1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue Part 28

FEINT. A sham attack on one part, when a real one is meant at another.

FELLOW COMMONER. An empty bottle: so called at the university of Cambridge, where fellow commoners are not in general considered as over full of learning. At Oxford an empty bottle is called a gentleman commoner for the same reason. They pay at Cambridge 250 l. a year for the privilege of wearing a gold or silver ta.s.sel to their caps. The younger branches of the n.o.bility have the privilege of wearing a hat, and from thence are denominated HAT FELLOW COMMONERS.

FEN. A bawd, or common prost.i.tute. CANT.

TO FENCE. To p.a.w.n or sell to a receiver of stolen goods.

The kiddey fenced his thimble for three quids; the young fellow p.a.w.ned his watch for three guineas. To fence invariably means to p.a.w.n or sell goods to a receiver.

FENCING KEN. The magazine, or warehouse, where stolen goods are secreted.

FERME. A hole. CANT.

FERMERDY BEGGARS. All those who have not the sham sores or clymes.

FERRARA. Andrea Ferrara; the name of a famous sword-cutler: most of the Highland broad-swords are marked with his name; whence an Andrea Ferrara has become the common name for the glaymore or Highland broad-sword. See CLAYMORE.

FERRET. A tradesman who sells goods to youug unthrift heirs, at excessive rates, and then continually duns them for the debt. To ferret; to search out or expel any one from his hiding-place, as a ferret drives out rabbits; also to cheat. Ferret-eyed; red-eyed: ferrets have red eyes.

FETCH. A trick, wheedle, or invention to deceive.

FEUTERER. A dog-keeper: from the French vautrier, or vaultrier, one that leads a lime hound for the chase.

TO FIB. To beat. Fib the cove's quarron in the rumpad for the lour in his bung; beat the fellow in the highway for the money in his purse. CANT.--A fib is also a tiny lie.

FICE, or FOYSE. A small windy escape backwards, more obvious to the nose than ears; frequently by old ladies charged on their lap-dogs. See FIZZLE.

FID OF TOBACCO. A quid, from the small pieces of tow with which the vent or touch hole of a cannon is stopped.

SEA TERM.

FIDDLE FADDLE. Trifling discourse, nonsense. A mere fiddle faddle fellow; a trifier.

FIDDLESTICK'S END. Nothing; the end of the ancient fiddlesticks ending in a point; hence metaphorically used to express a thing terminating in nothing.

FIDGETS. He has got the fidgets; said of one that cannot sit long in a place.

FIDLAM BEN. General thieves; called also St. Peter's sons, having every finger a fish-hook. CANT.

FIDDLERS MONEY. All sixpences: sixpence being the usual sum paid by each couple, for music at country wakes and hops. Fiddler's fare; meat, drink, and money.

Fiddler's pay; thanks and wine.

FIELD LANE DUCK. A baked sheep's head.

FIERI FACIAS. A red-faced man is said to have been served with a writ of fieri facias.

FIGDEAN. To kill.

FIGGER. A little boy put in at a window to hand out goods to the diver. See DIVER.

FIGGING LAW. The art of picking pockets. CANT.

FIGURE DANCER. One who alters figures on bank notes, converting tens to hundreds.

FILCH, or FILEL. A beggar's staff, with an iron hook at the end, to pluck clothes from an hedge, or any thing out of a cas.e.m.e.nt. Filcher; the same as angler. Filching cove; a man thief. Filching mort; a woman thief.

FILE, FILE CLOY, or BUNGNIPPER. A pick pocket. To file; to rob or cheat. The file, or bungnipper, goes generally in company with two a.s.sistants, the adam tiler, and another called the bulk or bulker, Whose business it is to jostle the person they intend to rob, and push him against the wall, while the file picks his pocket, and gives'the booty to the adam tiler, who scours off with it. CANT.

FIN. An arm. A one finned fellow; a man who has lost an arm. SEA PHRASE.

FINE. Fine as five pence. Fine as a cow-t--d stuck with primroses.

FINE. A man imprisoned for any offence. A fine of eighty-four months; a transportation for seven years.

FINGER IN EYE. To put finger in eye; to weep: commonly applied to women. The more you cry the less you'll p-ss; a consolatory speech used by sailors to their doxies. It is as great a pity to see a woman cry, as to see a goose walk barefoot; another of the same kind.

FINGER POST. A parson: so called, because he points out a way to others which he never goes himself. Like the finger post, he points out a way he has never been, and probably will never go, i.e. the way to heaven.

FINISH. The finish; a small coffee-house in Coven Garden, market, opposite Russel-street, open very early in the morning, and therefore resorted to by debauchees shut out of every other house: it is also called Carpenter's coffee-house.

FIRING A GUN. Introducing a story by head and shoulders.

A man wanting to tell a particular story, said to the company, Hark! did you not hear a gun?--but now we are talking of a gun, I will tell you the story of one.

TO FIRE A SLUG. To drink a dram.

FIRE PRIGGERS. Villains who rob at fires under pretence of a.s.sisting in removing the goods.

FIRE SHIP. A wench who has the venereal disease.

FIRE SHOVEL. He or she when young, was fed with a fire shovel; a saying of persons with wide mouths.

FISH. A seaman. A scaly fish; a rough, blunt tar. To have other fish to fry; to have other matters to mind, something else to do.

FIT. Suitable. It won't fit; It will not suit or do.

FIVE SHILLINGS. The sign of five shillings, i.e. the crown.

Fifteen shillings; the sign of the three crowns.

FIZZLE. An escape backward,

FLABAGASTED. Confounded.

FLABBY. Relaxed, flaccid, not firm or solid.

FLAG. A groat. CANT.--The flag of defiance, or b.l.o.o.d.y flag is out; signifying the man is drunk, and alluding to the redness of his face. SEA PHRASE.

FLAM. A lie, or sham story: also a single stroke on a drum.

To flam; to hum, to amuse, to deceive. Flim flams; idle stories.

FLAP DRAGON. A clap, or pox.