subs. (common).—1. Liquor in the bottom of a glass. BUMPERS ROUND AND NO HEEL TAPS = Fill full, and drain dry! See DAYLIGHT. Fr., la musique.
1795. Gentleman’s Magazine, p. 118. Briskly pushed towards me the decanter containing a tolerable bumper, and exclaimed, ‘Sir, I’ll buzz you: come, NO HEEL-TAPS!’
1836. DICKENS, Pickwick Papers (Ed. 1857), p. 10. NO HEEL-TAPS, and he emptied the glass.
1838. DICKENS, Nicholas Nickleby, ch. xxxii. There was a proper objection to drinking her in HEELTAPS.
1841. Punch, i., 117. Empty them HEELTAPS, Jack, and fill out with a fresh jug.
1844. BUCKSTONE, The Maid with the Milking Pail. Lord P. Added to which she’s a termagant; and imbibes all the HEEL TAPS.
1855. THACKERAY, The Newcomes, ch. xiv. The relics of yesterday’s feast—the emptied bottles … the wretched HEEL-TAPS that have been lying exposed all night to the air.
2. (common).—A dance peculiar to London dustmen.
