Page:Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant (1889) by Barrere & Leland.djvu/132

 Bell (tramps), a song.

Bellerin (American), talking loudly, crying aloud.

Bellows (pugilistic), the lungs; "bellows to mend" was formerly said of a pugilist when winded, and generally of a person out of breath.

Bellows, bellowses (American), the heaves in a horse.

(Nautical), an old hand at the bellows, a man up to his work, to his duty. A "fresh hand at the bellows" is said when a gale increases.

Bellowsed (thieves) was said of one who had "lumped the lighter" or had been "lagged," i.e., transported. As lagged is a gypsy word, meaning bound or tied together (Hindu lāgárná), it is probable that bellowsed is the common provincial word belost, which has precisely the same signification.

Bellowser (pugilistic), a blow that knocks the wind out of the "bellows" or lungs. (Old cant), a sentence of transportation for life; that is, to the convict's last breath when his lungs or "bellows" cease to play.

Bellows to mend (pugilistic and athletes), short in the wind, pumped out.

Bell swagger (old), a noisy, bullying fellow.

Bell-topped or knobbed (vulgar), a man with a large top to his generative organ.

Bell-topper, that kind of hat known in England as a "chimney-pot," a "silk hat," a "high hat," a " top hat," a "bell-topper," a bell-shaped top hat. The term is, we believe, not unknown to hatters in England, but in Australia it is universally used, often even by refined people. White ones are very much commoner than black in Australia and America, on account of the higher temperature.

When the writer was about to land at Port Melbourne he was warned "a man is of no account in Melbourne without a white bell-topper." Soon after this he went to the Geelong