Slang and its analogues past and present, volume 3 [of 7] : $b A dictionary, historical and comparative, of the heterodox speech of all classes of society for more than three hundred years. With synonyms in English, French, German, Italian, etc.Henley, William Ernest
History
Slang and its analogues past and present, volume 3 [of 7] : $b A dictionary, historical and comparative, of the heterodox speech of all classes of society for more than three hundred years. With synonyms in English, French, German, Italian, etc.
Henley, William Ernest
English language -- Slang -- Dictionaries; Slang -- Dictionaries
1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. xli. And the pleece come in, and
got gallus well kicked about the head.
1869. Greenwood, Seven Curses of London, p. 244. Put it on your
face so gallus thick that the devil himself won’t see through it.
Gallows-bird (also Newgate-bird), subs. (common).—1. A son of the rope;
an habitual criminal; a vagabond or scoundrel, old or young; a
crack-rope or wag-halter (Cotgrave); a gallows-clapper (Florio). Fr.,
gibier de Cayenne, or de potence.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. One that deserves hanging.
1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xi. That very gallows-bird were
enough to corrupt a whole ante-chamber of pages.
2. (common).—A corpse on, or from, the gallows.
1861. Reade, Cloister and Hearth, ch. xxviii. I ne’er minced
(dissected) ape nor gallows-bird.
Gallows-faced, adj. (old).—Evil-looking; hang-dog. Also
gallows-looking.
1766. H. Brooke, Fool of Quality, ii. 16. Art thou there, thou
rogue, thou hang-dog, thou gallows-faced vagabond?
1768. Goldsmith, Good-natured Man, Act v. Hold him fast, he has the
gallows in his face.
1837. Barham, I. L. (Misadv. at Margate). A little gallows-looking
chap—dear me! what could he mean?
Gallows-minded, adj. (colloquial).—Criminal in habit and idea; also,
evil-hearted.
Gallowsness, subs. (old).—Rascality; recklessness; mischievousness.
1859. G. Eliot, Adam Bede, ch. vi. I never knew your equal for
gallowsness.
Gallows-ripe, adj. (old).—Ripe for the rope.
1837. Carlyle, French Revolution, Pt. II., bk. v., ch. iii. Loose
again, as one not yet gallows-ripe.
Gallus.—See Gallows.
Gally-foist.—See Galley-foist.
Gallyslopes, subs. (Old Cant).—Breeches. For synonyms, see Kicks.
Galoot (also galloot and geeloot), subs. (general).—A man (sometimes in
contempt); also (in America) a worthless fellow (or thing, see quot.
1888); a rowdy; a cad (q.v.).
1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ch. xxxiv. Four greater galloots
were never picked up, but never mind that.
1869. S. L. Clemens (Mark Twain) Innocents at Home, p. 22. He could
lam any galoot of his inches in America.
1871. John Hay, Jim Bludso. I’ll hold her nozzle agin the bank Till
the last galoot’s ashore.
1885. Saturday Review, Feb. 7, p. 167. ‘I’ll never draw a revolver
on a man again as long as I live.’... ‘Guess I’ll go for the galoot
with a two-scatter shoot-gun.’
1888. New York Tribune, May 16. It is better to have a Carrot for a
President than a dead beat for a son-in-law. In this way we again
score a live beat on the galoot.
1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 137. ‘My
dear boy, I may be a galoot about literature, but you’ll always be
an outsider in business.’
On the gay galoot, adv. phr. (common).—On the spree.
1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 3. I’m off on the gay galoot
somewheres.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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