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 now applied to a low public house. For synonyms, see Lush crib.

1567. Harman, Caveat. Man. What, stowe your bene, cofe, and cut benat whydds, and byng we to roine vyle, to nyp a bong; so shall we haue lowre for the bousing ken, and when we byng back to the deuseauyel, we wyll fylche some duddes of the Ruffemans, or myll the ken for a bagge of dudes.

1652. Brome, Jovial Crew, II., wks. (1873) III., 390 As Tom or Tib When they at bowsing ken do swill.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib's Memorial to Congress, p. 27. But notwithstanding the Protean nature of the Flash or Cant language, the greater part of its vocabulary has remained unchanged for centuries, and many of the words used by the Canting Beggars in Beaumont and Fletcher, and the Gipsies in Ben Jonson's Masque, are still to be heard among the Gnostics of Dyot-street and Tothill-fields. To prig is still to steal; to fib, to beat; lour, money; duds, clothes; prancers, horses; bouzing-ken, an ale-*house; cove, a fellow; a sou's baby, a pig, etc., etc.

Bouzy.—See Boozy.

Bow. Two (or many) strings to one's bow, phr. (colloquial).—To have an alternative; more resources than one. The phrase sometimes formerly ran to have many strings to the bow. Numerous figurative expressions in all languages indicate the dominant pursuits of the respective nations; the English abounds in habitual phrases testifying to the engrossing avocations in all times. It is in this manner that to have two strings to one's bow has passed into proverbial usage. In the fourteenth century—a Frenchman, Gaston de Foix, said of our ancestors, 'Of bows I know not much, but who would know more, let him go to England, for that is truly their business.' In the olden time, archery, as the dominant pursuit, gave figures of speech to the language—with the very pith of wisdom or Saxon sarcasm. If you made an enemy's machinations recoil upon himself, you 'outshot a man in his own bow.' If you are a cautious man, 'Always have two strings to your bow,' and 'Get the shaft-hand of your adversaries,' or 'Draw not thy bow before thy arrow be fixed.' Of course, if you can 'Kill two birds with one shaft,' so much the better. Never 'shoot wide of the mark'—that is, don't make a foolish guess on a subject you know nothing about. Of useless, silly conversation, our ancestors said — 'The fool's bolt is soon shot'; and if a man evidently exaggerated, he was said to 'draw a long bow.' If a man's pretensions were not in accordance with the facts of his case—in other words, if he came under the category of 'false pretences'—it was said that he 'had a famous bow, but it was up at the Castle.' Vain military and other boasters were the many who 'talked of Robin Hood, but who never shot his bow.' 'An archer is known by his aim, and not by his arrows'; that is, if you are not answerable for your materials, at least show your skill in the modus operandi; or at all events, don't depend entirely upon your tool.

1562. Heywood, Prov. and Epigr. (1867), 30. Ye have many stryngis to the bowe. [m.]

1588. Marprelate's Epistle, p. 18 (ed. Arber). Doe you not thinke that I haue two strings to my bow.