Page:Farmer - Slang and its analogues past and present - Volume 1.pdf/174

 get a beat on one, besides conveying the idea of obtaining an advantage, also implies that the point has been scored by underhand, secret, or unlawful means.

To beat the booby or goose, phr. (nautical).—To strike the hands across the chest and under the armpits to warm them. Formerly to beat Jonas.

1883. Times, 15 March, p. 9, col. 6. The common labourers at outdoor work were beating goose to drive the blood from their fingers. [m.]

To beat the road, phr. (American).—To travel by rail without paying.—See Dead-heads and To beat, sense 1.

That beat's the Dutch!—See Dutch.

Beat Daddy Mammy (old military).—To tattoo; to practice the elements of drum beating.

Beaten Down to Bed-Rock, adv. phr. (American).—See Bedrock.

Beaten Out, ppl. adj. with adv. (common).—Impoverished; in one's last straits; hard up.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 351. The beaten out mechanics and artisans, who, from want of employment in their own trade, take to making small things. Ibid, p. 400. The last class of street sellers is the beaten out mechanic or workman.

Beater-Cases, subs. (old).—Boots or shoes. Nearly obsolete. Trotter-cases (q.v.) is the usual term nowadays.—See Beaters.

Beaters, subs. (American).—The feet. [A transferred sense of beater, originally signifying one who 'beat' or walked the streets. Barclay, in Shyp of Folys (1509), speaks of 'night watchers and beters of the stretes.'] For synonyms, see Creepers.

Beat the Hoof, verbal phr. (popular).—To walk; to plod; to prowl. [From beat, in the sense of to strike the ground in walking, etc., + hoof, a humorous term for the foot.] To beat the hoof is an older form of the modern pad the hoof (q.v.).

1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, Act i., Sc. 3. Falstaff: Hold, sirrah, [to Robin] bear you these letters tightly; Sail like my pinnace to these golden shores.— Rogues, hence, avaunt! vanish like hailstones, go; Trudge, plod away, o' the hoof; seek shelter, pack!

1691. Wood, Ath. Oxon., II., 412. They all beated it on the hoof to London, [m.]

Beat the Rib.—See Rib.

Beau Trap, subs. (old).—1. A loose stone in a pavement, under which water lodges, and which, on being trodden upon, squirts it up, to the great damage of clean clothes.

2. (old.)—Also a well-dressed sharper, on the look out for raw country visitors and such like.

3. (old.)—A fop, well-dressed outwardly indeed, but whose linen, person, and habits generally, are unclean.

Beauty, subs. (American cadet).—A term applied, on the rule of contrary, to the plainest or ugliest cadet in the class at the United States Military Academy