Page:Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant (1889) by Barrere & Leland.djvu/152

 Bitto, bitti (gypsy), a bit, a little, small, little. A bitto mūsh, a small man; bitti dīr, fainter, lower (voice), less, smaller; bitti mūlloa or mūlleys, goblins, fairies.

Bivvy, pivvy (provincial), a drink, beer; a shant of bivvy, a pot of beer; a diminutive of beverage, or from the gypsy piava or biava, to drink; pivo, beer in Bohemian or Czech. In French cant pivois is wine.

Bīyêg'hin (tinker), stealing; biyêgh`, to steal; biyegh' th'eenik, to steal the thing.

Biz (English and American), business.

It also means any kind of occupation.

In theatrical language the biz is the acting, performing a part.

B. K. S. (officers), barracks, used specially among officers in mufti, who wish to preserve the incognito.

Blab (common), to talk inconsiderately, to let secrets slip out, betray; Dan. blabbre, to babble.

Black-and-tan (street), half-and-half, porter and ale mixed. (American), applied to black and brown terriers. A mulatto, a mixture of mulattoes and blacks. During the Civil War the South was called the black-and-tan country, from the planters "tanning" or beating their slaves.