Crack.—The fashionable theme. The Go! All the crack! First-rate, as a crack article, an excellent one; crack a bottle, to drink; crack a crib, to break into a house; crack a canister, to break a man’s head; a crack-fencer, one who sells nuts; a crack hand, an adept; in a crack, in a moment; crack a kirk, to break into a church or chapel; crack, horses—men—races—regiments, &c., all first class of their kinds; crack-up, to praise; to crack a whid or wheeze, to make a joke, jokes or witticism; a crack-whip, a good coachman.
Crib.—A house, or an apartment.
Cribb’s Crib.—A slang alliteration for Tom Cribb’s house, the Union Arms, corner of Oxendon Street and Panton Street, Haymarket.
Cross.—A very general term for getting a living by dishonest means, and symbolized by placing the forefingers thus ╳, and is in direct opposition to being on the ◻, as implying honesty. A cross-fight, a sold prize fight. Cross-men, thieves and receivers of every degree. Cross-crib, a public-house where thieves “most do congregate.”
Crowdsman.—A fiddler.
Cubitt’s Machine.—The treadmill.
Cucumbers.—Tailors, because both are seedy.
Cut along Coaches.—The accidents of life.
Cyprians.—Women of loose morals. So called from the Island of Cyprus, one of the chief seats of the worship of Venus, hence called Cypria.
Cruikshank, Isaac Robert.—Caricaturist, born 1791. Illustrated many books, &c., including Pierce Egan’s, “The Finish to the Adventures of Tom, Jerry, and Logic, in their pursuits through Life in and out of London,” 1827. Died March 13, 1856.