Page:Farmer - Slang and its analogues past and present - Volume 4.pdf/148

 Lady Jane, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

Lady-Killer, subs. (colloquial).—A male flirt; a general lover. Lady-killing = assiduous gallantry.

1839. Lever, Harry Lorrequer, xxii. I believe your regular lady-killer—yourself for instance—becomes a very quiet animal for being occasionally jilted.

1846-8. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xiii. I don't set up to be a lady-killer.

1880. G. R. Sims, Three Brass Balls, Pledge iii. He called himself an old fool for being frightened of a dandy—a vain, empty-headed lady-killer.

Lady of Pleasure, subs. phr. (old).—A prostitute. Fr. fille de joie. For synonyms see Barrack-hack and Tart.

1750. ROBERTSON (of Struan), Poems, 203. 'On a lady of pleasure' [Title].

1767. Ray, Proverbs (ed. 1893), 64. A whore a lady of pleasure.

Lady's Hole. See Lady, subs. sense 4.

Lady's Ladder, subs. (nautical).—Rattlins set too close.

Lady's Low Toupée, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pubic hair. For synonyms see Merkin.

1721. Durfey, Pills to Purge, etc. With my curling tongs so hot, sir, So well as you may see, And so well I can dress up, A lady's low toppie.

Lady-star, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

1598. Hall, Satires, iv. 1 (Chalmers, English Poets, 1810, v. 273). And with her cruel lady'star uproze She seeks her third roust on her silent toes.

Lady-ware, subs. (old).—1. The penis and testes.

1599. Soliman & Perseda [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), v. 345]. The ladies of Rhodes, hearing that you have lost a capital part of your lady-ware have made their petition to Cupid to plague you above all other, as one prejudicial to their muliebrity.

2. (old).—Trinkets; knick-knacks, ribands.

Lag, subs. (old).—1. Sentence of transportation or penal servitude; transportation.

1821. Haggart, Life, p. 18. Under sentence of lag for spunk.

2. (thieves').—1. A returned transport; (2) a convict; and (3) a ticket-of-leave man. For synonyms see Wrong 'Un.

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Lag, a man transported.

1828. Bee, Living Picture of London, p. 39. A few are returned lags.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, iii. 5. And thus was I bowled out at last, And into the jug for a lag was cast.

1856. Reade, Never too Late to Mend, ix. 'He fell in with two old lags who had a deadly grudge against the chaplain.'

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. lag, a convicted felon.

1864. Daily Telegraph, 19 Oct. The country is so wild and unexplored, that the lag who has traversed it, or could traverse it, might re-enter society as a hero if he would impart his adventures.

1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, i. 59. The prisoner who had acted as barber, and was an old lag, passing the door, told me, 'Never mind cleaning your cell, we are all off to-day.'

1889. Answers, 23 Mar., p. 265, col. 3. In the old days many escapes were made from Chatham by expert swimmers. An old lag (the slang term for prisoner) told me that twice in his recollection had men got clean away in this manner.

1890. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up, 248. 'Are the police coming'. 'I tinky not. Only that sundowny lun away like ol' lag.'