Footlicker, subs. (old).—A servant: a lickspittle.
1609. Shakspeare, The Tempest, IV., 1. Do that good mischief which may make this island Thine for ever, and I, thy Caliban, For aye thy foot-licker. [[55]]
Footlights. To smell the footlights, verb. phr. (theatrical).—To acquire a taste for theatricals. [Footlights = the float (q.v.); the row of burners in front of the stage.]
To smell of the footlights. To carry theatrical concerns and phraseology into private life; to talk shop (q.v.).
Footman’s Inn, subs. phr. (old).—A poor lodging; a jail. Fr., Hôtel de la modestie = the Poor Man’s Arms.
1608. Penniles Parliament of Threedbare Poets. Those that depend on destiny, and not on God, may chance look through a narrow lattice at Footman’s Inn.
1612. Rowland, Knave of Hearts. Which at the heeles so hants his frighted ghost, That he at last in Footman’s-inne must host, Some castle dolorous compos’d of stone, Like (let me see) Newgate is such a one.
Footman’s Maund, subs. phr. (old).—An artificial sore, as from a horse’s bite or kick. The fox’s bite of schoolboys. Also the Scaldrum Dodge, or Maund (q.v.). Maund = a cadger’s sale-basket. Cf., Masons’ Maund.
1690. B. E., Dict. of the Canting Crew, s.v. An artificial sore made with unslacked lime, soap, and the rust of old iron, on the back of a beggar’s hand, as if hurt by the bite or kick of a horse.
1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulg. Tongue, s.v.