Page:Farmer - Slang and its analogues past and present - Volume 1.pdf/45

 in color and taste, has some resemblance to beef, especially when cut in steaks and grilled. Albany is a town on the Hudson River as high as which the fish in question is or was to be caught in large numbers, and as a matter of course, it consequently formed a not inconsiderable factor in the food supply of the inhabitants--hence the term Albany beef.

Albertopolis, subs. (popular).--nickname formerly given by Londoners to the Kensington Gore district, out of compliment to the late Prince Consort. The Albert Hall and the Exhibition buildings of 1862, with which Prince Albert was so closely identified, are situated within the radius; and the Albert Memorial is hard by.

1864. E. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. xxxiii., p. 366 (1877). Mr. Cauthar tripped out of the house, and devoted the remainder of the evening to working out a composition for the nutriment of the hair, which, under the name of Cauthar's Crinibus, has an enormous circulation over the infant heads of albertopolis.

Albonized, ppl. adj. (pugilistic).--Whitened. [From L. albus, white.]

Alderman, subs. (popular).--1. A half-crown. This term is explained by Brewer as containing an allusion to the fact that an alderman is a kind of half-king, whatever that may mean.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 444. Two shillings and sixpence--alderman.

2. A long pipe; also called a churchwarden (q.v.); in both instances the name is probably an allusion to the penchant these personages had at one time for the long clay.

1859. Fairholt, Tobacco (1876), 173. Such long pipes were reverently termed alderman in the last age, and irreverently yards of clay in the present one.

3. A turkey; a variant is an alderman in chains; i.e., a roast turkey well stuffed and garnished with sausages. The latter are said to be emblematical of the gold chain worn by the civic dignitary--what then about the stuffing?

1782. George Parker, Humorous Sketches, p. 31. Nick often eat a roast fowl and sausage with me, which in cant is called an alderman, double slang'd.

4. (thieves').--A jemmy (q.v.); sometimes alderman jemmy. A weightier tool is called a Lord Mayor, whereby it is clear that the criminal classes are not without some kind of respect for the city fathers. The tool is used for burglary purposes.

1883. Daily Telegraph, May 14, p. 3, col. 7. A complete set of safe-breaking tools had been used and left behind, including wedges, an alderman jemmy, a hammer weighing 14 lbs.

1888. Saturday Review, 15 Dec, p. 719. One side of slang was by the burglar Casey in a well-known case of robbery in the City some years ago, who explained in Court that the big jemmy with which iron shatters were prised open was called the 'alderman,' adding, 'it would never do to be talking about crowbars in the street.'

5. Blood and guts alderman, subs. phr. (popular).--A pompous man; one with a 'corporation.' The allusion is to the alleged or real over-eating and drinking of aldermen as a class.

Alderman Lushington, subs. (Australian).--Intoxicating beverages.

Alderman's Pace.--A slow and stately gait, like that of a burly