Boy

subs. (common).—1.  Champagne: see quot. 1882.

  1882.  Punch, LXXXII., 69, 2. ‘The fine young London Gentleman.’ He ’ll nothing drink but ‘B. and S.’ and big magnums of ‘THE BOY.’

  1882.  Punch, LXXXII., 155, 1. Dined with Tom and Corky at a new place they had discovered, and raved of. Of course, beastly dinner, but very good BOY. Had two magnums of it.

  1883.  Punch, August 18, 84, 1. Shall it be B. and S., or bumpers of the BOY?

  1898.  BINSTEAD, A Pink ’Un and a Pelican, 68. Half a dozen bottles of the choicest ‘BOY’ to be found in Fleet Street. (The young bucks of the present day, by the way, generally allude to a bottle of champagne erroneously as ‘THE BOY,’ in evident ignorance of the origin of the term, which is as follows: At a shooting party of His Royal Highness’s, the guns were followed at a distance by a lad who wheeled a barrow-load of champagne, packed in ice. The weather was intensely close and muggy, and whenever anybody felt inclined for a drink he called out ‘Boy!’ to the youth in attendance; the frequency with which this happened leading to the adoption of the term.)

  2.  (common).—A hump on a man’s back; it is frequently usual to speak of a humpbacked man as two persons—‘him and his BOY’: cf. LORD and LADY.

  3.  (Anglo-Indian and colonial).—A servant of whatever age.

  4.  (old colloquial).—A torturer; a hangman.

  1280.  [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, i. 99. It is curious that boy had been used for a torturer or hangman since 1280, reminding us of the Italian BOJA.]

  1377.  LANGLAND, Piers Plowman [E.E.T.S.], 371, s.v.

  Verb. (old).—To beget (or give birth to) boys.

  d. 1635.  CORBET, Death of Lady Haddington.

  OLD BOY (or MY BOY), subs. (popular).—1.  A familiar address: spec. (modern) one’s father; the GUV’NOR (q.v.); the BOSS (q.v.).

  1383.  CHAUCER, The Canterbury Tales (Aldine), ii. 214. MIN OWEN BOY.

  1567.  EDWARDS, Damon and Pithias [DODSLEY, Old Plays (HAZLITT), iv. 28]. MY BOY! (in addressing a servant).

  1602.  SHAKESPEARE, Twelfth Night, ii. 4. 122. But di’de the sister of her loue, MY BOY?

  1740.  RICHARDSON, Pamela, III., 380. Never fear, OLD BOY, said Sir Charles, we’ll bear our Parts in Conversation.

  1749.  SMOLLETT, Gil Blas (1812), IV. vii. One of the OLD BOYS … great-rakes in their youth … not a whit more sedate in their age.

  1854.  Our Cruise in the Undine, 142. ‘Here’s a go, Bill!’ said the Doctor. ‘Never mind, OLD BOY,’ replied the Captain; ‘we’ll get the other side of him yet.’

  1871.  The Echo, 16 March. Are you going to have a wet, OLD BOY? one familiarly remarked.

  1889.  Illustrated London News, Summer Number, 26, 2. You are right there, OLD BOY, said Eustace.

  1892.  HUME NISBET, The Bushranger’s Sweetheart, 165. Now for business, OLD BOY.

  2.  (common).—The devil.

  1835–40.  HALIBURTON (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker (1862), 140. As we invigorate the form of government (as we must do, or go to the OLD BOY).

  THE BOYS, subs. phr. (turf).—Race-course rogues; RAMPERS (q.v.); BRIEF-SNATCHERS (q.v.); MAGSMEN (q.v.); LUMBERERS (q.v.) and the like.

  18[?].  Bird o’ Freedom. I should think that there is hardly a bookmaker in Tattersall’s, or even one of the ready-money fraternity, who would not willingly subscribe to a fund for the laudable purpose of cleansing the rings from those foul abominations, those criminal scoundrels known as THE BOYS. These vermin rob the public annually of thousands of pounds, and divert from the pockets of the bookmakers a perfect river of gold.

  YELLOW-BOY (or -HAMMER), subs. phr. (common).—Formerly a guinea, 21/; now one pound sterling, 20/: see RHINO.

  1633.  SHIRLEY, The Bird in a Cage, ii. 1. Is that he that has gold enough? would I had some of his YELLOW-HAMMERS.

  1661.  MIDDLETON, The Mayor of Quinborough, ii. 3. Simon the Tanner. Now, by this light, a nest of YELLOW-HAMMERS.… I’ll undertake, sir, you shall have all the skins in our parish at this price.

  1663.  DRYDEN, The Wild Gallant, i. 2. How now, YELLOW BOYS, by this good light! Sirrah, varlet, how came I by this gold?

  1706.  WARD, The Wooden World Dissected, 24. No Liquor could overcome him, the last Remedy then was, to bring out some YELLOW BOYS.

  1712.  ARBUTHNOT, The History of John Bull, I., vi. There wanted not YELLOW BOYS to fee counsel, hire witnesses, and bribe juries.

  1751.  SMOLLETT, Peregrine Pickle, viii. I wish both their necks were broke, though the two cost me forty good YELLOW BOYS.

  1830.  BULWER-LYTTON, Paul Clifford.

  1840.  DICKENS, The Old Curiosity Shop, xiii. ‘The delight of picking up the money—the bright, shining YELLOW BOYS—and sweeping ’em into one’s pocket!’

  1884.  S. L. CLEMENS (‘Mark Twain’), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, xxv. When they found the bag they spilt it out on the floor, and it was a lovely sight, all them YALLER-BOYS.

  ANGRY (or ROARING) BOYS, subs. phr. (old).—A set of young BUCKS, BLOODS, or BLADES, all of which see, of noisy manners and fire-eating tastes; who, like the MOHAWKS (q.v.) delighted to commit outrages and get into quarrels, also ROARING-GIRLS, ROARERS, etc.: see OATMEAL and ROARING-BOYS.

  1599.  J. COOKE, Green’s Tu Quoque, or the Cittie Gallant [DODSLEY, Old Plays (REED), VII. 25]. This is no ANGRY, nor no ROARING BOY, but a blustering boy.

  c. 1600.  The Brave English Gypsey [COLLIER, Roxburghe Ballads (1847), 185].

  1603.  DEKKER, London’s Tempe. The gallant ROARS; ROARERS drink oathes and gall.

  1609.  SHAKESPEARE, Tempest, i. 1. What care these ROARERS for the name of King?

  1609.  JONSON, Epicœne, or the Silent Woman, i., 4. The doubtfulness of your phrase, believe it, sir, would breed you a quarrel once an hour, with the TERRIBLE BOYS, if you should but keep ’em fellowship a day.

  1610.  JONSON, The Alchemist, iii., 4.

  1616.  BEAUMONT and FLETCHER, The Scornful Lady, iv., 1.

  1611.  MIDDLETON, The Roaring Girle [Title]. Ibid. (1617), A Faire Quarrell, v. i. I saw a youth, a gentleman, a ROARER.

  c. 1620.  The Court and Times of James the First [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, ii. 58. The new cant word ROARING BOY comes up in p. 322].

  1630.  TAYLOR (‘The Water Poet’), Workes [NARES].

  1640.  HUMPHREY MILL, The Nights Search, 8, 42. Two ROARING BLADES being on a time in drink.

  1640.  The Wandering Jew. ‘I am a man of the Sword; a Battoon Gallant, one of our Dammees, a bouncing Boy, a kicker of Bawdes, a tyrant over Puncks, a terrour to Fencers, a mewer of Playes, a jeerer of Poets, a gallon-pot-flinger; in rugged English, a ROARER.’

  1653.  A. WILSON, The History of Great Britain, Being the Life and Reign of King James the First. The king minding his sports, many riotous demeanours crept into the kingdom;… divers sects of vicious persons, going under the title of ROARING BOYS, bravadoes, roysterers, etc., commit many insolencies; the streets swarm, night and day, with bloody quarrels, private duels fomented, etc.

  1658.  ROWLEY, The Witch of Edmonton, i. 2. One of the country ROARING-LADS: we have such as well as the city, and as arrant rake-hells as they are.

  1822.  SCOTT, The Fortunes of Nigel, xvii. The tarnished doublet of bald velvet … will best suit the garb of a ROARING BOY.

  BOYS OF THE HOLY GROUND, subs. phr. (old).—Formerly (1800–25) bands of roughs, infesting a well-known region in St. Giles: see HOLY-LAND.

  1819.  T. MOORE, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, 7.