I am reading the MacMillan Dictionary of Historical Slang.
Here are a couple of gems so far:
Able-whackets--a nautical card game in which every lost point--or game--entails a whack with a knotted handkerchief. (Ouch?)
Absquatulate--to depart, generally hastily or in disgrace. (What a neat word!)
A horse foaled by an acorn-- to be hanged.
Aggerawator-- a well-greased lock of hair twisted spirally, on the temple, towards either the ear or the outer corner of the eye, especially among costermongers.
Arse-cooler-- a bustle. (I may never look at bustles the same again. haha.)
Play to the gas--is used in the general sense in reference to small audiences, but strictly it means that an audience was only large enough to render receipts sufficient to pay the bill for the evening's lighting. (I like this one. Although in this day and age it would be the evening's heating.)
and a paint-brush baronet is an ennobled artist. *snort*
Here are a couple of gems so far:
Able-whackets--a nautical card game in which every lost point--or game--entails a whack with a knotted handkerchief. (Ouch?)
Absquatulate--to depart, generally hastily or in disgrace. (What a neat word!)
A horse foaled by an acorn-- to be hanged.
Aggerawator-- a well-greased lock of hair twisted spirally, on the temple, towards either the ear or the outer corner of the eye, especially among costermongers.
Arse-cooler-- a bustle. (I may never look at bustles the same again. haha.)
Play to the gas--is used in the general sense in reference to small audiences, but strictly it means that an audience was only large enough to render receipts sufficient to pay the bill for the evening's lighting. (I like this one. Although in this day and age it would be the evening's heating.)
and a paint-brush baronet is an ennobled artist. *snort*
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