by Edward Cline
I
impressment The practice of the British navy in the eighteenth and early ninteenth centuries of raiding chiefly port towns to kidnap men to serve in involuntary servitude on warships. The raiding parties were called press gangs or pressmen. See CRIMP.
in case A colonial planter’s term for a tobacco leaf’s time for handling, the leaf being neither dry enough to crumble nor damp enough to begin rotting, and ready for packing or prizing into a hogshead. See HAND, HOGSHEAD.
in fee A baron’s proprietaryship of a king’s land in exchange for an oath of loyalty and obedience, together with the obligation to provide the king with a fixed number of knights and common soldiers for military service. This legal device was linked closely to the notion of “quit-rents,” in which a landowner paid the monarch a “rent” in exchange for an exemption from all other royal obligations. See QUIT-RENT, SOCCAGE.
indenture A state of contractual or criminal servitude, in which one’s labor is committed or leased for a specified period of time, in the eighteenth century, usually seven years, under penalty of criminal infraction. See REDEMPTIONER.
indigo A plant cultivated for blue dye.
Inns of Court The several legal societies or “colleges” having the exclusive right to teach law and admit persons to practice at the bar. See ATTORNEY, BAR, BARRISTER, BENCHER, CHANCERY.
interlude A dramatic or comedic stage production, technically not a play, and staged without the lord chamberlain’s license. The Licensing Act of 1737 for decades gave Drury Lane and Covent Garden in London a near monopoly on full stage play productions. The Act was intended to forestall ridicule of unpopular public figures, such as prime minister Robert Walpole, and to preserve “public decency and morals.”
ironmonger A dealer in ironware; a hardware merchant.
J
Jack Ketch A colloquialism for the hangman.
javelin men A body of men in a sheriff’s retinue who carried spears or pikes, and escorted the judges at the assizes. They also escorted convicts to their execution or place of public punishment. See CONSTABLE, SHERIFF.
jolly-boat A ship’s boat, propelled by oarsmen, smaller than a cutter. The origin of jolly is unknown. Possibly it is a slang corruption of the French joie for the delight or gladness felt by naval or civilian seamen when they were rowed ashore in it to spend leave in a port town. See GALLEY, GIG.
jointure An estate settled on a wife to be taken by her in lieu of a dowry; a settlement on the wife of a freehold estate for her lifetime.
Jonathan (Brother) A British nickname for America or an American.
jougs An iron neck ring or collar, with a joint or hinge in back to permit opening and closing, and loops in front for a padlock, worn by offenders in England and Scotland.
K
ketch A small vessel with one large mast, usually with a triangular sail.
kickshaw A fancy food dish, usually a “dainty” French concoction, elegant but insubstantial.
King’s Bench In Britain, until 1875, a superior or supreme court that could hear major criminal and civil cases. (In Queen Victoria’s time, it was the Queen’s Court.) Its name is derived from the bench on which a monarch sat when a case required his attendance. The King’s Bench could sit wherever a monarch happened to be, when necessary. Like the Court of the Common Pleas, it had its own chief justice. See COMMON PLEAS.
knacker 1. A shipbreaker, or one who takes apart or breaks up a vessel; 2. a buyer of dilapidated buildings for their usable materials; 3. to break up an unwieldy sentence.
knocking shop A brothel. “Knocking” was likely a euphemism for an expletive.
L
lamb’s wool A drink consisting of hot ale mixed with the pulp of roasted apples, sugar, and spice.
larboard The “port” side of a vessel, on the left side looking forward. (Port side did not come into common usage until 1846).
larrikin A hoodlum or rowdy.
league Three English or nautical miles.
levee 1. A reception held by a person of distinction on rising from bed; 2. an afternoon assembly at which a sovereign, lord or his proxy received only men; 3. a reception held in honor of a particular person.
Lewis Or Ludwig, the family name of the Hanoverians, beginning with George the First.
livery 1. The distinctive attire of a servant; 2. a stable for horses, where they could be billeted or hired.
logodædaly Cleverness in wordplay.
loo A card game, a forerunner of bridge.
lord 1. Feudal superior; 2. a nobleman, peer of the realm entitled by courtesy to the title or address of “Lord.” The Scottish style was laird.
lunge To exercise and train a horse in a wide circle with the aid of a long rope.
lurdane A lazy, stupid person.
lustre A chandelier of crystal and polished silver, whose reflecting properties aided in amplifying candlelight.
M
majesty The person of a sovereign, used in address to a king, queen, emperor, or empress; a royal bearing or aspect.
manifest A merchantman’s cargo list of goods carried on the vessel. See COCKET, DOCKET, DUTY.
mar(ling) To mix clay and lime into arable soil in order to improve its fertility.
market town Since medieval times, a town legally permitted to hold an open-air market of producers and buyers.
marle A soft, soapy earth found from between 18 inches to several feet below ground surface.
marquis A noble rank between a duke and an earl (wife: marchioness). A variation is marquess. See BARON, BARONET, DUKE, EARL, VISCOUNT.
masquerade A social gathering of persons wearing masks or dominos and often fantastic costumes. Also called a mask or masque.
master 1. One having authority over another; 2. a youth or boy too young to be addressed “mister,” “sir,” or “lord”; 3. the eldest son of a Scottish viscount or baron.
memorial A statement of facts, addressed to a government (in Britain, to the House of Lords), often accompanied by a petition or remonstrance. See ADDRESS, PETITION, REMONSTRANCE.
Mendips A range of hills noted for limestone caves near the southwest coast of England.
mercer A dealer in small wares.
merchant An importer and exporter of goods in quantity.
merchantman A British commercial vessel, especially a seagoing one.
milord An Englishman of noble or genteel birth; the address of such a person, instead of “sir.”
mob The fickle crowd, a contraction of mobile vulgus (Latin); a further pun on English mobility (q.v.), which was a humorous opposition to the “nobility” (nob or nab).
Mohock An aristocratic bully or hoodlum, thug, or tough, who wandered about London with a gang of his ilk to terrorize or torment at whim. Also called a tumbler or sweater.
moonraker An illusory thing or idea; a person who has illusory ideas or behaves oddly. Its origin was the practice of raking the reflection of the moon from a pool of water.
mortar A short, large-bore cannon for throwing shells (lit-fuse explosives) in high trajectories to fall on or behind enemy fortifications.
N
nab A satirical, deprecating address for his worship, his lordship, and so on. Its usual form was his nabs or his nibs. Possibly a corruption of the Hindu nabob.
nailery An ironworks.
nautical mile One minute of longitude, or 6,000 feet. See LEAGUE.
necessary An outdoor lavatory.
nice Minutely accurate; over-refined.
niffy-naffy A silly fellow; a trifler.
noddy A simpleton; foolish.
nonage The state of being under legal age; one’s minority; immaturity.
nonce 1. For the time being; 2. a word coined for the occasion.
O
oat The primary grain of Scotland and northern England, used in the preparation of haggis, oatcake, porridge, and horse feed.
orangery Originally, in the Restoration era, a room that sheltered orange trees, but which later became
a sun room and breakfast room.
ordinary 1. An unembellished inn for travelers, atop a tavern; 2. a diocesan officer appointed to give criminals their “neck-verses” (before hanging), and to prepare them for death; 3. the chaplain of a prison, whose duty it was to prepare condemned prisoners for death.
Oronoco A species of tobacco plant, the rival of sweetscented tobacco, with coarser leaves, and, when smoked, with a more pungent taste and odor. Introduced from the Oronoco River basin in South America.
orrery An apparatus showing the relative positions and motions of planets and their moons in the solar system, employing an integrated wheelworks that set the system in motion. After Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery (1676-1731).
overlooker On a plantation, a man who supervised overseers, sharing the duties of a steward. See OVERSEER, PLANTER, STEWARD.
overseer On a plantation, a man responsible for carrying out tasks, and managed slaves and servants.
own Acknowledge, admit, concede, or confess a thing.
oyer and terminer Sessions of court held by circuit judges for capital offenses. See ASSIZE, QUARTER SESSION.
P
parish lamp The most common form of street lighting in mid- eighteenth century London and other British cities, fueled with whale blubber, and the responsibility of parishes.
Parliament The supreme governing and legislative body of Britain, composed of the upper house (Lords) and the lower, elective house (the Commons). Its executive was the monarch, who could veto or endorse legislation passed by both houses. See HOUSE OF COMMONS, HOUSE OF LORDS.
parky A cold or chilly condition. Said also of weather or a person’s character.
peer A member of one of the degrees of nobility. Possibly an Anglicism of the French per (connoting father or seniority). A peer was a baron, an earl, a marquis, a viscount, or a duke.
peruke A man’s wig, made of human or horse hair.
petition In British politics, a document stating a grievance or grievances signed by a certain number of bona fide individuals, requesting redress, addressed to a sovereign or government body. In the eighteenth century, it was usually addressed to the Commons. See ADDRESS, MEMORIAL, REMONSTRANCE.
phaeton A light, four-wheeled, uncovered carriage, pulled by two horses. See POST-CHAISE.
phiz Slang for face. Probably a corruption of visage.
phiz-monger An artist who painted the faces of portraits, leaving assistants or apprentices to paint the bodies, clothes, backgrounds, and so on.
phlogiston Before the discovery of oxygen by Joseph Priestly, a substance thought to reside in all inflammable matter and released during combustion.
pillory A device for publicly punishing criminal offenders, consisting of a wooden frame with holes for the head and hands. An offender stood on a pillory. See STOCKS.
pipe 1. A device for smoking tobacco, in the eighteenth century, usually made of clay; 2. a 100-gallon cask of spirits.
pippin 1. Any of a variety of apples valued for their dessert quality; 2. a highly esteemed or very admirable person or thing.
pistole A Spanish gold coin, worth sixteen shillings and nine pence, which circulated in the colonies in lieu of scarce British specie or money. See DOLLAR, SPECIE.
planter A tobacco plantation owner (from the practice of replanting tobacco seedlings from seedbeds to separate mounds).
Pleiad A group of seven illustrious or brilliant persons or things, in reference to a cluster of stars in the constellation Taurus.
plumb A slang expression to describe a person worth at least £100,000 sterling.
point In grammar and composition, to punctuate.
pony The sum of fifty guineas (£52.5).
porter A dark, heavy beer. Also called stout.
posset A drink of hot milk, curdled with ale or wine, flavored with spices, used as a remedy for colds or minor ailments.
post-chaise A two-wheeled, horse-drawn conveyance with a hood, for two persons. See PHAETON.
postilion A liveried servant who rode on the lead horse of a team-drawn coach, in place of a coachman or driver.
pound A gold coin of twenty shillings, adopted in 1813 to replace the guinea. Symbol: £. The pound later became the sovereign. See DOLLAR, GUINEA, SPECIE, STERLING.
powder monkey In all eighteenth–century navies, a boy who brought up charges from the magazine for naval guns.
prat The buttocks, slang since the seventeenth century for a fool.
priming 1. The removal from tobacco plants of undesirable leaves that allegedly deprived desired leaves of nutrition and water; 2. to load a musket or firelock by assembling the bullet.
primogeniture The custom or legally mandated practice of passing land ownership from father to the first-born or eldest son. See COPYHOLD, ENTAIL.
prize To pack harvested tobacco into a hogshead. Possibly a corruption of press.
prorogue The power of an executive, such as a colonial governor, to delay or postpone a legislative session. See DISSOLVE.
puncheon A large cask or barrel for liquids, especially for alcohol, of between seventy-two and 120 gallons. See BUTT, HOGSHEAD.
Q
quahog An edible round clam found on the Atlantic coast, the shells of which were often used as gravel on colonial streets. Ground up, it was also used as fertilizer.
Quaker After the pacifist religious sect, a log fashioned and painted to pass for a naval gun, in order to deceive an enemy about a vessel’s fire power.
quarter session A court of limited criminal and civil jurisdiction, and of appeal, held quarterly. The British terms or sessions were Michaelmas, Hilary, Easter, and Trinity. See ASSIZE.
Queer Street The state of bankruptcy.
queue A “pigtail” attached to a man’s wig or hair, bound by a ribbon over the back of his neck.
quillet A verbal nicety or subtle distinction. Probably from quillet, a small, narrow strip of land.
quit-rent A fee or “rent” paid to a lord or sovereign by a freeholder or copyholder in lieu of military or other service. See IN FEE, SOCCAGE.
R
redemptioner An immigrant whose passage to America was paid for by a merchant, and who indentured his labor until the cost of the passage was redeemed by either the merchant or his employer.
regiment In the British army, a unit of about 475 men, organized into ten companies. See BATTALION, BRIGADE, COMPANY.
remembrancer One of several English officials originally appointed to remind a sovereign or government official of a duty, or to collect debts owed the sovereign.
remonstrance In British politics, a document addressed to the Commons formally stating pointed opposition or a grievance. See ADDRESS, MEMORIAL, PETITION.
Rex Anglias English king (Latin), meaning an English sovereign.
Rex Anglorum King of the English (Latin), meaning a non-English sovereign.
rhino Cash, specie, currency.
ridge A guinea. See POUND, STERLING.
riding chair In colonial America, a conveyance similar to a sulky. See SULKY.
riditto A masquerade. See MASQUERADE.
right To be compliant, willing.
royal foot scamp A footpad or robber who robbed with civil manners. See SCAMP.
royal scamp A mounted “gentleman” highwayman, who robbed with manners. See SCAMP.
ruelle A reception held in the bedchamber of a fashionable lady.
rum lay The art of burglary of private residences. See CRACK LAY, DUB LAY.
rummage 1. To make either a thorough or haphazard search, especially by customsmen of a merchantman to find untaxed, smuggled rum, and later for any contraband or untaxed or illegal goods; 2. to examine minutely and completely.
runagate A vagabond. Probably a corruption of renegade (one who runs or flees).
S
sabot In naval munitions, a wooden or metal device that contained incendiary materials fired at an enemy vessel (from the French for shoe). See CARCASS.
scamp A highwayman, or armed r
obber, mounted or on foot. See TOBY.
scope An aim or purpose.
seegar A roll of tobacco leaf, smoked in lieu of a pipe. Now a cigar.
sheriff An officer of a county charged with judicial duties such as executing processes and orders of courts and judges. (From OE shire reeve.) See BAILIFF, CONSTABLE.
ship’s husband A joint-stock owner of a merchantman chosen by other stockholders to supervise the building, fitting, and sailing of a ship, and also to keep accounts.
ship of the line A warship of two or three gun decks, of between sixty and 120 guns.
Simurg In Persian mythology, a monstrous bird having the powers of reasoning and speech. See WYVERN.
slip slop “Bad liquor.” (Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary)
sloop A small, one-masted fore-and-aft rigged vessel with a mainsail and jib; a sloop-of-war with ten guns on the upper deck.
slops A sailor’s loose, knee-length knickerbockers. A forerunner of pantaloons, or pants.
slubberdegullion “A paltry, dirty, sorry wretch.” (Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary)
smack A single-masted sailing boat for coasting or fishing.
small beer A trivial matter or concern.
smallclothes A man’s close-fitting, knee-length breeches.
snollygoster A shrewd, unscrupulous person.
soccage A feudal tenure of land requiring payment of rent or other non-military service to a lord or sovereign. See COPYHOLD, IN FEE, QUIT-RENT.
soldier’s wind A wind “on the beam”; to sail with the wind. See BEAT TO WINDWARD.
solicitor 1. A member of the legal profession qualified to advise clients and instruct barristers, but barred from appearing as an advocate in court except in certain lower courts; 2. a law officer below an attorney-general. See ATTORNEY, BARRISTER.
soul driver A colonial middleman who purchased transported felons and redemptioners and drove them to market in the Tidewater and Piedmont of Virginia.
sparrowhawk Any of various small hawks or falcons in Europe and North America.
specie Coined money. See DOLLAR, POUND, STERLING.
sponge To defraud or cheat.
sponger A prison for debtors. Also a sponging house.
spontoon A spear-like staff, largely ceremonial, carried by officers in eighteenth–century armies.