Tramping with Tramps - LightNovelsOnl.com
You're reading novel online at LightNovelsOnl.com. Please use the follow button to get notifications about your favorite novels and its latest chapters so you can come back anytime and won't miss anything.
CROAK: to die, or to kill.
CROCUS: a doctor.
CROOK: a professional criminal. "Crooked work" means thieving.
DEAD: reformed. A "dead" criminal is either discouraged or reformed.
DICER: a hat.
DIP: a pickpocket.
DITCH, or BE DITCHED: to get into trouble, or to fail at what one has undertaken. To be "ditched" when riding on trains means to be put off, or to get locked into a car.
DOPE, THE: the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
DOSS: _noun_, sleep; _verb_, to sleep.
DOSS-HOUSE: a lodging-house.
DUMP: a lodging-house or restaurant; synonymous with "hang-out."
ELBOW: a detective.
FAWNY MAN: a peddler of bogus jewelry.
FENCE: a receiver of stolen goods.
FINGER: } FLATTY: } a Policeman; synonymous with "bull."
FLAGGED: when a man is said by criminals or tramps to be "flagged," it means that he is permitted to go unmolested.
FLICKER: _noun_, a faint; _verb_, to faint or pretend to faint.
GAG: any begging trick.
GALWAY: a Catholic priest.
GAY-CAT: an amateur tramp who works when his begging courage fails him.
GHOST-STORY: any statement or report that is not true. When told to young boys it means a "faked" story of tramp life.
GRAFT: a line of business; synonymous with "spiel."
GRAFTER: a pickpocket.
GUN: a fellow; more or less synonymous with "bloke," "stiff,"
"mug," and "plug."
GUY: a fellow.
HAND-OUT: a bundle of food handed out to a beggar at the back door.
HANG-OUT: the hobo's home.
HIT THE ROAD: to go tramping.
HOBO: a tramp. Derivation obscure. Farmer's "Americanisms" gives: "HO-BOY, or HAUT-BOY: a New York night-scavenger."
HOISTER, or HYSTER: a shoplifter.
HOOSIER: a "farmer." Everybody who does not know the world as the hobo knows it is to him a "farmer," "hoosier," or outsider.
HORN, THE: a triangular extension of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, running from Red Oak, Iowa, southwest some twenty miles, and then northwest to Pacific Junction on the main line.
HORSTILE: angry, unfriendly, hostile.
JIGGER: a sore, artificially made, to excite sympathy.
JIGGERED: "done," beaten. When used as an exclamation, as in "I'll be jiggered," it means "I'll be d.a.m.ned," or words to that effect.
JOCKER: a tramp who travels with a boy and "jockers" him--trains him as a beggar and protects him from persecution by others.
JOINT: practically, any place where tramps congregate, drink, and feel at home.
KIP-HOUSE: a lodging-house.
KIP TOWN: a good lodging-house town.
LEATHER: a pocket-book. "To reef a leather" means that the pickpocket pulls out the lining of a pocket containing the "leather"; this is frequently the best way of capturing a pocket-book.
LIGHTHOUSE: one who knows every detective by sight, and can "tip him off" to his comrades.
MAIN GUY: the leader.
MARK: a person or house "good" for food, clothes, or money.
MEAL-TICKET: a person "good" for a meal.
MONIKEY: the tramp's nickname, as "New Orleans Blackie,"
"Mississippi Red," etc.
MOOCH: to beg; also, to "light out," "clear out."
MOOCHER: a beggar. This word is the generic term for tramps in England.
MUG: _noun_, a fellow; _verb_, to photograph.
MUSH-FAKIR: an umbrella-mender. The umbrellas which he collects are frequently not returned.
