Page:Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant (1889) by Barrere & Leland.djvu/34

 Abob (Winchester), a large white jug containing about a gallon in measure.

Abounding (American), applied to a person unmistakably prominent at a party or a public meeting. About East (American). A term used by men coming from the New England, i.e., the eastern and purely Yankee States, to signify anything that meets with approval Such things or people are said to be about East. J. Kussell Lowell in his "Letters" well illustrates this colloquialism of men who regard everything done in their native states as right, and whose eyes are often turned to the old home amidst the roughing and struggle of the wilder West.

About right (vulgarism). To do a thing about right is to do it thoroughly.

About the size of it (American). An expression indicating an average, or estimate, or expression of value, or an equivalent, in a very wide sense.

Above one's bend (American), beyond one's capacity. In the South the phrase to signify the same idea is " above my huckle-berry," or "a huckle- berry above my persimmon." Bend in this sense is probably derived from the Anglo-Saxon bend, signifying a bond or anything that binds — a contract. {{smaller|For ich am comen hider to-day, For to saven hem, yive y may, And bring hem out of bende. — Anns and Amiloun, l. 1233. "Above my bend" is "more than I am bound or held to do " — a Saxon idiom.