THE THIEF LANGUAGE.
The thieves of the city have a language, or argot, peculiar to themselves. Those who have been raised to the business use this argot to such an extent, that a stranger finds it as impossible to understand them as he would if they were speaking in a foreign tongue. The Detectives' Manual gives a glossary of this language, from which we take the following specimens, to be found in that work, under the head of the letter B.:
Badger.—A panel-thief.
Bagged.—Imprisoned.
Bag of nails.—All in confusion.
Balram.—Money.
Bandog.—A civil officer.
Barking irons.—Pistols.
Bene.—Good, first-rate.
Benjamin.—A coat.
Bilk.—To cheat.
Bill of sale.—A widow's weeds.
Bingo.—Liquor.
Bingo boy.—A drunken man.
Bingo mort.—A drunken woman.
Blue-billy.—A strange handkerchief.
Blue ruin.—Bad gin.
Boarding-school.—The penitentiary.
Bone box.—The mouth.
Bowsprit in parenthesis.—A pulled nose.
Brother of the blade.—A soldier.
Brother of the bolus.—A doctor.
Brush.—To flatter, to humbug.
Bug.—A breast-pin.
Bugger.—A pickpocket.
Bull.—A locomotive.
Bull-traps.—Rogues who personate officials to extort money.
We could multiply these examples, but the above are sufficient to illustrate this branch of our subject.