DICTIONARY OF AMERICANISMS: A GLOSSARY OF WORDS AND PHRASES USUALLY REGARDED AS PECULIAR TO THE UNITED STATES. BY JOHN RUSSELL BARTLETT. FOURTH EDITION, BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 1877. London: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON, CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET. 1 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Rhode Island. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1877, by In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. SODLEIAN 17 AUG 1928 LIBRARY Cambridge: Press of John Wilson & Son. PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. THE second edition of this Dictionary was published in Boston in 1859, and a third the following year. The former was greatly enlarged from the first edition, the latter was a reprint of the second edition without alterations. During the eighteen years that have passed since the last revision, the vocabulary of our colloquial language has had large additions, chiefly from the sources whence additions usually come. To the Indian, the Dutch, the German, the French, and the Spanish elements, there have been but few contributions. From the arts, from new inventions, from new settlements, particularly those in mining districts, from commerce, many words have been adopted; while the late civil war has also furnished its share. But, perhaps, the larger share of additions is from the vocabulary of slang, which may be divided into several classes. First are the terms used by the bankers and stockbrokers of Wall Street, which are well understood, and employed by those who operate in stocks in all our large cities. These may be classed among the more respectable slang. They are employed not only by merchants, but by all who have money to invest, or who operate in stocks. Educated men also make use of them, for the reason that there are no terms which so well express the operations connected with money. Next we have "College Slang," or words and expressions in common use among the students in our colleges and pupils of our higher schools. These |