A Dictionary of Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words / Used at the Present Day in the Streets of London; the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; the Houses of Parliament; the Dens of St. Giles; and the Palaces of St. James.

John Camden Hotten

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

CONTENTS.

THE HISTORY OF CANT, OR, THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF VAGABONDS.

ACCOUNT OF THE HIEROGLYPHICS USED BY VAGABONDS.

THE HISTORY OF SLANG, OR THE VULGAR LANGUAGE OF FAST LIFE.

A DICTIONARY OF MODERN SLANG, CANT, and VULGAR WORDS; MANY WITH THEIR ETYMOLOGIES TRACED.

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE BACK SLANG, THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF COSTERMONGERS.

GLOSSARY OF THE BACK SLANG.

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE RHYMING SLANG, THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF CHAUNTERS AND PATTERERS.

GLOSSARY OF THE RHYMING SLANG.

THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR LANGUAGE; OR A LIST

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, and c.

Footnotes

New Books Published by JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN, 151B , PICCADILLY.

Transcriber's Notes

A CADGER’S MAP OF A BEGGING DISTRICT.

EXPLANATION OF THE HIEROGLYPHICS.

☓ [Cross] NO GOOD; too poor, and know too much.
◠+ [Semicircle plus cross] STOP,—if you have what they want, they will buy. They are pretty “fly” (knowing).
⸧— [Forked branch] GO IN THIS DIRECTION, it is better than the other road. Nothing that way.
◇ [Diamond] BONE (good). Safe for a “cold tatur,” if for nothing else. “Cheese your patter” (don’t talk much) here.
▽ [Downward pointing triangle] COOPER’D (spoilt), by too many tramps calling there.
□ [Square] GAMMY (unfavourable), likely to have you taken up. Mind the dog.
☉ [Circle with dot] FLUMMUXED (dangerous), sure of a month in “quod” (prison).
⊕ [Circle with cross] RELIGIOUS, but tidy on the whole.

See page 37.

A DICTIONARY OF MODERN SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS,

USED AT THE PRESENT DAY IN THE STREETS OF LONDON; THE UNIVERSITIES OF OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE; THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT; THE DENS OF ST. GILES; AND THE PALACES OF ST. JAMES.

PRECEDED BY A HISTORY OF CANT AND VULGAR LANGUAGE; WITH GLOSSARIES OF TWO SECRET LANGUAGES, SPOKEN BY THE WANDERING TRIBES OF LONDON, THE COSTERMONGERS, AND THE PATTERERS.

By A LONDON ANTIQUARY.

“Rabble-charming words, which carry so much wild-fire wrapt up in them.”—South.

SECOND EDITION,
REVISED, WITH TWO THOUSAND ADDITIONAL WORDS.

LONDON:
JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN, PICCADILLY.
1860.

LONDON:
PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND GREENING, GRAYSTOKE-PLACE,
FETTER-LANE, E.C.

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