subs. (old).—An Old Bailey hanging.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. BEILBY’S BALL, he will dance at BEILBY’S BALL, where the sheriff pays [for] the musick; he will be hanged. Who Mr. Beilby was, or why that ceremony was so called, remains with the quadrature of the circle, the discovery of the philosopher’s stone, and diverse other desiderata yet undiscovered.
