The below is a list of some of the most interesting slang we’ve found during our research. If you have more, send us an email (with a source if you can), and we’ll add it here!
Alphonse – A man of position who accepts money from a woman older & richer than he for insalubrious actions.
Altogether – The nude “He saw me in the Altogether!!!”
Angel-Makers – Baby Farmers
‘Appy Dosser – Someone without the funds to pay for a doss house
Argol-bargol – Similar to Argie-Bargie An Argument or row. (Also Barney)
Auctioneer – A fist (Because it knocks down)
Away – Euphemism for a man in prison.
Baby and Nurse – A small bottle of Soda Water & a two penny worth of spirit
Back-row-hopper – A man who browses a public house looking for someone to buy him a drink
Bagger – A person who steals rings by grabbing hands
Baned – Poisoned
Barmy – rather mad (also Cracked)
Barney – See Argol-bargol
Bastile – Any place of dentention (ie workhouse, prison)
Batter – To beat – Also Batty-Fang
Batty-Fang – See Batter
Beef-Headed – Stupid
Beer Juggers – Bar Women
Belt – To assault
Bible Class (been to a) – A gentleman with two black eyes!
Binned – Hanged (Refers to Bartholomew Binns – Hangman)
Bit o’ Jam – An attractive young woman
Bitties – Skeleton Keys
Block – Police
Bonnet – To smash another’s hat other their eyes.
Bowl – to “find out” (in thieving)
Brace Up – To sell stolen goods
Brim – A fearless woman
Buff to the stuff – Accomplices who swear stolen property is theirs.
Build up – To dress up in better quality clothes
Bunter – The lowest form of female thief
Buttock and file – Shoplifter
Cackle-tub – Pulpit
Cant of togs – A gift of clothes
Cat – Woman (particularly a woman of uncertain temper)
Cheat – Gallows
Chive-fencer – Seller of cheap razors and knives
Chivy Duel – Knife fight
Chonkey – Meat pie
Chuck-bread – Waste bread, gone off that would normally be thrown
Church a Jack – To remove the workings of a watch and put them in another to disguise the fact that it was stolen
Cod (to) – Deceive with flattery
Con – Convict
Confidence Man – a target of a gambling con
Copper-Clawing – A fight between women
Crack a case – to break into a house
Cracksman – a burglar
Cross-life man – A lifelong criminal
Crush the stur – To escape prison
Cut a finger – To pass wind
Darbey – A haul of stolen goods
Devil’s luck and my own – No luck whatsoever
Digs – Lodgings
Dipping – Picking pockets
Disguised – Drunk
Diver – Pickpocket
Do a bust – Burglary
Dog Cheap – Very cheap
Dolly mop – An overdressed servant girl
Dook – A huge nose
Dookin – Sixpenny horoscopes
Dot and Carry One – Person with a wooden leg
Drop – Gallows
Drum – Cell
Edge – To do a runner
Fair cop – Undoubted arrest
Fairy – A debauched ugly old woman particularly when drunk
Far Away – Pawned “My best clothes are far away”
Feeding Birk – Cookshop
Fill, to give a – To give wrong directions or false information to a police man
Flag of distress – A boys shirt visible through the open seat of trousers
Flash – Fake gold coins
Flat Chicken – Stewed tripe
Foundling Temper – A bad temper
Fruit of the Gibbet – Hanged man
Gallersgood – Worthy of the gallows
Git a Bit – To get money or a woman
Glory Hole – Meeting place of the salvationists
Go on tick – get on credit
Going ‘ome – Dying
Got the Morbs – Temporary melancholia (sadness or depression)
Grave-Digger – Strong drink “I’ve had a beastly day, get me a grave-digger”
Grey – Silver
Half-up-the-pole – Half drunk
Harlequin Jack – A stuck up show off
Hum – attract attention
Inside – In the prison
Irish draperies – Cobwebs
Joint – Wife
Lap – Tea
Lend us your breath to kill jumbo – Bad breath
Lump of school – Fool
Macing – beating
Mary Ann – An effeminate man
Mended – Bandaged
Nail a strike – Steal a watch
Nark the Titter – Watch the woman
Nose Bagger – A day visitor to the seaside (with his lunch bag)
On his ear – In disgrace
One of them – A shilling
Par-banging – Going on the tramp for work
Peeler – Police
Physic-Bottle – Doctor
Pin – To pawn ones clothes
Potty – Tinker
Put the light out – Kill
Put the windows in – smash windows
Quid Fishing – Skilled thieving
Readied the Rosser – Bribed the police
Reddings – Watches
Rig Sale – Swindle
Serve – To be imprisoned
Set About – To assault
Shake yer toe-rag – Run away
Shov – Knife or dagger
Slaughter-House – The Surrey Sessions
Sneaking-budge – Shop-lifting
Souper & Slang – Watch & chain
Soupy – Drunk to sickness
Spooning the Burick – Sleeping with the wife of a friend
Stick a bust – Commit a burglary
Sub Rosa – In secret
Take care of – To arrest
Tip the velvet – Kiss with the point of the tongue
Translate the truth – Lie evasively
Tripe (six foot of) – A giant policeman
Turn-up – Acquittal
Vardy the Carsey – Case the joint
Water-bottle – Total abstainer
Worry the dog – Bully