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 1870. Bret Harte, Society on the Stanislaus (in Poems and Prose). It is not a proper plan, to lay for that same member for to put a bead on him.

188(?) S. Clemens ('Mark Twain'), Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, p. 48. I was pretty close to the Shanty, and I thought I heard the old man coming all the time; but I got her hid; and then I out and looked around a bunch of willows, and there was the old man down the path apiece just drawing a bead on a bird with his gun.

1889. Albany Journal, Aug. 6. If Jake's not careful I'll draw a bead on him. Very little more will make me go for him tooth and nail.

To raise a bead.—To bring to the point; to ensure success. The figure is taken from brandy, rum, or other liquors, which will not 'raise a bead,' unless of the proper strength.

1846. N. Y. Tribune, Letter from Ohio. The result was, if the convention had been then held, the party wouldn't have been able to raise a bead, [b.]

Beagle, subs, (old).—A spy; informer; man-hunter; policeman; also a general term of contempt. [From beagle, a small hound, which tracks by scent, formerly used for hunting.]

1599. Myrr. Mag., Jack Cade, xix., 2. That restless begle sought and found me out. [m.]

1607. Dekker, Westward Hoe, Act iii., Sc. 4. Mon. I beseech you, Mistress Tenterhook,—before God, I'll be sick, if you will not be merry. Mist. Ten. You are a sweet beagle.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Beagle (s.) also a contemptuous name given to a boy or man, as to say, you are a special beagle, is the same as, you are good for nothing.

1837. Carlyle, French Revolution, III., vii., v., 377. Attorneys and Law-beagles, which hunt ravenous on this Earth.

Beak, subs, (old cant).—1. A policeman or guardian of the peace. As far as is known, this (as 'beck') is the oldest cant term for a member of a class of men, who, perhaps, above all ohers, have been the recipients of nicknames and epithets, and these, be it noted, not always of a complimentary character. In Harman's Caveat (1573), harman beck is explained as 'the counstable,' harmans being 'the stockes.' The derivation of beck or beak is doubtful. Especially vague seems that which finds its source in the Saxon beag, a gold collar worn by civic magistrates, and an emblem of authority. This genesis appears to be based on the later and secondary sense of beak, a magistrate, a meaning which it still retains. But, against this must be placed the fact that, as the name for a watchman or guardian of the peace, beak boasts a much older usage. Sir John Fielding, half brother of the author of Tom Jones, and an active Middlesex Justice in the last century, was popularly known as the 'Blind Beak' [c. 1750]; but beyond this date no instance of this sense has been found. If, therefore, beak originally signified a policeman, it is difficult to discover any connection with the Saxon beag, inasmuch as watchmen are not known to have been decorated with gold collars. The following quotations will give other illustrations, and also show that, meaning a policeman, the term has not long been obsolete.

1609. Dekker, a Gypsy song, in Lanthorne and Candlelight, etc.

The Ruffin cly the nab of the Harman beck, If we mawnd Pannam, lap or Ruffpeck,