1854. Thackeray, The Rose and the Ring, p. 100. Ha! said the king, you dare to say gammon to your sovereign.
1861. A. Trollope, Framley Parsonage, ch. iv. Gammon, said Mr. Gowerby; and as he said it he looked with a kind of derisive smile into the clergyman’s face.
Gammon and Patter, subs. phr. (thieves’).—1. (old).—The language used by thieves; 2. (modern).—A meeting; a palaver. (q.v.). 3. Commonplace talk of any kind.
1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 150. Gammon and Patter is the language of cant, spoke among themselves: when one of them speaks well, another says he gammons well.
1811. Lex. Bal. s.v. Gammon and Patter. Commonplace talk of any kind.
To give (or keep) in gammon. verb. phr. (thieves’).—To engage a person’s attention while a confederate is robbing him.
1719. Capt. Alex. Smith, Thieves’ Grammar, s.v.
1821. Haggart, Life, p. 51. Bagrie called the woman of the house, kept her in gammon in the back room, while I returned and brought off the till. Ibid., p. 68. I whidded to the Doctor and he gave me gammon.
To Gammon Lushy (or queer, etc.). verb. phr. (thieves’).—To feign drunkenness, sickness, etc.
To Gammon the Twelve. verb. phr. (thieves’).—To deceive the jury.