To play the goat. verb. phr. (common).—1. To play the fool; to monkey (q.v.). Fr., faire l’oiseau.
2. (venery).—To lead a fast life; to be given to molrowing (q.v.).
To ride the goat, verb. phr. (common).—To be initiated into a secret society. [From the vulgar error that a live goat, for candidates to ride, is one of the standing properties of a Masonic lodge.]
Goatee, subs. (colloquial).—A tufted beard on the point of a shaven chin. [In imitation of the tuft of hair on a goat’s chin.]
English Synonyms (for a beard generally).—Charley; imperial; Newgate (or sweep’s) frill, or fringe.
French Synonyms.—Une marmouse (thieves’); un impériale (colloquial: formerly une royale); un bouc or une bouquine (= a goatee); bacchantes (thieves’: the beard, but more especially the whiskers, from bâche = awning).
German Synonym.—Soken (from the Hebrew; also = old man).
Italian Synonyms.—Bosco di berlo (the forest on the face); settosa (= full of hair); spinola (= thorny).
Spanish Synonym.—Bosque (= wood).
1869. Orchestra, 18 June. Working carpenters with a straggling goatee on the chin, and a mass of unkempt hair on the head.