subs. (Irish).—A short bludgeon: used to administer the ‘last rites’ to a landed fish.
TO BE ONE’S PRIEST, verb. phr. (Scots’).—To kill.
1810. Homespun Lays, 135, ‘Cock’s Simple Strains.’
| An’ wi’ an awfu’ shak, | |
| Swore he wad shortly BE HIS PRIEST, | |
| An’ threw him on his back | |
| Fu’ flat, that night. |
A GREAT PRIEST, subs. phr. (Scots’).—A strong but ineffectual inclination to stool.—JAMIESON.
TO LET THE PRIEST SAY GRACE, verb. phr. (old).—To marry: hence PRIEST-LINK’D = married.—B. E. (c. 1696); GROSE (1785).
PRIEST OF THE BLUE-BAG, subs. phr. (common).—A barrister: see GREENBAG.
1849. C. KINGSLEY, Alton Locke, xx. “He … showed himself as practised in every law quibble … as if he had been a regularly ordained PRIEST OF THE BLUE BAG.”
