Page:Farmer - Slang and its analogues past and present - Volume 1.pdf/49

 All-Get-Out, phr. (American).--That beats all-get-out, is an old retort to any extravagant story or assertion. Barrère says, 'oh, get out!' appears to have suggested the phrase, which is, perhaps, not altogether obvious.

All Hands to the Pump, verb. phr. (old).--An expression borrowed from seafaring life, signifying concentration of energy in any one direction. Now-a-days we say, 'a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether'; this also is a sailor's phrase.

All Holiday at Peckham, proverbial phr. (popular).--No work to do; and, as a concomitant, nothing to eat. A play upon words.--See Peckish.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. All holiday at Peckham ... a saying signifying that it is all over with the business or person spoken of or alluded to.

1848. Forster, Oliver Goldsmith, bk. I., ch. vi., p. 55 (5ed.) 'Oh, that is all a holiday at peckham,' said an old friend very innocently one day, is a common proverbial phrase.

It seems that Goldsmith in the early part of his London life passed some miserable months as usher in a school at Peckham, and the memory of this doleful period was ever bitter to him[**.] Years afterwards, a friend in conversation happened to speak facetiously of it being 'all holiday at Peckham,' and was surprised to find that this innocent reference to a recognised proverbial phrase was regarded by Goldsmith as an unkind allusion to his past misery, and, therefore, a personal insult.

All Hollow, adv. (popular).--To beat, or carry all hollow, i.e., utterly; completely.

All Hot! subs. (common).--A hot potato. A cry used by peripatetic street vendors.

All In, phr. (Stock Exchange).--When the market is depressed and a disposition to sell prevails, it is said to be all in. Conversely, all out signifies that the market is improving.

All in a Pucker.--See Pucker.

All in Fits, adv. phr. (tailors').--Badly made clothes are said to be all in fits, or to have a paralytic stroke. Such garments are also said to fit where they touch, i.e., nowhere. Now common.

All jaw. All jaw like a sheep's head, adv. phr. (common).--Said of one who is a great talker; or, who has the gift of the gab.

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 41. 'Look at the man! hear him; why, he's all jaw like a sheep's head. He was drummed out of the regiment he was in for eating his comrades' knapsacks.'

A synonym is all mouth.--See Jaw.

All Lombard Street to a China Orange, phr. (old); sometimes all Lombard Street to ninepence.--One of many fanciful forms of betting once current among the sporting fraternity; others were 'Chelsea College to a sentry box,' 'Pompey's Pillar to a stick of sealing wax,' etc.

1819. Thomas Moore, Tom Cribb's Memorial to Congress, p. 38[**. P2] A pause ensued--'till crie of 'Gregson,'