Part 58 (2/2)

To pluck a rose; an expression said to be used by women for going to the necessary house, which in the country usually stands in the garden. To pluck also signifies to deny a degree to a candidate at one of the universities, on account of insufficiency. The three first books of Euclid, and as far as Quadratic Equations in Algebra, will save a man from being plucked. These unfortunate fellows are designated by many opprobrious appellations, such as the twelve apostles, the legion of honor, wise men of the East, &c.

PLUG TAIL. A man's p.e.n.i.s.

PLUMB. An hundred thousand pounds.

PLUMMY. It is all plummy; i.e. all is right, or as it ought to be.

PLUMP. Fat, full, fleshy. Plump in the pocket; full in the pocket. To plump; to strike, or shoot. I'll give you a plump in the bread basket, or the victualling office: I'll give you a blow in the stomach. Plump his peepers, or day-lights; give him a blow in the eyes. He pulled out his pops and plumped him; he drew out his pistols and shot him. A plumper; a single vote at an election. Plump also means directly, or exactly; as, it fell plump upon him: it fell directly upon him.

PLUMP CURRANT. I am not plump currant; I am out of sorts.

PLUMPERS. Contrivances said to be formerly worn by old maids, for filling out a pair of shrivelled cheeks.

PLYER. A crutch; also a trader.

POGY. Drunk.

POINT. To stretch a point; to exceed some usual limit, to take a great stride. Breeches were usually tied up with points, a kind of short laces, formerly given away by the churchwardens at Whitsuntide, under the denomination of tags: by taking a great stride these were stretched.

POISONED. Big with child: that wench is poisoned, see how her belly is swelled. Poison-pated: red-haired.

POKE. A blow with the fist: I'll lend you a poke. A poke likewise means a sack: whence, to buy a pig in a poke, i.e. to buy any thing without seeing or properly examining it.

POKER. A sword. Fore pokers; aces and kings at cards.

To burn your poker; to catch the venereal disease.

POLE. He is like a rope-dancer's polo, lead at both ends; a saying of a stupid sluggish fellow.

POLISH. To polish the king's iron with one's eyebrows; to be in gaol, and look through the iron grated windows. To polish a bone; to eat a meal. Come and polish a bone with me; come and eat a dinner or supper with me.

POLL. The head, jolly n.o.b, napper, or knowledge box; also a wig.

POLT. A blow. Lend him a polt in the muns; give him a knock in the face.

TO POMMEL. To beat: originally confined to beating with the hilt of a sword, the k.n.o.b being, from its similarity to a small apple, called pomelle; in Spanish it is still called the apple of the sword. As the clenched fist likewise somewhat resembles an apple, perhaps that might occasion the term pommelling to be applied to fisty-cuffs.

POMP. To save one's pomp at whist, is to score five before the adversaries are up, or win the game: originally derived from pimp, which is Welsh for five; and should be, I have saved my pimp.

POMPAGINIS. Aqua pompaginis; pump water. See AQUA.

POMPKIN. A man or woman of Boston in America: from, the number of pompkins raised and eaten by the people of that country. Pompkins.h.i.+re; Boston and its dependencies.

PONEY. Money. Post the poney; lay down the money.

PONTIUS PILATE. A p.a.w.nbroker. Pontius Pilate's guards, the first regiment of foot, or Royal Scots: so int.i.tled from their supposed great antiquity. Pontius Pilate's counsellor; one who like him can say, Non invenio causam, I can find no cause. Also (Cambridge) a Mr. Shepherd of Trinity College; who disputing with a brother parson on the comparative rapidity with which they read the liturgy, offered to give him as far as Pontius Pilate in the Belief.

POPE. A figure burned annually every fifth of November, in memory of the gunpowder plot, which is said to have been carried on by the papists.

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