1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue Part 39

HOLY WATER. He loves him as the Devil loves holy water, i.e. hates him mortally. Holy water, according to the Roman Catholics, having the virtue to chase away the Devil and his imps.

HOLLOW. It was quiet a hollow thing; i.e. a certainty, or decided business.

HONEST MAN. A term frequently used by superiors to inferiors.

As honest a man as any in the cards when all the kings are out; i.e. a knave. I dare not call thee rogue for fear of the law, said a quaker to an attorney; but I wil give thee five pounds, if thou canst find any creditable person who wilt say thou art an honest man.

HONEST WOMAN. To marry a woman with whom one has cohabitated as a mistress, is termed, making an honest woman of her.

HONEY MOON. The first month after marriage. A poor honey; a harmless, foolish, goodnatured fellow. It is all honey or a t--d with them; said of persons who are either in the extremity of friends.h.i.+p or enmity, either kissing or fighting.

HOOD-WINKED. Blindfolded by a handkerchief, or other ligature, bound over the eyes.

HOOF. To beat the hoof; to travel on foot. He hoofed it or beat the hoof, every step of the way from Chester to London.

HOOK AND SNIVEY, WITH NIX THE BUFFER. This rig consists in feeding a man and a dog for nothing, and is carried on thus: Three men, one of who pretends to be sick and unable to eat, go to a public house: the two well men make a bargain with the landlord for their dinner, and when he is out of sight, feed their pretended sick companion and dog gratis.

HOOKEE WALKER. An expression signifying that the story is not true, or that the thing will not occour.

HOOKED. Over-reached, tricked, caught: a simile taken from fis.h.i.+ng. **** hooks; fingers.

HOOKERS. See ANGLERS.

HOOP. To run the hoop; an ancient marine custom. Four or more boys having their left hands tied fast to an iron hoop, and each of them a rope, called a nettle, in their right, being naked to the waist, wait the signal to begin: this being made by a stroke with a cat of nine tails, given by the boatswain to one of the boys, he strikes the boy before him, and every one does the same: at first the blows are but gently administered; but each irritated by the strokes from the boy behind him, at length lays it on in earnest.

This was anciently practised when a s.h.i.+p was wind-bound.

TO HOOP. To beat. I'll well hoop his or her barrel, I'll beat him or her soundly.

TO HOP THE TWIG. To run away. CANT.

HOP MERCHANT. A dancing master. See CAPER MERCHANT.

HOP-O-MY-THUMB. A diminutive person, man or woman.

She was such a-hop-o-my thumb, that a pigeon, sitting on her shoulder, might pick a pea out of her a-se.

HOPKINS. Mr. Hopkins; a ludicrous address to a lame or limping man, being a pun on the word hop.

HOPPING GILES. A jeering appellation given to any person who limps, or is lame; St. Giles was the patron of cripples, lepers, &c. Churches dedicated to that saint commonly stand out of town, many of them having been chapels to hospitals. See GYLES.

HOPPER-a.r.s.eD. Having large projecting b.u.t.tocks: from their resemblance to a small basket, called a hopper or hoppet, worn by husbandmen for containing seed corn, when they sow the land.

HORNS. To draw in one's horns; to retract an a.s.sertion through fear: metaphor borrowed from a snail, who on the apprehension of danger, draws in his horns, and retires to his sh.e.l.l.

HORN COLIC. A temporary priapism.

HORN FAIR. An annual fair held at Charlton, in Kent, on St.

Luke's day, the 18th of October. It consists of a riotous mob, who after a printed summons dispersed through the adjacent towns, meet at Cuckold's Point, near Deptford, and march from thence in procession, through that town and Greenwich, to Charlton, with horns of different kinds upon their heads; and at the fair there are sold rams horns, and every sort of toy made of horn; even the gingerbread figures have horns, The vulgar tradition gives the following history of the origin of this fair; King John, or some other of our ancient kings, being at the palace of Eltham, in this neighbourhood, and having been out a hunting one day, rambled from his company to this place, then a mean hamlet; when entering a cottage to inquire his way, he was struck with the beauty of the mistress, whom he found alone; and having prevailed over her modesty, the husband returning suddenly, surprised them together; and threatening to kill them both, the king was obliged to discover himself, and to compound for his safety by a purse of gold, and a grant of the land from this place to Cuckold's Point, besides making the husband master of the hamlet. It is added that, in memory of this grant, and the occasion of it, this fair was established, for the sale of horns, and all sorts of goods made with that material. A sermon is preached at Charlton church on the fair day.

HORN MAD. A person extremely jealous of his wife, is said to be horn mad. Also a cuckold, who does not cut or breed his horns easily.

HORN WORK. Cuckold-making.

HORNIFIED. Cuckolded.

HORSE BUSS. A kiss with a loud smack; also a bite.

HORSE COSER. A dealer in horses: vulgarly and corruptly p.r.o.nounced HORSE COURSER. The verb TO COSE was used by the Scots, in the sense of bartering or exchanging.

HORSE G.o.dMOTHER. A large masculine woman, a gentlemanlike kind of a lady.

HORSE LADDER. A piece of Wilts.h.i.+re wit, which consists in sending some raw lad, or simpleton, to a neighbouring farm house, to borrow a horse ladder, in order to get up the horses, to finish a hay-mow.

HORSE'S MEAL. A meal without drinking.

HOSTELER, i.e. oat stealer. Hosteler was originally the name for an inn-keeper; inns being in old English styled hostels, from the French signifying the same.

HOT POT. Ale and brandy made hot.

HOT STOMACH. He has so hot a stomach, that he burns all the clothes off his back; said of one who p.a.w.ns his clothes to purchase liquor.

HOUSE, or TENEMENT, TO LET. A widow's weeds; also an atchievement marking the death of a husband, set up on the outside of a mansion: both supposed to indicate that the dolorous widow wants a male comforter.

HOYDON. A romping girl.

HUBBLE-BUBBLE. Confusion. A hubble-bubble fellow; a man of confused ideas, or one thick of speech, whose words sound like water bubbling out of a bottle. Also an instrument used for smoaking through water in the East Indies, called likewise a caloon, and hooker.

HUBBLE DE SHUFF. Confusedly. To fire hubble de shuff, to fire quick and irregularly. OLD MILITARY TERM.

HUBBUB. A noise, riot, or disturbance.

HUCKLE MY BUFF. Beer, egg, and brandy, made hot.

HUCKSTERS. Itinerant retailers of provisions. He is in hucksters hands; he is in a bad way.

TO HUE. To lash. The cove was hued in the naskin; the rogue was soundly lashed in bridewell. CANT.

TO HUFF. To reprove, or scold at any one; also to bl.u.s.ter, bounce, ding, or swagger. A captain huff; a noted bully.

To stand the huff; to be answerable for the reckoning in a public house.

HUG. To hug brown bess; to carry a firelock, or serve as a private soldier. He hugs it as the Devil hugs a witch: said of one who holds any thing as if he was afraid of losing it.

HUGGER MUGGER. By stealth, privately, without making an appearance. They spent their money in a hugger mugger way.

HUGOTONTHEONBIQUIFFINARIANS. A society existing in 1748.

HULKY, or HULKING. A great hulky fellow; an over-grown clumsy lout, or fellow.

HULVER-HEADED. Having a hard impenetrable head; hulver, in the Norfolk dialect, signifying holly, a hard and solid wood.

TO HUM, or HUMBUG. To deceive, or impose on one by some story or device. A humbug; a jocular imposition, or deception. To hum and haw; to hesitate in speech, also to delay, or be with difficulty brought to consent to any matter or business,