Page:Farmer - Slang and its analogues past and present - Volume 1.pdf/185

 his team who last touched the ball.

Beilby's Ball, subs. (old).—An Old Bailey execution.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Beilby's Ball,—'he will dance at Beilby's Ball, where the sheriff pays [for] the musick: he will be hanged. Who Mr. Beilby was, or why that ceremony was so called remains with the quadrature of the circle, the discovery of the philosopher's stone, and diverse other desiderata yet undiscovered.

Bejan, Baijan, etc., subs. (Scotch University).—A freshman; a student of the first year at the Universities of St Andrew's and Aberdeen: it is now obsolete at Edinburgh. [From the French bec jaune, yellow beak, in allusion to the color of the mandibles of young birds.] The term was adopted from the University of Paris; but, signifying 'a novice' it has been in more or less general use for nearly three hundred years. At Aberdeen, the second-class students are 'semi-bejans'; in the third 'tertians'; while those in the highest rank are 'magistrands.' In the University of Vienna the freshman is called beanus, and in France 'footing money' is bejaunia. For synonymous terms for freshmen and raw recruits, see Snooker.

1611. Cotgrave. Bejaune, a novice or young beginner, in a trade or art.

1865. G. Macdonald, Alec Forbes, ch. xxxiv. The benches were occupied by about two hundred students, most of the freshmen or bejans in their red gowns.

1887. Standard, Feb. 10, p. 5, col. 2. The term baijan, used in one of the Scottish universities to designate a freshman, is from the French bec jaune, yellow beak—young birds having usually bills of this hue.

Belch, subs. (common).—Beer, especially poor beer. So called because of its liability to cause eructation. The term is probably much older than indicated by quotations. One of Shakspeare's characters in Twelfth Night is Sir Toby Belch, a reckless, roystering, jolly knight of the Elizabethan period. For synonyms, see Swipes.

1698. Ward, London Spy, pt. XV., p. 347. Those Poor Sots who are gussling belch at his own Ale-house.

1705. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. I., pt. VII., p. 18. I sneak'd into a little house, Where porters do their belch carouse.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Belch (s.), common beer or ale sold in publick houses is so called.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Belch, all sorts of beer, that liquor being apt to cause eructation.

1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, bk. III., ch. iii., p. 265. 'Let's have a pot of that fourpenny English Burgundy of yours, and, whilst my mates are drinking the belch, I want to talk business with you.'

Belcher, subs. (pugilistic).—A neckerchief named after Jim Belcher, a noted pugilist. The ground is blue, with white spots. Also, attributatively, to any handkerchief of a similar pattern. For synonyms, see Fogle.

1812. Examiner, 21 Sept., 607, 1. The traverser tied a belcher handkerchief round his neck.

18(?). Dickens, The Ghost of Art, in Reprinted Pieces, p. 215. I saw that the lower part of his face was tied up, in what is commonly called a belcher handkerchief.

1874. Macmillan's Magazine, April, p. 506. The spotted blue and white neckerchief, still called a belcher, bears the name of a famous prize fighter.

2. (thieves'.)—A ring. Described in quotation.