Page:Farmer - Slang and its analogues past and present - Volume 1.pdf/136

 offer them a barrel of Ale, but he will make them a promise of his unfeigned thanks and gratitude for this and past favours, with his hearty good wishes for the prosperity of the Town and Trade of Brighton; that his Shipmates, wherever bound, may set sail with fair wind and good passage; that they may never have short allowance—banyan days; or a southerly wind in the Bread Basket.

Banjo, subs. (common).—A bed-pan; also called a fiddle or slipper (q.v.)—the latter from an improved shape which allows of its being slipped in without disturbing the patient.

Bank, subs. (common).—A lump sum of money; one's fortune.

Verb (thieves').—1. To secure; to obtain (in a pilfering sense).

2. To put in a place of safety.

3. To go shares; to divide fairly with confederates.

4. (prison.)—Millbank prison.

1889. Answers, May 25, p. 412. We approached our destination, Millbank—the bank in a convict's parlance.

Bankers, subs. (old).—Clumsy boots and shoes; now called beetle-crushers. For synonyms generally, see Trotter-cases.

Bank Shaving, subs. phr. (American.—Before banks were regulated by Act of Congress, a practice prevailed among the least reputable of such institutions of purchasing notes of hand and similar documents at enormously usurious rates of discount. Many were the facilities for sharp practice of every kind. Such banks were called shaving banks, and the unfortunate wretch who thus 'raised the wind' was said to get his paper shaved. The origin of the phrase may be looked for in maritime nomenclature, a shaver from a sailor's point of view being a man who is cute and unscrupulous—possibly from the unpleasant operation of shaving on board ship when crossing the line.

Bankside Ladies, subs. phr. (old).—Ladies of more complaisance than virtue. Bankside, Southwark, was once the fashionable theatrical quarter of London. There stood once the Globe, the Swan, the Rose, and the Hope theatres. On the boards of the first-named originally appeared most of Shakspeare's plays. In Old London the neighbourhoods of the principal theatres appear to have been noted for anything but vestal virtue. Covent Garden and Drury Lane, like Bankside, have entered largely into the vicious slang of the past.

1638. Randolph, Muses' Looking-Glass, O. Pl., 9., 206. Come, I will send for a whole coach or two of Bankside ladies, and we will be jovial.

Bank-Sneak, subs. (American).—A variety of the genus thief who confines his attention to bank robberies. Smart, clever, well-dressed, they usually work in gangs, two or three confederates being employed as cover whilst the leader does the work. In large towns considerable finesse is exhibited by these men in effecting their purpose; but in the more thinly populated districts polish and ruse are abandoned in favour of more drastic methods. The bank-sneak of the West pursues his depredations more as a bandit; his city confrère is more adroit, and therefore infinitely more dangerous. For synonyms, see Area-sneak.