BROWN BESS. A soldier's firelock. To hug brown Bess; to carry a firelock, or serve as a private soldier.
BROWN GEORGE. An ammunition loaf, A wig without powder; similar to the undress wig worn by his majesty.
BROWN MADAM, or MISS BROWN. The monosyllable.
BROWN STUDY. Said of one absent, in a reverie, or thoughtful.
BRUISER. A boxer; one skilled in the art of boxing also an inferior workman among chasers.
BREWES, or BROWES. The fat scum from the pot in which salted beef is boiled.
TO BRUSH. To run away. Let us buy a brush and lope; let us go away or off. To have a brush with a woman; to lie with her. To have a brush with a man; to fight with him. The cove cracked the peter and bought a brush; the fellow broke open the trunk, and then ran away.
BRUSHER. A bumper, a full glass. See BUMPER.
BUB. Strong beer.
BUBBER. A drinking bowl; also a great drinker; a thief that steals plate from public houses. CANT.
THE BUBBLE. The party cheated, perhaps from his being like an air bubble, filled with words, which are only wind, instead of real property.
TO BUBBLE. To cheat.
TO BAR THE BUBBLE. To except against the general rule, that he who lays the odds must always be adjudged the loser: this is restricted to betts laid for liquor.
BUBBLY JOCK. A turkey cock. SCOTCH.
BUBBLE AND SQUEAK. Beef and cabbage fried together. It is so called from its bubbling up and squeaking whilst over the fire.
BUBE. The venereal disease.
BUCK. A blind horse; also a gay debauchee.
TO RUN A BUCK. To poll a bad vote at an election.—IRISH TERM.
BUCK BAIL. Bail given by a sharper for one of the gang.
A BUCK OF THE FIRST HEAD. One who in debauchery surpasses the rest of his companions, a blood or choice spirit. There are in London divers lodges or societies of Bucks, formed in imitation of the Free Masons: one was held at the Rose, in Monkwell-street, about the year 1705. The president is styled the Grand Buck. A buck sometimes signifies a cuckold.
BUCK'S FACE. A cuckold.
BUCK FITCH. A lecherous old fellow.
BUCKEEN. A bully. IRISH.
BUCKET. To kick the bucket; to die.
BUCKINGER'S BOOT. The monosyllable. Matthew Buckinger was born without hands and legs; notwithstanding which he drew coats of arms very neatly, and could write the Lord's Prayer within the compass of a shilling; he was married to a tall handsome woman, and traversed the country, shewing himself for money.
BUCKLES. Fetters.
BUDGE, or SNEAKING BUDGE. One that slips into houses in the dark, to steal cloaks or other clothes. Also lambs' fur formerly used for doctors' robes, whence they were called budge doctors. Standing budge; a thief's scout or spy.
TO BUDGE. To move, or quit one's station. Don't budge from hence; i.e. don't move from hence, stay here.
BUDGET. A wallet. To open the budget; a term used to signify the notification of the taxes required by the minister for the expences of the ensuing year; as To-morrow the minister will go to the house, and open the budget.
BUFE. A dog. Bufe's nob; a dog's head. CANT.
BUFE NABBER. A dog stealer. CANT.
BUFF. All in buff; stript to the skin, stark naked.
BUFF. To stand buff; to stand the brunt. To swear as a witness. He buffed it home; and I was served; he swore hard against me, and I was found guilty.
BUFFER. One that steals and kills horses and dogs for their skins; also an inn-keeper: in Ireland it signifies a boxer.
BUFFER. A man who takes an oath: generally applied to Jew bail.
BUFFLE-HEADED. Confused, stupid.
BUG. A nick name given by the Irish to Englishmen; bugs having, as it is said, been introduced into Ireland by the English.
TO BUG. A cant word among journeymen hatters, signifying the exchanging some of the dearest materials of which a hat is made for others of less value. Hats are composed of the furs and wool of divers animals among which is a small portion of beavers' fur. Bugging, is stealing the beaver, and substituting in lieu thereof an equal weight of some cheaper ingredient.—Bailiffs who take money to postpone or refrain the serving of a writ, are said to bug the writ.
BUG-HUNTER. An upholsterer.
BUGABOE. A scare-babe, or bully-beggar.
BUGAROCH. Comely, handsome. IRISH.
BUGGY. A one-horse chaise.
BUGGER. A blackguard, a rascal, a term of reproach. Mill the bloody bugger; beat the damned rascal.
BULK AND FILE. Two pickpockets; the bulk jostles the party to be robbed, and the file does the business.
BULKER. One who lodges all night on a bulk or projection before old-fashioned shop windows.
BULL. An Exchange Alley term for one who buys stock on speculation for time, i.e. agrees with the seller, called a Bear, to take a certain 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 difference; if it falls or is cheaper, he either pays it, or becomes a lame duck, and waddles out of the Alley. See LAME DUCK and BEAR.
BULL. A blunder; from one Obadiah Bull, a blundering lawyer of London, who lived in the reign of Henery VII. by a bull is now always meant a blunder made by an Irishman. A bull was also the name of false hair formerly much worn by women. To look like bull beef, or as bluff as bull beef; to look fierce or surly. Town bull, a great whore-master.
BULL. A crown piece. A half bull; half a crown.
BULL BEGGAR, or BULLY BEGGAR. An imaginary being with which children are threatened by servants and nurses, like raw head and bloody bones.
BULL CALF. A great hulkey or clumsy fellow. See HULKEY.
BULL CHIN. A fat chubby child.
BULL DOGS. Pistols.
BULL HANKERS. Persons who over-drive bulls, or frequent bull baits.
BULL'S EYE. A crown-piece.
BULL'S FEATHER. A horn: he wears the bull's feather; he is a cuckold.
TO BULLOCK. To hector, bounce, or bully.
BULLY. A cowardly fellow, who gives himself airs of great bravery. A bully huff cap; a hector. See HECTOR.
BULLY BACK. A bully to a bawdy-house; one who is kept in pay, to oblige the frequenters of the house to submit to the impositions of the mother abbess, or bawd; and who also sometimes pretends to be the husband of one of the ladies, and under that pretence extorts money from greenhorns, or ignorant young men, whom he finds with her. See GREENHORN.
BULLY COCK. One who foments quarrels in order to rob the persons quarrelling.
BULLY RUFFIANS. Highwaymen who attack passengers with paths and imprecations.
BULLY TRAP. A brave man with a mild or effeminate appearance, by whom bullies are frequently taken in.
BUM. the breech, or backside.
TO BUM. To arrest a debtor. The gill bummed the swell for a thimble; the tradesman arrested the gentleman for a watch.
BUM TRAP. A sheriff's officer who arrests debtors. Ware hawke! the bum traps are fly to our panney; keep a good look out, the bailiffs know where our house is situated.
BUM BAILIFF. A sheriff's officer, who arrests debtors; so called perhaps from following his prey, and being at their bums, or, as the vulgar phrase is, hard at their a-ses. Blackstone says, it is a corruption of bound bailiff, from their being obliged to give bond for their good behaviour.
BUM BRUSHER. A schoolmaster.
BUM BOAT. A boat attending