1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 12 Sep., p. 2, c. 3. We wondered yesterday how many of our classical readers would see the howler—or the joke.
Howling, adj. (common).—A general intensitive. E.g., Howling-swell = a man in the extreme of fashion; howling-lie = a gross falsehood; howling-bags = trousers extravagant in cut or pattern; howling-cad, etc. [[369]]
1865. G. A. Sala, Trip to Barbary, ch. vii. The hotel at Marseilles was full of our countrymen of the order known at Lane’s and Limmer’s as howling swells.
1887. Household Words, 11 June, 116. Let’s hook it; that Jenny Morris is such an howling swell that she won’t wait for any one.
1889. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 8 Feb. The Hon. Juggins was what is popularly known as a howling swell.
1892. Anstey, Model Music-Hall, 146. And all the while your heart was given to a howling cad.
Hoxter, subs. (old).—1. An inside pocket.
1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood bk. III., ch. v. No slour’d hoxter my snipes could stay.
2. (Royal Military Academy).—Extra drill. [Corruption of extra.] Fr., le bal.
1887. Barrère, Argot and Slang. The hoxter consists in the painful ordeal of being compelled to turn out of bed at an early hour, and march up and down under the watchful eye of a corporal.