1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar TongueGrose, Francis
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1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue
Grose, Francis
English language -- Slang -- Dictionaries
TO QUASH. To suppress, annul or overthrow; vulgarly pronounced
squash: they squashed the indictment.
QUEAN. A slut, or worthless woman, a strumpet.
QUEEN DICK. To the tune of the life and death of Queen
Dick. That happened in the reign of Queen Dick; 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 DICK'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 BITCH. 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, brass 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. A quitam horse; one that will both carry and
draw. LAW WIT.
TO QUIBBLE. To make subtle distinctions; also to play
upon words.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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