1890. Illustrated Bits, 29 Mar., p. 11, c. 1. And a few nights with empty benches laid the ghost completely. It could not even walk to the tune of quarter salaries.
The ghost of a chance, subs. phr. (colloquial).—The faintest likelihood, or the slightest trace: e.g., He hasn’t the ghost of a chance.
1891. Sportsman, 26 Mar. He did not give the ghost of a chance.
Ghoul, subs. (American.)—1. A spy; specifically a man who preys on such married women as addict themselves to assignation houses.
2. (journalistic).—A newspaper chronicler of the smallest private tittle-tattle.
Gib, subs. (colloquial).—1. Gibraltar. Once a penal station: whence—2. A gaol.
1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 221. I did a lagging of seven, and was at the gib three out of it.
1892. Pall Mall Gazette, 23 Mar., p. 6, c. 1. ‘Stormy Weather at gib.’ The weather here has been fearful; 51 inches of rain have been registered, and the land for miles round Gibraltar is submerged.
To hang one’s gib, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To pout. See Jib.
Gibberish (or Gebberish, Gibberidge, Gibrige, etc.), subs. (old: now recognised).—Originally the lingo of gipsies, beggars, etc. Now, any kind of inarticulate nonsense. [From gibber, a variant of Jabber.] See Cant, Slang, Pedlar’s French, etc.