TURPIN - he was a right bastard

The Dark and Dirty Deeds of Dick

Tuesday, May 23

Bare Bones


BONES. Dice.
TO COG. To cheat with dice; also to coax or wheedle, To cog a die; to conceal or secure a die. To cog a dinner; to wheedle one out of a dinner.
DISPATCHERS. Loaded or false dice.
DOCTORS. Loaded dice, that will run but two or three chances. They put the doctors upon him; they cheated him with loaded dice.
DOWN HILLS. Dice that run low.
DRIBBLE. A method of pouring out, as it were, the dice from the box, gently, by which an old practitioner is enabled to cog one of them with his fore-finger.
ELBOW SHAKER. A gamester, one who rattles Saint Hugh's bones, i.e. the dice.
FULHAMS. Loaded dice are called high and lowmen, or high and low fulhams, by Ben Jonson and other writers of his time; either because they were made at Fulham, or from that place being the resort of sharpers.
HIGH JINKS. A gambler at dice, who, having a strong head, drinks to intoxicate his adversary, or pigeon.
LONG GALLERY. Throwing, or rather trundling, the dice the whole length of the board.
MUMCHANCE. An ancient game like hazard, played with dice: probably so named from the silence observed in playing at it.
TO NAP. To cheat at dice by securing one chance.
To NICK. To win at dice, to hit the mark just in the nick of time, or at the critical moment.
PASSAGE. A camp game with three dice: doublets, making up ten or more, to pass or win; any other chances lose.
RATTLE. A dice-box.
SHAKE. To shake one's elbow; to game with dice.
SHARPER. A cheat, one that lives by his wits. Sharpers tools; a fool and false dice.
SLUR. To slur, is a method of cheating at dice: also to cast a reflection on any one's character, to scandalize.
STAMP. A particular manner of throwing the dice out of the box, by striking it with violence against the table.
TATS. False dice.
TAT MONGER. One that uses false dice.
UPHILLS. False dice that run high.

From: DICTIONARY OF THE VULGAR TONGUE:
A DICTIONARY OF BUCKISH SLANG, UNIVERSITY WIT,
AND PICKPOCKET ELOQUENCE
compiled by Captain Francis Grose (1811)

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