1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue Part 61

PURSY, or PURSIVE. Short-breathed, or foggy, from being over fat.

PUs.h.i.+NG SCHOOL. A fencing school; also a brothel.

PUT. A country put; an ignorant awkward clown. To put upon any one; to attempt to impose on him, or to make him the but of the company.

PUZZLE-CAUSE. A lawyer who has a confused understanding.

PUZZLE-TEXT. An ignorant blundering parson.

QUACK. An ungraduated ignorant pretender to skill in physic, a vender of nostrums.

QUACK-SALVER. A mountebank: a seller of salves.

QUACKING CHEAT. A duck.

QUAG. Abbreviation of quagmire; marshy moorish around.

QUAIL-PIPE. A woman's tongue; also a device to take birds of that name by imitating their call. Quail pipe boots; boots resembling a quail pipe, from the number of plaits; they were much worn in the reign of Charles II.

QUAKERS. A religious sect so called from their agitations in preaching.

QUAKING CHEAT. A calf or sheep.

QUANDARY. To be in a quandary: to be puzzled. Also one so over-gorged, as to be doubtful which he should do first, sh--e or spew. Some derive the term quandary from the French phrase qu'en dirai je? what shall I say of it?

others from an Italian word signifying a conjuror's circle.

QUARREL-PICKER. A glazier: from the small squares in cas.e.m.e.nts, called CARREUX, vulgarly quarrels.

QUARROMES, or QUARRON. A body. CANT.

QUARTERED. Divided into four parts; to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, is the sentence on traitors and rebels.

Persons receiving part of the salary of an office from the holder of it, by virtue of an agreement with the donor, are said to be quartered on him. Soldiers billetted on a publican are likewise said to be quartered on him.

TO QUASH. To suppress, annul or overthrow; vulgarly p.r.o.nounced squash: they squashed the indictment.

QUEAN. A s.l.u.t, or worthless woman, a strumpet.

QUEEN d.i.c.k. To the tune of the life and death of Queen d.i.c.k. That happened in the reign of Queen d.i.c.k; i.e., never.

QUEEN STREET. A mart governed by his wife, is said to live in Queen street, or at the sign of the Queen's Head.

QUEER, or QUIRE. Base, roguish, bad, naught or worthless.

How queerly the cull touts; how roguishly the fellow looks. It also means odd, uncommon. CANT.

QUEER AS d.i.c.k'S HATBAND. Out of order, without knowing one's disease.

TO QUEER. To puzzle or confound. I have queered the old full bottom; i.e. I have puzzled the judge. To queer one's ogles among bruisers; to darken one's day lights.

QUEER WEDGES. Large buckles.

QUEER BAIL. Insolvent sharpers, who make a profession of bailing persons arrested: they are generally styled Jew bail, from that branch of business being chiefly carried on by the sons of Judah. The lowest sort of these, who borrow or hire clothes to appear in, are called Mounters, from their mounting particular dresses suitable to the occasion.

CANT.

QUEER BIRDS. Rogues relieved from prison, and returned to their old trade.

QUEER BIT-MAKERS. Coiners. CANT.

QUEER b.i.t.c.h. An odd, out-of-the-way fellow.

QUEER BLUFFER. The master of a public-house the resort of rogues and sharpers, a cut-throat inn or alehouse keeper.

QUEER BUNG. An empty purse.

QUEER CHECKERS. Among strolling players, door-keepers who defraud the company, by falsely checking the number of people in the house.

QUEER COLE FENCER. A putter off, or utterer, of bad money.

QUEER COLE MAKER. A maker of bad money.

QUEER COVE. A rogue. CANT.

QUEER CUFFIN. A justice of the peace; also a churl.

QUEER DEGEN. An ordinary sword, bra.s.s or iron hilted.

QUEER KEN. A prison. CANT.

QUEER KICKS. A bad pair of breeches.

QUEER MORT. A diseased strumpet. CANT.

QUEER NAB. A felt hat, or other bad hat.

QUEER PLUNGERS. Cheats who throw themselves into the water, in order that they may be taken up by their accomplices, who carry them to one of the houses appointed by the Humane Society for the recovery of drowned persons, where they are rewarded by the society with a guinea each; and the supposed drowned persons, pretending he was driven to that extremity by great necessity, also frequently sent away with a contribution in his pocket.

QUEER PRANCER. A bad, worn-out, foundered horse; also a cowardly or faint-hearted horse-stealer.

QUEER ROOSTER. An informer that pretends to be sleeping, and thereby overhears the conversation of thieves in night cellars.

QUEER STREET. Wrong. Improper. Contrary to one's wish. It is queer street, a cant phrase, to signify that it is wrong or different to our wish.

QUITAM. Aquitam horse; one that will both carry and draw. LAW WIT.

TO QUIBBLE. To make subtle distinctions; also to play upon words.

QUICK AND NIMBLE. More like a bear than a squirrel.

Jeeringly said to any one moving sluggishly on a business or errand that requires dispatch.

QUID. The quant.i.ty of tobacco put into the mouth at one time. To quid tobacco; to chew tobacco. Quid est hoc? hoc est quid; a guinea. Half a quid; half a guinea.