Page:Farmer - Slang and its analogues past and present - Volume 3.pdf/256

 Half-crowner, subs. (booksellers').—A publication costing 2s. 6d.

Half-cut, adv. (common).—Half-drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

Half-fly Flat, subs. phr. (thieves').—A thief's jackal; a man (or woman) hired to do rough or dirty work.

Half-grown Shad, subs. phr. (American).—A dolt. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1838. Neal, Charcoal Sketches. No more interlect than a half-grown shad.

Half Laugh and Purser's Grin, subs. phr. (nautical).—A sneer; a half-and-half meaning.—Clark Russell.

Halflings, adj. (Scots').—Betwixt and between. [Usually said of a boy or girl just leaving childhood.]

1818. Scott, Heart of Midlothian, xi. In my youth, nay, when I was a hafflins callant.

Half-man, subs. (nautical).—A landsman rated as A. B.

Half-marrow, subs. (old Scots').—1. A faithless spouse; also a parcel husband or wife.

1600-61. Rutherford, Letters, i., 123. Plead with your harlot-mother, who hath been a treacherous half-marrow to her husband Jesus.

2. (nautical).—An incompetent seaman.

Half-moon, subs. (old).—1. A wig; and (2) the female pudendum. For synonyms, see Periwinkle and Monosyllable.

1611. Lodowick Barry, Ram Alley (Dodsley, Old Plays, vii., 326, ed. 1875). Is not her half-moon mine?

Half-mourning, subs. (common).—A black eye. Full-mourning = two black eyes or deep grief.

Half-nab (or nap), adv. (old).—See quot.

1791. Bampfylde-Moore Carew, Life. Half-nab—at a venture, unsight unseen, hit or miss.

Half-on, adj. (colloquial).—Half-drunk.

Half-rocked, adv. (common).—Half-witted; silly. [From a West Country saying that all idiots are nursed bottom upwards.] See Apartments and Tile Loose.

Half-saved, adv. (common).—Weak-minded; shallow-brained. See Apartments and Tile Loose.

1834. Southey, The Doctor, ch. x. William Dove's was not a case of fatuity. Though all was not there, there was a great deal. He was what is called half-saved.

1874. M. Collins, Frances, ch. xlii. This groom was what they call in the west country half-saved.

Half-screwed, adj. (common).—More or less in liquor. See Drinks and Screwed.

1839. Lever, Harry Lorrequer, ch. ii. He was, in Kilrush phrase, half-screwed, thereby meaning more than half tipsy.

Half-seas Over, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Loosely applied to various degrees of inebriety. Formerly = half way on one's course, or towards attainment. For synonyms, see Screwed.