The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose

Author:Francis Grose [Francis Grose]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780942339
Publisher: Hesperus Press
Published: 2013-04-18T16:00:00+00:00

K

Kate A picklock. ‘’Tis a rum kate’, it is a clever picklock.

Keel bullies Men employed to load and unload the coal vessels.

Keelhauling A punishment in use among the Dutch seamen, in which, for certain offences, the delinquent is drawn once, or oftener, under the ship’s keel; ludicrously defined, undergoing a great hardship.

Keep To inhabit. ‘Lord, where do you keep?’ i.e. where are your rooms? (Academical phrase) ‘Mother, your tit won’t keep’, your daughter will not preserve her virginity.

Keep it up To prolong a debauch. ‘We kept it up finely last night’, metaphor drawn from the game of shuttle-cock.

Keeping cully One who keeps a mistress, as he supposes, for his own use, but really for that of the public.

Keffel A horse. (Welsh)

Kelter Condition, order. ‘Out of kelter’, out of order. Money.

Ken A house. ‘A bob ken’, or ‘a bowman ken’, a well-furnished house, also a house that harbours thieves. ‘Biting the ken’, robbing the house.

Ken miller, or Ken cracker A housebreaker.

Kent-Street ejectment To take away the street door: a method practised by the landlords in Kent Street, Southwark, when their tenants are above a fortnight’s rent in arrears.

Kerry security Bond, pledge, oath and keep the money.

Kettledrums ‘Cupid’s kettledrums’, a woman’s breasts, called by sailors ‘chest and bedding’.

Kettle of fish When a person has perplexed his affairs in general, or any particular business, he is said to have ‘made a fine kettle of fish of it’.

Kicks Breeches. ‘A high kick’, the top of the fashion. ‘It is all the kick’, it is the present mode. ‘Tip us your kicks, we’ll have them as well as your lour’, pull off your breeches, for we must have them as well as your money. ‘A kick’, sixpence. ‘Two and a kick’, half-a-crown. ‘A kick in the guts’, a dram of gin, or any other spirituous liquor. ‘A kick up’, a disturbance, also a hop or dance. ‘An odd kick in one’s gallop’, a strange whim or peculiarity.

Kick the bucket To die. ‘He kicked the bucket one day’, he died one day. ‘To kick the clouds before the hotel door’, i.e. to be hanged.

Kickerapoo Dead. (Negro word)

Kickseys Breeches.

Kickshaws French dishes: corruption of quelque chose.

Kid A little dapper fellow. A child. ‘The blowen has napped the kid’, the girl is with child.

Kid To coax or wheedle. To inveigle. To amuse a man or divert his attention while another robs him. ‘The sneaksman kidded the cove of the ken, while his pall frisked the panney’, the thief amused the master of the house, while his companion robbed the house.

Kid lay Rogues who make it their business to defraud young apprentices, or errand-boys, of goods committed to their charge, by prevailing on them to execute some trifling message, pretending to take care of their parcels till they come back; these are, in cant terms, said to be ‘on the kid lay’.

Kidder A forestaller. Kidders are also persons employed by the gardeners to gather peas.

Kiddeys Young thieves.

Kidnapper Originally one who stole or decoyed children or apprentices from their parents or masters, to send them to the colonies; called also spiriting.

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