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
1832. Macaulay in Life, by Trevelyan (1884), ch. v., p. 188. Be you
Foxes, be you Pitts, You must write to silly chits, Be you Tories,
be you Whigs, You must write to sad young gigs.
2. (old).—A jest; a piece of nonsense; anything fanciful or frivolous.
Hence, generally, in contempt.
1590. Nashe, Pasquil’s Apologie, in wks. Vol. I., p. 234. A right
cutte of the worde, withoute gigges or fancies of haereticall and
newe opinions.
1793. Butt, Poems.... Fograms, quizzes, treats, and bores, and
gigs, Were held in some account with ancient prigs.
1856. Whyte Melville, Kate Coventry, ch. xiv. Such a set of gigs,
my dear, I never saw in my life; large underbred horses, and not a
good-looking man amongst them.
3. (old).—The nose. For synonyms, see Conk. To snitchell the gig = to
pull the nose. Grunter’s gig = a hog’s snout.
1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
4. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.
[Possibly from gig = a top, i.e., a toy; possibly, too, from It. giga =
a fiddle (q.v.); but see post sense 8.]
1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
5. (old: now recognised).—A light two-wheeled vehicle drawn by one
horse.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1809. Windham, Speech, 25 May. Let the former riders in gigs and
whiskeys, and one horsed carriages continue to ride in them.
6. (old).—A door. See Gigger.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. It is all bob, now let’s dub the gigg of
the case: now the coast is clear, let us break open the door of the
house.
7. (Eton).—A fool; an overdressed person. For synonyms, see Sammy-soft.
1797. Colman, Heir at Law, iv., 3. Dick.—What a damn’d gig you look
like. Pangloss.—A gig! umph! that’s an Eton phrase—the Westminsters
call it Quiz.
1870. Athenæum, 16 Apr. He would now be what Eton used to call a
gig, and Westminster a Quiz.
8. (old).—Fun; a frolic; a spree. [Possibly from Fr.: gigue = a lively
dance movement. Cf., gigue et jon = a Bacchanalian exclamation of
sailors. In Florio, too, frottolare = ‘to sing gigges, rounds, or ...
wanton verses.’] Full of gig = full of laughter, ripe for mischief.
1811. Moore, Twopenny Post-bag, Letter 3. We were all in high
gig—Roman punch and tokay travelled round, till our heads travelled
just the same way.
1820. Randall, Diary. In search of lark, or some delicious gig, The
mind delights on, when ’tis in prime twig.
1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, i., 3. I hope we shall have many a
bit of gig together.
1888. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 134. A laughter-loving lass of
eighteen who dearly loved a bit of gig.
9. (old).—The mouth. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.
1871. Finish to Tom and Jerry, p. 175 (ed. 1872). The bit of myrtle
in his gig.
10. (old).—A farthing. Formerly grig (q.v.).
11. (American).—See Policy Dealing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account