Category: Books

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored…. And to catch up after getting behind with these posts, and because I’m getting towards the end of the book, I’m doing three days at once now. How lovely….

Peter Lay

This is defined by Grose as “the department of stealing portmanteaus, trunks, &c”, which is a throwback to when bags, parcels and trunks were known as ‘Peters’. I’m not quite sure where that word origin came about, but there was another phrase, not mentioned by Grose, which was to “peter-drag”, which was to steal bags from carriages. Google doesn’t much like me searching for ‘Peter Lay’, it seems to think that surely I must mean ‘Peter Kay’….. Anyway, this was one of these phrases, mostly used by the criminal underworld by all accounts (Peter Lay that is, not Peter Kay).

Petty Fogger

This phrase is defined as “a little dirty attorney, ready to undertake any litigious or bad cause: it is derived from the French words petit vogue, of small credit, or little reputation”. The phrase came into use in the sixteenth century and it remains in use today, although it’s usually now just one word such as pettifogging. The OED give a different word origin, noting “from petty + obsolete fogger ‘underhand dealer’, probably from Fugger, the name of a family of merchants in Augsburg in the 15th and 16th centuries.” Grose is right though, the word at the end of the eighteenth century was pettyfogger with the meaning that he gave, but it now tends to mean a lawyer or politician who focuses on small or petty details.

The evolution of the word with its different spellings, showing how frequently it was used in the nineteenth century compared to the twentieth century.

Pharaoh

This word is defined by Grose as “a strong malt liquor”, which sounds rather lovely. As an aside, when this word entered the English language, it was for some time spelled as ‘Pharao’ without the final ‘h’. The word was used in this way from the middle of the sixteenth century to the middle of the nineteenth century, and it likely came from the belief that Pharaoh was a strong or powerful leader, hence a powerful or strong beer.

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Penthouse Nab

This phrase is defined by Grose as “a broad brimmed hat”, although there’s an interesting (well I think there is) history to the word ‘penthouse’. The original meaning of this was some sort of outbuilding, usually shoved onto the side of a building, sometimes nothing more than a shed. Then there was a move in what the word meant, with reference to a building which sloped, and often the top of a building would slope at the top, which evolved into meaning the apartment or space at the top of a property.

In recent years, the word has become used much more frequently and a penthouse is now seen as a desirable place to live. It’s usually the grand residence at the top of a building which has more space, extensive views and is most certainly not some old shed stuck onto the side.

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Penny-Wise and Pound Foolish

This definition hasn’t changed over the last two centuries, defined by Grose as “saving in small matters, and extravagant in great”. I don’t have much to add here, other than I find it surprising that the phrase has been in usage since the early seventeenth century, as it perhaps feels a little more modern.

And the phrase’s usage over the last two centuries.

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Peck

This is defined by Grose as meaning “Victuals. Peck and booze; victuals and drink”, with victuals being a now mostly archaic word for food, so, “food and drink”. The word is derived from the verk ‘pekken’, or to pick, most commonly used now when referring to birds. The word ‘peckish’, which Grose defines separately as meaning ‘hungry’ could have evolved in one of two ways. It could mean feeling hungry and wanting to pick at food (from the ‘pekken’ verb), or it could have derived more directly from the word meaning food.

And the usage of ‘peck’ and ‘peckish’ over time…

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Peccavi

This word is defined by Grose as “to cry peccavi, to acknowledge one’s self in an error, to own a fault: from the Latin Peccavi, I have sinned”.

The word was commonly used in the past, but has now become archaic, despite it being a word which is actually quite useful in clearly describing a behaviour. As Grose says, the origins are from the Latin word peccāvī, but perhaps the phrase “mea culpa” was instead just more appealing…. As might be expected from the Latin roots, the derivative word remains in usage in Italy.

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Pear Making

This is defined by Grose as “taking bounties from several regiments and immediately deserting. The cove was fined in the steel for pear making; the fellow was imprisoned in the house of direction for taking bounties from different regiments”. There was a real problem with recruitment at the beginning of the nineteenth century and the military was still using impressment (or press gangs) to make up numbers. So, a bounty was given to anyone signing up to tempt them to join the army (along with no end of false promises), but there were some who quickly ran off and this became more of a problem during the Napoleonic Wars, shortly after Grose wrote about this new scam.

As for how this became known as “pear making”, I have no idea….

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Paum

This is defined by Grose as “to conceal in the hand. To paum a die: to hide a die in the palm of the hand. He paums; he cheats. Don’t pretend to paum that upon me”. This is simply from the French word ‘paume’, which still means palm and it’s the same way that the palm tree got its name, which is because the leaves are shaped like an open palm. Anyway, the word survives in magic, magicians palm cards still today.

And here is the slow and steady fall out of usage of the word.

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Paviour’s Workshop

This is another definition that I can’t add much to, but is another one that I like, defined by Grose as “the street”. The phrase was in use from the late eighteenth century to the mid nineteenth century and I do wonder whether it was just easier to say ‘street’, but it makes it sound more exotic. The word ‘paviour’ has changed meaning since this phrase was in usage, as today it’s all about it being a stone that’s used in garden design. However, the old use for the word was to describe the job title of someone who laid paving stones on streets and although it’s not a common surname, that’s where that is from.

Just referring to the word ‘paviour’ on its own, this fell out of usage towards the end of the nineteenth century. The job of laying stone became less of a specialist one and the construction of almost endless new roads meant that this quite specific element of the job became less relevant.

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Parson

And this is a walking related definition from Grose, which is “a guide post, hand or finger post by the road side for directing travellers: compared to a parson, because, like him, it sets people in the right way”. Not that Grose treated religious office holders with respect with all of his definitions, some were perhaps far more telling about the realities of late eighteenth century religious figures.

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Pantler

This word is defined by Grose as “a butler” and is from the same derivative as the word ‘pantry’, so it means someone who is in charge of the bread and the entire pantry.

And the word has slowly, but surely, fallen out of usage over the last century. There are though a few cafes around the world with this name, normally those specialising in breads and cakes.