A New and Comprehensive Vocabulary of the Flash Language by James Hardy Vaux (top ten books to read TXT) 📕

coachman.

 

JERVIS’S UPPER BENJAMIN: a box, or coachman’s great coat.

 

JIGGER: a door.

 

JOB: any concerted robbery, which is to be executed at a certain time, is

spoken of by the parties as the job, or having a job to do at such a

place; and in this case as regular preparations are made, and as great

debates held, as about any legal business undertaken by the industrious

part of the community.

 

JOGUE: a shilling; five jogue is five shillings, and so on, to any other

number.

 

JOSKIN: a country-bumbkin.

 

JUDGE: a family-man, whose talents and experience have rendered him a

complete adept in his profession, and who acts with a systematic prudence

on all occasions, is allowed to be, and called by his friends, a fine

judge.

 

JUDGEMENT: prudence; economy in acting; abilities, (the result of long

experience,) for executing the most intricate and hazardous projects; any

thing accomplished in a masterly manner, is, therefore, said to have been

done with judgement; on concerting or planning any operations, one party

will say, I think it would be judgement to do so and so, meaning

expedient to do it.

 

JUDY: a blowen,. but sometimes used when speaking familiarly of any

woman.

 

JUGELOW, a dog.

 

JUMP: a window on the ground-floor.

 

JUMP: a game, or species of robbery effected by getting into a house

through any of the lower windows. To Jump a place, is to rob it upon the

jump. A man convicted for this offence, is said to be done for a jump.

 

KELP: a hat; to kelp a person, is to move your hat to him.

 

KEMESA: a shirt.

 

KEN: a house; often joined to other descriptive terms, as, a flash ken, a

bawdy-ken, etc.

 

KENT: a coloured pocket-handkerchief of cotton or linen.

 

KICK: a sixpence, when speaking of compound sums only, as, three and a

kick, is three and sixpence, etc.

 

KICKSEYS: breeches; speaking of a purse, etc., taken from the breeches

pocket, they say, it was got from the kickseys, there being no cant term

for the breeches pocket. To turn out a man’s kickseys, means to pick the

pockets of them, in which operation it is necessary to turn those pockets

inside out, in order to get at the contents.

 

KID: a child of either sex, but particularly applied to a boy who

commences thief at an early age; and when by his dexterity he has become

famous, he is called by his acquaintances the kid so and so, mentioning

his sirname.

 

KIDDY: a thief of the lower order, who, when he is breeched, by a course

of successful depredation, dresses in the extreme of vulgar gentility,

and affects a knowingness in his air and conversation, which renders him

in reality an object of ridicule; such a one is pronounced by his

associates of the same class, a flash-kiddy or a rolling-kiddy. My kiddy

is a familiar term used by these gentry in addressing each other.

 

KID-RIG: meeting a child in the streets who is going on some errand, and

by a false, but well fabricated story, obtaining any parcel or goods it

may be carrying; this game is practised by two persons, who have each

their respective parts to play, and even porters and other grown persons

are sometimes defrauded of their load by this artifice. To kid a person

out of any thing, is to obtain it from him by means of a false pretence,

as that you were sent by a third person, etc.; such impositions are all

generally termed the kid-rig.

 

KINCHEN: a young lad.

 

KIRK: a church or chapel.

 

KNAP: to steal; take; receive; accept; according to the sense it is used

in; as, to knap a clout, is to steal a pocket-handkerchief; to knap the

swag from your pall, is to take from him the property he has just stolen,

for the purpose of carrying it; to knap seven or fourteen pen’worth, is

to receive sentence of transportation for seven or fourteen years; to

knap the glim, is to catch the venereal disease; in making a bargain, to

knap the sum offered you, is to accept it; speaking of a woman supposed

to be pregnant, it is common to say, I believe Mr. Knap is concerned,

meaning that she has knap’d.

 

KNAPPING A JACOB FROM A DANNA-DRAG: This is a curious species of robbery,

or rather borrowing without leave, for the purpose of robbery; it

signifies taking away the short ladder from a nightman’s cart, while the

men are gone into a house, the privy of which they are employed emptying,

in order to effect an ascent to a one-pair-of-stairs window, to scale a

garden-wall, etc., after which the ladder, of course, is left to rejoin

its master as it can.

 

KNIFE IT. See CHEESE IT.

 

KNUCK, KNUCKLER, or KNUCKLING-COVE: a pickpocket, or person professed in

the knuckling art.

 

KNUCKLE: to pick pockets, but chiefly applied to the more refined branch

of that art, namely, extracting notes, loose cash, etc., from the

waistcoat or breeches pockets, whereas buzzing is used in a more general

sense. See BUZ.

 

LAG: to transport for seven years or upwards.

 

LAG: a convict under sentence of transportation.

 

LAG: to make water. To lag spirits, wine, etc., is to adulterate them

with water.

 

LAGGER: a sailor.

 

LAGGING-DUES: speaking of a person likely to be transported, they say

lagging dues will be concerned.

 

LAGGING MATTER: any species of crime for which a person is liable on

conviction to be transported.

 

LAG SHIP: a transport chartered by Government for the conveyance of

convicts to New South Wales; also, a hulk, or floating prison, in which,

to the disgrace of humanity, many hundreds of these unhappy persons are

confined, and suffer every complication of human misery.

 

LAMPS: the eyes; to have queer lamps, is to have sore or weak eyes.

 

LARK: fun or sport of any kind, to create which is termed knocking up a

lark.

 

LAWN: a white cambric handkerchief.

 

LEARY: synonymous with fly.

 

LEARY-COVE. See FLY.

 

LEATHER-LANE: any thing paltry, or of a bad quality, is called a

Leather-lane concern.

 

LETTER Q: the mace, or billiard-slum, is sometimes called going upon the

Q, or the letter Q, alluding to an instrument used in playing billiards.

 

LETTER-RACKET: going about to respectable houses with a letter or

statement, detailing some case of extreme distress, as shipwreck,

sufferings by fire, etc.; by which many benevolent, but credulous,

persons, are induced to relieve the fictitious wants of the imposters,

who are generally men, or women, of genteel address, and unfold a

plausible tale of affliction.

 

LEVANTING, or RUNNING A LEVANT: an expedient practised by broken

gamesters to retrieve thcmselves, and signifies to bet money at a race,

cockmatch, etc., without a shilling in their pocket to answer the event.

The punishment for this conduct in a public cockpit is rather curious;

the offender is placed in a large basket, kept on purpose, which is then

hoisted up to the ceiling or roof of the building, and the party is there

kept suspended, and exposed to derision during the pleasure of the

company.

 

LIFE: by this term is meant the various cheats and deceptions practised

by the designing part of mankind; a person well versed in this kind of

knowledge, is said to be one that knows life; in other words, that knows

the world. This is what Goldsmith defines to be a knowledge of human

nature on the wrong side.

 

LIGHT: to inform of any robbery, etc., which has been some time executed

and concealed, is termed bringing the affair to light,. to produce any

thing to view, or to give up any stolen property for the sake of a

reward, to quash a prosecution, is also called bringing it to light. A

thief, urging his associates to a division of any booty they have lately

made, will desire them to bring the swag to light.

 

LILL: a pocket-book.

 

LINE: to get a person in a line, or in a string, is to engage them in a

conversation, while your confederate is robbing their person or premises;

to banter or jest with a man by amusing him with false assurances or

professions, is also termed stringing him, or getting him in tow; to keep

any body in suspense on any subject without coming to a decision, is

called keeping him in tow, in a string, or in a tow-line. To cut the

line, or the string, is to put an end to the suspense in which you have

kept anyone, by telling him the plain truth, coming to a final decision,

etc. A person, who has been telling another a long story, until he is

tired, or conceives his auditor has been all the while secretly laughing

at him, will say at last, I’ve just dropped down, you’ve had me in a fine

string, I think it’s time to cut it. On the other hand, the auditor,

having the same opinion on his part, would say, Come, I believe you want

to string me all night, I wish you’d cut it; meaning, conclude the story

at once.

 

LOB: a till, or money-drawer. To have made a good lob, is synonymous with

making a good speak.

 

LOCK-UP-CHOVEY: a covered cart, in which travelling hawkers convey their

goods about the country; and which is secured by a door, lock, and key.

 

LODGING-SLUM: the practice of hiring ready furnished lodgings, and

stripping them of the plate, linen, and other valuables.

 

LOOK AT A PLACE: when a plan is laid for robbing a house, etc., upon the

crack, or the screw, the parties will go a short time before the

execution, to examine the premises, and make any necessary observations;

this is called looking at the place.

 

LOUR: money.

 

LUMBER: a room.

 

LUMBER: to lumber any property, is to deposit it at a pawnbroker’s, or

elsewhere for present security; to retire to any house or private place,

for a short time, is called lumbering yourself. A man apprehended, and

sent to gaol, is said to be lumbered, to be in lumber, or to be in

Lombard-street.

 

LUSH: to drink; speaking of a person who is drunk, they say, Alderman

Lushington is concerned, or, he has been voting for the Alderman.

 

LUSH: beer or liquor of any kind.

 

LUSH-CRIB, or LUSH-KEN: a public-house, or gin-shop.

 

LUSH, or LUSHY, drunk, intoxicated.

 

LUSHY-COVE: a drunken man.

 

MACE: to mace a shopkeeper, or give it to him upon the mate, is to obtain

goods on credit, which you never mean to pay for; to run up a score with

the same intention, or to spunge upon your acquaintance, by continually

begging or borrowing from them, is termed maceing, or striking the mace.

 

MACE-GLOAK: a man who lives upon the mace.

 

MAG: a halfpenny.

 

MANCHESTER: the tongue.

 

MANG: to speak or talk.

 

MAULEY: the hand.

 

MAX: gin or hollands.

 

MILESTONE: a country booby.

 

MILL: to fight. To mill a ‘person is to beat him.

 

MILL A GLAZE: to break a window.

 

MILL-DOLL: an obsolete name for Bridewell house of correction, in

Bridge-street, Blackfriars, London.

 

MILLING-COVE: a pugilist.

 

MITTS: gloves.

 

MITTENS: the hands.

 

MIZZLE: to quit or go away from any place or company; to elope, or run

away.

 

MOLLISHER: a woman.

 

MONKEY: a padlock.

 

MONKERY: the country parts of England are called The Monkery.

 

MANTRA: a watch.

 

MORNING-SNEAK: going out early to rob private houses or shops by slipping

in at the door unperceived, while the servant or shopman is employed in

cleaning the steps, windows,