Part 46 (1/2)

LICKSPITTLE. A parasite, or talebearer.

LIFT. To give one a lift; to a.s.sist. A good hand at a dead lift; a good hand upon an emergency. To lift one's hand to one's head; to drink to excess, or to drink drams. To lift or raise one's elbow; the same.

LIFT. See SHOPLIFTER, &c.

LIFTER. A crutch.

LIG. A bed. See LIB.

LIGHT BOB. A soldier of the light infantry company.

LIGHT-FINGERED. Thievish, apt to pilfer.

LIGHT-HEELED. Swift in running. A light-heeled wench; one who is apt, by the flying up of her heels, to fall flat on her back, a willing wench.

LIGHT HOUSE. A man with a red fiery nose.

LIGHT TROOPS. Lice; the light troops are in full march; the lice are crawling about.

LIGHTMANS. The day. CANT.

LIGHTNING. Gin. A flash of lightning; a gla.s.s of gin.

LIKENESS. A phrase used by thieves when the officers or turnkeys are examining their countenance. As the traps are taking our likeness; the officers are attentively observing us.

LILIPUTIAN. A diminutive man or woman: from Gulliver's Travels, written by Dean Swift, where an imaginary kingdom of dwarfs of that name is described.

LILY WHITE. A chimney-sweeper.

LILY SHALLOW. (WHIP SLANG) A white driving hat.

LIMBS. Duke of limbs; a tall awkward fellow.

LIMB OF THE LAW. An inferior or pettyfogging attorney.

LIMBO. A prison, confinement.

To LINE. A term for the act of coition between dog and b.i.t.c.h.

LINE OF THE OLD AUTHOR. A dram of brandy.

LINE. To get a man into a line, i.e. to divert his attention by a ridiculous or absurd story. To humbug.

LINGO. Language. An outlandish lingo; a foreign tongue.

The parlezvous lingo; the French language.

LINEN ARMOURERS. Taylors.

LION. To tip the lion; to squeeze the nose of the party tipped, flat to his face with the thumb. To shew the lions and tombs; to point out the particular curiosities of any place, to act the ciceroni: an allusion to Westminster Abbey, and the Tower, where the tombs and lions are shewn. A lion is also a name given by the gownsmen of Oxford to an inhabitant or visitor. It is a standing joke among the city wits to send boys and country folks, on the first of April, to the Tower-ditch, to see the lions washed.