Lantimèche, m. (popular), lamp-lighter; also a word equivalent to “thingumbob.” Il a filé avec —— pour mener les poules pisser, a derisive reply to one inquiring about the whereabouts of a person.
Lanturlu, m. (popular), madcap.
Laou Pharaou (Breton cant), body lice.
[Lapin], m. (popular), apprentice. Des lapins, shoes, or “trotter-cases.” (Familiar and popular) Lapin, a clever or sturdy fellow.
Ah! tu es un lapin! ... lui disaient tous ceux qu’il abordait, il paraît que tu viens de faire une fameuse découverte! on parle de toi pour la croix!—E. Gaboriau, M. Lecoq.
Etre en ——, to ride by the side of the coachman. Un —— de gouttière, cat, or “long-tailed beggar.” Coller or poser un ——, to deceive, to take in, “to bilk.” It is said the expression draws its origin from the practice of certain sportsmen who used to invite themselves to dinner at some friend’s house in the country, and repaid their host by leaving a rabbit as a compensation. The Slang Dictionary says that when a person gets the worst of a bargain he is said “to have bought the rabbit,” from an old story about a man selling a cat to a foreigner for a rabbit. With reference to deceiving prostitutes the act is described in the English slang as “doing a bilk.”
Je vous demande pardon, mais le vocable est consacré. “Poser un lapin” fut longtemps une définition malséante, bannie des salons où l’on cause. Maintenant, elle est admise entre gens de bonne compagnie, et le lapin cesse, dans les mots, de braver l’honnêteté.—Maxime Boucheron.
Un fameux, or rude ——, a strong fearless man, one who is “spry.”
L’homme qui me rendra rêveuse pourra se vanter d’être un rude lapin.—Gavarni.
Also a man who begets many children. Voler au ——, or étouffer un ——, is said of a bus conductor who swindles his employers by pocketing part of the fares. Mon vieux ——! old fellow! “old cock!” (Thieves’) Lapin ferré, mounted gendarme. (Printers’) Manger un ——, to attend a comrade’s funeral.