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

SUIT, a watch and seals.

SULKY, a one-horse chaise, having only room for one person.

SUN IN THE EYES, to have too much drink.—Dickens.

SUP, abbreviation of supernumerary.—Theatrical.

SUPER, a watch; SUPER-SCREWING, stealing watches.

SURF, an actor who frequently pursues another calling.—Theat.

SWADDLER, a Wesleyan Methodist; a name originally given to members of that body by the Irish mob; said to have originated with an ignorant Romanist, to whom the words of the English Bible were a novelty, and who, hearing one of John Wesley’s preachers mention the swaddling clothes of the Holy Infant, in a sermon on Christmas-day at Dublin, shouted out in derision, “A swaddler! a swaddler!” as if the whole story were the preacher’s invention.—Southey’s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 109.

SWADDY, or COOLIE, a soldier. The former was originally applied to a discharged soldier, and perhaps came from shoddy, of which soldiers’ coats are made.

SWAG, a lot or plenty of anything, a portion or division of property. In Australia the term is used for the luggage carried by diggers: in India the word LOOT is used. Scotch, SWEG, or SWACK; German, SWEIG, a flock. Old cant for a shop.

SWAG, booty, or plundered property; “collar the SWAG,” seize the booty.