Page:Farmer - Slang and its analogues past and present - Volume 4.pdf/277

 1598. Shakspeare, Henry IV, Falstaff. And for chastity Maid Marian is deputy's wife of the wand to thee.

Maids-adorning, subs. (rhyming).—The morning.

Maidstone-jailer, subs. (rhyming).—A tailor. For synonyms see Prick-louse.

Mail, subs. (Stock Exchange).—In pl. = Mexican railway shares.

To get up the mail, verb. phr. (thieves').—To find money to defend a prisoner.

Main, subs. (gaming).—The averages of the number to be thrown at dice; at (cock-fighting) the advantage on a series of battles.—Bee (1823).

To turn on the main, verb. phr. (common).—To weep. For synonyms see Nap a bib.

1853. Bradley (Cuthbert Bede), Verdant Green, Part 3, p. 90. The Mum cut up doosid this last time; You've no idea how she turned on the main and did the briny.

Main-avenue, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see Monosyllable.

Main-brace. To splice the main-brace, verb. phr. (nautical).—To serve an allowance of grog; hence to drink.

1834. Marryat, Peter Simple, ch. xv. With a bottle of rum, procured at the time they spliced the mainbrace.

1877. Harriet Martineau, Autobiography, vol. ii. Appendix p. 480. Yesterday the captain shouted, for the first time, splice the main-brace (give out grog).

Main-chance. See Chance.

Main-sheet, subs. (common).—Drink: specifically (in quot.) brandy.

1886. Grant Allen, In All Shades, ch. vii. 'In Trinidad! Well, well, beautiful island, beautiful, beautiful! Must mind they don't take too much mainsheet, or catch yellow Jack, or live in the marshes, that's all.'

Main-toby, subs. (old).—The highway, or main road. See toby.

Majority. To go over to (or join) the majority (or great majority), verb. phr. (old).—To die. For synonyms see Hop the twig. [The expression [Greek: e)s pleo/nôn i(êe/s?ai] is found in Crinagoras (Anthol. Palat. 11, 42), and penetrare ad plures in Plautus (Trin., ii, 2, 14). A correspondent of the Illustrated London News ('Echoes,' Sept. 9, 1883) writes: 'The phrase joining the majority is a free translation of the sepulchral formula, Abierunt ad multos, used by the Roman legionaries in Britain'; but in all probability the English use of the expression comes from quot. 1721].

1721. Young, Revenge, iv. 1. Life is the desert, life the solitude; Death joins us to the great majority.

1891. Licensed Victuallers' Mirror, 30 Jan., p. 1, col. 3. Henry Saffrey, the Paris Leviathan, has joined the ever-increasing majority. 'Lucky Saff' was very popular in the French capital.

Make, subs. (old).—1. See Mag.

2. (thieves').—See quot.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Make (A.) done, performed, produced; also a cant word for theft.

Verb. (thieves').—1. To steal. For synonyms see Prig.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Make I made this knife at a heat, I stole it cleaverly.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Made.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Made.