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 1682. Radcliffe, Ramble, 88. With mangled fist he grasp'd the box, Giving the table bloody knocks, He throws and calls for plague and pox T'assist him. Ibid., 34. What a pox of these fellowes' contriving.

16[?]. T. Brown, Horace, 1. xxvii. What a pox should we fight for? Ibid. The arms of a pockified whore.

1693. Congreve, Old Bachelor, iii. 6. The pox light upon thee for a contemplative pimp. Ibid. (1694), Double Dealer, iii. 3. Pox, I have lost all appetite to her; yet she's a fine woman.

1693. Urquhart, Rabelais, 111. Prol. As for Hypocrites, much less; altho' they were all of them unsound in Body, pockify'd, scurfie, furnish'd with unquenchable Thirst.

1697. Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, ii. 1. Heart. Why, there's no division, I hope. Sir John. No; but there's a conjunction: and that's worse. A pox o' the parson.

1705. Hearne, Diary, 17 Nov. The duke of Buckingham whilst he was there [Spain] happened to receive a pox, by lying with a Spanish beauty so violent that he could not rid himself of it before he was obliged to return to England.

1706. Ward, Wooden World, 9. He epicurizes his pocky Carcass for ever after. Ibid., 45. One pocky Whore brings the Surgeon more grist in than a thousand French cannon. Ibid., 67. A pox on it, cries he.

1714. Pope, Rape of the Lock, iv. 128. 'Nay, prithee, pox! Give her the hair'—he spoke and rapped his box. Ibid. (1733). Imitations of Horace, 1. 83-4. From furious Sapho scarce a milder fate, Pox'd by her love, and libell'd by her hate.

1772. Bridges, Burlesque Homer, 12. Pray, who the pox made you a witch?

Poz. See Pos.

Practical-politician, subs. phr. (common).—A pot-house spouter.

Practise. To practise in the milky way, verb. phr. (venery).—To handle a woman's breasts.

1633. Carew, Cœlum Brit. [Ebsworth], 139. Jupiter too begins to learn to lead his own wife: I left him practising in the milky way.

Practitioner, subs. (thieves').—See quot.

1869. Greenwood, Seven Curses of London [S. J. & C.] He had them from a practitioner: from a thief that is to say.

Prad, subs. (Old Cant).—A horse. Hence prad-cove = a horse-dealer; prad-napper = a horse-thief; the prad-lay = the theft of bridles, saddle-bags, and the like; prad-holder = a bridle.—Hall (1714); Grose (1785).

English synonyms.—Bit of blood; Charing-cross (rhyming); crock; crocodile; daisy-kicker (or -cutter: also = an ostler); gee; gee-gee; ginger; grogham; jade; jib (or jibber); high-stepper; knacker; long-faced 'un; lunk-head; macaroni; mount; muddler; nag (naggie or naggon); ning-nang; pinto; prancer; roarer; screw; scrub; star-gazer; tit; undergraduate; weaver; whistler; wind-sucker; wobbler.

French synonyms.—Bique; canard (tram drivers'); canasson (= gee-gee); carcan; carne (= screw); gail; galier; gaillon; gayet; maître d'école (horse-breakers'); parisien (= screw); rase-tapis (= high-stepper); trottin.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, 8. Long before daylight gigs, rattlers, and prads.

1821. Egan, Life in London, 11. iv. I am going to Tattersall's, to purchase a prad.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, 1. 93. It would never do To go to the wars on a rickety prad.

1841. Leman Rede, Sixteen String Jack, 'The High-pad's Frolic.' Coaches and prads, lasses and lads.

1846. Dickens, Dombey, xlvi. How can a cove stand talking in the street with his master's prad a wanting to be took to be rubbed down?