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 Rollickers, in allusion to the 'jolly doggish' bearing of the corps.

Blaze, subs. and verb (common).—In some of the usages of this word, the precincts of slang are narrowly touched, even if the boundary line is not crossed; as e.g., when a man is said to blaze his way through the labyrinths of the metropolis. The original meaning is well known. The early settlers in traversing the vast forests which abounded on the American continent, found it very necessary to mark their route. This they did by the simple expedient of blazing the trees at convenient distances. Blazing consists merely in chopping a piece of the bark off each tree selected in the desired line of march. The mark itself is called a blaze. In addition to this, blazing was also adopted as an indication that the land within the limits of the trees thus marked had been appropriated by a settler—a rude and informal, but, in early days, a thoroughly well recognised method of securing a title to the land. Some writers affect to derive the word from the old French blazon, the armorial bearing of the Normans, and quote the use of 'blazen,' by Shakspeare, in a sense not altogether dissimilar to the meaning conveyed by blazing, as proof to this effect.

It is employed generally in America and all English-speaking colonies. The following quotations will exemplify its use both in the original and more figurative senses.—See Blazes.

1737. Wesley, wks. (1872) I., 68. We then found another blaze and pursued it. [m.]

1883. Bret Harte, In the Carquinez Woods, ch. viii. 'I made a blaze hereabouts to show where to leave the trail. There it is,' he added, pointing to a slight notch cut in the trunk of an adjoining tree. They proceeded cautiously at right angles with the blazed tree for ten minutes more.

Blaze-away, intj. (common).—Look sharp; 'stir your stumps'—an injunction to renewed and more effective effort.

Blazer, subs. (popular).—Originally applied to the uniform of the Lady Margaret Boat Club of St. John's College, Cambridge, which was of a bright red and was called a blazer. Now applied to any light jacket of bright colour worn at cricket or other sports. Prof. Skeat [N. and Q.,7 S., iii., 436] speaking of the Johnian blazer, says it was always of the most brilliant scarlet, and thinks it not improbable that the fact suggested the name which subsequently became general.

1880. Times, June 19. Men in spotless flannel, and club blazers. [m.]

1885. Punch, June 27, p. 304. On the morning of the start for our 'Spin to Brighton,' Harkaway turns up clad in what he calls a blazer, which makes him look like a nigger minstrel out for a holiday.

1889. Daily News, Aug. 22, p. 6, col. 6. Dress by the Sea. Sir,—In your article of to-day, under the above heading, you speak of 'a striped red and black blazer,' 'the blazer,' also of 'the pale toned' ones. This is worth noting as a case of the specific becoming the generic. A blazer is the red flannel boating jacket, worn by the Lady Margaret, St. John's College, Cambridge, Boat Club. When I was at Cambridge it meant that and nothing else. It seems from your article that a blazer now means a coloured flannel jacket, whether for cricket, tennis, boating, or seaside wear.—Yours faithfully, Walter Wren.