Coupe-lard, m. (popular), knife.
Couper (popular), to fall into a snare; to accept as correct an assertion which is not so; to believe the statement of more or less likely facts; —— dans le pont, or —— dans le ceinturon, to swallow a fib, to fall into a snare.
Vidocq dit comme ça qu’il vient du pré, qu’il voudrait trouver des amis pour goupiner. Les autres coupent dans le pont (donnent dans le panneau).—Vidocq.
Couper la chique, to disappoint; to abash; —— la gueule à quinze pas, to stink; —— la musette, or le sifflet, to cut the throat; —— le trottoir, to place one in the necessity of leaving the pavement by walking as if there were no one in the way, or when walking behind a person to get suddenly in front of him; (military) —— l’alfa, or la verte, to drink absinthe. Ne pas y ——, not to escape; not to avoid; to disbelieve. Vous n’y couperez pas, you will not escape punishment. Je n’y coupe pas, I don’t take that in. (Coachmens’) Couper sa mèche, to die. See [Pipe]. (Gambling cheats’) Couper dans le pont, to cut a pack of cards prepared in such a manner as to turn up the card required by sharpers. The cards are bent in a peculiar way, and in such a manner that the hand of the player who cuts must naturally follow the bend, and separate the pack at the desired point. This cheating trick is used in England as well as France, and is termed in English slang the “bridge.”
Coupe-sifflet, m. (thieves’), knife, “chive.” Termed also “lingre, vingt-deux, surin.”
Courant, m. (thieves’), dodge. Connaître le ——, to be up to a dodge.
Courasson, m. (familiar), one whose bump of amativeness is well developed, in other terms, one too fond of the fair sex. Vieux ——, old debauchee, old “rip.”
Courbe, f. (thieves’), shoulder; —— de marne, shoulder of mutton.
Les marquises des cagous ont soin d’allumer le riffe et faire riffoder la criolle; les uns fichent une courbe de morne, d’autres un morceau de cornant, d’autres une échine de baccon, les autres des ornies et des ornichons.—Le Jargon de l’Argot.