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 1882. Century Mag., XXV., 192. He was bareheaded, his hair banged even with his eyebrows in front.

1888. Detroit Free Press. Bang, Sister, bang with care; If your poker's too hot you'll lose your hair.

3. To surpass; to excel. So also banging, adj., great or thumping.

4. (Stock Exchange.)—To loudly offer stock with the intention of lowering the price.

To be banged up to the eyes, phr. (common).—To be drunk. For synonyms, see Screwed.

Bang-Beggar, subs. (old).—A constable or beadle. It is not quite clear whether this is not merely a dialecticism. In Lowland Scotch it signifies a strong staff.

Banger, subs. (common).—A lie. Generally, that's a banger! This elegant phrase is sometimes varied by 'that's a whopper' (q.v.); or the now classical 'thumper' (q.v.), an invention of the late Lord Iddesleigh.

(Yale College).—A club-like cane or stick; a bludgeon. This word is one of the Yale vocables.—Hall's College Words and Customs.

Yale Lit. Mag., vol. XX., p. 75. The Freshman reluctantly turned the key, Expecting a Sophomore gang to see, Who, with faces masked and bangers stout, Had come resolved to smoke him out.

Bang-Off, adv. (familiar).—Without stopping; right away; e.g., 'I wrote as promised bang-off,' i.e., without delay. [From bang, a loud, sudden sound + off, movement from a place or thing.]

Bang-Out. To bang-out, verbal phr. (common).—To depart hurriedly and with noise.

Adv. phr.—Completely, entirely, combined with suddenness; e.g., 'the candle went bang-out.'

Bang-Pitcher, subs. (old).—A drunkard. Possibly only dialectical.

Bangster subs. (provincial).—According to Jamieson:—1. A violent and disorderly person, who regards no law but his own will. 2. A victor. 3. A braggart. 4. A loose woman.

1820. Scott, The Abbot, ch. xix. If the Pope's champions are to be bangsters in our very change houses, we shall soon have the changelings back again, [h.]

1825. Scott, St. Ronan's Well, ch. xxiii. If you are so certain of being the bangster—so very certain, I mean, of sweeping stakes, what harm will Miss Clara come to by your having the use of her siller.

Bang-Straw, subs. (old).—A nickname for a thresher of corn; a provincialism.

Bang-Tailed, adj. (popular).—Short tailed. Usually applied to horses.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. vi. 'These bang-tailed little sinners any good?' said Drysdale, throwing some cock-a-bondies across the table. 'Yes, I never like to be without them and a governor or two.'

Bang-Up, adj. phr. (common).—First-rate; quite up to the mark; A 1; slap up; in the height of fashion. Also banged-up.

1812. H. and J. Smith, Rejected Addresses, p. 188. Dance a bang-up theatrical cotillion.