Dictionary of Americanisms, by John Russell Bartlett. (NY: Bartlett and Welford, 1848)
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STARS. A Southern pronunciation of the word stairs, like bar for bear; also heard in New England.
STATE-ROOM. A small room in a ship or steam-vessel for one or two passengers.--Worcester.
TO STAVE. To break a hole in; to break; to burst; as, 'to stave a cask.'--Webster. This is the legitimate use of the verb; but sometimes we make it govern the instrument directly, as in the following example:
I'll stave my fist right through you, and carry you on my elbow, as easily as if you were an empty market-basket.--Neal's Charcoal Sketches.
TO STAVE. To hurry; to press forward.
A president of one of our colleges once said to a graduate at parting, "My son, I want to advise you. Never oppose public opinion. The great world will stave right on!"--Am. Review, June, 1848.
Hiloa! Steve! where are you a staving to? If you're for Wellington, scale up here and I'll give you a ride.--Mrs. Clavers's Forest Life.
TO STAVE OFF. To push away as with a staff; to delay; as, 'to stave off the execution of the project.--Webster.
Humane, divine laws, precepts, fear of God and men, fame, honor, cannot oppose, stave off, or withstand fury of illicit passion.--Burton, Anat. of Melancholy.
We hope that Congress will sink all party jealousies, and go for such measures as will show an undivided front. It is the way to stave off a war; because the enemy is calculating upon a division among the people upon the Oregon question.--N. Y. Herald, March, 1848.
In the mean time, this new episode [Mr. Webster's speech on the Ashburton treaty] will stave off the Oregon question.--N. Y. Com. Adv.
STEAL (pronounced stail). The handle of various implements; as a rake-steal, a fork-steal. Used by the farmers in some parts of New England. Provincial in various parts of England.--Pickering.
STEBOY.}
SEBOY.} A word used to set dogs upon pigs or other animals.
"There it is--that black and white thing--on that log," says Tom. Steboy; catch him!" say he [to the dog]. Ben run up with his light, and the first thing I heard him says was, "Peugh! oh, my Lord look out, fellers, it's a pole-cat."--Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 55.
STEVEDORE. A man employed in loading and unloading vessels.--Worcester.
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STEW. To be in a stew, is to be in a heat, a confusion of mind. According to Grose, however, who is followed by Todd and Webster, a stew is "confusion, as when the air is foil of dust, smoke, or steam."
To see the couple such a stew in.--Reynard the Fox, p. 189.
It aint such an easy thing to feel mad at a rite pretty gall; and the more he feels mad, the more he's apt to feel sorry too. I tell you what, I was in a stew. I didn't know what to do.--Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 77.
Clay, Calhoun, Van Buren, Benton, Cass, Webster, and all the intriguing politicians, who have kept the country in a stew for years past, may be considered as effectually laid on the shelf.--Newspaper.
TO STICH. To form land into ridges. Common in New England.--Webster. The word is not new, though it does not seem to be used now in England.
And turn'd up stitches orderly.--Chapman, Iliad.
TO STICK. To take in; to impose upon; to cheat in trade. 'I'm stuck with a counterfeit note;' 'He went to a horse sale, and got stuck with a spavined horse.'
As soon as the whole class of small speculators perceived they had been stuck, they all shut their mouths; no one confessing the ownership of a share.--A Week in Wall Street, p. 47.
Very often is a client stuck for a heavy bill of costs, which he would have saved but for the ignorance of his attorney.--Newspaper.
STICK-CHIMNEY. In newly settled parts of the country, where log-houses form the first habitations of the settlers, the chimneys are made with sticks from one to two inches square, and about two feet in length, which are laid crosswise and cemented with clay or mud. The fire-places are built of rough stone, and the stick-chimneys are merely the conductors of the smoke.
The stick-chimney [of this house] was like its owner's hat, open at the top, and jammed in at the sides.--Mrs. Clavers's Western Clearings, p. 7.
STICKER. An article of merchandise which sticks by the dealer and does not meet with a ready sale, is technically called a sticker.
STICKLING. Hesitating; delaying.--Dr. Humphreys.
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STILL-HOUSE. A common term in the United States for a distillery.
Who hurl'd your thunders round the epic field;
Nor ye who strain your midnight throats to sing
Joys that the vineyard and the still-house bring.--Joel Barlow, Poem on Hasty Pudding.
STIMULUS. This very common word is not mentioned by any English lexicographer, though it is used by good English writers. Our American lexicographers, Pickering, Webster, and Worcester, have noticed it.
1. Literally, a goad; hence something that rouses the mind or spirits; as, 'the hope of gain is a powerful stimulus to labor and action.'
2. In medicine that which produces a quickly diffused or transient increase of vital energy and strength of action in the circulating system.--Webster.
3. In vulgar use, intoxicating drink.
Those young academicians will receive, from the perusal of his book, a powerful stimulus to their ambition.--British Critic, Vol. III. p. 518.
We should expect even the voluntary productions of the pen, without this violent stimulus, to be sufficient to satisfy the expectations of the public.--Ibid., Vol. I. p. 362.
TO STIVE UP. To stuff up close.--Johnson.
Things are a good deal stived up. People's minds are sour, and I don't know what we can do.--Margaret, p. 329.
You would admire, if you saw them stive it into their ships.--Sandy's Travels.
"Oh, marcy on us," said a fat lady who was looking for a house, "this'll never do for my family at all. There's no convenience about it, only one little stived up closet. .... And the bed-rooms,--she would as soon sleep in a pig-pen and done with it, as to get into such little mean stived up places as them.--Downing, May-day in New York.
TO STIVER. To run; to move off. A low word used in the Northern States.
STIVER. A Dutch coin about the value of a cent. A common expression in New York is, 'He's not worth a stiver,' i. e. he's very poor.
STOCK. Cattle in general; the cattle belonging to a farm. Provincial in the North of England.--Pegge's Glossary.
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STOCKHOLDER. One who is proprietor of stock in the public funds, or in the funds of a bank or other company.--Webster. This is not in the English dictionaries. In England when speaking of the same, they say shareholders, members, or proprietors, generally the former. Mr. Pickering, however, cites the Edinburgh Review for the use of the word:
The stockholders who allow inferior capitalists to derive a profit from commission, will diminish that allowance.--Vol. III. p. 475.
STOOL-PIGEONING. One of the old standing and oft-repeated charges urged with great pertinacity against the police of this city in olden times, was that of "stool-pigeoning." As this term may not be familiar to our readers, we will briefly explain it. "Stool-pigeoning" is for an officer to arrest a party of doubtful or perhaps decidedly bad reputation on suspicion, and making him or her give up money or valuables to obtain liberty, when the officer would set the party free, and nothing would be heard by the public or any one else of the arrest, or anything else connected with it.--N. Y. Courier and Enquirer.
STONE-ROOT. (Lat. Collinconia Canadensis.) A plant used in medicine. Its properties are diuretic and stomachic.
STOOP. (Dutch, stoep.) The steps at the entrance of a house; door-steps. It is also applied to a porch with seats, a piazza, or balustrade. This, unlike most of the words received from the Dutch, has extended, in consequence of the uniform style of building that prevails throughout the country, beyond the bounds of New York State, as far as the backwoods of Canada.
About nine o'clock all three of us passed up Wall street, on the stoops of which no small portion of the tenants were already seated.--Cooper, Satanstoe, Vol. I. p. 69.
Nearly all the houses [in Albany] were built with their gables to the streets, and each had heavy wooden Dutch stoops, with seats at the door.--Ibid. p. 161.
There was a large two story house, having a long stoop in front.--Margaret, p. 63.
I shall step back to my party within the stoop.--Backwoods of Canada.
The stoup is up, and I have just planted hops at the base of the pillars.--Ibid. p. 309.
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TO STOP. To visit; to stay; as, 'When you come to New York, stop with me instead of going to a hotel.'
Those who remain at home know little of the newer portions of our country, and of the primeval style of living. I recently stopped with a friend on court-day. The court-house was of logs, without a floor, etc.--Corresp. of Newark Daily Adv.
STORE. In the United States and Canada, shops of every kind for the sale of goods whether at wholesale or retail, are commonly called stores. Thus we have dry goods stores, shoe stores, book stores, hardware stores, etc. etc. This use of the word, whose proper meaning is a magazine or storehouse, where merchandise or movable property is kept, seems to arise from that tendency to the magniloquent with which Americans have been charged.
TO SET STORE BY. To value; esteem; regard. This sense of the word store is not noticed by the English or American lexicographers, though it comes to us from a good source. It is much used in New England in familiar conversation, and is also provincial in England, according to Halliwell.
STOREKEEPER. In America, a man who has the care of a store or warehouse; a shopkeeper. The officer who has charge of the government warehouse, where property to the value of millions is deposited for inspection, or for safe keeping, is a storekeeper; so too is the man who stands behind the counter of a shop, and sells his yard of tape, or paper of pins.
STORM. A violent wind; a tempest. Thus, 'a storm of wind' is correct language as the proper sense of the word is rushing, violence. It has primarily no reference to a fall of rain or snow; but, as a violent wind is often attended with rain or snow, the word storm has come to be used, most improperly, for a fall of rain or snow without wind.--Webster.
TO STORM. To blow with violence; impersonally, as, it storms.--Webster. We use it improperly in the sense of to rain or to snow.
STORY. A floor; a flight of rooms.--Johnson. In the United
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States, the floor next the ground is the first story. In France and England, the first floor or story is the second from the ground.--Webster.
STRAIGHT AS A LOON'S LEG, is a common simile in New England.
They were puzzled with the accounts; but I saw through it in a minit, and made it all as straight as a loon's leg.--Maj. Downing's Letters, p. 42.
STRANGER. It is the common practice in the Western States to accost a person whose name is not known by this title. In England, for example, a person would say, 'Can you tell me, sir, if this is the road to B?' At the West he would say, 'Stranger, is this the road?' &c.
STRAPPER. A woman of a bulky form. A large, tall person.--Carr's Craven Dialect. Jodrell's Philology. This vulgar word is used in the same sense with us.
Your mother! by St. Anthony, she's a strapper; why, you are a dwarf to her.--Mrs. Centlivre, The Wonder, Act IV.
STRAPPING. Huge, lusty, bouncing; as, 'a strapping lass.'--Philips, New World of Words.
Then that t'other great strapping lady.--Congreve, The Double Dealer.
Wi' kindly welcome Jenny brings him ben,
A strappin youth; he takes the mother's
eye.--Burns.
STREAKED, or STREAKY. 'To feel streaked,' is to feel confused, alarmed.
I begun to feel streaked enough for our folks, when I see what was done on Boston Common.--Maj. Downing's Letters, p. 18.
Polly begun to look a little streaked.--May-day in New York, p. 49.
People felt considerable streaked [about the executions in Canada], in consequence of the rebellion in 1837.--Sam Slick, 3d Series.
Oh what a beautiful sight the ocean is when there aint no land in sight! There we was in a little shell at the mercy of them big waves, higher than father's barn. I never did feel so streaky and mean afore--talk of a grain of sand; why I felt like a starved speck of dust cut up into homœopathic doses for a child two minits old.--Hiram Bigelow, Letter in Family Companion.
Gen. Tell the truth--keep back nothing--I promised no harm shall happen you.
Dolittle. Oh, I'll tell all now--I won't stay to be hanged first. Oh,--
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TO STREAK, or TO STREAK IT, is to run as fast as possible.
A' roads to her were good and bad alike;
Nane o't she wyl'd, but forward on did streak.--Ross's Helenore.
I was certain it wasn't no fox or wolf, but a dog; and if I didn't streak off like greased lightnin'.--Carlton, The New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 8.
I streaked it for Washington, and it was well nigh upon midnight when I reached the White House.--Maj. Downing's Letters, p. 91.
When I did get near, he'd stop and look, cock his ears, and give snuff, as if he'd never seen a man afore, and then streak it off as if I had been an Indian.--Porter's Tales of the South-west, p. 165.
STRETCHER. A notorious lie.--Carr's Craven. Brockett.
Whenever Mrs. Oscar Dust told a stretcher, old Waters was expected to swear to it.--Field, Drama at Pokerville.
STRICKEN. "This ancient participle," says Mr. Pickering, is much used in Congress and our other legislative assemblies. A member moves that certain parts of a bill should be stricken out," &c.--Vocabulary.
The use of the word referred to by Mr. Pickering is peculiar to us, though there are examples of its occasional use in England applied in other ways.
Many of the foreigners were much stricken with the splendor of scene.--London Statesman, June 10, 1814.
TO STRIKE, among workmen in manufactories, in England and America, is to quit work in a body or by combination, in, order to compel their employers to give them higher wages.--Webster.
STRIKE. A combination among workmen to obtain an advance in wages. This, as well as the verb to strike, is new, and has not yet found its way into the English dictionaries. Its use is now common both in England and America.
STRING. A common name among teamsters for a whip.
With some judicious touches of the string, the horses are induced to struggle as for their lives.--Mrs. Clavers, A New Home, p. 9.
STRING-BEANS. The common name for French beans; so
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called from the string-like substance stripped from the side of the pod in preparing it for the table.
STRIPPINGS. The last and consequently the richest milk drawn from a cow in milking. It is provincial in England.
When they were about breaking up the meeting, Deacon Ramsdell said, "Shan't we have a collection? We have had nice times, but strippins arter all is the best milk."--Margaret, p. 159.
GOOD STROKE. Used in the sense of considerable; as, 'a good stroke of business.'--Brockett's North County Words.
STRONG. To go it strong, means to do a thing with energy or perseverance.
The pilot on duty above; another was calling out the Captain, who went it strong at cards.--Porter's Tales of the South-west, p. 107.
You should go it, remarked Spifflekins, go it strong--that's the way to scatter the blue devils, go it strong; and as the poet judiciously remarks, go it while you're young.--Neal's Peter Ploddy, p. 46.
TO STUB, or STUMP. 'To stub one's toe,' is to strike it against anything in walking or running; an expression often used by boys and others who go barefoot.
STUBBY.}
STUBBED.} Short and thick; truncated.--Todd. Webster. This word is
now provincial in England. In the United States it is colloquial and not
much used. It is found in well known authors.
Against a stubb'd tree he reels,
And up went poor Hobgoblin's heels.--Drayton.
It is also used to signify hardy; not delicate.--Todd's Johnson. In this sense it is heard with us. Ex. That is a 'stubbed child;' meaning hardy, plump, or strong.
The hardness of stubbed vulgar constitutions renders them insensible of a thousand things.--Bishop Berkeley.
If he thinks I'll put that treatment to my wife. he's mistaken. He may he stubbeder than I be, Uncle, that's a fact; but if he was twice as stubbed I'd walk into him like a thousand of brick.--Sam Slick in England, ch. 29.
However, I can always help a gentleman, if he asks me like a gentleman; and, upon the whole, I guess I'm rather stubbeder than you be.--Mrs. Clavers, Forest Life, Vol I. p. 97.
STUD. A collection of breeding horses and mares.--Johnson.
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In the United States we use the term stud-horse, or simply stud, to signify a breeding horse; a stallion.
STUFFY. In Scotland, stout, mettlesome, resolute.--Jamieson. In the United States, angry or sulky; obstinate. Colloquial.--Worcester.
STUFFENING. Stuffing; seasoning for meat or poultry. usually made of bread and herbs to give it a higher relish. Western.
By way of amends [for the dried up turkey] quarts of gravy were judiciously emptied on our plates from the wash-basin bowls. That also moistened the stuffinin, composed of Indian meal and sausages.--Carlton. The New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 182.
TO STUMP. To challenge; to defy.--Webster. Worcester. The more usual meaning, however, is to puzzle; to confound.
Dabbs turns up his nose at betting. Instead of stumping his antagonist by launching out his cash, he shakes a portentous fist under his nose, and the affair is settled.--Neal's Charcoal Sketches.
When you see Lord Sydenham, tump him; and ask him, when a log is hewed and squared, if he can tell the tenth side of it.--Sam Slick.
Heavens and earth! thinks I, what does all this mean? I knowed I hadn't done anything to be put in prison for, and I never was so stumped.--Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 133.
At this the parson appeared as if he was stump't.--Crockett, Tour, p. 16.
I put a conundrum to them. They were all stump't and gave it up.--Ibid.
TO STUMP. 'To stump it,' or 'take the stump.' A cant phrase signifying to make electioneering speeches.--Worcester. This is a term borrowed from the backwoods, where the stump of a tree often supplies the place of the English hustings.
STUMPER. A puzzler.
My moto was a stumper to Sally; so she got Joss to explain it, and the way he did it was enormous.--Robb, Squatter Life.
STUMP ORATOR. A man who harangues the people from the stump of a tree, or other elevation.
STUMP ORATORY. The sort of popular speaking used by stump orators.
STUMP SPEECH. A speech made from a stump or other
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elevation; i. e. an electioneering speech in favor of one's self, or some other political candidate.
We had of course a passion for stump speaking. But recollect, we often mount the stump only figuratively and very good stump speeches are delivered from a table, a chair, a whiskey-barrel, and the like. Sometimes we make the best stump speeches on horseback.--Carlton, The New Purchase, Vol. I. p. at 1.
STUMP SPEAKER. A popular political speaker.
The lion. W. R. Thompson, of Indiana, one of the most popular stump speakers of the day, addressed a large meeting of Whigs from the stoop of Barnum's Hotel, Baltimore, in support of the nominations of the late Whig Convention.--Letter from Washington, N. Y. Herald, June 21, 1848.
The New York Commercial Advertiser, in giving the requisites of a good stump speaker, says
A less objectionable pre-requisite is self-reliance. A man may be pardoned for faltering in delivering a lecture; or for showing sweet confusion and charming hesitation in addressing a fashionable audience on manners and taste; a man may even be agitated by the conflict of natural bashfulness and a desire to advocate a good cause; but woe, confusion and utter rejection as an instrument of power await him who breaks down in a political stump speech. Right or wrong, well-informed or ignorant, he must be bold in speech and dogmatical in his assertions, and the weaker he feels his cause to be, the more vehemently and confidently he must advocate it. His self-reliance had better rise into impudence than sink into modesty, if he desires to make an impression; at least we have heard speakers who seemed to act on this principle. Seriously however, nerve, and energy, and self-reliance of a high order, are pre-requisites for those who enter upon the work of itinerant speech-makers among either party.
But we cannot longer dwell on this view of the matter. Other pre-requisites there are, as experience has shown, but they must be summarily dismissed: a good, meaning thereby a convenient, memory, that will retain the slightest incident or the most apocryphal anecdote that will tell in favor of the speaker's candidate and against his opponent, but will prove a very open sieve in the matter of a favorite's follies or an opponent's virtues. Then the campaigner should have the last edition of the political jest book; a vocabulary of hard names; a dictionary of offensive epithets; a text book of political phrases and clap-trap expressions; with a general assortment of "principles," "issues," "consequences," and a package of "patriotism," "devotion," "free republics," "enlightened people," &c. &c., and thus armed he may go forth to political war.--June 23, 1848.
STUMPAGE. The sum paid to owners of land for the privilege of cutting the timber growing thereon. State of Maine.
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STUN, for stone, so pronounced in the back parts of New England.
Captain Stone, I've been clean away amongst the Yankees, where they call your name Stunn.--Crockett, Tour, p. 145.
STURTION. A common pronunciation for nasturtion.
TO STUTTER. To saunter lazily, with a slip-shod movement. This is not a common word. I have never met with it except in the example quoted.
I stuttered up to No. 4 yesterday arter the funeral; but they are so grown over with rum there, you can hardly tell what is nater and what is not.--Margaret, p. 327.
SUABILITY. Liability to be sued; the state of being subject by law to a civil process.--Webster.
SUABLE. That may be sued; subject by law to be called to answer in court.--Webster.
SUANT. Even; uniform; spread equally over the surface. Provincial in England.--Holloway's Prov. Dict. Used by farmers in some parts of New England, and applied thus: 'The grain is sowed suant,' i. e. evenly; regularly.--Pickering.
TO SUBSIST. To feed; to maintain.--Todd. This and the following verb are sometimes, though rarely, used transitively.
Instructions have been given by the Department, to cause the officers and men of the California regiment, left on shore, to be quartered on Governor's Island, where they will be subsisted and provided for until a transport can take them to their place of destination.--Washington Union.
TO SUCCEED. To prosper; to make successful.
Sincerely praying and desiring for your Excellency's highest personal happiness, and the smiles of Heaven to succeed your present and very important embassy, I have the honor to remain, &c., &c.--J. Perkins, Residence in Persia, p. 219.
SUCKATASH, or SUCCOTASH. (Narragansett Ind., msickquatash, corn boiled whole.) Green Indian corn and beans boiled together. It is a favorite disk wherever these plants are cultivated.
Joel Barlow, in his admirable poem on Hasty-pudding, thus compares succotash with it:
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Let beans and corn their sweetest juices lend;
Not all the plate, how fam'd soe'er it be,
Can please my palate like a bowl of thee.--Canto I. p. 6.
SUCKER. A nickname applied throughout the West to a native of Illinois. The origin of this term is as follows:
The Western prairies are, in many places, full of the holes made by the "crawfish," (a fresh water shell-fish similar in form to the lobster,) which descends to the water beneath. In early times, when travellers wended their way over these immense plains, they very prudently provided themselves with a long hollow weed, and when thirsty, thrust it into these natural artesians, and thus easily supplied their longings. The crawfish-well generally contains pure water, and the manner in which the traveller drew forth the refreshing element gave him the name of "Sucker."--Let. from Illinois, in Providence Journal. A correspondent of the New York Tribune, writing from Illinois, says:
We say to all friends of association, come West; to the land of suckers, and liberal opinions.
SUCKER. A greenhorn; an awkward country fellow. Western.
SUCKER. A hard drinker; a drunkard.
SUCKER. A tube used for sticking sherry-cobblers. They are made of silver, glass, straw, or sticks of maccaroni.
SUCKER. A very common fish of the genus labeo, and of which there are many varieties, including the Chub, Mullet, Barbel, Horned Dace, etc. They are found in most of the lakes and rivers of North America.
TO SUCK IN. To take in; to cheat; to deceive. A figurative expression, probably drawn from a sponge, which sucks up water. To be sucked in, is to be 'sponged' out of one's money, or to be cheated in a bargain. It is a low expression, though often heard, and is understood by all.
"I ain't bound to drive nobody in the middle of the night," said the driver; "so you don't try to suck me in there."--Mrs. Clavers's Forest Life, Vol. I. p. 1O9.
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SUGAR MAPLE. (Acer saccharintem.) A handsome forest tree from 50 to 80 feet high, from the sap of which is made the well known maple sugar. The wood is valuable for fuel; and accidental varieties of it are the birds-eye maple and curled maple of cabinet makers.--Dr. Torrey, in Nat. Hist. of New York.
SUGAR ORCHARD. A collection of maple trees selected and preserved in the forest for the purpose of making sugar therefrom.
SULKY. A carriage for a single person; generally in the form of a chaise.
He bought him a sulky and a fast trotter.--J. C. Neal, p. 40.
SU MARKEE. (French, sou marqué.) Used in the sea-port towns of New England and in New York. Ex. 'I would not give a soo markée for it,' i. e. a single cent.
SUNDOWN. Sunset. Peculiar to the United States.
SUPAWN. An Indian name, in universal use in New England, New York, and other Northern States, for boiled Indian meal.
The common food of the Indians is pap, or mush, which in the New Netherlands is named supaen. This is so common among them, that they seldom pass a day without it, unless they are on a journey or hunting. We seldom visit an Indian lodge at any time of day, without seeing their supaen preparing, or seeing them eating the same. It is the common food of all; and so fond of it are they, that when they visit our people, or each other, they consider themselves neglected unless they are treated with supaen.--Van der Donck's New Netherlands, (1656,) N. Y. Hist. Soc. Collections
The flour [of maize] makes a substantial sort of porridge, called by the Americans supporne; this is made with water, and eaten with milk.--Backwoods of Canada, p. 189.
SUPPLE JACK. (Lat. rhamnus volubilis.) The popular name of a vine common to some of the Southern States. Twisted walking canes made of it are much admired.--Williams's Florida.
SUSPENDERS. Braces; straps worn over the shoulders for
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holding up pantaloons; also called gallowses in many parts of the country.
SURE AS A GUN. Absolutely certain. A common colloquial expression.--Brockett.
Thou's young, lish, and clever, may wed a feyne leady,
And come home a nabob--aye, as sure as a gun.--Westm. and Cumb. Dialect, p. 256.
SUZZ! A common pronunciation of sirs! An exclamation much used in New England, as sirs is in Scotland.
SWACKING. Huge; robust.--Forby's Vocabulary.
SWAD. In New England, a lump, mass, or hunch; also, a crowd.--Webster. This is a vulgar word. In the North of England it is the common name for the pod or shell of peas. May not our word be derived from this? A pod is a quantity, a bunch of peas. A quantity or large pile of potatoes, would be called 'a swad of potatoes'--so, 'a swad of people.' (See Dreadful.)
There was a swad of fine folks, and the house was well nigh upon chuck full.--Maj. Downing's Letters, p. 35.
How is a colonist able to pay for this almighty swad of everlasting plunder, seein' he has no gold or silver.--Sam Slick, 3d Ser. ch. 6.
SWAG. A term used in speaking of booty lately obtained. I have never seen the word used except by Mr. Greeley, who has good authority for its use in Grose's Slang Dictionary.
Between Gen. Storms and the late Comptroller, there have been at least $20,000 lost to the State; and though Mr. Flagg seems to have been exceedingly remiss and blameworthy in the premises, it will not be easy to make the people of New York believe that any of the swag has found its way into his pocket.--N. Y. Tribune, April 21, 1848.
SWALE. A local word in New England, signifying an interval or vale; a tract of low land.--Webster. This word is provincial in Norfolk, England, and means a low place; and shade, in opposition to sunshine.--Forby's Vocabulary.
TO SWALE.}
TO SWEALE.} To melt and run down, as the tallow of a candle; to waste away
without feeding the flame; to blaze away.--Pickering. Webster. This
word is provincial in England, and is mentioned by Ray, Grose, and other
writers.--Craven Glossary.
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TO SWAMP. To plunge into 'inextricable difficulties.--Webster. To whelm or sink as in a swamp.--Todd. The former use of the word is not in Todd's Johnson, or other English dictionaries. Dr. Webster quotes the Quarterly Review as authority. It is common in the United States, though not elegant. Ex. 'He invested a large sum of money in land speculations, which swamped him;' i. e. ruined him.
I SWAMP IT! An interjection of the same meaning as I swan! which see.
Had that darn'd old vessel--that frigate there--bin a stone's throw farder off from land, I should never have swimmed to shore, dead or alive, to all eternity, I swamp it.--D. Humphreys, The Yankee in England.
SWAMP-PINK. (Lat. Azalea Viscosa.) A popular name for the Wild Honeysuckle.--Bigelow's Plants of Boston.
SWAN! A euphemistic pronunciation of the word swear; as, I swan! Used chiefly in New England.
"Well I swan!" exclaimed the mamma, givin' a round box on the ear to a dirty little urchin, "what made you let the little huzzy have your specs?"--Mrs. Clavers's Forest Life, Vol. I. p. 29.
I took a turn round Halifax, and I swan if it aint the thunderinest, drearyest place I ever seen, and the people they call blue-noses.--Hiram Bigelow's Lett. in Family Companion.
SWANGA. A word used among the negroes in some parts of the South in connection with buckra, as swanga buckra; meaning a dandy white man, or literally, a dandy devil. Swanga is an African word, and belongs to the language spoken near the Gaboon river, where anything gay or elegant is swanga. The Rev. J. L. Wilson, long a resident in Africa, and acquainted with the language, recognises this word among the Southern negroes.
TO SWAP. To exchange; to barter.--Johnson.
This word has often been noticed by English travellers in this country, and may, perhaps, be more common here than in England; but it is also used by the vulgar in that country.--Pickering.
And cried as in derision. "Spare the stripling."
Oh, that insulting word I would have swopp'd
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To have been then a momentary man.--Dryden, Cleom.
He makes me an offer to swap his mare.--Edgeworth's Castle Rack Rent.
I'm for a short talk in a horse-swap, and always tell a gentlemen what I wish to do.--Georgia Scenes, p. 28.
SWEEP. The pole or piece of timber moved on a fulcrum or post, used to lower and raise a bucket in a well for drawing water.--Webster.
The same is used in England. In Yorkshire it is called a swape; in Norfolk a swipe. It is written swipe in Bailey's Dictionary.
SWEET TOOTH. A person who is fond of sweet things is said to have a sweet tooth in his head. And so in England.--Carr's Craven Glossary.
SWEET OIL. The common name for olive oil.
TO SWINGE. 1. To whip; to bastinade; to punish.--Johnson.
And that baggage, Beatrix, how I would swinge her if I had her here.--Dryden, An Evening's Love, Act V.
Go it, old fellow give the goats a swinging every time you come across them.--Maj. Joness Courtship, p. 180.
2.To singe. Provincial in various parts of England.--Halliwell.
The weather has been monstrous hot here, and I don't think I ever did see things jest sprawled out and swinged up so with the sun before.--Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 185.
SWINGLE-TAIL. (Genus, carcharias. Cuvier.) The popular name for the Thresher Shark, from the use it makes of its long flexible tail, "with which," says Dr. De Kay, "it literally threshes its enemies."--Nat. Hist. of New York.
SWITCHEL. Molasses and water; a common beverage in New England.
TO SWATE, pron. swot. (Dutch, perf. of suizen, to make the ears tingle.) To give a violent slap or blow in the face with the open hand. A low word.
Tell me that again, and I'll swot you over the mug.--Report of the Hunker Meeting in Albany, June, 1848.
SWOT. A violent slap or blow with the open hand.
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I SWOW! An exclamation.
TO SYSTEMIZE. To systematize. A word rarely used by good writers.--Worcester. Dr. Webster, however, gives it the preference over systematize, which he denounces as "ill formed." What would he have thought of dogmize and stigmize, by way of 'improving' the language?
T.
TO SUIT TO A T. To suit or fit exactly. This old English phrase is often used by ourselves in colloquial language.
TO TACKLE. To attack. Provincial in England.--Halliwell.
Well, I tell you what, it tuck a feller mighty wide between the eyes to tackle that tree, for it was a whopper.--Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 53.
I shook the two fellows off my trunks monstrous quick, and was going to tackle the chaps what had my carpet-bag.--Maj. Jones's Travels.
TACKLE. A horse's harness. Provincial in various parts of England.
TO TACKLE. To tackle a horse, is to harness him.
TAFFY. A kind of candy made of molasses, flour, and butter, baked in a pan. New York.
TO TAG AFTER. To follow closely after.--Forby.
TAIL-RACE. The water course leading from a mill after it has passed the water-wheel.
'TAINT. A corrupt abbreviation for it is not.
"Wonder what time it is?" said Miss Mary. "Oh, taint late," says he. "Is there going to be any preaching here to-morrow?"--Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 69.
TAKING. Distress of mind.--Johnson.
What a taking was he in, when your husband asked who was in the basket?--Shakspeare.
What! alack!
Yours is the last year's almanack!
And so the day you made mistake in?
The king is in a dreadful taking!--Reynard the Fox, p. 60.
I told you I was goin' to get things to rights and when I got here, I found them in a terrible taking.--Maj. Downing's Letters, p. 18.
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TO TAKE ON. To grieve; to fret at a misfortune or disappointment.
"Why, Polly, what's the matter, gal," inquired he; "what in thunder makes you take on so? Come, out with the cause, or I shall get a blubberin' too."--Robb, Squatter Life[.]
TO TAKE TO DO. To take to task; to reprove.
TO TAKE THE SHINE OFF. To surpass; excel.
Dublin is worth seein'; it takes the shine off most cities.--Sam Slick, 3d Series.
TALENTED. Furnished with talents; possessing skill or talents.--Webster. This word is not noticed by any English lexicographer except Knowles.
The London Monthly Magazine (Sept. 1831) blames Mr. Stanley for using this word. "Sir Robert Peel referred it to his American associations, and prayed him never to employ it again, with all the strenuousness of Oxonian adjuration." The Philadelphia Nat. Gaz., in speaking of the above, adds, "Sir Robert was right in protesting against the word, but wrong in his reference. It is of London cockney derivation, and still more employed in Great Britain than in America."
Mr. Bulwer is not yet 'talented,' a pseudo-participle, which no one will use who is not ripe for any atrocity; but he 'progresses' at a fearful rate.--Edinburgh Rev., Vol. LXV. p. 240.
TALKING-IRON. A comical name for a gun or rifle; called also a shooting-iron.
I hops out of bed, feels for my trunk, and outs with my talkin'-iron, that was all ready loaded.--Sam Slick in England, ch. 2.
TALL. Sturdy; lusty; hold; spirited; courageous.--Johnson.
Spoke like a tall fellow, that respects his reputation.--Richard III.
They, leaping overboard amidst the billows,
We pluck'd her up, unsunke, like stout tall fellows.--Taylor's
Works, 1630.
In the United States, and especially at the South, the word is often used in the analogous sense of great; excellent; fine.
Stump straightened up and started at a pace that would have staggered Capt. Barclay, Ellsworth, or the greatest pedestrian mentioned in the annals of tall walking.'--Kendall's Santa Fé Expedition, Vol. I. p. 393.
A pretty tall excitement came off at Coney Island on Saturday--N. Y. Tribune.
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TALL, as an adv. Finely; exceedingly highly; very much. Western.
I will walk tall into varmint and Indian: it's a way I've got, and it comes as natural as grinning to a hyena. I'm a regular tornado, tough as hickory, and long-winded as a nor'-wester.--Thorpe's Backwoods, p. 131.
I seed Jess warn't pleased, hut I didn't estimate him very tall, so I kept on dancin' with Sally, and ended by kissin' her good bye, and making him jealous as a pet pinter.--Robb Squatter Life.
TANTRUM. Affected airs; insolences; whims.----Halliwell.
I thought where your tantrums would end.--Jamieson's Popular Ballads.
A scolding woman, in one of her tantrums, told an old parson, that she could preach as well as he could, and he might select the text.--Crockett, Tour down East, p. 83.
TO TAP. To add a new sole or heel to a shoe. Hertfordshire, England.--Worcester.
TAPIOCA. A substance much used in the United States for puddings and other culinary purposes. It is extracted from the manioc (gatropha manihot), a shrub indigenous to tropical America, and now cultivated from Florida to Magellan. It is said that an acre of manioc will nourish more persons than six acres of wheat. Its roots attain the size of the thigh. Every part of the plant is filled with a milky juice, which is a very violent and dangerous poison, producing death in a few minutes, when swallowed; yet human ingenuity has converted its roots into an article of food. This is done by grinding them in wooden mills, after which the paste is put into sacks, and exposed to the action of a powerful press. The poisonous juice is thereby extracted, and the residue is the substance known as cassava, or mandioca, a nutritious flour, preferred by the natives to that from wheat. When kept from moisture, this flour will keep good for fifteen or twenty years. The tapioca is made by separating from the fibrous part of the roots a small quantity of the pulp, after the juice is extracted, and working it by hand till a thick white cream appears on the surface. This, being scraped off and washed in water, gradually subsides to the bottom. After the water is poured off, the remaining moisture is dissipated by a slow fire, and the substance being constantly stirred,
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gradually forms into grains about as large as those of sago. This is the purest and most wholesome part of the manioc.--Encyc. Americana.
TO BE ON ONE'S TAPS, is to be always ready on one's feet, literally on one's shoes; a metaphor borrowed from the shoemaker, taps being a cant word for shoes among the fraternity.
Your editor, when times are dull, must be 'on his taps,' as the saying is. When the mail comes through and brings news enough to make things look lively, why then he must work, and cut, and paste, as though the world depended on him.--N. Y. Tribune.
TARBOGGIN. In Canada, a light sleigh.
TARNATION. A common oath.--Halliwell. In vulgar use; in New England.
Poor honest John! 'tis plain he know'd
But liddle of live's range,
Or he'd a know'd, gals oft, at fust,
Have ways tarnation strange.--Essex Dialect, p. 11.
TARRING AND FEATHERING. A punishment sometimes inflicted by indignantly virtuous mobs in Southern and Western States, on persons who have committed an offence of which they fear the law will not take cognizance, by daubing them all over with tar, and afterwards covering them with feathers. "A practice," says Grose, "lately inflicted by the good people of Boston, in America, on any person convicted or suspected of loyalty."
TAUTAUG. The name of the Blackfish caught in the waters of Rhode Island. It is an Indian word, and may be found in Roger Williams's Key to the Indian Language, where, however, he calls it the Sheepshead, an entirely different fish. In New York it is called Black Fish. Dr. Mitchell gave the generic name of Tautoga to it, which name it retains among naturalists; see Storer, Cuvier, and De Kay.
TO TAX. To charge; as, 'What will you tax me a yard for this cloth?' i. e. what will you charge for it, or what is the price of it?
TEETER. To see-saw on a balanced plank, as children for amusement.-- Worcester. The English pronunciation is titter.
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TEETER-TAWTER. The act of see sawing. In England pronounced titter-totter.--Halliwell.
TEE-TOTAL. Entirey; total. A modern cant word, formed by reduplication, the syllable tee being used for the letter t.--Worcester.
Reading books is enough to ruin anybody. There ought to be tee-total societies against it.--J. C. Neal, Peter Ploddy, p. 15.
He lodged at a strictly teetotal house,
That he might not be shocked with hilarity,
And found among other teetotalisms,
A total exclusion of charity.--The Devil's New Walk.
The Preston (Eng.) chronicle gives an account of the funeral of Richard Turner, who, it says, was the originator of the term tee-totaller, as applied to those who abstain from intoxicating drinks.
The deceased had been upwards of fourteen years a member of the Temperance Society, having signed the pledge in October, 1832, while in a state of intoxication. It may not be generally known (says the Chronicle) how the term "tee-totallers" became first adopted by the members of the Total Abstinence Society, but we may inform our readers that Dickey, (that being the name by which Mr. Turner was familiarly called,) in one of his speeches, which were generally characterized by an equal mixture of wit and blunders, being at a loss for a word which would convey to the audience that he was an out-and-out total abstinence man, said, "I have signed the tee, tee-total pledge."
This speech was delivered in the Cockpit, at the latter end of the year 1833. The word, being short and expressive, was immediately adopted by the abstainers of Lancashire, and ultimately throughout England--nay, we may say throughout the world, for both in America and India the term is adopted by those who are pledged to abstain from all intoxicating liquors.
TEE-TOTALLER. A thorough temperance man, who avoids every kind of ardent spirits, wine, and beer.
A stump orator in Michigan, in his appeal to the electors, uses the following language:
I'm a man that will never refuse to take a glass of grog with a fellow-
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Candidates for office ain't never near-sighted; they sees every body; there ain't no tee-totallers among them neither, for they treat every body.--N. O. Delta.
TEE-TOTALLY. Entirely; totally.
The meetin' houses on one side of the water, how tee-totally different they be!--Sam Slick in England, ch. 12.
Stranger, I'm powerful sorry, but we're tee-totally out; he took every bit of food with him.--Carlton's New Purchase, Vol. II. p. 245.
Things weren't going on right; so I pretty nearly gave myself up tee-totally to the good of the republic.--J. C. Neal, Peter Brush.
TELL. A saying; generally, however, a good one, or a complimentary one. A young lady will say to another, "I've a tell for you," i. e. I've a compliment for you, or I have heard some one speak highly of you. Not elegant.
In his dealings with the other sex, he is a little twistical according to their tell.--Humphreys, The Yankee in England.
TO TELL ON. To tell of; to tell about.
"Well," says the Gineral, "I am glad I didn't understand him, for now it stumps me considerable. Major, who was that?" "Why," says I, "Gineral, he is the son of a man I've heard you tell on a thousand times."--Maj. Downing's Letters, 29.
TO TELL. To have effect.--Worcester.
President Everett's letter read at the Tabernacle, at the meeting in favor of Pope Pius IX, contained good counsels of a telling character.--N. Y. Express, Dec. 1, 1847.
The admirable pamphlet of Mr. Gallatin on the Mexican War, has told in every part of the country.--Newspaper.
In this vicinity we are all perfectly satisfied with the nominations of Taylor and Fillmore. I think that we can beat the free trade party with ease, having old Rough and Ready as a leader. With the Germans he is a great favorite, and their votes tell in Pennsylvania.--N. Y. Com. Adv.
TELL APART. To distinguish; as, 'Their resemblance was so striking, that I could not tell them apart.' We also use the phrase, 'To know apart,' in the same sense.--Hurd's Corrector.
TELL'D, for told. Provincial in England.--Halliwell.
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DO TELL. See page 119.
TENDSOME. Requiring much attendance; as, 'a tendsome child.'--Webster. This word is used in Connecticut.
TENN. The abbreviation for Tennessee.
TEND, for attend.
Most of the passengers in the cars were preachers what had been up to Augusta to tend the convention.--Maj. Jones's Travels.
TERRAPIN. A name given to a species of tide-water tortoise.--Webster.
TERAWCHY. This word is evidently of Dutch origin, though I cannot discover its derivation. It is a very common word in the nursery, and is always accompanied by a peculiar motion of the fingers, with the palm of the hand presented to the child. It is as well known among the old English families of New York as among those of Dutch descent.
THICK. Intimate; familiar. 'They are very thick just now.' Provincial in the North of England, and in Yorkshire.--Craven Glossary and Brockett.
THICK. The midst, i. e. of a crowd.
I met a large concourse of people at Louisville. I had no idea of attracting so much attention; but there I was in the thick of them.--Crockett, Tour, p. 159.
THIMBLE BERRY. The Black Raspberry, so called by many.
THIMBLE WEED. (Lat. Rudbeckia.) A tall plant six or eight feet high, resembling the sunflower. It is one of the herbs prepared by the Shakers, and is used in medicine for its diuretic and tonic properties.
THIS HERE, and THAT THERE. These vulgar pleonasms are often heard in this country as well as in England.
THOROUGHWORT. (Lat. eupatorium perfoliatum.) A plant used in medicine for its tonic properties.--Bigelow, Medical Botany.
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LIKE A THOUSAND OF BRICK. A queer simile very often heard. It means, of course, very heavily; and then, vigorously; vehemently.
A huge negro woman threw herself convulsively from her feet, and fell like a thousand of brick across a diminutive old man.--Simon Suggs.
The new "Yankee Doodle," by George P. Morris, created an immense noise. Nobody could sit still; hands and feet came into the chorus of their own accord, and the house was down "like a thousand of brick."--New York Paper.
I see he was gettin riled some, and I thought he'd bile over. You see that's the way with us Western folks. If folks is sassy, we walk right into 'em like a thousand of brick.--Mrs. Clavers, Forest Life, Vol. I. p. 109.
THUNDERING. Very; exceedingly. A vulgar word used with pretty much the same latitude as the English devilish.
I was told that Fanenil Hall was called the "cradle of liberty." I reckon old King George thought they were thundering fine children that were rocked in it, and a good many of them.--Crockett, Tour down East, p. 61.
If a chap only comes from the North, and has got a crop of hair and whiskers, and a coat different from everybody else, and a thunderin' great big gold chain about his neck, he's the poplerest man among the ladies.--Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 82.
TICK. A ticket; score; debt; trust; credit.--Worcester. This word, says Dr. Johnson, seems contracted from ticket, a tally on which debts are scored. Mr. Halliwell says it signifies a tradesman's bill, formerly written on a card or ticket.
You may swim in twentie of their boates over the water upon ticket.--Decker's Gull's Horn Book.
Taking up arms and ammunition from the States united, with whom they went on ticket, and long days of payment, for want of ready money for their satisfaction.--Heylin, Hist. of the Presbyterians (1670), p. 437.
To buy on tick, to go on tick, are the common phrases wherein this now vulgar word is heard. Like many other words once used in good society and by learned men, 'tick' has almost had its day, and is fast sinking into obscurity.
When the money is got into hands that have bought all that they have need of, whoever needs anything else must go on tick or barter for it.--Locke.
Wild. Play on tick and lose the Indies, I'll discharge it all to-morrow.--Dryden, An Evening's Love, Act 3.
They call this the age of inventions; but why does not some fellow take
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TICKLER. A common name among merchants and bankers for a book in which a register of notes or debts is kept, for reference.
TIE. The state produced by an equal number of votes on two opposite sides.--Worcester. I have not found this very common use of the word in any other dictionary or glossary, English or American.
TIGHT. Close; parsimonious; saving; as, 'a man tight in his dealings.' Close; hard; as, 'a tight bargain.'--Webster. To these American uses of the word is to be added another similar to the last. When money is difficult to be procured by discounting, &c., business men say, 'the money-market is tight,' or 'money is tight.' In this sense it is the opposite of easy, which see.
The money market, except on the best stocks, is getting tight, and there is a general calling in of loans upon the "fancies."--N. Y. Tribune.
TIGHT MATCH. A close or even match, as of two persons wrestling or running together; and hence a difficulty. 'The Loco-focos may succeed in electing Cass, but they will have a tight match to do it.'
TIGHT SCROUGING, i. e. hard squeezing. Said of anything difficult to accomplish.--Sherwood's Georgia.
TILT-UP, or TIP-UP. The popular name of the Sand-piper. See Peet-weet.
TIME, for hour, in the phrase, 'What time are you?' meaning, What o'clock is it?
TIMOTHY GRASS. (Phleum pratense.) The common name for the Herd's Grass; said to be derived from Timothy Hanson, one of its early propagators.--Bigelow's Flora Bostoniensis.
TIN. A slang word for money. 'Kelter,' 'dimes,' 'dough,' rocks,' and many other words are used in the same manner.
TINKER. Small mackerel. New England.
TO TIP OVER. To turn over; to capsize.--Worcester.
TO TIP UP. To raise up one end, as of a cart, so that the
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contents may pass out.--Worcester. Both this and the preceding expressions are used in England, although not in the dictionaries.
TIP-TOP. An expression often used in common conversation, denoting the utmost degree, excellence or perfection.--Todd's Johnson.
If you love operas those will be the most splendid in Italy; four tip-top voices; a new theatre.--Gray to West, Let. (1741).
Had I come a few minutes sooner, I might have heard Geeho Dobbin sung in a tip-top manner by the pimple-nosed spirit at the President's right elbow.--Goldsmith, Essays, p. 114.
Knowing as I'm a man of tip-top breeding,
That great folks drink no healths whilst they are feeding.--Peter Pindar,
Bozzy and Piozzi.
At the Democratic meeting, held in New York, June 12th, 1848, to ratify the nomination of Gen. Cass for the Presidency, Gen. Houston, who addressed the meeting closed as follows:
I am, fellow citizens, exceedingly obliged to you for the notice you have extended to me, and am happy on turning round, to touch upon my friend Senator Bright, who is proud of being from Kentucky, proud of Virginia, and proud of New York. He is a tip-top half-horse, half-alligator, from Kentucky, and I recommended him to your keeping.--Report in N. Y. Herald, June 13, 1848.
To crown his accomplishments, Simon was tip-top at the game of 'old sledge,' which was the fashionable game of that era.--Simon Suggs, p. 14.
He allowed the gentleman to be right good company, and he did not mistrust but what we'd have a tip-top time of it.--Hoffman, Winter in the West, Let. 33.
This day is a tip-topper, and it's the last we'll see of the kind 'till we get back to America again.--Sam Slick in England, ch. 3.
TO TITIVATE. To dress up. 'To titivate oneself,' is to make one's toilet. Provincial in various parts of England.
Well, I'll arrive in time for dinner; I'll titivate myself up, and down to drawin'-room.--Sam Slick in England, ch. 23.
TIT FOR TAT. The phrase "tit for tat, if you kill my dog I'll kill your cat," is among the provincialisms of Hants, and means, that I shall treat you as you treat me.--Holloway. In the United States this phrase is very common.
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Ten times I carnaly have--kissed her."
"All's fair," returns the reverend brother;
"I've done the samer with your mother
Three times as aft; and sae for that
We're on a level, tit for tat."--Allan Ramsay, Poems.
TITHING-MAN. In New England, a parish officer appointed to preserve order at public worship, and enforce the proper observance of the Sabbath.--Worcester.
TITTER. An eruption on the skin. This is merely another pronunciation of tetter, used in New England, and, according to Forby, provincial in England.
TO, for at or in, is an exceedingly common vulgarism in the Northern States. We often hear such vile expressions as, 'He was not to home,' 'He lives to York;' and the opposite mistake of in for into (see Appendix) is hardly less frequent.
I have forgot what little I learnt to night school; and, in fact, I never was any great shakes at it.--Sam Slick.
TOBACCO. (Span. tabaco.) An American plant; the dried leaves of the plant used for smoking, chewing, and for making snuff. The name is supposed to be derived from Tabaco, a province of Yucatan, where it was first found by the Spaniards.--Worcester. According to Gilii, it is the name of an instrument which the Indians used for smoking.--Storia Americana.
Among the host of names given to the weed according to the various modes in which it is prepared for chewing are, Pig-tail, Ladies' twist, Cavendish, Honey-dew, Negro-head (pron. Nigger-head), Long cut, Short cut, Bull's eye, Plug, Oronoko leaf, Nail-rod or 32's, Roll, Fine spun, Pound, &c. &c. There is besides smoking tobacco put up in papers of various kinds, as Canaster, Kite-foot, Cut-stems, &c. In the form of snuff, there are also many terms for it, as Maccoboy, Rappee (American and foreign, named after the places it is manufactured in), American gentleman, Demigros, Pure Virginia, Copenhagen, Nachitoches, Bourbon, St. Domingo, Scotch of various qualities in bladders, High toast, Irish blackguard, Irish High toast, &c. &c.
TODDY. Originally a tree in the East Indies; afterwards, a
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liquor extracted from it; and latterly a kind of punch made of rum, water, sugar, and nutmeg.--Todd.
The toddy tree is not unlike the date or palm.--Sir T. Herbert, Travels.
The wine, or toddy, is got by piercing the tree, and putting a jar or pitcher under, so as the liquor may distil into it.--Ibid. p. 29.
TO TOLL. To entice; to lead on. Western.
TOMAHAWK. Common to several Indian languages of the Atlantic coast of the United States. Micmac, tomehagen; Abenakis, temahigen; Mohegan, tumnahegan; Delaware, tamoihecan. An Indian hatchet, or axe.--Gallatin's Synopsis.
It was and is the custom of the Indians to go through the ceremony of burying the tomahawk when they made peace when they went to war, they dug it up again. Hence the phrases 'to bury the tomahawk,' and 'to dig up the tomahawk,' are sometimes used by political speakers and writers with reference to the healing up of past disputes or the breaking out of new ones. See Hatchet.
TOMCOD. (Gentis, Morrhua. Cuvier.) A small fish common to our coast, but which become very abundant after the first frost; hence the name of Frost Fish by which it is also known.--Storer, Fishes of Massachusetts.
Dr. J. V. C. Smith believes the tomcod to be the same as a fish known in Europe as the tacaud of Cuvier, and that tom-cod is a corruption of the Indian name, tacaud, i. e. plenty fish, as this little fish was well known to our aborigines.
TONGS. A name for pantaloons and roundabouts formerly in use in New England.
Children were playing on the green, the boys dressed in tongs; some in skirt-coats. &c.--Margaret, p. 34.
TOO BIG FOR HIS BREECHES, is said of a man who is above his business; arrogant; haughty.
Gentlemen, I was one of the first to fire a gun under Andrew Jackson. I helped to give him all his glory. I liked him well once; but when a man gets too big for his breeches, I say good bye.--Crockett, Tour, p. 152.
TOOTHACHE GRASS. (Lat. monocera aromatica.) A singular kind of grass which grows in Florida, with a naked stalk four feet high. It affects the breath and milk of cows, which eat it when young and tender. The root affects the salivary glands.--Williams's Florida.
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TOOTIES. A common term in nursery language for the feet. A corruption of footies, i. e. feet. Used in England as well as with us.
One luckless day last week the poet met
A maid of such perfection, such a face,
Such form, such limbs, such more than mortal grace,
Such dark expressive eyes, such curls of jet,
Arched brows, straight nose, round chin, and lips a prince
Might sue to kiss--in brief, so many beauties,
Such hands, such waist, such ankles--O such tooties!
He really has not ben his own man since:
Rum-punch will not restore his appetite,
Nor rarebits even make him sleep at night!--Am. Rev., July 1848.
TOPPER. Anything superior; a clever or extraordinary person; but generally in an irontcal sense.--Brockett's North County Words.
And gentlefolk says it's a topper.--Poems in Westm. and Cumb.
TOPPING. Fine; gallant; proud; assuming superiority.--Johnson. Webster. In New England much used among the common people.
Doolittle. Why! what's a ladyship more than any other woman? and wherein lies the odds?
Newman. Odds! It lies in everything. They are often very odd.
Doolittle. As how, in this particular case?
Newman. She's lofty--topping--has her highs sometimes.--D. Humphreyw, The Yankee in England.
TORE. The dead kind of grass that remains on the ground in winter. This word is used in New England.--Ash.
TORE. The place where one stands to shoot marbles from. Used by the boys of New York.
TORY. The name of a political party. It originated in Ireland, and is derived from toraigham--to pursue for plunder. (Lingard, Hist. England, XI. 135.) It imported a leaning towards popery and despotism and was first applied to the natives of Ireland, who having been deprived of their estates, supported themselves by depredations on the English settlers.--Wade's British History, p. 237.
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TO TOTE. To carry. A queer word of unknown origin, much used in the Southern States. It has been--absurdly enough--derived from the Latin tollit.
The militia had everlastin' great long swords as much as they could tote.--Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 39.
Here a boy was ferociously cutting wood--there one toting wood.--Carlton, The New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 167.
My gun here totes fifteen buckshot and a ball, and slings 'em to kill.--Chron. of Pineville, p. 169.
"Goodness gracious!" said old Miss Stallins; "white servants! Well, the Lord knows I wouldn't have none on 'em about me; I could never bear to see a white gall toatin my child about, and waitin' on me like a nigger; it would hurt my conscience."--Maj. Jones's Travels.
And its oh! she was so neat a maid,
That her stockings and her shoes
She toted in her lily white hands,
For to keep them from the dews.--Ohio Boatman's Song.
Tom was liberal [with his honey], and supplied us all with more than we wanted, and toted his share to his own home.--Thorpe's Backwoods.
The watchman arrested Mr. Wimple for disturbing the peace, and toted him off to the calaboose.--Pickings from the N. O. Pickayune, p. 120.
STONE TOTER. The most singular fish in this part of the world [the Southern States] is called the stone-toter, whose brow is surmounted with several little sharp horns, by the aid of which he totes small flat stones from one part of the brook to another more quiet, in order to make a snug little inclosure, for his lady to lie in in safety.-Paulding, Lett. from the South.
TOUCH. No touch to it, i. e. not to compare with it. A common expression in vulgar language.
The children of Israel, going out of Egypt, with their flocks and their little ones, is no touch to it [i. e. the first day of May in New York].--Maj. Downing, p. 30.
TOUCH-ME-NOT. (Lat. impatiens noli tangere.) A plant found about brooks, and in moist places.--Michaux, Sylva. A popular name for the common balsam, so named from the bursting of the capsules when touched with the fingers.
TOUSE. A noise, or disturbance.--Halliwell.
The Loch Katrin, they [the Scotch] make such a touss about, is jest about equal to a good sizeable duck-pond in our country.--Sam Slick in England, ch. 30.