subs. phr. (common).—See quots.
1598. SHAKESPEARE, 1 Henry IV., v. 3. Fal. But take my PISTOL if thou wilt … [The Prince draws it out and finds it to be a bottle of sack.]
1834. W. H. AINSWORTH, Rookwood, IV. viii. He had conveyed a thimbleful of the liquid to his own parched throat, and replenished what Falstaff calls a POCKET-PISTOL which he had about him.
1847. THACKERAY, Vanity Fair, I. xxx. A wicker-covered flask or POCKET-PISTOL, containing near a pint of a remarkably sound Cognac brandy.
1861. G. ELIOT, Silas Marner, iv. The inclination for a run, encouraged by … a draught of brandy from his POCKET-PISTOL at the conclusion of the bargain, was not easy to overcome.
18[?]. NAYLOR, Reynard the Fox, 42. He … swigged his POCKET-PISTOL.
1864. BABBAGE, Passages from the Life of a Philosopher, 218. A glass bottle enclosed in a leather case, commonly called a POCKET-PISTOL.
1870. Orchestra, 7 Jan. My friend was only saved from fainting by a little sherry which I had happily brought in a POCKET PISTOL.
