1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue Part 68

Sc.r.a.pE. To get into a sc.r.a.pe; to be involved in a disagreeable business.

Sc.r.a.pER. A fiddler; also one who sc.r.a.pes plates for mezzotinto prints.

Sc.r.a.pING. A mode of expressing dislike to a person, or sermon, practised at Oxford by the students, in sc.r.a.ping their feet against the ground during the preachment; frequently done to testify their disapprobation of a proctor who has been, as they think, too rigorous.

SCRATCH. Old Scratch; the Devil: probably from the long and sharp claws with which he is frequently delineated.

SCRATCH LAND. Scotland.

SCRATCH PLATTER, or TAYLOR'S RAGOUT. Bread sopt in the oil and vinegar in which cuc.u.mbers have been sliced.

SCREEN. A bank note. Queer screens; forged bank notes.

The cove was twisted for smas.h.i.+ng queer screens; the fellow was hanged for uttering forged bank notes.

SCREW. A skeleton key used by housebreakers to open a lock. To stand on the screw signifies that a door is not bolted, but merely locked.

TO SCREW. To copulate. A female screw; a common prost.i.tute. To screw one up; to exact upon one in a bargain or reckoning.

SCREW JAWS. A wry-mouthed man or woman.

SCRIP. A sc.r.a.p or slip of paper. The cully freely blotted the scrip, and tipt me forty hogs; the man freely signed the bond, and gave me forty s.h.i.+llings.--Scrip is also a Change Alley phrase for the last loan or subscription.

What does scrip go at for the next rescounters? what does scrip sell for delivered at the next day of settling?

SCROBY. To be tipt the scroby; to be whipt before the justices.

SCROPE. A farthing. CANT.

SCRUB. A low mean fellow, employed in all sorts of dirty work.

SCRUBBADO. The itch.

SCULL. A head of a house, or master of a college, at the universities.

SCULL, or SCULLER. A boat rowed by one man with a light kind of oar, called a scull; also a one-horse chaise or buggy.

SCULL THATCHER. A peruke-maker.

Sc.u.m. The riff-raff, tag-rag, and bob-tail, or lowest order of people.

SCUT. The tail of a hare or rabbit; also that of a woman.

SCUTTLE. To scuttle off; to run away. To scuttle a s.h.i.+p; to make a hole in her bottom in order to sink her.

SEA CRAB. A sailor.

SEA LAWYER. A shark.

SEALER, or SQUEEZE WAX. One ready to give bond and judgment for goods or money.

SECRET. He has been let into the secret: he has been cheated at gaming or horse-racing. He or she is in the grand secret, i.e. dead.

SEEDY. Poor, pennyless, stiver-cramped, exhausted.

SEES. The eyes. See DAYLIGHTS.

SERVED. Found guilty. Convicted. Ordered to be punished or transported. To serve a cull out; to beat a man soundly.

SERAGLIO. A bawdy-house; the name of that part of the Great Turk's palace where the women are kept.

SEND. To drive or break in. Hand down the Jemmy and send it in; apply the crow to the door, and drive it in.

SET. A dead set: a concerted scheme to defraud a person by gaming.

SETTER. A bailiff's follower, who, like a setting dog follows and points the game for his master. Also sometimes an exciseman.

TO SETTLE. To knock down or stun any one. We settled the cull by a stroke on his n.o.b; we stunned the fellow by a blow on the head.

SEVEN-SIDED ANIMAL. A one-eyed man or woman, each having a right side and a left side, a fore side and a back side, an outside, an inside, and a blind side.

SHABBAROON. An ill-dressed shabby fellow; also a mean-spirited person.

SHAFTSBURY. A gallon pot full of wine, with a c.o.c.k.

To s.h.a.g. To copulate. He is but bad s.h.a.g; he is no able woman's man.

s.h.a.g-BAG, or SHAKE-BAG. A poor sneaking fellow; a man of no spirit: a term borrowed from the c.o.c.k-pit.

SHAKE. To shake one's elbow; to game with dice. To shake a cloth in the wind; to be hanged in chains.

SHAKE. To draw any thing from the pocket. He shook the swell of his fogle; he robbed the gentleman of his silk handkerchief.

SHALLOW PATE. A simple fellow.

SHALLOW. A WHIP hat, so called from the want of depth in the crown. LILLY SHALLOW, a WHITE Whip hat.

SHAM. A cheat, or trick. To cut a sham; to cheat or deceive.

Shams; false sleeves to put on over a dirty s.h.i.+rt, or false sleeves with ruffles to put over a plain one. To sham Abram; to counterfeit sickness.

TO SHAMBLE. To walk awkwardly. Shamble-legged: one that walks wide, and shuffles about his feet.

SHANKER. A venereal wart.

SHANKS. Legs, or gams.

SHANKS NAGGY. To ride shanks naggy: to travel on foot.

SCOTCH.

SHANNON. A river in Ireland: persons dipped in that river are perfectly and for ever cured of bashfulness.