For those unfamiliar with the expression, "cant" is a British term referring to the slang spoken by criminals, waterfront rogues, gypsies, and other members of low society in England during the late 18th and early to mid 19th Century.  The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was just one in a series of many versions written by the antiquarian, Captain Frances Grose.  The first edition of the Dictionary was published in 1785.

I have gone through the 1811 version and picked out the terms I feel are most pertinent to writers, and readers, of Georgian and Regency fiction.  In this section, you will find terms for:

Alcohol
Body Parts/Funtions/References
Clothing
Criminal Terms
Death/Disease
Emotion Terms/Expressions
Food
Fighting Terms
Furniture/Household Goods

Alcohol:

barley broth – strong beer

barrel fever -- drunkard

batch -- we had a batch of it last night (we drank a lot)

blue ruin -- gin

booze -- liquor

calibogus -- rum and spruce beer (American drink)

chapt (chapped?) -- dry, thirsty

clear -- drunk

cloud -- to blow a cloud (smoke a pipe or cigar)

commoner – empty bottle

cup-shot -- drunk

cut -- drunk

drunk as David’s sow

dead men -- empty bottles

diddle -- gin

disguised - drunk

drain - gin

dram -- small glass of spirits

dram-a-tick -- dram served on credit

draper -- an alehouse keeper

drop in the eye -- almost drunk

drunk as a wheelbarrow

drunk as an emperor -- ten times drunker than drunk as a lord

flip – small beer, brandy and sugar.  When lemon is added, called a Sir Cloudsly

flustered – drunk

foxed – drunk

freeze – a thin, small hard cider used by vintners to water their wine.

French cream – brandy, so-called because dowagers add it to their tea

frog’s wine – gin

fuddle – drunk or drink (rum fuddle – excellent drink)

grog – rum and water

gun – he is in the gun (he is drunk) reference to vessels called “guns” used for ale at universities

guzzle – drink greedily

half seas over – almost drunk

hans in kelder (jack in the cellar) toast often drunk to breeding women or their husbands

hard – stale, nearly sour, beer

heart’s ease – gin

heel tap – peg in the heel of a boot, taken out when boot is done.   Drinker is admonished to “take off your heel tape” by toastmaster.  To drain your glass.

hick(e)y – tipsy

hob or nob – will you have a warm or cold beer?  hob meaning warmed over a fire, or nob meaning left on the table.

hockey – drunk on strong beer

horse meal – meal without drinking

hot pot – hot ale and brandy

huckle my buff – hot beer, egg and brandy

hum cap – very old, strong beer; also called stingo

humming liquor – double ale, stout pharaoh

humpty dumpty – ale boiled with brandy

hunted – man is said to be hunted when it comes his turn to drink and he hasn’t yet emptied his former glass.

jack(e)y – gin

island – (as in, he drank out of the bottle until he saw the island) bottom of the bottle which appears as a rising island as the fluid is drunk

kill devil – new, still-burnt rum

kill priest – port wine

knock me down – strong ale or beer; stingo

Lady Dacre’s wine – gin

lamb’s wool – roasted apples put in strong ale

lightning – gin

lush – strong drink; (to lush – to drink)  (lushey – to be drunk)

magnum bonum – bottle containing two quarts of wine

marine officer – empty bottle

master of the wardrobe – man who pawns his clothes to buy liquor

maudlin drunk – crying drunk

mauled – completely drunk

max – gin

mellow – almost drunk

suck a monkey – to suck or draw liquor out of a cask by means of a straw or tube

moonshine – white brandy smuggled on the coasts of Kent and Sussex; gin of north Yorkshire

mop up – to drink up; to empty a glass or pot

nappy ale – strong ale

nazy – drunken

neck stamper – potboy sent out to collect alehouse pots that have been sent out to private establishments

nip/nyp – half pint of ale (nipperkin- small vessel)

old harry – a composition vintners use to adulterate wine

parell – egg whites, bay salt, milk and water beat together and poured into a vessel of wine to prevent its fretting

pogy – drunk

pug drink – watered cider

purl – ale in which wormwood has been infused; ale and bitter drunk warm

purl royal – Canary wine with a dash of tincture of wormwood

rag water – gin or other spirits

red fustian – red wine

rot gut – small beer

rumbo – rum, water and sugar

scotch pint – bottle containing two quarts

Sir John Barleycorn – strong beer

six and tips – whiskey and small beer

size of ale – half a pint

sky blue – gin

snout – a hogshead

soak (to) – to drink (he’s a old soaker)

sponge – heavy drinker

stirrup cup – parting drink taken on horseback

stitchback – strong ale

strip-me-naked – gin

tallboy -- a bottle, or two quart pot

red tape – brandy

blue or white tape – gin

taplash – thick, bad beer

tipple – liquor

tipplers -- sots

toddy -- water, rum, sugar and nutmeg

tosspot -- drunkard

whet -- a morning draught, commonly white wine, supposed to sharpen the appetite.

Click here for Ben Franklin's list of words and expressions for "drunk."

Body Parts/Function/references to:

ballocks -- testicles

baubles -- trinkets, testicles

beetle-browed -- thick projecting eyebrows

bellows -- lungs

birthday suit -- naked

bite -- woman’s genitals (the cull wapt the mort’s bite -- the fellow had sex with her)

blab -- tattle, tell secrets

blabber -- mouth (stop the cull’s blabber - fellow gagged or murdered into silence)

bone box – mouth

brat -- child

buff -- naked

bum -- butt

bum fodder -- toilet paper

bumfiddle -- butt

carrotty-pated -- red-headed

cat heads -- woman’s breaats

caudge-pawed -- left-handed

chops -- mouth Half Moon Street in the Strand.  1776

day lights – eyes

dugs - women’s breasts

fam/fambles – hands

fart catcher – footman or footboy

fat cull – rich fellow

feak – ass

fin – an arm

foxy – rank, stinking

fubsy – plump

gab or gob – mouth

gam(b)s – corruption of the French word jambes, meaning legs.

gigg – nose

gills – cheeks

gimlet-eyed --  person who squints

ginger-pated – red haired

glass-eyed – wears spectacles

glim(m)s – eyes

gooseberry-eyed – dull grey eyes

grinders – teeth

guts -- stomach

hams – thighs

head rails – teeth (sea slang)

hearing cheats – ears

hocks – feet

hoof – foot

hopper arsed – large projecting buttocks

ivories – teeth

jowl -- cheek

jury leg – wooden leg

knob or nob – head

lamp – eye

leak – (to leak) make water

lobcock – flaccid penis

lugs – ears

madge – woman’s sexual organs

man trap -- vagina

marrow bones – knees

mawley – hand

money – woman’s privates

muff -- woman’s privates

mummer – mouth

muns – face

mutton -- woman’s privates

muzzle – beard

nab/nib – face and mouth of a woman

notch – woman’s privates

nozzle – nose

nub – neck

nutmegs – testicles

ogles – eyes (rum ogles – fine eyes)

oven – large mouth

panter – heart

pate – head

paunch – belly

paw – hand

physog – face

phyz – face

piddle – to make water

pimple – head

pins – legs

puddings – guts

quim -- woman’s privates

rammer – arm

scut – (the tail of a rabbit) a woman’s privates

sconce – the head

shank – leg

smiter – arm

snags – large teeth

spider shanked – thin-legged

spindle shanks – thin legs

spoony – thin and haggard

spoon hand – the right hand

stumps – legs

sugar stick – penis

tallywags -- testicles

Thomas -- penis

throttle – throat

tools -- man’s privates

tripe -- belly or guts

trotters -- feet

trunk -- nose

upper story --head

wattles -- ears

 

Clothing :

articles -- breeches, coats, waistcoat

diggers -- spurs

ditto - a suit of clothing all one color

doash -- cloak

drawers – stockings

goloshes – large leather clogs worn by invalids over their ordinary shoes

ham cases -- breeches

well equipped -- well dressed

inexpressibles – breeches

kicks – breeches (high kick – top of fasnion)

lullies – wet diaper or linens

nab cheat – hat

pike (to pike off – run away) run

rigging – clothing

rippons – spurs

shappo (chappo) -- hat

small clothes – breeches

smicket – a smock or woman’s shift

thimble -- a watch

tick – a watch

tiring – dressing

toge -- coat

togeman – coat

togs -- clothes

trim – state of dress; to be well-trimmed (well-dressed)a

wiper -- handkerchief

 

Criminal Terms :

to amuse -- fling something into victims eyes, someone else comes along and robs them; to delude a shopkeeper; to invent a plausible tale.

amusers -- fellow that flings the dirt etc... in victims eyes

angler -- fellow who uses a stick with a hook to life goods from shop windows

Arch Rogue/Dember Damleer/Upright Man -- leader of a gang of thieves

ark ruffians -- thieves, in conjunction with watermen, who rob and sometimes murder their victims, then throw them overboard.

Mine Aunt -- procuress

autem divers -- pick pockets in churches.  Term is also applied to church wardens & overseers of the poor.

barrow man -- man under sentence of transportation

bawd -- procuress

beak -- judge, justice, magistrate (I clapped my peepers full of tears and so the beak set me free)

to cry beef -- to sound the alarm

beggar’s bullets -- stones

benefeakers -- someone who passes counterfeit bills

bess/betty -- small instrument used by housebreakers to force open doors  (bring bess & glym -- bring instrument & lantern)

bilk -- cheat

to bite -- steal (bite the roger -- steal the portmanteau) (to bite the wiper -- steal the handkerchief)

black art -- picking locks

black legs -- gambler or sharper on the turf or in the cockpit

blind -- feint

blind harper -- beggars feigning blindness

blockhouse -- jail/prison

blood money -- reward

blow -- he has bit the blow (he has stolen the goods)

to blow the gab -- confess

blue pigeons -- thieves who steal lead off houses and churches

bob -- person who receives or carries stolen goods (all is bob - all is safe its all bob - coast is clear)

boned -- seized by constable

bo-peeper -- look out

boung nipper -- cut purse

to raise the breeze -- make a disturbance

buckles -- fetters

budge -- housebreaker who steals clothing

bugging -- to replace something valuable with a facsimile

bulk and file -- 2 pickpockets; one jostles the mark, the other lifts the item off him

bully back -- man who works in a prostitute house as a kind of body guard for the women, but also lifts money etc. off patrons

bully cock -- instigate a quarrel to rob victim

bully ruffian -- highwayman

to bum -- to arrest a debtor

bum trap/bum bailiff -- officer who arrests debtors

bummed -- arrested

buzman --pickpocket

cadge -- beg

carriers -- lookouts at inns and roadhouses who report back to their gangs

charm -- a pick lock

chates -- gallows

chive/chiff -- knife, file or saw

chiving lay -- to cut coach braces, the account the coachman and rob

clanker -- great lie

clap on the shoulder -- arrested

to click -- to snatch (to click a nab - snatch a hat)

clink -- jail

cloak twitchers -- thieves who hang around entrances to alleys and by-lanes to snatch cloaks from pedestrians

cracksman -- housebreaker

crim con -- criminal conspiracy

crimp -- fence

cross bite -- one who combines with a sharper to entrap someone

cruisers -- highway spies, usually beggars

cunning man -- cheat who uses astrology to supposedly help people recover stolen goods, fortune teller, usually woman

cunning shaver -- sharp fellow

curbing -- the act of hooking goods out of a window

dawb -- bribe

dimber damber -- top man of a gang, completest cheat, prince

dip -- for a wig

dipt -- pawned or mortgaged

dive --to pick a pocket, a thief who stands ready to receive goods out the window from a little boy put inside a window.

diver -- pickpocket who lives in a cellar

do -- to rob  (I have done him -- I’ve robbed him)

dobin rig -- to steal ribbons from haberdashers early in the AM or late at night.

drag lay -- to wait in the street to rob carts and wagons

to draw -- pick pockets

drop cove -- to drop something in front of a mark and pretend it’s valuable in order to borrow money from the mark.

dub -- master key, picklock

dubber -- picker of locks

duffers -- cheats who pretend to deal in smuggled goods

fagger – little boy put through a window to rob a house

fakement – forgery

fam lay – going into a goldsmith’s shop pretending to want to buy and palming rings, etc…(using wax or something sticky on palm to do so)

fawney rig – common fraud where one person drops brass piece on the ground and another comes along.  Declares it’s gilt and sells it to the pigeon for less than it supposedly is worth.  See money dropper.

figger – boy out thru a window to hand out the goods to a diver.  See also, fagger.

filch – thief who uses a hook to snag clothing off a hedge or out of a casement. Fire priggers – looters who show up at fires under pretense of helping remove goods.

footpad – thief on foot

fork – a pickpocket who uses his fingers like hooks

gag – to prop open a victim’s mouth so he can’t call for assistance

gagger – cheats who sham and make up stories of suffering to gull well-meaning people

gallows bird – thief or pickpocket

game – robbing

gang – a group of criminals

garnish – entrance fee demanded by older prisoners to newcomers

gigger – a latch or door

ginny – instrument to lift up a grate in order to steal what’s in a window.

grappling irons – handcuffs

grease – to bribe

rum dubber – lock picker

horn mad – jealous husband or lover

heels – (to be laid by) put in prison

high pad – highwayman

hush – murder

jumpers – people who rob houses by getting in by the window

money droppers – cheats who drop money, which they pretend to find in from of some gullible fellow who then accompanies them to an ale house where their confederates cheat or rob him.

morning drop – the gallows

natty lads – young thieves or pickpockets

nip – a cheat

nose – a person who gives King’s evidence (to nose – to give evidence or inform)

nubbing – hanging (nubbing cheat – gallows)

office – (to give the office) to inform or identify criminal for police

owlers – smugglers of wool to France

Paddington Fair Day – an execution day at Tyburn in the parish of Paddington

pig – police officer

pigeon – weak silly fellow, easily imposed upon

rook -  a cheat

ruffles – handcuffs

rum bite —a clever cheat

scragged – hanged

sharper – one who lives by his wits; a cheat

snaffle – steal

to top – to cheat or trick, also to insult

wiper drawer – handkerchief thief

 

Death/Disease:

put to bed with a mattock and tucked up with a spade (killed & buried)

to kick the bucket - to die

cast up accounts -- vomit

chatts – lice

creepers -- lice

churchyard cough -- one likely to end in death

claret -- I stopped his claret  (killed him)

cropped – hanged

cundum -- condom invented by Colonel Cundum sold by a woman named Philips

gentleman’s companion – a louse

grunter – invalid who complains

hash – (to flash the hash) vomit

frenchified -- infected with venereal disease

frisk – (to frisk) to be hanged

hum durgeon – imaginary illness

kick the bucket – die

light troops – lice

livestock – lice or fleas

lock hospital – hospital for venereal patients

machines --condoms

ningimmer – physician or surgeon who treats venereal disease

nostrum – quack medicine

ottomised – dissected

oyster – spital or phlegm of a consumptive

props – crutches

pucker water -- water with alum or another astringent (used to counterfeit virginity)

scotch greys – lice

scotch fiddle – the itch

shanker -- venereal wart

spanish gout – the pox

stewed quaker – burnt rum with butter; an American remedy for a cold

token -- the plague, also venereal disease

Venus’ curse -- venereal disease

windward passage (one who navigates)-- sodomite

 

Emotional terms/expressions:

all-a-gog -- impatient

all-a-mort -- struck dumb

beat all hollow -- conquered

alititude -- drunk

arsey varsey -- head over heels

save my bacon -- rescue

bam -- humbug

bamming -- making fun

bamboozle -- make a fool of

banbury tale -- nonsensical story

cock & bull story -- nonsensical story

bang up -- well done

bewattled -- surprised, confounded

bing -- bing avast (get you gone)  (bing we London? shall we go to London?)

bird-witted -- inconsiderate, thoughtless (I ain’t so bird-witted)

buss blind cheeks -- kiss my ass

blue-devil -- depressed

bluff -- fierce, surly (he looked as bluff as blue beef)

bobbed -- cheated

bobbish -- clever, smart

bottle-headed -- without brains

bottom -- strength & spirit

he’s up in the boughs - in a passion

bracket-faced -- ugly

bran-faced -- freckled

brazen-faced -- bold, shameless

bread and butter fashion -- done according to the rules, in order, fashion

brown study -- lost in thought

bubble -- to cheat

buffle-headed -- confused, stupid

to bullock -- to bully

cackle -- blab (the cull is leaky & cackles - the fellow tells all)

cating -- preach with a whining tone

cheek by jowl -- living hand to mouth, hand to fist

cheese it -- be quiet

chuckle-headed -- cowardly

to clip & cling -- to hug and embrace

crook your elbow -- crook my elbow and wish it never comes straight (oath of truthfulness)

come home by weeping cross - to repent in the end

curtain lecture -- woman berating her husband

cut - to leave a person of company

cut direct - cross the street to avoid a person

cut indirect -- to look another way and appear not to observe

cut sublime -- to admire the clouds until person is gone

cut infernal -- admire your shoes until the person is gone

devilish -- very

queer as Dick’s hatband -- out of sorts

dicked in the nob -- crazy

dished up -- totally ruined

fat headed – stupid

feague – encourage or spirit up

fine as five pence – very nice, good

flim flam – lies, idle stories

flash – knowing

fly – knowing, (the rattling cove is fly – the coachman knows what we’re about)

fobbed off – deceived

foolish – opposite of flash  (Is he foolish or flash? – i.e. stupid or knowing?)

friday faced – dismal, down in the dumps, depressed

frosty faced – pox marked

fustian – bombast language

gamon – to deceive or tell lies.  Humbug.

gift of gab – glib

go – as in all the go.  Someone bang up to the mark.

green, greenhead, greenhorn – inexperienced person

hang gallows look – villainous appearance

hanker – long for

havy cavy – suspicious, doubtful

high ropes – to be in a passion

hoaxing – ridicule, banter, joke (university slang)

hobby horse – favorite amusement or study

honey moon – first month after marriage

hoop – to beat

hum, humbug – deceive

hipped or hypped – to be in low spirits, blue-deviled

jaw – to talk  (a real jaw-me-dead – tallkative)

odd kick in his gallop – strange whim or peculiarity

kidney (of strange) – odd fellow

least in sight – hide or keep out of the way

leg – (to make a) to bow

lick – beat

maggoty – whimsical, capricious

nacky – ingenious

nation – short for damnation; means very good (a nation long way)

nickin/nikey/nizey – soft, simple fellow

noddy – to be simple or foolish

nug – an endearment (my dear nug – my dear love)

oar (to put in one’s oar) to give one’s opinion

old hand – expert

palaver – African word for treaty, talk or conference

patter – to talk

pickle – (in a pickle)

plummy – (all plummy) everything is all right

porridge – (keep your breath to cool your porridge – hold your tongue)

prime – excellent

prittle prattle – insignificant talk

purblind – dim-sighted

queer as Dick’s hatband – out of order without knowing why

rap – to curse

rig – fun, game, diversion or trick

ring a peal – to scold

ropes (on his high) – in high spirits

rum – fine, good

St. Geoffrey’s Day – in other words, never, there being no such saint

sammy – foolish or silly

shilly-shally – irresolute

smoke (to) – to observe or suspect

smoky – curious, suspicious

spanish coin – fair words and compliments

spanking – large

sparkish – fine, gay

stiff-rumped – proud, stately

stubble it – hold your tongue

tittle-tattle – gossip, idle talk

totty-headed – hairbrained

trig it (to) – to play truant

twig -- to figure out

whisker -- a great lie

white feather – coward; an allusion to a game cock where, having a white feather proves he’s not a true gamebird

willow (to wear the) -- to be abandoned by a lover or mistress

windmills in the head -- foolish notions

 

Food:

bachelor’s fare -- bread, cheese and kisses

grub – food (to grub – to dine)

gruts – peas

gutfoundered – hungry

kickshaws – French dishes( corruption of quelque chose)

negro heads – brown bread sent to ships in drydock

Old Pegg – Yorkshire cheese made of skimmed milk

pap – bread sauce fed to infants

papler – milk pottage

scandal broth – tea

slipslops – tea, water-gruel or any other such food taken medicinally

slop – tea

spread – butter

stomach worm -- hungry

 

Fighting terms:

basted -- to beat (He basted me regular, like.)

battle royal -- gang fight

bruiser -- skilled boxer

brush -- run away

to stand buff -- not run away

click -- a blow (a click on the muns - knock to the face)

clout -- administer a blow

cunny-thumbed -- double one’s fist with thumb grasped inside, like a woman

daggers drawn -- ready to fight

dart -- straight arm blow in boxing

do -- to overcome one’s opponent (I’ve done him - I’ve beat him)

dowse on the chops -- blow to the face

drub -- to beat with a stick or rope’s end

facer – violent blow to the face

fag – to beat, to tire

Ferrara , Andrea   – famous sword cutler

flea bite – trifling wound or injury

floor – to knock down

flying horse – wrestling term in which man throws his opponent over his own head

Irish beauty – woman with two black eyes

milling cove – fighter

muzzler – violent blow to the mouth

 

Furniture/Household goods:

glim – candle or lanterns; light

glimstick – candlestick

jordan – chamber pot

pot – chamber pot

sticks – furniture

voilder -- chamber pot