subs. (old).—1. A woman’s under petticoat.
1811. GROSE and CLARKE, Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
2. (common).—A donkey.
1802. BLOOMFIELD, Rural Tales, ‘Richard and Kate,’ xxi.
| But now, as at some nobler places, | |
| Amongst the leaders ’twas decreed | |
| Time to begin the DICKY Races, | |
| More famed for laughter than for speed. |
1841. JOHN MILLS, The Old English Gentleman, ch. vii., p. 60 (3rd ed.). A young DICKEY, in the full kick of youth, mistook some sweet-briar for a thistle.
3. (common).—A sham shirt front, formerly a worn-out shirt. Cf., sense 4. [Hotten: originally TOMMY (from the Greek, τομή, a section), a word once used in Trinity College, Dublin.] Also, by implication, any sham contrivance; see quots.
1781. G. PARKER, A View of Society, I., 82, note. DICKEY: cant for a worn-out shirt.
1811. GROSE and CLARKE, Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. A sham shirt.
1835–40. HALIBURTON (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 2 S., ch. ix. She made frill, shirt-collar, and DICKY fly like snow.
1836. W. G. CLARK, The Ollapodiana Papers. For a handkerchief I had flourished a common DICKEY, the strings whereof fell to my feet.
1848. THACKERAY, The Book of Snobs, ch. xx. Those wretched Beaux Tibbs’s of society, who sport a lace DICKEY, and nothing besides.
1857. TOM HOOD, Pen and Pencil Pictures, p. 206. Do not take off that article of apparel which Fanny Fern distinguishes by a name which, on this side the Atlantic, is the familiar for a YOUTHFUL RICHARD. Spare it, we say … although it may be (and we guess, from the absence of cuffs and sleeves, it is) an imitation, a sham, a make-shift!
1872. Public Opinion, 24 Feb., p. 241. ‘Inside Newgate.’ What is she here for? I asked, pointing to a florid-looking girl who was taking a deep professional interest in ironing a DICKEY.
1876. GREENWOOD, Low-life Deeps, 209. ‘I saw a laden wagon bearing the name of one of the cheap advertising firms you speak of.’ ‘Ah, bearing the name … you saw a wagon wearing a ‘DICKY,’ you mean—a false front-plate, with a name on it that slips on and off like them on the wans that the pianoforte makers borrow.’ Ibid. (1880), A Veteran of Vauxhall, in Odd People in Odd Places, p. 38. Besides these articles there was a pair of what had once been white linen cuffs, a ‘DICKEY’ of the same dubious complexion, and a white tie.
4. (American: New England).—A shirt collar. de Vere. Cf., sense 3.
5. (nautical).—A ship’s officer or mate; generally, SECOND DICKEY, i.e., second mate.
6. (London).—A swell. For synonyms, see DANDY.
7. (schoolboys’).—The penis. For synonyms, see CREAMSTICK and PRICK.
Adj. (common).—1. Sorry; inferior; paltry and poor in quality. DICKEY DOMUS (theatrical) = a poor ‘house.’
2. (London).—Smart. A corruption of UP TO DICK (q.v.). Cf., subs., sense 6.
ALL DICKEY WITH [ONE], adv. phr. (common).—Queer; gone wrong; ‘all up with.’
1811. POOLE, Hamlet Travestie, iii., 6.
| O, Hamlet! ’tis ALL DICKEY WITH us both | |
| You’ve done my business by a blow, ’tis true; | |
| But I—Oh! I—have done the same for you. |
1819. T. MOORE, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 21. ’Twas ALL DICKY with Georgy, his mug hung so dead.
1837. THACKERAY, in Fraser’s Magazine, 10 Oct. Sam, the stable boy [who from living chiefly among the hosses and things has got a sad low way of talking], said it was ALL DICKY, and bid us drive on to the nex’ page.
1837. R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends (The Brothers of Birchington).
| Here a monk, whose teeth funk and concern made to chatter | |
| Sobs out, as he points to the corpse on the floor, | |
| ‘’Tis ALL DICKEY WITH poor Father Dick—he ’s no more!’ |
1882. Daily Telegraph, 3 Oct., p. 2, col. 3. I was coolly told that ‘anyhow, all the actual meat there was in, say half a pound of cheap German sausage, couldn’t do any one much harm if it was ever so DICKY.’
