Page:Farmer - Slang and its analogues past and present - Volume 6.pdf/147

 Settle, verb. (common).—1. To knock down; To do for (q.v.).—Grose. To settle one's hash (see Hash). Hence settler = (1) a knock-down blow; and (2) a finishing stroke.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, 15. He tipp'd him a settler.

1827. The Fancy, 'King Tims the First.' That thrust you gave me, Tims, has proved a nettler. Your stab turns out, what I have been, a settler!

1836. Scott, Cruise of the Midge, 102. Like a cannon-shot right against me, giving me such a settler.

1845. Buckstone, Green Bushes, ii. 2. Whoever that lady aimed at, she has certainly brought down She settled the settler, and no mistake.

1857. Holmes, Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, vi. That slight tension about the nostrils which the consciousness of carrying a settler in the form of a fact or a revolver gives the individual thus armed.

c.1866. Music Hall Song, 'What a fool.' My darling wife and Ma-in-law Have nearly settled me.

1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, iii. "'E see the engine a coming, and chucked hisself bang in front of it, and it soon settled 'im."

1888. Sportsman, 22 Dec. A mistake at the last hurdles proved a complete settler, and he succumbed by six lengths.

2. (thieves').—To give (or get) penal servitude for life.

Settlement-in-tail, subs. phr. (venery).—An act of generation: see Greens and Ride.

Settler, subs. (common).—1. A parting drink: see Screwed.

2. See Settle, 1.

Set-to, subs. phr. (pugilists').—1. A bout at fisticuffs, with, or without, the gloves. Whence (2) = determined opposition (Grose). Also as verb.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, 'Account of the Grand Set-to between Long, Sandy and Georgy the Porpus' [Title].

1825. Scott, St. Ronan's Well, xxx. The alacrity of gentlemen of the Fancy hastening to a set-to.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Leg., 1. 317. As prime a set-to And regular turn-up as ever you knew.

1859. Whitty, Political Portraits, 217. The bludgeon blows of the old Parliamentary set-tos ended in hand-shaking.

1864. London Society, Dec. I generally warms up in the set-to with Judy, and by the time the ghost business comes on, I'm all of a glow.

1879. Payn, High Spirits (Finding His Level). He had had it laid down with turf instead of a carpet, for the greater convenience of his set-tos.

1889. Modern Society, 19 Oct., 1294, 1. They settled the affair with a good set-to with raw potatoes.

1892. National Observer, 27 Feb., 378. Give me a snug little set-to down in Whitechapel.

Set-up, subs., (colloquial).—1. Port; bearing; carriage.

1890. T. C. Crawford, Eng. Life, 147. [English soldiers] have a set-up not to be found in any of the soldiers of the Continental armies.

2. (American).—A treat (q.v.) to set-up = to 'stand sam': cf. set-down.

1887. T. Stevens, Around World on a Bicycle They threaten to make him set 'em up every time he tumbles in hereafter.

Adv. (American).—Conceited.

Seven. To be more than seven, phr. (common). Wide-awake. Also, more than twelve.

c.1876. Music Hall Song, 'You're more than seven' [Title].

1892. Nisbet, Bushranger's Sweetheart, 195. Yes, I really do think that the naughty boy is more than seven.

1898. Gissing, Town Traveller, viii. 'We all know that Mr. Gammon's more than seven.'