Du reste, c’est un flanche, vous voulez me le mettre ... je la connais.—V. Hugo.
(Popular) Mettre la tête à la fenêtre, to be guillotined. See [Fauché]. Mettre une pousse, to strike, to thrash, “to wallop;” —— à pied, to dismiss from one’s employment temporarily or permanently; —— quelqu’un dans la pommade, to beat one at a game; —— en bringue, to smash; —— des gants sur ses salsifis, to put gloves on; —— la table pour les asticots, to become food for the worms. See [Pipe]. Mettre sous presse, to pawn, to put “in lug.” Se —— sur les fonts de baptême, to get involved in some difficulty, to be in a fix, in a “hole.” (Theatrical) Se —— en rang d’oignons is said of actors who place themselves in a line in front of the foot-lights. Formerly mettre en rang d’oignons meant to admit one into a company on an equal standing with the others. (Thieves’) Mettre en dedans, to break open a door, “to strike a jigger;” —— la pogne dessus, to steal, “to nim.” From the old English nim, to take, says the Slang Dictionary. Motherwell, the Scotch poet, thought the old word nim (to snatch or pick up) was derived from nam, nam, the tiny words or cries of an infant when eating anything which pleases its little palate. A negro proverb has the word:—
Buckra man nam crab,
Crab nam buckra man.
Or, in the buckra man’s language,
White man eat (for steal) the crab,
And then crab eat the white man.
Shakespeare evidently had the word nim in his head when he portrayed Nym. Mettre une gamelle, to escape from prison. Se —— à table, to inform against one, “to blow the gaff,” “to nick.” See [Grinchir].
En v’là un malheur si la daronne et les frangines allaient se mettre à table.—Vidocq. (That’s a misfortune if the mother and the sisters inform.)
(Popular and thieves’) Se —— en bombe, to escape from prison.