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 politicians, who do the work at the Democratic polls, and manipulate the primaries and local conventions.

1888. New York Herald, 4 Nov. A band succeeded them and preceded a lot of ward heelers and floaters.

2. (American).—A bar, or other loafer; anyone on the look-*out for shady work.

3. (American thieves')—An accomplice in the pocket-book racket (q.v.). [The Heeler draws attention, by touching the victim's heels, to a pocket-book containing counterfeit money which has been let drop by a companion, with a view to inducing the victim to part with genuine coin for a division of the find.]

4. (Winchester College).—A plunge, feet foremost, into water. Fr., une chandelle.

Heel-taps, subs. (common).—1. Liquor in the bottom of a glass. Bumpers round and no heel taps = Fill full, and drain dry! See Daylight. Fr., la musique.

1795. Gent. Mag., p. 118. Briskly pushed towards me the decanter containing a tolerable bumper, and exclaimed, 'Sir, I'll buzz you: come, no heel-taps!'

1836. Dickens, Pickwick (Ed. 1857), p. 10. No heel-taps, and he emptied the glass.

1838. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, ch. xxxii. There was a proper objection to drinking her in heeltaps.

1841. Punch, i., 117. Empty them heeltaps, Jack, and fill out with a fresh jug.

1844. Buckstone, The Maid with the Milking Pail. Added to which, she's a termagant, and imbibes all the heel-*taps.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xiv. The relics of yesterday's feast—the emptied bottles the wretched heel-*taps that have been lying exposed all night to the air.

2. (common).—A dance peculiar to London dustmen.

Heifer, subs. (common).—A woman; old heifer (in Western America) = a term of endearment. For synonyms, see Petticoat.

18(?). In the Back Woods, p. 71. Now, git out, I says, or the ol' heifer 'll show you whar the carpenter left a hole for you to mosey.

Heifer-paddock, subs. (Australian).—A ladies' school.

1885. Mrs. Campbell-Praed, Australian Life. The cattle (women) hereabouts are too scattered Next year I shall look over a heifer-paddock in Sydney, and take my pick.

Heigh-ho, subs. (thieves').—Stolen yarn. [From the expression used to apprise the fence that the speaker had stolen yarn to sell.]

Heights. To scale the heights of connubial bliss, verb. phr. (venery).—To copulate. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

Helbat, subs. (back).—A table.

Hell, subs. (old).—1. Generic for a place of confinement, as in some games (Sydney), or a cell in a prison: specifically, a place under the Exchequer Chamber, where the king's debtors were confined.

1593. Shakspeare, Comedy of Errors, iv., 2. A hound that runs counter, and yet draws dry-foot well, One that before the judgement, carries poor souls to hell.

1658. Counter-Rat. In Wood Street's hole, or counter's hell.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Secreta Also the name of a place in Venice where all their secret records and ancient evidences be kept, as hell is in Westminster Hall.