1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue Part 32

GAMES. Thin, ill-shapped legs: a corruption of the French word jambes. Fancy gambs; sore or swelled legs.

GAMBADOES. Leathern cases of stiff leather, used in Devons.h.i.+re instead of boots; they are fastened to the saddle, and admit the leg, shoe and all: the name was at first jocularly given.

GAMBLER. A sharper, of tricking, gamester.

GAME. Any mode of robbing. The toby is now a queer game; to rob on the highway is now a bad mode of acting. This observation is frequently made by thieves; the roads being now so well guarded by the horse patrole; and gentlemen travel with little cash in their pockets.

GAME. Bubbles or pigeons drawn in to be cheated. Also, at bawdy-houses, lewd women. Mother have you any game; mother, have you any girls? To die game; to suffer at the gallows without shewing any signs of fear or repentance. Game pullet; a young wh.o.r.e, or forward girl in the way of becoming one.

GAMON. To humbug. To deceive, To tell lies. What rum gamon the old file pitched to the flat; how finely the knowing old fellow humbugged the fool.

GAMON AND PATTER. Common place talk of any profession; as the gamon and patter of a horse-dealer, sailor, &c.

GAN. The mouth or lips. Cant.

GANDER MONTH. That month in which a man's wife-lies in: wherefore, during that time, husbands plead a sort of indulgence in matters of gallantry.

GANG. A company of men, a body of sailors, a knot of thieves, pickpockets, &c. A gang of sheep trotters; the four feet of a sheep.

GAOLER'S COACH. A hurdle: traitors being usually conveyed from the gaol, to the place of execution, on a hurdle or sledge.

GAP STOPPER. A wh.o.r.emaster.

GAPESEED. Sights; any thing to feed the eye. I am come abroad for a little gapeseed.

GARNISH. An entrance fee demanded by the old prisoners of one just committed to gaol.

GARRET, or UPPER STORY. The head. His garret, or upper story, is empty, or unfurnished; i.e. he has no brains, he is a fool.

GARRET ELECTION. A ludicrous ceremony, practised every new parliament: it consists of a mock election of two members to represent the borough of Garret (a few straggling cottages near Wandsworth in Surry); the qualification of a voter is, having enjoyed a woman in the open air within that district: the candidates are commonly fellows of low humour, who dress themselves up in a ridiculous manner. As this brings a prodigious concourse of people to Wandsworth, the publicans of that place jointly contribute to the expence, which is sometimes considerable.

GAWKEY. A tall, thin, awkward young man or woman.

GAYING INSTRUMENT. The p.e.n.i.s.

GAZEBO. An elevated observatory or summer-house.

GEE. It won't gee; it won't hit or do, it does not suit or fit.

GELDING. An eunuch.

GELT. Money, GERMAN.--Also, castrated.

GENTLE CRAFT. The art of shoeniaking. One of the gentle craft: a shoemaker: so called because once practised by St. Crispin.

GENTLEMAN COMMONER. An empty bottle; an university joke, gentlemen commoners not being deemed over full of learning.

GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION. A louse.

GENTLEMAN'S MASTER. A highway robber, because he makes a gentleman obey his commands, i.e. stand and deliver.

GENTLEMAN OF THREE INS. In debt, in gaol, and in danger of remaining there for life: or, in gaol, indicted, and in danger of being hanged in chains.

GENTLEMAN OF THREE OUTS. That is, without money, without wit, and without manners: some add another out, i.e. without credit.

GENTRY COVE. A gentleman. CANT.

GENTRY COVE KEN. A gentleman's house. CANT.

GENTRY MORT. A gentlewoman.

GEORGE. Yellow George; a guinea. Brown George: an ammunition loaf.

GERMAN DUCK. Haifa sheep's head boiled with onions.

GET. One of his get; one of his offspring, or begetting.

GIB CAT. A northern name for a he cat, there commonly called Gilbert. As melancholy as a gib cat; as melancholy as a he cat who has been caterwauling, whence they always return scratched, hungry, and out of spirits.

Aristotle says, Omne animal post coitum est triste; to which an anonymous author has given the following exception, preter gallum gallinaceum, et sucerdotem gratis fornicantem.

GIBBERISH. The cant language of thieves and gypsies, called Pedlars' French, and St. Giles's Greek: see ST.

GILES'S GREEK. Also the mystic language of Geber, used by chymists. Gibberish likewise means a sort of disguised language, formed by inserting any consonant between each syllable of an English word; in which case it is called the gibberish of the letter inserted: if F, it is the F gibberish; if G, the G gibberish; as in the sentence How do you do? Howg dog youg dog.

GIBBE. A horse that shrinks from the collar and will not draw.

GIBLETS. To join giblets; said of a man and woman who cohabit as husband and wife, without being married; also to copulate.

GIBSON, or SIR JOHN GIBBON, A two-legged stool, used to support the body of a coach whilst finis.h.i.+ng.

GIFTS. Small white specks under the finger nails, said to portend gifts or presents. A stingy man is said to be as full of gifts as a brazen horse of his farts.

GIFT OF THE GAB. A facility of speech.

GIGG. A nose. Snitchel his gigg; fillip his nose. Grunter's gigg; a hog's snout. Gigg is also a high one-horse chaise, and a woman's privities. To gigg a Smithfield hank; to hamstring an over-drove ox, vulgarly called a mad bullock.

GIGGER. A latch, or door. Dub the gigger; open the door. Gigger dubber; the turnkey of a jaol.

To GIGGLE. To suppress a laugh. Gigglers; wanton women.

GILES'S or ST. GILES'S BREED. Fat, ragged, and saucy; Newton and Dyot streets, the grand head-quarters-of most of the thieves and pickpockets about London, are in St. Giles's Giles's parish. St. Giles's Greek; the cant language, called also Slang, Pedlars' French, and Flash.

GILFLURT. A proud minks, a vain capricious woman,

GILL. The abbreviation of Gillian, figuratively used for woman. Every jack has his gill; i.e. every jack has his gillian, or female mate.

GILLS. The cheeks. To look rosy about the gills; to have a fresh complexion. To look merry about the gills: to appear cheerful.

GILLY GAUPUS. A Scotch term for a tall awkward fellow.