FIDDLING, doing any odd jobs in the streets, holding horses, carrying parcels, &c., for a living. Among the middle classes, FIDDLING means idling away time, or trifling; and amongst sharpers, it means gambling.
FID FAD, a game similar to chequers, or drafts, played in the West of England.
FIDLUM BEN, thieves who take anything they can lay their hands upon.
FIELD-LANE-DUCK, a baked sheep’s head. Field-lane is a low London thoroughfare, leading from the foot of Holborn-hill to the purlieus of Clerkenwell. It was formerly the market for stolen pocket handkerchiefs.
FIG, “to FIG a horse,” to play improper tricks with one in order to make him lively.
FIG, “in full FIG,” i.e., full dress costume, “extensively got up.”
FIGURE, “to cut a good or bad FIGURE,” to make a good or indifferent appearance; “what’s the FIGURE?” how much is to pay? Figure-head, a person’s face.—Sea term.
FILCH, to steal, or purloin. Originally a cant word, derived from the FILCHES, or hooks, thieves used to carry, to hook clothes, or any portable articles from open windows.—Vide Decker. It was considered a cant or Gipsey term up to the beginning of the last century. Harman has “FYLCHE, to robbe.”
FILE, a deep, or artful man, a jocose name for a cunning person. Originally a term for a pickpocket, when TO FILE was to cheat or rob. File, an artful man, was used in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
FILLIBRUSH, to flatter, praise ironically.