The Letter C

CACKLE

to discover. The Cull Cackles, The Rogue tells all.

CACKLING-CHEATS

Chickens, Cocks or Hens.

CACKLING-FARTS

Eggs.

CALLE

a Cloak or Gown.

CAMBRIDGE-FORTUNE

a Woman without any Substance.

CAMESA

a Shirt or Shift.

CAMPAIGN-COAT

in a Canting Sense, the ragged, tatter'd, patch'd Coat, worn by Beggars and Gypsies, in order to move Compassion.

CANARY-BIRD

a little arch or knavish Boy; a Rogue or Whore taken, and clapp'd into the Cage or Round-house.

CANE upon ABEL

a good Stick or Cudgel, well-favouredly laid on a Man's shoulders.

CANK

Dumb. The Cull's Cank; the Rogue's Dumb; a Term used by Canters, when one of their Fraternity, being apprehended, upon Examination, confesses nothing.

CANNIKIN

the Plague.

A CANT

an Hypocrite, a Dissembler, a double-tongu'd, whining Person.

CANTING

the mysterious Language of Rogues, Gypsies, Beggars, Thieves, &c.

CANTING CREW

Beggars, Gypsies.

To CAP

to Swear. I will Cap downright, I will Swear home.

CAPTAIN-HACKUM

a fighting, blustering Bully.

CAPTAIN-QUEERNABS

a Fellow in poor Cloaths, or Shabby.

CAPTAIN-SHARP

a great Cheat; also a huffing, yet sneaking, cowardly Bully.

CAPTAIM-TOM

a Leader of the Mob; also the Mob itself.

CARAVAN

a good round Sum of Money about a Man; also him that is cheated of it.

CARRIERS

a Set or Rogues, who are employ'd to look out, and whatch upon the Roads, at Inns, &c. in order to carry Information to their respective Gangs, of a Booty in Prospect.

CARTED-WHORE

whipp'd publickly, and pack'd out of Town.

CASE

a House, Shop, or Warehouse; also a Bawdy-house. As Toute the Case, view, mark, or eye the House or Shop. 'Tis all Bob; now let us dub the Gigg of the Case; now the Coast is clear, let us fall on, and break open the door of the House.

A CASE-VROW

a Whore that plie in a Bawdy-house.

CASH

or Cassan, cheese.

CASTER

a Cloak.

CAT

a common Whore or Prostitute. Who shall hang the bell about the Cat's Neck? Who shall begin the Attack first? said of a desperate Undertaking.

CATCH-FART

a Foot-boy.

CATCHING-HARVEST

a precarious Time for Robbery; when many People are out upon the Road, by means of any adjacent Fair, Horse-race, &c.

CATCH-POLL

a Serjeant, or Bayliff, that arrests People.

CATHARPIN FASHION

when People in Company drink cross, and not round about from the Right to the Left, or according to the Sun's Motion.

CATTING

drawing a Fellow thro' a Pond with a Cat. Also whoring.

CATMATCH

when a Rook or Cully is engag'd amongst bad Bowlers.

CAVAULTING SCHOOL

a Bawdy-house.

CAUDGE-PAW'D

Left-handed.

CAW-HANDED

awkward, not dextrous, ready or nimble.

CHAF'D

well beaten or bang'd.

CHAPT

dry or thirsty.

CHARACTERED

Burnt in the Hand; as, They have pawn'd the Character upon him; i.e. They have burnt the Rogue in the Hand.

CHATES

the Gallows.

CHATTS

Lice. To Squeeze the Chatts; To crack or kill those Vermin.

CHICKEN

a feeble little Creature, of mean Spirit.

CHINK

Money, so call'd because it chinks in the Pocket.

A CHIP

a Child. As, A Chip of the old Block; A Son that is his Father's likeness.

CHIRPING-MERRY

very pleasant over a Glass of good Liquor.

CHIT

a Dandyprat, or Durgen, a little trifling-Fellow.

CHITTIFACE

a little puny Child.

CHIVE

a Kinfe, File or Saw.

To CHIVE his Darbies

To saw asunder his Irons or Fetters.

To CHOP

to change or barter. Also a Job, or Booty, as A Chop by Chance, a rare Booty, when 'twas not expected.

To CHOP

is also used to make Dispatch, to slubber over in Post-haste, as The Autem-Bawler, will soon quit the Hums, for he chops up the Whiners; i.e. The Parson will soon have dispatch'd the Congregation, for he huddles over the Prayers.

To CHOUSE

to cheat or trick.

CHUB

He is a young Chub, or a meer Chub, very ignorant or unexperienc'd in Gaming, not at all acquainted with Sharping. A good Chub, said by the Butchers, when they have bit a silly raw Customer.

CHUCK-FARTHING

a Parish Clerk.

CLACK

a Woman's Tongue.

CLAN

a Family, Tribe, Faction, or Party, in Scotland chiefly, but now any where else.

CLANK

a Silver-tankard.

CLANKER

a swinging Lye.

CLANK NAPPER

a Silver-tankard Stealer. See Rumbubber.

CLAPPERDOGEON

a Beggar born and bred.

CLAW'D-OFF

lustily lash'd. Also swingingly pox'd or clap'd.

CLEAR

very Drunk. The Cull is clear, let's Bite him. The Fellow is very drunk, let's Sharp him.

CLEAVE

as, One that will cleave; used of a Wanton Woman. Vide Clown

CLENCH

a Pun or Quibble.

To CLENCH

to nick a Business by timing it; as The Cull has clench'd the Job at a Pinch. The Rogue has nick'd the Time, before any Passengers came by, who might have rescu'd the plunder'd Person.

CLEYMS

Sores without Pain, raised on Beggars Bodies, by their own Artifice and Cunning, (to move Charity) by bruising Crows-foot, Spearwort, and Salt together, and clapping them onthe Place, which frets the Skin; then with a Linnen Rag, which sticks close to it, they tear off the Skin, and strew on it a little Powder'd rsnick, which makes it look angrily or ill-favouredly, as if it were a real Sore.

CLERK'D

sooth'd, sunn'd imposed on; The Cull will not be Clerk'd, i.e. He will not be caught or taken by fair Words.

To CLICK

to Snatch. I have Clickt the Nab from the Cull; I whipt the Hat from the Man's Head. Click the rum Topping. Snatch that Woman's fine Commode, or Head-Dress.

CLICKER

[among the Canters.] He whom they intrust to divide their Spoils, and proportion to every one his Share.

CLICKET

Copulation of Foxes, and thence used in a Canting Sense, for that of Men and Women; as The Cull and the Mort are at Clicket in the Dyke.

CLICKETING

the Act of Fruition.

CLINKER

a crafty Fellow.

CLINKERS

the Irons Felons wear in Goals.

CLOAK-TWITCHERS

Villains who lurk in by and dark Places, to snatch them off the Wearer's Shoulders.

CLOD-HOPPER

a Ploughman.

CLOUD

Tobacco. Will you raise a Cloud? Will you smoak a Pipe?

CLOVEN

Cleave

or Cleft

used of a young Woman who passes for a Maid, and is not one.

CLOUT

a Handkerchief.

To CLOY

to Steal. Cloy the Clout; steal the Money.

CLOYERS

Thieves, Robbers, Rogues.

CLOYING

Stealing, Thieving, Robbing.

CLOWES

Rogues.

To CLUCK

a Wench's Propension to Male-Conversation, by her romping and playfulness; when they say, The Mort Clucks.

CUMP

a Heap or Lump.

CLUMPISH

Lumpish.

CLUNCH

a clumsy Clown, an awkward or unhandy Fellow.

CLY

Money. To cly the Jerk, to be Whipt. Let's strike his Cly; Let's get his Money from him. Also a Pocket, as, Filed a Cly, Pick'd a Pocket.

COACH-WHEEL

as, A Fore-Coach-Wheel Half a Crown. A Hind-Coach-Wheel, a Crown or Five-shilling Piece.

COB

an Irish Dollar.

COBBLE-COLTER

a Turkey. A rum Cobble-colter, a fat large Cock-Turkey.

COCK-BAWD

a Man who follows that base Employment, of procuring; a Pimp.

COCKISH

wanton, uppish, forward.

COCK-PIMP

a supposed Husband to a Bawd.

COCK-ROBBIN

a soft easy Fellow.

COCK-SURE

very sure.

COD

a good Sum of Money; also a Fool. A meer Cod, a silly, shallow Fellow. A rum Cod; a good round Sum of Money. An honest Cod; a trusty Friend.

COD's-Head

a Fool.

COFE

as COVE. Which See.

To COG

to cheat at Dice. To Cog a Die; to conceal or secure a Die; also the Money or whatever the Sweetners drop, to draw in the Bubbles: Also to wheedle.

To COG a Dinner

to wheedle one out of a Dinner.

COG a Clout

or, Cog a Sneezer

Beg an Handkerchief, or Snuff box.

COGUE

of brandy, a small Cup or Dram.

COKER

a Lye. Rum Coker, a whisking Lye.

COLD-Tea

Brandy. A couple of cold Words, a Curtain-Lecture. Cold Iron, a derisory Periphrasis for a Sword.

COLE

Money.

COLLEGE

Newgate; New College, the Royal-Exchange.

COLLEGIATES

the Prisoners of the one, and the Shop-keepers of the other of those Places.

To COLLOGUE

wheedle.

COLQUARRON

a Man's Neck; as, His Colquarron is just about to be twisted. He is just going to be turn'd off.

COLT

an Inn-keeper that lends a Horse to a Highway-man, or to Gentleman Beggars; also a Lad newly initiated into Roguery.

COLT-BOWL

laid short of the Jack, by a [COLT-BOWLER]

COL-BOWLER

a raw or unexperienced Person.

To COME

to lend. Has he come it? Has he lent it to you?

COMING-Women

such as are free of their Flesh; also breeding Women.

COMMISSION

a shirt.

COMMON-Garden-Gout

or rather Covent-Garden-Gout, the Foul Disease.

COMFORTABLE-Importance

a Wife.

CONFECT

conterfeit, feigned.

CONTENT

I beat him to his Heart's Content; till he had enough of Fighting. Also to murder a Person, who resists being robb'd. The Cull's Content; i.e. He is past complaining.

CONTRE-TEMPS

a fruitless Attempt, or at an unseasonable Time.

CONVENIENT

a Mistress; also a Whore.

CONVENIENCY

a Wife; also a Mistress.

CONUNDRUMS

Whims, Maggots, and such like.

CONY

or Tom Cony

a silly Fellow; A meer Cony, very silly indeed.

A COLD-COOK

an Undertaker of Funerals.

COOK-RUFFIN

the Devil of a Cook; or a very bad one.

COOL-CRAPE

When a Person dies, he is said to be put into his Cool-crape.

COOLER

a Woman.

COOL-LADY

a Wench that sells Brandy (in Camps) a Suttler.

COOL-NANTZ

Brandy.

CORK-BRAIN'D

a very impudent, harden'd, brazen-faced Fellow.

COSTARD

the Head. I'll give ye a Knock on the Costard; I'll hit ye a Blow on the Pate.

COTTON

They don't cotton; They don't agree well.

To COUCH

to lie down, as To Couch a Hogshead; To go to Bed.

COVE

a Man, a Fellow; also a Rogue. The Cove was Bit; The Rogue was out-sharped or out-witted. The Cove has bit the Cole; The Rogue has stollen the Money. That Cove's a rum Diver; That Fellow is a clever Pick-pocket.

COVEY of Whores

a well-fill'd Bawdy-house.

COUNTERFEIT-CRANK

a genteel Cheat, a Sham or Impostor, appearing in divers Shapes: one who sometimes counterfeits Mens hands, or forges Writings; at others personates other Men: is sometimes a Clipper or Coiner; at others a Dealer in Counterfeit Jewels. Sometimes a strowling Mountebank: To Day he is a Clergyman in Distress; to Morrow a reduced Gentleman.

VOURT-card

a gay, fluttering Fellow.

COURT-Holy-Water

COURT-Promises

fair Speeches without Performance.

COURT-Tricks

State-Policy &c.

COWS-BABY

a Calf.

CRACK

a Whore.

To CRACK

is also used to break open; as, To Crack up a Door; To break a Door open.

CRACKER

the Backside; also Crust.

CRACKING

boasting, vapouring.

CRACKISH

whorish.

CRACKMANS

Hedges; as, The Cull thought to have lop'd, by breaking thro' the Crackmans; but we fetch'd him back by a Nope on the Costard, which made him silent; i.e. The Gentleman thought to escape by breaking through the Hedges; but we brought him back by a great Blow on the Head, which laid him for Dead.

CRAG

a Neck; also the Stomach, or Womb.

CRAMP-RINGS

Bolts or Shackles.

CRAMP-WORDS

Sentence of Death passed upon a Criminal by the Judge: as, He has just undergone the Cramp-Word; i.e. Sentence is just passed upon him.

CRANK

brisk, pert.

CRAP

Money. Nim the Crap; Steal the Money. Wheedle for Crap; To coax Money out of any Body.

CRASH

to Kill. Crash the Cull, i.e. Kill the Fellow.

CRASHING-Cheats

Teeth.

CREATURES

Men raised by others, and their Tools ever after.

To CREEME

to slip or slide any Thing into another's Hand.

CREW

a Knot or Gang; as, A Crew of Rogues, &c.

CRIMP

as, To play Crimp, to lay or bet on one Side, and (by foul Play) to let the other win, having a Share of the Purchase.

Run a CRIMP

to run a Race or Horse-match foully or knavishly.

He CRIMPS it

He plays booty. A crimping Fellow, a sneaking Cur.

CRINKUMS

the foul Disease.

CROCKERS

Fore-stallers, Regraters; otherwise called Kidders and Tranters.

CROKER

a Groat or Fourpence. The Cull tipt me a Croker, the Fellow gave me a Groat.

CRONY

a Comerade [in a Canting Sense.] Two or Three Rogues, who agree to beg or rob in Partnership, call one another Crony; as, Such a one is my Crony; as much as to say, He and I go Snacks.

CROP

Money.

CROPPIN

the Tail, as, The Croppin of the Rotan, The Tail of the Cart.

CROPPIN-KEN

a Privy or Bog-house.

To CROSS-BITE

to draw in a Friend, yet snack with the Sharper; also to countermine or disappoint.

CROWN Office

as, He is got into the Crown Office, i.e. He's got drunk.

CRUISERS

Beggars; Also Highway Spies, who traverse the Road, to give Intelligence of a Booty, &c.

CRUMP

one that helps Sollicitors to Affidavit-Men.

CRUSTY-BEAU

one that lies with a Cover over his Face all Night, and uses Washes, Paint, &c.

Young CUB

a new Gamester drawn in to be rook'd.

CUCUMBERS

Taylors.

CUDGELLIERS

a Mob rudely arm'd; also Cudgel-Players.

CUFFIN

a Man.

CUFFIN-QUIRE

See Quire Cuffin.

CULP

a Kick or Blow.

CULL

a Man, either honest, or otherwise. A Bob-Cull, a Sweet-humour'd Man to a Wench. The Cull naps us; The Person robb'd apprehends us. A curst Cull, an ill-natur'd Fellow, a Churl to a Woman.

CULLY

a Fop, a Fool, one who is easily drawn in and cheated by Whores and Rogues.

CUNNING-Shaver

a sharp Fellow, one that sharps or shaves (as they call it) close.

CUP-SHOT

Drunk.

CUP of the Creature

strong-Liquor.

CURLE

Clippings of Money.

CURSITORS

reduced Lawyers, assuming to themselves the Knowledge of the Quirks and Quiddities of the Law, and are perpetually fomenting litigious Brawls, and insignificant Contentions, among the Scum of the Vulgar.

CURTAILS

whose Practice is to cut off Pieces of Silk, Cloth, Linnen or Stuff, that hang out at the Shop-Windows of Mercers, Drapers, &c. as also sometimes the Tails of Womens Gowns, their Hoods, Scarves, Pinners, - if richly Lac'd.

CURTAIL'D

cut off, dock'd, shorten'd, reduced.

CURTAIN-Lecture

Womens impertinent scolding at their Husbands behind the Curtain.

CURTEZAN

a genteel fine Miss, or Quality Whore.

CUT

Drunk. Deep Cut, very Drunk. Cut in the Leg or Back, the same. To Cut, also signifies to speak. To Cut bene, to speak gently, civilly or kindly; To Cut bene (or benar) Whidds, to give good Words. To Cut queere Whid's, to give ill Language. A Blow with a Stick or Cane, is also called a Cut. As, I took him a Cut cross the Shoulders.