Page 6 - eMuse Vol.9 No.02_Classical

and leaving a shabby one in Salt-Boxes: the condemned
its place; a petty game now cells in Newgate are so
seldom practised. called.
Rise the Plant: See Plant. Salt-Box-Cly: the outside coat-
Rock’d: superannuated, for- pocket, with a flap.
getful, absent in mind; old Sand: moist sugar.
lags are commonly said to
be thus affected, probably Sawney: bacon.
caused by the sufferings Scamp: the game of highway
they have undergone. robbery is called the scamp.
An on-going series of words and phrases no longer To scamp a person is to rob
in use or shifted in meaning. Rollers: horse and foot pa- him on the highway. Done
trole, who parade the roads
Convict Speak round about London during for a scamp signifies con-
victed of a highway robbery.
the night, for the preven-
Around 1812, James Hardy Vaux was coerced into tion of robberies. Scamp, or Scampsman: a high-
writing his book “Flash Language” in return for a Romany: a gypsy; to patter rom- wayman.
sentence reduction and other privileges. any, is to talk the gypsy flash. School: a party of persons met
During our early convict era, “powers that be” Rook: a small iron crow. together for the purpose of
could not understand the jargon of the streets. Rough-Fam or Rough-Fammy: gambling.
Vaux’s book became a handy reference book to the waistcoat pocket. Scot: a person of an irritable
bridge the language barrier that existed between Row In The Boat: to go snacks, temper, who is easily put
upper and lower levels of society and within the or have a share in the ben- in a passion, which is often
done by the company he is
Sydney colonial legal system. efit arising from any transac- with, to create fun; such a
In part, some of these same words are among the tion to which you are privy. one is declared to be a fine
To let a person row with you,
foundation of Australian English of today. The fol- is to admit him to a share. scot. This diversion is called
lowing definitions are direct quotes from Vaux with Ruffles: Handcuffs. getting him out, or getting
him round the corner, from
his spelling and almost no additional comment. these terms being used by
Where editorial observations occur, my comments Ruggins’s: to go to bed, is bull-hankers, with whom
called going to Ruggins’s.
are in italics and followed by my initials, “WF”. also a scot is a bullock of
Rum: good, in opposition to a particular breed, which
Ramp: to rob any person or a system of wickedness, queer. affords superior diversion
place by open violence which when he is ultimately when hunted.
or suddenly snatching at bowled out, is said to have Rumble-Tumble: a stage-coach.
something and running off been a long, or a short reign, Rump’d: flogged or scourged. Scottish: fiery, irritable, easily
with it, as, I ramp’d him of according to its duration. provoked.
his montra; why did you not Rumpus: a masquerade. Scout: a watchman.
ramp his castor? etc. A man Resurrection-cove: a stealer of Rush: the rush, is nearly syn-
convicted of this offence, is dead bodies. onymous with the ramp; but Scout-ken: a watch-house.
said to have been done for a Ribband: money in general. the latter often applies to Scrag’d: hang’d.
ramp. This audacious game, Ridge: gold, whether in coin or snatching at a single article,
is called by prigs, the ramp, as a silk cloak, for instance, Scragging-post: the gallows.
and is nearly similar to the any other shape, as a ridge from a milliner’s shop-door; Screen: a bank-note.
Rush, which see. montra, gold watch; a cly- whereas a rush may signify
full of ridge, a pocket full of Screeve: a letter, or writing paper.
Rank: complete; absolute, gold. a forcible entry by several
downright, an emphatical men into a detached dwell- Screw: a skeleton or false key.
manner of describing per- Rig: See Racket. ing-house for the purpose of To screw a place is to enter
sons or characters, as a rank Ringing, or Ringing-in: to ring robbing its owners of their it by false keys; this game
nose, a rank swell, etc. etc. is to exchange; ringing the money, etc. A sudden and is called the screw. Any
violent effort to get into any
robbery effected by such
Rattler: a coach. changes, is a fraud practised place, or vice-versa to effect means is termed a screw.
by smashers, who when
Reader: a pocket-book. they receive good money your exit, as from a place of Screwsman: a thief who goes
confinement, etc., is called
Reader-Hunter: See Dummy- in change of a guinea, etc., rushing them, or giving it to out a screwing.
Hunters. ring-in one or more pieces ‘em upon the rush. Scurf’d: taken in custody.
of base with great dexterity,
Regulars: one’s due share of and then request the party Russian Coffee House: a name Seedy: poor, ragged in appear-
a booty, etc. on a division to change them. given by some punster of ance, shabby.
taking place. Give me my the family, to the Brown
regulars, that is, give me my Ringing Castors: signifies fre- Bear public-house in Bow- Sell: to sell a man is to betray
dividend. quenting churches and street, Covent-garden. him, by giving information
other public assemblies, against him, or otherwise to
Reign: the length or continu- for the purpose of changing Sack: a pocket; to sack any injure him clandestinely for
ance of a man’s career in hats, by taking away a good, thing is to pocket it. the sake of interest, nearly

6 eMuse February 2020