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 1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Boarding School. Bridewell, Newgate, or any other prison or house of correction.

Boardman, subs. (vagrants').—A standing patterer; explained by quotation. Sometimes called a 'sandwich man.'

1851. H. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 251. I have no doubt that there are always at least twenty standing patterers—sometimes they are called boardmen—at work in London. Ibid, p. 248. They endeavour to attract attention to their papers, or, more commonly, pamphlets by means of a board with coloured pictures upon it, illustrative of the contents of what they sell (This) is what is usually denominated in street technology 'board work.'

Board of Green Cloth, subs. (familiar).—A card or billiard table. [From board, a table, + green cloth, from the colour of the cloth with which the table is covered.]

1771. P. Parsons, New Newmarket, II., 24. That board of green cloth, the billiard table.

1850. Smedley, Frank Fairlegh, p. 23. 'I am going down to F-' 'As usual, the board of green cloth, eh? you will go there once too often, if you don't mind, old fellow.' 'That's my look out,' replied Cumberland.

1853. Whyte Melville, Digby Grand, ch. vi. Often have I seen him rise from the board of green cloth, and turning his chair thrice, from right to left, reseat himself at the play-table, confident that success would follow the mystical manœuvre.

1886. Miss Braddon, Mohawks, ch. viii. The soft seductive sound of the dice sliding gently on to the board of green cloth.

Boat, subs. (old). — Formerly applied to the hulks; latterly to any prison. [The derivation is obvious, old dismasted ships having long served as places of detention for convicts.] For synonyms, see Cage.

1856. H. Mayhew, Great World of London, p. 82, note. [List of thieves' names of prisons.] The Hulks, or any Public Works—The Boat.

Verb (old).—I. Originally to transport; the term is now applied to penal servitude. To 'get the boat,' or to 'be boated,' is to be sentenced to a long term of imprisonment, equivalent to transportation under the old system. Cf., Boat, subs., and for synonyms, see Cop.

2. (American thieves'.)—To join as partner; evidently a corruption of 'to be in the same boat,' i.e., to be in the same position or circumstances.

TO bail one's own boat, phr. (American).—To be self-reliant. A variant is 'to paddle one's own canoe.'—See Canoe.

Bob, subs. (popular).—I. A shilling. [The derivation is obscure, but there are several suggested explanations. Murray points out that there was an old French coin called a bobe, but he thinks its survival in English slang is very unlikely. Others think it a corruption of 'baubee' or 'bawbee,' a debased Scotch coin, issued in the reign of James VI. of Scotland, equal in value to a halfpenny. A more likely origin than either of the foregoing is from bob, a grub used as bait for fish, the allusion being to money as a bribe.] The old cant had bobstick (q.v.) as a synonym, and a spurious plural is sometimes formed of bob, thus bobber—two bobber = a two-shilling piece. Cf., Blow for synonyms.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dictionary. Bob or bobstick, a shilling.