1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar TongueGrose, Francis
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1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue
Grose, Francis
English language -- Slang -- Dictionaries
PEEPER. A spying glass; also a looking-glass. Track up
the dancers, and pike with the peeper; whip up stairs,
and run off with the looking-glass. CANT.
PEEPERS. Eyes. Single peeper, a one-eyed man.
PEEPING TOM. A nick name for a curious prying fellow;
derived from an old legendary tale, told of a taylor of
Coventry, who, when Godiva countess of Chester rode at
noon quite naked through that town, in order to procure
certain immunities for the inhabitants, (notwithstanding
the rest of the people shut up their houses) shly peeped
out of his window, for which he was miraculously struck
blind. His figure, peeping out of a window, is still kept
up in remembrance of the transaction.
PEEPY. Drowsy.
To PEER. To look about, to be circumspect.
PEERY. Inquisitive, suspicious. The cull's peery; that
fellow suspects something. There's a peery, tis snitch
we are observed, there's nothing to be done.
PEG. Old Peg; poor hard Suffolk or Yorkshire cheese. A
peg is also a blow with a straightarm: a term used by the
professors of gymnastic arts. A peg in the day-light,
the victualling office, or the haltering-place; a blow in the
eye, stomach, or under the ear.
PEG TRANTUM'S. Gone to Peg Trantum's; dead.
PEGO. The penis of man or beast.
PELL-MELL. Tumultuously, helter skelter, jumbled together.
PELT. A heat, chafe, or passion; as, What a pelt he was
in! Pelt is also the skin of several beasts.
PENANCE BOARD. The pillory.
PENNY-WISE AND POUND FOOLISH. Saving in small matters,
and extravagant in great.
PENNYWORTH. An equivalent. A good pennyworth;
cheap bargain.
PENTHOUSE NAB. A broad brimmed hat.
PEPPERED. Infected with the venereal disease.
PEPPERY. Warm, passionate.
PERKIN. Water cyder.
PERRIWINKLE. A wig.
PERSUADERS. Spurs. The kiddey clapped his persuaders
to his prad but the traps boned him; the highwayman
spurred his horse hard, but the officers seized him.
PET. In a pet; in a passion or miff.
PETER. A portmanteau or cloke-bag. Biter of peters; one
that makes it a trade to steal boxes and trunks from behind
stage coaches or out of waggons. To rob Peter to
pay Paul; to borrow of one man to pay another: styled
also manoeuvring the apostles.
PETER GUNNER, will kill all the birds that died last summer.
A piece of wit commonly thrown out at a person
walking through a street or village near London, with a
gun in his hand.
PETER LAY. The department of stealing portmanteaus,
trunks, &c.
PETER LUG. Who is Peter Lug? who lets the glass stand
at his door, or before him.
PETTICOAT HOLD. One who has an estate during his wife's
life, called the apron-string hold.
PETTICOAT PENSIONER. One kept by a woman for secret
services.
PETTISH. Passionate.
PETTY FOGGER. A little dirty attorney, ready to undertake
any litigious or bad cause: it is derived from the French
words petit vogue, of small credit, or little reputation.
PHARAOH. Strong malt liquor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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