Part 45 (1/2)

To LAMB, or LAMBASTE. To beat. Lamb pye; a beating: from lambo.

LAMB'S WOOL. Apples roasted and put into strong ale.

LAMBSKIN MEN. The judges: from their robes lined and bordered with ermine.

LAMP. An eye. The cove has a queer lamp. The man has a blind or squinting eye.

LAND. How lies the land? How stands the reckoning?

Who has any land in Appleby? a question asked the man at whose door the gla.s.s stands long, or who does not ciculate it in due time.

LAND LOPERS, or LAND LUBBERS. Vagabonds lurking about the country who subsist by pilfering.

LAND PIRATES. Highwaymen.

LANK SLEEVE. The empty sleeve of a one armed man.

A fellow with a lank sleeve; a man who has lost an arm.

LANSPRISADO. One who has only two-pence in his pocket.

Also a lance, or deputy corporal; that is, one doing the duty without the pay of a corporal. Formerly a lancier, or horseman, who being dismounted by the death of his horse, served in the foot, by the t.i.tle of lansprisado, or lancepesato, a broken lance.

LANTHORN-JAWED. Thin-visaged: from their cheeksbeing almost transparent. Or else, lenten jawed; i.e. having the jaws of one emaciated by a too rigid observation of Lent. Dark lanthorn; a servant or agent at court, who receives a bribe for his princ.i.p.al or master.

LAP. b.u.t.ter-milk or whey. CANT.

LARK. A boat.

LARK. A piece of merriment. People playing together jocosely.

LARRY DUGAN'S EYE WATER. Blacking: Larry Dugan was a famous shoe-black at Dublin.

LATCH. Let in.

LATHY. Thin, slender. A lathy wench; a girl almost as slender as a lath.

LAt.i.tAT. A nick-name for an attorney; from the name of a writ.

LAVENDER. Laid up in lavender; p.a.w.ned.

LAUGH. To laugh on the wrong side of the mouth; to cry.

I'll make him laugh on the wrong (or t'other) side of his mouth.

LAUNCH. The delivery, or labour, of a pregnant woman; a crying out or groaning.

LAW. To give law to a hare; a sporting term, signifying to give the animal a chance of escaping, by not setting on the dogs till the hare is at some distance; it is also more figuratively used for giving any one a chance of succeeding in a scheme or project.

LAWFUL BLANKET. A wife.

LAY. Enterprize, pursuit, or attempt: to be sick of the lay. It also means a hazard or chance: he stands a queer lay; i.e. he is in danger. CANT.