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Glossary

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across lots

via a short cut (Maitland, CDS)

actual

money, as in: the actual (Barrère, CDS)

ADT boy

American District Telegraph (ADT) telegram delivery boy

all the go

fashionable (CDS, BDE 8/19/1900)

American plan

hotel room rented with meals (see also European plan)

aphrodisiacal tennis court

a woman’s secret (17th century) (Farmer)

attic

head, as in: queer in the attic (q.v.) (Maitland, CDS)

Aunt Sally

a combination dream dictionary, provides policy numbers based on dreams

baggage

a woman

bally hoo

an entertainment created to attract customers (Jackson)

bandogs

bailiffs, police (17th century) (B.E.)

bat

1. loose woman; 2. spree (Babbitt, etc.)

beak

sheriff’s officer, policeman (U.K., 19th century) (Farmer)

belle chose

a woman’s secret, French for beautiful thing. (14th century) (CDS)

belly bumping

copulation (U.K., 19th century) (Farmer)

bene cove

good fellow (17th century) (B.E.)

bivvy

beer (U.K., 19th century) (Ware)

bleed

to extort money from (17th century) (CDS)

blind pig (also blind tiger)

a speakeasy, or any place serving liquor illegally (on Sunday, etc.); blind pig was used more often, particularly during the 1920s

blue pig

whiskey (Maine) (Ware)

bobbish

in good spirits (18th century) (CDS)

bogs

17th-century slang for a latrine

bogus

fake, fraudulent

boiled owl

an inebriate, as in: drunk as a boiled owl (CDS)

breaks

any place where a crowd of people needs to funnel through, making it easier for pickpockets (Jackson)

brick

1. a reliable person; 2. courage, spirit, pluck (CDS, etc.)

brim

an impudent, lewd woman (17th century) (B.E.)

brother starling

a man who lies with the same woman another (17th century) (B.E.)

bucket shop

an establishment that pretends to trade stocks, but in reality merely accepts bets on stock price movements

bunco

common term for a fraud or confidence game from the 1880s though WWII. Also, buncoed, bunco man, bunco steerer and, rarely, bunco artist

bunk, bunkum, buncombe

nonsense; bombast. Used the way we use “B.S.” It’s derived from Buncombe County, N.C., based on the fatuous oratory of a congressman from that district

bunter

a woman of questionable morality; a term of contempt (U.K., 19th century) (CDS)

burlesque

a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects; it differs from satire in that satire uses humor to illuminate some truth, while burlesque pokes fun for the sake of fun (Wikipedia)

butter your bun

to lie with a woman before passing her on to another (17th century) (B.E.)

buzzard

1. an unskilled pickpocket; one who steals from women (Jackson); 2. a silver dollar (CDS)

canal

Mrs. Grundy's own, rather obvious, euphemism for a woman's secret

carry a message to Garcia

follow through on a difficult task without complaint, more generally used after 1910. From Elbert Hubbard’s essay in the March 1899 issue of The Philistine. A sappy, true story of an American officer (Andrew Rowan) sent to bring a message to the Cuban revolutionaries in 1898.

catamenia

menstruation (Latin, from the Greek)

cave of harmony

a woman’s secret (U.K., 19th century) (Farmer)

caved

gave up, conceded (Cullen)

century

one hundred dollars (CDS)

chippie (also chippy)

a promiscuous young woman, a prostitute (CDS, etc.)

chump

one possessing few social attractions (Babbitt)

clicket

copulation (17th century) (B.E.)

clip

to hug, embrace (17th century) (B.E.)

the clips

an admirable, smart or successful person or thing (CDS, etc.)

cocktail

a mixed drink (Maitland)

cod

friend (17th century) (CDS)

cold deck

a deck of cards that’s been marked or rigged to cheat (CDS, etc.)

cold proposition

cold person; unlikely prospect; cold, hard fact

come-by-chance

an illegitimate child (Carr)

commodity

a woman’s secret (16th century) (Farmer)

concert saloon

an American copy of the English music hall, and forerunner of the variety and vaudeville theater (Peak use in 1870s, then trailed off. Buffalo Eve. News, 1900.)

concluded to forget

deliberately “forgot” (1890-1910)

conveniency

wife or mistress (17th century) (B.E.)

cooch show

exotic dance

cooler

an attractive woman (Babbitt)

cop out, cop-out

v. to win someone over; n. a chance meeting (CDS, Green)

corned

drunk (Carr)

cote

cottage (17th century) (B.E.)

cove

fellow (17th century) (B.E.)

Coxey’s Army

1. a protest march by unemployed workers from across the United States, led by the populist Jacob Coxey. They marched on Washington, D.C., in 1894, the second year of a four‑year economic depression. 2. For many years, the low-value pinochle meld of four jacks was called Coxey’s Army.

cranny

a woman’s secret (17th century) (Farmer)

craps

a game of throwing dice

crib

brothel house or apartment (17th century) (CDS)

cull

a dupe; a prostitute’s customer (17th century) (CDS)

the curse

menstruation (from “the curse of Eve”)

curtain lectures

woman’s scolding of her husband (17th century) (B.E.)

cut ice (with)

impress (CDS)

dell

virgin, but prone to lasciviousness (17th century) (B.E.)

desk room

small office

dimber mab

pretty slattern (17th century) (B.E.)

disorderly house

a brothel

divine monosyllable

a woman’s secret (18th century) (Farmer)

Doll Tearsheet

a prostitute and associate of Falstaff in Henry IV, Part 1

Don't Worry Club

an extension of the Don't Worry Movement. Often used in jest.

doxy

a female companion, mistress (17th century) (B.E.)

dragon bestride St. George

copulation, with the woman on top (17th century) (B.E.)

dream dictionary (also combination dream dictionary, dream book)

a booklet used to translate dreams into numbers which could be played at a policy shop (q.v.); see also: Aunt Sally, The Three Witches, and Wheel of Fortune [link to example]

drummer

salesman, hawker

duck

a container, often a pail, used to bring beer home from a saloon (CDS, Green)

East Williamsburg

in 1900, an area of Queens presently part of Ridgewood

Eastern District

a term used for the area of Brooklyn that includes Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Bushwick

eel-pot

a woman’s secret (18th century) (Farmer)

egg sucking, egg sucker

worthless, worthless person (CDS)

Egypt

outhouse (CDS)

embonpoint

plumpness of person, stoutness, as in: “Mrs. Downs, though now somewhat inclined to embonpoint, is still a handsome woman of the blonde type.” (Use peaked 1900-1910. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 1902)

end of the sentimental journey

copulation, a reference to Sterne’s book of that title (18th century) (Farmer)

European plan

hotel room rented without meals (see also American plan)

fair play’s a jewel

a cockney catch phrase meaning it's hard to get a break (U.K., 19th century)

fancy woman

prostitute (U.K., 19th century) (CDS)

faro

a card game with a banker and several players which usually used a special faro bank and a mechanical device that was fixed

feed

food, or a bountiful spread (Babbitt)

fiddledeedee,fiddle-dee-dee

nonsense; an expression of skepticism (CDS, etc.)

fie-for-shame

a woman’s secret (U.K., 19th century) (Farmer)

the flag is up

said of a woman during menses (U.K., 19th century) (Farmer)

florence

pretty slattern (17th century) (B.E.)

flossy

showy, slick, saucy, impertinent (CDS)

flunk(y)

fail, failure (CDS)

fly

wise to, hip, aware (CDS)

fly-by-night

1. one prone to skip out; 2. a show lasting one night (CDS)

fly donah

adroit lady (U.K., 19th century) (Ware)

fly-trap

a woman’s secret (U.K., 19th century) (Farmer)

flyer

wager or investment, as in: to take a flyer (CDS)

for fair

completely, absolutely (CDS)

four-flush, fourflush, four flusher

to bluff or cheat, a cheat (derived from the fact that a flush in poker requires five cards of the same suit)

foxy

bright (Babbitt)

frail

a woman

frame

1. plan; 2. fakery used to con (CDS)

freak

odd-looking; a fool (Babbitt)

fresh

impudent, rude, conceited (Babbitt)

fresh bit

a sexually inexperienced woman (U.K., 19th century) (Farmer)

from Missouri

a skeptic, as in: “I’m from Missouri,” meaning “I need proof.” (Missouri is the “Show Me” state.)

frying size

describes a young woman having reached maturity (CDS)

garden

a woman’s secret (18th century) (Farmer)

Gibson Girl

an attractive, smart young woman, created by Charles Dana Gibson for his satirical cartoons

gig

1. three linked numbers played in policy shops (CDS); 2. a woman’s secret, or her generally (17th century) (B.E.)

giglet

a young woman, usually a prostitute (16th century) (CDS)

gink

a useless person (CDS)

glom

to grab or snatch (Jackson)

gone

pregnant (U.K., 19th century) (CDS)

gordelpus

God help us (U.K., 19th century) (Ware)

grafter

fraudster, swindler, cheat; used increasingly after 1900 (“grifter” was almost never used before the 1920s) (Jackson)

green goods

counterfeit money; the green goods game was a con where the gang offered to sell a quantity of counterfeit bills for a much smaller amount of real currency. To convince him of the quality of the counterfeit bills, the mark was actually shown real currency. But before he left the meeting, bags would be switched and he would arrive home with a satchel of newspaper.

growler

a container, often a pail, used to bring beer home from a saloon (CDS)

gun

a pickpocket (CDS)

half seas over

drunk (17th century) (B.E.)

ham and

an order of ham and eggs

Hannah Emerson

a generic name used in various phrases (Carr)

hep

hip, aware, in the know (Green)

hey Rube!

battle cry among circus roustabouts and carnies

highbinder

member of a Chinese criminal society (CDS)

the Hooks

a rough-and-tumble area of southwestern Buffalo between the Erie Canal and the lakefront

hop

opium (CDS)

hop joint

opium den (CDS)

how-come-ye-so

drunk (18th century); pregnant (CDS)

humbug

nonsense; dishonesty or deception, often involving hypocrisy

I should smile

an expression of disbelief, along with mild contempt; in this phrase emphasis is laid on “should.” It comes from such expressions as “Well, I should think!” which are often left incomplete, but which when completed would be “that he ought to be ashamed,” or “that people would know better,” etc. It was much used by women, and is believed to have originated in the suburbs of Boston or in Brooklyn, New York. (Barrère, CDS)

in flower

said of a woman during menses (U.K., 19th century) (Farmer)

in the pudding club

pregnant (U.K., 19th century) (Farmer)

ink slingers

journalists, or writers generally

interurban

a streetcar that ran between cities or towns

Ireland

the buttocks; from The Comedy of Errors, III.i.110

it

17th-century slang for the act of love

jam-pot

a woman’s secret (U.K., 19th century) (Farmer)

jay, jay town

a rustic or hick person, town, etc.

jolly

v. to put another in good humor, flirt, flatter; n. 1. flippant conversation; 2. a story meant to deceive (Babbitt)

keeping cully

maintaining a mistress (17th century) (B.E.)

kinker

circus performer (CDS)

knight of the green cloth

gambler (at cards, pool, horses, etc.) (CDS)

knight of the jimmy

burglar (CDS)

knock over

to murder (CDS)

knocked me off my pins

caught me unaware (CDS)

laced mutton

a woman (17th century) (B.E.)

lareover

a general euphemism for unmentionables (17th century) (B.E.)

last

a form in the approximate shape of a human foot, used by shoemakers and cordwainers in the manufacture and repair of shoes

leg show

burlesque; also a “feminine spectacle” (Keyser)

lib

to tumble or lie together (17th century) (B.E.)

Little Egypt

the stage name of Farida Mazar Spyropoulos, the dancer who in 1893 made the “hoochee-coochee” famous at the World’s Columbian Exposition Midway in Chicago (Wikipedia)

little man in the boat

the clitoris (U.K., 19th century) (CDS)

lobster

a gullible person, particularly an older man beguiled by a younger woman

Low Countries

17th-century slang for a woman's genital region

Madam Van

a prostitute (17th century) (B.E.)

madge

a woman’s secret (U.K., 19th century) (Farmer)

maidenhead jobber

procuress (16th century) (B.E.)

mark

the victim of a con game or fraud

maybe I’m not...

used ironically, as in: “maybe I’m not envious,” meaning “I’m very envious” (Green)

Monk

short for Monkey; Shakespearean slang for a lecher, used here by Mrs. Grundy as a term of endearment

mope

to walk or move slowly (CDS)

mort

a wench (16th century) (B.E.)

Mouse

a 17th-century pet name for a woman; used by George in The Knight of the Burning Pestle

mush

to go (Green, CDS)

Netherlands

a woman's secret, a reference to the Low Countries (see above); from The Comedy of Errors, III.i.110

nim

to steal (17th century) (B.E.)

no go

not possible, as in: “it was no go” (Cullen)

North River

The Hudson River along the west side of Manhattan was usually referred to as the North River in 1900.

oil

1. sweet talk, flattery; 2. graft, bribery (CDS)

on deck

scheduled (CDS)

one-eyed

1. dishonest; 2. inadequate, inferior (CDS)

panel house

a brothel where a hidden panel is used by an associate of the prostitute to enter the room and steal from her customer while he is distracted; more generally, any place where a fraud or theft is committed with the offer of sex for money as the lure

parlor house

a brothel or disorderly house of a higher class

peach

1. a loose woman; 2. something choice, but often used ironically (Babbitt)

perisher

a derogatory term for a person (U.K., 19th century) (CDS)

piker

1. a grasping, selfish person; 2. a small-time gambler (CDS)

pip

the best, finest

pipkin

a woman’s secret; to crack a pipkin is to deflower a woman (17th century) (Farmer)

play horse with

to ridicule or make sport of (Babbitt)

plug ugly

a thug (CDS)

plunger

a reckless gambler (CDS, The Sun [NY], 8/19/00, p. 9)

policy shop (also poke shop)

an establishment that takes bets on numbers; numbers racket; an illegal lottery (CDS, BDE, The Outlook, V. 50, p. 646)

pony

1. a translation, usually purchased, used in preparation of a college assignment (Babbitt, CDS) 2. (probable) the person who prepares the translation (Life magazine, V. 22 [1893], p. 230)

poolroom, pool room

a gambling establishment that received sporting event results via telegraph, though sometimes just a place with pool tables

priest-linked

married (17th century) (B.E.)

property

adj. phony, contrived, as in: “she performed a property faint,” meaning “she pretended to faint” (Green)

puella publica

term for a prostitute in medical literature, in use almost exclusively from 1890 to 1920 (from the Latin for “public girl”

pull

to obtain (Babbitt)

push

a crowd (often the crowd); group of hobos traveling loosely together (Babbitt, CDS, etc.)

put down

Shakespearean slang for a man's taking of a woman

queer

counterfeit, used as both adjective (“queer stuff”) and noun (“pushing the queer”) (Maitland, CDS, etc.)

queer in the head, queer in the attic

insane; eccentric; drunk (Maitland, Berrey, numerous period books.)

quim

a woman’s secret (18th century) (Farmer)

Raines Law hotel

a saloon that has added a minimum number of hotel rooms so as to circumvent the restrictions of New York State’s Raines Law, a law meant to limit the consumption of alcohol. For instance, only a hotel could sell liquor on Sunday. Raines Law hotels were often (not incorrectly) seen as friendly to prostitutes and their clients

ramp

17th-century slang for a wanton woman

ring in

cheat through substitution, as in: ring in a cold deck

resort

a gambling establishment offering games of chance such as roulette, faro, and craps

rover

wanderer, physically or morally (17th century) (Farmer)

rubber

to annoy (Babbitt)

rum

good, hearty (17th century) (B.E.)

rush the duck (also rush the growler)

to bring beer home from a saloon in a container (see also duck, growler) (Green)

saddle

two linked numbers played in policy shops

scamp

a cheat, swindler (CDS)

shark

one who excels at something (Babbitt)

short-heeled

said of a woman of loose morals, i.e., prone to falling on her back (17th century) (B.E.)

shy

lacking (Babbitt)

side-wheeler

a pacing horse (Maitland, The Sun [NY], 8/19/00, p. 9)

skin game

form of gambling designed to fleece the uninitiated (CDS)

skirt

a woman

slave market

venue where actors seek work

smock alley

a woman’s secret (17th century) (Farmer)

smoker

stag event that usually included dinner and/or entertainment

snide

1. counterfeit money; 2. deceptive person (CDS)

snuggery

a comfortable, private room (U.K., 19th century) (Farmer)

soft

a weak person

spook compeller

a medium, clairvoyant

steerer

member of a team of con men who lures the dupes (CDS)

Storyville

the red-light district of New Orleans

Superbas

the Brooklyn baseball team of 1890-1910 that became the Dodgers

swell

a sophisticated, stylish person

Tammany Hall

the Democratic machine of New York, principally Manhattan (see also Willoughby Street)

Teagueland

Ireland (17th century) (B.E.)

teazle

a woman’s secret (U.K., 19th century) (Farmer)

Tenderloin

the area of Manhattan that includes the entertainment and red-light districts, thus the area most lucrative for corrupt police officers

thing

17th-century slang for a woman's secret

thirst emporium, also thirst bazaar

a saloon (Green, CDS)

tip the velvet

to tongue a woman (17th century) (B.E.)

To the well wearing of your muff, mort

a toast wishing a woman a happy consummation of her marriage (17th century) (B.E.)

tontine

an annuity scheme in which subscribers share a common fund with the benefit of survivorship

tool chest

a woman’s secret (U.K., 19th century) (Farmer)

trolley party

often just a group of friends riding the trolley to some destination and back again, usually in the evening; sometimes they were complex affairs with private cars and hundreds of people

trout groping

from Shakespeare's "groping for trout in a peculiar river," a euphemism for "it," with the watercourse standing in for "thing"; from Measure for Measure, I.ii.8

truck

1. vegetables grown for market, as in truck farm; 2. a wagon for hauling, almost always horse-driven unless preceded by “auto” or “motor” until WWI

turn

in vaudeville, an act’s spot in the show’s lineup.

23 (skidoo)!

go away, get lost (CDS)

vamp

to disappear, vanish (CDS)

velvet

the tongue (17th century) (B.E.)

waiter girls

employing women to wait on tables was seen as dubious, and probably often was in places where drinks were served, like concert saloons; tipping a waiter girl would sometimes be seen as insulting (Peak use was in the 1870s, then trailed off.)

Wheel of Fortune

a combination dream dictionary, provides policy numbers based on dreams

White Rat

a member of the vaudeville performers union, The White Rats (members were white males only)

Willoughby Street

the Democratic machine of Brooklyn (see also Tammany Hall) (BDE)

The Three Witches

a combination dream dictionary, provides policy numbers based on dreams [link to example]

winding of the clock

copulation, a reference to Sterne’s Tristram Shandy (18th century) (Farmer)

worth a bag of moist peanuts

worthless (Cullen)

yap

a contemptible person (CDS)

zarndrer

a long single curl brought from the back hair over the left shoulder and allowed to lie on the breast. Introduced by Alexandra, Princess of Wales, in 1863 (U.K., 19th Century) (Ware)