A Dictionary of Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words / Used at the Present Day in the Streets of London; the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; the Houses of Parliament; the Dens of St. Giles; and the Palaces of St. James.

by John Camden Hotten

A CADGER’S MAP OF A BEGGING DISTRICT.

EXPLANATION OF THE HIEROGLYPHICS.

• NO GOOD; too poor, and know too much.
• STOP,—if you have what they want, they will buy. They are pretty “fly” (knowing).
• GO IN THIS DIRECTION, it is better than the other road. Nothing that way.
• BONE (good). Safe for a “cold tatur,” if for nothing else. “Cheese your patter” (don’t talk much) here.
• COOPER’D (spoilt), by too many tramps calling there.
• GAMMY (unfavourable), likely to have you taken up. Mind the dog.
• FLUMMUXED (dangerous), sure of a month in “quod” (prison).
• RELIGIOUS, but tidy on the whole.

[See page 37.]

A DICTIONARY OF MODERN SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS,

USED AT THE PRESENT DAY IN THE STREETS OF LONDON; THE UNIVERSITIES OF OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE; THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT; THE DENS OF ST. GILES; AND THE PALACES OF ST. JAMES.

PRECEDED BY A HISTORY OF CANT AND VULGAR LANGUAGE; WITH GLOSSARIES OF TWO SECRET LANGUAGES, SPOKEN BY THE WANDERING TRIBES OF LONDON, THE COSTERMONGERS, AND THE PATTERERS.

By A LONDON ANTIQUARY.

“Rabble-charming words, which carry so much wild-fire wrapt up in them.”—South.