CONTER (military). Conte cela au perruquier des Zouaves, _I do not believe you_, “tell that to the Marines.” Le perruquier des Zouaves is an imaginary individual. CONTRE, _m._ (popular), _playing for drink at a café_. CONTRE-ALLUMEUR, _m._ (thieves’), _spy employed by thieves to baffle the police spies_. CONTREBASSE, _f._ (popular), _breech_. Sauter sur la ----, _to kick one’s behind_, “to toe one’s bum,” “to root,” or “to land a kick.” CONTRE-COUP, _m._ (popular), de la boîte, _foreman_, or “boss.” CONTREFICHER (popular), s’en ----, _to care not a straw, not a_ “hang.” CONTRE-MARQUE, _f._ (popular), du Père-Lachaise, _St. Helena medal_. Those who wear the medal are old, and le Père-Lachaise is a cemetery in Paris. CONTRÔLE, _m._ (thieves’), _formerly the mark on the shoulder of convicts who had been branded_. CONTRÔLER (popular), _to kick one in the face_. CONVALESCENCE, _f._ (thieves’), _surveillance of the police on the movements of ticket-of-leave men_. COP, _f._ (printers’), for “copie,” _manuscript_. COPAILLE, _f._ (cads’), _Sodomist_. Termed also “tante, coquine.” COPE, _f._ (popular), _overcharge for an article_; _action of_ “shaving a customer.” The _Slang Dictionary_ says that in England, when the master sees an opportunity of doing this, he strokes his chin as a signal to his assistant who is serving the customer. COPEAU, _m._ (popular), _artisan in woodwork_ (properly copeaux, _shavings_); _spittle_, or “gob.” Arracher son ----. See ARRACHER. Lever son ----, _to talk_, “to jaw.” COPEAUX, _m. pl._ (thieves’), _housebreaking_, “screwing or cracking a crib.” An allusion to the splinters resulting from breaking a door. COPIE, _f._ (printers’), de chapelle, _copy of a work given as a present to the typographers_. (Figuratively) Faire de la ----, _to backbite_. Pisser de la ----, _to be a prolific writer_. Pisseur de ----, _a prolific writer_; _one who writes lengthy, diffuse newspaper articles_. COQUAGE, _m._ (thieves’), _informing against one_, or “blowing the gaff.” COQUARD, _m._ (thieves’), _eye_, or “glazier.” S’en tamponner le ----, _not to care a fig_. See MIRETTE. COQUARDEAU, _m._ (popular), _henpecked husband_, or “stangey;” _man easily duped_, or “gulpy.” COQUER (thieves’), _to watch one’s movements_; _to inform against one_, “to blow the gaff.” Quand on en aura refroidi quatre ou cinq dans les préaux les autres tourneront leur langue deux fois avant de coquer la pègre.--=E. SUE.= Also _to give_; _to put_; ---- la camoufle, _to hand the candle_, “to dub the glim;” ---- la loffitude, _to give absolution_; ---- le poivre, _to poison_, “hocus;” ---- le taf, _to frighten_; ---- le rifle, _to set fire to_.