TOMMY. Soft Tommy, or white Tommy; bread is so called by sailors, to distinguish it from biscuit. Brown Tommy: ammunition bread for soldiers; or brown bread given to convicts at the hulks.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
GUTTING A QUART POT. Taking out the lining of it: i. e. drinking it off. Gutting an oyster; eating it. Gutting a house; clearing it of its furniture. See POULTERER.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
GRANNY. An abbreviation of grandmother; also the name of an idiot, famous for licking, her eye, who died Nov. 14, 1719. Go teach your granny to suck eggs; said to such as would instruct any one in a matter he knows better than themselves.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
BANG UP. (WHIP.) Quite the thing, hellish fine. Well done. Compleat. Dashing. In a handsome stile. A bang up cove; a dashing fellow who spends his money freely. To bang up prime: to bring your horses up in a dashing or fine style.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
HOSTELER, i.e. oat stealer. Hosteler was originally the name for an inn-keeper; inns being in old English styled hostels, from the French signifying the same.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
PRICK-EARED. A prick-eared fellow; one whose ears are longer than his hair: an appellation frequently given to puritans, who considered long hair as the mark of the whore of Babylon.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
CAT CALL. A kind of whistle, chiefly used at theatres, to interrupt the actors, and damn a new piece. It derives its name from one of its sounds, which greatly resembles the modulation of an intriguing boar cat.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
DRAGOONING IT. A man who occupies two branches of one profession, is said to dragoon it; because, like the soldier of that denomination, he serves in a double capacity. Such is a physician who furnishes the medicines, and compounds his own prescriptions.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
VINCENT'S LAW. The art of cheating at cards, composed of the following associates: bankers, those who play booty; the gripe, he that betteth; and the person cheated, who is styled the vincent; the gains acquired, termage.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
FRENCH DISEASE. The venereal disease, said to have been imported from France. French gout; the same. He suffered by a blow over the snout with a French faggot-stick; i.e. he lost his nose by the pox.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)