Please see at the
bottom for sources and copyright information.
Abbess:
Female brothel keeper. A Madame.
Bacca-pipes:
Whiskers curled in small, close ringlets.
Barkers
(Barking Irons): Guns. Pistols, esp. Revolvers.
Beak:
Magistrate
Beak-hunting:
Poultry stealing
Bearer up:
Person that robs men who have been decoyed by a woman accomplice.
Beef:
(1) (v) Raise hue-and-cry. (2) (n) Thief. (cr) = Hot Beef! = Stop
Thief!
Bend:
Waistcoat, vest
Betty:
A type of lockpick
Billy:
Handkerchief (often silk)
Bit Faker:
A coiner. A counterfeiter of coins.
Blackleg:
A person who will work, contrary to a strike. In the Colonies they
are called Scabs.
Blag:
To steal or snatch, usually a theft, often by smash-and-grab
Blob, on
the (Blab): Begging by telling hardluck stories.
Blooming,
Bloody (Blasted, etc.): are forms of profanity not heard
in polite company (Today they've been replaced in prestige with "Fucking",
which is really too bad.)
Blow:
Inform.
Blower:
Informer. Also a disrepectful term for a girl.
Bludger:
A violent criminal; one who is apt to use a bludgeon.
Blue Bottle:
A policeman
Boat, get
the (Boated): To be sentanced to transportation (obs.). To receive
a particularly harsh sentence.
Bone, Bene:
(Pronounced Bone and Benneh?) Good or profitable.
Bonnet:
A covert assistant to a Sharp
Broad Arrow:
The arrow-like markings on a prison convict's uniform. "Wearing the
broad arrow" = In prison.
Broads:
Playing cards. Ex. "Spreading the broads" = playing a game of cards)
Broading:
Cheating at cards
Broadsman:
A card Sharper
Bruiser:
A Boxer (b)
Buck Cabbie:
A dishonest cab driver
Bug hunting:
Robbing, or cheating drunks. Esp. at night.
Bull:
Five shillings
Buor:
A woman
Buttoner:
A sharper's assistant who entices dupes.
Buzzing:
Stealing, esp. Picking Pockets.
Candle to
the devil, To hold a: To be evil
Cant:
A present; a free meal or quantity of some article. Also the creole
and jargon spoken by thieves and the "surplus population."
Cant of togs:
A gift of clothing.
Caper: A
criminal act, dodge or device.
Cash Carrier:
A pimp, ponce or whore's minder.
Chapel, the:
Whitechapel.
Chat:
a Louse (a singular of Lice).
Chaunting:
Singing; also informing
Chaunting
lay: Street singing (hopefully for money)
Chavy:
Child
Chink:
Money
Chiv, shiv:
Knife, razor or sharpened stick (r)
Choker:
Clergyman. "Gull a choker"
Christen:
To remove identifying marks from, to make like new again. "Christen
a watch."
Church:
To remove identifying marks from, to make like new again. "Church
a watch."
Cly faking:
To pick a pocket, especially of its handkerchief (for which there was a
ready market)
Cockchafer:
An especially build treadmill in the 'Steel
Coiner:
A coin counterfeiter
Cokum
(n & adj): Opportunity, advantage, shrewd, cunning.
Cool:
Look, look at this/it. (cb)
Coopered:
Wornout, useless
Coopered
Ken: A bad place for a stick up.
Cop, Copper:
A policeman
Couter:
Pound (money)
Cove:
A man
Crabshells:
Shoes
Cracksman:
A Burgler, a safecracker. One who clracks of breaks locks.
A whole genre of thief.
Crapped:
hung, hanged.
Crib:
A building, house or lodging. The location of a gaol.
Crimping
shop: A waterfron lodging house, esp. one associated with the forcable
impressment of seamen.
Crooked cross,
to play the: To betray, swindle or cheat.
Crow:
A lookout. A doctor.
Crusher:
A policeman
Dab: bed
(cb). "To dab it up with_____" = to engage in carnal acts with ___.
Dabeno:
Bad (cb)
Daffy:
A small measure, esp. of spiritous liquers.
Deadlurk:
Empty premises.
Deaner:
A shilling. (Etymologially descended from the Dinarious, or ancient silver
penny of Britain...)
Deb:
Bed (cb)
Demander:
One who gains monies through menace.
Derbies:
(Pronounced Darbies). Handcuffed
Device:
Tuppence
Deuce Hog
(Duce Hog): 2 shillings
Devil's claws:
The broad arrows on a convict's prison uniform.
Dewskitch:
A beating
Didikko:
Gypsies; half breed gypsies (r). (From Didikai, a Rom contraction
of Dik akai, or "look here")
Dillo:
Old (cb)
Dimmick:
A base coin, counterfeit
Ding:
(v & n) Throw away, pass on. Any object that has been so treated.
Ex. "Knap the ding" or to take something that has been thrown out.
Dipper:
Pickpocket
Dispatches:
Loaded dice
Dobbin:
Ribbon
Dollymop:
A prostitute, often an amateur or a part-time street girl; a midinette.
Dollyshop:
A low, unlicenced loan shop or pawn shop.
Don:
A distinguished/expert/clever person; a leader
Dookin:
Palmistry
Down:
Suspicion. "To put down on someone" means to inform on that
person's plans. While "To take the down of a ticker" means
to
Christen a watch.
Do Down:
To beat someone badly, punishing them with your fists. (b)
Downer:
Sixpence.
Downy:
Cunning, false.
Drag:
(1) A three month gaol sentence. (2) A street
Dragsman:
A thief who steals from carriages.
Drum:
A building, house or lodging; the location of a gaol.
Dub:
(1) Bad (cb); (2) Key, lockpick
Duce:
Tuppence
Duckett:
A street hawker or vendor's licence.
Duffer:
A seller of supposedly stolen goods. Also a Cheating Vendor or hawker.
Dumplin:
A swindling game played with skittles
Dumps:
Buttons and other Hawkers small wares.
Dunnage:
Clothes
E.O.:
A fairground gambling game
Escop
(Esclop, Eslop): Policeman (cb)
Fadge:
Farthing
Fakement:
a Device or pretence (especially a notice or certificate to facilitate
begging).
Family, the:
The criminal Underworld, also Family People.
Fan:
To delicately feel someone's clothing, while it is still being worn, to
search for valuables.
Fancy, the:
The brethren of the boxing ring.
Fawney:
Ring
Fawney-dropping:
A ruse whereby the villain pretends to find a ring (which is actually worthless)
and sells it as a Possibly valuable article at a
low price.
Fine wirer:
A highly skilled pickpocket
Finny:
Five pound note
Flag: An
apron
Flam:
A lie
Flash
(v & adj): Show, Showy (as in "Show-off," or "Flashy"); smart;
something special.
Flash house:
A public house patronized by criminals.
Flash notes:
Paper that looks, at a glance, like bank-notes
Flat:
A person who is flat is easily deceived.
Flatch:
Ha'penny
Flats:
Playing cards, syn. Broads.
Flimp:
A snatch pickpocket. Snatch stealing in a crowd.
Flue Faker:
Chimney sweep
Flummut:
Dangerous
Fly, on the:
Something done quickly.
Flying the
Blue Pidgeon: Stealing roof lead.
Flying the
Mags: The game of "Pitch and Toss"
Fogle:
A silk handkerchief
Fushme:
Five shillings
Gaff:
Show, exhibition, fair "Penny Gaff" - Low, or vulgar theatre.
Gallies:
Boots
Gammon:
Deceive
Gammy:
False, undependable, hostile
Garret:
Fob pocket in a waistcoat
Garrote:
(v & n) A misplaced piano wire, and how it was misplaced.
Gatter:
Beer
Gattering:
A public house
Gegor:
Begger
Gen:
Shilling
Glim:
(1) Light or fire. (2) Begging by depicting oneself as having
been burnt out of one's home. (3) Venereal Disease.
Glock:
Half-wit
Glocky:
Half-witted
Gonoph:
A minor thief, or small time criminal
Granny:
Understand or recognize
Gravney:
A Ring
Grey, Gray:
A coin with two identical faces
Griddling:
Begging, peddling, or scrounging
Growler:
A four wheeled cab
Gulpy:
Gullible, easily duped.
Half inch:
Steal (From pinch) (cr)
Hammered
for life: Married
Hard up:
Tobacco
Haybag:
Woman
Haymarket
Hector: Pimp, ponce or whore's minder; especially around the areas
of Haymarket and Leicester Squares.
Hoisting:
Shoplifting
Holywater
sprinkler: A cudgel spiked with nails.
Huey, Hughey:
A town or village.
Huntley,
to take the: Syn. To take the Cake or to take the Biscuit. Also
to be most excellent, as in Huntley and Palmer's biscuits.
Hykey:
Pride.
Irons: Guns esp. Pistols or revolvers.
Jack:
Detective
Jemmy:
(1) Smart. (2) of Superior class. (3) an housebreaker's tool.
Jerry:
A Watch
Jerryshop:
Pawnbrokers
Joey:
A fourpence piece
Jolly:
Disturbance or Fracas
Judy:
A woman, specifically a prostitute
Jug loops:
Locks of hair brought over the temples and curled (a hairstyle that thankfully
died out later in the period).
Julking:
Singing (as of caged songbirds)
Jump: A
ground floor window, or a burglary committed through such a window.
Kanurd:
Drunk (cb)
Kecks:
Trousers
Ken:
House or other place, esp. a lodging or public house.
Kennetseeno:
Bad, stinking, putrid -- Malodorous. (r)
Kennuck:
Penny
Kidsman:
An organizer of child thieves
Kife:
Bed
Kinchen-lay
(Kynchen-lay):
Stealing from children
Kingsman:
A coloured or black handkerchief.
Knap:
To steal, take or receive
Knapped:
Pregnant
Knob:
"Over and under" a fairground game used for swindling.
Know life,
to: To be knowledgable in criminal ways
Lackin, Lakin:
Wife
Ladybird:
A Prostitute
Lag:
A convict or Ticket-of-leave man; To be sentenced to transportation or
penal servitude.
Lamps:
Eyes
Laycock,
Miss (or Lady): Female sexual organs
Lavender,
in: (1) To be hidden from the police, (2) to be pawned, (3) to
be put away, (4) to be dead.
Lay:
A method, system or plan
Leg :
A dishonest person, a sporting cheat or tout.
Lill:
Pocketbook
London Particular:
Thick London "Pea Soup" fog
Long-Tailed:
A banknote worth more than 5 pounds is said to be "long tailed"
Luggers:
Ear rings
Lumber:
(1) Unused, or second-hand furniture. (2) To pawn. (3) To go
into seclusion. (4) To be in lumber is to be in gaol.
Lump Hotel:
Work House
Lurk:
(1) A place of resorting to or concealment in. (2) A scheme or method
Lurker:
A criminal of all work, esp. a begger, or someone who uses a beggar's disguise.
Lush:
An alcoholic drink.
Lushery:
A place where a lush may be had. A low public house or drinking den.
Lushing Ken:
See Lushery
Lushington:
A drunkard
Macer:
A cheat
Mag:
Ha'pence
Magflying:
Pitch
and toss
Magsman:
An inferior cheat
Maltooler:
A pickpocket who steals while riding an omnibus, esp. from women.
Mandrake:
a Homosexual
Mark:
The victim
Mary Blaine:
Railway Train (cr); to meet a train or to travel via railway.
Mauley:
Handwriting, signature
Mecks:
Wine or spirits
Milltag:
Shirt
Miltonian:
Policeman
Min:
Steal
Mitting:
Shirt
Mizzle:
Quit, Steal, or Vanish
Mobsman:
A swindler or pickpocket, usually well-dressed. Originally one of
the "Swell Mob"
Mollisher:
A woman, often a villain's mistress
Monkery:
the Country
Monniker:
Signature
Mot:
Woman, esp. the proprietress of a lodging or public house
Moucher,
Moocher: A rural vagrant. A gentleman of the road.
Mouth:
(1) Blabber. (2) A Fool
Mug-hunter:
A street robber or footpad. Hence the modern "Mugger"
Mumper:
Begger or scrounger
Mutcher:
A thief who steals from drunks
Muck Snipe:
A person who is "down and out"
Nail:
Steal
Nancy:
Buttocks
Nebuchadnezzar:
Male sexual organs; "to put Nebuchadnezzar out to grass" means to engage
in sexual intercourse.
Neddy:
Cosh
Nemmo:
Woman (cb)
Nethers:
Lodging charges, rent
Newgate Knockers:
Heavily greased side whiskers curling back to, or over the ears
Netherskens:
Low lodging houses, flophouses
Nibbed:
Arrested
Nickey:
Simple in the head
Nobble:
The inflicting of grievious bodily harm
Nobbler:
(1) One who inflicts grevious bodily harm. (2) A sharper's confederate
Nommus!:
Get away! Quick! (cb)
Nose:
Informer or Spy
Nubbiken:
A sessions courthouse
On the fly:
While in motion or quickly
Onion:
A watch seal
Out of twig:
Unrecognized or in disquise
Outsider:
An instrument, resembling needle nosed pliers, used for turning a key in
a lock from the wrong side.
Pack:
A night's lodging for the very poor
Paddingken:
A tramp's lodging house
Pall:
Detect
Palmer:
Shoplifter
Patterer:
Someone who earns by recitation or hawker's sales talk, esp. by hawking
newspapers
Peter:
A box, trunk or safe.
Pidgeon:
A victim
Pig:
A policeman, usually a detective
Pit:
Inside front coat pocket
Plant:
A victim
Pogue:
A purse or prize
Prad:
Horse
Prater:
A bogus itinerate preacher
Prig:
(1) A thief. (2) To steal
Puckering:
Speaking in a manner that is incomprehensible to spectators
Punishers:
Superior nobblers. Men employed to give severe beatings
Push:
Money
Racket:
Illicit occupation or tricks
Rampsman
or Ramper: A tearaway or hoodlum
Randy, on
the: On the Spree or otherwise looking for companionship
Rasher-wagon:
Frying pan
Ray:
1/6 (one and six-pence)
Reader:
Pocketbook or wallet
Ream:
Superior, real, genuine, good.
Ream Flash
Pull: A significant heist
Ream Swag:
Highly valuable stolen articles
Reeb:
Beer (cb)
Roller:
A thief who robs drunks or a prostitute who steals from her clientele.
Rook:
A type of jemmy
Rookery:
Slum
or ghetto
Rothschild,
to come to the: To brag and pretend to be rich.
Rozzers:
Policemen
Ruffles:
Handcuffs
Saddle:
Loaf
St. Peter's
Needle: Severe discipline
Salt Box:
The Condemned Cell
Sawney:
Bacon
Scaldrum
dodge: Begging by means of feigned, or self-inflicted wounds
Scran:
Food
Scratch an
itch: (cr) Bitch
Screever:
A writer of fake testimonials; a forger
Srew:
Skeleton Key
Screwing:
A sub-genre of Cracking; burglary by means of skeleton keys, waxing
keys,
or picking locks.
Screwsman:
A burglar versed in screwing
Scroby:
Flogging in gaol
Scurf:
An exploitive employer or gang-leader
Servant's
lurk: A lodging or public house used by shady or dismissed servants.
Shake lurk:
Begging under the pretence of being a shipwrecked seaman.
Shallow,
work the: Begging while half naked.
Shant:
A pot or tumbler
Sharp:
A (card) swindler
Shevis:
A shift, a type of garment.
Shinscraper:
The Treadmill
Shirkster:
A layabout
Shiver and
shake: (cr) A cake
Shivering
Jemmy: A half naked begger
Shoful:
(1) Bad or counterfeit. (2) An hansom cab
Shofulman:
A coiner or passer of bad money.
Skipper:
One who sleeps in hedges and outhouses
Skyrocket:
(cr) Pocket (rarely used)
Slang cove:
A showman
Slap-Bang
Job: A night cellar (pub) frequented by thieves, and where no credit
is given.
Slum:
(1) False, sham, a faked document, etc. (2) To cheat . (3) To pass
bad money.
Smasher:
Someone who passes bad money.
Smatter Hauling:
Stealing Handkerchiefs
Snakesman:
A slightly built (boy) criminal used in burglary and housebreaking.
Snells:
A hawker's wares
Snide: Counterfeit;
counterfeit coins or jewels.
Snide pinching:
Passing
bad money
Snoozer:
A thief that specializes in robbing hotel rooms with sleeping guests.
Snowing:
Stealing linen, clothes, etc, that have been hung out to dry.
Soft:
Paper money (i.e., "to do some soft" means to pass bad paper money.)
Speeler:
Cheat or a gambler
Spike:
Workhouse
Sprat:
Six pence
Spreading
the Broads: Three card monte.
Square rigged:
Soberly and respectfully dressed.
Swell:
An elegantly, or stylishly dressed gentleman.
Tail:
Prostitute
Tatts:
Dice, False Dice
Tea Leaf:
Thief (cr)
Terrier Crop:
Short, bristly haircut (denoting a recent stay in a prison or a workhouse)
Teviss:
Shilling
Thicker:
A Sovereign or a Pound
Thick 'Un:
A Sovereign
Tightener:
A meal. "To do a Tightener," to take a Meal.
Titfer/Titfertat:
Hat (cr)
Toff:
An elegantly, or stylishly dressed gentleman.
Toffer:
A superior whore.
Toffken:
A house containing well-to-do occupants.
Toke: Bread
Tol:
Lot (cb), a Share.
Toolers:
Pickpockets
Tooling:
Skilled Pickpocket
Toper: Road
Topped:
Hung
Topping:
A hanging
Translators:
Secondhand apparel, especially Boots.
Trasseno:
An evil person
Tuppeny
(Tuppeny Loaf): Head (cr. from Loaf of Bread)
Twirls:
Keys, esp skeleton keys.
Twist
(Twist and Twirl): Girl (cr)
Under and Over: A fairground game that's easy to swindle people with.
Vamp:
To Steal or Pawn. "In for a vamp" to be jailed for stealing
Voker:
Speak (r). "Voker Romeny?" (Pardon me, but do you
speak Thieve's Cant?)
Weeping Willow:
Pillow
(cr)
Whistle and
Flute: Suit (cr)
Work Capitol:
Commit a crime punishable by death.
Yack:
A watch
Yennap:
A Penny. (cb)
As for the picture, it is actually a scene of Evan Jay Newman as Gavroche, Tom Zemon as Grantaire, and "the Company", from the Broadway production of "Les Misérables" (obtained from that site's photo database). By the way, before it was a musical, this was an inspired play and novel by Victor Hugo, and a sobering comment on real-life France in the beautiful Victorian era. Of course, in New Europa, life is so much gentler that there is no apparently Communes Revolt in 1871. Still, let's keep in mind that aspect...
I. Marc Carlson
IMC@VAX2.UTULSA.EDU
26 January 1994
All my own material is Copyright (c) by David Crowhurst
1995, 1996
All other material is Copyright (c) the original authors
Note on the latter: The above Web address has changed to http://homepages.tcp.co.uk/~gentloser/gentlose.html, but at the time of writing (May 1998), the links to the Gentleman Loser fanzine's Castle Falkentein pages were disconnected.