| 18th Century Thieves Cant |
|---|
| Punishment |
| Punishment : Branding |
|---|
| BADGE | is used in a Canting Sense, for Burning in the Hand or Cheek (as it used to be) as he has got his Badge and piked away; He has been burned in the Hand, etc. and is just set at Liberty. | 1737 |
| BADGE | A term used for one burned in the hand. He has got his badge, and piked; he was burned in the hand, and is at liberty. Cant. | 1811 |
| CHARACTERED | Burnt in the Hand; as, They have pawnd the Character upon him; i.e. They have burnt the Rogue in the Hand. | 1737 |
| CHARACTERED, or LETTERED | Burnt in the hand. They have palmed the character upon him; they have burned him in the hand, CANT.--See LETTERED. | 1811 |
| JUGGLERS BOX | The engine for burning culprits in the hand. CANT. | 1811 |
| Punishment : Fetters |
|---|
| BARNACLES | the Irons worn in Goal by Felons. A Pair of Spectacles is also called Barnacles; as I saw the Cuffin Quire with his Nose Barnacled, making out the Coves Dispatches, i.e. I saw the Justice of Peace with his Spectacles on making out his Mittimus. | 1737 |
| BODY-SLANGS | See Slangs. | 1819 |
| BUCKLES | Fetters. | 1811 |
| CHIVE his Darbies | To saw asunder his Irons or Fetters. | 1737 |
| CLINKERS | the Irons Felons wear in Goals. | 1737 |
| CLINKERS | A kind of small Dutch bricks; also irons worn by prisoners; a crafty fellow. | 1811 |
| CRAMP RINGS | Bolts, shackles, or fetters. CANT. | 1811 |
| CRAMP-RINGS | Bolts or Shackles. | 1737 |
| DARBIES | Irons, Shackles or Fetters. | 1737 |
| DARBIES | Fetters. CANT. | 1811 |
| DARBIES | fetters. | 1819 |
| GRAPPLING IRONS | Handcuffs. | 1811 |
| KINGS PLATE | Fetters. | 1811 |
| RUFFLES | Handcuffs. CANT. | 1811 |
| RUFFLES | Handcuffs. | 1819 |
| SHERIFFS BRACELETS | Handcuffs. | 1811 |
| SLANG | A fetter. Double slanged; double ironed. Now double slanged into the cells for a crop he is knocked down; he is double ironed in the condemned cells, and ordered to be hanged. | 1811 |
| SLANG'D | fettered. | 1819 |
| SLANGS | fetters, or chains of any kind used about prisoners; body-slangs are body-irons used on some occasions. | 1819 |
| WIFE | A fetter fixed to one leg. | 1811 |
| Punishment : Pillory |
|---|
| BABES IN THE WOOD | Criminals in the stocks, or pillory. | 1811 |
| HARMANS | the Stocks. | 1737 |
| HARMANS | The stocks. CANT. | 1811 |
| NAB THE STOOP | to stand in the pillory. CANT. | 1811 |
| NORWAY NECKCLOTH | The pillory, usually made of Norway fir. | 1811 |
| NUT-CRACKERS | a Pillory, The Cull lookt thro the Nut-crackers, i.e. The Rogue stood in the Pillory. | 1737 |
| NUTCRACKERS | The pillory: as, The cull peeped through the nutcrackers. | 1811 |
| OVERSEER | A man standing in the pillory, is, from his elevated situation, said to be made an overseer. | 1811 |
| PENANCE BOARD | The pillory. | 1811 |
| PENNANCE BOARD | a Pillory. | 1737 |
| PICTURE FRAME | The sheriffs picture frame; the gallows or pillory. | 1811 |
| RUFF | An ornament formerly worn by men and women round their necks. Wooden ruff; the pillory. | 1811 |
| STOOP | The pillory. The cull was served for macing and nappd the stoop; he was convicted of swindling, and put in the pillory. | 1811 |
| STOOP | the pillory is called the stoop ; to be stoop'd, is to be set on the pillory. | 1819 |
| STOOP-NAPPERS, or OVERSEERS OF THE NEW PAVEMENT | Persons set in the pillory. CANT. | 1811 |
| STOOPING-MATCH | the exhibition of one or more persons on the pillory. See Push. | 1819 |
| SURVEYOR OF THE PAVEMENT | One standing in the pillory. | 1811 |
| WOOD | To look through the wood; to stand in the pillory. Up to the arms in wood; in the pillory. | 1811 |
| WOODEN PARENTHESIS | the pillory. | 1811 |
| WOODEN RUFF | The pillory. See NORWAY NECKCLOTH. | 1811 |
| WOODEN-RUFF | a Pillory. He wore the Wooden-ruff; He stood in the Pillory. | 1737 |
| Punishment : Prisons and Imprisonment |
|---|
| BASTILE | generally called, for shortness, the Steel; a cant name for the House of Correction, Cold-BathFields, London. | 1819 |
| BLOCK-HOUSES | Prisons, Houses of Correction, etc. | 1737 |
| BOARDING SCHOLARS | Bridewell-Birds. | 1737 |
| BOARDING SCHOOL | Bridewell, Newgate, or any other prison, or house of correction. | 1811 |
| BOARDING-SCHOOL | Bridewell [[prob. rdg; orig. Briedwell]] or New Prison, or any Work-house, or House of Correction, for Vagrants, Beggars and Villains, etc. | 1737 |
| CITY COLLEGE | Newgate. | 1811 |
| COLLEGE | Newgate; New College, the Royal-Exchange. | 1737 |
| COLLEGE | Newgate or any other prison. New College: the Royal Exchange. Kings College: the Kings Bench prison. He has been educated at the steel, and took his last degree at college; he has received his education at the house of correction, and was hanged at Newgate. | 1811 |
| ELLENBOROUGH LODGE | The Kings Bench Prison. Lord Ellenboroughs teeth; the chevaux de frize round the top of the wall of that prison. | 1811 |
| FAIR | A set of subterraneous rooms in the Fleet Prison. | 1811 |
| HATCHES | as, Under the Hatches, in Trouble or Prison. | 1737 |
| HATCHES | Under the hatches; in trouble, distress, or debt. | 1811 |
| IN LOBS POUND | laid by the Heels, or clapd up in Jail. | 1737 |
| IRON PARENTHESIS | a prison. | 1811 |
| IRON-DOUBLET | a Prison. | 1737 |
| JAYL BIRDS | Prisoners. | 1737 |
| LOBS POUND | A prison. Dr. Grey, in his notes on Hudibras, explains it to allude to one Doctor Lob, a dissenting preacher, who used to hold forth when conventicles were prohibited, and had made himself a retreat by means of a trap door at the bottom of his pulpit. Once being pursued by the officers of justice, they followed him through divers subterraneous passages, till they got into a dark cell, from whence they could not find their way out, but calling to some of their companions, swore they had got into Lob | 1811 |
| LOUSE HOUSE | The round house, cage, or any other placeof confinement. | 1811 |
| LUDS BULWARK | Ludgate Prison. | 1737 |
| LUDS BULWARK | Ludgate prison. | 1811 |
| NASK | or Naskin; a Prison or Bridewell. The new Nask, Clerkenwell Bridewell: Tuttle Nask, the Bridewell in Tuttle-Fields: He napt it at the Nask; he was lasht at Bridewell. | 1737 |
| NASK, or NASKIN | A prison or bridewell. The new nask; Clerkenwell bridewell. Tothil-fields nask; the bridewell at Tothil-fields. CANT. | 1811 |
| NAVY OFFICE | The Fleet prison. Commander of the Fleet; the warden of the Fleet prison. | 1811 |
| NEWMANS HOTEL | Newgate. | 1811 |
| NEWMANS TEA GARDENS | Newgate. | 1811 |
| PITCHER | Newgate in London is called by various names, as the pitcher, the stone pitcher, the start, and the stone jug, according to the humour of the speaker. | 1819 |
| POLISH | To polish the kings iron with ones eyebrows; to be in gaol, and look through the iron grated windows. To polish a bone; to eat a meal. Come and polish a bone with me; come and eat a dinner or supper with me. | 1811 |
| POUND | A prison. See LOBS POUND. Pounded; imprisoned. Shut up in the parsons pound; married. POWDER | 1811 |
| QUEER KEN | A prison. CANT. | 1811 |
| QUEERE-KEN | an ill House, a Prison or a place of Correction. | 1737 |
| QUOD | Newgate; also a Prison, tho generally for Debt. The Poor Dabs in the Quod. the poor Rogue is in Limbo. | 1737 |
| QUOD | Newgate, or any other prison. The dabs in quod; the poor rogue is in prison. | 1811 |
| QUOD | a gaol. To quod a person is to send him to gaol. In quod, is in gaol. | 1819 |
| REPOSITORY | A lock-up or spunging-house, a gaol. Also livery stables where horses and carriages are sold by auction. | 1811 |
| RUBS US TO THE WHIT | He sends us to Newgate. | 1737 |
| RUMBO | a Prison or Goal. | 1737 |
| SALT-BOXES | the condemned cells in Newgate are so called. | 1819 |
| SHERIFFS HOTEL | A prison. | 1811 |
| SHOP | a Prison. | 1737 |
| SHOP | A prison. Shopped; confined, imprisoned. | 1811 |
| SHOPT | imprisond. | 1737 |
| SPRING-ANKLE WAREHOUSE | Newgate, or any other gaol: IRISH. | 1811 |
| SPUNGING-HOUSE | a By-prison. | 1737 |
| START | See Pitcher. | 1819 |
| START, or THE OLD START | Newgate: he is gone to the start, or the old start. CANT. | 1811 |
| STEEL | The house of correction. | 1811 |
| STONE DOUBLET | a Prison. | 1737 |
| STONE JUG | Newgate, or any other prison. | 1811 |
| STONE TAVERN | Ditto. | 1811 |
| STONE-JUG, STONE-PITCHER | See Pitcher. | 1819 |
| TANGIER | A room in Newgate, where debtors were confined, hence called Tangerines. | 1811 |
| TRIB | A prison: perhaps from tribulation. | 1811 |
| TRIP | a Prison. He is in Trib, for Tribulation; He is laid by the Heels, or in a great deal of Trouble. | 1737 |
| WHIT | Newgate. As, Five Rum-padders, are rubd in the Darkmans and of the Whit, and are pikd into the Deuseaville; Five Highway-men in the Night broke newgate, and are gone into the Country. | 1737 |
| WHIT | [i. e. Whittingtons.] Newgate. Cant.--Five rum-padders are rubbed in the darkmans out of the whit, and are piked into the deuseaville; five highwaymen broke out of Newgate in the night, and are gone into the country. | 1811 |
| WHITTINGTONS COLLEGE | Newgate; built or repaired by the famous lord mayor of that name. | 1811 |
| WIT | Newgate, New Prison, or Bridewell. The same as Whit. | 1737 |
| Punishment : Related Terms |
|---|
| BONED | Seized. apprehended, taken up by a constable. CANT. | 1811 |
| BONED | taken in custody, apprehended; Tell us how you was boned, signifies, tell us the story of your apprehension; a common request among fellow-prisoners in a jail, &c., which is readily complied with in general; and the various circumstances therein related afford present amusement, and also useful hints for regulating their future operations, so as to avoid the like misfortune. | 1819 |
| BOWLED OUT | a man who has followed the profession of thieving for some time, when he is ultimately taken, tried, and convicted, is said to be bowled out at last. To bowl a person out, in a general sense, means to detect him in the commission of any fraud or peculation, which he has hitherto practised without discovery. | 1819 |
| DONE | convicted ; as, he was done for a crack, he was convicted of house-breaking. | 1819 |
| DRAKED | ducked; a discipline sometimes inflicted on pickpockets at fairs, races, &c. | 1819 |
| GAMMON THE TWELVE | a man who has been tried by a criminal court, and by a plausible defence, has induced the jury to acquit him, or to banish the capital part of the charge, and so save his life, is said, by his associates to have gammoned the twelve in prime twig, alluding to the number of jurymen. | 1819 |
| GRAB | to seize; apprehend; take in custody; to make a grab at any thing, is to snatch suddenly, as at a gentleman's watch-chain, &c. | 1819 |
| GRAB'D | taken, apprehended. | 1819 |
| HOBBLED | taken up, or in custody; to hobble a plant, is to spring it. See Plant. | 1819 |
| MARRIED | Persons chained or handcuffed together, in order to be conveyed to gaol, or on board the lighters for transportation, are in the cant language said to be married together. | 1811 |
| Mr PULLEN | See Pull or Pull Up. | 1819 |
| NIBB'D | taken in custody. | 1819 |
| NUBBING-KEN | the Sessions House. | 1737 |
| OLD DOSS | Bridewell. | 1811 |
| PATTER'D | tried in a court of justice; a man who has undergone this ordeal, is said to have stood the patter. | 1819 |
| PULL | To be pulled; to be arrested by a police officer. To have a pull is to have an advantage; generally where a person has some superiority at a game of chance or skill. | 1811 |
| PULL or PULL UP | to accost; stop; apprehend ; or take iato custody; as to pull up a Jack, is to stop a post-chaise on the highway. To pull a man, or have him pulled, is to cause his apprehension for some offence; and it is then said, that Mr. Pullen is concerned. | 1819 |
| PULLED, PULLED UP or IN PULL | Taken in custody; in confinement. | 1819 |
| SCURF'D | taken in custody. | 1819 |
| STAND THE PATTER | See Patter'd. | 1819 |
| TARRING AND FEATHERING | A punishment lately infliced by the good people of Boston on any person convicted, or suspected, of loyalty: such delinquents being stripped naked, were daubed all over wilh tar, and afterwards put into a hogshead of feathers. | 1811 |
| THCMMIKINS | An instrument formerly used in Scotland, like a vice, to pinch the thumbs of persons accused of different crimes, in order to extort confession. | 1811 |
| THUMMIKINS | a Punishment (in Scotland) by hard squeezing or pressing of the Thumbs, to extort Confession, which stretches them prodigiously, and is very painful. In Camps, and on Board of Ships, lighted Matches are clapt between the Fingers to the same Intent. | 1737 |
| TURNED UP | Acquitted; discharged. | 1811 |
| TURNED UP | a person acquitted by a jury, or discharged by a magistrate for want of evidence, &c., is said to be turned up. See Swell. | 1819 |
| Punishment : Transportation |
|---|
| BELLOWSER | Transportation for life: i.e. as long. | 1811 |
| BELLOWSER | See Wind. | 1819 |
| LAG | to transport for seven years or upwards. | 1819 |
| LAG | a convict under sentence of transportation. | 1819 |
| LAG SHIP | a transport chartered by Government for the conveyance of convicts to New South Wales ; also, a hulk, or floating prison, in which, to the disgrace of humanity, many hundreds of these unhappy persons are confined, and suffer every complication of human misery. | 1819 |
| LAGGING-DUES | speaking of a person likely to be transported, they say lagging dues will be concerned. | 1819 |
| MARINATED | transported into some Foreign Plantation. | 1737 |
| OLD LAG | a man or woman who has been transported, is so called on returning home, by those who are acquainted with the secret. See Lag. | 1819 |
| To LUMP THE LIGHTER | To be transported. | 1811 |
| WIND | a man transported for his natural life, is said to be lag'd for his wind, or to have knap'd a winder, or a bellowser, according to the humour of the speaker. | 1819 |
| WINDER | Transportation for life. The blowen has napped a winder for a lift; the wench is transported for life for stealing in a shop. | 1811 |
| Punishment : Whipping |
|---|
| AIR AND EXERCISE | He has had air and exercise, i.e. he has been whipped at the carts tail; or, as it is generally, though more vulgarly, expressed, at the carts a-se. | 1811 |
| CARTED-WHORE | whippd publickly, and packd out of Town. | 1737 |
| CARTING | The punishment formerly inflicted on bawds, who were placed in a tumbrel or cart, and led through a town, that their persons might be known. | 1811 |
| FLOGG | to Whip | 1737 |
| FLOGGER | A horsewhip. CANT. | 1811 |
| FLOGGING STAKE | The whipping-post. | 1811 |
| FLOGGING-STAKE | a whipping Post. | 1737 |
| FLY-FLAPPED | Whipt in the stocks, or at the carts tail. | 1811 |
| GUNNERS DAUGHTER | To kiss the gunners daughter; to be tied to a gun and flogged on the posteriors; a mode of punishing boys on board a ship of war. | 1811 |
| HUED | severely lashd or floggd. The Cove was Hued in the Naskin, The Rogue was severely lashd in Bridewell. | 1737 |
| JIGGER | A whipping-post. CANT. | 1811 |
| NAB THE TEAZE | to be privately whipped. CANT. | 1811 |
| PUZZLING-STICKS | the triangles to which culprits are tied up, for the purpose of undergoing flagellation. | 1819 |
| RUMP'D | flogged or scourged. | 1819 |
| SCHOOL BUTTER | Cobbing, whipping. | 1811 |
| SCROBY | To be tipt the scroby; to be whipt before the justices. | 1811 |
| SPREAD EAGLE | A soldier tied to the halberts in order to be whipped; his attitude bearing some likeness to that figure, as painted on signs. | 1811 |
| TAT | to flog or scourge. | 1819 |
| TEAZE | to flog, or whip. | 1819 |
| TEIZE | To-nap the teize; to receive a whipping. CANT. | 1811 |
| To SHOVE THE TUMBLER | To be whipped at the carts tail. | 1811 |
