Bataclan, m. (popular), set of tools; (thieves’) house-breaking implements, or “jilts.”
J’ai déjà préparé tout mon bataclan, les fausses clefs sont essayées.—Vidocq, Mémoires.
Bataille, f., (military), chapeau en——, cocked hat worn crosswise. Chapeau en colonne, the opposite of “en bataille.”
Bâtard, m. (popular), heap of anything.
Bate, f., (popular), être de la——, to be happy, fortunate, to have “cocum.”
Bateau, m. (popular), mener en——, to swindle, to deceive. Monter un——, to impose upon; to attempt to deceive.
Bateaux, m. pl. (popular), shoes, “carts;” large shoes; shoes that let in water.
Bateaux-mouches, m. pl. (popular), large shoes.
Batelée, f. (popular), concourse of people.
Bath, or bate (popular), fine; excellent; tip-top; very well. The origin of the expression is as follows:—Towards 1848 some Bath note-paper of superior quality was hawked about in the streets of Paris and sold at a low price. Thus “papier bath” became synonymous of excellent paper. In a short time the qualifying term alone remained, and received a general application.
Un foulard tout neuf, ce qu’il y a de plus bath!—Richepin.
C’est rien——, that is excellent, “fizzing.” C’est—— aux pommes, it is delightful. (Thieves’) Du——, gold or silver. Faire——, to arrest.
Batiau, m. (printers’), jour du——, day on which the compositor makes out his account for the week. Parler——, to talk shop.
Batif, m. (thieves’), bative, batifonne f., new; pretty, or “dimber.” La fée est bative, the girl is pretty, she is a “dimber mort.”
Batimancho (Breton), wooden shoes.
Bâtiment (familiar), être du——, to be of a certain profession.
Bâtir (popular), sur le devant, to have a large stomach; to have something like a “corporation” growing upon one.
Bâton, m. (thieves’), creux, musket, or “dag;” —— de cire, leg; —— de réglisse, police officer, “crusher,” “copper,” or “reeler;” priest, or “devil dodger” (mountebanks’) —— de tremplin, leg. Properly tremplin, a spring board; (familiar) —— merdeux, man whom it is not easy to deal with, who cannot be humoured; (thieves’) —— rompu, ticket-of-leave convict who has broken bounds. Termed also “canne, trique, tricard, fagot, cheval de retour.”
Bâtons de chaise, m. pl. (popular), noce de——, grand jollification, “flare up,” or “break down.”
Batouse, batouze, f. (thieves’), canvas; —— toute battante, new canvas.
Batousier, m. (thieves’), weaver.
Battage (popular), lie, “gag;” imposition; joke; humbug; damage to any article.
Battant, m. (thieves’), heart, “panter;” stomach; throat, “red lane;” tongue, “jibb.” Un bon——, a nimble tongue. Se pousser dans le——, to drink, “to lush.” Faire trimer le——, to eat.
Battante, f. (popular), bell, or “ringer.”
Battaqua, m. (popular), slatternly woman, dowdy.
Batterie, f. (popular), action of lying, of deceiving, “cram;” the teeth, throat, and tongue; —— douce, joke. (Freemasons’) Batterie, applause.
Batteur, m. (popular and thieves’), liar, deceiver; —— d’antif, thief who informs another of a likely “job;” —— de beurre, stockbroker; —— de dig dig, thief who feigns to be seized with an apoplectic fit in a shop so as to facilitate a confederate’s operations by drawing the attention to himself; (popular) —— de flemme, idler.
Battoir, m. (popular), hand, “flipper;” large hand, “mutton fist.”
Battre (thieves’), to dissemble; to deceive; to make believe.
Ne t inquiète pas, je battrai si bien que je défie le plus malin de ne pas me croire emballé pour de bon.—Vidocq.
Battre à la Parisienne, to cheat, “to do;” —— à mort, to deny; —— comtois, to play the simpleton; to act in confederacy; —— de l’œil, to be dying; —— entifle, to be a confederate, or “stallsman;” —— Job, to dissemble; —— l’antif, to walk, “to pad the hoof;” to play the spy, “to nark;” —— morasse, to call out “Stop thief!” “to give hot beef;” —— en ruine, to visit.
Drilles ou narquois sont des soldats qui … battent en ruine les entiffes et tous les creux des vergnes.—Le Jargon de l’Argot.
(Popular) Battre la muraille, to be so drunk as “not to be able to see a hole in a ladder,” or not to be able “to lie down without holding on;” —— la semelle, to play the vagrant; —— le beurre, to speculate on ’Change; to be “fast;” to dissemble; —— le briquet, to be knock-kneed; —— sa flème, or flemme, to be idle, to be “niggling;” —— son quart is said of prostitutes who walk the streets. Des yeux qui se battent en duel, squinting eyes, or “swivel-eyes.” S’en battre l’œil, la paupière, or les fesses, not to care a straw. (Familiar) Battre son plein, to be in all the bloom of beauty or talent, “in full blast;” (military) —— la couverte, to sleep; (sailors’) —— un quart, to invent some plausible story; (printers’) —— le briquet, to knock the type against the composing-stick when in the act of placing it in.
Batture. See Batterie.
Bauce, bausse, m. (popular), master, employer, “boss;” (thieves’) rich citizen, “rag-splawger;” —— fondu, bankrupt employer, “brosier.”
Bauceresse, f. (popular), female employer.
Baucher (thieves’), se——, to deride; to make fun of.
Baucoter (thieves’), to teaze.
Baude, f. (thieves’), venereal disease.
Baudrouillard, m. (thieves’), fugitive.
Baudrouiller (thieves’), to decamp, “to make beef.” See Patatrot.
Baudrouiller, or baudru, m. (thieves’), whip.
Bauge, f. (thieves’), box, chest, or “peter;” belly, “tripes.”