1700. Congreve, The Way of the World, iv. 4. Ah, rustic, ruder than Gothic!
1773. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, ii., 8. Why, with his usual Gothic vivacity, he said I only wanted him to throw off his wig to convert it into a tête for my own wearing.
Go-to-meeting Bags (or Clothes, Dress, etc.), subs. phr. (common).—Best clothes. [As worn on Sundays, or holiday occasions.]
1837–40. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, p. 243 (Ed. 1862). If he hadn’t his go-to-meetin’ dress and looks on this day to the jury, it’s a pity.
1854. Bradley, Verdant Green, Pt. II., p. 5. Besides his black go-to-meeting bags please to observe the peculiarity, etc. [[189]]
1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s Schooldays, pt. II., ch. v. I want to give you a true picture of what every-day school life was in my time, and not a kid-glove and go-to-meeting-coat picture.
1857. Kingsley, Two Years Ago. Looks right well in her go-to-meeting clothes.
Gouge, subs. (American).—An imposture; a swindle; a method of cheating.
1845. New York Tribune, 10 Dec. R—— and H—— will probably receive from Mr. Polk’s administration $100,000 more than respectable printers would have done the work for. There is a clean, plain gouge of this sum out of the people’s strong box.
Verb. (old).—1. Grose says, ‘To squeeze out a man’s eye with the thumb, a cruel practice used by the Bostonians in America.’