LONGSHANKS. See Lawyer, No. 1

LONGSHOREMAN, for alongshoreman. A man employed to load and unload vessels, a stevedore. New York.

A meeting of the longshoremen was held last evening to take into consideration the difficulty between themselves and the merchants. - New York Tribune.

The strike among the longshoremen, caulkers, laborers, etc., has become quite general, and the work of repairing, loading, and unloading of vessels is almost suspended. New York Express.

LONG SHORT. A gown somewhat shorter than a petticoat, worn by women when doing household work.

LONG SUGAR. Molasses, so called formerly in North Carolina from the ropiness of it, and serving all the purposes of sugar both in eating and drinking. — Byrd, Westover Papers, p. 28.

LONG SWEETENING. Molasses, so called formerly in New England. LONG TOM. An apparatus used by the Californians for washing gold from the earth or gravel in which it is found. It consists of a wooden trough from twelve to twenty-five feet long and about a foot wide. At its lower end it widens and its floor there is of sheet-iron pierced with holes half an inch in diameter, under which is placed a flat box a couple of inches deep. The long tom is set at a slight inclination over the place which is to be worked, and a stream of water is kept running through it by means of a hose; and while some of the party shovel the dirt into the tom, one man stands at the lower end stirring up the earth as it is washed down, and separating the stones, while the earth and small gravel fall through the sieve into another box, where it undergoes another process of sifting.

When the miners extricate themselves from the temples of pleasure [in the city], they return to their camps and long-toms, and soothe their racking head-aches by the discovery of chunks of gold. — Marryatt, Mountains and Molehills, p. 236. LOOED. Defeated. A term borrowed from the game called loo; as ta Anna was looed at San Jacinto." Southwest.

"San

LOON. (Eolymbus glacialis.) The common name for the Northern Diver. As straight as a loon's leg is a common simile.

LOOSENESS. Unrestraint, freedom. A Western vulgarism, now becoming common at the East; as, "He goes it with a looseness," i. e. acts without restraint. Still more vigorous is the expression, perfect looseness.

Ah! my Christian friends, the devil is amongst us going forward to injure and destroy. He is going it with the looseness of an antediluvian relax; and, as Deacon B- would say, we must n't allow him to come the Japan flummux over us much longer. Dow's Sermons, Vol. III. p. 214.

The perfect looseness, with which books not on the invoice were sold [at auction], was illustrated by the sale of a volume of Anthon's series, which went off in lots of a hundred, etc. New York Express, Sept. 1855.

Let them go it with a perfect looseness, till they burst their brittle strings of life's corsets, and fall to pieces in the cold embrace of death.-Dow's Sermons, Vol. I. p. 198.

LOPE. Common in the West for gallop, from which it is contracted.

A sulky ox refuses to move in the proper direction; off starts a rider, who catching the stubborn animal by the tail, it at once becomes frightened into a lope; advantage is taken of the unwieldy body by the hunter, as it rests on the fore feet, to jerk it to the ground. — Thorpe's Backwoods, p. 15.

The mustang goes rollicking ahead, with the eternal lope, such as an amorous deer assumes when it moves beside its half galloping mate, a mixture of two or three gaits, as easy as the motions of a cradle. — Ibid, p. 13.

LOT. In the United States, a piece or division of land; perhaps originally assigned by drawing lots, but now any portion, piece, or division. — Webster. This application of the word is peculiar to this country, and is universally used of a parcel of land, whether in town or country. Thus, we have city lots, town lots, house lots, meadow lots, water lots, building lots, etc. "I have a fine lot of cleared land, with a wood lot adjoining;' meaning a portion of the forest on which the trees are left for fuel as required. "In going to town, I left the road, and went across lots, to shorten the distance," i. e. across the open fields or meadows. "In the first settlement of this country," says Mr. Pickering, "a certain portion or share of land was allotted to each inhabitant of the town; and this was called his lot. Both lot and allotment occur in our early laws."

To LOVE, for to like. "Do you love pumpkin pie?" "I'd love to have

that bonnet!"

LOW-BELIA. The quacks who use the Lobelia inflata, or "Indian tobacco," suppose the name to be Lowbelia, and it is so written in the description of a patent. The other species, which towers high above its humble relative, is accordingly dubbed High-belia.

Low GROUNDS. Bottom lands are so called in Virginia.

LUCIFER MATCH. Matches which ignite by friction, also called Loco-foco matches. Both these expressions, however, are now being supplanted by the more appropriate term, Friction-match.

No rubbing will kindle your Lucifer match,

If the fiz does not follow the primitive scratch.

O. W. Holmes' Poems, p. 77.

LUCKS. Small portions of wood twisted on the finger of a spinner at the

wheel or distaff. The same word as lock when applied to the hair, etc.Forby's Norfolk Glossary. In New England this word is still in use.

Miss Gisborne's flannel is promised the last of the week. There is a bunch of lucks down cellar; bring them up. — Margaret, p. 6.

LUDDY MUSSY! A corrupt pronunciation of Lord have mercy! an exclamation of surprise, common in the interior parts of New England.

Luddy mussy! can you read? Where do you live?

Margaret, p. 52.

LUGS. Ground leaves of tobacco when prepared for market.

LUMBER. Timber sawed or split for use; as beams, joists, boards, planks, staves, hoops, and the like.. -Webster. The word in this sense, and the following ones derived from it, are peculiar to America.

LUMBERER, LUMBERMAN. A person employed in cutting timber and in getting out lumber from the forest.

LUMBERING. 1. The business or occupation of getting out various kinds of lumber, such as beams, boards, staves, etc. "To go a lumbering," is the phrase used by those who embark in it.

2. Strolling, lounging, walking leisurely. A vulgarism used in New York.

As I was lumbering down the street, down the street,
A yaller gal I chanc'd to meet, etc.

Negro Melodies. The Buffalo Gal.

LUMBER-WAGON. A wagon with a plain box upon it, used by farmers for carrying their produce to market. It is sometimes so arranged that a spring seat may be put in it, when it is very comfortable for riding in. LUMMOKING. Heavy, unwieldy, hulking. The word is English, and comes from lummock, a lump, which, according to Wright, is still used in Leicestershire.

These little fellows are easier to carry by a long chalk than them great lummokin' hack metacks. Slick, Human Nature.

Why, mother! Hannah's courted by Pete Spinbutton, the ensign of the Dogtown Blues, that great lummokin' feller. - Traits of American Humor, Vol. II. LUMMOX. A heavy, stupid fellow. Used also in the east of England.

LYCEUM. A house or apartment appropriated to instruction by lectures or disquisitions. An association of men for literary purposes. Webster. In New England almost every town and village of importance has its lyceum, where a library is formed, natural and artificial curiosities collected, and before which public lectures are given. They have done a vast deal towards the dissemination of knowledge, particularly among those classes which have not had the advantages of a good education.

TO LYNCH. To condemn and execute in obedience to the decree of a multitude or mob, without a legal trial; sometimes practised in the new settlements in the south-west of the United States. Worcester.

Such is too often the administration of law on the frontier, Lynch's law, as it is technically termed, in which the plaintiff is apt to be witness, jury, judge, and executioner, and the defendant convicted and punished on mere presumption. - Irving, Tour on the Prairies, p. 35.

People at last [in 1850] began to talk among themselves of the urgent necessity of again adopting Lynch law, since the tedious and uncertain measures of the authorities did not seem to have the effect of terrifying and putting down the disturbers of the public peace. — Annals of San Francisco, p. 310.

LYNCH LAW. An irregular and revengeful species of justice, administered by the populace or a mob, without any legal authority or trial. Worcester.

M.

MA'AM SCHOOL. A school kept by a woman; called in England a "dame school."

Mr. Goodrich, when he returned to his native village after many years' absence, says:

I found a girl some eighteen years old keeping a ma'am school for about twenty scholars. — Reminiscences, Vol. I. p. 39.

MACHINE. The name for a fire-engine among the New York "b'hoys."

You'll like 'em [the engine men], they're perfect bricks; and as for the machine, why, she's a pearl of the East, none of your old-fashioned tubs, but a real tip-top, out-and-out double-decker. Yes, sirree, there ain't many crabs what can take down No. 62 and her bully rooster crew. - Yankee Notions.

MACKINAW BLANKET, or, simply MACKINAW. A heavy blanket originally used in the Indian trade, the chief post for which was formerly at Mackinac (pron. Mackinaw), and hence the first material for overcoats in the West. See BLANKET-COAT.

Outside of the wagons the travellers spread their beds, which consist, for the most part, of buffalo rugs and blankets. Many content themselves with a single Mackinaw; but a pair constitutes the most regular pallet; and he that is provided with a buffalo-rug into the bargain, is deemed luxuriously supplied. Gregg, Com. of Prairies, Vol. I. p. 62.

him;

MAD. Inflamed with anger; very angry; vexed. "I was quite mad at "" he made me mad." In these instances mad is only a metaphor for angry. This is perhaps an English vulgarism, but it is not found in any accurate writer, nor used by any good speaker, unless when poets or orators use it as a strong figure, and, to heighten the expression, say, "he was mad with rage."- Witherspoon, Druid, No. 5.

Mad, in the sense of angry, is considered as a low word in this country, and at the present day is never used except in very familiar conversation.

Pickering.

This use of the word is provincial in various parts of England. See Halliwell, Grose, etc.

Indeed, my dear, you make me mad sometimes, you do. - Spectator.

The General began to get in a passion; and says he, "Major, I'm gettin' mad!" "Very well," says I, "General, then I'll keep cool accordin' to agreement.". Maj. Downing's Letters, p. 20.

Up stairs I went with them, as mad as thunder, I tell you, at being thought a humbug.-Field, Western Tales.

Jeeminy, fellows, I was so enormous mad, that the new silk handkercher round my neck lost its color!-Robb, Squatter Life.

MAD DOG. Scullcap. (Scutellaria lateriflora.) A once much renowned quack remedy for hydrophobia, the utter worthlessness of which has long since been established.

MADAM. 1. In Plymouth, Massachusetts, and in some neighboring places, it has been and still is the practice, to prefix to the name of a deceased female of some consideration, as the parson's, the deacon's, or the doctor's wife, the title of Madam. Kendall's Travels, Vol. II. 44. p. "This practice," says Mr. Pickering, "like that of giving magistrates the title of 'squire, prevails in most of the country towns of New England; but is scarcely known in the seaport towns."- Vocabulary.

2. Sir Chas. Lyell says: The title of Madam is sometimes given here [in Boston], and generally in Charleston and in the South, to a mother whose son has married; and the daughter-in-law is then called "Mrs." By this means they avoid the inelegant phraseology of "old Mrs. A.," or the Scotch "Mrs. A., senior." Second Visit, Chap. IX.

MAGUEY. (Agave americana.) A genus of American tropical plants commonly called Aloes or Century plants. They are found in Texas, New Mexico, and California. The different species furnish pulque, sisal hemp, aguardiente, bagging, etc.

MAHOGANY. (Swietenia mahogoni.) A beautiful tree found in South America, Honduras, and Southern Florida, whose compact reddish-brown wood, susceptible of a high polish, is well known as a material for elegant articles of furniture.

TO MAHOGANYIZE. To paint wood in imitation of mahogany.

MAIDENLAND. Land that a man gets with his wife, and which he loses at her death. Virginia.

MAIL. This word, which properly means the bag in which letters and