1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar TongueGrose, Francis
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1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue
Grose, Francis
English language -- Slang -- Dictionaries
PIG RUNNING. A piece of game frequently practised at
fairs, wakes, &c. A large pig, whose tail is cut short, and
both soaped and greased, being turned out, is hunted by
the young men and boys, and becomes the property of him
who can catch and hold him by the tail, above the height
of his head.
PIGEON. A weak silly fellow easily imposed on. To pigeon;
to cheat. To milk the pigeon; to attempt impossibilities,
to be put to shifts for want of money. To
fly a blue pigeon; to steal lead off a church.
PIGEONS. Sharpers, who, during the drawing of the lottery,
wait ready mounted near Guildhall, and, as soon as
the first two or three numbers are drawn, which they receive
from a confederate on a card, ride with them full
speed to some distant insurance office, before fixed on,
where there is another of the gang, commonly a decent
looking woman, who takes care to be at the office before
the hour of drawing: to her he secretly gives the number,
which she insures for a considerable sum: thus biting
the biter.
PIGEON'S MILK. Boys and novices are frequently sent on
the first of April to buy pigeons milk.
To PIKE. To run away. Pike off; run away.
PILGRIM'S SALVE. A sirreverence, human excrement.
PILL, or PEELE GARLICK. Said originally to mean one
whose skin or hair had fallen off from some disease, chiefly
the venereal one; but now commonly used by persons
speaking of themselves: as, there stood poor pill garlick:
i.e. there stood I.
PILLALOO. The Irish cry or howl at funerals.
PIMP. A male procurer, or cock bawd; also a small faggot
used about London for lighting fires, named from introducing
the fire to the coals.
PIMP WHISKIN. A top trader in pimping.
PIMPLE. The head.
PIN. In or to a merry pin; almost drunk: an allusion to
a sort of tankard, formerly used in the north, having silver
pegs or pins set at equal distances from the top to the
bottom: by the rules of good fellowship, every person
drinking out of one of these tankards, was to swallow
the quantity contained between two pins; if he drank
more or less, he was to continue drinking till he ended at
a pin: by this means persons unaccustomed to measure
their draughts were obliged to drink the whole tankard.
Hence when a person was a little elevated with liquor,
he was said to have drunk to a merry pin.
PIN BASKET. The youngest child.
PIN MONEY. An allowance settled on a married woman
for her pocket expences.
PINCH. At a pinch; on an exigency.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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