On

adv. (back slang).—1.  No.

  1874.  HOTTEN, The Slang Dictionary, Back Slang, 355. ON DOOG, no good.

  2.  (common).—Tipsy: see DRINKS and SCREWED.

  1882.  PAYN, For Cash Only, xxii. I was no more ON at the Crown that night than I am at this blessed moment of time.

  1888.  Cornhill Magazine, March, 227. I wasn’t drunk, only ON, but if she had given me another bumper I should have gone clean off my head.

  3.  (once literary: now vulgar).—Used for ‘of.’

  1657.  MIDDLETON, Women beware Women, i. 2. Ward. Many, that I am afraid ON.

  d. 1625.  FLETCHER, The Elder Brother, iv. 3. We have no quarrel to you, that we know ON, sir.

  1836.  DICKENS, Pickwick Papers, ii. 3. Come on! said the cab-driver, sparring away like clockwork. Come on—all four ON you.

  4.  (Winchester College).—See quot.

  1866.  MANSFIELD, School-Life at Winchester College, 222. ON—The word given by the Præfect of Hall for the boys to start to or from Hills, or to Cathedral. When any person or thing of importance was known to be likely to meet the boys when on Hills, the word was passed that he, she, or it was ON,—e.g., RIDSWORTH ON, SNOBS ON, BADGER ON, etc.

  5.  (venery).—Carnally minded; concupiscent: ON IT (in America), said of a woman willing to copulate unlawfully.

  1847.  HALLIWELL, A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, etc., s.v.

  TO BE (OR GET) ON, verb. phr. (racing).—1.  To make a bet: generally TO HAVE A BIT ON.

  1872.  Standard, 23 Oct. Everyone … HAD SOMETHING ON.

  1881.  W. BLACK, The Beautiful Wretch, xxiv. I’ll bet you five sovereigns to one that they let him out … are you ON?

  1883.  HAWLEY SMART, Hard Lines, ix. In the mean time you are ON at 100 to nothing about your own horse.

  1891.  Answers, 28 March. Thanks to the eagerness of some small local bookmakers to let people GET ON late.

  1894.  GEORGE MOORE, Esther Waters, ii. Oh, we did have a fine time then, for we all had a bit ON.

  2.  (common).—Ready and willing; good at; fond of.

  1872.  S. L. CLEMENS (‘Mark Twain’), The Innocents at Home, ch. ii. ‘Pard, he was ON it! He was ON it bigger than an Injun!’ ‘ON it! ON what?’ ‘ON the shoot. ON the shoulder. ON the fight, you understand.’

  1883.  Referee, 6 May, 3, 3. If the directors should think fit to offer me £200 a night to warble, you may depend upon it I shall be ON at that figure.

  1888.  BOLDREWOOD, Robbery under Arms, xi. I’m half a mind to tell Warrigal to go back and say we’re not ON, I said.

  1891.  N. GOULD, The Double Event, 124. Make it a hundred, and I’m ON, said Bandy.

  1893.  P. H. EMERSON, Signor Lippo, xiv. One day he meets an old college pal and off they go on the booze, and when he got the flavour of it he was ON TO IT and the old man chucked him.

  TO TRY IT ON. See TRY.

  [See also BACK; BALLOT; BAT; BATTER; BEAM-ENDS; BEER; BEND; BOARD; BONE; BOOT-LEG; BOUNCE; BOX; BURST (or BUST); CARDS; CHAIN; CHEAP; CROOK; CROSS; DEAD; DEAD BROKE; DEAD QUIET; DEE; FLY; FORTY-NINTH; FOURTH; FUDDLE; GRASS; GROUND-FLOOR; HALF-SHELL; HEAD; HIP; HOP; ICE; JOB; LAY; LEDGE; LOOSE; MAKE; MUDDLE; NAIL; NOD; NOSE; ONE’S P’S AND Q’S; POUNCE; PRAIRIE; PROMOTION; QUIET; Q.T.; RAILS; RAMBLE; RAMPAGE; RANTAN; READY; REERAU; ROAD; SCENT; SCOOT; SCOUT; SENTRY; SHALLOW; SHARP; SHELF; SHOVE; SHUNT; SKYTE; SLATE; SLY; SNAP; SPREE; SPOT; SQUARE; STAIRS; STRAIGHT; STRETCH; STRING; SWING; TAILBOARD; TAKE; TAPPY; TICK; TILES; TIME; TOAST; TOP; TRAMP; UPPERS; VELVET; WALLABY; WARPATH; WIN, etc.]