Just…just GO if you want to glimpse England in a very human light!
Five Stars!
Slang Dictionary of Victorian London: A
Abbess: Female brothel keeper. A Madame.
Abbot: The husband, or preferred man of an Abbess.
Acushla: An Irish term of endearment
Albert-chain: A heavily linked watch-chain
Alderman: Half-Crown
Alehouse: Where only malt liquors can be sold.
Area: The below-ground servant’s entrance in the front of many London town-houses. (Not underworld slang)
Area Diving: A method of theft that necessitates sneaking down area steps, and stealing from the lower rooms of houses.
B
Bacca-pipes: Whiskers curled in small, close ringlets.
Banyan days – This phrase is employed by sailors to denote the days when no animal food is served out to them.
Barkers (Barking Irons): Guns. Pistols, esp. Revolvers.
Barney: A noisy argument; a row
Bang: Drug. From Bhang (more bang for your buck?)
Barney: a noisy argument; a row
Beak: Magistrate
Beak-hunting: Poultry stealing
Bearer up: Person that robs men who have been decoyed by a woman accomplice.
Beef: (1) (v) Raise hue-and-cry. (2) (n) Thief. (cr) = Hot Beef! = Stop Thief!
Bend: Waistcoat, vest
Betty: A type of lockpick
Bile-shot: Ill-tempered
Billet: A situation of employment
Billy: Handkerchief (often silk)
Bit Faker: Remember six bits? A coiner. A counterfeiter of coins.
Blackleg: a scab
Blag: To steal or snatch, usually a theft, often by smash-and-grab
Blob, on the (Blab): Begging by telling hardluck stories.
C
