C
CAB-MOLL. A woman that keeps a bad house.
CACKLE. To blab. "The cove cackles"—tells all he knows.
CAD. A baggage-smasher; a railroad conductor.
CADGER. A beggar; a mean thief.
CADY. A hat.
CAG. Sulky; morose.
CAKE. An easy fool of a policeman; a flat cop.
CALF-SKIN FIDDLE. A drum.
CALLE. A gown.
CAM. Cambric, "Cam wiper." Cambric kerchief.
CAMESOR. A shirt or shift.
CAN. A dollar.
CAN'T SEE. Very drunk; so that he can not see a hole through a ladder.
CANARY-BIRD. A convict.
CANK. Dumb.
CANNIS COVE. A dog-man; a dog-merchant; a dog-thief.
CANT. A gift; to give.
CAP. To join in, "I will cap in with him"—I will appear to be his friend.
CAP BUNG. Hand it over; give it to me.
CAP YOUR LUCKY. Run away.
CAPER COVE. A dancing-master.
CAPPER. One who supports another's assertion, to assist in cheating, "The burner bammed the flat with sham books, and his pal capped in for him"—The sharp cheated the countryman with false cards, and his confederate assisted (capped) in the fraud.
CAPTAIN HEEMAN. A blustering fellow; a coward.
CAPTAIN TOPER. A smart highwayman.
CARAVAN. Plenty of cash; rich; money enough.
CARLER. A clerk.
CARREL. Jealous.
CART OF TOGS. A gift of clothes.
CASA. A house, "Tout that casa"—mark that house. "It is all bob; let's dub the gig of the casa"—Now the coast is clear; let us break open the door of the house.
CASE. A dollar.
CASS. Cheese.
CASSE. A house.
CAST. Course, "He traversed the cast"—he walked the course.
CASTER. A cloak.
CASTOR. A hat.
CAT. A drunken prostitute; a cross old woman; a muff; a pewter pot.
CAT AND MOUSE. Keeps house, "He keeps a cat and mouse."
CATAMARAN. An ugly woman.
CATCH-POLE. A constable.
CATTER. A crowbar.
CAVED. Gave up; surrendered.
CAXON. A wig.
CENTURY. One hundred dollars; one hundred.
CHAFER. The treadmill.
CHAFF. Humbug.
CHAFFEY. Boisterous; happy; jolly.
CHAFFING. Talking; bantering.
CHALK. To mark; to spot.
CHALK FARM. The arm.
CHALKS. To walk your chalks; to run away.
CHANT. Talk; to publish; to inform. "Give me your chant," Give me your name.
CHANT COVES. Reporters.
CHAPT. Dry; thirsty.
CHARLEY. A gold watch.
CHARLEY PRESCOT. A vest.
CHARM. A picklock.
CHATES. Gallows.
CHATTS. Lice. Chatt, a louse.
CHATTY FEEDER. A spoon.
CHEESE. Be silent; listen. "Cheese it, the coves are fly," be silent, the people understand us.
CHERRY PIPE. A pipe; a full-grown woman.
CHIE. Who is it? do you know?
CHIN. A child.
CHINK. Money.
CHINKERS. Handcuffs and leg-irons united by a chain; money.
CHIVE. A file or saw. "Chive your darbies," file your irons off.
CHIVEY. To scold.
CHOKER. A neckerchief.
CHOPPED UP. When large quantities of goods are sold to a receiver, they are divided into small lots, and put into various houses, and this is called "chopping up the swag."
CHOVEY. A shop or store.
CHRISTENING. Erasing the name of the maker from a stolen watch and putting another in its place.
CHUMP. Head.
CHURCH. A term of endearment, "My church."
CITY COLLEGE. The Tombs.
CLANKERS. Silver vessels.
CLARET. Blood.
CLEAN. Expert; smart.
CLEAR. Run; go away; be off.
CLERKED. Imposed upon. "The flat will not be clerked."
CLEYMANS. Artificial sores made by beggars to impose on the credulous.
CLICK. A blow; a thrust.
CLICKER. A knock down.
CLINK. To grab; to snatch; be quick; start.
CLOUT. Handkerchief.
CLOWER. A basket.
CLY. A pocket.
CLY-FAKING. Picking pockets.
COACHWHEEL. A dollar.
COCK AND HEN CLUB. A place frequented by thieves of both sexes.
COCKED HIS TOES UP. Dead. "He is dead."
COCUM. Sly; wary.
COFFEE. Beans.
COG. To cheat; to impose; a tooth.
COGLIONE. A fool; a woman's dupe; a fop.
COLD DECK. A prepared deck of cards played on a novice or "sucker."
COLD PIG. A person that has been robbed of his clothes.
COLLAR. To seize or take.
COLLARED. Taken; arrested.
COLLEGE. A State prison.
COLLEGE CHUM. A fellow-prisoner.
COLTMAN. One who lets horses and vehicles to burglars.
COMMISSION. A shirt or shift.
COMMISTER. A parson.
COMMIT. To inform.
CONFIDENCE MAN. A fellow that by means of extraordinary powers of persuasion gains the confidence of his victims to the extent of drawing upon their treasury, almost to an unlimited extent. To every knave born into the world it has been said that there is a due proportion of fools. Of all the rogue tribe, the Confidence man is, perhaps, the most liberally supplied with subjects; for every man has his soft spot, and nine times out of ten the soft spot is softened by an idiotic desire to overreach the man that is about to overreach us. This is just the spot on which the Confidence man works. He knows his subject is only a knave wrongside out, and accordingly he offers him a pretended gold watch at the price of a brass one; he calls at the front door with presents from no where, as none could be expected; he writes letters in the most generous spirit, announcing large legacies to persons who have no kin on the face of the earth who cares a copper for them. The Confidence man is perfectly aware that he has to deal with a man who expects a result without having worked for it, who gapes, and stands ready to grasp at magnificent returns. The consequence is, that the victim—the confiding man—is always done. The one plays a sure game; his sagacity has taught him that the great study of the mass of mankind is to get something and give nothing; but as this is bad doctrine, he wakes up out of his "brown study," and finds himself, in lieu of his fine expectations, in possession of a turnip for a watch, a cigar-box in place of a casket. The Confidence man always carries the trump card; and whoever wishes to be victimized can secure his object by making a flat of himself in a small way, while attempting to victimize somebody else.
CONK. The nose.
CONSOLATION. Assassination. To kill a man, is to give him consolation.
CONVENIENT. A mistress.
COOK. Melt; dissolve.
COPBUSY. The act of handing over stolen property by a thief to one of his pals for the purpose of preventing its being found on him if arrested.
COPPED. Arrested. "The knuck was copped to rights, a skin full of honey was found in his kick's poke by the copper when he frisked him," the pickpocket was arrested, and when searched by the officer, a purse was found in his pantaloons pocket full of money.
COPPED TO RIGHTS. Arrested on undoubted evidence of guilt.
CORINTH. A bad house.
CORINTHIANS. Bad women who move in respectable society.
CORN-THRASHERS. Farmers.
COUPLE. To live with.
COVE or COVEY. A man.
COVER. The follow that covers the pickpocket while he is operating.
COVING. Palming; stealing jewelry before the face and eyes of the owner, or person that is selling it.
COW. A dilapidated prostitute.
COW JUICE. Milk.
COW'S GREASE. Butter.
COWS AND KISSES. Miss, or the ladies.
CRABS. Feet.
CRACK. To force; to burst open.
CRACKSMAN. A burglar who uses force instead of picklocks or false keys.
CRAMMER. A falsehood.
CRAMP WORDS. Sentence of death.
CRAMP-RINGS. Shackles or handcuffs.
CRAMPED. Killed; murdered; hanged.
CRAMPING CULL. Executioner; hangman.
CRANKY. Mad; insane.
CRANKY-HUTCH. An insane asylum.
CRASH. To kill. "Crash that cull," kill that fellow.
CREAMY. Secretly.
CREATURE. Liquor.
CREEME. To slip money into the hands of another.
CRIB. A house.
CROAKE. To murder; to die.
CROAKED. Dead.
CROAKERS. Newspapers.
CROKUS. A doctor. "The cove sold a stiff un to a crokus for twenty cases," the rogue sold a corpse to a doctor for twenty dollars.
CROSLEITE. To cheat a friend.
CROSS. Dishonest.
CROSS-COVE. A thief; any person that lives in a dishonest way is said to be "on the cross," from the fact that highwaymen were in the habit of waiting for their victims on the cross-roads.
CROSS-DRUM. A drinking-place where thieves resort.
CROSS-FANNING. Picking a pocket with the arms folded across the chest. A knuck in the front rank of a crowd desiring to steal a watch from the pocket of a gentleman standing on either side of him, first folds his arms across his breast; and pretending to be intensely looking at some object before him, stretches out the arm next his victim, and by rapid movements of his fingers and hands excites his attention, and, while in this attitude, with the hand which is stretched across his own breast, he twists the watch from the other's pocket.
CROSSED. To meet another and pass him. "The swell moved as he crossed me," the gentleman bowed as he passed me.
CROW. The crow is the fellow that watches outside when his accomplices are inside, and gives them warning of the approach of danger.
CRUMEY. Fat; pockets full; plenty.
CRUMP. One who procures false witnesses.
CRUSHER. A policeman.
CUES. The points.
CUFFIN QUEERS. Magistrates.
CUFFIR. A man.
CULING. Snatching reticules and purses from ladies.
CULL. A man; sometimes a partner.
CUPBOARD LOVE. He or she loves only for what they can get.
CUPSHOT. Drunk.
CURBINGLAW. Stealing goods out of windows.
CURLERS. Fellows who sweat gold coins by putting them in a bag, and after violently shaking, gather the dust.
CURTISONS. Broken-down lawyers; Tombs skinners.
CUSSINE. A male.
CUT. To abandon; to renounce acquaintance; drunk; "Half cut," half drunk.
CUT BENE. Pleasant words; to speak kind.
CUT UP. "The jug cut up very fat, and the gonniffs all got their regulars; there was no sinking in that mob," the bank was very rich, and the thieves all received their share; there was no cheating in that gang.
CUTTER. A peculiar instrument that first-class screwsmen (burglars) use for cutting through iron chests, doors, etc.
CUTTING HIS EYES. Beginning to see; learning; suspicious.
CUTTY-EYED. To look out of the corner of the eyes; to look suspicious; to leer; to look askance. "The copper cutty-eyed us," the officer looked suspicious at us.