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 If I meet a dear maid who is somewhat afraid, She'll blush like a virgin and say,' Oh my.' Chorus.

Adj. (theatrical).—Good. [From the Latin.]—See Rumbo.

Bonanza, subs. (American).—A happy hit; a stroke of fortune; success. [From the Spanish, a fair wind, fine weather, prosperous voyage.] Bonanza was originally the name of a mine in Nevada, which once, quite unexpectedly, turned out to be a big thing, and of enormous value; now applied to any lucky hit or successful enterprise.

1875. Scribner's Mag., July, p. 272. But a bonanza with millions in it is not struck every week.

1888. San Francisco News Letter, 4 Feb. The mines along the veins running north and south, of which North Belle Isle is the center, are all stayers, and in the east and west ledge Grand Prize has entered a body of ore which may develop into a bonanza as big as the one which paid millions in dividends in years gone by.

Bona-Roba, subs. (old).—A courtesan; a showy prostitute. [From Italian buona, good, + roba = a robe or dress.] The term was much in use among the older dramatists. Ben Jonson speaks of a bouncing bona-roba; and Cowley seems to have considered it as implying a fine, tall figure. Bona in modern times is frequently employed to signify a girl or young woman, without reference to morals.

1598. Shakspeare, 2 Henry IV., iii., 2. We knew where the bona-robas were; and had the best of them all at commandment.

b. 1618, d. 1667. Cowley, Essay on Greatness (quoted by Nares). I would neither wish that my mistress nor my fortune should be a bona-roba ;—but as Lucretius says, Parvula, pumilio, tota merum sal.

1822. Scott, Nigel, xvi. Your lordship is for a frolic into Alsatia? there are bona-robas to be found there, [m.]

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 69. The other bona-roba, known amongst her companions as Mistress Poll Maggot, was a beauty on a much larger scale—in fact, a perfect Amazon.

Bonce, subs, (popular).—1. The head; [probably a derivative of sense 2, from the analogy between them.] For synonyms, see Crumpet.

2. A large marble [origin unknown, but see Alley].

Bone, subs. (American).—When a traveller, in passing his luggage through the Custom House, tips the officer in the expectation that the latter's examination of his impedimenta will be more or less superficial, the fee thus given is termed a bone. The practice, is, of course, contrary to all regulations; but, human nature being human nature all the world over, it is believed that similar expedients for evading the law are not altogether unknown in England.

Adj. (thieves').—Good; excellent; is the vagabonds' hieroglyphic for bone, or good, chalked by them on houses and street corners as a hint to succeeding beggars. [Probably from French bon, good. Cf., Boon.]

1851-61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 232. He [beggar] mostly chalks a signal on or near the door. I give one or two instances. 'Bone,' meaning good.

1883. G. A. S [ala], in Ill. L. News, Nov. 10, p. 451, col. 3. It is well known that the lozenge-shaped diagram chalked by beggars and tramps on doors and