subs. (old).—A child in the womb: literally, JACK-IN-THE-CELLAR (q.v.). [From the Dutch.]
1644. CLEVELAND, The Character of a London Diurnall, 1. The originall sinner in this kind was Dutch; Galliobelgicus, the Protoplast; and the moderne Mercuries, but HANS-EN-KELDERS. The Countesse of Zealand was brought to Bed of an Almanack; as many Children, as dayes in the yeare.
1648. Mercurius Pragmaticus, i. The Birthday of that precious new government; which is yet but a HANS-EN-KELDER.
c. 1658. LOVELACE, Poems, p. 63, ‘Being Treated.’
| Next beg I to present my duty | |
| To pregnant sister in prime beauty, | |
| Whom well I deeme (e’re few months elder) | |
| Will take out HANS FROM pretty KELDER. |
1663. DRYDEN, The Wild Gallant, v., Wks., p. 61 (1701). It seems you are desirous I should Father this HANS EN KELDER heere.
1672. MARVELL, The Character of Holland, line 65.
| More pregnant than their Marg’ret, that laid down | |
| For HANS-IN-KELDER of a whole Hans-Town. |
c. 1696. B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, s.v. HANS-EN-KELDER, Jack in the Box, the Child in the Womb, or a Health to it.
1672. WYCHERLEY, Love in a Wood, v. Then I am as it were a grandfather to your new Wiffe’s, HANS EN KELDER.
1678. T. BAKER, Tunbridge Wells, p. 27. Here’s a health to this Lady’s HANS IN KELDER!
1725. A New Canting Dictionary, s.v.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. HANS IN KELDER, a health frequently drank to breeding women, or their husbands.
