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Category Archives: Dictionary

The American Malefactor’s Dictionary: blow a cloud

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

blow a cloud – smoke a cigar or pipe. Sources Farmer, John S. and W. E. Henley. A Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English. Abridged from Slang and Its Analogues. London: George Routledge and Sons, 1912. Grose, Francis and Egan Pierce. Grose’s Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Revised and Corrected. London: Printed for Sherwood, […]

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The American Malefactor’s Dictionary: blackleg

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

blackleg – 1. a gambler; 2. someone who bets without intending to pay his losses; 3. a swindler, a criminal. The term derives from criminals and swindlers who had black bruises on their legs from sitting in the stocks or from wearing fetters. Another possible origin comes from the black color on the legs of […]

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The American Malefactor’s Dictionary: black ointment

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Image via Wikipedia black ointment – pieces of raw meat (“It soothes dogs and men.”). Sources Barrère, Albert and Charles G. Leland. A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon, and Cant. [London]: The Ballantyne Press, 1889. Farmer, John S. and W. E. Henley. A Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English. Abridged from Slang and Its Analogues. London: […]

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The American Malefactor’s Dictionary: bit

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

bit – 1. the old Spanish “real” coin and then a dime; 2. money of any kind; 3. a share of the booty; 4. outwitted; 5. a prison sentence. Sources Barrère, Albert and Charles G. Leland. A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon, and Cant. [London]: The Ballantyne Press, 1889. Matsell, George W. Vocabulum: Or, the Rogue’s […]

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The American Malefactor’s Dictionary: bingo and its variants

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

bingo – whiskey, brandy, or other strong drink; liquor. bingo-boy – a drunken man; a drunkard. bingo-mort – a female drunk. Sources Barrère, Albert and Charles G. Leland. A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon, and Cant. [London]: The Ballantyne Press, 1889. Grose, Francis and Egan Pierce. Grose’s Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Revised and Corrected. […]

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