fighting your weight in wild cats

in this 85th edition of f-words, we visit one of my most prized possessions: a dictionary of slang, jargon & cant: embracing english, american, and anglo-indian slang, pidgin english, tinker’s jargon and other irregular phraseology by barrère and leland (1890).

that some of these terms are no longer used anymore is utterly shocking. how often do words fail us when we take our hugo boss tuxedos to the dry cleaners and try to explain away certain “stains” from the night before? and when we are besieged by mongrel dogs thirsty for our reuben sandwiches, what should we yell? and when we are performing a delicate chekovian soliloquy for the mayor of boise and an audience of dozens and our lines escape us, how do we describe the experience later (in the guise of a blog posting about old dictionaries?). for many of us, the answers have come too late, but for the fortunate few—these f-words may have arrived just in time.

facings · beer-droppings on the breast of a coat
fagger · a small boy put into a window to rob the house or to open it for others to rob; called also “little snakesman.”
fegaries · fads, caprices, whimsies, odd fancies
ferricadouzer · a knock-down blow
fibbings · rapid repeated blows, delivered at a short distance
field-lane duck · a baked sheep’s head
fight one’s weight in wild cats · to be full of courage and “go”
fillibrush · to praise ironically
fingersmith · a pickpocket
first night-wreckers · men who attempt to hiss down a play on first performance
flabberdegaz · any words not in the part said by an actor whose memory fails him
fly the kite · to make one’s exit by the window
fogle-hunter · a stealer of handkerchiefs
footsac · an exclamation to drive away intrusive dogs