Part 30 (1/2)

FLYING GIGGERS. Turnpike gates.

FLYING HOUSE. A lock in wrestling, by which he who uses it throws his adversary over his head.

FLYING PASTY. Sirreverence wrapped in paper and thrown over a neighbour's wall.

FLYING PORTERS. Cheats who obtain money by pretending to persons who have been lately robbed, that they may come from a place or party where, and from whom, they may receive information respecting the goods stolen from them, and demand payment as porters.

FLYING STATIONERS. Ballad-singers and hawkers of penny histories.

FLYMSEY. A bank note.

FOB. A cheat, trick, or contrivance, I will not be fobbed off so; I will not be thus deceived with false pretences. The fob is also a small breeches pocket for holding a watch.

FOG. Smoke. CANT.

FOGEY. Old Fogey. A nickname for an invalid soldier: derived from the French word fougeux, fierce or fiery.

FOGLE. A silk handkerchief,

FOGRAM. An old fogram; a fusty old fellow.

FOGUS. Tobacco. Tip me a gage of fogus; give me a pipe of tobacco. CANT.

FOOL. A fool at the end of a stick; a fool at one end, and a maggot at the other; gibes on an angler.

FOOL FINDER. A bailiff.

FOOLISH. An expression among impures, signifying the cully who pays, in opposition to a flash man. Is he foolish or flash?

FOOT PADS, or LOW PADS. Rogues who rob on foot.

FOOT WABBLER. A contemptuous appellation for a foot soldier, commonly used by the cavalry.

FOOTMAN'S MAWND. An artificial sore made with unslaked lime, soap, and the rust of old iron, on the back of a beggar's hand, as if hurt by the bite or kick of a horse.

FOOTY DESPICABLE. A footy fellow, a despicable fellow; from the French foutue.

FOREFOOT, or PAW. Give us your fore foot; give us your hand.

FOREMAN OF THE JURY. One who engrosses all the talk to himself, or speaks for the rest of the company.

FORK. A pickpocket. Let us fork him; let us pick his pocket.--'The newest and most dexterous way, which is, to thrust the fingers strait, stiff, open, and very quick, into the pocket, and so closing them, hook what can be held between them.' N.B. This was taken from a book written many years ago: doubtless the art of picking pockets, like all others, must have been much improved since that time.

FORLORN HOPE. A gamester's last stake.

FORTUNE HUNTERS. Indigent men, seeking to enrich themselves by marrying a woman of fortune.

FORTUNE TELLER, or CUNNING MAN. A judge, who tells every prisoner his fortune, lot or doom. To go before the fortune teller, lambskin men, or conjuror; to be tried at an a.s.size. See LAMBSKIN MEN.

FOUL. To foul a plate with a man, to take a dinner with him.