Page:Farmer - Slang and its analogues past and present - Volume 2.pdf/71

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Caze, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum.

Cedar, subs. (Eton College).—1. A pair-oared boat inrigged, without canvas, and very 'crank.' [From the material.]

2. (prison).—A pencil. [This, like the foregoing, is derived from the wood of which both are made.]

Celestial Poultry, subs. (popular).—Angels. [An allusion to the mythological wings of 'men out of the body.']

Celestials, subs. (military).—The Ninety-seventh Regiment of Foot. [So nicknamed from its facings of sky blue. ]

1856. Notes and Queries, 2 S., ii., p. 215. The 97th too is not mentioned by your correspondents as far as I have seen, the celestials.

1871. Chambers' Journal. Dec. 23, p. 801. 'Celestials'—the facings of the corps being sky blue.

2. sing, (common).—A 'turn-*up' or 'pug' nose. For synonyms, see Conk.

3. (colloquial).—The Chinese. The Chinese Empire is spoken of as the Celestial Empire.

Cellier, subs. (old).—An out-and-out, unmitigated lie. [A word of great interest, illustrating the temporary use for certain purposes of the name of a certain person, as in the cases of Burke, Boycott, Bishop, and Salisbury (q.v.). The Meal-tub Plot in 1680 was the concoction of Thomas Dangerfield and Elizabeth Cellier, a Roman Catholic midwife. Forged documents which Dangerfield hid in Colonel Mansel's lodgings were upon his deposition found there by Government officers; but the fraud was soon discovered, and Dangerfield was committed to Newgate. On his trial he endeavoured to throw the entire blame on Mrs. Cellier, and asserted that the original papers were all to be found in her house hidden in a meal tub. This turned out to be true, and Mrs. Cellier was committed to prison. On her trial she managed to prove that Dangerfield was wholly unworthy of credit, and her marvellous impudence and vigorous mendacity led to her own acquittal, and made her name for the time the equivalent of 'an out-and-out lie.' After her trial she thanked the jurors for giving her a good deliverance, and offered to 'serve their ladies with the same fidelity in their deliveries.'] For synonyms, see Whopper.

1682. Popes Harbinger, p. 79. That's a Celier, Sir, a modern and most proper phrase to signifie any Egregious Lye.

Cellar-Flap, subs. (common).—A step or dance performed within the compass of (say) a Cellar-Flap. The object of the Whitechapel artist in the dance is to achieve as many changes of step as possible without shifting his ground: his action being restricted to the feet and legs. An old equivalent is To Cut Capers on a Trencher; also Double-Shuffle (q.v.).

1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 219. Others again would indulge in a break-down, or cellar-flap dance, dreadfully to the discomfort of the men in the cells below.