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

BREECHED, or TO HAVE THE BAGS OFF, to have plenty of money; “to be well BREECHED,” to be in good circumstances.

BREECHES, “to wear the BREECHES,” said of a wife who usurps the husband’s prerogative.

BREEKS, breeches.—Scotch, now common.

BRICK, a “jolly good fellow;” “a regular BRICK,” a staunch fellow.

“I bonnetted Whewell, when we gave the Rads their gruel,

And taught them to eschew all their addresses to the Queen.

If again they try it on, why to floor them I’ll make one,

Spite of Peeler or of Don, like a BRICK and a Bean.”

The Jolly Bachelors, Cambridge, 1840.

Said to be derived from an expression of Aristotle, τετραγωνος ἀνηρ.