BILLINGSGATE (when applied to speech), foul and coarse language. Not many years since, one of the London notorieties was to hear the fishwomen at Billingsgate abuse each other. The anecdote of Dr. Johnson and the Billingsgate virago is well known.
BILLY, a silk pocket handkerchief.—Scotch.—See [WIPE].
⁂ A list of the slang terms descriptive of the various patterns of handkerchiefs, pocket and neck, is here subjoined:—
- Belcher, close striped pattern, yellow silk, and intermixed with white and a little black; named from the pugilist, Jim Belcher.
- Bird’s eye wipe, diamond spots.
- Blood-red
- fancy, red.
- Blue billy, blue ground with white spots.
- Cream fancy, any pattern on a white ground.
- Green king’s man, any pattern on a green ground.
- Randal’s man, green, with white spots; named after Jack Randal, pugilist.
- Water’s man, sky coloured.
- Yellow fancy, yellow, with white spots.
- Yellow man, all yellow.
BILLY-BARLOW, a street clown; sometimes termed a JIM CROW, or SALTIMBANCO,—so called from the hero of a slang song.—Bulwer’s Paul Clifford.
BILLY-HUNTING, buying old metal.
BIRD-CAGE, a four-wheeled cab.
BIT, fourpence; in America 12½ cents is called a BIT, and a defaced 20 cent piece is termed a LONG BIT. A BIT is the smallest coin in Jamaica, equal to 6d.
BIT, a purse, or any sum of money.
BIT-FAKER, or TURNER OUT, a coiner of bad money.