1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
Galley-growler or -stoker, subs. (nautical).—A loafer; a malingerer (q.v.); a grumble-guts (q.v.).
Galley-halfpenny, subs. (old).—A base coin, tempus Henry IV. [So called because it was commonly imported in the Genoese galleys. See Leake, English Money, p. 129; Ruding, Annals of Coinage, i., 250; and Stow, Survey (ed. 1842) p. 50.]
Galley-Slave, subs. (printers’).—A compositor. [From the oblong tray whereon the matter from the composing stick is arranged in column or page.] For synonyms, see Donkey.
1683. Moxon, s.v.
Galleywest, adj. or adv. (American).—An indefinite superlative. Cf., About-east.
1884. Clemens, (M. Twain) Huck. Finn, xxxvii., 382. Then she grabbed up the basket and slammed it across the house, and knocked the cat galleywest.
1887. Francis, Saddle and Mocassin (quoted in Slang, Jargon, and Cant). I’ll be darned if this establishment of yours, Hunse, don’t knock any one of them galley-west!—galleywest, sir, that’s what it does.
Galley-yarn (or news), subs. phr. (nautical).—A lying story; a swindle or take-in (q.v.). Frequently abbreviated to ‘G.Y.’