Clow, subs. (Winchester).—Pronounced clō. A box on the ear. [Possibly from clout. Halliwell, clow (Cumberland) = to scratch. Also clew (Glouc.) = a blow.] Also as verb: it was customary to preface the action by an injunction to “hold down.”
c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 140. The juniors did not get much fun out of the regular games, as their part consisted solely in kicking in the ball, and receiving divers kicks and CLOWS in return for their vigilance. Ibid., p. 39. Nor, when ordered to “hold down” (i.e. put your head in a convenient position) for a CLOW, would the victim dare to ward off the blow.
Club-keeper, subs. (Harrow).—A Captain of the side in a game: at cricket or football.
1820-5. Wordsworth [Letter, 1889]. The old ground which we played upon was too much upon a slope, and when I was one of the Club-keepers, and head of the eleven, a considerable sum was spent in endeavouring to improve it, and we succeeded in levelling a sufficient space for a tolerably good wicket.
Coach, subs. (formerly University and Public Schools: now common).—A private tutor; and in a transferred sense one who trains another in mental or physical acquirements: e.g. in Sanskrit, Shakspeare, cricket, or rowing. Analagous terms are Crammer, Feeder, and Grinder. Also as verb = to prepare for an examination by private instruction; to train: in general use both by coacher and coachee.
1846. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ch. v. The superb Cuff himself ... helped him on with his Latin verses, COACHED him in play-hours.
1850. F. E. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, ch. xxix. p. 240. Besides the regular college tutor, I secured the assistance of what, in the slang of the day, we irreverently termed a COACH.
1853. C. Bede, Verdant Green, pt. I., pp. 63-4. “That man is Cram, the patent safety. He’s the first COACH in Oxford.” “A COACH,” said our freshman in some wonder. “Oh, I forgot you didn’t know college slang. I suppose a royal mail is the only gentleman COACH you know of. Why, in Oxford a COACH means a private tutor, you must know; and those who can’t afford a COACH, get a cab, alias a crib, alias translation.”
1864. Eton School-days, ch. ix. p. 103. Lord Fitzwinton, one of the smallest and best COACHES—in aquatics—in the school.
1870. London Figaro, June 10, “Quadrille Conversation.” It is, we fear, Quixotic to hope that ladies and gentlemen invited to the same ball would COACH with the same master.