»The Mater gave me half-a-crown a week for pocket-money.» (Sketches 81. 9.)
The same.
»The pater came to the conclusion that it was time he laid down a dog.» (Novel Notes 48. 18.)
The same.
The commonest familiar names for the parents on the lips of the average public schoolboy.
plough
«You have been ploughed then?» (Prude’s Progress).
Schoolboy slang for to be rejected in an examination.
Cf. the synonymous to be plucked and to be spun.