by Edward Cline
battalion Two or more companies within an infantry regiment. See BRIGADE, COMPANY, REGIMENT.
beat to windward 1. To sail against the wind; 2. to oppose a trend, consensus or fashion. See also SOLDIER’S WIND.
bench A judge’s seat, or the office of judge; a division of a higher court; collectively, judges and magistrates.
bencher A senior member of one of the Inns of Court who shared in management of an Inn. See INNS OF COURT.
benefit of clergy A condition of criminal sentencing, by which a defendant was granted a pardon if he could read, especially the Bible.
benefit of clergy, without A condition of criminal sentencing, regardless of a defendant’s literacy.
big wig A gentleman, or member of the landed gentry. So called because of the more expensive perukes or wigs worn by this set.
bill 1. A quantity of printer’s type, in various fonts, usually weighing 500 pounds; 2. a tabulation of charges for goods or services.
bill of exchange A commercial instrument, or a draft on a merchant’s account, as good as currency, but based on credit; a written order to pay a sum to a drawer or to a named payee, usually dated.
bingo Brandy or other sweet alcohol.
blackleg A swindler.
blanc mange A dessert of opaque jelly of corn-flour and milk.
bottom 1. Courage; capacity to endure hardship; 2. that part of a vessel below its water line.
breakfast In the eighteenth century, a morning meal, taken about 8 o’clock. See DINNER, SUPPER.
brig A two-masted sailing ship, square-rigged on both masts, with two or more headsails and a quadrilateral gaff sail or spanker aft of the mizzenmast, and armed with ten to twelve guns. Brigs were often used as prisoner-of-war billets.
brigade An infantry unit usually consisting of three battalions. See BATTALION, COMPANY, REGIMENT.
brigantine A two-masted sailing ship, square-rigged on the foremast, having a for-and-aft mainsail with square main topsails.
bumbo A cheap drink of rum, sugar, and water. A variation was bumpo.
butt A barrel of beer or wine, equal to about two hogsheads. See HOGSHEAD, PUNCHEON.
C
caitiff A man of base, cowardly, or despicable character.
callidity Shrewdness.
cambist A dealer in bills of exchange, often forged or counterfeit.
canister An “encased” shot for close range artillery action. See CASE.
capon A domestic rooster, castrated and fattened for food.
carcass An incendiary shell fired by naval or land artillery containing embers designed to explode on an enemy vessel or position to start a fire. See SABOT.
case An artillery munition, consisting of bagged musket shot the size of marbles, designed to inflict maximum casualties. See CANISTER, GRAPE.
casuist 1. A theologian or ombudsman who resolves questions of duty, conscience, and related moral matters; 2. a sophist or quibbler.
catchpole A constable or bailiff, especially one who arrests for debt. See BAILIFF, CONSTABLE, SHERIFF, WATCHMAN.
chamade A military drum signal calling for a parley between opposing forces.
Chancery A court of equity in the civil court system. See INNS OF COURT.
chap In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a term of mild contempt for a stranger or intruder.
chapbook A cheap, small book (usually 15-24 pages) that contained news, laws, and folk wisdom, which sold for a penny.
chapman An itinerant purveyor of miscellaneous wares, including chapbooks, in rural England. See HIGGLER.
chilblain(s) A malady marked by the itching or swelling of a hand or foot, caused by exposure to the cold and poor circulation.
chocolate pot A pot of either copper or salt-glazed stoneware for serving hot chocolate.
cockalorum 1. A self-important little man; 2. a children’s game like leapfrog.
cocket A customs house certificate of specifically labeled and destined goods on board a merchant ship. See DOCKET, DUTY, MANIFEST.
cogger A flatterer, a wheedler. “To cog: to lie, to wheedle.” (Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary) A variation is codger.
Cogita mori “Think upon death.” (Latin)
Common Pleas In eighteenth– and nineteenth–century Britain, a superior or supreme court whose venue was fixed in 1215 at Westminster Hall. Until then, like the King’s Bench, it sat wherever the monarch happened to be. See KING’S BENCH.
company 1. A social term for a group of guests; 2. in the eighteenthcentury British army, a unit consisting of one captain, two lieutenants, two sergeants, three corporals, one drummer, and thirty-eight privates, or a full company. See BATTALION, BRIGADE, REGIMENT.
coney A rabbit; fur from this animal (“coney wool”).
constable An officer (municipal or parish) of a county, parish, or township appointed to act as conservator of the peace and to perform a number of public administrative duties. See BALIFF, CATCHPOLE, SHERIFF.
copyhold The right to farm leased or rented land for one or more lifetimes within a family. The father was usually the copyholder. A copyhold was usually passed on to the eldest son. See ENTAIL, PRIMOGENITURE.
cornet 1. The standard or colors of a troop of cavalry; 2. The fifth commissioned officer in a troop of cavalry, who carried the colors, corresponding to an ensign in the army. See ENSIGN.
count A foreign nobleman corresponding to the rank of earl. The French style is comte.
Country-dance From the French contradance. A popular group dance of several couples in Britain and the American colonies. The forerunner of the American “square dance.”
crack A prostitute. See FIRESHIP.
crack lay A burglary in which force is used to enter a house. See DUB LAY, RUM LAY.
cresset An iron basket fitted to a pole in which pitch pine was burned to serve as street lighting or a source of warmth.
crimp To trap or entrap into military service; a person who entraps or forces a man into naval or army service. Eighteenth–century recruiting sergeants and officers were paid a bonus for each man who enlisted in Britain’s volunteer army. The navy, however, resorted to and relied upon impressment to fill its ranks. See IMPRESSMENT.
crimping house A house used by army recruiters to house recruits until they are sent to their regiments. See CRIMP.
crop note A receipt issued by colonial tobacco inspectors listing a planter’s hogsheads by mark and number; the gross, net, and tare weights of the tobacco; and specifying whether it was sweetscented or Oronoco, stemmed or leaf. In the American colonies, a crop note could be used as currency to purchase goods or pay debts. See TARE, TRANSFER NOTE.
currency Coin or bank notes. See DOLLAR, GUINEA, HALF-JOE, POUND, SPECIE.
custom A duty or tax on foreign imported goods. Distinct from an excise tax. See EXCISE, TARIFF.
D
daggle To splash with water and mud, or to run through muddy water.
device The forerunner of a trademark, usually a combination of a planter’s initials and a unique symbol that identified a planter’s hogshead of tobacco. See also PLANTER.
disseise In law, to wrongfully deprive or dispose of property or life.
dinner In the eighteenth century, the main meal taken in midday, around 2 o’clock. See BREAKFAST, SUPPER.
dissolve In government, the act of an executive, such as a colonial governor or Britain’s monarch, to end a legislative session. See PROROGUE.
docket A warrant from a customs house certifying that duties have been paid on imported goods. See COCKET, DUTY, MANIFEST.
dog-cart A two-wheeled cart with cross seats back-to-back (originally used to carry dogs).
dollar A Spanish milled silver coin, used in the colonies in lieu of scarce British hard currency, with a value of between two shillings sixpence and four and sixpence. The term first occurs in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. (From the Dutch daler, or German thaler.) See PISTOLE, SPECIE.
Dover’s powder An eighteenth–century patent medicine of
opium and the ipecacuanha root, taken or administered for almost any pain.
dragoon A mounted infantryman.
drawback In the eighteenth–century mercantilist system, a duty paid on imported goods, remitted or returned as a rebate to an importer when the goods have been cleared for re-export. In the eighteenth– century, tobacco planters were required to send their tobacco to Britain on British vessels, and were taxed for the “import” to Britain. Most tobacco imports were sent on to the Continent. British agents who stored the tobacco for re-export credited the planters’ accounts with the rebated duties.
Droit of Admiralty 1. The proceeds or booty from a captured enemy vessel; 2. colloquially, a wreck’s cargo claimed or seized by civilians living on a coast.
drum A tea party, so called because the tea was served on a drum table.
dub lay A burglary in which keys are used to enter a house. See also CRACK LAY, RUM LAY.
Duck Lane An eighteenth–century London street noted for its booksellers.
duffer An accomplice in tea smuggling, who sold untaxed tea to street hawkers or house to house.
duke The highest hereditary title of nobility; a sovereign prince who rules a duchy or small state; a royal prince. See BARON, BARONET, EARL, MARQUIS, VISCOUNT.
dulcify 1. To sweeten naturally acidic or bitter food; 2. to flatter.
dun To demand payment of a bill or debt; to take legal action against a debtor.
duty An impost or customs tax recoverable by law on goods imported, exported, or consumed. See CUSTOMS, EXCISE, TARIFF.
E
earl A nobleman ranking between a marquis (variation: marquess) and viscount. See BARON, BARONET, DUKE, MARQUIS, VISCOUNT.
embracery The crime of bribery. See BARRATRY.
encomium A formal essay marked by high-blown praise of, or glowing tribute to an author that introduced his book. It is now called a preface or introduction, and is more likely today to be more instructive, informative, and even objective.
English mobility The common people, or the mob. See MOB.
ensign In the eighteenth century, the lowest-ranking army officer (today a subaltern), corresponding to a CORNET in the cavalry, usually charged with minor command duties and with carrying a regiment’s colors; the regimental colors.
entail The custom or legally mandated practice of preserving a land estate so that it may pass on to a father’s first-born or eldest son. See COPYHOLD, PRIMOGENITURE.
epergne A serving platter of several levels or tiers for holding desserts, fruits, and sweetmeats.
esquire The title of gentry, immediately below a BARON or knight. In medieval times, a squire was a knight’s valet.
excise A duty or tax levied on goods or commodities produced or sold within a country, and also on various licenses. See CUSTOM, TARIFF.
F
fair-trader A “legitimate” merchant who paid all customs and excise taxes. See FREE-TRADER.
false cambist A counterfeiter or forger of paper currency and bills of exchange. See CAMBIST, CURRENCY, SPECIE.
faro A “banking” game in which players bet on cards drawn from a dealing box.
fathom A nautical term for a depth of six feet.
fatwit A dull, stupid person, made more so by strong drink.
firelock A smooth-bore, muzzle-loading musket. See WALLGUN.
fireship 1. A damaged naval vessel set afire and sent in the direction of enemy ships or so placed to deter pursuit or further engagement; 2. a prostitute with venereal disease. See CRACK.
flapper A stranger who seems familiar to one.
flagitious Deeply criminal, or utterly villainous.
flimflam An idle, usually untrue story.
flip Strong beer sweetened with molasses and dried pumpkin; also a measure of rum.
flummery Confusing nonsense.
fly Sharp-witted.
footman A liveried servant who rode on the rear of a coach or carriage.
footpad A stealthy robber who worked on foot.
fopdoodle A fool. “An insignificant wretch.” (Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary)
fowling piece A gaming flintlock musket that fired buckshot, a precursor of the shotgun.
free-trader The self-styled name of British smugglers of untaxed goods, especially in the south counties. See FAIR-TRADER.
frigate A three-masted naval vessel, smaller than a ship of the line, but as large or larger than a merchantman, having only one gun deck, or between 20 and 36 guns. The Sparrowhawk is a fifth-rate frigate, converted to a merchantman, whose guns were placed “on deck” to make room for cargo below decks.
fuddle To intoxicate, stupefy, or confuse a person with drink or sophistry; a spell of drinking.
funky Ill-smelling.
fusil 1. A “light” musket, carried by officers; 2. a grenadier’s grenade fuse or match.
fusilier Originally, a grenadier who accompanied artillery trains, but by the mid-eighteenth century a grenadier who carried a fusil. See GRENADIER.
fustian 1. A bombastic, florid type of prose, consisting of “words and ideas ill-associated” (Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary); 2. a strong cotton and linen fabric.
G
galley A ship’s boat, propelled by oarsmen, large enough to carry several men. See GIG, JOLLY-BOAT.
gavotte A lively version of the minuet, often performed by two or more couples.
general warrant In the eighteenth century, a “discretionary” power of the British government, exercised by secretaries of state, to apprehend and arrest persons chiefly for seditious libel, but also for other “suspect” actions perceived as endangering the state or the sovereign. Much abused by political officials, especially as a device to impose censorship on writers and printers, the most famous victim of one was John Wilkes in 1763. Chief Justice Pratt of the Common Pleas declared general warrants unconstitutional in 1766, while Chief Justice Mansfield of the King’s Bench upheld them. See ATTAINDER, WRIT OF ASSISTANCE.
gibbet A cage-like iron box, supported by a pole, erected near a public way or the scene of a crime, in which a hanged or executed criminal was displayed.
gig 1. A light, two-wheeled, one-horse carriage; 2. a ship’s boat, propelled by oarsmen, used for communicating between vessels at sea or between ship and port, but usually employed to convey a ship’s captain or naval commander. See GALLEY, JOLLY-BOAT.
gillie A man or boy attending a Scottish sportsman or chief; a shotgun bearer.
gin A corruption of “Geneva” from Holland, distilled from grain or malt, flavored with juniper. Gin was the most affordable alcohol to the lower classes, even when taxed.
gorget In medieval times, a piece of armor that protected a knight’s throat; in the eighteenth century, an ornamental, embossed, roughly crescent-shaped plate of brass or coated tin, secured by a chain or cord, signifying officer status and “knighthood.”
grape An artillery munition, consisting of clusters of iron balls roughly the size of golf balls, intended to inflict maximum casualties. See CANISTER, CASE.
grasshopper A British three-pound gun often attached to a regiment. See GUN.
grenadier A soldier who threw hand grenades, lit by his fusil. British, French, and Prussian grenadiers were also chosen for their extraordinary height (usually six feet). See FUSILIER.
grocer A wholesaler of foodstuffs (from gross).
gudgeon A dupe or a fool.
guinea An English gold coin of 21 shillings, which circulated between 1663 and 1817. It was replaced with the pound. A pound weighed twenty shillings. See POUND, SHILLING.
gun Any army or naval artillery piece, distinguished from small arms such as pistols, firelocks (muskets), and, later, rifles, all of the later often referred to as side-arms.
H
H.M.S. His or Her Majesty’s ship, the prefix for Royal Navy vessel names, not adopted, however, until 1789, at the outset of Britain’s conflict with France. The prefix was adopted probably as a reaction to the French Revolution, to stress that England was
a monarchy.
halberd A spear-like staff, largely ceremonial, topped with an elaborately forged ax instead of a spear tip, carried by sergeants in eighteenth–century armies.
Half-Joe A Portuguese gold coin (a Johannes) worth 36 shillings.
Halifax gibbet A device for beheading, the forerunner of the French guillotine.
hand A bundle of tobacco leaves, packed together with other hands in the packing or “prizing” of a hogshead. See HOGSHEAD.
Harry 1. A country man, or a rustic; 2. to harass, pursue, or investigate.
hazard A game of chance, similar to craps, played with two dice.
hick A country man or rustic; an ignorant clown.
higgler A dealer in or carrier of sundry dry goods. See CHAPMAN.
hogshead A cask or barrel constructed to hold between 700 and 1,400 pounds of tobacco, and also used to transport grain. See BUTT, HAND, PUNCHEON.
Holland See GIN.
House of Commons The lower governing and legislative body of the British Parliament. In the eighteenth century, its elective members often numbered over 600. Many blocs of seats were controlled by members of the House of Lords, as well as by the sovereign, as a check on the “democratic” tendencies of the Commons, or to introduce or ensure passage of certain bills. Army and Navy officers, as well as civilians, also held seats in the Commons. The Commons reserved the power to originate money or finance bills, and also tax legislation.
House of Lords The upper governing and legislative body of the British Parliament. In the eighteenth century, its membership numbered about 240, including many bishops. Only peers, either hereditary or elevated by the sovereign, could sit in Lords. Lords also acted as the “supreme court” of Britain, when a peer was charged with a capital crime (treason or murder). In practice, Lords functioned as a modern “senate.” It could reject or pass by vote any money or finance bill sent up from the Commons, and also tax legislation.
howitzer An artillery gun used to throw balls over an enemy’s fortifications.
hundred A subdivision of some English shires and colonial American counties. See WAPENTAKE.
hurdy-gurdy A mechanical, violin-like musical instrument that could play melodies set by devices in the neck.