The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue dates from 1811 and this is probably the only full, uncensored and searchable version of this dictionary on the internet. All the original crudities have been restored and it offers an interesting perspective on Common English from the time of the Regency and Jane Austen.

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Entries releated to HORSE

 

ACORN		You will ride a horse foaled by an acorn, i.e. the gallows, called also the Wooden and Three-legged Mare. You will be hanged. - See THREE-LEGGED MARE. ACT OF PARLIAMENT. A military term for small beer, five pints of which, by an act of parliament, a landlord was formerly obliged to give to each soldier gratis.
ANABAPTIST		A pickpocket caught in the fact, and punished with the discipline of the pump or horse-pond.
BANG UP		Quite the thing, hellish fine. Well done. Compleat. Dashing. In a handsome stile. A bang up cove; a dashing fellow who spends his money freely. To bang up prime: to bring your horses up in a dashing or fine style: as the swell's rattler and prads are bang up prime; the gentleman sports an elegant carriage and fine horses.
BANKRUPT CART		A one-horse chaise, said to be so called by a Lord Chief Justice, from their being so frequently used on Sunday jaunts by extravagant shop-keepers and tradesmen.
BANKS'S HORSE		A horse famous for playing tricks, the property of one Banks. It is mentioned in Sir Walter Raleigh's Hist. of the World, p. 178; also by Sir Kenelm Digby and Ben Jonson.
BARNACLE		A good job, or snack easily got: also shellfish growing at the bottoms of ships; a bird of the goose kind; an instrument like a pair of pincers, to fix on the noses of vicious horses whilst shoeing; a nick name for spectacles, and also for the gratuity given to grooms by the buyers and sellers of horses.
BAYARD OF TEN TOES		To ride bayard of ten toes, is to walk on foot. Bayard was a horse famous in old romances, BEAK. A justice of-peace, or magistrate. Also a judge or chairman who presides in court. I clapp'd my peepers full of tears, and so the old beak set me free; I began to weep, and the judge set me free.
BECALMED		A piece of sea wit, sported in hot weather. I am becalmed, the sail sticks to the mast; that is, my shirt sticks to my back. His prad is becalmed; his horse knocked up.
BIDET, commonly pronounced BIDDY		A kind of tub, contrived for ladies to wash themselves, for which purpose they bestride it like a French poney, or post-horse, called in French bidets.
BISHOPED, or TO BISHOP		A term used among horse-dealers, for burning the mark into a horse's tooth, after he has lost it by age; by bishoping, a horse is made to appear younger than he is. It is a common saying of milk that is burnt too, that the bishop has set his foot in it. Formerly, when a bishop passed through a village, all the inhabitants ran out of their houses to solicit his blessing, even leaving their milk, etc. on the fire, to take its chance: which, went burnt to, was said to be bishoped.
BLACK GUARD		A shabby, mean fellow; a term said to be derived from a number of dirty, tattered roguish boys, who attended at the Horse Guards, and Parade in St. James's Park, to black the boots and shoes of the soldiers, or to do any other dirty offices. These, from their constant attendance about the time of guard mounting, were nick-named the black-guards.
BLEEDERS		Spurs. He clapped his bleeders to his prad; be put spurs to his horse.
BONESETTER		A hard-trotting horse.
BOOBY HUTCH		A one-horse chaise, noddy, buggy, or leathern bottle.
BOTTOM		A polite term for the posteriors. Also, in the sporting sense, strength and spirits to support fatigue; as a bottomed horse. Among bruisers it is used to express a hardy fellow, who will bear a good beating.
BUCK		A blind horse; also a gay debauchee.
BUFFER		One that steals and kills horses and dogs for their skins; also an inn-keeper: in Ireland it signifies a boxer.
BUGGY		A one-horse chaise.
BUTCHER'S HORSE		That must have been a butcher's horse, by his carrying a calf so well; a vulgar joke on an awkward rider.
CAPTAIN		Led captain; an humble dependant in a great family, who for a precarious subsistence, and distant hopes of preferment, suffers every kind of indignity, and is the butt of every species of joke or ill-humour. The small provision made for officers of the army and navy in time of peace, obliges many in both services to occupy this wretched station. The idea of the appellation is taken from a led horse, many of which for magnificence appear in the retinues of great personages on solemn occasions, such as processions, etc.
CART		To put the cart before the horse; to mention the last part of a story first. To be flogged at the cart's arse or tail; persons guilty of petty larceny are frequently sentenced to be tied to the tail of a cart, and whipped by the common executioner, for a certain distance: the degree of severity in the execution is left to the discretion of the executioner, who, it is said, has cats of nine tails of all prices.
CATCHING HARVEST		A dangerous time for a robbery, when many persons are on the road, on account of a horse-race, fair, or some other public meeting.
CAUTIONS		The four cautions: I. Beware of a woman before. - II. Beware of a horse behind. - III. Beware of a cart side-ways. - IV. Beware of a priest every way.
COCKNEY		A nick name given to the citizens of London, or persons born within the sound of Bow bell, derived from the following story: A citizen of London, being in the country, and hearing a horse neigh, exclaimed, Lord! how that horse laughs! A by-stander telling him that noise was called NEIGHING, the next morning, when the cock crowed, the citizen to shew he had not forgot what was told him, cried out, Do you hear how the COCK NEIGHS? The king of the cockneys is mentioned among the regulations for the sports and shows formerly held in the Middle Temple on Childermas Day, where he had his officers, a marshal, constable, butler, etc. See DUGDALE'S ORIGINES JURIDICIALES, p. 247. - Ray says, the interpretation of the word Cockney, is, a young person coaxed or conquered, made wanton; or a nestle cock, delicately bred and brought up, so as, when arrived a man's estate, to be unable to bear the least hardship. Whatever may be the origin of this appellation, we learn from the following verses, attributed to Hugh Bigot, Earl of Norfolk, that it was in use. in the time of king Henry II. Was I in my castle at Bungay, Fast by the river Waveney, I would not care for the king of Cockney; ie: the king of London.
COLT		One who lets horses to highwaymen; also a boy newly initiated into roguery; a grand or petty juryman on his first assize.
DAISY CUTTER		A jockey term for a horse that does not lift up his legs sufficiently, or goes too near the ground, and is therefore apt to stumble.
DEAD HORSE		To work for the dead horse; to work for wages already paid.
DRUMMER		A jockey term for a horse that throws about his fore legs irregularly: the idea is taken from a kettle drummer, who in beating makes many flourishes with his drumsticks.
FALLEN AWAY FROM A HORSE LOAD TO A CART LOAD		A saying on one grown fat.
FEAGUE		To feague a horse; to put ginger up a horse's fundament, and formerly, as it is said, a live eel, to make him lively and carry his tail well; it is said, a forfeit is incurred by any horse-dealer's servant, who shall shew a horse without first feaguing him. Feague is used, figuratively, for encouraging or spiriting one up.
FLOGGER		A horsewhip.
FLY SLICERS		Life-guard men, from their sitting on horseback, under an arch, where they are frequently observed to drive away flies with their swords.
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.
GALLOPER		A blood horse. A hunter. The toby gill clapped his bleeders to his galloper and tipped the straps the double. The highwayman spurred his horse and got away from the officers.
GAME		Any mode of robbing. The toby is now a queer game; to rob on the highway is now a bad mode of acting. This observation is frequently made by thieves; the roads being now so well guarded by the horse patrole; and gentlemen travel with little cash in their pockets.
GAMON AND PATTER		Common place talk of any profession; as the gamon and patter of a horse-dealer, sailor, etc.
GIBBE		A horse that shrinks from the collar and will not draw.
GIFTS		Small white specks under the finger nails, said to portend gifts or presents. A stingy man is said to be as full of gifts as a brazen horse of his farts.
GIGG		A nose. Snitchel his gigg; fillip his nose. Grunter's gigg; a hog's snout. Gigg is also a high one-horse chaise, and a woman's privities. To gigg a Smithfield hank; to hamstring an over-drove ox, vulgarly called a mad bullock.
GOADS		Those who wheedle in chapmen for horse-dealers.
GOOSE RIDING		A goose, whose neck is greased, being suspended by the legs to a cord tied to two trees or high posts, a number of men on horseback, riding full speed, attempt to pull off the head: which if they effect, the goose is their prize. This has been practised in Derbyshire within the memory of persons now living.
GORMAGON		A monster with six eyes, three mouths, four arms, eight legs, five live on one side and three on the other, three arses, two arses, and a cunt upon its back; a man on horseback, with a woman behind him.
GREEN		Doctor Green; i.e. grass: a physician, or rather medicine, found very successful in curing most disorders to which horses are liable. My horse is not well, I shall send him to Doctor Green.
GREY MARE		The grey mare is the better horse; said of a woman who governs her husband.
GROGGED		A grogged horse; a foundered horse.
GROGHAM		A horse.
GUMMY		Clumsy: particularly applied to the ancles of men or women, and the legs of horses.
HANDSOME REWARD		This, in advertisements, means a horse-whipping.
HARRIDAN		A hagged old woman; a miserable, scraggy, worn-out harlot, fit to take her bawd's degree: derived from the French word HARIDELLE, a worn-out jade of a horse or mare.
HOBBY HORSE		A man's favourite amusement, or study, is called his hobby horse. It also means a particular kind of small Irish horse: and also a wooden one, such as is given to children.
HOBBY HORSICAL		A man who is a great keeper or rider of hobby horses; one that is apt to be strongly attached to his systems of amusement.
HOBSON'S CHOICE		That or none; from old Hobson, a famous carrier of Cambridge, who used to let horses to the students; but never permitted them to chuse, always allotting each man the horse he thought properest for his manner of riding and treatment.
HOG		A shilling. To drive one's hogs; to snore: the noise made by some persons in snoring, being not much unlike the notes of that animal. He has brought his hogs to a fine market; a saying of any one who has been remarkably successful in his affairs, and is spoken ironically to signify the contrary. A hog in armour; an awkward or mean looking man or woman, finely dressed, is said to look like a hog in armour. To hog a horse's mane; to cut it short, so that the ends of the hair stick up like hog's bristles. Jonian hogs; an appellation given to the members of St. John's College, Cambridge.
HORSE BUSS		A kiss with a loud smack; also a bite.
HORSE COSER		A dealer in horses: vulgarly and corruptly pronounced HORSE
HORSE GODMOTHER		A large masculine woman, a gentlemanlike kind of a lady.
HORSE LADDER		A piece of Wiltshire wit, which consists in sending some raw lad, or simpleton, to a neighbouring farm house, to borrow a horse ladder, in order to get up the horses, to finish a hay-mow.
HORSE'S MEAL		A meal without drinking.
HUNTING THE SQUIRREL		An amusement practised by postboys and stage-coachmen, which consists in following a one-horse chaise, anddriving it before them, passing close to it, so as to brush the wheel, and by other means terrifying any woman or person that may be in it. A man whose turn comes for him to drink, before he has emptied his former glass, is said to be hunted.
HUZZA		Said to have been originally the cry of the huzzars or Hungarian light horse; but now the national shout of the English, both civil and military, in the sea phrase termed a cheer; to give three cheers being to huzza thrice.
JACKED		Spavined. A jacked horse.
JIBBER THE KIBBER		A method of deceiving seamen, by fixing a candle and lanthorn round the neck of a horse, one of whose fore feet is tied up; this at night has the appearance of a ship's light. Ships bearing towards it, run on shore, and being wrecked, are plundered by the inhabitants. This diabolical device is, it is said, practised by the inhabitants of our western coasts.
JINGLERS		Horse cosers, frequenting country fairs.
KEFFEL		A horse. WELSH.
KNOWING ONES		Sportsmen on the turf, who from experience and an acquaintance with the jockies, are supposed to be in the secret, that is, to know the true merits or powers of each horse; notwithstanding which it often happens that the knowing ones are taken in.
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 title of lansprisado, or lancepesato, a broken lance.
LEATHER		To lose leather; to be galled with riding on horseback, or, as the Scotch express it, to be saddle sick. To leather also meant to beat, perhaps originally with a strap: I'll leather you to your heart's content. Leather-headed; stupid. Leathern conveniency; term used by quakers for a stage-coach.
MAN OF THE TURF		A horse racer, or jockey.
MONKEY		To suck the monkey; to suck or draw wine, or any other liquor, privately out of a cask, by means of a straw, or small tube. Monkey's allowance; more kicks than halfpence. Who put that monkey on horseback without tying his legs? vulgar wit on a bad horseman.
NAB		To seize, or catch unawares. To nab the teaze; to be privately whipped. To nab the stoop; to stand in the pillory. To nab the rust; a jockey term for a horse that becomes restive. To nab the snow: to steal linen left out to bleach or dry.
NOSE BAG		A bag fastened to the horse's head, in which the soldiers of the cavalry put the oats given to their horses: whence the saying, I see the hose bag in his face; i.e. he has been a private man, or rode private.
PAD BORROWERS		Horse stealers.
PARSON		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. See GUIDE POST. He that would have luck in horse-flesh, must kiss a parson's wife.
PERSUADERS		Spurs. The kiddey clapped his persuaders to his prad but the traps boned him; the highwayman spurred his horse hard, but the officers seized him.
PIPER		A broken winded horse.
PRAD		A horse. The swell flashes a rum prad: the e gentleman sports a fine horse.
PRAD LAY		Cutting bags from behind horses.
PRANCER		A horse. Prancer's nab.; a horse's head, used as a seal to a counterfeit pass. At the sign of the prancer's poll, i.e. the nag's head.
PRIGGERS		Thieves in general. Priggers of prancers; horse stealers. Priggers of cacklers: robbers of hen- roosts.
QUEER PRANCER		A bad, worn-out, foundered horse; also a cowardly or faint-hearted horse-stealer.
QUID		The quantity of tobacco put into the mouth at one time. To quid tobacco; to chew tobacco. Quid est hoc? hoc est quid; a guinea. Half a quid; half a guinea. The swell tipped me fifty quid for the prad; the gentleman gave fifty pounds for the horse.
QUITAM		Aquitam horse; one that will both carry and draw. LAW WIT.
RATTLER		A coach. Rattle and prad; a coach and horses.
RELIGIOUS HORSE		One much given to prayer, or apt to be down upon his knees.
REPOSITORY		A lock-up or spunging-house, a gaol. Also livery stables where horses and carriages are sold by auction.
RIDING SKIMMINGTON		A ludicrous cavalcade, in ridicule of a man beaten by his wife. It consists of a man riding behind a woman, with his face to the horse's tail, holding a distaff in his hand, at which he seems to work, the woman all the while beating him with a ladle; a smock displayed on a staff is carried before them as an emblematical standard, denoting female superiority: they are accompanied by what is called the ROUGH MUSIC, that is, frying-pans, bulls horns, marrow-bones and cleavers, etc. A procession of this kind is admirably described by Butler in his Hudibras. He rode private, i.e. was a private trooper.
RIP		A miserable rip; a poor, lean, worn-out horse. A shabby mean fellow.
ROARER		A broken-winded horse.
RUM PRANCER		A fine horse.
RUNNING HORSE, or NAG		A clap, or gleet.
RUSTY		Out of use, To nab the rust; to be refractory; properly applied to a restive horse, and figuratively to the human species. To ride rusty; to be sullen; called also to ride grub.
SCARLET HORSE		A high red, hired or hack horse: a pun on the word HIRED.
SCULL, or SCULLER		A boat rowed by one man with a light kind of oar, called a scull; also a one-horse chaise or buggy.
SECRET		He has been let into the secret: he has been cheated at gaming or horse-racing. He or she is in the grand secret, i.e. dead.
SHERIFF'S BALL		An execution. To dance at the sheriff's ball, and loll out one's tongue at the company; to be hanged, or go to rest in a horse's night-cap, i.e. a halter.
SICK AS A HORSE		Horses are said to be extremely sick at their stomachs, from being unable to relieve themselves by vomiting. Bracken, indeed, in his Farriery, gives an instance of that evacuation being procured, but by a means which he says would make the Devil vomit. Such as may have occasion to administer an emetic either to the animal or the fiend, may consult his book for the recipe.
SKIP JACKS		Youngsters that ride horses on sale, horse- dealers boys. Also a plaything made for children with the breast bone of a goose.
SNAFFLER		A highwayman. Snaffler of prances; a horse stealer.
SNICKER		A glandered horse.
SPANK		To run neatly along, beteeen a trot and gallop. The tits spanked it to town; the horses went merrily along all the way to town.
SPEAK WITH		To rob. I spoke with the cull on the cherry-coloured prancer; I robbed the man on the black horse.
SPILT		Thrown from a horse, or overturned in a carriage; pray, coachee, don't spill us.
STAR GAZER		A horse who throws up his head; also a hedge whore.
STIRRUP CUP		A parting cup or glass, drank on horseback by the person taking leave.
STRONG MAN		To play the part of the strong man, i.e. to push the cart and horses too; to be whipt at the cart's tail.
STUB-FACED		Pitted with the smallpox: the devil ran over his face with horse stabs (horse nails) in his shoes.
SULKY		A one-horse chaise or carriage, capable of holding but one person: called by the French a DESOBLIGEANT.
SWELLED HEAD		A disorder to which horses are extremely liable, particularly those of the subalterns of the army. This disorder is generally occasioned by remaining too long in one livery-stable or inn, and often arises to that height that it prevents their coming out at the stable door. The most certain cure is the unguentum aureum - not applied to the horse, but to the palm of the master of the inn or stable. N. B. Neither this disorder, nor its remedy, is mentioned by either Bracken, Bartlet, or any of the modern writers on farriery.
TANDEM		A two-wheeled chaise, buggy, or noddy, drawn by two horses, one before the other: that is, AT LENGTH.
TIM WHISKY		A light one - horse chaise without a head.
TIT		A horse; a pretty little tit; a smart little girl. a tit or tid bit; a delicate morsel. Tommy tit; a smart lively little fellow.
TOAD		Toad in a hole; meat baked or boiled in pye-crust. He or she sits like a toad on a chopping-block; a saying of any who sits ill on horseback. As much need of it as a toad of a side-pocket; said of a person who desires any thing for which he has no real occasion. As full of money as a toad is of feathers.
TRAVELLING PIQUET		A mode of amusing themselves, practised by two persons riding in a carriage, each reckoning towards his game the persons or animals that pass by on the side next them, according to the following estimation: A parson riding a grey horse, witholue furniture; game. An old woman under a hedge; ditto. A cat looking out of a window; 60. A man, woman, and child, in a buggy; 40. A man with a woman behind him; 30. A flock of sheep; 20. A flock of geese; 10. A post chaise; 5. A horseman; 2. A man or woman walking; 1.
TROOPER		You will die the death of a trooper's horse, that is, with your shoes-on; a jocular method of telling any one he will be hanged.
TURF		On the turf; persons who keep running horses, or attend and bet at horse-races, are said to be on the turf.
UNFORTUNATE GENTLEMEN		The horse guards, who thus named themselves in Germany, where a general officer seeing them very awkward in bundling up their forage, asked what the devil they were; to which some of them answered, unfortunate gentlemen.
UNICORN		A coach drawn by three horses.
UPPING BLOCK		Called in some counties a leaping stock, in others a jossing block. Steps for mounting a horse. He sits like a toad on a jossing block; said of one who sits ungracefully on horseback.
VELVET		To tip the velvet; to put one's tongue into a woman's mouth. To be upon velvet; to have the best of a bet or match. To the little gentleman in velvet, ie: the mole that threw up the hill that caused Crop (King William's horse) to stumble; a toast frequently drank by the tories and catholics in Ireland.
WEAR ARSE		A one-horse chaise.
WHIP THE COCK		A piece of sport practised at wakes, horse-races, and fairs in Leicestershire: a cock being tied or fastened into a hat or basket, half a dozen carters blindfolded, and armed with their cart whips, are placed round it, who, after being turned thrice about, begin to whip the cock, which if any one strikes so as to make it cry out, it becomes his property; the joke is, that instead of whipping the cock they flog each other heartily.
WHISKY		A malt spirit much drank in Ireland and Scotland; also a one-horse chaise. See TIM WHISKY.
WILLING TIT		A free horse, or a coming girl.
WOODEN HORSE		To fide the wooden horse was a military punishment formerly in use. This horse consisted of two or more planks about eight feet long, fixed together so as to form a sharp ridge or angle, which answered to the body of the horse. It was supported by four posts, about six feet long, for legs. A head, neck, and tail, rudely cut in wood, were added, which completed the appearance of a horse. On this sharp ridge delinquents were mounted, with their hands tied behind them; and to steady them (as it was said), and lest the horse should kick them off, one or more firelocks were tied to each leg. In this situation they were sometimes condemned to sit an hour or two; but at length it having been found to injure the soldiers materially, and sometimes to rupture them, it was left off about the time of the accession of King George I. A wooden horse was standing in the Parade at Portsmouth as late as the year 1750.
YARMOUTH COACH		A kind of low two-wheeled cart drawn by one horse, not much unlike an Irish car.