Roi de la mer, m. (popular), prostitute’s bully, “ponce.” See [Poisson].
Romagnol, or romagnon, m. (thieves’), hidden treasure.
Romain, m. (familiar), “claqueur,” or man paid to applaud at a theatre. An allusion to the practice of certain Roman emperors who had a kind of choir of official applauders.
Les Romains de Paris n’ont rien de commun avec les habitants de la ville aux sept collines.... Leur champ de bataille, c’est le parterre du théâtre ... en un mot les romains sont ces mêmes hommes que l’on nommait vulgairement autrefois des claqueurs.—Balzac.
Romaine, f. (popular), scolding. Also a mixture of rum and orgeat.
Romamitchel, romanitchel, or romanichel, m. (thieves’), gipsy. Romnichal in England, Spain, and Bohemia has the signification of gipsy man, and romne-chal, romaniche, is a gipsy woman. In England Romany is a gipsy, or the gipsy language—the speech of the Roma or Zincali Spanish gipsies, termed Gitanos. “Can you patter Romany?” i.e., Can you talk “black,” or gipsy “lingo.” See [Filendèche].
Romance. See [Camp].
Rome, f. (thieves’), aller, or passer à ——, to be reprimanded.
Romilly. See [Insurgé].
Romture, or rousture, f. (thieves’), man under police supervision.