1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue Part 54

NUNNERY. A bawdy house.

TO NURSE. To cheat: as, they nursed him out of it. An estate in the hands of trustees, for the payment of bdebts, is said to be at nurse.

NUTS. It was nuts for them; i.e. it was very agreeable to them.

NUTS. Fond; pleased. She's nuts upon her cull; she's pleased with her cully. The cove's nutting the blowen; the man is trying to please the girl.

NUTCRACKERS. The pillory: as, The cull peeped through the nutcrackers.

NUTMEGS. t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es.

NYP, or NIP. A half pint, a nip of ale: whence the nipperkin, a small vessel.

NYP SHOP. The Peac.o.c.k in Gray's Inn Lane, where Burton ale is sold in nyps.

NYPPER. A cut-purse: so called by one Wotton, who in the year 1585 kept an academy for the education and perfection of pickpockets and cut-purses: his school was near Billingsgate, London. As in the dress of ancient times many people wore their purses at their girdles, cutting them was a branch of the light-fingered art, which is now lost, though the name remains. Maitland, from Stow, gives the following account of this Wotton: This man was a gentleman born, and sometime a merchant of good credit, but fallen by time into decay: he kept an alehouse near Smart's Key, near Billingsgate, afterwards for some misdemeanor put down. He reared up a new trade of life, and in the same house he procured all the cut-purses about the city, to repair to his house; there was a school-house set up to learn young boys to cut purses: two devices were hung up; one was a pocket, and another was a purse; the pocket had in it certain counters, and was hung about with hawks bells, and over the top did hang a little sacring bell. The purse had silver in it; and he that could take out a counter, without noise of any of the bells, was adjudged a judicial NYPPER: according to their terms of art, a FOYSTER was a pick-pocket; a NYPPER was a pick purse, or cut-purse.

O BE JOYFUL. I'll make you sing O be joyful on the other side of your mouth; a threat, implying the party threatened will be made to cry. To sing O be easy; to appear contented when one has cause to complain, and dare not.

OAF. A silly fellow.

OAFISH. Simple.

OAK. A rich maa, a man of good substance and credit.

To sport oak; to shut the outward door of a student's room at college. An oaken towel; an oaken cudgel. To rub a man down with an oaken towel; to beat him.

OATS. He has sowed his wild oats; he is staid, or sober, having left off his wild tricks.

OATHS. The favourite oaths of the thieves of the present day are, "G.o.d strike me blind!" "I wish my b.l.o.o.d.y eyes may drop out if it is not true!" "So help me G.o.d!"

"b.l.o.o.d.y end to me!"

OAR. To put in one's oar; to intermeddle, or give an opinion unasked: as, To be sure, you must put in your oar!

OBSTROPULOUS. Vulgar misnomer of OBSTREPEROUS: as, I was going my rounds, and found this here gemman very obstropulous, whereof I comprehended him as an auspicious parson.

OCCUPY. To occupy a woman; to have carnal knowledge of her.

ODDFELLOWS. A convivial society; the introduction to the most n.o.ble grand, arrayed in royal robes, is well worth seeing at the price of becoming a member.

ODDS PLUT AND HER NAILS. A Welch oath, frequently mentioned in a jocular manner by persons, it is hoped, ignorant of its meaning; which is, By G.o.d's blood, and the nails with which he was nailed to the cross.

ODD-COME-SHORTLYS. I'll do it one of these odd-come-shortly's; I will do it some time or another.

OFFICE. To give the office; to give information, or make signs to the officers to take a thief.

OGLES. Eyes. Rum ogles; fine eyes.

OIL OF BARLEY, or BARLEY BROTH. Strong beer.

OIL OF GLADNESS. I will anoint you with the oil of gladness; ironically spoken for, I will beat you.

OIL OF STIRRUP. A dose the cobler gives his wife whenever she is obstropulous.

OI POAAOI (Proofreaders Note: Greek Letters).

(CAMBRIDGE.) The many; the mult.i.tude; who take degrees without being ent.i.tled for an honor.

All that is REQUIRED, are three books of Euclid, and as far as Quadratic Equation's in Algebra. See PLUCKED.

OLD. Ugly. CANT.

OLD DOG AT IT. Expert, accustomed.

OLD HAND. Knowing or expert in any business.

OLD HARRY. A composition used by vintners to adulterate their wines; also the nick-name for the devil.

OLD DING. See OLD HAT.

OLD MR. GORY. A piece of gold.

OLD NICK. The Devil: from NEKEN, the evil spirit of the north.

OLD ONE. The Devil. Likewise an expression of quizzical familiarity, as "how d'ye do, OLD ONE?"

OLD PEGG. Poor Yorkshire cheese, made of skimmed milk.

OLD POGER. The Devil.

OLD STAGER. One accustomed to business, one who knows mankind.

OLD TOAST. A brisk old fellow. CANT.

OLD DOSS. Bridewell.

OLIVER'S SCULL. A chamber pot.

OLLI COMPOLLI. The name of one of the princ.i.p.al rogues of the canting crew. CANT.

OMNIUM GATHERUM. The whole together: jocular imitation of law Latin.

ONE IN TEN. A parson: an allusion to his t.i.thes.

ONE OF US, or ONE OF MY COUSINS. A woman of the town, a harlot.

ONION. A seal. Onion hunters, a cla.s.s of young thieves who are on the look out for gentlemen who wear their seals suspended on a ribbon, which they cut, and thus secure the seals or other trinkets suspended to the watch.

OPEN a.r.s.e. A medlar. See MEDLAR.

OPTIME. The senior and junior optimes are the second and last cla.s.ses of Cambridge honors conferred on taking a degree. That of wranglers is the first. The last junior optime is called the Wooden Spoon.