficulty of obtaining a competent 
 " preacher " in a thinly settled country. After so long an interval, 
 " preaching the funeral," which is almost always accompanied by a 
 feast, becomes rather an occasion of merrymaking than of lamen- 
 tation. 
 
 This custom is universal among the Negroes at the South, wlio 
 will devote a year's wages to secure a handsome funeral to a de- 
 ceased relative; and the importance of the individual seems to be 
 rated by the time suffered to elapse between the death and the 
 funeral. 
 
FUN— GAL 
 
 237 
 
 To funeralize. To perform the clerical duties preparatory to a fun- 
 eral. Southern. 
 
 Funk. 1. Fear, or sensibility to fear; cowardice. 
 
 So my friend's fault is timidity. ... I grant, then, that the fuiik is sublime, 
 which is a true and friendly admission. — Letter in Literary World, Nov. 30, 
 1850. 
 
 2. A coward. 
 
 To funkify . To frighten ; to alarm. New England. 
 
 Scared ! says he, serves him right then ; he might have knowed how to feel for 
 other folks, and not funkify them so peskily. — Sam Slick in England, eh. 8. 
 
 To funk out. To " back out " in a cowardly manner. 
 
 To funk right out o' political strife ain't thought to be the thing, 
 Without you deacon otf the tune you want your folks should sing. 
 
 Biglow Papers. 
 
 Pur fly (To make). See Make the Fur flij. 
 
 Furrow. To draw a straight furrow is to go straight ahead ; to mind 
 one's own business. 
 
 Governor B. is a sensible man; 
 
 He stays to his home, and looks arter his folks; 
 He draws his furrow as straight as he can. 
 And into nobody's tater-patch pokes. 
 
 Lowell, The Biglow Papers. 
 
 To fush out. To come to nothing. Comp. To fizzle out. 
 
 Fuste. (Span., pron. foos-te.) A strong saddle tree, made of wood 
 
 and covered with raw-hide, used for lassooing. California. 
 Fyke. (Dutch, fuik, a weel, bow-net.) The large bow-nets in New 
 
 York Harbor, used for catching shad, are called shad-fykes. 
 Fyse. (Fyst ?) A cur. Common in and about Washington and 
 
 elsewhere. It is the old foisting hound, fysting cur. See Fice. 
 
 G. 
 
 Gabblement. Gabble, prate. A Southern word. 
 
 "This court's got as good ears as any man," said the magistrate; "but they 
 ain't for to hear no old woman's gabblement, though it 's under oath." — Chron. 
 of Pinerille. 
 
 Gad. A long stick or switch, especially one used for driving oxen. 
 So used also in the north of England. 
 
 I looked around and saw where the three had set down on a log. I measured 
 the length of the foot, and found where they had cut a big gad. — N. Y. Spirit 
 of the Times, Oct., 1848. 
 
 Gal-Boy. A girlish boy. 
 
238 
 
 GAL 
 
 Gale. Among the ladies, a state of excitement; as, "Mrs. A 
 
 was in quite a gale on New Year's Day." 
 
 The ladies, laughing heartily, were fast getting into what, in New England, is 
 sometimes called a (jah. — Brooke, Eastford. 
 
 Gall. 1. A kind of low land in Florida. It consists of a matted soil 
 of vegetable fibres, spongy and treacherous to the foot, unpleasant 
 as well as dangerous to crop. — Vignoles, Florida, p. 91. 
 
 Romans speaks of two kinds of these lands, "6a?/ and cypress 
 galls. ^' The bay galls are properly watercourses, covered with a 
 spongy earth mixed with matted vegetable fibres, dangerous to cross, 
 and so replete with vitriolic principles that the water is impreg- 
 nated with acid. The cypress galls are a firm, shindy soil, have no 
 vitriolic taste in the water, and are never used for purposes of 
 planting. The cypress they produce is a dwarf kind, not fit for 
 i\^Q. — Nat. Hist, of Florida (1776), p. 31. 
 
 Mr. S., living near the Oclawaha, while crossing a bay gall, or saw grass, in 
 company with his son, last Wednesday, was seriously injured by the attack of 
 an alligator. The water in the gall was about knee-deep. — East Florida paper. 
 
 2. (Ger. qualle.) A name applied by the New York children to 
 the jelly-fishes. The medusse, or sea-nettles (Discophora), they call 
 stinging-galls (called also in some parts of England stang-Jiskes). 
 The ovoidal, phosphorescent jelly-fishes (Ctenophora) they call 
 lightning- galls. 
 
 Gallinipper. An insect pest at the South resembling a mosquito, but 
 much larger. 
 
 To gallivant. To gallant; to "do the agreeable." Hotten calls it 
 an old English word. — Slang Die. 
 
 [Marjorie was] gallivanting with the cook ; — just Avait until papa and mamma 
 come home, and see.what they will say to such doings in the house. — Miss Gotdd, 
 Marjorie's Quest, p. 135. 
 
 Senator Seward is gallivanting gayly about Europe. Now at Compiegne, saying 
 soft things to the Empress and studying despotism, now treading the battle-field of 
 Waterluo, then bacK at Paris, and so on. — Boston i-'ost, Uec. lo, 1859. 
 
 What business had he to flirt and gallivant all summer with Sally Kittridge ? 
 Mrs. H. B. Sioice, in The Independent, Feb. 27, 1862. 
 
 Galloping Consumption. A quick consumption, or where the disease 
 terminates after brief illness. George Doughty having died after a 
 short illness, the question was asked, " How did it happen? " 
 
 "Why," replied the Squire, '^the doctor saj's it 's a galloping consumption. 
 ... He says it 's the quickest case he ever knew. . . . The idea of a fellow 
 being at work for me, and dying right straight along. Why, it 's awful ! " — 
 Habberton, The Barton Expeiiment, p. 75. 
 
GAL— GAN 
 
 239 
 
 Gallows. Showy ; dashing. New York slang. 
 
 Mose. Lizzy, you 're a yallus gal, anyhow ! 
 
 Lizzy. I ain't notiiin' else. — A Glance at New Yorlc. 
 
 On another occasion, Mose goes off in raptures at the personal 
 appearance and many accomplishments of his sweetheart, and ex- 
 claims : — 
 
 Look, what a gallus walk she 's got! I 've strong suspicions I '11 have lo get 
 slung to her one of these days. 
 
 Gallowses. Suspenders. So called in some parts of England. 
 
 His skilts [pantaloons] were supported by no braces or gallowses, and restin;^ 
 on his hips. — Margaret, p. 9. 
 
 Galoot. A worthless fellow ; a rowdy. 
 
 I 'II hold her nozzle agin the bank, 
 
 Till the last galoot 's ashore. — John Ray, in Jim Bludsoe. 
 It wasn't so when I was young, 
 
 We used plain language then; 
 We didn't speak of them galoots, 
 
 When meaning boys or men. — Grandpa^s Soliloquy. 
 
 Galoshes. (Fr.) Overshoes worn before the age of india-rubbers, to 
 keep the feet dry. The term was universal in Canada. 
 
 It is an old English word, the same as Galage, originally meaning 
 a wooden sole fastened by a strap to the foot. — Wedgwood, Etym. 
 Die. " Galache or Galoche vndersolynge of mannys fote." — Promp- 
 torium Parv. (1440). In a note to Way's ed. (1843), he says, " The 
 galache was a sort of patten fastened to the foot by cross-latchets, 
 and worn by men as early as the time of Edward III." Allusion is 
 made to it by Chaucer : — 
 
 Ne were worthy to unbocle his galoche. — Squire'' s Tale, 10. 869. 
 
 Gam. (Ang.-Sax. gemana.) A social visit. A sea-faring term. 
 
 When two whalers meet in any of the whaling-grounas, it is usual to have a 
 gam, or mutual visit, for the purpose of interchanging the latest news, comparing 
 reckoning, discussing the prospect of whales, and enjoying a general chit-chat. — 
 Browne's Whaling Cruise, p. 76. 
 
 Gambrel. A hipped roof to a house ; so called from its resemblance 
 to the hind leg of a horse, which by farriers is termed a gambrel. 
 
 Here and there was a house in the then new style, three-cornered, with gam- 
 brelled ruof and dormer windows. — Margaret, p. 33. 
 
 Gander-Party. A social gathering of men only. 
 
 Gander-Pulling. A brutal species of amusement practised in England 
 as well as in Xova Scotia. It is also known at the South. We quote 
 Judge Haliburton's account of it from the " Sayings and Doings of 
 Sam Slick: " — 
 
240 
 
 GAN— GAR 
 
 "But describe this gander-pullin<j.^'' 
 
 *' Well, I '11 tell you how it is," sais I. " First and foremost, a ring-road is 
 formed, like a small race-course; then two great long posts is fixed into the 
 ground, one on each side of the road, and a rope made fast by the eends to each 
 post, leavin' the middle of tlie rope to hang loose in a curve. Well, then they 
 take a gander and pick his breast as clean as a baby's, and then grease it most 
 beautiful all the way from the breast to the head, till it becomes as slippery as a 
 soaped eel. Then they tie both his legs together with a strong piece of cord, of 
 the size of a halyard, and hang him by the feet to the middle of the swingin' 
 rope, with his head downward. All the youngsters, all round the country, come 
 to see the sport, mounted a-horseback. 
 
 " Well, the owner of the goose goes round with his hat, and gets so much a-piec© 
 in it from every one that enters for the ' PulUn' ; ' and when all have entered, 
 they bring their horses in a line, one arter another, and at the words, ' Go 
 a-head ! ' off they set, as hard as they can split ; and as they pass under the 
 goose, make a grab at him, and whoever carries off the head wins. 
 
 " Well, the goose dodges his head and flaps his wings, and swings about so, it 
 ain't no easy matter to clutch his neck; and, when you do, it 's sogreassy, it slips 
 right through the fingers like nothin.' Sometimes it takes so long, that the 
 horses are fairly beat out, and can't scarcely raise a gallop; and then a man 
 stands by the post with a heavy-loaded whip, to lash 'em on, so that they mayn't 
 stand under the goose, which ain't fair. The whoopin', and hoUerin', and 
 screamin', and bettin', and excitement, beats all ; there ain't hardly no sport equal 
 to it. It is great fun to all except the poor goosey-yandery 
 
 To gange. (Span. gancJw, a hook, a crook.) To attach a hook to a 
 line or snell. 
 
 Gap. 1. This pure English word is used properly of any breach of 
 continuity, as of the line of a saw's edge, or of the line of a moun- 
 tain, as projected on the horizon. Hence it is applied to such open- 
 ings in a mountain as are made by a river, or even a high road. 
 Thus the Water-G^ap; and, in Virginia, Brown's Gap, Rockfish 
 Gap, &c. 
 
 2. An opening in a fence, A Slip Gap is a place provided in a 
 
 fence, where the bars may be slipped aside and let down. 
 Gar ; also Alligator Gar. (Belone truncata.) A species of pike found 
 
 in the Southern rivers. It grows to a large size, and has been 
 
 known to fight with the alligator. 
 
 At least three species of this fish are found in our Western rivers : 
 
 the Duck^s-bill Gar, and the Ohio, or common Gar. 
 Garden City. Chicago. So called from the number of its gardens. 
 Garden Spot. A term applied to the rich Silurian limestone region 
 
 in Kentucky and Tennessee. 
 
 So characteristic are the agricultural peculiarities stamped upon the surface of 
 every county, that it has given rise to that generally recognized division of the 
 State known as the " Blue Grass " county of Kentucky, justly celebrated for its 
 fertility and consequent wealth. The unbroken tracts lying towards the heads 
 
GAR— GAT 
 
 241 
 
 of the streams are indeed the " Garden Spots of the State. "We even hear the 
 inhabitants of this part of Kentucky frequently styled ''Blue-grass men" in 
 contradistinction to the "Mountain men," residents of the adjacent hill and 
 mountain country. — Owen's Geology of' Kentucky. 
 
 Garmenture. Dress. 
 
 The "New York Tribune," Sept. 28, 1876, in criticising the 
 statue of W. H. Seward, says : — 
 
 No man can involuntarily throw one leg over the other without a shortening 
 of what the recent Dress Reform Convention calls the garmenture. 
 
 Garnishee. In law, one in whose hands the property of another has 
 been attached in a suit against the latter by a third person, and 
 who is garnished or warned of the proceedings, and has notice of 
 what is required of him in reference to it; a trustee. — BurriWs Law 
 Diet. 
 
 I hold in my hands for collection a judgment against the pastor of a large city 
 church. Shall the execution be published for sale in his city papers? Shall his 
 church trustees be gamisheed. 
 
 Garrison. At the West, the term is oftener applied to the post itself 
 than to those who hold it. Thus old, empty, and deserted forts, 
 those that have been actually abandoned and are devoted to decay, 
 are almost universally styled the " garrisons, even though a soldier 
 had not put a foot in them for a quarter of a century. — /. Feni- 
 more Cooper. 
 
 Gat or Gate. (Dutch, gat, a hole, gap.) A narrow passage; a strait. A 
 term applied to several places in the vicinity of New York, as Bar- 
 negat and Hellgate (formerly Helle-gat). As respects this latter 
 name, Mr. Ii-ving, in a note to his " Knickerbocker " (chap, iv.), 
 remarks : — 
 
 Certain mealy-mouthed men of squeamish consciences, who are loath to give 
 the devil his due, have softened the above characteristic name to Hurl-gate, for- 
 sooth! Let those take care how they venture into the Gate, or they may be 
 hurled into the Pot before they are aware of it. The name of this strait, as given 
 by our author, is supported by the map in Vander Donck's History published in 
 1656, —by Ogilvy's History of America, 1671, — as also by a journal still extant, 
 written in the sixteenth century, and to be found in Hazard's State Papers. 
 And an old MS. written in French, speaking of various alterations in names 
 about this city, observes, "De Helle-gnt, Trou d'Knfer, ils ont fait Hell-gate, 
 Porte d'Enfer." 
 
 Gate City. Keokuk, Iowa, at the foot of the lower rapids of the 
 Mississippi, the natural head of navigation. 
 
 To gather. (Pron. gether.) Universally used in the West for to take 
 up; as, "I gathered a stick." 
 
 16 
 
242 
 
 GAU— GEN 
 
 To gaum. To smear. " Put the child's apron on, and don't let her 
 gaum herself all over with molasses." Local in England. 
 
 Gavel. 1. A small mallet used by a chairman or presiding officer to 
 attract attention and preserve order. It is used by our legislative 
 bodies, but originated, probably, with the Free-Masons. Mr. Paton 
 says, " The name of gavel is derived from the German gipfel^ a peak, 
 from which also comes the same term applied to the end of a house, 
 the gavel or gable^ running up to a point at the summit, the form in 
 the one case and in the other being somewhat similar." — Free- 
 Masonry^ its Symbolism, &c. (Lond., 1873). 
 
 In describing scenes at the New York Stock Exchange, Mr. 
 Medbery says : — 
 
 The roar from the cock-pit rolls up denser and denser. The President plies 
 his gavel, the Assistant Secretaries scratch across the paper, registering bids and 
 offers. — Men and Mysteiies of Wall Street, p. 30. 
 
 2. (¥r. javelle.) A quantity of grain sufficient to make a sheaf. 
 This old word, which is in use in the east of England, is now very 
 frequently employed in describing the operation of American reap- 
 ing machines. 
 
 Gawnicus, A dolt. Analogous to the English gawk and gawcum, a 
 
 fool, a simpleton, 
 Geminy. See Jiminy. 
 
 General Assembly. A representative body having legislative powers, 
 and authorized to enact laws in behalf of some community, church, 
 or State. — Worcester. 
 
 General Court. The legal name of the two legislative bodies of 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 General Treat. A general treat is a treat of a glass of liquor given by 
 a person in a tavern to the whole company present. 
 
 I nearly got myself into a difficulty with my new acquaintances by handing 
 the landlord a share of the reckoning, for having presumed to pay a part of a 
 general treat while laboring under the disqualification of being a stranger. — 
 Hoffman, p. 211. 
 
 Gent. 1. For genteel. 
 
 Law you, sais she, it's right gent, do you take it, — 'tis dreadfull pretty. — 
 Mad, Knight's Journal (1704), p. 44. 
 
 2. An abbreviation for gentleman. 
 Gentiles. The name given by the Mormons to all who are not of 
 their faith. 
 
 Gentleman. Properly, this word should be applied to men of educa- 
 tion and good-breeding of every occupation; but, like lady, is used 
 
GEN— GER 
 
 243 
 
 indiscrimmately. It is applied to men of every grade and every 
 calling. Postmasters, in advertising letters, say, " Gentlemen's 
 List," "Ladies' List." 
 
 A stranger arriving at a hotel tells a waiter he wants his boots 
 blacked. The waiter calls out to a negro boot-black. 
 
 " I say, Jim, here 's a chap as wants a shine." 
 
 The boot-black advances to do the job. 
 
 (Waiter to the stranger.) "This is the gentleman, sir, who'll 
 give you a shine." 
 
 Gentleman Turkey. A turkey cock. The mock modesty of the 
 Western States requires that a male turkey should be so called. 
 
 I remember, in m}' younger days, to have been put in a state of bodily peril by 
 a pugnacious gentleman turkey who took umbr.ige at a flaming red and yellow 
 silk that constituted my apparel. — Adventures of Captain Priest, p. 111. 
 
 "This is a tough old fellow," remarked a gentleman on board a Mississippi 
 steamboat, who was endeavoring to carve a large turkey. 
 
 "Wall, I kind o' think you're right, stranger," said a Hoosier opposite. 
 " But I reckon it 's a gentleman turkey.^'' — Western Sketches. 
 
 Gerrymandering. Arranging the politi- 
 cal divisions of a State so that, in an 
 election, one party may obtain an 
 advantage over its opponent, even 
 though the latter may possess a ma- 
 jority of the votes in the State. This 
 term came into use in the year 1811 
 in Massachusetts, where, for several 
 years previous, the Federal and Demo- 
 cratic parties stood nearly equal. In 
 that year, the Democratic party, 
 having a majority in the Legislature, 
 determined so to district the State anew, that those sections which 
 gave a large number of Federal votes might be brought into one 
 district. To effect this j)lan, the Legislature divided counties in 
 opposition to the protests and arguments of the Federalists; and 
 those of Essex and Worcester were so divided as to form a Demo- 
 cratic district in each of those Federal counties, without any 
 apparent regard to convenience or propriety. The work was sanc- 
 tioned, and became law by the signature of Governor Gerry. He 
 probably had no hand in the matter, yet he received the most 
 severe castigation from the opposition. The result was that the 
 Democratic party carried every thing before them at the following 
 election, and filled every office in the State, although it appeared 
 
244 
 
 GET 
 
 by the votes returned that nearly two-thirds of the voters were 
 Federalists. In Essex County, the arrangement of the district in 
 its relation to the towns was singular and absurd. Russell, the 
 veteran editor of the "Boston Centinel," who had fought the 
 scheme valiantly, took a map of that county, and designated by 
 particular coloring the towns thus selected, and hung it on the wall 
 of his editorial room. One day, Gilbert Stuart, the eminent painter, 
 looked at the map and said that the towns which Russell had thus 
 distinguished resembled some monstrous animal. He took a pencil, 
 and with a few touches added what might represent a head, wings, 
 claws, and tail. "There.," Stuart said, " that will do for a sala- 
 mander." Russell, who was busy with his pen, looked up at the 
 hideous figure, and exclaimed, " Salamander ! Call it Gerrymander 
 The word was immediately adopted into the political vocabulary as 
 a term of reproach to the Democratic Legislature. 
 
 A hand-bill was subsequently issued, bearing Stuart's figure of 
 the QeiTymander, followed by a natural and political history of the 
 animal. — Buckingham's Specimens of Newspaper Literature. Loss- 
 ing's Field-Book of the War o/1812, p. 210. 
 
 To get. To get the better of. " Got you there." See To git. 
 
 To get one's Back up. To get excited, become enraged. A figura- 
 tive expression drawn from the attitude of a cat, which, when angry, 
 raises up its back as w^ell as its hair. 
 
 Get out! A New England expression, equivalent to Ze^ we aZo«e. Also 
 used as an expression of incredulity. 
 
 To get Religion. To become pious; to experience religion. A term 
 in common use among certain religious sects. 
 
 Stranger, I can't bear to think of the murder of Charley Birkham now; but, 
 when I heard it the first time, it was jest arter I yot reliyion. I couldn't help it, 
 I swore jest nigh on to half an hour right straight on eend. — Frontier Incident, 
 N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 Captain IJjiderhill killed his neighbor's wife, and yot his religion on a pipe of 
 tobacco. — EllioVs New England Hist., Vol. I. p. 460. 
 
 To get round. To get the better of, take advantage of one. 
 
 One from the land of cakes sought to yet round a right smart Yankee, but 
 couldn't shine. — Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 89. 
 
 To get the Mitten. To be a rejected suitor. See Mitten. 
 
 To get the Wrong Pig by the Tail is to make a mistake in selecting 
 a person for any object. This is also called getting the wrong sow hy 
 the ear. 
 
GHA— GIS 
 
 245 
 
 I did not seek the office I have now, and was not at the meeting when I was 
 elected ; but the Whigs supposed they could by some means make me a traitor 
 to my party. But, sir, as the old saying is, they got the wrong jng by the tail. — 
 Letter of Mr. C. C. Bell. 
 G'hal. A slang term for girl, corresponding to Blioy, which see. 
 
 If you would see the B'hoy in his glory, — at the top of his career, —in the ne 
 plus ultra of his mundane state, — you must see him taking a drive with his g'hal 
 on the avenue. — New York in Slices. 
 
 To gibe. To go well; to be acceptable. 
 
 Mr. Douglas says some people think Mr. Lincoln's Inaugural does not gibe 
 with the Chicago platform. Well, what of it '? I don't say it does or it does 
 not ; but, if it does not, it shows that Mr. Lincoln has the nerve to say what is 
 right, platform or no platform. — N. Y. Times. 
 
 To giggit. To take, as in a gig; to convey: to move rapidly; to gig 
 it or jig it. New England. 
 
 He nearly like to have got her eat up by sharks, by giggiting her off in the 
 boat out to sea, when she warn't more 'n three years old. — Mrs. H. B. Stowe in 
 The Independent, Feb. 27, 1862. 
 
 Gilead Fir. See Balsam Fir. 
 
 Gilly-Flower. A variety of apple. New England. 
 Gimbal-jawed or Jimber-jawed. One whose lower jaw is loose and 
 projecting. 
 
 Gimpy. Sprightly, active; as, "a ^jmjo?/ horse." Forby notices the 
 
 adjective gimp, meaning nice, spruce, as provincial in England. 
 Gin and Tidy. Neatly dressed; spruce. 
 
 What women happened to be there were very gin and tidy in the work of their 
 own hands, which made them look tempting in the eyes of us foresters. — West- 
 over Papers, p. 119. 
 
 Gin MiU. A tippling shop. 
 
 To girdle. In America, to make a circular incision, like a belt, 
 through the bark and alburnum of a tree to kill it. — Webster. 
 Settlers in new countries often adopt this method to clear their 
 land; for when the trees are dead they set them on fire, and thus 
 save themselves the trouble of chopping them down with the axe. 
 The place so cleared is thence called a girdling. 
 
 The bark of a tree being cut round its whole circumference, the tree dies. This 
 operation is called girdling. — Ken/laWs Travels (1807), Vol. I. p. 235. 
 
 The emigrants purchase a lot or two of government land, build a log-house, 
 fence a dozen acres or so, plough half of them, girdle the trees, and then sell 
 out to a new comer. — Mrs. Clavers, Forest Life, Vol. I. 
 
 Girdling. A place where the trees are girdled. See the preceding 
 word. 
 
 Gism. Spirit. " I knock'd all the gism out of him." 
 
246 
 
 GIS— GIT 
 
 Gist. The main point of a question or action ; that on which it lies 
 or turns. — Jamieson. A word introduced from the language of law 
 into very common use. 
 
 G-it. A favorite Western vulgarism for " go " or " go ahead," "move 
 on," leave quickly, equivalent to "go it," of which it maybe a 
 contraction. It is the invariable word by which the hero of the 
 whip and lines starts his team, and they understand it well. " You 
 git," says Mr. McClure, " is the most emphatic notice that can be 
 given to any luckless chap to leave the room, or to escape a re- 
 volver." 
 
 The driver finally mounted his box with a coohiess that showed him to be per- 
 fect master of his situation; and, as he yelled to them [his horses] to yit, his keen 
 silk cracker tiashed about their flanks till all started on a run. — Rocky Moun- 
 tains, p. 149. 
 
 In describing the musing of a teamster, in his California jour- 
 neys, Ross Browne thus gives the outburst of the feelings of the 
 man : — 
 
 "No, I can't forget her; " and, with an audible sob, he started as if in a trance, 
 and, swinging his whip, yelled out at the mules with ungovernable fury, "You 
 git, dod burn you ! What d 'ye stand flopping yer ears for ? Git ! — Adventures 
 in the Apache Country, p. 50. 
 
 Git up and git means to get out of the way as soon as possible. 
 
 Oh, white folks, your attention pray, a song I '11 sing for you; 
 
 The tune I know is very old, but the words are fresh and new ; 
 To please my friends is my delight, when together they are met ; 
 
 I '11 tell them in my song to-night how " to get up and get."" 
 
 Comic Song. 
 
 An infantry captain belonging to one of the Tennessee regiments, 
 at Cumberland Gap, . . . had his men in two ranks, and wished to 
 change them from that into four ranks. Either not knowing or 
 forgetting the usual command, he called out, much to the amuse- 
 ment of the bystanders : — 
 
 Company! from two strings to four strings, — git! — Haiper^s Mag., June, 
 1864, p. 140. 
 
 This remarkable expression has even found its way into our 
 legislative halls, as will be seen by the foUow'ing report of the Senate 
 proceedings of the General Assembly of Rhode Island of March 14, 
 1877: — 
 
 Mr. Lapham, of Providence, called up his resolution to adjourn to meet accord- 
 ing to law, March 23. Mr. V hoped no action would be taken. The Assem- 
 bly, he said, can fix no day. We must do what there is to do, and then we can 
 get up and get. — Providence Journal. 
 
 In Kentucky and Tennessee, they say, " Git up and dust." 
 To git to go. To be permitted. Pennsylvania. " You didn't git to 
 go." "No, I didn't git." 
 
GIV— GOA 
 
 247 
 
 Given Name. The Christian name, or name that is given to a person, 
 to distinguish it from the surname^ which is not given, but inher- 
 ited. Cobbett calls it a Scotticism. It was probably introduced by 
 the Puritans instead of "Saint's name" or "Christian name." 
 Its origin is plainly from the Catechism: " Q. Who gave you this 
 name? A. My sponsors in baptism. " 
 
 To give out. To desist; to give over; to become faint; to fail. 
 
 Tea, coffee, and clothing are nearly exhausted, or have, as the American phrase 
 has it, '■^ (jiven ouf^ because there is none to give out at all. — London T'imes, 
 quoted in N. Y. Tribune, Oct. 10, 1861. 
 
 Givy. A term applied to tobacco leaves, in a certain condition of 
 their preparation for market. Yielding, pliable. 
 
 Gizzard-Shad. In North Carolina, the name by which alewives are 
 known. (Chatoessus ellipticus. Kirtland.) A fish of the Ohio, 
 common in the Cincinnati markets. So called because "it pos- 
 sesses a muscular stomach which resembles the gizzard of a gallina- 
 ceous fowl." 
 
 Glade. In New England, smooth ice; glare ice. 
 
 Glades. Everglades; tracts of land at the South covered with water 
 and grass. So called in Maryland, where they are divided into wet 
 and dry glades. The term is also used in Virginia. 
 
 G 'lang. Go along. Universal among coachmen, as w^ell as among 
 gentlemen who hold the " ribbons." 
 
 " Git up, there ! G Hang.''' The long whip swung round and cracked threat- 
 eningly over the haunches of his leaders, making them start as the coach turned 
 a corner. — Egyleston, Mystery of Ifetroj^olisviUe, p. 14. 
 
 Glare Ice. Smooth and transparent ice. Newly frozen ice is gener- 
 ally glare; i. e., it has a glassy surface. 
 To glimpse. To get a glimpse of; as, "I barely glimpsed him." 
 
 To glorify. To boast; to brag; to be elated. 
 
 At the same time, I must know how much I 've hurt him, and how badly I 'm 
 hurt myself, before I can determine whether I 'd better glorify over it much or 
 not. — Cincinnati Gazette, April, 1861. 
 
 Glut. A thick wooden wedge used in splitting blocks, — Halliwell. 
 
 So also in New England. 
 Go. " Make a go of it," i. e. make it succeed. 
 To go. To taste. " Don't that go good? " 
 
 To go a Cruise. To take a ride or walk. An expression borrowed 
 from the sea, much used in some of the seaports of New England, 
 and particularly in Nantucket. 
 
 To go ahead. To go forward, proceed A seaman's phrase, which 
 has got into very common use. 
 
248 
 
 GOA— GOB 
 
 I was tired out and wanted a day to rest; but, my face being turned towards 
 Washington, I thought I had better go ahead. — Crockett, Tour down East, p. 101. 
 
 We slip on a pair of India rubber boots, genuine and impenetrable, and go 
 ahead without fear. — N. Y. Com. Advertiser. 
 
 The specific instructions to conquer and hold California were issued to Commo- 
 dore Sloit, by Mr. Bancroft, on the 12th of July, 184G. Previous to this, how- 
 ever, he had been officially notihed that war existed, and briefly instructed to 
 "^0 ahead.'''' — Ibid., June 13. 
 
 My dear hearers, the good work shall go on. I will preach in spite of Old 
 Nick; the steam is up, and I will go ahead. Backed by sound doctrines, I will 
 square off to opposition, — shoot folly, — take a hug with sin, — upset infidelity, — 
 lick Satan out of the land, and kidnap his imps. — Doto's Seimons, Vol. III. p. 17. 
 
 Go-ahead. Rapidly advancing, progressive. 
 
 In our opinion, which we express, of course, with our wonted and character- 
 istic diffidence, America is a dashing, go-ahead, and highly progressive country, 
 giving by her institutions and enormous growth the solution of the greatest politi- 
 cal problem in the world. — The {Philad.) Press, July 24, 1858. 
 
 Go-aheadativeness. Spirit of progress, progressiveness. 
 
 The "Merchant's Magazine " justly thinks that, in the present complication of 
 European difficulties, a favorable opportunity opens for the natural activity and 
 go-aheadativeness of our American business men. — A''. Y. Times, May 17, 1855. 
 
 Virginia City, Montana, is but little over two years old, but it boasts of its 
 population of seven thousand, and of more solid men, more capital, more hand- 
 some and well-filled stores, more fast boys and frail women, more substance and 
 pretence, more virtue and vice, more preachers and groggeries, and more go- 
 aheadativeness generally, than any other city in the mountain mining regions. — 
 McClure, Rocky Mountains, p. 285. 
 
 To go back on one is to abandon one, or one's cause; to turn against 
 one; to expose, to retrace, obliterate, annul. 
 
 The newspaper belief that Vanderbilt never goes back on his friends is not 
 generally assumed as truthflil by brokers. — Medbery, Men and Mysteries of 
 Wall Street, p. 159. 
 
 We were somewhat reassured when it was announced that our noble Chief 
 Magistrate had telegraphed to our Minister at the Court of St. James that he was 
 not '■''going back on him,'''' but our apprehensions for his safety were not entirely 
 quieted until we learned that he was safe on the '• Abyssinia " on his return. — 
 N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 The proprietor of the " New York Herald " having reduced its 
 price, while some of its agents failed to do so : — 
 
 A good many patrons went back on the paper this morning, as their silent pro- 
 test against the swindle. — New York Mail, Oct. 21, 1876. 
 
 If a man was in trouble, Fisk helped him along. 
 
 To drive the grim wolf from the door : 
 He strove to do right, though he may have done wrong, 
 But he never went back on the poor. — Weston, Songs. 
 
 You've always been fair and square with me. Muff Potter, and I won't go back 
 on you. That's as fair as a man can say. — Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer, p. 92. 
 
GOB— GOF 
 
 249 
 
 Mr. W. H. Martin, a lawyer of New York, having sued the 
 Windsor Hotel Company of that city for $60,000, for legal services 
 during two years, Mr. Daly, counsel of the latter, said: — 
 
 I have received a message from the plaintiff that there was no use of contesting 
 his claim in this action; that it would be referred by the court to a lawyer; and 
 that lawyers would never go hack on each other. — N. Y. Tribune^ Court Report, 
 Dec. 21,'l876. 
 
 Peavey asked him, " What he [Murphy, arrested on suspicion of killing Sir. 
 Dascomb] would do if Mrs. Dascomb should go back on him.'''' He answered 
 promptly, "I can tell as much as she can." — Report of Poisoning Case in Neiv 
 Hampshire. ' 
 
 It seems more likely to us that within ten 3'ears Wyoming will go back on her 
 woman suffrage record than that any State of the Union will follow her present 
 example. — Scribner's Mag., Vol. IX. 
 
 Gobbler. A male turkey; a turkey cock. 
 
 It was a nice weddin' ; sich raisins and oranges and hams, flour doins and 
 chicken fixins, and four sich oncommon big gobblers roasted, I never seed. — 
 N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 To gobble up. To remove as by swallowing; to rout; to scatter; to 
 vanquish. Much used in the late civil war, and, in somewhat 
 modified applications, is still sometimes used. 
 
 To go by. To call; to stop at. Used in the Southern States. — 
 Sherwood^s Georgia. Mr. Pickering says this singular expression is 
 often used at the South. "Will you go by and dine with me?" 
 {. e., in passing my house will you stop and dine? "Its origin," 
 observes Mr. Pickering, "is very natural. When a gentleman is 
 about riding a great distance through that country, where there are 
 few great roads and the houses or plantations are often two or three 
 miles from them, a friend living near his route asks him to go hy 
 his plantation and dine or lodge with him." 
 
 Go-Cart. A hand-cart. 
 
 To go for. 1. To be in favor of. Thus, " I <7o for peace with Mex- 
 ico," means I am in favor of peace with Mexico, or, as an English- 
 man would say, I am for peace with Mexico. This vulgar idiom is 
 greatly affected by political and other public speakers, who ought 
 to be the guardians of the purity of the language, instead of its 
 most indefatigable corrupters. In the following extract from a 
 so-called religious paper, the reader of correct taste and feeling 
 will hardly know which to admire most, the sentiment or the lan- 
 guage:— 
 
 Will Mr. Greeley say that he or any other citizen has the right to oppose " the 
 country," — that is, its laws, — whenever he or they shall choose to pronounce 
 them " wrong " ? We say, go for your country, — right, as she may be in some 
 
250 
 
 GOI 
 
 things, — wrong, as she is, perhaps, in others ; but whether right or wrong, or 
 right and wrong (which is always nearer the truth in all her proceedings), still, 
 go for your country. — Gospel Banner, 
 
 2. To decide in favor of is another acceptation in which this 
 phrase is often used, especially in stating for wliich man or measure 
 any particular section of the country has decided; as, " Ohio has 
 gone for Clay," " Louisiana has gone for the annexation of Mexico." 
 Or, still worse, "Ohio has gone Whig," "Louisiana has gone 
 Democratic." 
 
 3. Go for (it), to fail; to die. 
 
 4. To attack. Southern. 
 
 To go in for. To advocate, be in favor of. 
 
 We go in for all the postage reduction President Taylor recommends. — N. Y. 
 Tribune, Dec. 25, 1849. 
 
 Going. Travelling; as, " The going is bad, owing to the deep snow 
 in the roads." 
 
 To go it. To undertake a thing; to go at it; to succeed in a thing, 
 go through it; to be earnestly engaged in. 
 
 An anecdote is related of a card of invitation which read, " Come 
 at seven and go at eleven," and which was altered by a wag by the 
 insertion of the word " it " after go. 
 
 Hartford is getting to be quite a sensation city, going it over every novelty, 
 "as crazy as a bed-bug." — The Winsted Herald, Oct. 25, 1861. 
 
 To go it alone. In euchre, one of two partners can, in various 
 cases, play single-handed against the combined hands of his adver- 
 saries, the other partner simply standing neutral and not playing. 
 In this, a complete success or failure scores double. This operation 
 is called " going it alone," and is often used of any venture where 
 no aid is asked or needed. 
 
 To go it blind. To accede to any object without due consideration. 
 An expression derived from the game of "Poker," where the 
 player has the privilege, before seeing his hand, of blinding a stake, 
 i. e. betting on the chances, so that, unless the others see his Mind 
 (by doubling the bet), he wins the ante. So, go it blind means to 
 run all risks, with the chance of profiting from the risk. 
 
 I know that in "Washington I am incomprehensible, because at the outset of the 
 war I would not go it blind, and rush headlong into a war unprepared and with 
 an utter ignorance of its extent and purpose. — General Sherman'' s Memoirs, 
 Vol. I. p. 342. 
 
 I know what I am at, and don't go it blind. — S. Slick, Human Nature, p. 18. 
 To go it strong. To act vigorously ; to advocate energetically ; to live 
 freely. 
 
GOI— GON 
 
 251 
 
 President Polk in his message goes it strong for the Sub-Treasury. — iV. F. 
 Tribune. 
 
 The Senate has of late years refused to take any part of the book plunder, but 
 they have gone it strong on the mileage. — Letters from Washington, N. Y. Com. 
 Advertiser. 
 
 I would have you understand, my dear hearers, that I have no objection to 
 some of the sons and daughters of the earth going it while they are young, pro- 
 vided they don't go it too strong. — Dow's Sermons, Vol. I. p. 176. 
 
 A regular, irregular life, 
 
 Ben Balmy lived along, 
 And nightly did he go it hard, 
 
 And weekly went it strong. 
 
 Ballad, A Legend of Broadway. 
 
 To go it while you're young. To enjoy one's self; to have a good 
 time. 
 
 In speaking of the " Genteel, Fine, Old Negro," the song says; 
 
 He had a good old banjo, — so well he kept it strung ; 
 He used to play that good old tune of " Go it ivhile you ''re young ; " 
 He played so long, an' played so loud, he scared the pigs and goats, 
 Because he took a pint of yeast to raise the highest notes. 
 
 Negro Melodies. 
 
 To go it with a Looseness is to act in an unrestrained, rash, head- 
 strong manner. See Looseness. So also " to go it with a rush.^^ 
 
 Golden-Rod. (Genus Solidago.) A tall plant bearing yellow flowers ; 
 very common. 
 
 GoUation. " By gollation! " " O gollation ! " " Gollation large." 
 " Gollation mean." Derived from Gollg. 
 
 Golly! Used euphemistically for "God!" Chiefly by Negroes in 
 swearing. 
 
 I went down to the spring branch one morning to wash. I looked into the 
 water, and I seen the shadow of my face. Great Golly ! how I run back, hollerin' 
 for mammy every jump. — Widow Bagly''s Husband. 
 
 Gombo or Gumbo. 1. The Southern name for what is called, at the 
 North, Okra, the pod of the Hibiscus esculentus. The term is some- 
 times heard in New England. 
 
 2. In the Southern States, a soup in which this plant enters largely 
 as an ingredient. 
 
 Gondola. A flat-bottomed boat or scow formerly used in New Eng- 
 land. — Pickering. 
 
 In Pennsylvania and Maryland, this word is spelled as well as 
 pronounced gundalo or gundelow. A friend informs me he has also 
 heard it in Massachu.setts. Comp. Cupalo. 
 
252 
 
 GON 
 
 Gone Case. "When a man is used up, it is said to be a gone case with 
 him. " The Bar-tender," in his poem, describes a drunkard, who 
 entered the bar-room, — 
 
 And sot himself down to the table 
 
 With a terrible sorrowful face, 
 And sot there a groanin' repeated, 
 
 A calling himself a gone case. 
 
 Gone Coon. "He's a (jone coon,^^ is a Western phrase, meaning 
 that a man is past recovery, that his case is hopeless. 
 
 Bill was never one minit unwatched, awake or asleep; he wasn't allowed to 
 speak, although he was fed and not abused, and he 'd pretty much made up his 
 mind that he was a (/one coon. — Spirit of the Times. 
 
 Gone Goose. " It's a gone goose with him," means that he is lost, 
 is past recovery. The phrase is a vulgarism in New England. In 
 New York, it is said, " He 's a gone gander i. e. a lost man ; and in 
 the West, " He 's a gone coon.^^ 
 
 If a bear comes after you, Sam, 3'ou must be up and doin', or it 's a gone goose 
 with you. — Sam Slick in England, ch. 18. 
 
 It may be the doctor can do something for her, though she looks to me as 
 though it was a gone goose with her. — Major Downing, p. 87. 
 
 I've generally noticed if a man begins to gape in church at seventhly and 
 eighthly in the sermon, it's a gone goose with him before he gets through the 
 tenthly ; from that up he 's as dead as a door nail. — Seba Smith, Yankee Life. 
 
 The poor greenhorn who falls into the clutches of the sharpers upon arriving 
 in the metropolis may regard himself as a gone gosling. — New York paper. 
 
 Goneness. A peculiar sensation of weakness, or of great depression. 
 
 Goner. *' He 's a goner, means he is lost, is past recovery, is utterly 
 demolished, "used up;" synonymous with gone goose, gone coon, 
 &c. So, in the West, a bad debt is called a goner. A Western 
 sportsman, in pursuit of a deer, exclaims: — 
 
 Aha! my fine boy! you are our meat! Put in your biggest licks ; for you are 
 a goner now, for sartin ! — Neiv York Spirit of the Times. 
 
 "Yes, but she ain't dead; and what 's more, she 's getting better too." 
 
 "All right, you wait and see. She's a goner, just as dead sure as Muff 
 Potter 's a goner. That 's what the niggers say, and they know all about these 
 kind of things. — Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer, p. 99. 
 
 I 've done my best on Frank [to reform him], but he 's a goner if God don't 
 put in a special hand. — Habberton, The Barton Experiment, p. 121. 
 
 Gone with. 1. For become of. " What is gone with it or him ? " for 
 " What has become of it or him ? " — Sherwoodh Georgia. 
 
 Mr. Punch, in his " Bit from the Mining Districts," thus uses the 
 expression : — 
 
GON— GOO 
 
 253 
 
 "Martha, what's gaen wV V milk ?'* 
 "Gien it to the shild." 
 
 " Dang the shild ! Thee should' st a gien it to t' bull-pup." 
 
 2. Prospered; succeeded; been. 
 Goney or Gony. A great goose, a stupid fellow. New England. 
 Provincial in Gloucestershire, England. 
 
 " How the goney swallowed it all, didn't he ? " said Mr. Slick, with great glee. 
 Slick in England, ch. 21. 
 
 Some on 'em were fools enough to believe the goney ; that 's a fact. — Jbid. 
 
 Formerly, they poked sap-headed goneys into parliament, to play dummy ; or 
 into the army and navy, the church, and the colonial office. But clever fellows 
 they kept for the law, the " Times," &c. — Nature and Human Nature, p. 142. 
 
 Gong-Punch. An instrument used by conductors and those who 
 receive the fare in horse-railroad cars and omnibuses, by means of 
 which a complete record is kept of the number of passengers who 
 pay their fare; a bell-punch. See Registering Punch, 
 
 The royalty paid for use of gong-punches and the money used in maintaining 
 spotters would be quite adequate to supply the means for rewarding the fidelity 
 of the servant. — Providence Press. 
 
 The line of horse-cars running from New York to Harlaem charges 
 three different rates of fare, according to the distance travelled. In 
 these cars, the conductors carry slips of paper of various colors, each 
 for the different rates charged. In order to make the system per- 
 fectly clear to passengers, Mark Twain has thus rendered it in 
 verse : — 
 
 Conductor, when you take a fare. 
 Punch in the presence of the passenjare : 
 A blue trip-slip for an eight cents fare ; 
 A buff trip-slip for a six cents fare; 
 A pink trip-slip for a three cents fare: 
 Punch in the presence of the passenjare. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Punch, brothers, punch, punch with care. 
 Punch in the presence of the passenjare. 
 
 Gonus. A stupid fellow. A student's modification of goney, used in 
 some of our colleges, according to Mr. Hall. 
 
 One day I heard a Senior call a fellow a gonus. " Gonus,'''' echoed I, "what 
 does that meanV" "Oh," said he, "you're a Freshman, and don't under- 
 stand. A stupid fellow, a dolt, a boot-jack, an ignoramus, is here called a gonus. 
 All Freshmen," he continued gravel}', " are gonuses.'" — The Dartmouth, Vol. IV. 
 p. 116. 
 
 Goober-Grabbers. In Georgia and Alabama, backwoods people. 
 
 Goobers. Peanuts; ground-peas. See Peanuts. 
 
 If you are a theatre-goer when in Chicago you may have developed a fondness 
 for peanuts. Beware of asking for them [in Texas] under that name, unless you 
 
254 
 
 GOO 
 
 want to proclaim yourself a Yankee. Call boldly for goobers, or ground-peas. — 
 Texas Cor. of the Chicago Tribune. 
 
 Good as Wheat. A phrase sometimes used instead of the more gen- 
 eral one, "good as gold." It may possibly have originated in the 
 usage of claiming rent, or payment of debts, in wheat. 
 
 Check-mated. — It is stated that the father of a lady in this vicinity recently 
 presented her with a check — *' good as wheat " — for S''iO,000 in view of her mat- 
 rimonial alliance. Truly, such ac^ecA;-ered life as that wouldn't be hard to lead. 
 We wish somebody would endeavor to "check" our career in that way. — New 
 Bedford Standard, Aug., 1858. 
 
 Goodies. Sweetmeats, cakes, &c. ; as, a box of goodies. Provincial 
 in Suffolk, England. 
 
 Arter a while, the kissin' an' foolin' was all over, an' we pitched into the 
 goodies; an ef ever I saw sweetnins fly, it was then. — How Sal and Me got 
 Married. 
 
 Goods. This word is used by Western shopkeepers as a singular 
 noun for a piece of goods; as, "that goods,^^ speaking of cloth or 
 linen. 
 
 Goody. 1. A well-disposed but small-minded person ; sometimes said 
 of men. 
 
 2. Interjection expressing gratification; as, " Oh, goody! " 
 
 3. A middle-aged woman in the seiT-ice of a college, whose busi- 
 ness it is to keep tidy the students' rooms. Probably contracted 
 from goodwife. — Webster. 
 
 To go off. To expire. 
 
 " 0 Mr. Crane ! " said the Widow Bedott, " I thought I should go off last night 
 when I see that old critter squeeze up and hook on to you. Terrible mipudent, 
 — warn't it V " — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 77. 
 
 Gool for Goal is universal with New England boys, the same as Loom 
 is used for Loam. 
 
 To go one's Death on a thing is equivalent to " lay one's life " on it. 
 
 Goose. " To be sound on the goose,^' or " all right on the goose,'^ is a 
 South-western phrase, meaning to be orthodox on the slavery ques- 
 tion, i. e. pro-slavery. A correspondent states that he had heard 
 the expression first in the Eastern States, w^hence it travelled west- 
 ward. I am not able to give its origin. 
 
 The border ruffians held a secret meeting in Leavenworth, and appointed them- 
 selves a vigilance committee. All persons who could not ansAver, All right on 
 the goose,^' according to their definition of right, were searched, kept under guard, 
 and threatened with death. — Mrs. Robinson's Kansas, p. 252. 
 
 A poetical writer in the " Providence Journal," June 18, 1857, in 
 speaking of the claims of a candidate for the office of mayor, 
 says : — 
 
 To seek for political flaws is no use, 
 
 His opponents will find he is " sound on the goose.^* 
 
GOO— GOT 
 
 255 
 
 To goose Boots. To repair them by putting on a new front half way 
 Tip, and a new bottom; elsewhere called " footing boots." Derived 
 probably, for distinction's sake, from " to fox^ 
 
 Goose-Fish. See Devil- Fish. 
 
 Gopher. (Fr. ^raw/reMr; from ^raw/re, honeycomb, wattle.) Applied 
 to several species of burrowing animals. See Webster's Diction- 
 ary. Goafs ^ a name given by miners to cavities from which ore 
 or coal has been removed, in the lateral walls of gullies, has the 
 same origin. See " Athenaeum," Sept. 19, 1868, p. 380. 
 
 1. In Georgia, a species of land turtle, burrowing in the ground 
 in the low country. It is able to walk with a heavy man on its back. 
 Sherwood^ s Georgia. 
 
 2. A little animal found in the valleys of the Mississippi and 
 Missouri Rivers. A species of mole, more than twice the size of 
 the common field mole. It burrows in the prairies, and there are 
 immense tracts covered with the little hillocks made by the earth 
 which these animals have dug from their burrows. — Flint's Geogr. 
 of Miss. Valley. 
 
 The gopher often burrows in the artificial tumuli, to find a dry place for its 
 nest; and roots of trees penetrate to their lowest depths. — Lapham's Antiq. of 
 Wisconsin. 
 
 Mr. Bryant, in alluding to the same fact, says: — 
 The gopher mines the ground 
 Where stood the swarming cities. All is gone ; 
 All save the piles of earth that hold their bones. 
 
 Gosh. Used in the euphemistic form of oath. By Gosh ! 
 
 Gospelizing Pedler. An itinerant or other preacher of the gospel. 
 An idler at a tavern, having vainly sought to lead a clergyman to 
 avow his being such, said at last: " But, anyhow, ain't you one of 
 these gospelizing pedlersV^ This actually occurred in 1842 at 
 Greenwich, Mass. 
 
 Gospel Lot. A lot set apart in new townships for a church, on the 
 same principle as a school lot. New York. 
 
 Gotham. The city of New York, an appellation first given to it in 
 " Salmagundi," a humorous work by J. K. Paulding and Washing- 
 ton Irving, evidently from the singular wisdom attributed to its 
 inhabitants. 
 
 Ye dandies of Gotham, I 've seen fools and fops in forty different cities, but 
 none to compare with you. — Dow^s Sermons. 
 
 Gothamites. The people of the city of New York ; the New Yorkers. 
 
 I intended to present you with some phases of outward life and manners, — 
 such things as would strike or interest a stranger in our beloved Gotham, and in 
 
256 
 
 GOT 
 
 the places to which regular Gothmnites — American cockneys, ro to speak — are 
 wont to repair. — Sketches of Amencnn Society^ Frazer'a Mafjazine. 
 
 To go the Big Figure. To do things on a large scale. 
 
 Why, our senators ffo the biy fyure on fried oysters and whiskey punch. — 
 Burton, Waggeries. 
 
 To go the Whole Figure. To go to the fullest extent in the attain- 
 ment of any object. 
 
 Go the whole figure for religious liberty; it has no meanin' here, where all are 
 free, but it 's a cant word and sounds well. — Sam Slick. 
 
 "If you go the whole figure on temperance," said Mrs. Mudlaw, in giving her 
 receipt for pudding sauce, "then some other flavorin' must be used instead of 
 brandy or wine." — Widow Bedoft Papers, p. .377. 
 
 Suppose we keep thanksgivin' to home this year, and invite all our whole grist 
 of cousins and aunts and things, — go the whole figure and do the genteel thing. 
 — McClintock'' s Tales. 
 
 To go the Whole Hog. A Western \Tilgarism, meaning to do a thing 
 out and out. A softened form of the phrase is To go the entire 
 animal. 
 
 The expression is supposed to have been suggested by Cowper's 
 poem " Of the Love of the World reproved," in which is discussed 
 the eating of pork by the Turks. The question arose whether a 
 portion might not be eaten, — 
 
 But for one piece they thought it hard 
 From the whole hog to be debarred. 
 
 Of the congressional and State tickets we can only form a conjecture ; but the 
 probability is that the Democrats have carried the whole, for they generally go 
 the whole hog, — they never scratch or split differences. — Newspaper. 
 
 The phrase has been caught up by some late English writers: — 
 
 The Tiger has leapt up heart and soul, 
 
 It 's clear that he means to go the whole 
 
 Hog, in his hungry efforts to seize 
 
 The two defianceful Bengalese. — New Tale of a Tub. 
 
 To go through. We say, Does this train " go through to Portland ? '* 
 An Englishman would simply say " to Portland." Our expres- 
 sion would indicate a tunnel to him. 
 
 To go through the Mill. To acquire experience, and especially to 
 meet with difficulties, losses, &c. The metaphor is derived from 
 grain which has undergone the process of grinding. 
 
 The now common phrase, " To see the elephant," conveys the 
 same meaning. 
 
 Go to Grass! Be off! Get out! "Stop your nonsense, — tell that 
 to the marines." 
 
GOT— GOU 
 
 257 
 
 Go-to-meeting. " Go-to-meeting clothes," one's best clothes, such 
 as are worn on Sundays, when attending church. Common in New 
 England. 
 
 To go to Smash. To be utterly ruined, or broken. 
 
 If some financial Solomon, 
 Before another set of sun, 
 Don't tell us Avhat is to be done 
 
 To scare up cash, 
 We all perforce must cut and run. 
 
 Or ffo to smash. — N. Y. Evening Post. 
 
 To go to the Bad. To go to ruin, to destruction. 
 
 Now if Fred could be put at the head of [some enterprising business] they 
 ■ might save him from going to the had. — The Barton Experiment, p. 30. 
 
 Gouge. A cheat, fraud, robbery. 
 
 R and H will probably receive from Mr. Polk's administration $100,000 
 
 more than respectable printers would have done the work for. There is a clean, 
 plain gouge of this sum out of the people's strongbox. — N. Y. Tribune, Dec. 10, 
 1845. ' 
 
 If the people of Mr. I 's district see fit to indorse and justify his enormous 
 
 gouge, and his more profligate defence of it, they virtually make it their own. 
 Neio York Herald. 
 
 To gouge. 1. To chouse; to cheat. 
 
 Very well, gentlemen ! gouge Mr. Crosby out of the seat, if you think it whole- 
 some to do it— iV. Y. Tribune, Nov. 26, 1845. 
 
 2. " Gouging is performed by twisting the forefinger in a lock of 
 hair, near the temple, and turning the eye out of the socket with 
 the thumb-nail, which is suffered to grow long for that purpose." 
 Lambert's Travels, Vol. II. p. 300. 
 
 This practice is only known by hearsay at the North and East, 
 and appears to have existed at no time except among the lower 
 class of people in the interior of some of the Southern States. An 
 instance has not been heard of for years. Grose has the word in 
 his Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, and defines it as "a cruel 
 custom, practised by the Bostonians in America " ! 
 
 Major Beatty, Paymaster in the Western army, in his Diary 
 1786-1787, thus speaks of the custom as witnessed by him in 
 Kentucky. 
 
 Saw the barbarous custom of gouging, practised between two of the lower class 
 of people here, their unvaried way of fighting. When two men quarrel, they 
 never have an idea of striking, but seize each other and twist each other's 
 thumbs or fingers into the eye, and push it out of the socket till it falls on the 
 cheek. — Mag. of Am. History, N. Y., Vol. I. p. 433. 
 
 Mr. ^^'eld found this custom prevailing in Virginia in 1796. In 
 speaking of his visit to Richmond, he says: — 
 
 17 
 
258 
 
 GOU— GRA 
 
 Whenever these people come to blows, they fight like wild beasts, biting, kick- 
 ing, and endeavoring to tear out each other's eyes with their nails. It is by no 
 means uncommon to meet with those who have lost an eye in combat, and tiiere 
 are men who pride tiiemselvcs upon the dexterity witii wiiicii they can scoop one 
 out. This they call (jou(jin(j. — Travels in North Ameiicn, p. 143. 
 " Goufje him, B— t! darn ye, ijourje him; 
 Goiicje him while he 's on the shore! " 
 And his thumbs were straightway l)uried 
 Where no thumbs had pierced before. 
 
 Bon Gaultler, Ballads. 
 
 A man who was paying his addresses to a Western belle found 
 one day another suitor, of whom he thus speaks: — 
 
 I got a side squint into one of his pockets, and saw it was full of eyes that had 
 been goutjed from the people of my acquaintance. I knew my jig was up, for 
 such a feller could out-court me, and I thought the gall brought me on purpose 
 to have a fight. — Traits of American Humor, Vol. I. 
 
 To go under. To perish. Adler, in his German Dietionaiy, defines 
 untergehen to perish, fall, go to ruin. Common among the residents 
 of the prairies. 
 
 Thar was old Sam Owins, — him as got rubbed out bj'the Spaniards at Sacra- 
 mento or Chihuahua, this boss doesn't know which, but he ivent under any i ow. 
 Buxton, Life in the Far West, p. 14. 
 
 Being entirely naked, there was no sign left by dripping garments to betray 
 him; besides, the blood upon the water had proved liis friend. On seeing- that 
 the hunters were under the full belief that he had " f/one ?m(/er," and therefore 
 took but little pains to search further. — Captain Mayne Beid, Osceola, p. 192. 
 
 To go up. To be used up, worn out; applied to things as well as to 
 men. 
 
 To go up the Spout. To mount the gallows; to be hung; to die. 
 
 We give such creatures timely and due notice to have a painted box [coffin] 
 prepared, if they ever intend to apply such insulting epithets to us, for if they do 
 they ''^ will go up the spout,''' as surely as there is virtue in powder. — Point 
 Pleasant Begister, Fa., June, 1862. 
 
 Governmental, Relating to government. A modern word, some- 
 times used, and yet censured, both in England and America, and 
 characterized by the "Eclectic Review" as an "execrable bar- 
 barism. ' ' — Worcester. 
 
 Grab-Box. A box used at ladies' fairs, filled with trifles. For tlie 
 privilege of insei-ting the hand and making a grab, a charge is made. 
 Whatever is taken is the property of the " grabber." 
 
 Young woman wanted me to invest in the '"'■grab-box ; " gave half a dollar, and 
 fished in : got, in three times trying, a tin whistle, half a stick of candy, and a 
 peanut done up in tissue-paper. — Doesticks, p. 135. 
 
 Grab Game. A mode of swindling, or rather stealing, practised by 
 sharpers in our large cities. Bets are made in which considerable 
 
GRA 
 
 25^ 
 
 sums of money are involved, when a dispute is purposely planned, 
 in the midst of which one of the confederates seizes or ' ' grabs ' ' 
 the money at stake and runs off. This term is also used in a more 
 general sense to signify stealing, and making off with the booty, as 
 in the following example : — 
 
 " The fact is," replied Bob, " this country is getting rather too hot for me, and 
 I '11 bear you company ! What d' ye say to that V " 
 
 "Just as you like," responded his two companions ; " that is, provided you 
 won't attempt the grab game on us." — Scenes in the Rocky Mountains, p. 282. 
 
 Grace of God. This remarkable expression for a writ, I find used in 
 a letter written at Philadelphia, in 1772, addressed to William 
 Ellery, a signer of the Declaration of Independence: — 
 
 Ray Sands is truly long-winded; and, if jogging of him will not do after trying 
 him again, thou must put the " Grace of God " upon his back, which I would 
 chuse to avoid, if he would pay without. 
 
 Gracious. "Gracious sakes!" "My gracious!" "Gracious sakes 
 alive! " are common expressions. 
 
 Grade. (French.) 1. A degree or rank in order or dignity, civil, 
 military, or ecclesiastical. 
 
 2. A step or degree in any ascending series; as, " crimes of every 
 grade.^^ — Webster. 
 
 This word is of comparatively modern use. It is not in the 
 English dictionaries previous to Todd's edition of Johnson in 1818. 
 Mr. Todd calls it " a word brought forward in some modern pam- 
 phlets," and says, " It will hardly be adopted." Mr. Richardson 
 says the word " has crept into frequent use." Mr. Knowles, in the 
 ninth edition of his dictionary, introduces the word as once belong- 
 ing to the language, without comment. The " British Critic " and 
 other reviews have criticised the word as an unauthorized Ameri- 
 canism; but, as w'e have seen, it has been adopted at last by the 
 English themselves. 
 
 Over grammar-schools, the clergy possessed an authority fully equal to that 
 which they had in the universities. They also appointed and removed, at their 
 own pleasure, teachers of every grade, &c. — Buckle, History of Civilization in 
 England, Vol. II. ch. vi. 
 
 To talents of the highest grade he [Hamilton] united a patient industry not 
 always the companion of genius. — Marshall's Life of Washington, Vol. V. 
 p. 213. 
 
 3. The amount of inclination on a road. In England gradiant. 
 
 To grade. To reduce to a certain degree of ascent or descent, as a 
 road or way. — Webster. 
 
260 
 
 GRA 
 
 To graft. 1. To " cjraft. boots " is to repair them by adding new soles, 
 and surrounding the feet with new leather. So called in Connecti- 
 cut. • Elsewhere called " foxinrj boots." 
 2. To pick pockets. A slang term. 
 
 Scotch Moll is making out good grafting in the 8th Avenue cars. — Nntional 
 Police Gazette. 
 
 Graham Bread. Bread made of unbolted wheat. It is easier to digest 
 than common wheaten bread, and is, in consequence, much used by 
 invalids. 
 
 Grahamites. People who follow the system of Graham in their 
 regimen. 
 
 A glance at his round, ruddy face would shame a Grahamite or teetotaller out 
 of his abstinence principles. — Pickings from the Picayune., p. 130. 
 
 Graham System. A system of dietetics recommended by Sylvester 
 Graham, a lecturer of some celebrity on temperance and dietetics, 
 which excludes the use of all animal food and stimulating drinks, 
 including tea, coffee, &c. 
 
 Grain. 1. A particle; a bit; a little. Ex.: " I don't care a grain 
 " Push the candle a grain further from you." 
 
 2. The universal name, in the United States, for what is called 
 corn in England; that is, wheat, rye, oats, barley, &c. See Bread- 
 Stuff. 
 
 Grama Grass. (Span, grama. Chondrosium.) Several species of this 
 grass are found on our Western borders, where it is esteemed excel- 
 lent food for cattle. 
 
 The stock-raiser who has fed his cattle upon grama during the winter finds 
 them in quite as good condition in the spring as doe? the Eastern farmer his 
 stall-fed animals. — Cozzens's Marvellous Country, p. 224. 
 
 Grandacious. Magnificent. A factitious word. 
 Grandiferous. Magnificent, extensive. A factitious word. 
 Granite State. The State of New Hampshire, so called from the 
 
 abmidance of granite found in it. 
 Grannyfied. Having the character of a granny. 
 
 That querulous and grannified manner peculiar to old people who have out- 
 lived their usefulness. — The Constitution, Midd(etown,Co7in., May 7, 1862. 
 
 To grant, for to vouchsafe, is used in prayer; as, " Grant to hear us." 
 Southern. 
 
 Grape-Fruit. A variety of Citrus racemosus. Barbadoes. 
 Grape Vine. See Blue-Grass. 
 
 Grass. A vulgar contraction of sparrow-grass, i. e. asparagus. Fur- 
 ther than this the force of corruption can hardly go. 
 
GRA— GRE 
 
 261 
 
 Grasset. See Chewink. 
 
 Grass-Widow. A wife who has been separated from her husband; 
 called also a "widow bewitched.^ ^ In England, the term grass- 
 widow signifies an unmarried woman who has had a child. 
 
 " California widow " is an analogous term, which came into use 
 during the rush to California, 1850 to 1860, when the new-found 
 treasures of that country separated so many husbands from their 
 wives. During the late war such were termed war-widows. 
 
 Grass-Widowhood. " Her life properly be devoted to grass-widow- 
 hood.''^ — Congregationalist, Jan. 6, 1870. 
 
 Grave- Yard." Mrs. Trollope italicizes this word as novel to her 
 English ears, accustomed to '■^ church-yard.^^ 
 
 Gravy. Used in New England instead of Juice; as, the gravy of an 
 apple-pie. Often reversed, as Juice for dish gravy. 
 
 Gray Deal, the common pronunciation for great deal. 
 
 Grease-Wood. (Obione canescens.). The chamizo of the Mexicans. 
 (Sarcobatus vermicularis.) A scraggy, stunted shrub, very abun- 
 dant in the Upper Missouri and Yellowstone Valleys, is called Grease- 
 Wood by the traders. — Hayden, Missouri Valley, p. 292. 
 
 The soil [near the Salt Lake] was sterile, acrid, full of alkali, and refused to 
 produce any thing but the dreary sage and yrease-wood ; but Mormon industry 
 flooded it with artificial rains, . . . and it now produces fine wheat. — McClure, 
 Rocky Mountains, p. 167. 
 
 To grease the Wheels is a metaphorical expression used in the West 
 to signify paying occasionally a little money to your creditor, 
 grocer, &c. 
 
 Greaser. 1. A term vulgarly applied to the Mexicans and other 
 Spanish Americans. It first became common during the war with 
 Mexico. 
 
 The Americans call the Mexicans greasers, which is scarcely a complimentary 
 soubriquet; although the term greaser camp'''' as applied to a Mexican en- 
 campment is truthfully suggestive of filth and squalor, — Marryat, Mountains 
 and Molehills, p. 236. 
 
 Tell the old coon then to quit that, and make them darned greasers clear out 
 of the lodge, and pock some corn and shucks here for the animals, for they 're 
 nigh give out. — Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 176. 
 
 The " Providence Press," Feb. 15, 1876, in its remarks on the 
 proposed admission of New Mexico as a State, says : — 
 
 The Territory contains less than 100,000 inhabitants, and many of these are 
 greasers and Spanish herdsmen, about as well fitted to organize and conduct a 
 State government as the natives of Northern Alaska. 
 
2(j'2 
 
 GRE 
 
 2. An assistant to the fireman of a steamboat ; one who oils the 
 machinery. 
 
 3. A produce of oil. Pennsylvania petroleum region. — Phil. Press. 
 Grease Spot. The slightest particle of a human being. See under 
 
 Grit. 
 
 Greasy. We call this word greecy, the English greezy. 
 
 Great. Distinguished, excellent, admirable. Thus, "a great Chris- 
 tian " means a pious man ; "a great horse," a horse of good quali- 
 ties and bottom ; " a great plantation," a fertile one. So, too, " He 
 is great at running;" "She is great on the piano." "A great 
 M^oman." 2 Kings, iv. 8. 
 
 Great Big. Very large; as, "I've got a great big watermelon." 
 Often used by children. 
 
 Great Spirit. The term applied by the North American Indians to 
 tlie Supreme being. 
 
 Big Mouth [the Iroquois chief] told Denonville, the Governor of Canada, that 
 he and his people were subjects neither of the French nor of the English, that they 
 held their country of the Great Sphit ; and that they had never been engaged 
 in war. — Parkman, Count Front enac and New France, p. 172. 
 
 At a conference with a delegation of Indian chiefs, held at the 
 Executive Mansion, in Washington, Sept. 28, 1877, Spotted Tail, 
 a Sioux, made a long speech, in which, addressing President Hayes, 
 he said : — 
 
 Your people make raids and drive away the game. The land we occupy was 
 given us by the Great Spirit, who said we could live there, but the white people 
 are trying to drive us from the country to one where we can do nothing. You 
 live here. The Great Spirit gave you the land. You stay here with all your 
 people. That's the way all nations ought to live. — Telegram to Newspapers. 
 
 Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, thus said to Mas- 
 sasoit, the chief of the Narragansetts, when buying lands from his 
 tribe : — 
 
 Brother, I know that all these lands are thine, — 
 These rolling rivers and these waving trees, — 
 From the Great Spirit came the gift divine; 
 And who would trespass upon grants like these? 
 
 Durfee, Whatcheer, Canto iii. xxi. 
 Greatle. A great while. Long Island. 
 
 Greek. A sobriquet often applied to Irishmen, in jocular allusion 
 to their soi-disant Milesian origin. 
 
 In some of our Atlantic cities, the men of foreign birth, especially those in vul- 
 gar style called Greeks, constitute so nearly a majority that it is only theii' 
 ignorance that prevents the saying of Maro from being fulfilled, — 
 
 . . . Danai dominaiitur in urbe. 
 As it is, demagogues rule through them. — N. Y. Tribune, July 2, 1858. 
 
GRE 
 
 263 
 
 Greenback. Legal tender notes. The national paper-money cur- 
 rency of the United States, first issued on the breaking out of the 
 late civil war. The backs of notes so issued by the government, 
 and by the National banks, are printed in green, mainly for the 
 purpose of preventing alterations and counterfeits. The term green- 
 hacks was given these bills by the Hon. S. P. Chase, Secretary of 
 the Treasury, who devised and successfully carried out the great 
 financial plan which produced such favorable results to the coun- 
 try. Mr. Chase told the writer that he claimed the honor of adding 
 the term to our vocabulary. 
 
 Then came the war with its consequences. Large emissions of yreenbacic cur- 
 rency took the place of gold, and by its immense volume stimulated production. 
 — Medbery, Men and Mysteries of Wall Street, p. 8. 
 
 The greenbacks are popular ; the people have had a fresh taste of a paper cur- 
 rency that Avill pay debts and buy goods alike in New York and Nebraska. — 
 N. Y. Tribune, June 14. 1862. 
 
 The efforts made in Congress to extend the issue of legal tenders, 
 or greenbacks, rendered it necessary to convert the term into an adjec- 
 tive. Thus we have these examples of such use : — 
 
 Gold yesterday touched 108 7-8, a point below any scoring of the gold market 
 for several years. Let it go down, down, down, until the f/reenback promise of 
 a dollar shall purchase one hundred cents of value in gold coin. — N. Y. Tiibune, 
 Oct., 1876. 
 
 A direct tax and a lot of greenbacks, 
 
 Not backed b}' financial solidity. 
 Render useless, we 're told, copper, silver, and gold, 
 
 And redeem the exchequer's avidity. 
 
 Song from Vanity Fair. 
 
 Greenbackers. The supporters of greenback or paper money; also 
 called inflationists, as they are opposed to the resumption of specie 
 payments. 
 
 Some steps are being taken to secure after the State election a union of the 
 greenbackers and the Democrats on a fusion electoral ticket. — N. York Tribune, 
 Oct., 1876. 
 
 The " Albany Times " is striving to prevent the return of a.x\y greenback voters 
 to the Democratic fold. It says: "The Tildenites forget that tliey have no 
 claim whatever on a single greenback voter. . . . We don't see how any so- 
 called greenback advocate can vote for anybody except Mr. Cooper for Presi- 
 dent." — New York paper. 
 
 The Democratic press of Ohio is tr3Mng to seduce the Greenbackers back to the 
 Democratic fold, on the ground that there is every thing that the wanderer after a 
 softer currency can desire in the Democratic platform. — N. Y. Herald, Aug., 
 1877. 
 
 Greening. The Rhode Island greening is a favorite apple. 
 Green Mountain State. Tlie State of Vermont. 
 
264 GRI 
 
 Griddles. Cakes baked on a gi'iddle. Pennsylvania. 
 
 Griffin, Grifife. This word, like the French griffone^ is constantly used 
 in Louisiana, both in conversation and in print, for a mulatto, par- 
 ticularly the woman; probably in allusion to the fabulous griffin, 
 half eagle, half lion. 
 
 To grig. To vex, irritate. To grig means to pinch, in Somerset, 
 England. 
 
 That word " superiors " griyyed me. Thinks I, " My boy, I '11 just take that 
 expression, roll it up in a ball, and shy it back at you." — S. Slick, Human 
 Nature, p. 83. 
 
 Grist. A large number or quantity. 
 
 There 's an unaccountable yrist of bees, I can tell you; and, if you mean to 
 charge upon sich enemies, you must look out for somebody besides Whiskey 
 Centre for your vanguard. — Coojjer, The Oak Openinys. 
 
 I went down to the Squire's to have a talk with his daughter. There was a 
 ■whole yrist of fellows there. — N. Y. Sj/irit of the Times. 
 
 I says, sa^'S I, "Hannah, s'posin' we keep thanksgiving to home this year," 
 says I, "and invite all our hull yrist o' cousins and aunts and things, — go the 
 whole figure, and do the thing genteel." — McClintock's Tales. 
 
 Grit. Hard sandstone, employed for millstones, grindstones, pave- 
 ment, &c. And hence the word is often vulgarly used to mean 
 courage, spirit. See Clear Grit. 
 
 Mr. Whipple's subject was " Gj-jY," ... of which the lecturer said there was 
 defiance in the very sound. Grit was spirit and Avill thrust into heart and back- 
 bone, so as to form part of the physical substance of man. — iV. Y. Tribune, 
 Oct. 17, 1866. 
 
 The command of a battalion was given to Mr. Jones, a pretty decided Whig 
 in politics, and, like many other men of Zacchean stature, all yrit and spirit. — 
 N. Y. Com. Advertiser, June 24. 
 
 Honor and fame from no condition rise. It 's the yrit of a fellow that makes 
 the man. — Crockett, Tour, p. 44. 
 
 If he hadn't a had the clear ytit in him, and showed his teeth and claws, they 'd 
 a nullified him so you wouldn't see a grease spot of him no more. — Sam Slick in 
 Enyland, ch. 17. 
 
 The Hunters grew into a class in New England. They were a breed by them- 
 selves, a kind of cross between the Puritan and Indian, with all the yrit of the 
 one and lawless love of liberty of the other. — Elliott, New Enyland Histm^y, 
 Vol. I. p. 459. 
 
 I reckon the chaplain was the real yrit for a parson, — always d« 'in' as he 'd be 
 done by, and practisin' a darn'd sight more than he preached. — Traits of Amer- 
 ican Humor, Vol. I. 
 
 Gritting. Grating dry corn into coarse meal, a process much resorted 
 to by ^Northern soldiers in the late war. For this purpose, soldiers 
 ordinarily use tin plates. One of these is placed on a smooth stump 
 or a flat rail, and with his bayonet the soldier soon punches holes 
 
GRI— GRO 
 
 265 
 
 enough into it to make a coarse, grater. Rubbing the ear of corn 
 over this furnishes the industrious and persevering a fine parcel of 
 good, sweet, coarse meal, which makes a good pudding, an excel- 
 lent hoe cake, and a most inviting corn dodger. 
 
 Some use a piece of old stove-pipe, others a sheet of tin made 
 convex, and others again an old tin pan. The result, how^ever, to 
 the diligent is the same, — good, fresh corn-meal. 
 
 It was exceedingl}^ amusing to stand by the roadside and watch the division 
 march by. Men were (jrittiiKj on the caissons ; convalescents in the ambulances 
 were ffrittim/ ; the tender-footed and exhausted in the wagons, and the black, 
 yellow, and white faces in the ox-cart, — all, all Avere gritting. And the moment 
 " Halt and rest" was heard, down sat many and resumed gritting. Some car- 
 ried the gritter in their haversacks, others had it slung to their belts, and others 
 took turns in bearing forward the miniature mill. — N. Y. Paper, Extract from 
 a Soldier's Letter. 
 
 Gritty. Courageous; spirited. 
 
 My decided opinion is that there never was a grittyer crowd congregated on 
 that stream; and such dancin' and drinkin', and eatin' bar steaks and corn 
 dodgers, and huggin' the gals, don't happen but once in a fellow's lifetime. — 
 Eobb, Squatter Life, p. 106. 
 
 Groan. To give a groan in disapprobation of. 
 
 Yesterday they met, as agreed upon, and, after groaning the Ward Committee, 
 went to the mayor's office. — N. Y. Tribune, Dec. 19, 1861. 
 
 Grocery. A grocer's shop. In the plural, the commodities sold by- 
 grocers. 
 
 In the South-west, a grocery is a bar-room, and the term groceries 
 means liquors. The bar-keeper is often told to "fetch on his 
 groceries. ' ' 
 
 The grocery " —consisting of a whiskey barrel, six tin cups, two green glass 
 tumblers, a lot of pipes and tobacco — was in close proximity to the inn I was 
 in; and there the qualities of a very recent extraction of the corn, and of the fit- 
 ness of the candidates to receive the votes of the corned, was discussed in the 
 manner usual in such times and places. — N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 Every other house in Santa was a grocery, as they call a gin and whiskey 
 shop, continually disgorging reeling, drunken men, and everywhere filth and du't 
 triumphant. — Ituxton, Mexico and Rocky Mountains, p. 190. 
 
 Groggery. A place where spirituous liquors are sold and drank; a 
 grog-shop. In the West, often called a Doggery or Dog-hole; and 
 in New York, a Rum-hole ; elsewhere, a Rum-mill. 
 
 Ground Bridge. The well-known corduroy road of the South, laid on 
 the bed of a creek or other body of water, to render it fordable ; 
 while the hollow bridge is one that is thrown over the water. 
 
 Ground Cherry. {Physalis.) A wild fruit lately introduced into 
 our gardens and markets. Sometimes called Winter Cherry. 
 
266 
 
 GRO 
 
 Ground-Hog. See Woodchuck. 
 
 Ground-Hog Day. Candlemas (Feb. 2) is sometimes so designated 
 in the Middle and Western States, from a popular belief tliat the 
 appearance of the ground-hog on that day predicts a return of cold 
 weather and a late spring. In European folk-lore, the bear is the 
 Candlemas weather-prophet. (See Notes and Queries, June 2, 1855, 
 p. 421.) 
 
 Yesterday was ^^ground-hoy's day"' in many parts of the United States, and 
 Candlemas day in many other parts of the world. From time immenujrial, it has 
 been a critical day in the affairs of the weather. The character of the second of 
 February is really of much more importance than whether the first of March 
 comes in like a lion or a lamb. The simplest form of the adage is: — 
 
 If Candlemas day be bright and clear, 
 There '11 be two winters in that year. 
 
 In America, paying due deference to the creature's importance in our national 
 mythology, it is left to the ground-hog to decide the day, and so the fate of the 
 season. He is supposed to come out of his hole on that day, and take a look at 
 the world. If it is a bright day, he will see his shadow on the ground, and, taking 
 fright at it, will run back into his home and stay there. A fre^h attack of winter 
 will set in, and he will be justified in the steps he has taken. If it is cloudy, he 
 will cast no shadow, take no fright, and gives us no further attack of winter. 
 So far as we recollect yesterday, it was a day for the yround-hoy to maintain his 
 unterrified poise and assure us of an early spring. — Hartford Courant, Feb. 3, 
 1877. 
 
 Ground-Nut. {Arachis hypogmi.') The peanut. It buries its pods 
 under ground after flowering, to ripen its nuts. It is cultivated in 
 the West Indies and Southern States. 
 
 Ground-Peas. The peanut. Virginia. 
 
 Ground-Plum. {Astragalus caryocarpus.) A plant gi'owing on dry 
 soil on the Mississippi River at the junction of the St. Peter's, and 
 westward and southward. The fruit, which is a pod, closely resem- 
 bles a plum, whence its name. 
 
 Ground-Sluicing. Among gold-miners, the process of washing down 
 banks of earth by throwing upon them a stream of water from a 
 pipe or leathern hose. It is thus used as a substitute for shovelling, 
 to remove heavy layers of earth from places wrhere gold is supposed 
 to be deposited. 
 
 During our stay at Gold Hill, one of our party bought an interest in a company 
 of yround-sluicers, and, on our departure, sold out his share at an advance. — 
 Harper's May., Vol. XX. p. 612. 
 
 Ground-Squirrel. A name sometimes erroneously given to the striped 
 and spotted prairie squirrel {Spermophilus tredecimlineatus') . The 
 Chipmunk. 
 
GEO— GUA 
 
 267 
 
 There are notes of joy from the hang-bird and wren, 
 
 And the gossip of swallows through all the sky; 
 The ground-squirrel gaily chirps by his den, 
 And the wilding-bee hums merrily by. 
 
 The Gladness of Nature, W. C. Bryant. 
 Grounds. " Tobacco grounds,''^ " low grounds,'''' " corn grounds,'''' are 
 terms applied to lands in Virginia. They never use the term 
 " bottoms " or " bottom lands," which they call " low grounds.^'' 
 Group-Meeting. Held for a few days continuously, or under charge 
 of persons voluntarily associated, and serving each in rotation. 
 
 About thirty conversions have resulted from prayer and effort within the church, 
 aided by the influence of ^^group-meetings.'''' — RepH of Conference, Religious 
 Herald, Hartford. 
 Grouty. Cross, ill-natured. Northern. 
 
 Grubby. See Toad-Fish. Gruhhy and Grumpy. Massachusetts. 
 
 Grunter. 1. (Genus Pogonia^. Cuvier.) One of the popular names 
 of the fish called by naturalists the Banded Drum. It is common 
 to the Atlantic coast south of New York. Grunts and Young 
 Sheepskin are other names of the same fish. — Nat. Hist, of N. Y. 
 2. A hog; a pig. 
 
 Gruv. Grieved. " Gruv herself nearly to death. " — Emma Bartlett, 
 p. 186. 
 
 Guano. (Quichua, Jiuanu, the dung of birds.) A compound of the 
 excrements of sea-birds and the remains of penguins and other 
 water-fowls. According to Garcillasso de la Vega, it M-as exten- 
 sively used by the ancient Peruvians to manure their lands, for 
 which purpose it is now imported in large quantities into the Uni- 
 ted States and Europe. 
 
 The earliest mention of guano as a manure is found in Acosta's 
 Historia natural y moral de las Indias, first printed in Seville in 
 1590. In an English translation by E. G. (supposed to have been 
 Edward Grimestone), published in 1604, is the following at p. 311: 
 
 In some islands or phares, which are joyning to the coast of Peru, wee see the 
 toppes of the mountaines all white, and to sigiit you would take it for snow, or 
 for some white land : but they are heaps of dung of sea fowle, which go continu- 
 ally thither. . . . They go with boates to these ilands, onely for the dung; for 
 there is no other profit in them. And this dung is so commodious and profitable, 
 as it makes the earth yeelde great aboundance of fruite. They call this dung 
 guano, whereof the valley hath taken the name, which they call Limaguana, in 
 the valleys of Peru, where they use this dung, and it is the most fertile of all tiiat 
 countrie. ... So as these birds have not only the flesh to serve for meate, their 
 singing for recreation, their feathers for ornament and beautie, but alsoe their 
 dung serves to fatten the ground. 
 
 Guardeen, strongly accented on the last syllable, is often heard in 
 New EnQfland for guardian. 
 
268 
 
 GUA— GUE 
 
 Guava. (W. Ind. guaynha, guaiva.) Applied by the Spaniards, in- 
 differently, to the fruit of two nearly allied species of Psidium, — 
 the P. pomiferum and P. pyriferum. — Greenwood'' s Fruits of Cuba 
 {Bost. Jour. Nat. Hist.), Vol. II. pp. 237, 238. 
 
 There is another fruit [in Cuba] which they call Gunyabas, like Filberds, as 
 
 bigge as figges. — Hakluyt, Virginia Richly Valued (1609), ch. v. 
 
 John Hardie, in speaking of the fruits of Bermuda, says: — 
 Pomgranates, Gwavers, Papawes, Fig-trees too, 
 Whereof a Pleasant kind of Drink they brew. 
 
 Desc. of Last Voyage to Bermudas (1671), p. 10. 
 
 Gubernatorial. Pertaining to government or to a governor. — 
 W ebster. 
 
 To guess. 1. To conjecture; to judge without any certain principles 
 of judgment. 
 
 2. To conjecture rightly, or upon some just reason. — Johnson. 
 
 Yclothed was she, fresh for to devise ; 
 Her yellow hair was braided in a tress 
 Behind her back, a yard long I guess. — Chaucer's Heroine. 
 
 There hath be no default, I gesse. — Gower, Conf. Amantis (ed. Pauli), II. 
 11; comp. II. 59, 368; III. 180, noted by Prof. Child. 
 
 Incapable and shallow innocents ! 
 
 You cannot guess who caused your father's death. — ShaJcspeare. 
 
 One may guess by Plato's writings that his meaning as to the inferior deities 
 was, that they who would have them might, and they who would not might let 
 them alone ; but that himself had a right opinion concerning the true God. — 
 Stillingjieet. 
 
 We thus see that the legitimate, English sense of this word is to 
 conjecture ; but with us, and especially in New England, it is con- 
 stantly used in common conversation instead of to believe, to suppose, 
 to think, to imagine, to fancy. It is even used to make an emphatic 
 assertion; as, " Jem, wouldn't you like a julep to cool you off this 
 sultry morning? " "I guess I would! " From such examples as 
 the words to fix and to guess, it will be seen that, while on the one 
 hand we have a passion for coining new and unnecessary words and 
 often in a manner opposed to the analogies of the language, there is 
 on the other hand a tendency to banish from common use a number 
 of the most useful and classical English expressions, by forcing one 
 word to do duty for a host of others of somewhat similar meaning. 
 This latter practice is by far the more dangerous of the two ; because, 
 if not checked and guarded against in time, it will corrode the very 
 texture and substance of the language, and rob posterity of the 
 powder of appreciating and enjoying those masterpieces of literature 
 
GUI 
 
 ' 269 
 
 bequeathed to us by our forefathers, which form the richest inheri- 
 tance of all that speak the English tongue. 
 
 But the most common vulgar use of the word is when there is no 
 guessing, and where the statement made is known and beyond a 
 doubt. Thus a person in taking his departure from a* company 
 will take his hat and say, " Well, I guess I '11 go," when he knows 
 he is going. Again, a lady in shopping, after making her choice of 
 an article, will say, "I guess I'll take this." These expressions 
 are equivalent to " think," in which sense there is English authority, 
 both old and recent. 
 
 Mr. Richard Grant White, in a note on the passage from King 
 Richard III. (Act III. Sc. 4), "Well! as you guess,^' has the fol- 
 lowing remarks : — 
 
 *' If there be tvvo words for the use of which, more than any others, our Eng- 
 lish cousins twit us, they are ' weZ^,' as an interrogative exclamation, and ^ guess. ^ 
 Milton uses both, as Shakespear also frequently does, and exactly in the way in 
 which they are used in America; and here we have them both in half a line. 
 Like most of those words and phrases which it plt^ases John Bull to call Ameri- 
 canisms, they are English of the purest and best, which have lived here while 
 they have died out in the mother country." — ShaJcspeare's Scholar, p. 343. 
 
 (See remarks on the use of the word Well.) 
 
 In fact, this word has been used in England in every sense, in 
 which it is used by us, which can be established from Locke. For 
 example : — 
 
 1. If we can find out how far the understanding can extend its view, how 
 far it has faculties to attain certainty, in what cases it can only judge and guess, 
 we may learn how to content ourselves with what is attainable by us in this 
 state. — Locke, Essay on the Human Understanding, Book I. Ch. iv. Bohn's ed. 
 Vol. I. p. 130. 
 
 2. This readiness of extension to make itself be taken notice of so constantly 
 with other ideas has been the occasion, I guess, that some have made the whole 
 essence of body to consist in that extension. — Ibid., Book II. Ch. xiii. p. 25. 
 
 3. This appearance of theirs in train, though perhaps it may be sometimes 
 faster and sometimes slower, yet, I guess, varies not much in a waking man, &c. 
 Ibid., Book II. Ch. xiv. Vol. L p. 305. 
 
 Guider. A guidon ; a small flag. 
 
 One thousand pikes or spears, each marked with a miniature rebel flag, a 
 number of small flags for guiders, ammunition, shot, shell, and various other 
 articles. — iV. Y. Herald, March 17, 1862, Letter from Nashville. 
 
 Guinea Corn. (Holcus sorghum.) Egyptian millet, Durrah of the 
 Arabs, a plant with a stalk of the size and appearance of maize. 
 The grain grows in a single pendant bunch at the top, like the 
 broom-corn. 
 
 Guinea Grass. A species of grass cultivated in the West Indies, used 
 as fodder for horses. — CarmichaeVs West Indies. 
 
270 
 
 GUI— GUM 
 
 Gu iiea Keet or simply Keet. A name given in some localities to 
 
 the guinea fowl, and probably derived from its ciy. 
 Gulch. A deep ravine, caused by the action of water. California. 
 
 The word (julch. which is in general use here, may not be familiar to your ears; 
 though its sound somewhat expresses its meaning, without furtiier definition. 
 It denotes a mountain ravine, dittering from ravines elsewhere, as the mountains 
 of California differ from all others, more sleep, abrupt, and inaccessible. The 
 sound of (/nlch is like that of a sudden plunge into a deep hole, which is just the 
 character of the thing itself. It bears the same relation to a ravine that a caf on 
 does to a pass or gorge. —Bayard Taylor's Letters from California^ Sept., 1849. 
 
 Gulch-Mining. The same as placei-mining; the simplest method of 
 taking gold from the earth. The gold-croppings of rich leads in the 
 mountain-cliffs are w^ashed into the ravines or gulches, where 
 its existence is easily ascertained by the simplest implements; a 
 spade, a pick, and a pan of sheet-iron being all that are required. 
 The pan is half-filled with earth, and is then shaken. The gold 
 sinks to the bottom, while the loose earth escapes with the water. 
 
 The gulch-miners work their claims very imperfectly. It is deemed a safe 
 calculation that they leave quite as much in the earth as they extract ; and more 
 systematic men with heavy capital follow, buy up the abandoned claims, and 
 sometimes concentrate a whole gulch in one company. — McClure, Rocky Moun- 
 tains^ p. 345. 
 
 Gulf States. The States bordering on the Gulf of Mexico ; namely, 
 
 Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. 
 To gully. To wear a hollow channel in the earth. — Webster. This 
 conversion of the noun into a verb is an Americanism. " The roads 
 are much gidlied,^^ is a common expression. 
 Gully Plum. The fruit of the Spondia lutea. So called in Barbadoes. 
 Gum. 1. The name of many Southern trees. The Sour Gum and 
 Black Gum are species of Nyssa. The Sweet Gum, often called 
 simply Gum or Gum-tree, is Liquidamhar styraciflna. The trees of 
 this last species resemble the Hornbeam of the North. They grow 
 to a large size, and, in many instances, decay at the heart, leaving a 
 shell of some few inches in thickness. Hence, they are frequently 
 cut into convenient lengths, and, after due preparation, converted 
 into casks, beehives, &c. From this practice, beehives, though 
 made of boards, have come to be called bee-gums, and any thing like 
 casks or firkins for domestic use is called a gum. Southern. 
 What dat V What dat dis nigger's eyes 
 Displore, wid mighty big surprise, 
 
 Upon de gum-tree swingin' ? 
 It am de possum at his ease. 
 Rocked in de cradle ob de breeze, 
 
 And list'uin' to de singin'. — Negro Melody. 
 
GUM— GUN 
 
 271 
 
 2. India-rubber. Hence the plural Gums is often applied to 
 India-rubber shoes See Rubbers. 
 
 3. Large vessels or bins made from a hollow gum-tree. 
 Gumbo. See Gombo. 
 
 Gum Game. A trick; a dodge. Opossums and raccoons, when pur- 
 sued, will fly for refuge to the Sweet Gum tree, in preference to any 
 other. This tree is very tall, slim, smooth, and void of branches 
 except a tuft at the top, which is a place of security for any animal 
 expert enough to reach it. As they are hunted in the night, they 
 are, of course, beyond the reach of the hunter's penetrating eye at 
 the great height of the gum-tree. This is called " coming the gum 
 game " over the hunter. 
 
 Gum-Log. Log of a gum-tree. Southern. 
 
 To gum a Saw. To punch out the teeth of a saw, by means oi a 
 machine called a gummer. The phrase alludes to the growth of the 
 teeth from the gums. 
 
 Gummer. A machine for gumming saws. See To gum. 
 
 Gummo Limbo. (Bursea gummifera.) The largest of the Florida 
 trees, abounding in gum. 
 
 Gummy! An exclamation, used in New England. 
 
 " Gummy I'' retorted the woman. "He has been a talkin' about me, and a 
 runnin' me down." — Margaret, p. 137. 
 
 Gum-Sucking. A disgusting word, applied to the tendency of lovers, 
 young ones especially, to carry their innocent endearments to an 
 excess that displeases a third party. A friend informs me that he 
 first heard it at Princeton College, in 1854, and thinks it may be a 
 Jersey word. 
 
 Gumptious. One who has a good opinion of himself; a "knowing 
 one." "He 's a gumptious fellow," i. e. he's smart, clever. See 
 Bumptious. 
 
 Gunning. The term used in the Northern States for the act of going 
 out with a gun, to shoot game. At the South, the word hunting is 
 used. 
 
 The Americans were, however, mostly marksmen, having been accustomed to 
 yunning from their youth. — Hannah Adams, Hist, of New England. 
 
 Gunning a Stock is to use every art to produce a "break," when it 
 is known that a certain house is heavily supplied, and would be 
 unable to resist an attack. — Medberg, Men and Mgsteries of Wall 
 Street. 
 
 Gun-Stick. A ramrod. Western. 
 
272 
 
 GUR— HAD 
 
 Gurry. Among fishermen, and in commerce, the crude oil made from 
 
 the livers of cod and other fish, — or, rather, the livers themselves, 
 in a state of decomposition, with the oil that has been tried out from 
 them by the sun's heat. It is used by tanners, and for various 
 purposes. 
 
 The fisherman dips a bucket of fresh water from the spring, and, washing the 
 gurry from his hands and face, starts for home. — Peter GoU, the Fisherman. 
 
 Gush. A great abundance. A Texan would say, " We have got a 
 
 gush of peaches in our neck of the woods." 
 Gutter-Snipes. A Wall Street term for brokers who do business 
 
 chiefly on the sidewalk or in the street, and who are not members 
 
 of the Stock Exchange. They are also known as Curbstone Brokers, 
 
 which see. 
 
 A recent ordinance by the Board of Aldermen makes gutter-sniping a misde- 
 meanor, and charges are to be made against the captains of precincts where the 
 offence was committed for neglect of duty. — N. Y. Herald. 
 
 H. 
 
 Habitan. (French.) A term applied to what, in English, is called a 
 yeoman; ^. e., a small country proprietor. Canada and Louisiana. 
 
 My coachman was a habitan^ and I had a fine opportunity of studying the con- 
 flicting traits of character which distinguish the race. — Lanman's Tour to the 
 Saguenay. 
 
 At Lake Megantic, General Arnold met an emissary' whom he had sent in advance 
 to ascertain the feelings of the hahitans, or French yeomanrs'. — Irving' s Life of 
 Washington, Vol. II. p. 96. 
 
 Hackberry. (Celtis occidentalis.) A small or middle-sized tree, with 
 sweet and edible fruits as large as bird-cherries, and which makes 
 good firewood. It is also called Sugar Berry. 
 
 Hackee. A name given, in some of the Eastern States, to the Chip- 
 munk. 
 
 Hackmatack. The American larch, or Tamarack {Larix Americana), 
 This tree abounds in the North-eastern States and British America. 
 It is a hard, strong, and durable wood, is frequently used in ship- 
 building, while the houses of the settlers are almost entirely con- 
 structed of it. The name is probably of Indian origin. 
 
 Had have. This astonishing combination of auxiliaries is often used 
 by speakers and writers who should know better. 
 Had we have knoAvn this. — Nott, on Hamilton's Duel. 
 
 Hadn't oughter, i. e. had not ought to, for "ought not to." A com- 
 mon vulgarism iu New England. See Ought. 
 
HAI— HAM 
 
 273 
 
 Indulging so in thoughts of death and slaughter, 
 Of course, my friend, you know you hadn't orter. 
 
 Leland, Meister Karl's Sketch-Book, p. 266. 
 If anybody thinks they are happier and freer from care without bein' married, 
 nobody compels 'em to be married; but if they are, they hadn't ouyht to want to 
 be married and single at the same time, it 's onreasonabie. — Betsy Bobhet, p. 198. 
 
 To hail from. A phrase probably originating with seamen or boat- 
 men, and meaning to come from, to belong to; as, " He hails from 
 Kentucky; " i. e., he is a native of Kentucky, or lives in Kentucky. 
 
 Hake. In New England and along the Atlantic coast, the name 
 applied to the Phycis AmericanuSy or "Codling" (Mitchell). In 
 Massachusetts, the fishermen call this species " Old English Hake," 
 or, as it is generally pronounced, " Hawk." The European Hake 
 (Merlucius vulgaris, Flem.) is known to fishermen in New England 
 as the Whiting. 
 
 Half-baked. A term applied to a silly or unsophisticated person. 
 
 Half-Cock. "To go off at half-cock is a metaphorical expression 
 borrowed from the language of sportsmen, and is applied to a per- 
 son who attempts a thing in a hurry without due preparation, and 
 consequently fails. 
 
 Mr. Clayton of Georgia is a fine speaker ; he is always ready, and never goes 
 off half-cock. — Crockett., Tour down East. 
 
 Half-faced Camp. A shelter of the frontiersmen of the South of the 
 last generation, and perhaps of the present. They are sometimes 
 open on the south side, whence the name. 
 
 You may talk about your reunions, your soirees, and all that the world calls 
 social refinement; but for true-hearted benevolence, void of parade, commend me 
 to a hunting-party in a half-faced camp. — The Americans at Home, Vol. I. p. 95. 
 
 Half-saved. Half-witted. Provincial in Herefordshire, England, 
 and in New England. 
 
 Half-Widow. A woman who has a shiftless husband. New Eng- 
 land and New York. 
 
 Hammock. (Carib. amaca, Sp. jamaca, pron. hammdca.) 1. A 
 swinging-bed. This word, now in such general use, especially 
 among seamen, and the etymology of which has been so much dis- 
 puted, is undoubtedly of West Indian origin. 
 
 Cotton for the making of hamacas, which are Indian beds. — Ealeic/h, Disc, of 
 Guiana, 1596. 
 
 The Brazilians call their beds hamacas; they are a sheet laced at both ends, 
 and so they sit rocking themselves in them. — Sir R. Ilaiokins, Voy. to South 
 Sea. 
 
 2. "A piece of ground thickly wooded, whether a prairie or a 
 hill, and distinguished from the open oak and hickory land, or the 
 
 18 
 
274 
 
 HAN 
 
 immense forests of thinly scattered pines, which with few excep- 
 tions cover the whole face of the country. The word has been con- 
 founded with hummocks^ used by marines to designate the knolls, or 
 small elev^1tions, along the coast." — North American Rev., April, 
 1828, p. 48G. See Hummock. 
 
 Although the largest portion of the country is covered with pine barrens, and 
 much of it extremely poor, yet there is also much upland, interval, and hammock 
 land, of the most excellent quality. . . . The borders of the watercourses, as 
 well as the hammocks, are covered with thick woods of hard timber, tangled with 
 innumerable vines. — Williams's View of E. Florida (1827), p. 6. 
 
 The hammock land, so called from its appearing in tufts among lofty pines, . . . 
 has a very romantic appearance — Romans's FloHda, p. 17. 
 
 Hand. An adept or proficient in any thing; one who is fond of any 
 thing. 
 
 It is a wonder to me how some folks can content themselves doin' nothin' ; I 
 never could. I must be doin' something, or I should gape myself to death. I 'm 
 a great hand to gape : why, afore now I 've gaped so much on Sunday's that my 
 mouth wouldn't stay shut for a week after. — Yankee IliWs Stories. 
 
 "Take a pickle, Mr. Crane," said the Widow Bedott. "I'm glad you like 
 pickles, — they 're a delightful beverage. Melissa never eats 'em, — she ain't no 
 pickle hand.'" — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 71. 
 
 Hand-Dog. A fire dog; an andiron. New England. 
 
 Hand-Glasses. Eye-glasses; spectacles. Fancy hand-glasses are ad- 
 vertised for sale in New York. 
 
 Hand Running. Consecutively; as, " He can hit the bull's eye at 
 fifty paces ten times hand running.''^ So too in the north of Eng- 
 land. 
 
 To handle. 1. To manage; to overcome an opponent, particularly 
 in wrestling. Ex. : " You can't handle him." 
 
 2. To trouble; to distress; as, " How the disease handled him." 
 Connecticut. 
 
 Hand-Shake. The shaking of hands. " The warm hand-shake, the 
 cordial word." — 7'he Congregationalist. 
 
 Handsome. To do the handsome thing is to be generous, particularly 
 in returning a favor; to be very polite. 
 
 When a feller has just given me a snug travellin' job onasked, and done the 
 handsome thing, it ain't any great return to make to let him put in his oar some- 
 times. — Sam Slick, Wise Saws, p. 30. 
 
 Handwrite, for handwriting, a common barbarism at the South; as, 
 
 " I can't read his handwrite.^^ 
 Hang. " To get the hang of a thing " is to get the knack, or habitual 
 
 facility, of doing it well; also, to get acquainted with. To hang a 
 
HAN— HAP 
 
 275 
 
 scythe is to fasten the blade to the handle ; and so to hang an axe, 
 a hoe, or other implement. Every workman hangs his scythe to 
 suit himself; and cannot, at once, easily use that of another mower, 
 which is differently hung. In the exchange of tools or implements, 
 some time is required for " getting the hang " of each, in the hands 
 of a new possessor. 
 
 If ever you must have an indifferent teacher for your children, let it be after 
 they have got a fair start and have acquired the hang of the tools for themselves. 
 Prime, Hist, of Lo,og Island, p. 82. 
 
 He had been in pursuit of the science of money-making all his life, but could 
 never get the hang of it. — Pickings from the Picayune. 
 
 Suggs lost his money and his horse, but then he hadn't got the hang of the 
 game. — Simon Suggs, p. 44. 
 
 "Well, now, I can tell you that the sheriffs are the easiest men for you to get 
 the hang of, among all the public officers. — Greene on Gambling. 
 
 To hang. To stick fast, come to a stand-still; as, the jury hung, and 
 " the man got a new trial." Probably borrov^^ed from the sports- 
 man's term " to hang fire," said of a gun which does not go off at 
 once. 
 
 To hang around. To loiter about. The English expression is to 
 hang about. 
 
 Every time I come up from Louisiana, I found Jess hnngin'' round that gal, 
 lookin' awful sweet, and a fellow couldn't go near her Avithout raisin' his dander. 
 Robb, Squatter Life. 
 
 To hang out. To reside. " He hangs out at Chicago." Western. 
 
 I 'm going to look out for that crowd myself; they need somebody to preach 
 to them wherever he can catch them, and I know where they hang out. — The 
 Barton Expeiiment, p. 29. 
 
 To hang up one's Fiddle. To desist; to give up. 
 
 When a man loses his temper and ain't cool, he might as well hang up his fiddle. 
 Sam Slick. 
 
 If a man at forty-two is not in a fair way to get his share of the world's spoils, 
 he might as well hong up his fiddle, and be content to dig his way through life 
 as best he may. — Daw's Sermons, p. 78. 
 
 Hannahill and Black Harry. Popular names for the Black Sea Bass 
 (Centropristes nigricans) . One of the most savory and delicate of 
 fishes which appear in our markets from May to July. — DeKaij, 
 Fishes of New York, p. 25. 
 
 To happen in. To happen to call in ; to go or come in accidentally. 
 
 Happening into the Suffolk jail on a business errand, we were somewhat star- 
 tled by hearing our name familiarly called from a prisoner's cell, &c. — Boston 
 Bee, Feb., 18.55. 
 
 To happify. To make happy. This mongrel barbarism, according to 
 Mr. Pickering, is sometimes heard in our pulpits. 
 
276 
 
 IIAP— HAR 
 
 Happy as a Clam is a common simile in New England, sometimes 
 
 enlarged to " happy as a clam at high-water." 
 
 Inglorious friend! most confident I am 
 
 Tiiy life is one of very little ease; 
 
 Albeit men mock thee with their similes, 
 And prate of being happy as a clam. — Saxe, Sonnet to a Clam. 
 
 The poor peasant who satisfies his hunger with submission and salt pork, peni- 
 tence, and potatoes, is as sound as a live oak corporeally, and as hnpipy as a clam 
 at high-water. — Dow's Sermons. 
 
 Happifying. Making happy. 
 
 I feel myself Providence has reposed in me a high and responsible trust, iu 
 guidin', governin', advancing and hapjnfyin'' this great nation. — Sam Slick, 
 Wise Saws, p. 33. 
 
 Harbor-Police. Policemen whose special duty is to prevent roguery 
 in or near the shipping, New York. 
 
 Hard Case. A worthless, dissipated fellow; a drunkard. 
 
 Hard Coal. Anthracite coal, so called to distinguish it from bitumi- 
 nous coal, which is called soft coal. 
 
 Since the introduction of hai-d coal, the infernal regions have become greatly 
 enlarged, so that they can now uncomfortably accommodate the whole human 
 race, whither they all appear to be bound, for a certainty. — Dow^s Sermons, 
 Vol. III. p. 112. 
 
 Hardback. (Splrcea tomentom.) The popular name of a well-known 
 and common plant in pastures and low grounds. It is celebrated 
 for its astringent properties. 
 
 She made a nosegay of mountain-laurel leaves, red cedar with blueberries, and 
 a bunch of the white hardhack, a cream-like flower. — Margaret, p 206. 
 
 Hard Head. A fish of the herring species, the menhaden; so called 
 
 in the State of Maine. See Menhaden. 
 Hard Pan. In geology, the hard stratum of earth that lies below the 
 
 soil, through which water cannot penetrate; and, figm-atively, a firm 
 
 and solid foundation ; the bottom. 
 
 [Granite soils] when underlaid by a hard pan of clay, bog iron, or hard gravel, 
 cemented together water-tight, they are capable of retaining soluble manures, 
 and may be rendered fertile. — Jackson, Geology of Rhode Island, p. 126. 
 
 The immense friction [caused by getting money] rubs away a vast deal of 
 fribbling honest}', small prejudices, super-niceties of conscience. Hard pan is 
 soon reached, and both Old World and New are full of hard-pan capitalists. — 
 Medbery, Men and Mysteries of Wall Street, p. 212. 
 
 The Chamber of Commerce denounces the Naval Office as a costly annoyance, 
 which demonstrates a fiendish persistence of endeavor on the part of the mer- 
 chants of the port to reduce Custom-house methods to a hard-pan business basis. 
 N. Y. Tribune, June, 18T7. 
 
HAR 
 
 277 
 
 The people hegin to ask what they are to gain by voting for the partisan can- 
 didates. Politics are, like other things, coming down to hard pan. — iV. Y. Her- 
 ald, July 17, 1877. 
 
 Hard-pushed. Hard pressed, in a difficulty; and especially as a mer- 
 cantile phrase, hard pressed for money, short of cash. 
 
 As I said, at the end of six months we began to be hard-pushed. Our credit, 
 however, was still fair. — Perils of Pearl Street, p. 123, 
 
 A Hard Row to hoe. A metaphor derived from hoeing corn, mean- 
 ing a difficult matter or Job to accomplish. 
 
 Gentlemen, I never opposed Andrew Jackson for the sake of popularity. I 
 knew it was a hard row to hoe ; but I stood up to the rack, considering it a duty 
 I owed to the country that governed me. — Crockett's Speech, Tour down East, 
 p. 69. 
 
 Hard Run. To be hard pressed; and especially to be in want ot 
 money. The same as hard-pmJied. 
 
 We knew the Tammany party were hard run ; but we did not know it was 
 reduced to the necessity of stealing the principles of Nativism. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 Nov. 1, 1845. 
 
 Hardshell Baptists. The name of a sect of Baptists in the Southern 
 States, known as those of the straight-laced order; while those of 
 liberal views are called " Softshell Baptists." 
 
 We had a variety of passengers in the stage to Milledgeville. There was an 
 old gentleman in black, a dandy gambler, an old Hardshell preacher, as they call 
 them in Georgia, with the biggest mouth I ever seed, a circus clown, a cross old 
 maid, a beautiful young lady, &c. — N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 In a debate in the House of Representatives, in 18.57, Mr. Elliott, 
 of Kentucky, in nominating the Rev. John Morris for chaplain, 
 said: — 
 
 Mr. Morris is a regular member of the Hardshell Baptist Church, a ver}' pious 
 man, not of very eminent ability, but just the man to pray for such a crowd as 
 this. 
 
 A writer in the " Providence Journal," May 5, 1877, thus de- 
 scribes the Rev. Joseph Cook : — 
 
 He is a large man with florid countenance, brown hair, ... a large mouth, a 
 full, husky, explosive voice, used imperfectly, often in a sing-song tone, like a 
 hardshell Baptist" preacher, yet powerful. 
 
 Hardshell Democrats; also called *' Hardshells," and again abbre- 
 viated Into "Hards." The name of a political party, of which 
 the following history is given by the "New York Tribune" of 
 April 2, 18.53 : — 
 
 These terms date from the efforts made to reunite the Cass and 
 Van Buren democracy of 1848, who were known as Hunkers and 
 Barnburners. Some difficulty attended this reunion, which gave 
 
278 
 
 HAR— HAS 
 
 rise to the use of the new political epithets. The difference between 
 a Tlardshell and a Sof/shell is this : one favors the execution of the 
 Fu_fjitive Slave Law and goes for a distribution of the offices among 
 the Nationals, while the other is a loud stickler for Union and Har- 
 mony. The Hards embrace the Cass Hunkers of 1848, of the 
 National school of politics; while the Softs are composed of the 
 remnants of the Van Buren and Adams party of 1848, and such 
 Hunkers as Secretary Marcy and Governor Seymour. 
 
 Hard Tack. Dry biscuit, in seamen's or soldiers' rations. The term 
 is to be found in almost every letter from the army during the late 
 war. 
 
 Hard up. In straits for want of money; short of funds; pressed; per- 
 plexed. Not peculiar to the United States. A correspondent of the 
 "New York Post" desires to know the author of the following 
 pathetic poem : — 
 
 IIn7'd was he tip ; 
 
 And in the hardness of his upness 
 
 Stole a ham. 
 
 Down on him swooped, 
 
 And, swooping, up him scooped. 
 
 The minions of the Uiw. 
 
 Hard Wood, A term applied to woods of solid texture that soon 
 decay, including generally beech, birch, maple, ash, &c. Used by 
 shipwrights and farmers in Maine, in opposition to oak and pine. 
 In the South and West, it is opposed to " light wood." 
 
 Harm, adj. " He never said a harm word against you." Georgia. 
 
 Harness-Cask. A conical cask bound with iron hoops, from which 
 salt meat is served out at sea. The cask is usually painted green 
 and the hoops black: the resemblance of the latter to the black 
 leathern straps of harness, or the way by which the cask is fastened 
 to the deck, has probably given rise to the name. 
 
 Harsel Stuff. The children's dictionaries of the last centuiy gave 
 this as a pronunciation of Household Stiijf, to be avoided. The late 
 Edward Everett said his mother always used the term. 
 
 Harvest Lice. A species of Bidens whose seeds (fruit) adhere to the 
 clothes. See Beggar-Ticks. 
 
 Hasty Pudding. Indian meal stirred into boiling water until it 
 becomes a thick batter or pudding, and eaten with milk, butter, and 
 sugar or molasses. In Pennsylvania and some other States it is 
 called mush ; in New York, suppai.cn. Joel Barlow wrote a poem on 
 the subject, in which he thus accounts for its name: — 
 
HAT 
 
 270 
 
 Thy name is Hasty Pudding ! thus our sires 
 Were wont to greet thee fuming from their fires ; 
 And while they argued in thy just defence, 
 With logic clear they thus explained the sense : 
 " In haste the boiling caldron o'er the blaze 
 Receives and cooks the ready-powdered maize; 
 In haste I'th serv'd; and then in equal haste, 
 With cooling milk, we make the sweet repast." 
 Such is thy name, significant and clear, 
 A name, a sound to every Yankee dear. — Canto 1. 
 
 Father and I went down to camp. 
 Along wi' Captain Goodin, 
 
 And there we see the men and boys, 
 As thick as hasty puddin.'' — Sony, Yankee Doodle. 
 
 Hasty pudding, or " hasty puddish," has long been eaten in Eng- 
 land, where it is made of milk and oatmeal. Mr. Greave, in his 
 Spiritual Quixote, printed in London, in 1773, says: " There is a 
 certain farinaceous composition, which, from its being frequently 
 used by our ancestors as an extempore supplement to a scanty din- 
 ner, has obtained the appellation of a hasty pudding. It is com- 
 posed of milk and flour boiled together." We find it again 
 mentioned in the "European Magazine" for March, 1796, in an 
 "Epitaph," sent as a hint to a water-drinker : — 
 
 Here lies Ned Rand, who on a sudden 
 
 Left off roast beef for hasty pudding ; 
 
 Forsook old Stingo mild and stale. 
 
 And every drink, for Adam's ale. 
 
 Hat. Our Northern women have almost discarded the word bonnet, 
 except in " sun-bonnet,''^ and use the term Tiat instead. A like fate 
 has befallen the word gown, for which both they and their Southern 
 sisters commonly use froch or dress. 
 
 Hatchet. 1. A consideration or bribe received by the customs offi- 
 cers in New York for permitting imported dutiable goods to remain 
 on the wharf, when they ought to go to the general storehouse. See 
 Bone. 
 
 2. '■'•To bury the hatchet "is to make peace. A phrase alluding 
 to the Indian ceremony of burying the war-hatchet, or tomahawk, 
 when making a peace. See Tomahawk. 
 
 They smoked the pipe of peace together, and the colonel claimed the credit of 
 having, by his diplomacy, persuaded the sachem to bary the hatchet. — Irving' s 
 Washington, Vol. I. p. 361. 
 
 At a council of the Iroquois (1684), in reply to the speech of La 
 Barre, the French commander-in-chief said : — 
 
 I thank you for bringing back the calumet of peace, . . . and I give you joy 
 that you have not dug up the hatchet which has been so often buried with the 
 
280 
 
 HAT— IIAZ 
 
 blood of your countrvmen. — Parkman^ Count Frontenac and New France^ 
 p. 108. 
 
 Buried was the bloody hatchet, 
 Buried was the dreadful war-club ; 
 Buried were all warlike weapons, 
 And the war-cry was forgotten ; 
 There was peace among all nations. 
 
 Lonf/fellow, Hiawatha, XIII. 
 
 So "to take up the hatchet is to declare war; to commence 
 hostilities. 
 
 Shingis, sachem of the Delawares, was one of the greatest warriors of his tribe, 
 and took up the hatchet'^ at various times against the English. — Irving, Life 
 of Washington, Vol. I. p. 78. 
 
 Hate. A bit; as, "I don't care a hate.''^ I didn't eat a hate.''^ " I 
 
 didn't get a hate.^^ It is the Scotch haet, as in the phrase, "fient 
 
 a haet^^^ i. e. the devil a bit. 
 To have. To coop up; to find or put into a position that gives a 
 
 strong hope of receiving, conquering, &c. 
 
 Don Piatt, in a letter from the seat of war to the " New York 
 
 Tribune," of Dec. 30, 1861, says : — 
 
 We had Floyd. We had his six thousand men from Georgia, Tennessee, &c., 
 the flower of the rebel army. We had his artiller}', his horses, his contrabands, 
 bis every thing. . . . At the trying moment. General Benham foiled us, . . .and 
 our fond dreams melted into thin air. 
 
 Haw-haw. To laugh heartily. 
 
 I sat down in front of the General, and we haw-haw''d, I tell you, for more 
 than half an hour. — Major Downing's Letters, p. 189. 
 
 He burst out a larfin', and staggered over to the sophy, and laid down and 
 haiv-hawed like thunder. — Sam Slick, 3d Ser., eh. 7. 
 
 Hawk-Eye State. The State of Iowa. It is said to be so named after 
 an Indian chief who was once a terror to voyageurs to its borders. 
 
 Hawkins's Whetstone. Rum; in derision of one Hawkins, a well- 
 known temperance-lecturer. 
 
 Hay Barrack. (Dutch, hooi-herg, a hay-rick.) A straw-thatched 
 roof, supported by four posts, capable of being raised or lowered at 
 pleasure, under which hay is kept. A term peculiar to the State of 
 New York. 
 
 To haze. 1. To riot, frolic. 
 
 W. had been drinking, and was hazing about the street at night, acting some- 
 what suspiciously or strangely [when the officer arrested him]. — N. Y. Com. 
 Adv., Dec 2, 1848. 
 
 I wish to all-fired smash I was to home, doin' chores about house, or hazin' 
 round with Charity Bunker and the rest o' the gals at a squantum. — Wise, 
 Tales for the Marines. 
 
HE— HEA 
 
 281 
 
 2. To urge or drive, especially with work; to harass. A seaman's 
 term. 
 
 Mack was ver}-- dull at learning any thing connected with sea-life, and made a 
 clumsy sailor. The captain disliked him, and continually liazed him for his awk- 
 wardness. — Broicnt''s Whaling Cruise, p. 187. 
 
 The surest way to make a man worthless and indifferent to the success of the 
 voyage is to haze him, and find fault with him when he does his duty to the best 
 of his ability. — Ibid., p. 90. 
 
 This term is used to express the treatment which Freshmen 
 sometimes receive from the higher classes, and especially from the 
 Sophomores. 
 
 Freshmen have got quietly settled down to work, — Sophs have given up their 
 hazing. — Williams Quarterly, Vol. II. p. 285. 
 
 We are glad to be able to read that the absurd and barbarous custom of hazing, 
 which has long prevailed in the college, is, to a great degree, discontinued. — 
 Harvard Magazine, Vol. I. p. 413. 
 
 He. Used almost exclusively by some wives in Massachusetts and 
 Connecticut when speaking of their husbands, instead of employing 
 his name, or his relation to themselves. 
 
 Head-Cheese. Scraps of the head and feet of swine cut up fine, and, 
 after being boiled, pressed into the form of a cheese. Also called 
 souce. In Maryland, it is always called " hogshead cheese." 
 
 Header. (In carpentry.) A joist, New York. In England, a trim- 
 mer or trimmer-beam. 
 
 Head-Rights. Grants of land made by Texas to the heads of families, 
 under the colonization laws, in order to promote emigration. 
 
 So much of the vacant lands of the republic shall be surveyed and sectionized, 
 in tracts of six hundred and forty, and three hundred and twenty acres each, as 
 will be sufficient to satisf}'^ all claims for scrip sold, soldiers' claims, and head- 
 rights. — Laws of Texas, Nov., 1828. 
 
 Headstall. A knitted worsted cap, covering all the head but the 
 face, worn by boys in winter. 
 
 Heap. A great many; a crowd; a great deal; much. So used at the 
 South and West. A correspondent of the " Commercial Advertiser " 
 thus notices the various uses of this word at the South: " Heap is a 
 most prolific word in the Carolinas and Georgia among the common 
 people, and, with children at least, in the best-regulated families. 
 ' How did you like Mr. Smith ? ' I ask. ' Oh ! I liked him a heap,' 
 will be the answer, if affirmative, in five cases out of six. It is synony- 
 mous with a majority, or a great many; as, ' We should have plenty 
 of peaches, but a heap of them were killed by the frost. ' It is synony- 
 mous even with very: as, ' I heard him preach a heap often; ' ' Ohl 
 
282 
 
 IIEA— IIEF 
 
 I 'm lazy a heap.'' " A friend in Boston informs me he has heard 
 the word intensified into heupdyht ! It is also an English vulgarism, 
 except in the adverbial sense. 
 
 To go to church in New York in any kind of tolerable style costs a heap a-year. 
 I know very well the reason why a majority of you go to Beelzebub is because 
 you can't afford to co to U»!avef: at the present exorbitant prices. — i>ow'» 
 Ser7none. 
 
 I was not idle, for I had a heap of talk with the folks in the house. — Crockett, 
 Tour, p. 87. 
 
 Baltimore used to be called Mob-toAvn; but they are a heap better now, and 
 are more orderly than some of their neighbors. — Jbid., p. 13. 
 
 Hearn, for heard. 
 
 I beg leave to suggest to you that the Tinnecum people don't care much about 
 the elements of music, of which they 've hearn tell these two hundred years. — 
 Knickerbocker May., Vol. XVII. p. 37. 
 
 Hear to. To permit; to receive favorably; to give consent. Familiar 
 in some parts of Connecticut, &c. 
 
 Mrs. Ladd told her there was not a word of truth in the story that Woodward 
 had been endeavoring to court Hannah, but they [Mr. and Mrs. L.] would not 
 hear to it. — Powers' s Hist, of the Coos Country, p. 69. 
 
 Hearty as a Buck. A hunter's phrase, now in very common use. 
 
 Well, how d' 3-e do, any how ? 
 
 So, so, middlin'. I 'm hearty as a buck, but can't jump jest so high. — Crockett, 
 Tour, p. 8. 
 
 Heater Piece. A gore or triangular piece of land, so called, probably, 
 from a flat-iron, the form of which it resembles. New England. 
 
 To heave. To throw. " I heaved a stone at him." 
 
 Heavy. Large, &c. " Altering a bond from a small to a heacy 
 amount. ' ' 
 
 A heavy ice in the straits of the Western lakes yet. — Boston Journal. 
 There was a heavy failure in Wall Street yesterday. — N. Y. papers. 
 
 Heeler. A hanger-on, w^aiting, as Micawber would say, for some- 
 thing to turn up; as a political appointment, or a government 
 contract. 
 
 In speaking of the appointment by President Grant of Wirt Sykes 
 as consul to Florence, the " N. Y. Herald " says: — 
 
 Wirt Sykes as a journalist wou'.d make as good a consul as Wirt Sykes the poli- 
 tician, who has been a heeler about the capital, or Wirt Sykes the arm}' bummer. 
 
 Heft. 1. Weight; ponderousness. A colloquial term common to some 
 parts of England and the Northern States. 
 
 "Wal, now, just think on 't," said the [slave] trader; "just look at them 
 limbs, — broad-chested, strong as a horse. Look at his head; them high forrads 
 al'ays shows calcu.atin' niggers, that '11 do any thing. Now, a nigger of that ar 
 
HEF— HEL 
 
 283 
 
 heft and build is considerable, even supposin' he 's stupid." — Mrs. Stowe, Uncle 
 Tvm''s Cabin, p. 128. 
 
 2. Mr. Pickering says: "This noun is also used colloquially in 
 America to signify the greater part or bulk of any thing, in expres- 
 sions of this kind: ' A part of the crop was good, but the heft of it 
 was bad.' " 
 
 We suppose the plan of Mr. Benton is to connect the Continental Railroad 
 with the line of communication by the great lakes, thus throwing the heft of the 
 Pacific trade across the continent into the port of New York. — N. Y. Herald, 
 Feb. 5, 1849. 
 
 My grief ! 'twas perfectly astonishin' to me that one mortal body could hold 
 as much as the doctor put in. No wonder he 's so fat: they say he gets the heft 
 of his livin' by contrivin' to get to one patient's house jest as dinner 's ready, to 
 another at tea time, and so on. — F. M. Whicher, Account of a Donativii Party, 
 p 262. 
 
 Mr. MagAvire carries on the shoeniaking business quite extensive, and he 's to 
 his shop the heft of his time. — Widow Bedott Pajpers, p. 100. 
 
 To heft. To try the weight of any thing by lifting it Local in Eng- 
 land, and colloquial in the United States. — Worcester. 
 
 I remember the great hog up in Danwich, that hefted nigh twenty score. — 
 Margaret, p. 111. 
 
 Hefty. Heavy. 
 
 Held. Billiard players say, " I held the ball," instead of I holed it. 
 See Found. 
 
 Hell-Bender. (Menopoma Alleghaniensis.) 1. An animal allied to the 
 salamander. — Nat. Hist. New York. 
 
 2. Often used as a qualitative noun. " Jack has been on a per- 
 fect hell-bender of a spree." 
 Hell-Diver. See Dipper. 
 Hell- Hound. An iron-clad gunboat. 
 
 "One of our hell-hounds^^ (as the rebel prisoners call our gunboats). — N. Y. 
 Herald, Feb. 25, 18G2. 
 
 Hell's Mint. An immense quantity. Tennessee. 
 Hellyum or Hellion. " He 's a perfect hellyum at billiards." 
 Help. The common name, in New England, for servants, and for 
 the operatives in a cotton or woollen factory; a term long in use, and 
 evidently brought from England. 
 
 It is ordered that James Penn shall liave twenty shillings, to be divided among 
 such of his servants and helps as have been employed about y" attendance of 
 y* court, &c. — Massachusetts Colonial Records, 1645, Vol. II. p. 139. 
 
 " I hain't kept no gal since Melissy was big enough to aid me," said the Widow 
 Bedott. " I think helpsmor^ plague than profit." — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 76. 
 
 I always want the kitchen help to do things as I want to have them done. — 
 New Enyland Tales. 
 
284 
 
 HEN— HIC 
 
 Hen-Hawk. (Falco lineatus. ) The popular name of the Red-shouldered 
 Hawk of naturalists. 
 
 Herb. In America, universally pronounced erh ; whereas in England 
 the h is often aspirated. Thus in the " Quarterly Review " for July, 
 1857, occurs the following passage: " The peasant gathered a herb 
 which was considered a specific in the district where he was born." 
 An American would have written "an herb." 
 
 Herring-Salmon. Congonus Arlede of Le Sueur. So called, when 
 taken, in Lake Erie, and at Lewiston. — Kirtland^s Fishes of the 
 Ohio, &c. 
 
 Hessian. A hireling; a mercenary politician ; a fighter for pay. De- 
 rived from the traditional dislike toward the Hessian soldiers em- 
 ployed by England against her American colonies in the war of the 
 Revolution. During the late civil war, it was used at the South as a 
 term of reproach towards the loyal United States citizens and sol- 
 diers. " The Hessians of the North," frequently said the " Rich- 
 mond Despatch." 
 
 Hessian Fly. {Cecidomyia destructor.') An insect famous for its 
 ravages on wheat. The popular name of it is owing to the belief 
 that it was introduced into America by the Hessian troops in their 
 straw from Germany, during the year 1776, at which time the 
 British army, then in occupation of Staten Island, received large 
 reinforcements of Hessians under General de Heister. This idea 
 has been ridiculed by many European entomologists, who have 
 asserted that the insect is strictly American. It appears, however, 
 that its existence has long been known, probably for more than a 
 century, in France, Germany, Switzerland, and some of the larger 
 islands of the Mediterranean. — N. Y. Hind. Insects and Diseases 
 Injurious to Wheat. 
 
 Mr. Bryant, in speaking of the introduction of the " Old World 
 sparrow" into America, for the purpose of destroying insects and 
 worms, says : — 
 
 And the army-worm and Hesdan fly, 
 And the dreadful canker-worm, shall die. 
 
 Hickory. A name given to several species of Carya. It is a hand- 
 some tree, with timber valuable for its hardness and toughness, 
 and with edible nuts. Hence, a ^'-hickory Catholic," a ^''hickory 
 Quaker," for instance, is a flexible, yielding one. Western. It 
 sometunes means tough, firm. Thus, Parson Brownlow was called 
 the hickory Unionist. General Andrew Jackson was known as " Old 
 Hickory.'''' 
 
HIC— HIG 
 
 285 
 
 Captain Smith describes a preparation of pounded walnut meats 
 with water, "which they call Pawcohiccora, and keep it for their 
 use/' — Hist, of Virginia (1624), b. 2, p. 26. 
 
 But Popler, Plum, Crab, Oake, and Apple tree. 
 Yea, Cherry, and tree called Pohickery. 
 
 J. Ferrar, in Reformed Virginia Silk Worm (1653). 
 Pekickery,^^ named with "Walhiut," &c., among the trees of Virginia. — 
 Shriyley''s Tme Relation of Virginia and Maryland^ 1669. 
 
 It is curious that "hickory " seems both in sound and sense to be 
 pure Greek, viz., 17 Kapva (he carya), the walnut. The resemblance 
 is, however, casual; since the name is in fact of American aborigi- 
 nal derivation. 
 Hickory Nut. See Walnut. 
 
 Hickory Shirt. A shirt made of heavy twilled cotton with a narrow 
 blue stripe, so called from its strength. These shirts are much 
 worn by laborers. 
 
 Swindling practisers of trade flaunt in silks, while honest virtue staves off 
 starvation by making hickory shirts at eight cents a piece. — Doesticks, p. 68. 
 
 Hicksites. A sect of Quakers, so called from their leader's surname. 
 
 To hifer. To loiter. Used in North Pennsylvania. 
 
 Highbinder. A riotous fellow. See same word in Addenda. 
 
 Highbelia. See Lowhelia. 
 
 High Blackberry. Generally used in the United States, as the dis- 
 tinctive name of the fruit of the Rubus villosus. 
 
 Higher Law. A law higher, or above that of the Constitution ; the 
 laws of God. This term was first used by the Hon. William H. 
 Seward, in a speech in the United States Senate, in March, 1850, 
 on "Freedom in the New Territories," and has since been fre- 
 quently heard in that body and elsewhere. In this speech, the 
 Senator said: — 
 
 I know there are laws of various kinds, which regulate the conduct of men. 
 There are constitutions and statutes, codes mercantile and civil; but when we are 
 legislating for States, especially when we are founding States, all these laws must 
 be brought to the standard of the laws of God. The Constitution regulates our 
 stewardship; the Constitution devotes the domain to union, to justice, to defence, 
 to welfare, to liberty. But there is a higher law than the Constitution, which 
 regulates our authority over the domain. — Speeches, Vol. I. pp 66, 74. 
 
 Highfaluten. High-flown language, bombast. There can be little 
 doubt of its derivation from " highflighting." 
 
 Mr. Hotten, in his " Dictionary of Slang," says it is now heard 
 in Liverpool and London. He derives it from the Dutch verlooten^ 
 a derivation which we doubt. It originated in the Western States. 
 
236 
 
 IIIG— HIT 
 
 I was at the Barnburners' convention in Utica, and the first person I henrd was 
 n ^^()0(l-Iookin<?, fat, rosy-looking man, who got up and ground out what we 
 term at the West a regular built fourth-of-July — star-spanglerl-banner — times- 
 Ihat-tried-men's-souls — Jefferson speech, making gestures to suit the hiyhfa- 
 luttns. — Speech nf Leslie Coombs, in N. York, Sept. 29, 1848. 
 
 One of the boys, I reckon? All right on the goose, ehV No hifjhfaluten airs 
 here, you know. — Gladsfone, EnfjUshman in Kansas, p. 43. 
 
 High-heeled Boots. A proud, haughty person is said to " have on 
 his high heeled-boots." 
 
 High-heeled Shoes. To say of a woman that she " has on her high- 
 heeled shoes " is to intimate that she sets herself up as a person of 
 more consequence than others allow her to be; or, in other words, 
 that slie is "stuck up." New England. 
 
 High-Hole. See Clape and Yellow-Hammer. 
 
 High Jinks. A great frolic. " To kick up high jinks " is to kick up 
 a row; to have a roistering time. In the north of England, "to 
 jink " is to be very gay. — HaUiwell. To be on the hirjh Jinks is to 
 assume an undue superiority. — Hotten, Slang Die. 
 
 All along our route, we chaffed our pretty lover, and expected high Jinks eit 
 Damascus, where his marriage was to be solemnized. — T. G. Appleton, Syiian 
 Sunshine, p. 20. 
 
 High-Studded. Airy. Said of one who affects great dignity. 
 Hindoos. A name given to the Know Nothing party, in consequence 
 
 of their candidate for the presidency, Daniel Ullman, having been 
 
 charged with being a native of Calcutta. 
 
 To hire. Often improperly applied to renting a house. In good 
 English, a house is rented^ while a vehicle or workman is hired. 
 
 Hired Man. A man-servant. Hired woman, a servant-girl. Many 
 servants dislike to be called such, and think it more respectable to 
 say " help " or " hired woman." 
 
 To hire his Time. A slave is said to " hire his time " who contracts 
 with his master to pay a stipulated price for his time, and during 
 such time regulates his own conduct in respect to labor to be per- 
 formed by him, or makes contracts as to such labor. 
 
 In Russia, a certain yearly payment called Obrock, equivalent to a practice 
 which prevails to a certain extent in some of our Southern States, of allowing 
 slaves to hire their own time, goes a great way to extinguis^h all the distinctions 
 between serfs and slaves. — N. Y. Tribune, Aug. 20, 1858. 
 
 Hist, for hoist. To lift. " Hist her up." 
 Hitch. An entanglement, impediment. 
 
 All the hitches in the case of McXulty being got over, the gentlemen of the long 
 robe set themselves at work in earnest. — N. Y. Com. Adv., 1845. 
 
HIT— HOB 
 
 287 
 
 This word is used in the same sense in England, but is not an 
 elegant word, even though used by Lord Clieste.r fields who says: — 
 
 I am credibly informed tliat there is still a considerable Idtck t hobble in 
 your enunciation. 
 
 The "London Athenaeum," in its review of the Journal of the 
 Persian Boundary Commission, Oct. 7, 1876, p. 457, thus speaks of 
 the impediments met with. 
 
 Then arose hitch number two; . . . here hitch number three arose . . . Then 
 arose hitch number five. 
 
 To hitch. It is a common expression, when persons do not agree, to 
 say, " They don't Utch,^^ or " They don't hitch together." 
 
 I 've been teamin' on 't some for old Pendleton, and have come to drive a spell 
 for this old fellow, but . I guess we shan't ^i<cA long. — Mrs. Clavers, Forest Life, 
 Vol. I. p. 116. 
 
 To hitch Horses. Same as the foregoing, and quite as common. 
 " They don't hitch horses," i. e. " they don't agree; " i. e., " they 
 hav^e quarrelled." 
 
 I never truckle to man, if he 's as big as all out-doors. And after he poked 
 his fist in my face, one election, we never hitched horses together. — McClintock, 
 Tcdes. 
 
 An' so we fin'lly made it up, concluded to hitch h asses, 
 An' here I be 'n my ellerment among creation's bosses. 
 
 Lowed, The Biylow Papers. 
 
 You have seen a great deal, and he has read a great deal, and you are jest the 
 boys to hitch your hosses together, I know. — Sam Slick, Wise Saws, p. 04. 
 
 Hither and Yon. This expression is often used in the country towns 
 of New England for here and there. It is provincial in the north 
 of England. It is never heard in our seaport towns. — Pickering. 
 A person born in New Hampshire in 1800 says hether and yen. 
 
 Ho. A word used by teamsters to stop their teams. It has been used 
 as a noun, for stop, moderation, bounds. — Webster. See Whoa. 
 
 Because, forsooth, some odd poet or some such fantastic fellows make much on 
 him, there 's no ho with him : the vile dandiprat will overlook the proudest of his 
 acquaintance. — Lingua, Old Play. 
 
 Mr. Malone says it is yet common in Ireland; as, " There 's no ho 
 in him," that is, he knows no bounds. This expression is common 
 in the United States. 
 Hoarse up. " He 's got a bad cold, and is all hoarsed up,^^ i. e. he is 
 hoarse. 
 
 Hobble-Bush. (Viburnum lanfanoides.) A straggling shrub, also 
 
 called Tangle-Legs and Wayfaring. 
 To hobble. To hobble a horse is to tie its feet together, to hopple it. 
 
 Webs/er. 
 
288 
 
 HOB— HOG 
 
 The horses were now hobbled; tliat is to say, their fore legs were fettered with 
 cords and leatliern straps, so as to impede their movements and prevent their 
 wandering from camp. — //-vm^'s Tour on the Praiiies. 
 
 Ho-Boy or Haut-Boy. A nightman. New York. 
 
 The Thames, below London, is odorous with the sewerage matter it bears from 
 that metropolis; and there is scarce a stream flowing through a civilized commu- 
 nity but is degraded to the occupation of a haut-boy, by the adoption along the 
 banks of itself and tributaries of more or less ingenious devices for dissolving and 
 washing away rather than hoarding up and rendering useful the nitrogenized 
 material which, if properly applied, will enable the earth to yield the most bounti- 
 ful harvests. — Scientific American, Aug. 8, 1857. 
 
 Hockey-Stick. A stick used in playing hockey. 
 
 I guess Aunt I.ibby never had a hockey-stick. — Fanny Fern. 
 
 Hod-Carrier. A laborer that carries mortar and bricks in a hod to 
 
 masons; a hodman. 
 rfoe-Cake. A cake of Indian meal, baked before the fire. In the 
 
 interior pai-ts of the country, where kitchen utensils do not abound, 
 
 they are baked on a hoe ; hence the name. 
 
 Some talk of hoe-cake, fair Virginia's pride ; 
 Rich Johnny-cake this mouth has often tryed. 
 Both please me well, their virtues much the same; 
 Alike their fabric as allied their fame. 
 
 J. Barlow, Hasty Pudding. 
 As we 've broken hoe-cake together, we cannot rake up the old ashes to make 
 dust with. — Simms, The Wigwam and Cabin, p. 10. 
 
 They [the ancient Marylanders] were great horse-racers and cock-fighters, 
 mighty wrestlers and jumpers, and enormous consumers of hoe-cake and bacon. 
 W. Irving, Knickerbocker. 
 
 Hoe-down. Another name for Break-down, which see. 
 To hoe one's Row. To do one's share of a job; to attend to one's 
 own business. 
 
 In ole Virginny, whar I war born, 
 
 I eat hoe-cake and hoe de corn ; 
 
 And Massa Tyler, he not slow 
 
 To show me how to hoe my row. — Negro Melodies. 
 
 Hog-Age. The age between boyhood and manhood. Xantucket. 
 
 Hog Backs. "Ridges of upheaval, or ' hog backs,' as they are some- 
 times called in the West, . . . occur to a greater or less extent all 
 along the eastern flanks of the Rocky IMountains." — Dr. ffayden's 
 Report on the Geol. Survey of Wyoming Ter., &c. (1870), p. 162. 
 
 Hog and Hominy. Pork and Indian corn, the usual fare of country 
 people in the West. The term is used for the sake of the allitera- 
 tion, even where the ground meal is much more common than the 
 hominy. 
 
HOG 
 
 289 
 
 I can give you plenty to eat ; for, besides hog and hominy, you can have bar 
 (bear) ham and bar sausages, and a mattrass of bar-skins to sleep on. — Thorpe, 
 Big Bear of Arkansas. 
 
 There was a member in the House [of Representatives] from some back- 
 woods, benighted region in Ohio, by the name of Sawyer. Now, Mr. Sawyer, — 
 the Honorable Mr. Sawyer. — having lived all his life in a plain, backwoods 
 style, on '■'■hog and hominy,'''' or, for a special luxury in the winter, on sausages 
 and corn-bread, found his stomach rebellious against the ways of Washington, 
 and especially the way of dining at supper-time. — Sargeant, Public Men and 
 Events, Vol. 11. p. 287' 
 
 Hog-Choke. In North Carolina, the flounder is so called. — Harper^s 
 Mag., March, 1857, p. 442. 
 
 Hog-Fish. (Etheostoma caprodes. Rafinesque.) Common in all the 
 Western rivers, and so " called almost everywhere," say Rafinesque 
 and Kirtland. — Boston Jour. Nat. Hist., III. 346. 
 
 Hog Guessing. A sport peculiar to Long Island. In the fall, a fat 
 hog is selected to be "guessed for." The chances are put at a 
 given price, as in a raffle; and at the time appointed each holder of 
 a chance " guesses " at the weight of the hog, which is then deter- 
 mined in the presence of all by the scales. The best guess, of course, 
 takes the animal. 
 
 Hog-Minder. One who has charge of swine. 
 
 Hog-Plum. (Ximenia Americana.^ A tall shrub of South Florida. 
 It bears a drupe the size of a plum, which is yellow and pleasant to 
 the taste. 
 
 Hog-Reeve. (Ang.-Sax. gerefa. Old. Eng. rece, an officer; a stew- 
 ard; whence shrieve and sheriff.) An officer whose duty it is to take 
 up hogs running at large for the purpose of impounding them. New 
 England. In the Statutes, he is called a Field-Driver, which see. 
 
 A man who can get down on his face and eat dirt after that fashion for nothing 
 but a beggarly office is not fit for a hog-reeve. — N. Y. Tribune, June, 1858. 
 
 In an article in " Harper's Mag.," of Sept., 1877, p. 613, by his 
 nephew, Mr. Benjamin, is the following saying of the late J. L. 
 Motley, taken from the " New World " newspaper: — 
 
 I began [said Mr. Motley] a tremendous political career during the election of 
 [President Polk], having made two stump speeches of an hour and a half each, — 
 one in Dedham Town-hall, and one in Jamaica Plains, — with such eminent suc- 
 cess that many invitations came to me from the surrouiuling villages. If I had 
 continued in active political life, I might have risen to be a vote distributor, or 
 fence-viewer, or selectman, or hog-reeve, or something of the kind. 
 
 Hog-tight and Horse-high. Always used together, of fences that 
 are sufficient to restrain trespassing stock. Maryland. 
 
 19 
 
290 
 
 HOG— HOL 
 
 Hog-Wallow. On some of the Western prairies, but particularly 
 those in Texas, the ground has every appearance of having been 
 rooted or torn u[) by hogs; hence the name. 
 
 Professor Riddell gives the following account of the hof/-waUow 
 prairies and of their origin: " The long droughts in summer cause 
 the woodless surface of the prairies to crack deeply, and oftentimes 
 symmetrically; subsequent rains wash the adjacent earth into these 
 cracks, filling them up, converting them into little valleys, and 
 leaving intermediate hillocks. Xext year the same round of cause 
 and effects occurs in the same places; and thus successive years 
 contribute for a long time to produce a maximum of effect, the 
 appearance of which is very striking. When the prairie is level, 
 the hillocks are exactly hexagonal, and usually eight or ten feet in 
 diameter. The depressions between them are commonly twelve to 
 eighteen inches deep. If the surface is inclined, the hexagons 
 become elongated at right angles to the elongation of the dip, when 
 they frequently resemble the waves of the ocean. From difference 
 of surface, soil, and exposure, there arises a great diversity in the 
 size, depth, and general appearance of the hog-wallows. They never 
 occur in a sandy soil, consequently they are not seen on the sandy 
 prairies near the sea-coast." — Silliman^s Journal of Science, Vol. 
 XXXIX. p. 211. 
 
 The ground we were riding over, known as hog-wallow, being a succession of 
 small mounds and corresponding hollows. — A Stray Yankee in Texas. 
 
 To hold on. To wait, stop; as, " Hold on a minute." Originally a 
 sea phrase. Also, to hold fast, to keep; as, "He held on to the 
 money." 
 
 To hold the Market, in Wall Street parlance, is to buy and hold so 
 large amount of a particular stock that the price cannot easily 
 decline. 
 
 To holloo. (Pron. holler.) To give up; to quit; to yield. In vulgar 
 use in the West, originating probably in wrestling or fighting, 
 where the party down halloos, i. e. cries out, in which case he is 
 understood to yield. I once heard a Western man say he had 
 " hollered on drinking," meaning that he had quit the practice. 
 
 Tige was using me powerful rough, and had done whipped me ; but pshaw! I 
 never did holler. — N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 To holloo before one is out of the Woods. To rejoice prematurely, 
 before one is out of a difficulty. 
 
 In a few minutes, we were back in the harbor again, and I gave Joe a piece of 
 mv mind about hollenncj before we ivere out of the woods. — A Sti-ay Yankee in 
 Texas, p 105. 
 
HOL— HOM 
 
 291 
 
 Yet, fellows, must I warn you not to sliout 
 Ere we have left the troublous wood behind. 
 
 W. Mortis, The Earthly Paradise, Prologue, p. 33. 
 
 Holp. The old preterite and past part, of help. " This antiquated 
 inflection of the verb to help is still used in Virginia, where it is 
 corrupted into holped.'^ — Pickering. A friend says he has heard 
 the word in New England. 
 
 Home. 1. England, Great Britain; a term in common use among 
 natives of Great Britain, as well as those of English descent resident 
 in the United States and Canada. Some say " the Old Country." 
 This term is of ancient use; and Mr. Irving, in his " Life of Wash- 
 ington," says he "remembers when the endearing phrase still lin- 
 gered on Anglo-Saxon lips even after the Revolution;" and that 
 its use by Washington himself " evinces the chord which still 
 vibrated in the American bosom." In a letter to George Mason 
 (1769), speaking of the difficulty arising from the clashing interests 
 of merchants, Washington says : — 
 
 In the tobacco colonies where the trade is so diffused, and in a manner wholly 
 conducted by factors for their principals at home, these difficulties are enhanced. 
 
 Again, in a letter to his brother Augustine, written in April, 
 1755, he says : — 
 
 My command was reduced, under a pretence of an order from home. 
 
 2. ^ome is frequently used for at home, in one's own dwelling; 
 as, " I breakfasted home.'''' " How 's all home V A jSTew England 
 Yankee of the Sam Slick stamp would say, " How 's all to hum? " 
 Hominy. Food made of maize or Indian corn boiled, the maize being 
 either coarsely ground or broken, or the kernels merely hulled. — 
 Flint, Mississippi Valley. Roger Williams, in his " Key to the 
 Indian Language," has the word aupuminea, parched corn, — which, 
 with the accent on the second syllable, has much the sound of 
 hominy. The word appears to have been extensively used by various 
 Indian tribes and nations. See Pone. 
 
 A mat was spread without the house, . . . furnished with Pone Ilomini, oysters, 
 and other tilings. — Norwood's Voyaye to Viryinia, 1649, Force's Tracts, III. 
 p. 34. 
 
 The Indians sift the flour out of their meal, which they call samp ; the remainder 
 the}' call homminy. This is mixt with flour and made into puddings. — Jossclyn's 
 New Enyland Rarities, 1G72, p. 53. 
 
 The Indians live chiefly on maize, or Indian corn roasted in the ashes, some- 
 times beaten and boyled with water, called homine. — Thomas's Pennsylvania, 
 London, 1698, p. 49. 
 
 ffomony ... is Indian Corn soaked, broken in a mortar, husked, and then 
 boiled in water over a gentle fire for ten or more hours, to the consistency of 
 
292 
 
 HOM— HON 
 
 Furmity, — the thin of this is what my Lord Bacon calls " Cream of Maize." — 
 Beverly's Virginia, Book III. (1725). 
 
 "Stranger," said old iSchultz (the backwoodsman), "you have been welcome 
 under my roof. I 've given you nothing but wild meat and hominy, because I 
 had no better ; but I 've been glad of your company." — Irvinf/, WolftrVs Roost, 
 p. 271. 
 
 Hommock, Hummock, or Hammock. In Florida, a name given to 
 small elevations or islands in the " everglades," or lands covered by 
 fresh-water swamp. They are supposed to have been coral islands 
 before the mud and sand were deposited around them. 
 
 The term hammock^ ... we believe, is one peculiar to the South- 
 ern States. It means a piece of ground thickly wooded, whether a 
 plain or a hill, and distinguished from the open oak and hickory 
 land, or immense forests of thinly scattered pines, which, with few 
 exceptions, cover the whole face of the country. The word has been 
 confounded with hummock, used by mariners to designate the knolls 
 or small elevations along the coast. — North Am. Review, April, 
 1828, p. 486. 
 
 The Indians retired from the neighborhood of the whites, and burying them- 
 selves in the deep forests, intricate swamps and hommocks, and vast savannahs, 
 devoted themselves to a pastoral life. — W. Irving, WolferVs Roost, p. 290. 
 
 Although the larger portion of the country is covered with pine barrens, . . . 
 yet there is also much upland, interval, and hammock land of the most excellent 
 quality. — Williams, View of Florida (1827), p. 6. 
 
 Hommocky. Filled with hommocks. Used also of elevations in ice. 
 
 The Seminoles possess a vast territory in Florida ; and being such a swampy, 
 hommocky country, it furnishes supplies for the nourishment of varieties of ani- 
 mals. — Bartram's Travels in North Araemca. 
 
 Honey-fogle, Honey-fuggle. To humbug, swindle, cheat. West 
 and South. Coney-fogle, to lay plots, a Lancashire word, noticed by 
 Mr. Halliwell in his " Dictionary of Archaic and Prov. Words," 
 may be the origin of it. 
 
 When the Loco-focos take you round a corner, and try to honey-fogle you, as 
 they say in Kentucky, ask them w^hat are Cass's civil qualities. — Speech of 
 F. Smith at a Taylor Meeting, Washington. 
 
 The Washington correspondent of "The Xew Orleans Delta" 
 writes, 1858, as follows: — 
 
 I have a passion for Seward. He comes up to my idea of Rodin in the Wan- 
 dering Jew, — the most delectable devil that was ever drawn by human pen, — 
 so cool, so clear-headed, so indomitable, so relentless in the pursuit of his fiendish 
 purposes. If he becomes our next President, and disunion does not immediately 
 follow his election, I will wager that he will so beautifully honey-fuggle both 
 South and North that the people will pronounce him one of the best Presidents 
 we have ever had. 
 
HON— HOO 
 
 293 
 
 Honey Locust. {GleditscMa triacantlius.') A tree so called from the 
 sweet pulp in its ripe pods. In the West and South, it is called the 
 Thorny Locust. 
 
 Honor. " His Honor " is the title applied in Massachusetts and Rhode 
 Island to a Lieutenant-Governor while in ofl&ce. When his term of 
 office has expired, he is, like the Governor, styled " Honorable." 
 
 Honorable. A title given by courtesy to members of both Houses of 
 Congress, and of State legislatures; in some States, to Senators 
 only ; also to heads of departments of the government, as secretaries 
 and commissioners. The title is ever afterwards retained, under the 
 rule of "Once an honorable, always an honorable." Newspapers 
 and posters often bestow the title on any stump-speaker. 
 
 Hoodlum. A ragamuffin; a "gamin;" a rough fellow^ ; a rowdy. A 
 California word. " You at the East," says a correspondent in San 
 Francisco, " have but little idea of the hoodlums of this city. They 
 compose a class of criminals of both sexes, far more dangerous than 
 are to be found in the Eastern cities. They travel in gangs, and 
 are ready at any moment for the perpetration of any crime. " — Boston 
 Journal, Aug., 1877. 
 
 The origin of the name is said to be this : A neM^spaper man in 
 San Francisco, in attempting to coin a word to designate a gang of 
 young street Arabs under the beck of one named " Muldoon," hit 
 upon the idea of dubbing them noodlums ; that is, simply reversing 
 the leader's name. In writing the word, the strokes of the n did 
 not correspond in height, and the compositor, taking the n for an ^, 
 printed it hoodlum. ** Hoodlum " it is, and probably ever will be. 
 The Congregationalist, Sept. 26, 1877. See same word in Addenda. 
 
 The stoning and beating of Chinamen [in California], long time a popular 
 recreation among young hoodlums, have recently grown unpopular through the 
 efforts of a Police Judge. — San Francisco Cor. of N. Y. Evening Post. 
 
 Three hoodlums in San Francisco, under age, were convicted on a charge of 
 stealing beer. . . . The friends of the hoodlums came to the front, and liquidated 
 the damage. . . . Hoodlum justice is an interesting study of the jurisprudence of 
 the century. — iV. Y. Tribune, Nov. 7, 1876. 
 
 The outrages thus far, in San Francisco, seem to have been committed by 
 unorganized gangs of vicious hoodlums. — Telegram from San Francisco, July 
 25, 1877. 
 
 Hook. (Dutch, hoek, a corner, a cape.) This name is given, in New 
 York, to several angular points in the North and East Rivers ; as, 
 Corlear's Hook, Powle's Hook, Sandy Hook. 
 
 To hook. To steal. A common vulgarism, formerly used in England. 
 
 A maid hooked one of her mistress's dresses the other day ; but the affair was 
 passed over, because it was done behind the lady's back. — N. Y. Tribune, 1857. 
 
294 
 
 HOO 
 
 The devil and I are sworn enemies ever since he put me up to hookiny water- 
 melons for the fun of tiie thing. — Daw's Sermons, Vol. I. p. 5. 
 
 And while Aunt Polly closed with a happy Scriptural flourish, Tom hooktd a 
 doughnut. — Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer, p. 34. 
 
 On one's own Hook. A phrase much used in familiar language, 
 denoting on one'.s own account; as, "He is doing business on fas 
 own hook,^' i. e. for himself. 
 
 I now resolved to do business entirely alone, — to go on my own hook. If I 
 get rich, the money will all be mine. — Perils of Pearl Street, p. 195. 
 
 Every man on his own hook is the system in action of the American volunteer 
 soldier; and trusting to, and confident in, their undeniable bravery, they go 
 aiiead and overcome all obstacles. — Ruxton's Adventures in Mexico, p. 179. 
 
 AVe have every reason to believe that the time is fast approaching when we 
 shall have our American Pope, our American Catholic Cardinals, and American 
 Catholic every thing on our own hook. — N. Y. Herald, October, 1845. 
 
 I went to the opera in London, where I kept lookin' round; and when any- 
 body laughed, I laughed too, and when they 'plauded, I 'plau<!ed too; and some- 
 times, jest to make 'em think I was a reglar Frenchy, I 'd laugh right out on my 
 own hook. — N. Y. Family Companion. 
 
 Hookey. To " play hookey " is to play truant. A teiTn used among 
 school-boys, chiefly in the State of New York. 
 
 He moped to school gloomy and sad, and took his flogging along with Joe 
 Harper for pla^'ing hookey the day before. — Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer, p. 100. 
 
 Hook Jack. To play truant. New England. 
 
 Hoop-la. A stage-driver's ejaculation to his horses. California. 
 
 The Stock Exchange to-day commenced its business of speculation with a grand 
 
 '■'■hooj) la,'' regardless of the closing prices of yesterday. — N. Y. Tribune, 
 
 March 1, 1877. 
 
 Hoop-la, — Melican man he heap much nice, — fetchee me home all light, top 
 side up on slippery walk. — Specimen of Chinese Pigeon Entjlish, Harper's Bazar. 
 
 Hoople. (Dutch, hoepel.) The boys in the city of New York still 
 retain this Dutch name for a trundling hoop. 
 
 Hoosier. A nickname given, at the West, to natives of Indiana. 
 
 A correspondent of the Providence Journal, writing from Indiana, 
 gives the following account of the origin of this term: " Through- 
 out all the early Western settlements were men who rejoiced in 
 their physical strength, and on numerous occasions, at log-rollings 
 and house-raisings, demonstrated this to their entire satisfaction. 
 They were styled by their fellow-citizens hushers, from their primary 
 capacity to still their opponents. It w^as a common term for a bully 
 throughout the West. The boatmen of Indiana wei-e formerly as 
 rude and as primitive a set as could well belong to a civilized coun- 
 try, and they were often in the habit of displaying their pugilistic 
 accomplishments upon the Levee at New Orleans. Upon a certain 
 
HOO— HOP 
 
 295 
 
 occasion there, one of these rustic professors of the ' iioble art ' 
 very adroitly and successfully practised the ' fancy ' upon several 
 individuals at one time. Being himself not a native of this Western 
 world, in the exuberance of his exultation he sprang up, exclaim- 
 ing, in foreign accent, ' I 'm a hoosier, I 'm a hooskr.'' Some of 
 the New Orleans papers reported the case, and afterwards trans- 
 ferred the corruption of the epithet ' husher ' (Jioosier) to all the 
 boatmen from Indiana, and from thence to all her citizens. The 
 Kentuckians, on the contrary, maintained that the nickname ex- 
 presses the gruif exclamation of their neighbors, when one knocks 
 at a door, &c., ' Who 's ^jere V 
 
 There was a long-haired hoosier from Indiana, a couple of smart-looking 
 suckers from Illinois, a keen-eyed, leather-belted badger from Wisconsin ; and 
 who could refuse to drink with such a company ? — Hoffman, Winter in the 
 West, p. 210. 
 
 Broad Indiana's hoosier sons her fame must needs keep good, 
 By healthful sport of rolling logs and stumping in the wood. 
 
 The American Congress, Am. Rejected Addresses. 
 It has been in my mind since I was a Hoosier boy to do something toward 
 describing life in the back-country districts of the Western States. — Eggleston, 
 The Hoosier Schoolmaster, p. 5. 
 
 Hoosier Cake. A Western name for a sort of coarse gingerbread, 
 which, say the Kentuckians, is the best bait to catch a hoosier with, 
 the biped being fond of it. 
 
 Hoosierdom. The State of Indiana. 
 
 A young lady from the rural districts of Hoosierdom lately visited Chicago 
 with her beau. — N. Y. Observer, Dec. 26, 1861. 
 
 Hooter. Probably a corruption of iota. Common in New York in 
 such phrases as " I don't care a hooter for him," " This note ain't 
 worth a hooter. ' ' 
 
 It is the truth that politicians who pretend to have such regard for the dear 
 peoi)le don't care a hooter, so long as their own selfish ends are attained. — Dow's 
 Sermons, Vol. I. p. 6. 
 
 And agin to impress on the poppylar mind 
 
 Tlie comfort an' wisdom o' goin' it blind, — 
 
 To say that I didn't abate not a hooter 
 
 O' my faith in a happy an' glorious futur! — J. R. Lowell. 
 
 Hoped. Used among the illiterate in North Carolina as the past part. 
 
 of to help. Ex. : " It can't be hoped. See Holp. 
 Hopper. 1. Hopper-car. A sort of car used on railroads, its form 
 
 resembling the hopper of a mill. 
 
 There were one hundred and eighty-three iron hopper-cars recovered in a con- 
 dition to be restored. Of the f]ft3'-seven hoppers thrown over Opequan bridge, 
 one-half can be put into serviceable order again. — N. Y. Tribune, .June 10, 1862. 
 
296 
 
 HOP— HOR 
 
 2. A grass-hopper, especially the ravaging locust called grass- 
 hopper at the West. 
 Hopping John. A stew of bacon and peas with red pepper. South 
 Carolina. 
 
 Hopping Mad. Exceedingly angry, in a violent rage. A very com- 
 mon colloquial expression. 
 
 Miss Fustick said Liddy Ann was too old to wear plumes. Old Miss C 
 
 went straight and told her; which made Liddy hoppin' mad, and led to an awful 
 quarrel. — Widoiu Bedott Paj)ers, p. 275. 
 
 Hop-Tree. (Ptelia trifoliata.) A tall shrub found in the Eastern 
 States. The fruit, a wafer-like seed, grows in clusters, is a bitter 
 tonic, and has been used as a substitute for hops. 
 
 Horn. A dram. Probably so named from the old custom of drinking 
 out of a horn. 
 
 The chaplain gave us a pretty stiff hoim of liquor a-piece, — and first-rate stuff 
 it was, I swow. — Burton, Waggeries. 
 
 Faith, said Patrick, if you had seen me sell Father Matthews's medal, which 
 he blessed and gave me with his own hand, to a boy, for three cents, just to get 
 a ho7'n of whiskey, you would not ask me if I loved the creatur'. — Milne, Tem- 
 perance Tale. 
 
 He poured out a tumbler of brandy and water, that warn't half and half, but 
 almost the whole hog. Oh, gummy, what a horn ! It was strong enough to 
 throw an ox over a five-bar gate. — Sam Slick, Human Nature. 
 
 In a Horn. A low phrase, now common, used to qualify a falsehood, 
 equivalent to the English " over the left." A boy will say, " I saw 
 a man jump over the house," and add sotto voce, In a horn;^^ 
 meaning thereby directly the reverse. 
 
 " Tie the boat up ! " says Jim. " I '11 tie her up, in a horn ! Do you reckon I 
 can't run her in such a fog as we '11 have to-night ? " — Major Bunkum, in New 
 Yoi-k Spiiit of the Times. 
 
 I have mentioned before the innumerable comforts — in a horn — of the old 
 White Sulphur Springs. I think it hardly necessary that I should recapitulate ; 
 for there is never any change : raw beef, tough mutton, and tolerably fine ham 
 is the regular bill of fare, and there is no variation that I have seen or heard of. 
 Evening ( Wash.) Star, Aug. 26, 1858. 
 
 Horned Grebe. See Dipper. 
 
 Horned Pout. See Catfish and Pout. 
 
 Horned Sucker. See Chub Sucker. 
 
 Horrors. " To have the horrors " is to be in low spirits, to have a fit 
 of the blues. It also means to have delirium tremens. 
 
 Now, when steam distilling wrenches the last possible drop of spirit out of the 
 corn, it brings with it an unusual quantity of this poison [fusil oil], which acts 
 with teirible results on the nerves; seeming like a diabolical inspiration, stirring 
 
HOR 
 
 297 
 
 up mania, convulsions, and the hor7'ors in an incredibly short space of time. — 
 Philad. Evening Bulletin^ 1857. 
 
 Horse and Horse. Even. Originally applied to horses which in 
 running a race come in side by side, or, as the phrase is, " neck 
 and neck; " and then transferred to gamesters. A story is told of 
 a planter, who, sending his son to market with a load of cotton, re- 
 ceived from young hopeful the following statement on his return : — 
 
 " Why, daddy, you see, I sot down to old sledge along with Jake Stebbins. 
 It was horse and horse, and his deal. Says he, ' Bill, will you go the cotton ? ♦ 
 * Done,' says I ; and don't you think if the dern fool didn't turn jack! " — Bun- 
 hum's Recollections. 
 
 Horse-Barn. A stable. 
 
 Horse-Boat. A boat propelled by horse-power, common in the 
 Western waters. Usually a ferry-boat. 
 
 Horse-Cake. Gingerbread rudely fashioned into the shape of a horse. 
 
 Horse- Car. A car drawn by horses on a railway, common in all 
 American cities, and recently introduced into European cities. 
 
 Horse-Colt We frequently see in advertisements these terms, horse- 
 colt^ mare-colt, &c. A horse-colt is simply a colt ; a mare-colt, a Jilly. 
 
 Horse-Ferry. A ferry which is passed by a horse-boat. — Webster. 
 
 Horse-Foot. {Limulus polyphemus.) The common name of a crusta- 
 cean found in our waters from Massachusetts to Virginia, and in 
 some places so abundant as to be used for manure. In form it much 
 resembles a horse's hoof. It is also called Horse-shoe and King- 
 crab, which latter is the name by which it is known in England. 
 
 Horse-Mackerel. When the Blue-fish reappeared on the coast of 
 New England, — some twenty-five years ago, — the fishermen, who 
 were unacquainted with the species, sometimes called it Horse- 
 mackerel. But that name was previously, and is now usually given 
 to the Cyhrum maculatum (Mitchell), sometimes called Spanish mack- 
 erel. (Ayres, in Bost. Jour. Nat. Hist. iv. 261 (1842), says the C. 
 maculatum received both these names from the fishermen of Long 
 Island.) Dr. Storer, in describing the Temnodon saltator ot Cuvier, 
 says, "This species described by Mitchell as the Scomber plumbeus, 
 and called the horse-mackerel by the vulgar, is better known in those 
 portions of our State where it is taken as the blue-fish.^ ^ — Fishes of 
 Mass., p. 57. See Blue-Fish. 
 
 Horse-Mint. (Monarda punctata.) A large species of mint, grow- 
 ing from New York southward. — Webster. 
 
295 
 
 IIOR— IIOU 
 
 Horae-Nettle. {Solanum Carolinense.) A plant well known for its 
 orani^e-yellow berries. It is remarkable that a similar species is 
 known in Brazil by the same name in Portuguese. 
 
 Horse-Railroad. A railroad running through the streets of a town or 
 city, on which the cars are drawn by horses. — Webster. 
 In England, they are called tramways. 
 
 Horse-Shoe. See Horse-Foot. 
 
 Hose. The Western term for "stockings," which is considered 
 extremely indelicate, although " long socks " is pardonable. 
 
 Hoss. (A corruption of the word horse.) A man remarkable for his 
 strength, courage, &c. A vulgarism peculiar to the West. Even 
 of a prominent lady, a Western eulogist will say, " She 's a hoss; " 
 that is, a sort of Pandora or nonsuch. 
 
 Ho.'fs Allen is powerful popular, and the "bar" hunters admire his free-and- 
 easy manners, and consider him one of the people, — none of your stuck-up im- 
 ported chaps from the dandy States, but a genuine Westerner, — in sliort, a hoss! 
 Eobb, Squatter Life, p. 70. 
 
 I see thar was mischief in the preacher as big as a meetin' house, and I deter- 
 mined to give him as good as he sent; so I looked at him sorter savagerous like, 
 and says I, "Look here, hoss, how can you have the face to talk to me, arter 
 Avhat you said V " — Mike Hooter, by a Missourian. 
 
 Hostiles. Enemies. Western. 
 
 Hotel Disease. A disease which broke out among the guests at the 
 National Hotel in Washington in the year 1856, somewhat resem- 
 bling cholera, attended with vomiting, diarrhoea, and rapid general 
 prostration. Similar symptoms have since shown themselves at 
 some other hotels, though not with the same virulence. 
 
 Hot Slaw. Cabbage, minced and heated with vinegar : thus called to 
 distinguish it from Kool Slaa (erroneously etymologized into Cold 
 Slaw). Litchfield Co., Conn. 
 
 Hound. A negro-catcher. 
 
 A recognized Hound or nigger hunter, named McCabe, stated that on Wednes- 
 day, kc.—N. Y. Tiibune, July, 1861. 
 
 Hounds. 1. A gang of ruffians who infested San Francisco in 1849. 
 They also styled themselves "Regulators." Their murderous ex- 
 cesses were committed under the pretence of guarding the com- 
 munity against the encroachments of Spanish foreigners. 
 
 2. The portions of a wagon which, projecting from the forward 
 axle, form a support for the tongue or pole. The term is borrowed 
 from nautical language, in W'hich it means the projecting parts or 
 
HOU 
 
 299 
 
 head of the mast, serving as shoulders for the top or trestle-trees to 
 rest on. 
 
 To hound. To pursue as with a hound. Used by the police and 
 detectives of New York. A man arrested for crime in New York 
 said: — 
 
 He had been hounded almost to death by policemen, detectives, and reporters. 
 N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Hour. An hour hy sun means an hour before sunset. Southern and 
 Western. 
 
 Hourly. Formerly used in and about Boston for an omnibus. 
 House. Used to form compounds, such as meat-house^ wash-house, 
 
 milk-house; where an Englishman would say, respectively, larder, 
 
 laundry, dairy. 
 
 House-Car. A sort of close car used on railways ; a box car. 
 
 House-Hunting. In the city of New York, most houses are let from 
 the first day of May; and the landlords have assumed to themselves 
 the right of requiring from their tenants a decision, as to whether 
 they will keep their houses or not, three months before the period 
 for which they hired them expires. On those houses which are not 
 hired for another term (usually a year), " bills " are put up by the 
 landlords, signifying that they are to let. Persons who intend to 
 " move " traverse that section of the city in which they desire to 
 establish themselves, in search of a suitable house, in which search 
 they are guided by the landlord's "bills." This is called house- 
 hunting, and is practised by thousands every year. 
 
 Polly began to grow uneasy now, because we hadn't got no house, and said I 
 ought to go a house-hunting as everybody else did, or else we should be turned 
 out of doors. — Major Downing, May-day in New York. 
 
 To housekeep is a verb, formed on the same principle as the verb to 
 hloodlet, which is credited in the dictionaries to Arbuthnot. South- 
 ern and New England. English cricket-players always say to 
 wicket-keep; and, in the past, he wicket-keeped. 
 
 Housen, as the plural of house. This old form is still used by the 
 illiterate in the interior of New England, as also in the States of 
 New York and New Jersey. It is provincial in various parts of 
 England. 
 
 Cornelius Nepos writeth that the housen in Rome were no otherwise covered 
 overhead but with shindies [shingles] until the war with King Pyrrhus, to wit 
 for the space of 470 vears after the foundation of the citv. — Holland's Pliny^ 
 XVI. 10. 
 
 That day at housen so she stopped 
 
 She was behind for dinner. — Essex Dialect, p. 14. 
 
300 
 
 Hou— now 
 
 The same word is used as a noun collective, for all that apper- 
 tains to the house or homestead, its outbuildings, &c. 
 
 It is enacted by the court and authoritie thereof, that henceforth no person or 
 persons shall permit any meetings of the Quakers to bee in his house or housing. 
 Plymouth Colony Laws, 1661. 
 
 I testifie that about forty-two yeares from this date Richard Smith had kept 
 possession of his hoivsing, land, and meadows. — Letter from Roger Williams, 
 R. I. Col. Records, 1679, Vol. III. p. 57. 
 
 Beside the house and lot, there was the housing upon it. — New Haven 
 Records (1G54). 
 
 Housen-StuflF. Household furniture. 
 
 On the first day of May, at 12 o'clock, if the tenant isn't out, an officer goes 
 and puts him into the street, neck and heels, with his wife and children and all 
 his housen-stuff. — Major Downing, May-day in New York, p. 30. 
 
 A wife would make good housen-stuff. 
 
 If she were downright clever ; 
 And Sail could suit me well enough. 
 If she would let me have her. — Song, Yankee Doodle. 
 
 Hove. (Ang.-Sax. liof, pret. of heafan, to heave.) This old preterite 
 is much used by illiterate persons in the United States. 
 
 How ? Used chiefly in New England, like the French comment ? in 
 asking for the repetition of something not understood. 
 
 Do put your accents in the proper spot ; 
 
 Don't — let me beg you — don't say " How ? " for " What ? " 
 
 0. W. Holmes, Poems. 
 
 How are you, Johnny ? A term of address used by the soldiei'S in 
 
 the late war, and now applied to any stranger. 
 How come? (Pron. huc-cum.) How came it ? how did it happen ? 
 
 Southern. 
 
 How de ? A still further contraction of how d''ye ? for how do you do? 
 Southern. Used also as a noun; as, " to send howdg.''' 
 
 Howdy. A desideratum accomplished. " That 's the howdy, — the 
 very thing desired. 
 
 How fare you ? This is a common expression, in some parts of Xew 
 England, for " How do you do? " It is pronounced short; as, " How 
 fa' yef'' In English prov. dialect, " How fare 'e " 
 
 Newman. What, come back so soon ? How fare you, Doolittle ? 
 Doolittle. Cleverly. Steady, pretty steady, and quite chirk again, I thank 
 you. — D. Humphreys, The Yankee in England. 
 
 How is that for high? A slang expression and quite common, 
 equivalent to " AVhat is your opinion as to the height of it? " " How 
 is that for grandeur? " " What do you think of it? " 
 
HOW— HUC 
 
 801 
 
 A Quaker unused to the slang phrases of the day, and quite 
 mystified with what he has heard, thus speaks of the manner in 
 which he was accosted by a rude fellow : — 
 
 Thee knoAvs I cultivate the peaceful habit of our sect, 
 
 But this man's conduct wrought on me a singular effect; 
 
 For when he slapped my broad-brim off, and asked, " How 's that for high ? " 
 
 It roused the Adam in me, and I smote him hip and thigh ! 
 
 A^Tien Scotty Briggs, the California miner, called upon the min- 
 ister to preach the funeral discourse of Buck Fanshaw, a noted 
 character, he said : — 
 
 We are going to get it up regardless of expense. [Buck] was always nifty 
 himself, and so you bet his funeral ain't going to be no slouch, — solid silver 
 door-plate on his coffin, six plumes on the hearse, and a nigger on the box in a 
 biled shirt and a plug hat, — hoio's that for high ? " — Mark Twain, Roughing 
 It, p. 334. 
 
 How you talk! Said in order to indicate surprise or other emotions. 
 New England. 
 
 Hub. " The Huh " is a term applied to Boston. " The Huh of the 
 Universe,''^ i. e. the great centre, or chief city, like the hub of a 
 wheel, to which the spokes are subservient. This term is applied 
 by the special correspondent of the " London Daily News," Jan. 18, 
 1876, to the greatest commercial city of India. In describing the 
 visit of the Prince of Wales, he says: — 
 
 Calcutta, with no trivial infusion of downright vulgarity, swaggers as if it 
 were the hub of the univer'se, the veritable salt of the earth. 
 
 Hubby, Hubbly. Uneven; rough. A term applied to roads, par- 
 ticularly when frozen. The original word, still used provincially in 
 England, is hohhly. 
 
 Huckleberry. (Gaylusffacia.) A small shrub, and its small, globu- 
 lar, black, sweet fruit, resembling the Whortleberry of England, 
 whence it is sometimes called by that name. 
 
 As to huckleberrTj and blackberry pies, you will find them [in Connecticut] just 
 as our mother made them fifty years ago. — Goodridi's Reminiscences, Vol. I. 
 p. 305. 
 
 A species found in wet land, of a bluish color and sweeter than 
 the black, is known as the Swamp- Huckleherry. 
 
 Huckleberry above the Persimmon. To be a huckleherry ahove one's 
 persimmon is a Southern phrase, meaning to excel. 
 
 The way he and his companions used to destroy the beasts of the forests was 
 htickleberry above the pej'simmo7i of Siny n&tive in the country. — Thorpe, Back- 
 woods, p. 166. 
 
HUG— HUM 
 
 Huge Paws. A nickname given to the working men of the Demo- 
 cratic party in New York. Said to have been first used by the late 
 J. T. Buckingham, in the " Boston Courier." 
 
 The Hiif/e Pairs oiif^ht to have another meeting in Tammany Hall, before they 
 make their nominations. — N. Y. Herald, Oct. 7, 184G. 
 
 Hugger-Mugger. 1. To hush ; to smother. 
 
 If a British captain board an American ship, and make a selection of the 
 choicest of her crew, that is a venial offence, to be hu(j(jer-mu(jfje.red up; while 
 all our complaints are drowned by a chorus of " Britannia rules the waves." — 
 N. Y. Tribune, June 1, 18G2. 
 
 2. To take secret counsels; to act clandestinely; to complot. 
 
 Listening to key-hole revelations, and hu(j(jer-mu(j(jerin(j with disappointed 
 contractors and bar-room politicians, . . . they went home to reek themselves, 
 &c. — N. Y. Tribune, Feb. 25, 1862. 
 
 Hulking. Exhibiting bulk ; bulky ; bulky. 
 
 Great, vigorous, healthy men, . . . walking rapidly back from the first touch 
 of the foe, . . . great hulking poltroons. — N. Y. Tribune, June 5, 18G2. 
 
 Hull. A vulgar pronunciation of the word whole, very common in 
 New England. 
 
 Hulled Corn. Indian corn scalded or boiled in lye, until the hulls 
 come off. It is then rinsed and boiled, making a most palatable 
 dish. See Tortilla. 
 
 When I was about nineteen, I ate so much hulled corn that it made m}- jaws 
 ache. — Kellogg, Black Rifie, p. 19. 
 
 Hulls. The husks of peas, &c. At the South, applied also to the 
 shells of oysters. 
 
 To hull. To free from the husks: accordingly, to hull peas is to shell 
 
 them; to hull oysters, to open them. Southern. 
 Huly. A noise, uproar. " To raise /mZ?/. " Xew England. 
 
 Hum. A vulgar pronunciation of home; as, "My old man ain't to 
 hum,^^ i. e. is not at home. New" England. 
 
 Well, well, I know it now. — '• hum is hum, be it ever so humbly." I am desperd 
 sick of being in strange parts. I wish I was at hitm agin, under mother's own 
 ruff, I guess — I know I do. — D. Humphrei/s, The Yankee in England. 
 
 When is charity like a top ? When it begins to htm. — Baltimore Sun. 
 
 Human, for human being. Western, and sometimes Eastern. 
 
 As I was lookin' down the gully, I espied a might}' big bear, that was travellin' 
 my way. I had no idee that he was around, and am quite sartin he didn't expect 
 to meet a human in such a place. — Hammond, Wild Northern Scenes, p. 224. 
 
 Parson Brownlow, the editor of the " Knoxville Whig," is just as fierce upon 
 dogs when they annoy him as he is upon the humans who cross his path. — Har- 
 per's Mag., Dec, 1857, p. 136. 
 
HUM— HUN 
 
 303 
 
 What brings a duck a streaking it down stream if humans ain't behind her ? 
 and who 's in these diggins but Indians ? — Ruxton's Far West, p. 79. 
 
 The subject of woman, my dear hearers, is a difficult, a tender, and a delicate 
 one. Woman, primarily, was a sort of second-hand human, oi", I might say, the 
 carnated superfluity of man. — Dow''s Sermons, Vol. III. 
 
 Humanitarian. (Lat. humanus.) One who denies the divinity of 
 Christ, and believes him a mere man. 
 
 The " N". Y. Evening Post," July 15, 1859, in a poem relating 
 to a Chinaman, who had committed a murder in California, says: — 
 
 Wretched Barbarian, worse than a Parian 
 
 Cradled in malice. 
 What humanitarian 
 Dare snatch from his lips till he painfully sips 
 The murderer's chalice V 
 
 Humbly. A vulgar mispronunciation of homely. 
 
 Hummock. Knolls or small elevations along the coast, so designated 
 by seamen. See Hommock. 
 
 Hung. In England, it occasionally happens that great offenders are 
 hanged ; but in the States and Canada criminals are never hanged^ 
 they are all hung. In England, beef is hung, gates are hung, and 
 curtains are hung ; but felons are hanged ; in Canada, felons, beef, 
 gates, and curtains are all treated the same way. — Rev. A. C. Geikie, 
 in Canadian Journal, Sept., 1857. 
 
 Hung Beef. Dried beef, so called from being hung up in the air to 
 dry; also called chip beef. 
 
 The hams were cut out, slightly salted, and hung up in the chimney to dry, 
 and thus became dried or hun>/ beef. — Goodrich's Reminiscences, Vol. I. p 66. 
 
 Hunk. 1. A large piece or slice ; a big lump. Ex.: " A great hunk 
 of bread and cheese." It is a variation of the word hunch, which 
 is used in England in precisely the same manner. See Grose and 
 Moor's Glossaries. 
 
 2. (Dutch, honk.) Place, post, home. A word descended from 
 the Dutch children, and much used by New York boys in their play. 
 " To be /^un^'," or " all /mnl%" is to have reached the goal or place 
 of meeting without being intercepted by one of the opposite party, 
 to be all safe. 
 
 This word has also made its way into political life. In a debate 
 of the Board of Aldermen of New York (December, 185G), on the 
 purchase of certain grounds on the East River for a market site, 
 Alderman Ely said : — 
 
 Mr. L had filled in and made this ground in the waters of the East River 
 
 without authority; and now he felt himself all hunk, and wanted to get this enor- 
 mous sum out of the city. — N. Y. Tribune, Dec. 30, 1856. 
 
301 
 
 HUN 
 
 Hunkers. Those who cling to the homestead or to old principles. A 
 nickname given in the State of New York to the Conservative wing 
 of the Democratic party as opposed to the Young Democracy, or 
 Barnburners. They are often called Old Hunkers^ from Hunk, 
 home, as above. 
 
 Senator A has long coveted, and finally obtained, a leading position. He 
 
 is now the leader of the hunkers of Missouri, — a noble band, with just seven 
 principles, and a foresight the exact length of their noses. — New York Evening 
 Post, 1849. 
 
 Hunkerism. The doctrines of the Conservative Democracy, or Old 
 Hunkers. 
 
 Hunkey. Very fine; "tip-top;" "just the thing." Applied more 
 commonly to things than to persons. " That 's hunkey.'''' 
 
 In one of the songs of the late war called " The Men of the Day," 
 allusion is thus made to the Confederates and a distinguished 
 General: — 
 
 And though the}' many a plan have tried, 
 
 They cannot him inveigle ; 
 The "little Dutchman's " wide awake, 
 
 A hunkey-hoy is Sigel. 
 
 On the trial .of General Babcock for connection with the whiskey 
 frauds at St. Louis, Feb., 1876, the following telegram, from J. H. 
 Joyce to General McDonald, was submitted : — 
 
 Matters are hunkey, go it lively, and watch sharply. Every thing looks well. 
 Send a report. Feel hunkey. 
 
 Hunkidori. Superlatively good. Said to be a word introduced by 
 Japanese Tommy, and to be (or to be derived from) the name of a 
 street, or a bazaar, in Yeddo. 
 
 Oh, the noble class of '68 is just old hunkedore; 
 
 It 's bound to cover Hamilton, likewise itself, with glory. 
 
 Hamilton College Sonys in Carmina Colleyensia, p. 147. 
 
 At the trial of General Babcock, at St. Louis (Feb., 1876), a 
 witness w^as asked if he got a receipt for a certain telegram delivered 
 Mr. Joyce. He replied, " No." 
 
 Counsel. " What did he say when you asked for it V " 
 
 Witness. He said, "Oh! that's all right, hunkidon, or something like that. 
 It 's only a blind." — Report in Neio York Tribune. 
 
 To hunt for Meat. At the Far West, the hunter hunts for meat, when 
 in search of food, in contradistinction to hunting for skins. 
 
 Hunting- Shirt. A blouse or shirt originally made of deerskin and 
 highly ornamented, worn by trappers and hunters as well as by 
 travellers on the Western frontier. 
 
HUR 
 
 305 
 
 A light, figured, and fringed hunting-shirt of cotton covered his body, while 
 leggings of deerskin rose to his knee. — Cooper, Oak Openings. 
 
 Rise up, Fremont ! and go before ; 
 
 The hour must have its man ; 
 Put on the hunting-shirt once more, 
 
 And lead in Freedom's van! — Whittier. 
 
 Hurra's Nest. A state of confusion. A woman's word. 
 
 "Now just look at you, Mr. Jones! T declare, it gives me a chill to see you 
 go to a drawer. What do you want V Tell me, and I will get it for you." 
 
 Mrs. Jones springs to the side of her husband, who has gone to the bureau for 
 something, and pushes him away. 
 
 "There now! Just look at the Awrra's nes^ you have made! What do you 
 want, Mr. Jones ? " — Arthur's Ladies' Magazine. 
 
 " Hallo," says she, " here 's the devil to pay, and no pitch hot. Are you goin' 
 to kill that boy ? Here 's a pretty hurra's nest ; let me see one of you dare to lay 
 hands on this pickanniny." — Sam Slick, Human Nature, p. 59. 
 
 I lay till after daylight, and then one of my comrades shook me, to tell me that 
 the Indian boys had found a hurra's nest. Out I went, and about a hundred 
 yards from camp there war an old buffalo bull with a hundred little screeching 
 imps about him with their bows and arrows. — Crockett's Adventures. 
 
 " You 've got our clock all to pieces, and have been keeping up a perfect 
 hurrah's nest in our kitchen for three days. Do either put that clock together 
 or let it alone." — Mrs. Stowe, Oldtown Folks, chap. iv. 
 
 Hurricane. (W. Ind. urican.) This word does not appear in any 
 English dictionary before 1720, when Phillips notices it as a word 
 denoting " a violent storm of wind, which often happens in Jamaica 
 and other parts of the West Indies, making very great havoc and 
 overthrow of trees, houses, &c." Other dictionaries of a later 
 period describe it as a violent wind in the West Indies. It is the 
 Carib name for a high wind, such as is described by Phillips, and 
 was doubtless carried by seamen to Europe, whence it became 
 introduced into various languages. 
 
 I shall next speak of hurricanes. These are violent storms, raging chiefly 
 among the Caribee Islands ; though by relation Jamaica has of late years been 
 much annoyed by them. They are expected in July, August, or September.— 
 Dumpier, Voyages, Vol. II. ch. 6. 
 
 To its covert glides the silent bird. 
 While the hurricane's distant voice is heard 
 Uplifted among the mountains round, 
 And the forests hear and answer the sound. 
 
 Bryant, The Hurricane. 
 
 Hurrygraph. A sketch made; a letter written hurriedly. 
 
 But I must close this hurrygraph, which I have no time to review. — The 
 Independent, July 31, 1861. 
 
 20 
 
306 
 
 IIUR— liUS 
 
 Hurryment. Hurry; confusion. Southern. 
 
 I always hate to kiss old women what hain't got no teeth; and I was monstrous 
 glad old Miss Stallins had her handkerchief to lier face, for in the hurryment I 
 kissed it. — Major Jones's Travels. 
 
 Hurry up. A word derived from the eating-house direction to the 
 servants below. It vexed a lover of good speech and apt, when he 
 heard a boy at the foot of the hill call to one to come down by using 
 that phrase. 
 
 Hurry up the Cakes, i. e. Be quick, look alive. This phrase, which 
 has lately got in vogue, originated in the common New York eating- 
 houses, where it is the custom for the waiters to bawl out the name 
 of each dish as fast as ordered, that the person who serves up may 
 get it ready without delay, and where the order, Hurry up them 
 cakes,' ^ &c., is frequently heard. 
 
 If you have any communications to make, hurry them up, hot and hasty, like 
 buckwheat cakes at a cheap eating-house. — Doio's Sermons, p. 51. 
 Of General Lee, the Rebel chief, you all perhaps do know, 
 How he came North, a short time since, to spend a month or so ? 
 But soon he found the climate warm, although a Southern man, 
 And quickly hurried up his cakes, and toddled home again. 
 
 Ballad, How are you. General Lee t 
 
 To hush up. To cease speaking, to be silent, to hush. To dry up, 
 give us a rest, and to shut up, are other vulgar expressions with the 
 same meaning. 
 
 We passed out, Greene following us with loud words, which brought the four 
 sailors to the door, when I told him to hush up, or I would take him prisoner. — 
 General Sherman's Memoirs, Vol. I. p. 37. 
 Husking. The act of stripping off husks from Indian corn ; generally 
 called "shucking" in the South and West. In New England, it 
 is the custom for farmers to imdte their friends to assist them in 
 this task. The ceremonies on these occasions, called also Husking 
 Bees and Husking Frolics, are well described by Joel Barlow, in his 
 poem on Hasty Pudding : — 
 
 For now, the cow-house fiird, the harvest home, 
 
 Th' invited neighbors to the hushing come; 
 
 A frolic scene, where work and mirth and play 
 
 Unite their charms to chase the hours away. 
 
 The laws of husTdng every wight can tell ; 
 
 And sure no laws he ever keeps so well : 
 
 For each red ear a gen'ral kiss he gains. 
 
 With each smut ear she smuts the luckless swains; 
 
 But when to some sweet maid a prize is cast, 
 
 Red as her lips, and taper as her waist, 
 
 She walks around, and culls one favor'd beau, 
 
 Who leaps, the luscious tribute to bestow. 
 
HUS— HYS 
 
 807 
 
 Various the sport, as are the wits and brains 
 Of well-pleas'd lasses and contending swains ; 
 Till the vast mound of corn is swept away, 
 And he that gains the last ear wins the day. — Canto 3. 
 He talked of a turke^'-hunt, a husking-hee, thanksgiving ball, racing, and a 
 variety of things. — Margaret, p. 48. 
 
 He counts his cousin Phebe no better in her home upon the Avenue than when 
 she played barefooted at the old husking-frolics of Newtown. — Ike Marvel, 
 Fudge Doings. 
 
 My name is Jedeuiah Homebred, — called Jed for short, — allowed to be the 
 smartest chap at a.huskin' or log-roUin' in all our parts, besides knowin' something 
 about grammar. — The Green Mountain Boy, A Drama, p. 9. 
 
 According to Longfellow, the good luck attending the finding of 
 a red ear is an Indian superstition : — 
 
 And whene'er some lucky maiden 
 Found a red ear in the husking, 
 Found a maize ear red as blood is, 
 Nushka ! cried they all together, 
 Nushka! you shall have a sweetheart, 
 You shall have a handsome husband. 
 
 Song of Hiawatha, Canto xiii. 
 
 Huss-Bran in Indiana is the same as Coh in Virginia. A corruption 
 of husk. 
 
 Hyper. To bustle. " I must hyper about an' git tea." 
 
 Hyperion. (Ceanothus Americana.) A plant, from the leaves of which 
 
 was made formerly a beverage popular in New England. See 
 
 Labrador Tea. 
 Hypo. An abbreviation of hypochondria. 
 
 The old man would give up to the hyj)o, and keep his bed for week?. During 
 
 this time, he wouldn't say a word, but "I 'm not long for this Avorld." — HaUbur- 
 
 ton. The Americans at Home, Vol. I. p. 176. 
 
 Hypo-y, from Hypo. " She 's not sick, she 's only hypo-y.^^ 
 Hypped. One who has hypochondria is said to be hypped. Used 
 also in England. 
 
 Hyst. (Corruption of hoist.) A violent fall. Ex. : " His foot slipped, 
 and he got a Mr. J. C. Neal thus discourses on this word : 
 
 " A fall, for instance, is indeterminate. It may be an easy slip down, 
 — a gentle visitation of mother earth ; but a hyst is a rapid, forcible 
 performance, which may be done either backward or forward, but 
 of necessity with such violence as to knock the breath out of the 
 body, or it is unworthy of the noble appellation of hy.<>t. It is an 
 apt but figurative mode of expression, and it is often carried still 
 further; for people sometimes say, 'Lower him up, and hyst him 
 down.' " — Charcoal Sketches. 
 
808 
 
 IDA— ILL 
 
 I can't see the {^ound, and every dark night am sure to get a Tiyst^ — either a 
 forrerd hyst or a backerd hy»t^ or some sort of a hyst, but more backerds than for- 
 rerds. — J. C. Ntal^ Sketches. 
 
 One of the most unfeelin' tricks I know of is the way some folks have got of 
 laughing out when they see a gentleman catching a regular hyst, with his legs in 
 the air, and his noddle splat down on the cold bricks. A hyst is bad enough 
 without being sniggered at. — New Enyland Tales. 
 
 Pity, kind, gentle folks, friends of humanity, 
 Twig how the pavements are covered with ice; 
 
 Sprinkle the sidewalks with ashes for charity, 
 Scatter the ashes and save us a hyst. 
 
 ( Wash.) Evening Star, Feb. 4, 1857. 
 
 1. 
 
 I Dad ! An exclamation used in the Western States. 
 
 I dad! if I didn't snatch up Ruff and kiss him." Here the emotion of the 
 old mau made a pause. — Carlton, The New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 179. 
 
 Ideal Brokerage. Among stock-brokers, the ideal of brokerage is the 
 purchase or sale of securities for outside parties, where the object is 
 an absolute acquisition of property, or absolute sale of property. 
 Generally speaking, there must be in such case a deposit of the 
 stock or of the money value of the stock. — Medhery, Men and 
 Mysteries of Wall Sreet, p. 48. 
 
 Hk. In Scotland and the North of England, it signifies the same ; as, 
 " Mackintosh of that ilk " denotes a gentleman whose surname and 
 the title of his estate are the same; as, "Mackintosh of Mackin- 
 tosh." — Worcester. 
 
 By a curious perversion, political newspaper writers in America 
 often use the phrase "of that ilk " in the sense of "of that sort, 
 stamp, class." Thus the "Baltimore Sun," of the 15th of May, 
 1854, says : — 
 
 "The 'Journal of Commerce' and the 'True Democrat' both denounce in 
 advance the meeting called in the New York Park, Saturday afternoon [to cen- 
 sure Senator Douglas's Nebraska Bill], as a thorough abolition demonstration; 
 in proof of which the names of John Van Buren, Benjamin F. Butler, and others 
 of that ilk, that were promised to speak, are referred to." 
 
 111. Vicious. This strange application of the word is common in 
 Texas ; as, " Is your dog ilU " meaning, is he vicious. — Olmsted^s 
 Texas, p. 78. 
 
 niy. A word used by writers of an inferior class, who do not seem 
 to perceive that ill is itself an adverb, without the termination ly. 
 The late Dr. Messer, President of Brown University, on seeing 
 
IMM— IMP 
 
 309 
 
 this word in a composition submitted to his critical inspection, 
 asked of the student who presented it, "Why don't you say 
 welly 
 
 Distressed as my mind is, and has been, by a variety of attentions, I am illy 
 able by letter to give you the satisfaction I could wish on the subject of your 
 letter. — Letter of Richard H. Lee to his sister, 1778. 
 
 "My good friend," said the man of gravity, " have you not undergone what 
 they call hard times, — been set upon and persecuted, and very illy entreated, by 
 some of your fellow-creatures? " — Putnam^s Monthly, August, 1854. 
 
 Immediately, for as soon as. Ex. : " The deer fell dead immediately 
 they shot him." This wretched word is creeping into use from 
 England, where directly is used in the same way. 
 
 Immigrant. A person that removes into a country for the purpose of 
 a permanent residence. — Webster. 
 
 Immigration. (Lat. immigratio.} The passing or removing into a 
 country for the purpose of a permanent residence. — Webster. 
 
 The "London Quarterly Review," in noticing " Dwight's Trav- 
 els," in a note, says, " The Americans have judiciously adopted this 
 word from our old writers." — Vol. XXX. p. 39. 
 
 The immigrations of the Arabians into Europe, and the Crusades, produced 
 numberless accounts, partly true and partly fabulous, of the wonders seen in 
 Eastern countries. — Warton's Hist. Eng. Poetry, Vol. I. 
 
 Immigration has doubtless been a prolific source of multiplying words. — 
 Hamilton, Nug(B Literarice, p. 381. 
 
 Mr. Pickering, in his Vocabulary, observes that this word, as well 
 as immigrant and the verb to immigrate, were first used in this coun- 
 try by Dr. Belknap, in History of New Hampshire, who gives 
 his reasons for their use. Immigrant is original with Dr. B. ; but 
 the others have long been used by good English authors, though of 
 course less frequently than by American writers, who have more 
 need of them. 
 
 To improve. 1. To render more valuable by additions, as houses, 
 barns, or fences on a farm. Thus we frequently see advertisements 
 of a piece of ground improved by a dwelling and out-houses. 
 
 Where lands lye in common unfenced, if one man shall improve his land by 
 fencing in several, and another shall not, he who shall improve shall secure his 
 lands against other men's cattle. — Mass. Colony Laws, 1642. 
 
 2. To occupy ; to make use of, employ. Thus, some persons speak 
 of an " improved "or an " unimproved " house, meaning one occu- 
 pied or unoccupied. " This word," says Mr. Pickering, "in the 
 first sense, is in constant use in all parts of New England, but in 
 
310 
 
 IMP— IN 
 
 the second sense (when applied to persons, as in the following 
 example) it is not so common." 
 
 In action of trespass against several defendants, the plaintiffs may, after issue 
 is closed, strike out any of them for the purpose of improving them as witnesses. 
 SwiJVs System of the Coleny Laws of Connecticut^ Vol. II. p. 238. 
 
 In a petition from a Baptist society in the town of Newport, R. I., 
 in 1783, for relief, they say : — 
 
 Our meeting-house has been improved as a hospital by the English and after- 
 wards by the French army, and so much injured as not to admit of being re- 
 paired. — Acts of Assembly, Rhode Island, June, 1783. 
 
 Dr. Franklin, in a letter to Dr. Webster, dated Dec. 26, 1789, 
 has the following remarks : " When I left New England in the 
 year 1723, this word had never been used among us, as far as I 
 know, but in the sense of ameliorated or made better, except once, in 
 a very old book of Dr. Mather's entitled ' Remarkable Provi- 
 dences.' " 
 
 Ann Cole, a person of serious piety, living in Hartford, in 1662, Avas taken 
 with very strange fits, whereon her tongue was improved by a demon , to express 
 things unknown to herself. — Cotton Mather, Maynalia, Book VI. 
 
 3. To take an opportunity; to do as occasion requires. "He 
 improved accordingly." — Chaplin on the Sacraments, p. 54, n. par. 1. 
 
 Improvement. The part of a discourse intended to enforce and apply 
 the doctrines is called the improvement. — Webster. Mr. Pickering 
 has shown that the word is used also by Scottish writers. 
 
 The conclusion is termed, somewhat inaccurately, making an improvement of 
 the whole. The author, we presume, means deducing from the whole what may 
 contribute to the general improvement. — British Critic, Vol. I. p. 379. 
 
 The " British Critic " is wrong in the presumption. A minister 
 improved the occasion, or the subject of his sermon, by its practical 
 application of it to his hearers. The improvement was the name 
 given to such application. 
 Improvements. Valuable additions or ameliorations; as buildings, 
 clearings, drains, fences on a farm. — Webster. See Betterments. 
 
 In, for into. Mr. Coleman, in remarking upon the prevalence of this 
 inaccuracy in New York, says : " We get in the stage, and have the 
 rheumatism into our knees." — N. Y. Evening Post, Jan. 6, 1814. 
 An observing English friend at Philadelphia also speaks of its fre- 
 quent use there in the following terms : " The preposition into is 
 almost unknown here. They say, ' When did you come in town ? * 
 ' I met him riding in town.' " — Pickering. Also heard in Boston. 
 
 In, a. The reverse of out. So used in New England. 
 
IN— IND 
 
 311 
 
 In, n. 1. A person having office or position; the being in office, the 
 opposite of out. 
 
 2. A favorable disposition; the being " in humor." 
 
 Do you suppose / would bear with Moses Fennel, all his ins and outs, and ups 
 and downs, and be always putting him before myself in every thing, as you do? 
 The Independent, Feb. 6, 1861, Tale by Mrs. Stowe. 
 In our midst. A very common and incorrect expression among 
 clergymen, and much used at prayer-meetings. The Newport cor- 
 respondent of the "Providence Journal," in describing a fashion- 
 able wedding in that city, says : — 
 
 The whole affair was one of the most agreeable that has occurred in our midst 
 for a long time. 
 
 We have in our midst also our tales and traditions of the Revolution. — Apple- 
 ton's Journal, April, 1877, p. 367. 
 
 Inaugural. The address of a public officer on his inauguration into 
 office ; an inaugural address. Ex. ; " Have you read the President's 
 inaugural " 
 
 To inaugurate. To begin. A word now coming much into use in this 
 sense. The good English use of the word is to consecrate ; to 
 invest with new office by solemn rites, &c. Good writers never use 
 it as we now do. 
 
 Inca. (Kechua.) The title of a king or prince of Peru, before its con- 
 quest by the Spaniards. 
 
 Indebtedness. The state of being indebted. — Chancellor Kent. A 
 modern word, reputed of American origin; not often used by En- 
 glish writers, yet it is found in recent English dictionaries. 
 
 Independence Day. The fourth day of July, the day on which the 
 Congress of the United States renounced their subjection to Great 
 Britain, and declared their independence. 
 
 Indian Bed. An Indian bed of clams is made by setting a number of 
 clams together on the ground with the hinge uppermost, and then 
 kindling over them a fire of brushwood, which is kept burning till 
 they are thoroughly roasted. This is the best way of roasting 
 clams, and is often practised by picnic parties. See Clambake. 
 
 Indian Bread. Bread made of the meal of Indian-corn and rye also 
 called " Boston bread," or " Rye and Indian," 
 
 If I don't make a johnny-cake every day, Kier says, " Ma, why don't you make 
 some Indian bread V — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 70. 
 
 Indian Corn. Maize; so called because cultivated by the aborigines. 
 Indian Corn-Hills. 1. In Essex Co., Mass., a plat of ground where 
 hummocks look like the hillocks in which maize is gi'own. 
 
812 
 
 IND 
 
 2. A term given to hillocks covering broad fields near the ancient 
 mounds and earthworks of Ohio, Wisconsin, &c. They are with- 
 out order or arrangement, being scattered over the surface with the 
 utmost irregularity. That these maramillary elevations were formed 
 in the manner indicated by their name is inferred from the present 
 custom of the Indians. The corn is planted in the same spot each 
 successive year, and the soil is gradually brought up to the size of a 
 little hill by the annual additions. — Lapham's Antiquities of Wis- 
 consin. 
 
 These antique corn-kills were unusually larp^e, and were, as the Iroquois in- 
 formed me, three or four times the diameter of modern hills, a size which resulted 
 from the want of a plough. — SchoolcraJVs Indian Tribes, Vol. I. p. 57. 
 
 Indian Currant. See Coral Berry. 
 
 Indian Dab. A kind of batter-cake. Pennsylvania. 
 
 Indian Fig. The fruit of a gigantic plant (Cereus f/iganieus) of the 
 Cactus family, known among the Indians of New Mexico and 
 Arizona as the Pitahaya, the fruit of which resembles the fig in 
 taste. — BartletCs Pers. Narrative, Vol. II. p. 189. It is also ap- 
 plied to the common prickly pear, and so is Barbary fig, 
 
 Indian File. Single file; the usual way in which the Indians traverse 
 the woods or march to battle, one following after and treading in 
 the footsteps of the other. 
 
 Magua arose and gave the signal to proceed, marching himself in advance. 
 They followed their leader singly, and in that well-known order which has ob- 
 tained the distinguishing appellation of Indian file. — Cooper, Last of the Mohi- 
 cans. 
 
 Indian Fort. Enclosures, usually by banks of earth three or four feet 
 in height, found in Western New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and 
 other Western States. They were found by the early settlers, and 
 are apparently of gi-eat antiquity. 
 
 Indian Gift. A term proverbially applied to any thing reclaimed 
 after being given. 
 
 Indian Giver. When an Indian gives any thing, he expects to receive 
 an equivalent, or to have his gift returned. This term is applied 
 by children to a child, who, after having given away a thing, wishes 
 to have it back again. 
 
 Indian Hemp. {Apocynum cannahinum.) A medicinal plant. 
 
 Indian Ladder. A ladder made of a small tree by trimming it so as 
 to leave only a few inches of each branch as a support for the foot. 
 Southern. 
 
IND 
 
 313 
 
 Having provided ourselves with a long snagged sapling, called an Indian 
 ladder, we descended safely to the bottom of the grotto. — Bartram's Florida, 
 p. 247. 
 
 Indian Liquor. Whiskey adulterated for sale to the Indians. 
 
 A citizen of St. Paul furnishes some pretty hard papers on his fellow sinners 
 who trade with the North-western Indians. He says a barrel of the "pure 
 Cincinnati," even after it has run the gauntlet of railroad and lake travel, is a 
 sufficient basis upon which to manufacture one hundred barrels of " good Indian 
 liquor!'''' He says a small bucketful of the Cincinnati article is poured into a 
 wash-tub almost full of rain water; a large quantity of "dog-leg " tobacco and 
 red-pepper is then thrown into the tub; a bitter species of root, common in " the 
 land of the Dakota," is then cut up and added; burnt sugar or some such article 
 is used to restore something like the original color of the whiskey. The compound 
 has to be kept on hand a few days before it is fit for use. It is then administered 
 to the aborigines ad libitum. — Nat. Intelligencer, .July 10, 1858. 
 
 Indian Meal. Meal made from Indian corn. A mixture of the flour 
 
 of wheat and maize is called wheat and Indian. 
 Indian Orchard. An old orchard of ungrafted apple-trees, the time 
 
 of planting being unknown. New York and Massachusetts. 
 Indian Peaches. Ungrafted peach-trees, which are considered to be 
 
 more thrifty and to bear larger fruit than the others. 
 Indian Physic. See Bowman'' s Root. 
 Indian Pipe. See Wax Plant. 
 
 Indian Pudding. A pudding, the chief ingredients of which are 
 Indian meal and molasses. 
 
 As to grandmother's Indian puddings, — alas ! I shall never see their like again. 
 Goodrich's Reminiscences, Vol. I. p. 371. 
 
 Indian Reservation or Reserve. A tract of land reserved for the 
 use of Indians. 
 
 Indians. The name improperly given by early navigators to the abo- 
 rigines of America, in the belief that the country they inhabited 
 was the eastern portion of India, a name then applied to far eastern 
 Asia. The Spaniards, until within the present century, applied 
 the name of " India " and " Indies " to their possessions in Amer- 
 ica; and even now it is said that in Seville the department or office 
 where the business of America is transacted, and which in England 
 would be called the "Colonial Office," is known as the "India 
 House." 
 
 Columbus was the first to call the natives of the New World 
 Indians, believing that the lands he had discovered were on the 
 confines of India, in Asia. In his celebrated letter to Ferdinand 
 and Isabella, announcing his great discovery, when speaking of the 
 names he had given to the islands, he says, " To the first island I 
 
314 
 
 IND 
 
 fell in with I gave the name of San Salvador; . . . the Indians call 
 it Guanahani " (andado los indios guanaham). 
 
 Indian Sign. Signs of the recent presence of Indians in the wilder- 
 ness. See Sign. 
 
 Indian Summer. A writer in the National Intelligencer " for 
 Nov. 26, 1857, has the following remarks on this topic: "The 
 short season of pleasant weather usually occurring about the middle 
 of November is called the Indian Sumyner, from the custom of the 
 Indians to avail themselves of this delightful time for harvesting 
 their corn ; and the tradition is that they were accustomed to say 
 * they always had a second summer of nine days just before the 
 winter set in.' It is a bland and genial time, in which the birds, 
 insects, and plants feel a new creation, and sport a shoi-t-lived sum- 
 mer ere they shrink finally from the rigor of the winter's blast. 
 The sky in the mean time is generally filled with a haze of orange 
 and gold intercepting the direct rays of the sun, yet possessing 
 enough of light and heat to prevent sensations of gloom or chill, 
 while the nights grow sharp and frosty, and the necessary fires give 
 cheerful forecast of the social winter evenings near at hand. 
 
 " This season is synonymous with the ' Summer of St. Martin' 
 of Europe, which derives its name from the festival of St. Martin, 
 • held on the 1 1th of November. Shakspeare alludes to it in the First 
 Part of Henry IV. : — 
 
 ' Farewell thou latter spring ! 
 Farewell all hallown summer ! ' 
 
 *' And more expressively in the First Part of Henry VI. : — 
 
 ' This night the siege assuredly I '11 raise ; 
 Expect St. Martin's summer, halcyon days.' " 
 
 Indian Tobacco. (Lobelia ijijlata.) A plant whose leaves contain a 
 poisonous, white, viscid juice, of an acrid taste. The common Mul- 
 lein {Verbascum thapsus) was formerly called "Indian Tobacco," 
 in New Jersey. — Kalm's Travels, Vol. I. p. 401. 
 
 Indian. Turnip. 1. {Arum tripliyllum.) The root of an acrid and 
 powerful poison when fresh. Commonly called " Wake Robin " in 
 New England; and in Rhode Island " Jack-in-the-pulpit." 
 
 2. (Psoralea esculenta.} A common root in the West, much used 
 by the Sioux Indians as food. It is also called Pomme Blaiiche and 
 Pomme de Prairie. 
 
 Indian Weed. Tobacco. 
 
 When Charles the First, long since came hither. 
 In stormy and tempestuous weather, 
 
IND— INS 
 
 315 
 
 Leaving behind to raise up seed, 
 And tend a stinking Indian W eed, 
 Scotch, Irish, and Hybernians wild, &c. 
 Sot-weed Redivivus . . . calculated for the Meridian of Maryland (1730), p. 10. 
 To indict. To indite. 
 
 Never was letter to the " Congregationalist" indicted from this locality before. — 
 Congregationalist^ Feb. 7, 1862, Lett, from Hatteras Inlet. 
 
 Indignation Meeting. A public meeting called by a political or other 
 party, for the purpose of devising means to correct an alleged or real 
 public abuse. 
 
 Instead of those indignation meetings set on foot in the time of William the 
 Testy, where men met together to rail at public abuses, groan over the evils of 
 the times, and make each other miserable, there were joyous meetings of the 
 two sexes to dance and make merry. — Irving, Knickerbocker. 
 
 The public look chiefly to the press for advice and information as to their 
 rights and duties, and had resolved that it should not be gagged and i)ut down by 
 " illegal orders, attachments, fines and imprisonments for imaginary contempts 
 against courts which cannot be reduced much lower than they have reduced them- 
 selves." So said the resolutions of the indignation meeting of the 9th March, 1851 ; 
 and this language was generally applauded. — Annals of San Francisco^ p. 324. 
 
 Infair. The " reception " party or entertainment of a newly married 
 couple. West and South. 
 
 The infair, or wedding supper, was all ready, we were marshalled to our seats; 
 and a most sumptuous feast it was. — Southern Sketches, p. 59. 
 
 Informatory. Giving information. "To indite long letters inform- 
 atory and descriptive." — Lett, from Virginia in N. Y. Trihune, 
 April 9, 1862. 
 
 Inside of. Within ; in less time than. In common use. 
 
 They [the libertine and the harlotl would pollute the ■societ}'- of Heaven inside 
 of twenty-four hours, if they went there. — Boston Journal, April 27, 1877. 
 
 Institution. A flash word of recent introduction, as applied to any 
 prevalent practice or thing. 
 
 The driving of vehicles is a great institution among us, and may be safely said 
 to constitute almost the onl}-- out-door amusement of the majority of our male popu- 
 lation. The ambition of every fast man, young or old, is to possess a wagon with 
 one or two trotting horses attached. — N. Y. Herald. 
 
 Garroting, as an institution, may be said to be almost extinct in New York. It 
 •went out of fashion in a desperate hurry immediately after a sensible judge sen- 
 tenced three garroters to the state prison, one for life, the others for twenty-one 
 years each. — Tricks and Traps of Neto York, p. 47. 
 
 Whatever small thinkers and small actors may attempt, woman cannot be 
 counted out and classified as a mere appendage. She is an institution, and here- 
 after must receive the most generous culture and recognition, if man and society 
 are ever to be more than they have been in times past. — //. L. Stuart, in N. Y. 
 Tribune, 1858. 
 
316 
 
 INS— INT 
 
 A very unwholesome object, the carcass of a large dog, has been suffered to lie 
 in Ninth Street, near D, since Tuesday, although most abominably offensive and 
 unhealthy. A similar institution has occupied a site on the commons for some 
 time past, filling the air with noxious odors. — ( Wash.) Evtning Star, July, 1858. 
 
 From the following example, it appears that this use, or rather 
 abuse, of the word, is not confined to this country : — 
 
 The camels form an institution of India, — possibly a part of the traditional 
 policy, — and they must be respected accordingly. — London Times Cor. from 
 India. — April, 1858. 
 
 To instruct out. To remove from office, as a Member of Congi*ess, 
 by instructions sent from a State Legislature. 
 
 Mr. Tyler . . . opposed the removal of the U. S. deposits from the U. S. Bank 
 by General Jackson's order, and was in 1836 instructed out of the Senate on 
 thiit issue, having previously been very strongly sustained by the Legislature of 
 [Virginia] . — N.Y. Tribune, Jan. 22, 1862. 
 
 To insurrect. To rise; to make an insurrection. 
 
 If there 's any gratitude in free niggers, now they '11 insurrect and take me 
 out of prison. — Vanity Fair, April 5, 1862. 
 
 Interest. Manifestation of attention ; expression of emotion ; revived 
 feeling, especially respecting religion. 
 
 The South Church in Concord has had a quiet religious interest for two 
 months or more. — Rev. Joseph Cook, in Congregationalist. 
 
 To interfere. " He interfered with me," in the West, generally implies 
 rough usage. 
 
 Interior. The Mississippi Valley. Recent and growing usage. 
 
 Interval or Intervale. Low or alluvial land on the margins of rivers. 
 So called in New England. Similar land is called, in the Western 
 States, '* bottom land." — Worcester. 
 
 The interval intended in New England geography is the interval or space 
 between a river and the mountains, which on both sides uniformly accompany 
 its course at a greater or less distance from its margin. Hence interval lands 
 include meadow and uplands, and in general the whole of the naiTow valley 
 through which, in these regions, the rivers flow. — Kendall's Travels, Vol. III. 
 p. 183. 
 
 Interviewer. A person employed by some of the leading newspapers, 
 whose business it is to obtain an interview with a particular party 
 for the purpose of obtaining information, which is to be made 
 known to the public. A Cincinnati paper, of Sept. 10, 1877, thus 
 heads an article upon the policy of President Hayes, who was at the 
 time on a visit to Ohio: "The President run down by the Inter- 
 viewers.^^ 
 
 Then the interviewer began gently to exercise those lathery arts, for skill in 
 which kis sort is renowned. — N. Y. Tnbune. 
 
INT— IRR 
 
 317 
 
 Senator Rollins, of New Hampshire, refuses to talk politics with anybody, but 
 a vigorous application of the interviewer'' s pump has extracted from him the 
 remark that the Civil Service order against office-holders will eventually be a 
 dead letter. — Boston paper. 
 
 The Hon. Zachariah Chandler has paid a brief visit to Washington. . . . The 
 hungry interviewer sounded him in vain for an opinion, and had to content him- 
 self with the general observation that the §x-Secretary looks like a man who is 
 saying nothing, but doing an awful amount of thinking. — iV. Y. Tribune, Sept. 
 18, 1877. 
 
 To interview. To question; to obtain information by questioning; 
 to " pump a person for the purpose of obtaining secrets." 
 
 Mr. Beecher is interviewed every day or two now on the political situation, and 
 each time he takes a more cheerful view of the outlook. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Into. Used as denoting a number or quantity, &c., deficient; as, "I 
 had enough [money] into six cents." "It v^^as wide enough into an 
 inch." Connecticut. 
 
 In-ty. Certainly; indeed. "Yes; in-ty." Used by aged persons at 
 Salem, Mass., about 1820, and also in New Hampshire. The word 
 is probably French, entier, entire, used much as the English-speaking 
 Irish now use entirely. " Yes, in-ty; " " No, in-ty," were formerly 
 used in the vicinity of Roxbury and of Newton, Massachusetts, 
 as stated by Professor C. E. Stowe to the Rev. R. M. Chipman. 
 
 Inwardness. Interest; purpose. Frequently employed in this sense 
 in the Beecher-Tilton correspondence. 
 
 The true inwardness of the late Southern policy of the Republican party. — 
 N. Y. Tiibune, April, 1877. 
 
 Irish. Temper; anger. Colonel Dick Johnson, of Tecumseh reputa- 
 tion, used this Western substantive in one of his Eastern speeches: 
 " My friends say that my Irish is getting up," meaning, I am get- 
 ting angry. 
 
 Irish Potato. A term used throughout the country to distinguish 
 the common (Solanum tuberosum) from the sweet potato (Convolvulus 
 batatas). 
 
 Iron-clad Oath. A term applied to an oath required to be taken by 
 Southern men engaged in war against the Union, to entitle them to 
 the privileges of an American citizen. 
 
 Iron Weed. (Vernonia novehoracemis.) A plant, called in the North- 
 eastern States Flat Top, almost the only tall weed found in the beau- 
 tiful " wood pastures " of Kentucky and Tennessee. Western. 
 
 Irreliability. The quality of that which we cannot rely upon. 
 
 Surely, the irreliability of our war news must be demoralizing all our channels 
 •f information. — The ConyreyationaUst, Jan. 31, 1862. 
 
318 
 
 IS— IWA 
 
 Is. Some American grammarians condemn such expressions as " He 
 is come, arrived, returned, gone; was come," &c., universal in Eng- 
 land and occurring everywhere, in the Bible and the best w^riters. 
 No Englishman would say " the boat has gone," " has come: " he 
 would say, " he has gone to London many a time; " "he has come 
 several miles to no purpose;" "he has returned by a different 
 road." 
 
 The difference in meaning is obvious, and contributes to enrich 
 the language. In the former expression, gone, arrived, &c., are real 
 participial adjectives, expressing a permanent state ; in the latter, 
 they are verbs. 
 
 Isabella Grape. A cultivated grape of Vitis lahrusca, not much es- 
 teemed for its wine-producing qualities, but grown for table use. 
 
 Island. In prairie regions, the same terms are used as if the timber 
 were land and the prairie water. A cluster of trees is called an 
 island, sometimes a. mot, — a small strip of prairie running into a 
 wood, a cove, and a larger one, a hay. 
 
 The soil of the prairies is deep and rich; but, being of a clayey nature, retains 
 the water after heavy rains, so as to appear flooded. In some are little chimps of 
 trees on higher ground, which are called islands. — Harris, Journal of a Tour, 
 &c., p. 178. 
 
 At the summit of the hill is a beautiful grove, or island of timber, where the 
 heroes that fell at the battle of San Jacinto sleep their last sleep. — A Stray 
 Yankee in Texas, p. 252. 
 
 Issuance. The act of issuing. 
 
 Mr. Wilson called up the bill for the reduction of the militaiy 
 peace establishment. 
 
 A long discussion occurred on a portion of the bill providing for the issuance of 
 arms to the State authorities for militia purposes. — Debate in U. S. Senate, 
 July 20, 1868. 
 
 Item. Information; as, "I got item of his being in town." This word 
 is used among Southern gamblers to imp^y information of what 
 cards may be in a partner's or an opponent's hands: this is called 
 " giving ?Vem." 
 
 Keep your eyes skinned and your rifles clean, and the minit yer get item that 
 I 'm back, set ofE for the cross roads, &c. — N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 Itemize. To make, prepare, collect. 
 
 Itemizer. " An itemizer of the ' Adams Transcript.' " — Congrega- 
 
 tionalist, Sept. 21, 1860. 
 Ivy. In Connecticut use, for Laurel. 
 
 I want to know! Exclamation of surprise. "The Russians have 
 gained a great battle." "I want to know I " 
 
JAB— JAM 
 
 819 
 
 J. 
 
 To jab. To strike or thrust; as, " He jobbed a knife into me." 
 Jacal. (Span., pron. Jiacal; from the Mexican xacalli, a straw hut.) 
 
 A house built of erect stakes, with their interstices filled with mud. 
 
 They are common in Texas and in new Spanish settlements. 
 
 The modern village of Goliad is composed of about twenty jacals, large, and 
 of a comparatively comfortable character, scattered over two hills. — Olmsted's 
 Texas, p. 262. 
 
 Jackass -Rabbit. (Lepus calloHs.) A rabbit, found on the high plams 
 of Texas and near the Rocky Mountains, so called from its very 
 long ears and long and slender legs. It is known also by the names 
 of Mule Rabbit, Texan Hare, and Black-tailed Hare. The term is 
 also applied to the Lepus Texianus (Audubon and Bachman, III. 156). 
 Both species were so called by our soldiers, in the Mexican war. 
 
 Our conversation was cut short by a jackass-rabbit bounding from under our 
 horses' feet. — Audubon's Quadrupeds of North Amerim, Vol. II. p. 95. 
 
 The jackass-rabbit crossed our path occasionally; but it sprang up so suddenly, 
 and darted through the low bushes or chapparal so rapidly, that I could not get 
 a shot at one. — BartletVs New Mexico, Vol. I. p. 76. 
 
 Jack-at-a-Pinch. As a last resort. Au pis aller. 
 
 The fact is, Miss Coon feels wonderfull}- cut up, because she knows that her 
 husband took her Jack-at-a-jnnch. — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 27. 
 
 Jackson Crackers. Fire crackers. South-western. 
 
 Jack-in -the-Pulpit. (Ariscema triphyllum.) The Indian turnip. The 
 
 recent tuber boiled in milk is a popular medicine in coughs. New 
 
 England. In Connecticut, it is called One-berry. 
 
 Jack-in-the-pulpit preaches to-day, 
 
 Under the green trees just over the way, 
 Squirrel and song-sparrow, high on their perch. 
 
 Hear the sweet lily-bells ringing i.j chu.ch. - Jane Taylor. 
 
 Jack-Stones. A game played with five small stones, or with the same 
 number of bones from the knees of a sheep. It is an old game, and 
 is known in England as Dibbs. See further in Addenda. 
 
 Jag. A parcel or load. — HalUwell. And so in New England. 
 
 As there was very little money in the country, the bank bought a good jng 
 on 't in Europe. — Major Doioninf/s Letters, p. 168. 
 
 Jam. In Maine, Canada, and elsewhere, where logs are floated down 
 streams, they have often to pass where the channel is contracted by 
 encroaching cliffs, or where the river is otherwise obstructed. In 
 going down, the progress of the logs is sometimes checked, other 
 
320 
 
 JAM 
 
 logs are driven down until thousands are piled up in inextricable 
 confusion, blocking up the river for hundreds of yards, and some- 
 times where the stream is narrow for miles. This is called a jam. 
 It is sometimes very difficult, and attended with great danger, to 
 break these ^aw^ of logs. In some cases, they form a dam, when the 
 water rises until the dam gives way. The breaking of a jam in- 
 volves the failure or success, among lumbermen, of a Jong winter 
 campaign. It must be done quickly, ere the freshet subsides, or 
 the labor of the year is lost. The same term is applied to floating 
 ice, which, floating down a river, meets with an obstruction and 
 forms a, jam. 
 
 Jam up. A slang expression, equivalent to the English " slap up," 
 " bang up," i. e. capital, prime. 
 
 There must have been a charming climate in Paradise. The temperature was 
 perfect, and connubial bliss, I allot, was real jam up. — Sam Slick, Human Nature, 
 p. 273. 
 
 Jamaica Pepper. See Allspice. 
 Jamboree. A frolic; a row; a jollification. 
 
 Case was arrested by a police oflRcer, at his house, drunk clear through. He 
 was having a good deal of a jimboree, and defied the police to take him, — New 
 York Police Report. 
 
 G. B. went on a xegnlar jamboree on Thursday night. I'illing himself up -with 
 bad liquor, he raised a row and was taken up by the police, — Providence Press. 
 
 Jamestown Weed. (Pron. Jimson weed.) The Thorn Apple {Da- 
 tura stramonium). Its Northern names are Stinkweed and Apple 
 of Peru. It is said to have been introduced from tropical America, 
 and to have been first observed about Jamestown, Virginia, where it 
 sprang up on heaps of ballast and other rubbish discharged from 
 vessels; whence its Southern name. 
 
 The Jamestown weed is one of the greatest coolers in the world. It, being an 
 early plant, was gathered very young for a boiled salad by some of the soldiers, 
 to pacify the troubles of bacon, and some of them eat plentifully of it, the effect 
 of which was a very pleasant comedy; for they turned natural fools upon it for 
 several days — Beverly, Hist, of Virginia, Book II. 
 
 The Jamestown weed is excellent for curing burns and assuaging inflammations; 
 but taken inwardh' brings on a sort of drunken madness. — Lawson's Carolina^ 
 1718, p. 78. 
 
 "George, did you ever see Sicily Burns V " " Yes, a very handsome girl." 
 "Handsome! this wurd don't kiver the case. She shows among wimen like a 
 sun-flower as compared to dog-fennel, an' smart weed, andji'i/wsen," — Sut Luven- 
 
 good''s Experience. 
 
 Jammed, Mashed, when applied to potatoes. " Will you have your 
 potatoes whole or jammed? was asked of a traveller at a hotel in 
 the interior of the State of New York. 
 
JAP— JER 
 
 321 
 
 Japonicadom. A word invented by N. P. Willis to denote the upper 
 classes of society. Allusive to the flower known as the Japonica 
 Lily. 
 
 Jaquima. (Span,, pron. hak-ke-ma.) The head-stall of a halter, used 
 in Texas and California for breaking wild horses. 
 
 Jayhawker. A cant name in the Western States for a lawless or 
 other soldier not enlisted; a freebooting armed man; a guerilla. 
 ' ' The Leavenworth Conservative ' ' says ' ' the term was first applied 
 to Colonel Jennison, of New York, and, being a jovial, festive, and 
 lively cuss, his comrades always spoke of him as the ' Gay Yorker.' 
 This expression was afterwards used to designate his men, and in 
 its various travels naturally underwent many changes until at last 
 it crystallized into Jayhmvker.^^ — iV". Y. World, Jan. 8, 1862. 
 
 We are soldiers, not thieves or plunderers, or Jayhawkers. — Proclamation of 
 General James Lane, Oct., 1861. 
 
 General Sheridan, in a despatch, having spoken of Louisiana 
 " banditti," gave much offence to the people of New Orleans. In 
 explanation, the General said: — 
 
 The terms Jayhawher and Banditti were employed to distinguish them from 
 the White League, a secret military organization. The term Jayhawher could not 
 be used, for the White Leagues were not plunderers and robbers. 
 
 To jeopardize. To expose to loss or injury. — Webster. This word 
 is often seen in the debates of Congress, as they are reported in the 
 newspapers. It is doubtless a corruption of the ancient verb to 
 jeopard, as deputize is of depute. — Pickering. The word is much 
 used in the United States, and less frequently in England. 
 
 The profound respect for the cause of truth which led Mr. Tooke not io jeopard- 
 ize its interests by any hast}' assumption of its name and pretensions for a 
 discovery yet incomplete constitutes one of his surest holds upon posterity. — 
 London Athenceum, March 18, 1848. 
 
 A horse, with a wagon attached, took fright yesterday afternoon in York 
 Street, and started off at full speed, JeoparrfiVm*/ the lives and limbs of pedestrians. 
 One female, with a child in her arms, narrowly escaped being knocked down and 
 run over. — iV. Y. Conner and Enquirer. 
 
 Jerked Meat. Dried meat; a term more generally applied to beef 
 dried in the open air. Some imagine the word to have come from 
 the Spanish Charqui, the common term in all Spanish America, 
 Mexico alone excepted, for dried beef. 
 
 Jerks and Jerking Exercise. The paroxysms into which certain 
 religious enthusiasts fell at their camp-meetings in the West, though 
 chiefly in Kentucky and Tennessee. It consisted in being jerked in 
 all directions, and over whatever object happened to be in the way. 
 
 21 
 
322 
 
 JES— JIG 
 
 In these cases, the persons affected would be left to themselves, 
 because the people said that to oppose thein would be to resist the 
 influences of the Spirit of God. 
 
 Jessie. " To give one Jessie " means to give him a flogging. 
 
 Well, boss, you 've slashed the hide off 'er that feller, touched his raw, and 
 ruinpled his feathers, — tliat 's the way to (jive him jessy. — liohb, Squatter Life, 
 p. 33. 
 
 The preacher went in for ginnrj Jessie to the Church of Rome. — Doesticks, 
 p. 105. 
 
 It is represented that a great many people from Salt Lake have been met, and 
 they all say that the Mormons are going to (jive us Jessie. — St. Louis Republi- 
 can, 1857. 
 
 The Judge [who was a candidate for office] had to stay at a convenient distance 
 to hear that Hoss Allen was giving him particular Jesse. — Hoss Allen's Apoloyy. 
 
 Jewhillikens ! A Western exclamation of surprise. 
 
 Didn't you know that feller, Arch Cooney ? He was a hoss-fly. He 's a few ! 
 ■well he is. Jeichilliken, how he could whip a nigger! and swear! whew! — 
 Traits of American Humor. 
 
 To jib. A horse in a carriage, when he stands still and refuses to go, 
 is said to jih. In England, the term is applied to a horse that 
 backs instead of going forward. — Halliwell. See Baulk. 
 
 Jibber. A horse in harness who stands still and refuses to go forward. 
 
 Let any person driving a strange horse, with a load that he is not sure he can 
 start easily, proceed according to directions; and he may be certain that, if the 
 animal be not already a. jibber, he will not make himself so. — Jenninys on the 
 Horse, p. 200 
 
 To jibe. To suit, agree, harmonize. A variation of to gee, which last 
 is used both in England and in this country. Xautical in its 
 origin: " to go about, with the wind aft; " to jibe well is to work 
 well. One vessel jibes, another iacks, better. 
 
 I attempted to sing the words of " Old Hundred," while the lady played the 
 Jenny Lind Polka, which didn't seem to jibe. — Doesticks, p. 113. 
 
 Jig. An artificial squid for trolling. Xew England. 
 
 " A school of blue-fish ! " exclaimed the Professor, as his eye caught the move- 
 ment to which I pointed. He shouted frantically to the pilot to make haste with 
 the dory, and, throwing on an overcoat, seized from the locker where we kept 
 our fishing tackle a long, stout line, at the end of which was a shining, spoon- 
 shaped piece ot" pewter, terminated by a large hook. This apparatus he called a 
 jig. —N. Y. Tribune, July •22, 1858.' 
 
 Upon the river St. Lawrence, the contrivance referred to is called 
 a spoon-hook, where it is used for catching bass, pike, and mus- 
 kalunge. 
 
JIG— JOG 
 
 323 
 
 The Jig is up, i. e. the game is up ; it is all over with me. 
 
 The time was when I could cut pigeon-wings and perform the double-shuffle 
 with precision and activity ; but those days are over now, — the Jiff is up. — Ken- 
 dall, Santa Fe Expedition, Vol. I. p. 62. 
 
 Jigamaree. A trivial or non-sensible thing. A factitious word, equiv- 
 alent to " jiggumbob " and " thingumbob." It is explained in the 
 English glossaries to mean a manoeuvre, a trick. 
 
 He is also the inwentor of the " housekeeper's friend," that ere jigamaree the 
 wimmim scrubs with, instead of going on their hands and knees as they used to. 
 N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 I went over t'other night to see them all, as they was as bus}' as bees in a tar 
 barrel sowin' and makin' up finery. Mary was sowin' something mighty fine 
 with ruffles and jiffamarees all around it. — Major Jones's Courtship). 
 
 Jigger. 1. An insect. See Chigoe. 
 
 2. A small fishing vessel. New England. 
 
 3. A sail. 
 
 Jiggling-Board. A board the ends of which are placed upon frames or 
 stools, upon which a person stands and springs up; also called a 
 jolly-board . 
 
 Jimber jawed. Where the lower jaw projects unnaturally. 
 Jim-Jams. Delirium tremens. Kentucky. 
 
 Jimmy. A piece of iron, varying in length, sharp-pointed atone end, 
 used by burglars for prying open doors and iron safes, or for forcing 
 a lock. 
 
 Jimpson or Jimson Weed. Jamestown Weed. {Stramonium.) Said 
 to have been first introduced at Jamestown, Virginia. See James- 
 town Weed. 
 
 She went to the open door and stood in it and looked out among the tomato 
 vines and _/i?rt/>soTO MJeec/s that constituted the garden. — Mark Twain, Tom Saiv- 
 yer, p. 18. 
 
 Jobber. 1. Used only conventionally in Wall Street In London, it 
 
 is the equivalent of a stock operator. — Medhery. 
 
 2. One who purchases goods from importers and manufacturers 
 
 by the package, and sells to retailers. 
 Jobbing-House. A mercantile establishment which purchases from 
 
 importers and sells to retailers. — Webster. 
 Joe-pye Weed. (Eupatorium purpureum.) Maine. — Thoreau\s Maine 
 
 Woods, p. 317. So called from an Indian of that name, who cured 
 
 typhus fever with it, by copious perspiration. — Rafinesque, Med. 
 
 Flora, Vol. I. p. 179. 
 Jog. A projection or deviation from a straight line or plain surface, 
 
 e. g. in the course of a fence, or in the side of a building. Comp. 
 
824 
 
 JOII— JOR 
 
 English provincial Jockey^ " uneven " (Kent). Jogging, a protuber- 
 ance on the surface of sawn wood. Eastern. 
 
 The afklition which Hilly Jacobs had made [to the house] was oblong, running 
 out to the south, and projecting on the front a few feet beyond the other part. 
 This obtrusivc /oy was certainly very ugly. — Mercy Phllbiicts Choice, p. 7. 
 
 The little clumsy, meaningless ^o*/ ruined the house, — gave it an uncomforta- 
 bly awry look, &c. — Ibid., p. 8. 
 
 John. A common name in California for a Chinaman. 
 
 I passed out of the Chinese theatre, with a lady and two children. We had 
 to walk through a crowd of Johns. . . . Moreover, all that John does, he seems 
 to do with a sluggish amount of sluggish decorum. — Nordhojps CaliJ'oi-nia, p. 85. 
 
 Johnnies. During the late civil war, a term applied by the soldiers 
 
 of the Union army to those of the Confederate army. 
 Johnny-Cake. A cake made of Indian meal mixed with milk or 
 water. A New England Johnny-Cake is invariably spread upon the 
 stave of a barrel-top, and baked before the fire. Sometimes stewed 
 pumpkin is mixed with it. 
 
 Some talk of hoe-cake, fair Virginia's pride ; 
 Rich Johnny-cake this mouth has often tried. 
 Both please me well, their virtues much the same; 
 Alike their fabric, as allied their fame, 
 Except in dear New England, where the last 
 Receives a dash of pumpkin in the paste. 
 
 Joel Barlow, Poem on Hasty Pudding. 
 Little Sarah she stood by her grandmother's bed, 
 "And what shall I get for your breakfast V " she said. 
 "You shall get me a Johnny-cake : quickly go make it, 
 In one minute mix, and in two minutes bake it." — L. Maria Chila. 
 
 The origin of the word is doubtful. Some imagine it to have 
 originally been Journey-cake. 
 
 All the greatness of our State has been nourished on johnny-cakes of white corn- 
 meal. Johnny-cake I spell in deference to modern usage, though the old name, 
 journey-cake, may well recall to us that long and toilsome journey, when our great 
 founder fled from the odious land of yellow corn. — Cor. of Providence Journal. 
 
 Johnny-jump-up-and-kiss-me, Johnny-jump-up, Johnny-Jump- 
 er. Names given to the Heart's Ease, or Violet. This name is 
 also given to the breast-bone of a goose, with its two ends brought 
 together by a twisted string held by a stick passing through it and 
 stuck fast to the end by a piece of wax. 
 
 Jornada. (Spanish, pron. horndda.) A march or journey performed 
 in a day. In the interior, it is only applied to a long reach of desert 
 country without water, and not to a day's journey; as, the " Jornada 
 del Muerto " in New Mexico, which is ninety miles across, and 
 which it takes several days to traverse. 
 
JOS— JUD 
 
 325 
 
 If experiments with artesian wells should prove successful, the progress of 
 agriculture in New Mexico would be more rapid, and even many dreaded jor- 
 nadas might be changed from waterless deserts into cultivated plains. — Wisli- 
 zenus. New Mexico. 
 
 Until the autumn of 1849, the California desert was found to be a sandy and 
 dreary jornada^ without water or grass. — Captain Whipple's Explorations, 
 R. R. Survey. 
 
 Josey. A loose, light, upper garment, with sleeves and a short skirt, 
 now worn by women and girls. Both the dress and the name are 
 contractions of the old-fashioned Joseph. 
 
 Josh. A word shouted at the New York Stock Exchange to wake up 
 a sleepy member. 
 
 A member drops asleep, worn out it radiy be by long nights and feverish daily 
 wrestlings with bull or bear. ^^Josh,^'' ^'■Josh,'^ Josh,'' comes roaring from a 
 dozen leathern lungs, and the broker lifts his head and rubs his eyes, startled 
 from slumber by the traditional ralij'ing cry. — Medbery, Men and Mysteries of 
 Wall Street, p. 146. 
 
 Jour or Jur. An abbreviation of the word yowrne/yman. " The boss 
 quarrelled with the jur s ; " i. e., the master quarrelled with his jour- 
 neymen. 
 
 Juba. One of the classical names often given to Negroes by their 
 masters. " Patting or Clapping Juba " is keeping time by striking 
 the feet on the floor and clapping the hands on the legs to the music 
 of the banjo. It adds much to the excitement of the rustic dances 
 at the South. 
 
 Here we saw rare sport! Here were Virginia slaves, dancing jigs and clapping 
 Jvher, over a barrel of persimmon beer, to the notes of the banjo. — Southern 
 Sketches, p. 98. 
 
 Juber up and Jid)er down, 
 Juber all around de town, 
 Juber dis and Juber dat, 
 And Juber round de simmon vat. 
 
 Hoe corn and hill tobacco, 
 Get over double trouble, Juber, boys, Juber 1 — Ibid., p. 101. 
 
 In some versions, the fourth line reads, ' ' Juba lub de 'possum fat. ' ' 
 
 Judas Tree. See Red Bud. 
 
 Judges of the Plains. A translation of the Spanish Jueces del Ca.m.po. 
 In California, there are, by law, appointed certain persons in every 
 county, whose duty it is to attend all the rodeos, or gatherings of 
 cattle, whether for the purpose of marking or branding, or for sepa- 
 rating the cattle, when called upon by any ranchero, farmer, or 
 owner of stock. These are called Judges of (he Plains, and have the 
 power to decide all disputes connected with the ownership of horses, 
 mules, or horned cattle. — Laws of California. See Rodeo. 
 
826 
 
 JUD— JUM 
 
 The following is an extract from a liand-bill stuck up in San 
 Diego : — 
 
 Ordered, That the three Judfjex of the Plains at large shall meet at San Loui.s 
 Rey ... for consultation in all matters appertaining to their duties as Judtjes 
 of the Plains, and to adopt such rules and regulations as may be authorized by 
 law, — Nordlioff's California, p. 238. 
 
 Judiciary. The judiciary power, or the power that administers jus- 
 tice; judicature. — Judge Storij. This word is often used as a sub- 
 stantive in the United States, but is not often so used in England. 
 
 W orcester. 
 
 Judy. 1. "To make a Judy of one's self " is what, with more vigor 
 than politeness, is termed making an ass of one's self. 
 
 The "Boston Chronotype," in speaking of the bad management 
 and confusion at the Water celebration, says: — 
 It is thought tliat a set of men never did make greater Judies of themselves. 
 2. A lamp formerly used in Xew England for burning blubber. 
 Jug. A jail. 1. To be in jug, or in the stone jug, is to be in jail. 
 
 So arter this they sentenced me, to make all tight and snug, 
 Afore a reg'lar court o' law, to ten years in the Jug. 
 
 2. In American Thief Slang, jug signifies a Bank. 
 
 3. To jug money, &c., to hide it away. 
 
 Jugful. "Not by 2^ jugful is a phrase commonly used to mean, 
 not by a great deal, by no means. 
 
 Downingville is as sweet as a rose. But 'taint so in New York, not by di jugful. 
 Major Downing, May-day in New York. 
 
 He wished to state of the pro-slaven'' men of Kansas, so that their friends in 
 Missouri might see into their plans and polic}', they had not abandoned the idea 
 of making Kansas a slave State, by a jugful. — P. T. Ablets Speech, July, 1857. 
 
 Julep. A drink, composed of brandy or whiskey with sugar, pounded 
 ice, and some sprigs of mint. Frequently Alint Julep. 
 
 Hoffman brings the gods together on Mount Olympus, after their 
 last butt of nectar had run out, to taste mint juleps: — 
 
 The draught was delicious, each god did exclaim. 
 Though something yet wanting they all did bewail; 
 
 'Bntjideps the drink of immortals became, 
 When Jove himself added a handful of hail. 
 
 The word julep supposed to be American , both in name and for a 
 beverage, is mentioned by Beaumont and Fletcher: — 
 Men drown themselves for joy to draw in juleps, 
 When they are hot with wine ; in dreams we do it. 
 
 The Mad Lover, Act ii. Sc. 1. 
 Jump. " From the jump " is a phrase meaning from the start, from 
 the beginning. 
 
JUM— KAN 
 
 227 
 
 Here is a whole string of Democrats, all of whom had been going the whole 
 hog for Cass from the jump, without regard to our adherence or opposition to 
 Taylor. — Y. Tribune, Nov. 11, 1848. 
 
 To jump a Claim, in Western parlance, is to endeavor to obtain pos- 
 session of the land or " claim " which has been taken up and occu- 
 pied by a settler, or "squatter," in a new country. The first 
 occupant is, by squatter law and custom, entitled to the first claim 
 on the land. Sometimes dishonest men attempt to deprive the 
 squatter of his rights, which often leads to bloodshed. 
 
 When I hunted claims, I went far and near, 
 
 Resolved from all others to keep myself clear; 
 
 And if, through mistake, I jumped a man's claim, 
 
 As soon as I knew it I jumped off again. 
 
 E. H. Smith, Hist, of Black Hawk, 1846. 
 If a man jumped my claim, and encroached on my boundaries, and I didn't 
 knock him on the head with a pickaxe, I appealed to the crowd, and, my claim 
 being carefully measured and found correct, jumper would be ordered to con- 
 fine himself to his own territory. — F. Marryat, Mountains and Molehills, p. 217. 
 
 At Florence, Nebraska Territory, on the 26th of May, seven men were arrested 
 by a mob, for what is called claim-jumping, — that is, settling down on sections 
 of land already entered or claimed by other persons. They were tried b}'^ a club 
 association, and condemned to death by hanging; but the urgent entreaties of 
 their families averted the execution of the infamous sentence. — Boston Traveller. 
 
 To jump Bail. To abscond. "Boss Tweed jumped his bail; i. e., 
 he ran away. 
 
 Jumper. 1. One who takes a squatter's claim. 
 
 2. A couple of hickory poles so bent that the runners and shafts are 
 of the same piece, with a crate placed on four props, complete this 
 primitive species of sledge; and when the crate is filled with hay, 
 and the driver well wrapped in a buffalo robe, the "turn-out" is 
 about as comfortable a one as a man could wish. — Hoffman, Winter 
 in the West, p. 200. 
 
 Junk-Bottle. The ordinary black glass porter-bottle. 
 
 Kamas Root. (Camassia esculenta.) Breadroot. The Pomme des 
 Prairies or Pomme Blanche of the Canadians, and Prairie Turnip 
 of the hunters and trappers of the West. It is very extensively used 
 as food by the Digger Indians. 
 
 Kanacka. A native of the Sandwieh Islands. Kanaka is the Sand- 
 wich Island word for " man." California. 
 
 Kanticoy. See Canticoy. 
 
328 
 
 KAR— KEE 
 
 Karimption. A squad. Western. 
 
 A wiiole hirimption of Dutch emigrants were landed here yesterday. — Cairo, 
 
 Illinois^ Times. 
 
 Katowse. (Germ. Getose.) A din, tumult, rumpus; as, "What a 
 
 katowse you are making! " New England. 
 Katydid. (Plati/phyllum concavum.) The popular name of a species 
 of grasshopper; so called from its peculiar note. Two of them will 
 chirp alternately from different trees, one saying. Katydid! and the 
 other replying with equal positiveness, KaO/ diduH ! At least, so 
 their conversation is interpreted by the children. 
 
 I sit among the leaves here, 
 
 When evening zephyrs sigh, 
 And those that listen to my voice 
 
 I love to mystify. 
 I never tell them all I know, 
 
 Altho' I 'm often hid. 
 I laugh at curiosity, 
 
 And chirrup Katy did. — Ethiopian Songs. 
 I love to hear thine earnest voice. 
 
 Wherever thou art hid, 
 Thou testy little dogmatist, 
 Thou pretty Katydid. — 0. W. Holmes's Poems. 
 Nature was fast asleep, and not a sound interrupted the solemn stillness, save 
 the pitiful plaint of a lovelorn Katydid, or an occasional yawl from some sacri- 
 legious cat. — Bow's Sermons, Vol. III. 
 
 Kay, Cay, Key. (Span, cayo.) A small island or rock in the sea. 
 
 The term is generally applied to those on the Florida coast. 
 Kechug ! or Kerchug ! Whop ! The noise made by popping into the 
 water. See the observations on interjections of this sort under 
 Cachunk. A modern poet, in speaking of the plunge of a frog, thus 
 makes use of the word : — 
 
 You see him sitting on a log 
 
 Above the vasty deep ; 
 You feel inclined to say, " Old Chap, 
 
 Just look before you leap! " 
 You raise your cane to hit him on 
 
 His ugly-looking mug, 
 But ere you get it half way up 
 Adown he goes, — kerchug ! 
 
 Kedge. Brisk; in good health and spirits. Ex.: " How do you do 
 to-day? " " I am pretty kedge.''^ It is used only in a few of the 
 country towns of New England. — Pickering. Provincial in Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Keel-Boat. A description of vessel formerly used on the Mississippi 
 and its tributaries. It is thus described by Flint: " The keel-h^at 
 
KEE 
 
 329 
 
 is of a long, slender, and elegant form, and generally carries from 
 fifteen to thirty tons. Its advantage is in its small draft of water 
 and the lightness of its construction. It is still used [1832] on the 
 Ohio and Upper Mississippi in low stages of water, and on all the 
 boatable streams where steamboats do not yet run. Its propelling 
 power is by oars, sails, setting poles, the cordelle, and, when the 
 waters are high and the boat runs on the margin of the bushes, 
 'bush-whacking,' or pulling up by the bushes." — History and 
 Geography of Mississippi Valley. 
 
 Keeler Tub. A tub in which dishes are washed. " An greasy Joan 
 doth keel the pot." 
 
 The vessel in a brewery now called a cooler was formerly called a heeler. — 
 WmghVs Glossary. 
 
 To keel over. A nautical phrase, meaning to capsize or upset, and 
 metaphorically applied to a sudden prostration. 
 
 As it seems pretty evident that the sovereigns of Europe, instead of occupy- 
 ing or sharing thrones, are predestined to the walks of private life, it would be 
 highly proper to cultivate in them a spirit of self-abnegation and humility. If 
 the royal parents wish to see their offspring "let down easy" from their high 
 estate, they will adopt this course. Keel over they must, and a gradual careen 
 would be much better than a sudden capsize. Now that the people are assuming 
 the rights and privileges of sovereignty, we trust that they will have some con- 
 sideration for princes in distress. — N. Y. Sunday Despatch. 
 
 Keeled up. Laid up or worn out from sickness or old age. A sea- 
 man's phrase, like the preceding. 
 
 When we get keeled up, that will be the last of us. — Mrs. Stowe, Dred, Vol. I. 
 p. 116. 
 
 Keener. A very shrewd person, one sharp at a bargain, what in Eng- 
 land would be called " a keen hand." Western. 
 
 Keep. Food, subsistence, keeping. In a letter to his brother, Bishop 
 Heber, speaking of Bishops' College costing so much, says: — 
 
 Besides, it has turned out so expensive in the monthly bills and necessary 
 of its inmates, that my resources, &c. — Vol. II. p. 319. 
 
 The cottager either purchased hay for the keep [of the cow], or paid for her 
 run in the straw-yard. — Edinburyh Beview, Vol. LXI. p. 245. 
 
 " They tell me you puritans preach by instinct." 
 
 "I don't know how that is," answered Gershom, "I heer'n tell, across at 
 Bois Bruly, of sich doin's, and would give you a week's keep a.t Whiskey Centre 
 to know how't was done." — Cooper, The Oak Openinys. 
 
 Poor folks like us can't afford to keep nobody jest to look at, and so he '11 have 
 to step spry and work smart to aim his keep. — Mrs. Stowe, Oldtown Folks, p. 98. 
 
 To keep. The phrase to keep shop is often shortened into to keep ; as, 
 " Where do you keep now? " i. e., where is your place of business? 
 
380 
 
 KEE— KEN 
 
 To keep also has the sense of to live, to dwell, which use of the 
 word is provincial in the eastern counties of England. 
 
 Keeper. A custodian of attached property, appointed by a constable 
 or sheriff. 
 
 To keep a Stiff Upper Lip is to continue firm, keep up one's courage. 
 
 "My friend," said he, "don't cry for spilt milk; keep a stiff uppe?- lip; all will 
 come out right enough yet." — Knickerbocker Maynzine, Vol. XXV. 
 
 "Tut, tut, Majf)r; keep a stiff' upper Up, and you'll bring him this time." — 
 Chron. of Pineville, p. 150. 
 
 To keep Company. To court. A common term applied to a man 
 whose visits to a lady are frequent, with the intention of gaining 
 her hand. " He keeps company with her," i. e. he is courting her; 
 or "They are keeping company, i. e. are courting. Also used in 
 England. 
 
 A young tailoress got a verdict against Mr B , a steady fanner, who "^e/>< 
 
 company'''' with her some nv nths, and appointed a day for the wedding [but 
 subsequently changed his mind]. — New York Commercial Advertiser. 
 
 " I had no idee that Sally Smith was goin' to be married to Sam Pendergrass," 
 sa'd the Widow Bedott. " She'd been keepin' company with Mose Hewlett for 
 better 'n a year, and everybody said that was a settled thing." — Widow Bedott 
 Papers, p. 22. 
 
 Keepiug-Room. A common sitting-room; not the parlor, but the 
 second-best room. New England. The term is chiefly used in the 
 interior, although it may sometimes be heard in the seaport towns. 
 The same expression is used in Norfolk, England, for " the genei-al 
 sitting-room of the family, or common parlor." — Forhy^f Norf. 
 Glossary. 
 
 Mr. Goodrich, in speaking of the period of his boyhood in Con- 
 necticut, says: — 
 
 Carpets were then only known in a few families, and were confined to the 
 Tceeping-room and parlor. — Reminiscences, Vol. I. p. 74. 
 
 Within there were but the kitchen, the keepiny-room, and a pantry, together 
 with the sleeping apartment. — Eastford. 
 
 Keet. See Guinea Keet. 
 
 Kellock. A small anchor. See Killock. 
 
 Kelumpus ! Thump ! The noise produced by a fall on a hard body. 
 
 Only think, — a fellow to come here drunk at night, and to fall kelumpus on the 
 fence by the apple-tree ! — Adv. of Pnest, p. 93. 
 
 Keniption Fit. Any state of excitement. See Conniption. 
 
 Kentucky Coffee. The fruit of the Gym,nocladus Canadensis. A 
 large tree, resembling the locust-tree, bearing a pod with berries 
 which are used for coffee. Its wood is used for cabinet-work. 
 
KEN— KIC 
 
 331 
 
 Kentucky Flat. See Flat-Bmt. 
 
 Kerboodle. All; the whole. See ^ooc?/e and Caboodle. 
 
 Kerosene. (From Gr. k/;/jos, wax, with termination ene, as in 
 camphene.) A liquid hydrocarbon, or oil extracted from bituminous 
 coal, used for illumination and for other purposes. — Webster. 
 
 Keshaw ! ^ee Cashaw! 
 
 Keslosh! Keswosh ! Kewosh! Plash! splash! The noise pro- 
 duced by a body falling flat into the water. 
 
 Cousin Peter sat down between them [the king- and queen in a play]; but they 
 riz up jest as he went to sit down, and the first thing he knowed, kerslash he went 
 into a tub of water. — Major Jones's Courtship. 
 
 The kiver-hinge pin bein' lost, tea-leaves and tea and kiver 
 
 "Would all come down kerswosh ! as though the dam broke in a river. 
 
 Poetical Epistle from a Volunteer. 
 
 I have seen manhood fall from the topmost cliff of ambition kerswosh into the 
 depths of nonenity, and lie for ever buried in the turbid waves of oblivion. — 
 Dow's Sermons. 
 
 He shoved aAvay the boat, and the first thing I know'd down I went kerwosh 
 into the drink. — Southern Sketches, p. 36. 
 
 Kesouse ! Souse 1 The noise made by a body falling from a small 
 height into the water. Comp. T'ouse. 
 
 The dug-out hadn't leaped more 'n six lengths from the bank, afore — zip — 
 chug — ke-soHse I went; the eend lifted agin a sawyer, and emptied me into the 
 element. — The AmeHcans at Home, Vol. I. 
 
 To kesouse. To souse into the water. 
 
 I ^esoMsef/ the old cock into a bucket of boilin' water, and — do you believe? 
 Why, it took two of my young ones and a big pair of pincers a whole day to get 
 the critter's feathers out. — N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 Keswollop ! Flop ! The noise made by a violent fall to the ground. 
 
 The horses kept pretty even till they reached the third fence, a regular snag; 
 and then kersivollop vfent one rider clear over the horse's head. — N. Y. Spirit 
 of the Times. 
 
 Kettle. A pail, as of tin-plate; a dinner-pail. N.England. 
 Key. See Kay. 
 
 Keystone State. The State of Pennsylvania. So called from its 
 being the central State of the Union at the time of the formation 
 of the Con.stitution. 
 
 Kiblinga. Parts of small fish used by fishermen for bait on the banks 
 of Newfoundland. See Slivers. 
 
 To kick. To jilt. Ex. : " Miss A. has kicked the Hon. Mr. B., and 
 sent him off with a flea in his ear." Confined to the South. 
 
332 
 
 KIC— KIL 
 
 Kick. To kick up a row is to create a disturbance; the same as to 
 kick up a dmt. 
 
 Mr. Polk admitted Santa Anna, because he knew him to be capable of fighting 
 nothing but chickens, and to kick up a row in Mexico, and disconcert government 
 measures. — Mr. Bedinger, Speech in House of Representatives. 
 
 Kid. 1. A large box in fishing vessels, into which fish are thrown as 
 they are caught. New England. 
 2. A kidnapper. 
 
 Attempted kidnapping in Washington. The kidnappers caught and locked 
 up. . . . The kiils were taken before Colonel Childs, who . . . ordered them to 
 be sent to the Provost-Marshal's office. — Washimjton Republican, April 9, 1862. 
 
 To kill. 1. To defeat, to neutralize. A political term. " Do you 
 vote the Whig ticket? I'll go the Democrat, and kill your vote." 
 " Ike Sap got a divorce from his old woman in the House, but it 
 was killed in the Senate." 
 
 2. To do a thing to kill is a common vulgarism, and means to do 
 it to the uttermost, to carry it to the fullest extent; as, " He drives 
 to kill;^^ " She dances to kilW'' 
 
 "KxW. (Dutch M.) A channel or arm of the sea; a stream, river. 
 This Dutch appellation is still preserved in several instances; thus, 
 the channel that separates State n Island from Bergen Neck is called 
 Kill van KuU, or simply the Kills ; to which we may add the names 
 Schuylkill and Catskill, applied to streams. 
 
 Killdeer. {Charadrius vociferus.) A small bird of the plover kind ; so 
 called from its peculiar note. Speaking of the gi-eat variety and 
 number of water-fowl in Florida, Bret Harte says : — 
 
 The sepulchral boom of the bittern, the shriek of the curlew, and the com- 
 plaint of the M/f/eer-plover were beyond the poAver of expression. — Sketches^ 
 p. 90. 
 
 Killhag. (Indian.) A wooden trap, used by the hunters in Maine. 
 Killing Time. The season when hogs are slaughtered. 
 Kill-Lamb. Connecticut usage. See Lamb-Kill. 
 
 Killock, Killick. 1. A small anchor. A wooden anchor. — Cart- 
 wright'' s Labrador^ Vol. III. 
 
 2. The flue of an anchor. — Jamieson. An instrument used to moor 
 a fishing-boat at sea, instead of a grapnel or anchor. A stone en- 
 closed between the longer pieces of wood, fastened together with 
 two others. — Notes and Queries.^ Vol. X. p. 319. 
 
 The stone slipping out of the killick., and thereby they driving faster than they 
 thought, &c. — Gov. Dudley" s Letter to the Countess of Lincoln, 1631. [They had 
 "let down their killick^ that soe they might drive the more slowly," in a gale.] 
 
KIL— KIN 
 
 833 
 
 They took their berths, unshipped their oars, threw over their Mllicks, and 
 prepared for fishing. — Peter Gott. the Fisherman. 
 
 So I advise the numerous friends that 's in one boat with me 
 To just up hillock, jam right down their helm hard a lea. 
 
 Lowell, Biylow Papers.. 
 
 An anecdote is related in " Harper's Magazine," for April, 1876, 
 p. 790, of a fishing-party becalmed in a fog near Newport, R. I., 
 which during the night attempted to reach their home by vigorous 
 rowing, 
 
 When the fog lifted at the approach of morning, they found, to their great 
 astonishment, that they had forgotten to raise the anchor, and had been rowing 
 round the killeck all night. 
 
 The "Preble " stood off the bar for an anchorage. We found a suitable place, 
 and dropped the kellock. — N. Y. Tribune, Nov., 1861., Lett, from the Mississippi. 
 
 Killy-Fish or Killy. (Genus Fiindulus.) A small fish found in the 
 salt water creeks and bays, from one to five inches in length. It is 
 only used for bait for larger fish. They are so called from the 
 " Kills " in which they abound. They so much resemble the white- 
 bait of England that they are only to be distinguished by actual 
 comparison. 
 
 Kilter. Out of kilter. In a bad condition ; out of shape. Halliwell 
 notices the wwd A-eZ^er as provincial in England; and Barrow uses 
 it with the prefixed " out of." 
 
 If the organs of prayer are out of keltev, or out of tune, how can we pray ? 
 Sermons, Serm. vi. 
 
 Sir Charles Lyell, not knowing the word, wrote it "out of 
 kettle"! 
 
 Kiln. See at Tar- Kiln. 
 
 Kindlers or Kindlings. Small pieces of w^ood for kindling a fire; 
 kindling-wood. New England. 
 Put some kindlers under the pot, and then you may go. — Margaret, p 6. 
 
 Mr. Goodrich, in describing the wood fires of olden time in New 
 England, says : — 
 
 There was a back-log, top-log, middle-stick, and then a heap of kindlinys, 
 reaching from the bowels down to the bottom. 
 
 Kind o', Kinder. In a manner, as it were, in some respects; some- 
 what; as, " She made game on it kind o'." — Forhy. See Kiny. 
 
 A kinder notion jist then began to get into my head. — Major Downing. 
 
 At that the landlord and officer looked kinder thunderstruck — Downing. 
 
 It kinder seemed to me that something could be done, and they let me take the 
 CoM. — Margaret^ p. 325. 
 
334 
 
 KIN 
 
 In the ptore that stands above us, 
 As I sat beneath the counter, 
 Kind-a doing notliinj?, only 
 Nibbling at a box of raisins. 
 
 Ward. Song of Higher Water. 
 
 Kinder Sorter. Somehow, rather ; sometimes reversed to sorter 
 kinder. 
 
 I have set my heart on a gall, though, whether she will give me hern, I ain't 
 sartin ; but I rather hinder sorter guess so, than kinder sorter not so. — Sam 
 Slick. Human Nature, p. 90. 
 
 King-Bird. (Muscicapa tyrannus.) A bold and sprightly bird, which 
 appears in Louisiana about the middle of March, and continues 
 until the middle of September. Further northward, over the entire 
 country, it comes later and disappears earlier. — R. Kennicott. 
 
 King-Bolt. An iron-bolt by which is connected the axle and the fore- 
 wheels of a wagon to and with the other parts of the vehicle. New 
 England. See Body-Bolt. 
 
 King-Crab. See Horse-Foot. 
 
 King-Fish. (Urnbrina a/bvrnus.) A sea-fish of delicious flavor, called 
 King-fish about Xew York, and Hake on the Jersey coast. 
 
 Kink. 1. An accidental knot or sudden twist in a rope, thread, &c. 
 
 I wanted to sit by an open window in the [railway] car, and Betsey Bobbet 
 didn't. I mistrust she thought the wind would take the kink out of her frizzles. 
 Betsey Bobbet, p. 273. 
 
 There is another financial kink in the case of the bonds of St. Charles County, 
 Missouri, which lately became in default of interest. — N. Y. Post, April 16, 
 1877. 
 
 2. Figuratively, a fanciful notion, a crotchet. 
 
 It is useless to persuade him to go, for he has taken a kink in his head thai 
 he will not. — Carlton, The New Purchase. 
 
 I went down to ^lacon to the examination, whar I got a heap of new kinks. 
 Major Jones's Courtshij), p. 20. 
 
 Xpver a Yankee was born or bred 
 Without that peculiar kink in his head 
 By which he could turn the smallest amount 
 Of Avhatever he had to the best account. 
 
 Cozzens, California Ballad. 
 
 Kinkajou. (Cercolepfes caudivolrulus. Illiger.) " Carcajou or Quin- 
 cajou, a species of cat, wliose tail is so long that it is obliged to take 
 several turns of it around his body." — Charlevoix, Nouvelle France, 
 Vol. ITT. p. 129. See Carcajou. Jonathan Carver, in describing 
 the Carcajou, mentions his long tail " with which," he says, " he 
 encircles the body of his adversary." — Travels, p. 450. 
 
KIN-^KrS 
 
 335 
 
 Kinky. Queer, eccentric, crotchety. 
 
 Kinnikinnick. An Indian word for a preparation of tobacco, sumac- 
 leaves, and willow twigs, two-thirds tobacco and one of the latter, 
 gathered when the leaves commence turning red. This mixture is 
 used by the Indians and the old settlers and hunters in the West. 
 The preparation of kinnikinnick varies in different localities and 
 with different tribes. Mr. J. Hammond Trumbull, the best au- 
 thority on Indian words, says, " The name, which is good Algonkin, 
 means simply a mix/wre, ' that which is mixed.' In this mixture, 
 the bark of the red willow is the principal ingredient, when it can 
 be procured; and is often used by itself without admixture." Mr. 
 T. adds, " I have smoked a half-dozen varieties of kinnikinnick in 
 the North-west, — all genuine; and have scraped and prepared the 
 red willow-bark, which is not much worse than Suffield oak-leaf." 
 
 At this moment, the Indians were in deliberation. Seated in a large circle 
 round a very small fire, the smoke from which ascended in a tliin, straight colmnn, 
 they each in turn puffed a huge cloud of smoke from three or four long cherry- 
 stemmed pipes, which went the round of the party; each warrior touching the 
 ground with the heel of the pipe-bowl, and turning the stem upwards and away 
 from him as ''medicine" to the Great Spirit, before he himself inhaled the fra- 
 grant kinnik-kinnik. — iV. Y. Sjnrit of the Times. 
 
 I at this moment presented to the Duke the Indian pipe, through which he had 
 smoked the day before, and nlso an Indian tobacco-pouch, filled with the k'nick- 
 k'neck (or Indian tobacco) with which he had been so much pleased. — Catlin's 
 Travels in Europe. 
 
 There are also certain creeks where the Indians resort to lay in a store of kinni- 
 kinik, the inner bark of the red willow, which they use as a substitute for tobacco, 
 and which has an aromatic and very pungent flavor. — Euxton, Life in the Far 
 West, p. 116. 
 
 While I am writing, I am smoking a pipe filled with kinnikinick, the dried leaves 
 of the red sumac, — a very good substitute for tobacco. — Carvalho, Adventures 
 in the Far West, p. 36. 
 
 Kiny. As kind o\ " Kiny so." " Kiny so and kiny not so." New 
 Hampshire. 
 
 Kiskitomas Nut. Indian, from kmhki or koshki, rough. A nut that 
 may be cracked with the teeth, characterizing the tree by its bark. 
 Rasle gives, for the Abenaki ue^ekouskaddmen, " J'en casse avec les 
 dents," I crack [walnuts] with my teeth. A writer in the " N. 
 Y. Historical Mag.," 1864, says the word is still in use on Long 
 Island. Michaux says, " Descendants of the Dutch settlers who 
 inhabit the parts of New Jersey near the city of New York call it 
 Kinky Thomas nut." The French of Illinois knew it by the name of 
 Noyer tendre. — North Am. Sylva, Vol. I. p. 123. 
 
836 
 
 KIS— KIT 
 
 The following sonnet to it is taken from the " Literary World," 
 of Nov. 2, 1850: — 
 
 Hickory, shell-bark, hishitomas nut! 
 
 Or whatsoever thou art called, thy praise 
 
 Has ne'er been sounded yet in poet's lays ; 
 October's frosts now burst the husk where shut 
 In snug recluse thou'st passed the summer; but 
 
 Ushered at length into the world's broad blaze, 
 
 Lo ! throngs of merr}' children rush to raise 
 Thy form, and give thee welcome; every hut 
 
 And statelier dwelling hails thy glad approach; 
 
 Looking, when winter's snows and sleets encroach, 
 To gather social circles round the hearth ; 
 
 Who, while the generous cider-cask they broach, 
 And munching apples laiid their various worth. 
 Call in thine aid to crown with crackling noise the mirth. 
 
 Kiss-me. Used as is " Thank-you-Ma^am^'' {y^hich. see) for a ridge 
 or hollow place across a roadway; a jolting obstruction to vehicles. 
 New England. 
 
 Kiss-me-quick. A home-made, quilted bonnet which does not extend 
 beyond the face. They are chiefly used to cover the head by ladies 
 when going to parties or to the theatre. Noted as in general tLse in 
 England, by Ducange Anglicus, for small bonnets worn during the 
 year 1851, and for a short time after. 
 
 She holds out with each hand a portion of her silk dress, as if she was walking 
 a minuet, and it discloses a snow white petticoat. Her step is short and minc- 
 ing, and she wears a new bonnet called a kiss-me-quick. — Sam Slick, Human 
 Nature, p. 131. 
 
 Kit. A man's baggage. 
 
 Kit and Boodle. " The whole kit and hoodie " of any thing means 
 the whole. See Boodle. 
 
 Then you're jest one quarter richer 'n if you owned half, and jest three quar- 
 ters richer 'n if you owned the hull kit and boodle of them. — T. Winthrqp, John 
 Brent, p. 19. 
 
 Kitchen Cabinet. A nickname applied to certain advisers of Presi- 
 dent Jackson. It was said that, to avoid observation, these advisers 
 were accustomed, when they called upon the President, to go in by 
 a back door. 
 
 In the management of the "Washington Globe," the organ of the President, it 
 became necessary for him to consult often with Blair and Kendall, which was a 
 reason, among others, for the Whig party to ridicule and condemn "Jackson's 
 kitchen cabinet.^' — Li/e and Times of Goveimor Reynolds, p. 453. 
 
 Kite. See Skite. 
 
 Kite-Flier. A financier who practises the operation of " kite-Jlying.^* 
 
KIT— KNI 
 
 337 
 
 Kite-Flying. An expression well known to mercantile men of limited 
 means, or who are short of cash. It is a combination between two 
 persons, neither of whom has any funds in bank, to exchange each 
 other's checks, which may be deposited in lieu of money, taking 
 good care to make their bank accounts good before their checks are 
 presented for payment. Kite-Jlying is also practised by mercantile 
 houses or persons in diiferent cities. A house in Boston draws on 
 a house in New York at sixty days or more, and gets its bill dis- 
 counted. The New York house, in return, meets its acceptance by 
 re-drawing on the Boston house. 
 
 Flying the kite is rather a perilous adventure, and subjects a man to a risk of 
 detection. One who values his credit as a sound and fair dealer would by no 
 means hazard it. — Perils of Pearl Street, p. 82. 
 
 It appears that Yankee land cannot claim the honor of inventing 
 either the practice or the phrase ; for, at a legal dinner in Ireland, 
 Lord Norbury said to Chancellor Milford : — 
 
 In England, you have to raise a wind to fly a kite, but in Ireland here we Jly 
 kites to raise the wind. 
 
 Bause. In the States of the Far West and on the plains, a native 
 pony. 
 
 As if some devilish infection pervaded the atmosphere, one of our horses, a 
 kiuse, took a fit of "bucking" soon after we left, and was particular to select 
 the most dangerous portions of the road for the display of his skill in that line. 
 McClure, Rocky Mountains, p. 301. 
 
 Elnee high to a Mosquito. A common hyperbolical expression to 
 denote diminutive stature; as, " I knew him before he was knee 
 high to a mosquito.''^ In Maryland, it is " knee high to a grasshopper.^'' 
 In New England, " knee high to a toad.^^ The latest expression is 
 " knee high to a chaw of tobacker." 
 
 Knicker or Nicker. (Dutch, knikker.) A boy's clay marble ; a com- 
 mon term in New York. It is also used in England, being defined 
 by Halliwell, "a little ball of clay or earth baked hard and oiled 
 over, for boys to play at nickers.^' 
 
 Knickerbocker. 1. A descendant of one of the old Dutch families 
 of New York City. 
 
 The old church in Nassau Street (New York) was dedicated in 1732. . . . The 
 congregation was composed of the wealthiest and most prominent people of Man- 
 hattan Island, — the veritable Knickerbockers. — N. Y. Tnbune, July 6, 1877. 
 
 2. A boy's garment. 
 
 Knicknackery or Nicknackery. A knick-knack. 
 
 There is one branch of trade which has not suffered in common with other 
 things, and that is the sale of costly knicknackeries, especially women's superla- 
 tive gear. — Neiv York Tribune. 
 
 22 
 
338 
 
 KNO 
 
 Knob. In Kentucky, round hills or knolls are called knoha. These 
 hills are formed by the weathering of the soft sandstones and shales 
 composing them. The approach to this " knob formation " from 
 the rich land is very characteristic, and the sudden change in soil 
 is accompanied by a corresponding change in the inhabitants. The 
 word, however, has extended its meaning, and in Kentucky, as well 
 as other parts of the West, is used simply for hill. In Maryland 
 and Virginia, the term knob is applied to the highest peaks of the 
 Blue Ridge and other irregular mountains. 
 
 Approaching Galena, the country becomes still more broken and rocky, until 
 at last a few short hills, here called knobs, indicate our approach to Fever River. 
 Hoffman, Winter in the West, p. 303. 
 
 Knobby. 1. Hilly. The prairie of south-western Missouri is char- 
 acterized by what are called knobs or mounds ; they are somewhat 
 variable in size and form, but usually present the appearance of a 
 truncated cone. — Swalloio^s Geology of Missouri, p. 204. 
 2. Fine; capital; "bully." New York. See IVobbij. 
 
 Knobite. A dweller in the " knob " formation of Kentucky. 
 
 Knob-Lick. The base of the "knobs" contains shales, which fur- 
 nish alum and other salts, forming "licks," to which wild and 
 domestic animals resort. One of these ktiob licks in Mercer county, 
 Kentucky, is a very remarkable spot, and was in former times a 
 favorite resort of the buffaloes. Many acres are entirely devoid 
 of vegetation, and clay banks in every possible shape occupy the 
 surface. 
 
 To knock about. To go or saunter about. An English phrase, 
 though not in the dictionaries. 
 
 A long course of solicitation, haunting public offices, and knocking about town, 
 had taught him [General Gates], it was said, how to wheedle, and flatter, and 
 accommodate himself to the humors of others. — Irvinrj, Life of Washington, 
 Vol. I. p. 423. 
 
 Knock-down and Drag-out. A fight carried to extremities. 
 
 There are good, quiet, easy people in the world who scarcely open their lips or 
 raise their fingers, lest 'Dogberry So-and-so across the way might take it in high 
 duilgeon, and forthwith demand an explanation or a knock-^lown and drag-out. 
 New York Spirit of the Times, Sept. 30, 1848. 
 
 Mike professed to be considerable of a tighter, and, in a regular knock-down and 
 drag-out row, was hard to beat. — Southern Sketches, p. 30. 
 
 To knock down. 1. To embezzle; to appropriate the property of 
 another. 
 
 2. To assign to a bidder at an auction by a blow on the coun- 
 ter; as, "The tall copy of Shakspeare was knocked down to Mr. 
 Jones." 
 
KNO 
 
 339 
 
 Knocked into a Cocked Hat. Knocked out of shape, spoiled, 
 mined. The allusion or metaphor seems to be that of the hat of 
 some unlucky wight, which, by a violent blow, has been knocked 
 into a sort of flattened, three-cornered shape, resembling an old- 
 fashioned, cocked hat. 
 
 A tall, slatternly-looking woman, wearing a dingy old silk bonnet, which was 
 knocked into a cocked hat, appeared yesterday before the Eecorder. — New 
 Orleans Picayune. 
 
 - One of the omnibuses here run full tilt against a cart, and knocked every thing 
 into a kind of cocked hat. — Major Downinij, May-day in New York. 
 
 At a Repeal meeting in New York, Mr. Locke was proceeding to speak of the 
 influence this party would have, when he was interrupted by a gang o' rowdies, 
 who, with the design of disturbing the meeting, cried out, " Three cheers for 
 O'Connell — three cheers for Repeal — and three groans for Slavery ! " The six 
 cheers for O'Connell and Repeal were given; but, by the time they came to the 
 groans for Slavery, they found themselves all knocked into a cocked hat. — Neio 
 York paper. 
 
 Between three and four thousand persons were assembled at the Broadway 
 Tabernacle the other evening to hear a temperance lecture from the talented Mr. 
 Gough. There were "long-robed doctors" enough to have constituted a stand- 
 ing army. The Rev. Dr. , who opened the meeting with prayer, got through 
 
 m the very short space of three-quarters of an hour ; but it was full long enough 
 to knock the spirit of the meeting into a cocked hat. — New York Tribune. 
 
 Knock-kneed. One whose knees are so close that they " interfere " 
 in walking. It is doubtless an English expression, though not in 
 the dictionaries. 
 
 Risingh, who succeeded to the command of New Sweden, looms largely in 
 ancient records as a gigantic Swede, who, had he not been knock-kneed and 
 splay-footed, might have served for the model of a Samson, — Knickerbocker, 
 New York. 
 
 To knock off. To dock off; deduct. Vulgar. 
 
 To knock round. To go about carelessly; to wander or saunter 
 about, i. e. " to knock about." 
 
 I 'm going to New York and Boston, and all about thar, and spend the summer 
 until pickin' time, knockin' round in them big cities, 'mong them people what 's 
 so monstrous smart, and religious, and refined, and. see if I can't pick un some 
 ideas worth rememberin'. — Major Joneses Sketches. 
 
 The Indian will lose his hair, if he and his band knock round here too often. 
 Ruxton, Lift in the Far West. 
 
 Know-Nothings. A new and more proscriptive party of " Xative 
 Americans," which originated in the year 1853. The " New York 
 Times " gives the following account of the origin of the name: " The 
 Know-Nothinfj party, it is X)retty generally known, w^as first formed by 
 a person of some notoriety in New York, who called himself ' Ned 
 Buntline.' 'Ned' was once a midshipman in the United States 
 
340 
 
 KNO— KOO 
 
 Navy, but left the service and commenced the business of Ameri- 
 canism on a large scale, by founding a secret political order, of so 
 exclusive a character that none were to be admitted as members 
 whose grandfathers were not natives of the country. It is a difficult 
 matter, in a countiy like the United States, where free inquiry is 
 so common, to keep any thing secret ; and Ned instructed his pros- 
 elytes and acolytes to reply to all questions in respect to the move- 
 ments of the new party, 'I don't know.' So they were at first 
 called ' Don't-knows,' and then ' Know-Nothings^'' by outsiders, who 
 knew nothing more of them than that they invariably replied, ' I 
 don't know,' to all questions." The following articles of their 
 "platform" or set of principles, according to the "American 
 Crusader," one of the leading newspapers of the party, contain the 
 gist of the whole : — 
 
 1. Repeal of all naturalization laws. 
 
 2. None but native Americans for office. 
 
 3. A pure American common school system. 
 
 4. War to the hilt on Romanism. 
 
 These were the principles of the ultra men of the party. In 
 Louisiana and other parts, they were disposed to be more liberal 
 towards the Roman Catholics, admitting such as were born in the 
 United States. There was also a difference of opinion regarding 
 slavery, and upon the latter issue the party became divided into 
 North and South Americans. See also Sam and Hindoos. 
 
 Kuow-Nothingism. The doctrines of the Know-Nothings. 
 
 The Know-Nothings have had their day, and very soon there will be nothing 
 left of them but their name. The earth hath bubbles, and Knoic-Xotliinfjism 
 was one of them. — New York Times. 
 
 Knuck. 1. A name applied to Canadians by the people on the 
 frontier of Canada. See Connucks. Also same in Addenda. 
 2. The generic slang term for a thief. ? English gonnoff. 
 
 Koncks or Conks. Wreckers are so called, familiarly, at Key 
 West; and the place they inhabit is called Koncktown. See Conck. 
 
 Koniacker. A counterfeiter. This word is undoubtedly American, 
 as nearly all words relating to the issue and circulation of spuriou? 
 paper money. 
 
 Kool Slaa. (Cut cabbage.) A contraction for the Dutch Kool-salade, 
 i. e. Cabbage salad. Many persons who affect accuracy, but do not 
 know the origin of the term, pronounce the first syllable as if it 
 were the English word cold. Some even write it so. See Hot 
 Slaw. 
 
KOO— LAC 
 
 341 
 
 Kooyah Root, or Kooyahs. A term applied by the Indians in Ore- 
 gon to a root used by them in making a bread called supale. The 
 plant yielding the root is Valeriana officinalis or V. Edulis, probably 
 the same as that sometimes written Kous. It is frequently called 
 Tobacco Root. It should be baked in the ground two days, to de- 
 prive it of poisonous properties. The bread has an offensive taste 
 to those not familiarized to it. 
 
 Kriss-Kringle. (Germ. Christ Kindlein.) The infant Christ. The 
 German for child is kind, of which the diminutive is kindlein or 
 kindchen. This, in some parts of Germany and in Pennsylvania, 
 has been formed into kindel, and the children are promised gifts at 
 Christmas from " Ckiist kindel.^^ The corruption of this last into 
 Kriss-Kringle, as a name for the babe of Bethlehem, is neither 
 English nor bad German, but a mere jargon or gibberish of the 
 vilest kind. 
 
 Ku-Klux, Ku-Klux-Klan. Originally a secret political organization 
 in some of the Southern States, but which subsequently laid aside 
 all connection with politics, and resorted to murder to carry out their 
 purposes. 
 
 For Sej'mour understands our plan, 
 He '11 make a speech to the Ku-Klux-Klan ; 
 Says he: " My friends, I'm just your man, 
 And Blair will lead your army." 
 
 Ballad, General Boom of the C. S. A. 
 
 L. 
 
 Labrador Tea. {Ledum palustre and L. laiifolium.) A plant used far 
 in the North-west as a substitute for tea. 
 
 There is a certain herb lately found in this Province [Massachusetts], which 
 begins already to take place in the room of Green and Bohea Tea, which is said 
 to be of a very salutary Nature, as well as a more agreeable Flavour, — it is called 
 Labrador. — Com. Courant, Nov. 16, 1767, from a Boston paper of Novem- 
 ber 2. 
 
 The Hiperion or Labrador Tea is much esteemed, and by great numbers vastly 
 preferred to the poisonous Bohea. — Newport Mercury, Dec, 1767. 
 
 The Labrador Tea Plant spripgs up among the rich and thick moss that every- 
 where covers the country of Labrador. I was informed that the fisliermeu and 
 Indians use it instead of tea. — Audubon, Ornith. Biofj., Vol. II. p. 633. 
 
 Lacrosse. This game was adopted as the national game of Canada, 
 on the 1st of July, 1859. Attempts have been made to claim it as 
 of Irish, Scotch, or other than Indian origin; but there is no ques- 
 tion that it is a game of the North American Indians, heiug prac- 
 tised by the Sacs, Sioux, Ojibways, Dacotahs, Iroquois, Algonkins, 
 
342 
 
 LAD— LAM 
 
 Choctaws, Cherokees, Creeks, &c. It consists in throwing a ball 
 with a stick, three or four feet in length, bent on one end, to a goal. 
 The ball is started in the centre of the field, when each party en- 
 gaged in the play endeavors to carry or throw it through the goal 
 of the opponent. 
 
 Charlevoix, Catlin, and Basil Hall, who witnessed the game 
 among the Indians, describe it at length. Twelve players consti- 
 tute a field in a match. 
 
 The origin of the name lacrosse is attributed to Charlevoix, who, 
 when ascending the St. Lawrence, at some point between Quebec 
 and Three Rivers, saw the game, which he called " jeu de la 
 crosse,^' played by the Algonkins with the present stick. The 
 game is described at length in an article on Canadian sports in 
 " Scribner's Monthly" for August, 1877. 
 Ladies' Tresses. {Naottla tortillis.) The popular name for an herb, 
 so called from the spiral arrangement of its flowers resembling curls. 
 
 Lafayette Fish. (Leiostomiis ohliquus.) A delicious sea-fish, which 
 appears in the summer in great abundance at Cape Island on the 
 Jersey coast, and is hence called the Cape May Goody. The name 
 Lafayette fish, by which it is known in New York and its vicinity, 
 was given it on account of its appearance one summer coinciding 
 with the last visit of General Lafayette to America. — Professor 
 S. F. Baird. 
 
 Lager-Beer. (Germ. Lager-Bier, i. e. Stock-beer.) Sometimes con- 
 tracted into lager. A kind of small beer introduced a few years 
 ago into the American cities by the Germans, and now much in 
 voglie among all classes. 
 
 Lagniappe. Something over and above. Louisiana. See Brotus. 
 
 Lagoons. The sounds or long channels between the islands and the 
 main, along the Atlantic coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 Lake Lawyer. (Genus Amia. Linnaeus.) The Westem Mud-fish. 
 It is found in Lakes Erie and Ontario, where it is known by the 
 name of Dog-fish. Dr. Kirtland says, it is also called the lake 
 latvyer from its •' ferocious looks and voracious habits." 
 
 To lam. (Belg. lamen.) To beat soundly; to drub. Colloquial in 
 some of the Northern States. It is provincial in Yorkshire, Eng- 
 land. — Willan's Glossary. 
 
 If ^lilhvood -were here, dash my vig. 
 Quoth he, I would beat her and lari her weel. — Rejected Addresses. 
 The gentleman, who fondly imagined himself a bat, stood his ground like a 
 regular built chicken, and " went in " a number of times; but his adversary, a 
 
LAM— LAN 
 
 343 
 
 stalwart butcher, was too much used to " ^am " to be vanquished, and his superior 
 prowess was soon made manifest by the commercial gentleman's face. — New 
 York Spint of the Times. 
 
 Cooney would pitch into a private dispute, when he didn't care a durn cent 
 which walloped the other, and loni them both. — Southern Sketches, p. 31. 
 
 If 1 had got a hold of him, I 'd a lammed him worse than the devil beatin' tan 
 bark, I know. — Sum Slick, Human Nature, p. 193. 
 
 Lamantin. See Manitee. 
 
 To lambaste. To beat, thresh, lam. 
 
 Lambasting. A beating. 
 
 Lamb-Kill. Massachusetts. See Calf-Kill and Kill-Lamh. 
 
 Lamb's Quarter. The popular name of an herb (Chenopodium album ) 
 at the South. — Williams^ s Florida. 
 
 Lame Duck. A stock-jobber who has failed, or one unable to meet 
 his engagements. A Dead Duck is one absolutely bankrupt. If 
 he continues to operate in stocks, it is only as a curb-stone broker 
 These terms are as old as the "London Stock Exchange." 
 
 On the southern corner of the Exchange stand half a score of excited faces. 
 Tliese are the famous Third Board of Brokers, — mostly lame clucks, who have 
 been disabled for life in their passage through the more secret operations of the 
 regular Board upstairs, and greenhorns who are very anxious to come in and be 
 caught. — New York in Slices, Wall Street. 
 
 Land-Crab. A landsman. 
 
 We "Old Whales" [seamen] are not supposed by some land-crabs to have 
 much of a taste for the feathery tribe " done up brown " \i. e. roasted fowls]. — 
 H. N. Palladium, Lett, from Ship Cumberland, 1861. 
 
 Land-Grant. A grant of land. Such grants are usually made by the 
 U. S. government to aid in the construction of railways. 
 
 Land Office. An office or place in which the sale and management 
 of the public lands are conducted. — Worcester. These offices are 
 all under the control of the General Land Office at Washington, 
 which forms one of the bureaus of the Department of the Interior. 
 
 Land of Steady Habits. A term often applied to the State of Con- 
 necticut, on account of the staid deportment and excellent morals of 
 the people. 
 
 Landscapist, A drawer of landscapes. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Land Scrip. A certificate or certificates that the purchase^^inoney for 
 
 a certain portion of land has been paid to the officer entitled to 
 
 receive it. See Land Warrant. 
 The surveyors are authorized and directed, upon the application of any holder 
 
 of land scrip, to survej'' at the expense of tlie government a sufficient quantity of 
 
 vacant land to satisfy such legal claims of all holders of land scrip sold by this 
 
 government. — Laws of Texas. 
 
344 
 
 LAN— LAS 
 
 Land-Shark. 1. One who, as boarding-house keeper, preys upon 
 sailors. 
 
 2. A note-shaver. A man who takes advantage of one's pecu- 
 niary necessities, by charging a high rate of interest when discount- 
 ing notes of hand. 
 
 Land's Sake. " For the landh sake! " An expression of surprise. 
 
 " For the land's sake, Melissy, you don't tell me Betsy 's got a beau ! I thought 
 that feller kind o' hangin' round the old gal had a sneaking notion after her." — 
 Humorous Tales. 
 
 Land Warrant. An instrument or writing issued by the Secretary of 
 tlie General Land Office, authorizing a person to locate or take up a 
 tract of new or uncultivated land. 
 
 Lane. In the Carolinas, all roads with fences on each side are called 
 lanes. 
 
 Lap-Tea. Where the guests are too many to sit at table. — Lowell. 
 
 Lariat. (Span, la reata.) A rope made with thongs of raw-hide 
 twisted or braided, and sometimes of sea-grass, used for catching 
 and picketing wild horses or cattle. Some writers incorrectly say a 
 riata. It is also called a lasso. 
 
 The greatest display of skill and agility of the arrieros consists in their dexter- 
 ous use of the lazo or lariat. — Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies. 
 
 If the horse manifested the least restiveness, Beatte would worry him with the 
 lariat so as almost to throw him on the ground. — Irving'' s Tour on the Prairies. 
 
 The la7iat [of the Californian boy] darted from his hand with the force and 
 precision of a rifle-ball, and rested on the neck of the fugitive horse. — £mory's 
 New Mexico and California, p. 97. 
 
 We cooked supper, and at dark picketed the animals round the camp, their 
 lariats, or skin-ropes, being attached to pegs driven in the ground. — Euxton's 
 Mexico and Rocky Mountains, p. 212. 
 
 To lariat. To secure a horse or mule with a lariat, or rope, which is 
 fastened to a stake driven in the ground, to the extent of which 
 rope he is permitted to graze. 
 
 Every animal should be lanated out for grazing. The best arrangement is a 
 ver}'- strong leather head-stall, to the lower part of which, well under the chin, 
 is firmly secured an iron ring. — Dodge, Plains of the Great West, p. 70. 
 
 liasso. (Span, lazo, noose.) A long rope or cord, often made of raw- 
 hide, with a noose, for the purpose of catching wild horses or 
 buffaloes on the Western prairies. It is also used by the muleteers 
 for catching their mules. See Lariat. 
 
LAS— LAW 
 
 345 
 
 To lasso. The act of throwing the lasso or rope on the head of a 
 horse, mule, or other animal. 
 
 And ever after, on that fatal day 
 
 That Friar Pedro rode abroad lassoing, 
 A ghostly couple came and went away 
 
 V\ ith savage whoop and heathenish hallooing, 
 Which brought discredit on San Luis Rey. 
 
 Bret Harte, Friar Pedro's Ride. 
 
 Last of Pea-Time. To be hard up. " To look like the last of pea- 
 time " is to have a forlorn appearance. 
 
 Latter-Day Saints. Mormons; so styled by themselves. See Mor- 
 mons. 
 
 Joseph Smith and an associate were constituted apostles to preach the gospei 
 \i. e. the Book of Mormon] and to establish among the nations the church of 
 Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints. — Stansbury'' s Salt Lake Exp., p. 135. 
 
 Lathy. Thin, slender, like a lath. 
 
 Laurel. See Ivy. 
 
 Laurelistic. Laureate; laurelled. 
 
 He took an active and honorable part in that fearful fight, which will long be 
 considered as one of the most laurelistic feats of our gallant navy. — The Inde~ 
 pendent., May 1, 1862. 
 
 Lave. (French, Zet;e.) Get up! A term in common use among the 
 hunters and mountaineers of the Western prairies and Rocky Moun- 
 tains. 
 
 "Zave, ho! Lave! Prairies on fire ! Quick, — catchup! catchup!" This 
 startling announcement instantly brought every man to his feet. — Scenes in the 
 Rocky Mountains.^ p. 34. 
 
 Law Day. The day on which a magistrate holds court at a country 
 tavern. Common in thinly settled districts in the West. 
 
 Lawing. Going to law. " I got my debt of him by tawing.^' 
 Western. 
 
 Laws, Laws-a-me! Lord have mercy on me! 
 
 He 's full of the Old Scratch, but laws-a-me! he's my own dead sister's boy, 
 poor thing, and I ain't got the heart to lash him. — Mark Tivain, Torn Sawyer, 
 p. 19. 
 
 Law sakes. Law sakes alive! i. e. for the Lord's sake! an expression 
 denoting surprise or astonishment. 
 
 Law sakes alive, man ! Make a question between our nation and England 
 about fifty deserters ! — Sam Slick, Human Nature, p. 23. 
 
 Law suds ! Lord save us ! 
 
 Lawyer. 1. (Himantopus nigricolUs.^ The black-necked Stilt; a 
 small bird which lives on our shores, known also by the names of 
 
346 
 
 LAY 
 
 Tilt and Loni^shanks. On the New Jersey coast, it is sometimes 
 called Inw}/er, on account of its " ]ou^ bill." 
 
 2. (Genus Lota.) A fish found in the river St. Lawrence. Mr. 
 Hammond, in his " Wild Northern Scenes," thus speaks of it: — 
 
 There were taken in the net pickerel^ white fish, bass, and pike by the dozen; 
 and, what was a stranger to me, a queer-lookin'^ specimen of the piscatory tribe, 
 half hull-h(!ad and half eel, with across of the lizard. 
 
 "What oil earth is thatV " said I to the fisherman. 
 
 "That," said he, " is a species of lin^; which we call in these parts a lawyer.''* 
 " A hiwyer ! " said I ; " why, pray V " 
 
 " I don't know," he replied, " unless it 's because he ain't of much use, and the 
 slipp'riest fish that swims." — p. 45. 
 
 Lay. 1. Terms or conditions of a bargain; price. Ex.: "Thought 
 the articles at a good lay ; " "He bought his goods on the same lay 
 that I did mine." A low word, used in New England. — Pickering. 
 Probably a contraction for outlay, i. e. expenditure. 
 
 2. The word is also used colloquially in New York and New Eng- 
 land, in relation to labor or contracts performed upon shares; as, 
 when a man ships for a whaling voyage, he agrees for a certain lay^ 
 i. e. a share of the proceeds of the voyage. 
 
 He took in his fish at such a lay that he made a good profit on them. — Peter 
 Gott, the Fisherman. 
 
 3. Situation; condition; relative aspect. " The lay of the land," 
 the situation of aifairs. Common use. In England, it would seem, 
 " lie " is employed. 
 
 I have just had an opportunity of conversing with a friend . . . from Italy and 
 from . . . opportunities of knowing the lie of the land there. — Letter from 
 European Times, London, May. 1862. 
 
 To lay, for to lie. A vulgar error, equally common in England and 
 in the United States. Thus we often hear and also see in print such 
 phrases as, " He laid down," for he lay down to sleep; " That bed 
 has been laid in," for has been lain in; " The land lays well," for 
 lies well; it " lays due north," for lies, &c. 
 
 In the following extract, English and German gi'ammar are both 
 set at naught : — 
 
 Lager beer derives its name from the long time it is alloAved to lay (lar/er) in 
 vats or casks, in cool cellars, previous to consumption. — Wells, Principles and 
 Applications of Chemistry, p. 436. 
 
 To lay on thick. To flatter. 
 
 Lay-out. In the Far West, a lay-out is any proposed enterprise, from 
 organizing a State to digging out a prairie-dog. 
 
 One cannot succeed without getting additional claims (to mines), so as to jus- 
 tify shafts or tunnels ; and his necessities are appreciated by the other owners, 
 
LAY— LEA 
 
 847 
 
 who get up a most exponsive lay-out for him. — McClure, Rochj Mountains^ 
 p. 219. 
 
 To layout. 1. To intend to do anything or to go anywhere; as, 
 " I lay out to go to New Yoi'k to-morrow\" 
 
 We was a Imjin' out to carry them half a barrel of pork ; and I made a bit? jar 
 of butter and sold it, and got the money for it, five dollars. — Bttsij Bobbet, 
 p. 206. 
 
 2. "To lay out " is the process to which deceased persons are 
 subjected before burial ; figuratively, it is applied to persons made 
 politically dead. 
 
 A Detroit man who failed to get a bill through Congress, alluding to that body, 
 says : " Well, they laid me out, but I '11 be even with them yet. I 've got a 
 chattel mortgage on one of our country papers, and I '11 go home and tell the 
 editor he's got to bust into that crowd about four columns a week, or I '11 fore- 
 close on him in a minit." 
 
 Leader. A length of finely twisted hair, gut, or grass, for attaching 
 an angler's hook to the line; a bottom. Called also a Snell. 
 
 Lean-to. A pent-house; an addition made to a house behind, or at 
 the end of it, chiefly for domestic offices, of one story or more, lower 
 than the main building, and the roof of it leaning against the wall 
 of the house. — Forhifs Norfolk Glossary. The word is used in New 
 England, where it is usually pronounced linter. — Pickering. 
 
 Many of the domestic offices of the household were performed upon the stoop 
 or lean-to, commonly called linter. — Brooke, Eastford. 
 
 Leastways. At least. ^ 'Tr^.^:^ ^ 7^ J ^ . 7 - ^ 
 
 Leather-Wood. {Dirca palusfris.) A small shrub with flexible 
 branches and a tough, leathery bark, which grows in woods in the 
 Northern States. It is also called Moose- wood; and, in New Eng- 
 land, Wicopy. 
 
 Wiff-hi, stringy bark. — Abenaki Spellinf/-hook (1830). Bark- 
 cord, rather Abn. wighehimesi, bois blanc (arbre) ivighehi, lien de 
 bois blanc: pi. — biar (cf. kankeskighebi, lien de cedre. Rafinesque 
 (Med. Flora, T., 158) gives, among vulgar names of D. palustris, 
 "rope-bark, bois de plomb, in Canada." "The bark is very 
 tough, can hardly be broken, and, torn in long strips, is used yet 
 in many parts for ropes, a practice borrowed from the Indian tribes," 
 p. 159. But it is plain that the wigebi of Rasles was made from 
 the Bois Blanc, or Bass Wood. See Charlevoix^ Nouvelle France^ 
 Vol. nr. p. 162. 
 To leave out in the Cold. To shut out; to neglect. 
 
 The "Assents" continue to come in freely at the Erie Railroad office; and 
 the appearances are that at the closing of the l)ooks . . . there will be few 
 shares or bonds left out in the cold. — N. Y. Tribune, July, 1861. 
 
348 
 
 LEG— LEN 
 
 Leggings. (Commonly written and pronounced leggins.) Indian wrajv 
 2)ers for the legs; also worn by the wliite hunters and trappers of 
 the West, both on account of the mud and to save the pantaloons 
 from the sweat of the horse. By some they are called Wrappei-s. 
 
 How piquantly do these trim and beaded kyyinf/s peep from under that simple 
 dress of black, as its tall, nut-brown wearer moves through the graceful mazes of 
 the dance! — Hoffman, Winter in the Wed, p. 239. 
 
 The wolf springs with fearful growl towards Stemaw, who slightly wounds 
 him with his axe, as he jumps backwards just in time to save himself from tiie 
 infuriated animal, which catches iu its fangs the flap of his leytjin. — ^V. Y. 
 Spirit of the Times. 
 
 Leg to stand on. A person without a leg to stand on would, of course, 
 have nothing- to support him The expression is applied, figura- 
 tively, to one without support in an argument. 
 
 Ex-Governor Clifford, . . . getting all the points involved, prepared the evi- 
 dence so skilfully that the opponents had not a ley to stand on at the trial.— 
 Boston Journal, April 25, 1877. 
 
 Leg of the Law, also Linih of the Law. A lawyer. 
 
 A prominent saloon-keeper was hauled into court by a well-known leg of the 
 law, who made $3.00 out of him. — Bridyepart, Conn., Standard. 
 
 Legislative. The Legislature. This, like the term " executive," is 
 used in America as a noun; but it is by no means so common as 
 that word. — Pickering 
 
 Leg-Stretcher. It is said that drams are now called " leg-stretchers " 
 in Vermont. It is an every-day occurrence there for passengers in 
 the stage-coaches, while the latter are waiting for the mails, to say, 
 " I guess I '11 get out and stretch my legs," which always ends in 
 their having a drink somewhere in the hotel. 
 
 Lengthy. Having length, long, not brief; tiresomely long. Applied 
 often to dissertations or discourses; as, "a lengthy oration," "a 
 lengthy speech. " — W orcester. 
 
 This word was once very common among us, both in writing and 
 in the language of conversation ; but it has been so much ridiculed 
 by Americans as well as Englishmen that in writing it is now gen- 
 erally avoided. Mr. Webster has admitted it into his Dictionary; 
 but (as need hardly be remarked) it is not in any of the English 
 ones. It is applied by us, as Mr. Webster justly observes, chiefly 
 to writings or discourses. Thus we say, a lengthy pamphlet, a 
 lengthy sermon, &c. The English would say, a long or (in the more 
 familiar style) a longish sermon. It may be here remarked, by the 
 way, that they make much more use of the termination ish than we 
 do; but this is only in the language of conversation. — Pickering. 
 
LEN 
 
 849 
 
 Mr. Pickering has many other interesting remarks on this word, 
 for which I refer the reader to his work. The word has been 
 gradually forcing its ,way into general use since the time in which 
 he wrote; and that, too, in England as well as in America. Thus, 
 Mr. Rush, in relating a conversation which he had in London, ob- 
 serves: " Lord Harrowby spoke of words that had obtained a sanc- 
 tion in the United States, in the condemnation of which he could 
 not join; as, for example, lengthy^ which imported, he said, what 
 was tedious as well as long, — an idea that no other English word 
 seemed to convey as well." — Residence in London^ p. 294. 
 
 We have given back to England the excellent adjective lengthy^ 
 formed honestly like earthy, drouthy, and others, thus enabling their 
 journalists to characterize our President's messages by a word civilly 
 compromising between long and tedious, so as not to endanger the 
 peace of the two countries by wounding our national sensitiveness to 
 British criticism — Lowell, Int. to Biglow Papers. 
 
 A writer in the " Boston Daily Advertiser," under the signature 
 of "W. X.," says that he has met with the word lengthy in the 
 " London Times," the " Liverpool Chronicle," " Blackwood's Mag- 
 azine," the "Saturday Magazine," the "British Critic," "Quar- 
 terly Review," "Monthly Review," "Eclectic Review," "West- 
 minster and Foreign Quarterly Reviews," in the writings of Dr. 
 Dibdin, Bishop Jebb, Lord Byron, Coleridge, &c. Granby, an 
 English author, uses the word lengthiness, which is a regularly 
 formed noun from lengthy. Campbell uses the adverb lengthily. 
 In his "Letters from the South," he says: — 
 
 I could discourse lengthihj on the names of Jugurtha, Juba, Syphax, &c. 
 And again : — 
 
 The hair of the head is bound lengthily behind. 
 
 Here follow a few examples from English and American writers, 
 out of the many that present themselves: -- 
 
 Murray has sent, or will send, a double copy of the " Bride" and " Giaour; " in 
 the last one some lenythy additions ; pray accept them according to the old custom. 
 Lord Byrun's Letter to Dr. Clarke, Dec. 13, 1813. 
 
 All this excitement was created by two /en^/M?/ paragraphs in the Times. — 
 London Athenceum, July 12, 1844, p. 697. 
 
 This man had timely warning from his God 
 
 To build a spacious ark of Gopher-wood; 
 
 He, moved through fear and faith, the structure rears, 
 
 "Which cost the arduous task of six score years. 
 
 Wh'ile Noah thus employed this lenythy space. Sec. 
 
 Noah's Flood: a Poem by Jos. Vail, New London, 1796. 
 
350 
 
 LEX— LET 
 
 Chalmers's "Political Annals," in treating of South Carolina, is by no means 
 as lenf/f/nj as Mr. Hewitt's History. — Drayton's South Carolina. 
 
 I did not mean to have been so lenythy w hen I began. — Jefferson's Wnlintjs. 
 
 I forget whether Mr. Sibthorpe has mentioned, in any of his numerous and 
 leiKjthy epistles, this circumstance. — Mrs. Clavers's Forest Life. 
 
 Lengthily. In a lengthy manner. Webster credits this word to 
 Jefferson. 
 
 In the report of a convention of " Spiritualists " at Farmington, 
 Michigan, it is said that — 
 
 Mr. Simnjons followed, addressing the convention quite lenrjthily. — Spiritual 
 Telegraph. 
 
 Let-down. A descent; fall; diminution in price, &c. 
 
 Within the last few days, there has been a shocking let-down among the fancies 
 [stocks]. — JV. r. Herald. 
 
 Let her rip, " let her went.'''' The expression most likely had its ori- 
 gin in steamhoating. 
 
 Don't fire, says Joe. it ain't no use. 
 That 's Deacon Peleg's tame wil'-goose ; 
 Saj's Isrel, " I don't care a cent. 
 
 I 've sighted, an' I '11 let her went. — Lowell, Biglow Papers^. 
 
 To let on. To mention: to disclose; to betray a knowledge or con- 
 sciousness of any thing. " He never Jet on,^' i. e. he never told me. 
 This expression is often heard among the illiterate, and is not con- 
 fined to a;iy particular section of the United States. It is also used 
 in the north of England and in Scotland. 
 
 'Tis like I may, — but let na on what 's past 
 'Tween you and me, else fear a kittle cast. 
 
 Ramsay, The Gentle Shepherd. 
 
 The tears were runnin' out of my eyes ; but I didn't want to let on, for fear it 
 would make her feel bad. — Major Jones's Courtship, p. 84. 
 
 To let out. To begin a story or narrative. A Western expression. 
 
 Tom squared himself for a yarn, w^et his lips with a little corn juice, took a 
 small strip of Missouri weed, and let out. — Robb, Squatter Life. 
 
 To let slide. To let go; as, " That fish you have hooked is not fit to 
 eat: let him slide. 
 
 During a debate in Congress, General Banks said, " Let the Union 
 slide, a sentiment for which he was reproached, ^li. Lowell gives 
 many examples of the early use of the expression. He finds " let 
 the world slide " in Heywood's " Edward IV. ; " and in Beaumont 
 and Fletcher's '* Wit without Money " Valentine says, — 
 
 Will you go drink, 
 And let the world slide. 
 
LET— LEV 
 
 351 
 
 We also find in Gower very early authority for the same: — 
 
 The highe creator of thinges, 
 Which is the king of all kinges, 
 Full many wonder worldes chaunce 
 Let slide under his sufferaunce, 
 
 Confessio Amantis {ed. Pauli), Vol. III. p. Gl. 
 In bad places, you may fasten a rope to the axle of the wagon, and, passing the 
 end round a tree, you may ht her slide. — F. Mai'i-yat, CaUfornia. 
 
 In a debate in Congress on a bill providing for the establishment 
 of an overland mail to California, the annual cost of which was esti- 
 mated at half a million of dollars, Mr. Iverson said: — 
 
 If California was going to cost the Union so much, it would be better to let 
 California slide. 
 
 Sal Stebbins married a feller blind in one eye and deaf in one ear; so I thought 
 if she was a mind to take such a chap, I 'd better let her slide. — Traits of Ameri- 
 can Humor. 
 
 *' Come, Sol, let's have a game of poker." 
 
 " Oh, let the poker slide, Judge," replied Sol ; " some other time when I want 
 a stake, I '11 make a call." — A Stray Yankee in Texas, p. 221. 
 
 Let-up. A let-up is a release; a relief , as when a stringency in the 
 money-market disappears. An expression borrowed fi'om pugilists. 
 
 There was no let-xip in the stock market to-day, and the differences paid on 
 the maturing conti'acts were very large. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Wherever the slave-traders resort, the name of our New York Marshal is 
 heartily cursed. He has been threatened, and invited to name the terms upon 
 which he would let up these people. His terms are a short shrift and a long 
 rope.— iV^. Y. Tribune, Oct. 18, 1861. 
 
 To let up is to release ; to let go. 
 
 Levee. 1. (Fr. levte.) An embankment on the side of a river, to 
 confine it within its natural channel. The lower part of Louisiana, 
 which has been formed by encroachments upon the sea, is subject 
 to be iimndated by the Mississippi and its various branches, for a 
 distance of more than three hundred miles. In order to protect the 
 rich lands on these rivers, mounds are thrown up, of clay, cypress- 
 logs, and green turf, sometimes to the height of fifteen feet, with a 
 breadth of thirty feet at the base. These, in the language of that 
 part of the country, are called levees. They extend for hundreds of 
 miles; and, when the rivers are full, cultivated fields, covered with 
 rich crops and studded with villages, are seen lying far below the 
 river courses. — Encyclopoidia Americana. 
 
 The great feature of New Orleans is the Levee. Extending for about five 
 miles in length, and an average of two hundred feet in width, on the west bank 
 of this river, which here runs to the north-cast, it is made the great depot, not 
 only for the products of the vast country bordering on the Mississippi and its 
 
352 
 
 LEV— LIB 
 
 navigable tributaries, but also of ever}' foreign port, by means of about five hun- 
 dred steamboats on the one hand, and every \ ariety of sea-craft on the otlier 
 which are at all times to be seen in great numbers along the entire length, dis- 
 charging and receiving their cargoes. — Cor. of N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 2. (Ft. lever.) The time of iisin<^ ; the concourse of persons who 
 visit a prince or great personage in the morning. — Johnson. 
 
 Such as are troubled with the disease of /eree-hunting, and are forced to seek 
 their bread every morning at the chamber doors of great men. — Addm/n, Spec- 
 tator, No. 547. 
 
 This word has been curiously perverted by us from its original 
 signification, so as to mean an evening (!) party or assembly at the 
 house of a great or wealthy person; as, " the President's levee.^' 
 Leveeing. Constructing levees on a river's bank. 
 
 If we cannot protect ourselves from overflow, these lands will be almost worth- 
 less, and the slaves on them must find a tillable soil in the West, our iiill lands 
 being now fully occupied. How are Ave to be protected? By leveeiny. — De 
 Bow's Review, Oct., 1858. 
 
 Level. " Your head 's level ; " i. e., your judgment is good. 
 
 Level Best. To do one's level best "is to do his utmost possible, 
 
 to go to the full extent of his ability. 
 How comes it that the friends of F. A. Marcy did their level best in their wards 
 
 to secure the defeat of Mr. Francy ? — Hartford Courant, Oct. 4, 1869. 
 
 Lever Wood. A name given to the Ostrya Virginica (Carpinus osfrija, 
 Lam.), iron-wood or hop-hornbeam, in some parts of New England. 
 Michaux, N. Am. Sylva (ed. 1859), IIL p. 28. 
 
 Levy. Elevenpence. In the State of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and 
 Virginia, the Spanish real, or eighth part of a dollar, or twelve and 
 a half cents. Sometimes called an elevenpenny hit. See Federal 
 Currency and Bit. 
 
 Liberty Cap. A peaked cap placed on the head of the goddess of 
 Liberty or on liberty poles. The pilem, a half -egg-shaped cap, 
 became the badge of liberty, because it was given to a Roman slave 
 at his manumission, and was not permitted to be worn except by 
 freedmen. Livy (24. 32) has the phrase servos ad pileum vocare,^' 
 "to summon slaves to freedom." i. e. to call them to assume the 
 cap. The pileus was borne aloft on a staif or pike, as a banner or 
 standard, by commanders who sought the aid of the slaves by the 
 promise of freedom. Hence the liberty pole and cap. 
 
 Yes, France is free ! O glorious France, that has burst out so : into universal 
 sound and smoke; and attained — the Phrygian Cap of Liberty! — Carlyle's 
 French Revol , B. viii. ch. 12. 
 
 Liberty Pole. A tall pole, sometimes constructed of several pieces of 
 timber like a ship's mast, and surmounted by a "liberty cap." 
 
Lie— LIF 
 
 853 
 
 Many of these poles are erected in different parts of American 
 cities. 
 
 Lick or Salt Lick. A salt spring is called a lick, from the earth about 
 it being furrowed out in a most curious manner by the buffalo and 
 deer, which lick the earth on account of the saline particles with 
 which it is impregnated. — Imlai/^s Topogr. Description of the West- 
 ern Territory. 
 
 A lick does not necessarily imply the presence of a spring: the 
 decomposition of sulphurets by atmospheric agency often makes a 
 ' ' lick ' ' on the face of a rocky cliff. 
 
 Licks. Strokes; and hence efforts, exertions. " To put in big licks " 
 is to make great exertions, to work hard. 
 
 Molly war the most enticin', gizzard-ticklin', heart-distressin' feline creatur 
 that ever made a fellar get owdacious; and I seed Tom Seller cavertin' round 
 her, 'and piittin' in the biggest hind a licks in the way of courtin'. — The Ameri- 
 cans at Home, Vol. I. p. 276. 
 
 At length I went to mining, put in my biggest licks, 
 Went down upon the boulders just like a thousand bricks. 
 
 Bryant's Comic Songs. 
 
 Lickety Split. Very fast, headlong ; synonymous with the equally 
 elegant phrase "full chisel." "He went lickety split down hill." 
 Lickety cut and lickety liner are also used. 
 
 Lie. A lie out of whole cloth is an utter falsehood. 
 
 In the second place, we are authorized by these gentlemen to say that the state- 
 ment is in itself utterly false, — "a Zie." as one of the commissioners wished us 
 to say, "oM< of whole cloth.'' — N. Y, Commercial Advertiser. 
 
 To lie around Loose. To be out of place; to lounge, as a loafer. 
 A phrase current for many years. 
 
 Had I suddenly found myself lying round loose in an unexpected place, I could 
 not have been more astonished. — The Congregationalist, quof. from Rev. E. P. 
 Tenney. 
 
 To lie down. To go to bed. In Tennessee, when a stranger is 
 asked if he will retire for the night, the question is, " Will you 
 lie down ? " 
 
 Liefs or Lieves. A corruption of lief or lieve; as, " I 'd as lieves be 
 seen as not." 
 
 Life Everlasting. See Everlasting. 
 
 Lift. 1. Used by the farmers in some parts of New England to sig- 
 nify a sort of gate without hinges. — Pickering^ s Vocabulary. This 
 word is also used in some parts of England. Mr. Forby calls it " a 
 sort of coarse, rough gate of sawn wood, not hung, but driven into 
 
 23 
 
354 
 
 LIF— LIK 
 
 the ground by pointed stakes, like a hurdle, used for the same pur- 
 poses of subdividing lands, stopping gaps in fences, &c., and deriv- 
 ing its name from the necessity of lifting it up for the purpose of 
 passing through. In Suffolk, a //// differs from a gate, in having 
 the projecting ends of the back and lower bar let into mortise-holes 
 in the posts, into and out of which it must be /i/i'e/'7. " — Norfolk 
 Glossary. 
 
 2. A piece added to raise a shoe-heel. 
 To lift one's Hair, in the figurative language of the Western hunters, 
 is to scalp him. See 7o raise one^s Hair. 
 
 I saw at once that the Arapahoes were not after stealing cattle, but after 
 lifiing hair, and told the corporal so. — Indian Report for 18G8. 
 
 Lig. A central shank of lead, around which one or more fish-hooks 
 
 are fastened. New England. 
 Light. AVeak. Said of a drink. 
 Light out. To run off; " to clear out." 
 
 Light Bread. Fermented bread of wheat flour; so called to distinguish 
 
 it from corn bread. South and West. 
 Light Wood. Pine wood as opposed to slower burning wood, not on 
 
 account of the lightness of the wood, but of the light afforded by it 
 
 in burning, a matter of some importance where candles are not to 
 
 be had. 
 
 Stranger, it 's quite a long history, and I '11 put on a fresh handful of light wood 
 before I begin. — Simins, The Wigwam and Cabin. 
 
 The inhabitants pick up knots of light wood, which they burn into tar, and 
 then caiTV it to Norfolk to a market. — IVestover Papers, p. 27. 
 
 "Cfpsar, fly round and get a fire." 
 
 "Massa! de light wood am done gone, sah." 
 
 " Gone too, then, is all chance for fire or food. For who ever heard of a nigger 
 that could build a fire Avithout light woodV" — The Ameriams at Home, Vol. I. 
 
 Like. 1. For as. As in the phrase, " like I do," for as I do; *' like 
 I did." Common at the West and South; but never heard in Xew 
 England. Not peculiar to America. 
 
 Each Indian carried a great square piece of whale's blubber, with a hole in 
 the middle, through which they put their heads, like the Guachos do through 
 their cloaks. — Darwin'' s Journal of a Naturalist, ch. 10. 
 
 As soon as the post-office was open, I looked over the miscellany like 1 always 
 do afore I let anybody take it. — Major Jones's Courtshijj. 
 
 2. For as if or as thour/h. Common at the South and West. 
 
 The fever nager got fastened to me, and stuck jest like a Comanche on a mus- 
 tang: the worse it jumps, the tighter he sticks, as if he was glued to the saddle, 
 or like he was one of them rale- half-horse and half-alligator fellows. — New 
 York Sjjirit of the Times, Western Tale. 
 
LIK— LIM 
 
 355 
 
 TT e old fellow drank of the brandy UJce he was used to it. — Southern 
 Sketches. 
 
 Like a Book. To know a person or thing like a book means to have 
 studied him or it, to know him or it thoroughly. 
 
 He knew the woods like a book, and had got a pretty cute notion whar Bill 
 Stone would bring up. — N. Y. Spirit of the Times, Westei'n Tale. 
 
 Like all Stacia, Like Sam Hill. Indefinite intensitives. 
 
 Likely. That may be liked; that may please; handsome. In the 
 United States, as a colloquial term, respectable; worthy of esteem; 
 sensible. — WorceMer. 
 
 Mr. Webster has the following remarks on this word: " This use 
 of likely [i. e. in the sense of such as may be liked, pleasing] is not 
 obsolete, nor is it vulgar. But the English and their descendants 
 differ in the application. The English apply the word to external 
 appearance, and with them likely is equivalent to handsome, well- 
 formed ; as, a likely m2in, a, likely horse. In America, the word is 
 usually applied to the endowments of the mind, or to pleasing accom- 
 plishments. With us, a likely man is a man of good character and 
 talents, or of good disposition or accomplishments, that render him 
 pleasing or respectable. " • 
 
 That the word, however, is also used here in its English sense, is 
 evident from the following quotation : — 
 
 A gang of seventeen likely negro men, owned in the vicinity of Northampton, 
 Virginia, made an attempt on Monday last to escape to New York. — Norfolk 
 (Fa.) Herald, Oct. 1, 1849. 
 
 Lily-Pads. Leaves of the water-lily. 
 
 Limb. Leg. This is one of the mock-modest expressions of which 
 our people are overfond. 
 
 If we know any thing of English conversation or letters, we speedily find out, 
 even if stone blind, that British men and women have both arms and legs. Bat 
 in Canada a stranger who could not see would find it difiicult -'to discover much 
 about our conformation. He would learn that both sexes had limbs of some sort; 
 but from any information which our language wouid give he could not tell 
 whether their limbs were used to stand on or hold- by. — Rev. A. C. Geikie, in 
 Canadian Journal, 1857. 
 
 This will do for a provincial place like Canada; but the universal 
 Yankee nation does not restrict its application of the word to 
 "humans," as appears from the following: — 
 
 Our exchanges bring us the intelligence of the death of Dan Rice's well-known 
 horse "Excelsior." The poor brute, it would appear, fell from the stairs which 
 he used to ascend in the ring, and, fracturing his limb, his death was rendered 
 necessary. — Pittsbury Chronicle, June, 1858. 
 
 Limits. The extent of the liberties of a prison. — Webster. Called 
 also jail liberties. 
 
356 
 
 LTM— LTQ 
 
 Limsy. Weak; flexible. New England. — Webster. Limp. 
 Lincoln Skins. Fractional currency. South Carolina. 
 Line. The route of a stage-coach, railroad, packet, or steamer. 
 
 To line. 1. To fish with a line. So to seine, i. e. to fish with a seine. 
 I have never seen these words used except by Dr. J. V. C. Smith, 
 in his " History of the Fishes of Massachusetts; " and for so inter- 
 esting a book the Doctor is well entitled to the privilege of coining 
 a phrase or two. 
 
 The squeteague is taken both by lininf) and seining, and because it makes such 
 feeble exertion and resistance in being drawn in by a hook it has received the 
 appellation of Weak Fish. — Fishes of Massachusetts. 
 
 2. To read line by line (or a couplet or verse) of a hymn. A 
 custom in vogue in old times in New England. 
 To line Bees is to track wild bees to their homes in the woods. One 
 who follows this occupation is called a bee-hunter. 
 
 At killing every wild animal of the woods or prairies, at fishing, or at lining 
 bees, the best hunters acknowledged his supremacy. — Kendall. 
 
 I 've hear'n tell of such doin's, but never see'd a bee lined in all my life, and 
 have a desp'rate fancy for larnin' of all sorts, from 'rithmetic to preachin'. — 
 
 Cooper, The Oak Openings. 
 
 Liner. The ships belonging to the regular lines of London, Liverpool, 
 or Havre packets are called liners, to distinguish them from transient 
 ships sailing to the same ports. 
 
 Lines. The reins, or that part of the bridle which extends from the 
 horse's head to the hands of the driver or coachman. See Ribbons. 
 
 Linguister. (Ptoti. Unkister.) A seaman's term for an interpreter ; a 
 linguist. Also, in New England, applied to a talkative person. 
 
 It is a damnable thing for a youngster, up here, to talk French. If it were on 
 the Atlantic now, where a seafaring man has occasion sometimes to converse 
 with a pilot or a linguister in that language, I should not think so much of it. — 
 Cooper, The Pathfinder, p. 219. 
 
 Linter. A place or thing for feeding cattle. Cow or ox manger. 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 Liquor. Many and very singular names have been given to the various 
 compounds or mixtures of spirituous liquors and wines served up in 
 fashionable bar-rooms in the United States. The following list is 
 taken from two sources, one of them an advertisement, the other a 
 book on mixed liquors. A very few of them are English. 
 
 Agent. Bald Face. Brandy Flip. 
 
 'Alfand'Alf. Blackjack. „ Smash. 
 
 Apple Jack. Brandy Ciamperelle. „ Straight. 
 
 „ Toddy. „ Fix. „ Toddy. 
 
LIQ 
 
 357 
 
 Bust Head. 
 
 Juleps, viz. : — 
 
 Spiced. 
 
 Bug Juice. 
 
 Arrack. 
 
 Sherry. 
 
 Corn Juice. 
 
 Brandy. 
 
 Sauterne. 
 
 Ching Ching. 
 
 Capped. 
 
 Vanilla. 
 
 Chain Lightning. 
 
 Claret. 
 
 Seventh Regiment. 
 
 Citronella Jam. 
 
 Fancy. 
 
 St. Charles. 
 
 Cobblers, viz.: — 
 
 Gin. 
 
 Whiskey. 
 
 Arrack. 
 
 Mixed. 
 
 Ropee. 
 
 Brandy, 
 
 Peach. 
 
 Santa Cruz Sour. 
 
 Claret. 
 
 Pine Apple. 
 
 Sargent. 
 
 Champagne. 
 
 Mint. 
 
 Sherry and Egg. 
 
 Catawba. 
 
 Racehorse. 
 
 ,, Bitterg. 
 
 Hock. 
 
 Strawberry. 
 
 Shandy Gaff. 
 
 Rochelle. 
 
 "Whiskey. 
 
 Shambro. 
 
 Peach. 
 
 I 0 U. 
 
 Silver Top. 
 
 Sherry. 
 
 Jewett's Fancy. 
 
 Sling Flip. 
 
 Sauterne. 
 
 Knickerbocker. 
 
 Snap Neck. 
 
 Cocktails, viz. : — 
 
 Lemonade. 
 
 Snifter. 
 
 Brandy. 
 
 Mead. 
 
 Smasher. 
 
 Champagne. 
 
 Moral Suasion. 
 
 Split Ticket. 
 
 Gin. 
 
 Ne Plus Ultra. 
 
 Stone Wall. 
 
 Japanese. 
 
 Orgeat Lemonade. 
 
 Stagger Juice. 
 
 Jersey. 
 
 Pine Top. 
 
 Switchel Flip. 
 
 Soda. 
 
 Porteree. 
 
 Tangle Leg. 
 
 Whiskey. 
 
 Phlegm Cutter. 
 
 Tip and Ty. 
 
 Deadbeat. 
 
 Port- Wine Sangaree. 
 
 Tippee na Pecco. 
 
 Deacon. 
 
 „ Negus. 
 
 Toddy. 
 
 Exchange. 
 
 Polk and Dallas. 
 
 Tog. 
 
 Egg Flip. 
 
 Pousse Caf6. 
 
 Tom and Jerry. 
 
 „ Nog. 
 
 Punches, viz. : — 
 
 Turpentine Whiskey. 
 
 „ Sour. 
 
 Arrack. 
 
 Vox Populi. 
 
 Floater. 
 
 Gin. 
 
 Veto. 
 
 Fiscal Agent. 
 
 Claret. 
 
 Virginia Fancy. 
 
 Fusil Oil. 
 
 Brandy. 
 
 Whiskey Flip. 
 
 Gin Straight. 
 
 Epicure's. 
 
 „ Toddy. 
 
 „ Fix. 
 
 Iced. 
 
 „ Julep. 
 
 „ Punch. 
 
 Milk. 
 
 „ Fix. 
 
 „ Sling. 
 
 Pig and Whistle. 
 
 „ Punch. 
 
 „ Sour. 
 
 Poor Man's. 
 
 „ Smash. 
 
 Smash. 
 
 Roman. 
 
 „ Skin. 
 
 „ Flip. 
 
 Rum. 
 
 „ Sour. 
 
 „ Rooster-Tail. 
 
 Soda. 
 
 ,, Straight. 
 
 In " Harper's Magazine " for December, 1876, Mr. Charles Nord- 
 hoff gives a list of California drinks, together with a " Toddy Time- 
 Table " showing the hours when one in the habit of drinking should 
 take his drams. Mr. N. says he " transcribed it from a neat, gilt- 
 edge card, for the warning and instruction of Eastern topers." 
 
 Toddy Time-Table. 
 
 6 A. M. 
 
 Eye-opener. 
 
 12 M. 
 
 Ante-Lunch. 
 
 7 „ 
 
 Appetizer. 
 
 IP. M. 
 
 Settler. 
 
 8 
 
 Digester. 
 
 2 „ 
 
 A la Smythe. 
 
 9 „ 
 
 Big Reposer. 
 
 3 „ 
 
 Cobbler. 
 
 10 „ 
 
 Refresher. 
 
 4 „ 
 
 Social Drink. 
 
 11 „ 
 
 Stimulant. 
 
 5 M 
 
 Invigorator. 
 
858 
 
 LTQ 
 
 6 P. M. Solid Straight. 9 P. M. Entire Act. 
 
 7 „ Chit-Chat. 10 „ Sparkler. 
 
 8 Fancy Smile. 11 ,, Rouser. 
 
 12 P. M. Night Cap. 
 
 Richmond, Va., has determined to drink itself out of debt. In order to accom- 
 plish this, it is necessary to tax the retail dealers, and to lev}- a toll upon every 
 swig that the arid Virginian takes to drive the thirst out of his constitution and 
 by-laws. These are numerous, and are there reduced to a system. At early 
 morn, the typical Richmond man takes an '"eye-opener," then — as it is some- 
 times a little malarial down there — he takes an anti-fog -matic," then he takes 
 his regular " bitters,"' and so on during the day until the ''settlers" and the 
 
 "nightcap" of midnight. The ruling tariff in Richmond for mixed beverages is 
 fifteen cents. The material taken "straight" or "reverend" or "barefooted" 
 
 s ten cents. — Baltimore Gazette. 
 
 Young Jonathan, in liquorin' tastes. 
 
 Has long dropped beer and mocked ale, 
 For julep, sherry-cobbler. 
 
 Gin-sling and brandy-cocktail ; 
 Gum-tickler and chain-lightning, 
 
 E^'e-brightener and leg-tangler 
 And scores of other compounds known 
 
 To each 'cute bar-room dangler. 
 
 Until at last his liquors he 
 
 Has grown so fond of mixin', 
 He scorns the cliarms of alcohol 
 
 Without some artful fixin', 
 Some sugary aid to make it sweet, 
 
 Some acid smack to sour it, 
 Till each drink needs two jugs at least, 
 
 And two smart hands to pour it. 
 
 \_London\ Punch for July 26, 1862. 
 
 In Liquor. Intoxicated, drunk. 
 
 To liquor or To liquor up. To take a dram; or, as we more fre- 
 quently say, to take a drink. 
 
 He was the first to break silence, and, jumping up, asked all to liquor before 
 going to bed. — Porter's Tales of the South-west, p. 31. 
 
 " The child must be named Margaret." "No! Mary," replied the father, " in 
 honor of my esteemed wife. Besides, that 's a Bible nnme, and we can't liquor 
 up OR Margaret." — Maryaret, p. 89. 
 
 " I '11 drink with you, and you drink with me; an' then we '11 call it square." 
 
 "Agreed! " says I, " an' we licTcered round twiste; an' Jo and I shook hands, 
 an' squared off all old accounts." — Traits of American Humor, Vol. II. p. 75. 
 
 " Liquor up, gentlemen." We bowed. " Let me introduce you to some of the 
 most highly esteemed of our citizens." We bowed again. " Now then. Mister,'* 
 turning to the man at the bar, "drinks round and cobblers at that." — Notes on 
 Canada and the North-western States, Blackwood's Ma(j., Sept., 1855. 
 
 Come in here to the hotel and let 's liquor, for I am nation dry. I have let off 
 so much steam, that the biler wants replenishin'. — Sam Slick, Wise Saws, p. 3i. 
 
LIS— LOA 
 
 359 
 
 To list. To make a bed or raised terrace. Southern. 
 
 Lister. One who makes a list or roll. — Webster. This word is used 
 in Connecticut, and is applied to those who make out lists or returns 
 of cattle or other property. I have never heard the word used else- 
 where. 
 
 Listing. Making beds; interchanging beds and alleys in cotton 
 culture. 
 
 The next step is the listing, done with the hoe, and making the bed where the 
 alleys were at the previous raising of the crop, and the alleys being made where 
 the beds were before. — N. Y. Tribune, United States Government Report from 
 South Carolina, Feb., 1861. 
 
 Little End of the Horn. " To come out at the little end of the Jiorn,^^ 
 is said when a ridiculously small effect has been produced after 
 great effort and much boasting, and when a person or thing makes 
 a failure. 
 
 Live forever. The name of a fanatical sect in Kentucky whose prin 
 cipal article of faith was that those who had " faith " would never 
 die. Whenever a member died, the answer to this very striking 
 argumentum ad hominem was that he had not the "faith." The 
 number, never very large, was reduced in 1850 to two, and one of 
 these had left the sect, leaving but one " live forever.'''' 
 
 Live Horse. In printers' parlance, work done over and above that 
 included in the week's bill. See Dead Horse. 
 
 Living-Room. The sitting or common family room. In New Eng- 
 land called the keeping-room^ which see. 
 
 The cabin was furnished with two entrance doors. I rapped at one, and in a 
 m' nient it opened, and Joe ushered me into the living-room. — Gilmore, My 
 Southern Friends, p. 149. 
 
 To live out. To be out at service ; to be a servant. New England. 
 She came to this city, and lived out as a cook. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Llano. (Spanish.) The plains or prairies of Texas, New Mexico, 
 and other States and Territories bordering on Mexico, are so called 
 by the people residing there. 
 
 Lo A term of recent origin, applied to an Indian, from the well- 
 known lines of Pope's " Essay on Man." 
 
 Lo, the poor Indian ! whose untutored mind 
 Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind. 
 
 To load. To load one^s self with stock is to buy heavily. A Wall 
 
 Street phrase. — Medbery. 
 Loafer. A vagabond; an idle lounger. This peculiarly American 
 
 word came to the United States probably from Mexico or Texas, 
 
360 
 
 LOA 
 
 and has been gradually growing into extensive use during the last 
 thirty years. It is the Span, (jnllofero, gallofo^ and was applied in 
 the first place to the vagrants of our large towns, in which sense it 
 is equivalent to the lazzarone. of Naples or the lepero of Mexico. It 
 is now, however, frequently applied in conversation and in the 
 newspapers to idlers in general, and seems to have lost somewhat of 
 its original vulgarity. The Philadelphia " Vade Mecum " has the 
 following remarks upon it: — 
 
 " This is a new word, and, as yet, being but a colt or a chrysalis, 
 is regarded as a slang epithet. It is, however, a good word, one 
 much needed in the language, and will, in time, establish itself in 
 the most refined dictionaries. It wall mount into good society, and 
 be uttered by aristocratic lips; for it is the only word designating 
 the most important species of the genus idler, — the most important, 
 because the most annoying branch of that family. 
 
 " The loafer is not exclusively, as some suppose him, a ragged 
 step-and-corner lounger, who sleeps in the sun, and ' hooks ' sugar 
 on the wharf. On the contrary, the propensity to loaf is confined 
 to no rank in life; all conditions are, more or less, troubled with it. 
 Like squinting, the king and the beggar may be equally afflicted 
 with the imperfection. There be your well-dressed, moneyed /oa/er, 
 as well as your loafer who is nightly taken by the watch. 
 
 " He is that kind of a man, who, having nothing to do, or being 
 unwilling to do any thing, cannot keep his tediousness to himself, 
 and therefore bestows it all upon others, not when they are at leisure 
 for conversational recreation, but when business presses, and they 
 would look black upon the intrusion of a sweetheart or a three-day 
 w'ife. He is the drag-chain upon industry, and yet so far different 
 from the drag-chain that he hitches to the wheel w^hen the pull is 
 up hill. Loving the excitement of busy scenes, yet too lazy to be 
 an actor in them, where men are busiest, there too is to be found 
 the pure, unadulterated loafer, spraw^ling about as the hound sprawls 
 before the fire in everybody's way, and tripping up everybody's 
 heels. In the store, he sits upon the counter, swinging his useless 
 legs, and gaping vacantly at the movements around him. In the 
 office, he effectually checks necessary conversation among those who 
 do not wish their business bruited to the world, turns over papers 
 •which he has no right to touch, and squints at contents which he 
 has no right to know\ In the counting-house, he perches on a stool, 
 interrupts difficult calculations with chat as idle as himself, follows 
 the bustling clerk to the storehouse, pouches the genuine Havana, 
 
LOA 
 
 361 
 
 quaffs nectar from proof -glasses, and makes himself free of the 
 good thmgs which belong to others." 
 
 The origin of this woi'd is altogether uncertain. Two etymologies 
 have been suggested for it; namely, the German Zaw/er, a runner 
 (comp. the Dutch leeglooper and landlooper, a vagrant) ; and the 
 Spanish gallofero, abbreviated gallofo, an idle, lazy vagabond 
 (whence the Italian gagloffo), a wandering mendicant, a vagabond. 
 The Span, gallofa means what was given to the galloferos^ alms, 
 vegetables, and what characterized this people as a lazy, wandering 
 set. A writer in " Notes and Queries " tells the following story of 
 its origin, which certainly, si non e vero, e ben trovato : — 
 
 An old Dutchman settled at New York, and acquired ^considerable fortune. He 
 had an only daughter, and a young American fell in love with her or her dollars, 
 or both. The old father forbade him his house, but the daughter encouraged 
 him. Whenever the old merchant saw the lover about the premises, he used to 
 exclaim to his daughter, "There is that ' lofer ' [lover] of yours, the idle good- 
 for-nothing," &c. ; and so an idle man, hanging about, came to be called a 
 " loafer/'' 
 
 The following illustration of the use of the word is now " going 
 the rounds ' ' of the newspapers : — 
 
 *' You 're a loafer, — a man without a calling," said a judge to a person arrested 
 as a vagrant. "I beg your pardon, your honor, I have a vocation." " What is 
 it V " " I smoke glass for eclipses ; but just now it is our dull season." 
 
 Henry W. Shaw thus describes the individual : — 
 
 The loafer is a thing who is willing to be despised for the privilege of abusing 
 others. He occupies all grades in society, from the judge on the bench clear down 
 to the ragged creature who leans against lamp-posts, and fights tlies in August. 
 He has no pride that is worthy, and no delicacy that anybody can hurt. During 
 his boyhood, he kills cats and robs birds' nests. During middle life, he begs all 
 the tobacco he uses, and drinks all the cheap whiskey he can at somebody else's 
 expense. — Josh B'dlinys's Alminax for 1877. 
 
 To loafer or loaf. To lounge; to idle away one's time. The verb 
 is of more recent origin than the noun. 
 
 We arrived at the town of Tincenn ; the sun being exceedingly hot, we waited 
 till evening. The Casa Real in this as in other towns of the province was the 
 loafering place of the Indians. — Norman'' s Yucatan, p. 88. 
 
 The Senate has loafed away the week in very gentlemanly style. — New York 
 Commerchd Advertiser, Dec, 1845. 
 
 The street [in Hangtown, California] was crowded all day with miners loafing 
 about from store to store, making their purchases and asking each other to drink. 
 Borthivick's California, p. 118. 
 
 Loaferishness. The " New York Tribune," of Oct. 9, 1877, in notic- 
 ing a new volume of Mr. Bailey, of the " Danbury News," entitled 
 They All Do It," thus writes: — 
 
362 
 
 LOA— LOB 
 
 If " They All Do it " in Danbury «is they are represented to do in these stories, 
 that town may rejoice in a population which, for grotesque stupidity, comical or 
 stale vulgarity, and general loaf erishness of man, woman, and child, has never 
 been equalled or even imagined. 
 
 To loan. To lend, Thi.s verb is inserted by Todd on the authority 
 of Iluloet (1552) and Lanf^ley (1004), and noted " not now in use." 
 It is, however, much used in this country, though rarely in England. 
 Worcester. 
 
 The " Westminster Review," speaking of the " Chronicles of Wol- 
 fert's Roost an(^ other Papers," lately published by AVashington 
 Irving, says : — 
 
 " He has the finish of our best English critics ; he has the equability and gentle 
 humor of Addison and Goldsmith. It is very rarely that we come upon an 
 Americanism; he is not, however, wholly guiltless; he makes use of the expres- 
 sion to '■'■loan a few pounds." 
 
 In England, when one man accommodates another with the use of money for a 
 time, he lends it. The sum is called a loan ; but he who provides it is said to 
 lend or to have lent. Here, however, it is becoming usual to speak of having 
 leaned to another. Webster says that to loan is rarely used in England, and I 
 may say that I never heard it there. What advantage, then, does it possess over 
 the more familiar form of the verb that it should supersede it here ? Surely, the 
 phrase, " mone}'^ to lend," is sufficiently intelligible. To talk of loan'mfj money 
 would suggest to an unsophisticated Englishman the idea of some unknown 
 process at the mint. — Geikie, in Canadian Journril^ Sept., 1857. 
 
 Loan-OflBce. A public office in which loans of money are negotiated 
 for the public, or in which the accounts of loans are kept and the 
 interest paid to the lenders. — Webster. 
 
 Loan-Officer. A public officer empowered to superintend and transact 
 the business of a loan office. — Webster. 
 
 Loaves and Fishes. The spoils of politicians. 
 
 Lobbered. Lobbered milk. Milk that is curdled. The proper term 
 is loppered, from the Teut. lab, Swedish lopa, to run together, to 
 coagulate; and is provincial in various parts of England. 
 
 Lobby. The persons who frequent the lobby of a house of legislature. 
 The special correspondent of the "London Times," in writing 
 from Washington, thus speaks of the Congressional " Lobby " and 
 its influence : — 
 
 The Lobby of Washington has of late years grown to be an appreciable influ- 
 ence, and much indignation is expressed by political purists at its existence. 
 But probably there never was a legislative body in the world without something 
 of the kind. In the old Parliament of Ireland, there were regular " undertakers 
 of the king's business," who did not necessarily have seats among the men they 
 influenced; and the House of Commons has recognized parliamentary agents. 
 The business of the American Lobby is something of the same kind, but it has 
 not yet obtained a formal organization. It is at present an outside pressure ex- 
 
LOB— LOG 
 
 363 
 
 ercised by a miscellaneous crowd of persons, whose influence may be social or 
 political or local, or a combination of an}'- of those elements ; they are often 
 agents of other parties, simply remunerated for their exertions, or they are both 
 agents or principals, having themselv^es a large joint share in the undertaking at 
 issue. Many are ex-members of Congress, who have the privilege of admission 
 to the lobby. 
 
 To lobby. To attempt to exert an influence on the members of a 
 legislative body, by besieging them in the lobbies of the house 
 where they meet. So necessary has this business of lohhy'mg now 
 become that, when a petition is sent to a legislature, particularly 
 for an act of incorporation, it is very common for one or more 
 individuals to take it in charge for the purpose of '■'•lohhy'mg it 
 through." 
 
 There is a quarrel in Philadelphia about Mr. W 's appointments. Some of 
 
 the Loco-focos have come out to lobby against him. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 A committee has gone to Albany to lobby for a new bank charter. — New York 
 Courier and Enquirer. 
 
 Lobbyists. Lobby members and their constituency. — N. Y. Trihune. 
 
 Lobby Member. A person who frequents the lobby of a house of 
 legislation. — Worcester. 
 
 Loblolly Bay. (Gordonia lasyanthus.) An elegant ornamental tree 
 of the maritime parts of the Southern States, called also Holly Bay, 
 Its bark is useful for tanning, but its wood of but little value. 
 
 The bay-galls are properly watercourses, covered with a spongy earth mixed 
 with matted vegetable tibres ; . . . their natural produce is a stately tree called 
 Loblolly Bay. — Romans' s Nat. Hist, of Florida^ 1776, p. 32. 
 
 Loblolly Pine. (Pinus tceda, Linn.) Sometimes called, in the 
 Southern States, " Old-field Pine ; " and in Southern Virginia, 
 "White Pine." Much used for building, in lower Virginia. 
 Common from Virginia to Florida. See Micliaux^s N. A. Sylva^ 
 Vol. III. p. 123. 
 
 The fish-crows returned to their fishing-grounds, . . . when thejMnade for the 
 interior, often proceeding thirty or forty miles, to roost together in the trees of 
 the Loblolly Pine. — Audubon, Ornithological Bioy., Vol. II. p. 269. 
 
 Lobster Cart. " To upset one's lohster-cart " is to knock him down. 
 The more common expression now is to upset one^s apple-cart. 
 
 Ready up to take his part, 
 
 I 'd soon upset his lobster-cart ; 
 
 Make his bones ache, and blubber smart. 
 
 Slack's Cal-fiyht (N. Y. 1824), p. 153. 
 
 To localize. To prepare for publication local items. 
 
 An unfortunate scribe recently consented to do the localizing for the " Dubuque 
 Herald " during the absence of the regular city editor. —N. Y. Tribune, Dec. 6, 
 1861. 
 
864 
 
 LOG 
 
 To locate. 1. To place; to set in a particular spot or position. — 
 
 Pickering^ Webster. This word is comparatively modern in Eng- 
 land, and is not found in any of the dictionaries previous to Todd's. 
 It is used among us much more frequently and in a greater variety 
 of senses than in England. 
 
 Under this roof, the biocjrapher of .Johnson passed many jovial, joyous hours; 
 here he has located some of the liveliest scenes, and most brilliant passages, in 
 his entertaining anecdotes of his friend Samuel Johnson, — Cuinberlart'/, Memoirs 
 of Himself. 
 
 The Asega-bok, the book of the judge, contains the laws of the Rustringian Frie- 
 sians located around the gulf of the Jade. — Bosworth, Preface to Anf/lo-Sccxon 
 Dictionary, p. 61. 
 
 The archbishops and bishops of England can neither locate and limit dioceses 
 in America, nor ordain bishops in any part of the dominions of Great Britain, 
 out of the realm, by any liw of the kingdom, or any law of the colonies, or by 
 any canon law acknowledged by either. — John Adams, Letter to Dr. Morse. 
 
 A number of courts properly located will keep the business of any country in 
 such condition as but few suits will be instituted. — Debates on the Jtuliciary, 
 p. 51. 
 
 As we don't know exactly where our own souls reside, what harm is there to 
 pursue such an investigation as to our black brethren '? My private opinion is, 
 if a nigger has one, it is located in his head. — Sam Slick, Human Nature, p. 172. 
 
 So, too, a tov^n, a village, and even a piece of ground, is said to be 
 located, i. e. placed, situated, in a particular position. 
 
 Baber refers to villages formerly located, as at the present day, on the plains, 
 6^c. — Masson's Travels in Afjhanistan, Vol. III. p. 193. 
 
 When Port Essington was located, all these difficulties had to be suffered over 
 again. — Stokes's Australia, Vol. I p. 401. 
 
 A lot of earth so singularly located as marks it out by Providence to be the 
 emporium of plenty and the asylum of peace. — [London] Observer. 
 
 And hence arise the following American uses of the word : — 
 
 2. To select, survey, and settle the bounds of a particular tract of 
 land, or to designate a portion of land by limits; as, to locate a tract 
 of a hundred acres in a particular township. — Webster. 
 
 In December, 1768, Arthur Lee presented a petition to the king 
 in council, praying: — 
 
 That your Majesty would grant to his petitioners, to be fifty in number, by the 
 name of the Mississippi Company, 2,500,000 acres of land, in one or more sur- 
 veys, to be located between the thirty-eighth and forty-second degree of north 
 latitude, <&c., &c. — Plain Facts, Phil. 1781, p. 68. 
 
 Mistakes in locating land were often very serious, — the purchaser finding only 
 swamp or grave!, when he had purchased fine farming laud. — Mrs. Clavers's 
 Weste7-n Clearings. 
 
 This is also coming into use in the old country, as will be seen by 
 the following example : — 
 
LOG 
 
 365 
 
 The banks of these rivers [the Macquarrie, &c., in New South Wales] are fast 
 filling with settlements ; those of the hunter, the nearest to the seat of govern- 
 ment, being, we understand, entirely located. — Edinhurcjh Review. 
 
 3. Applied to persons, it means: — 
 
 a. To place in a permanent residence, to settle. 
 
 A lady from Maine, who has been located on the hill west of us for a week or 
 two, calls to say she has concluded to leave Kansas. — Mrs. Robinson's Kansas, 
 p. 50. 
 
 b. To place in a particular position. 
 
 The mate, having located himself opposite to me [at the tab^e], began to ex- 
 postulate upon the mode of sea travelling. — GiUiam, Travels in Mexico. 
 
 c. As a technical term used by the Methodists, to cease to be 
 itinerant, and settle permanently as a preacher. The word is 
 needed by them, because they have many itinerant preachers, who 
 are not located. 
 
 Mr. Parsons, like most located and permanent pastors of a wooden country, 
 receiA'^ed almost nothing for his services. — Carlton, New Purchase. 
 
 d. To take up one's residence in a place, to settle. 
 
 The most unhealthy points are in the vicinity of mill-dams and of marshes, 
 near both of which the settlers take particular pains to locate. — Hoffman's Win- 
 ter in the West, Vol. I. 
 
 From the following extract, it appears that the word is used with 
 the same latitude of signification in Canada: — 
 
 A man in Britain buys a house or farm, and it is said to be in, or more pre- 
 cisely situated, in such a street, or district, or county. Here nobody or thing is 
 situated anywhere, all are located. Our farms, our houses, our congregations, 
 our constituencies, all are located. We admire a mansion occupying a healthy 
 or commanding site, and we are told that " the location is good ; " a clergyman 
 is congratulated on his incumbency, which is styled a comfortable location; and 
 so on ad infinitum. To locate is a purely technical term, belonging to land sur- 
 veyors and their profession; and it is difficult to perceive any gain to the lan- 
 guage by its application being extended beyond its original technical signifi- 
 cance. — Rev. A. C. Geikie, in Canadian Journal, Sept., 1857. 
 
 Location, n. That M^hich is located; a tract of land designated in 
 place. — Wehiiter. This application of the word is peculiar to the 
 United States. In civil engineering, it is applied to railroads. 
 
 Locative Calls. Calls for the purpose of location. Those calls are in 
 entries of lands, the object of which is to ascertain and identify 
 the land for the purpose of location. References in entries and 
 grants of land to certain particular physical objects (as trees, 
 streams, &c.) which exactly describe the land to be located. — Chief 
 Justice Marshal, Wheaton^s Reports, Vol. II. p. 206, 211. 
 
 Locator. In American land law, one who locates land, or intends or 
 is entitled to locate. — BurrilVs Law Dictionary. 
 
36G 
 
 LOG 
 
 Lock, Stock, and Barrel. The whole. A figurative expression bor- 
 rowed from sportsmen, and having reference to a gun; sometimes 
 we hear "horse, foot, and artillery," used in the same sense. 
 
 Look at [this carriage] all through the piece; take it by and large, lock, stocky 
 and bniTel, and it 's the dandy. — Sam Slick in England, ch. 19. 
 
 Loco-Foco. 1. A self-igniting cigar or match. It is remarkable that 
 the origin of this word has never been given. 
 
 In 1834, John Marck opened a store in Park Row, New York, 
 and drew public attention to two novelties. One was champagne 
 wine drawn like soda water from a " fountain ; " the other was a 
 self-lighting cigar, with a match composition on the end. These 
 he called " Z(3co-/oco " cigars. The mode of getting at the name 
 is obvious. The word "loco-motive" was then rather new as 
 applied to an engine on a railroad, and the common notion was 
 that it meant self-mooing ; hence, as these cigars were self-firing, 
 this queer name was coined. So Mr. John Marck has the honor of 
 inventing the name. His patent for " self-igniting cigars " bears 
 date April 16, 1834. This term does not occur in the notice of his 
 patent in the " Journal of the Franklin Institute," but was used in 
 his advertisements, and can probably be found in the newspapers 
 of that day. 
 
 The term as applied to a match is therefore an Americanism; but 
 as no other kind of match is now known, as a distinct appellation, 
 it is going out of use. The very use of these matches is of Ameri- 
 can origin, and at an early date the manufacture reached to an 
 extent almost incredible. Not long after the date of the naming 
 of the party, one manufacturer alone had invested -$100,000 in 
 making these matches and boxes. 
 
 2. The name by which the Democratic party is extensively distin- 
 guished throughout the United States. This name originated in 
 the year 1835, when a division arose in the party, in consequence 
 of the nomination of Gideon Lee as the Democratic candidate for 
 Congress, by the committee chosen for that purpose. This nomina- 
 tion, as was customary, had to be confirmed at a general meeting 
 of Democrats held at Tammany Hall. His friends anticipated 
 opposition, and assembled in large numbers to support him. •' The 
 first question which arose," says ]Mr. Hammond, "and which 
 would test the strength of the parties, was the selection of chair- 
 man. The friends of Mr. Lee, whom we will call Tammany men, 
 supported Mr. Yarian ; and the anti-monopolists, Mr. Curtis. The 
 Tammanies entered the hall as soon as the doors were opened, by 
 means of back stairs; while at the same time the Equal Kight3 
 
LOG— LOG 
 
 367 
 
 party rushed into the long room up the front stairs. Both parties 
 were loud and boisterous; the one declaring that Mr. Varian was 
 chosen chairman, and the other that Mr. Curtis was duly elected 
 the presiding officer. A very tumultuous and confused scene en- 
 sued, during which the gas-lights, with which the hall was illumi- 
 nated, \vere extinguished. The Equal Rights party, either having 
 witnessed similar occurrences, or having received some intimations 
 that such would be the course of their opponents, had provided 
 themselves with loco-foco matches and candles, and the room was 
 re-lighted in a moment. The ' Courier and Enquirer ' newspaper 
 dubbed the anti-monopolists, who used the matches, with the name 
 of Loco-foco : which was soon after given to the Democratic party, 
 and which they have since retained." — Hammond's Political History 
 of New York, Vol. II. p. 491. 
 
 Locust. A name given in America to several species of Cicada. 
 
 Locu?t-Tree. (Robinia pseudacacia.) A tree much cultivated both 
 for ornament and for its exceedingly durable timber. 
 
 Lodge. A term now applied to a family of Indians occupying one 
 wigwam. See Tepees. 
 
 Log Cabin. A house such as is constructed by the early settlers with 
 unhewn logs, roughly notched together at the corners, and the in- 
 terstices filled with clay. Also called Log Hut and Log House. 
 
 Log Canoe. See Dug-out. 
 
 Logger. A term applied to men engaged in the forests in cutting 
 down trees and sawing them into logs for market; a lumberman. 
 
 The lofjfjers are obliged to take good care of their feet; one of them often wears 
 three or four pair of socks, with a pair of moccasins over them, to prevent their 
 freezing. — Putnam's Mag., July, 1857. 
 
 Loggerhead. A long piece of iron clubbed at the end. A poker used 
 hot for heating beer, cider, &c. New England. 
 
 Loggerhead Terrapin. The large fresh and salt water tortoise. 
 
 Logging. The business of felling trees and preparing timber for 
 transportation . 
 
 Once more at work, he emploj'ed his leisure time in the heavy and dangerous 
 business of Zoy^rin//. — Mrs. Clavers's Western Clearings. 
 
 If I haven't missed my blaze, it was hereabouts that I was prospecting. . . . 
 Dan Smith was along, and a smarter chap at loyyiny never swung axe. — 
 Harpers Mag., March, 18U0, p 440. 
 
 Logging-Bee. When the neighbors of a new settler unite with their 
 oxen and horses to aid him in gathering together the logs and fallen 
 
368 
 
 LOG 
 
 trees preparatoiy to burning, it is called a Joggmg-hee. Spirituous 
 liquors are often served on these occasions. 
 
 I was never at a lo(j(/intj-hee where wliiskey was used, where so much was done 
 by so few hands, and in such double quick time. — Jronthorjje, p. 219. 
 
 Logging Swamp. In Maine, the place where pine timber is cut. 
 Logic-Chopper. A person who uses subtle distinctions; a keen meta- 
 physician; a sophist. 
 
 A sharper lofjic-chopper and shrewder schoolman than ever Thomas Aquinas 
 or Abelard. — v. Y. Tribune, Nov. 2-3, 1861. 
 
 To logicize. To reason. 
 
 And I give the preliminary view of the reason ; because, since this is the faculty 
 which reasons or loyicizes, &c. — Tappixn's Elements of Lofjic, Preface, p. 5. 
 
 Logies. In codfishinc^, the poor and thin fish are so called. 
 
 Log-Rolling. 1. In the lumber regions of Maine, it is customary for 
 men of different logging camps to appoint days for helping each 
 other in rolling the logs to the river, after they are felled and 
 trimmed, — this rolling being about the hardest work incident to 
 the business. Thus the men of three or four camps will unite, say 
 on Monday, to roll for camp No. 1, — on Tuesday, for camp Xo 2, 
 — on Wednesday, for camp No. 3, — and so on, through the whole 
 number of camps within convenient distance of each other. 
 
 I know how to hate an Indian or love a gall as well as any one. I fell in love 
 with three galls at once at a log-rolling ; and, as for tea-squalls, my heart never 
 shut pan a minute at a time. — Crockett's Aclventtires. 
 
 We were compelled, for electioneering objects, to attend this summer several 
 log-rollings. — Carlton, The New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 237. 
 
 2. The term has been adopted in legislation to signify a like sys- 
 tem of mutual co-operation. For instance, a member from St. Law- 
 rence has a pet bill for a plank road which he wants pushed through ; 
 he accordingly makes a bargain with a member from Onondaga, 
 w^ho is coaxing along a charter for a bank, by w^hich St. Lawrence 
 agi'ees to vote for Onondaga's bank, provided Onondaga will vote in 
 turn for St. Lawrence's plank road. 
 
 This is legislative log-rolling ; and there is abundance of it car- 
 ried on at Albany every winter. 
 
 Generally speaking, the subject of the log-rolling is some merely 
 local project, interesting only to the people of a certain district; but 
 sometimes there is party log-rolling, where the AYhigs, for instance, 
 will come to an understanding with the Democrats, that the former 
 shall not oppose a certain Democratic measure merely on party 
 grounds, provided the Democrats will be equally tender to some 
 Whig measure in return. 
 
LOG— LON 
 
 369 
 
 In the " Draft of a Penal Code for the State of New York," pre- 
 pared by the commissioners (1864), in a note to section 121 (p. 37), 
 making punishable the receiving of bribes by members of the 
 legislature, the commissioners say: — 
 
 This section is extended to embrace what is known as " log-rolling,'''' or agree- 
 ments to exchange votes for or against measures pending before the Legislature. 
 
 Another evil of our banking system arises from the very foolish rule that a 
 single director may reject any paper offered for discount, instead of making the 
 fate of every application depend upon the decision of a majority of the board. 
 This gives a power to individuals at variance with the interests of the community. 
 It produces what is termed log-rolling in legislation, and makes good and liberal- 
 minded men responsible for the conduct of individuals who look solely to self. — 
 N. Y. Courier and Enquirer. 
 
 Mr. Davis has the best prospect for speaker, without the fetters of a caucus. 
 But, with such a system of log-rolling, the one whose prospects are worse, or 
 rather who has no prospects at all, has the best chance to come out successful. — 
 N. Y. Tiibune. 
 
 Mr. Ballou did not see the object of a postponement. If the delay was for the 
 purpose of obtaining information for the House, he had no objections; if log-roll- 
 ing was the motive, he opposed the postponement. — Providence Journal. 
 
 If the idea becomes prevalent that the legislation of Congress is controlled by 
 a system of combinations and log-rolling, those who can fabricate the most unjust 
 claims will be found coming forward to crowd the halls of Congress and specu- 
 late upon the public treasur}'. — Washington Union, Feb. 10, 1855. 
 
 Logy. (Dutch, log.) Heavy, slow, stupid. He 's a logg man, i. e. a 
 slow-moving, heavy man. " He is a ^^7^ preacher," i. e. dull. The 
 Dutch say, Een log verstand, a dull wit. Mr. J. R. Lowell says it 
 is exactly the Italian lurgo. Dante calls the Germans " I Tedeschi 
 Lurghi," and the Italians love to quote the line. 
 
 Loma. (Spanish.) A hill, or ridge of hills, with a flat summit. A 
 term in general use on the Mexican frontier. The diminutive 
 Lomita is also sometimes employed. 
 
 Lone Star. The State of Texas, whose flag bears a single star in its 
 centre. 
 
 Let us not forget the Cynosure of Independence \i. e. Massachusetts] ; but bid 
 her a kind farewell for her pilotage through the breakers of the Revolution, — blot 
 her out from the galaxy that encircles the Eagle's crest, — put the Lone Star in 
 its place, &c. — A Voice from the South, p. 53. 
 
 Hurrah for the Lone Star! 
 
 Up, up to the mast. 
 With the honored old bunting, 
 
 And nail it there fast. 
 The ship is in danger, 
 
 And Texans will fight, 
 'Neath the flag of the Lone Star, 
 For God and their right. 
 
 Mason, Southern Poems of the War, p. 95. 
 24 
 
870 
 
 LON 
 
 Long and Short. 1. Broker's terms. " Long " means when a man 
 has bouglit stock on time, which he can call for at any day he 
 chooses. He is also said to be " /orx;," when he holds a good deal. 
 
 Short means when a broker sells stocks, to be delivered at a future day. If he 
 owns the stock he sells or aj^rees to deliver, he is both lontj and short at the same 
 time. The effect of one contract neutralizes or blocks the other, and in reality he 
 is neither lontj nor short. If he does not own the stock, — which is the case nine 
 times in ten, — he is short, or, what is the same thing, a ' btitr ; " and it is for his 
 interest to f>:et the price down, so as to be able to buy the stock to deliver at a 
 less price than he sold. — New York Day-book. 
 
 2. The whole; as, " The long and short of it is." 
 
 Long Chalk. Not hy a long chalk, not by a great deal. 
 
 Women commonly are critters of a niixed character, in gineral more good than 
 bad about them, by a long chalk, but spoiled like filleys in trainin'. — Sdin Slick, 
 Wise Saw. 9. 
 
 Long Knives or Big Knives. A term applied by the North Amer- 
 ican Indians to the white residents of the United States. It signi- 
 fies wearers of swords. 
 
 Long Moss. (Tiliandsia usneoides.) This parasitic and singular veg- 
 etation is first seen in company with the palmetto, about latitude 
 33°. It hangs down in festoons, like the twiny stems of weeping- 
 willow. It attaches itself of choice to the cypress, and. after that, 
 to the acacia. These pendent wreaths often conceal the body of the 
 tree, when bare of foliage, to such a degree that little is seen but a 
 mass of moss. Waving in the wind, they attach themselves to the 
 branches of other trees, and thus sometimes form curtains of moss, 
 that darken the leafless forests of winter. — Flint, Mi.^.^issippi Valley. 
 
 Long Sauce. Beets, carrots, and parsnips are long .sauce. Potatoes, 
 turnips, onions, pumpkins, &c., are .^hoj't sauce. See Sauce. 
 
 The Yankee farmer takes unto himself for a wife some buxom country heiress, 
 deeply skilled in the mysterv of making apple sweetmeats, long sauce, and pump- 
 kin pie. — Irving, Knickerbocker, p 186. 
 
 Miss Ramsay, in her " Poetical Picture of America," in sj^eaking 
 of the vegetables brought to Virginia, says: — 
 
 New England boats in numbers bring 
 Notions, and many a wooden thing. 
 Their long-sauce, and their short-sauce too, 
 About their boats are laid in view. — p. 76. 
 
 Longshanks. See Lawyer, No. 1. 
 
 Longshoreman, for along.<horeman. A man employed to load and 
 unload vessels; a stevedore. New York. 
 
 A meeting of the longshoremen was held last evening to take into consideration 
 the difficulty between themselves and the merchants. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
LON— LQO 
 
 371 
 
 The strike among the ?on_ys^07'eme». caulkers, laborers, &c., has become quite 
 general, and the work of repairing, loading, and unloading of vessels is almost 
 suspended. — New York Express. 
 
 Oh ! I am a simple, laboring man, 
 
 I work along the shore. 
 To keep the hungry wolves away 
 From the poor longshoreman's door. 
 
 Song, by Harrigan. 
 
 Long Short. A gown somewhat shorter than a petticoat, worn by 
 women when doing household work. 
 
 Long Sugar. Molasses ; so called formerly in North Carolina from the 
 ropiness of it, and serving all the purposes of sugar both in eating 
 and drinking. — Byrd^ Westover Papers, p. 28. 
 
 Long Sweetening. Molasses; so called formerly in New England. 
 
 Long Tom. 1. An apparatus used by the Californians for washing 
 gold from the earth or gravel in which it is found. It consists of a 
 wooden trough from twelve to twenty-five feet long and about a foot 
 wide. At its lower end it widens, and its floor there is of sheet-iron 
 pierced with holes half an inch in diameter, under which is placed 
 a flat box a couple of inches deep. The long tom is set at a slight 
 inclination over the place which is to be worked, and a stream of 
 water is kept running through it by means of a hose ; and, while 
 8ome of the party shovel the dirt into the tom, one man stands at the 
 low^er end stirring up the earth as it is washed down, and separating 
 the stones, while the earth and small gravel fall through the sieve 
 into another box, where it undergoes another process of sifting. 
 
 When the miners extricate themselves from the temples of pleasure [in the 
 city], they return to their camps and long-toms, and soothe their racking head- 
 aches by the discovery of chunks of gold. — Marryat, Mountains and Molehills, 
 p. 236. ' 
 
 2. A cannon of large size and of special length. 
 
 Gunboats are having their armaments increased by the addition of Long-Toms, 
 longer and larger than were ever heard of in days when guns of that cognomen 
 were a terror. — New York Tribune, Dec. 30, 1861. 
 
 3. (From a not wholly fanciful resemblance to a cannon.) A 
 long cigar, — usually of a quality inversely proportioned. New 
 England. 
 
 Looed. Defeated. A term borrowed from the game called loo ; as, 
 " Santa Anna was looed at San Jacinto." South-west. Comp. 
 Euclired. 
 
 Loon. {Colymhm glacialis.') The common name for the Northern 
 Divoi . As straight as a loon^s leg is a common simile. 
 
372 
 
 LOO— LOS 
 
 Looney. (Scot. Zown, lown^ a worthless fellow.) A foolish fellow. 
 Jainieson defines the word as above, from which looney may be 
 derived. 
 
 Loosely around. To lay loosely around is to lounge about with noth- 
 ing to do; to " hang round." 
 
 Entering a cloud of tobacco smoke, and t^ropini; our way over p^oups of drunken 
 chivalry, who Imj loosely around^ we api)roached the counter. — Gilmore, My 
 Southern Friends, p. 59. 
 
 A district schoolmaster, who does a square job, and takes his codfish-balls 
 reverently, is a better man to-day to have lyiny round loose than Solomon would 
 be arrayed in all his glory. — Josh BilUn;^, Works, p. 325. 
 
 [The Chicago and North-western Kailroad] was flung down on the prairie at 
 the rate of two miles a day, and while the bed remained frozen it did very well ; 
 but, when the thaw and spring floods came, it imitated the Dutchman's milk in 
 lyiny round loose generally. — McClure, Tour throuyh Rochy Mountains, p. 29. 
 
 Looseness. Unrestraint, freedom. A Western vulgarism, now be- 
 coming common at the East; as, "He goes it with a looseness,^* 
 i. e. acts without restraint. Still more vigorous is the expression, 
 perfect looseness. 
 
 Ah ! my Christian friends, the devil is amongst us, going forward to injure 
 and destroy. He is going it with the looseness of an antediluvian relax; and, as 
 
 Deacon B would say, we mustn't allow him to come the Japan flummux 
 
 over us much longer. — Dow's Sermons, Vol. III. p. 214. 
 
 ThQ perfect looseness v{\i\i \f\\\ch. books not on the invoice were sold [at auc- 
 tion] was illustrated by the sale of a volume of Anthon's series, which went off 
 in lots of a hundred, &c. — N. Y. Express. Sept., 1855. 
 
 Let them go it with a perfect looseness, till they burst their brittle strings of 
 life's corsets, and fall to pieces in the cold embrace of death. —Dow^s Sermons, 
 Vol. I. p. 198. 
 
 Lope. (Dutch, loopen, to leap, to run.) A common term for gallop, 
 of which it may be a contraction. 
 
 An English provincialism for " to stride." — Wright. " To lop," 
 used in Kent, for "to lounge." — Id. Bailey gives "to lope, to 
 run or slip away," from Low Saxon, loopen. 
 
 A sulky ox refuses to move in the proper direction ; off starts a rider, who, 
 catching the stubborn animal by the tail, it at once becomes frightened into a 
 lope ; advantage is taken of the unwieldy body by the hunter, as it rests on the 
 ■ fore feet, to jerk it to the ground. — Thorpe's Backwoods, p 15. 
 
 The mustang goes rollicking ahead, with the eternal lope, such as an amorous 
 deer assumes Avhen it moves beside its half galloping mate, a mixture of two or 
 three gaits, as easy as the motions of a cradle. — Jbid., p. 13. 
 
 Lose-laid. Loose-laid ; a weaver's term, and probably English. Weak- 
 willed. — Loivell. 
 
 Lost Cause. The late pro-slavery rebellion, with its occasion, ad- 
 juncts, results; the Southern Confederacy. 
 
LOT— LUC 
 
 373 
 
 " The politicians of the South adore the heroes of the Confederacy ; they glorify 
 the Lost Cause.'''' 
 
 The "N. Y. Tribune," of Sept. 8, 1877, in speaking of the 
 attempted reunion of Federal and Confederate soldiers at Marietta, 
 Ohio, says: — 
 
 This was such an excellent opportunity of evidencing, in a striking way, the 
 return of national good-will, that it seems unfortunate that the distinguished 
 representatives of the Lost Cause, whose presence was looked for, could not have 
 come to shake hands with their old foes. 
 
 Lot. In the United States, a piece or division of land; perhaps origi- 
 nally assigned by drawing lots, but now^ any portion, piece, or divi- 
 sion. — Webster. This application of the word is peculiar to this 
 country, and is universally used of a parcel of land, whether in 
 town or countiy. Thus, we have city lots^ town lots, house lots, 
 meadow lots, water lots, building lots, &c. " I have a fine lot of 
 cleared land, with a wood lot adjoining; " meaning a portion of the 
 forest on which the trees are left for fuel as required. " In going 
 to town, I left the road, and went across lots, to shorten the dis- 
 tance," i. e. across the open fields or meadows. " In the first set- 
 tlement of this country," says Mr. Pickering, " a certain portion or 
 share of land was allotted to each inhabitant of the town ; and this 
 was called his lot. Both lot and allotment occur in our early laws." 
 
 Lots. " Lots of people; " i. e., a large number. 
 
 To lot upon. To allot; to anticipate; to expect, desire, regard as 
 
 sure. New England. See Allot. 
 Loud. Any thing showy or flashy. " She wore a loud bonnet." 
 
 Common in England. — Hotten. 
 To love, for to like. "Do you love pumpkin pie?" "I'd love to 
 
 have that bonnet ! " Used also as a noun. "A perfect love of a 
 
 bonnet." 
 
 Low-belia. The quacks who use the Lobelia inflata, or "Indian 
 tobacco," suppose the name to be Loicbelia, and it is so written in 
 the description of a patent. The other species, which towers high 
 above its humble relative, is accordingly dubbed High-belia. 
 
 Low Blackberry. The name, in New England, for the fruit of the 
 Rubus trivialis. See Dewberry. 
 
 Low Grounds. Bottom lands are so called in Virginia. 
 
 Lower House. A House of Representatives. See Upper House. 
 
 Lucifer Match. Matches which ignite by friction, also called Loco- 
 foco matches. Both these expressions, however, are now being 
 supplanted by other terms. 
 
874 
 
 LUC— LUM 
 
 No rubbing will kindle your luciftr mutch, 
 If the liz does not follow the primitive scratch. 
 
 0. W. Holmes's Poems, p. 77. 
 
 Lucivee. The lynx, or Loup Cervier of the French. 
 
 Lucivee is rather an odd name, isn't it? " asked Will. 
 "Yes, that's what the French called the animal when they first settled in 
 Canada, and saw it there. They spell it out Loup Cervier, which means wolf- 
 stag, or rather stag-wolf. They called it the stag-wolf, because they used to see 
 it catch moose and deer. But, if you want to look it up in your natural history, 
 you must find the word ' Lynx.' The Lucivee is the Lynx Canadensis of the 
 books. — C. A. Stevens, in Our Youny Folks, for Feb., 1871, p. 99. 
 
 The word lucern will be found in Chapman'.s " Homer," where 
 it undoubtedly refers to the same animal. 
 
 As when a den of bloody lucerne cling. 
 About a goodly-palmed hart, hurt with a hunter's bow. 
 
 Jliad, Book XI. p. 417. 
 
 We have it again in Chapman's " Bussy D'Ambois: " — 
 
 Let me have 
 My lucerns too, or dogs inured to hunt 
 Beasts of most rapine. — Act iii. Anc. Dr. in. 280. 
 
 Wright describes it as a lynx ; and Nares as a sort of hunting dog. 
 Mr. Hooper, in a note on the word, in his edition of Chapman's 
 "Homer's Illiad," Vol. I. p. 240, says: "The etymology seems 
 uncertain." There can be no doubt that all refer to the old French 
 leucerve, of which it is a corruption. 
 
 Lucks. Small portions of wool twisted on the finger of a spinner at 
 the wheel or distaff. The same word as lock when applied to the 
 hair, &c. — Forhy^s Norfolk Glossary. In New England, this word 
 is still in use. 
 
 Miss Gisborne's flannel is promised the last of the week. There is a bunch of 
 luchs down cellar; bring them up. — Maryaret, p. 6. 
 
 LuddyMussy! " Lud-a-massy. " A corrupt pronunciation of Zor</ 
 have mercy! An exclamation of surprise, common in the interior 
 parts of New England. 
 
 Luddy mussy ! can you read ? Where do you live ? — Margaret, p. 52. 
 
 Lugs. Ground leaves of tobacco when prepared for market. 
 
 Lumber. Timber sawed or split for use; as, beams, joists, boards, 
 planks, sta,ves, hoops, and the like. — Webster. The word in this 
 sense, and the following ones derived from it, are peculiar to 
 America. 
 
 Lumberer, Lumberman. A person employed in cutting timber and 
 in getting out lumber from the forest. A lumberman's crew 
 
LUM— LYN 
 
 375 
 
 consists of from twenty to thirty men, in charge of the " boss," of 
 whom two are experienced choppers, two barkers and sled-tenders, 
 eight swampers to clear the roads through the forest for the sleds, 
 two landing sawyers to saw the trunks into logs of suitable length 
 and mark them, teamsters, cook, &c. — Harper^ Alag., March, 1860. 
 Lumber-Merchant. One who deals in lumber. 
 
 Lumbering. 1. The business or occupation of getting out various 
 kinds of lumber, such as beams, boards, staves, &c. "To go a 
 lumbering " is the phrase used by those who embark in it. 
 
 2. Strolling, lounging, walking leisurely. A vulgarism used in 
 New York. 
 
 As I was lumbering down the street, down the street, 
 A yaller gal I chanc'd to meet, &c. 
 
 Net/ro Melodies, The Buffalo Gal. 
 
 Lumber- Wagon. A wagon with a plain box upon it, used by farm- 
 ers for carrying their produce to market. It is sometimes so 
 arranged that a spring seat may be put in it, when it is very com- 
 fortable for riding in. 
 
 Lumber- Yard. A yard where lumber of all kinds is kept for sale. 
 They are sometimes very extensive, covering acres. On the banks 
 of the Hudson, near Albany, are some of the most extensive lum- 
 ber-yards in the country. At Quebec, they are also extensive. 
 
 Lummox. A heavy, stupid fellow. Used also in the east of England. 
 
 To lump it. To mind one's own business; to dislike a thing; as, 
 " You may like it, or lump it." 
 
 Lunk-Head. A heavy, stupid fellow. 
 
 Lyceum. A house or apartment appropriated to instruction by lec- 
 tures or disquisitions. An association of men for literary purposes. 
 W ebster. 
 
 In New England, almost every town and village of importance 
 has its lyceum, where a library is formed, natural and artificial 
 curiosities collected, and before which public lectures are given. 
 They have done a vast deal towards the dissemination of knowl- 
 edge, particularly among those classes which have not had the 
 advantages of a good education. 
 To lynch. To condemn and execute in obedience to the decree of a 
 multitude or mob, without a legal trial; sometimes practised in tlie 
 new settlements in the south-west of the United States. — Worcester. 
 
 Such is too often the administration of law on the frontier. Lynch' s law, as it 
 is technically termed, in which the plaintiff is npt to be witness, jury. judi;e, 
 and executioner, and the defendant convicted and punished on mere presump- 
 tion. — Ircinfj, Tour on the Prairies, p. 35. 
 
876 
 
 LYN 
 
 People at last [in 1850] began to talk among themselves of the urgent neces- 
 sity of again adopting Lynch law, since tiie tedious and uncertain measures of 
 the authorities did not seem to have the effect of terrifying and putting down 
 the disturbers of the public peace. — Annals of San Francisco, p. 310. 
 
 Lyncher. One who hjnches. "Georgia lynchers.''^ — N. Y. Inde- 
 pendent, Jan. 30, 1862. 
 
 Lynch Law. An irregular and revengeful species of justice, admin- 
 istered by the populace or a mob, without any legal authority or 
 trial. — Worcester. 
 
 C. A. Bristed, in an essay on the English language in America, 
 says of Lynch law, — for summary and informal justice, — "It is 
 usually explained as having been derived from the emphatic prac- 
 tice of a certain Judge Lynch, who lived somewhere in the ' Far 
 West.' But no authentic or consistent account of this functionary 
 exists, no tangible grounds for supposing him to be any thing more 
 than a mythical personage, while a very probable solution of the 
 phrase presents itself in the parent tongue. Linch, in several of 
 the northern county dialects, means to beat or maltreat. Lynch law, 
 then, would be simply equivalent to club-law, &c." 
 
 A writer in the " N. Y. Evening Post" (" Claverhouse "), for 
 June 2, 1864, says, per contra: — 
 
 " In America, the term ' Lynch law ' was first used in Piedmont, 
 on the western frontier of Virginia. There was no court within 
 the district, and all controversies were referred to the arbitrament 
 of prominent citizens. Among these was a man by the name of 
 Lynch, whose decisions were so impartial that he was known as 
 Judge Lynch, and the system was called ' Lynch law,' and adopted 
 in our pioneer settlements as an inexpensive and speedy method of 
 obtaining justice," &c. But the same writer adds: "The origin 
 of the expression is British, and dates from the early part of the 
 15th century," — and cites Prince Puckler Muskau's tour in Eng- 
 land, for an account of the " Galway tragedy," — when James 
 Lynch, Mayor of Galway, condemned his son to death for murder, 
 and to prevent a rescue by the mob executed him with his own 
 hands. 
 
 The following extract from the Historical Collections of Virginia, 
 by Henry Howe, published in 1845, seems to settle the question as 
 to the origin of the term as used in the United States : — 
 
 Colonel Charles Lynch, a brother of the founder of Lynchburg, was an officer 
 of the American revolution. His residence was on the Staunton, in Campbell 
 county, now the seat of his grandson, Charles Lynch, Esq. At that time, the 
 country was thinly settled, and infested by a lawless band of tories and despe- 
 radoes. The necessity of the case involved desperate measures, and Colonel 
 
MAA— MAD 
 
 377 
 
 Lynch, then a leading Whig, apprehended and had them punished without an}' 
 superfluous legal ceremony. Hence the origin of the phrase "Lynch law." 
 This practice of lynching continued years after the war, an^l was applied to 
 many cases of mere suspicion of guilt which could not be regularly proved. 
 In 1792, says Wirt's " Life of Patrick Henr}'," there were many suits on the 
 south side of James River for inflicting Lynch law. 
 
 M. 
 
 Ma'am. A mother. Sir and Ma^ain, parents. See Sir. 
 
 Ma'am SchooL A school kept by a woman ; called in England, and 
 
 formerly in parts of Connecticut, a " dame school." 
 
 Mr. Goodrich, when he returned to his native village after many 
 
 years' absence, says: — 
 
 I found a girl some eighteen years old keeping a ma'am school for about 
 twenty' scholars. — Reminiscences, Vol. 1. p. 39. 
 
 Machine. 1. The name for a fire-engine among the New York 
 " b'hoys." 
 
 You'll like 'em [the engine men], they 're perfect bricks ; and, as for the ma- 
 chine, why, she 's a pearl of the East, none of your old-fashioned tubs, but a 
 real tip-top, out-and-out double-decker. Yes, sirree, there ain't many crabs what 
 can take down No. 62 and her bully rooster crew. — Yankee Notions. 
 
 2. A locomotive steam-engine is so called by the railroad engi- 
 neers and conductors. 
 
 Mackerel GulL (^Sterna Jiirundo.) The common tern, so called from 
 its being supposed to announce the arrival of mackerel in its sum- 
 mer quarters. — Storer. 
 
 Mackinaw Blanket, or simply Mackinaw. A heavy blanket origi- 
 nally used in the Indian trade, the chief post for which was foi-merly 
 at Mackinac (pron. Mackinarv), and hence the first material for 
 overcoats in the West. See Blanket-Coat. 
 
 Outside of the wagons, the travellers spread their beds, which consist for the 
 most part of buffalo-rugs and blankets. Many content themselves with a single 
 Mackinaw ; but a pair constitutes the most regular pallet, and he that is pro- 
 vided with a buffalo-rug, into the bargain, is deemed luxuriousl}'- supplied. — 
 Grefifj, Com. of Prairies, Vol. I. p. 62. 
 
 Mad. Inflamed with anger; very angry; vexed. " I was quite mad 
 at him;" "he made me mad.'''' In these instances, mad is only a 
 metaphor for angry. This is perhaps an English vulgarism, but it 
 is not found in any accurate writer, nor used by any good speaker, 
 unless when poets or orators use it as a strong figure, and, to 
 heighten the expression, say, " He was mad with rage." — Wither' 
 spoon, Druid, No. 5. 
 
378 
 
 MAD— MAG 
 
 Mad, in the sense of arniry, is considered as a low word in this 
 countiy, and at the present day is never used except in very familiar 
 conversation. — Pickering. 
 
 This use of the word is provincial in various parts of England. 
 See flaUiwell, Grose, &c. 
 
 Indeed, my dear, you make me mad sometimes, you do. — Spectator. 
 
 The General began to get in a passion; and says he, "Major, I 'm gettin' 
 mad!'' " Very well," says I, " General, then I '11 keep cool accordin' to agree- 
 ment." — Major Downiny's Letters, p. 20. 
 
 Upstairs I went with them, as mad as thunder, I tell you, at being thought a 
 humbug. — Field, Westei'n Tales. 
 
 Jeeniiny. fellows, I was so enormous mad that the new silk handkercher 
 round my neck lost its color! — Robb, Squatter Life. 
 
 Madam. 1. In Plymouth, Massachusetts, and in some neighboring 
 places, it has been and still is the pi-actice to prefix to the name of 
 a deceased female of some consideration, as the parson's, the dea- 
 con's, or the doctor's wife, the title of Madam. — KendaWs Travela, 
 Vol. II. p. 44. " This practice," says Mr. Pickering, "like that 
 of giving magistrates the title of 'squire, prevails in most of the 
 country towns of New England, but is scarcely known in the sea- 
 port towns." — Vocabulary. 
 
 2. Sir Chas. Lyell says: The title of Madam is sometimes given 
 here [in Boston], and generally in Charleston and in the South, to 
 a mother whose son has married, and the daughter-in-law is then 
 called " Mrs." By this means, they avoid the inelegant phraseology 
 of " old Mrs. A.," or the Scotch " Mrs. A., senior." — Second Visits 
 Chap. IX. 
 
 In Maryland, as well as in the States farther south, the term is 
 applied to dowager ladies. It was also common among the Xegroes 
 for their master's wife, whom they almost invariably spoke of as 
 The Madam. " I 'se gwine up to de house to see de Madam, an' git 
 some doctor's stuff for dis misery in my chest." 
 
 3. Respectful designation of a mother. Eastern Massachusetts. 
 
 Mad Dog. Skullcap. (Scutellaria laterijlora.) A once much re- 
 nowned quack remedy for hydrophobia, the utter worthlessness of 
 which has long since been established. 
 
 Made his Jack. Carried his point; was fortunate in his undertaking. 
 
 Maguey. {Agave Americana.') A genus of American tropical plants 
 commonly called Aloes or Century plants. They are found in 
 Texas, New Mexico, and California. The different species furnish 
 pulque, sisal, hemp, aguardiente, bagging, &c. 
 
MAII— MAI 
 
 379 
 
 Mahala. A vulgar name for an Indian squaw; a corruption of the 
 Spanish muger (pron. mulier) a woman. California. 
 
 Mahogany. (Swietenia mahogani.) A beautiful tree found in South 
 America, Honduras, and Southern Florida, whose compact reddish- 
 brown wood, susceptible of a high polish, is well known as a mate- 
 rial for elegant articles of furniture. 
 
 To mahoganize. To paint wood in imitation of mahogany. 
 
 Maidenland. Land that a man gets with his wife, and which he loses 
 at her death. Virginia. 
 
 Mail. This word, which properly means the bag in which letters and 
 papers are carried from one post-office to another, is often used by 
 us instead of the term " post " Thus we mail our letters, or send 
 them by mai'Z. The English 7?o.5/ them, or send them by posL Used 
 also for the contents of the mail-bag. 
 
 2. What is sent to or received from the post-office. 
 
 Mailable. That may be mailed or carried in the mail. — Worcester. 
 In a suit brought by the government against Adams & Co.'s Ex- 
 press for carrying letters and papers, to the injury of the post-office, 
 Judge Betts stated in his charge to the jury that "any written 
 communication between one individual and another comes within 
 the term mailable matter; and, no matter in what shape it is put, it 
 is liable to postage as if can-ied by mail." 
 
 Mail- Rider. One who carries the mail. In England, called a post- 
 man or post-boy. Post-rider in Massachusetts and Connecticut. 
 
 Mail Stage. The stage or coach which carries the mail. In England 
 called a " mail-coach." 
 
 Maine Law. A law first enacted in the State of Maine, about 1844, 
 forbidding the sale of intoxicating drinks except by an agent 
 specially and authoritatively empowered by the local magistrate 
 or by municipal authority. 
 
 Maine Lawite. One who favors a Maine Liquor Law. 
 
 All excellent, even the whiskey, with the "prophylactic doses therein; but 
 what will the Maine Lawites say. — N. Y. Ex^jress, April 15, 18G2. 
 
 Maize. (W. Ind., maiz, mahiz.) Indian corn. The name of the 
 great staple of native American agriculture, adopted from the Carib 
 language by the Spaniards, and thus imported into the languages of 
 Europe. The earliest dictionary in which I find the word is Florio's 
 Worlde of Wordes (1598): the article there is Maiz, a kind of 
 grain or wheat whereof they make bread in India." Its native 
 country is not fully determined, although it is believed to be Amer- 
 
380 
 
 MAK 
 
 ica. Bernal Diaz speaks of it in Mexico in 1517; and Acosta, in 
 1570, when treating of the plants " peculiar to the Indies," says 
 that " the most common grain found in the New World is mays, 
 which is found in all the kingdoms of the West Indies, Peru, New 
 Spain, Guatemala, and Chili." He adds that in Castile they call 
 it Indian wheat; and in Italy, Turkey grain, which seems to imply 
 that the plant was also known in those countries. The word is 
 never used in common language in the United States. Indeed, few 
 would understand it. 
 
 The bread which the\' eate in the land of Florida, is of Maiz, which is like 
 coarse millet. And this Maiz is common in all the Islands and West Indies 
 from the Antiles forward. — Ilakluyt, Virginia Richly Valued (1G09), p. 178. 
 
 To make a Move. To move; to remove; to take initiatory steps; 
 to endeavor. 
 
 I think now that we must mnhe a move to secure a lot on which to build a little 
 house of worship. — The Home Missionary, April, 1877. 
 
 To make a Raise. See Raise. 
 
 To make Fish. To cure and prepare fish for commerce. A New 
 England phrase. 
 
 To make the Fur fly. To claw, scratch, wound severely; and, figura- 
 tively, to make a great commotion ; to breed a disturbance ; to get 
 angry or excited. 
 
 Senator Hannegan was greatly excited, which proved most conclusively that 
 he had made the fur fly among the five thousand four hundred and forty men. 
 [In allusion to Oregon boundary line ] — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 The deliberations were conducted with moderation until the question of union 
 with the Northern [General] Assembly came up, and then the fur flew. — Texas 
 Cor. Chicago Times. 
 
 To make Land. To fill up a water-lot, a marsh, and the like. 
 
 To make Meat, on the great western prairies, consists in cutting into 
 thin slices the boneless parts of buffalo or other meat, and drying 
 them in the wdnd or sun. Meat thus prepared may be preserved 
 for years without salt. 
 
 To make one's Manners. To make a bow or salute, on meeting a 
 friend or stranger. The term is applied only to children. Formerly, 
 in New England, the custom w^as universal among juveniles. Mr. 
 Goodrich, in his Reminiscences," says, " A child who did not 
 make his manners to a stranger on the high road was deemed a low 
 fellow." — Vol. I. p. 128. 
 
 To make one's Mark. To make an impression; to leave a lasting 
 reminiscence of one's self; to distinguish one's seK. It is in all 
 probability an English expression. 
 
MAK— MAM 
 
 381 
 
 The most remarkable men are usually those who have lived at some marked 
 epoch in the world, and who, in Providence, were then called out to make and to 
 leave their mark upon the world. — Chalmers. 
 
 Hugh Miller is a man of genius, and would have made his mark in whatever 
 circumstances he had been placed. — Providence Journal. 
 
 There was a time when Jacob Barker made his mark upon the stock-jobbers and 
 money-changers of Wall Street. — Harjjer's Mafjazine, Sept., 1854. 
 
 The following is the close of some beautiful lines relating to Miss 
 Nightingale, taken from a newspaper : — 
 
 Among the world's great women thou hast made thy glorious mark; 
 Men will hereafter mention make of thee with Joan of Arc ; 
 And fathers who relate the Maid of Saragossa's tale 
 Will tell their little children, too, of Florence Nightingale. 
 
 To make one's File. To become rich. A California phrase. See Pile. 
 
 The Treasury is bankrupt by continual demands for refits [of soldiers' clothes, 
 &c.] ; but the jobber has made his pile ^ and what does he care? — N. Y. Tribune, 
 Dec, 1861. 
 
 While the carpet-baggers in the executive offices and the legislature, assi.sted 
 by Federal agents, were making enonnous piles and plotting for more, petty lar- 
 ceny ruled supreme in the rural parishes. — Judge Black on the Electoral Con- 
 spiracy, North Am. Rev., July, 1877, p. 8. 
 
 To make one's self Scarce. To depart, decamp, be off. 
 To make Tracks. To go; to run. A figurative exjDression of 
 Western origin. Comp. To pull Foot. 
 
 He came plaguey near not seein' of me, says I ; for I had just commenced mak- 
 ing tracks as you came in. — Sam Slick in England, ch. 20. 
 
 Lieutenant Gilliss, giving an account of a skirmish at Coquimbo, 
 says : — 
 
 Some fifty were killed, a like number fell wounded or were taken prisoners, 
 and the remainder made tracks for the city. — GlUiss's Chili, Vol. I. p. 334. 
 
 Malahack. To cut up hastily or awkwardly; to mangle. Also used 
 in England. — Wright. 
 
 Mammee Apple. (Mammea Americana.) A large round fruit, some- 
 times the size of a man's head. The skin is of a dull russet color, 
 and rough. The flesh is yellow, and the seeds are from one to four 
 large ones, with a rough shell. AVest Indies. 
 
 Mammee-Sapota. (Lucuma mammosa.) A heart-shape-fiuit, not so 
 large as the last, with reddish flesh and one large, polished seed. 
 See Sapote. 
 
 Mammy. The term of endearment used by white children to their 
 negro nurses and to old family servants. 
 
 " How ith your ma, honey V " questioned the old woman, rubbing the biscuit 
 dou^h from her fingers. 
 
382 
 
 MAN 
 
 " Better, thank vou, mammy. She seems quite bright to-dav." — The Hidden 
 Path. 
 
 Manada. (Span.) A herd of cattle or drove of horses. In Cali- 
 fornia, it is especially applied to breeding rnares. 
 Mananoiay. See C/am, No. 2. 
 Man-Eater. See Water-Dog. 
 Man of the Earth. See Mechoacan. 
 
 Manatee or Lamantin. An herbivorous cetacean, the sea-cow. It 
 inhabits the mouths of the rivers opening on the north and north- 
 east of South America and the coast of Mexico ; it measures six or 
 seven feet in length; and its paddles exhibit rudiments of nails, by 
 the aid of which the animal sometimes drags its unwieldy body on 
 shore, and crawls up the banks, either to bask in the sun or to seek 
 for terrestrial vegetables. — Carpenter's Zoology, I. 339. Also found 
 on the Florida coast. 
 
 Mango. We apply this name to a green niusk-melon stuffed with 
 horse-radish, mustard seed, mace, nutmeg, ginger, &c., and then 
 pickled. The true mango is also pickled. 
 
 Mangosteen. In Barbadoes, this name is given to the Jujube (Zizi- 
 phus Jujube). 
 
 Manioc, Manihoc, Manihot. See Tapioca. 
 
 Manitou. (Algonkin manitu or manifo, a spirit, a ghost.) A spirit, 
 god, or devil of the American Indians. 
 
 The pride of the Indians is to paint their faces strangely with red or black lead ; 
 so that they look h'ke tiends. The}" are then valiant; yea, they say they are man- 
 ette, the devil himself. — De Vries's Voyage to America, 1655. 
 
 Every one of the chiefs has his peculiar god, whom they call Manitoa. It is 
 sometimes a bird, a stone, a serpent, or any thing else they dream of in their 
 sleep; for they think this Manitoa. will prosper their wants, as fishing, hunting, 
 and other enterprises. — Marquette. 
 
 Praying for good, we to Cawtant'-wit bow, 
 
 And, shunning evil, we to Chepian cry ; 
 To other J\ranitf(ins we offerings owe, 
 
 Dwell they in mountain, flood, or lofty sky. 
 
 Durfee, Whatcheer, Cant. ll. 
 As when the evil Manitou, that dries 
 
 The Ohio woods, consumes them in his ire, 
 In vain the desolated panther flies, 
 
 And howls amid his wilderness of fire. 
 
 Campbell, Gertrude of Wyoming, xvii. 
 
 As the Arapaho braves pass by the mysterious (boiling) springs, . . . they 
 never fail to bestow their votive offerings upon the water sprite, in order to pro- 
 pitiate the Jfanitou of the fountain, and insure a fortunate issue to their path of 
 war. — Ruxton's Rocky Mountains, p. 243. 
 
MAN— MAR 
 
 383 
 
 When the Mnnitou made his children, he gave them buffalo to eat, and the 
 pure water of the fountain to quench their thirst. — Speech of an Indian Chiefs 
 jRuxton. 
 
 Manor. In the United States, a tract of land occupied by tenants 
 who pay a fee-farm rent to the proprietor, sometimes in kind, and 
 sometimes perform certain stipulated services. — BurrUVs Law Dic- 
 tionary. 
 
 Manufacture Oil. To boil it, after reaching pert, in the whale-ship. 
 
 Xew Bedford, Mass. 
 Maple Honey. A name in British North America for the imcrystal- 
 
 lizable portion of the sap of the sugar-maple, which is consumed in 
 
 the form of molasses. 
 
 Maple-Molas.ses. Molasses made from the sap of the sugar-maple. 
 
 I wish you would have some griddle-cakes for supper, with some maple-molasses 
 on them. — Betsy Bobbet, p. 256. 
 
 Maple -Sugar. A sort of domestic sugar obtained from the Sugar- 
 Maple (which see). At the commencement of spring, in the North- 
 ern States and Canada, the sugar-maple trees are tapped near 
 the ground by numerous apertures, and the sap is collected in 
 wooden troughs, two hundred pounds of which afford, by evapora- 
 tion, fifteen pounds of a brownish sugar, which is capable of being 
 refined in the same manner as the sugar from the cane and the beet. 
 Encyd. Am.ericaiia. 
 
 Maple-Syrup. A syrup made from the sap of the sugar-maple. 
 
 " Wall," says he, "I guess I '11 have another griddle-cake," and, as he took it, 
 he poured the maple-syrup over it. — Betsy Bobbet. 
 
 Marabou. The variety of Negro which springs from a mulatto and a- 
 
 griffe. For other varieties, see Negro. 
 To marble or marvel. To move off; as, " If you do that again, you 
 
 must wrtrWe," i. e. be off immediately. Used in Pennsylvania. — 
 
 HurfVs Gram. Corrector. 
 
 The dandy run, and the gals snickered out, and the fellers hawhawed till they 
 was e'cuaniost dead, to see hnn marvell down the road. — HiWs Yankee Stoiies. 
 
 Marblehead Turkeys and Cape Cod Turkeys. Codfish. So called 
 in Massachusetts. So Taunton Turkeys, Digby Chickens (with 
 Herrings), Albany Beef, and Welsh Rabbit, which some are ab- 
 surdly trying now to spell Rarebit! Mutton stewed in a peculiar 
 way is Welsh Venison in England. 
 
 Margin. Among stock-brokers, a sum of money deposited by a person 
 speculating in stocks with a broker, to secure the latter against loss 
 on funds advanced by him to assist his customer in his speculations. 
 
384 
 
 MAR 
 
 Customers [of stocks] invariably buy or sell on marfjtns. If the fornner, they 
 are apt to desire to hav'o their stock carried. Hence it is necessary to be assured 
 that, when further marfjin is re(juired, the money will be forthcoming. — Med' 
 hery, Men and Mydeiies of Wall Street, p. 123. 
 
 Market Truck. Vegetables cultivated for market. See Truck. 
 
 Marm. A corruption of the word mamma, often used in the interior of 
 New England for mother. See Ma^am. 
 Has your marm got that done V — Marynret, p. 39. 
 
 Maroon. The name given to revolted Negroes in the West Indies 
 and in some parts of South America. The appellation is supposed 
 to be derived from Marony, a river separating Dutch and Fieuch 
 Guiana, where large numbers of these fugitives resided. In many 
 cases, by taking to the forests and mountains, they have rendered 
 themselves formidable to the colonies, and sustained a long and brave 
 resistance against the whites. When Jamaica was conquered by the 
 English in 1655, about fifteen hundred slaves retreated to the moun- 
 tains, and were called Maroons. They continued to harass the 
 island till the end of the last century, when they were reduced by 
 the aid of blood-hounds. — Encycl. Americana. 
 
 Marooner. A runaway slave; a maroon. 
 
 We were told that on the South Shore [in Virginia] dwelt a marooner, that 
 modestly called himself a hermit. — Byrd, Westover Papers, p. 13. 
 
 Marooning. To go marooning is an expression used in the Southern 
 States. It means to go on a picnic. The difference between a 
 marooning party and a picnic is that the foraier is a party made up 
 to pass several days on the shore or in the country, the latter is a 
 party for a day. The expression is of course derived from the pre- 
 ceding noun. 
 
 Well, now, Clayton, how considerate of them to go off on that marooning 
 party. — Mrs. Stowe, Dred, Vol I. p. 20. 
 
 Marsh-Hen. (Rallus Virginianus.) The Virginia Rail ; the mud-hen. 
 The name is also applied to the Clapper Rail, a salt-water bird 
 found on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. See Mud- Hen. 
 
 Jupiter [the negro slave], grinning from ear to ear, bustled about to prepare 
 some marsh-hens for supper. — Poe, The Gold Bug. 
 
 Marshal. The ministerial officer of the courts of the United States, 
 with duties similar to those of sheriff in the State courts. — Kent's 
 Commentaries, Vol. I. p. 309. 
 
 Marvel. A mispronunciation of marble, common in the mouths of 
 illiterate people. 
 
 To marvel. See To marble. 
 
MAR— MAS 
 
 385 
 
 Maryland End. Said of the hock of the ham. The other is the Vir- 
 ginia end. Maryland and Virginia. 
 
 Mash. A vulgar corruption of the word "marsh," also heard in 
 England. 
 
 To mash. In machinery, one wheel is said to mash into or with 
 another, i. e. to " engage " with it. This is, apparently, a corrup- 
 tion from mesh^ which is sometimes used in the same sense. 
 
 Mashtrap. A trap that mashes and kills the animal caught in it. 
 
 There is not the least danger that their precious carcasses will be caught under 
 a mashtrap. — Richmond Examiner^ May, 1862. 
 
 Maskinonge or Muskelunge. (Algonkin Ind.) An immense fish of 
 the pike species (Esox estor), caught in the St. Lawrence and the 
 great lakes. I have seen a specimen taken at Kingston upwards of 
 four feet in length. Dr. Richardson, in his " Fauna Borealis Amer- 
 icana," says that he found none in the rivers which empty into 
 Hudson's Bay or the Polar Sea. 
 
 The masquinonje is to all appearance a large species of pike, and possesses the 
 ravenous propensities of that fish. — Backwoods of Canada, p. 101. 
 
 I was born on the sea-shore in the Bay State, and here I am up among the 
 fresh-water lakes, as much naturalized as any muskelunge that was ever caught 
 in Lake Huron. — Cooper^ The Oak Openings. 
 
 Mason and Dixon's Line. The boundary line separating the State of 
 Pennsylvania from the States of Maryland and Virginia surveyed by 
 Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, two English surveyors between 
 the years 1763 and 1767. During the excited debate in Congress, 
 in 1820, on the question of excluding slavery from Missouri, John 
 Randolph made great use of the phrase, which was echoed through- 
 out the country. It is still referred to as the line which formerly 
 divided the slave from the free States. 
 
 Freedom's Keystone is Slavery, thet ther's no doubt on, 
 It's suthin' thet's — wha' d'ye call it? — divine, — 
 An' the slaves thet we oilers make the most on 
 Air them north o' Mason an'' Dixon's Line. 
 
 Lowell^ The Biglow Papers. 
 Massa, Mass. Master. A term formerly in use among slaves. 
 Mass Meeting. A large or general meeting called for some specific 
 purpose. The word mass is prefixed with a sort of ad captandum 
 intent, as O'Connell called his large meetings of Irishmen " mon- 
 ster meetings." Mass meetinf/s were first talked of in the politi- 
 cal campaign of 1840, when Harrison was elected president. The 
 term is now applied to any large meeting without distinction of 
 party 
 
 26 
 
386 
 
 MAT— MEA 
 
 Match. To apply a match to; to light by applying a lighted match 
 to. Connecticut. 
 
 Mate or Match. Used sometimes instead of "fellow," in such ex- 
 pressions as, " I can't find the mate (or match) to this shoe." 
 
 To maul. To prepare; to make. I always have two hundred rails 
 mauled in a day. Southern States. 
 
 Maverick. In the great cattle-growing region of Texas, an unbranded 
 yearling is called a " Macerick.^' In Texas, the ownership of cattle 
 can only be proved by their being branded with the owner's name. 
 Many years ago, a large cattle-owner named Maverick neglected to 
 brand his yearlings, whence they were called " Macericks.''^ Other 
 persons, the owners of cattle, put their own brands upon them, and 
 thus became their owners. The term Maverick for unbranded year- 
 lings is still preserved throughout the State. 
 
 Max. At the U. S. Military Academy, West Point, " to max " is to 
 make a good recitation, i. e. the maximum. 
 
 May- Apple. 1. A name applied to the remarkable excrescence caused 
 apparently by the puncture of insects, on the immature flowers of 
 the Swamp Honeysuckle (Azalea nudijlora). This grows to a great 
 size, as large as an ordinary apple, is of a very irregular form, cov- 
 ered with a fine bloom, and is even eaten. Its irregular form and 
 want of seeds should indicate that it is no fruit, apart from the fact 
 that it is found before the flowers expand. It is nevertheless con- 
 sidered as the fruit of the plant. 
 
 2. The term is also applied to the Swamp Honeysuckle itself, and 
 to the fruit of the wild mandrake (Podophyllum peltatum). 
 
 May-Bird. See Bobolink. 
 
 May-Blob. Cowslips. New England. 
 
 May-Pop. A Southern name for the Passion Flower. 
 
 Meadow. 1. In the United States often applied to mowing lands 
 which are marshy or too wet to be ploughed, and producing a coarse 
 kind of hay, which is called " meadow hay," in distinction from 
 that which grows on uplands, which is called "English hay." — 
 Worcester. 
 
 2. In Western Connecticut, any land appropriated to grass for 
 hay-making. 
 Meadow Bird. See BohoUnk. 
 Meadow Hay. See Meadow. 
 
 Mean, for Means. Many American writers, following Scottish moa- 
 els, make use of mean instead of means in the singular. But the 
 
MEA— MED 
 
 387 
 
 established practice among English writers, from the time of Addi- 
 son to the present day, has been to use means for both numbers. 
 
 It was the best mean of bringing the negotiation to a happy issue. — MarsJuilPs 
 Washington, Vol. V. p. 546. 
 
 Mean. Poor, bad, worthless; as, " A mean pair of shoes ; " "A mean 
 horse ; " "A mean fellow." 
 
 He'll cut the same capei-s there as here. He's a monstrous mean horse. — 
 Georgia Scenes, p. 27. 
 
 Mean Whites. See Poor White Folks. Southern. 
 
 Meat-Biscuit. The concentrated juice of beef, mixed with flour and 
 baked. It is chiefly used to make soup for travellers, soldiers, &c. 
 
 Meat-Cart. A butcher's cart, from which meat is sold in the streets 
 in towns and villages. 
 
 Meat-Chamber. An apartment recently introduced between decks 
 in the ocean steamships, with a huge tank in the middle, capable of 
 holding thirty or forty tons of ice, for the purpose of transporting 
 fresh meat to Europe. A gigantic floating refrigerator. 
 
 Mebbe. " May be." Quite common. 
 
 Mecate. (Mexican.) A rope of hair or of the fibre of the maguey, 
 the American agave. A term in use in the States bordering on 
 Mexico. 
 
 Mechoacan. {Convolvulus panduratus.) A plant growing in sandy 
 fields and on dry banks from Connecticut to Illinois and south- 
 wards. The large root is also used for medical purposes. It is also 
 called Man of the Earth and Wild Potato Vine. The name prop- 
 erly belongs to the C. Mechoacan, so named from Mechoacan in 
 Mexico, where it was first obtained. Rafinesque gives JSIechameck 
 as the Indian name of the pseudo-Mechoacan or Wild Potato. — 
 Medical Flora, Vol. I. p. 125. 
 
 Medicine. This word is used in translating certain terms in the 
 languages of the American aborigines which denote not only " medi- 
 cine " proper, but any thing the operation of which they do not com- 
 prehend; that is, any thing mysterious, supernatural, sacred. Hence 
 we have the terms medicine man, the doctor and conjurer of the 
 American Indians; medicine hag, the bag in which his remedies and 
 charms are contained; medicine feast, a sort of religious festival, 
 consisting of feasting, singing, dancing, &c., attended by males 
 only; medicine hut, the hut in which these feasts are held; ynedicine 
 pipe, the ornamented pipe smoked on these occasions. 
 
388 
 
 MED— MEE 
 
 Medium. A person who professes to be a medium of communication 
 between moi tals and disembodied spirits. There are rapping, tip- 
 ping, healing, speaking, writing, and trance mediums. 
 
 Meeching or Miching. Skulking, mean. This old Shaksperian word 
 is still occasionally heard in New York and New England. 
 
 0 brethren ! I warn you not to make too sure of success, for you may be disap- 
 pointed. When you fall short of the object for which you jump, you go metchin 
 off, like a cat that has missed her mouse. — Dow's Sermons, Vol. I. p. 203. 
 
 But I ain't o' the meechin' kind, that sets an' thinks for weeks, 
 The bottom 's out o' th' univarse coz their own gill pot leaks. 
 
 Lowell, The Blfjlow Pcipvrs. 
 
 Richardson defines to meecTi, to take small things, to pilfer; and 
 consequently to lay in wait, to lurk. 
 
 For no man of his counsaile knoweth 
 What he maie gette of his michynye. 
 
 Gower, Conf. Amnntis, A. b v. 
 Sure she has some meeching rascal in her house, some hind that she hath seen 
 (like another Milo) quarters of malt upon his back and sing with't. — Beaumont 
 cf FL, The Scornful Lady, Act iv. Sc. 1. 
 
 Meeting. A religious assembly, congregation. Among Methodists, 
 Baptists, Congregationalists, and Quakers, it is usual to say, " We 
 are going to meeting, when speaking of going to their church or 
 place of worship. 
 
 Meeting-House. A place of worship of Methodists, Quakers, &c. 
 The following passage in Elliott's recent "History of New Eng- 
 land" seems to show that the term originated with the Puritans: 
 " The religious services of the Plymouth church were held in the 
 fort, upon the roof or deck of which were mounted the gieat guns; 
 and it was in 1648 that a meeting-house was built They held that 
 a church was a body of Christians, and the place where they met was 
 a ^ meeting-house ; \sa\d so they called it by that name." — Vol. I. 
 p. 131. 
 
 Refined and illiterate, negro and white, the old meeting-home united us all on one 
 day of the week, and its solemn services formed an insensible but strong bond of 
 neighborhood charity. — Mrs. Sfoice, Oldiown Folks, ch. v. 
 
 1 despise the idee of folks bein' so sot on their own meetin' housen. . . . Some- 
 how, Josiah seems to be more sot onto his own meetin' -house than I do. — Betsy 
 Bobbet, p. 69. 
 
 Meetin' Seed. Caraway seed used to drive away drowsiness in 
 church. 
 
 She munched a sprig of meetin'' seed, 
 
 And read her spelling-book. — St. Nicholas, Jan., 1877. 
 
 To meet up with. To catch up with ; to overtake. Georgia. 
 
MEL— MER 
 
 389 
 
 Melon Fruit. (^Carica papaya.) The West India Papaw ; called also 
 Tree-melon. 
 
 Melt. 1. The milt or roe of fishes. 
 
 2. The milt or spleen. In popular use; also given in Dungli- 
 son's Med. Die. 
 
 3. Of hogs, the mesentery. New England. Each of these words 
 "melt" has its own etymon. The last is clearly from the verb 
 
 to melt." 
 
 Memorandum Check. A check intended not to be presented imme- 
 diately for payment ; such an understanding being denoted by the 
 word " mem." written on it. It has been held that the making of 
 a check in this way does not affect its negotiability, or the right of 
 the holder to present it to the bank and demand payment imme- 
 diately. 
 
 Memorial Day. Particularly "Decoration Day," in memory of the 
 soldiers and sailors who fell in the late civil war. 
 
 Menhad3n. {Alosa menhaden.) A fish of the herring kind, abound- 
 ing in the waters of New England, and as far south as Chesapeake 
 Bay. It is also known by the names of Bony-fish, White-fish, 
 Hardhead, Moss-bunker, and Pauhagen. In Massachusetts and 
 Rhode Island, they are called Menhaden; in New York, Moss- 
 bunkers and Skippaugs. They are caught in immense quantities, 
 and used as manure, chiefly for Indian corn. Dr. DeKay, in his 
 report on the fishes of New York, states that he has known of 
 an instance when "eighty-four w^agon-loads, or, in other words, 
 168,000 of these fish were taken at a single haul" of the seine. 
 
 These voracious fellows [the blue-fish] get into a school of menhaden, which 
 are too large to swallow whole, and they bite them to pieces to suit their tastes. 
 Daniel Webster, Private Cor., Vol. II. p. 333. 
 
 To merchandise. In the West, they say a man is merchandising who 
 is in trade, keeping a store, selling goods, &c. 
 
 Merchant. A term often applied in the United States to any dealer 
 in merchandise, whether at wholesale or retail; and hence some- 
 times equivalent to " shopkeeper." 
 
 Mercy sakes alive! A common exclamation of surprise, especially 
 with old women, who would probably find some difficulty in pars- 
 ing it. 
 
 Massy snkes alive, a o\\n\ where have you been all the morning? What! a lady 
 drownded ? Lord-a-massy ! What! and a dear drownded baby too! Oh, dear! 
 Brooke, EaMford, p. 60. 
 
390 
 
 MES 
 
 Mesa. (Span., table.) Throughout the whole region bordering on 
 Mexico, this Spanish word is used for a high plain or table-land. 
 
 All the so-called raesa formations and jornadas of this district belonj^ to a dis- 
 tinct system of basin deposits, tertiary or post-tertiary in ajje. . . . The mesn, or 
 table-land character, is exhibited only along the line of river valleys, as hi^di 
 bliift's, the result of denuding forces, subsequent to the original basin depositions. 
 Reports on the Pacific Railroad, Vol. I. p. 84. 
 
 The travelling upon the mtsas was hard and firm, whilst that in the bottom 
 was generally heavy. — Lieutenant Park's Report, Pacific Railroad Purvey, 
 
 Vol. ir. 
 
 Westward sweeps the wide valley of the river, and at a distance of a league ij 
 seen the pueblo of Zuni. Towards the south, a lofty mesa with precipitous cliffs. 
 . . . Scrub cedars and pifions upon the mesa slopes have furnished fuel. — Cap- 
 tain Whipple's Explorations, R. R. Survey, p. 66. 
 
 Mesilla. (Span. dim. of mesa.) A small table-land. 
 
 Mesquit or Muskeet. (Span, mezguite. AUjaroUa glandulosa.) An 
 important tree of the Locust family, found in Texas, New Mexico, 
 California, &c. It bears a long and narrow pod, filled with beans, 
 which are eagerly eaten by horses and cattle. It is also valuable 
 for fuel. On the arid plains, it is reduced to a mere shrub, when its 
 roots greatly expand, and are much sought for firewood. The Pima 
 Indians on the Gila grind the mesquit beans, and mix the flour with 
 that of wheat, which adds much to its sweetness. This tree pro- 
 duces in large quantity a gum in almost every respect equal to 
 gum arable. 
 
 Mesquit Grass. (Stipa spata. Algonkin, maskeht, maskit, grass.) A 
 fine, short grass, called also Lewis Grass, which grows with great 
 vigor and beauty on the western prairies. It is usually found in 
 very thick tufts and patches, interspersed with other gi-asses. It is 
 very nutritious and palatable to cattle, horses, and sheep; and has 
 the great advantage of preserving its sweetness, to a certain degree, 
 through the winter. Sometimes called Muskeet and Musketo, which 
 see. See same word in Addenda. 
 
 The mesquit grass gives the prairies of Western Texas their great superiority 
 as a pasture ground, and mark it as for ever a pastoral country, whatever in other 
 respects be its future. — Olmsted's Texas, p. 136. 
 
 Mess. A quantity of any thing, especially of milk obtained at a 
 single milking. 
 
 Message. In the United States, an address or communication of a 
 president or a governor, on public affairs, to the legislature. — W'^'ces- 
 ter. Thus we have the President's Inaugural Message, A" mal 
 Message, Veto Message, &c. 
 
MES— MID 
 
 391 
 
 Mestee or Mustee. In the West Indies, the child of a white person 
 and a quadroon. See Metice, MetiJ\ Metis, Span. Mestizo. 
 
 Metate. (Mex. metatl.) A hollowed, oblong stone, in the form of an 
 inclined plane, used by the Mexicans (both Indians and whites), for 
 grinding Indian corn or wheat for tortillas, or cocoa for chocolate. 
 
 For miles around the Casas Grandes [on the Gila] the plain is strewed with 
 broken pottery and metrites, or corn-grinders. — BartletVs New Mexico. 
 
 A woman was kneeling upon the ground, under a fig-tree, rubbing the metate, 
 and a pretty girl of fifteen was slapping a tortilla between her hands. — Olmsted's 
 Texas, p. 349. 
 
 Within the last two daj's, we have seen but slight traces of Indians. Upon the 
 banks of streams, we occasionally come across a inetate. Some appear to have 
 been recently used. — Captain Whipple's Explorations to the Pacijic, p. 96. 
 
 Methy. The Burbot {Lota maculosa), La Loche of the Canadians. 
 This fish has given a name to a lake and portage in British North 
 America (Cree). — ^<V /. Richardson, Arctic Searching Exp., Vol. I. 
 p. 109. 
 
 Metis. (Span. Mestizo, Eng. Mustee.) The offspring of a white 
 
 person and a quarteron or quadroon. See Negro. 
 Middling Interest. The middle class of people. 
 
 Men of the middliny interest class are now the best off. Men who have done a 
 safe and small business are now the richest . . . They have felt they belonged to 
 the iniddliny interest, and have resolved to stay there, and not cope with the rich 
 Connecticut Cournnt. 
 
 A few years since there was a bank in Boston called the Bank of 
 the '■''Middle Interest.^^ 
 
 Middlings. 1. A coarse flour intermediate between the fine flour 
 and the inferior quality; hardly known now, when the inferior 
 flour is called "superfine." 
 
 2. A term used in the West for pork, meaning the portion of the 
 animal between the hams and shoulders. Thus the "Price Cur- 
 rent " quotes hams, shoulders, and middlings. 
 
 Middling Well is a common expression for tolerably well. " How are 
 you to-day ? " " Wall, I 'm pretty middling jest so as to be knockin' 
 around." According to Brockett, it is used in the same sense in 
 the north of England. 
 
 Then it was, " Mr. Sawin, sir, you 're middlin* well, now, be ye V Step up an' 
 take a nipper, sir. I 'm dreffel glad to see ye." — Biylow Papers. 
 
 A lady told me that, on inquiring after the wife of one of her 
 neighbors, he said, " Thank you, marm, she 's middlin'' smart, 
 nothin' alarmin'." In Virginia, to express the same condition of 
 a person's health, the reply would be, " She 's barely tolerable." 
 
392 
 
 MID— MIL 
 
 Midget. The sand-fly; so called in Canada. 
 
 Might, used for "may; " "as might we," &c., in cases where not 
 doubt, uncertainty, is implied, but where simply ability is mentally 
 referred to, and, as to intent, is expressed. New England. 
 
 Mighty. Exceedingly, \ery. Colloquial in I^ngland and the United 
 States, particularly at the South and West. 
 
 To the king's house; Kuipp took us in, and brought us to Nelly [Gwynn], a 
 most pretty woman. I kissed her, and so did my wife; and a mif/hfy pretty soul 
 she is. — Pepys's Diary^ Vol. II. p. 8. 
 
 She untied her hair, then began to twirl the ringlets round her fingers and 
 play with them in a coquettish manner, which she seemed to think miyhty kill- 
 ing, for she smiled in evident self-conceit. — London Zoist. 
 
 The Doctor's was a niujhty fine house, fronting the sea. — Dickens, Domhey 
 and Sun, ch. xi. 
 
 On my asking him the next morning how he found himself, he answered, 
 miyhty weak. — Chastellux's Travels in North Am. (1780), Vol. II. p. 14. 
 
 Mighty little, miyhty few, miyhty weak, &c., are favorite expressions in Amer- 
 ica. — Ibid., note by Translator. 
 
 His face is mighty little for his body. — Georyia Scenes, p. 184. 
 fityf^L^' •^^■'^Jf' What 7ni(/hty hard land it is on this road ! The whole face of the earth is cov- 
 
 ^01,1 ^ ■ g^.^^ with, stones, as thick as Kentucky land-titles. — Crockett, Tour down East, 
 
 p. 57. 
 
 You "11 be miyhty apt to get wet, said a thorough-bred Texan, who stood watch- 
 ing our movements. — KendalVs Santa Fe Expedition, Vol. I. p. 32. 
 
 A girl belonging to the hotel was shouting to the boys, who had been de- 
 spatched to the barn for eggs, to "quit suckin' them thar eggs, or the candi- 
 dates would stand a miyhty small chance for thar dinner." — Eobb, Squatter Life, 
 p. 80. 
 
 Mile. Often in the singular with a numei-al, instead of the plural 
 miles. Mr. Hartshorne, in his Glossary, says its use is universal in 
 England, where the vulgar never give it a plural. " The custom," 
 he adds, " seems to receive countenance from some of our early 
 English poets " — Salopia Antiqua. 
 
 Start the horses together for a hundred and fifty mile. — Georgia Scenes. 
 
 Mileage is a very large and even extravagant allowance made to mem- 
 bers of Congress, and some others of the favored, for travelling 
 expenses, eight dollars for every twenty miles. 
 
 Consiructice Mileage is the same allowance for supposititious 
 journeys from and to the seat of government. The allowance 
 enures to members of the United States Senate once in every four 
 years. When a new president comes into office. Congress adjourns, 
 of course, on the 3d of March, the new president being inaugurated 
 on the 4th. But the Senate is immediatelv called again into ses- 
 
MIL 
 
 393 
 
 sion, to act on the nominations of the new president; and, though 
 not a man of them leaves Washington, each is supposed to go home 
 and come back again, in the course of the ten or twelve hours inter- 
 vening between the adjournment and the reassembling. For this, 
 imaginary journey the senators are allowed their mileage ; the sum 
 being, in the case of senators from distant States, from $1,000 to 
 ^1,500. 
 
 Many of the senators, in 1845, when Mr. Polk was inaugui-ated, 
 refused to pocket their constructive mileage^ holding it to be an impo- 
 sition on the public. 
 
 Constructive mileage is allowed when an extra session of Congress 
 is called, whether the senators and members have actually gone to 
 their homes or not, after the regular session. 
 
 The mileage is a still less excusable abomination. Texas sends hither two 
 senators and two representatives, who receive, in addition to their pay, some 
 $2,500 each every session for merely coming here and going away again (I would 
 sooner pay them twice the money to stay away), — $10,000 in all for travelling 
 expenses, which are not actually $1,000. Arkansas will take $6,000 out of the 
 treasury, this 3'ear, merely for the travel of her senators. When we come to 
 have senators and representatives from Oregon and California, we shall have to 
 negotiate a loan expressly to pay the mileage of their members. — Letter from 
 H. Greeley, N. Y. Tribune, May 2, 1848. 
 
 Military Lauds. Lands granted to soldiers for military services. 
 
 Milk-Sickness. A fatal spasmodic disease, peculiar to the Western 
 
 States; now said to be owing to astringent salts contained in the 
 
 soil and waters of these regions (see Owen's Geology of Kentucky). 
 
 It first attacks the cattle, and then those who eat beef or drink 
 
 milk. 
 
 A few miles below Alton, on the Mississippi, I passed a deserted village, the 
 whole population of which had been destroyed by the milk-sickness. — Hoffman, 
 Winter in the West, Let. 2. 
 
 Milking the Street. The act of cliques or great operators, who hold 
 stocks so well in hand that they cause any fluctuations they please. 
 By alternately lifting and depressing shares, they take all the float- 
 ing money in the market. — Medberg. 
 
 There is a distinction between the cliques and brokers. . . . Great operators rob 
 the brokers by destroying their customers. To use the slang of the financial 
 quarter, they milk the street. — Medbery, Men and Mysteries of Wall Street, 
 p 336. 
 
 The majority of stocks are still blocked, and the market, so far as possible, 
 worked entire!}' upon the milkim/ process. — N. Y. Tribune, Sept., 1876. 
 
 Mill. 1. An expression commonly applied to one who has experience 
 of the world is, " He has been through the mill; " a phrase equiva- 
 lent to " He has seen the elephant." 
 
294 
 
 MIL 
 
 2. An imaginary American coin, the thousandth part of a dollar 
 or tenth part of a cent. 
 To mill. To cockle, used of cloth. 
 
 Mill Privilege. A water privilege. The advantage of a water-fall, 
 sufficient, when a dam is erected, to furnish power to operate a mill. 
 See Wale?' Privilege. 
 
 Miller. To drown the miller is to put too much water to the flour in 
 making bread. It is, doubtless, an English expression. At all 
 events, Wright says that putting the miller'' s eye out is a phrase used 
 when too much liquid is put to any dry or powdery substance. The 
 latter is also used in New England. 
 
 Millerism. The doctrines taught by the followers of William Miller. 
 
 When Alillerism was makin' such a noise, the Wiggletown folks raly thought 
 
 ther was something in it. Old Miss G gave u[) all business, and didn't do 
 
 nothin' but traipse round from house to house a takin' on about the eend of the 
 Avorld. — Widow Btdott Papers, p. 123. 
 
 Millerites. The name of a religious sect, from its founder, William 
 Miller. 
 
 The distinguishing doctrines of this sect are : a belief in the reap- 
 pearance of Jesus Christ on earth, " with all his saints and angels; 
 that he will raise the dead bodies of all his saints, and change the 
 bodies of all that are alive on the earth that are his ; and that both 
 these living and raised saints will be caught up to meet the Lord 
 in the air. There the saints will be judged. While this is being 
 done in the air, the earth will be cleansed by fire ; the bodies of the 
 wicked will be burned ; the devil and evil spirits will be banished 
 from the earth, shut up in a pit, and will not be permitted to visit 
 the earth again until a thousand years. This is the first resurrection 
 and first judgment. Then Christ and his people will come down froin 
 the heavens, and live wdth his saints on the new earth." After a 
 thousand years, a second death, resurrection, and judgment take 
 place; when the righteous will possess the earth for ever. " The 
 judgment day will be a thousand years in duration. The righteous 
 will be raised and judged in the commencement, the wicked at the 
 end of that day. The millennium is between the two resurrections 
 and the two judgments." — Evans's Hist. Religions. 
 
 Believing in the literal fulfilment of the prophecies, the Millerites 
 first asserted that, according to their calculations, the first judg- 
 ment would take place about the year 1843. Subsequently, other 
 periods were named ; and so firm was the faith of many that the 
 Saviour would descend from the heavens and take his followers up 
 
MIL— MTN 
 
 395 
 
 into the air that they disposed of all their worldly treasures, pro- 
 vided themselves with " ascension robes," and waited with great 
 anxiety for the sounding of the last trumpet, the signal for their 
 aerial voyage. Many persons became insane in consequence of the 
 excitement aiid fear attending this delusion. Others have come to 
 their senses, owing to their repeated disappointments in not being- 
 elevated according to Father Miller's promise; and at the present 
 time the sect has happily dwindled down to an insignificant 
 number. 
 
 At the Franconia hotel, I first heard of the recent fanatical movement of the 
 Millerites, or followers of one Miller, who taught that the millennium, or final 
 destruction of tlie world, would come to pass last year, or on the 23d day of 
 October, 1844. — LyeWs Second Visit, chap. v. 
 
 Million. A vulgar corruption of the word jnelon ; as, " wiiteY-?nUlions,^^ 
 water-melons; " mush-wiV/ions," musk-melons. The term seems to 
 have been so used by the early settlers. 
 
 In orchards are all sorts of Apple-Trees; . . . with Colworts, Musmillions, 
 Cuccumbers, Watermillions, &c. — True Relation of Virginia and Maryland 
 (1669). p. 5. 
 
 Millish. Militia. Southern. 
 
 The city millish,'^ embracing some of our very best citizens, have gone into 
 camp at the fair-grounds. — Charleston Mercury, April, 1862. 
 
 To mind. 1. To recollect; remember. A common phrase at the 
 South is, "i mind we," for "I remember." It is also used in 
 Scotland. o^.^^ — c^^^-^.^ ^U-^ i^«t^;' &W:cX/ ^:r^4i^ , Vy- 2 
 
 I was invited to dine out in Boston ; but, if I can mind the gentleman's name, 
 I wish I may be shot. — Crockett, Tour, p. 82. 
 
 I mind once, a good many years ago, Cross and I was over to St. Regis, on a 
 cruise after marten and sable. — Hammond, Wild Northern Scenes, p. 331. 
 
 2. To watch, take care of. An English use of the word, although 
 not in the dictionaries. 
 
 As soon as girls are old enough to be turned to any account, they are sent out 
 to mind the baby. This mindincj the baby is, in reality, sauntering about the 
 streets, and sitting down on door-steps, and gossiping with other baby-minders. 
 North British Review, May, 1856. 
 
 Yes, said Margaret, I will keep Obed. I '11 mind the beds when the birds are 
 about. — Margaret, p. 20. 
 
 3. To remind; to notice. "/ didn^t mind that." lie minded 
 me of my promise." S^*^ sLj<^^^ . 
 
 Mingo. (Creek Ind.) A native king among the Creeks, Choctaws, 
 &c. 
 
 Minister. 1. A caf/ish. 
 
 2. A sculpin. Massachusetts. 
 
333 
 
 MIN— MIS 
 
 Ministerial. 1. Kind, generous, appreciative, in respect to miiii.s- 
 t;M s of religion. 
 
 2. Furnishing, producing ministers. 
 
 There are persons in Mansfield who have listened to the prearhin^^ of the four 
 f^enerations of this ministerial faniilj". — Rev. R. C. Learned, in Cony. Quar- 
 ierlij, July, 1861. 
 
 Mink, Minx. {Putorius vison.) A quadruped of the weasel kind, 
 that burrows in the earth near water. It is generally to be found 
 on the banks of streams, especially near farm-houses and mills. It 
 swims and dives well, and can remain under water for a considerable 
 time. It preys upon small fish, muscles, &c., but also commits 
 depredations on the poultry-yard, and will devour rats, mice, &c. 
 
 Mint-Julep. A drink made of brandy and sugar, flavored with mint, 
 to which pounded ice is added. See Julep. 
 
 Maryland, anciently written Merryland; so called because the inhabitants, not 
 having the fear of the Lord before their eyes, were prone to make merry and get 
 fuddled with 7/ti'w<-/M^e/>s and apple-toddy. — W. Irving, Knickerbocker. 
 
 Mint-Stick. Candy flavored with peppermint and made into sticks 
 (pieces) . 
 
 The soldiers hunger for dates, figs, mint-stick, ginger-cake, preserves, and other 
 sweet stuff that the sutler keeps for sale. — N. Y. Tribune, Letter from North 
 Carolina, June 13, 1862. 
 
 Miscegenation. The mingling of the black and white races by mar- 
 riage. 
 
 Misery. Pain; as, " They say John Soaker never gets drunk; but he 
 often has a misery in his head." The word is universal among the 
 Negroes at the South. 
 
 Miss. Often used instead of " Mrs.," by uneducated people, in ad- 
 dressing or speaking of married women, especially in the West. 
 
 To miss a Figure is to commit a vital error. 
 
 Miss-Lick. When an axe or knife cuts out of line, it is called in the 
 West a miss-lick. 
 
 To mis-recollect. To forget. " If I do not mis-recollect." HitcJi- 
 
 cocJvS Religion of Geology. 
 
 The Senate, if we do not inis-recollect, has twice passed a bill abolishing the 
 franking privilege. — iV^. Y. Tribune, March 21, 18G2. 
 
 Misremember. To forget. "I misremember ; " i. e., if I am not 
 mistaken. See Disreyiiemher. 
 
 I think you understand that beautiful figure of speech, Mr. Slick, for, if I don't 
 misremember, you are a dab at paintin" in lies yourself, ain't you ? — Sam Slick, 
 Wise Saws, 30. 
 
MIS 
 
 397 
 
 Misrepresentative. A representative who misrepresents his con- 
 stituents. 
 
 The Senate listened to-day to a philippic from Mr. Sumner against Mr. Bright, 
 and to a bitter reply from that misrepresentative of Indiana. — N. Y. Tribune, 
 Jan. 2G, 1862 
 
 Missing. To be among the missing is to be absent, to leave, to run 
 away. 
 
 There comes old David for my militia fine. I don't want to see him, and think 
 I will be among the missing. — Sketches of New York. 
 
 Mission Schools. The American term for what the English denote 
 
 by ragged schools. 
 Missionarying. The doing missionary work. " The Independent," 
 April 2i, 1862, in a sketch of the Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, says: — 
 He was always fond of missionarying. 
 To missionate. To act as a missionary. Not well authorized. — 
 Webster. To sustain missions, as for propagandism. 
 
 Mr. Pickering notices this absurd word, which he found in the 
 " Missionary Herald." 
 
 The Romish Church missionated for civil rule, for a secular and supreme sway. 
 And so she sends for her priests as spiritual politicians of the lowest type. — The 
 Congregationalist, Serm of J. E. Withrow, D.D, 
 
 Missouri Compromise. A name popularly given to an act of Con- 
 gress which was passed in 1820, and was intended to reconcile the 
 two great sections that were struggling, the one to promote, the 
 other to hinder, the extension of slavery. By this act, it was deter- 
 mined that Missouri should be admitted into the Union as a slave- 
 holding State, but that slavery should never be established in any 
 State, to be formed in the future, lying north of lat. 36° 30'. — 
 Wheelers Dictionary. 
 
 Missouri-isms. The Missourians have quite a penchant for curious 
 characterization. The members of the Legislature are divided into 
 Charcoals, Clay-banks, White-legs, and Snow-flakes. The first and 
 last are the extremes of both parties. The " Charcoal " believes 
 slavery a moral enormity, " the sum of all villanies," as well as an 
 impediment to the prosperity of the State. The " Clay-bank " says 
 nothing about its moral character, and some of them absolutely 
 believe it free from moral taint, but a curse to the material interests of 
 the State. The " White-leg " is the strong Union Democrat, who is 
 not considered quite reliable by the more ultra, who are the " Snow- 
 flakes." The " White-legs " would support gradual emancipation. 
 Then they have two words to express the idfaof underhand plotting; 
 to wit, " skullduggery " and " chenanigan." — Exchange Paper. 
 
KS 
 
 MIS— MOC 
 
 Mistake. The phrase, " and no mistake, is used — 
 
 1. As an equivalent for certainly, positively; as, "I will soon 
 pay you a visit, and no mistake.^'' It is now being replaced by sure. 
 And — 
 
 2. For decided, positively known, thorough, as: — 
 
 Let the President call on the no-mistake Unionists of the South, — those who 
 have never been traitors for an instant, &c. — N. V. Trilmne. Nov. 26, 18 j1. 
 
 Mitten. When a gentleman is jilted by a lady, or is discarded by 
 one to whom he has been paying his addresses, he is said to have 
 got the mitten. 
 
 Young gentlemen that have got the mitten, or young gentlemen wlio think they 
 are going to yet the mitten, alwaj's sigh. It makes them feel bad. — Neal'a 
 Sketches. 
 
 There is a young lady I have set my heart on ; though whether she is a-goin' 
 to give me hern, or (/ice me the mitten., I ain't quite satisfied. But I rather 
 kinder sorter guess so, than kinder sorter not so. — Sam Slick, Human Nature, 
 p. 90. 
 
 To mitten. To reject a lover. 
 
 Once, when I was 3'oung as you, and not so smart, perhaps, 
 For me she mittened a lawyer, and several other chaps. 
 
 Carlton, Farm B illads, p. 19. 
 
 Mixed. Short for mixed with uncertainty, doubtful. 
 
 Mixed up. Confused, promiscuous. 
 
 Ses I, "Gentlemen, you hear this critter compar me, a free Amarakin, to his 
 darned heathen dumb brute of Afriky." And with that I fetched the monkey a 
 sling that sent him a whirlin' about sixty-five yards, over a brick wall ; and the 
 next minit the Dutchman and his boy was the most viixed-up pile of rags and 
 splinters that you ever see, in one mud-hole. — Widoio B'.tcjly's Husbatul. 
 
 Mizzy. Pain in the bowels. Louisiana. 
 
 Mobee. A fermented liquor made by the Xegroes in the "West Indies, 
 prepared with sugar, ginger, and snake-root. It is sold by them in 
 the markets. — CarmichaeV s West Indies. Mobhy. — Bailey'' s Die. 
 
 Mobocracy. The sway of the mob. 
 
 Mobtown. A name given long ago to the city of Baltimore, and 
 w^hich the lawless character of a portion of the inhabitants renders 
 a not unfitting appellation at the present day. 
 
 Moccason or Moccasin. (Algonkin Ind.) An Indian shoe, made of 
 soft leather without a stiif sole, and commonly ornamented round 
 the ankle — Worcester. 
 
 Moccasoned. Intoxicated. South Carolina. 
 
 Moccason Fish. The sun-fish of Maryland. 
 
MOC— MOL 
 
 399 
 
 Moccason Snake. A snake of bright color, reputed poisonous, of 
 
 which there are several varieties. 
 Mock Auction. A pretended auction sale used to entrap people from 
 
 the country. New York. 
 
 Mock Auctioneer. A man engaged in a mock auction establishment. 
 
 Every person who obtains an^^ money or property from another, ... by any 
 of the practices known as mock auctions, is punishable by imprisonment, &c. — 
 Duift of Penal Code for the State of Neio Fork, 1864, § 627. 
 
 Mocker-Nut. (Juglans tomentosa.) White-heart hickory. 
 
 Mock Orange. {Primus Carolinlana ) A small evergreen tree growing 
 
 southward from North Carolina. It resembles the cherry laurel of 
 
 Europe, and is a beautiful tree for cultivation. 
 
 Mocking Bird. 1. (Turdus polyglottus.') This capricious little mimic 
 is of a cinereous color, paler beneath. It inhabits America from 
 New England to Brazil, but is rare and migratory in the Northern 
 States, whilst it is common and resident in the Southern. This 
 bird, although it cannot vie with most of the American species in 
 brilliancy of plumage, is much sought for on account of its wonder- 
 ful faculty of imitating the tone of every inhabitant of the woods, 
 from the twitter of the humming-bird to the scream of the eagle. — 
 Encycl. Americana. 
 2. See Nine-Killer. 
 
 Mocuck. (Cliippeway, makak or mokiik.) A term applied to the box 
 of birch-bark in which sugar is kept by the Chippeway Indians. 
 
 Molasses. Used as a plural in the West; as, " Will you give me some 
 of those molasses?" When England condescends to use this word 
 instead of treacle, she generally makes it plural. 
 
 Molly Cotton-Tail. A rabbit. 
 
 MoUygasher. A negro from Madagascar. The original corruption 
 was Makujasy, from which came MoUygasher. 
 
 Molly Maguires. A society in Pennsylvania, in character similar 
 to the Ribbon Societies of Ireland, so far as they dealt with local 
 agrarian troubles. 
 
 " The Molly Maguires of the coal regions were composed almost 
 entirely of Irishmen, and they kept the forms and practices of the 
 secret societies of the old country. They combined against mine- 
 owners and overseers as they had combined against landlords and 
 agents, and from their combination came assassinations likewise, 
 although with less excuse, if there can be any excuse for assassina- 
 tion, for they were not starved or evicted. Their crimes were worse, 
 
400 
 
 MOM— MON 
 
 as their excuse was less ; and the cruelty was as ferocious as the 
 offence that caused it petty. In committing the murders, the societj' 
 took the course common in Ireland, and had it done by persons 
 unknown in the section where the victims lived, and returns of 
 courtesies were arranged by which murders were exchanged. They 
 also pursued the same course in regard to terrorism of witnesses and 
 to subornation of perjury, and consequently for a long time made 
 trials a farce." 
 
 Murders were committed, and great quantities of coal and other 
 property destroyed by incendiarism. In 1875, they terrorized over 
 the whole country, threatened whole towns, and compelled the 
 ordering out of the militia. On the withdrawal of the troops, a 
 series of the most cruel murders was committed, until at length, by 
 strategy, ten of the members of the society were arrested for the 
 crime. Notwithstanding the efforts made by the members, who 
 appeared to swear to an alibi, but who were advised by counsel to 
 go home and not be prosecuted for perjury, all were convicted 
 of murder, and on the 20th June, 1877, executed. — Providence 
 Journal. 
 
 Mommick. To cut any thing awkwardly. Provincial in various parts 
 of England. — Halliwell, Wright. A word used in the South and in 
 western New York and Pennsylvania; in the latter pronounced 
 mommuxed. It may be the same as the M'ord which follows, although 
 used in a different sense. 
 
 In the Congression Reports on the Hamburg massacre of the late 
 war, a negro witness thus testified in relation to a man who was 
 shockingly mangled and left to die : — 
 
 *'He was so bloody I couldn't exactly see how he was shot, but I noticed a 
 place on his hip that looked like he was chopped Avith an axe or hatchet. It was 
 cut in a sort of laying over. He was the worst mommlcked up man I 'most ever 
 seen. — Senate Rept. Miss. JDocm., No. 48, 4iih Conrj. 1st Session. 
 
 Mommock. To handle. " Don't mommock these things," i. e. don't 
 handle or disarrange them. A term in use at Old Plymouth. Mass. 
 Wright notices the word mummick, to maul, as common in various 
 English dialects, which may be the same word. 
 
 Money. Among the many names for money are Brads; Dimes; 
 Dooterumus, shortened to Doot ; Hardscales; Hardstuff; Mopusses; 
 Rags; Rocks; Scads; Shinplasters ; Sj^elter; Stamps; Stuff; Shot; 
 Spoons; Sugar; Tin; and the universal one of Greenbacks. 
 
 Monitor. The name given by Captain Ericsson, a distinguished 
 naval engineer, to the first iron-clad vessel constructed under his 
 
MON 
 
 401 
 
 direction, having a revolving turret. This vessel was built in New 
 York, whence she went to Hampton Roads in Virginia, where, in 
 her memorable action with the Confederate iron-clad, " Merrimack," 
 she rendered important service to the Union cause. Soon after 
 (Dec. 31, 1862), the "Monitor" foundered at sea, w^hile on her 
 voyage to Charleston. A number of vessels of similar construction 
 built during the late civil war were called Monitors. See Turret- 
 Ship. 
 
 Our Monitor, — she earned her title well. 
 
 Though short the race she run, 
 She left a record for the world to tell 
 
 Of "victory nobly won." 
 Tenderly guard her in thy depths, O Sea ! 
 For never nobler vessel sailed o'er thee. 
 
 All honor then to Ericsson, who planned the Monitory 
 And knew its fighting qualities, before we dreamed of war! 
 And may brave Worden never know a nation's cold neglect. 
 So long as we 've a Monitor our Union to protect. 
 
 Ballad of the Monitor and Merrimack. 
 
 Monk-Fish. See Devil- Fish. 
 Monkey. The weight of a pile-driver. 
 
 Monkey-Shines. Tricks, such as those of boys at play; proceedings 
 at once farcical and reprehensible. 
 
 Monongahela. A river of Pennsylvania, so called, gave its name to 
 the rye whiskey of which large quantities were produced in its 
 neighborhood, and indeed to American whiskey in general, as distin- 
 guished from Usquebaugh and Inishowen, the Scotch and Irish 
 sorts. , 
 
 Monroe Doctrine. The historical " Monroe doctrine " consisted of 
 two declarations, the first of which grew out of the discussions had 
 in 1823, and earlier, between our government and that of Russia 
 and Great Britain in regard to the proper limits of our North- 
 western territoiy. The leading powders of Europe up to that time 
 had been accustomed to consider the unoccupied portions of the 
 western world as still open, in point of public law, to settlement 
 and colonization as derelict territory, upon which they might enter 
 and which they might subsequently hold, on condition of occupying 
 the land. For the sake of rebutting this pretension, at least so far 
 as it might be held to restrict our territorial claims in the North- 
 west, the administration of Mr. ISIonroe took the occasion to assert, 
 " as a principle, in which the rights and interests of the United 
 States were involved, that the American continents, by the free and 
 independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are 
 
 26 
 
402 
 
 MON 
 
 henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization 
 by any European power." It is well known that Mr. John Quincy 
 Adams was the author of this " principle ; " and the motives by 
 M'hich he was influenced in propounding it are elaborately set forth 
 in the correspondence he had at that period with Mr. Middleton, 
 then our minister at the Russian court, as also with Mr. Rush, our 
 able ambassador at the Court of St. James. His argument was, in 
 brief, that the South American States and Mexico, by virtue of 
 their independence, had acceded to all the proprietary rights for- 
 merly enjoyed by Spain ; and since the United States claimed to 
 extend their jurisdiction to the Pacific, and thus over the whole of 
 the North-western territory which they had not yet actually occu- 
 pied, it hence resulted that both the northern and southern conti- 
 nents of America had passed under the civil dominion of the several 
 States among which they were parcelled. In other words, it was 
 contended that the flag of some power now covered and protected 
 all the territory of the western world, which, being thus preoccupied 
 by civilized nations, would henceforth be accessible to Europeans 
 and to each other only on the footing of so many independent sover- 
 eignties claiming and asserting a jurisdiction which shielded the 
 whole continent fi'om encroachments, under the old and long-recog- 
 nized rights of discovery and settlement. The " Monroe doctrine,^^ 
 under this head, had that extent and no more. 
 
 The second branch of the declaration made by President Monroe, 
 in his annual message of 1823, related to the apprehended attempt 
 of the European powers, combined in the Holy Alliance, to resub- 
 jugate the Spanish- American States which had thrown off their 
 allegiance to the mother country. These powers had solemnly 
 declared at Verona, in 1822, their " resolution to repel the maxim of 
 rebellion, in whatever place or under w^hatever form it might show 
 itself," as before at Troppau they had publicly announced " that 
 the European States have an undoubted right to take a hostile atti- 
 tude in regard to those nations in which the overthrow of govern- 
 ment might operate as an example." Who does not see that a blow 
 aimed at the Spanish provinces, in pursuance of principles such as 
 these, was equally directed at us, as the revolted provinces of Great 
 Britain, and in which, if anywhere, the " overthrow of government " 
 might be deemed to operate as an " example ' ' calling for chastise- 
 ment? At the same time. Great Britain, by virtue of her constitu- 
 tional principles of civil liberty, was equally averse to such a policy 
 as was espoused by the Holy Alliance, and, moreover, had already 
 entered into favorable commercial relations with the Spanish- 
 
MON— MOO 
 
 403 
 
 American republics, which she was unwilling to renounce or to 
 subject auew to the hazards and interruptions of war. Under these 
 circumstances it was that Mr. Canning, then the British Secretary 
 for Foreign Affairs, proposed to Mr. Rush that " the government of 
 the United States should go hand in hand with England " in resist- 
 ing any attempt directed to the resubjugation of the revolted colo- 
 nies of Spain ; and it was in consequence of such a previous concert 
 of views between the two governments, as well as in obedience to 
 obvious considerations of public policy, that Mr. Monroe declared, 
 in 1823, that the United States would consider any attempt of the 
 Allied Powers to extend their system to any portion of this hemi- 
 sphere as dangerous to our peace and safety." — National Intelli- 
 gencer^ Sept. 18, 1858. 
 
 For eight years we have diplomatized with England on the subject, and the 
 question is now more complicated than ever. Perhaps, after the lapse of another 
 term of eight years, we may, by some treaty with England, be admitted to a 
 participation in the facilities for inter-oceanic communication which the isthmus 
 [of Panama] affords. But as to any peculiar, not to say exclusive, advantages 
 in the isthmus, which we have claimed, they cannot be obtained. While other 
 nations were passive, it was thought here that we could secure the isthmus by 
 the insertion of a plank in a party platform, or some other legerdemain. If we 
 now fall back on the Monroe doctrine, Ave shall see the difference between an 
 abstraction and its application in practice. Our theory is yet to be defined and 
 recognized and applied. — {Baltimore) Sun, Oct. 30, 1858. 
 
 Moute. (Span.) A game of chance played with cards, of which the 
 Spanish- Americans are excessively fond. 
 
 There are other games at cards practised among the people, depending more 
 upon skill ; but that of el monte, being one exclusively of chance, possesses an 
 all-absorbing attraction difficult to be conceived of by the uninitiated spectator. — 
 Greg(/, Com. of Prairies, Vol. I. p. 239. 
 
 I passed through an open door leading into a back room, wheii2 were a small 
 party of men and women betting at ?nonte. I lost a couple of dollars, "just to get 
 the hang of the game," as the facetious Sam Slick would say, and then retired to 
 my lodgings. — Kendall, Santa Fe Expedition, Vol. I. p. 46. 
 
 Monumental City. Baltimore; so called from the several fine monu- 
 ments it contains. 
 
 "What, under the circumstances, would not have been the fate of the Monu- 
 viental City, of Harrisburg, of Philadelphia, of Washington, . . . each and everj'- 
 one of which would have lain at the mercy of the enem}'. — Edward Everett. 
 
 Moondown. The setting, or time of setting, of the moon. 
 
 They landed at Santa Rosa Island, at about a quarter of an hour to moondown, 
 or 11 o'clock p. M. — Florida Corr. of N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Moonglade. A beautiful word for the track of moonlight on the 
 water. 
 
404 MOO 
 
 Moonrise. Rising, or time of rising, of the moon. — N. Y. Tribune, 
 
 Moonshiners. A term applied in the West to the makers of illicit 
 whiskey, or who evade the excise on the article. 
 
 Nelson County, Kentuck}', is the home of the Moonshiner; that is, the manu- 
 facturer of illicit whiskey. . . . The Moonshiner regards the revenue officer as a 
 being to be extinguished, and favorable opportunity is the only thing he asks for 
 putting his belief into practice. — Co7'r. N. Y. livening Post, June 16, 1877. 
 
 A Nashville despatch says the revenue officers recently broke up fourteen 
 illicit distilleries, capturing twelve moonshiners. — N. Y. Herald. 
 
 Moonshower. A shower which descends from a cloud so situated as 
 not to obscure the moon's rays. New England. 
 
 Moose. (Cervus alces.) The Abenaki Indian name of an animal of 
 the genus Cervus, and the largest of the deer kind, growing some- 
 times to the height of seventeen hands, and weighing twelve hun- 
 dred pounds. This animal inhabits cold northern climates, being 
 found in the forests of Canada and New England. 
 
 Lechford, in his early account of New England, entitled " Plains 
 Dealing," &c., printed in 1642, says: — 
 
 There are beares, wolves, and foxes, and many other wild beasts, as the moose, 
 a kind of deare, as big as some oxen and lyons, as I have heard. 
 
 In a letter of the Rev. Francis Higginson, sent about July 24, 
 1629, from Naumkeag (Salem), Mass., he says: — 
 
 Here are several sorts of deere. Also ... a great beast called a molke, as 
 bigge as an oxe. — Felfs Annals of Salem, who in a note adds, "It is likely 
 that the molke is what is commonly called a moose." 
 
 Moose-Bird. A name of the Canada Jay. (Ganulus Canadensis.) 
 Maine. Also called Whiskey Jack, which see. 
 
 Moose-Fly. A stout brown fly, resembling a horse-fly, rusty-colored 
 beneath, with unspotted wings. They bite sharply. Common in 
 Maine. — Thoreau, Maine Woods, p. 228. The Abenakis call them 
 Bososquasis. 
 
 Moose- Wood. A species of maple-tree, upon the leaves of which the 
 moose feeds. See Leather- Wood. 
 
 Some of the deer were close along shore, feeding upon the grass that grew 
 there ; others were nibbling at the leaves of the moose-wood upon the bank. — 
 Hammond, Wild Northern Scenes, p. 145. 
 
 Moose-Yard. During the winter, the moose, in families of fifteen or 
 twenty, seek the depth of the forest for shelter and food. Such a 
 herd will range throughout an extent of about five hundred acres, 
 subsisting upon the mosses attached to the trees, or browsing the 
 tender branches of saplings, especially of the tree called Moose- 
 
MOP— MOR 
 
 405 
 
 wood. The Indians name parts of the forest thus occupied moose- 
 yards. — Godrnan's American Nat. Hist. 
 
 In the far-away northernmost wilds of Maine, 
 
 Where the murmuring pines all the year complain, 
 
 The stalwart wood-cutter pitches his camp ; 
 
 In his cabin of logs trims his winter lamp. 
 
 And oft when the moose-herd hath formed its yard, 
 
 And trampled the snows like a pavement hard, 
 
 The woodman forsakes his sled and his team, 
 
 And his harvest of logs by the frozen stream ; 
 
 And, armed with his axe and his rifle, he goes 
 
 To slaughter the moose blocked in b}^ the snows; 
 
 And many a savory banquet doth cheer 
 
 The fireside joys of his wintry year. 
 
 With the haunch of the moose and the dappled deer. 
 
 N. Y. Knickerbocker, Oct., 1858. 
 
 Mop-Board. The wash-board which extends around the floor at the 
 base of the walls in the interior of a house is so called in New 
 England. 
 
 More. The comparative endings -er and -est are very commonly 
 discarded both by speakers and writers, even from monosyllabic 
 adjectives, and their places supplied by more and most. 
 
 The first edition of the work contained a more full vocabulary of English words 
 than the dictionaries which at that time were generally used in schools. — Wor- 
 cester, Preface to Dictionary, 1856. 
 
 The Mexican clergy are nowhere famous for strictness of life or purity of char- 
 acter. They have the reputation of being more fond of cards than of their brev- 
 iaries. — Harper's Magazine, Vol. XVII. p. 179. 
 
 Morgan. The phrase, " He '.<? a good enough Morgan,'^ originated as 
 follows: During the " Anti-Masonic " warfare in the State of New 
 York, a great excitement was created by the abduction of one Mor- 
 gan, who was said to have been confined by the Free-masons in 
 or near Fort Niagara, and afterwards drowned in the river. The 
 alleged reason for the reported crime was Morgan's betrayal of 
 Masonic secrets. The excitement was worked up to the highest 
 pitch, by the finding of a dead body floating in the river, which was 
 said to be that of Morgan. Even his wife swore to the identity, and 
 a lost tooth was fitted into the jaw. It was afterwards, however, 
 ascertained beyond a doubt that the body was not that of Morgan, 
 whose fate still is a mystery. 
 
 It was asserted that the whole aiiair was got up for political 
 effect. A current story was, that a celebrated politician concerned 
 in the affair, upon being reminded that the dead body found would 
 not pass for Morgan, said that it was *' a good enough Morgan,^' for 
 
406 
 
 MOR 
 
 his purpose. The phrase has now passed into general use, and is 
 applied to a really or supposed bare-faced imposition, particularly 
 in politics. — G. C. Schaeffer. 
 
 Morgan Horse. A type of horee bearing his name, and coming from 
 Vei mont, is familiar to the sporting world. Tliis breed of horses is 
 traced back to the beginning of the present century, and derives its 
 name from Justin Morgan, of llandolph, Vermont, a schoolmaster, 
 who owned the animal from which all have descended. 
 
 Mormon. 1. The pretended author of the " Book of Mormon." 
 
 Beliold I were about to write them all which were engraven upon the plates of 
 Ncphi, but the Lord forbid it, saying, I will try the faith of my people; there- 
 fore I, Moi'mon, do write the things which have been commanded me of the 
 Lord. — Book of Nephi, chap. xii. 
 
 2. One of the Mormonites, or Latter-day Saints, a religious sect 
 which derive their name from the " Book of Mormon.^ ^ 
 
 Tlie Book of Mormon, first published in the year 1830, purports 
 to be the record or history of a certain people who inhabited Amer- 
 ica previous to its discovery by Columbus. This history, contain- 
 ing prophecies and revelations, was engraven (according to it), by 
 the command of God, on small brass plates, and deposited in the 
 hill Comora, in Western New York. These plates were discovered 
 (the Mormons say) by Joseph Smith, in the year 1825: they con- 
 tain certain hieroglyphics, in the Egyptian character, which Smith, 
 guided by inspiration, translated. They purported to give the histoiy 
 of America from its first settlement by a colony from the tower of 
 Babel, to the fifth century of our era. It stated that the Saviour 
 made his appearance upon this continent after his resurrection; 
 that he planted the gospel here, had his apostles, prophets, teachers, 
 &c. ; that the people were cut off in consequence of their trans- 
 gressions; and that the last of their prophets wrote the Book of 
 Mormon on the brass plates above named, ' ' which he hid in the 
 earth until it should come forth and be united with the Bible, for 
 the accomplishment of the purposes of God in the last days." 
 
 Smith readily found many to believe his statements, and in 1830 
 organized his first church of Mormons in Manchester, Ontario 
 County, New York. Other preachers sprang up, who " saw visions 
 and prophesied, cast out devils and healed the sick by the laying 
 on of hands," and performed other miracles. New churches or 
 societies were formed in other States, until in a few^ years their 
 number amounted to many thousands. They removed in a body to 
 Missouri, where a most cruel and relentless persecution sprang up 
 against them, which forced them to quit their homes and the State. 
 
MOR— MOS 
 
 407 
 
 They then sought a refuge in Illinois, where they founded a city 
 called Nauvoo, in which they erected an immense edifice or temple. 
 
 Persecution followed these people in Illinois. They were attacked 
 by armed bodies of men, by order of the State authorities, driven 
 out by force, and compelled to abandon or sacrifice their property. 
 Such as survived the persecution, after traversing the boundless 
 prairies, the deserts of the Far West, and the Rocky Mountains, 
 finally found a resting-place near the Great Salt Lake, where some 
 forty thousand of them have established themselves, and (now 1857) 
 chiefly constitute the Territory of Utah. 
 
 Mormondom. The country occupied by the Mormons; the whole 
 body of Mormons. 
 
 Mormonism. The doctrines of the Mormonites. 
 Mormonites. The followers of the factitious prophet Mormon, 
 usually called Mormons. 
 
 Morphrodite, for Hermaphrodite. A common pronunciation among 
 seamen, and in seaports, for a two-masted vessel of a particular rig. 
 
 First Down-easter. What sort of the way is that for a colonel to rig himself ? 
 Second Down-easter. Morphrodite rig, I guess. — Cor. N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Mortal. Used in vulgar parlance adverbially for mortally., i. e. ex- 
 cessively. 
 
 It was a mortal hot day, and people actually sweated to that degree it laid the 
 dust. — Scm Slick, 3d Sen, p. 102. 
 
 To mosey. 1 . To be of£ ; to leave ; to sneak away. A low expres- 
 sion. The following is said to be the origin of the word: A post- 
 master in Ohio by the name of Moses ran away with a considerable 
 sum of money belonging to the government. To mosey off., or to 
 run away, as Mr. Moses had, then became a by-word in Ohio, and, 
 with its meaning somewhat extended, has spread over the Union. 
 
 After I left you, or rather after you left me, when them fellows told you to 
 mosey off before the boat went to sea. — N. Y. Family Comjyanion. 
 
 2. To mosey along. To jog along; to manage to get along. 
 
 I '11 get a room nicely furnished, and my wife and I will jes mosey alony till 
 the election trouble is over, an' den dere'll be a powerful sight of whitewashin' 
 to be done. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Sternberg gives malter and moulter, as provincial in Northamp- 
 tonshire, with the same meaning as to " mosey." The word more 
 properly originated from the Spanish vamose, very common at the 
 South-west and in California, which has the same meaning. See 
 Vamose. 
 
408 
 
 MOS— MOU 
 
 Mosey Sugar. The name of a cake made of sugar for children. 
 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 Moshay. A slave who came from Florida at the beginning of the late 
 civil war states that this is the name given there to the keeper of 
 bloodhounds. 
 
 Mosquito Bar, Musquito Net. A net or curtain which, in the South- 
 ern States and in the West Indies, is placed over the bed to protect 
 a person from mosquitoes. 
 
 Mosquito Hawk. Dragon-fly. Louisiana. 
 
 Mossbunker. (Alosa inenhaden.) A fish of the herring kind. See 
 Menhaden and Bunker. 
 
 This bay [New York] swarms with fish, both large and small, whales, tunnies, 
 and porpoises, whole schools of innumerable other fish, and a sort of herring called 
 the marsbanckers,Ar\A other kinds. — Danktrs and Sluyter, Voynye to New York, 
 1679, in Coll. L. I. Hist. Sac, Vol. I. p. 100. 
 
 Under the surfaces, and inside the exterior of all these [smooth characters], 
 there may be found as many asperities as there are bones in a mossbunker. — 
 Dow's Sermons, Vol. I. 
 
 Most. A common error in speaking and writing for almost. 
 
 Most of us Americans have been to see the " monster nugget." It was found 
 about three months ago at Kingower, one hundred and thirty miles from Mel- 
 bourne, by four old California miners. They have been four j'ears in the diggings, 
 and had most a pile before striking the last prize. — Letter of J. F. Thornton, 
 Dec. 24, 1857, in San Francisco Bulletin. 
 
 Moth-Miller. (Genus Tinea.) A small moth very destructive of 
 woollen fabrics, furs, &c., the detestation of housekeepers. 
 
 Motte or Mot. (French.) A clump of trees in a prairie; also 
 called " an island of timber." Texas. 
 
 It is not necessary that prairies should be entirely destitute of trees; for there 
 are timber prairies, where trees grow in mottes or groves, sometimes termed 
 islands, from their resemblance to wooded islands in the sea. — Mayne Reid, 
 The Boy Hunters. 
 
 Before us lay beautiful prairies, with the smooth-grassed surface, varied here 
 and there by herds of cattle and little belts, mottes, and groups of live oak. — 
 Olmsted's Texas, p. 137. 
 
 All that was necessary was to keep a bright look-out, and not fall into an am- 
 buscade while passing the different mots and ravines scattered along our trail. — 
 Kendall, s Santa Fe Exped., Vol. I. 
 
 Mought. This obsolete preterite of mai/ is still heard among old 
 people in the interior parts of New England. 
 " What mought your name be ? " said Potter. 
 
 "Well," said I, "it mouyht be Mr. Samuel. I thought I'd keep back Slick, 
 for I knew he wouldn't talk if he knew who I was. — Sam Slick, Wise Saws, 
 p. 131. 
 
MOU— MOV 409 
 
 Mounds. An artificial elevation made of earth of various forms for 
 sepulchral and other purposes, of which large numbers are found, 
 chiefly in the wider bottom lands, and at the junction of the tribu- 
 taries of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. In the most fertile val- 
 leys, and those most easy of cultivation, these mounds are found 
 in the greatest numbers. In England, they would be termed tumuli 
 or barrows. 
 
 Mound-Builders. The aboriginal race which erected the ancient 
 mounds and other earthworks found in the valleys of the Mississippi 
 and Ohio Rivers and their tributaries. 
 
 If we admit the correctness of Mr. Gallatin's views [that the ancient agricul- 
 ture of North America originated between the tropics], we must derive the agri- 
 culture of the mound-builders from the South, and assign that race chronologically 
 a comparatively low date. This we are not prepared to do ; on the contrary, there 
 are many facts going to establish for the mound-builders a very high antiquity, 
 &c. — Squier, Monuments of the Mississippi Valley. 
 
 We need not look to Mexico or any other country for the descendants of the 
 mound-builders. We probably see them in the present red race of the same or 
 adjacent regions. — Lapham's Antiq. of Wisconsin. 
 
 The red man came, . . . 
 The roaming hunter tribes, warlike and fierce; 
 And the mound-builders vanished from the earth. 
 The solitude of centuries untold 
 
 Has settled where they dwell. — Bryant, The Prairies. 
 
 Mound-City. The city of St. Louis, so called from the number of 
 artificial mounds that occupied the site on which the city is built. 
 
 Mourners. Persons on the " anxious seat" in Methodist churches, 
 and at "revival" meetings, are technically termed "mowrners;" 
 that is, persons mourning for their sins. 
 
 " Crowding the mourners," in political slang, mea. ■ adding some 
 further embarrassment to politicians laboring under difficulties. 
 
 Moutn't for mic/JiMt has given rise to maytn't for maijnU. In a 
 countiy school, a great overgrown boy will rise on the back seat, 
 and say very sheepishly to the schoolma'am, " Please, marm, 
 maytnH I gweout ? " 
 
 To move. 1. For to remove. To change one's residence. In the 
 city of New York, it is the custom to hire houses by the year from 
 the first day of May; and as many, especially of the poorer class, 
 remove every year or two, an immense deal of puss-in-the-corner 
 playing takes place on that day, producing many curious scenes to 
 astonish the stranger. The custom is being gradually " honored in 
 the breach "of it; but had Hogarth been a New Yorker, and lived 
 
410 
 
 MUC— MUD 
 
 twenty or thirty years ago, May-day would certainly have found a 
 place in his delineations of human eccentricities. 
 
 These are great movinf/ times. The sovereigns of Europe are being moved, 
 much against their will; and the sovereign people of New York are on the eve 
 of movmy, according to custom, which has made the May-day sports of this 
 city a very peculiar feature. Could the sovereigns of Europe only move, as easily 
 as the sovereigns of New York do, from house to house, palace to palace, &c., 
 they would be well content, and not complain, as many movers to-morrow will. 
 N. Y. Sunday Atlas, April 30, 1848. 
 
 Mr. Irving gives the following humorous account of the origin of 
 this custom of moving on the first of May: — 
 
 The memorable emigration [of the people of Communipaw to New Amsterdam] 
 took place on the first of May, and was long cited in tradition as the (jvand mov- 
 ing. The anniversary of it was piously observed among their sons, by turning 
 their houses topsy-turvy, and carrying all their furniture into the streets, &c. 
 And this is the real origin of the universal agitation and movinfj hy which this 
 most restless of cities is literally turned out-of-doors on every May-day. — 
 Kmckerbocke?', N. Y. 
 
 2. To go, depart. Much used in familiar language, particularly 
 in the phrase to be moving. Some of our novelists are borrowing 
 from English novelists the absurd pseudo-poetical fiitting, only pro- 
 vincial in England. 
 
 As soon as the ceremony was over, " Now," says I, " we must be a inovinf/.''^ 
 Sam Slick, Human Nature, p. 166. 
 
 Much. In New England, " He is very much of a man," means, he 
 is a man of very good qualities ; and, when a discarded suitor says 
 of his former mistress, " She is not much of a girl after all," he 
 means to imply that she is "no great shakes." 
 
 Mud-Cracker. A name given by boys to a fire-cracker which ex- 
 plodes with a dull report. 
 
 Mud-Dabbler. A species of small fresh-water fish, of the same ap- 
 pearance as the sucker, although much smaller. 
 
 Mud-Devil. See Water-Dog and Salamander. 
 
 Muddle. A confusion, as of those who muddle. 
 
 A respectable wing of slaveholders will be attached [to a proposed political 
 party] ; and we shall all go along beautifully in a mild muddle of pro-slavery 
 Compromises. — iV. Y. Tribune, May 19, 1862. 
 
 Mud-Fish. (Melanura pygmcea.) A small fish on the Atlantic coast, 
 
 which burrows in the mud. 
 Mud-Head- A nickname applied to the natives of Tennessee. 
 Mud-Hen. 1. The euphonious and rather peculiar epithet applied by 
 
 the brokers' clerks to that class of women that engage in the fasci- 
 
MUD 
 
 411 
 
 nating but uncertain game of stock speculations. The average 
 "mud-hen" is middle-aged, rather stout in person, as voluble in 
 conversation as a stump-speaker, and possessed of an inordinate 
 desire to become a "stock-sharp." She has a wonderful amount 
 of gossip and "dead-sure points" to communicate, and is by no 
 means unwilling to reveal all she knows to any one who is supposed 
 to have information relative to any stock, and in return can give 
 her a point. — San Francisco Post^ Nov., 1876. 
 
 2. (Rallus Vird'uiianm.) The common name of the Virginia 
 Rail of ornithologists. It inhabits small streams and marshes. 
 Mud-Hook. An anchor. 
 
 We soon let down our mud-hook. ... In the morning, the sea had gone down. 
 Vivijinia Cor. N. Y. Tiibune. 
 
 Mud-Poke. {Grus cinerea.) A wading bird; a crane. 
 
 Squatting himself down on the edge of a pond, catching fish for hours together, 
 and bearing no little resemblance to the notable bird of the crane family, ycleped 
 Mud-Poke. — Irving^ Knickei'hocker, p. 317. 
 
 Mud-Pout. See Cat-Fish and Poul. 
 
 Mud-Scoop. A dredge; a dredging machine or boat used in taking 
 mud from the bottom of rivers. 
 
 Mud-Sill. The longitudinal timber laid upon the ground to form the 
 foundation for a railway. Hence figuratively applied to the labor- 
 ing classes, as the substratum of society, in the following passage 
 of a speech of Senator Hammond of South Carolina, which has 
 occasioned much remark: — 
 
 In all social systems, there must be a class to perfoi-m the drudgery of life ; 
 that is, a class requiring but a low order of intellect and but little skill. Such 
 a class you must have, or you would not have that other class which leads pro- 
 gress, civilization, and refinement. It constitutes the very mudsill of society and 
 of political government; and you might as well attempt to build a house in the 
 air as to build either the one or the other except on this mud-sill. — Speech of 
 Senator Hammond, March 4, 1858. 
 
 It is time that Virginia was turning her attention to manufactures, mechanics, 
 mining, and foreign commerce. No country, no State, can live upon one only of 
 the five cardinal powers of production. She must resort to all the five combined, 
 and she is doing it. I say that labor is not the ^^miid-sill'" of society; and I 
 thank God that the old colonial aristocracy of Virginia, which despised mechan- 
 ical and manual labor, is nearly run out. — Speech of Governor Wise of Vir- 
 ginia, 1858. 
 
 Yet the haughty Creole lady's sorest sorrow lies not there ; 
 'Tis not that the Yankee mud-sills will pollute her sacred air. 
 
 Ballad of the Crescent City. 
 
 Mud-Sill Clubs. The miners and working-men of California who 
 support Broderick in his opposition to the administration are pre- 
 
412 
 
 MUD— MUL 
 
 paring for a vigorous campaign, and are already organizing them- 
 selves into associations which they style " Mud-sill Clubs. — New 
 York Evening Post, 1858. 
 Mud-Turtle. (Sternothoerus odorata.) The popular name of a reptile 
 common in all parts of the United States. Marsh Tortoise and 
 Mud Terrapin are other names for the same. 
 
 Love tunes the shepherd's pipe, and makes him blow it out with a warmth 
 and energy sufficient to move a mud-turtle. — Daw's Sermons, Vol. I. p. 26. 
 
 Mulada. (Span.) A drove of mules. 
 
 We recognized the horsemen as a band of robbers, and their object was plain ; 
 collected our mulada into a compact body, with our pieces cocked, ready for ser- 
 vice. — Ruxton's Adventures, p. 65. 
 
 The Indians frightened the mules, which, turning round, broke the pole of the 
 wagon. As this accident prevented us keeping up with the mulada ahead, the 
 conductor went to the assistance of the men driving the herd. — Wood's Report 
 on the Pacific Wagon-Road, p. 7. 
 
 Mulatto. (Span, mulato, mulo, mule.) A mulatto is the offspring of 
 a white and a negro; a quadroon, of a white and a mulatto, being 
 one quarter black; a mmtee, of a white and a quadroon, or one 
 eighth black; and a mustajina, of a white and a mustee, being one 
 sixteenth black. Terms implying a much less admixture of blood 
 are prevalent in Cuba. — Bait. Sun, Sept. 3, 1858. See Negro; 
 also Sambo. 
 
 Mule Deer. (Cervus macrotis.) The largest of the true deer found 
 in North America. It derives its scientific name, macrotis, from the 
 great length of its ears, resembling those of the mule, whence it is 
 sometimes called the Alule Deer. Its more common appellation, 
 Black-tail Deer, is owing to the black tip to its tail. — S. F. Baird. 
 
 Mule Rabbit. See Jackass Rabbit. 
 
 Muley or Mooley Cow. A name quite common in New England, 
 and, we believe, elsewhere. Muley, a cow, is equally common. In 
 Connecticut, it is distinctly a hornless cow. Provincial in England. 
 Halliwell. 
 
 Mooly cow, mooly cow, home from the wood, 
 They sent me to fetch you as fast as I could. 
 The sun has gone dovvn : it is time to go home: 
 Mooly cow, mooly cow, why don't you come ? 
 
 Mrs. Anna M. Wells. 
 
 Muley Saw. (Germ. MilMsdge, mill-saw.) That variety of mill-saw 
 which is not hung in the gate. It is also spelled mulay, moiley, muhley^ 
 the last indicating its origin. 
 
 To mull. To soften and dispirit, — Johnson. The only authority 
 cited by Johnson is from Shakspeare : — 
 
MUM— MUS 
 
 413 
 
 Peace is a very apoplexy, lethargy, 
 
 MulVdj deaf, sleepy, insensible. — Coriolanus. 
 
 Used in New England: 1. In the sense of stirring, bustling in 
 an underhand way, and is a metaphor derived from mulling wine. 
 
 There has been a pretty considerable mulUn' going on among the doctors, ever 
 sen the quack medicine came out. — Margaret^ p. 170. 
 
 2. To think ; to meditate. 
 
 At the annual dinner of the New England Society, in New York, 
 Mr. Clemens (Mark Twain), in speaking of "Old Probabilities," 
 and the frequent changes of weather, said : — 
 
 He doesn't know what the weather is going to be in New England. . . . Well, 
 he mulls over it, and by and by he gets out something about like this, &c. 
 
 Mumble the Peg. A boy's game. It consists in endeavoring to draw 
 out with the teeth a peg driven almost wholly into the ground. The 
 successful one of course wins. 
 
 Mummachog. (Genus Fundulus.) The popular name of the Barred 
 Killifish of naturalists. It is a small fish from two to four inches 
 in length, and frequents the salt-water creeks and the vicinity of 
 the wharves. This Indian name is retained on both sides of Long 
 Island Sound. 
 
 In Virginia, there must be a larger variety of this fish, as Miss 
 Ramsay, speaking of the fishes sold at Norfolk, says: — 
 
 Fine mummy chog are to be had, 
 
 With tailors, alewives, drum, and shad. 
 
 Picture of America, p. 155. 
 
 To mummock. To handle. See Mommock. 
 
 Mung News. False, fictitious. I do not know the origin of the 
 phrase. 
 
 As many of our citizens who intend to go to California ma}' base their arrange- 
 ments upon the mung news of some of the papers, we conceive it to be our duty 
 to state that most of these letters are fictions. — N. Y. Express, Feb. 17, 1849. 
 
 Murphy. A potato. New England, New York, and Canada. 
 
 Murth. Plenty, abundance. A north of England word. 
 
 I think we should have had a murth of it this year, but the summer has been a 
 little too cold, and Indian corn must have a hot sun. — Brockets East/ord, p. 76. 
 
 Mush. Indian meal boiled with water, and eaten with milk or 
 molasses. It is often called hasty-pudding, and is a favorite dish 
 throughout the United States. In Hallamshire, England, to mush 
 means to crush or pound very small. From this our word may have 
 originated. 
 
414 
 
 MUS 
 
 The earliest use of the term we have met with is in Hardie's 
 "Description of the Last Voyage to Bermudas in the Ship Mary- 
 gold," London, 1G71, where, in speaking of Indian corn, he says: — 
 
 In thickness like a Cane, it Nature roul'd 
 
 Close up in Leaves, to keep it from the cold ; 
 
 Which being groun'd and bo^'l'd, Mush they make 
 
 Their hungry Servants Hunger for to slake. — p. 11. 
 E'en in thv native regions, how I blush 
 To hear the PennsA-lvanians call thee mush ! 
 On Hudson'^? banks, while men of Belgic spawn 
 
 Insult and eat thee by the name suppawn. — Barlow, Hasty Pudding. 
 Our hasty pudding we can eat 
 
 Without the Southern sweetness, 
 Though true it is that mush without 
 Molasses wants completeness. — Anonymous. 
 
 Music. Amusement, fun. " Jim is a right clever fellow; there is a 
 
 great deal of music in him." 
 Musical. Amusing. New England. 
 
 Musicianer. A musician. Vulgar. Used in Norfolk and London, 
 England. 
 
 The musicinners sot down right in front of the stage, and they was led by a 
 handsome young man. whose head went from one side to the other like happy 
 people at a camp meetin'. — N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 Muskeet. See Mesqidt and Musketo Grass. 
 
 Muskelunge. See Maskinonge. 
 
 Musketo Grass. A rich native grass of Western Texas. See 
 Mei^quit. 
 
 Twenty acres in potatoes, and half an acre in the Texas Mosquit or Musketo 
 Grass. — Macon Teleijraph. 
 
 Musk-Ox. (Oaihos moschatus.) This animal inhabits the hilly, barren 
 grounds between the Welcome and Copper Mountains, from the 
 63d or 64th parallel to the Arctic Sea. Li size, it is nearly equal 
 to the smallest Highland cattle; but it is more compactly made, 
 and the shaggy hair of its flanks almost touches the ground. Its 
 flesh is tainted with a strong flavor of musk, which is more particu- 
 larly the case with the bull. — S. F. Daird. 
 
 Musk-Rat. {Fiber zihethicus.) An animal closely allied in form and 
 habits to the beaver, inhabiting the banks of streams and ponds. 
 It has a powerful musky odor in summer, which it loses in winter. 
 
 The beasts of the Countrey [Virginia] are for the most part wilde, ... as 
 Rakowns, Possowns, . . . and Muske-Rats -which, yield ^luske as the Muske- 
 Cats doe. — Whitaker, Good NewesJ'rom Virginia (1613), p. 41. 
 
MUS 
 
 415 
 
 Over in the meadow, in the reeds on the shore, 
 Lived a mother music-rat and her little rattles four. 
 
 "Dive! " said the mother. " We dive," said the four: 
 So they dived and they burrowed, in the reeds on the shore. 
 
 Olice A. Wadswortli. 
 
 Musquash. (Abenaki Ind., miiskivessv, red animal.) The musk-rat 
 among the traders in the Northern States is often called by this 
 aboriginal name. 
 
 A muscascus is a beaste of the forme and nature of our water-rats, but many of 
 them smell exceedingly strongly of muske. — Smith, Hist, of Virginia, 1632, 
 Booke II. p. 27. 
 
 If China suppose a merit of precedency in Muske, Virginia may justly oppose 
 them with her Musk-Rat, or Muscassus, which in all probability cannot but be the 
 same. — Hakluyt, Virginia Richly Valued {IQO^d). 
 
 Musquash Root. (Cicuta maculata.) An umbelliferous plant and 
 deadly poison. 
 
 Muss. A coiTuption of mess^ a state of confusion; a squabble; a row. 
 This vulgarism is very common in New York. 
 
 "My head aches," said he : "they have put my mind and body both into a 
 confounded mMSS." — Mrs. Child, Letters from New York, p. 129. 
 
 I saw the British flag a flyin' ft-om the top of the mast, and my first notion was 
 to haul it down, and up with the stars and stripes ; but I concluded I hadn't 1 et- 
 ter say nothin' about it, for it might get the two nations into a muss, and then 
 there would have to be a war. — Hiram. Biyelom's Letter in Fam. Companion. 
 
 Mr. Soul^ is trying to get up a mwss with Spain, or with Louis Napoleon. — 
 Major Doiuniny in National Intelligencer. 
 
 Mose. Satisfaction, eh! Well, if he wants to make a muss, I 'm on hand. — 
 Play, A Glance at New York. 
 
 I got into a muss down at the store last night, and was whipped, and deserved 
 it too. — Borth wick^s California, p. 153. 
 
 When near their place of debarkation, they came across a gang of b'hoys, with 
 whom they came in collision; and, as that class of individuals are always inclined 
 to have a bit of a " tomss," that result was very soon accomplished. — N. Y. Spirit 
 of the Times. 
 
 There is, also, an old English word muss, meaning a scramble; 
 but it has apparently no connection with the above. 
 
 Ant. " When I cry'd. Ho ! 
 
 Like boys into a muss, kings would start forth, 
 
 And cry. Your will V " — Ant. and Cleopatra, Act iii. Sc. 11. 
 
 To muss. 1. A corruption of to mess. To disarrange, disorder; to 
 tumble, rumple. Ex.: " I hate to ride in an omnibus, because it 
 musses my clothes;" "I'm all mussed up." The word is much 
 used in New York. 
 
 See that beautiful girl [the morning after a ball] ; her hair mussed and mossy, 
 except what lies in the bureau; and her whole contour wearing the appearance 
 
416 
 
 MUS 
 
 of an angel rammed through a bush fence into a world of wretchedness and woe. 
 Dow's Sermons^ Vol. I. p. 151. 
 
 2. (Dutch, moreen.) To soil, besmear, befoul; as, "That child 
 has mussed himself all over with molasses candy." 
 Mussulmen. There are American as well as English writers who 
 thus form the plural of the Arabic Mussulman^ erroneously imagining 
 the last syllable to be the English word man. The correct plural 
 is Moslems or Moslemin. 
 
 A correspondent of the " N. Y. Daily Times" (Nov. 6, 1851) 
 has carried out the absurdity by coining the term Mussulhoy ! He 
 says : — 
 
 The Turkish sultan has just sent me one of his sons. Master Abdel Hamid, a 
 little Mussulboy of nine years, to be educated in Paris. 
 
 Mussy. 1. Disarranged, disordered, tumbled; as, "Although your 
 
 cap has just been ironed, it looks quite tnussij.'^ 
 
 2. (Dutch, jnorsig.) Smeary, dirty, nasty; as, " These plates 
 
 have not been wiped clean: they look mussy. 
 Mustafina. See Mulatto. 
 
 Mustang. (S^a^n. mesteno.) The wild horse of the prairies, descended 
 from the stock introduced into America by the first Spanish colo- 
 nists. He is of various colors, a cream color and piebald being 
 quite common. Mustangs are found in the greatest numbers on 
 the rich prairies of South-western Texas, where I encountered 
 numerous herds, and experienced the not unusual excitement of hav- 
 ing a stampede caused by them. They are generally of bad dispo- 
 sition, and hard to subdue. Few are seen west of the Rio Grande. 
 Young or untrained mustangs are called cow-ponies, which see. 
 See also illustration to Buck. 
 
 The wild horse of the prairies, and the invariable companion of their inhabi- 
 tants. Sparing in diet, a stranger to grain, easily satisfied whether on growing 
 or dead grass, inured to all weathers, capable of great labor, the mustang pony 
 seems as peculiarly adapted to the prairies as the camel is to the desert. — 
 Thorpe's Backwoods^ p. 12. 
 
 Mustangers. Men who employ themselves in catching mustangs for 
 market. 
 
 The business of entrapping mustangs has given rise to a class of men called 
 mustangers, composed of runaway vagabonds and outlaws of all nations, the 
 legitimate border-rufKans of Texas. — Olmsted's Texas, p. 443. 
 
 Mustang Grape. Indigenous to Texas, probably a variety of the Vitis 
 rotund iflora of Michaux. The bunches are small, each grape being 
 the size of an ounce lead ball. A wine is made from it similar to 
 Port, or, according to some, Burgundy. 
 
MUS— NAN 
 
 417 
 
 Mustee. (Fr. Metis, Span. Mestizo.) See Mestee and Negro. 
 
 To muster out. To muster troops out of service is to enter them on 
 a muster-roll previous to their discharge. The expression attracted 
 the attention of Dr. W. H. Russell, the correspondent of the " London 
 Times," who, in speaking of the Union troops, said: — 
 
 The}-- will nearly all go home to be "mustei-ed out of the service," as it is 
 called. 
 
 Webster, in noticing the expression, refers to HazUtt. 
 
 Muttonhead. A stupid fellow; chowderhead; puddinghead; dunder- 
 head. See Chowderhead. 
 
 Columbus taught a parcel of mutton-heads that an egg might be poised on its 
 smaller end ; and they thanked him, with a very mutton-headed sneer, that the 
 thing was easy enough to do after they knew how to do it. — Boston Courier, 
 Notice of Hiawatha. 
 
 To mux is much used in New England for muss ; as, " Don't mux my 
 crinoline." 
 
 " Stop muxin' that bread ! one would think you were a drove of young hogs 
 to see you at the table. You 've eaten enough for twenty people. I shan't have 
 you muxing and yauming up the victuals." — M. Bailey {The Danbury 
 News Man), They All Do It, p. 22. 
 
 N. 
 
 Nabber. In the city of New York, a thief. 
 To nail. To arrest. 
 
 Naked Possessor. The occupant of land for a long period without 
 a title, being the manifest, evident, and undisguised possessor, is 
 called in Texas the naked possessor. 
 
 Ten years of peaceable possession and cultivation, use, or enjoyment thereof, 
 without any evidence of title, shall give to such naked possessor' full property, pre- 
 cursive of all other claims, in and to six hundred and forty acres of land, includ- 
 ing his improvement. — Laws of Texas. 
 
 Namaycush. (Salmo namaycush, Penn.) The great trout of the Lakes. 
 Richardson. 
 
 Nankeen. (Chinese.) A species of light yellow or fawn-colored cloth, 
 made from cotton of the same color (Gossijpium religiosum) , which 
 color is permanent. This article was formerly imported in large 
 quantities from China; but since the cultivation of the raw material 
 in the United States, introduced by Mr. John Forsyth, formerly 
 Secretary of State, Nankeens have been manufactured here, in 
 every respect equal to and cheaper than the Chinese article. 
 
 27 
 
418 
 
 NAR 
 
 Narragansett Pacer. A breed of Rhode Island horses once very 
 famous; but, although we often hear of Narragansett pacers^ there 
 is now no particular breed so called. In a pamphlet entitled 
 *' America Dissected," by the Rev. Dr. Mac Sparran, published in 
 Dublin in 1753, the writer, in speaking of Rhode Island, says: 
 The produce of this colony is fat cattle, wool, and fine horses, 
 which are exported to all parts of English America. They are re- 
 markable for their fleetness and swift pacing, and I have seen some 
 of them pace a mile in little more than two minutes, a good deal 
 less than three." According to that veritable historian, Diedrich 
 Knickerbocker, Narragansett pacers were well known in the early 
 days of New Amsterdam. 
 
 In olden time, the horses most vahied were pacers. To this end the breed Avas 
 propagated with care. The Narragansett pacers were in such repute that they 
 were sent for, at much trouble and expense. — Watson, Historical Tales of Olden 
 Times. 
 
 Not so easih^ did he [Peter Stuyvesant] escape from the crafty liands of a 
 crafty man of P^'quag; who, with undaunted perseverance and repeated onsets, 
 finally bargained him out of his goodly switch-tailed charger, leaving in place 
 thereof a villanous, foundered Narragansett pacer. — Knickerbocker'' s N. Y. 
 
 I had an everlastin' fast Narragansett pacer. I was considerable proud of him, 
 I assure you; for he took the rag off the bush in great style. — Sam Slick, 
 Human Nature, p. 218. 
 
 Nary. A common corruption of " ne'er a." So nary one, for " ne'er 
 a one." See Ne^er a. 
 
 It 's no use argufyin' the matter, — I 'm the ugliest man now on top of dirt. 
 Thar's nary nuther like me. — Widoio Bagly's Husband. 
 
 " Arter I got into Mobile, I was bothered and pestered by the people stoppin' 
 in the street to look at me, all dirty and lightwood smoked as I was, from behig 
 on the boat." 
 
 "I think I'd a cleaned up a little," interposed tidy Lucy. 
 
 " Old 'oman, ain't \o\x got nary cold tater to choke that gai with? " — Ibid. 
 
 Among the many " highfaluten " toasts, sentiments, and mottoes 
 produced on the occasion of the successful laying of the Atlantic 
 telegraph cable was the following at North Conway: — 
 
 The Atlantic Cable and the White Mountains, — both monuments of God's 
 power, but nary one alike. — N. Y. Evening Post, Sept. 1, 1858. 
 
 Nary Red. A contraction for " ne'er a red (cent)," alluding to the 
 color of the copper cent. — See Red Cent. 
 
 In the course of a few weeks, the new coin [the nickel cent] will be plentiful 
 enough at par; the Spanish coins will go out of the hands of the brokers, just as 
 they already have disappeared from ordinary circulation ; and, as regards the 
 old cents, there will be nary red to be seen, except such as will be found 
 in the cabinets of coin collectors. — Philad. Bulletin, May, 1857. 
 
NAS— NAT 
 
 419 
 
 Our citizens last week adopted a new plan for protecting their banks from being 
 run by the brokers. Learning that a broker had reached town from a neighbor- 
 ing city to run the bank for coin, they prompth' placed on one side of the bank- 
 entrance a bucket of tar and a brush, and upon the opposite a long, rough-looking 
 fence-rail, bearing this inscription, " Nanj red to nary broker." As the broker 
 approached the bank, he read the inscription, glanced at the tar-bucket, and 
 retreated. The bank went on as usual. — Sprincjjitld (Ohio) Nonpareil. 1858. 
 From one week's end to another, 
 We scratch a poor man's head ; 
 For our pockets are all empty, 
 
 We haven't nary red. — Comic Song. 
 
 Birdofredom Sawiii says, certain people subscribe liberally to 
 every good cause, but never pay. 
 
 It 's a good Avay, though, come to think, coz ye enjoy the sense 
 0' lendin' lib'rally to the Lord, an' na7-y red o' xpense. 
 
 Lowell, Biglotv Papers. 
 
 Naseberry or Nisberry. See Sapote. 
 
 Nation. A corruption of damnation. Immense, enormous; very, 
 extremely. Used in both ways in Old and in New England. 
 There were a nation set a' folks at kirk. — Carr's Craven Gloss. 
 But no sense of a place, some think, 
 
 Is this here hill so high; 
 Cos there, full oft, 'tis nation cold. 
 
 But that don't argufy. — Essex Dialect, Noahes and Styles. 
 
 In a Dialogue relating to the Stamp Act, called " Moving Times 
 and No Friends " [Boston, 1765], a countryman says : — 
 
 I believe, my friend, you 're very right: 
 They '11 get a nation profit by 't. — p. 4. 
 
 You colony chaps are a nation sight too well off, so you be. — Sam Slide. 
 And every time they shoot it off. 
 
 It takes a horn of powder, 
 And makes a noise like father's gun. 
 
 Only a nation louder. — Song, Yankee Doodle. 
 
 National. Relating or belonging to the nation at large, having in 
 view the interests of the whole nation; as opposed to "sectional." 
 Hence the term " national sentiments," " national man," &c. 
 
 If the little men of the New England States have, in a furor of false excite- 
 ment, been able to sway and guide the popular prejudices to their own material 
 and political elevation, it is satisfactory to the man of national nnpulses, to 
 reflect that the passions and mad follies of the hour have not been sufKcient to 
 tempt our most gifted geniuses and noble men to forget the advantages and 
 prospects which the Union confers upon and promises to the American people. — 
 Newark Journal, 18.58. 
 
 National Democrats. Democrats who profess to entertain no sec- 
 tional preference. 
 
420 
 
 NAT 
 
 I have been given to understand that there are two parties in the South, called 
 " National " and "States-rights" Democrats. If a Southern National Demo- 
 crat'''' means one who is ready to welcome into our ranks with open arms, and 
 cordially embrace and promote, according to his merits, every honest Free State 
 man who reads the Constitution as we do, and Avill co-operate with us in its 
 maintenance, then I belong to that party, call it as you may, and I should grieve 
 to find a Southern man who does not. — Speech of Hon. J. H. Hammond^ 
 Oct. 27, 1858. 
 
 Native. 1. At the South, among uneducated people, instead of ask- 
 ing, " What is your native place," or " the place of your nativity," 
 the question is, "Where is your native f " 
 
 2. Place of one's early life, not his birthplace. 
 
 Died, W. H. Stone. . . . He was formerly a native of Lynn, and at one time 
 Deputy Marshal of that city. — Boston Journal. 
 
 The " Boston Traveller," noticing the above, says: — 
 A morning paper, in an obituary of one who died in Boston a few days since, 
 
 says : "He was formerly a native of Lynn." What place he was a native of in 
 
 later years is the unsettled question. 
 
 But the " Boston Journal " is not alone in its singular use of the 
 word, as "The Congregationalist " (May 22, 1877) uses it in the 
 same sense. 
 
 Here [at Princeton] is Professor Aiken, who has settled down in the Theolog- 
 ical Seminary as if he were born there ; and here is Dr. Atwater, who has been 
 here long enough to become a native. 
 
 (A good hit is the last, with an outlook towards another than 
 " Princetonian " doctrine of re-generation.) 
 Native Americans. In speaking of the Native American party, the 
 " New York Express " says it originated as a consequence of "a 
 meeting held in Carroll Hall in 1843, at which Bishop Hughes made 
 a speech relative to the school system, and advocated a distinct 
 organization, as a party, of the Irish voters of the metropolis, in 
 order to accomplish the end they had in view. This was the first 
 attempt ever made in this country to organize citizens of foreign 
 birth, for the purpose of operating at the election of any candidate." 
 This gave rise, the year following, to the formation of a political 
 party to advocate the rights and privileges of persons born in the 
 United States, in opposition to those of foreigners. The principal 
 measure advocated by it was the extension of the term of resi- 
 dence required by law previous to naturalization from seven to 
 twenty-one years. The extreme lengths to which this party went 
 insured its speedy defeat. 
 
 Ten years later (in 1854), a party sprang up with similar princi- 
 ples, known first as the Know-Xothing, and subsequently as the 
 American party. See Know-Nothings. 
 
NAT— NEE 
 
 421 
 
 Native-born. A Hibernicism of politictal origin apparently used in 
 contradistinction from adopted, naturalized, " foreign born." Na- 
 tive-born is used emphatically thus : — 
 
 I asked some of the native-born Southerners if they believed the Federal Gov- 
 ernment was endeavoring, &c. — Cor. of N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 New York to-day stands on the rock of the Union. Her people, whether native 
 or adopted, have vied with each other in defeating the schemes of traitors; and 
 while it was natural that our natice-born population should evince patriotic devo- 
 tion to the Union, &c. — Speech of James Gallatin, N. F., Nov. 27, 1861. 
 
 Nativism. The doctrines of the " Native Americans," as a party. 
 
 Naturalized Citizens. Those who go through the prescribed process 
 for naturalization; their minor children at that time in the country; 
 or the widows and children of those who have taken the initiatory 
 steps for naturalization, but have died before they were actually 
 naturalized. — Hilliord^s Real Property, Vol. II. p. 190. 
 
 Naval Officer. On 3 of the chief officers of the large U. S. custom- 
 houses. It is the duty of the Naval Officer to receive copies of all 
 manifests and entries, and, together with the collector, estimate all 
 duties on imports, and keep a separate record thereof; countersign 
 all permits, clearances, certificates, and other documents granted by 
 the collector; examine the collector's abstract of duties, and other 
 accounts of receipts, bonds, and expenditures, and, if found correct, 
 to certify them. — ^c^ of March 2, 1799. 
 
 Neap. Used in some parts of New England for the tongue or pole of 
 a cart or wagon. — Worcester. Nape, neap, in " Bailey's Diction- 
 ary," is a prop for staying up the tongue or pole. 
 
 Near, for to or at ; in these expressions: " The minister plenipotentiary 
 near the Court of St. James's — near the United States," &c. This 
 Gallicism was first used here in translations of the diplomatic cor- 
 respondence between the French and American governments ; and 
 from the language of translations it has been adopted in many of our 
 original compositions. — Pickering. 
 
 Neck of the Woods. In the wooded sections of the South-west, this 
 term is used in speaking of any settlement, place, or plantation. 
 
 I am the only subscriber to the " Spirit of the Times " in this neck of woods, 
 and consequently my paper is in great requisition. — Letter from Arkansas, N. Y, 
 Spirit of the Times. 
 
 It 's no use talkin' about your Polar bar and j-^our grizzly bar. They ain't no 
 whar, for the big black customer down in our neck o' the woods beats 'em all 
 hollow. — Traits of American Humor, Vol. II. 
 Ne'er. N(>; not. A derivative correctly made from iVeyer. 
 
 There is not a Virgmia abstractionist on earth who does not think that Tie'er a 
 Negro who came over to us under such an act would ever return to Slavery. — 
 A . Y. Tribune, Feb 4, 1862. 
 
422 
 
 NEG 
 
 Negro. The various grades of the colored people in Louisiana are 
 designated by the French as follows, according to the greater or less 
 predominance of negro blood : — 
 
 Mulatto, 
 
 ■| black, 
 
 white and Xegro. 
 
 Quarteron [Quadroon] 
 
 , i black. 
 
 white and mulatto. 
 
 Metis or metif , 
 
 i black, 
 
 white and quarteron. 
 
 Meamelouc, 
 
 Jg black. 
 
 white and metis. 
 
 Demi-meamelouc , 
 
 ■3^2 black, 
 
 white and meamelouc. 
 
 Sang-mele, 
 
 black. 
 
 white and demi-meamelouc 
 
 Griffe, 
 
 1 black. 
 
 Negro and mulatto. 
 
 Marabou, 
 
 1 black. 
 
 mulatto and gviEe. 
 
 Sacatra, 
 
 1 black. 
 
 griffe and Negro. 
 
 All these varieties exist in New Orleans, with sub-varieties; and 
 
 experts pretend to be able to distinguish 'ihem. — Olmsted^ s Slave 
 States, p. 583. See Mulatto. 
 Negro-Catcher. Men engaged during the civil war in catching and 
 stealing Negro slaves. 
 
 The object of these orders is to prevent any person in the anny from acting in 
 the capacity of a nearo-catcher or of a negro-stealer. — General Ordei' of Major- 
 General Ilalleck, Jan., 1862. 
 
 Take this jail from the care of Marshal Lamon and his negro-catddng crea- 
 tures. — Speech of General Wilson of Massachusetts, Feb. 16, 1862. 
 
 Negro-Cloth. A light cloth made of cotton and wool, expressly for 
 
 the clothing of Negroes. 
 Negro-Corn. The Indian millet or durra; so called in the West 
 
 Indies. — Simmonds. 
 Negro-Driver. A person who conducts coffles of slaves ; an overseer 
 
 of slaves. 
 
 Once we boys went for tote some rice, and de niyrjer-dnver he keep a-callin' 
 onus; and I say, "Oh, de ole nigyer-driver ! " Den anoder said, "Fust tinj.'- 
 mv mammy told me was notin' so bad as nigger-dnvers.^^ — Slave Songs, edited by 
 W. F. Allen. 
 
 Negro Fellow. A black man. 
 
 The price of Negroes has already reached that point which is beyond the means 
 of small planters, and they cannot afford to invest their small amounts of spare 
 capital in a species of property that may be swept away by the diseases of the 
 climate, perhaps the Very next week after its purchase ; and thus, in the loss of 
 on& Negro fellow, di three-years saving is gone with him. — De 3010' s Review, 
 Nov., 1858. 
 
 Negro Hate. Aversion to Negroes. 
 
 Southern negro-hate, being based on slavery, is kept within bounds ; that of the 
 North being mainh' a hypocrisy, or an imitation, is affected and exaggerated to 
 caricature. — N. Y. Tribune, April 21, 1862. 
 
NEG 
 
 423 
 
 Negro Head. 1. Tobacco prepared by softening with molasses, and 
 then pressing it into cakes; called also Cavendish. — Simmonds. 
 
 2. Tussocks or knotted masses of the roots of sedges and ferns 
 projecting above the wet surface of a swamp. South. 
 Negro Hound. A hound formerly used in hunting fugitive slaves. 
 It has been found that Schenck, Piatt, and the rest, are not negro-hounds. — 
 N. Y. Tribune, May 9, 1862. 
 Negroism. 1. Pro-slaveryism. 
 
 Most of the common soldiers had been reared among Negroes, had become 
 infused with Neyroism, and knew nothing beyond it. — Cor. N. Y. Tribune, 
 April 14, 1862. 
 
 2. A Negro peculiarity of speech ; an example of Negro English. 
 See also various words under Nigger. 
 Negroless. Not having any Negro or slave. 
 
 Go to Baltimore, and you will find the neyroless majority hearty devotees of the 
 Union. —iV^. Y. Tribune, April 3, 1862. 
 
 Negro Minstrel. Negro musicians, or more frequently white men who 
 blacken their hands and faces, and, assuming the manners of the 
 Negroes of the Southern plantations, go about singing negro songs 
 and playing upon the banjo and "bones." There is often much 
 melody in their music, while their humorous parodies on popular 
 songs, their manner of singing, and their jokes, render their enter- 
 tainments popular among all classes. 
 
 Negro Nomenclature. A peculiarity of the colored race is their 
 fondness for high-sounding words in their conversation, sermons, 
 and speeches. In their religious and political organizations, the odd 
 names they assume are often ludicrous. Among the societies of 
 colored men who recently celebrated in Richmond, Va., the anni- 
 versary of the Fifteenth Amendment, were the following: — 
 
 First National Phoenix, Sons of Elijah, Sons of Enoch, Loving Sons of Daniel, 
 First Star of Jacob, Rising Sons of Vineyard, Independent National Blues, 
 Young Rising Sons of Ham, Rising Sons of Faith and Order, Lord's Delight, 
 Rising Sons of Youth, Teamster's Benevolent Star of the East, United Sons of 
 Love, Christian Sons of Peace, Young Sons of Zion, and Benevolent Society of 
 the Young Shining Army, The Golden Gilt Dramatic Association of Annapolis. 
 
 Negrophilism. A name reproachfully given to anti-slavery. 
 
 Here is a taste of his [the editor of the " New York Times "] Journal's qual- 
 ity, from the editorials of its Saturday's issue: " The Mystery of Ni'tjrojthilism. 
 Of all topics now engaging attention, the American Negro is unquestionably tlie 
 chief." — A^. Y. Tribune, June 16, 1862. 
 
 Negro-proscriptive. Proscriptive of Negroes. 
 
 We hope some of those who voted these ncf/ro-proscriptive clauses into the 
 [new] constitution of Illinois will live to be ashamed of them. — N. Y. Tiibune, 
 April 19. 1862. 
 
424 
 
 NEG— NIC 
 
 Negro-Worshipper. An opposer of slavery ; an abolitionist. 
 
 The apologist for Negro-worshijiping and Negro-worshipj^rs. — N. Y. Tribune^ 
 Jan. 30, 18G2. 
 
 Neighborhood. The phrase, in the neighborhood of^ is frequently used 
 to mean bordering on, near, about. 
 
 The Catholic clergy of this city have purchased in the neighborhood of forty 
 acres of land from Mr. Fenwick, for a cemetery for the use of the Catholic con- 
 gregations of Washington. — {Bait.) Sun, June 27, 1857. 
 
 Netop. " This Indian word," says Mr. Pickering, " is still used, 
 colloquially, in some towns in the interior of Massachusetts, to sig- 
 nify a friend, or (to use a cant word) a crony. Roger Williams, 
 in his Key to the Indian Language, says, " What cheer, netop? is 
 . the general salutation of all English towards the Indians." The 
 word is Narragansett, and means literally, "my friend." See 
 Whatcheer. 
 
 Never say die. Do not despair under any circumstances. 
 
 New Jersey Tea. (Ceanothus Americanus.) The leaves of a plant 
 employed during the Revolution as a poor substitute for imported 
 tea. 
 
 Nice. Fair; good; agreeable: " A nice day; " " nice goods," &c. 
 
 Nicely. In some parts of New England used, like " cleverly," in the 
 sense of well, very well. Ex. : " How 's your wife, Mr. Peabody, 
 this fine morning ? " " She 's nicely. 
 
 Nick. The name already given to the new cent, from the material 
 (nickel) of which it is composed. 
 
 The " Philadelphia Bulletin," in speaking of the first delivery of 
 the new cents at the U. S. mint, and of the rush for them, says: — 
 
 The bags containing the nicks were neat little canvas arrangements, each of 
 which held five hundred of the diminutive strangers. — May 25, 1857. 
 
 The new cent creates quite a furor. It is a neat, handy coin, and will soon 
 supplant the cumbersome copper one. "Nary red will soon be an obsolete 
 phrase among the boys, and "nary nickeV will take its place. — N. Y. Herald, 
 May 27, 1857. 
 
 Nickel. A five-cent piece coined of that metal. 
 
 Nicotiana. A region in which tobacco is a staple. A country 
 growing tobacco, or where the use of tobacco prevails. 
 
 It was in June last that Dr. Russell [of the " London Times " ] called upon that 
 tobacco-ruminant, Governor Pettus of Mississippi. . . . After an interview [with 
 him], holding high converse with other noble votaries of Nicotiana, put to them 
 ... the following interrogatories. — N. Y. Tnbune, Feb. 13, 18G2. 
 
NIC— NIN 
 
 425 
 
 Nicotian Leaf. Tobacco. 
 
 William Boyd, in describing a model newspaper, says : — 
 
 It admitteth nothing vulgar; 
 
 Doth not jest at sacred thoughts ; 
 And ignoreth outrage, swearing, 
 
 Hazards, drink, nicotian leaf. 
 
 Patterns American Monthly, June, 1877. 
 
 Nigger. The vulgar pronunciation of the word Negro, which see for 
 
 various words appertaining to Negroes. 
 Niggerhead Stone. The hard, heavy, black rock with which the 
 
 country about Baltimore is filled, and which is so useful in making 
 
 turnpike roads. 
 
 Niggerism. The peculiarities, real or supposed, of a Negro, in respect 
 of language, &c. 
 
 If we did not think it a Pro-Slaver}^ speech, the audience did, and bestowed 
 upon it a meed of approving screams as loud as those which immediately after 
 greeted the bald nigyerism of Rynders. — N. Y. Tribune, Nov. 20, 1861. 
 
 To nigger out. To nigger out land signifies, in Southern phraseology, 
 to exhaust land by the mode of tilling without fertilization pursued 
 in the slave States. 
 
 Niggery. Pertaining to, like, a Negro. 
 
 The dialect of the entire population is essentially unmistakable niggery. — 
 Virginia Cor. N. Y. Tiibune. 
 
 Nigh unto. Nearly, almost. 
 
 I nigh unto burst with madness ! I could feel every har on my head kindlia' 
 at the eend. — Robb, Squatter Life. 
 
 Nigh upon. Nearly, almost. 
 
 I got your letter and razor-strap. It 's a complete strap as you ever see ; and, 
 as soon as it was known about here that I had received it, nigh upon all our folks 
 have been sendin' to borrow it. — Major Downing, Letter 27. 
 
 Mr. Bedott had been out of health niyh upon ten year; and, oh dear, how 
 he 'd altered since the first time I ever see him. — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 22. 
 
 Nimshi. A foolish fellow, or one who habitually acts in a foolish 
 manner. Connecticut. 
 
 Nine-Bark. {Spircea opuUfolia.) A low shrub found in INIaine, 
 Canada, Wisconsin, and west to Oregon. Its old bark is loose, 
 and separates in thin layers. 
 
 Nine-Killer. The popular name of the Northern Butcher-bird (Lanius 
 septentrionalis) of ornithologists. In Canada and the Eastern States, 
 it is sometimes called IMocking-bird. "The name of nine-killer,^^ 
 says Dr. DeKay, " is derived from the popular belief that it catches 
 and impales nine grasshoppers in a day." — Nat. Hist, of New York. 
 
426 
 
 NIP— NOC 
 
 Nip. 1. A dram. From nip, a small quantity as of snuff, taken 
 between the thumb and finger. 
 
 2. Nick; instant: as, " Just in the /?i/9 of time." Connecticut. 
 
 Nip and Tuck. An expression signifying an equality, or nearly so, 
 in any strife, but particularly in a horse-race or a game, equivalent 
 to the phrase " neck and neck." Comp. Ruh and go. 
 
 " Nathan,'' said a prudent father, " now you 're goin' down to Orleans, I 've 
 just one thing to advise you on. Don't play that new game they 've got, where 
 the jack takes the ace, — 't ain't natural. I tried 'em at poker, and old sledge, 
 and loo, but they couldn't get me down, it was 7bip and tuck between us; but by 
 and by they fotched in that new game, and then I hollei'ed." — Major Bunkum^ 
 Recollections. 
 
 Nipper. A dram. Also " a nip.^^ 
 
 Then it waz, "Mister Sawin, sir, you're middlin' well now, be ye? 
 Step up an' take a nij^j^er, sir; I 'm dreffle glad to see ye." 
 
 Lowell, Bifjlow Papers. 
 Nippent. Impudent; impertinent. — Hurd^s Gram. Corrector. 
 Nipping. 1. Mincing. 
 
 Oh, deary me, it 's enough to make anybody sick to see the airs Mrs. Major 
 Coou puts on. Did you see her come nippin' into meetin' with a shawl on as big 
 as a bedcover V — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 35. 
 
 2. Applied to cold weather; as, " n</>/>m^/ cold," a nipping ivo&t.^^ 
 The temperature continues to develop a remarkable mildness for the season, 
 with occasional returns of winter gusts and nipjiiny frosts. — Providence Journal. 
 
 There are examples of the use of the verb to nip applied to severe 
 cold in English writers : — 
 
 His delivery now proves 
 Abortive, as the first-born bloom of spring 
 Nipt with the lagging rear of winter's frost. 
 
 Milton, Samson Agonistes, 1575. 
 No-account. Of no account, worthless; as, "That's a no-account 
 chap, I reckon ! " " Where did you raise that no-account horse ? " 
 South-west. 
 
 " Miss Bella done learn how to talk," said Sarah, in the kitchen cabinet, "and 
 she look as rosy and peart! her heart ain't broke ! " 
 
 "Broke wid what V " asked Aunt Hagar. "I alwayth telled you that no 
 young mith of mine wath given to hurt herthelf grieving after a no-account feller 
 like that down yonder in Richmond." — The Hidden Path. 
 
 Nobby. Stylish; often applied to new hats. Also spelled knobby. 
 
 If you would dress yourself cheaply, neatly, nobby, and stylish, give us a call. 
 Hat-Seller^ s Advertisement. 
 Nocake. (Nookhic, meal. — Eliofs Indian Bible.) Parched meal. An 
 Indian word still used in some parts of New England. 
 
 Nokehick, parched meal, which is a readie very wholesome food, which they 
 eat with a little water. — .K. Williams's Key (1643), p. 11. 
 
NOG— NON 
 
 427 
 
 If their imperious occasions cause the Indians to travel, the best of their victuals 
 for their journey is nocake (as they call it), which is nothing but Indian corn 
 parched in the hot ashes; the ashes being sifted from it, it is afterwards beaten 
 to powder, and put into a long leathern bag, trussed at their back like a knap- 
 sack, out of which they take thrice three spoonefuls a day. — Wood's New Eng- 
 land's Froqject (1634), pt. 2, ch. 6. 
 
 With a pestle and mortar [the Indians] broke up [their corn] into meal, which, 
 moistened with water into a paste, they called nookhik. — ralfrei/s New Eng- 
 land, Vol. I. p. 28. 
 
 Warm was the room and plenteous was the cheer 
 
 Which generous Waban did our Founder bring; 
 In trays the nocake and the joints of deer. 
 And in the gourd-shell water from the spring. 
 
 Durfee, Whatcheer, Canto I. Ixxxii. 
 
 Noggin. A drinlt of something alcoholic. 
 
 Nohow. Not in anyway; by no means. Always with a preceding 
 negative, and sometimes enlarged into " nohow you can fix iV." 
 
 Dod rot that old Mike Hooter! He pertend to be a preacher! His preachin' 
 ain't nothin' but loud hollerin' nohow. — Tales of American Humor. 
 
 You don't cook broken-down horse-flesh very easy, nohow. — G. W. Kendall. 
 
 Miss Sikes had better not come a cavortin' round me with any of her rantan- 
 kerous carryin' on; for I ain't in no humor, nohow. — Story of the Fire Hunt. 
 
 The Colonel's wife could not abide her nohow., and appears like dey done gone 
 guv each udder all the trouble de}- could. — Harjier's May. for July, 1876, p. 195. 
 
 Them two fool niggers never did have no sense, nohow. — Ibid., p. 197. 
 No — not. What the Portuguese say of the Brazilians, the English 
 say of the Americans, — that they are as fond of double negatives 
 as Homer himself. " I won't nohow," " It ain't neither," " I ain't 
 got none," "It ain't nothing else," &c., are locutions constantly 
 heard. 
 
 No Mistake. See example at Mistake. 
 
 Nomological. Relating to Homology. • 
 
 The observations of the senses yield us only limited successions and recurrences 
 of phenomena. These have antecedence in the order of time. But Law, eternal, 
 absolute, and universal, has antecedence in the order of necessary existence, and 
 is an idea of the Reason. It is the Idea of Ideas under the nomological conception. 
 Tappan's Elements of Logic. 
 
 Nomology. That branch of philosophy which treats of law in general. 
 
 This at once introduces us to the Doctrine of Law or Nomology, which is the 
 second grand division of philosophy. — Tappan's Elements of Logic. 
 
 Non-committal. That does not commit or pledge himself to any par- 
 ticular measure. A political term in frequent use. 
 
 A successful politician here [in New York] is either a hack lawyer of thirty 
 years' standing, or an upstart demagogue, who has made his way by dint of 
 sheer brass; either a blind partisan, who knows nothing outside the regular 
 
428 
 
 NON— NOR 
 
 ticket, or a non-committal man, who says every thing to everybody, and never 
 gave an intelligent, manly, straightforward opinion in his life. — Sketches of 
 American Society, Frazer's Magazine. 
 Non-Committalism. The practice or doctrine of not committing 
 one's self. 
 
 Much of what Governor W saj's in his message is made feeble by diffiise- 
 
 ness ; and on many points he either avoids the expression of opinion, or ex- 
 presses his opinion with so many qualifications as to subject himself to the charge 
 of non-co7nmittalism. — N. Y. Commercial Advertiser. 
 
 He, being somewhat of a wag, handed me " Fearne on Contingent Remain- 
 ders," which he remarked, with admirable non-committalism, was as interesting as 
 a novel, after one got interested in it. — My Uncle Hohson and /, p 20. 
 
 None of my Funeral. An affair with which one has nothing to do. 
 '■It's none of my funeral, I know. Sin Saxon," said Miss Craydocke. "I'm 
 only an eleventh-hour helper; but I '11 come in for the holiday business. . . . 
 that 's more in my line." — Mrs. Whitney, A Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite's Life, 
 p. 183. 
 
 Senators Blaine and Barnum passed down to New York, en route to Washing- 
 ton, on Wednesday last, when Barnum asked Blaine how he liked the news from 
 Ohio. " Oh, that isn't my funereal, I want you to understand," replied the plucky 
 Maine Senator. — Hartford Times, Oct. 17, 1877. 
 
 Non-slaveholding. Not holding slaves. Thus, the States north of 
 Mason and Dixon's line were formerly designated as the " non-slace- 
 holding States." 
 
 Noodles. {G^rm. Nudel.) Dumplings or vermicelli. They are used 
 in Pennsylvania, and are made by rolling into very thin sheets the 
 dough, which differs from the Italian preparation by the addition 
 of eggs. These sheets are then rolled up and cut across witli a 
 knife. The strips thus formed differ from vermicelli only in their 
 section being square, instead of circular. 
 
 Noodlejees. (Dutch.) Wheat dough rolled thin and cut into strings 
 like vermicelli. 
 
 Noodle-Soup. Soup made of the above. 
 
 Nooning-Time. Dinner-time in the hayfield. 
 
 Nopal. The prickly pear cactus that the cochineal insect feeds upon. 
 
 North and South. Terms commonly used to signify the Northern 
 and Southern, or the free and slave States, of the Union. 
 
 The North in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the 
 equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions of the latter great 
 additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise, and precious mate- 
 rials of manufacturing industry. The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting 
 by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand. 
 Speech of Hon. E. Everett, July 5, 1858. 
 
 North Americans. The Northern or anti-slavery section of the 
 American or Know-Nothing Party. 
 
NOR— NOT 
 
 429 
 
 Northern Neck. The portion of Virginia lying between the Potomac 
 and the Rappahannock. 
 
 Norther, A severe north wind which blows at particular seasons 
 along the Gulf of Mexico, as well as across the vast region lying to 
 the north of it. These northers upon the open prairies are exceed- 
 ingly trying, and, when accompanied by snow or a freezing rain, 
 prove fatal to cattle and horses. Teamsters, herdsmen, and travel- 
 lers have also been known, in many instances, to perish. I experi- 
 enced a terrific norther on the high plateau of Texas in November, 
 1850, which was accompanied by snow, and lasted for three days. 
 
 Mr. Olmsted, in his " Journey through Texas," thus describes one 
 of these northers : — 
 
 We were suffering with the heat, when one of us said, "See this before us, — 
 •what is it, fog or smoke V " 
 " A prairie fire, I think," said the other. 
 
 "Probably it is; but what is this on the hill close by: this is fog, surely? It 
 must be a norther coming. Yes, it is a norther: listen to that roar! We must 
 get our clothing on, or we shall be chilled through." 
 
 First, a chilly whiff, then a puff, the grass bends flat; and, bang, it is upon us, 
 — a blast that would have taken a top-gallant sail out of the bolt-ropes, and cold 
 as if blowing across a sea of ice. We galloped to the nearest ravine, and hurried 
 on all the clothing we could muster. Fortunately, though our baggage was left 
 behind, we had taken a supply of blankets. Sac, — p. 168. 
 
 Northerner. A citizen of one of the Northern or non-slaveholding 
 States. 
 
 Nose, " To bite one^s nose off'''' is to foolishly inflict self-injury, w^hile 
 striving to injure another. 
 
 No-see-ums. The little midge. (Simulium nocivum.) A kind of 
 sand-fly. One of the annoyances of travellers in the Northern and 
 North-eastern States. They are said to get under your clothes, and 
 produce a feverish heat by their bites. — Thoreau, Maine Woods, 
 p. 228. 
 
 The name is Indian-English. 
 Notch. An opening or narrow passage through a mountain or hill. — 
 Webster. The Notch in the White Mountains is well known. 
 
 This gap is not a notch or depression in the crest of a continuous ridge, but the 
 extension of the plain narrowed down by bare, rugged peaks of almost solid 
 rock, rising abruptly from the plain. — Rep. on Pacific Rdilroad. Vol. II. 
 
 Passing down the Chemung and Susquehanna in canoes, they landed, and 
 struck through the wilderness to a gap or notch of the mountains, by which they 
 entered the Valley of Wyoming. — Irviny's Washington, Vol. III. p. 408. 
 
 Note. A happy expression ; a good joke. "That's a good no/e." 
 New York. 
 
430 
 
 NOT 
 
 Note-Shaver. One who discounts or buys notes at a high rate of 
 
 interest. See Landshark. 
 Nothing else. " It ain't nothing else,^^ is a vulgar style of phraseology 
 
 equivalent to " It 's that, and no mistake." 
 
 Mose. " Lize, ain't you a gallows gall? " 
 
 Lize. "T ain't nothing else, Mose.'' — New York in 1848. 
 
 Nothing to Nobody. Nobody's business. This singular expression 
 is common in the language of the illiterate in some ]3arts of the 
 South. 
 
 Mr. minds his own business; and what he gives away is nothing to 
 
 nobody. — New Hampshire pojjer. 
 " Vot I gives is nujffin to nobody.'''' — English Anecdote. 
 
 But surely no lady drank punch? Yes, three of them did, .... and the way 
 these women love punch is nothing to nobody. — Georgia Scenes. 
 
 The way she would make Indian cakes, and the way I used to slick them over 
 with molasses, was nothing to nobody. — N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 To notify. 1. To make known; to declare; to publish. " The laws 
 of God notify to man his will and our duty." 
 
 2. To give information of. The allied sovereigns have notified 
 the Spanish court of their purpose of maintaining legitimate gov- 
 ernment. ' ' 
 
 3. To give notice to. " The constable has notified the citizens to 
 meet at the City Hall." " The bell notifies us of the time of 
 meeting." 
 
 The first of these senses, as Dr. Witherspoon long ago observed 
 (Druid, No. 5), is the only one in which this word is employed by 
 English writers. They use it simply in the sense of the Latin noti- 
 ficare, i. e. "to make known," as in the following examples from 
 Richardson : — 
 
 His [Duke Robert's] worthie acts, valientlie and fortunately atchieved against 
 the infidels, are notified to the world by many and sundrie writers. — Holinshed. 
 Such protest must also be notifed, within fourteen days after, to the drawer. — 
 
 Blackstone' s Commentaries. 
 
 The two significations, Nos. 2 and 3, in which the direct object 
 of the verb is the person, instead of the thing, is in accordance with 
 the French use of the verb nofifier. It is not improbable that they 
 will yet be adopted in England; for the same transfer of the idea 
 from the thing to the person took place in the Latin language itself, 
 in which the word notus, known, was also used in the sense of 
 informed of, knowing. 
 
 Notional. Fanciful, whimsical. Applied to persons; as, "He's a 
 very notional man." New England. 
 
NOT— NUL 
 
 431 
 
 Notionate. Fanciful, whimsical. West. 
 
 Notions. Small wares or trifles. — Worcester. A word much used 
 , by the ingenious New Englanders. 
 
 "Can I suit you to-day, ma'am V" said a peddler from New England, when 
 offering his wares for sale in Michigan. "I've all sorts of notions. Here's 
 fashionable calicoes; French work collars and capes ; elegant milk-pans, and Har- 
 rison skimmers, and ne plus «/^/-?/ dippers ; patent pills;, — cure any thing you 
 like; ague bitters; Shaker yarbs; essences, wintergreen, lobelv; tapes, pins, 
 needles, hooks and eyes; broaches and bracelets; smelling-bottles; castor ile; 
 corn-plaster; mustard; garding-seeds ; silver spoons; pocket-combs; tea-puts; 
 green tea; saleratus; tracts; song-books; thimbles; baby's whistles; slates; 
 playin' cards ; puddin' sticks ; baskets ; wooden bowls ; powder and shot. I 
 shan't offer you lucifers, for ladies with such eyes never buys matches; but 
 you can't ask me for any thing I haven't got, I guess." — Mrs. Clavers's For- 
 est Life, Vol. II. p. 113. ' 
 
 He has invented several other important wooden notions out of his own head; 
 and Muffins says there is enough left to invent a good many more. — N. Y. Spirit 
 of the Timt^. 
 
 No Two Ways about it. Certain ; sure. 
 
 Nowhere. To he nowhere is to be at sea; to be utterly at a loss; to 
 be ignorant. 
 
 This gentleman has been for some years at the head of this institution, the 
 special business of which is to educate teachers who shall be employed in the 
 subordinate public schools; and it has just been ascertained that he is lamentably 
 ignorant of the rudiments of an English education; in short, that in " lirst prin- 
 ciples " he is nowhere. — Boston Bee. 
 
 No, you don't. An expression of a non-coincidence of opinion. 
 Northern. 
 
 Nub. 1. A knob. New England. 
 
 2. The nuh of a story is the point or gist of it. 
 
 Nubbins. Imperfectly formed ears of Indian corn. Suffolk, Eng., 
 knuhhle [dim. of knoh or nw/y], "a little knob;" Leicestershire, 
 nubbin, "the stump of a tree;" Worcestershire, nubblings, "small 
 coal." 
 
 "Aunt Peggy brought in some of the early corn this morning, mother. Did 
 j''Ou see it V " 
 
 "Yes, 3'our father says it is a humbug. There are nothing but little nubbins 
 with not more than a dozen grains to the ear." 
 
 Precisely such badly filled nubbins your children's minds are fated to become, 
 if you ailopt the forcing, hot-bed system with them. — The Hidden Path. 
 
 Nullification. Some years ago, when the system of high protective 
 duties on foreign impoi-ts was pi-edominant in the national councils, 
 the politicians of South Carolina — whose main article of export is 
 
432 
 
 NUL— NUT 
 
 cotton — were strongly desirous of free trade with England and 
 France, the principal consumers of that article believing that the 
 consumption of it in those countries would be augmented by an 
 augmentation of the import of their fabrics. Those politicians 
 thought themselves aggrieved therefore by the protection given in 
 the United States to the manufacture of fabrics coming into compe- 
 tition with those of England and France. But, finding Congress 
 resolute in adhering to the protective tariff, the South Carolina 
 politicians became so exasperated that at last they proclaimed their 
 intention to nw////^ the tariff ; that is, to admit British and French 
 goods into their ports free of duty, and not to permit the exercise 
 of custom-house functions in their State. In other words, nullifica- 
 tion, in the case of South Carolina, was simply an act, or at least a 
 threat, of open rebellion. 
 
 Somebody must go ahead, and look after these matters, to keep down nullijica- 
 tion, and take care of the Gineral [Jackson] when he gits into his tantrums, and 
 keep the great Democratic party from splitting in two. — Crockett, Tour, p. 218. 
 
 NuUifier. One who believes in or maintains the right of a State to 
 refuse compliance with a law enacted by the legislature of the whole 
 Union. 
 
 This term was also applied to a sort of shoe, made like a decapi- 
 tated boot, brought into fashion in the " nullification " times. 
 
 Nurly. A corrupt pronunciation and orthography of gnarly, i. e. 
 gnarled. 
 
 Times are mopish and nurly. — Margaret, p. 314. 
 
 Nurse-Fish. (Somniosus.) Speaking of the fishes at the Isles of 
 Shoals, N. H., Miss Thaxter says: " Sometimes is caught on a 
 trawl a monstrous creature of horrible aspect, called the nurse-Jishy 
 — an immense fish, weighing twelve hundred pounds, with a skin 
 like a nutmeg grater, and no teeth, — a kind of sucker, hence its 
 name." — Isles of Shoals, p. 87. Le Sueur notices the fish, which is 
 also called sleeper, from its inactive or sluggish habits. 
 
 Nut-Cake. A doughnut. New England. See Cruller. 
 
 Nutmeg State. A nickname given to the State of Connecticut, in 
 allusion to a ridiculous story that wooden nutmegs are there manu- 
 factured for exportation. 
 
 Nuts. Enjoyment, gratification, pleasure. "He enjoyed the play 
 greatly: it was nuts for him." Also used in England. — Slang 
 Dictionary. 
 
OAK— OCC 
 
 433 
 
 O. 
 
 Oak Barrens. Straggling forests of oak-trees, where the soil is very- 
 poor, and the trees small, stunted, and gnarled. The oak barrens 
 differ from the oak openings," inasmuch as the latter are usually 
 on good soil, and hence thrifty. 
 
 Our march to-day lay through straggling forests of the kind of low, scrubbed 
 trees, called post-oaks and black-jacks. The soil of these oak barrens is loose 
 and unsound, being little better than a mere quick-and ; in which, in rainy 
 weather, the horse's foot slips, and now and then sinks in a rotten, spongy turf, 
 to the fetlock. — Irviny's Tour on the Prairies, p. 95. 
 
 Oak Openings. A characteristic feature in all the North-western 
 States are the oak openings. These are forests of short, thinly 
 scattered oak-trees. The trees are so diminutive that generally but 
 one length for rails can be cut between the ground and the limbs. 
 See Opening. 
 
 The grounds about the mounds are covered with scattered oak-trees, commonly 
 called oak openings, and thickly overgrown with small bushes. — Lnpham's Antiqs. 
 of Wisconsin, p. 31. 
 
 Having passed the skirt of the woodlands, we ascended the hills, taking a course 
 through the oak openings, where the eye stretched over wide tracts of hill and 
 dale, diversified by forests, groves, and clumps of trees. — Jrving's Tour on the 
 Prairies, p. 77. 
 
 Oats. " To feel oneh oats.^' An expression applied by college stu- 
 dents to one who is much aware of his importance. Such a one is 
 called cocky. ^ r \/C 
 
 Obliged to be. Must be; as, " This is obliged to be a fever and ague^^^^^ >^Jt' i— 
 country." Comp. the analogous vulgarism, " bound to be." f - 
 
 Obligement. This antiquated word is still used by old people in New p JM^^ ^ 
 England. — Pickering. y z ^ // / 
 
 Obscutely. Obliquely. A factitious word used in New England. 
 
 Obstrep. To be obstreperous. 
 
 This sort of thing won't do. The obstreperous fair ones must cease to obstrep. 
 Vanity Fair, 18G2. 
 
 Obstropulous. A vulgar corruption of obstreperous. New England. 
 It is of cis-atlantic origin. 
 
 By hearsay, [the Count and Countess] are a topping sort of people, and pretty 
 much like the Boston folks, full of notions. At times he is obstropulous. — D. 
 Humphreys, The Yankee in England. 
 
 Obtusity. Obtuseness. New England. 
 
 To occasion or 'casion. To go about asking for work; i. e., to ask if 
 employers have any occasion for one's services. Maryland. 
 
 28 
 
OCC— OF 
 
 Occupying Claimant. One who claims land by virtue of occupation 
 
 of the same under the land systems of various States. 
 
 Occurrings. Occurrences; incidents. 
 
 'Tis a news-collector, valued 
 
 For its manifold accounts ; 
 Gath'ring in, from thousand sources, 
 
 Numberless occur-rinys, deeds. 
 Wm. Boyd, Desc. of a Model Ne wspaper, Potter's Am. Monthly, June, 1877. 
 
 Ocelot. (Mexican, ocelotl.) A beautiful but savage animal, holding 
 a middle rank between the leopard and the conniion cat, the Felis 
 pardalus of Linnaeus. The body is about three feet in length, and 
 the tail about one; height, about eighteen inches. It is a native of 
 various parts of South America, and is thought to extend as far 
 north as Texas. Called also Tiger Cat. 
 
 Octoroon. A name recently coined for a mustee ; the offspring of a 
 white and a quadroon. See Mulatto and Negro. 
 
 " Oh, stay," a cullered pusson said, 
 "An' on dis bosom rest your head! " 
 The Octoroon she winked her eye. 
 But still he answered with a sigh, 
 
 Skedaddle. — Sony, Vanity Fair. 
 
 Odd Stick. An eccentric person; an " odd fish." " John Randolph 
 
 was an odd stick.'' ^ 
 Of. 1. An action of the organs of sense may be either involuntary or 
 voluntary. Accordingly we say to see, to It ear, to denote an involun- 
 tary act; and to look at, to hearken or listen to, to denote a voluntary 
 one. With regard to the other senses, we are not so well provided 
 with words; but some people, prompted apparently by a feeling of 
 this deficiency, endeavor to supply it by construing the verbs to feel, 
 to taste, to smell, with the preposition of, to signify a voluntary act. 
 Hence, to feel, taste, smell of a thing, is to do so intentionally. 
 This corruption is rarely met with in writing. 
 
 In the course of the forenoon, a few women came around our \Qn{,felt of it, 
 and peeped through the cracks to see Mrs. Perkins. — Perhins's Residence in 
 Persia, p. 103. 
 
 2. In the colloquial language of New England, this preposition, 
 frequently corrupted into on, is used after a gerund or active parti- 
 ciple; as, " Ebenezer is coming to stick our pig; but he '11 want a 
 quarter for doin' o/it (or on it)." 
 
 Whereas, many Negroes and other slaves absent themselves from their masters' 
 service, and rim out into the woods and there remain, killing and destroying of 
 hogs and cattle belonging unto the people of this province, &c. — Maryhuid 
 Statutes, Act ofllbl. 
 
OFF 
 
 435 
 
 Off the Handle. To Jly off the handle is to fly into a passion. To go 
 off the handle is to give up the ghost, to die. The aUusion is to the 
 head of an axe. 
 
 A poor man in this city had a fortune left him by a distant and wealthy rela- 
 tive, who went off the handle in England, rather unexpectedly. — N. Y. Spirit of 
 the Times. 
 
 Ofifal. This word, among pork-butchers and curers in the West, 
 implies the liver and lights, or more technically the head and pluck, 
 liver, &c., of the animal; whereas, in correct English, it is limited 
 to the refuse thrown to the dogs. An English reader would be 
 much shocked at the mention of a dish of offal. 
 
 Offen. Off from; off on. A vulgarism. 
 
 I am glad Miss Woodhull is engaged to be married, it takes a load offen my 
 mind. I presume she will settle down and make a likeh' woman. — Betsy Bvbbet^ 
 p. 311. 
 
 Say, if you give me much more of your sass, I'll take and bounce a rock 
 off''n yonr head. — Mark, Twain, Tom Sawyer, p. 23. 
 
 Office-Holder. A government official. Used frequently as a term of 
 reproach. 
 
 OflSce-Holding. The holding of an office under government. 
 OflBce-Hunter. A seeker after public office. 
 
 )fiBce-Hunting. A seeking after public office. That both the practice 
 and the name for it are acquiring all the respectability that age can 
 bestow, is evident from the date of the following extract : — 
 
 Office-Hunting. — The decease of Col. Freeman, late Fourth Auditor of the 
 Treasury, the salar}' of which is $3,000 a year, has caused a great stir at Wash- 
 ington. There are said to be about fifty applicants for the place, among whom 
 are a dozen or two members of Congress. — Niles's Register, March 20, 1824:. 
 
 ffish. Distant or unapproachable in manners. 
 
 I am naturall}' pretty offish and retirin' in my ways with strange men folks. 
 I think it is becoming in a woman to be so, instead of bold. — Betsy Bobbet, 
 p. 28U. 
 
 Off-Ox. An unmanageable, cross-grained fellow. —Lowell. 
 
 Offset. 1. In accounts, a sum, account, or value set off against an- 
 other sum or account, as an equivalent. — Webster. 
 
 This word is generally used in place of the English term set-off. 
 Mr. Pickering says, " It is also very common in popular language, 
 in the sense of an equicalent.'^ None of the English dictionaries 
 have the word in any sense except that of " shoot from a plant." 
 
 The expense of the frigates had been strongly urged; but the saving in insur- 
 ance, in ships and cargoes, and the ransom of seamen, was more than an ajj'set 
 against this item. — Marshall's Washington. 
 
436 
 
 OFF— OLD 
 
 Thanksgiving was an anti-Christmas festival, established as a kind of offset to 
 that. — Margaret, p 61. 
 
 2. The dictionaries omit to notice a use of this word, which was 
 common thirty years ago in New England, and probably is still 
 known outside the cities, i. e. a terrace. A hillside garden was laid 
 out in off-sets, or a house built above the level of the travelled road 
 had one or more off-sets in its "front yard." Often pronounced 
 ''off I set.'' 
 
 To offset. To set one account against another; to make the account 
 of one party pay the demand of another. — Webster. 
 
 Oildom. The petroleum manufacture; the district in Pennsylvania 
 whence petroleum is obtained. 
 
 Ojo. (Pron. oho.) This Spanish term means an eye, and figuratively 
 a spring in a plain. In Texas, New Mexico, and California, these 
 springs greet the thirsty traveller as the oases do in Africa. A few 
 rushes or rank grass, rising above the sterile wastes, guide him to 
 the spot. 
 
 Okra. (Hibiscus esculentus.) A tropical plant, the pods of which are 
 used in the mucilaginous soup called gumbo. — Worcester. 
 
 Old Coon. The raccoon, or 'coon, as it is generally called in the 
 language of slang, has the reputation of being a very knowing ani- 
 mal; hence, "as sly as a coon.'' "He's an old coon," is said of 
 one who is very shrewd; often applied to a political manager. 
 Comp. " Sbj Old Fox." 
 
 I guess them sarcy Britishers 
 
 Won't easv get to leeward 
 Of such an all-fired smart old coon 
 
 As William Henry Seward. 
 
 [London] Punch, Feb. 1, 1862. 
 
 Old Country. A term applied to Great Britain, originally by natives 
 from that country, but now understood and used generally in the 
 United States. 
 
 Mr. Goodrich, in describing the people of New England at the 
 period of the Revolution, says: — 
 
 The Episcopalians had indeed one more tie than other men to the old country, 
 and that was a powerful one. England was not only their mother in things sec- 
 ular, but in things sacred. — Vol. I. p. 192. 
 
 It will be remembered that a few years ago a base ball team from the United 
 States went to the old country, but met with poor success. — Scribner's Monthly 
 for Aug., 1877, p. 516. 
 
OLD 
 
 437 
 
 Old Countryman. A native of England, Scotland, Ireland, or Wales. 
 The term is never applied to persons from the continent of Europe. 
 
 Oldermost. Oldest. Used in the West. 
 
 Ain't that oldermost stranger a kinder sort a preacher ? — Carlton, The New 
 Purchase, Vol. II. p. 70. 
 
 Old Dominion. The State of Virginia. Sometimes called the " An- 
 cient Dominion.''^ The name probably arose from the circumstance 
 that Virginia was the original name for all the English colonies in 
 America; also from the fact that in early times it was called, in all 
 the letters from the King, " The Colony and Dominion of Virginia." 
 
 What means the Old Dominion f Hath she forgot the day, 
 When o'er her conquered valleys swept the Briton's steel array V 
 
 Whittier, Voices of Freedom. 
 
 Old Driver. Euphemism for the devil. See Spitfoot. 
 
 Old Fogy. (Su. Goth, fogde.) One who is behind the times. 
 
 Janiieson suggests that the term originally signified the governor 
 of a garrison ; and like the Sw, word sunk into insignificance. — 
 Scottish Die. 
 Latham defines it an imbecile old man. 
 
 Old Livermore, old Soy, old Chutney, &c., that society of old fogies in tine, 
 who gave each other dinners round and round, and dine for the mere purpose of 
 guttling, — these, again, are dinner-giving snobs. — Thackeray, Book of Snobs. 
 
 Old-fogyish. " He 's slow and rather old-fogijish.^^ — The Independent. 
 
 Old Hickory. A nickname applied to General Jackson, President of 
 the United States, in allusion to his tough, unyielding disposition. 
 
 The name of Old Hickory, says Parton, was not an instanta.neous 
 inspiration, but a growth. First of all, the remark was made by 
 some soldier, who was struck with his commander's pedestrian 
 powers, that the general was tough. Next, it was observed . . . 
 that he was as tough as hickory. Then he was called Hickory. 
 Lastly, the affectionate adjective " old " was prefixed, and the Gen- 
 eral thenceforth rejoiced in the completed nickname, usually the 
 first-won honor of a great commander. — Life of Jackson. 
 
 Old HosB. A familiar expression used in accosting a person, equiva- 
 lent to " old fellow." Western. 
 
 Old Hoss, when analyzed, is found to be the tenderest appellation of a biped 
 juvenile without hoofs. — Speech of Samuel H. Cox. 
 
 Old Man. 1. The old man is a terra more common than respectful, 
 used by " Young America " for father. 
 
 2. In the South and West, instead of saying, for instance, " Old 
 Mr. Smith," it is customary to say, " Old man Smith." A friend 
 
438 
 
 OLD— OLE 
 
 informs me that, in the eastern part of N'ew England, he had heard 
 the expression applied to women; as, " Old Woman Abrams." 
 3. "My old 7nan,^^ my husband. Used also in England. 
 Old North State. North Carolina. 
 
 The opposition are brins^ing out the most popular man in North Carolina, W. 
 A. Graham, who will be elected governor by the largest majority ever before 
 given ... in the Old North State. — Ntwbern Cor. of N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Old Pod. An old man. 
 
 Old Probabilities. See Probahililies. 
 
 Old Rye. Old whiskey distilled from rye. 
 
 I don't know whether Mark took a drop or not; but they generally keep a 
 barrel of old rye in the lumber shanties, and my opinion is that he was invited to 
 take a horn. — Hammond, Wild Northern Scenes, p. 198. 
 
 "Nary drop," said Tom; "ten minutes ago I wouldn't have given a pewter 
 dime for my chance of sticking to [the temperance pledge], but now I wouldn't 
 give a cent for a barrel full of ten-year-oZcZ rye. — Habberton, The Bar-ton Experi- 
 mtnt, p. 42. 
 
 Old Scratch. The devil. See Scratch. 
 
 Old Sledge. A Southern and Western name for the game at cards 
 commonly called All Fours. 
 
 I played a pretty stiff game of old sledge, or, as he called it, all fours ; for I played 
 every night. — Simm,s, Wiyivam and Cabin, p. 88. 
 
 With professional flat-boatmen, their acme of felicity is a game of old sledye 
 enlivened by the fiddle. — Remembrances of the Mississippi, Harper'' s Magazine, 
 
 Old Soldiers. Ends of cigars and quids of tobacco that have been 
 used. 
 
 Ladies who swab our sidewalks, richly dressed, 
 To rid us of the juices there expressed, 
 
 And like drill-sergeants 
 Haul off old soldiers lying there at rest ; 
 No more your silks shall be of the " vile pest " 
 
 Brooms and abstergents. — Newspaper. 
 
 Old- Wife or Old-Squaw. (Anas glacialis.) The popular name of a 
 brown duck, one of the most common throughout North America, 
 the long-tailed Duck of Pennant, 
 
 Old Whale. A sailor. See at Sardine. 
 
 Oleomargarine. An article made from fat, grease, and oily sub- 
 stances, large quantities of which find its way to market, where it 
 is sold for butter. Also called Butterine. 
 
 About $1,000,000 pounds of " butterine," formerly known as oleomargaHne, 
 have been shipped from Philadelphia during the last month, the greater part of 
 which went to France, England, and Scotland, and some to Germany and the 
 Netherlands. — Philadelphia Record. 
 
OLY— ONE 
 
 439 
 
 Oleomarf/arine to the front. The Governor [of New York] having signed the 
 act for the protection of buttermakers, all imitations of butter are hereafter to 
 be sold only under the name of oleomai'ffar-ine, which is to be stamped on all its 
 receptacles. — N. Y. Tiibune. 
 
 Olycook. (Dutch, oliekoek, oil-cake.) A cake fried in lard. A 
 favorite delicacy with the Dutch, and also with their descendants in 
 New York. There are various kinds, as doughnuts, crullers, &c. 
 
 The table was always sure to boast of an enormous dish of balls of sweetened 
 dough, fried in hog's fat, and called doughnuts or olyko&ks. — Knicherbocker^ s 
 Ntw York. 
 
 On. This word is much used where the English use in; as, " I met 
 him on the cars," or " a steamer." " He lives on Broadway." 
 
 Once. As soon as; if. 
 
 Once the planters in the vicinity of Port Royal find that the Union troops are 
 established there in such force as to insure their protection, their faith in seces- 
 sionisni will give place to a keen appreciation of their own interests. — iV. Y. 
 Herald, Nov. 16, 1861. 
 
 Once and again. Occasionally; sometimes. A Southern phrase, 
 equivalent to "once in a while." 
 
 On Eend, i. e. on end. Excited; astonished; enraged. 
 
 One-Berry. The Indian turnip, so called in Connecticut; also called 
 J ack-in-the- Pulpit, which see. 
 
 One-Horse. In the West, by an obvious agricultural figure, this term 
 is applied to any thing small or diminutive, as a " one-horse bank," 
 a '■'-one-horse church," meaning a little bank or church. So the 
 phrase " one-horse lawyer " is applied to a mean, pettifogging fellow. 
 A clergyman, deprecating the use of such expressions as " confound 
 it," called them '* one-horse oaths." 
 
 Every State in the Union should rigidly proscribe and prohibit the establish- 
 ment of the wild-cat and one-horse banking concerns wliich have produced so 
 much mischief, and brought discredit on all banking institutions. — New York 
 Sun. 
 
 On Friday last, the engineer of a fast train was arrested by the authorities of 
 a one horse town in Dauphin County, Pa., for running through tlie borough at a 
 greater rate of speed than is allowed by their ordinances. Having neglected, 
 however, to give publicity to these ordinances, they could not impose any fine; 
 and their discomfiture was aggravated by the malicious excuse of the engineer, 
 that "he didn't know there was a town there! " — ( Wash.) Evenimj Star, 1858. 
 To see how he liked pork and pone flavored with wa'nut saplin,' 
 An' nary social priv'lege but a one-hoss, stam-wheel chaplin. 
 
 Lowell, The BUjlow Ptt2)ers. 
 
 Professor Goldwin Smith, writing of University extension in 
 England, says: — 
 
440 
 
 ONH— ONT 
 
 "There is 6ne mode of extension against which transatlantic experience 
 emphatically protests, — the multiplication of universities. The effects of the 
 " one-horse university " system in the United States and Canada have been ruin- 
 ous to high education and to the value of degrees. 
 
 On Hand. At hand, present. A colloquial expression, borrowed from 
 the shop, in frequent use. 
 
 The anti-Sabbath meeting, so long talked of, has at length taken place in 
 Boston. About three hundred females were on hand. — N. Y. Express. 
 
 If our numerous subscribers and the public will be on hand about 5 o'clock 
 this evening, we can give them the European papers by the " America," containing 
 doubtless the most critical intelligence ever transmitted to this country. So be 
 ready. — Burgess, Stringer, <f Co., 222 Broadway. 
 
 We appeal to every man who has a right to vote in New Hampshire, but 
 especially in the 1st and 2d districts, to be on hand next Tuesday to cast hia 
 ballot for Peace, Prosperity, and Freedom. — N. Y. Tribune, March 10, 1849. 
 
 A broker from Wall Street was on hand at the meeting, and tried to pray, but, 
 from want of practice, could only utter disjointed sentences about the money 
 market, &c. — Doesticks. 
 
 Onhitch. To pull trigger (of. Spanish disparar). 
 
 Onplush, for nonplus. Used in the Southern States. 
 
 You know I tuck dinner at the Planters. Well, I was put a leetle to the on- 
 plush by that old nigger feller that waits on the table there. I did not know 
 what to make of him. — Major Jones's Courtship, p. 63. 
 
 Yt.-^^-'-t^ Onst (Pron. wunst.) A common vulgar pronunciation, especially in 
 'CJL^ ^^^i^'r West. And so twiste for " twice." The same pronunciation is 
 
 ^ '' sometimes heard from Englishmen. 
 
 On the Coast. Near, close at hand. A nautical expression, in com- 
 mon use in Nantucket. 
 
 Onto. A preposition bearing the same relation to on that into does 
 to in. Although used here much more frequently than in England, 
 it is not peculiar to America. 
 
 When the stack rises two feet high, to be conveniently forked onto from the 
 ground. — Marshall, Rural Econ., Yorkshire, Vol. II. p. 14'4. 
 
 Mr. Pickering quotes the following as the only example he has 
 seen in an American book : — 
 
 Take all your cigars and tobacco, and in some calm evening carry them onto 
 the common. — Dr. B. Waterhouse, Lecture on Tobacco. 
 
 In descriptions of m.achinery, &c., the term is in very general use. 
 
 The improvement consists in casting a boss of soft metal onto the metallic 
 tu\)Q. — Patent Office Report for 1854, Part I. p. 480. 
 
 The nature of this invention consists in the use of a spring clamp, &c., by 
 means of which the back of the shoe is securely held while being pulled onto the 
 foot of it. — Ibid., p. 533. 
 
ONY—ORG 
 
 441 
 
 On Yesterday. A corruption in common use among editors and con- 
 gressmen, who seem to have forgotten that yesterday is an adverb 
 as well as a noun. 
 
 It was the intention to send in the Treasury Report, which has been so long 
 delayed, on yesterday. — N. Y. Tribune, Jan. 9, 1852. 
 
 I supposed that the house listened to the remarks of the gentleman from Texas 
 on yesterday ; and therefore it is not necessary for me to relate the points he 
 made. — Speech of Mr. BrooJcs, July 7, 1852. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, when I arose on yesterday, it was my intention merely to explain 
 my position, &c. — Speech of Mr Quitman, Dec. 18, 1856. 
 
 Oodles. Abundance. " Oodles of money." Plenty of money. Ten- 
 nessee. 
 
 Opening. In the Western States, a term applied to thinly wooded 
 spaces without underwood, so called to distinguish them from the 
 forests which are thickly wooded. These openings are generally 
 covered with small oaks. 
 
 Accordin' to the Bible, God put the first man and woman together in a most 
 beautiful garden, in which all things excellent and pleasant was to be found, — 
 some such place as these openings, I reckon. — Cooper'' s Oak Openings, p. 225. 
 
 Opinuated. Opinionative, conceited. — Sherwood^ s Georgia. 
 
 Opossum. (Virginia, Ind.) An opassom hath a head like a swine, 
 and a taile like a rat, and is of the bignesse of a cat. Under her 
 belly she hath a bagge wherein she lodgeth, carrieth, and suckleth 
 her young. — Smithes Generall Historie of Virginia^ B. ii. p. 27 
 (1627). See Possum. 
 
 Here is likewise that singular animal called the opossum, which seems to be 
 the wood-rat mentioned by Charlevoix, in his History of Canada. — Guthrie's 
 Geography. 
 
 Ordinary. Euphemistic for homely, plain, not handsome. Connecticut. 
 
 A lady accidentally conversing with a gentleman, unknown to her by name, 
 said of him as well as to him what he did not forget: "I hear Mi*. B. is an 
 extraordinary ordinary man." 
 
 In the West, we hear or ^nary used for mean ; as, " He 's an or ''nary 
 fellow." 
 
 Oregon Grape. Frequently mentioned by explorers in Oregon. The 
 name of the plant which yields it is not given. 
 
 Organic. Which organizes into a political, legislative, or social 
 body; as, the organic law of a Territory or State. A word which 
 has recently come into very common use. 
 
 The powers of the corporation of Washington are only those which are con- 
 ferred by the organic law, the charter. — Message of AI ay or of Washington^ 
 May 26, 1857. 
 
442 
 
 ORP— OUT 
 
 Orphanage. An institution for the care of orphans; an orphan 
 asylum. 
 
 Measures have been adopted for the establishment of a Presbyterian orphan^ 
 age in Philadelphia. — Boston Journal. 
 
 Ortolan. See Bobolink. 
 
 Osage Orange. (Madura aiirantiaca.) A native of Missouri and 
 Arkansas. It has been much used of late years for farm and 
 garden hedges; and, when grown singly, is one of the most remark- 
 able of small trees. Its orange-like foliage is so brilliant, and its 
 erratic luxuriance of growth so extraordinary, that it is difficult to 
 realize that plants of the same tree can be confined within the 
 formal limits of a narrow hedge. — Scott, The Suhurhan Gardoier, 
 480. 
 
 This tree is better known beyond the Mississippi by its French 
 name of Bois d^arc, where it was used by the Indians for their 
 bows. See Bois d^Arc. 
 Oswego Tea. (Monarda didyina.) A medicinal plant prepared by 
 
 the Shakers for its aromatic and stomachic properties. 
 Ouch! Oh! ah! An exclamation of pain. Much used at the South. 
 Ought. 1. As this verb is defective, and has no inflection to distin- 
 guish past from present time, illiterate persons often attempt to 
 supply the deficiency by the use of auxiliaries. Hence the expres- 
 sions, donH ought, had ought, hadnH ought. Mr. Pegge notices the 
 two last among the vulgarisms of London. 
 
 Now, you hadn't ought to be so stingy with such charming daughters as 
 you 've got. — Major Jones's Courtship, p. 67. 
 
 Peter Cram is an impostor and ignoramus, and you hadnH ought to have rec- 
 ommended him. — Knickerbocker Mag., Vol. XVIII. 
 
 "The luggage must be brought in," said the elderly gentleman. "Yes, I 
 should think it had oughter,'' observed the young man in reply. "I should 
 bring it in, if it was mine." — Mrs. Clavers's Forest Life, Vol. I. p. 96. 
 They call the man unfortunate who ruins half the cit}"-, — 
 In m}' day 'twas his creditors to whom we gave our pity. 
 But, then, I tell my daughter. 
 Folks don't do as they 'd ough'-ter. 
 
 From the Olive Branch. 
 
 2. A vulgarism for naught, as an arithmetical word; zero. 
 
 Out, adj. "The wind is out" (outward, comes from the sea). 
 Connecticut. 
 
 Out, n. 1. A person not having position or office. "The outs wish 
 to be ins, and the ins do not wish to be ow^s." — Newspapers Siud 
 familiar usage. 
 
OUT— OVE 
 
 448 
 
 2. Unfavorable condition or feeling; the being " out of humor." 
 Mrs. H. B. Stowe. See In. 
 To out. To " out the candle " means, at the South, to put out the 
 candle. 
 
 Outen. Miss Bobbet and Josiah Allen's wife call upon Horace 
 Greeley, of whom the former was a great admirer: — 
 
 Betsy took a bottle of hartshorn outen her pocket, and advanced onto him, 
 and says she, in tender, cooin* tones, " Does your intellectual head ache V Let 
 me bathe that lofty forwerd. And oh ! dearest man, will you give me a lock 
 of your noble hair." — Betsy Bobbet, p. 393. 
 An' since the whole trade has grown easy, 'twould be eas}' enough, I 've a whim, 
 If you was agreed, to be makin' an editor out-en of Jim. 
 
 Carlton, Farm Ballads, p. 85. 
 
 Outer. Out of. " Whar are you from outer? " is a common expres- 
 sion in Kentucky and the neighboring States, meaning. Where ao 
 you come or hail from ? 
 
 Outfit. Allowance to a public minister of the United States, on gomg 
 to a foreign country, which cannot exceed a year's salary. — Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 In the Far West and on the Plains, every thing is an outfit, from a railway 
 train to a pocket-knife. It is applied indiscriminately, — to a Avife, a horse, a 
 dog, a cat, or a row of pins. — McClure, Rocky Mountains, p. 211. 
 
 Out of Fix. Disarranged; in a state of disorder. Out of kilter is 
 used in the same sense. 
 
 The week was the longest one ever was. It seemed to me that the axletree of 
 the world wanted greasin', or somethin' or other was out of fix, for it didn't 
 seem to turn round half so fast as it used to do. — Major Jones'' s Courtship, p. 80. 
 
 Out of Whack. Out of repair, as machinery, &c. Virginia. 
 Outsider. A term applied by those in office, or in any association, to 
 tho.se outside of it. 
 
 A large number of outsiders have gone to the free-soil convention at Buffalo. — 
 Lowell .Tournal. 
 
 Out West, Out South, instead of West and South. 
 
 Over, for under. In these expressions, " He wrote over the signature 
 of Junius; " " He published some papers over his own signature." 
 A few of our writers still countenance this unwarrantable innovation; 
 but the principle on which it is defended would unsettle the whole 
 language. The use of the word under, in phrases like those above 
 mentioned, is as well established as any English idiom. — Pickering. 
 
 Had our friend U., of Philadelphia, duly meditated this matter, he never 
 would have sent us a letter with such an unpoetical expression in it as the very 
 common blunder of " over the signature," for the metaphorical phrase originally 
 
444 
 
 OVE 
 
 derived from the ensign of the soldier, the device of the knight, the armorial 
 bearing of the baron, the totem, if you please, of the Indian sachem, under 
 which he presents himself to the world. U., as a lawyer, must at least be more 
 or less familiar with the phrase, "given under my hand and seal," as a true 
 English idiom, albeit the hand and seal (which in this instance constitute " the 
 signature") are placed at the bottom of the document. We do not talk of a 
 vessel sailing "over" the flag of the United States, when her ensigns are sent 
 below at sunset! — N. Y. Lit. World. 
 
 Over, for by. " They left Boston for New York oyer the Provi- 
 dence Railroad." 
 
 Over and above, 1. Tolerable; middling. " How are you to-day ? " 
 " So so, not oDer and above well." 
 " How did your crop turn out ? " 
 
 "Well, not over^n aftoue good," said Tappermine. — Habberton, The Barton 
 Experiment, p. 125. 
 
 2. Exceedingly; very. " I don't think our friend Phineas is over 
 and above scrupulous as to how he makes his money." " He 's not 
 over and above pious." 
 
 Overcrop. A planter or farmer is said to overcrop himself when he 
 plants or " seeds " more ground than he can attend to. 
 
 Overcup White Oak. See Burr Oak. 
 
 Overly. Excessively. "Is old man Boone rich?" "Why, not 
 
 overly so." Western. 
 To overrun. To run over. 
 
 Economy, Rupp's community near Beaver, was lately overrun by a delighted 
 traveller, &c. — Y. Tribune, June 16, 1849. 
 
 Overslaugh. (Dutch, overslag.) 1. A bar, in the marine language 
 of the Dutch. The overslaugh in the Hudson River, near Albany, 
 on which steamboats and other vessels often run aground, is, I 
 believe, the only locality to which this term is now applied among 
 us. 
 
 2. A skipping over. 
 
 Samuel Woodworth, author of the well-known song of " The Old 
 Oaken Bucket," in a poem upon " Old New York," thus refers to 
 the Hudson River overslaugh : — 
 
 To visit Albany or Troy 
 
 Was quite an enterprise ; 
 In Tappan Zee the wind was flawy, 
 
 And billows oft would rise. 
 And then the overslaugh alone 
 
 For weeks detained a few : 
 Steamboats and railroads were unknown, 
 When this old house was new. 
 
 New York Post, March, 1877. 
 
OVE 
 
 445 
 
 To overslaugh. (Dutch, overslaen, and from the verb.) To skip 
 over, pass over, omit. A word used by New York politicians, to 
 signify that the direct line of elevation in office is not observed, 
 and especially when an ' ' outsider ' ' is appointed over the heads of 
 those already in office. 
 
 Mr. Polk intended making General Butler commander-in-chief, and to drop 
 General Scott. But it was found that public opinion would not be reconciled to 
 overslaughing Taylor, and he [General Taylor] Avas nominated. — Washington 
 Correspondent, N. Y. Com. Adv., Oct. 21, 1846. 
 
 The attempt to overslaugh officers entitled to rank in the highest grade in the 
 service is about to be repeated in a somewhat different way in a lower grade, 
 and we desire to call attention to the facts. — N. Y. Courier and Enq., Oct., IS-tS. 
 
 If the conspiracy of the Calhounites with a few doughfaces of the North to 
 overslaugh him [BentonJ succeeds, it will render him the stronger in Missouri, 
 and make his re-election to the Senate more certain. — N, Y. Tribune, Dec. 20, 
 1849. 
 
 The Boston Herald," April 8, 1877, in speaking of a bill 
 before the Legislature of Illinois, to control the operations of the 
 " bummer element " at primary political meetings, says: — 
 
 The law is to be available . . . for giving primary meetings more dignity and 
 importance, and encouraging the better class of voters to come out without fear 
 of being overslaughed by the rowdy elements of the community. 
 
 Over-smart. Smart to excess ; very capable. Connecticut. 
 
 Over Street, for across the street. New York. 
 
 To overture. To propose. A word in common use in the Presby- 
 terian Church, in speaking of laying a subject before an ecclesias- 
 tical body for its consideration. 
 
 Over the Left. An expression used to give to the words it accom- 
 panies a meaning directly opposite to that which they would other- 
 wise have. Common in England. 
 At a county court held in Hartford, Sept. 4, 1705, 
 
 Whereas James Steel did commence an action against Bevel Waters (both of 
 Hartford), in tliis court, upon hearing and tryall whereoff the court gave judg- 
 ment against the said Waters (as in justice they think they ought), upon the 
 declaring the said judgment the said Waters did review to the court in March 
 next, that being granted and entered, the said Waters, as he departed from the 
 table, said, ''God bless you over the left shoulder.'''' 
 
 The court ordered a record thereof to be made forthwith. 
 
 A true copie : Test Caleb Stanley, Clerk. 
 
 At the next court. Waters was tried for contempt, for saj'ing the words recited, 
 "so cursing the court; " and, on verdict, fined £b. He asked a review at the 
 court following, which was granted; and, pending trial, the court asked counsel 
 of the Rev. Messrs. Woodbridge and Buckingham, the ministers of the Hartford 
 churches, as to "the common acceptation " of the offensive phrase. Their reply 
 constitutes a part of the record, and is as follows : — 
 
446 
 
 OWD— PAC 
 
 We are of opinion that these words, said on the other side to be spoken by 
 lievol Waters, include [1] prophaneness, by using the name of God, that is holy, 
 with such ill words whereto it was joyned ; [2] that they carry great contempt in 
 them, arising to the degree of an imprecation or a curse, the words of a curse 
 being the most contemptible that can ordinarily be used. T. Woodbhidge. 
 
 March 7, 1705-G. T. Buckingham. 
 
 The former judgment was affirmed on review. This, it is 
 believed, is the earliest instance of the use of this phrase to be 
 met with, at least in this country. 
 
 "Cette putain qui ne vous aime 
 Que de yauche et pour le profit," 
 
 are the first two lines of an epigram (of which the remainder will 
 not bear transcription), in Le Parnasse Satyrique (1611). 
 Owdacious, for audacious. Southern and Western. 
 
 He had a daughter Molly, that was the most enticin', heart-distressin' creature 
 that ever made a feller get owdacious. — Robh, Squatter Life. 
 
 Why, Major, you wouldn't take such a likely gall as that to New York ? The 
 abolitionists would have her out of your hands quicker than you could say Jack 
 Robinson. I v/as never so owdaciously put out with the abominable abolitionists 
 before. It was enough to make a man what wasn't principled agin swearin' 
 cuss like a trooper. — Major Jones's Travels. 
 
 Own up. To confess ; to make a clean breast. 
 
 Oyster-Fish. See Toad- Fish. 
 
 Oyster-Shucker. An oyster-opener. Southern. 
 
 P. 
 
 Paas. (Pron. paws, with s hard.) (Dutch, Paasch.) This Dutch 
 name is commonly applied to the festival of Easter, in the State 
 of jSlew York. 
 
 Paas Bloomachee, i. e. Easter flower. (Narcissus pseudo-narcissus.) 
 Not the Pasque Flower of botanists, but the common Yellow Daffo- 
 dil. The Calla is frequently called Easter Lily. 
 
 Paas Eggs. Hard-boiled eggs cracked together by New York boys at 
 the Easter season. They are often dyed of various colors in boil- 
 ing. 
 
 To pack. To transport in packs or packages; and hence simply to 
 carry. " Are you going to pack that rock all the way home ? " said 
 to a person who had secured a bit of stone containing a fine fossil. 
 Western. 
 
 We reached Bull Creek about two o'clock, and there gave the mules some rest. 
 Just before reaching it, Joe killed an antelope, of which we had seen several. We 
 
PAD— PAL 
 
 447 
 
 packed the hams and shoulders to camp. — T. A. Culbertson, in Fifth Smithson. 
 Report, p. 91. 
 
 Paddle. 1. A wooden instrument with which negroes are punished, 
 shaped like the paddle of a canoe, with holes bored through the 
 blade. See Cohb. 
 
 2. A paddle-wheel. " The steamer's paddles were torn away by 
 the floating ice." 
 
 To paddle. To punish; to beat with the sticks of a paddle. 
 
 All the starving, paddling, and pickling in the world will not insure good crops, 
 N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 His master had paddled to death three of his fellow-slaves. — Newbern Cor. 
 of The Independent, May 15, 1862. 
 
 To paddle one's own Canoe. A figurative Western phrase, mean- 
 ing to make one's own way in life, to be the architect of one's 
 own fortunes. Comp. the French proverbial saying: " II conduit 
 bien sa barque." 
 
 Voyager upon life's sea, 
 
 To yourself be true ; 
 And, where'er your lot may be, 
 
 Paddle your own canoe. 
 
 Leave to Heaven, in humble trust, 
 
 All you will to do ; 
 But, if you succeed, you must 
 
 Paddle your own canoe. 
 
 Harper's Magazine, May, 1854. 
 
 Pain-Killer. A nostrum made at Providence, R. 1., by Perry Davis 
 & Son, which has a world-wide fame. It is as popular in India, 
 China, Japan, and throughout Europe, as it is in the United 
 States. 
 
 Paint. In some of the Southern States, a horse or other animal which 
 is spotted is called a paint. 
 
 Painter. A corruption of panther. The popular name of the cougar or 
 panther. See Puma. 
 
 " You don't know the way," said Obed : " snakes '11 bite ye ; there 's painters 
 in the woods, and wild-cats and owls." — Margaret, p. 27. 
 
 Pair of Stairs. An expression often used for a flight of stairs. Found 
 in Evelyn's Diaiy, June 10, 1640. 
 
 Palace Car. An elegantly fitted car or railway carriage now intro- 
 duced on most of our railways: they are also called drnioing-room 
 cars. They were finst introduced by Mr. Pullman of Chicago, and 
 for a time were called Pullman cars. 
 
448 
 
 PAL 
 
 Beauty in distress may recline on the sofas of a palace car all the way [from 
 Halifax to San Antonio], nor leave one palace for another, but under the shelter 
 of a station. — E. E. Hale, Adventures of a Pullman, p. viii. 
 
 Pale-Faces. A term applied, or said to be applied, by the American 
 
 Indians to the whites. See Ball-Face. 
 
 " Yes," muttered the Indian, " the pale-faces are prattling women ! They have 
 two words for each thing, while a red-skin will make the sound of his voice speak 
 for him." — Coojjer, Last of the Mohicans. 
 
 The brave Tecumseh's words are good: 
 " One league for terror, strife, and blood, 
 Must all our far-spread tribes unite; 
 Then shall the paleface sink to night." 
 
 Colton, Tecumseh, xviii. 
 But, Yengee, hear: The pale faced strangers came; 
 
 No runners told us that they trod our shores : 
 Near the big waters rose their council flame, 
 And to it ran our Eastern Sagamores. 
 
 Durfee, Whatcheer, Canto IV. xxxv. 
 Palm. (Pron. paum.) To smutch with the hands. New England. 
 Palmateer. See Parmateer. 
 
 Palm Cabbage. The young terminal bud or sprouting leaf of the Areca 
 oleracea and of some other palms, used as a culinary vegetable when 
 sufficiently tender. 
 Palmetto. {Chamoerops palmetto.^ A perennial plant strongly mark- 
 ing climate. It commences in the same regions with Long Moss ; 
 that is to say, about 33°. It throws up from a large root, so tough 
 as to be cut with difficulty by an axe, and hard to be eradicated 
 from the soil, large, fan-shaped palms, of the most striking and 
 vivid verdure, and ribbed with wonderful exactness. It is used by 
 the savages and the poorer Creoles as thatch for their cabins ; and 
 from the tender shoots of the season, properly prepared, a very use- 
 ful kind of summer hats, called palmetto hats, is manufactured. — 
 Flint, Geogr. of Miss. Valley. 
 
 When they came to the river which the Governourhad passed, they found Pal' 
 mitos vpon low Palmetrees like those of Andaluzia. — HaMuyt, Virginia Richly 
 Valued (1609), p. 30. 
 
 Of all the trees that is, or ever were. 
 
 None to the straight Palmeta may compare. 
 
 Hardie, Last Voyage to Bermudas (Lond. 1671), p. 9. 
 
 Palmetto City. The city of Augusta, the capital of South Carolina; 
 so called from the arms of the State, which contain a palmetto. 
 
 In the delightful temperature of to-day, with the rich foliage of the trees in 
 green luxuriance, and the perfumes of a thousand bedstof flowers burdening the 
 air, ih.^ Palmetto capital is exceedingly pleasant. — Letter from Charleston, N. Y. 
 Tribune. 
 
PAL— PAN 
 
 449 
 
 Palmetto State. The State of South Carolina. Uuring the lato 
 civil war, the soldiers from the State were called " Palmetto Boys.''^ 
 March, march on, brave Palmetto Boys, 
 
 Sumter and Lafayette, forward in order; 
 March, march, Calhoun and Rifle Boys, 
 All the base Yankees are crossing the border. 
 
 Charleston Mercury, 1861, War Song. 
 
 Palmilla. See Soap-Plant. (Sp. palmilla is a sort of bluish cloth.) 
 
 Pandowdy. Food made of bread and apples baked together. — Worces- 
 ter. New England. Halliwell gives Pandoulde as the Somerset 
 name for a custard. See Slump and Pan-Pie. 
 
 Panel-House or Panel-Den. A house of prostitution and theft com- 
 bined. 
 
 Panel-Thief. A thief who, while the victim is engaged with a girl of 
 the town, enters the room by a secret opening, and abstracts his 
 money, watch, &c. 
 
 Pan-Handle. A part of Western Virginia, so called from its shape ; 
 the Pan-handle running up like a wedge between Pennsylvania 
 and Ohio. There is also a Pan-handle district in Texas. 
 
 So they whirled relentlessly across the Pan-Handle, by which domestic name 
 that funny strip of Western Virginia is known that shoots up like an inverted 
 icicle between Pennsylvania and Ohio. — Hale, Adv. of a Pullman, p. 30. 
 
 Panier. (French. A basket; a hoop petticoat.) A frame-work of 
 steel or whalebone worn by ladies for the purpose of expanding their 
 dresses ; also called a tournure and a bustle. 
 
 How queer to my sight are the fair promenaders. 
 
 When bright afternoons bring them out to my view? 
 
 The ribbons, the flounces, the tangled-up dresses. 
 
 The balmoral stocking, and heel-lifted shoe ! 
 
 The high-towering chignon, the pot-lid hitched to it; 
 
 The back-hair turned up where the waterfall fell; 
 
 The cotton device — those things I '11 not mention — 
 
 And e'en the plump j9a«ier that makes such a swell, — 
 
 The wonderful /xmier, the flip-flappy /earner, 
 
 The ex-bustle panier, that makes such a swell ! 
 
 New York Mail, The Panier in a Windy Day. 
 
 Panning or Panning out. A term employed by gold miners to denote 
 the process by which grains of gold are separated from the earth 
 with which it is mingled. The earth with water is put in a pan 
 and then shook, when the gold sinks to the bottom. 
 
 The [Mexican] greasers went panning up the hill, and found what Avas the rich- 
 eflt pocket that the region has yet produced. — Mark Twain, Roughing It, p. 438. 
 
 We mingled freely with the miners, and witnessed the process of cleaning up 
 and panning out, which is the last process of separating the pure gold from the 
 fine dirt and black sand. — Gen. Sherman's Memoirs, Vol. I. p. 53. 
 
 29 
 
450 
 
 PAN— PAR 
 
 Pan-Pie. Same as Pandowdy^ which see. 
 
 Pantaloonery. The particular description of fabrics from which pan- 
 taloons are made. A word used by the merchant tailors in their ad- 
 vertisements. " Cotton pantaloonery very active." — Prices Current. 
 Pants. Pantaloons; in England, generally called trousers. A word 
 borrowed from the language of tailors' bills. 
 
 The things namQ& jxints in certain documents, 
 A word not made for gentlemen, but gents. 
 
 Holmes's Poems, p. 217. 
 
 Papaw. (Asi7mna triloba.) A wild, fruit-bearing shrub of the Annona 
 family, remarkable for its beauty; also called Custard Apple. The 
 fruit is nutritious, and a great resource to the Indians. " The pop- 
 ular name of Papaw," says Gray, in his " N. Amer. Genera," " was 
 doubtless given to the fruit from a fancied resemblance in the 
 appearance or taste of the fruit to the true Papaw of tropical Amer- 
 ica." By the French of Upper Louisiana and the Canadas called 
 Assiminier (Michaux, North Am. Sylva, Vol. II. p. 33), whence 
 the name of the genus Assune-minnar., stony fruit. The fruit con- 
 tains several large triangular stones. The plant is also noted for 
 the pliability and toughness of its twigs, well known as substitutes 
 for parts of broken harness. The papaw of the tropics (Carica 
 papaya) is a very different plant. See Melon Fruit. 
 
 Poor Jeff Davis, 
 His low grave is 
 Made beneath ajimv-jjaiv tree: 
 He is laid out, 
 He is played out 
 On the land and on the sea. — Vanity Fair. 
 Paper City. A town plot. Said of cities in embryo, the names of 
 which are put in maps and plans with their streets, public places, 
 &c., laid down and named, the work of speculators who hope, by 
 these displays, to attract settlers. See City. 
 Pappoose. Among the native Indians of New England, a babe or 
 young child. — Roger Williams. It is applied by the whites to 
 Indian infants in general. 
 
 Where the Indian squaw hung her young pappoose upon the bough, and left it 
 to squall at the hush-a-by of the blast, the Anglo-Saxon mother now rocks the 
 cradle of her delicate babe. — Dow's Sermons. 
 Pappoose-Root. (Caulophyllum thalictroides.) A plant called also Blue 
 Cohosh. 
 
 Parbuckle. (Marine.) A rope arranged to draw casks up cellar steps 
 
 or an inclined plane. 
 Pard. Much used in California for partner 
 
PAR— PAS 
 
 451 
 
 Parish. In Louisiana, a parish is what, in other States, is called a 
 county. 
 
 To parmateer or palmateer. To electioneer; evidently a corruption 
 oi parliamenteer, to electioneer for a seat in parliament. This term 
 is very common in the State of Rhode Island, beyond which I think 
 it does not extend. 
 
 Our people talk a great deal about emancipation; but they know it's all 
 bunkum, and it serves to palmateer on, and makes a pretty catchword. — Sam 
 Slick, Human Nature, 175. 
 
 Particular. To express indifference, they say in Pennsylvania, " It 's 
 not particular,^' instead of "No matter ; " sometimes, "It makes 
 no matter." 
 
 Partly. Mr. Pickering notices the use of this word in the sense of 
 nearly, almost, in some towns of the Middle States. " His house is 
 partly opposite to mine," i.e. nearly opposite. "It is jjartly all 
 gone," i. e. nearly all gone. 
 
 Partridge-Berry. A name applied both to Gaultlieria procumbens, or 
 Creeping Wintergreen, and to Mitclie.lla repens. The scarlet fruit 
 of both is similar in appearance, highly flavored in the former, but 
 tasteless in the latter. In some parts of New England, it is known 
 as the Pigeon-berry. 
 
 To pass a Dividend. When the directors of a bank, insurance com- 
 pany, railway, or other corporation, vote against declaring a dividend, 
 it is CdllQd passing it. 
 
 We have corruption in railway inanagement, finesse in telegraph and steam- 
 ship lines, stock-watering by the hundred millions, legislative rohh^vy, j^assing 
 of dividends, — every artifice of capital working under high pressure. — Medhery, 
 Men and Mysteries of Wall Street, p. 212. 
 
 " assage. Enactment; the act of carrying through all the regular 
 forms necessary to give validity; as, the passage of a law, or of a 
 bill into a law, by a legislative body. — Webster. Mr. Pickering 
 says this word " is criticised by the English reviewers as an Ameri- 
 can innovation." It is not in the English dictionaries in this 
 sense. 
 
 His agency in procuring the passage of the Stamp Act was more than sus- 
 pected. — Hosack. 
 
 Po pass in one's Checks is to adjust one's accounts at the end of a 
 
 game of poker, whence it has become at the West a slang term for 
 settling the final account of life. It is with reference to the latter 
 that John Hay sings : — 
 
 How Jim Bludsoe passed in his checks 
 The night of the Prairie Belle. 
 
452 
 
 PAS— PAT 
 
 When the California miner called upon a clergyman to perform 
 the funeral ceremonies of Buck Fanshaw, he used the peculiar lan- 
 guage of the region, which was quite incomprehensible to the 
 revei-end gentleman : — 
 
 " You see," said the miner, " one of the boys has passed in his checks, and we 
 want to give him a good send off; and the thing I 'm now on is to roust out some- 
 body to jerk a little chin-music for us, and waltz him through handsome." — 
 Murk Twain, Rouyhiny It, p. 332. 
 
 A New York paper, in alluding to the protracted illness of Commodore Vander- 
 bilt, said the reporters and interviewers were waiting for him to "^ass in his 
 checks.''^ 
 
 Passion-Flower. {Passijiora.) A genus of tendril-bearing vines, 
 most of whose species are South American. The early missiona- 
 ries fancied that they found in these flowers emblems of the imple- 
 ments of Christ's passion: the fringe representing the crown of 
 thorns; the large anthers fixed by their middle, hammers; and the 
 five styles, the nails. We have two wild species, latea and incar- 
 nata, common in the South and West. — Gray. The plant bears 
 edible fruit, called grenadillas, &c. 
 
 Patentable. That may be patented; for which a patent can be taken 
 out. 
 
 Patent Agent. One who procures patents for inventors. 
 
 Patent Right. A patent. In the United States, an inventor takes 
 
 out a '■'■patent right ; " in England, " letters-patent." 
 Patent-Safe Game or Operation. A system of trickery, by means of 
 
 a small box made for the purpose, practised in our large cities or? 
 
 verdant gentlemen from the country. 
 
 General Scott, by a sort of patent safe or Peter Funk operation, diddled out oT 
 
 his ten thousand, or did Santa Anna try the trick merely to get a little reaiy 
 
 money for the uses of ihe defensiv^e garrisons of Mexico, or how was it? — N. Y. 
 
 Herald, Sept. 1, 1857. 
 
 Patent-Safe Operator, A rogue who plays the " patent safe game." 
 Little Toddlekins arrives about this hour, escorted by his female guard of honor, 
 with a wonderful hat, all feathers and ribbons, and his little legs cased in stock- 
 ings of the most brilliant hues. The guard of honor takes possession of a bench 
 not too far from a flashy-looking man with a black moustache, who is probably 
 Sipatent safe operator, and with whom she presently falls into conversation. — 
 N. Y. Tribune, Nov. 3, 1858. 
 
 Patroon. (Dutch, patroon, a patron.) A grantee of land to be set- 
 tled under the old Dutch governments of New York and New 
 Jersey. 
 
 The following articles, from the "Freedoms and Exemptions" 
 granted to the Dutch West India Company, will show what were 
 some of the privileges of the Patroons : — 
 
PAT— PEA 
 
 453 
 
 Art. 3. All such shall be acknowledged Patroons of New^Tetherland, who shall, 
 within the space of four years next after the_y have given notice to any of the 
 Chambers of the Company here, or to the Commander of the Council there, under- 
 take to plant a colonic there of tifty souls, upwards of fifteen years of age; one 
 fourth part within one year, and within three years of the sending of the first, 
 the remainder, to the full number of fifty persons, to be shipped from hence, on 
 pain, in case of wilful neglect, of being deprived of the privileges obtained, &c. 
 
 Art. 5- The Patroons, hy virtue of their power, shall and may be permitted, 
 at such places as they shall settle their colonies, to extend their limits four miles 
 along the shore, that is, on one side of a navigable river, or two miles on each 
 side of a river, and so far into the country as the situation of the occupiers will 
 permit, &c. 
 
 Art. 8. The Patroons ma}', if they think proper, make use of all lands, rivers, 
 and woods lying contiguous to them, for and during so long a time as this com- 
 pany shall grant them to other Patroons or particulars. 
 
 For a further account of the privileges of the Patroons^ see O' Calla- 
 han's " History of New Netherland," Vol. I. p. 112. 
 Patroonship. The office of a patroon. 
 
 The great Oloffe indulged in magnificent dreams of foreign conquests and great 
 patroonships in the wilderness. — Irving^ Knickerbocker. 
 
 Pauhagen or Pohagen. See Menhaden. 
 
 Pay-Dirt. Auriferous earth sufficiently rich to pay the miner for his 
 labor in extracting the metal. 
 
 There was pay-dirt back in the hills, but it didn't pay to carry it down to the 
 river and wash it out by any ordinary process. — Ross Browne., Adventures in the 
 Apache Country^ p. 77. 
 
 The bubble burst, and Gila City which came up like a mushroom was deserted, 
 and all that was left to mark the spot where pay-dirt had been found was mud 
 chimneys and rubbish. — Cozzens's Marvellous Country., p. 203. 
 
 Pay-rock is the term applied to quartz or other rock that will pay 
 for mining. 
 
 In California, and most other mines of the precious metals, shafts must be sunk 
 hundreds of feet before pay-rock can be obtained. — McClure, Rocky Mountains. 
 
 To peach. To reveal a secret to the injury of another; to expose one. 
 
 Hotten defines it, " to inform against or betray." — Slang Die. 
 
 The " N. Y. Herald," May 4, 1876, commenting on the order of 
 General Grant in reference to General Custer, says : — 
 
 This action is on a par with the President's course in issuing a circular to all 
 witnesses against Babcock and Joyce and McDonald, warning them that they 
 should not expect mercy if they peached. 
 
 When "Boss Tweed" was brought back to New York (Nov., 
 1876), it was intimated that he was in possession of some great 
 secrets, which, if made known, would reflect upon the character of 
 certain leading politicians. A writer in the " N. Y. Tribune" 
 asks: — 
 
 Do 3'ou think Tweed will peach on his friends ? 
 
454 
 
 PEA 
 
 Peach-Butter. Stewed peaches. 
 
 Peach-Leather. Peaches boiled, rolled out, and dried in the sun. 
 Apples served in the same way are called apple-leather. 
 
 Pea-Coal. The smallest-sized coal of commerce; nut coal. It is 
 obtained from sifting the larger sizes. Its market value is below 
 that of larger size. See Coal. 
 
 Peage or Peak. Shells, or strings of shells, formerly used by the 
 Indians of New England and Virginia, as well as among the early 
 settlers, as money; also called vmnipum and seaivan, which see. 
 
 No one shall take any black pea/ye of the Indians but at foure a penny; and, if 
 any shall take black j^e-CKje under four a penny, hee shall forfeitt sayd peafje, one 
 halfe to the informer and the other halfe to the State. — Laws of Rhode Island, 
 1648. 
 
 The Indians [of Virginia] had nothing which they reckoned riches before the 
 English went among them, except j)eak, roenoke, and such like trifles, made out 
 of the cunk shell. — Beverly's Viryinia (1705). 
 
 The current money of all the Indians in Carolina, and, I believe, of all over the 
 continent as far as the Bay of Mexico, is that which we call peak and ronoak. 
 This is that which they in New York call wampum. — Lawson's Carolina (1718). 
 
 On the Virginia coast is found that species of conch shell which the Indian 
 2)ea'k is made of. The exti'emities of these shells are blue and the rest white, so 
 that/>en^• of both these colors are drilled out of the same shell, serving the natives 
 both for ornament and money, and are esteemed by them beyond gold and silver. 
 W estover Papers, p. 12. 
 
 To peak or peke. To peep. It is quite common in the popular lan- 
 guage of New England to hear this word, which Dr. Webster sup- 
 poses to be the same as peep. If it be a corruption, which is 
 doubtful, the examples will show that its use is not modern. 
 
 Now whereof he speketh. 
 
 He cryeth and he creketh. 
 
 He pryeth and he peketh. — Skelton, Colin Cloute, Vol. I. p. 312. 
 That other pries and7?e^-es in everie place. — Gascoigne (1577), p. 301. 
 He's a lazy, good-for-nothin' fellow. He's no better than a j^eaHw^r mud- 
 sucker. — Margaret, p. 20. 
 
 The convent committee visited the city of Worcester, and inspected the Catholic 
 Seminary. The members of it behaved in such an undignified, ludicrous, jt)ee/j- 
 ing, bombastical manner, that they obtained the appellation of the "smelling 
 committee." — Worcester Transcript, April, 1855. 
 
 As once my dazzled eyes I set 
 
 Where Julia's neck and bodice met, 
 She asked what I was seeking. 
 
 " There — that," said I : " is that Nankeen ? 
 The lining of your waist, I mean." 
 
 "No, sir! " said she, " that 's Pekin ! " 
 
 Tribune Almanac^ 1855. 
 
PEA— PEC 
 
 455 
 
 Peaked. Thin and emaciated, as from sickness. HoUoway says that 
 in England they say of a sickly person, " He looks pale and peaked.^' 
 The same expression is often heard in the Northern States. 
 
 But there was a lawyer a standing vip by the grove, lookin' as peaked and as 
 forlorn as an unmated coon. — Sam Slick inEnyland, ch. 11. 
 
 Peaky or Peeky. Sickly-looking; peakish. 
 
 The species of decay to which the cypress-tree is liable shows itself in detached 
 spots in close proximity to each other. Timber aflected in this way is denomi- 
 nated by raftsmen peeky. — Dickeson on Cypress Timber. 
 
 Twistleton and his wife dined at Kent House last night. She is looking j^eaky 
 from a cold, but otherwise well. — Ticknor^s Life and Letters, Letter from Sir 
 E. Head, Vol. II. p. 429. 
 
 Pealer. 1. A dashing, go-ahead person or thing; a rouser. 
 
 Miss Asphyxia's reputation in the region was perfectly established. She was 
 spoken of with applause as a staver, a pealer, a roarer at work. — Mrs. Stowe, 
 Oldtown Folks, p. 117. 
 
 2. A policeman. See Peeler, 
 
 Peanut. The common name for the fruit of the Arachis hypogcea. It 
 is also called Ground-nut and Earth-nut, from its growing under 
 ground. 
 
 The Negroes of Florida call them pinders. In Texas and Louisi- 
 ana, they are known as goobers, ground-peas, and goober-peas. See 
 Goohej's. 
 
 The indigenous Mexican name is Cacahuatl. 
 
 That man who has good peanuts. 
 
 And will give his neighbors none, 
 He shan't have any of my peanuts. 
 
 When his jjeanuts are gone. 
 
 College Songs, Hamilton, p. 143. 
 
 Pearl Tapioca. A common factitious tapioca made from potatoes. 
 Dunglison^s Med. Diet. 
 
 Peart. See Peert. 
 
 Pea-Time or Pea-Pickin'. " She looks like the last of pea-pickin'," 
 means that she is all run down, faded, sickly: we all know how 
 unsatisfactory and poor the last peas are. 
 
 Pecan-Nut. (Carya olivceformis.) A tree of beautiful form and 
 appearance, useful for building and for making rails. Its nut is 
 long, cylindrical, and olive-shaped, with a shell comparatively soft. 
 The meat lies in two oblong lobes, is easily taken out entire, and 
 excels all other nuts in delicacy of flavor. — Flinty Geogr. of the 
 Miss. Valley. 
 
456 
 
 PEC— PEE 
 
 Peccary. (Dicofyles ) The native American hog, common in South 
 AnK'rica, but found also in Central America, and as far North as 
 New Mexico and Texas. In its habits, it is closely allied to the 
 common hog; its gait is the same, it roots up the earth in a similar 
 manner, and expresses its feelings by the same disagreeable grunt. 
 It differs from it mainly in having under the skin on the middle of 
 the loins a gland which secretes a fluid of a very offensive smell. 
 
 Peckerwood. Western for Woodpecker. 
 
 Peculiar Institution. Negro slavery, so called as being peculiar to 
 the Southern States. 
 
 The dangers which at present threaten the peculiar domestic institutions of the 
 South make it necessary that all strangers- from the North should be examined 
 and their business ascertained. — South Carolina Gazette. 
 
 Urgent appeals were sent to the sympathizers of Senator Douglas in Missouri 
 to attend and do honor to the champion of the peculiar institution at the meeting 
 in Quincy, Illinois. — N. Y Tribune, Oct. 19, 1854. 
 
 Peeler. 1. A crab just before shedding and becoming soft, when his 
 shell is loose, so that it can he, peeled off with the fingers, is called 
 peeler. It is the favorite bait for salt-water fishing, in Maryland 
 and Virginia; being attractive to all kinds of fish, from the minute 
 crocus up to rich bay perch, the high-flavored rock, the sea trout, 
 and the gigantic drum fish. 
 
 2. A term sometimes given policemen. So called from Sir Robert 
 Peel, originally applied to the Irish constabulatory force, which was 
 established by Sir Robert Peel. — Did. of Slang. 
 
 The vigilant eyes of the j^eeZers, placed on the turnpike for the purpose, arrested 
 several young men for fast driving. — Providence Press. 
 
 To peel it. To run at full speed. " Come, boys, peel it now, or 
 you '11 be late." 
 
 Peert or Peart. Brisk ; lively. An old word, still provincial in some 
 parts of England, and probably a corrupt pronunciation of pert. 
 The phrase, " peert as a lizard," is sometimes heard. It is used 
 in a good as well as a bad sense, and especially of one who is recov- 
 ering, or "looking up," after a fit of sickness. In Virginia, they 
 say the wind blows quite joeer^, i. e. briskly. 
 
 Be modeste in yche assemble, and rather be rebuked of light felowes for 
 maideii-lyke shamefastnes, than of yowr sad friends for j9ert?-fe boldnes. — Sir 
 Philip Sidney, Letter in Life and Times qf', Boston, 1859, p. 11. 
 
 Give your play-gull a stoole, and my lady her foole, 
 
 And her usher potatoes and ir)arrow ; 
 But your poet, were he dead, set a pot on his head, 
 
 And he rises as peart as a sparrow. — Bibl. Brit., II. 167. 
 I gave her the best bend I had in me, and raised my bran-new hat as peert 
 and perlite as a minister. — Mobb, Squatter Life. 
 
PEE— PEM 
 
 457 
 
 That fellow must think we were all raised in a saw-mill, he looks so peert 
 whenever he conies in. — Hoffman, Winter in the West. 
 
 Mary's Y\tQpiert, and her child is making a monstrous good beginnin' in the 
 world. — Major Jones's Courtship, p. 200. 
 
 Well, I starts off pretty considerable peert and brisk, considering I was weak. 
 Carlton, The New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 178. 
 
 Knocking round the place, I came upon one of these fellers that grinds music 
 out'n a mahogany box. He had a little monkey along, — the peartest, least bit 
 of a critter you ever seed. — Widow Bayly's Husband. 
 
 Now she 's what I call a gal, — ez pretty and plump as a quail; 
 Teeth ez white ez a hound's, and they 'd go through a ten-penny nail; 
 Eyes that can snap like a cap. So she asked to know " whar I was hid ?" 
 She did ! Oh, it 's just like her sass, for she ''s, peart ez a Katy-did. 
 
 Bret Harte, LuTce. 
 
 Peet-Weet, Pewit. (Tringoides jnacularius.) The spotted Sandpiper 
 or Sandlark of ornithologists, but better known among the people 
 by the name of Peet-weet, in allusion to its note ; or of Teeter and 
 Tilt-up or Tip-up, from its often repeated grotesque jerking motions. 
 
 Peevy. A strong lever of wood, the heavier end bound with an iron 
 ring and armed with a pike. About eighteen inches from that end 
 is a second ring, to which is attached a cant-hook. Used by lumber- 
 men in " breaking jams," and to lift and roll lumber. The name 
 comes from Peevy, its inventor. 
 
 Pee-Wee. The name given by boys to a little marble. Algonkin 
 (Pewe, peawe), small, little. — Cotton'' s Vocab. 
 
 Peg. " To take one down a peg " is to lower him in the estimation of 
 another; or, to use another slang expression, "to take the starch 
 out of him." 
 
 To peg away. To be industrious; to keep at work continuously; to 
 make persistent efforts. 
 
 Pegged out. Used up; to be reduced to impotence or beggary. 
 
 Pekan. (Mai'tes Canadensis.) The Algonkin name of the Fisher; 
 Abenaki, Pekane. — Rasles. Called also Woolyneag and Wood- 
 shock, q. V. 
 
 Pelican State. The State of Louisiana. 
 
 Pelt. To throw. " He pelted me with snow-balls." A blow. — Grose. 
 Used only in familiar language, and chiefly by boys. 
 
 Pembina. The fruit of the Viburnum edule, which Michaux and 
 Gray regard as a variety of the V. opulus, or Cranberry Tree of 
 Maine and Canada. So called by the voyageurs, who have given 
 its name to many rivers and lakes of the North. It is the nipiminam 
 
458 
 
 PEM— PEO 
 
 (i. e. water-berry) of the Crees. — Sir J. Richardson^ Arctic Boat 
 Voyage, Vol. II. p. 298-9. 
 Pemmican. A far-famed provender of man, in the wilds of North 
 America, formed by pounding the choice parts of the meat very 
 small, dried over a slow fire or in the frost, and put into bags made 
 of the skin of the slain animal, into which a portion of melted fat 
 is then poured. The whole, being then strongly pressed and sewed 
 up, constitutes the best and most portable food for the " voya- 
 geurs,^^ and one which, with proper care, will keep a long time. Fifty 
 pounds of meat and forty pounds of grease make a bag of pemmi- 
 can. Sweet pemmican is another kind, made chiefly of bones. — 
 Dunnes Oregon, p. 59. See Mackenzie's Voyage, cxxi-ii. In the 
 far-distant regions of the North-west, the Indians make a Jish 
 pemmican, composed of dried fish pounded and mixed with sturgeon 
 oil. — Hind, Canadian Red Rioer Exp. o/1857. Vol. I. p. 487. 
 
 While we were discussing our usual dinner of hard dried-meat and jyemmican, 
 a hunter burst into the room with the glad tidings that he had killed a moose. — 
 Back, Arctic Journal. 
 
 If pemmican be the order of the dav, the lean meat, after being dried, is 
 pounded into dust, and, being put into u bag, is enriched with nearly an equal 
 weight of fat. — Sir G. Simpsoti's Journey, Vol. I. p. 92. 
 
 A correspondent of the " New York Post," Sept. 29, 1877, says: — 
 
 The Hudson's Bay Co. send buffalo flesh in the shape of jjemmican and dried 
 meat to nearly every fort in the territory. It forms the food of thousands of 
 voynyeurs in their employ, their rations being confined to pemuiican and tea. 
 
 Penny. A cent. See Copper. 
 
 Pennyroyal. 1. This very English name is given in this country to 
 a different plant, although the color and taste of both are nearly 
 alike. The true English pennyroyal is a mint; the American is 
 Hedeoma pulegioides. 
 
 2. Used as an adjective to designate very common stock, as a 
 pennyroyal steer or bull. Western. 
 
 Pent-Way. A road, not public, and generally kept closed. A few 
 such ways remain in New England. * 
 A pent-way with a turn-stile and gate at each end. — Calkins, Hist. Norwich. 
 
 Peon. (Span.) A day-laborer. These laborers are very often bond- 
 men for debt; which, as Gregg describes, is thus brought about. 
 " They labor for fixed wages, it is true; but all they can earn is 
 hardly sufficient to keep them in the coarsest clothing, and pay their 
 contingent expenses. Men's wages range from two to five dollars a 
 month, and those of women from fifty cents to two dollars, in pay- 
 
PEO— PER 
 
 459 
 
 ment of which they rarely receive any money, but instead thereof 
 articles of apparel and other necessaries at the most exorbitant 
 prices. The consequence is that the servant soon accumulates a 
 debt which he is unable to pay, his wages being often engaged a 
 year or two in advance. Now, according to the usages, if not the 
 laws of the country, he is bound to serve his master until all arrear- 
 ages are liquidated ; and is only enabled to effect an exchange of 
 masters by engaging another to pay his debt, to whom he becomes 
 in like manner bound." 
 
 " If I was going far into Mexico," said the guide, " I would always hire a 
 Mexican fellow to go with me, so I could dress mean and make him do all the 
 business, so I would be thought to be his peon.'''' — Olmsted^ s Texas, p, 33G. 
 
 The whole town was in an uproar, and no one seemed to know what it was 
 about. At length, it was ascertained that one of the herders was a^^eon, and a 
 man wished to seize and imprison him till he could l>e restored to his original 
 state of servitude. — Captain Whipple's Explorations to the Pacific, p. 62. 
 
 Peonage. The system of treatment pursued towards the laboring 
 
 classes in Mexico. 
 Pepperidge. (Ni/ssa muUiJlora.) A name given in the South and 
 
 West to the Black or Sour Gum, also called Tupelo. It has a very 
 
 tough wood, which is difficult to split. 
 
 Periauger. (Span, piragua.) 1. A canoe formed of one large tree. 
 
 Getting into a perio<jue, I paddled oft" to a part of the Green River where there 
 was sand and clay. — W. Irciny, WolferVs Roost, p. 2G9. 
 
 At night, the barges [of the British] were heard rowing up and down the 
 river on mysterious errands; perriauyers also paid them furtive visits occasion- 
 ally. — Irviny's Washinyton, Vol. II. p. 272. 
 
 Our skipper rowed to an oyster-bank just by, and loaded his periauya with 
 oysters. — Westover Papers, p. 13. 
 
 This word is frequently corrupted to petti/auger. 
 
 On the 8th, the French crossed the Missouri in a pettyauyer, the Indians on 
 floats of cane, and the horses were swam over. — Du Pratz, Louisiana, Vol. I. 
 p. 108. 
 
 2. A small schooner without a bowsprit, and with a lee-board, 
 formerly much used in the waters of New York and New Jersey. 
 
 Steamboats, lighters, periauyers, scows, clam-boats, and nondescript water- 
 witches of every sort, have arrived hourly fmrn quarantine, loaded with almost 
 entire villages of men, women, and children [German and Irish emigrants]. — 
 N. Y. Commercial Advertiser. 
 
 Perk. Lively; brisk; holding up the head. — Webster. This old 
 word, still provincial in England, is used in the interior of New 
 England, and is commonly pronounced peark (the ea as in pear). 
 Pickering. See Peert. 
 
4G0 
 
 PER— PES 
 
 Pernickity. Fastidious, over-particiilar. Heard in some parts of 
 
 New England- 
 Persimmon. (Virginia-Indian. Diospyros Virginiana.) This tree is 
 unknown in the north-eastern parts of our country; but south of 
 latitude 42° it is found throughout the United States. It varies 
 exceedingly in size, being sometimes sixty feet in height, with a 
 trunk twenty inches in diameter, but more frequently does not 
 attain half these dimensions. The fruit is about an inch in diam- 
 eter, and is powerfully astringent wlien green ; but, when fully ripe, 
 the pulp becomes soft, palatable, and very sweet. The wood is 
 very hard, and is used for large screws, mallets, shoe-lasts, wedges, 
 &c. In clearing the forests, the persimmon is usually preserved ; and 
 it is probable that the quality of the fruit might be improved by 
 cultivation. — Encyclopcedia Americana. 
 
 " The longest pole knocks down the persijnmons,^' is a proverbial 
 saying, meaning that the strongest party gains the day. 
 
 Plums there are of three sorts. The red and white are like our hedge plums; 
 but the other, which they call Putchamins, grow as high as a Palmeta, the fruit 
 is like a Medler, it is first green, then yellow, and red when it is ripe. If it be 
 not ripe, it will draw a man's mouth awry, with much torment; but, when it is 
 ripe, it is delicious as an apricot. — Smith'' s Virginia (1632), Book II. 
 
 Fersimenas, and other dainty fruits. — Description of New Albion, (1648). 
 Putchiinon, Pitchumon, or Persimon. — Clayton, Flora Viryinica (1743), p. 43, 
 156. 
 
 My worthy friends, to make sure of happiness, you must be honest, kind to 
 one another, and cling to the belief in a better world to come like a " possum to 
 di persimmon tree." — Dow's Sermons, Yo\. II. p. 292. 
 
 Persimmon Beer. A kind of domestic beer whose principal ingre- 
 dient is persimmons. 
 Pert End up. Better; more cheerful. — Sherwood^ s Georgia. 
 Peskily. Confoundedly; very; extremely. I know not the origin of 
 this Xew England word. 
 
 Skeered, says he, sarves him right; he might have known how to feel for 
 other folks, and not funkify them so peskily. — Sam Slick in Enyland. 
 I 'm peskily sorry about that mare. — Ibid., ch. 28. 
 
 The post-office accounts were the next bother; and they puzzled all on us 
 peskily. — Major Doivniny^s Letters, p. 139. 
 
 Pesky. 1. Plaguy, confounded. 
 
 I found it [looking for houses] a pesky sight worse job than I expected. 
 Downiny, May-day in New York, p. 36. 
 
 Orphy should have been at home long ago, if that ^JesZ:^ wheel hadn't come 
 off his Avagon. — Fanny Fern. 
 
 A couple of Yankee girls put a bullfrog in the hired man's bed, to see if they 
 couldn't get him to talk. Daniel threw the frog out of the window, and never 
 
PET 
 
 461 
 
 said a word. Soon after, he put a half a bushel of chestnut-burrs in the girls' 
 bed ; and about the time he thought they Avould make the least shadow, Daniel 
 went to the door and rattled the latch furiously. Out went the candle, and in 
 went the girls; but they didn't stick, though the burrs did. Calling on them, he 
 begged them to be quiet, for he only wanted to know if they had seen any 
 thing of that pesky bullfrog. He'd a gin five dollars to find it. — Ntwspnper. 
 
 2. Confoundedly, excessively. 
 
 Don't be so pesky starch. I'll be dod-fetched if I meant any harm. I only 
 spoke of the caltj and you went a streak higher and talked of the garter. — Sam 
 Slick, Human Nature, p. 195. 
 
 I wonder how he 's on 't for face-cards ; ha ! ha ! So 2>e^ky slow, we shan't get 
 through to-night. — Marcjaret, p. 305. 
 
 The thing of it is, people has got to be so pesky proud and polite. — Ibid., p. lil. 
 
 To peter. To run up a thing at an auction sale. Petering is by- 
 bidding. 
 
 To peter out. To exhaust ; to run out. 
 
 The speculator recommended a gentleman, Avho held stock in the Consolidated 
 Virginia, to sell out at any sacrifice, as the mines were petered out. — Boston 
 Post, May 5, 1876. 
 
 The influence of the Hon. , formerly a Democratic politician of some 
 
 prominence, seems to have <\m.tQ petered out. — N. Y. Tribune, Feb. 28, 1877. 
 
 Peter Funk. At the petty auctions, a person is employed to bid on 
 articles put up for sale, in order to raise their price. Such a person is 
 called a Peter Funk ; probably from such a fictitious name having 
 frequently been given when articles were bought in. At the " mock- 
 auctions," as they are called in New York, this practice of having 
 by-bidders is carried to a great extent; and strangers, unacquainted 
 with their tricks, are often cheated by them. Grose describes a 
 person similarly employed in England, under the name of " puffer." 
 
 The Peter Funk of New York is a small-souled pickpocket; he does not 
 exactly cut through your coat or pants, but under specious pretences he induces 
 3'ou to hand over your purse to him, thus virtually making a cat's paw of your 
 owniist; he steals your cash, but does it under a flimsy show of business; he 
 inveigles you into an offer, and then either sells you one article and delivers you 
 another which is inferior, or multiplies the price you have offered and the quan- 
 tity you engaged to take. — Tricks and Traps of New York City. 
 
 Pet Lamb. A cant term for a Zouave, which see. 
 
 A Pet Lamb astonishes the Secessionists. The Richmond papers tell of a Fire 
 Zouave who was caught and taken to Fairfax. — N. Y. Tribune, 18G1. 
 
 Petticoat-Trowsers. Trowsers very short, but of great width, worn 
 by fishermen. Massachusetts. 
 
 Petticoat-trowsers of striped linsey-woolsey, the leg short and loose, were a 
 customary article of e very-day dress among the common people. — Connecticut 
 Records. 
 
462 
 
 PET— PIC 
 
 To pettifog. Some newspaper writers use this verb transitively, in 
 the sense of to advocate in the manner of a pettifogger; as, " He 
 pettifogs his client's cause." 
 
 That was the work of the traitors whose case "The Express " thus skulkingly 
 pettifixjs. — N. Y. Tiibune. 
 
 Pewit or Pewee. See Phoebe-Bird and Peet-Weet. 
 
 Pheasant. The popular name in some of the States for the " ruffled 
 grouse." 
 
 Pheese. A fit of fretfulness. A colloquial, vulgar word in the 
 United States. — Worceste?\ The adjective pheesy, fretful, queru- 
 lous, irritable, sore, is provincial in England. — Forb/j. Also writ- 
 ten /ee2:(?, which see. 
 
 Philadelphia Lawyer. " That beats a Philadelphia lawyer." "He 
 knows as nmch as a Philadelphia lawyer." These are common 
 sayings, whence it is to be inferred that the bar of the Quaker city 
 are distinguished for their learning and shrewdness. 
 
 Phillipena. See FiUipeen. 
 
 Philosophy. Purpose, method, and means of attaining a desired end; 
 mode of operation; intent. The philosophy of it is," &c. 
 
 Phoebe-Bird. (Sayornis fuscm.) The Pewit or Pewee, so called from 
 a fanciful resemblance in the name to the sound made by this bird. 
 
 Another of the feathered visitors who follow close upon the steps of winter is 
 the Pewit, Peewee, or Phoebe-bird. — Irvinff, WolftrVs Roost, p. 31. 
 
 Pi and Pe. A weight (a poise) as of steelyards. New London, Con- 
 necticut. 
 
 Picacho. (Span., augmentation of pico, peak.) A prominent peak or 
 elevation rising abruptly above a mountain or chain of mountains. 
 They are common landmarks in New Mexico and Arizona. 
 
 Almost due north of the Sierra Verde lies the picacho of the Sierra del Babu- 
 quibari, one of the orographical phenomena of the country, its peculiarity being 
 such as to iittract especially the attention of the red men. — SchotVs Geological 
 Obs. Mexican Boundary, p. 70. 
 
 The march before us must be made, and the sooner the picacho was reached 
 the better. — Bartlett, Personal Narratice, 1852, Vol. II. p. 287. 
 
 Picayune. The name for the Spanish half-real in Florida, Louisiana, 
 &c. See Federal Currency. 
 
 Picayune or Picayunish. Sixpenny; and hence small, mean. 
 
 There is nothing picayune about the members of St. George's [Cricket] Club; 
 for the love of sport, they will almost invariably enter upon matches tiiat other 
 clubs would not accept. — N. Y. Herald. 
 
PIC 
 
 463 
 
 " Wall, mister," he said, " it 's your business, not mine; but I know something 
 of that boat. She belongs to that darn picayunish old coon, Jim Mason, and he '11 
 run her till she sinks or busts up, and then God help the crowd " — Notes on 
 Canada, &c., Blackwood's Mag. 
 
 Pick. In mercantile usage and among manufacturers, a pick is a 
 tiiread. The relative quality of cotton cloth is denoted by the 
 number of picks it has to the inch. 
 
 To pick. In the South, to pick the banjo or guitar means to play 
 upon these instruments. Comp. the French p)incer. 
 
 Pickaninny. (Span, pequeno nino, little child.) Generally applied to 
 a negro or mulatto infant in the Southern States. Negroes apply 
 the same term to white children. 
 
 I jest sauntered in as he was puttin' up the pickaninny yaller gal, about five 
 years old. — Robb, Squatter Life. 
 
 You can't be too warm, nor too guarded your head, 
 
 To 'scape the mosquito's whim ; 
 And a nice pickaninny that 's been well fed 
 
 Is a capital meal for him. — Ethiopian Melodies. 
 
 Pickerel Weed. (Pontideria cordata.) An aquatic plant bearing a 
 spike of blue flowers, common on the roadsides and in ditches in the 
 Middle States. 
 
 Pickery. " Cotton presses and pickeries." Alabama. 
 
 Pickings and Stealings. The perquisites of office, not always hon- 
 estly obtained ; alike common in England and in the United States. 
 
 There is an Irish M. P. here, — a certain O'Shea, — who tells me there are a 
 variety of things [appointments] to give in the West Indies, with what he calls 
 pickings^ — meaning, I suppose, stealings. Why not look for one of these V — 
 C. Lever, One of Them, ch. xv. 
 
 Pickle. 1. To apply brine to sores made by whipping. See Paddle. 
 2. To tear, or cut and cook, small pieces, as to pick up salted 
 codfish. New England. To hace a rod in pickle is to have ready or 
 in preparation the means of checking or punishing one who has 
 done an injury. 
 
 Pick-up. A pick-up dinner, called also simply a pick up, is a dinner 
 made up of such fragments of cold meats as remain from former 
 meals. The word is common in the Northern States. 
 
 The Queen regretted that she could not invite me to stay to dinner, cause 'twas 
 washin' day in the palace, and they only had a pick-up dinner. — Major Down- 
 ing in London. 
 
 You tell Miss Astor from me that she needn't make no fuss about dinner at all. 
 I will eat a picked-up dinner. I had just as lives as not. I didn't come down here 
 to put her out or make any trouble. — Betfy Bobbet, p. 302. 
 
464 
 
 PIC— PIK 
 
 To pick up a Room is to put it in order. New England. 
 
 To piece. To eat pieces of bread and butter, to eat between meals. 
 
 " He hasn't eaten much dinner, because he 's been a piecin' on 't all 
 
 the mornin'." Pennsylvania. 
 Pie-Plant. Rhubarb. {Rheum rhaponticum.) 
 Piert. Brisk, lively. See Peert. 
 Pig- Fish. See Sea-Robin. 
 
 Pig-Nut. (Carya porcina.) A small species of hickory nut. The nuts 
 
 bitter and unpalatable. 
 Pig-Plum. See Hog-Plum. 
 
 Pig- Weed. A rank weed often found about pig-sties. 
 
 Pig's Whistle. " I'll do so in less than a pig''s whistle,^^ that is, in 
 
 less than no time. Pig^s whisper occurs in "Pickwick" in the 
 
 same sense. 
 
 Pigwick. A small species of duck, very numerous in the coves and 
 rivers of the eastern shore of Maryland. It has remarkably red 
 eyes, feeds on fish, keeps near the shore, and is a great diver. 
 
 Pig- Yoke. Among seamen, the name for a quadrant, from its resem- 
 blance to a pig-yoke. 
 
 Pigeon-Berry. See Partridge-Berry. 
 
 Pigeon-Roost. 1. The social and gregarious habits of pigeons incline 
 them to roost together, and their places of resort are called pigeon- 
 roosts.^^ In these places, they settle on all the trees for a considera- 
 ble distance round, in such numbers as to break olf the branches. — 
 Flint^s Mississippi Valley. 
 
 We 've more to do than fright a Plrjeon-Roost, 
 Or start a timorous Flock of Running Deer. 
 
 Major R. Royers, Ponteach (Lond., 1766), p. 60. 
 The pigeon-roost in Decatur County, Indiana, extends over a distance of 
 twenty -eight miles ; it is about fourteen miles wide. The birds have not nested 
 at this roost for thirty years until this spring. Over this vast extent of country 
 every tree has from ten to fifteen nests, and every nest at least one bird. The 
 young are now hardly able to fly, and the shooting is mere slaughter. The old 
 birds leave early in the morning in search of food, and return in the evening. — 
 ( Washington) States, May 15, 1858. 
 
 2. A multitude. " A whole pigeon-roost of undreamed-of fancies." 
 Mrs. H. B Stowe in The Independent. 
 Pigeon Woodpecker. See Clape. 
 
 Pike. The name given in California to the migratory Southern poor 
 whites, said to have originated from the supposition that the first 
 of the class came from Pike County, Missouri. Next the name was 
 
PIL 
 
 465 
 
 applied to all emigrants from Missouri, and finally to all poor people 
 from the Southern States. 
 
 The true " PiX-e, however," writes Mr. Nordhoff, " in the Cali- 
 fornia sense of the word, is the w^andering, gypsy-like. Southern 
 poor white. This person often lives with his family in a wagon ; 
 he rarely follows any steady industry ; he is frequently a squatter on 
 other people's lands ; ' he owns a rifle, a lot of children and dogs, a 
 wife, and, if he can read, a law-book,' said a lawyer, describing this 
 character to me; he moves from place to place, as the humor seizes 
 him, and is generally an injury to his neighbors. He will not work 
 regularly; but he has a great tenacity of life, and is always ready 
 for a law-suit. . . . When it was proposed to build a school-house 
 in a village where there was none, the Pikes objected, on the ground 
 that the ringing of the school-house bell would scare the deer away. 
 ' As soon as he hears a piano,' said an old resident, ' the Pike sells 
 out and moves away. . . . Well, the Pike is the Chinaman's enemy. 
 He does little work himself, and naturally hates the patient indus- 
 try of the Chinese. Of course, if you ask him, he tells you that he 
 is ' ruined by Chinese cheap labor.' " — California^ p. 137. 
 
 i*ile. 1. (Dutch, pyl.) An arrow. This word is still retained by the 
 boys of New York. 
 
 2. A term first used at the gaming-table, and next by our Cali- 
 fornia adventurers, signifying a quantity of money. Hence, "to 
 make one's pile " is to make one's fortune. The term seems to be 
 the revival of an old one used by Dr. Franklin in his ' ' Poor Rich- 
 ard's Almanac " for April, 1741, where he says: — 
 
 Rash mortals, ere you take a wife, 
 
 Contrive your jnle to last for life. 
 Alanthus Bug was planted in the world as a pedler of peanuts, then gradually 
 grew into a grocery man, then budded into a broker, and next into the full blos- 
 som of a banker; and now, by the closest economy, he has amassed a million, 
 and can point to his pile with proud satisfaction, and say, " Alone I did it! " — 
 Cairo, City Times 
 
 Since writing to you last, I have returned from Fraser River to San Francisco, 
 having been gone about four months. During this time, with my own hands I 
 dug S25 worth of gold dust, and my expenses were about $300; however, I have 
 clung to the "/n7e," and intend to keep it as a memorial of my trip. — T,eMe,r in 
 N. Y. Tribune, Oct. 25, 1858. 
 
 See Make one^s Pile. 
 
 Pill. 1. A conceited man; a bore. Cant. At Yale College, it means 
 a silly, disagreeable fellow. 
 
 2. A bullet or cannon-ball. Cant. 
 
 30 
 
466 
 
 PIL— PIN 
 
 Pill-Bottle. A bottle for holding pills. In cant, a fire-arm. 
 
 We almost vowed that the champagne made as much noise as the reports )f 
 
 Uncle Sam's '■'■jnll-bottles.''^ 
 
 Pillow-Slip. A pillow-case. New England. 
 
 Pimping. Little, petty; as, " A pimping thing. — Skinner. Used in 
 the interior of New England. 
 
 " Was I little ?" asked Margaret. "Yes, and pimpin' enough. And I fed 
 your marm with rue and conifrey-root, or ve never 'd come to this."' — Marrjartt, 
 p. 19. 
 
 Pimplo, I. e. Pin-Pillow. The name given in Barbadoes to the 
 Prickly Pear. 
 
 Pinch. To be in a pinch is to be in a tight place; to be hard up for 
 money. Western. 
 
 Pinders. Peanuts. South Carolina. 
 
 Pindling. Unthrifty; becoming gradually weaker. 
 
 Pine-Barrens. A term applied to level, sandy tracts, covered with 
 pine-trees in the Southern States. — Worcester. 
 
 The road which I had to travel lay through a drear}"- and extensive forest of 
 pine-trees, or, as it is termed by the Carolinians, a pine-barren, where a habita- 
 tion is seldom seen, except at intervals of ten or twelve miles. — Lan>i>trt'i 
 Travels, Vol. II. p. 226. 
 
 Pine-Knot. A knot of the pitch-pine tree (Pinus rirjida), which, 
 when biu'ned, gives a bright light. These knots were much used 
 by the early settlers of New England, and are still used by the 
 Negroes and poorer classes in the South. 
 
 'Twas on the inner bark stripped from, the pine, 
 
 Our Father pencilled this epistle rare : 
 Two blazing y;me-A;fto^s did his torches shine, 
 Two braided pallets formed his desk and chair. 
 
 Durfte, Whatcheer, Canto II. Ixi. 
 
 The pilot stopped the engines. Flash ! from the depths appeared two great 
 pine-lcnot torches, which, with the pine-fire on shore, made the whole as light as 
 day. — E. E. Hale, Adv. of a Pullman, p. 111. 
 
 Pine-Nut. The edible nut contained in the cones of pine. See Pinion. 
 
 Pine-Top. A name given in Maryland to common whiskey. 
 
 Pine-Tree Money. Money coined in Massachusetts in the seventeenth 
 century, and so called from its bearing a figure resembling a pine- 
 tree. — Wehsler. 
 
 Pine-Tree State. The State of Maine. 
 
 Pinery. In the Western States, a place where pine-trees grow, or a 
 forest of pines. A Wisconsin paper, in speaking of emigration, 
 says : — 
 
PIN 
 
 467 
 
 We have noticed squads of hardy suckers from Illinois, with their baggage 
 slung upon their backs, making their way due north for the 2)ine7-ies. 
 
 One cannot Avell imagine what that forest of timbers cost from the time they 
 were felled in the joineries beyond Washoe Lake. — Mark Tivain, Roughing It, 
 p. 379. 
 
 The early thaw has stopped logging business throughout the Wisconsin piner- 
 ies, and no more work will be done this winter. — PhUadelphia Ledger. 
 
 Ever since the first settlement of the West, many have followed the business 
 of running rafts from the pineries down the Mississippi. — Sketches of the West. 
 
 Piney Woods. The name given at the South to a large track covered 
 with pines, especially in the low country. 
 
 Pinion. (Span, pinon.) A species of pine-tree (Pinus eduUs), 
 growing on the head- waters of the Arkansas; common to that 
 region as well as to New Mexico, the Rocky Mountains, &c. Wild 
 turkeys frequent groves of these trees for the sake of their nuts, 
 which are sweet and palatable. Bears and other animals also feed 
 on them. The Indians, too, make much of them. See Pine-Nut. 
 
 Two species of pine grow on the mountains [of NeAV Mexico], one, the so-called 
 pinon, contains the cone's seed of small nuts, that are roasted and eaten. — Wiz- 
 litzemis, Memoir on Northern Mexico, 1847, p. 26. 
 
 Upon each side of the Zufii River are extensive forests of small cedars and 
 piUons. — Captain Whipple's Explorations to the Pacific, p. 72. 
 
 Pink-Root. (^Spigelia Marilandica.) A well-known vermifuge, the 
 plant being remarkable for its beautiful flowers. It is also known 
 as the Carolina Pink. 
 
 Pink-Stern. (French, pinque.) A vessel with a narrow stern; hence 
 all vessels so formed are called pink-sterned . — Chambers. This 
 species of craft is very common in the waters of New England. See 
 Chehacco Boat. 
 
 Pinky. {Dntoh, pink.) 1. The little finger. A very common term in 
 New York, especially among small children, who, when making a 
 bargain with each other, are accustomed to confirm it by interlock- 
 ing the little finger of each other's right hands, and repeating the 
 following doggerel : — 
 
 Pinky, pinky, bow-bell, 
 Whoever tells a lie 
 Will sink down to the bad place. 
 And never rise up again. 
 
 2. A New England vessel with bow and stern equally sharp; a 
 pink-stern. A story is told of a stranger accosting a fisherman on 
 a wharf, and pointing to a pinky, said, " Does it make any differ- 
 ence which way that boat sails?" The man replied, "It don't 
 make any difference to me." 
 
468 
 
 PIN—PIP 
 
 Pinole. (Span.) Parched corn, ground and mixed with sugar and 
 spices. This, mixed with water, is a palatable food, and is much 
 used in Texas and by parties crossing the plains. 
 
 " Give me a pack-mule," says Ross Brown, "a shot-i^un, and a sacK of pmole, 
 with such a climate [as that of the desert of Colorado], and take your brick 
 deserts on Fifth Avenue and be happy with them. — Adventures in the Apache 
 Country^ p. 49. 
 
 Pinxter. (Dutch, pinkster.) AVhitsunday. On Pinxter Monday, the 
 Dutch Negroes of New York, New Jersey, and elsewhere, consider 
 themselves especially privileged to get as drunk as they can. 
 
 Pinkster fields and pinkster frolics are no novelties to us, sir. as they occur at 
 every season; and I am just old enouf^h not to have missed one of them all for 
 the last twelve years. — Cooper, Satanstoe, Vol. I. p. 90. 
 
 Pinxter Blumachies, i. e. Whitsuntide flowers. (Dutch.) A famil- 
 iar name in the State of New York for the Swamp Honeysuckle and 
 other early flowers. 
 
 To pipe. To follow; to waylay. 
 
 It is the business of all policemen to make themselves familiar with the haunts 
 of burglars, thieves, and gamblers, to pipe or follow them, and be ready at any 
 moment to nab them in the act of crime. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Pipe of Peace. Among the North American Indians, " to smoke the 
 pipe of peace " is to cease fighting; to make peace; or, in the lan- 
 guage of the aborigines, "to bury the hatchet." See Smoke the 
 Pij)e of Peace. 
 
 To plant the tree of peace is another poetical expression of the 
 Indians, conveying the same idea. 
 
 Pipe-Layer. 1. One who lays a pipe, as a gas-pipe. 
 2. A trickster. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Pipe-Laying. This term in political parlance, means any arrangement 
 by which a party makes sure of a certain addition to its legitimate 
 strength in the hour of trial, — that is, the election. In other words, 
 to lay pipe means to bring up voters not legally qualified. 
 
 It were too long a story to tell the origin of the term at length. 
 In brief, it arose from an accusation brought against the Whig 
 party of this city (New York) some years ago, of a gigantic scheme 
 to bring on voters from Philadelphia. The accusation was made by 
 a notorious Democrat, of not very pure political character, who pro- 
 fessed to have derived his information from the agent employed by 
 the Whigs for the service. This agent had actually been employed 
 by certain leaders of the ^ATiig party, but on a service deemed legiti- 
 mate and proper in the art of electioneering. He, however, tm-ned 
 
PIP— PIT 
 
 469 
 
 traitor, and, as was alleged by the Whigs, concocted a plot with the 
 notorious Democrat to throw odium upon the Whigs. A mass of 
 correspondence was brought forward in proof, consisting mainly of 
 letters written by the agent to various parties in New York, appar- 
 ently describing the progress and success of his operations. In these 
 letters, as if for the purpose of concealment, the form of a mere 
 business correspondence was adopted, — the number of men hired 
 to visit New York and vote being spoken of as so many yards of 
 pipe, — the work of laying down pipe for the Croton water being at 
 that time in full activity. 
 
 The Whig leaders were indicted on the strength of these pseudo 
 revelations, and the letters were read in court; bat the jury believed 
 neither in them nor in the writer of them, and the accused were 
 acquitted. 
 
 The term ''^pipe-laying,'''' however, was at once adopted as a 
 synonyme for negotiations to procure fraudulent votes. — [/. Inman.'] 
 
 The result of the Pennsylvania election would not be in the least doubtful, if we 
 could be assured of fair play and no pipe-laying. — N. Y. Tribune, Oct. 30, 1848. 
 
 There is a magnificent scheme of pipe-laying and log-rolling going on in Penn- 
 sylvania. — iV^. Y. Herald, Sept., 1856. 
 
 Pipsissewa. (Chimaphila umbellata.) A popular domestic remedy, 
 much used by the Indians, and now of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia. 
 Also called Prince's Pride and Wintergreen. 
 
 Pirogue. See Periauger. 
 
 Pistareen. 1. The Spariish peseta Sevillana, or one-fifth of a dollar. 
 A silver coin, formerly common in the United States, of the value 
 of twenty cents. They have now gone entirely out of use. 
 
 2. While coming into disuse, they, worn out and defaced, depre- 
 ciated rapidly, and thence became a symbol of small-minded, penu- 
 rious men; hence, mean, little. See Picaijune. 
 
 Breeders of the best imported stock will not and ought not to sell at the prices 
 offered by our pistareen farmers. — N. Y. Observer, June 10, 1862. 
 
 Pit. (Dutch, pit, a kernel.) The stone of a fruit, as of a cherry or 
 peach. Mostly confined to New York State. 
 
 You put an apple-seed or a peach-y>i7 into the ground, and it springs up into 
 the form of a miniature tree. — Professor Bash on the Resurrection. 
 
 Pita. (Pron. peeta.) The name given to the fine fibres produced by the 
 agaves and kindred plants, used for sewiug and other delicate pur- 
 poses. The name is also applied to the plants which furnish tlie 
 fibre. The coarse fibres (like Sisal hemp) from the same family of 
 plants is called cahuya. 
 
470 
 
 PIT— PLA 
 
 Pitahaya. (Cereus giganteus.) A gigantic cactus found in New 
 Mexico, and which appears in the greatest perfection in the sterile 
 deserts bordering on the river Gila, where it reaches the height of 
 fifty and sixty feet. It bears a delicious fruit, resembling the fig in 
 taste, whence it is sometimes called the Indian Fig, which see. 
 
 Pitch and Toss. A game of pitching cents. 
 
 As soon as the affray was over, the belligerents went quietly back to old-slt-dirf". 
 seven-up, pitcJi-and-toss, chuck-a-luck, and the turkey match. — Gilmore, J/j 
 Suuthern Friends, p. 69. 
 
 To pitch in. To attack ; to abuse. 
 
 Utah and the " Latter Day Saints " are like Joseph, the youngest son of Israel : 
 all the elder brothers are pitching into him ; and the general governnieni says, 
 "Go ahead, hit him again," and poor Utah, like Joseph, takes it quietly. — 
 
 Newspaper. 
 
 Pitching Track. A term applied in the Far North-west to an Indian 
 trail from one part of the country to another. 
 
 This ridge resembled the Big Ridge of the Assinniboine, . . . our Indian guide 
 told us it extended for many days' journey. It forms the j^itchiny track at the 
 foot of the Riding Mountain. . . . West of Manitobali, the jntching track 
 follows the ridge above described. . . . This jritchinrj track is connected with the 
 Ridge pitching track. — Hitid's Canadian and Bed River Exp. of 1858, Vol. I. 
 p. 51. 
 
 Pitpan. In the West Indies and Central America, a very long, narrow, 
 flat-bottomed, trough-like canoe, with thin and flat projecting edges. 
 
 Pity. To think a pitg of a person is to take pity on him. It is a pitg 
 of one means he is to be pitied. 
 
 *' 'Tis pity of him, too," he cried; 
 " Bold can he speak, and fairly ride, 
 
 I warrant him a warrior tried." — Scott, Marmion, Canto YI. 
 
 To place. To place a person is to remember the place wliere he 
 belongs or was born. 
 
 Placer. (Span.) A locality where gold is found to exist in the 
 " dust " or scaly form. The Hispano- Americans apply the term to 
 deposits of sand formed by the action of water, the currents of 
 rivers, &c., or what geologists would call diluvium or drift. Our 
 people use the word to signify a rich mine of minerals or of any 
 thing else that is valuable. 
 
 The Homer of Chapman is so precious a gift that we are ready to forgive ^Ir. 
 Smith's [the publisher's] shortcomings, in consideration of it. It is a vast phcer, 
 full of nuggets for the philologist and lover of poetry. — Atlantic Monthly, April, 
 1858. 
 
 The Washington Market question, involving a cojitest between the State and 
 the city, furnishes a perfect jilacer in the shape of fees for some of our leading 
 lawyers. — iV. Y. Herald, May 18, 1858. 
 
PLA 
 
 471 
 
 To placer. To live together as husband and wife without marriage. 
 Louisiana (Xew Orleans). — Olmsted. 
 
 Placer-Diggings. Localities w^here gold is found scattered all through 
 the surface dirt. 
 
 Placer-Mining. See Gulch- Alining. 
 
 Plaguy Sight. This is a very common expression in the colloquial 
 language of New England, and means, a great deal. 
 
 " Squire," said Slick, "I'd a plaguy sight sooner see Ascot than any thing else 
 in England." — Sam Slick in England, ch. 19. 
 
 Plane-Tree. Another name for the Sycamore or Button-wood tree. 
 See Button- Wood. 
 
 Planing-Machine. A machine operated by steam or water-power for 
 smoothing boards. 
 
 Plank. A platform in a political sense is a constitution ; and as plat- 
 forms are literally composed of planks, so, in the same figurative 
 sense, planks are the several political principles which appertain to 
 a party. See Platform, No. 2. 
 
 Tile Free-Soil party regard evevy plank and splinter of the Buffalo platform as 
 a relic of untold value. — Providence Journal. 
 
 To plank. To lay, to put; generally applied to money: as, "He 
 planked doion (or planked up) the cash." 
 
 I've had to pl'ink down hdiWdi^omQ, and do the thing genteel; but Mr. Land- 
 lord found he Iiad no fool to deal with, neither. — Sam Slick in England. 
 
 "Why, says he, shell out, and^^^aw^ down a pile of dollars. — Ibid. 
 
 During the last war, he planked up more gold and silver to lend the government 
 than Benton ever counted. — Crockett, Tour, p. 59. 
 
 Com^, plank vp X\\e i\n. I '11 show you that Jim Borland ain't a goin' to be 
 backed oiit by mere bragging. — Southern Sketches, p 1G3. 
 
 Planked Shad. A shad nailed to a plank and roasted. 
 
 Did you ever eat a planked shadf Then you have something yet to live for, 
 — your dish of enjoyment is not yet full, until you have a shad caught tresh 
 from the water, cleaned, and crucified to an oak plank, which is held to the lire, 
 and seasoned properly with salt, pepper, and l)utter, and served up hot. It is, 
 of all fish dishes, the daintiest, richest, and most satisfactory in an appetitital 
 point of view. — B dtimore Sun, April 30, 1855. 
 
 Plank Road. A road made with a flooring of planks laid across the 
 track, a substitute for turnpikes, where timber is cheap. 
 
 Plantain. (Span, p/a/awo.) The fruit of the Musa paradisiaca, im- 
 ported from the West Indies. 
 
 Plantation. An estate appropriated to the production of staple crops, 
 as tlie sugar-cane, cotton, rice, tobacco, coffee, &c., by slave labor. 
 
472 
 
 PLA 
 
 Planter. 1. A proprietor of land in the Southern States who culti- 
 vates staple crops by slave labor. 
 
 2. In Newfoundland, a person engaged in the fishery, 
 
 3. A term applied to a piece of timber or the naked trunk of a 
 tree, one end of which is firmly planted in the bed of a river, while 
 the other rises near the surface of the water. This is the most dan- 
 gerous among the "snag and sawyer" family to which vessels 
 navigating the Western rivers are exposed. See Sncuj and Sawyer. 
 
 4. A first settler; as, " the planters of Guilford and New Haven." 
 Connecticut. 
 
 5. A first settler of Massachusetts Colony, as contradistinguished 
 from the " Pilgrim Fathers " of Plymouth Colony. 
 
 To plat. To divide into plats ; to make a plat. 
 
 When every man shall be at libert}^ to make a quarter-section of the public 
 lands his own, upon paying merely the cost of surveying, platting, and making 
 out the necessary papers. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Platform. 1. In some parts of the New England States, an ecclesias- 
 tical constitution, or a plan for the government of churches; as, the 
 Cambridge or Saybrook platform. — Webster. The same use of this 
 word is made by old English divines, and will be found in Tomson's 
 revision of the Geneva Bible, printed in 1576, as well as in later edi- 
 tions of the same, where in the head-note to 1 Corinthians, chap, ii., 
 we read, " He setteth down platform of his preaching." 
 
 Their minds and affections were universally bent, even against all the orders 
 and laws wherein the church is founded, conformable to th.^ platform of Geneva. 
 Hooker. 
 
 A Platform of Church Discipline, gathered out of the word of God, and agreed 
 upon by the elders and messengers of the churches assembled at the synod in 
 Cambridge in New England. — Title of Book printed in London, 1653. 
 
 2. Of late years, the word has got into very common use through- 
 out the country, to denote the collection of principles avowed by a 
 political party. 
 
 The people should distrust a bad man, even if put upon the best platform that 
 ever was constructed, and every plank of which could be stood upon by every 
 American citizen. In like manner, they will trust and confide in a man whom 
 they believe to be pure and honest and patriotic and capable, without regard to 
 the platform he stands upon, and without caring, in truth, whether he stands 
 upon one at all. — Lynchhury Virginian, Aug., 1858. 
 
 Playa. (Span.) A beach; a strand; a shore. In the plains and 
 deserts of the interior, a broad, level spot, where water accumulates 
 after rains, and which afterwards becomes dry by evaporation. 
 These playas are prominent features in the toporgaphy of Texas, 
 New Mexico, and Arizona. They are also called "salt lakes," 
 
PLA 
 
 473 
 
 from the nitrous efflorescence with which they are often covered 
 when dry ; and which, at a distance, leads the traveller to believe 
 they are basins of water. 
 
 We had a perfectly smooth road to the playa, which at present is a hard, 
 smooth, and apparently level area of about fifteen miles in length, by nearl}^ ten 
 in width, without a particle of vegetation. These 2)hyas^ in my opinii>n, have 
 no outlet, and are so nearly level that the rain and drain waters are spread over a 
 large surface; and there being but little absorption, and very rapid evaporiza- 
 tion, it is left smooth and baked. — Lieutenant Parke's Report of Survey for 
 Pacific R. R., Official Reports, Vol. II. 
 
 Emerging from the pass into the plain, our eyes were greeted with the sight of 
 a long, white streak, which we would have taken for a lake, had it not been called 
 the Playas. This^^^cfyri seemed to have an extent of twenty-tive or thirty miles. 
 The surface was an indurated clay, so hard that the wheels of our wagons scarce 
 made an impression. After rain, this basin receives a large amount of water, 
 which seems to evaporate before vegetation gets a foothold. — BartletVs Personal 
 Narrative, Vol. I. p. 246. 
 
 Play- Actor. A pleonastic expression for the English term player or 
 actor. It is objectionable, because the term actor is itself a techni- 
 cal word which expresses the full meaning conveyed by the com- 
 pound. 
 
 That which was Shakspeare's specialty, we mean his wonderful dramatic 
 faculty, was not discovered by himself till it became useful to him in his busi- 
 ness. For Shakspeare's avocation was that of a play-actor, and subsequentl}', as 
 a successful one, a play-house owner. — (Bait.) Sun, Nov. 12, 1858. 
 
 Play-Actorin'. The profession of performing at theatres. 
 
 Played out. Exhausted; ended; of no farther use; good for nothing; 
 used up. Equivalent to the Fr. passe. 
 
 If you happen to owe a man a bill, 
 
 And dodge it with new excuses still, 
 
 And tell him you'll pay next week, no doubt, 
 
 He 11 quickly reply, " Come, that's played out J " 
 
 Comic Sony, Played out. 
 
 The "Xew York Tribune" of Feb. 18, 1876, in an article 
 entitled " Talent taking Crime by the Hand and sharing the 
 Spoils," is very severe upon Mr. David D. Field for his defence of 
 Tweed, who plundered the city of New York of millions, and in 
 the course of its remarks says : — 
 
 There is not a criminal at large, or awaiting trial, who does not feel safer in his 
 deeds when he thinks tliat, if he can secure Mr. Field, or a man like him, justice 
 is practically "■played out.^^ 
 
 Player-Men. A player; an actor. 
 
 Accordingly, the actors are come; and the Brooklyn people, for the first time 
 ia their lives, are seeing tha player-men. — N. Y. Tribune, Dec. 30, 18G1. 
 
474 
 
 PLA— PLU 
 
 To play 'Possum. " He 's playing Opossum with you," is a common 
 expression at the South and West, and means that he is deceiving 
 you. The opossum, when attacked by a dog, pretends to be dead, 
 and thus often deceives his pursuers; hence the expression. 
 
 Thinks I, that girl is jest trying of me : 'taint no use of playiny possum. If I 
 don't fetch her out of that high grass, use me for sausage meat. — N. Y. Spirit 
 of the Times. 
 
 I will play possum with these folks, and take a rise out of them that will aston- 
 ish their weak nerves. — S. Slick, Nature and Human Nature, p. 14. 
 
 That are stranger's only playin'' possum, but he can't pull the wool over tliis 
 child's eyes : he 's got 'em both skinned. — A Stray Yankee in Texas, p. 9G. 
 
 Play-Spell. A time for play ; anmsement. 
 
 " If he has a jjlay-sjiell, how he can enjoy it! — iV. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Plaza. (Span.) A public square. A term used in California and 
 other countries, recently acquired from the Mexicans. 
 
 Plead or pled, for pleaded. It has been correctly remarked that there 
 is no such word as p>led in the English language. It is true that the 
 preterite and past participle of the verb to read is pronounced red ; 
 but there is no analogy between the two verbs, except their acci- 
 dental similarity of sound. The former is the Anglo-Saxon verb 
 rcedan, and is conjugated accordingly; whereas the latter is the old 
 French plalder, and therefore cannot admit of w^hat philologists call 
 the " strong inflexion." This vulgar mistake is often met with in 
 our reports of legal proceedings and elsewhere. But it is not of 
 recent origin, nor is it exclusively American, as is shown by the 
 following example from Spenser, furnished by Richardson : — 
 
 With him .... came 
 Many grave persons that against her jyled. 
 
 Spenser, Fairy Queen. 
 
 An old offender was caught last night in a warehouse, with a dark lantern and 
 all the other implements of his profession, and next morning innocently ple'id 
 "somnambulism," when brought before the magistrate ; having no recollection 
 of the doings of the night since he went to bed, early in the evening, and found 
 himself in the watch-house in the morning. — New York paper. 
 
 Pleasant-spoken. " He 's a pleasant-spoken man," i. e. he 's agree- 
 able in conversation. 
 To pleasure. To please. North Carolina. 
 
 Pleurisy Root. (Asclepias tuherosa.) A root which is expectorant 
 and diaphoretic, as well as a mild tonic and stimulant. 
 
 Plug. 1. Applied by dentists to a filling of gold or other material 
 inserted in a tooth. 
 2. A stick of tobacco. 
 
PLU 
 
 475 
 
 3. Fire plug ; the hydrants placed at the corners of the streets, &c., 
 to which hose is attached in case of fire. 
 
 4. A tall hat, a beaver hat. Sometimes applied to a horse and 
 a man. 
 
 Plug-Ugly. A term assumed by a gang of rowdies in Baltimore. It 
 originally belonged to certain fire companies. 
 
 The Democrats are getting up a soldiers' convention at Indianapolis. As 
 Union soldiers are scarce in the Democratic ranks, many are recruited from the 
 2)lu(/-u(/lies of Baltimore. — Provuhnce Journal, Sept. 30, 1876. 
 
 The disguise of Plug-uglies and Blood-tubs in the garments of reform reminds 
 us of the answer made bv one of the crew of the " Alabama," when an English 
 officer visited her. — New York paper. 
 
 Plum-Muss. Pkmis boiled, mashed together, and dried in the form 
 of a sheet. 
 
 Plumb, often written Plum. Directly, exactly. South-western. In 
 English colloquial language, both plump and plumh (or plum) are 
 used in this sense. 
 
 I tole the boys, if they 'd come with me, I 'd show them one of the most owda- 
 cious big rattlesnakes they 'd ever seen, what I 'd jest kilt. Abel said he was the 
 man what could pack him plum home without taking a long breath. — N. Y. 
 Sjnritofthe Times. 
 
 I levelled my rifle at the bear, and shot him plumh through the heart. — 
 Western Sketches. 
 
 He came up and looked me right plwn in the face, as savage as a meat-axe, 
 and says he, "Give us your paw." — Southern Sketches, p. 32. 
 
 The ninth day come, and we struck a streak of good luck, — a horse give out, 
 and broke down plumb in the centre of an open prairie. — G. W. Kendall, Story 
 of Bill Dean. 
 
 The original signification of this word is, as the plummet hangs, 
 perpendicular to the horizon, straight down; and hence its secon- 
 dary meaning of straightforward, directly. Both uses are well illus- 
 trated in the following examples. This term, which many suppose 
 an original Westernism, is found in several English writers. Thus 
 Milton says : — 
 
 He meets 
 
 A vast vacuity, all unawares, t 
 Fluttering his pennons vain, plumh down he falls. 
 
 Paradise Lost. 
 
 Never was there a more sensible blunder than the following. We recommend 
 it as a motto to gentlemen in the army. "The best way,'" said Sir Boyle, "to 
 avoid danger is to meet it plumb.''^ — Barrington, Sketches. 
 
 Plumb-Centre. Directly at the centre, in shooting at a mark. Western. 
 
 We 'd been a watchin' 'em all day, for we knowd thar war somethin' ugly 
 afoot. We seed 'em both lire acrost the gleed, an' right plum-centre at young 
 Kaiidolph. — Cajjtain Mayne Reid, Osceola, p. 415. 
 
476 
 
 rLu— poc 
 
 Plunder. Personal luggage, baggage of travellers, goods, furniture, 
 eft'ucts. A very coninion word throughout the Southern and West- 
 ern States, corresponding to the Norman French hutin (booty, goods), 
 wliich is used in Canada for baggage. Cf. Ger. Plunder. 
 
 When we got loaded up, I was afraid old Bosen was going to have more 'n his 
 match to pull us, the}' 'd put in so much plundtr. Two trunks, band-boxes, &c. 
 Major Jones's CourtsJiip, p. 165. 
 
 "Help yourself, stranger,'' added the landlord, "while I tote your j^lunder 
 into the other room." — Hoffman, Winter in the West, Let. 33. 
 
 The steamboat gun, you know, is the signal to tell us when to look after our 
 plunder. — Simms, Wigwam and Cabin. 
 
 To ply. To sail; to go and come from. A vessel plies between two 
 places. 
 
 To poach. To tread soft ground, or snow and water, as cattle, whose 
 feet penetrate the soil or soft substance and leave deep tracks. Xew 
 England. From Podfje, Posh (which see). 
 Pocket. 1. Pocket digfjings. A term used by gold-miners to denote 
 hollow places w"here gold is concentrated as in a pocket. 
 
 One of my comrades [at the mines], a victim of eighteen years of unrequited 
 toil and blighted hopes, was one of the gentlest spirits that ever bore its patient 
 cross in a weary exile, — grave and simple Dick Baker, pocket-miner of Dead- 
 House Gulch. — Mark Twain, Roughing It, p. 439. 
 
 They went panning up the hill, and found what was probabl}' the richest pocket 
 yet produced. It yielded $120,000. — Ibid., p. 438. 
 
 Mr. Johnson (counsel in the case of the Emma mine s^v^ndle) said that in 
 his opinion it was simply a pocket-mm^, not a true fissure, and that it had 
 already been worked out. — N. Y. Tribune, March 2, 1876. 
 
 2. A designation applied to a part of the State of Indiana, from 
 the form and position of said part. 
 
 The General Association of Indiana met at Francisco, Gibson Co., in the 
 "PocA;e?," — that part of the State lying south 'of the Ohio and Mississippi 
 Eailway. — The Congregationalist. 
 
 Pocket-Book Dropper. A mode of deception practised by city 
 sharpers on country flats, at steamboat landings aiid other places 
 where there is a bustle, is for one of the rogues to drop a pocket- 
 book well 'filled with w'orthless bank-notes. This his confederate 
 picks up, and opens directly in sight of the victim. He regrets 
 that he has not time to search out the owner, who will be sure to 
 give a handsome reward, and offers to surrender the prize to his 
 rural friend for say ten dollars. All ends as in the "Patent Safe 
 Game," which see. 
 
 No man, boy, or greenhorn was ever yet victimized by the Pocket-book Drop- 
 pers, the Thimble Riggers, or the Patent Safe men, who didn't have so strong a 
 spice of the scamp in his own composition as to think he was coming a sure and 
 
POC— POK 
 
 477 
 
 profitable swindle upon some one not up to his own level of sharpness and 
 treachery. — Tricks and Traps of New York City, p. 24. 
 
 Pocket-Book Dropping. The species of knavery described in the 
 preceding article. 
 
 Pocket-book dropping may almost be considered as one of the by-gones ; it 
 being very seldom attempted except in cases of very aggravated verdancy on 
 the part of the victim. — Tricks and Traps of New York City, p. 24. 
 
 Pocoson or Poquoson. Low wooded grounds or swamps in Eastern 
 Maryland and Virginia, mostly dry in summer and covered with 
 water in winter. They are covered with white oak and other timber. 
 They are sometimes distinguished as white oak or cypress pocoson.'^. 
 Comp. Pokeloken. Percoarson (and Perkoson), a sort of low land, 
 . . . affording vast cypress-trees. — Latvson^s Voyage to Carolina 
 (1709), p. 9, 57. 
 
 We rowed up an arm of the sound, where we were stopped by a miry pocason, 
 through which we were obliged to draggle on foot, up to our knees in mud. — 
 Byrd, History of the Dividing Line, p. 15. 
 
 Podge. See Poach. 
 
 Pohagen or Pauhagen. 1. A species of sea-fish. See Menhaden. 
 
 2. The term is also applied to a kind of paste-bait for mackerel, 
 &c., made of damaged and frequently putrid fish, chopped or ground 
 in a cutting-mill. 
 
 Point. A fact or a theory based on reliable information connected 
 with stocks, upon which one bases a speculation, or upon which 
 a purchase of a particular stock is made. 
 
 " The first element in speculation is the point. If the operator has a good 
 point, he has a sure thing. ... In other words, the point is a bit of secret infor- 
 mation concerning a stock, whether it be that an extra dividend is to be declared, 
 a bull movement is organizing, an emission of new shares is to take place, or 
 some other cause is at work, or likely to be at work, which will seriously affect 
 prices." — Medbery, Men and Mysteries of Wall Street, p. 83. 
 
 There are brokers, according to rumor, who from time to time fee iialf the 
 clerks in Wall Street, in order to hold every 2)oint which a knowledge of ofiice 
 books would afford, who favor club men with choice opportunities of speculation. 
 Ibid., p. 121. 
 
 Poke. 1. A bag. I have heard this old word used by some persons 
 here in the compound term cream-poke ; that is, a small bag througli 
 which cream is strained. — Pickering. 
 
 2. In New England, a machine to prevent unruly beasts from 
 leaping fences, consisting of a yoke with a pole inserted pointing 
 forward. — Webster. 
 
 3. A lazy person, a dawdle; as, " What a slow poke you are! " A 
 Woman's word. 
 
478 
 
 POK 
 
 4. Poke-weed. (Phytolacca decandra.) A common plant, 
 known also by the names of Garget, Cocum, Jalap, &c. It is a 
 violent emetic. The young shoots are commonly eaten like 
 asparagus. 
 
 To poke. To put a poke on; as, to poke an ox. — Webster. 
 
 Poke-Berry. The berry of the Phytolacca, from which a rich purple 
 juice is extracted, and used as a dye. Also called Pigeon-berry 
 and Pocan. — Rnjinefique, Yo\. 11. p. 251. See Puccoon. It is a 
 favorite food for tame mocking-birds. 
 
 Poke-Bonnet. A long, straight bonnet, much worn by Quakers and 
 ^Methodists. 
 
 To poke Fun. To joke; to make fun. To poke fun at is to ridicule, 
 make a butt of one. Colloquial in England and America. 
 
 0 fie ! Mister Noakes. —for shame, Mr. Noakes ! 
 To be poJcinr/ yom fan at us plain-dealing folks. 
 Sir, this isn't a time to be cracking your jokes. 
 And such jesting your malice but scurvily cloaks. 
 And we know very well your story 's a hoax! 
 
 Ingoldsby Legends. Vol. I. p. 280. 
 
 I thought 3-ou was poTcin' fun at me; for I am a poor ignorant farmer, and 
 these people are always making game of me. — Sam Slick, Human Nature, 
 p. 124. 
 
 The widow admonished Nimrod, and said, "You had better not be polcin' your 
 fu7i about." — Margaret, p. 49. 
 
 Jeames, if you don 't be c{\\\t jiokingfun at me, I '11 break your mouth, as sure 
 as you sit there. — NeaVs Charcoal Sketches. 
 
 How streaked a captain feels when he sees a steamboat a cHppin' it by him 
 like mad, and the folks on board pokin'' fun at him, and askin' him if he has any 
 word to send home ! — Sam Slick. 
 
 Pokeloken. An Indian word, used by hunters and lumbermen in 
 Maine and Xew Brunswick, to denote a marshy place or stagnant 
 pool, extending into the land from a stream or lake. The equivalent 
 of Chippewa pokenogun, and related to ^o^^e(70?na Rnd -gomig, a recess 
 or one-side lake, connected with the principal lake or with a river 
 by a short outlet. See Oicenh Geol. Survey of Wisconsin, p. 280. 
 
 The wild fowl are amazing fond of pokelokens. — Sam Slick. 
 
 Crocodiles can cry when they are hungry; but, when they do, it's time to 
 vamose the pokelokens. — TbifJ.. Human Nature, p. 331. 
 
 Xow and then we passed what IMcCauslin called a pokelogan, an Indian term 
 for what the drivers might have reason to call a poke-logs-in, an inlet that 
 leads nowhere. If you get in, you have got to get out again the same way. — 
 Thoreau's Maine Woods, p. 51. 
 
POK— POL 
 
 479 
 
 I had unawares pushed the canoe into a poTcclol-en and was aground, remember- 
 ing too late the half-breed's admonitions, who warned me against these mysteri- 
 ous poTcelokens. — Murrai/s Letters. 
 
 Poke-Nose. Offensively intrusive ; unpleasantly inquisitive. 
 
 Among the articles which the [U. S.] Senate refused to tax are watches, plate, 
 and dogs. The main reason for this refusal is the large expense of collecting, 
 and the poke-nose scrutiny involved in levying such taxes. — N. Y. Tribune, 
 June 7, 18G2. 
 
 Poker. 1. (Dan. po/Jjer; Welsh, a hobgoblin.) Any frightful 
 object, especially in the dark; a bugbear. A word in common use 
 in America. — Webster. 
 
 2. A favorite game of cards among Western gamblers. 
 
 At a court in , Kentucky, the case of Smith vs. Brown was called up. 
 
 " Who 's for the plaintiff V " inquired the judge, impatiently, 
 
 ]\ray it please the court," said a rising member of the legal fraternity, " Pil- 
 kins is for the plaintiff; but I left him just now over in the tavern playing a game 
 of poker. He 's got a ' sucker' there, and he is sure to skin him, if he only has 
 time. He 's got the thing all set to ring a ' cold deck,' in which case he '11 deal 
 for himself four aces and his opponent four queens; so that your honor will per- 
 ceive he must ' rake the persimmons.' " 
 
 " Dear me ! said the judge, with a sigh, ' ' that 's too bad ! It happens at a very 
 imfortunate time. I am very anxious to get on with these cases.'* 
 
 A brown study followed, and at length a happy idea struck the judge. 
 
 " Bill." said he, addressing the friend of the absent Pilkins, who had spoken, 
 " you understand poker about as well as Pilkins. Suppose you go over and play 
 his hand " — Western paper. 
 
 Pokerish. Frightful; causing fear, especially to children. A childish 
 or colloquial word. — Worcester. 
 
 A curious old convent [in Naples], with chapels above and below, — a pokemsh- 
 looking place, fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. — N. Y. Literary World. 
 
 Pokey. Dull, stupid. 
 
 That's the way we girls studied at school, except a few pokey ones, who 
 wanted to be learned. — Mrs. Stowe, Dred, Vol. I. p. 138. 
 
 A pokey old house like ours. — Miss FuUerton, Grantley Manor. 
 
 Policy. Combined with the sale of lottery tickets, there is carried on 
 an extensive game known by the name of Policy. To policy is to 
 bet on certain numV)ers coming out in lottery drawings. A person 
 can take any of the numbers in the scheme and policy them. Three 
 numbers are called a "gig, " two numbers a " saddle," four num- 
 bers a " horse," either of which pays its own rate, which is from 
 $2 to 8000 for $1 staked; a saddle, however, is only paying a 
 small advance. 
 
 Political Capital. Political stock in trade means of political ad- 
 vancement. 
 
480 
 
 POL— POX 
 
 All who feel an interest in the peace of the country, and who are not disposed 
 to turn every thinj? into politicnl capilnl^ must feel rejoiced over the result in 
 Kansas. — N. Y. Times, Oct. 14, 1857. 
 
 To politicate. To make a trade of politics. 
 
 He [Senator Hunter] proposes to put all new clerks into the lower offices, and 
 to promote them for services rendered and for efficiency. Nobody can doubt 
 that this is a most admirable plan. It would stop the rjuadrenniql rush to Wash- 
 inf^ton, and make many a citizen quit politicatinf/ and turn to hard work. — Eich- 
 mond Wlii(/, July, 1858. 
 
 Pollack. A name applied by fishermen in New England to the Mer- 
 langus purpureus and the M. carbonarius. Immense numbers of 
 these fish are taken annually in the waters of Massachusetts and 
 Connecticut. — Store7'\^ Fishes of Massachusetts. 
 
 Polt. A blow; a thump. " Give him a po/^. " New England. 
 
 To polt. To knock; to beat; to give blows to. Ibid. 
 
 Polygamatical. Polygamous; allowing the practice of polygamy. 
 
 Why not insert [in the platform of a proposed political party] a. polygamatical 
 plank, and rope in Brigham Young V — N. Y. Tribune, May 19, 1862. 
 
 Pomme Blanche. (Psoralea esculenta.) A native of the prairies and 
 
 mountains, oval-shaped and about three and a half inches in cir- 
 cumference. It is encased in a thin, fibrous tegument, which, when 
 removed, exposes a white, pulpy sul)stance, and in taste resembles a 
 turnip. Called also Pomme de Prairie and Indian Turnip. 
 
 Pompion. A pumpkin. The name by which the plant was formerly 
 known. 
 
 He found in that towne [Apalache, in Florida] great store of maiz, french 
 beans, and pompions, which is their foode, and that wherwith the Christians 
 there sustained themselves. — Hakliiyt, Virginia Richly Valued (1609), p. 36. 
 
 Pompion Berry. Another name for the fruit of Celtis occidentalis. 
 See Hacldierry. 
 
 Pond. We give this name to collections of water in the interior 
 country, which are fed by springs, and from which issues a small 
 stream. These ponds are often a mile or two or even more in length, 
 and the current issuing from them is used to drive the wheels of 
 mills and furnaces. — Webster. 
 
 There were streams meandering among hills and valleys ; little lakes or ponds, 
 as they were erroneously called in the language of the country, dotted the sur- 
 face — Cooper, Saianstoe, Yol. I. p. 144. 
 
 To pond. To accumulate water in the form of a pond. 
 
 Pone. Bread made of the meal of Indian corn, with the addition of 
 eggs and milk. Southern. William Penn, in his account of Penn- 
 
PON 
 
 481 
 
 sylvania, published in 1683, says pone was the Indian name for 
 bread. 
 
 Captain J. Smith describes the process of bread-making from 
 pounded and sifted corn, baked in the ashes: this " bread they call 
 ponap.^* Of the grouts and pieces of corn remaining, by boiling in 
 water, they make " an ordinary food, [which] they call vstatah- 
 B,men.'' — Hist, of Virginia (1624), B. ii. p. 29. 
 
 This word is a corrupt form of the pass, participle of the verb to 
 bake, or, more exactly, to bake by placing in hot cinders: apwou or 
 appoo (Eliot), "he bakes;" appooun, "baked;" Abn. aharin^he 
 bakes, and abarin, bread (Rasles) ; modern Abenaki, ahon, a cake. 
 J. H. Trumbull. 
 
 In a poetical work, called the " Sot- weed Factor, or a Voyage to 
 Maryland, London, 1708," the author thus describes the tables of 
 the planters : — 
 
 While pone and milk, with mush well stored. 
 
 In wooden dishes graced the board ; 
 
 With homine and cyder pap. 
 
 Which scarce a hungry dog would lap. 
 
 We all clustered around the fire, the landlady alone passing through our semi- 
 circle, as she prepared the pone and fry and coffee for supper. — Olmsted's Texas. 
 
 Pony. 1. A college word. A translation of a classical text-book. 
 So called, it may be, from the fleetness and ease with which a skil- 
 ful rider is enabled to pass over places which to a common plodder 
 may present obstacles. — HalVs College Words. 
 
 Their lexicons, ponies, and text-books were strewed around their lamps on the 
 table. — A Tour thrmyh College, 1832, p. 30. 
 
 In the way of pony or translation to the Greek of Father Griesbach, the New 
 Testament was wonderfully convenient. — New England Mag., Vol. III. p. 208. 
 
 We gladly bid a last adieu 
 
 To scenes through which we 've past. 
 And thank our stars, a.\-\6. ponies too. 
 
 That we are through at last. 
 
 Songs of Bowdoin, Carmina Collegensia. 
 
 Then long live ponies, great and small! 
 Who rides them well will never fall. 
 
 Sonys Coll. of New Yoi-k, Ibid., p. 227. 
 
 2. A small glass. 
 
 To pony. To use a translation. — Hairs College Woi'ds. 
 
 We learn that they do not pony their lessons. — Yale Tomahawk, May, 1852. 
 
 Pony-Purse. A subscription collected upon the spot, or from a few 
 persons. 
 
 31 
 
482 
 
 POX— POO 
 
 To pony up. A vulgar phrase, meaning to pay over money. Ex.: 
 
 " Come, Mr, Brown, jnmy np that account; " that is, pay over the 
 money. Grose gives a phrase similar to it, " post the powj,^' i. e. 
 lay down the money. 
 
 It was my job to pay all the bills. " Salix, ponij up at the bar, and lend us a 
 Iev3'." — J. C. Neat, Sketches. 
 
 The Washington correspondent of the " N. Y. Herald," March 
 16, 187G, in speaking of the sale of post-traderships by men in high 
 official position, accuses General Rice, of Iowa, of receiving large 
 sums therefrom, adding that — 
 
 General Rice is a bachelor of expensive habits. He must have his codfishing 
 in summer, and his trip to Florida in winter, and you nmatpony up and keep him 
 going, for he can't live on less than $10,000 a year. 
 
 "We're coming, Ancient Abram. severial hundred strong: 
 
 We hadn't no $300, and so we come along ; 
 
 We hadn't no rich parients to pony up the tin, 
 
 So we went unto the Provost, and there were mustered in. 
 
 Hymn by a Portland Conscript. 
 
 To pool. To aggregate; to join per average, as funds, risks, &c. 
 In Wall Street slang, a combination of speculators formed for the 
 purpose of buying up any particular stock, and thereby advancing 
 the price, or to carry through a corner. 
 
 The plan is for the railroads centring at St. Louis, the elevator companies, . . . 
 to pool the risks by combination, and send cargoes to Liverpool and other Euro- 
 pean ports. 
 
 Pooquaw. (Narragansett Ind., poquawhock, or perhaps from the 
 Delaware poc-que-u. Zeisberger.) The round or hard clam, so 
 called in Xantucket. In other parts of Xew Kngland, it is shortened 
 to Quahaug. 
 
 The PoquauhocJc is a little, thick shell-fish which the Indians wade deepe and 
 dive for; and, after they have eaten the meat there (in those which are good), 
 they breake out of the shell about halfe an inch of a blacke part of it, of which 
 they make their Suckauhock, or black money, which is to them pretious. — Ro<jtr 
 Williams, in R. I. Hist. Coll., Vol. I. pp. lOi, 130. 
 
 Poor Doe. Among the Texan hunters, the term poor doe is applied, 
 regardless of gender, to any deer that may happen to be lean. — 
 G. W. Kendall 
 
 In less time than it takes us to record it, the veteran hunter had cut a shoulder 
 and some of the more delicate and eatable portions from the deer; nnd then, 
 rolling the remainder and larger portion out of the way with his foot, remarked 
 that it was but "^joor t/oe." I told him that it was no doe at all, but a 3'oung 
 buck, — I could not say much as to its fatness. He gave another half- laugh, &c. 
 Kendall's Santa Fe Exped., Vol. I. p. 35. 
 
POO— POP 
 
 483 
 
 Poor Folksy. Like or after the fashion of poor people. Southern. 
 
 Poorly. Badly; ill. 
 
 Poorly off. Not well off ; not rich. 
 
 Poor White Folks. A term applied by the blacks to the poor white 
 population of the South, also called the Mean Whites. A common 
 and still moi-e contemptuous appellation is Poor White Trash. See 
 White Trash. 
 
 Poor White Folksy. Like or after the fashion of the Poor White 
 Folks. Southern. 
 
 As for making up my mind to like my new master, yon may preach till your 
 hair turns gray, and I won't do it. For all his shiny boots and spick-span broad- 
 cloth, he looks dreadful poor-white-Jblksi/ to me. — The Hidden Path. 
 
 Pop. A pistol. 
 
 To pop Corn. To parch or roast Indian corn until it " pops " open. 
 The corn is laid over the fire on a shovel or wire gauze made for th^ 
 purpose, until it bursts, when it curls up, swells to treble its size, 
 and exposes its white interior. 
 
 One autumn night when the wind was high, 
 
 And the rain fell in heavy plashes, 
 A little boy sat by the kitchen fire, 
 
 A popping corn in the ashes. 
 And his sister, a curly-haired child of three, 
 
 Sat looking on, just close to his knee. 
 
 Pop, pop ! and the kernels one by one 
 
 Came out of the embers flying ; 
 Thejjoy held a long pine stick in his hand, 
 
 And kept it busily plying. 
 He stirred the corn, and it snapped the more. 
 
 And faster jumped to the clean white floor. — Anonymous. 
 
 Pop-Corn. A kind of Lidian corn which easily "pops" or bursts 
 open, when roasted in the manner above described. It is of a dark 
 color, and has small grains. In many railway cars, pop-co7m, put 
 up in paper, is sold by boys, usually at five cents a package. It is 
 stated that the managers of the Centennial Exhibition at Philadel- 
 phia gave the exclusive privilege of selling pop-corn on the grounds 
 for $7,000. 
 
 Pop-eyed. Having prominent eyes. Southern. 
 Poplar. See Tulip-Tree. 
 
 Poppycock. Pretences made for mere effect; false representation. 
 A term of contempt for a statement made. 
 
484 
 
 POP— POS 
 
 Pop-Squirt. An insignificant, but pretentious fellow. 
 
 Popular. Conceited; aristocratic. Pop'lar as a hen with one 
 chicken. — Lowell, Biglow Papers. 
 
 Popular Sovereignty. The rule of the people, the right of the 
 people to form the constitution under which they are to live. 
 
 He [Senator Douglas] has only vindicated the South' s doctrine against the 
 impending success of a dishonest attempt to secure for the South the supposed 
 benefit of the doctrine oi popular sovereignty. — Richmond Examiner, July, 1858. 
 
 Porgy or Paugie. (Narrag. Indian, scup ; pi. scuppaug, R. Williams's 
 Key, 1643.) A fish of the Sparus family, common in the waters of 
 New England and New York. It is singular that one-half the 
 aboriginal name, scup, should be retained for this fish in Rhode 
 Island and Eastern Connecticut, and the other half, paug, changed 
 into paugie or porgy, in New York. The entire Indian name, 
 however, is still common in many parts of New England. See 
 Scuppaug. 
 
 Daniel Web.ster, who, it is well known, was a zealous disciple of 
 Walton's, in writing to his friend Mr. Blatchford, from Wood's Hole, 
 says : — 
 
 In the afternoon, I went out in the boat and caught some fish, namely, tautog 
 and scuppog, the same, I suppose, as are called porgy in New York. — Private 
 Correspondence, Vol. II. p. 33. 
 
 John Hardie, in his " Description of the last Voyage to Bermudas 
 in the Ship Marygold," London, 1671, thus alludes to a fish of the 
 same name in the waters near that island : — 
 Plentv of Fish is, which the people store, 
 As Pilchards, Sinnets, Gruats, and Salmon Peal, 
 With Rock-fish, Forgoes, and the slippery Eel. 
 Porkopolis. A cant name for Cincinnati, as having eminence in the 
 
 pork-packing business. 
 Pork-Scraps. Same as cracklings. New England. 
 Portaal. (Dutch.) A portal, lobby. Used by people of Dutch descent, 
 in New Jersey and New York, for a small passage or entry of a 
 house. The principal entrance they call the gang ; also Dutch. 
 Portage. A carrying-place over land between navigable waters, or 
 along the banks of rivers, round water-falls or rapids, &c. — Picker- 
 ing. This word has been adopted by geographers, and is universal 
 throughout North America. The Portage Railroad in Pennsylvania 
 is a line over the Alleghany Mountains connecting two lines of 
 canal. 
 
 Posey- Yard. A garden ; a court near a dwelling. 
 
 The sweet bells jingled all night in the posey-yard, 'mid altheas. honeysuckles, 
 and roses, — soldiers with bayonets keeping them from mischief. — Virginia 
 Cor. N. r. Tribune. 
 
POS 
 
 485 
 
 Posh, Podge. A wet place ; sludge. New England. See Splosh. 
 
 Position. " Defining one's position " is a political practice of modern 
 days, generally resorted to either by gentlemen who have no other 
 good chance or prospect of bringing themselves to the special notice 
 of the public, as a sort of advertisement that they are in the market, 
 or by other gentlemen who contemplate making a dodge from one 
 side in politics to the other. It is done either orally or in writing ; 
 by a speech in Congress or at some public meeting ; or by a long 
 letter, published in some newspaper, the editor of which is always 
 glad of something to fill his columns. The highest art in " defining 
 one^s position is to leave it more indefinite than it was before, so 
 that any future contingency may be taken advantage of. 
 
 The Barnburners' Mass Meeting, to mw-respond to the nominations of Cass 
 and Butler, will take place in the Park at five this afternoon, and be addressed 
 by John Van Buren, B. F. Butler, Sedgwick, Field, General Nye, «Scc. We regret 
 that unavoidable absence at Philadelphia will deprive us of the pleasure of hear- 
 ing these gentlemen define their position,''^ especially Prince John, who has the 
 reputation of being the most straightforward, plain-spoken, flat-footed 'Burner iu 
 the country. — N. Y. Tribune, June 6, 1848. 
 
 Possum. A common contraction of Opossum, as in the Negro's elo- 
 quent appeal to his mistress : — 
 
 Possum up a gum-tree, cooney in de holler; 
 Come along wid me, my dear, I '11 gib you quarter dollar. 
 When the hickory nuts begin to drop, 
 Then the possum fills his winter shop ; 
 He lives beneath a blown-up tree. 
 But he don't love too much company. 
 
 Hunt the poss:um up the tree, &c. — Comic Song. 
 
 To possum. To feign, dissemble. An expression alluding to the 
 habit of the opossum, which throws itself on its back and feigns 
 death on the approach of an enemy. This is also and more com- 
 monly called playing possum ; sometimes possuming. 
 
 In the common parlance of the country, any one who counterfeits sickness, or 
 dissembles strongly for a particular purpose, is said to be possuming. — Flint's 
 Geogr. of Mississippi Valley, p. 67. 
 
 To post. To post or post up a person is to bring his knowledge up to 
 date, to make him acquainted with recent occurrences ; so that a 
 person well posted is one who is well informed. The phrase is bor- 
 rowed from the counting-house. 
 
 Mrs. Fudge has kept a close eye upon equipages, hats, cloaks, habits, churches, 
 different schemes of faith, and of summer recreation. She is well posted up in all 
 these matters. — Ik Marvel, Fudge Doings. 
 
 Posted. Well-informed. '* He 's well posted on the state of the 
 money market," i. e. thoroughly conversant with it. 
 
486 
 
 POS— POT 
 
 Postal Card, Postal. In England and Canada, they are called Post- 
 cards. 
 
 Postal Currency. Postage-stamps in circulation as currency during 
 the early part of the late civil war. See SUtmps. 
 
 Post Note. In commerce, a bank-note intended to be transmitted to 
 a distant place by mail, payable to order. In this it differs from 
 a connnon bank-note, which is payable to bearer. — Webster. 
 
 Post-notes differ in other respects from bank-notes. The latter 
 are payable on demand; the former are often drawn on time, with 
 or without interest, sometimes six or twelve months after date. 
 This species of currency was i-esorted to by many banks during the 
 great commercial revulsions in 1838-37, and contributed greatly to 
 the expansion of credits which proved so disastrous to the country. 
 
 Potato Grant. A patch of land for growing vegetables, formerly 
 granted by the owner to each of his slaves. West Indies. 
 
 Potash. Place and arrangements for making potash. New England 
 early settlements. The practice was continued until about 1830, 
 or as long as the manufacture was continued. 
 
 Potash Kettles. A term applied in the West to roundish elevations 
 and depressions in the earth near the great lakes. They are attrib- 
 uted to the decay and washing away of the soft and easily decom- 
 posed limestone by which the ridges where they are found are 
 probably underlaid. 
 
 Pot-Hole. In many parts of the country are found circular holes of 
 various diameters and depths, formed by the action of water in roll- 
 ing a small boulder in what was at first a natural depression of the 
 rock. It is a common notion in the West that these were made by 
 the Indians to pound corn in, whence they are often called " Indian 
 mortars." 
 
 Y.yevy little torrent has its furrowed channel, and often its deep pot-holes^ as a 
 result of the action of the water; and it would be most strange if the great flood 
 of Niagara should rush on its course for ages, and produce no appreciable effect. 
 R. Bakewell, in Sill. Journ., Vol. XXIII. p. 86. 
 
 Pot-Pie» A pie made by spreading the crust over the bottom and 
 sides of a pot, and filling up the inside with meat, i. e. beef, veal, 
 mutton, or fowls. 
 
 An enormous pot-pie, and piping hot, graced our centre, overpowering, with 
 its fragrance and steam, the odors and vapors of all other meats ; and pot-jne was 
 the wedding dish of the country, par excellence ! The pie to-day was the doughy 
 sepulchre of at least six hens, two chanticleers, and four pullets ! What pot 
 could have contained the pie is inconceivable. Why, among other unknown con- 
 tributions, it must have received one half peck of onions! And yet it is to be 
 feared that many would he pot-pieless. — Carlton, The New Purchase. 
 
POT— POW 
 
 487 
 
 To potter. 1. To potter round. To busy one's self with trifles; to 
 
 move about work in a purposeless way, instead of taking hold 
 
 energetically. We also hear " to putter round.'''' 
 
 2. To tread upon floating ice, or to leap from one piece to another. 
 Potty-Baker. (Dutch-, pottehakker.) A potter. This Dutch word is 
 
 still common in New York. Potter's clay is there called potty-haker'' s 
 
 clay. 
 
 Pot- Walloper. A scullion. The English word denotes a house- 
 holder, literally a pot-boiler. — Wright, Prov. Die. 
 Pot- Wrestler. A scullion. Pennsylvania. 
 
 Pound-Party. An assemblage, usually the parishioners of a country 
 clergyman whose salary is inadequate to his support, which on an 
 evening agreed upon meets at his house, carrying tea, coffee, and other 
 articles of necessity put up in pound packages, as contributions to 
 him. 
 
 Sometimes these Pound-Parties are for the benefit of public 
 charities. See Donation-Party. 
 Pout. A New England name for Catfish (Pimelodus) Eel-pout , the 
 common name of the Lota maculosa of the lakes. See Catfish. 
 
 These ^ere pouts ain't to blame for bein' fish, and ye ought to put them out of 
 their misery. Fish has their rights as well as any on us. — 3frs. Stowe, Oldtown 
 Folks, ch. iv. 
 
 Powder-Post. "The hoops are all powder-post,^^ i. e. eaten by a 
 worm which leaves its holes full of powder. It is generally found 
 in sapwood and hickory. 
 
 Power and Certificate. During the time the books of a company 
 are closed for the payment of a dividend, for an election, or for any 
 purpose, there can be no transfer of stock, or the issue of a new 
 certificate. Most of the sales of stock made during the closing of 
 the books are deliverable on the opening; all contracts, whether 
 buyer's or seller's option, that mature during the same time, are 
 carried forward to the opening; but occasionally a sale is made, 
 where the buyer requires immediate delivery. In that case, the old 
 certificate is delivered, with a power of attorney attached, for the 
 transfer on or after the opening of the books. These transactions 
 are reported in the stock-list, with the letters p and c, which means 
 power and certificate. Sales for cash, made during the closing of 
 the books, not marked p and c, are for the opening of the books, 
 and are marked opg. — HunVs Merchants Mag.., Vol. XXXVII. 
 
 Powerful. Great; very, exceedingly. A vulgar use of the word in 
 some parts of the country. 
 
488 
 
 POW 
 
 This piano was sort o' fiddle like, — only bigger, — and with a powerful heap 
 of wire strings. It is called a forty piano, because it plays forty tunes. — CarU 
 ton's New Pur-chase^ Vol. 11. p. 8. 
 
 Yes, Mr. Speaker, I 'd a powerful sight sooner go into retiracy among the red, 
 wild aborigines of our wooden country, nor consent to that bill. — Caiiton, The 
 New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 74. 
 
 It may be said generally of husbands, as the old woman said of hers, who had 
 abused her, to an old maid, who reproached her for being such a fool as to marry 
 him : " To be sure, he 's not so good a husband as he should be, but he 's a. power- 
 ful sight better than none." — N. Y. Sunday Dispatch. 
 
 Mrs. S. Hoarhound and sugar 's amazin' good. 
 
 M7'S. B. Mighty good, mighty good. 
 
 Mrs. R. Powerful good. I take mightily to a sweat of sugar tea in desperate 
 bad colds. — Georgia Scenes, p. 193. 
 
 I hated powerful bad to part with the horse. — Simms, Wigwam and Cabin, 
 p. 85. 
 
 " John," sa^'s father, when I was leavin', "you 've been out in the world, seen 
 the sights, and have got to be considdeble smart; now, John, look out for your 
 brother, he 's so powerful green, 'tain't safe for him to come near the cows, for 
 fear they might eat him." — N. Y. Spiiit of the Times. 
 
 You can work when you 're a mind, Tom. . . . But it 's powerful seldom 
 you 're a mind to, I 'm bound to say. — MarTc Twain, Tom Sawyer, p. 34. 
 
 Pow-Wow. This is the name given by the early chronicles to the 
 feasts, dances, and other public doings of the red men, preliminary 
 to a grand hunt, a council, a war expedition, or the like. It has 
 been adopted in political talk, to signify any uproarious meeting for 
 a political purpose, at which there is more noise than deliberation, 
 more clamor than counsel. 
 
 A murder was recently committed upon a Sioux by two Chippewas. The body 
 of the murdered Indian was taken to the fort, where a most terrific pow-wow was 
 held over it by the friends of the deceased, three hundred in number. — Western 
 newspaper. 
 
 As I live, the savages scent the whiskey ! There is a rush towards, and a pow- 
 wow in and about, the shed. — Cooper, Oah Openings. 
 
 I was in Philadelphia when the Know-Nothings were holding their grand 
 national pow-wow there, and laying it on thick that "Americans shall rule 
 America." — Letter in N. Y. Herald, June 22, 1855. 
 
 The students are forbidden to occupj^ the State House steps on the evening of 
 presentation day; since the Facultv design hereafter to have a pow-ioow there, as 
 on the last. — Burlesque Catalogue, Yale College, 1852-53. 
 
 To pow-wow. To perform a ceremony with conjurations for the cure 
 of diseases and other purposes, with noise and confusion. 
 
 At a distance, with my Bible in my hand, I was resolved, if possible, to spoil 
 their [the Indians'] spirit of pow-ivotving. and prevent their receiving an answer 
 from the infernal world. — Brainerd, Indian Narrative, 1745. 
 
 The Angekok of the Esquimaux — the prophet, as he is called among our 
 Indians — is the general counsellor. He prescribes or pow-wows in sickness and 
 
POZ— PRA 
 
 489 
 
 over wounds, directs the policy of the little State, and is really the power behind 
 the throne. — Kane, Arctic Explorations, Vol. II. p. 118. 
 
 Pozo. (Span.) A spring or well. A word in use on the frontier of 
 Mexico. 
 
 Prairie. (French.) An extensive tract of land, mostly level, destitute 
 of trees, and covered with tall, coarse grass. These prairies are 
 numerous in the United States, west of the Alleghany Mountains, 
 especially between the Ohio, Mississippi, and the great lakes. — 
 Webster. See also Rolling Prairie, Salt Prairie, and Soda Prairie. 
 In the North-west, universally called pet-airy. 
 
 These are the gardens of the desert, these 
 
 The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful. 
 
 For which the speech of England has no name, — 
 
 The Prairies. Bryant, The Prairies. 
 
 Prairie Bitters. A beverage common among the hunters and moun- 
 taineers. It is made with a pint of water and a quarter of a gill of 
 buffalo gall, and is considered an excellent medicine. — Scenes in 
 the Rocky Mountains, p. 133. 
 
 Prairie-Dog. {Cynomys Ludovicianus.) A variety of the marmot. It 
 has received the name of Prairie-dog from a supposed similarity 
 between its warning cry and the barking of a small dog. These 
 animals live in large communities; their villages, as they are termed 
 by the hunters, sometimes being many miles in extent. The en- 
 trance to each burrow is at the summit of the mound of earth 
 thrown up during the progress of the excavation below. This mar- 
 mot, like the rest of the species, becomes torpid during the winter, 
 and, to protect itself against the rigor of the season, stops the mouth 
 of its hole, and constructs a cell at the bottom of it, where it re- 
 mains without injury. 
 
 Prairie-Hen. (^Tetrao pratensis.) A bird seen in great numbers in 
 the prairies of Missouri and Illinois, in the autumn. It is rather 
 smaller than the domestic fowl. In flight, it appears like the pheas- 
 ant and partridge, and is a beautiful bird. — Plinths Mississippi Val- 
 ley. It is also called Heath-hen and Pinnated Grouse. 
 
 We saw great flights of prairie hens or grouse, that hovered from tree to tree, 
 or sat in rows on naked branches. — Irving''s Tour on the Prairies. 
 
 Prairie-Itch. A cutaneous eruption caused by the friction of the fine 
 red dust of prairie countries in summer. 
 
 Prairie-Squirrels. (Genus Spermophilus.) These are with great 
 propriety called " Prairie-squirrels ; " for their true home is on the 
 prairie, where they replace the "arboreal" squirrels, from -which 
 
490 
 
 PRA— PRE 
 
 they differ in organization, to suit their necessarily different mode 
 of life. While the true squirrels are designed to live in trees, and 
 to subsist upon their fruits, the spermophiles are fitted to inhabit 
 the grassy plains which cover much of the Western part of our 
 Union, their food being the prairie plants with their roots and seeds. 
 The form of these squirrels is adapted only to locomotion on the 
 ground. The body is thick and heavy, with short legs; and in 
 place of the long toes and sharp, hooked nails by which the arboreal 
 squirrels cling to the trees so readily, they have shorter toes, with 
 longer and straighter nails, for digging burrows in the earth. The 
 long, flexible, and bushy tails, which aid the squirrels in their bold 
 leaps, and keep them warm in their holes in winter, would here be 
 useless, and soon worn ragged by dragging through their burrows. 
 The spermophiles, therefore, have smaller tails, that are carried 
 straight behind them. They have cheek-pouches in which to carry 
 food; and two species, at least, convey roots, seeds, &c., to their 
 burrows to be eaten. — R. Kennicott. 
 Prairie-State. The State of Illinois. 
 
 Prairie-Wolf. (Canis latrans.) The small wolf of the prairies, the 
 Coyote of the Mexicans. Its range extends from Fort Riley, Kan- 
 sas, to the Pacific, and from the Upper Missouri to the Rio Grande 
 of Texas. 
 
 the prairie-wolf 
 Hunts in their meadows, and his fresh-dug den 
 Yawns by my path. — Bryant. 
 
 Prairillon. A small prairie. 
 
 Interspersed among the hills are frequent openings and /» rair/Z/ons of rich soil 
 and luxuriant vegetation. — Scenes in the Rocky Mountains, p. 172. 
 
 Prawchey. (Dutch, praatje.) A talk, gossip. New York. 
 
 Prayerfully. Devoutly. Ex.: "We may he prayerfully disposed." 
 Used by some of the clergy. — Pickering. 
 
 Prayerfulness. The use of much prayer. — Webster. 
 Prayerlessness. Total or habitual neglect of prayer. — Webster. 
 To preach a Funeral. To preach a funeral sermon. Western. 
 
 This and the two preceding words are not in the English diction- 
 aries. 
 
 Preacher's Stand. A pulpit in a church; a platform for a preacher 
 at "Camp Meetings." The latter use occasioned the former, 
 among certain people. Southern and Western usage, but occa- 
 sional in New England. 
 
PRE 
 
 491 
 
 Precinct. 1. A subdivision of a county or city, within which a single 
 poll is held at elections; a territorial district or division. 
 
 In case of non-acceptance [of the collector], the parish or precinct shall proceed 
 to a new choice. — Laws of Massachusetts. 
 
 In Franklin Co., Kansas, they had no county commissioner whose duty it is to 
 appoint \oiix\g precincts besides the county seat. — N. Y. Times, Oct. 9, 1857. 
 
 2. A town whose corporate rights did not include sending depu- 
 ties to the colonial Legislature. Massachusetts before 1776. 
 
 To predicate. Is constantly confounded with predict. 
 
 To predicate on or upon. To found a proposition, argument, &c., on 
 some basis or data. This sense of the word, said to be purely 
 American, is not noticed by Dr. Webster or the English lexicogra- 
 phers. "Its use," as Mr. Pickering observes, "is very common 
 with American writers, and in the debates of our legislative assem- 
 blies." 
 
 It ought surely to predicated v]jon a full and impartial consideration of the 
 whole subject. — Letter of John Quincy Adams. 
 
 The great State papers of American liberty were all predicated on the abuse of 
 chartered, not of absolute, rights. — Gibbs, Adminis. of Washington and J. 
 Adams, Vol. I. p. 3. 
 
 Among these [projects for pecuniary relief, in 1740] was an institution known 
 as the Land Bank, with a capital of £150,000, predicated on real estate. — 
 Stone's Hidory of Beverly, Mass. 
 To pre-empt. To secure land, by being the first settler or occupant 
 of it, in conformity with the pre-emption law. 
 
 The following account of the process of pre-empting lands is from 
 the " National Intelligencer," Washington, July 1, 1857 : — 
 
 The laws of the United States give the right to any citizen who does not own 
 three hundred and twenty acres of land in any State of the Union (and to this he 
 is required to make oath) to pre-empt one hundred and sixty acres, by fulfilling 
 the detailed requirements of the act. These requirements are that he shall tile 
 his intention in the land-office to enter upon and improve the land, either by 
 cultivating it or erecting thereon a home, and residing upon the land long enough 
 to make it his residence ; which time is variously estimated to mean one or five 
 days, just as the Receiver at any land-office may decide. To the fact that he has 
 60 resided and made said improvements, he must produce a witness, who testifies 
 that such and such things have been done, and that the pre-eniptor has resided the 
 required time in the house on the land. Upon fulfilling all these requirements 
 and paying one dollar and a quarter per acre, either in gold or a land-warrant, 
 and the fees, he receives a certificate of title. A duplicate of this is sent to the 
 Secretary of the Interior at Washington, who, after having searched the records, 
 and finding that the individual has wot pre-empted before, issues a patent direct 
 to him, and he becomes the owner of his farm by title direct from the govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Isaac Lawrence, of New York, a Negro, addressed Governor Marcy 
 a note, inquiring if he could pre-empt government laud in Miune- 
 
492 
 
 PRE 
 
 sota, the same as white persons could. The letter was referred to 
 Secretary McClelland, who in reply said; — 
 
 I have to state that there is nothing in the laws of the United States which 
 would prevent you, as a free man of African descent, from settling upon public 
 land in the territory of Minnesota, and acquiring a right of pre-emption. 
 
 The term is used figuratively to denote a previously occupied field 
 of study. Thus, speaking of the lectures of the Rev. Joseph Cook, 
 the " Providence Journal " says: — 
 
 He takes old, philosophic ground, that has, as it were, been pre-empted by 
 skeptics and materialists, and standing there claims it for God and evangelical 
 truth. 
 
 Walter F. Brown, in his amusing " Historical and Comical Cen- 
 tennial" (Providence, 1876), thus begins his poem: — 
 
 Mr. Christopher Columbus 
 
 In Palos raised a rumpus, 
 Then went bobbing out at sea, to see what he could do. 
 
 By accident he landed. 
 
 And on kissing the sand did 
 Pre-empt this mighty continent in fourteen ninety-two. 
 
 Pre-emption Right. The right or title which an original settler or 
 squatter has to become the first purchaser of unsurveyed govern- 
 ment land, of which he has taken possession. To maintain this 
 right, he must have erected a habitation, or taken some steps towards 
 the cultivation of the land. This terni has long been in use, as 
 Imlay, in his work on the Western Territory, published in 1797, 
 says : — 
 
 The settlement began to form in 1780, and was encouraged by settlements and 
 pre-emption nghts. — p. 14. 
 
 Among the public acts of Congress is one entitled, — 
 
 "An act to appropriate the proceeds of the public lands and to grant ^7*6- 
 emption riyhts^ 
 
 Pre-emptor. One who has a pre-emption right. 
 
 Preferential. Entitled to preference. 
 
 No party has any such preferential rights over the lines of the American Tele- 
 graph Company. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Prehaps, ior perhaps., is much used at the West in familiar language, 
 when additional force is to be given to the word. It originated in 
 a jocose mispronunciation, which appears to be becoming a fixed 
 corruption. 
 
 Prehaps Parson Ilyme didn't put it into Pokerville for two mortal hours ; and 
 prehaps Pokerville didn't mizzle, wince, and finall}' flummix right beneath him! 
 Field, Drama in Pokerville. 
 
 Prekel. A small, flat cake, sugared outside. Pennsylvania. 
 
PRE 
 
 493 
 
 Present. This word is put on the back of letters to persons residing 
 in the place where they are written, and which are not to be sent 
 through the mail. Peculiar to the United States. An abbreviation 
 of the old English form, " these present." An earlier form (as in 
 the " Paston Letters," 15th century) was, "To A. B. be this deliv- 
 ered," or "be this given." Such letters w^ere sent by special mes- 
 sengers, or intrusted to some friend or traveller, to be delivered in 
 person. "These deliver" and "these present" were common 
 forms in New England in the 17th century. The Spanish equiv- 
 alent, presente, is also used in Central America. 
 
 Presidency. 1. The office of President. " Washington was elected 
 to the presidency of the United States by a unanimous vote of the 
 electors- ' ' 
 
 2. The term during which a president holds his office. " Presi- 
 dent John Adams died during the presidency of his son." — Webster. 
 
 President. 1. The chief magistrate of the United States. 
 
 The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of 
 America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, &c. — Constitu- 
 tion of the United States. 
 
 2. The chief officer of a college or university. 
 
 Presidential. Pertaining to a president. — Webster. In this sense, 
 the word is an Americanism. It is of course very common and 
 indispensable with us, and is sometimes used by English writers in 
 treating of American affairs. 
 
 The friends of Washington had determined to support Mr. Adams as candidate 
 for the presidential chair. — Quarterly Revie w^ Vol. X. p. 497. 
 
 Presidio. (Span.) A military post on the Mexican frontier. Many 
 of these places are now within the United States, and still retain the 
 old Spanish name. Sometimes the term is applied to a fortress, at 
 others to the entire village that surrounds it. 
 
 The viceroy of Mexico sent the gallant Onate to New Mexico, to take formal 
 possession of the country, and to establish colonies, missions, and presidios. — 
 Wislizenus, Northern Mexico^ 1848. 
 
 To prestidigitate. To handle; to trick with. 
 
 So long as a question of finance is but a question of here or there, we may 
 prestidiyitate it harmlessly enough, making the burden disappear under any 
 pleasant name we choose — The Conyreyationalist, Jan. 24, 18G2. 
 
 Pretzel. (Dutch.) A kind of brittle cake; a cracknel. 
 
 My father used to tell of a woman who sold crullers, pretzels, and apples on a 
 table on the south side of the track, who was so beautiful that all the passengers 
 clustered on that side to see her. — E. E. Hale, Adventures of a Pullman, p. 18. 
 
494 
 
 PRE 
 
 Pretty. 1. Any thing pretty ; an ornament, toy, picture. Western. 
 
 Thinks I, this is all talk and no cider: and I asked if any lady or gentleman 
 wanted a picture. A dead silence ensued, then a titter. At length one of the 
 chaps said to his sweetheart : — 
 
 "Betty, suppose you have your pretty taken." — Dayuerreotyping, Ev. 
 {Wash.) Star. 
 
 2. Well-disposed; kind; affable. Northern New England. 
 
 Pretty Considerable. 1. Of some consequence; tolerable, passable, 
 middling. Used in this sense in England as well as America. 
 
 To the faculty of law was joined ajiretty considerable proportion of the faculty 
 of medicine. — Burke, Rejlections on the French Revolution. 
 
 But you seem to have something j9?^e^^?/ considerable in the right pocket of your 
 trowsers; what may it be? Why, that's a wee bit pewter whiske^'-flask, yer 
 honor. — Scrope^s Beer Stalkiny, p. 74. 
 
 I went to the theatre in Boston, where the acting was pretty considerable, con- 
 sidering. — Crockett's Tour, p. 87. 
 
 2. Tolerably, passably, middlingly. 
 
 Dear Col. Crockett, — I have heard of you a great deal lately, and read con- 
 siderable of your writings; and I feel pretty considerable weU acquainted with 
 you. — Major Downing, Letter to Crockett, Tour, p. 217. 
 
 There are some folks who think a good deal, and say but little, and they are 
 wise folks; and there are others agahi who blurt out whatever comes uppermost, 
 and I guess they are pretty considerable superfine fools. — Sam Slick. 
 
 I went into the business of pepper-pot smoking, and went ahead pretty consid- 
 erable for a time; but a parcel of fellows came into it, said my cats wasn't as 
 g(jod as their'n, when I know'd they was as fresh as any cats in the market, and 
 pepper-pot was no go. — J. C. Neal, Sketches. 
 
 Pretty Middling. Tolerably well. 
 
 When we came to the steep, sandy side of the mountain [Hecla], it would be 
 safe to believe that we went doAvn pretty middling. — P. Miles, Rambles in Ice 
 land, p. 78. 
 
 '•Ah, Mr. Weller," says the gentleman, "glad to see you, sir; how are you ?" 
 •'Wery well, thank 'ee, sir," says my father; "I hope you "re pretty middlin' 
 Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xiii. 
 
 Pretty Weather. Pleasant weather. North Carolina and Pennsyl- 
 vania. 
 
 Preventative. A corruption sometimes met with for preventive, both 
 in England and America. 
 
 A cry was raised for the establishment of a, preventative armed police; but the 
 madness of such a proposal could not long escape observation. — Edinb. Annual 
 Reg, Vol. V. p. 99. 
 
 Confidence in the press, and a belief in its statements concerning this cholera, 
 are the most powerful 2}}^eventatives of panic. — A''. Y. Escpress, Aug. 6, 1849. 
 
 The most effectual physical preventative against sleeping in church is to take 
 a short nap just before going to chnvch.. Hall" s Journal of Health, July, 1859. 
 
PRI 
 
 495 
 
 The telegrams from London of the 19 Sept., 1877, thus give the 
 opinion of the correspondent of the " London Times," on President 
 MacMahon's manifesto to the French people. Commenting on the 
 pa.ssage beginning, " I could not obey the mandates of the dema- 
 gogues," he says: — 
 
 Tliis sentence seems to be a kind of preventatice aimed at spreading irritation 
 and discouragement throughout the nation. 
 
 Prickly Heat. A cutaneous eruption or rash which appears during 
 
 the excessive heat of summer. 
 Prickly Pear. (Opuntia vulgaris.) A sort of flat, jointed cactus, which 
 
 is found in sandy fields and about dry rocks, from Massachusetts 
 
 southward, usually near the coast. 
 Prime. In a first-rate manner; primely. This is one of the many 
 
 English adjectives which, in our vulgar language, are transformed 
 
 into adverbs. 
 
 After a little practice with my gun, she came up to the eye prime, and I deter- 
 mined to try her at the first shooting-match. — Crockett, Tour, p. 175. 
 
 Priming. As the priming bears but a small proportion to the charge of 
 a gun, so this word is used iu the West to denote any tiling trivial, 
 like the word circumstance; as, " Your corn crop ain't a priming to 
 mine," i. e. is very small in comparison with it. 
 
 Stranger, \o\i may say what you please about your anacondy sarpent of Cey- 
 lon, in South America; and your rael Bengali tiger from Africa ; both on 'em, 
 heated to a while heat and welded into one, Avould be no part of a p)riminy to a 
 grizzl}' bear of the Rocky Mountains. — Crockett's Adventures icith a Grizzly 
 Bear. 
 
 Priminary. A predicament ; difficulty. Used in the Southern States. 
 Sherwood\s Georgia. I am told that this word is also used by old 
 people living on Long Island. It is provincial in the North of 
 England. 
 
 To primp or primp up. To dress up in a finical manner; to linger 
 over one's toilet. A woman's expression. 
 
 Arter suppei- 1 washed, then I put on the cleanest sort of a shirt that Aunt Jane 
 had fixed up mity nice an' smooth, then I drawed on about as nice a set uv Sun- 
 day harness as you ever seed ; and, arter marm and Aunt Jane had pr-imped up 
 an' fixed my har an' creevat, I was reddy. — How Sal and Me Got Married. 
 
 Primpy. Fastidious in the duties of the toilet; finical. A woman's 
 word. 
 
 Prince's Pride. See Pipsissewa. 
 
 Printery. An establishment for printing cottons, &c. ; print-works. 
 Rare. — Worcester. 
 
496 
 
 PRO 
 
 Probabilities. Old Probabilities, a term applied to the superintendent 
 of the bureau at Washington, from which the weather reports are 
 issued. " What says Old Probabilities about the weather to-day ? " 
 Sometimes called " clerk of the weather." 
 
 There are men who build arks straight through their natural lives, ready for 
 the first sprinkle ; and there are others who do not watch OlrJ Probabilities or even 
 own an umbrella. — Clarence King, Address at Yale Coll., June 26, 1877. 
 
 Processioner. An officer in Kentucky, and possibly in other States, 
 whose duty it is to determine and mark out the bounds of lands. 
 
 Profanity. This word is in common use here, more particularly with 
 our clergy. It is not in the dictionaries, and I do not recollect ever 
 meeting with it in English authors. The Scottish writers employ 
 it; but English writers use the word profaneness. — Pickering. 
 
 In a revel of debauchery, amid the brisk interchange of profanity and follv, 
 religion might appear a dumb, unsocial intruder. — Buckminster. 
 
 Professor. 1. One who makes a profession of any thing. — Worcester. 
 The application of the word to dancing-masters, conjurers, banjo- 
 players, &c., has been called an Americanism. It is thought, how- 
 ever, that, even in Yankee land, the following, copied by the " Nat. 
 Intelligencer" of Nov. 11, 1858, from an English paper, would be 
 " hard to beat: " — 
 
 A great shaving match against time was performed recently at Keighley, near 
 Leeds. A ^'■Professor Carrodus," attended by three latherers and five stroppers, 
 engaged to shave seventy men in sixty minutes, and succeeded in performing the 
 task four minutes within the specified time. 
 
 2. One visibly or professedly religious. — Worcester. One who 
 makes a public profession of religion in those churches where such a 
 rite prevails instead of confirmation. A very odd use of the word 
 to those not accustomed to it. 
 
 "Ah!" said Miss Rayby, "and I can remember the time — of course I was 
 very young then, but still I can remember — when Caleb Edmonds swept out his 
 own shop ! " 
 
 " Dear me ! And now he has the upstart impudence to send his girl to such a 
 school as that! " exclaimed Miss Sophia Milwood, the spinster who had not yet 
 spoken. "Oh, the pride of human nature ! " 
 
 " And he a professor too ! " 
 Professor ! " said Miss Rayby. " Religion does not teach a man such absurd 
 pride as that! " 
 
 Miss Phillip shook her head, and began to lament the increase of false profes- 
 sors. — The Dream of Caleb Edmonds. 
 
 To progress. To move forward ; to pass. — Johnson. This is not a 
 pure Americanism, as some suppose, but an old English word which 
 had been suffered to become obsolete. It was revived here after 
 
PRO 
 
 497 
 
 the Revolution (see Pickering), and has lately been taken into 
 favor again in England. 
 
 The Penny Cyclopedia (art. Americanism) says, " The old verb 
 prSgresSj which the Americans use very often and pronounce pro- 
 gress, is now beginning to be again adopted in its native country, 
 though we think we could do very well without it." 
 
 Let me wipe off this honorable dew, 
 
 That silverly doth prop-ess on thy cheeks. — ShaJcspeare. 
 
 Although the popular blast 
 
 Hath reared thy name up to bestride a cloud, 
 
 Or progress in the chariot of the sun. — Ford, Broken Heart. 
 
 Such are the inconsistencies of a flatterer, progressing from his butterfly state 
 into the vermicular slime of a libeller. — London Quarterly Review. 
 
 Her first teacher was but himself, at that time a pupil ; but she progressed 
 under his tuition. — Mary Howitt, People'' s Journal. 
 
 The launch of the "Leviathan " will be by no means a slapdash affair into the 
 "native element," but a tedious operation, which will very probably occupy two 
 or three days. On these points, and some others of equal interest, we shall give 
 our readers fuller information as the great ship progresses towards completion. — 
 London Times, April 30, 1857. 
 
 They progress in that style in proportion as their plans are treated with con- 
 tempt, — Washington's Writings. 
 
 After the war had progressed for some time. — Marshall's Washington. 
 
 Whether this word was used in the time of Bacon or not, I can- 
 not say, yet it seems he employs it in the spirit world ; for, in the 
 asserted revelations made by Judge Edmonds, the philosopher 
 says : — 
 
 I trust that your own hearts will respond to mine, and the many, very many 
 spirits who are present, till all our souls, like one spirit, shall unite in the har- 
 monies of truth, love, and the earnest desire to progress. — Spiritualism, p. 333. 
 
 Progressive Friends. A name recommended at a convention of 
 Spiritualists held in Illinois, Sept. 7, 1857, to be adopted by them, 
 "as being a cognomen most indicative of that broad liberality of 
 sentiment which they desire to foster and maintain." 
 
 Prohibition and Prohibitionist. The prohibition by law of the sale 
 of alcoholic beverages, and one in favor of such prohibition. 
 
 Prong. A branch or arm of a creek or inlet. Southern. 
 
 Prong-Horn Antelope. {Antilocapra Americana.) The Prong-horn 
 Antelope is familiar to every hunter on the plains west of the Mis- 
 souri River. From this line it extends to the Pacific Ocean, and 
 ranges from Northern Mexico to the latitude of 5S° on the Saskatch- 
 ewan. It is also abundant in Minnesota. The antelope is highly 
 prized as an article of food. It runs with great swiftness, and 
 
 32 
 
498 
 
 PRO 
 
 all its motions are characterized by ease and grace. — S. F. 
 
 Baird. 
 
 To pronounce. In Nantucket, they say, " How does your horse pro- 
 nounce f^'' i. e. how does he prove or perform ? 
 
 Pronouncement. An emphatic declaration; a pronunciamento, — 
 N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Proper. Very, exceedingly. Colloquial in England and the United 
 States. 
 
 The day was gone afore I got out of the woods, and I got proper frightened. — 
 Sam Slick in England, ch. 18. 
 
 Properly. Very much. Common in New England. 
 
 leather jest up with the flat of his hand, and gave me a wipe with it on the 
 side of my face, that knocked me over and hurt me properly. — Sam Slich in 
 England, ch. 26. 
 
 Propios. (Span.) In Spanish-American law, certain portions of 
 ground laid off and reserved, on the foundation of a town, as the 
 unalienable property of the town, for the purpose of erecting public 
 buildings, markets, &c., or to be used in any other way, under the 
 direction of the municipality, for the advancement of the revenues 
 or the prosperity of the place. — Peters^ s Report'^, Vol. XII. p. 442, 
 note. 
 
 Pro-Slavery. In favor of slavery. An expression much used by 
 political speakers and writers, and but recently inserted in the 
 dictionaries. 
 
 It takes a despot, a craven, and a slave, compounded together, to make a Pro- 
 slavery legislator in a free State. — Anti-Slavery Almanac. 
 
 Pro-slavery mQxx, strike for your altars! strike for your rights! Sound the 
 bugle of war over your land, and leave not an abolitionist in the country. — Kick- 
 apoo Pioneer, Jan. 18, 1856. 
 
 The intense Pro-slnveryism of the city of Baltimore ... is simply the sign of 
 a caste. — N. Y. Tribune, July 15, 1861. 
 
 To prospect. To search for mines of gold and silver. 
 
 ■ Prospect. Among gold-miners, what one finds in examining the first 
 panful of earth. Upon its result, the miner determines whether it 
 is a good or bad proi<pect, and governs himself accordingly. If the 
 show of gold is good, he perseveres; if not, the place is abandoned, 
 perhaps to be more closely scrutinized and worked by the Chinese, 
 who are content with less for their labor. 
 
 We got many good prospects ; but, when the gold gave out in the pan and we 
 dug down, we found only emptiness. We then shouldered our pans and shovels, 
 and struck out over the hills, to try new localities. — JIark Twain, Roughing It, 
 p. 443. 
 
 I 
 
PRO 
 
 499 
 
 Prospecting. Hunting or searching for lead, gold, or other metals. 
 The process is thus described in a sketch of Life on the Upper 
 Mississippi : — 
 
 The chief mart of the lead trade is in the town of Galena, built upon a small, 
 slusjgish sti-eam. In travelling through the upland prairie of this neighborhood, 
 you will see many hillocks of earth, as far as the eye can reach, as if some huge 
 animal had been burrowing beneath, and had thrown up the dirt in that manner ; 
 but you may, by chance, meet two or three men with a bucket, a rope, a pick- 
 axe, and a portable windlass, and the difllculty is explained. This, in the lan- 
 guage of the country, is a 2'>^'0spectiny party ; which, being interpreted, means 
 that they are on the look-out for ore, if it is to be found within ten or fifteen feet 
 of the ground. — N. Y. Liter-ary World, June 3, 1848. 
 
 Our claim [near Hangtown, Cal.] did not prove rich enough to satisfy us; so we 
 abandoned it, and vf ^nt prospecting. — Borthioick's California, p. 124. 
 
 I've gin up diggin' and prospectin\ It don't pay; and I can make more by 
 tellin' new comers whar to sink their shaft. If they lind gold, I get half ; and, if 
 they don't, I charge nothin'. — Lett, from California, N. Y. Times. 
 
 Prospector. A searcher for spots where minerals exist, applied alike 
 to the precious metals, copper, or coal. 
 
 A prospector goes out wi^li a pick and shovel and a washpan; and, to test the 
 richness of a place, he digs down till he reaches the dirt in which it may be ex- 
 pected gold will be found. — Borthwick''s California, p. ]24. 
 
 Protracted Meeting. A name given to a religious meeting, pro- 
 tracted or continued for several days, chiefly among the Presby- 
 terians, Congregationalists, Methodists, and Baptists. N'otice is 
 sometimes given that a protracted meeting will be held at a certain 
 time and place, where large numbers of people assemble. In the 
 West, they are called " big meetings." 
 
 A religious sensation is raging terribly in my neighborhood, induced by the 
 influence of the expected comet, — there is sl protracted meeting round the corner, 
 and. high-pressure prayer-meetings on every side. — Doesticks. 
 
 I 'm a gentleman that calculates to hold a protected meeting here to-night. — 
 Sam Slick, Nature and Human Nature. 
 
 You don't suppose a pedlar that had experienced religion at a protracted 
 vieetin' would cheat a clergyman? What an idee! — Widow Bedott Papers, 
 p. 219. 
 
 Proud. Glad; as, "I should h% proud to see you." 
 
 The Eev. Mr. Brownlow, the facetious editor of the " Jonesboro' 
 Whig," in an article on his own obituary, says: — 
 
 He desires it stated to the world that, if he had his life to live over again, he 
 could imjjrove it in many respects. He leaves no apologies to bo made to men in 
 this life, and asks no favors of anybody "on the other side of Jordan," but his 
 God! His friends, if he have any left behind, can be of no service to him; his 
 enemies, he is proud to know, " can't reach him ! " 
 
600 
 
 PRO—PUC 
 
 Pro-Union. Favorable to the United States. 
 
 Jackson's force is said to be in part composed of Pro-Union men who have been 
 impressed into the rebel service. — N. Y. Tribune^ April 7, 1862. 
 
 Prox or Proxy. The use of these words is confined to the State of 
 Rhode Island. Prox means the ticket or list of candidates at elec- 
 tions presented to the people for their votes. By a law of the colony 
 of Providence Plantations, passed in the year 1647, the General 
 Assembly was appointed to be holden annually, "if wind and 
 weather hinder not, at which the general officers of the colony were 
 to be chosen." This clause made it convenient for many to remain 
 at home, particularly as they had the right to send their votes for 
 the officers by some other persons; hence the origin of these terms 
 prox sind proxy votes , as applied to the present mode of voting for 
 State officers in Rhode Island. — Staples'' s Annals of Providence, 
 p. 64. 
 
 Mr. Pickering observes that this word is also used in Connecticut, 
 as equivalent to election or election-day. He quotes the following 
 instances from a Connecticut newspaper: — 
 
 Republicans of Connecticut, previous to Qxery proxies^ you have been assaulted 
 on every side. 
 
 On the approaching ^roaTies, we ask you to attend universally. 
 
 Dr. Webster, with whom New England, or rather Connecticut, 
 seems to have been a synonyme for " all creation," says the word 
 means, in popular use, an election or day of voting for officers of 
 government." 
 
 When the qualification of a freeman, as formerly, was low, the proxies or voters 
 never exceeded 1,300; at present, the qualification is better, and the proxies are 
 only 888, — Douglass's Summary, 1755, Vol. II. p. 89. 
 
 Pry. A large lever employed to raise or move heavy substances. Used 
 also in some parts of England. — Worcester. 
 
 To pry. To move or raise by means of a large lever. — Worcester. 
 
 Publishment. A publishing of the bans of marriage, which is re- 
 quired by law in some parts of New England. " Mr. Doe and Miss 
 'Roe^s publishment took place to-day." 
 
 Any persons desiring to be joined in marriage shall have such their intentions 
 published ... or posted up bv the clerk of each town ; and a certificate of such 
 publishment . . . shall be produced as aforesaid previous to their marriage. — 
 Statutes of Massachusetts, 1786. 
 
 Puccoon. An Indian name for various plants affording coloring 
 matter; hence, probably, the name of Poke-berry. The primary 
 meaning of the name appears to be "of the color of blood," or 
 " bloody." 
 
PUC— PUL 
 
 501 
 
 1. The Sanguinaria Canadensis, or Blood-root. The juice was 
 much used by the India-ns as a dye or stain, as on the old basket 
 ware now no longer to be seen. 
 
 Pocones is a small root that groweth in the mountains, which, being dryed and 
 beaten in powder, turneth red, &c. — Smith'' s Virginia^ 1632, p. 27. 
 
 They have the puccoon, with which the Indians used to paint themselves red; 
 and the shumach and sassafras, which make a deep yellow. — Beverly''s Virginia, 
 Book III. (1705). 
 
 2. Yellow puccoon. Hydrastis Canadensis, or Yellow Root. 
 Puccoon is an Indian name for all roots dyeing red, orange, or 
 
 yellow. — Rajinesque, Med. Flor., Vol. I. p. 253. 
 
 Pucker. 1. A snarl or tangle (from v. to pucker). 
 
 Bamplay. Troth, I am one of those that labor Avith the same longing [to hear 
 the right], for it is ahnost pucker' d and pulled into that knot, by your poet, which 
 I cannot easily . . . untie 
 
 Boy. Like enough, nor is it your office to be troubled or perplexed with it, 
 but to sit still and expect. — Ben Jonson, The Magnetic Lady, Act iv. Sc. 3. 
 
 2. A state of perplexity or trouble; agitation. Provincial in 
 England. 
 
 It was natural enough that the Squire's wife should be in a pucker to see the 
 Ladies' Book [which contained an article ridiculing her]. — Widow Bedott Papers, 
 p. 326. 
 
 To pucker up. To dry up; i. e., stop talking. A vulgarism equiva- 
 lent to shut up. 
 Pudjiky or Pujiky. Fussy. 
 
 She 's dreadful pudjicky, Sarah Jane is. She won't have any thing, without 
 it 's exactly right. — A Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite^s Life, p. 37. 
 
 Pueblo. (Span., a village.) A village of the semi-civilized Catholic 
 Indians of New Mexico. 
 
 The villages of the christianized Indians in New Mexico were called pueblos, 
 in opposition to the wild roving tribes that refused such favors. — Wislizenus, 
 New Mexico. 
 
 Pueblo Indian. A Catholic Indian villager of New Mexico. 
 
 The most interesting class of the inhabitants of New Mexico are those known 
 as the Pueblo Indians. They are the descendants of the ancient rulers of the 
 country, and are so called because they dwell in villages and subsist by agricul- 
 ture, instead of living in lodges and depending upon the chase, as the wild Indians 
 of the mountains and plains. — Davis, El Gringo, p. 114. 
 
 Puke. 1. A mean, contemptible fellow. 
 
 2. A nickname for a native of Missouri. 
 
 Pull-back Dress. The name of a lady's dress now (1877) univer- 
 sally worn. 
 
602 
 
 PUL 
 
 I met my girl on Fulton Street 
 
 The other afternoon, 
 With her dress pulled back in a great big bunch,-— 
 
 As big as a balloon ! 
 When I asked her what the trouble was, 
 
 She seemed in such distress, 
 Says she, — " O Sam ! don't be a fool, 
 
 That 's my new pull-back di'ess." 
 
 Says she, " There 's not a style, you know, 
 I ever let escape ! 
 ' I like to pin my jmll-bnck tight, — 
 It shows my handsome shape." 
 
 Song of the Pull-bach Dress. 
 
 Pull Dick, pull Devil. An expression used in low language, synony- 
 mous with " neck and neck," denoting an equal contest in a race. 
 
 Pull-Doo. A small black duck found in the bays and inlets of the 
 Gulf of Mexico. It seldom flies, but relies upon swimming and 
 diving to evade pursuit. The word is probably a corrui3tion of 
 poule d^eau, i. e. water-hen. 
 
 Pull down your Vest. A curious flash expression of recent origin, 
 without meaning. It is heard on all occasions, coming alike from 
 the lips of the street-boy, who would " shine your boots," and the 
 fashionable attendant of the clubs ; yet no man can tell whence it 
 came. It is without parentage, and its origin is "involved in the 
 deepest obscurity. ' ' 
 
 Flash sayings, you know, now-a-days are the rage, — 
 
 They 're heard in the parlor, the street, on the stage, — 
 
 *' You 're too fresh," and " Swim out, you are over your head; " 
 
 But a new one 's been coined, and the old ones are dead. 
 
 " A Centennial crank " is one that is new. 
 
 And " Crawl out of that hat " is quite recent too ; 
 
 But the latest flash saying with which we are blest 
 
 Is to tell a man quietly, Pull down your vest.^^ 
 
 H. G. Richmond in Burton's Events of 1875-76. 
 
 To pull Foot. To walk fast; to run. Comp. To make Tracks, 
 
 I look'd up; it was another shower, by Gosh. I pulls foot for dear life. — 
 Sam Slick in England, ch. 2. 
 
 I thought I 'd run round two or three streets. So I pulled foot, and hunted 
 and sweat till I got so tired I couldn't but just stand. — Major Downing^s May- 
 day in Ne w York. 
 
 Pulling-Bone. The common name in Maryland, Virginia, &c., for 
 the yoke-like breast-bone of chickens, by pulling which till it breaks 
 children and young ladies settle which will be the first married. 
 
PUL 
 
 503 
 
 The shorter piece, which decides, is placed over the door; and the 
 first unmarried man who goes under is supposed will be the future 
 husband. It is also called the merry-thought and wish-hone. 
 To pull it. To run. 
 
 And how a man one dismal night 
 
 Shot lier with silver bullet, 
 And then she flew straight out of sight 
 
 As fast as she could ^jm/^ it. 
 
 T. G. Fessenden, Yankee Boodle. 
 
 Pullman Car. A drawing-room car; so called from the name of the 
 first constructor of these luxurious railway carriages, otherwise 
 known as Palace and Drawing-room Cars. 
 
 I got safely off in a big arm-chair in the Pullman car, with my parcels all put 
 up, and my novel in my lap waiting till I was tired of other things. — Mrs. 
 Whitney, Si(jhts and Insights, p. 2. 
 
 To pull up, among travellers, means to stop. Alluding to the act of 
 pulling the reins of a horse, in order to stop him. 
 
 To pull up Stakes. To pack up one's furniture or baggage, prepar- 
 atory to a removal ; to remove. The allusion is to pulling up the 
 stakes of a tent. 
 
 The expression was introduced from England. Thomas Lech- 
 ford, an English lawyer who was in Boston in 1638-40, in a letter 
 to a friend in England, July 28, 1640, thus writes: — 
 
 I am loath to hear of a stay [in New England], but am plucking up stakes, with 
 as much speed as I may, if so be I may be so happy as to arrive in Ireland, &c. 
 MS. 
 
 If this stranger is to receive countenance, then I '11 pull up stakes and depart 
 from Tinnecum for ever. — Knickerbocker Magazine. 
 
 Which often a han'som pictur to a hungry person makes, 
 
 But it don't interest a feller much that 's goin' to pull up stakes. 
 
 Carlton, Farm Ballads, p. 23. 
 
 To pull Wool over the Eyes. 
 
 The Tariff project for reducing the revenue is a humbug, — a trick for pulling 
 ivool over the eyes of innocent people. — N. Y. Herald. 
 
 That 'ere stranger 's only playin' possum, but he can't pull the wool over this 
 child's eyes; he 's got 'em both skinned. — A Stray Yankee in Texas. 
 
 Pult, for pulse. Some country doctors think pulse is plural, and say, 
 " A very good pult," " Youv pulse are strong." 
 
 In the report of a medical case at Hilton Head, South Caro- 
 lina, communicated to the " N. Y. Tribune," July 29, 1862, the 
 writer says : — 
 
 Next morning, pult quicker and weaker ; . . . the disease was very obstinate, 
 pult increasing in quickness and symptoms more aggravating. 
 
504 
 
 PUM— PUN 
 
 Puma. {Felis concolor.^ An animal known also under the name of 
 Cougar, Panther, and American Lion, the largest of the cat kind 
 found in America. Flint describes it, under the name panther, as 
 of the size of the largest dogs, of a dark-grayish color, marked vjiiYi 
 black spots. It is in shape much like the domestic cat, with short 
 legs, large paws, and long talons. It conceals itself among the 
 branches of the trees, and thence darts upon its prey. 
 
 Puncheons. A term which, in Georgia and the adjoining States, 
 means split logs, with their faces a little smoothed with an axe or 
 hatchet. These, being laid upon sleepers, make a puncheon-floor. 
 
 The Squire's dwelling consisted of but one room. The house was constructed 
 of logs, and the floor was of puncheons. — Georgia Scenes, p. 12. 
 
 Bill knew him; and, if the old serpent himself had popped up his head through 
 the puncheons and claimed him for his brand, he couldn't have been more scared. 
 N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 Pung. A rude sort of sleigh, or oblong box made of boards and 
 placed on runners, used for drawing loads on snow by horses. — 
 Worcester. Also called a Jumper, which see. 
 
 This name of a cutter was formerly written Tom Pung, as in 
 Dennie's " Spirit of the Farmer's Museum," p. 243. 
 
 In that fam'd town [Roxbury] which sends to Boston Mart 
 The gliding Tom Pung and the rattling cart. * 
 
 So in a rhymed letter in the "New Haven Gazette," June 15, 
 1786. 
 
 These were sledges or ^mw(/5, coarsely framed of split saplings, and surmounted 
 with a large crockery-crate. — Margaret, p. 174. 
 
 Punk. 1. Rotten wood; touchwood; spunk. A word in common 
 use in New England, as well as in the other Northern States and 
 Canada. Ash defines it " a kind of fungus, often used for tinder." 
 Pickering. 
 
 Punk is the Indian ? name for all perennial fungi growing on 
 trees and of a spungy nature, useful to make spunk or touchwood 
 to light fire easily with. — Rafinesque, Med. Flora, Vol. II. p. 187. 
 2. A punch or blow with the fist. New York. 
 To punk. To push or strike with the fist; to punch. New York. 
 Punkin-Seed. (Pomotis vulgaris.) A small fresh-water fish, the 
 Sun-Fish and Bream of our fresh-water ponds and lakes. Its shape 
 is that of a pumpkin-seed, whence its name. 
 
 An' I 've ben sence a-visitin' the Judge, 
 
 Whose garding whispers with the river's edge. 
 
 Where I 've sot mornin's lazy as the bream. 
 
 Whose on'y business is to head up stream 
 
 (We call 'em punkin-seed), &c. — Lowell, Biglow Papers. 
 
PUN— PUT 
 
 505 
 
 Punt In Maryland and Virginia, a small boat made of the body of a 
 large tree. In England, Si, punt is a flat-bottomed boat. 
 
 Pupelo. A name for cider-brandy, formerly manufactured in New 
 England to a great extent. 
 
 ''Han't they got any of the religion at your house?" "No, marm, they 
 drink pupelo and rum." — Margaret, p. 52. 
 
 Pussy-Willow. (Salix discolor.) The swamp-willow, the blossoms 
 of which are as soft as a cat's fur; hence their name. 
 
 Speaking of the approaching spring, the " Providence Journal " 
 says : — 
 
 Cherry-trees have put forth their blossoms, pussy-icillows have donned their 
 silvery catkins, and whole armies of weeds have started from their sheltered 
 nooks. 
 
 Put. To stay put is to keep still, remain where placed. A vulgar 
 expression. 
 
 The levees and wharves of the First Municipality won't '■''stay put.'"' Last 
 evening that part of the levee opposite Custom-House Street, which had caved in 
 and was since filled, sunk suddenly' ten feet. — N. 0. Picayune. 
 
 To put. To start, go, decamp, be off. "I see I 'm not wanted 
 here; so I'll pitf." See To get. 
 
 B found himself by mistake in the ladies' saloon ; a fact he was politely 
 
 informed of by one of the occupants, who said, "Guess you put for the wrong 
 pew, mister." — Notes on Canada, ^c, Blackwood's Mag. 
 
 To put a Head on. To bruise and batter one's head, causing it to 
 swell ; and, figuratively, to silence him ; to shut him up ; to thrash 
 him. 
 
 The " Providence Journal " (of Oct. 22, 1877), in an article on 
 the quarrels in the Democratic party, quotes the following passage, 
 which he recommends their reading, taken from a poem with which 
 we are not familiar : — 
 
 'Tis not a proper p^'an 
 For any scientific gent to whale his fellow-man. 
 Or, if a member don't agree with his peculiar whim. 
 To lay for that same member for to put a head on him. 
 
 To put into Line. To arrange orderly; to bring into line; to make 
 accordant. 
 
 Governor Hicks has called a special session of the Legislature [of Maryland] 
 to meet Nov. 27, to put the State in line with the Union. — The Congregation- 
 alist, Nov., 1861. 
 
 To put it in Strong. To express one's self strongly or emphatically. 
 
 The missionaries in the South are pretty careful ; they put it in strong in the 
 catechism about the rights of the master. — Mrs. Stowe, Bred, Vol. I. p. 193. 
 
506 
 
 PUT 
 
 To put off. To start, set out. Originally a nautical term. 
 
 It is an astonishing fact that over tifteen thousand persons have deserted their 
 homes in California, and off by every means of conveyance for Fraser's 
 River. — Nat. Intellujencer, July 22, 1858. 
 
 To put out. To set out; to be off. ■ A Western expression. To put 
 is used in the same sense. 
 
 As my wife's father had considerable land on Blue Fox River, and as we 
 wanted a little more elbow-room, I says one day to Nancy, "Nancy," says I, 
 " I dad, s'pose wejjut out and live there." — CarUon, The New Purchase, Vol. I. 
 p. 172. 
 
 Well, I put out for the Planters as fast as I could, where you know I found 
 you at last. — Major Jones's Courtship, p. 63. 
 
 There was goin' to be a raisin' or log-roliin' a good piece off, and the old man 
 reckoned he 'd better />«^ out in the evening, and stay at some of the neighbor's 
 houses and be allowed to take an early start in mornin'. — N. Y. Sjnrit of the, 
 Times. 
 
 La Bontd picked up three mules for a mere song, and the next day put out for 
 the Platte. — Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 66. 
 
 "The more you give the slaves," said Jekyl, "the more dissatisfied they 
 grow, till finally they put for the free States." 
 
 "Very well," said Clayton; ''if that's to be the result, they may put as soon 
 as they can get ready." — Mrs. Stowe, Dred, Vol. I. p. 195. 
 
 Puts. When a speculator thinks that stocks are going down, and 
 wishes to make a small operation without incurring much risk, he 
 gives a small sum for the privilege of delivering a small amount of 
 stock at a certain price. For instance, if the cash price of Erie 
 was fifty-seven per cent, a speculator would give say fifty dollars, to 
 " put " or deliver one hundred shares at fifty-six and a half percent, 
 say next week, ten days, or any short time. He can only lose his 
 fifty dollars, if the market should go up; but, if it goes down to 
 fifty-six, he gets his money back, and all below that is so much 
 profit. Operations of this kind are carried on principally among 
 the curb-stone brokers, men who have strong speculative propensi- 
 ties and very little capital. See Call Contract. 
 
 To put the Licks in. To exert one's self. 
 
 You had better put the licks in and make haste, or there will be more fiddling 
 and dancing and serving the devil this morning. — Sam Slick, Human Nature, 
 p. 164. 
 
 To put through. 1. To carry through, effect, accomplish, a piece of 
 business. A term much used in speaking of legislative business; 
 thus, to carry a bill or resolution is " to put it through.''^ 
 
 He wiped the sweat from off his brow: 
 
 "These drivin' wheels will do ; 
 A better engine never ran ', 
 
 She 's bound to put us through.'^ — Railroad Ballad. 
 
PUT— QUA 
 
 507 
 
 The expression is much used at colleges : a teacher jmts his pupils 
 through a course of studies. 
 
 First Thacher, then Hadley, then Larned and Prex, 
 Each put our class throuf/h in succession. 
 
 Presentation Sonr/s, June 14, 1854. 
 
 2. To carry through the entire length of a route, &c. Of stage- 
 coachman's vocabulary. 
 
 To putter. To be engaged in fussy work which does no special good, 
 when you are not called upon to do any at all. " She 's puttering 
 round." The English word, to potter, means to busy or perplex 
 one's self about trifles; to trifle. 
 
 Putto. (Fr. poteau, a post.) A stake firmly set in the ground, to 
 which wild cattle and horses are secured. A term in general use in 
 the grazing regions of the South-west. 
 
 Putty-Root. {Aplectrum hi/menale.) Also called " Adam and Eve," 
 from the bulb of the preceding year being always connected with the 
 new one. 
 
 To puzzle a Philadelphia Lawyer is considered a very difficult 
 undertaking, the Philadelphia gentlemen of the profession being 
 regarded as remarkably keen-witted. See Philadelphia Lawyer. 
 
 Had General Taylor not confessed himself a Whig, it would have puzzled a 
 Philadelphia lawyer to have detected it. — Southern Patriot. 
 
 Q. 
 
 To quackle. To interrupt in breathing; to almost choke; to suffo- 
 cate. Provincial in England, and colloquial in America. — Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 Quadroon. (Fr. Quateron, Span. Cuarteron.) The offspring of a 
 mulatto woman by a white man. See Negro. 
 
 All their desperate prowess vanished like a mist before the moon, — 
 Left the Creole maid and matron, even left the dear Quadroon. 
 
 Ballad of the Crescent City. 
 The influence of the quadroon girls is a most powerful factor in Louisiana 
 affairs, which has been altogether neglected. — New York Post, Feb., 1877. 
 
 Quahaug. (Genus Venus mercenaria.) In New England, the pop- 
 ular name of a species of clams having a round and very hard shell. 
 See Pooquaw. 
 
 The laws of Rhode Island provide that any person who shall 
 take any quahaugs or clams from certain beds in Providence River 
 between May and September shall forfeit twenty dollars for each 
 offence. 
 
508 
 
 QUA— QUE 
 
 If in your account of the Squantum Club you had said that qunhaugs were 
 better than clams, or that Massachusetts clam-bakes were better than Rhode 
 Island clam-bakes, I could not have been more astonished. — Cor. of Providence 
 Journal. 
 
 Quaker, Quaker Gun. An imitation of a gun made of wood or 
 other material, and placed in the port-hole of a vessel, or the em- 
 brasure of a fort, in order to deceive the enemy; so called from its 
 inoffensive character. — Webster. 
 
 We fancy our vessels of war which suffered the filibuster Walker to escape 
 were armed with Quaker guns. — Providence Journal. 
 
 The fancied impregnability of the position turns out to be a sham. . . . some of 
 the forts have maple logs painted to resemble guns. . . . Some of our soldiers 
 cried when they found that Quakers were mounted on the breastworks. — Letter 
 from Manassas, N. Y. Tribune, March, 1862. 
 
 Quaker City. The city of Philadelphia; so called from its founders 
 having been Friends or Quakers. 
 
 To qualify. To swear to discharge the duties of an office, and hence 
 to make oath of any fact; as, "I am ready to qualify to what I 
 have asserted." 
 
 Dr. Tate, of Virginia, the new Auditor of the Treasury for the Post-Office De- 
 partment, this morning quaUfed and entered upon the duties of his office. — 
 The (Bait.) Sun, Oct. 1, 1857. 
 
 Quamish, or Camus Plant. (Phalangium esculentum.) The adopted 
 name of a plant common on wet prairies, along rivers and lakes of 
 the West, whose root (resembling a small onion) is eaten by the 
 Indians. 
 
 Quarter. A twenty-five cent piece, which is a quarter of a dollar, is 
 often called simply a quarter. 
 
 Quarterage. Entertainment or allowance ; charge for keeping. 
 
 For quarterage of a soldier, 5s. per week. Pasturage for a horse, M. per day. 
 Connecticut Records, Vol. II. p. 386. 
 
 Quarters. The negro huts of a plantation are termed the negro quar- 
 ters, or simply the quarters. 
 
 Queen City. Queen of the West. Cincinnati. 
 
 And this song of the vine. 
 
 This greeting of mine, 
 The winds and the birds shall deliver 
 
 To the Queen of the West, 
 
 In her garlands dressed, 
 On the banks of the beautiful river. — Longfellow. 
 
 Queer. Counterfeit paper money; the English flimsies, — the Gipsy 
 shoful pitcher. To " shove the queer " is to put counterfeit bills in 
 
QUI— RAC 
 
 509 
 
 circulation. Mr. Hotten calls it an old cant word, meaning any 
 thing base or worthless. — Slang Dictionary. The "Providence 
 Journal," in speaking of the examination of three men for passing 
 counterfeit money, heads its article, "Bound over for Shoving the 
 Queer. ''^ 
 
 Quid. A corruption of cud : as, in vulgar language, a quid of tobacco. 
 
 In Kent (England), a cow is said to chew her quid ; so that cud and 
 
 quid are the same. — Pegge^s Anonymia. 
 Quiddling. Unsteady, uncertain; mincing, as a quiddling gait.'^ 
 Quilling. A piece of reed, on which weavers wind the thread which 
 
 forms the woof of cloth, is called a quill ; an old English word. • In 
 
 New England, a certain process of winding thread is called quilling. 
 
 The child, Margaret, sits in the door of her house, on a low stool, with a small 
 wheel, winding spools ; in our vernacular, quilling. — Margaret, p. 6. 
 
 Quilting-Bee or Quilting Frolic. An assemblage of women who 
 unite their labor to make a bed-quilt. They meet by invitation, 
 seat themselves around the frame upon which the quilt is placed, 
 and in a few hours complete it. Tea follows, and the evening is 
 sometimes closed with dancing or other amusements. See Bee. 
 
 Now [in the days of Governor Stuyvesant] were instituted quilting-bees and 
 husking-bees, and other rural assemblages, where, under the inspiring influence 
 of the fiddle, toil was enlivened by gayety and followed up by the dance. — 
 h-ving, Knickerbocker. 
 
 To quit. To stop. " Now you ^wjV teasing me. " 
 
 Quite a While. " He stayed quite a while,^^ i. e. a considerable time, 
 a period, perhaps, between a short time and a long while. It is 
 a bad expression. The expression '•^ quite a house," '■'■quite a 
 party," " quite a town," are also bad. We have heard a lady say, 
 in reply to the question, "How long did Mr. A — stop, when 
 he called? " " Ohl quite a little while. 
 
 R. 
 
 Raccoon. (Procyon lotor.) A well-known carnivorous animal found 
 in most parts of North America, valuable for its fur. Vulgarly 
 called Coon, which see. 
 
 There are Arocouns and Apossouns in shape like to pigges, shrowded in hollow 
 roots of trees. — True Declaration of Virginia (1610), p. 29. 
 
 There is a beast they call Aroughcun. much like a badger,but useth to live on 
 trees as squirrels doe. — Smith's Virginia (1624), B. ii. p. 27. 
 
 Rahaughcums. — Smithes News from Virginia (1608), p. 14. 
 
510 
 
 RAC— RAF 
 
 To race. To cause to run; to chase. A vulgar use of the word. 
 
 Between five and six o'clock on Thursday afternoon, a well-known character 
 named Michael Clark, while passinf^ the corner of Cathedral and Franklin 
 Streets, espied an old enemy nanied Edward Gettier, perched on a scaffold .swing- 
 ing against the side of a new house, busy applying a painter's brush to the 
 structure, and regardless of all things below, lioth had been previously con- 
 cerned, on oi)posite sides, in several street affrays; and Clark, thinking it a good 
 time to let him know he was about again, slipped up, and commenced shooting 
 at Gettier with a revolver. After several shots had been wasted, one of the l)alls 
 took effect in Gettier's side, wounding him slightly. Clark then ran; and Get- 
 tier, jumping down, raced him for some distance, &c. — (Bait.) Sun, Aug. 7, 
 1858. 
 
 Another party was raced as far as the house adjoining the bank. — Baliiinor-e 
 Americ(tn. 
 
 Race-Track. The track upon a race-ground. 
 
 We do not think that Tennessee is likely to be much of a battle-ground here- 
 after. There 's more probability of her being a race-track. — Louisville Journal. 
 
 Rack, for icreck. As in the expression, "He's gone to rack and 
 ruin." 
 
 Rackabones. A lean horse; an emaciated creature 
 
 He is afraid that this mettlesome charger [upon which he was leading another 
 horse] cannot be trusted going down hill, otherwise he would let go of the old 
 rackabones. 
 
 Raddle. In New England, an instrument consisting of a wooden 
 bar, with a row of upright pegs set in it, which is employed by- 
 domestic weavers to keep the warp of a proper width, and pre\'ent 
 it from becoming entangled when it is wound upon the beam of a 
 loom. — Webster. It is an English term. 
 
 Raft. 1. A frame or float, made by laying pieces of timber across 
 each other. — Johnmn. In North America, rafts are constructed 
 of immense size, and comprise timber, boards, staves, &c. They 
 are floated down from the interior to the tide-waters, being pro- 
 pelled by the force of the current, assisted by large oars and sails, 
 to their place of destination. The men employed on these rafts 
 construct rude huts upon them, in which they often dwell for sev- 
 eral weeks before arriving at the places where they are taken to 
 pieces for shipping to foreign parts. 
 
 2. This term is also applied to a large collection of timber and 
 fallen trees, which, floating down the great rivers of the West, are 
 arrested in their downward course by flats or shallow places. Here 
 they accumulate, and sometimes block up the river for miles. The 
 great raft on Red River extended twenty miles, and required an 
 immense outlay of money to remove it in order to make the river 
 navigable. 
 
RAF— RAI 
 
 511 
 
 It was over this raft that poor Will Harrod fared wheji he was escaping from 
 the Camanches. And what is left of the raft, and what the pilot explained to 
 them, did not disappoint them. The history of the raft can be made out clearh^ 
 enough by any traveller who passes up the river. — E. E Hale, Adventures of 
 a Pullman, p. 134. 
 
 3. A large number, a host. Vulgar. 
 
 We have killed Calhoun and Biddle ; but there is a raft fellows to put down 
 yet. — Major Bowninfs Letters, p. 93. 
 
 We 've shoals of shad, whole rafts of canvas-back ducks, and no end of terra- 
 pins. — Burton, Wayyeries. 
 
 Among its notices to correspondents, an exchange paper says: " Kraft of 
 original articles are on file for next week." We hope none of them will prove 
 mere lumber. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 The Elder's wife was a sick-lookin' woman, with a whole raft o' young ones 
 squalling round her. — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 210. 
 
 To raft. To transport on a raft. — Webster. 
 
 Rafting. The business of constructing and floating rafts. 
 
 Raftsman. A man who follows the business of rafting. 
 
 Rag. To take the rag off the bush, or simply to take the rag off, is to 
 bear away the palm. 
 
 I had an everlastin' fast Narragansett pacer. I was considerable proud of him, 
 I assure you; for he took the ray off the bush in great style. — Sarn Slick, Human 
 Nature, p. 218. 
 
 " Don't be skeered," sais I, "Gineral, don't be skeered. I ain't a goin' for to 
 hurt you, but jist to salute you as my senior officer, for it tante often two such 
 old heroes like you and me meet, I can tell you. You fit at Waterloo, and I fit 
 at Bunker's Hill; 3'^ou whipt the French, and we whipt the Kiiglish. P'raps 
 history can't show jist two such battles as them; they take the ray off quite. " — 
 Sam Slick in Enyland, ch. 38. 
 
 Rag Carpet. A carpet made of rags, formerly made by families, but 
 now woven by hand, the rags being first cut into strips. 
 
 Rag Money. Paper money. 
 
 Raid. A hostile or predatory incursion, especially an inroad or incur- 
 sion of mounted men. A Scottisli word, which within a few years 
 has come to be much used in the United States. — Webster. A hos- 
 tile incursion. — Wright, Prov. Die. 
 
 The word is not found in Johnson or Richardson, but appears in 
 Latham's edition of the former, with examples of its use from liv- 
 ing authors. 
 
 There are permanent conquests, temporary occupations, and occasional raids. — 
 Herbert Spencer, Principles of Bioloyy. 
 
612 
 
 RAI 
 
 Jainieson has Ilade^ Raid. An invasion properly of the equestrian 
 kind, which lie derives from the Ang.-Sax. ridan, to ride. He also 
 gives early examples of its use. — Scottish Die. 
 
 Schyr Andrew syne wyth stalwort hand 
 
 Made syndry radis in Ingland. — Wyntown, viii. 34, 34. 
 
 Rail. A piece of timber, cleft, hewed, or sawed, inserted in upright 
 posts for fencing. The common rails among farmers are rough, 
 being used as they are split from the chestnut or other trees. — 
 Webster. 
 
 Rail-Car. A car for transporting passengers on railroads. 
 To rail it. To travel by railroad. 
 
 From Petersburg!!, I railed it through the North CaroHna pitch, tar, turpentine, 
 and lumber country, to the great Ajnerican pitch, tar, turpentine, and lumber 
 depot, — Wilmington. The prospect is, from the car-windows, continuously an 
 immensity of pine, pine, nothing but pine-trees, broken here and there with open- 
 ings of pine under-brush. — Letter in N. Y. Tribune, May 22, 1848. 
 
 Railroad Nomenclature. In all that appertains to railroads, loco- 
 motives, and travelling by rail, we use quite different terms from 
 the corresponding ones used in England, as will be seen by the 
 following: — 
 
 In the U. S. we say Railroad; In England, Railway. 
 
 Railroad Depot; „ Railway Station. 
 
 Cow-catcher or Pilot; „ Plough. 
 
 Engineer; ,, Engine-driver. 
 
 Fireman; ,, Stoker. 
 
 Conductor; ,, Guard. 
 
 Ticket Office ; „ Booking Office.. 
 
 Baggage ; „ Luggage. 
 
 Baggage Car ; „ Luggage Van. 
 
 Passenger Car; „ Carriage. 
 
 Track; „ Line. 
 
 Turn-out; „ Siding. 
 
 Frog; „ Crossing Plate. 
 
 Switches; ,, Points. 
 
 Check Rails ; „ Guard Rails. 
 
 Trucks (under the Cars); „ Bogies. 
 
 Switching ofF; „ Shunting. 
 
 Freight Train ; „ Goods Train. 
 
 To railroad. To be a conductor on a railroad. Pennsylvania. 
 Raise. To make a raise is a vulgar American phrase, meaning to make 
 a haul, to raise the wind. 
 
 The chances were altogether favorable for making a raise, without fear of 
 detection. — Simon Suggs, p. 48. 
 
 I made a raise of a horse and saw, after being a wood-piler's apprentice for a 
 while. — Neal, Sketches. 
 
RAI 
 
 513 
 
 To raise. 1. To cause to grow; to procure to be produced, bred, or 
 propagated: as, to razi-e wheat, barley, hops, &c. ; to raise horses, 
 oxen, or sheep. — Webster. 
 
 To raise is applied in the Southern States to the breeding of 
 Negroes. It is also sometimes heard at the North among the illit- 
 erate; as, "I was raised in Connecticut," meaning brought up there. 
 See more in Pickering's Vocabulary. 
 
 You know I was raised, as they say in Virginia, among the mountains of the 
 North. — Paulding, Letters from the South, Vol. I. p. 85. 
 
 Old Negro Bill, belonging to Mr. Sampson, Hunt Co., Virginia, was liaised 
 there, and served in the American Revolution, a portion of the time as a servant 
 to Washington. — ( Wash.) Ev. Star, Jan. 7, 1857. 
 
 Miss Asphyxia had talked of takin' a child from the poor-house, and so raisin* 
 her own help. — Mrs. Stowe, Oldtown Folks, p. 98. 
 
 2. To obtain with difficulty or in a discreditable manner. 
 
 3. To make up, fabricate, invent; as, "That's a tale they 've 
 raised on me," meaning some ludicrous or disgraceful anecdote 
 invented against a person. Western. 
 
 To raise a Bead. This expression is used at the West, and means to 
 bring to a head, to make succeed. The figure is taken from brandy, 
 rum, or other liquors, which will not " raise a bead," unless of the 
 proper strength. 
 
 The result was, if the convention had been then held, the party wouldn't have 
 been able to raise a bead. — Letter from Ohio, N. Y. Tribune, 1846. 
 
 To raise a Racket. To make a racket or noise. 
 
 I see it warn't no use raisin' a racket ; so I concluded I 'd have satisfaction out 
 of him, and began shakin' my fist at him. — Southern Sketches, p. 36. 
 
 To raise Cain. To cause a disturbance ; to make a row. 
 
 Now bring Mexico into the Union, and I 'd like to know which of the great 
 powers would undertake to dictate to her, or tell her what she must do. . . . 
 There wouldn't be any struttin' about, and talkin' big, and threatenin' to raise 
 Cain.''' — Hammond, Lakes and Forest Scenes. 
 
 "I'll tell you what, Solomon Peters," said Miss Asphyxia, " I 'd jest as soon 
 have the red dragon in the Revelation a comin' down on my house as a boy! If 
 I don't work hard enough now, I 'd like to know, without havin' a boy around 
 raisin' g'meral Cain."— Afrs. Stowe, Oldtown Folks, p. 116. 
 
 A man who had been beating his wife, and was raisin;/ Cain with a white woman, 
 both being drunk, was arrested and locked up. — N. Y. Herald. 
 
 To raise one's Dander. To get into a passion. See Dander. 
 
 If John Bull had riz our dander 
 
 Settin' foot on yonder shore, 
 Then we should have holler'd grander 
 
 Than the broad Atlantic's roar. 
 
 {London'] Punch, Feb. 7, 1863. 
 
 33 
 
514 
 
 RAI— RAK 
 
 Ever}' time I come up from Louisiana, I found Jess hangiii' round that f^al, 
 • lookin' awful sweet, and a fellow couldn't go near her without raisin'' Ids dander. 
 Rubb, Squatter Lift. 
 
 To raise one's Hair. In the semi-barbarous dialect used by the hunters, 
 trappors, and others who traverse the great plains and prairies of 
 the West, scalping a man is " raising (or lifting) his hair.'' 
 
 Kit Carson is the paragon of mountaineers: to look at him, no one would think 
 that the mild-looking being before him was an incarnate devil in an Indian fight, 
 and had raised more hair from the red-skins than any two men in the Western 
 country. — Euxton, Life in the Far West, p. 194. 
 
 To raise the Hatchet means, among the American Indians, to pre- 
 pare for war; " to dig up the hatchet." See Hatchet. 
 
 In Major Robert Rogers's " Tragedy of Ponteac, or the Savages 
 of America," (Loud., 1766), the great chief, addressing Governor 
 Sharp, said: — 
 
 We 'd love you, treat you as our friends and brothers, 
 And raise the hatchet only in your cause. 
 
 To which the Governor replied : — 
 
 Our King is very anxious for your welfare, 
 And greatly wishes for your Love and Friendship ; 
 He would not have the Hatchet ever raised, 
 But buried deep, stamp'd down, and cover'd o'er. — p. 21. 
 Thus do I raise the Hatchet from the ground, 
 Sharpen'd and bright may it be stained with Blood. — Ibid., p. 65. 
 
 Raising-Bee or Raising. In New England and the Northern States, 
 the operation or work of setting up the frame of a building. — 
 Webster. 
 
 On such occasions, the neighboring farmers are accustomed to 
 assemble and lend their assistance. In this way, the framework of 
 the largest house or barn is set up in a few hours. 
 
 Raisiny-bees were frequent, where houses sprang up at the wagging of the fid- 
 dle-stick, as the walls of Thebes sprang up of yore to the sound of the lyre of 
 Amphion — Knickerhocher'' s N ew York. 
 
 This spectacle of a raisinr/, though so common-place an affair elsewhere, is 
 something worth seeing in the woods. — Mrs. Clavers's Forest Life. 
 
 Rake. A comb. Western German population. 
 
 Rake down. A taking down, a scolding. Borrowed from the gam- 
 ing-table, and the rake of the croupier. " That rakes down my pile," 
 a Californian says when he has lost his venture or the contents of 
 his purse. 
 
 I have expected to be "'blow^n up" in print by "S 1" before now, but 
 
 have so far escaped, much to the disappointment of the b'hoA's about here. I 
 
RAM— EAS 
 
 515 
 
 would submit with a good grace to a ^'•raJce down,'''' if I could only succeed in 
 starting again his "gray goose quill." — N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 Rambunctious. Quarrelsome. 
 
 Rampage. To be riotous; to prance about in a riotous manner. 
 He 's on the rampage,^^ i. e. he's on a spree; he is rioting. Pro- 
 vincial in England. 
 
 Rancher. See Ranchman. 
 
 Rancheria. (Span.) The place, site, or house in the country where 
 a number of rancheros collect together. The collection of few or 
 many huts or ranchos into a small village. 
 
 Ranchero. (Span.) A person who lives in a rancho; and hence any 
 peasant or countryman. 
 
 Ranchman. A word made from the Spanish Ranchero. An owner, 
 occupant, or manager of a ranch. 
 
 'T is a record prized of ranchmen, 
 
 Shepherds, tillers of the soil; 
 And, among.-it the social topics, 
 Giveth all the farm-hints new. 
 Wm. Boyd, Desc. of a Model Ne ir^^papf i\ Potter's Am. Monthhj, June, 1877. 
 
 Rancho or Ranch. (Span, rancho.) A rude hut of posts, covered with 
 branches or thatch, where herdsmen or farm-laborers live or only 
 lodge at night. 
 
 Range. 1. The public lands of the United States are surveyed or 
 divided into ranges, which designate the order of their arrangement 
 into townships. — Bouvler's Law Diet. 
 
 2. In Texas, the prairies on which the large herds of cattle graze 
 and range are called cattle or stock ranges. 
 
 AVhen any person may hunt estrays in another Mock range, he shall notify the 
 owner of said stock of his intention. — Laws of Texas. 
 
 The herdsman agrees to deliver a certain number of beeves, in marketable 
 order. . . . The r<tnf/e is then scoured, and the requisite number obtained. — 
 Olmsted^s Texas, p. 371. 
 
 Rapid. The part of a river where the current moves with more celeiity 
 than is common; a sadden descent of the surface of a stream with- 
 out actual waterfall or cascade, as the Lachine rapids of the St. 
 Lawrence. — Webster. The word is not in the latest English dic- 
 tionary of Pr. Latham. 
 
 Rastra. (Span.) A sled; a drag. An instrument used by the Cali- 
 fornia gold-miners, consisting of two heavy stones attached by a 
 strap to a horizontal b<ar. These are dragged by mule power slowly 
 round a circular trough, through which a small stream of water is 
 
516 
 
 RAT— REC 
 
 constantly running. The gold-bearing quartz is here ground into a 
 paste, and the gold aftei'wards separated by means of quicksilver. 
 
 Rat. A contemptuous term used among printers, to denote a man who 
 works under price. 
 
 To rat. Among printers, to work under price. 
 
 Rat Office. A printing-office in which full prices are not paid. 
 
 Ratoons. 1. (Span, retono.) Sugar-cane of the second and third 
 year's growth, of which cuttings are made for planting the succeed- 
 ing year. 
 
 2. The heart-leaves in a tobacco-plant. — Webster. 
 
 Rattlesnake. (Crotaliis horridus.) A genus of serpents, celebrated 
 for the danger which accompanies their bite, and for the peculiar 
 appendages to their tail. This venomous reptile, of which there 
 are many species, is exclusively confined to America. 
 
 Real Glad. " I 'm real glad to see you," i. e. very glad. 
 
 Rear Horse. (Pron. rare.) The vulgar name, at the South, for the 
 orthopterous insect called the Mantis, Camel Cricket, or Johnny 
 Cock-horse. 
 
 Re^ta. (Span.) A rope made of raw-hide used for lassoing horses 
 and mules; a rope which ties one horse or mule to another. 
 
 Rebellionist. One who favors rebellion. 
 
 A very large vote was polled. In this city, it reached 1,434, which is only 80 
 votes less than the rehdlionists polled in the wliole county a week ago. — Wil- 
 mington, Del., Journal, 1862. 
 
 Reboso. (Span.) A scarf or long shawl universally worn over the 
 head and shoulders by the women of the Spanish-American States 
 and Territories. 
 
 Receiptor. A person to w^hom goods levied on by the sheriff are 
 delivered, on his undertaking to deliver the same to the sheriff on 
 demand, or to pay the amount on execution. — BurriWs Law Diet. 
 
 RecoUember. A negroism for recollect or remember. 
 
 To reckon. To think; to imagine; to believe; to conjecture; to 
 conclude; to guess. Used in some parts of the United States as 
 calculate is in New England and elsewhere. It is provincial in 
 England in the same sense, and is noticed in the glossaries of Pegge 
 and Brockett. Mr. Hamilton, in his remarks on the Yorkshire 
 dialect, says: " ' I reclon ' comes out on every occasion, as perhaps 
 aliens would expect from this country of 'ready reckoners.'" — 
 Nugce Literarice, p. 317. 
 
RE C— RED 
 
 51T 
 
 "General, I guess we best sav notliin' more about bribin'," says I. " Well," 
 sa.ys he, " Major, I reckon you 're right." — Major J)ownin(j''s Letters^ p. 208. 
 
 I sa}^! what do you guess about lending me your axe for a spell? Do you 
 reckon you. can spare it ? — Mrs. Clavers's Forest Life, Vol. I. p. 84. 
 
 I reckon you hardly ever was at a shooting-match, stranger, from the cut of 
 your coat. — Georgia Scenes, p. 198. 
 
 Recommend. A commendatory notice; a recommendation. New 
 England. 
 
 To recoupe. (Fr. recouper.) To diminish a claim for damages by 
 cutting off or keeping back a part ; to make up a loss in general. 
 
 This old word has been revived to a considerable extent in modern 
 law. " "Where a man brings an action for breach of a contract 
 between him and the defendant, and the latter can show that some 
 stipulation in the same contract was made by the plaintiff, which 
 he has violated, the defendant may, if he choose, instead of suing 
 in his term, recoupe his damages, arising from the breach committed 
 by the plaintiff, whether they be liquidated or not. The law will 
 cut off so much of the plaintiff's claim as the cross-damages may 
 come to.'' — Cowen in Wendells Reports, Vol. XXII. p. 156. 
 
 Recoupment. Defalcation or discounting from a demand. A keep- 
 ing back something which is due, because there is an equitable 
 reason to withhold it. The principle of recoupment has been estab- 
 lished in the State of New York in several cases of recent occur- 
 rence. — BurriWs Law Diet. 
 
 Red. See Nary Red. 
 
 Red. To red up. (Old Eng. red, Ang.-Sax. hreddan.) To clear 
 away, to set in order. — Wedgwood. This is nearer the Saxon 
 origin than the more common term " to rid.^' Jamieson, however, 
 gives it precisely the same meaning as we do. He says " to red up 
 a house is to put it in order, to remove any thing that might be an 
 incumbrance." 
 
 To tell that these things be redd up and braw. 
 
 Eoss's Helenore, p. 125. 
 
 Red Adder. See Copperhead. 
 
 Red-Bud. {Cercis Canadensis.) A small ornamental tree, noted 
 for its pink flowers, which at a distance resemble those of the 
 peach-tree. It grows on rich soil from New York to Ohio, Ken- 
 tucky, and southwards. Also called Judas-tree. 
 
 Red Cent. A common term for the copper cent. 
 
 When General Washington had got through with his fightin', . . . govern- 
 ment owed him hundreds of millions of dollars, and hadn't the first red cent to 
 pay with. — Hammond' s Lake and Forest Scenes. 
 
618 
 
 llED 
 
 Every diing in New Orleans sells hy dimes, bits, and picayunes; and as for 
 copper money I have not seen the first red cent. — Bayard Taylor in N. Y. 
 Tribune. 
 
 II must iiave a million o( dollars, and a man with that is not poor in any 
 
 country ; certainly it was a great catch lor Miss L , without a red cent of her 
 
 own. — The Upptr Ten Thousand, }). 147. 
 Red-Dog Money. A term applied, in the State of Xew York, to cer- 
 tain bank-notes which have on their back a large red stamp. 
 
 The late General Banking-law of the State of New Yoi k, which 
 was applied to all new banks, as well as to those the charters of 
 which were renewed, obliged the parties or individuals associated to 
 deposit securities with the comptroller, and receive from him blank 
 notes of various denominations, signed or bearing the certificate of 
 the comptroller or officer authorized by him. These notes bore a 
 red s'latnp on their backs. 
 
 The free admission under this law of securities of a very ques- 
 tionable character induced many persons, both individually and col- 
 lectively, to organize banks of issue; and, as a natural consequence, 
 a considerable portion of the circulating medium soon consisted of 
 the notes of the free banks, bearing the red stamp. The community, 
 generally, did not consider these notes as safe as those issued by the 
 old banks, and stigmatized them as red dogs, and the currency as red- 
 dog money. The character of the securities, however, has since been 
 improved by an act which demands that only certain stocks of well- 
 established reputation shall be admitted; and consequently the 
 odium which existed against the first banks created under the law 
 is now done away with. In Michigan, they apply the terra blue-pup 
 money to bank-notes having a blue stamjD on their backs. 
 
 Much bogus coin and wild-cat, red-doy bills, are in circulation ; but, as a general 
 principle, shinplasters ai'e regarded cautiously, and nothing is given tor nothing. 
 North, Slave of the Lamp, p. 38. 
 
 Shakspeare makes one of his characters say : — 
 
 '• How sweet the moonshine sleeps upon this bank." 
 But, in this 'S-ecW&r/" and "wild-cat" era, the reading about banks and moon- 
 shine should be modernized thus : — 
 
 How sweet these banks do sleep upon this moonshine." 
 
 Jja Salle Press. 
 
 To redeem. To pay the value in specie of any promissory note, bill, 
 or other evidence of debt given by the State, by a company or cor- 
 poration, or by an individual. The credit of a State, a banking 
 company, or individual, is good when they can redeem all their 
 stock, notes, or bills at par. — Webster. This sense of the word is 
 peculiar to us, and is not noticed by any English lexicographer. In 
 England, they cash notes, bank-bills, &c. 
 
RED 
 
 519 
 
 Redemptioner. This name is given in the Southern States to those 
 Germans, Irish, and other Em-opeans who emigrate from their own 
 country to the United States, and sell their services for a term of 
 time to pay their passage-money and other expenses. — Pickering. 
 
 Red-Eye. 1. Fiery new whiskey ; the same as ^a/fZ- Face. 
 
 I promised the overseer a new covering and a demijohn of red-eye, if all went 
 straight, got my little fixins together, and off I set. — N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 2. One of the names for the Copperhead Snake, which see. 
 
 Red-Head. (Fuligula ferina.) A red-headed duck found through- 
 out the United States. Its flesh is greatly esteemed. 
 
 Dr. Sharpless, of Philadelphia, says he could never distinguish much differ- 
 ence in flavor between canvas-backs and red-heads, and that many of the latter 
 are sold as canvas-backs and eaten as such by those who profess to know Jill 
 about the divine flavor. — Bogardm, Field, Cover, and Trap Shooting, p. 171. 
 
 Red Horses. A nickname applied to the natives of Kentucky. 
 
 Red-hot. " We had a red-hot time," i. e. a " jolly " time. 
 
 Reding. A compound used to redden the jambs and hearth of an 
 open wood fire-place ; perhaps Venetian red. 
 
 Red-Men. The American Indians, so called from their color. 
 
 Since the red-men have become known to us, numerous tribes have been extin- 
 guished, with all their peculiar customs and institutions; yet, as a whole, the 
 Indian remains. — Lapham's Antiqs. of Wisconsin, p. 30. 
 
 Children, you ask why the red-men keep moving towards the setting sun, and 
 why the pale-faces follow ? You ask if the place where the sun sets will ever be 
 reached, and if pale men will go there to plough and build. — Cooper, The Red 
 Skins, p. 321. 
 
 The red-man, too. 
 Has left the blooming wilds he ranged so long, 
 And nearer to the Rocky Mountains sought 
 A wilder hunting-ground. — Bryant, The Prairies. 
 
 The red-man smoked his pipe, or trimmed the fire, 
 
 And many a tale he to our father told 
 Of barbarous battle and of slaughter dire. 
 
 That on Pawtucket's marge there chanced of old. 
 
 Durfee, Whatcheer, Canto III. 
 
 Red Race. The American Indians. 
 
 We need not look to Mexico or any other country for the descendants of the 
 mound-builders. We probably see them in the present i'ed race of the same or 
 adjacent regions. — Lapham's Antiqs. of Wisconsin, p. 29. 
 
 Red-Root. (Ceanothus Americanus.) A shrub found upon the prai- 
 ries near the Rocky Mountains, highly esteemed as a substitute for 
 tea. It resembles the tea of commerce, and affords an excellent 
 
520 
 
 RED— REG 
 
 beverage. — Scenes in the Rochj Mountains, p. 26. Also known aA 
 New Jersey tea, which see. 
 
 Red-Skin. An American Indian. 
 
 What may be right and proper in a red-shin may be sinful in a man who has 
 not even a cross in blood to plead for his ignorance. — Cooper, Last of the Mo- 
 hicans. 
 
 To red up. To put in order; as, to red up a room. Pennsylvania. 
 
 Red Viper. See Copperhead. 
 
 Reed-Bird. See Bobolink. 
 
 To reek. To wreak; to avenge; to revenge. 
 
 The simple fact was, the}' did not receive from General Fremont that consid- 
 eration to which they thought their importance entitled them; and so . . . they 
 one after another "went home to reek themselves upon expression " in the three 
 volumes [of the "Chicago Tribune," as] aforesaid. — iV. Y. Tribune, Feb. 25, 
 1862. 
 
 Reform School. A school for the confinement, instruction, and refor- 
 mation of juvenile offenders, and of young persons of idle, vicious, 
 and vagrant habits. 
 
 Regalia. The banners, aprons, badges, and other decorations used by 
 the Society of Odd Fellows. It is singular that this term, which 
 signifies the trappings of royalty, should have been chosen by this 
 large and respectable body for their simple decorations. 
 
 Regent. In the State of New York, the member of a corporate body 
 which is invested with the superintendence of all the colleges, acad- 
 emies, and schools in the State. This board consists of twenty-one 
 members, who are called " the regents of the University of the State 
 of New York." They are appointed and removable by the Legisla- 
 ture. They have power to grant acts of incorporation for colleges ; 
 to visit and inspect all colleges, academies, and schools, and to 
 make regulations for governing the same. — Statutes of New York. 
 
 Registering Punch. An instrument used by railroad conductors, with 
 which they are required to cut from a card the amount of fares they 
 receive. See Gong Punch. 
 
 Regret. A note declining an invitation, and containing an expression 
 of regret for the same; as, "I can't go to Mrs. Jones's baU next 
 Wednesday, but must send a regret.^ ^ A new lady's term. 
 
 Regular Nominee. A candidate chosen by a convention or a caucus 
 for a political office. 
 
 When the average Democrat refuses to support the regularnominees, regardless 
 of their personal characters, discipline is destroyed and disaster assured. — X. F. 
 Evening Mail, Oct. 2J, 1876. 
 
REG— REM 
 
 521 
 
 Regular Way. Very often in the report of stock sales the letters r. w. 
 are attached to certain operations. This " regular way " means the 
 delivery of the stock sold the next day. All sales for cash are for 
 immediate delivery. — Hunt^s Merch. ATag., Vol. XXXVII. 
 
 Rehash. A cooking over again ; a renewal or repetition in another 
 form. Doubtless of English origin, though not in the dictionaries. 
 
 Governor Tallmadge, in speaking of Senator Shields's promise to 
 present the memorial of the " Spiritualists " to the Senate, and his 
 treatment of it afterwards, says: — 
 
 I confess my surprise that, instead of moving for an investigation by a select 
 committee, he should have given in advance a rehash of what has been so often 
 said before by the opponents of spiritualism. — Healiny of Nations, Ajjpenclix, 
 p. 468. 
 
 I understand that Dr. Gwin's speech here, the other evening, was principally 
 a 7*eZ(asA of his Yreka effort. — Senator Broderick''s Speech in California, Aug., 
 1859. 
 
 To reinsure. To insure the same property a second time by other 
 underwriters. — Webster. 
 
 It is common with underwriters or insurance companies, when 
 they find they have too large a sum insured on one ship, or in a 
 particular district, to reinsure a part elsewhere. 
 
 The insurer may cause the property insured to be reinsured by other persons. 
 Walsh, French Com. Code. 
 
 To reland. To go on shore after having embarked. — Webster. 
 Reliable. Suitable or fit to be relied on; worthy of dependence; 
 trustworthy. 
 
 To the use of this word, which is of recent introduction into the 
 language, many take exception, maintaining that it is unnecessary, 
 and irregular in its formation. It is, however, a most convenient 
 substitute for the phrase to be relied upon. — Webster. 
 
 In noticing this word, Mr. Latham, in his new edition of John- 
 son's "Dictionary," says that, although it is more common in 
 America than in Great Britain, there is no proof that it originated 
 in the former country; and adds that it is " more useful than correct," 
 for which assertion he gives his reasons. 
 
 According to General Livingston's humorous account, his own village of Eliza- 
 bethtown was not much more reliable, being peopled in those agitated times by un- 
 known, unrecommended strangers, guiltj'-looking Tories, and very knavish Whigs. 
 W. Irviny. 
 
 Religion. To get religion is a technical term among certain sects, 
 
 meaning to be converted. 
 To remind, for remember ; as, " The company will please remind.'^ A 
 
 New York vulgarism. 
 
522 
 
 REM— REP 
 
 Removability. The capacity of being removed from an office or 
 station; capacity of being displaced. — Webster. 
 
 Rench and Rense. Vulgar pronunciation of the word rinse. 
 
 Rendition, for renderinrj. A new use of the word. 
 
 The "Baltimore Sun," of Aug. 17. 1858, after recording the 
 acquittal of a man tried for murder, says : — 
 
 On tlie rendition of the verdict, the large audience present manifested enthusi- 
 astic approbation. 
 
 At lialf past seven o'clock this evening, two gentlemen are announced to deliver 
 addresses to the public on belialf of tlie " Bible Union organization, which lias 
 for its purpose the closest possible rendition of the meaning of the original text 
 of the Scriptures into English and other modern tongues. — N(tt. InteUiyencer, 
 Nov. 11, 1858. 
 
 Renewedly. Anew; again; once more. A word often used by 
 American preachers, but not supported by good English use. — 
 W orcester. 
 
 To reopen. To open again. — Webster. This word is much used. 
 The theatre reopens for the season ; the schools reopen after their 
 vacations. 
 
 Repeater. A person who votes more than once at an election, a cus- 
 tom extensively practised in the cities of Xew York and Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 In his examination, Sept. 18, 1877, before the Aldermanic Inves- 
 tigation Committee of New York, Mr. W. M. Tweed said: — 
 
 As an organizer of rejyeaters, Mr. Morissey had no superior; and, M'hen the ring 
 was in power, such capacity was always fully recognized. 
 
 Repetitious. Repeating; containing repetition. — Webster. 
 
 Mr. Pickering notices this word, which he thinks is peculiar to 
 the writer from whom the following extract is taken : — 
 
 The observation which you have quoted from the Abbe Ravnal, which has 
 been written off in a succession not much less repetitious or protracted than that 
 in which school-boys of former times wrote. — Remarks on the Review of Inchi- 
 quin's Letters, Boston, 1815. 
 
 Mr. Worcester, however, cites the North American Review and 
 R. Anderson as authorities for its use. It is now becoming more 
 common. 
 
 Reportorial. Of a reporter, as "its editorial and reportorial deipait- 
 ments." — The Independent. It is noticed by Webster, who calls it 
 an ill-formed word. 
 
 Reprobacy. Reprobateness. 
 
 We are astonished that such rejor'obacy could be awakened even by the thun- 
 ders of Whitefield. — iTajyer's Mag., Dec, 1860. . 
 
REP— RES 
 
 523 
 
 Republicans. A party name which has been several times adopted 
 in the history of American politics. It is now (1860) held by a 
 party formally organized in the year 1856, the main "plank" of 
 W'hose ' ' platform ' ' is opposition to the extension of slavery to new 
 territories. On account of their supposed fondness for the Negroes, 
 they have been commonly styled by their opponents Black Repub- 
 licans. 
 
 The Republican party, as our readers are well aware, was called into being 
 solely to resist the encroachments of slavery upon the free territory of the Union, 
 and upon the free States. It was a combination of men of varying political 
 antecedents : some had been Whigs, some Democrats, some Americans, some 
 Abolitionists, some had always kept aloof from politics. — N. Y. Tribune, July 
 9, 1858. 
 
 Repudiationist. One who favors repudiation of debts. 
 
 Jeff Davis was first known in public life as a i'ej)udiaiionist. — N. Y. Tribune, 
 Jan. 21, 1862. 
 
 Vallandigham the rejmdiationist. — San Francisco Bulletin, Oct., 1869. 
 
 Requisition. A demand of the executive of one county or State upon 
 another for a fugitive from justice. 
 
 Under the old confederation of the American States, Congress often made 
 requisitions on the States for money to supply the treasury ; but they had no 
 power to enforce the requisitions, and the States neglected or partially complied 
 with them. — Alex. Hamilton. 
 
 Reservation. A tract of public land reserved or set aside for some 
 public use, as for schools, the Indians, &c. 
 
 Resei'vntions of land thirty miles square shall be surveyed on the frontier for 
 the friendly Indians. — Laws of Texas. 
 
 Reserve. A reservation of land, set aside for a particular purpose, as 
 "the Western Reserve," formerly the "Connecticut Reserve," 
 originally set apai-t for the School fund of Connecticut; the " Clergy 
 Reserve," in Canada for the support of the clergy. 
 
 Resident Graduate. Graduates of colleges and of Theological Semi- 
 naries, who are desirous of pursuing their studies at a college, with- 
 out joining any of its departments. They may attend the public 
 lectures given in the institution, and enjoy the use of its library. 
 
 Resolve. Legal or official determination ; legislative act concerning 
 a private person or corporation, or concerning some private busi- 
 ness. Public acts of a legislature respect the State; and to give 
 them validity, the bills for such acts must pass through all the 
 legislative forms. Re.'<olves are usually private acts, and are often 
 passed with less formality. — Webster. 
 
524 
 
 RES 
 
 Restitutionists. A religious sect which has recently sprung up in 
 Worcester and some other places. The following account is given 
 of it by the " Worcester Transcript: " — 
 
 The Restitutionists believe that what man lost in the fall is now 
 beginning to be restored; and that the germ, now confined to their 
 own small number, is yet to bud and flourish till it covers the earth. 
 They are all Restitutionists in one sense, — they believe that every- 
 thing is to come back to its original form and purity. Their Sab- 
 bath, therefore, occurs on Saturday, as the original day of worship; 
 and their meetings are held Friday evening, because it is Sunday 
 eve. They only use the Lord's prayer, as that alone can have effi- 
 cacy with the Father. To them — or three of them at least — is 
 committed the apostolic gift of tongues. This gift appears to be 
 
 • rather useless, as the words spoken are not only unintelligible to by- 
 standers, but to the others who have a like gift, till the inward 
 manifestation of the Spirit makes it known. They are God's 
 chosen and willing instruments, in whom the Holy Spirit now 
 develops himself partially, but through whose instrumentality the 
 world is soon to be entirely restored. 
 
 This sect, small in numbers, is strong in the faith and working 
 activity of its members. There are others of a like faith in Athol, 
 New Braintree, Springfield, and other places. 
 
 Result. The decision or determination of a council or deliberative 
 assembly; as, " the result of an ecclesiastical council." Peculiar to 
 New England. — Webster. 
 
 To resurrect. 1. To take a body from the grave. Originally said of 
 body-snatchers. 2. To reanimate, to restore to life, to bring to pub- 
 lic view that which was forgotten or lost. 
 
 In a note at the end of the 6th volume of Mr. Benton's " Abridg- 
 ment of the Debates of Congress," in speaking of the founders of 
 the government, "who are all gone, — their bodies buried in the 
 earth, their works buried under rubbish, and their names beginning 
 to fade away," — the author adds: — 
 
 I resurrect the whole ! put them in scene again on the living stage, every one 
 with the best of his works in his hand. 
 
 To fill up the cup, be it claret or beer ; 
 Eesurrect the war hatchet, and sharpen the spear. 
 
 Son(/ of the War Democracy. 
 She was bending down and punching under the bed with the broom, . . . but 
 she resurrected nothing but the cat. — Mark Tivain, Tom Sawyer, p. 18. 
 
 Yankee enterprise is just what is wanted. I fought for the conspiracy, but 
 that issue is dead. It will never be resurrected, at least in my day. — N. Orleans 
 Corr. Boston Herald, Sept. 23, 1877. 
 
EET 
 
 525 
 
 Retiracied. Retired. 
 
 The new-comer who lands in certain towns in New England, expecting to find 
 himself among the most verdant coimtry Yankees, is compelled to admit that 
 there are no places in the world similarly retiracied which are less provincial 
 or more agreeable. — Mace Sloper in KnicTcerbovTcer Mag., March, 1856. 
 
 Retiracy. 1. Retirement. This absurd word is often applied to the 
 condition of politicians who have retired, willingly or unwillingly, 
 to private life. 
 
 Here I shall stay and amuse myself in what one of our great men used to call 
 dignified retiracij. — The Upper Ten Thousand, p. 286. 
 
 2. Sufficiency; competency. It is said, in New England, of a 
 person who left off business with a fortune, that he has a retiracy ; 
 i. e., a sufficient fortune to retire upon. 
 
 To retire. (Fr. retirer.) To withdraw ; to take away ; to make to 
 retire. — Johnson. This transitive use of the verb, which had become 
 obsolete, is now reviving in this country and in England. Of the 
 many examples from good old writers given by Johnson, we will quote 
 only one from Shakspeare : — 
 
 He, our hope, might have retired his power. 
 
 And driven into despair an enemy's hate. — Richard II. 
 
 With us, it is used by military men of withdrawing troops. 
 
 General Rosas insisted on the blockade being removed before he retired his 
 troops from the Banda Oriental. — Newspaper. 
 
 By merchants of paying their notes; and by banks, to withdraw 
 them from circulation. 
 
 The French houses are retiring their notes, due next month, in advance, an- 
 ticipating commercial difliculties. — Neivspaper. 
 
 Expecting that, before it [a forged note] became due, he should be able to 
 reti7'e it. — Lord Brougham in Edinb. Rev., April, 1855. 
 
 Finally, to retire is to go to bed. "I am sleepy, and shall 
 retire.''^ 
 
 Retirement. Withdrawal, removing. " Retirement of the resolutions 
 from the Senate." — Newspapers. 
 
 Retortive. Containing retort. — Webster. 
 
 To retrospect. To look back. 
 
 To give a correct idea of the circumstances which have gradually produced this 
 conviction, it may be useful to retrospect to an early period. — Letter from Alex. 
 Hamilton to John Adams. 
 
 The word is rare in American writings ; and, from Mr. Pickering's 
 observations, it appears that, although it has been used in England, 
 it has not found favor there. 
 
626 
 
 rp:t— Ric 
 
 Returning Board. In some of the Southern States, a board of officers 
 
 who receive and count the votes cast at an election, and declare the 
 
 result of the same. 
 To revamp. To patch up, renew. Originally a shoemaker's term. 
 Revenue Cutter. A small and swift armed vessel stationed at a sea- 
 
 jiort, to protect the revenue by overhauling smugglers. 
 Reverent. Strong; as, ^'■reverent whiskey," i. e. not diluted. — 
 
 Sh e r wood \s Georc/ia. 
 Revocal. A revocation. 
 
 The President's revocal of General Hunter's proclamation was well received at 
 
 Port Koyal. — iV. F. Tribune, June 9, 18G2. 
 
 Revolver. It is time that this word, applied to a revolving pistol, 
 should have a place in the dictionary. In the first invention, the 
 bai-rel, which contained several tubes, was made to revolve. In the 
 present and most approved form, the breech, which contains the 
 charge, alone revolves. On the Western frontier of the United 
 States and in California, where they are most used, these arms are 
 universally called "five-shooters" or " six-shooters," according to 
 the number of charges they can receive. 
 
 Rhino. Money. Old English slang. 
 
 Rhody. A diminutive often applied to the State of Rhode Island, from 
 its limited territory. Sometimes it is called " Little Rhody. 
 
 Old Newport, billow-cradled, see 
 
 On Rhody's verdant shore; 
 'T is there old Ocean shakes his mane. 
 
 Resounding evermore. — Anonymous. 
 
 Ribbons. Carriage reins. Provincial in England. — Wright. 
 
 The stage-driver had an itching palm, which could be satisfied with nothing 
 but the ribbons drawn over the backs of a four-in-hand. — Eygleston, Mystery 
 of Metropolisville, p. 14. 
 
 The "London Athenaeum," in its review of "The Reminis- 
 cences of a Gentleman Coachman," Lond., 1875, says: — 
 
 The review of the whole turn-out [by gentlemen coachmen] was rigidly criti- 
 cal : they would lend a hand to alter a bit, talking the whole time to the holder 
 
 of the ribbons. 
 
 Rice-Bird. 1. {Icterus agripennis.) A pretty little bird, well known 
 as the Bobolink, which see. 
 2. A rice plantation owner. 
 
 The surrounding country [Beaufort, S. C] embraces the best rice-fields of the 
 South. — so proverbially so, indeed, that the irreverent " up country" are accus- 
 tomed to call the aristocratic inhabitants of the region rice-birds; perhaps, also, in 
 allusion to their worldh* fatness. — ^Y. Y. Tribune. 
 
RIC— RIG 
 
 52T 
 
 Rich. Luscious; i. e., entertaining, highly amusing. 
 
 Mr. Richardson is rich on rabbits, and divides tliem into four races. — London 
 Athenmum, Dec, 1847. 
 
 Thar we was, settin' on our horses, rollin' with laufjhin' and liquor, and 
 thought the thing was rich [alluding to a dog-fight]. — Porter's South-ioestern 
 Tales, p. 57. 
 
 About as Wc/i an instance of official idleness, self-conceit, and incivility as we 
 have seen, fell under our notice yesterday. — N. Y. Com. Adv. 
 
 Rich wood. (Pilea pumila.) A stingless nettle, so called from its 
 succulent and semi-transparent stem. It is also called Clearweed. 
 
 To ride. To carry, transport. In the city of New York, this word is 
 used of carting or carrying merchandise on a cart. Thus, to ride a 
 box or bale of goods is to carry it. I heard a witness in a court- 
 room testify that he had " m/e some hogs from the wharf to the 
 store," by which he meant that he had carried a load of dead hogs 
 on his cart. 
 
 To ride and tie. Said of two persons travelling on the same horse, 
 one of whom rides ahead, and at a suitable place ties the horse for 
 his companion ; he walks on, and his companion rides and ties ; and 
 so they continue to do by turns. Maryland and Virginia. 
 
 Mr. Curtis, in his "Life of Daniel Webster" (V^ol. I. p. 37), 
 alluding to his brother Ezekiel, says: — 
 
 Mr. Webster once humorously expressed their frequent interchange of study 
 and of labor for their joint support, as they had but one horse between them, they 
 rode in tie. 
 
 To ride upon a Rail. To travel or ride on a railroad. 
 
 Riding Rock. A conspicuous rock at a ford, used to show the depth 
 of the water and the safety of crossings. A stream is said to be 
 "out of ride " when it is past fording; " out of bank " is a still 
 higher stage of the water, i. e. over its banks. Maryland and Vir- 
 ginia. 
 
 Riding Way. A ford. 
 
 There were two fords or riding ways over the Shetucket. In 1780, one is 
 called the upper y-ic/m/y ivay'wi Dr. Perkins's intervals. — Caulkins, Hist. Norwich, 
 Conn. 
 
 Right. Very. The word in this sense is rarely heard at the Noith, 
 but is in constant use at the South; as, " It rains right hard." A 
 New Yorker would say " very " or " quite " hard. 
 
 Right Along. Uninterruptedly, continuously. 
 
 There are some women in Chicago that have had a daily prayer-meeting every 
 afternoon at three o'clock myht cdony for two years. — Address of D. L. Moody. 
 
528 
 
 RIG 
 
 Right Away. Directly ; immediately ; right oE. 
 
 Mr. Dickens, in his " American Notes," relates the following 
 anecdote, which occurred at the Tremont House, Boston: — 
 
 " Dinner as quick as possible," said I to the waiter. 
 
 Ri<jht nwayV said the waiter. 
 After a moment's hesitation, I answered, "No," at hazard. 
 " Not ri(jht (iionyV cried the waiter, with surprise. 
 
 I thought the waiter must have gone out of his mind, until another whispered 
 to him, " Directly." 
 
 " Well ! and that 's a fact ! " said the waiter, Riyht away.'''' 
 
 I now saw that " Hght away " and " directly " meant the same thing. 
 
 "Uncle John," said Nina, "I want 3'ou to get the carriage out for me right 
 away. I want to take a ride over the cross-run." — 3frs. Stowe, Bred, Vol. I. 
 p. 8y. 
 
 Lord Macaulay having been written to by an American who, 
 about to publish an edition of his Lordship's w^orks to which he 
 proposed to prefix bis Life, desired certain particulars for it, Lord 
 M. says : — 
 
 I guess I must answer him right slick away. — Life and Letters, Vol. L p. 235. 
 Right here. Just now; here and at this instant. 
 
 "If we wanted money," said Mr. Moody, "we would say so, right here; but 
 we are after your souls." — Sermon in Boston. 
 
 Right off. Directly ; immediately ; used the same as the previous ex- 
 pression. Sometimes we hear light out. 
 
 Mr. Webster thus writes to Mr. Edw. Curtis, appointing a meet- 
 ing:— 
 
 On the first of October, mutton and chickens would be good in New Hamp- 
 shire. Let us first meet in Boston, and then take a fair start together. If the 
 Governor prefers Marshfield we will go to that place and shut ourselves up in 
 the office and do the work right off'. — Private Correspondence, Vol. I. p. 339. 
 
 I feel wonderfullv consarned about that pain in your chest, said the Widow to 
 Mr. Crane. It ought to be attended to right off, Mr. Crane, 7-ight off. — Widow 
 Bedott Papers. 
 
 The Calif. )rnians are eminently practical : what they mean to do, they do right 
 off with all their might, as if they really meant to do it. — Borthicick, California, 
 p. 22G. 
 
 To Rights. 1. Directly; soon. — Webster. 
 
 If folks will do what I tell 'em, things will go straight enough to rights. — 
 Major Downing''s Letters, p. 5. 
 
 So to rights the express got back, and brought a letter. — Ibid., p. 129. 
 
 Aunt. You see where she lives, — five doors down the street ; deliver this letter, 
 and bring back an answer, — quick. 
 
 Doolittle. In a jiffing; I'll be back to rights. — D. Humphreys, The Yankee 
 in England. 
 
 " Well, Mr. Nathaniel, I suppose you never heard me tell of the curious way 
 of my first seeing the squire ? " 
 
RIG 
 
 529 
 
 I said I had never heard it. So she began to rights, and told the whole thingr. 
 Story of the Sleigh-Ride. 
 
 The expression in the same sense is used by Swift: — 
 Then they knocked oif some of the boards for the use of the ship, and when 
 they had got all they had a mind for, let the hull drop into the sea, which, by 
 reason of the many breaches made in the bottom and sides, sunk to rights. — Voy- 
 age to Brohdingnag, ch. viii. par. 8. 
 
 In a late edition of " Gulliver's Travels," edited by J. F. Walker, 
 published by Cassell, London, the expression to rights is changed to 
 
 outright,'^ which is not correct. If the vessel sunk, no farther 
 qualification was required. The word outright does not strengthen 
 the word. But " to rights " means that the vessel soon sunk. 
 
 2. To set to rights is to put in good order; to regulate. — Webster, 
 
 Right Smart. 1. Good-sized. Large. 
 
 The provisions were divided and served out, each man's ration consisting of a 
 pint of mouldy corn and a right smart chunk of bacon. — Olmsted^s Texas, p. 301. 
 
 2. A good deal. " Ma," says a child, " shall I toast right smart 
 of this bread ? " The mother replies, " I reckon." Southern. 
 
 I sold right smart of eggs this summer, and sweet potatoes always fetch a good 
 price. — Mrs. Stowe, Dred, Vol. II. p. 157. 
 
 She had right smart of life in her, and was always right busy 'tending to 
 something or other. — Ibid., Vol. I. p. 209. 
 
 It 's a heap warmer to-day, and I 'ra sure we '11 make right smart of corn. — 
 Southern Tales. 
 
 3. Very able ; clever. " A right smart man." Connecticut. 
 Right Smart Chance. See Smart Chance. 
 
 Right Straight. Directly; immediately. Right straight q^" is a 
 common expression. A loving wife thus says to her sick hus- 
 band : — 
 
 Bathe in hot water, love, your feet, 
 
 Crushed ice put to your head ; 
 And then a mild cathartic take, — 
 
 And go right straight to bed. 
 
 The expression is synonymous with the old English straight and 
 straightway : — 
 
 I know thy generous temper well : 
 Fling but the appearance of dishonor on it. 
 It straight takes fire, and mounts into a blaze. — Addison, Cato. 
 Like to a ship, that, having 'scaped a tempest. 
 Is straightway claimed and boarded with a prize. 
 
 Shakspeare, Henry VI., Part II. 
 
 To right up. To put to rights, set in order. 
 
 84 
 
530 
 
 RIL— RIN 
 
 To rile. This word, says Mr. Worcester, is provincial in England and 
 colloquial in the United States. The original spelling and pronun- 
 ciation, roil^ is almost, if not entirely, obsolete in this country. 
 
 1. To render turbid by stirring up the sediment. 
 
 No doubt existed in the minds of Mr. Dobb's fellow-boarders that the well of 
 his good spirits had been riled. — NeaVs Charcoal Sketches. 
 
 2. To make angry. Provincial in England, and colloquial in the 
 United States. — Worcester. In both countries, it is now commonly 
 pronounced and written rile. 
 
 John was a-dry, and soon cried out, — 
 
 Goon git some beer we 'ool ! 
 He 'd so to wait, it made him i-iled, 
 The booths were all shock full. 
 
 /. Noakes and Mary Styles. 
 I won't say your country or my country, and then it won't lile nobody. — Sam 
 Slick in England. 
 
 I tell you what, I was monstrous riled t' other day, when I got a letter from 
 Crockett, calling me hard names and abusin' me. — Major Jones's Courtship. 
 
 It riled me so that I just steps up to him, as savage as a meat-axe, intending to 
 throw him downstairs. — Sam Slick, Human Nature, p. 241. 
 
 We begin to think it 's natur 
 
 To take sarse and not be riled: 
 Who 'd expect to see a tater 
 
 All on eend at bein' biled. — The Bit/low Papers. 
 
 Rily. 1. Turbid. 2. Excited to resentment; vexed. 
 
 The boys and gals were laughin' at my scrape and the pickle I was in, that I 
 gin to get 7-iley. — JRobb, Squatter Life, p. 64. 
 
 Ring. A clique; a faction; a combination of brokers, speculators, 
 politicians, and gamblers, for the purpose of operating in, or con- 
 trolling the market in stocks, gold, exchange, agricultural products, 
 merchandise, &c. 
 
 Is it any wonder that Washington should be such a hot-bed of Rings and 
 secret speculations, or that half the men you meet there in society should be 
 suspected of complicit}-^ in real estate pools, and paving swindles, and street- 
 improvement frauds, and a score of other scandalous adventures V — N. Y. Trib- 
 une, March, 1876. 
 
 The scoundrels, headed by W. M. Tweed, who plundered the 
 treasury of the city of New York of many millions of dollars, were 
 long known as " the Ring." 
 
 Tweed may arrive at any hour, and the friends of the old Ring are in a twitter* 
 They believe that the great Boss will keep still, out of the respect he has for 
 Mr. T. —N. Y. Mail, Oct. 21, 1876. 
 
 Mr. W. D. R is nowhere accounted other than as a natural product of the 
 
 Philadelphia Ring in politics, in all that Ring implies. John A. K is a 
 
 smirched member of the Indian Ring. — Brooklyn Eagle, Nov. 11, 1876. 
 
RIN— RIP 
 
 531 
 
 The people of Chicago have recently had brought home to them more strikingly 
 than ever the low condition of public morals. . . . The trial of the Whiskey-i2'n^ 
 has been a startling exhibition of a monstrous moral deformity. — N. Y. Times^ 
 May, 1876. 
 
 To ring one's own Bell is the same as "to be one's own trumpeter." 
 Ring-Snake. A species of black snake that once infested Southern 
 
 New England; so called from a yellow ring around its neck. Also 
 
 called a racer. 
 Ring-Tailed Roarer. See Roarer. 
 
 Rink. An artificial body of water, within a covered wooden building, 
 prepared for skating when frozen. Such enclosures may now be 
 found in London, New York, and the principal cities in Canada. The 
 word is of Scottish origin. Jamieson has Bink, Benic, a course, a 
 race. A man is said to get out his rinic, when he is sowing his wild 
 oats. — Etymological Die. Halliwell and Wright define it as a ring 
 or circle, provincial in Derbyshire. The word has only been given 
 a place in Webster's Die. since the introduction of rinks in this 
 country. 
 
 To rip. To tear; to drive. A common slang expression is, " Let her 
 rip " i. 6. let her drive, let her go. 
 
 Great Odin, thou storm-god ! 
 Crack on with our ship: 
 We are off on a batter ; 
 
 Hurrah, let her rip. — Lelnnd, Knickerhocher Gallery. 
 Another phrase, which often glides in music from the lip, 
 Is one of fine significance and beauty, " Let her lij).''^ 
 In the late panic^ we have kept this mandate o'er and o'er, 
 And " let her tip " so frequently, that some can rij) no more. 
 
 Park Bevjamin, Poem on Hard Times. 
 
 Some boats are fast and others slow, 
 
 Stern-wheel boats on the Ohio, 
 
 With five feet scant on all the bars, 
 
 This boat can beat the railroad cars. 
 
 Now is the time for a bully trip. 
 
 So shake her up, and let her rip. — Comic Song. 
 
 To rip out. To utter with vehemence; to swear; as, "to rip out an 
 oath." 
 
 I suppose the clergy wouldn't give me a chance for heaven, because I rip out 
 with an oath every now and then. But I can't help swearing, if I sliould die for 
 it. Tlie}' say it 's dreadfully wicked ; but I feel more Christian when I let out 
 than when I keep in! — Mrs Stowe, Dred, Vol. I. p. 272. 
 
 Here I ripped out something, perhaps rather rash. 
 Quite innocent, though; but. to use an expression 
 More striking than classic, it settled my hash, 
 And proved very soon the last of our session. 
 
 Butler, Nothing to Wear 
 
532 
 
 RIP— RIV 
 
 Mr. Alger, in his " Life of Edwin Forrest," says that actor used 
 much profane language," . . . that " he was abundantly capable 
 of a profanity that was vulgar." But Forrest himself said: — 
 
 When swearing is necessary, either for proper empliasis or as a vent for pas- 
 sion too hot and strong, why I let it rip as it will. 
 
 Ripper. A tearer, driver. — Webster. 
 
 To rip-rap. (From riff-raff.) To make a foundation of stones thrown 
 together without order in deep water ; called also random-work and 
 pierre-perdu. 
 
 If, in constructing a bulkhead, it should be determined to riji-mp to low-water 
 mark, there would be but a slight difference in favor of the bulkhead ; the cost 
 for rip-rapping^ estimating at three cents a foot, would be about eighty thousand 
 dollars. — i)oc. of N. Y. Aldermen, Nov. 9, 1848. 
 
 Rip-Snorter, Rip-Staver. A tearer, driver; a dashing fellow. 
 
 The following is the " Louisville Courier Journal's " report of a 
 speech made at a recent Indian jollification, near Cheyerme, by one 
 of the rip-snorters of the Far West : — 
 
 I 'm your howling hyena of the hills, and your patent old he-hair-lifter of the 
 per-rairies ; I 'm your rip-roaring raccoon of the mountains, your Sitting-Bully 
 boy with a glass eye, and your goul-darned and double-fisted son of an ingine; 
 I 'm the high-pressure, iron-jawed sausage machine to chaw up your Crooks and 
 Terrys, — you heerd my horn. 
 
 Rise. The phrase " and the rise " is used in some parts of the South 
 to mean " and more; " as, "I should think there were a thousand 
 and the rise,^^ i. e. a thousand and more, over a thousand. 
 
 Rising or rising of. More than; upwards of; as, "James Smithson 
 bequeathed to the United States j-ising half a million of dollars." 
 " There were rising of a thousand men killed at the battle of Buena 
 Vista." 
 
 Risky. Dangerous; hazardous. 
 
 My fi-iends has wondered at me, said the Widow Bedott, for continuing single 
 so long; but I always told them 't was a very 7'esky business to take a second 
 partner. — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 144. 
 
 River. Mr. Pickering observes that the Americans, in speaking of 
 rivers, commonly put the name before the word river ; thus, Con- 
 necticut River, Charles Paver, Merrimack River, Hudson River, 
 Susquehanna River, to which custom River St. Lawrence is a re- 
 markable exception. The English place the name after it, and say, 
 the river Thames, the river Danube, &c. 
 
 River-Bottoms. The bottom or alluvial land along the margin of 
 rivers. See Bottom and Bottom-Lands. 
 
HIV— ROB 
 
 533 
 
 The alluvial terraces or nver-bottoms, as they are popularly termed, were the 
 favorite sites of these builders [of the ancient works in Ohio]. The principal 
 mounds are found where these bottoms are most extended. — Squier and Davis's 
 Monuments Mississippi Valley, p. 6. 
 
 River-Driver. A term applied by lumbermen in Maine to a man 
 whose business it is to conduct logs down running streams, to pre- 
 vent them from lodging upon shoals or remaining in eddies. 
 
 River-Thief. One of a class of thieves in New York city, who in 
 boats prowl about vessels at night, and plunder them. 
 
 Riz, for raised ; as " riz bread." 
 Roach. A cockroach. 
 
 Roanoke. Indian shell money; so called in Virginia. See Feage. 
 Roarer. One who roars; a noisy man. — Worcester. 
 
 Ben was an old Mississippi roai'er, — none of your half and half, but just as 
 native to the element as if he had been born in a broad-horn. — Robb, Squatter 
 Life, p. 64. 
 
 This is sometimes intensified into ring-tailed roarer. 
 
 And when he got a arguing strong, 
 
 He was a ring-tailed roarer. — Western Song. 
 
 Roas ting-Ears. Indian corn in the green state fit for roasting. This 
 term is much used in the South and West for green corn in general, 
 either raw or cooked. It is borrowed from the Indian custom of 
 roasting the ears before a fire or in the hot ashes, which however is 
 now practised only out of doors, as on picnic occasions. The com- 
 mon mode of cooking is by boiling. 
 
 The Indians delight much to feed on roasting-ears, gathered green and milky 
 before it is grown to its full bigness, and roasted before the fire in the ear. And, 
 indeed, this is a very sweet and pleasing food. — Beverly's Virginia, 1705, 
 Book III. 
 
 Robe. (French.) A dressed skin; applied only to that of the buffalo. 
 A pack of robes is ten skins, tied in a pack, which is the manner in 
 which they are brought from the Far West to market. For the 
 skins of other wild animals, we use the term skin, as deer-sA-m, 
 beaver-5A;m, muskrat-.s^^m, &c., but never buffalo-skin. The term is 
 sometimes corrupted into buffalo-r</^. See Buffalo. 
 
 The robes of the buffaloes are worn by the Indians instead of blankets; 
 their skins, when tanned, are used as coverings for their lodges, &c. — Catlings 
 Indians, Vol. I. p. 262. 
 
 The large and roomy sleigh decked with buffalo, black bear, and Ij'nx i'obes, 
 red bound and furnished with sham eyes and ears. — The Upper Ten Thousand, 
 p. 4. 
 
534 
 
 ROB— ROD 
 
 Chased for his beef, for his robe, for the very pastime of his death, the buffalo 
 is rapidly vanishing from the land. — New York Post, Letter from Manitoba, 
 Sept. 29, 1877, 
 
 Robert of Lincoln. (See Bobolink.) A pretty poem by W. C. Bryant 
 
 entitled that bird. 
 
 Robin. A flannel undershirt. 
 
 Rock. 1. A stone. In the Southern and Western States, and also 
 in some parts of Xew England, stones of any size are absurdly 
 called rocks. 
 
 Brother S came home in a mighty bad way, with a cold and cough ; so I 
 
 put a hot rock to his feet, and gave him a bowl of catnip tea, which put him in a 
 mighty fine sweat, t&c. — Georyia Scenes, p. 193. 
 
 Mr. M was almost dead with the consumption, and had to carry rocks in 
 
 his pocket to keep the wind from blowin' him away. — Major Jones's Travels. 
 
 I see Arch. Cooney walk down to the creek bottom, and then he begin pickin' 
 up rocks an' slingin' them at the dogs. — Mike Hooter, by a Missourian. 
 
 2. A piece of money. A slang term peculiar to the South. 
 
 Spare my feelings, Squire, and don't ask me to tell any more. Here I am in 
 town without a rock in my pocket, without a skirt to my coat, or crown to my 
 hat. — Pickings from the New Orleans Picayune. 
 
 To rock. To throw stones at; to stone; to pelt. This ridiculous 
 expression is derived from the preceding; yet we have an analogous 
 word in the old Fr. rocher. 
 
 They commenced rocking the Clay Club House in June, on more occasions 
 than one, and on one occasion threw a rock in at the window, hitting Mr. Clem 
 on the shoulder, &c. — Jonesborouyh {Tenn.) Whig. 
 
 Rockaway. A light carriage, open at the sides, drawn by one horse, 
 and capable of holding from six to nine persons. Perhaps originally 
 a Bockaway wagon, from the seaside place on Long Island, near 
 New York. 
 
 Rock-Bed. Foundation. 
 
 His attention had been directed to certain superstitions that prevail in every 
 branch of the Church, and almost reach the '■'■rock-bed of absolute Christianity." 
 Rev. John Miller, Questions awakened by the Bible. 
 
 Rock-Cod. A red-colored codfish. Massachusetts. 
 
 Rocker. A machine resembling a child's cradle, used by California 
 miners for separating gold dust from the earth, or what they there 
 call pay-dirt. A mining cradle would be a better term for it. 
 
 Rock-Fish. See Striped Bass. 
 
 Rodeo. (Span.) To give or make a rodeo is to collect in an en- 
 closure the large herds of cattle on stock farms, for the purpose of 
 
EOK— ROO 
 
 535 
 
 separating and counting and marking them. California. See 
 Judges of the Plains. 
 
 Every owner of a stock farm shall be obliged to give yearly one general rodeo ; 
 . . . and the person giving such general rodeo shall give notice thereof to all 
 owners of the adjoining farms, at least four days before said rotfeos are made, for 
 the purpose of separating, marking, and branding their respective cattle, &c. — 
 L'tivs of California, ch. xcii. 
 
 Rokeage or Yokeage. Indian corn parched, pulverized, and mixed 
 with sugar. The same word as nocalce (which see) , with a different 
 pronunciation, r and n being convertible and equivalent. 
 
 Rolling Country or Rolling Prairie. The vast plains or prairies of 
 the West, although preserving a genera] level in respect to the 
 whole country, are yet in themselves not flat, but exhibit a grace- 
 fully waving surface, swelling and subsiding with an easy slope and 
 a full rounded outline, equally avoiding the unmeaning horizontal 
 surface and the interruption of abrupt or angular elevations. It is 
 that surface which, in the expressive language of the country, is 
 called rolling, and which has been said to resemble the long, heavy 
 swell of the ocean, when its waves are subsiding to rest after the 
 agitation of a storm. Such are rolling prairies. — Judge Hall, Notes 
 on the Western States. 
 
 The country was what was termed rolling, from some fancied resemblance to 
 the surface of the ocean when it is just undulating with a long ground swell. — 
 Cooper, The Oak Openings. 
 
 Here one of the characteristic scenes of the Far West broke upon us. An im- 
 mense extent of grassy, undulating, or, as it is termed, rolling country, with here 
 and there a clump of trees, dimly seen in the distance like a ship at sea ; the 
 landscape deriving sublimity from its vastness and simplicity. — Irving' s Tour 
 on the Prairies, p. 100. 
 
 The cabin was on the edge of a bluff; but the door opened on a fine rolling 
 prairie, dotted all over with flowers, which in variety of color vied with the 
 rainbow. — Mrs. Robinson's Kansas, p. 41. 
 
 Rolling-Roads. So called in Maryland and Virginia, from the old 
 
 custom of rolling tobacco to market in hogsheads, just as if one 
 
 would drag a barrel or churn on the ground, by attaching thills to 
 
 axles or pivots fastened to it. 
 Roncher. A thing enormous of its kind; a blow of great force, 
 
 synonymous with "sockdolager." 
 To room. To occupy a room; to lodge; as, " In order to save expense 
 
 and have company, I room with my friend Brown," ^. e. occupy the 
 
 same room with him. 
 Roorback. A falsehood ; a misstatement ; a sensational article without 
 
 truth, published in the newspapers. 
 
536 
 
 ROO 
 
 In Maverick's book entitled " Henry J. Raymond and the New 
 York Press for Thirty Years," we find the following account of the 
 origin of the word. 
 
 In September, 1844, a Whig newspaper, " The Ithaca (N. Y.) 
 Chronicle," received and printed what purported to be an " extract 
 from Roorhack^s ' Tour through the Western and Southern States, 
 in 1836;'" containing a description of a camp of slave-drivers on 
 Duck River, and a statement that forty-three of the unfortunate 
 slaves " had been purchased of the Honorable J. K. Polk, the present 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives [and in 1844 a candidate 
 for the Presidency], the mark of the branding iron, with the initials of 
 his name, on their shoulders, distinguishing them from the rest.^^ The 
 pretended " extract " was copied into the " Albany Evening Jour- 
 nal," and by the Whig press throughout the country. A few 
 days after its first appearance, the Democrats discovered that it was, 
 in part, taken from G. W. Featherstonhaugh's "Tour," published 
 in 1834, but that the name of " Duck River," and the italicised 
 statement respecting Mr. Polk, had been intei-polated by the cor- 
 respondent of the "Chronicle." Thereafter, it was easy to reply 
 to every charge preferred against the Democratic candidate, by 
 pronouncing it "another roorback.''^ 
 
 The manufacture of roorbacks against Mr. Blaine, though active, is not very 
 successful in producing a merchantable article. — N. Y. Tribune, April 14, 1876. 
 
 The Washington correspondent of the "Providence Journal," 
 May 9, 1876, in speaking of a sensational despatch, claiming to 
 involve the Secretary of the Treasury in a disreputable transaction, 
 calls it another infamous Democratic roorback against that ofl&cer. 
 
 It was a poor day for roorbacks yesterday. First, Professor Lowell was going 
 to vote for Tilden, and then he — wasn't. Second, President Grant had declared 
 that the vote of Louisiana ought to be thrown out, and then he — hadn't. Third, 
 Governor Hayes promised all sorts of strange things, and then he — didn't. These 
 were short-legged lies, all of them; and they soon got out of breath. — N. Y. 
 Tiibune, Dec, 1876. 
 
 Rooster. The male of the domestic fowl; the cock. Roost-cock. 
 Devonshire, Eng. 
 
 As if the flourish of the quill were the crowing of a rooster. — Neal's Charcoal 
 Sketches. 
 
 A huge turkey gobbling in the road, a rooster crowing on the fence, and ducks 
 quacking in the ditches. — Margaret, p. 187. 
 
 The Skinners and Cow Boys of the Revolution, when they wrung the neck of a 
 rooster, did not trouble their heads whether they crowed for Congress or King 
 George. — Irving, Wolf evVs, Roost, p. 17. 
 
ROO— ROS 
 
 537 
 
 Sister Sail she climbs right well, 
 
 But can't climb as she uster ; 
 There she sits a pitching corn 
 
 At our old bob-tail rooster. — Comic Song. 
 
 Root, Hog, or die, 
 
 I saw South Carolina, the first in the cause, 
 
 Shake the dirty Yankees till she broke all their jaws; 
 
 Oh! it don't make a niff-a-stifference to neither you or I, 
 
 South Carolina give 'em , boys ; root, Jw(/, or die. 
 
 Confederate Song, Fight of Boodles. 
 
 I '11 tell you of a story that happened in its day: 
 
 Davis tried to whip his Uncle, but found it wouldn't pay; 
 
 He tried to whip his Uncle, and I '11 tell you the reason why, — 
 
 He hadn't the courage for to Boot, Hog, or die. 
 
 Song, Jeff Davis and his Uncle. 
 
 To rope. To catch an animal, as a buffalo, a horse, &c., by throwing 
 the lasso or lariat over its head. 
 
 Yep, old gal! (said he to his mule) keep your nose open; thar's brown skin 
 about, and maybe you '11 get roped by a Rapaho afore mornin'. — Ruxton, Life 
 in the Far West. 
 
 To rope in. 1. To take or sweep in collectively. An expression much 
 used in colloquial language at the West. It originated in a common 
 practice of drawing in hay with a rope. The hay is at first heaped 
 in wind-rows. A rope, with a horse attached to each end, is swept 
 like a net around the end of the row, which is thus brought to- 
 gether, and dragged to any part of the field. 
 
 2. To decoy, viz., into a mock-auction establishment, a gambling- 
 house, &c. 
 
 Roper-in. One "who acts as a decoy for a gambling-house, in the 
 patent-safe game, &c. 
 
 Mr. A complained to the police that a young man at his hotel, who turned 
 
 out to be a roper-in of a gambling-house, had enticed him away, and by whose 
 means he had lost all his money. — Police Report, N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Rose- Apple. A West India fruit, possessing a decided odor of roses. 
 (Jambosa vulgaris.) The tree is common in Cuba. 
 
 Rosin-Weed. (Silphium laciniatum.) A plant, called also the Com- 
 pass Plant, because its leaves are supposed by the voyageurs to point 
 north and south, and thus to serve as a guide to the traveller over 
 the prairies. 
 
 Ross. The rough, scaly matter on the surface of the bark of certain 
 trees. — Webster. A term much used in New England, as well as 
 in the Middle States. It is provincial in England. 
 
538 
 
 ROS— ROU 
 
 Roster. 1. In Massachusetts and Connecticut, a list of the officers of 
 a division, brigade, regiment, &c., containing, under several heads, 
 their names, rank, corps, place of abode, &c. These are called 
 division rosters^ brigade rosters^ regimental or battalion rosters. 
 
 2. The word is frequently used instead of Register, which com- 
 prehends a general list of all the officers of the State, from the 
 • commander-in-chief to the lowest in the commission, under the 
 same appropriate heads, with an additional column for noting the 
 alterations which take place. — W. H. Sumner. 
 
 Prayers, — hurried toilet, — limited lavations, — 
 
 The rush of tardy saints to paternoster, 
 
 Where worship mingles with the contemplations 
 
 Of doubtful record on the morning's T'oster. — Holmes. 
 
 Rote. The sound of surf before a storm. Probably from a musical 
 instrument of that name, the strings of which produce a moaning 
 sound like that of the sea. 
 
 Rot-Gut. Cheap or adulterated whiskey. The same term is applied 
 in England to bad beer or wine. 
 
 They overwhelm their paunch daily with a kind of fiat rot-gut; we, with a 
 bitter, dreggish small liquor. — Harvey. 
 
 Also used by Addison for a poor kind of drink. 
 
 Rough-and-tumble. A rough-and-tumble fight is said to be one in 
 
 which all the laws of the ring are discarded, and biting, kicking, 
 
 gouging, &c., are perfectly admissible. 
 Roughness. In Louisiana and other Southern States, the most 
 
 ordinary kinds of fodder for horses and cattle. 
 
 Roughs. Rowdies; low fellows. 
 
 Just then one of the roughs, who had perched himself in a tree just over the 
 Mayor's head, leaned down and said. 
 
 Rough-Scuff. The lowest people; the rabble. 
 
 Round. " To come or get round one," in popular language, is to 
 gain advantage over one by flattery or deception. — Webster. 
 
 Round of the Papers. To say that an article is "going the rounds 
 of the papers, meaning that it is being copied into many news- 
 papers, is called an Americanism in England. 
 
 Round-Rimmers. Hats with a round rim; hence, those who wear 
 them. In the city of New York, a name applied to a large class 
 of dissipated young men, by others called Bowery Boys and Soap- 
 locks. 
 
 All over the region of East Bowery is spread — holding it in close subjection — 
 the powerful class of round-rimmers, a fraternity of gentlemen who, in round 
 
ROU— ROW 
 
 539 
 
 crape-bound hats, metal-mounted blue coats, tallow-smoothed locks, &c., carry 
 dismay and terror wherever they move. — C. Mathews, Puffer HopJdns, p. 261. 
 
 Round-Wood. The mountain ash. Maine. — Thoreau's Maine 
 Woods, p. 59. 
 
 Rouser. Something very exciting or very great. Thus an eloquent 
 speech or sermon, a large mass-meeting, or a big prize-ox, is a 
 rouser. 
 
 Roustabout. A rover ready for something worse. A laboring man 
 on board the Mississippi steamboats, termed in slang a " rooster." 
 
 The vagabonds, the roustabouts, the criminals, and all the dregs of society. — 
 Harper's Weekly, March, 1877. 
 
 The average roustabout or "rooster" is a strong black fellow, who leaves the 
 plantation for that supposed freedom and rollicking life which this class take 
 enjoyment in, while their wages last. — Lett, in N. Y. Herald. 
 
 As Tom meditated, he heard one roustabout say to another, "I say, Bill, you 
 know that fellow that used to sell such bully whiskey in Barton V " — Habberton, 
 The Barton Experiment, p. 109. 
 
 Rowdy. A riotous, turbulent fellow. 
 
 All around the oyster and liquor stands was a throng of low, shabby, dirty 
 men, some horse-dealers, some gamblers, and some loafers in general, but alike 
 in their slang and rowdy aspect. — Upper Ten Thousand, p. 239. 
 
 The rowdy nomenclature of the principal cities may now be 
 classified as follows : — 
 
 New York. — "Dead Rabbits," '* Bowery Boys," " Forty Thieves," " Skin- 
 ners," "Robin Hood Club," "Huge Paws," "Short Boys," "Swill Boys," 
 " Shoulder-hitters," " Killers." 
 
 Philadelphia. — "Killers," "Schuylkill Annihilators, " "Moyamensing 
 Hounds," " Northern Liberty Skivers," and " Peep of Day Boys." 
 
 Baltimore. — "Plug-Uglies," "Rough Skins," "Double Pumps," "Tigers," 
 "Black Snakes," "Stay Lates," "Hard Times," "Little Fellows," "Blood 
 Tubs," "Dips," "Ranters," "Rip-Raps," and "Gladiators." 
 
 A convention of the Baltimore rowdies above mentioned, under 
 the name of the " American Clubs," was held in that city in Sept., 
 1857, under the plea of rallying for some political campaign; in 
 commenting on which, the " Baltimore Clipper," of Sept. 8, says: 
 " Should not every true-hearted American blush to acknowledge 
 that any portion of his countrymen glory in such barbaiic and 
 degrading-names? " 
 Row to hoe. To have a long (or hard) row to hoe is a common figu- 
 rative expression, meaning that one has a long or difficult task to 
 perform. The allusion is to hoeing corn or potatoes. 
 
 Hosea Biglow has a ballad on the Mexican War, in which he 
 portrays the efforts of the recruiting officer to entice a young man to 
 enlist, who declines on account of his wife. He says : — 
 
540 
 
 ROW— RUB 
 
 She wants me for home consumption, 
 
 Let alone the hay 's to mow, — 
 If you 're arter folks o' gumption, 
 
 You 've a darned lony row to hoe. — Biglow Papers. 
 Step-mothers have a pretty hard row to hoe, though I don't complain. — Bet$y 
 Bobbet, p. 1. 
 
 To row up. To punish with words; to rebuke. It is an essential 
 Westernism, and derived from the practice of making refractory- 
 slaves or servants row up the heavy keel-boats of early navigation on 
 the Western rivers, against the current, without being frequently 
 relieved. It was thus regarded as a punishment. 
 
 We should really like, of all things, to row up the majority of Congress as it 
 deserves in regard to the practice. — N. Y. Tribune, Dec. 10, 1845. 
 
 The most spicy part of the proceedings in the Senate was the rowing up which 
 Mr. Hannegan gave Mr Ritchie of the Union newspaper. — N. Y. Tribune, Jan. 
 30, 1846. 
 
 To row up Salt River is a common phrase, used generally to signify 
 political defeat. The distance to which a party is rowed up Salt 
 River depends entirely upon the magnitude of the majority against 
 its candidates. If the defeat is particularly overwhelming, the 
 unsuccessful party is rowed up to the very head-waters of Salt River. 
 See Salt River. 
 
 It is occasionally used as nearly synonymous with to row up, as in 
 the following example, but this example is rare : — 
 
 Judge Clayton made a speech that fairly made the tumblers hop. He rowed 
 the Tories uj) and over Salt River. — Crockett, Tour down East, p. 46. 
 
 Rubber. India rubber, caoutchouc, of which the indigenous name in 
 Span. America is Cducho, but in play Jevea. The Spanish / pro- 
 nounced as our h, from which the botanist has hevea. In Central 
 America, the name is hule. The India-rubber gatherers in Colum- 
 bia are called Caucheros; in Central America, Huleros. 
 
 Rubbers. Overshoes made of India rubber; also called Gums. 
 
 To rub out. To obliterate; and, figuratively, to destroy, to kill. 
 Western. Compare To wipe out. 
 
 However quickly the buffalo disappears, the red-man goes under more quickly 
 still, and the Great Spirit has ordained that both shall be rubbed out from the face 
 of nature at the same time. — Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 117. 
 
 That nation [the Camanche] is mad — a heap mad — with the whites, and has 
 dug up the hatchet to rub out all who enter his country. — Ibid., p. 191. 
 
 The swift current [of the Jordan] would seize us and send us off at a salient 
 angle from our course, as if it had been lurking behind the point like an evil 
 thing, ... as if for the purpose of rubbing us out. — Lynch, Dead Sea £xp., 
 p. 216. 
 
RUD— RUM 
 
 641 
 
 Rudder-Fish. (Palinurus perciformis.') A very beautiful fish, abound- 
 ing along the coast of the Southern States. Thaxter says it is 
 sometimes taken in nets off the Isles of Shoals, N. H. Storer con- 
 siders this fish to be the Trachinotus argenteus. It follows vessels, 
 or keeps near old casks or plank that are floating. — Fishes of 
 Mass., p. 56. 
 
 Ruffed Grouse. (Tetrao umbellus.) A bird which extends over the 
 whole breadth of the continent, northward as far as the fifty-sixth 
 parallel, and southward to Texas, and probably still further. It is 
 called Partridge in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and Pheasant at 
 the South and West. 
 
 Rugged. Hardy, robust, healthy. Colloquial in the United States. 
 Worcester. 
 
 Why, it 's an unaccountable fact that Mr. Bedott hadn't seen a well day in 
 fifteen year, though, when he was married, I shouldn't desire to see a ruggeder 
 man than he was. — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 22. 
 
 Ruination. Subversion, overthrow, demolition. — Webster. 
 
 Ruinatious. A vulgar substitute for ruinous. 
 
 The war was very ruinatious to our profession (said the barber). — Margaret, 
 p. 210. 
 
 Ruling Elder. Presbyterians so call one whom they call in Scotland 
 an Elder or a Presbyter. The office is filled by a layman. Congrega- 
 tionalists in New England had, 1820-1830, an officer thus called, 
 who was a clergyman, though he ordinarily did not preach, his 
 function being to "rule" by counsel, &c. The custom never 
 became general. 
 
 Rullichies. (Dutch, rolletje, little roll.) Chopped meat stuffed into 
 small bags of tripe, which are then cut into slices and fried. An 
 old and favorite dish among the descendants of the Dutch in New 
 York. 
 
 Rum. A term applied by total abstainers to every liquid containing 
 alcohol. 
 
 Rum-Bud. A grog-blossom ; the popular name of a redness occasioned 
 by the detestable practice of excessive drinking. Rum-buds usually 
 appear first on the nose, and gi-adually extend over the face. This 
 term seems to have reference to the disease technically defined to 
 be unsuppurative papule, stationary, confluent, red mottled with 
 purple, chiefly affecting the face, sometimes produced and always 
 aggravated by the use of alcoholic liquors, by exposure to heat, &c. 
 Rush. 
 
RUxM— RUN 
 
 Rum-Hole. See Groggery. 
 
 Rum-Mill. A low tavern or groggery. 
 
 Rum-Sucker. An habitual drinlcer, a toper. 
 
 One of the best things that can be applied to a rocky pasture infested with 
 bushe«, briars, or weeds, is salt. Salt them every week while wet with rain or 
 dew, and let the stock look to that source alone for a supply of this luxurj', which 
 the}' run after with an acquired appetite as strong as that of a. rum-sucker. — 
 N. ' T. Tribune, July 9, 1858. 
 
 Run. A small stream or rivulet. A word common in the Southern 
 and Western States, and sometimes heard at the North. 
 
 There is no house in the main road between this and the run ; and the run is 
 so high, from the freshes, that you will not be able to lind it. — Davis's Travels in 
 the United States in 1797. 
 
 * The hills bordering the Ohio, at the mouth of the Yellow Creek, contain six 
 workable beds of coal, while there are at least two others which lie beneath the 
 bed of the river. Of those exposed, the fourth in the ascending series contains 
 the tishes and reptiles ; it is known on YelloAV Creek as the "bigrwn," being 
 nearly eight feet in thickness. — Silliman''s Journal, March, 1858. 
 
 To run. To cause to run, in the various senses of the word: to rvn 
 a stage ; to run a factory or a machine ; to run a candidate. — 
 Webster. 
 
 The term is used in a more extended sense: as, to " run a hotel; " 
 to " run a church." 
 To run or run upon. To quiz ; to make a butt of. 
 
 He is a quiet, good-natured, inoffensive sort of a chap, and will stand running 
 upon as long as most men, but who is a perfect tiger when his passions are 
 roused. — Southern Sketches, p. 137. 
 
 To run a Church. To have the charge of a church, as its pastor; as, 
 " Mr. Beecher runs the Plymouth Church." Vulgar, yet sometimes 
 heard from the lips of the clergy themselves. 
 
 They [the carpet-baggers] took whatever came within their reach, intruded 
 themselves into all private corporations, assumed the functions of all offices, 
 including the courts of justice, and in many places they even rtm the churches. 
 Judge Black on the Electoral Conspiracy, North Am. Rev., for July, 1877, p. 5. 
 
 Run away. Cease troubling; be off. 
 
 Runner. A person whose business it is to solicit passengers for 
 steamboats and railroads. Numbers of these men are always found 
 about the wharves, shipping, railroad stations, and hotels of our 
 principal cities, trying to induce travellers or emigrants to travel by 
 the routes they recommend, and for which they often have tickets 
 for sale. 
 
 To run into the Ground. To carry to excess; to overdo a thing, 
 and thereby mar it. Probably a hunter's phrase, to express the 
 earthing of a fox or other game. 
 
KUN— SAB 
 
 543 
 
 The proposition to prohibit the enlistment of foreigners in the army is running 
 Know-Nothingism into the ground. — Providence Journal. 
 
 The advocates of temperance have run it into the ground by their extreme meas- 
 ures connected with the Maine Law. — N. Y. Herald. 
 
 Run of Stones. A pair of mill-stones is called a run of stones when 
 in operation or placed in a mill. The Rochester flouring-mills have 
 each ten or twenty run of stones. 
 
 To run one's Face. To make use of one's credit. To run one's face 
 
 for a thing is to get it on tick. /Ilok^ "-'^ ~ 
 
 Any man who can run his face for a card of pens, a quire of paper, and a pair J-^ ^'^'^ - 
 
 of scissors, may set up for an editor; and by loud, incessant bragging, may ijt. I> st e -r, 
 
 secure a considerable patronage. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 Rush. 1. Spirit, energy. " To go it with a rush., or with a perfect 
 rush,^^ is to do a thing energetically, with spirit. 
 
 2. A term used by students to denote a perfect recitation. 
 
 It was purchased by the man, who " really did not look" at the lesson on 
 which he rushed. — Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XIV. p. 411. 
 
 A rush is a glib recitation, but to be a dead rush it must be flawless, polished, 
 and sparkling like a Koh-i-noor. — Brunonian, Vol. X. p. 102. 
 
 To rush it. To do a thing with spirit; as, " The old negro is rushing 
 
 it wdth his fiddle." 
 Rust. Discoloration in mackerel, sometimes caused by leakage of the 
 
 brine in which they are packed. 
 Rusty Dab. (Genus Platessa. Cuvier.) The popular name of the 
 
 Rusty Flat-fish, a fish found on the coast of Massachusetts and 
 
 New York in deep water. 
 Rye. Short for Rye Whiskey. See Bourbon and Old Rye. 
 Rye and Indian. Brown bread, mixed from Indian and rye meal. 
 
 New England. In New York, it is called Boston brown bread. 
 
 Vulgarly pronounced Rhine-Indian. 
 
 The table was still standing, with ample preparations for an evening meal, — a 
 hot smoking loaf of rye-and-indian bread, and a great platter of cold corn beef 
 and pork, garnished with cold potatoes, the sight of which was most appetizing. 
 Mrs. Stowe, Oldtown Folks, p. 199. 
 
 Sabbaday. Sabbath day, Sunday. So called in the interior of New 
 England. 
 
 Newman. You look better ; I hope you feel better, and are better V 
 DooUttle. Why, I expect I do, and I guess I be, all three. I know I be, as to 
 the first particular, changing my old shabby duds for these new Sabbaday 
 
 s. 
 
644 SAB— SAD 
 
 clothes, for a go-to-meeting day, anywheres. — D. Humphreys, The Yankee in 
 England, p. 29. 
 
 M}' hearers, there is nothing irregular in nature ; because it is round, as I told 
 you last Sabbaday : it rolls evenly round, and is bound to come regularly around. 
 Dow's Sermons, Vol. I. p. 194. 
 
 Sabbaday-Houses. Cottages near a church, had for warmth, &c., 
 at recess of public worship. Old New England use. 
 
 Sabbath-ridden. Overworked on the Sabbath. 
 
 Some attention should be given to one of the most oppressed and Sahbath- 
 riJ(/en. of all classes, — ministers of the Gospel. It seems like a per|)etual sar- 
 casm to hear these overworked men thanking God for this [day as being, in 
 respect to themselves, a] day of rest. — The Independent, June 23, 1862. 
 
 Sacatra. The offspring of a Negro and a griffe, which latter is the 
 offspring of a Negro and mulatto. See Negro. 
 
 Sachem. (Indian.) An American Indian chief or prince. 
 
 The Sachems, although they have an absolute monarchy over the people, yet 
 they will not conclude of aught that concerns all, either laws, or subsidies, or 
 wars, unto which the people are averse, and by gentle persuasion cannot be 
 brought. — R. Williams, Key to the Indian Lamjuage (1644). 
 
 In speaking of the Indians of Virginia, Captain John Smith 
 says : — 
 
 For their government, every Sachem is not a king, but their great Sachems 
 have divers Sachems under their protection, paying no tribute, and dare make no 
 warres without his knowledge, but ever}' Sachem cares for the widowes, orphans, 
 the aged and maimed. — History of Virginia, 1624, Vol. II. p. 238. 
 
 Sachemdom or Sachemship. The government or jurisdiction of a 
 sachem. 
 
 King Philip's war was attended with exciting an universal rising of the Indian 
 tribes, not only of Narragansett and the Sachemdom of Philip, but of the Indians 
 through New England, except the Sachemdom of Uncas, at Mohegan. — Stiles's 
 History of the Judges of Charles I., p. 109, 
 
 Sad. Heavy, applied to bread; as, "The bread is very sad,^^ i. e. 
 heavy, or not well raised. — Jamieson, Scottish Die. In Pennsyl- 
 vania, the term is applied to cake or bread when heavy. 
 
 Saddling the Market, in Wall Street slang, is to foist any particular 
 stock on the market. 
 
 To saddy. To bob up and down ; to curtsy like a child. Probably 
 a child's corruption of Thank ye, applied to the curtsy which accom- 
 panies the phrase. 
 
 I am told that this word is in common use by children, servants, 
 and people of the uneducated class, in and about Philadelphia, 
 to express thanks or the acknowledgment of a favor. A child, 
 
SAF— SAG 
 
 545 
 
 receiving a new toy, will say, " Saddie,^^ or Saddy, for "I thank 
 you." 
 
 It would do you good to see our boys and girls dancing. None of your strad- 
 dling, mincing, sadijing ; but a regular sifter, cut-tlie-buckle, chicken-flutter 
 set-to. — Crockett, Tour. 
 
 Safe. 1. Sure, certain; as, "He's safe to be hanged." — Brockett. 
 In this sense, the word is common in the South-west. 
 
 2. An iron box, frequently built into the wall, and used by mer- 
 chants as a place of deposit for their books and papers. They are 
 now generally made fire-proof, and some of these are called " sala- 
 mander safes.^^ 
 
 Safety Barge. A passenger boat towed by a steamboat at such a dis- 
 tance from it as to avoid all apprehension of danger to the passen- 
 gers. These barges were first introduced on the Hudson River, 
 and, being fitted up with taste and luxury, became great favorites 
 with travellers. They have long ceased to be used. 
 
 Sagaban. The root of the Apios tuberoso, used as food by the Indians 
 of the North-west and elsewhere. It gives a name to Sagaponock 
 and Sagg Pond, Southampton, L. I., and to Shubenacadie River, 
 Nova Scotia. 
 
 Sagackhomi. (Chip, sagdkomin, "berry growing on the weed used 
 for smoking." — Baraga.) The leaves of the Bear-berry (Arctosta- 
 pTiylos C/ya-wm), used to mix with tobacco, for smoking. — Kalm^ 
 Travels., and Rajinesque {Medical Flora, Vol. I. p. 59), both give 
 this an Indian name. Sir J. Richardson explains it as a corruption 
 of sac-a-commis, an appellation given by the Canadian voyagers, 
 " on account of the Hudson's Bay officers carrying it in bags " for 
 smoking. — Arctic Searching Exp., Vol. It. p. 303. 
 
 Rafinesque, in his second volume, says: " Sacacomi, article of 
 trade in Canada, made by drying [sumack] berries in ovens; fine 
 substitute for tobacco." — p. 257. 
 
 Carver says; " A weed that grows near the great lakes, . . . 
 that ' creeps like a vine on the ground,' is used by the Indians to 
 mix with their tobacco, and is called by them Segockimac.^^ — 
 Travels, p. 30. 
 
 Sagamore. (Abenaki Ind.) The title of a chief or a ruler among 
 some of the American tribes of Indians; a sachem. — Worcester. 
 
 The Indians of every noated plase, so combined, make a kind of petty lordship 
 and are commonly united under one chief person, who hath the rule over all those 
 lesser fraternities or companies. In the places more eastward, they called the 
 chief rulers that commanded the rest Bashabeas; as in the more westward planta- 
 tions they called them Sagamores and sachems. — HubbartVs Gen. Hist, of New 
 England. 
 
 35 
 
646 
 
 SAG— SAL 
 
 But will not Waban pass Namasket, near 
 
 Where oft that wise and good old Srujamore, 
 Brave Massasoit, spends the season drear ? 
 
 Durfee, Whatcheer, Canto II. 
 If the young Sagamore is to be led to the stake, the Indians shall see how a 
 man without a cross can die ! — Cooper, Last of the Mohicans, p. 394. 
 
 Sage-Brush. (Artemisia Ludoviciana.) The shruljs known as grease- 
 wood and sage-brush cover the plain. The hills are naked as Sinai ; 
 no animals but a rabbit and a few sage hens are found. — N. Y. 
 Tribune. 
 
 Poetry ! — just look round you, — alkali, rock, and sage ; 
 Sage-brush, rock, and alkali; ain't it a pretty page! 
 
 Bret Harte, Poems, Alkali Station. 
 
 Sage-Cheese. Cheese flavored with sage. It is sometimes colored 
 green with the juice of spinach-leaves. 
 
 Sage-Hen. (Centrocercus urophasianus.) A species of the Prairie- 
 foiol, but much larger. Audubon calls it the " Cock of the Plains,^^ 
 to signify his appreciation of the size and beauty of the bird. 
 Colonel Dodge proposes the name of Sage-grouse as the most appro- 
 priate. — Plains of the Great West, p. 224. 
 
 Sag-Nichts. The German rendering of the political term Know- 
 Nothing, it being made on the principle that those who know nothing 
 had better saij nothing. 
 
 To sail in. To embark in any thing boldly and confidently. 
 
 Saints. " The Saints " is a title which the Mormons often apply to 
 themselves on ordinary occasions, their full designation being " the 
 Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints." Whence they 
 are also often called Latter-day Saints. 
 
 But the most fruitful element of internal commotion, and that which more 
 immediately led to the prophet's death, was the institution of polygamy as one of 
 the numerous privileges of the Saints. — Ferris, Utah and the Mormons, p. 113. 
 
 Sakes. ' ' La sakes " " Massy sakes / " " Sakes alive ! ' ' are very com- 
 mon exclamations among the venerable matrons of the interior parts 
 of the country. The first two expressions are evidently corruptions 
 of " For the Lord's sake ! " " For mercy's sake ! " But the last must 
 be left for the old ladies themselves to parse: qu. " save us alive." 
 
 La sakes ! how poor she is ! you can a'most see her bones come through her 
 skin; just see her shoulder-blades; well, if that ain't a sight! — Cousin Cicehj, 
 Silver Lake Sketches. 
 
 Why, sakes alive! do tell me if Enos is as mean as all that comes to. — Nut- 
 megville Revisited, N. Y. Com. Adv. 
 
 Salamander. In Florida and Georgia, a name applied to a species of 
 pouched rat (Geomys pinetis) , and also to the Menopoma Alleghanien- 
 
SAL 
 
 547 
 
 sis, an animal of disgusting appearance, with a broad, flattened 
 head, allied to the salamander proper. It is found in the Ohio and 
 some of the Southern rivers. 
 
 Salamander Safe. A patent fire-proof iron safe. See Safe. 
 
 Saleratus. A bi-carbonate of potash, not always pure, containing a 
 greater quantity of carbonic acid than pearlash. It is used to an 
 injurious extent in the United States by bakers and housekeepers 
 for mixing with flour, to evolve the carbonic acid gas on the addi- 
 tion of cream of tartar or sour milk, in order to expand the dough 
 and render the bread light. 
 
 Salt-Bottom. A plain or flat piece of land covered with saline efflo- 
 rescences. These places abound in Western Texas and N'ew Mexico. 
 
 To salt down Stock is to buy some particular stock, and hold it for a 
 rise ; to make a permanent investment. 
 
 Salt Grass and Salt Hay. The grass growing in salt marshes. 
 
 Salt Horse. Mess beef, so known in the U. S. Army. 
 
 Salt-Lick. See Lick. 
 
 Salt Prairie. In Texas and New Mexico, the tracts of salt efflores- 
 cence which often cover a wide space. Captain Reid speaks of some 
 fifty miles in length and breadth. — The Boy Hunters. 
 
 Salt River. An imaginary river, up M'hich defeated politicians and 
 political parties are supposed to be sent to oblivion. The phrase 
 "to row up Salt River" has its origin in the fact that there is a 
 small stream of that name in Kentucky, the passage of which is 
 made difficult and laborious as w^ell by its tortuous course as by the 
 abundance of shallows and bars. The real application of the phrase 
 is to the unhappy wight w^ho has the task of propelling the boat up 
 the stream; but, in political or slang usage, it is to those who are 
 rowed up. — ./. Inman. See Row up Salt River. 
 
 One of the ballads of the late civil w^ar thus alludes to the party 
 in rebellion : — 
 
 They dread the name of Liberty, 
 
 And Justice makes them shiver ; 
 But soon we '11 yank them on a plank, 
 
 And float them up Salt River. 
 
 Put away his empty barrel ; 
 
 Fold his Presidential clothes; 
 He has started up Scflt River, 
 
 Led and lit by Cronin's nose. 
 
 N. Y. Tribune, Feb. 28, 1877. 
 
648 
 
 SAL— SAM 
 
 Salt Water Vegetables. In New York, a cant term for oysters and 
 
 clams. 
 
 Salutatorian. The student of a college who pronounces the salutatory 
 
 oration at the annual Commencement. — Webster. 
 
 Salutatory. An epithet applied to the oration which introduces the 
 exercises of the Commencements in American colleges. — Webster. 
 
 Sam. A nickname given, as referring to their cant about Uncle Sam, 
 to the Know-JSTothing or Native American party. See the articles 
 Hindoos, Know- Nothings, and Native Americans. 
 
 The following capital parody is from the Washington " Evening 
 Star" of Nov. 3, 1856: — 
 
 BURIAL OF SAM. 
 
 Not a State had he got, nor Electoral vote, 
 
 And he looked confoundedly flurried ; 
 Then wilted — dried up — and kinder gin eout, 
 
 As we Hindoos around hnn hurried. 
 
 We buried him darkly that Tuesday night 
 
 (For we fear'd he 'd not keep until morning), 
 By the struggling moonbeams' misty light 
 
 And dark-lanterns dimly burning. 
 
 No useless coffin enclosed his breast, 
 
 In a sheet of the " Organ " we wound him; 
 Everlasting, we guess, will be his rest, 
 
 With so sleepy a print around him. 
 
 Few and short were the prayers we said. 
 
 But we cussed some, in bitter sorrow. 
 As we thought how through Ellis & Co. we 'd been bled. 
 
 And the bets that were due on the morrow. 
 
 We thought, as we hollowed his oozy bed 
 
 In a culvert that runs by " The Willows," 
 That Sag-Nichts and strangers would tread o'er his head, 
 
 And we up the Salt River billows. 
 
 Lightly they '11 talk of the spirit that 's gone. 
 
 And o'er his spilt ash-cart upbraid him 
 With the bloodshed he caused and the churches he burned 
 
 Before the Democracy laid him. 
 
 Sadly but promptly we dropped him down 
 
 In the peculiar field of his gloiy. 
 We carved not a line, we raised not a stone ; 
 
 For we knew 'twas a mighty dark story. 
 
 Sambo. A term often applied to Negroes. It is used more speci- 
 fically to mean the offspring of a Negro and mulatto. See Mulatto 
 and Negro. 
 
SAM— SAN 
 
 549 
 
 Now, Sambo, darn it ! — Brother ! there, 
 
 I guess that oughter please you ; 
 You know how we in airnest air, 
 
 From slavery to ease you. 
 
 Jonathan's Appeal to Sambo, Punch, Aug., 1862. 
 
 No race has ever shown such capabilities of adaptation to varying soil and 
 circumstances as the Negro. Alike to them the snows of Canada, the rocky land 
 of New England, or the gorgeous profusion of the Southern States. Sambo and 
 Cuffey expand under them all. — H. Beecher Stoioe. 
 
 Sam Hill. "Like Sam Hill.^^ An expression much used in New 
 England a few years since. 
 
 Samp. (Abenaki Ind., seaump, nasaump.) Roger Williams describes 
 nasaump as " a kind of meale pottage unparched; from this the 
 English call their samp, which is Indian corn, beaten and boiled, 
 and eaten hot or cold with milke or butter, which are mercies 
 beyond the natives' plaine water, and which is a dish exceedingly 
 wholesome for the English bodies." — Key to the Indian Language, 
 p. 33. Samp is still much used wherever Indian corn is raised. 
 
 Blue corn is light of digestion, and the English make a kind of loblolly of it to 
 eat with milk, which they call sampe ; they beat it in a mortar, and sifte the 
 flower out of it. — Josselyn's New England Rarities, 1672. 
 
 It is ordered that the ti-easurer doe forthwith provide tenn barrells of cranburys, 
 two hogsheads of special! good sampe, and three thousand of codfish, — to be pre- 
 sented to his Majesty, as a present from this court. — Massachusetts Col. Records, 
 1677, Vol. V. p. 156. 
 
 He slept until the morning light was seen 
 
 Down through the dome to dance upon his brow ; 
 Then Waban woke him to his simple cheer 
 Of the pure fount, nausamp, and savory deer. 
 
 Durfee, Whatcheer, Canto I. Ixxxvi. 
 
 Sample-Room. A place where liquor is sold by the glass ; another 
 name for a "grog-shop." 
 
 The following is a verse from a comic song by H. Paul, entitled 
 " The World turned upside down: " — 
 
 Brigham Young was a bachelor, who wished a wife to win ; 
 
 John Gough opened a Sample-room, and served out beer and gin; 
 
 Old Tweed was at his island home, dressed in a suit of brown ; 
 
 Ben Butler had joined the Shakers, — when the world turned upside down. 
 
 Sanotimoniouslyfied. This queer word explains itself. 
 
 I recollect an old sanctimoniously fied fellow who made his Negroes whistle 
 while they were picking cherries, for fear they should eat some. — Crockett, 
 Tour down East. 
 
 Sand-Box. A primitive sort of spittoon, consisting of a wooden box 
 filled with sand. 
 
650 
 
 SAN— SAP 
 
 Sand-Cherry. (Cerasus pumila.) A prostrate or reclining shrub 
 which grows on the sand-hills in the West and North. It bears a 
 profusion of fruit, which is black when ripe, with an astringent 
 taste, about as large as the common cultivated red cherry. 
 The name was given by the French. 
 
 As they grow only on the sand, tlie warmth of which probably contributes to 
 bring them to such perfection, they are called by tlie French Cerises de Sable, 
 or Sand Cherries " — Carver's Travels, p. 30. 
 
 Sand-Flea or Beach-Flea. (Genus Orchestra. Leach.) A small 
 crustacean, common along the shores of Long Island and other sandy 
 places, which digs holes wherein it conceals itself, and lives upon 
 dead animal substances. 
 
 Sand-Hillers. A class of people in Georgia and South Carolina. 
 They are said to be the descendants of the poor whites, who, being 
 deprived of work by the introduction of slave labor, took refuge in 
 the pine woods that cover the sandy hills of those States, where they 
 have since lived in a miserable condition. A friend suggests that 
 the name comes from the Sand-hill Crane (Grus Canadensis), just 
 
 • as " Cracker " (for a North Carolinian) and " Corn-cracker " (for a 
 Kentuckian) comes from the Corn-crake, another long-legged species. 
 
 The sand-hiUers are small, gaunt, and cadaverous, and their skin is just the 
 color of the sand-hills they live on. They are incapable of applying themselves 
 steadily to any labor, and their habits are very much like those of the old In- 
 dians. — Olmsted's Slave States, p. 507. 
 
 The old divisions of Southern society still exist. The aristocracy is discrimi- 
 nated from the respectable people, the respectable people from the working-class, 
 and all from the sand-hillers. — South Carolina Society, in Atlantic Monthly for 
 1877, p. 673. 
 
 Sand-Plum. {Prunus maritima.) A Beach-plum. A plum growing 
 on plum-trees whose habitat is sandy beaches, &c., as at Plum 
 Island, Massachusetts. 
 
 Sang. An abbreviation of ginseng. It is also used in Maryland and 
 Virginia as a verb. To go a sanging is to be engaged in gathering 
 ginseng. In Alleghany Co., Maryland, is Sang Run, near which 
 is a well-known ^'-sanging ground." 
 
 Sang-Hoe. The implement used in gathering ginseng. 
 
 Santa Fe Tea. An infusion of the leaves of the Alstonia theceformis, 
 used in New Mexico. 
 
 Sapote or Sapodilla. A West India fruit, of a conical form, and 
 with a dark orange-colored pulp, tasting not unlike the musk- 
 melon. — Greenwood'' s Fruits of Cuba. If round, of the size of a 
 peach, and with several small black seeds, it is the Achras Sapota, 
 
SAP— SAS 
 
 551 
 
 or Nisherry. If larger and pointed, with one large polished seed, it 
 is the Lucuma mammosa or Mammee-sapota, also called Bully-berry. 
 The Alammee- Apple is still larger and round, with one or more 
 large and very i*ough seeds, and is the Maiiwiea Americana. Such 
 is the confusion of these various names that it is almost impossible 
 to know which fruit is spoken of unless described. — A.I. Cotheal. 
 
 Sapodilla. The fruit of the Achias sapota. West Indies. Called by 
 the Spaniards Nispero. 
 
 The sweetest sapjyodillas oft he brought ; 
 From him, more sweet ripe snppodillas seem'd. 
 
 Granger, The Sugar Cane (Lond., 1764). 
 
 Sappy. A silly, effeminate man; a saphead; which see. 
 
 Sapsago. (Germ. Schabzieger.) A kind of Swiss cheese of a green- 
 ish color. 
 
 Sapsucker. A small woodpecker (the dentrocopus oi ornithologists), 
 so called from a common belief that it sucks the sap of trees. 
 
 Saratoga. The enormous trunks carried by fashionable ladies to Sara- 
 toga Springs has obtained for them the specific name of Saratoga 
 trunks or Saratogas. See the illustration to Baggage- Smasher . 
 
 The Spanish explorators 
 To the land of alligators 
 Came with their Saratogas, and stopped at the hotels ; 
 With gay young belles coquetted, 
 For "sours" and "coolers" betted, 
 And chased the fierce mosquito through orange groves and dells. 
 W. F. Brown, The Spaniards in Florida, in Centennial Poem. 
 
 Sardines. 1. A sailor, sportively so termed, antithetically, for his 
 proverbial toughness. 
 
 We " Old Whalers," or, as we are sometimes termed, " Sardines,^'' are not sup- 
 posed by some "land-crabs" to have much of a taste for the feathery tribe 
 "done up brown " [roasted fowls]. — Cor. New Haven Palladium. 
 
 2. Menhaden prepared in resemblance to the sardines prepared in 
 Europe. 
 
 Sarsaparilla. The name is applied to a species of Aralia and other 
 plants used as substitutes for foreign sarsaparilla. 
 
 Sarves, for preserves. So pronounced in some parts of the West. 
 
 We had hIso [for dinner] custard-pies and maple molasses (usually called 
 "them 'are molasses "), and preserved apples, preserved water-melon rinds, and 
 preserved red peppers and tomatoes, — all termed, for brevity's sake (like words 
 in Webster's Dictionary), sarves. — Carlton, The New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 183. 
 
 Sass. Impudence. See Sauce. 
 
552 
 
 SAS— SAV 
 
 Sass-Tea. A decoction of sassafras ; sassafras-tea. 
 
 In the morning, Hoss Allen became dreadful poorly. The matron of the house 
 boiled him sass-tea, which the old man said revived him mightily. — liobb, Squat- 
 ter Lifty^. 72. 
 
 Sauce. (Vulgarly pronounced sass.) 1. Culinary vegetables and roots 
 eaten with flesh. — Webster. This word is provincial in various 
 parts of England in the same sense. Forby defines it as " any sort 
 of vegetable eaten with flesh-meat." — Norfolk Glossary. Garden- 
 stuff and garden-ware are the usual terms in England. See Long 
 Sauce. 
 
 Roots, herbs, vine fruits, and salad-flowers — they dish up in various ways, 
 and find them very delicious sauce to their meats, both roasted and boiled, fresh 
 and salt. — Beverly'' s Hist, of Virginia (Lond., 1705). 
 
 " If I should stay away to tea," said the Widow Bedott to her children, " don't 
 be a lettin' into the plum sass and cake as you did the other day." — Bedott 
 Papei^s, p. 88. 
 
 2. Preserved fruits, particularly apples and cranberries, wMcli 
 are generally stewed, as apple-sauce, cranherry-sauce. 
 
 3. (Pron. sass.) Impudence, sauciness. 
 
 We begin to think it 's nater 
 
 To take sarse, an' not be riled : 
 Who 'd expect to see a tater 
 
 All an eend at bein' biled ? 
 
 Lowell, Biglow Papers. 
 
 Minerva, if you have over any of your sass, I '11 give you what you can't buy 
 at the stores, though you be a grown-up girl. — Ironthorpe, p. 51. 
 
 "I expected this. Miss Badger," said Miss Asphyxia, "but I 'd have you to 
 know that I ain't a person that's goin' to take sa^ace from no one." — Mrs. 
 Stowe, Oldtown Folks, p. 2-37. 
 
 To sauce. (Pron. sarce and sass.) To be impudent. " Don't sass 
 me," i. e. don't be impudent. 
 
 The boy who was to take part in a dramatic entertainment in Detroit sassed his 
 mother this forenoon, and got such a whaling for it that he couldn't rescue a 
 stuffed dog. — Detroit pajier. 
 
 Sault, pronounced soo. (Old French.) The rapids of the St. Law- 
 rence and those connecting the Upper Lakes retain the French 
 name; as, the Sault St. Mary, &c. 
 
 Savage as a Meat- Axe. 1. Exceedingly savage; ferocious. This 
 vulgar simile is often used in the Northern and Western States. 
 
 He came up and looked at me right plum in the face, as savage as a meat-axe ; 
 and says he, " Give us your paw." — Southern Sketches, p. 32. 
 
 2. Exceedingly hungry, ravenous. 
 
SAV 
 
 553 
 
 " "Why, you don't eat nothing ! " he exclaimed ; " ridin' don't agree with you, I 
 guess ! Now, for my part, it makes me as savage as a meat-axe.'''' — Mrs. Clavers's 
 Forest Life, Vol. I. p. 103. 
 
 It would be a charity to give the pious brother some such feed as chicken 
 fixins and doins, for he looks half-starved and as savage as a meat axe. — Carl- 
 toii's New Purchase. 
 
 Savagerous. Savage, ferocious. A low word. Southern. 
 
 Well, Capting, they were mighty savagerous after liquor; the}' 'd been fightin' 
 the whiskey barrel — Porter'' s Tales of the South-west. 
 
 I see there was hell in him, so I looked at him sort o' savagerous, and says I, 
 "Look here, old hoss, how can you have the face to talk so V " — Southern 
 Sketches. 
 
 The captain felt sorter wolfish, and, lookin' at the stranger darned savagerous, 
 said, " Who in creation are you ? " — Traits of American Humor. 
 
 Savanna. (W. Ind. savana.) An open plain or meadow, without 
 wood. 
 
 The savanna is not a prairie. It is a level tract of land, often 
 approaching th6 circular in shape, averaging one or tw^o feet lower 
 than the level land about it. It is supposed to be the basin of a 
 former lake or collection of water, which has been filled up by the 
 accumulation of soil and vegetable matter. The savanna is perfectly 
 level, clothed in perpetual verdure, — except in winter, when it is 
 covered with water, — and abounds in a great variety of flowers. 
 The prairie differs not from other land, except in the absence of 
 timber, which is supposed to have been destroyed in a former era 
 by fires or by the aboriginal inhabitants. — W. Flagg, in the Mag. 
 of Horticulture, Sept., 1854. 
 
 In some places lie plats of low and very rich ground, well timbered; in others, 
 large spots of meadows and savannas, wherein are hundreds of acres without any 
 tree at all, but yield reeds and grass of incredible height. — Beverly'' s Virginia, 
 1705, Book 2. 
 
 The island of San Pio is curiously diversified with alternate patches of savan- 
 nah, bush, and marsh, and offers numerous coverts for wild animals. — Squier^s 
 Waikna, p. 236. 
 
 The fresh savannas of the »Sangamon 
 Here rise in gentle swells, and the long grass 
 Is mixed with rustling hazels. — Bryant, The Painted Cup. 
 
 To save. To make sure, i. e. to kill game or an enemy, whether 
 man or beast. To get conveys the same meaning, both terms being 
 used by the backwoodsmen of the West and by hunters generally. 
 
 The notorious Judge W , of Texas, known through that State 
 
 as "three-legged Willie," once said in a speech at a barbacue 
 (after his political opponent had been apologizing for having taken 
 a man's life in a duel) : — 
 
554 
 
 SAV— SCA 
 
 The gentleman need not make such a fuss about yetting such a rascal: every- 
 body knows that I have shot three, and two of tliem I saved. 
 
 Savey or Sabby. (Corrupted from the Span, sahe, knov^^s.) To 
 know; to comprehend. A word of very extensive use wherever a 
 Lingua Franca has been formed of the Spanish or Portuguese lan- 
 guage in Asia, Africa, and America. It is used by the Negroes in 
 tlie West Indies, and in some of the Southern States. 
 
 When I read these stories, the Negroes looked delighted, and said: "We savey 
 datwell, misses." — CarmichaeV s West Indies. 
 
 To saw. To hoax; to play a joke upon one. A Western term. In 
 the State of Maine, to saw means to scold. 
 
 Saw-Buck. A frame or stand of peculiar construction, on which wood 
 is sawn for fuel. See Buck. 
 
 Saw-Gummer. See Gummer. 
 
 Saw-Log. Logs cut from trees into the proper length for boards, 
 before being carried to the mill to be sawed. 
 
 Saw- Whet. The popular name, in some of the Northern States, for 
 the Little Owl, or Acadian Owl of Audubon {Ulula Acadica). " It 
 has a sharp note like the filing of a saw, and another like the tink- 
 ling of a heW —Nat. Hist, of New York. 
 
 Sawyer. This may be truly called an American word ; for no country 
 without a Mississippi and Missouri could produce a sawyer. 
 
 Sawyers are formed by trees, which, growing on the banks of the 
 river, become undermined by the current, and fall into the stream. 
 They are swept along with the branches partly above water, rising 
 and falling with the waves; whence their name. They are ex- 
 tremely dangerous to steamboats, which sometimes run foul of them, 
 and are either disabled or sunk. See Snag. 
 
 A little above our location, thar war a bend in the stream, which kind a turned 
 the drift t' other eend up, and planted them about the spot between our cabins, — 
 snags and sawyers just thar w^ur dredful plenty. — A Niyht on the Missouri. 
 
 Thar I war, said Dan, perched upon a sawyer, bobbin' up and down in the 
 water. — The Americans at Home. 
 
 Scab. An excrescence ; a workman who does not belong to a trade- 
 union. 
 
 Scace, Scase. A common pronunciation for scarce^' in the interior 
 
 parts of New England. 
 Scads. Money. Western. 
 To scale. 1. To go, or make go, sideling. 
 
 2. To ship, ricochet, or cause to do so. New England. 
 
SCA 
 
 655 
 
 Scalawag. A scamp; a scapegrace. A scalawag has been defined to 
 be, " like many other wags, a compound of loafer, blackguard, and 
 scamp " 
 
 Dr. Collier has been showing his model artists here, and the mean scalawag 
 left without paying the printer. — Buffalo Conner. 
 
 You good-for-nothin' young scalaivag, is that the way you take care of that 
 poor dear boy, to let him fall into the pond. — Sam Slick, Human Nature. 
 
 That scalawag of a fellow ought to be kicked out of all decent society. — West- 
 ern Sketches. 
 
 The carpet-baggers [in South Carolina] have been severeh' ostracised by the 
 whites. The scalawags also, as the native white Republicans are styled, have 
 incurred the same treatment. — Atlantic Monthly, for .June, 1877, p. 675. 
 
 [The carpet-baggers] combining with a few scalawags and some leading 
 Negroes to serve as decoys for the rest, and backed by the power of the general 
 government, became the strongest body of thieves that ever pillaged a people. — 
 Judge Black on the Electoral Conspiracy, North Am. Rev., for July, 1877, p. 5. 
 
 Scalper. In the Western cities, one who speculates in railway- 
 tickets. 
 
 Scalp-Lock. A long tuft of hair left on the crown of the head by the 
 warriors of some Indian tribes. 
 
 The Arapahoes do not shave their heads as the Pawnees and Osages do, merely 
 braiding the centre or scalp-lock, and decorating it with a gay ribbon or feather of 
 the war-eagle. — Ruxton''s Adventures in the Rocky Afountains, p, 237. 
 
 The leggins of some of these Indians were ornamented with scalp-locks along 
 the outer seam, exhibiting a dark history of the wearer's prowess. — Mayne 
 Reid, The Scalp-Hunters, p. 102. 
 
 Scaly. Mean, shabby. "He's a scaly fellow." Provincial in 
 England. 
 
 What, don't you remember old mother Todgers's ? . . . A regular scaly old 
 shop, warn't it V — Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xxviii. 
 
 Scare or Skeer. A fright; among animals, a stampede. A ^'hiq 
 scare " is not an uncommon expression at the "West, See Stampede. 
 
 In the course of an hour, Major Howard rode into camp with his prisoner, who 
 was really half frightened to death. In fact, the man afterwards died on the 
 road; and those who knew him best said that he never got over the scare. — 
 Kendall's Santa Fe Expedition, Vol. I. p. 130. 
 
 Nothing can exceed the grandeur of the scene when a large cavallada, or drove 
 of horses, takes a scare. Old. weather-beaten, time-worn, and broken-down 
 steeds — horses that have nearly given out from hard work and old age — will at 
 once be transformed iuto wild and prancing colts. — Kendall's Santa Fe Expedi- 
 tion, Vol. I. p. 97. 
 
 To scare up. To pick up; to find, A word adopted from the fowler's 
 vocabulary. 
 
 A great man; a man clearly discerning his position, resolved to control events, 
 and not allow the winds and tides of circumstance to shape his course, — sur- 
 
656 
 
 SCA— SCH 
 
 rounds himself with men of the same clear, energetic, decided character. He 
 does not make the noodles and nobodies that he may scare up anywhere his chief 
 agents. — Putnam's Magazine, Sept., 1853. 
 
 Next came the bag, which Signor Blitz turned inside out, patted it in his 
 hands, showed it to the audience, held it by every corner, slapped it against the 
 floor, and then astonished the assemblj^ by taking out of it a dozen eggs, which 
 he allowed would be a very useful bag in a family, in scaring up eggs for break- 
 fast. — The States ( Washington), 1857. 
 
 Scaresome or Skeersome. Frightful. 
 
 It 's cruel skeersome about there. — Margaret, p. 275. 
 Scary or Skeery. Easily scared ; timorous. 
 
 I got a little scary and a good deal mad. There was I perched up on a sawyer, 
 bobbin' up and down in the water. — Robb, Squatter Life. 
 
 Ay, for a town-bred boy or a skeary woman. There 's old Esther; she has no 
 more fear of a red-skin than of a suckling cub. — Cooper, The Prairie. 
 
 Scattertationist. Scattertationists is the expressive, but not very 
 euphonious word, which somebody has coined to designate those 
 political quibblers who neutralize their force by pursuing then* 
 crotchety views upon every minor point and by co-operating with 
 nobody. — Providence Journal. 
 
 Schedule. In the State of Rhode Island, the printed " Acts and Re- 
 solves " of the General Assembly. 
 
 Schnapps. (Germ.) Strong liquor, especially gin. 
 
 School. (Angl.-Sax. sceol ; Dutch, school.) A school of fish is a mul- 
 titude of fishes. The Dutch say " een school visch." In England, 
 it is more common to say " a shoal of fish," yet school is also used 
 there. 
 
 A grave and quiet man was he, 
 
 Who loved his hook and rod ; 
 So even ran his line of life. 
 
 His neighbors thought it odd. 
 
 For science and for books he said 
 
 He never had a wish ; 
 No school to him was worth a fig, 
 
 Except a school of fish. — Saxe, The Cold Water Man. 
 
 School-Commissioner. The officer whose duty it is to have the 
 administration and superintendence of public instruction in a State. 
 
 School-Committee. A committee appointed by a town or city to have 
 the entire management of its public schools. 
 
 School-District. A division of a city or State for establishing schools. 
 The State of New York is divided into more than ten thousand such 
 partitions or school districts. 
 
SCH 
 
 557 
 
 School-Fund. A fund set apart, the income of which is by 
 State law expressly appropriated to the support of public instruc- 
 tion. 
 
 School-Library. The library of a common school. In the State of 
 New York, a portion of the income of the school-fund is appropri- 
 ated for common school libraries, and the remainder by the districts 
 where the schools are established. 
 
 School-Ma'am. A school-mistress. This term is peculiar to New 
 England. See Ma'am School. 
 
 A correspondent of a New York paper, writing from Washington, 
 thus complains of some of the common practices in the House of 
 Representatives : — 
 
 Here tobacco-chewing is national, not sectional. Everybody but the President 
 chews. I went over to the ladies' gallery ; but I found it still worse, as the girls 
 kept up a continual chatter, and that on so high a key that I wonder the Speaker 
 did not clear the gallery. The particular set I now refer to were probably country 
 schoolmarms, who know a little of every thing, and meant to show it. 
 
 We can make a new application of an old story, as the schoolmarvi said when 
 she spanked the little boy with "Robinson Crusoe." — Knickerbocker May., 
 Feb., 1857. 
 
 I would I were a schoolmarm, 
 
 And among the schoolmarm's band, 
 With a small boy stretched across my knee. 
 
 And a ruler in my hand. — Buffalo Express. 
 
 School-Money. The money received from towns or the State for 
 
 the support of common schools. 
 School Section. A section of land set apart for the support of public 
 
 schools. 
 
 School-Tax. A tax usually levied upon towns or districts lor the sup- 
 port of its public or common schools. This tax is usually in addi- 
 tion to the appropriation by the State for the same object. 
 
 Schooner. A tall glass from which lager beer is drunk, containing 
 double the quantity of an ordinary tumbler. 
 
 A Bowery merchant affirms that the resemblance of the Brooklyn bridge to a 
 German's nose lies in the fact that schooners move under it. 
 
 Schute is much used, 1. in the West and South for Chute and Shoot, 
 which see. 
 
 Therefore he took the schute^ as our raftsmen would say, and slid down into 
 the Tennessee to confer with his allies. — Kentucky Cor. N. Y. Tiibune. 
 
 2. (Fr. chute.) A lift-lock, a lift. 
 
 It is generally supposed among boatmen that their business is done for this 
 season, the canals, locks, schutes, &c., being completely wrecked and destroyed. 
 N. Y. Tribune. 
 
558 
 
 SCI— SCR 
 
 Scientist. One devoted to science. 
 
 It is a favorite dream with the fiOc\a]-scientisfs of a time when not only light 
 and water, but heat also, shall be supplied to every house at a cost far less than is 
 incurred by householders singlv for these necessities. — Pruvidence Press, Jan., 
 1877. 
 
 Not being a scientist., and not having much time at my disposal, I shall not 
 pretend to explain General Pleasanton's ideas [on the theory of light through 
 blue glass]. — Lett, from N. Y. in Chicago Tribune, Jan. 12, 1877. 
 Scoldenore. A water-fowl. So called on the coast of Maine. 
 
 Some quiet day, on the edge of a southerly wind, boats go out after sea-fowl, 
 [among which are] old wives, called by the natives scoldenores, with clean white 
 caps, or clumsy eider-ducks. — Thaxter, Ishs of Shonls, p. 109. 
 
 To scoot. To walk fast; to run. The word is also used as a noun 
 and as an adjective. "He made a scoot," went "on a run." 
 " Scoot train " is one that omits stopping at a particular station; 
 an express train. New England. 
 
 The fellow sat down on a hornet's nest; and if he didn't run and holler, and 
 scoot through the briar bushes, and tear his trowsers. — HiWs Yankee Stories. 
 
 We were bound to the South Seas after sperm whales, but we were eight 
 months gettin' there. The captain he scooted round into one port an' another, — 
 down to Caraccas, into Rio, &c. — Atlantic Monthly, March, 1858. 
 
 A Southern or AVestern man, when he goes skewtin about, buying goods in 
 business hours, keeps his eye-teeth skinned. — Knickerbocker Mag., March, 1856. 
 An' the Cunnles, too, could kiver up their shappoes with bandanners, 
 An' send the Ensines skootin^ to the bar-room with their banners. 
 
 Lowell, The Biglow Papers. 
 
 Scow. (Dutch, schomv.) A large, flat-bottomed boat, generally used 
 as a ferry-boat, or as a lighter for loading and unloading vessels 
 when they cannot approach the wharf. On Lake Ontario, they are 
 sometimes rigged like a schooner or sloop, with a lee-board or slid- 
 ing keel, W'hen they make tolerably fast sailers. The word is used 
 in Scotland. A mud-scow (Dutch, modder-sclioiiw) is a vessel of 
 this description, used in New York for cleaning out the docks; a 
 dredging machine. 
 
 Scrape. The turpentine gathered from the face of the pine. On old 
 trees, the yearly incision is made high above the boxes, and the 
 sap, in flowing down, passes over and adheres to the previously 
 scarified surface. It is thus exposed to the sun, which evaporates 
 the more volatile and valuable portion, and leaves only the hard, 
 which, w^hen manufactured, is mostly rosin. Scrape turpentine is 
 only about half as valuable as dip. — J. R. Gilmore, Southern 
 Friends. 
 
 Corn and cotton had made a handsome profit, but turpentine had been a loss. 
 That is because your trees are old, and now yield little or any thing but scrape. 
 My Southern Friends, p. 131. 
 
SCR 
 
 5o9 
 
 To scrape. To scrape cotton " means to hoe cotton. Southern. 
 
 Scrapple. Equal parts of buckwheat flour and wheat flour boiled in 
 the liquid produced in making " Head-cheese." and used as •' Hasty- 
 Pudding " after cooling. 
 
 Scraps. See Cracklings. 
 
 Scratch. 1. No great scratch. A vulgar though common phrase, 
 implying not worth much, "no great shakes." 
 
 There are a good many Joneses in Georgia, and I know some myself that ain't 
 no great scratches. — 3faJor Jonts's Courtship, p. 136. 
 
 2. An unintentional lucky stroke at billiards. 
 
 3. The " Old Scratch.''^ The devil. Perhaps from the Norse 
 Scrattle, a satyr or faun. 
 
 I 'm astonished at your shakin' hands with that critter. If he was a slave, you 
 might make free with him, but you can't with these free niggers; it turns their 
 heads, and makes them as forred and sassy as old Scratch himself. — Sam Slick, 
 Wise Saws, p. 63. 
 
 4. To come up to the scratch. To come up to the mark; to "toe 
 the mark;" to begin the contest, &c. From the vocabulary of 
 pugilists. 
 
 We shall be there to-morrow: then, if all our fleet come up to the scratch, and 
 we go to work with our full force, we shall see what we shall see. — War Cor. 
 N. Y Tribune. 
 
 To scratch. To scratch a man's name, in political parlance, is to strike 
 it from the printed ticket of the " regular nomination." 
 
 We remember, many years ago, at one of our charter elections, a candidate for 
 the office of alderman had the tickets bearing his name printed with a peculiar 
 mark. When the poll was closed, that particular ticket was known to be full 
 one hundred ahead. The would-be alderman, in the gladness of his heart, in- 
 vited his friends to his house, where he had spread refreshments. Just as he was 
 returning thanks for his election, the official returns were brought in, from which 
 it appeared that, though all the other candidates upon the ticket wore successful, 
 so many had scratched the name of the alderman that he was defeated by more 
 than fifty vote.s. — N. Y. Com. Adver'tiser. 
 
 Scratches. A disease of horses' heels, called in England grease. 
 
 Scratch Gravel. " Now scratch gravel,^^ i. e. be off, " clear out." 
 
 Scratch Ticket, properly scratched ticket. An election ticket with 
 one or more names of candidates erased. See Split Ticket. 
 
 Scrawl. In New England, a ragged, broken branch of a tree, or 
 other brushwood; brush. — Webster. 
 
 Scrawny. Bony, bare-boned, low in flesh, scraggy. A corrupt pro- 
 nunciation of the word scranny, whicli is used in the same sense in 
 England. Southern. In Somerset, England, is the word scrawvUin, 
 poor and mean. — Wright. 
 
560 
 
 SCR 
 
 If my memory serves me, Elder Sniffles Is rather a tall, scrawny man, with 
 eyes that look like a couple of peeled onions, and kind o' squintin' too. — Widow 
 Bedott Papers, p. 103. 
 
 All the spare curses 1 accumulate I dedicate to these white-livered, hatchet- 
 faced, thin-blooded, scrawny reformers, who prescribe saw-dust puddings and 
 plank beds, and brief sleep, and early walks, and short commons for the rising 
 generation. — Timothy Tilcomb''s Letters. 
 
 Screamer. A bouncing fellow or girl. This, like the word roarer, is 
 one of the many terms transferred from animals to men by the 
 hunters of the West. 
 
 If he 's a specimen of the Choctaws that live in these parts, they are screamers. 
 Thorpe's Backwoods. 
 
 ISlsivy is a screamer of a girl; I'd rather have her than all the rest. — Mrs. 
 Clavers's Western Clearings. 
 
 " Have you got my cabin chalked down ? " he inquired. 
 
 "Yes," answered the artist, "and you too." 
 
 " Good, by thunder! " said the squa*^ter. " When you show me to them Eng- 
 lish fellers, just tell 'em I 'm a Mississippi screamer. I can hoe more corn in a 
 day than any Yankee machine ever invented ; and when I hit any thing, from 
 bullock down to human natur', they ginerally think lightnin' is comin'." — St. 
 Louis Reveille. 
 
 The folks are all waiting to see the fast steamer 
 
 That's coming from Albany down to this pier; 
 Ah, here she is now; you, sir, ain't she a screamer'? 
 In New York, the swiftest boats always land here. 
 
 A Glance at New York. 
 
 Screw. 1. One who squeezes all he can out of those with whom he 
 has any dealings; an extortioner; miser. Colloquial here as in 
 England. 
 
 2. In some American colleges, an excessive, unnecessarily minute, 
 and annoying examination of a student by an instructor is called 
 a .screw. The instructor is often designated by the same name. — 
 
 HalVs College Words. 
 
 One must experience the stammering and stuttering, the unending doubtings 
 and guessings, to understand fully the power of a mathematical screw. — Har- 
 vard Register, p. 378. 
 
 The consequence was, a patient submission to the screw, and a loss of college 
 honors and patronage. — A Tour through College, Boston, 1832. 
 
 To screw. To press with excessive and unnecessarily minute exami- 
 nation. — HalVs College Words. 
 
 Who would let a tutor knave 
 
 Screw him like a Guinea slave! — Rehelliad, p. 53. 
 He was a wise man, and a good man too, 
 And robed himself in green whene'er he came to screw. 
 
 Our Chronicle of '26. 
 
SCR 
 
 561 
 
 Screw-Bean. (Strombocarpus pubescens.) A tree of the locust family, 
 found in Texas and westward. Its pods are twisted like a screw. 
 It is eaten by the Indians, being first ground to a coarse meal and 
 made into bread. 
 
 Screw Loose. Something ill-adjusted; out of place; working ill; 
 disorder; as, "There's a screw loose somewhere." Also used in 
 England. — Hotten, Diet, of Slang. 
 
 Screws. To put the screws on; to turn the screws. To press, and 
 figuratively to extort, to enforce payment in money transactions ; to 
 force a debtor, by any compulsory means, to pay. The allusion is 
 to the ancient mode of torture by thumb-screws. 
 
 As soon as the banks have put out a pretty good line of call loans, and the 
 brokers have involved themselves deepl}' in fancy-stock transactions on time, 
 the screws will be suddenly turned, and we shall tind a general desire to realize 
 among those who are now so anxious to buy. — iV. Y. Herald. 
 
 The "New York Times," Sept. 15, 1857, in speaking of a con- 
 • traction by the banks, says: — 
 
 Such iu7-7is of the screics as we have had for the last three weeks, if continued, 
 would bring almost every mercantile house in New York to wreck. 
 
 Love strains the heart-strings of the human race, and not unfrequently puts 
 the screws on so hard as to snap them asunder, and leave every moral and physical 
 instrument as completely out of tune as a corn-stalk fiddle in the hands of a 
 plough-boy. — Dow's Sermons, Vol. I. p. 302. 
 
 Screwsmen. In the thieves' vocabulary, a screwsman is a man who 
 obtains the impression of a lock, makes a key to fit it, and enters 
 the place without committing violence. 
 
 We have read an article in a New Orleans contemporary, which describes a 
 procession of screwsmen, which are called "jewels," without wliich she [New 
 Orleans] could never attain to a leading position. . . . We had hardly expected 
 to see a paper of any respectability speak in such laudatory terms of screws- 
 men. — N. Y, Evening Post. 
 
 Scrimp or Skrimp. 1. Short; scanty. — Webster. 
 
 2. A pinching miser; a niggard; a close-fisted person. — Webster. 
 The word, in both senses, is colloquial in the north of England 
 and in the United States. 
 
 Scrimping. Scanty; close; parsimonious. Also used adverbially. 
 
 Bethier Nobles knows how every lady in town carries on her kitchen concerns, 
 — how scrimping they live, and all that. — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 333. 
 
 Scrods, Schrode. (Dutch.) Pieces of fish, or small fish, for broiling; 
 small codfish split open and salted. Germ. Schrot, a shred. At 
 the Isles of Shoals, the term is api)lied to partially cured codfish. 
 Escrod. A small cod broiled; a scrod. — Webster. 
 
 86 
 
562 
 
 SCR— SCU 
 
 That morsel from Monica, an escrod. — D. Webster. 
 
 Peter Gott, in addition to the money he had saved, had a pile of nice scrorfs, 
 and as many salted fish for winter as the family needed. — The Cape Ann Fish' 
 erman. 
 
 To scrouge. To crowd; to squeeze. A word provincial in England 
 and in this country. It is used in the Southern States, and among 
 children at the North. 
 
 The ladies were obliged to stand up and be scrougecl until chairs could be 
 brought. — Drama in Pokerville. 
 
 After hard scrouging each way some hundred yards, we came together and 
 held a council. — Carlton, Netv Purchase, Vol. II. p. 59. 
 
 Them boys that 's a scrouging each other will find plenty of room this way. — 
 Peter Cram, Knicherhocker Mag. 
 
 And as the North has took to brustlin', 
 
 At being scrouged from off the roost, 
 I '11 tell ye what '11 save all tusslin', 
 
 And give our side a handsome boost. 
 
 Biglow Papers, p. 92. 
 
 Scrouger. A bouncing fellow or girl. A Western vulgarism. 
 
 Tom, the engineer, was a roaring, tearing, bar State scrouger, — could chaw up 
 any specimen of the human race, any quantity of tobacco, and drink steam with- 
 out flinching. — Eobb, Squatter Life. 
 
 Some of the families in them diggins had about twenty in number; and the 
 gals among them warn't any of your pigeon critters, that a fellow dassent tech 
 for fear of spilin' 'em, but real scrougers ; any of 'em could lick a bar easy. — Ibid 
 
 Congo is a scrouger ; he 's up a gum, and no bug-eater, I tell you; he carries a 
 broad row, weeds out everything, — hoes de corn and digs de taters. — Southern 
 Sketches, p. 99. 
 
 Scrub Oak. The popular name of several dwarfish species of oak. 
 
 We left the buffalo camp, and had a toilsome and harassing march of two hours 
 over ridges of hills covered with a ragged, meagre forest of scrub-oaks, and broken 
 by deep gullies. — Irving, Tour on the Prairies, p. 135. 
 
 [Hosea Biglow said] that he had never seen a sweet-water on a trellis growing 
 so fairly, or in forms so pleasing to his eye, as a fox-grape over a scrub-oak in a 
 swamp. — Lowell, Biglow Papers. 
 
 Scrumptious. 1. Particular; fastidious. Probably a corruption of 
 scrupulous. A vulgarism. 
 
 I don't want to be scrumptious, judge ; but I do want to be a man. — Margaret, 
 p. 304. 
 
 2. Very nice; excellent. 
 
 Scud-Grass, vulgarly called Scales Gi'ass, is described by Romans as 
 a " noble grass on poor land, growing to the height of thirty inches 
 and upwards." Found in Florida. — Nat. Hist, of Florida, p. 129. 
 
SCU— SEA 
 
 663 
 
 Scuff. A light shoe ; a slipper ; a shoe with no heel ; a shoe made with- 
 out quarters, turned down. New England. 
 
 Sculp. A sculpin. 
 
 Scup. 1. (Ahensiki Ind. J scuppauog.) A small fish abounding in the 
 waters of New York and New England. In Rhode Island, they are 
 called sc^ip ; in New York, paugies or porgies. See Porgy. 
 2. (Dutch, schop.) A swing. A New York word. 
 
 To scup. (Dutch, schoppen.) To swing. Common in New York. 
 
 Scuppernong Grape. By most authors this is believed to be a vari- 
 ety of the Vitis vulpina of Linnaeus, or Southern Fox Grape. It has 
 characters of its own, however, and is held to be distinct by Michaux 
 and Elliot, as Vitis rotundifoUa, and by Rafinesque, as Vitis musca- 
 dina. It is indigenous on the Scuppernong River and Lake in 
 North Carolina, and yields a very poor wine. 
 
 To scurry. To scour ; to scud ; to run in haste. This word is colloquial 
 in England and America, and is a variation of the verb skiir of the 
 dictionaries. 
 
 Our friend Kendall, of the " Picayune," was, when last heard from, scurrying 
 over the German portions of the European continent. — New York Com. Adv. 
 
 Scuss, for scarce. So pronounced by the backwoodsmen of the West. 
 
 The unfortunate traveller urged in vain [for food for his horse]. Hay was 
 scuss, and potatoes were scusser. — Mrs. Clovers'' s Western Clearings. 
 
 Scutum. A water-proof sacque or cloak worn by ladies as a protec- 
 tion from rain. 
 
 Speaking of the opening of the Centennial Exhibition, the " New 
 York Herald," May 11, 1876, says: — 
 
 The morning of the great day broke dubiously, and the visitors from every 
 part of the world began to fear that the opening ceremonies would be performed 
 under a scutum of umbrellas. 
 
 Scythe-Whet. The Wilson's thrush. 
 
 My walk under the pines would lose half its summer charm, Avere I to miss that 
 shy anchorite, the Wilson's thrush, nor hear in haying-time the metallic ring of 
 his song, that justifies his rustic name of scythe-whet. — Lowell, My Study Win- 
 dotes, p. 22. 
 
 Sea-Bass. (Centropristes nigricans .) A fish that abounds in the At- 
 lantic on banks and off steep bars near the channels, rarely near the 
 shore. As an article of food, it is reckoned among the best of the 
 fishes of the coast. 
 
 Sea-Devil. See Devil- Fish 
 
564 
 
 SEA 
 
 Sea-Fencibles. A name adopted, in 1812-15, by volunteer troops, 
 coast-guards composed of men past the age legally required for 
 military service. Massachusetts. 
 
 Sea-Island Cotton. A kind of black seed cotton celebrated for the 
 fineness and length of its fibre, and raised only on the sea coast and 
 islands of Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida, the saline ingre- 
 dients of the soil and atmosphere being indispensable elements of 
 its growth. Comp. Upland Cottoyi. 
 
 Sea-Pike. See Bill-Fish. 
 
 Sea-Robin. (Prionotus lineatus.) A small salt-water fish, which keeps 
 near or upon the bottom, using its pectoral processes as organs of 
 progi'ession. In swimming or resting, the broad pectoral fins are 
 generally spread out horizontally to their fullest extent, presenting 
 a very beautiful and striking appearance, and closely resembling the 
 wings of a butterfly. It hence receives its name of Flying-Fish. 
 From the croaking or grunting noise it makes when caught, it is 
 sometimes called Pig-Fish. 
 
 Sea-Side Grape. The Cocoloha uvifera, so called in the West Indies. 
 
 To seal. In Mormon phraseology, all wives taken after the first are 
 called spiritual wives, and are said to be sealed to the husband. 
 
 If a man once married desires a second helpmate, . . . she is 
 sealed to him under the solemn sanction of the church, and in all 
 respects, in the same relation to the man as the wife that was first 
 married. — Stansbury^s Salt Lake Exp., p. 136. 
 
 The extra wives of the Mormons are called by some of them " spirituals," by 
 others sealed ones, while our landlady calls them "fixins." — Ferris, The Mor- 
 mons at Home, p. 114. 
 
 People, according to Mormon technology, are married for time, but sealed for 
 eternity. — Hyde's Mormonism, p. 84. 
 
 But crowds on crowds, as was revealed 
 To Brigham, were to Brigham sealed ; 
 Until, for want of room, 'tis said, 
 A bevy held each harem bed ! 
 The beautiful he sealed to be 
 
 Partakers of his temporal rest ; 
 "While suppliants for eternitv," 
 
 Content to be hereafter blest, 
 "Were sealed to be his " spirit spouses," 
 
 And who — the unbelieving say — 
 
 Lived happier far with him than they 
 "Who dwelt in his terrestrial houses. — The Mormoniad. 
 
 Sealer. In New England, an officer appointed by the town or other 
 proper authority, to examine and try weights and measures, and set 
 
SEA— SEC 
 
 565 
 
 a stamp on such as are according to the standards established by the 
 State; also an officer who inspects leather, and stamps such as is 
 good. These are called sealers of weights and measures and sealers 
 of leather. — Webster. 
 
 Sealing. The ceremony, among the Mormons, of taking a " spiritual 
 wife. 
 
 These left-hand marriages are called sealings; the woman is said to be 
 " sealed" to the man. — Ferris, The Mormons at Home, p. 114. 
 
 Searcher. An instrument resembling an auger, used in the inspection 
 of butter, to ascertain the quality of that contained in firkins. New 
 England. 
 
 Season. A common term at the South for a shower of rain or period 
 of damp weather suitable for setting out tobacco and other plants. 
 
 This season has come up mighty sudden. I shouldn't wonder if it rained all 
 night. — Ida May. 
 
 The Carolinian never has a thunder shower, at least he knows nothing by that 
 name. He will tell you his crop is "sorry," because it has had but few seasons, 
 . . . and you soon learn that by season he means a shower. But he has no 
 thunder seasons. When rain is accompanied with thunder and lightning, it is a 
 season still. But he has no thunder seasons, they are " thunder gusts." — Cor. of 
 Providence Journal. 
 
 Seawan or Sewant. An Algonkin Indian word. The beads used 
 by the Indians for money. The word signifies " i'oose " or " wn- 
 s/rwn^r." These beads passed by count, the white (ivampum) at half 
 the value of the black or purple (suckanhock) ; six of the former 
 and three of the latter passing for an English penny. Seawan 
 therefore is not the same as wampum, although many writers use 
 the two terms indiscriminately. See Sewan. In a note on the 
 word, Mr. Irving says : — 
 
 The seatcant depreciates from time to time. The New England people make 
 use of it as a means of barter. . . . The commissioners remain overstocked with 
 seawant, a sort of currency of no value except with the New Netherland 
 savages. — Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 233. 
 
 The speaking now ceased, and they gave each of us ten fathoms of seewan, 
 which is their money, each fathom being worth four guilders. — Be Vnes, New 
 Netherlands, 1656. 
 
 A quantity of Dutch commodities was purchased on this occasion by the New 
 Plymouth people; especially seawan or wampum, which the English found to be 
 afterwards very beneficial in their trade with the natives. — 0' Callaghan, Hist, 
 of New Netherlands, p. 108. 
 
 Secesh, Secesher. A common term applied to secessionists. The 
 following verse is from a fugitive poem on the Union, after the 
 manner of Emerson's "Brahma:" — 
 
666 
 
 SEC 
 
 Infissiparous symbol of politic etern, 
 
 Securing Uncle Sam what 's his 'n and every State what 's her 'n, 
 Of strength redintegrative, of pulchritude e'er fresh, 
 Secesh were not without thee, and without thee no secesh ! 
 
 Schoolin's what they can't seem to stan', they 're too consarned high-pressure, 
 An' knowin' t' much might spile a boy for bein' a Seceaher. 
 
 Lowell, The B'kjIow Papers. 
 
 To secesh, secession. To secede; to revolt; to rebel. 
 
 A correspondent of the " Y. Tribune," June 7, 1862, writing 
 from near Fort Pillow, said : — 
 
 The people [of Arkansas,] have no confidence in their leaders ; and the message 
 of Governor Rector, advising them to secesh from Secessia, has distracted and 
 bewildered them. 
 
 A secesh soldier took my hand, 
 
 "Come fight wid us," says he; 
 Says I, " I 'm but a contraband. 
 
 But you don't secession we." 
 
 Song, The Intelligent Contraband. 
 
 Seceshdom. The Confederate States; the States which attempted to 
 secede from the United States in 1861. 
 
 Private advices from Seceshdom speak of the election which succeeded the first 
 excitement. — Cor. N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Secessia. The Confederate States. 
 
 If you '11 let us go to our Yankee home. 
 We '11 swear no more in Secessia to roam. 
 
 Song, The Marylander at Manassas. 
 
 Secessiondom. Like the foregoing, the Confederate States. 
 
 Secessionists. The party in the South in favor of seceding from the 
 Union. 
 
 Secessionizer. One who favors secession or secessionists. 
 
 . . . The disgraceful extinguishing of the noisy secessionist Gregory in the 
 [English] House of Commons. Gregory's motion that the English ministry be 
 requested to lay before Parliament the correspondence was negatived . . . with- 
 out a division; i. e., the votes were not counted to save the feelings of the seces- 
 sionizers. — The Independent, March 27, 1862. 
 
 Second-Day Wedding. A reception or evening party given by the 
 parents of the bridegroom, or by the new-married couple in their 
 own house, soon after their marriage. The festivities of the 
 "second-day wedding" often surpassed the first. Miss Caulkins 
 (Hist, of Neiv London, p. 408) notices two entertainments of this 
 kind (though she does not give them their name), in 1732 and 1735. 
 Judd, Hist, of Hadley, p. 246, mistook the meaning of the name. 
 He mentions " second-day weddings, or wedding festivities kept up 
 
SEC — SEE 
 
 567 
 
 the second day.'''' The entertainment was never given until the new 
 couple had taken possession of their home. 
 
 Section. 1. A distinct part of a city, town, country, or people; a 
 part of a territory separated by geographical lines or of a people 
 considered as distinct. Thus we say, the Northern and Eastern 
 section of the United States, the Middle section^ the Southern or 
 Western section. — Webster. 
 
 2. The newly surveyed government lands at the West are laid out 
 or divided into squares of six hundred and forty acres, which are 
 called sections. These are again divided into four parts of one 
 hundred and sixty acres each, called quarter-sections. 
 
 Sectional. Relating to a section, having regard to the interests of a 
 section; i. e., a division or part of the country, as the North, South, 
 East, or West. The word is often thus used by political speakers 
 and writers in contradistinction to national^ which see. 
 
 All sectional interests, or party feelings, it is hoped, will hereafter yield to 
 schemes of ambition. — Judge Story. 
 
 To that central attraction I have been delighted to find the thoughts, the affec- 
 tions, the memories of the people, in whatever part of the country — from the 
 ocean to the prairies of the "West, from the land of granite and ice to the land of 
 the palmetto and the magnolia — instinctively turn. They have their sec^z'onai 
 loves and hatreds, but before the dear name of Washington they are absorbed 
 and forgotten. — Speech of Hon. E. Everett, July 5, 1858. 
 
 Mr. Miles, of South Carolina, said he was that bugbear, a sectional man. He 
 represented in part the South, which, being the weaker party, hM to unite in 
 order to protect herself, and was therefore sectional. — Debate in H. of Reps.^ 
 Jan. 26, 1859. 
 
 Sectionalism. The having regard to the interests of a section of the 
 country rather than of the nation at large. 
 
 On the 5th of July, 1858, the patriotism and intellect of Massachusetts were 
 represented in a striking contrast with the littleness and sectionalism which now 
 rule the old Bay State. — Newark Journal, July, 1858. 
 
 To sectionize. To divide or lay off into sections, especially the public 
 lauds, which is done before they are offered for sale. Western. 
 
 So much of the vacant lands of the republic shall be surveyed and sectionized, 
 as will be sufficient to satisfy all claims. — Laws of Texas, Nov., 1828. 
 
 Seed, for saw. 
 
 Seeding. A common term in New England for sowing; seed applied 
 by sowing, as of grass. 
 
 Seed-Tick. A minute species of Acarus, which burrows in the skin 
 and produces an intolerable itching. Some consider it to be the 
 young of the dog or sheep tick. 
 
568 
 
 SEE 
 
 Seem. " iS'cem to think." " I can't seem to be suited." "Icouldn't 
 seem to know him." Peculiar expressions, often heard from the lips 
 of educated men. 
 
 Seen, for saw. Ex. : "I seen him do it." This corruption is common 
 in various parts of the country. 
 
 Peter Cram's fits is awful, and go ahead of any thing we ever seen. — Knicker- 
 bocker Mag., Vol. XVII. 
 
 She is more moral than a preacher. 
 
 More dignifieder than a queen ; 
 No mockin'-bird can ever reach her, 
 
 In singiu', that I ever seen. — Evening Post. 
 
 To seep. To run through fine pores or interstices, as the juice of 
 fruits strained through a sieve or cloth. 
 
 Seepy. Seepy land is land under cultivation that is not well drained. 
 Maryland and Virginia. 
 
 To see the Elephant is a South-western phrase, and means, generally, 
 to undergo any disappointment of high-raised expectations. It is 
 in fact nearly or quite synonymous with the ancient phrase, " go 
 out for wool, and come back shorn." For instance, men who volun- 
 teered for the Mexican war, expecting to reap lots of glory and en- 
 joyment, but who instead found only sickness, fatigue, privations, 
 and suffering, were said to have "seen the elephant.''^ Afterwards, 
 those who went to California with golden expectations, and returned 
 disappointed, were said to have '''•seen the elephant.''^ The poor 
 creatures who were induced to share the fortunes of the filibuster 
 W^alker had an opportunity of viewing a quadruped of the largest 
 stature. 
 
 Mr. Kendall, in his " Narrative of the Texan Santa Fe Expedi- 
 tion," tells some amusing anecdotes of " seeing the elephant and is 
 the earliest writer who mentions the expression, which he adds is 
 very common in Texas, and which he had never heard until he 
 entered the Cross Timbers. This was in the year 1841. 
 
 The meaning of the expression I will explain. When a man is disappointed 
 in any thing he undertakes, when he has seen enough, when he gets tired and 
 sick of any job he may have set himself about, he has "seen the elej^hant.^^ We 
 had been buffeting about during the day, cutting away trees, crossing deep 
 ravines and gullies, and turning and twisting some fifteen or twentv miles to gain 
 five, — we had finally to encamp by a mud-hole of miserable Avater, and the spies 
 had been unable to find any beyond. This combination of ills induced the old 
 hunter to remark, " I 've seen the elephant ; " and upon the same principle I will 
 here state that by this time I had obtained something more than a glimps<» of the 
 animal myself. — Vol. I. p. 109. 
 
SEG— SEL 
 
 569 
 
 A man brought before the Recorder of New Orleans, charged 
 with having been found drunk the previous night, after appealing 
 to the court, closed with the following remarks: — 
 
 *' Spare my feelings, Squire, and don't ask me to tell any more. Here I am in 
 town without a rock in my pocket, without a skirt to my coat or crown to my 
 hat; but. Squire, I'll say no more, /'re seen the elephant.''^ The Recorder let 
 him off on condition that he would leave town. — Pickings from the Picayune. 
 
 Although the merchants from the South and West may buy goods in Philadel- 
 phia, all tind their way to New York to spend their pocket-money, buy brass 
 watches at the mock-auctions, and see the elephant generally. — Phil. Cor. of 
 N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Sego. A bulbous root (of Calochortees luteus, Nuttall) much esteemed 
 by the Indians of Utah as food. It varies in size from that of a 
 pea to that of a filbert. — Torrey. 
 
 Segos are here very abundant, and of a large size, and are found in every tuft 
 of bunch-grass. — Stansbury, Exp. to Salt Lake, p. 169. 
 
 Seigneurs. Owners of the domain in the feudal or French townships 
 of the Province of Quebec. (Always given as a French word.) 
 
 Seigniories. The feudal or French townships of the Province of 
 Quebec. See Township. 
 
 Selectman. A magistrate annually elected by the freemen of a town 
 or township in New England, to superintend and manage the affairs 
 and government of the town. The number is commonly from three 
 to five. — Woi'cester. The term was originally select-townsmen, — 
 whence both selectman and townsman, as purporting town-officer, 
 seem to have come. Dec. 16, 1645. — Drake^s Hist, of Boston^ 
 p. 291. 
 
 Sell. A practical joke. See Sold. 
 
 It was a wicked Freshman, 
 
 With hairless lip and chin. 
 Who ever took delight in sells 
 
 And taking people in. — Harvard Lampoon. 
 
 Seller's Option. This gives the seller the option to deliver any time 
 within the time of his contract, or at its maturity, and the buyer is 
 required to take it when offered. The buyer pays interest up to 
 delivery. Sales at sellerh option are generally a fraction below 
 the current cash price. The speculator who sells stocks on his own 
 or the buyer's option draws interest on his contract for the date until 
 it closed. 
 
 To sell out a Man, in AVall Street parlance, is to sell down a stock, 
 which another is carrying, so low that he is compelled to quit his 
 
570 
 
 SEM— SER 
 
 hold and perhaps to fail. — Medbery, Men and Mysteries of Wall 
 Street. 
 
 Semi-occasionally. A cant phrase, meaning once in a while. 
 
 I went to the American Legation, and got my friend Kane, the attach^, to call 
 with me upon Jack Cathcart, who was supposed to be diligently employed in 
 making himself a scientific physician, but, in point of fact, walking the hospital 
 but semi-occasionally, and seeing life in Paris very constantly, especially that 
 part of it which is to be seen by gas or lamp-light. — Putnavi's Monthly, May, 
 1854. 
 
 Chewing tobacco not only infuses a deadly poison into your blood, but leads 
 you on to an inclination for occasional dissipation, and from that to semi-occa- 
 sional intoxication. — Dow's Sermons, Vol. III. p. 90. 
 
 A writer in " Scribner's Magazine," Feb., 1876, in speaking of 
 book-cases, says: — 
 
 The shelves being a foot deep, books or pamphlets that are only wanted semi- 
 occasionally can be arranged behind other books. — p. 488. 
 
 Senate. In the United States, senate denotes the higher branch or 
 house of a legislature. Such is the Senate of the United States, or 
 upper house of the Congress; and, in most of the States, the higher 
 and least numerous branch of the legislature is called the Senat-e. 
 In the United States, the Senate is an elective body. — Webster. 
 
 Sence, for since. Common among the uneducated. 
 
 Ere Adam's fall. 
 He built stone wall; 
 But ever sence 
 
 He make brush fence. — Old Virginia Song. 
 Sensationism. The art, practice, means, and results of sensationists. 
 
 How vastly it ["true Wisdom "] looms up over the nervous excitability and 
 cheap sensationism of the day ! — The Independent, Sept. 6, 1860. 
 
 Sensationist. One who makes "sensations;" a sensation preacher, 
 orator, &c. 
 
 Sensations. Sensational; having design to produce sensation. 
 
 I desire to caution the Northern public against being misled by reports con- 
 cerning the movements and purposes of the enemy, put forth on insufficient 
 authority, but fortunately of a character so purely sensations as to be readily de- 
 tected. — Fo7't Monroe, Cor. N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 To sense. To comprehend; as, " Do you sense that? " New Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Serape. (Span.) A Mexican blanket, with an opening in the mid- 
 dle for the head. They are woven by hand, of gay colors, and are 
 only worn by the men in cool weather, instead of an overcoat. 
 
SER— SET 
 
 571 
 
 The Indians were mounted on mules, wrapped in serapes, or Mexican blankets, 
 and wore head-dresses, beads, and other Indian ornaments. — Captain Whipjjle's 
 Explorations, p. 34. 
 
 We wrapped ourselves in blankets or overcoats, while our escort, who put on 
 their gaudy serflj9(^s, made a very picturesque appearance. — BarthtVs Personal 
 Narrative, Vol. II. p. 500. 
 
 I now turned my back on the last settlement, . . . and knew that I had seen 
 the last of civilized man under the garb of a Mexican serape. — Ruxton's Adven- 
 tures, p. 207. 
 
 Serious. Particularly attentive to religious concerns or one's own 
 religious state. — Webster. 
 
 Seiious has [in New England] the cant acceptation of religious. — KendaWs 
 Travels. 
 
 Servant. A term often used synonymously with "slave" at the 
 South, as it is in the English Bible. 
 
 Still I confess (for I will put down nothing that history will not confirm) that 
 cruelties are sometimes exercised by the master upon the slave. Consideritig the 
 number of masters and servants in this latitude, I cannot say that is often the 
 case, — in truth, it is very seldom the case. — A Voice from the South, p. 32. 
 
 To serve up. To expose to ridicule; to expose. 
 
 Service-Berry. {Amelancliier Canadensis.^ A wild fruit common to 
 the British provinces in America and the Northern States, de- 
 scribed by Sir George Simpson as " a sort of cross between the 
 cranberry and the black currant." It is a good article of food, and 
 is sometimes mixed with pemmican. The plant is also called Shad- 
 bush. 
 
 Among the usual fruit-bearing shrubs and bushes, I here notice the service- 
 berry. — Scenes in the Rocky Mountains, p. 114. 
 
 Near the Del Norte grows plentifully a shrub which produces a fruit called by 
 the mountaineers service-berry, of a dark blue, the size of a small grape, and of 
 pleasant flavor. — Buxton's Mexico, p. 204. 
 
 Sessions, in some of the States, is particularly used for a court of 
 justices, held for granting licenses to innkeepers or taverners, for 
 laying out new highways or altering old ones, and the like. — 
 Webster. 
 
 Set. Fixed in opinion; determined; firm; obstinate; as, "a man 
 set in his opinions or way." — Webster. 
 
 To set. To fix; to cause to stop; to obstruct; as, set a coach in 
 the mire," " The wagon or team was set at the hill." In some of 
 the States, stall is used in a like sense. — Webster. 
 
 To set . . . by, To set store by. To value or hold in estimation ; 
 to account worth. Provincial in England. 
 
572 
 
 SET 
 
 To set a Great Deal by. To value highly. " He sets his eyes by it," 
 prizes it above all things. New England. 
 
 Rhody, passing in and out of the room, . . . thought as she had thought a 
 hundred times, at similar scenes : — 
 
 " Well, if they don't set their eyes hy that child more 'n more every day ! " — 
 iMura and her- Hero, Harper^s May., July, 1864, p. 172. 
 
 Set-back. The reflux of water made by a counter-current, by the 
 tide from the sea meeting the flow of a river, by a dam, &c. ; a 
 reverse ; a discomfiture. 
 
 We have all found the Yankees will fight; . . . and I shouldn't wonder if they 
 thought we wouldn't, we had so many cursed set-backs. — Cor. N. Y. Tribune, 
 May, 1862. 
 
 Set-in. A beginning; an approach; an onset. 
 
 The early and almost immediate set-in of the drift. — Virginia Cor. N. Y. 
 Tribune. 
 
 Setting-Pole. A pole shod with iron, used for propelling vessels or 
 boats up rivers, in shoal water. 
 
 To settle. 1. To be ordained or installed over a parish, church, or 
 congregation. "A. B, was invited to settle in the first society of 
 New Haven." " N. D. settled in the ministry very young." — 
 Webster. 
 
 2. To procure to be established; as, " The parish will settle a 
 minister," &c. 
 
 3. To pay; to liquidate an account. This use of the word is 
 common, especially on board steamboats. A waiter rings a bell, 
 and cries out, " Those who haven't paid their fare will please walk 
 up to the captain's office, and settle. We are never asked to " pay 
 our fare," but always to settle it. 
 
 4. To give a final stroke to ; to end ; to kill. New England. 
 
 Settle down. Keep quiet; go to work steadily. 
 
 Settlement. 1. A sum in addition to a pastor's annual salary, for- 
 merly granted by a parish to its pastor. 
 
 2. A homestead of a pastor, as furnished sometimes by donation 
 of land with or without buildings, sometimes by the pastor's apply- 
 ing funds granted for the }>urpose. 
 
 I had just purchased a settlement, and involved myself in debt. . . . Before 
 the war began, my people punctualh' paid my salary, and advanced one hundred 
 pounds of my settlement a year before it was due by contract. — Autobiog. of Rev. 
 Nath. Emmons. 
 
 To settle one's Hash. To give the quietus to any one; to threaten. 
 In Kentucky, " to cook his goose " means the same. 
 
SET— SHA 
 
 673 
 
 To use an expression 
 More striking than classic, it settled my hash. 
 
 Butler, Nothing to Wear. 
 
 Settler. 1. An unanswerable proposition; a final stroke; anything 
 decisive. 
 
 2. The founder of a town ; one who makes or gains a settlement. 
 Set up. To be set up (among the vulgar of the lower strata, " to be 
 sot up"), to be made vain or conceited; to be elevated in one's 
 opinion of one's self; to be proud, or the like. Comp. Stuck up. 
 
 To think that our Laura should a' married one o' them high-headed city law- 
 yers! and she ain't a bit sot up, neither. — Harper''s May., July, 1864, p. 179. 
 
 Seven-up. The Western name for a game of cards commonly called 
 All Fours. 
 
 Seated, Indian fashion, round the fires, with a blanket spread before them, 
 groups are seen with their cards, playing at euker, poker, and seven-vp, the regu- 
 lar mountain games. — Buxton's Adventures, p. 236. 
 
 We found the storekeeper sitting on an empty keg at a rickety table, playing 
 seven-up for the liquor for one of his customers. — Borthwich's California, p. 115. 
 
 Simon and Bill were in a fence corner, very earnestly engaged at seven-up. — 
 Simon Sufjys. 
 
 Severals, for several, is itsed in Pennsylvania. " How many hats have 
 you? " "I used to have severals, but now have got only one." 
 
 Sewan. Wampum or Seawant. Beads used by the Indians for 
 money. Mr. Palfrey says this is the Dutch name for wampum 
 (Hist, of New England, Vol. I. p. 238, n.). There is no question 
 that it is an Indian word. See Seaman. 
 
 The Dutch have built a shallop, in order to go and look after the trade in sewan 
 in Narragansett Bay, . . . which I have prevented ... by selling them fifty 
 fathoms of seivan, because the seeking after sewan by them is prejudicial to us. 
 Lett, of Be Rasieres, cited in Palfrey's Hist. New England, Vol. I. p. 238, n. 
 
 Shack. A vagabond. Ex. : " He 's a poor shack of a fellow." It is 
 used in some parts of England and in New England. 
 
 All creation knows Nab Hincken ain't nobody. Why, her father was a poor 
 drunken shack, and her mother took in washin'. — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 34. 
 
 I don't believe Bill would have turned out such a miserable shack, if he 'd a 
 decent woman for a wife. — New England Tales. 
 
 Shackly. Shaky; rickety; as, " What a sJiaclcly old carriage! " 
 
 The words of the poet might answer for me on a pinch, always excepting the 
 general fly-offs and moral unhitches incident to poor shackly mortality. — Bow's 
 Sermons, Vol. III. 
 
 Shad-Bush. A plant so called from its flowering about the time that 
 shad ascend the rivers in early spring. Its delicate sprays, covered 
 •with white blossoms before the trees are yet in leaf, have a singu- 
 larly beautiful appearance in the woods. See Service-Berry. 
 
574 
 
 SHA 
 
 "Within the woods .... 
 
 the shad-hush^ white with flowers. 
 
 Brightened tne glens; the new-leaved butternut 
 
 And quivering poplar to the roving breeze 
 
 Gave a balsamic fragrance. — Bryant^ The Old Man's Council. 
 
 Shad-Belly Coat. One which slopes gradually from the front to the 
 tails, and has no angle. Drab coats of this shape are worn by 
 Quakers, who are hence sometimes called shad-bellies. 
 
 Shade-Tree. A tree planted for the sake of the shade which it 
 affords. 
 
 Shadow. A detective, so called because he silently and persistently 
 
 follows his victim. 
 To shadow. To follow. A term generally used by the police and 
 
 detectives when in pursuit of a fugitive from justice. 
 
 In speaking of the arrest of certain counterfeiters, the "New 
 
 York Herald," March 23, 1876, says: — 
 
 Barr was decoyed here from Iowa by a member of the secret service, who 
 shadowed him out there from Washington, and made his acquaintance. 
 
 The attention of the detectives was called to the case of a young girl. . . . She 
 was shadoived, and her ways of life ascertained. — Providence Journal. 
 
 The detectives followed two men whom they had been shadowing from Prince 
 Street to the office of the American Express Co. (who were afterwards found to 
 have stolen certain mail-bags). — iV. Y. Tribune, Jan. 4, 1877. 
 
 Shady, To keep shady is to remain in the back-ground ; to remain in 
 the dark. 
 
 Shag-Bark. (Carya alba.) A tall and handsome species of hickory, 
 the old trunks of w^hich are very rough-barked. The wood is very 
 valuable as timber and for fuel; and the fruit furnishes the prin- 
 cipal hickory-nuts of the market. It is also called Shell-bark. — 
 Gray. 
 
 Shake. To throw dice ; and among printers in their work-shops to 
 throw " quads." See Jeff, in Addenda. 
 
 To shake a Stick at. A ridiculous phrase, very often heard in low 
 language. When a man is puzzled to give one an idea of a very 
 great number, he calls it " more than you can shake a stick at.^^ A 
 fuller force of the expression is "to shake a stick at till your arm 
 aches." 
 
 New York is an CA-erlastin' great concern, and, as you may well suppose, 
 there 's about as many people in it as you could shake a stick at. — Major Down- 
 ing, May -day in Nero York. 
 
 I 've been licked fifty times, and got more black eyes and bloody noses than 
 you could shake a stick at, for the purity of our illegal rights. — J. C. Neat, Peter 
 Brush. 
 
SHA 
 
 575 
 
 We got a little dry or so, and wanted a horn ; but this was a temperance house, 
 and there was nothing to treat a friend to that was worth shaking a stick at. — 
 Crockett's Tour, p. 87. 
 
 Shake down. A riotous, boisterous dance, so called in the West. 
 In the Eastern States, the Virginia reel, which generally closes a 
 social ball or dancing party, is called a break-down. 
 
 An innocent countryman, on going to church in New York, heard, for the first 
 time, before entering, the organ, from which he concluded that some sort of a 
 shake down'''' was about to commence. Just at that moment, a gentleman 
 InAitedhim to walk in and take a seat. "Not 'zactly, Mister, — I ain't used to 
 no such doin's on Sunday ; and, besides, I don't dance ! " 
 
 Shakes. 1. Fever and ague; intermittent fever is sometimes called 
 *' the shakes.''^ 
 
 2. An earthquake. 
 
 The springs fail once in a while since the shakes of 1812. — Western Gazetteer. 
 
 3. No great shakes. No great things; no great worth. Common 
 in England. 
 
 Shakiness. Hesitancy; timidity. 
 
 At a meeting of Baptist ministers in New York, Jan. 17, 1876, 
 Dr. Thomas made a forcible speech. He said: — 
 
 The resolutions offered imputed weakness and shakiness to members of the 
 conference. 
 
 Shaky. AVavering; uncertain. 
 
 A recent estimate is wrong as to the New York and Pennsylvania delegations. 
 At least, four of the latter are adverse, and several others shaky, with a leaning in 
 the same direction. — N. Y. Tribune, Jan. 21, 1858. 
 
 The Emperor Napoleon, poor man, is very shaky in health. The fatigue and 
 excitement of that bloody campaign have told deeply on his bodily and mental 
 conditions. — Cw. of Boston Tr'anscript. 
 
 Mr. Robeson transmitted to Jay Cooke, McCulloch & Co., in London, for the 
 purpose of saving them from bankruptcy, $1,500,000, having official knowledge 
 of the shaky condition of the house. — Washington Telegram to the New York 
 Press, March 28, 1876. 
 
 Shall. See Should. 
 
 Shamocrat. A fellow of great pretension to wealth and influence, 
 
 with little of the latter and still less of the former. One who apes 
 
 high rank without any real basis. 
 Shanghai. A tall dandy. So called in allusion to the long-legged 
 
 fowls from Shanghai, in China, which were all the rage a few years 
 
 ago. 
 
 The name was originally applied to dandies who wore the fash- 
 ionable plaid shawl, wrapped about the upper part of the person, 
 leaving the legs unprotected. A tall man well bundled up in a 
 Scotch plaid, or "Bay State," suggested the " Shanghai'^ to the 
 
676 
 
 SHA 
 
 least imaginative observer. The name was a common one about 
 1845. 
 
 I became wildly extravagant, indulged in broadcloth and fine linen, in kid 
 gloves and a stove-pipe hat, a cane and French calf boots ; used cologne, hair oil, 
 and scented my handkerchief with "jockey-club;" wore a ring, was a connois- 
 seur in cigars, and cultivated the acquaintance of the fair sex. In fact, I degen- 
 erated into a fop, and became a shanyhai of the most exotic breed. — The Great 
 Republic Magazine, Jan., 1859, p. 70. 
 
 Shank's Mare. To take shank's mare is to walk. In England, they 
 
 use the term " shank's nag." 
 Shanty. (Fr. chant ier, the hut put up in a French dock-yard.) A 
 mean cabin or shed; a hut. A settler, or backwoodsman, first con- 
 structs his shanty of unhewn logs. Near railways in the course of 
 construction are the shanties of the laborers. In France, chantier 
 was originally applied to a dock-yard itself; and, earlier still, to the 
 wooden horse on which carpenters' work is done. The latter is 
 derived from cantherius, a pack-horse. 
 To shanty. To dwell in a shanty or temporary hut. 
 
 Mark Shuff and a friend of his, who were trapping, shnntied on the outlet, just 
 at the foot of Tupper's Lake. — Hammond, Wild Northern Scenes, p. 197. 
 
 "We came down the Alleghany in two canoes, and shantied on the Ohio. We 
 hid our canoes, struck across the country, and travelled about exploring for six 
 weeks. — Ibid., p. 212. 
 
 These mountain breezes are very inspiriting, and with expanded chests the 
 sportsmen look towards the blue ridges with emulation, and brace themselves to 
 meet the rude exigencies of a "tramp,'' and shnnteeing out^' for a few days 
 amidst storms or sunshine, as the covering heavens may send! -^N. Y. Courier. 
 
 Shantying-Ground. The place where shanties or rude huts are 
 
 erected. 
 
 When we got back to our shantying-ground, we were tuckered out, as you may 
 believe. — Hammond, Northern Scenes, p. 212. 
 
 Shape. " He travelled on his shape," i. e. he went around swindling 
 those he met with through a plausible address and gentlemanly 
 appearance. 
 
 Shark. A lean, hungry hog. Western. 
 
 Sharking. Fishing for sharks. A favorite sport in the waters of 
 Narragansett Bay, where huge hooks, stout cords, a heavy club to 
 knock the fish on the head, long knives to disengage the hook, and 
 other appliances, are used. 
 
 Sharp. A bright fellow; a sharper. 
 
 Sharp. Punctual. " The meeting will take place at eight o'clock 
 
 sharp, i. e. precisely at eight. 
 Sharpenin' Rock. A grindstone. South-western. 
 
SHA 
 
 577 
 
 Sharp Practice. A shrewd business operation, so keen that it falls 
 little short of fraud; an unfair or dishonorable advantage taken by 
 a lawyer to the injury of an oj^ponent. 
 
 Sharp Stick. To be after one with a sharp stick is to pursue him 
 keenly for the purpose of revenge, or to get something from him. 
 
 To shave. 1. To discount promissory notes, claims, or bills at a high 
 rate of interest. 
 
 Make 3''our money by shaving notes or stock-jobbing, and every door in New- 
 York is thrown open; make the same amount by selling Indian cand}', and the 
 cold shoulder of the Fifth Avenue is turned upon you. — Life in New York. 
 If the stock broker thinks he shaves^ 
 Or if the victim thinks he 's shaved, 
 Let both the rascals have their say. 
 And he that 's cheated let him pay. 
 
 Parody on Emerson's Brahma. 
 
 2. To defraud or be otherwise unfair in bargains, &c. 
 
 Shave. A close shave is a near approach to an accident. 
 
 "A bad cut," said Roddy. "She's saved herself by a narrow shave.^^ — 
 Miss Gould, Marjorie's Quest, p. 131. 
 
 Shaver. 1. This word, in the United States, is applied to money 
 brokers, who purchase notes at more than legal interest. Banks, 
 when they resort to any means to obtain a large discount, are also 
 called shavers or shaving banks. Many such are known ; but they 
 evade the penalty of the usury laws by discounting at legal interest, 
 and giving the proceeds of the note so discounted in a draft on some 
 distant place, or in uncurrent money, which is again purchased by 
 the bank or its agents at a discount. 
 
 To sell our notes at a great loss to brokers, or, in other words, to get them 
 unmercifully shaved, was what we wished to avoid. — Perils of Pearl Street^ 
 p. 123. 
 
 This Wall-Street note-shaving life is a new field, a very peculiar field. — North 
 Am. Rev., July, 1862, p. 113. 
 
 2. One who is close or fraudulent in bargaining; a sharp dealer. 
 Webster. 
 
 This Lewis is a cunning shaver. — Swift. 
 
 3. A little boy. Provincial in England. Latham derives it from 
 the Gipsey chavo, a boy. 
 
 As I have mentioned at the door, to this young shaver, I am on a chase in the 
 name of the king. — Dickens. 
 
 Shaving-Shop. A banking company ; a money-broker's office. 
 
 Mr. Wall said [in Congress] that, in the matter of inflating the currency, the 
 only question was whether it should be done by banks and shaving-shops, or by 
 the government. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 37 
 
578 
 
 SHE 
 
 Shebang. A strange word that had its origin during the late civil 
 war. It is applied alike to a room, a shop, or a hut, a tent, a 
 cabin ; an engine-house. 
 
 "Many a poor fellow," says an old soldier, " who enlisted to do hard fighting, 
 lost the number of his mess, and was carried out from his shebang to his long 
 home." — Overland Monthly, for March, 1871. 
 
 Shecoonery. A whimsical corruption of the word chicanery, used at 
 the South. 
 
 This town 's got a monstrous bad name for meanery and shecoonery of all 
 sorts. — Chronicles oj' Pineville, p. 47. 
 
 Among other topics, he dwelt upon the verdancy of his neighbors, and the she- 
 coonery which had been practised upon them. — Ibid., p. 48. 
 
 Shedder-Crab. A crab which has recently cast its shell, also called a 
 
 Soft Crab. It is a delicacy much esteemed by epicures, and a 
 
 " killing " bait for striped bass. 
 Shell-Bark Hickory. (Canja alba.) This tree, which attains the 
 
 height of eighty feet, is one of the most valuable hickories for timber 
 
 and fuel. It furnishes the hickory-nuts of commerce, which are 
 
 also known as shag-barks. 
 Sheeny. A sharp fellow looking out for some one whom he can cheat, 
 
 or with whom he may make a sharp bargain. 
 Shell. A light boat, used especially by amateur oarsmen. 
 To shell Corn. To remove the grains of Indian corn from the cob. 
 
 In the South, the phrase "to hull corn " is used in the same sense. 
 Shell-Road. A road, the upper stratum of which is a layer of broken 
 
 shells. These roads are found in Louisiana, Florida, and near the 
 
 shores of New England. 
 Fine shell-roads run out beyond the town limits [of Jacksonville, Florida] in 
 
 either direction. — Scribner's Mag., Vol. IX. p. 5. 
 
 Sheep-Laurel. See Calf- Kill. 
 
 Sheep-Meat. Mutton is often so called in the West. 
 
 Sheepshead. (Sargus avis.) A fine, large, salt-water fish, so called 
 
 from the resemblance of its head to that of a sheep. It is esteemed 
 
 a great delicacy. 
 
 Sheep-Ranch. A plantation or farm where sheep are raised on a 
 large scale, as in New Mexico and Colorado. 
 
 Sheepskin. 1. The parchment diploma received by students on tak- 
 ing their degree at college. 
 
 This apostle of ourn never rubbed his back agin a college, nor toted about no 
 sheepskins, — no, never! . . . How you'd a perished in your sins, if the first 
 preachers had stayed till they got sheejyslcins ! — Carlton's New Purchase. 
 
SHE 
 
 579 
 
 When first I saw a sheepskin^ 
 
 In Prex's hand I spied it ; 
 
 I 'd given my hat and boots, I would, 
 
 If I could have been beside it. 
 
 But now that last Biennial 's past; 
 I skinned and fizzled through ; 
 And so, in spite of scrapes and flunks, 
 I '11 have a sheepskin too. 
 Chas. E. TrumbuWs (Yale, 1855) Song of the SheepsJcin. 
 If we came to college fresh and green, 
 We go back home with a huge sheepskin. 
 
 Songs of Yale College., 1853. 
 
 2. A person who has received a diploma, who has had a college 
 education. 
 
 I can say as well as the best o' them5/iee/?s^;m5, if you don't get religion and be 
 saved, you '11 be lost teetotally and forever. — Carlton's New Purchase, Vol. I. 
 p. 203. 
 
 Sheer. A term applied in the United States to fabrics of cotton or 
 silk; " as, sheer muslin; " meaning very thin, clear, or transparent. 
 
 Shell-Bark. See Shag- Bark. 
 
 Shenanigan. 1. A trick in which there is cheating. California. 
 
 2. Chaff; foolery; nonsense, especially when advanced to cover 
 some scheme or little game. Yale College. 
 
 Sherryvallies. Overalls; trowsers made of thick velvet or leather, 
 buttoned on the outside of each leg, and generally worn over other 
 trowsers. They are now chiefly worn by teamsters. Many years ago, 
 when the facilities for travelling were not as great as now, and 
 when journeys were made on horseback, sherryvallies were indis- 
 pensable to the traveller. 
 
 A word of veiy ancient derivation, the garment in question being 
 probably the same as that mentioned in the Book of Daniel, ch. iii. 
 V. 21, alluding to Shadrach and others who were cast into the fiery 
 furnace: " Then these men were burned in their coats, their Ztosen," 
 &c. The word corresponding to hosen is, in the Chaldee, sarbalin, 
 defined, in Robinson's trans, of Gesenius's Hebrew Lexicon, to mean 
 " a kind of garment; long and wide trowsers, such as are still worn by 
 the Orientalists." This meaning is supported by the Arabic, Per- 
 sian, and Greek, as well as by the Latin sarahara, saraballa. 
 
 Shet, Shut. To get shet off. To get rid of; to make a final disposi- 
 tion of a person or thing. The expression was formerly very common 
 in New England, and is still heard throughout the Southern States. 
 It is provincial in England. 
 
580 
 
 SHE— SHI 
 
 We must not pray in one breath to find a thief, and in the next to get shut q/'him. 
 Sir R. U Estrange. 
 
 Hey, mister! said a shop-boy at last, I want to get shut of you, 'cause we 're 
 goin' to shet up. — NeaVs Sketches. 
 
 Shew, for showed. Ex.: '•'■Isliew him the difference between black 
 and white." This corruption is so common among all classes in 
 the " American Athens " as to form a sort of shibboleth for distin- 
 guishing a Bostonian. Mr. Lowell says this preterite is used by- 
 Hector Boece, Giles Fletcher, Drummond of Hawthornden, and in 
 the Paston Letters. 
 
 Shillagalee. A low fellow ; a scalawag. New York. See Scalawag. 
 
 Shilling. The name given, in the State of New York, to the Spanish 
 real ; in the neighboring States, it is frequently called a York shilling. 
 See Federal Currency. 
 
 Shimmey. (Fr. chemise.) A woman's under-garment. 
 
 The ghost was nothing but Aunt Katy's shimmeys pinned on the line to dry, 
 and I was a darned fool to be scared by it. — A Tale of Sleepy Hollow. 
 
 I love to see two hearts approximate and adhere, — two souls meet and mingle 
 into one. It is as interesting a sight to me as a shimmey in a wash-tub ; and 
 whispers of purity, love, harmony, happiness, and perpetual peace. — Dow''s 
 Sermons. 
 
 To shin. By shinning., in mercantile phrase, is meant running about 
 to one's acquaintance, to borrow money to meet the emergency of a 
 note at bank. It is doubtless so called because, in the great hurry 
 of picking up cash to meet the hour of three, which perchance is 
 just at hand, the borrower, not having the fear of wheelbarrows, 
 boxes, barrels, piles of brick, &c., before his eyes, is very apt to rim 
 furiously against them with his shins, the bark whereof is apt to be 
 grievously battered off by the contact. ... So fares it with the poor 
 merchant, while he is looking out for an acquaintance of whom 
 he may ask, " Any thing over ? " This is an expression used by 
 shinners, on applying to their acquaintances for the needful; and 
 means, Have you any money over and above the sum requisite for 
 discharging your own notes ? If so, it is of course expected that, 
 in the way of mercantile courtesy or of a friendly reciprocity, you 
 will oblige the skinner so far as to hand it over to him. It is a 
 common way, amongst those who have business in banks, of oblig- 
 ing one another. If they have any thing over, they do not with- 
 hold it from their neighbor, lest in turn he should do the same 
 towards them. — Perils of Pearl Street, p. 123. 
 
 The Senator was shinning around, to get gold for the rascally bank-rags which 
 he was obliged to take. — N. Y. Com. Adv., Dec. 13, 1845. 
 
SHI 
 
 581 
 
 To shin round. To move briskly ; the same as to fiy around. 
 
 Mrs. Stowe relates the following affectionate conversation between 
 Cripps and Polly Skinflint soon after their marriage : — 
 
 " Didn't you tell me, if I married you, I should have a nigger to order round, 
 just as I pleased V " 
 
 "Well, well," said Cripps, " I didn't think you'd want to go walloping him, 
 the first thing." 
 
 "I will, if he don't shin round,'''' said the virago, "and you too." — Dred^ 
 Vol. II. p. 159. 
 
 To shin up. To shin up a tree or pole is to climb it by the aid of the 
 hands and legs only. 
 
 I am going to shin up the slipperj'^ rope leading [to the Goddess of Fame] for 
 the purpose of taking a hand in the game of literary renown. — Doesticks, p. 15. 
 
 Shin-Dig. 1. A blow on the shins. Southern. 
 
 2. At the West, any kind of dance. Perhaps the same as shindy. 
 See next word. 
 
 Shindy. 1. A row; a spree. 
 
 If this ere isn't that 'are singing chap agin. He 's on a shindy somewhere or other 
 every night. —J. C Neal, P. Ploddy, p. 18. 
 
 It appears there was a shindy on Monday night, for the benefit of a poor widow ; 
 and it ended, as too many of such sprees do, in a regular fight, with guns, bayo- 
 nets, decanters, tumblers, &c. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Mose. What say you Lize for Vauxhall to-night ? 
 
 Lize. What 's goin' on ? Is the Vaudeville plays there ? 
 
 Mose. No, there's goin' to be a first-rate shindy, and some of our boys will 
 be there. — A Glance at New York. 
 
 You, my democratic hearers, are for the most pai't poor, and therefore ought 
 to be careful how you cut shindies under the broadsword of justice. — Daw's 
 Sermons. 
 
 2. A game of ball, played with a stick crooked at the end. Also 
 the name of the stick itself. The proper and more usual name is 
 Bandy. 
 
 3. A liking, a fancy. Comp. Shine, No. 2. 
 
 Father took a wonderful shindy to Jessie ; for even old men can't help liking 
 beauty. — Sam Slick, Human Nature, p. 70. 
 
 Paddy had taken such a shindy to me, that nobody could get him to budge an 
 inch further. — Ibid., p. 159. 
 
 Shine. 1. Show, display, fine appearance. Hence, to cut or make a 
 shine is to make a great display. 
 
 All the boys and gals were going to camp-meetin' ; so, to make a shine with 
 Sally I took her a new parasol. — Robb, Squatter Life. 
 
 I tell you, stranger, in the settlements men pass for what they look to be, but 
 in the backwoods for what they are : you '11 find heaps of bogus money here, but 
 bogus men can't shine. — N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
68^ 
 
 SHI 
 
 So, to take the shine off is to surpass in beauty or excellence. 
 
 Next Sabbath day I slicked myself up ; and I do say, when I got my fixins on, 
 I took the shine clean off any specimen of human natur' in these parts. — Quincy, 
 Massachusetts Whig. 
 
 I 'm sorry he didn't bring his pitch-pipe with him, jest to take the shine o/'them 
 'are singers. — Majo7- Downincfs Letters, p. 37. 
 
 I 've seen some evening twilights that take the shine off everything below, and 
 clap on a few extra touches of their own. — Dow's Sermons, Vol. I. 
 
 2. To take a shine., to take a fancy to, or liking to, a person. 
 Comp. Shindy .1 No. 3. 
 
 I took a great shine to the school-marm, Huldah Hornbeam; though she was 
 ten years older than I, and taller by half a yard of neck. — McClintock, Beedle's 
 Marriaye. 
 
 Stranger, I've tuk a middlin' shine to you from the Avay you got off that 
 Chinaman them Pikes was goin' to hang for stealin' the mule what he hadn't 
 stoled. I 've tuk a middlin' shine to you, and don't want to see yer neck broke. 
 T. Winthvop, John Brent, p. 17. 
 
 3. To have a shine. To polish boots or shoes; to black boots. An 
 expression used almost universally by the street boot-blacks. 
 
 Have a shine, boss? " said the owner of a stand, giving his chair a parting 
 slap with his brush. " Shine 'em up in half a minute, sah. You 'II jest have 
 time to glance ober de mornin' papers." — Newspaper. 
 
 To shine. 1. To get along, succeed, or rather to distinguish one's 
 self. 
 
 2. In the Southern States, the deer is often hunted by torchlight. 
 To shine its eyes is to make them visible by a light thrown upon 
 them, as described in the following extract: — 
 
 You see the way we does to shine the deer's eyes is this. We holds the pan of 
 fire so, on the left shoulder, and carries the gun at a trail in the right hand. Well, 
 when I wants to look for eyes, I turns round slow, and looks right at the edge 
 of my shadder, what 's made by the light behind me in the pan, and, if there 's a 
 deer in gun-shot of me, his eyes 'II shine 'zactly like two balls of fire. — Chron- 
 icles of Pineville, p. 169. 
 
 He often urged me to accompany him, to see how slick he could shine a buck's 
 eyes. — Ibid., p. 162. 
 
 Bound to shine., i. e. a man is determined (or is certain) to distin- 
 guish himself. 
 
 When the public have an opportunity of examining this beautiful steamer, 
 they will pronounce her the finest and most comfortable boat they have ever 
 visited, and be satisfied that she is bound to shine. — Hartford Pos^, July 14, 
 1864. 
 
 Shiner. (Genus Leuciscus.) The popular name of the fish known to 
 naturalists as the Dace. In different parts of the country, however, 
 other small fish are called shiners, from their glittering or shining 
 
SHI 
 
 583 
 
 appearance. In New York, a small fish of the genus Stilhe is known 
 to naturalists as the New York Shiner. It is also found in the 
 adjoining States. — Nat. Hist, of New York. 
 
 Shiners. A mob of raftsmen, so called, who illegally ruled for a 
 while the village or settlement of Bytown, in Upper Canada. 
 (Bytown is now the city of Ottawa, Ontario.) 
 
 Shingle. 1. A jocose term for a sign-board placed over a shop-door 
 or office. To hang out a shingle "is to put up one's sign." The 
 use of this term is said to have originated in the lumbering districts 
 of Maine, whei-e shingles, being the handiest plane surface, are 
 used to write directions, &c., on, and stuck up against trees. 
 
 Doctors and dentists from the United States have stuck up their shingles in 
 Mexico. — iV^. Y. Com. Adv., Dec. 24, 1848. 
 
 Several made bold to peep inside, in spite of the "No admittance! " which 
 frowned from a shingle over the door. — Drama at Poke7'ville. 
 
 2. To cut the hair of the occiput close at bottom; to grade in cut- 
 ting. 
 
 To shingle. To chastise. A shingle applied a posteriori is a favorite 
 New England mode of correcting a child. 
 
 Shingle Oak. (Quercus unbricaria.) A native of the Middle States 
 near the AUeghanies, growing to the height of forty or fifty feet. — 
 Scott^s Suhurhan Home, p. 314. 
 
 Shingle-Weaver. A workman who dresses shingles. 
 
 Shinner. One who borrows money by the practice of shinning. 
 See To shin. 
 
 Four weeks ago the precious stuff 
 
 Was rife and plenteous enough, 
 
 And no " short shinner " feared rebuff, 
 
 Who sued for pelf; 
 Sure to hear "flush," or '•'■quantum suff. — 
 
 Friend, help yourself! " 
 
 New York Evening Post. 
 
 Shinny. Drunk; intoxicated. 
 
 Shinny, n. A boy's game with sticks and a ball. 
 
 Shinplaster. A cant term for a bank-note or any paper money, and 
 especially such as has depreciated in value. This term is said to 
 have arisen during the Revolutionary war. After the continental 
 currency had become almost worthless, an old soldier who possessed 
 a quantity of it, which he could not get rid of, very philosophically 
 made use of it as plasters to a wounded leg. The term is now 
 (1877) more generally used to designate notes for less than a dollar. 
 
584 
 
 SHI— SHO 
 
 The people ma}' whistle for protection, and put up with what sMnjilaiter rags 
 they can get. —iv. Y. Tribune, Dec. 3, 1845. 
 
 What 's become of all the specie, — 
 
 Where are all the dollars gone? 
 Nothing but shinplasters greasy 
 
 Do our meagre pockets own. — Comic Song. 
 Hope's brightest visions absquatulate with their golden promises before the 
 least cloud of disappointment, and leave not a. shinplaslei' behind. — Douo's Ser- 
 mons, Vol. I. p. 309. 
 
 So here we sits, and spits sublime, 
 
 On auguries of disaster : 
 King Dollar 'ginst us he may turn, 
 
 But we have King Shinplnster. 
 For all King Cotton's works and ways. 
 
 We don't conclude to funk 'em : 
 Our trust is in our righteous cause, 
 
 Our prayer, "So help us Bunkum ! " 
 
 Yankee Stories, Punch, July 19, 1862. 
 
 Shiny. Drunk. 
 
 Shirt. Bloody Shirt. The Honorable A. S. Black, in an article en- 
 titled the " Electoral Conspiracy," in the " North American Rev.," 
 for July, 1877 (p. 11), says: "To parade acts of violence and 
 murder perpetrated within the jurisdiction of a carpet-bag govern- 
 ment was called, in the flash language of the politicians, waving 
 the bloody shirt, and considered a most effective mode of electioneer- 
 ing." The term is much used by the newspapers. 
 
 If President Hayes is wrong in all this, they [the Republicans] were, when 
 recommending him to the American people as a bloody-shirt candidate, either 
 guilty of gross fraud or the victims of a very sorry bit of imposture. — The 
 Nation, Sept. 27, 1877. 
 
 Shitepoke. (Butorides virescens.) A widely distributed bird of the 
 
 heron species, also called Green Heron and Fly-up-a- Creek. 
 Shoddiness. Meanness. 
 
 The infinite shoddiness of this cry against carpet-baggers. — Illinois paper. 
 Shoddy. Originally the name of an inferior kind of felt. Mixed 
 with wool, in the proportion of one part wool to six parts of shoddy, 
 it is woven into blankets and inferior cloths. Cloths thus made, 
 although they look well, soon come in pieces; in other words, they 
 are not what they appear to be. Hence, the term has been applied 
 to people whose appearance and manner would give them a respect- 
 able standing in society, but to which they are not entitled. 
 Old Shoddy sits in his easy-chair. 
 And cracks his jokes and drinks his ale. 
 
 During the late civil war, many woollen goods, of which shoddy 
 formed a considerable portion, were furnished to the government 
 
SHO 
 
 585 
 
 for the soldiers by dishonest contractors. A stanza from a poem 
 entitled Shoddy^' thus describes the goods and the suffering 
 soldiers whose blankets were made of them : — 
 
 A soldier lies on the frozen ground, 
 
 While crack his joints with aches and ails; 
 A shoddy blanket wraps him round, 
 
 His shoddy garments the wind assails. 
 His coat is shoddy, well stuffed with flocks; 
 
 He dreams of the flocks on his native hill; 
 His feverish sense the demon mocks, — 
 The demon that drives the shoddy-mill. 
 
 See also illustration to sou-marquee. 
 
 Shoemake. A very common corruption of sumach. 
 
 It is curious to note the changes in taste and sentiment, as marked in the dis- 
 appearance of various sorts of trees. Gone are the Lombardy poplars. . . . 
 The gude wife no longer points to her ^^shoemake " (as the sumach was formerly 
 called), with its crimson clusters, the pride of her trim front garden. — North 
 Am. Rev., July, 1857, p. 181. 
 
 Shoeman. A man who makes or sells shoes. 
 
 Shoot, n. A match at shooting tame pigeons or firing at a target Is 
 called a pigeon-s^oo^ ; a " target-sAoo^. " 
 
 Shoot or Shute. (Also written chute.') 1. A passage-way on the 
 side of a steep hill or mountain down which wood and timber are 
 thrown or slid. There are many such on the Hudson and Mohawk 
 Rivers. 
 
 2. In the West, the term is applied to places where a river 
 is artificially contracted, in order to increase the depth of water. 
 In Lower Canada, a shoot is a place where the stream, being con- 
 fined by rocks which appear above water, is shot through the aper- 
 ture with great force. See Chute., No. 2. 
 
 3. In the West, a fancy, liking, for a person. 
 
 That gal was the prettyest creatur I ever took a shute after; her eyes jest floated 
 about in her head like a star's shadow on a Mississippi wave. — JiobO, Squatter 
 Life. 
 
 To shoot. 1. To shoot a fall or rapid is to float down it in a vessel. 
 
 We entered the lake, from whence we are forced to transport our canoes over- 
 land to another river, which has six or seven water-falls that we commonly shoot. 
 La Hontari's Travels in North Am., 1703. 
 
 2. A slang term of recent origin. To say, " ^/ioo^ that dress," 
 is meant to convey the idea that the dress is inferior; that it is not 
 worth much; or, to use another slang expression, "it is no great 
 shakes," after all. 
 
586 
 
 SlIO 
 
 A lady in Baltimore, having applied the offensive term to the 
 fashionable hat of another lady, gave so great offence, that it re- 
 sulted in a law-suit. The " New York Herald " thus speaks of the 
 affair : — 
 
 The Baltimore slang suit has resulted in the passage of a little mone}' between 
 the contestants. It will be remembered that one lady in society gazed with deri- 
 sive scorn upon the new spring head-gear of another lady in society, and observed 
 in the language of the day, " Oh, shoot that hat! " The hurler of this offensive re- 
 mark was arrested by the hurlee for insuh, but discharged, when slie came back on 
 her prosecutor with a suit for perjury. This likewise came to naught, and was 
 followed by the return suit for false arrest, with damages placed at $20,000. 
 After alternate top and bottom fortunes, like wrestlers in an arena, the last suit 
 brought fructified, not in $20,000, but in a little over $400, and the demands of 
 feminine honor are doubtless satisfied by this termination of their legal duello. 
 The moral is, " Do not use slang." It is apt to be misunderstood. To a mettle- 
 some lady of fashion, talk of shooting her spring hat, in which her aesthetic and 
 religious nature has been concentrated, is no better tlian blasphemy. She has a 
 right to feel insulted; and the lady who has received such summary discipline at 
 her hands will doubtless in future follow the advice of the Honorable Bardweli 
 Slote, and w with a v. 
 
 The slang the gang is using now, 
 You '11 hear from every lip; 
 
 It's shoot the hat! and get it boiled; 
 And don't you lose your grip. 
 
 Ed. Burtoii's Songs, 1876. 
 
 Mother. Stand still, Tommy, or I won 't get your hair combed in time for 
 school. 
 
 Tommy (superciliously). Oh, shoot the school. — Banbury News. 
 
 Shooter. A revolver. In the Western States, on the frontier as 
 well as in California, this murderous weapon is universally called a 
 " five," " six," or "seven shooter,^' according to its capacity. 
 
 Shooting-iron. A common Western term for a rifle or fowling-piece. 
 
 Drop your shooting-iron, or ye '11 get more than ye '11 send. — A Stray Yankee 
 in Texas. 
 
 A hoosier was called upon the stand, away out West, to testify to *\e charac- 
 ter of a brother hoosier. It was as follows : — 
 "How long have you known Bill Bushwhack? " 
 "Ever since he war born." 
 " What is his general character? " 
 "Letter A. No. 1, — 'bove par a very great way." 
 "Would you believe him on oath ? " 
 " Yes, sir-ee, on or off, or any other way." 
 
 "What, in your opinion, are his qualifications to good character?" 
 
 "He's the best shot on the prairies or in the woods ; he can shave the eye- 
 winkers off of a wolf as far as a shootin' 4ron '11 carry a ball ; he can drink a quart 
 of grog any day ; and he chaws tobacco like a boss." 
 
 So Bill Bushwhack passed muster. — N. Y. Sj)int of the Times. 
 
8H0 
 
 587 
 
 To shoot one's Grandmother is a common though vulgar phrase in 
 A^ew England and means to be mistaken or to be disappointed; 
 to imagine one's self the discoverer of something in which he is de« 
 ceived. The common phrase is, " You 've shot your granny." It 
 is, in fact, synonymous with, " You 've found a mare's nest." 
 
 Short. To sell short. In the sale of stocks, cotton, &c., to sell short 
 is to agree to deliver the article sold, at a futui-e day. 
 
 Short transactions are a stumbling-block to beginners. To sell 
 what you have not got, and yet make money by it, is a species of 
 metaphysics that comes only by education. 
 
 Jacob Little has the reputation of having invented short sales, using options, 
 however, as the medium of his manipulations. — Medbery^ p. 312. 
 
 Short-Boys. A gang of New York rowdies. 
 
 Short-Gown. A short gown with hardly any skirt, worn by women 
 
 when doing household work, as washing, &c. 
 Short Metre. 1. In a short period; soon. To make short metre of 
 
 a thing or piece of work is to do it quickly. 
 
 Risin' to leave, "President," saj'^s I, for he seemed determined to stand in the 
 market, " I thought I might as well make short metre of it, and sell him at once." 
 Sam Slick, Wise Saws, p. 41. 
 
 2. A short course of study. 
 
 Shorts. Small-clothes; breeches. 
 
 Shot-Gun. A term for a smooth-bored fowling-piece, as distinguished 
 from a rifle. 
 
 Shote or Shoat. An idle, worthless fellow; as, " A poor shote.^^ It 
 is also provincial in England in this sense. 
 
 Seth Slope was what we call Down East a poor shote, his principal business 
 being to pick up chips, feed the hogs, &c. — G. H. Hill, Stories. 
 
 If you, nwdear hearers, Avill make a proper use of your time, happiness, peace, 
 and contentment are yours ; if not, you will always be miserable shoats, though 
 you live till you are as gray as woodchucks. — Bow^s Sermons. 
 
 Shot in the Neck. Drunk. 
 
 Mr. Shumacher informed the court that he was instructed to remonstrate against 
 admitting the prisoners to bail in $500, as they had made an outrageous onslaught 
 upon officers in the discharge of their duty, and had shot Under-Sheriff Hegeman 
 in the head. 
 
 Counsellor McCue replied, in a somewhat facetious strain, that Mr. Hegeman 
 is often " shot in the head ; " and his manner produced much laughter after the 
 remark. 
 
 Mr. Schumacher defended his client by observing that some of the prisoners' 
 attorneys got as often ^'shot in the neck " as the Under-Sheriff did in the head. 
 The iiptness of this remark convulsed the bar, and even disturbed the gi'avity of 
 the judge. — Brooklyn Journal, April 18, 1855. 
 
588 
 
 SHO— SHU 
 
 Should. " Shall " and " should " are very generally employed instead 
 of " will " and " would." 
 
 Shoulder-Hitter. A ruffian, bully. A recent accession to blackguard 
 
 nomenclature, in which we are now so rich. 
 
 Just such conduct as that exhibited by Judge R compelled seven thou- 
 sand citizens to leave their offices, stores, shops, and factories, to rid the city of 
 San Francisco of the pestilential presence of a band of shoulder-hitters and ballot- 
 box stufFers, such as never before infested an American city. — N. Y. Tribune, 
 Sept. 30, 1858. 
 
 So long as substantial citizens choose to leave politics to shoulder-hitters, rum- 
 sellers, and bummers of every degree, so long will they be robbed at every turn. 
 N. Y. Cominercial Advertiser, Sept. 9, 1874. 
 
 Shouting Methodist. The prefix, not only by others, but also by 
 some Methodists themselves, has formerly been often employed, 
 with reference to their shouts. 
 
 The " N. Y. Commercial Adv.," in noticing the death of the Rev. 
 W. G. Brownlow, calls him " a shouting Methodist preacher." 
 
 Shove. A hemp-stalk. 
 
 Shove. When, with violent commotion, the ice in the St. Lawrence 
 at Montreal in winter piles up, it is said to shove ; and the glacial 
 bridge is never permanently formed or safe until after the ice has 
 shoved. Also used as a noun ; as, " The shove took place last night. " 
 
 Shoveller. {Anas chjpeata.) A beautiful duck, chiefly found in 
 Texas and in the streams of the Rocky Mountains; though it is 
 sometimes seen in our Northern waters. 
 
 Show. A good show means good prospects; a bad one, the opposite. 
 
 Show ! An interjection of surprise ; pshaw ! 
 
 To show off. To make a display. 
 
 Shucks. The outer husk or shell of the walnut, chestnut, &c., or the 
 husk of Indian corn. In England, the word is applied to pods as 
 well as husks; as, pea-shucks. In the South, where the word is 
 most in use, it is also applied to the shells of oysters. Not worth 
 shucks is a Southern expression, meaning good for nothing. In the 
 late civil war, when the paper money of the Confederacy depreci- 
 ated, it was called shucks. 
 
 If them thar is all he 's got to offer, he ain't worth shucks; and, if you don't 
 lick him, you ain't worth shucks neither. — Eobb, Squatter Life. 
 
 They had three or four hounds, and one great big yellow cow, what wasn't 
 worth shucks to trail. — Major Jones's Courtship, p. 48. 
 
SHU 
 
 689 
 
 The bear didn't seem to care shucks for him ; for he sot the old rifle agin the 
 saplin', and walked off on his hind legs jest like any human. — Mike Hooter, by 
 a Missourian. 
 
 To shuck. To shuck corn is to strip off the husks, called in the 
 South "shucks," from Indian corn. 
 
 Hence, to shuck off one's coat is to strip or peel it off, as for a 
 fight. 
 
 He 'd get as mad as all wrath, and charge like a ram at a gate-post; and, the 
 first thing you knowed, he'd shuck o/" his coat to fight. — Southern Sketches, 
 p. 31. 
 
 Shucking or Corn-Shucking. See Husking. 
 
 And when the lamp is lighted 
 
 In the long November days, 
 And lads and lasses mingle 
 
 At shuckinfj of the maize ; 
 When pies of smoking pumpkin 
 
 Upon the table stand, 
 And bowls of black molasses 
 
 Go round from hand to hand ; 
 When slap-jacks, maple-sugared, 
 
 Are hissing in the pan, 
 And cider, with a dash of gin. 
 
 Foams in the social can ; 
 
 With laughter and with weeping 
 
 Then shall they tell the tale, 
 How Colt his foeman quartered. 
 
 And died within the jail. 
 
 Bon Gaultier, Lay of Mr. Colt. 
 
 Shut. To get shut off. See Shet. 
 
 To shut up. 1. To stop talking; to hold one's tongue. A vulgar 
 expression, for which to dry up is now sometimes substituted. Used 
 also in England. 
 
 Jones was singing, " 'Tis the Star-Spangled Banner ; " but was soon made to 
 shut up, and Leviller's name was called. — Pickings from the Picayune. 
 
 Did you ever see a marmaid V Well, then, I reckon you 'd best shut up ; 'cause 
 I have, — and marmen too, and marmisses. — Burton, Waggeries. 
 
 The musician suddenly " shutup,'^ and, after many suspicious sights at Charley, 
 jumped over to the side of the lady, and spoke a few words in his own language 
 with more than customary rapidity. — N. Y. Sjnrit of th e Times. 
 
 "Look here, boys," said the preacher to a crowd which had gathered round, 
 laughing and betting, with slang oaths and imprecations, "None of this at the 
 camp-meeting! This is the Lord's ground here; so shut up your swearing, and 
 don't fight." —il/rs Stowe, Dred, Vol. I. p. 312. 
 
 This odd expression appears in a recent work of one of England's 
 most distinguished authors, no less than Professor Jowett, of Ox- 
 ford : — 
 
590 
 
 SHU— SHY 
 
 The Clialcedonian giant, Thrasymachus, ... is vain and blustering, refusing 
 to discourse unless he is paid, fond of making an oration, and hoping in that way 
 to escape the inevitable Socrates; but a mere child in argument, and unable to 
 foresee that the next "move" (to use a Platonic expression) will ^'shut him up." 
 Dialogues of Plato, Vol. III. p. 6. 
 
 When a man speaks, he spouts; when he holds his peace, he shuts up. — Rev. 
 A. Mursell, of Carlisle, En<j. (1858), in Lecture on Slancj. 
 
 In New England, we sometimes hear aged women say, " We 've 
 a shut-up winter, meaning that the weather has been severe, so that 
 they have been shut up, confined to their houses. 
 
 2. To cause to stop talking; reduce to silence. 
 
 "I order you again to shut up," said the watchman, "There ain't no two 
 ways about it: you must either shut up yourself, or I '11 shut you. up in a wink- 
 ing." — N. 0. Picayune. 
 
 Shut up your Clam-Shells. Close your lips together; be silent. 
 Common along the shores of Connecticut and Rhode Island, where 
 clams abound. Same as shut up your head. 
 
 Shute. See Shoot. 
 
 To shy. To throw a light substance, as a flat stone or a shell, with 
 a careless jerk. And so in England. 
 
 Just to make matters lively, I headed xip alongside of Molly, and shied a few 
 soft things at her, such as asking how she liked bar steaks cooked, and if Jim 
 warn't equal in the elbow to a mad panter's tail, and such amusin' conversa- 
 tion. — Robb, Squatter Life. 
 
 To shy around. To hang about. 
 
 I was kind of shying round, and looking at the everlastin' sight of books, when 
 he came in. — Major Downing, May-day in New York, p. 1. 
 
 Shyster. A term applied to a set of men who hang about the Police 
 Courts of New York and other large cities, and practise in them as 
 lawyers, but who, in many cases, have never been admitted to the 
 bar. They are men who have served as policemen, turnkeys, sher- 
 iff's officers, or in any capacity by which they have become familiar 
 with criminals and criminal courts. 
 
 The miserable creature who has fallen into the watchman's clutches may make 
 his escape, if he has money; but, if not, he must go to quod, and wait next day 
 for the visits of the shyster lawyers, — a set of turkey-buzzards, whose touch is 
 pollution and whose breath is pestilence. — New York in Slices, The Tomhs. 
 
 When a man or woman is thrown into prison, a shyster leech gets access to 
 him, and extorts from him his last cent under the pretence of obtaining his liber- 
 ation. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 The appearance of a large number of abandoned women in the Police Court 
 drew together a large concourse of people. The shysters, or Tombs lawyers, w^ere 
 on hand, and sought to intercede for their clients; but the magistrates would 
 listen to no appeals. — Ibid., March 13, 1857. 
 
SIC— SID 
 
 691 
 
 rhe Prison Association held its monthly meeting last night. The report Avas 
 rich in incidents and developments about the skinners, sharks, and shysters of the 
 Tombs. — New York Express. 
 
 Sick. Afflicted with disease. — Johnson. Ill in health. 
 
 In England, and in the genteel society of onr Eastern cities, the 
 word ill is invariably used for a person afflicted with disease. The 
 good old English word sick is going out of use, and is seldom heard 
 except when applied to one who is sick at the stomach or afflicted 
 with nausea. In both the Bible and New Testament, the word 
 " sick " is always used for one out of health, disordered, or afflicted 
 with disease, while ill is not used in a single instance. Shakspeare 
 uses ill in a few instances, but generally the term sick, thus: — 
 
 In poison there is physick ; and this news 
 That would, had I been well, have made me sick, 
 
 Being sick, hath in some measure made me well. — Henry IV., Part II. 1. 1. 
 Pro. When I was sick, you gave me bitter pills. 
 And I must minister the like to you. — Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act ii. Sc. 4. 
 P. Shut, shut the doors, good John! fatigued I said. 
 Tie up the" knocker, say I 'm sick, I 'm dead. — Pope, Prolorjue to Satires. 
 
 Chaucer, Gower, Milton, Dryden, Cowper, and the best English 
 writers, use the word precisely in the sense given by Johnson. 
 
 2. Very indifferent, contemptible. The word is expressive, but 
 vulgar. 
 
 Sick Market. AVhen brokers very generally hesitate to buy stocks, 
 there is said to be a sick market. Such a state of things is generally 
 the consequent of a previous over-speculation. When the reverse 
 is the condition of things, and every thing is buoyant, it is called a 
 swimming market. — Medhery. 
 
 Side-Hill, for hill-side. The side or slope of a hill; sloping gromid. — 
 Webster. 
 
 Above the creek on the side-hill, they have dug rifle-pits, and keep up a reg- 
 ular system of pickets of considerable strength. — Cor. New Hampshire Pal- 
 ladium. 
 
 Side-Lines. In Canada, the secondary roads, the main ones being 
 
 called concession roads, to which the side-lines run at right angles. 
 Sideling. Inclined to one side ; directed towards one side; as, "The 
 gi'ound was sideling.''^ 
 
 There are no rebel picket stations. ... On the sidelinr/, they have dug rifle- 
 pits, . . . and still occupy the fort in view of Edwards's Ferry. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 A fellow nailed up maps in a gentleman's closet, some sideline/, and others 
 upside down, the better to adjust them to the panels. — Swift. 
 
 To sidle up is also heard, meaning to approach sidewise; to make 
 indirect motions. 
 
592 
 
 SID— sia 
 
 Side-Walk. The walk for foot-passengers on each side of the car- 
 riage-way in a street or road. In England, it is called the " pave- 
 ment." 
 
 As there is but very little mud at any time in Copiapo, and few suitable pebble 
 stones, only a street or two has been paved; nor has the municipal council given 
 much thought to the necessity of side-walks. — Gilliss's Chili, Vol. I. p. 252. 
 
 Side-Winder. A heavy blow with the fist. New York. 
 
 Mayor Wood is just the man to seize and improve in an inaugural address the 
 opportunity of dealing Recorder Smith what the boys call a side-winder. — N. Y. 
 
 Tribune. 
 
 Side-Wipe. A heavy blow with the fist. Southern. 
 
 Arch would fetch him a side-wipe on the head, and knock him into the middle 
 of next week. — Southern Sketches, p. 31. 
 
 Sidings. Wedge-shaped boards used for the sides and roofs of 
 houses. 
 
 To sidle out. To get out sideways ; to back out. Southern. 
 
 If he tried to sidle out of the quarrel, Arch would get as mad as wrath, an' 
 swar, an' curse, an' run. — Southern Sketches, p. 31. 
 
 Sidling. A place at which to turn off on a railroad to wait for a pass- 
 ing engine. The English term is siding. 
 
 Sierra. (Span.) A ridge of mountains. The term is universally 
 applied to mountain ridges in New Mexico and California. 
 
 At night, above their rocky bed 
 
 They saw the stars march slow; 
 The Avild Sierra overhead. 
 The desert's death below. — Whittier. 
 The sperms, which surround the plain, teem with the precious metals; . . . one 
 person, without capital or machinery, derives a considerable income from a mine 
 which produces gold, silver, lead, and sulphur from the same sierra. — Ruxton's 
 Mexico, p. 131. 
 
 Sight. 1. A great many; a great deal. An old meaning of the ^ 
 word, still colloquial in England, and of ancient use. " A sight of 
 people " is a great multitude ; ' ' my husband is a sight handsomer 
 than yours," i. e. much handsomer. 
 A wonder sight of flowers. — Gower, Conf. Amantis {ed. Pauli.), Vol. I. p. 121. 
 Sight is used in most of the Northern and Eastern, and heap in 
 the Southern and Western States. 
 
 Yes, Mr. Speaker, I 'd a powerful sight sooner go into retiracy among the red, 
 wild aborigines of our wooden country, nor consent to that bill. — Carlton, The 
 New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 74. 
 
 2. In North Carolina, the distance that can be seen on a road is 
 called a sight. 
 
SIG— SIL 
 
 593 
 
 3. The pupil or interior of the eye, as distinguished from the 
 whole of the eye; as, " He was hurt in the sight of his eye." New 
 England. 
 
 Sign. In the unsettled parts of the far West, the traces of the recent 
 presence of men or animals are called signs^ or, more technically, 
 sign. One hears of Indian sign^ cow sign, bear sign, hog sign, &c. 
 "What 's the sign out on the plains ? " 
 
 "War-party of Rapahoes passed Squirrel at sundown yesterday, and nearly 
 raised my animals. Sign, too, of more on the left fork of Boiling Spring." — 
 N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 It is a mistake to suppose that the negro brain is incapable of that acute reason- 
 ing Avhich constitutes a cunning hunter. I have known black men who could 
 read "^i^«" or lift a trail with as much intuitive quickness as either red or 
 M'hite. — Captain Mayne Rtid, Osceola, p. 113. 
 
 Several deer jumped out of the bottom when we entered, and on the banks of 
 the river I saw some fresh beaver sign. — Buxton's Mexico and Rocky Moun- 
 tains, p. 173. 
 
 The men scoured the country around in search for the missing mules ; and, 
 having seen Indian sign keeping near us for miles, they believed the animals had 
 been taken. — BartletVs Personal Narrative. 
 
 Our Delawares report that they have seen numerous fresh buffalo signs, and 
 that we shall soon come upon the herds. — Captain Mar cy, Rejjort onthe Red 
 River. 
 
 To signalize. To communicate information by means of signals or 
 telegraph ; to signal. An absurd use of the word. 
 
 The ship was signalized about eight o'clock this morning, and came up the 
 harbor in fine style. — N. Y. Com. Adv., Jan. 17, 1848. 
 
 To sign off. To release a debtor by agreeing to accept whatever he 
 offers to pay; to give a receipt in full of all demands. An expres- 
 sion common among merchants. 
 
 In Connecticut, the law provided that dissentients resident in a 
 parish might become free from taxation there, as for maintenance 
 of pastor and support of schools, on presentation of a certificate 
 appropriately signed, stating that they conscientiously dissented, 
 &c., and that they were members, &c., of another " approved eccle- 
 siastical organization. Hence arose the expression sign off, as well 
 as that of certificate off, which see. 
 
 Silk-Grass. See Bear-Grass. 
 
 Silk-Plant. " A plant resembling sumac, growing near springs on the 
 great plains of the West. The bark is tough and resembles flax. 
 The Ottoes and Omahaws make lariats of the bark, which are said 
 to be stronger and better than those made of hide. The French 
 call it vache a lait ; the Mexicans, capote des acarte ; the Pueblo 
 
 38 
 
594 
 
 SIL— SIN 
 
 Indians, noche. The latter make fishing-lines and fine thread of it, 
 while the root is used for medicinal purposes." — Slanshurij'' s Sail 
 Lake Expedition, p. 175. 
 
 Silver Fox. (Canis argentatus.) A black fox, with white hairs 
 interspersed on the back. Like the Cross-fox, this variety is rare. 
 It is found in the United States and Canada. Its skin is used for 
 ladies' muffs, and brings a high price. 
 
 Silver Gar. See Bill-Fish. 
 
 Silver Grays. This term originated in the State of New York, and 
 was applied to the conservative portion of the Whig party. At a 
 political convention in that State, certain measures proposed not 
 being agreeable to many, they at once withdrew. As they left the 
 meeting, it was observed that many were men whose locks were sil- 
 vered by age, which drew forth the remark from some one present, 
 " There go the silver grays ! " The term remains, and is the only 
 one now (1859) used to distinguish one branch of the Whig party. 
 
 To similate. To be like another thing. 
 
 And this holds true both of actions which similate the intellect, and those 
 which similate the moral sense, such as gratitude and shame in a dog. — Tap- 
 pan's Psychology. 
 
 'Simmon. A contraction for persimmon ; as in the Southern adage, 
 " The longest pole knocks down the ^simmotis.^' 
 
 A possum on a 'simmon tree 
 
 With one eye looked right down on me. 
 
 Fast by his tail the creature hung, 
 
 And in the chorus sweetly sung. — Comic Song. 
 
 Simolin. Simlin and Symlin. See Cimlin. 
 
 Sin. Used occasionally by the illiterate for since : as, " Sin yesterday; " 
 " Sin I went." Connecticut. 
 
 Sinews. Money; funds. 
 
 Sing, n. A meeting for practice in singing. 
 
 Singed Cat. An epithet applied to a person whose appearance does 
 him injustice. 
 
 Who would have thought that milksop of a lawyer would have done so well V 
 Howsomever, you can't judge a fellow from his looks. After all, that 's a fact ; 
 for that critter is Yike a. singed cat, better nor he seems. — Sajn Slick, The Old 
 .Tudge, Vol. I. p. 4-i. 
 
 Parson Brownlow has found an antagonist in the Rev. Mr. Pryne. of Cii cin- 
 nati. So when the Tennessee parson visits Philadelphia, they are to have it : ^Ve 
 reckon there'll be fun, as a Cincinnati paper says Pryne is a perfect singed cat! 
 New Orleans Bulletin, May, 1858. 
 
SIN— SIT 
 
 595 
 
 I'd made sure you'd played hookej'-. But I forgive you, Tom. I reckon 
 j'ou're a kind of a singed cat, as the saying is, — better 'n you look. — Marie 
 Twain, Tom Sawyer, p. 20. 
 
 Singing. In Pennsylvania, a singing-school. 
 
 Sink-Hole or Sink. A hole or depression in limestone lands where 
 the waters sink and are lost. These places are common in the INIid- 
 dle and Western States. See Cavern Limestone. 
 
 A hunter, while in the pursuit of a deer, fell into one of those deep, funnel-shaped 
 pits, formed on the prairies the settling of waters after heavy rains, and 
 known by the name of sink-holes. — Irving, Tour on the Prairies, p. 147. 
 
 Leaving the Pecos, we stopped to look at some limestone sifiks near the road. 
 The earth and stones had caved in, or sunk, in spots varying frpni ten to thirty 
 feet in diameter. — Bartletfs Personal Narrative, Vol. I. p. 110. 
 
 The limestone of Jones County [Virginia] is not far off, and sinks are frequent 
 in limestone beds ; in Georgia, they are called limestone sinks. — Si/linum's Jour- 
 nal, Oct., 1831. 
 
 Sir, to You. Said by a man returning another's salutation viva voce 
 received; as, "Good morning. Sir," — "Sir, to you." Low, 
 though intended to be extra-respectful and polite. 
 
 Sirree. " Yes, sj'rree," and " No, sirree,^^ for " Yes, sir," and " No, 
 sir." This vulgar slang, which originated in New York, is now 
 heard throughout the Union. Sometimes, as if not already puerile 
 enough, the word " " is added; as, " Yes, sirree, hob.'''' 
 
 ■ While hearing a case, the attorney stated in his plea that he believed one of 
 the jurors was intoxicated. The judge, addressing the man alluded to, said : — 
 " Sir, are you drunk V " 
 
 The juror, straightening himself up, in a bold, half-defiant tone, replied, " Vo, 
 sirree, boh ! " 
 
 " Well," said the judge, " I fine you five dollars for the ^ ree ' and ten for the 
 ' bob.' " — Baltimore Sun, March 30, 1857. 
 
 Sirs. This plural is adopted by many persons in commercial corre- 
 spondence, in beginning their letters. Instead of the word Gentlemen, 
 addressed to a firm, they write, Dear Sirs. 
 
 Sirs, said the umpire, cease your pother. — Chamelion. 
 
 Siss and Sissy. Contractions for sister, often used in addressing 
 girls, even by their parents. 
 
 Sistern, for sisters. A vulgar pronunciation, sometimes heard from 
 uneducated preachers at the West. 
 
 Brethurn and sisturn, it's a powerful great work, this here preaching of the 
 gospel, as the great apostle hisself allows in them words of hissin what 's jest 
 come into my mind ; for I never knowed what to preach till I ris up. — Carlton, 
 The New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 203. 
 
 Sit. (Pron. set.) To sit up with is to court a young woman 
 
596 
 
 SIT— SKE 
 
 Sithe. A sigh. Used also in England. — Halliwell. 
 
 Sitio. (Span.) A Spanish superficial measure, used in the States and 
 
 Territories of Sj^anish origin. The sitio is a league of land of 
 
 5,000 varas, and is equal to 4,428 English acres. 
 Six-Shooter. A revolver with six chambers. See Shooter. 
 To sizz. To sizzle; to make a hissing sound; used in the same sense 
 
 as sizzle. See below. He sat under a sun whose rays fairly made 
 
 the flesh to sizz. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 To sizzle. To hiss from the action of fire. — Forhy. 
 
 From the ends of the wood, the sap fries and drips on the sizzlinr/ coals below, 
 and flies off in angry steam. — Margaret, p. 159. 
 
 Skale. See Squale. 
 
 Skanes. Iron plates to keep an axle-tree from wearing. In England, 
 
 called clouts. 
 Skearsome or Skeersome. See Scaresome. 
 Skeary or Skeery. Easily frightened, timid. See Scary. 
 
 Give her the house and homestead, — a man can thrive and roam, — 
 But women are skeery critters, unless they have a home. 
 
 Carlton, Farm Ballads, p. 18. 
 
 To skedaddle. To rim away; a hurried and confused retreat; a slang 
 term which originated with our soldiers during the late civil war. 
 It is synonymous with "to cut stick," "to vamose the ranch," 
 "to slope," "to cut your lucky," "to clear out," "to absquat- 
 ulate." The term came into general use in the contending armies, 
 and is now as common in England as in this country. 
 
 Various have been the attempts to trace the origin of the word, 
 one of the most remai-kable of which is to trace it to Greece. First, 
 a writer thinks he has discovered its etymology in the word sktdan- 
 numi (o-fceSavi/u/xt) , of which the root is skeda, used by Thucydides 
 (IV. 56, 112) and Herodotus (V. 102) to describe the dispersion 
 of a routed army. Another writer, who appears in the " Louisville 
 Journal," also claims a Grecian birth for the word. " The primi- 
 tive of skedaddle ^''^ he says, " is a pure Greek word of great anti- 
 quity. It occurs in Homer, Hesiod, ^schylus, Sophocles, Herodo- 
 tus, Thucydides, and Xenophon; and it was used to express in 
 Greek the very idea that we undertake, in using it, to express in 
 English. Homer, in the Iliad, uses only the aorist eskedasa or 
 skedasa. Thus in Iliad, 19-171, we have skedason laon for scat- 
 tering, dispersing. 
 
 In Prometheus, ^schylus thus uses it (skeda) in making " the 
 sun disperse the hoar frost of the morn." And again Prometheus 
 
SKE 
 
 597 
 
 uses this word in predicting woes upon Jupiter, when he says that 
 " a flame more potent than the lightning " shall be " invented, which 
 shall (skeda) shiver the ocean trident, the spear of Neptune." 
 
 In the Odyssey, we find Homer using skedasis in describing the 
 scattering of the suitors of Penelope when Ulysses should come, and 
 in the twentieth book of the Odyssey we have the same word used for 
 " the dispersing oi the suitors to their houses," as the result of the 
 return of Ulysses. 
 
 Another writer, in the " Albany Evening Journal," scoffs at the 
 claims of the Hellenists for a Grecian origin of the word, and finds 
 no difficulty in tracing it alike to the Gaelic, the Welsh, and the 
 Irish, in each of which languages he discovers analogous words. 
 His Welsh word is ysgudaw, to scud about. With this example, it 
 is unnecessary to follow this etymologist farther. A fourth writer 
 says it is a common Scottish word; that it means to " spill milk," 
 and that we have wholly misapplied the word. A fifth says in the 
 "Boston Journal " that it is a word which has long been in use 
 among the lumbermen of Wisconsin in the same sense in which our 
 soldiers used it. 
 
 Recently (Sept. 15, 1877) appeared in the " Philadelphia Times " 
 a claimant for an Irish origin of the word. The writer says it 
 occurs in the Irish version of the New Testament quotation from the 
 prophets, thus: " I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be 
 scattered," which last word is said to be sgedadoL In the same 
 newspaper is a communication, the writer of which says he first heard 
 the word on the 4th of March, 1861, the day of Mr. Lincoln's first 
 inauguration, and made this statement in the New York " Hearth 
 and Home " several years ago. This led to a communication from 
 Kansas, in which the writer said he had heard the word in Kansas 
 several years before, during the struggle between the anti-slavery 
 and pro-slavery parties in that (then) Territory. 
 
 A writer in the " Atlantic Monthly," for August, 1877, discusses 
 the etymology of the word, and mentions its presumed Greek origin, 
 "from skedannumi, which means to scatter, and also to be scat- 
 tered, to disperse, to put or take flight." The same writer says 
 that some English friends from Lancashire told him they " had 
 heard skedaddle there every day of their lives; " that it means 
 "to scatter, or drop in a scattering way." Regarding this state- 
 ment, we will only observe that we have examined the English Pro- 
 vincial Dictionaries of Halliwell and Wright, which profess to give 
 all the English provincial words, as well as a large number of se[)a- 
 rate glossaries, in none of which do we find the word in question. 
 
698 
 
 SKE— SKI 
 
 Congressmen may plan and twaddle 
 
 How the fighting should be done; 
 Bull Run taught them to skedaddle, 
 
 Ely took too slow a run. — Sum/. 
 
 With the South-east clear and General Price retiring into Arkansas in the 
 South-west, we may expect to witness such a grand skedaddle of Secesh and its 
 colored property as was never seen before. — Missouri Cor. N. Y. Tribune, 18G1. 
 
 No sooner did the traitors discover their approach than they skedaddled, a 
 phi-ase the Union boys up here ai)ply to the good use the seceshers make of their 
 legs in time of danger. — Cor. Missouri JJemocrat, Aug., 1861. 
 
 Their noisy drums had ceased, and suddenly I perceived a general skedaddle, 
 as those upon our right flank started off in full speed. — Sir Samuel Baker, 
 Ismailia, p. 211. 
 
 Skeezicks. A mean, contemptible fellow. Western. 
 
 At a Republican meeting in Indiana, the other day, a speaker named Long re- 
 sponded to a loud call and took the stand. But a big, strapping fellow persisted 
 in crying out in a stentorian voice, " Long, Long! " This caused a little confu- 
 sion; but, after some difficulty in making himself heard, the president succeeded 
 in stating that Mr. Long, the gentleman honored by the call, was now address- 
 ing them. "Oh, he be d— d!" replied the fellow: "he's the little skeezicks 
 that told me to call for Long ! " This brought down the house. — ( Wash.) Even- 
 ing Star, Nov., 1858. 
 
 Skid. A piece of light timber, from ten to twenty feet in length, 
 upon which heavier timber is rolled or slid from place to place. 
 
 Skilts. A sort of brown tow trowsers formerly worn in New England, 
 very large, and reaching just below the knees. In Dorsetshire, 
 England, half -boots are called slcilty-hoots. 
 
 Her father . . , wore a sort of trowsers known at the time as skilts; they were 
 short, reaching just below the knee, and very large, being full a half-yard broad 
 at the bottom, and, without braces, were kept up by the hips, sailor-fashion. — 
 Judd's Maryaret, p. 8. 
 
 The lad's skilts, through which were thrust his lean, dry shanks, gave him a 
 semblance to a peasant of Gascony on stilts. — Tbid., p. 22. 
 
 Skimping. Scanty, as the pattern of a dress. Used also in the 
 south of England. 
 
 To skin. To get a lesson by the help of a "pony " (translation) or 
 by cramming from a fellow-student. 
 
 Barefaced copying from books and reviews in their compositions is familiar to 
 our students, as much so as skinning their mathematical examples. — Bristed's 
 Five Years in an Engl. Univ., p. 394. 
 
 But now that last Biennial 's past ; 
 I skinned and fizzled through. 
 
 C. E. Trumbull, Song of the Sheepskin. 
 
SKI— SKU 
 
 590 
 
 Among the cadets at the U. S. Military Academy, West Point, 
 ^'■tohe skinned " is to be demented. 
 Skin. " Skin your own skunk,^^ i. e. do yom' own dirty work. 
 Skinner. See Shyster. 
 
 Skipjack. The skipjack of the Boston market is the Bonito (Sarda 
 pelamys, Linn.) ; but the fish more generally known by the name is 
 the Scomheresox scutellatus of Lesuem', also called "saury" and 
 " skipper. ' ' See Blue-Fish. 
 
 Skipper. The cheese-mite. Also called in England the Cheese- 
 hopper. 
 
 Skippery. Abounding in cheese-mites. 
 
 With the opening of spring, insects, caterpillars, and reptiles will start from 
 their hiding-places, and the earth appear as animated as a plate of skippery 
 cheese or the carcass of a dead horse in dog-days. — Dow's Ser7)ions,Yoh II. 
 p. 268. 
 
 To skite. To skite about is to go running about. 
 
 To skive. To pare; to cut thin, especially a piece of leather so as to 
 leave a bevelled edge, as also of an inner shoe-sole, so as to leave 
 the central part thicker or rounded up. In general use in New 
 England. 
 
 Skivings. Scraps of leather ; leather waste. 
 Skullduggery. Underhand plotting. Missouri. 
 
 Skunk. 1. (Mephitis mephitica.) A small, carnivorous American 
 quadruped, allied to the weasel and badger, and which, on being 
 irritated, emits a very fetid secretion. The name is from the 
 Abenaki Seganku. 
 
 Old men, you can't conceal the sad changes time has wrought upon you. You 
 may scent your persons with the sweetest perfume; but they will no more com- 
 pare with the rich fragrance that youth and beauty emit, than the atmosphere 
 which surrounds a wounded skunk can equal the odor of an orange grove. — 
 Dow's Sermons, Vol. II. p. 244. 
 
 2. A vile or good-for-nothing fellow. 
 
 Now, Tom, vou skunk, this is the third time you've forgot to set on that 
 switch. — Notes on Canada, (fc, Blackwood. 
 
 To skunk. 1. To utterly defeat In games of chance, if one of the 
 players fails to make a point, he is said to be skunked. To defeat 
 an adversary at draughts or checkers, without having permitted him 
 to reach the king-row, is to skunk him. A Presidential candidate 
 who fails to secure one electoral vote is said to be skunked. 
 
 2. A student who leaves college without settling up is said to 
 skunk his bills. 
 
600 
 
 SKU— SKY 
 
 Skunk-Bear. {Gulo Imcm.') The wolverine; so called in the Far 
 
 West. Also known as the Carcajou. — Captain Ludlow^s Report on 
 
 the Yelloivstone^ p. 65. 
 Skunk-Blackbird. The common marsh blackbird, so called in the 
 
 rural districts of New England, New York, and Canada. See 
 
 Boholink. 
 
 We followed that old Polyglot, the skunk-blackbird, and heard him describe the 
 way they talked at the winding up of the Tower of Babel. — H. W. Beecher, 
 Star Papers, p. 192. 
 
 Skunk-Cabbage. (Symplocarpus fcetidus.) A strong-scented, repul- 
 sive plant, exceedingly deserving of the name it bears. The odor 
 depends on a volatile principle, not separable by distillation.* This 
 plant has been found useful in asthma and some other diseases. — 
 Bigelow^s Plants of Boston. 
 
 The green, tender blades of youth, the ripened stems of manhood, and the 
 blooming flowers of beauty, all fall indiscriminately before the fell stroke of time, 
 and wither together like skunk-cabbage, clover-heads, and lilies. — Dow's Sermons, 
 Vol. II. p. 183. 
 
 To think you have got to believe every thing your party does seems jest as 
 unreasonable as it would be, when you go out to pick greens, to pick skunk- 
 cabbage because cow cabbage is good and wholesome. Why, skunk-cabbage is 
 pison, jest as pison as ratsbane. — Betsy Bobbet, p. 250. 
 
 Skunkhead. The popular name, on the sea-coast, of the Pied Duck 
 (Anas Lahradora) of ornithologists. — Nat. Hist, of New York. 
 
 To skylark. To play in a rude style. 
 
 Others, alike indifferent to heat, fatigue, or hunger, were romping and sky- 
 larhing with each other. — Cor. N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Skylarking. A term used by seamen for games or tricks with each 
 other in the rigging, tops, &c., of ships, and hence transferred to 
 any kind of rough play. 
 
 The " New York Courier and Enquirer," May 19, 1858, in speak- 
 ing of an election for officers of the Mercantile Library, says: — 
 
 There was a considerable amount of skylarking carried on from sunset until 
 midnight in the halls and passages of the building, hats were smashed, and 
 members tumbled on the floor; but everybody preserved good humor, and even 
 the defeated candidates 3'ielded to the contagious influence of merriment and 
 hilarity. 
 
 Sky-Parlor. A cockloft; a chamber in a garret, or the garret itself. 
 
 Sky-Pilot. A minister of the gospel; particularly applied to chap- 
 lains in the navy. 
 
 Sky-Racket. The vulgar pronunciation of sky-rocket. 
 
 Skyugle, Scyugle. A queer word that originated with the Union 
 soldiers during the late war. An army officer, writing from head- 
 
SLA 
 
 601 
 
 quarters in Virginia, says : " The word scyugle, it will be perceived, 
 has any meaning one chooses to attach to it: it has not only a 
 variety, but a contrariety of meanings. It is synonymous M'ith 
 ' gobble ' and with ' skedaddle,' is used for any other word, and for 
 want of any other word." 
 
 A corps staff officer dismounted near me a moment ago. I inquired where he 
 had been riding. He informed me that he had been out on a general scyugle ; 
 that he had scyuyled along the front, when the Rebels scyugltd a bullet through 
 his clothes; that he should scyugle. his servant, who, by the way, had scyugled 
 three fat chickens, for a supply of ice ; that after he had scyuvled his dinner, he 
 proposed to scyugle a nap. — Army and Navy Journal, July 11, 1864. 
 
 Slabbing. Among the White Mountains, a mountain is said to be 
 
 slabbed when a road is made around its sides. 
 Slab-bridged. Whoever has driven over a stream by a bridge made 
 
 of slabs will feel the force of this epithet applied to a fellow of 
 
 shaky character. — Lowell. 
 To slab oflF. To throw aside as useless, like the outside piece of a log 
 
 when sawn up into planks, which is called a slab. 
 
 You must take notice that I am slabbed off from the election, and am nothing 
 but a " voter; " and this gives me a right to dictate to the rest.— Crc»cA;e^ Tour, 
 p. 212. 
 
 Slab-sided. Having perpendicular sides, wall-sided. 
 
 To get any thing to eat was only to be accomplished by taking a stand some 
 one or two hours before meal-time, and this was invariably done by a slab-sided 
 genius from the hungry side of the Granite State Hills. — N. Y. Spirit of the 
 Times. 
 
 " My dear girls," said the preacher, " I like to see a small waist as well as 
 anybody ; and females with hour-glass shapes suit my fancy better than your 
 Dutch-churn, soap-barrel, slab-sided sort of figures ; but I don't want to give the 
 credit to corsets." — Doiv's Sermons, Vol. H. p. 200. 
 
 Jack Downing says that Maine is the middle and kernel of real Yankeeism ; 
 Rhode Island and Connecticut point to each other as the focus of the article ; 
 while the Massachusetts man will tell you that the real slab-sided whittler is 
 indigenous to Varmount and New Hampshire. — Knickerbocker Mag., March, 
 1856. 
 
 Slack-baked. Applied to character; wanting in native good sense; 
 
 deficient in sagacity. 
 Slang. A narrow valley. The place settled by the French Huguenots 
 
 in Rhode Island has ever been called the slang orchard." The 
 
 word is provincial in England, where it means a long slip of land. 
 
 Wright. 
 
 Slang-Whanger. This curious word is defined by Mr. Pickering as 
 signifying " a writer or noisy talker, who makes use of that sort of 
 political or other cant which amuses the rabble, and is called by the 
 
602 
 
 SLA 
 
 vulgar name of slang.''^ The word frequently occurs in Paulding's 
 Salmagundi, but it is now seldom heard. 
 
 "Mere availability," and the "available candidate," are not the phrases with 
 which the slan(j-whan(jers of all sides assail the Philadelphia Convention. — New 
 York Battery. 
 
 Parson Brownlow is a local preacher and editor in Knoxville, Tennessee, and 
 one of the slancj-whanyers of the South-west. — Harper's Magazine, Dec, 1857. 
 
 Slang- Whanging. Political cant. In Hotten's " Slang Dictionary" 
 is Slang-whanger, " a long-winded speaker. " Parliamentary. 
 
 Part of the customary slang-whanginr/ against all other nations which is habit- 
 ual to the English press. — iV". Y. Coin. Adv., Oct. 10, 1845. 
 
 If the word is, as has been supposed, of American origin, it has 
 been adopted in the mother country: — 
 
 What else ? No part I take in party fray, 
 With tropes from Billingsgate's slany-whanying Tartars; 
 
 I fear no pope, — and let Ernest play 
 At Fox and Goose with Fox's Martyrs! 
 
 Hood, Ode to Ray Wilson. 
 
 Slant. A side blow. A slang word. 
 
 Slantendicular. Aslant ; oblique. A factitious vulgarism. 
 
 Slantendicularly or Slantwise. Obliquely. 
 
 Pony got mad, and sent the Elder right slap over his head slantendicularly, on 
 the broad of liis back, into the river. — Sam Slick in England, ch. 28. 
 
 Slap- Jack. A pancake. A country girl formerly was not considered 
 eligible for marriage until she could make a shirt and toss a slap- 
 jack fairly right into the middle of the pan. In England, they are 
 called Jlap-jacks. 
 
 To the Van Nests of Kinderhook, if report may be believed, are we indebted 
 for the invention of slajJ-jacks or buckwheat cakes. — Knickerbocker'' s New Yoi-kj 
 p. 352. 
 
 Slashes. Swampy or wet lands overgrown with bushes. Southern 
 and Western. Also heard in the State of New York. 
 
 In the Adirondacks, the term is applied to a swath cut by a whirl- 
 wind through the woods. 
 
 Although the inner lands want the benefit of game (which, however, no pond 
 or slash is without), yet even they have the advantage of wild-turkeys, &c. — 
 £everly''s Virginia, 1705, Book II. 
 
 Between this and Edenton there are many whortleberry-sZas^es, which afford 
 a convenient harbor for wolves and foxes. — Westover Papers, p. 28. 
 
 Slash-Ground. Land on which the brush has been cut and left lying. 
 New York. 
 
 Slat. A narrow piece of board or timber, used to fasten together large 
 pieces; as, the slats of a cart or chair. — Webster. Mr. Wright saya 
 
SLA 
 
 603 
 
 the word is used in Northamptonshire to denote " the flat step of a 
 ladder." 
 
 To slat. A word of uncertain derivation, signifying to throw down 
 with violence. — Toone^s Glossary. 
 
 Slatted his brains out, then soused him in the briny sea. — Old Flay, The 
 Malcontents. 
 
 With that, T handed him my axe, and he slatted about the chamber a spell. — 
 Major Downing's Letters, p. 200. 
 
 Suz alive! but warn't my dander up to hear myself called a flat? down I slat 
 the basket, and upsought all the berries. — Lafayette Chronicle. 
 
 Aunt Nancy would retire to the kitchen, and, taking up the dipper, would slat 
 round the hot water from a kettle. — iV". Y- Com. Adv., May 15, 1846. 
 
 Slate. A programme; a list; a nomination. "To make a slate." 
 "The party has got up a new slate foi- Members of Congress," 
 i. e. they have prepared a new programme or a new ticket. A 
 "portfolio." 
 
 The facts about the latest Cabinet slate ... are interesting, as showing what 
 is thought by many persons of political prominence as to the course of President 
 Hayes in choosing his advisers. — N. Y. Tribune, March 1, 1877. 
 
 Slathers. A great quantity. 
 
 I am going to be a clown at a circus. They get slathers of money, — most a 
 dollar a day. — Mai'h Twain, Tom Sawyer, p. 76. 
 
 Slave-Breeder. A breeder of slaves. Formerly slaves were raised 
 in Virginia and North Carolina, to be sold to planters farther South, 
 where they were in demand, and hence commanded a higher price. 
 
 The slave-breeders, slave-drivers, and slave-traffickers of the South. — Lett, of 
 Count Garowski. 
 
 Slave-Code. A body or digest of laws relating to slaves and slavery. 
 
 There being no slave-code of the government [of the United States], nor any 
 power by which that government can hold a slave. — Dr. Cheever in N. Y. 
 Independent. 
 
 Slave-Dealer. A slave-trader. 
 
 Well known to have been the slave-dealers, men who wield a large amount of 
 money, and are very numerous in Richmond. — Baltimore Patiiot, Nov., 18G1. 
 
 Slave-Driver. A negro-driver, a subordinate overseer of slaves on a 
 plantation. See Driver. 
 
 Slave-Hunt. During slavery times, a hunt after run-away slaves, 
 often with the aid of blood-hounds. 
 
 Have ye heard of our hunting, o'er mountain and glen, 
 Through cane-brake and forest, — the hunting of men ? 
 
 Whittier, The Hunters of Men. 
 
604 
 
 SLA 
 
 Slave-Labor. The labor of slaves. 
 
 But, when I hear you avowing that slave-labor shall not come in competition 
 with free labor, ... I am led to infer that when the throat-cutting tragedy comes 
 off, you hope to see the whites the victors. — A Voice from, the South, p. 19. 
 
 Slave-Liberator. A person who liberates a slave. 
 
 By the refusal of Mr. Lincoln to act, Gordon, the slave-dealer, Avas hung; by 
 his direct interference, Gordon, the slave-liberator, was taken from the dungeon 
 where the cruel, slave-catching law put him. — Washington Cor. N. Y. Tribune, 
 April, 1862. 
 
 Slave-Lord. A man made arrogant and imperious by slave-holding. 
 N. Y. Times, Dec. 16, 1861. 
 
 Slaveocraoy. The owners of slaves, as a class; slaveholders. The 
 persons or interest representing slavery politically. 
 
 Arnold Buffum was the next talker [at the meeting of the National Reformers]. 
 The burden of his song was the Constitution — Slavery — Free Soil — an anec- 
 dote or two — and an exhortation to curb the slaveocracy. — JV. Y. Express, 
 Sept. 4, 1848. 
 
 To this end, the entire influence and patronage of the government, its civil, 
 military, and moral power, are all directed; and alongside of these, prominent 
 and threatening, stands the bullying of the slaveocracy, boastingly pointing to 
 the bowie-knife, the pistol, and the bludgeon, and impudently taunting the entire 
 North with cowardice. — N. Y. Courier and Enq , May 27, 1856. 
 
 Slaveoorat. A slaveholder. 
 
 Slave-Owner. A slaveholder. 
 
 It has raised the price of slaves, thus diminishing the profit to slave-owners. — 
 N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Slaveownia. What were formerly the slaveholding States. 
 
 Their [the Confederate] officers besought them to stand firm, ... to recall the 
 valorous deeds of their ancestors on other fields, the honor of Secessia, the repu- 
 tation of Slaveownia for valor and chivalry, and a great many other things. — 
 Letter from Kansas, N. Y. Tribune, 1862. 
 
 Slave-Pen. A place for confining slaves. 
 
 The slave-pens which have so long disgraced the capital and the nation, and 
 enriched their keepers, are at last to be swept away. — N. Y. Tribune, 1832. 
 
 Slave Power. The political power of slaveholders; the body of 
 slaveholders. 
 
 Slaver. 1. A vessel engaged in the slave-trade. 
 
 2. A person engaged in the purchase and sale of slaves; a slave- 
 merchant or trader. — Webster. 
 
 The slaver's hand was on the latch. 
 
 He seemed in haste to go. — Longfellow. 
 
SLA— SLE 
 
 605 
 
 Slave-Ship. A ship employed in the slave-trade ; a slaver. — Webster, 
 
 Up from the slave-shijys prison, 
 
 Fierce, bearded heads were thrust ; 
 Now let the sharks look to it, 
 
 Toss up the dead ones first. 
 
 Whittier, The Slave Ships. 
 
 Slave State. A State in which negro slavery exists. 
 
 Either the cotton and rice fields of South Carolina and the sugar plantations of 
 Louisiana will ultimately be tilled by free labor, and Charleston and New Orleans 
 become marts for legitimate merchandise alone, or else the rye-fields and wheat- 
 fields of Massachusetts and New York must again be surrendered by their farmers 
 to slave culture and to the production of slaves, and Boston and New York be- 
 come once more markets for trade in the bodies and souls of men. It is the failure 
 to apprehend this great truth that induces so many unsuccessful attempts at final 
 compromise between the slave and free States, and it is the existence of this great 
 fact that renders all such pretended compromises, when made, vain and epheme- 
 ral." — S/)eec/« of Hon. W. H. Seward, Oct., 1858. 
 
 Slavist. A pro-slavery person. 
 
 The "X. Y. Independent," of May 29, 1862, in speaking of a 
 letter of G. Gratz Brown, of Missouri, says: — 
 
 It is a brief and bold avowal, and proof of the financial necessity of emancipa- 
 tion in Missouri. Mr. Brown's figures are unanswerable, though doubtless some 
 slavist will babble against them. 
 
 Sled. See Ferry Flat. 
 
 To sleep. Sometimes used as an active verb; as, "This steamboat 
 can sleep three hundred passengers," i. e. can furnish sleeping ac- 
 commodations for them. We have heard of a landlady who said 
 "she could eat fifty people in her house, although she could not 
 sleep half the number." 
 
 Sleeper. A sleeping-car. 
 
 Sleeping-Car. A railway car or carriage, arranged with apartments 
 and berths for sleeping. 
 
 A sleeping-car always makes a jolly, family-like company, and there is noth- 
 ing that destroys the conventionality of society so speedily and so thoroughly, 
 in the matter of getting acquainted, as turning in on board one of these wandei*- 
 ing lodging-houses . . . Occasionalh', a coy damsel or a veteran spinster seems 
 to rebel against the free-and-easy manners of [\\& sleejnrKj-cars ; but they make 
 themselves uncomfortable, and are sure to provoke just that notice and comment 
 thev least want. — McClure, Three Thousand Milts throuyh the Rochj Mountains, 
 p. 24. 
 
 Sleigh. A vehicle moved on runners, and gi'eatly used in America 
 for transporting persons or goods on snow or ice. — Webster. In 
 England, it is called a sledge. During the winter of 1844, after a 
 fall of snow in London, an English newspaper observed that "the 
 
606 
 
 SLE— SLI 
 
 (^ueen was making preparations for sledge-driving^^'' which in 
 America few would understand to mean that her Majesty was 
 about taking a sleigh-ride. 
 
 Bards may sing with a musical ring 
 
 To their love for a summer's day, 
 But better for me the crystal sea, 
 
 With a ride in a bouncing sltigh. 
 
 Son(js of Amherat Coll. 
 
 Sleigh-Bell. A small hollow ball, made of bell-metal, having a slit 
 in it that passes half round its circumference, and containing a 
 small, solid ball of a size not to escape. These bells are fastened 
 to leathern straps, which pass round the necks or bodies of the 
 horses. They produce a musical and lively sound, which is useful 
 to give warning of the approaching vehicle, and is pleasing to the 
 ear. 
 
 Sleighing. 1. The state of the snow which admits of running 
 sleighs. — Webster. As, good sleighing,''^ had sleighing and, 
 in the winter when there is no snow, we say there is "no sleigh- 
 ing.^' 
 
 2. The act of riding in a sleigh. — Webster. 
 Sleigh-Ride. Used both as a noun and as a verb. 
 
 Men do not derive the right to do good from the Thirty-nine Articles, nor need 
 they go to the Westminster Confession for liberty to recover the intemperate, set 
 free the bond, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, educate the ignorant, and give 
 sleigh-rides to beggars' children that never before laughed and cuddled in a 
 buffalo-robe. — Rev. H. W. Beecher. 
 
 In winter, we sleigh-ride, coast, skate, and snow-ball. — Margaret. 
 
 Slewed. Tipsy; drunk. A common expression in the United 
 States, and also used in Yorkshire, England. 
 
 "Never go to bed," said a father to his son, "without knowing something 
 you did not know in the morning." "Yes, sir," replied the youth, "I went to 
 bed slewed last night, — didn't dream of such a thing in the morning." — Whig 
 Almanac, 1855. 
 
 Slice. A common term in New England, N"ew York, and Canada, for 
 a large fire-shovel. Provincial in England. See Halliwell and 
 Wright. 
 
 Slick. 1. The popular pronunciation of sleek, and so written by 
 some authors. — Webster. It is also used adverbially in vulgar 
 language, like many other adjectives. 
 
 " This word," says Todd, " was formerly written slick ; and slick 
 or slicken is still our northern word." It is also provincial in Kent; 
 while, in other parts of England, the verb to slick, to comb or 
 make sleek the hair, is provincial. — Hollowaifs Prov. Diet. 
 
SLT 
 
 607 
 
 Her flesh tender as is a chicke, 
 With bent browes, smooth and slike. 
 
 Chaucer^ Rom. of the Rose. 
 That the bodie thereof is not all over smoothe and sUcke (as we see in birds' 
 eggs) is shewed by good arguments. — Holland, Trans, of Pliny. 
 
 The railroad company, out of sheer parsimony, have neglected to fence in their 
 line, which goes slick through the centre of your garden. — BlaclcwoocC s ]\In(j.^ 
 July, 1847. 
 
 But you 've all read in ^sop, or Phredrus, or Gay, 
 How a tortoise and hare ran together one day ; 
 How the hare, making play, 
 "Progressed right slick away," 
 As them tarnation chaps, the Americans, say. 
 
 Ingoldsby Legends, Vol. I. p. 241. 
 
 "Well! one comfort is, that there ain't many folks to see how bad vou look 
 here in the woods! We ain't used to seein' folks look so dreadful slick, — so it 
 don't matter. — Mrs. Clavei^s's Forest Life, Vol. I. p. 114. 
 
 Then here 's to women, then to liquor; 
 There's nothing swimmin' can be slicker. 
 
 Boatman's Song. 
 
 Singin' is a science which comes pretty tough at first: but it goes s/<c^ after- 
 wards. — Peter Cram of Tinnecum, Knickerbocker Mag., 1841. 
 
 The Senate could not pass Mr. Stevenson tlirough for England. The reason 
 was, he was a-going through right slick, till he came to his coat-pockets, and they 
 were so full of papers written by Ritchie that he stuck fast, and hung by the 
 flaps. — Crockett, Tour, p. 120. 
 
 I've hearn tell that courtin' is the hardest thing in the world to begin, though 
 it goes on so .slick arterwards. — Traits of American Humor, Vol. II. p. 18. 
 
 Nobody can waltz real slick, unless they have the spring-halt in one leg, as 
 horses sometimes have. — Doic's Sermons. 
 
 2. A smooth place in the water where fish abound. New Eng- 
 land. 
 
 You have seen on the surface of the sea those smooth places Avhich fishermen 
 and sailors call slicks. Our boatman said they were caused by the blue-tish chop- 
 ping up their prey [the menhaden], and that the oil from this butchery, rising to 
 the surface, makes the slick. Whatever the cause may be, we always found fish 
 plenty whenever we came to a slick. — Daniel Webster, Private Cor., Vol. II. 
 p. 332. 
 
 3. A long-handled, thin, and broad paving-chisel. 
 
 Slick as a Whistle. A proverbial simile, in connnon use throughout 
 the United States. To do any thing as slick as a ichisde is to do 
 it very smoothly, perfectly, adroitly. 
 
 You know I told you in my last letter I was going to bring INIiss Mary up to 
 the chalk at Christmas. Well, I done it slu slick as a whistle. — Major Jones's 
 Courtship, p. 94. 
 
 Slick as Grease. Another classical expression, conveying the same 
 idea as the foregoing; sometimes varied into slick as He (oil). 
 
608 
 
 SLI 
 
 To slick up. To make sleek; to make fine. 
 
 Mrs. Flyer was slicked up for the occasion, in the snuff-colored silk she was 
 married in. — Mrs. Clavers, A New Home., p. 211. 
 
 Tlie house was all slicked up as neat as a pin, and the things in every room all 
 sot to rights. — Major Downing/, May-day, p. 43. 
 
 The caps most in vogue then were made of dark, coarse, knotted twine, like 
 a cabbage-net, worn, as the wives said, to save slickiny up, and to hide dirt. 
 Carlton, The New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 72. 
 
 To slide. To go, be gone, be off. See also To let slide. 
 
 We have fought the field together. 
 
 We have struggled side by side ; 
 Broken is the band that held us, — 
 
 We must cut our sticks and slide. 
 
 R. S. Willis, Student's Song. 
 
 To slide out. To leave by stealth; to avoid by artifice one's share of 
 
 labor or responsibility. 
 Slim. " He 's looking rather i. e. in poor health. 
 
 Slimsy . Flimsy ; frail. Most frequently applied to cotton or other 
 
 cloth. 
 
 The building is old and slimpsy. — Margaret, p. 329. 
 
 Sling, A drink composed of equal parts of rum and water sweetened. 
 Rush. Gin-slings are more commonly drunk now. 
 
 To sling. 1. Sometimes used vulgarly instead of to swing. 
 
 2. To do with ease or rapidity. "I just slung that article." 
 " To sling a leg," to dance. 
 
 We swung round the wharf; and, when the captain told the people who I was, 
 they slung their hats, and gave three cheers. — Crockett, Tour down East, p. 37. 
 
 Slink. A sneaking fellow. 
 
 I despise a slink. — Chron. of Pineville, p. 139. 
 
 Slinky. Thin; lank. 
 
 Slip. 1. The opening between wharves or in a dock. — Wehsfer. 
 
 This word is peculiar to New York, where we have Peck Slip, 
 Burling Slip, Old Slip, Coenties Slip, &c. 
 
 2. In New England, a long seat or narrow pew in a church with 
 or without doors, in contradistinction to the old-fashioned " square " 
 or " body pew." In some churches, when there is a door, they are 
 called pews; when without doors, and free to all, slips. 
 
 3. A loose garment worn by women. 
 
 4. Milk turned with rennet, &c., before the whey separates from 
 the curd. 
 
 To slip. To furnish a church with slips. 
 
SLI— SLO 
 
 609 
 
 Slipe. A distance. 
 
 Well, I 've got a long slipe off from my steamboat, the " Hunter ; " and I had 
 better look up the captain. — Crockett, Tour, p. 145. 
 
 Slip-Gap. See Gap. 
 
 Slipper-down. A vulgar name in some parts of Connecticut for 
 hasty-pudding. The etymology is obvious. 
 
 Slippy-Noose. A running knot; a slip knot. Connecticut. 
 
 Slip-Slops. Old shoes turned down at the heel. Southern. 
 
 The term is probably English ; at all events, a loose shoe or 
 slipper is called a slip-shoe in Norfolk. 
 
 To slip up. To make a mistake. 
 
 Sliver. A piece of any substance, as wood torn or split off. This 
 word is, in this country, commonly pronounced sliver; but the Eng- 
 lish orthoepists all pronounce it sliver. — Worcester. 
 
 In New England, this word is used as a verb as well as a noun. 
 
 As there was nothin' else to get hold of, I just slivered a great big bit off the 
 leg of the chair, and made a tooth-pick of it. — Sam Slick in England. 
 
 2. A term in constant use among the Gloucester fishermen, 
 meaning a bait made from small fishes. Slivers for fishermen's 
 use are now bought and sold, and charged in account books, as a 
 part of the expenses of a vessel's outfit. In Newfoundland, they are 
 called kihlings. 
 
 To let sliver. To let slip, let fly, i. e. to fire. 
 
 Old Yelp smelled the bar; and, as soon as I clapped peeper on him, I let sliver^ 
 when the varmint dropped. — Robb, Squatter Life. 
 
 Sloo. A slough. See Slue. 
 
 The excessively high-water divided us as a congregation. The water in the 
 sloo, as every run or wet place is called at the West, . . . overflowed our 
 causeway. 
 
 Sloonly. Ill or slovenly dressed. 
 
 Slope. A running away, elopement, escape. 
 
 Now Sol Wheelwright, I regret to say, was a rowdy. 
 Who played all-fours, and kept late hours at the grog-shop, 
 And, forgetting his debts and the girl he had just got engaged to. 
 He left Mudfog, made a slope, and went off to Texas. 
 
 Ballad of Blouzelinda. 
 
 To slope. To run away. A common vulgarism. 
 
 As the officers approached, some hid themselves in their ovens, some under their 
 beds ; but a majority sloped without hats, shoes, or coats. — N. Y. Com. Adv.^ 
 Nov. 3, 1845. 
 
 39 
 
610 
 
 SLO 
 
 The editor of the "Eagle" cannot pay his board bill, and fears are entertained 
 that he will s%>e without liquidating the debt. — Robb^ Squatter Life. 
 
 The constables appeared with attachments; each person interested foized his 
 own goods, while the master and clerk sloj)er2 to parts unknown. — Baltimore 
 Patriot, July 10, 1846. 
 
 The instant an English mob sees two dragoons coming, they jist run like a 
 flock of sheep afore a couple of bull-dogs, and slope off, properly skeered. — Sam 
 Slick in Enyland, ch. 27. 
 
 Ducange Anglicanus defines " to slope," not to be forthcoming. 
 He sloped; i. 6., he went off. — Glosmry of the Vulgar Tongue. 
 
 Many a night from yonder ivied casement, ere I went to rest, 
 Did I look on great Orion sloping slowly to the West. 
 
 Tennyson, Locksley Hall. 
 To slop over. To be too demonstrative ; to make a mistake (par- 
 ticularly from excess of emotion). " B completely slopped over 
 
 in his late speech in Congress." "George AVashington never 
 slopped over.'' ^ — Artemas Ward. 
 Slosh. Sludge. See Slush. 
 
 Sloshing about. Slashing. A Western term, which is said to have 
 been thus explained by a witness who was testifying in court rela- 
 tive to a row : — 
 
 " Come, witness, what had Mr. Saltonstall to do with the affair V " 
 
 "Well, I've told you, they clinched and paired off, but Saltonstall he jest 
 kept sloshin'' about. ''^ 
 
 " That isn't legal evidence, my good fellow, in the shape you put it. Tell us 
 what you mean by sloshin^ about.' ^ 
 
 " I '11 try," answered the witness. " You see Brewer and Sykes clinched and 
 fout. That 's in a legal form, ain't it ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " said the judge : " go on." 
 
 " Abnev and Blackman then pitched into one another, and Blackman bit off a 
 piece of Abney's lip, — that 's legal too, ain't it V " 
 " Proceed ! " 
 
 " Simpson, and Bill Stones, and Murry was all together on the ground, a 
 bitin', gougin', and kickin' one another, — that 's legal too, is it ? " 
 "Very! but go on." 
 
 " And Saltonstall made it his business to walk backward and forward through 
 the crowd, with a big stick in his hand, and knock down every loose man in the 
 crowd. That's what I call sloshin'' about.'' — Cairo {Illinois) Times, Nov., 1854. 
 
 Sloshing around. Like the foregoing. A Western term, conveying 
 the same meaning. 
 
 Why, how you talk ! Flow could their [the witches'] charms Avork till mid- 
 night V— and then it's Sundav. Devils don't slosh around umch of a Sunday. 
 Mark Tivain, Tom Sawyer, p. 67. 
 
 The " New York Tribune," Feb. 21, 1877, in discussing the pro- 
 ceedings in the House of Representatives on the electoral votes, 
 says : — 
 
SLO— SLU 
 
 611 
 
 Speaker Kandall hammered too much on the Democratic side, tore through too 
 many rules to get a decision favorable to his party, paid too little deference to 
 the minority. . . . Washington despatches report his almost certain defeat for 
 Speaker of the next Congress. Let the epitaph be, — "Died of sloshing around.^'' 
 
 Slouch. No slouch. "He's no slouch at a picture ;" {. e, he's an 
 excellent artist. 
 
 Slough-Grass. A coarse grass growing in sloughs or wet places. 
 
 The old gentleman wadded the long slough-grass, their only fuel, into small 
 bundles for the stove. — Home Missionary, Lett, from Nebraska. 
 
 Slue. A slough. See Sloo. 
 
 The Ohio has seldom been so high here as now. All the creeks and slues 
 above and below are full. — Lett, from Illinois, N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Sluice. In California, Colorado, and other mining districts, a wooden 
 trough about fifteen inches wide, and ten or twelve deep, of various 
 lengths, used for washing out "pay-dirt." A ground-sluice is a 
 trough in the ground. A tail-sluice is a sluice below other sluices 
 through which the earth and water passes. A sluice-hoic is a box 
 placed at the lower end of the sluice to catch the gold. 
 
 To sluice. A term used by gold-miners. Sluicing is the process of 
 separating gold from earth, through a wooden trough, into which a 
 stream of water is turned. See Ground- Sluicing. 
 
 To sluice off. To divert; to lay aside. 
 
 Something of present earning must thus be sluiced off, to repair the poverty of 
 the past. — The Congregationalist, June 3, 1862. 
 
 Slump. A favorite dish in New England, called an apple-slump, is 
 made by placing raised bread or dough around the sides of an iron 
 pot, which is then filled with apples and sweetened with molasses. 
 It is also called Apple Jonathan, Apple Pot-pie, or Pandowdy; and, 
 in Pennsylvania, an Apple Cobbler. 
 
 To slump. To sink in mire. — Jamieson. To sink in the snow or 
 break through ice. Provincial in the former sense in England. 
 
 By the side of yon river he sleeps and he shimps. 
 His boots filled with water as if there were pumps. 
 
 0. W. Holmes. 
 
 Slumpy. Marshy, swampy. — Jamieson, Scottish Die. In New Eng- 
 land and Canada, applied to wet, loose snow. The word is not in 
 the English dictionaries in any sense. 
 
 The softening of the great body of snow renders the roads slumjjy and full of 
 •* Thank-\'e-ma'ams," so that sleighing is not altogether a blissful experience 
 just now. — Providence Journal, Lett, from Maine. 
 
 Slung-Shot. An offensive weapon formed of two leaden or iron bul- 
 lets fastened together by a piece of rope five or six inches long. 
 
612 
 
 SLU— SMA 
 
 One bullet is held in the hand, while the other hangs outside by the 
 rope, which passes between the second and third fingers. A blow 
 from it on the head will fell the strongest man. It is also called a 
 Billy. 
 
 About eight o'clock in the evening, two men entered the store of C. J. Jansen 
 & Co., and, professing to be purchasers, asked to see some blankets. Mr. Jan- 
 sen, Avho was alone in the store, was in the act of producing the articles, when 
 he was violently struck with a slunc/shot, and fell insensible on the floor. — 
 Annals of' San Francisco, p. 314. 
 
 Slunk. Produced immaturely, as the young of a beast; slink. This 
 form of the word is also used in the eastern counties of England. 
 
 A butcher in Cincinnati was arrested for killing a dog, dressing it like mutton, 
 and offering it for sale. Two witnesses testified before the court that they had 
 known the prisoner to purchase a slunh calf, three days old, and offer its meat for 
 sale. — Newspaper. 
 
 Slut. (Du. slet, an old clout or rag.) A substitute for a lamp or can- 
 dle, which is thus described: " The kerosene was all gone, and, bein' 
 out of candles, I made what they call a slut, which is a button tied 
 up in a rag, and put into a saucer of lard ; you set fire to the rag, and 
 it makes a light that is better than no light at all, jest as a slut is 
 better than no woman at all." — Betsy Bobbet, p. 50. 
 
 To smack. To slap the face. South-western. 
 
 Small Potatoes. An epithet applied to persons or things, and signi- 
 fying petty, mean, contemptible; as, " He is very small potatoes.''^ 
 Small potatoes, except for the feeding of hogs and cattle, are worth- 
 less; hence the expression as applied to men. It is sometimes put 
 into the more emphatic form of small potatoes, and few in a hill. Far- 
 ther intensified by adding, " The hills a good loay apart, — and a 
 great way to go to dig them.^' 
 
 It's small potatoes for a man-of-war to be hunting poor game like us little fore- 
 and-aft vessels. — Sain Slick, Nature and Human Nature, p. 38. 
 
 I took to attendin' Baptist meetin' ; because the Presbyterian minister here is 
 such small potatoes that't wan't edifying to sit under his preachin'. — Widow 
 Bedott Papers, p. 188. 
 
 Give me an honest old soldier for the Presidency, — whether a Whig or Demo- 
 crat, — and I will leave your small potato politicians and pettifogging lawyers to 
 those who are willing to submit the destiny of this great nation to such hands. — 
 N. Y. Herald, Dec. 13, 1846. 
 
 Smart. 1. Qitick, active; keen, shrewd, intelligent. Ex.: "That's 
 a smart lively lad of yours; " " He is a smart business man." These 
 are the senses in which the word is most commonly used in this 
 country ; while in England it now usually has the meaning of showy 
 or witty. 
 
SMA 
 
 613 
 
 I say, stranger, that 's a powerful smart-look'mg cliunk of a pony you 've got 
 atwixt your legs thar; but ponies is mighty onsartin. — A Stray Yankee in Texas. 
 New Haven, with its shady elms, 
 
 And Hartford, Avith its charter, — 
 Connecticut, my native State! — 
 Say, can you find a smarter? — AUin, Home Ballads. 
 I expect we free-born Americans is the smartest people under the sun; we do 
 know a heap, — that is, some on us, — but we might know a cord more, ef we warn't 
 too powerful smart to learn. — iV^. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 2. In the South and West, the word is frequently used (as it also 
 is in the east of England) in the sense of considerable; and espe- 
 cially in such phrases as "right smart,^^ " .smar^ chance," '■'■smart 
 sprinkle," &c. 
 
 The invariable answer of a Negro to the questions, " How much? " 
 " How many? " &c., is, " Right smart," and it is difficult at times to 
 get a more definite reply. 
 Smart Chance. 1. A good opportunity; a fair chance. A vulgar 
 expression. 
 
 He has a smart chance of getting a better character. — Sam Slick in England, 
 ch. 9. 
 
 Says I, " Friend Wolfe," for I seed there was a smart chance of a row, "play 
 I won't." — 5. Slick, 3d Ser., p. 117. 
 
 2. A good deal; a large quantity. A smart chance oi anything 
 means a considerable quantity; quite a smart chance, or a right smart 
 chance, means more; and a mighty smart chance is the superlative, 
 and means a very large quantity. These singular expressions, 
 used in the Southern and Western States, are never heard in the 
 Eastern. Right smart is often used alone; as, " We have had fine 
 weather this season, and I've right smart of peaches," or right 
 smart peaches." 
 
 "There's a. smart chance o( cigars there in the bar, stranger, if you'll try 
 some of them," said one of the hoosiers. — Hoffman, Winter in the West. 
 
 We had a smart chance " of snow on Thursday; it fell during the day to the 
 depth of two inches, which makes a considerable snow-storm in this part of the 
 world. — Wilmington, N. C., Commercial, Dec. 10. 
 
 I thought of the new wagon that we wanted, and such a smart chance of other 
 things about the farm. — Simms, The Wigwam and Cabin, p. 85. 
 
 How is the old woman and the boys ? 
 
 Considerable sassy, only thar 's been a smart chance of ague down in our neck 
 of the woods. — A Stray Yankee in Texas. 
 
 I don't pretend to say, stranger, what sort of cattle you have m your country; 
 but I reckon there 's a right smart chance of self-conceit among you Yankees. — 
 Letter from the South, N. Y. Journ. of Com. 
 
 A correspondent of the " New York Evening Post," in giving the 
 peculiarities of diction prevalent near Galena, in Illinois, says: — 
 
614 
 
 SMA— SME 
 
 If you should go into the house where the ladies are making a fine quilt, and 
 say to them, " Ladies, you are making a fine quilt," they would reply, "Yes, but 
 it takes a heap of truck and riyht smart thread." 
 
 Smart EUicks. Stupid fellows who think themselves smart. South- 
 western. 
 
 Smartness. Shrewdness; keenness in a trade. 
 
 It is a great error to suppose that the New England States continue to deserve 
 their character for ''■smartness."' Their day is past. Wooden nutmegs and bass- 
 wood hams were well eno4igh some years ago; but that sort of business at best 
 was beneath the dignity of rascals who "go in " for their hundreds of thousands, 
 and whose operations ruin households instead of merely giving them indigestioa. 
 The keen fellows now live in the West. — N. Y. Herald, Sept. 11, 1857. 
 
 Smart Piece. A good bit; a considerable time. 
 
 The first time, stranger, that I ever see Charle}' Birkham was a smart piece 
 ago, — nigh on to a year or so arter I left up thar in Tennessee, whar I was raised. 
 N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 Smart Sprinkle. A good deal ; a good many. Used in the interior 
 of the Western States. 
 
 In answer to some query about snakes, our landlord said there was a smart 
 sprinkle of rattlesnakes on Red Run, and a powerful nice day to sun themselves. 
 Carlton, The New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 85. 
 
 I hadn't sot more 'n a minit when I heerd a snort, and a roar, and a growl, and 
 a right smart sprinMin' of fast travellin', all mixed up together. — Western Tale, 
 Smoking a Grizzly Bear. 
 
 It is too late for me to commence plainin' my language, though I once had a 
 pretty smart sprinkVai' of larnin' ; but I have always thought when I was young 
 I collapsed a flue, and a right smart chance of it leaked out. — Tale of the Berk- 
 shire Pig. 
 
 Smasher. A low word denoting any thing very large or grand of the 
 kind. It is of English origin. 
 
 Put up your benefit for that night; and if you don't have a smasher, with at 
 least six wreaths, say I don't understand managing the theatres. — Field, Drama 
 at Pokerville. 
 
 Them 's the right kind o' parties, where there are married folks and young 
 folks together. Mrs. Knight is going to give such a one a regular smasher, and 
 she 's able to do it. — Widow Bedott Pajyers. 
 
 Smear. Food; hash; grub, especially a society spread or supper. 
 
 Smear Case. (Dutch, smeer-kaaff.) A preparation of milk made to 
 be spread on bread, whence its name; otherwise called Cottage- 
 cheese. In New York, it is called Pot-cheese. 
 
 Smellage. The plant lovage. (^Ligusticum levisticum.) Connecticut. 
 
 Smelling-Committee. Persons appointed to conduct an unpopular 
 investigation. The phrase originated in the examination of a con- 
 vent in Massachusetts by legislative order. 
 
SMI— SMU 
 
 615 
 
 Smile. A drink, dram. A cant word. 
 
 A sturdy young German, with a buxom lass of recent importation, called upon 
 an alderman to be married. . . . When the ceremony had been performed, the 
 alderman smiled upon the twain; and thereupon the "crowd" was invited into 
 the Fifth Ward Hotel, and one general smile entirely absorbed the fee. — iV. Y. 
 Tribune, Jan 31, 1855. 
 
 Smiling. Drinking, tippling. 
 
 A writer from the White Sulphur Springs says : — 
 
 Last night, a young man here was borne to another world on the wings of 
 spirits, — that is died of mania-a-potu. Another impetuous youth is said to have 
 dosed himself with too much morphine, through the effects of too much love or 
 folly. They say, too, he is dead. There are many more fast boys about, — some 
 devoted to the sex, some to horses, some to "s»w7mr/," and some to " the tiger." 
 (.Bait.) Sun, Aug. 23, 1858. 
 
 Smoke-Stack. The iron chimney or smoke-pipe of a steamboat. 
 Thus John Hay, after describing an explosion and the escape of the 
 passengers, says: — 
 
 Sure as you 're born, they all got off, 
 Afore the smohe-stacks fell. 
 
 Jim Bludsoe of the Prairie Belle. 
 
 Smoke the Pipe of Peace. An expression of the Indians, indicating 
 friendly relations; a ceremony preparatory to making a treaty of 
 peace. 
 
 To our great King your gifts we will convey, 
 And let him know the Talk we 've had with you; 
 We 're griev'd we cannot smoke the Pipe of Peace, 
 And part with stronger proofs of Love and Friendship. 
 
 Robert Rogers, Ponteac, A Tragedy (1766), p. -25. 
 He says he came to smoke the pipe of peace with the Onondagas ; but I see he 
 came to knock them in the head, if his Frenchmen were not too weak to fight. 
 Speech of an Iroquois Chief to La Barre, Parkman's Count Frontenac, p. 108. 
 Let him sport his hound and hickorj--, 
 
 Let him whiff the weed of peace. 
 Olden Oakwood, live for ever! 
 
 May thy fame with years increase ! 
 Win. Boyd, Oakwood Old, a Colored Quillograph, Cambridge (Mass.) Chronicle, 1857. 
 
 Smooth. A meadow, or grass field. 
 
 Get some plantain and dandelion on the smooth for greens. 
 To smouch. To gouge; to take unfair advantage 
 New York. 
 
 To smouze. To demolish, as with a blow. Used in Ohio. 
 
 Smudge. A heap of damp combustibles placed on the windward side 
 of the house and partially ignited, that the inky steam may smother 
 or drive away mosquitoes. It is a north of England word. 
 
 — Mnrgnret. 
 
 . Colloquial in 
 
616 
 
 SNA 
 
 We had taken about ten pounds of trout; and the first procedure, after reach- 
 ing the camj), was to buUd a srnudf/e or smoke-fire, to drive away these abomina- 
 ble gnats, wlio fortunately take lliglit with the first wliiff of smolse. — N. Y. 
 Couritr and Knquirei'. 
 
 I have liad a stnudrje made in a chafing dish at m}' bedside, after a serious 
 deliberation between choking and being devoured at small mouthfuls; and I 
 conscientiously recommend choking. — Afrs. Cldvers's Fairest Life. 
 Snabby, or Snab. Stylish; tasteful; good-looking. A college word. 
 Snag. A tree having its roots fastened in the bottom of a river; or a 
 branch of a tree thus fastened. These are common in the Missis- 
 sii^pi and Missomd Rivers, and frequently destroy steamboats which 
 come in contact with them, by piercing their bov/s or sides. The 
 word itself is not a new one, and is defined by Johnson as " a jag 
 or sharp protuberance." 
 
 Thar war jest light enough as we floated down the Missouri to tell that snafjs 
 war plenty, and jest enough corn-juice inside to make a fellar not care a cuss for 
 them. — The Americans at Home, Vol. I. p. 278. 
 
 To snag. To run against a snag or projecting branch of a sunken 
 tree. 
 
 Drove a pretty fair business last year; only sunk one broad-horn, and that war 
 snagged in the Mississippi. — Ben Wilson'' s Jug Race. 
 
 Snag-Boat. A steamboat fitted with apparatus for removing snags or 
 
 other obstructions to navigation, in rivers. — Simmonds. 
 To snake. 1. To crawl like a snake. A common expression at the 
 West. The following illustration of the use of this term is from a 
 Western newspaper : — 
 
 In Iowa, as in other new countries, the duties of a judge often begin before a 
 court-house or place of shelter has been provided. Not long since, Judge Wil- 
 liams was obliged to hold his first court beneath the shade of a large tree, where 
 logs were rolled up for seats, a larger one being provided for the Judge. The 
 clerk used a shingle on his knee for a desk ; and the jury, after being charged by 
 the judge, were sent in care of a sheriff to a hollow or ravine, where they could 
 sit in conclave beyond the view of the court or spectators. 
 
 The grass grew very tall in the neighborhood, and the jurymen lay down in a 
 ring in the grass, where they could more perfectly exclude themselves from 
 observation. The jury had not been long in their quarters, when a tall, raw- 
 boned fellow rose up and addressed the Judge as follows: — 
 
 "May it please your honor, I wish to speak to you." "Order, sir; what is 
 it'? " "Judge," continued he, with the utmost gravity, "is it right for fellows 
 to snake in the grass '? " " How V what is that, sir ? " " Why, you see," said 
 the Yankee, "ther's some fellows who 's tarnal 'fraid the Grand Jury will find 
 something agin 'em, which they desarve ; and they are snaking up to the Grand 
 Jury on their bellies in the grass, kind of trying to hear what the jury are talking 
 about." "No," responded the judge, with as much gravity as he could com- 
 mand, " I do not allow of snaking. Here, Mr. Sheriff, go station a guard around 
 each jury's hollow ; and if, a man is found ^ snaking,^ have him brought before 
 me, and I will cause him to be punished." 
 
SNA 
 
 617 
 
 But while I drink'd the peaceful cup of a pure heart and mind 
 
 (Mixed with some whisker, now and then), Pomp he snaked up behind, 
 
 And, creepin' gradually close to, as sly as any mink, 
 
 Jest grabbed my leg, and then pulled foot quicker than you could wink. 
 
 J. R. Lowell, Biglow Pajjers. 
 
 2. To beat; to thrash. Southern. 
 
 Any gal like me, what can take a bag of meal on her shoulder and tote it to 
 mill, ought to be able to snake any man of her heft. — Southern Sketches, p. 120. 
 
 Snake-Doctors. Dragon flies. South-western. 
 
 Snake-Fence. A zig-zag fence built up of split rails; common in all 
 newly settled districts where w^ood abounds. Also called a Virginia 
 fence. 
 
 Snake-Head. An object of dread to travellers on the early railways. 
 It consisted of the end of a flat iron rail, which was sometimes 
 thrown up in front of the car-wheels, and passed through the cars. 
 Serious accidents have been caused by them. This species of rail, 
 however, is no longer used, except for temporary purposes. 
 
 The road to Petersburg consists of an iron strap laid upon pine timbers, and is 
 beautifully diversified with that peculiar, half-horizontal, vibrating rail, known 
 as ^'■snake's head.'''' Frequently, during our short ride, an iron snake would strike 
 his heavy /lea-^^ against the iron fenders of our car; and then, as we rolled on 
 unharmed, he would shake himself as if in wrath, awaiting another opportunity 
 for vengeance. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 To snake in. To take in ; to draw in. 
 
 They had a tough subject in the inquiry-room [in Boston] this week. Moody 
 wrestled with him. and San key sang with him, but the man seemed to despair 
 of forgiveness. Finally, Moody asked him what heavy sin burdened his mind, 
 and he confessed to having beat a newspapei' publisher out of three years' sub- 
 scription. The evangelist informed him that they did not profess to perform 
 miracles; but if he would settle up his dues, with compound interest, and pay for 
 three years more in advance, although they could not open the doors of the 
 church to him, perhaps he might be snaked in under the canvas. — Boston Bulle- 
 tin, Feb., 1877. 
 
 To snake out. To drag out; to haul out, as a snake from its hole. 
 A farmer, in clearing land, attaches a chain to a stump or log, 
 whereby to draw it out; this he calls snaking it out. Major Down- 
 ing says, in speaking of a person who fell into the river: — 
 
 We snaked him out of that scrape as slick as a whistle. — Letters, p. 14. 
 
 I went down again, and found the cow as dead as a herrin'. We skinned her, 
 and snaked her out of the barn upon the snow. — Boston Daily Advertiser, March, 
 1848. 
 
 Snake-Rail. A rail occasioning snake-heads; a train-rail. 
 
 The Winchester Railroad was built many A-ears ago with the snake-rail, the 
 ends of a large number of which, having become unfastened, spring up and down 
 whenever a train passes. — Winchester Cor. N. Y. Tribune. 
 
618 
 
 SNA 
 
 Snake-Root. Many plants have obtained a reputation as cures for 
 the poison of the rattlesnake; and, while none of them have retained 
 their character in this respect, the really active properties which 
 brought them into notice have obtained for some of them a place in 
 our JNIateria Medica. Among the best known and most important 
 are Black snake-root {Cimicifuga racernosa), Virginia snake-root 
 (Aristolochia serpentaria), and Seneca snake-root (Poly gala senega). 
 Other species of these genera are sometimes known as snake-roots. 
 
 Snap. 1. Applied to the weather; as, "A cold snap,^^ i. e. a period 
 of sudden cold weather. A common expression. 
 
 Even the cold snaps as well as the threatened storms have turned into genial 
 breezes and bright sunshine. — Providence Journal. 
 
 2. Energy; smartness. " There 's no snap in him; " i. e., he has 
 no energy, no spirit. 
 
 Snap, adj. Rapid, quick, off-hand. "A snap judgment," snap 
 bargain." 
 
 Snap-Beans or Snaps. See Bush-Bean. 
 Snapneck. A New Jersey name for Apple-brandy. 
 Snapped. Drunk. Used at thg South. 
 
 I like to forgot to tell you 'bout Cousin Pete. He got snapt on egg-nog when 
 he heard of my engagement. — Major Jones's Courtship, p. 102. 
 
 Snapping Turtle. (Genus Chelonura.) A reptile common to all 
 parts of the United States, so named from its propensity to snap at 
 every thing withJn its reach. 
 
 A member observed, who in speeches was fertile, 
 They handled the knight like a vile snapping turtle. 
 
 House of Wisdom in a Bustle (1798), p. 21. 
 
 Snarl. 1. A quarrel; an angry contest. Provincial in England, and 
 colloquial in the United States. — Worcester. 
 
 This gallant officer and estimable man [Sir John Harvey] has been transferred 
 from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland, where Lord Falkland had got into a snarl. 
 Com. Adv., April 1, 1846. 
 
 The members of the House of Representatives got themselves into a most 
 admirable snarl on Saturday afternoon, by their proceedings in reference to the 
 recent case of resistance to the serving of a habeas corpus writ. — Boston TraV' 
 eller, Feb. 12. 
 
 2. A brood ; a tribe. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Scrantum, having expressed a wish to withdraw 
 from his parish in consequence of the insufficiency of his salaiy, 
 which was four hundred dollars a year with a " donation party," 
 one of his miserly parishioners said : — 
 
SNA— SNI 
 
 619 
 
 He hoped Mr. Scrantum's request would be granted; that for his part he'd 
 long been of opinion they 'd ought to have a cheaper minister, and one that hadn't 
 such a snarl of young ones. — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 270. 
 
 Snatched. " Don't be snatched ; " i. e. , do not be in too great a hurry. 
 South-western. 
 
 Sneaking Notion. 1. To have a sneaking notion for a lady is to have 
 a timid or concealed alfection for her. 
 
 Well, I always used to have a sort of a sneakin' notion for Mary Stallins. — 
 Major Jones's Courtship, p. 11. 
 
 I e'en a'most made up my mind to break the ice to Hannah Downer, and tell 
 her I shouldn't wonder if I had a meaJcin' notion arter her, — then I should ha' 
 been reglar courtin' in less than a month. — Traits of American Humor, Vol. H. 
 
 2. An idea; an indefinite opinion, rough guess; a half conception. 
 
 An army such as me would fright the devil, — 
 
 What are ye giggling at ? Can't ye be civil ? 
 
 There, — that 's well done ; now I 've a sneaking notion — 
 
 When I get hum — I '11 git some grand promotion. 
 
 D. IIumph7-eys, The Yankee in England, p. 102, 
 
 To be sneezed at. Used with reference to magnitude. A thing that 
 is not to be sneezed at is not to be despised 
 
 My knowledge of horse-flesh ainH to^be sneezed at. I buy a horse for fifty 
 dollars, and sell him for two hundred ; that 's skill, — it ain't cheat. — Sam Slick, 
 Human Nature, p. 173. 
 
 Sneezer. A dashing, thorough-going fellow. Allusive to a horse's 
 snorting. 
 
 It 's awful to hear a minister swear; and the only match I know for it is to 
 hear a regular sneezer of a sinner quote Scripture. — Sam Slick. 
 
 Snell. See Leader. 
 
 Snifter. A dram of alcoholic liquor. 
 
 A young man at the dinner of a distinguished statesman, having 
 refused a glass of wine, was complimented on the picture of moral 
 grandeur he had shown in so doing: — 
 "Not a single glass ? " asked the host. 
 
 *'No," said the excellent young man, "I never drink wine; but, if you have 
 got a little good old rye whiskey, I don't mind taking a snifter.'''' 
 
 Snipe. In Wall Street slang, a curbstone broker. 
 
 Solid brokers are wont to scoffingly declare that [the Open Board] represents 
 some hundred millions of defunct capital, its members being mainly street bank- 
 rupts who have lost credit by unfortunate speculations. They nre simply snij^es 
 and lame ducks. — Medbery, Men and Mysteries of Wall Street, p. 131. 
 
 Snipe-Bill. (Pron. snihill.) The iron bolt which connects the body of 
 a cart or other two-wheeled vehicle with the axle. Rhode Island. 
 
620 
 
 SNI— SNU 
 
 Snippy. Finical; and, substantively, a finical person. A woman's 
 word. In the South, they use the word sniptious. See Nipping. 
 
 To snoop. (Dutch, snoepen.) To clandestinely eat dainties or other 
 victuals which have been put aside. A servant who goes slyly into 
 a dairy-room and drinks milk from a pan, or a child who makes 
 free with the preserves in the cupboard, is said to be snooping. 
 The term is peculiar to New York. 
 
 Snooser. A thief who follows the business of robbing the boarders 
 at hotels. He takes board and lodgings, and endeavors to share a 
 room and become familiar with some country merchant; after which, 
 by various tricks, he succeeds in robbing him. The police reports 
 of New York exhibit frequent cases of this system of depredation. 
 
 Snore. (Dutch, snoer, a string.) A string with a button on one end 
 to spin a top with. This term is retained by the boys of New 
 York. 
 
 To snore. / snore ! is one of the many euphemistic oaths used in 
 New England. 
 
 A countryman, discussing the " Stamp Act" of which he had 
 just heard, says: — , 
 
 I vow, I swamp, I swear, I snoi'e, 
 I never heard the like before. 
 
 Moving Times and No Friends (1750), p. 4. 
 
 I hain't lived in the woods to be skeered at owls, / snore. — Margaret. 
 
 To snort. To laugh outright. — BrocketVs Glossarg. Used in low 
 language in New England. 
 
 We all snorted and snickered. — Major Downinf/s Letters, p. 15. 
 Snorter. 1. A dashing, riotous fellow. A vulgar Western term. 
 
 "I'm a roaring earthquake in a fight," sung out one of the half-horse, half- 
 alligator sort of fellows, " a real snorter of the universe. I can strike as hard as 
 fourth -proof lightning, and keep it up, rough and tumble, as long as a wild-cat." 
 Thorpe's Backwoods, p. 183. 
 
 2. A gale of wind. 
 
 The skipper said, after we have had our grub, we must make all snug, for we 're 
 going to have a snorter. — The Cape Ann Fisherman. 
 
 3. The edge pieces of tortoise-shell, called also toe-nails or nails. 
 Snowball. A jeering appellation for a Negro. 
 
 Snow-bound. Obstructed, hindered, delayed by snow. 
 
 Snub up. An expression used by canal-boatmen, meaning "to tie 
 up " their boats. 
 
SNU— SOA 
 
 621 
 
 A man came rushing from a house, 
 
 Saying, " Snub up yom boat, I pray, 
 Snub up your boat, snub up, alas, 
 Snub up while yet you may." 
 
 Mark Twain, Roughing It, p. 369. 
 Snucks. To go sniicks, to share equally. 
 
 Snuff-Dipper. One who makes a practice of chewing snuff. See To 
 
 dip Snuff. 
 
 Snuff-Taker. {Melanetta velvetina.} The coot or white wing. So 
 called, perhaps, from the bright red of the bill near the nostril. 
 Connecticut. 
 
 Snug. A projection or shoulder against which a piece fits, in 
 machinery. 
 
 To snug. To conceal from the owner; to purloin. English boys use 
 the word smug in a similar sense. 
 
 I 'cl rather starve than make money in any low way. I 'd stuff watches, drop 
 pocket-books, or do any thing in the genteel way, but I 'd never condescend to 
 snug dogs. — A Glance at New York. 
 
 I snum ! A New England euphemism for / swear ! 
 
 The Yankee boy, with staring eyes, 
 
 When first the elephant he espies. 
 
 With wonder snums, and swons, and cries, 
 
 " By golly ! " — Home Journal. 
 
 So is often used for such. An old form of speech, which may now be 
 considered antiquated. 
 
 Professor W , who has acquired so high distinction in teaching the elements 
 
 of music and singing. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Soak. A carousal; thorough drunkenness. In England, as well as 
 in the United States, a "soaker" is an habitual drunkard. 
 
 When reciprocatmg a treat with comrades, they take a less quantity at a time 
 than is taken at the North. . . . When a Southron intends to have a soak, he 
 takes the bottle to his bedside, goes to bed, and lies there till he gets drunk, and 
 becomes sober, when he gets up. — Parsons' s Tour among the Planters. 
 
 Soak, Soaker. An old soak or soaker is an habitual drunkard. 
 
 To soak. To bake thoroughly. It is particularly applied to bread, 
 which, to be good, must be macerated, as it were, in the caloric of 
 the oven. If it be dough-baked, the complaint is that it has not 
 been sufficiently soaked. — Hollo wag. This word is used in tlie same 
 sense in New England. 
 
 Soap-Berry. (Sapindus marginntus.) A tree growing along the coast 
 of Georgia, Florida, and Texas, bearing hard black nuts, which 
 are strung for beads and crosses. 
 
622 
 
 SOA— SOC 
 
 Soap-Lock. A lock of hair made to lie smooth by soaping it. Hence, 
 also, a name given to a low set of fellows who lounge about the 
 markets, engine-houses, and wharves of New York, and are always 
 ready to engage in midnight broils. It is, in fact, but another 
 name for a Rowdy or Loafer. The name comes from their wearing 
 long side-locks, which they are said to smear with soap, in order to 
 give them a sleek appearance. 
 
 The way my last letter has cradled off the soap-locks^ and imperials, and goat- 
 knots, and musty shows, is truly alarming. — Major Jones's Coui-tshlp. 
 
 Soap-Plant. (Chlorogalum pomeridianum.) A plant common in 
 California and Xew Mexico, where it is called amole, and which, 
 w^hen pounded and broken, answers the purposes of soap. Besides 
 its detergent quality, the leaves are used for making mats for saddle- 
 cloths. 
 
 After leaving the creek, we passed a barren rolling prairie with scanty herbage, 
 and covered with the palmilla or soap-plant. — Buxton's Adv. in Mexico, p. 217. 
 
 Scary. Inclined to soar; taking high views ; imaginative. 
 
 The newspaper correspondents from Western Virginia are a very soa^'ij or a 
 very hoaxy set of fellows. — Pittsburg Democrat. 
 
 Sobbed. Soaked; wet. Applied to lands. An English word, though 
 little used. 
 
 The high lands are sobbed and boggy. — Lett, from Charleston, N. Y. Herald. 
 
 Socdolager. This strange word is probably a perversion in spelling 
 and pronunciation of doxology, a stanza sung at the close of religious 
 services, and as a signal of dismissal. Hence, a socdolager is a con- 
 clusive argument ; the winding up of a debate ; a settler ; and figura- 
 tively, in a contest, a heavy blow, which shall bring it to a close. 
 The term is also applied to a patent fish-hook, having two hooks 
 which close upon each other by means of a spring as soon as the 
 fish bites, thereby securing its victim. 
 
 In his remarks on an excellent move at a game of chess, the editor 
 of the " N. Y. Spirit of the Times " observes: — 
 
 This is a socdolager; there is not even temporary relief to be obtained; the 
 manner in which the game is now brought to a conclusion is certainly neat. 
 
 I gave the fellow a socdolager over his head Avith the barrel of my gun, when 
 he sot off as if the devil had kick'd him on eend. — Crockett's Bear-Hunt. 
 
 Oh ! I forgot to tell you that in the fight, as I aimed a socdolager at the fellow, 
 he ducked his head, and, hitting him awkwardly, I sprained my wrist. — Colonel 
 Jones's Fight, A Kentucky Story. 
 
 This word has been adopted in England, and, not understanding 
 it in the least, it is written slogdollager, from the vulgar slog, to hit 
 out hard 
 
SOC— SOD 
 
 623 
 
 Up, niggers ! slash, smash, sack, and smite, 
 
 Slogdollagize^ and slay 'em : 
 Them Southern skunks ain't much to tight, 
 
 So at 'em, darn 'em ! flay 'em ! 
 
 [London] Punch, Jonathan's Appeal to Sambo, Aug., 1862. 
 
 Sociable. 1. A name sometimes applied to a sofa. 
 
 2. A gathering of people for sociable purposes. New England. 
 
 Notice. — A Sociable will be given at Camp's Hall, on Monday evening. — 
 Winstead (Conn.) Herald. 
 
 One of the sociables of the Soldiers' Aid Society was held in Camp'a Hall, on 
 Monday evening. — Litchjield Enquirer. 
 
 Socialistic. Appertaining to the principles of socialism. 
 
 And now let us briefly assure the " Courier " that it is greatly, grievously wrong 
 in supposing that we shrink, or falter, or despond with regard to the future of 
 France, in view of the prominence and imminence given to social theories and 
 ideas bv the neAv Revolution. On the contrary, our columns will bear witness 
 that we have, from the hour that the fall of Louis Philippe was known here, to 
 this moment, profoundly rejoiced in the Revolution itself, and more especially 
 in its socialistic aspects and tendencies. — N. Y. Tribune, April 25, 1848. 
 
 Society. 1. In Connecticut, a number of families united and incor- 
 porated for the purpose of supporting public worship is called an 
 ecclesiastical society. This is a parish, except that it often, in recent 
 usage, has not territorial limits. In Massachusetts, such an incorpo- 
 rated society is usually called a "parish," though consisting of 
 persons only, without regard to territory. — Webster. 
 
 2. A small assembly for worship. N'ew Jersey; formerly in New 
 England. 
 
 3. The communicants and catechumens, or " members received 
 on trial" (probationers) by a preacher, &c. Methodist Episc. Ch. 
 Both these applications of the word came from England. — See 
 Hist, of Methodism. 
 
 To sock. To press by a hard blow a man's hat over his head and 
 face. Used in Rhode Island. I have never heard it elsewhere. 
 The New York term is to croiun. In Berkshire, England, to sock 
 is to strike a hard blow. — Wright, Prov. Die. 
 
 In this sense, we sometimes hear the word. Two loafers are 
 fighting: one of the crowd cries out, " Sock it to him." 
 
 Soda. Generally said instead of " soda-water ; " as, " Take a glass of 
 soda. ' ' See A Ikali Desert. 
 
 Soda-Prairie. A plain covered with an efflorescence of soda, else- 
 where called natron. These plains, of great extent, are found in 
 New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. 
 
624 
 
 SOF 
 
 Soft-Corn. Flattery. The more common terms are " soft sawder " 
 and " soft soap," which see. 
 
 I allowed that the old man was pretty green, or he 'd never swalloAved all the 
 soft corn I fed him on. — Major Bunkum, SjnHt of the Times. 
 
 Softliness. Manner of one who moves or works softly; quality of 
 moving, or of that which is done softly. 
 
 The inefficiency and decline of . . . are the natural results of the softliness 
 and pliancy which have characterized it. — Reflections of a Visitor upon the 
 Character of Dr. Emmons, by Rtv. E. A. Park. 
 
 Soft Money. Paper money; greenbacks. In the contest for and 
 against the I'esumption of specie payment (in 1876), the term soft 
 money was applied to the issues of paper, and hard money to those of 
 gold and silver. So, those who would flood the country with paper 
 money wei-e called the soft money party; and the advocates of a re- 
 sumption of specie payments, the hard money party. 
 
 Hendricks, after being defeated by Tilden's organization, was persuaded to 
 take the second place on the [Presidential] ticket: it was from this that Tilden 
 surrendered to his soft money associate. — Providence Journal, Oct. 10, 1876. 
 
 Soft Sawder, i. e. Soft Solder. Flattery; blarney. 
 
 Sam Slick said he trusted to soft sawder to get his wooden clocks into a house, 
 and to human nature that they should never come out again. — Nature and 
 Human Nature, p. 311. 
 
 There 's all sorts of ways of soft sawderin' . Here 's a politician; and, if he 
 don't know how to lay it on thick, it 's a pity. He intends his whitewash shall 
 stick. — Sam Slick, Wise Saws, p. 32. 
 
 To soft sawder. To flatter; to blarney. 
 
 I don't like to be left alone with a gall : it 's plaguy apt to set me a soft sawder- 
 in'' and a courtin'. — Sam Slick in Enyland, p. 19. 
 
 Soft-Shell Crab or Soft Crab. See Shedder Crab. 
 
 Soft-Shell Democrats, Soft-Shells, or Softs. The less conservative 
 
 division of the New York Democrats. See Hardshell Democrats. 
 
 At a Democratic meeting in the County of Orleans, N. Y., in 
 September, 1858, it was: — 
 
 Resolved, — That the terms Hunker, Barnburner, Soft-shell, and Hardshell, 
 have become obsolete, and hereafter we will be known only by the term Demo- 
 crat; and that we will regard all as such who are sound upon national politics, 
 and adhere to the usages of the party. 
 
 Soft Soap. Flattery; blarney. A vulgar phrase, though much used. 
 
 See Soft Sawder. 
 To soft soap. To flatter; to blarney. 
 
 I am tired of this system of placemen soft soaping the people, — telling them 
 
 just before an election what tine, honest, noble, generous fellows they are, and 
 
SOF— SOM 
 
 625 
 
 then, just after election, turning their backs on them. — Jliice Walsh, Speech^ 
 Sept., 1843. 
 
 My popularity with the ladies was amazin'. To see them flattering and soft 
 soaping me all at once, you would have sworn I had nothing to do but pick and 
 choose. — McClintocTc's Tales. 
 
 You don't catch me a slanderin' folks behind their backs, and then soft soapin' 
 them to their faces. — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 308. 
 
 Soft Tiling. Any piece of luck or success. 
 
 Soft Woodlands. A term applied, in ttiQ British Provinces, to the 
 districts or intervals covered with various species of pine-trees. 
 
 Sog. A lethargy. 
 
 Sold. Cheated ; deceived ; taken in. See Sell. 
 An advertiser of American watches says : — 
 
 The foreign watch is made by women and boys by hand, and are irregular in 
 their movement. They are only designed to sell, and the buyer is most thor- 
 ough Ij' sold. — Newspaper. 
 
 So Long. Used in taking leave, like " Good-by." Louisiana. 
 
 Some. 1. Somewhat; something. Ex. : " He is .w/^e better than he 
 was;" "It rains some," &c. Used chiefly by the illiterate. — 
 Pickeringh Vocabulary. 
 
 2. Of some account; considerable; notable; famous. A modern 
 slang use of the word. 
 
 A mere glance would tell the gazer that this gentleman was no ordinary man, 
 either in a physical or mental point of view ; as an ancient Roman poet used ele- 
 gantly to express it, it at once became evident that he was " some." — N. Orleans 
 Delta. 
 
 I do not know whether you have any canebrakes at the North ; but our Georgia 
 canebrakes are some, I can tell you. — Lett, from Georgia, N. Y. Spirit of the 
 Times. 
 
 When a boy, our trapper was '■^ some,'''' he said, with the rifle, and always had 
 a hankering for the West. — Ruxfon, Far West, p. 54. 
 
 We don't remember a closer or severer winter since that in which the old 
 Tribune office burnt down, which was admitted by the oldest inhabitant to be 
 
 some " in the way of cold winters. — N. Y. Tribune, May 15, 1849. 
 
 Hiram Twine was a good specimen of a go-ahead Yankee. He was some on 
 horses, numerous at billiards, immense at ten-pins, and upwards of considerable 
 among the politicians. — Knickerbocker Mag., March, 1856. 
 
 The following upon the Carpet-bagger is from a newspaper: — 
 
 I 'm some on " Constitutions " 
 
 For a late rebellious State ; 
 And I 'm some on persecutions 
 
 Of disloyal men I hate; 
 I 'm some at nigger meetings, 
 
 When white folks ain't about, 
 40 
 
626 
 
 SOM 
 
 And some among the nigger gals, 
 
 When their marms don't know they're out. 
 
 I 'm some on a convention, 
 
 When I draw an "X " per day, 
 And opposed to all adjournments, 
 
 If I only draw my pay. 
 I drew it down at Jackson, 
 
 Where for months I kept my seat, 
 And I laid a heavy tax on 
 
 All ypu wear and drink and eat. 
 
 But now my day is over, 
 
 My Constitution's killed, 
 Again I am a rover, 
 
 And my pockets are not filled. 
 All my money has been spent on 
 
 An electioneering " bum," — 
 Farewell to Mississippi, 
 
 " Oh, I loisli I ivas ttr hum /" 
 
 ome Pumpkins. A term in use at the South and West, in opposi- 
 tion to the equally elegant phrase " small potatoes." The former 
 is applied to any thing large or noble; the latter to any thing small 
 or mean. 
 
 A writer in the " Pennsylvanian," under date of Nov. 15, 1849, 
 thus explains its origin : — 
 
 " I am not aware of the saying being incorporated into any play 
 extant, although it can claim an existence of nearly sixty years. 
 It originated with James Fennell, the celebrated tragedian, who 
 came to this country in the year '92. As the circumstance which 
 gave rise to it is somewhat singular, I take the extract from his 
 life, published in the year 1814, which gave birth to an expression 
 that has now become a part and portion of our polite^ and I may 
 say new, style of conversation. AVhen quite a lad, Fennell, in com- 
 pany with Dr. Mosely, and the celebrated philosopher Mr. Walker, 
 and son, made the tour of France. Speaking of this portion of the 
 journey, the author says: — 
 
 ' I recollect nothing of consequence that took place, till we arrived at the cele- 
 brated city of Rouen. Physic and philosophy had, from their situation in front, 
 a wide share of vision; but young Walker and myself could only look down. 
 Wishing, however, to see all we could, we kept peejnng through our little win- 
 dows. As we were passing, without our [the young ones] knowing it, the famous 
 Cathedral of Rouen, young Walker, peeping through his little square, exclaimed, 
 " Look, Fennell, what immense pumpkins.''' His father, who had been attentively 
 gazing at the building, turned round, exclaiming, " God ! can you be looking at 
 pumpkins, while you are passing such a cathedral as this?" Young Walker 
 observed that he did not know what he was passing, for he could see nothing 
 above the ground.' 
 
SOM— SOO 
 
 627 
 
 "Young Fennell could not resist the temptation of plaguing 
 Walker about the pumpkins; so, whenever they approached a stately 
 building or towering spire, he would invariably exclaim, ' Look, 
 Walter, there are " some pumpkins / " ' It is almost needless to say 
 it became a favorite, if not a common saying, as it is to this day." 
 
 This story is sufficiently circumstantial, and the origin it assigns 
 may be the true one ; yet the stress which is always laid on the 
 " some " in this phrase shows that it has the purely adjectival sense 
 which we have ascribed to the word under number two, whei eas tlie 
 anecdote gives it its usual pronominal meaning. 
 
 Although the Mexican women are not distinguished for beauty, I never re- 
 member once to have seen an ugly woman. Their brilliant eyes make up for any 
 deficiency of feature, and their figures are full and voluptuous. Now and then, 
 moreover, one does meet with a perfectly beautiful creature ; and, Avhen a Mexi- 
 can woman does combine such perfection, she is some pumpkins,'''' as the Missou- 
 rians say when they wish to express something superlative in the female line. — ^ 
 Ruxton's Adventures in Meccico, p. 57. 
 
 General Cass is some pum2)kins, and will do the needful in the office line, if he 
 is elected, which I hope and trust will be his fate. I am no Democrat, as em- 
 braced on their whole platform; but I am, what I conceiv^e to be, a "least evil" 
 man. — N. Y. Herald, June 21, 1848. 
 
 Franklin was a poor printer-boy, and Washington only a land surveyor; yet 
 they growed to be some immjykins. — Sam Slick, Nature and Human Nature. 
 
 I'm out of my cradli, I 'm safe through my teens, 
 
 I guess I 'm '^some pu7npkins,''' and think I know beans; 
 
 Henceforth I'm to battle, with banner unfurled, 
 
 And carve my wa}' through a thundering rough world — Doesticks. 
 
 From a poem that appeared in the " London Times," on American 
 affairs, during the late civil war: — 
 
 And these vos the tidins this news it did tell, 
 That great Yankee Doodle vos going to — veil, 
 That he vos a-volloped by JeffV.rson D., 
 And no longer some jninkins vos likely to be. 
 
 Somewheres, like anywheres and norcheres, is a common vulgarism; 
 as, "A hundred dollars, or somewheres there along," i. e. there- 
 abouts. 
 
 Soon. At the South, this word is frequently used by all classes as a 
 substitute for earl?/. Thus one says, if about to depart on a journey, 
 " I shall put out (i. e. start) soon in the morning." " I sliail be there 
 soon in the evening." 
 
 Soot-Tea. A decoction of soot taken from a chimney, believed by 
 some old grannies to be a sovereign remedy for the colic or cholera. 
 
628 
 
 SOP 
 
 "Is any thing the matter? " said she. 
 
 Said I, not to be impolite, "A sudden pain, ma'am. It's over." 
 
 And then, — oh ! Thomas, — and then she scraped the chimney, — the kitchen 
 chimney, — and made soot-tea, which she said was the only remedy for symp- 
 toms of cholera. — Grinder Papers, p. 198. 
 
 Soph. In the American colleges, an abbreviation of Sophomore. — 
 Hairs College Words. 
 
 Sophs wha ha' in commons fed ! 
 Sophs wha ha' in commons bled ! 
 Sophs wha ne'er from commons fled ! 
 
 Puddings, steaks, or wines ! — Eebelliad, p. 52. 
 
 Sophomore. This word has generally been considered an American 
 barbarism, but was probably introduced into our country at a very 
 early period from the University of Cambridge, England. Among the 
 cant terms at that University, as given in the " Gradus ad Canta. 
 brigiam," we find Soph-Mor as the next distinctive appellation to 
 Freshman. It is added that a writer in the " Gentleman's Maga- 
 zine " thinks Mor an abbreviation of the Greek ficapla, introduced 
 at a time when the " Encomium Morise," the " Praise of Folly," by 
 Erasmus, was so generally used. The ordinary derivation of the 
 word, from cro(j)6s and ficopos, would seem, therefore, to be incorrect. 
 The young Sophs at Cambridge appear formerly to have received 
 the adjunct mor, pcopos, to their names, either as one they courted 
 for the reason mentioned above, or %s one given them in sport for 
 the supposed exhibition of inflated feeling in entering upon their 
 new honors. The term thus applied seems to have passed at a veiy 
 early period from Cambridge in England to Cambridge in America, 
 as the next distinctive appellation to Freshmen, and thus to have 
 been attached to the second of the four classes in our American col- 
 leges, while it has now almost ceased to be known, even as a cant 
 word, at the parent institution in England from whence it came. — 
 Prof. Goodrich, in Wehster^s Dictionary. 
 
 When first we enter Freshman year, 
 Sophomore malice oft we fear ; 
 But soon the trying hour is past, 
 And free from care we sing at last. 
 
 Songs of Hamilton, Carm. Collegensia, p. 144. 
 
 Another meaning, derived, it would appear, from the characteristics of the 
 Sophomore, yet not very creditable to him, is bombastic, inflated in style and 
 manner. — C. Calhoun. 
 
 Sophomorical. Pertaining to or like a Sophomore. — HalVs College 
 Words. A term also applied to speeches and writings containing 
 high-sounding words and but little sense. 
 
SOP— SOT 
 
 629 
 
 Better to face the prowling panther's path 
 Than meet the storm of Sopkomoric wrath. 
 
 Ila7'vardiana. 
 
 Sopsyviue. A variety of apple much prized for its delicate flavor. 
 Connecticut. The name is clearly made from Sapsonvine or Sops- 
 in-icine, a gilly-flower. Gilly-flower is also a name designating a 
 kind of apple. 
 
 Sora or Soree. (Rallus Carolinus.) The Carolina rail, a bird which 
 assembles in large numbers on the reedy shores of the larger rivers 
 in the Middle and adjoining warmer States, at the approach of 
 autumn, and affords abundant employment to the sportsman at that 
 season. — Nuttall. 
 
 Sorrel-Tree. See Sour-Wood. 
 
 Sorter, for sort o\ Sort of, kind of. 
 
 They had with them a long-legged chap, a sorter lawyer ; and he advised them 
 to try and get the time of punishment put off, and that would give 'em a chance 
 to run them off. — Spirit of the Times. 
 
 Sossle or Sozzle. A lazy or sluttish woman. Connecticut. In the 
 south of England, soss-hrangle is used in the same sense. 
 
 To sossle or sozzle. To splash. Connecticut. In Sussex, England, 
 as well as in Connecticut, it means to make a slop. 
 
 A sand-piper glided along the shore; she ran after it, but could not catch it; 
 she sat down, and sozzled her feet in the foam. — Margaret^ p. 8. 
 
 Sot. 1. A corrupt pronunciation of the past tense or past participle of 
 to set. 
 
 I wish Seth would talk with you some time, Doctor. Along in the spring, he 
 was down helpin' me to lay stone fence, — it was when we was fencin' off the 
 south pastur' lot, — and we talked pretty nigh all day, and it re'lly did seem to 
 me that the longer we talked, the sotter Seth grew. — Atlantic Monthly^ Jan., 
 1859. 
 
 2. A vulgar pronunciation for sat. 
 
 A story is told of a Bostonian's first appearance in polite society in Arkansas. 
 The compan}' were engaged in dancing, but the loveliest female present occupied 
 a chair at the window without a partner. Stepping up to the lad\^ with a palpi- 
 tating heart, his mind greatly excited for fear of a refusal, he exclaimed : — 
 
 Will you do me the honor to grace me with your company for the next 
 set ? " 
 
 Her lustrous eyes shone with unwonted brilliancy, her white pearly teeth fairly 
 glistened in the flickering candle-light, her heaving, snowy bosom rose and fell 
 with joyful rapture, as she replied : — 
 
 " Yes, sir-ee! for I have sot, and sot, and sot, till I have about tuk root ! " — 
 Washington Evening Star, Sept. 2, 1858. 
 
 Sots. Yeast. Virginia. 
 
630 
 
 SOT— SOU 
 
 Sot- Weed. Tobacco, formerly so called in Maryland. A Sot-iceed 
 Factor was a dealer in tobacco. One who cultivated it was called a 
 " Sot- weed Planter." 
 
 These sot-weed planters crowd the shoar, 
 In hue as tawny as a Moor. 
 
 Cook, Sot-weed Factor (1708), p. 2. 
 When aged Roan, not us'd to falter, 
 If you remember, slip't liis Halter; 
 As Presbyterians leave the Church, 
 Left Sot-wetd Factor in the Lurch. 
 
 Cooh, Sot-weed Redivivus (1730), p. 9. 
 
 Sou-marquee. An old copper coin known as the sou, crossed or 
 marked, thereby rendering it of little or no value as cuiTency. " I 
 would not give a sou-marquee for a thing," means that the article 
 in question is not worth a marked sou; that is, good for nothing, 
 worthless. 
 
 But what cares shoddy for all these things ? 
 Sliodd}'-, the richest of paper kings; 
 Shoddy, who dances, fiddles, and sings 
 
 On the crater of wild inflation ? 
 What does he care V Not a sou-marquee ; 
 He fattens and battens in luxury, 
 As if his reign were a thing to be 
 
 Of eternal perpetuation. — Song, Shoddy. 
 
 Sound on the Goose. A phrase originating in the Kansas troubles, 
 
 and signifying true to the cause of slavery. 
 
 Sour-Grum. A species of Nyssa. See Gum. 
 
 Sour Krout. (Germ, sauer Kraut.) Sour cabbage; that is, cabbage 
 cut fine, pressed into a cask, and suffered to ferment until it becomes 
 sour. 
 
 The Dutch burghers were ordered not to buy [of the Yankees] any of their 
 Weathersfield onions, w^ooden bowls, &c., and to furnish them with no supplies of 
 gin, gingerbread, or sour krout. — Knickerbocker's New York. 
 
 Sour Sop. A AVest India fruit. The Anona muricata, called by the 
 Spaniards Guandhana ; by the French, Corossol, said to be a corrup- 
 tion of the Indian name, Suirsaak. — Bost. Jour. Nat. Hist., II. 211. 
 
 See Sioeet Sop and Custard Apple. 
 
 Sour-Wood. (Andromeda arborea.) A beautiful tree, which, from 
 the large quantity of acid present in all parts of it, is sometimes 
 called Sorrel-tree. 
 
 South. The term Southern States, or the South, is very commonly 
 used to denote all the States south of Mason and Dixon's line, in 
 which slavery exists. See North. 
 
sou— SPA 
 
 631 
 
 South Americans. That branch of the American or Know-Nothing 
 party which belongs to the South, and favors slavery. 
 
 Southernism. Sentiment, principle, or characteristic peculiar to the 
 Southern States. 
 
 South eiiiism has raised the standard and gauge of social condition absolutely; 
 and those who are so unfortunate as not to be high-born, i. e. born at the South, 
 . . . must eke out their shortcomings with Southern ardor and pro-slavery faith. 
 N. y. Tribune, July 15, 1861. 
 
 Southern-wise. Toward, in favor of, the South. 
 
 I found them Southernwise inclined in sentiment and feeling. — N. Y. Herald. 
 Southron or Southerner. A native of the Southern States. 
 Southrons, hear your country call you! 
 Up, lest worse than death befall you ! 
 
 To arms! To arms ! To arms, in Dixie! 
 Lo ! all the beacon-fires are lighted, 
 Let all hearts be now united ! 
 
 Albert Pike, Southrons, hear your Country call you. 
 Great Seward shall gull the Southrons, like a wily diplomat. 
 With promises and tlummery, with 't other, this, and that. 
 
 Charleston Mercury, 1861, Song, Fort Sumter. 
 Of all the mighty nations, in the East or in the West, 
 Our glorious Southern nation is the greatest and the best; 
 We have room for all true Southrons, with our stars and bars unfurled, 
 And a general invitation to the people of the world. 
 
 Rebellion Record, Song for the South. 
 
 Sovereign. 1 . One of the people of the United States ; a voter. 
 
 2. One who favors the (so called) "doctrine of State Sovereignty." 
 Nisson said that he could not be forced to take an oath of allegiance to the 
 
 Confederacy. . . . Instantly the sovereigns'''' in attendance pitched into the 
 
 audacious recusant, and beat him till he could not stand. — New Orleans Cor. 
 
 N. Y. Tribune, 1862. 
 Sovereigns of Industry. A name assumed by artisans in the United 
 
 States, who, by co-operative measures, endeavor to secure labor's 
 
 products at cost, dispensing with middlemen. 
 Sozodont. A certain or uncertain dentifrice, extensively made known 
 
 by placards on fences and rocks by the roadside. 
 To sozzle. To splash. See Sossle. 
 
 Space. Floor. Second space, first floor. Massachusetts. 
 
 Spake. The preterite of speak. This antiquated word is still heard 
 occasionally from the pulpit, as well as in conversation. — Pickering. 
 
 Spalt. (Germ, spalten.) A split. New England. Provincial in Eng- 
 land as a verb, to split. Holinshed (1577) used it as an adjective. 
 
 Span. (Dutch.) A span of horses consists of two of nearly the same 
 color, and otherwise nearly alike, which are usually harnessed side 
 
632 
 
 SPA 
 
 by side. The word signifies properly the same as "yoke "when 
 applied to horned cattle, from buckling or fastening together. But 
 in America, span always implies resemblance in color at least; it 
 being an object of ambition with gentlemen and with teamsters to 
 unite two horses abreast that are alike. — Webster. This use of the 
 word is not mentioned in any of the English dictionaries or glos- 
 saries. 
 
 To span. To agree in color or in color and size; as, " The horses span 
 
 well." New England. — Webster. 
 To spancel. 1. To tie the hind legs of an animal, particularly a cow 
 
 when milking. Provincial in England. 
 
 2. To prevent a crab from biting, by sticking the point of a leg 
 
 into the base of each movable claw. 
 Span Clean or Spandy Clean. Very clean, perfectly clean, 
 Spanish Bayonet. {Yucca trecuUana.^ A name commonly given to 
 
 the very sharp-pointed, rigid leaves of a species of Yucca growing 
 
 in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The fruit is edible and 
 
 resembles the papaw. 
 
 The cactus growing rank, tortuous, and grotesquely, and the yucca, or Spanish 
 
 bayonet, here a low clump of sharp-pointed, stiff, tusk-like leaves, indicated our 
 
 approach to Mexico. — Olmsted's Texas, p. 138. 
 
 Spare Room. Usually a furnished chamber for a guest ; also called 
 
 a Spare Chamber. 
 To spark it. To court. Used chiefly in New England. 
 
 You were a nation sight wiser than Brother Jonathan, Sister Keziah, poor little 
 Aniinadab, and all the rest ; and, above all, my ownv towny Lydia, the Deacon's 
 darlin' darter, with whom I 've sparked it, pretty oftentimes, so late. — D. Huin- 
 jphreys, The Yankee in England. 
 
 Miss Sal, I 's going to say as how 
 
 We '11 spark it here to night; 
 I kind of love you, Sal, I vow, 
 And mother said I might. 
 
 J. G. Fessenden, Song, Yankee Doodle. 
 Some think I ought to get married, and two or three have tried to spark it with 
 me ; but I never listen to none of their flattery. — Southern Sketches, p. 120. 
 
 Sparking. "To go a sparking is to go a courting. A common 
 expression in the Northern States. 
 
 Mr. Justice Crow was soon overtaken ; Lieutenant-colonel Simcoe accosted 
 him roughly, called him "Tory," nor seemed to believe his excuses, when, in 
 the American idiom for courtship, he said " he had only been sparking.''^ — Sim- 
 coe, Military Journal, p. 73. 
 
 He rolled his eyes horribly, and said that that was the way the young men 
 cast sheep's eyes when they went a. sparking. — ilfrs. Clavers's Western Clear- 
 ings, p. 16. 
 
SPA— SPE 
 
 6S3 
 
 She's courted been, by many a lad, 
 
 And knows how sparMng 's done, sir; 
 With Jonathan she was right glad 
 
 To have a little fun, sir. — Sony^ Yankee Doodle. 
 
 Finally I swore that if I ever meddled, or had any dealings with the feminine 
 gender again in the s/?ar^'my line, I wish I might be hanged. — McClintock, 
 Beedle's Courtship. 
 
 Sparse. (Lat. sparsus.) Scattered; thinly spread; not dense. — 
 P. Mag. This word has been regarded as of American origin; 
 but it is found in Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language, 
 It is in common use in America, though little used in England. — 
 Worcester. 
 
 Sparsely. In a scattered or sparse manner; thinly. — Worcester. 
 
 The country between Trinit}'^ River and the Mississippi is sparsely settled, con- 
 taining less than one inhabitant to the square mile, one in four being a slave. — 
 Olmsted's Texas, p. 365. 
 
 Sparrow- Grass. A vulgar pronunciation of asparagus both in Eng- 
 land and America, sometimes in the New York market contracted 
 to grass. Hence the celebrated charade by a certain alder- 
 man : — 
 
 My first is a little thing vot hops — (sparrow); 
 My second brings us good hay crops — (grass) ; 
 My whole I eats with mutton-chops — (sparrow-grass). 
 
 Pegge, Anecdotes of the English Language, p. 54. 
 
 Spat. 1. A slap. " He gave me a spat on the side of the head. " 
 
 2. A petty combat ; a little quarrel or dissension. A vulgar use 
 of the word in New England. — Webster. 
 
 The National Bank and the Mechanic's Banking Association have had a stand- 
 ing spat for some time. — N. Y. Com. Adv. 
 
 We do not believe that Messrs. B and W have resigned their seats in 
 
 the cabinet. There has been a qmt of course ; but there mav be many more 
 before either of the Secretaries will resign $6,000 a year. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 To spat. 1. To slap. 
 
 The little Isabel leaped up and down, spatting her hands. — Margaret. 
 2. To dispute ; to quarrel. A low word. New England. 
 
 Speaker. A book of declamatory pieces. 
 
 Spec. A contraction of speculation; as, "He made a good spec in 
 flour." 
 
 Special Deposit. A deposit made in a bank subject to the control of 
 the depositor, and which is not made a part of the funds of the bank 
 to be used by it in its business. 
 
634 
 
 SPE 
 
 Special Partner. A member of a limited partnership, who furnishes 
 certain funds to the common stock, and whose liability extends no 
 further than the funds furnished. — KenVs Commentaries^ Vol. III. 
 p. 85. 
 
 Special Partnership. A partnership limited to a particular branch of 
 business, or to one particular subject. — Judge Story. 
 
 Specie, for a species. A grammatical blunder occasionally heard in 
 speaking, but not often met with in writing. The " New York 
 Tribune," however, of May 19, 1858, in describing a new game- 
 trap, says : — 
 
 The size of the trap, the height at which it ought to be suspended, and the 
 nature of the bait, depends upon the specie of the animal hunted for. 
 
 Speck or Spec. A bit; in the least; a specule. 
 
 I doubled up my fist, for I did not like the treatment a .tpec. — S. Slick in 
 England, ch. 2. 
 
 Speck and Applejees. (Dutch, spek en appeltjes.) Pork fat and 
 apples cut up and cooked together. , An old-fashioned Dutch dish 
 still made in New York. 
 
 Specs, for spectacles. 
 
 My ma' was used to put on her specs, and sar, — . — NeaVs Charcoal Sketches. 
 
 Spell. A turn of work ; a vicissitude of labor. Often used in a sec- 
 ondary sense, to denote a short turn, a little time, a bout, a fit; 
 and is applied particularly to work, to sickness, or to the weather. 
 Common in England. 
 
 Their toil is so extreme as they cannot endure it above four hours in a day, 
 but are succeeded by spells ; the residue of their time they wear out at coytes 
 and kayles. — Carew. 
 
 Come, thou 's had thy spell, it 's now my time to put in a word. — Carr's 
 
 Craven Glossary. 
 
 This spell of bad weather, though in summer, well-nigh outlasted their provi- 
 sions ; and, when at length they were able to make the signal that a landing 
 would be practicable, scarcely a twenty-four hours stock remained on the rock. 
 Lond. Quarterly Rev., No. 1G8, p. 379. 
 
 Nothing new has happened in this quarter since my last, except the setting 
 in of a severe spell of cold weather and a considerable fall of snow. — Letter of 
 George Washington, Dec. 25, 1775. 
 
 A gentle, misty air from the S. E. makes me hope that we are going to have 
 a warm spell. — Kane, Arctic Explorations, Vol. I. p. 182. 
 
 Josiah Norton said he had come home from the South, where he had been ped- 
 dling a spell. — Crockett, Tour, p. 90. 
 
 Spain has obtained a breathing spell of some duration from the internal con- 
 vulsions which have, through so man}' years, marred her prosperity. — Presi' 
 dent Tyler^s Message to Congress, ISii. 
 
SPE— SPI 
 
 635 
 
 I and the General have got things now pretty considerable snug : public af- 
 fairs go on easier than they did a spell ago, when Mr. Adams was President. — ■ 
 Major Downing'' s Letters, p. 35. 
 
 The Havana " Prenza" notices a remarkable incident as one of the results of 
 the shock from the recent terrible explosion. No less than the restoration to 
 reason of a lady of that city, who had entirely lost h(!r mind some six months 
 ago, from a severe and protracted s^e^^ of sickness. — N. Y. Tribune, Oct. 19, 
 1858. 
 
 To spell. To relieve by taking a iutn at a piece of work. — Worcester. 
 
 I was sometimes permitted, as an indulgence, to spell my father in the favorite 
 employment of shelling corn. — Goodrich's Recollections, Vol. I. p. 62. 
 
 Spelling-Bee. An assemblage of young people for competition in 
 spelling. Spelling-Bees had their origin in the Western States, and 
 such was their popularity there that they soon extended ea-stward 
 to Boston. At first, the competition was among school-children 
 for prizes; next, among persons of more mature years. In Provi- 
 dence there was a close contest between the girls of the High School 
 and the Freshmen of Brown University, in which the latter came 
 off triumphant. Spelling-Bees are now common in England, de- 
 tailed accounts of which are often found in the daily newspapers 
 of London. See Bee. 
 
 Spending-Money. Small sums of money given by parents or others 
 to children, which they generally invest in sugar-plums, fruit, &c. 
 
 Sperichil. Among the Negroes, particularly of South Carolina and 
 Georgia, spiritual, or spiritual shouting when at prayer, when all 
 unite. 
 
 Shouting may be to any tune : our cook's classification into " sperichils " and 
 " running ^/7enc/«7s " (shouts), or the designation of certain ones as sung "just 
 sittin' " round, will hardly hold, in strictness. — Slave Songs, edited by W. F, 
 Allen. 
 
 Spice-Bush. (^Benzoin odoriferum.') A plant, called also Wild All- 
 spice and Fever-bush, formerly used as a substitute for allspice, 
 and also valued for its medicinal properties. 
 
 This tangled thicket on the bank above 
 Thy basin, how thy waters keep it green ! 
 
 there the spice-bush lifts 
 
 Her leafy lances. — Bryant, The Fountain. 
 
 Spider. A cast-iron frying-pan with three legs. 
 
 Spike Team. A wagon drawn by three horses, or by two oxen and a 
 horse, the latter leading the oxen or span of horses. 
 
 To spill Stock is to throw great quantities of a particular stock upon 
 the market, sometimes from necessity, but often in order to 
 *' break " the price. — Medhery. 
 
636 
 
 SPI 
 
 Spilt-Milk. That which cannot be restored; gone beyond recovery. 
 
 The Democrats here are in a state of utter collapse. They are crying and 
 cursing too, over spilled milk. Each faction is calling the other hard names. — 
 Lett, from Washinr/ton in N. Y. Tribune, March 10, 1877. 
 
 Spindle City. Lowell, Massachasetts ; so called from its many cotton 
 factories. 
 
 A letter from Lowell says the " spindle city " is gradually resuming its steady 
 hum of industry and wonted business-like appearance. — Scientific American, 
 Jan. 23, 1858. 
 
 To spin Street- Yarn. To go gadding about the streets. 
 
 They say when Sally Hugle ain't a spinnin' street-yarn, she don't do nothin' 
 but write poetry, and the whole heft o' the house-keepin' is on her mother's 
 shoulders. — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 149. 
 
 Spiritist. See Spiritualist. 
 
 Spirit-Land. An expression which, in the cant of the rappers, means 
 the abode of departed spirits, the other world. 
 
 The fragrance we fain would have treasured up here, 
 In the bright spirit-land will find its true sphere. 
 
 N. Haven Palladium. 
 
 Spirit-Rapper. A person who, professing to act as a "medium" 
 between embodied and disembodied spirits, interprets raps pro- 
 duced by an unseen agency on tables, floors, &c., as messages from 
 the other world. 
 
 Spirit-Rappings. Rappings supposed to be produced by disembodied 
 spirits. 
 
 From what I learned in my observation of mesmerism, I am so far aware of 
 the existence of rarely used and undeveloped powers and capacities in the brain 
 as to disapprove very strongly the gratuitous supposition, in the spirit-rapping 
 case, of pure imposture on the one hand, and of the presence of departed spirits 
 on the other. — Harriet Martineau's Letter, Autobiography, Vol. 11. p. 331. 
 
 Spiritual. A Mormon concubine. See Spiritual Wife. 
 
 Spiritual Funeral. A funeral conducted after the fashion of the 
 believers in spiritualism. 
 
 A spiritual funeral was held at Lowell lately, over the remains of J. B. Smith. 
 Miss Emma Houston prayed, and the dead Smith spoke through her. The wife 
 and family of the deceased, instead of putting on black, dressed in white, with 
 white shawls, and bonnets trimmed with white. — {Baltimore) Sun, 3\i\y 12, 
 1858. 
 
 Spiritualism. The old doctrine, revived of late years in this country, 
 and which has gained numerous converts, that the spirits of the 
 departed can and do communicate with the living through the so 
 called " spiritual mediums." 
 
 Spiritualist. A believer in the doctrine of spiritualism. 
 
SPI— SPL 
 
 637 
 
 Spiritual Medium. See Medium. 
 
 Spiritual Wife, or simply Spiritual. A Mormon extra wife or con- 
 cubine. So, as among the Millerites in 1843, at Athol, Mass., 
 except that they claimed such a companion as only a spiritual 
 partner. 
 
 These extra wives are known by sundry designations; some call them '■'■spirit- 
 uals,'" others "sealed ones; " our landlady is fond of calling them "fixins," and 
 the tone in which she brings it out is in the last degree contemptuous. — Life 
 among the Mormons, Putnam's Mag., Vol. VI. p. 147. 
 
 Spit-Ball. Paper partly masticated and then ejected from the mouth. 
 A Chicago newspaper thus speaks of the closing of a session of the 
 Illinois General Assembly : — 
 
 A Balaklava of spit-balls. . . . Members present indulged in the wildest tom- 
 foolery, flung paper-balls, &c. 
 
 Spit-Curl. A detached lock of hair curled upon the temple ; probably 
 from having been at first plastered into shape by the saliva. It is 
 now understood that the mucilage of quince-seed is used by the 
 ladies for this purpose. 
 
 You may prate of your lips and your teeth of pearl, 
 And your eyes so brightly flashing; 
 My song shall be of that saliva curl 
 Which threatens my heart to smash in. 
 
 Boston Transcript, Oct. 30, 1858. 
 
 Splendiferous. Splendid; fine. A factitious word used only in jest. 
 
 To m}' mind, a sjjlendiferous woman and a first-chop horse are the noblest 
 works of creation. — Sam Slick, Human Nature, p. 280. 
 
 There 's something so fascinating in the first blush of evening that it 's enough 
 to make a man strip off his jacket of mortality, and swim the gulf of death, 
 for the sake of reaching the sjjlendiferous splendors that decorate the opposite 
 shore. — Bow's Sermons, Vol. I. p. 69. 
 
 An itinerant gospeller was holding forth to a Kentuckian audi- 
 ence, on the kingdom of heaven : — 
 
 " Heaven, my beloved hearers," said he, " is a glorious, a beautiful, a splen- 
 diferous, an angeliferous place. Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, it has 
 not entered into the imagination of any Cracker in these here diggings what 
 carryings on the just made perfect have up thar." 
 
 It is singular that Drayton, the poet of Queen Elizabeth's time, 
 should have coined a similar word, splendid to us, as well as the word 
 splendWous : — 
 
 Celestial brightness seized on his face. 
 That did the woiid'ring Israelites amaze, 
 When he returned from that sovereign place. 
 His brows encircled with splendidious i-ays. 
 
 MoseSf his Birth and Miracles, B. iii. 
 
638 
 
 SPL 
 
 Split. 1. A division ; dissension. A word in current use, both in 
 England and in this country, although not yet in the dictionaries. 
 
 The fiery spirit which has occasioned a siAit among the British Archaiologists 
 would aj)i)ear not yet to have burned itself out, &c. — London Athenceum, 850. 
 
 The split in the Whig organization, if it come to any thing serious, will extend 
 beyond the Presidential election. — Letter from Boston, New York Herald, 
 June 21, 18-48. 
 
 2. A rapid pace or rate of going. " He went full split " i. e. as 
 hard as he could drive. "To go like split is a common expres- 
 sion in New England. 
 
 There was no ox-teams [in New York] such as we have in Dovvningville ; but 
 there was no end to the one-hoss teams, going' like split all over the city. — 
 Major Downing, May-day in New York, p. G4. 
 
 To split. To go at a rapid pace ; to drive or dash along. 
 
 The thing tuk first-rate, and I set the niggers a-drummin' and fifin' as hard a3 
 they could sj)Ut right afore the cabin door. — Major Jones's Courtshi/). 
 
 Split-Foot. Old S/jlit Foot, a term for the devil. Mr. Lowell, in 
 
 speaking of the preachers on the Southern plantations, says: — 
 
 They go it like an Ericsson's ten-hoss power coleric ingine. 
 
 An' make ole SjjUt Foot winch and squirm, for all he 's used to singein'. 
 
 I^oioell, The Biglow Papei's. 
 
 Split-Ticket. When two or more important offices are to be filled at 
 the same time, the " wire-pullers " of each party select the men they 
 wish their party to support, and print their names on a ticket to be 
 deposited in the ballot-box. It sometimes happens, however, that 
 individuals choose to think for themselves, and consequently erase 
 one or more of the names and substitute others more to their liking. 
 This is called a split ticket, also a scratch ticket. 
 
 Splorum. A splurging; great noise or fuss on slight occasion and 
 with little effect. 
 
 Splosh. The same as Sposli, &c. New England. It is Plash, Splash, 
 Lat. Palus — Posh, which see. 
 
 Splurge. Emphatic for large. A blustering demonstration ; a swagger, 
 dash . 
 
 Members of Congress shoiild not forget when Senator Benton was shinning 
 aroimd, making what they call in Missouri a great splurge, to get gold. — N. Y. 
 Com. Adv., Dec. 13, 1845.' 
 
 President Polk and the Loco-Foco party have been for some time past ardu- 
 ously engaged upon a Avork known as ''Mexico in Slices." The first slice, 
 "Texas," caused quite a sensation; the second, California and New Mexico, is 
 now making a splurge; and the third, "The Sierra Madre," is under wav. — 
 Philadelphia North American. 
 
SPL— SPO 
 
 639 
 
 Did you see Major Coon's wife when siie came inV Didn't she cut a splurge ? 
 I never did see sucli an affected critter as she in all my born days. — Widoio 
 Bedott Papers, p. 67. 
 
 To splurge. To make a blustering demonstration in order to pro- 
 duce an effect; to swagger, cut a dash. A term in common use 
 in the South and West, and recently in New England. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. S. H. Cox thus defines the word as we use it: — 
 " The word ' splurge ' is indeed an instance of our own cis-atlantic 
 coinage, a provincialism probably not yet in any dictionary; yet 
 meaning as if a great rock of the mountain, disintegrated from its 
 summit, should rush and bound, portentous and avalanched, into a 
 silver lake at its foot, there making an uproarious splash, boring 
 its momentous way through the parted and the frighted waves, and 
 after dashing the spray in all directions burying itself, in forgotten 
 repose, under congenial mud at the bottom; so gone for ever from 
 sight, from thought, from upper air, and all the ways of men; thus 
 meaning, — the low aim of making a considerable sensation at least 
 once in society." 
 
 Cousin Pete was thar splurgin' about in the biggest, with his dandy-cut trow- 
 sers and big whiskers. — Major Jones's Courtship, p. 101. 
 
 Well, them was great times, but now the settlements is got too thick for them 
 to splurge. — Porter'' s Tales of the South-west, p. 54. 
 
 Spoils, i. e. the spoils of office. The pay and emoluments of official 
 station, specifically referred to as the leading inducements to par- 
 tisan activity, and as distinct fi'om political zeal generally. 
 
 It has been asserted that to the victors belong the spoils. Let us determine 
 that we Avill be the victors, and that if we must have the spoils they shall be 
 appropriated to the good of the country. — Speech of Hon. Mr. Morehead, 
 June, 1848. 
 
 Men looking to the spoils care not for principles, whether they be of the North 
 or of the South. — Washington Cor. of N. Y. Com. Adv. 
 
 It is estimated that there are at least sixty thousnnd office-holders under the 
 general administration, and that the amount of plunder annually distributed by 
 government is equal to forty millions of dollars, which is expended in a thousand 
 and one ways. The party which has the command of these office-holders, and 
 the scattering of this vast amount of spoils, is possessed of a potent weapon — 
 N. Y. Herald, June, 1848. 
 
 Politics is nothing more nor less than a race for a purse, a game for the stakes, 
 a battle for the spoils. — Doto's Sermons, Vol. I. p. 216. 
 
 Spoils, and spoih alone, is what animates the Democratic party. A solid South 
 is organizing for a grand raid on the national treasury, — proposing to make the 
 government pay all the expenses of the war, . . . while the same party at the 
 North is squabbling over the spoils of office. — New York Times. 
 
 Spoilsman. One who has obtained or is seeking spoils. 
 
640 
 
 SPO 
 
 Men now the favorites of spoilsmen, plotting for the succession [to the Presi- 
 dency], may sink into oblivion or obscurity, and men from the shadows of 
 obscurity may rise. — N. Y. Herald. 
 
 Spondoolics. Money. 
 
 The2 Spondoolics. — We understand that the amount deposited in the New- 
 port Savings Bank is rising $800,000, — by about five hundred and thirty 
 depositors. — Newport News. 
 
 During the late war, the pay of the soldiers was sometimes in 
 arrears. Great joy was therefore manifested when it was known that 
 the money was coming, as in the following stanza: — 
 
 But cheer up, boys, it's coming. 
 
 Sure as rats it 's on the way. 
 Won't we have a time though, soldiers, 
 
 When we get hold of that back pay? 
 The spondulicks must come down, boys, — 
 
 That is all I have to say. 
 
 Son(/, Where is that Back Pay? 
 
 A lumber-dealer in Indiana, with a view of stirring into financial 
 activity his dilatory creditors, appended to his bill-heads a circular 
 letter urging payment of his accounts, closing as follows: — 
 
 Now let 's have the spondulicks, and see how sweet and pretty I can smile upon 
 you. — Harper^s Mag., for April, 1876, p. 790. 
 
 The man who has spondulacs, 
 
 And will give his neighbor none. 
 He shan't have any of my spondulacs, 
 When his spondulacs are gone. 
 
 College Songs, Hamilton, p. 143. 
 
 Spook. (Dutch.) A ghost; hobgoblin. A term much used in New 
 York. This word has been adopted by the English at the Cape of 
 Good Hope. 
 
 At one time, I met the spook in the form of a very tall black man, accompanied 
 by a large dog. — Anderssen's South Africa. 
 
 Jealous fellows don't believ in sjiooks, and they are about the only folks who 
 ever see any. — Josh Billings, Works, p. 357. 
 
 Spoon. "To do business with a big spoon " is the same as to " cut 
 a big swath." 
 
 Spoon Victuals. Food eaten with a spoon. In England, called 
 spoon-meat. 
 
 Yet feed them and cram them, till purse do lack chink, 
 No spoon-meat, no belly-full, laborers think. 
 
 Tusser, Good Husbandry (1573), ch. xxxvii. V. 27. 
 
 Spoon-Wood. (Kalmia latifolia.) So called "because the Indians 
 used to make their spoons and trowels of this tree." — Kalm, Travels 
 in N. America^ Vol. I. p. 263. 
 
SPO 
 
 641 
 
 Spoops. A silly fellow; a noodle. "He's a spoops," i.e. weak- 
 minded. New England. 
 
 Spoopsie. A silly fellow; the same as " spoops.*^ 
 
 Sports. A sporting character ; a gambler. 
 
 One of the fraternity of gamblers, finding it hard to get a living, 
 thus wrote to the " New York Tribune," April, 1877, for advice: — 
 
 The question which I want answered is, How are we to live? I know two to 
 three thousand sports floating now on the sea of adversity. Having never been 
 trained to hard work, we can't do it. 
 
 Sportsman. A term often applied to a gambler. 
 
 Sposen. A corrupt pronunciation of supposing. 
 
 Sposh. A mixture of snow and water; also water partially frozen. 
 See Slush. The " New York Tribune," Nov. 25, 1845, in speaking 
 of the falling of rain and snow at the same time, adds: — 
 
 The morning was blue and streaked, and the streets were one shining level of 
 black sposh. 
 
 Spot. 1. A boatman on the Mississippi, being asked how he man- 
 aged to secure sleeping time, answered, " I sleep in spots ; " that is, 
 at intervals, by snatches. 
 
 2. Merchandise and cotton on the spot, ready for delivery. Cotton 
 is often sold, which the seller has not in store, but which he agrees 
 to deliver at a future time, as may be agreed on. 
 
 Prices ruled steady at 13 cts. for middlings, upland, and Gulf, but with a sus- 
 tained advance on spots and futures. — N. Y. Tribune, Prices Current. 
 
 The New York market opened yesterday with spot middlings quiet and steady 
 at 11^ cts. — Providence Journal. 
 
 To spot. 1. To mark a tree by cutting a chip from its side. Maine. 
 See Blaze. 
 
 2. A term used by policemen for marking or identifying a thief 
 or other suspected person. It is of recent origin, and is also used 
 in England. See Shadow. 
 
 It is the business of all policemen, but more especially of detectives, to "spor' 
 burglars, thieves, gamblers, and all violators of the law. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 The five pickpockets whose names are given were detained in the cells all 
 night, and were yesterday taken to the Deputy's office, where they were "shown 
 up," so that they might be again spotted.'" They were then told to go, and 
 they went in a great state of indignation. — N. Y. Times. 
 
 Spotter. A detective. 
 
 An immense amount of ingenuity has been expended in hiring potters and 
 detectives to watch the men. — Providence Press. 
 
 Spout, to go up the. See Go up the Spout. 
 
 41 
 
642 
 
 SPO— SPR 
 
 Spouty. Wet clay land is called in the West " spouty land," possibly 
 because, when trodden upon, the water spouts up through any holes 
 or depressions in the surface. 
 
 Spread. 1. A bed-spread; a sort of day covering over the quilt. 
 New England. 
 
 2. A grand dinner or other entertainment. In Pennsylvania, a 
 "second spread" is some kind of preserved fruit put on bread 
 after the butter. 
 
 3. A spread contract is a broker's phrase. It means a contract 
 giving the holders the privilege of either buying or selling any par- 
 ticular stock, at a stipulated price, within a definite time. From 
 this fact it is sometimes called a double privilege. See Straddle. 
 
 Spread-Eagle. 1. The national emblem of the United States, an 
 eagle with out-spread wings. 
 
 2. This term is frequently used among stock speculators. A 
 broker, satisfied with small profits, and not disposed to involve 
 himself in large transactions, sells, say one hundred shares Erie 
 Railroad stock at fifty-eight, buyer sixty days, and at the same time 
 buys the same quantity at fifty-seven, seller sixty days. The differ- 
 ence in this case in the price is one per cent, which would be so 
 much profit, without any outlay of capital, provided both contracts 
 run their full time. Having sold buyer's option sixty days, and 
 bought seller's option sixty days, the time is equal; but it will be 
 seen that he does not control the option in either case. The buyer 
 can call when he pleases, which will compel the '■'spread eagle ''^ 
 operator to deliver; and the seller may deliver any time, which 
 would compel the broker to receive. If he has capital to carry, the 
 result would not differ from that anticipated; but, if not, he may be 
 caught in a tight place, and suffer serious losses. It is, on the 
 whole, rather dangerous business, but not to the same extent as 
 buying or selling on time for a rise or fall in market value. — HunVs 
 Merchant's Mag., Vol. XXXVII. 
 
 3. Used adjectively, as " spread eagle rhetoric." 
 
 In a notice of a book on the "Mission of the North American 
 People," by William Gilpin, Philadelphia, 1873, in the " Historical 
 Mag.," for Sept., 1873, we read: — 
 
 This beautiful volume is certainly a very singular one, combining in its con- 
 tents much information . . . with very much more of that slam-bang, sj^read- 
 eogle literature which has made George Francis Train so notorious the world 
 over. 
 
 Spread-Eagleism. The peculiarities of spread-eagle persons. 
 
 Spread-eagleism, coupled with violent abuses of England and her institutions. 
 Cor. X. Y. Tribune. 
 
SPR 
 
 643 
 
 Spread-Eagle Style. A compound of exaggeration, effrontery, bom- 
 bast, and extravagance, mixed metaphors, platitudes, defiant 
 threats thrown at the world, and irreverent appeals flung at the 
 Supreme Being. — North American Review^ Oct., 1858. 
 
 To spread one's self. To exert one's self ostentatiously; perhaps 
 from the peacock, like the Italian pavoneggiarsi. 
 
 "We despatched Cullen to prepare a dinner. He had promised, to use his own 
 expression, to spread himself in the preparation of this meal. — Hammond, Wild 
 JSorthern Scenes, p. 266. 
 
 Hoss Allen [the judge] mounted the balcony of the hotel, and, rolling up his 
 sleeves, spread himself for an unusually brilliant effort. — Southern Sketches. 
 
 At school, on great occasions, before company, the Superintendent (as Tom 
 expressed it) had always made this boy come out and spreac? Amse^/". — Hark 
 Twain, Tom, Sawyer, p. 46. 
 
 To spree it. To get intoxicated. 
 
 If a young man creates his own ruination by going it loose and spreeing it 
 tight, it is surely a disgrace. — Bow's Sermons. 
 
 To spring-bag. To exhibit the udder as filling. Said of cows, &c., 
 as soon to bear young. New England. 
 
 Spring Fever. The listless feeling caused by the first sudden increase 
 of temperature in spring. It is often said of a lazy fellow, "He 
 has got the spring fever." 
 
 Spring-Keeper. A salamander or small, lizard-shaped animal, found 
 in springs and fresh water rivulets, whence the name. See Water- 
 dogs. 
 
 Sprouts. A bunch of twigs. Hence, " to put one through a course of 
 sprouts " is to give him a good drubbing. 
 
 Shepard, Moirissey's trainer, has taken up his quarters at the house of his 
 verj' particular old friend, Australian Kelly, where he will doubtless be happy 
 to see any gentlemen who want to be put through the necessary course of prelim- 
 inary sprouts before they can win the laurels of the P. R. [prize ring]. — N. Y. 
 Tribune, Nov. 1, 1858. 
 
 Spruce. (Various species of Abies.) 1. yl. n/^/m, or black spruce, 
 an evergreen tree abounding in the northern parts of the United 
 States and in the Dominion of Canada. 2. (Abies Canadetisis.) 
 Hemlock spruce. 3. (Abies excelsa.) Norway spruce. The wood 
 of the latter is known in commerce under the name of white deal or 
 Christiana deal. 4. (Abies alba.) Single or white spruce, a slender, 
 tapering tree growing in swamps in the northern parts of the 
 United States and closely resembling the black spruce, but having 
 leaves of a lighter green, whence it derives it name. — Gray. 
 
644 SPR— SQU 
 
 Spruce-Beer. A fermented beverage tinctured with the leaves and 
 
 small branches of spruce, or with the essence of spruce. 
 Spruced up. Made neat or fine. *' She 's quite spruced up to-day," 
 
 i. e. well-dressed. 
 Sprung. Tipsy, intoxicated. 
 
 He reckoned they were a little bit sprung. — Mrs. Stowe, Dred, Vol. I. p. 87. 
 Spry. Lively; active; nimble; quick in action. — Worcester. 
 
 This word is much used in familiar language in New England. 
 It is not in the English dictionaries, but Jennings notices it among 
 the provincialisms of Somersetshire. 
 She is as spry as a cricket. — Margaret, p. 58. 
 
 "How are you, Jeremiah ?" "Why, I 'm kinder sorter middlin', Mr. Slick, 
 what you call considerable nimble and spry.''"' — Sam Slick. 
 
 Know ye the land where the sinking sun 
 Sees the last of earth when the day is done ? 
 Where yellow Asia, withered and dry. 
 Hears Young America, sharp and y)ry, 
 With thumb in his vest, and a quizzical leer. 
 Sing out, " Old Fogie, come over here! " 
 
 Cozzens, Califominn Ballad. 
 
 Spunk. 1. Mettle; spirit; vivacity. — BrockeWs Glossary. A collo- 
 quial word, considered in England extremely vulgar. See Punk. 
 
 I admire your independent spirit, Doolittle. I like to have people think well 
 of themselves. You have convinced me of your spunk. I am your friend. — 
 D. Humphreys, The Yankee in England. 
 
 2. Anger. Connecticut. 
 To spunk up. To show pluck; to manifest a disposition to fight. 
 Spunky. 1. Mettlesome; spirited; vivacious. A colloquial word, 
 which Forby mentions as provincial in Norfolk, England. 
 2. Angry. Connecticut. 
 Squaddy. Short and fat. A vulgar word formed from squat, or 
 perhaps a corruption of squabby. 
 
 I had hardl}' got seated, when in came a great, stout, fat, squaddy woman. — 
 Major Downing, May-day. 
 
 To squale. To throw a stick or other thing with violence, and in such 
 a manner that it skims along near the ground. New England. — 
 Pickering^ s Vocab. Scaling stones (upon the water) was a common 
 New England expression for what English boys call ' ' making ducks 
 and drakes." See Skale. 
 
 In England, squoiling is used for throwing some material not easily 
 managed. Jennings properly says, " to fling with a stick; " and he 
 might have added, with a stick made unequally heavy by being 
 
SQU 
 
 645 
 
 loaded at one end. — Halliwell. To throw a stick, as at a cock. 
 West of England. — Grose. 
 
 Squalmish. Used in the same sense as qualmish, and perhaps more 
 used among the illiterate. A sickness of the stomach ; a desire to 
 vomit. " Are you sea-sick ? " " Not exactly; but I feel a little 
 squalmish.^' 
 
 Squantum. 1. Among the Naumkeag Indians of Massachusetts, their 
 evil spirit. 
 
 For their religion, they do worship two Gods. The good God they call Tantum ; 
 and their evil God, whom they fear, they call Squantum. — Annals of Salem, 2d ed.. 
 Vol. I. p. 26. 
 
 2. The name of a species of fun known to the Nantucket folks, 
 which is thus described by the " New York Mirror: " A party of 
 ladies and gentlemen go to one of the famous watering-places of 
 resort, where they fish, dig clams, talk, laugh, sing, dance, play, 
 bathe, sail, eat, and have a general " good time." The food gen- 
 erally consists of chowder, baked clams, and fun. No one is ad- 
 mitted to the sacred circle who will take offence at a joke, and every 
 one is expected to do his and her part towards creating a general 
 laugh. Any man who speaks of business affairs (excepting matri- 
 mony) is immediately reproved, and on a second offence publicly 
 chastised. Care is thrown to the wind, politics discarded, war 
 ignored, pride humbled, stations levelled, wealth scorned, virtue 
 exalted, and — this is '■'■squantum.'''' Probably from Indian place- 
 names, as one in or near Quincy, Mass. 
 
 I wish to all-fired smash I was to home, doin' chores about house, or hazin' 
 round with Charity Baker and the rest of the gals at a squantum. — Wise, Tales 
 for the Marines. 
 
 In Rhode Island is a " Squantum Club," consisting of several 
 hundred members, which has several buildings on a small island in 
 Narragansett Bay, two miles from Providence, where an excellent 
 table is served. The shell-fish for which these waters are justly 
 celebrated are here served in every variety. Large parties from 
 New York, Boston, and other New England cities, are frequently 
 entertained here during the summer. 
 
 Square. 1. Unqualified. 
 
 The Republicans and a portion of the Democrats are in favor of a square vote 
 whether Jefferson Davis shall be exempted from the benefits of the amnesty bill. 
 Providence Journal. 
 
 2. In the city of New York, this term is applied to the open spaces 
 c*^used by the junction of several streets. " Chatham Square " and 
 
646 
 
 SQU 
 
 " Franklin Square " are triangles ! The same term is used to denote 
 an area of four sides with houses on each side. 
 
 On the square. To be on the square is to tell the truth, not to 
 prevaricate. 
 
 And I asks, "Is this Nation a White Man's, 
 And is generally things on the square f 
 
 Bret Harte, Putins^ Truthful James, p, 79. 
 
 Mr. J. Ross Browne, while riding with the stage-driver in Califor- 
 nia, who was relating some marvellous story, said: — 
 " Is that true, driver ? " 
 " True ! " said the man, indignantly. 
 "Is it on the square, I mean ?" 
 
 " Stranger," said he, solemnly, "I don't make a habit o' lyin' : when I lie. I kin 
 lie as good as anybody ; but, generally speakin', I 'm on the square.''^ — Adventures 
 in the Apache Country, p. 326. 
 
 Square Meal. A full meal; as much and of as great a variety as one 
 can eat. 
 
 The transition from the luxurious tables of the East to the square meals of the 
 West is fortunately gradual ; and by the time the traveller reaches Omaha he 
 is prepared for hog and hominy, or whatever else may be presented. — McClure, 
 Through the Rochy Mountains, p. 30. 
 
 Elsewhere Mr. McClure describes the square meal, of which he 
 partook at Alkali Station, to consist of the following: excellent 
 warm rolls, canned tomatoes, peas, blackberries, peach pie, fried 
 ham, stewed veal, and fried potatoes, with tolerable butter and 
 coffee and tea. — p. 58. 
 
 My stomach has had nothing in it, — 
 Next to nothing at least for three days; 
 
 And I 've no idea, this minute. 
 
 When next a square meal I can raise. 
 
 N. Y. Clipjur, Song of the Tramp. 
 
 Square Room. Best apartment. Used formerly in the interior of 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 Squash. 1. A culinary vegetable. (Genus Cucurlita.) It is not 
 necessary to resort to the Greek o-Ikvos for the etymology of this 
 word: it is Algonkin, and is often mentioned by the early writers. 
 
 In summer, when their [the Indians'] com is spent, sqiionter squashes is their 
 best bread, a fruit like a young pumpion. — Wood's New England (1634), p. 37. 
 
 Askutasquash, the vine-apple [of the Indians], which the English from them 
 call squashes, about the bignesse of apples, of severall colours, sweete, light, 
 wholesome, and refreshing. — Roger Williams, Key to the Indian Lang. (1643). 
 
 When the summer of your lives, my female friends, is drawing to a close, — 
 when your rosy charms begin to fade like the sprigs upon your calicoes, — and 
 when, like vineless squashes, you have grown withered and yellow, Cupid will 
 disdain to frequent your autumnal bowers. — Dow's Sermons, Vol. III. p. 127. 
 
SQU 
 
 647 
 
 2. A skunk; stinkard. Formerly so called. 
 
 Skunk . . . found in all the States. Another stinkard called 
 the Squash is said by Buffon to be found in some of the Southern 
 States. He is of a chestnut color, climbs trees, and kills poulti-y. — 
 Morsels Geography. 
 
 Webster, on the authority of Goldsmith, says it is an animal allied 
 to the weasel. 
 
 Squash -Bug. (Coreus trisHs.) A small yellow bug, injurious to the 
 vines of squashes, melons, and cucumbers. The odor, which is 
 peculiar, has been identified by Dr. Harris with that of an over-ripe 
 pear. In Connecticut, called a stink-bug. 
 
 To squat. 1. To squeeze; to press. Ex.: "The boy has squat his 
 finger." Used by the vulgar in New England. — Pickering'' s 
 Vocabulary. Mr. Todd has this word in his dictionary from Barret 
 (1580): "To bruise or make flat by letting fall." Provincial in 
 the south of England. 
 
 2. In the United States, to settle on another's lands, or on public 
 lands, without having a title. — Worcester. 
 
 On either side of the bank, the colonists had been allowed to squat on allotted 
 portions, until the survey of the town should be completed. — Wakefield's Adv en - 
 tu es in New Zealand in 1844. 
 
 The Yankees of Connecticut, those swapping, bargaining, squatting enemies ot 
 the Manhattoes, made a daring inroad into their neighborhood, and founded a 
 colony called Westchester. — Irving, Wolferfs Roost, p. 13. 
 
 The word has recently been introduced into the vocabulary of the 
 New York Stock Exchange, where it is applied to a broker when 
 1 e dishonors his contracts. 
 
 D D was a large dealer in gold during the war. . , . On two separate 
 
 occasions, he extricated himself from serious difficulties by fesorting to what is 
 known in the street as squatting. In other words, he dishonored his own con- 
 tracts, and entered upon a lawsuit to cover his duplicity. — Men and Mysteries 
 of Wall Street, p. 168. 
 
 Squatter. In the United States, one that settles on new land without 
 a title. — Webster. 
 
 When I was at Prairie du Chien, there were several of the officers who had been 
 cited to appear in court for having, pursuant to order, removed squatters from the 
 Indian lands on the Mississippi. — Hoffman, Winter in the West, Let. 29. 
 
 The Western squatter is a free and jovial character, inclined to mirth rather 
 than evil; and when he encounters his fellow-man at a barl)acue, election, l(»g- 
 rolling, or frolic, he is more disposed to join in a feeling of hilarity than to par- 
 ticipate in wrong or outrage. — Robb, Squatter Life. 
 
 The " London Spectator " has the following remarks on this word, 
 occasioned by the removal of a number of the occupants of Glen- 
 
648 
 
 SQU 
 
 culvie, in Scotland, who had squatted there as under-tenants*. 
 " The term * squatter^ is very ambiguous. In America, it denotes 
 a ragged rascal without a cent in his pockets, and with a rifle or 
 woodman's axe in his hand. In Australia, it designates a young 
 Oxonian or retired officer of the army or navy, possessed of stock to 
 the value of some thousands. In Scotland, it seems to designate a 
 person very differently circumstanced from either of the preceding. 
 . . . The Scotchmen who 'squat under tenants,' are men who 
 have followed their fathers and grandfathers for unknown genera- 
 tions in the occupancy of their huts and kail-yards. Their families 
 are of older standing in the district than those of the tacksmen or 
 the lairds. The Scotch squatter is no clandestine intruder upon the 
 soil: he stands in the place of his forefathers, and the act which 
 ejects him is a violent innovation on the customs of the country, — 
 a forcible change in a mode of tenancy sanctioned by the ' use and 
 wont ' of all ages." — June 7, 1845. 
 
 Squatter-Butter. To go " squatter-butter " is to slide down hill 
 "sitting on one's heels," as more inoffensively the thing is ex- 
 pressed. Eastern Massachusetts. 
 
 Squatter-Huts. The rude habitations or huts built by squatters. 
 
 O'er the land are aquatintan 
 
 Etchings of these sketches seen, 
 Gracing drawing-rooms in cities. 
 
 Squatter-huts in wildwoods green, 
 Wm. Boyd, Oakwood Old, Cambridge {Mass.) Chronicle, 1857. 
 
 Squatter Sovereignty. The right of the squatters or actual residents 
 in a Territory of the United States to make their own laws and 
 shape their own institutions. 
 
 One of the great merits of the Dred Scott decision is the total extinguishment it 
 gives to the dogma of squatter sovereignty in the Territories. It utterly negatives 
 the idea that there is any original jurisdiction or legislative authority in the 
 Territory, and asserts that all authority therem is derivative, coming from with- 
 out, and not inherent in its inhabitants or tribunals. — The ( Washinyton) Union, 
 Nov. 8, 1858. 
 
 We must live and learn. ... I refer to "pre-empting," known in former 
 times as squatting, from which arose that new term in political parlance, squatter 
 sovereignty . — National Int., Letter from Nebraska, 3\x\y 1, 1857. 
 
 Squaw. (Algonkin Ind.) An Indian woman. Mr. Duponceau, 
 after giving a list of the languages and forms in which this word 
 occurs, observes: " On voit que la famille de ce mot s'etend depuis 
 les Knistenaux en Canada, et les Skoffies et Montagnards d'Acadie, 
 jusqu'aux Nanticokes sur les confins de la Virginie." — Mem. sur 
 les Langues d^Amerique du Nord, p. 333. 
 
SQU 
 
 649 
 
 To squawk. To squeak, but with a deeper note. This word is collo- 
 quial in various parts of England and in New England. 
 
 "Good gracious ! " said Mrs. Bedott, " if you 'd a heard Miss C sing, you 'd 
 
 a gin up. The way she squawked it out was a caution to old gates on a windy 
 day ! " — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 208. 
 
 Squaw-Root. (Conapholis Americana.) Also, Leontice thalictroides 
 (Caulophyllum, Michaux), by others called Pappoose-root. A medi- 
 cinal plant put up by the Shakers, also called Cancer-root. It is 
 recommended for correcting the secretions, and possesses narcotic 
 properties. 
 
 Squaw-Weed. (^Senecio aureus.) A medicinal plant used for diseases 
 of the skin. 
 
 To squeal. To give information that will lead to an exposure. A 
 term well known to the police. See Peach. 
 
 The wife of a St. Louis merchant, who had been reading in the 
 morning papers about the whiskey frauds, turned to her husband 
 with a puzzled expression of countenance, and inquired: — 
 
 "My dear, what do the paper* mean by saying that a man has ' squealed ' ? " 
 
 "Why," replied the man, loftily, "they mean that some member of the ring 
 has peached on the rest." 
 
 "Peached, what is that V " exclaimed the wife ; " now, what does that mean ? " 
 
 " Why, it means that he 's — he 's blowed on 'em ! " 
 
 " Blowed on them ? " 
 
 "Yes, you see, he 's given them away." 
 
 "Given them away ? " 
 
 " Why, of course ! Can't you understand any thing ? Do you think I 'm an 
 unabridged dictionary ? " continued the husband. " It means he 's — he 's ' let 
 out on 'em,' — ' gone back ' on his pals, — squealed, you know.' ' 
 
 "Ah, yes, I see." 
 
 Three men being arrested at Harrisburg on suspicion of aiding 
 and abetting in the abduction of Charlie Ross, a letter was in- 
 troduced in evidence addressed to one of them, in which the writer 
 said : — 
 
 Go home ; burn the clothes of the boy ; R is caught, and may squeal on us. 
 
 N. Y. Tribune, Oct. 27, 1876. 
 
 The Northampton Bank having been robbed of a large sum of 
 money, a "lock expert," who had used his skill to effect the rob- 
 bery, claimed his share of the plunder, which was withheld from 
 him: — 
 
 Refusing to divide with the expert according to the principles of equity among 
 their class, he '■'■squealed,'''' and not only brought his co-partners into the meshes 
 of the law, but also deprived himself of an occupation. — Providence Journal. 
 
 Squeteague or Squetee. (Labrus squeteague.) A very common fish 
 in the waters of Long Island Sound and adjacent bays. It never 
 
650 
 
 SQU 
 
 visits rivers, and is similar in habits to the Tautog. In New York, 
 it is called Weak-fish, owing to the feeble resistance it makes when 
 caught with a hook, because it is weak (Dutch). The name is 
 Narragansett Indian. 
 
 Weelivis, en Schol, en Carper, Bot en Snoek. 
 
 Steendam''s Poems (1650), p. 54. 
 
 To squib. To throw squibs ; to utter sarcastic or severe reflections; 
 to contend in petty dispute; as, " Two members of a society squib 
 a little in debate." Colloquial. — Webster. This word is not in the 
 English dictionaries. 
 
 To squid. To fish by trolling with a squid, either natural or artificial. 
 
 The blue-fish is taken by squidding in swift tideways from a boat under sail in 
 a stiiiish breeze. — Frank Forester. 
 
 To squiggle. To move about like an eel. New England. Often 
 figuratively used in speaking of a man who evades a bargain as an 
 eel eludes the grasp. — Pickering. 
 
 Forby's Glossary of Norfolk contains the word in the sense of "to 
 shake a fluid about the mouth." 
 
 Squinny. To make a broad laugh. New England. 
 
 Squire. The title of magistrates and lawyers. In New England, it 
 is given particularly to justices of the peace and judges; in Penn- 
 sylvania, to justices of the peace only. — Webster. 
 
 To squirm. To wriggle or twist about, as an eel. Provincial in Eng- 
 land, and colloquial in the United States. — Worcester. 
 
 On the 7th January, 1859, the Hon. Mr. Pitt, of the Missouri 
 Legislature, is reported to have said in debate: — 
 
 Mr. Speaker, this House passed resolutions, sir, to celebrate, in an appro- 
 priate manner, the 8th of January. We have declared an intention, and now, 
 when we come to publish it, some gentleman is suddenh' seized with the "re- 
 trenchment gripes," and squirms around like a long red worm on a pin-hook. 
 
 Squirmy. Having a squirming shape; crooked. 
 
 It coils loosely and waveringly about the ground, as a huge snake might unfold 
 it; in every respect, a squirmy piece of work. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Squirt. A foppish young fellow; a " whipper-snapper ; " a contemp- 
 tible puppy. A vulgar word. 
 
 If they won't keep compan}' with squirts and dandies, who 's going to make a 
 monkey of himself? — Major Jones's Courtship, p. 160. 
 
 He 's a galvanized squirt, and, as the parson said, "the truth ain't in him." — 
 Noi-th's Slave of the Lamp, p. 25. 
 
SQU— STA 
 
 651 
 
 Squirtiah. Dandified. 
 
 It 's my opinion that these slicked-up, squirtish kind a fellars ain't particular 
 hard baked, and they always goes in for aristocracy notions. — Robb, Squatter 
 Life, p. 73. 
 
 Squitters. The diarrhoea. Also used in England. See Wright's 
 
 Provincial Die. 
 Squush. To crush. A vulgarism. 
 
 The next time I meet the critter, I 'II take my stick and kill it, — I 'II squush 
 it with my foot. — NeaVs Charcoal Sketches. 
 
 The following stanza is from a ' ' Tender Lay " on a new-laid 
 egg: — 
 
 Ay, touch it with a tender touch, 
 
 For, till the egg is biled, 
 Who knows but that unwittingly 
 
 It may be smashed and spiled. 
 The summer breeze that 'ginst it blows 
 
 Ought to be stilled and hushed; 
 For eggs, like youthful purity, 
 
 Are " orful" when they 're squushed. 
 
 When I went to school and we played leap-frog, if there was a frog to be 
 squushed down under all the rest, I was that fi'og. — Betsy Bobbet, p. 183. 
 
 Stag. 1. In the New York courts, a stag is the technical name for a 
 
 man who is always ready to aid in proving an alibi, of course " for 
 
 a consideration." 
 
 2. In New England and elsewhere, a bullock. And so, too, in 
 
 some parts of England. 
 Stag-Dance. A dance performed by males only, in bar-rooms, &c. 
 
 Also called a bull-dance. 
 
 The prisoners in the jail at Lafayette, Indiana, have been provided with a vio- 
 lin; and, one of the number being a good player, they have frequent cotillons or 
 stag-dances, which have the advantage of being select, without the formality 
 peculiar to entertainments in higher circles. — {Bait.) Sun, Nov. 13, 1854. 
 
 Stage-Driver. A stage-coachman. 
 
 Staging. Scaffolding. Used in New England, and, I believe, iu 
 other parts of the United States. — Pickering. 
 
 Stag-Party. A party consisting of males only. 
 
 I lose myself in a party of old bricks, who, under pretence of looking at the 
 picture, are keeping up a small stay-party at the end of the room. — Mace Sloper, 
 in Knickerbocker Mag., April, 1856. 
 
 Stake and Rider. A species of fence higher and stronger than a 
 " worm -fence." 
 
 Stake-Driver. The bittern, so called from its booming. Adiron- 
 dacks. The same bird is also called punk-pudding. 
 
652 
 
 STA 
 
 To stake out. To picket, as a horse, mule, &c. 
 
 He got all his fixins for camping, — his little wallet and tin cup, and a big lariat 
 to stake out his mule. — Frontier Incident, N. Y. Spirit of the Times 
 
 Staky. A stahj horse is one that jihhs, or stands still when in har- 
 ness. 
 
 To stall. To stick fast in the mire, as a horse or carriage. Provin- 
 cial in England. — Halliwell. In New England, "to set " is used 
 in the same sense. 
 
 Now and then we halted to mend a broken tongue or axle, or help a stalled 
 wagon from its mirj'- bed. — Captain Eeid, The Scalp-Hunter, p. 18. 
 
 Stampede. (Span, estampado, a stamping of feet.) A general 
 scamper of animals on the Western prairies, usually caused by a 
 fright. Mr. Kendall gives the following interesting account of 
 one: — 
 
 *' A stampede ! " shouted some of the old campaigners, jumping from the ground 
 and running towards their frightened animals ; " a stampede! look out for your 
 horses, or you Ml never see them again ! was heard on every side. 
 
 It is singular the effect that sudden fright has not only upon horses, but oxen, 
 on the prairies. The latter will, perhaps, run longer and farther than the former ; 
 and although not as difficult to "head," because they cannot run so fast, their 
 onward course it is impossible to stay. Oxen have been known to run forty 
 miles without once stopping to look back. Not one in fifty of them has seen the 
 least cause of fear, but each simply ran because his neighbor did. Frequent 
 instances have occurred where some worthless but skittish horse has caused the 
 loss of hundreds of valuable animals. 
 
 Nothing can exceed the grandeur of the scene when a large cavallada, or drove 
 of horses, take a "scare." Old, weather-beaten, time-worn, and broken-dowa 
 steeds — horses that have nearly given out from hard work or old age — will at 
 once be transformed into wild and prancing colts. When first seized with that 
 indescribable terror which induces them to fly, they seem to have been suddenly 
 endowed with all the attributes of their original wild nature. With heads erect, 
 tails and manes streaming in the air, eyes lit up and darting beams of fright, old 
 and jaded hacks will be seen prancing and careering about with all the buoyancy 
 of action which characterizes the antics of young colts. The throng will sweep 
 along the plain with a noise which may be likened to something between a tor- 
 nado and an earthquake, and as well might feeble man attempt to arrest either 
 of the latter. 
 
 Were the earth rending and cleaving beneath their feet, horses, when under 
 the terrifying influence of a stampede, could not bound away with greater velocity 
 or more majestic beauty of movement. — Santa Fe Expedition, Vol. I. p. 96. 
 
 About two hours before day there was a sudden stampedo, or rush of horses, 
 along the purlieus of the camp, with a snorting and a neighing and clattering of 
 hoofs that started the rangers from their sleep. — Irving'' s Tour to the Prairies, 
 p. 141. 
 
 Last night there occurred that dreaded calamity of the prairies, a stampede 
 of the mules. The herd was quietly grazing, when suddenly a pony took fright, 
 and, creating a panic among the animals, all fled. Their heavy tramping awoke 
 
STA 
 
 653 
 
 us ; and, seizing arms, we rushed out, thinking that Indians were the cause of 
 the disturbance. . . . For thirty -two miles, they continued the pursuit, and then, 
 overtaking the frightened horses that led the herd, turned them back. — Captain 
 Whipple's Explorations for a Railroad to the Facijic, p. 77. 
 
 From animals, the term is transferred to men: — 
 
 The boys leaped and whooped, flung their hats in the air, chased one another 
 in a sort of stampede, &c. — Judd's Margaret, p. 120. 
 
 After liim I went, and after me they came, and perhaps there wasn't the aw- 
 fullest stampede down three pair of stairs that ever occurred in Michigan ! — Field, 
 Western Tales. 
 
 The cause that led to the recent alarm [in Paris] was the stampede among the 
 directors of that wonderful institution, the Credit Mobilier. — N. Y. Journal of 
 Commerce, Oct. 12, 1857. 
 
 From information which has reached us, there would seem to have been a con- 
 siderable stampede of slaves from the border valley counties of Virginia during 
 the late Easter holidays. — {Bait.) Sun, April 9, 1858. 
 
 To Stampede. 1. To cause to scamper off in a fright. 
 
 Colonel Snively was on the point of marching in pursuit of the Mexicans, when 
 an incident occurred which frustrated the purposes of the expedition. This was 
 effected by a war-party of Indians, who succeeded in stampeding a large band of 
 the army horses. — Scenes in the Rocky Mountains, p. 268. 
 
 Orders were issued by Daniel H. Wells, styling himself "Lieutenant-general, 
 Nauvoo Legion," to stampede the animals of the United States troops on their 
 march, to set fire to their trains, to burn the grass, &c. — Presidents Message, 
 Dec. 6, 1858. 
 
 2. To scamper off in a fright. 
 
 The Virginia Legislature, becoming frightened at the approach of the cholera, 
 have finally stampeded toward the White Sulphur Springs, there to legislate in 
 the ball-room of the "principal hotel." — N. Y. Tribune, June 12, 1849. 
 
 3. To run off" from; to leave; to rush from hurriedly. 
 
 The wounded are doing well. The court-house and prominent stores are 
 being used as hospitals, ... the owners of the latter having stampeded the 
 town. — Missouri Cor. N. Y. Tiihme. 
 
 Stamping-Ground. The scene of one's exploits, or favorite place of 
 resort. South and West. 
 
 The little village of Hampton, Virginia, is a favorite stamping-ground for poli- 
 ticians. President Pierce spent a few days here early in the season. — Cor. of 
 the Baltimore Argus. 
 
 At the dinner given to the Knight Templars of Virginia by their 
 brethren in Providence, R. I., on tlie occasion of their visit, June 
 22, 1858, Sir Knight M. Kimball, one of the Committee from Bos- 
 ton, in response to the toast of " The City of Boston," said: — 
 
 For the present, we won't brag much. We say as little as possible until we get 
 the Virginia Knight Templars on our own stamping-ground . We don't propose 
 to astonish them till we get them out of your [the K. I. Templars'] hands. 
 
634 
 
 STA 
 
 I went up to Mobile, and then to my old stampm' -ground, up again to the old 
 State; and, arter spending a week or so among my kin, made a bee-line for 
 Washington. — Piney Woods Tavern, p. 41. 
 
 Stamp-Mill. A mill used in California for crushing all kinds of free- 
 gold quartz. It is the simplest and most wasteful machinery used 
 in the reduction of ores. 
 Stamps. Bank-notes, greenbacks, or any other paper money. Per- 
 haps from postage-stamps, which were used as money in 1861-62. 
 See Postal Currency. 
 
 The till I keep here in my pocket so safe, 
 
 I light up my kerosene lamps ; 
 At daylight I put up my shutters so tight, 
 Then go in to count up my stamps. 
 
 Somj, E. Harri.gan. 
 
 The " Providence Journal," Feb. 5, 1877, in speaking of a certain 
 lecturer who failed to obtain a large audience, says: — 
 
 The patience with which he waited in the box-office to rake in all the stamps 
 led his audience to form a fair estimate of his appreciation of the almighty 
 dollar. 
 
 Stanchel. A stanchion; a post. "Tie up the cow to the stan- 
 
 chel. ' ' Massachusetts. 
 Stancheous. Strong; durable. Western. 
 
 I tell you what, it 's a mighty stancheousAooking building, and looks far off at 
 
 a distance when you 're going up to it. — Major Jones's Courtship, p. 33. 
 
 Stand. 1. The situation of a store or place of business is called a 
 stand; as, "The Astor House is a good stand for a hotel." 
 2. A platform; a pulpit for orators and preachers. 
 
 Standee. A standing bed-place in a steamer. A place to stand at a 
 theatre or concert, without the privilege of a seat. 
 
 To stand to it. To adhere to one's engagement; to abide by a com- 
 pact; to be resolute. 
 
 To stand Treat. To consent to treat, or to be at the expense of treat- 
 ing a party to liquor. 
 
 I was never sold before, I vow; I cave in, and will stand treat. — Sam Slick, 
 Human Nature. 
 
 To stand up to the Rack. A metaphorical expression of the same 
 meaning as the like choice phrases, " to come to the scratch," " to 
 toe the mark." 
 
 I begun a new campaign at Washington. I had hard work, but I stood up to 
 the rack, fodder or no fodder. — Crockett, Tour, p. 137. 
 
 It was the hottest night's work ever old Wolf undertook; and it tuck a mighty 
 chance of hollerin' to make him stand up to his rack as well as he did. — Major 
 Jones's Courtship, p. 64. 
 
STA 
 
 To star. Said of a popular actor, who goes about and acts in dif- 
 ferent towns in the theatrical season. Such actor is also called " a 
 star." 
 
 Star-Apple. (ChrysophjUum Cainito.) A round, smooth- skinned 
 fruit, the size of a peach, with a soft pulp, and a number of glossy, 
 brown seeds. The more common kinds of star-apple are the green 
 skinned ones with white pulps, and the purple ones. West Indies. 
 
 Stare-Cat. A woman or girl who amuses herself with gazing at her 
 neighbors. A woman's word. 
 
 Star-Plum. (Chrysophyllum monopyrenum.) A kind of star-apple, 
 also called a Barbadoes Damson plum. Barbadoes. 
 
 Stars. 1. The officers of the police in the city of New York are so 
 called from their badge, a brass star, which is required by law to be 
 worn on the breast. 
 
 The present system clothes with authority not only vicious men, but even con- 
 victs, because they have been of service to their party. Then it is that the 
 "s^fir," instead of being a terror to evil-doers, becomes the fear of good citizens. 
 Report of Com. of Philad. Council on Police, 1857. 
 
 2. A Southern pronunciation of the word stairs, like bar for bear ; 
 also heard in New England. 
 
 Stars and Bars. The flag of the late Southern Confederacy. 
 
 Our Southern boys are brave and true, and are joining heart and hand. 
 And are flocking to the Stars and Bars, as they are floating o'er our land; 
 And all are standing ready, with their rifles in their hand, 
 And invite the North to open graves down South in Dixie's land. 
 
 Confederate Song. 
 
 Stars and Stripes. The flag of the United States. 
 
 This flag was adopted by act of Congress on the 14th June, 1777, 
 in the following words : — 
 
 " Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United Colonies be thirteen stripes 
 alternately red and white ; that the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, 
 representing a new constellation." 
 
 It has been thought that the arms of Washington may have sug- 
 gested the idea for the American flag. These arms contain three 
 stars in the upper portion, and three bars running across the escut- 
 cheon. Other flags were used at different times during the Revolu- 
 tion, which are described by Mr. T. Westcott, of Philadelphia, in 
 a communication with the London " Notes and Queries," for 1852, 
 p. 10. 
 
 In March, 1775, a union flag with a red field was hoisted at New 
 York, bearing the inscription, " George Rex and the -Liberties of 
 
656 
 
 STA 
 
 America," and upon the reverse, " No Popery." On the 18th July, 
 1778, General Putnam raised at Prospect Hill a flag, bearing on 
 one side the Connecticut motto, " Qui transtulit sustinet,^^ on the 
 other, " An Appeal to Heaven." In October of the same year, the 
 floating batteries at Boston had a flag with the latter motto, 
 the field white with a pine-tree upon it. This was the Massachu- 
 setts emblem. Another flag, used during 1775 in some of the 
 Colonies, had upon it a rattlesnake coiled as if about to strike, 
 with the motto, "Don't tread on me." The grand union flag of 
 thirteen stripes was raised on the heights near Boston, Jan. 2, 1776. 
 The " British Annual Register" of 1776 says: " They burnt the 
 King's speech, and changed their colors from a red ground, which 
 they had hitherto used, to a flag with thirteen stripes, as a symbol 
 of the number and union of the colonies." The idea of making a 
 stripe for each State was adopted from the first ; and the fact goes 
 far to negative the supposition that the private arms of General 
 Washington had any thing to do with it. The pine-tree, the rattle- 
 snake, and the striped flag were used indiscriminately until July, 
 1777, when the blue union with the stars was added to the stripes, 
 and the flag established by law. Formerly, a new stripe was added 
 for each new State admitted to the union, until the flag became too 
 large, when, by act of Congress, the stripes were reduced to the old 
 thirteen ; and now another star is added at the accession of each 
 new State. 
 
 Star-spangled Banner. The flag of the United States. The term 
 was first given to the American flag by Francis S. Key, in his 
 beautiful song, now become a national one, which bears that title. 
 The circumstances connected with the composition of this song are 
 given by Chief Justice Taney, the brother-in-law of Mr. Key, in a 
 letter which accompanied a late edition of the poems of that writer. 
 The following is condensed from it : — 
 
 " In the campaign of the British, during the war of 1812, when 
 they destroyed the Capitol at Washington and the battle of Bladens- 
 burg took place, Dr. Beanes, a leading physician of Upper Marl- 
 boro', was taken from his bed at midnight, by a detachment of 
 soldiers sent for the purpose, and without even allowing him to put 
 his clothes on, was hurried off to the British camp. 
 
 *' Measures were immediately taken to procure the release of Dr. 
 Beanes, who had been sent down to the fleet which lay in the 
 Chesapeake. Mr. Key, who was an intimate friend of the Doctor, 
 volunteered to accompany Mr. Skinner, an agent for the govern- 
 ment for flags of truce and exchange of prisoners. 
 
STA 
 
 657 
 
 " After mucli solicitation, Mr. Key succeeded in getting an order 
 to release the Doctor; but they were told that they must remain 
 with the fleet until after the attack on Baltimore, then about to be 
 made. They were then transferred to their own vessels, accompa- 
 nied by a guard of marines to prevent them from landing, and for- 
 tunately anchored in a position which enabled them to see the flag 
 of Fort McHenry. The party remained on deck during the whole 
 night, watching eveiy shell, from the moment it was fired until it 
 fell, listening with breathless interest to hear if an explosion fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 " While the bombardment continued, it was sufiicient proof that 
 the fort had not surrendered. But it suddenly ceased, when they 
 became alarmed and paced the deck the remainder of the night in 
 painful suspense, watching with intense anxiety for the return of 
 day. At length the light came ; they saw that ' our flag was still 
 there,' and soon after learned that the attack had failed. Mr. Key, 
 Mr. Skinner, and Dr. Beanes were then permitted to land where 
 they pleased. 
 
 *' Under the excitement of the time, Mr. Key, as he stated to Judge 
 Taney, commenced the song of ' The Star-spangled Banner ' on the 
 deck of their vessel, in the fervor of the moment, when he saw the 
 enemy retreating to their ships, and looked at the flag he had 
 watched for so anxiously, as the morning opened. A few lines he 
 had scratched on the back of a letter which he had in his pocket, 
 some he preserved in his mind, and finished it in the boat on his 
 way to the shore. Arriving at the hotel, he wrote it out as it now 
 stands. The next morning, he showed the lines to Judge Nichol- 
 son, who was much pleased with them, and immediately sent them 
 to a printer, where the poem was struck off in hand-bills, and most 
 favorably received by the people of Baltimore : — 
 
 "Oh ! say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, 
 
 What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming ; 
 Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight. 
 
 O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly streaming? 
 And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, 
 Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there; 
 Oh ! say, does that star-spanghd banner yet wave 
 O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?" 
 
 Starvation. The act of starving, or the state of being starved. — 
 Webster and Worcester. 
 
 The word starvation was first introduced into the English lan- 
 guage by Mr. Dundas [the first Lord Melville], in a speech in 1775, 
 
 42 
 
658 
 
 STA 
 
 on an American debate, and hence applied to him, as a nickname, — 
 Starvation Dundas. — Horace Walpole. 
 
 I shall not wait for the advent of starvation from Edinburgh to settle my judg- 
 ment. — Henry Dundas, 1775. 
 
 After months of starvation and despair. — Macaulay. 
 The word has erroneously been called an Americanism by Dr. 
 French and others. " Strange as it may appear, it is nevertheless 
 quite true that this word [starvation], now unhappily so common in 
 every tongue, is not to be found in our own English Dictionaries; 
 neither in Todd's Johnson, nor in Richardson's, nor in Smart's 
 Walker remodelled 1836. " — Notei^ and Queries. In the new edition 
 of Todd's Johnson by Dr. Latham, the word appears, with a simple 
 definition, without comment. 
 State. A large district of country having a separate government, but 
 confederated with other States, as one of the members or States of 
 the American Union. — Worcester. 
 Stated Supply. A minister who, not as an occasional but constant 
 preacher to a congregation, officiates apart from any formal induc- 
 tion : one actually, though not in technical form, a Christian pastor. 
 Chiefly used by Presbyterians, occasionally by Congregationalists, 
 though now almost supplanted by the term Acting Pastor; viz., a 
 pastor who officiates without a formal installation. 
 State-House. (Dutch, Stadhuys.) The building in which the legisla- 
 ture of a State holds its sessions ; a State capitol. — Wehster. 
 The States. The United States. "The States " is universally em- 
 ployed in the British Provinces of North America. In England, they 
 are always spoken of as " America. ' ' 
 States' Rights. The rights of the several independent States, as 
 opposed to the authority of the Federal government. 
 
 Having been all my life, and being still, an ardent '■^ States-rights'''' man, — 
 believing States'' rights to be an essential, nay, the essential, element of the Con- 
 stitution, and that no one who thinks otherwise can stand on the same constitu- 
 tional platform that I do, — it seems to me that I am, and all those with whom I 
 act habitually are, if Democrats at all, true States-rights Democrats." — Speech 
 of Hon. J. H. Hammond, Oct. 27, 1858. 
 
 Then rise in your might, and repel each invader, 
 
 Nor let our loved land be disgraced b}* their tread ; 
 Let the watchword be, "Freedom and States' Rights for ever! " 
 Nor cease till each foe shall lie low with the dead. 
 
 Rebellion Record, Confederate Song, Vol. III. p. 7. 
 My Southern boys for years have held 
 
 The Presidential reins, sir, — 
 Until to-day the}- 've held a sway 
 They never can regain, sir. 
 
STA— STE 
 
 659 
 
 And when they cannot rule, they kick 
 
 And hate with all their might, sir ; 
 For love of Union's second to 
 
 Their fondness for States' rights, sir. 
 
 Ibid., W. E. S., Yol. in. p. 28. 
 
 Station-House. A temporary jail; also a place to keep petty crimi- 
 nals before trial. 
 
 To stave. 1. To break a hole in; to break; to burst; as, "to stave 
 a cask." — Webster. This is the legitimate use of the verb; but 
 sometimes we make it govern the instrument directly, as in the 
 following example : — 
 
 I '11 stave my fist right through you, and carry you on my elbow as easily as 
 if you were an empt}"- market-basket. — NeaVs Charcoal Sketches. 
 
 2. To hurry; to press forward. 
 
 A president of one of our colleges once said to a graduate at parting, " My son, 
 I want to advise you. Never oppose public opinion. The great world will stave 
 right on ! " — Am. Review, June, 1848. 
 
 Hilloa, Steve! where are you staving to ? If you 're for Wellington, scale up 
 here, and I '11 give you a ride. — Mrs. Clavers's Forest Life. 
 
 And so the Yankee staves along 
 Full-chisel, hitting right or wrong. 
 And makes the burden of his song 
 
 " By golly ! " — Rome Journal. 
 
 Staver. A dashing, active person or thing ; a rouser. 
 
 Miss Asphyxia's reputation in the region was perfectly established. She was 
 spoken of with applause, under such titles as a staver, a pealer, a roarer at work. 
 Mrs. Stowe, Oldtown Folks, p. 117. 
 
 Staving. Great; strong. 
 
 A staving dram put him in better humor. Strange what arguments some people 
 require. — Cor. Cincinnati Times. 
 
 Stay-at-home. Domestic ; not habituated to travel. " She 's a s^a^- 
 a^-Aome woman ; " " A s/a?/-a^^ome body. " 
 
 The great mass of the Southern people are stationary and stay-at-home in their 
 habits. — Cor. N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Stayed with. To be stayed with is to be courted by a man. 
 
 Stay put. To let a thing remain as it is. 
 
 On a projection we piled our bags and baskets, and ranged a few essentials in 
 some order. 
 
 " If they will only stay put," said Emery Ann. "But I suppose they will all be 
 upside down." — Mrs. Whitney, Sights and Insights, p. 37. 
 
 Steal. (Pronounced stall.) The handle of various implements, as a 
 rake-steal, a fork-steal. Used by the farmers in some parts of New 
 England. Provincial in various parts of England. — Pickering. 
 Cf. Ger. Stiel, handle. 
 
660 
 
 STE 
 
 To steam, To steam it. To indulge in spirituous liquors to excess. 
 
 Steamboat. A term used at the West to denote a dashing, " go- 
 a-head " character. 
 
 Mrs. Stowe, while in England, met Archbishop Whately, of 
 whom she thus speaks : — 
 
 There is a kind of brusque humor in his address, a downright heartiness, which 
 reminds one of Western character. If he had been born in our latitude, in Ken- 
 tucky or Wisconsin, the natives would have called him Whateh', and said he 
 was a real steamboat on an argument. — Sunny M emories. 
 
 The renowned Colonel Crockett, while asleep on a stump, got 
 caught in the crotch of a tree and held fast, where he was attacked 
 by eagles, which attempted to pull out his long hair to build their 
 nests with: — 
 
 "In a few minutes I heered a voice," says the Colonel, " and then a gal come 
 running up, and axed what was the matter. ... I telled her that, if she would 
 drive off the eagles, I would make her a present of an iron comb." 
 
 "That I will," says she, "for I am a she steamboat, and have doubled up a 
 crocodile in my day." 
 
 Steamboating. The business of wwking on board a steamboat ; a term 
 generally confined to the hands employed on board river-boats. 
 
 Steamboating looks like something big to Fred, you know: it shows oif better 
 than country stores and saw-mills. — Habberton, The Barton Experiment^ p. 29. 
 
 Steam Doctor. See Thompsonian Doctor. 
 
 Steam Paddy. A steam earth-excavator, much used in making exca- 
 vations in sand or loose soil for railways. So called from its taking 
 the place of a number of Irish laborers. 
 
 The soil was so sandy that the hills were easily cut down, and for this purpose 
 a contrivance Avas used called a steam Paddy, which did immense execution. — 
 Borthivick's California, p. 80. 
 
 Steboy, Seboy. A word used to set dogs upon pigs or other animals. 
 
 " There it is — that black and white thing — on that log," says Tom. " Steboy, 
 catch him ! " says he [to the dog]. Ben run up with his light, and the first thing 
 I heard him say was, " Peugh ! oh, my Lord! look out, fellers, it's a pole-cat." 
 Major Jones's Courtship, p. 55. 
 
 Steep. Great, magnificent, extravagant. A newly coined slang 
 term, equivalent to tall. 
 
 At the election in Minnesota, one hundred and ten Winnebago Indians, wear- 
 ing their blankets, voted the Democratic ticket; but the agent thought this was 
 rather steep, so he afterwards crossed that number from the list. — Chicago 
 Tnbune, Oct. 17, 1857. 
 
 The verdict by twelve of seventeen of a jury giving $150,000 as damages to a 
 Land and Water-Power Company, at the Great Falls of the Potomac, through 
 the diversion to the Washington Aqueduct of one eighteenth of the water at lowest 
 stage, is regarded as decidedly steep. — {Bait.) Sun, Aug. 23, 1858. 
 
STE—STI 
 
 661 
 
 Steeple-Bush. One of the popular names of the Spiroea tomentosa 
 (hardhack) . 
 
 Steers. In Texas, the universal name for cattle. Ox and oxen are 
 almost unknown terms there. There are " wheel-steers," " swing- 
 steers," and -'lead-steers." 
 
 Stemraery. A large building in which tobacco is stemmed; that is, 
 in which the thin part of the leaf is stripped from the fibrous veins 
 that run through it. Kentucky and Missouri. 
 
 Stem-Winder. A watch wound by a key affixed to the stem. 
 
 Stent. (Old Eng.) An allotted task. New England. 
 
 Step-Ladder. A portable frame- work of stairs, much used in-doors 
 in reaching to a high position ; also called steps. — Webster. 
 
 Stepped out. " He stepped out," i. e. he died. 
 
 Stepper. "She's a regular stepper," — said of an active, high- 
 spirited woman. 
 
 Stern- Wheel. The shallow rivers of the West are navigated by small 
 steamboats with a wheel at the stern instead of side-wheels, which 
 are used only in the larger steamers. Hence the term is applied to 
 any thing small, petty; as, a ^'■stern-wheel church." Comp. One- 
 Horse. 
 
 So, when ended, the girls were kindly and tenderly put on the " St. Mary," — a 
 funny, little, stem-wheel boat, which was to go up the Red River. — E. E. Hale, 
 Adventures of a Pullman, p. 125. 
 
 Stern- Wheeler. A steamboat fitted up with a stern-wheel. Western. 
 
 Squire Blaze served for a long time as first mate on a raft, but grew ambitious 
 for higher distinction. Next, he got possession of a sta7'n-tvheeler, and entered the 
 pine-knot business, the pursuit of which took him so high up Red River that he 
 got clean out of the way of taxes. — Remembrances of the Mississippi, Harper'' s 
 Mag. 
 
 A Southern editor wishes to say that the Mississippi is very low. How does 
 he say it V " The cat-fish are rigging up stern-wheelers.^'' — Speech of the Hon, 
 S. H Cox, Sept., 1857. 
 
 Stew. " Give us a stew,^^ i. e. stewed oysters. 
 
 To stick. To take in; to impose upon; to cheat in trade. "I'm 
 stuck with a counterfeit note; " " He went to a horse sale, and got 
 stuck with a spavined jade." 
 
 As soon as the whole class of small speculators perceived they had been stuck, 
 they all shut their mouths; no one confessing the ownership of a share. — 
 A Week in Wall Street, p. 47. 
 
 Very often is a client stuck for a heavy bill of costs, which he would have 
 saved but for the ignorance of his attorney. — Newspaper. 
 
662 
 
 STI 
 
 Stick-Chimney. In newly settled parts of the country, where log- 
 houses foriii the first habitations of the settlers, the chimneys are 
 made with sticks from one to two inches square, and about two feet 
 in length, which are laid crosswise and cemented with clay or mud. 
 The fire-places are built of rough stone, and the slick-chimneys are 
 merely the conductors of the smoke. Formerly called " catted chim- 
 ney," in Massachusetts. 
 
 The stick-chimney was, like its owner's hat, open at the top, and jammed in at 
 the sides. — Mrs. Clavers's Western Cleurin(/s, p. 7. 
 
 We came to a queer little cabin built of round logs. . . . The stick-chimney 
 daubed with clay, and topped with a barrel open at both ends, made this a typi- 
 cal cabin. — Eyyleston, The Iloosier Schoolmaster, p. 94. 
 
 Sticker. 1. An article of merchandise which sticks by the dealer, 
 and does not meet with a ready sale, is technically called a sticker. 
 2. A puzzler. See Stumper. 
 
 Stick-in-the-Mud. (Pron. stickneymud.') Very common for a slow, 
 inert man ; also used for " Thingumbob, " "what d' ye call 'em," or 
 a name you can't remember. " Come, old Stick-in-the-mud, and give 
 us a lift." 
 
 "Well, arter all this palaver," said old Stick-in-the-mud, "what are you 
 arter ? " 
 
 " I 'm arter another coal of fire," said I, " to light a cigar with." — Sam Slick, 
 Wise Saws, p. 132. 
 
 Stick it out. Endure to the end. To "hold on." " He does not 
 succeed in Florida, nevertheless he says that he means to stick it out 
 till spring. ' ' 
 
 Stiff. Strong. Said of a drink. " Give it to me 5^/^. " 
 Stiffy. A well-dressed, conceited boy. Used among boys. 
 
 Still-Baiting. Fishing with a deep line in one spot, as distinguished 
 
 from trolling. 
 Still-Hunter. A stalker of game. Western. 
 
 The still-hunter must needs be upon his guard ; for the wounded buffalo is 
 prone to make battle upon the too near approach of his enemy. — Gregg, Com. of 
 Prairies, Vol. II. p. 219. 
 
 Still-Hunting. Walking noiselessly through the woods, keeping a 
 bright look-out, and searching for game in the haunts where they 
 are wont to browse in the day-time. 
 
 Still-hunting buffalo is approaching or stalking, by taking advantage of the 
 wind and any cover the ground affords, and crawling within shooting distance 
 of the feeding herd. — Buxton, Adventures in New Mexico, p. 285. 
 
 What is called still-hunting among our frontiersmen is not practised among the 
 Indians. — Sibley's Western PraiHes. 
 
STI— STO 
 
 663 
 
 Stingaree. A corruption of sting-ray^ the name of a fish. (Cephalop- 
 tera vampyrus.) On the Southern coast, where chiefly found, it is 
 also known as the Devil-Fish. 
 
 This fish is thus described by Captain John Smith: — 
 
 Our Captaine taking a fish from his sword, being much the fashion of a Thorn- 
 back, but a long tayle like a riding-roddle, whereon in the middest is apoysoned 
 sting of two or three inches long, bearded like a saw on each side, which she 
 struck into the wrist neare an inch and a halfe. . . . The torment was instantly 
 so extreame that in four houres we all with much sorrow concluded his funerall, 
 and prepared his grave in an island by. The man recovered, and the place 
 where the event occurred was called Stingrai Isle, after the name of the fish. — 
 Historie of Virginia (1632). 
 
 Stinkard. A skunk, formerly so called in New England. See Squash. 
 Stinkstone. Swine-stone, a variety of carbonate of lime, which emits 
 
 a fetid odor on being struck. — Dana. 
 Stinkweed. See Jamestown Weed. 
 Stinted. Often substituted for stunted. 
 
 To stitch. To form land into ridges. New England. — Webster. 
 To stive up. To make hot, sultry, close. An English expression, 
 but now more used, it is believed, in this than in the old country. 
 
 "Oh, marcy on us," said a fat lady, who was looking for a house, "this '11 
 never do for my family at all. There 's no convenience about it, only one little 
 stived-up closet. . . . And the bed-rooms, — she would as soon sleep in a pig- 
 pen, and done with it, as to get into such little, mean, stived-up places as them." 
 Downing, May-day in New York. 
 
 To stiver. To run ; to move off. A low word used in the Northern 
 States. 
 
 To stock. To stock land means, with us, to supply land, not only 
 with animals, but also with seed; as, "My farm is stocked Y^ith. 
 clover. ' ' 
 
 Stock and Fluke. Probably of nautical origin, to denote a whole 
 anchor; thence, the whole of any thing. It is employed for wholly, 
 completely. 
 
 In other words, Tammany Hall is sold out stock and Jluke to Fernando Wood. 
 N. Y. Tribune, Oct., 1861. 
 
 Stock-Dealer. A trader in farm stock ; a cattle-dealer. 
 To take Stock in any Thing is to have full faith in it. 
 Stocking Feet. To be in one's stocking feet is to have only one's 
 stockings on, to have one's shoes off. 
 
 The mistress and chambermaid visited the house once a week for the purpose of 
 putting things to rights, — leaving their shoes at the door, and entering devotedly 
 in their stocking feet: — Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 168. 
 
664 
 
 STO 
 
 Stock-Minder. One who takes care of cattle on the great prairies; 
 a herder; a vaquero, which see. 
 
 Stock-Range. The prairie or plain where cattle range or graze. 
 
 When any person or persons may hunt estrays in another stock-ranye, he or 
 they shall notify the owner or stock-minder of said stock his or their intention 
 or object. 
 
 Stocks. Buying and selling stocks. The machinery connected with 
 the purchase and sale of stocks is thus described by Mr. Medbery: — 
 
 The first point necessary to know is when the customer wishes to receive or 
 deliver the stock. He may prefer to-day, to-morrow, or a more distant date. 
 Each of these methods of settlement has a special name: — 
 
 Cash, in broker's language, means that the contract entered upon shall be ful- 
 filled by payment and delivery of stock, at or before 2.15 p.m. of the day of sale. 
 
 Regular or Regular Way is the term for sale when the delivery is to be made 
 at or before 2.15 p. m. of the day succeeding that of contract. 
 
 Buyer's Option is where the purchaser has the right to require the deliver}' of 
 the stock upon any day within the time covered by the option. 
 
 Seller'' s Option is where the day of delivery is at the convenience or pleasure of 
 the person making the sale, within the time stipulated at the moment of sale. 
 
 In all cases, notice must be given by the holder of the option to the other party 
 in the contract, on or before two o'clock of the day previous to that when delivery 
 of stock is called for; but the stock is deliverable at the termination of the con- 
 tract without notice. — Men and Mysteries of Wall Street, p. 49. 
 
 For other terms appertaining to stocks, see Buy or sell Flat ; Bulls 
 and Bears ; Carrying Stocks ; Corner ; Call Contract ; Delivery ; 
 Flyer; Force Quotations; Josh; Margin; Pool; Puts; Long and 
 Short; Spread; Straddle; Swimming Market ; Ten up ; Twist; Un- 
 load Stock; Washing ; and Watering. 
 
 We pay particular attention to purchasing Stock Privileges, and can always 
 secure Puts, Calls, Spreads, or Straddles, on all active stocks at the best market 
 rates. — Circular of a Wall Street Broker. 
 
 Stock-Train. A train of railroad cars loaded with cattle; a cattle 
 train . 
 
 Stock-Watering. A system recently adopted of increasing the capi- 
 tal stock of a railroad company by issuing new stock, on the pre- 
 tence that accumulated profits warrant such increase. The late 
 Cornelius Vanderbilt was famous for the extent to which he carried 
 out this system in the railway companies, the stock of which he 
 controlled. This increase of stock has also been adopted for the 
 purpose of raising money. See Watering Stock. 
 
 The " N. Y. Times," in speaking of a new railroad, says: — 
 
 The road should be constructed under the authority of a commission, to be 
 composed of Presidents of our principal commercial organizations and leading 
 
STO 
 
 665 
 
 representath'es of our real estate interests, to the end that the work should be 
 honestly and economically done, without the stealing and stock-watering which 
 often accompany such undertakings. 
 
 Such occasional diversions as corners, money lock-ups, wholesale stock-water- 
 ings, and kindred devices, are the indications of forces with large reserves of 
 strength. — Medbery, Men and Mysteries of Wall Street, p. 158. 
 
 Stocky. Short and thick. A west of England expression, used in 
 New England. 
 
 He's rather a stocky man; and I'm nothing but a shadow, as it were. — 
 Brooke^s Eastford. 
 
 To Stomp. To stamp with the feet. The pronunciation stomp is 
 almost universal in the United States. 
 
 Stone-Bee. An assemblage of farmers or villagers for the purpose of 
 clearing stones from a neighbor's piece of land. See Bee. 
 
 At Ridgefield, we used to have stone-bees, when all the men of a village or ham- 
 let came together with their draft cattle, and united to clear some patch of earth 
 which was covered with an undue quantity of stones and rocks. — Goodrich, 
 Reminiscences, Vol. I. p. 75. 
 
 Stone-Bruise. A hurt or sore on the sole of the foot among those 
 who go without shoes, such as children and Negroes. The same 
 term is used in Ireland. 
 
 Stone-Root. (Collinsonia Canadensis.) A plant used in medicine. 
 Its properties are diuretic and stomachic. It is also called Rich- 
 weed. 
 
 Stone-Toter. A name often given to the Mullet (Catostomiis nigricans) 
 of the Middle States, and to other species of Cyprinidoe. 
 
 The most singular fish in this part of the world is called the Stone-toter, whose 
 brow is surmounted with several little sharp horns, by the aid of which he totes 
 small flat stones from one part of the brook to another more quiet, in order to 
 make a snug little enclosure for his lady to lie in in safety. — Paulding, Letters 
 from the South. 
 
 Stool. An artificial duck or other water-fowl used as a decoy. They 
 are much used on Long Island and elsewhere in duck-shooting. 
 
 Stooling. Decoying ducks or other fowl by the means of " stools." 
 
 Stool-Pigeon. A decoy robber, in the pay of the police, who brings 
 his associates into a trap laid for them. 
 
 Stool-Pigeoning. The practice of employing decoys to catch robbers. 
 
 Stoop. (Dutch, stoep.) The steps at the entrance of a house; door- 
 steps. It is also applied to a porch with seats, a piazza, or balus- 
 trade. This, unlike most of the words received from the Dutch, 
 has extended, in consequence of the uniform style of building that 
 prevails throughout the country, beyond the bounds of New York 
 State, as far as the backwoods of Canada. 
 
666 
 
 STO 
 
 Stoulpe before a doore, souche. — Palsrprive. " The same as Stoop^ 
 which is still used in the north of England." " A short, stout jwst, 
 put down to mark a boundary," &c. — Halliwell. 
 
 Carts or waines are debarred and letted [by coaches] : the milk-maid's ware 
 is often spilt in the dirt, and people's guts like to be crushed out, being crowded 
 and shrowded up against stalls and stoopes. — Taylor, the Water Pott" 8 Worhs^ 
 Pt. 2, p. 242. 
 
 In portly gabardine and bulbous multiplicity of breeches, the Dutch burgher 
 sat on his stoep, and smoked his pipe in lordly silence. — Knickerbocker's New 
 York, p. 385. 
 
 About nine o'clock, all three of us passed up Wall Street, on the stoops of 
 which no small portion of its tenants were already seated, — Cooper, Satanstoe, 
 Vol. I. p. 69. 
 
 Nearly all the houses [in Albany] were built with their gables to the street 
 and each had heavy wooden Dutch stoops, with seats at the door. — Ibid., p. 161. 
 
 There was a large two story-house, having a long stoop in front. — Margaret, 
 p. 63. 
 
 The roses fall, the daisies droop, 
 And all about the ancient stoop 
 The eager sparrows soar and swoop. 
 
 Nora Perry, The Legend of Moorland Hall. 
 
 I shall step back to my party within the stoup. — Backwoods of Canada. 
 The stoup is up, and I have just planted hops at the base of the pillars. — Ibid.^ 
 p. 309. 
 
 To stop. To stay; to abide temporarily; as, " When you come to 
 New York, stop with me instead of going to a hotel." 
 
 Those who remain at home know little of the newer portions of our country, 
 and of the primeval style of living. I recently stopped with a friend on court- 
 day. The court-house was of logs, without a floor, &c. — Corresp. of Newark 
 Daily Adv. p \ r»s 'C t lOf^o-^lh f^cc j^ 
 
 Store. In the United States and Canada, shops of every kind for the 
 sale of goods, whether at wholesale or retail, are commonly called 
 stores. Thus, we have dry-goods stores, shoe .stores, book stores, 
 hardware stores, &c. This use of the word, whose proper meaning 
 is a magazine or storehouse where merchandise or movable property 
 is kept, seems to arise from that tendency to the magniloquent with 
 which Americans have been charged. The word shop is thus almost 
 wholly discarded, except in the sense of workshop. 
 
 Store Clothes, Store Goods. Clothing or other articles purchased 
 at a store, as opposed to those which are home-made. These phrases 
 are used only in out of the way parts of the country. Comp. 
 Boughten. 
 
 Storekeeper. In America, a man who has the care of a store or 
 warehouse ; a shopkeeper. The officer who has charge of the govern- 
 
STO— STR 
 
 667 
 
 ment warehouse, where property to the value of millions is deposited 
 for inspection or for safe-keeping, is a storekeeper ; so, too, is the man 
 who stands behind the counter of a paltry shop, and deals out yards 
 of tape and papers of pins. 
 
 Store Pay. . Payment made for produce or other articles purchased 
 by goods from a store, instead of cash. This is a common way of 
 buying produce in the country. Sometimes, a dealer agrees to pay 
 half in cash and half out of his store, i. e , in stoi^e pay. 
 
 See, a girl has just arrived with a pot of butter to trade off for store 2)ay. She 
 wants in exchange a yard of calico, a quarter of tea, a quart of molasses, some 
 radish seed, a plug of tobacco, two pipes, a fine-tooth comb, a salt mackerel, a 
 dose of rhubarb, two sticks of candy, and a bottle of rum. — Captain Priest's 
 Adventures, p. 54. 
 
 Store Tea. A term applied to the tea of China bought at the stores, 
 to distinguish it from herb tea. See Bougliten. 
 
 To storm. To blow with violence ; impersonally, as it storms. — Weh- 
 ' ster. We use it improperly in the sense of to rain or to snow. 
 
 Story. A floor; a flight of rooms. — Johnsoyi. In the United States, 
 the floor next the ground is the first story. In England, what we 
 call the " second story " is called the " first floor." 
 
 Stove-Pipe. 1. A funnel. 2. A tall hat. 
 
 Stove-Pipe Hat. A tall hat, from its resemblance to a joint of a 
 stove-pipe. 
 
 Stoga boots an' stove-pipe hat, 
 Standin' collar, an' plenty o' dat ; 
 Sweet potatoes an' possum fat, 
 Oh, fight for the Union ! 
 
 Songs of the Centennial. 
 
 Pickpockets rejoice in neatly fitting suits, spotless linen, sparkling pins and 
 ornaments, and stove-pipe hats, tall and glossy, . . . worn jauntily on one side. 
 The Galaxy for 1867, p. 632. 
 
 Stowaway. One who secretes himself on board a ship or other 
 public conveyance, in order to get a free passage. 
 
 Straddle. A stock-broker's term, and means a contract which gives 
 the holder the privilege of calling for the stock at a fixed price, or 
 of delivering it at the same price to the party who signs the con- 
 tract. A straddle is desirable when a party wishes to buy and sell 
 stocks, without being obliged to deposit a cash margin. 
 
 Straddle-Bug. The popular name for a " dung-beetle " or " tumble- 
 bug." In the Isle of Wight, the cockroach is called a straddle-bob. 
 Sometimes applied to other species of beetles. A specimen of the 
 
668 
 
 STR 
 
 dialect of the Isle of Wight, in " Halliwell's Introduction," gives 
 " straddle-bob " as another name of the " dumbledore." 
 
 Shew me the man who does not delight in the departure of winter, and I will 
 exhibit to you one who, as Sheepspear says, is "fit for treacle, straddle-buys, 
 and spooks." — Dow^s Sermons, Vol. I. p. 194. 
 
 Straight. 1. Even or uniform in quality. A term used in commerce, * 
 and particularly among flour-dealers; as, ''A thousand barrels of 
 Rochester flour, straight, brought -15," meaning that the thousand 
 barrels were all alike, or that the same brand ran straight through. 
 
 2. Pure, genuine, uncontaminated. 
 
 In the Presidential contest of 1844, no man was more fierce in his hostility to 
 Henry Clay than the present candidate of the straight Whigs for the Vice- 
 Presidency. — N. Y. Courier and Enquirer, Sept., 1856. 
 
 The straight Republican Convention is to meet to-morrow. Mr. Sumner's 
 anti-slavery opinions are very strong, and this would seem to lead to the conclu- 
 sion that he is with the straights. — N. Y. Times, Oct. 14, 1857. 
 
 3. Pure, undiluted, applied to liquors. 
 
 My glass of brandy, which should have been straight, was surreptitiously 
 diluted with Croton water. — Doesticks (1854). 
 
 But I takes mine straight without sugar, and that's what's the matter with 
 me. — Bret Harte, Cicely. 
 
 For additional illustrations, see Whiskey Straight. 
 Straight, in the game of poker, is five cards in sequence; as, 6, 7, 
 8, 9, 10. 
 
 Straight as a Loon's Leg is a common simile in New England. 
 
 They were puzzled with the accounts ; but I saw through it in a minit, and 
 made it all as straight as a loon's leg. — Major Downing'' s Letters, p. 42. 
 
 Straight-out. Pure; genuine; unsophisticated. 
 
 Anne was indignant with that straight-out and generous indignation which 
 belongs to women, who are ready to follow their principles to anv result with 
 more inconsiderate fearlessness than men. — Mrs. Stowe, Dred, Vol. II. p. 319. 
 
 We feel what a blessed thing it is just now to be a straight-out Whig, sitting 
 calm on tumult's wheel. — N. Y. Commercial Adv., May, 1856. 
 
 Straight-spoken. Plain-spoken; downright; candid. 
 
 I 'm not a-going to spoil the appearance of heaven by foolishly attempting to 
 garnish it with artificial flowers , nor to blacken hell till it shines like a new 
 polished boot. Not I. I 'm a straiyht-spoken preacher. — Dow^s Sermons. 
 I 'm a straight-spoken kind o' creetur. 
 
 That blurts right out what 's in his head ; 
 And, if I 've one peculiar feature, 
 
 It is a nose that won't be led. — Biglow Papers, p. 88. 
 
 Straight up and down. Plain ; candid ; honest. 
 
 If there was any thing wanting to prove that lawyers were not straight up and 
 down in their dealings, that would do it. — Sam Slick, Human Nature. 
 
STR 
 
 669 
 
 Strain, instead of sprain^ is frequently heard. " I have strained my 
 ankle." 
 
 Strain. To stride. New England. 
 
 Strand. 1. The Dutch on the Hudson River apply the term to a 
 landing-place; as, the strand at Kingston. — Webster. 
 
 2. In the South, the word strand denotes a j&bre, as a hair of the 
 head, beard, &c. 
 
 Stranger. It is the common practice in the Western States to accost 
 a person whose name is not known by this title. In England, for 
 example, a person would say, " Can you tell me, sir, if this is the 
 road to B ?" At the West, he would say, " Stranger, is this the 
 road?"&c. 
 
 Under the benign influence of the Christian religion, a civilization was gi'ow- 
 ing up in the world which had carried modern nations far beyond the boasted 
 refinement of ancient Greece and Rome. With them, the word strange?' was 
 synonymous with " enemy ; " but, among us, '■'■stranger " was but another name 
 for "friend." — Speech of B. H. Coxe, Washington, 
 
 Strapped. Tight; hard up for money. 
 
 John Scroggins, at 2 p. m., is on the hunt for the wherewithal to pay a note in 
 bank. He meets Jere. Lowndes, who looks cheerful, as though he may have a 
 few hundred. Scroggins tries him. No go. Lowndes is strapped ; had to pay 
 his wife's cousin's last quarter's rent, which consumed what he had reserved for 
 current expenses, when he made his last purchase of stocks. — Nat. Intelligencer, 
 Oct., 1857. 
 
 Straw. Foliage of the pine-tree. 
 
 Straw as its [pine-tree's] foliage is called here in [North Carolina.] — Olmsted, 
 Seaboard States. 
 
 Straw BaiL Worthless bail; bail given by "men of straw," i. e. 
 persons who pretend to the possession of property, but have none. 
 
 There is a class of pettifoggers about the N. Y. Tombs who are in league with 
 the police justices to get all the money they can out of their victims; and, 
 having divided the spoils, the culprits are sent forth unwhipped of justice. Tak- 
 ing straw bail is the favorite dodge. The "shyster " is permitted to visit him or 
 her; and, with a tongue practised in the art, he dAvells upon the chances the pris- 
 oner runs of Sing Sing prison, adding that for a consideration he (the shyster) 
 might effect a liberation. If the prisoner has money, it is paid at once. The 
 magistrate having received his share, a "man of straw " is taken as bail, and 
 the prisoner is discharged. — Washington Evening Star. 
 
 Straw Bid. A bid for a contract which the bidder is unable or 
 unwilling to fulfil. 
 
 The House post-office committee has agreed to report Luttrell's bill to prevent 
 straw-bidding for mail contracts, and to punish straw-bidders when caught. - 
 Telegram f rom Washington, March 13, 1876. 
 
670 
 
 STR 
 
 Streak. 1. A vein ; a turn. Applied to mental peculiarities. 
 
 Just act, now, as if you had got a streak of something in you, such as a man 
 ought for to have who is married to one of the very first families in old Virginia. 
 Mrs. Stowe, Dred, Vol. I. p. 120. 
 
 " I hope you don't mean to insiniwate that I 'ni queer, do you, Melissy? " 
 
 "Oh, no, Priscille, I dident mean to insiniwate that, but then you know almost 
 ever^'body has their queer streaks.''^ — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 121. 
 
 2. A layer; as, in meat, fat and lean. 
 
 Bill. Well, landlord, what have you got for dinner? 
 
 Landlord. Pork and beans, and chicken fixins. 
 
 Bill. Then give us some pork, and let it be a streak of fat and a streak of 
 lean. — Squatter Life. 
 
 The " Philadelphia Times," of Oct. 20, 1877. in speaking of the 
 appointment of a suitable person as minister at the Court of St. 
 James, says: — 
 
 If President Hayes is disposed to take things in streaks., he might tender it 
 [the office] to Governor Curtin; or, if thai streak \fi a little too fat, there 'sex- 
 Speaker Grow, who is a Hayes man with Liberal variations, and would readily 
 adapt himself to English 'alf-and-"alf. 
 
 To streak or To streak it is to run as fast as possible. 
 
 O'er hill and dale with furj' she did dreel, 
 A' roads to her were good and bad alike ; 
 Nane o't she wyl'd, but forward on did streak. 
 
 Ross''s Helenore. 
 
 I was certain it wasn't no fox or wolf, but a dog; and if I didn't streak off 
 like greased lightnin'. — Carlton, The New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 78. 
 
 I streaked it for Washington, and it was well-nigh upon midnight when I 
 reached the White House. — Major Downing'' s Letters, p. 91. 
 
 When I did get near, he 'd stop and look, cock his ears, and give a snuff, as if 
 he 'd never seen a man afore, and then streak it off as if I had been an Indian. 
 Porter's Tales of the South-west, p. 165. 
 
 As soon as I touched land, I streaked it for home, as hard as I could lay legs to 
 the ground. — Sam Slick, Human Nature, p. 59. 
 
 'Twas a satisfaction to have such a horse, and 'twas a pleasure to crop him, 
 and streak it away, at a brushing canter, for a good five miles at a stretch. — 
 Simms, Wigwam and Cabin, p. 85. 
 
 What brings a duck a streaking it down stream, if humans ain't behind her? 
 and who 's in these diggins but Indians? — Ruxton, Far West, p. 79. 
 
 How many do I see around me that willingly permit the worm of corruption 
 to gnaw at their already moth-eaten morals! Ah! their name is Legion; and 
 the way they are streaking it down the dark mad to ruin is sorrowful to steam 
 locomotives. — Dow's Sermons, Vol. III. p. 108. 
 
 Streaked or Streaky. "To feel streaked is to feel confused, 
 alarmed. 
 
 I begun to feel streaked enough for our folks, when I see what was done on 
 Boston Common. — Major Downing'' s Letters, p. 18. 
 
STR 
 
 671 
 
 Oh. what a beautiful sight the ocean is when there ain't no land insight! 
 There we was in a little shell at the merc}' of them big waves, higher than 
 father's barn. I never did feel so streaky and mean afore ; talk of a grain of 
 sand, why I felt like a starved speck of dust cut up into homoeopathic doses for a 
 child two minits old. — Hiram Biyelow^ Letter in Family Companion. 
 
 Gen. Tell the truth; keep back nothing ; I promised no harm shall happen you. 
 
 Doolittle. Oh, I '11 tell all now; I won't stay to be hanged first! Oh, the good 
 gracious suzz! how streaked I feel all over! — D. Humphreys, The Yankee in 
 England. 
 
 But when it comes to bein' killed, I tell ye I felt streaked, 
 The fust time 'tever I found out why ba3^onets wuz peaked, 
 
 Lowell, Biylow Papers. 
 Daniel Webster was a great man, I tell you ; he 'd talk King William out of 
 sight in half an hour. If he was in your house of Commons, he 'd make some 
 of your great folks look pretty streaked. — Sam Slick, 1st Series. 
 
 Streaked Bass. Striped bass. New England. 
 
 Stretch. On a stretch is continuously, without cessation. 
 
 Chunky used to whistle three days and nights on a stretch. — Ti'aits of Ameri- 
 can Humor. 
 
 Stretcher. 1. A well-burnt and smooth brick used in walls of build- 
 ings. Under-burnt bricks are called salmon bricks from their light 
 color; and over-burnt and partially vitrified bricks are called arch 
 and pillar bricks, from their position in the kiln. 
 2. A falsehood. Colloquial in England and with us. 
 
 Whenever Mrs. Oscar Dust told a stretcher, old Waters was expected to 
 swear to it. — Field, Drama at Pokerville. 
 
 Stricken. " This ancient participle," says Mr. Pickering, " is much 
 used in Congress and our other legislative assemblies. A member 
 moves that certain parts of a bill should be stricken out," &c. — 
 Vocabulary. 
 
 The use of the word referred to by Mr. Pickering is peculiar 
 to us, though there are examples of its occasional use in England 
 applied in other ways. 
 
 Many of the foreigners were much stricken with the splendor of the scene. — 
 London Statesman, June 10, 1814. 
 
 Strike. An instrument with a straight edge for levelling a measure ; 
 a strickle. — Worcester. To sell by the strike is not to heap up the 
 article, as is usually done with potatoes, apples, &c., but to scrape 
 off what is above the level of the top, as in selling grain, salt, or the 
 like. In Massachusetts, it is provided that — 
 
 Cranberries and all other berries shall be sold by the strike or level measure, 
 the same as flax-seed and other similar articles are measured. — Laws of Masaa- 
 chusetts. 
 
672 
 
 STR 
 
 1. From the game of ninepins. " To make a strike " is to knock 
 down all the pins with one ball; hence, it has come to mean fortu- 
 nate, successful. — Lowell. 
 
 2. A discovery; achievement; success. " That speculation in 
 cotton was a great strike.'^ 
 
 To strike Oil. (Usually pron. He.) To meet with success: a fortunate 
 adventure, as, when boring for petroleum, oil is met with, or struck. 
 Striker. 1. A bruiser; a ruffian. 
 
 2. An apprentice engineer on a Mississippi steamboat. 
 String. 1. A row; number; lot. 
 
 Here 's a whole string of Whig Congressmen elected by the State of New York. 
 N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 2. A common name among teamsters for a whip. 
 With some judicious touches of the string, the horses are induced to struggle as 
 for their lives. — Mrs. Clavers, A New Home, p. 9. 
 
 String-Beans. The common name for French beans; so called from 
 the string-like fibre stripped from the side of the pod in preparing 
 it for the table. See Bush- Bean. 
 
 String of Apples. Apples cut in pieces, strung upon a string and 
 dried, a common custom where the fruit is raised. In this form, 
 they are festooned from ceilings and walls. Where there are large 
 orchards, the apples are dried in the sun upon boards, and packed 
 in barrels, in which form they are sent to the large markets under 
 the name of dried apples. 
 
 In an old New England kitchen, where a warm wood-fire burned bright, 
 Sat good old Farmer Ketchura and his wife, one winter night. 
 
 Over the old-time fireplace, a rusty musket hung. 
 
 And a score of strings of apples from the smoky ceiling swung. 
 
 Eugene A. Hall, Poems on ike Farm and Fireside. 
 
 Stripe. Pattern, kind, sort. 
 
 Den, if he was of de right stripe, he went straight to glory, and is now a 
 shoutin' halleluyah wid de great congregation in de New Jerusalem. — Emma 
 Bartlett. 
 
 The call of the Soft-shell Convention was signed by twelve men of the Free- 
 Soil Buffalo stripe.— N. Y. Herald, July 7, 1856. 
 
 The Yankee, though cosmopolite in general and personally polite in particular, 
 cherishes at heart a great sympathy for his own stripe, even when he hides it, 
 like the groundwork of a ri>?ing speculation, from the world. — MaCe Sloper, in 
 Knickerbocker Mag., March, 1856. 
 
 Striped Bass. (Labrax lineatus.) One of the most highly esteemed 
 fishes of the Atlantic coast, called also Streaked Bass and Rock-fish. 
 Striped Ground Squirrel. See Chipmunk. 
 
STR— STU 
 
 673 
 
 Strong. To go it strong means to do a thing with energy or persever- 
 ance. See Go it Strong. 
 
 The pilot on duty above; another was calling out the Captain, who went it 
 strong at cards. — Porter's Tales of the South-west^ p. 107. 
 
 You should go it, remarked Spifflekins, go it strong, — that 's the way to scatter 
 the blue devils, — go it strong. — NeaVs Peter Ploddy, p. 46. 
 
 Strong-minded. A term applied to women clamorous for the modern 
 form of " woman's rights; " those who make themselves repulsively 
 conspicuous. 
 
 / Strowd. A breech-cloth. The Pennsylvania commissioners sent to 
 the Miami Indians in 1752, in addressing the tribe, said: — 
 
 Brethren, — We desire you will send these two stroiods to the young king as an 
 acknowledgment of an affectionate remembrance of his father's love to us. . . . 
 Be pleased to give to the son of the Piankasha king these two strowds to clothe 
 him. — Journal of Captain Trent (1752), p. 52. 
 
 Struck under Conviction. Impressed with a sense of personal sin- 
 fulness. 
 
 Struck up. Disagreeably astonished ; disconcerted by an unexpected 
 occurrence. 
 
 To stub or stump. " To stub one's toe" is to strike it against any 
 thing in walking or running. Germ, stiihen (stiehen) ; comp. Nasen- 
 stiiber, " a fillip or rap on the nose ;" nasenstiibern, " to fillip or rap 
 the nose." An expression often used by boys and others who go 
 barefoot. 
 
 Lives there a Yankee 
 Who, if he stubs his toe and fall. 
 Don't want to swear, but, great or small, 
 Will vent his ire with, " Darn it all ! 
 
 By golly ! " — Yankee Philosophy. 
 Stuck. 1. To be stuck is to be stuck fast, unable to proceed. 
 
 My dear hearers, I 'm stuck, to begin with. When I want ideas, they never 
 come, they are off playing truant. — Doio's Sermons, Vol. III. 
 
 2. To be taken in ; to be taken advantage of in a trade. To be 
 stuck with a thing is to have an unsalable article foisted upon one. 
 
 We're the only Eastern folks in the Yonkville Stock, unless Mr. Sloper will 
 take a few shares, and of course anybody else may be stuck and be darned. — 
 Mace Sloper, in Knickerbocker May., March, 185G. 
 
 We got stuck with a bad lot of paper, and were obliged to stick it on to our 
 readers. — Providence Journal. 
 
 Stuck-up. "Stuck-up people" is a term applied to the proud and 
 haughty. 
 
 She was dressed up like a doll, but she didn't act stuck-up a mite; my opinion 
 is, she knew what belonged to good manners, and I offered her some caraway. 
 Betsy Bobbet, p. 272. 
 
 43 
 
674 
 
 STU 
 
 Good-by! It's the first house from the comer; and I'd dress up, if I were 
 you, in my best, because they 're awful stuck-up at Sary's. — Grinder Papers^ 
 p. 30. 
 
 To stuff. To quiz. 
 
 Stuffening. Stuffing; seasoning for meat or poultry, usually made of 
 bread and herbs to give it a higher relish. Western. 
 
 By way of amends [for the dried-up turkey], quarts of grav}' were judiciously 
 emptied on our plates from the wash-basin bowls. That also moistened the 
 stvffenin\ composed of Indian meal and sausages. — Carlton, The New Purchase, 
 Vol. I. p. 182. 
 
 Stuffy. Angry or sulky; obstinate. Colloquial in the United States. 
 Worcester. 
 
 Stump. 1. The part of a tree remaining in the earth after the tree 
 is cut down. This, in the Western countries, was made use of 
 as the most convenient stand from which to address the people. 
 Hence, to take the stump is to go on an electioneering campaign. 
 2. Something difficult to do. Boys give each other stumps. 
 
 To stump. 1. To challenge. Also to puzzle, confound. 
 
 Dabbs turns up his nose at betting. Instead of stumphuj his antagonist by 
 launching out his cash, he shakes a portentous fist under his nose, and the affair 
 is settled. — NeaVs Charcoal Sketches. 
 
 When you see Lord Sydenham, stump him ; and ask him, Avhen a log is hewed 
 and squared, if he can tell the tenth side of it. — Sam Slick. 
 
 Heavens and earth ! thinks I, what does all this mean ? I knowed I hadn't 
 done any thing to be put in prison for, and I never -was so stumped. — Major 
 Jones's Courtship, p. 135. 
 
 I put a conundrum to them. They were all stumpt, and gave it up. — Crockett's 
 Tour. 
 
 2. To Stump it is a cant phrase signifying to make electioneering 
 speeches in favor of one's self. — Wo7xester. This is a term borrowed 
 from the backwoods, where the stump of a tree often supplies the 
 place of the English hustings. 
 
 While I was at Peoria, Illinois, I heard a political speech from General Shields, 
 who was at that time stumping it through the State, as a candidate for the Senate 
 in place of Mr. Breese. — Lett, from Illinois, N. Y. Com. Adv. 
 
 It is understood that Colonel Benton intends to stump the State [of Missouri] as 
 a candidate for the gubernatorial chair. — N. Y. Courier. 
 
 Sometimes we hear the expression " to take the stump. ''^ 
 
 Though not clear which stump I'll take. 
 
 That stump shall be colossal ; 
 Whether I 'm Slavery's advocate, 
 
 Or Liberty's apostle. — London Punch, April 5, 1862. 
 
 Stumpage. The sum paid to owners of land for the privilege of 
 cutting the timber growing thereon. State of IVIaine. 
 
STU 
 
 675 
 
 The locality being determined upon, the timber tract is either purchased at a 
 rate of stumpage agreed upon, which is generally three dollars per thousand feet 
 for all timber cut. — Harper'''^ Mag.^ March 1860. 
 
 Stumper. 1. A puzzler. 
 
 My note was a stumper to Sally; so she got Jess to explain it, and the way he 
 did it was enormous. — Rohb^ Squatter Life. 
 
 2. A stump orator. 
 
 An Ohio stumper^ while making a speech, paused in the middle of it, and 
 exclaimed: Now . . . — The Constitution, Middletown. 
 
 Stump Orator. A man who harangues the people from the stump of 
 a tree or other elevation. 
 
 Stump Oratory. The sort of popular speaking used by stump orators. 
 
 Stump Prayer. An extemporaneous prayer. 
 
 At a Millerite Jubilee, when the elect were to start for Para- 
 dise : — 
 
 A Methodist man took off his coat, and made a stump-prayer, while all his 
 congregation yelled Glory. — Doesticlcs, p. 143. 
 
 Stump Speaker. A popular political speaker. 
 
 The Hon. W. R. Thompson of Indiana, one of the most popular stump q)enkers 
 of the day, addressed a large meeting of Whigs from the stoop of Barnum's 
 Hotel, Baltimore, in support of the nominations of the late Whig Convention. — 
 Letter from Washington, N. Y. Herald, June 21, 1848. 
 
 Stump Speech. A speech made from a stump or other elevation ; 
 i. e., an electioneering speech in favor of one's self or some other 
 political candidate. 
 
 We had of course a passion for stump speaking. But, recollect, we often mount 
 the stump only figurativ'ely ; and very good stump speeches are delivered from a 
 table, a chair, a whiskey-barrel, and the like. Sometimes we make the best 
 stump speeches on horseback. — Carlton, The New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 211. 
 
 When you see a politician extra full of patriotism, and stutfed with stump 
 speeches, you may take it for granted he wants office either for himself or for 
 some particular friend. — Dow's Sermons, Vol. I. p. 132. 
 
 Stump-Tail Currency. A term applied at the West, previous to the 
 late war, to the currency issued by certain banks of doubtful credit. 
 Stun, for stone. So pronounced in the back parts of New England. 
 
 Captain Stone, I 've been clean awa}' amongst the Yankees, where they call 
 your name Stunn. — Crockett, Tour, p. 145. 
 
 Stunner. 1. Anything grand or astounding; any thing got up in 
 great style. I have heard a gentleman, when speaking of an ele- 
 gant and well-dressed woman, say, " She 's a stunner.'^ 
 
 The "Boston Journal," in speaking of the new financial and 
 business policy set forth by President Hayes and his cabinet, 
 says : — 
 
676 
 
 STU— sue 
 
 This is a stunner^ — a sockdolager, so to speak. If we get at it, it means that 
 the President must ignore the existence of a body called Congress, and proceed 
 to govern the country b}' issuing decrees relative to the finances and business. — 
 May 19, 1877. 
 
 2. A tough story. 
 
 Stunning. Astounding. 
 
 Sturtion. A common pronunciation for nasturtium. 
 
 To stutter. To saunter lazily, with a slip-shod movement. This is 
 not a common word. I have never met with it except in the exam- 
 ple quoted : — 
 
 I stuttered up to No. 4 yesterday arter the funeral ; but they are so grown over 
 with rum there, yo\x can hardly tell what is nater and what is not. — Judd, Mar- 
 garet^ p. 327. 
 
 Suant or Suent. Even ; uniform ; spread equally over the surface. 
 Provincial in England. — Holloway. Used by farmers in some parts 
 of New England, and applied thus : "The grain is sowed swcmf," 
 i. e. evenly, regularly. — Pickering. 
 
 Sometimes used by house-painters in New England: "Lay the 
 paint suant, or evenly. 
 
 The Middlesex Cattle-Show goes off here with eclat, annually, as if all the 
 joints of the agricultural machine were suent. — Thoreau, quoted in Atlantic Mag., 
 3u\y, 18G4, p. 22, 3. 
 
 Sub-Base. A mop or wash-board. Philadelphia. 
 
 Sub -Treasurer. Keeper of a Sub-Treasury; an officer of the United 
 
 States government. 
 The Sub-Treasurer Cisco continues to receive a large number of applications 
 
 for the new Treasury notes. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Sub-Treasury. One of the several places of deposit and issue of the 
 United States coin, bullion, notes, or other securities. 
 
 Succession Sale. A sale of property to enable the heirs to divide 
 the same. 
 
 At the succession sale of the slaves belonging to the minor heirs of S. A. and 
 A. X. Baillie, at the court-house [of Rapides], on Saturday, 17th inst, long sums 
 were bid. — Louisiana Democrat, July 20, 1858. 
 
 Suckatash or Succotash. (Narragansett Ind., m^sickquatash, corn 
 boiled whole.) Green Indian corn and beans boiled together. It 
 is a favorite dish wherever these plants are cultivated. 
 
 Joel Barlow, in his poem on Hasty Pudding, thus compares succo- 
 tash with it : — 
 
 Let the green succotash with thee contend. 
 
 Let beans and corn their sweetest juices lend ; 
 
 Not all the plate, how fam'd soe'er it be, 
 
 Can please my palate like a bowl of thee. — Canto 1. p. 6. 
 
sue 
 
 677 
 
 At the two hundredth anniversary of the settlement of Rhode 
 Island, held in Providence, 1836, an Indian banquet in the style of 
 those of the olden time was given. 
 
 An Indian mat being spread out, a large wooden platter well-filled with boiled 
 bass graced the centre, supported, on one side by a wooden dish of parched corn, 
 and on the other by a similar one of succotash. — Stone's Life of ffowland, p. 262. 
 
 The wise Huron is welcome ; he is come to eat his succotash with his brothers 
 of the lakes ! — Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans, p. 426. 
 
 Sucker. 1. A tube used for sucking sherry cobblers. They are made 
 of silver, glass, straw, or sticks of macaroni. 
 
 2. A very common fish of the genus Labeo, and of which there 
 are many varieties, including the Chub, Mullet, Barbel, Horned 
 Dace, &c. They are found in most of the lakes and rivers of North 
 America. 
 
 3. A greenhorn; an ignorant clown; a dupe; an easy victim. 
 Western. 
 
 I hadn't time to load my gun before the bear gathered upon him like a Vir- 
 ginny blood-mare, and the nigger give himself up for a gone suckei; and fainted 
 away. — Crockett's Bear Adventure. 
 
 4. A hard drinker; a drunkard. 
 
 5. A mean, low fellow ; a sponger. 
 
 Of the scaly tribe, I may mention those suckers belonging to the bod}' loaferish, 
 that never rise to the surface of respectability, whose sole study a])pears to be to 
 see how much they can get without the least physical exertion. — Bow's Sermons, 
 Vol. III. 
 
 6. A nickname applied throughout the West to a native of Illi- 
 nois. The origin of this term is as follows: — 
 
 The Western prairies are, in many places, full of the holes made 
 by the crawfish, which descends to the water beneath. In early 
 times, when travellers wended their way over these immense plains, 
 they very prudently provided themselves with a long hollow weed, 
 and, when thirsty, thrust it into these natural artesians, and thus 
 easily supplied their longings. The crawfish-well generally contains 
 pure water, and the manner in which the traveller drew forth the 
 refreshing element gave him the name of '■^ Sucker.''^ — Letter from 
 Illinois, in Providence Journal. 
 
 A band of music was sent thirty miles to wake up the sleepy suckers, and draw 
 them, by the magic of their inusic, to the Douglas gathering at Quincy, Illinois. 
 iV^. r. Tribune, Oct. 19, 1854. 
 
 Suckerdom. Suckers, hard drinkers, collectively regarded. 
 
 In resisting the tax on whiskey, it has been shown that one distiller in Ohio, 
 who makes 8,000 gallons a day, would pay into the treasury $375,600 a year, if 
 Sucktrduiu continued thirsty. — N. F. Tribune, 1802. 
 
678 
 
 sue— SUG 
 
 Suck in or Suck. A cheat, deception. 
 
 HeaA'en forbid that I should utter a syllal)Ie of complaint; bull can't heifl 
 saying it conlidentially, and before man alone, that life is all moonshine, — a 
 monstrous humbug, — a grand suck in. — Bow's Sermons, Vol. II. p. 31G. 
 
 To suck in. To take in; to cheat; to deceive. A figurative expres- 
 sion, probably drawn from a sponge, which sucks up water. To be 
 sucked in is to be sponged " out of one's money, or to be cheated 
 in a bargain. It is a low expression, though often heard, and is 
 understood by all. 
 
 "I ain't bound to drive nobody in the middle of the night," said the driver ; 
 "so you don't try to suck me in there." — Mrs. Clavers's Forest Lift, Vol. I. 
 p. 109. 
 
 Who was the first unfortunate speculator ? Jonah. Ah! why? Because he 
 
 got sucked in! — Newspaper. 
 
 Sugar- Apple. See Sweet Sop. 
 Sugar-Berry. See Hackherry. 
 
 Sugar-Bush. A collection of trees of the sugar-maple, generally in 
 the midst of a primitive forest, where maple-sugar is made by boil- 
 ing the sap of the tree. These are sometimes called sugar-orchards ; 
 and, in the West, sugar-camps. 
 
 Going into the sugar-bush has something of the excitement which the forester 
 loves so well to mingle with all his work. — The Americans at Home, Vol. I. 
 
 Sugar-Camp. The place where the sap is collected from a sugar-bush 
 and boiled. 
 
 After Ralph got over the fence to go through the sugar-camp (or sugar-orchard, 
 as they say at the East), he stopped and turned back. — Eggleston, The Hoosier 
 Schoolmaster, p. 32. 
 
 Sugaring-Time. The season of the year (March or April) when maple- 
 sugar is made. See Maple-Sugar. 
 
 Mr. Gansey, the editor [of "The Gimlet"], seein' he was obleeged to stop 
 readin', told me he would come down to our house a-visitin' in sugarin' time, and 
 finish readin' the poetry to me. — Marietta Holley, Betsy Bobbet, p. 45. 
 
 Sugar-Maple. (^Acer saccharinum.) A handsome forest tree, from 
 fifty to eighty feet high, from the sap of which is made the well- 
 known maple-sugar. The wood is valuable for fuel ; and accidental 
 varieties of it are the bird^s-eye maple and curled maple of cabinet- 
 makers. 
 
 Some verses on the Corn-plant and Sugar-Maple, in " Putnam's 
 Magazine," end thus: — 
 
 But if our brothers break the chain, 
 
 We '11 hang by our own staples ; 
 Three cheers we '11 raise for Indian Com, 
 
 And nine for Sugar-Maples. 
 
SUG— SUM 
 
 679 
 
 To sugar off. " Sugaring off " is the latter stage of the; process of 
 making maple-sugar; to approach granulation. 
 
 Sugar-Orchard. A collection of maple-trees selected and preserved in 
 the forest for the purpose of making sugar therefrom. Comp. Sugar- 
 Bush. 
 
 Sugar-Tree. The name much used in the West for the sugar-maple, 
 in which connection the word maple is never used. Thus, in pur- 
 chasing firewood, it is usual to bargain for hickory, sugar, ash, &c. 
 
 To suicide. To commit suicide. The " Boston Herald," Feb. 8, 
 1876, in speaking of a man who had taken his own life, says, " He 
 suicided. ' ' 
 
 " What 's the matter, Betsy ? " For she looked as if she had been cryin' her 
 eyes out. " Is your cousin no more V Has Ebenezer suicided himself ? " — Bttsy 
 Bobbet, p. 304. 
 
 Suit. In the Middle and Southern States especially, a head of hair is 
 called, queerly enough, a " suit of hair," as in the following descrip- 
 tion by Dr. J. S. Cartwright, of New Orleans, of a " strong-minded 
 woman: " — 
 
 Her head was large, and features prominent and rather masculine. But, in 
 every other respect, her appearance was highly feminine : her form symmetrical; 
 her skin fair, smooth, and soft; and her well-developed limbs tapering into un- 
 usually small hands and feet. She had a thick suit of black hair; and, although 
 she had reached her fortieth year, it had not begun to turn gray, so active was 
 her capillary circulation. — Boston Med. and Swg. Journal, Oct. 18, 1854. 
 
 The face of this gentleman was strikingly marked by a suit of enormous black 
 whiskers that flowed together and united under his chin. — Maryaret, p. 289. 
 
 Sulky. A two- wheeled carriage for a single person. So called from 
 the owner's desire of riding alone. — Webster. A trotting wagon. 
 
 Sulphur. Bitumen. In Kentucky and Tennessee, the bituminous 
 rocks abound in sulphur springs; and by a singular confusion the 
 odor of bitumen, where no sulphur is present, is yet called sulphur. 
 
 To summarize. To make a summary of. 
 
 The " National Intelligencer," Aug. 31, 1857, in speaking of the 
 publications of the Smithsonian Institution, says: — 
 
 Additional papers are summarized in the Report, all of them making consider- 
 able advances upon the heretofore unappropriated domains of science. 
 
 To summons. To serve with a summons. Applied to the courts and 
 colleges. " He was summonsed to appear before the Faculty." 
 
680 
 
 SUM— SU^ 
 
 So the noun is " a summons" in common law. In old prac- 
 tice, it was a writ directed to a sheriff, requiring him to summon a 
 defendant to appear in court. 
 
 Mary looked at me and winked, and says she, " You 're one of the court, you 
 know, major; but jest go out until the court is summonsed before the throne." — 
 Major' Jones''s Courtship. 
 
 To sum- totalize. To give the total amount, the sum-total. 
 
 You hear a fellow sayin', I 'm only a passenger. How little the critter knows 
 of Avhat he is talking when he uses that cant phrase ! Why, every thing is sum- 
 totalized in that word — Sam Slick, Human Nature, p. 44. 
 
 Sun-Bonnet. A home-made bonnet, with a large "cape," so as to 
 shield both the face and neck, much worn by women and girls in 
 the country. 
 
 Sundown. Sunset. Peculiar to the United States. 
 
 Although this word is said to be peculiar to the United States, 
 Jamieson assigns it to the south of Scotland, whence we probably 
 derived it. — Scottish Dictionary. See Moondown, 
 
 Solid men of Boston go to bed at sundown. 
 
 Song, Solid Men of Boston. 
 
 And sitting there birling, wi' a' the schaff and raff o' the waterside, till sun- 
 down, and then coming hame and crying for ale, as if ye were maister and mair. 
 Scott, Tales of my Landlord, Vol. II. p. 114. 
 
 Daylight ! do but hear the silly child ! 'Tis but just sundown. — Cooper, Lionel 
 Lincoln, Vol. I. p. 41. 
 
 At sundown, the bats, vampires, and goat-suckers dart from their lonely retreat, 
 and skim along the trees on the river's bank. — Waterton, Wanderings in South 
 America. 
 
 Sun-Fish. (Pomotis vulgaris.) A beautiful little fresh- water fish, so 
 called from its glittering colors. From its shape, it is often called 
 Pumpkin-Seed; and in some localities it is -called Bream. 
 
 Sun-Shade. Parasol in England. Not in Webster or in Worcester. 
 
 Sun-Shower. A shower occurring while the sun's rays are not inter- 
 cepted by the cloud whence the rain descends. 
 
 Sun-Squall. A term applied, on the coast of New England, to the 
 Medusae, or Sea-Nettles. It appears to be a corruption of the 
 Germ. Schinnqualle (lit. umbrella jelly-fish). See Gall. 
 
 About Boston harbor, they are called Sun-Jish, a still further cor- 
 ruption. 
 
 Sun-up. Sunrise. More common at the South. "When the Southern 
 traveller starts on his journey before the appearance of the sun in 
 the morning, he says he "put out bright and yarly, an horn* (or 
 half an hour, as the case may be) before sun-up.'^ 
 
SUP 
 
 681 
 
 One would think that such a horse as that might get over a good deal of 
 ground atwixt sun-up and sundown. — Cooper, Last of the Mohicans, p. 50. 
 And this was the way it was. It was night when I kein up here 
 To say to 'em all " good-bye," for I reckoned to go for deer 
 At sun-up the day they left. So I shook 'em all round by the hand, 
 'Cept Mabel, and she was sick, ez they give me to understand. 
 
 Bret Harte, Luke. 
 
 Supawn. (Saupd-un, made soft by water.) An Indian name in 
 common use in New England, New York, and other Northern States, 
 for boiled Indian meal. It is also called hasty pudding, which see. 
 
 The common food of the Indians is pap, or mush, which in the New Nether- 
 lands is named supaen. This is so common among them, that they seldom pass 
 a day without it. unless they are on a journe}' or hunting. We seldom visit an 
 Indian lodge at any time of day, without seeing their supaen preparing, or seeing 
 them eating the same. It is the common food of all ; and so fond of it are they 
 that, when they visit our people or each other, they consider themselves neglected 
 unless the}' are treated with supaen. — Van der Donck's New Netherlands (1656), 
 N. Y. Hist. Soc. Collections. 
 
 The flour [>>i maize] makes a substantial sort of porridge, called by the Amer- 
 icans supporne : this is made with water, and eaten with milk. — Backwoods of 
 Canada, p. 189. 
 
 E'en in my native regions, how I blush 
 To hear the Pennsylvanians call thee mush ! 
 On Hudson's banks while men of Belgic spawn 
 Insult and eat thee by the name suppawn. 
 
 Barlow, Hasty Pudding. 
 For many heroes bold and brave, 
 From Newbridge and Tappan, 
 And those that drink Passaic's wave, 
 And those who e:it suppawn. 
 
 Major Andre, The Cow Chase, 1780. 
 
 Super. Abbreviation of superintendent of factories, theatres, &c. 
 
 At the Philadelphia Academy of Music, ... at the close of the performance, 
 the supers and ballet girls demanded their wages, but they were not forthcoming. 
 Cor. Boston Journal. 
 
 Supple- Jack. 1. (^Berchemia volubilis.) A creeper growing in damp 
 soils in Virginia and further south. " The vine," says Flint, " re- 
 sembles that of the muscadine grape; but the olive color is deeper. 
 It is well known to attach itself so strongly to the shrub it entwines 
 as to cause those curious spiral curves and inner flattenings that 
 gives its singularity and value to the supple-jack cane." — Geogr. of 
 Miss. Valley. 
 
 2. A child's toy, a jointed manikin worked by a string. Called 
 also a Jumping Jack. 
 Supply. A preacher who ministers to a congregation, especially one 
 who does thus without a formal induction. See Stat'id Supply. 
 
682 
 
 SUR 
 
 Rev. W. P. Cochran has become supply for a church at Millerstown, Penn. — 
 
 The Independent. 
 
 Sure. Surely; certainly. " Are you going V " " I 'm going sure,^' 
 or " sure and certain.^' South-western. 
 
 "There, do you see that horse V " said Jack. "He's ad d good horse. 
 
 He's not much to look at; but, once get him a-going, and he Ml go through h— 11 
 itself, if you put him at it. Get on, Kendall, and I '11 mount behind, and show 
 you sights, — I will sure.'" — N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 Sure-Enough. Real; genuine. Used in the South and West in the 
 flame manner as fair is in New York; as, "This is a sure-enough 
 egg," meaning that it is a real and not an imitation one. In a 
 description of the absurd ceremonies observed on shipboard in 
 " crossing the line," a writer says: — 
 
 The subject was seated in the chair, some six feet from the deck, where the 
 barber, standing on a platform before him, thrust a whitewash-brush into a 
 bucket of soap-suds, and lathered his face with great liberality ; then, drawing 
 from a canvas-bag his case of extensive razors (rusty iron hoops), went through 
 all the movements of a sure-enough barber. — U. S. Nautical May., Dec, 1855. 
 
 Surface-Boat. See Battery. 
 
 Surprise-Candidate. A fresh candidate suddenly put up and sup- 
 ported by the wire- workers of an election, to subserve pm-poses of 
 their own. 
 
 In a judicial district, a '''■surprise candidate,''' scarce known as a lawyer or to 
 the people beyond the local court in which he practised, was run, as since under- 
 stood, to aid in breaking down one of two able and unobjectionable candidates for 
 the Supreme Bench of the State, who had been nominated in the convention of 
 the two opposing political parties. — National Intelligencer, Sept. 20, 1858. 
 
 Surprise-Party. A party of persons who assemble by agreement, and 
 without invitation, at the house of a mutual friend, each bringing 
 some article of food as a contribution towards a supper, of which 
 all partake. 
 
 A surprise-party had been appointed. They had been bavin' them all winter, 
 and the children had been crazy to have me go to 'em : everybody went, but I 
 held back. 
 
 Says I, Josiah, the place for old folks is to home ; and I don't believe in 
 surprise-parties any way. I think they are perfect nuisances. If you want to 
 see your friends, you can invite them. ... It would make me feel perfectly 
 wild to think there was a whole drove of people liable to rush in here at an}'- 
 minute, and I won't rush into other people's housen. — Betsy Bobbet, p. 46. 
 
 Surrogate. In American law, a county officer who has jurisdiction in 
 granting letters testamentary and letters of administration, and of 
 other matters relating to the settlement of the estates of testators 
 and intestates. — KenVs Commentaries, Vol. II. p. 409. 
 
 Surround. A frequent mode of hunting the buffalo by the Indians 
 consists in making a surround.''^ This is done by enclosing a 
 
SUR— SWA 
 
 683 
 
 large herd, and driving them over a precipice upon the rocks, or 
 into one of the profound ravines which intersect the prairies in vari- 
 ous directions. In this way, thousands are sometimes killed in a 
 single day. — S. F. Baird. 
 
 Surveyor. One of the chief officers of the large U. S. custom-houses. 
 It is the duty of the surveyor to superintend and direct the inspec- 
 tors, weighers, gangers, and measurers at his port; but he is, in all 
 cases, to be subject to the collector. — Act of March 2, 1799. 
 
 Susceptible. The quality of easily falling in love; having nice sen- 
 sibility. 
 
 Suspenders. Straps for holding up pantaloons; vulgarly called gal- 
 lowses ; in England, called braces. 
 
 To suspicion, for to suspect. Common among the uneducated at the 
 South. "I suspicioned he was tricksy." The New Englander 
 would say, " I suspected he was tricky." Yet the verb to suspicion 
 is sometimes heard in New York as well as in New England. 
 
 If he had a suspicioned I was thar, he 'd no more swore than he 'd dared to kiss 
 my Sal on a washing day; for you see both on us belonged to the same church. 
 Mike Hooter, by a Missourian. 
 
 Sutor. A syrup made from the juice of the fruit of the " pitahaya '* 
 
 (Cereus giganteus) by the Indians near the river Gila. 
 Suzz ! A corrupt pronunciation of sirs I An exclamation much used 
 
 in New England, as sirs is in Scotland. It is sometimes lengthened 
 
 into Law^ suzz! i. e. Lord, sirs! 
 Swad or Swod. In New England, a lump, mass, or bunch; also, a 
 
 crowd. — Webster. It is an old English colloquialism. 
 
 There was a swad of fine folks, and the house was well-nigh upon chuck full. 
 Major Dotvninff's Letters, p. 35. 
 
 How is a colonist able to pay for this almighty swad of everlasting plunder, 
 seein' he has no gold or silver V — Sam Slick, 3d Ser., ch. 6. 
 
 Swaged. Shrunk in seasoning. Southern. 
 
 When timber in drying decreases in size, it is said, in the lan- 
 guage of the " poor white trash " of a certain district in Dixie, to 
 have swaged, a corruption probably of assuaged. — Harper^s Maga- 
 zine, March, 1864, p. 569. 
 
 According to Halliwell and Wright, swage is an old English form 
 of assuage. 
 
 Swale. A local word in New England, signifying an interval or vale; 
 a tract of low land. — Webster. This word is provincial in Norfolk, 
 England, and means a low place; and shade, in opposition to sun- 
 shine. — Forby^s Vocabulary. 
 
684 
 
 SWA 
 
 To swamp. To plunge into inextricable difficulties. — Webster. This 
 use of the word is not in the English dictionaries. It is common in 
 the United States, though not elegant. Ex. : " He invested a large 
 sum of money in land speculations, which swamped him," i. e. 
 ruined him. 
 
 Swamp- Apple. An excrescence found on the swamp-honeysuckle. 
 In its early state, its taste resembles that of an apple. New 
 England. 
 
 Sw ampers. Men who break out roads for hauling timber out of the 
 woods. Maine. 
 
 Swamp-Honeysuckle. (Azalea nudijlora.) A plant flowering in 
 April and May, which grows in the swamps from Massachusetts to 
 Virginia. It is also called May- Apple and Pinxter Blumachy. 
 
 Swamp-Huckleberry. (Vaccinium religinosmn.) A variety of the 
 blueberry growing on a small bush in wet land. The term is also 
 applied to the hlue-huckleherry^ which I have seen growing to the 
 height of five feet or more. See Huckleberry. 
 
 Swamping. Very large; huge. The word swapping is used in the 
 same sense in the west of England. 
 
 And there we saw a sioampiny gun, 
 
 Large as a log of maple, 
 Upon a deuced little cart, 
 
 A load for father's cattle. — Sony, Yankee Doodle. 
 
 I swamp it ! A euphemistic form of oath. 
 
 Had that darn'd old vessel, that frigate there, bin a stone's throw farder off 
 from land, I should never have swimnied to shore, dead or alive, to all eternity, I 
 swamp it ! — D, Humphreys, The Yankee in Enyland. 
 
 Swamp-Muck. A black vegetable mould found near marshes and 
 along loamy bottoms. 
 
 In the rich, black deposit commonly called swamp-much, the snipe delights, 
 above all. — Boyardus, Field and Trap Shootiny, p. 148. 
 
 Swamp-Pink. (Azalea viscosa.) A popular name for the Swamp- 
 Honeysuckle. 
 
 I swan or swon! A New England euphemism for " I swear! " / 
 swan to man! is a heightened form of the same. 
 
 " Well, I swan exclaimed the mamma, giving a round box on the ear to a 
 dirty little urchin, " what made you let the little hussy have your specs V " — 
 Mrs. Clavers's Forest Life, Vol. I. p. 29. 
 
 I took a turn round Halifax, and 1 swan if it ain't the thunderinest, drearA'est 
 place I ever seen, and the people they call Blue-noses. — Hiram Biyelow's Lett, 
 in Family Compaaiun. 
 
SWA— SWE 
 
 685 
 
 I was dressed tarnation slick. I guess I rubbed two tallow candles or there- 
 abouts into my hair, trying to make it curl; but I swan to man there warn't no 
 curl to it, for it stuck out for all sense like porcupine quills. — HiWs Yankee 
 Stories. 
 
 "Well, I 've jest come to New York, and it 's the darndest place, I swan to man, 
 that you 'd wish to see. — Story of Uncle Ben. recited by HacTcett. 
 
 It wasn't his fault, but the driv^er's. Drivers are the most aggravatin' class in 
 New York, / swan to man. — Grinder Papers, p. 43. 
 
 Swanga. An African word used among the Negroes in some parts of 
 the South in connection with buckra, white man; as swanga huckra, 
 meaning a dandy white man, or, literally, a dandy devil. A friend 
 in South Carolina informs me that the Negroes there apply the 
 term to persons who carry themselves conceitedly. Thus, of one 
 who is strutting about in a new suit of clothes, they will say, " He 
 kin' o' swanga now." 
 
 To swap or swop. To exchange; to barter. — Johnson. 
 
 This word has often been noticed by English travellers in this 
 country, and may perhaps be more common here than in England; 
 but it is also used by the vulgar in that country. — Pickering. 
 
 Clocks, nutmegs, and whatever else. 
 
 You call a Yankee crop, 
 If you have cash, he 's glad to sell ; 
 
 If not, he '11 always swap ! 
 For he was born a merchant, sir, 
 
 A Yankee trader bold, 
 Who swapped his whistle for a knife 
 
 When only four years old. — AlUn, Yankee Ballad. 
 
 Swash or Swosh. In the Southern States of America, a name 
 given to a narrow sound or channel of water lying within a sand- 
 bank, or between that and the shore. Many such are found on the 
 shores of the Carolinas. — Webster. In New York harbor is a so- 
 called Swash. 
 
 After noon, I crossed the swash at the east end of the bay, and in the evening 
 got into good quarters. — Bartram's Florida, p. 472. 
 
 To swat or swot. To strike, smite. A low word. 
 
 Tell me that again, and I '11 swot you over the mug. — Report of the Hunker 
 Meeting in Albany, June, 1848. 
 
 Swathe. See Cut a Swage. 
 
 To swear in. To induct, to be inducted, after the administration 
 and making an oath required by law. 
 
 Swearing in the new iVIayor. — The Hon. George Opdike, Mayor elect of New 
 York City, took the oath of office yesterday. — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
686 
 
 SWE— SWI 
 
 To swear off. To resolve to give up a habit, particularly drinking 
 Sweet. To he sweet on any one. To have a liking or alfection for 
 one. Mr. M. was very siceet o?i Miss B. at the ball last evening; 
 {. e., he showed her marked attention. 
 Yet she was sweet on the Judg^e, and stuck by him day and night, 
 Alone in the cabin up yer, — till she grew like a ghost, all white. 
 She was only a slip of a thing, ez light and ez up and away 
 Ez rifle-smoke blown through the woods, but she wasn't my kind — no wa.y. 
 
 Bret Harte. 
 
 Sweet Hepper-Bush. See Alder. 
 
 Sweet Potato Pone. Sweet potatoes grated, flavored with spices, and 
 
 baked in a tin pan. See Pone. 
 Sweet-scented Shrub. See Allspice. 
 
 Sweet Sop. {Annona squamosa.) An evergreen shrub, which bears 
 a greenish-colored fruit. It is also called Custard Apple and Sugar 
 Apple. West Indies. 
 
 Sweet-Tooth. " He has a sweet-tooth; " i. e., he is fond of cakes, 
 sweetmeats, and candy. 
 
 Swell Head. See Big Head, No. 2. 
 
 Swill-Milk. The milk of cows fed on the refuse of distilleries. 
 Swimming Market, in Wall Street parlance, is that condition when 
 
 stocks are in demand, when money is plenty, and when every thing 
 
 buoyant. 
 
 Swim out. Have done with it; retrace your steps. 
 
 Swim out, ere you're over your head. — Comic Song. 
 Swing-Clear. A woman's gow^n, tight at the neck, and falling to 
 
 the ankles, not fitted to the figure, and swinging clear of the 
 
 ground. 
 
 To swinge. To singe. Provincial in various parts of England. — 
 Halliwell. 
 
 The weather has been monstrous hot here, and I don't think I ever did see 
 things jest sprawled out and swinged up so with the sun before. — Major Jones's 
 Courtship, p. 185. 
 
 Swingle-Tail. (Alopius vulpes.) The popular name for the Thresher 
 Shark, from the use it makes of its long, flexible tail, " with 
 which," says Dr. De Kay, "it literally threshes its enemies." — 
 Nat. Hist, of Neio York. 
 
 Swingle Tree. Vulgar for single tree. 
 
 Swing-Station. In the Far West, the station w^here teams are 
 changed. In speaking of the coachman or driver, Mr. McClure 
 says : — 
 
SWI— TAB 
 
 687 
 
 When he arrives at a swing-station, where the teams are changed, he drops the 
 lines and chats with the landlord or the passengers while his team is unhitched 
 and another is attached. — Rocky Mountains, p. 103. 
 
 Not one half of the swing-stntions had so much as a single gun of any kind to 
 defend their stock. — Ibid., p. 178. 
 
 Switch. The movable rails and appendages for turning the cars on a 
 railroad from one track to another. The term is now getting into 
 use in England. 
 
 Now, Tom, you skunk, this is the third time you forgot to set on that switch, 
 and the last time there was twenty people went under, and the balance was 
 bruised; so mind what you 're about, and don't forget the switch again, or I 'm 
 darned if I don't tell the boss (station-master). — Notes on Canada and the U. S., 
 Blackwood, Sept., 1855. 
 
 Switchel. Molasses and water, to which sometimes a little vinegar 
 is added. A common beverage in New England. 
 
 Switched if I do. Used to intensify an affirmation. Tennessee. 
 
 To swot. See To swat. 
 
 I swow ! A New England euphemism for / swear ! 
 Sycamore. Sqq, Button- Wood. 
 
 Sympathizers. A large body of persons, so called, in the United 
 States, on the Canadian frontier, who sympathized with and aided 
 the rebels in Canada in 1837-39. 
 
 Syren. A fog-horn. Signals for opening and closing the Centennial 
 Exhibition at Philadelphia were given by the "American Steam 
 Syren." 
 
 To systemize. To systematize. A word rarely used by good writers. 
 Worcester. Dr. Webster, however, gives it the preference over 
 systematize, wfhich. he denounces as " ill-formed." What would he 
 have thought of dogmize and stigmize, by way of " improving " the 
 language ? 
 
 T. 
 
 T. T. Too thin. " The fraud is T. T.," i. e. too thin, too trans- 
 parent. 
 
 Tabernacle. A place of religious worship with the seats arranged 
 like those in an amphitheatre, in order to accommodate a large num- 
 ber of persons. Some of these places are able to seat from 5,000 to 
 7,000. New York, Brooklyn, Boston, Chicago, and other large 
 cities, have these edifices. 
 
688 
 
 TAB— TAI 
 
 The tabernacle prepared for Moody and Sankey at Boston was dedicated last 
 night (Jan. 25, 1877) with impressive effect and in the presence of 5,000 people. 
 . . . These tabernacles of the people meet a great popular demand, and there 
 ought to be one in every community. — Providence Press, Jan. 26, 1877. 
 
 I asked at one of the theatres what effect the Tabernacle had on theatrical 
 audiences. "Oh," said the ticket-seller, '* it helps us." — Boston Letter to 
 Springfield Eepub., March, 1877. 
 
 The Tabernacle movement already has reformed more ungodly men and in- 
 ebriates since its dedication than has New England radicalism, dating from the 
 time when its first notes were sounded by Theodore Parker. — Townsend on 
 Religious Revivals, p. 243. 
 
 To table. 1. To lay on the table. "The bill for distributing the 
 public lands among the States was tabled by a large majority." 
 
 2. To offer; to present. Used by Presbyterians, met in delibera- 
 tive synods, &c. 
 
 Tacamahac. Another name for the Balsam Poplar, which see. 
 
 To tackle. 1. To harness; as, to taclcle a horse into a gig, sleigh, 
 coach, or wagon. — Webster. Local in England. 
 
 2. To seize, to lay hold of; as, a wrestler tackles his antagonist, 
 a dog tackles the game. — Webster. 
 
 Well, I tell you what, it tuck a feller mighty wide between the ej'es to tackle 
 that tree, for it was a whopper. — Major Jones'' s Courtship, p. 53. 
 
 I shook the two fellows off my trunks monstrous quick, and was going to tackle 
 the chaps what had m v carpet-bag. — Major Jones's Travels. 
 
 The people are no ways backward about discussing the subject of Mormonism, 
 over-confident in their ability to demolish every Gentile against polygamy. One 
 of the gentry tackled Governor Powell the other da}', determined to make a con- 
 vert— iV^. Y. Times, Aug. 9, 1858. 
 
 Tads. Little tads, small boys. Old tads, graybeards, old men. 
 
 Tag. 1. A slight touch. A boy, touched by one who is in the first 
 instance fixed upon to commence the game, is in his turn obliged to 
 overtake and touch another of the party, when he cries. Tag ! and 
 so the game proceeds. According to Mr. Hal] i well, the same game 
 is played in Warwickshire, where it is called tick. 
 2. The leaves of a pine-tree, &c. 
 
 Pitching my tent on the soft, dry pine-ia^, I enjoyed the most refreshing sleep. 
 N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Tailings. A term applied by miners to the refuse from stamping and 
 crushing mills after the gold has been taken out. These tailings, 
 under a second process, sometimes pay as well as by the first one. 
 
 Experience has shown that most of the earth will pay for a second process ; 
 and numberless are the tailing companies, whose labors are confined to washing 
 by a more careful method the tailings or refuse from the end of the sluices. — 
 Harper's Mag., for April, 1860, p. sio. 
 
TAI— TAK 
 
 689 
 
 Tailor, Tailor Shad. (JPomoolhus jnediocris.) A fish resembling the 
 shad, but inferior to it in size and flavor. It is peculiar to the 
 waters of the Mississippi. In the towns on the Potomac, the Blue- 
 fish is called a Salt-water Tailor. 
 
 Tail up or down. " He 's got his tail up," said of one who is making 
 a run at billiards, or playing well. 
 
 Take. 1. When the river St. Lawrence freezes so as to be firm and 
 fixed for the winter, it is said to he taken. " The ice took last 
 night; " i. e., the river was firmly closed. The expression, " The 
 river froze," is never heard in Canada. Among the one hundred 
 and thirty different senses given in Latham's edition of Johnson's 
 Dictionary, we do not find one in the sense given. 
 
 2. To take. To understand. " Do you take " i. e. do you com- 
 prehend. "I don't take,''^ i. e. I don't understand. Shakespeare 
 used the word in this sense, as: — 
 
 This, I tahe it, 
 Is the main motive of our preparations. 
 
 Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 1. 
 
 To take a Shute, In the West, a person running away, or leaving in 
 a hurry, is said to have " taken a shute.'''' 
 
 To take down. To humiliate; as, " It takes him down terribly;" 
 i. e. it affects him much. 
 
 Carlton, in speaking of several young men who had been jilted 
 by a lady, says : — 
 
 And all of them was flustered, and fairly taken down, 
 And I for a time was counted the luckiest man in town. 
 
 Farm Ballads, p. 19. 
 
 To take on. To grieve; to mourn, lament. Colloquial in England 
 and the United States. 
 
 " Why, Polly, what 's the matter, gal ? " inquired he ; *' what in thunder makes 
 you tahe on so ? Come, out with the cause, or I shall get a blubberin' too." — 
 Robb, Squatter Life. 
 
 To take the Back Track. To recede from one's position. 
 
 The first law of self-preservatioti has admonished Mr. Douglas that he has 
 gone as far in his slavery concessions to the South as he can possibly go, and 
 that, if he would save himself at home, he must take the back track. —N. Y. 
 Herald, Dec. 26, 1857. 
 
 To take the Rag off. To surpass. 
 
 How often I have laughed over the fun of the forecastle ! I would back it for 
 wit against any bar-room in New York or New Orleans, and I believe they take 
 the rag off all creation. — Sam Slick, Nature and Human Nature, p. 28. 
 
 44 
 
690 
 
 TAK— TAL 
 
 To take the Shine off. See Sliine^ No. 1. 
 
 To take the Stump. To start upon; to be engaged in making a 
 series of electioneering speeches. "To stump it.^^ 
 
 To take to do. To take to task ; to reprove. Colloquial in England 
 and in New England. 
 
 The "Life Boat," a weekly sheet in this city, takes the "Bee" <o c?o for its 
 course in relation to the Liquor Law. — Boston Bee, July 29, 1852. 
 
 To take up. 1. To take up animals is a common phrase in the lan- 
 guage of the prairies, and means to bring them in and prepare 
 them for a journey or the day's march, either by saddling them or 
 harnessing them to a wagon. 
 
 2. To put up, as a traveller at an inn. Southern. In Pennsyl- 
 vania, the expression refers to the opening of school; as, "What 
 time does your school take upl 
 
 3. To arrest, prosecute at law, &c. New England. 
 
 To take Water. To run away, make off. A Western expression, 
 doubtless borrowed from sportsmen. 
 
 He quitted the wheel [of the steamboat] and made for his state-room, Avhere 
 he stayed till the boat reached Natchez, when he took water, and they do say 
 moved to the North. — Major Bunkum, N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 Talented. Furnished with talents; possessing skill or talents. — 
 
 Webster. This, says Todd, is "an old word, long disused, but 
 lately revived." It is as correctly formed as moneyed or landed^ 
 which are regarded as unexceptionable ; yet it is pretty generally 
 condemned, and on each side of the water the responsibility of coin- 
 ing it is cast upon the other, as Avill be seen from what follows: — 
 
 The "London Monthly Magazine" (Sept., 18:31) blames Mr. 
 Stanley for using this word. " Sir Robert Peel referred it to his 
 American associations, and prayed him never to employ it again, 
 with all the strenuousness of Oxonian adjuration." The " Phila- 
 delphia National Gazette," in speaking of the above, adds: " Sir 
 Robert was right in protesting against the word, but wrong in his 
 reference. It is of London cockney derivation, and still more 
 employed in Great Britain than in America." 
 
 Coleridge says, " I regret to see that vile and barbarous vocable, 
 talented, stealing out of the newspapers into the leading reviews and 
 most respectable publications of the day. Why not shillinged, far- 
 thinged, tenpenced, &c.? The formation of a participle passive from 
 a noun is a license that nothing but a very peculiar facility can excuse. 
 Most of these pieces of slang come from America." — Tahle Talk, 
 July 8, 1832. 
 
TAL 
 
 691 
 
 Mr. Bulwer is not yet ''talented,'^ a pseudo-particle, which no one will use 
 who is not ripe for any atrocity; but he " progresses " at a fearful rate. - Edin- 
 ■huryh Rev., Vol. LXV. p. 
 
 The editor of the " Edinburgh Review," having criticised certain 
 expressions used by Lord Macaulay, the latter, in reply, said: — 
 
 Such a word, as talented it is proper to avoid: first, because it is not wanted; 
 secondly, because you never hear it from those who speak very good English. — 
 Macaulay's Life and Letters, Vol. II. p. 100. 
 
 Talk. Among the Indians of North America, a i3ublic conference, as 
 respecting peace or war, negotiation, and the like; or an official 
 verbal communication made from them to another nation or its 
 agents, or made to them by the same. — Webster. 
 
 . But snakes are in the bosoms of their race ; 
 And though they held with us a friendly t(dk, 
 The hollow peace-tree fell beneath their tomahawk. 
 
 Campbell, Gei-trude of Wyoming. 
 
 Talking-Iron. A comical name for a gun or rifle; called also a shoot- 
 ing-iron., on the same principle that in flash language a pistol is 
 " a barker," and a watch " a ticker," and sometimes " a tattler." 
 
 I hops out of bed, feels for my trunk, and outs with my talkin'-iron, that was 
 all ready loaded. — Sam Slich in England, ch. 2. 
 
 To talk Turkey. To say pleasant things ; to talk so as to please the 
 hearer. 
 
 The stor}'^ is an old one, — that an Indian and a white man, after a day's hunting, 
 had only a turkey and a partridge to show for game. The white man proposed 
 to divide them, and said to the Indian, " Take your choice. You can have the 
 partridge, and I'll take the turkey; or Fll take the turkey, and you may have 
 the partridge." "Ugh!" said the Indian, "you donH talk turkey to me 
 any." 
 
 The "New Haven Register," May, 1864, speaking of some fel- 
 lows out AVest, who, under pretence of buying turkeys for the 
 soldiers, got them cheap, and sold them in Eastern markets at a 
 high figure, says : — 
 
 They are not the only ones who talk turkey, and rob the soldiers of what is 
 contributed for their benefit. 
 
 Polly Bean was not the first girl I run against, by a long shot; and I was 
 plaguy apt to talk turkey always when I got sociable, if it was only out of polite- 
 ness. — McClintock, BeedWs Marriage. 
 
 Tall. 1. Great; fine; splendid; extravagant. A flash word. 
 
 Stump straightened up, and started at a pace that would have staggered 
 Captain Barclay, Ellsworth, or the greatest pedestrian mentioned ia the annals 
 of " tall walking." — Kendall's Santa Fe Expedition, Vol. I p. 398. 
 
 If we don't come out in force, and do things open and above board, we '11 have 
 a tall fight with the gang. — A Stray Yankee in Texas, p. 129. 
 
692 
 
 TAL— TAN 
 
 The gineral found the next day a sight o' gold pieces and a whole pot full o' 
 the tallest kind o' jewels — The Yankee among the Mermaids. 
 
 Ohio warn't any great shakes twent}' years ago; but let me tell you, stranger, 
 it had a mighty big pile of the tallest kind of land layin' around waitin' to be 
 opened up to the sunlight. — Hammond, Wild Northern Scenes, p. 211. 
 
 The live sucker from Illinois had the daring to say that our Arkansaw friend's 
 stories smelt rather tall — Thorpe, Big Bear of Ai-hansas. 
 
 2. Finely; exceedingly; highly; very much. Western. 
 
 I will walk tall into varmint and Indian : it's a way I 've got, and it comes as 
 natural as grinning to a hyena. I 'm a regular tornado, tough as hickory, and 
 long-winded as a nor'-wester. — Thorjye's Backwoods, p. 131. 
 
 I seed Jess warn't pleased; but I didn't estimate him very tall, so I kept on 
 dancin' with Sally, and ended by kissin' her good-by, and making him jealous 
 as a pet pinter. — Robb, Squatter Life. 
 
 Tallow-Dip. A tallow candle, made by dipping, in distinction from 
 one made in a mould. 
 
 Tamal or Tamauli. A peculiar Spanish- American dish, made up of 
 a paste of crushed or ground maize, sometimes with minced meat 
 added, when it is wrapped in the husks of maize and baked on 
 the coals. 
 
 The mountebanks draw a crowd, and this attracts a few sellers of whiskey, 
 tortillas, and tamaules, making a ruddy picturesque group. — Olmsted's Texas. 
 
 Tamarack. See Hackmatack. 
 
 Tammany. A term assumed by a branch of the Democratic party m 
 the State of New York, sometimes called St. Tammany. It comes 
 from an Indian chief of the Delaware tribe named Tamendy, or 
 Tammenund. He was distinguished among his people. Early in 
 life, he lived near the Delaware, whence he moved beyond the 
 Alleghanies and settled on the banks of the Ohio. When he be- 
 came old, he called a council to have a successor appointed, after 
 which the residue of his life was passed in retirement. Why his 
 name was chosen by the Democracy is not known. — Wheeler'' s 
 Noted Names of Fiction. Tammany Hall was a well-known place 
 where the party bearing the name met for many years. 
 
 The Americans sometimes call their tutelar saint " Tamendy,'''' a corruption of 
 the name of the renowned chief here introduced. There are many traditions 
 which speak of the character and power of Tamenund. — Cooper. 
 
 Tangent. To fly off on a tangent. To make a sudden or unexpected 
 movement; to act erratically. Xew England. 
 
 Tangenty. Inclined or liable to move off erratically. " Tangenty 
 ministers," said of ministers leaving their congregation. — The 
 Congregationalist. 
 
TAN— TAP 
 
 693 
 
 Tangle-Foot. One of the Western figurative terms for whiskey. 
 
 A thirsty Vermonter hitched his horse to a freight-car standing on a side track, 
 while he proceeded leisurely toward a neighboring saloon in quest of tan yle-foot. 
 Hartford Courant, March 17, 1871. 
 
 Tangle-Leg. 1. Whiskey. 
 
 Gum-tickler and chain-lightning, 
 Eye-brightener and leg-tangler, 
 And scores of other compounds known 
 To each 'cute bar-room dangler. 
 
 [London] Punch, July 26, 1862. 
 2. A straggling shrub, also called a hobble-hush, which see. 
 
 Tan-Toaster. A great gale or tempest is so called at the Isles of 
 Shoals, Maine. — Thaxter, Isles of Shoals. 
 
 Tapioca. A substance much used in the United States for puddings 
 and other culinary purposes. It is extracted from the manioc (Ja- 
 tropha manihot), a shrub indigenous to tropical America, and, now 
 cultivated from Florida to Magellan. It is said that an acre of 
 manioc will nourish more persons than six acres of wheat. Its 
 roots attain the size of the thigh. Every part of the plant is filled 
 with a milky juice, which is a very violent and dangerous poison, 
 producing death in a few minutes, when swallowed; yet human 
 ingenuity has converted its roots into an article of food. This is 
 done by grinding them in wooden mills, after which the paste is 
 put into sacks, and exposed to the action of a powerful press. The 
 poisonous juice is thereby extracted, and the residue is the sub- 
 stance known as cassava or mandioca, a nutritious flour, preferred 
 by the natives to that from wheat. W^hen kept from moisture, 
 this flour will keep good for fifteen or twenty years. The tapioca is 
 made by separating from the fibrous part of the roots a small quan- 
 tity of the pulp, after the juice is extracted, and working it by 
 hand till a thick white cream appears on the surface. This, being 
 scraped off and washed in water, gradually subsides to the bottom. 
 After the water is poured off, the remaining moisture is dissipated 
 by a slow fire, and the substance being constantly stirred gradually 
 forms into grains about as large as those of sago. This is the purest 
 and most wholesome part of the manioc. — Encyc. Americana. 
 
 To be on one's Taps is to be on one's feet, literally on one's soles; on 
 the move, or ready to move. A metaphor borrowed from the shoe- 
 maker. 
 
 Your editor, when times are dull, must be "o« his taps,'" as the saying is. 
 When the mail comes through and brings news enough to make things look 
 lively, why then he must work and cut and paste as though the world depended 
 on him. — N. Y. Tribune, 
 
694 
 
 TAR— TAV 
 
 Tar-Kiln. A conical heap of wood made and burned for obtaining 
 tar. North Carolina. See Box. 
 
 Tarnal. A New England corruption of eternal. 
 
 Whate'er he tries, it is his rule, 
 
 If once he fail to reach the "gool," 
 
 To rate himself a " tarnal fool. 
 
 By golly ! " — Yankee Philosophy. 
 
 Tarve. (Old English, torce, twisted; Lat. torvus.) A turn, bend, 
 curve. 
 
 I can't say much for your axe, stranger, for this helve has no tarve to it ; but, 
 such as it is, down must come this elm. — Cooper, Oak Oj)emn(/8. 
 
 Tattler. The popular name of several species of Totanus. The species 
 most common in New England are the " Yellowshanks " or " Yellow 
 Legs," and the " Redshanks," both of which are called by sports- 
 men sometimes "plover," sometimes "snipe." The bird best 
 known as " Tattler " is the "Greater Yellowshanks " or " Telltale," 
 Totanus melanoleucus (Gemelin and Vaillant). The " Lesser Yellow- 
 shanks " (more common) is T. Jiavipes ; the "Wood Tattler" or 
 " Solitary Tattler" is T. soUtarius (Wilson and Audubon). 
 
 Sand-snipe and grass-snipe (so called in the West) are not snipe, but some sort 
 of tattlers or sand-pipers. They resemble the plover, but are smaller, or only the 
 size of a true snipe. — Bogarclus, FieU, Cover, and Trap Shootiny, p 166. 
 
 Taunton Turkeys. The common herring, of which large quantities 
 are taken near Taunton, Massachusetts. Comp. Albany Beef and 
 Marhlehead Turkeys. 
 
 Our fisheries o'er the world are famed, 
 
 The mackerel, shad, and cod ! 
 And Taunton turkeys are so thick, 
 
 We sell them by the rod ! — Allin, Yankee Ballad. 
 
 Tautaug or Tautog. (Tautoga Americana.) The name of the Black- 
 fish caught in the waters of Rhode Island. It is an Algonkin 
 Indian word, and may be found in Roger Williams's Key to the 
 Indian Language, where, however, he calls it the Sheepshead, which 
 is an entirely different fish. In New York, it is called Black-fish, 
 from the color of its back and sides. 
 
 For blue-fish merely, nothing can be as good as Edgartown. For blue-fish, 
 bass, and tautog altogether, Seconnet is better. — Daniel Webster, PHvate Cor., 
 Vol. I. p. 339. 
 
 Tavern. A house licensed to sell liquors in small quantities, to be 
 drank on the spot. In some of the United States, tavern is synony- 
 mous with " inn " or "hotel," and denotes a house for the enter- 
 tainment of travellers, as well as for the sale of liquors, licensed for 
 that purpose. — Webster. ^ 
 
TAV— TEE 
 
 695 
 
 Tavern-Keeper. One who is licensed to sell liquors to be drank in 
 
 his own house, and to entertain travellers and lodgers, together with 
 the horses and oxen composing their teams. — Webster. 
 
 Tawkee. The Orontium aquaticum (Golden Club) : so called by tlie 
 Indians of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, who used its root for food. 
 The name was adopted by the Swedes. Otherwise written Taivkim 
 and Tackuim. — Kalm^s Travels, Yo\. I. p. 389. See Tuckahoe. 
 
 To tax. To charge; as, "What will you tax me a yard for this 
 cloth? " i. e., what will you charge for it, or what is the price of it? 
 New England. 
 
 Job Clark was a wonderful pious pedlar, and wouldn't take advantage of a 
 minister of the gospel. He, therefore, in tradin' with the clergy, only taxed his 
 goods at half price. — Widow Bedott Pajjers, p. 218. 
 
 Team. He 's a ichole team, or a full team, are slang expressions of 
 admiration, meaning he is a person of great abilities and energy. 
 See Whole Team. 
 
 Tea-Fight. A tea-party. 
 
 To tear. To drag; to pull along. 
 
 He tenrs along behind him a sleigh, . . . furnished with an ancient and frag- 
 mentary buffalo, which serves for robe and cushion both. — Bnsted, The Upper 
 Ten Thousand, p. 17. 
 
 Tear-Coat or Tear-Blanket. (Often pron. Tar-coaf in the West.) The 
 Arabia spinosa, or Angelia tree, so called because its prickles tear 
 the coats of hunters, or the blankets of the Indians, in passing. 
 To tear round. To make a fuss; to create a disturbance. 
 
 The swell with a spring style hat on 
 Is the bloody chief Powhatan, 
 And John Smith is the gent whose head he 's going to cave. 
 But the lofty chief's fair daughter 
 Told her Pa he hadn't oughter; 
 And the way she tore around induced him to behave. 
 
 W. F. Brown, Capt. Smith and Pocahontas, 1867. 
 
 Tea-Squall. A not over-respectful name for a tea-party. 
 Teeter. See Peet- Weet. 
 
 To teeter. 1. To see-saw on a balanced plank, as children for amuse- 
 ment. — Worcester. The English write and pronounce titter. 
 
 2. To bob the body up and down, as in saluting a person or taking 
 a seat. 
 
 With a few fashionable phrases in your noddles, a face barbarously brutalized, 
 a ridiculously genteel apparel, and a most audacious assurance, — you tip and 
 teeter about, thinking that you excite the aduiiratiou of all, but of the ladies iu 
 particular. — Bow's Sermons, Vol. I. p. 184. 
 
696 
 
 TEE— TEL 
 
 Teeth. " He ought to have his teeth drawn; " i. e., he should be de- 
 prived of the power of doing mischief. 
 
 Teeth- Ache. An attempted improvement in the way of accuracy on 
 the word tooth-ache. So " teeth-brush." 
 
 Teetotaciously. A strange Western term, meaning a little more than 
 teefotalhj, if such a thing be possible. 
 
 He was, by ! I won't swear, 'cause it's wicked; but, if he wasn't, I hope 
 
 to be teetotaciously chawed up ! — Western Adventures, N. Y. Spiiit of the 
 Times. 
 
 Teetotaller. One who entirely abstains from the use of spirituous 
 and fermented liquors. The term w^as first used in England in 
 1832. 
 
 I 'm a man that will never refuse to take a glass of grog with a fellow-citizen 
 because he wears a ragged coat. Liberty and Equality, I say. Three cheers 
 for liberty and equality, and down with the teetotallers! — Clavers, Forest Life, 
 Vol. II. p. 39. 
 
 Teetotally. Entirely; totally. 
 
 The meetin' houses on one side of the water, how teetotally different they be! 
 Sam Slick in England, ch. 12. 
 
 Stranger, I 'rn powerful sorry, but we're teetotally out: he took every bit of 
 food with him. — Carlton's Neio Purchase, Vol. II. p. 245. 
 
 Things weren't going on right ; so I pretty nearly gave myself up teetotally to 
 the good of the republic. — J. C. Neal, Peter Brush. 
 
 I wouldn't have you think that I am teetotally opposed to dancing in every 
 shape, for the reason that I used to heel and toe it a trifle myself, when young. 
 Bow's Sermons, Vol. I. 
 
 Telegram. A despatch by the electro-telegraph. 
 
 We claim this as an American M'ord, it having been first sug- 
 gested and its adoption urged as early as the year 1852. To the 
 " Albany Evening Journal " belongs the credit of the first sugges- 
 tion of the term, that paper having, on the 6th April, 1852, pub- 
 lished the following, which emanated from Mr. E. Peshine Smith, 
 of Rochester : — 
 
 A New Word. — A friend desires us to give notice that he will ask leave, at 
 some convenient time, to introduce a new word into the vocabulary. The object 
 of this proposed innovation is to avoid the necessity, now existing, of using two 
 words, for which there is very frequent occasion, when one will answer. It is 
 Telegbam, instead of Telegraphic Despatch or Telegraphic Communication. 
 The word is formed according to the strictest laws of the language from which 
 its root comes. Telegraph means to write from a distance ; Telegram, the Avriting 
 itself, executed from a distance. Monogram, Logogram, &c., are words formed 
 upon the same analog}^ and in good acce})tation. Our friend, moreover, says 
 that the House Line, if disposed to be precise, should call their communications 
 Teletypes, as they are printed, not written. In a generous spirit of toleration, 
 he proposes no action upon the last suggestion ; but as to everybody else, except 
 
TEL 
 
 697 
 
 the employers and customers of the House Line, he would have them "held and 
 firmly bound" to speak, write, print, and telegraph Telegram, instead of any 
 two words signifying the same thing, under penalty of being considered verbose 
 and tedious. 
 
 Immediately after this, probably from the suggestion in the 
 " Albany Journal," there appeared in the " Daily American Tele- 
 graph," published in Washington, on the 27th of April, 1852 (a 
 copy of which we have seen), the following from the editor, Mr. 
 Thomas Connolly : — 
 
 Telegram. — Telegraph means to write from a distance ; Telegram, the writing 
 itself executed from a distance. Monogram, Logogram, &c., are words formed 
 upon the same analogy, and in good acceptation. Hence, Telegram is the 
 appropriate heading of a telegraphic despatch. Well, we '11 go it. Look to our 
 heading. 
 
 The telegraph despatches in the same paper were accordingly 
 given under the heading of Telegrams, and the heading continued 
 for some time ; but, the suggestion not being followed by the press, 
 it was dropped. 
 
 In discussing the origin of the term in England, the London 
 "Notes and Queries," of Nov. 21, 1857, asserts that it was used 
 both in Liverpool and London four years before. But, even admit- 
 ting the correctness of this assertion, — for it is only an assertion, — 
 the date, it will be perceived, falls a year and a half short of the 
 earlier American use of it. 
 
 Telegramic. Appertaining to telegrams. An effort was made to 
 introduce this word, but it is now seldom heard. 
 
 It is just in this connection that we should mention the service rendered to us 
 and our readers by our telegramic and general correspondents at Washington. — 
 New Orleans Delta. 
 
 Telephone. A speaking telegi'aph or instrument by which vocal 
 and musical sounds are transmitted, the invention of Professor A. 
 Graham Bell, of Boston. 
 
 The two following verses are from " An old Man's Ballad" by 
 John H. Yates, entitled "Blue Glass and Telephones," which 
 appeared in the " Rochester Chronicle," March, 1877: — 
 
 I '11 tell them [our children], — I '11 not write it, my old hands tremble so, — 
 Nor will I telegraph it, that's old style now, you know; 
 I '11 telephone it all the way, then they can sit and hear 
 The*poor old voice they haven't heard in many a weary year. 
 
 Well, what about the Telephones^ That 's harder to explain : 
 
 You sit within a little room, and talk, or sing a strain, 
 
 And men a thousand miles away can hear the word and tune, 
 
 And tell you what you 're singing, good old " Mear " or " Bonny DooJi.'* 
 
698 
 
 TEL— TEN 
 
 The term has ab-eady become a noun, a verb, an adjective, and 
 adverb. 
 
 It will be something to say that one saw the first public telephonic exhibition 
 in Boston, when telephony was merely a scientific curiosity. — Boston Transcript. 
 
 In addition to the singers announced for the telephone entertainment, . . . Mr. 
 E. will sing sev^eral favorite pieces telephonically from the intermediate station. 
 P rovidence Jouimal. 
 
 To telescope. A term applied to railway cars in case of a collision, 
 when one car enters another and passes through it, as a telescope 
 closes. Dr. O. W. Holmes, in a poem entitled " How not to settle 
 it," read to the Harvard Class of '29, on the 4th Jan., 1877, thus 
 alludes to the Presidential contest and the mode of settling it by 
 Congress : — 
 
 " They fought so well, not one was left to tell 
 
 Which got the largest share of cuts and slashes ; 
 When heroes meet, both sides are bound to beat; 
 They telescojjed like cars in railroad smashes. 
 
 Tell. 1. A saying; generally, however, a good one, or a complimentary 
 one. A young lady will say to another, " I 've a tell for you," i. e. 
 I 've a compliment for you, or I have heard some one speak highly 
 of you. Not elegant. 
 
 2. According to their tell ; i. e., "As they say." 
 
 When the news got out that I was sick, lots of folks came to see me, . . and 
 every one would name my disease by some new name. I told Josiah that, 
 accordin' to their tell, I had got every disease under the sun, unless it was the 
 horse-distemper. — Betsy Bobbet, p. 101. 
 
 In his dealings with the other sex, he is a little twistical, according to their tell. 
 Humphreys, The Yankee in England. 
 
 To tell. To tell one good-by is the Southern phrase for to bid one 
 good-by. " Before I leave town, I will come and tell you good-by." 
 
 To tell on. To tell of; to tell about. Vulgar. 
 
 "Well," says the Gineral, "I am glad I didn't understand him, for now it 
 stumps me considerable. Major, who was that? " "Why," says I. " Gineralj 
 he is the son of a man I 've heard you tell on a thousand times." — Major Down- 
 iny's Letters, p. 29. 
 
 To tend, for to attend. 
 
 Most of the passengers in the cars were preachers what had been up to Augusta 
 to tend the convention. — Major .Tones' s Travels. 
 
 To tend out. To attend ; to be attending in a place distant from that 
 where the person usually is. 
 
 An auction sale is advertised in our columns to-day, to take place in Hartford. 
 . . . Country merchants should tend out. — The Winsted Herald. 
 
TEN— TER 
 
 699 
 
 Tendsome. Requiring much attendance; as, " A tendsome child." — 
 Webster. This word is used in Connecticut. 
 
 Tenement House. In the city of N'ew York, a house let to, or occu- 
 pied by, a number of tenants. 
 
 Ten-Pins. Laws having been passed against the establishment of 
 " nine-pin alleys," the name and the number of pins were at once 
 changed. 
 
 Ten-Strike. A knocking down of the ten-pins at one throw <)f a ball; 
 a thorough work. 
 
 You can rely upon ih^ fact that, whenever he [General Sigel] sets the ball in 
 motion, he will make a ten-strike. — Baltimore Cor. N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Ten up. The phrase used at the Stock Exchange in New Y^'ork, when 
 a broker's ability to keep his contract is questioned. It means that 
 a deposit of ten per cent on the selling value of the stock bid for 
 must be put up before the contract can hold good. — Medbery. 
 
 Tepees. The lodges or tents of the Indians of the Far West. 
 
 Before the Indians could get out of their tepees, the fire was down on them. 
 . . . Some sixty tepees were consumed. — Philadelphia Press. 
 
 Large quantities of ammunition, especially powder, were stored in the tepees, 
 and explosions followed the burning of every tent. — N. Y. Tribune, Report of 
 the Biy Horn Expedition, April 4, 1876. 
 
 Wken civilization becomes nearer [the Black Hills], the pine maybe useful for 
 rough lumber and fuel; but now and for a long time to come its only use seems 
 to be that known to the Lidians, — for poles to uphold their tepees on the prairie. 
 Rept. of the Com. of Indian Affairs for 1874, p. 405. 
 
 Terawchy. This word is evidently of Dutch origin, and would seem 
 to be te ratje,t\\Q little rat, an equivalent for the term "creep- 
 mouse,' ' w^hich is used in a like manner. It is a A^ery common word in 
 the nursery, and is always accompanied by a peculiar motion of the 
 fingers, with the palm of the hand presented to the child. It is as 
 well known among the old English families of New York as among 
 those of Dutch descent. 
 
 Terrapin. (Palustris.) A name given to a species of tide- water tor- 
 toise, common in Connecticut and the Atlantic States south of New 
 York, and considered an article of luxury. It is found exclusively 
 in the salt water, and always in the neighborhood of marshes. The 
 most -celebrated is the diamond-back ; there are also the yellow-bellies ^ 
 red-bellies, lofjer-heads, .muff-boxes, &c. 
 
 Campanius, in his vocabulary of New Sweden, gives tulpa^ 
 turpa,^^ a tortoise; Rasles, for the Abenaki, has toarebe,'' tortue. 
 Eliot, from the same base, writes toonuppas-og, for tortoise 
 
700 
 
 TER— TEX 
 
 (Lev. xi. 29). *' Terrapin " is clearly a corrupt form of the Algon- 
 kin name. 
 
 A small kind of Turtle, or Tarapins (as we call them). — Beverly's Viryinia 
 1722, p. 351. 
 
 Of Terebins, there are clivers sorts. — Lawson's Nat. Hist, of Carolina (1709), 
 p. 133. 
 
 I have caught with mil e angle Pike, Carpe, Eele, . . . Creafish, and the ro^'o^^e 
 or little Turtle. — Whitaker, Good Newts from Virginia (1623), p. 42. 
 
 Terret. A ring through which, set on a little standard (or in tandem- 
 driving on the headstall), passes one of the reins by which a horse 
 is driven. New England. Bailey in his Dictionary gives Tyerets^ 
 ornaments for horses. 
 
 Territory. A large district of country belonging to the United States, 
 though not forming a part of any individual State, and under a 
 temporary government. — Worcester. 
 
 Tesquite. An alkaline efflorescence of considerable value, which ex- 
 udes from the earth around many of the lakes, ponds, and marshy 
 grounds in New Mexico, California, and Arizona. (Natron, Carb. 
 of Soda.) See Alkali Desert. 
 
 Test-Paper. A paper or instrument shown to a jury as evidence. A 
 term used in the Pennsylvania courts. Called also a "standard 
 paper." — Burr'dVs Law Die. 
 
 To tew. To fuss and fret. 
 
 Tew round. To tew round is to spend time over one's household 
 affairs without accomplishing any thing; to be busy without doing 
 any thing. In the north of England, tew means to labor ; to work 
 hard. See Putter. 
 
 Texan Hare. See Jackass Rabbit. 
 
 Texas. The third story, so called, of a Mississippi steamboat. It 
 includes the surroundings of the pilot-house, the whole "upper 
 story " of the vessel. 
 
 The boiler deck, the hurricane deck, and the texas deck are fenced and orna- 
 mented with white railings. — Mark Twain., in Atlantic Monthly, for Jan., 1875. 
 
 His companion joined him, pausing a minute on the step-ladder which leads to 
 the pilot-house from the roof of the texas. — E. E. Hale, Adv. of a Pullman, 
 p. 45. 
 
 Texas-Tender. The waiter who attends passengers on the upper deck 
 or texas of the Mississippi steamboats. 
 
 We had a tidy, white-aproned, black texas-tender to bring up tarts and ices 
 and coffee during mid-watch day and night. — Mark Twain, in Atlantic Monthly, 
 Feb , 1875. 
 
THA— THI 
 
 701 
 
 Thanksgiving Day. A day set apart once a year (usually in the 
 month of November), by the Governors of States, for a general 
 thanksgiving to God for blessings enjoyed. The custom originated 
 among the Puritans of New England, where, as a season of social 
 festivities and family reunions, it has almost wholly usurped the place 
 of Christmas. 
 
 E'en the ghosts of Thanhs-day turkeys 
 
 Wander in the fields around, 
 Waking up the midnight echoes 
 
 With a frightful gobHiri' sound. 
 Wm. Boyd, Oakwood Old, Camh-idye [Mass.] Chronicle, 1857. 
 
 Thank-ye-Ma'ams. Hollows or depressions in a road, with low heaps 
 of earth or snow dug or thrown from the hollows. Sometimes they 
 are caused by depressions made to carry off water. In winter, when 
 there is deep snow, these hollows are made by sleighs. The plung- 
 ing and rising of passing vehicles causes the rider to bend his body 
 with every rise and fall; hence, the term of thank-ye-ma^arns. See 
 CaJiot. 
 
 The softening of so great a body of snow renders the roads slumpy and full 
 of thank-ye-ma' ams, so that sleighing is not a blissful experience just now. 
 
 That is constantly used for so in Pennsylvania; as, "I was that tired." 
 
 The. American speakers and writers very commonly use the definite 
 
 article in the French manner, and contrary to the genius of the 
 
 English language, before the names of diseases. 
 
 There would be nothing questionable in the report that De Soto died of typhus 
 feA^er, or some similar malady, if another account did not ascribe his death to the 
 dysentery, — Willmer's Life of De Soto, p. 505. 
 
 There. (Pron. ^^ar.) On the spot; on hand; at home. Western. The 
 author of " A Stray Yankee in Texas," in speaking of this use of 
 the word, says: " A man who accepts an invitation to a frolic or a 
 fight, a wedding or a funeral, probably answers, I 'm thar. A per- 
 son wishing to imply that he is perfectly at home in any thing says 
 he is thar ; a good hunter or fisher is also thar.'''' 
 
 Thimble-Berry. {Ruhus occidentalis.) The Black Raspberry, so 
 called by many from the naked receptacle, which has the shape of 
 a thimble. In some districts, the red raspberry is so called. 
 
 Thimble- Weed. (Rwlbeckia.) A tall plant, six or eight feet high, 
 resembling the sunflower. It is one of the herbs prepared by the 
 Shakers, and is used in medicine for its diuretic and tonic proper- 
 ties. Like the Thiinble-berry, its receptacle resembles a thimble. 
 
 Thin-skinned. Exhibiting while seeming to conceal; accidentally 
 ineffective; shallow; purposely deceptive ; hypocritical. 
 
702 
 
 THI— THO 
 
 The Cnesars were divine while they lived, . . . their apotheosis after death 
 was a thin-skinned travesty: the Romans honored the live gods, but left the dead 
 ones to look out for themselves. — iV. Y. Tribune, May 8, 1877. 
 
 Thirds. "The widow's thirds." Dower. In law, the portion of a 
 man's real estate which his widow is entitled to hold during her 
 natural life. The term is quite as common as dower. Middleton 
 used it in the same sense. 
 
 This here and that there. These vulgar pleonasms are often heard 
 in this country as well as in England. 
 
 This yere is the common pronunciation in the South. 
 
 ^-l^.^r^t ; "n III .7 
 
 Thomsonian Doctor. A physician who follows the Thomsonian prac- 
 tice; also called Steam-doctor. 
 
 Thomsonian System. A peculiar treatment of diseases, so named 
 from its inventor, Samuel Thomson, a native of Alstead, New 
 Hampshire, who died at Concord, in that State, in 1840, aged 56 
 years. The medicines are labelled from Xo. 1 to 10, and are com- 
 pounds of Cayenne pepper, lobelia, &c. His followers have dis- 
 carded much that he adopted, and are now known as Eclectic or 
 Botanic physicians. 
 
 Thorny-Locust. See Honey-Locust. 
 
 Thoroughfare. A low gap between mountains; as, " Thoroughfare 
 Gap," in Fauquier County, Virginia. " Thoroughfare Mountain." 
 Southern. 
 
 Thoroughwort. Another name for Boneset, which see. 
 
 I kinder mistrusted our Tirzah Ann had fallen in love with Shakspeare Bobbet, 
 but I thou,2;ht of Betsy. . . . Well, I gave her a good thoroughioort puke, and it 
 cured her. — Betsy Bobhet, p. 328. 
 
 Thousand of Brick. Like a thousand of brick is a queer simile very 
 often heard. It means, of course, very heavily, like brick dumped 
 out of a cart; and then vigorously, vehemently. 
 
 A huge negro woman threw herself convulsively from her feet, and fell like a 
 thousand of brick across a diminutive old man. — Simon Suggs. 
 
 The new "Yankee Doodle," by George P. Morris, created an immense noise. 
 Nobody could sit still ; hands and feet came into the chorus of their own accordj 
 and the house was down " like a thousand of brick.' ^ — New York paper. 
 
 I see he was gettin' riled some, and I thought he 'd bile over. You see that 's 
 the way with us Western folks. If folks is sassy, we walk right into 'em like a 
 thousand of brick. — Mrs. Clavers, Forest Life, Vol. I. p. 109. 
 
 Sweet is the melting fall of music, but not such music as nightly comes down 
 upon us like a thousand cf bricks from the balconies of museums, nor such as we 
 sometimes hear at the onera. — Dow's Sermons, Vol I. p. 201. 
 
THR— TIC 
 
 703 
 
 So I pitched into Doodle like a thousan' of brick. 
 Mayhap it warn't proper to do it — on tick ; 
 But John Bull is almight}', he '11 see I am paid, 
 And my cargo of cotton will break the blockade. 
 
 The London Times on Ameiican Affairs. 
 To thrap. (Fr. f rapper.) To strike, especially with some pliable 
 
 article, as a strap. 
 Through is used in the West for swathe, or the cut of the cradle 
 through grass or grain. Like " swathe," it is also used figuratively; 
 as, " What a through he cut! " i. e. what a swell! 
 Through the Mill. A person is said to have been through the mill 
 
 when he has had experience in a particular thing. 
 To throw in. To contribute; as, " I '11 throw in for a pony race." 
 Thunder. Vigor; efficiency; eclat. 
 
 Whatever thunder there can be in the present Southern policy [of President 
 Hayes], it is not the thunder of those Republicans who oppose it. — Cor. 'N. Y. 
 Tribune. 
 
 Thundering. Very; exceedingly. A vulgar colloquialism, used both 
 in England and in this country. 
 
 Lord Hervey, in his "Memoirs of the Court of George II.," 
 mentions Queen Caroline's indignation at the infliction of a " thun- 
 dering long sermon." 
 
 I was told that Faneuil Hall was called the "cradle of liberty." I reckon old 
 King George thought they were thundering fine children that were rocked in it, 
 and a good many of them. — Crockett, Tour down East. p. 61. 
 
 If a chap only comes from the North, and has got a crop of hair and whiskers, 
 and a coat different from everybody else, and a thunderin'' great big gold chain 
 about his neck, he 's the poplerest man among the ladies. — Major Jones's Court- 
 ship, p. 82. 
 
 Ticket. 1. Politically, it means a printed list of candidates to be used 
 at an election. According to circumstances, a man is said to vote the 
 straight ticket, i. e. the ticket containing the " regular nomination " 
 of his party without change ; a scratch ticket, a ticket from which the 
 names of one or more of the candidates are erased; a split ticket, a 
 ticket representing different divisions of his party; or a mixed ticket, 
 a ticket in which the nominations of different parties are blended 
 into one. 
 
 2. A "hard ticket,^^ a man whom other people had better let 
 alone ; an unscrupulous man to deal with. 
 Tickler. L A common name among merchants and bankers for a 
 book in which a register of notes or debts is kept Cor reference; also, 
 for a book in which the daily balance of cash is entered, by the 
 cashier or teller. 
 
704 
 
 TIC— TIG 
 
 2. A small pocket flask in which to carry liquor. 
 
 Then he took out a tickler of whiskey ; and, arter he 'd took three or four 
 swallows out'n it, says he, "Oblige me by taking a horn." — Southern 
 Sketches, p. 33. 
 
 Tick-Nation. A name given to regions in which ticks abound; and, 
 
 as the grasses and sandy soil infected by them are peculiar to the 
 poorer parts of the country, it is sometimes used as a term of 
 i-eproach. 
 
 Tiddlies. Boys say, "run tiddlies," i. e. run over ice after it has 
 begun to break up on a sheet of water. See Bendolers, Addenda. 
 
 Tidy, n. A cover, usually of ornamental work, for the back of a chair, 
 the arms of a sofa, and the like. — Webster. 
 
 From the old English word " tide," meaning time, as eventide, 
 and closely connected with the German zeit. So tidy is zeitig, 
 timely or seasonable. — Smith, Curious Derivations, p. 97. 
 Tusser uses the word in this sense, as: — 
 
 If weather be fair and tidy, thy grain 
 Make speedily carriage, for fear of a rain. 
 
 Husbandry, for March, (1573). 
 
 To tidy up. To put things in order, or make them neat, as in a 
 dwelling-house. — Webster. 
 I have tidied and tidied over again, but it 's useless. — Dickens. 
 
 Tie. 1. The state produced by an equal number of votes on two oppo- 
 site sides. — Wo7'cester. 
 
 2. A pair that are alike; a match. " Them two hogs is a fie." 
 Western. 
 
 To tie to. In Western phraseology, a man who " will do to tie to^^ is 
 one who can be relied upon, an honest man. 
 
 To tie up. To make fast, as a vessel or steamboat. An expression 
 peculiar to the West. 
 
 "It's foggy to-night," said the captain, "and you'd best run the boat till 
 nine, and then tie «/)." 
 
 " Tie her up ! " says Jim. " I tie her up in a horn ! Do you reckon I can't 
 run her in such a fog as this ? No, sir! I '11 keep her a bilin' till my watch is 
 up, and then I '11 tie uj), as you 're afeard to run. — Major Bunkum, N. Y. Spirit 
 of the Times. 
 
 Tie Vote. An equality in the number of votes given for two candi- 
 dates, by which neither party is elected to the office for which the 
 votes are given. 
 
 Tiger. In 1822, the Boston Light Infantry, under Captain Mackintosh 
 and Lieutenant Robert C. Winthrop, visited Salem and encamped in 
 
TIG 
 
 705 
 
 Washington Square; and during their stay a few of the members in- 
 dulged in sports incidental to camp duty, when some visitor exclaimed 
 to one who was a little rough, ' ' Oh, you Tiger ! " It became a catch- 
 word, and as a term of playful reproach, " You 're a Tiger," was 
 adopted as one of the peculiar phrases of the corps. On the route 
 to Boston, some musical genius sung an impromptu line, " Oh, you 
 Tigers, don't you know," to the air of " Rob Roy McGregor, oh! " 
 Of course, the appellation soon induced the Tigers by name to imitate 
 the actions of the Tiger; and the " growl " was introduced, and at 
 the conclusion of three cheers "a tiger " was invariably called for. 
 
 In 1826, the Infantry visited Xew York, being the first volunteer 
 coi*ps to make a trip from this city to another State ; and, while there, 
 the Tigers at a public festival awoke the echoes and astonished the 
 Gothamites by giving the genuine howl. It pleased the fancy of 
 the hosts, and gradually it became adopted on all festive and joyous 
 occasions ; and now ' ' three cheers and a tiger ' ' are the insepara- 
 ble demonstrations of approbation in that city. — Boston Evening 
 Gazette. 
 
 Tiger-Cat. See Ocelot. 
 
 To fight the Tiger is to gamble. 
 
 Tight. 1. Close; parsimonious; saving; as, "A man tight in his deal- 
 ings." Close; hard; as, " A bargain." — Webster. To these 
 American uses of the word is to be added another similar to the 
 last. When money is difficult to be procured by discounting, &c., 
 business men say, "The money market is tight, or "Money is 
 tight.^^ In this sense, it is the opposite of easy, which see. 
 
 The Deacon was as tight as the skin on his back; begrudged folks their victuals 
 when they came to his house — Widow Bedott Pajyers, p. 30. 
 
 The money market, except on the best stocks, is getting tight, and there is a 
 general calling in of loans upon the "fancies." — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 2. Tipsy; drunk. Used mostly at the South. The question has 
 been asked, " Can a man be considered a loose character who comes 
 home tight every night ? " 
 
 It's kinder discouragin' to lend a fellow that gets tight a good deal, — gets 
 tight sometimes, any how; it 's hard enough to get paid by folks that always keep 
 straight. — Habbertm, The Barton Experiment, p. 126. 
 
 Tight Match. A close or even match, as of two persons wrestling or 
 running together. 
 
 Tight Place. To be in a tight place is to be in straits, to be short of 
 money. 
 
 45 
 
706 
 
 TIG— TIN 
 
 Tight Scrouging, i. e. hard squeezing. Said of any thing difficult to 
 
 accomplish, — Sherwood'' s Georgia. 
 Tight Squeeze. A difficulty. 
 
 It 's a tiyht squeeze sometimes to scrouge between a lie and the truth in busi- 
 ness. — Sam Stick, Human Nature, p. 217. 
 
 Tile. Cant term for a hat. 
 
 If they did not yet farther make the mistake of leaving in his hall a well-worn 
 tile in the place of a new beaver. — N. Y. Observer. 
 
 Tilly. " Easy as tilli/,^" i. e. very easy. 
 
 Tilt. 1. The black-necked Stilt (Hiinantopus nigricollis), a small bird 
 found on our shores; the Sand-piper, also called a Tilt-up. See 
 Lawyer, No. 1. 
 2. A see-saw. 
 
 Tilter. Used as, and probably shows the origin of, Teeter^ 1. To see- 
 saw on a plank. In common use in Eastern Massachusetts. 
 Tilt-up or Tip-up. The popular name of the Sand-piper. See Peet- 
 
 Weet. 
 
 Timber. Throughout the West and South, this term is applied to 
 . woodland. A man going into the woods will tell you he is going 
 into the timber. 
 
 After proceeding half a mile into the timber, we were suddenly brought to a 
 stand by the dense undergrowth. — A Stray Yankee in Texas. 
 
 Timbered Lands. Land covered with wood; forests. Land well- 
 timbered means land covered with large trees. 
 
 Along the coast of Texas, as in the country west of Harrisburg, there stretches 
 a prairie of from ten to twenty miles before reaching the timbered hotiom-lands. 
 Guide to Western Texas, p. 5. 
 
 Timberheels. A headlong fellow careless in walking. 
 
 Time. 1. " What time are you? " means. What o'clock is it? 
 
 2. "I've had a good time,^^ i. e. I have enjoyed myself. "I 
 went to the ball, and had a good time." A spree. " They went 
 on a ^tme," i. e. they had a spree. " A high old f/me," or debauch 
 of the first class. 
 
 Timothy. (Phleum pratense.) The common name for the Herd's 
 Grass; said to be derived from Timothy Hanson, one of its early 
 propagators. — Bigeloiu^s Flora Bostoniensis. 
 
 Tinaja. (Span., pron. tindha.) The word signifies, primarily, a large 
 earthen water-jar, and is applied on the Mexican frontier to water- 
 holes or cavities in rocks on the sides of mountains, where water 
 accumulates. These are filled during the rainy season, and are the 
 chief or only dependence of travellers for water at other times. 
 
TIN— TIT 
 
 707 
 
 Permanent water is fonnd under a cleft of igneous rocks, and does not properly 
 deserve the name of a spring, but is rather a tinaja supplied by water trickling 
 through the rocks from water-holes above. — SchotVs Obs. on the Country along 
 the Mexican Boundai-y, p. 69. 
 
 Eight of these tinajas, one above the other, the highest too difficult to reach 
 [are found here] ; as the Avater is used from the lower ones, you ascend to the 
 next higher, passing it down by means of buckets. — Lieutenant Michler's Report, 
 Mexican Boundary, p. 114. 
 
 Tin Blickey. (Putch, blik, tin.) In New York, a tin pail. 
 
 Tinker. A small mackerel. New England. 
 
 Tinner. A workman who makes utensils of tinned iron plates ; a tin- 
 plate worker. 
 
 Tipple. Intoxicating liquors. Any "fancy drink" is a tipple. 
 " I 've got a new tipple," said a liquor-dealer to a regular customer. 
 
 "VVhj'- not send them brandy in bombs ? and Old Wlieat under a flag of truce ? 
 Why not drop a bottle of tipple into their camps from our balloons — N. Y. 
 Tribune. 
 
 Tippybobs. A contemptuous term for the wealthy classes. 
 Tipsinah. The wild prairie turnip, used as food by the North-western 
 Indians. 
 
 Tipteering. A mincing gate in walking. 
 
 When you see a gentleman tipteerinrj along Broadway, with a lady wiggle- 
 wagging by his side, and both dressed to kill, you may say that he looks out for 
 himself and takes care of A. No. 1. — Bow's Ser7no7is, Vol. I. p. 208. 
 
 Tip-top. The very highest part; the best of any thing; excellent; of 
 the best quality. The building on the summit of Moimt Washing- 
 ton is called "The Tip-top house." "These are the best goods 
 made in the countiy. They are tip-top.''^ 
 
 Tip-up. See Peet-Weet. 
 
 Tisanne. (Fr.) A decoction of spruce-tops, for " purifying the blood." 
 
 Province of Quebec. 
 Tithing-Man. In New England, a parish officer appointed to preserve 
 
 order at public worship, and enforce the proper observance of the 
 
 Sabbath. — Worcester. 
 Greater men than Uncle Eliakim had to give up before the sovereign power 
 
 of a laugh, and ere long he resigned the office of tithiny-man as one requiring a 
 
 sterner metal than he possessed. — Mrs. Stowe, Oldtmon Folks, ch. v. 
 
 To titivate. To dress up. " To titivate one's self " is to make one's 
 toilet. Colloquial in the north of England. 
 
 Well, I'll arrive in time for dinner; I'll titivate myself up, and down to 
 drawin'-room. — Sam Slick in England, ch. 23. 
 
 The girls are all so titivated off with false beauty, that a fellow loses his heart 
 before he knows it. — Dow's Sermons, Vol. I. D. 151. 
 
708 
 
 TIT— TOB 
 
 Titter. An eruption on the skin. This is merely another pronuncia- 
 tion of tetter. It is used in New England, and, according to Forby, 
 is provincial in England. 
 
 To. 1. For at or in. An exceedingly common vulgarism in the 
 Northern States. We often hear such barbarous expressions as, 
 "He lives to York;" " He wan't to hum " {i. e. at home), while 
 the opposite mistake of in for into is hardly less frequent. 
 
 I have forgot what little I learnt to night-school ; and, in fact, I never was any 
 great shakes at it. — Sam Slick. 
 
 When is charity like a top ? When it begins to hum. — Baltimore Sun. 
 
 The boiler, instead of going upward, moved in a horizontal hue, passed through 
 the main building directly through the weaver's room, without injuring the work- 
 men there, although men were to work on each side of where the boiler passed. — 
 Home Sentinel, Sept., 1858. 
 
 2. To, as the sign of the infinitive, is sometimes improperly 
 omitted, particularly in such expressions as Meet days, Sing nights, 
 Help make. Help transact; instead of "help to make," "help to 
 transact," &c. 
 
 We found the medical student at his lodgings, sitting at a table in the middle 
 of a very disorderly apartment, making believe [to] eat a late breakfast. — Put- 
 nam''s Magazine, May, 1854. 
 
 Toad-Fish. (Batrachus varie flatus.) This repulsive creature, and 
 fisherman's pest, is called also "Oyster-Fish" on the New Jersey 
 coast, from its frequenting the oyster-beds, and " Grubby " on the 
 coast of New England. 
 
 Toad-Grunter. The toad-fish, so called from the noise it makes. 
 
 Toad-Sticker. A term for a sword, almost universal among our sol- 
 diers during the late war. 
 
 Tobacco. (W. Ind. tahago or tobacco, a cigar or pipe.) An Ameri- 
 can plant, the dried leaves of wliich are used for smoking, chewing, 
 and for making snuff. The more common varieties cultivated in 
 the United States are Hudson, Frederick, Thickjoint, Shoestring, 
 Thickset, Sweet-scented, Orinoko, &c. Among the host of names 
 given to it according to the various modes in which it is prepared 
 for chewing are: Pigtail, Ladies' Twist, Cavendish, Honey-dew, 
 Negro-head (pron. Nigger-head), Long Cut, Short Cut, Bull's Eye, 
 Plug, Fig, Oronoko Leaf, Nail-rod or 32's, Roll, Fine Spun, Pound, 
 Lone Jack, &c. There is, besides, smoking tobacco, put up in papers 
 of various kinds, as Kanaster, Kite-foot, Cut-stems, &c. In the 
 
TOB 
 
 709 
 
 form of snuff there are also many terms for it, as Maccoboy, Rappee 
 (American and foreign, named after the places it is manufactm-ed 
 in), American Gentleman, Demigros, Pure Virginia, Copenhagen, 
 Nachitoches, Bom^bon, St. Domingo, Scotch, High Toast, Irish 
 Blackguard, Irish High Toast, &c. 
 
 Tobacoo-Box. A small fresh-water fish, called also Sunfish and 
 
 Pumpkin- Seed. 
 Tobacco-Root. See Kooyali-Root. 
 
 Tobogan or Tarbogan. A sleigh or sledge used in Canada and by 
 the Hudson's Bay Company, drawn by dogs used for travelling over 
 snow, made of thin boards ten or twelve feet long, and from twelve 
 to fifteen inches broad. These are cut thin at one end, about three 
 feet of which is bent over, lashed and covered with raw hide to keep 
 it in place. Inside of this curve, the voyageur carries his kettle. The 
 dogs attached to the sleigh are generally decorated with collars from 
 which bead-work and tassels are suspended, together with a string 
 of small bells. Dall says they are used in Alaska, and gives repre- 
 sentations of them. — Alaska and its Resources, p, 165. Hind, who 
 calls them carioles, says they are used by the voyayeurs of the Hud- 
 son's Bay Company. — Red River Exploring Expedition, Vol. 1. 
 p. 84. Smaller ones, from five to eight feet in length, are also used 
 in Canada for sliding down hill over the snow. 
 
 The tobogan will turn in front to the side on which you press your hand. To 
 steer one going down-hill at top speed needs nerve and experience. Weighted 
 with two or three riders, gaining in speed, it seems to fly along like a highway 
 comet as it flashes past you, . . . and your blood curdles in your veins at the 
 seeming recklessness of the occupants. . . . Strap a dyspeptic to a toboyan on 
 one of our Canadian hills, . . . and I would stake my life that I should either 
 scare away or cure blue devils and dyspepsia. — Canadian Spoi'ts in Scribner^s 
 Monthly for Aug., 1877, p. 523. 
 
 The following is from a poem by Wm. Boyd, entitled " Swartzen, 
 an Imaginary Montreal Fur- Advertisement," 1865. Many words 
 in common use in Canada will be found in the extract. 
 
 Wouldst thou purchase 
 
 Moccasins from Indian wigwam. 
 Black or yellow, plain or quill-worked, 
 Or galoshed with India-rubber; 
 Aboriginal toboyynn, 
 Excellent for coasting-party. 
 Or for elk or red-deer hunter; 
 Yengee sled or roomy traineau, 
 For the boys from big to little, 
 For the girls from teens to tiny; 
 
710 
 
 TOB— TOM 
 
 Snow-shoes for suburban ramble, 
 Or for tramp around the Mountain, 
 Or for chasing in the forest, — 
 
 Go to Swartzen, famous furrier, 
 Chapelier renowned, immortal, — 
 Swartzen of the changing seasons. 
 Spring and summer, autumn, winter. 
 
 Montreal Transcnpt, 1865. 
 
 Toboganing. Sliding down hill over the snow on a tobogaii, a favor- 
 ite amusement in Canada. In New England, called Coasting, which 
 see. 
 
 Tobogganing is one of the favorite winter amusements on the Mountain. 
 Toboggan has not yet found its way into the dictionaries, and there are other 
 ways of spelling it; and it ma}^ be defined as a pliable board turned up at both 
 ends, and used for coasting down the hills of Canada. — Montreal Cor. Provi- 
 dence Journal, July 2, 1877. 
 
 Quaint old Quebec is fit for toboganing wherever you go. But one of the most 
 unique rides is down the ice-cone of Montmorency Falls. — Canadian Sports, 
 Scribner's Monthly, Aug., 1877. 
 
 Toboganist. One who indulges in the amusement of sliding down ice- 
 hills on a tobogan. 
 
 The ice-cone of Montmorenc}' Falls, seven miles from Quebec, is a great resort 
 for the toboganists in winter. — Scribner, as above. 
 
 Tod. Rum, or any alcoholic beverage. 
 
 Toddy-Blossom. See Rum-Bud. 
 
 To toe in. To turn in the toes. 
 
 To toe the Mark. A phrase borrowed from the prize-ring, and mean- 
 ing to come up to one's obligations. 
 
 To tole. To draw or cause to follow, by presenting something pleas- 
 ing or desirable to view ; to allure by some bait. — Webster. 
 
 We apply this old English word only to the alluring of animals. 
 Thus, in New England the farmers tole sheep, and cause them to 
 follow, by holding to them a measure of corn or some fodder. In 
 the Middle States, wild ducks are toled within gun-shot, by causing 
 a little dog to run up and down behind a brushwood fence, which 
 excites their curiosity. 
 
 Tom. A wooden trough used by the California minei'S for w^ashing 
 what is known as "pay-dirt." Tom stream refers to the quantity 
 of water used in the trough or torn. 
 
 Tomahawk. (Algonkin Ind. tomehagen.) An Indian hatchet or axe. 
 It was and is the custom of the Indians to go through the cere- 
 mony of burying the tomahawk, when they made peace; when they 
 
 \ 
 
TOM— TOO 
 
 711 
 
 ■went to war, they dug it up again. Hence, the phrases "to hmy 
 the toiHcihawk,^' and " to dig up the tomahaick^^^ are sometimes used 
 by political speakers and writers with reference to the healing up 
 of past disputes or the breaking out of new ones. See Hatchet. 
 
 A great surly-Iook'd fellow took up his Tomhog^ or wooden Cutlash, to kill Mr. 
 Church, but some others prevented him. — Church's Philip's War (1716), p. 24. 
 Fierce the tight and short, 
 As is the whirlwind. Soon the conquerors ^ 
 And conquered vanished, and the dead remain 
 Mangled by tomahaivks. — Bryant, The Fountain. 
 
 romato. 1. (Mexican, /o/?ia^/.) The well-known fruit of the Lyco- 
 persicum esculentum, formerly called love-apples. 
 
 2. The Winter-cherry sometimes so called, and, specifically, 
 Cherry-Tomato. 
 
 Tombs. A name commonly given to the New York city prison, in 
 allusion to its heavy Egyptian style of architecture. 
 
 Tombs Lawyer. A lawyer whose clients are the inmates of the New 
 York city prison. A contemptuous term. See Shyster. 
 
 Tom-Cod. {Morrhua pruinosa.) A small fish common to our coast, 
 but which becomes very abundant after the first frost; hence the 
 xiame of Frost-Fish, by which it is also known. — Storer, Fishes of 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 Dr. J. V. C. Smith believes the torn-cod to be the same as a fish 
 known in Europe as the tacaud of Cuvier, and that torn-cod is 
 a corruption of the Indian name tacaud, i. e. plenty-fish, as this 
 little fish was well known to our aborigines. Mr. Trumbull, of 
 Hartford, who is the best authority on Indian words, assures us 
 that he knows no such word as tacaud in any aboriginal language 
 east of the AUeghanies. 
 
 The Hull merchant came under the frigate's stern, and volunteered to go and 
 catch some tom-cod. — Lieut. Wise, Scampavies, p. 19. 
 
 The face of the mermaid was regular human, and it looked rather tawn}' and 
 flabby like a biled nigger, with fleshy eyes, and a mouth like a huge tom-cod. — 
 Story of the Mermaid. 
 
 Tom-Dog. Male dogs as well as cats take the prefix "tom," in 
 some parts of the West. " Them tom-dogs howls awful to-night." 
 
 Tongs. A name for pantaloons and roundabouts, formerly in use in 
 New England. 
 
 Children were playing on the green, the bo3-s dressed in tongs ; some in skirt- 
 coats, &c. — Margaret, p. 34. 
 
 Tonnage-Car. A railway car for the conveyance of freight 
 
 Toot. On a toot,^^ i. e. on a spree. 
 
712 
 
 TOO— TOR 
 
 Toothache Bush. (Xanthoxylum fraxineum.) Prickly Ash; so called 
 from its pungent properties, made sensible when applied to an 
 aching tooth. 
 
 Toothache Grass. {Monocera aromatica.) A singular kind of grass 
 which grows in Florida, with a naked stalk four feet high. It 
 affects the breath and milk of cows, which eat it when young and 
 tender. Tj|||B root affects the salivary glands. — WiUia/ns^s Florida. 
 
 Tooth-Carpenter. A dentist. 
 
 Too Thin. Too plain or evident. The deception is " <oo thin,^' i. e. 
 
 too apparent. Often expressed by the letters T. T. See Too Thin 
 
 to w(i:-:h, in Addenda. 
 
 Tooting-Tub. A puritanical term for a church-organ. 
 
 I've heard they 're subscribing around for an org-an ! Yes, an organ ! What 
 on earth will they do next? That ever I should live to see a Popish tootin'-tub 
 stuck up in our gallery ! — Brooke, Eastford, p. 22. 
 
 Toozer or Twozer. A marble. 
 
 Tophet. Defined originally as the place of abominations, the very 
 gate or pit of hell; hence, boys used to say, " I '11 see you in Tophet 
 before I'll do it," meaning that they will- see one in a very bad 
 place. " Go to Tophet,'''' go to the devil. 
 
 The " Stockton Independent," says Captain Weber took the Secession flag 
 from his flagstaff, which he found floating on Sunday morning, put it into his 
 cannon, fired it off, and blowed it to Tojihet, and then gave three cheers for the 
 Union. 
 
 Top-Notch. The highest point. 
 
 To-day the editor of the "Union" is cheered to the very top-notch of joyous 
 exultation by a speech from some Democratic orator or a paragraph from some 
 Democratic editor; to-morrow he is horrified by the atrocious sentiment of some 
 rantipole Barnburner. Y. Com. Adv., Oct. 16, 1848. 
 
 Top Sawyer. The man at the upper end of a whip-saw; hence, a 
 man of great consequence; an "upper-crust " fellow. Western. 
 
 Tore. Taw-er, the place where the taw-er stands. The place where 
 one stands to shoot marbles from. Used by the boys of New York. 
 
 Tormentation. Pain; torment; trouble. New England. 
 
 Tormented. Euphemism for damned, as " not a tormented cent." 
 
 Tortilla. (Spanish.) The well-known large, round, thin cake pre- 
 pared from a paste made of the soaked grains of maize, having the 
 hulls rubbed off before grinding the mass, and then baked on an 
 earthen griddle. See Hulled Corn. 
 
 The corn for the tortillas is soaked with a little ashes in the water, until the 
 outer husk or shell is peeled off, when it is ground upon an oblong stone called 
 a "metate," a domestic utensil handed down from the aboriginal inhabitants. 
 
TOR— TOT 
 
 713 
 
 The meal is then properly mixed and seasoned, and cooked upon small sheets of 
 iron and copper. They are baked very thin, and always served up hot. — Davis, 
 El Grinyo^ p. 34:1. 
 
 Hearing a continual slap, slap, slap, I looked round and saw a woman kneeling 
 upon the ground, rubbing the metate, while a pretty girl was slappuig a tortilla 
 between her hands. — Olmsted^ s Texas. 
 
 A triangular piece of tortilla is converted into a spoon, and soup is even eaten 
 in this way. Spoons are seldom met with even in the houses of the ricli, the 
 use of the tortilla being universal. — Ruxlon's Adv. in Mexico, p. 145. 
 
 Tory. During the v^ar of the Revolution, this term was applied to the 
 royalists. Some years ago, v^hen the term " Wliig " was adopted 
 by one of our political parties, that of Tory was given to the Dem- 
 ocratic party. It is not now applied to any party. 
 
 It was said that the tories were arming and collecting in the Highlands, under 
 the direction of distinguished officers, to aid the conspiracies formed by Gov. 
 Tryon and his adherents. — Irving., Life of Washinyton, Vol. H. p. 371. 
 
 Tote. (Fr. tout, Lat. totus.) The whole; all. " The whole a 
 common pleonasm. Provincial in England and in New England. 
 
 To tote. To carry. A queer word, much used in the Southern 
 States. It has been, absurdly enough, derived from the Latin tollit, 
 but is more probably of African origin. A friend learned in phil- 
 ology insists that the word is from the Latin toUere. 
 
 The militia had everlastin' great long swords as much as they could tote. — 
 Major Jones's Courtship, p. 39. 
 
 Here a boy was ferociously cutting wood, — there one toting wood. — Carlton, 
 The New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 167. 
 
 The watchman arrested Mr. Wimple for disturbing the peace, and toted him 
 off to the calaboose. — Pickings from the N. 0. Picayune, p. 120. 
 
 My gun here totes fifteen buckshot and a ball, and slings 'em to kill. — Chron. 
 of Pineville, p. 169. 
 
 "Goodness gracious!" said old Miss Stallins, "white servants! Well, the 
 Lord knows I wouldn't have none on 'em about me. I could never bear to see a 
 white gall toatin'' my child about, and waitin' on me like a nigger : it would hurt 
 my conscience." — Major Jones's Travels. 
 
 De 'possum and de coon are as sass}' as you please, 
 Since all de blooded dogs were toted off by fleas; 
 De measles toted oft all de cunnin' little nigs, 
 An' de sojers ob de army hab toted off de pigs. 
 
 Negro Melodies, Come hack, Massa. 
 
 To tote fair, in Texas, is to be honest and upright in one's dealings 
 with people there, in order to avoid a serious catastrophe. 
 
 The predicament [of assassination] in Texas can be avoided by alwa^vs '■'■tot- 
 ing fair'''' with everybody. Indeed, if you tote fair, you need tote no weapons; 
 that is, you can go unarmed. — Texas Cor. Chicago Tribune. 
 
 Tote-Load. As much as one can carry. Southern 
 
714 
 
 TOT— TOU 
 
 Totem. A corruption from the Algonkin word, meaning " that which 
 peculiarly belongs to him." The family mark or coat-of-arms of 
 the North American Indians. 
 
 Speaking of the Iroquois, Mr. Schoolcraft says: "Nothing is 
 more fully under the cognizance of observers of the manners and 
 customs of this people, than the fact of the entii-e mass of a canton 
 or tribe being separated into distinct clans, each of them distin- 
 guished by the name and device of some quadruped, bird, or other 
 object of the animal kingdom. This device is called among the 
 Algonkins (where the same separation into families or clans exists) 
 totem, and we shall employ the same term here, as being already 
 well known to writers." — Notes on the Iroquois, p. 12G. 
 
 Think not that my blood shall mingle with the humble mark of the Awasees, 
 — fit totem for fishermen. — Schoolcraft, AUjic Researches. 
 
 The Indian had made a representation of a rattlesnake drawn on his breast 
 with yellow paint. This was to be the totem or arms of his tribe. — Cooper, Oak 
 Ojjeninys, Vol. I. p. 163. 
 
 And they painted on the grave-posts 
 Each his own ancestral totem. 
 Each the symbol of his household. 
 
 Lony fellow. The Song of Hiawatha. 
 Totemic. Relating or belonging to the totem. 
 
 To show how the aristocratic and democratic principles were made to harmo- 
 nize in the Iroquois government, it will be necessary to go back and examine the 
 law of descent among the tribes, together with the curious and intricate princi- 
 ples of the totemic bond. — Schoolcraft, Notes on the Iroquois, p. 126. 
 
 Tottlish. (From tottle, to walk in an unsteady manner.) Shaking, 
 vacillating, unsteady. 
 
 Our little boat was light and totlish; and, as I pressed the trigger of my rifle, 
 it rolled slightly over, and my ball passed over the deer. — Hammond, Wild 
 Northern Scenes, p. 207. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott thus used the word totty in the same sense : — 
 
 I tell thee, fellow, I was somewhat totty when I received the good knight's 
 blow, or I had kept my ground under it. — Ivanhoe, ch xxxiii. 
 
 Touch. " It is no touch to the other machine; " i. e., it will bear no 
 comparison with it. "The latest touch,^' — the most recent style, 
 or newest contrivance. 
 
 The children of Israel going out of Egypt with their flocks and their little 
 ones is no touch to it [i. e. the first day of May in New York]. — Major Downing^ 
 p. 30. 
 
 Touch and go. A narrow avoidance of a contrary result. " Nothing 
 
 to spare." Comp. Ruh and go. 
 Touch-me-not. (Impatiens.) A plant found about brooks and in 
 
 moist places. — Alichaux, Sylva. A popular name for the common 
 
TOU— TOW 
 
 715 
 
 Balsam, in allusion to the bursting of its capsules when touched 
 with the fingers. It is also called Jewel-weed. 
 Touse. A noise or disturbance. A Dorsetshire word. Qovcv^. Kesouse. 
 
 The Loch Katrin they [the Scotch] make such a touss about is jest about 
 equal to a good sizable duck-pond in our country. — Sam Slick in Enyland^ 
 ch. 30. 
 
 Marm Lecain makes such an eternal towse about her carpets that I haye to go 
 along that eyerlastin' long entry, and down both staircases to tlie door, to spit. 
 Sam Slick. 
 
 When the rats rattle and kick up a touse, 
 'Tis ominous always of woe to the house. 
 
 Oracles of Mrs. Partington. 
 Tow. That which is towed, as a boat or scow. 
 
 Our progress has been slow ... on account of the heayy tows which some of 
 the army steamers had to carry. — Report from Roanoke Island, Feb., 1862. 
 
 Tow-Boat. A vessel used exclusively for conveying freight. Fleets 
 of barges and canal boats, sometimes numbering forty or fifty, 
 towed by a single steam-vessel, are seen on the Hudson Kiver. 
 
 Tow-Head. 1. A term applied to a white-headed urchin. 
 
 First, do you notice the girl? — the slim one helping her mother, — 
 Tough little tow-head, spry as a catamount, freckled as birch-bark ! 
 
 Trowbridfje, Poems, The Emigrant. 
 
 2. A white ripple or foam in a river produced by snags or other 
 obstructions. Western. 
 
 An account of the blowing up of a steamboat on the Mississippi in 
 1858 says : — 
 
 The Pennsylvania drifted down about two miles and a half, where, being 
 stopped by tow-head, she speedily burnt to the water's edge. 
 
 3. On the Ohio River, the term is applied to the small tuft-like 
 islands, found in such numbers about Blennerhassett Island. 
 
 The tow-heads, as the queer tufts at the end of the cut-offs are called, the pas- 
 sage of the boat through a cut-off, &c., ... all strange, keep the passengers on, 
 the look-out. — E. E. Hale, Adventures of a Pullman, p. 80. 
 
 Towhee Goldhead. See Chewink. 
 
 Town. 1. In New England, it is often used for township, or a small 
 territorial district, whether densely or thinly inhabited. — Worcester. 
 
 2. The body of legal voters within a township. — Laws of New 
 England. 
 
 Town House. 1. A house where the public business of the town is 
 transacted by the inhabitants in legal meeting. — Webster. 
 
 2. A house in town in opposition to a house in the country.— 
 Webster. 
 
 3. An almshouse. Connecticut. 
 
716 
 
 TOW— TRA 
 
 Town Meeting. A legal meeting of the inhabitants of a town for the 
 transaction of business. — Webster. 
 
 Town Representative, Townsman, Select Townsman Seven Men, 
 
 &c. "1G36." The thirteen men, called on our records the 
 " Towne Representatives." This phrase has led to the mistake of 
 supposing that such individuals were members of the General 
 Court, instead of having only the oversight of the town affairs. 
 Their number was equal to that of the colonial government here, 
 prior to the arrival of Winthrop. It is likely that they were 
 elected soon after the Court of Assistants left Naumkeag [1629], 
 and that there were as many from that time to the year which heads 
 this paragraph. Such authorities were twelve and seven, sometimes 
 called " the Townsmen,'' "the Select Townsmen," and at others 
 " the twelve men " and "the seven men, from the former part of 
 1637 to 1649. From the last year to 1654, they were, for part of 
 that period, denominated selectmen, and afterwards entirely so 
 called." — Annals of Salem. 
 
 Township. The district or territory of a town. In the United States, 
 many of the States are divided into townships of five, six, or seven, 
 or perhaps ten miles square, and the inhabitants of such townships 
 are invested with certain powers for regulating their own affairs, 
 such as repairing roads and providing for the poor. The township 
 is subordinate to the county. — Webster. 
 
 In Canada (Province of Quebec), the districts or parts that are 
 exempt from feudal laws are called townships. See Seigniories. 
 
 Tow-Row. A noise; a racket. 
 
 Track. The line of a railroad, or rather between the rails. " A man 
 walking on the track was run over and killed." A car is said to 
 be "off the track,^^ when its wheels are off the rails. 
 
 Trade. Medicine; a medical prescription. A physician informs me 
 that this use of the word is common in the country parts of Rhode 
 Island. 
 
 Trail. 1. Footstep, track, left by man or beast. " A ti-ail is a succes- 
 sion of marks left on the ground or grass by any thing moving to a 
 definite end; as, a trail of troops, an Indian trails a deer trails a 
 wagon trail. Sign is more or less pasitive that something has 
 been present on the ground. A trail is made up of " sign; " but 
 " sign " is, by no means, a trail. Feeding deer make " sign," but 
 it may be impossible to trail them. There may be abundance of 
 sign in and about an Indian camp; yet it may take the keenest eye 
 
TRA 
 
 717 
 
 and closest scrutiny to detect the trail by which they left it." — 
 Colonel Dodge, Plains of the Great West, p. 407. See Sign. 
 
 Hawkeye entered the water ; and for near an hour they travelled in the bed of 
 the brook, leaving no dangerous trail. — Cooper, Last of the Mohicans 
 
 2. An Indian footpath or road. 
 
 It was the policy of the President of Texas to open a direct road to Santa 
 by a route much nearer than the great Missouri ti-ail. — KmdalVs Santa Fe 
 Expedition., Vol. I. p. 14. 
 
 It is suggested that the respective locations for the Indians might be made, 
 apart from the great Northern and Southern trails, thoroughfares of migration, 
 and the settlements limited within certain prescribed boundaries, where the gov- 
 ernment might protect them from the encroachments of white men. — Report of 
 the Philadelphia Committee at a Meeting in behalf of th e Indians, March 31, 1848. 
 
 Train. (Fr. traineau.) A peculiar kind of sleigh used for the trans- 
 portation of merchandise, wood, &c., in Canada. 
 
 To train. To carry on ; to act wild. Almost peculiar to girls in Kew 
 England. She 's an awful one to train." 
 
 Trainers. The militia when assembled for exercise. 
 
 The gentler sex partake, by sympathy at least, in the excitement, by running 
 after the trainers. — Mi-s. Clavers's Western Clearings, p. 28. 
 
 Training-Day. The day when the militia are called out to be re- 
 viewed. 
 
 Tramp. A strolling vagabond; men without employment strolling 
 about cities and in the country, begging food, unwilling to work, 
 and often ready to steal. In England, a tramp is a foot traveller. 
 It was believed that they had some signs by which they knew 
 where they would be kindly received. The " Chicago Tribune " 
 claims to have been informed of their signs, which are as follows: — 
 
 In the language of the tramps, the letter " H " on the gate-post means that 
 the residents will give the caller a handful of grub; " S.," that he will get a seat 
 at the table; '* S. M.," that he will get a square meal ; and " G. B.," that he 
 will get the "grand bounce." Now, as the secret is out, let every householder 
 hie himself to his gate-post, and dig in letters deep the mystic sign " G. B." 
 
 To trampoos. To tramp. Perhaps from the Fr. trepigner, to stamp 
 with the feet. 
 
 I felt as lonely as a catamount, and as dull as a bachelor beaver; so I tram- 
 pousses off to the stable. — Sam Slick inEnr/land, ch. 2. 
 
 So we trampoused along down the edge of the swamp, till we came to a track 
 Porter's Tales of the South-west, p. 44. 
 
 When I get hum, I guess that my narration 
 Will make some little stir among the nation. 
 Some years ago, I laiuied near to Dover, 
 And seed strange sights, tramjioodny England over. 
 
 D. Humphreys, The Yankee in England 
 
718 
 
 TRA 
 
 Transient. A transient visitor is one who stays a short time at a 
 place. At a hotel there is a distinction Vjetween " steady boarders " 
 who remain a length of time, and the transient ones who stop but 
 for a day or two. In this sense, the word is not used in P^ngland. 
 
 To transpire. To happen. A sense common in the United States, but 
 not so given in the latest English dictionaries. 
 
 To trapes, trapesing. Used in New England, in a somewhat differ- 
 ent sense from the English, " to wander about," " slow," " listless." 
 Here it commonly signifies a careless, objectless, or lawless going 
 about ; often used as synonymous with ' ' gadding. ' ' 
 
 So away goes lunch, and off goes you and the "Sir" a-trampoosin' and a 
 trapesin'' over the wet grass agin. — Sam Slick in England, eh. 2, 
 
 It has happened more than once to Meister Karl, during his tourifacations, 
 trajjesings. tramps, trudges, and travels, ... to be thrown into many a canny 
 country corner of New England. — Leland, Meister KarVs Skttcli-Bvok, p, 259. 
 
 Trap-Fishing. The trap for fishing is a line to which several baited 
 hooks are attached at intervals, sunk and kept in place by an anchor 
 and leads. This mode of catching fish is now much practised on 
 our coast. 
 
 Traps. Clothes, baggage, and every thing appertaining to it. 
 
 We call clothes and other tixins " ira/js " here, and sometimes "duds" for 
 shortness. — Sam Slick, Wise Saws. 
 
 A cheerful black boy followed with their other traps, and so they crossed to the 
 platform of the through-train. — E. E. Hale, Adventures of a Pullm,an, p. 143. 
 
 Trash. 1. At the South, poor people are contemptuously called trash. 
 The term is more frequently applied by the Negroes to the poor 
 whites; as, " poor white /ra.s/«," or " white trash.^^ See White Trash. 
 
 From a poem called " The Black Wife's Testimony " is the 
 following, which refers to a Negro : — 
 
 Haggard and tall and black was she ; 
 
 The kind of human trash 
 That Avas bred around the sugar-mills 
 Ere freedom robbed them of "guiding wills " 
 
 Of owner and coffle and lash. — New York Evening Post. 
 
 Shakespeare thus applies the term to a worthless person: — 
 I suspect this trash 
 To be a party in this injury. — Othello, v. 1. 
 
 2. The leaves of the sugar-cane, in the West Indies, stripped from 
 the cane to permit it to ripen. These leaves are laid upon the 
 ground, to prevent the sun's influence on the earth, that every 
 moisture possible may be retained for the nourishment of the plant. 
 Trash is also used for foddering cattle and thatching houses. — > 
 CarmichaePs West Indies. 
 
TRA— TRO 
 
 719 
 
 To trash Cane. To strip off the dry leaves from the sugar-cane. 
 
 To trash a Trail. An expression used at the West, meaning to con- 
 ceal the direction one has taken by walking in a stream, or, in fact, 
 taking to water in any way. The fox, deer, and other animals, 
 understand this mode of escape as well as man. 
 
 To treat. To invite another to drink and pay for the liquor. 
 
 To tree. To take refuge in a tree, said of a wild animal; to force to 
 take refuge in a tree, drive to a tree, said of the hunter. To tree 
 one^s self is to conceal one's self behind a tree, as in hunting or 
 fighting. This hunter's word is purely American. 
 
 Besides treeincj, the wild-cat will take advantage of some hole in the ground, 
 and disappear as suddenly as ghosts at cock-crowing. — Thorpe''s Backwoods, 
 p. 180. 
 
 Forty-five years ago, there was an extensive religious excitement in Kentucky, 
 produced by a man partially deranged, who had been a hunter and who believed 
 himself inspired. His proceedings were characterized by the greatest fanaticism, 
 and partook of the character of the man as a hunter. In order to resist the devil 
 and make him flee from you, it was necessary, he contended, to give him chase, 
 to tree and shoot him as you would a wolf among the sheep, who came but to 
 devour. As the meeting was held in a grove, one individual suddenly started in 
 pursuit, as he supposed, of the devil; and others of a peculiar nervous tempera- 
 ment, having no power to resist, involuntarily joined in the pursuit; and this was 
 called the '•^running exercise!''^ One climbed up a tree; and others caught 
 the mania. This was called the climbing exercise ! '''' Another was moved to 
 bark; and soon others, even though they used every method to prevent it, fell 
 to involuntarily barking like dogs, while others gathered round the tree praying 
 for success. This was called " treeing the devil ! " It was literally a devil chase ! 
 And such a time of running, climbing, dog-barking, and devil-chasing, was, per- 
 haps, never known before or since. — Evening ( Wash.) Star, May 4, 1854. 
 
 Tree-Molasses. Molasses made from the Sugar-maple tree; a term 
 
 very common in the AVest. 
 Tree-Sugar. Sugar made from the Maple-tree. Western. 
 Tricksy. Trickish; practising tricks. This old English word is still 
 
 used in the South and West, where " a tricksy horse " is a common 
 
 expression. 
 Trimmings. The accessories to any dish. 
 
 A cup of tea with trimmings is always in season, and is considered as the 
 
 orthodox mode of welcoming any guest. — Mrs. Clavers, A New Home. 
 
 The party luxuriated at Florence's [eating-house] on lobster and tiimmings. — 
 
 Knickerbocker Mag., Aug., 1845. 
 
 Troll. A large seine. 
 
 To troll. A method of fishing, by a long line attached to the stern of 
 a boat, which is set in motion by sails or muffled oars. A squid, a 
 piece of tin, or a strip of red and white cloth, is attached to the 
 
7-20 
 
 TRO— TRU 
 
 hook, which, passing rapidly along the surface of the water, is 
 seized by the fish. Striped bass and Blue-fish are generally caught 
 in this way. 
 
 Those who prefer the more active and invigorating practice of our much 
 admired art will find trolUny for this beautiful game fish [the Striped Bass] as 
 exciting a recreation as any that comes within the 'angler's reach. — Amer. 
 An(jler''s Guide, p. 237. 
 
 To trot out. To bring forward. 
 
 The friends of Alexander H. Stephens are making vigorous efforts to trot him 
 out for the Presidency. Several Democratic county conventions in Georgia have 
 already declared in his favor. — N. Y. Evening Post, Feb. 18, 1860. 
 
 Truck. 1. Stuff; and, especially, vegetables raised for market, called 
 also garden-truck and market-truck. South and West. The term 
 was formerly used in Massachusetts where it was applied to 
 groceries. 
 
 About this time [1778] family stores were usually called truck. . . . She 
 looked out of the window for the market people, to ask them if they would take 
 truck for their produce. — Annals of Salem. 
 
 They purchased homespun, calico, salt, rum, tobacco, and such other truck as 
 their necessaries called for. — Chronicles of Pineville, p. 40. 
 
 The fact is, if the people of Georgia don't take to makin' homespun and sich 
 truck for themselves, and quit their everlastin' fuss about the tariff and free trade, 
 the first they '11 know, the best part of their population will be gone to the new 
 States. — Major Jones's Travels. 
 
 Now they passed down into Punkatees Neck ; and in their march they found 
 a large wigwam full of Indian truck, which the soldiers were for loading themselves 
 with. — Church's Indian War, 1716. 
 
 "What do the doctors give for the fever and ague ? " 
 
 " Oh, the}'- give abundance o' truck." — Georgia Scenes, p. 192. 
 
 2. A two-wheeled vehicle drawn by a horse, and used a few years 
 since for transporting merchandise. In New England, the terms 
 truck, truckmen, and truckage, are commonly used, instead of cart, 
 cartman, and cartage, employed elsewhere. 
 
 The Boston truck is constructed of two long parallel shafts, hewn from the best 
 of oak, winter felled, well-seasoned, and free from faults. These shafts are 
 twenty-five feet long, ten inches wide, and five inches thick, strengthened under- 
 neath, in the middle portion, with shorter pieces of the same width. The upper 
 ends of the shafts are cut curving and shaped round, to fit the sides of the wheel- 
 horse. They are then framed together by two transverse pieces : the well-com- 
 pacted structure is placed upon a low axle, supported by wheels which are three 
 feet in diameter, and thus the truck is complete. — E. Everett, Mount Vernon 
 Papers, No. III. 
 
 These two-wheeled vehicles have been wholly superseded by 
 trucks of four wheels. 
 
TRU— TUC 
 
 721 
 
 Truckman. The driver of a truck. 
 
 The truckman is in keeping with his truck and his horses : regularly, six feet 
 two in his shoes; stout in proportion ; temperate, intelligent, patient. — E. Everett^ 
 Mount Vernon Papers, No. III. 
 
 Truck-Patch, A piece of ground devoted to rearing vegetables-. 
 
 Trump. In the game of whist, a trump card has a greater value than 
 the best card in any other suit; hence, figuratively, a man who is 
 very expert in his profession, or in any way great, is said to be a 
 trump. 
 
 Thingnm, my boy, you 're a irM??i7?, and take after your father in having a 
 living soul. You have an immense head, and it must hold a great man}' brains. 
 Poe's Works, Vol. IV. p. 211. 
 
 The editor sat in his sanctum, and brought down his fist with a thump: 
 "God bless that old farmer," he muttered, ''He 's a regular editor's trump.'''' 
 
 Carlton, Farm Ballads, p. 86. 
 
 From a ballad addressed to the Honorable Gerritt Smith after his 
 speech before the Union League Convention : — 
 
 Gerritt, old bo}', your hand, 
 
 We knew you 'd take that stand ! 
 We 've had our eye on you for several years. 
 
 A rare bird on the stump 
 
 Is an abolition trump : 
 We 've met confounded few these latter years. 
 
 Trust-Deed. A deed conveying property to a trustee. New Eng- 
 land. In other States, called " a Deed of Trust/ ^ 
 
 Trustee-Process. The name given, in the New England States, to 
 the process of foreign attachment. The strict trustee process ex- 
 tends to the goods, effects, and credits of the principal debtor in the 
 hands of his agent, trustee, or debtor, and who, as trustee, is sum- 
 moned to appear and answer. It does not extend to the real estate 
 in the hands of the trustee. — Gushing on Trustee Process. 
 
 In personal actions, brought in the court of common pleas or the supreme court, 
 the suit may be commenced by process of foreign attachment, or trustee ^jrocess, 
 in the manner prescribed by law. — Laws of Massachusetts. 
 
 To try on. To try; to attempt. " I 'm too wide-awake to be cheated, 
 so you need not try it on." A vulgarism of recent origin, from a 
 popular farce called " Trying It On." 
 
 Tuckahoe. 1. (Sclerotium giganteum.) Algonkin, petukgunnug, a 
 round loaf or cake of bread {Eliot) = tauquauh (Mohican. aS". Bar- 
 ton). The Virginia truffle. A curious vegetable, sometimes 
 called by the name of Indian Bread or Indian Loaf, found in the 
 Southern States bordering on the Atlantic. It is a natural produc- 
 
 46 
 
722 
 
 TUC— TUG 
 
 tion, the origin of which has greatly peri:)lexed naturalists, as it is 
 commonly found several feet under the surface, and, like the trufiie 
 of Europe, has apparently no stem or leafy appendage connecting it 
 with the external atmosphere. They are generally found through 
 the instrumentality of hogs, whose acute sense of smelling enables 
 them to fix upon the spot where they lie buried. They are usually 
 of a globular or flattened oval shape, and rather regular surface, the 
 large ones resembling somewhat a brown loaf of coarse bread. The 
 size varies from an acorn to the bigness of a man's head. — Farmer^ s 
 Encyclopaidia. Kalm thinks the Tuckahoo of Carolina is the same 
 plant which the Swedes of Xew eJersey call (from the Indian name) 
 Taw-ho, Taia-king, or Tuck-ah, — namely, the Virginia Wake- Robin, 
 Arum Vlrginianum [now Peltandra Vircjinica\\ and says that he 
 cannot learn that the Lycoperdon tuber (Truffles), though abundant 
 in iSTew Jersey, were ever eaten by the Indians. — Travels, Vol. 1. 
 p. 225. 
 
 A root . . . called Tochawhough growing like a flagg, of the greatness and tast 
 of a Potato, which passeth a fierce purgation before they may eate it, being 
 poison whiles it is raw. — Purchns his Pihjrhnaye, from Captain Smith'' s MS. 
 (p. 635). 
 
 Out of the ground the Indians dig earth-nuts, wild onions, and a tuberous root 
 they call tuckahoe, Avhich, while crude, is of a very hot and virulent quality ; but 
 they manage to make bread of it, &c. — Beverhfs Virginia, Book III. (1707). 
 
 2. The term tuckahoe is often applied to an inhabitant of Lower 
 Virginia, and to the poor land in that portion of the State. 
 Tuckered out. Tired out. Used in Xew York and Xew England. 
 
 I guess the Queen don't do her eating very airly; for we sot and sot, and 
 waited for her, till we got e'en a'most tuckered out. — N. Y. Family Camp. 
 How are you this morning, Mrs. Ashton ? 
 
 Law sakes alive I I 'ai clear tuckered out with these young t)nes. They 've had 
 the agur this morning, and are as cross as bear cubs. — Stonj of the Bee Tree. 
 
 We fought until we were completely tuckered out. When we compared notes, 
 he had got my right eye, and I had chawed off both his ears. — Southern Sketches, 
 p. 123. ^ 
 
 To tuck on. To unduty increase or enhance. "That horse is not 
 worth half what you gave for him. The dealer has tucked it on to 
 you pretty well." 
 
 Tug. Peat. 
 
 I was informed by several old persons that they well remembered when sev- 
 eral tuy-bo<js were entirely dug out, and that by throwing back the loose turf the 
 peat grew again in 40 years, so as to fill the bogs. — Jackson's Geology of Rhode 
 Island, p. 117. 
 
 Attached to every dwelling [on Block Island], we find a tug-house, in Avhich la 
 stored the winter's fuel. — Ibid. 
 
TUK— TUP 
 
 723 
 
 Tuk, for took. A vulgar pronunciation, common to North and South, 
 Tular. A marsh in which Tule abounds. Texas and California. 
 Tule. (Scirpus lacustris.) The Mexican name for a sort of bulrush 
 
 covering immense areas in the Sacramento Valley, Klamath Basin, 
 
 and on the Columbia River. 
 
 We enter the square of the Alamo, San Antonio. This is all Mexican. Win- 
 dowless cabins of stakes, plastered with mud, and roofed with river grass or tuh^ 
 houses of adobes, witii groups of brown idlers round the doors. — Olmsted's Texas. 
 
 Now I found a comfortable house built by putting upright poles in the ground, 
 thatclnng them with tales, and covering the sides with the same. — lVood''s Re- 
 port to Postmaster-General Brown, p. 25. 
 
 Tulip-Tree. (Liriodendron tuUpifera.) A large tree bearing flowers 
 resembling the tulip. Also called Whitewood. 
 
 The tulip-tree, high up, • 
 Opened, in airs of June, her multitude 
 Of golden chalices to humming-birds 
 
 And silken-winged insects of the sky. — Bryant, The Fountain. 
 
 Tullibee, Tulibee. (Coregonus artedi.) A congener of the White 
 Fish (C. albus), common in the rivers and lakes of the North-west. 
 From the Indian: Cree, attonibis ; Chippewa, odbnabee, " wet mouth " 
 (according to Schoolcraft). 
 
 Tumble. A cock of hay; aheap. Connecticut. 
 
 Tumble-Bug. The Dung-beetle, called in England Dumhle-dore and 
 Straddle-bob. 
 
 It is strange, my hearers, that we mortals should be so attached to this mun- 
 dane sphere of ours. . . . With all its frauds and deceptions, we cling to it, as it 
 turns upon its axis, like a tumhle-bucj to his ball, when it accidentally rolls down 
 hill. — Bow's Sermons, Vol. I. p. 211. 
 
 To tump. Probably an Indian word. It means to draw a deer or 
 
 other animal home through the woods, after he has been killed. 
 
 " We tumped the deer to our cabin." Maine. 
 Tumpline. A strap placed across the forehead to assist a man in 
 
 cai-rying a pack on his back. Used in Maine, where the custom was 
 
 borrowed from the Indians. 
 Tuna. (Span.) The fruit of the prickly pear cactus or Indian fig. 
 
 (Cacfus tuna.) 
 
 Excellent pulrpie is made here, and a beverage expressed from the juice of the 
 tuna, which I tasted for the first time. — Ruxton's Adventures, p. 69. 
 
 Tunk. A stroke; a blow with the fist. New England. Provincial 
 
 in England. — Wright. 
 Tupelo. See Pepperidge. 
 
724 
 
 TUR 
 
 Turfman. A man addicted to the turf; to races. 
 
 Turkey. A drunken man is sometimes said to have " got a turkey on 
 his back." Perhaps the allusion is to his having won one at a raffle 
 in a drinking-place. 
 
 Turkey-Buzzard. (Cathartes aura.) A common American species 
 of vulture, having a distant resemblance to a turkey, and remark- 
 able for its graceful flight in the higher regions of the air. They 
 were formerly found as far north as Pennsylvania, but they are now 
 confined to the Southern States. 
 
 The flight of the Turkey -buzzard is graceful compared with that of the Black 
 Vulture. It pails admirably either high or low. with its wings spread be^-ond 
 the horizontal position. — Audubon, Ornithological Biog., Vol. II. p. 296. 
 
 Turned up his Toes. An expression applied to one who is dead. 
 
 Turner. (Germ.) A gymnast. 
 
 Turnip. A watch. A name originally applied to the old-fashioned 
 silver watches, which were nearly as thick as turnips. 
 
 Turn of Meal. A quantity of grist sent to mill. Tennessee. 
 
 Turnstone. (Strepsilas interpres.) The Brant Bird, or Calico Back. 
 Also called Horsefoot Snipe, from its feeding on the spawn of the 
 King Crab. 
 
 Turpentine State. The State of North Carolina, so called from the 
 quantity of turpentine obtained from its pine forests. 
 
 Turret-Ship. There are two varieties of turret-ship^ of which the 
 earliest and best is that which was invented by Captain John 
 Ericsson, of New York. The other variety — which in many of its 
 features resembles the plan of Ericsson — is known as the system 
 of Captain Cowper Coles, and this system has been adopted to 
 some extent in the British navy; while the American rv^xj has 
 adopted the system of Ericsson, usually called the Monitor system, 
 from the Monitor, the name of the first vessel of this kind that was 
 constructed. — Robinson, in Brande and Cox Die. of Science and 
 Art. See Monitor. 
 
 Turtle. The application of this term to the common tortoise is peculiar 
 to America. Although formerly, is not now so used in England. 
 Its first use is in the account of the voyage of Captain Gosnold to 
 Virginia, in 1602. 
 
 I commanded some of my companie to seek out for crabbes, lobsters, turtles, 
 &c., for sustaying us till the ship's return. — Brereton's Brief and True Relation 
 (1602). 
 
TWI— UNO 
 
 725 
 
 Twins. Dinner and tea at one meal. New England. The English 
 slang term is Box- Harry (Ducange, Anglicanus, ed. 1857). The 
 custom of " having twins," in the short days of winter, was formerly 
 very common among the farmers in New England. 
 
 Twistical. Tortuous, perverse. A factitious word. 
 
 He may be straight-going, farzino, manwards ; but, in his dealings with t' other 
 sex, he is a leetle ttaistical, according to their tell. I wouldn't make a town talk 
 of it. — B. Hunijjhreys, The Yankee in Enyland. 
 
 Twist on the Shorts. A clique phrase of Wall Street, used where 
 the shorts have undersold heavily, and the market has been artifi- 
 cially raised, compelling them to settle at ruinous rates. — Medbery, 
 Men and Mysteries of Wall Street. 
 
 To twitch. To draw timber along the ground by a chain. Used by 
 lumbermen in Maine. 
 
 Two-forty Pace. With great speed. A 2.40 gait for a trotting- 
 horse was, not long ago, thought to be very fast. Now a 2.15 gait 
 would be the one demanded. 
 *Typo. A contraction of typographer. A name sometimes given to 
 compositors in a printing-office. Comp. Jour. 
 
 When a boy, the writer became acquainted with an old bookworm of a man 
 who was in possession of a manuscript written in 1714-1716, by two ambitious 
 typos, entitled "The Desultory Meditations of Two London Printers." — The 
 Pnnter, Dec, 1858. 
 
 Ugly. Ill-tempered, vicious, cross-grained. " He has an ugly tem- 
 per." A term applied both to men and animals. It is local in 
 England, and colloquial in the United States. " Ugly " in England 
 is " homely " in New England. 
 
 The questions of the spies were answered in a sullen, swaggering manner; so 
 much so that Captain Caldwell at once remarked to his men, in a low tone and 
 in English, that these fellows looked uyly and fighty. — Kendall's Santa Fe, 
 Vol. I. p. 133. 
 
 Umbrella-Tree. {Magnolia tripetala.) The popular name of this 
 tree in the Southern States, from the large leaves closely arranged 
 around the ends of its branches. 
 
 Uncle. Used in the Middle and Southern States in accosting an 
 elderly colored man. " Your uncle," for myself, is a very odd, yet 
 common phrase. " Your uncle 's the man to do that; " i. e., "I 'U 
 do it for you." 
 
726 
 
 UNC 
 
 Uncle Sam. The cant or vulgar name of the United States govern- 
 ment; sometimes called Brother Jonathan. It is used as "John 
 Bull" is in England. Mr. Frost, in his "Naval History of the 
 United States," gives the following account of the origin of the 
 name: — 
 
 " Immediately after the last declaration of war with England, 
 Elbert Anderson, of New York, then a contractor, visited Troy on 
 the Hudson, where was concentrated, and where he purchased, a 
 large quantity of provisions, beef, pork, &c. The inspectors of 
 these articles at that place were Messrs. Ebenezer and Samuel 
 Wilson. The latter gentleman (iuA'ariably known as ' Uncle Sam ') 
 generally superintended in person a large number of workmen, 
 who, on this occasion, were employed in overhauling the provi- 
 sions purchased by the contractor for the army. The casks were 
 marked ' E. A. — U. S.' This work fell to the lot of a facetious 
 fellow in the employ of the Messrs. Wilson, who, on being asked by 
 some of his fellow- workmen the meaning of the mark (for the let- 
 ters U. S., for United States, were then almost entirely new ta 
 them), said, ' he did not know, unless it meant Elbert Anderson and 
 Uncle Sam,'' — alluding exclusively, then, to the said ' Uncle Sam ' 
 Wilson. The joke took among the workmen, and passed currently; 
 and ' Uncle Sam^ himself, being present, was occasionally rallied 
 by them on the increasing extent of his possessions. 
 
 "Many of these workmen, being of a character denominated 
 'food for powder,' were found, shortly after, following the recruit- 
 ing drum, and pushing toward the frontier lines, for the double 
 purpose of meeting the enemy and of eating the provisions they had 
 lately labored to put in good order. Their old jokes accompanied 
 them, and before the first campaign ended this identical one first 
 appeared in print: it gained favor rapidly, till it penetrated and 
 was recognized in every part of the country, and will, no doubt, 
 continue so while the United States remain a nation." 
 
 Mr. Wilson died in Troy, New York, in August, 1854, at the age 
 of eighty- four years ; and the " Albany Argus," in noticing his death, 
 referred to the circumstance above stated as the origin of the popu- 
 lar sobriquet of Uncle Sam. 
 
 For I have loved my country since 
 
 My eve-teeth filled their sockets, 
 And Ujicle Sam I reverence, 
 
 Partic'larly his pockets. 
 
 J. a. Lowell, Biylow Papers. 
 
UNC— UNF 
 
 727 
 
 We are the sons of Uncle Sam, and natives to his land, 
 Fighting for our country now, and side by side we stand. 
 Oh ! Uncle Sam 's a hero, as the nations all do know, 
 And when he 'son the battle field he strikes an awful blow. 
 
 Song bif Geo. Newton. 
 
 Unconscionable. Enormous; vast. A low word. — Johnson. Used 
 adverbially at the West, as in the following example: — 
 
 " That 's an unconscionable slick gal of your'n," says I; and it did tickle his 
 fancy to have her cracked up, 'cause he thought her creation's finishin' touch, — 
 so did I ! — Robb's Squatter Life. 
 
 Under-Coat. A petticoat. North Carolina. 
 
 Under Conviction. To he under conviction (sell, of sin) is a common 
 expression, applied to a person who feels a remorse for sins com- 
 mitted, and is desirous to be received into the pale of the church. 
 
 A chaplain at one of our State prisons was asked by a friend how his parish- 
 ioners were. " All under conviction,''^ was the answer. — Newspaper. 
 
 Underground Railroad. The means of conveyance by which fugi- 
 tive slaves were formerly enabled to escape to the free States and 
 Canada. 
 
 It is probable that nothing has awakened more bitterly the animosity of the 
 slave-holding community than the existence, in the Northern States, of an indefi- 
 nite yet very energetic institution, known as the underground railroad. — 3{rs. 
 Stoive, Bred, Vol. II. p. 302. 
 
 He [Connelly] regarded the underground railroad as a peculiarly Southern 
 institution, taking away from the South every year thousands of the most intelli- 
 gent, restless, and desperate Negroes, who would do infinitely more mischief if 
 kept there. — N. Y. Tribune, June, 1858. 
 
 And now, if we may believe the promises made by the Democrats for two years 
 past, we are on the eve of a political millennium. . . . There is to be no more 
 "agitati(m" of the slavery question. The underground railroad is to suspend 
 running, and rejoicing hosts of Negroes are to return from the bleak wilds of 
 Canada to the luxurious delights of life on the plantation. — Albany Evening 
 Journal, Dec, 1857. 
 
 Underpinners. The legs, which in English flash language are called 
 pins. 
 
 Under-Vest. An under-shirt; a species of mail-coat worn by soldiers. 
 An officer of the 19th Massachusetts was "iron-clad " with a patent under-vest. 
 A ball struck his breast, whirled him round, indented the plating, and rolled 
 down his pantaloons. — Cor. N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 Undisgruntled. See Disgruntled. 
 
 Unescapable. That cannot be escaped. " Unescapable doom. " — John 
 Neat. " As an argument, it is unescapable." — Congregationalist. 
 
 Unfellowshipped. Not having fellowship; not recognized socially. 
 Why am I as one in a wilderness? Why is my soul unj'ellowshipjjed and alone? 
 H. W. Beecher, in The Independent, May 8, 1861. 
 
UNI— UPL 
 
 Union. In a political sense, the connection between the States of 
 North America; also the body of States so connected. 
 
 Do the people of the South consider the present Union these States as an 
 evil in itself, and a thing that it is desirable we should get rid of under all cir- 
 cumstances? There are some, I know, who do; but I am satisfied that an over- 
 whelming majority of the South would, if assured that this government was 
 hereafter to be conducted on the true principles and construction of the Constitu- 
 tion, decidedly prefer to remain in the Union rather than incur the unknown 
 costs and hazards of setting up a separate government. — Speech of Hon. J. H. 
 Hammond^ Oct. 27, 1858 
 
 To unload Stock means, in the language of the Stock Exchange, to 
 sell out a stock which one has held for some time for the pui-pose of 
 speculating in it. 
 
 Unmitigated. Not softened. — Johnson. Not mitigated; not lessened 
 in severity. — Worcester. Undiminished; complete; thorough; con- 
 summate ; as, " He 's an unmitigated humbug." This very common 
 word is not mentioned by Webster. Shakspeare uses it in the same 
 sense as it is now used with us. 
 
 With pulilic accusation, uncovered slander, unmitigated rancour. — Much Ado 
 about Nothing, iv. 1. 
 
 Up. A common colloquialism, as in the phrase, " What is up for to- 
 day? " I. e. what is going on, what is to be done. In the West, it 
 would appear to have been used in a wider sense, from the following 
 example taken from the circular of a school at Faribault, Minn. It 
 is one of its wise regulations. 
 
 " If a snow-storm is up, the teacher takes*the privilege to dismiss the school 
 earlier in the afternoon than it otherwise would have been." 
 
 Up and dust. Hurry! Move fast! 
 
 Up a Tree. To be cornered; to fail in an undertaking. 
 
 You mustn't wander aAvay, and you mustn't declaim : if you do, their attention 
 is off, the public see it, and you are up a tree. — Sam Slick. Wise Sam, p. 24. 
 
 Up-Country. In New Hampshire, this is used adverbially on the 
 coast: " to go up-countrg " is to go into the interior. At the South, 
 it is used adjectively, as see at Rice- Bird. As a noun, it is in fre- 
 quent use. " Many families have left Savannah for the up-country.^' 
 Cor. N. Y. Tribune. " As the up-country editor, who said," &c. — 
 N. H. Palladium. 
 
 To up Jib. To be of£. A sailor's phrase, much used in familiar lan- 
 guage in Nantucket, Salem, and other localities in Massachusetts. 
 
 Upland Cotton, as opposed to Sea Island, is not necessarily raised on 
 high ground ; but even near the sea the fibre is shorter than that 
 produced in the limited region known as Sea Island. 
 
UPN— UPP 
 
 729 
 
 Up North. Used instead of North, and adverbially. 
 Upper Crust. The higher circles ; the aristocracy. 
 
 I want you to see Peel, Stanle}', Graham, Shiel, Russell, Macaulay, old Joe, 
 and so on. They are all upper crust here. — Sam Slick m Enyland. 
 
 Upper House. A Senate. In New England and in some other States. 
 The names Upper House and Lower House originated about the 
 year 1718, in Massachusetts, when the Kepresentatives gave the 
 designation to the Council "as a fleer, and to intimate that they 
 might consider themselves in another capacity than as a Privy 
 Council." — Drake^s Hist, of Boston, p. 558, n. 
 
 Upper Ten Thousand or, simply. The Upper Ten. The upper 
 circles of New York, and hence of other large cities. A phrase 
 invented by N. P. Willis. 
 
 The Biscacciauti troupe commence their season of Italian opera at the Chestnut 
 to-morrow night. The seats for the first night are ulready many of them 
 engaged, and engaged too by the very cream of our '■'■upper ten;''^ while the 
 moderate democratic prices of admission, which have been wisely adopted, will 
 invite large slices of the honest and hearty masses. — Letter from Philad. N. Y. 
 Herald. 
 
 Researches in some of the upper ten districts 
 Reveal the most painful and startling statistics, 
 Of which let me mention only a few 
 In one single house, on the Fifth Avenue. 
 
 Butler, Nothing to Wear. 
 Caring naught for what vengeance the mob has in store, 
 Let that mob be the ujjper ten thousand or lower. 
 
 Lowell, Fable for Critics. 
 The expression is now used in England. 
 
 To provide for the well-being of the children of affluent parents, our social 
 reformers urge that the mothers of the upper ten thousand should put their nur- 
 series under the control of a superior nurse, &c. — London Athenmum, Nov., 18G8, 
 p. 719. 
 
 Uppertendom. The aristocracy; people of fashion. Comp. Japotri- 
 cadom. 
 
 His rich relatives were always in such a panic lest uppertendom should discover 
 that their cousins lived in an unfashionable part of the town, dined at one o'clock, 
 and noticed trades-people and mechanics. — Fanny Fern. 
 
 At a ball for the benefit of the poor was a co-mingling of uppertendom with 
 lower twent^^doin, — an avalanche of exclusiveness in a torrent of mobocracy. — 
 Doesticks, p. 1:31. 
 
 Mr. Duganne, in his poem entitled "Parnassus in Pillory," 
 speaking of N. P. Willis, says: — 
 
 Gad ! what a polish uppertendom gives 
 This executioner of adjectives; 
 
 This man who chokes the English worse than Thuggists, 
 And turns the trade to trunk-makers or druggists. 
 
730 
 
 UPR— V 
 
 Upright. A leg. Western. 
 
 Up-River. 1. The direction of the upper portion of a river, up the 
 stream. Common use. 
 
 2. Situated in or near the upper portion of a stream. 
 
 All Thursday afternoon there was a continuous stream [sic] of floating timber 
 going down the swollen current from the up-river lumber-yards. — Philadelphia 
 p(ij)ers. 
 
 Up to Snuff. Well informed; apprised o'f the current or recent 
 affairs. 
 
 Up to the Hub. To the extreme point. The figure is that of a vehi- 
 cle sunk in the mud up to the hub of the wheels, which is as far as it 
 can go. 
 
 " You've hearn tell of the bank and tariff questions ?" 
 
 "Yes," replied the new editor of the " Eagle" newspaper. 
 
 " Well, boss, we expect you to be right co-chunk iip to the hub on them thar 
 questions, and pour it into the enemy in slashergaff stvle." — Robb, Squatter Life, 
 p. 31. 
 
 "For my jiart," said Abijah, grimly, "if things was managed m}' way, I 
 shouldn't commune with nobody that didn't believe in election up to the hub.^^ — 
 Mrs. Stowe, Dred, Vol. I. p. 311. 
 
 Use. (As me the weed.) This is common in the Xorth in a phrase 
 like this. " Take sugar in your tea? " " No, thank you, I don't 
 use it." The French, in offering snuff, say, " En usez-vous? " 
 
 To use up. To exhaust, wear out. 
 
 Moving on the first day of May in New York has used me up worse than build- 
 ing forty acres of stone wall. — Major Downing^ May-day in Neio York. 
 
 Well, being out night arter night, she got kinder used up and beat out, and 
 unbeknownst to me used to take opium. — Sam Slick, Human Nature, p. 192. 
 
 Hans has been really ill : five days down with severe pains of the limbs have 
 left him a "little weak," which with him means well used up. — Kane, Arctic 
 Expedition, Vol. II. p. 100. 
 
 U-ster. Used to. 
 
 V. 
 
 V. Five. Five dollars. Much used in making bets; as "I'll bet 
 youaV." 
 
 Says I, "Mate, I've a notion to go over and shake hands with him." Says 
 he, " I think I see you doing it, Tom." Says I, " Mate, I 'm a-going to do it." 
 Says he, "Oh. yes, I guess so." "Maybe you don't want to bet you will, 
 Tom? " Says 1, " I don't mind going a V on it. Mate." Says he, " Put it up." 
 "Up she goes," says I, planking the cash. 
 
VAC— VAM 
 
 731 
 
 Vacancy. A parish having no minister or official connection with 
 themselves. 
 
 He [Mr. McElroy] was sought by the vacancies. — Presbyterian^ Philad., Sept., 
 1876. 
 
 Vacher. (French.) The stock or cattle-keeper on the prairies of the 
 South-west. His duty is also to break wild horses, to run cattle, 
 and to brand calves. (Span, vaquero.} 
 
 Valedictorian. The student of a college who pronounces the vale- 
 dictory oration at the annual Commencement. — Webster. 
 
 Valedictory. In American colleges, a farewell oration or address 
 spoken at Commencement by a member of the class which j-eceive 
 the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and take their leave of the college 
 and of each other. — HcdVs College Words. 
 
 Valinch. A liquor-sampler. A utensil well known among grocers and 
 coopers for drawing liquor fi'om the bung-hole of a cask. The 
 French call it tdte-vin : the Spaniards, homhilla de hodegas or cata- 
 liquidos. The word is mentioned by Worcester, but not by 
 Webster, nor by any English lexicographer. It is figured in Orr's 
 Mechanical Philosophy, where it is called a Wine-taster ; and by 
 Sclioedler in his " Book of Nature," where it is called a " Dipping 
 Syplion.''^ 
 
 To vamose. (Span, vamos, let us go.) Used, in the South-west 
 chiefly, in the sense of to depart, decamp, be off. A curious gram- 
 matical perversion. 
 
 I couldn't stand more than this stanza, coming from a street voice compared 
 with which the notes of a hand-saw are positively dulcet, and I accordingly 
 vamosed. — N. Y. Mirror, May, 1848. 
 
 Yankee Sullivan's house, corner of Frankfort and Chathcam Streets, is in a 
 dangerous condition ; its foundation walls having been partially undermined for 
 the purpose of excaA'ating a cellar. Its occupants received some very ominous 
 premonitions of a downfall early yesterday morning, and forthwith vamosed 
 •with their baggage. — Journ. of Commerce, June, 1848. 
 
 On Sunday, our city was thrown into a state of intense excitement. Between 
 seventy and eighty slaves had disappeared. Several Negroes who had made 
 arrangements to vamose were left behind, and gave the alarm. — Washington 
 vaver. 
 
 The devil Avrote, and vamosed. The next night 
 He came again, — this time a little tight, — 
 And showed the name who served Jeff. Davis best. 
 And lo! Bo Lition's name led all the rest. 
 
 Parody on Lei<jh Hunt's " Abou Ben Adhem.^^ 
 
 To vamose the Ranch. To leave the house, quit the spot, be off. 
 Like the word vamose, much used on the Western frontier and in the 
 South. This is surelv breaking Priscian's head with a vengeance. 
 
732 
 
 VAQ— VEN 
 
 The Camanches came within a league of us, but vamosed the ranch when they 
 learned that the rangers were here. — Southern Sketches, p. 141. 
 
 Vaquero. (Span.) A man who has charge of cattle, horses, and 
 mules; a horseman. See Vacher. 
 
 Behold the Vaquero ! how dashing and bold 
 In his broad sombrero. — Joaquin Miller. 
 
 Vara. (Span.) A measurement thirty-nine inches in length, used 
 in Mexico, and hence introduced in the States bordering on that 
 country. Thus, in California, in speaking of a piece of land, so 
 many varas in length or breadth, instead of so many yards or feet, 
 
 Mr. S., a gentleman of wealth in San Francisco, has just completed his 
 horse-palace at a cost of $100,000, on a full fifty mm lot. — San Francisco jiupf^f^ 
 March, 3876. 
 
 Various. Several persons. "I talked for an hour with various of 
 
 them." — Cor. N. Y. Times. 
 Varmint. A corrupt pronunciation of the word vermin., applied to 
 
 noxious wild beasts of any kind. It comes to us from the north of 
 
 England. ^ St^i^ U (U^^-^c^,,.^' . ^ ^ . 
 
 There are more than a hundred lakes and brakes in them diggin's, that hain't 
 never been pressed by no mortal 'ceptin' varmints. — Traits o f American Humor. 
 
 I shot tolerably well, and was satisfied the fault would be mine, if the varmints 
 did not suffer. — Crockett, Tour, p. 125. 
 
 "These beavers," said old Ryan, "are industrious little fellows. They are 
 the knowingest varmint as I know." — Irving's Tour on the Prahies. 
 
 Uncas, call up your father: we have need of all our weapons to bring the cun- 
 ning varmint from his roost. — Cooper, Last of the Mohicans, p. 104. 
 
 Vegetable Ivory. See Ivory-Nut, in Addenda. 
 
 Vegetable Marrow, See Alligator Pear. 
 
 Vegetable Oyster, See Oyster-Plant, in Addenda. 
 
 Vegetarian, A disciple of a strict dietetic school, in which animal 
 food is prohibited. 
 
 Vegetarianism. The doctrines of the Vegetarians. 
 
 Vendibility, Salableness, 
 
 A great number of manufactured articles derive their vendibility almost en- 
 tirely from the pattern of the design, — Mr. Sheppard's Speech before Maryland 
 Institute, 1857. 
 
 Vendue. (French vendre, to sell; vendu, sold.) A public auction. 
 This word is in use in the United States and the West Indies; but 
 it is not common in England, though it is found in the recent 
 English dictionaries of Knowles, Oswald, and Smart. — Worcester. 
 It was used as early as 1754 in Pennsylvania (see Mittelberger's 
 Travels, p. 22). The word is fast becoming obsolete with us. 
 
YER— VIG 
 
 733 
 
 Verse about. A verse or two by each reader in turn. 
 
 Reading the Scriptures verse about, ... a custom common in many Christian 
 families; . . . that is, each member of the families reading averse or two in 
 turn until the whole chapter is finished. — N. Y. Obsei-ver. 
 
 Vest. See Pull down your Vest. 
 
 Veteran. A term applied during the late civil war to soldiers, who, 
 at the termination of the period for which they had enlisted, enlisted 
 again; hence, there were thousands of ye/emn.'? under twenty-two 
 years of age. In the British army, a veteran is a soldier advanced 
 in years, who has seen much service. 
 
 To veteranize. To make veteran soldiers by re-enlisting. 
 
 About this time, we were much embarrassed by a general order of the War 
 Department, promising a thirty-days furlough to all soldiers who would veteranize ; 
 viz., le-enlist for the war. — General Sherman's Memoirs, Vol. I. p. 395. 
 
 Vigilance Committee. A portion of the citizens of a place who, 
 assuming that the regular magistrates are unable or unwilling to 
 execute the laws, undertake to watch over its safety, and to punish 
 its criminals. The most notorious of these self-constituted bodies 
 have been those of San Francisco and New Orleans. 
 
 Few people abroad, who had been trained from infancy to revere " the majesty 
 of the law," and who had never seen any crime but what their own strong legal 
 institutions and efficient police could detect and punish, could possibly conceive 
 such a state of things as would justify the formation and independent action of 
 an association which set itself above all formal law, and which openly adminis- 
 tered summary justice, or what they called justice, in armed opposition and 
 defiance to the regularly constituted tribunals of the country. Therefore, in 
 other lands, it happened that the vigilance committee became often a term of 
 reproach, and people pointed to it as a sign that society in California was utterly 
 and perhaps irredeemably impure and disorganized. — Annals of San Francisco, 
 p. 562. 
 
 A hand-bill having been posted in Richmond, Virginia, calling a meeting of 
 the citizens for this evening, to form a vif/ilance committee to suppress certain 
 secret movements among the colored population, and to stop outrages on private 
 property. Governor Wise addressed a letter to Mayor Mayo, calling his attention 
 to the movement, and adding that he would use force in prohibiting such meeting 
 from being held on the Capitol square. The Mayor in repl}' states that, knowing 
 the author of the hand-bill to be one of the few rowdies of that citv, he considers 
 himself a '■'■vif/ilance committee " enough for him and his comrades, and therefore 
 deems it unnecessary to adopt any unusual meastires against the proposed move- 
 ment. — Sun, July 1, ISo's. 
 
 Last month, in the town of Maubeuge, in the north of France, a Protestant 
 congregation was broken up and a part of its members marched on a Sunday 
 from their place of worsliip to the town jail. The final prnceedings of tlie civil 
 authorities in the case were, according to our American notions of right and law, 
 as gross a violation of justice as vigilance committee or lynching mob was ever 
 guilty of. — N. Y. Tnlmne, Sept. 30, 1858. 
 
734 
 
 VIG— VOY 
 
 Vigintial. Relative to, produced in (twenty years). 
 
 Shall society suffer that the slave-holder may continue to gather his vigintial 
 crop of liuman flesh. — il/?-. Faulker in Leyidature of Virfjinia, 1832. 
 
 Vim. Spirit; activity; energy. 
 
 The " New York Herald," April 17, 1875, in speaking of Mr. 
 Fullerton's cross-examination of Mr. Beecher at his trial, said: — 
 
 Mr. Fullerton figuratively jumped into the ring, rolled up his sleeves, and 
 squared off with a vitn and determination that sometimes makes victory lialf 
 assured. 
 
 We are of those who believe that our S3\stem of school management can be 
 improved, and made more efficient. We believe that more of vim, snap, or 
 activity can be infused into it, to the manifest advantage of every interest — 
 Providence Press, ,Ian. 8, 1876. 
 
 Mr. McClure, in speaking of the cities and towns of recent growth 
 in Montana, says: — 
 
 Virginia City is sobering down with "the ebbing tide into substantial. legitimate 
 business ; but Helena has all the vim, recklessness, extravagance, and jolly prog- 
 ress of a new camp. — Toicr through Rocky Mountains. 
 
 Virgalieu Pear. So called in New York. A world-renowned pear, 
 
 and one that has been, if it is not at the present time, more 
 
 extensively cultivated than any other. It is the Doyenne Blanc of 
 
 French authors, the Butter Pea?' of Philadelphia, and the St. 
 
 ISIichael of Boston. 
 Virgin Dip. The flow of turpentine for the first year after making 
 
 an incision into the pines. North Carolina. See Box and Dip. 
 Virginia Creeper. The ornamental woody vine Aynpelopsis quinque- 
 
 folia, cultivated for covering walls and fences. By some it is called 
 
 Woodbine, and by others American Ivy. 
 Virginia Pence. A rail fence laid up in a zigzag manner; also called 
 
 a worm-fence, which see. Hence the phrase "to walk a Virginia 
 
 fence " is applied to a drunken man. 
 Virginia Reel. The common name throughout the United States for 
 
 the old I^^nglish " country-dance " (contre-danse). 
 Virginny or Old Virginny. The common negro appellation of the 
 
 State of Virginia. 
 Vly. (Dutch.) In Xew York, a swamp, a marsh. See Fit/. 
 Voodonism. In Louisiana, superstitious rites or observances among 
 
 the Xegroes. 
 
 Voyage. Among whalers, each man calls his share of the proceeds of 
 
 the cruise, which he receives instead of wages, his voyage. 
 Voyageur. (French.) A Canadian boatman. — Worcester, 
 
YUM— WAK 
 
 735 
 
 The Canadian voyageur is, in all respects, a peculiar character; and on no 
 point is he more sensitive than in the just distribution of pieces among the crew 
 forming a party. — Sh' John Franklin'' s Narrative. 
 
 There is no form of wretchedness among those to which the checkered life of 
 a voyageur is exposed, at once so great and so humiliating, as the torture inflicted 
 by the musquitos. — Bach, Arctic Journal^ p. 117. 
 
 I vum! for / voio! is a euphemistic form of oath often heard in New 
 England. 
 
 " / vum,'''' said he, " I 'm sorry; what 's the matter? " — Margaret, p. 86. 
 The Rev. Mr. Dow, Jr., in one of his edifying discourses on 
 profanity, not inaptly observes: — 
 
 What though, instead of saying, " I swear to God," you say, "I declare to 
 goodness " V It is as much the same thing as a bobolink with a new coat of 
 featliers. / vum is just the same in spirit as I vow, and a " diabolical falsehood " 
 is synonymous with a devilish lie. — Dow's Sermons, Vol. III. p. 265. 
 
 w. 
 
 To Wabash. "He's Wabashed,^^ meaning he is cheated, is an ex- 
 pression much used in Indiana and other parts of the West. 
 
 To wabble. In the Western States, to make free use of one's tongue; 
 to be a ready speaker. 
 
 Wagged out. Tired; worn out (as if finished wagging). Massa- 
 chusetts. 
 
 Waggletail. The larva of the mosquito, &c. ; also called a wiggler. 
 
 Wahoo Elm. {Ulmus alata.) A native of Virginia and of the 
 States farther south. It is known by its longitudinal ridges of 
 cork-like bark on all its twigs and branches. — Scott, Suburban 
 Home, p. 819. 
 
 To wait upon. To pay attention to a lady with a view to matrimony. 
 
 To wake Snakes. 1. To make a rousing noise; and hence to rouse 
 up, get into action. 
 
 Well, here I be: loake snakes, the day's a-breaking. — Southern Sketches, 
 p. 119. 
 
 Come, wake snakes. a.\)d push off with the captain, and get the fish on board. — 
 8am Slick, Human Nature, p. 164. 
 
 So then, as Mexico 's gone goose 
 And VMikin' snakes, it ain't no use; 
 Agin old Bull let "s vengeance vow, 
 And take no action else just now. 
 
 Mexico and Monroe, Land. Punch, Aug., 1863. 
 
736 
 
 WAK— WAL 
 
 2. To get into trouble. 
 
 Hosea Biglow (iiitrodaced to us by his friend Lowell the poet), 
 in speaking of military service, says: — 
 
 This goin' where glory awaits ye hain't one agreeable featur'; 
 And, if it warn't for wakhi' snakes, I 'd be home agin short metre. 
 
 Biyloio Papers. 
 
 Wake up. Stir yourself. See Clape. 
 
 To wake up the Wrong Passenger. To make a mistake in the in- 
 dividual. A modern substitute for the old phrase, " To get the 
 wrong sow by the ear." The allusion is to the custom on board 
 steamboats of arousing or waking passengers at stopping-places at 
 night, when frequent mistakes are made and the wrong person 
 called up. 
 
 The tyrant coquette, as a matter of course. 
 Thinks her lover must mind the rein, just like a horse; 
 Discouraged, he leaves her, she sees her mistake, 
 And laments that she did the wrong passenger wake. 
 
 The Stage-driver'' 8 Ball, Comic Song. 
 
 Sam Slick gives the following account of an interview between 
 an abolitionist preacher and a contented slave. The former, address- 
 ing the slave, says: — 
 " Poor, ignorant wretch ! " 
 
 "Massa,'' replied the Negro, " you has waked up de wrong passenger dis time. 
 I isn't poor. I ab plenty to eat and plenty to drink. When I wants money, 
 Missus gives it to me. When I wants wild ducks or venison, all I got to do is 
 to say to dat Yankee oberseer, ' Missus and I want some canvas-back or some 
 deer.'" — Sam Slick, Human Nature, p. 289. 
 
 Congress having passed a resolution of inquiry touching the 
 occasional absence of President Grant from Washington, the latter 
 made a prompt reply, showing that all previous Presidents had been 
 absent more or less. In relation to the movement, the " New York 
 Herald," May 4, 1876, says : — 
 
 The investigating busybodies at Washington " waked up the wrong passenger," 
 when they called the President to account for his absences from the national 
 capitol. 
 
 Walk. As "Ladies' Walk," "Gentlemen's Walk," i. e. a privy. 
 This absurd piece of squeamishness is common at hotels and at 
 railroad-stations. 
 
 Walking Papers or Walking Ticket. Orders to leave; a dismissal. 
 
 When a person is appointed to a public office or receives a commis- 
 sion, he receives papers or documents investing him with authority; 
 so, when he is discharged, it is said in familiar language that " he 
 has received his walking papers or his walking ticket.^' 
 
WAL 
 
 737 
 
 It is probable that " walking papers " will be forwarded to a large proportion 
 
 of the corps diplomatique during the session of Congress. B and B are 
 
 already admonished to return, and the invitation will be pretty general. — N. Y. 
 Herald, Letter from Washington. 
 
 "We can announce with certainty that the Honorable Mr. D has received 
 
 his walking ticket, accompanied with some correspondence with his Excellency 
 that has given him offence. — Kingston, Canada, Whig, Dec, 1843. 
 
 Mr. Duane was ordered to remove the deposits. He answered that his duty 
 did not require it. In a few hours, he got his walking ticket that his services 
 were no longer wanted. — Crockett, Tour down East, p. 30. 
 
 '* If you ever question me again," said Mrs. Samson Savage, "you '11 get your 
 walking ticket in short order." — Widow Bedott Papers, p. 307. 
 
 To walk into. To get the upper hand of ; to take advantage of ; to 
 punish. A common vulgarism. 
 
 To walk into a Down-East land-jobber requires great skill, and a very consider- 
 able knowledge of human nature. — Sam Slick, 3d Series, p. 122. 
 
 I went into the dining-room, and sot down afore a plate that had my name 
 writ on a card onto it, and I did walk into the beef, and taters, and things, about 
 east. — Hiram Bigelow^s Lett, in Family Comp. 
 
 The way in which the "Courier" and "Enquirer" walks into the character 
 and I'eputation of some of their old associates in the Clay movement is a caution 
 to respectable blackguards, and makes Wall Street journalism a rival to Five 
 Point eloquence. — N. Y. Herald, Sept. 16, 1858. 
 
 Walkist. A professional walker; a pedestrian. The newspapers 
 called Weston "the great walkist." The term has even been 
 applied to fast-walking women. 
 
 Little Von Hillem, the xoalkess, is expected to set the fashion for all the Boston 
 girls next year. Fashions will have to change some tirst. — Providence Press. 
 
 Walk-over. Complete and easy triumph. The " Vicksburg Herald " 
 says : — 
 
 What a difference it makes to a candidate, when he knows he is offered a walk- 
 over instead of a forlorn hope ? 
 
 To walk round a person is to gain the advantage of him. 
 
 My ambassadors, said the President, may not dance as elegantly as European 
 courtiers, but they can walk round them in a treaty, that 's a fact. — Sam Slick, 
 Wise Saws, p. 20. 
 
 To walk the Chalk. To walk straight, or rather to keep up to the 
 mark. 
 
 "The Tallapoosa volunteers," said Captain Suggs; "so let ever^'body look 
 out and walk the chalk.'' ^ — Simon Suggs, p. 89. 
 
 Wall Flower. A term ungallantly applied to those of the fair sex 
 present at a ball, who, for lack of invitation to dance, are con- 
 strained to remain in their seats. See Sot. 
 
 47 
 
738 
 
 WAL— WAM 
 
 To wallop. To beat. Provincial in England and colloquial in the 
 United States. 
 
 I grabs right hold of the cow's tail, and veiled and screamed like mad, and ivul- 
 lopped away at her like any thing. — Sam Slick in Enyland^ ch. 18. 
 
 There's nothing like wallopping iov taking the conceit out of fellows who think 
 they know more than their betters. — J. C. Neal, Orson Dabbs. 
 
 All I know was loallopped into me. I took laniin' through the skin. — NeaVs 
 Charcocd Sketches. 
 
 Wall Paper. Paper hangings. 
 
 Wall Rock. Granular limestone, used in building walls. 
 
 Walt. Crank. A ship is said to be wait, when she has not her due 
 ballast; that is, not enough to enable her to bear her sails, and keep 
 her stiff. Hubbard, in his " History of New England," speaking 
 of Lamberton's ill-fated ship, says that "she was ill-built, very 
 wait-sided.^' — Rev. Alex. Young, note to Chron. of Massachusetts. 
 
 The next year brought a Flemish fly-boat of about 140 tons, which being unfit 
 for a fishing voyage, and wanting lodging for the men, they added unto her 
 another deck, by which means she was carried so high that she proved wait and 
 unable to bear sail. — White, The Planter's Plea, 1630, p. 1. 
 
 In the north of England, wait means to totter, to overthrow, — 
 
 HaUiwell. 
 
 Wamble- cropped. Sick at the stomach; and, figuratively, crest- 
 fallen, humiliated. New England. 
 
 There stood Captain Jumper, shaking General Taylor's hand when he came on 
 board the " Two Pollys," trying to get a start in the address, but could not; and 
 then I tried it. I never saw Captain Jumper so wilted down before, and that 
 made me feel so wamble-cropt I could not say a word. — Major Doioninc/s Letter 
 ■from Baton Rouge, June 15, 184:8. 
 
 The Captain looked so awful womble-cropt that I pitied him. I never saAV 
 such an uncomfortable-looking countenance. — Widow Bedoti Papers, p. 2b'4. 
 
 Wampum. (A term in the Algonkin languages signifying white, the 
 color of the shells most frequent in wantpiim belts.) Shells, or 
 strings of shells, used by the American Indians as money. These, 
 when united, formed a broad belt, which was worn as an ornament 
 or girdle. It was sometimes called wumpumpeage or wampeage and 
 sewan. See Peage, Sewan, and Seawant. 
 
 The Indians are ignorant of Europe's coin. Their own is of two sorts: one, 
 white, which they make of the stem or stock of the periwinkle, when all the sliell 
 is broken off; and of this sort six of their small beads, whi -h they make with 
 holes to string the bracelets, are current with the English for a pennv. The 
 second is black, inclining to blue, which is made of the shell of a fish which some 
 English call hens, Po(iiiahock; and of this sort three make an English penny. 
 Their white money they call icompam, which, signifies white; their black, Suckau- 
 
WAN— WAR 
 
 739 
 
 hock, Sucki, signifying black. — R. Williams, Key to the Indian Language 
 (1643). 
 
 Though the young Indian women are said to prostitute their bodies lor warn- 
 pumpmk and other such like fineries, I could never find any ground for the accu- 
 sation. — Bever^ly's Virginia (1705), Book III. 
 
 A Sagamore with a huinbird in his eare for a pendant, a black hawk on his 
 occiput for a plume, good store of wampumpeage begirting his loines, his bow in 
 hand, his quiver at his back, with six naked Indian spatterlashes at his heels for 
 his guard, thinks he is all one with King Charles. — Wood's New England 
 (1634), p. 66. 
 
 And there the fallen chief is laid. 
 In tasseird garb of skins arrayed. 
 And girdled with his wampum braid. 
 
 Whittier, The Funeral Tree. 
 
 Wangan. (Indian.) On the rivers of Maine, a boat used chiefly by- 
 lumbermen for carrying provisions, tools, &c. 
 
 Among the dangers [of lumbering in Maine], where life and property are haz- 
 arded, is that of "running the ■wangan,'''' — a phrase ■well understood on the 
 river. — The Americans at Home, Vol. III. p. 254. 
 
 Among scenes like these the river-driver passes the day. Such are the vicis- 
 situdes of life for him who runs the wangun. — Harjier's Mag., Vol. XX. p. 450. 
 
 Want to know. Among the most common singularities of expression 
 are the following: "I should admire to see him," for ''I should 
 like to see him; '7 want to know ! " and " Do tell! " both exclam- 
 ations of surprise, answering to our " Dear me! " These last, how- 
 ever, are rarely heard in society above the middling class. — LyeWs 
 Second Visit, ch. ix. 
 
 Wapatoo. A name given by the Oregon Indians to the bulb of the 
 Scifjittaria variabilis, used by them as an article of food. 
 
 Wapiti. (Cervus Canadensis.) The American elk or stag. From 
 the Cree Wapitew, " grayish " or " pale " as distinguished from the 
 common moose, which is nearly black. 
 
 War. Was. Xegro dialect. Sometimes a corruption of " was " and 
 "were." 
 
 Warden. A town officer in two of the island towns of Rhode Island, 
 New Shoreham, and Jamestown, with similar privileges and juris- 
 diction within his town that justices of the peace have throughout 
 their respective towns and counties. — Revised Statutes of Rhode 
 Island. 
 
 War-Path. A march to battle, warlike expedition of the Indians. 
 
 The Lenape would not go to the war-path, because they did not think it well. 
 Cooper, Last of the Mohicans. 
 
 When on the imr-path, more than ordinary care is taken to adorn the body, 
 and the process of painting occupies a considerable time. — Buxton's Adv. in the 
 Rocky Mountains, p. 237. 
 
740 
 
 WAR— WAT 
 
 The hunters walked in single file, following their leader, like Indians on a war- 
 path. — Mayne Eeid, The Boy-Hunters, p. 254. 
 
 This calamity threw these people [the Sioux] into such a state of gloom and 
 sudden anger that it was almost iinjjossible to keep them from taking the war- 
 path. — Rejyort of the Cunimr. of India n Affairs for 1874, p. 358. 
 
 Warm-US. A sort of roundabout jacket made of homespun cloth, and 
 worn without buttons, being tied across the body by the lower cor- 
 ners. (Dutch, warmhuis, a warmer, chauff'olr.) 
 
 Warrant-Trying. The magistrate's monthly courts at the cross-roads. 
 Virginia. 
 
 War- Whoop. The Indian cry of war; a yell made on attacking a 
 foe. 
 
 • . . Ere dark pestilence 
 
 Devoured his warriors, — laid his hundreds low, — 
 That Sachem's war-whoop roused to his defence 
 Three thousand bowmen. — Diirfee, Whatcheer, Canto III. 
 
 The red men say that here she walked * 
 
 A thousand moons ago ; 
 They never raise the war'-whoop here, 
 And never twang the bow. — Bryant. 
 We must trust to the experience of men who know the ways of the savages, 
 and who are not often backward when the ivar-whoop is howled. — Cooper., Last 
 of the Mohicans. 
 
 Washing, in Wall Street slang, is where one broker arranges with 
 another to buy a certain stock when he offers it for sale. The bar- 
 gain is fictitious; and the effect, when not detected, is to keep it 
 quoted, and, if the plotters buy and sell the stock to a high figure, to 
 afford a basis for bona fide sales. — Medbery., Men and Mijsteries of 
 Wall Street, p. 138. 
 
 From the spring of '58 to '60, the Stock Board slowl}' recovered its old tone. 
 The bear element was in its glory. Brokers had become fearful of forced quota- 
 tions. Washing had become a constant trick before the panic, and bids were 
 now closely scrutinized. — Ibid., p. 327. 
 
 Wastage. The accidental waste of a barrel, box, &c. 
 
 Watch out. Look out. " Watch out for the stage." Pennsylvania. 
 
 Water-Dogs. The Western name for various species of salamanders, 
 or lizard-shaped animals, with smooth, shiny, naked skins; some- 
 times called Water-puppies and Ground-puppies. In Pennsylvania 
 and the Eastern States, they are called Spring-keepers and Man- 
 eaters. 
 
 Water-Lot. A lot of building-ground covered by water. 
 
 An act passed by the legislature, ceding, for the period of ninety-nine years, 
 all the right and interest which the State of California had in those parts of the 
 
WAT— WAX 
 
 741 
 
 city called the Beach and Water-Lots, provided that twenty-five per cent of all 
 moneys thereafter arising in any way from the sale or other disposition of the 
 said property' should be paid over by the city to the State. — Annals of San Fran- 
 cisco, p. 324. 
 
 Water-Oats. See Canada-Rice. 
 
 Water-Privilege. The advantage of a water-fall in streams sufficient 
 to raise water for driving water-wheels, or a place affording such 
 advantage. — Webster. 
 
 Water-Proof. A garment, especially an outer garment, designed to 
 protect from rain. Used mostly by women. See Scutum. 
 
 Water-Shed. A word formed in imitation of the German Wasser- 
 scheide (water-divide), to denote a height of land which separates 
 waters flowing in different directions; better termed "dividing 
 ridge." See Divide. 
 
 The crests of the serpentine water-sheds gradually diverging towards the Tejon, 
 where there is an impinging of the two masses to such a degree as to completely 
 envelop the plain. — Lt. Parke, Pacific Railroad Report, Vol. VII. p. 5. 
 
 To water Stock is the hydraulic employed by modern managers to 
 double the quantity of a stock without improving its quality. — 
 Medhery. See Stock- Watering. 
 
 Water- Witch. 1. A person who pretends to have the power of 
 discovering subterranean springs by means of the divining-rod, 
 made once from the witch-hazel, but now more commonly from the 
 peach-tree. 
 
 In many parts of the country, not a well is dug without a previous 
 consultation with a water-witch ; and one who attempts to run coun- 
 ter to the popular delusion is in danger of having his " common 
 sense " doubted. 
 
 2. An aquatic bird. See Dipper. 
 Wauregan. (Ind. ivunnegan, fine, showy.) Noticed by Miss Caul- 
 kins in her " History of Norwich," and by Dr. Bacon in his " His- 
 torical Discourses," p. 341, who cites Roger Williams's Key, where 
 it means well or good, and Eliot's Bible, Gen. i. 10, n and r being 
 interchanged dialectically. The word is still local in and about 
 Norwich, Conn. 
 
 To wax. To overcome another, or surmount a difficulty by stratagem. 
 The Washington correspondent of the " N. Y. Herald," March 
 16, 1876, in speaking of the sale of post-traderships by Orville 
 Grant, the President's brother, says: — 
 
 The trader at Fort Lincoln, fearing removal, Orville Grant's clerk at Standing 
 Rock advised hina to tell Grant, "he can wax you." 
 
742 
 
 WAX— WEE 
 
 Wax-Myrtle. (Genus Myrica.) A shrub, of which there are several 
 species, bearing a berry covered with a shining wax, which is pre- 
 pared for commerce by the poor people along the Northei-n lakes. 
 Also cal]ed Candleberry Myrtle. 
 
 Wax-Plant. (Monotropa uriiflora.) A perfectly white, fleshy plant, 
 looking as if made of wax. Before the fruit matures, the heads 
 are bent over; hence the name " Indian Pipe." 
 
 Way. Away. Often heard in good society. 
 
 The deaf man drove them luay off from the Erbey mansion into a wood. He 
 drove through this wood, . . . loay into a green circle, where ... — Cor. N. Y. 
 Tribune. 
 
 Wayfaring-Tree. See Hobble-Bush. 
 
 Ways, for way, distance, space. A very common vulgarism. 
 It 's only a little ways down to the village. — Mnvfjaret, p. 123. 
 
 There's no Two Ways about it, i. e. the fact is just so, and not 
 otherwise. A vulgarism of recent origin, equivalent to the common 
 phrase, " There h no mistake about it,'^ or "It 's just as I tell you, 
 and no mistake.''^ 
 
 Jist so, jist so, stranger : yon are just about half right, and there 's no two 
 ways about it. — Sam Slick, 3d Ser., ch. 7. 
 
 There 's no two ways about that, sir ; but ar'n't you surprised to see such a tine 
 population V — Hoffman, Winter in the West. 
 Weak Fish. See Squeteague. 
 
 Weak Sister. A person that cannot be relied upon. 
 
 The rebels assert that the Union has no friends at the South. The assertion 
 is false. There are white Unionists there, but they are weak sisters, — overawed 
 terrorized, silenced. — N. Y. Tribune, Dec, 1861. 
 
 Wearables. Something to wear ; clothes. 
 
 To wear the Collar. In political parlance, to be subject to the con- 
 trol of another; to be directed in political matters. 
 
 Weather. " Fine weather overhead" means a clear sky. "We are 
 going to have falling weather, means we are going to have rain, 
 snow, or hail. " He 's under the weather, is a figurative expres- 
 sion, meaning badly off; in straitened circumstances. 
 
 Weather-Breeder. A distant cloud portending a storm. In England, 
 it means a fine day. — Halliwell. "Dowse the top-gallant sail, 
 boys. See that weather-breeder ahead." 
 
 Wed. Sometimes vulgarly used for weeded ; as, " He iced the garden." 
 Comp. plead for pleaded. 
 
 Weed. A common term for tobacco; as, "Do you use the iveed?^^ 
 meaning, do you chew tobacco? See Indian Weed. 
 
WEE— WEL 
 
 743 
 
 Those who were not dancing were seated around the room, some smoking 
 others chewing the loeed^ still others drinking. — Mysteries of New York, p. 81). 
 
 By the appearance of the shirt-bosoms of some inveterate chewers of the weed, 
 I should judge they had been squirting their juice in the face of a north-easter. 
 Bow's Sermons, Vol. III. 
 
 Weedy- Weedy. A plant resembling spinach, much used in the West 
 Indies. — CarmichaeV s West Indies. 
 
 Weevil. The name is given in this cotmtry to at least six diiferent 
 kinds of insects, two of which are moths, two are flies, and two are 
 beetles. — Harris, Insects Injurious to Vegetation, p. 18. 
 
 Well. One of the most marked peculiarities of American speech is 
 the use of the word " ivell " at the beginning of sentences, espe- 
 cially in answer to questions. Englishmen have told me that they 
 could always detect an American by this use of the word. Mr. 
 Lowell, so thoroughly comprehends the various shades of its mean- 
 ing, by the manner in which it is pronounced, that we avail ourselves 
 of his remarks upon it: "Put before such a phrase as ' How d 'e 
 do ? ' it is commonly short, and has the sound of wul ; but, in reply, 
 it is deliberative, and the various shades of meaning which can be 
 conveyed by difference of intonation, and by prolonging or abbre- 
 viating, I should vainly attempt to describe. I have heard ooa-ahl, 
 ivahl, aid, wal, and something nearly approaching the sound of le in 
 able. Sometimes before ' I ' it dwindles to a mere / ; as, ' 1 / dunno. ' " 
 "A friend," continues Mr. Lowell, "told me that he once heard 
 five ^ wells, ^ like pioneers, precede the answer to an inquiry about 
 the price of land. The first was the ordinary wul, in deference to 
 custom; the second, the long, perpending ooald, with a falling 
 inflection of the voice; the third, the same, but with the voice ris- 
 ing, as if in despair of a conclusion, into a plaintive, nasal whine; 
 the fourth, luulh, ending in the aspirate of a sigh; and then, fifth, 
 came a short, sharp wal, showing that a conclusion had been 
 reached." — Poetical Works, Int. to Bi glow Papers, Household Edition, 
 p. 221. 
 
 When Zekle went a courting Huldy, the fair one, meeting him 
 at the door, said : — 
 
 " You want to see my pa, I s'pose ? " 
 
 " W(dl, . . . no, ... I come designin'," — 
 " To see my ma V She 's sprinklin' clothes 
 
 Agin to-morrer's ir'nin'.'' — Ibid. 
 
 Well to live. 1. In easy circumstances ; well off. This expression 
 is of English origin. 
 
WEN— WES 
 
 I wanted to see how these Northerners could buy our cotton, carry it home; 
 manufacture it, bring it back, and sell it for half nothing; and, in the mean time, 
 be well to live, and make money besides. — Crockett, Tour. 
 
 2. In New England, a cant phrase to denote a person in that 
 state of intoxication in which he drives dull care away, and fancies 
 himself at the top round of fortune's ladder. 
 
 Wench. In the United States, this word is, except by the vulgar, 
 applied only to black women and girls. 
 
 The blushing morn at length came travelling up from the oriental clime, and 
 sowed the earth with pearls and diamonds, that glittered upon the dark bosom of 
 night like jewels upon the brow of an Ethiopian wench. — Doio's Sermons, Vol. III. 
 p. 111. 
 
 Wendigo. Among the Northern Indians, a hobgoblin. 
 
 "These Montagnais think," continued Pierre, "that the Wendigoes are giant 
 cannibals, twenty and thirty feet high. They think that they can live on human 
 flesh, and that many Indians who have gone hunting, and have never afterwards 
 been heard of, have been devoured by the Wendiyoes.'''' — Hind's Explor. of Lab- 
 rador, Vol. I. p. 59. 
 
 Schoolcraft, in " Algic Researches," mentions the belief of the 
 Western tribes in these Wendigoes. In the Red River country is 
 the Windego, or Cannibal Lake, so called from an unnatural d. ed 
 committed by a band of Ojibways. A band of forty, unable to pro- 
 cure food, nearly perished by famine. The survivors lived upon the 
 dead bodies of their companions. — Hindis Canadian Exploring Exp. , 
 Vol. I. p. 64. 
 
 Went. Sometimes used by uneducated persons for gone. "Let her 
 went" is a common slang expression. "Yesterday was Good- 
 Friday, and you should have went to church." Pegge includes it 
 among the London vulgarisms. 
 
 Werowance. Among the Indians of Virginia and Maryland, the 
 
 name by which the head chief was known. 
 
 In some places of the conntr}' [Virginia], one onely town belongeth to the gov- 
 ernment of a Wiroans or chiefe Lord; in other some, two or three; in some, six, 
 eight, or more; the greatest Wiroans that yet we had dealing with had but eighteen 
 townes in his government. — Hariot, Newfound-land of Virginia (1590), p. 25. 
 
 When a Werowance dieth, his eldest sonne suceeds, and after him the second, 
 and so the rest, each for their lives, and when all the sonnes are dead, then the 
 sonnes of the Werowance'' s eldest daughter shall succeede — A Relation of Mary- 
 land (1&35), p. 33. 
 
 West. The Western States of the American Union, especially those 
 lying to the west of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina. 
 
 The enterprising, ingenious, and indomitable North ; the substantial and mag- 
 nificent Central States, the great balance-wheel of the system ; the youthful, 
 
\yES— WHA 
 
 745 
 
 rapidly expanding, and almost boundless West; the ardent, genial, and hospi- 
 table South, — I have traversed them all. — Speech of E. Everett, July 5, 1858. 
 
 Westerner. A native or resident of the West. 
 
 Western Reserve. A name formerly given to a tract of country 
 reserved by the State of Connecticut, at the time of the cession of 
 the North-west Territory to the United States. In 1800, jurisdic- 
 tion over this tract was relinquished to the Federal Government, the 
 State reserving the right to the soil and disposing of it in small 
 lots to settlers (from which sales she obtained her magnificent 
 school-fund), while the Indian titles to the rest of the soil were 
 bought up by the General Government. — Wheeler'' s Dictionary. 
 
 West-Pointer. A student, a graduate of the U. S. Military Academy 
 at West Point. 
 
 LiEUTEXANT Charles H . — The brilliant charge of this young West- 
 Pointer, through Fairfax Court-House [village] - —N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 To wet. " Have you wet that new coat." A hint to " treat." Grose 
 has becerage, as drink demanded of any one having a new suit of 
 clothes. — Classical Die. 
 
 To whale. 1. To thrash; to beat. Colloquial with us and in the 
 north of England. " Whale,^^ " wallop." 
 
 2. VsnaW J to whale away. To talk vehemently ; to harangue. 
 
 Professor Stubbins is always a whalin^ away about the dignity of labor, and 
 has been deliverin' a course o' lectures on the subject. — Widow Bedott Pajiers, 
 p. 289. 
 
 I went to Baptist meeting. The elder, as usual, whaled away through his 
 nose, thumped the desk, and went over and over the same thing, without ever 
 making the most remote approach to any thing like the shadow of an idea. — 
 Ibid., p. 105. 
 
 Their masters can cuss 'em, and kick 'em, and wale 'em, 
 An' the}^ notice it less 'an the ass did to Balaam. 
 
 J. R. Lowell, Blfjlow Papers, I. p. 13. 
 
 Whaler. A big, strapping fellow. 
 
 "He 's a whaler ! " said Rory ; " but his face is mighty little for his body and 
 legs." — Georyia Scenes, p. 184. 
 
 Whaling. A lashing; a beating. 
 
 But it is possible that we may, at some future time, go to war with England, 
 her writers and speakers having spoken disparagingly of us while her actors, 
 half-pay officers, and other travelling gentry, carry their heads rather high in 
 passing through our country, — for which "arrogant " demeanor we are bound to 
 give her a. whaliny ! — TV. Y. Tribune, Aug., 1847. 
 
 Whangdoodle. A humorously imaginary creature, whose precise 
 nature, form, and attributes are left to everyone's individual fancy. 
 
 Where the lion roareth and the whangdoodle mourneth for her first-born. — Tht 
 Earp of a Thousand Strings. 
 
74(3 
 
 Whap ! An intei jectioii expressive of a sudden blow, like whack! 
 
 But a day of i)aynunit is coming; and, if tlie nionej' ain't fortliconiiiig, out 
 comes a Randolph writ, and whap goes your money and liberty. — CrocktWs 
 Sj)eech, Tour, p. lO'J. 
 
 I began to tliink smokin' warn't so bad after all, when whoj) went my cigar 
 right out of my mouth into my bosom. — Savi Slick in Enyland, ch. 2. 
 
 To whap over. To knock over. New England. 
 
 Whapper or Whopper. Any thing uncommonly large; a monstrous 
 
 lie. This word is provincial in various parts of England, and is 
 
 common with us. 
 
 " Do you call them large turnips ? " 
 "Why, yes, they are considerably large." 
 
 "They may be so for turnips, but they are nothing to an onion I saw the other 
 day." 
 
 "And how large was the onion 
 
 "Oh, a monster I it weighed forty pounds." 
 
 " Forty pounds ! " 
 
 "Yes: we took off the la3'ers, and the sixteenth layer went completely round 
 a demijohn that held four gallons ! " 
 " What a whopper ! " 
 "You don't mean to say that I lie ? " 
 
 " Oh, no ! what a lohopptr of an onion, I mean," — N. Y. Spint of the Times. 
 Before you lie, brethren, make up your minds to go it strong; for a little cal- 
 low fib stands but a small chance among the big whoppers that are let loose now- 
 a-days. As my friend Pope might have said : — 
 
 A little lying is a dangerous thing: 
 
 Go your whole length, or never make a spring. 
 
 Daw's Sermons, Vol. I. p. 91. 
 
 Whapper- Jaw. A protruding under-jaw; so toliapper-jawed. 
 Whapping or Whopping. Very large. 
 
 We 've got only one crib, and that 's a whappin'' one too. — Major Downinifs 
 Letters, p. 67. 
 
 A whappin' big pan of mush stood in the centre of the table, and a large pan 
 of milk beside it, with lots of corn-bread and butter. — Robb, Squatter Life, p. 61. 
 
 A few years ago, whappimj great sleeves and big antecedents were all the rage ; 
 and what a funny figure our belles did then cut ! — Dotv's Sermons, Vol. III. p. 21. 
 
 Wharf-Boat. On the Western rivers, the height of the water is so 
 variable that a fixed wharf would be useless. In its place is used 
 a rectangular float, in part covered, for the reception of goods, or 
 for a dram-shop. It is generally aground on the shore side, and is 
 entered by a plank or movable platform. This is a wharf-boat. 
 
 Wharf-Rats. 1. Rats that inhabit wharves. 
 
 2. Thieves that infest the wharves of seaport towns. 
 
 To wharf up. To bank up, pile against, as earth around an under- 
 pinning. New England. 
 
WHA 
 
 74T 
 
 Wharves. Mr. Pickering notices this form of the plural of icharf, as 
 peculiar to Americans. The English say wharfs. In the Colony 
 and Province Laws of Massachusetts, Mr. Pickering says he ob- 
 served the plural wharfs (or wharf es) as late as the year 1735; but 
 after that period the form wharves is used. 
 
 Whatcheer. The shibboleth of the people of the State of Rhode 
 Island. When Roger Williams, the founder of this ancient colony, 
 pushed his way from Salem, Massachusetts, in the year 1G36, through 
 the w'ilderness, he embarked in a canoe with five others, on Sekonk 
 River, and landed near the present site of the city of Providence. 
 As the party approached the shore, they were saluted by a company 
 of Indians with the friendly interrogation of " What cheare Netop ? ' ' 
 a common English phrase, which they had learned from the colo- 
 nists, equivalent to the modern How do you do ? and meant by the 
 natives as W^elcome! — Key to Indian Language (1643), p. 1. 
 
 It is amusing to see to what objects this word Whatcheer is ap- 
 plied, in Rhode Island, not one of which has the least connection 
 with it. 
 
 The cove where the party landed is called " Whatcheer Cove," 
 which term is also applied to the lands adjacent. Then there is in 
 Providence a " Whatcheer Bank," a " Whatcheer Church," " What- 
 cheer hotels," a " Whatcheer Insurance Company," a " Whatcheer 
 Hall," a " Whatcheer Building," and, last of all, a " Whatcheer 
 Lager Beer Saloon ! " A recently formed association in Provi- 
 dence also christened their ground for rifle-shooting the ' ' Whatcheer 
 Park," a most ridiculous term, which we think the association has 
 since dropped for the beautiful and sonorous name of " Narragansett 
 Park.'' 
 
 Judge Durfee, a Rhode Island poet, has rendered this event memo- 
 rable by an interesting poem, entitled " Whatcheer^ or Roger Williams 
 in Banishment." In describing the landing of his hero, he says: — 
 
 And straight the kindling words burst on his ear, 
 
 Their shouts, embodied, sought the joyous sky 
 With open arms, and greeting of Whatcheer ! 
 
 Lined all the shoves and banks, and summits high. 
 Whatcheer ! Whatcheer ! resounded far and near, 
 
 Whatcheer! Whatcheer ! the hollow woods reply; 
 Whatcheer ! Whatcheer ! swells the exulting gales. 
 
 Sweeps o'er the laughing hills and trembles through the vales. 
 
 The Indians of Maryland are said to have used the expression 
 kekicknitop^ meaning " How do you do ? " 
 
748 
 
 WIIA— Will 
 
 Kekicknitop the heathen cry'd : 
 How IS it, Tom, my friend reply'd. 
 Cook, The Sot-weed Factor, or Voyage to Maryland (1708), p. 11, with 
 note on the word. 
 
 What for a is frequently used by Pennsylvanians, instead of " What 
 
 kind of a," in asking questions. It is a literal translation of the 
 
 German idiom, " Was fiir ein.^^ 
 To wheal. To swell. 
 
 The father discovered a gainsome expression of face. . . . His cheeks whealed 
 
 and puffed, and through his lips his laughter exposed his white teeth. — Margaret, 
 
 p. 10. 
 
 Wheat and Indian. A mixture of wheat flour and the meal of Indian 
 corn. 
 
 Wheaton. To loheaton it, among the West Point cadets, is to play 
 sick. The term is derived from the name of old Dr. Wheaton, 
 U. S. A., long stationed at West Point. 
 
 Wheelbarrow-Boat. A steamboat with a stern-wheel, used on some 
 of the Western rivers, as well as in Canada and Oregon. See Stern- 
 Wheel. 
 
 Wheel-Horse. An intimate friend; one's right-hand man; a lead- 
 ing man. Western. 
 
 It is probable that the only man put forward by the Republican's wheel-hoi-sea 
 of Illinois for high appointment under President Ha3'es will be the Honorable 
 John A. Logan. — Lett, in N. Y. Tribune, Feb. 26, 1877. 
 
 Wheeling. The act of conveying on w^heels, or driving a wheeled 
 vehicle. It is good or bad vilieeling, according to the state of the 
 roads. 
 
 It is mid-winter still, and there is snow on the ground ; but the sleighing is 
 not as good as it was, and the state of the streets admits loheeling. — The Upper 
 Ten Thousand, p. 30. 
 
 At the North-west, wheeling is synonymous with hauling. 
 Wheels. To "grease the wheels," to furnish money necessary for 
 
 the accomplishment of an object. 
 Whelk. A wale ; a sore ; a swelling ; a pustule. 
 
 The Negro had been most unmercifully beaten; that he was but one whelk 
 from his neck to his ankles. — Richmond Enquirer, Jan., 1862. 
 
 Whetsaw. The White-breasted Nut-hatch (Sitta Canadensis) is so 
 called in Pennsylvania, from the resemblance its tones sometimes 
 bear to the whetting of a saw. — Nuttall. 
 
 Which is what. "It is fun of a different sort which is what does 
 harm." — The Congregationalist, May, 1877. It is not easy to 
 
WHI 
 
 749 
 
 straighten out this remarkable expression. "Which is which'* 
 explains itself, as ordinarily heard. So does even the " but what " 
 for " that," &c., as " I don't know but what." 
 
 Whiffle-Tree. The bar on which the traces of a dragging horse are 
 hooked, and by which he draws his load. In England, called a 
 vMpple-tree. — HallhcelL It is better known as a ftwimjle-tree . 
 
 Whig and Tory. During the war of the American Revolution, the 
 terms Whig and Tory were applied, — the former to those who sup- 
 ported the Revolutionary movement, the latter to the royalists, or 
 those who adhered to the British government. Tory was then a 
 stigma of the most reproachful kind. 
 
 Whigs and Democrats. It is very difficult to give a precise, accurate, 
 and satisfactory definition of the principles distinctively held by 
 the two great political parties into which the population of the 
 American Union is divided, — one popularly styling itself the 
 Democratic^ the other the Whig party. In point of fact, the satiri- 
 cal definition of the outs and the ins would not be very far out of 
 the way; for the doctrines of government and legislation theoreti- 
 cally advanced by the Democratic party, when out of power, are not 
 so radically diverse from those of the W^higs in the same condition, 
 as are the practices of either, when in power, from their professions. 
 As times change, and circumstances, the demands or wishes of 
 these parties change also; so that what was Whig doctrine in 1830 
 may be Democratic doctrine in 1850, and vice verm. 
 
 The nominal distinctions, some years ago, were, on the Whig side, 
 a Protective Tariff, a National Bank, Division of the Proceeds of 
 the Public Lands among all the States, and the duty of the General 
 Government to carry on works of Public Improvement, such as 
 Canals, Roads, &c. 
 
 The Democrat?! were for Free Trade, no connection of the govern- 
 ment with Banking, distribution of the proceeds of the public 
 lands among the States in which the lands lie. and non-interference 
 by the government with internal improvements. 
 
 But all these questions have rarely been brought to the practical 
 test. Absolute free trade has ever been impracticable, because it 
 would deprive the government of the revenue derived from imix)sts. 
 The government has always been obliged to carry on some kind of 
 financial operations, differing more in name than in reality from a 
 system of banking considered as a means of supplying a currency. 
 The public lands have rarely yielded any proceeds beyond the wants 
 
7L0 
 
 WHI 
 
 of the g-ovei'iiment. And the only real question, fairly at issue, 
 has been that of improvement in public works. 
 
 The Democrats popularly charge upon the Whigs a desire to 
 strengthen and centralize the National Government, declaring 
 themselves to be in favor rather of strengthening the local govei-n- 
 ments of the several States, and of limiting, as far as constitution- 
 ally possible, the agency of the National Government, or government 
 of the Union ; but in practice the Democratic party is ready enough 
 to assume power for the General Government when any thing is to 
 be gained by so doing; and in this, as in most other instances, the 
 difference between the two parties lies rather in words than in 
 deeds. 
 
 The Whigs, on the other hand, popularly charge upon the Demo- 
 crats an undue degree of subserviency to the Executive, especially 
 since the elevation of General Jackson to the presidency in 1829; 
 and this charge seems to have more foundation in truth. It is cer- 
 tain, at all events, that the thi-ee Democratic presidents, Jackson, 
 Van Buren, and Polk, have found a more zealous and unscrupulous 
 support in questionable measures than was ever given to a Whig 
 president, or indeed to any of their predecessors. 
 
 Perhaps, on the whole, it may be truly said that the main prac- 
 tical difference between the Whigs and Democrats lies in the fact 
 that the latter give a more unhesitating and thorough-going support 
 to all measures which involve the question of party-measures, which 
 become, by any means, party tests, whether emanating from the 
 Executive or adopted by him under impulse from his adherents. — 
 [,/. Inman, 1848.] 
 
 WMggism or Whiggery. Whig principles; the doctrines of the 
 Whig party. These words have, in the United States, lost their 
 original opprobrious meaning, and are frequently used by the Whigs 
 themselves in speaking of their doctrines. 
 
 Professor Amasa Walker here came forward, and said they all stood together 
 upon the same platform, and he had heard too much of Wlii(j(jory about their 
 proceedings already; and, as they stood upon a broad platform, he as a Democrat 
 protested against their throwing in so much Whignery, and entertaining them 
 about Gen. Taylor's white horse. — Rep. of a Free-soil Convention at Worcester, 
 Mass., .Tune 28, 1848. 
 
 The Whigs in Boston see by the movement in New York, and by accounts 
 from Ohio, that there is a chance, at least, of General Taylor being vigorously 
 opposed by somer men of undoubted Whif/genj \i\ influential States. — Letter 
 from Boston, in N. Y. Herald, June 21, 1848. 
 
 While, for till. " Stay while I come," instead of. Stay till I come. 
 Used in the Southern States. — Sherwood's Georqia. 
 
WHI 
 
 751 
 
 To whip the Cat. I can give no other explanation of the phrase 
 than to quote the following passage by Mr. Goodrich, who. in de- 
 scribing the early customs of New England, says: — 
 
 Twice a year, the tailor came to the house and fabricated the semi-annual stock 
 of clothes for the male members, this being called wliipphKj the cat. — Reminis- 
 cences., Vol. I. p. 74. 
 
 Mr. Hart made shoes, a trade he prosecuted in an itinerating manner from 
 house to house, whipping the cat,'^ as it was termed. — JuckVs Maryaret, ch. iii. 
 
 To whip the Devil around a Stump. To make false excuses to one's 
 self and others for doing what one likes. 
 
 While INIr. Jones is describing his wants in the money line, and telling the 
 president how " near through" he is, that officer is carrying on a mental addi- 
 tion, it may be after this manner: "Jones, you're a clever fellow, but Smith 
 tells me you are engaged in a coal-stock operation. I have heard also that you 
 have been dabbling in Erie. There is a want of candor now, I perceive, in the 
 statement of your affairs. There, you are now irhippiny the devil aroilnd the 
 stump: I see his foot." — N. Y. Eveninc/ Post, 1857. 
 
 Whiskey. 1. Whiskey straight is the pure, undiluted liquor. 
 
 Down in a small Palmetto Sfate, the curious ones may find 
 
 A ripping, tearing gentleman of an uncommon kind; 
 A staggering, swaggering, sort of a chap, who takes his zchiskey straight. 
 
 And frequently condemns his eyes to that ultimate vengeance which a clergyman 
 of high standing has assured must be a sinner's fate, — 
 This South Carolina gentleman, one of the present time. — Comic Song. 
 
 When Hon. Frajik P. Blair, then Democratic candidate for Vice-President of 
 the United States, declared, in a speech from the steps of the Manhattan Club, 
 that the main plank in the Democratic platform was whiskey straight, he probably 
 shocked a few of his more orthodox and respectable hearers. — V. Y. Times, 
 March 7, 1872. 
 
 Bourbon whiskey, it is known, is the best article, being made of 
 rye, which see. 
 
 A man who had been drinking freely rushed into a bar-room: — 
 
 Who was thinkin' and thinkin' and thinkin'. 
 
 And cursin' himself and his fate. 
 And ended his thinkin' as usual. 
 
 By orderin' a bourbon straight. — The Bar-tender's Song. 
 
 •J. Straight Whiskey means the liquor upon which the excise duty 
 has been paid. Crooked whiskey is that on which by frauds, or by 
 the connivance of government inspectors, the payment of duty has 
 been evaded. Immense quantities of the latter were distilled at St. 
 Louis, Chicago, and other Western cities, in 1872-75, by which the 
 government was defrauded out of millions of dollars. Several dis- 
 tillers and government officials, being convicted of tliese frauds, were 
 heavily fined and sentenced to State pri.sons. 
 
752 
 
 WHI 
 
 In the McKee trial, the manager of the Bingham St. Louis distillery testified 
 to the general operations of the ring, the amounts of cro< >ke.(l whishey mi\(\Q. hy 
 their house, the sums of money paid to the ring fund, and the special assessments 
 for the alleged purpose of huying off the revenue-officers, and to prevent seizures. 
 N. Y. Times, Jan., 1876. 
 
 Half a dozen whiskey-dealers were arrested yesterday, and held to bail to 
 ansAver a charge of neglecting duties imposed upon them by law with reference 
 to the payment of taxes. These dealers had received a large amount of whiskey 
 from the West, and it is suspected that they have been aiding the Western dis- 
 tillers in putting the " crooked'''' liquor upon the market. — N. Y. Tribune, Jan., 
 1876. 
 
 The three witnesses from Chicago who are to testify relative to the crooked- 
 whiskey business as carried on in New York have arrived here, and under direc- 
 tion of Attorney Bliss go before the grand jury to-day. The books of several 
 whiskey firms in this city, it is stated, have been recently seized. — Philadelphia 
 Press. 
 
 Alfred Bevis, distiller, testified that Joyce showed him the Sylph dispatch 
 from Babcock, in December, 1874, and that his understanding from it was that 
 the revenue agents were not coming, and on the strength of the information 
 preparations were made to run crooked. — N. Y. Herald. 
 
 Whiskey-Bloat. A person bloated from drinking whiskey. " Pri- 
 vate pilferers, the tvhiskey-bloats, the bullies in Ward elections.'* 
 Cincinnati Com. Adv. 
 
 Whiskey- Jack. A name for the Blue Jay (Garrulus crisiatus). Can- 
 ada and parts of New England. The name is a corruption of the 
 Indian Ouishcatchan. See Relation de la Nouvelle France, 1634, 
 ch. iv. 
 
 The Whiskey-Jack is numerous on the ridge, and in the spruce swamp were 
 several ravens. — Hind's Canadian and Red River Exp , Vol. I. p. 51. 
 
 Whiskey-Mill. In California and the Far West, a grog-shop; a 
 grocery where whiskey is sold. 
 
 Piatt City consists of one fair hotel, several small boarding-houses for opera- 
 tives, several warehouses, as many stores, and about forty ivhiskey-mills, or 
 small groceries where whiskey, tobacco, and portable eatables are sold at fabu- 
 lous prices. — McClure, Rocky Mountains, p. 55. 
 
 Whiskey-Root. A plant of the Cactus species possessing intoxicating 
 properties, which is thus described by a correspondent of the " New 
 Orleans Picayune:" "It is what the Indians call Pie-o-ke. It 
 grows in Southern Texas, on the range of sand-hills bordering on 
 the Rio Grande, and in gravelly, sandy soil. The Indians eat it for 
 its exhilarating effect on the system, it producing precisely the same 
 as alcoholic drinks. It is sliced as you would a cucumber, and these 
 small pieces chewed, the juice swallowed, and in about the same 
 time as comfortably tight cocktails would ' stir the divinity within ' 
 
WHI 
 
 753 
 
 you this indicates itself: only its effects are what I might term a 
 little more k-a-v-o-r-t-i-n-g, giving rather a wider scope to tlie im- 
 agination and actions." 
 
 Whiskey-Skin. A drink made of whiskey, sugar, and mint, called 
 otherwise whiskey-smasA, perhaps on account of the crushed ice with 
 which it is cooled. 
 
 Whiskey-sodden. Soaked, steeped in whiskey. 
 
 A babbling, hva.y\r\ing, whiskey-sodden preacher of rebellion. — N. Y. Tribune^ 
 March, 1862. 
 
 White Fish. 1. See Menhaden. 
 
 2. A certain fish abounding in the great lakes of the West. 
 
 White Frost. Hoar-frost. Western and New England. 
 
 White League. A military organization formed in New Orleans, in 
 1874, for the ostensible purpose of putting down the blacks, in con- 
 sequence of a report that they were arming themselves and prepar- 
 ing for an uprising. Several thousand of the Democratic party 
 enrolled themselves in response to a call, and ordered arms from 
 New York. Upon the arrival of a steamer with these arms, the 
 city authorities, fearing that the real object of the White League 
 was to take possession of the State government, refused to allow the 
 arras to be landed. On the l4th of September, the White League, 
 having armed themselves as well as they could, proceeded to the 
 levee in front of the city, where the steamer was lying, in order to 
 take forcible possession of the arms. This action occasioned the 
 riots of that date, causing the death of over one hundred persons, 
 and was the origin of the White League, afterwards so famous in 
 Louisiana politics. 
 
 Referring to the information filed against the members of the 
 Louisiana Returning Board, a Washington despatch to the "New 
 York Sun " says: — 
 
 Back of the Attorney-General, District Attorney, and Grand Jury, stands the 
 powerful *' White League,'''' which will brook no interference by Nichols. 
 
 Another Washinf^ton despatch presents this view, which may suggest the 
 quer}' whether Tilden is aiding the murderous White League, or the White 
 League is aiding Tilden. 
 
 White Liner. A political party in Louisiana. 
 
 Governor Stone was elected by the v^hite-liners, aspires to be re-elected next 
 fall, and must rely on this same class for his future success. — Cor. of Washing~ 
 ton Star. 
 
 White-Oak Cheese. Tough, hard cheese made from skimmed milk. 
 White Settlements. The settlement of Kentucky, the first Western 
 State, was by an emigration from Virginia through the Cumberland 
 
 48 
 
754 
 
 WHI 
 
 Gap. The fertile soil, which was the temptation, lay in the middle 
 of the State; and the surrounding region, being comparatively poor 
 (except in coal and iron), was neglected, although traversed by the 
 whole emigration. The centre, or " Garden Spot," was called " The 
 White Settlements,^^ while Indians still lingered on its outskii'ts. 
 
 Now that these comparatively poor regions of the State have 
 become inhabited, the name is still retained, and without explana- 
 tion would be deemed absurd ; for all the Indians have disappeared 
 long ago, and Negroes are only to be found in numbers on the large 
 farms of these very white settlements. 
 
 The phrase seems to be used only by those who live between the 
 mountains and the region so designated, in which the term is never 
 oused, although well understood. — [G. C. Schaeffer.'\ 
 
 White Trasn. A term applied, Especially by Negroes, to the poor 
 white people of the South. See Poor White Folks. 
 
 In social relations, the Negroes are sensitive to the overbearing propensities of 
 a proprietary who are accustomed to regard all neighbors out of their own class 
 as white trash. — Olmsted'' s Texas. 
 
 Of all the pizen critters that I knows on, these ere mean v-hife trash is the 
 pizenest. They ain't got no manners and no bringing up. — 3frs. Stowe, Dred, 
 Vol. II. 
 
 " The fact is," said Mr. Gordon, " what with niggers, and overseers, and white 
 trash, my chances of salvation are dreadfully limited." — Ibid., Vol. I. p. 271. 
 
 Whitewood. (Liriodendron tulipifera.) A large tree bearing flowers 
 resembling the tulip. See Tidip-Tree. 
 
 Then in the woods rang the sound of an axe, and I was the chopper, 
 Slashing away at the tops of a whitewood fallen in the forest. 
 
 Trowbrid(je''s Poems, The Emigrant. 
 
 Whiting. The name by which the Hake (Merlucius vulgaris, Cuvier) 
 is generally known to fishermen, in New England. — Storer. 
 
 Whit-Plotting. A term used in Nantucket for visiting among rela- 
 tions and friends. 
 
 Whit-Pot. A kind of pudding. New England. It is the White-Pot 
 of Devonshire. 
 
 To whittle. To cut or dress with a knife. The word as well as the 
 practice of whittling for amusement is so nmch more common with 
 us, especially in New England, than in the old country, that its use 
 may not improperly be regarded as an Americanism. 
 
 Dexterity with the pocket-knife is part of a Nantucket education ; but I am 
 inclined to think the propensity is national. Americans must and will whittle. — 
 N. P. Willis. 
 
WHI— WHO 
 
 755 
 
 In the " Yankee Ballad " by Miss Abby AUin, in speaking of the 
 New Englander, she says : — 
 
 No matter where his home may be, 
 
 What flag may be unfurled, 
 He '11 manage by some cute device 
 To whittle through the world. 
 The Pierce administration, which came into power with a majority of eighty, 
 has now been whittled down to ten, as appeared by the vote on the Ostend con- 
 vention. — Providence Journal. 
 
 In the olden time of England, the days of Norman pride, 
 The mail-clad chieftain buckled on his broad-sword at his side; 
 And, mounted on his trusty steed, from land to land he strayed, 
 And ever, as he wandered on, he whittled with his blade. 
 
 0, those dreamy days of whittling. 
 
 The same poem, in alluding to the common people who overthrew 
 the English government in the time of Charles I., thus continues: — 
 
 They whittled down the royal throne with all its ancient might. 
 And many a tough old cavalier was whittled out of sight; 
 They whittled off the king's head, and set it on the wall ; 
 They whittled out a Commonwealth, but it could not last at all. 
 0, those tier}' days of whittling. 
 
 Anglo-Saxon Whittling Song, Congregationalist. 
 
 Mr. McClure, in his travels through the Far West to California, 
 tells a remarkable story of a jury in Montana, who 
 
 Complained that they could not get suitable sticks to whittle ; and the deputy 
 sheriff now passes a soft-pine board along the jmy as soon as they are sworn, 
 and each one splits off a piece corresponding with his appetite in that line. — 
 Rocky Mountains, p. 411. 
 
 Whittled. Tipsy, drunk. Perhaps in allusion to " cm^." 
 
 Whittler. One who whittles. 
 
 Not an aged dame of Plymouth, 
 Nor the oldest whittler known. 
 Can the finger point to time-notch 
 Chronicling his leave of home. 
 Wm. Boyd, Oakwood Old, Cambridge {Mass.) Chronicle, 1857. 
 
 Whole Cloth. A lie made out of whole cloth is one in which there is 
 no admixture of truth. 
 
 Isn't this entire story about your Jersey grandmother made out of whole cloth, 
 spun on your own wheel, withj'^our tongue for the spindle? — C. Matthews, The 
 Motley Book, p. 68. 
 
 Mr. R. W. Thompson, in a late work on " The Papacy and the 
 Civil Power," states that Dr. Pusey in his History of the Councils 
 fixes the number of the Xicene canons at twenty, yet " publishes a 
 false and forged canon, which he calls the twenty-ninth, to prove 
 
756 
 
 WHO 
 
 that the Council of Xice thereby declared the Bishop of Rome to be 
 Christ's vicegerent in the government of the Church," and adds: — 
 
 The forgery, whenever and by whomsoever made, is bold and entire, and made 
 out df whole cloth. Tliere is not a single word by any of the early Fathers that 
 can be tortured into such a meaning. — p. 318. 
 
 Whole-footed. Sound. 
 
 So Mr. D has shown his cloven foot to the South at last. I never believed 
 
 he Avas whole-footed. I never had conrtdence iu him. — Richmond South, Dec, 
 1857. 
 
 Whole Heap. Many; several; much; a large congregation. An ex- 
 pression peculiar to certain parts of the South and West. — Sher- 
 
 woocPs Georgia. 
 
 Whole-souled. 1. Noble-minded. A phrase in great favor with 
 persons fond of fine talking and fine writing, like the following 
 extract from a rhapsody about a Fourth of July oration of Mr. 
 Choate's: — 
 
 The soaring and revelling ideas, the whole-souled patriotism, the gorgeous 
 word-painting, the flow and headway of resistless emotion, were all suited to the 
 audience, which hung entranced upon the lips of the orator. — Boston Journal, 
 July, 1858. 
 
 2. Generous; free-hearted. 
 Whole Team. To say that a man is a whole team signifies, in New 
 England and Western parlance, that he is possessed of uncommon 
 powers of body or mind. See Full Team. 
 
 Among other amplifications of the phrase is that of a whole team 
 and a horse to spare, or a horse to let. 
 
 The author of a series of lively sketches, in " Blackwood's Maga- 
 zine," on " Canada and the North-west States," says: — 
 
 I once heard a Yankee desci'ibe the greatest friend he possessed in the world as a 
 hull team and a horse to spare, besides a big dog under the wagon." — Vol. 
 LXXVIII. p. 336. 
 
 In a sketch of fashionable society in New Yoi-k, the writer thus 
 speaks of a specimen of Young America: — 
 
 Here's the first curiosity of the place. He's just three years old rising; can 
 drive a horse on a straight road; eats every thing he can get, and drinks every 
 liquid in the house except ink. Isn't he a beauty? Isn't he a whole team and 
 one horse extra ? — The Upper Ten Thousand. 
 
 Rip van Hawser and his two splendid galls. Oh, my sakes ! Weren't they 
 whole teams of themselveSj and a horse to spare ? — Sam Slick, Wise Saws, p. 23. 
 
 Whoosh. A term used in New England in backing a horse or an ox. 
 In Moor's Suffolk Glossary, it is defined as "an imperative com- 
 manding the fore-horse of a team to bear to the left." Mr. Forby, 
 
WIC— WID 
 
 757 
 
 on the contrary, in his Norfolk Glossary, says " Woosh wo ! means 
 " Go to the right." Both authors derive it from the French gauche. 
 Perhaps from Whoa, Hush ! 
 
 Wicket. A place of shelter, or camp made of the boughs of trees, 
 used by lumbermen in Maine. 
 
 Wicopy. See Leather- Wood. 
 
 Wide-awake. On the alert; ready; prepared; to be on the watch 
 for any thing. 
 
 Miss Harriet had more clothes and more money than the rest ; because she was 
 always wide-aioake, and looking out for herself. — Mrs. Stoive's Dred, Yo\.l. 
 p. 210. 
 
 In the morning, and before sunrise, Bogard, who was a Yankee and a ivide- 
 awake fellow, thrust his head out from under his robe, exclaiming, as he grasped 
 for his gun, " Bv darn, look at old Cale ! " — Catlin's North Am. Indians, Vol. I. 
 p. 71. 
 
 The Homeric Greeks were too shrewd and wide-a wake a people to sow where 
 they did not reap ; and the increase of communication, and consequent frequency 
 of visitors, were sure to close quickly the open door, and the unasked right of 
 entr3\ — Mahaffy, Social Life in Greece., p. 48. 
 
 " Oh what is the good of a wide-awake boy. 
 
 Who whoops and halloos 
 
 As he ties on his shoes. 
 
 And who dances a jig 
 
 While he 's combing his wig 
 And washing his face with a very poor grace ; 
 
 Who whips on his jacket, 
 
 And makes all the racket 
 
 He po&sibly can? 
 Now, tell me, I pray, what 's the good of this boy? 
 Well, a wide-awake boy makes a icide-awake man.— Anonymous. 
 
 Wide-awake, n. A kind of low-crowned felt hat, with a broad brim; 
 a slouched hat. 
 
 Wide-awakes. The name of a political organization appertaining to 
 the Republican party, whose object was to promote the election of 
 Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency. The order originated in Hart- 
 ford, Conn. On the 25th of February, 1859, when the Hon. Cassius 
 M. Clay was to address the Republicans of that city, certain young 
 men got up a torchlight procession in his honor. Finding that the 
 oil was liable to run down from the torches and injure their clothes, 
 they prudently provided themselves with oil-cloth caps and glazed 
 capes. 
 
 The party, meeting with some opposition from the Democrats on 
 their return, resolved to form a club, to be equipped with swinging 
 torches and black capes and caps, to act as an especial escort on 
 
758 
 
 WIG— WIL 
 
 occasion of public parades of the Republican party. Accordingly, on 
 the 3d March following, a club of fifty was formed, called the " Wide- 
 awake Club," a Constitution w^as adopted, and officers elected. 
 The organization became very popular, and similar clubs were im- 
 mediately formed in various parts of the Union, so that it was esti- 
 mated that before the Presidential election in 1860 their numbers 
 exceeded half a million. At a general meeting in New York on 
 the 3d October, 20,000 assembled and marched in procession with 
 torches. 
 
 Wiggle. 1. To bend the body raj^idly from side to side; to wriggle, as 
 a fish or tadpole. 
 
 2. A twist, crook, irregular line. 
 
 A certain wiggle in my handwriting ; an unusual but impressible wiggle, which 
 you will ascribe to extraordinarj' pickings and shovellings in the trenches. — 
 Cor. N. Y. Tribune, 18G1. 
 
 Wiggle-Tail. The popular name for the larva of the mosquito. 
 
 Standing by a shallow, half-stagnant pool on a midsummer's day, the full 
 development of any number of loiggle -tails " to the mosquito state can be wit- 
 nessed, and the origin of these disturbers of night's slumbers thus fully ascer- 
 tained. — Scientijic American. 
 
 Wigwam. Algonkin or Massachusetts weTc, "his houses" or dwell- 
 ing-place; with possessive and locative affixes, wekou-om-ut in his 
 [or their] house," contracted by the English into iveekwayn and 
 wigwam. — Webster. An Indian cabin or hut, usually made of skins. 
 
 Dark as the frost-nipp'd leaves that strew' d the ground, 
 The Indian hunter here his shelter found; 
 Here cut his bow and shaped his arrows true, 
 Here built his wigwam and his bark canoe. 
 
 Brainard, Connecticut River. » 
 
 Wigwassing or Wequashing. The Anglicized form of an Algonkin 
 word, in use on the sea-coast of New England. " The Indians when 
 they go in a canoe with a torch, to catch eels, in the night, call it 
 Weequash, or, Anglicized, Weequashing.''^ — Hon. N. Freeman of 
 Sandivich, in 1 Mass. Hist. Coll., Vol. I. p. 231. 
 
 The term is yet in use in New London County, Conn., and else- 
 where. 
 
 Wild-Bean. (Phaseolus diversif alius.) A plant common in the alluvial 
 bottoms of the West, the Wild Potato of the Sioux Indians, much 
 used as food. 
 
 Wild-Cat. A bank in Michigan had a large vignette on its notes 
 representing a panther, which animal is familiarly called there a 
 Wild-cat. This bank failed, having a large amount of its notes 
 
WIL 
 
 759 
 
 in circulation, which notes were afterwards denominated Wild-cat 
 money, and the bank issuing them the Wild-cat bank. Other banks 
 were compelled to stop payment soon after, in consequence of the 
 want of confidence in them; and the term became general in Michi- 
 gan, to denote banking institutions of an unsound character. The 
 term Blue-pup money had a similar origin, as distinguished from 
 Bed Bog, which see. 
 
 We had to sell some of our land to pay taxes on the rest, — and then took our 
 l)ay in Wild-cat money that turned to waste paper before we could get it off our 
 hands. — Mrs. Clavers's Forest Life, Vol. I. p. 91. 
 
 The Leavenworth (Kansas) Ledger, in announcing that the American Bank in 
 this city had suddenly exploded, remarks: "There are thousands of dollars of 
 its notes in the hands of the citizens of this city and vicinity ; how the notes 
 obtained a circulation here is a mystery to us, and we know not to whom the 
 blame, if any, attaches ; certain it is that we are overrun with a wild-cat currency 
 from all God's creation, and every day or two we notice batches of new issues 
 scattered amongst us." — {Bait. ) Sun, July 8, 1858. 
 
 Our banks are always willing to offer loans and facilities to speculators and 
 wild-cat business men to operate with, and it is through their assistance that the 
 business of the country is disarranged. — Cincinnati Enquirer. 
 
 When the Yankee mind stoops to criminal pursuits, it is likeh' to manifest 
 itself m the way of bank forgeries, embezzlements, or the formation of petroleum 
 bubbles or wild-cat banking institutions. — The Galaxy for 1877, p. 632, 
 
 Wild Cherry. (Cei-asus Virginiana.) A large American tree, bearing 
 a small astringent fruit resembling a cherry. The wood is much 
 used for cabinet work, being of a light color and a compact texture. 
 Browne'' s Sylva Americana. 
 
 Wild Indigo. (Baptisia tinctoria.) A plant found in the woods, yield- 
 ing a small quantity of indigo. 
 
 Wild Land. Land which has never been settled and cultivated; 
 forest. 
 
 Wild Oats. (Arena fatua.) A variety of oats which grows wild 
 upon all the hills and higher lands of California, furnishing the 
 best forage. It was probably introduced by the Spaniards. 
 
 Wild Potato Vine. See Mechoacan. 
 
 Wild Rice. (Zizania aquatica.) A tall, tubular, reedy water-plant, 
 found in abundance on the marshy margins of the Northern Lakes, 
 and in the plashy waters on the upper courses of the Mississippi. 
 Its leaves and spikes, though much larger, resemble those of oats, 
 whence the French name, folles avoines. Millions of migrating 
 water-fowls fatten on it before taking their autumnal flight to the 
 South; while it furnishes the northern savages and the Canadian 
 traders and hunters with their annual supplies of grain. 
 
760 
 
 WIL— WIN 
 
 At the time of our visit, wild rice was growing abundantly over almost all the 
 whole surface of Lake Koshkonong, giving to it more the appearance of a meadow 
 than a lake. — Laphnm's Antiquities of Wisconsin, p. 35. 
 
 Wild Train. A railroad train not on the time-tables of the road, and 
 therefore irregular, and " not entitled to the track," as the rail- 
 road phrase is, as against a regular train. 
 
 Will. See Would. 
 
 To wilt. 1. To droop; to wither, as plants or flowers cut or plucked 
 off. — Halloway. A word common in the United States, and pro- 
 vincial in England, where welk and welt are used in the same sense. 
 Worcester, 
 
 Miss Amy pinned a flower to her breast ; and, when she died, she held the 
 wilted fragments close in her hand. — Margaret, p. 213. 
 
 2. To wilt down is a figurative expression, used of a person who 
 hangs his head, looks sheepish. 
 
 Some cotton fellar here bid sixty dollars [for the slave], and she wilted right 
 down. — Robb, Squatter Life. 
 
 "Doctor Peter Jones," ses he, "linterduce you to their Majestys the King 
 and Queen." 
 
 Cousin Pete scraped about a while, and then dropt on one knee rite afore 'em. 
 "Rise, gallant knight! " ses Bill Byers, — " rise, we dub you knight of the 
 roj-al bath." 
 
 Cousin Pete got up and bowed and scraped a few more times, and went to sit 
 down between 'em, but they ris up jest as he went to set down; and the first 
 thing he knowed, kerslosh he went, rite into a big tub of cold water, with noth- 
 ing but his head and heels stickin' out. Pete got out as quick as he could, and I 
 never seed a feller so wilted down in all my life. — Major Joneses Courtship. 
 
 Windfall. 1. The track of a whirlwind or tornado in a forest, where 
 the trees are laid prostrate. 
 
 In the country around Angelica were what were called windfalls. . . . These 
 windfalls were great places for rabbits and partridges, and it was no great thing 
 to boast of to kill a dozen or two of these birds of an afternoon. — Hammond, 
 Wild Northern Scenes, p. 220. 
 
 2. Fruit blown off by wind. 
 
 To wind up. 1. To close up; to give a quietus to an antagonist in 
 debate. Also, intransitively, to shut up; to stop business. 
 
 John Bell of Tennessee, that unmistakable Whig, has rung out a clear and far- 
 sounding note of alarm concerning this Mexican war. He is as serious as a 
 preacher, and as downright as a sailor in the delivery of his sentiments. A 
 lively dialogue, constituting a kind of interlude to his speech, sprang up between 
 him and Mr. Cass, in which he pretty effectualh' " wound up'" the senator from 
 Michigan. — N. Y. Com. Adv. 
 
 2. To " icind up his ivorsted " is to give the very last turn of which 
 an undertaking is capable. 
 
WIN— WIP 
 
 761 
 
 Several of the Western banks will be compelled to wind up in consequence of 
 their losses and the severe pressure. — iV. Y. Herald, Sept., 1857. 
 
 Wing Dam. A dam extending but partly across a stream. Such 
 dams are constructed in California to facilitate the operations of 
 miners. 
 
 Winkle-Hawk. (Dutch, winkle-haak.) An angular rent made in 
 cloth, &c. It is also called a winkle-hole. A New York term. 
 
 Winrow. The common pronunciation of idndrow. Grass laid in 
 
 rows after it has been cut, before it is gathered into cocks. 
 Winter-Berry. See Alder. 
 Winter-Cherry. See Ground-Cherry. 
 
 Wintergreen. (Gualtheria.) The common name of several species 
 of plants of the Heath family; as, False Wintergreen of the genus 
 Pyrola ; Spotted W. of the genus Chitnaphila maculata. 
 
 Winter-killed. Killed by the cold of winter, as wheat, clover, &c. 
 
 Winter-Privilege. Separate meetings from those in the central paro- 
 chial church, allowed to be held by the people in out-districts. 
 Former usage in Connecticut. 
 
 To wipe out. A phrase employed by the Indians and hunters of the 
 West, meaning to exterminate, annihilate a person or tribe. 
 
 They [the Camanches, Apaches, and others] had met for the purpose of form- 
 ing their own party, in order, as they in their strong language said, to wipe out 
 all frontier Indians they could find on the plains. — Report of Com. of Indian 
 Affairs for 1854, p. 90. 
 
 The Pima Indians have got up another quarrel with the Apaches, and have 
 mustered upwards of a thousand warriors to give them battle. It is their deter- 
 mination to " wipe out the Apaches," or, as they express it, to eat tliem up 
 entirely, which is a consummation devoutly to be wished. — AUa Californian, 
 July, 1858. 
 
 " We are coming to Lawrence," said the Missourians, " in a few days, to wipe 
 out the damned abolition city, and to kill and drive off every one of the inhab- 
 itants." — Mrs. Robinson's Kansas, p. 222. 
 
 The Mormon militia under Brigham Young intend to take a stand at the pass 
 in the mountains near Bear River, with the certainty of wiping out the U. S. 
 forces sent against them. — Letter from Utah, N. Y. Times, Nov., 1857. 
 
 The " Boston Pilot," in speaking of the " fight in the New York 
 Democratic Convention between Tammany and anti-Tammany," 
 says : — 
 
 The existence of a party within a party, and the inner one a close corporation 
 controlling the other, is a dangerous principle, and one that should be wiped out. 
 
 To wipe out a stock operator is a Wall Street phrase, and means to 
 entangle him in a stock transaction until he loses his footing and 
 
762 
 
 WIR 
 
 fails utterly. It is one of the malignancies and cruelties of the 
 street. — Medhery, Men and Mysteries of Wall Street, p. 138. 
 
 Wire, Wires. The electric telegraph; conveyance by means of the 
 wires. 
 
 For a week past we have had no wire communication further East than . . , 
 N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 To wire. To send a message over the telegraph wires. 
 Wired up. Irritated ; provoked. 
 
 Wire-Edge. The wire-edge of a tool is that stage in the process of 
 
 sharpening it, when a delicate roll or strip of metal resembling a 
 fine wire still adheres to the edge, and which of course must be 
 removed before the implement can be in proper order to cut. Some 
 persons, however, seem to imagine that a wire-edge is a fine edge, 
 and hence absurdly use the term in such phrases as to take off the 
 wire-edge of one's appetite, of a horse's spirit, &c. 
 
 He trotted the first mile in 2.55, and the second in 2.45, and was then 
 stopped. On commencing again, he had, of course, lost the wire-edye " of his 
 speed, yet he trotted nineteen miles in 57.43. — N. Y. Spirit of the Times. 
 
 Wire-PuUers or Wire- Workers. A term denoting those who, by 
 their secret plots and intrigues, control the movements of the pup- 
 pets on the political stage. 
 
 The coming contest is to decide whether the people have the privilege of elect- 
 ing a chief magistrate of their own selection, or only the privilege of electing one 
 of two candidates whom self-elected cliques of nominators choose to designate. 
 The Philadelphia Convention will assemble on Wednesday. Already that city 
 is filled with wire-pullers, public opinion manufacturers, embryo cabinet officers, 
 future ambassadors, and the whole brood of political make-shifts, who contrive 
 to live out of the public purse by abusing public credulity. — N. Y. Mirror, 
 June 5, 1848. 
 
 In another case, at a nominating convention, a "surprise candidate," youthful 
 in age, and in all other qualifications far inferior to his competitors, obtained the 
 nomination. There was no longer any surprise about the matter, when it was 
 subsequently ascertained that the wire-workers in convention had a deep interest C 
 in a particular suit at law, to which their candidate was pledged to give a judg- 
 ment in their favor, in case of being the judge. — Nat. Intelligencer, Sept. 20, 
 1858. 
 
 Wire-pulling or Wire-working. Political managing. 
 
 Those who were candidates for office in either house [of the legislative assem- 
 bly of N. Mexico] and their friends began the system of electioneering, so preva- 
 lent in other sections of the Union ; and the few days that intervened between 
 the arrival of the members and the meeting of the assembly were spent in wire~ 
 pulliny, log-rolling, and all the other strategic movements known in modern 
 politics. — Davis, El Gringo, p. 251. 
 
WIR— WOM 
 
 763 
 
 Wire- Worm. (Elater lineatus.) The name Wire- worm is given 
 by farmers to the lai^vae of various species of beetles belonging to 
 the genus Elater, of which a large number are known both in 
 Britain and in this country. These laiw?e are exceedingly destruc- 
 tive, feeding upon the roots and the underground stems of wheat, 
 Indian-corn, grape-vines, and most varieties of cultivated vegetables. 
 
 Wisdom Tooth. A large, back double-tooth; familiarly so called 
 because appearing comparatively late, as it were after the person 
 has arrived at the age of wisdom. — Webster. 
 
 To wise. A spinning top is said to wise^ when it inclines from the 
 perpendicular. 
 
 Wish-Bone or Wishing-Bone. The breastbone of a fowl is so famil- 
 iarly called, especially by children, from a custom connected with it. 
 The bone, after being dried, is taken by two persons, who hold 
 each shank between their fore-finger and thumb, and then pull 
 until it breaks, at the same time laishing for something The one 
 in whose fingers the larger portion remains, it is said, will have his 
 ivish. See Pulling- Bone. 
 
 Wishy-washy. Weak; insipid; trashy. — Carres Craven Glossary. 
 The term is often applied to poor literature; as, " This novel is a 
 wishy-washy affair." Poor liquor is called by the same term. 
 
 Witness-Trees. In newly settled countries at the West, every mile 
 square is marked by " blazed " trees, and the corners especially dis- 
 tinguished by stakes, whose place is pointed out by trees called 
 witness-trees. — Mrs. Clavers, Western Clearings, p. 3. 
 
 To wizzle. To shrink up; to wrinkle; to be shrunk; to be wrinkled. 
 
 New England. 
 Wolfish. Savage. A Western word. 
 
 You must fight or play ; so take your choice, for I feel most wolfish and savage- 
 rous. — Sam Slick, 3d Ser., p. 117. 
 
 They 'd been fij^htin' the barrel of whiskey mightily comin' up, and were 
 perfectly wolfish arter some har of the dog. — Porter's Tales of the South-west, 
 p. 121. 
 
 Wolverines. The people of the State of Michigan; who are said 
 to be so called from the large number of the mischievous j^rairie 
 wolves found there. 
 
 Woman's Rights. A question involving the political, industrial, 
 educational, and general social status of women, and their legal 
 rights and disabilities. This movement began in the United States 
 in the middle of the present century, in connection with the anti- 
 
764 
 
 WOM— WOO 
 
 slavery agitation, with which it at first identified itself. For a clear 
 statement of the question, see Appleton^s American Cyclopedia. 
 
 Wimmen's riyhts, wimmen''s riyhts, I wonder how many more fools are goia' a 
 caperiu' round the counUy preachin' 'em up. I'm sick of wimratn's riyhts, I 
 don't believe in 'em. — Betsy Bobbet, p. 85. 
 
 Woman's Rights' Convention. An assemblage of persons who en- 
 deavor by public discussions to improve the social and political 
 condition of women. 
 
 Thousands of parrots passed over, with their peculiar short and querulous note. 
 In the morning and towards night, they kept up the most vehement chattering, all 
 talking and none listening, after the manner of a Woman's Riyhts'' Convention. — 
 E. G. Squier, Waikna, p. 89. 
 
 Women-Folks. Women, especially the female members of a house- 
 hold. " The women-folks will be impatient till you come." This 
 redundant expression is common in rural districts, and equally so is 
 its counterpart, "men-folks." 
 
 Wonders. In Nantucket, a kind of cake. 
 
 Wood-Beetle. A large, coleopterous insect. A correspondent of the 
 " N. Y. Tribune," writing from Cairo, Illinois, says: — 
 
 Its dank, deep forests generate wood-beetles, snakes, and all manner of creeping 
 things : if in your bliss of ignorance you don't know what a wood-beetle is, picture 
 an enormously exaggerated black bug, with shining shell and body long as the 
 width of this "Tribune" column, who, uninvited, sails in at your evening 
 window, and anchors himself by multitudinous legs to your arm. 
 
 Woodbine. See Virginia Creeper. 
 
 Woodchuck. {Arctomys monax.) The ground-hog, a rodent mam- 
 mal of the marmot tribe. It burrows, and is dormant in winter. 
 
 Webster's Dictionary gives Woodshock as a name of the Pecan or 
 Fisher (Martes Canadensis), and Woodchuck for the {Arctomys 
 monax), with a reference to " chuck, as if the name was com- 
 pounded from " wood " and " chuck." It is, in fact, a corruption 
 (like woodshock) of the vulg. name of the Fisher, — misapplied to C 
 the Ground-hog. This name was formerly written woodshaw,^^ 
 " woodschock,^^ and ^^ioejack.^^ See N. E. General Reg., Vol. XI. 
 p. 219. Modern Chippewa, o-jeeg or o-cheek ; Shawnee, dchaikah. 
 
 Yea, verily, this is like a tvoodchuck in clover. — Maryaret, p. 48. 
 
 My dear hearers, I 've been trying to beat [certain truths] into you with a ser- 
 monizing sledge-hammer ; and you appear to be as stupid as woodchucks in winter. 
 Dow's Sermons, Vol. III. p. 155. 
 
 Wooding-Place. A station on the banks of a river where the steam- 
 boats stop to take in supplies of wood. 
 Wood-Lot. A piece of land where wood for fuel, &c. , grows. 
 
WOO— WOR 
 
 765 
 
 Wood-Meeting. The name given by the Mormons to a Camp- 
 meeting. 
 
 Wood-Rick. A pile of wood. 
 
 From wood-ricks and stone walls the soldiers did good execution with theii 
 guns. — St. Louis Democrat. 
 
 To wood up. 1. To lay in a supply of wood, as a steamboat at a 
 landing-place. The boats on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, in 
 their long voyages, are obliged to make frequent stops for this 
 purpose. 
 
 The process of wooding-up is one of the first the passenger is made acquainted 
 with. The steamer approaches a dreary shore, without any thing to indicate that 
 civilized man has ever set his foot upon it for many miles above or below, save 
 the wood-pile and a small cabin of the rudest description. The terms are usually 
 agreed upon before the boat touches the bank ; and, when it does, fifteen or twenty 
 hands throw on board from twenty to fifty cords, at a price varying from two to 
 three dollars, for which the woodman pockets his money and seems a happy man 
 although cut off from the world. — N. Y. Tribune, 1848. 
 
 2. To take a dram. Western. 
 
 The same term is used on railways where wood is still used for 
 locomotives, but never when coal is used. 
 
 The "N"ew London Northern Railroad will return to coal burning in its passenger 
 locomotives, and a saving of ten minutes will be gained by not having to stop to 
 wood up. — Norwich Courier. 
 
 Wool over the Eyes. To draw the wool over one's eyes is to impose 
 upon one, take one in. 
 
 Elder Sniffles ain't so big a fool as to have the wool drawed over his eyes by such 
 trash as Sail Hugle. — Widow Bedott Papers. 
 
 Woolly-Heads. A term applied in the first place to Negi'oes, and 
 then to anti-slavery politicians. 
 
 The law, it seems, it didn't work exactly as it ought. 
 Though Greeley kept a savin' so, and so his readers thought. 
 They're mighty bright, them wooUy-head.<< ; they think they find a prize. 
 If they can onh" pull their wool o'er other people's eyes. 
 
 New York paper. 
 
 Worm Fence. A rail fence laid up in a zig-zag manner; also called 
 a Virginia fence. See Stake and Rider. 
 
 Mr. Haskell, one of the delegates from Tennessee, told a story about a man in 
 his "diggins," who was once struck by "Joe Larkins," by which he was knocked 
 at least forty rods. He fell against a worm fence, and carried away about forty 
 panels, rail-riders and all. — N. Y. Mirror. 
 
 We drove Master Jack about the common, until we had hemmed him in au 
 angle of a worm fence. — W. Irviny, WolferVs Roost, p. 251 
 
766 
 
 WOR— WUN 
 
 Worriment. Trouble, anxiety. 
 
 The worriment we have lately had about monej' has set ^''ou a dreaming. — 
 
 Sam Slick, Human Nature. 
 
 Worrisome. In the condition to be worried. 
 
 In her discussion with Mrs. Victoria W on the subject of free 
 
 love and marriage, Miss Betsy Bobbet says: — 
 
 When a man realizes that he can, if he wants to, start up and marr}' a woman 
 before breakfast, and get divorced before dinner, and have a new one before 
 supper, it has a tendency to make him onstiddy and worrisome. — Betsy Bobbet, 
 p. 326. 
 
 Worst Kind. Used in such phrases as, "I gave him the worst kind of 
 a licking." Also adverbially; as, "I licked him the worst kind,^^ 
 i. e. in the worst manner possible, most severely. 
 
 Would. " Will " and " Would " employed instead of " shall " and 
 " should; " and conversely. See Shall and Should. 
 
 Wrapper. 1. A loose dress or gown. 
 
 Her dress was a blue-striped linen short-gown, wrapjjer, or long-short, a coarse 
 petticoat, checked apron, &c. — Margaret, p. 14. 
 
 2. An under-shirt. 
 Wrappers. See Leggings. 
 
 Wrath. Like all wrath is a Southern phrase, meaning violently, 
 vehemently, angrily. 
 
 There ain't much to interest the traveller on the railroad from Hamburg to 
 Charleston. Most of the passengers in the car were preachers what had been up 
 to Augusta to attend the convention. They was the dryest set of old codgers I 
 ever met with, till the jolting of the cars shook up their ideas a little, and then 
 they fell to disputin' like all wrath. — Major Jones's Travels. 
 
 Wrathy. Very angry. A colloquial word — Webster. 
 
 "Oh! you're wrathy, ain't ye V Why, I didn't mean nothin' but what was 
 civil ! — Mrs. Clavers's Forest Life, Vol. I. p. 103. 
 
 The general was as wrathy as thunder ; and, when he gets his dander up, it 's 
 no joke. — Major Downing'' s Letters, p. 34. 
 
 Wreckers. A gang of Baltimore rowdies. They call themselves 
 Canton Rackers, perhaps from their propensity of racking out a 
 neighborhood. 
 
 Wunst, for once. To ivunst, for at once. Vulgar. 
 
 If you acknowledge the usurper Hayes, you leave me stranded and helpless, 
 and I might as well leave the corners at wunst. — Petroleum V. Nasby, April, 
 1877. 
 
YAH— YAN 
 
 767 
 
 Y. 
 
 Yahoos. Greenhorns ; back country louts. South-western. 
 Yaller. A vulgar pronunciation of yellow. 
 
 Yam. (Genus Dioscorea.) A large esculent tuber or root of various 
 climbing plants growing in tropical America, which forms a whole- 
 some and palatable food. English people often confound this with 
 sweet potatoes. 
 
 Yank. 1. A jerk. New England. 
 
 In some verses prefixed to the New- Year's Address of the carrier 
 of " The Age," a weekly journal published in Maine, the Carrier 
 Boy asks the spirit of Edgar A. Poe to write him a few lines:, — 
 
 The poet looks wild at the blue-eyed child, 
 
 Then clutches him by the hair, 
 And makes him abide by the chimney-side, 
 
 As he sinks back in his chair, — 
 
 Pulls up the machine, and with dreadful mien 
 
 He oils each rusty wheel. 
 Then seizes the crank, and with many a yanh 
 Brings out a poetic squeal. 
 The Austin (Texas) " Leader" says that the grasshopper country would make 
 a good poultry region, which reminds us of the old verse: — 
 A grasshopper sat on a sweet potato vine, 
 When up came a turkey gobbler and yanked him off behind. 
 
 2. An abbreviation of Yankee ; a term universally applied by the 
 Confederates to the soldiers of the Union armies. 
 
 To yank. 1. To twitch or jerk powerfully. New England. 
 2. To snatch away unexpectedly. 
 
 Yankee. 1. The popular name for the citizens of New England, but 
 applied by foreigners to all the inhabitants of the United States. 
 The name {_Yengees or Yenkees] was originally given by the Massa- 
 chusetts Indians to the English colonists, being the nearest sound 
 they could give for " English." It was afterwards adopted by the 
 Dutch on the Hudson, who applied the term in contempt to all the 
 people of New England. During the American Revolution, it was 
 eagerly caught at by the British soldiers. — Note to the Poetical 
 Works of J. Trumbull. 
 
 Mr. Heckewelder, a high authority on Indian subjects, has no 
 doubt that the word was the first effort of the Indians " to imitate 
 the sound of the national name of the English, which they pro- 
 
768 
 
 YAN 
 
 nounced Yengees.^^ Fiirtliermore, he says, the Indians "say they 
 know the Yem/ees [i. e. the New Englanders], and can distinguish 
 them by their dress and personal appearance, and that they were 
 considered as less cruel than the Virginians, or Long Knives. The 
 English proper they call Saggenash." — Indian Nations, p. 132. 
 
 Judge Durfee, in his poem failed " Whatcheer, or Roger Williams 
 iu Banishment," thus mentions the English under this name: — 
 
 " Ha! Fe?i</ee," said the Sachem, " wouldst thou go 
 
 To soothe the hungry panther scenting blood ? " — Canto III. 32. 
 
 Base Wampanoag! we '11 devour that clan, 
 
 And drive the Yen<jees back- o'er ocean blue. — Canto IV. 38. 
 
 An interesting article on this word in "Notes and Queries" 
 (1852, p. 57), by Mr. T. Westcott, of Philadelphia, contains a 
 letter from the Rev. Mr. Gordon, giving an account of the skirmishes 
 at Concord and Lexington, in which he says: — 
 
 They [the British troops] were roughly handled by the Yankees, a term of 
 reproach for the New Englanders, when applied by the regulars. 
 
 2. In New England, a glass of whiskey sweetened with molasses ; 
 a common beverage in the country. 
 
 You fine Miss Boston lady gay, 
 
 For this your speech I thank ye, 
 Call on me when you come this way, 
 
 And take a dram of Yankee. 
 
 Fessenden, Yankee Doodle Song. 
 
 Yankeedom. A term, like the foregoing, applied at the South to 
 New England. 
 
 At the celebration of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence, at Charlotte, North Carolina, in May, 1876, the Rev. S. S. 
 Martin, D.D., delivered the oration, in which he made the follow- 
 ing remarks: — 
 
 It is with mingled feelings of sorrow and satisfaction that I to-day recall the 
 issues of 18G0 and 1861. We all mourn the loss of our glorious dead and heroic 
 fallen. The South is to-day ruled over by the miserable thrall of Yankeedom ; 
 but they cannot muzzle our chivalry and patriotic devotion to the lost cause. — 
 Cor. ofN. Y. Times, May 11, 1876. 
 
 Yankeedom region and rule of Yankees. Located as it is on the confines of 
 Egypt and of Yankeedom in this State [Illinois], it has done a good work in both 
 sections. — CMcayo Cor. of The Independent. 
 
 Yankee Doodle. There has been much discussion as to the origin 
 of the term Yanlee Doodle, and of the well-known tune which bears 
 this name, without coming as yet to any very satisfactory conclu- 
 sion. In England, the air has been traced back to the time of 
 Charles I. ; and it appears that the doggerel verses that are sung 
 
YAN—YEL 
 
 769 
 
 to it can claim nearly as respectable an antiquity. This, however, 
 is not all. The song is said to be identical with one sung by the 
 agricultural laborers in the Netherlands. Kossuth and his fellow 
 Hungarians, when in this country, are said to have recognized it as 
 one of the old national airs of their native land. And recently Mr. 
 Buckingham Smith, our then Secretary of Legation at Madrid, has 
 asserted that it is the ancient Sword Dance of the Biscayans. 
 
 You may talk about your " Dixie's Land," 
 And sing it like a noodle : 
 
 The good old tune for North and Souti 
 Is famous Yankee Doodle ! — Song from the Rebellion Record. 
 
 Tankee Doodledom. A term applied at the South to New England. 
 The following is from a poem on the " Death of Lincoln Despotism,' 
 which appeared in 1861 : — 
 
 The Evans and his cavalry will follow in their track, 
 And drive them in the Atlantic, or safely bring them back, 
 And hold them till Abe Lincoln, and all his Northern scum, 
 Shall own our independence of Yankee Doodledom. 
 
 Richmond Despatch. 
 
 ITankeefied. After the Yankee fashion; like a Yankee. 
 
 The Colonel whittled away at a bit of stick in the most Yankeefied way possi- 
 ble. — A Stray Yankee in Texas, p. 113. 
 
 Tankeeland. .1. New England. 2. The United States. 
 Tardsman. A man employed in the yard of a railroad station. 
 Yeath, for earth. A vulgar pronunciation among the illiterate at the 
 South. 
 
 Why, you don't look like the same man. I never should have know'd you. 
 What upon yeath has brung you out soV " — Major Jones's Sketches. 
 
 ITeathquake, for earthquake. A Southern vulgarism, like the previous 
 word. 
 
 The Girard College is all solid brick and marble. Fire can't get hold of wood 
 enough to raise a blaze, and the walls are so thick and strong that nothin' short 
 of Florida lightnin' or a South American yeathquake couldn't knock it down. — 
 Major Jones's Sketches. 
 
 Yellow. A term applied to colored boys and girls whose complexion 
 tends towards white; those of a darker hue are called " brown." 
 
 Law sakes, Miss Phillis, does you tink I has no sense ? I hate a yaller gal aa 
 I do pizen. — Sam Slick, Human Nature. 
 
 Yellow-Bird. A small incessorial bird of the family of Fringillidae, 
 or finches {Carduelis Americana of Brisson). The summer plum- 
 age of the male is a rich lemon-yellow, with black wings and tail, 
 the former tipped and edged with white. In winter, the yellow is 
 changed to a brown olive. — Wilson, Ornithology. 
 
 49 
 
YEL— YOP 
 
 Yellow Boy. Gold coin of any denomination. 
 
 Yellow Cover. (Pron. yaller kiver.) A notice of dismissal from 
 government employment. So called from its being usually enclosed 
 in a yellow envelope. 
 
 Yellow-covered Literature. The cheap sensation-novels and trashy 
 magazines hawked by newsboys and abounding at railway stations ; 
 so called from the color of tlieir covers, in which their publishers 
 most delight to send them forth. 
 
 Yellow-Hammer. (Picus auratus.) The popular name of the Golden- 
 winged Woodpecker, the most beautiful of the genus. It is known 
 by other names in different parts of the country, as High-hole, 
 Yacker, Clape, &c. See Clape. 
 
 Yellow Jack. A term for the yellow fever, which probably originated 
 among seamen; a yellow flag (a flag being called a, Jack) being 
 generally displayed at naval hospitals, or from vessels at quarantine, 
 to denote the existence of contagious disease. 
 
 Yellow Jacket. A small wasp, well known for its terrible sting. 
 
 Yellow Root. (Zanthorhiza apiifoUa.) A plant whose roots are 
 used as a dye by the Indians, and for medical purposes. Also, 
 Hydrastis Canadensis, Yellow Puccoon. 
 
 Yellow-Throat. A small singing bird of the warbler species. 
 
 Yellow-Wood. (Cladrastis tinctoria.) One of the handsomest 
 flowering trees of the locust family, growing in mountainous regions 
 of Kentucky and Tennessee. The wood is yellow, and is used for 
 dyeing. 
 
 Yengee. The Indian form of "Yankee," being the nearest ap- 
 proach to the pronunciation of that word. See Yankee. 
 
 Yerb. Herb. Southern States. (Cf. Sp. yerba.} 
 
 Yere. A Southern pronunciation for hei^e. The lower classes in 
 England say " this 'ere thing." 
 
 " Why is it, my son, that when you drop your bread and butter, it is always 
 butter side down ? " 
 
 "I don't know. It hadn't oughter, had it. The strongest side ought to be 
 uppermost, hadn't it, ma? And this yere is the strongest butter I ever seed." — 
 Cairo {Illinois) Times, Feb. 28, 1855. 
 
 Yopon. (Ilex vomitoria.) North Carolina tea. A plant indigenous 
 to North Carolina; and when the leaves are dried by slow heat, and 
 infused in water, it is used as a beverage. It is slightly intoxicat- 
 ing. It belongs to the same genus of plants as the celebrated Mate 
 (Ilex Paraguayensis) of South America. 
 
YOU— ZAN 
 
 771 
 
 Tou bet ! The most positive manner of affirmation. Be assured ; cer- 
 tainly. The expression originated in California. 
 
 To little Harry, yesterday, — 
 
 My grandchild, aged two, — 
 I said, "You love Grandpa V " said he, 
 
 " You bet your boots I do." — Grandpa* s Soliloquy. 
 " 'Friend,' said I to a Jehu, whose breath suggested gin, 
 ' Can thee convey me straightway to a reputable innV ' 
 His answer's gross irrelevance I shall not soon forget. 
 Instead of simply yea. or nay, he gruffly said, " You bet.''* 
 
 Buffalo Courier, A Mystified QuaJcer. 
 
 Do you reckon a man has got as many lives as a cat ? But you bet he 's awful 
 dead now. — Mark Twain, Eouyhing It, p. 333. 
 
 We find the following anecdote relating to the policy or measures 
 of the new administration : — 
 
 "What we want is new men and new measures," said a politician to an old 
 darkey. "Yes, dat 's so, boss," said the ancient African: "de grocery man 
 doesn't give us but bout nine quarts to de peck, and I goes in for de new meas- 
 ures, you bet.*' 
 
 You don't! For you don^t say so! i. e. really! indeed! An exclama- 
 tion of surprise. " Mr. Grimaldi threw a back somerset out of a 
 three-story window." " Now, you donH! " or " You don't say." 
 
 You'uns and We'uns. For you and we. Developed during the late 
 civil war. 
 
 We repeat the remark. 
 
 And our language is square. 
 That a msm who is dark. 
 
 And has kmks in his hair, 
 Isn't coming to college with we'uns, 
 
 And we 'uns consent to be there. 
 
 Princeton, of Princeton Coll., New Jersey. 
 
 Yuca. The American name of the Mandioca or tapioca root; not to 
 be confounded with the botanical genus yucca or Spanish bayonet 
 (which see). A late book of travels in Mexico calls this plant 
 ' ' eucre I ' ' 
 
 Yucker. See Clape. 
 
 Z. 
 
 Zanja. (Span., pron. than'-ha.) A ditch or trench; sometimes used 
 
 like the acequias for irrigating lands. 
 Zanjero. (Span., pron. than-ht-ro.) One whose duty it is to take charge 
 
 of ditches, when used for purposes of irrigation. 
 Zapote. See Sapote. 
 Zeewan. See Seawan. 
 
772 
 
 zuz 
 
 Zu-zu. A common name in the Union army for the Zouaves, during 
 the late rebellion. 
 
 My love is a Zu-zu so gallant and bold ; 
 
 He 's rough, and he 's handsome, scarce nineteen years old. 
 
 Comic Song. 
 
 Once again ! — the hours are fleeting ; 
 
 Drinking is the soldier's trick : 
 Hark! the drum the roll-call 's beating, — 
 
 Scatter, Zoo-zoos, "double quick! " 
 
 Song, The Zoo-zoo^s Toast. 
 
ADDENDA. 
 
ADDENDA. 
 
 A. 
 
 Aboriginal. A word often applied to an American Indian; and 
 " aboriginals " for " aborigines." Comp. Abergoins. 
 
 Ahead. To " get ahead of," to outwit or outdo, by superior sagacity 
 or activity. 
 
 Air-Hole. Unfrozen spots in the ice in the main current of the St. 
 
 Lawrence, which do not freeze. These openings left by nature 
 
 enable the. great ice-bridge at Montreal to hold. 
 All-standing. "He was brought up all-standing,^^ i. e. was stopped 
 
 suddenly and completely, when in full movement, after the manner 
 
 of a ship running aground when under full sail. 
 Anthracite. See Hard Coal, in body of book. 
 
 Apple-Sauce. A sauce made of stewed apples. See Apple-Butter, 
 in body of book. 
 
 Astern of the Lighter, An expression sometimes used to signify 
 one's failui-e in an undertaking. 
 
 B. 
 
 Back Seat. A position of inferior order. He will have to take a 
 back seat,^^ said of a politician who has lost caste with his party. 
 
 Backset. Pressed upon from behind. — Johnson. A check to the prog- 
 ress of any thing. This obsolete word is coming into use again. 
 Rev. Dr. Hopkins, in his letter to the " N. Y. Tribune," Nov. 24, 
 1877, on the advance of Ritualism, says : — 
 
 'llie popular view of the case is that the defeat of Dr. Seymour, and shortly 
 after Dr. DeKoven, when successively elected to the Episcopate of Illinois, gave 
 the whole Ritualistic movenfient such a backset that it is no longer dangerous. 
 
 He suffered the Israelites to be driven to the brink of the seas, backset with 
 Pharaoh's whole power. — Anderson, Exposition upon Benedictus, fol. 71, 1573. 
 
776 BAD— BLO 
 
 Bad Egg. An inveterate rascal; a hopelessly ill-disposed fellow; an 
 irredeemably unfortunate speculation; in short, any person, animal, 
 thing, or proceeding, devoid of any good feature. 
 
 Bag of Wind. A boastful, conceited fellow. 
 
 Baker. A small portable tin oven in which bread is baked. Mr. 
 
 Webster calls this an Americanism. 
 Bakes. One's original stake in a game, a juvenile term; as, " I will 
 
 stop when I get my bakes, said by a boy playing marbles. 
 
 Basilar. Lower. Basilar instincts;" " &asi/ar powers." This is 
 a great word with the Rev. H. W. Beecher. Originally with a phy- 
 siological meaning. 
 
 Bealmy. A swelling. Pennsylvania. (Ang.-Sax.) A boil, or a hot, 
 inflamed tumor. — Wright, Prov. Die. 
 
 Begin. This fruit doesn't begin to compare with the other." " This 
 novel doesn't begin to be as good," &c. These and similar expres- 
 sions are very common. 
 
 No "breathing-ships " e'er will begin to supplant 
 The ships rushed along by omnipotent steam. 
 
 Wm. Boyd on Steam v. Hot Air, Boston Traveller, May 23, 1855. 
 
 Bell-Punch. See Gong-Punch, in body of book. 
 
 Bendolers. " Running ftent/oZers " is a phrase given by boys to the 
 pastime of jumping from cake to cake of broken ice. See Tiddlies, 
 in body of book. 
 
 Better-best. Any thing better than good, something better than the 
 best. — Rev. W. H. Channing. This divine, in an address at the 
 annual meeting, 1877, of the Boston Children's Mission to the 
 Children of the Destitute, said: — 
 
 You know, Brother Collier put us second-best. I never like to be second-best. 
 . . . Did you ever hear the word, " the better-best " . . . And did not the ques- 
 tion come to you, What was the better best f There is something better than 
 good, something better than the best: it is the better best. 
 
 Big Thing. A grand speculation or profitable acquisition; an affair 
 
 of special advantage. 
 Black Diamonds. Lumps, small or large, of anthracite coal. 
 
 Blanket-waisted. Cattle distinguished by a broad band of white 
 hair completely encircling the body. 
 
 Bloody Shirt. (Omitted in its place.) See Shirt, in body of book. 
 
 Blow-Bladder. "A blow-bladder figure for it," a price inflated 
 beyond all reason. 
 
BOB— CAD 
 
 77T 
 
 Bob. The carcass of a calf prematurely born ; veal so immature that 
 its sale is prohibited by law. 
 
 Boston Crackers. A favorite kind of cracker or biscuit made in 
 Boston, which has a high reputation. See Cracker 2, in body of 
 book. 
 
 Bottle-Head. (5. Helootica.) The black-bellied plover; also called 
 " beetle-head " and " green head." 
 
 Bounce. To get the grand bounce is to be dismissed from service; 
 particularly from an office under government. 
 
 To break for Taller Timber. To leave one hiding-place for another 
 more secure, as a wild animal or a criminal runs from a lesser covert 
 to the woods. 
 
 Brick-Top. Same as Sorrel-Top, which see. 
 
 Bullgine. A cant term for a locomotive engine. 
 
 Bull- Whacking. Driving an ox-team. 
 
 You will find some graduate of Yale College bull-whacking his own team from 
 the river to his niiues, looking as if he had never seen soap and water. — 
 McClttre, Rocky Mountains, p. 102. 
 
 Bureau. (Fr., a writing-table.) A chest of drawers for clothes, &c., 
 especially made an ornamental piece of furniture. This sense 
 comes naturally from the original French word. — Webster. In 
 England, the article is invariably called a " chest of drawers." 
 
 To bushel. (Germ, biuszen, to mend.) To repair garments. 
 
 Busheler, Bushelman. From the verb bushel. A tailor's assistant, 
 whose business it is to repair garments. 
 
 Butter-Pingers. A derisive term for a person awkward with the 
 hands, as a lad unskilful in catching a ball. 
 
 Butterfly. A small bow of silk, satin, or other material, made for 
 attachment to the collar-button, so as to serve the purpose of a 
 cravat, without passing around the neck. 
 
 c. 
 
 To cadgel. To cross-stitch. A familiar word in every household. 
 Every woman who uses her needle knows what cadgeUing is. 
 
 This very old English word is not found in any of the Dictionaries 
 or Provincial Glossaries, except in those of riallivvell and AVright, 
 who have Cadge, "to bind or to tie," a term in making bone- 
 
778 
 
 CAN— CEN 
 
 lace. Both quote from Palsgrave: " I cadge a garment, I set lystes 
 in the Ijmyng to keep the plyghtes in order." 
 
 Canada Thistle. (Cirsium (Carduus) arveme.) A plant well known 
 in Canada and in the United States. It first appeared in Canada, 
 where it was probably introduced from France, as it is common in 
 Normandy, and also in England. 
 
 Cannuck or Canuck. The following has been submitted as the 
 meaning and origin of this word, as applied to Canadians: — 
 
 In the United States, the word " Yankee " means a New Eng- 
 lander; but, outside the Union, all the natives of the United States 
 are so termed. So, in Canada, a " Cannuck " means a French Cana- 
 dian, but, outside the Dominion, all the people of Canada. An 
 intelligent French Canadian, on being asked, said: "The word 
 'Cannuck' is a corruption of ' Connaught.' ' Connaughts ' are 
 what we [the French Canadians] call the Irish." 
 
 Carpet-Sweeper. A roller to which hog's bristles are affixed for 
 sweeping carpets. 
 
 Carry me back. Humorous way of saying, "Take me hence.'' 
 At first from a negro song, which has this couplet, — 
 
 Oh, carry me back to Ole Virgin ny, 
 To Ole Virginnia's shore. 
 
 Catch-Basin. The receptacle beneath the gi'ating of a sewer, to 
 catch the dirt that is washed in. 
 
 Cat's Foot! An exclamation of disbelief. New England. 
 
 Cattle-Ranch. A plantation or farm where cattle are raised on a 
 large scale, as in Texas and Colorado. 
 
 Cavallada. (Span.) The name universally given in Texas and along 
 the Mexican frontier to a drove of horses or mules. Pron. camyard. 
 See Cavallard, in body of book. 
 
 Cedar-Brake. A dense thicket or M'et place overgi'own with cedar; 
 also called a Cedar Swamp. Comp. Cane-Brake. 
 
 Celestial. A common term for the Chinese; China being called 
 " The Celestial Empire." 
 
 Cens et Rentes. (Fr.) The annual rent or tax paid per agreement 
 by the owner of land in a feudal district to the seigneur. Prov- 
 ince of Quebec. See Censitaire and Lods et Ventes. 
 
 (The feudal owner can now, if he chooses, compel the seigneur 
 (q. v., in body of book) to allow the property to be commuted, i. e. 
 bought out and out, by the payment at time of sale of a certain 
 
CEN— COR 
 
 779 
 
 number of annual rents ; the number, if the parties cannot agree, 
 being settled by arbitrators.) 
 
 Censitaire. (Fr.) The owner of land which is subject to seigniorial 
 or feudal tax. Province of Quebec. See Cens et Rentes and Lods 
 et Ventes. 
 
 Cheese it. What bad boys exclaim to one another when a policeman 
 is seen coming, i. e. run, scamper. It is an English slang expres- 
 sion, which Mr. Hotten thinks is a corruption of cease ^ " leave off 
 or have done." 
 
 Chin, Chinning. Back-talk, impudence. 
 
 Chin-Music. Impudent talk ; flippant garrulity. 
 
 Clatty. Untidy. Pennsylvania. C/a^^/e, nasty, dirty, defiled. — Jamie- 
 
 sori's Scottish Die. 
 
 Cocky. "He's cocky,^^ i. e. he is aware of his importance. A 
 college word. 
 
 To coge or coag it. One of the many phrases signifying the habitual 
 and excessive use of ardent spirits. 
 
 Cold Scald. A double misfortune, as of a person who should be at 
 once frozen and scalded. 
 
 Colorado Beetle. A bug, about half an inch in length, yellow 
 striped with black. Usually called Potato Bug. 
 
 Comb. " To have one's comb cut " is to undergo mortification as a 
 sequel to excessive pride. 
 
 Come-as-you-come. The name of a popular fireside amusement, 
 wherein one person gives the others present the initial letter or 
 letters of some object there visible, by which to guess to what object 
 he refers. 
 
 To come down. To furnish money; e. g., "I would make the old 
 man come down handsomely, if I was in Enoch's place." 
 
 "To come down a peg," to become less proud or less exacting. 
 " A great com,e down,^^ a remarkable fall of pride. 
 
 Coming to Grief. A sarcastic phrase significant of signal failure. 
 
 Cord-Wood. Wood cut and piled for sale by the cord, in distinction 
 from long wood; especially wood cut to the length of four feet. — 
 Webster. 
 
 Corn-Balls. Balls made of pop-corn and molasses, of which children 
 are very fond. 
 
780 
 
 COR— DEM 
 
 Corn-Crake. (Crex pratensis.) A bird of the rail species, which fre- 
 quents corn-fields; the Land-rail. 
 
 Corn-Cutter. A machine for cutting np the stalks of Indian corn for 
 the food of cattle. 
 
 Corn-House. A wooden house, elevated about five feet above the 
 ground, in order to keep out rats and squirrels, in which Indian 
 corn is kept before it is shelled or taken from the cobs. 
 
 Corn-Mill. A mill for grinding Indian com ; a grist-mill. 
 
 Corn-Popper. An instrument the top of which is like a sieve, in 
 which corn is held over a fire to roast or " pop." See Pop-Corn, 
 in body of book. 
 
 Cotton-Gin. A machine invented by Eli Whitney, of New Haven, 
 Conn., in 1792-93, for the separation of cotton from the seed. 
 
 To crack. To defraud by forging and by negotiating worthless 
 checks and drafts. 
 
 It is said that certain New York rascals intend to crack the Quebec merchants 
 this winter. — Boston Journal. 
 
 Cracksman. A man engaged in forging notes, bills of exchange, 
 bank-checks, &c. 
 
 Crawl through. " To crawl through a knot-hole " is to get out of a 
 
 difficulty in a mean way. 
 
 Creep. A stool. Pennsylvania. Creepie, creepy, a low stool. — 
 
 Jamieson^s Scottish Die. 
 
 It 's a wise wife that kens her weird, 
 What tho' ye mount the creepy. 
 
 Ramsay's Poems, I. 273. 
 
 Cut and Dried. Contrived beforehand, in a secret or unfair manner. 
 A phrase often used in reference to caucuses, and the like. 
 
 D. 
 
 Darn burn it. A toned-down form of swearing in Texas. Comp. 
 
 Dod rot it. 
 
 Dead Loads (of a thing). Great quantities or numbers of any thing. 
 Demi-Meamelouc. The variety of Negro which springs from a white 
 and a meamelouc. See Negro, in body of book. 
 
 To demonetize. The act of rendering any description of money 
 which by law had been a legal tender to be no longer so. Thus, 
 
DIS— DOL 
 
 781 
 
 in June, 1874, Congress passed an act of which the following is a 
 section : — 
 
 The silver coins of the United States shall be a legal tender at their nominal 
 value, for any amount not exceeding five dollars, in any one payment. 
 
 This has been called the demonetization of silver. See Remonetize. 
 
 It is urged by many that silver was practically demonetized by the act of 1854, 
 M'hich undervalued it; by others, that it was practically demonetized by the act 
 of 1853, authorizing subsidiary silver coins. ... If silver was then already 
 demonetized^ the persistency of the efforts to secure the passage of a law to 
 demonetize it appears remarkable. — Rejjort of Monetary Commission to Senate 
 of U. S., March 2, 1877, p. 91. 
 
 As money, the silver dollar had become obsolete years before the ^^demonetiza- 
 tion,''^ of which we hear so much. But we do not need statistics to prove that so 
 inconvenient a coin could never be used in large amounts as currency. — Phila- 
 delphia Times, Nov. 17, 1877. 
 
 Discount. Disparity between the reality and the representation 
 made, for the most part used in connection with a negative; as, 
 ' ' There is no discount on that statement. ' ' 
 
 Doe-Bird. (^Numenius borealis.) The Esquimaux Curlew. New 
 England. 
 
 Dollar of the Fathers. A cant expression used in the Congress of 
 the United States (N"ov., 1877) by the advocates for the " remoneti- 
 zation " of the silver dollar and making it a legal tender. This 
 sentimental catch-phrase, which has been the battle-cry of the 
 movement, expresses its absurdity. 
 
 Of all the unreasoning agitations of recent years, the demand for the dollar of 
 the fathers has been the most unreasoning and absurd. . . . There are people 
 who must have "cheap money" of some kind, and, when they could not get 
 cheap greenbacks, they hit upon silver as a cheaper thing ; and the " dollar of the 
 fathers''^ is to be put through [Congressl with a shout. — Philadelphia Times, 
 Nov. 10, 1877. 
 
 The cry of the " Dollar of the Daddies " has not been a fortunate one for those 
 who reiterated it. The case is far too serious for ridicule. — N. Y. Tribune, 
 Nov. 9, 1877. 
 
 Three-fourths of the people of the South and West are in favor of silver 
 money, and they clamor for the dollar of our fathers.^'' — N. Y. Herald. 
 
 The " Philadelphia Times " (Nov. 17) in an article on what they 
 call the " Silver Swindle " says: — 
 
 It is commonly assumed in the discussion of the silver question that the old 
 silver dollar, the dollar of the fathers, was a verj' popular coin; that the people 
 have been unjustly deprived of its use, and that it ought to be restored to them. 
 The truth is, that there never was any real demand for silver dollars as currency ; 
 and it is not possible that there ever can be, except in semi-barbarous countries, 
 where the value of money is estimated by its bulk. 
 
782 
 
 DRY— GAN 
 
 Dry up! An admonitory exclamation, sometimes uttered by the au- 
 dience, especially at public gatherings, when a speaker is tedious 
 or otherwise offensive, which thus abruptly requires him to cease 
 speaking. 
 
 Dunky. Ill proportioned; of clumsy shape, in the special sense of 
 over-thickness. 
 
 Dust. Money. Used in the phrase, " Down with your dust ! " Com- 
 mon in England, and a very old expression. 
 
 Dean Swift once took for his text, " He who giveth to the poor 
 lendetli to the Lord." His sermon was short. " Now, my brethren," 
 said he, "if you are satisfied with the security, down with the 
 dust.'' 
 
 To dust. The equivalent of "to make tracks." " Dust out of this! " 
 i. e., go off ! In England, they say " to raise a dust.*' 
 
 E. 
 
 Easy-going. Said of a person who is careless of contingencies, slow 
 to take offence, and in his habits carries to an extreme the proverb 
 that " Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof." 
 
 Ebony. A common term for a Negro. 
 
 Emptyings. " To run emptyings''' is w^here a speaker or a writer 
 continues to speak or write after he has delivered himself of every 
 thing of any consequence. See this word in body of book. 
 
 F. 
 
 Pat. Any thing desirable, as a fat office under the government. 
 Feel pale. To feel pale is a humorous way of saying that one is sick. 
 To flint in. To begin doing something, as to work or to eat, ener- 
 getically and without ceremony. 
 
 G. 
 
 Gang-Saw. A collection of large saws hung together in a frame or 
 sash, and set at fixed distances apart corresponding with the thick- 
 ness of the log to be cut. They are now used at all large saw-mills 
 in Maine, Canada, and the AVest, and do great execution. The logs 
 pass in endless procession from out the water, through the gangs ; 
 and thence forward as lumber, from the mill to the dock, ready for 
 shipment. 
 
GAR— GRA 
 
 783 
 
 Garden Truck. Vegetables raised for market. See Truck, in body 
 of book. 
 
 Gas-Bag. A person who habitually parades and prates of his own 
 importance or cognate topics. 
 
 Gear up. To harness. Pennsyh^ania. Gears, horse-trappings. — 
 Wright, Prov. Die. 
 
 Get off. To utter, to deliver. " He got off a great speech in Con- 
 gress." 
 
 Ghost of a Chance. Not the least probability. " Mr. Hayes has not 
 the ghost of a chance of being our next President; " i. e., he has no 
 chance at all. A common expression of the President's opponents. 
 
 Glakid. Dull, stupid. Pennsylvania. Glaikit, unsteady, giddy, 
 stupid. — Jainieson, Scottish Die. 
 
 Quhattane ane glnihit fule am I, 
 To slay myself with melancholy, 
 Sen Aveill I ken I may nocht get hir? 
 
 Scott, Chron. S. P. iii. 170. 
 
 Hear me, ye venerable core, 
 
 As counsel for poor mortals, 
 That frequent pass douce Wisdom's door 
 
 For glaikit Folly's portals! 
 
 Barns' s Address to the Unco Guld. 
 
 Gone where the Woodbine twinetli. " Up the spout." Pawned; 
 hypothecated. A noted character, the late James Fisk, Jr., is 
 credited with the authorship of tliis oft-quoted expression. 
 
 Granger. The origin and use of this word, now so frequently met 
 with, are substantially as follows: A few years since, througliout 
 the "grain-growing States," a movement was initiated for the 
 organization of the agricultural interests, with the professed object 
 of benefiting them both directly and indirectly. This was proposed 
 to be effected by so purchasing various needful supplies as to dis- 
 pense with "middlemen;" by taking measures to enhance, by 
 friendly legislation and otherwise, the net avails of his products to 
 the producer; and in other ways to lessen his burdens and increase 
 his revenues. The associations formed on this basis were called 
 " Granges" (from grange, a granary, &c.), and the mem!)ers were 
 termed "Grangers." 
 
 These societies multiplied, and their membershi[) was very exten- 
 sive. They became "a power in the land," often nominating 
 distinctive candidates, and frequently electing them; while on some 
 occasions they favored nominees put foi-ward by the political [larties 
 of the day, whose success was not seldom due to the suppcu't thus 
 
784 
 
 GRE— IIIG 
 
 derived. At the present time (close of 1877), the political impor- 
 tance of the " Grangers " has become largely diminished. 
 
 With their accustomed aptitude for giving a flippant term to a 
 new word, the newspapers of the cities soon began to use this one 
 to signify a countryman ; and it is now often employed instead of 
 the familiar paraphrase, " a gentleman from the rural districts." 
 
 Great Plenty. Well supplied; enough. " Shall I help you to another 
 cup of tea? " " No, thank you : I have had great plenty.''^ 
 
 Griffe. See Negro, in body of book. 
 
 G. T. T. More than a generation ago, a common joke — one of the 
 commonest — represented that when an insolvent debtor, or a rough 
 who had been engaged in an " mi pleasantness," or any other loafer 
 who had changed his home, wished to leave warning behind him 
 where he had gone, he" chalked upon his door the letters G. T. T. 
 These letters were in no sort mysterious: they meant, and were 
 understood to mean, " Gone to Texas." — E. E. Hale, Wonderful 
 Adv. of a Pullman, p. v. 
 
 Gums. See Rubbers, in body of book. 
 
 H. 
 
 Handle. To slip off the handle is to die. 
 
 If Old Cranberry was to slij) off the handle, I think I should make up to [his 
 daughter], for she is a most heavenly spice. — Sam Slick, Attache in England, 
 p. 177. 
 
 To fly off at the handle is to lose one's temper on a slight provo- 
 cation. 
 
 The Hardest fends off. A phrase signifying that, if a conflict m.ust 
 take place, he who has most endurance will fare the best. 
 
 Hard Names. Calling people hard names is abusing them in words. 
 
 Hay-Tedder. A machine for spreading grass after it is cut. 
 
 Hellion. A rascal so thoroughly and inveterately bad that he ought 
 never to be out of confinement. 
 
 Hen-Clam. The Broad Sea-clam. (Mac! a gigantea.) Common on 
 the shores of New England. 
 
 Highbinder. In California, a fipy, a detective. " What do you mean 
 by highbinders f " said Senator Sargent to a witness before the com- 
 mittee on Chinese emigration. Ans. "I mean men who are em- 
 ployed by the China companies here to hound and spy upon the 
 Chinese, and pursue them. I have often heard it applied to bad 
 
HOG— HOO 
 
 785 
 
 men. Sometimes they are employed to assassinate Chinese." — 
 Report on Chinese Immigration. See also this word in the body of 
 the book. 
 
 If a Chinaman has broken his contract, and attempts to leave San Francisco, 
 ... he will be forcibly stopped at the steamer on the day of sailing hy the 
 large force of the company's highbinders, who can be always seen guarding 
 them. — Report of Committee on Chinese Immigration, 1877, p. 94. 
 
 Hog-Ranch. A ranch or farm where particular attention is given to 
 the raising of hogs. Texas. Comp. Caltle-Ranch. 
 
 Homely. Of plain features ; not handsome. — Webster. In England, 
 it means that which appertains to home; also plain, unpretending, 
 rude in appearance, as a homely garment. Yet we have an example 
 of English use precisely like our own. 
 
 It is observed by some that there are none so homely but loves a looking-glass. 
 Swift. 
 
 Hoodlum. Since the article on the Hoodlums of San Francisco, 
 which appears in the body of this work, was written, the following 
 accounts of the origin of the term have appeared : — 
 
 The Los Angeles (California) " Express " (of Aug. 25, 1877), on 
 the authority of a reporter of a San Francisco paper, says: " A gang 
 of bad boys from 14 to 19 years of age was associated for the pur- 
 pose of stealing. These boys had a place of rendezvous; and, when 
 danger threatened them, their words of warning were, " Huddle 
 'em, Huddle 'em"! An article headed " Huddle 'em," describing 
 the gang and their plan of operations, was published in the San 
 Francisco "Times." The name applied to them was soon con- 
 tracted into " Hoodlum.'''' 
 
 The San Francisco " Morning Call," of Oct. 27, 1877, has a 
 communication from a " Pioneer," who thus describes the origin of 
 the word : — 
 
 Before the late war, there appeared in San Francisco a man whose 
 dress was very peculiar. The boys took a fancy to it, and, organiz- 
 ing themselves into a military company, adopted in part the dress 
 of this man. The head-dress resembled the fez, from which was 
 suspended a long tassel. The gamins called it a " hood," and the 
 company became known as the "hoods." The rowdy element in 
 the city adopted much of the dress of the company referred to, who 
 were soon after designated as " hoodlums." 
 
 Another writer in the same paper says the term was first applied 
 to certain girls who always wore a covering for their heads which 
 resembled a hood, from which they were called the " hoodlum 
 girls." 
 
 50 
 
786 
 
 HOP— IVO 
 
 Hope I see you. I am glad to see you. 
 
 Hornswoggle. Foolery, deception. Western. The " Philadelpliia 
 Times" (Nov. 5, 1877), in defining the word skullduggery, says, 
 " Its best Eastern equivalent is .s^e?ifm/^an, although the less com- 
 plicated word hornswoggling rather directly translates it," See 
 Shenanigan. 
 
 Horse-Rake. A rake worked by hoi'se-power, now in general use, 
 especially where mowing-machines are used. 
 
 House-Raising. The operation of setting up the frame of a wooden 
 building. See Raising Bee, in body of book. 
 
 Humility. (Limosa.) The marbled God wit, a bird that frequents 
 fens and the banks of rivers. New England. 
 
 Hung on Wires. Said of a nervous or fidgety person. 
 
 Hypantol. An imaginary ailment ; hypochondria. 
 
 I. 
 
 Inflationist. A term applied to those who favor increased issues of 
 paper money; who are opposed to the resumption of specie payment 
 in 1879, as provided by law ; and of those who advocate the remone- 
 tization of silver, in order to make it a legal tender. See Remone- 
 tization. 
 
 The New York " Tribune " of Nov. 20, 1877, says: — 
 
 Publish the names of the inflationists. . . . Let a list be printed of all those 
 Senators and Representatives who have voted and will vote in favor of inflation 
 and repudiation in any form, all opponents of the Resumption Act, all advocates 
 of Bland's Silver Bill, and so on. ... I would have them placed in this public 
 pillory as men who have betrayed their trust and their country. 
 
 Ink-Slinger. One who habitually writes for publication; particularly 
 
 an editor or reporter of a new^spaper. 
 
 Inside Track. Some advantage peculiar to the person in connection 
 with whom the expression is used; as, "Robinson had the inside 
 track in the whole speculation." 
 
 Ivory Nut, A species of palm, the Phyteleplias macrocarpa. When 
 young, the seed contains a fluid which gradually hardens into a 
 whitish, close-grained, albuminous substance, resembling the finest 
 ivory in texture and color, and is often wrought into ornamental 
 work. The nuts are known in commerce as Corosso nuts. — Webster. 
 
JAC— LIV 
 
 787 
 
 J. 
 
 Jack-Stone. A metal toy, consisting of several arms with globular 
 termini. It is so tossed and caught that the player may keep as 
 many of the toys as possible in motion at the same time. 
 
 Jack-Straws. Slender bits of wood, bone, or ivory, fashioned into 
 various shapes, for playing a game of the same name. They are 
 marked with different numbers, and are dropped in a promiscuous 
 heap, from which each player draws in turn, until he moves some 
 other "jack-straw" than that which he attempts to extricate. 
 The winner is he whose aggregate of numbers is the highest. 
 " Spellikins " or " Spellicans " is another term for this anmse- 
 ment. 
 
 Jeff. Among printers in their workshops, to throw "quads," — 
 a certain kind of type which they use as dice. See Shake ^ in body 
 of book. 
 
 Jump. " On the jump " is to be occupied in a manner requiring 
 constant activity. 
 
 K. 
 
 Kingdom Come. " He 's gone to kingdom come,^^ i. e. he is dead. 
 
 Knight of the Yard-Stick. A retail dry-goods clerk ; a "counter- 
 jumper." 
 
 Knowledgeable. Educated, intelligent. — H. W. Beecher. Common 
 among the uneducated of Ireland. 
 
 L. 
 
 Labor. (Span.) One of the land-measures of Texas, where the 
 Spanish measures of leagues, labors, and varas are universal. 
 A labor is equal to 177^ acres, or one million square varas. 
 
 Leaky Vessel. A person who does not keep secrets. 
 
 To lie low. To keep quiet and reticent till all occasion for so doing 
 has passed. 
 
 Light here ! Come here ! A phrase particularly in use on the Western 
 rivers. 
 
 Live Man. One who is remarkably active and energetic. " We 
 want a live vian for the place, — none of your moping, indolent sort." 
 
788 
 
 LIV— MES 
 
 Live Oak. {Quercus vivem.) A variety of oak gi'owing in the South- 
 ern States, of great durability and much used in ship-building. 
 
 Live Paper. A term applied to business notes-of-hand. The banks, 
 in discounting, prefer " live paper meaning notes that will be paid 
 at maturity, and not such as will be renewed, or their payment pro- 
 longed. 
 
 Lods et Ventes. (Fr.) When an owner of land which is held 
 under feudal tenure sells the same, one-twelfth of the proceeds 
 goes, by old French law, to the seigneur. This is called lods et 
 ventes. Province of Quebec. See Ce?isitaire and Cens et Rentes. 
 
 Low-Gear. A vehicle of which the portion to receive the load is 
 placed below the axles, in order that heavy articles may be put on 
 and off with greater facility. 
 
 M. 
 
 Magnolia. So called after Pierre Magnol, Professor of Botany at 
 Montpellier, France. A tree bearing large, fragi-ant, white flowers, 
 growing in the Southern States. Michaux mentions thirteen 
 varieties of the tree, of which eight belong to North America and 
 five to China and Japan. In China, it figures as the symbol of 
 candor and of beauty. — North Am. Sylva. 
 
 Make-up. The whole as distinguished from the several parts com- 
 posing it; the equivalent of the French tout ensemble. 
 
 An actor's make-up means the artificial manner in which he is 
 is apparelled, painted, &c., for the stage. 
 
 Man-Fashion. In a manly, straightforward manner. 
 
 Also, riding astraddle, in distinction from the feminine use of a 
 side-saddle. 
 
 May-Flower. A flower that blooms in May. In England, it is the 
 hawthorn; in New England, it is the trailing arbutus {Epigcea 
 repens) . 
 
 Meamelouc. The offspring of a white and metis or octoroon, being 
 black. See Negro, in body of book. 
 
 Mesquit-Grass. Barbed Mesquit. A species of grass, from two to 
 three feet in height, found in Western Texas. It is a favorite 
 winter grass, and is much sought for by stock of all kinds. 
 
 Hog-Wallow Mesquit. A species of grass, used only to be found 
 in the hog-wallows of Texas, but which is now rapidly spreading 
 
MET— NEW 
 
 789 
 
 itself along the road-sides, and carpeting all the old roads and other 
 spots and places of ground which have been denuded of other 
 grasses, with a thickly crowded coat of extremely fine, nutritious 
 pasturage for every type of graminivorous animals. In appearance, 
 it closely resembles the Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon). Ex- 
 cept on suitably moist grounds, it is not large enough to make hay 
 of; as it does not, on ordinary soil, exceed three to six inches in 
 height. — Emigrant'' s Guide to Western Texas ^ p. 44. 
 See this term in body of book. 
 
 Metice or Metif. See under " Mestee or Mustee,^^ in body of book. 
 
 Minute-Man. A man enlisted for service wherever requii'ed, and 
 ready to march at a moment's notice, — a term used in the Ameri- 
 can Revolution. — Webster. 
 
 Miss. To miss a figure is to commit a serious blunder. The news- 
 papers, in speaking of Mr. Ewing's plans to get through his bill for 
 the repeal of the " resumption act," said, " He missed a figure that 
 time," i. e. he failed to carry his point. 
 
 Moons. Moon of Bright Nights, April; Moon of Leaves, May; Moon 
 of Strawberries, June; Moon of the Falling Leaves, September; Moon 
 of Snow-shoes, November. — H. W. Longfellow, in Hiawatha. 
 
 Mournsome. Sad, dejected, mournful. 
 
 As we were shoving off, the old man came down the hill and stopped us, — 
 *• guessed" as we were doctors we ought to be paid. "Well," said he, "you 
 done us a heap of good, and we was kind of mournsome before you come." I 
 felt that the new word mournsome was worth many fees, so guessed, in reply, that 
 we wouldn't take any thing. — *S'. W. MitcheWs Nurse and Patient, p. 52. 
 
 Mud-Hook. An anchor. "Drap mud-hook,^'' i. e. cast anchor. 
 
 Mustafina. Same as Meamelouc, which see. See also Mulatto, in 
 body of book. 
 
 My ! or Oh, My ! An exclamation used chiefly by women. 
 
 N. 
 
 New Orleans Moss. (Tillandsia usneoides.) A moss which hangs 
 from the boughs of trees in Louisiana, giving to the landscape a 
 weird-like appearance. The fibre, which it yields in abundance, is 
 an excellent substitute for curled hair, and is used in the South 
 almost exclusively for mattresses, cushions, &c. After being rotted, 
 a process which requires five or six months, it is cleaned, dried, and 
 
790 
 
 NOT— PAT 
 
 baled for market. Cattle eat the moss with avidity, and thrive 
 upon it. Also called Texas Moss, as it is equally abundant in that 
 State. In common parlance, it is called Old Man^s Beard. 
 Not Much. " He is not much,^' i. e. of no consequence, or, as they 
 would say in England, "no gi-eat shakes." 
 
 O. 
 
 Old Man's Beard. A moss hanging from the boughs of most trees in 
 
 Louisiana and Texas. See New Orleans Moss. 
 
 Oneida Community. A society of Communists living in Oneida 
 County, New York ; founded by John Humphrey Noyes, a native 
 of Vermont, who, after studying theology at Andover and New 
 Haven, announced himself a "Perfectionist." He is the author 
 of several books illustrative of his peculiar faith, one of which is 
 called "Bible Communism." The society practises community 
 of women as well as of goods, maintaining the equality of women 
 with men in social and business life; the members are engaged in 
 manufactures, and carry on a profitable farming. They support 
 two printing-offices. 
 
 Oughtness. The Rev. Joseph Cook defines the office of conscience to 
 be " the detei-mination of rightness and oughtness in human affairs." 
 
 Owe you One. " I owe you one " means that I will retaliate for 
 some advantage which another has obtained, or for an injury done. 
 
 Oyster-Plant. (Genus Tragopogon.) Salsify; a plant, the root of 
 which, when cooked, resembles the oyster in taste. Also called Vege- 
 table Oyster. 
 
 P. 
 
 Parient. A humorous way of saying "parent." It was much used 
 by song-writers during the late civil war. 
 
 Oh, sorely, sorely did they grieve ! 
 
 The cruel parienfs heart 
 Inflexible as stone remained, 
 
 And they were torn apart. — St. Nicholas. 
 
 Patron. One who gives business patronage or countenance to a par- 
 ticular railway, steamboat, hotel, &c. ; who buys his liquors, cigars, 
 &c., or who encourages any particular establishment, is called its 
 patron. The original meaning of a patron is one who counte- 
 nances, supports, or protects. 
 
PEL— PUT 
 
 791 
 
 While one of the best-read lawyers in Worcester Count}- was reading a brief 
 to the Supreme Court at Worcester the other day, he used the phrase " patrons 
 of the Boston and Albany Railroad." " What do you mean by the woi'd pa- 
 trms? " inquired Chief Justice Gray. The lawyer explained that he meant 
 people who patronized the road, — its customers. The Jud!j,e then suggested 
 that he should use a Avord that conveyed that idea, and explained that " patron " 
 had no such signification, and that the State is, strictly speaking, the only 
 patron of the road. — Boston paper, 
 
 Pe^ ' rist. A seller of finished peltries ; a vendor of manufactured furs. 
 W. Boyd, in Sicartzen, a Fur-Poem, 1865. 
 
 Period. " The Period the present time as distinguished from all 
 other ages of the world, past or future. The terms Girl of the 
 Period,^^ " Youth of the Period," &c., are employed in a sarcastic 
 sense. 
 
 Pigeon English. The dialect of the English which is peculiar to the 
 Chinese. 
 
 To pigeon-hole. To put away memoranda, documents, or other papers 
 for ready access, although it may be long before they are wanted. 
 The Departments at Washington receive applications and com- 
 plaints which they are said to '^pigeon-hole,'^ i. e. lay them aside, 
 never to be removed or acted upon. 
 
 To pineapple the Head. To trim the hair of the whole head very 
 close and uniformly; to " shingle " the hair. 
 
 Pine-Knot. (MergaUus alle.) The Little Auk. New England. 
 
 Plenty. The antithesis of the term Scarce, in its cant sense, which 
 see. "He has not been very plenfg round here lately;" that is, 
 " He has seldom or not been here recently." 
 
 Podunk. A term applied to an imaginary place in burlesque writing 
 or speaking. 
 
 Post Oak. (Quercus ohtusiloha.) An oak found in the Middle States, 
 used for knees in ship-building. 
 
 Pull through. To escape disaster by a combination of energy and 
 fortitude, notwithstanding difficulties. 
 
 To put a Head on. To bruise one's head; and, figuratively, to swell. 
 See same expression in body of book. 
 
 Gave utterance to whines and frets; 
 
 Nay, there were times when he made threats 
 
 That on you he would put a head, 
 
 Or he would "bust your snoot" instead. 
 
 Albert R. Cooke's Poems. 
 
792 
 
 PUT— REM 
 
 Put-up Job. A proceeding injurious to one party, and the result of 
 the secret machinations of another, especially when the former has 
 relied on the good faith of the latter. 
 
 Put up to. Instigated, incited. 
 
 Q. 
 
 Quateroon. Same as Quadroon. See Negro ^ in body of book. 
 
 R. 
 
 Raoker. A kind of pacing horse. 
 
 Rag. A jesting or contemptuous term for a flag. Thus, the Con- 
 federate flag was often termed by Unionists " the Rebel rag.''^ 
 
 Rag Baby, The. A burlesque term for the policy advocated by the 
 " Greenbackers " (q. v.); a designation applied in ridicule to cur- 
 rency inflation as a panacea for financial ills, and advocated on that 
 ground by a faction, as a matter of surpassing importance. 
 
 'Rah! 'rah! 'rah! The formula for a cheer by the students of Har- 
 vard College, Cambridge. 
 
 Rattle- Trap. A building or house of poor construction, or one in a 
 decayed condition. 
 
 Reach. The pole, or its equivalent, connecting the forward with the 
 hinder wheels of a wagon or other four-wheeled vehicle. 
 
 Reaper. An instrument drawn by horses or mules for cutting various 
 kinds of grain; sometimes called a Reaping-machine. 
 
 Red Coats. British soldiers. 
 
 To remonetize. To restore and make a legal tender any description 
 of money which had at a previous time been such tender. By 
 an act of Congress of June, 1874, silver ceased to be a legal tender 
 on all sums above $5. To remonetize silver is to make it again a 
 legal tender, by restoring it to its former value. 
 
 Mr. Bland, of Missouri, in discussing the bill before Congress 
 for the remonetization of silver, with a committee from New York, 
 said : — 
 
 You bankers had better accept my bill to remonetize silver ; for I warn you 
 that, unless this bill becomes a law, we will come to the next Conijress, and, as 
 with a sponge, we will wipe out all your bonds. — N. Y. Tribune, Nov. 16, 1877. 
 
 Senators Conkling, Kernan, and Bayard are decidedly opposed to the remone' 
 tization of silver, and will do all in their power to prevent the passage of a silver 
 bill that does not protect the honor and credit of the Government. — Ibid. 
 
RES— SCA 
 
 793 
 
 Restorator. The keeper of a restaurant, or house of refreshment. 
 
 Rip. " An old n)?." A rake, a libertine. Corruption of reprobate^ 
 English. A person, reading the letters R. I. P. (Requiescat in Pace) 
 on the top of a tombstone as one word, said, soliloquizing: " Rip ! 
 well, he was an old rip, and no mistake." — Cuthhert Bede. 
 
 Rocking-Chair. A chair mounted on rockers, so as to swing back- 
 wards and forwards. 
 
 Before [the fender], swinging himself in a rocking-chair, lounged a large gen- 
 tleman with his hat on. — Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xvii. 
 
 Ropes. To " know the ropes is a figurative expression for being well 
 versed in a given matter, as sailors on ship-board are fully ac- 
 quainted with all parts of the rigging. 
 
 Rough. In the nature of a hardship or of an imposition; as, " That 
 was rather rough on Jones, about his son's going off without letting 
 him know of it." 
 
 To rough. To chaff. " You 're roM^^m^/ me." 
 
 Round in. In Texas, they say "round in" for take in, include. 
 " In my tour, I will round in Espartero's ranch." 
 
 Rub and go. Nothing to spare. " The Cambridge boat came in 
 ahead; but it was 2^, rah and go.'' ^ A narrow avoidance of a con- 
 trary result. Comp. Touch and go. 
 
 S. 
 
 To salt down. To make provision for the future; as, " When they 
 opened the will, they found he had salted down some 5-20's that he 
 had not told them about." 
 
 Sand in the Wheels. Unexpected difficulties preventing the execu- 
 tion of a project. 
 
 To throto sand in the wheels. To cast obstructions in the way of an 
 undertaking. 
 
 Sang-Mele. The offspring of a white and octoroon, being g^^th black. 
 See Negro, in body of book. 
 
 Sap-Boiling. The boiling of sap from maple-trees, for the purpose of 
 making sugar, is a great event among farmers who possess a sugar- 
 bush or sugar-orchard, which see. " The boys are all going to the 
 sap-bilen next week." 
 
 Scalping-Knife. A broad-bladed knife worn by frontiersmen and 
 Indians. 
 
794 
 
 SAP— SUA 
 
 .... He dashed the weapon down, 
 And, leaping from the rock upon the glade, 
 
 With glittering scalpiny-knife and haughty frown, 
 Before the assailant stood. 
 
 Durfee, Whatcheer, Canto VII. 53. 
 
 At night, before his bed he '11 seek, 
 
 With countenance forlorn 
 He takes his scalphuj-lcni.fe, and eke 
 
 He trims the Indian corn. 
 
 Burlin(jton Hawkeye, Nov., 1877. 
 
 Sap-Gag. A trifling, empty-headed fellow. 
 
 Say ! or I say ! An exclamation by way of calling attention to subse- 
 quent words of the speaker; as, " Say ! Boy, throw that whip up 
 here." " I say ! Stranger, won't you give us a lift here a minute." 
 
 Scapulaire. (Fr.) A small, consecrated image of metal, suspended 
 from the neck next or near the person, as a supposed preservative 
 against accident or harm. Province of Quebec. 
 
 Set up. Intoxicated. " He came from the liquor-shop pretty well 
 set up.'''' 
 
 Seven-Shooter. A revolver with seven barrels, now much used on 
 the Western frontier. See Shooter^ in body of book. 
 
 Sewing-Machine. A machine of American invention for performing 
 the labor of sewing. The most important part of the machine is 
 the placing of the eye of the needle near the point. 
 
 Scribblement. Either a contemptible or a humorous way of naming 
 writings. Comp. Hurrygraph. 
 
 Scuff. To rub the feet against the ground or floor, either while walk- 
 ing or standing. 
 
 Shaded. A term frequently used in market reports, to signify a 
 slight falling off in prices, without a definite reduction; as, " Prices 
 were somewhat shaded at the close." 
 
 Shaker. One of a religious denomination, styled the " United So- 
 ciety," which first rose in Lancashire, England, in the year 1747. 
 In the accoutit which the Shakers give of themselves, they mention 
 the Quakers in the time of Oliver Cromwell, and the French prophets 
 of a later date, as being the first who had a peculiar testimony from 
 the Lord to deliver to the Christian world. But they complain that 
 the former degenerated, losing that desire of love and power with 
 which they first set out; and, the latter being of short continuance, 
 their extraordinary communications have long ago ceased. This 
 
SHA— SIN 
 
 795 
 
 testimony was revived in the persons of James Wardley, a tailor by 
 trade, and Jane his wife, who wrought at the same occupation. 
 They had belonged to the society of Shakers; but receiving the 
 spirit of the French prophets, and a further degree of light and 
 power, by which they were separated from that connnniiity, they 
 continued for several years disconnected from every denomination. 
 During this time, their testimony, according to what they saw by 
 vision and revelation from God, was, That the second appearing 
 of Christ was at hand, and that the church was rising in her full 
 and transcendent glory, which would elfect the final downfall of 
 Anti-Christ." 
 
 From the shaking of their bodies in religious exercises, they 
 were called Shakers, and some gave them the name of Shaking 
 Quakers. 
 
 In 1757, Ann Lee joined the Society by confessing her sins to 
 Jane Wardley. In 1772, she professed to have received a revelation 
 from God to repair to America. Accordingly, as many as firmly 
 believed in her testimony, and could settle their temporal concerns, 
 and could furnish necessaries for the voyage, concluded to follow 
 her. They arrived in New York in 1774, and in 1776 removed 
 to Watervliet, near Albany, where a society was established, which 
 still exists. From this society have grown communities at New 
 Lebanon, N. Y., Wayne county, N. Y. ; one in Connecticut; two 
 in Ohio ; two in Kentucky ; and one in Indiana. — Rapp^s Religious 
 Denominations in the U. S. 
 
 Shaking Quaker. A member of the religious sect called Shakers, 
 which see. 
 
 Sharpey. A species of boat used on some portions of the Atlantic 
 coast. Long Island. 
 
 Shook up. " He 's considerably shook up,^^ i.e. greatly agitated. 
 
 Should die. Among immature maidens, a common exclamation, at 
 the recounting of almost every trivial occurrence, is, " I laughed 
 so that I thought I should die/^ 
 
 Sight. Prospect, favorable probability; as, "Hopkins has no sight 
 for getting the office; " " Smith thought he had a good sight for 
 selling his horse." 
 
 To sing out. To shout lustily; e. g.,^^ When Bill found the lior.so 
 was too much for him, he sung out like a good fellow for Tom to 
 help him." 
 
796 
 
 SIN— SPI 
 
 To sing small. To substitute a subdued tone for a previous blusterin.^ 
 manner; e. g.^ "Jenkins commenced to order everybody round, but 
 the 'Squire made him sing small after he came." 
 
 Sit. A situation. A printer's short term for steady employment. 
 
 Sixty. For some occult reason, this number is used by many persons, 
 apparently to supply the lack of a ready comparison; as, "He 
 scolded like sixty because the job wasn't done." 
 
 Skin of his Teeth. A narrow chance; a very close escape. " He 
 got in by the skin of his teeth. The phrase " skin of my teeth " 
 occurs in Job xix. 20. 
 
 Skullduggery. Nonsense, foolery. 
 
 This word having been employed by a letter-writer in Washing- 
 ton, much curiosity was manifested by the press to know its mean- 
 ing. The " Philadelphia Times " (Nov. 5, 1877) says: " It is a very 
 good and very common word in the West. It is a favorite in the 
 best society there; and the meaning is very simple, and well under- 
 stood by educated minds. Its best Eastern equivalent probably is 
 Shenanigan,^ ^ which see in body of book. See also Missouri-is nis, 
 in same place. 
 
 To slip up. To completely fail in any undertaking. 
 
 Sly-Boots. A nickname applied in quasi good humor to a person 
 who is reputed to be as cunning as he is demure. 
 
 To snap up. 1. To take angry and unreasonable exception to an- 
 other's remark; as, " Jenkins snapped me right up for saying any 
 thing about those potatoes." 
 
 2. To possess one's self of something promptly and eagerly, upon 
 opportunity given ; as, "Brown snapped up every pound of butter 
 that came to market." 
 
 Soft-Horn. A weak, credulous person. 
 
 Soire'e. A church "sociable;" also any public social gathering. 
 Canada. 
 
 Sore-Head. A political term applied to those who, from disappoint- 
 ment in selfish aims, are disaffected towards the faction with which 
 they have previously been identified. 
 
 Sorrel Top. A derisive appellation for a red-haired person. 
 
 Spindigo. Overtaken by a disastrous result; e. g., "He came out 
 spindigoj^^ said of a person who entered into a speculation. 
 
SPO— STE 
 
 797 
 
 Spoiling for a Fight. Impatient to fight some one for the sake of 
 fighting; eager for a contest. 
 
 Sponge. To throw up the sponge is an expression which belongs to the 
 slang of prize-fighters; to the "ring" proper, or circle around 
 which pugilists assemble for a fight. On these occasions, a sponge 
 is used to wipe the blood as it flows from the bleeding contestants. 
 Hence, to " throw up the sponge," in the language of the ring, is 
 to use it no longer, thereby acknowledging a defeat, and tliat 
 the party which ceased to use the sponge is vanquished. The fol- 
 lowing example will show that the expression has been adopted by 
 religious contestants : — 
 
 In a letter from the Rev. Dr. J. H. Hopkins to the " N. Y. 
 Tribune," N"ov. 24, 1877, on the advancement of Ritualism, 
 that eminent writer and divine says: — 
 
 The leading? Ritualbtic parishes go on with their Ritualistic services, and teach 
 their Ritualistic doctrines without molestation. Bishop Stevens tried to coerce 
 St. Clement's. Pliiladelphia (not under the Ritual Canon, however), and finally 
 fiun(j up the sponge in despair. 
 
 Spudgel. To rush; to move swiftly; to dash off. 
 
 Squeal. To give up in any undertaking or game; to "throw up the 
 sponge," which see. 
 
 Squealer. {Chnradrim Virginianus.) The Golden Plover. New 
 England. See Tattler^ in body of book. 
 
 Squnch. To stoojD or lie down; to squeeze one's self within the 
 smallest compass. 
 
 St! boom! ah! These syllables or characters stand for the sounds by 
 which the students of Princeton College end a series of cheers. The 
 sounds uttered are intended to represent the loud fizzing through 
 the air of a rocket, the rocket's subsequent explosion, and the 
 clamorously expressed surprise of the spectators at such explosion. 
 
 Stand Sam. To *' Stand Sam " is to pay for liquor, refreshment, or 
 any thing else; to pay for the entertainment of one's friends. The 
 expression was much used by our soldiers during the late civil 
 war. By "Sam" was meant "Uncle Sam," i. e. the United 
 States. Hotten says the expression was used in England as early 
 as 1827. — Slang Die. See Stand Treat. 
 
 State's-Prison Bird. A criminal who has been sentenced to the 
 State's Prison; notably, one whose career renders him liable to and 
 emphatically deserving of constant confinement. 
 
 Steady by Jerks, This is explanatory of itself. 
 
798 
 
 STI— TRA 
 
 Stick a Pin. " I '11 stick a pin there," i. e. I '11 make a note of it, 
 I '11 bear it in mind. 
 
 Straight-haired. Honest, uprio^ht, reliable, "square." 
 
 Street-Yarn. To spin street-yarn ; to gad about in an idle manner; 
 to frequent the streets without any definite object. 
 
 Sub. A substitute. A word in constant use among printers to denote 
 one engaged by another to fill the permanent situation of the latter 
 while he is temporarily off duty. " He subbed in Boston for a 
 while; " that is, obtained casual employment there in this way. 
 
 Suds. In the suds is to be actually engaged in a manner unsuited to 
 receive visitors, as a woman would be at the wash-tub. 
 
 Sweat. A condition of great mental excitement, reacting upon the 
 physical system; a degree of concern so deep as to induce perspira- 
 tion; as, "I will make him sweat for his conduct." Used in the 
 same sense in England. 
 
 Nor did he ever once repeat 
 
 The prank that gave him such a sweat. 
 
 Albert R. Cookers Poems. 
 
 T. 
 
 Taking. Excitement, undue emotion; as, " I found Jerry in a ter- 
 rible taking about his brother's failure." 
 
 Territory. In the United States, a portion of the country not in- 
 cluded within the limits of any State, and not admitted as a State 
 into the Union, but organized by a separate legislature, under a 
 territorial governor and other officers appointed by the President 
 and Senate of the United States. — Webster. 
 
 Tip-Cart. A two-wheeled vehicle, so constructed as to "dump " its 
 load by tipping up the forward end of the body. 
 
 Too Thin to wash. Too evident. See Too Thin, in body of book. 
 
 The attempt at legislation was judiciously made under the language of friend- 
 liness, and an express desire to " increase the etiiciency " of these institutions by 
 a little canonical legislation. But the veil was too thin to tcash. — Rev. Dr. J. H. 
 Hopkins on Ritualism, N. Y. Tribune, Nov. 24. 1877. 
 
 Trade Dollar. A silver dollar, coined by act of Congress, Jan. 12, 
 1873, containing 420 grains Troy, and made a legal tender at its 
 nominal value for any amount not exceeding five dollars, the 
 " standard dollar of previous coinages weighing but 4121 grains." 
 
TRA— YAH 
 
 799 
 
 It is called the *' trade dollar," being coined expressly for export to 
 China and India. At first, it was received with hesitation in China; 
 but, upon repeated tests of its weight and fineness being made, its 
 intrinsic value became fixed, and at the present time it is received 
 with great favor at the ports of Canton, Swatow, Amoy, and Foo- 
 Chow. "Indeed," says Mr. Low, our Minister at Pekin, "so 
 reliable has this coin proven, that the viceroys of the provinces in 
 which the ports named are situated have ordered that they be 
 received in payment for duties in payment of customs duties, at 
 their standard value, as compared with the tael." 
 
 Traineau. (Fr.) A farmer's working-sleigh. Province of Quebec. 
 
 Tumble to or Tumble. Understand; as, "Do you tumble to it?" 
 " Yes, I tumble.''^ 
 
 w. 
 
 Wammikin. A raft of square timber or long logs, on which is built 
 a comfortable shanty, with cooking and sleeping facilities, used by 
 lumbermen in Maine. See Raft^ in body of book. 
 
 At night, the men seek their several Wammikins for supper, sleep, and break- 
 fast ; and, when the '"drive" tinally arrives at its destination, the timber of 
 these portable hotels comes into good use for booms and other purposes. — 
 Scribner''s Monthly for December, 1877, p. 151. 
 
 Water-Witch. (Podiceps.) A name applied to the whole family of 
 grebes. They are also called Hell-divers and Tinker-loons. 
 
 Wringer. An instrument worked by hand for forcing or wringing 
 water from clothes after they have been washed, thereby saving 
 gi-eat labor. 
 
 Y. 
 
 Yahoo. (Additional to this word in body of book.) 
 
 A word first used by Swift in Gulliver's Travels to designate a 
 race of beings, degraded men subject to the Ilouyhnhnms. The 
 name and the character attracted the wits of the day, especially 
 those of Swift's party, who, like him, were disposed to be out of 
 sorts with the order of things and the men at the head of af- 
 fairs. In July, 1720, Lord Bolingbroke writes from Davvley Farm 
 to Swift, Pope, and Gay, under the designation of " the three Yahoos 
 of Twickenham, Jonathan, Alexander, and John." Mrs. Howard, 
 too, in writing to Swift in allusion to an impostor of the name of 
 
800 
 
 YAN— YAW 
 
 Mary Tafts, calls her a Yahoo; and Gay writes, "We are afraid 
 that B. hath been guilty of that crime that you (like a Ilouyhnhnm) 
 have treated him as a Fa/ioo." — Dr. Waller^ s note to Gulliver^ s 
 Travels, CassePs Ed,, p. 279. 
 
 Art thou the first who did the coast explore ? 
 
 Did never Yahoo tread that ground before V — Pope. 
 
 Yankee Doodle. (Additional to this term in body of book.) 
 
 You know, my dear Freddy, how oft if we would, 
 
 By the laws of Session we might have done good : 
 
 We might have told Ireland we pitied her lot; 
 
 Might have soothed her with hope, but you know we did not; 
 
 We might have withheld our political noodles 
 
 From knocking their heads against hot Yankee doodles. 
 
 Tom Moore, Twopenny Post Boy. 
 
 Yawp. The cry of a sickly bird, or of one in distress. — Jamieson, 
 Scottish Die. 
 
 The " Atlantic Monthly " for December, 1877 (p. 744), in speak- 
 ing of the author of " Leaves of Grass," says: — 
 
 The indictment preferred against [Walt] Whitman has three counts : first, he is 
 nasty ; second, he is tedious and prosaic; third, his singing is a barbaric yawp. 
 
 " Now as to the barbaric yawp,^^ continues the critic, " I maintain 
 that there are passages of his poetry which show him to be one of 
 our very first masters of verbal melody and harmony, and do not 
 find it surprising that he should have attracted toward him two 
 such diverse, but veritable singers as Swinburne and Tennyson." 
 
 To yawp, yaup. To cry out like a child; to whine. — Jamieson, Scot. 
 Die. Noticed also by Webster, who adds " Scot, and U. S." 
 
PROVERBS. 
 
 A small house well filled is better than an empty palace. 
 
 A cold manner never covered a warm heart : hot water imparts a 
 glow even to a silent teapot. 
 
 A college education shows a man how devilish little other people 
 know. 
 
 A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse. 
 
 Seeing is believing ; but it is not those who stare most who see the 
 best always. 
 
 When ponds dry up, the pokes get the pollywogs. 
 
 When grasshoppers are so plenty as to make the pastures poor, 
 gobblers grow fat. 
 
 Never draw on to-morrow. It is like anticipating one's income, 
 and making the future bear the expenses of the past. 
 
 To carry care to bed is to sleep with a pack on your back. 
 
 Thundering long words aint wisdom, and stopping a creature's 
 mouth is more apt to improve his mind than his understanding. 
 
 Love is like the small-pox: it comes in the natural way, and one 
 can't help it. 
 
 Swapping facts is better than swapping horses any time. 
 
 Hope is a pleasant acquaintance, but an unsafe friend. He '11 do 
 on a pinch for a travelling companion, but he is not the man for your 
 banker. 
 
 Where there is great strength, there aint apt to be much gumption. 
 
 A handsome man in a general way aint much of a man. 
 
 The world is like a baked meat-pie: the upper crust is rich, dry, 
 and puffy; the lower crust is heavy and underdone. The middle is 
 not bad generally, but the smallest part of all is that which flavors the 
 whole. 
 
 Nicknames stick to people, and the most ridiculous are the most 
 adhesive. 
 
 Conceit grows as natural as the hair on one's head; but it is longer 
 in coming out. 
 
 61 
 
802 
 
 PROVERBS. 
 
 Brag is a dog that everybody hates, but nobody fears, for he only 
 bow-wows. 
 
 There is cant in politics as well as in religion, and hypocrites of 
 either kind are rascals. 
 
 Piety aint found in pot-houses, nor patriotism in mobs or mob- 
 meetings. 
 
 Blushing for others is the next thing to taking a kicking for them. 
 
 Those who do the most bragging about their independence before 
 marriage do the least of it afterwards. 
 
 I have never known a second wife but what was boss of the sit- 
 uation. 
 
 Whiskey is a hard thing to convince, therefore never argue with a 
 drunken man. 
 
 Idleness is the great bane of life : the devil always enters the idle 
 man's house without knocking. 
 
 Dandies are a quick study: after you have looked one over, you 
 have got the size of the whole. 
 
 Don't despise your poor relations: they may become suddenly rich, 
 and then it will be awkward to explain things to them. 
 
 A woman always prefers to look up to her husband, and never looks 
 down on him unless she is obliged to. 
 
 Pet children are tyrants ; and a pet deacon wants as much watching 
 as a pet coon. 
 
 A pet wife soon gets to be captain, and a pet baby rules the whole 
 household. 
 
 Young fools are comparatively harmless: it is the old fools that 
 make most trouble in the world. 
 
 It is time enough for a man to laugh at his own wit after others get 
 through. 
 
 Those who begin by believing too much generally end by believ- 
 ing nothing. 
 
 Experience is a good teacher, although a slow one: before we get 
 half through her lessons, the bell rings, and we are summoned to 
 judgment. 
 
 The goose, like other fools, always seems anxious to prove that he 
 is a goose. 
 
 Any man who can swap horses or catch fish and not lie about it 
 is just as pious as men ever become in this world. 
 
 The shortest way to a woman's heart is to praise her baby and her 
 bonnet ; and to a man's heart, to praise his horse and buggy. 
 
 There are no women so much abused as mothers-in-law, and none 
 seem to stand it so well. 
 
PROVERBS. 
 
 803 
 
 Early genius is like a cabbage: it doesn't head well. 
 
 Sharpers are like hornets, — intimate on short acquaintance. 
 
 Secrets are like the measles : they take easy and spread easy. 
 
 When you see a doctor Avho always travels on the jump, you can 
 bet he is looking for a job. 
 
 Self-made men are almost always apt to be a little too proud of the 
 job. 
 
 There aint much fun in physic ; but there is a good deal of physic 
 in fun. 
 
 It is a very small spot in a lightnir^-bug's tail that shines; it is 
 the darkness of the night that makes so brilliant: it is just so with 
 virtue. 
 
 Disease and pills, when they enter a man's body, are like two 
 lawyers when they undertake to settle his affairs : they compromise the 
 matter by laying out the patient. 
 
 Sewing societies are generally places where women meet to rip and 
 so — up the neighborhood. 
 
 Advice is like castor oil, — easy enough to give, but dreadful uneasy 
 to take. 
 
 Error will creep through a crack, while truth will get stuck in a 
 doorway. 
 
 Take the humbug out of the world, and you wont have much left 
 to do business with. 
 
 The interviewer has just brains enough to keep his impudence 
 active; and, though he has but little malice, he will hunt you sharper, 
 and worry you worse, than a canal-boat bed-bug. 
 
 Death is no escape from the interviewer; for they will hang around 
 the departure till they get an item, and then go for the widow. 
 
 When a man runs his head against a post, he curses the post first, 
 all creation next, and something else last, and never thinks of cursing 
 himself. 
 
 An enthusiast is an individual who believes about four times as 
 much as he can prove, and who can prove about four times as much as 
 anybody else believes. 
 
 It is easy to manage our neighbors' business, but our own sometimes 
 bothers us. 
 
 People who are trying to get to heaven on their creed will find out 
 at last that they didn't have a through ticket. 
 
 The thinner the ice is, the more anxious is every one to see whether 
 it will bear. 
 
 Be merciful to all dumb animals : no man can ride to heaven on a 
 sore-backed horse. 
 
'804 
 
 PROVERBS. 
 
 The dog that will follow everybody aint worth a cent. 
 
 Ambition is as hollow as the soul of an echo. 
 
 Tides, steam-boats, and soda-water will wait for no one. 
 
 Big feet, like a leather shirt, are more for use than ornament. 
 
 Money slips from the fingers like a watermelon seed, travels with-' 
 out legs, and flies without wings. 
 
 It is the lot of humanity to err at times, as the drunken man said 
 ■when he mistook the pigpen for his bedroom. 
 
 A good deed will stick out, with an inclination to spread like the 
 tail of a peacock. 
 
 Evil actions, like crushed rotten eggs, stink in the nostrils of all. 
 
 One might as well undertake to whistle a grape-vine from a white- 
 oak as to induce a girl to relinquish her lover. 
 
 Vice is like a skunk that smells awfully rank, when stiri-ed up by 
 the pole of misfortune. 
 
 Obstinacy is like red hair: there is no cure for it but to die. B. 
 
 Time isn't of more account than an old setting hen. B. 
 
 A hen's time aint much. B. 
 
 All deacons are good, but there 's odds in deacons. B. 
 
 It 's a poor belly that can't warm its own pie. (Cape Cod.) 
 
 I never eat the calf in the cow's belly. 
 
 Believe all things that you hear, but put your faith and money in 
 but few. B. 
 
 Clubs are places where most people go to get rid of themselves. B, 
 Waiting to be whipped is the most uninteresting period in boy- 
 hood life. B. 
 
 The man who is reckless of his life holds it at just about its market 
 price. B. 
 
 The most critical people to suit are those who board at alms- 
 houses. B. 
 
 Don't parade your sorrows before the world; but buiy them as , 
 dogs do their old bones, and then growl if anybody offers to dig them 
 up. B. 
 
 The middle course is the best: even a moderate deacon is better 
 than a ret-hot one. B. 
 
 Woman has always been a match for man: Adam held the best 
 cards, but he didn't play them well. B. 
 
 There are no w^eeds in the world that wilt so quick as the weeds of 
 the widower. B. 
 
 The man who lives the life of a toady is a kind of human spit- 
 box. B. 
 
 If you w^ould escape envy, abuse, and taxes, you must live in a deep 
 well, and only come out at night. B. 
 
PROVERBS. 
 
 805 
 
 It aint whistlin' makes the plough go. 
 "Wishers and woulders make poor housekeepers. 
 You can't make a fog-horn out of a pig's tail: the squeal aint in 
 that end. 
 
 Perseverance is a whole team in itself; but, tackled with Patience, 
 " Jordan is a slow road to travel." 
 
 It is more respectable to be seen with a dirty shirt on one's back 
 and a clean moral reputation beneath it, than with an oath-stained 
 character wrapped in broadcloth. D. 
 
 Whatever your conscience dictates to be done, do it, and tell the 
 devil to go home and attend to his domestic affairs. D. 
 
 Deal justly with all men: if your neighbor steals a sheep of you, 
 consider it an act of necessity on his part, and furnish him with funds 
 to buy his mutton in future. D. 
 
 Animated by the invigorating influence of love, a young mim will 
 climb higher and steeper acclivities than a Rocky jNIountain ram, leap 
 farther at a hop than a kangaroo, crawl through a smaller hole 
 than a weasel, assume more colors than the chameleon, and dive 
 deeper into danger than avarice ever dare venture for the sake of 
 the all-puissant dollar. D. 
 
 To test your luck, don't throw dice nor buy lottery tickets; but 
 put your hand to the plough, and hold on. D. 
 
 Don't suppose that good luck wdll keep company with a loafer who 
 is too lazy to work. D. 
 
 Life is like a kiss that does not last long enough for a fellow to 
 ascertain how good it is. D. 
 
 Let a man be minus his brains and plus brass, and he is sure 
 to slide through the woi'ld as though he was greased from ear to 
 ankle. D. 
 
 Money, like manure, is of no earthly use until it is spread. 
 Keep cool; be busy; chirify your conscience, and exliibit a clean 
 shirt. D. 
 
 Tdbness eats big holes through one's coat, jacket, and trowsers, 
 and never provides means to mend them. D. 
 
 The longest pole fetches down the persimmons. 
 
 Let every man skin his own skunks [/. e. do his "own dirty 
 work"]. S". S. 
 
 Tease not your own gi/zard; fret not your own mizzard. 
 
 Let well enough alone. 
 
 The bread of idleness in a general way is apt to be stale, and some- 
 times I consait it is a little grain sour. S. S. 
 
 The mind is like a slate, — one thing gets rubbed out for anotiier. 
 S. S. 
 
806 
 
 PROVERBS. 
 
 Republics, like some apples, thrive only in certain places. S. S. 
 
 Grumbling spoils the relish, and hurts the digestion. S. S. 
 
 Bashfulness rubs off in America long before the beard comes. S. S. 
 
 When you see a politician extra full of patriotism and stuffed with 
 stump speeches, you may take it for granted he wants office either for 
 himself or some friend. D. 
 
 Hope's brightest visions absquatulate with their golden promises 
 before the least cloud of disappointment, and leave not a shinplaster 
 behind. D. 
 
 Politics are nothing more or less than a race for a purse, a game 
 for the stakes, a battle for the spoils. D. 
 
 No man nor woman can be a general favorite and be true. S. S. 
 
 Hypocrisy has enlisted more people for " Old Scratch " than any 
 recruiting sergeant he has. S. S. 
 
 The moment a fellow has a woman's secret, he is that woman's 
 master. S. S. 
 
 No atheist, with all his boasted bravery, has ever dared to adver- 
 tise his belief on his tomb-stone. B. 
 
 When a man is old enough to travel a good gait on his experience, 
 death taps him on the shoulder and wants him just around the cor- 
 ner. B. 
 
 The man who can't find any thing to do generally hunts with great 
 caution. B. 
 
 Beauty has won many a victory, but seldom has succeeded in keep- 
 ing it long. B. 
 
 The man who has never been cheated doesn't know as much as he 
 will some day before long, perhaps. B. 
 
 A careless man in a family is a nuisance, but a sluttish woman is 
 worse than a blister. B. 
 
 He who has nothing to do in this w^orld but to amuse himself has 
 the hardest job on hand that I know of. B. 
 
 There is nothing that we make so many blunders about and the 
 w^orld so few as the actual amount of our importance. B. 
 
 He who works for notoriety had rather be insulted than not noticed 
 at all. B. 
 
 One half the troubles in this world can be traced to saying " Yes " 
 too quick, and to not saying " No " soon enough. B. 
 
 When the fox turns preacher, the geese had better not go to night- 
 meetings. S. S. 
 
 There is no security where there is a committee of safety. S. S. 
 
 Fellows who have no tongues fire often all eyes and ears, S. S. 
 
SIMILES. 
 
 Like bricks. 
 
 Like all fury. 
 
 Like all nature. 
 
 Like all possessed. 
 
 Like hot cakes. 
 
 As cute as a fox. 
 
 As drunk as a loon. 
 
 As crazy as a bed-bug. 
 
 As mad as all wrath. 
 
 As long as a thanksgiving sermon. 
 
 As straight as a loon's leg. 
 
 Mad enough to eat snakes. 
 
 As dry as a lime-burner's wig. 
 
 As meek as a sucking dove. 
 
 As innocent as a sucking turkey. 
 
 As hot as the devil's kitchen. 
 
 As quick as greased lightning. 
 
 As crooked as a Virginia fence. 
 
 As tight as the bark of a tree. 
 
 As thin as the last run of shad. 
 
 As happy as a clam at high water. 
 
 Thicker than bees in a buckwheat field. 
 
 As smiling as a basket of chips. 
 
 As outspoken as a north-wester. 
 
 As hungry as a graven image. 
 
 As handy as a pocket in a shirt. 
 
 As dry as the clerk of a lime-kiln. 
 
 As busy as bees in a tar-barrel. 
 
 As small as the little end of nothing. 
 
 As popular as a hen with one chicken. 
 
 Hopping about like pop-corn on a hot shovel. 
 
 He pricks up his ears like a filly in fly-time. 
 
808 
 
 SIMILES. 
 
 Mean enough to steal acorns from a blind hog. 
 
 Stingy enough to skim his milk at both ends. 
 
 Head and tail up like chicken-cocks in laying-time. 
 
 As proud as a mulatto in a negro congregation. 
 
 Hot enough to fry pitch out of a palm-leaf hat. 
 
 To feel as mean as a rooster in a thunder shower. 
 
 To grunt like an old sow when she hears the swill running. D. 
 
 As fresh in my memory as butter just from the churn. 
 
 As mad as a bull among bumble-bees. 
 
 As forlorn as an unmated coon. 
 
 As forlorn as a musquash when his swamp has been drained. 
 
 She looks like a scalded shoat on the last day of hog-killing. 
 
 As big as what hogs dream of when they 're too fat to snore. 
 
 As cold as the north side of a January grave-stone by moonlight. 
 
 As miserable as roosters in a rain, heads down and tails half-mast. 
 
 So thievish that people have taken in their stone walls at night. 
 
 As silently as a snail slips over a cabbage-leaf on a dewy morning. 
 
 To look as solemn as though a stone wall lay on one's grandmother. 
 
 As busy as a negro in a sugar-cask. 
 
 As busy as a hen with fifteen chickens in a barn-yard. 
 
 It stinks worse in the nostrils of Heaven than a dead horse on the 
 top of Mount Ararat. 
 
 He sticks like a Comanche on a mustang: the worse it jumps, the 
 tighter he sticks. 
 
 Like a dog at a churn, — working hard, with no prospect of a lick 
 at the butter. 
 
 The pigs were so poor that the owner was obliged to tie knots in 
 their tails to keep them from crawling through the cracks of their 
 pens. D. 
 
 A miser has a soul so small that a million like it could go through 
 the eye of a cambric needle abreast. D. 
 
 To feel as if one could lick the spirit out of a dozen 76 's in less 
 than two .shakes of a lobster's liver. D. 
 
 He bawls loud enough to make a dead horse turn over in his grave 
 
 She looks like an angel rammed through a brush-fence into a world 
 of wretchedness and woe. 
 
 I see many that permit the worm of corruption to gnaw at their 
 moth-eaten morals ! Their name is Legion; and the way they are 
 streaking it down the dark road to ruin is sorrowful to steam locomo- 
 tives. D. 
 
 I felt like a speck of dust cut up into homoeopathic doses for a child 
 two minutes old. 
 
SIMILES. 
 
 809 
 
 As interesting a sight as a shimmy (chemise) in a wash-tub ; and 
 whispers of purity, love, harmony, and peace. D. 
 
 I can strike as hard as fourth-proof lightning, and keep it up rough 
 and tumble as long as a wild-cat. 
 
 As much out of tune as a corn-stalk fiddle is in the hands of a 
 plough-boy. D. 
 
 As forward and saucy as the devil himself. 
 
 As fierce as a ram-cat. 
 
 He doesn't know enough to chaw gum. 
 
 He doesn't know enough to throw potato-apples over a fence. 
 I 'm in an unfortunate iwsition, as the toad said when he found 
 himself under a harrow which was about to go over him. 
 Like a singed cat, — better than he seems. 
 As natural as grinning is to a hyena. 
 
 As tough as old hickory, and as long-winded as a tornado. 
 As lonely as a catamount, and as dull as a bachelor beaver. 
 Like a pea in a hot skillet. 
 Better than pone and 'lasses. 
 
 Great on small wheels, i. e. large pretensions on a slight basis. 
 Cheaper than bull-beef at a penny a pound. 
 As scarce as hen's teeth. 
 
 AVith all its frauds and deceptions, we cling to the earth as it turng 
 on its axis, like a tumble-bug when it accidentally rolls down hill. 
 
 You may scent your persons with the richest perfume; but they 
 will no more compare with the rich fragrance that youth and beauty 
 emit, than the atmosphere which surrounds a wounded skunk can equal 
 the odor of an orange-grove. D. 
 
 As important as a militia officer on a trahiing-day. 
 
 As uselp.ss as whistling psalms to a dead horse. 
 
 As melancholy as a Quaker meeting-house by moonlight. 
 
 Thrasliing round like a short-tailed bull in fly-time, 
 
 AVhen frightened, a coward will shake like a shirt in a hurricane. 
 
 Hash is, like faith, the substance of things hoped for and the evi- 
 dence of things not seen. 
 
 He does not need it any more than a toad does a pocket. 
 
 Like shoemaker's wax, we are bound to admire goodness and stick 
 to it, whether found in the dunghill of humanity or in liearts of 
 angels. 1). 
 
 As for taking a good man's name from him, you might ;is well 
 undertake to pull goose-quills from the wings of an angel. I). 
 
 When a woman's affections are once fairly fastened npon a fellow, 
 they stick and hang like tick to a sheep. D. 
 
810 
 
 SIMILES. 
 
 As easy as rolling off a log. 
 
 He 's a whole team and a dog under the wagon. 
 
 The lustre that surrounds good deeds will as much outshine the 
 light of a candle as the noonday sun surpasses the feeble, phospho- 
 rescent glow emanating from the tail-end of a lightning-bug. D. 
 
 Time may scribble decay over the whole vegetable world; but he 
 can no more make a m.ark upon the unalterable ocean than a school- 
 boy can cipher upon a buttered slate. D. 
 
 The world has been rolling in sin and corruption, like the ball of 
 a tumble-bug through manure, till it is ready to flatten beneath the 
 weight of its squashy abominations. D. 
 
 So indistinct, that I can no more see it than I can see the shadow 
 of an idea. 
 
 The thing is as impossible as it would be to fire a joke from a 
 cannon. 
 
 To disappear as suddenly as ghosts at cock-crowing. S. S. 
 
 As tender as a porter-house steak. B. 
 
 As full of twitter as is a canary-bird on a perch. B. 
 
 Like a streak of yellow sunshine. B. 
 
 Like the balm of many flowers. B. 
 
 Like a Scotch terrier at a rat-hole. B. 
 
 As full of wit as a ginger-beer bottle is of pop. B. 
 
 As serious as a white mouse in a wire-trap. B. 
 
 As proud of her as a third lieutenant is of his first epaulettes. B. 
 
 As welcome as a dandelion in the bosom of winter. B. 
 
 As sleek and slippery as though he had been taking a hip-bath in 
 a tub of soap-grease. D. 
 
 As rough as the back of a hedgehog, and as foul as Zebedee's hen, 
 that laid three rotten eggs to a good one. D. 
 
 Of no more use than it would be to stop up a rat-hole with an 
 apple dumpling. D. 
 
 All talking and none listening, after the manner of a Woman's 
 Eights' Convention. 
 
 As clamorous for food as the boys of a district school just let out 
 to play at lunch-time. B. 
 
 Some men have so little backbone, that you might as well under- 
 take to help them as to stand an angleworm on end and ask him to 
 dance a jig. B. 
 
 I would sooner face a square mile of grasshoppers, or cross the 
 Newark marshes by moonlight in August, when mosquitoes are in 
 their glory, than have a newspaper critic who writes for eight dollars 
 a- week get after me. B. 
 
SIMILES. 
 
 811 
 
 The jokes of an auctioneer are generally as level as a cold slap- 
 jack. B. 
 
 Mean enough to steal the coppers from a dead nigger's eyes. 
 
 She leaned against him like a sick kitten against a hot brick. 
 
 He should be kicked to death by lame grasshoppers. 
 
 As impracticable as it would be to employ learned spiders to span 
 the Mississippi with cobweb bridges suitable for railway purposes. 
 
 We can make a new application of an old story, as the schoolmarm 
 said when she spanked the little boy with " Robinson Crusoe." 
 
 To leave stains as conspicuous as the traces of candy about the 
 handles of a young candy-sucker's mug. D. 
 
 Her hair it hung about her cheeks like seaweed round a clam. 
 
 In youth's lovely spring-time, thought, reason, and philosophy are 
 as much strangers to us as is piety to a plaster-o' -Paris Christian, or 
 patriotism to Powers 's Greek Slave. D. 
 
 News borrows the wings of lightning, and darts to the uttermost 
 ends of the earth in less than two throbs of a scared kitten's liver. D. 
 
 Just as confident as I am sure that lawyers will never go to heaven 
 any other way than by degrees. D. 
 
 Note. — Proverbs and Similes marked B. are from the writings of 
 "Josh Billings " (Henry W. Sliaw) ; those marked D. are from the sermons 
 of "Dow, Junior" (Elbridge G. Page) ; and those marked S. S., from the 
 writings of "Sam Slick, the Clock-maker" (Judge T. C. Haliburton). 
 Doubtless, others in the list are by the same writers. 
 
STATES, PEOPLE, AND CITIES, THEIR ABBREYIATIOXS 
 AND NICKNAMES. 
 
 N^AMES OF 
 
 Abbrevi- 
 
 Nicknames of 
 
 NAMfi;S OF 
 
 Nickn.vmf;.s of 
 
 Statfs. 
 
 ations. 
 
 Statks and People. 
 
 Cities. 
 
 CiTIKS. 
 
 ^lci^)tinici • • 
 
 Ala. 
 
 
 
 
 Alaska Ter. 
 
 Alas. 
 
 
 
 
 Arizona Ter. 
 
 Ariz 
 
 
 
 
 Avkciusas . 
 
 Ark. 
 
 
 
 [uate. 
 
 nlifornifi . . 
 
 Cal 
 
 Golden State 
 
 
 City of the Golden 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 Conn. 
 
 J^dlKL Ul OLcdUV XlctUlLh 
 
 New tfaven 
 
 City of Khns. 
 
 
 1 5 
 
 
 
 v.'OiorcKiO 
 
 (Jol. 
 
 CentenniRls. 
 
 
 
 
 D. C. 
 
 
 ^Yashinj^ton 
 
 City ot xMagnincent 
 
 Dacotah Ter 
 
 Dac 
 
 
 
 [Distances. 
 
 Delaware 
 
 
 L^lRlTlOllU. ocRte. 
 
 Blu6 Hen's Cliickens- 
 
 
 
 r lorida . . 
 
 r la. 
 
 
 
 
 Greori^'ia . 
 
 
 \_> I dv^ivci o • • • • • 
 
 Atlanta . 
 
 Gate City. 
 
 Tflilir. Tor 
 
 Id. 
 
 
 
 
 Iowa .... 
 
 la. 
 
 Hawkeves . • • • 
 
 Keokuk . 
 
 Liate vvity. 
 
 
 Til 
 111. 
 
 kjLHw-tVCl kJlCVLC • • • 
 
 Chicago . 
 
 Garden Cit}"". 
 
 ... 
 
 
 Prairie State . . . 
 
 Springfield . 
 
 Flower City. 
 
 Indiana . 
 
 Tnrl 
 
 inci. 
 
 rTfincilPTC 
 
 Indianapolis 
 
 xiaiiioad yAty, 
 
 
 ivan. 
 
 j^^'_bawlvers. 
 
 
 
 
 ivy. 
 
 i_ / ti I tv o^j iJivjvLi> vjriuiiiJLi 
 
 r 
 
 Louisville 
 
 rails '-vity. 
 
 
 Corncrackers. 
 
 
 l-<ou!siaua 
 
 La. 
 
 
 New Orleans 
 
 Crescent City. 
 
 >) • • 
 
 
 xeiicau oLaie. 
 
 
 Mifine . 
 
 Me. 
 
 Pino Ti'oa Qfafa 
 
 iine-ijee oiaie. 
 
 Portland 
 
 Forest City. 
 
 jNIarvIand 
 
 Md. 
 
 
 Baltimore 
 
 jNIonumental City. 
 
 Massachusetts 
 " 
 
 iMass. 
 " 
 
 ijcij oiaLc • • • • 
 
 Boston 
 " 
 
 iNIodern Athens. 
 1 ne tluD. 
 
 
 
 
 Lowell 
 
 City ot Spindles. 
 
 jMiohigan 
 
 ^lich. 
 
 \v olverines .... 
 
 Uetroit 
 
 City of the Straits. 
 
 [Minnesota . 
 
 "vt;., 
 M 1 n . 
 
 
 
 
 Mississippi . . 
 
 Miss. 
 
 Bayou State. 
 
 
 
 Missouri . . . 
 
 Mo. 
 
 
 
 ]Mound City. 
 
 ]\[ontana Ter. . 
 
 Mta. 
 
 
 
 
 Nevada . . . 
 
 Nev. 
 
 Silver State. 
 
 
 
 New .Jersey 
 
 N.,J. 
 
 .Jersey Blues. 
 
 
 
 Nebraska . . 
 
 Neb. 
 
 
 
 
 New jMexieo Tr. 
 
 N. 
 
 
 
 
 New Hampshire 
 
 N. H 
 
 Granite State. 
 
 
 [Lakes. 
 
 New York . 
 
 N. Y. 
 
 Empire State . . . 
 
 Buffalo . . 
 
 Queen City of the 
 
 
 
 Knickerbockers . . 
 
 New York . 
 Brooklyn . 
 
 Gotham. 
 
 City of Churches. 
 
\ 
 
%