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

New York, 1859

It is a curious fact connected with slang that a great number of vulgar words common in England are equally common in the United States; and when we remember that America began to people two centuries ago, and that these colloquialisms must have crossed the sea with the first emigrants, we can form some idea of the antiquity of popular or street language. Many words, owing to the caprices of fashion or society, have wholly disappeared in the parent country, whilst in the colonies they are yet heard. The words SKINK, to serve drink in company, and the old term MICHING or MEECHING, skulking or playing truant, for instance, are still in use in the United States, although nearly, if not quite, obsolete here.

BEAUMONT and FLETCHER’S Comedy of The Beggar’s Bush, 4to, 1661, or any edition.

Contains numerous cant words.

BEE’S (Jon.) Dictionary of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, the Pit, the Bon Ton, and the Varieties of Life, forming the completest and most authentic Lexicon Balatronicum hitherto offered to the notice of the Sporting World, by Jon. Bee [i.e. John Badcock], Esq., Editor of the Fancy, Fancy Gazette, Living Picture of London, and the like of that, 12mo.

1823

This author published books on Stable Economy under the name of Hinds. He was the sporting rival of Pierce Egan. Professor Wilson, in an amusing article in Blackwood’s Magazine, reviewed this work.

BEE’S (Jon.) Living Picture of London for 1828, and Stranger’s Guide through the Streets of the Metropolis; shewing the Frauds, the Arts, Snares, and Wiles of all descriptions of Rogues that everywhere abound, 12mo.

1828

Professes to be a guide to society, high and low, in London, and to give an insight into the language of the streets.